Journey To Morocco: FULL JOURNEY {Sali, Rabat, Ouazzane, Meknez, Fez, Orika Valley, Agafai Dessert}

This Torah class is brought [music] to you by tora anytime.com. >> Okay, Boker to. Good morning everyone. Shalom. Welcome to Morocco Tin of 2025 with La Tours. Thank you for joining us. We're going to have a very exciting uh trip is Hashem. We're going to learn a lot about the history of Moroccan jewelry, world history in Morocco about Sadi Kim. Want to thank Rab Ai Ro for organizing such a wonderful trip. We welcome uh our good friends Rab Ysef and what's our security guard? >> Uh Zoe. >> Zoe. >> Zawi took off time from uh Hollywood to spend a week with us to for our protection. So, I want to talk a little bit about the origins of Moroccan jewelry. We're going to go back now more than 2,000 years. First, I'm going to share with you some new information, some very interesting, some new information about the origins of Moroccan jewelry that are actually mentioned in the Tami that are mentioned in the Gumarra. It's really amazing. If you look in the gared, it seems that Moroccan jewelry originates all the way back to the times of the 10 tribes, the hashatim and the times of the first mikdash. The garra discusses where the 10 tribes were exiled to. Where were the 10 tribes exiled to? The garra says, "By the way, if you didn't say, you might want to say it now to continue listening to the shim. Otherwise, we're going to have to leave you on at a gas station." Okay. Amar Africutra says the 10 tribes went to Africa. There is a tradition that the Ethiopian jury descends from Shvet Dan. So the garra is saying that thehatam were exiled to Africa the slug mountains. But then the garra says that when the Jewish people were exiled to wherever they were exiled to they started to disparage Israel. You see maybe we'll speak about it later on the trip. For many centuries, the most authentic esroyim came not only from Morocco, but a certain region in Morocco called Susa Basra, Sus Basra or Sus Trey. And the Gomorrah says that when the Jewish people came to wherever they were exiled to the 10 tribes came to where they were exiled to when they came to a region called Sus Amri Shavia and they said it's equal to Arat Israel. When they got to a place called Alman, they said it's like our country kimatu sust when they came to sustra which is the main location of Moroccan Amri alad train. They said it's twice as good as the land of Israel. So here we have evidence in the Gumarra that Jews began to uh proliferate and be successful in Morocco going back to the times of the first ba mikdash. There is even a tradition that the biblical city of Tarses mentioned in the Nvina is somewhere in Morocco. what we're going to say now. Well, first let's get a little bit of the history. Then I'm going to tell you some of the folklore, some of the legends before later we'll talk about some something which is probably has more credible historical evidence. You know, we always talk about the golden age of Spain, but it's not really [music] accurate to talk about the golden age of Spain unless we talk about the golden age of Moroccan jewelry. In the 11th century, a Moroccan Berber imperial dynasty known as the Amor Amoreads. Amorraads, they ruled a a good section of northwest Africa. And the capital was where? In Marrakesh. This empire began in the year 1062 and now we're talking about we'll speak about it later. The rishim start coming to North Africa beginning with Rabenuiel and his son Rabenu Kananel and their student the riff rafasi. So now the the Torahmies are moving from Bavl and they're coming to North Africa. But there's very interesting uh tradition that the Jewish communities in the Atlas mountains claim to have originated in the times of Schlamel even though the Gumar says in that any anything west of the Carthage the Carthage is where where's the Carthage >> Carthage is in Tunisia >> in Tunis the garra says they don't know about Kalisrael and they don't know about Aino Shabbash Shamayim but many of the Berber tribes which originated in Morocco have uh some Jewish practices so that their origins are shrouded in mystery. There's a tradition that when the Bafraim left Matim 30 years earlier so they come to Israel and they're attacked by the Philistines and then they leave and where do they go? There was a tradition that the bane of fryim made their way on the first tours. They made their way to Morocco. Morocco. Ysef maybe your ancestor was their tour guide of the Benim in Morocco a few thousand years ago. According to folklore, according to folklore, there are there are biblical figures that are buried in north in uh North Africa. Who are they? We're stopping here. >> Yes, Benun and Daniel. There are traditions that there are biblical figures buried in North Africa. We'll continue this in a bit. >> Okay. >> We're on the highway to Rabbat. >> Okay. Good morning everyone. While you take off your twillin, we're on the highway to Rabbat. We're at the historic gas station >> now. It's now historic. >> It's now historic. The first gas station in Morocco that has Sunday morning minion. Okay. So a little Moroccan, you know, it says that woke up from his dream and then a few later he woke up in the morning. He already woke up. Why does it have to repeat? Why do why do we have to repeat that? He woke up. It says so why later he's already up. So what's Jakov doing? He's putting up a mata. Where is he putting up the mata? in what will be the makum and the mbayak. That means Jacobu is establishing the muck and the misb for the mikdash. So in a sense it's liked he's laying the foundation for the future spot in the misb. We know the gimar says in mika was already before the morning. If woke up before the morning certainly woke up before the morning is in the night but he can't make the mat yet because so he waits till the morning and as soon as the morning comes he's mazzar to build the mata which is the ultimate but furthermore what does do he pours the oil the vakim says that just like the carbon can't be bala yakov pouring the oil on is like the of the so therefore he wakes up before the morning. But to do the he has to wait until the morning proper. So that's why it says that's from Gabriel M the author of Gabriel from a manuscript that's brought in the safer Morocco. Have a good day everyone. Okay, continuing some of the folklore about the origins of Morocco and the Jewish community in Morocco. We mentioned that according to legend, some even biblical figures are buried in Moroc in North Africa. We mentioned Yeshua Benoon. Yes, there are uh there is a spot in Arit Israel which is attributed to Yeshua Benoon. But these are all mimos that have not really been authenticated. So there is legend that Yahushua is in North Africa, Daniel is in North Africa and legend has it that one day Jethro Yroy the father-in-law of Mosh Rabenu went missing and Mosha is looking where's the where's the where's my father-in-law and he had he got word that Yroy was out exploring he was looking for the magical elixir of life the water that if you drink it. It will give you eternal life. And Yroy was told that if he goes to the spot where the Mediterranean meets the Atlantic and he drinks from that water, he would live forever. So, Mosher Rabenu set out together with Yeshua Benoon to find his father-in-law and he they looked for him in North Africa in Morocco. So, that was another lad. So you had the Bafraim, you have Mohenu and Yoshua Benun. And actually there's another legend that the first residents of North Africa known as the Berbers are the Canananim. When the Jewish people came into the land of Israel and they chased out the seven nations, the Gashi, the Kiti, the Amoi, the Prizy, the B, some of them ran away to Morocco. that the Berbers are the canananim. And in fact, amazingly, we have a tradition that the Pik says into there's a tradition that gel is somewhere in Alers or in East Tunis. And then Yoyo went to try to chase down the remaining Canananim that were found on the sea coast near Fez and Mogador. Mogador that today Mogador is >> Esera. And in fact a monument was set up where Yov wrote him that there's a tradition that Yo Benuya chased down the Berbers and he even set up a plaque that he reached Mogador. The Jews of Mogador have a tradition about a golden ring of Yo Ben Surya that's found in the city. Until today, Jews of Morocco referred to the Berbers as pilim that the pilim were the original canananim that ran out when uh the Jewish people came to take Arat Israel. So, here are some of the folklore, some of the legends about the origins of the Jewish community in Morocco, as well as civilization in general. And soon, we're going to learn about perhaps the seinal event in the last 1,000 years that is responsible for the toyo that we had for many centuries in Morocco. Okay, friends, you see the ocean in the background. It's a perfect opportunity to get some of the background of Moroccan jewelry and literally one of the most seinal events in Jewish history. If you could count on one hand the seinal events of the last 2,000 years, this would be right up there. This is known as the story of the Arbashuyam, the four captives. This is recorded by the Rivid. It's recorded by Rivid I not to be confused by Rivid II or Rivid III. Rivid III is the Rivid Balog on the Rambam. He wrote the footnotes on the Rambam on my manities. His father-in-law was Ry I. We're now talking about Rivid the first, Rabenu Aramid, who lived from 1110 to 1180. He was a student of a student of the riff and he wrote a classic work of Jewish history called Sepher Hakabala Safer Hakabala and he records an amazing story amazing account I remember when I was in yeshiva I learned in Arashiva's fatherd was the rebi of came to speak at the yard site of Rabbd Ali of his rebi and Pam said over this historic account and he said that there are times in Jewish history where in order to preserve the Jewish people Hashem makes a very significant event occur to preserve the Torah of Israel this in the says that this occurred in the year 990 990 however however the do says it's a cyer It could not have happened in the year 990. It