JOURNEY TO LITHUANIA {Full Journey}

Okay, first of all, this is uh Brum. Welcome everybody. We're here at the site of the Panovich Yeshiva. The Panovich in all of his incredible efforts to rebuild Tory was always motivated because he knew that in Panovich there were institutions of over 1,000 children. You had between this yeshiva, the Byakov, and the various institutions over it serviced over 1,000 people. And Panovich Rav's dream was to rebuild Jewish life the way it was here in Panovich. Just to give you a little bit of uh insight into the the attitude of the panacher and to his thought process and building Tory. I'm going to tell you a little anecdote. And not until today did I discover the rationale behind it. One time uh there's a there's a story Rabbi Wine likes to tell over that when the panovich once visited Miami Beach. He asked Rabbi Wine to host a parlor meeting for young couples under 40. So Rabbi Wine, you know, sort of said this is a bad idea. Young couples under 40, they don't have money. They're busy with their kids. They're not financially stable. You get you have the wrong um clientele to raise money for yeshivas. Panov told them just do what I say. Okay? So they organized about 20 young couples. Panovich said, "I'm not raising money. I'm not here to uh to ask to solicit, but I'm asking you one thing. 1.5 million Jewish children were killed in the Holocaust. Their bodies have been destroyed. Their souls are floating in the heavens. These souls need bodies to house them. Do me a favor." The paner says, "Could you please give the Jewish people some bodies for these souls to rest in?" This was the drush the paner gave to these young couples. And Rab Wine likes to say a year later, he told the panovich, a bumper crop was born to to the shaw. The panovich actually developed this attitude from a garbazar. Thear says that when they took out to be killed. So they wrapped up his body in in wet sponges and they burnt him. And they burnt him with the safer. They took the safety. They wrapped it around. And they asked him, "Rebi Rebi, what do you see? What do you see?" He says, "I see. I see the letters flying up to the heaven, but I see the parchment being burned." So the way the panovich understood that gamarra is that whenever you have sanctity the core of the sanctity can never be destroyed. The letters fly up to heaven but the parchment is consumed. In all the efforts of the panovich he saw that after the holocaust the 6 million Jews were still floating in the heavens. All the yeshivas were still floating in the heavens. Anything that could be accomplished for the Jewish people still existed and all we need is we need a few dedicated Jews to rebuild Tyra so that these six million could come back to this world so that the yeshivas could come back to this world so that the institutions of Tyra could be rebuilt. That's how the panovich saw the destruction of Europa. So even though this yeshiva is not an active yeshiva but so to speak the soul of the yeshiva was floating in the air and the panovich himself came and he rebuilt the yeshiva and the nama of the yeshiva came back to this world this is this is where the the yeshiva stood actually in 1924 the panovichar started you know nowadays it's very popular you have like learning uh movements for young married guys panovichar started started a movement called Teresa Bakurim and they started with a few young married guys and then ultimately it built up till 75 young married guys and they made their own shul and they got a hold of a and they had a safety and at this haknas the panovich spoke and he said you know we just heard word in Romania there's a pgram and they persecuted Jews and they burned cifyra but the way the Jewish world works is is that if in one place they're burning a safer tra in another place like here in Panovich there's a haknasa that also was the worldview of the panovichav in panovich they were destroying the Jewish people do you know how many raanim survived panovich in the holocaust how many 20 none there was not one Lithuanian rv who survived Panovich except for the Panovich who was in South Africa at the time when the Nazis came. But the way the Panovich saw it is that if that if they're burning a satyra in one place, they're rebuilding it somewhere else. If they're destroying Tyra and Panovich, Tyra could be rebuilt in Benabra. I just conclude, everybody is familiar. There's a famous account that as Raml is primed, he's at the he's at the border of Egypt. He's going to take over the Suez Canal. He's going to run over the state of Palestine in a few days. Panovich bought the plot of land to rebuild the Panovich and Ben. I think uh many are familiar with that. I didn't realize that Rabbit Salo Julti asked this is not a good business move. This is not the best time to purchase real estate. Panovich says we're obligated to we learn it from the in the incl. We read about how Yermia was foretold about the destruction of Ba Mikdash and that the Jewish people would be destroyed in the land of Israel. And in that perk, Hashem tells Yerma that when your uncle comes and offers you a piece of land, you need to buy the land. Says Aonovich, you know, there are more than just uh 24 Naveim in our history. So the Gmorrah says there are 1.2 million Nvim throughout history. But only the nvua that is meant to learn out for all generations is recorded in the Nvi. So that means if the Nvi says you need to buy land at a time of destruction, that wasn't a one-time advice. That is advice that when things seem bleak, that's when you need to buy real estate to rebuild Tyra. That was a little bit of the life and the legacy of the Panovich Yeshiva. So as this yeshiva was destroyed its soul went up to heaven and through the efforts of the panovich it was able to get a gil in a new location in arit is in benra it was okay okay here's another angle of the panovicha after the shiva for the panovich it's printed in the safer zool are the of Rosovski who is Rashiva Panovich and he was Masid the Panovich both when he passed away and after the Shiva. So after the shibba rash rovski said all of the herculean efforts of the panovich were motivated because as we mentioned he was the sole Lithuanian survivor of all panovich rabinet and he always said to himself I saved myself but I didn't save the ship. He had a certain maybe guilt that he himself was rescued because he wasn't in town when the Nazis came but he was not able to save his ship. But Rav Rowski was the one who also said this idea that the Panovichar viewed the world that the soul of everything is floating in the air and we just need to provide the bodies and it's rooted in the garbara that the Ravski said at the hesid of the panovich. It's interesting. Panovich was a master fundraiser. You know there they say how do we know there's no life on Mars cuz if there was life on Mars the Panovich would have went there to to collect. So one time the Yeshua was in desperate situation and a friend of his made a certain connection and Raanovich was in the middle of giving Shir and he gets word from the secretary a certain gavir is here to see him and now if a gir comes to see you you go to see them you know usually they're not available at a different time that's usually how it works but panovich was torn you know he's in the middle of giving shir and there There are some eminent tamidum in the shar that could have taken over Razovski Rubd Pavarski. But on the other hand, how is it going to look? He's giving up the Shir to get a few extra bucks. So he made the executive decision that he's not going to stop the shar hoping the gir would still be available to donate to the yeshiva when the shar was over. And it was a good move ultimately. Uh this individual still contributed to the yeshiva. But Panovich had a very unique view on the yeshiva's responsibility to those who he was fundraising from. Actually on another occasion there was a certain stingy guy in Miami who panovich can never get a buck from. You know you have certain wealthy people. They want to smoo with you. And it didn't dawn on them that the rabbi didn't come to get their opinion on the world and and politics and to talk. The rabbi has a different agenda, but there was a certain gav he would smoo with the panovich punv. And punrov could not get a penny out of him. One time panovich just went in there. He stormed over to the guy and he said, "You're going to write me out a check right now for $5,000. You're going to endow a class in the yeshiva." And the guy, you know, was frozen. He didn't know what to do with him. He wrote out the check. He gave it to Panovich. So they asked the you know you're usually so gentile you're usually so courteous this is you know this is not something you you typically do you demand a donation says you have to understand my rebi