Farbrengen 3 Tammaz part 3, Rabbi Yossi Paltiel - 5786

Okay, here's what's going to happen. Okay, this is the third segment of the faban. Um, the the Reb when the previous Reba passed away, the Reb published a discourse. The previous Reb published a discourse which would become the discourse associated with YJ Fat. And the Reb wrote a letter that each year we should study this discourse of Bosani. [clears throat] So the tradition by is that on we studied the Masilani. Um about two weeks before the Reb stroke the Reb edited and distributed g handed out a M which is called Dava. He gave everybody I got it from the Reb's own hand. Uh [clears throat] a a plastic like a clear plastic vanilla like envelope with the countis which was like purple $2 and a piece of honey cake. The gave lech in 1992 the year of the stroke gave a cake four times. I mean that whole winter is uh very interesting. This is less than two weeks before the stroke. this I'm sorry >> the four times >> and then so the tradition is that we study this okay so just like we do basilani we divide the mime into three we're going to also divide the m into three we're going to do the first four chapters tonight the second four chapters tomorrow morning after shak shak is 7:15 in in the middle of the night for Crown Heights. Um so the custom is that we learn four chapters tonight and four chapters tomorrow. Shak is tomorrow we'll do the second four chapters and then after we complete the mime it's 12 chapters. Um I'm going to I'm going to say the mime as it's written. You understand? I'm not going to give a whole lecture. I'm going to repeat the mime as it's written. I'm just going to give a little bit of an introduction. This mime is three mimm. There's three layers to it. There's a first mime, a second mime, and a third mime. And the way it breaks is more or less the first four chapters is the first mime. The second four chapters is the second mime and the third four chapters is the third mime. Each transitional point is questions. The asks questions, gives a bunch of answers, complete topic, then he asks new questions. the new questions open up a new mimer. Then he completes that and then he asks questions a third time and he answers them and the m gets deeper and deeper and deeper. Okay, that's the goes and it's really beautiful. If if you um if you can visit my website I have so many different versions of the long ones and short ones and skinny ones and fat ones text based and oral whatever you want. I I would I would really be happy if you would visit. The second thing about this mime is the Reb gave it to MM this you know the the most recent M we have for the Reb is this M this is all about what is the role of that's what is about the M is all about the role of a saddic of what sadikim do for people and this develops the sadic's ability to influence people deeper and deeper and deeper And the deepest part of the M is the end, the last third. In the last four chapters where you have the last third of the MD, the Reba comes up with a very unusual innovation. I'm I'm telling it to you now because I I'm not good at keeping secrets. The innovation is that a holy man at sadic can only bring a person so far and not further unless that person partners with the sadic. It's called that the sadic tries to bring us closer to God almighty but his ability to bring us closer to Hashem depends on our partnering with him. And that's so to speak the the end of the mime, the culmination, the high point of the mime. So now I'm going to review the first four chapters of the mime. Okay. The begins with a speaking to and he says to him, you should connect, you should command the Jewish people. They should take to you. They should bring you olive oil which has been pressed out of the olives in a unique way to produce light. So that the candle of the mana should burn. Tid means constantly not by night, not by day, but constantly. That's the puk. Now the simple meaning is Hashem is telling what he should tell us. God is saying to Moshe, tell the Jewish people such and such. But the deb's got a bunch of questions. First of all, it's an unusual ver word. Normally, when you want to say command, it says here it says tit can mean instruct, but it's not the typical Hebrew word. The typical Hebrew word for instruction would be tav. And here you have an unusual world which is and the immediately says you must understand that this unusual form versus is not only a question of form. It's not only a question of of the language. It's a question of meaning. By altering the word from to is changing the meaning from God telling Moshe to tell us something to God telling Moshe what Moshe must do doesn't mean tell the Jews means do for the Jews and that's the difference between the word the word and the word okay now and the question the says if we have another question Mosha's role is to repeat God's words to the Jewish people. Here tits is understood not that he should tell the Jewish people what to do should repeat God's words to Jewish people but it's an instruction to Moshe himself that Moshe has this role called what does this role called mean another question is it says in the oil should be brought to and the question is doesn't need the oil m is not a the oil was used for the mish was a ley the oil should have been brought to who was able to light the so why does the that the oils were brought to me even though was not a in addition the Hebrew word for for light is l is interpreted to mean to produce light but means to be pardon me a source of light means to be a source and the reb's question is the word lam is inappropriate say to make light shine why did it say lam and the last question is that it says in that the light birds to means constantly. In the next p it says from night until morning. And the Reb's question is why does it say in the