Behind The Lens - R' Chaim Ozer Geldzahler

This Torah class is brought to [music] you by Torahany Anytime.com. >> Hello everyone and welcome back to another episode of Behind the Lens, a Torah Anytime original series where we take you behind the camera to meet the people behind the voices that you know and that you love. This week I sat down with Gelzer and let's just say if you've ever heard him speak you know that this wasn't going to be a boring conversation has an incredibly unique style and uh his passion for uncovering the meaning in pretty much anything Torah related is contagious and you can't talk to him for 5 minutes without wanting to dive right into a safer and what made this power this episode especially powerful was hearing hearing him speak about his father who he sadly lost at the age of 11 and how that experience sort of shaped his life and his Tyra. So settle in, get comfortable, maybe grab a coffee and let's jump right in. This is Behind the Lens. >> Before we begin, we'd like to thank this week's sponsor of Torah Anytime's Behind the Lens series. And this week's sponsor is jobs anytime.net, the leading Jewish jobs network in the tri-state area. Looking to hire or looking for your next job? Jobs anytime.net ET connects employers with thousands of job seekers through their [music] extensive WhatsApp network. Want to learn more? Visit jobs anytime.net or call 845-624-9335. And if you'd like to sponsor a future episode of Behind the Lens, email sponsor@ tora anytime.com or text 917-625-2120. Enjoy the show. [music] a Torah anytime original series there. Thank you very much. We are on We are on. Thank you very much for coming on to behind the lens in Torah anytime exclusive series to have you. >> Thank you so much for having me. >> So can you take us back a little bit your journey how you got to where you are today in delivering Shirim on Torah Anytime? So first of all, thanks for having me. And second of all, I I don't see, you see, you know, I I don't see myself so much as having gone through a journey and reached an uh a destination, you know, so sort of you could I'm just I'm not being pedantic. I'm just because I think it's um it's a point that describes my my journey is that I think um whatever journey I've gone through till now my shim and tor is very much basically bringing everyone you know it's sort of part of my journey it's not like my life led up to this point and now I'm here giving shim and telling the world the truth that I that I learned and that I saw. It's more that I'm going through a journey and I think we all are and my shroom are sort of bringing everyone in that we could all you know walk through it together. Um so that's just for that. >> How long have you been giving your mentor? >> Okay so let's go back. Um until time I am I'm like I'm not for that I I moved to America two and a half years ago I think I lived in it. I was born in Lakewood start there. I was born in Lakewood. My um you know there were many back then in Lakewood. My father was here in Lakewood from the everyone in Lakewood knew him. Um he was he was his like a he was a a pillar. He was he was not only he was just a charged with energy kadusha masid and um so I was born in Leur. My uh upbringing was in Leur. My mother still lives here. She's very very involved in the community. Anyone in rebinics is very familiar with her. She's a nurse in the hospital and she's very involved. Really helps people a lot. Mash is from Leur Kalaria. So I am uh raar so I'm sort of like >> through and through >> through and through. Um but naturally after my I moved to Europe and I had beautiful years there mish mish beautiful years and uh I moved back two and a half years ago and I came here to river and um I gave sure and you know one day we were sitting here in show mik and someone asked you know why don't we record it fine record it I don't even do the recording that's recorded and recorded it to put on the to YouTube and fun and then it became a normal thing. I figured out you know my attitude was always that just record it if it's not good we won't upload it if it is. It was a very matter of fact, it wasn't like a big uh but then people were watching it. People liked it. I got good feedback. Eventually I started feeling very bad that you know I'm uploading content on YouTube. It's just not a I don't know if I want to. It's just it's a it's a filthy place. No belongs there. I don't belong there. Um it just you know people ask I heard you give I felt very uncomfortable. Um just it just didn't it didn't sit well with me. still doesn't but um and then eventually so I have a uncle Shabig Bench Mameish my wife's uncle one of the most unique personalities I've ever met Kafa he's I think one of Mamesh one of the the first people to really you know invest seriously or whatever I don't even know what his part was in Torah any time but he had some uh he had some shakas in the founding of Torah any time that was understanding anyway. So he's he's always telling me to go he's he's a very outwardly uh person everything he he believes that yeah every person has to change the world mish whatever so he always telling me upload I can't get on to tour anytime they have a little waiting list if you can you get me on I'll upload and it was a real it was when I was uploading my stuff on other places it wasn't I didn't feel like I felt like I was uploading and whoever wants could come see it. when I started uploading on to on Torah anytime first of all from the amount of feedback and from you know I just felt like there's a there's a big yeshiva it's big so so it's it's big a lot of and you're coming into this you're giving and so it's it's it's I felt I felt more of an you