Teshuva Talk For Girls - Tichon Meir Moshe Highschool

This Torah class is brought to you by tora anytime.com. >> Okay, good afternoon everyone. It's a great pleasure to be here. Actually, I'm just coming back from London and then Atlanta and straight to TMM. The only difference is between those three locations that here it's harder to find parking. So before we speak about the time of the year that we're holding in, before we speak about Yam Kipper, I would like to share with you three small points. Maybe they're game changers. They're lifech changers. They apply to yum kipper. They could apply to every single mitzvah we do throughout the entire year. There's a little known hala. You may not even hear it. People are a little bit afraid to talk about it, but it's critical that we're aware of this. It will change every single mitzvah we will do for the rest of our life. A short, simple. The is called, is this even on? The is called mitzvo require. What does that mean? Mitzvana. That means as follows. Let's say you say shama. There's a mitzvah every day to say shama in the morning, shama at night. And you did the mitzvah and you even thought of the meaning of each word of shama. And before you said, you accepted upon yourself and you translated in your mind every single word. But you may not get credit for doing the mitzvah. If you forgot to do the following thing, you ready for this? have the formal thought I am fulfilling the mitzvah of we know that you know you're doing it and we know you're trying to do it but if you don't specifically think before you say shama I am fulfilling the mitzvah of shama the is you don't get credit for the mitzvah now I'll tell you the truth You know what means means after the fact you're not in the best way but like at the end of the day you'll be for sure not this is very important to know there not that many specific that we do every day I'll give you another example you went to shul you heard the you stood there you listened intently. You heard every sound, every trua. You even did chuva. You even asked Hashem for a good year. But you forgot to have the following thought. I am fulfilling the mitzvah of according to the you don't get the mitzvah of you're a nice person. We like you. You could even get an olive plus on the report card. You could get credit for other good things you did any mitzvah that you don't have the formal kavana I am fulfilling this mitzvah the says the raam says the riff says the mishaposins you're this is a gamecher because it doesn't really take too much time to think I'm having kavana to let's say you're mafala you take five pounds of dough You take it off and you say a bra but you don't have the formal I am fulfilling the mitzvah of you don't get the mitzvah of if you learn to I started recently before I give a shir okay everyone we're now here for the shir we're all having to the mitzvah of you know in shama in the second they have it's a mitzvah to love. Before you say that, you should think I have to the mitzvah of loving Hashem. Now, what does this have to do with yam kiper? You ready for this? This is a game changer because every mitzvah fasts on yum kipper. Who doesn't fast on yum kiper? Everyone's fasting on yum kipper. But what would happen if you fasted on yum kipper without having a formal kavana? I have kavana to the mitzvah to fast on yum kipper then you lost about two pounds but you don't actually get credit for being the mitzvah of fasting on yum kipper it's something that if you ask people they know about it but are people doing it not really people forget to do this even ben and benoyra they don't have the awareness. It's a very simple thing and it's most you know before everybody is very alert. Okay, have to the mitzvah to sit in the suka. But there's so many mitzvah we do. Let's say shabas before on shabas. You should think I have kavana to the mitzvah of not doing ma on shabas of eating suda shabas. It's a gamecher. It's something you have to get used to. It's something you have to train yourself to do. It could be you wantanna I'll tell you something uh just between us one year you know everybody likes inspiration everybody's into into inspiration I think inspiration is overexaggerated personally because it makes you feel very makes you feel but what does it translate into so one year for shabasha shabashuva is supposed to be the most inspiring drussa of the whole year so So I told my Gila I said I'm telling you right now this is going to be the most uninspiring drussa you ever heard and I spoke about mitzvah and for years and years people have told me it was the most impactful shir they ever heard because for the rest of their life multiple times a day they're always remembering they're always thinking okay I have kavana now to the mitzvah of shama of hashem of anybody know question is Davening Disa or Daban? >> What should we take a vote? >> Take a