Who Owns Israel? Parshat Bereishit - Rabbi Dovid Kaplan

with braces. I I I never go into creation. I don't discuss creation because creation itself, the the ins and outs of creation. Even after you've learned it, the ins and outs of creation are very very still very very uh it it's ambiguous and it's not unclear. And I have a hunch that it was purposely written that way because it's by definition something we can't understand because by definition we can't understand how you can have something created from nothing. You can't have how the idea of creating something from nothing. Even the idea of what nothing is uh uh uh is is is beyond us. What absolute nothingness is. So I don't even I I don't assume that I understand it and I certainly don't try to teach it to other people because I I assume I'm not going to understand. But there are enough lessons in basious that that that listen between me and you creating things is not something I'm going to be doing right that I'm not going to do. But how to how to deal with a wife that's something you're going to have to know and that that it does talk about and and how you know and what what we're supposed to be doing and why man is created and so on and so forth. So it says like this. Now the very first thing you notice I pointed out once the first word berious the two middle if you take the two outside letters the first two letters a b and a and you take the two last letters a yud and a tough b yud you get the word bree which is covenant. And the two middle letters are which is fire. The Torah is a covenant of fire. You know the famous the cabalistic idea the Zohar said that the Torah existed as a black fire on a white fire. So the Torah is a covenant of fire and it's a covenant of fire because the Yates the evil inclination is called a fire and the only way that the Gomorrah says the only way to neutralize evil inclination is through Torah study. So it's the covenant of fire that we use to neutralize the other fire which is the evil inclination and it's a you fight fire fight right and their expression like fight fire with fire. So the first thing you see is it's a bishok. Now what's interesting is take a look the last three letters of these words the first last letter the first last letter. It's like the guy's wife showed up and he said to his wife this is the earliest you've ever been late. His wife showed up late so he says the earliest you've ever been late. So the last letter of boratius is a tough. The last letter of Bora is an olif. And the last letter of elohim is a mem. So you have a tough, an olith, and a me, which if you rearrange those letters, we're on page two. If you rearrange those letters, it spells MS. >> It spells MS. That the Torah is MS. Right from the beginning, right from the very beginning, the you have the word MS signed. The Garra says God's signature is MS. MS. The world is made, the world is made with MS. Number number one. Number two, this I saw one of the commentaries. This is very intriguing. You read the whole post. You have, you know, Hebrew vowelizations. And so you have a and you have a and you have a you have each dot each dot has got a name. Each dot in the each each vowelization has got a name. The one vowelization you don't have in the first pusk of the Torah is called a shuruk. >> [cough] >> Shuruk is the three diagonal dots. So it's interesting because the word shuruk sorry that's a recovery I'm recovering from. We don't have any more. They took my markers. No. Ashuruk [cough] is made of three letters. Oh, got one, mayor. We got one here. [cough] Thank you. [laughter] Whatever gets you through. >> A shuruk is spelled like this. Shuruk. Now, you notice that's called that's how it's pronounced. A shurik. Every every every vowelization at is called a seer because that's how it's pronounced. It's the a sound. A sele is the three dots that look like one, two, three, the looks like a pyramid. The word shuruk >> excellent. If you rearrange the letters, you get sheer, which is falsehood. That's the one vization that does not appear in the first p in the Torah. First puzzor is MS. [cough] Sorry. >> The first puzzle in the Torah is MS. It it it it alludes to MS and sheer is left out. Number number I don't know what number we're in. Number three. We'll call it number three. The first rashy says like this. Let's read the first Rashi in Boracius. Now then what would you expect the first Rashi to talk about? What would you expect the first Rashi to talk? [cough] >> The creation of the world, >> right? Something start talking about start talking about the the creation of the world. Talk about something that has to do with creation comes along Rashi and Rashi takes us for a little bit of a ride. Let's take a look. I'm a Rabi. Now this by the way does anybody know who that is? >> Father >> yes Rashi is Schlommo stands for Schlommoitz of Yeitzk and the Rashi honors his father with the first. That's what they say. I don't know if it's if if it's been ratified but that's what they that's what they say. Now >> what's that? >> Kibu to honor his father with the first thing. That's what they say. Who's the first person who learned Kishh with Rashi? >> His father. >> His father. Correct. He learned Kh with Raji. He taught his son Rashi. Kish with Rashi. Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. Sorry. It's the beginning. It's only the beginning. The Torah should have began with the P in Pares that talks about the first mitzvah to the Jewish people collectively. Because after all, if you ask anybody, what is the Torah? What's the Torah? What is the Torah? What what what do we what's the Torah all about? >> Law instructions. The American Constitution doesn't go through the history of the Revolutionary War. That doesn't The American Constitution just starts off with a bunch of laws. It doesn't It doesn't tell you the history. It doesn't tell you about Washington, Lincoln, and any anybody else. It certainly doesn't talk about Lincoln because he wasn't alive yet. All right. So, he says, Why does it begin with voracious? Because there's a say the strength of his deeds. He informed his people. Let's say is going to give them the portion of the which is a what? Why? Here we go gentlemen. And if you tell me the Torah just reading this p alone is enough to tell you how timeless the Torah is. Fourth line, third line, right column. If the nations say to the Jewish people, you're a bunch of bandits. Shiva, you conquered the land of the seven nations. You took over their land. Today, we're on the they call it the occupied West Bank. We say to the contrary, they're on the occupied East Bank. But they we're you took the land the United State your nation resolutions uh in the United Nations I think they said 22 out of every 23 what do they call it resol are against Israel >> and nobody else you don't hear them talking about Russia the Ukraine the Houthis the Tutis nothing only Israel they say you're a bunch of bandits you conquered this land you threw out the seven nations hey So the Jewish people can respond, hey, the whole land belongs to he created it. Gave it to whoever he chose. It's his ball. He makes the rules. My ball. You I tell you how what how you play. He gave it to the nations. He gave it to them and he took it away. Gave it to us. There's a rash. He says there's I'll get to hold for a second. There's only one big problem here. One big problem here. Rajie said, "Well, if the nations come along and say you're a bunch of bandits, what what were you going to ask?" >> Well, it was about the the first thing about >> No, no, let's So, if the nations come say you're a bunch of bandits, we say, "Well, Hashem created the world. You see, braces I I mean, honestly, gentlemen, do you see a lot of people convinced by this? Do you see a lot? Just go over to the Palestinians and tell them, listen, hey, let's learn to pause it, guys." you know, kind of, you know, get off the bandwagon already. Look, it says it openly in the Torah. Who's the Torah talking to over here? Who are you talking about? When if the nations say this, we'll say this to them. So, it could be it's talking about in the messianic age. I don't know. But one of the one of the uh contemporary uh contemporary thinkers, he said it's not for them. Of course, they're not going to listen. That's why all of this stuff there they have uh explaining and you know if we could get some public public they call it in Hebrew haz you heard the word in Hebrew hazbar hbra means to explain our position you see all the haz helping all the husbar is helping you start hbaranging and they take out a gun and start shooting that's how works nobody says to Putin hey you're a thief you took over some land nobody said to the English you took you took over the you took over and and the Chinese want to take over Hong Kong and they're fighting over nobody I didn't hear anybody say hey you thieves only the Jewish people somebody builds a mere pessant on the west bank all of a sudden we're a bunch of thieves you know the whole world the United Nations passing resolutions what happened so who's it for the answer is for us starts talking to us hey guys let's get make sure we have the proper outlook in life the proper outlook in life is that created the world why can we do certain things. Hashem said, "Hashem made rules otherwise wouldn't be here at all. Why are you allowed to destroy a malik? Why are you allowed to take over the seven nations of go into the land of Cananan and throw them out?" And the Torah says that openly because gave it to them. They violated the gift because they were morally corrupt and they were worshiping idols and doing everything that even they're not allowed to do. Said, "Okay, game over. Now you have to leave." the Jewish people. I'm giving it to the taking it away from you and I'm giving it to Jew. I'm awarding it to the Jewish people. That's the That's the plain idea here. The um the uh uh you know, in chess, I I always like the chess example. Your knight could jump over pieces in chess. Your rook can't, but your Why? I have a difficult question. Are you allowed to torment animals? Are you allowed to torture animals in Judaism? What's it called? [cough] What's the prohibition called? >> You're not allowed to cause pain to the the animals. Can you push a goat off a cliff on Yum Kipper? >> Yes. >> No. Not you can't. You must. >> You must. [cough] If a man dies, could his brother marry his wife? >> Yes. >> Absolutely not. If they have children, it's as prohibited. It's as prohibited as adultery. >> It's like evil. >> Oh, if they don't have children, >> if they don't have children, if they have children, so then a man dies and is he's left children. Can his brother marry his wife? They're they're off limits forever. What if he dies childless? Then his brother not only could marry her, but by the letter of law, he's a mitzvah to marry her. They said doesn't make Are you allowed to shave with a razor? Can a man shave with a razor? No. Absolutely not. Can't shave with a razor. Yet the Lim when they were initiated into the service, they shaved their entire body. All the visible hair on their body was shaved with a razor, including the face and everything else. But the Torah says you can't shave with a razor. >> Shave it baby. >> Shave it. Yeah. They call shave it. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. [laughter] Welcome back. Slow-mo. Min is my name. The uh the uh what do you got? It's called cold called shave. Yeah. Shave it. Yeah. So I remember you saying that when we learned it in the in the bar. Yes. But the Torah says you can't shave. So how do you explain that and you explain it with chess? The same God that said you can't cause pain to animals is the same God that said this animal you push off of a cliff. Why can't you pay cause pain to animals? Not because we for bad for the animals. Can't cause pain to the animals because God said don't cause pain to that's the only reason. I didn't see you I didn't see you thinking about it when you were having your suda on yontiff and you were eating a nice thick piece of meat or a nice a nice piece of chicken. I didn't think to yourself, you know, I really shouldn't be causing pain to an animal. How did this how did this meat get to my table? Nobody thinks about that. The meat got to my table because my wife prepared it in the kitchen. That's the only thing I was thinking about. Now, that's how the meat got to the table. Now, somebody she an animal that's fine. We're not concerned about the animals. We're concerned about the Torah. Torah says don't cause pain to animals in this animal. You push off a cliff. The car says don't shave with a razor. Here you shave with a razor. The rules say don't jump pieces in chess. But this piece is allowed to jump because I made the rules. And therefore the Torah is saying over here that created the world. Created the world. He makes the rules. And the rule is that this land was given to us. And when the time is right, the land will be taken away from all of the other occupiers and it'll be given back to us. Now rashi if you take a look the second rashi it's uh [clears throat] what were we sorry what were we going to ask you going to ask something >> he asks why he the Torah was not started in Shimote where it talks about kodesh but the first commandment given in the Torah is um [cough] >> first commandment is is is pro is to be fruitful and multiply >> but we're talking about that's the mitzvah that's given to collectively good a good question you're asking there are three mitzvah in the book of various there's uh there there is uh uh be fruitful and multiply there is uh uh brie >> and there is not eating the not eating the ganosha the what they call the sciatic nerve of the animal has to be taken out of the the hindquarters of the animals um but the is the first mitzvah given collectively to the Jewish people >> as a collective book you're right these are also given to the Jewish people all the Jewish people are are obl obligated on the three mitzvah and basic but addressing the Jewish people as a group addressing it as a group is the first one is that's why but again that the concept of the Torah as a the concept of the Torah as a what the word Torah where's the word Torah come from what's the word Torah come from the zor says it comes from the word what's a teacher called in Hebrew >> mor same letters are just the swat and the me switch mor is the concept of instruction instruction teaching. Torah comes from Horah. [cough] It's the instruction book for the Jewish people. The Torah is the instruction book for the Jewish people. So, we look at it as an instruction book. What we have to understand is that when it tells us stories about Yitzluck digging wells and Yakob feeding his animals and and Yoseph having dreams, that's also instruction. That's what we have to understand. That there's a lot of there's a lot of instruction there, too. Tremendous amount of instruction. technical instruction, yes, but there's life instruction, there's living instruction, and that's a book that the Constitution doesn't constitution doesn't cover that constitution. When people go to school, and people go to school, they teach them how to make money. They don't teach them how to use money. And they don't teach they don't teach them why they're trying to make money. All they do is teach you how to make money. When you say, "Oh, he's successful." But they teach you how to make they teach you how to use money in school. >> I don't even think they teach you how to make money. >> Right. that most nine out of 10 people in the world, the nine out of 10 richest people in the world never went to college. Nine out of the 10 richest people in the world never went to college. Never graduated college. Never graduated college. I also didn't graduate college, but I'm not on that list just yet. I'm the 10th guy. [laughter] Nine out of So, so, so they teach you they teach you how to or they theoretically teach you how to make or you're certainly there to learn how to make money. Whether they're teaching you or not, they're you're certainly there to learn how to make how to live. >> Where do they teach you how to live? That's why he writes, what's his name? I'll get to you one second. In uh what's his name? Uh in the book, How to Win Friends and Manipulate People. Uh what's it? Dale Carnegie. Uh so he he he teaches in the book he even talks about, you know, in schools they they teach you, you know, ancient Greek literature. Maybe teach people how to behave in P, you know, how to behave and how to dress and how to teach them some morals and ethics. What are you teaching? What are you going to do with ancient Greek literature other than read the cliff's notes to get past the test? What what are you going to do with that? So, so, so the the Torah is hurah. It's instruction. It's teaching us how to live. That's the whole point of what were you going to ask me? I was going to ask I mean the of it is that it's instructed by Hashem yet [cough] that they bring into like all the like how far we can understand and be better people like >> what about it but that's all coming from Torah. Yeah. Yeah. Like [clears throat] it's instructed by Hashem, but but the instruction of Hashem, it has all the to make us >> it has everything. It contains everything. >> Everything. Everything is there. It's all in Torah. It's all in Torah. I