VLK - Ahavas Yisrael on Fire - Sefira and Jewish History With a Birds Eye View

[Music] at the very end of there's a strange it says that women should refrain from doing any work after between p and and thetive there adds that this is referring to both women and men and although the Yakov says that are not n to do this in practice nowadays it's still worth exploring why this minog ever existed in the first place and the answer is that the time period between p and Sh is a time of deep introspection and growth and unless we carve out a time of our day to sit down undistracted and think we wouldn't ever think we would just blurt out s and switch our music from regular to Acappella and move on with our night so kazal mandated an actual is Mal to force people to stop what they're doing and think and it's a little ironic that this minig was prevalent a thousand years ago when life wasn't nearly as distracted and fast-paced as it is today and yet in our immensely distracted phone obsessed million miles an hour world we don't have such a Min but nevertheless it still behooves us to stop and think for a few moments about the lessons of spa like they did in the olden days the question is what exactly should we think about what should we focus on how do we prepare for the giving of the Tyra what should we emphasize as we count down to sh so to make it easier for us K broke down the Midas we need to work on into seven different categories the categories are said is kindness to others gura is demonstrating restraint and strength in the face of evil urges deeris is being wholesome and allowing the tah to make you pure and kind n is persevering no matter the challenges we Face hod is having awe of Hashem and allowing that awe to instill humility in US Y is having a concrete foundation in which Kusha can live and Foster even in this mundane world and malus is the all-encompassing realization that Hashem is the king and all that we do is service in his kingdom and being that there are seven weeks of SPH and each week of SPH has another Mida which we work on and each day of those weeks we work on how that mid intersects with the other mid so for example the first week is the week of and the first day is just Raw Pure then comes which is how at times restraint is required in and then there's which is how needs to be intertwined with Ty and create an shom and so on and so forth each of these seven attributes are characterized and inspired by an individual who excelled at that Mida so for example is is is is is now what's interesting is this seemingly out of proportion attention and emphasis during this time of year given to focusing on on loving and being kind to others the very first thing we start our preparation to with is the inspiration of the and then there's which is ensuring we fuse with being good to those around us as yob was both an but he also dealt honestly with L and as Andro and then there's which is the awe of Hashem to the point where it brings you humility and love of peace and kindness which is defined by the Paradigm of and then there's the actual mourning we do for the of who died according to the because they didn't have enough covet for one another implying that that's what that we should be working on during these weeks what does this all has to do with shouldn't we prepare to accept the t a new by learning more t or by increasing our or by having lavish during these weeks or by buying more or by giving bonuses to our reim isn't getting the Tyra the ultimate badum why are we focusing on and it's not just during that we do this every single time before someone sits down to learn there is a printed on the inside cover of almost all garas and you know what it says we don't dove in that our learning should be carried on the wings of eagle and brought to hashem's throne we don't do in that our learning should save the world and bring Messiah you know what we do for we do that when we learn and our friend makes a mistake we shouldn't embarrass them and we shouldn't laugh if he slips up in the morning we Sayler would say we first D to be an to be a mench and then and only then can we be for that's the prerequisite as it says in the question is why why is the ultimate first step to why do we place such emphasis oned and love and unity towards other Jews right before Shu why now of all times of the year so the answer I believe contains the secret to understanding Jewish tragedy and destruction over the course of our history if you look at Jewish history with a bird's eye view you'll notice a strange phenomenon and that is that almost every single time the Jewish people were destroyed or destined to be destroyed or partially destroyed the reason given by Kaz for the most part have nothing to do with hard core black and white for example we know that only oneth of the Jews in MIT managed to leave the other four fifths died in MA which means that if 600,000 people left MIT then 2.4 million people died in MIT why they die says the medc because they dressed like Egyptians and spoke like Egyptians and adop adopted Egyptian names which is strange that's what killed 2.4 million Jews in the times of the pent story The