Maamar Vata Titzave 1981 #14 - Shiva is great time for listening and bonding - RC Dalfin

So good day. We're learning the Reb said in 1981 and it was distributed in 1992 just a few weeks before he had a stroke. It's the last will and testament forum and others. And in this mimer the Reb really speaks about the deep the deeper meaning of a Moses of a Mosha Rabenu. You have Moshe Mosha Brun Mosha Meyers Moshe. Who is this Moshe? What is Moshe? What's his purpose? On and on. And we're at the part in the discourse, chapter 11, the middle of the chapter, where he he mentions this concept that Mosher Raenu feeds faith. Faith, the faith that a Jew has is intrinsic to the Jew. In the terminology of the sages m we are believers the children of the of believers. Good morning. In other words even without a moherenu even without a a leader mosh we have faith in us. That's what the say that's what the teaching is. So then you have to ask yourself if we have this intrinsic faith what is the idea of moherenu was called the loyal shepherd the rom soidus explains and this mimemer he he he explains that it'su that not only um teaches you how to develop your faith intellect ually that faith should not only be in its box called faith but it should also impact your rationale and think for a moment think for a moment you know in your own life there are times we believe but the mind COMES AND SAYS NAH IT'S NOT EXACTLY like that nah maybe maybe it's a little different How can that be? The int the intellectual rational argumentations hinder faith. They block faith. THE FAITH THAT WE HAVE. So what he does is the first thing is he teaches you how to penetrate the faith into the rationale. That's one thing. But more so he feeds the faith that the faith be internalized. That's called amuna bipmius. And this is a much more difficult activity. In other words, not only should the faith be on the outside. For example, the fellow is at the threshold of the door about to break in. He turns to God. HE SAYS, "GOD, HELP ME succeed to open the door, break in, and and rob and steal." Where? What's going on here? You're asking God to help you, and you're breaking in. You're doing a crime. How do the two go together? The answer is faith can be makif. It can be on the outside. It encompasses you on the periphery. and and in that case the action and the faith have they don't talk to each other. They're in two different worlds. And that's truly speaking that's the way we are. And much of the time we don't internalize the faith. I believe I believe I believe. Everyone say I believe I'm a believer. Come on. I'm a believer in God. Torah in Torah in mo in in Msiah in Torah. Yeah. So why why why do you speak rude to your friend? Why do you hurt someone else? You know that God doesn't want this. Hashem doesn't want this. So what's with you? The answer is the faith is here and my logic and behavior is over here. Comes along and he feeds the faith. When you eat something it's digested. He digests the food WITHIN US BY SHOWING US HOW TO DIGEST IT. NOT he does it for us. HE SHOWS US HOW to digest the faith. That's one point and a very important point that he explained in this discourse in this m he then went on to explain also the concept that Mosher and that's the meaning when it says in the inab and you shall command so you Mosha should compare command the Jews to bring olive oil to the to to this to me Aaron the high priest should bring it to me the Moshe and and and I'm sorry Mosha The Jews should bring the the olive oil to Mosha. Mos will give it to Aaron. Aaron will write the manora in the tabernacle in the Mishkan with the with this with this oil. MOSHE GETS a high. Moshe becomes greater by doing this. Moshe needs us. The head needs the feet. Okay, Mark. The feet. the importance of the feet, right? Like we discussed the feet. WITHOUT THE FEET, YOU CAN'T YOU can have the biggest and best cup. You could be a genius. You can't GET FROM POINT A TO POINT B WITHOUT your feet. It don't happen. You have to have feet. Who are the feet? We the Jews. We're the foot soldiers. WE WE ARE THE WE MARCH. WE MARCH. WE'RE ON THE FRONT. Mosha gives us the direction, Moses strategist and all that and everything else. But we are the feet. When the feet do what they need too, they add something to Moshe that Moshe didn't have. And that's what he says. That's why the instruction from Hashem is you Mosa shall command them to bring the olive oil because there's something about crushed olive oil that I want that God says I want that enhances you. So now the question is what is that what does that crushed olive oil represent? And he explains in the mimer that this crushed olive oil causes lam is the sense the feeling that it's not good enough. Whatever is happening is good. There can be better never be satisfied. And in fact it should bother you that we're still in this exile in this galut in this gulas. Mashiach is still not here. You could have great synagogues and you have great rabbis and great people. It's all nice and fine and dandy. Where is the Msiah? We're in gulus. And this sensation of cussis meaning crushed from the lack of godliness being apparent in the world everywhere and anywhere at all times. This causes you not to be depressed and despondent but to say what am I going to do about it? That is the trajectory of the verse as explained in this minor. So let's now turn for those that have the books to page 405. We're at the um last line on top over there in the Hebrew. We're going on to 406 now. This causes the additional virtue of the soul, the essence of the soulima that was