Rav Kook: Holy Chutzpah | Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider | December 31st 2025

Everyone, Booker Tove and great to see everyone here this morning. Yashik for being here. Uh let me begin with the with the dedications this morning for the Shir the Wednesday December 31st last day of December. We're learning all day dedicated to the memory of Joe Palanski Yose mayor Vyakovina by the Polanski and Drezisen family. So we thank uh we thank Rosanne who is here this morning for that dedication. And today's learning is also dedicated by Estelle Harris in honor of her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Very beautiful. And uh we also have a regular sponsor for the entire year Ben Schlommo. So we thank all of our sponsors this morning. All right. So it's uh a great pleasure to uh to learn together this morning. Uh we continue with our learning of a beautiful safer important safer of RVuk. The name of the safer is midotaya the character traits um based on the teachings of Ravkuk. And we continue with the trait of gya gava arrogance or pride an inappropriate kind of pride gya. uh we spoke about that last week and uh we're going to continue that conversation but we're going to see a very very important insight and a dera from RV cook I do want to begin with uh just a following anecdote or two that will bring us into uh into the topic and our learning this morning actually somebody last week mentioned this at the end of the uh at the end of this year about gya it's a humorous story it's about a kid rebi and he's sitting at his tish and the the are Arab and before he begins his learning, the Rebi is looking at the safer and he hears theim and they're talking to one another and they're talking about the Rebi. The Rebi is sitting at the the front of the table and they say about the Rebi, you know, the wisdom of the Rebi and the of this Rebi, what an awesome rabbi this is, his learning, his tamaturra. And then the Rebi turns his and he said, "No, you don't say anything about my anus, about my humility. [laughter] So that's uh one story about about GIA about arrogance and about humility. Uh another beautiful story uh somebody mentioned this to me at the end this year also this is a nice leadin to our learning uh this kamitki uh won the gdole Torah of America and uh he was always very mocked when he would come to an event that he you know they would have him on the deis but he would find a way to get there early or to find some side door to come in so that the entire room would not have to stand when Rivy of Kines ask. He did not want that covet and a feeling of giva that 500 people that a thousand people would come, you know, would stand up for for the guttal. So, one of the events it seemed like he almost made an effort. He was kind of like waiting for everybody to be seated and with a thousand people in the room, he walked in and walked right down the center as he made his way to uh to the deis. So one of the tamid turned to him afterwards and said we know that generally you don't do that and he said you know what my wife was here tonight at the dinner and she sacrifices so much for me and I wanted her to see the covet that I that I receive and that she should feel the covet. So that is uh I think a beautiful way of thinking about gya arrogance and the appropriate kind of of gya where it is appropriate to uh to kind of accept the the honor of others. Um so with that I'd like to look at the following piece from cook and uh this is from midotaya it's peace kaf piska or peaf in the section of ga and here he's going to speak about the importance of on the one hand we are not to have ga but there is the kind of ga that is appropriate and needed so here we go and we have the the words of ravk also in translation that one has to assess in a great way that you need to make an assessment of uh of the gya that one finds or the feelings of pride and arrogance that one feels in their heart. What is a feeling of ga that is an inappropriate that alienates a person from their dad and alienates a person from their master from God? But what is the refined kind of that broadens the thought of a person? that reminds a person that brings a person to great majesty and to great beauty. So there is an inappropriate kind of ga but then there's a ga a kind of ego or a sense of self and a positive sense of self that a person needs to appreciate as well and you have to the first word that he uses is that one needs like you have to test yourself you have to be very uh careful in that assessment what is inappropriate but what is an appropriate kind of uh of self asssurance that a needs to have the and we're reading we continue now with and if a person tries if you try to quash that kind of ga which is a positive not only are you not doing a tova a good thing for your nepheshim you are limiting you are stifling all of your ko that are positive and it's going to actually bring a kind of sadness means you're going to be bent over that that if you don't appreciate you don't take advantage of that positive sense of self and what some call a holy there's a time for there isbah that's considered a a holy kind of so that is uh that you need to take advantage of says and you'll think for a moment that that loneliness is considered a closeness to God. But the truth is it is you're actually turning away from God. That's not a way to come closer to God. So here we see something which is very interesting and a very important point and that is to make that very fine assessment. what is what is considered a gya that we need to rid ourselves of but where is a gya within us that's an appropriate kind of uh as I said a sense of self and uh self-esteem you know this is something that I