Parshat Ki Tavo: The First Fruits - Rabbi David Kaplan

[Music] gentlemen we're starting the new par today uh page 1068 yesterday we spoke about a Malik uh and today we are ti starting a completely new thought uh and it's para it's paraso and it's on page 1068 and the Torah says like this we're going to read a few PUK first just to get into the see what the thoughts are so Torah says like this you'll be when you come to the land which hasem gives you as an inheritance you are conquer it and you will dwell in the land and so what do you do when you dwell in the land of Israel so the Torah comes along the Torah says second line from the top Torah says you take the first fruits take the first fruits as they produce each uh season Zach Zach Ram page 1068 um uh you take the first fruits as they produce you put them in a B you go to the place where God's dwelling presence dwells which is obviously the Bas of me it means you make a pilgrimage you make a pilgrimage up toim with the first fruits the way it works is the farmer goes into his field each season and as the fruits the first fruits Blossom on the tree he actually ties a ribbon around them uh and uh and and then these when they finally ripen he takes off these fruits and he brings them up to now if you want to give anything to God who God's repres representative on Earth where is God's representative the closest representative the co the co so what do you do you go to the place you go to the who will be in your time you say to the coin I have stated today to your God I have come to the land that Hashem has given us and you uh give the Kim the produce okay now um then there's going to be a declaration which we'll see we'll get into the Declaration but we have over here the mitzah of B now the mitzah of BM the word BM is related to the Hebrew word Bor what is a Bor a first born these are the first fruits so they're called a baz and a and a are the the root of the word b and fascinatingly the V says you know that when you divide up an inheritance how much does the firstborn get double portion gets a double portion double portion means let's say there are four brothers you you divide the inheritance into five and the he doesn't get double everybody else he gets you divide the inheritance into five he gets two portions to everybody else is one portion whatever was again he gets a double portion now the Von points out it's very interesting look at the word the word b itself B which is in the root of this this word uh the word a b the letter in the alph that com before a base is what is an Alf the B is exactly double an Alf the letter that comes before a in the Al B is a y y is 10 and a is 20 the is exactly twice the uh twice twice the yud and a which is 200 is exactly twice the letter that comes before it which is a k uh so the word Bor the essence of the word Bor it's actually all the letters in the word Bor are twos it's a 222 uh 222 so the essence of the Bor is that he gets a double the Bor gets a double portion okay so the Bim are the first fruits that you bring to the land of Israel now what's behind this well that's an interesting you get the first fruits the first fruits are brought to is what what what is under what underlies this Mitzvah so there are two uh two thoughts here there are two thoughts here the first one is turn all the way back to the book to to the book of Noah to to to to Paras Noah and um right after the the mble and on page uh page um so two lines from the bottom of the page on page 42 no comes out of the Ark comes out of the Tava and then the Torah says no became a man of the earth he planted a Vineyard now the commentary has point out why does it say you know why with what's with the introduction just tell me that Noah planted a Vineyard obviously you planted a Vineyard became a man of the earth that seems redundant to tell me he became a man of the earth he planted a Vineyard so the Torah is telling you over here the commentary is point out the t is telling you over here the nature of agricultural Pursuit when a person becomes a farmer you become a man of the earth what that means is farming is addictive farming is addictive a person who's a farmer you know there always on TV this about as much I know about farming but I think you know it's a labor of love they get up at the crack of dawn and they're out there all day until sun from sunrise to sunset they're working in the fields it's a labor of love and you become a man of the earth you actually become a addicted to the Earth the danger which is that when you become a man of the earth you become addicted to your produce and there's also the danger a feeling I did it because you planted it you harvested you put in the seed you watered it and out to grow you look it like there's a danger I did it now what that means is like this before anything there any project that you embark on any project you ever embark on there's always a desire to sample it try it I mean can you imagine if you build yourself a model a model whatever it is you guys are into uh you know a model speed a model go-kart tells you where I'm holding right you I'm into SE seriously into go-karting right but I just don't go but I I love them so you're building yourself a model go-kart and your brother says to you oh good could I try it yeah you could try it about tomorrow because I'm going to be riding it today I've been working on it for two months and if you're really good and you give me 50 bucks I'll let you I'll let you look at it right you're not you're not allowed to let your it's