Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz: (Part 2) Rosh HaShana The Secret of the Shofar

Okay, and good evening everybody and thank you. Thank you for coming. Um I always say it's uh it's a relief to have actual human beings that I'm that I'm talking to instead of the the computer screen. And it's a good thing for me. And yeah. Right. Yeah. Maybe I should try that. Especially with Zoom. A lot a lot of times people in Zoom they don't want to be seen. Maybe they're in their pajamas or something. So I don't even I don't even have the image of of the person on the screen. Uh so I'm literally just talking to the to the black screen. Uh but anyway, there's an old tradition that the Shulchan Aruch brings down that the last week of the year every day of that week you can rectify whatever you did wrong for that day of the week. So for example, the last Sunday actually last Shabbos was the last Shabbos you can rectify all the Shabbosos. Last Sunday, last Monday, last Tuesday. This is the last Wednesday. Uh you could be mesaken right in the next 24 hours or whatever the next 20 21 hours whatever it is, you could elevate and be metaken uh all of the Wednesdays. But then on Erev Rosh Hashanah, which is the last day of the year, Friday Erev Shabbos, you can actually elevate the entire year and enter Rosh Hashanah in a state of purity and a state of chuvah. And when Hashem will look at what we did in the past year, it'll be looked at in a totally different way. So even before the 10 days of repentance, there's a tremendous amount that we can do to be zocheh to a favorable din. Uh you know, obviously uh this past uh half year in particular has been very very difficult. Uh there are people probably everybody knows either someone who died or they know a family which which lost somebody that was very dear to them. Uh but even the people uh whose are healthy Baruch Hashem and uh they've not gotten ill, but all of our lives have been turned over and over and over. And in a way, uh this is very much connected to Rosh Hashanah because it does remind us that life is not a done deal. Uh things are unpredictable. We can be thrown for a loop. Things can change overnight. And that's important to know because all of us generally have kind of a sense of inner security, you know, things will go on the way they've gone on more or less. And one of the lessons of the pandemic has been that, you know, things can change very very rapidly uh even in the most civilized and advanced societies. In fact even more so as it were. Now, that is both very scary, obviously, but it's also very empowering because if the idea is life can be changed on a dime, that also means in terms of brachos things can change. Uh what will be now is not governed by what was and what will be is not governed by what is. And everything is in a state of flux. Everything is in a state of change. So in many ways, this is actually a good meditation to bring into Rosh Hashanah. The idea that some people use an expression it's like zero-based budgeting. This means when a government decides uh what program is good, what department they should keep. So zero-based means they start with the assumption that, you know, it should get nothing and then we see if there's some merit. We don't simply operate with inertia. Oh, if they had 5 million last year, you know, we'll give them 5 million this year. Zero-based budgeting means everything is a new hatchalah. And that is what Rosh Hashanah is. Rosh Hashanah is a zero-based budgeting where Hakadosh Baruch Hu determines are we worthy of life? Mi yichyeh umi yamus, who will live, who will die. And of course I mentioned nothing more than once already that Rosh Hashanah is a very schizophrenic type of day in the sense that it maybe that's not a reverential expression, but in the sense that it embraces two opposite emotions. The emotion of trembling, the emotion of fear, the emotion of pachad encapsulated of course in the U'netaneh Tokef prayer that is recited before the Kedushah of Musaf. And by the way, I'm it's interesting. People are discussing now uh you know if they're davening either beyechidut or they're davening in small minyanim, uh people are talking both here and in the States like what can they cut out? And the truth is you can cut out a lot in the repetition of the Amidah even if you have that because a lot of the piyutim are not really necessary uh to be said. A lot of the things, although for many people that's the highlight of the service. And even U'netaneh Tokef is technically a piyut. It is not part of the the actual Amidah. Huh? Cutting out what? Yeah, that's that's the idea. That's the idea that getting people out of there more quickly. They're talking about or the sun, which is also very difficult. I mean people are talking about we're not going to start the service till Baruchu, meaning everyone does the long P'sukei Dezimra at home whatever it is and then we cut out a lot of piyutim. So theoretically, even something like U'netaneh Tokef can meet the chopping block. But I have a feeling it's almost inconceivable that we would leave that out because it is such a central a description of the fear and the charadah of the Yom Hadin. But then at the same time, Rosh Hashanah is also a joy. Again, I made this point but I think it's worthy to say it again. It's a time of joy, serenity, proclaiming Hashem is king, feeling Hashem's love for us as it were. So it's a very strange combination of different types of emotions. And you're going to find both of them in the idea of Rosh Hashanah. That's what I mentioned last week without going over the whole thought that that is why the teruah sound of the shofar you'll recall the Shem Mishmuel says is both a laughing sound and a crying sound. Because that is really how we face the new year with such hope, with such yearning for a good year and and and a sense that Hashem wants to be metiv. And Hashem's dominant emotion, whatever emotion means in this context, is to give good and to bestow of his goodness to us. But at the same time, we have responsibilities and those are the responsibilities of chuvah, tefillah, and tzedakah. And Corona