Modern Masters: The Keys are in Our Hands | Rabbi Sam Shor | June 30 2026

All right, good afternoon everyone. So just uh continuing along the theme. I know that both Rabbi Pearlo this morning and Rabbi Golden this morning spoke about these days that we're about to enter into the day of beginning with the this coming Thursday, the fast of Shiva Sabatamus and what we call the three weeks which follow leading up to Tishaba. And we and I know that both Rabbi Pllo and Rabbi Golden touched on the various calamities and tragic events that have befallen the Jewish people traditionally beginning with the 17th of Tamuz continuing through these three weeks and of course culminating in the 9th of A. So I'll I won't do that whole Khazar because because you've already heard two sharim on on that topic already. But I I'll just say one very important nuda and that is that as much as these three weeks that we're about to enter into are meant to focus us and and and encourage us to reflect on the tragic events of the past and and fixing those tragic events that it's also meant to channel within us the idea of looking forward to a brighter tomorrow to a better future. And that's really that's really the balance that we navigate during these three the tension that we navigate during this entire three weeks of on one hand reflecting on the tragedies of the past and think about what are the messages that we're meant to glean from reflecting on those tragic events in terms of fixing and bettering our situation. But ultimately we're it's about what looking ahead to a brighter tomorrow. It's not just about reflecting on the tragic events of the past but looking ahead to brighter tomorrow. So with that as our introduction we're going to jump right in our sheets text number one our sheets. This is a very very challenging gamarra that some of us may have learned together in the past. Okay, this is Gamar at the end of Makanit where where the in of course I saw again I saw the earlier source sheets the earlier source sheets you you you learned some of these garas in the end of Msakani which are related to these fast days but we're going to learn one that was not on the earlier source sheets and it's one that's very troubling at face value and we're going to try to unpack it and think about what is the message for us what is the take-home message we're meant to get from this agata from this tr face value troubling story and most specifically what is the message we're meant to focus on these next three weeks as we look ahead um both from Shivas tamuz all the way up to and beyond. Okay so let's jump right in the gamaris rabbis taught from when the time of the first the destruction of the first temple small groups, okay? Few different groups of the young. Now, when we when we learn an agic parable, okay, we have to look for the clues in terms of unpacking what the message of an agy many many on the on the very ag tell us that agath are not necessarily meant to be taken literally. Okay, that goes by the way it goes across the gamut between the like the more the thuanian school of thought the granum to the mafar like like all of them come out the rebi come out come out all of the say that an agat need not be taken literally doesn't mean that none of the agatode are literal but it means that aatode these rabbitic parables need not be taken literally And what's the most classic example perhaps of that? The story of Arau. If we just think about Aramino at the age of three years old walking into his father's professional idol shop and destroying all the idols. Now between you and me, we have uh we we have an almost 12-year-old Bitser girl at home. So it's quite possible that a three-year-old child could walk into their father's studio and make a little bit, you know, father's study and make a little bit of a mess in that study. oven but the that that that it would be motivated from a sense of that that Aram at three years old realized that a votar is a problem and the so again a need not be taken literally rather kazal incorporate and crypt within the various hakic uh literature of the Talmud these stories okay in order to emphasize some sometimes one sometimes many different layers of a take-home message for us that are encrypted in these zagatode. So the first clue here, okay, the first clue here is the fact that it says that these are the young. Okay, so we're going to come back to idea. So let's just now let's just go further. Our rabbis taught that from at the time of the f destruction of the first temple, they gathered groups of the young, the young priests and the keys to the to the mikdash were in their hands. They held on to the keys of the mikdash and they went up to the roof of the mdash and they said before master of the universe since we did not live up to our the charge that you have given us since we did not merit to fulfill fully the mission you had given us of be of safeguarding the enterprise of the base of mikdash because and of safeguarding because the entire city is being destroyed before us. We're going to give these keys to the B mikdash back to you. Okay? And they threw the keys up into the air. Now listen again. We we spoke about how a need not be taken literally. Now this is going to be this it's going to be come obvious to us why this particular god should not be taken literally. Why? Because that the proverbial hand of god appeared in the sky and took the keys from them. Okay. And they were shocked by what they