Lag Ba'omer: The Girl Was Being Violated; They said She Was Seeking Negative Attention

Today's class is going to be about Lag Ba'omer. Of course, the day of the passing of the great Tanna known as the Tanna Eloki, the godly Tanna of Shimon bar Yochai, who was also the one who revealed Pnimius haTorah, the inner esoteric dimensions of Torah to the world through the Zohar. So, today's class is in loving memory of Bernie Marcus, Ben Zion ben Eli Melech Yosef, world-renowned founder of Home Depot, and a major extraordinary donor to Jewish causes, a great human being, a great Jew, a great philanthropist who dedicated his life to help so many who passed away on the 4th of Cheshvan 5785, November 4th, 20 24. Dedicated by Fred and Nancy Marcus. May his soul and his light and his love and his dedication always remain with you, and be a source of inspiration and empowerment and resilience to the family, the community, and all of our people. And thank you so so much for your partnership. Tehei nishmaso tzerurah betzror haChaim. Truly an extraordinary human being. Today's class is also dedicated by the children and grandchildren of Zayde Mottel, Reb Mottel Kalmenson Reb Mordechai Leib ben Reb Yisrael Shimon, a true Chassid, a descendant of the Shpoler Zayde, who was dedicated to the spreading of Torah and mitzvos and Yiddishkeit with much ahavas Yisrael and mesiras nefesh, who just passed away. Tehei nishmaso tzerurah betzror haChaim. And I know when I once went to visit him and I saw that uh he spent much of the day listening to a lot of the watching a lot of the videos and classes. So, I'm very grateful, humbly grateful for that zchus and opportunity. And may his soul remain an eternal source of light and inspiration and love. Amen. Today's class is also dedicated by Menachem Abrams in loving memory of his dear grandfather Reb Dovid Chai ben Daniel u'Bracha in honor of his yahrzeit tomorrow on the 16th day of Iyar. And may his soul remain an eternal source of light, love and inspiration, and may we all experience the great prophecy of may we all live to see the end May all of us be blessed Amen. May it be his will. So, everybody knows that Lag Ba'omer, the 33rd day of the Omer, which is the 18th day of Iyar, is celebrated across the entire Jewish world known as Hilula d'Rabbi Shimon Hilula literally means the wedding anniversary, but it's actually the yahrzeit, the day of the passing of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is considered one of the greatest sages and mystics in Jewish history. He lived approximately in the year after the common era, which means 100 years after the destruction of the second Beit Hamikdash. The second Beit Hamikdash was destroyed in the year 70. Now, we're 2025. So, it's close to 2,000 years, the year 70. And Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai lived around 1 century afterwards when Rome occupied the Middle East and much of the world, the Roman Empire in its full might and glory and intensity. And he lived in Eretz Yisrael. He was a great one of the greatest students of the great Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva lived through the destruction of the second Beit Hamikdash and was part of the Bar Kochba revolt, which happened around 60 years after the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash in the year 130. Rabbi Akiva himself was put to death by the Romans, and one of his greatest students was Rabbi Shimon, known as Rabbi Shimon the son of Yochai. And what is fascinating is first of all that his yard site is known, which is very rare for those generations. And not only that, that it's celebrated and it's called Yom Simchasoi, Shimon bar Yochai, a day of tremendous joy and festivity that even during the days of Sefiras HaOmer, which is a time of mourning, nonetheless, Lag BaOmer all of these limitations fall off. It's a day of weddings and dancing and music and celebration in all or most Jewish communities literally the world over and especially by Meron, the resting place of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. And it's interesting, you know, that uh Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai the day the it's like the question obviously is, because it's quite fascinating, how did this like what's the reason for this? What's the purpose of this? Meaning we don't find the celebration and the commemoration of a yard site in such a grand scale by anybody. Even the greatest of the great. Even Moshe Rabbeinu. Moshe Rabbeinu who passed away on the seventh day of Adar, so the Chevra Kadishas in different communities have certain rituals on the seventh day of Adar. But nonetheless, it's not commemorated by Klal Yisrael like Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Avraham, Yitzchak, Yaakov, I mean most yard sites are not even specified clearly in Chumash. Even Aaron HaCohen, whose yard site is specified in Chumash, the only one, Rosh Chodesh Av, Aaron HaCohen, so the Torah says when his yard site is and people mention it of course and it's a special day, the first day of the month of Av, but nonetheless, we don't find by any of the Avos, by any of the leaders, by any of the prophets, by any of the kings, by any of the Tana'im and Amoraim such a grand celebration and such a festivities on the day of their yard site. First of all, what happened? Why Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai? And second of all, the day of passing is usually seen on the contrary. In fact, there's a minhag by some even there's even opinion for some to fast. With parents or others, I mean there's different minhagim. Some fast, some do other things, tikkun, whatever, but the The is that bar Yochai stands out. It's very unique. What is it? What what what's the what's the reason for this for this unique phenomenon that puts him apart from literally all of the other sages that we find in Jewish history. Now, certainly he was a tremendous figure in Jewish life. As I said, he was one of the greatest sages of the day and a prime student of Rabbi Akiva, the author of the Zohar, one of the greatest spiritual giants. There's not a chapter in Talmud that doesn't mention his name, Rabbi Shimon, which I think makes him the most quoted rabbi, Tanna, Chacham in both Mishnayos and in Gemara. Yet, the celebration in such a unique and universal way is a matter of darshani. It asks us, what is what is the uniqueness of this? In order to appreciate at least one dimension of it, let's go back to one very famous story about Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai that is recorded in the Gemara itself. Our sages chose to record the story, and every story that they chose to record is obviously that they felt it was important to know it and important to learn from it. So, if you look at your source sheets, the first of the sources is Shabbos Lamed Gimmel Amud Beis. That means it's Talmud Gemara tractate Shabbos page 33b. It's not a coincidence that it's page Lamed Gimmel, Daf Lamed Gimmel, which is also Bahashgacha that day of Lag BaOmer. And here the Gemara records a fascinating story about three of the greatest sages of the time who are convening and having a shmooze. Now, I'm sure that they had many shmoozin, but this one was unique because of its its cataclysmic consequences. The names, just as an introduction, the names of the people we're going to be learning about is Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yossi, and Rabbi Shimon. They were all colleagues. Rabbi Yehuda is not father's name was Elazar Rabbi Yehuda bar Rabbi Ilai. Rabbi Yossi and Rabbi Shimon, these were three friends, colleagues. They're quoted very very often in the Mishnah and in the Gemara because they had many discussions and conversations and debates, very many debates when it came to Halacha. And they're sitting and talking. But this case, they're not talking about Halacha, which was usually their topic Torah. They were actually talking about the Roman Empire. They were talking what you would call politics. They were talking about the political realities of that time, which is a unique conversation. We have many conversations of them, but they usually focused on a theme, on a subject in Torah or Jewish law. Here they're talking about the Roman Empire, which fiercely occupied Judea in the Middle East and was then the most powerful force in the world. What is the right perspective on the Romans? So let's see inside. You have it in the Hebrew in the original and you also have it in the English. But I'll read the original and then translate. The Gemara says Amay Koralei Sham Medabrim Bechol Makom. Rabbi Yehuda, the first person, was known as Roish Amay Medabrim Bechol Makom. Roish Amay Medabrim means the main spokesman. Medabrim is spoke speaker. Roish Amay Medabrim. When there was you needed somebody to represent the Jewish people, to be the spokesman, to be the one who would represent them, it was Rabbi Yehuda. Why was he Why was he given this name? Why was he given this title? Roish Amay Medabrim Bechol Makom. In every space, he was the first person to speak up. He was the man. So he says, I'll tell you we'll tell you the story. The Yasvi Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosi, Rabbi Shimon. Three of the sages were sitting together, Rabbi Yehuda, Rabbi Yosi, and Rabbi Shimon. Rabbi Shimon is Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Whenever it says Rabbi Shimon without any title added, it's usually Rabbi Shimon. There were other Rabbi Shimons, but when it says Rabbi Shimon, it's Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, Rashbi, whose Yahrtzeit is Lag BaOmer. The Yasiv Yehuda ben Gerim Gavayu. Among them was sitting another Yehuda who wasn't from the sages, it was Yehuda ben Gerim, and he was also sitting among them as we call it in English eavesdropping. Pasach Rabbi Yehuda v'amar. Rabbi Yehuda opened his mouth, as we said he was the main speaker always. So, he opened up the conversation, and he said, "Wow, kama na'im ma'aseihem shel ummah zu. How beautiful, how pleasant are the actions of this nation, the Romans. Tiknu shvakim. For the first time in history, we have normal marketplaces. The economy is working. There's selling, there's buying, there's a way to live, there's an infrastructure of commerce, there's an infrastructure for people to able to get their needs, people are making a living, there's supply, there's demand. They built marketplaces, places that for for civilization this is so good. Tiknu kesharim. They built bridges. Travel, so that's so much leisure people can travel both for commerce, for leisure, there's bridges. Don't take these things for granted. Finally, tiknu merchatzayis, they established bathhouses, hygiene. So, both in terms of economics, in terms of leisure, in terms of hygiene, also leisure, these beautiful bathhouses everywhere. The Romans were very into building, and they liked when things looked good, and they liked grandness. You could still go and see some of the excavations and some of the remnants. The Colosseum with the Romans had what we call in Yiddish breite hasagos, they said it in Latin. But they had very broad vision of how things should look, and they were very, very grand and dramatic and professional. So, Rabbi Yehuda ben Eloi was praising this. You know, you come to a place that's a developed it's a developed country, it's a developed city. Mekan leban, you could live like a mensch. And he speaks about three things, marketplaces, bridges, and bathhouses. That's his opinion. Rabbi Yossi Shosak. Rabbi Yossi heard this, and he didn't say a word. He remained quiet. Nanei Rebbi Shimon ben Yochai ve'amar. Rebbi Shimon ben Yochai responded and he said, Kol ma she'tiknu lei tiknu ela letzarech atzman. They're a bunch of narcissists. They are egocentric, selfish individuals. Everything they built, they built only for their own benefit. They couldn't care less about society. They couldn't care less about their subjects. They couldn't care less about their people. It's all using us, manipulation, exploitation. It's all letzarech atzman. Completely completely ulterior motives. Absolutely no thought of anybody else. And he said, "I'll explain to you why. Tiknu is very sharp. Tiknu shvakin. They established marketplaces, lohoshiv ben zonus, to place prostitutes in them. They wanted places where people could meet, people of ill repute, to encourage the lack of modesty, promiscuity. And for them, this is a major business. This is the great business of adultery, of promiscuity. There's a lot of money. There's a