Haredi Greek Style - Postscript to Chanukah

Shalom. Today's shabas a few days after this year is actually a postcript afterthoughts from Kaneka after spending eight days of singing full hal for a whole eight days. So we must have a certain afterthought as well. I can just mention before the beginning of the shia that if you have a in shalim if you come to I recommend I suggest very highly that you go and davin in the kva in the old city uh the nates minion which is a fabulous hal the whole shaw sings together the arus and they sing halal from beginning to end a tremendous we gained a tremendous amount of enlightenment as well my wife and I went with her nates it's an early minion but it's well worth going along to praise for his great miracles which he's done for us alan everything which is done for Israel but the word as you probably know comes is connected to the word means education and therefore after 8 days of kaneka maybe we should have come out with some sort of some sort of education if you look at the sentence in mish educate a child according to his ways man he goes older loyos mimemenu he won't turn away from the education the advice that he gave him the influence and the impact that you have as a child when he's young it's a plan for the future it's a process what you put in when they're young or at any time you'll take out something and therefore the idea is with foresight looking ahead and maybe planning ahead I wonder if that's really maybe the idea behind kazal that straight after sukus the beginning of the year we have kanuka kanuka is a kinuk a training to look ahead to see the ahead, what we're supposed to take out of the earth, what we're supposed to look for in the air, and what the the footsteps are. And certainly in our times that we are now going through golas, the kalis, the footsteps before the messiah comes, maybe these are the last steps of all, the last footsteps before we come in of golas of kalis of exile. What is the what is the training? What should we have our eye on? What is the foresight we need in order to go ahead in the year? Perhaps we can begin with the contexts of Golus. You probably know there were four rivers the Medish brings out which came out of Ganed. Each one represents a different period of exile. The first river was called Pishin. Pishin was bollonza. And the word Pishon comes from the word like poshu like a bulldozer to come in like a bull in a china shop like havoc and destruction. The the idea and the the the exile of bo was just destruction of the basic just to destroy to take away that was boel. The second river which came out was called gain was paras persia and media meaning h which was an expression meaning incipid cunning a certain deceit behind it all. Remember Hman thei came against and said as follows if the king agrees he planted the seeds of annihilation of a holocaust. That was a certain incipid means like a snake crawling along. The third goal the third river comes in the lashel is yon from the expression and cal sharp and light. We'll say in a minute explain what that means which is yon greece. And the last one which is called poras which is the Euphrates. As you know the expression poras is edi meaning pu means an overwhelming assimilation a mixture complete like a boiling pot a melting pot of all the clalis together with the nations of the world. That's really what's going on. Remember my son who lives in Lakewood New Jersey once told me and said to me Adam you know how much assimilation there is. I think over 80% or even more of Jews marry out. This is tragedy the overwhelming assimilation which is pu and that is the nature of the four goalim. Let's go back though. Why is yoven called sharpen light? What is there which is typical of the of the godless of the exile of yan which is sharp and light. Sharpened light means it gets in and gets out. It creeps into your mind the whole culture of Greece and you never even knew it was there. It's sharpened light. I remember once gave a beautiful motion of it. An expert surgeon gets in and gets out and you never knew he was there. He finds his way in meaning the Greek culture, the science, the philosophy, the music, the drama, the sport, the architecture, everything there is, the dress about Greece. It gets into your mind and it creeps in and makes an influence and immediately strikes a certain effect on on the person and you lose certain of your kadusha if you get completely involved in it. whatever you're completely involved in the Greek culture, sport and drama and music as you know what can happen there. If you look carefully though it's interesting all the other periods of exile Babylon and Persia and certainly um Edom and Ishmael they don't have that ability of intellect meaning what would for example what would Greece say about BL about what a fool why destroy a beautiful building the building is beautiful take out the jugular the jugular means the spiritual side of the Jewish people take away brisma tora shabas these are all aspects of spiritual greatness of spiritual acquisition take that out and leave the building. They would say leave the beautiful building. Why destroy the building? A beautiful building. Something which is beautiful. Keep it. No. Take a look