certainly the first spin you're not going to let them have the first you buy a brand new car imagine you buy a brand new they delivered a car to your door you got it online so they deliver the car to your door and your brother says oh could I try the Lexus first yes you could try to font front tires when I run over you that's what you can try you are not getting in this car first you are not getting in this car before me there's always a strong desire the first thing carries a very strong we have a strong connection to it therefore the Torah says those first fruits that you produce you can't wait to get at them you can't wait to get at those first who you've been working and you can't wait you know what it's not good for you it's not good for you that's going to turn you into a selfish person take those first fruits which you in your agricultural addiction have finally produced now take them and bring them to your shal bring them to the coin give them to the go give them away that'll train you to get everything in the proper perspective because ultimately the land is not yours the land is the land God's land which he gave to you and the best way to break an addiction the best way to wake a connection to something is back off a little bit give it over to somebody else because you have such a craving and such a desire that it could actually have an effect on your level of self-control do you know that in the Yeshiva in the kelm Yeshiva in Europe the kelm Yeshiva was one of the one of the staunch muser yeshivas and one of the things they worked on very very very strongly was was self-discipline and self-control so among other things what they did in kelm was first of all Saturday night on Mo shabas had a 5 minute learning session in the Bas Mish everybody had to go to the Bas medish for 5 minutes to learn what you could do in five minutes what you could do in five minutes is number one you learn the value of five minutes that you go in and you learn for five minutes number two it disciplines you go for five minutes not six minutes and not four minutes so in the Kela they were trained if you're studying Torah you don't look around you don't look around if something happen there's a loud noise something stay focus it was all about self-control self-discipline so one of the things that happened was they would get the mail now you know in Europe pre-war Europe mail was not something you got every day these were people who rarely saw their families they certainly didn't have faxes and and and cell phones and so on the day that the mail came they would not open their mail to show you you the male doesn't control you you control the male the male came have a strong urge and a strong craving to to to to open up the envelope from your parents good wait a day that gets you a little bit more disciplin more even Rabbi desler Rabbi desler from you've seen the strive for truth M Meo Rabbi desler was separated from his wife and daughter during World War II there uh his wife and daughter happened to get caught in Europe and they ended up going with the English Nationals they went to Australia and he was in England they were separated for six years and there were very little communication during the war second world war in Australia and he once got a package from his uh wife and daughter after a few years which had a picture of his daughter now his daughter left as a little girl he hasn't seen her as a teenager and when the mail came the package came he forced himself to wait 15 minutes before he opened it up just say should be one of these ripping rip it open type things right wait 15 minutes I used to do that with my report cards in high school but I waited much longer than 15 minutes and I was hoping they would end up in Australia that was really that was the truth so so so there's a certain discipline T says listen you produced it you want to grab it the T says you know what a little disciplined train yourself a little bit don't don't grab because because if you grab here then what's going to happen when there's a cheeseburger and you happen to be hungry and just kind of grab it real quick train yourself not to grab we don't we don't we don't just grab and respond we do everything thought out rev desler was once walking with one of his uh one of his students they were heading for a train station in England and as they got to the train station they heard the train started pulling out so a student broke into a run and Ruster grabbed him on the arm by the arm they said don't run don't run that's not a for that's not a pre-thought running that's a result of a instant that's it's a panicky reaction don't worry there'll be another train in 15 minutes train yourself not to get turn yourself not to be impulsive that's the word don't be impulsive you have to be responsive but not impulsive sometimes in life we have to be responsive very quickly you have to respond very quickly don't be impulsive don't be impulsive impulsive could be a good thing generally impulsiveness gets a person into trouble I have a student in the other Yeshiva whose father whose father just broke two wrists and has a lacerated rib uh from riding on a uh skateboard he he was riding on a SK man in his 50s he decided to go skateboarding and uh and and he he fell and he himself says I'm impulsive and it was just on a whim I decided let's go skateboarding without the fourth the thinking that you know hey buddy you know you can't even jump into bed right now right so to grab some air on a skateboard is just not going to work you