How the Lubavitcher Rebbe Reframed Jewish History - By Rabbi YY Jacobson

the yeshiva dotnet thank you for giving me the privilege of addressing you all on this very special day following the yard site the anniversary of the passing of this great Torah giant of the Jewish world the Lubavitcher ever of blessed memory rabbi bliss offski just mentioned that I had the privilege of serving on the team of oral scribes of the hour long talks and addresses of the Lubavitch Ariba on the Sabbath on Shabbat and holidays when recording devices were not permitted so I want to describe to you my opening remarks how I got involved in that I was a young child growing up in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn not very far from here the Rattler they used to say doesn't sleep himself but also doesn't let anybody else sleep so although Jews Shabbos afternoon have a tradition to nap and if you grew up in a home where they celebrated Shabbos you know that the Shabbos nap is one of the most sacred enshrined institutions and Jewish culture depriving the Jew from that nap is akin to forcing him to baptize and abandoning his faith and heritage for eternity that's true in the entire Jewish world but there was always one exception and that was Crown Heights even if you wanted to take a nap as they were saying if there's red there's good loss sloughing there ever wouldn't allow you to go to sleep metaphorically no so literally because Shabbos at 1:30 p.m. right after the meal right after the short meal he would begin his fàbregas his wellnot and world renowned gatherings assemblies of souls and spirit and it would last for hours sometimes till the end of Shabbos I remember summer afternoons there everyone could go till 7:00 till 8:00 winter often would go literally till the end of shoppers are close to the end of Shabbos and it all had to be remembered my late father would take me every Shabbos afternoon or almost every Shabbos afternoon to these four bringing us to these gatherings but I have to confess I was six years old and I found myself quite bored you see the Rebbe spoke English long elaborate multifaceted complex multi-layered he wove an elegant mosaic and tapestry calling from all disciplines of Jewish thought from Talmud Bavli and nourish our me from Holika Maimonides Kabbalah mysticism Hasidic thought contemporary events psychology science Jewish history of course biblical studies weaving them into an elegant unified mosaic of the depth of Jewish teachings and its application to the contemporary man or woman elegant that was but for a six-year-old it was boring and monotonous so what did I do in those days 770 Eastern Parkway there every synagogue had many beams pillars I would count the beams but I finished that so I went on to count the tiles now thank God thank God the man who put in those tiles didn't know what he was doing so that no two tiles were symmetrical there were crevices and holes everywhere and I would count the tiles and I became an expert on the physical structure of 770 Eastern Parkway but I finished this and there ever was still talking I needed to devise a new scheme of how to entertain myself so now I really confess my sin as katana masquerade I I took that city's the fringes of the fellow sitting near me and I would tie it to the cities of the fellow sitting near him I was a little kid relaxed there in the back I was a little kid it's far and I waited till the fabrina and ended and these two gentlemen would try to part ways the zenith of my mischievous career has reached its pinnacle one Shabbos afternoon when I managed to tie for men's tsatsis together and I chose one man who lived in the east of Crown Heights the other one in the West one in the north and south they were long for opposite directions with bated breath I eagerly anticipated the moment the Lubavitcher ever would culminate and conclude his gatherings and these four men would try to make their way back to their nests back to their homes and a world war would break out and indeed it did and though I would find all these original creative sometimes sinful ways to entertain myself very envious of many of my classmates who did what good Jewish Brooklyn boys do Shabbos afternoon kill each other beat up each other play outside Brooklyn wild undisciplined style and I was inside with 5,000 adults in their ebiz presence one Chavez my mischievous career came to a brutal or I should say fortunate ends as I was standing there and I was a little boy there ever was a middle one of his longer ah she talks I'll never forget that moment and suddenly I see a finger pointing at me I look up and I see that it was the rabbit who was the middle of talking and literally like this his finger was pointing right at me there ever was here I was standing right in front of him there was a path shrill an isle and was the first one in that aisle like this young fine woman here and he was point I was standing and he pointed like this not far away just a few feet away like this I thought oh my god he realized he realized mites it'sa scam pain and today I know one of the 39 labors forbidden on Shabbos is kosher right tiny mouths so perhaps there ever would publicly throw me out of Chabad expel me from 770 and say there's no place for you here coming in the middle of Shabbos tying peoples knots sighs the insensitivity in the lack of you maintenance it's also a violation of Shabbos now here's the big question when kebab throws you out where you go I mean if you're not Jewish enough for Chabad will you go to Satmar the turret cart I mean where do you go woman wasn't popular then this is the early eighties woman is in the Ukraine it's under the communist regime if there were three breasts Levesque who made it the on Rosh Hashana was a miracle didn't have the thirty thousand Jews you have there today where do you go it reminds me I heard this from the person herself Bob Dylan one Yom Kippur came into the Chabad House of Saint Paul Minnesota and Bob Dylan usually dresses as a homeless beggar rags hood becomes indicial but the rabbi knew who he was so he gave him an Aliyah called them up to the Tauri on Kippur for Menaka in the woman's section there was an elderly lady 85 or 90 she turns to another woman who happened to be Bob Dylan's daughter and she says you know this is what I love about Chabad only in Chabad onion Kippur would they call up to the Torah a homeless loser who probably doesn't own a dollar has no place to live probably lives in the subway some fellow that nobody even knows who he is and