L'Chaim! (Ep. 300)

Hi, this is Dovid Orlofsky and welcome back to  the Rabbi Orlofsky show. Whether you're watching   with our friends and producers at Torah Anytime  or wherever you watch or listen to your podcast   and always it is exciting and thrilling  and delightful to have you along with us.   So I want to start before we get to the uh  sponsorship and all the other business that we   have to do with an idea that I've discussed before  and that is what is known as the missing 150 years   of Jewish history. What does that mean? Well, if  you were born like I was uh BAS before art scroll,   then you knew that if you looked at any source  whether it was considered orthodox or not,   they gave the date for the bias reon at 586 B.CE  and the bin of Bay Sheni at 517 B.CE and Bayeni   at 70. So that was how all of them reported the  dates and nobody really thought too much about it.   But when art school came out with their first  publication which was the article McGillis   Esther it began with a chronology that's how it  started and it worked let's work backwards ifi   was 70 the second basda stood for 420 years the  kazal say which means it was built in the year   350 BCE and then since There was 70 years in  between uh of after the first pdish. It means   the first B mish was destroyed in 420 not 586. So  my high there's a major discrepancy here. Well,   that's because historians say it is impossible  for the um Bay Sheni to have been destroyed by   the Babylonians in the year 420. Why? Because we  have a lot of historical writings from the time of   the Greeks. And supposedly Alexander the Great  came to Yusha shortly after Biny Bayeni. That   wouldn't have worked because we knew Alexander's  rebby was Aristotle and Aristotle's radi rebby   was Plato and Plato's rebby was Socrates and that  was the time of the Athenians and we know about   the Pelpeneisian wars and all of that had to have  taken place with Persia after the destruction of   Babylonia. So there's obviously the historians  say 150 years missing which is why they push   it back to 586 more than 150 years but to 586  instead of 420 right okay uh how then do you   square that with Aramaura right we that means  bay sheni stood uh instead of for 400 120 years   um for 550 years, 570 years. Where' those years  go from? Especially when you look in Pikabos and   we have what the Msura was from who to who to  who to who. How do you suddenly erase that? So,   uh the answer they try to give is that just  like um when it says um Musul is a kingdom. So   obviously in the vim and the king are a period of  time was a period of time. There was a whole tufa   of maybe 150 years and that's why when the pika  says shimatic was the last one he was at the end   of that era. That's what they say. Who were all  the names of the people involved? We don't have   any of their names. What historical events  took place? No historical events took place.   Um Solomon Graiselle in his he's secular  and his history of the Jews he has such a   fascinating line. He says for 150 years the world  just went to sleep. Can you find a period of time   in Jewish history for more than 40 years when  nothing happens and here all of a sudden for   150 years everything just stopped? It seems  highly unlikely. So we say that the uh histos are not uh reliable and ours is reliable. We  have a mitzvah to be able to keep track of time   and history and we take it very seriously.  the Greeks who supposedly didn't even begin   uh history until Herodotus and everything  is unreliable especially if you go into   um uh the Gimar McGill because one of their  proofs is look at how many Persian kings there   was Xerxes and Xerxes the great and Xerxes  III and there was antichers and antichers   I Darius and Darius II Darius III and Cyrus  and Dyus the second you know and to say you   know all these names but the G migill says they  were all the same person I think you found 25   names doesn't mean anything because they all had  different names that they were known by right so   uh the the point was that at one point it was  Shiman Schwab and he retracted this position   whether it was because he decided was wrong or  because he got too much pressure I don't know   But he said he embraced the missing in 150 years.  And he said that the kazal did that on purpose so   you would not be able to make calculations about  Msiah. And in fact that's the first time that it   was introduced because there were people who had  a prediction that Mashiach was going to be coming.   And this one fellow wrote a whole piece and said  your calculations don't make any sense anyway   because of the 150 years that are missing. and he  used this to stop the messianic fervor that was   going on. That was the idea. So the point is that  when it comes to calculating Jewish history and   there are people who take this very seriously. I  know some from historians uh who uh otherwise are   quite uh uh loyal to Kazal when it comes to this  point. They just say yeah the historical record   is just too strong on this. So it makes it um it  makes it very complicated. So why am I starting   off with this? Because we are celebrating  the 300th episode of the Rabbi Olowski show or not because how do you exactly  are you calculating it? For example,   there was a tufa we didn't make any episodes. So  are those suspended? You know what about all these   shorts that we did this year for uh all the do  those count as episodes or not count as episodes?   How do you make the whole calculation? But the  fact is Shalma with all of our producers who say   this is the 300th episode. And so welcome to the  300th episode of the Rabowski show. That is the   uh that is the secret and uh that we're going to  work with. Yeah. And whether it's right or wrong,   I'm going to stand by it. Yeah. The words of  Groucho Marks, these are my most firmly held   beliefs. And if you don't like them, I got others.  Anyway, so that's it. So now uh now we can begin   with that very brief introduction. And I start by  reading the uh sponsorship which just says Barak.   Now I don't mean know if that is his name or he  just means that we should be bor but I will read   his sponsorship. I got drunk on some Torah and  made a fool out of myself. And instead of enjoying   the day the Torah way, the whole day was a hazy  blur and I let down my wife and children. I am   a cabinet not to drink any alcohol going forward  except Bartonura wine. Now one has to understand   what exactly the significance is of bartinur wine.  