happened had to happen about 30 years early in the year 960. Now let me just paint a picture for you. Since the close of the Tammed Bavi from the time raashi sealed the Babylonian Talmud, the seat of power of Tory lay in Babylon in Babel in the great yeshivas in Babel Surah Pompadisa Nehera from the time of the Kakam the time of the Rabano and the times of the goim all the way until Raviun and Ravhigin. So how did Tory come to Europe? had a Tory come to North Africa in the year 990. An event occurred or as we said in the year 960 actually an event occurred that forever changed the course of Jewish history. Let me just continue to paint the picture because Tory of Bavl was very different than the Torah of the Ashkanaz. What was the main distinction? The main distinction was the toyra of is what we call kabala which means the profoundity of talmudic analysis was not the most critical ingredient. What was most critical was the authentic tradition going back to the am and the the tradition of the go the gim it's called dra kabala however the ashkanaz the house of rashi it really originated in Italy gave precedence and prominence to the depth of talmudic analysis and we're going to see that in north Africa these two schools of learning were fused together. So in the year 990, four great goim set sail. There's a big discussion. Where did they come from? Where were they going? Some say they left Babylon. They were collecting money for the kala. Kala meaning the yeshivas in Bavl. However, many historians say no kala means haknosas kala. And they did not set sail from Babylon. They set sail from Barry Italy. From Barry, Italy, there was a pirate. His name was Deahin. He was the captain of the fleet of Khalif Aed al Rahman al- Nazar of Cordoba. And he captured these four great goim. Their names were Rabenu Kushiel, the father of Rabu Kanan, Rabenu Mosa, the father of Rabi Kano, Rabenuary Baran, and the fourth one, we don't know their name. And these four gimm alltime great were redeemed by four different communities. Rabinu Shimaria was redeemed by Egypt. And when the Egyptian community redeemed him, Egypt became a center of a great Torah Academy. So now the the shift of power, the power is shifting from Babylon to Egypt. In Spain, they redeemed Rabu Mosa, the father of Rav Kano. Now in Spain at the time, the leader of Spanish jewelry was somebody by the name of Rabenu Nasan. But they were learning a certain particular suga and the suga was alilah hazah and rau nasan was not able to explain it fully and they turned to this newly redeemed captive Rabenu Misha and surprisingly Rabenuh was able to explain the suga lucidly cogently and Rabenu Nasan said well you explain it better than I do. Rabenu Nasan stepped down from the yeshiva and he gave the leadership over to Rabenu Mosha. Now it's interesting in today's day and age rarely will you see a rashiva step down. That's a very rare phenomenon. >> Intellectual honesty. >> Intellectual honesty. What's that? Right. But actually back then they used to have intellectual honesty and Rabenu Nasan stepped down for Rabenu Mosha and then the Cordova community which was led politically by Iben Shaput in in uh the Torah Academy. It was led by Rabeno Mosa. Now, by the way, Rabeno Mosha was on the boat and he had a wife, a very beautiful woman. And the pirate Damah Hinn had his eyes set on the wife of Rabeno Mosa and he was going to abduct her. And she asked her husband in Kesh, "If I jump overboard, will I have and responded based on the Gitenar?" Which means that even if somebody dies in the seven seas and his molecules decompose, God will reconstitute the molecules in the resurrection of the dead and she thereby jumped overboard and she killed herself. She was moister. Rabenuiel was redeemed by the community in North Africa. Namely, he came to El Kuan. You know where El Kuan is? Alexand >> Caruan is >> Tunis >> Tunis Tunis Tunis friends Tunis became another center of to of Torah scholarship. So now the seed of power is moving from Babylon to Egypt to Tunis and to Spain. Now Rabinuiel had an eminent son. You know who his son was? Anybody know? If anybody knows they're going to get an extra portion of Shakshuka Rabenuiel's son was Rabenu Kananel the great reish the says about Rabu Kananel that his words are kabala cababala means he had the authentic tradition from the gaim friends the says we have a tradition there are gaim buried in tunis ysef is working on public relations between the Jewish community and Tunis and Jerba. Maybe one day we'll have tours. Yeah. In Tunis. We'll go to the Kadikim of the Gim in Tunis. Okay. So, we have Rabinu and Rabu Kanan. Rabino Kanan has a very good friend Ravisim. If you look at on the side of the page, you have the commentary of Ravnim. By the way, if you look in, you know, brah starts on daf >> bay, right? Of course, gar starts on daff bay. But before daff bay, we have the introduction to shas. Who wrote the introduction to shasan? >> Ravnisim. Ravnissim. Ravnisim and rau kananel were students of Rabuiel. Rabino is one of the hostages. So Raushiel, he comes to Tunis. his two students, his son Raan and Raisim the Now, by the way, if you walk away from this trip with one, I would like it to be this. You know we always talk about the we talk about theimm who were the first generation of the says dishanos he's the first generation of the reishiman raisim and then ravenu raisim had a mutin and he wrote something called matalmudagget These were the first three rishimi says the first three rishim rauanel raisim and hanog now rauanel has an illustrious student anybody know who's the student of raenanelk alasi the riff and the riff already is in fez and now we know how tora came from Babylon to Tunis to Fez to Morocco. It all came about in the year 960. The story of the Arbashuim which brought Torah from the times of the rishim to the times from the times of the gaim to the times of the rishim in North Africa. Now you have the fusion of two schools of Talmudic thought. You have the traditions of the goim brought by raanel fused together with the tmudic analysis of the rishim and this brought the golden age of Moroccan jewelry through rauielanel and kasi who by the way is alluded to in this week's para there's a safer and there inim it's brought the to the riff is vodal. That's a rem to the greatness of a raita who is right here in this country in Morocco. Now the rishim did not yet eat shakshuka. that was not part of their breakfast but they did bring the glory of Tyra to Kalis for all eternity. Thank you very much. Okay, we're here in Sali at the Kev. I want to share with you a very interesting shila that he discusses in his chas the is that if you drink wine you don't have to make a braha on a different liquid. In other words, if let's say you drink wine, you make a burrien and then you uh you drink some wine and you drink orange juice, you don't make a bra on the orange juice. The same way bread potters all other food, wine potters all other drinks. So the shil is like this. Let's say you go to a kdish, somebody makes kdesh, they say priagen and now can you then drink anything and rely on his priagen not to have to make a on other liquids? That's the shila that's brought in the So he says something very interesting. He says the same way if I don't make myself I hear someone else make hami. I could eat anything on relying on the hamzi the other person made. So if you say hamitzi I could eat cucumbers. I could eat whatever is on the table relying on your to me from all the food. If you makeen and I hear it, I could rely on that not to make on other drinks. That's the kawa. The mishab disagrees. The mish says you have to you have to drink a minimal of a ra of yin in order for the to you on other mashkin which is actually if you go to a kdesh even the madesh himself if he drinks less than raas it becomes a suffic whether he makes shahakal on a Coca-Cola you never basically want to drink um from the k of yen and then drink other things unless you're sure you drank. So that's he quotes the that also passings that way but we don't necessarily follow that but that's one of the interesting shas that he talks about in okay >> okay this is one of the great destinations in all of Morocco. We're here in Sali, a beautiful city. We're here at the Kev of one of the greatest of the 20th century, not only Morocco, but in the whole world. Real Anawa, it's pronounced Alen Kawa. He was the most eminent sage of the 20th century in Morocco. He wrote many, many important. We just mentioned before Sha Chubasy. He wrote on he wrote on he wrote he passed away on a in 1935. Now dalid is a very uh significant date. You know many of the mikubim passed away in the beginning of B giml dal the Arizal and many of them passed away that time of the year and that's the time that rebalanc 1935 he was born in 194 in 1848 so he lived 88 years in one very interesting chuva he discusses the following question we know that when you davin it should be loud enough, not too loud that other people could hear it, but loud enough that your own ear could hear it. So the question is, what if somebody's hard of hearing? So do do they need to say it loud enough that they themselves could hear it? And he says, yes, they should say it loud enough that they themselves could hear it. And he brings a ray from because by all the it says that the Mak should stop by it says he screamed. Why did Mash have to scream? It's because the cacophony of the fara was so loud in order that he he should be able to hear it he had to out pray the fara. So that's one interesting hal he derives from makasard. There's a story that here in Morocco as the French were so to speak modernizing the country. So traditionally the the nashim in Morocco walk around very and certainly the bino is but as times became uh times changed and the modernity became more acceptable among even uh the Jewish community there's a particular woman who went against the tradition in the community and her arms were uncovered and it bothered this sadic very much and he told her father warn your daughter she can't walk around like that that her arms are not covered and she didn't listen to the warning and miraculously she broke out with terrible painful boils all over her arms and she recognized that was because she she upset this sadic and she came to ask for and Kawa was a man of great dignity and grace and he says and he saw she was sincere and she did chuva and miraculously she was healed now it's very interesting Rafalancawa In 1918 when he was 70 years old he became the chief rabbi in Abbezzan of Rabbat. This the position was approved by the head governor of France who ruled over the area. And in 1930 when he was 82 he was decorated with the legion of honor by the government of France. So [snorts] he was acknowledged not only by the Jewish community but all of Moroccan jewelry as all of Moroccan uh the whole country as being a great sage and a very honored uh individual at his Leva as we mentioned 1938 over 40,000 people attended Leva back in 1938 that was considered an unheard of crowd the 12 greatest held the bear They covered him with a talis. 