Rav Kook: Between Israel and the Nations by Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider

topic this morning I think is a uh is one that is in Yana Yoma that is very appropriate for this morning we're coming off of the elections last night in the United States and we're hearing the news this morning and um what we're going to be looking at this morning is a fascinating topic and that is the topic of the Jew and the Gentile world the relationship between the Jewish Community the Jewish world and the uh the greater world the Greater Community that is around us it's a fascinating topic and uh ruk I believe has uh a unique insight and unique D position when it comes to to this topic that we're going to see in uh in our share this morning so we're going to begin also talking about inoma the uh sort of the the topic of the day we have this week's paraa and this is really I believe the place to start in terms of the discussion of what it means for a Jew to be a part of the the bigger world around us this is a p that I think we're all familiar with but I'm not sure if we've kind of taken the time to think about the uh the import of this PK and what it has to say to us as a people so we all know the story the story of AR ainu Aram is called by God to come to land of Israel and he comes to the land of Israel and as we make our way through the paraa Hashem turns to Abraham and says that I'd like you to change your name which is interesting to have a change of name and here we're looking at the very first Source on the sheet God spoke to Abraham saying the following I am making a covenant with you now that in itself should be a little bit of a surprise because I thought avam was the father of the Jewish Nation and here God comes along and says I'd like you to be the father of many nations Hong and here we have the following P this is no longer will your name be Abraham I'm going to change your name your name is going to be Abraham you are to be the father of many nations so here we see something which is so important about the life of Abraham and by the way if we're talking about a change of name we're talking about a change of the very essence the very mission of Abraham what is it that you that you represent that is your name right what is it that defines you and Hashem says what defines you what your mission is is to be a father to honim what does the hey represent in Abraham he didn't have it was abah and now we have that addition Abraham the he what is the he what is hamon exactly that it represents you're not just the father of the Jewish people I want you to be the father of all Nations and this is what the gamar says this is the gamar Bros Second Source on the sheet this is y gim gim at the very beginning the beginning of his life the role of ab that he was the father to Aram to a particular people to a particular Nation called aramas that you are to be the father to the entire world and not only do we have as we all know now the name change when it comes to AR but Sarah as well s s that you have the change to SAR what does that change mean that she was a s or S what is the word SAR mean actually what is a sar we have it in modern Hebrew a prince A Min princess a princess you're right princess so she was the princess she was the leader of a particular group of a particular Nation what does s mean that she is going to now be a leader she's going to be a role model for the entire world the and then the gamar goes on to say the following that it's actually a serious transgression if you say aam if you call aam abam and not Abraham look at what the gamar says continuing the same passage T anyone who calls Abraham over that's considered to be a transgression of a positive command over no it's not only in but it's also in it's a transgression of a love of a do not in the Torah so we see something fascinating and I'm not sure if this is what we highlight when we teach parad braid we often talk about ER and again those the other messages of of this par are quite important but this is also a lesson a lesson that what is the role what is the mission of the Jewish people what is the mission of Abraham that we are to be guiding lights not only for our own Nation but for the entire world and the name itself represents that riff cook has the following comment that he makes this is from Anaya R cook has a beautiful work where he comments on the agic sections of the talmud and he writes and I'll just uh kind of summarize the opening we'll read the last few lines in the first paragraph he writes that it's natural for a person to love their own people to love their own Nation the patriotism that we feel the sense of nationalism I think there's at least in uh in America at least half the country is feeling very proud at this moment of of their country of their leadership so that's something that's very natural for a person to feel but it takes someone great and this is what Ru cook writes look at um this is let's go five lines up towards the end of the line we're reading now the words of Rook five lines up from the bottom of the paragraph right in the middle of the uh I have it as number three right a person is not a person who is shal a person of wholeness a person of greatness is not uh is not satisfied with just the goodness and the happiness of his own nation that person wants to bring a Salvation to to all people all people across the world and that's what it means that becomes the and sah becomes the mother figure For