vote. What? What do you say? Do or Dan? Raise your hand if you think it's Disa. >> Raise your hand if you think it's Raban. actual. >> Okay, >> this is not supposed to be too interactive. >> Bottom line is you're right. It's a guess the Rambam says ding once a day is dissa. Yeah, according to the Ramban it's unless it's based. We generally follow the Rambam once a day which means at some point in your ding it's it's very valuable to think I have to the mitzvah of certainly on yum kipper you want to catapult your yum kiper to the highest level at the start of yum kipper you should think I have kavana the mitzvah of fasting on yum kipper doesn't take any time doesn't take any energy. It will change yum kipper. Next, there's another mitzvah we do on yum kipper. It's called voy vi is a mitzvah. We do it officially about 10 times. If you're in sh the whole day, you're going to do it 10 times in the silent in the at least one time. It's ideal to think you know vid means confessing confession. You say you confess, you articulate to Hashem whatever a you may have done throughout the year. It is a mitzvah should think at least once I have the mitzvah of okay another point this is just introduction okay we have a very unusual practice when we say vidoy we sing the vidoy like with this very catchy jingle you would think you know we're singing about how much money we have you would think We're we're singing about how many brah Hashem gave us. We're we're singing our sins. We're saying we killed people. We served idols and we also stole. Na. Why are we singing Vido? Why are we so happy that we committed all of these af? Actually I have something called the vid of the vid of the I try to say it over is a list according to the alif of hundreds of possible ace that somebody may have committed throughout the year a without a whole long list and we're singing it we're proud of it what's the concept what's the idea of singing the vid this is very critical there are two kinds of chuvvice. There's something called chuva mira. Chuva mira is we we repent. We do chuva because we don't want to be punished. It's a good reason to do chuva. Makes a lot of sense to me. That's how most people do chuva. They don't want to be punished. So we do chuva mira. What does chuva miraa accomplish? It takes the aa and it doesn't remove it completely. You know what happens to a vera if somebody does chuva out of let's say we we do we did something wrong let's say we spoke lashhara we don't want to be punished you know maybe we're not going to get as much allowance in the coming year so we do chuva what happens to nava if we do chuva it's downgraded downgraded means hashem takes the aa and he makes it less severe It becomes it goes from what we call mazid intentional it's downgraded to shy unintentional. So the a is still there but it's much less severe. But if you do chuva if you do chuva out of love for hashem the a is actually transformed into a mitzvah. So it means if a person ate something and they forgot to check the before the writes the of eating something not is transformed into eating a carbon. If somebody does out of love for the a is completely transformed. So therefore the writes the reason we sing the vidoy it's supposed to inspire us. Don't settle for chuva miraa. Don't settle for average chu chuva for low-level chuva. Cuz if you do a low-level chuva, the a will just be downgraded. You want to transform the aa to a mitzvah. So therefore, we sing the vidoy to try to think, you know, I'm not just repenting because I'm afraid. I'm repenting out of love for whatever a we may have done during the year will be completely transformed into a mitzvah. That's a major upgrade to the chuva. Imagine if throughout yum kipper we're thinking you know I'm not just standing here thinking about what I had done during the course of the year because I'm afraid. I'm doing it because I love theam. So basically, you're transforming any wrongdoing you may have done throughout the year into a into a mitzvah. One more point before we begin. There's another reason we singer writes, "As valuable as a mitzvah is, this ingredient, if you add it to your mitzvah, makes the mitzvah more than double its value. Imagine if somebody had a million dollars in their bank account and all they needed to do was a simple thing and they could add another $2 million to their bank account. They could not they could actually triple their earnings. They could go from 1 million to 3 million. They could add $2 million. Says there's an easy way to double what you got already. If you do a mitzvah, the mitzvah is now worth an additional two times the value, which then comes out to me. And listen carefully, the sim that you experience when you do a mitzvah, the simka itself, the joy itself is double as valuable as the mitzvah itself. So imagine somebody was saying shah and all they did was they said shama with no emotion