at at Hullman. He just it was evil. No, but there was no great inter no science behind it. No philosophy behind it. Just a certain deceit which was there which was amalik. Yavan has this unique feature. Greece has a unique feature of being very clever, very sharp. They were given the bua of wisdom and beauty. And we'll see in a minute. And that is the nature of it. sharp and light. He gets in, he gets out and you never really notice that he's there. I share with you an incident that happened to myself. I remember years ago before I was married, I lived in England and a friend came and learned with me every Shabbas. We used to learn together every Shabbas afternoon. He happened to be a genius in languages. I think he knew he knew French, German, Spanish, Italian. He knew all nearly all the languages in Europe. Incredibly gifted he was in languages. He actually received an open scholarship to Oxford, meaning all expenses paid. He was an incredible genius at languages. I remember when he was there after the first year, he turned around and he said to me, "Yon, I'm sorry I can't come and learn with you at the moment." Then after the second year, I remember I saw him in town and he had no kapalon, no tits, no nothing. The third year he was so much involved with the student union and very much involved with the students. I was told that he had died from an overdose of drugs. You hear the tragedy. The tragedy that was enormous tragedy. He was caught up. caught up in the this philosophy in the language and the life of the of university life and and he died after three years in university. It was a tragedy. That's what happened. Sharpen. You never knew it was there. The science, the philosophy, the drop, the music and the sport. You get p pulled in and you never knew about it. You never realized what the damage was. That is sharp and light. Sharp and light. What we must do therefore is have a look where did it all begin? How did it come about that Yavan was given, Greece was given this tremendous uh benefit, tremendous tribute of having wisdom and beauty. It came actually if you remember the episode when shame and y came in and saw that Noah was drunk and lying on the floor and they came in backwards and covered over Noah who was lying down there. remember the episode. But if you look very carefully, the Pik says in Bishius Shame, Shame, the one son, Shame, who's after Cladis come from shame. Shame came in and he came in and covered over Noah. Yop came in. He was a silent pun. He was there as well. He was a no leper. He came in as somebody else. In addition, Rashi makes a point very clearly. Rashi says, "And it does not say the word." They didn't take it together. It was shame's idea to cover it up and the office was there and he came in as well and Rashi points out and therefore shame which is Khalisel was given the enormous of titsis titis meaning a covering because he covered over they were given a reward a mitzvah say the reward says rashi which was given to y which is Greece was in the time of go magog when it would come to the time of the final war the reward of yan will be that they will be buried they will not just stay open in the in the on the field they will be covered over that You see a negative reward. But that's the nature of it. But what we must learn from here is as follows. What did say shame? That's the pro the which Noah gave was beauty shall be given to y to which is Greece and he should dwell in the tense of shame. Meaning as follows ideally what Noah saw was the combination of the partnership between the two. You should have shame y the beauty of yan together with shame but only to live together but there's [clears throat] a partnership but a certain silent partnership and from there we must come out and derive the lesson and what it means maybe sharp and light the main instigator the main imprance the main must come from shame y was a silent another pun he came in as well but not the dominant feature by any means the most important quality of you can take y the beauty of and imply and apply it also maybe to shame but be careful be very careful because what might happen you bake yavon grease the beauty the most important thing of all as you know yourself one of the greatest problems we have in our times is sport materialism technology which is science philosophy students get caught up in university life as you know that that's the tragedy once you make y into the dominant partner then you lose shame you lose and it's not supposed to shame shame was the main instigator behind it all. Therefore, what we must do in order to really brush up on our and understand what the nature of Kanuka is, the kin of Khan is to understand the two schools of thought. There's Athens and there's Jerusalem. There's Yavan and the shame. Let's look and see what both of how they both work. What is the school of thought of Athens? What does he come out from Greece? As you might know, one of the greatest philosophers which they had was Socrates. Socrates his whole aim in education was as follows was human thought human endeavor what the individual thinks what you think is best nothing to do with anything theological divine there will be a fury and a frenzy anything nothing to do with spiritual