reminds us that life can change. Uh we shouldn't have the overconfidence that because we have a given situation that's pretty good, it's going to stay that way. Because things can change overnight. And that's therefore that's what I was saying that Corona is actually a a good petach, a good opening to the Yamim Noraim uh generally. Now, we began discussing last week the symbolism of shofar and again I I don't want to repeat what I said last week, but I want to add some additional messages of shofar. That is Rav Hutner has a startling insight of shofar. I already mentioned from my first that the blowing of the shofar is supposed to mimic Hashem breathing into us the spirit of life. Because Rosh Hashanah was the day that Adam Harishon was created. And the way Adam Harishon was created was vayipach be'apav nishmat chayim. And therefore that sound of the shofar is reminding us how 5,781 years ago Hashem blew into us a precious, beautiful soul that we may have ruined in different ways and through chuvah we can be metaken. But so that that already is from my first. But Rav Hutner adds a very interesting twist. On one hand, the blowing of the shofar is reminiscent of that event, but it's also a reversal of that event because as it were, on Rosh Hashanah God breathed life into me. What I'm doing with shofar is like I'm breathing out that which God put into me. That's Rav Hutner's point. It is actually a reverse image. And Rav Hutner says, shofar, this is very striking image, is a death experience. Shofar is you are giving your life back to God. You are declaring to the Almighty as the pasuk says, be'yadcha afkid ruchi. Into your hands, Hashem, I am entrusting my spirit. It's up to you, God, to decide if I get it back. I know my year is up. My year is up. It's up to you, the Almighty, to determine if I get a renewal of my lease. And therefore, Rav Footner says quite strikingly that instead of looking at shofar as a reenactment of creation, it actually is a death experience in which we are declaring to Hashem, "You own this neshama. I'm giving it back to you. And I'm asking you to give it back to me." And therefore, he says that itself is a zechus for klal Yisrael. Because that makes every shofar an Akedah experience. Now, it's well known, of course, that the shofar commemorates the Akedah, but most understand it. The Gemara seems to understand it because the ram was the thing that was found in these in the thicket. And therefore, when we blow a ram's horn, although shofar doesn't have to be a ram's horn, and indeed those big shofros that Teimanim like to use are from antelopes, but optimally, it is best to have a shofar of a ram because that connects to the Akedah Yitzchak. But according to Rav Footner, the connection to Akedah is much deeper than the ram. The Akedah represents the willingness of Yitzchak to give his life for Hashem and the willingness of Avraham to give what was really Avraham's life in the sense of his his perpetuity, his eternity. And when I give my life back to God, I am giving my Akedah. My life is my korban that I'm giving back to you. So according to Rav Footner, every shofar blowing is connected to the Akedah even if it's not a ram's horn. So that's actually very good. So that would validate the practice of people who don't use ram's horns, but they still get the connection to the Akedah. Uh and that's a very, very striking idea that the shofar is the experience of dying, of giving your life back to God, saying, "My time is up, and I'm asking you to give it back to me." To or to renew my lease maybe is the better term because we're not owners. In fact, the Baal HaTanya writes in the Shulchan Aruch HaRav that there actually is a halacha that although I could be mochel money, if if you owe me money, I could say you don't have to pay me. I'm allowed to be mochel money, I cannot give you permission to inflict physical injury on me. I cannot say you have my permission to beat me up. And the reason is because I'm not allowed to inflict injury on myself. I I can't just cut into myself. So how can I tell you that you can cut into me? And the Baal HaTanya explains that this is not because of an aveira per se, but this is simply because you are not the owner of your body. Your body belongs to Hashem. It's only given to you on loan, huh? Why you can't commit suicide? That's why you can't commit suicide. That that's that's correct. Rav Yosef Zevin, great, great talmid chacham, was nifter in the '70s, uh wrote an essay once uh in Hebrew. It's called Mishpat l'Or Halacha. Uh if you remember the Shakespeare's play, The Merchant of Venice, so you had the Jewish money lender and uh exacted from Antonio that if Antonio does not pay uh his debt, uh will get a pound of flesh. Uh this was like uh early medieval liposuction, so to speak. So uh again, there's a whole machlokes which most people understand that Shakespeare was portraying Jews in a negative light, kind of an anti-Semitic. Others actually say that if you're me'ayen in The Merchant of Venice, you actually see that stands for justice and fairness, as it were. Okay, that's a machlokes within the p'shat of Shakespeare uh and the like. But Rav Zevin analyzes, if this would have gone to a beis din, would the clause have been enforced? And Rav Zevin says, "Of course not." Because the same way I can't borrow money and give you a mortgage on somebody else's house. If I could, I'd have a much better credit limit. So I can't give you power to mutilate my body because my body doesn't belong to me. So my life doesn't belong to me. And that is what shofar represents. I'm giving my life back to Hashem and asking him to renew the lease. That is Rav Footner's interpretation of the ki'as shofar. Let me give you a final interpretation uh from the Sfas Emes, the great uh Chassidishe Ger Rebbe. He was the second Ger Rebbe. The first Ger Rebbe was Rav Yitzchak Meir Alter, who is known as the Rim, Rav Yitzchak Meir. Uh just as a little biography, the Rim had 10 sons. All 10 of them died in his lifetime. The Sfas Emes was the grandson. The Sfas Emes was the son of his last son. And the Chidushei HaRim raised him from and his wife raised him