12 men blow scheifer. 200 children surrounded wearing black. They said lamentations. They said to him and they mourned him for 30 days. So this is one of the greatest sadikim in Morocco in the 20th century. He was known as hamalikf. and at this location. Okay. We're here in Sali at the location of the of the grandfather of name of course is Benatimbatar but he's named after his grandfather. His grandfather is buried here. He was nif that's 481. The way you know the English date is you add 1240 to the Hebrew date. So if you 1240 plus 481 that means he was nifter in 1721. Okay. So Arkadesh's grandfather was nifter in 1721. Benatar here is the ke of's father Mosa and I think there's an important lim from the uh what it says over here it says one of the distinguishing qualities of his father is was he was he supported those who studied from him to strengthen them to give them lifeim like children. He basically support them like his own sons and say that somebody who supports will be to have. So look what happened. This is the father of his talks about how he support and what it means to have a say. So here we're at the of the grandfather and father. Let's say we're from it says that had a dream three times it says what does it have to say for why does it have to say the word and behold? What does the word and behold mean? says the word means crystalclear definitive. This was not a dream. This was not something that was a figment of Yakavina's imagination. This was definitive. He saw a ladder. There's no question the angels of were going up and down and there's no question was on the top of the ladder and this is something that uses regularly incious that the word refers to definitive nava. So may all of our bees So this is a mayam may it's written by the son of the sisterhar a hopefully we could go to his cavern in rabbat okay in the hakama it brings that said about his grandfather who's buried right here that from his grandfather's greatus he never slept past sala His grandfather always woke up at even in the summer when he went to sleep very late he cried over the with great tears like an am and then the rest of the night he spent learning Gamarra. So that's our testimony about his grandfather his namesake Ben. >> Okay everyone we're at the rev shalom ai 1839 to 1918. His yard site is on kislave. It's mentioned that uh if anyone has an issue with eyes within it's the school of maybe because his yard site is on the kev is here. Come in. Come in. Says um kamaya aliisha hashemdo. Where's Where's Shalom Aawi? And the yard site as mentioned on the door is Keslave. So he was nifter in the in the 20th century. So >> [music] >> Okay, we came all the way here. We're now in the city of Rabbat and we're at the caravan alazar dil 1711 to 1761. Now the reason why it was so important to be here this is a god of Israel that the speaks about in at least three places in shemd is the safer of the that records all the who ever lived and all the ps that were ever written. He speaks about rebel a nephew of the kadesh in three separate places. In his entry for the ailah in his entry for the kadesh by the way the learned by the kadeshadesh went up to in 1742 and the learned by him for one year but even so he considered him his rebi the kadesh passed away in 1743. By the way, the writes about the kadesh that he his knowledge of shas was frightening. Everybody thinks of the kadesh. He wrote a commentary to the kid says the knowledge of the kadesh in shas was mavis was frightening and the kadesh passed away at a very young age at 47 years old. So did his nephew his nephew aldi a here what's I want to point your attention to ra on the cover is called raada. Why alert a that's what he's known as or alert a you see the lus it says about him he wrote on shen not to be confused with the classic mug that we usually refer to look at these lin amazing linus of rebel a what's interesting is that says that in his entry tom Magdulam his amus his depth his profoundity was so great he would write and then he would erase and he would write and he would erase so it it wasn't so discernable his greatness and learning from his writing because he was always revising it constantly revising it at 15 years old he married the doro the one of the honorable people in Sali he started writing his farm at 15 years old he became the sali he wrote makshas to usim when we were by the grandfather by there on the shelf was a safer ganim may and he would write in very tiny letters he would fill up the entire page and one time they found that he didn't have room on the paper and he continued writing on the table one time the river in Rabbat started to rise and flood Yseph what's the name of the river in Rabbat >> Yseph the river >> the Bur >> it started to flood and one of the came running to a rebi the the city is flooding he was in the middle of learning he said you're disturbing me for such a trivial matter you if you're going to disturb me you have to disturb for something important the city being flooded is not so important he said take my stick make a line of demarcation the water will only go up till there and no more the that's what happened the the waters did not go further. What does that mean? He was he spent so many hours learning the Marsha that the Marsha revealed himself to de a he was nif on the third day of ad in tough alf at the age of 47 years old and when he realized it was his last day he was basim he said if I'm passing away it must be I've reached myos at only 47 years old but I'll call you a you want to say it to Sure. >> Add one more thing. First of all, I said that he was nif in 1761. That's what my safer says. That's not what the kera says. Uh the kebab says he was nifter in 1764. Also, I just want to read to you one important thing that the writes about Elazar de Avil. He says in the something he says I heard about I want to read to you his words from the again he's a son of the sister of the nari he's the western lamp why because from the living in Israel Morocco is as west as it gets you know nobody was in America the west was Morocco which are in Morocco so he's considered the harav He was very sharp in learning. Then says we all heard wonders from his so is using exceptional language to describe the okay this was refurbished in the year. It's partially rubbed out. So in other words, this is uh you see what it looked like before and then it was refurbished. So okay, >> we're here in Rabbat. We've discovered the kev of rakimi who was nifter in 1904 takal his hula is wrote a we found the original stone that was laying on the in the crevice over here and uh so we try to be and okay We're here in Wazan. We're by the Keven right outside of Amuan. We're going to say over here you see that uh surrounding the Karam are these olive trees. The one by Aram Ben is 400 years old. The there's a tradition even among the uh Muslims that the olives are good. The way you do it is you swallow it with a cup of water and it takes care of all your issues, but you have to make sure there are no bugs in it. And uh that's part of the mystery and the kaduca of this. Okay, we're going to say one. Okay friends, we've traveled a very long distance. I know is a long road but agra to come to this kev you can't just come you need in order to be to tremendous which are possible over here I'm going to read to you from the safer raan which is a safer of all the gdam who lived in Morocco in his entry for amuan who came from and he was a shadar he was a raan he came here to raise funds for the shivasar He says, "How many miracles happened to those who were on this? It's a wonder. It's astonishing. It's impossible even to reveal a little bit even one in a thousandth of the miracles that transpire here of the and the people were by ding in this mim. This is literally one of the most misugal kavarim that people come for the whole from the whole world. Now first of all it says over here he was shamala on tub. We're going to talk about that cuz the tradition is he was nifer Friday night tishab tishab shakal the shabas [snorts] his family came from dvan which is an area of Morocco they went to shalim he studied in yeshiva shalom he was made a shadar so he was sent to collect money for the yeshiva is and he came to Morocco and he gave spellbinding dris he then went back to Israel and came to Kevin and came back to Morocco in 1773. Now when he came to Morocco his son became deathly ill and he made some kind of switch of sorts where he accepted upon himself to give up his life akidesh in exchange for the life of his son. So while he was so to speak meandering in his final moments among the olive grove, he gave up his life and he pointed to this makim that he selected this makim to be the place of his ultimate manuka and he did not want there to be a mata at his ke there's no mat there's no official mata over here and the messiah is that he was nif on tishab but of course there can't be a hilula on tishab so it was either recog recognized and commemorated 7 days later on tub but it's more traditional that his celebrated on now it's very interesting that these olive trees like we mentioned by Daniel are considered even by the Muslims