Tel Aviv Miracle near daughters Chabad House - 1 hr before blessing was given - Rabbi Chaim Dalfin

You mentioned a song. You want to hear how it goes? [Music] and there's more stanzas afterwards. The reason for that song Ellie Kaslavich is a suburb of Minsk. Minsk was a stronghold of the mnag. You know, c different cities in Ukraine and Russia were either moreidic or more. Kaslavich was near Minsk. Minsk was the snagd there something known as Minsk. A great debate between the andagd of Minsk. But there were also there like the RV said, right? the sh which his father was had mostly kabatics and that's also an interesting phenomenon that we find that a different and shuls larger and smaller that they were mainly people most of the times and who was there alik and it worked out very well So from the that lived in they were the little the city was full of bisn right and they were the down and outs so they would go from to their inavage and they went with pride and they sang that song that's the history of the So after hearing you Ellie, I decided I'm going to speak about something completely different that what I want to talk about. Ellie gave you pretty much you know what's in the in the book or part of it at least. had a great sense of humor. I believe some of you are students of his or your your parents were students of his. when I started to research the real you have to understand you know as Judaism has developed we we've created on one hand this proliferation of Judaism giddish of Torah on the other hand we also created a box I belong here and I belong here I'm modern orthod the box. I am centrist store the box. Everyone puts himself into a box. I could say that the the number one thing that I got from researching the RV cuz the Reb, you know, I'm avist from my birth. I'm a born and born and bred labature from day one of my life. But there I knew nothing about. Why? Because the last 40 50 years we've boxed ourselves in. Now on one hand that's very good. We've created strong communities. But on the other hand, there's a limitation there. So when I studied the RV or when I studied this man who have you heard about Schlom Macarbach, which I spoke about here about 15 20 years ago on this book right here from the same standard in this room, I spoke about Schlom Macarbach. And guess who was here for that speech? His ex-wife. She was right in the crowd. I remember like yesterday. And much of my work is really more about not the kabat side but the other side. Even those words are so you know other side kabat side. But unfortunately sometimes that's the the language we need we use. So the rough sense of humor is in Berlin 28 29 his father's friends the son of Salvik if you learn a yeshiva and you don't learn aim you haven't begun learning a good on the ra here here here is people who were students of of friends of Raosha, they're in Berlin, they come for medical reasons and other reasons and they have a problem. Should they visit Rabbi Salvation? On one hand, they're dressed in their full regalia, their full garb, their Rabanim rabbis they're going to go and visit someone at a university university of Berlin intellectualism together with the you know the aices you know and everything that was going on at the time Berlin it was a very sophisticated place but on the other hand how could they not visit him they're going to come back so shall going to say no did you see my son did you give him regards or what what were you going to say. So they decided to go. They had no choice. They came there. What are they going to talk about? The New York Mets and the Boston Celtics. What are they going to talk about? Tyra. They start talking Tyra. They're blown away. amazed that this this Yasha bear Salvich in Berlin is discussing them Torah that puts them to shame and shows that this man is more knowledgeable the same ideas in Torah that he is that they are. So they asked the most simple question salivation or whatever they called it. We sit in the steel. We sit in the yeshiva. We sit in the sh. We learn. That's our occupation. You're in a university. You're studying philosophy, sciences, and everything else. Where do you have the time to learn to be so fresh, to be so current, to be so knowledgeable? So, you know what his answer was? He says at the time when you you guys we didn't say it at time when you guys talk about Yasha bear salivic what kind of shanda it is that he is in the University of Berlin that's where I learn the the wisdom the smarts and the truth the truth the the the idea today today of the barriers and the walls between the Jewish people. Let's talk about the Orthodox community. Is Barak Hashem diminished? Not going to say it's it's it's doesn't exist. That would be a lie. But a lot of it, especially between these two communities, Yeshiva University and Kabad, is diminished. And how do I know that? So I know it from my research, but I know it from what Dr. Norman Lan told me 20, 25 years ago when I interviewed him for a book that I wrote called Conversations with the Reb. I interviewed 14 rural Jewish leaders from Yitzk Shamir to Abram Abraham Tski to Kayen Poak to Shana Carden and one of them was Dr. Lamb. So I remember one of the first things he said to