revealed that was drawn and revealed within the Jews through what is what is he referring to nasha here? Why was the instruction why was THE INSTRUCTION TO BRING THE OIL TO MOSA? BRING THE OIL to Aaron. AARON'S THE ONE THAT'S LIGHTING the manura. No, it doesn't say that. THE JEWS SHALL BRING TO you the oil and you give it to Aaron. Why? Why don't you give it directly to Aaron? He was a good chap. He was a fine fellow. You know what it says in ethics OF THE FATHERS? SHALOM WAS REPRESENTED love all loving always making peace between people right I think that's a good a very good quality that you could bring him the oil he was the right fellow to light the manura to to shine in order to shine and to illuminate the world the manura is there to illuminate the world not just yourself to have light in the area of the manura but to go out to the world as the says Ain is the one that does that because he represents peace, harmony, love, togetherness. So, so why do you bring the oil to Mosha? So, the Reb explains because bringing the oil to Moshe means you identify with what Moshe is all about as we just said earlier at length. So when you do that when you do that both we get something we didn't have before and both and Moshe gets something we we didn't HAVE BEFORE AND WITH THAT YOU ILLUMINATE THE the manura you light the manura which illuminates the world through the sensation of crushed AND THAT'S NOT THE ACTIVITY OF a's idea is to light up okay now but THE QUESTION IS HOW AND WITH WHAT do you light the what is the quality of the light. Moshe determines what the quality of the light is visav relationship with the Jews and the Jews with him. That's not the activity of Aram. And that's an important lesson in life. You need to, you know, people tend to box people in into one into one box and and and and that's a mistake because a we're different and b we all have different missions. Okay? And are we God that we know who whose mission is what? No. So what we say is listen Mark you need to you know you like you love doing help and you go to the Salvation Army and you feed people and all that. WE SAY FINE in addition TO THAT HELP THE RABBI WITH DOMINION. You do your best to do both. Fine. But do we really know what the mission is? Do we really know if it's better to to help to feed people food versus, you know, helping with dominion? We don't we don't we don't at the end of the day we don't know the mission of the person. I'm not talking about the collective issue. It's important to do and put on fill and and you know not talking I'm talking about my individual mission in life. Now of COURSE IF SOMEONE SAYS WELL MY individual you know my mission is to feed people and to help people and blah blah blah and and religion and being Jewish and all of that is not important to me. you know that that again is he the person is choosing his own personal um desires and and wants over possibly God's desires and wants and that's you know so so we do both we do both there's an expression in in Yiddish you ever hear this expression for God and for humanity And it this was an expression used in in Europe uh a lot. I heard it from my grandparents survivors from Europe you know and my father also you know in other words be godly be holy but also be a human be a mench. So got them to light. And again, if you if you emphasize that light the the humanity that should wash away and eliminate the the godly the holy it's a it's a mistake and the other hand the same thing the other way. So all I'm saying is that when we talk about this is why is following our conversation of years ago why we need to have a mohenu in our life because aenu we believe and at times we see and understand he sees the larger picture and he sees that SO AND SO COMES to him for a for an ata advice for and he tells him, "Hey, you know, they need um they need someone in in Okinawa, a chaplain." So he says, "I JUST GOT MARRIED and I'm taking a position closer next to family about right." And the says, "Listen, you could do whatever you want, but I I think it would be a good thing for you to go there." There's a natural story with the chaplain who's now in the Golan Heights. I forget his name now. Rabbi Habber, not the Rabbi Habber in in in Ramad up in the Golanabad, the rabbi of the Golan Heights, one of them. And the Reb tells him to go out over there and with his new wife. And for some reason, he was no big at the time, he goes and 25, 30, 40 years later, he says, "Ah, now I understand." Soenu has the the wherewithal that God gave him to to see and to see something. And the scene by the way isn't he knows exactly what's going to happen tomorrow. It could be a premonition. So when Arl Shaon comes to the Reb, he's about to go to JFK to take his flight back to because he has a meeting the next day, a very important meeting. And the Reb says, "I just got word that the uh the um the spokesman for for cancelled and he can't make it." So he says, "Mr. Shaon, it would be a good idea if you could be a substitute because you're a respectable person. You're the former general or whatever." And he says and he says, "I'm about to go on a plane." The Reb says, "Look, you do what you THINK IS IS RIGHT and good and and the Reb wishes him, gives him a dollar for Saddaka." When he gets back there to put the money in Saddaka, WHEN HE WALKS OUT, HE TELLS HIS PERSON, he goes into the taxi and he says instead of going towards JFK on Eastern Parkway over there, which some you know, you guys know where I'm talking about towards towards Kennedy, he goes THE OTHER WAY TOWARDS Manhattan and he's and he's the