Modern Masters: Rosh HaShana L’Ilan- Renewal, Rebirth, and Redemption | Rabbi Sam Shor

okay so today is tuats and growing up in Aly New York okay which is not exactly a a huge Metropolis at least jewishly um tvat was not exactly a major date on our calendar if anything you know we we got in SCH we got this dried out piece of carab called in yish was called boxer no one really look forward to eating that buxer every year and maybe maybe you also yeah maybe your your family planted trees and a Israel in your honor and that you get a little the old jnf certificate and that was Tu bishvat now obviously As I Grew Older and you know spent time here in Israel and learned a lot more tuat obviously we today is at least for those of us here living in Israel has become a very significant day and before we jump into the the sheet in front of you um or we're going to delve in and hear from numerous Modern Masters about the significance of this I want to begin with with with two pieces that are not on your sheets we're going to begin first with the the last the last paragraph of the first of the first volume of the which was a masterpiece of modern he was a modern master who Liv lived from the end of the 19th century he died in 1978 he was about 90 I think he was born in 1888 he's about 90 years old when he passed away and ran wrote this beautiful beautiful work called and the last paragraph in the first volume of the contains this information about this is what he saysat there's a there's a unique custom on tubish and he's quoting from okay one of the great commentators on says the that the amongst the Asim was to what eat a lot of fruit from trees onto Bish now that's res quoting the M now he says I don't know why the the says that the is specifically for he says why it seems to me says the seem to be more careful about this custom of eating a lot of fruits he says they stay up almost all night says and all night long before before and after they eat each fruit not they say Theos but they learn different different passages from the tan and from the Z and from Other M related to the fruit that their that they're about to eat or they just at ate and they say special prayers and they recite special special HS the and there's a unique safer for this safer pre he says that there's a safer that was put together by the students of the arat called prear and that forms the basis for the custom of the Seder tuat that many many sh and and religious and Pious individuals have adopted okay and then he continues come out in this it it pulls together from many many places MRA they pull from all over the cannon of Jewish classical Jewish literature with references to to fruits and Grains and trees and amongst the there's a very special Min associated with this day of as well he's quoting from the [Music] says on this day we look ahead and we think forward that when the time comes for us to be able to take an atog on sukot we're gonna need to take an atog on sukot that we should be blessed to have what a beautiful EST we should be blessed to find a beautiful beautiful esto when sukus comes when did we D for that beautiful esto today the r of the tree of the trees and then he continues he says there's another related to theog theog that we used on suus okay for the Mitzvah there's a he says this is the minute to fry them I guess to make Etro chips maybe okay and then to save them put them aside and eat them on he says that there are that there are many many that wear like shabas clothes they we because it's called rash for the trees and a human being is likened to the tree of the field okay that's for in the and we and we see that there are many many interesting ideas they introduces and with this as our as our beginning introduction I want to share a story about Ru cook and then we'll get to our St sheet R cook was invited I think in then early 1920s to a tree planting ceremony on ontu bishvat and a new yesu that was being built yesu was called magel I think it was somewhere in the Sham and it was a big photo to have the chief Rabbi of Israel at the time come to plant trees in this new yesu in the land of Israel and I guess he was the chief Rabbi of the Jewish communities in the land of Israel there was no state of Israel yet that's the correct title I think for of cook anyway so he they they invite the chief Rabbi and a photo op and they set up a rake and a hoe for him and a little sapling and they introduce the ru cook and Ru Cook gets up very excited and he's wearing of course his law we all have seen the beautiful Majestic pictures of her cook in his long ribbi cloak and his and his and his spuck his for hat hat on his head and R cook after they introduce him goes over to those sap to that sapling and he gets down on his hands and knees and he starts pushing the dirt around in the ground with his hands his own hands and the farmers who are standing by are are are looking a little bit a gast like the the rabbi doesn't know what a rake or a hoe is and he's using his using his hands and he's all full of dirt now and and so someone one of the farmers comes over puts puts their arm gently around Cook's shoulder says rabenu you know we have uh we have we have some some you know farming equipment for you to use you don't need to use your hands and get that in your hands and knees and you don't need use your own hands a cook turns to them with tears is Flowing on his face and says no my sweet friends you don't understand after 2,000 years we're finally able to fulfill the Mitzvah of planting fruit trees in our