Is that because it has such a low alcohol content?   If that's the qua case, then as Rab Blumenrance  says in his Pesak guide that he continues to put   out even though he's been dead many years, um the  lowest alcohol acceptable wine is Ked Matuk. But   I guess maybe because uh Bartinura is basically  this bubbly wine that you don't really, you know,   drink enough to get drunk on. It's more like sod  pop. So uh whatever it is, but I don't know. So   that's the reason for his sponsorship. And uh that  inspires me. I was inspired by this uh sponsorship   and I want to try to focus on the point that Barak  has made because I think it's something that is   essential. It wasn't essential when I was younger,  but it is essential. But first, some service   announcements. Yeah. Um, I met this week with the  uh manager and the people who are running the NOFK   for PES, me and my son-in-law, and we sat down and  we made our full proposal for our Pesak program.   And I made it clear, I want the entire hotel. I  don't want some I want to be half of us and half   Israelis. I want just my people. I'm only going  to advertise to my people if uh through some and   they said to me what happens if not what happens  if not I said we'll see if by Khan I don't have a   hundred of the 150 rooms sold then you know that  uh that uh that I'm I'm a bluffer and you could   just forget this whole thing but um but I'm pretty  confident that I will I have already gotten emails   from people asking me to save rooms for them and  I have 60 of those rooms already which means there   are still 90 rooms left so don't nobody needs to  panic but these people have been writing to me   on a regular basis saying is there any news when  can I register how is this going to go yeah and   uh I had made up the program and that's what I  told them I said I met with Mark on Isra and I   said I'm ready to do this and they didn't get back  to me till now I said but a week later I made up   this program together with my children. Now,  I've been in programming for years. I ran NCSY   in Long Island for nine years, and we used to make  calendars and programs and chapatunium and stuff.   I put together an unbelievable program, and I  showed it to them. They were extremely impressed.   I've never seen anything like this. And and I  have built into the program uh day programming,   um night programming, day camp programming.  I have uh built into it uh shiiorim women's   shiorim I have a base medish program um uh we have  uh tim it's just there's not enough time there's   not enough time to do everything that I want to  do because as my son-in-law uh mama who came along   with me to this meeting because he he actually  speaks Hebrew and he also knows about business   two things that I know nothing about. So uh so he  had said to me he says you have been planning this   program for 20 years. It's true. It just it just  burst out you know it was just sitting waiting. So   um I was afraid they weren't going to take me  seriously. I was afraid they were going to add   on all condition. They understood immediately cuz  I said listen Americans are not like Israelis.   The stuff that you can get away with Israelis  you can't. And I told them before we make this   program I have to show you because you don't know  how to make pesak brownies non gibr. Yeah. And and   uh and potato cougal because whatever you guys  served last year that wasn't it. Those were not   the things. So I have to show you I cannot bring  in Americans and not give them unpakle and pesa   brownies and they were masim. Yes, we will we will  work with you, you know. And uh Mark, who's the   manager of the hotel, who's just the finest fellow  in in around in the business, he said to me,   "Could we have just one of the omelet stations,  not in the kitchen, just the omelet station that   makes matzubry?" I said, "I can't, you know, and  every hotel in America is non- gabbras. I cannot   let you know Gabros in because people who are very  serious about Gabros will get upset at me you know   and uh I can't have I'm sorry and he gave in  he wasn't happy but he gave in and uh I said   you know anyway they understood already you know  that this is a different kind of thing they said   they will get back to me this week and so Hashem I  will have an announcement on the next podcast and   hopefully we will be ready to uh start uh opening  registration for the Alavski Pesak program. And as   I explained to them, I said, I am not marketing  this as a hotel for Pesak. I'm marketing this as   Pesak with the Olavskis. And uh I said, really,  I'd like to invite all of you over my house. I   just don't have enough sleeping room. So I'm going  here, and this is going to be the Olavski Pesak,   and everyone is invited to join. So, uh, if you're  just looking for a Pesak experience in a hotel,   there are wonderful hotels around where there's  you you nobody will expect anything of you and you   could just go and do your own thing. But if you're  coming here, you're coming because you're part of   the Olavski family pesak program. That's what  I'm selling. And uh, and like I say, I I'm not   trying to give you the most enjoyable vacation.  I'm trying to give you the best pesak and I hope   it'll be a better pesak than the one that you  would have if you stayed home. That's my goal.   That's how I'm trying to do it. So, okay, that's  as far as that goes. The other thing is we've   mentioned that we're going to be making tiered  sponsorships um which is uh going to be starting   with the next podcast. Obviously, not this podcast  because it's this podcast is going on right now,   but on the next podcast, we mentioned in the last  episode that we were going to do it. So, we're   going to be starting with episode 301 or 516. I  don't know. That episode is going to start with   the tiered sponsorships. If you uh you know, you  can have the option to sponsor an entire episode.   