Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz: The Reality of Faith

[Music] so we're dedicating the show tonight in the memory of our the yahud then I Rama V know he was buried today dear friend of mine and we pray for his ELISA Sharma had a smooth transition for whatever teak her name needs to be done also in the merit of the roof wash Halima - I'm Steven rifka and tonight she was also sponsored by the Yaakov sure Family Foundation I'm going to thank him I just want to mention for all those people we have thousands of people two thousand people working watch master this year so we're asking not only because of the end of the year fundraising need we have a lot of things going on in the upcoming year but we choose to leave that when Rockets are flying and we have enemies at our door that it's not only it's not even about IVF all alone but it's through the miracle finish em and he's protecting us and to the learner in with Torah and keeping the mitzvahs mainly and therefore we're asking people who do watch these videos that benefit from them we have a PayPal thing set up it's called donate at given their comm you look on our website and you can make a donation $5 $25 or $100,000 we're happy for whatever you give did you benefit from the shirin we appreciate that we would like to continue to get give you great tour classes like tonight Sheila thank you so much and again all of us are certainly Miss Powell for what is going on up north and better system everyone should be protected and Oliveira Costello of the world should be sofa two shams greatest Baraka which is the Bravo of Shalom last week we discussed the Mitzvah that of Rama veena was given at the advanced age of 99 the Mitzvah bris Mila and there were a number of things that were said to Avraham at the time number one he was given the commandments of Brits Mila and we talked about that last week number two he was told that his name will be changed we also talked about that as well that his name will be out for ahom and Sarai's name will be surah number three he was also told that Sarah his wife will give birth to a child a year from that point and that child should be called God actually gave the name yet stuck he shall laugh because once again we'll be in such an amazing thing that I've remand Sarah had a child as in advanced age so it turns out that Abram was already told at the time he was commanded about his circumcision that he would have a child from from Sarah besides you smile was already born and the Torah says by ye palapa of he fell on his face why it's Huck and he laughed now we go to this week's partial which is only three days later according to Casals reconstruction of the chronology Avram had a bris we know that medically because I'll say the third day after a circumcision is when you're at your weakest remember that's when Yaakov I'm sorry that's when Shimon and lavey killed out the city of Japan the third day of their circumcision so Avram is naturally very weak and he's no youngster he's 99 after all and Hashem didn't want Avraham to be involved in hasta gnosis or would be too difficult so I share made it an abnormally hot day so that nobody would be traveling and yet Abraham is still sitting up there waiting way being waiting for orchid and nobody's traveling so God sends him three angels in the guise of travelers who Carmen Avram gives them the great hospitality that Avram was famous for and these people who are angels revealed to him again that Sara your wife shall have a child and then we are told in the Torah that Sara was listening behind the doorway of her tent and she laughed and she said to herself is it possible that after I have lost my youth and my husband is too old shall I have a child and the angels immediately say to Avraham llamas at Sarkoja Sarah why is Sarah laughing saying that she is too old to have a child having more points out although by implication she said she's not able to have a child anymore but the phrase too old she actually said about her husband not about her right she said fedone ISA came why do the Angels paraphrase her remarks to say Anissa Kunti and the Gemara here learns out a very important Alaka it's moot Alesha notes it is permitted to lie to misstate something in order to avoid conflict between husband and wife right this is darkish Shalom okay now the famous question that is asked and one of the most famous questions at least in this parsha is that Sarah lamps and Sura is condemned for mockery for not believing does she think that is anything beyond God why is she laughing and if actually then denies it I wasn't laughing because she was afraid but yet in last week's parsha when Avram is given the same news Avram laughs as well so why is Sarah condemned for her laughter criticized for her laughter when our room is not criticized for her look for his laughter same words with Avram it says by Yitzhak and he left with Suraj says but T struck it's the same word rarebit just means and she left so what's the knife kameena what is the difference between the laughter of sarah and the laughter of abraham so it's interesting that the targa monk 'less which is the Aramaic translation of the Torah because during the Second Temple period strangely enough even the Jews who lived in Eric Israel generally did not speak Hebrew their language was Aramaic in fact that was the language of yashka and the Apostles right they all spoke Aramaic those who lived in the lands of Israel we find in the Gemara that there were times that even great rabbis did not know the meaning of Hebrew words and Tanakh and they would ask the maidservants a review