Rabbi Paysach Krohn | CHAZAQ Tisha B'Av Marathon

It's a tremendous to have been asked once again by Kazak specifically Robbie Abof to come to speak to all of you on such a precious day in Cla Israel. It's precious but it's caused very sad and because it's a very sad day. I have to start with a very sad gumorrah and you know it's very painful to listen to but we have a very important lesson to learn today and hopefully that we'll all be able to change because of it. The Gomorrah is in. And the Gomorrah tells us the second people were learning to mitzvah and they were doing. So, so why was the Bidas destroyed if people were doing good things like because people had hatred for no reason baseless hatred and they didn't get along with each other. So it occurred to me if we want to undo the and the is the destruction of the B mikdash and it happened because of because of hatred. So how are we going to undo it? The only way I think that we could do it is byasum is by showing and learning about aas is and that's what I want to talk about today. I want to tell everybody, the men, the women, and the thousands who will be listening on Torah any time throughout the world, how important Abas Israel is. And every time that you come up with a situation, either in your family or in your community, in Yeshua, and you have a choice to make, you'll think about some of these stories. I'm going to tell you amazing stories. how great people acted in a time of crisis and how they showed a Israel and we will be able to learn from that then when we come up with a tough situation how to make a proper decision and act with the way of a Israel. So I want to begin with a very interesting fascinating story that happened in gates in England. Gates is one of the places that has one of the greatest yeshivas in the world. And this story happened at a sudas prao. Sudas praa means like a goodbye party. There was a guy a boy who was learning in yeshiva for three years and then he was going to go to Israel to learn. So before he went to Israel, they made him a party. His rebies were there, his kavus were there, his good friends were there and even the rashiva raaf gurowitz was there at this sudas prao and everybody spoke and they knew that he was going to speak also. Now this boy let's call him shimmy he was a little bit of a wildman and he always was getting into fights you know with people or whatever you know in a friendly way. So when he spoke, everybody knew he's going to say something funny cuz that's the type of guy he was. But nobody imagined that he would tell this unbelievable story which people are still talking about so many years later. And I'm so grateful when people call me to tell me a story. Somebody from Gates had called me to tell me this story and we're going to see something great. What happened was he started the story and he said, "You guys know that I'm always getting into trouble with, you know, with guys." So when I first came to the yeshiva, the first day or two, I got into a little fight with some kids and they started chasing me. And I didn't know what gates had looked like. You know, like you walk into bed real for the first time. There's so many rooms, you don't know where to go. So I saw a big door open. So I ran in there. I didn't I thought I would hide from them. But it turned out that was the base medrash and it was during lunchtime. So there were not too many guys in the base medish. And you know I was thinking how am I going to get out of here? If I go back out they're waiting for me. They're going to beat me up. So I saw a door at the end of the base medish. So I figured that's a door out. And I ran in there. And I ran in there and I realized it was theim. It was the library. There were a thousand books on shelves very neatly, but you know, there was no other way out. So, what was I going to do? Turn around and go out. They're waiting for me. They could beat me up. So, I waited in there quietly. And then, you know, they started knocking on the door. And I said, "You guys are crazy. I'm not going to open the door for you. You're going to come in here and beat me up." So, now I had to figure out how am I going to get out of there. So, I'm waiting and it's quiet. And then after a few minutes, I hear a knock and I say, "Who's there?" And somebody says, "It's the Russa." So I say, "Yeah, you're the Russa. You're not the Russa. Get out of here. You're just imitating the rash. You want to beat me up." Now, I couldn't imagine that it would be the rasha. But anyway, it was quiet again. And then a few minutes later, there was a knock again. I said, "Who's there?" He said, "I told you, sir. Rashiva, I need a safer. I need a book from the library. Yeah, you don't need no book. You're not the Russia. You guys just want to beat me up. Just get out of here. And after a while when it happened the third time and the fourth time I was thinking, "Oh my gosh, maybe it is the Rashiva." So like, you know, so you know, I waited it was quiet and a few minutes later again there was that knock. So I said, "Who is it?" He said, "It's the Rashiva. I told you I need a safer. I need a book from the library. And then again I said, "Oh yeah, you're kidding me. You're not the rashiva." And then I opened the door very slightly and I see, oh my gosh, it is the