Rabbi Dr. Akiva Tatz - Q&A Part 1 (Zoom)

if we can begin I'm gonna ask the first question in in five minutes if you could just address everyone who's present a short idea of how you feel that we can grow from this experience that we're all facing right now well I think there's many ways but let me share with you one brief thought you're only allowing me five minutes for each idea so I think one of the critical things you can gain from isolation is cultivating silence let me say this by way of introduction that what I'm going to answer you in every five minutes here I've spoken about at length and your your listeners and your views are welcome to plug into the jle that's another alumni affiliates Jewish learning exchange in London and you can download from there you can stream or you can listen live watch watch presentations on most of the subjects that you would like to talk about at great length and you'll find us you'll find a talk on silence there but let me tell you in two minutes or three minutes what I mean you know that the things that are really meaningful in your life cannot be put into words the things that are deep deeply meaningful cannot be put into words they live in a zone beyond words higher than words when you bring your thing down into words you shrink it you shrink it down into the finite dimensions of the words and that's the cheapening of your soul you bring yourself down into the limited the finite that's a you know if you meet someone in the first 20 minutes they tell you all about themselves that's all they are 20 minutes of talk to be to be a human being let alone hu who is growing in the spiritual the spiritual wisdom you need to be somebody that every word you can say has behind it many many things that cannot be said you know the Kabbalistic wisdom is called sod it's called sod that means a secret wise kabbalah called a secret because no one told you that's a very childish mistake not because no one told you you know you think one day you'll be walking through the Old City of Jerusalem and a hand will reach out from an alley and it was an old man with a long white beard he'll pull you in and he'll tell you all the secrets it's not called a secret because no one told you it's called a secret because no one could ever tell you it's a wisdom that is beyond words that's why Kabbalah's always taught in an hour analogies allegories because there are no words for those things when you grasp yourself as you are when you know that you're a Jew you know you have a soul you know you're not an animal all these things are known beyond words you can't put those into words and therefore what you can gain grab a written word from isolation is meditation when you forced into your own inner zone of silence and privacy you can start getting to know things as they are let me leave you with this thought rabbi Destler says that the mind has two faculties there's the outer eye and the inner eye they authorize your senses and your intellect but that's not human machines also have sensors that can transduce the world and make calculations whenever she doesn't have is the inner eye the knowledge that it's true that no machine has and that is very badly cultivated in the West in the Eastern Eastern world they're comfortable with it in the Western world we all need we only relate to things that can be proved and measured and calculated that's not human knowing Hashem knowing God is not with the inner faculty with the NI nothing can be proved or expressed how do you start to know God you have to know yourself how do you know yourself you know yourself you don't know yourself because you have proofs and demonstrations and senses and we live in a society and I would like to be a little provocative here and suggest that American society is probably especially bad at this that's a society that he's drowned in words one of the great writers of the last generation CS Lewis he said we live in a cataract of nonsense people have to hear somebody talking to them they're driving in their car they've got a switch on somebody talking what are they listening to some chats a chat show host who's talking nonsense about things he has no idea about listening to other people giving their views about subjects they got no concept about they got hear somebody talking little silence little silence before you pray there has to be meditation you only get to know things in the world of silence you know that know that the meditation the meditation that builds your mind is beyond words beyond words you know when the child is born he's taught the whole Torah in the womb and when he's born he's at the moment of birth he gets a sharp blow in the mouth and he forgets everything that in you why blow on the mouth mrl says the blow in the mouth is the gift of speech when you know how to speak you lose your wisdom because as soon as you can put it into the packages of words it takes on those dimensions you know that I'll leave you with this thought one of the great sages of the last generation his name was of simcha Nestle's if he once waited 25 years before telling his something something that moved him very deeply he said he was worried that if he said it he would lose it they're not amazing most of us as soon as we hear something beautiful who can I tell that to wait a second wait wait wait an hour we're today let it seep into the fabric of your consciousness before before you bring it down into the world of words and so now my five minutes have run out I'll leave you for the fifth minute and that is covered isolation silence develop the silence get to know things as they are before you bring them down into it next question thank you all a question was asked what is the right balance of introspective responses action to shoot without questioning and muna Berta phone for a Jew in dealing with a long term livable illness such as allergies or solitude Seattle silk so our disease aside from following logical medical advice how does respond how does one respond is it a test or a spiritual consequence or a punishment this is a very big question for five minutes don't you agree well let's at least say the principles first of all the first issue to address in your question of about a person living with a long-term disability or illness the first question to note is that we do not know why things happen don't know why things happen let me make this clear since we have no prophecy anymore for the last two thousand three hundred years you no longer know why things happen the only way you know I think happens is you have a prophet you go to the Prophet the Navi he tells you why this happened to you we no longer have that wisdom and therefore the principle we operate on today's and we have no specific