SHAAA: The Strange Name With Hidden Story (BH Films)

One of the going in our generation, not only in giving children, but just good over Torah, of Miller beat him in. He not only publicized the story, but he actually verified the story speaking to the parties at hand because the story has so many things about it that looks like it's something from a fairy tale. This story didn't take place a very long, you know, long time ago and it involves a rabbi from Arizona named Avraham Abu Lafia. Now, this Avraham Abu Lafia he is involved with not only teaching to law, learning to law, but also with helping with getting getting. Someone has a get, he's involved in it. And one day, he was told that he has to get a get. This was a a difficult issue that had to be handled immediately. And he had to fly to Canada on short notice without any preparation, without anything in order to get this get. So, he called in to get a ticket and was told that there's only one seat left on the plane and he can buy it if he wants. Of course, with no questions, he buys it. He has to get the get. He has to fulfill this uh mitzvah and he buys a ticket. And he gets on a plane. And as soon as he gets on the plane, he gets to his seat and he sees that there is a big black guy in his 40s, not Jewish, sitting right next to his seat. And he's so massive, part of his seat is perhaps occupied, but he doesn't say anything about it. He's just going to survive the flight and uh try to enjoy whatever you can enjoy. He sits in his seat and to eliminate any type of discomfort that you typically have when you sit next to a stranger, he looks at the uh at the guy next to him. He says, "My name is Avraham Abu Lafia. What's yours?" And the guy says, "Sha." And of course, Rabbi Avraham is confused. "What did you say?" "Sha." Now, Avraham of course had his thoughts in his mind, what kind of parent would give his son a name of a sound? But, okay. He went back to his business. And as you would have it, he opened his sefer Torah that he brought with him to learn some Torah. And at the time we were at Parshat Chukat. Zot chukat hatorah. This is the law of the Torah. Talks about Parah Adumah. And the rabbi is learning it, but he notices Shah is looking. In the beginning he's doesn't mind, but he sees that Shah is uh becoming a little strange because Shah gets closer and closer to the book. And he's not even hiding that he's looking at the book. You know, usually if you're reading something, if you're on a computer or something and somebody's sitting next to you, everybody peeks. But if you look at them, you know, usually they look away. THIS GUY'S NOT LOOKING AWAY. HE'S LOOKING RIGHT AT IT. HE'S PUTTING HIS HEAD ALMOST ON RABBI AVRAHAM'S LAP. Avraham says, "Can I help you?" And Shah says, "What's that?" "You mean this book?" "No." "Those things." "Those pictures." And he points at the three words, Zot chukat hatorah. He says, "This is Hebrew, the language we learn Torah." "What's that?" "This is our Torah, it's our laws." "What do those words mean?" He says, "Means these are the laws." And he tries to explain to him more or less what does it mean these laws? We got it from God, Mount Sinai. And the guy is not getting it. After Reb Avraham tries to explain to Shah what these words are, it's kind of interesting that he specifically pointed those three words. And Shah says to him, [music] "Listen, I don't understand what you're saying, but those words" and he rolls up his sleeve. He says, "I've had them on my arm my whole life." Reb Avraham is shocked to see that this Shah has a tattoo of the words Zot chukat hatorah. "Why do you have that?" He says, "I don't know. My pops, my father put it on me when I was a kid." Why? Why why would he put that? He says, "To be honest with you, I've been trying to figure that out for over 40 years. I've asked all types of people, nobody can give me a reason, and to be honest with you, until now, what you explained to me, I didn't even know it was words. I thought it was pictures." So, what'd your father say to you? "My father said there was some type of Asian uh some type of Chinese guru that said that this is for good luck, to protect me my whole life." And that's it. This doesn't make any sense. He said, "Well, listen, this is all I know, man. If you want, you could talk to my father." So, of course, Rav Avraham said, "I'd love to." Can't talk to him while they're on the plane, but he gives him the phone number. And as soon as they get off the plane, Rav Avraham calls the father. In the beginning, he speaks nicely, says, "Listen, I was privileged to sit next to your son, a very nice guy, and uh nice to meet you." But after the cordial words are gone, he says to him, "Listen, I have to ask you something. What's with the tattoo of the three Hebrew words?" He says, "Listen, this was something that uh in those days, >> [music] >> there was a uh Chinese uh guru that uh said this was for good luck, and protect him." Rav Avraham said, "I'm not buying it. Tell me the truth." Initially, the guy says, "No, no, that's what it is. It's what it is." He says, "Come on. Please, I'm begging you. I know that's not the truth. Tell me what it is." And all of a sudden, it's quiet, and then, there's a hysterical crying on the other side of the phone. The old man starts crying hysterically on the phone, while Rav Avraham is simply trying to figure out what's behind these words. He has no idea about the story that he's about to hear. And the guy is crying and then eventually he "I'm a