and then another day they said shah the sim that they appreciated the honor it is to serve hashem the extra simka that you feel when you do a mitzvah the simka itself is double the value of the mitzvah itself by the way you know how we know that cuz why do we eat aravan Kipper. You know there's a mitzvah to eat on Aravium Kipper. It's your favorite mitzvah. I know there's a mitzvah to eat on Aravium Kipper. The Gomorrah says if you eat on Aravium Kipper it's like you fasted on the 9th of Tish and the 10th of Tish. Think about it. Fasting Rabin writes fasting you only get the tenth of tish. eating you get the ninth and the tenth which means says what's why is there a mitzvah to eat on Arab kipper to show Hashem how happy we are to be able to fast on yum kiper now we want to make a suda the problem is it's a very difficult thing to make a suda on yum kiper you can't make a suda on yum kipper that we're fasting on yum kiper so we have no alternative we have to have a suda of yum kipper to show hashem how happy we are that yum kipper is But the ninth alone is like you fasted on the 9th and the 10th and fasting on the 10th is only the 10th. Therefore, when we're doing chuva and yam kiper, if you were to think, I'm so happy to do the mitzvah of chuva, you're actually doubling your earning. Not only are you doing chuva, if you do it bima, it's worth two times the value. I want to share with you a thought. I'll tell you the truth. I only became aware aware of it very recently. It's a very delicate question. It's a personal question. My question to you is what do you think of yourself? When you look in the mirror and you see yourself, how do you view yourself? Do you consider yourself a sadkas? Do you consider yourself very righteous? Do you consider yourself the opposite of that? How are you supposed to think of yourself? How should a Jew think of themselves? Should we think of ourselves as a great sadic? Should we think of ourselves as a Russia? On the one hand, you know, it doesn't feel right. I should think I'm a Russia. That's not that doesn't seem proper. I should have such a low opinion of my relationship with on the other hand should I think I'm very righteous and that I do everything perfectly. How should a Jew think of themselves? You know the Mish says in don't consider yourself wicked. If you're going to consider yourself wicked, you're never you're never going to be motivated to dive in, to learn Hashem's Tyra, to come close to him. You don't feel good about yourself. So the Misha says, don't consider yourself wicked. But on the other hand, the Gomorrah says, even if the whole world says you're a sadic, don't listen to them. So how should you think of yourself? Anyone here ever visit the home of Rabim Kyfki or Rebbitson Kyvski? You ever go there? Your father ever go there? Your brother ever go? You ever go to Rayim's house? I've been there many times. Did you get in when you went to's house? Usually you get in. Have you ever not gotten in? I've went and I didn't get in right away. I went before hours and imagine if while I was waiting outside Rebel Yoshv would have come. You think Rebel Yoshv would have gotten into Rabbim's house? For sure. What if Gershinstein would have come? Would he have gotten into house? For sure. What about Rabbar Lee Steman? Would he have gotten in? Yes. But I still would have waited outside. Imagine if after Rabbi Yoshv got in and Rabbar le and Gersian I would have knocked on the door. Who's there? It's Gladstein. Which Gladstein? I said I'm not related to anyone in this room. Okay. At least to most people in this room. I said it's Gladstein. Said okay what do you want? I want to come in. He said no it's not ours. Imagine if I would have said just like you let let in and you let and you let in let me in also. Would that be a proper thing to do? What would you call that? Who do you think you are to compare yourself to Ravarimman and Raelstein? Of course they went in and you're going to continue to wait outside until the hours begin. That would have been highly inappropriate. But do you realize that we do the exact same thing when we say you realize what we say to Hashem? We say you answer me. You answered Yitzk, answer me. How do we have the audacity to turn to the and sayam, you answered Abraham, you answered, you answered Yakov, answer me also. Who do we think we are to say that to it sounds absurd? It sounds ridiculous, but we do it. We ask it. And it's not absurd. And it's not ridiculous. You know why? Because the biggest mistake that a Jewish person could make is to think that Hashem loves and listens to Abraham Au more than he listens to me and you because he doesn't. Do you know how we're supposed to think of ourselves? Anybody have any idea how a Jew should think of ourselves? Says A person should always view themselves as if they're exactly 50/50. And your next action, thought, or word will