mean, all in Torah means even things that you know, you know, it talks about he hid the book of cures. He put in the there was a book called the safer, the book of cures. And a melik had that book and he eventually got he he that book was hidden because people were putting their faith in the book and so people got sick were putting their faith in the book instead of putting their faith in God. It's called safer haros. How did he know that? How did you know the things that they know? You go through the garra the things that they knew back then that it's not clear to us how they knew it or what what it even means. The things that they knew Schlomma melik with mathematical equations when he was building the base of migdash what you've been to's tunnels over there where they dug through they don't know how they did these things we don't even know what what they knew but whatever they did know it's from the Torah whatever we know is from the Torah and it does say and if there wisdom among the so we believe we accept if there's wisdom there we accept it there is certain wisdom among the but the wisdom ultimately if you knew how to look for it you'd find it in the Torah All wisdom is contained in the Torah. Now what's interesting here is and this is really the I think the I think this is the central theme of creation is that it starts out with God created the heavens and the earth. Now which is bigger? >> Heavens or the earth? Which is bigger? >> Heaven. Apparently heavens are bigger. You know, heaven isn't in earth. Earth is in heaven, >> right? The the what the the the the the earth heaven contains heaven contains uh planets that are far bigger than the earth is much bigger. What does the very next say? That's it for the heavens. Now, let's talk about earth. First, it create talks about heavens. Then, it talks about earth. While we're on the subject of earth, let's talk about earth. And then what is the next thing that it talks about? Creating animals and eventually creating man. And while we're on the let's talk about man who is much smaller than the earth. And after finishing talking about man, what do eventually do? We start talking about au. And that's the rest of the Torah, the Jewish people. And there's a inverse progression from big to small. heaven, earth, man, Jews. And that's the whole Torah from that point on. It's all about the Jews. The whole Torah and the move. Which tells you what? Which tells you what? That the whole purpose of this was for Claw Israel. The whole purpose of creation is for the Jewish people. Which tells you that when Akur is creating the world, he's creating the world. That tells you what the Jewish people are. And what's the job of the Jewish people? Says Rashi. That's what I wanted to show you. Look at the sixth line of Rashi. Right column, sixth line. Beso says Rashi. Sixth line, right column. Mikra, this PK is calling out to be ex to be uh uh um what's the word for a drussia? A uh elaborated on Torahious. The world was created for the Torah which is called berious for in other words we'd understand borious normally mean as in the beginning or at the beginning and now gracious based on the meases forious the world was created. What is raeous is the Torah means our our job in life is to fulfill Torah and the med says that if not for the Jewish people following the Torah God would return the world to toou vavahu. Now what is to vavo? I I don't know how he say to vavo. The earth was astonishingly empty. People always talk about to vavo as it was chaos or it was a total total disarray. >> As when my grandchildren visit and then they leave then we describe the house as looking as tohou vavohu. Right. That is what that is what tohou vavohu was or what your schols looked like after hakafosh was was tohu vavo but that doesn't really that really doesn't mean that but that's how it's used in the vernacular toou vavo like the place is just a the place is just a it's total total anarchy so rashi says [clears throat] I wanted to show you what what too means over here sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry sorry I skipped something very important here. There's a uh let's go back to that other idea. The whole world was created for Torah. Now, what does that tell you? So, there there's a story this there's this Jewish guy who's a businessman and there's a a non-Jewish guy who they do a lot of business together. And one day one day this the says to his friend you know I know that you know I know that Yakov you know he has a holiday called Yum Kipper and what do they do in the synagogue on Yum Kipper. So his friend says well let's go down there and see today's Yum Kipper let's go down to the synagogue and see. He's curious to see what Jews do on Yum Kipper. So he says okay. So the two of them go on down to the to the to the shul [clears throat] and they walk in. Problem is, problem is a bit late. They get there a bit late. They get there just as the they're selling the alias in the sh. They're in the middle of bidding for the alias. >> So they walk in and they sit down and they hear, you know, kami, you know, you know, 100 bucks, you know, for 100, 200 bucks. And all a sudden he hears his friend Yakov is the back. Yakov says, $5,000. So the go sit in the back. He goes, $10,000. His friend looks at He goes, "Do you even know what you're bidding on?" He says, "I have no idea, but I only know one thing. Yakob is a good businessman. If he says something's worth 5,000, then it must be worth even more. I'll take it for 10,000." Whatever it is that they're selling, he says, "That's an indication of what Torah is." That's an indication of what Torah is. If a role went through all that trouble to go and create a world with trees and with animals and with planets and with seas and with fish and with everything