A Fish Out of Water

[Music] one of the most precious moments of the week occurs every Friday night at the shabas table when fathers get up and give a br to their sons they lean forward and they Place their hands on their son's head and they say they lovingly tell their sons that hem should make them like aim and manasha you ever wonder for a second why we tell our sons to be specifically like aim and manasha why not Le and yud or or Ru and shim why out of all the illustrious do we choose to evoke aim and masha's name to bless our children so the answer generally given is that there is a fundamental difference between aim and manasha and the rest of the epim and masas were not born shim they became shim the other Sons grew up a home in completely enveloped in Holiness gigantic spiritual figures like Yakov and Y towered over them they grew up in the shadow of their great-grandfather aam and the famous shame Yesa shame the Aima grew up in Egypt they grew up in Exile they grew up alone they grew up as the lonely Jews in a sea of Egyptian immorality they rode the same subway Subways reide they walk through the same airports we walk through they also have to walk down Pico Boulevard and ba and rot 9 and racer toown and Collins Avenue and Wall Street they grew up in an environment where one had to choose to be good for the standard was bad and grow up they did they fought and they climbed and they persevered and they not only made it through alive they climbed to be on the level of a shave it one a group of the 12 most elite people in history when we bless our children we know that they may not have a father like Yakov or a grandfather like Aram but we tell them that we know deep inside they have the ability to be like aim and manasha they have the fighting Spirit deep within so that no matter what the world offers they can choose good they can SAR the same way a Fryman manasha sword in the history of Jewish lullabi there is one that for sure is the reign supreme there's one that has been sung for literally thousands of years and we can accurately label it the mother of all Jewish lullab it is the song of it is those soft words yov said to Y sons of manasha upon blessing them but the end of the PK is strange it's peculiar it says the it's translated it means you should multiply like fish within the land now why fish didn't Hashem already tell AB that we're going to be like the stars and the sand why is he blessing us to be like fish and also what does it mean that we should be like fish within the land last time I checked fish don't live on land live in the water so what does it mean so r h gives a very enlightening explanation he says we are blessing our children that the same way one can stand near the ocean and see only water completely utterly unaware of the unbelievably dazzling world that exists beneath the surface similarly we tell our children Outsiders will look at you and be completely utterly unaware of the beauty and Purity hidden beneath the surface we are telling our children that the life of Tyra is the greatest life it is the purest life it is the holiest life it is the most harmonious life we may be in ghettos and in cattle cars and in DP camps it makes no difference we are alive like fish Beneath the Sea listen to this unbelievable quote from a Polish man non-jewish man writing from Beyond The Ghetto Walls of the Warsaw Ghetto quote I found a crack in the Warsaw Ghetto wall the other day and I stole a glance I'd expect to see humans in their lowest State riddled with hate violence and abuse I was expecting to look out at the poles outside the Ghetto Walls and see light while inside I'd see Darkness what I saw shook me to the core I stole a glance and I saw light I saw love I saw virtually zero domestic abuse I saw virtually zero domestic violence I saw children loving their parents I saw families holding on for dear life I saw homes filled with Holiness and Purity I saw the sanctity of their chabas and the joy of their sukus I saw the purity of their yum Kipper and the sheer happiness of their PM I saw people maintaining their respect for human life in one of the most horrid places on the face of the earth I walked away from the crack in the ghetto wall back to the supposed brighter side of humanity back to the streets of Warsaw now rid of its Jews now to the back to the homes with not even half as much light as the Jews Beyond those walls back to the domestic violence and abuse back to the city where our utopian Bliss has been promised to us by the Third Reich I am not sure what true happiness looks like but the Jews from even behind the getto wall seem to be a whole lot closer to it than we are because we are like fish in the sea we go about our business and Outsiders are naively unaware of the beauty that lies deep within we are fish within the land here's another story for you Margaret Thatcher commonly known as The Iron Lady with was the longest serving prime minister in Britain's history and she had a weekly meeting with the Queen of England and they discussed various political happenings from around the country and around the world and one week Margaret walked into the Queen's inner chamber and she froze she looked at the queen and she looked at herself she looked at the queen she looked at herself and she realized that she had just committed one of the most egregious sins one could commit in the British Empire she was wearing the same dress as the queen more mortified she sat down and she sweated her way through the meeting and afterward she quickly ran home and she took out a pen and paper and she wrote a letter to the queen apologizing profusely for her deep disrespect of the kingship and a few days later she got a knock on her door and a messenger of the queen was bearing a letter and she opened it up and she read Dear Miss Thatcher no need to apologize no need to feel sorry for the queen does not notice what the simpletons are wearing we bless our children that they should not be deterred by those who live on land and can't see our world within the oceans blue we bless our children that no matter where they are in life they can become an a FR and a manasha we stand over our child's crib and hope and cry and dream and pray that they too come to the recognition that a life of Tyra is the best life and that anyone who tells them otherwise is merely living on land [Music]