Let Us Not Be Robbed

There used to be a massive tzaddik and talmid chacham that lived in Yerushalayim and his name was Reb Ori Zohar. And Reb Ori Zohar was a was very very very famous because he was a baal teshuvah who prior to joining the olam haTorah was the foremost comedian, actor, talk show host. He had a lot a lot of different jobs. And and he turned his entire life around and entered the world of Torah. And by the end of his life, he lived in a tiny tiny apartment. His bed was the chair that he sat on to learn Torah. He literally laid down on like a bench. He would sit up and learn and all his sefarim around him. He went from being an actor that had wealth and prestige and was famous to being a rav that sat in one room. You can find interviews with him sitting in that room if you look if you look hard enough. And he said that it was the happiest moments of his life were those moments of just sitting and learning. And this was someone that tasted everything that's out there. And he wrote a book and there's different there's different titles to the book. Over time, the book had different titles, but it's the same book. But the book that the title that one of the phases of the of titles of that book were that the title was "My Friends, We Were Robbed." And what he meant was that the society, the Israeli society, was depriving its citizens of a knowledge of Hashem and of the ability to do mitzvahs and to learn Torah. And when he discovered the incredible treasures, the treasure houses of wealth that were available to him, he felt like his entire beginning of his life he had been robbed. That he nobody informed him of the how that right under him was all this wealth that he was right here in hands reach and arms reach. And um that's the name of the book, my friends, we were robbed. And I'm afraid that there's another robbery taking place. And that's what I want to talk to you about tonight. You know, in Parshas Bechukosai when it talks about if we listen to the gezeiros of Hashem in Bechukosai telechu and we go in the path of serving Hakadosh Baruchu so the pesukim describe, this is before the tochacha, the pesukim describe the incredible bracha that we receive. If we serve Hashem properly, it's just almost endless, ad bli dayad, endless the the bracha that comes down to us from shamayim. But perhaps one of the most powerful in inyanim, and we mentioned this a few weeks ago in passing is that it says u'panisi aleichem I will turn to you. Rashi says that I'll be I'll turn away from the whole rest of the world and I will just focus on giving you leshalem s'charchem. Ponina anemi kol asukai leshalem s'charchem. I will turn away from everything else I'm involved in, Hakadosh Baruchu says, to give you s'char. And you have to ask yourself, what are we doing that causes Hakadosh Baruchu to say such a lashon? The Melech Malchei Hamlachim says I'm going to turn away from everything else that I'm doing. Meaning, of course, it doesn't mean that the world will will disappear. It means that nothing else that I'm doing is the ikar besides for you. Everything else is just a tafel, it's just a sideshow to me giving you s'char for ser- for for for for serving me properly. What do we do? What's the nakuda that we could do that causes upon the sea life and so Rashi tells us and I take a who should tell you I'm a man about Rashi tells us that it's a man list. It's toil and terror. What's the parallel here? If we toil and terror that what that triggers this kind of turning away from everything and focusing on us, what's the media can I get media here? What is this what is this parallel that if I toil and terror I'm to that in return. Why doesn't Rashi just say in I take a who that you're learning terror? Why does Rashi describe it specifically like the exertion of terror? The the toil. There's a man in a new the exertion of terror. Why is that it sounds like that's part of what triggers that fire? The truth is that it's important to contemplate the role that terror plays in the before we talk about our own learning but just the role that terror plays in the air. We know that I could just borrow who created the world by a star of my mom always never in the mission that says in our voice. I could just borrow who created the world with 10 expressions. So starting from there are 10 things that I could just borrow who said and included in those 10 things is the entire creation of the world. And that's because there are 10 foundations, 10 ingredients, 10 meters, 10 aspects to the entire air. But we know also that tell us that I could just borrow who says everyone quotes Isaiah but But is if you look at measures rather you'll find that it's the second Medrash Rabbah in the Torah. That it says in the second Medrash Rabbah in the Torah that Hakadosh Baruchu says, "Do you know how I created the world? I took the Torah and I used it like the tool of a craftsman. Like the paintbrush of a painter. Like the hammer of a builder. Like the sculpting tools of a sculptor. The the craft of an the the the the kalem of an uman, the Medrash says. I used the Torah and I created the world. And that's why there's no coincidence that the Torah also boils down to 10 foundations, which we know of as the Aseres Hadibros. And the Aseres Hadibros are the inner foundations, the koach that ultimately created this external world called the Asarah Maamaros. And it's not just that it happened then. Because the world, you know, was not just created once. You know that we say by davening, "Hamichadesh betuvo bechol yom tamid maaseh bereishis." That each and every day, each and every new day, Hakadosh Baruchu creates