rashiva. And here I was talking to him. So not nice. I didn't know what in the world I was going to do. I mean, if he sees me, I'm I'm out of the yeshiva. Throw me out. I'm only there one day. Anyhow, after a while when when the knock came again, I opened up the door very slowly and I see that he's standing there like this and I open the door and he walks in and he walks in like this. So, he doesn't see me and I don't see him. So I said all of us know that the rashiva is a big tam but who realized that he had such midot that the only reason I was able to stay in the yeshiva is because he hid his face from me and he didn't see me and I didn't see him because if I would have seen his face I would be so embarrassed I would have to leave the yeshiva so I was able to learn here three years only because of the midtovote that the roshiva had that he hid his face so I shouldn't see him and That's what Abas Israel was all about. The rashiva didn't know who the kid was, but he knew it was a kid who was a stickle troublemaker, but he's a yid. He's a tal in the yeshiva. So, he went out of his way, you know, to make sure that u that he's okay. Now, I just want to tell you one of the greatest stories I ever heard. You know, I was before I had my stroke a year and a half ago, I was in S. Paulo, Brazil. Now, Salo, Brazil is a very dangerous place to live. You can't just walk in from the outside into the shel. They have like a chamber that you have to walk into and they check you out. If you're okay, then they'll let you go into the synagogue. When they lock the door in front of you, behind you. So, it's a very dangerous place. But the point was I was sitting there mabas by mulava and some you know, you know, you play Jewish geography, what's your name? Where you from or whatever. So, I asked the guy, "What's his name?" He says, "My name is Daniel Sunfeld." I said, "Sonfeld, what the the chief rabbi of the old city was Sunderernfeld. Are you related to him?" He said, "Yeah, that was my great-grandfather." I said, "I can't believe it. You know, I like to write stories. You got to tell me a great story about your great-grandfather." So, he said, "I'll tell you a story that's legendary in our family." And we're going to see now a story what Abasol is all about. And um so he says like this, "When my great-grandfather got older, his wife passed away and his daughter-in-law moved in to help him. She moved near that and every morning she would come in to try to help him either with breakfast or anything that he needed for that day. Her name was Shaina." So one day she comes in in the morning and Raim Zunnfeld says to Shaina, he says, "Shaina, I hear a woman crying in the courtyard. Why is she crying?" So she says, "I'll go find out." So she she goes outside and she comes back and she says, you know, my dear father-in-law, I just want to tell you that um this lady is the washer woman. She takes everybody's laundry, she washes it, she hangs it up to dry and then at the end of the day she gives it to everybody and that's how she gets money to buy food for her kids on the way home. But today is and there's a law a minigan cla that women don't do laundry onesh. She didn't know it's foresh and nobody's giving her the laundry and she couldn't figure out why nobody's giving her the laundry and that's why she's crying because you know she wanted uh could you get me a tissue? So that's why she's crying because nobody's giving her the laundry. Okay, thanks. So Rabim said to her, "Do we have any laundry?" So she he she he said, "Yeah." She said, "Yeah." He said, "Okay, give us give her our laundry." And she goes out and she takes out the laundry. She can't believe it because it's foresh and is giving the laundry. So when the other women in the courtyard saw that Raim gave the laundry, they also gave the laundry. And then the woman stopped crying and she was able to wash the laundry and she was able to make money. And then later Sha came back into the room where her father-in-law was, where was and she said, you know, Za or you know like how how come you gave her the laundry? Listen to what he said. Very important. He said that woman is an alman. She's a widow. And a w a person is not allowed to hurt a widow. That's a dissa. That's a din. If somebody hurts a a widow, that's a violation of the Torah. Not doing laundry is only a minhag. A person has to know what's more important, a law of the Torah or just a minhag. And the law of the Torah is much more important. Now, there are many, many people here who have almanus in their father, in their family. Some of us have mothers that are alus. Some of us have sister-in-laws or a mother-in-law or somebody in the neighborhood or somebody in the synagogue. You have to be so careful when you talk to an ara to make sure not to hurt her because when an ammon cries that's a violation of a Torah law and that's what was so was so careful about now I'll tell you an amazing story that the magim told me and every time he told me the story he was crying and I'll tell you at the end why he was crying what happened was in Rabim's uh sonel's shul three weeks before Rosh Shah the Balt the Bal Shakras passed away and they had to appoint somebody to pray for the underv shak the first day and people went to Raim and they said to him rebi you