Q&A: Messiah, Miracles & Wealth - Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz

Hadar start from start from that they would bash each other. They call each other names and like specifically the sorry. >> Yeah. >> And even today we we find like Russia bashing each other every so often. So is that okay? What is >> Yes. So first of all uh this is already in the gammorra itself. It's not only uh in the recent uh a certain great tan raor said something and somebody would say he must have said it when he was asleep or or uh moak he has no brains in his skull. Uh we would look at this as as partially insulting. Uh so the kabooyer the kavish yoyer was uh one of the great he was a uh great grandson of the maral but he was a great pisk in his own right and he has a chuva about this in fact the brings it in at the end of about and saying negative things and the basic idea is that this is something called that when you're learning you get real real so excited about tra and tra so important and MS is so important that if somebody says something that may not be MS you know you're going to lash out in anger but it's only an anger that's situational meaning as soon as it's over you know you love each other says abuay the kamar says father and son are enemies deadly enemies as they're learning they could scream at each other and afterwards they're oh of himself so I would say this I would say a very important guideline is that it's not so much that you have a hedra to use this language, but you almost can't help yourself. Meaning, if you're so passionate about Tyra that it gets you excited, then it's okay. But just to, you know, talk that way when you don't have the passion behind it, that's a very false thing. It's very similar, although in a different context, to the idea of aoi, right? Pinas killed uh Zimry and that's the that if a uh Jewish man is having I'm yeah a Jewish man is having relationship with a non-Jewish woman in a public way so a zealous person can kill him but if you're not a zealous person for you it would be murder you have to feel so outraged and only Hashem knows but that's why we don't if you ask a shila can I kill them the is going to be we don't we don't tell you that it has to be something you almost can't control. You know, we have all sorts of mism not ne not limited to language in which you know the Radva not the Radvas the Ridbas a much later person in the uh early 20th century end of the 19th century the Rav of Slutzk who actually lived in Chicago for a short while but he was the Rav of Slutzk one of the great great Lisher Gadilum. So, uh, if he would walk by and he would overhear to Bakram learning in the base medish and they said something that he thought was not right, he would like jump through a window. He would like break a window to jump in to try to uh correct it. Um, and I remember when I came to Israel, I was, you know, I was I grew up in New England, you know, relatively, you know, decorous decorum, you know, polite. Uh and I remember like of a people uh and I think it's a little more muted today actually the screaming yelling says you're an artist you're you're an idiot how can you talk that way you know really really kind of shocking words but it came from their love for Tyra so if it comes from love of Tyra it's understood that it's not a personal insult it's a way of talking uh but on the other hand when you when you use it as an excuse just to be mean-spirited who knows the difference and you have to be very very very careful about that way. >> Yeah. >> Despite God interacting with the world, it's like callous like >> Yeah. >> He interacts with like important things whereas nowadays when we like share around table like a pro story. Yeah. Yeah. So this is a really really really important question very very difficult question. Uh the issue of what is called divine providence or hashka to what degree is God micromanaging every single thing that happens in your life. The idea of hashka pis it means individualized hashkah that if you miss the bus it's because wanted you to miss that bus although we don't know why necessarily you know when the bus blows up so then you we have a nice hashka story but the truth is even if you missed the bus there was a hashkah now hashka kalis which means general providence not individualized providence is simply the idea that god you runs the world and God makes sure that the world does not go in the wrong direction but that is not so much getting involved in what happens to you as an individual meaning he creates a natural system uh you know so if you're caught in a tsunami it's not that decreed you should die in the tsunami but you were in the wrong place wrong time and these are natural forces that come in so you are correct although there are many books written on that the approach of many of the rishim particularly the Rambam the Rambam is that most people do not merit hashkah practice now that doesn't mean you can't merit it uh otherwise why would we dive into God there would be no sense but it means that normally we're on the default system of tea and the like uh but we could turn to Hashem at any time to kind of rescue us and the like but if I miss bus. It's not because God decreed I should miss the bus, but I missed the bus because I was late to the bus stop, right? Um, but again, I want to point out that the Rambam writes the the the consistent constant is a madrega that is only to sadikim. For people who are not on the madrega of sadikim, there certainly is of course but in the absence of that not everything that happens is a direct decision of of hashkah. Now I know that if somebody were to say that today they would be labeled to not be chorus and kicked out of yeshiva because that is not the prevailing theology that we teach today. And uh the answer basically is if you want to know when the change occurred the change occurred primarily by the makubalim and then via the uh the balmtov in particular based basing on the zor and cabala taught this idea that every single thing that happens not only to you but even to an animal or to a plant or a leaf falling off a tree is because hashem made at that second that something uh something would uh would happen and basically as Rabbi Ari Kaplan writes uh in isakdoma to his English translation of Derk Hashem he basically said that essentially the philosophy of Kabala had has become the mainstream even though we're not mubalum but it's become the mainstream philosophy of Judaism via and even became adapted by the misnagim as well mnag are also So they don't know it but uh they're at least like twothirds in their in their orientation. You know even a common phrase uh our nishamos I mean every mush our nishamos are elim our nishamos are a portion of divinity. Well if you would have said that to the vil nagon you would be in very very big trouble. The Vagon considered that very idea which is so common place today as Apicors saying that everybody's God so to speak and yet that was the teaching of the Balatana the Balmpa the mages and that became the mainstream idea of Judaism. Now the truth is I don't I don't want to suggest that the Aizal or the Mikubalam were the first people who suggested it. Um I could point to a Ramban the parish of the Ramban at the end of paras in which the Ramban basically says there is no such thing as nature. Every single thing that happens in the world is a miracle. Uh nature simply means miracles that happen more often and miracle is a miracle that happens less often but all of it is hashkah that Ramban itself is a very big site fork. In addition, uh it's not clear if there's a between and maybe hashka is init. And finally, there are those who say that the Rambam himself doesn't exactly mean what he says. Although I I never really understood what else he could mean, but some want to say that even the Rambamas shalom could not be aer in hasha ashka practice. Uh so it's a very very misak idea. Uh Rev Destler kind of has a very nice middle of the road mahalik. Reveesler says that even hashkah pratis can mean that hashem's decision about you is you should be left to the laws of nature. But that's still an individualized decision hashem made about you. In other words, the concept is the following. Let's say Akaresh Barco has to decide should Ruvane live or die. So there's actually three decisions God could make. Ruvane shall live meaning I no matter what happens I will protect him or Ruvane will die. No matter what happens he's going to die. But there's a third decision Hashem could make. says, "I'm not gonna say Ruvane's gonna die, but I'm gonna leave Ruvane to the forces of nature and other people's free will." Which means maybe he'll make it, maybe he won't. Meaning I'm but butler's argument is that is not an abdation of hashkah. That is sashkah pise. The hashkah prus is that you're being placed in the the twilight zone or the phantom zone or whatever you want to you want to call it. That's God's decision. An individualized decision based on your madrega at the time. And at any point you can get out of that. At any point you can move, right? Let's go with the three choices, right? Death, life, or tea. So he puts you in tea, which means you're kind of on your own. But at any point you could move to the other the other direction. Okay. So what's nice about's approach is that instead of looking at Mikra Hateva as Hashem just ignoring me and not paying attention to me, that is the attention that he's paying to me. He says this is what is the right thing for you at this point. And if I see, Hashem says that it's getting a little too wild out there, I'll