the world again and again. Because if Hakadosh Baruchu would be meisiach daas, would look away from the world for one moment, the world would vanish. Hak- The world only exists birtzono Yisbarach, because Hashem wants it to exist. Which means that right now, it exists not because it existed when I started speaking a minute ago. It exists now because Hashem wants it to exist now. Hashem continuously creates the world. Which means that Hashem continuously uses the Torah to create the world. The Torah is the ratzon Hashem, and the world is the place for that ratzon Hashem to be fulfilled. That's why in our lives there's such a tremendous maila of lil maida menas lasas. That the Mishnah says lil maida menas lasas, if someone learns and he has in mind when he learns that he's going to act upon what he does, maspikam liyod biyodai lil maida lalamed lishmor velasas. The reason is because when you learn and you decide whether you're learning a vart on Chumash or a halacha Mishnah Berurah or a sugiyah in Yevamos, but whatever comes out, that's how I'm going to live. That's what I'm going to do. Do you know what that means? That means that you're using the Torah to build your world. That means that just like the world the at large was created with the Torah, my world is created with the Torah cuz my decision of what I'm going to do tomorrow is based on the Torah. I will never ever forget this. I was about 9 years old. It was a freezing cold Friday night. I lived in Brooklyn and I went out with my father Friday night after the meal. We had two stops to make. We had to go to a shalom zachar as many of us do on Friday nights, but we also had to visit an avel. Now, usually you don't do nichum aveilim on Shabbos, but my father's cousin was sitting shiva and there was no time during the week to get to him. And there is if you look at Shulchan Aruch a way to be menachem an avel on Shabbos that you see sha just like by a chayla you say Shabbos himeli nacham venachama kriva lavo. And my father wanted to go say Shabbos himeli nacham venachama kriva lavo. And I'll never forget I have this vision in my mind of the way I used to walk with my father on on cold nights where I used to I don't know if ever you any of you ever had the pleasure, but my father had a big coat a big long coat and he would take my hand and he would put my hand and his hand into his pocket to to me warm. And I would walk with my hand in his pocket and he would talk to me. And he said to me, "Where should we go first? To the Shalom Zachor or to the base avel?" I'm like, I don't know. I think the Shalom Zachor, obviously, you know. I don't [clears throat] think they're serving food at the base avel, you know. My father said, "Yeah, but the possuk says, 'Tov laleches l'veis avel milaleches l'veis mishteh.'" The possuk says it's better to go to the house of an avel than to go to a party. So the Torah tells us that we should go to the base avel first. What a lesson. But the nine-year-old me didn't chap what I was hearing. What I was hearing was your life is based on the Torah. Histakel b'Oraisa u'vara alma. Lilmod al menas laasos, we live as a reflection of what we've learned. That's the the the role of the Torah in the world and the role of the Torah in our lives. But if you look in the Maharal in the sefer Gur Aryeh, which the Maharal breaks down the possuk shat of the Rashis in Chumash, right? The The The I I think I think all of this or most of this is in the Maharal what I'm about to say, that he says the word It says in B'chukosai telechu, if you walk in my chukim, travel takes exertion. I I drive here from Waterbury and I still think it takes exertion. But walking for sure takes exertion. Travel takes exertion. But it's not only that. What's a choik? A choik is a mitzvah that we don't understand, right? So what the Torah says in B'chukosai telechu, the Torah is saying that you start every sugiyah with a blank slate. You have no idea what's going on. That's the way we learn. We start off, it's a blank slate, and we apply ourselves. That's shati'u ameilim baTorah, that we toil in Torah. Look at the parallel. The Torah fills the entire world. It informs the world. It creates the world constantly. And toiling is different than learning. When you're learning, you could have your feet up and you could be flipping the pages of a book or you could be flipping the the screens on your phone. You could be learning. But toiling is when every part of you is involved. Do you agree with that? To toil is that every part of me is involved. That the Torah is filling the whole me just like the Torah fills the whole world. And that's the parallel. And says if you toil in learning, I will turn away from everything and focus on you because that is the of the that's what that whole was for. You're filling your world with Torah like I filled the world with Torah. So that's the says nothing is more important than someone who engages in that that fills the entire world and constantly nourishes and recreates the world. So a person who does that I turn away from everything else to to pay your money. I'm going to go out on a limb here and be a little bit honest with you. Even as it is now is mine as there between the fact that so many people come home from Israel still struggling how to put the words of a together. Still struggling how to understand the not having mastered the skills. And not unrelated to that is the fact that so many people come back here not enjoying learning. And those two things are connected obviously because the more skillful you are at something, the more you enjoy it. Something is being taken away from us. And