66: The Power of Sweetness

I is Deborah Lansky welcome to the rabbit Lasky show thank you very much and well the other thing I entire anytime calm or wherever you watch or listen to your podcast we're so happy to have you along responsive this week I don't know if I can say bittersweet and it's sort of because it's sort of bitter so I'll read you the dedication if I get some of the names wrong I hope you'll forgive me the share is sponsored by Jason Letterman you suck Lisbon check Adam Markowitz Jason Moore Shalom Silverman's Reuben Schnitzer and David Zissou Leroy knishmas rabbi Labe shmuel ben david who is rabbi Labe Yeager who was beloved by hundreds of tombi demand whose lives he impacted in an extremely profound way he wore his simplest simplest hime on his face constantly and his keen intellect and positive outlook were instantly recognizable by everyone he met his vibrant personality and boundless energy for Torah and gross Kassadin were a constant inspiration to those around him Baba Yaga was a special Nostromo who passed away on Rosh Hashanah this really has a very personal touch for me I had this cause of knowing rebel Jager we taught together he also grew up in Long Island and went to Hank we shared a Rebbe very well and he was so one and so caring and in his last year's he was the machiya in the Jerusalem Gardens Hotel and we would sometimes go and just visit with him and just schmooze with him and the stories you used to tell us about cash was net cell and and what has to be done in order to maintain those standards it was just just that so much Jewish my team and as it says he had such a smile on his face and he had such love for people especially as tall medium and I remember when we used to teach together he would go a hundred miles out of his way for any Talmud and that was just it was just such an incredible person and I once heard a woman say about another powerful mafia who died young he used to say that sometimes the candles that burned the brightest burn out faster and he was such a bright candle and it's a squiz for me to be able to dedicate this podcast to his memory and it should be exquisite for him and for his family and it's just just a terrible tragic you know I guess I guess we could tie this in as parshas told us you know I mentioned that he was much here he said that when he first took over the hotel so he had to uh you know wash the vegetables so he asked for this cleaner they had a bottle of this cleaner he says that's good I need like another ten cases of this they're like well the other much gas never did that because I'm sure that he did not and he says to get everything up to a hundred percent this is a tremendous amount of work there's a tremendous emphasis you know toll dose his generations talking about Yitzhak giving birth to Yaakov and Asaph and so we finally have introduced to all of the of us I remember it's a videographer Ava told us yet segment Avraham I've remotely deceits lucky I brought me it's and then they give birth to Yakko so that's everybody's and all three players are here everything's all lined up rifki is having unusual pain and to go see you she's ashamed behavior and ask some what's going on they say Schnee babbitt may you have two nations in your womb but certain game says Rashi two great ones are inside of you Yaakov and Asaph who is this prophecy referring to rip you who Tejano see and the Roman Emperor Antoninus the Roman Empire is of course descended from Rome Edom and obviously reviewed that Nazis descended from Yakko the Jewish people and these two leaders had a had a relationship two of them worked together the Chimera tells us it's because when they were children their mothers switched the babies and when Reb Lee's mother nursed Antoninus that gave him the ability to be able to have more of a bent toward spirituality and he used to learn used to learned with Rebbe and this very special relationship was that moment it's referring to the two of them why because the two of them studied Torah because the two of them were world leaders the two of them were great because it never left from their table lettuce or radishes even in the best neighborhoods it's a cold weather the warm weather they always had all the vegetables in the table and that is the prophecy for all the generations that these two people had all the vegetables on their table regardless of the season okay so let's get to the story where they take the Broca's the Jewish people take the bronze the film again says all of clay shows history was involved in that story of Yaakov Aveeno taking the brahs Asaph comes in from the field he's hungry and he sees Yaakov is cooking a stew and it says Tenley madammadam Isaiah give me from this red red stuff that's the reason he's called Adam says Rashi Jakob was cooking red lentils and that's why it was red and that's the reason that ASA was called red I assume if he was making cream of broccoli soup he would have been called green I guess if it was a cauliflower soup he'd be called white I suppose if it was a butternut squash go spoopy be called orange he apparently is called red because he was cooking a red soup yeah and continues Rashi why was he cooking a red soup he was cooking lentils because Avraham had died Avram died five years early says Rashi because everybody was supposed to live to 180 gets Huck lived to 180 Yaakov lived to a hundred and forty seven but Rashi says he lost 33 years because of that little speech he gave to Pyrrha and I remember 275 he should have lived 280 but he died early so he shouldn't see Asaph go after Dara