Rabbi Benzion Shafier | CHAZAQ Tisha B'Av Marathon

1,958 years ago, Ba Mikdesh was destroyed. As Rais mentioned, I didn't see it. You didn't see it. My father didn't see it. My grandfather didn't see it. 75 generations and we are still here. And that concept has many, many dimensions to it that we are still here. number one that we are still here keeping Hashem's mitzvah exactly as our forefathers did. We put on fillin with the 10. We wear the same same as a Bay same as Rashian and Tossus. We learn we keep and it's astonishing. Find me a nation anywhere. Find me a nation anywhere that leaves its homeland and remains pure, remains true to its ways. It is astonishing. It is amazing. And Mik, but it's also 1,958 years of us being here. And it's been a very very difficult gulus. And I'd like to share with you there is no form of brutality. No form of torture. No form of of murder that was not used on the Jews who were shot, hanged, bullied, massacred, gassed. Find me a method to kill a man. We was used on us. Find me a method to torture a man. It was used on us. But for nine, for how many generations? For how many such time? from back in history. First the Roman Empires Bal and Persia, Christian Europe, medieval England. In 1290, the Jews were kicked out of England for what crime? I can't tell you because no one can tell you. Kicked out of France, exiled from European lands. We were the leading citizens of Spain, the diplomats, the translators, the wise men. And in 1492, Ferdinand and Isabella kicked the Jews out. Then Portugal and Spain then every other nation in Europe either exiled us, murdered us, killed us. And in 1940, 1939 began Adolf Hitler's attempt. And ironically, we are still here. But I'd like to share with you anti-semitism is a very peculiar thing. Why does everybody hate the Jews? What's your beef? What's the problem? What's is the problem with the Jews? They're loyal citizens. They keep the laws. They're incredibly productive. Every single nation they land in is built up because of them. They are the center of commerce, center of industry. They cause that land to excel. And you kick them out or kill them. What's the problem? My friends, we are but 0.2% of the population. In Nazi Germany, Hitler went on for years. In 1933, he was elected Reich Chancellor. His propaganda began in 23. For a decade and a half, on and on. The Jewish problem. The Jewish problem. The Jewish problem. The problem with Germany is the Jews. It's me or the Jews. I choose the Jews. I choose the fatherland. How many Jews lived in Germany? Less than 1%. Less than 1% of the population was Jewish. Where do you see them? But you do see them all over because they do occupy all the positions of importance. Certainly in academia, certainly in science, certainly in every advancement. But anti-semitism is very very peculiar because it makes no sense. Either we're too rich or too poor, too religious, too secular, too capitalistic, too communistic, too clownish, too assimilated, too powerful, too weak, cosmopolitan or zealots. Name me a story. Name me a fantasy. We were called it. And it makes no sense. But not only does it make no sense, what did these anti-semites gain? So in 1290 were kicked out of England. What did England gain from it? Zero. Not only did they gain nothing, the greatest source of industry, the greatest source of production, greatest source of innovation was stolen from them. When Spain kicked us out in 1492, the Ottoman emperor, you know what he said? This is a competitor, direct competitor with Spain said these words. You call Fernandan the wise king. He impoverished his own country and enriched mine because the greatest minds in Europe were there and they kicked them out and guess what? Spain had been the world power. Spain was the center of the universe at that time. No sooner did they kick the Jews out then guess what? They fell from power, fell from might. And generation after generation, you see the same exact reality. We land in a certain country. We build that country up. We excel in every endeavor. And we're the shining lights of society. We don't break laws. We don't kill. We don't murder. We don't pillage. And someone there decides the Jews have got to go. They murder us or kill us. They exile us. But if you think anti-semitism is dumb, terrorism is a lot dumber. Arab terrorism began in 1920. I want you to imagine for a minute the following. Imagine you give two Jewish boys a holy mission. That holy mission is kill as many Arabs as you can. What do you think they're going to do? Hey Misha, I got an idea. Let's strap 20 kilos of explosives to our chest and blow ourselves up. Yeah, that's a great way to kill Arabs, right? I don't think so. There are about 2 billion Muslims in the world today. Don't panic. Only 33% of them are Islamic radicals. Only three 33% means about 600 million people would rather drink your blood for breakfast than drink their orange juice. How many dead Jews are there? Okay, the way way too many but nowhere near in proportion. But I want to share with you what I'm talking about. Nations are known for their accomplishments. Rome built bridges, the coliseum, aqueducts. Chinese they built the great wall. United States became the center of democracy. Israel