lot of, so to speak, pleasure. This is what they did it for. They wanted meeting places to be lebedik. Everybody should meet for one reason. Number two, merchatzios. They built bathhouses. You know why? Le'aden bahen atzman. Basically, to give themselves a good time. They wanted to pamper themselves. That's all they're interested in. They want to pamper themselves. They are an indulgent people. So, they built bathhouses. The next is ksharim. They built bridges. Ha! You think so you should travel? Little ben meches. It's another way to get tolls. You raise the tolls from $2 to $8, from $8 to $11, from $11 to $36. Everyone who walks one way walks the other way, is paying major taxes. It's a great way of finishing the day with a surplus of money. That's what they did it. They want to collect taxes from everyone who passes through the bridges. Don't be so impressed, Rabbi Yehudah. Halachah Yehudah ben Geirim v'sipi d'vraya. Yehudah the ben Geirim went and he related the conversation. He shared it. V'nishmu l'malchus. Sure enough, it spread until it was heard by the monarchy. By the malchus, by the Roman monarchy. Ooh, the Romans didn't tolerate such conversations. This is not a democracy where everybody says what they want. Amru, they said as follows. Yehudah she'ila yis'aleh. Yehudah who elevated us, Yehudah who elevated the Roman regime, he said how amazing we are, let him be elevated and appointed as the head of the Jewish people, the head of the sages. WHAT HE DID TO US, WE will do to him. We will make him the most powerful Jew. Granted, Yosi shishas asach. Yosi was quiet, he didn't compliment, he didn't protest. That Yosi deserves a punishment. Yigaleh l'Tzipori. Let him be exiled from his home in Judea as a punishment and sent to the city of Tzipori in the Galilee, in the Galil. Cuz he was quiet. He didn't protest the condemnation. True, he didn't say anything negative, he goes to exile. Shimon shigina yeharag. Shimon who denigrated us, he denounced the Roman regime, he shall be killed. This, of course, gives the background why Rabbi Yehudah became the Reisha m'dabrim, the main spokesman and chief representative of the Jewish people. It was all because of this story. The Romans really appreciated the fact that he praised them, so they elevated him. Rabbi Yosi exiled to Tzipori and Rabbi Shimon is going to be killed. What happens though? Azal who ubray Rabbi Shimon we continue Azal who ubray he goes with his son. Rabbi Shimon had a son Rabbi Elazar. Tashu Be Medrasha they escape to the Beis Medrash. Kol yoyim avah maisilu dvisu rifte v'chuzer d'maya d'karche. Every single day his wife Rabbi Shimon's wife brings She brings bread. She brings a barrel of water. She brings what they need to eat her husband and her son. Ki takfu gzeirusa The decrees become stronger. The Romans are now more vicious. Relentless, heinous. Amaleile bray tells his son noshim daiton kala layan dilman tzarilun magalilan they could take mommy, torture her. And it's going to be very very difficult for her to be able to maintain to to to hold herself back. Cuz you don't know what they're going to do to her. So this is not a good idea. It's not it's not fair to put her in this position that she knows where we are. Azlu tashu b'mayisa so they run away and they go to a cave. They're now hiding in a cave. But she doesn't know where they are. They didn't want to put her in a position that she should know and then be torn. Ishtrachish nisa A miracle occurs ibru lu charuva v'eina d'maya. What's created there is charuva. Charuva is a carob tree. They call in Yiddish bokser. Bokser tree. V'eina d'maya is a spring of water. V'avah m'shalchin minaihu v'avah yosvin v'avah yosvin b'chala they got rid of their clothes and they sat till their till their necks in the sand. Kula yoyma garci All day they learn Torah. What are they supposed to do there? So all day Rabbi Shimon and his son Rabbi Elazar are studying. B'eidan tzluyah lavshi mikasu matzlu When it comes to davening they dress, they daven then they remove their clothes cuz they know that if their clothes remained they'll become moldy and rotten within a short while. So, mostly they're without clothes. They sit 12 years in this cave. Wow. 12 years, Reb Shimon and his son are in this cave. That's how they survived. The story continues after 12 years they get out. Against some ice and they go back and ultimately ultimately after 13 years Reb Shimon and Reb Elazar are liberated and they go back to what we call a normal stable life. This is the story. It's the famous story of Reb Shimon bar Yochai with his son in the cave. Anybody can understand that anybody who's even one week in a cave, 24 hours, without any access to the outside world, it does something. What about a month? What about 6 months? What about a year? What about 12 years? What happened to Reb Shimon and his son during those 12 years? Now, you know, one right away thinks about this. Obviously, the person who went into the cave was not the person who came out of the cave. Not for Reb Shimon and not for his son. This is one aspect of Reb Shimon bar Yochai's life that is fascinating. But, let's go back a step earlier. At the surface it seems like it's three Jews having a classic Jewish conversation. Yeah? Trump is the best thing that ever happened to the Jewish people. No, he's the worst thing. And another guy is smart, quiet. This happens constantly. One guy praises the government, one guy again denigrates the government, one guy has no opinion or has an opinion, doesn't want to say it. It looks like a classic conversation. Reb Yehuda highlights the achievements of Rome. He highlights their contributions to the infrastructure of communities and and populations and ultimately civilization. Reb Shimon speaks about their egocentricity, their cruelty, their narcissism, their selfishness. Rebbi Yosi is quiet. The Romans hear about it and they want to execute Reb Shimon, reward Rebbi Yehuda, and exile Rebbi Yosi. That's at the surface. But is there maybe the Gemara is teaching us to us is there maybe a pattern of thought? The Gemara Hazal want us to know what Rebbi Yehuda thought, what Rebbi Yosi thought or didn't cuz he was quiet, and what Reb Shimon thought. As we're going to see and this is fascinating, when you study this story, you understand Rebbi Yehuda and Reb Shimon in many many other areas as well because there's a pattern of thought. And what we have to understand is and often people that learn we learn but what people always want to say every time every amora had a way of thinking. You know there's whenever you learn halacha you'll see this this opinion that opinion this opinion that opinion. So often people can understand it's just random arguments. When it comes to this there's an argument cuz he holds like this he holds like this. In other areas another argument. But the truth is there was a system. Every one of the sages had a way of looking at the world. And this perspective was philosophical, it was psychological, it was spiritual, it was legal, it was halachic. It manifested itself on every level of life. Every strata of life was affected by a certain what they called in Yiddish or German Weltanschauung. Anybody knows that word? Weltanschauung. Weltanschauung means a world perspective. Hashkafot Olam you would say in Hebrew. They weren't just randomly arguing about hundreds of different cases. There was a paradigm. There was a way of looking at the world. A way of looking at life, a way of looking at God, a way of look appreciating what Torah what mitzvahs is what Yiddishkeit is what existence is. And that way of thinking manifested itself in so many different areas. It's called the Shittah say there was a Shittah here. This story is not just a random story. Obviously a very interesting story, but it's something that captures a thought process. Now here we come to an incredible insight by the Khidushei Harim. The Khidushei Harim who was the first famous first Rebbe of Gur. Rebbe Yitzchak Meir Khidushei Harim is a Rebbe Yitzchak Meir Rebbe Yitzchak Meir Alter as they call him he was a student of the Kotzker Rebbe. And then after the passing of his Rebbe the Kotzker Rebbe he became one of the great Chassidic leaders and masters in Poland, in a place called Gur, which is not far from Warsaw. The Khidushei Harim has a Sefer called Sefer Haschlos, Sefer Haschlos. And he comments on this story, I think it's page 81 or so, and he comments on this story and he says as follows. Who were the why these three sages? How did they end up in this conversation? Was they what had happened? He says, "No, it didn't just happen." These three sages were a reincarnation of three other people in Jewish history. He says, "Rebbe Yehudah take a look in your seconds is Rebbe Yehudah Gilgul Yehudah ben Yaakov." Rebbe Yehudah was a reincarnation of the first Yehudah, Yehudah the son of Yaakov. Rebbe Yossi was Gilgul Yossi ben Yaakov. Yossi is the same name like Yossi. So Rebbe Yossi was a Gilgul of Yossi the son of Yaakov. And Rebbe Shimon, he was a Gilgul of Shimon ben Yaakov, Shimon the son of Yaakov. In fact, he says when we say Rashbi, so Rashbi is Rebbe Shimon ben Yochai, but he says you can also read it Rebbe Shimon ben Yaakov. Cuz of course Yochai begins with a Yud Yaakov begins with a Yud, so you can read Rebbe Shimon ben Yaakov and it's not a contradiction cuz Rebbe Shimon ben Yochai was a reincarnation his soul was a reincarnation of Rebbe Shimon of I won't say Rebbe we usually don't call the Shvattim Rebbe of Shimon the son of Yaakov. And he says whenever somebody is a Gilgul of somebody, there are very deep connections between the first life and the second life. Now, how does one know? A lot of souls are reincarnations. In Kabbalah, it says that most souls that come down have been here before. Very, very seldom that you have an ashama hadasha, you have a new soul. Yeah, it's the Maggid of Mezritch told the Alter Rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov, that the Baal Shem Tov told him that he has an ashama hadasha, he has a new soul. It's like a a fresh soul, but usually most souls are reincarnations or gilgulim of souls that were here before. And yet, the soul still has a mission to complete, and therefore it comes down again, and sometimes more than one time. The question is, how does one know this? How am I supposed to know this? If my soul came down for a specific purpose, something I didn't complete the time before, how am I supposed to have even an insight to know about this, cuz this seems like important this seems like very important information. So, it's brought in Svarim, very something very interesting. It's explained in a safer called Kuntres Perek Vov. It says something fascinating. And that is usually, those things that I completed successfully the first time around, they will come easy the next time around. However, that thing or those things for which I particularly came down again, that's usually going to come with a lot of resistance. Because the resistance is a demonstration of the fact that this is important. Whenever there's resistance, it's because ah, you're touching. We know this also emotionally, right? If I say something to somebody and they're showing a lot of resistance, and I know it's true, what does that mean? What does it mean? It means I hit the spot. If I wouldn't have hit the spot, there would be no resistance. Right? That's why it's so important to be curious, right? If you say something to somebody. I once told a story in a lecture, so somebody says, "Without names, who was it?" So, without names, but you'll figure it out, right? And they're really, really triggered. Or conversely, somebody says something to you. Or even looks looks a certain way. Doesn't even have to be words. So, my instinct is right away to put it on the other person. But really, what we're learning is, no, wow, something just just hit the spot. What just happened? Wow. Somebody else could have heard the same words. They didn't even notice, right? Two people come to the same event. The other person didn't even notice. So, it's the same is true on every level of life. There's going to be resistance to that which is so important, and therefore there's pushback. It's a harder doesn't want me to fulfill this mission. So, sometimes in life, one of the great ways to know what is really important for me is when I know something in my life is truly important, and it's not easy. There's something that is blocking me. So, often I could say, "Let me just run away from it." No, no, no. Confronting this