because he wanted to die where he saw everything was good you swallowed ajooba he saw yes married with children you know everything was good no go go go out on a high and you know and happy anything in Jewish history usually lasts or about five years that's about it I love it you're Mendes difficulty pops up but but well okay you know we we had Avram passes away and so Yakko was preparing the suitors have our special meal that you bring to the mourner he he brings him making lentils and Rashi says white lentils follow this lentils around and they remind you of the circle of life people were born and people died that certainly was last week's partial kaiser starts with Sarah dying it ends with a ver I'm dying yes God gets married Avram gets remarried that there's a circle and the other thing is it has no opening because the mourner doesn't speak one who doesn't have words so says Rashi he was cooking lentils because lentils are round and lentils don't have an opening and that's the reason that mourners today eat eggs because they're round and they don't have an opening let's follow this again he was cooking lentils because lentils are round and lentils don't have an opening and that's why we eat eggs you see the problem I asked this to a group once why then don't we give them lentils and they said cuz nobody likes lentils no apparently this is not true I have seen restaurants where they serve lentil soup and evidently this is certainly acceptable certain societies the lentil soup but that do they add that lentils and weed eggs I said Shivan America and they keep bringing bagels now I understand bagels around but they have an open I don't think you should bring bialys they don't have them I live in Israel we don't have to be Allah's here yeah it's like a big ol everybody sort of filled in in a little bit you could get a bagel where you where you fill in the middle and that's called a roll not quite the same thing but but I guess the bagel is rounds they bring bagels when my father passed away that week I ate more bagels than I can possibly even imagine I could not look at a bagel for the rest of the year it was just too traumatic I got over it but this is so strange you know why Edom is called Edom because he was cooking lentils and why was he cooking lentils because they're round they don't have an opening in us what we eat eggs wait we're not done yet suck you suck at this point is considered dead we know this because Hashem refers you know he says to Yaakov allocate you talk and you know I can only say allocate when someone's dead nom and they're still alive your talk was blind he was a living carbon he was so out of this world and yet Hawk has realized this is that coming towards the end of his life he wasn't but he and I get nervous if get nervous when when you're near the time when your mother died when your father died and he was the other time when his mother passed away so he calls it ace of his oldest son and he says to him I'm going to give you the brothers first bring me madam in tasty food bring me something yummy to eat then I'll give you the brother and so Asaph goes out to prepare madam in the meantime rifki here's the conversation tells you talk listen to me I'm a Navi I'm gonna tell you what to do here you are gonna dress up like your brother Asaph and you're gonna bring your father month I'm a man I'm gonna prepare mother men like I know he likes yummy tasty food and he brings it in and he tastes it and Rashi says he tastes all the tastes in the world and he calls in so he looks at Yaakov and he gives him all the bras and afterwards when a sub comes in he couldn't see this is who are you he says I'm a self he says then who was that because my spin Yaakov this is what could I do I already ate from all of his mat omim I ate from his yummy food and I gave him the brother now why is you took apparently centering all this around yummy food there's this idea people say it the name of the stapler I spoke to someone who ever done it was close to the stapler he says the story never happened I don't know if it did or didn't sometimes it doesn't matter what the story actually happened or not sometimes the story is has a life of its own this person went he says he had trouble getting a up for his daughter so this time I said did you make a kiddush he says no this is too bad you missed out on all those breakfast and my neighborhood there was a seminary for Bali chuhwa called Nevada shil I am and every now and then a girl used to make herself a kiddush on Chavez to get all those breakfasts cuz she was looking for sure and her parents I can imagine did not make her a kid so a guy he says to me once a he knew the story and he says what am I making a kiddush for to get all the brothers I have to cope everybody to invite them to the kitchen anyway so I'll just call them up and say I make my I had a baby I had a baby girl and I'll give me the Braja I don't have to make a case so I said you see from the story of his hug you get a bread Abraha when you give people mad I mean you know give somebody yummy food you're gonna get a better brother than her you just call them up and tell them something and they say oh okay Mazel Tov you know you want a yummy brother but okay that's that's for us Yitzhak who is so rou-ha-nee so spiritual so out of this world that he was already considered not even alive in this world he this is what he's worried about when rifka sees him the first time she falls off the camel and or this this fellow is so out of this world and he wants mata min he wants yummy tasty food we need a little