became the center of technological advancements, decelization, universities. They became a real power. Hamas spent two decades, 20 years and $1 billion. This was the accomplishment of Gaza. What was the accomplishment to build an underground underground tunnel for rats? But they spent $1 billion dollars doing it. $1 billion. Their goal is to kill as many Jews as possible. And what they do is they build underground rat holes to hide in. Do you understand what that means in plain language? Let's say God had given them a brain. One kamicazi drone, a one-way drone with explosives, with payload, with whatever it needs to get there costs about $500. $500. Ukraine, they're used all the time and incredibly effective in war. Had they taken that $1 billion dollars and invested it in drones, they would have owned two million drones. Do you know what that means? 2 million drones. The war has been on for about a thousand days now. A little bit longer now since October 7th when it began. That means 2,000 drones a day for a thousand days. It would have fired. Life in Israel would not be. It wouldn't be. So, how can you be that dumb? This is what you're going to do. You're going to kill Jews. How? By tunneling under the ground. Yeah, the entire entire society was focused on that because it's not just excavation. It's plumbing. It's satellite communication. It's everything needed to keep people alive underground. That's going to kill Jews. And it doesn't take scientists to realize that there's something peculiar going on here. And explains me. This is all part of the Yadashem, all part of God's plan. More than that, he explains Jewish history. Would you like to understand Jewish history fundamentally? We land in a new shore. We return to the ways of our fathers. Torah flourishes. Keeping mitzvah flourishes and the next generation stronger than that, next generation even stronger. And then we start becoming more like the Gentiles. We start assimilating. Next generation weaker than that and next generation weaker. And then a powerful wind comes and says Yehudi, you Jewish, get out of here. And we land on new shores. and we build those lands up. We return to ways of our father. We don't speak the language. We don't know the culture. We return to Torah, return to mitzvah, and we grow next generation, next generation until we hit a certain apex. And then begins the downward spiral. We assimilate, become more like the Gentiles, become more and more. And again, a powerful wind blows. Yehudi kicking you out. I heard Mr. Frieden was I heard him speak. He was in Warsaw Ghetto. He was in Warso ghetto and he heard the words of the Messma being read in Shul. Someone was speaking about this Messma while Warso was under siege. And then he read these words. When they say Berlin heal when they say Berlin is Jerusalem, that's when a powerful wind is going to come. Well, guess what? It's generation after generation after generation. So that part I understand the peculiarity of anti-semitism. the strange dumbness of it. I get it. It's Hashem's way of keeping us along the path of where we're supposed to be. But here's a question. What should our attitude be towards these Gentiles? How should we feel to a guy? How should we feel to a terrorist? How should we feel to these people? So to answer that question, let's step back a little bit. Bolock realizes he has a problem. the Jewish nation are going to destroy him, take over his land. He asks Bum to curse the Jewish nation. And Bim tries to do it. He attempts. He doesn't succeed. And then Bum gives them advice. Listen to me carefully. He says, "Their god hates illicit relations. Have your women go out, the young women go out there, seduce the Jewish men. Their God will be furious with them, be angry." That's what happened. 24,000 Jewish men died in that. Many years later, Hashem says to Mosha Mid, "Take your revenge and then you're going to leave this world." But the Raan makes an observation. It's very clear that Hashem saying, "Take revenge and then you can leave the world." And Raan quotes explains why this is because these are his words. He says and Mosheru had a ta a desire for had a desire for and is not doesn't prevent the from he doesn't hold back from what wants to see with his own eyes and because Moshe had this desire this tremendous to see the therefore provided it for him and he quotes that is joyful when he sees revenge Joyful desires revenge is a ty for revenge. He's joyful when it happens. Revenge is a bad revenge. It destroys you. Revenge is horrific for your midos. But that expression is used over and over in over and over in over and over in says let the guy let me see the revenge. Let me see the revenge of the spilled blood of your of father please let please take revenge for the blood spilled. But listen to this and listen to these words. Remember that which did why it is forbidden to forget and also the hatred that you felt for them and the animosity that you felt towards them. Says the Rambam part of the mitzvah say of remembering a mo is not just remembering. Remember so you could feel the hatred again. Remember so you could feel the animosity. Remember so you could say those animals what they did. And you should feel anger. You should