Rav Kook: Yom Yerushalayim | Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider

Thank you. I look forward to seeing everyone at 3:45 a.m. on the uh the morning of Shivis. That'll be the next time we can get together. How do you keep busy till 3, right? All right. Good morning everyone. It's a great pleasure to see everyone this morning. Thank you for being here. And uh we're going to look at a a topic that is really a very beloved topic to Rafuk and uh one that is beloved to all of us and that is Yerushim the city of Jerusalem and the meaning and the kaduca of Yushim. And to see this from the perspective of Ravkuk and what did Ravkuk see in Jerusalem and what did he how did he understand the unique kaduca the unique holiness of Yerushim and we're going to be celebrating please God this Sunday night and uh Monday morning yu shalim is the 58th anniversary 1967 as we came back as we unified the city of Jerusalem we came back to the cotel and uh what a marvelous and miraculous event that that was for the Jewish people and we continue to celebrate and to appreciate what it means to have yushim and for many of us to be able to live in yerushim. So I want to begin with the following gamarra. It's the first source on your sheet. I'm not going to read the gamarra in the text itself. Let me tell you the story. And one of the um one of the phrases or terms that we have for you shalim is yalim shel zahav. And we all know Jerusalem of gold. And we know it from the song of Naomi Sheam which he which she writes in 1967. Actually before we have the city of Jerusalem, the unified city of Jerusalem, she updates the lyrics of the song afterwards. And where is that idea of shalam shel zahav and what does it mean? Now by the way I always thought of it and I think many people think about yushalam shel zahav in the sense that the walls of Jerusalem or the stones of Jerusalem that they look golden when the sun hits the walls at just the right time of day that it it shines like a golden Jerusalem shel. And I think that's that's one way of interpreting it. But where do we have that idea? Where's the source for yushlam shel zahab? Where did Naomi Shemer get that idea to call Jerusalem the golden city? So it's not a term that's found in the Torah. Nowhere do we have it in the kamishorah. It's nowhere in Tanakh. We do not have that term anywhere in Tanakh. But it is a term that is found in the Gamarra. And it's found in the following episode in the Gamarra. And it's a story which you might be familiar with. I would say it's a lesserknown story of Rabaka. And we know Raika his love for you shalim you know the famous story as he's overlooking the temple mount he sees destruction he sees the shualeim he sees the foxes that are running on the temple mount and he laughs and he see and he's able to see a future uh an an optimistic future for for amii Israel and for you shalim so here's the story the story is found in daf nunf it's uh you have it here on the first page but let me tell you this story. You can look at the uh you can look at the text if you like as well. Rabaka has just married his wife Rael and Rael comes from a very prestigious and a very wealthy family. Rael's father is Kaba Sabua and uh he is not happy about the marriage. He does not want to see the shik take place. And why is that? Because Rabka at that point in his life is not a learned person. He's far from the great Rabaka that we know. He's really an ignoramis. He knows very very little. Even alfay, even the very basics of Judaism, he doesn't know. But somehow Rael falls in love with Rabaka and sees a great potential in uh in that marriage and in him. They marry one another. The Gammorra describes how the father-in-law Kabal Savoa writes them out of the will and he is not going to support them in any way and they are impoverished and they're living in very very poor conditions. The Gamarra says that they're in not even like a a house. They're in some kind of like storehouse and their straw that's on the ground on the floor and that's what they how they sleep and they sleep on the straw. And the Gamarra has a very romantic scene which I would say is not common for the Gamarra. It's not, we don't really think about a lot of romance in the gamarra, but here it's a very romantic description of when they wake up in the morning together that Rabbi Aka pulls the straw out of her hair, Rael, his wife's hair every morning, the straw that gets caught in her hair. And again, life isn't easy. There's a knock on the door, says the Gamarra. It's Eliahu Hanavi. They don't know that it's Elijah the prophet, Eli Hanavi. He comes and he says that my wife this man again it's going to be Elia the man says that my wife just gave birth and we don't have straw we don't have just for my wife and for the baby to be able to lie on a comfortable place and he leaves so Rabaka turns to Rael and says that we should learn a lesson here and that is that we at least have some straw that we you know God has blessed us with that we should appreciate that and the gar seems to uh suggest that Rabbi Kea comes at just the right moment to give them a bit of the strength that they need and that's why Elijah why comes at that moment. The Garra then says the following. We're now getting to the yushalam shel zahav where it appears in the to in the talmud in the gumar and Rabaka turns to Rael and says one day please God if we have some money if we have the means I'm going to buy you a shallayim shell zahav I'm going to buy you a Jerusalem of gold now what does that mean a Jerusalem of gold so the garra explains that that was a headpiece a piece of jewelry that women would air and on that piece it was it was made in the in the image a caricature of Jerusalem of the stones and of the of the walls of Jerusalem. So that is the story that's the story that's the source and it seems and I looked it up on Google. It seems that Naomi Sheammer when she was looking for an idea and and a phrase that she was aware of this story in the Gammorrah of Rabaka and this is the source which I would say most people do not know that this is a source of you shall shel but what do we see in this story and what is it that the the gamarra is conveying to us it's a story of love it's a story of loyalty it's a a story of sacrifice it's a story of optimism of Rabaka turning to his beloved wife and saying that one day I'll buy you shalam shel zahav that let's stick it out let's you know let's hold on to faith and better days are to come and this is this I would say is certainly what the gamarra or one of the ideas that the gamarra has in mind when we think about yush shalim when we think about the sanctity of yush shalim what's so beautiful about yush shalim it's a place of hope of optimism of a great future that we anticipate so that's uh just to open with yushal shahav that's not rivk book. But now we're going to move to uh move on to Rifkuk and the way that he interprets the kaduca and what he sees holy in us. But in order to do that, there's one step that we have to take and that is to see an insight from another great rabbi who lived at the same time as Ravk and we'll share a story where the two of them meet one another that they see one another and his name is Ra Simka Hakoen Advinsk. He's known as the orak. He wrote a commentary on the Rambam, considered one of the great Gdole Torah. And he also wrote the Mesh KMA, which is considered to be one of the classic um commentaries on the Torah. This goes back just over a hundred years ago. Rome sim. And what he's going to address in this piece, and this is so important, and that is the name itself, Yushaim. Where does that name come from? What is the source of that name? What's the meaning of the name Yushalim? Good question. Yes. Shalem. Okay. Shalem. Okay. Good. So, what is the source? And he quotes the following. This is where it all begins. And by the way, when we look at a name, and we know this from uh from our learning and Torah learning, the name itself very often, the name itself contains the very essence, right? The very the very character, the very trait of that item. So, he quotes the following. This is the mash. We're going to begin here. It says the following in the midrash is midrasha's rabbto shale. So where does begin? The city begins actually the first source that we have for the holiness of this place where we're sitting right now in yushim is that shame comes to this city. Who is shame? Shame is one of the three sons of Noah. Shame and ye comes to this city. Kar and what did he call the city as he was here? And it seems that he was a leader. We'll see in a moment that he was a spiritual leader for the people that lived in Shalam. He called it Shalm. Shalam means a place of holiness. And the Midrash says that is Shame. Malited. He's a melik. He's a he's a king. He's a he's a he's a leader of righteousness. So the name the first time that this city is named according to our tradition according to the midrash is shame. He becomes known as Malited. He comes to this place and he calls it Shalem. That's the first name Shalim. But there's another name that's then added to this city and Abraham is going to give another name to the city. And Abram calls the city the city of fear or maybe see God or fear of God. Abraham Hashem that Hashem will be seen in this place. And where is that? That's after the aa that that Abraham as he's standing on Haram Moria today the temple mount right behind the cotel. That's where the aada takes place. And he says that I want to name this place Hashem. This is where Hashem can be seen, where Hashem can be felt and experienced. So we now have two names for the city. We have the original name which is Shalem. She calls it Shalem. We then have Abraham who comes along and he calls it Yer. So what are we going to do? Two names for one city. The Midash says the following. Hashem is now going to step in and Hashem is going to name this city for the rest of time said the holy one blessed be he. Again, if you want to follow along, we're five lines down. Source number two. If I'm going to name it the city of fearing God to Abraham Shame Shame who is Adam Sadikim, he's going to complain. He's going to have a gripe against me. That was he named it Shalem originally. How can I take the new name that Ara is giving to the city shalem? If I'm going to call the city, we're going to hold on to that original name Shalam. Araim Ara is going to have a Tina. He's going to be upset with me that I called it in Shame's name. Allah says the holy one, blessed be he, says Godi oto yushim. So what is yushim? It's a combination of two names. It's year a and it's shal. It's the year that Aram calls the city and it's the shalem that shame calls the city. Kamosh kushm shalm yush shalim. Now by the way I'll just begin here and that is what what's one lesson that we learn from this midrash and that is compromise. Right? It's a city of compromise. We have two different what are we going to do? Right? We have two different opinions, two great individuals. So let's find a way to bring the two together. So that's maybe that's already a foundation of what yalim is all about. And now the meshma says the following and this is really the key to what I want to share with you and and uh RFK is going to is going to take the same pathway as the meshan. So what does it mean now beyond just the name itself that we have shame calling it shale and we have a calling it y. What does that really mean? What does that suggest? Now, by the way, you see something interesting here and that is that you have Abraham who is the first Jew and you have Shem who is not Jewish who gives it a name and that we want to hold on to that name. We have Abraham who's calling it Yira which is really about which is about a place that we have fear of God that we have a special relationship with God and Shem is calling it shalem which is about a wholeness or a morality an ethics that we have within the city. So we're bringing together these two these two ideas these two aspects and this is what the mesh writes what's the what's the idea behind this right beyond just the simple you know let's compromise between these two nice people and call it you shalim but what's the deeper idea what does shame represent he lived during the mabu vayva what did he do he was in the tva that's what we know about his life the zanopes I shva he took care of all the animals, the sensitivity that he had to the to the animals that were there. What was the essence of shame, right? That he was concerned with fixing or uh or raising the level of character traits at that time where people were not living in a upright way, in a noble way. What was shame all about? Shame was about bringing goodness, morality, ethics, kindness, compassion to the world. So that's one aspect of shale. And that's what it means. That's that wholeness of that we're all in this together. That all mankind We all need one another. We all interact with one another. What does shame introduce? The idea of kindness, of ethics, of morality. And that needs to be the message of Jerusalem. And that's something that is universal. That's something that is for all men, all men and women. But what does Abraham do? What does Abraham bring to the city? And what does it represent? Abraham hit fals. What's hitf? He was a philosopher, right? Hit foul safe. That's not a Hebrew word, but the uses it. He philosophizes a lot in wisdom. And he taught all those that were off the path. He argued with them. Hashem, what did he bring to the world? An awareness of the God of Hashem that there's a God in the world that there's one God in the world. And just that is what is all about is built on these two foundations. the idea of the correct way of thinking of belief of faith and that is God and to affect a change of midote in the world. So what is a combination of belief in God, the great faith in God and also the way that mankind is to be affected, to be influenced, impacted by that that we are the headquarters, that we are the lighthouse for the world. We are a place of spirituality but that spirituality that we want to extend to every human being that every person should know one God that every person should know goodness and compassion and kindness we are this is the headquarters of that message and that's Abraham and that's shame and that's shalim and that's y now here fascinating we have that is going to say something very similar to this and I would say by the way this is not not the idea that I grew up with or the way that I have thought about us. I think this is a relatively new idea in terms of how we think about us. Now I will say the finally just to share a short vignette. So we have two great and we have known as the meet one another and I was actually like trying to find some you know some information or material about their relationship but that they had a relationship. I happened to come across a story that was told by Raosha Weinberger who was the RV inhes. I was listening to a shir of his and he told the following story. Ravkuk was at one point he was a RV of Ashul. He was in boyis and uh he was on his way back home to see his parents to visit his parents and uh he he stopped by the home of the Messor Simka coin Vince and the rabbi mayor Simka he saw that there was something that was bothering RV cook. there was something that was agitating him and he said to Cookook, what what is it that's bothering you. So he said you know we're in the three weeks three weeks you know towards uh towards tishab and we're about to enter the nine days and I know that when I go and see my parents that I have so much simuk said I have so much joy in the presence of my parents and I haven't seen them for so long the joy that I'll experience and the question is am I allowed to do that during the nine days right can I go and see my parents during the nine days when I'm when I when this is a time of aus and a time of mourning and sadness for for you shalim and the bas mikdash. So interesting that that that's the story that was told but the muser of that is is RVuk and and not only Rafuk but so many people the way that they felt towards us shalam and how serious that idea of missing shalim and pining for us and we don't and that we don't have a b mikdash in shalim and how serious he took that and he questioned if he could feel a sim being in the presence of his parents during the nine days. Okay. So now let's go to uh to RV cook. And RV cook is going to discuss two words and try to define two words that are used for yushim. And it's a verse