pull you back in the other in the other direction. Right? So some say that's what the Ramba means that only meaning most people are left to but that gfa is Hashem's practice for them. By the way, I want to correct another thing too. We always use to mean things will be good for me. That's not true. practice just means Hashem is making the direct decisions in your life. That doesn't always mean you'll be saved from the exploding bus. Maybe it'll mean you'll be on the exploding bus, but that's hashka practice. In other words, hashka practice is not identical with what I think are happy endings. It just means Hashem made a direct decision regarding this outcome and I was not I was not left to chance or mikra or or the like. Yeah. Is there any um between the of right because for for right we have I mean we have like a the right of obligation for you know right we have to there set time for prayer and doing you can make requests or you can ask for your requests but then there's also a lot of different types of you know toilim that are placed throughout uh the orders of of of prayers throughout, you know, and you know, some people you could choose to say it, you could choose not to say it. You know, is there is there like like in terms of the difference of what is one stronger than the other? What is one? >> Yeah. Yeah. Well, first of all, I mean, uh there there are in our daily that are not optional. This is Zimra. uh the that you say beforeh is although there's a leniency that if you're running late you know you're allowed to uh skip some of them and either making it up later or some say not making up later okay but but that is then of course there's extra toll that people say all the time many people have a min to finish tom every week because divided into seven or some people finish every month and some people finish to him every day. There are people who say safer to him every day and maybe even more than once a day. um takes I I mean I've I've never done safer tom in a day but those who do it they say you know it takes around two and a half hours but again that's if you're doing it fast and I'm not sure if that's so could die but now all of us know that to him are said to have a tremendous tremendous power the briskerv who was not you would not associate him as aimsayer said to him are diamonds gave us diamonds that bring into the world mercy mercy, loving kindness. I'm tapping into the holy words of David that were said with Ruakesh and the like. So, Tahillim has a tremendous tremendous power. Uh David expresses all of the different feelings that we go through in life. There are tom of joy and thanksgiving. There are tom of heartbreak. There are tom of frightened, being frightened, feeling abandoned. And no matter of which a person is physically sick where a person is afraid of enemies who are going to kill them of a person who doesn't have inner peace. So any type of situation that a person faces they connect to that emotion in him and that lifts them up. So your question is a very good question. And so you know so why don't I just say why don't I say to him three times a day why do I have a ding ail that I have to link into seems to be the best type of prayer that I could possibly have it is a good question uh but apparently the answer is no the answer basically is that in order to truly connect to hemat you do have to link it up to your personal needs meaning to say to him is a wonderful vehicle for general connection to our but then you have to identify I'm sick I need a parasa and therefore the tila is a way of personalizing your connection to akadeshu by then focusing on you but then it's a little strange because on on one hand it focuses on me but on the other hand it doesn't focus on me because remember all of our felites are Not we don't say everything is for so the concept is the allows you a greater debacus by personalizing it in terms of your situation and then you have to expand it beyond yourself to include include other people. So I would say that that would be the special idea of what Filela is in which you focus on your needs your needs but then your needs become a springboard that allow you to expand it beyond your needs to embrace all of Clo. So yeah >> so that means if you just say to Pila but there's no to heal that you say to support it then it won't be as as powerful. It's yeah that that's that's very very true and that that's why we have de zimra uh you have to preface your with the zimra and even uh we preface it with ash. Now it's interesting that MYV uh you know we say and then we have a MYV but we don't have an ash we don't have uh before before Arvis that that's an interesting question. Why is the structure of MYRV different? Um it's a good question. Some say there actually had been a minute. Remember the Gmorrah says you're supposed to say ashray or uh three times a day. So the way we do it is we say two two times shak and one time min and we don't do it for arvis but some say that the original min why would it be discontinued I don't know was the three times a day of ashray was once in shakus once in mina once at so you had your tahillum in my as as well yeah >> I just saw in braas it said that um brought the would would set themselves aside an hour before, an hour during, and an hour after. So he said the second ash was to set themself aside before. >> That's why I even added >> I'm sorry. Say again. They they I didn't hear what the last thing. >> Second by was to set your side yourself aside before because there's nothing in between. Yeah. >> By you already have something that's setting you aside. So there's no need to say >> you have something else setting you aside which is what? >> Before the master. >> Oh, before the master. Okay. Okay. Okay. Uh yeah. Okay. So um you don't need that to be co. Okay. I hear I hear. Uh but on the other hand, if you looked at tollim in terms of its kak to create a connection to hashem, so that that be equally applicable for marb as well. Yeah. >> Could it be because it's and there's a custom according to not to learn at night and therefore we prefer to do that during the day. That's interesting. Meaning I'll pee the arisal. You're not supposed to say to him at night to at night including to hill. So maybe that's okay. That's interesting. I have I have to see if if before the Arizal's teaching maybe that's when the older min the older min existed. By the way, they say that um the by by the litfisher uh they were never mabo that hanhaga meaning um in the lit in the litfish they commonly did say to hill at night although now my impression is like I said before everybody has become a makob so now uh that idea of not saying to him at night was kind of makob even among the among the liter as well but uh in the in the old older misnogim they they were that of that that tradition. Yeah. >> What does mean and where does it come up in tomorrow and showing it? >> Yeah. The Yeah. The term So, we we have a few terms here. Uh there is a term um means the heels of Mashiach just like the heel is in back of you. So, it's like next to Mashiach will be the heels of Mashiach. Now that already is a lash line in the Mishna or a Brya at the end of Messita that talks about a lot of dislocations a lot of sorrows are going to happen and uh that would be a synonym to the Mashiach the birth pains of Mashiach. The analogy is uh when a woman goes into labor and gives birth there's a lot of suffering Now, the term, you know, I might be wrong in this. I'm going to have to I'm going to have to check it. I I'm probably wrong, but as far as I remember, as far as I know, I don't think the term appears in uh the term that appears in and I don't think appears is maybe from the Zo. I'll try I'll try to to pin it down. >> Huh? >> Gomorra's lesson. >> Okay. Okay. It could be. As I say, I I could be wrong. I I'll I'll I'll try to check it. But whatever it means, whatever it means, it means that gula is perceived as a process, not as a immediate thing. You don't go from zero to 100. You go gradually. And it mentions that the gul is like the shaka is like the dawn like the light. It comes a little bit at a time. You get your first light in the east and then the sky gets brighter and brighter and brighter till the sun comes up. Which means therefore that the process of gula could take a relatively long time maybe hundreds and hundreds of years. So for example, the Gmoran Cassubo says that when Eric Israel begins to be fertile again, that's a sign of gaula. Now the truth of the matter is Erit Israel was very desolate for hundreds of years. It's only the last um 150 years or so, maybe even less, that the desert bloom, you know, whether it's Zionist or whatever it is, that's not not important for this purpose. But but we've seen Simon, right? So it's a sim of ga that doesn't mean mashiach is here but that's called the get of the ga the sim of ga are beginning to come it is the first light of a mudak so to speak right the first light so kazal give us different simanim the fertility of Israel is one of them the return of yidden to Israel is another the spreading of tyra init this doesn't mean it's mashiach But these are the various defeats of various enemies that we were to see. So that's where Kineski Zal said himself that these are all sim of the now you know um in some of the schos where you come from not not the Shiva world okay whatever right or for wrong I'm not going to get into that there is the llomadina right there's the prayer for for for medi is so um some people say it some people don't say it but you should know that within the communities that say it. There's a mus within that because one of the phrases is you ask and the phrase that appears right afterwards is the beginning of the flowering. So it doesn't say it's a little different. But now some people say that's making a messianic claim about the state of Israel that it's like the beginning of the messianic process. So there are some schol that say the prayer from for Medina Israel and take out the words. Now you might know if you're from England, anyone here from England that in the UK they also say a prayer for Medina Israel but it's not that prayer and the words was not there and part of the reason they have their own prayer is they don't want to get involved in the messianic uh controversies. Uh but in truth in truth I don't think it's such a well okay I mean obviously there's a makus but but but the point is that it is clear that at least okay let's not talk about the state for a moment but the return of yidden to Israel is described in khazal as one of the signs of gula so even if you hold that maybe I don't want to use that appellation for medat Israel but the overall phenomenon of um millions of Jews coming to Erit Israel over the years is um did I mention I think I may have mentioned somewhere else so uh if I'm repeating forgive me uh there's a very very interesting cipher that is a bit of a controversial history and it still has not been completely published most of it has been a lot of it has not yet been uh this is a safer called Kohhatur Kol means the voice of the turtle dove, the voice of a dove. It's from Kolishenu. uh the alleged author I say alleged for the reason I'll explain was Raville of Schlav as town in Lithuania and Rafil of Schlav was not a direct to of the GR but it was a Talmet of a Talmet of the GR and Koltor uh writes down supposedly the Vagon's teachings and the like and it says a lot of things. The villagong basically says that um there has to be a physical bin in order to bring ga that of course we need the rrook of schoss and learning and tyra and and the like but we also need physical building up of Israel. He says that's the role of Mashiach ben Yoseph. Just as Yoseph created the economic infrastructure in Mitzim that enabled Yehuda to start yeshiva. So too Yidden have to take the initiative in building up in a physical sense. This is in the safer co and the gra even seems to say that the teaching in muka that mashiach bf will be killed in the wars of goengo is um only one scenario it doesn't have to play out that way mashiach bes can be a movement and the movement can be binanit Israel uh the book was very very very controversial uh when it came out it only came less than 100 years ago. Uh because some said they were making the GR out to be uh to be a Zionist basically talking about building up the land. Uh and many said it must be a forgery. Uh the the the Zionist or the Muskilm simply gave all of these Zionistic teachings in the name of the name of the GR. Uh but Freedellander Mashkanovich who was no not a Zionist. He was bonafideed God uh actually investigated all of the manuscripts and the like and came to the conclusion that it is authentic and this indeed was the teaching of the vil nagon and indeed we can prove this not prove it but we can see this historically because you know although the vil nagon wanted to come to it but he never made it and that's also a mystery why why the guy didn't arrive here uh even though he left villner but he came back a few months later. uh but his tomid many many of his tidim went and the the foundation of the of yushim in particular ashkinazim is the tidhra that's why we have some of the minhagim of the gr are part of the minhagim uh of the ben yeshiva and many of the neighborhoods the first neighborhoods outside of the old city which only started in the 1800s mayasharim nakalash shiva Yumin Mosha. These are neighborhoods outside of the old city. The old neighborhoods I show the old city. They were built by the tidum of the gr. And they had a hakada that they did the physical work. They laid the pipes. They did the bricks. Uh they really wanted they they felt it was kadosh that the gashmas of Yeshua Israel had a kaduca and they didn't want to get Arabs or even non-religious Jews to do it. They felt this was holy work that they had to do which is exactly the teaching of the of the co the kolhatur. Uh but the reason I'm bringing up the kola number one it's an interesting bit of history to be aware of but number two going back to the gula the grass says that yidden coming back to Eric Israel and building it up is uh a step in the gula of Israel but it's only askalta right we then have to go to the next next stage uh yeah >> if one wants to be y kaduca through shmea with the kazin but they can't hear the kazin or the kazin that are lost amongst the crowd. Is there a way one can still be at? >> Yeah, that that's a real problem. Uh right. Um when you say in other words, because you're in the middle of you, you mean so you can't say anything. It's not you can't say anything. So So the question would be this. The question would be if you're being yay kaduca through shameha ka. It's not clear why you would have to hear those words from the kazin. If you hear the words from anybody who's saying the words, that would be good. Uh the only problem is that shme works only if the guy that is reciting the words has kavana to be mozzy. Now with the we make the assumption that the kazin always intends to be mozzy everybody even though you should clarify that but that's our assumption. The khazin is doing it for everybody. On the other end, the guy dabbing next to you probably does not have any cavana to be mozzy you unless you told him ahead of time. So I don't know if it would work. But again, uh there's no loss in trying. Meaning I would recommend have cavana to be yay with the words that you hear from the guy next to you. And if you're yay, you're yay. If if not, you're an honest. It's not your fault. You just were unable unable to to hear. Yes. >> Um we hear a lot I guess in the modern day of like Jewish success and all the Jews are rich but uh that all for this only a very recent development. I mean we have and all the Jews in Russia were very very poor. It's like what was the what was the switch that made all the >> uh well you know um this reminds me of a I'm always I feel guilty saying this because one one shouldn't make jokes about the Holocaust but this is a Holocaust joke. Meaning this dates from people suffering in the Holocaust who who passed this joke down as a masra that in the 1930s before the concentration camps. So a Jew is on a there's already the Nermberg laws. I mean Hitler already started making all sorts of laws. Jews couldn't work. They couldn't do this. Their property was confiscated. So a Jew gets on a bus. He has to wear his yellow star which is a sign of shame. And he sees another Jew who's reading the the the Nazi paper that their sturmer which is an evil paper of mamish anti-semitism. So he says to he says to the guy, "How how can you how can you read a paper that is so son Israel? How can you read the paper?" He says, "Listen, life is very tough here. We don't have jobs. We don't have pasa. We can't make a living. We lose our property." I pick up the paper and I read, "Jews control the banks. Jews are millionaires." I want to get a little good news uh in a tough time. He says, I get I read about how great things are. Okay. And again I I I would not say this as kalist but this is my joke that they they go back uh from from from that time itself. Um the truth is even in even in Europe there were some Jews who were very phenomenally wealthy and know by relative terms you had the Rothschilds. Still the anti-semmites say I mean there are barely any Rothschilds. Those that are aren't even Jewish anymore. They unfortunately intermarried and everything else, but they the Rothschilds controlled the world, right? Look at any book of conspiracies and they'll they'll come up with that. But there was the Rothschild family that was a very very very wealthy international bankers. Uh there was um Wasatski, right? Was you can still get Wasatski tea, right? Was a is like a tea brand. Kman Wasatski was a uh a Russian Yed from Russian Yed 19th century who started a huge tea company and he became very very successful. He was a big bulker. He supported a lot of yeshivas. So even inetl there were wealthy hidden but you're correct there were relatively they were relatively few. Uh so the question you're asking is why are there more rich Jews now than there were for most of most of history? >> Um it's a good question. And it could be part of it is a getter of no as as we get spiritually uh inferior. So gives us more comforts in life in the hope that that would bring us closer to him. We would be grateful to him. We would serve him better. Meaning when people were spiritually stronger even if they lived in poverty and suffering they serve God. So, Hashem says a I'll give you more reward in you know by having a harder life today for many people at least if life would be too hard they would leave it. So created a life which is even if you're not rich even if you're a regular middle class guy even if you're relatively poor you know life is physical life is easier today than it was in Europe. I mean very few people if anybody are are dealing with starvation issues you know that's not the issue okay you only have bread and water but you have bread and water I mean uh there were circumstances people didn't have bread and the like and this idea that throughout the day you can go to a cabinet and have an apple or have