knowledge of why our things happened there are rare exceptions sometimes something happens to you that is very specific very specific and very immediate that's a rare flash of light from the spiritual world but in general we do not know why things happen and therefore is it a punishment is that a consequence is that something you did in the past it was a reincarnation that you need to go through is it a test we don't know I'll give a talk about the syncytium soon there I'm Colin Derek Hashem there's one section in there a fashion where he does something absolutely stupendous beyond beyond belief he says there are 12 reasons why things happen to you in the world 12 reasons specific reasons that he goes through them specific 12 reasons no more and no less so which of us particular 12 reasons is the reason why you are going through this particular illness we don't know that does not mean we don't know what to do about it so listen carefully it's very important to make this distinction a person suffering from a long-term illness long-term loneliness they're unable to get married tragedies Loyola and their family whenever the problem is the person is dealing with and everyone's dealing with something why is this happening to me number one why we don't know number two what we do not example why is the world going through a corona crisis at the moment and our current crisis what exact center by the way we know it's because we've sinned nickiemoore is very clear that plagues come to the world because of sinful behavior of humans no problem not surprising which particular version of the sin we don't know why not particular we don't know but we know what now what is the consequences isolation deaths of certain categories of people certain format of the tragedy international to isolate you with all the consequences to the economy we certainly know what and therefore we can respond to the what for example our shells putting in this isolation could use the isolation what do you do develop inner resources like we said before silence let your family in a way that you didn't do before there's many things you don't have to know why are things happening to you to know what it's challenging you to do this person is suffering from a long-term illness that makes it embarrassing to go among people or they can't get an adequate employment whatever it is why is this happening to me I don't know but I know I know it's happening and therefore what are the features of the situation is it pain what can you learn from pain he's in isolation is it a test of character that you can certainly read a well-adjusted person understands that whatever they whatever the situation they've put into is designed for them why I don't know he's got his calculations but I know what and therefore the second level is a level of reading the details and adjusting to the details and the third level system Amari is you certainly been given this for a reason and therefore you examine the layers of your life what needs correcting your marriage your loyalty to your friends go through the layers of your life if you find nothing wrong as I'm sure all of your spiritual viewers would find then you put it down to your torah learning because that's the broad spectrum antibiotic that fuels everything else so what to do about situations like that we know why is this happening which is what bothers most people we don't know and it's often not profitable to think about because we cannot answer that question specifically now it becomes a personal decision personal discretion which I can't answer in general this person particularly going through this particular thing what do they learn from it what particular message or what can they extract from the fact that they're going through something painful or embarrassing or limiting in some way that becomes a personal let me leave you with this comment here's an amazing comment rabbi zev in Chicago did you know Mattie Cohen then if he knew him where Israel as have gone there was a wonderful man como te kani player did you know him in Israel anyway so poster of Moshe Shapiro's he traveled with him around the world very special individual it a few years ago of cancer as a young man when he was in the most phase of his illness he went to Russia Peru and he said to him you know I have a few months left maybe what should i what should I be working on but in this situation desperate last months of my life listen to what Russia Pierce it in tin tag sheet even ellika c'mon or Cepheid you know that means take care that you build another come on loss effort another another story to your soul in other words story I'm in another floor what do you call it in America another that you should be a bigger person a bigger person not just some details you're going through a life-changing event this is life and death make sure that three months down the line before you die you've added a floor to your song another category to yourself not that you complain a little bit less and you smile a bit more and you ride a nice you know message to your family they can read after you've gone make sure that you die as a bigger person than you are now a well-adjusted person goes through a crisis and becomes a bigger person badly adjusted person goes to crisis and it breaks them down next question okay the next question on a similar sort of direction related to the seriousness of what's going on today why did you as people died or why does anyone die while doing this quote you know the example they were giving is the killing in Muncie or in the house caught fire because of the Hanukkah candles how would we understand how a person would die while doing a mitzvah well let's get clear what the question is first of all why things happen we don't know you don't know why things happen what can you extract us as I explained before we don't know why things happen what can you read from the what what a privilege to die as a Jew what what would you when would you choose to die when you do something you're watching on the internet you shouldn't be watching is that when you want to die is that how you want to transition from this world to the next or do you want to die ensure that Natasha your life has to end sometime okay so that's what you extract from those things if the question this meaning is why do you die doing them it's because you pre should be protected by the mitzvot that isn't in the contract anyway that is there is a notion in the kimono that Torah protects you in general and protect you while you're doing them protect you I'm certain things but it's not going to protect you from when when your time comes and therefore I'm over men in a certain city died while being called up to the Torah Shabbos morning called