think about like when I uh when I'm posting you know on Facebook shurim that I've given or an advertisement for for a class wherever it may be is that is that from a place of ga is that a place of ego or is it lishma and it's uh It's something that everybody has to think about in terms of their in terms of their actions, in terms of what it is that they're publicizing about themselves. So here of Cook and I think this is a beautiful interpretation. It brings us into an area of davining and the bowing that we do in Daviding and uh this is a piece that's found it's in the sitter. It's also found in based on the anaya and he quotes from the gumra in braos that speaks about the way that we bow as we begin the amida. So let's look at the following the following source which is um the bottom of the page. It's it's s in the sitter and he quotes from the garbish. When a person when a person bows down, he bows down as he says the word as we're familiar with zashim. But when a person then stands up stands up with the name of God that you're standing straight as you say the name of God. So you say as you are bowing down and when you say the name of God you are standing straight my time. What's the reason Hashem that Hashem straightens those that are bent over. Now what's interesting about this gamarra and what's interesting about what Rafuk is about to suggest is that generally the way that I have thought about bowing down is bowing down is a surrender before God that we're standing before God as we begin the Amida and we are in a humble way that we are humbling ourselves we are bowing down and then the standing up is okay we're just getting back to position I mean that's the position that we were in and yet according to the gamarra and RVuk is going to talk about this as well that the standing up with the name of God is actually a very important part of that posture of bowing but where do we stand as well and that standing is considered to be very significant let's look at the words of Rkook the first uh the first few lines here of his commentary when a person recognizes that they have not yet reached a full sense of that they have that there are imperfections that you recognize that you have certain faults, certain deficiencies. So what do you need to do? You need to try to rid yourself of them. Literally says that you have to you have to quash them. They should be bent over. You have to find a way to remove them. According to Rafuk, when we're bowing down, again, there's I think a different way. It's not necessarily the way that we think of bowing down as we begin the bowing down in recognition that we have certain faults that we have certain blemishes. Okay. But when you recognize that there is a God that you will feel within that as you are in service to God that you're able to take those characteristics, the personality within you, the powers within you, the strength with within you, and you're able to to uh to use them in a positive way. that you can turn them into something good. Says because the essence of the soul of man is good and that a person can strengthen themselves and the negative within us, the blemishes within us. Those are things that are just mik. Those are just mistakes that we make. Happen stance. We just happen to make that mistake. That's not essentially who we are. Essentially, we are good to that we can we can quash we can kind of put aside those things that are secondary that are just mik and that we can recognize that we have a godliness within us according to Rafuk. And I think this is a beautiful way of thinking about the bowing that we do. we bow down as we say at what's interesting is I would think that we would continue to be bow in that state of bowing down in that posture when we say God's name if we're surrendering to God right if we recognize how little we little we are in the presence of God as we say God's name we should still be in that bowed posture but that's not the al the says that you bow down and then when you say Hashem's name you have to be standing tall and what does that reflect according to Rafuk that you recognize that there is a God and you recognize that you have godliness a nits kaduca a holy spark within you as well and that the faults that I have those are faults that I that I can overcome those are faults that I can correct and when you stand that's standing before God when you say hashem's name and that is the confidence that is the that positive sense of the ga that that you need to to identify the positivity Yes, I can do this. Yes, I can overcome faults that that uh that I may be guilty of. That's the way that he understands the and then with Hashem's name that we're standing tall, a recognition, a recognition of our of our uh of our great potential and all the mistakes that we make. Okay, those are mistakes. But essentially, who are we? We are we are people of uh of an of holiness, of sanctity, and of great potential. Okay. So here I want to share with you another beautiful insight of Rook about the importance of self-esteem the importance of uh of of confidence of self-confidence and the positive part of GA again there's the negative part but there's the positive part of of self uh of self-esteem of pride of self-confidence to be self assured who would you say is the personality in the Torah that represents a person who is self assured a person of great confidence Who comes to mind and Moshe? Okay, good. >> No, that that works. >> But who I right so I'd like to speak about the following the following personality and that is the personality of Yoseph. Yoseph Sadi a personality who has a great sense of confidence. The confidence to tell his brothers of dreams that he has even though they're not so happy about