spokesman of the dinner that night for the bombs, Israeli bombs. I believe that night they hijacked the plane and who of course were they their main target Arl Shaon. So now you ask yourself a question did the Baba see did he see and know that this is their plan and if if he did why CAN HE TELL MR. SHAON MR. Shaon don't go on the plane because they're going to hijack it. I'll let you answer the question, but it's very obvious whether he saw it or he didn't. You're not allowed to take away the free will of someone, right? It's a violation. And I have no problem saying that he didn't see it like he like we're looking at each other. There was a premonition. There was a um what's the word? A um an aura. Whatever word you want to use THE HASHEM PUTS in sadikim words and ideas that later you see how it makes sense. The Reb by the way I remember Fabangans the Reb said I couldn't figure out why this past summer I spoke a lot about gathering children and teaching them Torah and making gatherings. This was before the Yippa war in 1973. The reb the reb WAS ALL SUMMER BUSY WITH that and we and you know like and then after war it says that from the mouth of babes of of children it does kill him David says that it will protect us and help us he says now I understand SO THE REB IS SAYING to you like in a sense I didn't know clearly but I there was something that was pushing me so and it a good thing to gather Jewish children and the same by the way is for each and every one of us. We don't have to be a reba for this. I mean you have to be a reba in the in the grandiose picture but in our lives too sometimes you you you feel moved to do certain things that are holy and special right and and you know and then you ask yourself why am I doing this like what's going on? It could be you're getting a message, a signal from on high, from Hashem, from your soul on high that's that's talking to you, that's pushing you, that's telling you somehow subconsciously, right? You know how those feelings are. You think about someone and the next day or two you hear, god forbid, they passed on or something or they had a sim you didn't know about whatever, right? IT'S LIKE I JUST THOUGHT ABOUT HIM YESTERDAY. I just mentioned his NAME JUST THE OTHER DAY. I'm just had it last week. You know, Professor Branover, Herman Brown passed on, right? I knew him. I interviewed him in 90 1995. Fantastic interview, real scientist, a refusnic for somehow he just came into my mind. a day later I read on on the news that he passed on. It's very like interesting, right? So anyway, back to the text. So what we're learning over here is that Mosherenu having that connection to Moshe, having a connection to a Mosher Raenu is helpful to him and helpful to us. And without us, he's no Moses. He's no Moshe. And without Moshe, we are really not the best that we can be. But the way to the way to access is that we have to do it yourself ourselves. If we don't do it ourselves, you can be Misha, you can be Jewish, and you can be it's nothing. At the end of the day, it's up to the individual to move, right? Let's continue. Top of page 406 on the first line. Through this connection of bringing the oil to then we connect our true source which is the source called the essence. Let's continue. Now this is a bracket. to means to u to arouse to awaken to make you alert. This relationship with causes us to have more unity. The unity of the Jews of Jewish people when the essence of the soul is revealed. That is like you hear that? That's like an an adjunct to who you are. Next page 407. This unity is through. It's by making our bodies and material matter primary and our and our spiritual soul matters ancillary. Conversely, but when you reveal who you really are as you are rooted, as our souls are rooted in essence, it's this causes that the nuances and the details as we discussed yesterday at length are one from their perspective with God with the essence. This unity It's in all of their matters even in matters that are relevant to the body. I I want to explain this and and and this and we'll continue tomorrow. But this is like this very it's it's in a brackets but it's a very important point. The Reb says it like this. When we talk about Jewish unity, when we talk about Actus, there's aus of soul and there's a of goof. There's spiritual soul unity and there's physical aus. What's physical? Physical means you know someone who doesn't have who needs or you look for someone, you help them. And so we we we we collectively as Isra used the word yesterday are with each other. BUT THAT'S A THAT IS AN aus that is material oriented and very important but doesn't necessarily involve the spiritual soul. Why? Because let me ask you, do do you have to be a Jew to to give someone money or or food if you the person standing on the street and asking and you roll your window down? No. Right. So aus bringing people together isn't necessarily a Jewish godly act. It could it could be a secular non-Jewish act. So this is what he says here that when we when we are together a united because our souls see God, it doesn't yet equate to a unity where everyone's together because we're divine and and holy and Jewish. Whereas when you reveal who you are, then the actus in involves your spiritual connection. In other words, you're connecting you, we us, we connect to another person because we all are one. So that's the difference. The difference is whether the aus the unity is coming from an a soul perspective that's an adjunct to the body or IT'S COMING FROM THE BODY ITSELF MEANING THE PERSON THEMSELVES WITH from their