All Mankind which is much more than that limited love or passion or care that we have for our own nation and then Rook comments on the second part of the of the gamar the second part of the gamar says that it's an iser that it's a transgression if we use the term a we have to say Abraham look at what ruk writes this is the second column ruk at the very top it's the that that's considered a transgression writes it must be inculcated it must be this is a lesson that must be learned for the Jewish people what is the purpose of our nation and a sense of nationhood or patriotism that we have it's not that we want to only strengthen ourself we want to conquer other you know other nations around us that's not what our patriotism or a love of nation is all about that's true maybe of other nations because they have a great love and a feeling of nationalism what is our nationalism all about what is our concern that we want to build a great nation here in Israel today 7 million strong Jews living in Israel there where we have a government an economy and a great Army what is that all about not only for ourselves do we want to bring the light and the goodness of our nation to be a uh a great influence and a light for others look at what R cook writes this is in a beautiful safer called mid and it goes through the alive and it goes through different characteristics and it begins with AA love and Rook talks about what it means for a Jew to be a loving person what is the Mida and by the way where I to ask that question what does it mean for a Jew to be a person of AA I think for many of us we would say it's loving our fellow man loving God I don't know if we think about love in the sense of loving all Humanity that that's what a Jew at the core at the heart of the Jew look at what R cook writes again I'm not sure if you'll find this in the writings of other great rabbis but he writes the following this is from midot last Source on on your sheet hey the love for all Humanity that's something that needs to be alive that has to be a force in a person's heart and every individual every person there should be an outpouring of love and a love for all the nations of the world that we have a desire that they have success that they should be spiritually and physically materially successful and any hatred is only should be directed towards that which is evil one has an obligation and it's you're not able to attain this level of of love and he quotes the that says give thanks to Hashem declare his name make his acts known among the Nations let his name be known know throughout the world below a deep love that comes from the very root of the uh of the heart and the soul that we have a desire that all nations that there should be goodness that everyone should experience goodness and blessing that all of the Acquisitions of every nation should that there should be success to make life better for all people that is the ultimate goal it goes back to AR ainu and again this is um one of the areas that is unique to the thought of R cook where he emphasizes that this is what it means to be a Jew what it means to be a loving Jew is to love for yes we begin with a love for our fellow Jew but it's a love for all people for all Humanity now here we find something unique in the writings of R cook and that is with the Jewish people returning to the land of Israel that we have the opportunity to fulfill this mission in a way that we have not up to this point and some of you may be thinking or something that I've thought about is why is this not a message that I don't know I don't remember really growing up with this message per se you know the importance of loving all Humanity that what it means to love is to love all nations is to care for all people right people from all walks of life not just Jews so I think part of that is the mentality of the galut of the exile I think it's been difficult for us to kind of play that role loving those around us especially when there's been a lot of anti anti-Semitism where it's been very difficult for us just to just to survive just to live our own Jewish lives to talk about loving uh the others around us our country other countries that's a message I don't know that that I think it's a message that's that has not resonated or has not been easy to uh to accomplish but that is the goal of the Jew and if you look at the following look at page two now this is uh Ru cook writes the following now I mentioned before that he writes a one of one of his most important one of his most beautiful works is a work called Anaya Anaya is a commentary on the AIC sections of the gamar which is more of the philosophic sections the stories of the tud and um in his lifetime he wrote on brot the first m and Shabbat that's all that he covered he covered the first two M of they're in four volumes and it's um again he's commenting on hundreds and hundreds of of passages in the gamarra this is his very first comment that he makes in and I think that's I think that's very very significant um if you're writing a book and and you're thinking about what am I going to start with what's going to be my first message so that's there's there's uh there's something very very important I think every author kind of thinks about how they're going to begin their work so this is the very first comment that R cook makes in an now it's a comment on the very first mishna that's found in the gamar the first mishna says when do we begin when are we allowed to say shma