ideas what you see in front of you is what you think is best not more nothing more than what you see and understand science meaning science is as proven mio as given in front of you but nothing more than that the Basis of Socrates is the individual. The individual for individual prestige for example the great musician. No. Or the great writer or the famous painter or the brilliant musician or the whatever it is. Something the individual is the most important of all and what do you think is his best? No. What do you what do you think you can do the best and do the best? Nothing to do with working together with people. If you remember, I don't know if you ever were around, you saw the inauguration speech. I remember Mr. Obama when he became president and the words which he said which were choice word yes we can yes we can meaning we can do whatever we want to do that's what he means we can we are that is Greece that is yavan what we can nothing to more than that nothing more they would be in they would be horrified Greece if they would turn around and say something is divine something is theological by no means at all that doesn't exist in their code maybe that's the reason why it says alanim to take us away from the statutes meaning the statutes no shabas these are all statutes statutes means that without any means comes from shamim comes from heaven above that idea is what that is what the motivation that's the inspiration and that's the basis of the education of of Socrates of Greece Athens is human endeavor and human brilliance and human prestige now let's look at usim at Jerusalem what is the school of thought in usal. What we really must do is look at the source. How come we got to shaleim? We got to Jerusalem because of Sinai. And the words at Sinai are very very carefully chosen. If you remember, if you look in Shamo in chapter 19 before the to the were given Shalom gave a certain like preface, an entrance lobby to how to understand and appreciate the Torah. Look at the lee is the prime word here. You shall be for me. For me. uh a kingdom of priests says the native means a refined nation how you behave not as the words but means cultured refined people and but for me to cherish me and there we have it really the basis of Jerusalem meaning of toadosa is of shame is it's for the shalom it's for the almighty it's nothing to do nothing what I decide it's not my decision. It's the wisdom of the almighty which I'm taking. You provide it. It's nothing to do what I believe. Nothing. I try my best as I possibly can to reach whatever levels I can of education understanding of the toyakadosha. The almighty remains above it all. That's the point behind it all. There isn't any other formula there. What we're talking about is the the basis of of tora is the behind it all. No, that's the nature of it all. you should be for me. Thema of the and the yi of is recognition of the almighty behind it all. I wonder if that's really the the point which is said so beautifully which we have in the Mishna in Pov. Remember in the Mishna in Pikov Shimad who was in the time of Alexander the great you remember the beginning of Peric on three things the world stands. Later on it says means maintain to continue means the foundations of the world. tora prayer and also acts of charity acts of kindness in the mission says as follows it's a beautiful point what does it mean says the almighty anticipates in our life in this world that we will excel and do whatever we can in understanding tora in prayer and and acts of charity it's for him we are working on his behalf no he anticipates this will come out It's not necessarily the our personal greatness. It's together to understand what the bonishman wants in his world for me. It's for me and that's the basis behind it all. It's interesting. I remember once reading the writings of Freedellander makes a beautiful point. The national emblem of Greece is an olive. The national emblem of Kalisol is a manoya. What's the difference? An olive, the light is intrinsically brilliant. It's brilliant. The light which comes out from olive oil is perfect. It's an individual light. It's its presence. It's it shines and receives the no you hear the point. You pour it in and fills you up. He gives you the knowledge. You turning to the almighty for the knowledge and therefore it's not your individual prestige what you receive from the almighty from it all. That's the beauty behind the beautiful point. No the manoya is mabel. It receives it masha. But on the other hand an olive is itself brilliant behind it all. Maybe I can share with you a beautiful point I remember hearing. I was privileged to sit in gates at the table of fal the great po in gates. He once told me the following a beautiful understand which goes really to the heart of what we're saying. If you would see a great man by the nations of the world for example you'll see Shakespeare or you'll see Rembrandt or Isaac Newton I suppose or or Beethoven. You'll see there is a which you say who gave from his wisdom to flesh and blood. Noan gift means no connection from who came it where it came from. It's a gift. You're very privileged to have this gift. I suppose like an elephant has a big trunk and a giraffe has a long neck and