the thing that I'm very, very afraid of is that it's going to get worse before it gets better. We're heading into an AI generation. It's just shocking. Like, I'm I'm like I I like to think about these things, and I like to think about in my mind how things are unfolding. We're heading into a generation that sitting down and working something through step by step myself is becoming a foreign concept. Do you realize that? Everyone's so busy with all the dangerous things of AI. I'm telling you that this is the most dangerous thing. We're living in a world where I had a conversation with the dean today where I was saying why should we consider it why should we continue to teach math in this institution? What does a person need math for? We have AI. And his response was, "We're rethinking all of our courses." Thinking towards the future. Because it's true. Because we have now the ability to have something that mimics humanity that thinks for us. And that's a dangerous thing in general, and certainly AI is going to cause us I I know everyone's tumbling in the in the world about the dangers of AI. Think about what I'm saying, and think about if this is not the real danger. AI is going to cause us to question our humanity. When there's something out there that knows how to act exactly human, it's going to cause us to question, "What's the difference between me and a computer? Where's the nefresh? Where's the chias? Where's the life? Where's the creativity that's me?" No, that's a that's a challenge that we're headed into. And if you think that I am exaggerating, you're making a big mistake. You're You're to see in a very short time that not only am I not exaggerating, but I'm dramatically understating the sakana that we're heading towards. Rabbi say, there's such a thing as sitting down to a Gamara and having no idea what the Gamara is talking about and having to struggle paper and pen Artscroll Gamara, asking someone for p'shat until we piece together the shakla v'tarya. Trying to learn the Rashi. Trying to understand what it's saying. Going it over again and then forgetting it. So going over again and then forgetting it. Let's remember for a minute, if you don't mind, if you'll indulge me. Let's remember for a minute and I advise everyone here to learn this before Shavuos. Let's chazer again the first two prakim of Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer. Where Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurkanus, I'll say very the kitzer because we don't have so much time, but Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurkanus was a bachur. He was a young man. A little older than you. And he knew nothing. He did not even know how to say Krias Shema from a siddur. He knew nothing. Okay? [snorts] His father was a very, very wealthy man. Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer. He wrote the Pirkei D'Rabbi Eliezer. So he's he's writing his own biography. His father was a very wealthy man. And Rabbi Eliezer at some point in time sat down and started crying. Yashav v'lo yava v'yacha. He sat and he started crying. And his father said, "Why are you crying? Maybe you want to Maybe I you don't like where I put you to work." And his father switched him and he cried. So his father switched him again and he cried. And do you know why he didn't tell his father why he was crying? Pasha to me. He didn't tell his father why he was crying because he didn't know why he was crying. Cuz there was a sadness inside of him and he didn't know where it was coming from. Have you ever felt that? Like just like not being I don't know where it's coming from, but finally it clarified itself to him. And he said to his father, "You know why I'm crying? I want to learn Torah." And he writes a little my Torah because I want to learn Torah. And his father rejected him. And his father said, "You want to learn Torah? You're a 27-year-old man. Get married and have children and send them to Yeshiva, but it's too late for you, my friend." And Reb Eliezer wouldn't listen. And he ran away from home. A lot of different variations and and details that I'm going skipping over, but he became a Talmud of Reb Yochanan ben Zakkai. And if you think that you struggle with learning, just know this. Reb Eliezer ben Hyrcanus was learning two halachas a day from Reb Yochanan ben Zakkai, and every time he learned a halacha, he forgot it. Every day he forgot yesterday's Gemara. You know what that feels like? I think I I I certainly do. Every day he forgot the Gemara again. He forgot the halacha again, and it was brutal. And he had to apply himself shati'u ameilim baTorah to work hard. And he toiled, and he toiled, and he toiled. And the next thing we know in the story, it's years later, and he's not Eliezer anymore. He's Reb Eliezer. And Reb Yochanan ben Zakkai decides to make a tremendous seudah. And back in the home of Reb Eliezer ben Hyrcanus' father, the brothers, Eliezer's brothers, are livid at him because he abandoned the family estate, and he's not helping run the family business. And they convince their father to go down to Yerushalayim and to tell Eliezer that he's not he's written out of the will. And he's not going to get a yerusha. And Hyrcanus, the father of Eliezer, travels to tell tell Eliezer that you're written out of the will. And he shows up, and it happened to be day Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai was making a tremendous sukkah in Yerushalayim. And all of the great philanthropists of the generation were there. And Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai is sitting there and this tremendous rav is sitting next to