Panama Yarchei Kallah 2025: Late Night Kumzits and Inspiration with Rabbi YY

This Torah class is brought to you by Torah anytime.com. Let's begin with a song everybody knows. Then I'm going to share with you a very powerful story. >> Take it away. [Music] I hear you. [Music] Hallelujah. Check. [Music] [Laughter] [Music] Please join us. [Music] You say before [Music] you Sher [Music] My sh [Music] Amaz. [Music] Allah please join us. Oh, hos. Oh [Music] my [Music] of my life. Oh, closer. Oh my [Music] god. [Music] Oh sh. [Music] Oh d [Music] None of that. [Music] D everybody. D [Music] we go. They will be [Music] So So you only might sh [Music] my sh [Music] my desire. Oh sh I feel I Hallelujah. [Music] And my son I said oh she know I be [Music] I We are Come on everybody. [Music] May I share my I shall suffer. [Music] Show again. [Music] I need the the microphone for a second. Amen. >> He's going to make a seal. First seal in the middle. I was thinking [Music] I might show Oh my [Music] I never shall. [Music] Okay. Hi. Okay, we're going to take one minute of your time. We're going to make a a short but important sum tam from our dear Daniel Ali. He's reviewing constantly. Subhan, we have a when we have a party and we're singing and drinking to make sure we're not trying dressing ala which you have what's it call. So please one minute of your time you also gain a foreign. [Music] Allah Papa.chech. [Music] Foreign speech. Foreign speech. Foreign speech. forch. Shalom. [Music] I'll try this. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. for muscle. Laum bum. >> They wanted They wanted I la I La. [Music] You can do audio turn off. Audio turn off. Audio turn off. [Music] I lay on your turtle. Beyond your turtle. Beyond your ty. >> On your turtle. Be on your t. I I on your t. to your [Music] dearest friends, my holy brothers, [Music] please open your hearts and join me [Music] >> for a very deep story. But in order to appreciate the story, we must open our hearts. And everybody knows And everybody knows how do you open the heart. So we do it through anigan through music. Dark she [Music] da But in order to appreciate a story, my dear friends, you always need to have the backstory, the context. So here is one of the most beautiful insights and I think this is the first time we met right when you heard me say this in the name of the holy and this is what he said. He asked a big question. What is the difference between children and adults? I see that this event officially is only for adults. I have a problem because I'm a child. I'm still a child at heart. So, I'm trying to fit in. It's not so easy. What's the difference between children and adults? We like saying that adults are mature and children are immature. But, you know, that's a lie. So many adults are mish little babies. Sometimes I see a father screaming at his kid and I think to myself, the father is four years old and the child is like 10 years old. The truth is says it's a one of the differences between children and adults is children don't keep grudges. Adults keep grudges. Right? You remember when your two children got into a fight or two cousins got into a fight and they fight for 10 minutes and one of the boys says, "I'm never speaking to you again." You remember when your son said, "You're not my Tati anymore and you're not coming to my birthday party. You're not getting any birthday cake." But 12 minutes later, they're best friends again. Especially when you give them a little ice cream. But adults, if an adult man tells you, "I'm not speaking to you again." 15 years later, his grandson is getting married and the family is still killing each other. Ask the holy, "I don't understand why is it that children don't keep grudges and adults keep grudges. Why? Why? This is what he answers. [Music] D [Music] D. [Music] You know my dear friends, the difference in children and adults is children choose being happy over being right. Adults often choose being right over being happy. Children know that when you're fighting, it's miserable. It's miserable to be alone. They don't care about being right. They care about being happy. And then we get a little older and the ego becomes a little bigger and the insecurity becomes a little deeper. And now I tell myself, I'd rather be miserable, but I'm going to be right. So many marriages, so many families, so many relationships. There is such a deep wound. Oi, how do I say I'm sorry? How do I forgive? How do I accept forgiveness? How do I reach out and apologize? I'm going to be wronged and the worst thing is to be wrong. I'd rather rather rather be miserable for the rest of my life, but I'm going to be right. So, here's a story. Open your hearts. Holy Malik came to him and said, "Holy, I've been married for so many years. [Music] I've been married for so many years and I don't have a child. Please bless my wife and I that I should be able to have a child. Malik told him, I want you to travel to the city of broad. >> I want you to go to the city of broad. The city of broad. He says, what should I do there? He says, go