issues from their difficulties they come to the understanding and a feeling that we should unite practically mo is here so we have to make everything practical or we we will get shot down. So what does this mean practically? Practically it it means it's not just the only meaning but it means that when we look at ourselves and when we look others there's one way of looking at the situation where the person is in need, the person needs help, I'm going to help them. The other perspective is I'm helping myself. I'm not helping him. I'm not helping her. I'm helping myself. I am not who I am without the other person. In the terminology of the that many of you learn is my piece of my piece of bread is yours as it is mine. says the hay further. Diner farminer, it's yours first before it's mine. But wait a minute, MANASHA, WHO OWNS this bread? Me. I EARNED IT. I WORKED FOR IT. IT'S MY BREAD. No diner. Ver is first yours, then it's mine. AND GUESS WHO'S SAYING THAT AND FEELING THAT? YOU. YOU FEEL THAT IT'S FIRST THE OTHER PERSONS THEN ourselves and this is a very difficult thing I earned it I worked hard I toiled I slaved I studied in school for 20 years and you're GOING TO COME AND TELL me all OF A SUDDEN WHAT SHOULD BE WHAT SHOULDN'T BE hey did you did you did YOU GET DOWN AND DIRTY I did minor viner if you have real love. All of those equations, although albeit they're true, you were in school for so many years, you studied, you toiled, and he didn't. It's true. But at the end, I shouldn't say the end. The truth the truth is that that's an equation that's that's that's logical. And what we're looking is for a essence equation. In other words, we're all one. the fact that I that I studied and I grew up in this way, you know, remember what we learned in the about education with the talks about the different components of of people and one of them is being raised in a in an affluent community in an affluent home or not and poverty on and on and he says how that makes a difference on the student which is so true but you have to ask yourself a question. So, so therefore you you you have compassion on the person why do I have compassion? So Mark when you when you help people when you when you feed them when you when you when you do your with people right ONE ATTITUDE IS I'M DOING for them I'm the lucky one and they're the unfortunate one and I'm helping them. The other two is the OTHER ATTITUDE IS THEY'RE HELPING me and and and and they right they're HELPING ME. I'M INCOMPLETE WITHOUT THEM. It's a whole different attitude. And when we have this mindset and they're helping me, so the perspective changes on how to to live life and how to to be involved with others and ourselves and what takes priority. And it's an because the natural tendency is me me I'm first. You might not say that, but that's what you're thinking. Seldom do you find, at least in my life, an individual who's not that way. It's very rare. It's very rare because the number one thing is me, me, my family, my community, my people, blah blah blah. Me, me, me, me, me. When you find someone who's altruistic and it's not about me, it's about the other, that's realus. And that's what the Reb says here. Maybe you could say that the reason this is in a brackets, this is my own thought, is because this is such a difficult thing that to put IT AS PART OF THE TEXT KIND OF I AS it's a demand. You have to do this. It's too much to demand of a person. But in a bracket where he's you know kind of it's it's an add-on uh thought to the text here he's saying give a good look at yourself and realize that when you reveal your nama from your perspective with in the with the nuances and details the t as we we've been learning then you realize that from your mind's perspective and not only your and and not only the generality but in every single detail there's there's God there uh once again dedicating this year to my dear uncle Bena uh he passed away last uh Friday and we're middle of the shiva here and I've been doing some recordings of my father there in Yiddish uh although he can speak English but you know his natural tongue is Yiddish his Romanian Yiddish which is for those that uh know Yiddish and know dialects, it's it's gold itself. And um I sit there and record him and I'm blown away how he remembers details of childhood details and details and details. It's a it's such a phenomenal thing for me to to observe how he remembers the details you know and things that I've repeated in his name and written and I oh and I realize oh I didn't say it exactly and I made a mistake over here and so it's um you know Shiva we shouldn't know about Shiva it's a it's a difficult time but and other time other hand it's one of the best times in in the intimacy between people and families these, you know, you could really, you know, people, they're stuck home, they ain't going anywhere, you know, and, uh, so, so, um, you have that intimacy, that intimacy, uh, and things and, and things come out very interesting. Again, no one should know of this, but things come out that, uh, you might have never heard. You might have never heard. And you got to pay attention. You got to listen very carefully, you know, and that's what I'm doing. I'm listening. I'm listening. I'm recording, too, in case I forget later. But you got to listen, you know, and let the person talk. And that's what it says, you know. You should you should let the person talk and then you only respond. Okay, we'll see everyone tomorrow. Have a great day. Take care. >> See you tomorrow. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye.