Pesach Program 5: The Four Sons

[Music] hi this is Deborah Orlowski and welcome to the rabbi allow ski show a special Pesach program got my matzo thai we're a little set and we are getting ready for the seder you've already cleaned your entire house you've done all you shopping you've done with your cooking you're just sitting with your feet up enjoying a pace to dick a cup of coffee so you don't want to bring any comments into the house and nothing to do but sit and go through your hug others and get ready the he shunned of the Hisham the love I say novella no gotta get into the mood yeah my father basically read through he didn't do much commentary I just remember whenever he would come to the HMDA he would say in every generation there's somebody who wants to destroy us a Hitler Haman somebody who wants to destroy us it's true it's true there's always somebody it's a lot of people out there don't like us yeah so so I welcome you to our special pays of program whether you're listening on tour any time whatsoever you listen to your podcast so watch your podcast it's a thrill to be able to have you with us and for this special Pesach program edition we have a sponsor for this show this is from the tarlowe family who say in honor of their daughter Haley who turned us on to the rabbi allow ski show good for you or Haley in this course that she should continue to inspire others become closer and closer to Hashem what a beautiful thing and a special thank you out there to all of the people who let other people know about the rebel on ski show because it's it's an amazing thing does he use Shiva you know it's true I won't mention the name I don't know if they were to publicize I heard this from somebody in the issue that Boehner Venice Dharam all the Rebane crowd into the room what do they have a computer because they need a computer to be able to look up you know the 80,000 far room that they have on and they put on forever now with the rubber Alaska show and the hala hala harvies on it what exactly is the deep message burlesque is giving you Christ this week and as somebody wrote me that the 8th grade class in South Shore and Long Island Bay are average fans they asked me to give him a shout-out so Sal's show you Shiva way to go yeah so uh so wash em so if you think that this is something worthwhile share with your friends tell people about it say why why aren't you participating and being part of the rubber galovski movement okay anyway we're talking we're talking about pace on now is interesting a little bit of history I mentioned this I actually just mentioned this I was approached for the Ahmadiyya muhammediye in English if I would write a column on national and I said I don't know nothing about phenom so so they said you have kids you know about you know so it was it was surely before Pesach and I wrote a series of articles there was actually five articles on the Dalit bottom if you go to reverie Alaska calm those articles are there I guess you could just search for the four sons and you know it'll be my articles because I only have three sons you would have to go and look for my three sons but then you would end up seeing a little clips from about Fred MacMurray that's a deep cut anyway but but we talked about this so I'm gonna sum it up a little bit and it's an absolutely astounding section of not gonna connect it Arabic Birnam Debra Tyra Russia occurred Tom el coche know the initial let's understand what that means we learn out things in the Torah from an extra love from a mahpic hey that they put a little dot in the letter hey we learn things out from there we learn things out from because they were shovels from heck ish things that aren't spelled out and yet the Torah felt it was necessary to give us three separate sukham that we have to dharshan to come up with for sons to teach us that there are four different types of children the wise son the wicked son the simple son of the son who doesn't know how to ask why and the answer is because say tonight there is a mitzvah to tell the story of you'd see us miss right and so if there's one place where the Torah is going to teach us educational methodology it's going to be the night of the Seder because okay I have a friend of mine who's a plumber he has a much easier life than I do not as exciting but easier why because he goes in to fix something and if the person says afterwards I don't think you're a good plumber so you say okay bring in another plumber no there's a toilet flush flushes yeah it fills the tank fills up I did my job it's objective but when you're a speaker you can't afterwards say I gave a great speech it's your fault that you didn't appreciate it you're not gonna be rehired it's your job to understand who you are speaking to and speak to them I I might have mentioned this in treble mo who was many years and help and keep academy long beach and had this course he was living next to us for many years and used to say to me darshanam need to read the buzick differently a 9mm ve'lo euro as nyam eyes but they can't see the ears you have to understand whether or not the people are relating to what you're saying - and therefore a speaker has to know am i over everybody's head do I need to make it more you have to you have to gear your message to the people that you're speaking to I prepared once a brilliant educational program and pushes for you here - up a tone and see why I had one with you suckers foolin and one with Shimon lady I had two different ones even though the brook has some but they were trying to say about his future him like this contrast I got there and I realized these people don't know anything so I ditched it I said okay no tonight we're talking about anti-semitism tomorrow we're gonna talk about into marriage to mom talk about things that they relate to the people I was a magician we mentioned this some podcasts ago and I remember I had a book called the amateur magicians handbook Henry hey if I recall correctly and the introduction he tells the story about a fellow who advertised himself as a magician ventriloquist entertainer at the end of