first pid which means constant and the next p it says from night until morning. Night until morning is not constant. It's just it's every day but only certain hours of the day why in this p does it say constant. Okay. And you should know that every one of these questions will be answered. It just takes a little while to get. Okay. So the Reb immediately proceeds to answer the question. He reviews a mime from his predecessor the previous rebba that was said in 1927 99 years ago this year who translates the word differently does not mean to instruct it doesn't mean to command means to connect God is not telling Moses to tell the Jewish people something God is telling Moses what he must do. that's role is to connect the Jewish people to God. And that's the unusual means that Mosha is being told his mission's mission is to connect the Jewish people to and when Mosha does his job and he does it well. Masha benefits. Moshe gains and that's why Mosha's return benefits when the Jewish people when he connects benefits because the Jewish people are like the head and the feet and it says in the Jewish people are considered the feet and is considered the head. The head is obviously more important but the feet can walk and when the feet walk they can take the head to a place by itself it cannot go and the same is true in this case is the giver the Jewish people are the takers nevertheless as the feet by receiving from what Mosha gives the Jewish people which is the connection to Hashem Moshe has an ali benefits and technically it is that the says that is on whatever level he's on. But by connecting to the Jewish people, Mosha reaches the level of which is the first word of the ten commandments has a benefit. Moshe goes to a higher level by um by connecting the Jewish people and that's what the is saying is given a task connect the Jewish people but when succeeds in connecting the Jewish people has an that's the meaning of so we answered how many questions two right that are like four or five we explained and we explained We didn't explain the we didn't explain the so now theb says let's talk about this okay this is now we're already now we're studying a of the previousb on this who asks the question and he gave the answers we just gave and the previousb changes language okay we just said that means to connect let's change language same idea different words is called means is a trusted shepherd, which of course has two translations. Number one, that he does his job well. He's a good shepherd. He's reliable. And number two, that he shepherds the Jewish people in matters of faith. Which means he nourishes and he provides for the Jewish people in the area of faith. And he explains faith. Jews don't need for faith. We have, you know, we have a faith because of Abraham is the source of faith. Like it says in the Gimar, the Jewish people are believers. The descendants are believers. Our faith is inherited. But I could believe in God and do whatever I want. I believe in God enough to believe in him, but I don't believe in God enough to do what he says. It's called Mak. Mosha's role is not to give us faith, but to take the faith we have and give it teeth. Okay? In other words, it should be internalized. I should believe in God enough to actually do what he says. And desire actually says this. It's it's exactly the same words faith which comes from hem from God's is going to be nourished and provided through through. So doesn't give us but the amuna we have he provides for this is the same thing as means you should connect. So instead of using the Hebrew word which means to connect we're using the word to be a shepherd of faith because enhancing our faith is connecting us to hashem. Okay. Then the says, but this is not just true of one person such as there's a moh every generation and the moh every generation is the trusted shepherd the shepherd of faith as it says in each generation there is an that's the whose role it is in every generation to strengthen the faith of the Jewish people and in every case it's the same faith we have naturally but the faith needs The faith needs internalization. The faith needs that because we believe we act. And this is the role of Moshe to strengthen our faith. And he gives an example. Mai Morai lived in the time of Purum. We all know the story. Mordeai was the was the Moshenu was the sadic of his generation. And the Medish actually says that Mordai in his generation was the same as Moses. Mosha provides faith. Mordeai provided faith. But of the generation of Morai, it had a different form. It looked differently. Okay. Now I this doesn't say at this point in the m but it says later on a footnote 56 mob with shephering of faith is called providing the Jewish people with das. Das means with integrity. Mosha Raen was Jews lived in the desert. Their lives were very holy. They removed from the world. Moshe the role of Mosha to strengthen the faith of the Jewish people. the desert was to give them d give them integrity. Makai lived in a terrible time. There was decree of hmon who was prepared to kill every single Jew and at that time to study and especially to gather in large groups was deeply deeply dangerous and mai rallied the Jewish people to get together in large groups and to learn tra and to do mitzvah. And he used those opportunity to strengthen their faith that they should remain steadfast in the performance of t mitzvah and he succeeded. Makai succeeded in getting the Jewish people of his time to be Jewish even if it would literally cost them their lives. So Makai served the same role as Mosha which which is a proof to this idea that Mosha is not a person. Mosha is a concept. The concept is in every generation there's a reb whose role it is to take the faith we have inherently and bring it out and make us live by it. This is the mime. So point one strengthen