at night that's the that's how gamar begins that's the very first mishna what is the time that one is allowed at what time can one recite the shman the evening and the mishna says the following at the time that the enter their homes and they eat of the truma that's the answer that's given that is the mishna and I'm just quoting the mishna to you now the obvious question is and I'm sure some of you are asking the question or thinking about it well why would you make the time contingent on or kind of use that as the timeline why not just talk about when the three stars we're more familiar with that when the stars come out at night when it gets dark after Shia why does it begin with that and there's a whole discussion around that the gamar itself asked the question ruuk offers the following explanation which is more of a a spiritual teaching that he sees in this and this is classic R cook to see these teachings of the gamarra that there are layers of of understanding and he writes the following and you can follow along with me so this is Ru cook the writing of ruk his very first comment his very first teaching in Anaya so it begins with again the quote from the there are two readings of the reciting the that we do every day they teach us there are two ways that a Jew calls out the name of God we have two readings of the shma we read it at night and we read it in the morning and they both reflect two ways in which we are sharing the teaching of godliness to um to the world around us and I read on at night when we read the we are fulfilling the obligation of that we are accepting the Yoke of God upon ourselves [Music] and then there's another reading of the and that reading the shma is for all people to know that there is a God in the world so Ru cuk says there are two readings of the shma they reflect two different ways in which we think about speaking of God or learning about God one is it's more personal it's more about our own community that we're accepting upon ourselves that we believe in God that's one reading of the shma the other reciting the shma is the shma that we're calling out with the name of God for others to hear the message of God and now look at the following and this is R cook is going to speak about the difference of the experience of galut of Exile of what it means to live outside the land of Israel and what it means to be in the land of Israel v galut we're right in the middle of the paragraph when it comes to gal which is similar to the to the evening when we're outside the land of Israel we have to be concerned with ATU with ourselves with our with our own personal lives with our families with our community with our synagogue with our Sho we have to be concerned that we are that we have faith in God that we're continuing on with that tradition in order that we can contend with the G with the waves right with the challenges that we Face outside the land of Israel Shem with the power of the name of God so the night time is is a time for to have great faith in God and he quotes another gar that you need to have you have to say night the night time reflects being outside the land of Israel reflects the G that's sufficient for us to receive that message of belief in God for our own community that we as a community that we saw the um the revelation of God and now here's the the key however at the time of is that the glory of Israel will be lifted High that is a that is an opportune time of the which is that what we speak about in that shma is the love that Hashem has and the love that we have for Hashem and here is the key we could underline this that all the nations of the world will say that the light of the Jewish people will be a light for all nations so what what do we have according to R cook why do we talk about the cohain entering into his home and eating the truma because that represents the night that represents the galut the darkness and in that darkness of galut what do we need to do we need to kind of huddle in our homes we have to make sure ensure that our communities are going to be God-fearing that we're going to be sh mitzvot but you know what there's a bigger message that's only part of it right that's only the beginning but in a time of gula the morning the morning we're not going into that's not about the truma being eaten privately right that's about a message that we can bring to the entire world so that's the way that Ru cook understands the shma we'll talk a little bit more about the shma towards the end two readings of the shma there's a night shma the night shma represents more of an insular kind of relationship and belief and emuna that we have in Hashem the morning shma is calling out that there's one God in the world and we want all nations to know that one God that's the morning light and and that is the experience of Gul of redemption and that we can do more in this area of sharing this message to the world once we are back in the land of Israel once we're in the process of gula there's a a book that's written by uh Rabbi Lord saak Z called present tense and in that book he speaks about actually this message the message that the Jew has wisdom and a light to share with all Humanity with all Mankind and he says we have not been able to do that for a long time for a long time meaning about 2,000 years we have not been able to share that message it just it's been too difficult for us we've just been trying to survive like R cook says we're just like huddling in our homes