Rabbi Maor Bendel & Rabbi Eliyahu Maksumov | Night of Inspiration

Okay, welcome everyone to tonight's very special shar last minute. We still have have a over here have some amazing people right we have Rabbi Makumo followed by Rabbi Bendell who are joining us tonight of course on behalf of Kazak and all s youth minan of course we're always working together in partnership to uh spread to spread Torah and and and words of inspiration in the in the in the community and of course um Kazak does that throughout the whole year organizing shirim events programming uh for for men for everyone to get inspiration. Of course, if anyone wants to be added to the the WhatsApp chat, I guess let me um let me know. We'll of course add you to so you can hear about upcoming events and programs. And of course, Kazak is is main focus is helping Jewish public school students get Jewish education through um after school programs in over 20 different locations and has transferred over 2,000 students from public school. Yeshiva, of course, so everyone could think for a second of a neighbor, relative, coworker who might have children in public school. Of course, let let Khazak know about it so we can get him to help give him a Jewish education. And of course, we're right before Kaneka right now. And um it's um we're going to be lighting up lighting the candles soon. Of course, just a few days away. And of course, we're not only should be lighting the candles, but we should be sharing that light for [snorts] your on your own lives and your family's lives and and in the community. And of course, our first speaker tonight, he does that makumov. He's sharing the light through and through his clips, through his videos. always looking to spread the light of the Torah. So, Welcome everybody. I know that there's a lot of physical preparations when it comes to the holiday of Hanukkah. We have to prepare our minora, the dreo, some donuts, lotkas, but it's important to also make some mental preparations. And today, I'd like to reveal to you a secret that you can take with you into Hanukkah. Hanukkah is a time when we give over gifts to each other. So, consider this to be my Hanukkah gift to you. and Hashem it'll have a great impact. You know earlier today I was learning and I came across something interesting on Kanuka and all of a sudden I get a phone call from Abby. Robbie is calling me and I'm thinking what is he calling me for and uh all of a sudden he tells me that you know we're having an event here tonight and he would like me to speak. So I thought you know it's not a coincidence that he called me right when I was learning about Kanuka out of all things and then he asked me to speak about Kaneka. So I thought that maybe it's a sign from Shamine that whatever I was learning should be shared with you. So we always we know that there is always a connection between the parot and the holidays that land during those parot. If it's pes and pes falls out during a certain time of year it was tailor designed to be that way. God orchestrated that the parot should have something to do with the holiday. The same with shot, the same with and the same is true to so when you come to you have to ask yourself what does the para have to say about now I know if you open the Torah you're not going to see anything explicitly written about but we know it's it's it's there although it's not apparent now what do our par talk about the theme of all the par are our par speak about Ysef Sadik and it's a long story and there's a lot about Ysef but maybe if we can look into the essence of what Ysef represents we'll understand what Kanuka is about. What is Ysef? Who is Ysef? The Torah tells us he was kad. He was kadosh. He was a very holy person. So he represents kusha. Well that fits perfectly with our theme in because that's exactly what the Greeks tried to take away from us. They tried to take away our holiness. And this is why they made decrees against us. Now who knows what are the three decrees they made against us? What are the three things they tried to take away from us? Brit is one of them. Very good. Shabbat and roesh. Now why did they want to specifically take away from us the brit? Shabbat and kodesh. Well the britah is bresh. We know that when we perform the brit we make a blessing. Hashem has sanctified us and therefore it's something that represents something holiness. You know if a man is able to abstain and is able to overcome this when it comes to the bre that's shows the level of kusha that he's holding on. So the bre represents kusha. Well what about Shabbat? What do we call Shabbat? Shabbat kesh. Shabbat is also a very holy day. So interestingly enough the mah represents holiness. Shabbat represents holiness. And guess what else represents holiness? Now they they wanted to take away from us roesh but why roesh because you cannot know when the holidays fall out without roesh but in which means in truth in essence what they are trying to really take away from us are the holidays and we know that the holidays are kesh as well as we say is mikesh the holidays are also referred to kesh so these are the three mitzvah they try to confiscate from But why? Why are they going after our kusha? Well, the answer is because they know that kusha is something that is esoteric. It's spiritual. And the Greeks are very into metaphysical. Uh they're very into things that are uh tangible. If you can't feel it, if you can't see it, if you cannot test it under a microscope, then then we don't know if it exists. So stop believing in this nonsense. Kushai is something esoteric. It's a secret. It's something that is beyond this world. And that's why they weren't fond of it. This is why they wanted to take it away from us. The Benishai writes, this is why we have a custom on we wish each other because if you pay attention, what's the first letter of Shabbat? What about the first letter of what about the first letter of what is that spell? [cough] by taking away from us our kusha by taking away from us the mitzvah that bring us kusha in truth what are they doing they're trying to take away our hence the first three letters spell out the words because when you live a life of kusha that's when you achieve true happiness that's when you achieve true serenity unlike the world of tuma impurity that promises you a lot of happiness but in the end you're left with nothing so what they're doing is they're getting rid of our kusha. The bet asks a big question. He says, "We know that is 8 days." So he asks, "Why do we celebrate 8 days? Why not seven days?" It's a famous question. The Ysef says, "I don't understand. Why 8 days?" After all, how many days was the oil supposed to last for? Just one day. And that's exactly what happened. The first day it lasted for one day. And after that, the subsequent days were days of miracle because it wasn't supposed to last for all those days. So the following days were the days of miracle. So really, how many days should we celebrate? Seven days. Because that's how long it took for the miracle to last, seven days. The first day was not a miracle. So that's his question. And there's many answers that have been given to explain the answer to this question. But I like to ask a different question. Why don't we celebrate Hanukkah for 9 days? But Rabbi, why would we celebrate for 9 days? I understand eight days but why nine days? Because we know by the other holidays we always throw in an extra day like by Pes we have an extra day in general in the diaspora [clears throat] init outside of Israel we always add one day we add one day well in Israel they have you know the one day for holiday we just throw in an extra one it's always like that now you might say well it'll get technical because then you're going to have to make two minoras you know they have one minora for Israel where they're going to celebrate 8 days and because we would like to add one more day in the diaspora outside of Israel. We're going to have a monor with nine, you know, with nine branches. But I'm sure they could make that work. So why don't we have nine days? Why is this number eight so special? What's so special and so significant about the number eight? The explanation to this is because remember what they wanted to take away from us. They wanted to take away from us the breah. How many days do we wait until we perform the breed? 