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Farbrengen 19 Kislev Part 4 The Rebbe appeals to all of us; Chassidus applied. Rabbi Paltiel, 5783
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04. Farbrengens, 19 Kislev, 5783 (2022) Deerfield Beach Florida, Part Four. Children and growth; learning about our best selves from children. This is really the truth of Chassidus.
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foreign
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at your own risk but you need to be uh
you need to be uh on the camera
oh it's kabbalistic
things to sell you
this is a recorder and this is a
broadcaster why
because uh that's the people who
I have a website you know that I'm
shamelessly promoting as you probably
are aware uh called inside
yeah so this is being done live this is
this and this is recording it why you
need to because the quality of the
online recording is
so that's where I got two phones now the
question is why do I have two phones and
not two cameras but that's
a really kabbalistic question because I
don't know the answer
but it works it works
and people help me so how does your
website
my website is all about teachers
you see
the honest truth is I'm much more
teacher than lecturer and speaker and
even for bringer
I love to teach and I teach to see this
because it is
actually
an involved philosophy it's a brilliant
commentary on Jewish philosophy a Jewish
mysticism again I don't know how much
you understand but
the Jewish people have two theological
pulse
the non-mystical theological poll which
is sort of headed by rambam and people
like that Ebenezer and others and the
mystical
theological Pope which is headed by the
Zohar and then radius
and othersidas
really created a synthesis they wanted
to create a
a theology that doesn't
teach one at the expense of the other
and they found brilliant ways of
of synthesizing them and it's
scholarship it's actually boring
learning for geeks and I'm a geek and
that's what I do so I travel and I tell
stories and I make people stand and
dance it's amazing it's amazing this is
fabric this is
if you've read about this is we just
participated in a real farm it's not so
complicated we just got together and we
said a little like we got comfortable
enough to stand up and dance in the
middle of the night on a Tuesday
in the Miami Beach it's pretty cool
that's pretty crazy yeah I got meat I
wouldn't get caught you know what doing
that but listen we all danced but Hashem
for that we participated in this event
uh but I like to teach hasidus so my
website has over 10 000 classes
and I teach a lot of good stuff check me
out there's a lot it's not so hard to
navigate
so YouTube is all about this
the
the outside who's
who's day this is he was redeemed from
prison and we uh we celebrated his
Redemption and he wants us to celebrate
his Redemption I read I heard and I read
that he says that anybody who
participates in his Joy
he's going to make sure that the doors
of Heaven are open this is a great
opportunity said you get together on my
birthday in my
day of my Redemption and you say hello
and you wish each other good things I
will assure you that the Gates of Heaven
will be opened and the abuse
give us all the things that we need that
we want okay
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but this is a special opportunity what
I just want you to understand that
abhishness almond was a brilliant
intellectual
and he
he I'm at alcohol by the way he
he
created
a form for the teaching of mysticism
which is very original
he used real philosophy laws of logic
to explain mysticism and he he really is
unique and his teachings are brilliant
and we have seven generations seven
rabbis of khabad second seven success
Generations
a father a son a grandson and a great
grandson a great great grandson tiller
who have been teaching Chabad
which is amongst other things an insight
into mysticism slash philosophy of the
Jewish people and enlightens it and
makes us understandable to an over to
lay person that's my business that's
what I do I try to teach it and try to
explain it to make the people bring it
to people so the story was that when he
was incarcerated this is the story
that's what Robbie wants me to say that
when he was incarcerated
he was visited by his holy Masters the
ultra sat in a little tiny cell and a
little tiny cell
and two rabbis came to see him
problem is these rabbis had passed away
some decades before they were his
teachers
the holy maggot passed away 36 years
before the bashamta passed away
49 years before something to that effect
and they came to see him with a
spiritual experience
and he said to his teachers why am I
sitting in jail what am I doing here
so they said to him you're sitting in
jail because you're teaching too much
you're taking this this very deep
mystical stuff
you're embodying it in the form of
philosophy making it available to
Ordinary People and the upstairs is a
lot of noise
says okay I'll stop he said no no no no
no if you survive this only do more
that's exactly what happened
so after he came out of jail it was it
was the last period of his life last 10
to 12 years of his life
he actually adopted a whole new
dimension
of interpreting command