we're saying the shma we're trying to hold on to our tradition right we're trying to ensure that our children are going to live Jewish lives and we're going to be able to pass it on from one generation to the next but Rabbi saak says once we're now back in the land of Israel once we have a nation and the strength of our nation we can begin to broadcast and not only can we we must in other words that's part of the Great mission of the Jewish people that's what we're here for that's the aim that we are to bring a great light and wisdom to the entire world so this is something that riff cook speaks about I think it's somewhat unique to riff cook and the thought of Riff cook the importance of this message and now that we're back in the land of Israel that we can begin to broadcast to take on this um to take on this Miss mission more seriously there was another Rabbi yes please that meaning that it refers to non-jews as well not that I'm familiar with not that I'm familiar but it's a good question why would why I maybe maybe he did I'm not I'm not saying that he didn't there is a whole discussion when when in the what does that refer to does that refer only to Jews or does that refer to to others and that's a it's a that's found in the in the ronam already Yes ah very good okay you looked ahead in the S sheet we're going to we're going to get there we're going to get there very good excellent so was Ru cook the only one to talk about this so I'm sure there are other rabbis again I'm not sure if this was high on the list if this was a priority for many of their run I'm just thinking about the last 100 years the last 200 years to talk about this as one of the dominant messages or one of the important messages that Jews should be thinking about and how to do this by the way there's a rabbi in Israel today RAB URI sherki who is one of the gdm of the religious zist community and he feels that we need to be teaching MIT no that well they have seven obligations Gentiles how are they supposed to know about them isn't that Our obligation as Jews to teach them and he's doing a lot of work in that area of teaching the seven noite laws to Gentiles that's what it means or one way of of understanding what it means to be a light to the Nations to be a light to the Nations means that we need practically are we teaching Gentiles what it means to be moral and ethical and to live according to the the values and the wisdom of the Torah so he says the time is now we have the opportunity to do it if you go to the cotel and if you go to the men's side of the cotel and you walk down so there is a stand there's a Fillin stand and as you make your way to the cotel there it's usually kabad kabad rabbis that are there or kabad whatever they you know individuals not everyone with a beard is a rabbi and where's a hat but we say Rabbi so they'll say to you are you Jewish why are they asking if you're Jewish well if you say yes were they going to do they're going to pull you over they're going to throw a parot fillan on you so um and if you say you're not Jewish I'm a gentile what do they then do they then hand you a pamphlet with the seven noahide laws and they say you should study you should learn these laws now it's interesting that that comes from kabad because the babach rebi the babach rebbi similar to RI cook was also interested and he felt strongly about teaching non-jews about Jewish wisdom now where did this come up it came up in America 1961 and this is a public school prayer I don't know if anybody remembers this there was a lot of cont y um in public schools allowing time for prayer what's that the Lord is my shepher ah very good so look at the following so I just I took this from a from a kabad side yeah there was a a prayer that was written for for that prayer time in public schools that prayer was unfortunately discontinued in 1961 just 11 years after it was instituted at that time five parents of public school students in new H High Park anybody know where that is yeah it's in Long Island sued the school president saying that they were atheists and shouldn't be coerced into saying prayer at a public school Stephen Engel incidentally a Jewish parent became the name plaintiff in the case Engel versus vital vitel who argued that prayer went against the first amendment of course it comes from a Jew the case went all the way to the Supreme Court where it was ruled that having a state mandated prayer was unconstitutional by the time the ruling came came out it was already the summer of 1962 now how did the Jewish World respond to it now the Jewish world I would say didn't really respond to it again I don't know all the facts but I don't know in Lakewood or in Muny whatever it was the rabbis weren't really concerned with that we have our community we're ding in our schools right whatever goes on in you know whatever they're dealing with there they're dealing with there but that was not what the rebi said and this also you see the greatness of fromers the bab rebi and this what was the re's view on the case and the ruling that followed the rebi addressed it in three 3 weeks later at of faan on yud M 1962 the rebi spoke passionately and said that the ruling is tragic since it takes away the concept of An Almighty Creator from the children which by the way who are the children in the public school not Jewish children in other words he felt that it was important again this is we're going back to ainu we're going back to this idea and he was