know I have to think before I talk because it's not just you know you know someone once told me about and share them online. I was I was I was hesitant. I was I wasn't hesitant. It was after I was uploading the stream already. I was just I don't know. I guess I was in a bad mood and my attitude was like, "Who cares? Who's going to watch it anyway?" type of thing. Was a close friend of mine. And he says, "Look, you think that you're competing against Bournestein? It's a big mistake. You're not competing against Rebi. I have to say he's my Reb. He's the Rebel of the H of K." But um so she said you're not competing against you and really Borson are both competing against the cat on a piano and uh that that and that should be uh that that should be your attitude and it really it gave me gave me a tremendous physic because look there are the great and I and the think that that um it's a sh like his but you know ultimately every person has his voice and every person has his gisha and his message and his flavor And ultimately, we're all bringing Tyra into, you know, we're all streaming Tyra in a world where there's so much there's garbage and there just nonsense and distraction and filth. And we're using those, you know, using that bandwidth. We're using that to stream player into people's lives, into people's houses, cars, and workspace and just runs in the park. It's just it's amazing that we have this know this ability. What was your question again? >> Just how you got there. Nothing. So I guess that's the way we it was a lot of little steps but I guess what I'm saying is that at a certain point the you know what I really felt that you know that's what I'm saying about this big is that ultimately it's is it was a it was humbling you know that yeah this is now you know the is there's so many different um there's so many different type of yen and every has his my father used to Okay. My father had a my father's yeshiva. So my father's itself is uh my father's named after destiny. My father's mother's father is of destiny. My father was named after him. And my father took I guess from him and my grandfather. My father's father Yeshiva 40 years in Queens brilliant yeshiva. It was all it was an amazing place. And so my father took from his father that his yeshiva was a very the the caliber and learning was very high. My father went and so the caliber and learning was very high, very intense and theidus was full force and people asked him like you got to sort of pick it pick a side you know either you have a little you could go both ways legitimately because you're a real and you know you're a real said about my father he said that you know lazy girl so there's the only authentic and there's a liquid is a whole bunch of like Hungarians that you know we learn yes my father's you know my father was from Kelm you know you don't get more you don't get more lit than that so but my father said that he said he said like this he said that say that um that and then there's a there's the is there to work against the see this it's deeper than that they despise the but we're not going to talk about that. So the T is a T. So he said like this in the olden days there was every every place has its unique. So you have in Russia where you had the Russian maske and the communists and then you had so you had a Russian terra that was very much on par to directly you had the you know the intense brisk of alim that that countered the huscola of the of the Russians of the the Russian then you had in you had a different and then you had the in Poland which is different style working in that and then you had style And then you had the all these things and they're very diverse because you have different cultures, different therefore the tora is in correspondence to that. You know that's how that's how it works. He says you walk down the street in America. You have an Irish bar and you have a Chinese restaurant. You have Mexican food. He said we have every in the world. We have all the variety. We have to take whatever T we have. So if you find any Torah anywhere that connects, that's meaningful, that's deep, that's real, that's authentic, >> then we need it because we have we have all these different battles we're fighting. So we need every type of uh >> wow. >> So that's and I think that, you know, you come to T to any time and it's just there the variety is just mindboggling and and they're real and there's authentic trets. There's I have how many uncles do I have? I have at least two two uncles in the time and my mother's brothers. One is from Torski from the other one is Fran Turski from Chicago very different they're very unique different styles tremendous such such depth such richness it's just beautiful it's it's absolutely beautiful and it's amazing that you have you could you could come to such a place and you know every person has a different nephesh every person has a different you know you meet people all the time that that are that are the you know that are they feel that the terror doesn't speak to them right it's a it you have it all the time and you know there's a there's a story that the balatania walked into bismish and it was a I don't know if it was in I don't know where it was one of big lit city and he came to make his case sort of right so they they weren't happy with him so he came to make his case and they wouldn't let him talk to anyone. So he said, "Look, I don't I want to speak for five seconds. Just let me let me get up on his let me talk." So he went to the and he and he he he made it like he announced the he said just taste and you'll see that Hashem is good. And he's saying it, you know, the way he did the message, right? That's story. And um