Mamdani and Trump Meet: A Parsha and Chodesh Kislev Perspective with Rabbi Jay Yaacov Schwartz

You my birthday. >> Welcome everyone. I'm broadcasting to you today from Lawrence, New York, our former residents before ya in 2012. We're visiting with my mother. She should live and be well. I'm dedicating this year to her health, well-being and the health and well-being of all our all those in need. And I'm going to talk about that concept uh from the teachings of the laber rebes who came out with recently an incredible book called letters for life which I'm going to highlight here some of the excerpts of how to deal with with challenges that people are going through in life in terms of their thoughts their feelings whether it be depression sadness whether it be a sense of hopelessness or basically just recovering from and the various traumas that we are going through in life and certainly for the Jewish people there are many especially in the last couple of years and um with a lot of uncertainty and anti-semitism we all need a little isu hadas a clarity of perspective a way to calm down and a way to help ourselves and help others so the year we're going to give today um is going to be about the para of um Toldos going into Viet as a lens for understanding some of the events that are going on around us including the visit of soon to be Mayor Mamani of New York, a dedicated u Muslim Brotherhood and we um I'll explain what that means and his meeting at the White House which seemed to be a meeting of cooperation and validation. and support which is now a question mark. What impact will that have given his very very hostile um feelings about the state of Israel which he does not think has any right to exist, his interest in arresting Netanyahu based on the fake warrants for arrest that have been fabricated by the fake international criminal court which of course have no standing. And more importantly, given the fact that he is the de facto leader or president of New York City, the most important city in America financially, socially, politically, other than of course Washington where things play out. But in terms of the capital of America from a business point of view and from a um leadership point of view has always been uh you know, New York is a leading city. Los Angeles has been in flames. Chicago is suffering from a very a similar type of mayor as Mdani which has set it back years and years. And New York although it deteriorated under the last couple mayors uh still was not an anti-semitic haven until recently and there had to be the events of October 7th set that into motion. And now with Mamdani in charge, there's got to be concern for New York Jews and how we those that are privileged to live in Israel, but our roots are here. As I'm physically here right now visiting with family, my mother and children and loved ones, brothers and sisters, we are all one. We are one family. We are Kalisel. And whether you live in America or Israel, uh we have mutual concern. Those here can care about Israel tremendously. those that are in Israel should care about those that are here tremendously. And so want to reflect on that visit and I also from the perspective of the para and also about the events looming in Arch Israel regarding the followup to the war which includes right now a very dramatic situation in Lebanon and a little perspective about that from the parios and from the new month that we have entered Kodesh Kis which we'll add um uh lessons from. Okay. So let's begin. When I arrived on Thursday, as is my custom, I go straight from the airport to Davin at at the cave. I usually try to come in in the early morning, plan my flights that way and go straight to the oh of the for prayers, inspiration and guidance and hope that my trip will be with special hashkah and success. When I arrived, I saw a massive crowd had gathered, unusual for a weekday. And the young man who was uh walking with me from my car cuz I had to park at at some distance. Um I said, "Is there something special today?" He goes, "Yes, today is error kisv." Really? And what is that going to be? He says, "Well, many people come to start off the month by coming to Davin here because Yoshkesh is like a little bit of a yontiff and it's not customary to go to the graves on roesh which is a more of a holy day, a spiritual day and not of reflection or or mourning and so on. But the foresh which I did not know which I did not know was a unique uh uniquely observed in in the in the kabad law anyway because it was a day that the rebi overcame a physical illness. He had a heart attack and he was cleared from that. He first of all he was saved that he didn't perish from that from that heart attack which back then in the 70s was a heck of a lot more serious than it is now because of all our interventions that we have. You know back then they barely had any treatments for the heart that we're aware of today. Um catheterss and stances and all kinds of things you can do to repair and prolong life. wasn't that available in 778. So they celebrate it as a day of being saved being saved saving lives. It's a day that life is restored in the face of danger. So when I uh I came to understand that the actual visit of Mam Dani to the White House took place on November 21 which was Rosh Kodesh