else, all for what? Beracious? for the sake of Torah. So that gives you an idea how much Torah must be worth if it's all there for the sake of Torah. So it gives you an idea what's the last thing that's created that they created as man. Why? So they compare it to at a wedding. They get it all set up. All the guests come in. Who's the last one to enter? The last one to enter is the groom. And after him, the bride, the star of the show, comes in last. Comes out on stage after everything is prepared. All of this, all of what's happening, all that effort, all that trouble is for what? For the grand entrance of of man, for man to come in. Okay? Now, uh, if you'll notice, do you take a look, I want you to look at the first part at the first every single pic on this page. You'll see it on the next page, too, but just one page is enough. Besides the first puk, do you notice anything outstanding about the rest of the pukium? Anything that that that stands out? Give me one second to to get a good I don't want to go into a coughing pit in front of in public. I want to go out there. I'm okay. Don't call hota, but I just got something stuck. Let me just give me a second. >> No, I want them to hear it on the mic. Well, here give it to me when I come in. Thank you. >> The coughing is terrible. This is I stopped coughing already. But now anyways, anybody notice anything here? Anything in this in these? Something that should stand out. Something should jump off off the page. Everybody got a kish? Does everybody have anybody? What do you see? >> Uh God is only referred to as Okay, that we'll see about in a second. What else? Good, good, good. What else? Every single puzzle here starts with a VV. >> Why' you say it? Slow-mo. No, too late. Too late. You had an open net. You didn't take the shot. No. No credit. Oh, credit is only when you actually do it, not what you wanted to do. Sorry. >> Except Except for my fault. >> Except for the first one. Everything else is va v. Look on the next page also. Vlo almost almost I don't know if it's every single v. Now the word of in Hebrew why what does the word v mean? >> And >> no vavv is not a hand. >> And then we say the that's vid. That's what it translates to. What does the letter itself be? Like the word the letter alf translates to the leader the general aloof. Baze is bayas. It's a house. Gimmel means to to give to somebody. Each word each letter has a meaning. What is a vv in Hebrew? Do you know what a v? And you go into hardware store if you want a yes or a v. A v is a hook. >> That's why it's shaped like a hook. Every letter every letter actually shaped like it's shaped like a little got a little hook at the top. The VV is a connecting letter. Then now means and. V and and Hashem said and and and and it's a hook. It's a connection. That's why it means and. What's it what what's a shot? What does that have to do with anything over here? It's telling you that in creation and through the running of the world, there's rhyme and reason. Everything connects. It looks random. >> And that's Elohim. What does the word elohim signify? Nature. Nature looks random. That's why the first thing that's created is elohim. Hashem says there should be light. Why is it the name of Hashem with nature says there should be light? And what are we supposed to do with this light? What is the point of the light? The answer is the light is for us to see that there's rhyme and reason even within nature. It looks natural that if two pilots happen to be on a plane that's dropping 14,000 ft. They just happen to be there and take the controls of the plane because you know that happens all the time that you have pilots sitting on a plane when planes drop 14,000 ft. and a plumber who watches reality TV, >> right? >> So, so, so what where where's the natural it's just natural that Israel, who's the youngest country in the region, has happened to develop the the best air force considering that you got all the other countries together hundreds of years more. Why why is that happened? When's the last time you saw that happen that the one country right in the middle happened to develop? So, it looks very natural. Well, you got a bunch of smart Jews here and so on. Nature nature is very deceiving. Person looks at nature and we think that there's natural oh well it's a it's just it's random. It's haphazard. Elohim v. There's light is for us. Look through it. Look through it and see. You'll see the hand of God v one thing connecting to the other. one thing leading to the other all the way all the way through. Um, [clears throat] now take a look at Tohu Vavo and Rashi. Where's the Where's the um, where's the Rashi? >> Yeah, >> left column. Oh, >> okay. So, so Rashi says over here to Vavu left column eight lines from the top. Everybody, if you find it, please show the person next to you. Um, desolation. A person is astonished at the emptiness. person looks at his est. It's an astonishing emptiness. What? Okay, let's Okay, if that's what I mean, we weren't there. You weren't there. I wasn't there. And I've never seen astonishing emptiness other than other than certain people. I've never seen a It's like when you please man for wisdom. Please, my neighbor needs some wisdom. You take a look Winston I tell you Winston Churchill who did not like Clement Atley who became the prime minister after Nel when they won the second world war. So the English rewarded Winston Churchill by throwing him out of office even though he saved them and they elected this guy Clement Athley. I think Churchill came back a second time >> but they did not like each other at all. And Churchill once famously said, "An empty cab pulled up at the parliament today and Sir Clementley stepped out." Right? So sometimes there's what we call an astonishing an astonishing emptiness. What's