determine what you are and will determine what your year will look like and will determine the fate of the entire world. Kazal say that a Jew should view themselves and the entire world as if they're exactly 5050 and your next mitzvah will determine the fate of the entire world. People always say you know what could I do for yin and what could I do for Jews around the world? What could you do? What can't you do? We believe Shalma your not his not hers not the rebi not the rabbi not the rasha you every single Jew is as valuable and important to the entire world as Abrahamu we say it throughout the caramel we believe our next move will determine the fate of the world little haka it's best to try to say the hope let's say you don't have time what's barebones minimum by the way little you could ask also says even women should say paras. You could ask Yurv women should say paras parat that's beyond the scope of the pre what is it called preyerus par is very important but beer bones minimum a what if you have a little bit more time the halalucas anybody know which halaluca comes first >> last very good why the last because the garra says says we should try to finish tahillum every day. You're not going to be able to finish every day. The last haluca is the last per of if you say the last haluca, it's like you finished the whole tahillum. Very good. And what if you have a bit more time? Which halleluah comes next? >> Do you remember? >> Second to last. Almost >> third. Third. Next comes third. Halleluah. And all the piskim struggle to understand why what is so important about the third halleluah we're just saying son praise hashem moon praise hashem earth praise hashem leaders praise hashem says hag of Isaac the third halleluah is the centerpiece of all of dining you know we say in the third haluca the Jew is depicted as a conductor conductor ctor of an orchestra and the orchestra being creation. And the Jew is pointing to all of creation. Sun, praise Hashem. Moon, praise Hashem. Earth, praise Hashem. Animals, praise Hashem. You turn to the dogs and the cats and all the animals say, "Praise Hashem." And then you turn to the leaders of the world. You know who we're talking about now? You turn to the prime minister of Israel and you say, "Netanyahu, praise Hashem." You say, "Donald Trump, praise Hashem." Sounds unusual that we're giving orders to the president of the United States. You're telling Putin to praise Hashem. Do you understand what's going on here? Here you are. You're you're in ninth, 10th, 11th, 12th grade, and TMM, and you are giving a command to the president of the United States. You're telling him to drop whatever he's involved in, and you're saying, "Donald, praise Hashem. He's going to take orders from you." And the answer is, if you don't understand that you have the authority to give a command to the leaders of the world, you don't appreciate who you are. The president of the United States does not have as much kayak in this world as you do because plugged us into the system. Theam took every single Jewish nishama and plugged him and her into the bria and he made it that our and our mitzv and our ais control what happens in all of the universe. You see the presidents of the world, they could just sit around the table and talk about it. But what they do doesn't actually affectuate change compared to what you do in the morning. The centerpiece of davening is the third halleluah. And therefore we have the audacity, it's not audacity to turn to the rib and say, "You answered Abraham. You answered, you answered Yakov. Please answer us also. We know we're not less valuable to you. We're no less cherished by you than the and the everything we do reverberates throughout the whole world. But in a way, more importantly, everything we do in our life reverberates until the end of time throughout the generations. About a hundred years ago, there was a young girl named Schiff. Her last name was Chef. She had a worldclass voice. World word got out that this girl had supernatural singing ability. Actually, she lived in Austria. An agent came and offered her a lucrative contract to sing in the Austrian opera. If you're a basakov girl, especially a 100 years ago, there's not much you could do with a worldclass voice. She told her parents, I have an offer to sing in the opera. I'm going to be singing in the opera. The parents don't know what to do with this with their daughter. They bring the daughter to the RV. The RV said, you're going to sing in the opera. She said, "Yes, I'm going to sing in the opera." Parents don't know what to do. They take the girl to the capishnut reba. The rebel looks the girl in the eye. He says, "My daughter, tell me, why do you want to sing in the opera?" She says, "I'll tell you straight. It's the fame. It's the renown. This is my key to success in this world. I'm going to be a worldrenowned opera singer." The Reb