Alternatively, you have the option to become one  of the sponsors like they do on some of these,   and I'm not going to mention all of them, but  there are these these things where they have   like a little tiny piece of Torah, you know,  for like one minute and 15 minute of sponsors. So, they usually like will take like a minute out  of my podcast and then make a gazillion dollars   off of it. Anyway, but uh we will have tiered  sponsorships for people who would like to see the   show continue and want to be makaz and hopefully  let us come to the next level. But in order to do   that uh you know of course we need sponsors. So  people who are not able to sponsor entire episode   can participate in that and uh that information  will be uh posted on the website raviolski.com.   Okay, I think that's all the uh all of the  business. Uh hopefully next week we'll be starting   our new question and answer podcast. I spoke about  this last time, but just for those who may have   missed it, just like we have the para and five  since we have a backlog of questions because when   we first started the show, producer ML noticed  that I was only taking 45 minutes for the podcast.   He says, "You have 15 minutes left at the end.  Why don't you take questions from the audience?"   Which as the as I passed hundreds of episodes, I  suddenly realize that I can just keep talking. I   don't have to stop. That's why no one knows what  I'm talking about unless you're in my age group.   But I I mentioned this to a younger a younger  person. They didn't even know I was talking about   answering machines. They used to be like answering  machines on phones, you know? says you can leave   it on unlimited but then you find some sick person  who just keeps talking you know and it'll drive   you crazy enough so uh today nobody even knows  what that means in answering machine yeah but   uh so I could just keep talking apparently so we  have a big backlog of questions so we're going to   start doing like five minute question answers  now not every question is uh matim for that   is is appropriate for that some of them require  more time yeah Um, spoiler alert. Yeah, I I just   recorded a bunch of para in five and uh, one of  the episodes it turns out that it was para in 10.   So, I just kept talking, you know, and nobody told  me to stop, so I just kept going. So, uh, that's   a problem I have, you know. You know, this is  the song that never ends. It just goes on and on   and on. This is the song that never ends. It just  goes on and on and on. This is the song that never   Anyway, I'm stopping myself, but I could keep  going. You know how sometimes a little kid will   go to you, "Nah." And you go, "Yeah." And he goes,  "Nah." And eventually the adult gives up. In my   case, the kid gives up because I just keep going  because I am relentless. And I am more annoying   than any four-year-old I have ever encountered.  [Music] Okay, so that's uh business. Okay,   so those will hopefully be starting next week. We  will take questions. Like I say, some questions   deserve an entire podcast. And I have done that  in the past where I've took took a question,   I made that the whole podcast. And uh some of them  are longer, so we'll have to figure out what to do   with those. Maybe I'll do a podcast of a few of  the longer questions that aren't a full podcast.   So, uh, that's that's all of that was business  business. Now, um, for those who forgot the   sponsorship that Barak said, he got drunk on some  and made a fool out of himself and, uh, ended up   letting down my wife and children. Somebody told  me, there was a whole article in Mishbah recently.   I've already established that I don't read the  Mishbaka. I read the Kles. They're coming out   with a new book which I'm guessing is a collection  of kickles. That's just my guess. I don't think   they decided to write like, you know, insights in  the para. They usually take all their comments,   make a book out of it, you know, and uh they  asked me for Haskama, which of course I didn't   do immediately and so I forgot. So, if I can still  send it in, I I think I will. And if not, they   said they'll just take whatever they want that  I've said in the past. And I'm a big fan of the   Kles. So I read the Kles and then I go to uh to  the women's section and read the family table and   uh look at all their recipes and just chuckle cuz  there's absolutely nothing there that I would ever   make. And I don't know, I've been making chicken  soup for no over 55 years. And I don't know,   I find that a pretty simple process. I put in a  chicken and vegetables and water and I boil it up   for a very long time and somehow they're always  sautéing something. They're doing this, they're   doing that. They find 19 other things to do, you  know, or they have a soup recipe and uh and then   they say add like uh you know uh eight cups of  chicken stock or vegetable stock. If I had that,   I would eat that. What do I have to take it and  stick it into your soup for? I haven't understood   that. You know, they always forget about it. I'll  make a vegetable soup and eat that. I have to make   a vegetable soup and then take it and pour it into  your dopey soup. Not on my watch. Thank you. Yeah.   So, uh I don't I don't get it. You know, but  people say no because you have to start with   a basis. No, you don't. I saw I saw like these  things for uh onion soup and the onion soup,   you know, if you're making it pariff, you need  vegetable stock and if you're making it flesh,   you can eat chicken stock. And I was like, then  why why don't why are you making an onion soup?   Just make those soups. You know, I make an onion  soup and there's nothing in it but different types   of onions. You know what? It's delicious. And so,  okay, you need different types of onions. There   was a restaurant. I don't think it's open anymore,  but it was called Pelum. Um, I think it went out   of business, but I took my wife there once, and  they had something called a five onion soup. That   was more or less where I drew my inspiration from.  