to the city. No, he doesn't ask questions. The me the holy of holies told him to go to broad. He goes to brought. He travels to broad. Where do you go? He doesn't know where to go. The Reb didn't tell him where to go. Just go to broad. And what happens? Where does a Jew go? He goes to the shook. He goes to the marketplace. You know the shook. Comes to the shook and there's a bunch of vendors and it starts raining. So people crowd under one of the umbrellas to protect themselves from the rain. and he feels it's very tight. People are squeezing against each other and there's somebody like leaning on him. So he wants to give that person space. So he moves away a little bit and then he hears a voice. You're still moving away from me. You're still moving away from me. And he takes a look and he sees a young girl, a young woman. He knew her. He knew her. How did he know her? In the city he grew up, she was his next door neighbor. And they were friends. They were very very It was childhood friends. She says, "You're still you still you're still running away from me." Huh? What happened when they grew up? She was like seven. He was seven. And they were so close. And she said to him one day, "Maybe you're going to marry me." And he says, "Of course, of course I'm going to marry you." But you know, that's when you're seven years old and then you get older and you move on, right? You have your little girlfriends when you're six or seven. They probably have it in Panama, too. At least when some of you were growing up. And then you move on. So she says, "You're still running away from me." That was the girl. That was the girl. And she says, "Oh, how much pain? How much pain? But I forgive you. I forgive you. Wow. He didn't expect this. Okay, it's time to go back home. Maybe this is what Rebel Malik wanted. He should get forgiveness. He apologized and she forgave. And he goes back home. On the way back home, he stops the city where he grew up. His parents weren't alive anymore, but his brother was living there. And he goes to visit his brother and the next door neighbor. Their parents are also not alive. But the older brother of this girl is living there. And he meets him on the porch. He says, "I have regards for you." Regards from who? Your sister. Sister? Yeah. I met her in broad. She forgave me. He says, "You're crazy." Said, "I'm not crazy. I met your sister. I know your sister. I grew up with your sister." Says, "You're crazy. Why am I crazy?" This is what he tells. My sister felt so close to you. She really, really loved you. And when she heard you got engaged and you promised her as a young child you're going to marry her, she was heartbroken. She was heartbroken. The night of the wedding, we all went to the wedding. It was in another city, but we grew up with you. We all went to the wedding, but she couldn't go. And that night, that night she passed away from heartache 18 years ago. He says, "What? I never knew your sister died." She said, "Yeah, she died at the night of the wedding." I saw her. I saw her. I asked her forgiveness. She says, "How did you end up abroad sent me?" And the brothers said, "It looks like wanted to do you such a big favor. So he sent her soul back down to be able to forgive you for the heartache for breaking her soul that night when you made a commitment to her and you didn't fulfill that was the blockage for you not having children." A year later, this of was blessed with a child. [Music] Ever you [Music] everbody [Music] mech. [Music] Oh, [Music] my dear friends, sometimes We don't realize we have a choice every day. Am I going to live as a child or am I going to live as an adult? If I become an adult, my ego becomes so big or so insecure. Sometimes I'd rather be miserable, but I'm going to be right. I want to bless you all. We should always be able to remain children at hearts to know how to go into a sandbox and just have fun. Just love with an open heart, dance with an open heart, live with an open heart, to be able to be open, to be able to feel the heartbeat of another person and to be able to say, I don't want to live in a space of resentment and negative energy. I want to live in a space of ava, of openness, of giving, of creative flow of the divine energy. I want to share with you a story. But in order to appreciate this story, let's open our hearts with a [Music] Your You know, [Music] Lord [Music] sweet [Music] This day [Music] I [Music] I am This li now [Music] Laing. [Music] So somehow this program is called what is it? Lakewood in Santa Clara. What do you call this program? Lakewood in Panama. Lakewood Santa Clara. Santa Lakewood. Santa Lakewood. Lakewood Santa. I didn't know we have a Santa. Okay, fine. [Music] So, let me tell you a little story. [Music] So the rashish of BMG besa for many many years was Kutler of blessed memory. He passed away in 1982 to memb very very special man and Kutler the rashisha of BMG of Lakewood was once visiting Montreal. I heard this from a friend of mine chess who was there. It was Friday night. It was Friday night and this is the early