8 days. So we make sure to have a holiday that represents this that they tried to get rid of the Brit which represents number eight and by celebrating 8 days of we are reminding ourselves that they could not they could not take this away from us the breth will stay with us and guess what if you're going to have 8 days you're for sure going to pass one Shabbat. What else do they try to take away from us? Shabbat. So it just works out so beautifully that you have exactly eight days and if you're going to have eight days you're going to come across one Shabbat which is another thing they tried to take away from us and we make sure to have a Shabbat and to remind ourselves yeah they tried to take away Shabbat from us too but guess what they didn't succeed and what else did they try to take away from uses well if falls out on the 25th of and you're going to celebrate 8 days you're for sure going to run into roesh so while we're celebrating what else are we celebrating We're celebrating the eight days of the bre. We're celebrating Shabbat and we're also celebrating. And so with this, we understand that what they're trying to take away from us is kusha, our holiness. And who is holy in the Torah? Ysef. Why was he giving that title? Because he was able to hold himself strong under the pressure. He didn't melt. He didn't break. He was able to with withhold himself from the seductions of the evil inclination. That's who Ysef was. He was a man of holiness. And what are the Greeks trying to do? They're trying to confiscate it from us. Where did they come to battle us? In Jerusalem, the holiest city on holy ground in the temple. And they came to confiscate from us the oil. Why? Cuz they know this is where the holiness resides. They understand where holiness is. And that's what they're trying to attack. They don't like this that we're trying to attain holiness. They want they want to remove it from us because for so long as you're pursuing being holy, you're not going to fall for their lifestyle. and they want you to live a very impure, immoral, debase lifestyle. So that's the secret. Now, we know that your lime is called, but did you know there's another name for your lime? Anyone know what's the other name for your lime? Well, we could also refer to it as because it's a holy city. But you know what else we call it? We call it Zion. You ever heard of Zion? is another way to describe. Now pay attention. If you remove the first letter, which is your what are the remaining letters? What does that spell? Yavan means Greece. The Greeks. So what are the Greeks trying to do? They're trying to fight us in tion. Why? Because the first letter is a tadik and they're coming after who? They're coming after the sadik. Who's the sadik? You have a sadik. So what they're coming after is the one who resembles kusha and therefore tion. The difference between yavan and tion is that we have a sadik and that is yadik. That's the only letter that's not part of those letters. The sadik. Part of the decree was to take the horn of an ox and to write on it is we don't have a share in the God of Israel. Now why would they want this to be written on a horn? What's so special about these words and why exactly on this horn? Because back in the days they didn't have, you know, gerber or pl playex. They didn't have these baby bottles. So they used the horn and they would put the mother's milk inside the horn and that's how they would feed the baby. But the Greeks wanted that the baby should grow up subconsciously. They wanted them to grow up with this uh uh concept that we don't have a share in the God of Israel. They wanted them to believe in it. It was a propaganda. So this is the message that they put on the baby bottle so they will grow up with it believing that we don't have a share in the God of Israel. This is the propaganda like you know when you have little kids and you give them bottles of toys and everything has a Mickey Mouse on it or Disney World or something. It's propaganda because they want the kid to grow up seeing Mickey Mouse. So eventually he's going to pressure and press his parents to take him to Disney World. So here too they put on the bottles. I don't have a part. I don't have a share in the God of Israel so the kids could grow up with this. But why the ox? Why the horn of an ox? We know the each one represents another animal. Which animal does Yusf represent? The ox. Is that a coincidence that they're coming after Ysef? Now, I don't know what it takes you to fall off your chairs. I know you have a lot of self-control here, but how about this? What if you take the word antio? If you take the antio, it equals 156. Guess which other word has a gimach of 156? Ysef. Ysef is also the gimat of 156. Well, Ysef represents holiness. Kusha. A wall that separates us from our enemies. A wall that shows us our greatness. That tells us that we're not like the rest of the world. Antio and the Greeks tried to come and break that wall. They tried to breach that wall. So, it's not a coincidence that we learn about the story of Kaneka during this time as we're learning the story of Ysef. And we asked ourselves, is there a correlation? What's the connection between Ysef and Hanuka? Well, Ysef represents Kusha. And that's exactly what the Greeks are trying to take away from us. And that's why they're writing on the Karen Hashur. They're trying to write that we don't have a share in the God of Israel on the the horn of an ox because they know that's what Ysef represents and they understand this very well. They also went to attack us in Tion because the difference between us and them is we have but we have a they came after the which is a So in order to find a real connection between yourself and Kanuka normally I would go and look into the sid because anytime you want to understand the essence of a holiday you have to go look into the reading of that holiday you have to open up uh the the Torah and see if there's a para that we read during that holiday and you'll always find there's a connection for example on Pes we read about the Exodus of Egypt and guess what we read about on Shabot about this that God gave us the Torah. There's always a very direct connection between that which we read and the holiday. It's always like that and purin what do we read about? Because this is the war against. So whatever you read about when they take out the safer to you have to listen very carefully and be very in tuned because you have to understand that whatever they're reading about it has to do with the holiday. And if you understand what they're reading about, you'll understand the essence of the holiday. Let me ask you something. What do we read on? So it turns out that we read something from we read the blessing that the kohanim have given us. Now, what's the connection between Kohanim? I know I said it's not explicitly written within the Torah. It doesn't say anything about Kanuka in the Torah, and we don't see exactly in the story of Ysef either. We don't see Yseph is, you know, playing with drreidles, nor is are we seeing him like nor do we see him anywhere eating donuts. But we know that that there's a connection. But what is the connection between and I'll tell you the simple explanation. The Simple explanation is because the hashbim family guess which tribe they came from from Levi. So they come from they come from kohanim. So they come from kohanim. So therefore being that we have heroes over here that are kohanim. We're going to read the kohanim. You hear the connection. You