said I he says I don't want to have anything that gets in the way any I don't want to have anything that gets in the way between my myself and the holy soil as I fulfill this mitah so so with these with these two now short introductions both ran and the various Customs associated with t this beautiful story about rook and and what he understood this the significance of planting trees in Arab Isel and what that's all about I want to take a deep dive into this idea of as the not ran as the mishna calls it and try to understand of course we'll learn from numerous Modern Masters as we typically do in this sh try to understand exactly what is the significance of of having a day that's called and this whole idea begins now we can look at our source sheets this whole idea begins with text number one sheets the mishna where it talks about that there for during the course of the year and the last part of the mishna according to according to the is the r for the tree and according to it's the 15th of of course we follow and therefore the 15th is the so what exactly does that mean okay it's in the this this is introduced in the mishna in the context with the other r what's the most famous most familiar Russ sh to all of us what's the most familiar rash to all of us TI okay and if I were to ask you what's the what what what thoughts you conjure up when we talk about the Russ and what do we think about what what themes besides chaar which obviously is thez the day but what themes do we associate with rashash did renewal repentance okay okay rededicating ourselves to service of hasem all these beautiful ideas right so that's what's associated with the idea of a rashash and we're gonna come back to this question how is and we're gonna explore also how is this this russan somehow similar okay and most of us probably never thought about this okay and is there a parallel a similar similarity that we're meant to feel and and draw and connection to this day of rashash in connection and parallel to the rashash ti that we're more familiar with okay so we're gonna come back to this now we'll come back to that question we're now gonna take a look at a mishna p we're g to start sometimes it's broken up is the m m have a broken up differently sometimes we're going to start about one two three four four and a half lines down where it says one who's walking on their way and they're learning okay I don't think it means that we're walking with a safer in front of our although maybe in the time of the mishna did mean that okay but certainly today we don't have to do that anymore so we get we all have one of these and we listen often or listening to sh while we're while we're while orar while we're walking around okay so you're walking on your way and you're listening to you know the the latest year on the OU Israel YouTube page right and and you interrupt your learning and say how beautiful is this tree how beautiful is this field show okay the verse considers such a person as if they're what liable with their soul now that seems a little bit extreme that someone who's walking away walking on their way and they're listening to a sheir or they or maybe they're even reading something in front of them and then they're struck by the beauty the awesome Beauty all around them by by the beautiful tree or trees or or fied by they're all struck by Nature okay and they say how beautiful it is what I'm looking at it's considered as if what he's liable with his soul so how could that be we're gonna come back to that question in just a moment now you can turn your pages we turn the page over we're gonna learn from the the I guess the third of our Modern Masters because we already learned from rev Zan and from R cook we're going to learn from the AAS Alazar of kajit the kajit of rebi who made Aliah in the 1920s to ER speaking about re and working the land so the K was one of three rabim Rees who were involved in founding the town of was initially established as AIC Farm Village okay outside of not far from K and the concept was that these three Re really wanted their their their followers not only to make Alan live in Israel but to be able to return to fulfill many of the mitz bar to actually be able to fulfill with their own hands just like that beautiful story of Ru cook okay of fulfilling the mitzo of agrarian society that is described so vividly in the Torah okay okay and unfortunately they didn't succeed unfortunately um the community was struck by a malaria outbreak and they didn't really have the the Y the knowledge how to to succeed in farming and they abandoned the Enterprise um I think a year or two into it and they're actually bailed out by the PO mrai by the religious Zionist uh workers and they came and they Savaged the community and built up the community there's still a village of in Israel today but there no come out no that live there and um yeah amazing amazing well so okay anyways k ends up moving to downtown T Aviv he's actually buried here in the sanhedria cemetery you which is on my way to the office I actually go stop in that Cemetery very often he's one of the sadik that I that I whose Graves I visit is there also there others anyways so we're gonna learn now this first this first text number three on our sheets from the it's gonna refer back to our Mish that we just spoke about they're those that explain the words of this Mna one who interrupt his learning to say what how beautiful this tree is how beautiful this field is okay the verse suggests that such a person it's as if he's liable with his soul