from virtual infancy. So the Sfas Emes looked at the Rim as really almost a father, although technically it was his grandfather. And the Sfas Emes was the second Ger Rebbe. In fact, much most of the Torah that we know in the name of the Chidushei HaRim is from the Sfas Emes. Uh even though they It's interesting the way sefarim work. When they publish sefarim like Chidushei HaRim al HaTorah, which you can get, the Chidushei HaRim didn't write a book on the Torah. Basically, somebody just went to the Sfas Emes and pulled out every time. So if one needs a little extra parnassah, these are kind of the things you can do. You make a sefer like that in which uh you're melaket uh whatever it is from some other sefer everything about a certain gadol, and you can make a sefer out of that. Uh but be it as it may, the Sfas Emes focuses on the following idea. This is again a very interesting idea. The Mishnah says that although optimally a shofar should be a ram's horn, as I said, but after the fact, every type of animal horn is kosher for a shofar. The Ramban debates does it have to be a kosher animal? Right, not so simple. Maybe even a treif animal. Okay, but we don't use treif animals. We don't use a moose horn for a shofar or whatever it is, but any type of certain any type of kosher animal, antelopes, goats, all of these are kosher horns, but there's one kosher animal whose horn you cannot use for a shofar. And that's really one of the most common domestic animals, and that is the shofar of a cow or a bull. The the horn of a cow or a bull cannot be used for a shofar. Why is that so? What's wrong with the cow? Cow is a perfectly kosher animal. I mean, we use cows for everything. Tefillin. So the Gemara gives a few reasons, but the reason that's the most interesting for our purposes is that it mentions that a cow or a bull is reminiscent of the cheit ha'egel, the sin of the golden calf. So when the shofar is pleading for divine mercy, it's a cry of divine mercy, you don't bring evidence of your sin and parade it in front of God and ask God have mercy to for me. This is a famous expression that has entered even the modern Hebrew language, ein kateigor na'aseh saneigor. This means what? A prosecuting attorney is not a the best person to be able to be a defense attorney because the prosecutor sees everything bad about you. Now, this doesn't mean superficially, "Oh, better not remind God of the sin of the golden calf." Rest assured that God remembers the golden calf. God does not forget anything. Uh but there's a certain arrogance in parading your sins in front of God and saying, "Hey God, have mercy on me." when you're waving the reminder of the cheit ha'egel. So because of this, you cannot blow a shofar of a cow, a bull, or a calf because of ein kateigor na'aseh saneigor. Now, the Gemara then goes on and says, there's another analogy where we apply the same rule. And that is the Kohen Gadol on Yom Kippur. The Kohen Gadol has two uniforms, and on Yom Kippur, he switches back back and forth between them. One uniform is the uniform he wears the whole year with the breastplate and the like. And that has a lot of gold threads. But when he goes into the Kodesh HaKodashim, the Holy of Holies, to bring incense and even the blood of some of the korbanos, he does not enter with golden garments. He switches to another uniform, which is plain white linen. And he's not nichnas into the Kodesh HaKodashim with bigdei zahav. And the reason, once again, is because just as the calf or the cow is reminiscent of the cheit ha'egel, gold is also reminiscent of the egel because the egel was an egel ha'zahav. It was a golden egel. So when the Kohen Gadol is pleading for mercy in the holiest of places, don't bring in the gold because ein kateigor na'aseh saneigor. Now, the the halacha that only applies in the Kodesh HaKodashim because the Kohen Gadol, even on Yom Kippur, wore his gold outside. But based on this idea, many people First of all, that is the makor of why uh people wear white on Yom Kippur. Men uh most I don't know most, but many, many people uh wear a kittel on Yom Kippur. In the Yeshiva world, they do it on Rosh Hashanah, too. Outside of the Yeshiva world, I think a kittel on Rosh Hashanah may be a little less common. But on Yom Kippur, very, very common in all types of shuls. And even women who don't wear a garment called the kittel, but you know, many women will also wear wear white. And you'll also know that there's a custom some people have not to wear gold jewelry or a gold watch on Yom Kippur because of ain kateigor nasa senegor. Then you get into a machlokes in minhagim. Does that include only yellow gold or even white gold? What if I have a white gold? Some say white gold is permitted. I mean, it's a minhag anyway. It's not assur to wear even yellow gold. But some say white gold is permitted because, I don't know how we know this, but we assume the ego was the standard yellow yellow gold. Although I don't I don't I don't know any particular raya for that. Others say anything that's gold you don't wear. Say again. White gold is another different metal. Oh, it's a different metal. Okay, that that would be the answer. Okay, it's not gold b'chlal. Okay. All righty. Now, by the way, just a little little aside, Rav Zalman Sorotzkin, great the great gadol of the the mid-20th century, again, he was a rav before the Holocaust and he survived the Holocaust, raises an interesting question. He says that if we're not supposed to bring up our aveira on Yom Kippur because we're pleading for mercy, ain kateigor nasa senegor, then why does the Kohen Gadol wear gold when he's not in the Kodesh Hakodashim? Remember, the Kohen Gadol did a lot of things on Yom Kippur. Some things were in the Kodesh Hakodashim, some things were in the regular temple. Now, when he was in the regular temple, he wore his gold uniform. But there are two he's bringing korbanos. Why don't I Why don't I do I not say there ain kateigor nasa senegor? So, Rav Zalman Sorotzkin says a beautiful, beautiful thought. He says like this. He says, "In the Kodesh Hakodashim, the Kohen Gadol is all alone. It's only him and Hashem, he and