to be mugul to be a protection and a rafu for the eyes and when they have the hula here and the fire goes up literally to the tree. The miracle is the tree never got burnt. The tree never burnt. The tree never got consumed in fire. But in later years, because they say the tradition of was not maintained as it always was throughout the centuries. So you see it's singed a little bit. But the fact that the whole tree is still standing is part of the miracle of this mak. Many great gadam came here. There's a tradition was over here valid was here who we were at as ke it seems like a few days ago but it was just today we were by he had only girls and he came here and he ded for a benz and he was toen zar and he he felt bad that he only d for ben z and notim so whatever you ding for over here It's if there's any that's this is the place there's a school just to say the name that itself is a great school for Yeshua and I want to share with you that the brings in the name of Amram Benuan about Shabasu. Now to me it's very interesting that the onera that we have from is about because he was on and his on the quotes it from the midenes is a reference toen that when we fulfill the will of hem we're called ami when we don't fulfill the will of hashem we're called so when we serve the ael Well, Hashem said, "Your people, they're not my people, your people." But by Hashem's, Hashem says, "So then you says, "So you might wonder maybe it's the saying ami, but maybe Hashem is not calling us amii. So therefore, the make sure to say it's not me talking. It's Hashem calling you. That's the that we have from so we all dive in together that at this m whatever you must follow for it's special for children for easy foray all of you should be Paulenu Yeshua. >> Okay. Good evening everyone. It's your favorite time of the day. 11 p.m. But you know 11:00 p.m. is always relative. It it depends. You know in in New York it's 4:00 p.m. nor What time is it in in New York? >> 5 >> 5:00 p.m. And and here it's basically breakfast time considering what we still have to do tonight. So 605. >> So uh here we go. I want to give you a little bit of a picture. We've discussed earlier the origins of Tory North Africa which uh for real began in the year 960 with the episode of the Arbashvuyim. But now I want to give you a little bit of a picture because the Arbashvuyim created communities in North Africa. These communities were known as Tishvim. Tishim were the settled residents in North Africa. However, in 1492, the Jews were expelled from Spain and many Jews made their way to Morocco. Most notably, the Jews of Castile. To give you a little picture, the Raven Castile was the Rush. Rabenu Ashar Asher Kadishi. The Rush was the Raven Castile. So we're talking about a sardic community led by Nashkanazic Mardasra which is very important because in Morocco they primarily followed the Rambam and the riff. However the new community of Megurashim they followed the rush. So just imagine in 1492 in the the year renun bay the there was a new community in Morocco. These were Jews who were following the rush, more of an Ashkanazic bent in halaka. Now, this is an incredible uh observation and piece of information. You know, if you were wondering, the Jews that came from Spain, that came from Castile, they came with not a penny to their name. They came with they don't even have a pair of clothing. You know, they came with their shirt on their back uh from Spain. How long do you think it took them to build up their lives to build up shs? What's the static to build up the sh to build to build ups yeshiva's homes to establish themselves financially? It's very interesting. We have a safer narov. >> Yeah. So, how long do you think it took them to rebuild their lives to build up uh themselves financially their stability. So we know that they were exiled in the year 1492 in the year which is 1498 only 6 years later they were completely rebuilt their lives they had big yeshiva they had beautiful shs their tyra were adorned with silver and with silk so that they were able to rebuild themselves in only in short time in the year I in 1498 what's interesting is the Jews of Castile even though they made their way to Right after the Inquisition, many of them were became very ill. Many many of them became very sick in a plague. This plague only affected the Migurashim. It did not affect the Tishim. So apparently the Jews who had already been living in Morocco had developed an immunity to this plague. But the the Migurashim from Spain were uh very much affected by this plague. In any event, in 1498 already, they become very settled. They build themselves up financially. And Yseph in his where he talks about the imperative of Jews who come to Israel to uh follow the opinion of the Bafe. He says that when the murashim came to uh Morocco in the year 1492 and then later on in 1494 their their hahic procedure was they always followed the rush and they developed the following statement. You ever hear there's an expression wherever the head is the rest of the body follows. You know, usually it's going to be hard if the head is going somewhere for the body to going somewhere else. So the from developed the expression, wherever the rush goes, we're following. Meaning whatever the rush says, we're going to follow suit. And if you look at the takonois of the Jews of Castile who came to Morocco in 1494 in the year hun zen re that's the year they only followed the rush despite the fact that the rambam and the riff may have had an alternative view they only followed the rush however from 1510 and on they only followed the rush If the Rambam and the rift did not disagree, but if the Ramom and the rift disagreed, they began to develop a new approach. Namely, they would take two out of three. Now, we're familiar with that approach, taking two out of three. That's the famous approach to the bas takes two out of three. The rift, the rush, and the Rambam. But what's interesting to me is that it seems like this approach was developed by the Jews who were exiled from Castile who originally followed the rush and they come to Morocco where they follow the Rambam and slowly slowly they're beginning to so to speak integrate the pis of the Rambam and the riff as well. So this is just to give you a little bit of a flavor that now in Morocco you have two streams of Jews. You have Mikurashim, the Jews are exiled from Spain and you had the Jews had been living there for centuries. So today we were to be was it today or was it yesterday? But you know today we were to be by the ke of Mosha the father of the of the kadeshim the grandfather kadesh razar the nephew of the kadesh who by the way I didn't have a chance to say the rebel di a was the gilal of rebelar and hinastana oh wow people just started waking up that's amazing >> did you have that dream also Because that was a dream that the parents of Relad had that their son of Alzari a was the Gilgal of Benhorinus. It's amazing. People just woke up. They were in a deep sleep. They haven't slept in days. But that that got him up. Okay. It's good to know the Gilgul will always do it. Now I'm going to reveal who you're a Gilgal of. They're not laughing. They're worried. And not now. Not. We need a few more days of preparation for that. Okay. So this is all a leadup. We know the kadesh wrote a safer ones or he also wrote a cafer on shas. He also wrote a safer on your safer on your is called preto and in simladesh discusses a very big mus that erupted here in Morocco between the migurashim and theim regarding hice. If let's say you have an animal that has a sir in the lung in the rhea so if it has an it has an um some kind of scab in the lung and you can't tell whether the lung has a mortal wound or not. So the murashim had a leniency that if you blow up the lung you could discern whether the animal is a tra or not. However the toim were not lenient about this and this became a very big mus. So one of the migrashim themselves whose name was ga he was mir despite the fact that he was from the murasha and says look I am not an eminent rabbi but accept the truth from whoever you hear it I feel this is something you're required to be m you cannot be lenient regarding the trace of these particular lungs So this was a very important dispute regarding blowing up a lung to determine whether it's a tra or not. And it gives you a picture about the two different groups of Jews that are now established in Morocco. Murashim, the Jews from Castile who were exiled from Spain and the Tishim, the Jews who were here uh for many centuries. And with that, I bid you farewell for now. You got it. >> Okay, here we're in Mechz. It's a big to be here. Thank you very much. The fact that we're here is testimony to your muses because uh this was not an easy destination to be able to achieve. You see here the list of all theum and all that are buried here. You know, over the course of the trip, we're going to hear stories of miracles that occur to people who dataram and it begs our analysis. Why is it we don't hear such stories about anywhere else in the world? Why only in Morocco we hear these wondrous accounts of sadikim of people ding at the sadikim? Ra Mosha has a chuva. You know, how does it work? When you go to a sadic for a braha and the sadic davs for you, what's this process that the sadic could achieve Yeshua is for somebody who asked them to d for them? Says it comes from if you have a certain belief that hashem empowers the saddic to affectuate great things in this world. That's a great that you achieve and in that merit that sadic is able to daven for you. Nowhere in the world did people have more amunas than in Morocco. It's part of the culture. It's in their DNA to have a certain reverence, awe, and respect and amuna in the So when we're coming here, we're trying to tap into the the great tradition of Moroccan jewelry to have. Look how many there are. We're not going to have an opportunity to visit all of them, but just being here, it should be all these sadikim to be for all of for all of us. And we should be >> okay come two. >> Okay. We're here in Mecc at the ke of Verdugo, one of the greatest gadam in