The 3 Weeks: Rav Azaryah Figo reveals the 3 Reasons We Are Still in Galus

This Torah class is brought to you by tora anytime.com. >> Okay. It's just amazing how many Italian gdylum fit into the para. Just unbelievable how just joking. Um we're going to speak today about a great god of Israel whose name was Rabbi Aaria Figo of Aaria Figo. So we we spoke so far about Ra Emmanuel Kayiki. We spoke about Rabhuda de Modina. We're going to speak about Raazaria Figo and hopefully uh this one will be uh somewhat connected to the three weeks. And if you were here Wednesday then uh this you'll you'll have a greater appreciation what we're going to do today. Razar Figo was the RV of the city of Pisa. Pisa and then in the city of his birthplace which was um Venice. Actually uh I think it's the opposite. He started out in Venice and then he he went to Pisa afterwards. Um so far if you know anything about Venice you realize Venice was a real Renaissance city. Some of the Rabanam there were not your typical uh right-wing uh you know they they were very broad-minded and uh Raazar Figo began in in uh Venice. He was born in Venice. So who was he? >> We're talking about the year Shin Lamas 339. So that's the year 1579. He passed away in the year 1647. >> So it's the same time as the one that we have. >> Okay. So again, he's 1579. >> That that um Rabhuda de Modino was born in 1571 and he passed away in 1648. He passed away in 1647. So yes, they were at the same time and we'll learn they actually had a very close relationship. A very close relationship. Okay. So who is Rabazar Figo? First of all, Raazaro is a Talmid of the Beerva. Who's the Beerva? Rabbi Beer Islandberg. You ever hear the s beer? It's one of the manas beer. If anybody could figure out Oh, one of the manas. He wrote a san and other in the back of the safer on you have and the true voice are the questions raarigo asks his island. So for example listen to these words that he calls his the light of Israel. He says, "Maybe the reason you didn't respond." He says, "I wasn't to get a response." He says whatever the reason is the great But basically he says like this he concludes a letter I am the smallest of your um so here we see the great humility and submissiveness that the rebaro had to his reb Rabi Islandberg. Now I just want to tell you a little bit about um of course this safer should be becoming very familiar to you. The shame of the which is the bibliography of all the and all the written before the times of and in his entry of he says was a of kadeshit the medilas pul. Well, he was a tal of the >> Where's Gitia? Where's the >> Gitia? I don't know. >> Where does it mean? >> And he was a of yafa. Who's the lavush? So the bear was a of the lavush. And he writes about this many times. He actually wrote on shas in places where there's nois. He wrote and he writes in his he that um he read the tal and the and he sent the to the and they gave him including galante and other great who who was he shakar We find in the he conversed and he corresponded with the chuma. Anybody know who the Gdle Chuma is? Raaria Figo. Raaria Figo is the author of Gdull Chuma. That's a safer you should be familiar with the name of and we'll talk about it soon. At the end of his life, the BVA was a RV in the Ashka Naza community invasant work. There's something called right a super commentary. Super com is what a commentary on a commentary. There are many super commentaries on Rashi. For example, the guri mascul one of the great super commentaries on Rashi is something called was written by the red book. >> Yeah. The of Yeah. However, on his way to the was killed as a carbon he went up to. So one rebi of is the beesa. Another rebi of rabaro none other than was his main rebi. Okay. So with all of the different things we learned about he produced as we're going to see one of the all-time great Israel. If you look at number four in the in the introduction to the the new print of the now the main maybe the main contribution of the is the safer is a safer of it's considered the father of all the classic are considered to be offshoots of the okay you should be familiar with that he's the father of daranim and he he was mabel um from his mina who was the chief daran in Venice and he was the main rebar now you would then expect rabbi that if your rebi is mina you would expect that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree you would expect the bazaro to be quite a personality and quite colorful and quite um versatile, >> right? >> And quite well uh and quite knowledgeable in all the disciplines and on this area he disagreed with his rebi at first he was very knowledgeable in all disciplines and he retracted his position and he argued on his rebi about this. So even though was very pronounced and very uh and emphasized and excelled in all disciplines, however ran away from that and went away from all and he considered it um detraction from so for example in the in megiml writes that we know the manoyra has seven branches represent presents all the disciplines of knowledge. So the writes the represents all disciplines. You know why the the you know why it's engraved to indicate to indicate