reason we were destined to be annihilated says the G [Music] because because they went to the's party that's the reason these people kept kosher they didn't commit any overt Aus all they did was go to his party that's what almost wiped out the entire Jewish people the ra page n he says there was a decree in the times of the khaka story forbidding the Jews to close the door of their homes their front door he says this is what prompted to lead the nation into war with the Greeks isn't that odd open doors we were keeping we were keeping shabas we were doing because we had our doors open that's what almost destroyed us the second B this was famously destroyed because of sin baseless hatred you ever wonder what was so bad about that okay so we were following Hal we were shabas we were not idolators or adulterers okay so we didn't like that our neighbors were a little loud or that we didn't like how they flavored their Chate that's what destroyed the B if idolatry and adultery and murder was what brought down the first P this seems to pale in comparison in the times of rubika there was a plague that decimated almost his entire student body thousands upon thousands died why because they didn't treat each other with as much respect as required how does that make sense of course respecting your friend is nice and it's important but to Warrant the mass death of 24,000 people seems harsh no overt sin was committed they kept all 613 Comm mitas why the huge Calamity why is it that whenever we as a nation were collectively threatened it came about from a seemingly insignificant offense is there something fundamental beyond the 613 mitzah that's required of us and if yes what is it so the answer says the B Ali is that even more than wanting the Jewish people to follow the intricate Mitzvah Hashem gave us Hashem wants us to be a proud Nation United in making hashem's Glory known on Earth disregarding Mitzvah Hashem has patience for but putting down the banner of Hashem and replacing it withholding the banner of Egypt or Persia or Greece or the Renaissance or Enlightenment or France or Germany or America is the ultimate disrespect to Our Father in heaven and something he has little patience for Hashem didn't see Jews in MIT who were proud of their Jewish heritage but happened to wear Egyptian clothing and happened to adopt Egyptian names has hasem saw Jews who wish they were Egyptians he saw Jews who saw the he saw Jews who saw the Egyptian culture and were enamored and secretly wished they could be Egyptian so they had to be wiped out in Egypt Hashem didn't see tah observant Jews in Persia who happened to be going to Persian parties he saw Jews who wished they were Persian he saw Jews who were too afraid to shed their Judaism but were closet Persians there was no passion in their Judaism therefore until they cried out in Repentance they were destined to be annihilated Hashem didn't see religious and God-fearing Jews in the times of the Greeks who happened to have opened their front doors all day he saw yiden who wanted every Nuance of Greek culture to flood their homes the food the sports teams the music the trends the Styles the politicians the celebrities they brought the street of Greece into their homes they looked at the Greeks with wide eyes loving every bit of their culture this enraged Hashem so much that the Jews were moments away from complete spiritual destruction Hashem didn't say good God-fearing Jews in the times of the second who happened to not get along with their Jewish neighbors he saw people who didn't view their neighbors as teammates on hashem's team rather as competitors in The Game of Life if you truly believed that you were on hashem's team you would view every other yid as a teammate and you would cheer them on with Glee our baseless hatred revealed that we weren't Brothers on hashem's team we were enemies in the rat race of Life rika's students were not merely disrespectful they too were demonstrating that they viewed their learning as sort of a personal quest for knowledge and wisdom rather than a collective furthering of hashem's mission in this world it showed Hashem that they were to a degree in it for themselves and not in it for him the Jewish people being Unified when we stood at our C wasn't just cute it was intrinsically integral for us to be United for only with pride and love and care for one another can we properly carry the torch of the Tyra throughout the pages of History being fragmented and divided displaying baseless hatred is demonstrative of lack of pride of being a member in hashem's Army and being a proud member in of's Army is the absolute most important trait to acquire before we accept the Tyra learning Tyra doesn't lead to Jewish pride and then Love Of yiden Love of yiden leads to Jewish Pride which leads to proper learning of as so nowadays during we no longer refrain from after but it behooves any yid with a shred of depth to them to spend 30 seconds to work on their for that is the Supreme prere prerequisite to being a pride-filled Jew and being a pride-filled Jew is the Supreme prerequisite to cabala or as the holy rebaka after burying his 24,000 T got up and declared