Rav Kook: Midot Haraya -Love For All | Rabbi Aaron Goldscheider | September 10th 2025

Boerto, great to see everyone this morning and an honor to be here with you. Um, last week we began a new series a new study of Ravkuk. There is a beautiful work called Midotaya which are the midot which are the character traits. Ravkuk has 18 character traits that Jews as every every Jew should think about in terms of their own lives and how to improve in those areas called midotaya. You saw an introduction last week to that seafair and um this morning we have this hus we have the honor to begin to study the very first mida the very first trait that Rkook speaks about in his work and he has quite a uh a beautiful um approach and path in this mida the mida of which we'll see in just a moment but I want to begin the following way just to kind of set the tone this morning and where we are in the month Vel. We're just days away from reciting in the Ashkanaz community and not too far from Rashashana and Yum Kipper. And I want to begin with a follow the following statement which is made by one of the great students of Rafkuk. He was a rabbi just a few blocks from where we're sitting right now here in Shahet. His base medish is still there just around the corner. That is Rabbi Yakov Moshe Carl and he was one of the great uh personalities the gdole of Yu Shallayim going back about 50 years or so. He has a beautiful work called Uri Vishi which is all about Chuva. And in that work he says the following and again just to kind of set the tone this morning as we're about to study and again when we think about the study this morning it's more than just a theoretical or hypothetical. These are ideas we want to kind of bring into our lives. And he writes the following. This is you have it on the top of page one. It's in translation, but let's read the Hebrew. He says that we have an obligation this month. And he's speaking about the month of we should make every effort to purify our eyes. We should not look at that which we should not be looking at. Not to listen to that which is forbidden to listen to. not to speak words that should not be spoken, that we should sanctify all of our limbs, that we should put extra effort into Torah study with great intent. And this is the part that I want to highlight. And he says, and this is really part of the great Muser tradition, that at this time of year that all of us should try to set aside time every day We should make a self-examination. We should all be thinking more about our lives and thinking about our character traits mode and to learn muser. What does it mean by palut in an active way not just you know to sit back and hypothetical ideas and theoretical ideas about character traits but actively how to bring that into our lives. It should not be one that's one that is that brings a sadness. That which is going to inspire our souls. We should be able to hear that which our hearts, our souls are really speaking what they are saying to us. That we should be able to hear that which is our inner yearnings. Hashem and we should all be yearning to be in the presence of Godashana so that when the day of rash comes that we'll be ready for that light of so that when we come to that it should be a day of real salvation and in that way to be able to see the sweetness and to experience the sweetness of Hashem Okay, so these are the words of the holy rabbi of mosh kalab and that's what we're doing right now over the next 40 minutes 45 minutes or so we are taking up the advice of uh of Rabbi Khalap and that is to take time to think about our lives to think about our midot works of muser works of uh self-examination so this is Raf Cook's work about our midot called Midotaraya. You see it in the right in the center of page one. And the very first, by the way, it goes in alphabetical order. 18 midot. And the very first one I think is uh is perfection for RVuk. I can't think about another mida and the personality of Rkook um that that is that that is most befitting to RVuk than aava than love. a lover of Hashem, a lover of Ami Israel, a lover of Erit Israel. He was all about, he was all about love. I would say when I think about Ruk, I think about that idea. And the safer begins with this mida of Ava. Actually, there was a person that once came to RVuk and said to Rufk, "I see that you're so loving and I think you've gone overboard with your love. You know, it's just it's just too much love. Everything is about love and the way that you see the best in everyone." >> So, he said the following. He says on the yomadin when I stand before heaven before God in heaven and there is a judgment on my life I rather that Hashem say to me that I was too loving that I went overboard in my in my love and not loving enough. So I rather if that's the sin that I'm going to be held accountable for I'm willing willing to take that upon myself. uh one of the great students of Rufk was Raar Levin Ravar Levin Zatal Sadik of Shalim and he was also known for his uh his love for everyone and I just heard a story the other day. I never I never heard this story. I've I've read I've read a lot about Raari Levvin Sadd in our time other books about him and uh the story is told that one day this is when he first comes to Aris is he's making his way early in the morning to the hotel he was basik in the hotel he lived by the