guys following this? Good. So you understand the connection now? Why we read during kanuka? Because we read about the kuan. And guess who's fighting the war for us? Matyahu and his sons, which are Kohanim. So that's why we we put that together. But I didn't come to tell you anything simple. I know you didn't come out on a very cold night. So here's something simple. You want something more deep. So I'll serve you justice. So let's take a look. What's the connection between and the blessing and we have to ask ourselves why do we call this holiday? Anybody? Does anyone know why we call this? Good. This is why you came to class tonight. I'm not asking why Pes is called Pes. Pes means Passover. God passed over our homes. That's obvious. I'm not asking why Purim is called Purim. It was a goal. We know that Haman was trying to find a way to bring a genocide on to the Jewish people. I'm not asking about which even then it's relevant to the holiday because shaveod is the weeks because we are waiting several weeks seven weeks from p until and is the beginning of the year. So every single holiday has its name and that name represents what the holiday is about and it gives it itself away. So it's an obvious but why I think it was a terrible marketing strategy. Whoever called it did a terrible job. You know what I would have called it? I would have called it minor cuz that's what we laid on Hanukah. Maybe we should call Kam. It's a day of war because we won the war. You could give it so many names that would be catchier and I would say, "Oh, I know why it's called that because it has to do with Hanukkah." But what in the world does Kanuka even mean? Maybe you should call it the holiday of lights. That's another bad name. Some people call it holiday of lights. But what does Kaneka mean? So Nissim says Hanukkah is acronyms for we rested on is the 25th. And because we rested on the 25th, this is why we call. So that's the maharasha. It sounds like we're saying that if you're going to call it and you rested, then it almost makes it sound as though what we're trying to say is that is a day of rest. But we know that's not true. Shabbat is a day of rest. We know yum is a day of rest, but notes. We don't consider it a day of rest. So if you're going to call it, it's almost going to sound as though we're trying to say that is a day you cannot cannot do. says the it is called Kanuka because it makes sense that it's a day of rest. A day of rest for who? For the ladies. Because at Kanuka women after lighting of the candles, they have a custom that they don't do laundry and they don't iron. They don't they don't do things of that sort of things. They don't they don't get involved with the mil. Some women have this custom all year round, but we're talking about Hanukkah. So, they don't get involved with these type of things. They don't want to get involved because it's a very holy moment for the woman and women have to do with the holiday and so they don't get involved with so that's why according to the says the mahasha he has a different explanation he says because it was inauguration inauguration the beta was in shambles and they had to inaugurate it the rabb comes along he says the were warriors who were fighting and as they were fighting they could have learned Torah. So you know what they were doing as they were fighting? They were saying now guess how many letters there are exactly 25 letters within those six words. And so 25 letters. So he says they rested. Why did they rest? And what's because they were in the midst of saying the sha saved them. So that's a nice explanation to why we're called. They rested. They rested from the war. They came out victorious. But how? Because they rested. The vanish says hold it. Maybe we should call it. Now who is the rest? We will call it. Everyone is going to town on this one word. But I'd like to wait until really understand why we gave it the name that we did. And we'll also understand why we read with you know when we make the blessing on the way we make the blessing is they say what's the difference we don't say shall they do. Now if you count up how many words we say we come out to exactly 13 words but they come out to 14 words. And the reason we make sure to keep it to 13 words is because we follow the Arizal that says that 13 is a very important number. Now I would wonder why what's so special about this number 13 and what does it have to do with Kanakan? Why do we have to make sure the blessing has 13 words? So maybe the reason is because if you pay attention how many warriors there were uh if you count how many were on the battlefield it was exactly 13 people 12 sons of the Naim and then Alazar. So altogether 12 + 1 is equals 13. That's why we make sure to keep it to 13 words and 13 is a very important number. But that's not what that result says. However, he says that's not why we make sure to keep it 13. He says the reason that we have to have 13 words when we make the blessing is because 13 is the 13 of the 13 attributes of mercy and every something very special happens. Hashem brings down an abundance of mercy. He brings it down to this world and every night corresponds one of the you're going to say there's only eight words there's eight eight days so then there's that extra six but on the last day he says the last day is the rest of the words so that's why they call it's a very very special time but why is more than any other holiday besides yum kipur yipur will also we mention you know the 13 attributes of god's name we mentioned it quite a few times why is it kanuka is a day of 13 attributes of god why does hashem bring down his mercy They talk about hen is a very difficult word to describe or explain. What does hen mean? >> He means charm, charisma. >> Yeah. It's you you like somebody, you don't you can't explain why you like them. The gimat tells us that people have an affection, love towards certain things and they cannot explain why. >> Grace. Very good. It's like it says in the found grace in God's eyes. I mean, God's liked him. Maybe he didn't deserve to be saved from the mabul, but the fact that he had hashem saved him. He didn't have to be deserving. Just God just loved him. Just God just likes him. There's somebody else that we know about that has and that's yadik. He was Hashem was with him. Wherever whatever he touched was successful. He success was following him. Whatever he touched gave him success. The midrash says when he would pour wine for example for potif [snorts] would try to play games with him. So he would say you know what I changed my mind I don't want wine I want beer. And guess what would happen miraculously the wine would turn into beer. And then he also said oh it turns out I was giving you beer after all. And he said you know what I changed my mind again. I want I want wine. It's all it is wine after all. So whatever he would want it would turn into that. Ysef whatever he touched it turned to gold. Ysef was a was a man of Ysef. He had likability. He had charisma. Now, can we explain it? No. Some people like the place they live. You like your community. I met a person who lives in a in a very dangerous community. And I said, "What do you like about your community?" I don't know. I just love it here. Like, there's no parking here. There's always traffic and it's a very dangerous community. What do you about it? I can't explain it. I just love it. You go to Gaza, you think those people are don't want to live there, but they they have welcome home signs. They love their they love the place that you live in. And then the tells us the purchases that you make. People like what they buy. I have a guy comes to my shoulder with a polkad suit. He thinks it looks nice on him. He thinks he's like a model from a straight out of a you know magazine front page. But that's that's what he has charisma. There's charisma. There's something that there's a that pulls you towards something. Nobody else can