the show the person who hired him said I saw the first - when do we see the third because it doesn't matter whether or not technically you did the right thing people have to feel it people have to you have to relate to people so simply says Miss ryeom as the posix said he got it to live in LA by Yamaha lame or you have to tell it to your son in a way that he's gonna be able to get the message and this is an art form to be able to get the message and sometimes you have to present it in different ways and certainly to different audiences so there are different types of kids that's what the Torah is telling us the Torah is giving us different sukham to tell you here's how you speak to each kid let's start with the Russia yeah so the most fascinating is the Russia yeah mama does Oh sock em why are you doing this now what should we do with him obviously pull him close Bheema care of him tell him an inspirational stories get him back I thought we say haka as shineth now my question of his interesting expression my father used to say wrap him in the mouth that's not exactly what it means but it certainly is what my father meant but yeah Hika enough and say this is what I Shem did for me if you were there you wouldn't been saved no it seems to me certainly on the surface that that's a somewhat ineffective response I say I don't believe in all this so see yeah well if you were there you wouldn't been saved I don't believe there was it there yeah well it works out well yeah like when a person says you know you know you're gonna burn in hell I don't believe in Hell then you're really gonna burn in hell I don't believe in it so I say I don't believe in all this stuff so then I say you're right you're right this is what I Shem did for me if you were there you weren't them and saved what's the response the response is really profound there's a fifth son everyone says this he's the one who doesn't come to the Seder but the Russia wants to be at the table he wants to be counted as part of the Jewish people he wants to be recognized as legitimate and he wants to sit at the Seder and he wants to MacIsaac wants to make fun so why is he coming because it's a cute cultural experience no sit on the floor play with a dreidel eat potato latkes it's great you know have a say don't I get crazy whatever you know you know what be some matzo a little you know give up the fish and you know sing a couple songs and then it's a cultural experience but what do you but you're taking this seriously I remember if North Weinberg once said in America you could be a Jew or a Christian or a Muslim as long as you don't take it seriously once you start to take it seriously yeah we've seen this now in Congress were a number of judges to a Catholic or um being interviewed by the you know by the Congress and the Senators they asking questions like you know you're Catholic what's your personal views on abortion was it in other words they don't want you to be able to be honest they want you not to have a religion if you have a religion that's already negative unless you say clearly I don't believe it I'm I'm a Christian but I don't believe it I'm a Catholic but I don't believe in it but if you believe in it that's a very problem when I supposed to be taking this too seriously so um mommy those does look him so what we're saying to him is something profound and it's something that I have said whenever I have an opportunity and I always look for these opportunities because I want to understand where people are coming from I talk to Christians that talk to Muslims I talked to secular Jews I took to reform I talked to conservative to anybody who will talk to me to try to understand where they're coming from and I've asked this question to reform Jews why you reformed you cuz orthodoxy is Messiah genic and it's a racist that I said okay you've explained to me why I shouldn't be an Orthodox Jew why should I be reformed Jim because the author actually I said okay fine you want okay I'm done I'm not Orthodox anymore why should I be reformed you know how hot that is to answer a part of people part of a mission I said you don't believe there's a god it's certainly not a personal guide the majority of reform rabbis don't believe from the poll don't believe in a personal God there's a may be a force in history etc none of them believe that the Torah is me see nine it's definitely written by people yeah I once heard of a phone grab on the radio I said of course it wasn't ripped my God God would never write this or write that because I'm you know personal friends with God which is interesting because you don't believe there is a God you know it's certainly not a personal God but you already know what he would write or what he wouldn't write so then you say the uncomfortable question then why be a Jew for the morality as max I'd de menthe in his famous history the Jews writes with the destruction of the Temple removed one-third of the laws of the Torah those relating to offerings and to ritual purity and with the reform movement were removed the second third relating to all the ritualistic laws leaving us with nothing but the morality great so I have to be a Jew I just have to be a moralist I just have to be a moral individual this know reasonably Jew and the fact that there's no answer to the question explains why so many Jews have disappeared why should it be true for what for a book of fairytales the famous story there was a conservative rabbi of a Sephardic shul darn too many conservative articles and Los Angeles and he got up say tonight sure and he said you should just know this is a fairy tale it never happened never happened archaeology has proven that you see is Faust Rahim never took place there was no Exodus to his oh this there's no ten plagues the whole thing is make-believe thank you very much have a good hunter yeah and so families went home and the Seder was all set up and they said put everything away the rabbi said this is it this is in trouble this isn't true so he tried to save it of course we understand what it means to be slaves it's the message that's the important