a lion has a roar. So you're fortunate. You're also given the ability to play music, to understand science, to be gifted in sport. It's a gift. Nosan means a gift with no connection where it came from. If you had the privilege on the other hand to see an if you would see or in our times these are great [clears throat] all these great the is different who gave a section a portion of his wisdom to those who fear him. There you see it the wisdom is dependent on the fear on the and it's a it's a part of it. It's not you don't have it all. What you do is you're you're privileged to receive it. But the recognition is always the source where it comes from with Bishnam. The Almighty gave the brains and he gave the ability that a person has enormous difference between Athens and Jerusalem between the two. And then he mentioned to me I remember theam says on that difference between a great man [snorts] by the by the nations and a great man in what would happen I suppose in if you would see somebody like Albert Einstein no a Jew who is great in physics what would you make would you make the first but he's a Jew can you make the second no because he's not a great inra there's no at all that you make the real skill the expertise of is the skill in tora and mitzvah in the almighty's wisdom to be excelled in physics is not a great feat for a Jew and therefore says there's no brah at all which you make and therefore you see the difference quite clearly Athens would say the individual prestige the brilliant musician the great painter the great scientist the great philosopher the individual himself in torah it's the opposite what is the how do you excel in tora I think the really reason why you excel is when you do a mitzvah for its own purpose Not with an otium, not because of money, not because of prestige, not because of position. Simply because the almighty wants you to do it. Isn't that what we say? He wants to he wants service and he wants for him. The ideal is that you work for him and we're on him. We are means to cherish the almighty to treasure him and do his mitzvah. Oh, if you look at carefully the last section in goes in a beautiful long essay about do something for its own purpose, not with a motive behind it. The wants us to learn to therefore we learn to he wants us to keep Shabas for his purpose not necessarily for us. Forget about the prestige and forget about the the the money. It's lishma. You'll ask me and therefore a wonderful question. You'll say so where does the individuality come out? Where does it possibly show? In Greek philosophy, you become famous. You you excel yourself. What you Yes, we can. No. Where does it come out? It comes out in the following way. When you turn and pray to the Almighty, it's you who are praying and you're not chanting. It's your individuality comes out. How you express yourself in prayer. When you come to do a kindness, how you want to do it. Your your shining and your your individuality comes out. How you perform in that way, how you speak, how you say hello to how you relate to your fellow man, how you talk to your mind. It's the element of but your effort, the individuality comes out, how you yourself perform as an individual, not the brilliant way that you come great prestige, but quite differently the excellence and the perfection of doing something for its own purpose for that is how you accept that is where the individuality comes out. If that's the case, we see quite clearly, it's becoming very clear what exactly is the is the education from Khan is to make sure you understand Y is a silent partner, a no leper. He's not the main partner. The main is shame. You can bring in beauty as well, but you have to be careful with the beauty. Don't let it become the dominant factor, the dominant cause, the dominant influence here. You can bring in the beauty. That was what had meant means as well there should be a partnership together. Ideally that's what Noah thought of. But in reality as we see in our times the problem is it becomes quite different like that. It becomes very often the Greek and the philosophy and the science and the music and the sport becomes the dominant part of our lives. Let me give you an example I remember which I saw myself. I once went into somebody's house and they were looking at a video and it was a very interesting video. I was sitting there. I was with the family. They were watching the great American conductor and po composer Leonard Bernstein. He was teaching a class of conductors how to conduct a certain piece of music. It was quite something to see. All the young people were promising conductors and he was showing them how do you conduct a [clears throat] piece of music and he chose a beautiful piece which I know myself which a beautiful piece is spring by Vivaldi. A beautiful scene spring by Vivaldi. A beautiful piece of music. And he turned around and said to the conductors as follows. Before you begin playing this piece of music, the the conductor must turn around and say to the violinist, before you pick up your fiddle, think as follows. Or the flutist, whoever you are, whatever your whatever the clarinet, before you take your your instrument, think as follows. You go out into a field on a beautiful spring