me was we and Kabad, this is what he said, we and Kabad are the closest to each other. That's what he said to me about 20 25 years ago. You know, looking back at it now, you know, at that time I thought, you know, okay, you know, here's I'm a much younger than him and he's he's the president of university with everything that comes along with it. And he wants to make conversation. He wants to make this young man, this lab feel good. So he says we are, you know, the closest to each other. But looking back at it now, it's Em. Why is it Em? Because the two leaders of of Kabat and Yeshiva the RV, they were they were they were good with each other. They understood each other. Even though each one put an emphasis a dog on something else, but in Yiddish we say those that know Yiddish they understood themselves. So they related they related and that's what we have to focus on that the world of yeshiva and the world of labage of kabad can truly relate not only you know by putting on fillin or uh you know supporting those areas those are galda great things but philosophically as Ellie pointed out some points philosophically there's a kesher there's a connection but to can I get a little more waterproof to to to here's my cup to um appreciate that you need to study you need to learn you need to read and at this time I want to say that really at least very modest The book would have never come out this way if not for Dr. Rackland. I'm very serious. His scholarship, his understanding, his questioning, his challenging, and of course his superb writing created this. And I'm not saying this to to push his horn, even though everyone needs a good push once in a while. But be and that's another point. He he stands up here, right? Who is this man? He's not a labaturer. He He maybe tasted a little of wu, but he's not a wu either. What is he? He's a ye. He's a ye that wants to know. So if you want to know the description of what color shirt you wear or what color tie, what yarmaka and all of that is insignificant. It really is shallow. It's so shallow. DV. Do you know that when he came to that Fabangan 1980? I was there. I was there. 1980 he came to honor the Reb for his 30 years of leadership. Right? He didn't have a black hat. He didn't own a black hat. But he knew he comes into with a fabin. He's going to see this with their black frocks and their black hats. And if he's going to wear a straw hat, a gray hat, a past, it's not befitting. It's a shame. It's not nice. So he asked the driver, "Could you get me quickly a hat?" He found some hat. They put on the hat. Yeah. There's a time and a place come into a shul yakov. you come into a shoe, there's a certain way that it's more respectful to dress that way. Even though even though when Rabbit went out to UCLA in 1967 or 66 and there was the hippie days as you all know and he start he lived in Fairfax at the time. It's a section of Los Angeles. He didn't live at UCLA. He did work there but he lived in Fairfax. It was hunky town. It was Hungarian survivors. Excuse the expression. No put down to the Hungarians. The Pock and the Russians have their have their stick too, trust me. So he comes in with these hippies, lined the heart, long hair, torn pants, smells from them, and Shabas. He doesn't have his own shoes. So he goes into the local shoes where the Hungarians dabbed. They freaked out. They went crazy, which means get out of here. Rabbi says they're Jews. I'm bringing them to Hashem. I'm trying to get them to clean themselves up and become mentioned. And they couldn't fathom it. So he had to move over to Fairfax to UCLA to Westwood, open his own kabad house, the first kabad in the world on Gayy Avenue, 74 741 Gay Avenue. The point being say another expression in Yiddish by by I'm a first a speaker and you know that means you have to know what the what the context is what the situation is and sometimes it's not appropriate to come to a shoo in a way that's disrespectful with your And other times it's be happy there in sh we have this today my dear friends you all know this personal story month of shabas Saturday night I have most of the girls go to hashem they come down they put on their weekday clothing they're go they're going out they're going to the pizza store this said it's malava mala shabas you finished the shabas queen and you accompany the queen. Imagine the queen is walking and you walking like a like a weekday person. It's not appropriate. And we had arguments and battles. We compromised. We compromised. Okay. Not Shabas's clothing, but not complete weekday clothing. Something in between. So you have to know if you make a fight what the result of that fight will be. The RV did not make a fight and the Reb didn't make a fight. If you look at their lives and this you have to really read the book and read it thoroughly and carefully and on the on one hand they were so we we say they were so above the average person not just in their intellect in their behavior in their character but at the same time they were human beings but they understood having gone through was born that I was born 1903 entire almost 90 years saw world wars saw starvation saw saw illnesses personal tragedies in their life and they'd come out to