the astonishing emptiness? The answer is the answer is that when a person is created with potential, what is Adam? He's going to be created. What is the word Adam? The word Adam, I think we mentioned this on Hosana Rabba. If you rearrange the letters of Adam, alf which is blood man is the essence of anytime they want to find out what's happening with the person they give a blood test. You find that the blood contains everything. But the word if you rearrange the letters al you get the Hebrew word me. What does a me? What does me? Very >> very much. How much? How much? Doesn't say. Doesn't say how much. Just says very much. Oh, just means very much. That means Adam has very much potential. How much? Be surprised. We don't even know. We don't even know. We only know that there's a lot of potential. each person with their own whatever their life circumstances, their talents, abilities, and capabilities, but there's a lot of potential there. The ultimate astonishment is watching somebody with a lot of potential and not using that potential. The guy who worked on the Rubik's Cube for 26 years, documented, the guy worked at, you know, the Rubik's Cube, I tried it the first time it came out. I I would I never picked it up again, man. And I feel that I haven't got a chance. Now I know little kids who take it. They they just put it together. Whatever the whatever I took one look they haven't got a chance. Everybody going to spend all day on this thing and not going to make it. I couldn't even begin to think think about it. This guy spent 26 years till he found his wife said at the supper table when he went to work he lost the job. The whole family fell apart. But he finally after 26 years he solved the Rubik's cube. That's a major accomplishment there. That's something to look back at. There was a guy when was the big real estate crash? When was it 2007 2008? >> 2008 >> 2008. So there's a guy into college. >> There was a guy there was [laughter] teaching you how to make money. There was a uh there was a there was a guy there was a guy who came a guy a rich guy from guy who lost all his money in the crash [cough] and he came lamenting to his rabbi. He said to his rabbi, "Oh, for the last 25 I have nothing to show for my last 25 years except my 45 minutes a day of dafomi. That's all I've got to show for it." When a rich man loses money, rich man loses money. There's also obviously the concern how you put food on the table. But more than that, as a person, we we identify ourselves to great extents by our holdings. My portfolio is who I am. And if I I I once asked the main years ago the main fundraiser at Dorsome, one of the main fundraisers, somebody who was a professional fundraiser. So I said to M, you know, they always say when the stock market is up, it's a good time to go out to collect money. When the stock market is down, forget about it. I said, I understand something. A guy's worth $80 million. Stock market's down. Now he's worth $79 million. He can't give you a million bucks. It's going to feel it's going to make a difference. He said to me, "You don't understand the psychology." The psychology is that when a guy makes money, I am a million dollar, $80 million. I am $80 million. The market's up. I got an extra 500 grand. I'll give that away to you. But I'm not going to give away who I am. It's like a guy asking a guy, "Do you mind cutting off a finger and giving me a finger?" He's not. He identifies himself. That's who he is. And if a person doesn't so then he's t to vavo. A person is is is that there's emptiness. Nothing nothing's been accomplished. That's the idea. The uh uh take a look at puk. What puk are we on? Puk. This is a very important concept here. Uh starting with take it from the top of the page. There should be a rake within the water. A firmament good should separate between the two water levels of water. Divides them. He calls the heavens shayim which breaks into two words. There is water. Now two things here. First let's take a look at Rashi. [clears throat] Take a look at Rashi. It's the right column of Rashi. Right column five lines from the bottom. May which means carries water. It also means shamim there is water. It also refers to fire and water. The word shamayim alludes to the idea of fire and water. He mixed fire and water together. He mixed fire and water together. The two things that never if the f the most opposite if you ask anybody what are the two things most opposite in the world the first two opposites that come to mind the most basic opposites that come to mind or what >> fire and water I not >> or is light and dark is fire and water is very similar I I would say cubs and white socks but okay we're not going to get into that right now but the the the the fire and water, which by the way represents man and woman. >> Because women are fire, men are water, right? Sometimes and uh and and and you you have opposite forces over there. You have opposite forces. Fire and water. >> Now, the heavens are created with fire and water. What What's in it for us again, Lenny? When's the last time you had any you were creating heavens? I haven't been doing that for a while. I heard it was a hobby of yours once, but you haven't haven't been, you know, you dropped it for bowling. You know, you know, okay, what's it got to do with me? The heavens are made out of leafina. That's why I always get they they talk about, you know, uh uh uh they they discovered another black hole or another galaxy. I'm like, hey guys, you know, you got it all worked out down here. I mean, you still got street people, you know, you got you got you got play people drinking, you know, using plastic straws. I mean, you haven't taken care of all the problems down here and you're worried about galaxies and black holes and and a space