dahana see because in his house they only spoke of pure Hebrew so even the maidservants new Russian ha'qodesh so the targa monk list is normally a very very literal translation but interestingly enough when it comes to these particular firearms laughter and service laughter the targum gives a different Aramaic translation for the same word in the case of Avraham Viet shock he laughed is translated voddy he rejoiced in the case of Sarah Vitesse and she laughed is translated they got kiss and she scoffed now obviously the reason why the targum uses two different translations is precisely because of this question it's the same Hebrew word laughing but the question is Abram is not criticized and sorry it's criticized answer Avram was laughing out of joy Sabra was laughing at laughing out of skepticism now the obvious question is that if indeed our arms laughter and service laughter were two different emotional states why would the Torah use the same word to describe identical phenomenon in other words the Taira itself should of you that used a different not shown if indeed the two states are different but Rashi actually goes along with the targum and Rashi basically says I've REM is the laughter of joy I thought you might even connect this because I've run fell on his face that's the notion of bowing doubt it doesn't mean it's what's so funny that he keels over that's not the meaning of falling on his face but rather it's an expression of gratitude to the Almighty that his laughter is this unexpected phenomenal gift that Hashem is giving him that Abram as a psychic feels he's not worthy of so it's a laughter accompanied with a profound gratitude as opposed to Sarah there is the what you might call the bitterness the bitterness of skepticism and alike yeah that's really another question why why would she not to be in that material but the truth is the Rabanne makes an interesting point and he says well okay let's assume that Sura doesn't believe what's going on but you know why should she be condemned because keep in mind that I've RAM here's the news directly from God Sarah sees three guys dusty Wayfarers who are Arabs again with Arabs I mean like better ones they're not you smile they're priya smile veterans and they say oh your old life is going to have a kid why should she believe them says these people are idiots so in some ways even if you assume that she's scoffing that's not a lack of Emunah in a shed that just may just have to accept what she thinks she's hearing from three better ones so the ROM bond says a fascinating little point the ROM bond says you never know whom Hashem chooses to be the conduit of a brother somebody gives you a brother you think they're crazy you think they're not worthy you think who are ready to tell me what my future is take it seriously and answer our main because Hashem just as a gem can do anything Hashem can act through anybody and it might very well be that the most unlikely people might be the conduits of braja and you have to be willing and ready to accept it this is why first I'll say howdy he bare hast had yet color being AHA the brother of the most simple person that you think is the most simple person take it seriously of course what do they say they say starting with the rugged traveler gone the Rebbe tarragon was a phenomenal phenomenal genius in divinsky he died in the 1930s and the co rabbi of Dvinsk was another God Allah door where are Sameach and the Arts America used to say on the rugged trevor people think the rugged Shover has a phenomenal memory he doesn't really have a good memory at all just he finishes just like every week so any anything in the Bob Lee and the you shall be he saw within the week so what's what's the big deal of course for us we forget within a day but but ok but within a week from here says that was not a big memory achievement but the record Trevor was very caustic for various reasons so people would come to the rugged Trevor they were asking for a block so people and even I don't give breakfast I'm not a Rebbe I don't give breakfast so people would say back even as I'll say that the Brucker of a simple thing should be valued cow of a comer how much more so that of a great gunnel so the rubbish ever said why don't you give yourself a Brucker without a cover Comair instead of asking me to give me with a gobble so simple a simple thing you have already you can you can give a brother fear to yourself under those under those circumstances now they tell a famous story it may be apocryphal I don't know if it's true about the idea of never turning down Abraha accepting Broncos from everybody that there was a woman in a black a girl in Bnei Brak that was already getting a little older she didn't have a I think she was like 28 or something that's already very very advanced age so the father went to the stapler that's where I'm Kentucky's father and was very concerned my my daughter is becoming an old maid she'll never marry I'm worried about it so the stapler said when your daughter was born did you make a kiddush and show in honor of her birth so he said well no I meant I guess we don't make key dishes for daughters to get its aeneas so the stapler says that's your problem because when you have a kid ish everybody goes over to you and says may you be so fair to take your daughter to the Clipper and you might even get tired of a hundred people coming over here after a while everyone's giving you the same bracha over and over and over again but you never know who God chose to be the conduit of Rekha and you deprived yourself and your daughter of what's called the scene or the pipe