way the house is still there there are tours uh that's right in a right in the back of Mahuda and he walked in the morning making his way from there we all know that area making his way to the hotel and he came come across a a certain individual actually his name is Yehuda Arouch and Yehuda Arouch he tells a story years later at a yard site event for Raari Levvin uh Yehuda Arouch at that time also just came to Israel he wasn't able to find a job easily we all know what that's like not easy to find a job here and he took a job as a street cleaner and there he was with his broom and he was a bit embarrassed it was early in in the morning that Raari Levvin the great sad Vishalim would see him with his broom. So he kind of took the broom and he put it behind him and he saw that Ravari Levvin was making his way and he said good morning to Ravar Levvin. Ravari Levvin didn't just greet him good morning but he also gave him a hug and when he gave him a hug he felt that broom that was behind him that he was hiding that he was hiding behind him. So he pulled out the broom and he said that I'm, you know, I'm a street cleaner here in your Shalim. And Ravari Levvin said that I'm so envious of you. What a beautiful thing that you are cleaning the streets of Haakodes. This is Hashem's city and you have this every day of cleaning the streets for Hashem. And the man said that I never forgot that and it's something that just raised my spirits. And he said when I held that broom I felt like I was like a prince and that was my scepter and I felt that for the rest of my life after I heard those words those loving words of avail. So the idea of ahava is an idea that was so central to uh to the life of Rkook and to his students as well. So now let's jump into the uh the first piece that's found in Ahava what Rkook says about Ava and then we're going to move to another piece within the section of Ava as well. So here we go. The words of the writing of this is the bottom of page one. When we speak about love, it needs to be it has to be absolutely full. Believe in the heart of every person, for everything, a love for all, a love for everyone, a love for everything in this world. That's the opening statement of Rafuk about Ahava. And now let's go to a second statement. It's actually the fifth piece in midotaya and he says the following and here and here I think we're about to be introduced to an idea that's unique to Ravkuk that you do not find generally in the writings of other rabbis and in the topic of aava I think for most of us when we think about the idea of ahava of love we think about love for and certainly and the balmtov was love for another Jew love for your fellow Jew and that's absolutely that's beautiful that's a wonderful thing the love that we have for our fellow Jew. But here Rafuk says the following a love for all the briote all of creation of all of God's creation. It has to be something that is alive something that's vibrant. It has to be alive in your heart in your soul. A love for every person in particular. Every Adam by the way means not just Jew and Briote does not mean Jew. Means for everyone, everyone that you come across, everyone that you meet, the way that you see another human being. Ravk says the love has to be there. A great love needs to be there for every individual and a love for all the nations that you have desired to see their success that they should be elevated that you want spiritually that they should be successful and materially that they should be successful. all the nations of the world when it comes to hating that has to be focused only on the evil itself and the pollution on the poison. It's impossible. It's impossible to lift yourself to the heightened spirituality shell. It's a PK from Tilim, but it's a PK that appears in our davening right after Shar as we begin. This is what we say. How do we translate the PK? Praise be Hashem. Call out in his name. Let the nations know. Alot means his great deeds, his great works. Let the nations of the world know the greatness of God as well. That's how we begin our d right after Baruk Shamar. That's what we say. And Rafuk says how can you say this and really say it with intent and below if you don't have an inner love within the very heart the very root of your soul and heart that you want the best that you want goodness for all nations of the world that you want all of their acquisitions every part of their lives to be improved to enri rich the lives of all people. That's what it means to love according to Rkook. What it means to love is to love all. What it means to love is all the nations, every human being. And he says the following and I think this is a very interesting statement. Maybe we'll come back to this. And this quality, this characteristic, this love of all, that's the special that's what's singular, that's unique, that relates to Malash is that's what brings the spirit of Messiah. That's a taste so to speak of a messianic vision that will uh Israel that will become part of the Jewish people. So this is Cesuk at the very end. This is a bit of a messianic idea and maybe we've lost a little bit of this idea along the way in the galvut this idea the love that we are to have for all human beings. Now here I want to share with you two sources within RVuk where Rufkook speaks about the importance of what you might call a