Israel's Journey of Hope & Resilience - Rabbi Efrem Goldberg

thank you for that incredibly kind and exaggerated introduction the truth is I don't know why I flew in I was enjoying listening to you I think you should speak each and every year in this slot and every other because that was amazingly inspiring and touching and those stories I know touched my heart and I think all of ours and I and we watch from a little distance and AAR a little closer to the Equator and to the warmer weather it's really cold here really cold um and we watch with admiration and awe a little bit of Envy what you've built what you're doing your amazing team so many I met tonight and all of you Seekers and Searchers and people at stages of life that so many others are finished and complete and are done and have all the answers and filled with questions and yearning and looking and growing and asking it's an amazing environment it's an amazing energy and it lifts everybody it lifts your teachers and it lifts the people who live here and it lifts the Jewish people and so thank you for the amazing honor of a of a speaking slot which is which is really an honor to begin with but in memory of your very special Mother especially really touches me to dedicate these words in her memory and your father should have should have strength and healing from our words and all the merits that he has from you you spoke about the shabas candles and the khaka candles and here's the thing about a candle the thing about a candle is that you could take your flame and light an infinite number of other Wicks ignite that spark get them on fire and it doesn't diminish your flame whatsoever it's an amazing thing about a flame there's almost no other commodity if I share my money with you I have less of it if I give you my time I have less time almost every other commodity the more we share the less we have but a flame and that's why a flame is the image the flame is the is the soul the soul of life and you can light so many other people not only are you not diminish then your flame is burning even brighter it's having even more of an impact as your mother's cly did but the other thing about a flame is that the original flame that Lit all the other fires it can be extinguished but as long as those fires live on and burn and they ignite and Spark and light other fires that first flame is still burning and so while your mother is not here through your work your brother the mayor's work also holy work advocating fighting Jewish interests and values Power Team she clearly did something incredibly right and through you and through MJ and through the work you do and the accomplishments and the results that you have her flame is not only not extinguished it's burning brighter than ever having lit this manura of the Wild's family that burns so bright and is a light for all the Jewish people so I'm I'm honored and humbled and grateful for this opportunity to be with my friend Rabbi Ezra I don't know what the the secret the Fountain of Youth of MJ is why RAB Ezra and RAB Wilds look younger and younger and I look like an old old old men I'm actually younger than both of them believe that or not but Rabbi Ezra and I were kusas who were study partners in rinal school both in the B medish the study hall we prepared for our our tests for been a coordination together we wereas on the tennis court for a long time a long time I was his student more recently I became the teacher I'm proud to say but you know to be here with you and and to know the difference that you're making and to see the results of your impact your influence is really really special so I'm deeply deeply appreciative and I want to take a point of personal privilege in saying how excited I am to be with all of you but judge helstein who is my sister's father-in-law judge helstein is is family is part of our family and uh teaches and has taught me so much and we're so proud to have this connection and to together be going through he has uh three grandsons serving in the IDF one in Gaza fighting on the front line and certainly this is in their honor and all the soldiers and and your candle that you've ignited and our family and my sister and her family and you're seeing the peros you're seeing the fruit of your Jewish pride and and Jewish inspiration and strong Jewish values and sense of justice in seeing the Jewish people fight for justice in Israel they should be successful and come home safely and continue to give you and all of us tremendous Pride it's great to be together okay that doesn't come off my time right it's like the rabinal stuff in the introduction before I speak I'd like to say a few words that's our fault am i g to get a bill for this we good that's it got it back together okay let's get down to business and let's I'm not going to touch it anymore I think MJ could use a few donations what's the website jewi experience Jewish experience.org you could put in the subject line new jender good to go okay so joking aside it's a very serious time and it's a very serious evening and it's a very serious it's a very serious subject and that is Israel our lives were rattled and haven't been the same since October 7 I remember as a kid playing sports you ever played Sports and you were ever hit in the solar plexus you ever got somebody ran into you in the gut and knocked the wind out of you do you remember that experience of gasping for air of wondering whether you'll ever be able to catch your breath and breathe again and the closest I've come to that feeling as a kid physically has been since October 7th this feeling of the wind being knocked out of us we haven't caught our breath in eight weeks eight weeks we haven't processed what it means 1,200 people people were brutally and barbarically murdered in their homes in gruesome ways that we don't need to spell out or repeat here tonight the 240 were taken hostage and while some many thank God are reunited with their families some released to learn that they don't have families but too many are still in captivity and our soldiers on those front lines hundreds of thousands called up risking it all and a economy that is suspended and a people that are we don't have to spell out where we are we can't catch our breath we are grieving and we're sad and we're scared and we're anxious and we're worried and that's just Israel because on October 7th we thought this was a war against Israel but quickly by October 8th and increasingly now we know this isn't a war restricted to Israel's boundaries and borders this is a war that we're all facing would it I wild to ask me tonight do you you have pepper spray while we were walking the streets of Manhattan and I laughed but he wasn't joking that's a war we're all facing I grew up over the bridge in t New Jersey when we came to Manhattan we never worried about carrying a weapon no one said took off take off your kipa or your yamaka and now on college campuses and in the halls of Congress and across media the Jewish people are under attack it's a war not only in Israel a war around the world and when we look and when we see the sheer numbers that we with such Pride brought 290,000 together many of you I'm sure were in Washington a few weeks ago but you see the sheer numbers of those rallying against us how do you not become hopeless how do you not say it's over how do we not despair how do we not become despondent did you see the scene of the Oakland city council meeting last night where person after person got up we sit and we wonder 78 years after after the Holocaust how can