day and you the birds are singing and the flowers are blooming and the sun is shining. It's a beautiful weather as well. That's spring. Now then, fiddle that in the fiddle. No, blow that into your flute. Put it into your music. The idea is once you build up the imagination then the music will come out. I was watching it. I thought to myself, very clever. But Kaval Khava, what a shame. Mr. Bernstein never had really any Jewish education. He was an assimilated Jew unfortunately. He didn't know. Let's look at Levim and the Basa Mikdash. Levim would play the instruments. Took 5 years before they could perform anything in Basam Mikdash. Why? What were they doing all the time? Learning how to play a flute? No. What they were doing is they were learning the meaning behind the words that were singing. No. If you have a jolly song or a somber tune, whatever the sh whatever they were playing is the yash which comes out. They weren't just playing for the for the music. They're playing for the almighty. If only Mr. Bernstein had realized don't play for the for the birds and the flowers and the sun who created it all. No, that's really the point. Who are you playing the music for? If Mr. Bernstein was really I suppose had the ka of of the tora inside the man don't don't you wouldn't tell the fiddle the violinist just to play play for who who created the sun who created the spring you know that's really the point and that I think is the basis behind it all that's really the point you're higher a level higher you don't stop at the natural environment which you see but it's higher than that and of course in Greek ideology that doesn't exist theology is out of the question it's only the individual and what you see in front of you that's the belief of Socrates I'd like to share with you very interesting story which I was once told by Muin my dear friend of Duchin Schlita he told me a beautiful point I didn't believe him at first but I looked it up what he told me I looked it up actually in Google he told me about something called art basel basel art basel art basel is the highlight evidently of modern art an exhibition which is held three times a year three places during the year in Hong Kong in Basil [clears throat] and in Miami. The exhibition travels. It's it's the best so-called the most exclusive exhibit of modern art every single year in the three different places. And he told me the following. I I couldn't believe what he told me, but I looked it up. Evidently, in one year, [clears throat and cough] one year, I don't this was what the I looked it up on the on the Google. It said as follows. Art Barzel, one of the greatest main exhibitions, there were three exhibits of this exhibition of this particular painting. The first one was sold for $120,000. The second one was also sold for $120,000. And the third one within a day or so was sold for $150,000. And the crowds actually they had to close down that exhibition. Why? Because people only coming to see this particular thousands came to see this exhibition, this exhibit. And all the other ones were were being dismissed. So they closed down that one so that people could look at the other exhibits as well. What was the actual exhibit? You hear what I'm talking about? Listen to this. Modern art tries to excel on something which is shocking, something which is evocative, something which is uh individual, something which is I suppose I think it's called min minimalistic minimistic that bare nothing at all. Believe it or not, the exhibit was a banana stuck on a wall with a piece of duct tape. That was $390,000 was spent in two days just for this exhibit. Give me something ridiculous. That's come on. That is the the most evocative, most shocking, most ridiculous individual idea. That is an expression of art. Evidently, so it said in the in the in the article there which I saw, evidently someone came along after a few days and took the banana and ate the banana afterwards and he turned said this is the performance of art and eating the banana. So the the museum or wherever the exhibit took another banana and stuck it on the wall again. Anything more ridiculous in your life? That's called the expression of individual art. No, I think one of the other exhibits was a life jacket taken from a dumpy or something. They put it on. Another one was three bricks uh on top of another. Another one was polka dot. Most ridiculous. That's individual expression. No connection exactly where it comes from. That is the nature of what modern art is all about. If that's the case, I must show you what is the name of beauty in the what is the school of Jerusalem? Listen to these magnificent words in Shia Hashilim. You'll get the point straight away. What do we call as beauty? What is beauty in our terms? It's a shashim if you look it up. Beautiful words. King Solomon made a beautiful a canopy. Aion means a canopy. It means the first temple, the first place of mdosh. As I say these words, imagine the scene in front of you. But at Halavono from cedarwood, all around was cedarwood. Beautiful color of cedar wood. Amoves the pillars were made of silver. So cedar wood with beautiful pillars of silver around the pidos. The seat it means the keshim the capus the paras there the capus