now he's gonna ask our question at first look this is very difficult because what's the tragedy what's so terrible in what in taking note of the beauty the Splendor of hashem's creation but we could explain as follows he says it's because it's not that really there's it's it's it's it's it's user to notice not notice Beauty and to take notice Beauty and nature but rather what because he perceives it as a he perceives it as B someone who the M teach you a very powerful lesson if you're walking on your way and listening to she and then you see something beautiful that really you should say AA over okay the bros we're supposed to say when we see Splendid things in nature right but if you're so focused on your learning you and you're so so obsessed with your learning that you that you would see this as a you would see this as an interruption as B Torah to take to take note of the beauty around you such a person because he he makes a between Torah and and his mind such a person is liable with his soul because the truth is there's no real separation to be made between what Torah and okay and all that exists in nature has to be understood and looked at and viewed specifically through the lens of Torah okay Torah informs how we appreciate the world how we see the world how we appreciate the world how we come to Rel to the world and therefore if there is if there's Beauty in the world around us welcome therefore there's Beauty in the world around us okay it's not it's not B for us to take note of that to take note of that and therefore the mission is teaching us this very powerful lesson that we specifically have to relate to to to t through the lens of Torah okay now we're gonna move on and we're gonna hear from our next modern master and this is text number four we're gonna hear from the orah the orah is rabal was a great 20th century um Rosa the Rosa of taradas in Brooklyn andal yes in his Masterpiece oral yahu shares the following idea this is text number four and the first gar explain that any bance of success and blessing in this world comes from where comes from the Torah as as famously taught us that what that Hashem when he wanted to create the world he looked into the looked into the Torah and then the world he created the world and any bestow of life okay all of them come from where the source is what the now can is a double on Tandra can mean what can mean the source of all life meaning hasem or what else is called right or the Torah or and the Torah here welcome okay so introducing a double anandra here okay the famous double anandra that the word expression can mean either the source of all life meaning Hashem or the the which I'll call the the the the Playbook by which we live our life okay the guy book by which we're meant to live our life which is the Torah kadesha and if we see that there's a bestow a renewal of life that's going on in this world okay on this day of whether it be bestow of rain or other physical Pleasures this is a sign that that we're being bestowed from above okay blessings from the listen to this idea if we sadly most of us when it's a rainy day we don't say what oh oh thank God we're getting rain okay most of us start to complain and and be very focused on the moment bam the moment where we find ourselves we're not we're not thinking about that in order for us to to receive all the all all that sustains Us in life we need that that rain to come down in to see the beauty in the world we need that rain to come down in to be able to have fruits and vegetables and everything else that sustains us we need that rain to come down most of us we see gam what do we do we're like not so thrilled that we have to go out in the rain right so but the as RAB is quoting is telling us no when we see rain we need to take a step back and say what that must mean that what that we're getting a a bestow from above of influx of life from above the source of all life may he says that brings in the name of from one the that this world the world that we live in is like an upside down tree because in this world we can see only the branches and the leaves and the fruit of the tree because the roots of the tree are where above which everything exists in this world is rooted from above okay we're like so says the this world is like a proverbial upside down tree okay says as we condition ourselves to see those proverbial fruits in this world to see the blessings that Hashem brings us in every moment then it allows us to stand so to speak even momentarily on those proverbial roots of the tree and when we see in nature the the begin the blossoming of the fruits okay the formation of of of the fruit start to happen for the new new year that what should we be motivated when we see those those blossoming those almond trees blossoming what should we be motivated at the same time we have the opportunity to experience what a reinvigoration of Torah in the winter when the days are shorter and it's dark right we might become depressed we might become less excited about our we might become less excited about Li T says as quoted by the by that on this day when we see begin to see in the winter when we begin to see those blossoms starting the form on the on the almond trees and the other trees okay what happens that we also should feel a sense of renewal and Rejuvenation and our enthusiasm for Li T and really we have to recognize that when we recommit ourselves to Li Tor and have renewed excitement for Li that's also says the going to in parallel strengthen the that we receive meaning how when hasem