feel fury. You should feel wanting to take revenge, says the Rambam. That's part of the mitzvah. That's Jewish animosity, hatred. Say, say words that I'll re renew the hatred. Second base of Mikdish was destroyed to the baseless hatred. I've always had the following question on that. Gomorrah I've never met a sane rational person who hates a person without grounds says says Gomorrah don't hate a person without reason baseless hatred have you ever met a sane rational person says I I hate your guts I don't know why I don't have a reason for it but I hate your gut I just hate you what person does that what is the what is what is the telling us because of baseless hatred basically destroyed and worse than The famous example that the Gmorra gives us of baseless hatred and listen to the details of the story because I'm going to tell you something incredible here you will not be able to understand tells us because the event of Kamslam was destroyed and then the Gmorra tells us event which we all know but listen to the details there was a man whose friend was Kamsa. This man had an enemy whose name was Baramsa. Marsha explains most likely they were father and son and this man loved his friend Kamsa hated his enemy Baramsa and he made a party. This man made a party and invited all the kashu and he sent his shamish out to invite his friend but the shamish for some reason invent invited instead Baramsa. Bar Kamsa gets the invitation and Marshall explains to us probably he said to himself I guess he's trying to make peace. I guess he wants to make up Lamar Scholam got to go. And Baramsa shows up at the party and as he walks into the room he doesn't recognize anybody. He's not been for decades in this man's house. They're mortal enemies. He sits down. He begins eating. At a certain point this man sees his enemy Baramsa there. He says, "What are you doing here? You're my enemy. What are you doing here?" Bakamsa says, "Your Shamish invited me. Get out of here." And at that moment, Bamua realized he was going to be thrown out. Please, please, let me stay. I He made a mistake. I didn't realize it. He didn't realize it. Let me stay. I'll pay for everything I eat and drink. No, I'll pay for half of your party. No, I'll pay for the entire party. No, get out of here. He picks him up and literally throws Baramsa out. What does Baramsa do? He says these words. He says the rabbis were sitting there. The great of the generation were all there and they didn't make a they didn't complain. I see from their I see they're happy with this. I see the Rabbon sat by. They didn't say a word. Obviously, they're happy with this. Therefore, I am going to slander the Jewish nation. And he goes to the Caesar and he says, "Mar Dubak, you die. The Jews are rebelling." Caesar says, "What do you mean? I'll prove it to you. send a carbon for generations. Anytime a mel would send a carbon brought in the mikdash and is allowed to. So the king caesar sent a carbon on the way. Baramama made a mum made a blemish in it. The type of blemish the explains to us that for us is a blemish for them it wasn't. And he brings it to and the kohanim say we're not bringing it. And there's a whole debate back and forth because they knew who was sending it. In the end they decided not to bring the carbon. When the word came back to the Caesar immediately he sent Niron Kaiser. He sent Niron the general and that was the beginning of the end beginning of the bias says Gomorrah because the sin of the baseless hatred Bdish was destroyed. My friends where is baseless hatred there? I see slander I see evil. I see where's baseless hatred? Where is baseless hatred in that whole story? Bar comes and gets invited. He gets kicked out and he decides to slander the Jewish nation. I see utter riches. I see where's baseless hatred as an observation about 20 years ago by now maybe 30 there's a man who didn't speak to me for 10 years. For 10 years he didn't speak to me. And what happened was he came over to me during Mina. He reached out his hand and I didn't shake his hand. Apparently some people saw it and he was so embarrassed he walked away and didn't speak to me for 10 years. You ever have one of those situations you get angry with someone? They did something clearly egregious. They did something that's so out of bounds that you're furious with them and you don't talk to them. Maybe it's two sisters who are closer and close to 30 years. They spoke to each other every day and there's a wedding one of the sisters making and she doesn't ask the other help for planning it. And the second sister gets so insulted. She says, "That's it. We're done." And she doesn't speak to her sister for six months, debates whether she should even come to the wedding at all. Two brothers, business partners. They built up a business for 20 years and are very successful. a little discussion about money, something goes wrong and all of a sudden, not only are they not talking to each other, they're only talking to each other through lawyers suing for possession of the business. What happened? So, let's share the following observations. Number one, we only fight with friends. We don't get into fights with Arab terrorists. We don't get fights with the communists. We get into fights