up to the Torah ladies broker and died on the one hand Hashem what are you doing another hand Oh amazing what a time to go so I think it's a question of the vision that you have of the world and I think the axiom behind the question needs to be examined ok thank thank you is every piece of sand on a beach placed there by God because he says it has to be placed right there or is there arrange for the natural quotations world to rain causing aside this is and they're not directly directed by his wisdom that's a nice question that's a good question at last the question we can answer this question is a deep question what we call a scoffer Pratyush caja pratchett god's fine-tuned dealing with the world let me tell you what he said about this and why it's misunderstood and then the correct answer the ramble on and many like him say this they say that when it comes to you as an individual God directs your actions with great precision when it comes to the natural world he pays only attention to the categories let me explain what I mean when it comes to you as an individual he's responding to you in specific detail when it comes to animals he's responding only to the needs of the species right how about get on nice to see you here yeah I hope you're recovering from the work you put me through the other night let me say this when it comes to individuals that's called Ashgar sopretty that means God controls or interacts with you specifically when it comes to fish says the Rambam is not concerned about an individual fish is only concerned about the species let me say that again when it comes to animals horses cows etc God is concerned about the species he once horses around is not fussed about this horse or that house when it comes to sand on the beach he once and that's another way there's this grain or that one grain more one grain less that is irrelevant team however that concept is badly misunderstood what meant by the Rambam when he says that is that is the different nature of God's interaction with you than with grains of sand on the beach but according to Kabbalah every grain of sand every blade of grass is absolutely necessary and the reason is it's part of his creation when they make cars in Detroit or when they used to make us in Detroit then anthro nuts and bolts for no reason every nut and bolt has a reason you may be sure there aren't throwing stuff that are not needed and they don't leave out anything that is needed not one detail not one lick of paint is not one screw or bolt in your car nuts are necessary being carefully placed there for a reason some more important reasons and some less important reasons when God creates the world every molecule is necessary every virus is needed anomaly virus particles there on the world more virus particles then stars in the known universe the most numerous organisms on earth are viruses every one is necessary do you understand why no but he does so let's say it again according to Kabbalah every detail every breath of wind every blade of grass every grain of sand is absolutely necessary so much so that it's written in Kabbalah that if one grain of sand would disappear the universe would collapse not only is it necessary at falls part of a circuit that is complete and honoring that their uncle says in the end of days you will realize the life of necessary however the quality of our shams into action the amount of himself that he reveals into interaction with the natural world and grains of sands on the beach is much less and he reveals interaction with you and the more spiritual you are the more he reveals and therefore a person who lives on the level of it sonic his affairs are controlled exactly and crime we talk once the great kabbalist he had a difficult calculation to make about whether he owed a certain amount of charity or not thought about it carefully did he deserve did he owe that amount of money or could because of one's legitimate not to pay that amount of money he made a calculation he decided he was not obliged within the next hour a vessel of his fellow to the well and broke that was worth exactly the amount that he decided he was not obliged to pay you got it wrong there's the consequence immediately that's what we call Oshkosh Monte and therefore in summary to answer your question is the natural world is dealt with in a natural fashion you do not see that it makes any difference to God whether this fish is caught or that fish is caught but according to Kabbalah which is operating in the hidden world every grain of sand is absolutely essential Thank You Allan another question it was decreed when we should should die and the person who led a meaningful life why do we mourn the death of a loved one rather than celebrating his or her life does it benefit the soul and how okay when somebody does after a meaningful life let's say somebody fulfill themselves maximally and they die there are two feelings you should have one is it sadness and we'll have to explain why that is true and the others a celebration of the life absolutely celebration of the life so much so that if you visit the grave of a person who's died so there's a mourning and a sadness when you visit the grave of its addict it's an exhilarating experience and the country when you go to the grave of its attic a person who lived as they should so completely different experience you know when I was in Prague with Rama Shapiro we went to the grave of the of the maja role from where she lay down on the grave I saw that we went to fire in the morning before the tourists arrived you climbed on the grave the Marr well you know it's a it's like about two and a half three feet construction he laid down this Commission attack al-kubra always we asked him afterwards he what's so special about the grave of a sonic he says it is a machine under construction this is the resurrection of the dead under construction and that's what you're trying to absorb so let's go back a moment when a person dies after a fulfilled life here's a tremendous rejoicing in the fact that the person died pure and achieved what they achieved at the same times there's a tremendous mourning for the fact that this person first of all left the world is now bereft of the opportunity to perform it Swiss and is manifesting the great tragedy of humanity which is death it was not part of the plan when Adam was created originally he was immortal he died as part of a of humanity when a human being dies which is a disintegration it's a correction that's needed it reminds us of the tragedy of the fact that we are mortal beings instead of being semi divine beings we are mortal beings given to disintegration and that's a tremendous sadness apart from the fact of the loneliness and the missing of