Kislv and that struck me. So let me tell you why. Um what is the significance of Roshesh Kislave? Like I said from the Labavich lore it was a day of being saved from grave danger and darkness. Similarly later in the month slave the lab celebrate the release of the freebie revitalizer an incredible leader passionate teacher um founder and resistance. He he was the one who in 1927 when Stalin Yakov Zikro cemented his iron grip on the communist uh world of of Soviet Union. Up until that point there have been others that were shared power including Jews like Leontrosky etc who were who were significant leaders and then their in their Jewish idealism they embraced communism much like Mamani does and there's there is that's what I want to share there is a core of idealism that communism has which is not to be taken lightly but what Stalin did was he routed rooted out his enemies took control and then passed something known as article 58. Article 58 was really the death sentence of Jewish life as they knew it in the former Soviet Union. What was that horrible edict? that anybody who is considered so to speak subversive to the op to the goals of the state, if you were antis Soviet Union in any way, shape or form or its values, you could be taken to prison for your abuse. No, there was no dialogue there, no freedom of speech, there's no freedom of activity, no freedom of religion. And indeed almost immediately the primary person who was taken to the notorious Spalero prison which is you know you didn't come out in one piece from there either they tortured you killed you or broke you or imprisoned you for endless amounts of time but it was a one-way ticket and they took there the illustrious forci for leading a network of of vibrant Jewish life across the Soviet Union which he was able to continue despite the uh 10 years of Soviet oppression against religion which was unfortunately uh commanded by the uh Soviet Union to eradicate Jewish practice and faith mikvah uh yeshivosarim anything pure and holy. It was like the edict of uh of Yavan. Literally Yavan is uh associated with the month of Kisv because of Kaneka. And their main edicts were um against Mila. Okay. Uh Shabas and believe it or not Roesh because they denied the basic truth that holiness can connect to this world. Other words's presence can connect world how to time through which sets the calendar of Shabas which is an immutable time that God created the kadusha shabas himself not giving us any part in its creation but determining that there is kadusha which then became the premise on which keshes and all theim would exist. this because if you can if Hashem has created in time he conferred upon us that ability as well to confer our very first mitzvah the Jewish people in their very essence in their first mitzvah as a unit as as Kal Israel is that to to associate the time of our lives our short fleeting times of our lives and imbue it with God's eternal presence to attach our fleeting days with timeless significance and eternity. Wow. How do you do that? By allowing kaduca to connect to you primarily through mitzvos and lim tora. So it's not only the it's the fact of learning Torah so that you can then align yourself with Hashem. Learning Torah infuses you with spiritual energy if your midos and your inner world are healthy and it it then tells that whole person, well, Hashem is connected to you. Now, here are your instructions. And to that point, I want to say what um I learned from this wonderful book, which basically is the Reby's statement on on mental health, which I I think is should be required reading for anybody in a helping profession. And I think today given the trauma of our world, anybody and everybody needs to read this book. But I'll give you a a tiny taste of it. The Reby's basic premise was just that you know if you have kadusha that means Hashem is with you whatever time it is for you. Yamto or weekday hem's presence connects to the time of your life that and then two brisma which is that Hashem connects to your physical well-being. It's not an abstract thing. We move through time but we don't see time. We don't taste time. We cannot capture time. It's a create it's a spiritual creation of Hashem. It's a limitation of our world that Hashem created to help us uh make the right choices and understand that that that that time counts and that every second matters and to fill our our time with goodness like it says Aram came with his days. his days were full and complete not to waste our time but to use it to attach Hashem's presence to ourselves and to the world through helping others. Now let's get to that point. So the Rebi said in numerous letters when people wrote about depression, sadness, lack of purpose, there was a person he described there was a soldier, not a soldier, a pilot, an Israeli pilot who after the 67 war, I think it was about 1970, he was he was his hit a missile by an anti-aircraft missile and his plane crashed. his co-pilot, who was like his best friend, was killed instantly and he saw a truck of Israeli soldiers of of Egyptian soldiers coming to pick him up from the crash site and he was taken into captivity and he was kept in a tight tight quarters with nine other Israeli prisoners yet from the Yum Kipper war and that's how they passed their time