exploration. All right, that they eventually because they're going to have weapons and this and that. You got issues down here first. Take care of, you know, what do you call take care of unemployment, take care, you got other things. What's it got to do with us? The answer is Moshe finds us very fundamental to us. And the answer is that man is made up of contradictory characteristics. that a person has different hunas. We have different what's called natural instincts, natural inclinations. Do you know that there's a medish that says that man we'll see man is created from all every animal in creation contributed something to Adam Marisha. We'll see that we'll we'll talk about that when we get there. What the Torah is telling you here is like this. [clears throat] Ramosa Feinstein says you sometimes have to serve Hashem with opposite characteristics. And what does that mean? On the one hand, you have to be generous. When it comes to yourself, you have to exercise. You have to be a little bit stingy. I have to worry about your well-being. I have to take care of you and be generous with others. When it comes to myself, I have to work on a little bit of restraint. You have to sometime most of the time be calm. Sometimes you have to get angry. You have to get angry at sinners. You have to honor other people but for yourself you have to flee from honor. So fire and water as opposite as they are we have to sometimes serve our co with opposites. So when I'll tell you when it gets tricky in a second there's an interesting question. Remember we spoke about this once. If let's say a rabbi walks into the room, you have to stand up and honor him, right? What about the fact that it may go to his head? So, you're creating a stumbling block. If you compliment somebody, you may pump up their ego. You're creating a stumbling block, aren't you? How are you allowed to honor people? How are you allowed to compliment people? If somebody does something and deserves the honor and you honor him, but now you're putting a stumbling block in front of him. Now it's going to the guy's going to become haughty and arrogant. How are you? How come you're allowed to do that? It's a good question. It's a good question, isn't it? The answer is, let's say, let's say I ask you, I come over to you and I say clearly, I want $20. Please give me $20 because I want to buy drugs. [laughter] 20 bucks ain't going to get you very far. 20 bucks, you can't even get a pack of cigarettes nowadays. I don't know what I don't want. I don't want to go. I want $200 because I need some cocaine. I'm telling you that openly. I want $200 cuz I need a line of cocaine. >> Can you get it for 200 bucks? Can you get it for $200? >> Why are you Why do you know this? Why? Yeah. Why are you so Why are you answering so clearly? All right. I want $20. I want to buy a line of cocaine. Are you allowed to give me the $20? The $200? >> Can you guess if 200 bucks ain't enough for two? This town ain't big enough for both of us. [laughter] $200. Can you give me the $200? Of course not. Putting a stumbling block in front. What if I say to you, I want $10 because I want to buy a cheeseburger. Can you give me the $10? Of course not. You're putting a stumbling block in front of a blind person. What if you owe me $10? You owe me $10. You owe me $10. I say, "Pay me my the $10 now because I want to buy a cheeseburger. Are you allowed to give me the money?" >> You have to. You owe me the money. You owe me the money. What I do with the money now is my business. You owe honor to that person. What he does with the honor is his business. But you owe him the honor. >> Even if you know that they're going to do something. >> You owe me money. The due date is today. I want my $10, Lenny, because I'm going to buy you a cheeseburger. You have to give me the money. It's not your business. If I tell you I If I tell you I'm gonna I'm gonna commit I'm gonna kill somebody that you're not allowed to do. >> That you're not allowed to do. But if I tell you that's not your business. I ask you for money cuz I want to buy a cheeseburger that you're not allowed to give me. Then you're putting a stumbling block in front of a blind person that you're not allowed to do. That you're not allowed to do. When it comes to honoring somebody, you if a rabbi walks into the room, you owe him the honor. What he does with it is his business. If your wife serves you a meal, you have to compliment her. And sometimes even if it's good, right? You have to you have to compliment her. I But she'll maybe it'll go to her head. Oh, maybe it'll go to her. That's not your issue. You owe her that. And therefore, you have to a hostess made a meal for you. You have to compliment the food. That you owe that to what she does with it is her business. That's her business. It's not your business. You understand? Okay. Now, I'll tell you where this gets tricky. It gets tricky where you yourself have no need for it. There are certain people have no need for no need for compliments, no need for a claim. I I can't even understand why anybody would need a compliment. I remember once with a little girl, a little girl, one of my daughters, I think, was crying because somebody told her her dress wasn't nice. So, I asked her, "Is it nice or it isn't nice? I mean, objectively, it's a nice dress. So, what do you care what the other person said? That the the the keen logic was lost on the six-year-old girl, obviously. But then I was thinking about it, but we're all like that. We're all like that. If you come up with buy a new car and somebody says, "That's a lousy car. It affects you. I'm not giving you my car. I'm giving up my car." It affects you. What do I care what other people think? THE ANSWER IS WE ONLY care what other people think. We all care what other people think. It's