those dreams. Right? the confidence that he has in the house of Potifar with Asia Potifer to be able to refrain and and and to stand up to her the confidence to be called into the court of parro and not only to interpret the dream but to give parro a game plan to say this is the strategy the confidence to do that so we're talking about a person of of tremendous confidence now what I'm about to share with you is uh isana deyoma it's the para of the week as well so Maybe we'll walk away with a nice devarter for this shabas. And we have the following two different braot that are given to Yoseph and really to the family of Yoseph. And interesting both of them share in both of these blessings that are given by Yakov. They share one particular theme. So let's look at the following. Ben Paratio say this is the blessing. By the way, this is so this is the the bulk of the para or the blessings the brahod that Yakov gives his children. They're not easy. The language is not simple and a lot of them are prophetic. Um, so what it actually means and what they are referring to. Look at the following puk and I'm sure you're familiar with the with the language of this puk. Um, but the translation is very very challenging. Ben paratose. This is what Yakov says to his son Yoseph. You are Ben Paratio. How do you translate that? You are a son. Parat. Parat is like the word pre or pya. a fruitful. You are a fruitful son, Yoseph. Not sure exactly what that means, but you are a fruitful son. And then you are also a son that is fruitful. Allein al you are on the ion. What's an ion? Like a like by a fountain. Okay. What does that mean exactly? So that's the translation. And I'm if you look on the I have the the translation to the left. Joseph is a fruitful son, a fruitful son by a fountain. That's one way of interpreting or translating the words. The garra has the following interpretation. There's a says do not read the word alle that you are by the fountain. Rather, you are above the eye. Ole. That's the way that you should understand and you should interpret what that means. And what does that mean? You are above the evil eye, the har. Now, what does that mean? What does it mean that Yoseph is above and this is the blessing and this is the way that Yakov characterizes Yoseph that you are above the evil eye. So, we'll answer that in a moment. And let's look at one other time where Yanov gives a blessing to Yoseph and to his children, to his descendants. And this is a a puk that we're I think maybe more familiar with because there are some melodies that have been written to this puk and some sing this. So this is Yakov as he's giving a blessing to the children of Yoseph and it's a blessing to Yoseph and to his to his family in particular. The watched over me should bless these children. They should be called by my name. The name of my forefathers and that's the phrase that we're going to look at. And they should, how do you translate that? And they should be like, how do they translate here? Let them grow into multitude. They should be like the word d multitude or they should be like fish. They should be many like fish. So what does what does the gumar say? How do how do we interpret that word that that phrase where on the right side this is the garra with the translation to the right just like fish in the sea. The water covers them and the evil eye has no power um on them towards them. So too the descendants of Yoseph the does not have any power does not have any dominion over them. So interesting by the way two times we have Yoseph blessed with this idea that you are above the evil eye. You are olein. You're above the evil eye. And the blessing to Yoseph and his children is also that you are like the dagim in [clears throat] the yam like the dagim in the water that you are above the evil eye. Now what does it mean above the evil eye? Surfuk understands in the following way. By the way, many of us we think about the evil eye, we think about something kind of mystical, something cabalistic that we should get one of those red bindles and the red bindle is going to is going to protect us from the from the haruk who is very much a mystic in this case is not mystical at all. He just brings us down to earth and says what is it about Yoseph and what is his blessing? The blessing is that those that may look at you in a certain way or judge you in a certain way that you're unaffected by that peer pressure. There's pressure from those around you. There are those that are judging you and you are above the evil eye, right? Those that may look at you in a negative way, may judge you in a negative way that you are unaffected by that. And again, going back to the Yoseph story, the brothers, that he stands up to the brothers. this is what I believe, right? This is the the the dream that I have received from God. And he knows that they're not going to be happy about that, but he but he shares it with them. And he has confidence that this is the right thing to do. And again, that confidence that he has, the confidence in the house of Potifar, the confidence that he has in the prison and that he's interpreting dreams of of the men that are in prison with him, the confidence that he has in the court of Pyro and the confidence that he has to say to Pyro that this interpretation is God. God has given me this this insight, confidence, that confidence, that that positive kind of gya. This is Yoseph. And Jacob says, "You're going to be the one that's oy and you're going to be above the eye, above the judgment of others, and this is going to be the blessing to your children, to your progeny, that you'll be like the dagim." Now, the dagim, how do they live the dagim? You have the world, you know, everything