A five onion soup, which uses five different types   of onions. And I thought, "Wow, that's that's  really clever." Yeah. And uh and then when we   first came to Israel when we were married 1982 um  we went to this little Milkig restaurant called   Tuvam. It's not open anymore. And we ordered the  onion soup and I said, "Wow, this is a great onion   soup." Now maybe it had stock in it that I don't  know about, but um and I set out to recreate that   over the years. So I have a great onion. I'm  sure I've given the recipe already, but since   this is the 300th episode and at some point  when I did when we established this is a show,   not a shear. So I uh I said I'll give up recipes,  you know. So um you start off with again I can't   give you amounts because it depends on the size of  the pot if you're making a big pot, a small pot,   but anywhere from six to eight white onions. When  I say white onions, I mean yellow onions. Onions,   just plain onions. I know in America, they have  like eight different types of onions. Here, they   don't. They have, I think, what's called yellow  onions. Uh, and um, you slice them up into rings   and take the rings apart. That's probably the most  labor intensive part. And then you put in some   olive oil. And you don't need a lot. And you fry  the onions. and keep frying them until they get   uh dark brown. Now, you could put on a very  low heat and leave it for a very long time,   or you could put it on a high heat like I do and  and give it a stir and then go into my room and   look up something on the computer and then my  wife says, "Your onion soup is burning." And   then run back and stir it again and then go back  to my room. And this this process goes on for a   while anyway until they're pretty dark brown. And  then I add some flour. If I had to guesstimate, I   would say 2 tablespoons of flour. And I mix it in  until it becomes a paste. And then I add a picture   of water. When I say a picture of water, I mean  two quarts. And I bring it to a boil. And then   when it boils, I add um some red dry red wine.  I assume dry white wine would be just as good,   if not better. But I don't have dry white wine. So  I add some dry red wine. How much? Like this.ugug. I don't know how much that is, but you could  take a bottle of red wine and pour it out into   a little bowl and gougug. Let me know how much  that is. So, that's the red wine that I add. And   uh and then I add uh anywhere from three to  five red onions depending on their size. And   those I don't make into slices. I make them  into chunks. I mix them in. I mix it up.   And uh I add another two lers of water and I bring  it to a boil. And when that comes to a boil then   I add a chopped up leak and uh then I add some  spices. What spices do I add? Salt, pepper, and   uh curry. Sometimes I add cumin um or something  like that. one of those kind of spices cuz that's   what they had in tube time. That's what gave  it that little extra taste. I put that in. How   much? Like, you know, shake it around a little  bit like that. Yeah. See how much that is. And   um and uh and then I bring it to a  boil. And if I see it's very thick,   I'll add another picture of water. And if  not, then I lower it and let it simmer until   it reduces a little bit and gets thick. That's it.  And it's it's onion soup. And there's no vegetable   stock and there's no chicken stock. There's no  meat stock. It's just onions. It's the onion   soup. And people are shocked by how tasty it is.  Shocked because it's basically just onions. But   uh I don't need anything else. I can't tell  you how many recipes I see where they add in   uh onion soup mix. Well, duh. What is the point  of that? You make yourself an onion soup and you   add an onion soup mix. Okay. I'm uh Hashem,  as you can see, after 300 episodes, I'm still   not on Rolin. I should be, but I'm not. Right.  Okay. Okay. So um uh so apparently in the Mishb there was a whole long article of the problem  of alcoholism in the firm community. Now is   this a problem? I mean they're bringing anecdotal  evidence but have I seen it? So I will give the   background. This I've definitely spoken about  in the past. So this is just a khaz. Yeah.   But it's important. There was a time when it was  understood Jews don't drink. Rabbi left, not the   one of Mosha Mat left, who was the programming,  he was in charge of programming for the OU. So   he told me that they made the U convention in  a hotel and he told me the story. He says at   the end they said well on the one hand this was  the best behaved convention we ever had. Nobody   were throwing things out the windows. Nobody was  you know carrying on in the middle of the night.   You know very well behaved. Go figure. The U  convention was like uh you know rather sedate. He   says but we make a lot of our money at the bar and  I never had a convention where people don't drink.   People don't drink. Jackie Mason used to do that  routine where he'd say at the end of the show,   I could tell you right away who's a Jew and who's  a Gentile. Every Gentile say the same thing. Want   to drink? Want to drink? What about him? Want to  drink? And every Jew will say the same thing. Did   you eat it? I ate. I didn't have cake. I didn't  have coffee. I had cake. Coffee. You know that.   You know, they don't drink. It was known that  Jews didn't drink. When I was a kid, they'd   put out some bottles schnaps, some cheap bottle  schnaps, you know, at the kdish and some old man   eating herring on a k hair growing out of both of  his ears would say. I was like, why? It burns. It   stinks. You know, I enjoy why would I have that? I  could have a glass of soda. You know what I mean?   Why or pop depending where you come from? Yeah. or  fizzy drinks if you I know we have people watching   all over the world. It's amazing. Yeah. And uh  but whatever you call it. Mashka. Yeah. So I have   Israelis who watch this show, you know. They tell  me Heb can't get any more at the podcast. I said,   "Do you speak English?" A little. I have to  translate some of these terms, you know. Why would   anyone drink it? So I remember when I got married  1982, my father bought me a bottle of Shivitz   Regal, which is a blended scotch, and a bottle  of Crown Royal, which is I think a rye, Canadian   rye. Yeah. And he says to me, "This will last you  the rest of your life cuz Jews don't drink." And   uh I understood that we never drank. go. It  wasn't wasn't considered part of the uh the thing,   you know. Um I went to speak in England and uh  they told me that at their dinner last year they   had Vendel Jones, a biblical archaeologist speak.  And uh he's not Jewish. He wasn't Jewish. He's   not with us anymore. very Jewish uh adjacent but  not actually Jewish. So in England, very uh very   European. I said, "Would you like and he's like  sure?" Anyway, by the time he got up to speak,   he was wasted. He was holding on cuz everyone kept  ordering him. So by a Jew like you know I get a I   sit there at the table and it takes me the whole  night to get through half of it you know because I   I don't drink you know when I ran NCSY I'd go to a  trophy place to get trophies for or sports leagues   and things and uh they had a bar in the trophy  uhh place a bar right there with a tap beer and   whatever you want and I said why wouldn't a trophy  place have Ver he says because in Long Island,   which is where I was running it, most of the uh  fire departments are volunteer fire departments.   