know and actually you know he's got two broken wrists and and and and and and a lacerated rib or whatever the word is something figer other rib and all because of the impulsiveness impulsiveness is a dangerous thing in life so the Torah says the first thing is break that break that desire to grab number one number two the Torah says there's a bigger danger and that danger is this danger of the danger of uh um um feeling of accomplish I did it and this is a constant theme that we've gone through in the Torah now everybody knows you know Jewish men wear Yas wear yarma from the early stage you take a kid and uh from there are some people who put a AR on the baby from the day he's born some people put yarm on the baby at the bris some people usually our our own kids we put them on usually when they're about when they have enough hair to pin it to and you know you put it on and the first couple of days the baby takes it and he throws it off and you just pit it on eventually he gets used to wearing a yarma now what the word yarmulka by the way some people call it a kipa that's the modern Hebrew word is a kipa because a keepa is really a dome uh and some people call it a uh what do you call it a a CLE a skull cap a yarma and you see that even by the non-jewish world they wear a skull cap which is obviously some sort of show of respect for something and uh uh uh the uh uh the yarmulka is made up of two Aramaic Words which are yor Mala fear of the king yur Mala is a yka that's a traditional Jewish word for it is a Yara kipot is a more modern word they have velcro yarma they call they actually call they Market they call it keep on is a it's it's a yarma that has a velcro layer inside so it sticks to your head I mean I don't know what you got on your head that it's sticking to but it's a it's called keep on I probably have I'm sure somebody's going to come up and maybe we should do it Market some sort of suction yarma it just stays on all week even when you sleep you know one of those things so the truth of matter is it doesn't matter what you wear on your head you could wear a paper bag and you could wear a you could wear a swimming uh a swimming helmet you can wear whatever you want as long as your head is covered what's the idea what's the idea so what the ideas is an awareness that there's somebody above us now the benishai The benishai Who many of you have heard of one of the great Safari rabbis from the 19th century early 20th century so says a very interesting a very interesting Parable he says there's a guy was once out hunting hunting tigers and he's been looking around he's walking around all day looking for Tigers no luck most people would consider it fortunate when you don't run into Tigers this guy was upset he was out hunting tigers and finally he sees about he he's walking around in the jungle wherever he is and he se's about 100 yards away from him there's a tiger so he picks up his rifle and he gets the tiger right between the crosshairs and he picks up he takes careful aim and he squeezes the trigger nothing happens rifle Jams he starts squeezing again squeezing Again by this time the Tiger has seen him and the tiger begins his approach and Tiger's getting closer and this guy's getting panicky and he's pulling the trigger and about 20 yards away he hears the tiger makes a br Bor you know now he knows he's now he knows he's now now he knows he's in trouble so the guy out of sheer desperation he picks up his finger out of sheer desper he just look points at the Tiger goes like that and the tiger drops dead with a bullet hole between his eyes guy's looking you he surprising you know you know not a bad not a bad shot right and what the guy doesn't know is that at the instant that he did that there was another Hunter up the tree with a rifle that worked and at the instant that he pointed his gun and went pow that that guy pulled the trigger and his real that's a gun that's a bullet that killed him say that's what Y is for y is a reminder that we think that we do things down here and we think that we are the ones who are making it happen because we go through the physical actions and the arm has a reminder that whatever you're doing down here there's somebody above you who's pulling the trigger and therefore that concept of the strength of my hand is doing it for me that's what the Torah says that is an invalid and it's a very dangerous attitude so the Torah wants to tell you you know what when it comes to agriculture I did it and it's a labor of love and I produced it says you know what let's break that let's break that attitude right now I want to remind you it's mine I gave you the land I gave you the ability to I gave you the ability to to to to work the soil now I want you to show that you acknowledge it bring those first fruits up to your it's the best thing for you the best thing for you is to bring those first fruits up to Y the uh the uh uh you know sometimes in life people think that they're accomplishing and and and and the fact of the matter is that it's often your successes in life and I've told you this several times ask older people who are in a moment of honesty that will tell you most of my successes in life were in spite of myself not because of myself my failures are because of myself My Success we think the opposite we think that our successes are because of ourselves and our failures are what can I do it was Bashar then we become really religious we we invoke God it's the opposite you're you're you're you're failures are because we left you to your own