people deny it and here we are 7 weeks after a pagram and a Minature Holocaust and in Oakland California there was a city of people one by one who got up no mask they weren't ashamed they weren't hiding their faces to say this never happened the Jews killed their own People Israel did this atrocity the most heinous egregious thing sympathizing with terrorist accomplices to Terror and murder you see such a city council unabashed people unashamed to say those things how do we not despair how do we not give up hope how do we not turn it in how do we not say it was a good ride it was a good story but maybe we're done it's frightening and it's disconcerting and if we're not careful it can become debilitating and the answer my friends is Kaneka khaka cannot come quickly enough khaka could not come at a better time and its energy khah and its theme khah and its Miracles khah and its light is exactly what we need and I want to explain to you what I mean by that khah as wild said is all about the sense of sight of SE these Candles Are Holy they're sacred we're not entitled to use them it's a very peculiar light is described normally you use light to illuminate you use light so that you can see we grab something to eat before and because RAB Ezra is older than I am and he couldn't see when he was signing his name he had to turn the flashlight on his phone to be able to see and figure out the tip and sign it at the end because I don't know if I mentioned he's older than I am because he needed light in order to see normally we use light functionally pragmatically we use the light because it serves a purpose and this is a peculiar light we light a candle we light a but you're not allowed to use it and the rabbis are explicit don't count money next to it don't open a book and read next to it don't use it to sign a receipt you cannot use this light they're holy they're sacred but you can't use them all we do is look at them and as we sing each night of the candles are sacred we don't have permission T tells us another unusual peculiar law when it comes to this if you put on F this morning and somebody saw you put those Fillin on they wouldn't recite a blessing just because they see you doing a Mitzvah if you light the shabas candles and somebody watches or observes or sees they don't make AA if you shook the lukus and somebody saw they might swell with pride they might smile they might cheer and clap and say way to go but there's no blessing there's no blessing to recite on someone else doing a Mitzvah the one exception the one exception in a circumstance where you're not lighting on your own let's say this were Kaneka and I'm staying at a hotel I don't have a place to light and I were walk in the streets of Manhattan and I see a manora I stop I stop and I recite a blessing I stop and I recite a blessing God you've made miracles for our four fathers why I don't do that if I see you put on filling I don't see that when I see you give you Saka giving Saka I don't say a blessing when I see you lighting the shabas candles what's special about the manura so there a great master of dit of the kadas Ley and he says that every Jewish holiday corresponds with one of our senses so for example Pam the holiday of P corresponds with with ch the sense of hearing of listening we listen to the Milla and we hear the sound of the groggers P Passover corresponds with which sense the sense of taste we eat the matah and we eat the mar and we taste our way we literally taste PES in our mouth the matah and the m and Kaneka is the holiday of seeing is the holiday of sight we look at that manura don't use it not allowed to use it but nevertheless we look at it and we gaze at it and theic Masters in fact tell us that if on Kaneka next week a week from tomorrow night we light the first candle after you light the candle we all make a terrible mistake and we do a terrible disservice to ourselves and our families and I know I've seen it much we light the candle and then we run out of the room because it's time to get out or get the presents it's time to fry the lot it's time to unveil the donuts it's time to run to the KH event of the KH concert and the poor candle is sitting in the window sill by itself it's burning bright but there's nobody there to watch it and what we're supposed to do is sit and gaze and stare and fix our eyes upon the light of the candle see that flickering flame and see our soul see our potential see the better and best version of ourselves you know we spoke about a candle and a flame that you can light so many others without diminishing your own and that you can continue to live on through the candles you lit even when your flame is extinguished there's another amazing thing about a candle no matter which direction you hold the candle the flame always flickers up it always Rises because the soul is always yearning it's always striving it's always climbing that's what MJ that's what you are all about that's what you are doing don't you understand you are the antidote toas you are the answer to anti semites we're caught up in the statistics and the data and the numbers we're caught up in the danger and the threats and the fears and they're all warranted and grounded and important but we forget the sort of core of what they're trying to do and what they want to do is extinguish our flame what they're trying to do is exterminate and eliminate our impact and our people they want Judaism to disappear to be relegated to a museum to be part of the past and when your flame flickers and it climbs up no matter which way the candle held in good moments and in bad moments no matter which direction you hold the candle the soul inside us it wants to climb it wants to rise it wants to go higher and higher that's a human being animals walk on all four they face the ground they for the here and now the human being walks on two legs because we're reaching and striving we're climbing towards the heavens you MJ this Enterprise that is enriching Jewish lives and that is creating a home and a space for people who are curious and growing and asking who say fan my flame I want it to burn bright that is the antidote and that is the answer and that is KHAK KHAK is this holiday of of sight to look and to gaze and the Masters say in fact we can repair whatever damage we've done to our eyes on this on the holiday of khaka if you don't run to the party to fry the latkas and to eat the donuts but you spend some time there's a campaign they run every year in fact to spend a half an hour with the candles technology free turn off the technology turn off the distractions and disruptions turn off the thing that make us absent present and be fully present with the candles and really with yourself and with your loved ones with the people around you and sit and gaze and look at the flame don't use it to read don't use it to count don't use it to look don't use it to sign just look at the flame but why what are we looking for what are we accomplishing there an amazing thing about our eyesight and that is in a sort of paradoxical way our eyes are a liability we often feel and we subscribe to the philosophy that seeing is believing if you see it then it's true and if you didn't witness it you didn't watch it you didn't observe it you didn't see it it didn't happen seeing is believing seeing is greater than believing if I can perceive it if I can observe it if I can measure it it's true and if I can't it's not real and following that rule Rule and that self-imposed limitation we have sabotaged ourselves because we have dismissed