was aim on many occasions I discussed different matters with him which yeshiva I should become rashiva on which yeshivas I shouldn't become rasha and one time after world war I the was in a the was coming into the sh I don't know at midnight and there was a gir who came into the sh was sleeping on the bench in the shaw and he told him I have tinus on you what do you mean why do you have tinus on me I one thing's for sure I didn't say lashhara about you you know why do you have tinus on me and the the man said you know you once collected for the rahiva from me and I told you it wasn't a good time I told you I I didn't have the money at the time you should have ripped the money out of my And because look at me now I don't have any money and I don't have the zus for having supported the ra and yeshiva I have tinus on you that you let me get off so easy said from there I learned that when you collect money from people for yeshivas you're doing them a favor and if they don't want to give it to you have to make sure they give it to you they're not doing you a favor um you're doing them a favor on another occasion basically there was a man who supported the yeshiva, but he had a terminal illness. So, he bought an annuity and he figured the annuity would pay his uh his his uh needs for a couple of years and then he would pass on. But the man lived and he lived and he lived. He lived till 90 years old and I don't know at at age 85 the man went broke. So, the panovich went to the man. He said I'm not here to collect money. But the same way donors are show kindness to the yeshiva, the yeshiva has to show kindness to the donors. From now on, whatever this annuity was going to pay you, the yeshiva will be paying your needs. And you need to live the same lifestyle you always lived will be paying you until you need it until. And sure enough, the yeshiva paid this man for a number of years. And after this man passed away, he left his home to the panovich yeshiva. So you know the panovich was a revolutionary thinker in terms of how he understood Jews, how he appreciated Jews and how he approached Sat. Okay. Okay. Just uh we were in Panovich. So to get a little bit of a background about the city and the panovich as mentioned panovich learned in raen by the rabbi Rosen also mentioned his learned in the panovich was kabus with raban they learned together actually there's an amazing story that the panovich was learning with they came across a certain and they didn't have access to the safer they figured the must have access to the safer. He quotes it all the time in the Misha. So they went to the reb could we borrow the safer says I don't have that safer. Why would you think I have that safer? They said reb you quoted in the he says on all the I quote in the Mishnab that I own. Most people say on they don't own says I say on the I do own. Why? For me to own a safer, I have to pay money. For me to get money, I have to go to work. For me to go to work, I have to give up time from learning. So I should give up time for learning to have a safer on my shelf. Better to have in my head than on my shelf. Says on the I do own. Anyway, that was the story the Panovich would say over just to get a glimpse of the eminence of the Panovich before the war already. He was a ravanovich for 21 years and he had been offered many prestigious rabbitic positions. He was offered to be the chief rabbi of Germany. He was a he was offered to be the Raven Vinsk in Grudna in Frankfurt and to everyone he said the same thing. His heart is with the people of Panovich. A little bit of the history of Panovich jewelry. Aside from uh VNA in the Kavna district, aside from Kavna itself, Panovich was the biggest Jewish uh city. There were more than 13,000 people. More than half of the 13,000 people were Jewish. In the main part of the town, everyone was Jewish. All the businesses were owned by the Jews. You could imagine if all the businesses were owned by the Jews, the city basically was quiet on Shabas. The community as all good lit fox could not say the sh sound. So they ate fish fists on chabas and they washed. They didn't wash, they vast, you know, they went to vas as they do in South Africa. Okay. The community of Panovich was renowned for their so there were many of you had to give free loans to the poor was the general saddaka collection. You hadisha and there were 10 shoos in Panovich. Different laborers belong to different sh. So if you were a shoe maker you went to the shoe maker store uh shul. If you were a uh fisherman, you went to the fisherman store uh shul the butcher shul in cloisenberg in excuse me in panovich you cannot be late to davening because whenever the minion was over a new one was starting there was another clo and and I'll end with this panovich was renowned for its pure and delicious water so in middle of the courtyard of the shul there was the the plump the the pump and they would carry the water in big barrels and they sold the water by the bucket. But we know Tyra. So if Panovich was renowned for their pure and clear water, it was also renowned as a center of Tyra and an Israel. And as we mentioned, even though it's a city that was utterly destroyed, but and they found new in the Panovich Shiva that was founded by the Panovich in Ben. Morning everyone. Welcome to VNA. VNA was called the of Leita. But we need to contrast. You know, we mentioned from the that the downfall of the Jewish people is when they called Berlin Jerusalem. And yet VNA was called the US of Leita. So it depends what your focus is. If Berlin is the usual because you're escaping, that's the beginning of the downfall. But if VNA is because it's a center of scholarship in Kalis. So that's connecting to one of the great sages who lived here in VNA was dans who was a close confidant of the vagin and was also the mutin of the vagin. He wrote the kayam and he he wrote an amazing commentary on alenu shabak. If you don't know this, you don't know the simple meaning of which is one of the most important that we say. We say four things. What are these four things we're thanking for? Says that gave us the that Hashem made the Jewish soul different than the soul of the rest of the world. He made us differently than the nations of the world. Is qualitatively different. He gave thera Hashem gave and our relationship with Hashem. The hashka without any intermediary malik is different than all the nations of the world. These are the four primary distinctions between Kali Israel and the nations of the world which are the essential theme of the final of Davening which the Mishabur brings down brings tremendous. He made our differently. He gave us the Tyra. He gave us and the of Hashem dealing with Israel without any intermediary Malik. Have a beautiful day. We're here at the famous location of the Shashun Library. If you look in the back of Shas, you'll find the comments of the Rashash. The Rashash was his father. The Rash was the rash. He wrote notes on the entire sher only eight, not blatim in shas that we don't have comments of the rash. His son did not have children. However, he had the largest library here in Eastern Europe known as the Strashun Library. Uh there are many volumes. It's considered a prize if you could get your hands on a volume that has the stamp of Rabatio. In fact, in the back of Araven, you have the footnotes of Rabatio Matas Matio. So, this is his library. He inherited all the volumes of his father as well as amassed one of the great libraries in the world. So this is uh we're headed over here. Okay. Okay. It's of great note to have a statue here of the water carrier of INA. Did you know that the water carrier of INA is responsible for many Mishnabas all thearum of the are because of the water carrier of VNA. How so? You know the wasim as a young man he studied here in VNA. VNA besides being the was also the seat of the masculm. Many great masculm lived here in Vna. The father of all the masculim of Eastern Europe was somebody by the name of Morai Ari Ginsburg. Perhaps the most wicked of all the mascul was Adam was learning in the base medish and the mascul always had their sights on the most brilliant minds to try to trap them and bring them back to the seminary. They had their sights set on the and would come into the base medish and he would engage the in conversation. In fact, he would speak to for hours and hours and hours. He even thought he had the a certain water carrier came over to the young. He said, "Do you know who you're talking to? You're talking to Adam back in the seminary. He eats Khazer. Don't even talk to him." And the ran out of town. He left the town. And he would always say thanks to the water carrier he became the so you know the the water carrier doesn't get his just dues but at least we have a statue of him and we could remember the