blockage may be one of the main reasons why my soul came down to this world. So, it's not small work, but it's also very, very encouraging. I once saw a letter, I think in 1952 or so, in the early 50s from the Lubavitcher Rebbe to a young man. And he wrote to him as follows. I know that your marriage is very, very difficult. I know that you're having tremendous struggles in your shalom bayis. And you really should put in much more effort than what you're doing in order to repair your marriage. And then he said this. He said, "The fact that it's so difficult for you means that this may be the main reason your soul came down into the world. So, don't run away from this. It's going to be easy for you to run away and do other things and do good things and holy things, but those holy things is not the reason you came down. You'll do them. But that comes easy for you. Now, this doesn't mean that if something is hard for me in life, I have to go do it. Like, I'm not sure I'm supposed to become a big league basketball player just because I'm not Michael Jordan, right? Or become a parachutist. I mean, maybe it won't be so bad for me. But we're not talking about, you know, just I should take on an initiative that's simply very, very hard for me cuz it's hard. We're talking about something that I know is important. This person's marriage was falling apart. Right? So, sometimes a marriage can be saved, but the Rebbe's point was your marriage can be saved. It can be repaired, but you're going to have to confront things that you're not ready to confront. So, very often from the res- levels of resistance, instead of running, it's actually an opportunity to say, "Wow, let me go deeper." And that's where unbelievable growth happens cuz I'm confronting things that are uncomfortable. I'm going out of my comfort zone. And going out of my comfort zone means my soul is actually stretching. And when you stretch, you open up the energy so that I can actually open up the blockages and live in a much more meaningful and powerful way. So, this is very important to understand about Gilgulim. And this is what the Rebbe is saying about these three individuals. So, he says, "When you look at Yehuda, the first Yehuda, he was Reish Am Hadabrim B'chol Makom. Right? He was the one who spoke up before everybody. He was considered the king of the Shvatim. Because Yehuda is the one who actually saved Yosef, right? You- Reuven said, "Let's throw him into the pit." They threw him into the pit. And then Yehuda said, "What are you going to leave him here in a pit? At least at lea- What are we going to have? Yeah, let's sell him." So, Yehuda, even though Reuven sem- seemed much more noble, even though Reuven seemed much more noble than Yehuda cuz he wanted to save his brother, but in reality, who saved him? Yehuda saved him, not Reuven. Yehuda took him out and said, "Let's sell him." But at least he was alive. He became a slave, but he was alive. Later, when Yosef, the prime minister, wanted them to bring Binyamin, and Reuven told Yaakov, "I'll bring Binyamin." And I'm going to Yaakov didn't accept it. When Yehuda said, "Anochi arevennu miyadecha avakshennu." I will be the guarantor for for for Binyamin to bring him back. Then Yakov accepted it. And then finally, when Benjamin was actually taken into captivity because he supposedly stole the goblet of the prime minister of Egypt, who was the one who confronted the prime minister by Yigash Ailav? Yehuda. And Yehuda was the one who got a ton. And of course, at the end Joseph reveals himself. And he says, "I need Joseph how I do the sky." So, the Kadish says, we see this Yehuda again is Shimon ben Chaim ben Chaim. He's the one they appoint as a leader. He's extremely practical. And therefore, he's Shimon ben Chaim ben Chaim. He's like the king of the Shvatim. He is a reincarnation of the first Yehuda. He said, "What about Rebbe Yossi?" Rebbe Yossi is sent into exile to Tzipori. What is that about? So, Kadish says, the word Tzipori comes from the word tzipor, which is a bird. Where do we find a ritual around birds? You remember? I'm saying a ritual, a halacha about birds. So, Shiloach HaKanem if you find, but where was there a ritual of cleansing about birds? Last week, the metzora. Tzara'at. Rashi says, so you brought two birds. They slaughtered one. They dipped the other bird in the blood, and they they sprinkled it on the leper when he was becoming or she was becoming pure. Rashi says, "Why birds?" You remember what Rashi says? Because birds don't stop yattering. They chirp and chirp and chirp and chirp. Yeah, you have a wake up 4:00 in the morning and hear the birds. They have conversations galore. I don't know if they're davening Shacharis, but usually Shacharis doesn't take so long. So, obviously after Shacharis, they have breakfast. They have conversations, celebrity. Yeah? And they You know when they get into these conversations. So, Rashi says that it's basically people who don't stop talking. I don't know. Maybe I don't know if I should talk about this. As they say in English, look who's talking about not talking. We talk and talk and talk and talk and talk about people and talk about this one and talk about this one and say broken words, it's chirping chirping chirping. So, Rashi says that tzipor is essentially the cleansing for that. And there's two birds, it says, the Vilna Gaon writes there's two birds. One is the bird that slaughtered, one is the bird that sent out cuz these are the words that I have to get rid of and there are the words that I did not speak, all the positive things that I could have said. So, the Chidushei HaRim says, Yosef, it says, "Vayavei Yosef es dibbasam ra'ah el avihim." Yosef, however we explain it relative to Yosef's level, he brought the gossip of his brothers back to his father. And that's why the brothers were very upset at him and the brothers couldn't speak to him and they weren't peaceful with him and there was a terrible animosity between the brothers and Yosef. What's the reason? However we explain the reason for this, but Rebbe Yosi was a gilgul of Yosef and therefore shasak. Therefore, he was quiet. And when he was exiled to Tzipori, to the place of birds, it was his way of being mesaken, of fixing that lashon hara, which is done through the tziporim and that's why Rebbe Yosi is exiled to Tzipori. Of course, the Romans don't know all these chishbonos, but the way things happen in life is things don't happen to me, they happen for me. And as a result of that, Rebbe Yosi is exiled to Tzipori. Chidushei HaRim says he's a reincarnation of Yosef. Shimon, Rebbe Shimon is a reincarnation of Shimon. When Yosef was coming to approach the brothers, Shimon tells Levi, "Let's kill him." Shimon was the great zealot who wanted to protect the Jewish people and he felt that Yosef was a danger. He's also the one who went with Levi to kill Avraham in order to rescue Dinah. And when Yaakov said, "You can't do this." Shimon and Levi told Yaakov, "Achazoyna ya'aseh achazoyna?" Was this what we're going to allow to happen to our sister, to be so promiscuous? We can't allow this. Here you see that Reb Shimon is so upset with the Romans that this is what they're thinking about promiscuity. It's like what Shimon told Yakov then with Shechem. So, Shimon first wanted to kill Yosef and then at the end they didn't kill Yosef of course because of you Reuben they threw him into a pit and then they sold him into slavery. Says the Ksav Sofer, Reb Shimon comes back as a reincarnation of the first Shimon and initially the Romans say let's kill him just like he said let's kill Yosef and at the end what happens? He ends up in a pit for 12 years. What did he do to Yosef? He sent Yosef into exile ultimately. He wanted to kill him and at the end Yosef ended up as a slave in Egypt and at the end he ended up in prison for how long? For 12 years. So, the Ksav Sofer says those 12 years of Reb Shimon bar Yochai in the cave where they weren't just regular 12 years. They were similar to the 12 years of Yosef in the pit. Huh? Right. He couldn't adjust. It says whatever he put his eyes whatever he put his eyes on he burnt. So, they said don't go out to burn the world you have to you need another year. Now, if we understand this a little deeper what happens to Yosef after he's in prison for those 12 years? He doesn't just come out and become a regular citizen. He becomes the prime minister of Egypt. From prison he went out to become the king and the Gemara says in Maseches Rosh Hashanah page Yud Aleph it happened on Rosh Hashanah. Yosef went out of prison on Rosh Hashanah. He went out to become the prime minister, the second in command, the viceroy of Egypt under Pharaoh actually on Rosh Hashanah. Which is why Rosh Hashanah is connected to the day of going out of emotional prisons, a new year, Rosh Hashanah. Similarly, Reb Shimon bar Yochai those 12 years in the cave he went through a major metamorphosis. He went through an extraordinary transformation. And that transformation changed him and also changed Jewish history. Now in order to appreciate this more What is it? That was really saying When he spoke about the Romans. If we think about it, said look at the world with them. It's a much better place to live. I want to go visit my brother, my sister, my mother. There's a bridge. I don't have to take a rowboat Go into the sea and then hope that I get to the other side without drowning. There's a normal bridge they built. There's marketplaces, there's a bathhouse. People look better, smell better. It's a better place to live in. He says I know that, but it's all egocentric. There is an agenda and the agenda is completely immoral. It's either to encourage immorality, to take your money Or simply for self-indulgence. It's interesting these three things. When the speaks about a Jewish king in it says about the kings The kings of the ancient years they spoiled themselves endlessly. They had as many horses as they wanted, as many women as they wanted, as much silver and gold. Torah warns about all these three things. Not many horses, not many women, not that much gold and silver. And this was mistake. He thought that he was different and he could do it. What are the three things they talk about? They talk about bathhouses. They talk about marketplaces and they talk about the third thing they talk about bridges. These are the basis of a civilization. So now says I know what they did and I know it's nice to have a bridge. But look at why they did it. Rebbi Yehuda doesn't know that. He thought the Romans were the Sadiq of the generation. What was the argument? Is there an argument or not? So now we completely change the subject. We go to another source in Gamara where they're talking about what seemed like extremely technical, nothing to do with Rome, nothing to do with bridges, marketplaces, nothing to do with that. A completely different question. And suddenly Rebbi Yehuda and Rebbi Shimon are arguing again. And the question is a very practical one. It's Shabbos. You're in the bungalow colony. Right? And you decide that you're going to have Shabbos lunch by your neighbor. So today already a lot of the bungalow colonies, the houses are nicer than the regular houses, winterized home. But you remember the old days, I I want to say the good old days, but whatever, you'll decide if they were good or not. But the old days in the bungalow colony when there was snakes and frogs and reptiles in the bathrooms, when there was one washing machine, when people were hanging their clothes on the strings, but when the kids were outside 23 hours of the day and you had to scream at them to come out of the ditches and hope that a skunk did not spray anybody so that they would eat a morsel of food somewhere between 9 and 10 at night. And if you walked into the bungalow colony, it was a korban by a shania, by a shlishi, but everybody called it fun. The fun of their life. So it's Shabbos. And you remember the picnic tables you had to eat on with those benches that you could still feel probably in your ribs decades later with all the splinters and all the animals sharing the meal together with you. Times have changed. Okay, baruch Hashem, affluence. There's still a few bungalow colonies that you could go visit and they have a zecher to the good old days, a few camps, a few bungalow colonies. So, Shabbos lunch, we decide we're going to have together. But, you don't have enough place on your porch. So, we schlepped a bench from my porch to your porch. We're schlepping a bench, and it's a heavy