until there was a prisoner released. Uh, in other words, he was captured in 1970. So, let me clarify. He was captured in 1970 and he was released with captives of the 73 war after the Yipper war. So, he was there for quite a while. Extremely traumatized by the death sudden death of his friend by being kept in captivity. What they they kept them blindfolded so they wouldn't even know to report where they were. They were interrogated ruthlessly and endlessly. uh they barely had any personal time. It was a very dark very dark period. And after he was released, the army gave him a position to um resume his life. But his inner world was anything but quiet. He had undergone terrible trauma. He came to the Rebi for help. Eventually made his way to New York and he came to Babrebi. And what the Rebi basically said to him was, I want you to know two things. Hashem is always with you. Wherever you are, Hashem is with you. So you'll never alone. This was his advice to people. He spoke to lonely almanos and people or singles or people who were elderly and were going through, you know, abandonment or whatever it was, difficulties. He said to them, you're never alone because Hashem's presence is with you and the practice in your life is to the most minute details. The faith of the Rebi and the healing of emotional healing is twofold. These are the primary points uh to know that Hashem is mamish with you. You're not alone. You're never alone. And you can gain confidence from the fact that Hashem is at your side. And if you ask, we'll help you. And you don't have to be afraid of people, of their opinions of you. And go about to step two, which is that the best way to eliminate trauma, which he did with this man, was talk about it, release it, and then see what you can do to help others. The Reb's primary suggestion for people who are in the doldrums ab self-absorbed wandering about lost in their own heads their own suffering their own losses their own traumas he says he sent in a letter to a young girl who was suffering from intense depression he said to the father apparently was one of the rabbis of Habad he says engineer that some organization will ask her to head some sort of social or charitable activity don't let her know know that it came from you. Set it up. Let the organization call her and ask her to take on a certain role that's appropriate for her. And he said, you know, be careful that takes she can that she can do successfully and that she's good at, you know, has to be very mim was very careful about that. He says, you have to research. You have to know this is something that she can excel at. And he says, "By doing that and connecting to something larger than yourself, something that has meaning and purpose, you will be able to cure your depression." This was the Reby's ata. He did not say go to endless therapy. He didn't say to couples that were unhappy, go sit with counselors all day long. Basically what he said was the best way to get out of your doldrums and your unhappiness is to be is to find people who like you have suffered or are suffering or are unhappy and to whatever extent and help them, talk to them, support them, give them somethingful by connecting to higher wellness, higher goodness and that there is Hashem always there that that great goodness And then inside of you is a part of Hashem. Meaning Hashem is always with you because we have the nishama which is part of Hashem's glory in us. He says that alone should give you feelings of self-worth. That answers the TSkian uh credo of lack of self-esteem. You can never have no self-esteem for yourself because you are keam. You are superman, superwoman by virtue of the fact that the all powerful and almighty God is resides in you. And whatever fears, anxieties, nervousness you have, it can burn, you just can burn it away by focusing on the immense power that's been instilled in you. Last year I mentioned about the inherent capacity for wealth of the Jewish people that we inherited from Ava. This is a point that's really really powerful. If you're afraid about parnas, worried, desperate, suffering. So know that due to both yarn and the spiritual inheritance of the os that we have a we are wired for success if we can just get past our own hurt, pain, and suffering. But how do we get past? So the Rebi would often say just get moving. Get out there. Go do something and your spark. The month of Kisv is the darkest month of the year. According to the Swarm Kadoshian Ben Saskkar mentions this, the 25th day of Kisv was the dark was the shortest day of the year in the first year of creation. what's known as the winter solstice. The shortest day of sunlight is always the first day of Hanukkah. The darkest day of the year is the 25th of Kislev which is coming up. The month of is the month that is the shortest and the darkest. you know, shabas is coming early, ending early and um there's not not that much light of shabas that's going to shine um that you will experience. The day of sha that shabas day is very very brief and the therefore roshes kisv is about that light which is very hidden. It calls it kas le it's kay like like like a a kiss a pocket and lammed vav which is the 36 hours of divine light that were hidden away from sadikim that light gets a little bit revealed in the