like the husband says to his wife, "Why are we why are we overdrawn in the bank?" So there two answers. One wife said to her husband, "We're not overdrawn. You're underdeposited." [laughter] Right? Somebody husband said to wife, "Why are we running out of money?" She said, "It's the neighbors, dear. They're always doing something we can't afford. We're always looking at other people and thinking, what do other people think of us? You owe it. But what about a person who genuinely has no need for it? I have no need for it, but the other person does. That's the fire and water. That's that's one of that's one of the trickiest things. I once heard a story this there's a wedding and um [clears throat] there's the mother of the bride is there and some woman walks up to her and she says to her, "Wow, you look so lovely." Says the mother invite, "You look so lovely." And the woman bursts out crying. She's like, "What did I say? I just said, "You look so lovely." She said, she said, she said, "What? Why are you crying?" She said, "Because it's the first compliment I've got in 30 years." Now, it could be that her husband is just a guy who doesn't, you know, either he doesn't notice or he doesn't care about it himself or he doesn't. Yeah, but she obviously does. That that's that's gross neglect of duty. That's gross neglect of That's what the Torah is telling you about that. You ever are you ever been in a situation where people around you are there somebody's calm and we had this when the when we had the six when was the war? Six months ago about six months ago when they were shooting missiles the ballistic missiles. >> When was it? >> March. >> Oh March. Okay. So So we're sitting at the shabas table Friday. We're sitting at the shabas table and I think it was Friday night and all of a sudden the siren goes off. My daughter was there. My daughters-in-law were there, you know, and everybody gets up and they're running to the to the what do you call it? They're running to the shelter. >> I was sitting there. I listen, I'm in the middle of eating. I have not got time for ballistic missiles right now. I'm in the middle of eating. And I genuinely wasn't nervous because in 1991 when Saddam Hussein, he should rest in pieces when when Saddam Hussein was shooting was supposed to be shooting uh uh chemicals at Israel. So, I was a dumb American and I was panicking and I put on the gas mask and it wasn't sealing me properly. So, I ran into the room. I took my shaver and I quickly shaved off my beard. Look like an absolute imbecile. Right. And not you panicked. You're nervous. Other guys are laughing it off. I shoot Gaz got canisters specifically at me and whatever. Here I looked at it. You know, ballistic missiles. They're not shooting for Jerusalem. They never shoot for Jerusalem. the chances are so so remote that I not from a hikic point of view I'm not obligated to go up and get into a shelter number one and number two I don't know that shelter is going to help you against the ballistic missile with a direct hit so I sat there at the table everybody they the girl the women especially sometimes you have to understand I'm calm which isn't the normal state of of affairs by the way it's not like I'm Mr. you know just Mr. cool under pressure, but I'm calm. They're nervous. Some realize that different people have different different inclinations. You got say, "Oh, would you stop being a bunch of babies?" It doesn't work that way. You have to realize that's fire and water. That's what Mosha Feinstein says that that that you sometimes have to be the the the guy who's you you have to relate to other people. By the way, I just tell you a last story. Rab Mosha Feinstein himself who was the the most humble person anybody could imagine and Ravaran Cutler was the leader of American jury in the early 60s in the 50s and 60s. Revaran Cutler was nifer. Iran Cutler passed away and an issue came up for affecting the Jewish people and there was a meeting of Torah Torah the the Torah leaders and everybody had an opinion and at a certain point Mosha Feinstein said before Ravarin died he said I'm the leader this is my opinion and this is what we're going to do Feinstein is the most humble person yeah you're right you're the most humble person the fact that you're humble doesn't mean that there aren't circumstances where you have to stand at the forefront and make sure everybody knows what the what who you are and what your responsibility is. Ravskll Abramsky, you're going to love this. RaKY who he was he he was he was also one of the Gdoleador. He died in 1976 or 77. So he was the chief rabbi of England. He was the head of the London based and there was a a a Jew was accused of something or other and it involved ritual slaughter. So Rabbi Kascar Abramsky came to court as a character witness for this Jew and they asked him about the laws of so at a certain point the English judge said I would like to get the opinion of the supreme halikic authority. So Kasco Ramsey said your honor I am the supreme halikic authority. So he look said my dear rabbi a little humility said I'm sorry your honor I'm under oath. [laughter] I mean if you are you or you're not are you the supreme alic authority or not if you are then you have to that's who you are is a humble person one thing has nothing to do with the other that's fire and water to serve with contradictory inclinations and contradictory characteristics and that is something that is a little bit more applies to us and exactly how to create the heaven if you ever want to do that we'll talk Lenny we got to go back to that kind of you know how let's create a heaven together. >> All right. >> Minecraft >> as the old heaven can wait, you know. Sorry. Sorry. I I was waiting to bring out the I was waiting to crank that one out the whole time.