going on around them, but they're in the water, they're in the sea, they're doing their own thing, right? What whatever else is going on here on earth, they're in their own they're in their own world, so to speak. They're they're unaffected by what's happening. They're in their they're in the fish tank, right? They're in the river. They're in the ocean. You have the arets. You have the land around them where everyone's doing what they're doing. And then you have they're living their they're living their life. They're doing what what is true to their uh to themselves. Yes, please. >> What is the Jewish >> superstition? >> Okay. So, there's the superstitious part. Cook says I mean he doesn't say but when it comes to his interpretation that's not the that that's not his interpretation of he's bringing aya down to earthy means others around you are being judgmental what you know to be ethical to be right to be the will of God you follow that by the way I was thinking about this like who represents like this this uh this way of life of like this kind of commitment you have a world around you and just an absolute devotion and commitment to to their belief. You know, there was that that terrible attack in uh in Sydney in Bandai. It's pronounced Bandai Beach >> Bandi. Bandai. So, I was thinking about I saw a lot of the footage from that and just in general Kabad kind of their their reaction to that and over Kaneka. And when I was thinking about this this baraka of Yakov to Yoseph and to his progeny and really that means to the Jewish people like this idea I think is very much very much comes to life in the uh in the world of Kabad the way that they live their lives right they're living they they you know they they come to a community and they continue to wear the long black coat and a and a big beard and they're raising their children a certain way and whatever is going on around them, that secular world around them. Somehow it it makes no difference, right? We raise our children this way and and with this kind of commitment and this kind of passion. And this seems to this is the braha. This is what Yakov is saying to Yoseph and to your children. Again, Yoseph, we're descendants of Yoseph. We'll see that in a moment in the next Gammorrah. We are those descendants that we whatever it is that's going around going on around us and the different set of values or ethics of society around us and the culture around us. We are like the fish in the sea. We are like the dula of a lot can be going on around you but do not be affected by it. Do not let that eye the judgment of others. That's what it means. That's the way Ravuk understands this idea of the judgment of others, the negativity of others of of of not having the confidence to stand up and to follow through what you believe in. That's what's that's the Yoseph story. That's who Yoseph represents. And that's the braha that Yakov gives him. And interesting, that's the braha that he gives to his children as well. Now, one more gamarra that I want to share with you also about uh about Yoseph. This actually Rabbi Salvetic quotes and also highlighting the idea of a of a certain self-confidence and a self-esteem that we that we need to have as Jews. So this is the bottom source Gamar Brahos. This is Duff Ammed Alf and and Gamarra Brahos. Quite a interesting story. You'll you'll find this fascinating. Rabian Rabioan by the way is one of the greats one of the greats one of the great Gdole Torah of his time. What did he do? He would sit by the mikvah at night when women would go to the mikvah. He would sit outside the mikvah. Does that sound surprising? It is surprising. [laughter] And he said the following and this will become even more surprising. Israel when they will come from the mikvah when they'll come up or they'll leave the mikvah they'll come from their mist they'll look at me then they'll have children that are as beautiful as I am a god borra he was known actually being as a very beautiful person a very handsome But I don't think what he's referring to is in looks. He felt that the women coming for the mitah would be inspired by a gut, somebody who was sitting there and they would see this great rabbi and that would be something that would be uplifting and when they would have intimacy with their husband, not to think about the rabbi but to be but to be uplifted by that and that would affect the the progeny. Okay. So that's the that's the story. So rabbana. So the rabbis came along and the rabbis were not happy with Rabbi Yohan and they said Marabisha are you not concerned with the har in other words everybody's looking at you and judging you and how could it be that a rabbi sits by the mikvah right that that's what you're doing on a regular basis that you sit by the mikvah for the women to see you as they're coming from the mikvah and the rabbis were critical of him so leu here's the line that you can put in bold He says, he says, I come directly from the line of Yoseph of Joseph. I'm a direct descendant of Yoseph. And Rabbi Salvich says it doesn't mean it probably does not mean that geneal that he knows that that he can trace his genealogy back to Yoseph. But what he was saying was that that's my personality. That's what I I believe that this is something that is the right thing to do. this is something that is beneficial and I'm going to do it. I'm going to have the confidence to do it. And he says that I'm a descendant of Yoseph, right? That was the that was the personality. That was the character trait of Yoseph having that sense of self that self-confidence believing in in what he was doing. And even where there were those that were critical of him that he stood up to them. And he says the following dowelish he