The Shofar of Elul (Ep. 297)

[Laughter] [Music] Hi, this is Dowski. Welcome to the Rabowski show. Thank you very much. And whether you're watching with my friends and our producers over at Termin or listen to your podcast, as always, it's wonderful to have you along for the experience. And uh let's just uh keep uh keep hman here. This is the second to last podcast we have before cuz rash is Monday night. Usually the podcast comes out on Monday. So I am not going to put it out while everybody's in shaw cuz I think that's too much of a nisan for the people in the Rabi show. Do I go to shaw rash night or do I watch the podcast? We're going to be doing something special. Anybody who would like to wish the Rabbi Alaski show community ava a good whatever language we speak happy and a healthy new year. Yeah. um shva or uh feel free to record yourself on whatever device works for you and post it and we're going to put them all together and make a special pre- rashana uh presentation for all of our wonderful listeners and uh anyone who wants to participate. This is your moment to become part of the Rabbi Alaski show right in front of the camera, not just behind the camera. So record that and follow the instructions uh where you send it into and we'd love to have you participate. So uh so this is the uh penultimate um uh podcast for the year and I say that knowing that a lot of people don't know what the word penultimate means. But being a professional speaker, I pick up words that nobody knows to make me look smart. And penultimate because the key to being a speaker is to have a vocabulary that is very big. Anyway, so penultimate means of course second to the last. And uh this is going to be the second to last podcast. Next week will be the last and then like I say, we'd like to do something special for those of you who would like to participate in a special pre-Russia shana thought and sharing. And uh so we go in now last week as you will no doubt recall I had my good friend and mentor yeah Rabbi Rab Zman uh speak about the Ori project because as we mentioned that during el there's two things that take place and one is that we say and the other one is that every morning we blow chauffeur. This is my father Shalom's chauffeur that he used for many years. And uh I've mentioned this story in the past. I've mentioned probably everything in the past, but uh during the 1973 Yamipa war, my father was deeply moved and he wanted to do something. Now, what was he going to do? He's not he's not getting on a plane and flying to to Israel to work on the kibbutim, you know, picking uh tomatoes. He's not he's not going out to fight. So he said, "What can I do?" And he started dabbing shakras every morning right home. He'd put on his talis filling and he diamond shakas and when Ell came around he pulled out his trusty chauffeur and uh he blew chauffeur every morning woke up my mother. So uh so it was really something very special. So I would like to talk in honor of Khales and of course Rashashana with the chauffeur is a uh a major part of it and um and talk a little bit about that. But first, our sponsor, honored by our good friends, Maji and Dvari David, who are longtime friends of mine personally and uh of the uh of the uh show and of the Shurim participates in everything in honor of our new grandson and all of our children and grandchildren. May we and Cla see much nas. Amen. And uh that's uh that's definitely seconded by myself and by all of our good friends in the Rabi show community. So uh so that's uh this is this is uh going to be a special idea. Chauffeur. Yeah. And uh a lot of people don't always understand a lot of the significance of what we're doing with chauffeur. When a person is blowing chauffeur insh the btoa if you will. Um my friend Ry Redmond he mentioned this last week actually he is a btoa and he says one of the main covenants you have is you want to make sure that the key is a kasher that you're doing it right. Yeah. and and uh especially we learn tends to be very medu on everything and they sit there with a watch to make sure that each one of the teasers at the right amount of time and if you don't then they give a kop and if they didn't like that one they give it two clubops and you have to do the whole set over again and you know they're uh they're very very careful they for example will parcel it uh if it goes like this. Well, anybody will puzzle that one. [Applause] You know how sometimes it goes up and down? Got to be straight the whole time. They have a lot of a lot of different things that they do when it comes to the tequila. So, you have to have that. There's a famous story with the BMT. somebody told over at my nephew's bar mitzvah and he was speaking to my mother and he said uh there was um uh somebody who was trying out to become the balt for the baltov and the balshto was trying out a lot of different people to see. So he listened to their technical skill and then he asked him what kavanas do you have and this one says I have these kavanas I have that kavonas I go with this one I go with that one all kinds of different kavanas this one fellow came in and said listen I tell you the truth I've got five daughters that I have to marry off and I'm very nervous where I'm going to get the money for it and uh that's what I think when I do tea that it should be something that um that Kaj Bar will take care of my children. I remember a Guisman was saying this, a Guysman always shalom. I spoke about him on the show and he goes, "Mrs. Wavski, if he only knew that he had you, he you'd be able to help him out with his five daughters