days. Many decades ago, Montreal, the community wasn't as developed as it is today. Less money, less affluence, you know, things were much tighter. And the Sparta community in Montreal, they wanted to build a school. They came to the Ashkanaza community which was more developed and he said, "Can you please help us financially?" So they said, "We have our own problems. We barely have money for our own institutions. We can't give you money. Sorry. Kla was there and there was an Shabbat Friday night after the meal. The community came together you know to sing songs to hear words of Torah and it was this is what said who was there he told me his name is he told me said these words one of the what does god do mean literally god forbid if there is a moment of grief or loss don't scrape off the skin of your skin. The the amore, the Canaanites, the pagans, when somebody would die, they would tear off their skin as a way of grieving. And the says go to do not do that. Don't scrape off your skin. Comes and says, "What does do? Don't splinter the community. Don't make different groups fighting with each other. asks the maral of Prague what's the connection if you have different interpretations on a they have to be connected means don't scrape off the skin it doesn't mean that's not talking about that don't splinter into groups this is what said listen my friends open your heart it's a message for life he said it's the same interpretation you know why because the Jewish people are one body we're one organism When you separate one Jew from another Jew, you know what you're doing? You're tearing off a piece of your skin. [Applause] Just because my hand is hurting, I don't go to the doctor and say, "Take off my skin. Cut off my hand. It's my harm. You cherish it." There may be a challenge. There may be an infection. We got to work together. Lot Jewish people are one goof, one body, one organism. says the spite came to they asked you to help them build a school. You don't say we have our own problems. We're brothers, we're sisters. One of the hallmarks, one of the blessings of the Panipa community is and trust me, I have been around the block. I visited maybe six or 700 communities. I can't count, but a lot. Let's put it a lot. More than 10, more than 20. Cherish this blessing. Jews don't have to agree with each other. God forbid. God forbid. I once heard from the he said had a very good sense of hum and he said you know what's the Jewish greeting? I say shalom and you say shalom. Why do you say the opposite right? I say shalom. You should say shalom in English. I don't say good morning and you say morning good. Good evening evening good. How are you Panama? Panama you are how what's up up what's you don't do that unless you're mash but in Hebrew everybody does it shalom shalom so the reb said because when two Jews meet even before they get into the conversation the first thing is they have to disagree with each other that's the first thing [Applause] you're destroying Shalom. Once we establish that we're in a fight, now we know we're Jewish and hopefully we can have a meaningful dialogue. We don't have to agree with each other. But we have to be here for each other. We have to trust each other, be here for each other, love each other. That's what said that night. And I want to bless this community whose hallmark is unity. You can even see from this event brings together so many types of Jews, different walks of life, different backgrounds, different experiences, different levels of learning, observance. But there's a love, there's a brotherhood, there's a sisterhood. We have to learn from our enemy to remember the difference between your brother and not your brother. My brother may not look like me. My sister may not look like me, but they're my brother and my sister. And I want to share with you a very, very deep story, my friends. But I think we need a Huh? >> Slow, slow, slow. That's too much. That's not for MS volcano. Maybe MS volcano. [Music] Everybody [Music] together again for the sake of my brothers and friends. the sake of my brothers and friends. How I seek peace to you. Peace to you. Ku [Music] man the [Music] lie la for the sake of my brothers and friends. How I seek out peace to you. I seek peace to you. [Music] Everybody for the house of Hashem [Music] Hey la. [Music] Hey la. I la I I la [Music] above all. [Music] So there's a Jew, my dearest friends, two very very powerful stories. [Music] First story is his name is and he served in the Israeli army for many many years. Very successful general, commander. He did well. He was a leader and then he finally retired from the army and he decided to go into the private sector. He wanted to make a couple of dollars and he moved from Israel to Chicago and he started to get into business. He wanted to be a successful, ambitious businessman, a leader, a charismatic fellow. In the 1970s, he came to visit New York. You share this story. He was a secular Jubilee when he came closer to Yiddish and he went to visit the labba of blessed memory and he told theb story his years in the