there's a the the tragedy is that there's so many different and everyone has a different and everyone has a different nephesh right so you have a different different things are bothering you variety of different capacities and in our school system I'm not blaming I'm not it's not the point but the school system is is is there to just you know to to service the most amount percentage or whatever. The entire curriculum is is geared towards you know statistic collective. So you have so many people that don't that just dislike they dislike they dislike any anything because they have a bad experience and the is beautiful is delicious this I think the value of even a person like me right I'm not I'm not who knows right and there's there's there's true time and then there's just there's regular people and everyone brings their own voice and you know if people connect if people uh people come back for more then that's amazing then that that that means that you that I was you know a pipeline I was a t that for the sweetness to connect someone you know if someone opening the par for someone and opening a gumari whatever it is opening it for someone that decided he's never going to learn a gar again and suddenly you say look maybe the gamarra your fifth grade rebi maybe it was mean to you maybe you didn't understand and maybe different a thousand different things try again you know the gammorra is very old very ancient many people enjoyed this before many people like you you know you have it in your DNA this is who we are this is what we died for this is what we lived for this is what we danced with this is our entire nan this is who we are try it out give it a shot you didn't try in 10 years give it a shot and you know what some people dou doesn't work for them so these people you have a you have in in in in Na'vi in in it's just and some the reverse is right so that's one the reverse is that someone thinks that he knows everything right so you have if if I read in Wikipedia a page about physics five minutes later I'm Albert Einstein 2.0 Right? Because I read, you know, if you if you spend 10 more minutes, then you realize that you really have no idea what's going on, right? I could explain the theory of relativity to someone who doesn't know anything. But if that person asked me one question, I don't know. I don't I don't know. Right? That's what it is. The same thing is sometimes you have a person that that that learned, you know, and he's convinced that he's takes five minutes of learning to realize that, okay, you don't know. So in terrorist sometimes we we we have a a disillusion that we know and part of exploring the depth of Tyra is that you try to and this is what I try to do a lot because this is the way I try to learn and that is you try to forget you even the things you know the things the stories you've been told so there's a part of your brain where you you always have to keep the raw you know second grade ty that you know katskar when he got older he went to visit his um he was in his you know city where he grew up I don't know if it was tam I don't know where it was and he only he went to visit his kadala forever because he told me I know whatever he told me is true you know that's definitely authentic so there's a certain place where that's true where you have to keep the pirate pajamas in the middle of the night type of things real But 80% of your brain shouldn't be in two year 80% of your the toy shouldn't be 2 years old. The the problem is that what we do is that a lot of the imagery that we have and a lot of understanding and appreciation for the Tyra and scenes in the Tyra are two years old and we don't update them. So when you grow up maybe it the right thing would be just to open a read can be read a thousand times you know in your life and ask questions and just question everything every single thing. Rip it to shreds. Don't leave any because everything on that page has to make has to make sense. It does make sense. Now obviously you could only do that if you come to it with the attitude that it's term and I'm here to understand and I'm a little child but you also have to understand that yeah Hashem gave me the the for me to understand he didn't give it to you know he didn't only give it to I understand he gave it to me also now it means that he expects me that I have the ability to understand so if I have the ability to understand I have questions to ask and I trust the ter is not afraid of my questions right at a certain point you could you could shut up kids in fifth th grade. If someone's 20 years old, he's opening the He's ask questions. He deserves answers. Now, I don't have the answers. I have the questions. I have a lot of them, but I don't have all the answers. We could we could we could, you know, we could look for it together. Last night, I was in uh I I was by uh a get together was, you know, I'll say what it was because it was just such a beautiful get together. 