Jewish faith. Point two there's a every generation and the example we give is then comes point three. What's point three? which is one of the questions means when one is crushed they reveal mo which is one of the questions we asked in the previous page in Hebrew the correct word for producing light is to shine light but the doesn't say the says so the explains it according to means to reach the essence of the Jewish soul the source m means the source and he explains that when Jews are crushed when Jews are challenged when Jews are hardships, the best of the Jew comes out. It's just one of those phenomena when the Jewish people are crushed, you're able to reach the deepest level of the mo means in in our language, the the essence of the soul rather than the expressions of the soul. And he explains that when you when Jews are in exile and they're broken and they suffer and they overcome those challenges and they're in Jewish in spite of them, you reach the deepest levels of the So now we added another thing, right? Point one, point two in every generation. Point three, when you have So now the asks a very obvious question. Well, I don't have so am I out of this loop. The previous lived in Soviet Russia and when he said this mid to be Jewish cost your life. So the previous is saying when the Jewish people are crushed you find the most beautiful part of the Jewish soul emerging. So he spoke to his people at that time at that time was true but we're living in New York how does the work now? And the question is very simple. Are we out of this loop or we included in this loop? When the mime says that and there's a in every generation has the role of connecting the Jewish people to God by strengthening their faith by providing nourishing and viring their faith. Is it true always or is it only true when the Jewish people have taught us? And this becomes a marker. this becomes a new question which is really going to open up what's going to become this tomorrow morning's mid um about a more complicated role of so the reb has this question is always is every sadic in each generation able to do this for or is it only true when Jews have challenges from the outside that threaten their lives and they overcome those challenges is it only then that is able to have his impact back. That's his question. You know what the answer is going to be? Of course. Of course. What? Of course. Every Reba reaches the pint. The question is only how and you'll have to come back for tomorrow. But the Reb tries to answer the question. Chapter 4 is an attempt in answering this question. The way he attempts, he starts exploring the story of Puram. Okay. The previous begins not it begins with the says that the Purim story which is a thousand years [laughter] a thousand years almost after the birth of the Jewish people and the Jewish people reaffirmed their commitment to Tyra as they had initially committed themselves to Tyra when the Tyra was given in the beginning. And he explains when Hashem gave us the Tyra we all committed to be Jewish. But the gum says that the commitment we made at Sinai is considered only a beginning. It [cough] was considered not enough. It was considered only a first step. And in the story of put time of and the of there was a second affirmation and that affirmation is considered superior to the initial affirmation. In other words, during the porm story we said better than we said at Sinai. As the gam says on the pro of hoodim that at sinai was only a beginning and during the story of purim there was a second affirmation. The Jewish people collectively agreed to be Jewish a second time and this second time is considered greater than the first time. Dig says this. So the asked an obvious question. How can you say the Jewish people under the rest during the story of Pudd made a deeper commitment to God than they made when they stood at Sinai and they met God face to face and God met them face to face and he explains when Hashem gave us the Ta were in the highest levels. Godliness was revealed maximally even before Hashem came down on the mountain and gave us the T there were so many miracles. do the miracle of the exodus, the miracle of splitting the sea and during the event of the giving of the ta God was very very revealed. So it was a very glorious holy circumstance where the Jewish people committed to be Jewish. Now during the Pura story was the antithesis of that right the Jews were in a very bad place. God was hiding from the Jewish people. In general in exile God hides but this exile was particularly difficult. Um, we had a very difficult time being loyal to because was hiding from us. The says when God makes it hard, it's hard and it was very very difficult. So how is it possible that the time of put when Hashem is hiding from the Jewish people so thoroughly that someone can actually plan on annihilating them can be compared and contrasted to the giving of the TA when Hashem was so completely revealed and we're actually going to say that put is considered greater than when Hashem gave us the TA the first time. This is the question and the and if we say that ma was only the beginning and this is the end then the answer is that uh the time of put to be a Jew you had to be prepared to give your life and there's a lot of levels and first of all they stood ready to lose their lives when the 13th of the next year would come they would all lose their lives in addition they gathered together in large groups which was a very dangerous thing and they studied all of these things were very very dangerous there was a series of different levels of nef during the purim story and as you'll see in a moment in some ways this nephesh is even greater than what happened when hashem gave us the tada and harina and there's an important thing to emphasize okay what needs to be emphasized is that