know who are you going to appoint he said don't worry I I'll take care of it but and they waited every day you know they asked him did you appoint somebody he said I told you I'll take care of it now it's the night of rash at night the next morning the guy supposed to adopt to the ommit and people said to who did you appoint he said I told you I'll take care of it after everybody left shirim went over to the son of the one who passed away and he said you're going to d tomorrow shakas he said rebi me I never d for the you know shakas before he said no you heard your father many years you'll be fine you just go up and do it tomorrow and the guy went up and it did and and he was and he was quite good. And then afterwards after the doubting somebody went over to I'm sorry somebody went and said to him rebi but isn't there you're not allowed to appoint an somebody who's in mourning you're not allowed to appoint him to d for the rash. So how did you let this guy Daven So listen what said he said you know the dinner is that if there's nobody else to dab and you could appoint the other he said you know who was sitting in the ladies section the wife of the man who used to din every year could you imagine if somebody else tomorrow or today would have gotten up and said hamelik and it wasn't her husband cuz he died and it wasn't anybody from her family she would feel so hurt that nobody from her family was the one who said a mel she was waiting for her husband all these years and but at least now if she hurt her son she wouldn't cry but if she would have cried we all would have cried with her and she's an almana and the reason that shrine cried by that story because he became a ysum when he was seven years old his mother was so povertystricken she was an almona and so therefore He treated every almana that he ever spoke to with tremendous tremendous care especially my mother. I was always very grateful the way he spoke to my mother. It was always with dignity and care when he stayed you know in our home after my father died. So many people wondered you know is there but you know my I was there my brother was there my sisters were there but Shalom stayed anyway. And you know I'm sure that one of the reasons was because he felt that it was so important you know to treat the non with dignity and respect. Now there's a medum in and I just want to tell you how I think that we should understand it and what we can learn from it and it's infin redeemed until we are all in one group. Now what does that mean to me? It means that we all have to love each other and care for each other. Ashkenazim, Bkarians, Persians. It makes no difference. We're all brothers and sisters. And so therefore, that's what it means to be a that's what I think it means the to have the care. And I want to tell you a fabulous story again of Rabfeld. He was drove in the old city of listen to this. There was an 8-year-old boy. His father died. And the kid was never so traumatized that he stopped talking. And nobody could get the kid to talk. So they went to Raim and they said, "Rebby, maybe you could go in and you could talk to him or get him to talk." So Raim went in and he got into a conversation and he started talking and the boy started talking. So when he left, somebody went over to and he said, "Rebi, isn't there a that you have to wait for the to speak first? When you go be you have to let the o speak first. So listen to what said he said you didn't hear the kid he was screaming. That's amazing. In other words he didn't say a word but he was screaming. The pain was so visible on his face that felt that he was screaming in a sense and that's why you know he spoke to him in that which way. And that's what's very important. We have to know the pain of people even if they don't talk. Sometimes when they they just can't get the words out, but you know that they're feeling pain, they're so empty on the inside. You have to be willing to call them. You have to be willing to do for them. And I want to ask all of you a question. What would you say to this? What is the difference between and let's see if you could think of it. What's the difference between and so rakim is compassion is kindness. So I think that when you have raim you're thinking about what the other person needs. When you do you you you want to give somebody and that's the whole difference. I once heard something and anybody who has a pencil paper can write this down that the word creation and the word reaction are both spelled with the same letters. creation and reaction and the point is that when you have raim that's reaction you see that somebody needs something so you're reacting but we have to be more than that we have to be creation we have to want to give to other people that's what is all about and that's what is all about and thinking about other people so I want to tell you a great story that Abnasa Sherman told me Sherman is of course the editor of art scroll. He's one of the greatest people of our generation. He's a treasure to our generation for everything that is written in the sitter and the kish and the mim and tanakh is just tremendous. So he told me this story. I want to show you what what it means to be a rebi and what it means to have a so when he was in the sixth grade. So how old is a kid in the sixth grade? 