20 30 guys got together people that you know people that have technology and they got together about how they could be miscuils and kabalas. It was a beautiful beautiful event was like mameish a people that that that want more kadusha in their life. It's so is beautiful. Anyway, so a guy I I didn't know these people. I came I I did my thing. I was there for a couple minutes. So someone came over to me. He listens to my shirum. I said, 'D do me a favor. Start, you know, you have to come out with a point at the end. You can't just go and look at and look, I told him, I can't help you. I I'm not I'm not a lawyer. I didn't write this document. >> Well, he was saying your she >> he was complaining that my sho have to come out with something because I could go for an hour and a half and put everything on the floor. Just throw everything on the floor and say, "Now figure it out." Because sometimes Yeah. I think that that is the first step of learning. The first step of learning is understand that everything you've told yourself till today I'm not saying it's not true. I'm not saying that at all. What I'm saying is that you have to question it. You have to understand it. I could give you we could go through every par give you a muscle but um but just asking the most fundamental basic questions. Um so meaning your style or in his eyes was to ask a lot of questions and not necessarily come with with some all the answers. >> So look look >> that's what he was bothered by >> that was that's what he was bothered by. Now as my brother would say that I took a dysfunction of mine and I made it you know a shittita [laughter] which I don't deny it's guilty as charged but yeah meaning you could take um you could take anything and just once you start once you go out of the lens of a 2-year-old child, you see how how magnificent and how and the breath and the the the the the the depth and how far things take you. is just it's there's vistas there's worlds so far beyond your imagination and all you have to do is you just have to just just you have to rip off that this you just have now again I I don't know if I could if I don't know I don't know the answers but let's let's go let's go on a walk and ultimately this is why I told you I I feel like oh why am I sure am I like that because really I don't have any answers I don't know anything certain people are very very certain they have all the answers in life. I know nothing. You come to me with a question. I'll ask you back a question. I'll make your question more miserable. You go more confused. But and and that's what I'll do. And I'll and the only difference is now I do it on camera. And just because ultimately we're all lost. There's a very dark world, a world of confusion and pain, rejection, and just darkness and filth. And we're a couple of lost people. We have a guide. Look, we have two things. We have our brain and we have a swarm junk. That's what we have. And that's the way that's that's it. That's our GPS. Now that's it. So you story about um I don't remember. My brother always says the story. I don't I don't know if I'll say it overight. Anyway, but there's two I'm just think the two Anyway, I don't remember what they are. One of them is that the idea is that there are two old mish one is that there was an old man maybe it's like or something that there was an old man that someone is lost in the forest and he sees an old man and he says oh I'm I'm I'm I'm here I'm lost here for thousand years I could help you out. So he says if you're lost for thousand years how you helping me out because I could tell you know I I could give you all the roads that lead nowhere. So that's sort of like because it's not this I think when he asks asks a question and when he learns Tyra and he's looking for Hashem he's looking for the truth he's looking for meaning in life he's looking for any understanding of who he is what his role is that that question every question he's going to ask is every question he asks is is a person looking for Hashem that's like that is the ultimate quest of a person that's the entire is written in that realm of a person looking and you know looking for Hashem. Now people when they look they have difficult questions and I think it's naive um to assume that you have the answers but sometimes you can say look that's not going to help that's not going to work or I've been there or I'm still there now let's walk together you know we're both lost let's walk together let's try to figure it out and it's in life it's in the real questions in life and it's in the journey through Tyra when you learn a par you learn um um anything there's I give a sh on the migill and my opening sh was that that the problem in migilla let's say for inance it comes out very strong because the problem is that we think we know the story and our story is a very babyish story and the second you start reading it as real people and not as like permiel that happened in the school lunchroom you realize the story doesn't make sense >> not a single part of the story makes any sense and the more you dissect it the more story falls apart and you have and that's so that's what I what I did was I asked the fundamental question in every parrot to bring everyone with the sh to convince them that they they don't understand a word in that par and that's it once you don't know the story then we can try to make and then we get we can maybe there's there's a lot to work with and then you have you have it in in all the paras of the just go through every single paras and realize that there's so much of it that you're just not updating and there's and The problem is that there's okay has a billion words on every page. Put that aside doesn't have any nothing. Just read the text. Okay. Read the text. You don't know anything. Start from the beginning and and because if you if you have your your whatever your mor taught you is if that's still where it is then whatever you're going to learn you're putting on top of it and then the Rambam and Rashi are just giving commentary to 5-year-old story and you're piling up everything is being piled on to 5-year-old story. Whereas if you throw everything away, now again when I say throwing everything away, I don't mean don't throw anything away. But if you lack all that up and you come and you come with a a let me let me let me taste this. I I I want to see where where do I see myself over here? Where where do I where do I find how how does this talk to me? What does this mean? How does it make sense to my you know just just read that story as an adult. It's that story per se is a very difficult story to read as as an adult because you have big people doing terrible things. So dear you getting into real theological philosophical pretzels but you have to do it like grow up. Yeah, that's for you're not young. You're not 5 years old anymore. You don't I don't have to sugarcoat it. I don't have to spoon feed you. No, be an adult and read it. Read it like a match. And if it's terrible, feel the pain. And after feeling all that and after learning that whole story now operashi and now see what Rashi does to the story. See the little nuances the the little things that he pays attention to that you missed the questions that and then see the Rambam communicating with Rashi and then it's like you're walking into Bismar and the whole thing is alive and you're standing there and you're just blown away and then you have someone in the corner of the room asking the same question. you asked. So Evanzra is like yelling at Rashi that you know you're just you know you're just telling these people you're trying to make them feel better but it's not and you identify with that hey you know that's what I felt and then you have Ramban coming back in say you know you missed the point and you see this entire bish coming to like the mccron they're all coming up like the dance and and you just watch it happening and you get overwhelmed from from the the be it's like a symphony but if you take that same across and to leave it at a 5-year-old level then everything is just like piled one on top of the other. So that's what he meant because what I'll do is I'll take the uratum and I'll just what is the uratum? Does anyone in their life know what theatum is? The Torah doesn't say what it is. Try to figure it out. Go you everyone and just work with it and understand according to everyone what are they what are they saying? What are they what are they saying? What are they implying and what what does this mean in the greater picture? Well mean what does this mean for you today? And you have this in every passion of the day. >> Is this the I noticed that you give sh a diverse amount like topics like a lot of speakers will give shan their one thing and you are giving oni as well as as well as I believe as well as I could be I'm missing a few uh but that's quite a diverse uh lineup right there. Is that part of your passion that everything nothing should be off limits and let's tackle everything? >> I have a good friend, close friend that happens to be this friend and he is a good friend. He once told me I'll never be a monkey in my life. So I just have to but I still I still love him. And >> why did he say that? >> He said that because he's 10 years older than me and at least at least 10 years older than me. So I was I was growing up without a father you know my father was nu when I was 11 years old and it was uh I don't know I guess I was I was a little kid I was a ber then and I came to show and I was the most obnoxious kid in sh and but that had nothing to do with my father dying I was obnoxious when my father was still dying but he was he's just a nice he's just a good guy you know there's some good and he's a friend of mine he was a friend then he was like never like this mentor guy he's just a good guy and I was not I mom's not paying attention to the shiva and he told me then like look I know you're like like a cheer type but if you won't shape up yes you'll never be able to give a sh your life um anyway I didn't really shape up in yeshiva but but so I went him recently and because I needed some guidance and he's a good friend and he took out this Torah anytime he said look you're all over the place pick a lane and just do that do it well and is like that that was his advice and he it came out of genuine concern. He said you're not you know you're not doing you're just all over the place. Um, yeah, I guess. But >> are you you're conceding to him or you're defend and you're saying, "No, I I want to showcase." >> He's right that I'm and he's probably also right that if I would invest more, if I would pick a lane, it would probably be better in many ways. But again, if my goal in life is to be a popular speaker, then maybe I'll do that. But it's not my goal in life. I'm on a journey like I didn't I didn't get anywhere. I'm I'm I'm I'm on a journey and yeah, my journeys Gamarra I'm Gamarra is is is there's nothing Gamarra now I don't know the truth is I don't know how many people watch Mish I don't know because I'll be honest with you when if you're in Torah anytime they you have a dashboard where they give you access to the back end like where you can see how many people watch your show after I started off learning my sh I was I checked 10 times a day it made me sick it made me crazy and it gave me a lot of the rush that social media issue like the problem central problem with social media is that it gives you a certain rush after trying to impress people and trying to say things that are going to get you clicks and likes and whatever. I don't need that. That's why I'm not on social media. I don't want it. I don't need it. It's not good for me. And um so I asked them to block me out. And this Mayor Summers was kind enough to block me out of it. So I don't really know how many people watch my my shir. >> Um >> no but you can see you have many shir hundreds of people. >> No. So once it reaches the threshold then you can see so the daf I don't know but look I enjoy learning the daf. It's kishmark it's good it's kamar and there's nothing like kamar and every person needs kamar. So I'm not going to I'm not going to stop anything. I'm