acabar they'll call him up to the Torah on Yom Kippur and the daughter nods absolutely yes but actually instead of expelling me from the Chabad Lubavitch movement the Labov ature ever broke out in a smile and he asked me the following question in Yiddish and I'm gonna quote it to you verbatim I recall it and I recall it as though it happened yesterday and then I'll translate the rabbit turned to me and he said with the finger pointed at me from valent vase to Lhasa developed how do you know that the cosmos exists a little budget a little Brooklyn Schmendrick who like cheesecake danishes coca-cola of course it was just when pac-man was coming out you remember pac-man today for your kids play pac-man you're like thank God right pac-man is already a mitzvah but then pac-man was the great distraction to all learning donkey conch whatever you remember those stuff Donkey Kong yeah how do I know the university wanted everyone to know how I know the universe exists I don't know how it was anybody know the universe exists and he stopped and he waited for me to answer and five thousand eyes we're now looking at me I turned I believe I turned pale green pink red I blushed and all I was thinking was was one thought Obama cherub oh why don't you live and let live I didn't disturb you in your speeches why would you disturb me it might sit this campaign I didn't bother you why would you bother me move your eyes away from me continue to talk and let me continue my sacred work but there ever wouldn't let go he's staring at me smiling a little bit and waiting for an answer I didn't know how I know the world exists I never thought about it I didn't know I was in Harvard Divinity School so some theology or philosophy class it was a middle of a talk he wouldn't speak to people while he was talking and he asked me this question I really didn't have what they answer they'd ever waited some time a short time which for me seemed like eternity whether it was 5 or 10 or 15 seconds it seemed like eternity and then he answered a question for me quoting supposedly quoting me even though we gave an answer and he said and fit there these were his words this child whom I asked how he knows the universe exists I'll tell you what his answer is his answer is how I know the universe exists Massa State container bodacious bara elokim assertion my investor 'it's because the opening verse of Genesis the opening verse of the entire Bible of the entire Torah reads in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth that's how he knows the universe exists the Torah says that God created heaven and earth they gotta be a world and their ever went on to continue his sister his address the next Shabbos I was afraid he's gonna ask me another question this is gonna become a developing pattern so I couldn't do that sits us anymore because I wanted to be able to know an answer I wanted to be able to be prepared if he asks me I'll know what to say so I started to listen I started to listen to his words and even though I was young a major part of it I understood according to my capacity it touched me it gave me a lot of delight it resonated like like a powerful Symphony a powerful ballad that penetrates you and I found myself transported even for a few minutes soaring in the extraordinary depth and clarity emotion profond 'ti integrity and truthfulness of his words he never asked me another question but in that process I became hooked or maybe addicted an addiction from which I hope never to recover and today I have the privilege traveling to hundreds of communities the world over almost on a weekly basis and sharing some of the ideas Melody's wisdom perspectives that I married merited to hear from their ever over the next decade and a half every single Shabbos and every single holiday and when I grew up I didn't grow up yet but when I got a little older I went back to the transcript of that talk to figure out why he asked me this question suddenly what was he talking about and he was discussing the innocence of children who are capable of looking at the world from a very pristine and pure place unencumbered by the stresses by the pressures by the distortions and toxicity that come with adulthood and with the pain of life so when you ask a child about the world his or her vision can be one of pure transcendence and clarity how do you know though and he said let's ask a child and we'll see and that's when he asked his question and his answer was in the beginning God created heaven and earth that's where I know the world from and in many ways I find it to be almost a personal mission statement for me from this great teacher and mentor of mine that wherever you travel and whoever you meet your mission your job is to be able to help them see by helping yourself see that the ultimate truth about reality in the world is Bereshit bara Elohim etosha my authorities in the beginning God created heaven and earth it's a god it's God's world it's God's life and everyone is an ambassador of that creator to be a partner in the renovation and the fixing and in the healing of this world that was created they say when Henry Kissinger became the secretary of state of the US the Prime Minister of Israel Golda Meir penned him a note and said I look forward to a close working relationship with you finally the American Secretary of State is Jewish and Henry Kissinger responded and he said I have to explain to you my order of priorities number one I am an American number two I am a secretary of state of the u.s. not of Israel number three I'm Jewish and Golda Meir responds and says that's why I look forward to such a good working relationship with you cause here in Israel we read from right to left you see a clogger fry a smart lady as far as I'm concerned you're Jewish you're American etc you're Jewish first in everything in life I can look at it from the left to right from the right to left and one of the great ideas central ideas of the Rebbe is and in every situation I should be able to go back to Genesis 1:1 and ask the question what does this situation mean to me from the perspective of Boreas Borella him as a shaman besar it's from the perspective of the divine creator who has conceived me in love for the Rebbe the definition of birth was birth means not just that you were born and you got a birth certificate birth is the day when God declared that the world is missing something fundamental without your contribution birth is the day when God declared that you matter and that your journey is indispensable to the