explanation what's going on over here and the answer is I probably told the story already but that's one of my favorite stories I was at a encounter conference in Cape Town South Africa and and I was on a panel with a Catholic teacher a Muslim teacher myself and a secular Jewish teacher and they were asking questions about religion and this one kid as the Muslim teacher as a Muslim teacher in a Jewish school did you ever have any bad experiences and she said yes one time a girl came over and offered me something to eat and I said I can't I'm fasting she goes but you were fasting last week says yes last week this week for another two weeks it's Ramadan and we fast for a whole month and the girl said that's the craziest thing I ever heard I couldn't believe that a Jewish girl couldn't have respect for somebody else's religion well you can imagine the tension in the room I felt like I had to do something I said I want to say something in this young lady's defense she wasn't attacking a religion it's just impossible for a Jew to conceive of fasting for a month it goes against everything we stand for as a people what we stand for as a people is eating that's what we do Jews eat yeah I remember a Jackie Mason wants to this routine no he says he says you'll know right away at the end of the show who's a Jew does a Gentile every Gentile will say the same thing you have a drink have a drink let's go get a drink how about you had a drink who's got a drink every Jew will say the same thing did you eat yet I ate didn't fkk have a coffee okay coffee Jersey that's what we do I found at least three places in the some safer we he brings down certain foods we eat on certain occasions and why and the fact is that every holidays associated with the food and Pesach obviously week matzah if you if you could Brock might surprise matzo balls this is part of the holiday if you don't get Brooklyn I don't even know why you're still Jewish I mean I take anyone's customs god forbid it's just I can't even conceive anyway shrews cheesecake yeah Sean is the Apple and honey tissue above nor yes once tissue Rob they said you know the egg with the ashes I said even on a fast day we have a food associate we do Zeit because food is as somebody pointed out to me years ago the area of halakha that has the most hollowness associated with it is Shabbos the next area that has the most Halak is associated with it is Cassius all the different loads of caches which means that eating has within it the greatest potential for holiness that's why there was so many laws associated with it when we eat we're able to take the the power of that food to be able to use it in a positive way the spice Emma says when they came and tear its shell they found these enormous fruits this is why would the fruit so big says because when you eat this two parts the eating one is the physical sustenance and the other one is the spiritual sustenance and the posix says that Coach Baraka took away the spirituality from the Kanaan him who were there you've died there was nothing to protect them and so they headed to have much larger fruits to sustain them because the spiritual energy wasn't there the more spiritual the fruit and the the greater is the potential for it and that's why there are some fruit that have appeal just removed citrus fruits there are some fruits that have a core like an apple there are some fruits that have a pit like a date the fruit that is seen as having the most soilless and the least amount of fruit is a pomegranate and that's why it says the worst Jew is like a pomegranate because even though there's so much you have to peel away there's all those little dots of sweetness and the fruit that is closest to spirituality is the fig because except for the stem which of course if you did miss nice Oaks and it's not actually part of the fruit the entire thing is edible the seeds the the flesh the peel and everything about it is edible there's a there's a power to eating and that's why almost everything we do in Judaism is associated with a meal you have a bris this meal as we saw in parshas Vera no you have a you have a pigeon a Ben there's a meal and because I'll say that's that's worth dozens of fast days and if you eat the Suda at a at a pigeon event you know everything's a super Smith fanatic only eats it as soon as mitzvah sitting down to eat a meal this lovely couple who became religious and they always tell people you know they came to our house for Shabbos and that's the reason I became religious and they tell over the Shabbos and then one thing they say is I never saw so much eating before now that's not just because of us that's the average Jew appreciate this non-jews have two big meals Thanksgiving and Xmas that's it and they go to the dining room they take out their China and they have a pseudo and there's so much being written about it how do you get through Thanksgiving how do you manage how do you handle all this food honey here do all the cooking you gotta make a turkey and stuffing and sweet potatoes and and the mashed potatoes and an apple pie and the cranberries you know we call that every Friday night every front would they call Thanksgiving we go out every Friday night and all the eggs that they go through yeah we do that every week we have Thanksgiving every single week only we have two meals oh yeah Thanksgiving and then we have another Thanksgiving every single week and then you wonder why type 2 diabetes Oh such a high occurrence of that Jewish community yeah we eat and there's so much associated with it because within that eating