saw. Pretty shocking imagery that the proverbial hand of God would appear in the sky and they kind of faint and they fall down into the flames below. Very troubling though. Okay. Troubling number one because obviously what does it mean that the proverbial hand of God appeared? Troubling just in terms of understanding what the message might be. but troubling in terms if we take this at face value. It seems that what not only are those young priests giving up any hope, but they're basically saying we're finished and we're just going to give it all back to you. We're finished. So what is the message of this? What are we meant to learn from this? Okay, it can't simply be that these priests, okay, these young kanim, okay, perish because they give up hope. That's what it looks like at face value. But it must mean that there's a take-home message for us that we're need that we need to unpack encrypted within the sagata. We're going to come back to that question. Okay. Now, we're going to look at another very very famous. Okay, this is one that we all know. Okay, the ina and the second mdash. Okay. Where the Jews were involved in all kinds of beautiful mitzvah. They they kept mitzvah in terms of the letter of the law and they even were kind did acts of kindness towards one another. But there was something missing though. Okay. Why was it destroyed? that even though there were those within Jewish society who kept the letter of the law and even were kind there was even acts of kindness that existed amongst and within the community. There was also a problem and that is what what we call. So what is all we all of us know how to define this unbridled unwarranted hatred but what does that really mean? What does that expression of unwarranted hatred really mean? And especially especially if the Gomorrah comes out spells out for us that the Jews basically kept they kept to the the laws of Torah for the most part they kept the letter of the law. They even were kind to one another sometimes. Okay. >> The question is what is okay and that's another question that we'll come back to and that we need to address. So to begin to to begin to try to understand all this, we're going to learn as we typically do in this class from a number of masters of Jewish law and we're going to start the first master Jewish law that we're going to learn from the first of our modern masters is Rabbi Abram Shaw. Rabbi Ramshore. Okay. He wrote a beautiful set of his swarm are known as and inu Rabbi Ramshure speaks about what these months of tamuz and av are really all about. What is the work we need to do during these months of tamuz and av and this is text number three on our sheets if you take a look. Okay. And this this is the words the words of Rabbi Ramshaw. Okay. Both Rabbi Golden and Rabbi Pearllo earlier spoke about the the five things that occurred, okay, in Jewish history, the tragic events that occurred in Jewish history. the tragic mistakes that occurred in Jewish history, the the calamities that befell the Jewish people on the 17th and on tab that were but all involved in the foretelling that these days would be tragic days in our history. So these days of the month of Tamuz Nav are meant to fix these earlier some of these earlier tragedies and misdeeds. Okay? and he's going to spell out now for us a couple of them specifically. The first tragic event, okay, that that that that we need to try to fix and overcome. The first tragic mistake is the mistake of the Moragi. The mistaken ragnim the story of the ragnim takes place says shore during these days from the 17th of tamuz into the beginning of a and this is this was a foretelling right that sets the stage for the future destruction that would unfold generations later. Okay. And what was the He's gonna explain what was their mistake. It was so tragic. It was a sin, a transgression of pagamon, a a using the power of speech. Okay. Deficiently, a deficiency in proper use of the power of speech. They came back and they spoke inappropriately about Israel. They had the capacity to come back and speak about and praise the land but instead they focus on the shortcomings of the land rather than emphasizing the praises of the land. as the Gar tells us oh now he's going to help us define and and understand our second gam right the yuma told us that the second base of mish was destroyed because of when we translated that is unwarranted hatred so what's how does brah sure help us define that any unwarranted hatred comes as the result what is it rooted in? It's rooted in a pagam a deficiency in speech. Okay. When we speak ill of someone else and then that that that that ill spe that inappropriate speech is then transmitted to another person and then it gets transmitted to another person and then suddenly the entire community is whispering about X Y and Z. That is the root of what we call unwarranted hatred. as our teach us that the beginning of all hatred. Okay. All animosity stems from one simple act and that is what? The act of accepting lash. When we accept when we when we listen to inappropriate speech and we then accept it meaning we take it in as as being something that that we should think about and be aware of and then maybe we share it with others. That's the root of all hatred and al and other manifestations of deficiency of speech. And therefore the work that we need to do during these three weeks and this time of the year is what? To work to improve any deficiencies in the way