all of Morocco. He was born in 1747. He passed away in 1821. He elevated himself through spectacular almost supernatural hassada. Some one of his tamilidian ones came to visit him and they found the rebi. He had tied his poo to a nail in the wall so that if his head would begin to droop, it would be too painful not to remain awake. He also suspended a cold bucket of water under his feet so that if he would start to fall asleep his feet would go into the water and he told his student after 120 please reveal to the community this so that they should know how a person should dedicate themselves to he wrote he also testified about himself to the he is to be buried buried in a coffin. Now, usually we don't bury people in a coffin. We put them straight in the ground. But he's roy to be buried in a coffin. Why? Because he never saw keram. He never became tame. Now, what is the meaning of this? This is actually something that is uh something that that I've discussed a lot, but I'm going to explain. It comes from the writings of the Ramach. The ramach teaches also the great great grandpa the rama that someone who's not at if they're buried in an ain then hashem is only sad is right to be buried in a if you're not buried in an only punished for if you're buried in ano said that that's why we find the only person buried in an arin was because he was at and he was not he never became and therefore he was right to be buried in a to me this was always very powerful because if you think about how safer ends safer ends it's very unusual ending for sacious how does bracious end they put yf in a box okay and now the safer is over why would the safer end that way they put that they put yf in in a It's telling you the greatness of fat. Look at the greatness of such a man. Look at the greatness of Adam. You can have someone who went down to Tomasim and yet remained and preserved his kaduca to such an extent that he was worthy to be put in a box. So, so to speak, he was Messi Marish. Adarish in the beginning of Berius, he succumbed to a certain extent. says that became and by the end of there's a man named that's to be put in an even in the land of so this was a of berdugo he was nif infer says t but in the tf the night of he finished saying thera and that's when he had his histoal us. After learning about the histo commanded that after a year of the burial of a frog they take out his body and lo and behold his body was like someone who just went for a short nap. It was schlma vamaimus I'll call you a okay it's a great we're at the ke of rebi da Davidid bosidan 1760 to 1832 he was uh this his kilo was assisted by rabal bardugo and it's very interesting there's a miraculous account about a woman who would come every year for by the hilula it says the hilula of of David Basidon was during Ll and she would come and pour sid white sid to beautify his ke and she did this every single year and one year she came with an empty bucket she couldn't afford the lime anyway she dabbed that rabbi Davidid look at my intentions I really want to honor your ke but I don't have the means to do so and she went home and when she got home someone knocked on the door and said could you do me a favor I need you to watch my bucket of lime I have of an emergency. I just need you to watch us for a short while. She said, "Could I buy it off you?" He said, "Yes, but I have to run quick. You'll pay me later." And of course, he never showed up. He disappeared into thin air. And she saw that her were ncabo. So, it says he was a miluan. Maluban is malum benim. We should be to experience a come Daniel. Okay. Rod, what's your name? >> Mustafa. >> Mustafa. Ahmed. Okay, go. >> It's recording. >> Okay. We have We have Ahmed and Mustafa, the guardians of the sadikim of Mar of Mechnes. We want to bless them that in the merit of them protecting the sadikim of the city. God should bless you with good health and you should always have the merit to help the Jewish community and and Hashem, God should bless you and your family. Thank you very much. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Okay, if we could get the flashlights going. This is the Kev Aram Toidano. Behind him, Rabbi Benyakov of Tidano. Here you have Mashesh. So, and this is Morai. >> Okay. Good morning everyone. Welcome to Fez. When in Fez, you have to learn from the Fezz. One of the great Fezz, his name was Rabb the And of Fez. He's called the Yets, not to be confused with the Yets, not to be confused with the Yit. The y was [snorts] the y was one of the gerad. But there was a yitz here in fez rabakov ib yitz. And he wonders got his name because he was holding on to the of so he so he should be called. Where did he get the yud from? How did he get a yud? Where did that yud come from? He says like this. It says he took from the stones of the of the place. Now in Kabala according to the word refers to they're called. >> Now the times itself is yud time yud is 100. In other words the the y* y* hey v* vv hey is the squared. So he took which is and where did he put it? He took some of the letters which letter are the he placed it in his beginning in before the and that's how he became he took of not namely of the and he put them in the beginning of his name thed and here in fez have a good day everyone okay welcome everyone Before we even begin to dive in here, you have to understand we're standing at one of the most eminent in the history of the Jewish people. And I don't say that lightly to read to you what the writes. Somebody asked me how come I keep on quoting the is the authoritative source on the history of Israel. wrote a work in his entry to we heard a he went to get a for theemat was the preeminent authority in all of Morocco and in Kal is the says about him that he heard this is a lion that the I don't think uses about anybody else the says says about he's soilless. He's the finest flower. Meaning in the echelon of Israel in the last thousands of years is the highest echelon of all time great is the says about him something we've seen about many but doesn't say it about anybody except he says he's bene says I heard many wondrous accounts that happened to him while he was alive and after his patira of those who ded Here I could personally tell you soon after the last time I was here I could tell you a miraculous account from says the I heard from the Raban Kadishi of Morocco that he was one time as we're going to see the Jewish community was charged an exorbitant sum and they couldn't pay it. They threw into a lion's den and he stood there for a day and a night and the king came to watch the miraculous feet how the lion himself was in awe of and then the repeats we heard wonders and we know firsthand while was alive and anyone who daved here after passed away of the miraculous Yeshua that one was. So first it says here are his holy bones. That's also an unusual expression. Why? Because there was a tradition that ata his had a certain gilgulim. They rolled form of but they ultimately ended up over here. He was born in 1655 in lol. The mata says that when he was born it lit up it illuminated the whole world. He was great in any edict that did not sign in Morocco was considered ple on yamtiff. Everyone lined up to kiss his hand. It was such a grueling process because the whole community lined up. They made for him a special pillow for him to rest his hand on. During this time he wrote Minihuda. He wrote Shir Mikdam. He wrote many others that are still in manuscript form. Over here it says Gore Ary Yehuda. He passed away 1733. Why Gore Ary Huda? Not only because his name was Yehuda but on one occasion Arv wrote a uh chuva in contradistinction to the opinion of and he saw a vision that he was attacked by a lion and he asked the what's the meaning of this vision and they said the meaning is you started up with who is his prowess in Torah was like a lion he was ruggi he didn't have gloah he was rugg even his maidervant was okay these are all things that sometimes you'll hear about other is but the writes it about him and only him now we quoted this morning after shakist the ivitz of fez not to be confused with the ivitz the ivitz of fez composed a ka for again this is someone who says of all the gdel is in the history he's so nikia he is the finest and the highest echelon of all gdel is he lived for 77 years and uh he was n in 1733 the says there's a tradition that those who swear in his name truthfully they have great yeshua and those who swear in his name in a false way they meet a untimely demise. So this is uh the legacy of one of the all-time great. We're going to say okay I just want to mention is called Rabi Elabir. El Kabir means the eminent one, the powerful one. Also a title of unusual distinction that is given only to that was the the godless of Hudat. Okay, just we're going to add it's interesting the is on the ke the story we brought about the line is on the kev also uh it was pointed out says enemy. He didn't take a allotted poor. He wasn't supported from the sib he worked for a living. What did he do? He produced rings. It was like a pella. He produced rings and he supported himself and this is all the gallos of Rabhuda Benatar. Okay. >> Okay. So, uh, Danielle Harris wants us to spend a few moments by this sadic who it says. So you know that called Kosis Rab Elbaz. Now Albbaz there is a Ral Albaz that's buried in Syria who was the progenitor of the Abi Khira family. But this is not that albbaz. says he passed away at 52 years old and the world was dark and then his bo his bones rolled for 10 days and then he was buried in this new cave after 125 years. So we're gonna stop. We're gonna say over here and okay this is one of the destinations that literally people come from all over the world to have this at this holy site among uh some of the handful of that we've been to. This is one of the most eminent and draws in a way for on the heartstring more than anywhere else. This is the story, the legend of Lula Salika. She came from a family that a Moroccan family that originated in Tangers toward the north. The name of the family was Kagaval. She was a beautiful young lady, an exceptionally beautiful young lady. And