They can't afford a city can have a professional  fire department, but little community can. So,   it's all volunteers. Yeah. And uh they give out  awards. All right. That's how they keep everybody   involved. You say they don't have any money,  so they give them covered, you know, they give   them trophies and awards, you know, for different  things. He says, and I never heard this expression   beforehand, says firemen have wooden legs. That  means no matter how much they drink, it just fills   up their legs. They could just keep drinking  forever and ever. There's no limit to it. So,   they come here to buy their trophies because they  know they can get a free drink along with it. So,   uh amazing concept, you know, but uh but Jews as  a as a rule didn't drink. It was it was not the   thing. Yeah. Wine. Wine. When I was growing  up, there was one kosher wine, manachevitz,   extra heavy malaga. You would slice a piece of  it and put it in your cup. When Yehuda says,   "I would drink the adalicis and have a headache  until he drank extra heavy malaga." Of this,   I have no question. This was nobody wanted to do  this. They got uh at the time um Sammy Davis Jr.   to advertise it and you hold up a  glass, you know, mano manosvitz. Ah, mano manos, but nobody was like kishing to  drink that. Yeah, there wasn't only manevas to   be fair. There was Mag and David. I think  Shapiro had come out at some point with the   extra heavy balaga, you know, but these were not  real wines. Caramel brought in from Israel some   types of wines. They had uh a little bit more  of a selection, but uh but for the most part,   nobody nobody was you didn't find kosher wines.  In fact, uh it was an amazing thing. There's   there's there's something about the era that  I grew up on that is very hard to understand   and that is there were all these kosher hotels up  in the Catskills. The premiere of them all was of   course Gingers. Gingers was so large it had its  own zip code and its own post office. Uh Gingers   had a gigantic lake. They had fishing. They had  uh water skiing. They had boating. Uh they had   uh skiing in the winter. Uh they had golf  courses. They had u uh indoor miniature   golf. They just the most amazing facilities. Yeah.  And they had, you know, firstname entertainment.   And they had an enormous amount of food.  And of course, it was kosher. was kosher. The only thing is um that in the nightclub you  could get non-coosher wines. Why? Because people   wanted wines and there were no kosher wines.  Nobody was like could you hit me with a glass   of extra heavy malaga, you know, like you know,  whoa, we're going crazy tonight, you know. And   uh and this was an issue the whole time. People  say, how could you do this? How could you do this?   you know and um the answer was there wasn't  any. Of course today situation has changed   dramatic. We have kosher wines that win awards in  categories of wines not kosher wines wines. Yeah.   And so of course this has transformed the habits  of many from Jews when it comes to drinking wine.   It is not unusual to find aim learning in  with their parents' credit cards who will   on a shabas drink a bottle of $200 or $300 wine.  I know this from people who have been there and   have testified to this. You know, now I'm not  saying you have to get the $4 bedat wine with   a picture of the holiday on the outside. I'm not  going that far, you know. But, uh, $200 $300 for   a bottle of wine. Yeah. Anyway, as time went  on, uh, I would eventually move to show and,   uh, we'd have Bakram. I'll never forget this. It  was one Friday night that these three Bakram came   and they brought as a gift a bottle of Shivas.  Now usually when people come they bring these you   know four shekele bad wines or they bring uh you  know a 10 shekele bunch of flowers you know bottle   shivers my gosh that's a lifetime supply and when  they left the bottle was empty and I didn't have   any and I said we're not in Kansas anymore Toto  you know there things are changing here that I'm   not aware of and as time went on you started to  hear stories more and more of guys getting drunk   in Yeshiva on a Friday night and sleeping  through the whole Shabas which to me seemed   um astounding to me. Never heard that. I we  heard of people singing through the whole Shabas   but that's just because they're I can relate  to that but not because they were drunk you   know and pur people would sometimes drink some  people would sometimes drink you know I was in   yeshiva in Rochester and Purum was on a Friday  and this one guy got drunk you know and he slept   through all of shabas he woke up mot and he was so  impressed with himself how He he did the mitzvah and he said to me, "Ah, you see  that I was at the Shabas." I said,   "That was great." So you were mitzvah  of kesh at night. You were matzvah of at night. You were mat um sudas. you  were mataleshma during the day, you know,   and and not to mention all the duraban, you know,  and you go through all the different and the   durab in order to do a din that you could fulfill  according to the ra by drinking raas and sleeping   for a half an hour. So, um, so I don't understand.  Like I said, I've never had a timer to get drunk.   I don't understand it. So, um, but this was  happening with more and more frequency. Now,   someone told me if you go to a mah in America  today, it's all drinking. They just put out   bottles and bottles and everybody just staggers  home. I happened to be in America once. I happened   to go to a uh sham and sure enough, everyone's  drinking and drinking and drinking. I don't even   understand it. I don't understand it. I've told  this story before. My father-in-law lived in   Queens and he died in the sh that was more like  able old Europe was there and after he was nifa.   So slowly the congregation was uh fading away.  