Hashem. When it's he and Hashem, there's no point in bringing up the sins of the Jewish people. That's not his job. His job is to plead for mercy. Hashem knows the sins. It's none of your business to bring them up. And if you bring them up, it's chutzpah. But when he's in the Beis Hamikdash, other people see him. When other people see him, says Rav Zalman Sorotzkin, maybe it's appropriate he should remind them of their sins because that will cause them to do chuva. So, the notion of ain kateigor nasa senegor is when the Kohen Gadol is alone. And that's where he made the point. He made the point when a manhig Yisrael prays to Hashem, he should only emphasize the goodness of Am Yisrael. But when he actually has to teach his people, he needs to point out some of the flaws that need to be corrected as well. This is famous by the Satmar Rebbe. You know, the Satmar Rebbe was in some ways very, very negative about everything. You know, he was tremendously anti-Zionist. And I'm not talking about, you know, criticizing non-religious Jews. We're talking about, you know, he was critical of of all the religious organizations. They weren't zealous enough. They were They were too tolerant of deviations from tradition and from mesorah. So, somebody once had the chutzpah, and this took a lot of chutzpah. I I would be scared to death to do this, to go over to the Satmar Rebbe and said, "Hey, you know, why are you always so negative? You know, when Avraham Avinu was facing Sodom, the most evil, degenerate people in the world, he's praying for them and he's bargaining with Hashem and he's asking Hashem to show mercy. Tell me, are there religious Jews that you disagree with? Are they worse than Sodom? You know, you can't have rachamim on them?" So, the Satmar Rebbe said, "Avraham had rachamim on Sodom when he's praying to Hashem." And then he said to the person, "How do you know what I say to Hashem when I'm praying for Klal Yisrael? Meaning, when I talk to other Jews, I give them mussar. I give them tochacha. I give them correction if I feel that they're deviating from the right way." So, this is a vort from Rav Zalman Sorotzkin. He doesn't bring the Satmar Rebbe. The idea that uh vis-a-vis Hakadosh Baruchu, I have to seek kullo rachamim. Vis-a-vis the people themselves, you have to give tochacha. You have to give mussar sometimes. You have to know how to do it. That's another issue. That's a very, very, very, very difficult skill. The Gemara recounts that uh somebody asked Rabbi Akiva, "How come nobody knows how to accept mussar today?" And Rabbi Akiva answered, "Nobody knows how to give it today." So, it's not going to be accepted. That That's very, very true. Okay. And and uh yeah, that that was then and today is even uh a shofar of a parah. And two, the Kohen Gadol does not go into the Kodesh Hakodashim in his golden garments. He switches to his linen garments. So, this seems to be a consistent paradigm. But the Gemara asks a kasha. It's actually inconsistent. Because if we see that the Kohen Gadol doesn't wear gold only in the Kodesh Hakodashim, but when he's not in the Kodesh Hakodashim for the reason I said, he can wear gold. So, why is there such a rule by shofar? The shofar is not blown in the Kodesh Hakodashim. In other words, the shofar should not Why are you comparing the blowing of the shofar to the Kohen Gadol going into the Holy of Holies? If anything, we should compare the blowing of the shofar to when the Kohen Gadol is not in the Holy of Holies, in which case you're allowed to have gold. And And if that's the case, blow a shofar of a parah. So, instead of the rules being consistent, they are actually contradictory. So, the Gemara's answer is very powerful. The Gemara's answer is that the moment of tekiah shofar is such a time of eliciting divine mercy. It is as if all of us, all of us, are standing in the Kodesh Hakodashim. And therefore, the Kodesh Hakodashim rules apply even though it's an activity that is not taking place in the Kodesh Hakodashim. So, the Kodesh Hakodashim, which is the holiest place in the world, holiest place maybe the universe other than the Kisei Hakavod itself, the Kohen Gadol is the only person who enters that place once a year. But tekiah shofar, all of us are transported, so to speak, in the Kodesh Hakodashim. Now, this is from the Gemara. So, now it says the Sfas Emes itself the following idea. If the moment of tekiah shofar means all of us are transposed, transported to the Kodesh Hakodashim. And therefore, we cannot use our sin to plead for mercy, ain kateigor nasa senegor. He says, "That is why we cannot pray with our own mouths because when we pray with our lips, that itself is using our sin as our prayer because our lips often utter words of lashon hara, words of bittul Torah, sheker, lies, insincerity, hurting people. We've spoken more than once about the power of speech to build up and the power of speech to destroy. This is the famous pasuk in Mishlei. Amavet v'chaim b'yad halashon. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. And that doesn't just mean physically killing somebody, but you can destroy. So, how can I pray to God with the power of speech that has been corrupted and has been debased? In other words, the Sfas Emes is saying, "The same reason why I can't use a shofar of a cow and the Kohen Gadol cannot go in with gold garments, how can I use my mouth?" In fact, it's interesting. There is a Talmud Yerushalmi. I believe it's the Yerushalmi in which Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai says that if I would have been alive at the creation of Adam Harishon, I would have asked Hashem that he should give us two mouths. One mouth for divrei chol and one a dedicated mouth only for kedusha. Because how can we use the same mouth? It's like using a sewer. How can you use the same mouth of lashon hara, rechila, sheker and use that for Torah and kedusha? So, I would have asked God for two mouths. He then said, "I reconsidered and I realized that God is a lot smarter than me. Because even if with one mouth that has to learn and diving, we still have so much time for bitter Torah and shekel and hurting people. If we