him. And Hurkenus doesn't recognize him. It's years later. And Rabbi Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai turns to our Eliezer who couldn't remember from one day to the next. And he says to him, "Eliezer, open your mouth and say divrei Torah." And he said, "Rebbi, how can I say divrei Torah more than what you taught me? I'm just like a pit. Whatever you put in it, you can take out of it. I only have anything I only have what you taught me." And he said, "No, Eliezer, that's not the right mashal. You're like a spring that you put a little water in and a ton comes out." And Eliezer stood up and he started saying divrei Torah. And the power of the words of Torah was so bright in the room that they couldn't tell if it was daytime or nighttime outside. That's how powerful the lichtigkeit, the light of the Torah was. And Hurkenus is sitting there. And Eliezer and and Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai, I forgot to mention, he stepped away cuz his talmid felt uncomfortable teaching Torah while his rebbi was there. So, he had stepped away while Eliezer was speaking, but he was listening from the background. And Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai comes back in. Everything I'm telling you is a straight midrash. Rabbi Yochanan ben Zakkai comes back in. Venashkai rosha, he kisses Eliezer on his head. And he says, "Ashrecha Avraham, Yitzchak, v'Yaakov. How fortunate you are, Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, that this is one of your descendants." And Hurkenus is so moved. And he says to someone, "Who is is saying this about?" And the person said, "Hyrcanus, he's saying it about your son." So, Hyrcanus gets up and says, "Don't say that. Say ashreini, how fortunate I am that this is my son. I came here to write you out of the will," he tells Eliezer. "I'm writing your brothers out of the will. It's all going to you." Eliezer is like, "No, no, no, no, no, no. I don't think you understand. This stuff is not important to me." And Eliezer says, and listen to these words, "Ilu kesef vezahav bikashti me' Hakadosh Baruchu, if I had asked Hashem for gold and silver, hayaniseni, Hashem would have given it to me. Li hakesef veli hazahav amar Hashem. Ilu karka'os bikashti me' Hakadosh Baruchu, had I asked Hakadosh Baruchu for land, hayaniseni, he would give it to me. Hashem owns owns the Hashem ha'aretz umelo'ah. Lo bikashti me' Hakadosh Baruchu ela Torah, I only asked from Hakadosh Baruchu Torah shenemar ki Hashem yiten chochma mipiv da'as usvuna. There was once a talmid in a yeshiva that was sitting by his rebbe's chair, and he could not understand the svara that his rebbe was saying, and certainly couldn't enjoy it. And he struggled and struggled and struggled until the rebbe turned to the talmid talmid and said to him, "Tell me something. Did you cry when you said Av Harachamim this morning? Did you cry to Hashem, 'Please, Hakadosh Baruchu, I want this. I need this. Help me to enjoy this. Help me to understand this, lahavin ulahaskil ulashmi'a ulaharei'enu' that Hashem should open our eyes.' And this is what I'm I what I'm afraid of. I'm afraid that us sitting here in this room that we are being robbed. Because we are sitting downstairs, there are over 200 Gamoras in the base medrish. And we are struggling to apply ourselves enough to tell you about Torah to get the greatest joy known to man. And if you haven't felt that joy, I ask you, did you cry when you said "I love you Abba"? Did you beg Hashem for that success? And that's what I'm saying, let us not be robbed. We have something with this is given to us. We have the ability to learn Torah, to toil in Torah, to try to understand it. Don't worry about how much the next guy knows. Don't worry, don't be overwhelmed from how complicated the share is. Just sit down yourself. You guys are in school, you know how to do research, you know how to pull apart information, you know how to break things down. The Gamora is not mysterious and it's not mystical. It It is, but it's not It's not for this, okay? The Gamora The Gamora is is is logical and it makes sense. And if it doesn't make sense, we haven't understood it yet. So, apply yourself to read the Gamora, to understand it, to read it again. If something bothers you, don't wave it away. If it bothers you, there's a reason about it. It makes no difference if it's Aiger's kasha or you're pronouncing the words wrong. It doesn't really matter. You're learning Hashem's Torah with honesty and authenticity and you're being you. Somebody once said, "When you sit down to a Sugya, don't sit down to the Sugya thinking to yourself how many thousands of people have learned Gamoras before. Sit down to a Sugya and tell yourself, 'I am looking at this Sugya as if the Torah was given this morning. And I am the first human being to ever lay eyes on this Sugya.' You know the Artemis journey that took place a few a few weeks ago? So, everyone's going nuts that they traveled further out into space than any human being ever did. And they saw things that human being They saw the other side of the moon. And I think that that's amazing. But compared to what you and I get to see, I say that's nothing. Because you get to see a Sugya fresh that was written for you. And it's your Sugya. And no one else has ever seen it before because no one has seen it before through your eyes. It's your Torah. The Zois HaTorah Asher Som Moshe Lifnei Bnei Yisrael. Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave it to you. It's a massively priceless treasure that was given to you. Don't let today's generation rob you of that treasure, Yashar Koach.