sensitive to this idea that what it means to be a Jew is that we want all mankind we want the shma to be called out to be recited for all to hear in a letter written kesan of 5723 November 1962 5 months after the ruling was announced the rebi penned a list with multiple reasons why it's so important to have non- denominational prayer reinstituted in schools Across America and he fought for that that there should be a opportunity to pray in public schools these include many yiden many Jewish kids in public schools who would get the chance to fill the Mitzvah OFA each day now by the way you see it sensitivity there as well very much the beauty of kabad you have children Jewish children and for them this becomes a Mitzvah that they can that they can observe this Mitzvah whether they you know know it or not but a Jewish child in these schools that they have the opportunity to pray the responsibil of teaching I'm sorry and uh yeah these include many yiden in public schools who would get the chance to fill the Mitzvah each day the responsibility of teaching nonew Mitzvah no that this is part of that obligation that we have to teach non-jews did we ever hear that growing up in our in our yeso that you know that that you also have an obligation to teach non no I don't think we ever most people have never even heard the term Noah so the babbi says that that's Our obligation as well which includes first and foremost the belief in Hashem and eradicating the name of Hashem from all schools is a blatant hasem so that's really fascinating fascinating that theab rebi is sensitive to this as well R cook is sensitive to this as well I mean theab rebbi is also a person who sens his Gula that we're getting closer and closer and he believes the Messiah is not far away and these are some of the things that we need to do maybe we haven't done it for a long time 2,000 years in galoo we haven't been talking you know this talk we haven't been talking about Noah and how to influence how to impact again not to convert right we're not trying to convert non-jews but we are to bring them the wisdom we are to bring them the light and in particular sh okay Rook writes the following and ruk sees with the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel again this is where I would say ruk differs from lababa chbi laab chereb is trying to do it in Brooklyn he's trying to do it in the public schools which is amazing that he has this Rabbi sitting in Brooklyn that he has you know this this insight and and um and he sees this as as a goal and an opportunity for the Jewish people but R cook seees something else happening and that is that as we return to the land of Israel things are changing and now that we have and again R cook in his day we always point this out I don't know there's there's 70,000 Jews literally 70,000 when he's in yafa when he's coming to Israel he sees a great change on the horizon today we talk about the 7 million I just saw that stat just the other day that there are 10 million people living in Israel 7 million Jews that are uh that are living in Israel today so R cook says something amazing is going to happen in the land of Israel and there's going to be says Rook there's going to be a great wave of chuva of repentance and when the world sees that they're going to see something that they have not ever seen before and they're going to want to be a part of a way they're going to want to be a part of Jewish life not necessarily to convert to Judaism but they're going to want some of some of Judaism they're going to want the wisdom and they're going to want to be connected to the god of Israel okay let's look at this this is from aota this is parake this is the seventh piece in orot top of Page Three and he writes the following these are the words beautiful words of R cook I always stress emphasize the importance of not just sharing the ideas of aook but to see the writing to see the language you can argue with me as well if you think I'm not uh not translating it or not reading it correctly everyone should read it for themselves as well and see see what ruk is saying in the future we're going to see something awesome unfolding in the area of CHA right what's Pella they call that first phone right the Pella phone because it was an absolute Pella you could walk on the street and not be connected to a cord so we called it a pelone wow how is that H that's a Wonder that's a miracle so he says Rook says there's going to be something awesome happening in the world of chva and this is going to what's it's going to interest the entire world it'll be something even greater than than anything that the world has witnessed before they're going to see something that they have not experienced before and this Revelation that everybody is going to be drawn to this that it's going to affect the spirit of all people then the world will rise to a true Revival reading the translation that I have other words the whole world seeing the Jewish people coming back to God seeing the spirituality of the Jewish people in the land of isra the world is going to wake up to a spirituality and a recognition of God sin will come to a close will will remove all of with the Jewish people return to the land of Israel when we come back to God in Israel a spiritual life not only we talk about the economy we talk about the government but ruk has a vision of a great Spiritual Awakening that's going to happen in the land of Israel May maybe we're seeing Sparks of that today