devices your successes even though you tried to interfere with God God made it work for you anyway right that's that's that's the reality of life therefore the T want you remind yourself don't don't don't let it go to your head buddy take those first fruits bring them up to shal and devote them to the coin I heard about a guy uh I heard about a guy in uh uh um is a guy who has an Outreach operation in in New York somewhere in some small area of New York not one of the main uh not one of the main cities he's out he's out in the Boon somewhere in New York and it's a very secular area and this guy tried opening up an out an Outreach operation so he distributed 350 flyers in the local in the neighborhood he put in the stuffed mailbox of 350 fires anybody wants to learn about Judaism come I we're available come to this address okay nothing zilch nothing no no no not one response okay six months later on an ER of pesak he gets a call from some guy he says hi I'm looking for a place for the pesak Sor I saw your fly about 6 months ago maybe you could set me hook me up for a pce oat the guy says yeah come on over he's thrilled the guy comes over eventually this guy came to her Sam the guy became from he has a family he's married with a family now now that has nothing to do with your efforts and you put out 350 Flyers it could have just as easily gone you could have gone 0 for 350 so he went one for 350 right but you clearly see the hand of God has nothing to do with you that's what the Torah is trying to tell you always look for that hand of God now I I just want to make one one disclaimer here don't don't don't play God and don't play Prophet that means when we look for the hand of God it doesn't mean okay therefore I'm going to read the signs and now I could tell you what God wants God is trying to tell me this and the other signs are very very tricky just create an awareness of God in your life recognize your abilities recognize your there's nobody in this room that does have abilities capabilities and talents just recognize that whatever your abilities talents are just recognize where that comes from that's what the Arma is and that's what Judaism is about then use your talent and express your talents any way any way you can and to a certain degree you have a responsibility because if God Gave You abilities and talents then you must use those abilities and talents assuming it is Hally Hally permissible question very quick you said right Mal so is it no consider God not mal Mal isic Mal isic for God for M yeah yeah over I forgot what it was never mind I blew it whatever it is it's a whatever it is mala in in in Aramaic is the king yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah does say it doesn't sayto yeah you're you're the king in Aramaic that's an Aramaic zmer okay now the next line is where this guy comes up and the commentaries point out interesting thing about what the guy says he gives the produce to the coin and he says to him he got it six lines from the top yeah p uh no no no page 768 we're back back to the back to the to the ranch the guy comes to the cohade and he puts down the protest I want to read that I I want to read that line again uh it's starts five lines from the top you come to the you say to him he got I made a statement today six lines from the top now and then the Torah says like this takes the basket places it in front of the altar one more then you shall say and declare before hem your God and the goes on and makes an entire verbal declaration that this guy makes what called The V of the and he goes and makes an the guy goes on for the guy goes on for a couple of that what each individual states in front of God now the commentaries point out that in giml in giml the Torah says he got it in the past tense you see where it says he got it says he got it you say he got I have said to you're God and the commentary well he hasn't said anything yet he's only the verbal declaration only comes later why why did the Torah should say I will say now here take the produce and I will make the the following statement why does he say in the past tense I have stated in front of God he hasn't said anything yet why is it in the past T what did you say Zach you you already did an action very good very good very good and that's the answer the answer is that in life in life your actions speak louder you you know did you want to make a declaration God gave you the land to get up there and say well thanks Hashem for the land then you hoard your produce and go home you have not you have not demonstrated anything when you come in and say here take the produce without saying a word that's the biggest Declaration of all that's a rule in life in general if when you're married uh to say to your wife I love you honey and you're out the door on a Saturday night to go play basketball leave her with a sync full of dishes from shabas with the chol pots you know that doesn't mean anything and if you're silent and you roll up your sleeves we're into science fiction now you're silent and you roll up your sleeves and you go to the sink and you start doing the dishes that is the shest Declaration of your Devotion to your wife the Devotion to the wife has nothing to do with what you say devotion to the wife has to do with your credit card and with what you and with what and with what you do for her that is the devotion when your wife asks her the credit card you give it to her without trembling and you give it to her without what you go with a smile on your face that is the sign of