was made of gold. The seat was made of gold mela algam and the hangings were purple. Imagine the scene cedar wood. Cedar wood everywhere around. Imagine also the scene of pillars of silver, pure silver, solid gold inside the keshim and all the hangings were purple. Now the end of the says everything had a veneer of love. Meaning behind all these ex what was inside the bash was love. The veneer of love covered everything. Khalis gave their donations for the bamed in tremendous love. That is the yi. The ya the scene is beautiful with a great yosh behind it all. That's the point behind it all. That's what we come must come to recognize. Behind it all is the magnificent scene of y of the the avo which is behind the avo is a crucial point. Not just the beautiful physical not just a beautiful buckingham palace or the palace of Versailles. Not just that there's something more. Everything was donated with a veneer of love and that was a covering which I thought that's the beauty. The beauty is the shamine which comes out together with the physical beauty. His son says as follows describes the greatness of you are the most beautiful of men and comes out of their lips meaning the beauty of is not just the wisdom or the genius or the brain box there's something that's of the is the delight the favor the humility of that's the the beauty beauty of behind it all. Let me share with you an episode that I myself experienced. I saw when we first came to and I live next door to tootskin in Jerusalem on Friday night. I went to Davin there in I remember it quite happened very often. Sitting at the back of the bas were three to three great. One was Vasaman who came down Friday night the son of the second one was the gates. He married a second time and lived in Mat. And the third one was the great these these great was sitting at the back of the B of Medish. And I remember watching a few times the Gabby there went over to M would they please come to the forward? He asked would you please come to the front? He said, "No, I'm fine sitting next to he asked they're very good next to it's fine." But said, "I'm sitting with these two. I can't find anything better." They wouldn't take the cover. They sat at the back of the these great was sitting at the but their response was so I remember watching it. They said I don't need any covered at all. Everything is fine. Then when everybody came around afterwards to sac used to stand on a step and sacred shab as soon as they came out he jumped down from the step so he shouldn't be up here higher than them beautiful scene of these David was also the great and he walked out to every Friday night holding hands with his father and gave him a kiss outside the behavior of these people no it's the way they behave the not individual but the the humility behind it all. I remember the second year of marriage my father-in-law Oliver Shaaman was very sick and we went to spend a year in Forest Hills in Queens where my wife comes from and I lived there for a year. I was in the Mir for one year and then the second year we had to go back to live in America. At that time when we came back after a year he wasn't then aashiva he was a mag his father-in-law was but anybody who needed a kava would go over to and ask him maybe can you help me out with a kava so I had been there for a year and then I came back after one year I went over to him and I said I don't know if remembers me that's as far as I got that's what I said he turned around to said as follows with a a magnificent smile on his face. Jonison I will never ever forget you that it struck me what a beautiful line I will never he said you he remember my first name I will never ever of the that's the point behind it all and that's the yi which we must understand the training of kaneka is the behind it that's the y of which is supposed to be which is supposed to take out of it not the crazy banana on the duct wall or the just praising the nature there's more to it than that the depth behind it all That's the point behind it all. You've no doubt recognized every single year when it comes to Kaneka, we're always dealing with Ysef. Ysef had sadic. Yo, the Arizal said as follows, was a Yosim was an orphan. He was an orphan from his mother. His mother had died. Says the Arizal. The word Yosim is made up of Yud to Vauv and me. He says is an abbreviation of vare. Every episode and every challenge which Ysef had was dealing with beauty. Is according to the vagon in physical beauty is like a beautiful eye, a beautiful nose, a beautiful mouth, a beautiful head, something yeetto means physical features which are beautiful. Yeara is the overall look. That's the beauty of it all. [snorts] It says in in Miguel Esther about Esther, there's more to it than that. There's also a mosh your fa means not just physical features but physical mitzvah which are done perfectly that's the nim shall the nimsha behind it the power behind it all and you mean to good characterist good personalities traits behind it all that is the nature of it and therefore yim yse every challenge which ysef had on the basis on the simplehat is that always to do with beauty he himself was very attractive looking his mother was very attractive maro Asshifa took one look at him