contribution to the vilna water carrier in continuing the tradition of Kalisra with the Mishna and okay welcome everyone we're in the of and you look at the ornate are in Kadesh. And as Edward pointed out, this is not the typical style of an Ashkanazak shul. It is created in the image of the third bas which gives us the idea that is uh is an actual mikdash like teach us that when one comes to a shul one is mim the mitzvah oft you know actually there are certain kavanas a person should have when they enter a shul first of all when you go into a sh whenever you go into a sh you should have kavana to mim the mitzvah thea of I want to share with you here we're in VNA what the says that tells us in the day the temple was destroyed all God has is the four cubits of what exactly are these four cubits of again from the day the temple was destroyed this is in the image of the temple from the day the temple was destroyed. All has are the four cubits of what are the four cubits of Nobody occupies four cubits. Four cubits is 8 ft by 8 ft. You have to be pretty large to occupy four cubits. What are the dal says of if you look in the gar the garra tells us about the vision of zakaria zakaria saw in a scroll and on the scroll was written the entirety of the to the oral law. How big was this scroll? The Pik says it was 20 amoes by 20 amo which means that a scroll that would occupy the that could contain the entire how big is it? 400 am that means 400 am is needed to contain the whole path. How many sedarim were there of the tarabal path? We know today we have six sed of tar but the gar tells us that before the base of was destroyed there were 600 sedarim of tars. So that means to contain 600 sarm of tar you needed 400. But nowadays we only have shisha mishna. So if 400 am are needed to contain 600 sedarim then how big of a scroll do you need to contain sixar says the that's the meaning is the scroll needed to contain based on the calculation if 400 contains 600 sedar then to contain six sedarim All you need is so this image of the gives us the picture that mikdash is given to us even in our days in the miniature form of the bakness. Okay friends, we're here in VNA at the national Lithuanian library. This is the national library of the entire Lithuania. So you say we came here to go to Kvarim not to see a library. You know that the Vag first of all the in all of his travels never made it to Eastern Europe. The though traveled to all the great libraries of Western Europe. However, the gr the gr pravd galos which means he went anonymously and he walked through the cities of Lithuania anonymously people who didn't know who he was but he made sure to travel to all the libraries the vil ngo traveled to all the libraries the gr one of his great contributions is that he determined and he established the proper text of bavi yami sifrael and all the tab based on his and also based on manuscripts that he saw in the various libraries. So if we in VNA and we're commemorating the life of the vaguain we have to come here to the library this was part of the avoid of the vagin himself. Okay, add to add on this is very important part about the villag somewhat ironic but uh to have a true understanding of the gr on the one hand the gr studied all the disciplines. The gr was a great philosopher. However, the gr criticized even the ram. The grass says that philosophy led the ram astray in certain areas. Degrass studied music. The grass studied all mathematics. He wrote the say for a mashulas on trigonometry and at the same time even though the gr encompassed all disciplines the grow was the guardian of the the approach of only studying tyra. So for the GR personally he studied everything but what he what he recommended to Kl was the pure study of only okay we're here in the national library in Lithuania where they have a very impressive collection of books that are stamped and were owned by some of the all-time great giants. We're going to start with this volume. This volume is Mahari Caucus on the Rambam Khazram which was owned by Rabin Khan Waserman Banovich. It even has his address. This is a personal stamp of Raban Vaserman. Throughout the book, his stamp appears numerous times. Raban Kanan Vaserman. If you want to write a letter, he lives on 30 Herasa Street. Okay, that was Rab Kan's address. Also, we have the name of a family member, Napali. These two volumes were owned by the Rashiva of Tels Ali Mayor Blah. Here you have one of his stamps in red. You have another stamp in purple. Ram bisha detelss rainus embassels. This volume amazing volume was given to the great. So you have an inscription here and inside you have the stamp of sona. Okay, we're moving on. This volume was given as a gift to spectre. Okay, imagine this. This was given to Spectre from the Marina Spectre from the author of Hashita Bahabad. Okay, we are moving along to the personal library of the Panovich. So this is just from the yeshiva the panovich. This was owned by the yeshiva. But this is the panovichar's own personal volume of the ramkal. You would not have expected the panovich to have a copy not not of the ramal and not specifically of this safer. This is safer kinas about learning kabala. This and also the 138 rules of on the principles of kabal. is the personal volume of cabala of the panovich. We also want to point out a safer given toki speaking. You have the the volume of Mishnay of all Jews in VNA who agreed to learn Mishna and under the letter you have the entry the first entry on the letter of Rabbinski. He was a member of the Mishn that means he committed himself to study the Mishna. He committed himself to support anyone in the city who lost a relative and the uh so to speak the bylaws of being a member of this are over here. Um you have eight laws and probably most interesting is as we mentioned we were outside the strash library. Here are two examples of volumes owned by the strash library with the seal of Ramatus. So after he passed away they stamped it that this is part of his collection. Here in the library they have over a thousand volumes from the library. Then of course if you're interested in Einstein's theory of relativity, this was the only book ever written or at least in time in Lashesh about Einstein's theory of relativity where you have a letter where it says that the chief rabbi of Israel Rabbi Dr. Isaac read this book and he says he was into this book. He said I've writt I've read a lot of uh theory relativity in English. I never saw such a wondrous composition aside from its clarity and its presentation says It is extra beloved. It enriches our literature to have a book in aesh about Einstein's theory of relativity. And um thank you very much for allowing us not only to read these vines but to take them all home back to our house in the five towns. We appreciate not the loan, we appreciate the gift. Thank you very much. No, no, thank you for your time. And if anybody wants to read have a good read on the theory of relativity in Lashesh, this is the volume to get. Okay. Okay. So, we're here in VNA. We're at the original seat of the VNA printing press. This is where the VNA shass was printed. The aim had the room here where they printed many many. So, I'll tell you something from the villag about shas. You know say that when it comes to shassi lias your heart should be frequent in it. You should know it well. You should be accustomed to it. Gas 63. But the go says where does it come from that there mas 63 makas. Where does that come from? 63 makas. So the go says if you if you count three different makas then you have 65 makas. So the go says actually there are 65 makas in okay 65. How many books are there in Tanakh? There are 24 books in Tanakh. But if you count the two, there are 26. 