was unaffected by the evil eye. And again, what does it mean not affected by the evil eye? What he felt to be correct, the will of God, that he was lashim that he was going to follow through with that. And here he quotes the Pik that we started with. He was above the evil. Okay. Yes, please. >> Yeah. >> Ah, is that right? >> Yeah. [laughter] >> Very good. Excellent. All right. Good. Yes. Nor >> mentioned today that doesn't didn't hold >> he that's right. Yeah. That the realm did not hold right. >> What does that mean? >> The Rambam did not believe in others as well. And it seems that Rafuk is following in uh follows that same path that there isn't some you know metaphysical idea or mystical idea of some danger of ayar. Aar means again as the Rafuk explains it and others that it means the the influence of others the negative influence of others that that's what it means. It's not about putting on some red red thread that that wards off an okay also mean following not listening to >> to lash to lash. Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Having Yes. having the having the self-confidence having the self-con the the positive part of gaiva. Okay. >> Let the self-confidence descend into arrogance. >> So that that's the that's the that's the $64,000 question. No, that's the that's the big question. And I think that's what Rook begins with and that's the it requires a very careful analysis and selfanalysis that you have to look very carefully. You have to look in the inner parts of your nephesh and to know what is ga and to know what is what's authentic and what is what's confidence and what's lashim that's yes. So all of us need to look in the mirror and to make that assessment that's all we can do is you know is is to be honest with ourselves. Okay. But the but the importance of the importance of knowing what's ga and what's knowing what is gaucha what's what's holy giva what's positive giva what's positive selfworth. So why is it so? Yeah, please. >> Did you ever look into what I said last week about the eth [laughter] says it's the eighth of a 64th 64. >> That's the answer to the question. [clears throat] What does 164 mean? >> Right. Right. Again, I I think I think it's I don't know if there's I don't know if that's a um like an exact ratio or the one the the the 164th, but it represents the idea that there's a place for it and to uh and to have an honest uh honest assessment and the importance of of um of taking advantage of that another of that Giva being being crit that positive sense of self of self-worth the importance of that. Okay. Um, so why is GIA the sense or the the positive GIA? Why is it so important? So I want to share with you the following also from a beautiful insight from RVuk. Um, so the story we all know, the story of the Jewish people that they are in Egypt, uh, that they're going to go down to Mitraim, that's already told to Abraham. And four times in the Torah, four times in the Torah, Hashem says that when they will leave Mitraim, they're going to leave with great wealth. And I just to point out the Pik, this is already when this is early in the story as as Afram is being told about the uh in the Bennet Abarim that the Jewish people are going to go down to Egypt. So if you look this is a paral God says I'm going to judge the nation that was there that they're going to leave with a lot of uh with a lot of wealth with a lot of property. So why is it so important? Why did God say that? He's going to tell Moshe that as well at the burning bush. And and it's going to be repeated another two times as well. four times. So, Rufuk gives the following answer. Rufuk says that the Jewish people needed to have a sense of self-worth of ego, a positive sense of ego when they left and by having the wealth of Egypt and actually it describes that they took the the the clothing of Egypt as well, literally putting on their clothing to feel to to to be uplifted from their state of slavery. He says that that was essential and that's according to RV cook that's why this is such an important idea the selfworth the positivity that need to that they needed to experience and he says something else as well that when the Jewish people are going to come to the land of Israel that we need to be a wealthy nation in order to be able to spread the wisdom of Torah to the nations of the world because if we have wealth and if we have that sense of self of positivity so the world is going to want to learn from the Jewish people. And he says how important that is and why the Torah repeats it again and again with a with with Aram with a story here that that Hashem is already foretelling that this is what is going to be how essential that factor is in the life of the Jewish people and the positivity and self-worth that we as a nation need to feel. So I want to share with you the following and this is something that we say all the time. uh we say it on Shabas as part of the Shiralos. So this is the uh the psalm we talk about the return of the Jewish people to the land of Israel and we have the following. Then our mouths will be filled with laughter and our tongues with songs of joy. big deal. Then what is said among the nations the Lord has done great things for them. Okay. So it's those areim that we are familiar with the gammorrah says the following and this is the gamarra in braos d l and actually a statement by rabi yohanan in the name of shim bar. So take a look at this. This is the page three on the right side where it says Ted Zion. This is the comment of one is not to be fill their mouths with laughter in this world at that time. Meaning in a future time your mouths will be filled with laughter. when that time comes when the nations will say the lord has done