the puk that we're all familiar with. It's found in perag and the and it's gimmel. So it's a verse the we're all familiar with. We say it as the Torah is taken from the AO this morning from Zion Torah goes forth Torah Hashem. What is the difference between and by the way just to point out and again we shouldn't know from it but when know from it when you visit a mournerion what is and what is and we're talking about the aion they're both words both terms that are used for this city for this place so This is what Rkook writes. Okay. So this is if you want to just follow along we'll read it again. We're always mak to read from see the language of so this is from his and it's you see the shin he quotes the beginning of the so you see it says that's now the writing of just have the title in bold. These are parallel names. Two names that are used for the city of Jerusalem. The uniqueness of the Jewish people that singular and that inner quality is that signifies that represents Israel that we are a separate nation. that were unique in our singularity. That is that's the meaning of this is a name of great pride and great glory of the Jewish people. By the way, there's a term in Hebrew for a a marker or for a for a kev which is called, right? Are you familiar with that? That's a term for and it means a particular place, right? A particular spot. That's so the word means something that is particular. So when we talk about we're talking about what is particular to am in this place in we as Jews as a Jewish people have a particular relationship with God and that is something that is magnified that's something that is beautified here in the city of your shalim. However so what's your shalim? So, what does represent? And interesting kind of coming off of the teaching of the mesh and shame that it's shalim. It represents all of the all of the amim all the nations of the world that come. What'su? They're going to rush in. That's right. Like a nahar, right? They're going to come in like a river. They're going to be rushing in. By the way, we haven't really had flights and everything is closed down. But in a a typical day in the old city, spend a day just standing in the Jewish quarter, you will see thousands, if not tens of thousands of non-Jewish tourists that are streaming into the city of Yusha. So this city is not only a city for the Jew, it's also a city that is for all nations, for all people. That's what usalion is that particular aspect that usim is particular to the Jewish people. But yalim represents the the message of yushim for all people like shame said that this is shal that from this city we're going to influence we're going to impact all of mankind through this city will come the altoim what are what islands the go the distant islands that's right using a poetic term we're going to spread this throughout the You shall this message of God, this message of ethics, of goodness, of compassion, this light of Hashem is a is a message that we want to spread everywhere. And this is what you shall. It's a combination of and what's particular to the Jewish people here in Shaim, but the messages of the Torah, the message of God that needs to impact all of mankind. Ala therefore and he interprets the alitra what do we say from will go tora what's tora all the specifics right the way that we keep and please go and we're even more careful the way that we keep every minutia of the law and through that that great vision of hashem of hashem so there's Torah say Torah and what's dvar hashem the word of god the Torah okay the Torah is for us but dvar hashem that's for everyone dvar hashem meaning the messages of the Torah right the message of the Torah the wisdom of the Torah not that we're looking to convert the rest of the world but we want the rest of the world to learn from our Torah we want the rest of the world to believe in one God we want the rest of the world to be a world of of that's ethical and compassion We're not satisfied with just being a holy nation ourselves. We want holiness to spread. We want to affect every person, right? Every gentile is well and that's this relationship of Torah and that's the what's in the pukate tora. You have the specifics. You have the details. 613 commandments. But then you have the Torah. The is the spirit of the Torah that we want to spread. We wanted to extend to every corner of the world that we're going to we're going to change the world. The Jewish people are not are not happy with just changing ourselves. We want everyone to be on board. We want everyone to live a a a uh a more noble and a more ethical and more compassionate life. Okay. So that is I would say this is this is a new idea I think new idea for myself thinking about what represents. Yesim represents a messianic vision, right? A vision of the future where the Jewish people will be able not only to be a great nation spiritually ourselves, but that we're going to be able to spread that light to uh to all mankind. And I've mentioned this a number of times. There's a book that was written by uh Lord Saxs Zrono Lra Jonathan Lord Saxs. And uh it's the name of the book is Future Tense. That's the title of the book, Future Tense. one of the many books that he wrote and in that book he makes one major argument and that is for 2,000 years we have been in Galut and we have not been able to fulfill this mission of being a light to the nations of the world for 2,000 years we've been running from country to country just trying to survive just trying to get through the