Some of them passed away. Some of them moved   to Florida, which is essentially the same thing  as far as I can tell. I think that when you die,   you go to Florida. That's what I think. Certainly,  if you if you're go there in the summer, you know,   then you for sure I'm sure it's mim, you know. I  was there once in September. We were just hoping   for a hurricane to cool everything down.  It was just so so you I had taken a shower,   got dressed, I walked from the door of my house  to the street for my ride. I was soaking wet.   It's just unbelievable. But if you go there  like in the winter, it's Kavaldi. But New   Yorkers better get used to it because Madani  gets elected. You better I I quote the words   of Governor DeSantis who said, "I didn't think  property prices could get any higher down here." But that's anyway. Yeah. So my father-in-law, so  a lot of the people in his were either passing   away or moving away. So they had to bring in young  people. So uh the new RV who took over says, "I'll   make a kittish every week." So my father-in-law  says to me, "These young people come to the   kdish." And like I said, they used to always put  out a bottle of like red label or something like   that. You know, people make a he goes they come  with bottles of expensive whiskey. must a single   malt scotch says and they end up walking home  drunk. He says, "I've never seen this. Everyone   knows Jews don't drink." I said, "Well, it must  be they're not Jewish." He says, "No, you can't   say that." I said, "What I mean is their mitzvah  observant go, but a sensitivity that Jews have,   they don't have." Rabbi Weinbach of Shalom told me  once he says remember an article in Time magazine   where they were talking about why there was no  alcoholism in the community and he says you know   there's an expression the Jews have a non-Jew is  a drunk but a Jew Jew doesn't drink you know and   uh and at some point that began to change and  then there were certain people who said well   scotches are too expensive we're going to switch  to bourbons and then they started buying all these   expensive bourbons. Uh, and then there's the  expensive wines. And it's not unusual to see   people who get drunk Friday night and sleep it  off the rest of Shabas. And apparently that's what   this article was talking about. What it is for  the kids, what it is for the wife, what it is for   everybody involved when the father just gets drunk  and cannot function. Debilitating drinking. It's   an amazing amazing concept. Yeah. Okay. So, pur  at least you have a mitzvah. The only reason to   that people drink is because you know you usually  it goes past. So you stop to have a kdish and you   have a at the kdish. But this kind of drinking. So  some people say well they drink so that they can   dance with more kavana. They more exciting when  they dance. Apparently drunk people dance better.   When one of my uh daughters was getting married,  the other side said, "Do you want to provide uh   alcohol for the boys?" And I was like, "No, I'll  have a bottle there for my friends who come and   want to have a but why would I give it out to the  boys?" So he explained to me patiently, you know,   many fathers like to put out uh you know, alcohol  for the boys because then they dance better.   I said, 'Well, if my future son-in-law doesn't  have anybody wants to dance with them unless   they're drunk, tell him not to come.' He says,  'I understand.' And they sent out the word Bob B.   Everyone bring your own booze. They did. And it  was certainly a lot of led dancing. Not my type   of dancing, but as far as drunk revalry goes,  it definitely qualified. You know that kind of   stuff. If you like that kind of stuff. So this is  a serious problem today. And like I say, Barak is   sponsoring this podcast to be mafarame this which  by the way takes a tremendous amount of guts to   be able to do this. Yeah. Because most people deny  that they have a problem. No. What are you talking   about? I had a few drinks here that you know. Uh  one last story. When I was up in the mountains by   my good friend Rabin Hammer Zatsal. Uh we went to  him his his summer home for the uh for Shabas this   rabbitson and his kids. He died two weeks later  while we were there. So my son Mashie Huda came   for Shabas and he says he has to run out. He's  got a a gig on Arab Shabas. I said a gig on Arab   Shabas. He says yeah I'm playing music at a taima.  I said what? He says, "You know how there's um   it's brought down that you should taste the food  Arab shabas." So I said, "Yeah." He says, "Like   all things in Yiddish Kite, this has been twisted  into something ugly and unrecognizable." So they   make a party Friday afternoon and they bring  out all the different food and all the different   drinks and they hire music and they have a tima.  Now, I'm pretty sure this is not what the had in   mind when they said, "Taste the food to make sure  that it's good." So, I said, "You're kidding me,   right?" He says, "No, no, no. This is tremendous."  Because it used to be that these Balabatim would   get drunk Friday night and then sleep off the  rest of Shabas. Now, they get drunk already   on Friday afternoon and they're already passed  out. I I I I could not find the words for it.   I was in far rock away. I won't mention where,  but I was at a shaw and uh it was hard to stop   him because there was so much noise from the back  room. And finally I asked somebody what's going   on and he said you know they have a little  kiddish club there. I said Friday night yeah   they make their own little kittish and they  have food and they're drinking and drinking.   They'll all be wasted by the time they go home.  So, okay, we understand the problem. All right,   this is this is clear. Why why do people want  to get drunk? So, I've told this story before. I was talking about I was in class.  I was teaching in seminary and I was   talking about Jewish concerts. I said, 'I  don't understand Jewish concerts. I push   it. Don't get the whole thing. They used  to have concerts. They'd have four going and the organ would go, you know, it's like now that to me is um basically  assisted suicide. I don't know why anybody would   voluntarily go to that, but okay. But that  was it. And then at some point you would   have I guess a concert where people would sing  a few songs you know and that's all that it was.   