26 for Tanakh. The GR says this was actually found in a manuscript of the GR, the Moscow edition of the manuscript of the GR. There are 26 components of 65 components of Tars. The 26 components of correspond to the shame. The 65 components of the Tara Shabb correspond to the shame alfal. So you see you have 26 components of you're going to be on to anytime.com. So go no. Okay. It's good for his business. Okay. 26 components of 65 components on says the vagin migillic. You ready for this? migill red befales. Let's add that up. 11 12 13 14 15 that's 65 mgill meaning hashem's name in the migill is revealed with 65 the shame not less less is 10 not more is 16 10 and 16 is 26 in other words the shame is not in migill the shame adnos is in migillas where is a shame ad hoc is a shame ad. So this is based on the gr teaching that there are 65 makas and shas but actually that's in the mishay in the vnas had how many volumes even though we have a traditional 36 makas and shas but not the vnas vnas 37 volumes 37 makas of the shas they were all published right over behind you in this building. Okay, let's go. Okay. Good. Good afternoon everyone. We were just at the seat of the VNA shast, the the printing press, the VNA printing press of the Ram brothers, the widow Ram and her sons, which is a good opportune time to talk about the uh g great controversy in the printing of the shots between the villas and what was known as the Slavita shas or the Shapiro shass. The Shapiro printing press was founded in the Ukraine in Slavita by Raosha Shapiro. Ramoshiro was a student was was the son of Rapinhas Karaser and he had a major printing press and when he printed the shas in 1807 he wanted to get a huskama and also a copyright. So the balhatana himself signed on a copyright that nobody is allowed to compete with this shas for 25 years. It was signed on uh many Raban and including the Balatana in the 1830s when the VNA shas wanted to print their shas which the VNA shas follows the pageentation of the Bombberg shas and the VNA shas said look you know the man the man brother said look uh the 25 years have passed we should be able to publish our shas so Shapiro said no 25 years passed since I began printing my shots in 1807. But since then I updated it. I revamped it and the shot clock starts again. So 25 years have not passed since our final edition. This became a major controversy where Rabikar and Syer took the sides of the villas but the Yeshua Yakov Ryakenstein he sided with Shapiro. Interestingly, one of the printers uh was fired from the Shapiro press. He was found dead. One of the printers who worked for Shapiro was found dead and it seemed like he committed suicide, but the family of the deceased accused the printers of killing him. Ultimately, the Shapiro family was imprisoned. Um many local priests and apostates were in general uh upset with Shapiro. So they joined in on in the accusations against Shapiro. And in 1856 the Shapiro moved their operation from Slovita and they moved it to Jitameir. You'll see many swarms saying it published in Jimir. That's in the aftermath of this controversy. After the Shapiro were released from prison, they moved the printing press to jitter. And by the way, in the kasid shvelt, it's considered very desirable to procure a safer from jetir press. What? What country? Also in uh Ukraine and this is a little bit of the history. So this um vnas had waited the requisite 25 years from 1807. But in the interim the uh slovita shas had updated its version. So these are some early copyright cases. These are some early precedents in the hal of copyright. Okay. We're here in VNA at UA the UA cemetery. In this area there were 70,000 graves of Jews but this whole area became a national park. no preservation whatsoever. Graves were all violated. Many of them have been gathered here and uh after they killed us here in this area and they wiped out all the Jews. So they put up a sign, please respect the matos. But this is a remnant of over 70,000 matos that lay here. We're going to go across the we're going to see the kev of which was found 13 years ago precisely in this area. We're going to discuss why it was found here. What was Rabbar doing here? Rabakbar did not live in VNA. And uh but that's the one kev that remains in this cemetery. Okay. Okay. We're here on the outskirts of VNA in the UAE cemetery which we mentioned was completely desecrated and we're at the Kev of Raarb. Okay. Have a good kamaya. Now first let's talk about what's doing here. You know one time a certain darian gave a dasha and he was talking about the importance of tra and he said tyra is so important it's like a linima it's like air to breathe he was highlighting the centrality of tra to the life of a Jew and who was of gentle spirit protested how could you say such a thing about the Torah it's only like air to breathe That implies that Torah only enables life. It's much more than that. It's much more basic than that. It's not like to breathe. It's life itself. How dare you say Tyra is just like air to breathe. That was torab lived from 1862 to 1939. He was so misdiabers his whole life and all of his shirim were rooted in the of Brisker. In fact, at the end of the life of he was in VNA. What was he doing in VNA? Because the Nazis were coming and the only protection for the yeshivas was in VNA under the oposes under the canopy of askedbar to lead all the in vnabar was already in advanced age. He was already very weak. He was in his final illness and in his final days he kept on saying vishi vishi albi vi nobody knew what it mean what it meant. Then asked to be dressed in his finest clothing cuz he felt the presence of his rebi. In his final moments, he felt he was returning to. So he put on his finest. He he straightened himself out like he was about to greet a very distinguished guest. And in his final moments, he was reunited with the Torah. He said he said vashi ali and he was reunited with briskar he was born in slutzk you know that came to America he came with his future son-in-law Brzovski he gave shirim in yesan he gave shirim in New York and in in many cities when the si when the mayor of New York City Jimmy Walker met RaBar he was so taken he gave him the keys to the city. So if you wanted to know who has the keys to the city of New York, Raarakbar, he not only that Jimmy Walker when he saw Raarakbar said, "You sir disprove evolution. If there could be a human being of such grace, of such dignity, of such sanctity, then you're clearly the bar. Now, nobody understood what it meant that said, but they realized what he wanted was he wanted to be buried next to his father. But this cemetery, hard to imagine, had not even one inch of empty space in it. So, how are they going to bury him next to his father? But his father was buried so to speak at the end of a row and in the aisle there was some extra space and theam said even though you don't usually bury in the aisle but since this was the request of they buried him in the one millimeter of empty space here in this entire cemetery you look at it now you can even imagine such a thing about 13 years ago a little girl in New York from a family of very prestigious Russia Shiva during recess. They were playing with Gdylan pictures and she saw the picture and she disparaged his sura kadosha. She immediately had a seizure and uh she broke she she contracted a terrible illness and she lost she became disfigured and nobody could explain it was inexplicable. So the family being of uh the family being related to great rasha asked what you know what were the conditions that this happened and they found out that she criticized the appearance of and uh they asked the shila what do we need to do they were told you need to ask from ma we don't know where was buried because after the holocaust after he was buried here the cemetery was destroyed and nobody had known about his whereabouts for many many many decades So how are they going to ask him for a they got a hold of the aerial map of this cemetery? They located the kevar's father and from there they were able to trace exactly wherebar was buried and that's why today here it's brought up daled bikis tiny that 11 years ago and was nif on on a Friday. So it's interesting the mata was put up on dalid kislave his yard site is hey kislave he was the founder of the branch of slabka called kessus butak and considered one of the the fathers of the hayhas today the yog of okay okay friends we're here innipachek which is the original site of of the burial of the Vil Nagoyne and the Garted of Count Patatski. Now this is very important. This is the place where we're going to speak about one of the most central issues of this whole trip. Are you allowed to go to the caver of the VNO? That's right. Are you permitted to go there? Do you know that the VNE writes in his letter that he wrote to his family when he was headed to Israel, he tells his daughters and his wife Be careful never to go to the cemetery in the cemetery. The forces of evil cling there especially for women. Women are not allowed to go to cemeteries. All tragedy and sin in this world comes from visiting the cemetery. The villag forbid his family especially his wives and daughter from visiting the cemetery. Not only did he forbid them any tragedy you see in this world the says came from visiting the cemetery. So by the way if you think okay but you know at least I'm following the opinion of the no writes in the don't come close to so this is unanimously held that from the to the not to visit a cemetery in fact in the official biography of the of the aliu he brings a story that the gr once went with his brother Abd to visit their mother on the yard side. You know many people think on the yard side it's a good idea to go to the cemetery. So they left and the gr said to his brother you see my dear brother how happy Ma was that we visited him was very astounded