and disregarded some of the most important truths and realities in our lives that can't be seen or observed traditionally that can't be measured but that are the highest truths there are ideas and feelings and thoughts and emotions and dreams and experiences they're authentic and they're genuine but they can't be seen or observed deserved and in some ways they're not less true they're more true that's what the Greeks the Syrian Greeks were trying to do to us the word that are rabbis used to talk about the Exile of yavan the Syrian Greek Exile is the beginning of Genesis there are four terms used to describe creation from a state of chaos to order and they describe the four Exiles the four foreign governments that cast us into Exile and yavan the Syrian Greek Exile the Exile of the story of Kana which by the way is evidence that Exile is not a geographic description because where did the Exile of yavan of Syrian and Greek takes place not in Greece not in Syria where did it happen in Israel you could be in a state of Exile in Israel yet in Israel it's not a geographic description it is not physical it's metaphysical it is an existential description and what word describes that exile Darkness Darkness is the Exile of the story of khaka of the Syrian Greeks and in expounding on the opening verse they say even further that these enemies these adversaries their whole mission their whole goal was to darken the eyes was to diminish our sense of sight was to make us believe it's only true if you can see it they worshiped the aesthetic the body the human body they invented the Olympics what you can see what is chiseled what is a form what is external beauty that's what's real what's inside the pineus the essence what you can't see and you can't measure that's not real that's not real what's the difference between a room that's dark or that's filled with light if you would shut off the lights right now and make this room pitch black pitch dark would there be anything fundamentally different in the room now same people sitting in the same chairs the same furniture and the same obstacles that would get in the way if you were trying to leave the difference of Darkness and Light is not a difference of a reality of what's in the room the only difference is what you can perceive the ability to identify and see the reality the truth that is right before us all along and that is what khaka is all about it's about turning on that light and it's about seeing truths the inner truth the pemus the essence the essential truth truths that can't be observed or watched or witnessed but that are more real are even more authentic that are the most real you can live with your eyes open perfect vision the light on and still be cloaked in darkness and it can be pitch black all around and you can see clearly and know what is real and what is true what is eternal and what is Everlasting and the the heroes of the Kaneka story understood that they understood that while so many s didn't and we wonder what would we have said if we lived in that time we might have looked and seen the statistics we might have seen the enemy they far outnumber Us in quantity and quality they have military superiority they're strong and we're weak they're many and we're few what are we doing there's no chance there's no fight why bother we're going to be decimated we're going to be eliminated why bother because if all you see is the surface that is the inevitable conclusion you'll arrive at but if you can see the essence if you can look inside if you can see beyond if you can imagine and you can dream if you can live with faith if you see through the vision and the prism of Eternity not the here and now then you don't see what lies right in front of you you see the Divine hand protecting you you see the Jewish history transforming into the Jewish Destiny there are two types of Truth there is what is and there is what must become there are people who are caught up and paralyzed by what is and there are the people of what is to become one kind of Truth reports history and the other kind of Truth makes history we are the people that make history we don't just report history we are focused on what we can become we're not fixated or stuck in what is and that all comes from our sense of sight it's a 2020 Vision not measured by an opthamologist ol or an optometrist it's a vision that is not based on our eyesight but based on our hearts and our souls and that's what we've been charged as a people throughout our history that is the only reason that we're still here right now because had we not had this sense of vision this meta Vision this capacity to dream and imagine and see beyond to know this truth we would have disappeared we would have given up long ago because we faced impossible odds we've overcome and confronted impossible challenges many other people all other peoples would have given up hope they would have waved the White Flag they would have turned it in and here we have succeeded because we have Vision instead of sight imagination instead of observation I saw it myself recently I'm sure by Wilds did and others who've been to Israel all over Israel right now on the sides of buses and hanging on billboards and bumper stickers on cars is ameta the people of Eternity will prevail that's not a message from the religious or the irreligious or the right-wing or the leftwing or the projudi reform or anti- judicial reform that is a motto the entire people of Israel and Jews around the world can rally around it is a motto that so succinctly encapsulate and expresses how we've got here and how we will go forward we are the amanet we are the people of Eternity we defy the laws of history we have overcome All Odds statistics Ain ma we are not bound by the ordinary statistics and data by military strategists and pundits because we see with that other sense of sight because we have Vision instead of sight imagination instead of observation because we make history not reported because we focus on what we must become and not what is because we are the am we are the people of Eternity we will prevail on my trip to Israel we visited shuro which is the army base the headquarters of the ravinet of the army they've been working overtime because they are where all the bodies are brought when the military is fighting in this case on October 7th civilian bodies were brought some of them still being identified that gives you a sense if it takes two months to identify a body the brutality that was carried out against against it that's where the tius are being held that are made that every Soldier wants every Soldier wants ordinarily they have 30,000 pairs of tius in the storehouse because in the previous conflicts at most 30,000 soldiers have been called up so what do you do when 500,000 soldiers are called up and they all want situs you do a tius campaign and you order 500,000 theam the garments imported of course from China and India and then you get the strings but they have to be tied by people you can't use machines so how do you tie 500,000 pairs of titas I don't know if it's hit in Manhattan yet or MJ if it hasn't it should but in Bon synagogue We Touch tied 2,000 pairs another communities a thousand another Community 2 500 and 300 in the school and Jews around the world are tying cus and CSUS is tying the Jewish people together and they are going right to these soldiers who are wearing them and even I even I to be a moment of honesty and transparency was a little skeptical is this a gimmick the soldiers really all want them are they