that all the are engraved in the Torah itself. Torah knowledge does not require any other discipline. All knowledge is in the Tyra. The Torah is all chiseled of gold from it and in it itself emanates the seven disciplines. In other words, you don't need to know chemistry to know Tyra. You don't need mathematics to know Tyra. Just the opposite. Tory has in it all disciplines. The illumination of the lamps demonstrate. It's the Torah that illuminates the other disciplines and not vice versa, not the other disciplines that illuminate it. My rabbis, I want to show you something unbelievable. >> You find I'm studying different philosophies also. It's not >> the Ram says about other they are the maid servants. They're basically the schmatas the the ram calls are theatas that are used for the the main discipline but >> yeah and that's why they they didn't most had the difficulty with the rama they didn't they they had trouble with Rama um but I want to tell you look what the the razaro writes in his hakama to the gull chuma what is the gduma one of the most important works on monetary matters is something called is primarily based on the reshine. The inbud is primarily based on the and on the is the greatest commentary on the chumis is the gul chuma of none other than >> figo or in English scholars spell it p i c i o or o but it's pronounced figoazaria figo well he wrote the for aid truma and he writes an amazing thing he says Ko is Hashem. The God of thoughts is Hashem. God knows our thoughts and our footsteps. He can know and testify that I spent my childhood in emptiness. The writes I wasted away my youth doing what? In the love of the Gentiles, which is what? I wasted my youth learning secular knowledge. >> Oh, excuse me. But basically as soon as I reached the beginning of adolescence said God bestowed upon me a kindness. My eyes were opened for my foolishness. My eyes were blinded. And now I see clearly or the shame of my youth that I wasted away my youth by focusing on >> secondary things and I made what was important secondary. was second important. I am ashamed that I weakened myself from Torah which and what is learning means learning all those who are from comes out the achievement of the success of the soul by fulfilling what Hashem wants. My soul, my spirit melts. I'm lacking. I worry about the future. Look in the next paragraph. I paid attention to chase out the maidservant which is what secular knowledge and I said return to your wife to your to your husband who's my husband to your mistress excuse me to your your um msam so I chased out my pursuit of secular knowledge and I returned myself to the main woman and that is the Gamarra. you know how old he was when he decided he said he said >> so a very surprising thing here you have somebody who um was a tal of and if you remember anything about him you would think that uh being well broad-minded would be part of part of the and nevertheless in this regard Rabarigo was able to turn away from it and I think I think a very important part of it was um the fact one second >> I think a very important fact was that he was able to move out of Venice because Venice was the Renaissance city and in Venice um the only Torah approach maybe would not be uh >> would be the the the uh in tune with the times but look what he writes God took me out of the city of Venice. I went to Pisa. I found in there a glorious from the kindness of their desire. They took care of me. I didn't have to look anywhere even though I was young. They placed they placed responsibility on my weak shoulders. and says the says this was really providential. You know why? fearing people. It was probably a little bit of a different environment there than in the environment in Venice. But Merai, what years are we talking about? >> 17. >> We're talking about >> 1569. >> He's born in 1579. >> What happened very recently in in Italy? They burnt the Tammud in the 1540s and there were not too many Gumaras around. And when you're trying to write a parish on shas, one thing you definitely need >> is the >> is gamaras. >> Probably had it in the Vatican library. >> And he did not have any. He did not have gumaras. And he writes, look at number eight. I was missing everything. I only had threeasakama nazer. We're talking about one of the alltime great. He only had three. I only had a few. He will will bestow upon me to present me whatever I need. And I made up I decided I'm just going to start writing to bring it to completion. And I I decided to take it upon myself. I couldn't start immediately. I couldn't start and so forth because I didn't have the garra. I started with the topics that are found in the songs that I had and that's how I began and um the hashka was I started writing and as I started writing Hashem brought my way of here and there either by borrowing from a nearby city or some other way and other I just wrote a little here a little there a little bit on this plot a little on that block and blot and As the matter um continued all the years in the year of Pisa, I was able to write the majority of my work >> until eventually I was able to return to Venice and to serve the kila kadisha in Venice. Rabai