of Baraka to the sty player so he then said ask the cyclist what do I go stapler says make a kiddush in honor of her birth now but she's almost 30 okay still you're happy that she was born so he made a kiddush in honor of her birth looked a little funny 30 years or 28 years late and everybody went ahead and gave her a bracha or him approximated be Sokka you take your daughter to the chuppah and the story goes two weeks later she got engaged and happily married and alike that there was the scene or of a broth so we did we take brother seriously and the Ron bond actually says this was the China so to speak against Sura that she didn't acknowledge the possibility that perhaps Hashem is sending people that she doesn't know her angels she actually does not know their angels at that point to perhaps give her the Braja which offer more ready nose so this is all based on the targum uncle as' so again Rashi and the Ramban are both going with the targum uncle is that Abraham's laughter is one of joy and gratitude and sorrows laughter is one of reasonable skepticism but not because she lacks a moon in God but but simply because she didn't think these were messengers of God in that in that way and as I said before the the primary question or the primary kasha on this interpretation is why would the tire use the same verb to express two different emotional states by Yitzhak and verticity truck is the same it's the same word so now let me give you an option from of Mayor simply the or cement he was the co rather in the city of Dvinsk with it with the rug each other the measure he sabers on Columbus is called the metric Hofmann and the metric hakama is comes out the same way as well that Avram and Sarah were both skeptical Abraham was skeptical and sari was skeptical but Avram skepticism was justified and Sarah's skepticism was not why would there be a difference so this is based on a passage in the introduction of the Rambam to the Mishnah you know the Rambam as you know his first work was a parish a machinist which is actually was written in arabic and translated into Hebrew and in the parish of Mathias which is printed in Moustakas Braavos the random routes an introduction a very very long introduction which is a very masterful masterful work on the nature of the oral law Torah op and alike but as is the round bombs want occasionally there's some fascinating digressions away from the main theme and in the middle of the hakama the Rambam discusses the role of a Navi we know that a Navi is a messenger from God and the Torah commands us to listen to another at least when he doesn't violate the Torah but before a person can be accepted as a Navi he has to pass a credentialing test he has to get a Navi license some guy shows up and simply says God gave me a message I don't have to listen to him so when there was a son Hedren they would credential nubium so how do you credential a nothing so the Rambam says they're at it was a process and that is the Navi has to make a bunch of predictions and the predictions have to come true not at 80 percent accuracy or 90 percent accuracy they have to come true at 100 percent accuracy so it might be something like they could pick the questions it might be something like well I was gonna say is it gonna rain tomorrow but in order to strobe that's usually not such a good question please for a lot of the year but you know who's gonna win the World Series or whatever whatever it's going to be and the predictions have to be 100% m/s if there's even a small deviation he is not certified as a nothing and there's no key of to listen to him so the random then lays down an interesting rule that in order for a Navi to be invalidated because something did not come true it must be something that would be either neutral or good for the Jewish people so if the Navi tells you they'll be a broker they'll be rain they'll be a low B meets Ahonen no comma and it doesn't happen he's a false nothing but if they know these prediction is that something bad will happen and it doesn't happen now that doesn't prove he's a nothing but it doesn't discredit him as a nothing because even if he's a no VMs and God told him something bad will happen Hashem in his Rock'em him can cancel a new Valera which means therefore since a Navi can only be discredited by the good thing that fails to happen but they Navi cannot be discredited by a bad thing that fails to happen a Navi can be tested only by the good and not by the bed because if if I test them by good predictions and they don't take place he's a Navi shocker now the Rambam brings a riot to his validation test from a story in the New Year Mayo we're prior to the destruction of the first base of Mukesh there were many false prophets and in sending the false prophets were promising that the Jewish people that they would have victory over Babylonia they could fight the Babylonians and God loves them that it almost sounds like they were the ones who had a vast Israel right all the false prophets were saying God loves you you have the temple this is the mahkum of Athena Hashem will never allow Eretz Israel to fall into foreign hands near me Yahoo was perceived as a traitor yo-yo was saying surrender to Babylon don't wage war because if you wage war because of your sins you're going to lose everything if you surrender to Babylonia perhaps they'll let you keep the temple or whatever it would be so in the book of year mio there's an encounter with a false prophet Kanani abanazar who is galvanizing the people telling them fight against Babylon and God loves you and you will win so your mio tells her ganya Venice or the