and he's the father of
is the father of everything we study and
learned that I teach that I make a
living doing
so it's a very important day for him for
us
it's interesting it's very interesting
it's very interesting
you know
you know of like but Omer
you know like who doesn't know if like
Boomer right it was like what's like
bomber
what's like
trees
La Grimace fire
right like Bomer is the day that a
really holy capitalist who lived 18
centuries ago died
lived in the second century he passed
away and people over the world religious
and irreligious whatever
see them and snag them they get together
and they make a bonfire they sing songs
and they wrote marshmallows here's the
thing
if we knew anything about this holy man
rap shipment
we would know that we have nothing in
common with
he was so holy and he was so pure and he
was so brilliant
and somehow
we all relate to him
the holiest rabbis
who have the least to do with the common
person
have the broadest appeal
and that's part of this
I mean has anybody in this room
is anybody in this room
has anybody instrumented ever you've met
11 okay
um I don't know how we'll do it when you
were an adult you were a child how old
were you huh you were a child
you remember that ever but you didn't
get a dollar from that ever
you probably got a dollar okay I grew up
in Granite I grew up at his feet
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the thing that people miss about this
Rabbi was
he was a serious Jew
it was a man who calculated every minute
of his life didn't waste a second
he was so intense
and how he lived
and somehow we all think he's cool
no seriously think about it
you watch films of the review you see
how every single Move Motion of his is
measured it doesn't waste a second it
doesn't even move his hands
unnecessarily
and um we we in our behavioral lives
have nothing in common with him nothing
but somehow the really really great
rabbis
even children can relate
you know what Dean Steins out you know
what Dean Stein's art was I didn't have
any style you know that is
in the 70s the New Yorker did a Expose
and some professors said that a mind
like his comes into the world Once In A
Thousand Years shy death was an
unbelievable genius and he dedicated his
life to teaching Torah he wrote a
complete commentary on the talmud and he
was incredible over 300 books over 300
volumes it was a brilliant brilliant
brilliant man and he was very close to
that
and one of the things that really got
him was he would come to 7-7 and he was
this really great intellectual and all
around that ever and I mean literally
around that I have a little kids they're
they're this close to him
and they're just a sea of them
and then I'm just comfortable with the
children the children are comfortable
today but they have a Common Language
even though they they have nothing in
common
he as an intellectual said get the
little kids away from me Dad just
they're nudges they're disturbing you
know one of the children
he tied the name of his shoelaces
together
one shoe to the other shoe you
understand he was busy with bored so
that's why they said okay so the kids
can't go under the table but they would
sit they never had no
because they were literally they would
be under the table and one of the kids
then I got up the Rock and he was in it
his feet were Shackled because some kid
died his realizes together and the devil
was not going to bend down in public and
undo his shoelaces I don't know the end
of that story so they didn't let the
kids but they sat all around them and he
was so comfortable
the really holiest of holy somehow
we all relate to
and that's a big piece of hasidis one of
the biggest parts of the Hasidic culture
is the involvement of the regular person
just me and you and a holy man
that's why people get on a plane and
they travel to New York and they go to
the river's resting place you come there
and there are so many people
and what are they doing here why are
they here today and then you discover
there are always this many people all
types not necessarily religious
certainly not Chabad they all somehow
relate to this rabbi
because he was so incredibly holy
that he was able to
speak to every Jew to reach every dude
to touch every Jew no matter where they
were
and um that's why we're seeing them
I'm I'm spoiled I'm really smart I grew
up I was born in Crown Heights I grew up
in Crown Heights as a child my brother
and I would go to 770 which is that
episode I'm sorry and my father would
teach a lecture and some other synagogue
to a group of people my brother and I
would go to 770 and we'd stand behind
that ever it was the summer time the
only two kids Behind the dead both of
the kids were in Camp and they would
turn around and look at us
and we looked at him
I mean we thought it was perfectly
normal and now
more than
close to 50 years on
my brother and I
reflect back at those moments and we say
how much did it give us I'll tell you a
story that I don't even remember okay
I I eventually going to remember it I'm
going to tell myself the story so many
times when I was three years old
so you do a haircut right let's do a
haircut inside them do a haircut so you
don't cut your hair till three and then
you cut your hair and you leave a Yama