bench, so we're not picking it up cuz it's Shabbos, we don't want to work too hard. Instead, we schlepped the bench on the earth, but it's not cement, it's a bungalow colony. So, it's earth, it's soil. So, as I'm schlepping the bench, I may make, I may not, but I may make a furrow in the ground. Of course, that is one of the melochos of Shabbos, it's called charisha, which means toiling the earth, plowing the earth. Whenever you make the earth fertile for planting, which means you dig it up, you take a shovel, you toil it, that makes the earth fertile, open, that when you plant a seed, it could plant. This is actually the first of the 39 melochos that the Torah says you're not allowed to do on Shabbos is charisha, plant sowing plowing. The order is actually planting and then sowing the order is planting and planting and plowing cuz they used to sow they would they would plow twice before and after, whatever, but the case is plowing is one of the melochos. Is this called plowing or not? The answer is, what do you mean? I'm not trying to plow the earth in the bungalow colony. I'm not planting anything. I'm trying to schlep a bench from my house to your house. It happens to go through the earth. So, yes, the legs of the bench may make a furrow in the ground. They also make not may not, but let's say they do, but is that my intention? Is that my purpose? So, I understand the Torah says by Shabbos melochos machsheves asur Torah, it has to be conscious like the Mishkan melochos machsheves be conscious intent. There was no conscious intent here. But still, some person made a furrow that the rabbis prohibited it. So, interestingly, there's a big argument about this. And who are the two people? You guessed it, Rebbi Yehudah and Rebbi Shimon. So, take a look in your next source. Okay? This is right after the third source, Shabbos daf chof tes amud bet. It's also in tractate Shabbos, a few pages before the story about about the Roman government and what they said. Rebbi Shimon omer, Rebbi Shimon says, goirer odom mitah KISEH VESAFSAL, YOU'RE ALLOWED TO SHLEP a bed, a chair, a bench on Shabbos on the earth, uv'ilvad shelo yiskaven l'asos charitz. As long as you don't have an intention to make a charitz. You know what a charitz is? Uh uh a what? Yeah, a charitz is a charitza, to make a dent, to make a furrow. An indentation, exactly. You're fine. And the Gemara explains in Beitzah, the next source, chof gimmel, shavah l'Rebbi Shimon d'amar dover she'eino miskaven mutar. According to Rebbi Yehudah, Rebbi Shimon dover she'eino miskaven, if I didn't have kavana, I didn't have intent, it's mutar, it's permissible. That means I could shlep this bench even if I know that I will be landscaping my lawn. Yes. It's not my intention. I also may not landscape my lawn. It doesn't mean that every time you're shlepping a bench is for sure going to be plowing. So, this is a point of contention. According to Rebbi Yehudah, such a deed falls under the category of forbidden. Rebbi Yehudah says you're not allowed to. Dover she'eino miskaven assur. You're not allowed to. You want to bring the bench? If there's an eruv, pick it up. No problem. You're not allowed to do this. Rebbi Shimon says, no, it's perfectly fine. You can drag the chair even though you know that you may or may not carve a groove in the earth. And the truth is, who is the halacha like? Rebbi Shimon. How do I know? You walk to shul, you're walking on right? Is it possible that when you walk on the grass, some grass gets pulled out? Of course it's possible. Probably happens. But it's not your intention. Your intention is to harvest grass when you're walking. YOU MAY WALK OVER YOUR GRASS. GRASS MAY PULL OUT. According to Rabbi Yehudah, well, I don't care. Be careful. Don't do that. Walk on cement. Don't walk there. Rabbi Shimon says, no, davar she'eino miskavein is mutar. So, that's an argument. Let's see another argument about something completely different. And then, we're going to ask ourselves, is there a connection between everything we're learning? One of the most beautiful things that the Torah says about the Messianic era is, and he promises this in the beginning of parshas Bechukotai, next week's parsha, "V'hishbati chaya ra'ah min ha'aretz." In Bechukotai, "Teileichu v'es mitzvotai tishmoru." If you'll follow my laws, do my mitzvahs, he speaks about all the peace I'm going to bring to the world, to the land. "V'hishbati chaya ra'ah min ha'aretz." This is the beginning of Bechukotai. I will "hishbati." From the word Shabbos or "tashbisu." I will rest. I will make rest a wild beast from the land. You will not Remember, wild, undomesticated beasts was a major, major part of casualties, especially in the ancient world. You know, cuz places were not as civilized and built, and therefore there could be chayas ra'os, there could be wild beasts. And Hashem says, I will make a Shabbos, I will make a rest of chayas ra'os min ha'aretz. What does that mean? So, if you take a look in your next source, Toras Kohanim Bechukotai, "V'hishbati chaya ra'ah min ha'aretz." An argument. Of course, we're Jews, we argue. I would think it's simple. ELIMINATE THE ANIMALS. NO, Rabbi Yehudah imer Rabbi Yehudah says, "Ma'aviram min ha'olam." He will remove them from the world. Rabbi Shimon imer, "Mashbisan shelo yiziku." No, they won't be eliminated. They'll be here. They're just going to rest. They're going going relaxed. They're going to be calm. They're going to have Shabbos. Lo yaziku, they won't harm anybody. They won't damage anybody. They say the wolf is saving kids. Very good. So, when it says the wolf will live with the lamb, right? So, according to Rebbe Yehuda, it has to be a metaphor. So, it's a metaphor that there won't be anti-Semitism. Nations will get along. Lo yisa el cherev, v'lo yilmadu od milchama. That's one opinion. Rebbe Shimon says, "No, they'll be here. But, like we say in the prophecy, the wolf will lie with the lamb, and they will get along. They will coexist peacefully." Such an interesting argument. Again, do we have to argue about everything? It says, "V'hishbati." There's going to be Shabbos. Rebbe Yehuda says that means they're gone. They're eliminated. We're not going to see them anymore. Rebbe Shimon says, "No, they're going to be here. But, mashbi son shelo yaziku." They're going to be in a way that they're not going to be mazik. Can you see a pattern between the three arguments that we had between Rebbe Yehuda and Rebbe Shimon? One about the Roman government, one about Shabbos, schlepping a bench through the earth, doresh einu miskaven, and one about eliminating the wild animals when Mashiach comes, v'hishbati. Three people Two people arguing in three different areas. You could say it's just three different arguments. Every time I guess it's a different reason. Or there's maybe a pattern. So, if you notice, all three, they're really capturing the same idea. Because when I'm schlepping a bench, what's my intention? My intention is to bring the bench to your house so we can have a beautiful Shabbos meal together. What's my actions? My actions is I'm putting it through the ground. What's the result of the action? Maybe I will make a groove in the earth. Maybe not, but maybe yeah. So, Rebbe Yehuda says, "I know it's not your intention. It's doresh einu miskaven. But, in reality, that's what you're doing. You may It's not your objective, but you may make a groove and therefore you're not allowed to do it. If you're certain there won't be a groove, I'm not going to have a problem. Right? It's a question about, for example, taking out a splinter on Shabbos, if it's not dangerous. We're not talking if there's any medical danger. If it's not dangerous at all, then can I take it out on Shabbos? Now, to cause me to bleed on Shabbos, you're not allowed to. When I take out a splinter, I may start bleeding, I may not start bleeding, right? But it's not my intention. I'm not trying to harm myself and bleed. I'm trying to get rid of a splinter. What would Rebbe Yehuda say? Wait till after Shabbos. What would Rebbe Shimon say? No, dover she'in miskavein. I'm not trying to bleed. I'm trying I'm not trying to prick myself. I I've taken out my splinter without bleeding. It may bleed, it may not bleed. It's not your intention, you could do it. So, Rebbe Yehuda focuses on the external action. What does Rebbe Shimon focus on? Your intention. When it comes to the animals, Rebbe Yehuda says God says there won't be any animals. That means there won't be any animals. REBBE SHIMON SAYS, "NO, I DON'T care if there is animals. It's about their behavior. It's about what type of animals they are." Ve'ishbat'ti, according to Rebbe Yehuda, is the physical reality. There won't be any animals. Ve'ishbat'ti chaya lo, we have Shabbos from all the wild animals. Rebbe Shimon says, "We're not afraid of the body of the animal. It's the character traits that are going to be changed. That's what matters. The internal character must be so that they won't harm. We can have lions and we can have tigers and we can have cheetahs and we can have hyenas and we can have leopards and we can have all of the undomesticated wild beasts, but their internal disposition is going to be transformed." And that's good. So, here again, Rebbe Yehuda focuses on the outside, on the outer. Rebbe Shimon says, "Let's go deeper. I don't care if the a lion is here. What's bad What bothers me is the character trait of the lion." Now comes Rome. Rebbe Yehuda says, "Look what a beautiful Look what a beautiful city they built up. Kudos to the Romans. Reb Shimon says, "I don't care. Look what's behind it. What's behind it is these are rotten potatoes. These are self-centered people." Reb Shimon again doesn't focus on the hitsonius, ON THE OUTSIDE. What does he focus? Internally. So, YOU COULD SAY, "WHO'S RIGHT?" It's two perspectives, interesting perspectives. Reb Yehudah says what counts is there's beautiful bridges, there's beautiful bathhouses, there's beautiful marketplaces. Reb Shimon says, "Look a little deeper behind the surface and you'll see that the intentions here are really, really immoral and promiscuous and therefore I am completely, completely not impressed with the fact that on the outside it looks perfect because I think we should look at the pnimius, at the inside. If you go through the Talmud, you see there's many arguments between Reb Yehudah and Reb Shimon that focus on this disagreement in different ways and in different manifestations. But here we come to another fascinating thing that Reb Shimon ben Yochai once said. This is the third source from the bottom. Wow. Reb Shimon says, "I have the capacity lifter to exempt, to exonerate the entire world from judgement, from din. I have the ability, lifter is from the word patur, to exempt the entire world min hadin, from negative judgement." And he says, "Miyom shehnivresi ad ata, from the day that I was born until now." What is that supposed to mean? I can exempt the entire world from judgement from the day I was born until now. Sukkah 45. What does this mean? How can I do that? How can I exempt everybody in Medina from the day I was created till now? So, it's very hard to understand this. What does he mean? So, the Tsar Shalom of bells once said and it also says in other places and other I saw He said something very, very powerful. He says this follows the pattern of Shimon. How can he exempt everybody from judgment? Remember, he's the one who says that you can do something on Shabbos even if it's going to end up being something forbidden like making a groove as long as there was no intent. I should just add if you know for sure there's going to be a groove even if Shimon says you're not allowed to, that's called creation. But if you're not sure and you have no intent, it's fine. So, Shimon is teaching us something. Whenever the internal doesn't connect to the external according to Shimon, it's not the real deal. I may do something on the outside, but if my soul is not there, my consciousness is not there, my is not there, Shimon says I don't even attribute it to you. That's why he's looking at the Romans and he's like their soul is not there. They couldn't care less about you. They happen to be auto They happen to be technocrats. They're good builders. They have big appetites. They're a bunch of gluttons. A bunch of them for us is and they're good at it. THAT'S IT. NOTHING TO DO WITH THEM. That's his That's his point. SO, EVEN ON SHABBOS, THE EXTERNAL, IF IT'S NOT CONNECTED to the internal, it's not really your thing. There's a