because how many times you've helped me with poor collars." Anyway, when I got to speak, I said, "Mrs. Balavski I have eight daughters I have to marry off but uh the idea is of course that when you have the tea what is your concentration what are you thinking of how it has to be your focus it's a very important idea so uh I want to develop a little idea it could be I've spoken about this in the past but uh let me try to develop this a little bit it's an idea I heard from Shapiro. He should be forb and he quoted a from Elohim from the source of beauty. Elohim is to like shine out, you know. uh performance like a you get to to see it. Yeah. And we have that in the right rule over the entire world and shine out. and all the people live there. Yeah. The idea of a shining out. So from the yi is shines out. So said a very interesting thing. Hopia and yi right. What is yi? What is beauty? So one way to understand something is by understanding its opposite. Yeah. So what's the opposite of yi which is ugu? What is the root of ugly? It's related to the word which is cloudy. Imagine if you will um water when sometimes you pour yourself water and it's cloudy water. You have to wait for it to settle down. When it's cloudy and you can't see through it, that's called that's ugly. Yi, right? Is it shines forth, nothing is blocking it. That's what real beauty is. Real beauty is when the beauty on the inside shines out and you can see what it really is. The mikdash that represents absolute truth. It's the source of everything. It's the is the the little mark that you make the point. It's the point of creation. It's where everything shines out, right? It's the beginning of the world. From that point, it all grew and everything the science their concept of the big bang has this to some extent they understand. Yeah. That there was a point of creation and it started out. I I may have mentioned this in the past but uh I remember Gerald Schroeda said that you know people try to say well you know you don't need God the big bang says the big bang is the biggest cash on science that ever happened because it means they were to the first three words in the Torah in the beginning is what he says because until that time everybody followed The Arisatilian concept of the universe is infinite and eternal and unchanging and it always is was and will be. So you don't have to ask like a mino did where did the world come from? The world always was right. uh Bertrram Russell, the English mathematician and philosopher was speaking to the atheist society um in England, not like the one in the Journey song, the atheist convention in LA, right? You know, there actually was an atheist uh um group society. And he says, "When I was young, I asked the question, how do you know there's a God?" So they argued first cause where did the world come from? The world got to come from someplace. So that first cause obviously had to be God. So I said then where did God come from? And they said God always was. And then I realized if you can say that God always was I can say that the universe always was so much for first cause. That's what he writes in an essay. I'm sure it must have uh elicited a number of gapors in uh the atheist society because in England they do not chuckle or laugh. They gour. Yeah. And um it's a word you can't really use in normal society anymore. There were these old expressions that have been lost. This person once said, you know, the biggest he used to give somebody in England was good day sir. He said, "Well, did I say good day, sir?" Yes, bud. I said good day. I was like, "Oh, he said good day." Like, you know. Anyway, so um it was interesting. Uh Teddy Resvelt would call his enemies swine. He'd say he's a swine. He says the way he said it, it came out sounding like an exploit of swine. Yeah. So, uh so good day, sir. Anyway, they must had a good laugh over that. And that's what science believed for most of human history. The universe always was is and will be and so you see in the rishum that they bring different arguments etc. But when Einstein discovered that the universe is expanding he was so upset about this that he actually hid the evidence for it. He put in a fudge factor into the equations so nobody would realize it. Because if the universe is expanding out that means at some point it started and the universe had a beginning. Yeah. That original point is called se that's the point and that's the evan hashia which is in the keshakadoshim. That is the rock the building rock where everything rests upon and then expands out from that point. That is Seion. And the Yi comes out from Seion. What is the beauty? The beauty is clarity. Absolute truth. We live in a world of illusion. I've sure I've told this story. I I I know I'm saying this too many times already, but uh you know, like I said, I've met a dozen people who recite everything back to me that I've ever said. So, I have to be, you know, at least acknowledge the fact that I've said it before. Um, I was speaking at a uh encounter conference in Cape Town, South Africa. Um, and uh, it was a very difficult group, very difficult group. It's basically a Jewish public school and uh they have a rudimentary exposure to Judaism but because they get money from the government non-Jews are allowed to also attend. Um it's so interesting because I had the same thing when I was in Australia in Sydney, Australia, one of the largest Jewish schools there. Uh there's a number there's a percentage I don't know how large a percentage of Chinese students. Why? Because since it's a private school, it has a much higher academic