thing is that great but let's say the message the important thing so I don't need the actual I don't need the actual rituals and we'll just make-believe why are you here that's the question we're asking to the rush how cash in of doesn't mean I care like big means take a bite out of him blunt his teeth they got the bite what are you what are you so upset for I agree with you this is nonsense it's a book of fairytales what do you have in a satyr foot I don't know if I told this question or not but I I grew up in a conservative synagogue in Long Island the East Meadow Jewish Center and they had a mmm like a newsletter the East Meadow Observer little ironic yeah think about the East Meadow non-observable but I remember before huh before Purim the Education chairman wrote an article about how the Purim story never took place and you know really Esther is the goddess a start and the Mordecai was this person got the whole thing is a pressure fairy so my father shows it to me I looked at it and I said okay he Cappy copied the whole thing out of Gray's hills Solomon gray cells history of the Jews the same exact article I said I'm not gonna argue the pros and cons I have one question for him how can he ask his kids to go to synagogue on on per dad I'm too old for the Easter Bunny I'm too old for Santa Claus could you imagine telling an adult we should go to church today so that we can celebrate Santa Claus flying through the sky going into people's chimneys and bringing gifts you gotta be out of your mind okay it's a cute little story you want to tell the children but you expect adults that come to synagogue to celebrate a Persian fairy tale you expect people to sit down and have a seder and eat the mots and go through the whole thing when it's not true there's no answer to this question there was no answer to this question that the ends we give the Russia I understand so why you here yeah the wife son says maja ate this for food giving me spot a machete version I can't ask him did you do you hear that what are these laws and statutes and and testimonies I think at that right yeah that our Lord our God commanded you whoa we just beat up in the rush because he said mama doors lock em and now the hokum says STM very important to the untrained ear the hokum can sound like a Russian yeah well he asked questions you know people get nervous I was in a school where I was brought in to answer basic questions and where the girls said you shouldn't answer questions it takes away from your moon up shooter I said moon a puta what does that mean you just believe you don't ask any questions you just believe I said then you will never have the faith of a Mormon the Mormons the greatest a moon in the world if you stay in a Marriott you know in some hotels they put like a New Testament in the in the little desk drawer the Gideons but in the Marriott they put in a book of the Borman so I read this I read the introduction at least plan read all book it's fascinating Joseph Smith who had been arrested a number of times for fraud that by the way was not in the book of the moments I happen to have research this acclaims that an angel led him to a mountain in upstate New York where yashka after the crucifixion he did not go straight to heaven he went to upstate New York which is kind of strange because according to them and he died around Easter which is around Pesach time could be that he found the pace of hotel I'm not really sure but do you figure it was in the summer I understand where you got upset but anyway he went somebody's upstate New York and he buried these golden plates and then he went up to have and the angel took Joseph Smith to upstate New York where he dug up these golden plates and in the book of the Mormons a number of family members testifying that they were actually allowed to feel the golden place under a cloth they couldn't see him and he tan scribed those golden plates that became the Book of the Mormons and then the angel came and took it away which is really too bad because had he kept it this would have been a really amazing find and so so then he went to spread his teaching he was murdered by an angry mob and so bring him young stomach move out his main student took over and he led them to the Pacific Ocean and they finally arrived at the shores of the Pacific Ocean they all gave thanks but through poor planning it was in fact the Great Salt Lake in Utah and that's where they set themselves up and what's great about the Church of Latter day Saints is that the head of the church has an ongoing revelation so for example they allow polygamy and eventually Utah wanted to become a state and they said you can't because you have polygamy now listen to this because the timing is what makes this so miraculous God came to bring him young and told him to outlaw polygamy but like just at that moment so they were able to come a state now a cynic might think that he made it up but a true believer says wow it's the timing that makes it so miraculous Brigham Young University didn't allow in blacks the basketball league basketball league was going to to expel them and in the head of the Mormon Church got a vision that they should now allow in blanks and the timing is just what makes this so incredibly reckless now if you can believe that being a Jew is nothing this isn't it getting a muna I had a teacher once I had one of my kids in class so unfortunately listened to too many of my classes and she said it was well Konica difference between the Jews and the Greeks the Greeks have to have everything proven to them it has to be logical it makes sense we just believe it's my daughter said you mean when I Eve just believe what anybody tells us so it says we said nice of an ishshah' and my daughter said after the S or makos and you'd see us miss Ryan and Chris yam soup and the mud miracles and miracles God proved that he exists and that he has a certain amount of credibility going into this but it's not just somebody knocked the tabs on the shoulder and says hi God told me that day he wants you to do the following yeah you wouldn't do that wouldn't just