according to the gar the way it's explained in it is a gam but nobody says it except for the alterb which is in itself very interesting There were two kinds of Jews in the Pura story. They were Jews and they were Hebrews. Yehudim and Iim. The the traditional name of the Jewish people was Y Hebrew. In Gulb, which is where the story of Putam happened. There was a lot of assimilation. A lot of assimilation. So the Jewish people who were not happy about assimilation changed. They took a new name. Yehuda. Jews. Yehuda does not mean from the tribe of Judah, right? Who's the first Yehoodi? He's from Yehood does not mean from Yehud. Yehud means one denies idol worship. And the says, "If you deny idol worship, that automatically means that you're committed to the whole." So in the Purim story, the migill talks about Jews. It never talks about Hebrews alter because the attack of Hmon was not against all the Jewish people against the Jewish people who were being principled. So now if we accept that version of the story which is the altar's version and I I like I like the alter. Okay, I like the alter. So if I'm partial I'm brainwashed and close-minded like you never saw and and I'm willing to admit it. If Hmon's attack was only against Jews, all you got to do is go to the passport office and change your name from Hebrew from Jew to Hebrew and you're on out of trouble. You could save yourself. If you file the Alterb's version that the attack was not only like Hitler's, killing all Jews indiscriminately. He was killing Jews as opposed to Hebrews. There was an out and the Jews refused to take it. Not for a day, not for a week, not for a month, for 11 months. 11 months thousands of Jews stood with an option of getting out of this saka ready to die aldeshm to sanctify the name of hashem because they would not give up their identity as Jews. This is the way the alterb explains this is the but develops it the pumm story. So there's if you think about that what you have is a situation which was maximally difficult right Hashem was giving Jews every way to get out of it and they refused to get out of it he dangled the mountain over their head remember that the says he dangled the mountain over their head and said take the titer I will lower the mountain the choices were not exactly right so they took the choice of life explains that the dangling the mountain over their heads is not only understood literally, it's understood philosophically. When you see God with your own eyes, you have a very, very hard time turning them down. By Mat and Tyra, they saw God, so they were good. By put him, God was pushing him out the door with both hands. He was making it as difficult as possible for the Jewish people to stay loyal to him. And they were stubborn. They said, "We're going to be Jewish even if we're going to lose our life." Says the previous Reb. This is what puts Purim on a pedestal above mantb says in this as in this aspect in the aspect of not being given a Jew from outside Hashem comes to you and jewifies you but finding the Jew inside yourself. Puddim exceeds mata during the pudd the Jewish people found themselves was was considered deeper than when revealed us at mount gave us a beginning that's what the ma says okay and therefore therefore the previous says that but hashem gave us a only beginning the Jewish people became a people finally and ultimately during the pumm story this this doesn't say in this page but the yada says forgive me for doing this. The Gabbor says that for the first thousand years of our history, any Jew could have said, "I'm not responsible for Judaism because I was coerced. I was forced during the Porm story. We lost that excuse because we were coerced to leave. We were pushed out and we refused to go. And from that point forward, from that point on, the commitment to the Jewish people to Hashem is is ours." Okay? So, the Reb says, "Maybe that's what it means." Maybe that's what it means that although every has some kind of a role of bringing y closer to Hashem. But when Jewish people are challenged and challenged in the way that they're completely broken, that's when aid connects to the deepest levels of his and that's what the pre is saying that when this when there's difficulties and the difficulties call out of the Jewish people sacrifice whatever the cost to be a Jew, they reach the highest levels of the which is higher than that they the what the Reb is trying to say is that perhaps it's true that there's a difference between a Reb who shepherds his flock in difficult times that at other times that when life is difficult and succeeds in shephering the Jewish people you deep reach the deepest levels of the when life is more comfortable you cannot reach that level this is what the is suggesting because of the sequence Right. The three points are connected. Every generation has au and when people are crushed they reach the so maybe maybe it's in fact true that allows Jewish people to reach the deepest levels of the only when there's this is the the suggestion and there is nope it's wrong because although the previous rabbis seems to be saying that only difficult is reveal but he said before that Somehow mo has to do with the of every generation not just with generations of in other words we're walking away from four chapters with a question the question is how can you explain that which literally means that when Jews are challenged they reveal the applies not only in those generations where Jews are challenged but in every generation. Okay, that's the first four chapters of this. If you loved it as much as I do, don't blame me if you don't. Tomorrow after Shakas, we'll do the next four. >> Okay. >> Comes with breakfast. >> It comes with patience. It comes with patience. It comes with patience. N999. [singing] N9. 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