and also thought the challenges of Ysef were all together with beauty. Here's the match. He realized what's going on to Kaneka. He himself was very beautiful and the challenge of all the women who came and threw their bandits and their jewelry on the wagon just to get Yseph to look at them. No, I was thinking all of a sudden he doesn't say this but even the poor were yus even the cows are the interpretation. Every challenge of Ysef was to do with beauty. He came out completely completely there's a beautiful expression which the Zoha mentions I think I mentioned a previous Shiaom from the day that Yo became a thinking person I suppose from the age of three until the day he died he never lost unbelievable kadusha of Ysef that was the greatness of Ysef there you have it and the brilliant economist he was an unbelievable how to save the wheat and give it out and portion it out and all the money went to the king's exjecker and the king's treasury. Unbelievable economist he was and very devoted and loyal. Every money must go in. We mentioned it in the previous year. Ysef was himself the role model for Kanuka here. Take a look. If you're matching up beauty and wisdom, look at Ysef. Ysef is our living role model of Yi and of beauty and that is the ger of Y behind it all that we have to learn and take the point out. There is a kazal which says as follows. Because ysef was able to endure and remain with tremendous holiness and perfection. Mitsim none of the men in mits became involved with any Egyptian women. And none of the women in Mitsim became ever involved with any of the Egyptian men except one as we know this one woman Shalamis one particular woman. Why was that? because there was somebody called y who was a mitzvah who was a role model for all the men and sor if you remember was taken in front of power also resisted there these two people were phenomenally good-looking but remain their kadusha behind it all those are the role models I remember reading once where ysef salant explained that sor had another name she was also called yizka the reason why she was called yizka is kulam everybody looked at her beauty everybody looked an amazingly beautiful And the other chat is she also had one minute says beautiful point. Where do you find a woman that everybody's looking at her with tremendous beauty and that she has is never ever getting caught out by your never ever there was nothing like that. Since when does a woman who everybody's looking at with great beauty have is reserved for people with a tremendous is a tremendous feat. How can it be? That was the greatness of Solah. She herself was exceptionally beauty, but she was the which came out. And that I believe is the the the match which we're supposed to take out. The comes from Ysef and and Sah meaning someone who is matched for Kaneka and that's why we're dealing with every single I think that's what that's behind it all. Therefore, let's come back to our original point that we said. What is the I'd like to make a suggestion. Please do not misunderstand me. It's an idea that I thought of when preparing this Shia and I think it's extremely relevant in the way. I'm not trying to be cynical. I'm not trying to make a joke out of anything. But I want you to take the points quite clearly. Don't take me in a cynical way, but I want to ask you the following question. Answer me. I will answer them. But here's the questions. What would Greece say about a magnificent striml or a magnificent What would they say? A most beautiful which a woman is wor. What would Greece say about it? It's beautiful. No, magnificent. Looks so beautiful on the lady. No, beautiful thing. No. What would Greece say about a beautiful black hat, a long white beard, and beautiful pears and a black capan? How how beautiful, how how what a beautiful, how dignified, how noble it is. Look. No. Hear what I'm saying? What would Greece say about a wonderful smorggas board? No. Wonderful food. How tasty it is. No. Hear the point. What would Greece say about a beautiful silk tablecloth for Shabas? No. Or beautiful silver candlesticks. No, I'm not trying to be cynical. It's magnificent. How beautiful. Keep it all. Wonderful. No. What would Yan say about, I don't know, Benny Freriedman or Avon Freed or Mai Bend all the beautiful Michael Schweki wonderful music like Zorba the Greek. No what they say. What am I trying to suggest as follows? You can be Greek. You can be kedi Greek style. You can be Greek style. If the emphasis is made on everything which is external and nothing internal, you lost it. You made yaf into the dominant feature and it's not supposed to be of course a shrial and a shital and a black captain of all it's part of the gear and the is part of the simka and the m I'm not saying that what I'm saying is as follows you have to be careful it doesn't become the dominant feature they're only a silent partner y is a no he's involved in it the beauty but you must make sure always that the palemius the inside is the most important thing of course yan would say that's what their t against why destroy a beautiful really keep the beauty and just pull out the jugular take out the spiritual side and leave the the shell behind it all. That's what and therefore you have to be so