groove, but it's like the groove happened automatically. If there's a rain and there's a groove, it's my fault. It's not connected to me. Why? I wasn't interested in it. Reb I to know where's your passion, where's your heart, where's your soul? If so, comes Reb Shimon says, I can exempt the whole world from judgment. You know why? Because here comes the profound idea of Reb Shimon. And that is when somebody sins, when somebody does the wrong thing, how much of their soul is present in that? We all know the famous statement of Resh Lakish in Gemara Sotee says, "Aina d'ma over a very elum came nishnas by ruach stus." A person doesn't sin unless a temporary spirit of insanity went into them. What is that supposed to mean? Everybody went crazy? What he meant to say is that you always have to ask when somebody's doing something, in what state of mind are they? How present are they? Are they in touch with their own life force and energy? So Reb Shlakish said, "I'm telling you a rule, there was never a person who sinned if ain lo nishnas by ruach stus." That's funny. If the person didn't lose insanity, we call it in English temporary insanity. What does that mean? What it means is when a person is fully in touch with themselves, there is so much self-respect, there is self-awareness. Yeah. I know with myself for example, I have an issue with binging. It used to be much worse, but I still struggle with it from time to time. Okay? And I realized, right? There's a book somebody once told me to read, I forgot exactly the name, but it's something like, "If you're going to go to the refrigerator, at least pull over a chair and watch." Meaning, don't just do it spontane- SPONTANEOUSLY. WATCH WHAT you're doing. Now, it's not easy cuz the ruach stus doesn't want you to watch. It just wants to blind you and numb you. But if you have the courage to say, "Okay, eat whatever you want, but just watch it happen." Like just watch what's happening. That's a very very powerful moment. Because it's a moment of awareness. And then I noticed something very very powerful. And that is at such a moment I was not in touch and I certainly did not have respect for my own life force and energy. When you have real respect for your life force and energy, you say no to yourself not because you don't like yourself. On the contrary, you don't want to do something and engage in something that will dull your creativity, that will dull your life force. Why would I want to ingest something or digest something or do something or say something or engage in a pattern that's actually going to put my soul to sleep? The answer is, if I want to put my soul to sleep, it's because I'm in pain. There's something uncomfortable. And yeah, I want to go to sleep. Somebody once said, "What's the definition of consciousness?" It's the annoying time between naps. Right? So between one nap and another nap, I got to deal with consciousness. So now I do whatever I can to deal with consciousness. But when I'm in touch with my soul, why would I want to put it to sleep? Why would I want to eat something that for the next 2 hours or 3 hours or 6 hours the sugar's going to be stuck in my system? I won't be able to think straight. I won't be able to feel fully. I'll be in a much more compromised state of existence. So if I don't like my state of existence, yeah, I'm happy about that. Just dull it. Just numb it. I go in I just want I'm always tell I want to go to sleep. But if a person respects their life force and energy, so then something that really is going to obstruct it, are not going to allow me to live fully, live presently, it gets eliminated from my schedule. The same is true with relationships that are toxic, with conversations, with with anything I'm engaged in in thought, words, behaviors. You have to ask yourself, is this dulling my life force and energy or is this enhancing my life force and energy? In other words, in a moment when you felt like you were the the version of yourself, in a moment when you felt alive. We spoke last week about the open heart, the closed heart. In a moment when your heart was open. Is this something that I will embrace at the moment? And I know Reb says, "No, it's a ruach stus." I became disconnected from me. I don't know who I am. I'm disassociated from me. I'm just in a rut. I'm in a bad mood. I'm overwhelmed. I'm anxious. I'm exhausted. Whatever. I'm tired. It's just too much going on. So, I distract myself. That's what it means ruach stus is temporary insanity. So, if this is the case, Reb Shimon says, "Basically, every sin is a davar she'eino miskaven." How much kavana do people really have before they sin? How much kavana? If you really sat for a half an hour, you meditated, you breathed, you came back to yourself, you think you're going to do it? It's a davar SHE'EINO MISKAVEN. I'M DOING IT, BUT WHO'S doing it? My external hands are doing it. The part of me that's so distracted, the part of me that learned to dis to disassociate from myself is doing it. So, therefore, I can exempt the whole world from judgment. Reb Shimon says, "Ein lo ANAH AVEIRA." REB SHIMON IS NOT TRYING TO say people should do it, but he's trying to say it's so disconnected from the person. So, Reb Shimon doesn't attribute it to the person. He says, "Yachol ani lifter kol am kol am min hadin." Could it's a ruach stus. I think it was Huh? Yeah. Yeah, it's very hard to find. It's very hard to find. You never saw a Jew coming to shul and saying, "You know, I'm sponsoring the kiddush this Shabbos." You say, "Why?" He said, "That I do a sin this week." Wow. Monday night it was haldic. I sinned like I never did before. I'm sponsoring a kiddush. Right? Why not? He doesn't tell anybody he's guilty. He's already in therapy because of it. Somebody once said the definition of a Jew is that he feels guilty. And if not, he's in therapy for not feeling guilty. So, the bottom line is it's so difficult. Why is he not sponsoring? Even if If doing it, it's with a half heart. And he has a much spoon, and he has a conscience, and never he has to hide from this one and this one. There's no openness over there. And the reason there's no openness over there because there's a tortured element even in the sin. It's a rook storer, and the person knows it. Even if they're just quieting it down again and again and again, we create mechanisms to quiet it down, but it doesn't help. Ultimately, it sur- resurfaces. There was an alcoholic I once knew. So he used to say he used to say, uh, "People drink." He was talking about himself. "People drink because they want to drown their sorrow. They don't realize that sorrow floats." So it's a tumult zich, it's a drudl zich. I numb it this way, I numb it this way, I numb it this way, but it comes back to the surface. Comes Rebbe Akiva Eiger. Rebbe Akiva Eiger was one of the great, great sages in Poland in the 18th century, and he has a commentary on Gemara Gilyon HaShas. And on this Gemara, Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai says, "I could exempt everybody from judgment." He says, "Look in Avos d'Rabbi Nasan perek tes ayin. Look in Avos d'Rabbi Nasan chapter 16." Avos d'Rabbi Nasan is a commentary on Pirkei Avos by Rabbi Nasan HaBavli. Already by one of the early sages, it's called Avos d'Rabbi Nasan. It's an amazing commentary on Pirkei Avos. And there, he says something, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says something quite incredible. Take a look, the second to the last source. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai omer, Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says, "Mikan she'ein Yisrael ro'im pnei Gehennam l'olam." A direct quote from Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says, "From this you know that Yisrael, a Jew, will never see the face of Gehennam. Will never see the face of purgatory." So you're all looking at me, Rabbi, why why nobody told this to me in seventh grade? Why didn't you tell this to me, and life would have maybe been a little happier? Okay, never too late. Pesach Sheni is never too late. Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai says, "Any Israel will not enter Gehenna while alive." What does that mean? Really? Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai didn't believe in in in in reward and punishment. Gan Eden Gehenna is like one of the fundamentals of Judaism. Actions have consequences, positive and God forbid the other way. But that's what he says, "Any Israel will not enter Gehenna." No Jew is going to see the face of purgatory. And he continues, "Mashal l'mashal." L'melech basar to explain myself, Rebbe Shimon says. L'melech basar v'dam shehayu lo s'dei ziburis. There was a king, flesh and blood, and he had a barren field. S'dei ziburis means it was a field but it was infertile. It was incapable. It was a lo yutzlach field. Nothing was happening, no growth. Called s'dei ziburis, like a barren barren very very low quality field that could not produce. Bo vnei adam. V's'charuha b'aseres kurin chittin b'shanah. Some people came along and rented it for 10 They rented it. They went They rented They wanted a lease this field. B'aseres kurin chittin b'shanah, for 10 kurin of wheat a year. They thought, you know, it's like a piece of real estate that has to be guarded. You have to work so much. You can get it for a cheaper price. People do it all the way all the time. Some form of short sales. They thought, with 10 kurin chittin, which is a nice amount of wheat but not for such a field, they rented it and they'll be able, hopefully, to get the return and even more. And they worked hard. Zibluha. Zibluha means they fertilized it. Idruha. They plowed it. Ishkuha. They watered it watered watered it. Ksachuha. They weeded it. They took away all the weeds, like all the bacteria and the weeds they have to weed out a a field from. V'lo yachnisu min ela kur echad chittin b'shanah. They yielded only one core of wheat the whole year. They pay 10. They pay 10. They thought they'll get 11, 12, 13. They yielded only one. So, it's like I gave you It's like I gave you $10 and I was hoping I'll get $20. All I got back was $1. In other words, they really lost on the deal significantly. What happened? The king comes back to them and says, "Maza, what is this? What happened?" They say to him, "Our Adonenu HaMelech, our master the king, you know the field that you gave us? The king is like, "What What What What you one core of wheat? Such a big field? So, you give me 1 lb of wheat? I don't understand. I give you 1,000 acres and you give me a couple of a couple OF CHALLAHS? COME ON." They said, "King, you know the field you gave us. You know. Mit'chila lo ichnasta mimena klum. All the years you didn't grow nothing. NOTHING CAME OUT. NOT EVEN ONE CORE OF WHEAT. NOT 1 LB, NOTHING. VA'ACHSHAV, NOW, ZIBLANUA, we fertilized it. Kisachnua, we took out the weeds. Hishkinua mayim, we watered it. Lo ichnastnu mimena la'kor chitim echad bilvad. We did it and we have still not been able to yield more than one bundle of wheat the whole year. So, in other words, in other words, I just I just have to correct myself. When I said they rented it for 10 core of chitim a year, it meant the king gave them the field on the condition that they're going to give him 10 core of wheat. That's how they would pay. They would pay with part of the harvest. Lapoyo, they only had one core. So, there was a breach of contract. So, he said, "What do you do? You made up 10." They don't have 10. They only have one." So, they said, "You're right. We promised you 10, but when we took a look at the field, you have to realize that till we came along, you got nothing. AT LEAST NOW, you're getting one core. So, don't complain. Don't complain. It's not It's not what we promised. True. But when you look at the quality OF THE FIELD, ANY RETURN YOU GOT IS FAR ABOVE WHAT YOU EVER got before." Comes Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai and says, "Kacha sidim Yisrael The Jewish people are going to come and say to God, "Ribono shel Olam, master of the world, you know very well what type of field we were given. You know very well about the yetzer hara that tempts us, that entices us. She nemar, it says in Tehillim, we say it in davening, "KI HU YODA YITZREINU." He knows our inclination. HE KNOWS IT. THERE'S NOTHING THAT HE DOESN'T KNOW. SOMETIMES A person thinks, "I have such crazy things going on in me." You think God KNOWS ABOUT IT? YEAH, it's his. It's his yetzer hara. So, what's Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai saying here? What is he saying here? Fascinating example. The king comes and says, "What's with the field? You didn't produce." They say, "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. RELATIVE TO THE FIELD WE GOT, WHAT YOU GOT HERE was amazing. It was astounding. It was astonishing." And therefore, Rabbi Rabbi Shimon says, "I can exempt everybody from judgment." And Rabbi Akiva Eiger says, "What did he mean?" He meant this obviously Rabbi Nosson. BECAUSE EVERY PERSON SAYS, "ONE SECOND. When you look at the hardships of what a person is dealing with, THE ONE CORE IS A MIRACLE. IS IT PERFECT? IT'S NOT PERFECT, BUT THE ONE CORE IS AN INCREDIBLE MIRACLE. SO, YOU LOOK AT THEM, YOU SAY, "WOW, thank you for what you did." YOU'RE NOT PUNISHING them for not for not giving you the 10 korim. So, that's what Rabbi Rabbi says, I DON'T THINK ANY JEW IS GOING TO FACE PNEI GEHENNAM L'OLAM. NOW, this needs to be understood what Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai is teaching us cuz people could misconstrue this and not really appreciate what Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai is saying. Because I think it's so foundational when it comes to how we treat ourselves and how we come to treat others. Now, people are a little bit afraid of this language cuz they think that this gives a leeway for people to be frivolous, but it's really the other way around. This actually there's nothing that helps people grow spiritually, emotionally, physically, and psychologically than this perspective. And that is when people begin having compassion and empathy for the internal struggles and wounds that cause people to live the way they live, that's the beginning of un-power unbelievable growth. Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai is considered one of the greatest holy people in Jewish history. How is he the one who says "Eiga Gehennam, it's not serious."? What is this, some liberal pop psychology left-wing spineless rabbi who doesn't believe in anything? Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai is saying this. And the Gemara quotes it. I COULD EXEMPT EVERYBODY FROM JUDGMENT. WHAT IS he trying to do? Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai says there's two ways of dealing with people. One is you look at the chitzoniyus, one is you look at the pnimiyus. It's a very different path. You look at the chitzoniyus, it says "You made a GROOVE IN THE GROUND. I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU WERE THINKING." ACTIONS SPEAK LOUDER than words. Hamaisav Oiker. There's truth to that. Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai says I know that, but if you want to understand how to create transformation, you must go beneath the surface, always. If you don't go beneath the surface and you JUST SAY "THE FIELD DIDN'T PRODUCE THE GRAIN. I DON'T CARE WHY WELL, THAT THAT THAT THAT THAT YOU SAID SOMETHING YOU DIDN'T DO WITHOUT. SAYS THAT attitude is what keeps everybody in Gehenna. You need to change that. You have to understand. What is it that you have to understand? That people should just be off the hook? That people shouldn't be responsible? That people shouldn't be accountable? That nobody has a bias? That morality means nothing? That there's no divine dish? It actually means something much deeper. It means that you could trust the internal soul of a person. What it means to trust the internal soul is that if I could help a person go away from their externalities and uncover their true authentic nature, you will have the most powerful glorious life saturated with truth, with authenticity, with morality, with holiness. But the only way you can do that is help people get in touch with their own inner life force and energy. The only way I can do that is if I could distinguish between that which is external, that which is temporary insanity, that which is coming as a result of other yet say no. There are internal struggles that I'm dealing with that yes cause my field to produce very very little and then appreciate not only the results but the work that's involved in those results. Somebody literally just sent me an article yesterday. Just yesterday. And they said I think you should read this. So I was reading it and I was thinking like what am I supposed to do with this? But now as I'm talking I guess it's by divine providence. A principal wrote this in an article not long ago in Mishpacha magazine. A principal of a school. And it happened very long time ago. And she said that it was the first day of school and Rifka, she was a first grader, 6 years old, comes into the school and she says she just had this light about her. There was such a lichtikeit. And she says, "You know that girl." And she says, "I just felt so much love towards her and I felt, ah, it's going to be such a good year for her." And I was looking forward to get to know her and the first few days were really, really amazing. And then she says that the school became so big that year and I was a principal that the only kids I was seeing in the office were the kids with them out of the classroom and I couldn't really connect with her because she was in the classroom. In middle of the year, she got a new teacher, Mrs. Weiner, who was coming out of seminary, so she was young. And after a few days, she started to complain about Rifka. And the principal says, "I was surprised because her name is Perlowitz, Mrs. Perlowitz. I was surprised because I never Nobody complained about her and I thought, you know, she's an inexperienced teacher and it's a little hard for her and there's 25 or 30 girls in the class. So, you know, it's it's hard. So, I was just reassuring her it's not a big deal, kids act up." But then it was she was get it was getting worse and she's complaining and complaining and complaining and I and and I I go to check on her and it looks everything looks normal. And then the teacher comes in one day and says, "Something is strange. This girl sits at her desk and suddenly she'll just start crying, just start crying, like sobbing. But when somebody looks, she's not crying anymore. And she does this constantly. And then at other points, she'll just start giggling on top of her lungs. Something is off. And so she says, "I I I asked the social worker to look at her." She says, "Yeah, it doesn't look like she doesn't have ADHD. It doesn't look anything out of the ordinary." And then we decide, you know what, she's probably looking for negative attention. She wants negative attention. So, don't give it to her, just ignore her. She says, "This was my brilliance, just ignore her. Just don't give her negative attention." And then the teacher is complaining it's getting worse and worse and worse and it's impossible it's disrupting the class. She starts giggling loud and all the girls look at her and then she's quiet and she's So, she says, "I come in and I decided I have to call the mother and I call the mother and the mother says, 'No, there's nothing wrong in the house. Everything is perfect. I'm very surprised she's so well-behaved in the house.'" And it's continuing. So, she goes into the classroom and she says, "You know, we have a girl who really doesn't belong here because it's too hard for her and it's hard for everybody else. So, we're going to ask her to take a break from school. Rivka, please come with me." And uh Rivka stands up. She's holding back tears. And the principal says, "I thought I'll send her home for 2 days and everything will be fine." And she did that, but then Rivka tells her mother she's not going back to school. Then she offers her a huge prize and she comes back, but she says, "After that I saw she lost her spark. I saw that wasn't there anymore. But you know what? She was well-behaved in class and Mrs. Weinberg stopped complaining." You know where this is going. She says, "Fifth around 15 years passed, close to 15 years. She was in a supermarket and she sees a girl, an older girl already, and she says, 'Hi.' She recognizes her. This is Rivka. And she sees that she's not just bashful like a regular student when you meet your principal, you know, 10 15 years later. You're always a little shy. It was a little extra. So, she says, 'Hi, how are you? How have you been?' Fine. And then she looks at me. The principal says, Mrs. Perlmutter says, she's looking at me. She says, 'Can I speak to you for a few moments?' She says, 'Of course.' She says, 'I have to be private. Come into my car.' They go into the car in the parking lot. So, she looks at me and she says, 'You were the principal of the school. Why? Why?' She says, 'Why what?' 'Why? Why did you behave the way you behaved?" She says, "How did I behave?" And she reminds her of the story. And then the girl says to her, "Let me tell you what really happened. What really happened was right before the school began, a first cousin of mine, an older boy, was coming over to the house and he gave me crazy attention. And he would buy me nachas and he he groomed me. And uh at the end of the summer, he started to do things that were inappropriate to me. I was so excited that school is starting cuz I'm not going to be home. So, I came in so excited. This will be my gan eden, my refuge from this person. And then he came to me after school once and he said, "If you say a word, I'm going to murder you. If you say anything to your father or mother, I will kill you." And she says, "And the next chapter of my life was pure gehenna. Coercion constantly. Violating the most sacred parts of a little girl. And I couldn't tell my father or mother. He warned me. And I was so hoping that I'm going to make trouble in class so the principal and teacher will get to know me. And they'll see something is wrong and you'll dig and find out. And all you did was say, "I want negative attention." And send me home. And the torture did not cease. And I'm still trying to heal from insanity, from insanity. This is what the principal says the conversation with this girl. And she says, "I've been sobbing since. I can't sleep at night cuz it's all my fault. It's all my fault. I did this. I didn't do it, but I ignored the issue." And she said, "I At the end of the whole conversation, I asked her, I said, "Can I ask you forgiveness for this?" She thought she'll say, "I can't forgive you." She said, "I forgive you." I forgive the teacher. However, make sure this you're still in chinuch. Make sure this doesn't happen to other people. That's basically the thrust of a long article with more details. But you read this. So a person could dismiss it and say, "Yeah, this happens once in a while. It's a crazy crazy story." What Reb Shimon bar Yochai is teaching us is that this is the story of people's lives in billions of different ways. It's not always so dramatic and heinous and criminal criminal activity. That too. That too. Plenty of that. But what happens is whenever a person begins going away from the external to going into the eternal, everything changes. And when you can really appreciate that in yourself, you can actually grow much more. There was somebody once in one of the classes who said that you know, when you talk about these things, you give people a leeway to sin. Because they have no choice. It's always something happened something HAPPENED SOMETHING HAPPENED. NO, I DON'T CARE WHAT HAPPENED. BE A MAN. BE A WOMAN. TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR LIFE. Sounds very promising. People are afraid to go here because we're afraid of our emotions. And the reason I'm afraid we're afraid of our emotions is what's going to happen if they come out. And people are afraid of people's emotions come out. Yeah? My wife told me she was talking to somebody and told this to somebody yesterday. They said, "You know, if my emotions come out, maybe I'll get divorced and maybe I won't be religious anymore." So I told my wife, I said, "Esti, wow, look at this. We don't really believe sometimes in God. We think that if the real emotions come out, God is not on the other side. Your divine soul is not on the other side. It's like if people's emotions come out, they're going to become the most heinous criminals because now I'm scared, I'm repressed, I don't know what I'm feeling, I just do the right thing and that's it. If I start feeling, OH MY GOD, I'M GOING TO BECOME A MONSTER. COMES UP Ben Yehai says, you don't understand. You have to understand the pnimius. You have to know what's on the other side. You are as good as it gets. You are divine. You are sacred. You are holy. You're gorgeous physically, emotionally, spiritually. You