cosmic symphony you remember that scene in Amadeus Mozart conduct a symphony Emperor Joseph - from Austria comes to the symphony and what do you do if you're tone deaf and you're at a symphony ever took your tone deaf husband to a symphony what do they do you ever took them to ballet - opera they do what Jews do in shul it's called Slough it's called sleep that's what they do so Emperor Joseph - slept through Mozart Symphony its loved in South Africa so a rabid Mia tells the stories is a rabbit for 25 years and every week he gets up to the pulpit to give a sermon and there's a Jew in the front seat his name is Berkowitz who always sleeps when he starts talking but he doesn't only sleep he snores you know the Jews that sleep in your show they always sleep on top of their lungs it's like there was once a jury was snoring the middle of the sermons and the president of the show love him stop it stop it stop it wake up he says excuse me I pay my membership fees I bought the seat and shoe I have a right to do whatever I want in the seat and I'm a lot of sleep I'm a lot of snore he says no you're not oh he says why not he says you're waking everybody else up so I know not your Habad rabbis who are here present company excluded but once in a while that can happen anywhere so anyway in South Africa this Berkowitz used to snore and every week the rabbi started and Berkowitz was snoring one day the rabbi walks up to the pulpit he's walking up he's not there yet and on the way up Berkowitz is already snoring all right imagine the Hudspeth the rabbi lost it he held it in for 20 years he does shared it only with the therapist but now he finally lost them he lost that heap last and in public he's his Berkowitz this is real real hot spot I understand every week I open my mouth you think I'm boring you go to sleep I didn't even open my mouth yet I'm just walking up to the lectern why are you sleeping Berkowitz looks up and says rabbi because I trust you so that's what people do Emperor Joseph sleeps through the whole symphony you just got it okay yeah that's fine Mozart finishes and he walks by the Emperor and the Emperor tells and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart job well done but too many notes too many notes right I hear it sometimes every Jacobsen good good speeds but too long I tell me was once a rabbi he went on and on and on the middle of the speech the president of the synagogue gets up and walks out driver says where you going I'm going to get a haircut a haircut why couldn't you take a haircut before my speech president says then I didn't need it so he tells Mozart ja he tells Motz our job well done but too many notes what do you tell an emperor who's clueless about music to tell him you're a you know about music less than I know about turtles in new zealand's you can come out with a head shorter so what do you tell somebody who gives you whatever happened to you when somebody gives you an opinion about something they know mamas absolutely nothing about but you want to be respectful what do you do ah you shoot them what do you do so Mozart looks at him and says I understand your majesty this is a profound observation now I want to consult with you which notes do you suppose I cut of course conveying the profound truth that for the composer every note is in dispensable and this is the metaphor that Jewish spirituality uses and was a fundamental perspective and the Rebbe is teaching how you have to look at an individual never never doubt the infinite indispensability and significance of your musical notes in the divine symphony every life is an essential contribution God send down your soul to this world with a particular mission that no soul before no soul after can ever ever achieve this Shabbos yesterday I was walking out of my shul in Muncie Shabbos early afternoon we finished Moosa on the way home for the Shabbos meal and a Jew comes over to me and he shares with me a story just literally told me you're at a 2 or 3 days ago from the person he daven's with him in the morning the fellow today is 67 years old his name is mr. Katz and he tells this Jew tells it to me I want to share with you an experience I had with Alabama Trevor as a child I'm not about cost and I'm not a follower of Chabad I'm not a member of a kabocha I'm not affiliated with like about family but I just had this personal experience he lived in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn on president and New York Avenue corner president Street in Brooklyn this was not far from there Eva's home on President Street the lubavitcher rebbe used to walk Shabbos morning to shul to synagogue at approximately 10:00 to 8:00 in the morning he would leave his home at 10:00 to 8:00 and he would come to the shul approximately eight o'clock in the morning every Shabbos der ever walked himself privately with no interest he was generally a person without stick he didn't like enter Raja is he it was very by nature that ever was an extremely extremely private person was hard to find such a private person his entire public stature was something that was difficult for him and was not easy for there ever have always seen that and he's mr. katsas as a child there ever would come out I would always come to his house stand outside to wish him a good Shabbos and he would come down his steps and we had our weekly exchange that was very meaningful for me I would call the rebel goblets nobody was there he would tell me good Shabbos one Shabbos I'm there and there ever comes down on a Tonga Shabbos and at that point there were you Shiva students who started to escort their ever for security from a distance and they saw this and they ran over to me right after the rebus started to walk to shul and they started to rebuke me and they said you know there ever has a few private moments for himself he leaves his house it's a private house he walks to shore he barely has a minute to breathe receives hundreds of letters a day you really have to interfere him and interrupt him even now what are you mixing them what are you standing here let him leave his home and go to shul and peace stop bothering him stop coming here this is a private place nobody's supposed to be here let him just go to shul in peace and stop bothering him mr. Katz is looking at them they were really adamant they felt that they were the custodians of their ember and suddenly he seized it ever turned around walking back to the direction of his home and he walks over to this boy mr. Katz and he says what did these bother him what