over the last year batem a great spiritual Revival in the land of Israel that's not only going to be a spiritual Revival for us as a nation but the whole world is going to look towards Israel and say look at the beauty of the Jewish people look at the way they treat one another look at the kind of economy that they have that they care for one another look at the medicine the way that they care for one another right look at on a bus or in the street look at look at the government how government officials right the way that they care and the sensitivity that they have for one another okay we're not we may not be there yet but this is what Ru cook sees R cook sees the whole world and when they see that Chua of the land of Israel the people of Israel there's going to be a great Chu in the world but you see the emphasis that it's not only for us we want to bring the whole world with us yes please is yes so indicates negativity you're get uhuh I think for R yeah it's interesting that you say that that it's start something posi H okay good so I I would I would just answer briefly for if cook the word Chua the question was chuva kind of has a negative intonation and I think for R cook it doesn't Riv cook and even we pointed you know it we translate it as repentance but chua's return chuva is getting closer right closer to God closer to one another closer to the Redemption I think especially for R cook he I I he loves the word chuva and the chuva is is is a beautiful word for him okay discuss a couple of weeks ago yeah yeah you did yes you're right yeah when did he write this of age oh what age did he write this um I don't know I don't know for certain it's it's a good it's a good question um I would say that yeah I don't know for certain I mean this comes out the book aot chuva comes out in his lifetime um at least 10 years or so 10 15 years before he passed away he was 70 when he passed away wrote in his 40s or 50s I believe okay actually the an what we're reading and we're going to read a piece right now a lot of this was one of the first things that he wrote and he's in his 20s actually when he's writing when he's writing Ana so it's interesting that you ask the question about the age uh when he writes when he writes his by the way it's hard to know exactly the age when he writes things because not everything was written at the same time a lot of the he wrote at different times and they were uh they were all they were put together later on this is one of the one of the classic teachings and uh a teaching that I love from her cook and this is the gamar that says the following this is a gamar Bros and the gamar Bros says and I don't know if this something that you do in your When you pray in the morning when you dve in the morning but this is what the gamar says I'm we're four lines down this is so we are in the middle the second paragraph page three in the Hebrew and this is what you see at the top of the page is the gamarra section from this work called This is the the words of the gar if you look at the top it says right page 34 the garos we're going to just go down three lines where it says the word in Brackets the first word of the light is sham and it says and Ines when you D in you should dve in where there are windows that's that's what the gamar teaches okay so there are many different explanations that are given for this I think the most popular explanation is the windows that you should look out the window that you should be inspired by by the heavens by the presence of God the beauty of the world so this is what R cook writes this is a classic piece from of cook and he writes the following daving is something that's personal right personal everyone davins from their own vantage point but there's an essential factor for the Perfection of Prayer that it has the proper effect impact on the one who's ding that you recognize the value of the world the entire world the outer world the world on the outside and then prayer then davening will have the proper impact upon you and upon on others but when your prayer is so personalized but if that separates you from the world from the outer world that's not the goal of you will not reach you will not achieve the go of the goal is to be cognizant to be aware and to pray for everyone for all mankind for all Humanity therefore the top of the next paragraph Al the next column Al you should pray by the by the window the possibility that you're looking now towards the outer World it will awaken you to your to your obligation [Music] so here R cook gives a very beautiful explanation why is it so important to D by a window because a window means that we are taking into account everyone outside everyone that we see all Humanity Jew and non-jew alike the love that we are to have and the responsibility that we have for everyone okay turn out to page four yes please yeah it's a good question okay now halachically you're asking you're asking a good question and uh yeah some of the hak sources say that you should look there for a moment and then better to be not by the window but the gamar itself doesn't say that the gamar says that best that you're by a window when you're praying that's the that's the same in the gamar but you're right the Ala seems to kind of move from that and that it may be distracting and better not to be by the window what about an outdoor all right outdoor minim that's right out right A lot of people said that right during uh during Corona how much they enjoyed