Rebbi Meir and the Cornerstone Principle of the Entire Torah - Journey to South Africa: Capetown

this Torah class is brought to you by Torah anytime.com thank you very much for the Bernstein for the very warm introduction it's a real honor to be here in cap town you know they say if you have to be in the gullos if you have to be in Exile Cape Town is not a bad place to be I like to start my Shir by saying fasten your seat bels and people wonder is that just form of expression is that's just the way of grabbing people's attention no there's AIC reason why perhaps you should start a year by saying fast in your seat Bel so let me explain you know when we make bre with three people we have we don't just say okay one guy starts the and the other people listen where they say he says he makes an announcement he makes a declaration we're about to do something big something big is about to happen or let's say we all come to for for we don't just start ding the an announcement we are now about to bless and the people we we respond yeah we're in the says hey you're in say yeah we're in you're about to make you don't just say k you say sa wake up you're listening everyone attentive SA are you thinking are you listening and everyone gives their attention why do we do that the reason is because when you're about to Embark upon holy matter you can't just start you need an oral declaration that what you're about to do is something epic so we say we say say but you know the greatest is T is learning you know that we have 613 Mitzvah but there's one Mitzvah that's on the highest pestol that actually is so great that one word of Tyra is the equivalency of all 613 mitv that's why there are actually Hal that if you're middle of learning and someone needs a favor you can only interrupt if you're the only person who could do it otherwise Tamra is the most important mitah so we need to start our learning we can't just start we need to make an announcement friends you're ready to do something very big so I like to say fasten your seat bels especially for this topic because this is such an important and fundamental topic that even though I'm receiving a phone call tell them I'm not available because this is a very important time okay I want to talk about God's relationship with the Jewish I had many ideas of what to speak about and Rabbi gilber suggested Rabbi go with this topic this is this is something everybody needs to hear what is God's relationship with the Jewish people but let's begin with another topic we're all awaiting the Redemption we're all way in Mia so let's discuss does anybody know what city will the Mia reveal from s in I would vote for Cape Town you know I Cape or what are what are the options bar par well New York Brooklyn Switzerland Jerusalem what Manchester no we still haven't hit the city of the revelation of tells us that the upon the destruction of the temple made 10 different stops the final stop of the divine presence upon the destruction of the temple was and then the says that God and the Messiah is destined to be revealed in the city in the North of Israel Taria the Messiah will reveal itself inaria isn't that interesting this is something that most people are not aware of here it is we have many holy cities in in Israel they're actually you know um you like the game reserve you like Krueger Park we have the big five right but in Israel we have four holy cities we have Jerusalem we have heon we have we have Taria and of all these four cities the gar says the Messiah will reveal itself in Taria why Taria what is special what is significant about the city of Taria that this is the city that messia will reveal itself in actually what's interesting is if you look in the Zohar the Z says that mhia will reveal itself in the gal in the gilee so the that's somewhat of a contradiction to the the identifies and the Z says the and says no it's not a contradiction the zor is just giving the general region G is the general region but the gar is identifying precisely the Messiah will reveal itself in Taria why in the city of Taria so I want to share with you an epic dispute regarding the relationship of God with the Jewish people what is God's relationship with us is God our King is God our Father Is God our teacher so the opinion of Ruda is it depends it depends how we act when we do the will of God then we are considered and called the children of however but we not fulfill the will of God then we are no longer his children we are called his servants his AB I personally would like to use the opinion of rabuda with my own children because let's say I take my kids shopping which is always a big mistake so you take them to a store if they behave then and people want to know who are these kids say these kids these are my children they're my biological children I groom them I raise them they're mine and let's see KS don't behave and people ask who are these kids you say I don't know their mother asked me to watch them for the day I have no I don't know who they are I'm doing a nice lady of favor by watching them but I I have no relationship with them that is the opinion of RAB Huda God's relationship with the Jewish people is conditional we fulfill the will of God then we are his children if you do not fulfill the will of of God we are his servants that is the opinion of comes re May and RAB amazingly invokes and Marshals four different four different verses in t to demonstrate that no matter what we do no how no matter how foolish we are no matter how disloyal we are even if we serve Idols we