army commander and theb noticed his talents charismatic as leader and he asked him what do you do now he says no I'm in the private sector I'm just taking care of myself said what about doing something for the community, for the Jewish people. God has given you leadership skills. So he tells the I did my job already. Now I'm worried about myself, not about anybody else. That's the worst thing you could have told from all things. That's the worst thing. I don't have to worry about anybody else. Misha said it. Heaven looked at him and said that I want to ask you a question. in Yiddish, in Judaism, which side is more prominent, the right or the left? He said, of course, everybody knows the right is the left is the right arm is the strong arm. The left arm is called it's weaker. The right, the Mishna says, if you have a choice, you should always go to the right. You go to the right. Yeah. We're not leftist, we're rightists. You mean? So the Reb said, "So I have a question. If the right is so much greater than the left, why is it that Hashem built that the heart, the left ventricle of the heart, which is the one that sends all the blood to the body, which is how we live, the soul is in the blood and the left that pumps out the blood and the whole circulatory system, it begins here in the left ventricle of the heart. If this is where the soul is, this is the shouldn't it be in the right says and yet is on the left. So the said at this point I was smart enough to know not to answer. So the said I'll tell you the answer. The function of a heart is to feel the person in front of you. How do you know your heart is healthy? Like we heard before from Rabbi Kelman, how do you know your heart is healthy? When you experience empathy. How do you say empathy here? Empata. >> Huh? >> When you have empathia, I knew that. I told you empathy. Chik, you should have empathy for me that I don't know a word. You should have empathia for me. A healthy heart feels the person in front of me. When your child comes to speak to you, you feel them. Your wife comes to speak to you. It's going to be in a few minutes. She's already texting. Why don't you answer? You could blame Rabbi Y. You could blame me. Don't worry. I'm leaving tomorrow. It's fine. Just take a picture. I could talk to you and I could feel you. A healthy heart feels the other person. God gave us a heart to feel ourselves and to feel and experience another person. That's a healthy heart. So the said like this, if somebody is standing in front of you and the function of your heart is to feel that person, so where is your heart? Your heart is on the right. Because for the person standing in front of you, your left is his right. So God was saying, how do you know your heart is functioning well? When it's experiencing the other person, which means it's really on the right. You have a heart. A heart is here to experience another person. Take your skills and give. today that Mosha has built I don't know dozens of institutions in the holy land those words touched him and I want to bless all of us that in our lives we should be able to have such hearts to be able to connect to ourselves and to the people around us sometimes the hardest thing is to be able to feel the other person but that's the key of everything if you don't feel the other person all the mind stuff is worthless And I'm going to share with you one more story, a very, very deep story. I heard it from the person himself. Give me a little background. What's the Panama anthem? What's the Jewish Panama anthem? >> You guys should have a Jewish Panama anthem. Think about it for next year. was a good that knows [Music] anime's missing [Music] Yeah. [Music] SP [Music] sh him ever. King [Music] Don't say you're [Music] call [Music] I love [Music] you. [Music] >> The story I heard from the Jew himself. Give me a little background of it. Salah. Open your hearts. It's one of the most powerful stories I've heard. The name of my friend, his name is El Yasaf. Elasaf Maria. And he lives in the south of Israel, what's called Otf Aza, in the communities, neighborhoods, and cities near the border of Aza. El Yasaf is a special Jew and by vocation he is a sa means he's a painter a dyer an artist he paints a painter he paints houses but he has a skill pictures art is a very very fine person a simple Jew lives in the south of Israel And this is what I heard from him. Taught me one of the deepest lessons. Here's the story. You know, from the day Israel left Gaza in August 2005, 20 years ago, when they expelled 10,000 Jews from Gushkif and gave it all to their neighbors and within days it became Kamastan and Israel had to deal with 20 30,000 rockets. What happened on October 8th really should have happened the day when the first rocket came, Israel should have declared war, but that was a crazy mistake Shaon made. No, no. Let's hope our leaders learn from their mistakes. And what happened was because there's so many rockets, every block in the south of Israel must have a migunit. Migunit is a reinforced shelter that if there's a missile, a rocket