really all wearing them was this like a nice thing that would lift the morale that we just made this story up so I posted on our family WhatsApp group the video in our synagogue of people tying the tius and I'll tell you it was remarkable because not only did the members of our community come to tie them but there were people who are not observant not Orthodox who came to tie who wanted to be part of tying the Jewish people and tying the what is part of the uniform and the armor the body armor soldiers want ceramic vests that are bulletproof but they also want to wear the Titus that are part of their armor so I posted the video on our WhatsApp group and my niece Leia judge helin's granddaughter wrote back she said AO I'm her husband who's in Gaza said and she wrote in capital letters everyone every Soldier is wearing cus many of whom never put on cus in their life some of whom probably never heard of cus in their life I'll tell you a beautiful image in our synagogue one of the evenings that we had the campaign to TI cus there was a Jew who came and he was covered in tattoos and a piercing and he's not wearing a keepa and he's tying the tius and he's got Jewish symbols M like tattooed on him and it's like the holiest image this Jew without a yamaka covered in tattoos and I don't want to make assumptions about him or generalities about him but he was not the the image of a mem of member of of an orthodox synagogue let's say necessarily happened to have created a question because it's possible to of the army wanted to just check in on some of our CES I wrote a whole article explaining not only kosher they're the holiest titas that there that there are the holiest tizas that they are but we're tying these tias people are wearing these tias because I'm a the people of Eternity don't just wear the classic uniform they don't just wear the classic uniform they want to wear tius they have posters they're giving out from shur the army base of the chief renant amazing posters I don't know if you saw them they're hanging on all these Army outposts and army bases and on the front line outside Gaza and the north outside Lebanon and it's a timeline and it traces the the Jewish people in the fight and the conflicts that we've had going all the way back to Abraham and the war of the Four Kings and the five Kings all the way until October 7th 2023 s the war of t p of this year and each of these war is how we won because the is there another Army in the war world that has an entire division of the army dedicated to spirituality to religiosity to Biblical teaching to tracing its history to finding its eternity I brought home with me there are little cards that are composed there are prayers if you're a combat Soldier there's a yon there's a prayer you say on your way into combat and if you're an Air Force pilot there's a y a little card with a prayer to say when you're about to take flight on a mission in the Air Force and there's a little card with a little prayer you he wres on if you're a member of Israel's Navy is there another Army is there another Army that has a prayer that is authored for soldiers and different units to understand that this fight and this battle that this that our real General is the almighty the omnipotent one himself because we're not a people of what is we're a people of what we will become we're not looking to report history we're looking to make it we're not looking to to Simply have sight but we're looking to live with a vision is not just you know if I were giving this talk last year before Kaneka I would have broken into what I'm about to tell you now which is what if Moses had looked at the Egyptians the Empire and never challenged power to let his people go and what if the mbes had only considered the F the facts that they were few and outnumbered and they were weak against the mighty and they never revolted against the Greek oppressors and what if R Zaki just accepted the power of theasian and never asked for yav and its sages and what if in 1948 1967 the brave men and women of the IDF of Israel had truly accepted the impossible chance of overcoming The Many Nations that surrounded it we wouldn't be here and I would have given you a beautiful talk and a beautiful description of History until this point but I'm telling you not about the past I'm telling you something that's happening in the present I'm describing to you the will of the soldiers right now of the I'll tell you about the sergeant I met from the IDF who on October 7th when his wife who has stage four cancer and is in bed recovering and he's taking care of his children two out of whom three of whom have significant autism and from her hospital bed she heard what happened October 7th and turned to her husband and said get your bag and get your gun and go fight and when I saw him three weeks ago he hadn't been home yet since because this people of Eternity our resolve and our will and our tenacity what we are fighting for will carry the day and we will be Victorious and it's what is the will of people to return you're starting to hear reports froma and from B communities that were decimated whose populations were cut in half who are not saying I'm moving to Boer or Manhattan I put in my time I'm done and I'm out who are saying we're going to expand we're building more homes our population's going to grow I went to the hospital and I visited someone named mik who on October 7 the real story it's not why you brought me here it's not what I'm talking about tonight but the real story of October 7th when the Army for whatever reasons which we may learn or may never learn were unable or didn't come were the civilians of Israel who saved Israel because made no mistake these terrorists wanted to March straight to Jerusalem and they could have they would have destroyed all of Israel but the civilians were the heroes drivers of United hat Salah who normally take out splinters and deliver babies and resuscitate people but all of a sudden grabbed guns and were're fighting for our lives there's a community of people it's called schlomit it's part of khuta it is on the border are you ready for this it's on the border of Gaza and Egypt and Israel and do you know who lives there people whose families used to live in yamit in the SI till Israel said no we make peace it's time to leave we're taking you out of your homes but you know where we need you to go settle you know what we want to build a place called gush katif would you mind Building green houses and settling in gush katif so they did then they got a tap on the shoulder and said it's time to leave we're giving it back you know what they said I would have said I'm moving aoka palm trees pinic coladas I'm done I'm out much warmer than Manhattan I'm out you know what they said what's our next assignment where do we go next and the state of Israel said there's a swath of land which is sand no one thinks they can grow anything yet even Arafat who was offered it in the deal said that that's what you offer me you can't grow anything there and you know what they said no problem just give us the coordinates the the address we'll put it ways and they settled it SCH 75 families by the way blossoming and growing and green and beautiful and miracles and on October 7th infiltrated and attacked by terrorists not their actual neighborhood but the one next door and their civilian security Force grabbed their guns we met with their communities now staying in gush Eton we were talking to them and I spoke to one of the wives I said 'w whatat did you do when your husband