following I really really hope what you say comes to pass but I want you to know that if what you say doesn't happen meaning the Jewish people lose that will prove you're a false prophet if what I say meaning we're gonna lose doesn't happen that does not prove anything against me it just shows sessions recommend and the Rambam derives from that story the idea that prophecies that are negative can always be rescinded prophecies that are positive can never be rescinded and that is how an obvious testing now after laying down the Clow the Rambam asks a question on himself we're going to read in a few weeks that after Yakko was away in Lovins house for twenty years and he returns to Eretz Israel he hears that ace of his brother is coming after him and the pus success Yakko was very very frightened and the Gemara in Braavos asks the question why is Yaakov afraid of his encounter with a sub hashem promised him 20 years earlier i will be with you and i will protect you what is yogev afraid of the gomorian Bracco's answers scheme' yeom a faint yes Jakob says I have a divine promise but Yaakov says every divine promise is conditional on my being worthy and in Yaakov humility he was afraid that perhaps he sinned and is no longer worthy of divine protection and that is why he is afraid and he prayed to God so the Rambam masks on himself but if it's true that once there's a prophecy for goodness it's not going to be rescinded even if you're not worthy then how could ya Cove be afraid show me a girl my height and of oil the tava at least if it's if it's not expressly conditional I mean obviously when the Torah says if you keep mitzvot you'll get a certain blessing that's conditional but the Rambam is saying when the prophecy is unconditional in its terms it will not be a null because of sin because if it could be then you can't discredit the number even of we could always say oh you didn't get the barakah because you committed sins so there are my master kasha how do you reconcile the idea that in a royal the Tova is not rescind about with the idea of Shem no you grow my faith they seem to be two opposite propositions so the Rambam gives a very interesting answer the Rambam answers there's a difference between a promise that God makes to you and a prophecy that you are commanded to tell others when God makes a promise to you and you're not necessarily the vehicle to communicate it as a prophecy to others so the proudly the promise might be conditional even if it's not stated as such meaning to say yeah I'll give you all of these brothers if you're worthy that's why Yaakov was afraid shamea grew my height but a not these in a different ballgame a nothing Hashem is not just promising something to another Hashem is giving the Navi the mission of communicating the Novoa to other people typically to omnia Sorrell sometimes to the Omo solemn and since there has to be some way that a Navi could be discredited otherwise how would you know who is a true Navi who's a false Navi so there has to be a certain part of his nuvvula that it's irrevocable no matter what anti-feminist Asad shows the good navour to be irrevocable so in other words the Rambam differentiates between what is called half taka where we apply the concept of scheme' Marseille and neva where we apply the idea that in a vowel the toe is more clots it is 100% definite and it's never going to be rescind about all of this is the Rambam and again this is in the hakama the introduction to the parish remission eyes so now the metric Hoffman says we can understand the difference between Abraham's laughter and service laughter when a Shem speaks to Avron at that level that has not yet been communicated as a nerve or to anyone else it is in the gather of a mere promise as a promise Avram can have a rueful laughter meaning to say how why I should be soaked there and not commit sins that will take it away from me but the measure customer assumes now this is also a lacuna this is an omission in the text that after Hashem told Avram Sura your wife will have a child he told Sura that which means according today the shikaku sarah was aware of this even before the angels came because I've roamed old her now one sovereign communication leaves the realm of promise and enters the realm of prophecy as prophecy it's irrevocable and that is why Sura didn't have the right to laugh because Hashem already made a novella that you would have a child again it's a little difficult because then you're back to the question well if Sarah actually heard it from Ogron then why is she telling it when the ankles come so I'm going to give you now a third explanation of the rsam and the or axiom is a very very beautiful explanation of kyon Benatar he was from Morocco but he made alia came to Eretz Israel in the 1700s we actually call him often the or Hakim Hakadosh the holy ark I am and he is buried and her ization it's a big big yard site the year the earth setter he asserted and so you are separate the he Lula is what I think the fifteenth of Thomas it's right before the fast of Thomas and you might know that it actually attracts tens of thousands of people go to the iris a sim for the he Lula of the ORAC I am a cottage so the Orihime Akash actually says Sara's laughter is exactly the same as on forums laughter exactly the same Avram laughs with the joy and gratitude of the unexpected gift that God is going to give him and Sarah is laughing with joy and gratitude over this gift it's exactly the same it is not that she is skeptical and he is accepting he accepts with joy she accepts with joy that is why the Torah uses the same word it is