Inside ArtScroll Episode 3: Rabbi David Sutton

[Music] Hello everyone and welcome to Inside Art Scroll where the books you read and the people who write them come to life. We are privileged to be joined today by Rabbi David Sutton, the rabbi of the Yaddio Safe Torah Center in Brooklyn, as well as the best-selling author of Living Shabas, Embrace Shabas, and some other very popular arts girl titles. Thank you, Rabbi Sutton, for joining us. My pleasure. Now, today we're here to discuss one of your new releases, the base Halevi on. But before we get there, give our viewers and listeners a little background about yourself uh and I guess your life leading up to now Barashem a successful career in Harbata Satyra and in writing books and so you grew up in Muny New York Muny New York went to yeshiva spring valley. Okay. Went from there to Mirisha in Brooklyn on Ocean Parkway. Okay. Who did you learn by there? There I had the good old alter you know. Pjanski, nice old Alamir and uh Rabbi Rosen. So they they definitely impacted me. Mir Shiva, I lived with you know the Alameir's stories of Shanghai and all those you know great uh great people of yesterday year older. Old Liter Now you're of Sardi descent. I'm a sardi right. So how was that like being in a Ashkanazi citadel of Tyra? Well, it's uh this was also later became one of my rabbis. Okay. And Yehuda Ades and that's in Kyakov. And Yehuda Ades who learned in Purat his father was a roshiva and he his father sent him to Panovich. And he was excited to tell me once that he came home from yeshiva and he shared with his father a beautiful thought fromski and his father said over the same thought from Ratia and like he said you know when it comes to learning there's really uh there's one tyra there's one tyra there's no there's no difference there's no difference so then you you learned an art there so I went directly from uh Mirisha to beryakov vulba Wow. So empire of vulba for just tmanim. Then he left the yeshiva and we went he sent us to aba bur another friend of his from the mir. So vulba is for the mir is from the mir. So that was a my uh hashkafa influence was influenced by by the I think. Yes. Now shamay. This is mama. Everything is may. Ena talmud was in the old nardic building on Palanski. Right. literally less than six feet away in a small alleyway. It was Basha's shul. Wow. So without knowing it, Raulba sent me to Ian Talmud. It's next door to this great God who became my rebi. I spent 10 years learning under him every Shabbat. I ate in his house and uh we became extremely close. So we're talking about and seeing Hashem's hashka that's you know everyone believes in their life how literally I got plucked out and put right there and that you know that those you know those are the things that impact your life taught me how to think I continued on with him and for close to 10 years ab taught me how to learn and uh Ben taught me how to how to follow my spartic uh that's quite a combination a legend Legendary Mashk a legendary Rashiva a legendary giant so this foundation your parents that no no question about it right your father is Dr. Dr. Sutton yes famous famous famous Dr. Based yes from my that's amazing so you took that foundation you came back to America and what was the next step I was in Deal New Jersey for three years and then I joined by Ozeri in the Yaj Torah center on Ocean Parkway and um in what capacity was that what were you doing partner co- rabbis co- rabbis and for some reason I can't explain it why but and became is something in the Torah center that was being pushed. I'm not sure I can't trace it to what but for years we worked on and it happens to be there by David Asher who's uh another famous art school author who's my for many years really he was in our call that means he joined the Torah center when he's 21 years old straight out of yeshiva newly married he learned in the co for close to 10 years got a sim there still teaching there has a yeshiva there has a young adult minyan there and a A lot of came out of the Torah center through that. Sure. And both of you have produced multiple wonderful art scroll volumes. Yes. So there's a lot of Tyra coming out of the Yad Ysef Torah center. Not to mention the outreach and the impact on the greater community. So we work together on a lot of projects. We talk about so you know we crisscross. I'm working on a beta say for now the bet at the same time I'm working together with him on another book that he's uh working together living aman is uh strongly rooted and of course that goes back to they say in the name of balmto that he said they once asked him why don't you go on to the why don't you go on to he says my whole is to get to and they have it already wow that's what I heard I don't know if documented but that's known have a certain am in them and uh we're just trying to bring it out definitely a strong mess have um we know the cover among the community is extraordinary so we we're seeing tremendous Tyra coming out of there and your newest volume the base on or the bet on right either way is going to be a a safer and a book that I think is going to be very well received. Describe why you chose to select this classic work by the Balevi who's known you know as the progenitor the father of the brisk dynasty. So this is where this is where the spar and the litvak merge. Got it. So I have my love for and I have my love for an analytical approach. My rebi rava bur his rebi was briska this is interesting he says my reba you never met him right so legend has it that there was one in in in in uh in the mira right and they would have turns as when you could do his turn was I don't know two in the morning or something but he went through the whole thing and he said that impacted his whole derk and learning he considered his his rebian learning wow even though he never met him he considered himself a real brisker Right. So although okay he wasn't he didn't necessarily learn in brisk but he considered that. So I appreciated the the betal was very like like yodi it was fundamentals and foundations in bet like sometimes it could be you know mushy gushy feely kind of things and the beton was more like when I learned the betal it was more like you're getting the foundation there's a there's a yish word called right which means built up right so I feel I felt it spoke to me and I saw saw in the like everything was in there. Everything