went to go fight she said my husband handed me a gun said go in the safe room with the children and lock the door and if anyone comes to the door don't ask questions just shoot them imagine take the children go in the safe room and if anyone comes to the door don't even ask questions this Mikel was on a security civilian Force 75 families in the community and four of the volunteer security Force were murdered that day trying to defend the Jewish people mik was injured we saw him in the hospital he had wounds in his leg and his arm he was shot he was injured a regular guy volunteer security you know what he said to me he said when I get better when I heal when I leave this hospital I was waiting for him to say again I'm done I put in my time now here in schlomit I'm done Tel Aviv I'm going to Tel Aviv as if Rockets don't go to Tel Aviv he didn't say that he said you know when I get out of the hospital I'm going straight home to schami we're going to build and we're going to expand and you know what I'm going to plan I want to start working on Sim Torah next year because it's going to be incredible we're going to bring the toras out to the spot where our friends were shot and killed and we're going to sing and we're going to dance and we're going to celebrate the Torah right there how does Mikel have the wherewithal how does he have the strength how does he have the purpose and the mission how do the people of the state keep live in State Road keep going home you know why because the candles of Kaneka because of the vision instead of just the simple sense of sight the capacity to see and to dream and to imagine and to make history not just to report it in heric Tales of the Holocaust Professor yafa tells the following story you may have heard it but khah and Bergen bson this is not the first Kaneka we're going to celebrate in the dark and difficult time Kaneka and Bergen bson it was time to light the khaka candles how they even knew on the calendar it was KHAK is a question now you couldn't exactly find the jug of oil thank you good thank you you couldn't exactly find a jar of oil in Bergen bellson so what did they do Oram they took a wooden clog the shoe that the Nazis gave them the inmates had they pulled strings from a concentration camp uniform they took black shoe polish they found in the concentration camp it became the fuel it became the pure oil and the BL so much of her book of Professor El's book tals of the Holocaust is about the Blessed memory he stood there that night not far from heaps of bodies surrounded by living skeletons who'd lost their whole families and in a Barrack he took this m shift manura and ready to light the Kaneka candles and Bergen Bon the BL of chanted the first blessing the god you commanded us to light the candle of khaka and he said it with pain and with sorrow with grief and when he was about to recite and then he said the Second Blessing sh you made Miracles and when he was about to recite the third blessing what's the third blessing we say it only the first night the blessing of thank you for keeping us alive how blessed we are how fortunate we are how grateful we are to be in this moment and at this time but what happened is as he was recite to about to recite the third blessing he stopped he turned his head and looked around as if he was searching for something but immediately he took and he turned his face back to the quivering small lights and a strong reassuring comforting voice he chanted that third blessing blessed are you God King of the universe who's kept us alive and who's preserved us and enabled us to reach this season and among the people present in that Barrack that night witnessing the BL KH candles in kanaka and Bergen bson was the Mr zamachowski he was one of the leaders of the Warsaw Bund of the Bund he was clever and sincere with a passion for debating religion with a healthy dose of skepticism when the was done lighting the candles and having recited that third blessing ofu thank you for keeping us alive zachowski elbowed his way to the rabbi and he said you know Rabbi you're clever and you made the blessing to light the candle you made The Blessing about the miracle but how could you make a blessing thanking God for the Merit of being alive here in Bergen bellson in a in a camp next to heaps of bodies in cremator and gas Chambers with living skeletons you're making a blessing she yanu thank you for keeping us alive thank you for making Miracles how how is it possible and everybody fixed their eyes on the BL of re wondering what was he going to answer how was he going to explain how would he defend and justify and make sense of reciting that blessing in that place and at that time and he turned and he said zachowski you are 100% right when I reached the Third blessing you know why I looked around because I also hesitated and I asked myself what am I going to do with this blessing how can I say these words right now 1,200 brutally murdered October 7th we're going to say the blessing Shu onak while there's still 150 hostages being held and we're learning with the release of the first the conditions with which they are being held learning that children held hostage were forced to watch videos of October 7th over and over again while the Oakland City Council said it never happened Hamas is proudly torturing children by making them sit and watch their barbarism over and over again and we're going to say you know what a great time to be alive thank you godu it's amazing that we're here the said I also looked around and I also wondered and I also asked myself how am I going to say this blessing how can I say it but just as I was turning around and just as I was looking around the room I noticed that behind me was a group of people standing a large crowd of living Jews and their faces were filled with faith and devotion and deliberation that they gathered didn't neglect and didn't ignore but they gathered to observe and to watch and to participate in the lighting of the Kaneka candles even right here and even right now even in this place and I said to myself if God has such a nation that at times like this when during the lighting of the Kaneka candles they see in front of them heaps of bodies their beloved fathers and mothers and brothers and sisters death is looking and peering and gazing from every corner and despite all of that they've gathered to watch and to celebrate and to look into those flickering lights of the candles then I can say indeed to be blessed to be in this moment we can look at what's missing we can look at what's lost we could look at the devastation and destruction we could become despondent that's what's in front of us if you're on the surface if that's what you're looking at there's a lot of reasons to be hopeless and to despair there's a lot of reasons to wave the white flag and turn it in or we can be like the BL verba that night who didn't see what lay before him the head of the warsa Bund only saw what lay before him but the rebba looked in those candles and he saw another layer of truth that wasn't equally accurate but it was even more true that even there and even then there were a gathering of people with Faith and Hope in people of Eternity and if that doesn't warrant a know I don't know what does and when we look around the world at the Jewish unity and the Jewish hope and the Jewish tenacity and this room of young Jews eager to lean into their Judaism and to learn more and to stare anti-semites in the face and to do something harder than just wearing a mug and do necklace or