don't get it. Let yourself be real and then you will touch your infinite light. I you say, look at this field, how lousy it is, how dysfunctional it is. Can you appreciate what people are dealing with? So they say, they're not dealing WITH ANYTHING. THEY'RE NOT DEALING WITH ANYTHING. RIGHT? That's what you said about this girl, she's not DEALING WITH ANYTHING. COME ON, IT'S THE BEST GENERATION EVER. WHAT? You were in the Holocaust, you were in a camp, you don't have what to eat. Bunch of spoiled teenagers. Their greatest crisis is that there was no sushi last night for dinner. And you don't give them permission to use the car and now they're upset at you for eternity. And it's very easy to put a generation in a box and say everybody is just a bunch of spoiled brats. Comes up Ben Yehai and says, wow. Why are you so afraid of your pnimius? Why? Why are we so afraid? On Sunday they have a Coach Menachem show from Lakewood. You know, Usher Parness and Coach Menachem Bernfeld. So they had this week Steven Terrell who's Transformative Touch Therapy, TTB, Transformative Touch Therapy. What is it called? TTB? I forgot the acronym. Uh Anybody knows TTB? Uh What's the acronym? Something with touch therapy. It's very interesting and he developed it, Steven Terrell. So uh So, Usher Parness asks him, he says, "So, so Steven Terrell is basically the idea that you have to just sit with people and create a space of regulation and safety without talking. Just real real radical acceptance." And he touches certain parts where there's stored a lot of resistance and fear of relationships, so people can open up. It's a very very interesting method. He's a very very humble human being. Brilliant man. My wife was a student of his and she learned the method. And and he's really a very very special person, not Jewish. I really just put it but a very moral, very sensitive. So, Usher Parness said, "What's this whole thing with safety and regulation? All our parents and grandparents, nobody spoke about this. Everybody just said, 'Do the right thing and do what God wants and I don't care what you're feeling and what you're not feeling and so forth.' And yeah, and you moved on and and wasn't everything much better?" Now, we just have this whole focus and everybody's so sensitive. And uh Steven looks at him and says, "Thank God that we're so much more sensitive. Thank God we can actually let people heal emotionally and be in a real relationship." A woman asks him, "Uh do you pray for your patients when you sit with them?" He looks at her, he says, "I'm praying for you right now. I'm praying for you right now as I'm talking to you." So, so Usher Parness says as as as So, he tells us to Usher, "Thank God people can heal." Uh so, Rebbetzin says she tells Rebbetzin, "I saw when you asked the question, you almost asked it with nostalgia. Like the old way of ignoring emotions seemed so much holier and better. Why do you have so much nostalgia to that?" It was a good question. Like it looks like you identify with that. Like you almost you want to be part of that and you like you're you're afraid He says, "Yeah, cuz I'm afraid." He says, "What are you afraid of?" "I'm afraid that once you go into the world of emotions, it's an endless cycle and super duper looper of chaos and more chaos and more chaos and more chaos. And uh he looks at him and says, "Yeah, wow, you're so afraid. You are so afraid. Like, look what's happening. I am afraid of my internal mechanism because there was a deep message that if I learn about it, what's going to happen? The boogeyman stir the the evil heinous criminal is going to come out. It's such a deep deep deep resistance to be able to really really appreciate the truth of Reb ben Yochai who says, "You could look at all that's going on, but I can exempt people from din and tell you Yisrael ein lo chelek l'olam not because I'm trying to encourage people to do the wrong thing, but I want to help people see the internal pain that brought them to where they are today, which is causing me my ruach shtus, and not allowing me to live with an open heart. And the fact is that people who are not scared of this and do this, life is transformed in incredible incredible ways. You know the story of Reb ben Bover Rebbe when he came to the East Side after the war, so he didn't have a minyan. So, he sent his son Reb Naftali Reb Naftali Halberstam who later succeeded him to go get a minyan of this Jew outside. So, he saw a Jew, and he asked him if he can come on Friday night to daven. Reb Halberstam the Bover was like 1946-47. And he says, "Oh, thank you." The guy says, "By the way, I was about fillah. I could I could be the chazzan also." So, he puts him the chazzan, and he davened beautifully. And since then he said, "Please come every Shabbos." And he became a fixed a feature there. One Shabbos he wasn't there. So, he tells his son Reb Naftali go out. It was the near Central Park. Maybe you could find him. Maybe there's a zitz Shabbos morning with bunch of Jews there. Maybe you can invite him. So he goes out with somebody else and he's sitting in Central Park Shabbos morning with a with a cigar smoking reading a newspaper. So he doesn't even talk to him. He goes back and he tells his father, "Unfortunately our cousin a great cousin is smoking on Shabbos before I have seen the park." So he says his father the Bubba of Rebbe says of he says "He ain't nothing. He's not smoking." He says "Father you're a nice man and it's nice to be beloved Kush but I saw he ain't nothing." He said "Okay, his father is in Lala Land. You know, you want to be the sweet little Rebbe fine, but I'm just telling you the fact he's smoking on Shabbos in the park." He says "Tata, you think I'm lying? Well, I'm making up a story. You think I wanted to?" He said "I ain't nothing. He ain't nothing. The Nazi ain't nothing." "He's not smoking. The Nazi is smoking. The Nazi is smoking. Go call him. Tell him that the Bubba of Rebbe is waiting for him. We need him as a cousin." He says "Father, you're going to make him a cousin in shul? A guy who just finished smoking?" He said "I TOLD YOU THE NAZI IS SMOKING. HE'S NOT SMOKING. HE NEVER SMOKED. HE'S NEVER GOING TO SMOKE. TELL HIM I'M waiting for him." And he brings him in. And he's doubting there. It's a crazy story around 40 around the Bubba of Rebbe passed away 2000 of I think summer 2000. 2001 summer summer Huh? Okay. I'll put the vice dots. Most of the cousins from Ottawa with the closing bigger they have also similar story. Yeah, most of the cousins from Ottawa. Anyway, that decades decades passed. Decades passed and he tells his son after he was already an older man I want to go on a shower brooches. So he says you haven't been going to shower brooches and he was older weaker. He says "This one I have to go." They come to a Shiva brochos and says is that mazel there? Yeah, with a streimel, with a bekeshe, with the children and grandchildren. And the Baba Rebbe comes and he greets him shalom aleichem, puts him at the head table. When they go home, he tells Reb Naftali, "You see this man? You know him?" He says, "I don't know him." He says, "He was our chazzan in the old days, 1946-47." He says, "Huh?" He says, "Yeah." He looks at him he says, "You see I was right? The Nazi was smoking not him. You see? You see? If I would have listened to you, we wouldn't be here today." This is so powerful in life because it's not only it's true about Holocaust survivors, of course it's true about Holocaust survivors, but it's really true about every single person. Every single person and it begins with yourself. When I look at different drives and motivations and things I engage in, and sometimes they're inappropriate and sometimes I lose myself. I always have to ask myself question. Wow, what just happened inside of me? What am I scared of? Why am I disassociating? Sometimes we get into these bad moods and we feel like we have to disconnect from people. There's a reason for it. I could say I'm such a selfish person. You could say that and you're done. You could say something else. I'm not a selfish person. I'm actually a divine flow of a chelek Eloka mimaal. I'm not a selfish person. But something just happened. I got scared. I got uptight. I felt like I have to numb myself. I feel I can't be in this religion because you're not safe. There's a reason I feel unsafe. So I could JUST SAY, "HEY, COME ON. COME ON. BE A MAN. BE AN ADULT. STOP GROW UP." BUT YOU KNOW WHAT HAPPENS? I COULD TELL MYSELF to grow up, but the part of me that's frightened doesn't grow up with that. So when I just say, "GROW UP. GROW UP. GROW UP." IT'S LIKE CALLING A 2-YEAR-OLD, SCREAMING AT YOU TO "GROW UP, YOU BABY." AND YOU know what happens? 50 years old, he's still a baby. When you don't know how to be a baby when when 2, you don't know how to be an adult when you're 50. Forgive me. Some of us, there's a part that's still two years old, yeah. And if I scream at it, "Grow up!" he's going to do anything but grow up. Stephen Terrell says, "Nobody ever changed by somebody telling them how wrong they are." By somebody guilting them and shaming them and telling them, "I never saw anybody change like that." People change by creating regulated safety around them and inside of them, so they should actually be able to feel what is happening and then slowly, slowly appreciate it, embrace it, acknowledge it, like Rebbe Shimon bar Yochai does, and then say, "You can release it." Or at least, even if you can't release it, you can identify it and then make choices not from my ruach stus, but from my deeper and more authentic place. There was a therapist here in Monsey who told me that he was dealing with a younger man, a really good guy. And unfortunately, you'll forgive me, unfortunately, he had a nice family, a beautiful wife and beautiful children, and a good guy. Prominent person, really good guy, but he had a crazy addiction to go to clubs and do very, very inappropriate things, which betrayed his marriage. And he really hated it. He hated himself for it. He pushed it, hated himself. And he went to rabbonim and he went to good people and everybody people said, "Learn this and learn that and daven this and this." Whatever people give different aces, which are all good things. And you could do chuvah and do chuvah, nothing helped. Years, years, years, nothing helped. And uh and he he was pushed, he didn't want to, but then he was overtaken by this crazy temptation and he just lost it. And he did what he did and then he would regret it. And he was basically living a double life, mamish a double life, and it was torture for him cuz he was also he was like a good guy, like there was an innocence in him that he was himself destroying. And he realized it's destroying his marriage, it's affecting the kids cuz kids feel right away when a marriage is dysfunctional. They feel they just feel it in the ear, you know, they they also start acting out. They manifest the broken parts of their parents. It's I mean that's a truth, you know, even if we don't like to hear it. And uh so this therapist told me he started to deal with them on a much deeper deeper level. And he thank God there's different healing modalities that God gave our generation for people to be able to find deeper things inside of them. And sadly this person found out that as a child somebody very close in the family his own father did very very very inappropriate things to him. And what happens is the pain is so deep that our system relegates it to the subconscious and we don't have a memory of it. People don't always remember things that happened cuz it's too painful. So part of the survival mechanism is it never happened. It never happened because to say it happened means you don't have a father. Means you don't have a mother who protected you from your father. And connection is so important I would rather tell myself I'm crazy, I'm a weirdo for for not feeling comfortable with my father, my father is a tzaddik and a talmid chacham rather than seeing the truth. That's what our system does. It's a it's a a pure survival mechanism. Pure survival mechanism. And when he found that out it literally changed his entire life. Huh? Ah, very good. So it shattered everything. And from that shattering he began healing, a tremendous healing process. And I want to show you what happened. If he would have not known this, who was he blaming the whole time? Himself. I'm so sick. I'm such a sick I have a beautiful wife, I have a gorgeous wonderful taka nachas chayal. He's he's a