that the gr was able to see the presence of his mother at the kev. A few days later the gur told bear that he suffered from visiting the cemetery said but said didn't you say how happy the mother was that we visit her yes says the gur but I suffered tremendously from going into the cemetery so the question is maybe if you want to visit other gdm that might be a good idea but the last individual that you would want to visit is the villagy after all it's his opinion that you're not allowed to Oh, and you know there's a rule that we follow the hal of somebody at least in their vicinity. So how could you visit the kev or the villagin? And I was always thinking about that. One of the reasons that we haven't been to VNA yet is if you go to VNA, you got to visit the but how could you in good faith visit the ca of the sob has a chuva that first of all the is only talking about he's not talking about there's no tum the forces of of evil don't apply to in in says the grow is not talking about sadikim are not. Therefore concludes that sadikim and have a status of Israel and therefore the minhug is that we do visit sadikim and we're mpal there and we're there especially if they're a relative or a parent but if they're in or sadikim the min is to visit but still you know how do you view visiting the kev of the so I have to say just shortly ago So I found the following. Okay, this is a gold mine. This is the official biography of the written by his son Rabar. One time the was [Music] ill. He asked to go to the cavern of the villagna and to ask him you know which is interesting expression cuz you know the mur says that at a we don't address the mess we ask the no says the wanted to go to the to ask him why because the the wrote a and Here he farers all the questions asked on the GR. So in the merit of his defending the GR he wanted to be taken to the kev. So I think a good precedent to visit the kev of the vagin is none other than himself who was the one who wrote not to address the mess but the himself asked to be taken to the ke of the vagin but it's important to bear in mind what our attitude in general it's uh we don't flock to the the bam but at least in our orikim we of course have precedent to visit sadikim when we go to the go and to all answer. I think we could safely say were at the kev of the go of rebel of the vily lived a significant part of the 18th century from 1720 to 1798. I think the most appropriate words to say are the words that his primary disciple writes about the go in his introduction to the safar with [Music] terror speaking about [Music] the to remember this great manag of an individual that there was no one like him even in many many generations before him. Was there anyone who had such deos to in the introduction of the beer hagra on his son's right that he didn't sleep more than 2 hours in any 24-hour period. He never slept more than 30 minutes at one time. He would sleep three 30 minute segments in the nighttime, one 30 minute segment in the daytime. Even during the day, he would learn in his house with the shutters closed. He would learn by candle light. The villagy is responsible [Music] for being manaka for cleaning the text of the entire shas the babi thei thera the multila the gr had many prized students in the of the hagra there's a listing of the of the vag obviously was first the vul here the brother who's the brother-in-law the magna stitz and by the way also to add just want to share what the writes about our perspective our attitude toward the vagin The says like we view the so to speak in the same reverence asi the raam and the vagin someone who was revealed to him his ka inra that it had not been revealed in many many generations. The is considered one of the greatest. In fact, we have a report that in the final days the Radal writes in the final days of the Vil Nagoyen, the Vaguain picked up his titus and he cried. He said in this world for a few pennies for a few cents a person could be and those opportunities are no longer available in the next world. Okay. Next to the mata of the go there's a big plaque here. what it had originally on the mat of the go it's there's a line going through about uh vertically about 75% of it and on the left side there's a mata for the mutis name was Mind he wrote and he did not put his name on the but the voice of the was his name. Now what year was Mindis? 1798 the same year as the guide. What's interesting is that it says on the mat of both and that they passed away in the year. The numerical value of is 1798 that year. And that's what they were. They were beloved gazels. They were beloved in life because they were the son Agra was married to Sah the daughter of and has it they're also buried together. So they were nur in the year 1798 which is written both on the ke and the okay. Okay. At theel of the VNO where the grow is moved 1950 they also move the ashes of the gatic of NA. The story of the gatic of Ilna occupies many great lore in the Jewish people. He was killed on the second day of Shuis. And on the second day of Shivis Levenson, the son-in-law of the would always recount the story of the Gatsek of Vilna. He was burned to death because he refused to renounce Judaism. You need to know that the death of the Gatek of INA has implications until today. It it changed and I'm going to talk about that. You know there's an idea that the sun rises and the sun sets that hashem does not bring sunset until first the sun rises. There's an idea that when a sadic passes on another sadic takes his place. Did you know on the day of the petira of the gatic the day he was murdered was the day of the birth of was born on the day that the gatsic was killed. When the garrettedic was burned to death, the town that supplied the wood for his death burnt down. When they burnt him in the town square, it caused such a sensation in heaven. The building opposite was stained black from smoke. Now, I think he was burned pretty close to our hotel. And they tried to repaint it. No, the black came through. They repainted it. the black came through until they had to destroy the building. For many years, we were not allowed to publish a story. The sensors always censored out the story. It was handed down from father to son, from Rebi to Talmud with like in a secret manuscript until finally today it's recorded. So in 1660, there was a very powerful wealthy individual. We call him Duke Patsky. A very unusual man. He had unusual characteristics. He acquired 999 properties just so that people should talk about it. You know, if he would have had a thousand, who would who would talk about it? But he would his name Patsky was the name of royalty in this area. He had a son Valentine. Valentine was destined for greatness. So he groomed him to become a bishop. He sent him off to a special school with a friend Zaramba. And he was showing so much promise they sent him to France. And as this Valentine is studying the Old Testament, the New Testament, no, it doesn't jive. There's something there's something missing over here. And he explored Judaism. And he ran off to Amsterdam where he converted to Judaism. His parents got word that their son not only abandoned the faith but also converted to Judaism. And they're searching for him. He knew he couldn't be safe in Amsterdam. So he thinks where's the furthest place on the end of the earth he could go Vna and he adopts the dress and the and the look of the pushim. So he grew a long beard. Pis he would never be found. But the Vilnagine told him, you know, Vilna is a big city. It's a cosmopolitan city. They're going to discover you here. You need to go to Ilia. So he goes to Ilia. In Ilia, there was a tor who made uniforms for highranking Polish officials. And he's always hearing the Polish talk about this this child Valentine of the son of the Duke Patutsky. and he's looking at this guy with a long beard and pesas and when he speaks Polish it's with a strange accent and there's something something unusual about this person he suspected that this person was none other than Valentine the son of countski meanwhile he's always learning in the base medish this a ben a he adopts the name a ben a garc he's learning in the base medish and the son of this polish to taylor is always disturbing in the base medish and until finally AV Aram says you know enough already stop disturbing and this really got the Polish Taylor very upset and he went to the bishop of Ilna and the identity of Abram Abram was discovered and the parents were summoned and the mother says you know my dear child you need to renounce your Judaism publicly but you could still observe privately we'll make you a castle you'll observe privately otherwise they're going to take your life and our tradition is based on Alfus the mag of that he told his mother I love you dearly but I love