devotion you do the dishes for your wife that is you willing to take the kids for a walk when she needs a nap on shabas afternoon now we're in a super science fiction then then that is that is the ultimate sign because your AC I remember when I was a kid I I think I've mentioned this in the past you remember Muhammad Ali okay Cashes Clay became eventually became Muhammad Ali I don't know I'm dating myself I don't know if you ever saw him if you ever saw him box if you're into boxing it's first of all it's very enchanting if you watch the old films of him watch his hand speed his his hand speed was unbelievable the only one I ever saw with hands with sugaray Leonard he he just had a remarkable hand he didn't even look like an athlete M wasn't even built he didn't he wasn't like one of these guys like like Evander Holyfield are these guys who are all muscle you know he just he he looked like kind of jobby actually and and he just just that hand speed was unbelievable so he also the only thing that was faster in his hands was his mouth right he was a great talker he actually got Joe Frasier before the Thriller in Manila he actually got Joe Frasier crying onto he was teasing Frasier so much it was so much smarter than Frasier and whenever I fought with my brother we were Ali and Frasier I was always Ali by the way uh uh so so he so he what do you call it he uh uh he actually got Joe Fraser crying so Ali once fought Kenny Norton and Kenny Norton and Ali spoke for about two weeks about what he's going to do to Norton and he's going to destroy him and everything else and Kenny Norton broke Ali's jaw he beat him in the fight and he broke his jaw I was a little kid at the time maybe 12 13 years old I just remember Time Magazine had on the front cover of Time Magazine they had a picture of Ali with his swollen broken jaw front the front cover of the major news magazine this is where important news the fact that a few hundred thousand people got slaughtered in Syria you know that makes the back you know this is this is important world news but I remember the caption I was 12 years old you know the caption said the joy is broken but the mouth lives on that was the caption right you know A muster that's worth more than any muser book you know what the kind of muser you got what what's all you're talking worth you're talking talking talking but you're on your back with a broken jaw so what's all you're talking worth your sign of devotion in life in general and in religion in particular has to do with your actions I want to elaborate on this a little bit because guys ask this question all the time guy comes over me he says you know I just my faith I don't know if I really believe if my faith in Hashem is I don't know how strong my faith is the test of your faith is what you do in action do you believe you don't believe I don't know that you're the great philosopher who's worked everything out yet you'll get there but if you get up at 7 o'clock in the morning to put on filling you believe and if you spend money on a lul an estrog you believe and if you spend money on Fillin then you believe so you could take all the philosophy well I'm not sure is God like this guy okay you know study Torah learn you'll get you'll get to the philosophy the test of your faith is what you do in action the classic example is the Doctor Who says to uh says to the to to the patient or that the parents of the patient the doctor says um look we have to do surgery it's a delicate surgery there's a 70% chance of success 30% chance that the the patient's going to die in the table okay got to do the surgery does the doctor operate at 70% capacity or 100% Happ it's 100% capacity that's belief faith is I'm doing yes I have my have my doubts we all have that's part of that's part of faith faith is something that we constantly gr there are all sorts of different levels of Faith the ultimate level of Faith the ultimate level of Faith which I don't maybe you're on I'm not there yet the ultimate level of faith is the talud says reab b DOA DOA his daughter was lighting the shabas candles She Was preparing the shabas candles those days they didn't have wax candles he used oil and his daughter comes to him and she looks upset and he said to his daughter what's wrong said well I was setting up the candles for shabas and instead of putting in oil I put in vinegar so said what's the big deal the one that told oil to burn will tell the vinegar to burn so she lit the vinegar and the gamar says the O the vinegar burnt and not only it burnt it burnt all of chabas and there was enough left to make Hava and Mo chabas on the flight that's what the says now what does that mean what does that mean so somebody would ask you uh why does oil burn what would you answer all sorts of words involving combustion and chemicals right one of those fancy things that you learn in chemistry class there something about elements and combustion and all that stuff I wasn't chemistry wasn't my I got an 85 on my chemistry midterm by the way right out of 200 uh the uh the the that's true by the way that's true cuz the next highest grade was 114 I had an 85 silver member Mr Lewis coming over to me he says uh Mr Kaplan I think uh I think you're having some trouble here good at least that he figured out so uh so so uh uh if somebody would ask you why does oil burn is it well oil burn I wasn't sitting next to the right guy that day why does oil burn say well oil burns because it's combustible this com oil burns for one reason oil burns for one reason because God