I saw a video once of the Deakers reunion  at the H concert, right? Avery Robinberg   is playing the guitar and the three of  them are standing around and then they go and then they stop and then he plays on the piano  and they will just stand there. That's basically   it. And then at some point they realized, well, we  have to provide entertainment. So, um, Rak Gooden   pulls together 25 little kids, dresses them up in  little sailor outfits, puts them on the stage. La coordinated. Oh, now it's already a show.  Yeah. Um, I don't know if anybody's old   enough to remember in the m music world there  was somebody by the name of Yehuda exclamation   mark. So Yehuda exclamation mark was in my shir  when I was teaching once and then you know he   went back to America and became a something of a  music sensation for a while and I happened to be   a Scotland residence at a PES hotel and he was  doing a concert. So he met one of my kids and uh   he says oh Mr. Exclamation uh I think you were in  my father's shirt. He goes oh your father's here   please tell him to come to the concert. Okay. So,  I stopped in. I'm not I'm not a fan of concerts.   I I don't I don't get it. I really don't. I can  listen to the music in the privacy of my own room   and you know, I don't know what I gain by it being  live exactly, you know. And he's rollerblading and   he's putting on costumes and he's throwing out  party favors and uh just sing just what what   what's going on here, you know? So then you have  the people who uh base themselves on uh like the   Schlom Kalbach method where he sings a song and  then he tells a story while he strums the guitar,   you know, and then he sings another song and  then he tells another story and like that. And so   there are these people who feel like they have to  talk, but nothing personal. I would have gone to   a speaker if I wanted to hear somebody talk, just  sing. So, I understand if you're introducing the   song and giving some background to the song, but  you're saying your little over here. I mean, oh,   what am I, you know, you're a singer, just stay  in your lane, you know, but okay. But there's all   kinds of entertainment and you know, so someone  told me a story. I'll tell you the way the person   told me the story and I did not check out this  story. So, it could be it's completely false. So,   I won't mention the name of the singer because  as I always say, I'm not Pesak Cron. I don't   check out my stories. I just tell them guy says  to me I was at the H concert and this very famous   well-known Jewish singer comes out and he's  singing whatever song he was singing and then   suddenly two dancers come out Broadway dancers  and they're dancing on either side of him doing   all kinds of exciting moves and he's singing  away and at some point he puts it microphone   in the stand and he starts doing the dance.  They obviously practiced this da da da da and   the whole place goes wild. And the guy says to me,  I was sitting there and I said to myself, is this   stone? What is this? I need two gaisha dancers  dancing along with this guy singing some Jewish   song. So when Miami boys choir wanted to come to  Israel the first time, they went to the Badats   to ask Rishus to do a concert. They never heard  of a concert. They said, "Maz concert, you know. They said, "What kind of simka is this?" So he made it in  Tel Aiv instead. But it was such a great question.   What What kind of sim is this? You're making a  simka. So, one of the girls said, this was some   years back and it stuck with me because our lives  are so sad that we need a reason to be happy. And I realized, wow. That's that's the secret.  You see, people addicted to their phones. People   addicted to their phones are the same thing as  people watch TV. There aren't TVs today. I don't   know if they're still around but you know people  at a certain point just sit there and watch TV.   I've mentioned this Rabbi Center said the ty of  our generation of the boys of our generation is   not to go out and do a vis. It's to binge watch  eight seasons of a TV show. Just sit there and   watch and watch and watch, you know, go to the  the bathroom, get something to eat. You know, some   people they just get they'll get by with the pens,  whatever it is. They're not leaving. They're going   to sit there and binge watch a TV show forever and  ever because people don't want to do stuff. They   want to watch stuff. They escape into a world of  fantasy and then they don't have to deal with real   life. Yeah. It was a very powerful film by Woody  Allen about this called The Purple Rose of Cairo   about this woman who has during the depression.  She has a marriage is is terrible. She has no   money. Her husband doesn't have a job. She works  as a waitress all day. The only thing she does,   she goes to the movies and watches the movies and  she escapes into the movies and uh and eventually   she's watching this one kind of uh you know  English, you know, uh uh drawing room film,   etc. And the guy, the star turns and looks at her  and says, "You know, you've seen this movie now   35 times." And they're like, "Reginald, who are  you talking to?" He goes, "The woman out there."   and he steps out of the screen. Anyway,  she starts running around with this guy,   but of course, he's an imaginary character.  This is hurting the real actor's career. So,   he goes and pretends to fall in love with her and  she says goodbye to the makebelieve guy who goes   back in the film and they turn it off. And then,  of course, the real actor runs away and leaves   her and she's left with nothing but her miserable  life. But the line she says is, "I have to choose   reality." But reality was terrible. So people  escape into movies. They escape into into binge   watching things. They escape into non-reality.  And that's what drugs and alcohol do for us.   I knew a girl who was addicted to a pretty  serious drug and uh and it went on for year   and a half and I I finally got her to speak  to someone from my halfway house and they said   just come in for a checkup. We could just  see if you've done any permanent damage,   if there's things we can do to you know  she wouldn't go and I was like why not just   think for once and she goes you don't get it. I'm  afraid to think. That's why I take the drugs. So,   people start off by drinking. Maybe because it's  a social thing. Everybody's drinking. Yeah. Not   everybody is antisocial at an iconic class like  I am. And so, um, uh, they everybody's drinking,   so they'll drink. And then after a while they  like the way it makes them feel and so they   look forward to drinking again until it takes  over their life. Now me I these kind of things   don't interest me. When I was a kid everybody was  smoking and I said I'm going to try a cigarette.   