said whatever fame comes to a person they will get one way or another. I give you a braha. He says if you pass this nan you will have a child who will illuminate the world with Tyra. This woman gave birth to a boy named Shel. Shel became Rabel Halevi Vasnner the last Padar of the last generation. The only thing is he never knew the story. Ravdan Seagel discovered the story recorded in the Kahila of Austrian chronicle. He took the story back to Rauznner. He asked Ravuznar, "Is the story true?" He said, "I never heard the story in my whole life. My mother never told me the story. All she would tell me is learn good. You have no idea what I had to give up that you should become the poor. You need to know that every decision that you make today, the decisions you make in high school reverberate until the end of time will change who your children will be, who your grandchildren will be, who your families will be at Khadros. There was a story I heard many years ago about Ramatio Solomon. I could not put my I could not remember the details. I asked around if anybody heard the story. Nobody remembered the story. Nobody heard of the story. So I called up Ramatio Salman's Tam Muvak. I said I think Ramatio said the story when he was installed as a mashk in the lakeha. He says Rabbi Glatian I was there. I was at the dinner. Ramatio spoke. He didn't say no stories. He didn't I don't know anything about it. I never heard of it. I said I'm positive. I'm positive Ramatio said the story. I said who could I call? He said, "Call Ramatio's son-in-law." So, I called Ramati's oldest son-in-law, Halpern. He said, "I'm not sure. I don't know the story. Call my other brother-in-law." I called the other brother-in-law. The other brother-in-law told me like this. Ramatio didn't say the story when he was installed. He said the story when he was honored by the Lakewood Yeshiva. Supernaturally, for some reason, all the cameras that night broke. All the video equipment broke. Nobody has any record of the story. Nobody remembers the story. How do you remember the story? I said, I'm not sure how I remember the story. I wasn't there. Turns out my father was there. He told me the story. The story goes like this. Rabatio was honored by the lake and everybody, it's a very uncomfortable thing. He's getting up to speak in front of 700 people and he turned the whole thing on its head. Ramatio said, "You think you're honoring me tonight? You're not honoring me. Tonight you're here to honor my mother. And no one had any idea what he was talking about. He said, you know what happened 60 years ago. In 1941, people don't know this. The Nazis were hot on the tail on the chase of Raarin Cutler. Ravarron Cutler was in Klitschk. The Nazis knew where he was. They were after him. They were trying to capture him. It would be a big victory if they would capture Cutler. And the Vhata had a plan in place to save the life of Raarin Cutler either through Aritzel or through England. The only thing is if he was going to be saved through England, it would have to be on Shabas. And if it would have to be on Shabas, someone needed to stand at the telephone on Shabas waiting for the call in case it would be to save the life of Rabar. The only thing is in 1941 it was during the Blitz. You know about the Blitz? The Nazis were dropping bomb after bomb after bomb. They were they destroyed the whole London and if anybody would wait at the phone they were risking their lives. Nobody wanted to wait on the phone. So a young teenage girl named Ethel Solomon risked her life on a le shabas to sit at the phone to wait in case the call would come in to save the life of aaron cutler. 60 years later, Ramatio Solomon got up in front of the lakewood dinner and he said, "You think you're honoring me tonight? You're honoring my mother." In the zus that my mother waited on the phone on a le shabis to save the life of Rab Aaron Cutler. She was like Miriam Hanova who waited for Mosher Rabenu. Yeshua was that her son became the Mashki of Ra Aaron Cutler's Yeshiva. That act of Msesh reverberated day after day, month after month, year after year and produced the amazing pay that Ramatio became the Mashki of the Lakeisha. About 15 years ago, I spoke in Memphis, Tennessee. You know there's a book about Ravnata uh Greenblat. So I went to meet him. I I went to meet Ravnata and I met an old Yid. I still remember his name. I met a Yid by the name of Yeshua Kutna. I was a astonished by the name because the name Yeshua Kutna, one of the great gadilla you saw of the 19th century in Poland, Rab Yeshua Mikna. My great greatgrandfather was a Talmud of Raish Mikna and this man was actually named after Rabisha Mikna and he told me I have to tell you a story. He said he grew up in New York in uh the 1920s during the great depression. You know what the great depression meant? That means if you grew up in New York or in the Bronx and there was a family of six people, they lived in one room. The kitchen, the dining room, the bedroom, everything, one room. The entire family just ate there, slept there. There was no air conditioning, there's no heat, and there was barely food in this country. My grandfather, my grand I'm going to tell you about him soon. My grandfather grew up in the Bronx in the 1920s. You know, in the Bronx in the 1920s, there were 600,000 Jews. You know how many of those Jews went to yeshiva? 