great things for them. So this is an interesting comment that the gamarra makes and the question is what is the meaning of this? Again this is a verse that we say regularly. We say at that time we will fill our mouths with laughter and according to Gamarra one should not fill their mouths with laughter until a future time. And and what is that future time? when the nations of the world will say how great are the things that the lord has done. So this is what rufuk how ruk understands this statement. So let's read now Rkook the first few lines here this is in his when we speak about laughter what does that represent when it's a full sense of laughter when you have fulfilled the mission or the purpose there's when do you fill your mouth with laughter when do you have that overwhelming sense of joy when you've completed the mission when you have when you have achieved chieved all that you set out to achieve. Then you then you sit back and you are full of joy, a full smile, full laughter. So again, what does it mean here not to have? That's what the Gamarra says. You it's you're not permitted to have that until a future time. A person should recognize that the wholeness, the fullness is not completed. Israel until the entire world and all the nations of the world have had a complete redemption as well. when the whole world will know the oneness of God. This understanding, this mission, this mat should be understood in a deep way in the heart of every Jewish until the whole world has not reached a completion a uh an understanding of God is not complete. And this is what it means for a person to understand that they um that they cannot feel that their mission is complete until everybody is aware of the oneness of God. So what is this teaching? How do we understand this teaching? Rafuk says the following and this is the interpretation of the gamarra that we cannot yet fully be joyous that we cannot fill our mouths with joy with laughter until a future time. And what does it mean that future time? As the puk says until the until all the nations of the world will say what great things hashem has done. So this is something that we've spoken about and this is one of the themes in RVuk. Ravk says that when the Jewish people think about mission of the Jewish people, it goes beyond just our community and really and beyond the beyond the Jewish people itself. That we want to bring the message, the oneness of God and the wisdom of the Torah, the ethics and compassion and the message of goodness. We want to bring that to all mankind. And until that time, we have not fulfilled our mission yet. So just to kind of bring these two teachings together, Hashem says to Abraham that the Jewish people are going to go out with great wealth. What's the important of that importance of that great wealth? That they should have self-confidence. What is the importance of that great wealth? That they're going to build a great nation. That the other nations are going to come to the land of Israel. That business, there's going to be interactions with the nations of the world. And what's the ultimate purpose of the Jewish people? The ultimate purpose is that the entire world that we're going to influence that we're going to impact all mankind. Now, by the way, when we talk about GAIA, we talk about a healthy sense of of ourselves and of our nation. If we want to bring a a message, we want to be game changers. If we want to influence all of mankind, that requires a confidence. that requires a sense of of we are special and we have a special mission a special message to bring all mankind. So this Rafuk says is part of what it means to return to land of Israel talking about the the positive ego right the positive self-worth. This is essential for the Jew and for the Jewish people especially as we're coming back to the land of Israel. And that's part of the exile experience that we have been downtrodden that we've been running from country to country and um and maybe we've lost a little bit of that sense of the confidence that we need to have. Yes, please. >> One problem might be though. >> Yeah. >> Don't like when the Jews are confident. [laughter] >> You know what you you make you make an excellent point. You you make an excellent point. We we do need to do it in a way we need to have the confidence, but we also and with and with humility. I I think you're right and I think that's part of the the the uh one of the issues around anti-semitism is that they look at the Jew and they see the confidence of the Jew. So we need to yes we need to do that right. We need to know by the but we need to know that this is this is ultimately our mission. There's a that that's quite a big mission that we have, right? By the way, that goes beyond just, you know, keeping Shabas and keeping kosher, even though that's that's certainly part of the mission, but how do we now bring this Torah? How do we bring this message in which we're going to change the world with this message of Judaism? Yes, >> I David Freeman so beautifully in one of his later books says that the Jews are not powerful, if the Jews don't show the rest of the world that they're powerful, then we're lost. And you see this over and over with what's happening today. Okay. >> So presenting it that way we on an individual level we have to be humble but on a national level if we're powerful we're lost. >> Okay. Good. Good. Let me just uh I just I I want to get just to the last two three sources. Um confidence. So there is a a beautiful work of Rkook called Oro Torah. Um there are 13 chapters. He he wrote everything but it was compiled by his son Ritz who the cook. It's his teachings about Torah all of the different different ideas that he has about Torah Torah