did these boys just tell you I heard they told you something he said oh they chastised me for bothering you they said I'm bothering you you have a few private moments and I'm disturbing you and I'm interrupting you and I shouldn't come near you come down use the steps of your home I should let you walk to show them peace and I'll tell you the Chaves and the rebel looked at the two boys and he said it's better to finish that line mission and - uh can I ask you don't mix into my life and don't tell anybody what I do like and what I don't like cuz you know nothing about what I like and what I don't like it's really none of your business and he turns to cats the boy and he says I do want you to continue and come tell me good Shabbos it's a privilege for me to receive a blessing from you every Shabbos it's a privilege for me to get the good Shabbos from you and to give you back a good Shabbos I enjoy it that means something to me come back Shabbos okay I felt good and their ever walk to shul and I went back my ways and the boys you know they felt as you would say like I always get clap - ina I shine Arab you know when you bang the shot whatever it was what it was and life moved on so the next shot Trevor told me to come back I came back and I saw that the Rebbe was waiting for me the next job is he came out early and he was waiting for me and he says it's been close to sixty years since it happened and the story still warms my heart today I said just heard yesterday in the morning 60 years later it still warms his heart this was the sensitivity that Alabama cherub lived with embodied and personified and wished to impart others I was once standing on Eastern Parkway and a Jew came over to me a rabbi from Springfield Massachusetts he had a school in Springfield for a half a century he passed away a few years ago at the age of 90 name was rabbi Dovid Adelman and he is this with me he says in the early 1940s he was a student and the central of averaging achieve on Eastern Parkway 770 and it was one afternoon and he was standing with a friend of his Herschel Fogelman by the elevator in 77 he's missing talking this was still in the lifetime of the six labovitz Ariba the father-in-law of the rapper who passed away in 1950 and the rabbit succeeded him in 1950 this was still in the early 40s when the rabbit wasn't there ever yet his father-in-law was the lubavitcher rebbe and he was a son-in-law father-in-law's name was Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn the predecessor of the Rebbe Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson and he says the Rebbe the son-in-law of the Reber they called them the round mash from Mastro's Rabbi Menachem Schneerson walks out of the door and he sees two yeshiva Boys snoozing and he turns to us and he says in Yiddish they've built her in a frisson Vaart for Evan would you like to hear a fresh insight I just heard from my father and mother that Ben and I ate him and said I told them of course their ever said as follows and I want you to tune into this because this is quite it was quite novel to me when I heard it there ever said I had a dilemma and the dilemma was interest rule into 770 in the early 40s their walk in many types of Jews some Jews are very religious very observant very loyal to you describe to Judaism the Torah the mitzvahs but some Jews walk in here and when they cross the Atlantic Ocean it's those Jews who threw that filling into the Atlantic so to speak they left Judaism behind and they came to the United States of America where they were swallowed up by the secular embrace of United States and there was a very weak Jewish infrastructure especially in terms of schools and education and thus they abandoned must much of Jewish life and they also come in here to the synagogue and the rebus says I have a custom that I'm warm to every person I show love I show warmth and I embrace every person who comes in and some of the Jews here told me it's a wrong approach why because you're giving them the impression that observing the Torah is not so important you're so nice to them you so warm to them you should chastise them you should rebuke them you should tell them the truth don't be so loving and warm early 1940s and the Rebbe said I didn't know if I was right or wrong so I went to my father and lo there ever and I asked him the question and my father-in-law told me these words and this whereby Adelman said over to me he heard from the river a few minutes later in the early 1940s my father-in-law set a healthy parents of mother and a father loved every child with infinite love the love is unconditional the love knows no bounds the love has no limits the love is unwavering the love is eternal when they have another child they have infinite love to this child too and so the love grows with each child even though the first love was infinite somehow the heart asked place for love for a new child than a new Shah than a new child and then he added but sometimes they have a child and a child is struggling with something the child is struggling the child may have a physical challenge a biological challenge an emotional challenge sometimes a child is born with a defect sometimes a child is born with a disability sometimes a child is born with a disease with an illness with an infection sometimes a child is born with a serious condition what happens with such a child and their ever said the previous Lubavitch are ever said such a child they love and I'm going to say in Yiddish meet an Asian article lips are for this child they possess a unique law on parallel even to the other children even though each of their children they love infinitely but this child because they're sensitive to his or her struggles because they're sensitive to what this child is missing to what this child is lacking for this child they possess a unique type of love because of their sensitivity to this child and then their ever said God loves every single Jew like a parent loves one singular child that is born to them when they're older in an older age the love is infinite the love is unconditional but every one of us has challenges and every one of us is missing something and lacking when a Jew is deprived from yiddish kite when a Drew is deprived from Torah when Archie was deprived for mitzvos something in their soul is hurting for a Jew Judaism is what oxygen is for a body it's what water is for a fish Torah mitzvahs for a Jew you describe for a Jew are not just an extracurricular activity like Luxan Google or jalapeno herring or