are not only called the children of God we are called The Beloved dear precious children of God Ra formulates this opinion by saying Bond irrespective of our Behavior we are always considered the children of so says our relationship with God isal says it's unconditional does anybody know when there's and rabud when there's a dispute in the between and rud who do we in like who do we follow in accordance with whose opinion is established actually an amazing idea found in AR is that we never like may do you know the is never in accordance with r mayor and the reason is says the because he's so deep he's so profound we don't know what the man is talking about we don't understand him he's so complex and sophisticated and deep we can't wrap our minds around the logic of R and therefore there's a Ru in that we never pass in accordance with ra ever but there's one exception there's one exception to the story there's one time and chance that we break the rule that we don't understand R's opinion and we follow and go in accordance with Rome and that is regarding God's relationship with the Jewish people this is the one exception in chance where even though ordinarily in the dozens and dozens of disput between RoR and rabuda and in general whenever RoR offers his opinion we never follow his opinion in this isolated case we pass in like r that we are always considered the Beloved children ofm why why is this the exception so one of the classic medal Scholars the rash one of the says the reason why this is the only exception is because re mayor invokes for to support and substantiate his opinion that we are always considered the Beloved children of hem so even though ordinarily we don't follow his ruling when it comes to this issue we follow the rule in government but there are a number of other reasons why this is the exception to the rule I'm going to give you what what we call a lum the show why we follow the mayor did you ever hear the expression love you ever hear that word love lus is a Yiddish word that is used to describe the tamic process of analysis so you know sometimes you'll look or or study certain issue and you'll apply certain rationale or certain reasoning but the talud the gamar actually has the clearest and most compelling system of logic the gamor system of logic is called lumbus and let me share with you a very interesting L why when it comes to the regarding our relationship with hasem we pass in like do you remember we invoked before we cited before the why do we typically Never follow ra because we don't really fully understand the logic of so there's a great Mak named ROV he wrote a book called the Ms and he says if the reason why we don't follow R's ruling is because the rabbis cannot Plum the depth of a mayor's rationale but this kind of situation is different because now we're talking about God's relationship with the Jewish people God certainly understands the depth of the logic of so when it comes to a typical do we kosher or Trace permitted or prohibited we can't follow ra because it's relevant to us and we don't understand the full logic of re's rationale but when it comes to God's relationship with the Jewish people how God views us this is a matter relevant to Hashem Hashem certainly understands the logic of RoR so therefore this is the one exception to the rule where even though ordinarily we don't follow May's opinion but when it comes to God's relationship with us we rule in accordance with mayor that we are always considered the Beloved children of Hashem here's another reason why we follow ra does anybody know RoR in sh has a certain name he's always referred to as the first do you remember the expression that's used when we refer to a mayor in the gar it's called the T the T the first T invoked in the mission and unusually when it comes to this dispute are we God's beloved children always or is our relationship with God conditional this is the one exception where a mayor's opinion is brought second first the gamar culture of yehuda's opinion then the gar quotes R's opinion as if to give rer the final word that the is in accordance with r mayor that we are always considered the Beloved children so it's very interesting that this is the one exception to the rule that we are always the Beloved children you know in left when AB comes to the scene what's the first thing that God tells abam [Music] from go go God speaks directly power if you ever wonder why is God speaking to ABR who is AB why is this man getting prophecy is he a righteous person does the say ABR was a like it said by no does the say that abrah was a like it says by n no does the P say that abam walked with God no did you ever wonder why is it that when is introduced in the we have a whole resume for finds favor in the eyes of God is a Walks With God he's a we have a whole impressive resume of all of n's credentials so now we understand why when God is destroying the whole world he's saving but then we come to and is introduced and there are a lot of good things the Torah could have said about the Tor could have said thatu was the greatest Mar the greatest individual who brought other people close to has the Torah could have said that was the greatest the greatest benefactor in history that had tens of thousands of followers what does the tah say about AB not one word we don't know one thing about this man why is God speaking to AB and not and not and not why did the T say that AB jumped into the fire for God and that's why God is speaking to him not one word is said about AB isn't that bizarre when