the same laughter so the question now becomes more acute he's laughing in gratitude and joy and she's laughing in gratitude and joy so what what is there to criticize does she not believe of course you believe she's laughing because she believes so here's what the RFA McCullar says the order hi MacArthur says the issue is not why she's laughing the issue is when she's laughing here's the thing Hashem tells of REM your wife sir is going to have a child in a year he laughs as soon as he hears the promise of God Sarah does not laugh the assumption here is although this is not in the text actually but the RF hime also assumes like the bedrock Allah that Algrim communicated to Sarah what God had said it is not recorded that Sarah left then but sorrow laughs a few days later a few days later when those angels come now according to Rashi groshi' brings a Madras that what happened to Sarah was she actually returns to her youthfulness she actually began menstruating again the bread became chummy with the blood of Needham and when she said after I've been worn out shall I return to my freshness of flesh she was not there was not a question mark that was an exclamation point how has it been so she's actually laughing because she sees the physical changes in her body so here's what the rsam says the difference between Avraham and Sarah was for Avraham the belief in God's promise was so real there didn't have to be manifest in anything physical Sara certainly believed in God's promise as soon as I've I'm told her she believed but it didn't have the same reality until it was knit gosh em in her physical body so when the angels say does she not believe that God can do anything if the earth I am says it's a much more subtle point of course she believes but the Emunah was not as real to her as what she experienced in her body and therefore that means there's a bit of a disconnect between the Emunah and the physical reality and if the physical reality means is a stronger sense of God's providence than the promise itself on that level there's a very subtle a very subtle he's earning the munna so when the angels say llamas at soccer kisara why is Sarah laughing the rsam says why is Sarah laughing now when Avraham laughed before was not the promise enough to elicit the laughter it's a very very beautiful shot because it does acknowledge that Sarah Ameno believes that Hashem was going to fulfill the promise but she didn't laughs he didn't become realtor till there were physical chip miraculous changes in her in her body so the ark item says to the person of Emunah the belief in Hashem is promise is just as real if not more so than what you see with your actual actual eyes now there's a gomorian Bava Batra browser says love Yochanan was once teaching that Leo said love Oh based on interpreting a Ganesha OH Leo said love o the walls of you shall ayam will be made of jewels there are many many amo say diamonds rubies sapphires emeralds all the way up so the Kumari recounts a certain town meeting this and said to himself Bubba mices this can't really be true and then once he was on a sea voyage and the ship got lost at sea for a while and he sees floating on top of the ocean big slabs of jewels which would be the size of these walls so he was so excited because he has empirical proof that his remedy was correct so when he gets back he goes to of Johanna and says with so much excitement rabbee rabbee rabbee it's true everything you said is true I saw it myself and reveal cumin it wasn't too happy if y'all can insane you mean until you saw it you didn't believe and muna like they said with the cut sukharev me somebody wants to all the cuts go Abby that there was another 52 Rebbe who claims that he saw the use Pisa right the seven guests that come on circus he saw the huge piece and every night and the cuts go Rebbe says I don't see the huge Pisan but my Yamuna is even stronger my omona is there there and I see with m'hona and that's even stronger than seeing with your eyes so this is really the idea of the moment and that's actually one of the interpretations of a famous mine Marquez I'll call them Isabella Lucia lion if a person mourns over Jerusalem Zota varroa Basim cosa he merits and sees the joy of your life now there's a grammatical problem or the normal way we translate this is actually not not an accurate translation we normally translate it if you mourn over Jerusalem you will merit and you will experience the redemption and that's how we normally interpret it but grammatically that's difficult because if the meaning of Hazael is if I mourn now I will be zoca to experience Redemption later it should have said call him a Szabo a yerushalayim years care vieira visum cotta Zahav aroma means you experience it right now how could that be right now I'm mourning right now I'm sad right now I'm deprived how is it that I'm experiencing Redemption right now because the answer is when you're miserable and then you think about the fact that I sham promised that the temple is going to be rebuilt and the Jewish people will come back to average Israel that emunah is as real to you as a physical base of mikdash in front of your eyes you experience actually actual comfort of a rebuilt besan mixture in your Emunah that Akhilesh Morocco will fulfill right that's one explanation another explanation which is not connected exactly to what we're talking about but I'll mention it is from the for some safer if you remember by Matthias Joseph when you so so it mentions and the brothers gave Yakov a story that a wild animal has attacked Yosef had killed Yosef and this is his coat etc they had