was in there. That's interesting because you you said you've been studying amun for many years. Did you study the bas before or was this kind of a discovery that came after basi for about starting about two years ago I give a ladies class in the Torah center and I take a topic and somehow Hashem put into my head bas. It's a pamphlet. Sure. I gave about 13 hours of shirum on it and it was wellreceived. It was recorded and I had my notes every year. I give notes. So if there's 10 pages of notes per year, 130 pages. So one of the the other uh rabbis in the Torah center saw my notes. Rabbi Yoseph Sto says, "You know, this is a safer over here." So I spent about a year and a half and I actually put out a commentary in Hebrew on the basi Hebrew commentary. I'll believe that to give you a copy of the book. Okay. I look forward to it. And it was And how many years ago was that? This is No, this came out six months ago. Six months ago. And it was nicely received. Nicely received. And we're in America. People say, "Rabbi, you know, I a lot of people help me sponsor it." Whatever. You know, Hebrew doesn't talk to me. you know, you want to put it put it in English, right? Then then then we're going to be able to really appreciate and enjoy it. So I said, "Okay, I'm going to put it in English." So this is how the the the seaf developed. So I originally had a vision like you know the the art school, right? Garasan. So Ramban by Foyer I think. I love it. I love it. Amazing. So I said I want to do something like that line of bas and some nice commentary but it's more like story style that's what I wanted to do and I worked on it for a year worked on it for a year and I said you know what corona perfect time I'm ready to come out with it now so I gave it to Gdalas Lawitz I gave him the manuscript he's excited he says you know what I'm home now during the pandemic I'm going to read it by the table he's reading it he says you know what it's nice but it's not on the basi M it's it's it's it's it's more like your schmoozen your essays. He says we need something on the basi. I said from Gdali what do you want me to do? He says take everything you have restructure it restructure. It was it was it was ingenious because it took because I was locked up. It took another three months. I worked on it myself. This is a big job really. It was a big it was a big it was a year's work worth of work on the on the on the back end. Right. Then Gdal or Gdalia had the vision to recast it my son uh who was home with me at the time other sons because they weren't in yeshiva so we made it a family project and we were working to now say okay we this this belongs there that belongs there then my father-in-law Sherman you know that's the what I call the contemporary father of Torah literature our esteemed Rabbi Nelson Sherman from Yes. my my dear father-in-law. So they had ideas you know what let's put insights in because the footnotes there's so much that was there that in so to say essays we have to turn to footnotes so the footnotes will be small let's put insights in the stories belong in the insights got it the actual explanation should go in the footnotes then you have a nice longer piece we'll make an appendix out of that so it was another three to four months work just to so a lot of work just coordinating the segments of the volume and where it should go to make it most pleasing to the reader. Right. Then we have our graphic genius from Shia Brander the best who's now putting a lot of work into making it appealing to the eye and again he's he's the final word getting everything in how it's going to work and we're uh really looking forward to uh to something special. Yeah, that's amazing. So the the basi himself is well known for his shall bas what what history could you share about the bas on this is very interesting very very interesting I don't know if you're asking me with any prior knowledge or not I want to hear what you have to say on the topic so the basi had three wives his first wife he had one daughter from his second wife he hadim the famous brisker his third wife he had salvim salvik is not as well known the briska dynasty traces itself back or the current brisk yes mostly trace himself back toka was a the youngest son he was the base lady was nifted when he was 13 he continued on in in in brisk moved to America moved to America I think he was 38 eight something like that sure exact age he moved to America and he came with his son who's was named after the basi y of of spring valley who he and his wife started the bas yako and many many things that that that happened there so that mean the the bas on baken has been extent basically for 35 years is the whole is the whole existence of it came out in the back of the bay salvi say for alatara right unknown in just one printing they came out with it and then from there people put out pamphlets right and when I saw the pamphlet I said you know it's not it's I want to I want to get it out there as a safer actually there are other spar this recently another person also came out with a parish on the m so it seems said the time is right for this safer to to reach the public in a in a great way now I I noticed as much as you said that someone told you that the Hebrew didn't talk to them. I found that the BB is written in fairly simple. No, I'm talking about American American, you know, balab who who doesn't don't know, right? But I'm saying as far as the writing, it's a fairly understandable kadesh. Um, and and definitely very very powerful and like you said before, very foundational, very fundamental without a lot of the fluff. Um and I guess what your safer and book is going to do it's going to bring it to the masses in a language that they understand now going through now bas in depth. Give us a little overview on how the safer structured how the basvi wrote it and is there any one part of it that struck you as very unique or very exceptional? So actually the opening of the book is is is shocking where he says that is a mitzvah. It's not it's not par. It's not like oh if I'd like it's optional. I can have be talking if I want. No, it's you have to and if you don't it's an aa. Wow. That's to me that was like you know you it's like putting on filling or eating eating uncosher when you're deciding how to react to a situation. So it's really it puts uh teeth into the uh the subject and it puts the onus