level. Yeah. And uh and so Chinese who have only one kid want them to get the best possible education or do anything. And so there's a whole group of Chinese kids. They're exempted from Jewish classes. And I thought it was so interesting because when I was there, I gave my uh my basic speech that I give to any new group, which is why be Jewish and uh there was a Chinese student there. And I said, I thought the Chinese kids are exempted from Jewish students. He says, I know. He requested to be here. I I happen to have a certain following in the non-Jewish world. I know there are non-Jews who watch the podcast. Um and uh uh welcome. Yeah. But uh it's happened to me more than once. I was speaking at a dinner and like a hall etc. And I got to speak and what can I tell you? I'm just so engaging and fascinating that the um the waiters who were all non-Jewish, the waiters and waitresses all stopped what they were doing to listen to my speech. So uh you know, who knows who knows what's going on, you know, who knows the impact that are going on. It could be I'm going to meet a number of non-Jews who say over everything they've heard in the Rabbi show, you know, cuz you never know. There's a famous story about uh this fellow goes into a Jewish deli and uh the waiter who was Chinese comes up to him and says, "No basil stew." And he's like, he orders, you know, and says, "Okay." You know, and he goes off to get the order. So he says to the boss, he goes, "That's unbelievable. You'll have a waiter that speaks Yiddish." He goes, "Sh, he thinks we're teaching him English." So, uh, I don't know how many how many non-Jews out there are going to be saying over revolki isms, you know. So, uh, so you never know. You never know what what's going to end up happening. But, um, uh, so there were non-Jewish kids who were at this encounter conference in South Africa, etc. Anyway, the first day most of the rabbis and the faculty managed to alienate the kids in their first class because, you know, everybody else feels like they have to tell the truth. I never feel that way. So, everybody got themselves caught on hot button topics. So, one person made some kind of uh, you know, statement. I don't know what it was. I'm sure was in context made sense you know about uh homosexual lifestyle and there were gay kids in the program who became totally alienated. Uh one rabbi was speaking about uh you know Jewish identity and and how the cotel people feel a connection to the cotel even the reform movement which say on their website that the destruction of the temple was a good thing. You can find this in Maxi Deont also in his history of the Jews. They say it was a good thing for the Jewish people because it freed us from the blood cult of uh of the temple. Nonetheless, they want to pray by the western wall. So a girl said, "So you think reformed Judaism isn't legitimate?" So he said, "No." He says, "So if my mother had a reformed conversion, you don't think she's Jewish?" To which he said, "No." Anyway, every rabbi was being fought on the ramp parts. Except for me, I told some very funny stories and we had a wonderful time and everybody liked me because if you know me, I is shoe controversy, right? Butter would not melt in my mouth. I've never said a bad word about anybody or any institution ever. Everybody knows me already who has the milk of human kindness by the quart in every vein. Yeah. A a gentle man am I down to my fingertips who never could ever would let an insulting remark escape his lips. That's from My Fair Lady in case you're not familiar. But anyway, Henry Higgins was talking about how wonderful he is and everybody else is terrible. Anyway, so um so I managed to be fine. Anyway, when we got to the to the um this was a high school. When we got to the dinner, so I sat with the faculty table cuz the faculty sat in part and I said, "Listen, they're clearly understaffed here and I'm the only one here with, you know, uh experience working with teens." I ran NCSY Long Island for nine years, so I have some experience working with teens. and I'm telling you, we're gonna have to go out and sit with the kids and get involved. Anyway, the rabbis were all horrified at this idea. I says, I'm not going to go with them. And I said, come on, I'll show you. It's easy. Watch me. And I sat down at one table. Okay, it wasn't a particularly hostile table. I stayed the hostile table for the last night, but it wasn't a particularly hostile table. and I sat down and I struck up a conversation because I like to believe that I can talk to almost anybody because I find people fascinating. I can always find something to talk to them about. So, I figured, okay, it's a group of teenagers. Um, have you seen any movies recently that you thought were that you enjoyed? And they said, "Yeah, The Matrix." Now, you can figure out how old this story is because The Matrix came out a long time ago. They've since had four of them or something. I says, "Yeah, The Matrix." So, I had never heard of The Matrix. I said, "What is it?" He says, "It's this whole movie based on the idea that maybe your dreams are reality and your reality are dreams." And I said, "Oh my gosh, Masil Shash per giml." They're like, "What?" I said, "This was written 300 years ago." And I bring out Masha Shar and I show him that this world is like night because it's filled with shadows and illusion and a person could see a pole and think it's a person and a person and think it's a pole and a person gets caught up in the illusions of the darkness etc. Anyway, they were sitting there on their edge of the seat. This was fascinating