interesting we found find over here. So he wrote two main works the safer of and the it's sort of an appreciation to Hashem that he was to produce the chum well in one of the early editions of gidul chuma there's a hama from the great ain rabbim zman margolius a contemporary cyher And he writes that his great-grandfather the shak is the classic work on what the shak heard about the say forumish that um I guess a big amount of money He went to look for it. He in other words the spent a lot of money to try to get a hold of the safe. Let me tell you what the writes about about Gidle Chuma. He writes, look at number 11. He's one of the Rabon in Venice. He wrote the Gidul Chuma in the year akash. Yeah. What's the year avkash? basically it's a gamatria 1643 the binoim and he wrote that were never published says the I found in a kina that the ram is in the of the who is the ramaz it's not the school Yeah. Really not this cool. What? Ramas is Ramosha Zakuto. >> No. >> Who's Ramos Mosha Zakuto? >> The rabbi. The the rebi of >> the Ram's Rebi. Ram's Rebi was Rabbi Shay Basson. Rabi Shay Basson's Rebi was Ramosha Zakut. Ramosha Zakut is buried right next to Rami Pano. Okay, we'll get to him more. The Ram Pano died. Excuse me. Ra Razar Figo died in the year Taz. What year is the year Taz? 1647. Okay, I want to tell you a few things that he says. Um first of all in the in paras if you'll say in your heart these nations are too great for for us. They're much greater than us. They're much more powerful than us. They're stronger than us. Says let me explain to you these. He says, I don't want to go too far in being over here. You know what the means? If you think you could conquer the trusting in your multitudes, then you should tackle be afraid. You read the P like this. If you're confident, then you should be afraid. But if you say [Music] we can't conquer them, if you have the proper humility and understand you really can't conquer them, then don't be afraid. In other words, a very noob shot. The simple reading of the PK is if what if you say in your heart how will I conquer them? Hashem says don't worry I assure you it will be okay. No that's not what it means. It's only if you say in your heart that you can conquer. If you say if you say look we have the best air force in the world we have the strongest army in the world. Then you have no chance. If you say we can't do it and you realize your vulnerability only then Hashem says I I give you the promise of then this is the main offering for today. We're in the three weeks now. And we know Mikdash was destroyed. And the question is why are we still here? Why are we still here? What sin are we doing today that we're still in Galos? Say I know this. I heard this. I heard that. Good. >> You'll let me know after the sh we're going to hear now what the says. What is the reason why we're still in galas? says the rea number one I'll tell you very quickly number one number two we avoid paying taxes number three these are the three reasons we're still engulfed huh yeah you heard me the reasons We're still in G says obvious. Number two, we don't like to pay taxes to the government. Oh, finagle this, finagle that, this. No, we don't pay taxes. Why? Because if God wants you to be in gol, golos means you're subject to the government. You're going to come up with the how not to be subject to the government. Says, I put you in golus. So when you are ready to accept golos, then you'll stay there. Then I'll bring you gula. But if you're trying to get out of the gullus, then you're defeating the whole purpose. Well, you're starting to outsmart Hashem. Hashem wants you to pay taxes. He wants you to have difficulty with the government. He wants you to give your money to a country that you don't agree with the president does with the money. >> How about you live in Israel? >> What? >> How about if you live in Israel? >> Huh? >> How about if you live in Israel? >> Then also, >> are you running? Are you running >> number three? >> Are you running for the Democrat? >> No, definitely not. >> This is an endorser. Last thing I would ever do is support the Democrat party. No, I believe in capitalism. I do not believe in giving the country over to government. I believe the people actually or some of them have a right to govern themselves. Okay. Um look at number two. So the number 13 says once we know we brought it on ourself. You need to know. We got to know what the sins are. You want to know what the sins are? They're too many to list. You know what the sins? They're too many to list. Let me tell you the main three. Number one, >> basically we fight. We can't get along. We can't stand each other. [Music] Let's take revenge. We don't want peace. This leprosy has spread since the second base of was destroyed. We haven't gotten written of this illness. Okay, that we all know. Number two, we defeat the purpose of galas. Golus means gullis. You know what golus is? Being submissive to those who rule on us. All we want to do is you know throw off the yoke. I don't pay there's second thing. So the se second reason we're in gullus is the income tax is is uh not accurate. So he says so when are we getting