learning and uh and all different aspects of Torah. This is the very last piece in the book and he writes that there's a muser that I want to give. There's a little bit of rebuke that I want to give regarding Torah about Torah study. And he says that we don't have and he's really turning to we'll see the lot that we'll see just one one line one sentence from it. He turns to the rabbis of Israel. Again he's speaking again this is in the early 1900s. He dies 1935 and he's saying that we don't have the confidence that we need to have to bring a Torah to the world. And we're he says we're we're thinking a little bit like exile Jews like galut Jews. And we need to have a greater sense of uh of confidence. Let me just read to you the following. It's translated below. And he says to to those that he's talking to the scholars to the teachers of Israel. We need to call out with the following that we have to let them know for the mountains of Zion that they're living awesome lives. And they have tremendous strength in their hands that they're able to forge new pathways in Torah from a Torah that is a Torah of Israel and that we need to enlighten that we need to bring the light of Torah. And here again, the emphasis to bring light to the world with the honor of the Torah. This is a new idea. In other words, I think for many generations, we thought about Torah as saying that we go to the base mass and as Jews that we sit around this far and that we learn Torah. And here Rafuk says there's a great message of Torah that needs to be brought to all mankind. And this is the confidence that we need to have that we have a message that there's a unique message and the unique of unique message of belief in God and the compassion and the wisdom and the ethics ethics of the Torah to bring to all humanity. Let me end with two two items. This is uh if you go to page four um I've I've spoken about this in the past that one of the beautiful aspects of Rufk is uh the poetry that he wrote as well. Um I always say that Rafuk was was many things. He was a Lambdan, he was a balased, he was a sadic, he was a mystic, he was a cabalist, he was also a poet that he wrote poetry. And um this I would say is one of I I think we did a piece last week, but this is one of his famous famous poems. It's found in a roa kesh and um what's in I'll just share with you that um barak hashem I've I've been blessed with a with a big family we have 11 children in kanahara uh my youngest child is a special needs and uh she goes to a special needs school called nitsanim in uh in baka and derim a beautiful beautiful school she's nine years old barakashem doing very well and when you walk in the school this is what is on the wall. It's a this poem of Rafkuk which we're about to read is what every child and every teacher sees as they walk into the school every day. So here it is. It's from and it's found in a kesh. It's al rise up rise up. You have tremendous power, fierce power. of spiritual wings, wings of majestic eagles. Do not deny them lest they deny you. Seek them out and they will be readily apparent. They will be there for you. So this rise up, rise up. You have tremendous power. You have tremendous ability. And this is the this is Ruff Cook speaking about this positive gya right of a sense of self and what a person can accomplish. And I'll just end with the following. There's a gamarra in this is and this is a famous line. I'm not sure if you've heard this line. It says yaza. Does anybody familiar with that line? It says as we're getting close and the footsteps and as the footsteps of the Messiah are getting close, everybody here knows what the wordbah means. Yasa means it will be prevalent. It will dominate. There's going to be a lot of around a lot of in the air as we're getting closer and closer to Msiah. And most read this in a negative way. you know the that uh you know as we're getting closer to the end of days that the young people are going to reject what the elders have to say and and society in general the what people are willing to say and people to to share with one another and the disrespect. So that's how most understand it says this is the most positive line. This is such a beautiful line in the gamarra. He says, "Because as we're getting closer to Msiah, we're going to need a lot of we're going to need that holy, the to ask questions about Hashem, about faith that we've never asked before, to discover really the deepest ideas. We're going to needbah for people to come back to make aliyah. It takes a lot of kutzbah to come and a lot of self-confidence to come to Israel to to pack up a life and to get on a flight and not knowing what's going to be people to come the pioneers to come in the early 1900s. what they came to and for us as well for us as well to come to Israel to leave a life behind that that that holy the holy yes there's going to be a lot of in the mashik and says how beautiful that is how great that is we need a lot of so is teaching us in a national on a national scale but also on a personal level that all of us should have that confidence sometimes we kind of you we uh we don't always do the things that we we think we can't necessarily accomplish something if Cook says no you have you have eagle's wings you have the the the ability you have potential to do amazing things in life and to continue to do so and that's the uh that's the positive that Rafuk says make sure this is part of a very very important part of of our tradition as well the uh the positive what I would call the ga degulla the ga the arrogance of of greatness, the audacity of greatness, of holiness that uh that we should all pursue. All right. Yes. Excuse me. And yes, if anybody has a question or comment, please