to them because this is what they had just seen in the matrix and it was right there, you know, black and white and it was anyway. So the people at the faculty table are watching me and they're like I come did you just learn the syll with them? I said yeah. He goes how'd you do that? I said I just talked to them. If you just talk to them find out what they're interested in. Torah is universal. You could talk to them about anything. But the idea that the mass sharm says that these kids found so fascinating was the idea that this world is like night. It is an illusion. We are fooled all the time. I'm sure I've told this story, but it bears repetition. It's a it's an important story. I get a email from a young lady who had learned in the Vushalai and um and she says, "Look, I have a friend." The two of us went to Nvet together. We both became from we came back to America. And it's not easy if you don't have a support group and you're not in a supportive place. It's very hard to to stay from you know the uh um project inspired convention uh which um alternates between world famous speakers um and uh and it's just amazing. I mean everybody is everybody is there. It's just it's just one of the most inspiring events to see all these people there. Um and uh they intersperse it with people we came from and the people we came from they said you know this person helped me that person helped me and I needed to have a support group and it turns out that in Burough Park there's a whole community of project inspired people who bring in these people who know very little and set them up get them apartments set them up with families get them shabas meals, get them education, you know, in the heart of Burough Park, deep as darkest Burough Park, you know, because you need that support. And if you go back, you don't have the support, it's very hard, very hard. And uh people don't always realize this uh uh just to get on my soap box for a minute, one of the biggest problems in cure of organizations is that they bring people to a certain point and then leave them there. You know, now since I'm on my soap box, I've talked about this in the past. You know, there is a organization that provides funding for Kira organizations that have decided to make Kira professional and they demand that you rate everybody to see how they're getting from because if they don't get from according to this organization schedule, they cut off funding. That to me is called a cult. That is evil you know and I I know certain organizations said to me it's very hard but I will not take money from them what a terrible thing and and you see that people are working with somebody and some they don't get from according to your schedule you know it might take them a while because people have you know unless you're brainwashing them and you're a cult then you can demand that they go according to your schedule you know but okay I just this has done so much damage in in the from world you can't even imagine But anyway, I I was at a meeting once with one of the people who espoused this philosophy and the winebach gave it to him over their head and and and gave them to over the head from is a terrible terrible concept. But anyway, um but uh you're working with people and it takes them a while till they decide to do it, you know, and once they make the commitment, this is this is you can't just send them off on their own and say, "Well, good luck to you." You have to keep that commitment going. You have to keep that relationship going. It's something that's for life. And it's not something that like, you know, okay, well, they're done. When I used to run NCSY, we basically worked with high school kids. So, to my mind, a story was four years from 9th grade till 12th grade, and then the story was over. And as time went on, I realized that life is not an oh Henry short story. A call back to my to my podcast on literature. It is not an oh Henny short story. It is a Dickens novel with many many characters who disappear and reappear 100 pages later you can't remember who they are and they constantly keep reappearing and having different uh stories. And so I tell you that um how many times I end up seeing the children and now I'm in an age the grandchildren of people that I worked with and the story goes on and on and you never know where it's going to go. I heard this story. I didn't check it out. I'm not so but uh but the story that I heard um is that when I came to learn in 1975 there were a lot of yeshivas in with a building was said on it the Joe and Fay Tanbound building. Yeah. So um uh so I was surprised by this but okay years later somebody told me why. So Joe and Fay came mostly Joe and he went into every place and he said I'll give you a million dollars to build a building but you have to put my name prominently on it. So this was back in the 1970s. People like a million dollars. They go yeah okay. And all these yeshivas were built. The Joe and Fannonbound campus J building up. And so someone asked Joe why he was doing this. And he said because one day maybe one of my grandchildren will come to Israel and will see my name on a building and ask them why. John Kavlin from Toronto. And John is a good friend. You're out there. I don't know if the story is true, but I don't care because I heard it and I'm telling it over anyway. So if it's not true, you could write me an email and I may or may not pay attention to it. But anyway, because as we established in the earlier story in Cape Town, I don't care about the truth. I have an agenda. Anyway, so the story is he walks into Orisa and he says, "Hey, how