her father told her to limit her exposure to so she should not be noticed and uh to try to adopt uh an an extra precaution of modesty of and her as beautiful as she was her personality and her shamayim exceeded her beauty. She was once noticed by one of the local Muslim leaders and he expressed his interest in marrying her and he said that she has no choice. In other words, she was not left with any option. So she didn't know what to do. She escaped. They hid her and this Muslim ruler comes to the house. Where's Sulika? Where's Sulika? They don't know. They can't find her. She escaped. No, that's not acceptable. So they took her mother in in herstead and uh Selica was heartbroken because she realized that if her mother is put in prison in a in a Muslim prison then her life is in peril life is in jeopardy and it was because of her. So she says I have no choice. I'm going to have to give myself in to save my mother and then give up my life ales hashem so as not to be violated. So they try to pressure her. They try to pressure her. This became a national story. So they brought her to Fez and she's noticed by the prince and the prince said he's going to marry her and he promises her that she will be the next queen of all of Morocco and she says no never. She was willing to be Moer Nephil Shashem but then what happened was they accused her of embracing Islam and then denouncing it. According to the religion once you embrace Islam then there's no there's no turning back. So she's in a very difficult predicament and the uh prince of Morocco comes to the local RV in Fez and he says listen this is not just a personal matter now if you don't give her over you're literally endangering the lives of all the entire community in Fez. Either Celika is given over to us or we could wipe out the entire city. So the RV comes to Selika in the jail and he says you know Esther Hamala was willing to live with Akash in order to save the Jewish people. So you need to do that. You need to you need to give yourself over and give yourself to the prince in order to save the community. You cannot you cannot stand on ceremony now when the lives of the entire Jewish people in Fez are at risk. And Celica said, "No, there's a big difference between me and Esther. Esther only had to live with Akash, but she didn't have to denounce her religion, but they want me to embrace Islam." No, I can't do that. Esther was required to give herself up. I'm not allowed to give myself up. And when the RV heard these words of Sika, apparently he agreed with her. Maybe we'll speak not here about the hakic implications and ramifications of this decision, but she said that there's a distinction between her and Esther Hamala and the RV left crying at the self-sacrifice of this young girl and she gave herself up. She was tortured to death. There's a tradition that as she's being dragged to her death, she took extreme measures, she tortured herself so that her holy body should not be uncovered. And she's buried over here. This is right next to great sadikim. Aerasi raidal hater the rishine who's buried there. A descendant of Rabenam and Rashi. And in this many have experienced great that all of our should okay as you see that is buried right near the surface family. One of the progenitors of the family not the earliest one was Hatsurfasi and Rabio Hatarasi was a student of the Makadesh. Babel Yahoo was the Royan of Fez for 55 years and the 18th generation from Rabinotam the grandson of Rashi. He lived a very long life 1715 to 1805 91 years and his body was brought from the old cemetery in Fez here and then later Selika was buried here but he's from the Sarasi family. Sarasi meaning from France because they date back to Rabino and Rashi who are the greatest of France. Ravidarasi was the earliest of uh the Rish of the Tarasi family who's one of the Rish and we're going to go to his cav up there. Okay. Okay. This is a very remarkable spot overlooking the whole cemetery in Fez which as you see is a beautiful cemetery. The king preserves it. It's really, you know, nicer than any cemetery you'll see anywhere in Europe. Here is the Kev of one of the earliest of the Tarasi family, Raidal Hatsarasi. You'll come inside. The Ravidul Hatsarasi was born in 1540. He's already mentioned in the Shamhagam. He is one of the all-time great Israel. You have over here. First we're going to point out here is bur the great eagleisha he's the fez the son of going back to the original in other words going back to the first now he is the author of which is an amazing ones says all the words are his words are very concise. They need great analysis and study to understand them. With great analysis, with great study, with great amus, then you could appreciate the sweetness of his toyra. He wrote on the rabbesh on the he wrote on he wrote on migillas on Esther. He wrote hats rus on migillas rus that's something that he wrote on migillas rus and then he wrote a commentary on a which remains inavad he passed away in 1620 here if you look along uh this world uh wall this is the actual mata again the same lin and here's the mata of vida literally one of the rishim He's the 12th generation from Rabinu Tam which means 14 generations directly from Rashi Nenu. I want to say over from Ravidas he has an amazing question Marsha asked this question regarding the reward of Khal and Miriam. Uh Kazal say that the reward of Miriam is that Malim kings come from Miriam. The question is though, if you look in the end of Miguelas Rus, none of the kings are mentioned to come from Khal. They're all listed coming from Khaliv's brother Ram, right? Rums uh and Khal's father was Katrin. But the lineage comes from Rum, not from Khal. So what does it mean that Hashem made for Khal? Khal is not the progenitor of Malik. His brother Ram was the progenitor of David Malik. So the Marsha asked this question. And Marsha says you have to say later on in history someone from Khaliv's family married into Rum's family. However, the raid als it was mentioned over there. He says something ingenious. He says you have to say between Kh and and Ram one of them was married to Miriam and they must have died without children and the other one was Myab Miriam. So at that point in time they're both considered to be the progenitors of David Hamelik. So that's the ingenious solution of of Ravidasi to explain how David Hamel comes from and >> okay everyone turn your attention to the official plaque. I'm very into plaques. If there's no plaque it doesn't exist. Okay. This is the official UNESCO plaque which means that it's protected by the government as a historical location. The Iban Dan Shul from the 17th century. You have names Azulai. Azulai is a name that we spoke about a lot. Of course, the name was Azulai. We're going to see in Marrakesh there are two of Abra Azulai. Abra Azulai the third. Abram Azulai the fourth. But of course Fez is most renowned for who? Who is the most notable individual lived in Fez? Rabitak alasi the riff one of the three great reishim the riff the rash and the ram of course now the riff I want to tell you a little bit about the riff we mentioned from the shayim that there's a special covenant with the riffi that the riff was able to condense all the conclusions of shasesh just to basically narrow it down to the bottom line of shas the riff came up with a very important idea that is we follow Tammed Bavi over Tammed Shami. The Balatus were very busy with Tammed Shami. Rabin Tam the Balatus very much brought in the opinions of Tam Shami. However, the riff writes that we always follow the Bavi over the usami. Number one, the Bavi came later. So whatever the bi said it's because they already knew the conclusion of the usi and yet they're coming to their conclusion. The riff says we always follow the usi. Now if you look at the end of any shas on the title page of the riff you have the of the mata of the riff. Now the riff doesn't have a kev today. We were in Lucin in Lucina where the site of the burial of where the riff is but there's no actual kev but we have the nus of the original kev of the rift and it makes ankamino I'm going to tell you now a Hungarian story because we're in fez you know and feez is the best place to say over Hungarian stories in the 19th century there was a family that lost a relative and they wanted to write on the kev the name of hashem So they brought the Shiloh to the RV. Could you write the name of Hashem on the Kev? And the RV pas it is prohibited to write the name of Hashem on a Kev. Shortly after the Kev broke and the RV was very proud of himself. Look obviously endorsed his that you can't put the name of Hashem on the Kev. Seeer where says the rabbi was wrong. You're allowed to put Hashem's name on the Kev. And the proof is if you look at the of the rifts kev it says Hashem's name three times. So even though we don't have any discussion could you put Hashem's name from the fact that on the rifts Hashem's name appear that shows you could put Hashem's name. I but a miracle happened that the Kev broke says God makes miracles for rabbis all the time even though they're wrong. The fact that rabbis could make miracles has no bearing and indication whether they're right or wrong. It's just that Hashem doesn't want people starting up with rabbis. So to help them out and support them, he makes miracles for them. So that's just a warning to regular people. Don't start up with your rabbi. But the fact that Hashem makes miracles, that doesn't mean they're right. It just means you might want to think twice before you challenge them. So that's we learn out from the riff's kev that you're allowed to put Hashem's name on a mata. The rift lived here in Fez. He had his yeshiva his base fee was established in the year 1160. Okay, here's our last uh last moments in Fez, in the city of the riff, but also the city of the Rambam. So, you were in the Rambam's house in Fez. And even though it says on the sign that the Rambam wrote the guide to the perplexed, whether he wrote that here that I'm not going to comment on, but I'll tell you what he did right here. He wrote one of the most important works that he ever compiled, a seminal