do that Mel Brooks and call Ronnie he's through this routine called the to the 2000 year old man so he says Tammy says the J know Napoleon he says short guy says yeah yeah whoa is that his hand in his shirt that's right that's him yeah yeah he says how did you know that I had a bungalow in Elba and I saw this guy's shirt guy used to sit down he used to stare off into the distances they took France for me they took my friends so I said so what are you sitting there for you go back and take it back take back your friends you know your your you know stand up for yourself he says so you're responsible for the Battle of Warlow he says no I wasn't he says some nut comes up the arm the beach it tells you captive friends when you captive rats I wouldn't count your friends nobody comes up there's no captive led you got character France yeah like it's my fault somebody comes up with you taps and there's owner says listen there's a god he wants you to do all these laws and you're like okay that's not that's not as rimmel Weinberg always says we Jews have been accused of every Hennis crime in history the only thing no one has ever called us is stupid you know we're not naive so we say yeah the hokum is just smart enough to know mob are those us look him I can't pretend I was there what do you want me to say I was in Egypt and I and I remember being redeemed I don't but I'm asking you and he says Shaymin okay new our god if you're a little smarter you'll look into it to be able to figure out what he's saying [Music] the tum the time is what we used to call it push it push it you they write that during the Spanish Inquisition all the intellectuals and all the poets and all these people they weren't able to stand to the cns like a push of the year but surely you would know what what Emmis was yeah he knew what he heard from his father from his grandfather's he knew what to keep him what to do and and that's the bulwark so he's not he's not an intellectual genius Mazouz and it says give him the answer yeah I sham took us out of Egypt give him the story you make it interesting for him I don't have to sit here and work through a retirement of the goat he can't have that appreciation but that may not be him there was this Emirates in Vilna he was dancing in circus Tiger and finally the Hilma guy insisting mrs. what are you dancing you don't know anything about the Torah because I'm dancing that there's a film the guy in who knows the tiger yeah I can have that appreciation and I can understand it on my level and that's ok it's ok you know today we went the best the brightest rabbul izza langsam told me he says this russia shiva this yeshiva Kitana says to me we take only the best boys in our shiva katana so he says well that doesn't say much about you as an educator does it you only know how to educate the best boy do you know how to work without a plane he says and you'll forgive me what is the best 8th grader we're gonna best 8th graders say he's a dumb what's wrong with that so they teach him on his level that he'll understand according to himself you know comes last the share of the initial the one who doesn't ask why doesn't the russia come list they did a survey here was the question would you agree that the biggest challenges facing the jewish people today is ignorance and apathy the number one answer was I don't know and I don't care yeah that's the hardest thing to deal with his apathy stand a little ah I don't have any questions at South Floyd open him up if you saw my my prom podcast with my son so I told the story about my river every whale he saw that he was with a bunch of apathetic Long Island kids in the 70s he wasn't gonna put up with it and he would do things to shake us up to get a reaction out of us odd South Floyd do whatever you have to do to get somebody thinking when I was an NCS why does this fellow my suka he used to do these programs and Jewish clubs and public schools and you know he would find a question that was that was dramatic you're a doctor and there's a Nazi on the table who killed your parents so you have an obligation was adopted to save his life but this person killed your parents what would you do to shake you up put people in an uncomfortable position where they have to my brother at his 25th wedding anniversary you know says it says an asian-style more precious than pearls says you know he'd make a pearl so the little piece of sand gets inside of the oyster and it irritates it and from the irritation it releases this material that eventually turns into a pearl I spoke afterwards I said basically he feels like his wife's been irritating him for 25 years I always everybody back but anyway the just kidding but but but the point is that you have to get people to ask but that's the worst give me a rush in order to be a rush you have to be a calm we throw around the term Russia today don't mistake an idiot for a russia person just says stupid things is not a russia even though the things that he's saying that terrible things to be a rush you got to be a cop that's been the hokum/the russia up there the other and if you can turn them around you have a call come handy little doesn't care and that's the worst that's the worst you have is apathy as we walk into our Seder we need to ask the question how do I challenge everybody at that Seder to feel that this is relevant that this is something that touches their lives that this is something meaningful to them that is our challenge it's got to be alive that's it for this episode in our special Pesach program and if you want to find out more about this podcast go to rural Alaska comm / podcast if you want to find out or make a comment on this particular episode go to Rabbi Lansky calm / podcast / 30 this makes 15 hours of very close to Torah content if you want to find about upcoming events go to Romeo LLC that comes / events if you want to contact me to realize that counselors contact and if you would like to sponsor an episode go to robert levansky comm / podcast and click on the sponsor and episode button I am Deborah Lasky this is the rubber Olaf ski show [Music]