come my grandfather's name is on your building?" And they said, "We've been waiting for you." like like uh that scene in uh Back to the Future where suddenly you know the time machine disappears and Western Union shows up with a telegram from 70 years ago that was uh they've been waiting in the office all these years that they said he'd be waiting at this spot and he couldn't believe it you know so he just walks in and says hey why is my grandfather's name goes I'm so glad you asked that question come on in let's have a drink now that part I think I can attest to because when I went to or mentors mission. So John Kaplan was there and as we've established in an earlier podcast I have no idea how to drink and he explained to me all the different whisies what they were etc. So he was he was my Rebian whisies. So anyway um so uh so very good. So um uh the the idea was that it it was there it was waiting for them all the time waiting to see when there would be that knock on the door. Person doesn't know a story if it's going to affect your children your grandchildren where it comes along. Yeah. I had a girl in my class when I went to high school and her daughter came to the seminary I was teaching in and she looked exactly like her mother at that age. But like the spitting image, talk about freaky. I've had grandchildren who show up. Moms look exactly like their grandparents at that age. Not now because uh they're all old and wrinkled. No, not me. Because I was very clever. I aged prematurely. So people say to me, "Oh, you don't look like you changed at Oh, of course not. I looked terrible back then. I look terrible now. But the point is that um people get themselves caught up in this illusion. So all of this I realize now was to tell you a story that I never told you. So these two girls from the Bay go back to America and they don't really have support group except each other, you know. So this one girl can't take it anymore. It's very hard for her. And she says uh to her friend, she says, "Look, I'm going back to my old lifestyle. I'm gonna party. I'm going to club. I know it's wrong." She said, I'm going do it any anyway to a person who stays in prison for so long that they lose their mind and they get down on the floor and they play with the rats and they think the rats are their friends and that's it. They've lost their mind. Eventually, the jailer realizes there's no point keeping this guy in jail. So he takes upon himself and he says, "Listen, I I this this is a waste of time already to keep you in prison. Uh just clean out the latrines for a week and I'll let you go." And he says, "Why? I'm having a good time with the rats. The rats are my friends, happy rats." And so he doesn't do it. She says, "That's me. I know the guys I'm going out with are rats and I know that uh you know this whole thing is make believe and and ridiculous but I'm happy I'm happy living a lie which by the way is one of the themes in the Matrix apparently in that movie cuz one of the people everybody's living this illusion this make believe until you could be woken up you know so one of the people who's woken up wants to go back into the matrix and he has this line that the person said over to me, which made quite an impression on me. They're in a makebelieve restaurant. It only exists in his head. And he says, "I know this steak doesn't exist, but it tastes just as good as if it did." Now, people are happy to have a an illusion and live a world of makebelieve rather than to have to face the reality. Yeah. So this her friend writes me and says, 'What do I tell? I said, 'Well, I only know one story like you're describing to me. It's from literature. It's from a tale of two cities by Charles Dickens. One of the few Dickens books that most people read. I have to read it in high school. And um uh in the story uh the uh Dr. Manet, I think if I remember correctly, stays in prison so long. He's in the Bastile until he loses his mind and he thinks he's a cobbler and all day he sits making imaginary shoes on an imaginary workbench. So eventually his daughter Lucy managed to rescue him and bring him over to England. Um and uh he gets his mind back. How do you think he felt about all those years that he was sitting and making imaginary shoes? Think he was happy about that? What do you think? He looks back at that and says, "I can't believe that I was so crazy that I wasted my time doing that." I said, "Your friend is living an imaginary world and she knows it's imaginary. What she doesn't realize is she's going to wake up one day and she's going to be in her 50s and what happens then?" And I know women in their 50s who are still trying to club and fixing themselves up to interest somebody and while their friends are enjoying their grandchildren. At some point you wake up, that's what's called the midlife crisis. At some point you wake up and you say, "Oh my gosh, what happened to my life? How did this happen?" It's it's sad, but it's a reality. We at some point we wake up and we see the truth. Some people make it to their deathbed in the illusion and they never wake up and then they get to the and that's geneum. We've spoken about this for sure in the past. Everyone brings the Marshall of the of the movie. They show you a movie of your life. everything you ever did. And your parents are watching, your grandparents, your great-grandparents, your great great grandparents, you know, everybody's watching your life. And uh all the all the nasty bits, you know, all the parts that you would rather nobody knows about or sees, everything is in the squid. And it's