hanging a muza on the door but to say I'm going to be a practi iing Jew I'm going to be a vibrant animated enthusiastic energized living Unapologetic non-defensive Jew that indeed is worthy of have a little more time okay my flight doesn't leave till tomorrow morning it's bad news for you and we take a given as a given because I want to take this to the next level that the reason that we like the Kana candles the reason the rabbis give us is something called pum which means to publicize the miracle wild spoke before shabas candles are lit near the table where we'll use them the kanaka candles we light outside the door or in the window because we're trying to publicize the miracle kabad runs a campaign parades in Public Square and lets illuminate the world we want as many people to see and to recall and recount the miracle as possible but perhaps we're missing the point maybe the notion of Puma of publicizing the miracle can be understood even a little bit deeper that the real purpose is not to see the flame itself but to allow the flame to illuminate and Flicker and dispel the darkness and reveal the blessing that is right in front of us all along we don't use the flame to sign a receipt or count money or read a book but we use that flame to illuminate the darkness some many of us live our lives focused on what isn't what's missing what we don't have but you know if happiness is the result of what you have you'll never be happy because there'll always be something more you don't have you want to make it on the fors 400 you made it but you want to make it in the top 100 you're in the top 100 you want to make it the top 10 you're top 10 you want to make to the number one if you're number one and you want to build a space shuttle then you want to do the next thing you'll never be happy there's always something you're chasing and pursuing by the way that's why in America in front of the mayor I hesitate to quote the Constitution but in America what it what it grants us is the the opportunity and the right to pursue pleasure if you're pursuing something why do you have to run after it because it's fleeting it's running away from you it's hard to catch up with if your happiness is determined and decided by what you have you'll never be happy because there's always something more to have but if your happiness is determined by what you have then you could always be happy because you always have something there's always something there and maybe the miracle we look for miracles elsewhere we're looking for enormous where God will interfere and intervene and suspend The Rules of Nature we're looking for miracles of an enormous magnitude and maybe the fact that we're alive and breathing and well and have a roof over our head maybe maybe as a member of my community who has three out of her six children are severely autistic severely autistic has an incredibly difficult life incredibly difficult life to manag that family and she said to me something that stuck with me forever I once asked her how are you doing how you holding up and she said Rabbi any day that ends with the same head count in my home as the way the day began is a good day was a good day Ezra and I have a dear friend who passed away very young Brian galbert way too young talk about a bright light he was a torch he was a I can't even describe the light that he was I used to not like to celebrate my birthday especially as I got older you know and poo poo my family and I didn't want to Mark certain bigger birthdays that end with a zero and ever since he passed away embrac every birthday is a gift every birthday is a miracle every birthday that's a celebration that you're still on this planet that your family still has you and you have they you have them any day that ends with the same headcount in your home as the day the way the day began is a miracle is a Miracle maybe October 7th should teach us and remind that how many homes are incomplete how many homes have a different head count how many homes don't exist at all where are our standards and our measures for happiness for what is defined as a miracle Corona didn't teach us that where people couldn't breathe and we say you know what if I have breath in my lungs and I breathe easily it's a miracle I'm alive what a miracle that we can gather here at MJ we were talking over dinner about how MJ weathered Corona how difficult it was a community that was needing to gather in person did so remarkably and I'll say miraculously it's a miracle that this room is packed and that we can sit within six feet of one another that we can see each other's faces and that we can breathe the breath of life which is really the source of all existence the Hebrew word n Soul is the same as the Hebrew word for breathing for breath and we say in our prayers every day with all my soul I praise you and the rabbi said don't read it that way read it with every breath I will praise you because if Corona taught us one thing there are those still suffering from it who need a don't ever take for granted the gift of being able to breathe easily to breathe easily not only all of us who the wind was knocked out of us on October 7th but Corona who so many people never caught their breath again people still struggling from long Corona with every breath I will praise you Puma means we're not only publicizing enormous Miracles like a little flask that lasted 8 days or an army that overcame the odds against it but ending a day with the same headcount in our home as the way the day began is a miracle and you know what we don't see it and we don't notice it and sometimes you got to turn on the light and that's the manura is turning on that light of that flame to see what's right in front of us all along the rabbis when they codify this law they say the Mitzvah is defined as lighting isubo who asked the light how do you light a candle for a person ubo and their home and maybe homiletically what we can say that we light this candle to publicize the miracle the historical story of Kaneka but also more importantly to see is to see inside ourselves who are we and what are we about and where do we come from and where are we going and who are we meant to be what difference are we meant to make what Legacy do you want to leave near the candle is it should illuminate and reflect on us we sit and we stare and we gaze into that flame and it should reflect back on our life we watch it flicker as it rises and we ask ourselves how are we Rising how are we elevating how are we growing what are our aspirations and Ambitions we see that flame on fire and are we on fire or are we l lukewarm just coasting through life the Puma the miracle that we're pying is not only a historical Miracle but is the Miracle of Life it's the miracle of each and every one of our unique and distinct and inimitable existences of the difference and contribution that we're meant to make the Legacy that we're meant to forge near is this candle is Illuminating is our person our truest selves not what you see on the surface not what social media can profile online but the pineus the essence the essential the truest part of who we are sometimes we fail to see what's right in front of us all along so years ago Sports Illustrated had an amazing story I'm dating myself some of you will remember the name of Louis Salazar it was a longtime Major League infielder minor league coach who was out of baseball for a year and he lives actually in boaron Florida but in August 2010 he got the itch to return to baseball and so Salazar sent out his resume and the Atlanta