on us to really master it. Yes. Right. And another sign how much wants the bas to come out is the person who sponsored my original uh safer in Hebrew. So it was almost like a no-brainer. You know, he was the one that even told me, you know, very nice. I I like to see it in English. At the same time, there was someone who was working on a parish in the Basy on his own. someone that fell in love with the basi in in Lion Kaides. No, in in English. In English. He had called someone an art scroll a year ago, gave it to him, somebody that was not, you know, a uh on on the upper tier, so to say, but someone an art scroll. And he um he looked at he said, you know, it's it's it's small. It's a pamphlet. You got you got to put more into it. He put more into it. And he came back about a month ago, six weeks ago, and he calls my father-in-law and says, "You know what? I've been working for the past year and a half on the basi. Wow. My father-in-law says, "I feel bad, but we're already doing it." So the fellow was was so upset. He says, "I have to have a part of it." So he says, "I'll give you I'll give you everything. All whatever I have, I'll give it to you. Just take it. Just I want to have a I want to have a part in in the Bay. I want to have a part in the Basy." And we we definitely gained from from his work and we put it in as well. So it's like it's almost like it was sent an additional help from above in that beautiful and in the end he said look I have to have I wanted to put it out I have to have a part part of the sponsorship please let me have part of the sponsor I'm sorry I already have a sponsor right so I ended up putting them together and they uh they duked it out because the first I don't it's my pleasing with him in the end they agreed they made a para they made a compromise and they they split it really they split it Oh, we got the inside information. They split it. That's why two sponsors and they're both appreciating each other that we were sharing the right and it enhanced the work obviously. Yes. But the point is when do you have a case where I never had in my life that two people were fighting with me that they were I took that as a sign that means this is this is supposed to come out. It's something special obviously and they both recognize that this safer as much as there's been written on this topic this safer definitely I mean it's the bas it's it's it's quite special and like you said the fact that it's a recent revelation of the that the manuscript is out out there um makes it uh just even even even more special to think that just four decades ago people didn't even know that it existed sitting in mind it's sitting in suitcases it's mindbgggling really unbelievable. Um, you've studied amuna the base is on. I'm sure this is something that you get used as all the time, right? Amuna and right the terms are used by the layman interchangeably, right? But they're obviously different. So I'll give you the explain the difference. Okay. And why in light of the difference why the BI wrote on and not amuna. Right? So amuna is we'll call it belief or faith. Belief is Raul says I don't like the word believe because believe he says thing called paper paper amuna means I just saw do you believe in this? Yes. Check check check. It's it's it's more of a it's it's a conviction. It's but it means I'm sure is running the world now. I'm sure. I'm convinced. That's amuna. Now right now I'm sitting in the room. It's beginning to get a little warm in here. It's a little warm in here in this room right now. I don't know why is the air conditioning not working. It's a little warm in the room right now. So now I can I can say I know I know that a kadeshu can produce a cup of water for me now. That's amuna means I close my eyes and I rely on a kadesh and I say you can produce a cup of water for me now. And I reach down over here and I say oh my gosh there's a cup of water right here. Look it worked. That was bak in action. That's the difference between moon and bak moon. I believe it could happen means I'm relying on Hashem and he's going to come through for me. That's the that's the that's the concept of versus and obviously focused on the which is the aspect of you're relying on Hashem trusting in Hashem. I'm counting on Hashem that's more I would say you're activating it. It's more kinetic. It's more it's it's you're activating it. It's a relationship you have and you need him and you're counting on him. One one final question. Any or anomaly that you found in the Blev that that you think is worth sharing something that's extraordinary something original something that maybe people are not familiar even people who have studied amun and people who have put a focus on the on the topic that it's something that you know an eye opener so similar to what I told you before the basi says that there's a rule called There's no reward for mitzvah in this world. You put on fill in you get paid in the next world. She says the same thing is said on people be talking means I rely on Hashem for a parking spot. I got the parking spot. That was my payoff. He says no that wasn't your payoff. That's that's a side that's a side benefit that you got. But there's a reward in itself for the since it's a mitzvah. there's a reward in itself and therefore it's no different than any other mitzvah. So any mitzvah that the Tyra promises what seems to be a tangible reward on this world or whatever it is that's almost like a a door prize. Right. Right. Whereas the primary is going to be the added is that the same talk and you look at it's a way to get what I want. Right. I want to marry my daughter off. I be talking my daughter off. So I got my mar my daughter married off. Barem you don't cop that. that that's nothing to do with the reward for the actual mitzvah of there's so much more coming that that's that's the the promise of that the real the real reward will be for the mitzvah the exercising of itself causes right which is a big obviously we have to learn it yes but it's always you know we know that thear is there I want to thank you again for joining us we're very much looking forward to this monumental volume. I believe it's going to be very wellreceived across the across the world. It's going to be something that everyone of really any age and any background and persuasion will be able to appreciate. Thank you again for joining us. My pleasure. [Music]