decreed that oil burns and vinegar doesn't burn Dosa says to his daughter look you know the one that decreed that oil will birn he'll decree that the that the vinegar will bir what that means is that if you believe any way that God's running the whole show what's the difference now I want to tell you something if at any point during chabas he would have walked past those candles and said hey zowi it's really burning then it would not only would have stop burning it would have never burn to begin with because that means he didn't really believe it he didn't really believe it believe belief isn't something that you say belief is what you got in your heart that's they're high levels for that we're not I don't know that we're on the level yet of burning vinegar instead of oil because in saying we really you could say you can believe it from today till tomorrow but unless you really believe it's not going to happen but your faith in God is demonstrated by how you carry out Torah and mitzah so if you're willing to put on filling and you're willing to do a mitzah and you're willing to not eat pork that means you do believe there's a God in your own mind you haven't got all the details worked out how could God could God create a rock that he can't lift and all the great philosophical questions so you haven't worked it out in your own mind it doesn't believe you don't believe it means you haven't worked out all the details that means you are a Believer you're a Believer based on your actions that's what the Torah is trying to emphasize therefore a guy comes up to yam with his produce exactly what Zach said the guy gives the coin to brother I have made a statement today my statement is that I believe God gave us the land you know why because you put your money where your mouth is and if you don't put your money where your mouth is that means you don't really believe it yourself guys make predictions about the stock market and sports and everything else the bottom line line is you there's the expression put up or shut up right you believe it put up your money don't tell me don't D me a cup with what you think till you put up your money put up your money then we know you believe it you don't put up your money then you yourself don't believe it otherwise you would be putting up your money okay turn to uh puing test it's uh six lines from the bottom on 1068 six lines from the bottom page 68 68 part of your declaration is he brought us to this place he gave us this landas it is a land that flows with milk and honey ER fills with flows with milk and honey okay now and natural gas by the way you but if you're following the news but it flows it flows with milk it flows with milk and they got a problem now because Egypt's got a gas field now which yeah they just knocked them out okay so they they that's a land that flows with milk and honey okay that means uh well hopefully not the right now now the gasoline price just went down at the pump in Israel which is means that they're going to go up even higher that's usually what have they drop it 20 AG gr then raise it 40 you know because they think that we didn't notice so uh so you oh gee I didn't I had no idea uh so so the the the what do you call it the uh U um we're told that ER Isel is a land of milk and honey now milk means milk you know what you get from the animals and honey whenever the Torah discusses honey honey refers to date honey that's the plain meaning of the PK and it's a way of describing the prosperity of the land of Israel if the Jews are deserving then AR Israel produces produces uh uh agriculturally and economically and so on and so forth a lot depends on our behavior all right one of you've heard you've heard of the DFI You' heard of the DFI RoR Shapiro who innovated the DFI I want to tell you what he sees in this verse okay needs a little bit of a background the tud makes the following statement the tud says that when a woman begins nursing where does that milk come from so the Thon makes the following statement don't be shocked I let me let me let me explain the statement th says that essentially what the Talon says is her menstrual blood turns into milk that's what the Talon says that's pretty gory sounding right what it means according to all opinions is the is telling us and this is a fact it's a physiological fact when a woman gives birth and she starts nursing her menstrual cycle closes down what the t is telling you is one system closes down then the other system Begins the systems do not work simultaneously for the most part there could be exceptions but for the most part one system closes down the menstrual cycle ceases and the woman has enough milk in order to be able to has milk to to to nurse the baby okay so but the way the talud puts it this is the key Point here the way the talud puts it is the menstrual blood turns into milk okay which is left for us to understand obviously it's not literal but that is the way it's put in the Tet so appear says like this the land of Israel is land that flows with milk and honey milk mother's milk according to the literal interpretation of T is coming from an impure Source coming from the blood then you get an item which the baby's allow to consume which is milk that means you have something kosher which is coming from something non- kosher okay symbolically where else do you find such a phenomenon there are two types of honey there's what's called Date honey which is the one the Torah refers to on a plate meaning there's another type of Honey which is what honey be honey