sushi or the most important thing Chinese food these are all extracurricular luxuries to keep you healthy you describe for a Jew rabbi akiva says in Talmud broca's 61 is what water is to fish and when a Jew is missing that and who is not missing something God loves this child with a special love sensitive to the void that each of us has in our life and he looks at his son and Lonnie says you behave like God you love every Jew like a child and when somebody is missing something you only love them more you don't love them less and I thought to myself how fascinating that Lubavitch erever himself struggled with the question of what is the call of the hour do we embrace or do we segregate I need not tell you there are some philosophies within Orthodox Jewry that preach segregation survival of the fittest but the moment they're ever heard that message from his father-in-law there was no turning back and his mission statement for the next six seven decades was embraced every single Jew with absolute unwavering unconditional love just rift as God loves them and the fact that we are all missing something and who's not missing something in our life and even somebody who seems so alienated and is missing so much of our heritage and faith it's only a reason to be more sensitive to be more compassionate and to be absolutely more loving I once heard from the former British chief rabbi Rabbi Jonathan Sacks and it moved me very deeply and he asked what was behind the vision and the call of the rabbit to all of his disciples to travel literally around the world and build communities everywhere from Alaska to the Congo as you just heard from New Zealand to Peru from Iceland you know that slew him just ran out to Iceland from Iceland to Vietnam from Tokyo to Bangkok to Moscow and even to Queens and Little Neck you have 30 great ambassadors the Rebbe impacted every Jewish community in the world and created hundreds of communities where they didn't exist before what was behind this passion and there is of course more than one answer but I think one answer at least constitutes the following idea and that is the rabbit watched his world our world go up in flames as a third of the Jewish people were decimated during the five dark years of the Holocaust and the Rebbe noticed one particular horrifying aspect of the Holocaust and that was the obsession of the Nazis to hunt down every single last Jew there was no Jews small enough or insignificant enough to be hunted down and exterminated ah you would tell the SS she's a little girl he's a little boy how bad can they be what can be the sin of a three-year-old that he deserves to be gassed for Hitler amok sure might and his people know drew was too small no drew was too remotes to be seein as the vermin and the bacteria that threatens the world thus they need to be exterminated and the lubavitcher rebbe in our generation said exactly the same thing in the opposite and he said if no Jew was too far or too small for Hitler to be hunted down and hates that our mission post-holocaust generation must be to hunt down every last Jew and love and never to say this Jew is too far to loss to remote too small to secular to left-wing to right-wing to win significance - penny - uninterested that we can afford to ignore them if in the eyes of our enemy every last Jew is so enormous ly significant then we must do nothing less but to reach out to every single individual Jew over the world seeing their infinite potential seeing their divine holiness seeing their divine calling and appreciating what they mean to God what they mean to the Jewish people what they mean to Jewish history empower them restore the smile to their face and restore them to their natural and an eighth position in the golden eternal chain from cyanide Tomer Shia of which every single Jewish soul is part of and absolutely indispensable there was something else in this vision of their ever and that has to do with one of the great teachings that he always spoke about and try to teach to all of his disciples and students and pupils in the hundreds of thousands and ultimately in the millions and that is never ever see crisis for anything else but opportunity they say that the Chinese are around for so long because the same character that they have for the word crisis is the character they have for opportunity but in Hebrew it's much more dramatic what's the word in Hebrew for a breakdown anybody much very much very from the word Shapira a break down the breaks and what's the word in Hebrew for a birthing stool much bear because in the Jewish imagination every breakdown is a birthing stool every door that opens every door that closes creates the opportunity for a new door to open in there Eva's world he saw crisis and was not naive about it but he always understood that if you're saturated with the voracious bara elokim as Hashem I investor are it's in the beginning God created heaven and earth then ultimately in every crisis there is a call for action in every challenge there is a call for opportunity in every breakdown there is an invitation for rejuvenation for regrowth for rebirth for reevaluation and whenever we confront the dilemma in our life that makes us feel stuck alienated disillusioned despondent and rejected we could look at it in two ways we could say my life just was devastated or these are the pangs that precede a new birth I remember when there everyone spoke there was this time this season and he asked that halakha question how was God allowed to destroy the first two temples in Jerusalem there's a Jewish lawyer now let her burn down a synagogue how can God send the book of nets are to destroy the temple as he says in the Tanakh God is bound by the myths votes how can he burn down the temple you know what his answer was you're allowed to destroy a synagogue under one condition and that is if you're going to rebuild it in the same place because then demolition is the beginning of renovation if I come to your home and I see they're breaking down your kitchen and I say what are you doing they're destroying you're only saying no they're expanding my home but in order to expand my home you got to break down the walls if not there's no space for a new home so here's the question of life you get married you're on your honeymoon life is great and then a few years down the line there's cracks everywhere and suddenly your marriage is facing the crisis your relationships are facing a very difficult moment you're filled with fear you're filled with anxiety you don't know