the person that's all peripheral stuff and the final part of your question is does the mourning achieve anything for the person listen to this well the Rambam says that if you mourn correctly namely act in empathy what is mourning what is mourning in Jewish law you act in empathy with the souls to carry it on its journey what is mourning they cannot move you sit they have no mechanism of truck of locomotion you take your shoes off they cannot appear in the world your appearance is torn you sit in silence again the middle of mourning is to act in empathy with the soul particularly someone like a parrot that person carried you on your journey into the world and now they need you to carry them listen to what their Imam says he says if you fail to moan for somebody that you're obliged to mourn for you're guilty of cruelty cruelty that's the language used axes are you'd you could have helped them and you didn't and therefore of course money helps the person we are so badly educated we think mourning is to take leave and come to you know come to terms and and and seal there you know psychologically that's all fringe benefits the obligation of mornings to carry them on a journey it's very hard work each ha'la'tha of mourning is designed to carry the neshamah to where it needs to be carried for it's a tremendous obligation and responsibility if you don't do it correctly you guilty of cruelty to the soul and therefore money isn't only psychologically helpful it's a obligation and what why do you do it for seven days because it takes seven days for the soul to get adjusted to its situation in the next world it's very uncomfortable for seven days it keeps trying to get the body to move in the body one react and so you go through the agony of mourning for the seven days and for thirty days it's a lesser degree and therefore the the laws of of a lute not simply psychological and sentimental is no such thing in Judaism it's a tangible specific obligation to carry that much I'm on a journey yeah next question you switch to a different topic science and turn so one question was put it was asked a couple of times in the Torah I'm just quoting the question one of them being impartial 4:8 the Torah mentions the camel and states it doesn't have a split toe but in reality it does looking at the bones what is the explanation for this remnant excuse me the camel does exactly what the Torah says let's get that tear no problem with the camel but maybe I can rephrase your question if you don't mind I think your question means what happens when the Torah says a certain thing in reality does not agree with it that's your question is I think that's the meaning of the question what do we do and the person continues there maybe they spoke about camel but they continue a hare and the rabbit are also mentioned in this portion both and here a rabbit are not chewing their cud because they don't have the stomach structure to do that I heard the answer you know so maybe you could clarify the question person then explained the answer you know yes I think your question is putting the question it probably means what happens when the discrepancy between the way the Torah says a thing in the way the reality that we see this is the classic problem of the discrepancy to be in science and Torah and if I may broaden the question it isn't only the tolerance the oral law as well what happens when the Mishnah tells us at a certain scientific fact operates a certain way and we see in the world that it's wrong I'm gonna address that question if that's okay with you right we had someone else ask that question about life about being allowed to kill lice and Shabbat because they don't be produced right okay so we're dealing with the clash between Torah and science tells us one thing science is different five minutes not enough to just this question overlooked but I'll give you an overview of the approach here tor is a divine was spiritual wisdom cannot be wrong cannot be wrong physically in science in Tarot you misunderstood you either misunderstand the Torah or you must understand the science oh you misunderstand both that's the axiom we come from on the country science is a shifting sands of perception research changes over time torez infinite torez definition of truth no self-respecting lice can do different than the Torah says because they governed by territory additions and creates the reality no self-respecting camel with all due respect would dare have a hoof different than the Torah says you know the Torah came before the camel now people think that tour is an incredible description of the world most times it gets it right nose way which chews the cud and what doesn't chew the cud and it knows that the planets and unbelievable wisdom how does the Torah know it unbelievable thing that's complete garbage complete garbage they told us in our reality people think the Torah knows reality and the rabbi's they were amazing they got it wrong a few times you know the hair and the lice most times wore the rabbi's tell you you know the rabbis say in the Mishnah that no fish every single fish that has scales has fins how the heck did they know that then that mission was written 2,000 years ago how did the rabbi's know that every single fish that has scales has fins even today we're not sure we've discovered every species of fish ok about 30 years ago and use a new fish called the coelacanth was discovered and to this day no fish has been found that has scales it is not offense how do they know that well they were amazing they knew here is another another version of that argument you know why you have to eat kosher food because the rabbi's knew or the Torah knew that uncovered is unhealthy you know why they told you not to eat pork the Torah cuz Polk has tapeworm whoa they were amazing they knew that they tell you not to eat shellfish you know what the shellfish swim around in the schmutz at the bottom of the sea and soak up all the hepatitis virus they make you sick well the rabbi's knew that very amazing that's garbage that's garbage they told us in our reality the Torah came before reality the Torah was written before the shellfish was created the Torah was written before the pig was created no self-respecting Pig who dared to be healthy because the Torah says is unhealthy no self-respecting shellfish in other word works the shellfish is created he swims around in the sea he says geometry fish I've been a swim around in this once again you have to understand the Torah reality comes first and then the physical reality follows the reason listen to this the reason the reality looks the way the Torah says is not because the Torah knows reality but because the Torah created it that way ever written back you know is