universal love, a love for all people, for all nations. And I want to begin with a really a fascinating source and one that we're familiar with which is found in the Torah itself. The Torah says that when the Jewish people will go down to Mitzim that they will come out with great riches. That's what Hashem says. How many times does that mention the Torah? Well, I did the count before this year. four times in the Torah that's counted. Four times we can make account of that statement. Now, why is that so important to say? Not only can we ask the question of the importance of that statement, but when Abraham is told at the very beginning about this, the future of the Jewish people that they're going to go down to Egypt, God tells him at that point already that they're going to come out with great riches. Take a look at the following quickly. So this is the very beginning of the story of Abraham and God already reveals that a time is going to come where the Jewish people are going to be strangers in a strange land. They're going to suffer. This is you should know they're going to be strangers in a strange land and they're going to suffer in that place. They're going to be there for 400 years. Okay, we deal with that question the numbers. But look at the next pod. I'm going to make a judgment of that nation that's there. They're going to come out with great riches from Egypt. Now, why is that important to say? And why is it repeated so many times? It doesn't sound like a an an essential factor. Okay, I understand that God is telling Abraham and will tell the Jewish people in the future that you're going to come out of Mitzim. But to say you're going to come out with a lot of money, you're going to come out with a lot of riches from Mitim, why is that essential? So this is the answer. A number of many answers are given to that. Rafuk gives the following answer and the fascinating answer. This is from Anaya. This is if you look at source number two and it's a garra in braos and the garra says the following. So the gamarra says and again this is like another discussion but he says to Moshe make sure that when the Jewish people leave that they ask for the money. make sure that they're going to ask they're not just going to run out that they're going to go door todo and they're going to get the beautiful clothing they're going to get the gold they're going to get the silver they're going to get all the vessels and I want that to happen that's what the gar the gar like adds that vakasha make sure that this is going to happen again why is this so essential that this happens that the Jewish people leave with wealth and this is the answer that gives and here we have uh yes this is the writing of RVuk from anaya vif if you want to see we're going to read one sentence vif Alim, if you want to make an impact, if you want to influence the many nations, you need greatness of soul and you need a yearning. You need to want to acquire wealth as well. You need to become a nation that's going to be economically sound, economically successful. If you want to affect the rest of the world, then you need to be a startup nation, right? Then you need to be a nation that the world is going to look to because when they see that economic success, they're going to want to be a part of it. There was a uh >> that's quite a lot of anti-semitism. >> Anti-semitism. You're right. There's the other Yes, you're right. Not a simple thing. All of our success, that's part of the the challenge of anti-semitism. But the world is not going to want to learn from the Jew and from the Jewish nation unless they see the success of the Jewish nation. Years ago and again unfortunately there was you know with Corona with the war but sort of before that we were doing a lot of hosting at our home of guests of tourists coming to Israel. It was a program called Shabbat of a Lifetime soul. Shabbat of a lifetime. I know people have seen that or part of that. And we were actually for a period of time we were having a lot of Asian get people from China that were coming to Israel and there was a tremendous interest of >> Shabbat. >> Yeah. Well, not which actually not so much about Shabbat. I mean they want they came to the Shabbat meal but the questions that I received at the meal is well what is the secret of the Jewish people? There was what is it? How is it that you're so successful? Right? What is the success? And they came here to learn that. I mean they they recognized that here we have an ancient people in an ancient land and the success of this nation and they wanted to know more. They wanted to learn from from the Jewish people. And that's what Rufuk says. Rufuk says why do you need all this wealth? It's not just a payback right but in order to be this great nation that's going to impact all of society of the entire world of all nations and that's what it means to be a Jew. And by the way, now we can understand possibly why a why Abraham needed to hear this as well. Because what was Abraham's mission? God said, "I'm changing her name from Abraham to Abraham. I want you to be an Av Hamone Goim. I want you to I want you to be the father of all nations. I want all nations to learn from you." And therefore, God told him already at the very start, they're going to come out with money. And with that money in a positive the positive part of of being fi you