out of here? I said I don't know. Number three this this one also not this is not a commercial for accountants. Number three bitter like wormwood. We didn't right by ba we didn't have the three big sins >> right we didn't have the big three that was only not >> it's not one of the big three but basically the Jews in terms of two out of the three were good nobody here nobody's bowing down to Buddhas and nobody's killing thank god it is unheard of the Jewish people either of these two once in a you know occasionally but it's not something that we we worry about but the third one we're not careful properly the breaches have been broken in many different ways all kinds of destruction publicly without shame. What's he talking about? Huh? >> Before television, right? >> He's talking about many breaches in our whether it's guarding our eyes, guarding our ears, guarding the company that we associate with, guarding the way we speak. This is one of the big reasons we're still in Galas Arayos. And he writes about this in another place in Jud as well. I want to just tell you that there was a third there was a third safer that the figure wrote he wrote on which are actually printed in every it's called you open up aa you see on the side oh you probably never heard in your life who wrote it it's written by a figo one of the interesting things he writes over here is that it's brought down in that once you go to a RV and he asks or something. You can't take it to another. >> He says, "Not true. Not anymore." He says, "That used to be when Raan knew what they were talking about." But >> he's going back to the >> But a R who just he doesn't know. So he says better not to. It's not ups. Anyone could say better not to. Man, if the if a no is not a definitive no, then you could take it to someone else to get a yes. He says like this very interesting thing. The same way it's to make where you need to be. It's also to if you're allowed to do it, it's equally as bad. Look at number 15. Why the you know what kind of they are? They're they have no like a blind man in a window. Say you can matter because nobody would matter unless they have a clear proof. People who ask us because they don't know. The same way a cannot m something which is you can't answer something which is m. Now I want to show you another interesting chuva and it give you an idea what's going on in Venice. One of his was the shar abuhab was a of rabaro had three great abuhab mosha zakuto. So now you could really trace back his rebi was his rebi was was his rebi was his rebi was huda modina. So if you want to know who is the Ram Khal's great great great great great great rebihina right well in the chub you have to know what was going on over there in Venice at the time theater was very much a part of life going to the theater we're not talking about the theater >> yeah we're talking about the Italian >> theater this whole period >> renance was like a little bit before >> had already started >> yeah had Yeah. So even among the Jewish community theater was very prominent part including a number of ramim who would go to the theater. So even though was against secular knowledge but his tal writes to him writes Abuab to his >> theaters the circuses what goes on there Men, women and children sit together to watch Gilas and not only that they have to pay for it. Writes, you are the officer of Hashem. I am writing to you. Let's see. Let's see what he writes. Then the act of Yeah. No sir. Yeah. Just So he writes, look a little bit down. The last just please turn it off. He writes >> Yeah. The You see I skipped about 12 lines. The last word on the line is oi by the space over there. >> Yeah. I'm so uh trembling. How the sages of the generation have just >> hit her face. >> Hit her face like an ostrich in paras. Now you want to know this is paras here. Why are there no canon? Why don't the rabbis get together and say Jews can't go to the theater? The Basically, Rebby, you need to speak up. You're gonna go to the opera and hear some fat woman shrieking that somebody that her husband went off with some other lady. What were you wasting your time? He said many So basically so you're learning a little bit about um the times where Abuab is asking his rebi you know you have the ability you have the capacity why don't you do something >> it's surprising that Figo didn't do it without his having told him >> well >> yeah well you if you familiar with what was going on in Venice at the time >> he said otherwise >> no it it was it was part of the culture as we learned interesting >> other vices which were very prevalent during that time. Okay. So he had three great Abuab who like we mentioned was um one of the in Venice. Um he wrote the safer was dev and Mosha Zakuto here. Look at number 18. Ra Zakuto was a Rav in Venice and then Arav in Mantova. Who was he? A Talmet of Rabbin Alvi the father of Rabi. H and who was another one of the Rab Zakuta so now is the Tal of Rabigo themed of Raash Zakut was Rabyam Cohen who remembers who Raben was the father-in-law of Basson the Ram all of these should be and should be all of You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by tora anytime.com.