understand it but you do. Then there's another thing the says has a husband has towards his wife. He likes his wife. He loves her wife. Sometimes you could have a guy come to his friend says you don't understand. I'm marrying the most beautiful woman. She's amazing. She's gorgeous. She's she's great. She has great unbelievable exceptional. And then they're wondering who's this girl? They look at her and they think to themselves what in the world did this guy see in her? Because there's [snorts] you know what's the first letter of katan? What's the last letter of katan? Because every katan has grace towards his wife. He always finds something about he finds something about his wife that maybe somebody else wouldn't find. And that's why I say what does that mean? Mat means he found he found grace. A mat is a lo you find something like like a lost object. You could have two people walking on the street. One person sees something and he doesn't find any interest in it and he continues walking but somebody else to one man it's garbage but another person it's gold and he picks it up and he cherishes it. So that's what h is something that you see that that you like but nobody else might not see what you see in it. So there's a great rabbis named they call him Moshe. He lived in the 1970s in Israel. He says that he says that why did Hashem save us in the story of Kanuka? Did we have any merits? The Raam says that we we suck to such a low we were so debase that we almost had no hope. We were this close to complete assimilation. Hashem was about to completely give up on us. And then the angel said, "That's it. It's over for the Jewish people." You have all these nations throughout history that they came and they left. Eventually, they got assimilated. They got lost. They got lost and you never hear about them again. The Jews were supposed to be no different. The Jews were supposed to be completely assimilated. You would go to a library, pull out a book, and then open up about, you know, the the history of the Jewish people and it'll be collecting dust for thousands of years. Nobody will hear about it. But somehow, Hashem keeps us around for all of eternity. Why? Because we have because Hashem looks down at us and he says, "Even though you might not deserve it, I'll still give it to you. We have something the other nations do not have." And that's they had to deserve to stick around. We don't have to deserve it. How do I know this? The story of Kanuka. We were this close to assimilation. We're about to be completely knocked out of this planet. That's it. It would have been open for us. And Hashem says, "Because you have I will keep you around." The angel said, "I don't understand. Hashem, why are you keeping them around? Why do they deserve to to survive? Just they're the only Everybody else became helized. They were running after the ways of the Greeks. They were running without clothes in the gymnasiums. What were we doing? Look at them. This is what they're involved with throwing discs. This is what they're involved with and you're going to keep them around. Hashem says, "I can't explain it is something I cannot explain. I just love them. It's an unconditional love. I can't explain it to you. I just love them and I'm going to keep them around for this reason." Now, pay attention. There were a lot of miracles throughout history that Hashem has performed for the Jewish people. a lot of miracles. Why is it that Kaneka becomes a holiday? Why don't we celebrate about the miracle that Hashem performed for us about the splitting of the yard? Nobody even knows about that. That's my safe for Yeshua class. You'll find out nobody even hears about it. No, people hear about the the wall of Jericho. People hear about the sun stopping of the sun. People hear about all these miracles. The war against we don't make a miracle out of we don't make a whole holly out of those miracles. But for some reason, the miracle makes it to the top. Why? Because by the other times in history where Hashem has performed miracles for us, it was because we had to be deserving of it. Pay attention. We're good. Hashem protects us. He saves us. We're bad. Hashem brings us catastrophe. Hashem brings us calamities. We're done with. Anytime we're good, we deserve it. Hashem is good to us. There's only one place in history where we were not good. We deserve to be completely obliterated and God saves us anyways. You know what that holiday is? It's called Kanuka. That's why we celebrate Hanukkah because we we're reminded of the unconditional love. How do rabbis make holidays? You ever wonder how they make holidays? Did you just gather together and say, "Well, what are you going to do to celebrate?" Hanukkah sounds nice cuz you guys eat donuts. Let's put that into the calendar. Why did they choose Hanukkah? Why when did they decide to make Hanukkah a holiday? So the says, "Let me ask you something. Did they make Hanukkah the the the year that it happened? the year that it happened when the Greeks came and they tried to defile the oil and we came and we we brought we put everything we brought the we re uh dedicated the beta mdash when that happened that day is that when Hanukkah started everybody went home and start letting them in >> no >> the answer to the is no good it happened exactly a year later a year later but why didn't they do it right away why did they wait a whole year to celebrate why didn't they do it the year it happened because the rabbis only celebrate holidays when they get a sign from Shamayim. You see, if you wait exactly a year, the energy that you felt at that day, if it comes back to you, then you know it must be that this day is going to it's like cyclical. It's going to come back every single year and it must be it's a day that it has to be celebrated. It's a holiday. And so when they came back to Hanukkah [clears throat] and they realized something strange. They said exactly on this days when we defeated the Greeks, this is the time when they tried to confiscate the oil. And in the end, we came out successful. We came out victorious. And guess what? On that day, we felt Hashem's mercy. We felt Hashem's grace. We felt Hashem's mercy. And Hashem found in us. We felt pain in the air. And we're wondering what is this feeling? Where'd it come from? because Hashem loves us on this day because Hashem wants to keep us around. And then exactly a year later is again and they said let's see if we feel that same feeling we felt last year and exactly a year later they feel the they felt it come back. They felt the 13 attributes of God in the air and they said now we understand now it all makes sense. This must be a holiday. So they made it into a holiday. Hence, one of the attributes is it means means for nothing. Hashem just loves us for not for no reason. Just because we're we're his children. And this is why we read in the blessing of the we say Rashi says the blessing of the is that we have and therefore we read because day of and this blessing reminds us that we have hence the connection and therefore maybe this is why we give away free gifts to each other on Hanukkah because God has given us life for Even though we might not deserve it, Hashem gave us a gift. So to emulate God, we give each other gifts. And therefore we read so during this time and that's why we said the word has the first letter of and the last letter of that spells. Hashem is the word and Hashem has found he realized that we are his chosen nation. The day that he married us was the day when he gave us the Torah and he says that from on here I am responsible for you. And this is why we call it. Now we go back to our question. Why do we call this? Because look at the first letters because of the hey, Hashem has saved us on the 25th day of and this is why Hashem loves us unconditionally. This is how we know that God cares about us no matter what we do. Even if we have sunken [snorts] to the lowest depths, it doesn't