humiliating. Humiliating. And then it's a double feature. Now they show another film and it's what your life could have been. What you could have done during that time, who you could have been, the good that you could have done. The contrast between those two films is what we call geo. When you your spiritual self has to come to grips with the decisions that you've made in this world versus the decisions you could have made in this world. Who you could have been instead of who you are. And so we live in a world of illusion. We are in the matrix and everyone's living in a world of makebelieve. It's very sad. That's called [Music] that's called ugly because it's cloudy because you don't see the truth. Yi is when you see the truth and it's called beauty. And let me tell you something. You know, the truth can be beautiful and terrible at the same time because when the lights come on and you have to suddenly confront who you are and who you've been, that's uh that's rough. There's no question about it. It's rough. Ask yourself, is this the life that I want to live or not? Is this the person that I want to become? We talked about this last week a little bit uh uh when we when we talking about how you get ready for rash and figuring out who you are. Who who do you want to be? And we all go for illusion. We think it's going to make us happy because our whole life we are chasing the next happiness. We think this will make us happy. That will make us happy. I'm interrupting for a moment because I told you in the question and answers. So producers started sending me notes from people which aren't actual questions but comments. I listened to you many years ago as a bach in the 90s. I guess now he must be like 120 and I started listening to you again now on your podcast on to any time and you're great. That's a that's a comment on to any time more than me. I think he says I live a to any time and you're great. Meaning to any time a comment I heard from you a long time ago really changed my life and I wanted to call you for years and tell you but I never did it. So here goes. You said that you were depressed for a period of time until you realized that being happy or sad is a personal decision that a person makes and has nothing to do with what's going on in their life. Awesome. That's in capitals with an exclamation mark. Uh that really changed my life and I tried to give that over to my kids and my talim. Thank you. 100% true. You you make your life and people choose to live lives of makebelieve. I may have mentioned this also in the past but there's a book called illusions very small book Richard Bach who wrote Jonathan Livingston Seagull and it's about this entity this cosmic entity who uh comes down to earth to live as a regular person and forgets that he's a cosmic entity so his friend who's a cosmic entity comes down to remind him who he is and you know he can't get him to give the book is called illusions and he can't get himself to get him to give up the illusions. So they're showing, you can get an idea how old this book is. So there was a movie theater in town and they were showing this movie called Butch Catchy and the Sundance Kid. And this fellow who's talking, the narrator, you know, the guy who doesn't know he's a cosmic being, uh, says, "Oh, wow. That's my favorite movie." So he says, "Come in. Let's watch it." Says, "I'm watching it and we're getting to the dramatic ending." And the fellow turns to me and says, "Why are you here?" And he says, "Wait, I want to watch the end of the movie." He says, "But why are you here?" He says, "Quiet. I want to watch the end of the movie." This is the dramatic part where they kind of have the big gunfight. They're talking about going to Mexico. He goes, and he says to him again, "Why are you here?" He says, "Just be quiet." So the movie's finally over and they go outside and he says, "Why was that so important to you?" And then he says, you know, it's all make believe. It's just light flickering on the screen. At the end of the movie, you know, um, Robert Redford and, uh, Paul Newman get killed, but they're not. They're living in Hollywood. They're both fine. It's just all make believe. But you preferred the illusion over reality. So the guy says, "Okay, but what about people who choose lives who live lives of suffering?" He says, "Cuz there are people who like to go to horror movies and there are people who like to go to tearjerkers and there are people who like to lose themselves in an illusion of misery. A person who's in touch with reality there is no suffering because they know that this is the hashm is called the mah. So by definition this world is the mash. Why would I let myself get sucked into an illusion? I know it's not real. I have a martial that I use to to describe this which uh you know uh I I'm repeating myself. I may have used in the past. It's an A and C costel routine. They do it at two or three different times in different TV show movies, you know. Um I I thought Aban Castell some of the humor was absolutely brilliant. Anyway, so Bud says to uh to Lou, he says, "Look, I only got 25 cents." So, it's not enough for both of us. So, we'll go in there and I'm going to order a turkey sandwich and a cup of coffee and I'll share it with you. He says, "Okay." So, they go into the restaurant and he said, the waitress says, "Well, you have." Says, "Well, I'll have a turkey sandwich and a cup of coffee." Says, "What about you?" He says, "I don't want anything." And Bud says, "Lou, you should have something." says, "But I feel like kid." No, you could order something. Goes, "All right, I'll have a