would have had two mouths and the whole other mouth could be used 100% for that stuff. It would be a lot worse. You know, how do I know this you shall me? It's not that I know every you shall me, but they say like this. Rabbi Hanan Wasserman the great great Talmud of Chofetz Chaim, one of the Gedolei Ador who died in the Holocaust was a very very serious person. He never smiled. He was So, the the few times when there was a little little smile on his face, his talmidim wrote it down. And they say that when he would say say over this you shall me, there was a little bit of a smile that came on his face. So, they wrote it down. They said, "This made the Rebbe laugh, you know, so to speak." But this is the you shall me. So, here's the question. In the moment when I'm in the Kodesh Hakodashim, what can I pray to God with? My verbalizations? No, they're so insincere. So, I got to pray to Hashem with something that is pure, uncorrupted, not affected by sin. And that is the innermost recesses of my soul. This is a thought that permeates Hasidus Lagamri. This was one of the main main main ideas. Again, it's based on Chazal, but it's one of the main ideas of the Baal Shem Tov that was really taken over by all Hasidus. The Baal Shem Tov, the Tanya talks about it, but really all Hasidus talks about it. The pintala Yid. The idea that although a sin can do a lot of things to me, there is a certain inner penimius of the recesses of my godly soul that remains untouched. Avaros cannot go there. Avaros might cover it up with dirt. Cover it up with filth. It may disconnect your ability to access that for a while unless you go through a process. But there's something in the Jew that's incorruptible. The statement Elokai neshama shenasata bi tehorahi. We say this every day. The soul that you gave me is tehora. It's not the soul that you gave me was pure. It's a statement of a present. The soul that you gave me is pure. No matter how far I'm gone. That's why the Baal Shem Tov, the Tanya's whole thesis is really a Jew does not have to learn how to love Hashem or revere Hashem. That love and that reverence for God is already in you. The problem is we have to know how to access it, how to open ourselves up. So, here's the Sfas Emes's striking metaphor. The shofar is a prayer without words that is coming like your like you're breathing out from the deep recesses that is coming from the deep recesses of your neshama that are not corrupted and are therefore not subject to ein category naaseh veneggar. And this is ultimately the yesod of what makes teshuvah possible. How can I fix? I sin, I rebel, I hurt people, I create damage. These are realities. You know, if you killed somebody, God forbid, all the prayers in the world are not going to bring him back generally unless God does a miracle. But we have to realize that every avera is as real as a murder. Now, we we we tend not to look at it. We say, "Well, okay, if you murdered somebody, you know, you did something that you can't change." Well, you need to know that it should be logically as difficult to do teshuvah for chillul Shabbos as it is to do teshuvah for murder because you did a reality of the world in the world. So, how does teshuvah work? Teshuvah ultimately works because there is something within you that remains good. And from that, just like for example, right, you can reconstitute an organ or limb if there's some flesh or some bone that's still healthy. If everything would be gangrenous, there would be nothing to salvage. Teshuvah is based on the idea that there's always a salvageable part. So, Hasidus in Yiddish call that the pintala Yid, the spark of the Jew. But that goes to the the incorrupted incorruptible essence of a person's soul. And that gives a person great great encouragement. You know, I just read recently about uh rabbis who visit people in prisons. Unfortunately, there are Jewish prisoners. And I actually found it very very moving. This was kind of the theme that the rabbi was telling the person, "You know, you you did awful things." Some of these people did awful awful things. But they have to know that there's something in them that is still good. And from that which is still good can come a new direction in life. And that is why teshuvah does not mean repentance. Teshuvah means returning. Who are you returning to? Returning to God, but also returning to you. Returning to what you really are. What are we really? You know, are we, you know, the angry negative insulting person? Or is that really a veneer that has gotten superimposed over something that is beautiful and good? You know, Reb Moshe Cordovero in the very very beautiful safe air uh Tomer Devorah that at least the first chapter in particular everybody should should look at. There's a good English translations as well. It is technically a Kabbalistic safe air to be sure, but you know, it's relatively Kabbalah light. In other words, the the mussar and the inspiration is so great that you know, you can overcome some of the Kabbalistic vocabulary in the Tomer Devorah. And he actually gives a spiritual exercise for dealing with difficult people. It's a very interesting exercise. When you're dealing with a difficult person, a rude person, an angry person, a person that's unappreciative, try to imagine like just like with a computer sometimes it tells you you can turn it back to the last time it was working, you know, a last point. Try to imagine the last time this person was a good person. Now, you may not know him that well, but at some point when he was a child, he probably was cute. Children are usually cute at some age. So, go back to 3 years old. Go back to 2 years old. And try to imagine this precious beautiful child who comes into the world with excitement, with joy, with happiness. And then kind of imagine what happened to this cute little child. How did he become so bitter? How did he become so angry? How did he become really such a nasty person? And then Reb Moshe Cordovero said, "You know what's going to happen to you? Instead of being angry at that person, you're going to cry for that person. You're going to feel rachamim for that person. How did such a