day right trying to and literally like running from place to place but he says future tense now that we're back in the land of Israel for the first time 7 million people strong living in this country. We can now think about what it means to take this great wisdom, right, the great insights of the Torah and how do we share that? How do we now change? Again, not we're not talking about converting others, but how do we bring the messages of the Torah of family life and compassion and and mercy to the poor and and and everything and all the moral all the morality and ethics of the Torah? How do we bring that to all of mankind? How do we change the world? So that's that's and he says now is the time. He says we haven't been able to do this. We haven't been talking about this. Now is the time to do it. And what is shalma and what is shalim? It's that combination. It's shal and it's and it's shalim. Yes, please comment. We have brought the message of one God. All the Christians believe in one God. Okay. So maybe All right. Maybe maybe Okay. Hopefully hopefully we're on our way. I would say we haven't done we have I don't Yeah. Go ahead. I was just listening Yeah. to um a program where they were talking about uh Malcolm X. Yeah. Uh not Malcolm X but the one who became Islam. Okay. And he they start with the message that he went on the page and he was very impressed with something that actually comes from Jewish source. You know the fact that all people are created equal under God and he experienced right right that whites and blacks and all people were kind to each other and this was what impressed him. Yes. Convert to a slave. Okay. Good. Oh to all right. So that's the question. How do we how do we impress how do we impress the world? How do we enlighten the world? How do we change the world? Where is the where's the where's the heart of that? Where does where is the heart of that message come from? That's that's yalime. Okay. They actually Hebrew phrase. They put it like a very common uh Hebrew maxim that I'm I just slipped my mind. Okay. So let's look at one other one other beautiful uh a beautiful meditation or just a few lines from RV cook. This is the top of page three. We're going to go to the top of page three. And uh when do we speak about you shalim? On the two holiest nights of the year. The two holiest nights of the year. On the night of yum kiper we end yum kipperab shalim. And on pes night we say habal. Look at what Rkook writes. The oath and the hope that we have this very ancient oath that we took for the sake of you. We took an oath never to forget you. Rabaka said to his wife, right, I'm going to I'm going to give you Zahav. It's going to it's going to happen. So, we also took an oath for you. And what was that oath? I'll never forget you that that will always be my celebr that's the first thing that I will mention in in in celebrating I'm always going to remember you shim and writes this is a voice that has accompanied us Benamik in a sweet hope two times a year on the holy night And at the very end as we come to a close what is this this oath and what is this message it's the very essence it's the very soul of our nation who call it's the voice of our nama it represents the kah the the depth of our of our desires and our feelings ings and our emotions of of longing longing for that final day of lashim. And what is that? That's a messianic vision. A messianic vision of that all people will know the oneness of God, will know Hashem. Okay, we're going to skip right now just that middle section and we're going to go to the the bottom. And here I want to share with you a uh an insight from a you know just a a vort so to speak from Likenstein. By the way Likenstein when he moved to Israel he spent the majority of his life in USA. Um I think one of the holy things about us were the holy people that lived in Shalime Rkook Ran Likenstein and we'll touch on a couple others as well as we as we make our way uh in this year. So one of the events of that happened we spoke uh about the aeda a few moments ago that's Abraham whom names that place but there's another event that happens you shalim and that is Jacob as he runs away from home and he has a dream the dream of the latter of the angels ascending and descending where is it that he put his head down that night where did he see that vision that was on Harabay that was in shalim and when he woke up from that dream what did he say and the pik says he was in fear here. Interesting, you know, very similar to that same language of Abraham. And he said, "How awesome is this place? This is nothing other than the house of God and this is the gate of heaven." So, he asked the question, "What does it mean that you shalim is a buy it and it's a sh?" What does it mean calling you shalim? A house and a gate. So he said the following. He said a house is a place that we feel secure that we feel at home, right? The homeiness of being at home and yes, it's a bay. It's where we feel at home and we feel at home with Hashem. We feel at home with the Jewish people. We feel like you go home and please God, your parents are there and you feel that warmth and you feel that connection. That's you shalim. we're home by it that we're in the place with our father with our father in heaven. But what is a sha? He says a sh which is a gate is something that you pass through. It's something where you're moving to another destination. And he says shalim what does it represent? That we're always looking to move forward that we're