It was terrible. It stunk. It burnt my mouth.  It was like gh I I I I took three or four puffs.   I was like, "How does anybody do this?" They  said, "You got to get used to it." I said,   "Why? Why would I get used to this?" You know,  it's terrible. I've had a few limes over the   years. Like I say, I have trouble getting it down  cuz scotch comes in three flavors. Disgusting,   unbelievably disgusting, and undrinkable. There's  something called lafrage. That's in the third   category, you know. And and and uh and it's just  like why would anyone do this? And the answer is   because they get high and they like being high.  But I don't need that because I'm high all the   time. All right. It's very interesting. I can't go  on roller coasters. My kids made fun of me once,   you know, even a ferris wheel. I start freaking  out. And I didn't know why until I read in   um Scientific American that people with ADD can't  handle roller coasters because they're already on   a roller coaster and it's just sensory overload.  So I'm already high. I got so much going on. I   I look at life. I see everything that's  happening. I don't need I don't need any   escapism. If I have to escape, I have ADD. I can  disappear inside of my head and go someplace else,   you know. But I have so much fun just looking at  life and seeing what's going on and enjoying it.   And I I just entertain myself. My wife sees every  video and then I just start laughing. She goes,   "You just told yourself a joke." I said, "Yeah,  it's a great one. I entertain myself constantly.   You don't need to get drunk to do it." But this is  what's so sad. I'm I'm sure I've told this before   as well. You know, I used to teach the rabbis  a course and how to answer basic questions on   Judaism. And they would ask me, "So, what question  can't you answer?" said, "What I can't answer is   when people ask me, Rabbi, I hear everything  you say about how wonderful Yiddish is. So,   how come I meet so many from people who are  miserable and I don't know what to tell them?"   So I've been doing that for 25 years and someone  ratted on me to Rabbi Olawwick and Rabbi Olawwick   says to me, "Dove it, you can't say that.  You don't know that they're miserable. You   can say they look miserable, but you can't say  that they are miserable." And I said, "Rebby,   I hear what you're saying." But whenever I ask  this to a from crowd, they tell me why they're   miserable. They don't say, "No, it's not true.  I don't know what you're talking about. We're   all very happy." They say, "Look, we have so many  kids and there's so much work and money is tight   and we have to have two jobs and pay tuitions and  that." They explain to me why they're miserable.   It means that there's so many from people who  look miserable because they are miserable. And that that is a condemnation of us as a as a  community to the point that a person's got to go   out and get themselves drunk to numb the pain of  their of their difficult and painful existence. Because the fact of the matter is a guy came up to me once a role. He says,  "You said once that your wife is your best   friend. Do you really believe that?" And  I said, "Yeah, truth is he's probably my   only friend because nobody talks to me because  I've alienated everyone I know." But he said,   I said, "Yeah." So he says, "My  wife's not my best friend. In fact,   sometimes it gets very difficult." But I thought  maybe, okay, I'm crazy. And I went around to the   whole coal. Nobody said their wife was their best  friend. Everybody found their marriage difficult. Uh, one guy said it was absolutely terrible. So I  said, "So what do you do?" because eventually you   die, you know. So that means assuming that this,  you know, sort of ad hoc, you know, you know, uh,   non-scientific study, there's a lot of people  whose marriages aren't happy. A lot of people   don't have relationships with their kids. A lot  of people don't find fulfillment in work. A lot   of people are not happy with the Yiddish kite. So  I understand why they get drunk because their life   is is not doing it what it's supposed to be doing.  So, being a member of the Rabbi Alowski community,   I cannot tell you how many emails I get  from people and I don't have time to do   any questions. Surprise, surprise. But I will read  my appreciation comment that was sent to me. Dear   Rabbi Alowski, I want to let you know that you're  just what the doctor ordered. By the way, I have   gotten emails over the years from at least a dozen  people who told me that they were going through   serious medical difficulties and just listening to  my shir was what carried them through. So really,   you should be able to sign up from the mad.  Anyway, I guess in all of my preeuntive rush,   I forgot to renew my anti-depressant prescription.  I'm working on it, but in the meantime, I need an   alternative. I'm listening to back issues of  your podcast because in the absence of SSRI,   it's the next best thing and it doesn't  even require prescription. So, thank you   for the health benefits your podcast provides a  grateful listener. That's my my my mission to show   everybody the beauty and the happiness that's in  Yiddish kite. And that's what we want to do. And   hashem, if you come and join us for pesak, we  will give you the happiest PES you've ever had.   And in the meantime, you can find out more about  this show by going to my website, rabelowski.com.   You can sign up for one of my online shurim.  Uh you can uh uh sponsor an episode, sponsor a   para in five, uh sponsor a question and answer,  listen to the theme song, and that's about it.   Until next time, I am David Alowski and this has  been the 300th episode of the Rabbi Olowski Show. It's the Rabbi Orlovski Show. Torah and Sima,  ready to go. The Rabbi Olowski show. Knowledge   and wisdom will help you grow. Lots of fun in  every episode. And we don't have to rhyme. No,   we don't. It's the Rabbi Orlavski show on rabbi  orki.com to anytime YouTube and more. It's Rabbi   Olowski show. Torah and ready to go. It's  the Rabbi orski show. Till next time till   we meet again. The Rabbi Olowski show. It's  the Rabbi Show. It's the Rabbi Olowski show.