beautiful person become the way he was?" And the truth of the matter is that same meditation that you're applying to that person, you then turn back and apply to yourself. Yourself as well. What happened? And maybe we even have better memories of that because we know our childhood, we know, etc. What happened? Okay, so these are things that one keeps in mind. So, this is the Sfas Emes again. different points here, but this is the Sfas Emes's beautiful point that the shofar number one, we are standing in the Kodesh Hakodashim. And when we are standing in the Kodesh Hakodashim, we have to bring to Hashem the incorruptible essence of our neshama. Because otherwise, ein category naaseh veneggar. We can't bring the sinful parts of our being. We have to bring the good parts of being. And that's why it's a fundamental idea in in in Oh, yeah, I should mention too. Let me go back for a second. This is why the Lubavitcher Rebbe The Lubavitcher Rebbe uh was an amazing person. He You don't need me to say he was an amazing person. Uh In fact, in many many ways, uh, the whole Moshiach controversy, I think, uh, created a degradation of the tremendous honor to which he is entitled because it interjected a whole controversy on really a peripheral matter. And it obscured the tremendous greatness of this person. I I I have to admit, I'm not a Chabad person directly. I love watching him on video. I love watching him giving the dollars. I love watching the words that he says, the chizuk that he gives, the encouragement that he gives. But he was a little bit of a contrarian in the sense that, uh, often people use common expressions and he would often make a point he didn't like that expression. And it's interesting, he didn't like the expression kiruv rechokim. That's an expression. Kiruv rechokim means people who are far from Hashem, I bring them closer, right? We say, "I'm in kiruv." Kiruv rechokim. He said he didn't like that. What gives you the right to say any Jew is far from God? There's no such thing as a Jew that's far from God. Every Jew is near to God. Some know it and some don't know it. So, you could say, "I'm here to let you know what you are, but I'm not, you know, kiruv rechokim." Now, the Rebbe said I have to say that the Rebbe's words is a little schwer because it actually contradicts the possuk. The possuk says, "Shalom shalom l'rachok u'l'karov." That Hashem says, "I give peace to those who are near and those who are far." So, there there is in Tanach itself an expression that a Jew may be far from God. Okay, then how the Rebbe will answer it, I'm sure he would have an answer. But I think it's a beautiful thought. My point in talking to a Jew who's not religious is not to say, in fact, it's almost patronizing, "You're far from God, but I'm going to bring you close to God." You know, that's a little offensive, really. It's a different message. You are part of the Jewish people. You are close to Hashem. And we have ways in which we show our closeness. And these are beautiful things we do, mitzvahs, chesed. Right? But you're close to God. Okay, it's a beautiful thing. And that is how teshuvah is possible. Teshuvah is possible by an awareness of our closeness. And shofar, therefore, is the prayer of the pin to the words that expresses the innermost yearning of the Jewish of the Jewish soul. And the Baal Shem Tov writes that that is why you'll find often that even a Jew who's not observant at all, when push comes to shove, they will give their lives for the Jewish people or for Hashem. I mean, if you remember a few years ago, maybe 10 years ago, Daniel Pearl. And again, Daniel Pearl is exemplifies the statement of Chazal that a person could get his olam haba in one second. Daniel Pearl, as far as I know, I don't want to say no for sure, but he didn't seem to be observant of of mitzvahs. Huh? He intermarried, yes, he even worse. And yet, as you know, he was captured. Uh, it was Al-Qaeda, right? It wasn't ISIS. It was I think it was Al-Qaeda. And, uh, on YouTube they they they they they actually they actually videoed, uh, his beheading. They put a knife or a sword, uh, to his to his, uh, throat and they wanted him to renounce Judaism and embrace Islam. And he said, "I am a Jew." They slit his throat. For a short while, at least, that was available to see on YouTube. I mean, they took it down eventually. Where does that come from? What difference does it make to him, I'm a Jew, not a Jew? I mean, there weren't mitzvahs involved. There wasn't a lot of religion involved. But the Baal Shem Tov Tanya predicted this. Not only The Baal Shem Tov Tanya said, "A Jew will give his life for his people." Because at some point the inner soul comes out, which loves Hashem and reveres Hashem and will not do anything that separates him from Hashem. A lot of times it gets covered up. A lot of times it gets obscured. A lot of times there's static. A lot of times there's interference. But at critical times, it's going to come out. They tell a similar story with the Rav Aaron Kotler. Now, Rav Aaron Kotler came to the United States in the middle of the Holocaust, middle of World War II. And, uh, he was already a great rosh yeshiva. When he came here for for the for the rest of the war, he spent all of his time negotiating to get, uh, Jews out of Europe. And, uh, there were times he came to Washington on Shabbos. He he took a train on Shabbos with Irving Bunim, who was this great lay lay supporter. And at one time they had a meeting with the Henry Morgenthau, who was, uh, Secretary of the Treasury, very influential in Roosevelt's cabinet. Morgenthau was a totally assimilated German Jew. I don't know if he intermarried or not, but he certainly did was not not keep anything. He was the epitome of the secularized, wealthy, assimilated Jew who actually looked down at the Eastern European riffraff. Huh? The Rebbe didn't have a seder. Yeah, yeah, he didn't do anything. And, uh, Bunim was the interpreter of Aaron was making the point about how desperately we need, uh, ways of releasing money, uh, even to the Germans to get Jews out. He did different negotiations. And Morgenthau initially was saying, you know, "Can't