know financially well off and having an economy that the world looks at and wants to learn from to be an economic world power and we are to some degree bar hashem right it's one of the reasons why the world looks to Israel and the state of Israel today because of our success if we didn't have that economic success I'm not sure how how interested the rest of the world would be with us and let me just read let me just read one more line from ali and through having this the riches and the wealth again the positive part of that they're going to come to the land of Israel they're going to want to learn from the Jew and once we can talk about once we can talk about our economic success we can kind of throw in some of the the wisdom of the Torah as well and the ethics and the morality and to learn from that to change the world in that way yes did you want to say something please >> it's another thing they resent us if They want to be us. I I was in China a number of years ago and on the plane there with a Chinese man who who studied here wanted to learn all about irrigation. >> Okay. >> And he also wanted to get into our homes and he felt that we didn't invite enough. >> Oh okay. He said with the um with the Arab population, they they want him to be part of of the Arab population. >> Uhhuh. >> You know, I used to at these dinners that we had together, I always said that this is something unique. I don't know if if Jews have ever done this, you know, over the last 2,000 years to invite people into their home, Gentiles, and to kind of share at the at the Shabbat table. It is kind of like a radical idea. And when we'd have guests and we'd have these other g, you know, tourists coming in, they weren't always that comfortable with that. And my kids didn't always love it either. But um the idea of but and I said for 2,000 years have we done this? And this goes back to what Rafuk said. This is a we're moving into a messianic this is a messianic idea a concept a messianic notion of we as a Jewish people to fulfill this great task this great mission of bringing oneness of God and the truth of Torah and wisdom to all mankind and asuk says there has to be a there's a love for all of humanity okay here he says something also which is really fascinating and something that we say every single day the creatura the very first mission that's Gamarra begins Gamarra begins with a discussion of the Shma and the first Mishna says when do we say the Schma at night and it says when the kohanim when they bring in their truma that same time is the timing of the schma at night. Okay, sound of it's it's uh a bit of a detail in and and a question actually that many of the mafarim ask is what is why does the Mishna teach us about the timing of keshma related to the coain eating the truma? Look at what Rufuk writes and Rufuk writes this in Anaya. Also this is the his this is very first comment in this in his classic work anaya which is all the agata in Garos and Chabis. He writes the following about. So just skip those the first two lines. There was the alif if you want to follow along. There are two times that we say every day. We say it at night and we say it in the morning. It really relates to two ways in which we call out God's name is that is an obligation that falls upon the uh the Jew and the Jewish people. Number one, number one, first step, we need to accept the yoke of heaven upon ourselves. Shalanu. And we also need to bring that oneness of God that everyone across the world will know the oneness of God as well. That Hashem is the ruler of all mankind. And here we get back to this idea of the difference between galut and this return to Israel. galut which is compared to the nighttime the essential efforts of the Jewish people. What have we done over the last 2,000 years in galut? We're concerned and have been concerned with ourselves. And there's nothing wrong with that. That is the reality of being in the galut that we had to take care of ourselves. We had to teach our children. We had to hold on to Judaism in very very difficult circumstances. So that was the way of the galut. the great waves and the uh the challenges that we faced Hashem. So here we have in the Mishna it says at night we would enter the Cohen would enter and eat the Truma. He says that's the kind of creation that we're doing at night. That's a more insular creatur. It's a creation in which we're giving faith to ourselves that we are strengthening our face our faith. But there's another creatur as well. That's just the night and the night is the galut. But how about the morning creatma? What does the morning kayachma represent? That represents a message of oneness of God that we want to bring to the world. We want to light up the world with that oneness of God, with the wisdom and the ethics and morality of the Torah. And what's amazing is now where did Rafuk get this idea that creatur is not only a statement or declaration of faith for ourselves but a declaration of faith for all mankind. when we say it, we have a a there's a vision, a hope that all mankind also know the oneness of God. So here I've shared this before in uh in our shum together, but this is really quite astounding. This is a breakthrough. What is the kavana that one should have when they say the schma other than translating the words themselves? What is the correct kavana that one