always ascending ascending spiritually. That we're never satisfied spiritually. That we always want more. That's the sh. And I think it's one of the beautiful aspects of yushalim and why so many people come to us shalim visit yushalim looking to to grow as a Jew that we're always looking to increase and to come closer and closer to auash. So I thought that was a very very beautiful idea. So the the uh the date of so that is it's a good way of remembering it a day of strength and that again we're celebrating that Sunday night Monday morning and yes I invite everyone to the praminad beautiful we'll have a beautiful celebration there the 28th of er was a significant day for Ravkuk and his life and if you look at the top of page four this is a translation from modern put together many many teachings and memories of Ravkok Tab of page four and I have it translated. It says on the 28th of er on Kakar the Hebrew date the unification of Jerusalem which would be in 1967 was a festive day in Jaffa in Yafo in 1904. What happened on that day in 1904? On that day, the new rabbi of Yafo Rkook first set foot in Aritzel 10 years later. Okay. So is what the day that Rafuk steps foot on Erit Israel on the land of Israel and that will be the day that will be the day celebrating the reunification of Jerusalem. And 10 years later on the 29th of Yar the RV wrote the following. Ravk wrote the following. This is we have in the letters of RVuk. Thank God. Yesterday was the 28th of ER. This is him writing to his son who was overseas at the time. Ratsu the Cook. The great day on which the rock of Israel, blessed be he, favored us to come to his pleasant land and see with our own eyes the beginning of the flourishing of his redemption of his redemption of his holy people. So he writes to his son, "This is a day that I'll always remember." And a lot of people, by the way, they remember the day that they made aliyah. Some people have a aliyah anniversary or they do a celebration very very nice and Rook also you see in his writings that that was a significant day. So is this coincidence that he comes to Isra and that becomes the day of shalim could be. I believe there's probably some some deeper connection ruk's love for Israel his love for us and that's the day that he sets foot here in Erit Israel. uh another great Torah personality and uh he comes to Israel one time in his life. His name is Rabbi Yseph Dov Halevi Salaveik who's the rashiva lives in Brooklyn in Boston. He's a rasha in New York and he writes about the importance of the Jewish people making aliyah. In that famous address kod do he calls on the American Jewish community to make aliyah. becomes a famous address and a book very worthwhile called Fade and Destiny and Translation worthwhile. Everyone should read it. Highly recommended and it actually became part of the curriculum here in Israel. Many of the high schools that they were reading that manifesto that that statement of one of the great religious leaders saying that God is knocking at the door of the Jewish people and it's time for Jews to come back home. There was a uh a kibbutz in um Yavna. I I believe it's the same kibbutz today kibbutz yabna where they taught this in the class and uh the teacher taught it to the students and they said to one another you know we're learning this and it's very very powerful but why is it that Rabbi Salvichek is living in Boston and why is it that he's in New York when he's telling American jewelry to come to Israel so they write a letter to the class and the teacher writes a letter to Rabbi Salvichek we have that letter and we have the letter that he writes writes back to the class. It's quite an amazing letter. We can just have a class on that letter alone. He opens the letter by saying, "I'm not making any excuses." He says, "I sin I sin against the land of Israel. I sin against you, Shalai by by by not being there." That's how he opens the letter. He then goes on to he says a little bit, you know, I have I have yeshiva here. I have some students here and it's difficult for me to leave. But he says something else as well. He says, "My wife just passed away and it's very very difficult for me to leave at this time and just to have the strength and to have the wherewithal after losing my beloved wife, I just don't have the strength to come to Ariel and start a new life there." And then he quotes the following gamarra and this is the garra that I want to share with you. And he says, "There's a ha that you shalim is a city that you can only be in this city if you're filled with joy. It's a joyous city. And this is what the gamarra says. This is a gamarra. I'm sorry. It's a medish, not a garra. The medish medish rabba in pic says the following. It opens with a puk inhill. This is 422. Amar no misos karat that you shall is indeed the fairest fairest of sights, the joy of all the earth. That is apostle gentil. So the gumar says the following. It calls you a place of great joy. There was a literally it translates here a vault of calculations. Meaning when all the pilgrims would come up, all the Jews would come to shalim that they place sort of like the bank or where you did your accounting outside of your shalim. You should not have to pay your bills and do any accounting within your shalim. Why? Because when you do that, it's not very pleasant. Right? Anybody who has to make this calculation, has to go to the bank, has to make payments. Where is that being done? They go outside of the boundaries of that's where that office