learning. So I'm sharing with with with my friends you know and I don't know now the the diversity. Yeah. I feel look I feel like there's a certain part of our of our growing up where we're told this is enough for you. When you'll grow when you'll get older then you'll whatever it is and it's appropriate. I think it's I'm not knocking that. I think it's a very appropriate answer. You know kids ask certain questions and you tell them you know you don't lie. You never lie to kids but you tell them look it's a good question. would be older understand or you see a 14-year-old bah learning z you know 14 is a little young for that probably be better off you know learning other stuff and when you get older you learn z and that's that's the problem at a certain point you're old enough and you're old enough and now everything's on the table and and just I feel like if you trust the and if you trust our greats then Then then well then don't like I feel like this people have a certain know this is we don't really learn this we don't learn that come on this is Rambam there's nothing the Ram wrote we should there's no such thing everything he ever wrote is is is Rambam so learn it now if you don't understand ask questions now certain things there's people that are in the and that's okay right I have no it's no reason to say everyone agrees with them you don't have to it's not it's not we're not in kindergarten we don't need everyone to agree and and I think it's beautiful for people to understand that even in things that are the you have we can have a conversation about that because these are questions people are asking and these questions people are asking themselves forget about asking other people you you want to know you want to know you want to know so yeah we could all talk about the talking points that that are now at the for yeah but you know let's go back let's go back and read let's go back and read the Rambam. Let's go back and read the Rambam inim. Let's go and read everything. Let's not read them. Let's learn it. Let's understand this is how he saw the world. It's how he's and they have they're having a conversation. Now, if everything is for everyone, I don't think so. But people that are not curious just won't engage, you know. So, if you if you if you you know, if someone I gave a series on prom was like a 40 part series. I didn't finish yet. I left it open. Like I do a lot of things. But so so you have a series on is rough. It's not rough. It's heavy. It's very very heavy. It's intense. It's heavy. It's um it's you know it's and it it opens real questions questions of and questions of of of of of Hashem's relationship to to to the world and our you know our ladder going up. Like it's it's just the real deal. Now if it's not for you then you'll hear this weird there's a guy asking very difficult heavy duty question you'll just there's so many other things to listen to so I don't think you know I feel like this is this is this is something that bothers me this is something that these are questions that I'm asking these are things that that I'm concerned with now if you if you're lost you know let's be lost together why should you know so let's try to figure it out the Ramadan is a great place to start for any person the Ramban these things are and ultimately it's but you know there's there's so much you ask me about the diversity why should we there's so much um so many of our questions are answered entire they're answered in novi just we were never taught noi we were taught novi as two-year-olds we were never taught novi now open the novi Read it. Read get to know the people. Get to get to know the characters. Get to know the ups and the down the just get to understand. Now, obviously, we can't we can't understand, right? There's a certain there's a certain place we all have to concede that there's things beyond our comprehension and beyond our grasp. It's just from from a basic level, not even from an amuna perspective, you just can't understand people 3,000 years ago. the world was you can't understand people in Aits if you can't understand people that we saw and we met and we spoke to any a mean a survivor you can't understand today right when you talk to him you don't understand him you don't understand his fears you don't understand his his economic thought you don't understand the way he looks at his kids and you don't understand anything about him so you definitely don't understand so 3,000 years ago in a completely different environment with a very different world and what so I I don't mean that we understand that on on in a level that you would understand your friend. But saying that I can't open a novel because who am I is making the T obsolete. It's just it's just saying you know we should might as well you know lock it away somewhere and it's it's not disposable. That's my and if I was if this is my heritage right if this is what if I was given this give me this it's because Hashm trust that this is the key and the guide to my life open it up check it out you know just read it read mish for once in your life now you can read mish with you mish with a girl these are all beautiful I would just advise you just read mish try reading mish just mish It's magnificent. It's it's it's beautiful beyond any this it's it's just so rich. And he's talking to you and he's talking about your life. Just read it. And and again, you [clears throat] have to be mature because you're going to read things when you read Na'vi and you read things that are that are not kid-friendly. And you know what? Life isn't kid-friendly. Grow up. You know don't come to me when I said something in novi and you said look whatever just go to the text what do you want from