a famous story about a man walking in the forest and suddenly he starts noticing targets on the trees and there's an arrow exactly in the dead center of every target unbelievable his there's all these targets on the trees and in the dead center of every one is an error and finally he finds the guy shooting his system I've never seen such skill unbelievable because his no it's easy first I'll shoot arrows then I drove the targets hey what came first the tower came first therefore it cannot be wrong about science ok so let's take that further and by the way what gets me a little wound up by this question I try not to get wound up but if I get wound up about something it's this the questioner asks you know lice they don't fit the rule of the Torah or the the jawbone of the donkey or the camel he's got about five questions you know these are about five famous questions in this area why doesn't he start with the two thousand examples when the Torah gets it right beyond scientific explanation why doesn't he get right the fact you know the Kamal calculates the time of the month you know the period of the month to within two fifths of a second of NASA's assessment to first of the second and I think NASA's wrong how the heck did they get it right right to within two seconds the time they knew about fish they're unbelievable things that I'll tell you a cute story as a doctor and 100 years ago when Sergey was very new there was a Jewish doctor in hospital in in Vilna Jewish doctor he was a little boy in Heder left that system and eventually became a doctor one day in the hospital there was a patient who had a disease abhi spleen and he was dying some problem an abscess I don't know what it was the guy was dying there was not hope for this patient one morning the doctor walked in his seat to the patient listen I've got a crazy idea a crazy idea I want to operate on you and remove your spleen now the logic at the time was that if listen to this the logic was even organ is diseased and it's killing you if you take it out you'll certainly kill a guy for example the liver if the liver goes wrong it's not functioning it's killing you if you get out of the body you'll die immediately there you got all functions in the liver at the time they didn't know what the spleen did in the body so any ugh the hope the heart you know hot failure you dying if we cut your heart out you die immediately that was the surgical logic and therefore he said I know it's crazy it goes against everything we've been taught but I want to try you've got no hook the patient said doctor is that my only chance he said absolutely he said go ahead the girl operated he took out his spleen the guy made a full recovery so the doctors in the hospital said to the stuck to luck how did you do that like it was guaranteed in all the surgical wisdom that if you take out an organ that's ill it's obviously killing the guy cuz it's ill you gonna kill him fast if you take it out the doctor said you know I was a little boy in the kradin vulajin and I remember when I was a little child we led Mishnah hundreds of mr. czaka learned my heart and I suddenly remembered a Mishnah that I learned in cooling the Mishnah cooling says goes for all the organs of the body and it says nikka evade that means it is injury to the liver try for the animals or try for that means it's gonna die natella covered you take away the liver it's definitely a trifle next organ the lining of the brain if it's got a cut in it right whatever it is it's a tough animal it's gonna die if the organs removed is for sure gonna die but the Mishna says when it comes to the spleen the mister says nikka fat halt if the spleen is injured trifer little at all but if the spleens missing is kosher animals fine I said is that right so the misters telling me that a diseased spleen is lethal but removed spleen you cool to care explained mister saved his life so when your question asked to you what about lice and camels why doesn't he first begin with the two thousand examples when the torrent got it right in a way that modern science doesn't understand okay now it comes to a few questions that we don't understand your mother says that last do not reproduce in a male female and my male female reproduction that makes no sense as by the way it didn't make sense from the time of the game or either because you can see that last so male and female and you can see that they lay eggs any mother who's had a kid who's gone to school has taken life lice eggs out of there a bus could seen it so obviously there's something we're not communicating about correctly here but let's say it's a problem it's a it's a problem so thousands of examples the Torah knows science perfectly five in them it appears to be wrong I would be a little cautious in saying the Torah got it wrong maybe you not understanding and furthermore Sidra Moshe Shapiro's let's say it's a kasha it's a difficulty does the Torah collapse on that we have hundreds of questions in Torah listen to this we have hundreds and hundreds thousands of questions every page of gomorrah has dozens of questions does that stop Judaism being true it's a question now the Torah makes our comment about science we don't understand that's a question so we put it aside till we find an answer it's legitimate to have questions if it's legitimate to have an attack on a Torah idea from Torah it's certainly de gentleman to have an attack on a scientific fact from Dora so the four five questions we don't understand and finally one more important point very important point when the Torah quotes science wrongly I'm speaking to the rabbi's in the group I see at least a few robots I'm speaking to people who've got a learning background so listen carefully Shawn yeah sit up sit up straight and pay attention listen to this you know this is for you as well listen to this when the Torah speaks about science it does it in two contexts it speaks about science in the context of Halawa and science in the context of non halakha any Torah comment about science that has a logic relevance is 100% true because if the fact is not truth Allah has not true let me say that again when the Todd talks about lice with a halassi reason what it says about lice is 100% true because it was not a lahar collapses and falaka Calicut collapses that story collapsing again any statement the Torah makes about the moon and it's periods or lice and and Shabbat any scientific fact that taurah is mentioned relevant to science to tell AHA 100% correct how many problems are there a handful but many many times the turret talks about science not in the context of allaha and there it's wildly wrong wildly wrong because when the Torah uses a scientific fact for spiritual illustration for