should have when they say? So if I were to say to you and offer to you that I know what Rashi had in mind when he said kriachma and we should also follow in that path of rashi that would be very exciting right to know what when rashi covered his eyes and said kriachma what did he have in mind that we should have that same kavana so I'm about to share with you what rashi what he had in mind when he said kayachma how do I know what what rashi had in mind when he said kayachma >> well he did yeah he told all of us because he wrote a perish on the Torah called Rashi in Rashi's commentary. And on the line of the Schma, he writes what you should be thinking about when you say the Schma. So he didn't just share it with anyone, he shared it with with with everyone. So let's read what Rashi says you should think about when you say the Schma. What does it mean? Hashem says Rashi bottom of the page. Hashem Shah Elo, this God who is our God at this moment. Meaning the Jew who says is saying I believe in God. Hashem elenu this is my God elote that the other nations of the world are not yet aware of God. They do not believe in God. They do not know the God that I know of. But in the future they will know this God as well. So how do we how did Rashi interpret or we might say what was the kavana that rashi had when he recited Israel her Israel Hashem elokenu the lord is my god hashem ehad that god who is mine is a god that I want all mankind to know about as well. That's the way that rashi interprets and says that's the gavana. I'd imagine that 98% of Jews never had that kavana when they say kayachma. I'm not sure. I haven't done a poll. But if I don't know how many Jews when they say ka that I say I am a believer in Hashem. That's what I believe in Hashem. I want the Jewish people Israel hero. O Israel. Hashem elenu. Hashem is my god. Hashem. I want that god to be known to all mankind as well. That's the gavana rashi says you should have when you recite the shah. That's the messianic vision, right? That's the ultimate vision of the Jew and the Jewish people that we don't just want God for ourselves. We want the world to know the oneness of God. We want the world to know the goodness of God, a world of of that's ethical, that's moral, that's good, where there isn't war, where there isn't pain, where there isn't suffering, where people care for one another. To take those ethics of the Torah and to bring it to all mankind. And Rashi just ends he quotes two one that's not as wellknown the other that everybody here knows a from the prophets I don't remember where this is does it say yeah that's from that a day will come where everybody will speak the same language everybody will know the oneness of God that everybody will call out in the name of God and he quotes the we say every single from and on that day. Okay. So that is when we talk about the love of n of all the nations and we talk about our relationship with other nations. So we don't have to go far. In other words, we're looking at the very one of the most basic fundamental ideas of Judaism, what we do on a daily basis. Kashma itself has this idea this idea of the importance of connecting and our relationship and as could say the love that we need to have for all nations. Yes, please. >> Got to mention that I I sort of experience that when I'm online and something occurs in Israel and I look at all these responses uh that come across on Facebook. Yeah. with with the people from Africa and people from uh various places in the universe in the world right >> responding uh in this in this kind of phosmitic follow >> you're saying a lot of positivity towards the Jewish people that you you see that yes I mean it's amazing thing by the way we talk about you know the whole world and affecting the whole world I mean how did Rashi or any of the commentaries like understand that how can this little nation right affect everybody and we see with a push of a button that millions billions of people can see things and learn things as Torah the famous as Torah here in the old city where for years and years they put all their effort into classes and outreach they're not doing that any longer where are they putting their millions of dollars >> online >> all on social media all online because if you want to reach people it's nice to reach 20 people in a room but if I can reach a hundred million people right with a message of Torah and wisdom. So, isn't that where we should be putting our efforts? That's where they're putting their all of their efforts, where they're putting their money. So, this idea, by the way, maybe that's part of this messianic or pre messianic. We can we can touch people. We can change people with a push of a button. Millions at a in a moment. Yes, please. >> They say um today that the worldwide antiatism is the the bad on the evil side. We don't want them to. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. No. So that's the great challenge which was raised before the anti-semitic part of this the response of anti-semitism maybe out of jealousy whatever it may be for the Jewish people. So we need to figure out how to do it. Maybe we need as Rook says we need more love. If they feel more of our love towards them maybe maybe that's a way to break through. I'm not sure. But maybe they're not. Maybe they haven't felt the love of the Jewish people towards the gentile world. Maybe they haven't felt that. And for good reason, it's been very difficult for us to express that kind of love over the last 2,000 years. But maybe being back and I Yes. Yeah. >> Is he killing us though? >> Exactly right. When you're killing us and persecuting us, it's very hard to be loving. You are 100% right. And that's why I think RV cook uses the language at the end of that piece that we open with says this is part of a messianic. This love that I'm speaking about is when we're moving into a different time in history. Maybe we're we're moving. I think we're moving there. I think we're and Rkook believe that as we come back to Eric Trell and we're 7 million strong in Israel and building a great nation, we can begin to express more of that love that we haven't been able to express. Yes. >> The people that live near Ghana. >> Okay. They loved. >> Oh, okay. So, yeah, it's a Okay. So, that Yeah, it it's not not so simple, but um as an ideal as an ideal, Rifk Cook is R Cook says that this is this is the way that we're going to this is how we're going to change the world. We're going to change it through love. And it's not only love for our fellow Jew, it's a love for everyone. We need to see the goodness. We see see the nishama, see the salim in every individual. Are there exceptions to that? We know that there's a malik, right? We know that there are those that are trying to destroy and we need to destroy them. Absolutely right. But other than the extreme case, other than the extreme all the other countries out there that are just good people trying to live their lives and to think about them and how we relate to them and to express the love and how to teach them, how to inspire them, how to bring the Torah to them. We see that that's a that's such an important part of Judaism which we haven't really we haven't thought about that message for a long time. Okay, let's just I want to get through a few more sources. Um, so what is the holiday by the way? What is the holiday the festival in our calendar that we express universal love? Where do we find that more than anywhere else? And that's exactly right, Rashashana. And we're about to about to enter Rashashana. One of the major themes of the daving, one of the major themes of the day is universal love of God being the mel of all people, not only the Jewish people. And just one example, this is a very prominent place in the daving this in the musaf as we kind of like reach the heart and soul of our of dav rashana. Please God, just less than two weeks, we'll be saying these words. We pray to God and this is that prayer that we just mentioned the we want the whole world to know your kingship. We want everyone to know that you are the king of the world. All should know your glory. That you should be lifted up. All should see your what's your your preciousness. That everyone should recognize and that everyone every creation should know that you are the one who created him. By the way, all this language is not Jewish. In other words, we're not talking about the Jews should know God. We're saying all theim, all the all all the all that you created called the all that you created the and everyone that has an ashama within them. Everyone who is who is a uh is a human being. And one other example, right after the sounding of the chauffeur, and I I would bet that most people have not taken note of this. Right after the sounding of the chauffeur, we have a beautiful prayer. And what do we say? I don't know what melody use. So, what do we say? This is right after chauffeur. It's it's a magical moment, right? It's it's one of the most special moments. And what do we say? This is the day that you created the world. This is the day that you brought world the world into existence. And this is the day that all stand in judgment. Translate that for me. All of your creations. Not we're not here. We're not talking about the Jewish people. We're talking about every person every person in this world is judged on this day in kavanim kavadim etc. So we see something really quite remarkable that rashash shana highlights the idea that we are all together the unity of all mankind Jew and gentile that this is a prayer for all all mankind all humankind to know the oneness of God and to bring that oneness and mouthless to the entire world. So this is really again I these are we're just translating the words and you see how essential this idea is to rash Shana. Um another source from RKU this is I would say one of one of the famous quotes from Rkuk it appears first in RP tohar which is one of theatim one of the notebooks of Rkook. It's below in the Hebrew but let me just read it in the English just so easier to appreciate I think for all of us. And he writes the following. He says, "I love all." Now that sounds very much like we where we started. I cannot but love all, all the nations from the very depth. I want the glory of all, the perfection of all. My love to Israel burns more greatly and is deeper. But this inner desire spreads out in the force of its love to all. I have no need at all to force this feeling of love. It wells directly from the holy depth of wisdom of the godly soul. It's not something that I'm forced to do. It's not something that I'm obligated to do, but I do it because I feel a love for all humanity. I feel a love for every person. I