me I didn't write this text I'm not this is we have we have a safer in tan am I pontificating am I talking for two of them >> no >> okay we have we have a safer in in in Tanakh I give you two and kos okay now is a safer of a person a million people wrote it but I think the consens wrote um either that or but whatever even wrote it. Um so this is a s that maybe was written by okay and it deals with a question of the injustice of the world the apparent injustice of the world. Now realize what we're talking about. There's a safer 40 proim is the majority is kir just blatant kir ripping the entire everything you were taught ripping to shits asking questions and the the the setting of Eve just in two seconds is that Eve was very rich and very successful and he had a lot of kids and he had a beautiful life and then the sultan said that yeah you know big deal he has everything going his way obviously he's a good guy. Hashem says, "You know what? Challenge him and just you can't kill him. That's the point." And he has the worst in the world. And he curses the day he was born. And from that point, Perigiml, he mish, he goes on a rant. Perim is a rant where he just curses the world and everything about it. And the story is that three of his friends come and they start giving him answers. And this is the setting of the safer. Okay, he has one friend giving him uh he has three friends and the third one obviously always forget and I'm never going to figure myself anyway build out. Yeah, build out the so you have three friends and they all and they offer answers right and they you know and it goes and he just he doesn't take it and he just rips them to shreds. Ultimately a fourth guy comes around says something no sure what he says and Hashem comes around and Hashem answers him and definitely no one knows what Hashem said but the safer ends with Hashem telling his friends look you had a good point. Think about whoever was in charge of putting together this of leaving that book in there. It's crazy. It's ridiculous. It's you have a saver. The majority of the saver is clear. There's no nice way of saying it. Just clear it. [laughter] Okay. He's just saying how there's no how this the world is injust and and Hashem doesn't care and there's no there's just this cynicism is so gorgeous. It's so beautiful in there where Eve tells Hashem, you know, for all I this is beautiful. He tells Hashem, I could do whatever I want. I could I could I could um I could be pure as snow and you would take me and dip me into mud and say I'm dirt. Think about that. T the pro says that no matter how pure I am, you write the narrative. You're the boss. You get to do whatever you want and I have no way to defend myself. Who's gonna be my lawyer? And he asked, who's going to who's going to be my lawyer? No. Who's going to be my lawyer? Is these are these are very rough questions and they're okay had no problem leaving it there. Now with that, you know what I take from that is that there's we're not afraid of questions. Questions are an inherent part of any normal thinking, feeling person going through this world. It the this world hurts it. It disappoints. It's uh and there are real issues. Now, it's not all badm I have a tremendous amount of in my life. I'm grateful for, I thank for, but there are also things that, you know, things that just don't add up and things that really at the core break us and we're frustrated and ines we have a that says there's room for that frustration and you know and and not only that, some of the answers you got are garbage. Hashem said that, not me. They're terrible answers. So the conversation is an open conversation and the the the the so when you read Tanakh I don't I don't think there's anything to be afraid of. There's there's you know there's the one thing there's the one thing and that is you just have to understand the gap between the you and the people that you're reading about. When you read about people like and just understand they're not your friend. Once you understand that then yeah The noi noi trusts me to read these stories and you know and and take from it these they were my you know my understanding is and I assume everyone's is is that these stories are in history they're there to teach us the way you get through life and if great people do things that seemingly are problematic you know maybe they are problematic they are grow up life is problematic and great people did problematic things but how did they deal with it afterwards how did they do chuva How' they rectify? How do they correct themselves? [clears throat and snorts] This is and this is the and when when you realize that it's all there in Tanakh. Open Tanakh. Read the stories. Read the voice of just just read them. Let yourself get drawn into it and you'll find yourself you'll find your your your your soul and and and and the things it longs for and the questions it ask. You'll find it on the pages. What else do you need? Hash give you a book. Just read it. >> Wow. So in conclusion, what piece of could you give the the many thousands of people watching now, many of whom have a difficult childhoods also and I don't know if their father died when they were 11 or but you know were obnoxious would never dream that they could forget about teach Tyra even really learn Tyra. It's just so far off. What piece of could you give to them where they could stay in touch with in today's crazy world like I just close your eyes and hear the screaming you know echoing in his voice is good taste and you'll see that is good and the the look the the the if you're going through a hard time, open it to heaven. Open a cahas. Hashem's light is the tur's light is strong enough to shine into the