we speak. the way we speak to each other, the way we speak about one another, how we listen, the things we listen to about one another, all those deficiencies in these are the things that we're meant to work on specifically during these three weeks. So that's the first idea. Okay. Now, we're going to learn another Gar. Okay. One that we're also probably familiar with. Text number four said at after 120 plus years on this earth when a person goes up to and he's going to be judged in they'll say to him inimat did you engage trust in honestly in business okay did you set aside regular times to study Torah did you come every Tuesday morning to learn Torah, right? Did you try to the best of your capacity to what? To bring life into this world. So the based on these first three things that are being asked being asked by when after the age of 120 when a when an gets to shayim basically we're being asked did you contribute in some way to improving the world around you to making the world a better place? Were you honest in your business dealings? Okay. Were did you set aside time to to to learn Torah and and share Torah with others and bring the Torah into the world, the wisdom and holiness of Torah into the world? And did you do everything you could to bring life into this world? Seemingly, did you contribute to making the world a better place? But that all of a sudden tacked on at the end is an idea that seems at face value to be totally unconnected. And that is what lehua did you anticipate salvation redemption which seems to be a reference to mashia. So what does it mean Yeshua to anticipate redemption and how does that fit with the other ideas of which we said seem to suggest what contributing to making the world a better place. So how does our longing for Messiah, how does our anticipating that Mashiach could come, okay, how does that contribute in the same way towards making the world a better place? We're going to come back to that question in a moment. Of course, we know that one of the Yimar of the Rama, one of the Rambam's 13 essentials of of Amuna is the one that's probably the one that we're most familiar with that can roll right off our tongues is text number five here. Many of us had the practice to say to recite these 13 after each morning. And number 12, I believe with complete and perfect faith in the coming of Mashiach. And even though he seems to be taking his time to get here, even though he seems to be taking his time, I wait for him. I anticipate I long for him to come every single day. Now, we all know this. We even know the various beautiful nigunim that have been, you know, that that these words have been put to and song. But I'm going to ask you a question and be honest with yourselves. You don't have to be say you don't have to raise your hand. But I'm gonna ask a question. How many of us when we wake up wake up in the morning? How many of us we wake up in the morning look ourselves in the mirror and say Mashiah's going to come today? How many of us honestly? Okay. So, how many of us wake up every day? How many of us even give a a passing moment throughout our day that today Mashiach is going to come? Okay, I don't want I don't want to put anyone on the spot, but I venture to guess because I see the see from the blank expressions that I'm looking at. I venture to take a guess. They're probably very few of us. All right, so >> the events of the last two years have been >> okay with you. I was actually gonna say suggest that but but before we go there but you're right before we go there. So there's a beautiful story that's told about the great rashiva and the story again it's apocryphal story it's been written up in a number of stories about about sadikim. So I'll just share this story. I don't know. I can't tell much like some of the agata that we learned together today. I can't tell you that this story absolutely happened or that has to be taken as factual. But clearly there's a message that's to be gleaned from the story. So let me just share the story. So the story goes like this that one arabis was sitting and learning in his in his home study. He wasn't in the base med. She was sitting in his house and learning in his study. and his wife comes into the study and says, "I'm going out to the to the market. I have they got a few more things for Shabas in a which is in a couple hours, but I'm leaving the soup to boil on the stove." Okay, the soup is cooking on the stove. Just do me a favor. Keep an eye on the soup that it shouldn't boil over, shouldn't get ruined. He says, "Okay." He goes back to his learning. His rabbitson goes off to to the market. Sure enough, after a few moments hears a big commotion coming from the streets and he goes out to his balcony to look to see what's going on. What's this commotion all about? And he hears coming from the streets, Mashiachu is here. Mashiach is here. Come greet Mashiach. And Raim immediately runs to his closet and he wants to put on his Shabas cloak, his Shabas kapata in order to go greet Mashiah Sakenu. You have greet Mashia Sakenu in your in your house clothes that you're sitting around in. You go and you put on your finest outfit. So Raim runs to the runs to the to the closet to find his shabas kapata and he start he puts it on and as he's about to button the kapata he's stunned to see that it's missing his buttons and he begins to panic. How can I greet my cenu if my shabas kapata is missing his missing buttons? He begins to cry and