was, right? No offices in Shaim that's going to be depressing for people. So where all the calculations were made, where you had to pay your bills, that was just outside of us. That's what the Gar says. Why is that shalom? You shouldn't have to make these, you know, paying bills in it's going to cause you pain because it has to be the city that's filled with joy. Why is there so much praise for the joy of Jerusalem? because it's the city of the king of the great king and Hashem Hashem who is here wants the city to be a place of joy and to be in the presence of Hashem means that you're filled with joy and by the way often we think about you know from the old days all you know crying the whailing wall of yushim of the of what we've lost but shalim essentially is a place of joy it's where the schlog galam where every Jew would come on the holidays and the festivals and they would be together the joy of coming and bringing corbano the joy of seeing one another. The joy says the mission, one of the miracles is that they that never was it said in your shalim that there wasn't enough room for one another, right? There was a joy there's there's never enough room when when there isn't happiness, but where there's joy in a in a family and in a home, there's always you can find another place for somebody to sleep. And that's the joy of your shalim. So, Rabbi Salves writes, he says, I can't come to Shalim right now. I'm not allowed to enter your shalim if I'm not filled with joy. And he writes that in the letter quoting quoting this gamarra. Just to share I came across really an amazing story. You may have heard it of Natan Sharansky talking about the the sadikim the righteous the holy people of yushalim. So Sheransky uh going back to his days in the USSR in Russia as he was a refusnic. So his wife gave him a little Tahillim, a little it's a little black and he you you could see it, you know, there's still videos and he talks about it, this little black book of Tahillim and he brought it with him when he was in Siberia and he describes that he really didn't read Hebrew at the time and didn't understand a word of Tahillim. He was such a genius and just spending time that he figured out the meaning of words and how and how to understand Tahillim. And he actually says that the first that he understood was Salm that God is with me even in the most difficult of circumstances. That was the first PK that he understood and he describes how with this book he he dreamt about you Shalim and he said the in in the last trial when they when they had him on trial he said I have nothing to say to this room but I have something to say to every Jew and to my wife. and he said habush shalim the next year I'll be in your shalim and he held on to this this and that connected him to your shalim and he talks about that tom and the faith that it brought him um there was a a school teach this happened just a few years ago just an add-on to the story a woman who teaches uh who teaches here in she said whenever I teach Tanakh in the very first day I always talk about your tahhim that little book of tahillum and uh the faith that it gave gave you and that's the way that I introduced Tadak and learning to my students. And so she she met Sharansky just walking on the street. By the way, if you walk around like the Baka German colony area, you can bump into him. So this woman was online with him and said, "Is that you know, is it true about, you know, about that that Tahillim and that little black book?" and he pulls out the tahillum from his pocket and he says to the school teacher and this woman he said not only did this carry me at that time but it still continues to carry me until today. So that and and he had that he's still holding on to that to that. So that is the uh personalities and the love and the yearning for you. uh just to share one more one more source which is uh very meaningful as well to me and it comes from a rebby of mine who was really my first rebby when I one of my first rebain when I came to Israel to learn I was 17 years old I came to BMT anybody remember BMT bait midrash or in a day in its day they called it best meal in town it was the yeshiva that had the the best food BMT um what yeah Basketball means Torah. That was another, right? The Rashet Teavos. There was a lot of ball playing there as well. That's correct. So my Yes. There. You work there with Rabbi. Rabbi Harowitz. Rabbi Polyov. Rabbi Polyikov. Yes. Very nice. Very nice. So this is my This is my Rebi. My Rebi at night. His name was Rabbi Yetag Merski. Rabbit Raberski. He wrote farm called Aon Al. He has about five or six volumes. one of the most popular sets of farm in Israel over the last you know 1020 years beautiful uh beautiful teachings of and Ashkafa and he talks about Yomu Shalam he lives in Harnov and he's still teaching today in yeshiva in Harnov um and he writes the following about yu the way that it falls out in the calendar and I'll just read it to you from his the and he writes this is the last paragraph on for Ro he says it's not coincidence that God orchestrated that yu shalim would fall at this time in the calendar that it should fall between these are days of preparation and longing and the way that we prepare the Jewish people prepare for receiving the wrote the way that they prepared in ancient times in the first time the Torah was given is the way that we need to prepare as well for matanorah and what is that matan what did we find what do we find when the original giving the Torah how did