miracles of Kaneka and in the kak of Kaneka because we need it we need that spark of light in the darkness the spark of light in the darkness is knowing that we have that hidden uh kaduca that's reserved for sadikim our own we call our inner sad or sadus our inner sadus I'll tell you a story that happened as a for my mother's gazark as we celebrated her 98th birthday she should live and be well and she is a a spark of sunlight in our world bless her aid bought her uh you know when she's eating she's basically wheelchair bound so and she always likes to dress. She dresses formally every day with shaitel earrings and makeup. She's 98 years old. She sits like a queen and receives all of their family nonstop. Her birthday was that night was actually on because it was Thursday in the English calendar, but it was already dark. So Thursday night which was keshisv all the calls came in from all the children and grandchildren and she's talking to all of them and you know and then the the she got a present from her caretaker her caretaker who's like from the islands not sure exactly where but she is uh uh in love with my mother. She wrote her a card. You're the most amazing woman I've ever met. And she's in a home which observes shabas and yontiff and that every shabas one of the children in the family rotate has the privilege to be with my mom and make shabas for her and sing and tell div to just lighten lighten her life and she bought her on Amazon like I don't like to call them bibs but that's what it is a fulllength little gown but the the um the design was pearls and and diamonds and rubies on all of the different ones. She put about six of them and they were all regal. In other words, a bib means you can't necessarily feed yourself perfectly, but you know, but and you need might may need some help and there's concerns about swallowing and so on and so forth. So, the bib is important. If you're dressed to the nines, you know I said if you're dressed to the nines like my mother is every day. God bless her. I may ask him sha I say until 140 because you got to give a bonus because of inflation. But can you imagine that this is what her caretaker brought for her? And these I have to show you a picture. Maybe I can send a picture down to someone. the pearls, pearls and and and and a big emerald as if to say this is a royal person because as I said last week, we Jews are all royalty. As I mentioned in the name of Rabbi Aka from the Mishna about embarrassing a Jew that there's severe penalties that you have to pay for embarrassing a Jew in public and and Rebi uh Aka said regarding the laws of Bchett don't think that a quote unquote simple laborer uh poor person among the Jewish people is different than the most regal person. Why? because we're ben and we are to be looked at as Ben independently wealth wealthy people which is not a given that they fell they lost their you know they lost their uh inheritance or something like that but that doesn't make them any less of a prince or a princess that's who the Jewish people are that's really the reby's message is that you have to look at yourself as royalty and uh you know put your bib on uh you know your royal bib uh dress yourself, care for yourself, but more importantly, present that to others. A mel or a mala are only as important as how they help their subjects. A king who's in power because of selfish reason is not a mel. It could be a moshell. He's going to control, right? But there the a king, someone who's chosen to be king. that the people are happy and proud of their king is because of the goodness that they bestow upon them primarily safety, security and which is what every parent and what every person and every husband and wife wants for themselves and their family of that basically what it is means I'm going to give you materials and physical security that is the job of any person in a leadership position. So going back to Mamani for one moment and I will go back to my mother's story. Mamani came to the White House now. Most people were upset that I know because he represents an intense hatred for the state of Israel and uh we're worried that it's going to create as I said um an atmosphere of free violence against Jews who we know uh they associate with Israel whether they're Zionistic or not. makes no difference whether they're religious, whether they care about Israel, they care more, they care less. Uh it doesn't really matter to them. A Jew is a Jew and they they they they make that association as much as they try to falsely make the distinction between criticizing Israel and criticizing Jews. But they hypocritically never do. They'll take any Jew and say that he's guilty because that's really what it is. We are one nation. And they're not wrong about that point. But their lie that they're only hating on Israel is that's their self-justification and that's his self-justification. They'll say, "I'm not an anti-semite. I love all Jews, but you know, Israel is genocidal." He camel. His his point is, "Oh, I want to give away free food. I want to give away free bus transportation. I want to give." Well, that itself is not a bad idea. Within communism, there is a spark of truth. The spark of truth is care for the well-being of others and don't lord over them. Include everyone, help