come to America and they built a yeshiva university a kabad labage movement how can that be done because They didn't make fights. They let things go and they just did something that many others did not do and that is they had opponents. Everyone knows they had opponents. Both the RV had opponents and the Reb had opponents. And I could talk about that for a long time, but I'm not going to because we don't have the time. But they went further. They saw the goal. They saw the end result, the vision. And they said, "It's that vision that we have to get to. The fact that darts and arrows are being shot at us from all sides." And I don't mean to be political, but in a sense, we have the same thing today in Israel. Right now, as we're talking here, we have to ask Hashem to send a braha of complete healing to all those that were injured and to have safety and our enemy should be destroyed. a man. So you got to do what you have to do. You have to look at the mission. They're shooting at you. They want to hurt you. That's their problem. We're going to go to the Mishna. The RV believed wholeheartedly in his mahalak in his D. I spoke to a he was paraka rabbi and then he moved to Deerfield Beach. He writes in the Jewish press. I forget his name now. Rabbi Ziegler. Rabbi Ziegler. So when I interviewed him for my first book, I said to him, you know, it's such a shame that the Olorra, you know, the the right-wing, the Orthodox Yeshiva world doesn't accept the RV. You know what he said to me when I said that? He said he did it to himself. And he is an ardent student of the RV. He said he did it to himself. He made a choice and it's true. He made a choice in 1944,445 46 to go with Misrai versus Aguda. He dropped Aguda. He was an audist first and he explained himself I think in Bikash Mam in one of the essays. He explained himself why and he was proud of it. He didn't back down because others were telling him Salvik you're the grandson of Raim Salvich Rab was so against the Zionist Rab was against this Rab was against this how can you go with them rai he didn't cuz he believed that the shittita that he came to was the right shittita the right approach he didn't put down other shittas you don't find that the rug poo poo the other approaches generally speaking And the Reb was the same way. The Reb was the firstb to wear a hat, a bent down hat. This is like, you know, this is a Reb. The Reb gave dollars to women. A Reb gives dollars to women. It's a positive, right? It was the head of the okay was Rabbi Bernard Levy passed away many years. I knew him. So Bernard Levy had an aunt who was the daughter of the what was known as the Malik from the Bronx on Washington Avenue. He came from Russia. His name was Rabbi Lavine and he was a lababacher from way back but a a big fanatic and he didn't relate to you know the the American world and all of that and Rabbi Levine so his daughter lived in the on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn. So one day Rabbi and his aunt the aunt was the the nephew was Rabbi Rabbi Levy. So he went with his wife to say hello. She was an older person and then they're talking says you know aunt I have to go because uh I have to go. She says who the gain where do you have to go kindly cutting the visit the visit shortab he said is speaking to the women his wife is telly baba is speaking for the women so I want to bring her there on time when she heard that she gave him a slap speaks to women this is a reba The Reba 1966 1976 introduces at Stern College the formal deep learning of Gomorrah to to girls. The whole world went crazy. And to show that to show that he means business he came to give the shear. It's not like he pointed the, you know, the other rabbis to he came to give the first share because he believed in what he's doing. He didn't need anyone to support him. So when we talk about our communities, it's time, it's the right time to unite in a way that we emulate these two great people, the Reb and the Reb. And this is why Rabbi Keit may be well and myself have been talking for years about having Yeshiva have a full accredited course inism doesn't have to beism it can be kusk but hashem before co several years before rabbi mosha weber started that and it was a tremendous success. Yes, co came, it stopped. It never has continued since in a formal way. So, anyone here, I don't know who I'm talking to, but anyone here who's connected, this is something that it's not coming from me. It's coming from Rebett, but I I'm with them on it. It's not about becoming a laber. It's not about becoming the Do you think Ellie Racklin is the Mr. Labavich? At least not yet, right? It's not about it's not you want to be able, you're fine. You want to be a great there was a famous who was in Lakewood was sukus. He turns to 150 people in the room, you know, Lakewood, the starter learners of Lakewood, strong learners, and he says, "Do you think I I'm talking here and I want you guys to come to 770 to become leaves?" He said, "Stay put. We have enough." He didn't add one word. We have enough. No, we have enough of our own. We have enough of our own. But he said if you want to see a Jew who's a year of Shay who's and really believes come see the lab if you really