something to eat that's a in itself it wasn't in Europe it wasn't like you know I'm going to go to the pantry and just find an apple you know I mean there nothing there. I mean, you ate what you ate and that was it. So many have said have said that this was Hashem's to a weak door to give us more comforts and give us a little bit of an easier life in some ways in the hope that we would then dedicate ourselves to a hashem. Uh unfortunately that doesn't we have we don't always make the right choices there. But I think that was that was the the way it worked. It was a sign of weakness. Yeah. Could speak about um or not um from a standpoint. It's not from like a theological standpoint. >> Yeah. So, this is a well-known makus in the Gomorrah itself. Uh do mitzvos need kavana or do mitzvos not need? Now again, the word kavana has to be defined here. When we say I I dab in with cavana, we normally mean by kavana is I'm thinking about the words that I'm saying and I'm I'm not distracted by other things. That's not what this kavana means in in that situ in mitzah. Certainly to have kavana when you're doing a mitzvah is a wonderful thing. But that's not the makus of mitzvah. Rather kavana simply means there do I specifically have to have intention that I'm doing it for a mitzvah. An example would be you know it's the seder and it happens to be time for eating matzah and I'm hungry because we've been sitting at the seder table for whatever it is an hour and a half and now time to eat. So I'm eating but the question is I didn't have kavana when I was eating that I'm doing it for the mitzvah of matzah. So the question becomes am I y say a mitzvah if I didn't have conscious kavana that I'm doing it for the mitzvah I happen to be sitting in the suka I happen to hear a rash I'm walking by a sh and I happen to hear a rash I didn't have kavana to be although I'm going to have to qualify that example in a second so one mandar says you're never yam mitzvah unless you have kana that you're doing item mitzvah that's called mitzvah. The other mandar takes the position that a mitzvah is a mitzvah even if it is undertaken without specific kavana. Now I gave you three examples I think one example was eating matzah. Uh another example I think well I don't remember I gave three but the the the last example I gave you though is you heard Schaefer I do want to qualify that because even if you hold mitzvah don't need kavana when you're fulfilling the mitzvah by sha meaning you didn't blow yourself but somebody is blowing for you for sure you have to have kavana so that last example for sure you need kabana otherwise you're not yay you need the kavana of the tea to be mighty and you need kavana of yourself to be yit with that tea right okay uh now the maklo whether mitzvah need kavana or don't need kavana and we actually pasin that mitzvah need kavana so you're only if you need kavana and yet there's a lot of loopholes many can say any activity that you never do unless you're doing it for a mitzvah let's like fill in I put on fill in this morning well did I spec specifically intend to be I'd say a mitzvah maybe not but on the other hand I only put on it's not like eating eating matzah which I might eat anyway so some say even if I mitzvah is for a d or that you never do unless it's a mitzvah the kavana is ma there another point to make is that even like the mand that says mitzvah don't need kavana but if you have a kavana not to be y you have a negative Kavana for sure you're not ying. Okay. So there's a lot of qualifications in all of this. But um philosophically the basis of the debate is what do mitzvos accomplish in the spiritual realm. Right? I do a mitzvah. So I do a mitzvah. Of course it's a good thing for me. But what have I done in the world? Is a mitzvah does a mitzvah bring shea of hashem into the world because of the pula itself. The pula itself is something that's my goodness into the world or does it bring the sha into the world because of my my obedience tokadesh in being to do his rat. So you see that if the physical act of the mitzvah itself is kind of the nature of the world that it brings birkas hashem. So something can be a mitzvah even without kabana because the pula itself just like eating right in a physical sense um if I eat food it will give nutrition to my body whether I intended to eat it or whether I didn't intend to eat it right same thing if the mitzvah has a telis only because it represents your subjugation your submission to the ribbon you have to have kavana otherwise you're not submitting toes. So it depends on whether we look at mitzvah as objective realities uh regarding the spiritual nature of the world or whether we look at mitzvah as exercises in obedience uh to akadesh. Now the parallel issue will be with averos. Um on one hand let's look at averos for a moment. Aos on some level thought I don't need kavana. What do I mean? A very simple example. If I ate a piece of meat thinking that it was kosher and it turns out to be I thought I was eating Schuman which is kosher fat and it turned out to be so what is the do I need kapara? I certainly do need kapor uh because I got to bring a corbin katas right anything if I ate khazer I wouldn't again I don't want to get into all the technicalities if I simply transgressed a negative commandment I don't bring a corbin katus for that uh but if I transgressed a negative commandment for which the punishment is kes so what is the cl anything that beed is kes or misa the shog accidentally You got to bring a carbon kas. So I thought I was eating kosher food 100%. It turned out I ate. So I certainly didn't have kavana to do an ara, right? And yet we say I need kapor. So it's an interesting perhaps asymmetry in the system. Mitzvos might need kavana but a veros vi don't need kavana the raya is from the shog something to think about although maybe this would be a way of making it more consistent there's really a mlo why does a shog need kapara he's a shog he didn't intend to eat in verdant. He he did not intend to rebel against Hashem. What is his sin? So there are two ways of looking at it. One way of looking at it is even Bishog he rebelled against Hashem because he could have checked it out more. If he really really cared, he could have checked meaning he was negligent. He was careless. So there are two ways you can rebel against God. You could rebel against God by knowingly violating his will or you can rebel against God by being so indifferent that you didn't bother to check it out. So according to that even the shoggake is a mida against the melik. But others look at it differently. Others look at it as kind of um the poison theory that a veros are pogame your nama like poison is pogame the goof now if I took poison it makes no difference my my intention is totally irrelevant who cares if I knew didn't know could have known couldn't have known it's a mythus so But when it says I need capora, it's not like I sinned and I need atonement, but it's more in the nature of like emergency surgery. I was pame than a shama then a shaman needs a tik. So you have the same problem by a vera meaning is an aa an aa because of its objective reality the poison idea or is an aa ana aa because it's a rebellion against hashem the mid it's a direct rebellion and even bash it's an indirect rebellion in the sense of not caring enough to check it check it out uh this is a this is a very very complex suga because Then we get into things where uh if something was an onus gummer let's say uh somebody ate trafe meat because of piku nephesh right so there we certainly don't say you need any kapora but what about the poison theory does hashem take away the poisonous effect of the trafe uh because it's maybe can decide you know this is now a piece of kosher meat. It's not It's no longer a tra meat, right? If it's shagg, I ate trafe meat. It's not right there by Let's say an is falls into a like a drop of milk or a drop of khazar falls into a big meat soup. It's nullified in 60. I'm allowed to to eat it. I'm allowed to eat it. But some want to say, but still it's there. the trafe is there even though it's bail does it spiritually hurt me like the poison idea so the ran brings actually that anyone it's a very strict rule anyone who says I'm not going to eat something that's because I fear that it's pame my spiritual that's not courses he's if the say it's nullified takes away the spiritual damage as Oh, you see, so that makes sense because you can't take the poison theory too literally here. You know, poison is poison, okay? Unless it's miracle, but something that's spiritual poison. Hashem determines the spiritual law. So at any point, Hashem could say there's no spiritual poison in this mitus at this point. Gab well may be relevant my behavior but it's not how do I follow but certainly the spiritual qualities of things are yeah so the the Torah says that you cannot be with a non-Jewish woman but the Torah also says if you become an evidence [Music] to make you so you can have more estate children and Then um which creates an interesting the Torah is giving for that right and it seems to be that the is if it is in the interest of having more slave children right or more slaves right so then therefore would you be able to learn out if it's in the interest of more slave children then the same should apply to the master because he's doing the same thing that the uh that the slave is doing and therefore then you know this this becomes a basically like like a way to be with a non Jewish children, you can have non-Jewish children. Um, you know, but what what are your what are