everyone, give to everyone. But here's the problem. If you are able to do that for because it's a divine imperative, it will not come with hate, fear-mongering, violence, and belittling others. It will come from a pure place, a place of kindness and giving. He comes along with great hatred and fear-mongering and creating atmospheres of danger and violence and supporting things like inifat which means terrorism. When a person comes and says, "Oh, I'm a kind and giving, benevolent king." That's great. That's great. But if on the other hand there's no safety or security because the government hates some aspect of you for your views then that's going back to the stal the Stalinism that arrested the the Fria and took him to Sperno prison and tried to break him but he could not be broken because of his intense imuna and his brilliance in knowing how to speak to his capttors in a way which showed that which made him impervious to all the things that they did to him including physically beating him uh by you know Jews were the ones who beat him. They let the Jews do it. The Jews were the head of the investigation because that was their job to destroy Yiddish and and work for the communist cause. And again they thought they were doing the Jews a favor, you know, saying under this new communist system, Jews will be welcomed and loved and we got to root out this Yiddishkite that that causes anti-semitism. I'm sure they believe that to whatever extent, but when it comes with punishing Jews, putting rebies in jail, sending to Siberia and murdering people who represent Torah. No, no, I'm sorry. That's no longer benevolent. That is the nikuda of Mdani in the White House on Roesh. What does that mean? Roesh is a dark of was a dark dark time. But if one is connected to Hashem, then it is a time of beingadic. It's the 36 hours of light for you have a going to bring joy. This is going to bring yus. So one thing that came out of that meeting which I thought was interesting was was that Trump said to him if it's if New York is neither safe nor strong then all the that you want to do with people has no meaning and that is the correct perspective I believe that we need to take about what this person represents. Yes, he comes selling goodness and love and concern and equality, but it's packaged with hatred of Hashem's chosen people in their role as the uh as the rulers of of Erit Israel, our God-given land. When it comes with the that god religion hatred, then then that disappears. Then it becomes communism of the totalitarian nature which is inherently violent which inherently violates human rights creates Siberia creates murders creates the doctor's plot where Stalin wanted to erase the entire Jewish people eventually he went from from that uh and 1927 to by 1950 or when he passed away uh thank god and some say was dominating for that and it happened on Perm by the way so there's There's m miracles of that but that you know 25 years of abject terror when of course communism came as a bene benevolent benefic part of your philosophy is fear hatred domination of others no I'm sorry or destroying other people's states and well-being no I'm sorry then that has then that's the type of communism which is dangerous but Trump said to him safety and security not the Jews have to be safe. Everybody has to be safe. There's going to be no riots, no anti-semitism, and and and also pro prosperous because the if if the city goes to to to uh riots that have been previously uh that we saw then then uh all the goodness turns into um something that's quite exploitive and destructive in its essence. That's what we need to understand. So that was the Reb's message. That's that's the message of Roshesh Kisv saying if you're not doing this whatever you're doing just know that the that our mental health wellness our political um perspective is coming from the fact that we have a royal spark of in us that wants to benefit others. And the more we can get out of our heads and our own suffering, which is legitimate suffering from all the traumas, and we are all under trauma. Every kid that grows up today is dealing with parents that are traumatized by the invasion of of um negative forces such as um drugs. immorality, financial greed that pushes people to do incredibly stupid and fancy desires, whether it's their car, their wedding, their flowers, their homes, pushes people to a a lust for material wealth that is out of control. And there's a lot of articles going on here in America. I noticed on my trip about people feeling pressured to have these elaborate weddings and what if your son is going to go out in a car with a girl and it's a used car or it's an old car then there's not going to be a shak because you know he's got to pull up in the the brand new shiny sedan because I'm not going to let my daughter go out with such a person or these are the values that um unfortunately we are surrounded by. It's not the fault of the Jewish people, but that is today's New York and today's America. What is important, the value system that we're trying to teach to our kids is surrounded on all sides by a darkness. By a darkness and the kids are being taught Torah. They are being taught Torah. But the problem is is that uh and there's a lot written about going on now again this darkness of how a