want to see such a Jew who really believes really really really come to 70 and take a look. So we have to change the way we think. We're pretty much most of us older except Yakov here still a a real young man. The message is for the youth and you too. I don't know what's your name. Daniel. Daniel. The message is really for the youth, children, our grandchildren to to explore all of Torah, including the ideas to understand the ideas. Ellie alluded to some of deep concepts before, you know, and that's one of the reasons why Ellie and I have bonded so well is because we're able to talk deep too deep, philosophy and practical life. So that's one message I want I leave with you. The other message is another message not pertaining to the book but actually pertaining to this type of a book and my message here is to the older people in particular. You got to write down your story. You have an obligation to yourself and your family to write your story or get someone to write it for you. And everyone has a story. There's no such a thing that there's a person that doesn't have a story. Will your greatgrandchildren know about your story? You know, I have a son-in-law who a book just came out about his grandfather. I would have never have dreamt that he would take the time to read it. He's reading it and telling me all he says, "Wow, wow. I don't want to tell him what many of the things I know because I'm a star and I research and I knew your grandfather." And this young 24 year old is finding out about his grandfather through a book. So please, this is a message for each and every one of you. Really, so many people return to Hashem without their story being told. Forgotten. Mam is forgotten. It's a crime. It's a sin. It's wrong. I know I'm sorry. I sounds very dogmatic because I really believe in this. I really believe. So when I when I wrote the book on Schlime Carbuff, I researched his whole family. I wrote a book just a few years ago. My father, he's a survivor from Romania maybe. Well, who's going to know his story? Your kids. We know some of it. So do yourself a favor. Write your story. Have someone write it for you. At least record it. One of the things I do is called family oral history. Family oral history. And I don't mean just, you know, talking about hours of conversation in interview sty style on camera. They have it. Families have it. You want to make it into the book. It's another step. But I'm saying you have it. the RV I think you think you told me your relationship from Boston the salivation was very private people. So then you need people like Ellie and I and others to to open them up to discover as much as you can. Right? You should know not everything is written. probably can make this book double the size if I wrote everything I know that I found out of my research. Certain things don't go into a book. When I interview people, a father or mother could say things and I stop and I say, "I don't think it should be recorded. I think we're going to edit and erase it." You know why? Because you don't want to make sibling rivalry, you know? It's not like they're telling me this son is devalic and this daughter is it's just the movement of the nose to the right or the left and I see that movement I know oh this man this father thinks that this kid is and this kid is so it's an art but an it's an important idea and and why people like people donate sus for parents parents and grandparents, they wait for them to die. If you have the money, donate the Torah while they're alive. I said that to my father when he donated a Torah with his my uncle in Bra walking to Ben Brock for my grandfather. You have the money. Why did you do it till he after his death? Do it while he's alive. Let him walk along and have the pleasure and joy. So make this a a project and uh I can be helpful. You let me know. And the held that we should we should really live like the Reb and Rabbi Salvich. They lived a wholesome life. They brought the Reb didn't and the Revson didn't have children, biological children, but they had many thousands of children. May Hashem help everyone to have a good year and again safety none. I'll take your questions and answers now. Don't be bashful. Now comments Ellie or you can ask Ellie how yes in a uh in a ven diagram where do you see university conversion? which aspects I see very many differences but I see many areas outside but where where do you see that where there's I think I I I see that there's today um 30 40 50 students studying Thursday nights with labatures in the base medish of yes of yes I saw what Rabbi Wineber Weinberger did I believe that there there's a openness between you know kabadnik and uh yes university people students and I think that um just all over the five pounds you know people from all over that there's a greater awareness and a willingness to to to study and at the same time because people always ask you at the same time we labatur need to learn from the yeshiva. There's a lot to learn and I think we are learning. I think we are learning. So, um my answer to your question would be in those two areas. Any other comments, questions? Okay. Okay. Anyway, the books are available and uh thank you for the opportunity. [Applause]