there's so much potential to take that food and turn it into our ugliest so yes hook says I'm giving the brothers of the world I have to see whoever I give the brothers to can make math American figure out how to find the power that's in the physicality and how to use it in a positive way that all the tastes are there he tasted everything in those tastes there's only one other case will be finding that that's called by the Munn it tastes like whatever you wanted it tastes like the Gemara breakfast was very somber Ryan we used to eat the Paris Guinness or which were these unusually sweet fruit and they fermented on the vine so there was sort of someone intoxicating it says they would eat these until they they were they were going out of their mind from the power of these fruit i went to russia shapiro explained because of the time eight IRA to get the taste the taste of torah you have to appreciate taste shimon peres mataira Chris Brown who created fruit he could have made one fruit a tasty food I know everyone talks about summer fruits I to me it's I find his least area it's row with the fruit is such a different experience they just you know I was able to find in the store custard food it's the sort of green scaly fruit with these gigantic pits but when it gets soft it's literally like custard you cut it in half you eat it out with a spoon so sweet and creamy persimmons and Kiwis and and pineapple and pomegranates and and pomelo and you know oranges and and the Clementine is and grapefruits and the the the array of fruit that's available and we only have a small version of it fun fact there are hundreds of types of apples most of us are familiar with Red Delicious McIntosh Golden Delicious maybe Rome Beauty few other types there are hundreds of types of apples but they have not been commercialized because they don't last very long and they have a tendency to go bad fast so they've you know they've worked with trees they almost never plant a tree commercially from seed kitchen on what you're gonna get they always keep crossbreeding trees so they get just the fruit that they want and then they only take stems from that tree and grow new trees go Red Delicious apples are basically shaped like a cube and they have a very long shelf life and they're but there are there's a farm in upstate New York hundreds of types of apples there some apples they said that are so sweet you can't believe it I read once that there are fruit tours there's certain fruit that you just can't export because they don't have the shelf life people travel around the world to taste these different types of fruit the power the power of the fruit the power of the sweetness of this various tastes we take them in and we use it to appreciate Torah we take the food and we use it to be able to achieve roomiest able to achieve spirituality rebby and Antoninus knew how to be able to take the fruit and as some of them foreign point out those that grow agora above ground and those that go below ground because they represent the revealed torah and the hidden Torah why was Yaakov cooking rifki should be doing the cooking he was cooking because he was making the suitors have road to bring to his father and Rashi says white lentils Christie round and they don't have an opening that's why we eat eggs why because it doesn't matter whether it's lentils or whether it's eggs he wasn't cooking Lent those he was cooking something that was round and didn't have an opening and whether it's lentils or whether it's eggs doesn't make a difference it's what I'm cooking what the meaning of the food is Asaph comes in and he looks in the pot and he says looks good smells good give me some of this red stuff and Yaakov looks at him and says aren't you wondering why I'm cooking maybe you should look in the pot in the same room what's he cooking why is it red lentils why would he make a lentil so lentils around lentils don't have an opening that's what you would give to a mourner I could be David I know better run in and see and see Tata and give him a give you know Manaka motto all he looked at was the external there was no meaning to it looks good smells good tastes good give me them that red stuff and that's why he's called Edom because oh he looked at was the way the food tasted and not what the meaning of the food was yet Sparky was totally spiritual but he understood that math I'm in those tastes can help us understand what Judy's was all about what toy is all about give me a different perspective on life that's why I could about who created it come on you feel me says review who they used to save up money to buy every new fruit that came out to be able to get those tastes look at that appreciation food is there for us to use to elevate us and elevate this world so how appropriate or behavior spent his last years as a mascara making sure that the food that people ate were of a spiritual nature I don't know about anybody else but this podcast makes me hungry I'm gonna go eat something and we should all uh we should all learn the power the power that lies inside of the food take a moment to appreciate it peel a Clementina look at it smell it taste it hold it in your mouth savor it enjoy it it's something that's special something to enjoy and that's it for this week if you want to find out more about the show go to River Alaska calm you know the drill yeah you can add comments see my upcoming schedule contact me directly if you want to sponsor an episode go to reverie allow ski that consolation podcast my name is Devin allow ski and this is the raviolo ski show [Music]