the truth even more he was sentenced to be burnt at the stake his mother runs off to the officials to get a pardon she gets a pardon but by the time she got the pardon and returned his life had already been taken now it's there's an amazing tradition that we have that his his executioners ers beg him. They say, "We know you're going to go up to the the world of truth and then you're going to want to take revenge against us and you're going to make our lives miserable. Please, please forgive us." And he says, "That's a ridiculous question." He says, "You know, you know what it's analogous to? It's analogous to a little boy playing in the sand and he's making a sand castle and he's the prince and his friends, you know, kick the sand castle and the prince says, you know, one day I'm going to take revenge against you. One day I'm going to get back at you. And one day this prince became the king and his friends were very frightened. And when he became the king, he turns to him. He says, "You have nothing to be scared of. You see, now that I'm the king, I realize and I see that sand castles are meaningless. So to Aram said, once I go up to the world of truth and I see my and I see all the reward I'm going to have, what you did to me in this transient insignificant world won't mean anything to me. You don't have to ask. You know we have a tradition that the vilgoyin by the way how old was the vaggoy the year a ben was killed the vagin was 29 years old and the vagin sees a he's desponding says why are you despondent you're about to be m the mitzvah of kosh and a said I'm despondent because I have no parents and I have no descendants whereupon the vagain says do not be despondent God says, "I'm your parent. I'm your descendant." I heard this many times that I was thinking on the bus, what does the vig mean that Hashem is your descendant? How is Hashem your descendant? You know, it's nice poetic word words, but what does it mean? How is that? So, I was thinking based on a teaching of the student of the you know says, "We influence Hashem." You know, we think Hashem runs the world. That's Yeah, that's what we learned in Yeshua. Hem runs the world. Says the Jewish people run the world. Then writes through our we control how Hashem operates in this world. Maybe what the villain was telling Abra and Ara, Hashem is your descendant through your act of kesh Hashem, you change the way Hashem deals with this world. You so to speak empower Hashem to be native to Cl. So in a sense all of the Hashem does to the world is through your actions. Hashem is your descendant. When they took the Gatsek through the streets of INA to his execution, all the Jews closed the doors. They closed the shutters. They were afraid maybe they would be carried away. There is only one brave individual who went out to hear the braha of the Gatsk. By the way, we have a tradition of the song the Garrett Sedak sang when he was being taken out to be killed. We have a tradition of the song that he sang. It's available. You could listen to it. The author of went to hear what would say he said and he answered a mean to the braha. For years, no monument could be built on the ashes of the gadak. The ashes were right next to the vagine. And a strange tree grew out of place over the ashes of Aram. There are many legends about those who tried to chop it down. In 1919, they put a kev they put a mata over the ashes. And when the old cemetery in VNA was destroyed and they built the new one, they took the ashes and they buried them right next to the villag. You know, I think it's very significant that the v that the petira of was on the second day of shu. We know the second day of sh is the day the tora was given. It wasn't given on the first day of shu. It was given on the second day. Theim would say overra from a what would the say the would say why do we sometimes have gimm in Israel and sometimes we have people who who who abandoned Judaism says that when Hashem gave the Torah to the Jewish people of course on the second day of sh and the Jewish people said Ishma and the nations of the world rejected it that was that was ali most of them that was most most Jews accepted it. Some did not and those are the ones who abandon. But some gentiles did accept it and those are the ones who became the gay rate sadc. So a ben is the paragon of all the gay sadak his was on the second day of sh the day hashem gave the tyra not only to but also to theam who embrace the truth of the tyra. One last thing I mentioned the death of a hasik implications. Everybody knows the first page of Mishnaba says based on the zar that when you wake up in the morning you should washer right by your bed within and it's interesting you know the doesn't bring it down and the says well maybe because it's such an important and the penalty is so severe the didn't want everyone to know about it maybe people would not observe it but we know that it's not as widely observed as other says in the name of that on the day they killed Abra and Abra it had such an impact on the world the kayak was so minimized like we said the told and Abra God will be your descendant how was the minimized it mitigated the importance of washing in your dal and that's one of the reasons we're lenient many people are lenient not to do it has to do with when a was killed at the stake when he was burnt it mitigated the now it doesn't have to be not that this is but said this as a basis for lenient practice and on all of Israel and on all the gay MS and Bedc that have joined our people. It's a great to be here in the vill cemetery at the kev of one of the greatim of the end of the 19th century beginning of the 20th century panovichah panovicher not to be confused withah who is the son of oritsahber this isak of raininoitz raitsah panovicher he was born in gruda in 185 54 and he lived 65 years. He passed away in tougheness. When he was young, his mother passed away. He became a student of Rabi Yehud Pearlman, the Minskar God. He was engaged at 14 years old. Uh Rabbitzah's father asked him to go to Brisk to look after some of the real estate the family owned. there as a young man he became uh acquainted with the basi and the basi was amazed by the scholarship ofah and when the basi son came back to brisk from the basi wanted to learn with with they were known as the two greatest lambdanim in all of and in 1889 when the alter of sabakka was looking for rashiva of slabka the balevi proposed is that the that the author to be the Rash of Sabka which he served in that capacity for 5 years he's only 35 years at the time one of his greatest wasp we're going to be going to his ke in Raden he was Rashiva in Raden in 1894 Rabbits left Slabaka he became a RV in GD which is a Lithuanian town on the border with Germany. He opened up his own yeshiva and the alter sent some of his best tamed to help in his new yeshiva which was a characteristic of the alter to give up from his own yeshiva to help in general. Some of those were meltstein. Now the yeshiva and gared did not last long. Eventually the tamid went back to the main yeshiva in Slabka and then in 1896 after the shiv was only open for two years became the raven panovich and in 1903 raits panovich was invited to become the rashiva in tells when left tells and he almost was going to and he decided not to. Ra Gordon was going to step down and give the rashiva shaft to uh Ritzla Panovich but Raviditzla Panovich uh said to his communion panovich he's not going to leave them and Gordon even wanted to take him to a dinra he asked his panovich to represent him and panovicharov said you know do you think you're going to win this case a worker is allowed to back out as long as he didn't start working out so blazer Gordon said, "What do you mean? But he made a Kenyan, so he can't back out." And Kahan says, "Okay, but he could still send replacement." And Ra Gordon said, "No, but he's irreplaceable." In any event, uh, while Ravitz was in Panovich, it became a great Makam Tyra. In 1907, the daughter of the owner of the company Wasatski Ti, the daughter of Common Zev was Lieba Miriam Gavanski decided she's going to support a group of Loim in a city and the city of Panovich was chosen. So it became a great Makam Tyra Ravidah uh continued to leave lead Panovich until World War I broke out and he had to flee Panovich during the war. After the war he came back to Panovich and he passed away on Adar as it says here on the tap. He was not allowed to rebuild the yeshiva. Now he was originally buried in Panovich and his remains were brought to the cemetery here in VNA in the year tough shin 1969. Okay. Hey, it's a great to be here at the kev of one of the pillars of in the beginning of the 20th century ginski the vill passed away on a he lived from 1863 to 1940 just to get a perspective of when passed away passed away as