with people around us, either close friends, relatives, people we have a lot in common with. And I'd like to share with you two questions that I think you need to ask yourself anytime you've been in situation or you'll be in such a situation. Question number one is how did you suddenly become so wicked? We were best friends for 30 years. I knew you intimately. I knew you better than anyone. We shared every secret and you were a good guy. You're okay. You're good. And suddenly you did something and you became evil. You transformed. Does that mean I was stupid for 30 years? You duped me? You fooled me? Obviously, I know you're evil. You're so evil. I can't talk to you. How did you suddenly transform? Question number one. Question number two, how is it possible that any mocus, any argument you'll ever get into, you will be 100% certain that you are 100% right and the other person will be 100% certain that they're 100% right. And if you're not sure that I'm right, you're not married. How does it come about? October 1962, American U2 aircraft discovered Soviet nuclear missile sites under construction in Cuba and began the Cuban missile crisis. And now you have to understand the extent of the danger here. Kennedy was a young president in his 30s and the military had one recommendation. The entire chief of staff's entire military demanded bomb the missile sites followed a full invasion of Cuba. Don't negotiate. And the generals made it very clear the Soviets are deliberately testing. Remember this was the Cold War. USSR versus USA and you're fighting for dominance over the planet. And it was a cold war going on for now a decade and a half and things were very very heated and says the generals to Kennedy if you don't respond with overwhelming force America will appear weak. John F. Kennedy had an interesting perspective. He said, "What happens the day after?" Okay, we bomb the missile sites, we destroy the missiles. I got it. And then Russia bombs Berlin, we nuke them, they nuke us. But you have to understand what a nuclear explosion means. The nuclear weapon is used. It doesn't just destroy the city. The fallout, the radiation makes the place uninhabitable for 20 years, 30 years. That means Russia had missiles aimed at Florida 90 miles away. And the danger was incredible because if in fact they launched one nuclear missile, Florida, at least cities in Florida, would be wiped out. Not just wiped out, the state would be uninhabitable. And obviously America would have to respond. If America responded, obviously Moscow, Lennenrad, city after city, they would respond, we respond. Basically, planet Earth was in grave danger. And Kennedy realized that. And he said to his top military advisers, "What are you guys thinking?" And he said these words privately. He said, "There's only one reason why they could be so sure they're right. Because they know that if I pull the trigger, not I nor them are going to be around tomorrow morning to to tell them that they were wrong." And Kennedy meant it. And more than did he mean it when asked privately what are the odds of there being a nuclear war? He said about 50%. And then Kennedy did something very very fascinating. For three days he began to ask himself this question. What are so why are the Soviets doing this? What is Kruev trying to accomplish? If I were Kruev, what would I need? What is going on in his brain? What is he thinking? Kruev was the chairman of the Soviet uh Communist Party. He was a boss. What is he thinking? What's going on in his brain? And after three days after back channel getting information from Russians, Kennedy got it. See, there was another side to the story. And that other side the story was America had put missiles in Turkey right on Russia's border. And Kushv understood that that was an imminent threat. And he realized that missile American missiles in Turkey meant that with an easy reach Moscow, Lenrrad and various cities would be in grave danger. But more than that, 16 months earlier was the Bay of Pigs. America attempted to aid a coup to steal Cuba from Fidel Castro, to turn Cuba from a Soviet satellite into a democracy. Krishv said to himself, "It's obvious that they're aggressive. It's obvious they're trying to dominate. It's obvious that they are trying to take over the world, and I will stop them. I'll put missiles in Cuba." Why? Because that way they can't possibly pull a trigger. If they pull a trigger from Turkey, they know Florida is gone. Washington's not far away. They know the history. He did it as a deterrent. But that wasn't what the American generals understood. But it was something that John F. Kennedy realized after three days of thinking. And he sent his brother, Senator Robert Kennedy, to meet privately with the Soviet ambassador. No one else was in the room. And Robert Kennedy wrote a book after the crisis called the 13 days. And it describes what he was told to do. get their story, find out what they mean, find out if I'm right. They sat down. Kennedy asked some questions and it came out very quickly that it was true. Kush felt threatened because of missiles in Turkey and he was just acting as a deterrent. At one point, Robert Kennedy said to him, "Okay, here's the story. I can promise you if