matter where you're holding. God cares about you and God loves you. Doesn't matter what you did in your lifetime. God holds of you and God believes in you and you have potential and that's all that matters. And so we say remember this word is Hashem just loves us unconditionally and that's why it's a something you find for one person it might be garbage but for another person it could be the world to him and just so is something that you might might not find you might not find it you know to be important but somebody else does find it important and therefore even though Noah didn't deserve to be saved but because he found in Hashem's eyes this is why Hashem saved him and therefore Hashem saves us during the story of Kanuka And this reveals to us the big secret of why the parot of Ysef are read during this time because Ysef is a person who has a lot of and when you read about Ysef you remember oh interesting who else has we do and Hashem loves us for that. And so we have to remember that no matter what I did when it comes to Kaneka, there's the 13 attributes of mercy in the air. And if you could tap into those that energy into the 13 attributes of mercy, you could accomplish great things. And I give you all the blessings because Hashem may may we take this message to heart and utilize it. And as we go through life, no matter how much his heart is going to put you down and tell you that you're not worthy anymore and you have sinned and God has lost hope on you, you have to remember that Hashem loves you regardless and he's waiting for your return. And Hanukkah is a time that reminds us this that despite the fact throughout history, yes, there were times where Hashem saved us, but it was because we were meritorious when it comes to you don't have to be notorious. Thank you so much for listening. Thank you very much Sumo for your tremendous inspiration course with the unwire all the different wires here. Um Raashem uh very special speaker tonight. Um Maur Bendal last week he was in forest tells Elizabeth Gia was a great crowd tonight and next week save the day next Monday he's going to be the mukarian congregation of Hillrest. He's going to different communities to give inspiration give Kizuk. So everyone please rise my war but bundle [applause] special. Okay microphones I just want to make one quick announcement. Every Tuesday night upstairs 8:30 tomorrow night 8:30 we have and then we have learning guys Thursday night >> Thursday night beautiful I wanted to talk about not so much Kanuka cuz I said maybe next week we'll do the Kanuka class. These things are all all over. So I don't want to drop them and if you know me I'm a little bit animated so I'm going to try and keep it in the vicinity of the speakers >> this week's par I want I saw a very interesting point that I wanted to just focus in on with you guys if you allow me to. It really starts off and it says sits down. He comes to so join in the land of his forefathers right where was and it says over there. Good >> good. You don't want to miss any of this. So he goes to the land of his forefathers and then says something interesting. These are the offsprings of Jacob Ysef. How many children did Ysef did Yakov have? He had at least 12 sons. And as a mid says that each one of them were born and sisters he had more than 12. There's a lot more kids than just just these are the offsprings of Ysef. That's it. on the spot he brings midlash that a few different answers but one of the answers is is why did go down to the house of in the first place who did he go to get married and who did he fall in love with right away he falls in love I want to marry her I'm working seven years so who does he want to marry who ends up marrying and then from her he has six kids and then he has then he has and then two and two but really who does he want this whole time so who did I do everything for and for her first son whose everything I have is because of you that if I never would have wanted you I never would have anything. He tells this is the of is that the main reason that I have everything I have in my life is because I wanted you. So he tells yourself this by the way I want you to know that everything I have is because of you because if I didn't want you I wouldn't be here today. And then it says something very interesting that is who loves Mikov he loves him from all of his children. when he loved Joseph the most. So there's a he goes in and it gives you many many different examples of why Jacob loved him. They were very similar in many many ways. Many many similar that they were both born from mothers who were barren at first that the end of his life he became he became wealthy. Yousef also became wealthy. We see many similarities. They actually tell us they looked exactly alike. They had a very similar look to one another. So he loved him. The Ramban says a little differently. He says that it was the way of people at the time that in their old age they would take one of their children to work with them in the house. So he told Joseph, look, you're going to be the son that's going to walk around with me, help me, clean me, so on and so forth. And the said that he took because he was with him all the time, he took all of his everything he learned. Who did he pass on to Ysef? Ysef took all of his. So he loved him very very much. Right? I want to focus in on one point over here. says Rashi who comes now now who can say he suffered more than he leaves 14 years he's learning he doesn't sleep only understand then he finally goes to get married who's his father-in-law I I don't wish anybody a father-in-law like this the minute he meets him he starts hugging him and kissing him he's not hugging and kissing telling him I love you he's hugging checking what you got in your pocket giving him the shakeddown trying to figure out what he got in his mouth what money you came with why he knows that when whenever Abraham came he came with gold and so he said okay what you got then he realized you don't got nothing okay and then he gives his daughters Rajie says there all four were his daughters every single one of them he gave it to him to try and infiltrate him like msad agents undercover to come into the house lavan was a sorcerer he had a voodoo dolls of yakov he tried to pinch the dog nothing was happening he's like I don't understand I have a doll of him I'm pinching it nothing is happening I'm pinching the doll he's taking the doll he's throwing it around is in the field No, black magic is working on this guy. Okay, I'm going to send one uh sleeper agent in there. Yala leak says comes back. Oh, we lost one. Okay, yala. Okay, all four agents, they all say, "No, never mind. We're not coming with you." He lost 20 years with this guy. Seven, seven, six, 20 years. And then he leaves. Now, as soon as he leaves, his brother comes to greet him. Who told Isab that Yakov was coming? Lean. They made a peace treaty between them. I'm not going to cross this line. You're not going to cross this line. Right away, he picked up the phone. Isab, do me a favor. Your brother's coming your way. Go out to greet him. Yeah. No, they already made a peace treaty. He already wants to come and kill the guy. They made a pe guy. I want to kill the guy. Okay. He finishes with Asav. Now what? His daughter gets taken. She finally is released more or less. They finish the whole story. Says, "Okay, now it's my time." I sit down tranquility. You gave me a tick already. He gave me some packages already. I had a lot of in my life. I'M GOOD TO GO FROM HERE. LEAVE ME ALONE NOW. I came to sit down tranquil. He says rash. As soon as he asked to sit down tranquily jumped on him right away was sold. He lost him 22 years. He doesn't see him. What happened? I can't sit down and be relaxed that it's not enough. You're going to get the next world. You also want this world. What happened? I cannot relax. Huh? Can I relax? All I became a rabbi now. I cannot relax. Huh? Everybody else sitting over there with the Mai in the beach and he's chilling out. He's relaxing and I'm the rabbi now. I can't relax. I didn't get a pina. What happened? Hook it up. No. No. You're a rabbi. Can I have relax? You're a sadik. You can have relax. Why can't I relax? Why can't I stomp tranquily? What happens to people headaches all the time? I don't want to deal with headaches all the time. Leave me alone. From the minute I wake up in the morning, the [laughter] phone is already blowing up. Rabbi, I got to talk to you. Rabbi, I got to talk to you. Today, I'm trying to prepare a class. I'm preparing a class. People are calling me. I'm okay. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And I'm reading I'm opening up four or five different books and I'm with the phone and they can Yeah. Okay. Tell them like I'm going to leave here. Guarantee I'm going to leave here. I'm on a phone call on the way back home. Tell me problems any 11:00 at night. I told you guys the case one time. It was like 12:00 at night. I finished the shu. I leave the shu. I go to pray by land house in Brooklyn. I get over there. As soon as I'm about to walk in 12:00, I get a phone call. Hello, Rabbi. You're not going to believe it. We got into a crazy fight. Now, me and my wife and 12:00 at night 12:00 at night. I said, "You know what? Ya. What am I going to do? I'm not going to go pray now. They're fighting. I'm doing circles around land for an hour and a half. I walked into prayer 1:30 a.m. like the sign is falling. That's how I was falling. [laughter] 1:30 at night. I want to sleep a little bit. I cannot rest. Why can I rest? Why can I rest? Bear with me. We're going to take we're going to go through this question a little bit. There's talks about how at the end of days after 120 when you get up to shim there's going to be a judgment. Now what's going to happen? Three people are going to come before he a poor person a rich person and a wicked person. And the poor person come to say listen and I ask him hey why didn't you learn to he said I was poor I was busy all day running around for money. He says okay were you poor then he let us. He goes, "I don't know." He goes, "Let me tell you a story about who was zaken used to work for half a din every single day." You know how much that is? I did the math in today's $4.50. Every day he would work for $4.50. Anyone over here is willing to work a full day of work. $450. Huh? Today's wage, not in those times. $4.50. That's what he got was the waiting silver. 50 cents. Half of it he used for his family to eat food and the other half he gave it to go to learn a bet mid dasha I need to come learn pay up he paid the guy at the sh at the front door to come let him in one day he couldn't find anything to make money and he's okay I need to go learn he comes to the show by the door he tells him let me in the guy tells him I'm sorry no money no honey you cannot come in I told him you don't have a can you can't come in please he's begging him don't come So what am I going to do? He climbs up to the roof. He goes to the skylight and he lays down the skylight to listen to the words of the all the time just to hear the to listen to the words of God through them. Okay. What day was it in the coldest season of the year and in the morning time when the sun set? Yes. The sun sets of what happened to the sun? Usually the sun usually pops into the skylight and they don't see anything over there. They look up, they see a shape of a body standing over there. Oh yo, they climb into the roof and who do they see? He there can sitting over there. Under how many feet of snow? Under how many feet of snow? Huh? Today I got here is 2 ft of snow. Rabbi, I'm not coming to stay for two minutes. He think he thinks that I got tell you Rabbi there's three three inches outside. I'm not coming. 57 in at least of snow on top of him. Not he's walking in it with the with a boots from here to Shamay. 57 IN OF SNOW ON TOP of him all night. He almost froze to death. They took him out. They washed him. They put oil on him. They put him next to the fire. It was Shabbat. They told him whatever different question. [laughter] They do it. They save his life. comes down and says the guy after 120 look I was busy I was running around I didn't have money says look 157 in of snow it's almost 4 and 1/2 ft of snow and you're complaining you have no excuse okay comes I have more businesses more worries tells him how come you didn't learn to I was very wealthy I was very busy you more busy more you were more wealthy Laz, you know how many villages his father left him and how many boats? A thousand villages and a thousands boats, right? And one day he would he would only take with him a little food, a little snack bag, a little lunch box of food. And he would go on to all day. One day he was walking through one of his cities and to get into the city you have to pay like a tax. The two workers over there, they see this guy coming. They don't even know who he is. He's their boss. Okay? He owns this land. Tell him you got to pay money to come into this land. He said, "I don't have any money." Go to him. If that's the case, I'm sorry. I have to put you to work. He goes, "Please, I'm begging you. Let me go." They tell him, "We swear on the life of our boss that we're not going to let you go." Now, he doesn't they don't know the swearing on his life. I'm your boss. Says after 120, the guy didn't come say I was rich. They say, "Look at this guy how wealthy he was. His own workers didn't even know who he was. They never saw him. He never came to work. He didn't care about it. He was all day learning. Okay, don't get to that level, says the man. You can't get to that level, no problem. But at least a little something the whole day. But if he went above the letter of the law, he later went above the letter of the law, then you should at least have something. And this is the part I wanted to focus in on. [clears throat] If a guy says, "I was busy all day with my desires." What do you mean your desires? Look, Rabbi, you know all the guys in the street, there are other guys in the street, but I'm a good-looking guy. You know what I'm saying? I got the look. I got the was talking about it's not easy for me. They tell them, "Oh, you're more beautiful than yourself." Sadik that was so beautiful. The woman cut their fingers. They were jumping over the gate to see him. The would change her outfit three times a day. So they get what she wore. She didn't wear the And what she want? She didn't wear she didn't just change into it's the funniest thing there's a commentary says in the night time she would change into her pajamas for husband for the husband she was in pajamas for she's in the gown she got dressed so beautifully and Ysef didn't even look at her would walk around the house he would have his head down he would have his head down he wouldn't look for he would pick his eyes up just a tad bit and just open his eyes only a little bit just to look what needed and that's it put it back down you she would She told him she she was begging him. She told him, "I'm going to make you rich. I want to give you all the MONEY IN THE WORLD. WANT ME?" SHE ONE TIME PUT A KNIFE to his throat. PUT A KNIFE TO HIS THROAT and told him, "If you're not going to be with me, I'm killing you right here on the spot." Said, "Kill me." She told him, "I'm going to put you in jail." He says, Hashem frees the prisoners. She goes, "I'm going to be I'm going to bend you down. I'm going to make you into nothing. I'm going to make you into e zero straight. one who aband I'm going TO TAKE AWAY YOUR eyesight and give me back my eyes everything he's trying to do with this guy he's not trying now don't tell me how old is yourself over here 70 years old 17 years old 17 to 18 you're going to tell me I know anyway she was not so she was the prettiest woman in Egypt the prettiest woman in the land's throwing herself at you 24/7 