dipped the coat in the blood of a goats so it says that even though Yaakov thought his son was a dead he could not be comforted no one could comfort him so Rashi brings again from Kazan an interesting teaching that why could Yaakov not be comforted because a person can only be comforted for someone that is dead you cannot be comforted for someone that's alive when God forbid someone dies so as heartbreaking is that is as shattering it that it put into the world as a general rule that there's a certain healing that can come to a person with the passage of time not a hundred percent obviously not 100 percent but the acuteness of the pain goes down a little bit because otherwise how is a person able to live in the world how are you able to survive how are you able to go on so the Old English saying time heals all wounds is in fact the the normal tether that I shall put into the world because otherwise we would just be paralyzed we could just not move at all and we have to go on but that's only true for someone that dies but someone that's alive now here is in curiosity even if is if this is a metaphysical idea this is a even if you think he's dead Yaakov thought y'all said was dead but somehow his neshama was not comforted because in reality Yosef was alive now the obvious question is so why didn't y'all go figure out it was alive because he wasn't being comforted okay and the answer is he thought he loved Yosef so much he thought he just wasn't getting comforted but in fact you can't be Mocambo ton Coleman I'm a high and that's why you'll find when we have all of these unfortunately in average Israel we have the we still have some but we had missing in action and missing in action soldiers high limb and the one of the great Agony's of the parents was they were the uncertainty of not knowing dead or alive there's no closure obviously losing a child is is awful but knowing knowing is better than not knowing that not knowing is a tremendous constant anxiety that never goes away right this is what Rashi teaches us so now this is what there are some safer says if you're still crying over the base of McNish which is which has been gone almost 2,000 years why haven't you gotten over it it's gone isn't there a concept that time is supposed to heal answer you're only macabre on Hanah and that which is dead you're not macabre on the coma on that which is alive so if you're not macabre macabre you're still miserable that's a proof that's the return of the temple it's still alive and therefore from the very fact that I still cry in the ninth of us that's a proof I get comfort in that very crying and of course there's a famous story people say it's apocryphal you always know these are like these are kind of Jewish folk tales that sometimes not true but they tell a famous story you've heard of it of Napoleon walking by a Jewish synagogue on the ninth of F in France or of Paris where we're huh he was in Egypt okay it could be a Napoleon was in a lot of different places but he walks by and he sees people sitting on the ground and crying and mourning and he says what is this about and they said oh well we lost temple 1,500 1,600 years ago and we mourn and we cry over it and Napoleon said that any nation that is still mourning over its ancestral home after more than a thousand years for sure for sure they are going to be reunited with it now in a negative way let me tell you a sad negative story and Jonathan rosenbloom brings this up in one of his columns and many years of already this was an interview in the Israeli press with a with a very well known terrorists who had languished in prison for many many years like you know 20 years but he finally got released in one of these crazy prisoner exchange programs that that Israel engages that although they say they never do it but they always do it and the person was interviewed by al-jazeera or one of those places and he was saying in your years in prison were there times that you gave up the struggle because you saw how powerful Israel is and you saw that they always have the upper hand they have the stronger army was there a time that you lost your courage again the al-jazeera angle is he's a big freedom fighter so listen listen to what he said he said yes there were times that I was discouraged and there were times that I was going to give up and say can't fight Israel they're too powerful but what gave me the courage to persevere it was the Jewish holiday Pesach Passover and I saw my guard eating bread and I said to the guard hey I even I know this is the Jewish holiday not allowed to eat bread for seven days and the guard said to me that story if it even happens happened thousands of years ago I don't care what happened thousands of years ago and the Arab terrorists ruffmanowitz one said I knew then I mean I hate to even say the words that we're gonna win he said because if they don't care what happened 2,000 years ago and we do care we're gonna be victorious again III literally cringe and hate to say those words but mm LF said Maori vitae Khomeini which is interpreted to mean give me wisdom even from my enemies and there is something in what that person said that's a mu sir for us if we care about our past we care about Eretz Israel we care about the base of make - we care about bringing the shekinah back then our College Board who gives us the strength to be victorious when we don't care then house for Shalom the goal of us could be prolonged in very very bad in difficult ways and the Shem sends once again just as the Rambam said you never know who is the conduit to give you a bracha you never know who is the