lot of kids want to go out and drink on Thursday nights and they're being critical. There's been criticism both in Israel comes from Israel too and America a lot of youth who are from from homes and everything like that they just want to numb out. They want to go have cha and alcohol instead of staying up all night learning Thursday night or doing Thursday night for people who need help for shabas or whatever it is. They want to numb out. And the reason why they want to numb out is because they don't feel good about themselves and they're in their own heads and their own suffering and they're not being built up. I'm told that they are precious and they are souls. But to conform to the system, bore to the system. March, march, march. Do what you need to do and you'll get through the system. And there are many systems whether in the kared world or in the secular world that children are put through. And yet the resilient spirit of of of the Jewish people and of the people the Jews living in Arch Israel and the Jews living here is able to like oresh put some light to the darkness. But there's a lot of darkness. That's the point. We need to hold on to the sitkus to be a sadic to be a loving sadic to those around us. So you're you got to channel your inner sadic and that will promote mental health. All right. Mamani is not sadic and I don't know what his mental health is all about. Another piece of light in that dark moment was that uh Trump basically promised I don't know if he if he's doing it to do something that I don't understand wasn't done so long to outlaw the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. Let me explain to you the significance of that from behind the scenes. Okay, you ready? Two points. Madani's philosophy is the philosophy of the Muslim Brotherhood. It's spreading rad not even radical Islam. I'll go let's call it Islamism just as mainstream Islam to take over uh western society and change it into an Islamic state what we call globalizing the inifado which is something that he believes in that's a Muslim Brotherhood thing so it's interesting that the day they came to the white house I noticed that Trump made him stand next to him like a kid who had u was coming up to the front of the classroom and Trump is the teacher you know and he's standing there without a chair I really like that. It's not like he sat down in a chair and discussed things with him like a head and state. He had him standing by his desk as if to say, "You better watch out. You better watch out. I'm going to help you. I'm not going to not going to I'm not going to let you be I'm not going to let you be my enemy." The first thing Mandani said was, "We're going to root out we're going to defeat Trump from New York City." He hates Trump. He his job is to stir a violent response and rebel against Trump's leadership. So he took him to the White House and he said, "Stand here, little boy, and just know this is the facts of life. You're going to I I like the way that Trump played him and he played very calm and he didn't say anything else." So there was a little bit of light in that meeting. I don't know if people saw it, but I did see it. And that the news that came out from the immediately afterwards from the Muslim Brotherhood being outlawed basically said to Mdani, "We're not going to we're not your Islamism stick and your job is to keep uh New York safe and prosperous by not causing the business to flee. Let's see if this school lesson was learned." I doubt it. But at least he knows that somebody's watching and he can't go on his campaign like I'm against Trump. I'm against Trump. No, he says Trump says I'm not against you. You want to call me a fascist, call me a fascist. Call me whatever you want, but behave. Follow the rules of the Chevitz Noah, which include not murdering people, not destroying states, not destroying property, not tanking economies, not crashing societies, which is the Muslim Muslim Brotherhood's goal. Now, I I mentioned in the past, but people have to be aware of this. I see it's something that I see that I don't know that people are focusing on, but it's a terrible terrible uh danger that needs to be spoken about. And that is the recent um affiliation by marriage of Alex Soros, who now controls what I call the le the the leftist anarchist death star known as the um Open Society Foundation of George Soros Nebach who a child of the Holocaust who saw divided with against his own people and then against all civilized society. He is a he's probably the most destructive force against safety and security by funding endlessly candidates much like Mamani through packs. He gives money open society gives grants. They use that money to run political campaigns and get elected people's and they and they cleverly focus on district attorneys who are and mayors who are job is to maintain law and order. I once heard from somebody Israeli that the per the main job of an Israeli mayor of any city is twofold. one to make sure the city is safe. Protect it from terrorism threats, anything like that. That's number one. If you can't provide security to your to your town, you've you've failed. And the two and the second one is cleanliness and social services. And if you can do those two things, keep your city safe and keep your kitty city clean