keeper and the past the Cyber is very
important and you start wearing scissors
so um
in those days this is 19
68. I was born in 65. so uh in 68 I
turned three so you would go over to the
rabbit by Fabric and by your garden just
like this except that they were not 40
people there there were 400 people there
or a thousand people there and you'd put
down a bottle of vodka and you'd walk up
to the rabbit he'd pour a little glass
then he'd give you some and then you
would say when you took it with you and
then when you made your party you had
one alcohol to distribute so my father
took with me me with him I was three
years old and they read me without
hesitation give me a bunch of what I
don't know how many three-year-olds to
get vodka anyway I don't remember this
but like I said I'm gonna tell the story
enough time until I remember it
I drank it and spit it right back in the
devil's face
my father said I was so embarrassed and
they never thought it was the funniest
thing in the world
and I wonder I I really honestly I
wonder
how much of who I am is a reflection of
these interactions these little stories
these simple stories
before I was born
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my parents visited and the Deborah
referred to me as him
and they didn't do my sonograms you know
him
he uh Remy new stuff
and he sometimes shared
and those of us who were fortunate and
grew up near him
we basked in his light we saw what it
means to work so unbelievably hard to
never rest
and to just love they just love that
ever
what he accomplished in his lifetime
it's impossible to it's about to
understand how much this man did he
carried so much responsibility
and he had time for a three-year-old to
give him vodka
I I've asked people who are in the know
if it was that was in the habit of
giving three-year-olds alcohol I wonder
was it a normal thing
and my father just okay he could have
said to them you know I don't know this
is going to go down but but the rebbe
gave you much guess you drank it I gave
it right back and then I thought it was
the funniest thing in the world my
father didn't think it was so funny but
everybody else in shows that it was
funny so that's my story that's my story
connections are tadik and that's why
people from here and from overseas
travel to Queens go to the river
and they stand there
they try to feel his spirit
and we pray to God we pray to God for
those things that we need
to give us health and success and wisdom
and grown-upness what can I tell you you
know it really is true
that life is simple
if we allow it to be simple
but there's so much
Temptation into complicating life
and we so often forget how expensive
that complexity is but we have to give
to get it
and if we could figure out how to
simplify Our Lives I honestly we will be
that's what is
a Jew a human being on this Earth who
never forgot what's the most important
thing
it's his wife it's his family it's his
community it's Toyota it's mitzvous it's
wisdom it's kindness It's responsibility
it's hard work
that's really what it comes down to and
if we succeed
in
applying those values to our lives and
you know
I say this a lot and I truly believe it
you need to understand my father's an
immigrant if I was an immigrant
because he's an immigrant I love America
that's the way it works my kids can
already hate America but I was
brainwashed my father came to this
country at the age of 15. my father was
born in the Soviet Union my father
remembers the bombardment of Moscow my
father who spent the world used in
Siberia my father went through a lot of
stuff that I can't even fathom
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um
and he loves this country when I was a
little child he would lecture me on
freedom I was talking about he would
walk the shoulder and Shabbos he's
talking about Freedom do me a favor you
know I don't know what you're talking
but this was
he raised me
kind of love this country
and one of the things about Americans I
I think there's two things about
Americans that are very special number
one I think
Americans really want to be good
we want we care to be good
we don't care to be called God we care
to be good a lot of us are very stupid
so we can come up very convoluted ways
of being good
but we care we really Americans want to
be good I think it's in their nature
it's not the same in Europe that's
number one and number two
Americans are never too old to change
70 75 80 I can still
stop putting on film
I can still start to keep Shabbos I can
still I'm gonna say it straight start to
be nice to my wife
after whatever number he has a marriage
really I could if I decide to
and I don't expect her to
to do it first you know I this is I can
fix what I can fix you can fix what you
can fix a lot of times we have
relationships with our spouses
with our parents and with our children
that have just they're in a bad pattern
they're in a bad pattern and this is our
choreography you know again I teach
teenagers so I'm always coming up with
metaphor
so what are my metaphors which is a very
it's a very realistic metaphor is
cheetah you know what a cheetah is
a cheater is a slender little cat that's
very very tall it's got the lungs the
size of uh I don't know what