she's telling you if you're not going to be with me I'm going to kill you if you're not she told him at one point. Who is the problem? My husband, I'll kill him. She's my husband. No problem. In the night time, I'm putting poisonous food. That's is THE PROBLEM. YOU WORRIED ABOUT HIM? I'LL kill him right now. She was sick. She was sick over him. She was sick. You were loves sick. She was lovesick. She wanted so bad. She was love sick. SHE TOLD HER THE FRIENDS. I never seen a guy in the world like that. He said, "Come and see." They were cutting their fingers how beautiful yourself was. They don't tell me. I always said this joke. When I say, "Rabbi, I stay away from women." I tell them, "No, women stay away from you. It's a big difference. [laughter] It's a big big difference. I THEY'RE THROWING THEMSEL at me and I'm still not touching them. I cannot breathe. SHE'S NEVER LEAVING ME ALONE. One year and his head is down." The ben said that for everything she told him gave him another level of aliyah. She told him, "I'm going to imprison you." Because she told him I'm going to imprison you, he didn't listen to her. Hashem took him out of the prison. She said, "I'm going to take you into nothing. I'm going to bend you over, make you into nothing." Hashem made him into the viceroy. He put him on the gowns, the clothing, and they cleaned him. I'm going to blind you. From that, he got the wisdom to be able to interpret the dreams. For everything you try to make him fall with, Hashem rewarded him 10fold. For everything she tried to do, Hashem gave him a thousandfold everything. And persevered, a guy's going to come after 120, says the Benish. He going to say one of three things. either he's going to say look he brings a mash he brings a mash of a guy who used to come to sh and he was a very wealthy guy but he was not such a good guy he would uh do certain things in the neighborhood whatever and he had a lot of money so that sh in particular they wanted to bring the guy up so he give donation you know comes to Mr. come ali want to go to the tora. He said I'm not going up to the Torah. He would donate 10,000 to the but he wouldn't go up to the Torah. So he ask him why you not going up? He said me I'm a guy. I you know do what I do in the neighborhood. People know me. I have a good name. I'm can't go up to the this type of person excuses himself. How does he excuse himself? He says I'm running around doing terrible sins and now I'm from learning. So this is going to come and say I'm Hashem's going to say yeah you think you're sadik had just as strong as you and you overcame them all you could be a sadik you're not or he'll say the woman threw themselves at me all the time and I was busy cuz they were constantly throwing themselves at me I my mind was never busy cuz even still yourself also he was a sadik or he'll say a few guys in the crowd like that's me that's me few guys in the crowd over here we didn't get to yourself just yet >> [laughter] >> Okay. And then or he says my are very strong. I have a very strong did it. You have no excuses. So what do we see from over here? That at the end of the day a person Hashem wants you to achieve. He wants you to succeed. What does he want you to succeed? He doesn't want you to have excuses. He wants you to spend your life working. He wants you to spend your life growing. And therefore he tells you you want to sit down in this world and live in tranquility but you're never going to get anywhere. And that's why what does give to his son? He gives him in the simple understanding a striped tunic. Yeah. He gave him a striped tunic. The says that that didn't like Yabino's action so much that he gave one son over the other because he created jealousy and because of that they went down to Egypt. But for explain what was so special about the striped tunic, huh? Everyone else also got a tunic. Everyone else got a gown, but got one that was striped. What was special about it? Back in the day, how would they make clothing? They would stitch you by hand like the grandmas back in the day. Okay. They would come to you, I made you a sweater. Yeah, stitch you by hand. Now when you're switching colors in the middle of the thing, it's a to weave it. It's so intricate to make her It's not easy. You have to weave everything. Like today you go to China and you get order of the No, everything was pulled and weaved. It's very expensive to make the sweater can be sweater. He gives it to his son tell the kids you guys are going to go to gap and then so on and so forth. this katon says we see the say that this konim this striped cloth is very beautiful right while the one that's flat one color is not as nice he explains beautifully he says this is also the life of a person if you look at your life and you're thinking you want life to be all white no lines no curves no stripes then it's not so beautiful not so expensive A REALLY EXPENSIVE ONE IS the one that has the curves and the line if I gave you a piece of paper right now and I drew a line on it one straight line is art take one line and draw art it's only when I start making turns and swirls and curls and this and that become bang but until I did all the swirls and the curls and the whirls nothing happened over there was a piece of line in a straight line it's not worth anything I got to start doing all types of movements I got to spin the the canister around and throw 15 buckets on it and then put my foot on it and then slap it how everything is complex or music there's octaves in music and there's notes. Imagine everything just going up up up. It would be a siren, an unenjoyable song. What's a good song? Up, down, up, down, up, down. That's music. You know what the art of you is? You know what makes you beautiful? You know what makes you art? Is the challenges in your life. It's the ups and the downs. Is the difficulty in a time that you're trying, that you're persevering. That's what makes you special. That's what makes you the art that you are. You know what makes yourself sadik yourself sadik? THAT HE GOES DOWN TO EGYPT. HE'S BY HIMSELF ALONE, NO FAMILY. HE GETS ALL THE CHALLENGES IN THE WORLD. GOES INTO PRISON. HE has all these trials and tribulations. He has all the complexities and he becomes sadik. You know what makes the art of you that you have these complications in your life that you have these swirls that you have these that's exactly what wants from us? That these things are what make us these things that build us. And then what says you want to sit down in tranquility? Not for me. I don't care. Take all the tranquility you want. But you're never going to be beautiful. You're never going to get to the most expensive way you want to be. You're never going to be that piece of art that's in the wall. It's worth millions cuz you want it to be a straight line. You're never going to be the song that hit the charms cuz you just want it to be a straight upward motion. Tell them stop. I thought you don't want to hear the song anymore. You need ups. You need downs. You need you need stripes. You need stripes in your life. In order for you to be something in life, you need stripes. But you cannot run away from challenges. When I came to the rabbi, I said, "Rabbi, I have a question." He said, "What?" He said, "I can't take it anymore in my life. It's too difficult. Business, my wife, my kids, my I just can't do it anymore." Rabbi, I want to step away from it all. I want to go to Shivan is I want to learn my family. Rabbi tells him, "No problem. Tomorrow morning, we're going to start the journey. Tonight, you're going to sleep over here. Tomorrow, we're going to start." They wake up the next morning. This is before the times when they had not cars and everything. Then they go travel horse and buggy. They wake them up in the morning, early in the morning. They get on the horses and they start going. They get to river and they sat there and they're waiting. 