world war ii was breaking out and the storms of the Nazi aggression began And you know we mentioned that Rabarak passed away on Hey Kislave in 1939. Earlier before that was the passing of Rabim. So the three leaders of Kalisrael in Europe all pass away as World War II was beginning. And you can imagine how that shook the Jewish people to the core. When when the leaders of Clus Israel pass away, we lose our protection. Ander was literally the father of Klus Israel. Moiser had somewhat of a tragic life because had one daughter Mala. Mala is buried right here Mala who at 17 years old became ill and he cared for her. He tended to her and Nebuchi passed away at 20 years old. So he had no living progeny and even though he knew that his daughter was passing away but he had to answer so many shilas, what's he going to do during the Shiva? How's he going to respond? Moiser in the days before Mala passed away wrote 80 chuv he wrote 80 chuv so that he would not leave his children his flock without answers to their shilas you know wrote some of the at 17 years old but he once told the son-in-law that when he was young he thought it was a great accomplishment to write when he got older He sees it's a great accomplishment to gladden the heart of an ama says was the paragon of mid to he had a very congenal personality he was very welcoming he was literally shal it's interesting as a young boy he attended a shir from rabies salant And salant said he asked the kasha. He gave an answer from the usi and as a young boy went to salant and he refuted the shir based on the rush in shabuis. And salant kissed him on the forehead. He said you should get a good shak and indeed got a good shak. He married the granddaughter of Rabis Salant Ala. So Rabbi Sro is married to the daughter of the RV of Vilna who is the son-in-law of Rabis Salanter. He passed away and at 22 years old Rebos became the R in VNA and they told him you know you're too young. You're too young. He said don't worry it's a it's an imperfection that as time passes it will get better. It will improve. When the war broke out, you had thousands and thousands of Ben yes who came to VNA. VNA was the only protected city cared for them. He took care of them. He started the organization Kness which later developed into being Agodas. together him and the gba who was also in vna they were the creators of ages which of course is a institution that is at the heart of the Jewish people until today so I'll call a okay friends there are a few names that it's worthwhile to mention while we're still here in Vilno we're driving back from the cemetery as you saw many of the great sad Unfortunately, the cemeteries were desecrated and they had to be moved. So, they were able to preserve the benerim. But there's a name that it's important to be familiar with. Everybody knows the there's a name that is equally as great but is virtually unknown. The Rav of Vlna from 1762 to 1836. Rab ai fasaler. Rab fasvaler. Rabi fasvaler. You familiar with that name? You ever hear the name Rabi Fasvaler? Well, you need to be familiar with this name. Four years after the go passed away, Rabi Fazvaler was appointed the Roy Sha Vzden of INA. And there were some pretty qualified contenders the nove was unanimously appointed to be the rozd he was already determined to be the gadalar. Can you imagine the greatest sage of the generation today is not so wellnown. He was a great unavo. The story goes there was a uh Jew from VNA who lost his job. He would learn in the B medish and he would come and talk in learning with valer mostly about nonsense you know nothing he didn't have much to contribute and he would constantly ask questions. The reason being he wanted to so to speak maintain a uh reputation that he was holding and learning. So he wanted everybody to see that he was he was speaking and learning fast. In fact, one time he asked he told Rael Faso, you know, Ra, you yourself don't even understand the suga and everybody wanted to like silence him. Ra Faso says, you know, let it be. Let it be. The man, he has no job. He has no success in life. His only kick in life is that people should think he's he's strong in learning that he could disprove the RV. So let let him say this. There is a very important that is brought in the from anybody know this brings in that if the first night of rash you forget to say everybody knows during the chuva if you don't say you have to repeat the if the first night of sh you forget you do not repeat the just like if you forget in the night of you don't repeat the so too if you forget the first night of rash you do not repeat so the bian is chuas asks well how could you how could you say you don't have to repeat the sha the would be a ti he dedash ding he ded of then he has to say you see byes in what way is ites there's no so there's no it's only if you say so if you don't say so it's notes yet so we know the reason why you don't have to say it's not is because not did not sanctify the beginning of the month until the yim so the only aspect of is If you don't say, you don't have to repeat the but the the asks but you're saying if you're saying you're declaring it's rash it's then you have to say how could how could you grab the rope on both ends? In fact, the Mishna Bur in the agrees with the BI that if you don't say, you have to repeat the furthermore, what would the connection be? What would the analogy be toeshes? The bestd does not declare it until the morning. But it's rashash already at night. You're not doing at night. So if it's if it's rash at night then you have to say so you would say it's it's case closed the concludes that you have to say the first night of Russ not so fast comes shiny Edward of comes withinstein and moa And says the is like that if you don't say the night of rash you do not repeat the what's the logic says says why do we say because during the god sits in judgment when does god sit in judgment we The heavenly sovereignty, the heavenly court is akin to the court down here in this world. Bezdon only convenes during the day. Likewise in the best shah the judgment hashem is only in the y. So even though it is the yumpt of rashash says is not contingent on y it's contingent on the den and the den doesn't begin till the day. So says it would not be a to say and still omites. Therefore of course we should say but if one did not say rules in favor of quoted against the one would not repeat the how do we pasin we paskin. You better not forget to say otherwise you did not start off the year on a good footing. Can you imagine the guy in his first of the year already blew it. So in deference to and our trip to VNA from now on I want to make sure everybody remembers to say the first night of Russash and what about the second night of Russash Hashem's already would say his even on the second night of rash says yes why but Hashem is already it would be a total if we would be more on the second day of Yam than the first day on the second night possibly also if you forget you would not have to repeat the second night you really better not forget to say this is one of the great of one of the greatest Rabanim who ever lived in BNA Rabbi Faler Okay. Okay. Everyone, one last personality that we're going to speak about the Rabbi Abram Dansig who lived from 1748 to 1821. Rabbi Abram Dansig was also a Mutan of the Vigin. So the Vigy had a mutiny Mus who's buried right next to him. Who remembers what year the go passed away? 1797. Very good. 1798. What year was that? The year is 1798. He also had a bra who wrote the safer. Now the was a businessman. He was a merchant. He writes in the intro to I know people are murmuring about me. Is sh also another meaning is this a working businessman writing a safer we know you that you're a merchant in Frankfurt and Leipig for 15 years. When exactly did you learn? Doesn't the Tyra say you can't be a and be a merchant? Theam says he says my dear brother you should know that when I went to work it was not to amass wealth. Everyone could testify. I traveled far but even as I was traveling I was learning. Even when I was sitting in the store I was learning. Even when I engaged in business my mind was always occupied and learning. The kayodam came out in 1810 anonymously and he wrote there in his original hakdama. The reason why he wrote anonymously is not out of humility because but the safer says that it may diminish from one's reward and he says don't wonder that this safer came from such a small individual from a worm comes silk from the worm comes. Now the says something very interesting that he says his primary and writing was forabatim for people who don't have time for in-depth study but many raim told him that actually it's very helpful to be able to review the and they're able to ligmarb first you learn and then you explain we'll end with