steak." And he slaps him and he pulls him away. He goes, "I told you I don't have any money." He goes, "But you asked me." Goes, "I have to ask you. You know I have to ask you. You know, fine." Said dad again. He says, "Okay, so what do you want?" He says, "I'll have a turkey sandwich and a cup of coffee." He says, "What about you?" "I don't want anything." Says, "Lou, you should order something." "No, I don't want anything." "Lou, it's not right. You're coming to a lunch and it's not nice. This woman's working for a living. You got to order something, you know." All right. Have a steak. hits him again. I told you that. Anyway, they do this over and over again and he keeps falling for the same trick because that's every one of us. We know this world is make believe. We know Torah is MS. We know that there's a a God and spirituality and we know how we should be living our lives, but we allow ourselves to be sucked into the illusion of this world. The word shaifer is shappere to beautify. You know the name shifra in the right because she would shap the babies. She'd make them beautiful. She clean them up. The makes it yi. Why? Because the sun can't be seen when it's cloudy. Cuz the day is it's cloudy. It's hidden and the chauffeur blows away the clouds and then the sun shines and you can see it clearly. Now you can see the yi. Now Hashem can be now you see exactly what reality is all about. And how many people know what the truth is, but like Luc Costello, they fall for the line every single time. Have something, have something big, have something small, it's not right, you have something like and you fall for it even though you know it's wrong. So why don't you stand up for what's real? Why don't you stand up for the truth? Because you bought into the illusion. And some people want the illusion. Like the guy in the Matrix who says, "I want to go back into the machine. I don't want reality. Reality is too hard for me. I'd rather be in a world of makebelieve." Some people literally drive themselves crazy so they can live in a world of fantasy. I mean, Facebook renamed itself as Meta and they have this virtual reality world where you can create an alternate version of yourself and interact with other people who have alternate versions of themselves. And this one woman sued this man because he attacked her in the metaverse in the makebelieve world. She was attacked her makebelieve character by this guy's makebelieve the illusion but that's every one of us like the famous story of the gic of vna who when he was um being burnt at the stake for the crime of converting to Judaism so the executionist said I'm burning you in this world but I guess you'll burn me in the next And he says, "You know, I'm a nobleman and uh I uh I didn't have any noble children to play with, so I played with the peasants. When I was a little boy, the peasants broke my toys." And I said to my father, "Put those children to death." My father thought about it and he said, "When you're 18, you become of age and you could put them to death yourself." He says, 'When I became 18, did you think I wanted to put these children to death because they broke my toys? He says, 'What are you doing? You're burning my body. My body's not real. This whole world is an illusion. My nishama, which is real, my soul is going to continue on and go to Haba. Not only that, but because you're killing me for being a Jew, I'm going to go to the highest levels of Shamayim. And when I get up there, you think I'm going to be troubled by petty emotions like revenge and and and anger and uh you know, jealousy. Forget about it. I don't care. You're not doing anything to me. You can't hurt me. It's all make believe. When we blow the on rash, we start blowing it in. So, it takes a little prep time to sense what is real. And when we go into rash, it's a yomadin. You have to judge yourself. Looks at you and says, "Who are you? Who do you want to be? What do you want? What are your dreams? What are your aspirations? Who do you want to be at the end of your life?" Like we said last week and we fall for the illusions and for all the makeelie and things that are nothing sharp he says no intelligent person could possibly believe that we were created for the pleasures of this world because for that you don't need a soul you're basically just a cow right there no difference between too. Yeah. And an animal if if that's if you're just here for physical pleasures, you know, except he eats grass and you eat steak, you know what I mean? So otherwise the same thing. So you're a lion, you know what I mean? Especially if you like your meat rare, you know, you're a lion, you know, and you know, you engage in all the same activities. And he says, forget about that. How many people in the whole world are really happy? You talk to most people and they tell you life is filled with suffering and worries and and problems and this and that. So, we're not having fun. I remember seeing a bumper stick. I don't remember if it was in the 80s or 90s. Bumper stick said, "Are we having fun yet?" And that's why there was a guy in Harvard, a professor in Harvard gave a course in happiness. It was sold out every year. You know when anybody comes out with a book on happiness and it sells out right away. Everybody's miserable says the mash. And if you do find somebody who is happy one in a 100 who can say they're really happy. So by the time they get to 100, you know, it's like they're already dead. What can you really enjoy? You reach a certain age where the physical pleasures, those of you who are in my age group, you know that as the