metaphorical purposes it never meant the fact to be true example you understand when the Torah wants to convey a Kabbalistic idea the gomorrah wants to Kabbalistic idea it uses the science of the time the science can be wildly wrong I'll give you an example let's say I want to illustrate your deep principle in physics so I use the story of Goldilocks by the way in physics is a thing called the Goldilocks principle you know that amazing thing nuclear physicists today they discussed the Goldilocks principle they're using a fairy tale because it perfectly suits the need of explaining does it mean they believe in Goldilocks happened no they're using it as a story that many times the Gemara uses a scientific fact weird stuff about driving out spirits of insanity by smoking weird stuff they're the beamers using it as illustration for a Kabbalistic principle they used the conventional science at the time because it was the perfect metaphor it's got nothing to do with the truth they never took am I making myself clear and therefore whenever you come across the game or I talk Marisa ask yourself is this talking halaqah if it is you can bet your life on the scientific fact when it's talking about something Kabbalistic is not connection to the scientific facts only using a story Phyllis trashin ok next let's move on ok we have another question over here sort of related to this but a little bit different as a medical professional you know you wouldn't prescribe the patient medicine as controversial or debated upon there are certain ideas in Judaism there are agreed upon by everyone and there are others that are highly controversial for example whether chicken is considered meat and if we can eat cheese afterwards why should Jews follow these rules when the rabbi's can't seem to agree what's right and what's wrong you wouldn't take medicine unless we know for sure that it will help it shouldn't be any different for Judaism ok that's that's a nice question but it's completely missed constructed everything it's let's listen this carefully first of all in medicine in medicine we use treatments all the time that I'll not agree Daniel do you like that we use many medical treatments all the time that I'll not agreed I hate to tell you this almost every medical treatment is disagreed about should you do such hydroxychloroquine today for for covered there's a violent argument going on should you use antivirals violent argument should your play there is a hysterical argument about these things I hate to disappoint you doctors almost always disagree what do they agree on how you set the broken bond more or less more or less and by the way whatever doctors agree on five years later they decide is criminal I hate to disappoint you medicine is rife with arguments how do we solve it by the way we go with the majority of opinion there's a consensus of expert opinion we have a right way of resolving these things and by the way our rittenberg very often in medicine there's no resolution and you're free to make your own choice absolutely free to make your own choice right many things in medicine when you replace a heart valve there's a massive argument do you use a pig valve or a plastic valve violent argument they both had merits and about their risks a plastic valve when you replace our heart valve with a plastic valve the beautiful part about it have lost for a lifetime the problem is you have to take blood thinning medications which are dangerous if you use a pig valve no blood thinning medications perfectly safe but about 10 percent of them need to be replaced in ten years time hmm which is better massive argument how do we decide those issues we have a consensus of majority opinion or the patient gets to choose let's go ha'la'tha in anetha we have a way of resolving a locking disputes absolutely by the way where the chicken is meat or not is no longer an argument in Judaism at all okay it is considered logically as meat for all intents and purposes but the point is that there are rich arguments in Torah which is wonderful that's the dynamic of the oral law and we have way of resolving it what's the way of resolving it majority opinion very clear when there's no majority opinion choose what you want ask your local Orthodox rabbi and make your own choice I once Australia's chief about a patient where there was an argument australasia it was argument about whether the patient should have plastic valve or a pig valve he said the person gets to choose so for the rabbi which was his life let him choose which risks he wants to live with so the answer to your question is unfortunately medicine is fraught with arguments we have a way of resolving that in each case very often the patient should while making the choice sometimes that's not correct eloquently the beauty and the dynamic of the oral law is that it's not cast in stone and monolithic there are tremendous arguments with intolerant each one is valid each one is a different facet of reality and we have ways of resolving that we know the majority of opinion they murdered rabbi knows how to weigh up the opinions sometimes this majority sometimes there's a minority that is so senior many are laughing decisions in medicine for example these days we rely on Oh Masha Feinstein even in cases where he was not the majority yet very broad shoulders and every rabbi in this generation knows that and therefore it's a professional judgment about how you make those decisions in Torah a professional rabbinic judgment and it's part of the dynamic and the beauty of the oral law I hope that's clear somebody asked let me tell you something interesting yes you know that the Torah says you need to go to doctors to be treated we're a poor europay the doctor has permission to treat and your permission to see a doctor the trouble is that the tone doesn't tell you what the doctor should do here's the problem go to your doctor the Torah says so great I'm fulfilling a mitzvah exactly where the Torah says I walk into the doctor's office so from observing the Torah totally then the doctor starts telling me take this tablet in that tablet just one second the turn isn't saying that tablet on that tablet and the problem is there whatever the medicine the doctor gives me in five years time they're going to find something better and this and they'll decide that this one is useless or criminal medicines like that I'm speaking about being a doctor for many years I can tell you every medical treatment that is accepted in five or ten years time they decide that it's completely criminal and it does harm yeah my father was a doctor before me if I use the kind of medicines my father used that day Jeremy ran away that stuff is criminal so here's the problem the Todd tells you to