see the nama that's found in every individual. And with that, I love all. Okay. I wanted to share very interesting Rabbi Salvich and I would say in the writings of Rabbi Salvich, you don't see, you know, this kind of love for other nations in the same way that you find it in the writings of Rkuk. But Rabbi Salvich asked the following question. And here we are, Rashashana. We're going to be going into Yumkipper uh very soon. And at the very end of Yum Kipper, as the day is coming to a close, we all know that we read the Haftura of Yona, the beautiful book, the wonderful book of Yona. The question is, why was that chosen of all the writings of the prophets? Why do we read from the book of Yona at the end of Yum Kipper? So, Ro Salviche gives quite an amazing answer. I'll read it to you. This is from Hashkafatar, a collection of his teachings. And he writes the following. Ninve was the capital city of pagan Assyria today known as Iraq. It was the country which would later under San in 7:22 B.CE besie Shallayim and exile the 10 tribes. Yet God's compassion embraces all humanity. Why are we reading about Yonah and Ninve and the Chuva Ninve to teach us about Chuva? that it's not only for the Jewish people but it's for every single person and our desire and our hope is how do we bring chuva to the entire world that's what Rafuk says why we're reading Yona at the end he is makabal chu he is a macab chuva not only from his covenantal people but from all nations the gates of atonement are widely open it is therefore characteristic of the universal embrace of our faith that as the shadows of the dust descend on yum kipper day almost 24 hours of prayer for Israel. The Jew is alerted through the book of Yona prior to the closing of the heavenly gates. And here we underline that all humanity are God's children. We need to restate the universal dimension of our faith. What does Rabbik say? We need to talk about this as well. We need to restate this. We need to be aware that this is what it means to be a Jew in a Jewish nation. our love and our concern for all humanity, especially when we are sorely persecuted and are apt to regard the world in purely confrontational terms. He says, "Yes, it's been very difficult for the Jewish people and to talk about this ahava, a love for all humanity. It hasn't been the topic of rabbis sermons and classes. It's not what we grew up on." But he says, "Let's not forget about it." And at the end of Yam Kipper, the day of Chuva, as we're about to close the day, we're reminded that our desire and our yearning for Chuva is not only for us personally and not only for the Jewish nation, but for all mankind. And that's the Israel. It's our God, but we want all the nations to know the oneness of God as well. Okay. One last uh >> one Oh, please. Yes, please. Yeah. >> Just want to make a comment. I don't know if it was you or someone else. told us about. >> Yeah. We wish everyone including us all the nine >> nice >> you know I was thinking about this you know in the in the Muser world they always they had what was called a muservad like what we're doing a vad means that we're not just like giving a class but we're going to talk together okay how are we going to do this now before we leave the room by the way I locked the door by the way you're not going to be able to leave until we we're going to talk talk about well how are we going to do this practically I mean it's very nice like to talk about love for all nations but how are we how are we going to bring it to our lives so maybe that's one way of doing it then we walk the streets that we maybe it's a little bit more challenging here when it's our cousins that are walking on the streets with us but maybe we need to we need to say hello we need to say shalom and we need to look at them to express a love maybe I don't know yes please >> it appears in the writings that the first is that we should >> that that we need to Okay, good. No, absolutely. And he writes that, by the way, you saw it in that piece, right? He said, "My love of the Jewish nation is more intense than any other love. It's like family. I love my children. I love my parents." But that doesn't mean that there can't be a great love for others as well. But you're right. We have to work on that. Maybe that's step one. We need to work on that. But let's not forget about this step as well. That's what RKU is. I think that's the to recognize that this is a love that we have not spoken about that we've not really thought about and something that we need to bring back to our Jewish consciousness and our and our Jewish uh our Jewish actions an expression of love. Okay, let me let me end with the following and uh it's a story and it's a story that really expresses love and leav the kind of love that he learned from RVuk and I think this kind of like even takes it a little bit deeper in terms of understanding the love that Rkook uh is teaching us that we should have for all the nations of the world. So I want to read it to you. I wanna I want to read it to you in the uh in the Hebrew. And this is the la we're going to skip now to the very last source. Source number four. Okay. Um and this actually was in a hespy that Ravari Levinday that he gave for Ravk. It's the final source on page four. If you want to just follow along with me. It's it's a well-known story and it's a beautiful