that comes, you can run in and be protected because they have between five and 30 seconds all the years. When kamas sends rockets, it's right there. So you have between 5 seconds and 30 seconds. So on every block they have migun, like little shelters you go in, walls of heavy concrete, and it protects the people. El Yasath had a migunit in front of his house. But these miguniot are very ugly. They're depressing. They're made out of plaster. You know, they look like gray cement. And he felt a mother and her children are ducking there for an hour till they get out. Why not make it lively? So he painted the migunit in front of his house beautifully colorful. And then he thought, you know what? Why don't I do this for all the muguna yachts? And he went from shelter to shelter and he painted each one with beautiful playful colors like the rooms of dentists or doctors you know they have for kids playgrounds, classrooms, colorful walls so the kids have joy. In one of them he painted beautiful ocean and another one a beautiful landscape and another one majestic animals and flowers and parks and a sunset and a sunrise and children playing a beautiful girl a beautiful boy and each one had different colors and a different liveless because he wanted that when a father and his children or a mother and her children run in there because there's a missile landing and they're frightened for their life at least they should be surrounded by joyous playful colors remember that there's still life after this insanity. And he did this to almost every mikunit in the south of the south of Israel at the border of Gaza. And everybody looked at him and they thanked him and they said he's a nice guy. This was October 6th, 2023. And if you would have asked Ali Assaf, "What do you do for a living?" He would say, "I'm a painter. Is there any significance to what you do?" I make a living. That's it. That's what he would say. I'm a simple Jew who just does his own thing. He did not know what he was doing. Comes October 7th, everybody knows that before Kamas came in, they sent 3,000 rockets at 6:00 in the morning so that everybody should go into shelters, including the soldiers and the troops. Nobody expected an invasion, so they could come in. 3,000 rockets they sent and then 625 620 they came in around 5,000 of them. So when the rockets came whoever was outdoors the festival Nova wherever they were they ran to the closest migunit. Everybody was in the migunit. They didn't know of course that the terrorists are coming in. They just thought it's rockets and they have to protect themselves from the rockets. Alias told me comes the next morning and suddenly suddenly already that day he's a religious Jew and he's getting a bunch a bunch of texts and the police is calling him and a lot of people are calling he doesn't know why he's not in the army he's not a policeman like how can he help and finally when he gets back to them this is what they told him so many family members and Jews were calling their relatives or the police from the migunit to come save us And they said, "What's your address? Where are you?" They said, "We don't have an address. We don't know. We're in a shelter. Give us a sign." And all they can do is describe the picture. But nobody knows where that is. So the police was calling Alas and he knew each one. >> So he directed the police based on the pictures where each one is. How many people did he help that day? and even those who were killed in the migunyat, they can go and get their belongings and bring it back to the family. And he showed me, he sent me the WhatsApp that he was getting, all these pictures. People in the migunit were just sending pictures and the only one who could help was Elasaf. And I thought to myself, you know, October 6th, he thought he was just a simple painter. October 8th, he realized how many lives he touched, he affected, he helped, perhaps saved. And then I realized something else. You know, if the police would have called BB Netanyao, prime minister, help us. If they would have called the head of Shabbach, the head of Aman, the chief of staff, the defense minister, all the generals and commanders, nobody can help them. the prime minister himself could not help them. There was only one man in Israel who can help them that day >> and that was Ali Yasav. He was the only one who knew. Then I thought, you know, we often think we know what we're doing in the world. We don't know what we're doing. He thought he was just a painter. He didn't know what he was doing. He didn't know that when he was painting a field or a garden or a rose or a lily or a boy or a girl, he was saving lives. We also think we're just one of many. But the truth is the Mishna says every person is supposed to say for me the world was created. It looks like it's a joke. The world was created for me. But Elasaf knew in all of Israel there was only one man who could save the day. Only one man. There's something that you contribute to life that nobody in the world, the greatest of the great before you, after you cannot achieve. Not because