and running. uh you know in terms of of of providing basic living needs. That's it. That's it. That's your job. And we'll see whether either one of those is going to be an issue uh for New York City. But let's continue just a just briefly with um uh another bit of this perspective. I'm going to go back to the story that my mother uh about my mother that I was shared with me this past Shabas. I got a message u after shabas from my cousin Elliot Schwarz founder of art scroll. It was his business that started with as a partnership with mayors ladawitz that ended up giving tremendous light to the world. Again, the hidden light of Kaneka in a world that didn't have a lot of access for people to hatmud was a dark and forbidding place for many people until art school came and opened up the sitter and art school came and opened up the Gumaras and art school came and published all this forum in Mishnay in Kish and you know Rashi you know Rashi's tough and you know you got to go through the tremendous light that mayors ladawitz and and arts school brought to the world was in the partnership with my this cousin my cousin son of my dear uncle David H. Schwarz of blessed memory who you would see his name and their names in a lot of the art school books especially the earlier ones and he sent me the following story. He said, "I want you to tell you tell your mother the following. In in my my parents started out as a young rabbi in Rebbitson, my father's and my mother in Fitsburg, Massachusetts, a small that had a uh Kahila with a Yiddish speaking rabbi from the year 1927 till the early 50s when they arrived. Now that rabbi um he he um was elderly and widowed and his his um so Elliot had and my cousin Elliot had met this fellow and they were together in Eritell at the hotel and they were talking and they said my great-grandfather was the rabbi in Pittsburgh, Massachusetts. He said really my uncle was the rabbi in Fitz Pittsburgh, Massachusetts. And when they mentioned the names and what happened was that he shared the following story. This fellow's name is Ethan Cra K lives in uh Boca Raton. And this is I'll read you this excerpt. He says uh here it is. My great-grandfather was Rabbi Joseph Shragawitz who served the Fitsburg community Massachusetts from his arrival in America from 1927 until his retirement around 19454 as the Yiddish speaking Rav Shok Mohazen he brought light he was the or Gnuz to that community. Now they hired my father Zatal as the English-speaking rabbi and then in September of 1953 uh Rabbi Shraawitz was widowed and my parents were kind and considerate. There was no conflict between them. They would eat their shabas he would they would make sure that he ate the his shabas meals with them. Okay, and that he would never be alone. And then they would package up food for my great-grandfather so that he would have food for the week. And uh what goes around comes around. 18 years ago uh at the Jewish educational center in Elizabeth, my sister was hired by the by um one of the members of that family to serve a role in their resource room department. begets and that's the idea if this elderly rabbi shuagawitz can you imagine 80 years old all alone and to bring light to his life can bring light to your life and that is what we are mandated and warranted to do. Um there are many people who who need our interest who could benefit from our interest and yet we're subsumed with worries and problems and fears and stresses on especially now but uh the healing force of kislave is that um this that we have which is essentially is what the flame That's itim is reserved for them. We have it. We have a wellspring of it within. We have a within that's our and it's and it can always be reit that is the message for so I think that we have to understand really all about it's the opposite of that light. It's a great darkness. And he if he can be restricted to doing things that fit within the the guidelines of safety and and security and kindness to others and all the political hatred and so on and discord will be replaced with security and and prosperity, he will have been held in check. And that's uh hopefully um the perspective that that we will see and as far as the para is concerned. So that that day um in which we which came to the white house was the day that we read about the um brahos of Jakov au and asov and what yakov needed to do to receive the brahos which is a very difficult part. I'll just highlight one thing was suspicious of Yakov. He said and yet Rashi insisted that gave the willingly to Yakov. He says, that's what it says in the P. As comes in and he says, Fose, who was this person who came? How he didn't resend the Brahos from Yakov? And you could ask yourself, what do you mean? This was all subtrafuge from Asop's perspective. That's what he saidim. He has ripped me off twice. One for the bakor and now for the brahos. And on surface he's right. I mean okay told him to do it but Yakov came in says Rashi not cunning and not uh you know evil in any way but with wisdom. What's going on over here? How could it be that affirmed the brah that was given to Yakov if it was totally an error? So Kazal come in and say no there was a turning point. Now some people want to say the turning point was re retroactive. That's the easiest way to