it comes to we have a whole laundry list of all the credentials of and when it comes to AB that one word is said says the matter all this is to teach us the most important lesson in the ti you ready for this if I were to ask you what is the central principle of the entire time that that's probably an important question right it's probably worthwhile to know what is the corner we have 613 mzice 10 Commandments but is there a Cornerstone principle that the entire Torah is predicated on and what I'm about to say is not politically correct and I don't care because I get to go back to New York after this so if you don't like it maybe I won't come back to K for another six years but at least I'll share with you what the Cornerstone principle of the ti the Cornerstone principle of the tah is that only the Jewish people are the Beloved children of Hashem to the exclusion of the rest of mankind that is the Cornerstone principle that the entire tah is based on many of the MIT in the are only possible because we are the children of for instance shab the shabas is the chabas project you know the only the Jewish people are allowed to keep chabas the nations of the world it's not like it's not only they weren't given shabas they're not authorized to observe the shabas why are they not authorized to observe the chabas you know that chabas is like the scepter of the king God himself rests on chabas therefore none of his subjects can touch his scepter there's only one person in the Kingdom Who Dares pick up the scepter of the king without consequence and that's the prince that's the King's son we are only given shab because we are hashem's beloved children we are only given Fillin because we are God's beloved children we are only given Suka because we are God's beloved children we are only given Lula because if we only given situs so many of the mitah of the Tyra are predicated on the fact that we are the Beloved children of now had the at what point in time did God select us to be his beloved children his beloved Nation he selected us with the choice of abrah when God said to Abraham go to Israel God was not only speaking to Abraham he was selecting the entirety the history and the destiny of the Jewish people he was selecting Abraham he was selecting me and he was selecting you says the maral of prag if the T would write Abraham [Music] and the T would have given us the resume of Abraham you may have mistaken we thought you know why God selected Abraham because of and what would happened 2,000 years later in 2024 we're perhaps what if we're not righteous what if we're not wholesome what if we're not walking with God what if we don't believe in him so does that mean God no longer has that relationship with the Jewish people so God went out of his way not to say one word about Abraham to teach us do you know why God selected Abraham and you and me because he did it's unconditional it's not dependent on anything he just loves us you know I once said to my son na tell you know why Daddy loves you said why said because I do she said Daddy that doesn't make any sense said that's right doesn't make sense why you love your child you just love your child it's a reality of existence God does not love the Jewish people because of he just does that is the Cornerstone principle of the Tyra and therefore when Abraham a comes to the scene the T goes out of its way not to say one good word about the man even though there's a lot to say but tah is teaching us that the selection of the Jewish people was unconditional what do we learn in P there are two kinds of loves if you love someone because of then when that condition is no longer existing the love ceases but when you love someone unconditionally the love lasts forever God's love for the Jewish people is unconditional it's Ive of our Behavior his love for us is a reality of existence one of the great of the world says the Cornerstone principle of the whole is God's unconditional love of the Jewish people and that we and Only We Are The Beloved children of yes all of mankind are the handiwork of God God created Old Man In His Image but only we are the Beloved children of that is the principle upon which the entire T is predicated do you know that we're we can only do T because we're the Beloved children of hasem you know the con the concept of repentance person does a sin so they want to erase it they want to cleanse themselves how does that phenomenon what's the mechanics of Chua says mechanics of CHA are very simple if you insult a king could a king say it's okay no problem what's the can a king Overlook his insult the says noing that overlooks his honor his honor is not overlooked there's no M King cannot offer m therefore the writes the gift of repentance was not given to mankind the gift of repentance was only given to the Jewish people because our relationship with God is he's not just our King he's our father over so almost all the gifts of the Torah are given to us only because we and only we are the Beloved children of so friends here's the problem the day is going to come and God's going to say maybe today maybe tomorrow maybe next week God's going to say let's go mhia time to redeem the Jewish people whether they're in Flatbush or bar park or Cape Town or Johannesburg everyone to the land of Israel and the nations of the world are going to say hey why why do they deserve it are they really better than we are are they really more deserving than us so God's going to say Well they're my beloved children so whether they deserve it or not but my relationship