where to go that which you trusted so much you invest in your soul in your marriage in your relationship and it's crumbling in front of your face please give him my regards you know the story of the husband his wife turns to him and says darling we've been married for 20 years I still don't know what you think about me why don't you share with me what you think about me you never tell me how you feel about me in your life sounds like any husband's so he looks at her and says how I feel about you a bjk what's that she asks he says it's how I feel about you she says what do you mean he says a you're amazing you're absolutely amazing you're awesome B what's B you're beautiful you're beyond Wow C you're courageous you're charming you're colorful you're creative d you're delightful Wow II you're extraordinary f you're fantastic you're fabulous her heart is now completely melted and love G you're gorgeous you're great Wow H you're hilarious and you're honorable so she says wow wow wow it's amazing and what's i j k and he says i'm just kidding anyway he has been missing since last Wednesday they're searching for him all over New York so if you meet a guy somewhere in this free to looks for hawked if you could report him so you see my friends we live life we invest so much and then this cracks things are breaking whether in your marriage in your relationships with your children in relationships with your grandchildren in relations with yourself in your relationship with your workplace with colleagues with friends in your own understanding and awareness of self your holy temple is crumbling what do you do at such a moment what is your calling at such a moment there's two ways of looking at it one it is you allow yourself to become despondent dejected as you experience the spear the rebus said no all renovation begins with demolition demolition is not the fun part of renovation any of you ever did renovation you know what I'm talking about is construction and his demolition God destroyed the first and second temple it wasn't only a destruction it was the beginning of renovation of the third base HaMikdash the third temple being young and the coach Chirico the divine structure whenever you experience breakdowns whenever you experience a system crumbling never see it only as a crisis as a must bear see it as the opportunity opening up new awareness for you expanding horizons developing a new perspective challenging you to go deeper into your soul finding your vulnerabilities discovering your pain appreciating what is really going on and seeing the love the love that is behind the new birth for which God is giving you an opportunity indeed the rebus saw this individually this way and he saw it collectively this way individually when you have a challenge but also collectively look what happened after the greatest destruction of the Jewish people in the history of our existence and we've been around for three and a half thousand years it's not so short they once asked a Chinese politician what's your opinion of the French and American revolutions and he said it's too early to tell but for us it's not too early littell we have been around for 4,000 years it's a long time we have hindsight of 20/20 and the red banda stood that better than anybody else when people would come up with all types of ideas to guarantee Jewish continuity there ever would always say hindsight is 20/20 we've been around for a thousand years starting Jewish history study it we have survived every possible breakdown every possible challenge we have survived every crisis we have been through thick and thin we have an exhilarating moment we were in the heavens and moments when we were in the depths of the abyss and the Jewish life light came so close to being extinguished forever my father my late father was the founder and editor of a weekly yudish newspaper some of you remember him garrison Jacobsen he found that are you this weekly the alga manners are now and he went into their band he said people are telling me I'm crazy never said why he said they're telling me that the Yiddish language is about to die it's about to die and their ever smarter than he says they're gonna say the same thing in 50 years this is the story of the Jewish people our first fathers and mothers couldn't have children and people said you're about to see the end the first generation of Jews was supposed to be the last generation of Jews we have been through everything we've been expelled from almost every single country we lived in every great Empire saw the Jews as a target for genocide abuse persecution or absolute a violation and the question now they're ever asked is where is Pharaoh where is the book of nets are where's Titus we dismiss faci and colicchio Caesar Adrian we as turkey Maday where's my linetsky where's Alfred Rosenberg item and angle of Stalin where are they and the answer is they are in Wikipedia you could google them we are the Jewish people we created Wikipedia and we're the ones who edit them we edit them go edit Pharaoh Titus we took Haman and we turned them into a hummock - and we eat him every put him we took out the Oscars we turned them into a latke I was lecturing near Brooklyn College by Hanukkah it's the president of Brooklyn College of Fine I want to know why Jews eat so many donuts and latkes on Hanukkah I said it's very simple the Greeks went into four things sports exercise fashion and looks comic is our victory against the Greeks we eat donuts and latkes to make sure we never look like that we took we took em to office we made them Alaska we took Pharoah and we turned them into a matzo ball that's what we do okay it's not good for calories but at least we're alive at least we could crash that we gained so much weight last few days but we're alive and they never would ask how did this happen don't look at the future without looking at the past appreciate the Jewish past and the answer is Jews always saw in every crisis opportunity because they remembered that verse they're ever told me as a child in the beginning God created heaven and earth but they also knew one more thing and that is there is one common denominator that accompanies Jewish history from the day we stood at Sinai till today whenever you want to look scientifically at the power of survival of any animal or creature or object or theory how does science prove a theory you always have to look at durability consistency does it remain consistent under different circumstances and the more you can testify to that truth the more