Jew. I'm not only a Jew, but I learned in Yeshivat Ponevezh 50 years ago. And my rabbi was Rav Schach, Rav Elazar Menachem Schach. He was my rebbe. I learned in the Yeshiva and after I got married, I continued [music] to learn in the kollel. And we had some kids and everything was going in the direction of Torah. Only problem was there was a lot issues with shalom bayit because we didn't have enough money. So, I came to Rav Schach, my rebbe. I told him, "Kvod HaRav, I need to do something. And I found that there is this bakery that's offering a job to work night shifts. What does the rabbi think?" Rav Schach told me, "Listen, you don't have any money. You need to make parnassah. So, [music] since you learn all throughout the day, you can work in this bakery at night." And that way I continued. I went and I started I learned during the day and I worked in the bakery at night. And this continued [music] on for a few years. But one day, the bakery the bakery it's a big place. They hired a new employee. She was a African-American woman, not Jewish. That was a one of the cleaning people. And the problem was that her shift was at the same time as mine and the only two people in the entire bakery was me and her. So, immediately I went to Rav Schach. Went to my rabbi and I asked him, "Rabbi, is this a problem? Can I stay working there?" Immediately Rav Schach told me, "Without a question, it's simple. You cannot continue working there. It's against the Torah for you to be alone with this woman." And I started immediately as I heard the rabbi, I started crying. And I told him, "But rabbi, what about my parnassah? What about my shalom bayit? I barely have food in the house. Finally, after we just started getting things getting ahead, starting to finally things to calm down, you You me to lose this job?" Rav Schach went to the books, took out Shulchan Aruch Even HaEzer, sat me down next to him, and opened Siman 22. And there he showed me a clear halacha that says we're not allowed to be in a room alone with a non-Jewish woman. Clear. There's no machlokes. There's no debate. Forbidden. I started screaming. I knew it's the truth. But what am I going to do with my parnassah? What am I going to do with money? And unfortunately, I failed in this test. I didn't listen to Rav Schach. And I tried to give him excuse, and I told him, "Listen, this doesn't really This is not really relevant to me because she's not Jewish. I'm Jewish. I'm married. I'm happily married. I got kids. We're not even the same anything. I'M DISGUSTED BY THE IDEA." AND THEN RAV SCHACH said to me, Zos chukas haTorah. This is the law of the Torah. We don't try to outsmart the Torah. The Torah says it's forbidden. Forbidden. It's forbidden. Torah says assur. It's assur. We don't try to say, "Oh, it's not relevant to me. I'm not really attracted to them. I'm not even looking at the girls." This is the law of the Torah. We don't make any type of strategies to outsmart the Torah. But unfortunately, despite the Rav telling me and showing me the truth, I failed. I continued to work in the place, and of course, [music] one sin leads to another. One day, I failed, and I made a sin with this non-Jewish [music] African woman American woman. And if that wasn't enough, ultimately, I ended up leaving the kollel, leaving my wife, leaving my kids, [music] and I married the non-Jewish cleaning lady. And she convinced me to move to America. Within a short period of time, I saw the words of Rav Schach, Zos chukas haTorah, come to life in my mind. and all day and all night that's all I can think of all I can see Rav Schach is screaming at me, "This is the law of the Torah. We don't try to outsmart the Torah. Torah says asur, it's asur. Torah says forbidden, it's forbidden." But within a short period of time we had a son. And when that son was born, I wanted a reminder of this travesty that [music] I caused myself destroying my marriage, my connection to my kids, my connection to Hashem. And I tattooed "Zot chukat haTorah" on my son's arm. [music] Now, you probably asked my son what his name is and he said to you "Shah." I'm stunned. Shocked, shaken, not even sure what to say other than, "Yeah, that's what he said." And the Jew that destroyed his life on the other side of the phone, the old man, says, "It's not Shah. His name is Schach after my rebbe, Rav Schach. But since he doesn't know [music] how to pronunciate the chet, he says Shah, but he's really Schach." When the rabbi says, "This is the law of the Torah," that means this is the law of the Torah. The father of Shah certainly needs the merits of your chuvah that perhaps he will have the strength to abandon the path that he's been on for so many years because if he's still alive, he can still do chuvah and at least fix part of the damage that he caused himself. Turn the dirt of your past into the [singing] gold of your present. Every sin can be a mitzvah when teshuvah's your essence. Don't look back with regret. Look forward with [singing and music] hope. Hashem's mercy is endless. He's throwing you the rope. Turn the dirt into gold. Let your neshamah shine. The pain you once carried now becomes divine. These are the chukot hatorah. FEEL THE LIGHT. These are the laws that lead us through the night. From the ancient stone to the heart of the soul is the wisdom of old that makes us whole. Hear the call. These are the laws that make you strong and tall. A fire in the spirit, a vision so clear, the rhythm of the ages is living right here. >> [music] [music]