this crisis is averted, if you pull the missiles out of Cuba, we can't publicly now pull missiles out of Turkey. It'll look like we're dropping up, turning our back on NATO, but in 6 months, they'll be gone. At that moment, world history was being determined. The Soviet ambassador believed him and in fact brought the message back to Kruev. Very shortly, the missiles were taken out of Cuba. Six months later, the American missiles were removed from Turkey. But here's the point. There was no solution to that problem according to the American story nor according to Russian story. According to the American military, the Russians were aggressive. Look what they're doing. Putting nuclear bombs right on a corner, right on 90 miles away from our country. Obviously, they're aggressive. Obviously, they're trying to take over the world. But the problem was the Soviet story was just as bad. America's the aggressor. They've got missiles in Turkey. And according to either story, there was no hope. And it took one man actually saying what's really going on here. And my friends, this is one of the great secrets. There's a story and there's what really happened. Everybody spins a story, but that's not the facts. The facts were there were missiles in Cuba. The story is something you spin out. When Kennedy sat down, he asked this question. What are the facts? What is the facts? And how do they interpret it? How do we interpret it? And when you get the different stories, you can make peace. You'd like to know the answer to Baramsa? Baramsa looked at their abundance sitting there and he said, "Since they watched me get kicked out, obviously they're happy with this. They want this. They approve of this. I'm going to destroy them." Baram said, "Sir, do you know that they saw you? Do you know that they're even aware that you were thrown out?" And do you know, maybe they had another reason. Maybe they thought if they' stand up and say something, it'd be even more of a scene. The man would get even furious and get into a fist fight over there. Do you know what they were really thinking? No. But he did. But here's the problem. It happens so fast. I experience my judgments like it's a fact. In a heartbeat, com was thrown out and saw the rabbon and decided they're willing accompllices. They wanted this to happen. And once he spun that story, there was no going back. Obviously, such wicked people who want me to be thrown out, who want me to be embarrassed in public, obviously they deserve to be killed. But that's baseless hatred. Why? It's not without reason. But your reason is false. You spun the tail. You made up the story. You invented that fact. It's not true. It's baseless. Oh, you have good reasons. Your reasons are wrong. And if you'd like to understand yourself, and if you'd like to understand anytime we get into a argument with anybody else, you have to understand this single principle. How did this person I knew well for 30 years become wicked? The answer is not the fact that what they did, not what they actually did, but what I paint as their intentions, their meaning behind it. And I'll give you a little more details. The man who didn't talk to me for 10 years, he understood that I saw clearly that he stuck out his hand and he understood that I on purpose decided not to shake his hand out of some sort of arrogance or some kind of whatever it might be. And therefore, he had a very good claim, a First of all, he's he was older than me and he helped me a lot in yeshiva and this young upstart won't even shake my hand. What a hutbah. Did he ask the question? Maybe he didn't see. Maybe he was distracted. Maybe he was in a horrible horrible mood for whatever reason. No. Did he come over and ask me the question? No. He didn't talk to me for 10 years. Here's the problem. I know your intentions. I experience them like fact, but I don't know them. And any single makers you'll ever get into has that element to it. Something happened X, Y, or Z and I spun the tail. Because you did this, I know what your intentions are and it's a fact that I experience. And because of that, there is no peace possible. Cuba is being taken over by the Russians. There's no question about it. It's obvious. It's clear. And in that environment, there can't be peace because obviously we're dealing with wicked people. And if you'd like to ever make peace with anyone you've ever fought with, you have to just understand this simple thing that anytime I made a judgment, I experienced a fact, but it's not factual. Two sisters were closer than close for 30 years. They talk to each other every day. And one sister made the mistake of not including her sister planning. So of course, the first sister wasn't included. Said obviously she doesn't want a relationship with me. Obviously she doesn't value my opinion. Obviously, she values her other sister's opinion more than she does mine. And they weren't talking to each other for six months. Unfortunately, she did not realize what her sister was intending because her sister explained later what was really going on. She didn't want to burden. You have too much going on your plate. You're overwhelmed already. I didn't want to burden you. I figured I'll give you off on this one. I'll give you even though I would much prefer your input, I didn't want to put it on you. Oh, two brothers in business. One takes out $40,000 from the bank and doesn't tell his other brother. The second brother knows what's happening. It's embezzlement. It's stealing. $40,000. He walks off a gun of a thief. And he has that picture clearly painted in his mind. My brother, my brother, I trusted. My brother I opened the business with my brother who we did everything together. Steals right under my nose. What a And he becomes so infuriated, so angry because he spun a tail. And later he finds out that the reason why his brother took out the $40,000 because he needed to make payroll and he was saving the business. But the problem is if you don't know the facts, but you decide the facts in the courtroom of your mind and you experience and like their facts, you're going to have a story. You're going to have a narrative. You're going to have a tale. And according to that tale, there can't be any peace. And the worst step is when you become righteously indignant. Righteous indignation is uh after what I did for him after what energies I put into him after what extent I sacrifice him and this is how he pays me back and in righteous indignation you're furious would you like to know the answer to the motion it is 100% proper good and noble to feel hatred for people who are evil in the world there's a thing called good and a thing called evil and Hashem wants us to hate evil because it's evil. When Mosha wanted, it's because the mij really really they were wicked. And the proof that they're wicked is because Hashem says, "Take the nama. It's right. It's good. It's proper." Mosha wanted it because it was right, proper, noble. The reason why we're warned not to take nama is because it's not warranted. We don't fight with enemies. We fight with Jews. We fight with friends. But why do we fight with them? Because we create this story. We create this imagery. We create this tale. According to this tale, you're wicked. You're evil. No one in the world could be as bad as you and suddenly I want to take revenge against you. But wait a minute, I want to take revenge against you because of the tale that I told. And if I understood the facts, I wouldn't want to take revenge. The reason why the Torah tells us not to take revenge is because we're wrong. The reason why the Torah says to Mosh to take revenge and it's good and happy with revenge is because that's right. It's good. It's proper. And if nothing else, there should be a fury within you. And that today, the most moral country in existence, far and away, far beyond anything the world has ever seen, is Israel. And the Israeli army is going so incredibly out of their way to make sure that there are no civil civilian casualties. First of all, it's very questionable whether there are civilians in Gaza because anytime the IDF went into the homes of the various civilians, who' they see up on the walls, posters of the terrorists, posters of the terrorist pictures at the their heroes. So, I don't know how many, by the way, Hamas was took over by power, right? No, they were elected. That means the majority of Gazins wanted Hamas in power. So, I don't know how many innocent civilians there are, but the simple reality is that Israel is doing everything in its power to make sure that not a single civilian is killed. But unfortunately, there are civilians killed. But you know what the ratio is in when America fought in Afghanistan, it was three for one. For every single militant killed, there were three civilians killed. In Gaza, it's one for one. But you understand what Gaza means? Inside the buildings, there are civilians because that's where they're fighting. That's where they're hiding. They're hiding. The tunnel shafts are under a store. Tunnel shafts are under a nursery. It's under a school. What do you think's going to happen? They use their civilians as human shields and then the world cries out, "You murderers. A war of extermination." Do you know how effective the IDF is? You know how smart Jews are? A war of extermination. You know what a war of extermination would mean? It'd be over. Gaza, 2.2 million people wouldn't be here any longer. War of extermination. But not just that, my friends. IDF soldiers have been killed in battle since the war began, since the ground incursion. I said to my wife every day after October 7th, bomb them. Bomb them. Bomb them. Don't send a soldier in. Don't do it. Don't do it. I beg, don't do it. I Davin, don't do it. Why? Because you can't put soldiers in harm way. It's urban warfare. You're fighting in the streets. You're fighting in buildings. Buildings are booby trapped. They're going to hide in the corners. They're going to You're going to lose soul. Don't do it. No other nation would be so foolish. What you do is you strength bomb them. You carpet bomb. You bomb them. If there is a Hamas terrorist, you bomb the building. The civilian casualties, hey, that's part of the game. How many people killed in World War II? 50 million to 100 million. And the vast majority of it because Britain was bombed. So Berlin was bombed. Hiroshima, Nagasaki, how many militants were there? Uh, none. All civilians. But you have a war. You began the