Braves offered him a job managing their class A Carolina League team he joined the Braves 20 for spring training anyone remember the name of Lis Salazar nobody knows what I'm talking about you'll Google it I would say later but go feel free to do it right now which is what you were going to do anyway so he's coaching Third Base one March afternoon Salazar is 55 years old former third baseman and at 55 the reaction time is not the same as it is in the prime of your career and Brian mccan hitting from 60 feet away hits a foul ball that travels over 100 miles an hour right at the third bit Co coach Louis Salazar hits him Square in the face he didn't have a chance even with instincts of a player in their Prime he never had a chance the projectile smacked him in the left eye made a hideous sound and knocked him backwards Down The Dugout steps he fractured his right arm in the fall but that was the least of it he was unconscious he was concussed blood poured out of his nose his mouth his eye a helicopter transported him to the Orlando trauma center and when he came to he discovered that he lost his left eye the ball hit him in his eye socket and his eye was surgically removed and it was a tough day to wake up and to learn he'd be without his eyesight and his left eye without his eye and the doctor told him don't worry it just means you can't be a fighter pilot but you can still do almost everything else and when he was released from the hospital he wanted to prove it so he drove the three hours from Orlando back to his home in boaton to prove that he could still drive he said he needed to do it for himself April 15th he managed he made his managerial debut and by this story his his story had generated some media tension particularly among Braves fans so there was a huge crowd there and he said just putting on the uniform going to home plate handing the lineup card to the Umpire that was the best moment of my baseball career this is a major league baseball player an Allstar a superstar who said surviving that incident coming back and bouncing back just standing at home plate was the best moment of his baseball career that's not why I'm telling you the story I'll tell you why I'm telling you the story I read this interview in Sports Illustrated years ago and this line jumped out at me he said the following he said in a way this is a quote in a way I see more now than I did with two eyes I see teammates and friends I haven't spoken to in 25 years I noticed more around the ballpark it may be crazy to say but in some ways it's been a blessing I see more now with one eye than I saw before with two eyes sometimes we can have perfect 2020 Vision two eyes that work and we're missing things that are right under our nose we're failing to see the blessings we're failing to count the blessings we're failing to have the vision to understand and know what matters and what is important and KHAK is about lighting the candles and using them to harness our sight not opic speaking but the Deep vision of what is true of what matters of what's real of what is eternal of the of the people of Eternity made up of individuals of Eternity and families of Eternity of what is the most precious and what is most dear of the blessings and the Miracles that are right under our nose and that are right all around us but I want to end with one last point one last message for us as we're approaching the holiday of Kaneka but this one from our para from the Torah portion we're going to read this week in our Torah portion yakob Jacob is about to reunite with his brother and this toah portion has it at the formula how Jews go to war how we enter combat the three part strategy that we have but the Torah deviates to tell us a little a little story that Jacob had left behind three jugs of maybe oil and he went back to retrieve them he didn't want to give up on them he didn't want to dismiss them even though he's very wealthy he went back to go get them and when he went back to go get them what happened whom did he encounter the angel of asov of Esau his brother and they wrestled the whole night and who won Jacob persevered he won but he suffered an injury the angel he wrestled with struck him in the leg he was injured and in fact until this day we don't eat the GHA the sciatic nerve all in order to commemorate the injury he sustained in his hip dislodging his hip the gasha from the wrestling match that night and I'll ask you a very simple question with this last thought I want to end with normally we all know the Jewish joke right everybody knows this one it's not fun he never was but somebody invariably will quote it every year what's the old Jewish joke every Jewish holiday could be summarized as they tried to kill us we won let's e so one second this enemy of Jacob tried to kill him he won let's not eat what's going on over here since when do we not eat to commemorate that we won that doesn't fit the Paradigm of Jewish holidays we always to commemorate that we won we always we always eat we find something to eat sometimes this is a good one laas and and donut sometimes it's mat and Mar but we find a way we always so why are we commemorating Jacob's Victory by abstaining and refraining from meating the hind quarter the sciatic nerve the GHA there was a great commentary thei medal commentary thei says unlike and Rashi and all the other commentaries who say why don't we eat the sciatic nerve why do we have to tror it's called trabber our meat remove that sciatic nerve in order to make that meat eligible to consume because we're commemorating Jacob's victory that makes no sense well we have a victory we eat we don't abstain from eating so there's something else going on and listen to what he says he says we're not eating it not to celebrate the victory we're not eating it to remember how Jacob got into this mess to begin with the language the verse uses is Yakov went and wrestled Le what does the word LE mean by himself wers the man has 12 sons why in the world was he by himself the man has a huge Entourage he's built a family he has friends he has disciples and students and he had to go get something and he said anyone want to come with me got an errand got to take care of something anyone want to come I know the feeling a little bit thank God I don't have 12 I have a lot of children they all of a sudden look down they're all busy they're all studying all of a sudden they're home I got to clean my room study says the reason we don't eat it is not to commemorate a miracle and a victory the Reon reason we don't eat it is a punishment so that we remember a Jew never leaves another Jew alone a Jew never leaves another Jew behind a Jew never neglects another Jew a Jew never makes another Jew feel invisible or inconsequential or that they don't matter that they're not counted a Jew never leaves another Jew leado alone never leaves a Jew leado never leaves them vulnerable never leaves them exposed never leaves them so that angel can come and wrestle and injure them and this is a pivotal message and word of yakob of Jacob our forefather if you look throughout the Book of braches of Genesis you'll find over and over again it's as if Jacob is like the first hippie he calling everybody brother hey brother what's that brother everybody's brother a everybody's a when he goes to the well and what does he find before he meets ra will become his wife there's a group of hoodlums and gangsters and no goodnicks and they're hanging around the well and they're hash me too picking on the women and he says to them what are you doing