it take place there was a oneness that the Jewish people were unified. That's what we need to do as well today. The yum. What is all about? And it's just a few days before shàuote. This is a moment in history where we come together. We should see it as a moment that the Jewish people are unified. Shamu aluk. What does it say about? It's a city that makes Jewish people that we come closer to one another that there's an Israel where we are closer to one another that there's there's unity in. And that's one of the beautiful themes of yushim. And he suggests that's why Hashem placed yalim right before a few days before shabot for all of us to come together come together around you shalim the aus that uh that represents a story. Amen. It should happen. Um the um there's a story that's told about uh RVuk and R Zunninfeld. Ravk was the great rabbi. There was another great rabbi at the time. His name was Rav Zunnfeld. There's a new book actually just came out about teachings of Rav Cook. Bit of a academic work. The picture on the cover is Rav Cook sitting next to Rav Zunnfeld. This is renewing the old and sanctifying sorry renewing the old sanctifying the new by Mark Shapiro who actually sat right in front of me in BMT. So we know one another. He's writing about this is the latest book that just came out. Books are coming out about Ruf Cook on a regular basis. And uh they were um they were in opposition to one another in hashkafa that they felt very very differently about how to uh how to go about implementing the Torah and what it means to to come back to land of Israel. Many many disagreements but with those disagreements they had a great respect and a great love for one another. And this you can see them sitting next to one another. This is in the early 1930s. I believe this picture was taken at a uh possibly in Raavia where there was a new shel that was being built for the very first time and they were there at that dedication. It was right before Pesak and Ravuk had just come from the hotel and R Zunnfeld was passing him. Suk was on his way out. Rav Zunnfeld was making his way to the coel and as they passed one another, Revzanfeld said to Ravk, he said in Yiddish, he said, "Your your legs should be filled with blood." With blood. So this So the students that were with him said to Riff Cook, "What did he just say to you? And was he possibly saying something negative to you? So Rafuk said no. He was praising me. The Garra says the following that on Pesak when so many Jews were coming to you shalim and there were so many carban that the coanim and the coen as they were doing their aoda there was so much blood that their legs filled up that they were that they were standing in blood on the floor of the bay mikdash. Sir Zunnfeld was honoring me and praising me saying that you should be the co-hel that you should be the high priest and we should celebrate Pesak in the B mikdash. So that that's in terms of a unity of of of amuse even though we disagree with one another and R Zenfenfeld and RVuk disagreed very very seriously with one another on many issues but they had a great respect for one another and uh just to share one last one last item which is an important item and that is uh and that is a uh the terrible terrorist attack that just happened uh last week. Um a woman by the name of Sila GZ of blessed memory. She was a 30-year-old mother who was murdered by Palestinian terrorists on the way to give birth right to her fourth child. So this is a post that I just saw. I just saw it yesterday where it says the new baby is fighting for his life and Kananel who is Sila's husband gave the baby a name during a ceremony that they had at their home and they called the baby Ravid. Ravid means a jewel and means life, a jewel of life. So first of all we can say mazav that the baby has a name and that name ravid which means a jewel is a name that was already chosen by sila that the mother already chose the name for what was to be her fourth son. Ravid is I'm sorry. Yeah. Yeah. Her fourth son. Ravid is the name that Celled had already chosen for the baby before being murdered. And they added the name, right? With a hope that the baby will live. And now we can be now we can pray. Now we can dive in for the baby with that name. So Ravid, if you want to jot it down, ravid Benila, Ravid, I mean you could you could spell it in English. Ra R A V I D or R Y Ridim Benila. And we pray to Hashem that Ravida will ravid R a A in English R A V I D Rid which means a jewel a jewel of life. May Hashem bring good health to the baby, a full recovery and a long life to the baby and a life of happiness. The mother's name is Sila. Sila Sila Sila Gay Ga. Okay. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. So um so Rufuk when Rufuk spoke about in just uh yeah just one last word when Rafuk spoke about you Shalim and spoke about the holiness of Shalim what he saw in the holiness of your is that from your shim will go forth right that will go forth a message of compassion and of love and of ethics that the world should be a world of peace where we get along with one another and more compassion. And this is what is about. Is the closeness with Hashem and a message that the Jewish people have to share with with all people. Please God, we should see peace in your shim. We should see a peace that goes from you shalim that light to all uh to all people. And we should be za to celebrate Sunday night Monday the 58th anniversary of yushaim. Everyone have a wonderful day. Thank you for being here.