you can see its authenticity here's the question you asked why are we here today look at 4000 years and asks answer this one question is there anything that pervaded all of our history uninterruptedly it's a thread that was there with us from the beginning until today a common thread what would it be gefilte fish no the spire them don't know what it is scope no - can awesome don't know what it is culture you can't compare yemenite jewish culture toshka nasi culture language most Jews for most of our history didn't know Hebrew al and sadly most of our history we have been in exile an army sadly most of our history we never had an army not a language not a culture not a land not an army is there one thing that stayed with the Jewish people for 4000 years every single day 365 days a year for the last four millennia and what is it and the answer is the Torah and the midst of estadual abraded with commitment and sacrifice they bequeathed it to their children and grandchildren with the love and dedication it was with Jews a hundred years ago five hundred years ago two thousand years ago three and a half thousand years ago from cyanide till today and therefore their ever said hindsight is 20/20 you want to understand the future always look at the past and Jews knew as long as they have the Torah and mitzvot they have God with them and Bereshit bara God created the world and therefore God is indestructible if we remain connected to God the Jewish people are indestructible and therefore every crisis must be seen only as an opportunity to rebuild individually and also collectively finally they're ever taught one more very powerful teaching that I think can illuminate the generation and touches me every single day and that is as a real student of Torah as a real student of Yiddish kind as a real student of God dear ever never ever ceased to believe in the extraordinary purity and goodness that is at the core of the human being and at the core of the Jew it's so easy to look in the mirror and to give up on yourself it's so easy to wake up in the morning to take a look at yourself and to say I'm such a loser people do it all the time especially if you're Jewish especially if you're a Jewish mother and thus a member of the International Association known as Jewish guilt calm somebody asked me what's the definition of a Jew and I said if he doesn't feel guilty he blames himself the definition of a Jew is when he makes a fist the next step is a sham new b'god new gusano out hate you make a fist and then you're confessing for your existence the old Jewish telegram used to read start worrying details to follow and there's always always excuses for it no question Jews are a restless people the anxiety in the Jewish world is extraordinary you would think today people have prosperity that your great-great grandmother didn't dream about you open a refrigerator this food they didn't dream about this prosperity even those of us struggling financially have speed things that our great-grandparents couldn't even conceive in their imagination scientists today are talking about lifespan advancing 250 years and then eternity whoever thought of this this was like religious messianic language today's dis language of atheists and yet there's so much anxiety in the world so much anxiety anybody has anxiety even while I'm talking get out somebody said they were in a kosher restaurant and the waiter was going from table to table a good coach the Jewish restaurant and the waiter was asking one question is anything all right how do you deal with this fear how do you deal with this anxiety how do you deal with the voices in you that always want to denigrate you they get you angry they get you frustrated they get you annoyed and they're ever taught two tremendous lessons that I think psychology is slowly catching up on lesson number one is never ever doubt your internal relationship with God and therefore your infinite power to rejuvenate yourself he loved quoting titania that every soul of every Jew is a Kayla quell a calm me mom Amish is a peace of God God is indestructible your soul is indestructible God doesn't need validation your soul doesn't need validation God could not be a victim to trauma you're also not a victim to trauma or abuse and even those people who went through difficult things in their life sometimes abuse trauma and other experiences that break so many people down there ever said your core self is indestructible because it's a fragment of the Creator it's a fragment of God it's a fragment of eternity and therefore it always remains wholesome powerful competent optimistic hopeful promising and perfect just like its creator never ever doubt that core goodness in yourself in your children in your loved ones and if you see it in them they will be able to see it in themselves but this is not always easy because there are voices in us that want to distract us this requires prayer introspection meditation learning Torah connecting to the truth but one more thing comes with it and this was the rebus great endearing explanation to that biblical moment when Moses saw that the Jews created the golden calf and what did he do he broke the tablets what did he break the tablets if the Jews weren't deserving of the tablets he should have returned it to God I would have sold it on eBay put it in a safe hide it imagine your body do you buy your wife for the 25th anniversary a tennis bracelet that's worth 17 thousand dollars any of you have done it you should think about it you come home and she gives you the attitude of the century you destroy it get back your money why would Moses break the tablets they don't deserve it they worship the golden calf hold on to it don't smash such a priceless item the answer to this my dearest friends is Moses saw that the Jewish people have broken themselves they broke their life they broke their relationship and now the question was is there room for recovery is there room for healing at that point the Jews could only connect to a wholesome God but now they were broken so Moses took the divine tablets and he broke them and he taught the Jewish people that you could find God than your broken pieces now the divine truth will be fine found in every broken fragment and when they built the ark and the sanctuary they put in the tablets that were whole the second tablets with shiver a look goes Menachem bar they also put in the broken tablets the broken tab it's ro so holy don't be afraid of your broken pieces don't be afraid of your broken fragments never be