accept medical treatment but you know that medical treatment is subject to human opinions and you know that it will change all the time what gives you the right to take this medicine and listen carefully this is so important in this current era the answer is the toe tells you to do what's normal in your time in place is it effective or not irrelevant the healing comes from God listen let me say it again the Torah says go and seek medical treatment which Oh treatment what is broadly accepted by the consensus of experts in your day and age if it's a broadly accepted consensus medical treatment God will take care of you if you take it and if he doesn't wasn't meant to be start reaching for some fringe stuff some extremes people asking me to sign to sign petitions that this medicine should be used net medicine mega doses of this and that this ridiculous from a Jewish point of view it's not the mega doses of vitamin C that will save you in the first place it's good only God wants you to take a little tablet which one whatever one is acceptable according to the mainstream no matter how sick you are you got a solution I'm a terrible disease you do what's responsible at the best level the best not available with the best research to medicine that's available at your time that's all less than that is negligent and more than that is a lack of atacó let me say it again how many locks do you need on your door what's normal in your time in place if you live City where people have two locks on their door you need two locks on your door less isn't negligent and Mozilla Kobe talk on it's not the lock that's gonna save your life anyway you can define locks on your door and your wife can wake up extra violent that day you know and other things can happen that are going to take you out but you need to act responsibly in medicine you need to do what's normal in your time and place less than that is negligent and more than that is a lack of otago and so in a person's ill they need to accept the best consensus of medical treatment at the time to start running around the world and start doing Haiti voodoo you know medicine and then taking mega doses of listenin and putting stuff in your ear inhaling your new hair dryer you know that's not the Torah that's not the Torah approach he studless that look means to do what's normal in your time in place and then you trust God unfortunately after marriage Douglas not less than necessary but not more either and therefore man is how you resolve those issues covered covered by the way the right decision was to isolate everybody despite the enormous fallout and now it was a right call at the time unfortunately it's not a permanent call they were all be suffering and by the way it's not as rama rosenbloom put it beautifully last word last week people think it's a chest it's a tension between life and money life I select everybody you save lives but it's money people are not only you're living it's not a question of life against money it's life against life when you lock people down money is life tube in a community cannot earn a living that's a life and death question this is life against life locking people their own impermanent isolation costs lives to in many ways but it's a delicate balance the right call was to isolate everyone initially we had no idea what was going on it's a weird illness a weird illness people are getting short of breath without adequate blood tests are going crazy people are getting weird symptoms people are getting red toes do you know that travel rittenberg people are starting to get red toes from covered weird stuff blood clots strokes unbelievable things so we know what was going on we needed to play for time we needed to not have the ICU swamped by people with people dying in the not even 1918 Americans were burying people with bulldozers the hospital corridors are piled with dead people was the right call but it's a limited time you can't keep going like that you keep people locked down people are gonna die last week my daughter lives in South Africa told me she has a lady who comes in to help them and there is an isolation in one of the townships she called my daughter and she said listen you've got to give me some work I brought my food I got no food his people you know there's a road in Johannesburg where you drive in the morning there's a long line of black men sitting on the side of the road they painters and builders and bricklayers and plasterers they're hoping someone's going to come and pick him up and give them work that day if no one picks them up and gives them the job that day they don't eat that day there's many Jewish people and many people in South Africa and they drive to work they hand a coffee or a breakfast out of the window to those guys there's a Jewish restaurant owner he owns two restaurants in Italian place called mood he takes his restaurant food to the guys every day his people if they don't work today they don't eat today you couldn't keep people like that lock down but it's a delicate balance and how do you how do you stop the isolation now so as you stop the isolation most young people are going to be fine may well turn out that they're immune if they've had it many people have had it but what about the elderly vulnerable people that are going to die when this every time you lift the lid and you stop the isolation somebody's grandmother dies it's a delicate balance it's a balance for society to decide and it takes very mature so the right thing to do is what the standard expert advice is in your generation there's always differences of opinions less than that is irresponsible more than that is a lack of faith yeah next question okay thank you all right we're gonna do we'll try to get to two more questions I know there's a lot of questions that we didn't get to today and we're going to continue a week from today exactly at the same time as dr. shamon cuts out next Tuesday so the question and and please continue to send me questions if you would like I'm saving them so we could ask them for next week so the question was asked according to her of a Hana wasment massaman there are seven stages to the coming of Messiah and we are in the seventh stage what are your thoughts on this and how do we take these how do we look at these current circumstances yes that's true we are in the final stage everyone agrees on that there's no question about that we we accepted by everybody in the Torah world that we on what's called a machete which means the footsteps of the Messiah but it doesn't mean much you know yes he could come any day now any moment absolutely what does it mean be prepared absolutely be prepared in the language of the Talmud make sure that your underwear is white you know what I