your thoughts on that? >> Yeah. Well, again, this is a a good question and uh every everything that surrounds slavery is a little difficult for us because slavery is such a bad thing and what's the Torah talking about all this all these different types of of slavery. Uh again just to be sure everyone heard the that was stated uh we do have not bisman because evid iry only exists when there's yo there's no such thing as evidy today but bisman when there was ye a jew could sell could be sold or sell himself as a slave to be owned by a Jewish master and um he can sell himself because of poverty or he could be sold if he stole money and is unable to pay it back. Again, I just want to be sure people understand this. Uh if you owe money and you don't pay it back, you cannot be sold as a slave. Uh you cannot be sold as a slave because you didn't pay back a loan. That's not MS. Uh but you could be sold as a slave if you didn't pay back a Geneva and and and the like. Now in many many ways other than the one case that you mentioned in many many ways life as an evidy just isn't that bad. Uh Kazal basically say he who buys an evidy has bought a master for himself. If the master only has one comfortable bed it goes to the eved. One pillow uh the best food goes to the ev. And the evid cannot be ordered to do things that are not part of his normal work. meaning uh if he is a if he was a lawyer or an accountant then you give him legal work or accounting work to do you don't make him schle heavy loads. So life as inevitry is not that bad actually. Uh basically the master has to support you at the standard of living of the master and the master essentially uh employs you at whatever your skills were. Right? Not so bad. And that includes the wife and children that that you bring in. you know, your Jewish wife and your Jewish children. But the one thing that seems a little coercive and unusual is that the master does have the right to give the eved a non-Jewish a nonvid if who's Jewish, a non-Jewish maidervant with whom he cohabits. And uh the children that are born are born as non-Jew non-Jewish slaves based on the mother's identity. And uh when the Jewish slave leaves either at the end of six years or Yo, if he gets his ear pierced, he stays until Yo, he does not get to take uh that Canaanite woman and the uh and the children. uh and this seems to be even against the will of the of the Jew and normally there is an issue risa for a Jewish man to cohabit with a non-Jewish slave woman but here uh it is permitted and it can be imposed on the ebed even against his will but the one thing I do want to clarify is it is important to know that the non-Jewish slave woman and who had a non-Jewish slave man is not really a complete non-Jew really in a quai state because remember when a Jew buys a non-Jew as a slave, he is obligated to give that slave a bris and the slave goes in a mikvah and the slave is obligated in the same mitzvos that a woman is obligated. So an ebid kanani cananani is laafa. Cananani is any non-Jewish. In fact, it's interesting why it's called why use the word ever kanani. uh you might not be allowed to have a slave from you're supposed to to eradicate them but whatever it means a non-Jewish a non-Jewish slave so a non-Jewish slave is commit now this creates a real interesting problem and that is if a non-Jewish slave is so that means ana is exactly the same as a Jewish woman meaning she's a woman what is she the mitzvah of bishlma for the man's slave There's a difference between him and a regular Jew. A regular man is in all of the mitzvah. And is only init but she's mitzvah. So the status of in non-Jewish is very complicated because they're not really They're not really They have entered a certain kaducas is but they're not they're also not Jews. They're also not but okay but that even with that still doesn't answer your question and your question was well if the master is allowed to give her to the eved for the purpose apparently of producing children that will be slave children. Then why doesn't the Tyra give the heter directly to the Adine himself to be able to cohabit and have children that he could raise as slaves if he so wanted even though his own kids? Indeed, it was very common in the American slavery for masters to secretly cohabit with their slave uh women and have kids that they raised as slaves. I mean, none other than one of the golum of America, Thomas Jefferson, uh, who officially was against slavery, but he had slaves. And, uh, he, I think her name was Sally Hemings. And, uh, like, you know, few generations later, people come back and say, I'm I'm descended from the slaves that are the illegitimate children of of Thomas Thomas Jefferson. Uh, the answer is, you know, I don't know. In other words, why the Tyra med the EV and not not the and why the Torah gave the power to be of the EV and the Torah didn't allow the adine to do the very thing he's telling the ever to do is is a good is a good kasha uh because the EV is not in because I'll just to emphasize this in terms of rnas the ey is not inferior to the evidy is a one is a 100% Jew the rule that an ebid is only of mitzvah is talking about inevit so why should I be able to make my ev do something that would be in a for me uh is is is a good is a good question I I don't have a complete answer yeah >> could it be because if you allow the master to do it then you you just go wild with it you don't want >> maybe so perhaps because because he could then have like a hundred uh 100 I'm um I here I here. Now I do I do want to mention one interesting thing. Maybe I shouldn't talk about this but it's it's a mission condition. So I'll mention it. The Mishna actually does mention uh one case of a person who is permitted a regular non-slave person who is permitted to marry a shifa caninus uh a non-Jewish slave and that is a mamzer. A momzer, you'll recall right, you know, is a child that is born from adultery or incest. So if a woman who's married to a Jew is misana with a Jew, so unfortunately even if she's raped, unfortunately the child is a momser. A mamzer is not allowed to marry into the Jewish people. But a mamzer is allowed to marry a shifka. Not it's not marriage, but a mam can live with a shifka caninus. Ah so says Rabi Taran an amazing invention. Normally a mamzer has no way mamzeris passes down to all of the generations. No matter who a mamzer marries. If a mamzer marries a mamzeris their kid is a mamzer. If a mamzer marries a guar which he is allowed to marry the kid is a mamzer. If a mamzer ba marries a regular basis that's sinful the kid's going to be a momser right so no matter what what a mamzer marries hatcher kids going to be a momser but says rar I'll give you one case where the kid at least will not be a momser because we know if a momser marries a shifraanis the child is not a momser the child is an ebot So the mamzer marries the shifa they have a child the child is an eid not a mamzer and then the master is masher the child so when an evid kani becomes free he's now a complete Jew and he doesn't have the t of mamzer so tarfin says an amazing idea a mamzer could purify his zera by marrying a shrain and being masher the now he can't be mash you see because if he's mash the shifa first she's now a guis so momz with a guar is still going to be a momser but if he's with her as a shika so the child is an eb and not a mamzer you then could be mash the eb now This at a maybe I shouldn't say this. This can theoretically work even today but I think it'll be hard to to explain it to the the woman that you are dating. Uh the the the issue would be this because even though I mentioned before that inevit can only exist when there's yeet Cananani can exist even today. So the way this would work, okay, maybe it's not okay. Uh you go up to a Gisha woman and you say, "I have a proposal for you." This is only person only a mam that doesn't work for not a mam. He says, "I'd like you to be my slave, but doesn't sound so bad." Meaning you go to the mikvah, you essentially observe the mitzvah of a Jewish woman, but you're technically a slave. Technicality, you're a slave. And when we have children, they will be little slaves that I will proceed to free. And at that point, you've done a tremendous favor to all of the children and grandchildren that will come out. Uh then you can debate after uh she reaches menopause, no more kids needs to be abused. You could debate freeing her. Okay, that would be a matter of prenuptual agreements or or or whatever it is. But but again, I I know it's it sounds bizarre and I don't know if anyone ever tried this, but Lisa, I will tell you that there are rabanim I mean the reason I'm saying it there are ramim that have sometimes talked to people who unfortunately were mim about such a possibility as as bizarre as the possibility sounds. Of course, this raises a whole question is very the Gmorrah says that if you're mash you're not allowed to be mashani the says the call. So why am I allowed to be masher my children that I get from a shifa? Now the gumar does give a story that rabel alzar once walked into a minion or walked into a shaw with his eid kani who does not count for a minion because he's like a woman. Uh but he would have been the 10th guy. So what did Rabieler do? He was masherd. That's a big loss. I mean the slave had a very significant economic value. It's like paying $100,000 to make a minion you know just to give an example he was mash to be mash him to a minion because after the he becomes a g and the gumar asked the garra asked the kasha how could he do so and the garra's answer is uh what says either for a mitzvah it's or mitzvah a mitzvah that helps the whole seabboard. There are two gearos in the Gmorrah. So I don't know if either answer would would really work. In other words, uh if the to be mash is because it's a mitzvah, would that be a to be masher your children to remove the taint of of I mean they're not anyway. Even as a they're not mam. So you're not removing mamas. You're removing abdus. Is that a mitzvah per se? I mean, it seems to be you're not that's what you're not supposed to do. So, you have to be how could give an involves the violation of this not so I'll just leave it as that. Yeah. >> Russ gets married. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. that that might be because that goes back to another Mishna. The Mishna discusses I don't want to get too a football. The Mishna discusses the uh the very interesting creature called Ben. You're half Evid Kanani and you're half Jew because you were freed. How do you how do you become half half? Very simple. The EVID is owned by two partners. One partner frees his half and the other partner doesn't. So the half that's free is totally Jewish. The half that's not free is inevit. So the is like this. This man cannot marry anybody. He can't marry a shifka because half of him is free and he's not allowed to be with a shifkinus. He can't marry a basis Israel because half of him is a slave and he and Kanani cannot marry a basis Israel. He can't even marry a half and half because this half can't be with that. In other words, the Ben cannot be with the with the other etc. So who can he marry? And if he can't marry at all, he will not be able to be mim or vu. So in order to enable him to make him purvu, we force the other owner to free his e free his and the eid gives him an iOS. So you see exactly what you're saying that for the mitzvah of pu or vu we do consider that to be a mitzvah important enough to allow freeing. So you want to say since there are vadim Yeah. Um I hear what you're saying, but I I think the machmos of the Mishna is that's not going to work because you see from the Mishna that if he wouldn't be a half and half, if he would be if he would be just a complete of it, we would be happy with letting him marry a shif. So these kids are not foreclosed. They can marry a you see what I'm saying? In other words, it would to say this enables him to marry a basin that's left Africa going to be enough only by the kati there's no there is no choice. Okay. Uh yeah and then we say I guess my question is twofold. Number one, how could you be something that you don't even know happened? Number two, what's the point of saying it every single day if you should say it one time after we go to you remember other things that happened. >> Oh, so you're saying that um whatever happens in another Gilgal uh everything is finished on that one. So I just have to say that one once and I I do have to say it for things that happen to me in this life because new things happen every day. But the Gilgaler, why would that have to be repeated every single day? And the second question is how can I be mo something that I'm not even aware. Uh both of them are very good. Uh on this I think the the first question you ask how could I be mo on things I don't know. Uh you could if if you're willing meaning you're not if I if I ask you for and you say to me what did you do and I say I really don't want to tell you. You don't want to know. It's kind of so you're you know you're talking not to be unless you want to but you can want to meaning it's it's not it's not a that you can't be mo unless you know you're not to be. So the person is asking Hashem for so he says I'm asking for because I also have raim even for the people who hurt me and I don't know what they did right so that's maybe not so much of a kasha uh but the but the second one is a is a very good kasha if you're saying mo things that people did to me in another gilgal well uh okay I say that once and that's taken care of of every single thing. Uh I I'm not sure again I mean I mean my simplistic answer would simply be that when you make a you got to keep it consistent. Meaning uh what are you going to say? Say for the first time you say the prayer add this line but from then on don't say it anymore. That's a little confusing to people. So once you have a nus so you want to put the in uh to keep it constant but maybe I'll think of a maybe if there's a better answer but it's a good or yeah >> um based on what Ray was explaining before about Mashiach that Mashiach is a process. >> Yeah. >> Wouldn't it be true that Mashia I don't know can't but it won't in a realistic way come just right then. Um so when people say Mashiach can come every day. So is that a few that I really have to believe that Mashiach will come today and then I have to believe tomorrow that Mashiach will come today and I'm like almost disappointed if it doesn't happen. Yeah. >> Or is it that I I believe that Mashiach can come today. I know that it's a very strong possibility but it's not something that I'm quote unquote disappointed if it doesn't end up happening because I know it's not >> Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. So this seems to be a big mlo. I mean there are those who say I am he's coming today said not that way he says a person has to believe in he has to know that we don't know when and then he has to have hope and yearning but not that I know he's coming today uh you know I remember years and years and years ago when the dafomi began to get very popular in America this was before arts scroll did the shas now it's become so popular because of the art scroll shass they get a lot of the credit for the growth of dyomi but this was in the 1970s so for the first time a good Israel had uh they rented Madison Square Garden the felt farm which only had 5,000 now they have stadiums they have 50,000 but then they had like 5,000 people coming for the Duffy museum so in their old magazine the Jewish Observer which was you know very very good uh magazine it was When I was in yeshiva, it was the only magazine we were allowed to read. We couldn't have time or newsweek, but Jewish observer we were allowed to have. So they said, "We have rented the Madison Square Garden Felt Forum for the CM Hashas of Dafyomi, but if Mashiach comes, we will move it to the Panovich base medish in Benet Brock, which is the largest base Medish." So somebody wrote a letter to the editor. He says this is a in baso because you don't say we've rented the felt for him but if Mashiach comes we move to Ben you do the other way around we have rented the panovicha because we know mashiach will come if not we'll have to do it in felt form like what do you really think right so the is I think ali the although there are people who say the other way I think what yako kamineski says is is is the most mistra that you're m in you know he's going to come you don't know when he's going to come and you hope he'll come but you're not in fact even the language of the Rambam well it's actually actually it's not the language of the Rambam but the paraphrase of the Rambam and then the im is not the actual of the Rambam be aware of that but it says right the coming of even though he delays goes out, I'm waiting every day for him to come. It doesn't mean I believe he's going to come every day. I'm waiting. I'm yearning. I'm hoping. So, I I think uh that's the way to approach it. Uh yeah, in the back >> is uh are you traffic that it's not dangerous? Binding. It's not like 3:00 a.m. a red light. There's nobody there. It's not dangerous. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the question is uh we're normally supposed to follow the laws of the land. But what if uh there's no particular reason to follow that law? It doesn't make any sense. The example would be you are driving uh let's say in Brooklyn or even even here in Erit Israel. We also have a malus and um you get a red light at 3:00 in the morning and nobody is there. You know, you can look 10 miles in either direction, nobody is coming. Do I have to stay there and stop? Now, of course, in a lot of cities, they actually turn off the signals or whatever, but sometimes not. So, the truth of the matter is um there actually is a misery of Kamki. say they were leaving Aasa in Brooklyn and it was like 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning and they were driving and there was a red light and the driver was going to go through the red light and said you're to stop. Now again the first of all I don't know if these stories are true that's one thing. Second of all even if they are true it may not have been maybe he just wanted to be the idea that normally you should obey uh these laws. Uh so he used it in an unusuali situation. Um in Sara I think you could be makeo that that that if a law is enacted for a certain purpose to promote safety and that taklas is not being advanced in that particular case. Uh I think in such a situation you can give yourself a a break on it. But as I say I do have a a misa going in the going the other way. Yeah. um what's the Ashkoffa behind Corbonus when especially nowadays we can look at Corbonus as almost primitive and in a way barbaric then how could so much >> yeah yeah so again this is a very very long topic it needs would need a share of its own buter we have uh the two we have the Rambam in the safer marin and we have the Ramban in his beginning of invim the Rambam advances the controversial idea that carbana were a concession to the zahara of idolatry that the Jewish people were in from their time in Mitzim and even earlier before