10 11 whatever about that. So he he went to Turvadas in Brooklyn and he had a rebi his name was Rabbi Hersh Kaplan who was a wonderful person and the principal in those days in Turvadas they had two principles Rabbi Pinkinis Shimsh Pinkis's father and Dr. Stern now I came to Turvadas later on but they were still the principles. So one day Rabbi Hersh Kaplan was teaching the class and Dr. Stern walked in. He wasn't expecting Dr. Stern to walk in and Dr. the stern the principal wanted to speak to the baham in the class. Now Rabbi Hersh Kaplan had a munic I don't know if he could do it today without getting arrested but any kid that was bad he put the name on the board and when the kid behaved better so then he would erase it and he felt if a kid says sees his name on the board he's going to be embarrassed and he'll behave so that was his method of teaching fine so now Dr. Stern came in and there was names on the board and this rebby felt bad. He didn't want that Dr. Stern, the principal, should see the bad names on the board cuz everybody knew that that's what Rabbi Hersh Kaplan used to do. So listen to this. So while Dr. Stern was talking to the boys, Rabbi Kaplan backed up against the board and he started going like this. He was wearing a long black and he started erasing the names on the board. And Rabbi Sharon told me that when Dr. Stern walked out and Rabbi Kaplan walked him, you know, he walked behind him to escort him out to everybody saw the white chalk on the black jacket of the Rebi. And then they realized what kind of great Rebi he was and how he cared about the Tom. He wasn't interested in embarrassing the kids. He was interesting in trying to get them to improve. But he didn't want that u that the boys should be embarrassed by Rabbi Stern by by that Rabbi Dr. Stern would see you know the kids. Now many of you certainly heard of Raatiel Solomon. Raatiel Solomon was in Lakewood and he was such a kind, caring, wonderful person. I want to tell you a beautiful story that his son Mayor told over when he was sitting shiver for his father. He said when Ramatio came from England to Lakewood, everybody wanted to get to know him and shake his hand and become friendly with him and listen to him because he was just such a kind, caring person. And he had this great English accent that everybody loved to listen to. But anyhow, it happened one Friday night. There was a long line of people saying gashabas to the mashk and among that line there was a nineyear-old boy he was 12 I'll tell you why it's important that he was 12 it's a 12 year old boy and um he was waiting online to shake the hand of the mashkyak and then when he shook the hand of the mashk he said rebby can I ask you a question so he said yeah of course whatever you want so he said I heard that the circus is coming to New Jersey and I bought a ticket but then the other day somebody told me that the revy said that a from boy shouldn't go to the circus. So am I allowed to go because I already bought a ticket. So Ramatio held his hand and he said little boy let me just tell you now that you asked me I got to tell you the truth. A f boy really shouldn't go to the circus. So the kid looked down and then he looked up and he said okay rebby I won't go. And then he was about to leave. So Raatio called him back and he said, "We're still friends." So he said, "Yeah, we're still friends." Six months later, Raatio was driving in a car with his driver and he said to somebody, he said to the driver, "Go into the sh here. We have to go in." He said, "Why are we going in?" He said, "You'll see." And they come inside. It's the bait mitzvah of that boy. Ramadio after Shabas found out who the kid was and found out when his mamitzvah was and he went there. So when the boy saw Ra Matiso and the father saw him, they couldn't believe it. This sadic is coming to his mitzvah. So the father ran over to him and he said, "Rebi, I'm so honored that you came, but why did you come?" He said, "Cuz I want to speak. Do you mind if I say?" He said, "No, of course not." And Rao got up and he told the whole story. And he said, "At the end, the boy said, he's still my friend. So how could a friend not come to a friend's mitzvah?" And that's what Raatio who was so busy to Mashia in Lakewood hundreds and hundreds of people wanted to get to see him. But what did he do after Shabas? He found out who the kid was. He wrote down his name and he wrote down what he's going to be about mitzvah and he went to do it. That's what a schol is all about. And that's what we have to be. Now I just want to tell you a fabulous story that happened um in the five towns. Now I don't know who this lady is, but if I saw her, I would sit down so I could stand up for her. Listen to what a lady did. Just amazing. There's a fellow, a friend of mine, I can't say his name. He owns a a day camp, a boy's camp, and let's call the camp Godless, a great camp. And every year, he's packed. The whole the whole camp is full. So a few years ago, about two months before the camp started, he sent an email to all the parents who sent their kids and he said, "You know, we're going to start the camp soon. If you want to register your kid, make sure you send me an email to register." And everybody sent in. And he had every single spot