war. You, you are evil. You either stop the war or we're going to take whatever means are necessary. And that's what Israel should do. That's what they should have done. They shouldn't have sent in a single soldier. But because Israel has this strange belief that they have to be holier than holy, they made what I believe is the mistake of sending in foot soldiers. And the result is we lost 473 and 963 injured. And injured means you see them putting on filling without an arm. You see them in wheelchairs. So anti-semitism, I understand. It's Hashem's tool used to keep us doing what we're supposed to be doing. The exalted nation. If we're not acting like the exalted nation, Hashem brings us back in line. Anti-semitism being foolish. I get it because Hashem is using them as puppets. They're tools. What our attitude should be towards them. I also get because that's exactly what Moshm felt. Anger, fury, wanting to take revenge because they're evil. But the problem is that it is 1,958 years and we are still here. And we're still here and we're still here. And how are we going to get out of this? If the base of migdash was destroyed because of sin then our avod is to work on that on doing that and now I'd like to share with you one principle if you get this principle you'll know how to deal with any difficult situation and if you don't get this principle I guarantee all you're going to do is cause more strife more fighting more agnos watch what happens in a normal course of events two brothers owned a business $40,000 is taken out and each one is furious with the other the first brother's furious because the brother stole from him. The second brother's furious because you trust me. You look at me like a thief. Where's the trust? They get together and they start with their stories. And the first brother says, "Why' you steal the money? I'll be I'll be mo I'll be mo. Just explain to me why you did it." What do you think his brother's reaction is going to be? Why' they steal the money? You not going to be good at all. But even worse, most of the time, we don't even start with the story. I know who you are. I know your nature. You're corrupt. You're evil. You're wicked. But despite that, I'm going to make peace. You're my brother and because of that, even though I can't trust you, I'm going to continue the business. How does that conversation go? Not so good. I know you don't like me because I spun out 30 years of tales based on the fact you did not ask me about the wedding and because that I reviewed 30 years of history and found every sort of nuance way that you could have meant a slight to me. and I put them into one picture and I know that you're wicked, you're evil and I'm going to preach my sister and tell her why do you treat me that way? Like garbage. How do you think she's gonna react to that? Not so well. And that for that reason almost any time you try to talk about a situation, it only makes it worse. And that's the secret. Don't tell your tale. Stick to the facts. What did Kennedy do? He asked this question. What's really factual? What's really factual is missiles are put in Cuba. But there's another part to the story. What is Kruef thinking? Meaning here I am. We're in a fight. I don't get it. We're best friends for years. You're my sister for 30 years. We were closer and close. You didn't transform. You didn't change it. Suddenly become wicked. Obviously, something more is going on here. These are the facts. I I'd like to talk to you. You didn't choose to involve me in a planning. I have my theories about why that is, and I I don't want to react too quickly. I want to hear from you why that was maybe of a different part of the story. That conversation ends beautifully because she'll explain to you exactly what was going on. She'll explain to you that she didn't mean it as a slight. She wanted to save you from over work. But you see, if you start with the story or worse in the story, you start with the assumptions that come from the story. Character assassinations, you're evil, you're wicked, you're bad, you're and you expect the person to respond, well, it's not going to happen. If you've ever been in a situation where things got ugly and the solution is number one, be curious. How is it possible that you change so quickly? Maybe I'm missing something. Number two, find the facts. What actually happened? When you find the facts and find what actually happened, you might begin spinning out your tail. You might begin understanding what they read it as. And more than anything, you can come up to them with the facts. Here's a story. This happened. I have my opinion about why it happened but I'm curious what were you thinking you do that you have peace don't do that you have a lot a lot of sus I think this garra shares with us a tremendous insight but hashem says to mosheru is you kept your chance to take nama revenge against someone wicked is right good and proper and that's what you should desire and that's how we should view anti-semitism we should feel it as evil as wrong we should look at the holy nation of the Jewish people doing what they're doing with great honor, great dignity. We should be a gasast at the world at large and even today in America I find it so humorous when I