he's frozen. And the only that finally snaps him out of being fro that state of being frozen is when he hears his wife's voice call and say, "What happened? I told you to keep an eye on the soup. It boiled over. It's completely boiled out. It's ruined. Where did you go? What happened was so in the moment of this idea of believing that Mashia could come at any moment. Yeshua and that could bring the gula at the blink of an eye that when that thought entered his mind at that moment he was totally there. He went into this trance and imagined that he heard a commotion from the streets that mash he went to this daydream that there was a commotion in the streets that Mashiach had come lived with every moment this idea of Mashiach could come at the blink of an eye. So again a challenge for us. What does it mean to anticipate Mashiach? What does it mean that after 120 years plus on this earth when we get to Shmayan we're going to be challenged? Did you anticipate Mashiach? Did you long for and anticipate Mashiach? And what does it mean for us therefore to to that we need to work on? How do we work on how do we condition ourselves to get to that headsp space? So now we're going to learn from our second ma modern master of of this afternoon. We're going to learn from the Niva Shalom of the son of again who died in the year 2000. So he's also very very much a contemporary. This is text number six on our sheets. We learn it's found in our we learn from when they after 120 when we go up to they're going to ask us arg they're going to ask us did you set aside time for Torah vitua okay did you anticipate salvation kasher the garra here is talking about who a a Jew who believes Okay. Totally. Shambiasha, a Jew who's committed and seemingly puts aside time to learn Torah. He's involved in and despite this, they still ask him what did you anticipate redemption? Because the shila that's asked is not is not simply do you believe in the concept of Mashiach. Do you believe intellectually that there could be such an experience of Mashiach? But did you watch rather did you anticipate and long for and wait every moment in the coming of Mashiach which is ultimately the entire purpose for us coming into this world is to what is to somehow harbor and move the world forward in order that what we should be ready to bring the energy of Mashiach into the world and this idea is one of the fundamental questions that a personality that is going to be asked after they leave this world. Just as the question of did you set aside regular time to learn Torah is a fundamental of fundamentals. So too is the question of did you anticipate and long for mechu because this longing for messiah is one of the fundamental ideas that needs to be rooted in the hearts of a Jew. Just as we wake up in the morning and we know we have to dive in, just as we wake up in the morning and we know to get stuck, just as we wake up in the morning and we know we have to learn Torah, one of the fundamental ideas has to be we wake up in the morning, we say we everything we do today has to be in the merit that hopefully we will be able to bring forth a great Messiah. And just as just as we could say and explain that a lack of longing for redemption is also what therefore a fundamental lacking in the understanding of what it means that Mashiach will come and that and and not only that and the fundamental lacking of the purpose of our being here in existence. There's even a beyond all that which is that's you know that's in and of itself is something we need to work on and accept but beyond all that there's more that what is it what is the power what gives what has the power to bring the thing that we're longing for the fact that what that we believe it's possible we believe wholeheartedly that m that Mashiach could come in our days. Okay? And if we believe if we do so, if we do believe it, then that means it creates the re the spiritual energy that it's possible that we will be able to see that redemption. But if we don't believe it, if we're dismissive about this idea, oh, Mashiah's never going to come. We're not going to see Mashiach in our days. It's never going to happen in our days. We're nowhere near it in our days. If that's our energy, then God forbid we could be what? We could be the ones that are causing Mashiach's delay. And this is what teaches in the through the merit of faith, our ancestors were redeemed from. And through the merit of faith, we will be redeemed again in the future. We're going to take questions at the end as we always do. and says the son of can be an impediment to bringing that redemption. But this is an idea this is not new to us. This idea we've shared many many times in our in our classes together. this idea that's found in many many probably the most famous example I can think of a is something we've shared for sure in this class and that is this the you know on leer we talk about we talk about matzah right in two places on leer we talk about matzah the beginning of the seder we say we say the mi begins with the words this matzah is the bread of affliction okay of poverty, the poor man's rations, the slave's rations that our ancestors ate in mit that's how the sed begins and later on towards the end of the mi just before we finally get to eat that you know chicken soup right so what what what is what do we say towards the end of the mi rail tells us that there are three things you need to speak about matzah and what does rail in in