600 out of 600,000. You know what it meant if you grew up in the Bronx in the 1920s, 1930s and you didn't go to yeshiva? What it meant is you don't have descendants today who are Jewish. Do you understand what that means? You know, you know what it means if a boy or girl doesn't go to yeshiva? The intermarriage rate in the United States of America is 70%. Someone who doesn't go to yeshiva, it's almost impossible for them to have Jewish descendants. This man Yeshua, he was a young boy. He's growing up in the depression. He went to one of the big yeshivas in Brooklyn. I used to say the name of the yeshiva. I don't I don't want to say the name. The rabbim and the yeshiva went on strike because yeshiva couldn't pay them. The yeshiva couldn't pay them because the parents couldn't pay tuition. Just to give you an example, a loaf of bread then cost 5 cents. A carton of milk cost 2 cents. A newspaper cost one penny. They couldn't even put together enough money to buy a carton of milk. So this young boy would buy ice cream. He would buy dry ice. He would freeze the ice cream. He would go onto the highway. And when the truck drivers pulled up by a red light, he they would roll down their window. He would scoop out ice cream and they would give him a penny or two and he brought the money home for his mother to feed the children. He goes into yeshiva. The principal calls him in. Calls him and his brother. He said, "Yeshua, your parents owe $6 of tuition. Three months worth of tuition. either come in tomorrow with $6 or you're not coming back to the yeshiva. Many boys were sent home from the yeshiva. The reason I'm not saying which yeshiva is because any boy who was sent home from yeshiva does not have Jewish descendants today. They didn't know what to do. They had no silver candlesticks. The only thing the family owned was a lousy suit. The father owned a lousy suit where the jacket did not match the pants. The mother said, "Take the suit, bring it to the pawn shop, and tell the guy you must have $6." The father said, "It's not even worth $2." The mother said, "We have no choice." He begs. The guy said, "This is the most disgusting piece of garment I ever saw. I'm not giving you $6." He said, "I have to send my kids to yeshiva." He left with $6. The boys brought in the $6. The father never had a suit again. But you know what the father bought in exchange for those $6? Over a hundred great grandchildren who are all Shimra Tyra umvvice. Cuz that one decision was not just a one-time decision. It reverberates until today. The man told me Aroen had eight big day kahuna. A regular coen has four big day kahuna. My father had one special garment and he sold it for a doce yarim. My own grandfather grew up in the Bronx in the 1920s and 1930s. Even boys who did go to yeshiva did not stay on the path. My grandfather had a grandfather named Masholam Fish and he would sing Shabasi. He sang Kuri. He sang Kuri Bo with such his that the whole room would shake and that kurib went into my grandfather's bones and kept him loyal to Hashem and the can you imagine? You think that kuri bine was only sang in 1925? That curb bun still reverberates today, five generations later in the five towns in Cedarhurst to my children. You know, it's a very amazing and frightening idea that on yum kipper, hashem doesn't just judge us. You know why it's called yamhakipur? Because Hashem judges even people who are in the MS. Why is Hashem judging people in the MS? They haven't done anything in a very long time. It's because even though their life is finite, what they did is infinite and it continues to bear fruit and it continues to have an effect. As we prepare for yam kipper, it's important to highlight how important we are. Literally everything we do in this world affects the entire creation, the entire world and also reverberates until the very end of time. The decisions you make today, the adjustments you make today, the improvements you make today will reap payrise forever and ever and ever. Yum kipper is the greatest day of the year. Yum kipper is the happiest day of the year. There is no day in the year we could accomplish more for ourselves, for the world, and for all of Israel. May our give us all to do proper chuva to enjoy the yum kipper to make the most out of it and hashem may these adjustments bring us closer to me. Thank you. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by to anytime.com.