gives us those Reigns if we show our appreciation excitement enthusiasm then that's going to help spread the blessings throughout throughout the world the word by the way every time we said a word really is related to the the idea of of of abundance so every we recite by this is I think the ra says this is every time we recite the word we are basically bringing more abundance into the world it's not only an expression of our but it become we become the the pipeline mystically metaphysically to bring further blessing and fow it's a further blessing into our world okay often we only see the the branch the proverbial branches and the fruits of the tree but by reciting those braas and experiencing that renewal and that renewed enthusiasm and when we have that when we have that heightened perspective then we can begin to see so to speak the entire tree we can feel we can begin to see hashem's presence of Hashem is the proverbial tree of Life the source of all life if we see in nature if we see in the everyday we see in the mundane around us if we able to condition ourselves to see the Yem it's as if what we're standing on the proverbial tree of life itself okay that's the or yahu it's a beautiful idea that on this day of tat not only do we celebrate and show our appreciation for all the renewal of nature but it should be an impetus for us when we see those things to be inspired and experience a new re heightened and a new enthusiasm once again for Li okay we're now gonna hear from Rabbi mosha wolson mosha Wilson passed away just less than a year ago just a few months ago and he was the longtime Mas in yes in Brooklyn we spoke how RAB we just learned from was a Rosa for many years for several decades in tvas um RAB mosha Wilson was a long time who just passed away about less than a year ago he was also a little bit of that he had a a following called um called is he had a large community in in barar Brooklyn where he lived he also has a large a large community of here in Israel betar Elite and he is an absolute Master teacher of all the mystical ideas in the VAR and his far are called and we're gonna learn a small beautiful piece from the rabbi Wilson text number five on our sheets list where Rabbi Wilson says here when arrives listen this what happens on tuat maybe not so much so here in Israel but certainly in okay the trees have almost no leaves on them right they're they look dead in the depths of winter they're covered with proverbial white burial shrouds meaning the snow that covers the branches of the trees clarts he Likens them to the proverbial white burial shrouds and then he says at that moment he says at that moment in the midst in the depths of winter when the trees look like they're dead like they're wearing the proverbial Burial shrouds at that moment that's when the the sap starts to flow on CE again in the trees and they come back to life and they experience freshness once again that's why we take on this day of we take fruits because it reminds us that we're likened human beings are likened to the tree of the field and that the Jewish people are collect called The Orchard of hem and the planting of his hand we recite over those fruits we recite afterwards because when we do that we're not only acknowledging that Hashem gave us that fruit what are we doing we're giving praise to and credit to Hashem for for giving life and renewal to the Jewish people as well to humanity as well and let's recognize that we're exactly 30 days to L per which is a y of salvation of the Jewish people okay and with that's 30 days before for p okay which is also the salvation and birth of the nation of isra from P we begin to prepare for what count the counting down to the aome of where we receive the Torah okay okay and he says that what happened that at that moment we we stood at SI we heard hashem's voice speaking amongst the the flames and we were reinvigorated we came back to life okay he says from starting until sh we don't have two weeks that pass we don't have a day where we don't recite or we okay you have KES you have P you have throughout the whole process the whole period we have constantly every two weeks there's a a day where there's at least some semblance of yam okay and therefore and he says and that's we have to focus on meaning this past shabas and shab before that at that moment when we went forth from we and we saw the the sea split before us and we burst out into song we transform that all all the Mel Melancholy and depression we experienced all those years that we were enslaved in MIT and from that moment forward we're we're only experiencing Sim and salvation and and and bless okay so Rabbi Wilson says in this beautiful piece that t comes in the depths of the winter where the days might be shorter darker colder and all of a sudden in the midst of all that you know proverbial darkness and even we might even think there were that the trees are all dead all of a sudden the trees come back to life and it's meant to what simultaneously reinvigorate us okay we might be depressed because it's cold we might not want to leave our house to go learn Torah but despite that despite it was a cold rainy day all of you get because you came to learn Torah on this day of you experience that renewal that his that Rabbi Wilson speaks about this beautiful piece okay not g to go back about a century we're gonna learn from the reab of chov okay a beautiful idea from chov and this is text number six on our sheet when a person takes a fruit in their hands they're required they really should