where does be honey come from a be is a non koser it's a non koser it's non koser creature yet the bee produces the honey and you're allowed to eat the honey so you have two examples of something kosher coming from a source which at a literal level is not Kosher jir Shapiro says again he's using this symbolically the land of Israel is a land that flows with milk and honey you could take something or someone who may have had a non koser background then he comes to the land of Israel and somehow he has some sort of we'll call it a spiritual awakening which we've seen hundreds if not thousands thousand of times where the person who has lived his entire life uninterested and uninspired and he comes to Israel and something hits him he doesn't know what is I met a girl once uh uh from where my wife is from Columbus she became from father was really wealthy father was like one of these sh guys wealthy in the Gulf that sort of thing so I remember over hearing him uh he went he made a trip to Israel so guy he said that he he his public statement was if I feel a spiritual awakening I'll become religious and of course he didn't uh he came to Israel and somehow when he went to aot in Tel Aviv and Natan somehow he never got that Spiritual Awakening but now he's got the excuse that he could tell everybody sounds very very very very very sophisticated you know I never experienced a spiritual awakening others have others have you come to the land of Israel doesn't matter what a person's background is Israel has the ability when you're in Israel Israel has what's called AA the he of makes a person wise the says korel there's no Torah like the Tor that live in Israel You're In the Land of kadha the land of Holiness if you're coming to Israel to make money if you're coming to Israel for entertainment uh I could think of much better places in the world if you're coming to Israel and make money go anywhere else it's a much better place and if you're coming to Israel for entertainment anywhere else is better I don't know if You' ever seen Israeli professional sports which is almost an oxymoron uh I don't know if you've seen I don't know You' seen if the is the the the Israeli entertainment industry comedians uh that sort of thing uh you know you you could do much better anywhere else anywhere certainly United States if you're coming to Israel if you're coming to Israel Israel at the end of the day is a place where I the way I always described I feel like when I'm in Israel I feel like I'm almost on a Hollywood set it's really all an excuse just for Torah that means that they put a bus stop here sometimes the bus Stop's right in the middle of the street doesn't make any sense you know somebody went said I've been living here 30 years I've been Liv here over 30 years Somebody went said nothing in Israel is real nothing the money is certainly not real you you throw out the money the driving is anything but real you know if a bus if a bus could drive up on the sidewalk and honk you out of the way that's not real uh the politics the politics is certainly not real uh they had the minister of agriculture in Israel I tell you I mentioned this last week I think the minister of Agriculture once when they had a bad drought so in the caner they have the red line which so the water level got 10 cm above the red line in the caner so they said to the minister of agriculture a live broadcast sir what happens if the water hits the red line what are you going to do he say it's not a problem we will erase the red line and draw it lower and if you've been living in the country long enough you just go oh okay okay you know they had one prime minister one prime a famous line that they've used now many times since the Prime Minister who promised the guy he didn't keep his election promises can you believe it a politician and uh and so after the election they they cornered him they said Mr Prime Minister you know before the election you promised that you do this that and you haven't you haven't done it and uh he said without it without betting he said I never promised to keep my promises and then everybody go oh okay that explains you you what could be more what could be more logical than that so so so somebody once said and I heard this this is so true nothing here is real except the spiritual Pursuits I almost feel like I'm on a Hollywood set and you know there's background there's a train and you know and there's a bank which is never open of course and there's a post office which doesn't work and there's money which is like play money like Monopoly but it's also that you have a Yeshiva a b medish a Col and it's the whole thing is background for spiritual growth and anybody that I know here who's moved here has moved here for that for spiritual person because there's nothing there's nothing otherwise why why be here why be here you can do it so much easier more conveniently and if you're willing to throw your hat in with the group here that means you realize you're giving up to Creature Comforts you realize that you realize that that that it's not going to be the same sort of is living in in Suburban Seattle but at the end of the day everybody understands that's it's a land that could take anybody with any type of a background no one should ever be discouraged and they take a person with any type of background where they've been what they've done what they've snorted and AR Israel could turn a person around and give them a completely new uh new track in life okay everybody have a good Shob we see [Music] you [Music]