filled. Three weeks later after he sent the email, the wealthiest woman in the camp, the wealthiest woman who sent her son to the camp, she called him up and she said, "You know, I want to register my son." So the guy said, "But didn't you get my email? I sent you the email a few weeks ago that anybody should register who wants to register." She said, "Yeah, we got the email. The only thing is that we thought for sure that we were going to be in Israel this summer. we weren't going to be here, but now we changed the plan, so we're going to be here. He said, "O, what should I do? I gave away all the spots. I can't take away somebody's spot, but I promise you this. If somebody cancels, then I promise you I'll call you and you'll be the first one to get the spot." She said, "Okay, that's fair." And sure enough, a couple weeks later, two days or three days before camp, somebody canceled out. And this Rabbi Becca, who was good to his word, called this lady and said, "I want you to know somebody canled. The spot is yours. Send in an email and your son will be able to go to the camp." And that's what she did. She sent in the email right away. And the next day, listen, she called him up and she said like this. She said, "I want you to know the last three weeks I had feelings that I never had before. I come from a wealthy family. I never had to wait for anything. every anything that I needed, I always got first because I came from a wealthy family. And now the last three weeks, I had feelings and I never had before. I was worried. I had anxiety. Maybe I'm not going to get accepted. Maybe my son won't be able to go to camp. So I realized there are a lot of people out there that had these kind of feelings and I never had those feelings. So I just want to tell you if there's any kid that can't pay for registration, just tell me and I'll pay for them. And that's what she did. She paid for somebody. That's a strong and that's a because she didn't even know that person but she knew that there's somebody who has those anxieties and she felt the pain of another person and that's what a is all about. So if you know that somebody's in a hospital or somebody's in a rehab center or somebody can't get out or whatever or can't go shopping or whatever there's an almona or a divorced woman who has children at home and she can't go out shopping. So if you're shopping, make sure that you call that person and you make sure that the person you know feels that you care about them. And that's what is all about. Now we said before that that is not going to be redeemed until we are like one group. But it doesn't mean that we all have to be the same. Everybody is different. And that's what the writes everybody has different ways of serving Hashem. Some do it with some do it with. And even in he says there's certain people that like Eon, there's certain people that like Agata, certain people like Dush. So everybody is different and what we have to do is each one of us has to serve Hashem with something that we have an inclination or that we're drawn to. And there's certain people that are drawn to and I want to tell you a great story about an uncle of mine. Now many of you may have heard the name Mike Tress. Anybody ever heard of Mike Tress? I'm sure you did, right? He was a great person. He was the head of the Agura National Agura in America for two decades now. I never called him Mike. To me it was Ellie Melik, uncle Ellie Melik Tress, but he was a tremendous tremendous bless. So I want to tell you a story that his son told me. He has a son Tres who lived in Toronto. He was very Isaic and many many wonderful things and one day he went down to Miami for a little vacation and he was ding shakus and he had his talisb you know on on the table and many of us on the talis bag you have your name. So he had his name tres. So mass the guy with pis upturned hat and a black kapot you know just like me and um he uh he went over to him and he said tres your name is tres he said yeah he said you ever heard of my tress he said that was my father and the satma guy just stopped and he started crying mom is crying tears coming down his face so said to him are you okay did you know my father he said I want to tell you a story about your father listen to this and we're going to see obvious in such an amazing way. He said, "I came to America after the Second World War." He just pickpocketed you, by the way. He just pickpocketed in case you don't know. But okay, I'm watching. But anyway, um I came to America after the Second World War and I had no panosa had nothing and I needed a job. So people told me, "Why don't you go to the Agura? There's a guy Mike Tress who likes to help Jewish people." So I went to to your father and he asked me could I help you and I said you know I don't have a job my we don't even have food for Shabas. So my trust says what do you do? What's your job? He said I'm a glacier. I fix glass on windows and on doors and cars. So he said listen there's a glazier a few blocks away here on Marsi Avenue. I'll give you a note to that glazier. He's a good friend of mine and I'm telling you he's going to hire you. So he gave me this note. I took it to the glacier. The glazier read it and he said, "Okay, you're hired." I couldn't believe it. I had food for the next few