grew up in America anti-semitism didn't exist. In fact, I remember for decades now saying what happened to go what happened to the Gentiles? They they they turned on us a go supposed to say a Jew. I was always brought up a go that's part in the DNA as of son Jacob. But where what happened to the Gentiles amongst whom we're living? Well, guess what? They came back to normal. And you're seeing it now more and more and more. And don't be shocked. Don't be surprised. It's only one thing. It's Hashem's message to us to wake up, smell the coffee. We're an exalted nation. We have a mission. We have a plan and learn from it. Don't be afraid of it. But you should also hate it. And you should feel the wish to take revenge and want to see the revenge. And one of the reasons we should ask for mashia to come is to see the nikmas. Israeli soldiers killed and many more killed before that. How many died in how many Jews died over the generations? Millions and millions of Jews. And we should want to see. And I want to close with one observation. If our job is to eliminate sinum and our to do that we have to recognize what the story is that we've spun I'd like to revisit baramsa and look at things from his vantage point. Imagine that you're baramsa and you get an invitation to this party. The shaman shows up to your door and he says the man invited you to his party. That he's my enemy. What's the deal? But you start thinking, wait a minute, my father is his best friend. They're very close. Maybe he's trying to make shalom. You know what shalom? I'm going I'm going to put myself out. I'm going to make myself vulnerable. I'm going to do it. And I'm going to go to the party. And you go to the party. And you walk into the man's house. And every single eye turns to you because you don't belong there. And everyone knows it. Everyone knows you're an enemy to the owner of the home, an enemy to that man. And for good reason, they look at you with great incredul. What are you doing here? And you take your seat and you say these words to yourself. I know I'm putting myself out there. Lana Shalom for peace. I'm doing it. And then you get seen. The owner of the house sees you and says, "Who are you? What are you doing here? I am sorry. We made a mistake. I thought I was invited." Get out of here. Get out of here. Get out of here. What do you mean get out of here? You invited me. No, I didn't. You don't. I'll pay for half the paid also. No. Get out of here. And you're thrown out on the street. You know for a fact they're abundant. I saw them. They saw me. I saw them. They know that I was thrown out and they didn't stand up. They're wicked. They're evil. But you know it in your intestines. You know it inside. There's only one problem. You're making a mistake. You think they saw. Maybe they didn't even see it all. You think they did it intentionally. Maybe they thought that if we stand up and make a mah, it's going to make things much worse. It's going to cause a fist fight. Maybe that's 17 other reasons. You don't know. But you've painted the picture. And once you painted that picture, you include everyone in that picture. The entire all rabbis included. The entire Jewish nation included. You go to the Caesar because that's what's right. You want this nation killed because they're evil. They're wicked. But sir, with all due respect, that's your tale, your narrative, your fantasy. You made it up. And that's by the way, when that man came over to me and held his hand out and I didn't shake his hand and he didn't talk to me for 10 years, why didn't I shake his hand? Well, I didn't know that he was upset because he didn't talk to me for 10 years. I certainly didn't know there was an issue. But 10 years later, he came over and explained to me why he wasn't talking to me for the past 10 years. I held my hand out in the beginning of Mika and you didn't shake my hand. I said, "You did?" "Yeah." I said, "Well, I always I used to close my eyes." Of course, my eyes are closed. I didn't see I didn't have a clue. My eyes were closed. I didn't see his hand. But that story that he spun out for which he didn't speak to me for 10 years was his invention. But he felt it like a fact. He knew it for reality. Schaefer is a creep, a ingrate, a arrogant buffoon. Look at the guy, a young kid. And he won't even shake my hand. He thinks he's making a point. He think he's showing off. He thinks he's somebody such a person I can't talk to. Such a person doesn't deserve a shalom. And for 10 years, that was his narrative. But my eyes were closed. If you think back on any mlo you've ever had, maybe a sister, maybe a brother, maybe a friend, and you got into something, go back and ask yourself one question. What was the facts? What was the story? And then piece them apart. Be curious. I wonder how they viewed it. I wonder how they thought about it. And with that attitude of curiosity, you go over and say, "These were the facts. I'm curious. What were you thinking? I have my opinion. I'll share with you in a minute. But what were you thinking?" And with those words, you solve the problem. You stop. You stop it from happening. May Hashem grant us that very imminently we build mdish. Maybe this be the last time we're here this year. >> Amen.