being outdoors and like it helped them with theira being uh being exposed to Nature and and the outdoors okay so I want to share with you and we'll we'll come to come to a close three different prayers one of them which was mentioned a few minutes ago three different which I would say are some of the most foundational that we say and here we're going to see in these something that we don't always recognize we're now on page four the last the last page page four three different filot that we say and I and I I I would I would suggest that we say them we don't necessarily pick up on uh on this idea the idea that we've been emphasizing in our learning this morning and that is the obligation of a Jew the love that we have not only for ourselves but for all mankind the obligation that we have towards all Humanity so RI cook points us out number one in The KES that we say so this is Friday night KES I don't really need to read all of it but we just read so there are two phrases here and you can underline these two phrases that Rook is going to comment on one is what is shabas what is [Music] Shabbat that it's a way to remember the creation of the world creation of humanity of all mankind and what is shabas to remember that we were saved that we redeemed from so look at that we have two things that we are to remember remember every chabas God creation of the world remember every shab that God took us out from it look at the language of ruk the teaching of ruk this comes from his sedor called which you see right below the line and he writes the following so these two and you can already guess what Rook is going to say I think you can guess you have the beginning of the world creation of man of humanity and then you have the election of the Jewish people the chosenness of the Jewish people how and now I'm reading the words of where it says on the side what does it mean to remember the Act of Creation Of God creating the world which means the world coming into existence the existence of man there's a purpose there was a goal that Hashem had in creating all Humanity that God wanted happiness or the welfare of all mankind and a Perfection that's why God created the world by the way we all know God did not create the Jewish people God and didn't create AB that's not the beginning of the Torah the beginning of the Torah is Adam and the beginning of the Torah is Noah we have Humanity that God first creates that's our Torah that's where the Torah Begins the one God created all that exists in this world and being that God created the world in all existence and all Humanity it means that God has a great vision for all Humanity as well and it's it's understood that there's a great purpose a great goal the an elevated goal that God has for all mankind God begins Creation with creation of humanity of all man we know that we relate to that with all of man with all of humanity the love that we are to share with all humanity and here now that's that's the first half but in order to bring this about in order to to affect this goal to effectuate this goal to achieve this so yes there was a chosenness of one nation yes we are the amul the God said you know what I need one nation that's going I tried it without having one nation I tried with Adam and kava I tried with Noah that didn't work it looks like I need one nation one great sigul One Singular Nation that's going to be the role model for the world and that Nation will establish a way of life an order of life for life for all of life that they will represent the the um the desire of God that they will Implement their unique Spirit a spirit of that this nation will be an oath it will be a sign or a mate a Wonder for the entire world so both are true and the way that R cook reads this every shabas and what Shabbat is about and to understand what it means the creation of God that God created the world is first to recognize yes there is a world that God created and then we also have the aspect of we are Jews we are unique people a suula nation that needs to be a a light to the nations of the world okay two other sources and we'll close with this and this was mentioned just a few minutes ago this is the alenu we all know it but I'll just read three lines from the alenu that we say every day by the way the alenu is a very prominent prayer one where is it first where where do it first appear where does alenu come from does anybody know that's right it comes from the musaf it's written and it appears originally in musaf of rashash kipper that's the first place that appears by the way that already tell that already tells you a lot about alenu that is part of the mus on the holy days of rasher that's quite significant and where do we then place it right we that's correct and then where is it in our it comes at the very end and know it's really the very last thing that we say or one of the last things that we say at the end of every as we come the we come to the end of every time we end the this is these are the words that we're saying kind of like the battlecry at the end right before we we head out hopefully we wait those you know two minutes before the end of alenu before we already go in our phones or running out of Sho but we we the alenu is is quite important and what do we say the last paragraph or the second paragraph of the alenu and just three lines and we all know it but we read it we read it quickly I read it quickly we don't always think about it therefore we put hope in you we want to