story and again you'll you'll see how how I think how uh important it is for our discussion this morning says I remember days of old I remember years back when I first merited to come to the land of Israel that I first saw that I was first exposed to the beautiful countenance of Rafkuk that I met Rafuk b Yafo I came to Yafo that's where Rkook as you know where he first settled when he came in and he accepted me greeted me with a beautiful countenance and and smiling the way that he would accept everyone and greet everyone we went to take a walk and to talk a little bit in the So he's meeting Rifok for the very first time. They want to smoo a little bit. Let's take a walk out in the field together. As we were walking together, I plucked a flower and he shook shook as he saw that he had picked a flower and he said in a loving way, I want you believe me. My that my entire life that I was careful never to pick a single blade of grass or a flower that which can still grow that which can still flower my entire life I never did that to pick something where there's still potential of growth in that as shamata because there's not a single blade of grass below that there isn't some oversight or providence from above that is pushing it the gadel that's telling that blade of grass or that flower grow even more grow even more beautiful this is what says to levin and cook says even more so in our holy land that everything has potential for growth so he said to him he was just shocked that Ravari Levvin could pick a flower as they were walking to pluck a you know pluck a leaf and he said I never could do that I never did that in my life always saw the potential and uh the beauty of nature around me and then Ravar Levin says the following those words that came from a very holy and pure heart it entered very deep into my heart I began to feel that day be the even more so the idea the feeling of compassion al so I think this this gives us a a greater insight into Rifuk's love the love that he had for nature the love that he had for everything the potential that he saw in everything and if that's true of a blade of grass or a flower right how much more so of a person right of a nama of an individual right not just a Jew but everyone right everyone that has the potential the love that we need to feel and that we need to extend to uh to our fellow men. And I'll just end with the following. I'm sure that many of you saw the video the the the the horrendous attack in Ramote where six uh where six holy lives were taken uh the other day and there was a a video that kind that went viral. I'm sure some of you saw it of the cab driver. There was a cab driver that had a an elderly woman in the back and this was caught on camera and he got out of it. Yeah. He got out of his cab as the bullets were flying in the air and he did not run from his cab. Like he waited and he made his way around and he opened the door and he helped this woman get out of the cab and to make her way to safety as well. And I just thought of this thinking about a of love at that moment under fire for him not to run at that moment and to care for this woman and to know that that it would take time for him and he was putting literally putting his life in danger so he could help this woman from the cab. You can look you can look it up. It was it was going around. It was one of those one of those viral posts. So the I always say the holy cab drivers everybody has a story with cab drivers in USA and in Israel. These are the holy cab drivers of yushim. And I'll just mention also just in terms of the importance of uh of love of ava. So there's one of the uh one of the people that was killed, his name was Jacob Pash, Hashem Yin Damo. Um and my daughter who's in eighth grade here in Ushalim um her classmate, this is a grandfather of her classmate and they just, you know, they shared that in school and they had a a social worker come in and all the students sat together her class and there's an eighth grader and her father, I'm sorry, her grandfather who was not an elderly man. I think it was just uh in his 60s um Yakob Pash that he was uh that he was killed and for this young girl to experience that the loss of her grandfather but the loss of her grandfather and that kind of attack and I was just thinking about the you know the trauma and the the challenges of of these days and all that we're going through and the way that affects the ripple effect that it has on so many people and the importance of ava of love that we need to have and the sensitivity and compassion for one another especially at this time as we're going through continue to go through difficult days how important it is and Rivkuk is teaching ahava our hearts need to be filled with ava that's how we began this morning the line of Rkook our hearts need to be filled with ahava for one another and to extend yet let it extend to to Gentiles let it extend to all of nature as well and to all of God's creations uh but something that we can think about during these days to bring more love to uh our family members and to our friends and those uh the need to feel our love. >> Wish everyone a uh a good day and look forward to seeing you >> week. >> We have next week. Yes. One more Tuesday. The following week is rashmat to everyone. I look forward to seeing you next week. We have regular class next week.