describing matzah how does he contextualize the mitzvah of matzah on the le why do we eat matzah Not to recall the slaves rations that our ancestors ate when they were enslaved, but rather to recall that the Jewish people left very quickly and they didn't have time to allow their bread to rise. So of course the question has to be asked, so which is it? Is it do we eat matzah to recall the slaves rations? Do we eat matzah to recall the fact that we had to leave very quickly? So the answer is both. And Rosara Kakon of the Blin famously says the answer is both. But asked a second a follow-up question to that. He says he says let me ask a question. If after 210 years if we accept the first interpretation that matzah represents the slaves rations that this is all they had to eat for 210 years was basically this this matzah this flat cardboard looking piece of of matzah. And now they've seen all these miraculous events. Hashem has demonstrated. He's got their back in such a a an unbelievable way in a way he's we've never seen in in the history of humanity up until that point. Okay. Maybe maybe we've seen it now the past few years. We've seen similar glimpses of that miraculous yadashem. Okay. But up till that point that Hashem has clearly demonstrated that he has the back our backs. He did all these miraculous things and and Hashem is clearly going to take us out of his and for 210 years all we've had to the only bread we've had to eat is this matzah. So we're finally going to go free. We can't let that we don't have we don't take the time to let that bread re rise for another 15 minutes, another 20 minutes. So instead of eating that matzah once again that we've had for the past 210 years we could finally eat a nice you know a nice bila roll or or a marble rye or something right so so what's says so let's throw answer he says sometimes the bar brings us windows of opportunity windows to experience opportunities to experience salvation and if we're in the right headsp space if we condition ourveselves and believe that those windows can indeed open up before us at any moment. That when those windows open up before us, we're ready to jump right through those windows and experience gula. The Jew Jews who were about to leave Mitsim, they saw that Hashem was going to take them forth. They were going to experience a miracle. And rather than dillydally and take their time and let the bra bread rise a few more minutes, when they saw that window of salvation open up before them, says Rok, they jump through the proverbial window. And the Musa for all of us is when Hashem opens those windows of salvation before us, are we going to be in the headsp space to see those windows opening before our very eyes? Are we going to be in denial and say, "Oh, we're it's never going to happen in our days." And that's exactly the message what the Rabbi is saying here that if if we're in the right headsp space and we condition ourselves to anticipate that redemption that it could come literally at any moment that when Hashem brings those opportunities, we'll be ready. But if we kind of are dismissive, maybe that dis being dismissive will cause us either to miss those opportunities when they present themselves or even worse prevent from bestowing those opportunities upon us. Okay, so we're going to take this a little a little bit further now. Let's take a look at text number seven. We're going to learn from Rabbi Nakman. says the following. He's gonna quote another mashiach. Okay. Mashia is not going to arrive until what? Until the coin falls from the key from the pocket. What does that mean? It's a strange expression in the garra. So what does that mean? Explain what that means. What needs to happen? We have to have an elimination of what? The heretics who don't believe in miracles and they try to cover and explain all the miraculous events by the laws of nature. What prevents Msiah from happening and says Rabbi okay because there's a because there are people of the world that try to explain all the miraculous events that transpire throughout Jewish history within the context of oh we have a strong army or we have a great government oh the United States has a strong army you said this earlier okay if we don't see the yadashem in the past couple of years that we've lived Okay, then we're missing this is exactly the point of this entire says what is going to cause us to finally welcome a senu when the heretics the skeptics finally finally what give up their skepticism and acknowledge okay and embrace the unknown and acknowledge that kajbu can indeed does indeed bring miracles can bring miracles any sing at every single moment and be ready and we have to be ready to embrace those miracles. Okay, >> it's hard to believe that he come but the heretics are disbelievers are going to all of a sudden turn around. It's about it's about getting rid of them by the way because we also say in our hearts right that the this the it's not it doesn't mean that the the the transgressors will be eliminated from the world but what their transgressions will will cease in the world. So it doesn't mean that they're going to be eliminated. It means that what they're finally going to come around they're going to do chuva. We believe we do we believe every single Jew can do ch and will do now the famous now this is a very difficult statement we all know this statement any generation that did not merit to build the ba mdash in their days they're considered as if what they destroyed the bas mikdash in their days which is a very challenging challenging idea that even in generations where they've many many sadik throughout the generations throughout the different generations of the Jewish people that didn't merit to see the bikdash be rebuilt but they're considered how do we understand this kamar it's considered as if the b midash was destroyed in their days and before we answer this and then we're going to bring this all together hopefully if I do my job correctly we know that we dive in three times a day every single day we say text number nine The city of will be re returned speedily, okay, with Hashem's compassion and we'll be able to dwell within it as you've promised us as you've spoken to us and it will be rebuilt speedily in our days eternal be eternally built and the will return once again speedily for to to be that then there'll a king dwelling upon that that blessed is you God who builds you. So most of us read that expression it should be speedily built in speedily in our days but you could read that expression slightly differently. As a matter of fact, the Reb does read that slightly differently and we're going to see that in text number 10. Okay. How does he build you? Okay. Okay. It doesn't mean that it should be built in our days, but rather through our days, with our days. Okay. How is built? It's built what are the bricks, so to speak? Each of our how we spend our days because every single day that Jew is involved in aem all in accordance with his capability. mdash. We are actively involved in what? Building in the mdash. There are some of us that are able in one day to what? Build a complete wall. The bdash while others what are only able to place one proverbial brick every day. And that is how the work of a Jew theem of every single Jew contributes to the building of mikdash one. Sometimes it's one brick at a time. Sometimes it's a whole wall at a time. Sometimes it might be we're taking a halfa but slowly but surely through our hashem we will bring the bu complete building speedily in our days. Just to bring this all together, we began with a troubling agata and we asked the question, what is the take-home lesson of that troubling agata of the young khan? the Davka the the key to understanding the two keys to understanding the idea number one that they have the keys in their hands and that they're the youth meaning the future of the Jewish people are in their hands so to speak the future of the B mikdash okay are in our hands the bar gives us with the subsequent generations thousands of years since this story the keys were given to us the keys so to speak, the proverbial keys are in our hands. How we spend these days of the three weeks, okay, could be the difference between whether or not we're z to see the md be built to greet mashia or shalom we will remain longing for mashiach. What does it mean to anticipate mashiach? We spoke about this idea that it's not enough to just have to have this idea intellectually in our in our minds and hearts, but rather we have to recognize and believe wholeheartedly that at any moment indeed can bring the the the Yeshua. Therefore, during these three weeks, we have to work very very hard on our amuna and recognize that God forbid could be exactly the impediment that prevents Mashiach from arriving. And lastly, lastly we talked about and then we learned that the root of all is the and okay the deficiency in using the great power of speech for inappropriate ways and therefore therefore we one of the most important things we need to work on during these three weeks is how we use our speech. Just want to close with one last idea from the pit saddic the preublin who we mentioned just a few moments ago. He says there's another clue to understanding what we're meant to work on during these three weeks. If we take a look at the three haftarot the three special haftarot that we read during these three weeks. The first haftar that we'll read this coming shabas begins with the words yahu. Okay the words of yahu. The second haftar that we'll read in two weeks begins with the word listening heeding the word of God. And the third haft the vision of says the recipe is encrypted. Our our our God has spelled out for us exactly the three things we need to work on during these three weeks. Number one, we have to work on our words, our speech. Number two, we have to work on our filter in terms of the things we listen to and accept. And most importantly, perhaps we have to work on our vision. Not doesn't mean, you know, getting our glasses checked. It means what? How do we choose to see the world? How do we choose to see what's unfolding folding before us? Do we only see those that things that are lacking and missing and become negative and complain and therefore give up hope? Or do we seek opportunities to acknowledge the good to see the miraculous in every single moment and in so doing be strengthened our ama and be to indeed be able to greet Mashiau uh in the days ahead. My braha for all of us as we prepare for these days of the three weeks is that indeed we should take to heart all these powerful messages that we should see these days of three weeks not solely as a time of sadness and reflecting on on the difficulties and calamities of the past but rather as an opportunity for us to work on ourselves to bring others closer to Torah to begin to see the good in one another and see a brighter tomorrow. Have a great week.