with them is they're my children so they they are going to get it whether you like it or not you know what the nations of the world are going to say they're going to say they're your beloved children that's not what re Ruda holds that the relationship of the Jewish people with God is conditional it depends how they act and they don't look like they're really doing your will God so we would follow the opinion of R Yehuda that your relationship with them is if they do your will they're your children and if they don't do your will they're your servants and in that case they're no better than we are actually you know there's AIC principle that if you're a m you know the word m means if item is in your presumptive domain you can exercise the right to say you don't have the right to take it away from me I follow this opinion even though it's not a normative opinion so in the end of days when God will want to redeem the Jewish people the nations of the world are going to say look the Jewish people they're living in our countries they're we're the we have the presump of status of holding on to them we hold like rabuda and therefore they are not considered your beloved children so here's what's going to have to happen God's going to have to redeem us in a place where the Hal is clear that we are always the Beloved children of hasem where is that special M that special place that in this city there's no question that the states in this place no matter what you say elsewhere we are always the Beloved children children of hasem that is the city where the rabbi of that City who's buried in that city is RAB mayor who holds we are always the Beloved children of does anybody know what city in the land of Israel is mayor bued in he's buried in he was the rabbi of he's the of wherever else you may go in the world maybe it's up to debate who the is in the but there's one unique and special place in the world that the certainly follows the ruling of r that we are always the Beloved children and that is the city of Taria so God will ensure the Messiah will reveal himself in the city of Taria because there it will be undisputable that we can be redeemed and there's nothing anyone could say to challenge that because in the city of the ofar Al is certainly in accordance with mayor in fact the sages teach us that [Music] mayor a reference to the fact that through this opinion of May that we are always the Beloved children of hem we will Merit for the Mia to come you know the great student of the reveals most people are buried horizontal like how else are you supposed to be buried there's one person in history that's very standing do you know who that is the great T re R is the only person in his actually buried standing up and the reason for that is because his world view and his teaching that we are always the Beloved will be the Merit that will stand up for the Jewish people until the end of time this is the Cornerstone principle of the whole that every single Jew is the Beloved child of hasem and even if we act foolish and even if we act sinful there's always accountability but the love that has has for every Jew and for the Jewish people as a whole is immutable is etal but let me share with you one last idea even though we just said the love of hasem for the Jewish people will never change it does change what here excellent okay I already like this place we say translate those words most people translate it with the great love you have loved us says actually the word r does not mean great the word Raba means ever increasing ever increasing meaning even though before I came here if I would have asked you who does God love more me my parents my grandparents my great grandparents the the the so we would have said probably God loved the Nim the most followed by the and then the and then me I'm probably last on the toor I probably God loves us the least after all we've been in gullas so long and we don't hold a candle we don't Stack Up compared to the earlier Generations not only is that not true it's just the in every subsequent generation God's love for us only grows and gets stronger and is magnify and as much as God loved the and as much as he loved the T his love for the Jewish people today is greater than it ever was in the history of the world a Jew today in 2024 is more beloved hasem than any Jew 100 years ago or 500 years ago and you're that means your your prayer your MIT your M your good deeds is more beloved hem than any good deed that any Jew did in the history of the world I have God's love for us is ever increasing is magnifying because as the challenges for the Jewish people grow and as we become more distant from the Great day of the giving of the Toran sin so God's appreciation for our loyalty also grows and his love for us also grows and therefore if you thought that it was likely for mashia to come 200 years ago or 100 years ago but for us will mhia come no just the opposite as likely as it was to come 100 years ago it's much more likely to come today because as much as God loves them he loves us even more and as the days pass the arrival is much more likely than it ever was so we hope to hear the good vur and the good Tiding of the Redemption of the Jewish people and we hope to always feel hashem's overwhelming love for each and every Jew and we hope to feel the the magy growing love that hasm has for us and asem we will hear very soon this great expression of love with the full and complete Redemption of [Music] May you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by Torah anytime.com