you're all paid to work you no good I you're sitting around what are you doing get to work why don't they lash you know what they say you're right we're going to go back to work let's remove the stone why don't they lash out at him why are they willing to hear his mus or his rebuke you know why go look at the verse you know what he says he says a my brothers what's going on why aren't you at work when you start even criticism but with the expression you're my brother then people will be receptive to what you have to say Jacob calls these strangers these hoodlums but he calls them a he calls them my brother he calls as in our my brother his own Sons he calls his sons the brothers of Jacob he sits for a meal in our Pas with as of soldiers and he calls them his brothers because for Jacob everybody's a brother the most amazing thing in Israel right now is this is the term everybody's using a complete stranger on the street my brother what's going on the cab driver the bus driver in the m at the shook everybody's a did you have that everybody's calling my brother don't try this at home don't try this here in New York everybody in Israel I went to Israel I'm going again this Sunday for three days just to hug as many people as possible just a hug it's an amazing feeling you can walk up to complete strangers and you ask of course and you consent but hug don't try that here that will not go well could you imagine walking around manatt just hugging people be arrested you'll be sued be an expose about you can't do that in Israel everyone's hugging each other and everyone's calling each other my brother my brother we learned that from Jacob our forefather who called called everyone from his enemy to his sons to the hoodlums at the well they're all his brother where does the word a come from one of our teachers David Miller when we studied together for those tests David Miller says in the laws of mourning when a person is mourning or grieving they have to tear a garment are you allowed to mend it are you allowed to sew it up are you allowed to restore it so it depends if you lost a parent if a person lost a sibling sometimes you can but you can't Stitch It Like It's new and the Hebrew word for stitching for bondage for putting it together is to make it an brothers are when you Bond and you integrate and you stitch together and you come together and you are united of being together and maybe that's why in our paraa when Dina is abducted the sister of the 12 tribes is held hostage this is not the first case of Jews being taken hostage Dina was taken hostage and she was raped and shim and Ley two of her brothers say not on our watch we won't allow this to happen and they rise up and they face the people of Shem and they wage war and they redeem their sister and maybe that is their chuva that is their repentance for yakob having been alone they hear the rebuke Yakov comes home and he's limping he just took the garbage out he asked the kids to help everybody pretended they were busy he went leado he twisted his ankle he fell over the garbage can he comes inside limping and everyone says there's a lesson we need to learn a Jew is never l a Jew never lets another Jew be can't ever let a Jew be alone ever be alone is a time that we like the man and we see the best in the Jews around us they are we are all United We Are All One we are experiencing this unprecedented Unity this incredible coming together this focus on our commonality not our differences we are being swn together and we are being bound together and we are being united and coming together in the most extraordinary ways when I went to visit that community of schlom I told you about that mik was Far part of they have been relocated and they're living in gion gion is in the West Bank my brother lives there in Alon it is over the green line and I was visiting with them in a pickup truck was backing up into the area that they're all living I was dropping off some washing machines and I went up to the driver of this pickup truck to introduce myself and ask him he's coming from and what led him to come want to help this family this community this community of families and he told me that he was one of the leaders of the demonstrations in Tel Aviv having to do with judicial reform and on the famous yum Kipper Justice yum Kipper when people were tearing down prayer groups he was one of the leaders demonstrating against the kind of people who he had now come to help and just a couple weeks later he was coming to help and I said what happened he said I was doing what I thought I was supposed to be doing then and now I'm doing what I meant to be doing now there are no divisions there are no walls there are no differences we're all we're brothers and sisters we have one father we're siblings nothing gives Pride to a parent more than siblings getting along cooperating loving helping one another siblings don't have to all be the same belong to different political parties you could cheer for different sports teams you could go into different careers you could live vastly different lives but in fact to a parent it's even more beautiful when siblings are so different but every time they get together they set it aside to find what they have in common to be United and whole to be at peace and to be one there's no greater gift you can give a parent than to act like siblings we like these khaka candles this khaka we look around and we see Jews who are not different than us we see that we're all one we see what is before our eyes all along and we long for and we pray for miracles by not only the Miracles of yesterday year but the Miracles That We crave and we need today so my dear friends it's an honor and a privilege to be with you I'm so grateful for this incredible opportunity but I implore you and I beg of you that next week when you light those khaka candles don't run out of the room don't run to spin the drle or down the Sania or go to the event sure MJ have one you'll get there they'll schedule it half an hour after candle lighting time turn off your technology and sit and stare at the candles they'll repair the damage we've done to Our Eyes by looking at the wrong thing by looking at people the wrong way by looking with envy and jealousy and lust and judgment and criticism all that we've done wrong with our eyes by looking the wrong way and looking at the wrong things we can repair our eyes if we look at these candles we don't use them we just just look at them because Puma they will publicize the miracle not the miracle that's out there the miracle that's in here the miracle that is each and every one of us keep learning keep growing keep yearning keep asking keep coming together and being united as one because when you come learn and you practice and we are proud Jews and we are committed to a rich Jewish continuity we always have and we always will defeat whatever enemy that we Face they don't stand the chance like Jacob we may be injured and we may limp for a moment but we will persevere we will Triumph and we will win if we come together in that Spirit of seeing far beyond what's visible to the naked eye we live that life of vision of what could be and who we can become keep looking keep watching keep dreaming keep living keep asking and keep learning most importantly keep doing it together you and Manhattan Jewish experience and us with the bone Jewish experience thank you by the way for letting us the name we didn't ask you for the budget just the name thank you so much for having me it's really a privilege to be with you tonight