contemplate this about the fruit how is it that this fruit came into existence how does this fruit even exist zor says the re that you planted someone planted a seed in the ground and that seed decayed in the ground okay and only after SE is almost completely disintegrated and almost completely decayed and it's almost like nothing as yam and only at that last moment after that seed is almost completely decayed that it begins to sprout and then it blossoms and becomes a tree that can bear fruit so to the human being says the re even though a human being is meant a Jew in this case is meant to what be able to to personify good values and do and learn Torah okay anytime that a person has Hess even though they have the capacity to learn toor and do good things if a person is hoty then what happens to our capacity to do good things and learn tah and really and really personify Torah it's lost because become very f on ourselves only if he begins to think of himself as what as not so special there's nothing so great mean doesn't mean we have to but cook says there's a fine line between the anus and making yourself a shata it doesn't mean to to totally make yourself into nothing it means what to not take yourself so seriously okay we have to take a step back sometimes we have to look at the bigger picture and when that happens it's only that moment when we humble ourselves a little bit okay that we can begin to see the big picture and we can grow and become a full-fledged tree of potential bearing perro and of course teach us that the word pre okay is symbolic of what in order for us to really become the tree full of it starts with what humility just as that tree in the field came into existence by first being planted in the ground decaying okay the point of humbling to the point that it's almost doesn't exist and then all of a sudden it becomes this m beautiful tree that bears fruits so too we have to Humble ourselves to put ourselves on the ground not be not be okay and then we can accomplish greatness look at the trees and look how it is how they're planted in the ground we can learn from the tree that if we want to reach the highest Heights it begins first with what being humble okay so just to review so far we've introduced some several beautiful ideas about this idea of cubish which kind of comes back to our opening question in terms of relationship to the more familiar rash of Tish where we have all these things of of humility of of forgiveness of renewal of rededication in Torah of coming close to Hashem we see through all these beautiful toras that we learned together so far this afternoon that this day of tuat is very very much so in parallel in in in in in consistent with the themes of rashash that we associate with the more familiar rashash of TI we're now gonna take this in a very different direction to close and we're gon to learn from one of my spiritual Heroes we're gonna learn from the rebat theal ofat rebob Freeman of hasatan who came on alah Isel he arrived in 1938 he lives the last 19 years of his life in downtown Tel Aviv um until very recently theat even though there's not been a Reby of hoton since his son passed away I think in 19772 or something like that early 70s the Theo continued to function in downtown Tel Aviv on 19 biik Street downtown Tel Aviv till about five or six years ago um and there's construction going on in that area they left the frame of where the B midrash used to be I don't know if they're going to eventually redo a sh at the bottom of it but now they're building some large Tower you know there there around it um but uh what's amazing about this particular rebi is that he comes in aliad 1938 okay of course just he escapes Poland just ahead of the Nazis yak and again the last 19 years of his life which is where all the most the teachings in in the safer that we have of his teachings uh kind of give us a glimpse into those 19 years those 19 years are some of the most challenging years in Jewish history you have the years of the shaah you have the battle both in terms of warfare as well as diplomatically for the establishment of the state of Israel you have the early years after the founding of the state of Israel which were not so comfortable to live here you know we live bar and we're here today and our known of this beautiful modern neighborhood in every one of us has one of these things right that wasn't the case people were still living in 10 cities okay in the in the 1950s and so what's incredible about his saf is two things first of all he gives us a glimpse often in many of his different and and contextualizes many of his different in terms of what's going on at that moment in Jewish history during that kufan Jewish history that's the first thing the second thing that's amazing is that he is lovingly referred to as the Admore the Zionist adore is a that not only is speaks positively about the Enterprise of building the state of Israel but he speaks positively about the secular Zionist and always has sees strives to see the good in what's H unfolding around him so we're going to learn a beautiful Torah from the the Reb ofat and the ohal yov okay this is text number seven on our sheets and this is part of the transcript of what he shared on tub bishvat on the night of tub bishvat in 1951 in t Aviv okay his forish he says he quotes the opbi okay the O the F the one of the early great Masters who's an ancestor of his he says he was particular to say that the M doesn't call this y of the trees or rather that it's the meaning the tree not the trees