learn. You'll say when as came in and he was shocked into the realization that it had been a subtifuge. He said if it came out that I gave this which by the way was a braha of physical prosperity and political power. It was right. And then you have this is two things. You're going to have material wealth. You will have political strength and security. It's nothing to do with great is it doesn't even have to do with urgent Israel per se. Okay. And now he says yeah if if the braha happened it must mean that it was basher. So once it's basher I can't withdraw it. That's that's a simple approach. I'd like to suggest something different. There's an alternative there's an alternative shot in Rashi where he says it's funny that when it says that when he began his there was a V. He says which Rashi Darian's Darian it's going to be a a perpetual blessing which is why Jacob cleverly when he gave Asa the gift when he returns uh you know from from building his family he gave that he gave him self- sustaining businesses they call lock key businesses camels enough to create herds and herds of camels right male to female ratios. Uh goat enough. He gave him box key businesses. He is this is ready to make profit right now. You know a goat. What am I going to do? I have to figure out how many I need get male goats. I got to organize it. I got to manage it. No boxy business. He gave him precisely the amount of animals male and female that would be the most uh how should profitable. Yakov understood it's you don't want money. You want money that's gonna make you money. You want money. It's better to get an apartment as a gift which you can charge rent every month than to get a month's rent. Who needs a month's rent? You want perpetual rent. That's what that's what the prophet was. But it's connected to the previous thing has it. That's one shot in Rashi. The other shot is no. It's not about that. It's about connecting to the above which was the final thing that Yakov did that that Yuk and Yakov went through before he bestowed the blessing bestowed blessing which was he says kiss me give me an give me give me a love show show me show me some affection and then he says he smelled the garments of again or the garments of And Yaku has the gadim which according to everybody is not the most fragrant thing. I mean Gd is probably the most smelly thing you could imagine. And yet and enjoying the fragrance of this. I don't know how. And and he says it's mentioned last week is associated with many times over. He's the one who brought Hashem down to the level of the open field. Aram brought him from Shamayim Har as as Kazal tell us made it a field. And I mentioned the field that he bought from Ephron was never part of Aram's interest. He wanted the cave, but Hashem engineered it that the first part of Israel should be friendly. It had to have a sada which he could produce as he produced his mayarm in the land of Gar which is what we call today Gaza. And and he's he says I want to I want to give you a braha. I I'm giving you a braha because of this sad that I smell the the the blessings of Hashem. What is he saying? He's saying that, you know, this is what I was hoping for from Asav that he would see like you he would see like I none understand that the blessings of the field come from our being willing to tithe and give gifts to others. That's what that's what the mashim of was. He evaluated how much micer we would have to give and it ended up being a hundred times more than he anticipated. But he was planning to give away messer to the poor to the needy to help others. You understand? That's what he wanted as to be not selfserving wealth but wealth that benefits others and that is by definition self- sustaining. If you're if if miser is supposed to be tell us you want your money to thrive give meer. What do you mean that's count? It's antithetical. I'm giving away 10%. How does that make me th how does it make my finances thrive? No, because that's how it works because it's Hashem's system of wealth. And therefore, when he smelled the garments and he said, "Ah, the sadd the the field is going to be like a ganed for others and it's going to be imbued with withina, which is the act of giving and joy and happiness and altruism for others. That's the brah I want you to give. I don't want to give you money for the sake of money. I want to give you financial wealth in a holy way that it can be pure benefit for others. That's the Mamani message we got to convey to him. It's not about hatred. It's not about some political class struggle or power getting elected. I'm giving you power. The power to serve with kindness. Okay? That's what we're hoping for. That's what we need to do ourselves. And it's an important message for Israel at this time as we face a terrible enemy in Lebanon whose only goal of the which they took out their main chieftain. But then there's the next chieftain is to harm and to harm again. That's all they they know. It's the opposite. Quite the opposite. Hashem should protect us. Hashem should help us remember the um this little message that Hashem is with us and Nashkah is with us and that should light the darkness that we are currently experiencing and usher in a period message. Let's hope it sinks in and within all of us too. Have a great week. My mom