do it. Can't do it. You know, it's against, uh, the federal regulations." And, uh, the Rav Aaron was getting very agitated. And then he told Bunim, "Tell him tell Morgenthau that you're doing this for kavod. You're doing this for your position. You're selling out your people because you want to be a big shot in Washington and you want the president to like to like you. So, you're just you don't care what happens to the Jews." So, Bunim didn't want to didn't want to, uh, say that to Morgenthau. So, Bunim just said, "Uh, you know, the rabbi is, uh, upset and he really wants you to reconsider." And Rav Aaron knew a little English. Rav Aaron knew that Morgan that Bunim did not say what Morgenthau what he what he had said. So, he pulls, uh, Bunim's jacket and he says, "Say what I said exactly." So, Bunim didn't want to do it, you know, he doesn't want to antagonize Morgenthau. So, finally says, "You know, Rabbi Kotler says that maybe you care about, uh, your honor and your glory." And he said he said it basically. And it's recorded at that meeting that Morgenthau put his head on his arms and for like 2 minutes. And then he said, "Tell the rabbi that I would not only give up my position, but I would give up my life for the Jewish people." So, again, this was came out that Morgan And and of course, Morgenthau did what he could. He In the Roosevelt cabinet, uh, you know, things were not Right, the Jewish War Refugee Board. That's correct. Uh, which was very, you know, for the short amount of time it was there, it did a very, very excellent job. And you know, again, Roosevelt I I Roosevelt had his own cheshbonos and that's that's a very, very controversial why things didn't happen. Things that could have happened, unfortunately, didn't happen. But the war the war refugee board, is that what it's called? Yeah. Uh, did a very, very excellent job and, uh, that's one of the good things in America's response to the Holocaust. And that was spearheaded by Morgenthau, who said to Rav Kotler to Rav Aaron Kotler, "I would give my life for my people." Again, this is all in the Tanya. What can I tell you? 200 years earlier, the Tanya said, "A Jew is never disconnected from God." And that's the I'm combining a lot of things, but that is the Sfas Emes's thought about the idea of the shofar. It comes from my essence, which is not a corruptible essence. And this brings to mind another thought that is connected to last week's parsha. You know, the last parsha of the year is always parshat Nitzavim. Sometimes it's combined with Vayeilech as this year, when there's no Shabbos spare Shabbos between Yom Kippur and Sukkos. And sometimes it's only Nitzavim. But Nitzavim is always the last parsha of the year. And indeed, the meforshim say because the beginning of Nitzavim is reminiscent of Rosh Hashanah. Atem, Moshiach Rabbeinu was saying, "Atem Nitzavim hayom kulchem." Uh, you are now standing before God on this day. That describes Rosh Hashanah. A litigant stands before God on the day of Rosh Hashanah. Right? There's a remez. Many remasim in Atem Nitzavim to the dead. But here there's an interesting one. Nosson Zvi Finkel enumerates all the different groupings of Am Yisrael. Rashechem, the heads of your tribes, ziknechem, the old people, the young people, the men, the women, the children. And then he says, "Meichoteiv eitzim u'shokeiv From those who cut the wood ad sho'eiv mayim." Till those who draw the water. Now, here's the problem. The wood cutters and the water drawers were actually servant classes. They actually were not Jews. They were non-Jews that were essentially servants of the Jewish people. Now, when you say from this group to that group, that's normally extremes, from A to Z. But here, these are the same groupings. This is like saying, "Everybody was there, from A to B." "Everybody was there, from Y to Z." Meichoteiv eitzim ad sho'eiv mayim. You know, for example, the it uses the expression in a very good way. It says every before died from the before of power to the before of the lowliest maid servant. Okay, that's good. That's an extreme. But what is the extremity of odd show you have my Mecca? They're both servant classes. So in the Hasidic It actually says a beautiful but We know that a human being is compared to a tree. Key Adam eights has a day. We are in fact described as an upside down tree. Because an earthly tree has its roots on earth and it grows towards the heaven. We have our roots in heaven. And we grow into the earth. That's why we're upside down. Maybe that's why we have vertigo. We're confused. We just kind of topsy-turvy. As it were. So when we talk about cutting wood we're actually talking about pulverizing ourselves. So here is the idea. The extremities are there are two different modalities in doing chuvah. One modality of chuvah is described as cutting wood. And the other modality of chuvah is described as drawing water. What's the idea? Cutting wood is the person who focuses on the evil within them. It's like you take the wood and you're looking for rot. You're looking for something that's warped. You're looking for something that's a knot or whatever it would be. So you take your ax and you chop and you chop and you chop and you chop. I don't make us a day. That is the chuvah that says I focus microscopically on my faults. On my sonos. To surgically remove them and excise them. Like cancers. That is a modality of chuvah and indeed how I that we could do that. But for many many people that is actually a destructive form of chuvah. Because by focusing on my negativity on my weaknesses, on my failures this engenders a sense of depression hopelessness despair and maybe self-loathing. And what happens therefore is when a person engages too much in being hypercritical of themselves they either experience that despair or depression. Or the other way around is such a hateful painful experience that they simply tune out and don't do it at all. I'm not going to go there. In fact, it's a well-known phenomenon that Yamin for many people is a very very difficult time of year. More so maybe I mean I mean the truth is for some people all Yamin are difficult. That's a sociological