work. It's called Igeras Hashmad. Eggeras Hashmad. And this is very important in light of us going to Celika today where uh a certain rabbi wrote that in those communities see the Rambam lived here in the Almoravids in the time of the Almorabs who were who were uh understanding and they allowed uh the Jewish community to practice religion. And then the Almahads came and they were fanatical and the Rambam had to hide with his father when the Almahads came. And a certain rabbi wrote that if you're being forced to abdicate your religion and to profess your belief in Islam, then not only required to give up your life, but also the mitzvah that you perform have no value anymore. If once you abdicate the religion, why even bother performing mitzvah? And the Ram and I ear argued vehemently. The Ram said, first of all, every mitzvah that a Jew fulfills, it doesn't matter what they profess is valuable. But moreover, a Jew is morally obligated to profess his belief in Islam and denounce Judaism to save their life because Islam is not idolatry. That's the opinion of the Rambam that a Jew is obligated to profess their belief in Islam. So now that's what the Ram wrote here in Fez. In light of that, it becomes very curious. What was Celica doing? You know, it's very nice. We go to the Kev and she gave up her life because she didn't want to profess her belief in Islam. Well, wasn't she required to? Isn't that Aren't you obligated? Because now, furthermore, you know, it's very interesting that she said that I'm different than Esther. Esther didn't have to didn't have to denounce Judaism. I'm having to denounce Judaism. Well, she needed to. They weren't asking her to believe in Christianity. They're asking her to believe in Islam. It seems that she did the right thing, but not for the reason that she gave. In other words, the fact that she would have to profess her belief in Islam. She needed to do that. You're obligated to do that. But there's a different uh a different very important distinction. There's a choa about a city that was surrounded by uh gentile siege and there was a woman there who said she could go out live with the general and save the city. So she said I'll do what Esther did. Uh should I do that? Am I allowed to do that? And then said you're not allowed to do you're not to do that. So they asked what do you mean Esther did it? Says Yehuda Esther did it. It was permitted for her to save Kali Israel but just to save a city then Gilearas would be prohibited. There's a difference between all of Kali Israel and just a segment of Israel. According to that cela to save the Jews of Fez was not allowed to live with the guy because she wasn't saving all of Kali. So she was only saving the city. So for the fact that she had to profess her belief in Islam that she was required to do but the reason she did the right thing is because since it was only relevant to the Jews of Fez and not to the Jews all over the world. So then she's not like Esther. That's the difference between her and Esther. A different reason than as reported that she gave. It's not that Esther didn't have to renounce her belief, denounce Judaism because what Celica was required to do was only to profess belief in Islam. The reason why she did the correct thing is because what she was asked to do was prohibited on account of the fact that it was only to save the people of the city. So that's just uh that's based on the Ramom. You know this this is the work that the Ram wrote here in Fez that um that religion is not considered idolatry and a Jew would be obligated to say they believe in it in order to save their own life certainly to save the life of a city. But what Celica was asked to do is not just uh say she believed in Islam but to live with the uh with the prince and that was prohibited. Okay. Okay, everyone. We're now leaving the city of Fez. We're headed to the other side of Morocco and you are today to be at the Rambam's house. But there's another important location associated with the life of the Rambam. And that is the Rambam's roof, not his roof from Williamsburg, his roof. What do I mean by his roof? Well, there was an occasion where my man the Rambam met the king of Morocco and it happened on a sukus where the Rambam was following Mino Shalim and the Rambam was walking with his dalim in the street and the king of Morocco commented to the Rambam, "What are you doing? What are you doing Rambam? You're uh you're walking through the streets carrying your laurels and palms and you're uh this is a very foolish practice to carry your plants and through the streets of Fez. What exactly you're doing? And the Rama made a comment that indicated that what I'm doing is foolish. When the when the Muslims throw stones at the Jews, that's foolish. So the king didn't make too much of that comment of the Rambam, but when he told his advisers, the adviser says, "No, the Rambam is not mocking when they when our cousins throw stones at us. What the Ram is referring to is the idolatrous practice of our cousins." As is well known, many of the practices of the Ishmaelm are rooted in Marulus Aara, which by the way gets into whether Sulika was required to give up her life at that time to profess her belief in that religion. Be it as it may, many of the advisers of the king of Morocco told the king that the Rambam is mocking Islam. And the Ram a warrant was issued for the Ramom's arrest and the Ramom had to go into hiding. And he went into hiding on a on a special roof together with his father where he remained for a very very long time. >> And the custom in Fez was that roof was considered a makam kadesh. And if they ever needed anything in Fez, they would go up to the roof of the Rambam and Davin that Hashem should save them in the merit of the Ram. How did the Rambam know what month it was? He had a system of 12 copper plates through which he was able to figure out the astrological signs and the astronomical times and that's how the Ram was able to calculate the manim. So if you are searching for this manim and fez you know they may still be using the copper plates. Be it as it may today you to be in the Rambam's house. Maybe one day in future adventures you'll go up to the Rambam's roof. But we're now leaving the city of the Rambam. The city where the riff lived. His base med was here in 1160. He taught the reagash. And all these are our patriarchs, our progenitors. Okay. Good morning everyone. You know we were moister nephesh to go to Bugo in the middle of the night. We were there after Sala I think. But [clears throat] uh he's very appreciative of our visit because he's already you know tried to come visit us with many. So we're continuing in the detrao. First of all it says Jacob lifted up his feet and he went to the east he went to the east. What does it mean? Jacob lifted up his feast his feet. So kazal say that when hashem gave him the basura that hashem is going to watch him his feet became light to walk. So berugo explains as follows. See at first yak was afraid of lavan. So it's like somebody who's caught between a rock and a hard place. He has is on one hand lavan on the other hand. His feet literally were recoiling every time he had a thought of going to love. But when hashem promised him so had nothing to be afraid of. So instead of his feet recoiling, his feet became light to be able to go to Lavan's house. Now he has an amazing duck. When Jacob meets the shepherds in Jacob says, "Is there peace with him?" And they respond what one word. Why didn't they say the question was they should have responded? No, they only responded shalom sayso. What they were saying was not everything is so great. His shalom is half-hearted. It's it's what was from the of what was that he didn't have a wife. His wife died. And you know what the proof is? They said like this things are not that great. You know what the proof is? His own daughter has to be the shepherd. Where's the wife? Where's Where's their mother? She died. So his shim is shalom, but it's not. That's ferdugo. One more. By the way, Berdugo's safer is he says before pulled the trickery on. It says he gathered all the people of the place. Why did he gather everybody? Number one, he was trying to get support. If he's going to pull a [clears throat] fast one on Yakov, Jacob Ainu might uh lash back at at him. Yavino might try to fight him. No. So, Love makes sure as a political move to let all the people in the town know this is what we're going to do. So, in case Yakov starts up with him, he has the support of the people of the city. That's why it says Oh, or as a ploy, what love was going to say is it wasn't my fault. You see, I wanted to give you, but when I gathered everyone, they told me we don't do things like that in this place. That's okay. Welcome everyone. We're at the Orkin Orica Valley and we're at the Kev of Revi Schlommo. Now, Revish Schlommo has many ways to pronounce his name. On the cover it says Revi Schlommo, Ben Lanas or more commonly Ben Lanach or he's also known as Balan. Either way, his name, his folklore, the legend is intertwined with a story about the snake. The story goes that somebody was endangered by a snake and saved him by uttering certain sheit you know it's very interesting when ate from the fruit and Adam said what happened you know had to eat from the fruit so the words were saidashishani the word hishiani is very unusual word hishiani he seduced to me but where does that word hishiani come from the says that the nash was able to take various letters is out of Hashem's name. So out of the name Shakai, he took out the dal. Out of the name, the took out the name the letter. So if you take out of shakai, you take daled out of it spells. The word hishani is the took out the two. And when we go to learn every morning and every night, we go to the dameish. Al says we restore the dal to shakai we restore the dal to alf and we're able to rectify the sin of marish. Soon Ben another legend is that he came down here to be mismal. He was dabbing with such debacos that like many of the sadikim here he gave up his nashama alkesh he died through his kila and he came with two very beautiful horses and his uh