afraid of any emotion in your life of any experience in your life never ever be afraid of looking at your own truth of looking into your broken tablets because when you look deeply you will be able to find within them fragments of the divine this was Moses his greatest accomplishment Hemingway said life breaks all people and then some people learn how to live in broken places better than others Moses broke the tablets and he taught the Jewish people to remember number one there is a place that never broke there's a course sell that's never broken and when you know about that course sell you can go into the broken places and look at them and in those distortions and broken pieces you will be able to find extraordinary meaning extraordinary light there's one Jewish musician one cent it's the broken fragments that allow the light to come in perfection doesn't allow light to come in but when there are holes the light could come in I want to conclude my dear friends this extraordinary evening dedicated to the rebus vision the rebus teachings direct his leadership to the with the following experience or with the following story my late father once visited the Soviet Union under under Khrushchev on the Khrushchev sorry on the Brezhnev and this was the days when you know the Soviet Union was the paradise of communism as in George Orwell's Animal Farm everybody is equal but some are more equal than others some of you grew up there and you know exactly what I'm talking about if you didn't grow up there you're lucky so my father came back from the Soviet Union and he had 400 petitions of Jews in the Soviet Union for their ever now you have to understand this is a whole part of the rabbit that doesn't know almost nobody knows about including in kebab for close to 70 years the Chabad rebels were the leaders of an underground intricate network of Jewish life and Jewish education in Stalin's Khrushchev impression of Russia it was illegal many were murdered in the gulag as you know but the Reber had this under ground extraordinary network of schools synagogues teachers education Jewish survival items and their ever had emissaries who would go and my father went in 71 as a journalist and he came back with 400 petitions for their ever and he was there a whole night in there Eva's room sharing with the lubavitcher rebbe his experiences in Russia and the meetings he had with hundreds of Jews in Russia who there have been new personally about cuz they would write him letters but he couldn't write a letter to a shnayerson they called the Rebbe as ADA grandfather and they would send it to another address they would send it to their ever so their ever got letters from them indirectly and they always titled him grandpa grandpa Zaidan and my father shared this with her at all night my father told me he was telling this to there have been there ever was sobbing he was crying in his room after four hours of sharing with the Rebbe his experiences in Russia my father his pails and the audience was over and he walked out of there Eva's room backwards you out of respect he walked out and he noticed from the window that Dawn has broken he came in there at midnight and he spent four or four and a half hours and when he was walking out it started to become light the rebel was emotionally charged he was sweeping and listening and asking hundreds of questions and sobbing he felt very close to Russian Jews he himself was a Russian Ukrainian German and as my father walked out of the room right before he walked out he saw the rabble look out the window pick up both of his hands and say to himself loud but my father can hear it and yudish he said three words a night a talk it's a new day it's a new day and those were the words he heard and he walked out and it left an extraordinary impression on him he was living a whole night with the pain anxiety distress of the Russian Druze and he empathize deeply and when the meeting was over and he saw dawn breaking and the Sun slowly rising on the horizon he could look up and say ah it's a new day a new day many new opportunities new energy I'm a savagery to boy but call your income admire separations we say in the prayers of the morning God renews creation every single day a new energy a new potential a new perspective a new way of looking at things this was a man who never got stuck we so often get stuck we tell ourselves this is the way it was this is the way it's gonna be you don't know my husband this is just who he is it all comes back from his mother his mother didn't know how to express emotions he doesn't know how to express emotions he's emotionally constipated and his father is a codependent schmata what do you want me to do if you would only know my wife I don't mean to pick on men I could pick on the women Oh son if you would only know my wife you know we get stuck this is who my child is this is who my spouse is and the worst this is who I am for the Redbird that didn't exist he just did not see the world that way he believed as modern physics teaches us that consciousness is not a derivative of matter matter is a derivative of consciousness matter exists in our consciousness it's our consciousness that creates matter it's our consciousness that creates the world around us it's our attitudes that define the world around us not only on the spiritual level even on a subatomic level and thus it trickles down even to the level of reality that we perceive with our naked eyes and thus my dear friends I bless all of you and all of us that we should be able to look at our lives and say those three words ah Inayat ugh a new day a new horizon a new energy a new opportunity and take some of the powerful lessons and teachings of this great leader and teacher one of God's greatest gift to the Jewish people in the post ouch to its era the Holocaust represented the deepest concealment and after that God gave the Jewish people a few gifts one of them was Israel another one was the Lubavitch I remember it was a gift to the Jewish people to raise to lift them power to invigorate to infuse hope and meaning and every Jew individually and in the journey of the Jewish people collectively there every framed Jewish history from a tale of Oh - a pail of hope from a tale of despondency rejection segregation and victimhood - a tale of promise destiny joy and redemption thank you very much thank you [Applause] this class is brought to you by the yeshiva dotnet please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at triple w dot they you see vennett / donate