problem. If they're alone or they don't have good relationships. But but even a person who enjoys and enjoys and enjoys a lot there may be something difficult here. Because I got to confront this negativity and you know, I don't like to do that. But there's another modality of chuvah that's called accessing the deep waters from within. There's a in Michigan. My name is Mukin. The latest. There is deep water. Deep pure water within your heart. That's the godly soul. The issue to Vuna you'd Lena. And a person of understanding can get that water. So show you have my Mecca is a reference to a type of chuvah that does not focus on my flaws and my inadequacies. But it focuses on trying to get to the water that is within me. To discover my goodness. To discover my greatness, my potential, my beauty. And then the darkness ceases by itself. Right? You cannot take a baseball bat to darkness. Darkness cannot be dispelled by dispelling. There's no such thing as dispelling darkness. But what you can do is you create light. And when you create light so there's no darkness. In other words, the chuvah is focusing on what is good about you. And that will bring you a very good and beautiful quote. I don't have it in front of me. In which he says generally it is the way of the wise to create light and not criticize darkness. Criticize darkness. Okay, you criticize, criticize, criticize. Create light. The darkness becomes less of an issue. So in this sense, going back to the suck is the chuvah that focuses on eradicating negativities. Show you have my Mecca says I do a chuvah out of the goodness within me. And that's why we're cooking says over and over again in his beautiful very complex safer. A rota chuvah. The lights of repentance. And we I think I mentioned this before also that chuvah is fundamentally a joyous experience. Not a sad experience. It is the joy of rediscovering the goodness that is within you. The godly soul that is within you. And reconnecting to Hashem. There is a joy even if it requires work. But it's the work of construction. It's the work of building up. It's the work of rediscovery. You know, when I when I when Jacob worked for Rachel for 7 years the Torah said it was like the Torah said it was like a few days. And people ask the question, you know, it's really the opposite. I want to marry this woman. Like every day is like 7 years. Instead of saying 7 years is like 1 day. But in a deep spiritual way when you're working towards something beautiful then the work itself is part of the beauty. I'm doing something so worthwhile. It's not just the end result. It's the the process itself. And that's what chuvah is. Chuvah is kind of I want to get in contact. So every step of the way is joyous. It's bringing me closer to that particular goal. You know, a lot of people use the term cash bonus. Spiritual accounting. Right? This is the time of cash bonus. Now if you ask a person what is cash bonus, they're going to say oh cash bonus is to carefully think about everything I did wrong this past year. But wait a second here. Cash bonus accounting. Now imagine you had an accountant who only recorded the debits of your business. Didn't record the credits. That's not accounting. Accounting means I got to record the credits and the debits. The assets as well as the liabilities. So yeah. Got to do cash bonus. But in your cash bonus take account of the good things that you've done. The areas that you've accomplished. Because that will give you strength and courage and confidence that you can build on. If a person doesn't have that awareness then they're just going to be demoralized. Cash bonus. Build on what you have. Access the Mukin. Deep waters. I'll just end with a little story which is not directly connected but it was connected to the notion of every person has wisdom. In fact, the only going right every person has a college even. We have a college but it gets distorted by other things. Many of you might know Rabbi Hirsch Weiner of Rabbi Hershy Weiner who is a great rab in Baltimore and then he became the executive director of the OU and now he's I guess executive director emeritus or vice president emeritus. Whatever he says and he writes a lot. You can see in Torah tidbits. So he tells a story that he actually clinical is a doctor in psychology. Before he was a rab, he was practicing clinical psychologist. By the way, rabbinum who are clinical psychologists always have a dilemma because uh because there's such an overlap in the functions. So like so if you see him as a psychologist, you got to pay. If you see him as a rab, uh you don't have to pay, right? That's always the question. People go to a rab for therapy essentially. So it's like I get how do you know when do you put on your psychologist hat? When do you put on your rabbi hat? It's a difficult monetary issue. But okay. Be that as it may when he was a clinical psychologist, he was debating about a change in career. Should he go into rabbinus or not? So he decided although he was not a rab, he thought he would call the rab. And ask for advice. So he calls the rab. He gets Rabbi Kof who's the rabbi's secretary for many years. And he hears the rabbi in the background and Rabbi was just communicating. And he says he heard the rabbi say where's the caller from? So he said Maryland. He says tell him to talk to Weiner in Maryland. The rabbi like just knew about everywhere. Tell him to talk to Wiener of the Maryland. Wiener of the Maryland will give him good advice. So, Rebbe Wiener of said, "This is Wiener of the Maryland." So, the Rebbe's answer was, "So, talk to yourself and you'll get good advice." You can give advice to other people. You can give advice to yourself. What is the Rebbe saying? My am amukim within us have tremendous tremendous capacities. So, I want to wish everybody a good gebentsht yohr, a shiva sima tovah, a year of sweetness, a year of health, a year of redemption, a year where we develop the closeness to Hashem that we need and that we crave. And may klal Yisrael and really Eretz Yisrael and really the whole world be zocheh to to many many brochos in the coming coming years. So, thank you very much.