Aramino were attached to a desraction to a desaru was the pageantry and the ceremonies of corbanos and if hashem would have said all I care about is your learning and your domining and your mitzvah and forget about this carbonos they wouldn't have left. So allowed them to import idolatrous rituals into a hashem to wean them away from a zora. This is what the Rambam says in the myraim. It's very very because if that's the case why do we pray bring back we we we're misspell bring back carbonos why I don't need them anymore I don't feel a need they needed it because they were so connected to a zora that if we told them no carbonos they'd say I'm going to go to a zara we don't have that yearning so why would I be misspo and the ram even says the ram himself says in hilusim when mashiach comes we're going to have corbanos the ram says beish so because of this the raan in kish says that's not the case he says corbanos are it's alabal pikabala their mohe into the world the of hashem and the forgiveness of hashem but primarily the ramban says because of the transformation to the worshipper that when I bring an animal and I put my hands on the animal and I'm misvayos and I kill the animal and it's burned on the misbeh I think to myself that should be me there but for the grace of God would be me and it's me to choua to change to introspection and when the Torah says the corban is a pleasant fragrance to Hashem. It doesn't mean Hashem likes barbecued meat, but it's it's a metaphor because you've changed as a result of the Corbin. That brings a toad. So that's what the Ramban says. The Rambam says a concession to a desan says it is a vehicle of transformation of the worshipper. which gives pleasure. Isn't that also a sum by reversal that speaks about it being concession to inherently every person is almost bloodthirsty and so it was a concession to that and he brings >> so he so he adds the idea that it's concession to blood yeah okay that's an additional aspect to what the raam said yeah now the raan asked a whole bunch of kasha I mean I should also add that ramban asked the kasha that we find that the ice br built from his back and brought carbanas so again presumably they were doing as they were not doing it because of uh negatives within them back because we we're not going to grow if there's no if there's no we need to grow why why would we want to come now I want to come in 60 years on the start growing >> yep yep that's a very very excellent question uh has come up a few times uh and I and I think about it myself a lot. Uh what's so great about Mashiach? In other words, Mashiach is described as a world in which the will be a world with the B mikdash a world of kibbutio all the will be back in a world where even the gom sounds wonderful. Yeah, of course it is wonderful. But you know there's a real downside because we know that the main reward that we get for the mitzvah that we do is the reward that we get because we're struggling with the yates. This is the kazal agra according to the suffering is the reward. Now imote mashiach comes no struggle. It's easy to do mitzvah. I don't have a yates or at least it's not as intense. So is that good or is that bad? Well, it's good. I don't have a but it also means the mitzvah that I do mashiach actually count much less than the mitzvah I did before Yumos Mashia. And in fact uh you quoted the fragment from Cohelis says in McGillis Coales remember your creator while you are still young before the days come that you have no desire for simple meaning of the is chuva before you die because once you die it's too late but I'll have a dr that what are the yim that you don't you don't wants Mashiach when there's no longer going to be a right so the atahara is like a friend that says you're going to miss me when I'm gone you know don't uh be so mean to me you know you're going to miss me when I'm gone indeed that's actually that's actually true so that's a very excellent that's a very excellent question so I mean I hate to say it this way who needs mashiach let's live in the world of struggle and then we have if we're have so there are two possible answers maybe three three possible answers one possible answer is that even in Yamosa Mashiach there will be a struggle but it will be a struggle at a much higher level than we have now so it's not going to it's not going to be between good and evil it'll be between better and best meaning the so you know there will be a of a evenly mossia that that's one answer a second answer which is very interesting is that the yearning for mashiach is not because it's good for you maybe it's not good for you but it's a keshashem that the world will follow the rats so essentially mashiach is not this selfish thing sometimes People talk very selfishly about it. They say, "When Mossiach comes, I'm not going to have a problem with this." You know, it's like, you know, my mortgage will be paid. You know, that's not what it is. The other way around, Moshiach on some level is not good for you, but it's coveret for Hashem and I am on my personal satisfaction for the Hab, right? That's another thing. And a third mahalik is it's a mid of because here's the thing without msiach my mitzvah count more but on the other hand I have a har so I'll do less and I may not do mitzvah so hashem says okay I'll give you a time where it'll be easy so even though they'll be worth less but you'll accumulate so much that you might be better off right so it's hard to know meaning there will be people who are better off without theura >> and There will be people who are better off with the it all depends. If you're somebody that's the you're better off with it because from Ara but if you're somebody who always loses is giving you a break uh to have some years without a but it's a very very good question because again I want to remind you Mashiach is not the ultimate reward. The ultimate reward is later. So it's not so pushet what is your mashiach there for uh the Rambam says so we can do more mitzvah and get more. Yeah. Um what is the Torah view on the claims of of Yashka performing so many miracles in terms of how what how does the Torah explain he was able to do it? I I heard a claim that he stole something from the from the beta mcdash and that that might have been from maybe from a garumar if that is from a garumar is that one of the garumar that was stolen or hidden by the church. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, so the truth of the matter is uh with Yashka allegedly doing uh miracles first of all we don't have to accept those accounts as true that that's one thing but but but the Rambam writes and it's really based on that you know we could accept that he did miracles uh there is something in the world there's magic uh there's the use of the shame hashem the Gammorra talks about in different ways uh there are optical illusions there's hypnosis uh obviously How did the Egyptians, however you understand this, how did the Egyptians change uh the stick into a snake, right? I mean the Tyra itself talks about the ability of Rishim to do different things and the Rambam says okay the fact that somebody does miracles does not prove that he's Mashiach. In fact, Mashiach himself cannot prove that he's Mashiach by miracles. Otherwise, Yashka might have proven his case. Right? So it doesn't really impress us because we recognize that miracles can come from all sorts of sources of tuma uh that exist in the world and therefore yeah let him it doesn't undermine anything of the Torah. So Khazal themselves seem to say that Yoska mastered kish. He had spent some time in Mitzim and Mitsry was the world center even later after Mitraim of magic and sorcery and Yashka learned those particular skills of manipulation. Yeah. >> I didn't hear you. >> I'm say why is the quote multiple opinions? >> Why is it the final opinion defend? >> Why does he quote multiple opinions? Oh, what? Yeah. Yeah. So, here's the problem. The Bashf had a Cairo had a very mechanical rule in and his mechanical rule is the famous two out of three rule. He of all the rishim he identified three rishim that he considered to be the greatest of all postkim. The riff, the Rambam and the Rashen. And he said, "I will be Maka based on two of the three." Of course, that stacks the deck because the riff and the Rambam are in agreement almost all the time. And the rush, if there's any disagreement, it'll be the rush against those two. And that's why Ashkenazi minag are not in the they're in the Ram precisely because the rush represents the Ashkanazi mahalik. Okay. Now there were many many halas that are not necessarily addressed by the Rambam the riff or the rash. So the had to go to other post raan whoever it would be. So since he didn't want to be on his own in many cases he says so I would say the basic idea would be when he doesn't have a two out of two out of three tiebreaking hakra then he'll give you multiple opinions. Yeah >> I understand that even in the cases when multiple means we still have a how to interpret how >> yes that that is very true. >> So even in these cases we are saying he gave a father. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. You are correct. Uh when when Cairo brings multiple opinions, there are different ways that he does it. Says which are kind of equal. Then it's he'll bring the and then say meaning it's not a but it's a and sometimes he'll say at the end of meaning even when he brings multiple days he is so your question is if he's giving you a a then why didn't he just say the one view so the so the obvious answer would have to that there's a difference between a that only gives you one view and a hak that gives you two views but tells you to pass him like like the other view and that is it would seem to be that he's legitimating minhogim that go like the view that he himself rejects meaning it's legitimate enough in his mind that if a community has a minog they could go with it as opposed to when he doesn't bring that view he's saying it's a mistake and the community should not necessarily follow it. Yeah, >> that would be only when the community already had a pre-existing one of those. >> Well, no. So that would be different because in the hakama in the hakdama to the bashf cyro says if a community already had a pre-existing men then even when he gives you a definitive s he's not meaning to. So I don't mean that case but I mean in terms of whether a community might be permitted to create a minra. So he's kind of giving you permission. He's saying this is what I think but I'm giving you permission for the rav to pass in the other way as opposed to uh when he just gives you one day. Yeah. How do we reconcile uh free will with sometimes in my words like manifest of destiny? Like for example, Moshe Rabenu the Gamarian Sota brings things like when he was born the house was full of light and he was born with a miller and we also have similar things by Davidu that already from when they were kids they were even from before they were born there was this uh destiny that this person was going to become great. There's even stories in that Zoharo uh one time I think it was at Yiosi that um he was going to leave somebody told him I'm going to give you a lot of gold that if you go and learn um and then he left because he was going to leave because they were going to give him the gold and then they they told him no no no don't kick him away he's going to become great and eventually he stayed and he became great so with Shamim they told his don't kick him because he wants money and I'm just showing from those cases that sometimes it looks like from Shamim there's certain personas that are going to achieve great things and it almost works in a paradox way that the fact that they were eventually going to achieve great things helps them in the past at least with this last story of yeah so how does that recon >> yeah so so number one the actually says that there are certain people of greatness who don't really have complete free Well, he mentions Mosher Rabenu and in point of fact, but even the ME I think is referring to Mosher Rabenu once he was already leader. Uh I think uh before that point, Hashem gives us kos. Hashem gives us abilities. Hashem even gives us destinies meaning he clearly puts into us a direction that he favors. But kazal also say so for every destiny that you have that's pushing you there will be a powerful counterforce that pulls him the other way and that's where comes in fact let me say a word about bum right we read last week purchases bum so the famous rashifal that the nations of the world are going to complain if you would have given us a nvi like misha rabeno we would not sin So, Hashem gave them bum. Now, the question is, how is that an answer? That's not an answer. They said if you would have given us Moshe. So, one of the answers actually is that Bum and Moshe started off the same. They were phenomenally great in Nva and through their bum became this k. So, Hashem gives you the greatness, but you can still take that greatness in in different ways. It's not a done deal. >> Hashem doesn't make you a saddic. Hashem gives you the kos, the talent, the brilliance, the intellect, the navua even. But even the nua can be used for evil, for power, for self advertisement. That's what happened to Bill, right? So, so it wouldn't be a ste in that way. Uh, yeah. >> Slavery entirely bad. >> Yeah. Uh, so that's that that's the question we talked about before a little bit. Uh, the Tyra allows slavery. So there are two mahalum uh in this one mahalik which is very similar to the Rambam on corbanos that I said is slavery is really not a good thing. It is not a good thing. It was so common in the ancient world that aeshb couldn't just tell Ben Israel no slaves. So he gave them slavery but he humanized it. He made it more humane and kinder and more compassionate. meaning it's seen as a concession to human beings that were aduk in owning other people but ideally slavery is no good. Now problem with that is that the Tyra prohibits freeing your non-Jewish slave. Now, if you're going to tell me slavery is really bad, but the Ty says, "Okay, we're going to let you have it." Then for carriage, if I'm willing to free my slave, it ought to be a mitzvah. It shouldn't be in a at least for ebid for ebid um ebid kani. So the other mahalik is that slavery served what you might call a civilizing function because the non-Jews were not only idolatrous but they were murderers all sorts of right look at the Mishna you see uh don't get you can't get a haircut from the because he'll slit your throat I mean the mamish was a that these were wild dangerous people So the slave is brought into a Jewish house in mitzvah is exposed to the morality of Judaism. So in a sense some people looked at it as a uh compulsory kov exercise. It was a way of being mare pagans to the rats hashem. uh by the way that was sometimes articulated as a reason for slavery even in the 19th century and the like. So based on that it was seen to be a good a good thing in that way but that would depend on the master. If the master is simply going to use slaves as a piece of property then it's probably a bad thing. In other words the justification would be the positive benefits of the slave in becoming closer to Hashem through that experience. this those two those two actions >> I I'm not aware of the saying but then it mentions number two and other people mention number one I know it from uh yeah >> why is it that one's Jewish identity is from the mother and point about what Judaism is as a whole >> yes so you're asking why is Judaism based on the mother So technically it's because of a drussia from a pussk. So actually it is based on a a pussk. Uh so in terms of logic it's hard to know because as you know tribal affiliation is based on the father. Coain ley that's father not mother right but whether you're a Jew is based on on on the on the mother. Uh there are two bonus that are given for this. Number one is that um before DNA testing at least you only know a person's mother you never know definitively a person's father right the mother the baby came out of the mother a father could be a million people so therefore we want for Judaisms a standard that is absolutely guaranteed and that's maternal uh the spiritual hashb is based on the gammor in nida that says before a child is born the malik a malik teaches the child Torah in the mother's womb. Now the truth of the matter is that's done for Jewish children and that's done for non-Jewish children but the tyra that the non-Jew learns in the womb is not the same Tyra as the Jew learn right the non-Jew learns the the Zion mitzvah or whatever. So as a result and then of course when the child is born the malik hits the child on the lip and the child forgets everything. Now the question is why does he learn the Torah if he's just going to forget it? The answer is it spiritually imprints on his nishama his spiritual identity. So as a result, the spiritual identity of the soul is defined by the experience that takes place in the mother's womb because that's the Torah, right? Is he stamped Jew or is she stamped non-Jew, right? So that that's why we we follow the the mother in that sense cabalistically. That would be the reason. Uh yeah, last question. Yeah. And we're taught that the reason the world is >> but at the same time said for two years. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So the question is right the der hashem brings from the Arizal that hashem created the world in order that he could be mative could do good to us by giving us an opportunity uh to become connected to him and if we would be connected without the effort of doing mitzvos that would be nahama the kisufa the bread of shame or humiliation so we have to go through all of this aida but it's all for our benefit it because Hashem wants to be mative to us. So the question is Hashem wants to be mative to us. And yet we find that in after years of discussion a person is better off if they weren't created that way they wouldn't do all these that we do. So if it's you're asking how could it be said that Hashem created us if I'm better off. Yeah. So so the truth is both statements are true. Uh because life is a big gamble. Meaning being created in this world is a big risk because I could mess up and I could be malo a lot worse than would have been the case had my nama just stayed with Hashem. Right? So Balatana actually tightes up it would have been safer for a person not to be created but als risky investment right you invest uh a million dollars in a very very risky investment well it's risky that means you could lose it all or it might become a hund00 million business that's what it's like so the derm is saying hashem is giving us the chance to make a hundred $1 million, but because I might lose the million that I started off with. So, so it's it's kind of the same, but ultimately if if through I could be I get much much much more than I would get had had I not been in this in this world that Okay, we'll stop here. Be well. Take care. >> Thank you for listening to this awesome production. To find out more and to partner in our mission, please visit or.edu. [Music]