careful I think in our times especially when there is great affluence but people have money of course the silver tablecloth the silver candlesticks are wonderful and the beautiful of course they're beautiful and Shabba's clothing and the beautiful Shabba's food and everything of course it's wonderful it's but you have to always remember finger on the pulse what is the main thing the main thing is the pimius the kusha behind it all the the the shine which comes out it all to embellish a mitzvah is a beautiful vanu it's a wonderful thing to make it beautiful make a beautiful silka of course it is a beautiful tablec all these things are wonderful but it's not the ika it's not the main point behind it all I remember I think my wife and I she should be well and strong uh when we first came to live in Israel we were waiting for a lift from America then nothing it took about 6 months before it came until that time I remember we had a table we borrowed some socknut beds which were terribly uncomfortable and nothing really to sleep on nothing at all we were We were very happy together and we're building a home together. Later when the lift came, I remember we felt that thank goodness we have our furniture. But you live without that. It's not the first step. Maybe I can share with you a beautiful point. I remember hearing from Kaplan. A beautiful point on Khan. We pascil not like B Shamai. According to B Shamai, first night is eight candles. Everything all at the beginning. According to Bhill, the first night is one candle and then your Mosif second night two candles. We hold according to Bal not everything at the beginning of marriage. Meaning when you start off one thing maybe a table maybe a chair some something like that you don't start with everything you start with little start small a cont have everything at the beginning really that's a message I think for young married couples start off small whatever you have you'll manage find the relationship between the two of you know the love and the endurance to each other and the kadusha behind it all and the once you have that that's that's the first candle and move on from there and grow up from there and therefore the is quite clear. Shame must be the dominant factor and not y maybe we can end perhaps the shim what we say every single day on is lammed 30 into if you remember it says there's the word what is the kanuka the kanuka the bias I'm suggesting not just the bik with this is talking about kanukas of our own home if you know the chapter peric 30 it brings all the challenges is in the evening I was crying in the morning I had happiness goes up and down up and down the challenges meaning that's life is that you have different challenges which go through life the last sentence is really the prime sentence in order that meaning all the challenges you have the is a nickname If you know into the soul is always make sure that the is pumping it's life. It has motivated has stimulation and not be dumb and not be silent. Silent means it's numbed. You can become numbed by too many movies or too many too much sport. You can be numbed. You can lose it all. That's what happened to my friend. You can lose it all if you're too much involved in the science in the technology and in the movies and everything. I remember we once had a boy coming to stay with us for Shabas someone I think a mishbah in the family and he he stayed with us as a whole he slept a great deal of shabas he ate all the food but honey said a word the whole of Shabas and I remember I saying to my wife what happened here with this boy and my wife turned around to me and said as follows I didn't she knew the family she said you know what the problem with this boy is he spends day and night watching television he's numbed he's dumb he's nothing take's no life in if you're s watching these movies and the violence whatever it is the promiscu. He's numbed by it all. One shouldn't become dull through through too much sport. You take out the beauty. I always thank you. Isn't that really that's where we began? That's really the nature of of the is to maintain your hoodie. Not Greek style, but a hoodie on shame style. Not the office can come in the beauty, but it's only a side partner. It's not the main thing. And that I think is the afterthought. I think the postcript to Khan the of coming out for the rest of the year. Maybe we can move on from here into the rest of the year. Be careful of the affluence. Be careful of the technology. Be careful of all the other trimmings that the car and the and the smogers bought. Every it's all fine. I'm not saying it's wrong. I'm not saying that. I'm not saying one should live in a cave. One must have comfort in our times. Of course, we're used to comfort. But it's not the main thing. The prime is the shame is the and the y of Jerusalem and not the and the yo of Athens. That's a side thing which you can bring. That's what Noah wanted. No wanted the part together. But it says had no dealing with it. He was an he came in. I wish you all a wonderful year ahead of when we grow old and gray. We should never move from this. This should stay with us for the rest of our year and rest of our lives. That I think is what we must take out of the eight days of Khan.