quickly see we want to see the beauty the beauty of your strength we want to remove all idolatry from the world a world should believe we want a world that believes in God not a world that believes in any any other form of of divinity and they that should all Idols should be destroyed and here are the words that we're all familiar with that we want the world we're not talking about the Jewish people that the entire world should there should be a tun there should be a fixing there should be a wholeness right with the name of God that the world should know the kingdom the kingship of God and look at one more line benar and every what's benas all man all Humanity we're not talking about Jews any longer we want all people we want every single person to call out in your name okay so here we see that is the alenu we say it every day it's really the last thing as we come to the end of our a prayer that all people that this role that we have this mission that we have to bring God to the world is something that we take very very seriously yes please why they always rush right okay speak to your speak to your Rabbi ask them why they're rushing it okay last uh last Source last Source last Source okay talking about important prayers we said the kiddish we said the alenu and maybe number one on the list what would you say number one prayer on the list I'm might put shma reciting the shma the shma that we say every morning every night after we should down our 120th that we should say it before we leave this world by the way the says talking about the the importance of having kavana the importance when we say this line that we have kavana that we think about not just that we rattle it off like we've been just mentioned but that we should say with kavana the question is what is the kavana that we should have what should we be thinking about when we say the words shma Isel here o Israel the Lord Is Our God the Lord is one what should we be thinking about when we say those words so there are many explanations of what this line means it's a simple line but there are many ways of reading it where do we always begin whenever we want to know the meaning of aask in the Torah we start with Rashi so think about the following the next time that you say the Sha to have in mind this following idea that Rashi teaches Rashi says this is the meaning of the verse look at Rashi I have it here for you this is the last s Rashi says what does that mean the Lord Is Our God the Lord is one what does that mean what should we have in mind when we cover our eyes each days each day and say the shma Rashi writes Hashem elu Our God who is our God now the low and he is not known to the other nations of the world who a time will come where all mankind will know the Oneness of God a time will come where everyone will call out in the name of God and Rashi quotes one more P that we all know and where does this P also appears in the alenu Apostle in Zar on that day on that day everyone will know the name of God what should we we cover our eyes we say shma Isel according to Rashi what should we have in mind when we sayem elad our prayer is that God is our God but we want this God to be known to all Humanity we want all people to knowu Ison I want you to be the father to the Jewish PE to all people you're going to be a father of the Jewish people but this message is a message that you are to bring to all mankind maybe yes maybe Chev Mis Noah we have to start teaching more about maybe the time has come we haven't talked about it again for thousands of years maybe we have to start teaching the mitzvot of uh that the Gentiles have and the belief in God I want to just end yes one comment okay let me let me just end with a following a on line uh on line darar Torah which is also on this week's para the very first the par Rashi says go to the land of Israel it will be it will be it'll be good for you in the land of Israel and then Rashi ends with the following three words I want you to go to Israel in order that the world will know will know what's tea will know your nature will know who you are who you are at your core at your essence what's interesting is the Rashi says come to the land of Israel not just to serve God and not just to be a good Jew and not just to have the Jewish nation is in Israel but show I want the entire world to learn from you I want the entire world to be inspired by you and by the way I'll end with this one line and that is I believe that that's part of what's happening today with the war in Israel with all of the difficulty with all the challenges with all the heartache there's something amazing that is going on and that is that we are a light to the Nations and the world is looking at us and looking at this war and we're making a statement we are teaching as Hashem said to AB you are to be a teacher for the world we are teaching the world what is right and what is wrong what is evil what is good what is Holy what is profane and we are doing that and R cook believed once we come back to the land of Israel we're going to be able to do this in a way we have not been able to do for such a long time so this is the message that really the Torah begins with with ainu it's the message that that started off the very life mission of Abraham and here we are today in barash all of us here living in the land of Israel part of this great people building a great nation not only for ourselves but we want this to be a message of for the ENT entire world [Music]