they're not great, but because the day you were born is the day Hashem said the world can't exist in a complete way without your contribution is the way Hashem shines his light through you and you and you and you and me and you and you and it's unique and it's indispensable. Each one of us is a unique note in the cosmic symphony. Play your note. Let your note shine. We can never compare ourselves to anybody else. Mishna says, "For me, there's something at stake in your existence, in your light, in your soul, in your love, in your wisdom, in your work, in your creativity, in your contribution that the entire world looks up and says, "I'm waiting for you. I want you. I want your soul. I want your contribution. You know, my dearest friends, my holiest brothers, comes the time of the year when we say God doesn't just remember the world. Every individual, every individual. Sometimes people are afraid days of judgment. They have a lot of anxiety. I don't want to be judged. In 2025, people hate being judged. Can't we get over it? Can't we change the name to I don't know? Who wants to be judged? But the truth is I always tell my students, I say, "No, no, no, no, no. You don't understand what judgment is." When we hear the word judgment, it's like, "Stop judging me. You don't know anything about me. And even if you do, you don't like me. Don't judge me." But imagine, imagine, dear brothers, imagine this. Imagine you could sit in front of somebody who first of all knows everything about you. They know every struggle. They know every heartache. They know every pain. They know everything you went through from the day you took your first breath. They know who your mother is or your father, your brothers, your sisters, what happened when you were one, two, three, four, five, six. They know your heart. They know your sensitivity. They know every struggle and challenge, every battle, every difficulty, every blockage, every psychological wound that's inside of you that nobody knows. Even things that our wives may not know or at least not know fully. Your wife knows everything. But even those things that your mother-in-law thinks she knows but doesn't know. But this one knows everything. But not only he knows everything about you, he also loves you like crazy. He wants you to be successful. And such a person judges you. Who doesn't want to be judged? We're scared to be judged because people don't understand us. Nobody knows what anybody else goes through. And even if they do understand us, they don't like us or they they're jealous. But if I could sit in front of somebody who knows everything about me better than I know me and oh so crazy about me, they want me to be the biggest success story in the world and they say, "Now let's look at your life. Let's see what's happening." What a gift. What a privilege to be judged by such a loving heart. That's what is people think it's like vindictive. Like this bully in heaven is going to judge you. I'm going to find you. Think Google knows about you. I know much more than Google and I know every a that you did and I know every sin and I'm already preparing the barbecue so that you burn with barbecue sauce with sauerkraut and mustard. You think tonight you had a barbecue? I'm going to and everybody people get so anxious but that's because the length of galut created such trauma in our minds that it's hard for us to open our hearts. But what if you understand Hashem is your best friend in the world? He's your biggest fan. He created you. He didn't have to create you. He's crazy about you. He asks you to make him king because without you, he says, I it's a partnership. We're one. We're together. The judgment here is I want to I want to figure out how we can have a most amazing year together. Let's work it through. Let's make a deep deep reckoning. Let's see your power, your potential, knowing every struggle and knowing your power and presence and then figure out what exactly you need in order to maximize your potential in order to flex your muscles in order to be able to become the person you're becoming. So I want to bless you all my dearest friends that like Elasaf we should know that we never really know what we're doing. You just got to show up. Show up and keep on painting the paintings that you need to paint. Take your canvas, take your pigment, take your quill, and don't let go. Everybody has their own painting to do in life. Everybody. And remember, we never really know what we're doing. And remember that there's something that you do that nobody else in the world can ever achieve. to be able to look at our lives and say, "Wow, what a gift. What a gift to be able to shine your light, your love, your beauty, your contribution in your own unique way to yourself, to your family, to your friends, to your community, to the whole community, and ultimately to all of Cla's role because we're all connected and ultimately to the whole world. be a mortal la [Music] [Laughter] La. I I la my i la by i [Music] la. [Music] You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by to anytime.com.