so he says but it would seem that that's grammatically incorrect it really we should say what rash for the trees he says but the after re explain this the M as follows referring much like the that we learned earlier talking about what the Tree of Life the source of the all the souls of Israel meaning from okay the that bestows within every single one of us flows all the good deeds that are in the heart of a Jew and these Good Deeds can be called what fruits and therefore when we when we sit and we conduct ourselves the custom to eat many fruits on this day of we should be reminded also of the symbolism of the of the word and therefore what not only should we eat a lot of fruit but what we should do a lot of good things okay we should be and and he says and even We're not gonna do them the very least say we're going to rededicate ourselves to to doing more good in the world okay it's not just about eating a lot of fruit on this day but what seeing it as a as a day to commit ourselves to to bring more of the proverbial fruits of into the world and when we do that then certainly we'll be making a great fixing in all the worlds in all the Realms so that's how he begins now he's gonna say okay but the minut gets to eat a lot of listen to this he says but the mid the custom to eat a lot of fruits he says we can't do it right now it's 1951 in Tel Aviv okay we we're not able to fulfill this Mitzvah because a lot of the fruits that that we would be accustomed to eating they they're just not available to us in the winter in in in the winter in those [Music] days say the various fruits that that the Torah uses to praise erel they're not growing now in can we talk about ER being a land forming of milk and honey and the and the shivat meaning the seven species these things don't exist in in to our great P throughout the entire time of our Exile Eric Isel ceased to be a land flowing with milk and honey to our great despair the quash it ceased flowing [Music] mil but the reason for this isem says I will make the land Barren what is that talking about and that it's a reference to the Future when the Jewish people will not be in a Israel what will happen when the Jews are not there the land will cease producing produce okay it's gonna become Barren so therefore this p is Aid it's a good sign for the Jewish people that our enemies when they take the land from us they'll never find success here in the land okay rat desire was that what that nature itself would testify of the inextricable bond between the Jewish people and our land No Other Nation no other people would find success here in terms of the produce the land is meant to bring forth okay only only Jewish people could find this could find that success and that promise and Hashem made it so that throughout the entire 2,000 years that we were in galut the land ceased bearing those fruits it was Barren okay now he says but now this again we said in the introduction he's the that he sees the state of Israel as something miraculous and important he says and now after we experienced hash's miraculous Redemption okay but we've seen the reestablishment of a Jewish Nation here in ER Israel he sees the establishment of the state of Israel as something miraculous as part of hashem's salvation of the Jewish people and perhaps now the time has finally comeing come the Israel will once again return to being a land flowing milk honey okay he says it's true that the great kindnesses that hem has bestowed us bringing us to this land and allowing us to establish the state that's only the beginning of our Redemption the full Redemption that we're really longing for it still has because even the sign that we're meant to see that will promise US that that ultimate Redemption of messiah's just around the corner we don't see what is that what's the sign that he's talking about when the land returns to being a land flowing with milk and honey when the produce of the AR is returns to in in abundance the Isel that'll be the sign that Mia is just around the corner when er returns to producing its beautiful produce it sweet produce okay it bides with the kadua of the the land of there that will be the sin that the G is just around the corner my friends 75 years after the rebi said these beautiful words on a tu bishvat night of tub bishvat in Tel Aviv where there was no fruit available he said there's no none of the fruits that we are accustomed to and associate with a Israel were available to 75 years later barash we take a walk into any Mak okay take a walk into any Supermarket take a walk famously said if you want to you want to speak to God you go you you go to the kotel and you pour your heart at the kotel if you want to see the Y you go to and you see the Redemption unfolding before our very eyes my friends as we commemorate this beautiful day this awesome day of tat let's take to heart all these beautiful ideas let's see this in a day of renewal of Rejuvenation of reinvigoration of coming to life in our and in our and our Li Torah but let's also acknowledge the great gifts of ER is coming home to to coming back to life after 2,000 years when it was Barren that once again the land of Israel is indeed full of the fruits for which it's praised and for which it's known and as the reaban says so beautifully and that is the Simmon that what that the G is just around the corner you hear some may we be blessed as we emide those fruits full of kadha and sweetness and and the fruits of may we indeed be blessed also the GRE M as we know that Kula is just around the corner