conduit to give you teaching it might be a very unworthy even evil person but out of their mouth may come a thought that we're supposed to contemplate and we are supposed to think think about right that is the idea of caring right not getting over it so to speak in other words that's the point call them estaba la lucha lion when you mourn and don't get over it that's the proof it's still alive to you okay but be others it may this is d going back to Sarah this is the aura fiims teaching about the idea of emunah the reality of faith and it reminds me of something I heard many many years ago from one of my Rebbe am it near your a yeshiva in Baltimore this was absorbacron glass is the corner of a great great God know pataga you know the grammarian gettin about divorce just the middle of the laws of divorce has certain rules that differentiate Babylonia for a marriage Israel certain how long house in Eretz Israel a certain dinner flies in Bevelle which is modern Iraq the certain laws don't apply and the Gemara then says where is Bevelle so it says oh I can prove to you that Bevelle is north of the Land of Israel and the proof of that is because in your meal which prophesized the Babylonian invasion averages well it says meets a phone from the north to pusuk IRA evil shall come right so that's how I know Bogle is north now that's kind of a strange Gomorrah I mean if I were to ask you how do you know Canada is north of the United States I mean you wouldn't need a puss hook for that there is no queue there's no pussing for that she would say well it's obvious just look at a map and they had maps even in the ancient world that's on some level of accuracy so how do you know how do you know barbell is north of Eretz Israel oh we have a plus ik that tells me what do you need a person gets a map I mean everyone knows bubble is north its northeast of eret Israel that's why in the Gemara Erik Estrada's always called my rubber to the west because the Babylonian Talmud is written from the perspective of Jews in Babylonia so my mush yet wherever chrome grass says that this is the difference in our mentality and the mentality of the rabbi's of the Gomorrah in our mentality we think why do I need the Torah to teach me something I have a map we think a map is better than the Torah because I'll have an opposite who needs a map if the Torah tells me this is what it is then that's more real to me than any particular map that's a better proof well it's not doing huh I need a parsec I mean the map is so much better obvious answer is no the tour is better the tour is a better proof than even a a map that's the reality of a person that is a bah-bah-ba-wa muna and this is something that you know we have to realize the importance of a muna in life now as I mentioned already in a number of serum and Munna and Judaism is not passive it is not quiet it doesn't mean you simply set back sit back and say God will take care of me God will give me money God will give me health God will give me pernessa know a person has to work a person has to seek medical treatments when that is appropriate generally speaking a person has to try to be mystic a metal um if you see poverty we have a duty to try to alleviate it if we see swamps we have a duty to drain them we have a duty to fight malaria try to cure cancer and muna is not the passive idea Hashem will do everything it's my obligation to be a Shems partner in bringing goodness and holiness and justice and kindness into the world but I always have to know that without Hashem nothing is going to be accomplished nothing is going to be accomplished and that's if I could digress just for a few moments this is kind of the issue of how you have to look at the religious secular discussion about the army and the like as you know one of the divisive issues in Israeli society right now in fact this is part of why Lieberman has kind of hijacked the whole electoral process it's amazing how one guy could simply almost destroy destroy a country is because Lieberman is so afraid of a them joining a coalition where they would get a drag get back their draft exemption or or whatever whatever it would be now I'm not here to address the merits of this RBC's is hotly hotly debated but one important insight to understand them is that both sides are extremely important components of what we need in this world we need people who learn Torah we need people who devote themselves to a voter session because without Torah learning God does not give us the breath that we need to be successful and without Hashem as powerful and well-trained as our army is they will not be derogate ever be able to survive the onslaught of all of the enemies that want to destroy us but at the same time we also need an army God's promised that through the Torah and the midst of us he will give Brucker time Israel still creates a responsibility and on Israel to take the effort that is needed to have an army so as a result the army needs the people who learn Torah and the people who learn Torah as well as really all Jews need and must appreciate the army as well the idea of demonizing either side either saying oh the army is a hotbed of immorality and evil or the people who learn all the time or parasites and in the light that's not going to get you anywhere because the army is part of God's plan and those who learn Torah are part of God's plan and the key idea or the keep us up that you have to keep in mind is a per second Mitchell a very very beautiful classic chameleon upon him upon him Cain lay father only Adam as water reflects the face that you show it so to the heart of one human