30 minutes passes by. He says, "Rabbi, what are we waiting for?" He says, "No, no, you see this river over here? I'm waiting for it to dry out. Then we're going to pass it." Say, "Rabbi, I know the Rabbi is a very smart guy, but noon, what's going on over here? The river is not drying out anytime soon. We're going to be here forever." He says, "Exactly." He says, "If you're going to wait in your life for everything to be perfect, everything to be smooth, you're never going to go over the river. You're never going to get to the next side. It's only when you put yourself in the challenges, when you throw yourself into the water, that's when you become special. It's only when you put yourself in the difficulties, that's when you get over the other side. They one time came, they have a story. They one time a guy came to him and he was on the bus. He had his business meeting the bus. He woke up a little bit late. He was running. He was in to make it to his meeting. He just missed the bus by a few minutes. He came back to his wife. He said, "What am I going to do? I missed the meeting. What am I going to do my job?" She doesn't go to go to he comes and he tells him go make a go which basically means when you make a go when your life turning situation tell the guy didn't say a lot of words he would say he would say so many different things he would not make a lot of words go what's go you have to make a go say I missed the bus never heard my life nowhere in the no 20 minutes later they get on the news that bus was attacked by terrorist and alenu who hurt got hurt saved his life now what he thought was the worst thing ever WHAT ARE ALL THESE TRIBES in my life WHAT ARE ALL THESE TRIBES IN MY life you don't realize that's what's saving you that's what's making you special that's what keeping you going that's what's getting you to other side of the river you have to grow in life you have to make it to the other side you have to be a person who can persevere and so on and so forth the stories never end the stories never end but the ms is for us the ms is for us to know that gives us the stripes in life. He gives us the trials, tribulations, the ups and the downs because we're meant to grow from them. And therefore, don't run away from the difficulty in your life. Don't run away from the hard times cuz the hard times are what make you special. That's what make you the art that you are. That's what makes you the beautiful piece of art that you are. That's what makes you expensive. That's the stripe tuning cuz that's your life. That your life should be stripes. It should have moments of trial and tribulations. Ask me one time if I would trade that phone call at 12:00 at night to 1:00 in the morning sitting outside. I would never trade it. I would never trade it for a million years. My wife all the time. She says, "My husband, you have to have business hours." I told, "How can I have business hours?" She goes to me, "Everyone has business hours. I cannot have business hours. How can I sleep at night and know there's a couple out there fighting and I'm sleeping like a baby?" Impossible. Impossible. I would never trade it for the world. I would never trade it because these trials, these tribulations, and I'll share with you one thing. One thing I'll share with you that I heard this I didn't prepare. It's time something that came to my head just now of he said over a story one time and I love this story because this story illustrates what you can gain from not only dealing with your own troubles but by stepping into another person's troubles and helping them as well. He says one time he came home 11 o'clock at night, 12:00 at night, 1:00 at night. The guy's dead tired. Can I imagine coming home 11 o'clock at night from Queen getting off from the wrong exit back in the loop? You ended up in [laughter] probably was waiting for that one. I don't even know how I'm getting home. This week I learned my lesson from last week. I told someone, "Listen, I'm sorry. This week you got to come with me. He's over there." Yeah. Go. I can't do it. I'm not driving anymore. It doesn't work. I can't get here now. Get home. Yeah. I tell you, get home. Also, last week I got lost on the [laughter] way home. I promise you I got up on the wrong exit. I'm like, where am I going? And I made it home. But you come home late, you're tired. He goes, "Okay, what am I going to do?" 1:00 in the morning for bed. Okay. He's laying down. All of a sudden, 2:00 in the morning, he gets a phone call. Rabbi, who is this? I'm calling from the ambulance. This and that. We have a girl over here on the ambulance. And she's asking the only person she wants with her is Rab Wallstein. Says Wall, she's my family. What she want? What does she want for me? She only wants Sue. You have to come right now. Everyone says, "Okay, I don't have a choice. I'm going to go." 2:00 in the morning, he puts the suit back on. Put the tie back on. You know, to get dressed as it's not easy. You got to You got to throw on the sweats and yeah, let's go. We have to put on the shirt, put on the tit, put on the tie, make sure it's nice, fold it, pinch it, touch it, roll it, clean the shoes until you get outside the house to get out the house. Gets into the thing. He's driving. He said, "What am I doing over here?" 2:00 in the morning, I'm in. What am I doing over here? And then he remembered was decreed on me that I was going to be not me was going to be an ambulance at 2:00 2:30 in the morning on this night on this date. But he didn't say for what reason and he did me but instead of it coming to me in my own house it's coming that I can help another person but how do you do when you call other people deal with the problems you don't realize I'm not just dealing with their problem with my own when you call me with your problem and you're this and you're that I'm fighting your problems but really I'm also fighting my own every couple I help with shalom is my sh every couple you help with the with the psyche what they're going on stress anxiety that's saving you from that same problem. People think the coming to give us you the also getting everything you do in life person is also helping you. So when you go through the trials and tribulations in life and you say okay I have my own I also want to take on your own. I'm going to take on your troubles also. I'm going to go I'm going to help other people. You know why? Cuz by dealing with your troubles I'm also saving myself from mine. One guy told me rabbi I can't take it anymore with my wife. I can't take it anymore. My wife. I told him, "No problem." Say that the man of a person has every single day on him in the morning. I said, "You don't want it from your wife. Pick a different direction. What do you want? The money or your health?" No, Rabbi, it's okay. Leave it. It's okay. No, no, Rabbi. It's okay. Thank you, honey. I love you. He thinks that it's for free. He thinks that life is going to go smooth. It's not how it works for you to grow in life. Everyone that loves it basically means he sees the suffering coming his way. He looks at his actions. If he didn't find didn't find, he knows that hem loves him. Hem everyone loves. If Hashem loves you, you're going to have trials in your life. If Hashem loves you, you're going to have tribulations. How do you know who? He's out of all three of them. He's the pinnacle. He's the one that loves the most and he's the one he's having the most challenges over here. Yeah, 10 pro challenges. We also heard of his challenges doesn't get any rest. Why? If I love you, the more I love you, the more I'm going to give you because I want you to be great. I want you to grow. And therefore, don't run away from the trials and tribulations in your life. Embrace them, grow with them, and understand that your life is to become to become the stripe tunic cuz only then you'll become expensive. Going down become the artist you're supposed to be going to become the beautiful thing you're supposed to be.