mean you need to be clean who knows when you'll be taken to hospital and their undress you little embarrassing you know I'll give you a humorous take on this when I was a medical student in South Africa there was a you need to understand South African culture for this but in South Africa there's no more metro image then the motorcycle policeman right the traffic they caught traffic cops you're talking about grizzled Sean you know what I mean you're talking about grizzled weather-beaten you know suntanned grizzled you know veterans day not on their motorcycles is no more macho there's only this is not fear for many many things okay but it's fearful that when those guys call you over you know you don't argue you just you just say yes you know okay Matt you like anything now those guys ride their motorcycles day or night now South Africa is a hot country but in the winter it gets cold it not you know it gets cold at night and it's called on a motor so they discovered that if you wear under your motorcycle uniform your wife's tights you know what tights are they called pantyhose in South Africa you know what I mean they're like nylon kind of tights you know you like pull them up you know they they usually pink you know okay here's this motorcycle cop grizzled muscular macho character under his uniform he's got pink tights well every now and then one of them has an accident and I'm there I'm I'm I'm an intern in the hospital the guys brought in with a broken leg now what happens when a guy's got a broken leg you don't undress him because you make the fracture worse so what you have is a special scissors it's a system that cuts clothing and it's got a special blunt tip so you don't injure the patient he has this totally nurse the guy's lying on the table she takes this as a she slits his trousers and then all his glory is the pink tights okay a little humorous and a little tragic you want to be sure you're not wearing pink tights you know when the Machine arrives okay you want clean underwear with Michelle grasp that's the language of the gilliam yeah like a dear friend of on him let your clothes always be white and pure and therefore have I written burger answer is the Machine of Sony's way you need to be ready you need to look the way and every moment your life you need to look the way you would like to look when you're us you may not have time to prepare yeah okay before we give the final question a few people asked me to share the information about the class I mentioned tonight so I'm going to put this on the screen and you could if you like you can take a screen shot of this this is a class that we have tonight 8:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time with reveille whywe Jacobsen really phenomenal speakers discovering your personal relationship with Hashem and you can also get this on tour anytime calm I'm just going to take this off you want to take a screenshot of it for the final for the final question and again we had really amazing questions there's a lot more questions for next week but please keep sending them for the final question what is the proper balance between the amount of his dad looked Emunah it's a whole when it comes to 2.0 sir rava you can answer that in four minutes sir I have a long talk on this if anyone goes to the jld in London Jewish learning exchange you can download from there many many talks you could go to simple to remember calm where they have a couple hundred I think of my talks they're too lengthy talks there on getting that balance right let me say just in two minutes the basic answer to that is to be normal to be normal you can't expect miracles if you want to earn a certain amount of money you need to make the effort that is commensurate with that with that amount doing less than that you need to have genuine be talk on you can't fake that doing more than that is just silly to do more effort than necessary to earn is just silly you're wasting your time the money's going to come in anyway another hand you can't cut back to the extent that you expecting miraculous result unless you're on the level and you can't ask anyone where you're on that level so the rule of thumb although this is a complicated discussion in many layers and I've tried to go through that in a lengthy discussion I cannot do justice to rubia a disgrace to the subject to try to answer it in one minute but I'll tell you the starting position the starting position is to be normal to be normal when it comes to getting married you can make less effort each each area has its own its own area to get married what do you have to do look nice smell nice pretend to be normal you know meet people who are more or less compatible help having someone help you in a sensible kind of a fashion earn your living there many considerations needs to suit your personality something that's clean and kosher but the starting position in earning a living is doing something that is normal not not pushing any boundaries not getting into anything that's unnecessary or dishonest in any way and not expecting to earn an amount that would be miraculous at your level of the Torah but really this needs a full discussion you either need to devote one of your sessions to this I'm happy to talk about it or download those talks when the greatest of pleasure let me thank your ever written word for this opportunity Daniel nice to see you get on Mordy nice to see you as well Sean about Sean Rabbi Dan if you the people Zev nice to see you stay in touch please less from Chicago no I can't see everyone but nice to have you with me on this session thanks to Emmett and all Emmy for making this possible and hope to see you next week okay thank you very much for Mike that's greatly appreciated and just to reiterate the website where we test mentioned is simple to remember calm where you can find a lot of other avatars classes and everyone be safe and hope to see you again soon in person and if not in person at least and zoom around my TAS have a good night wench and I gave it to applause not called corona or covered what we know now so there's a zoom session it's got some fantastic videos illustrations of the virus itself and the scale and slides of the virus quite amazing stuff to see the illustrations so you go to the jle and just scroll down to the end of my talks what's cool the only website what's the jail you website just go to jle which is a London or Jewish learning exchange in London jle yeah and it'll come up and then on the website the different speakers if you look up the talk I gave you yesterday on covert what we know now I think you're obviously enjoy seeing the the graphics on that anyway have a great week thank you very much okay thank you very much your attacks [Music]