great guy, she's a great person. Look how sick I am. Look how evil I am. What happens when he thinks that he's evil? He's more more more embarrassed with himself. He has to run away more from the shame. This kid at 4 years old developed a sense of himself that he's the most shameful embarrassing human being in the world. He doesn't even deserve for his father to treat him with dignity and never mind if he had a little bit of enjoyment because the body is interesting. So now he even blames himself and he couldn't even have a memory cuz his father had to remain a good guy. So think what that did to his self-image and he doesn't even know it. And he's running away from this shame and his wife probably wants a real relationship and she's triggering those parts. He has to run away from her and go to a club cuz in a club you don't need any real relationship. You know what happened when he found about I found it about this? He found out one thing. There is a self pre the abuse and that self is actually the most beautiful beautiful self in the world who wants to be the closest to his wife and wants his wife to be the closest to him and the relationship is most important thing to him and he's a beautiful wonderful good guy. He has a dibbuk a monster that was implanted to him at 4 years old for years and he never found out about it. HIS WHOLE LIFE WENT CUCKOO AND HE BLAMED HIMSELF. FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS LIFE HE COULD SAY I'M STRUGGLING WITH something crazy, but it's actually not me. There is a me pre this. There is an I there's a pre-me-us. That's a chelek ELOKEI MIMAAL. WOW. The moment you know this checkmate FOR THE KLIPAH. NOW I could choose. Am I going to live in my shell and my husk or am I going to live with my pure self? I'm not saying it's right away easy because if this is my pattern for 40 50 60 years my neural pathways are going to go here, but there's a beginning of awareness. So now you COULD SAY YOU'RE GOING TO GEHENNA NEXT TIME. Rebbe Nachman of Breslov says we have a much more powerful approach. When he says a Jew doesn't go to gehenna, you know what he wants to do? He doesn't want to get rid of the Gehenna. He wants to get rid of the reason you would ever send anybody to Gehenna. That's much more powerful. Saying there's no Gehenna is something much deeper. I want to help people understand that their struggles with their evil and their negativity and their numbing and their anger and their anxiety and their disassociation and their disconnection and even their immorality, all that actually has nothing to do with their true self. Nothing to do with their true self. I could show it to them. Look at the field that you're dealing with. This field is an abused field. This field is barren. This field is infertile. This field has been crushed. THIS FIELD IS NOT READY TO GROW. YOU WITH BOTH HANDS TIED BEHIND YOUR BACK WITH AN AMPUTATED HEART, THE SHELL OF A PERSON, AND YOU'RE STILL managing to produce one cord of WHEAT A YEAR? WOW. WOW. THE FLAME ABOVE HIM SAYS THIS Jew was all his whole family was sent into the gas chambers. And he walks into shul and he wants to daven and hear his VOICE AND SAY WOW. THIS IS CRAZY STUFF. IF YOU LOOK AT SOME OF THE HOSTAGES, that was one of the hostages that went out recently and he said that in the as a hostage, he started to make brochos on food. In captivity, the little food that Hamas gave him, he made A BROCHA. HE GREW UP WITHOUT BLESSINGS. So they asked him, "How did you know what blessing to make?" So he said they sometimes would show them TV. They would put on Israeli TV. And there was some food show in Tel Aviv. And it was interesting. That Jew didn't know it was there was a Jew on the food show. And he was a Jew who made brochos. So he took a piece of food. It was a cookie or whatever it was AND HE MADE MEZOINOS. SO I HEARD A BLESSING. SO, FROM THEN, EVERY morsel of food, even when THEY GAVE ME WATER, he didn't know. He took the water and said, "Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam, borei minei m'zonos." And he drank THE WATER. A VEGETABLE, BOREI MINEI M'ZONOS. A fruit, borei minei m'zonos. Everything was borei minei m'zonos. The Rebbe of Berditchev would have a field day with this story. His borei minei m'zonos. So, he's in a tunnel by Hamas. Every reason in the world to strip himself FROM THE LAST VESTIGE OF FAITH, HE DECIDES HE HAS TO MAKE a brachah on everything. Borei minei m'zonos. So, Rav Zalman Auerbach says, "Whenever you go to the pnimiyus, if you help people liberate themselves from the rage, from the pain, from the agony, from the torture, you'll see. You know why they won't go to Gan Eden? Because all the things that need, that require cleansing, they're ready to shed. This is all like a dibbuk. I'M READY TO SHED IT. NOW, maybe very deep. So, I have to go deeper. I have to go deeper. RAV ZALMAN AUERBACH SAYS, "With me, LIFTER IS KOL HA'OLAM KULANU ADIN." I came back from Eretz Yisrael a little while ago. So, in the airport, I needed a lift back to Monsey. So, I saw Rabbi Ephraim Waxman, shlita, also in the airport. So, I asked him if somebody's coming to Monsey. He says, "Yeah, one of the bochurim from the yeshiva, one of the guys, one of the guys working here, picking one of the guys in the yeshiva is going to pick him up." So, I got a lift, yeah. So, on the way, we were talking about education, how he deals with bochurim, the different struggles, and this. So, he said, "I tell my boys a maiseh, that there was uh there was a a couple in a zoo. They ran a zoo. And the problem is, they couldn't get a leopard from Africa anymore. There were no leopards available. $200,000. But, they needed a leopard. It was an attraction. And you need a male and female. So, they hired a couple, a man and a woman, who needed parnassah. And they said, "Early in the morning you got to get dressed up as a leopard and crawl around all day and growl and look at each other and get upset and don't get upset and then come against the dog. But your leopards, remember, late at night when everybody leaves you can go back to be human, but this is a job. Anyway, so it's a kaval the attraction cuz these leopards are really you know, they're interesting leopards and they really had it out with I mean they really you know, didn't get along that well so it worked well. And uh And at some point they got bored one day. They got bored one day. They decided they're going to have a conversation. So she's like the female leopard like Yunkel, what's to say? Yunkel, how you doing? And little did they know that there was a visitor in the zoo that was at the side of the gate looking. And he heard what's to say? Now they were there already a year, a year as leopards. So this person was smart. He realized this is all a sham. It's a sham. He runs to the OWNER AND SAYS, "YOU'RE A GANIF. YOU'RE A THIEF. I WANT MY MONEY BACK. I'M GOING TO EXPOSE YOU TO THE WHOLE WORLD." HE SAYS, "Why am I a thief?" He says, "THEY'RE NOT LEOPARDS. THESE ARE HUMANS." He says, "Prove it." HE SAID, "I HEARD HER SAY WHAT'S TO SAY? YUNKEL, WHAT'S TO SAY?" HE SAYS, "GIVE ME A BREAK. FOR A YEAR THEY DIDN'T SAY A WORD. ONCE SHE SAID A COUPLE OF WORDS IT MAKES HER A HUMAN BEING? COME ON. OH, YEAH. SHE WAS QUIET AS A LEOPARD. ROAR, GROWL. ONCE SHE SAYS A COUPLE OF WORDS, THAT'S MORE POWERFUL? GET OUT OF HERE. We all laugh. Why? Isn't that true? Logically it's true. But be honest, it's not, right? Rabbi Waxman is right. The one word that she says proves that a whole year was a game. It's not the other way around. So he says, "Bochurim, they look at their lowest moment and that's how THEY JUDGE THEMSELVES. NO! LOOK AT YOUR HIGHEST MOMENT. LOOK AT THE MOMENT WHEN you were the BEST VERSION OF YOURSELF. THAT'S HOW YOU LOOK AT YOURSELF. YOU SAY, "YEAH, BUT A WHOLE YEAR I WAS A LOSER." OKAY. BUT HOW DOES A LEOPARD COME TO SAY "I DID THIS"? HOW? IF YOU'RE ESSENTIALLY A LEOPARD, YOU NEVER SAY "I DID THIS". YOU JUST GO THAT MEANS YOU'RE A HUMAN BEING. JUST A WHOLE year you were camouflaged as a leopard. That's how you have to look at yourself. We do the other way around. I must be an animal, a wild, undomesticated beast. That's not the way to look. That's what Shimon teaches. So now let's finish here with the last source where Shimon brings it all together. There's a entire code of Ben Sorer Umorer. Somebody who steals meat and wine and he's a glutton, and the Torah says you bring him to court and he's a rebellious and you stone him. So the Torah says we stone a kid for drinking for Doesn't make sense. So it says no, the Torah is predicting what his future is going to be. He's going to end up being a thief and a murderer, so just kill him now before he kills the whole town. He's going to end up being a arch terrorist. THAT'S WHAT THE TORAH SAYS. So take a look at your last source, SOURCE ON 101. OMER SHIMON THE MISHNAH SAYS THAT the Torah says that the Torah says that the Torah says that the Torah says that the Torah Guy who eats meat and drinks like a glutton wine from Italy, and that's why you kill him? Whoever heard of that? The Torah says THAT THE TORAH SAYS THAT THE TORAH SAYS that the Torah Shimon says it never happened, IT NEVER WILL HAPPEN. The whole Ben Sorer Umorer is an exercise in understanding what brings people to certain behavior. This never a STORY THAT EVER HAPPENED, IT'S NEVER A STORY that's going to happen. How does Reb know IT'S NEVER GOING TO HAPPEN? BUT THIS IS THE SAME REB SHIMON BAR YOCHAI. When you say, "Yom mazke v'yom m'chayev, KILL HIM NOW BECAUSE HE'S GOING TO END UP BEING who knows what, and there's no hope for him." So you say for sure, it's like YOU SEE A MONSTER as a baby, there's no Reb Shimon says there's no such a thing. No such a thing no hope. The moment you know the pnimius and you realize every aveira IS DAVAR SHE'EINO M'SKAVEN, OF COURSE THERE'S HOPE. SO NOW, when it comes to Lag B'Omer, which is the hilula of Reb Shimon bar Yochai, this was the gift he gave to the Jewish people. It's not just a great man. This gift, which is expressed as the essence of pnimius ha'Torah, pnimius ha'Torah is the pnimius of Torah, which is the pnimius of the neshama. So Reb Shimon was the one who revealed that every sin is really a davar she'eino m'skaven. You always have to ask, "What's the field I was given in life? Look at all of the properties of the field. See what it produced. UNDERSTAND THE DEPTH of what's going on. And then you'll see that when you look at that level, you can cleanse everybody from thinking that they're in gehenna, they belong in gehenna, they deserve gehenna, because you actually let them let go of layers and layers and layers, and their true eternal flame shines forever. That's the torch which is a fire of Lag B'Omer. He kindled and revealed that fire in every soul. Have a wonderful day and a happy Lag B'Omer. Yeah, basically basically Reb Shimon, when he was looking at Yosef, he looked at the outside, not at the pnimius. He didn't understand that Yosef has a whole different internal mission. It wasn't negative, on the contrary, Yosef had a mission that none of the brothers had. So, Shimon was fighting him. So, the tikkun of that was to go to the pnimius and see the truth of Yoself. And that's why he went to the pit, I forgot. He went to the Mayan in the cave 12 years, that transformation. In the cave it was there before but but in the cave much more. And it says that in the cave, the Tanya says that in the cave he developed most secrets of pnimius haTorah that went through like a rebirth. It's almost he goes back into a womb of the earth where we come from the earth afar ata. And he's in the earth literally for 12 years and he comes out rebirth. It's a whole new person. Yeah, and the word Shimon is the word shmia. Shma Yisrael. Seeing is the physical. I can't see spiritual. Hearing, shomea, shma Yisrael is detecting things that are not so tangible and concrete, sound waves. For thousands of years we didn't have a way of concretizing them. Shomea also means to understand. I hear you, they're hearing, daber ki shomea avdecha. So, shmia is tuning in to what's happening on the inside, not just on the outside. Shomea. You got it? Yeah, yeah. Thank you. I I I forgot to bring it together, huh? That's that Baal Shem Tov, the pnimius haTorah. Rebbe Yisrael Baal Shem Tov is Rebbe Yisrael Baal Shem is Rabbi Yisrael also, yeah. Yeah, yeah. The Degel says that, the Degel, no? The Baal Shem Tov was the same inyan, no? Yeah. Shma, shma is Shimon, shmia. Yisrael Yisrael is Baal Shem, very good. Yashar koach. Shalom aleichem.