to to the darkest places. And when you're in a difficult place and you you see that you know you're not perhaps that's that's why isn't and is that when a person comes and he says look this doesn't it's not working I'm I'm I'm going through a difficult time and my life is upside down understand that people were here before you people were here in in situations more difficult was in situation ations so much more bleak and miserable. And you read in Novi that the the story of D by the Mish right before he became king he was he was in the most miserable situation running for his life and his own people turned against him and they took away his wives. He didn't have anything. The prosecutor says and David, it's beautiful because the only thing David had at that point. He didn't have any money. He didn't have any family. He didn't have anything. His own people, he had four or 600 people. They abandoned him. They wanted to kill him. So the only thing and and by the way, there was a bounty in his head. Wanted to kill him. And and just says the only thing I still take strength from the fact that there's there's is holding your hand. Read it read his story. Say to him and feel him holding your hand guiding you through a very dark night. And that's the in the Tory there's sometimes if if you feel like whatever it was is not working for you is that you the share that you're listening to the topic whatever it is just switch the channel there's so much there's there's so much in there this and there's I'm convinced because I've been there and I've sat with so many people you can't imagine I don't want to talk about myself but I'm sure any any muger has this but you you meet someone on the street and they tell you how you know you changed their life. It's very humbling because I didn't change my own. Maybe I did whatever. I'm as a result of my own life. But um you know the fact that and what did I do? I didn't do anything. I just learned a piece of GMA with him. But this is a way of learning Gamarra that he didn't hear before. It's not about me. It's there's so many and there's a guy that hears m and he falls asleep or he gets angry and upset and was the right hate mail. That's okay. you know, and then he listens to to to or someone else and he loves it and he falls in love with Torah and he's amazing and that's beautiful and we're in a generation you think about 100 years ago besides for all the misery that was but the fact another thing of the misery of the I I just I'm very unromantic about the but there's another problem in the was that if your Muhammad wasn't good at his job you had no chance in having any any appreciation for Tyra because that Muhammad he was 500 miles away from his house. He didn't he wasn't good at this. That's why everyone in the other 500 miles sent him your way and you were stuck with him and he taught you Tyra. You know that that's terrible. Today we today you don't have that. We have the we have the the gift of we have the gift of we have the gift of the amra there's so much there's so much in and it's so accessible and it's so and and it's so available and this this Raman you know what a year 100 years ago I had to do to have a Raman I'm sure there's now on on other platforms it's it's it's amazing the was there's nothing like it there is nothing in the world like it It's it's it's it's the most eyeopening experience of Judaism that there is bar nam. Now the fact how available that is and how that that could transform people's lives every day. It's it's unbelievable. And so if someone is I don't remember what your question was >> just that piece of for the people. >> Yeah. So if you're if you're lost if you're lost in life or if you're lost in ter or in both then just the first thing is don't run away. You're not I'm not going to say you're not going to find any I didn't try everything else so I can't tell you everything else. I can tell you a lot of them don't work but I I didn't try everything but definitely all these things are not going to work. Right? So there's you have the Tyra that was you know Hashem's and it it worked for everyone till here. It worked for your for your parents, for your grandparents. It works for so many of your friends. You just have to find your place. Open it up. It's the only real thing we have in the world. Just let yourself experience it. Let yourself feel it. and and there just so if you trust it now sometimes it it doesn't happen you you have to you have to give yourself that it's not you can't expect you know you can't expect you know to sit on with your feet up and let let go change your life it doesn't work right you have to give yourself but if you give yourself it's going to give yourself back and I think it's a position I just have to find the pos but yeah it's m it's a it's a position Right? If you give yourself to the T, the T is going to give itself back to you. So that just open yourself for that relationship. Open yourself to just for that give and take and your life is going to be just your life is going to be charged with Kadusha and with Tyra and with Emis and you'll have to get up in the morning and look forward to beautiful day. >> Wow. Wow. Meer, thank you very much for coming on. >> Thank you. I appreciate. >> We hope you enjoyed the show. Thanks again to this week's sponsor of Torah Anytime's Behindthe Lens series, jobs anytime.net, ET connecting employers with thousands of job seekers across the tri-state area. Whether you're hiring or looking, visit jobs anytime.net or call 845-624-9335. [music] And to sponsor a future episode, email sponsor@ tora anytime.com or text 917-625-2120. See you next time. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by tora anytime.com.