um but he's a very delicate animal a
cheetah is not a leopard he's not tough
and cheetahs hunt
they can Sprint for I don't know half a
mile
50 miles an hour it's incredible how
fast they can move
and they they hunt down gazelle
sometimes they'll hunt larger prey if
they're hunting in pairs whatever the
particulars are
but the way you cheat a hunt is he
chases down the gazelle the antelope and
he takes his right Port slaps at the
animal down the animal
flips over the cheetah pounces on the
animal grabs it by the throat to the
animals laying on the ground his legs
are flailing and he suffocates it
what would that happen if one of these
Antelope instead of running away would
stun around and look at the cheetah and
say I dare you to kill me
the dance is over
the cheetah can own the prey animal
and the predatory animal are in a dance
that's how it's described by behavioral
scientists and the both animals need to
play their part if the prey animal stops
running away the cheetah can't kill
that's why you find situations where
lions are looking after little baby
gazelle It's the funniest thing
because the Exile is not running away
the line doesn't run after it this is
not to do so it looks its little face
and doesn't know what to do about giving
it milk or whatever the particulars are
but it's you see this happen all the
time because in order for the hunt to
work both animals have to play their
part and relationships are the same way
probably one of the hardest things in
America
maybe the hardest thing in America
is our relationship with our parents
which is one of the Ten Commandments
under thy mother and thy father is so
difficult for us it's so different for
everybody and I understand that all of
us got a list of grievances there's
nobody in the world that we're more
angry with than our parents but you know
what else
no one else in the world that loves us
as much no one else in the world is
going to take all this crap
that's why we can't afford to be
Grievous Grievous Grievous because they
take it and if we could say you know I'm
40 years old I'm 45 years old I'm not
complaining to my parents anymore what
happened when I was 16 and they missed
hockey practice I'm just gonna love him
because they're not here forever and I'm
just going to be and then you come home
to your parents and you're nice and
sweet and they're waiting for you to
bring up some old grievance and you
don't bring it up and they say Michael
what's going on nothing's going on
you're not yourself today he said why
you didn't insult me I'm not insulting
oh come on Michael if you know what
insult me what kind of relationship are
we going to have I'm going to kiss you
on both cheeks let's be our relationship
with you yeah but
and then God forbid your mother feels
best right she tells you that you're
overweight and you're eating too much
and then of course she feeds you
you know so these are these are patterns
that we fall into with our parents
with our children and most of all the
person closest to us in the world our
spouse the person we love the most and
um if there's a lesson we could take
from any
is that we're not stuck we're not we're
stuck if we allow ourselves to be stuck
can I see this says we all have a soul
the worst of us is all the people I have
a daughter
who worked for an organization called
Olive which is actually
anchored or initiated in Miami Beach
here in Florida where they're looking
after people in prison some of whom are
not in prison for
for you know what I'm saying for doing
jaywalking but for rather criminal and
the whole idea is they advocate for
prisoners
they're people and they need to give an
opportunity to live their lives and to
be given what they call Second Chances
obviously you're not going to give them
permission to hurt anybody
but this is this is
part of the philosophy you know find a
good in everybody and bring it to the
fore and the first of that
is finding the good in ourselves
really find it and go to me I I know me
I know
I know what's wrong with me I know a lot
of things that are wrong with me believe
me a longer list than you want to hear
um just ask my no I'll tell you if you
have a moment of truth and then you you
say you know what I'm not I'm not
repeating that behavior I'm going to
stop it and you could it's hard it's
very very hard but it's possible and
then I'll say it's Daniel has it in a
small way if every person let's just say
this okay I don't know how many of you
have parents that are alive
if you could decide that
your relationship and your mother is old
and obnoxious and she criticizes you and
the minute you walk through the door and
every time you call and you say she's an
old lady and I'm just going to love her
and I'm Gonna Take It
you'll be happier she won't know what to
do
and you'll be a better person
it's a simple thing and the same is true
in a relationship with our spouse and
the same is true in our relationship
with our children
and it this is I think this is one of
the gifts of America American
civilization I believe these two
statements to be true a Americans really
want to be good and B Americans are
never too old to change so here's an
opportunity it's a fabrangian okay hi
I'm everybody
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