being reflects that which you show it and the Vilna Gaon explains when I look into a reflecting pool of water the face that I see in the water very much depends on the face that I show the water because it reflects back my face I smile at the water I get back a smiling face I frown at the water I get back an angry face whenever I show the water is what the water shows me so to such lamella the heart of a human being reflects back what that human being is shown I show you respect I show you affection I show you compassion you will feel that way towards me I show you derision and denigration you will feel that way towards me so part of what happens may well actually it's happening in the United States too but but no but it happens in Israel all the time is each side no matter what the issue is always looks at the other side is either an idiot or a Russia well I look at so-and-so as an idiot or a Russia they will look at me as an idiot or Russia right so you have to kind of start with a different orientation I remember a few years ago when the issue of and again I think I'm not addressing the issue of whether you she was student should be in the army yeah that's that's no that's a difficult dish I'm just trying to give a general perspective on each side appreciating the positive contribution that the other side is making and that ultimately we need both around how many years ago was about when they when the firt when the issue of abolishing the draft exemption or modifying it first arose so there was a huge huge huge demonstration near the bus station for people who were opposed to getting rid of the exemption people who wanted the yeshiva student exemption to to exist and it was the crowd estimates were officially 800,000 now probably again these things are always inflated but they you know a half a million to 800,000 that's that's a big margin of error but very very very very big and Bertha sham there was no violence professionally we know they dive in they said to hail him as demonstrations go which was much better than setting garbage but dumpsters on fire or blocking buses this was a relatively orderly demonstration that I mean obviously if block traffic but it was not a deliberate attempt they were able to route around it and the like so as demonstrations goes it was a pretty good one but I thought to myself in the recesses of my heart what would have happened if at the end of a two-hour demonstration where we talked about Torah learning and I without Torah learning there's no Jewish people etc and all of that is good and all that is true what would have been if at the end of the two hours they would have said a prayer for the hilum they would have said a prayer for the town they would have stated their position and they would have articulated their position and then they would have expressed gratitude for the people that are physically giving their lives risking their lives from Israel and what if what would have been if such a prayer would have been recited by eight hundred thousand Jews who are actually against the draft what would have been you know I have no idea but I have a little teeny bit of suspicion mushiya would have come in the idea in which I reach out to that which I perceive erroneously as the other and I know that that's me to that's my brother that's my people that's my nation we need each other I am so grateful for what you do and then combined upon Allah upon him you will understand what it is that I do whatever whichever side is doing the talking here that would be such a wonderous state there would be such a wonderous thing and that and the reason I'm bringing it up really it has nothing to do with our topic actually but I'm bringing it up because our topic tonight was the nature of Emunah and how real Emunah has BTU that's why sorry manor was criticized because she had a difference in her perception between Emunah and God and the physical realization but Emunah is not passive it doesn't mean I do my mistress and God will do everything I still have to have his tablet and the IDF the tile is one of the very very important vehicles of each tablet is a beautiful story but if zalman arma which lobizon arbok was her ad by any definition of the work right he was truly old you show me a girdle I'm sorry Luka a Rosh Yeshiva so the story goes that he was with the Talmud and the Talmud mentioned he was going to spots to pray by the chief rates a deacon by the graves of the righteous they areso reverse of Cairo socialism and said casually this is such an amazing statement he says well you know smart is a big trip and you know it's hard to go up there and it takes a long time sir Zalman said when I feel the urge to davon by the grave of its Adak I go to the military cemetery on Mount Herzl because if some zombies yeshiva wasn't by forgotten there right near there he says and I go and I dive in by a person who died in trying to help the Jewish people and I know that whether that person is religious or not so religious I know that person is a sadiq in God's of God's eyes because he gave His life from Israel so if you're looking for curates a deacon to job in brethren you can go to the military cemetery in Mount Herzl so said not me so said Revlimid Salman who was a true true God Allah door in all all senses of Fort right so these are some things that we can think about and I think that in many many ways if we had these perspectives this would defuse a lot of the tension a lot of the animosity that exists between religious and secular Jews so because with Hashem a maybe so her to try to be vehicles of Shalom and I in our own lives [Music]