years go by, there are more and more things that you cannot eat without suffering. When you're a teenager, you can eat anything you want in any amount and that's it. No problem. You know, but uh you're my age group, you spend your whole time thinking, you know, if I eat this, I want to be sick for two days. If I eat that, I'm going to be sick for three days. You know, what are the pleasures? He says, "And if after all of this you die. So what was the point of dying if we're just here to enjoy this world?" So this world is just a place for us to develop a relationship with the kures and everything else is illusion. And when we blow chauffeur, all the illusion is blown away. All the clouds disappear. He h he call he h he is a mist. It's like a you know creates it creates uh these illusions and they're all blown away by the chauffeur and so we're going from el into rashashana and that the key is there to wake us up because we're asleep for the raom saysu aru wake up the wakes us up and tells us start living the life that you want instead of the life that happens start choosing to live reality instead of illusion. And the famous Marshall, the famous Marshall, u my uh fact checkers out there will tell me where where the Marshall's from, but the famous Marshall that uh his boat stops at this tropical island, which is a paradise, says, "Listen, we're just going to fill up the boat with supplies. We're going to get water. We're going to get food, etc. And once we're all done, we're going to take off. So, when it's time to come to the when we're about to take off, we're going to blow the ship's horn and uh we're going to set out about an hour later. Fine. Then, just before we pull out, we're going to blow the ship's horn again. So, if you really really run, you'll make it. And then as we're just about to leave the the cove, the harbor, you know, over here, the lagoon, we'll give one more blast. So, if you wait until the last minute, you can jump in and swim to the boat. You'll still probably make it. The water's not that deep. And after that, you're going to be stuck here. Okay. Everybody was on the island. I couldn't believe it. It was a paradise. It was the most beautiful place. It was wonderful. And they hear the first show, the first horn. And so those people who are, you know, more organized, all got themselves up and made their way to the boat, sat down nicely, etc. And then the second horn blew and other people were like, "Oh my gosh, he's taking off." And they all ran and they ran and they got there just breathless, but at least they got there in time, you know. And then when they were out in the lagoon, they blew it a third time. And the few people who were left, they were like, "Oh my gosh." And they jumped into the lagoon. They swam and, you know, they were wet. They pulled themselves up and Okay. And other people ignored all three. And then winter came and there was no food on the trees. The monsoon started and they all perished on the on the island. So goes the mushel. We start blowing the chauffeures and we say if you wake up in Elo and you get yourself ready, you'll come into the Yadin like a mench. If you wait till Rashana and you listen to the chauff, okay, you got to say, you're going to have to hustle, but you can still do great things. And if you wait to the cha at the end of nila as the gates are closing, you still have one last chance to take a jump to be able to jump through the gates and make it. But you're going to have to work much harder. My friends, it's we're blowing the first siren on the boat. It's time for us to get ourselves together and shake off the shadows and illusions. It's time for us to take a serious look at our lives and say, "Who do I want to be at the end of my life, like we said last time, and I look back at my life that I have led? What is that life going to be?" And let's get ourselves together now and organize ourselves. Everyone should have aim. And that's it for this episode. If you want to find out more about the show, you can go to my website revolowski.com. You can sponsor an episode. You can sponsor a para in five. You can sponsor a question and answer. Uh you can submit a question. I didn't get to any questions this week, but I you see that I do make a lion's effort sometimes to make up a bunch of them at the same time afterwards. Have special question in the episodes. You can sign up for one of the online shiorim. And again, if you would like to submit a special Russia shana greeting to uh the Reverski show uh community, something along the lines of, "Hi, my name is David Alavski and I want to wish everybody or you could say shalom [Music] sha Rabbi Olopski show or you can say my name is David and I want to wish everybody a gaze yonte. Yeah. Or if you are you know that pretend for them say hi m my name is David Howard orski and I want to wish everybody a happy and a healthy new year. Whatever it is we want to hear from you. So, if you're interested, please send that little recording into rabbi orky [email protected] and uh you can see it on the screen in case you forgot what I just said. And uh that's it. So maybe you'll find yourself uh you'll it'll make you a star. And that's it. Until next time, I am David Olowski and this has been the Rabbi Olowski show. >> It's the Rabbi Orski Show. Torah and Simra ready to go. The Rabbi Olavski Show. Knowledge and wisdom will help you grow. Lots of fun in every episode. And we don't have to rhyme, though we rabbi orski show on rabbi orki.com. Torah anytime, YouTube, and more. It's Rabbi orski 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 Show.