weeks. Every Friday, the guy paid me and I had food for my family and for my children. I I couldn't believe it. And then after a few months, the owner calls me in and he says, "I want you to tell Mike Trest that he doesn't have to pay your salary anymore because what he had written on that note was, give this guy a job and I'll pay his salary every week until you find out that he's a good worker." And that's exactly what my uncle did. And that's somebody who had a feeling for he didn't really know the Satass fellow, but he know that he needed a job. So he was ready to pay his salary and that's what he did for a few months until the guy realized that he was taken and he paid his own salary and that's what we have to learn from that's what we have to learn from. In other words, we don't only have to do to people that we know and people that we like, but if there's a person in your sh or person in your group or let's say, you know, you find out from somebody that somebody needs a job or somebody needs or somebody needs food, that's what we have to do and go out and find these kind of people. I once heard a great story about Rabisa's Alman Meltza. Now it's it's almost hard to believe this story. Rais Alman Meltzer was such an oy of Israel. He was such a tremendous he was the father-in-law of Raaran Kutla. And it happened in the 1940s. There were a lot of bombs going off in your shim. And Rabis's wife said to him, "Come into the shelter. Come down into the shelter." And he said, "Don't worry. If I'm learning, that's going to protect." And she said, "No, I'm begging you. I'm so afraid. please come. And he didn't want to come. Finally, you know, the bombs were going and she begged him. She was crying. So he said, "Okay, I'll come down." And then as he was walking down the stairs, a bomb fell and the shrapnel went into his leg and it cut his leg open. He had to wear a cast for a year. And then so she said, "I'm going to yell for help." And he said, "Don't yell because other people might come to help me and it's dangerous because they're they're still bombing." and somebody else could get hurt, so don't call for me. And as I said, he had to wear a cast for a year until his foot healed. And finally, when the bombing subsided, he said to his wife, "Okay, now you could call out for help so people could come and nobody is going to be hurt." And that's really what's just so incredible that a person should be so badly hurt and not want to call for help because he was afraid that somebody else could come and talk get hurt from that. But I just want to tell you, you know, there's another person I'm sure you've heard of. His name is Yo Gold. He's from Los Angeles and he tells tremendous, tremendous stories. And he told the story about Abas about a guy who hung drapes and one time he came late to an appointment and the lady was so angry that he came late and she said, "You know, I had so much to do. was waiting for you. And he said, "Please give me one more chance. One more chance." And and she said, "Okay, Jews shouldn't angry. Jews shouldn't argue. I'll give you one more chance. Come by next week, Monday morning." He said, "Okay, I promise you I'll be here." The next Monday morning, the guy came and he was going to hang drapes for her. And then what happened was all of a sudden, you know, he knocked on the door and the son opened up the door and he said, "What are you doing here?" you know, my mother just collapsed. He said, "We have an appointment. I have to hang drapes for her." She said, "No, my mother collapsed." And he said, "Don't worry, I'm a solo." And he ran inside and he literally saved a woman's life because he was on that solo and he knew CPR. Now, that doesn't mean that just because you don't want to argue that your life is going to be saved. But because that woman said that she doesn't want to argue and she gave him another appointment, she gave him a second chance. His life was her life was saved. And we never never know how Hashem runs the world. You know, you do a good thing for somebody and then Hashem makes sure that your children have good things and your spouse has good things and your family has good things. And that's what I want to say to all of us. We come today on this most difficult day of the year. And it is so beautiful. Look at claw Israel. So many people coming here and in cities all over the world all over America today there are many many drasas and look how many drashers they were given even in this place itself in Bet Gabriel and we have to thank Kazat and the all the wonderful speakers who are here today and Hashem should bless every single one of you that you should be able to have mazel and in your life and just be Everybody loves different mitzvah. Some love shabas, some love tit, some love tin. But go on Torah anytime every day. You're going to hear different shim on many many different topics. We could be so inspired. And that's really what is all about to inspire each other and make us aemak and to anytime next year be able to be in and we'll be able to see Msiah from again. Robbie Abof, I thank you so much for inviting me and I always give you a wherever you are. You should be able to find a this here >> and one day his son will take over for him. Thank you very much for coming and thank you for listening.