a story hopefully you'll be able to sleep tonight But my job is just to tell you give it to you straight. Theodam writes after he talks about the importance of saying and being he tells the story of a certain godal who was called up to the peasant shamala and everybody said clear away for you know rashka bahag and they gave him a nice welcome and they said rabbi were mikim were you mimis this mitzvah. Yeah. Were you mimia? Yeah. Did you do it with the right kavanos? Yeah. Where? Who says? So, so they brought in all the malim that were created from his mitzvah and they were strong malim. They were good malim and he passed that test. Then they asked him, "Rabbi, were you careful from being shame?" And the rabbi was silent. And they said, "Why are you silent?" He didn't answer. And they asked to bring in all the angels that were created based on the bra that he said. And these angels were weak angel, maimed angels, injured angels, angels that had all kinds of disabilities. And the whole Bezen Shamala tore Korea and they gave the rabbi a choice. Either you could go to the purgatory or you could come back to this world as a gilgal. But you did not say bra with the right kavana when you said hashem's name. And therefore your choice is either you could go to gahanam or you could go come back to this world and the rabbi chose to go to gehennam. Therefore, the kayam encourages a person to try to say with the right kavana so that they will not be faced with that unpleasant choice of having to come either back to this world or to go to gean. On that note, I wish everyone a shabases. We know that all the preparations for Shabas are preparing for the Shabas the Mish brings down that when we eat meat on Shabas it's a in commemoration of the shabar that we're going to eat in when we eat fish on Shabas it's a commemoration of Yasan and what Cavano should you have when you take a hot shower before Shabas the kavano should be says the mishab that the hot shower is zer to naharin gehenn that you traverse before ganed. So my humble blessing to everyone is to say brahas with kabana and the closest you have to come to gehennam is the hot shower that you take on shabas. What amazing zlas here we are it's the 14th of pesi and we traveled all the way from vna to kavna. I'm here with my good you did. We're at the kevan spectre the covenar 1817 to 1896. Rabutan held many rabbitic posts until 1864 when he was appointed the RV of Kavna which he held this post until his patira. He wrote right buried right next to him. Amazingly he wrote 158 chuvvice to m aunas are only three instances of agunice he did not have the capacity to mitan was very in touch with all the developments in the holy land in Israel and he assisted salant in the distribution of the tudaka of ram balhanes and therefore how appropriate it is we made the trip After Salah, it's about 1:45 a.m. on our final night of the trip to visit his to have one more chance, one last chance that all our should. It's a great to be here in Kavna at the of who lived from 1870 to 1936. One of the of and of the he is counted among the and among the first of the that was established by the Yeshua speaks at length in the third chapter of the importance of establishing kalem for he was counted among the first of This kal he was well known among the amayas in Europe with his lambdos and his incredible personality and he was very esteemed by the and even appointed him to say and yes he was a bakadra and he was a rv of aut in the place of Amsterdam. from the year 1800 until his patira. He was also a rashiva and Slabka for 20 years during the first war world war. The yeshivas from LA were moved to Russia, but he remained in LA and he w was concerned to open up Slabka right after the German conquest and with much effort he was mats and gathering Bakim and reestablishing the yeshiva. He was one of the founders of Agura Sarabanim of Leita. He was the yoshv of the audi. He was from the rush roshadabim of uh yahadus karedus and in 1929 he went to America on behalf of Yeshiva Slabka and he was received very warmly. Aside from his many mammorum that appeared in journals, for example, the Yagdel Tory, he left over a great treasure trove trove of manuscripts and they were hidden in the Kavna ghetto and they were lost there. He was a brother-in-law of Raash Kabstein Zman Meltzer Alen of Israel. Okay, it's an amazing to be here in Kavna at the Kev of the Kavnar Maren Rabinu Rab Doy Kahana Shapi the Kavnar who was killed in the ghetto the Kavna ghetto on Kaf's Adalaf in Tshin Gimmel in 1943 the Kavnarv gave an amazing dasha he said that those who are involved in building a are guaranteed. Why? Because the sh is going to be relocated to it's going to be moved to once it's moved to it has a how could it be that those who built the shaw will not be to be there by its relocation and re-establishment. So therefore investing in the building of Ashul says the is an eternal investment because it guarantees the resurrection of those who participate in its construction. On our last stop at our trip, we're here on the streets of Slavatka at the home of Rab Gresinski, Paniro 9, or it's a corner house, Carnavis 12, the home of the Mashk of Slabatka, Rabb Ram Gresinski. When the met Rabbinski, he saw in him the full nobility of the efforts of the alter to build Tamidim. Rabbi Ram Gresinski was killed in the Nazi occupation here in Sabatka Kavna. In the final days, Rab Ram Gresinski felt that if he would gather together 10 Sadikim, perhaps that would be able to protect them from the persecution of the Nazis. And as printed in the hakt of the razinski gathered 10 sadikim. I was told by one of my one of these 10 sadikim was men who wrote the of the gresinski. And there he wrote 12 things that the tamid should work on to protect themselves to work on a from this home. Al Khan Vaserman was hiding until he was taken by the Nazis to be killed. This home was owned also by Rab Ary Maliel Freriedman, the father of the wife of Rabnair Cutler. This is a historic home. A home from which Tyra continues to emanate from Cla Israel, the traditions of Sabatka, the traditions of the alter, the traditions of Reb Grazinski, the home where Rebel Khan was taken from and the Syer teaches us teaches us that just like the will be replanted in Israel, so too will the be replanted in Israel. That's what we say in we could be sure that this is one of the great homes in Israel that ultimately will one day be re replanted in Israel. May we be za to the gulma of bakar mamesh. Okay, our closing presentation here in vna. were leaving the city of VNA. And of course, we know there was a point in time where the VNag also set out and embarked to leave VNA to go to Artis sometime after his father passed away when one of his daughters were already married and he still had small children in the house. He set off to go to Isis, but we know ultimately he didn't make it. Why not? So if you look in the introduction of the beer hagra his son's right that the grass said that shamayim did not allow him to shayim did not allow him to that's one reason however there are many other reasons and uh ideas that are proposed for why the vagin ultimately did not go to Israel the aban of kaish says he is sure that the vagin was a spark of moher raenu and just was not allowed entry into Israel. Likewise the go. Now this would this is in line with what we mentioned from the that the said that our attitude toward the go is like raenu like raashi but he mentions and indeed very much like raeno just like mo was not able to go in the go cannot make him. Others say that the go like Rabbi Hud the Rebi of wanted to reinstate and when the realized he would not be able to reinstate he decided not to return to Israel. Others suggest that the go was afraid that the ship that he would travel on would have wormy bread and if he would have wormy bread he would not be able to have three sudois on chabas and therefore it was worthwhile for him not to go to Israel so as not to give up having three sudois on chabas. Others suggest that the first rashash shana that the go would make it to rashashana came out on chabas. The villag held that if comes out on Shabas inim you have to blow and he was concerned that others would not agree and therefore the go did not go. Still others suggest that the go wanted to be mach to be mafish masser on land owned by akum. But since the baso disagreed with that in deference to the baso the go did not want to be put in that position. And still others say that the go heard reports that the Ashkenazim were being persecuted in. So these are seven possible reasons why the go did not make it into ultimately the go was not given to go. So we're now leaving the city of NA. We were to be on the ke of the go and many and visit many others who were buried here. for getting off.