attendant wanted to steal the horses but as he wanted to steal the horses two serpent heads came out of the horse and scared him away until the rabbi of the community came and was able to bring the horses back to the rightful heirs but again he was saved by the snake. This has become an area where people come to these. Now, they're very interesting pictures around here. Two people claimed that Rabbi Schmo came to them in a dream that they shouldn't go up. Instead, they should man the Kev, they should take care of the Kev. That's what they did. They stay here. They stayed here. They took care of the Kev. outside is buried that woman from the caretakers of uh Schlommo. Okay friends, we're here in the Aafi desert. We're traversing through the Midwar led by Bashir, the head camel driver. Okay. So, first we need to know you hear the camels making noises. What are they saying? What is your camel saying to you? I know you always wanted to know the answer. What is your camel saying to you? And perhaps Hashem calls out from on high and from his holy abode. He gives forth his voice. The kinyki explains the guml represents in a way mikdash because when a guml gets angry and attacks it doesn't just attack first it gives out a cry it's gives a groan in other words and then it's it's a warning sign so too says kvki before hashem destroyed the bik mikdash he gave us warning through the naveim through yermia throughayia Yeah. And only then he destroyed the basa mikdash. So the grow growl of the camel. The moaning of the camel represents the warning of the naveim before the destruction of the ba mikdash. There's a if you wanted to know who these camels are, you're you're riding on a camela. But who are these camels? Where were they before? The says from the mikuim that someone who committed arayos is ncalgal as a guml. So just in case you wanted to identify your your animal there you go. Now it's very interesting. Did you ever dream of a camel? Anyone here ever raise your hand. Raise two hands if you ever dreamed of a camel. The uh Gomorrah says in death was decreed on them and Hashem exempted them and they they got off the hook. What's the Pik says? Listen to this. I went up with you to Gamala sounds like camel. camel means that even if miso was decreed upon a person, Hashem redeemed them. And then the teaches that the barometer for Elazar to know if the woman was suitable for yeak was not only if she would offer yitzkll to drink but offer if she would offer the camels. You see the kakar teaches that someone who has a love for something associated with that item they have an affinity for. So if this woman loved gumadim so much, she would love not only to do kindness but she would love to be associated with gimmal. Gimmal are connected to gimadim. The etmology of gamal is glossadim. And that was the ria. That was the proof that this woman was suitable for yk. So that's the lesson of the kakar from the gumalim. And with that, we've returned to civilization. >> Okay, good evening everyone. We're here in Agafai Desert Oasis um eating lodge and uh we want to thank Roak for putting together such a beautiful dinner and trip and we have this to have you know there's a safer tomorrow we're going to be in Marrakesh and in Marrakesh uh there's a cemetery an ancient cemetery that was in great disarray and the son of Ryaku Hille Rab Hel came and for many years he uh was able to identify the original location of all the karim and he had it refurbished and in that safer they quote one of the who helped him with his work he's in the [laughter] >> yeah seriously he's one of the one of the who's credited with helping with that safer so it's to have over here [applause] >> okay so uh we spent some time in the desert There's an amazing Gammorrah that talks about a scenario of what do you do if you're lost in the desert and you lose track of time. You don't know is it Sunday, is it Monday, is it Tuesday? One of the days is going to be Shabas. You don't know is it today? Is it in a few days? Is it in three days? And the Gmorra brings various opinions. Do you count today as Shabas and then count six days or do you count six days and then count the seventh day as Shabas? Ultimately the Gomorrah says you count six days and you count the seventh day as Shabas. The Gmorra so goes so far as to say what do you do on Friday says on Friday? And then the Garra says on Friday maybe you should work twice because you're not going to be able to work on Shabas. Says if we don't work on Shabas then you're going to die. It's not going to it's not going to help to work two days on Friday. Two days worth on Friday cuz Friday might be Shabas and you're desecrating Shabas two times. The Gomorrah's conclusion is you basically work every day the barebones minimum for whatever you need to survive for that day. Since every day might be shabas, you have to be concerned for the possibility of chabas. So you work, let's say you only need uh 10 grams of food, you could work for 10 minutes, earn enough money to buy 10 grams of food. You have to treat every day as a possible shabas. And then the garra says, "So what do you do on your seventh day?" The garra says, "You're mad with kdoshdalah. You make abdah and the discuss do you make a bra? Do you make a on the kdish? Do you say it without shame? The brings an opinion. You actually make kdeshdah. In other words, the idea that this seventh day is shabas is so fundamental you would possibly according to some shinim even be allowed to make a braha. So the question though is the likelihood of the seventh day being a shabas is very low. You really don't know what day it is. You have no idea what day it is. You don't have like a hunch. Thear is talking about a scenario where you honestly have no idea is tomorrow shabas is in two days shabas is in three day shabas. Is it four day shabas? So what is this idea? You count six days and your madesh the seventh day but in all likelihood it's probably not chas and you're gonna make kdesh and you're gonna make so the brings down a very powerful idea. It's also brought in the rama vidas that shabas is a source of vitality for the Jewish soul and therefore Sunday is nourished by shabas Monday is nourished by shabas. Every day has kadusha shabas in it. Shabas spreads its influence on the entire week. There's an element, there's a component [clears throat] of shabas on every single day. So therefore, in a scenario where you don't know exactly when shabas is, you have the right to declare this day shabas because what you're doing is you're highlighting the element of shabas in that day. You're embracing it and you're allowed to make kdush makedah. You may even be allowed to make a braha because there's a certain truth. There's a certain reality to the shabas that spans the entire week. That's you know a very beautiful idea. You know we say that desire says are on the level of shabas which means that we all aspire to be connected to shabas the whole week. I I'll say something. You know the azer would say that when saru passed away wasn't consoled until Rifka came and then it says he takes her into the tent and what was the we know that on Sarah's tent by the way did you ever hear this women don't drink fromdalah right women don't drink by now it's a very misunderstood haka because if a husband isn't home women must make havdala and they need to drink from that they don't have to worry. Nothing's going to happen to them. It's not going to doesn't bring any bad luck. It's just a custom that when all things are equal and the husband is there to make havdalah, then you don't drink from abd. You know what the reason? What's the where does the minh come from that women don't drink from havdala? So explain in the tent of s the candles remain lit the whole week. The bread was fresh the whole week. The anan was on the was on the anan. the the cloud was on the on Sorrow's tent. It was Shabas the whole week. The reason why the bread stayed fresh is because it was always Shabas. The reason why the candles remain lit, it was always Shabas. So women aspire to be on the Madrega of Sara. They don't want to be MD from Shabas. They don't want to cut themselves off from Shabas. It's brought And he writes the reason for the men of women not drinking from the isp aspiring to be connected to shabas the whole week. So by showing that they refrain from drinking from the hdah. It shows they want to be connected to this day the whole week. But the truth is we are always connected to the day. Every day we say because there's an element of shabas in every single day of the week. But there's also another very important message here. The RAM says that when the Gmorra talks about somebody who's lost in the desert, that somebody is us. This world is like a desert. And we sometimes get cut off from our real civilization. And what's a real civilization? Haba. You know, how often do we forget that the purpose of this world is form Haba? You know, we're here on the trip and obviously it's very enjoyable and we sometimes, you know, we get lost. We get lost in this world. We become so focused on it where it takes over our whole reality and we forget about the so the Gmorra tells us if you're lost in the desert meaning you're lost in this world and you forgot about Haba you need to treat every single day as Shabas meaning you need to imagine in your mind well what if I was in Haba today what if I was haba tomorrow what if it's the next day you need to bring haba back into your life where you value and you treat every day as if you're in the in other words when the moment comes that you feel a disconnect from you need to so to speak realign yourself and start to treat every single day as if you were in that promised realm of uh the world to come and you make kdesh your madesh in other words that becomes the highlight of your existence so you know when you go into the midbar and You think about the scenario of somebody lost in the desert and they forgot when Shabas is. It's so to speak a a little bit of a reality check. It wakes us up a little bit and reminds us of [cough] >> You've just experienced another [music] Torah class brought to you by to anytime.com.