Socrates, Caesar & Moses Visit Athens, Rome and Jerusalem - By Rabbi YY Jacobson

the yeshiva dotnet in 1988 at the age of a young Jacobson began serving on a small team of oral scribes and human recorders they were charged with memorizing and transcribing three to seven hours of talks by the Lubavitcher edit which were presented on Shabbat and Jewish holidays when recording devices are not used rabbi yosef via club Jacobsen was the first rabbi ever to be invited by the Pentagon to deliver the religious keynotes to the US military chief of chaplains and to the National Security Agency rabbi Jacobsen founded and serves as the Dean of the achieve admit teaching via the web one of the largest torah classes in the world today with thousands of students globally as my privilege and honor to introduce to you the keynote speaker of tonight's gala Rabbi Yosef Jacobsen [Music] so the Jew a Hindu and a politician went hiking they went hiking in Texas after a long day of hiking their bones weary exhausted from a sprain iasts workout they were searching for a hotel or motel where they can rest their weary bones but none was to be found in desperation they knock on the door of the home of a farmer a Texan farmer and when he opens the door he says yeah how can I help you folks they say can we somehow get some of your southern hospitality and remain here in your home for the night the moment Sun rises we will be off for the next day of hiking but we just need a place to stay the night he says sure the problem is I only have two beds in my home so what I use three we'll have to sleep in the barn you have a Jew you have a politician you have a Hindu who's going to the bar the Jew is not going to the bone the politician is certainly not going to the barn the Hindu goes to the bar they do and the politician take the comfortable beds and soon they are fast asleep ten minutes later than a knock on their bedroom they open the door the Hindu is by the room say what's going on he says there's no way I can sleep in the barn say why not he says I'm a Hindu there's a cow in the barn how can I him do sleep with a holy cow by the Hindus the cow is holy you know the expression holy cow there's no way I can sleep in the barn with a cow okay the Jew says I guess I'll have to sleep in the barn so the Jew goes to the barn ten minutes later there's a knock on the door the Jews back they say what's the problem the Jew says no way on my dead body gonna sleep at the barn why not who says there's a pig in the barn how do you expect the gym to sleep with a pig with a casa with a swine at the same part no way nope who goes to the barn politician says I guess I'll have to go to the park so to do when the Hindoo go to bed and the politician goes to the barn ten minutes later there's a knock on the door the Jew and the Hindu open the door and they see the pig in the cow I fear our country coming off a very loaded political season sometimes gives us perspective into the nature of politicians which reminds me you know a little while and before they elected the new president here in America Donald Trump went to campaign in Miami will you go to campaign in Miami you go to an old age on he goes to a hole they call it a home for assisted living walks in and Shrunk needs a 95 year old woman there and he looks at her and he says do you know who I am he says I don't who are you don't know who I am she says no I don't who are you he said I can't believe it the whole world knows who I am she says besides me look at my here look at the belongings of my hair look at the charm look at the charisma look at the stature look at the brilliance look at the sophistication look at the success the whole world knows who I am how about you know I am this is from sake I don't know who you are who are you he's furious but tell me right now who I am another woman 85 years old comes over and gives them a galette on his beck Allah caresses Amana speaks and says relax relax relax I will call the head nurse she will tell you who you you see this happens very often around here you're not the first one you won't be the last one but don't get so upset in a few seconds you'll discover who you are it's a question of identity you know some of you were born on the other side the other side of the ocean it was a Jew who once came from the Soviet Union came to America it was a Hasidic Jew they must motional of ice wanted to become a citizen of this great country there's a problem become a citizen something you know it's a hard process you have to know the language and you have to know the history at least as well as Rebecca no Sookie intentions become you can't just become a citizen you need to know some of the basics of America the gold in the Medina the great country war you know Sam Levenson is a Jewish comedian he says when my father came to America from Europe they told them this is the country with the streets are paved with gold then he came to America he discovered three things first of all the streets are not paved with gold second of all they're not paved at all third of all he has to pave them okay well you know you remember the news about American Roderick America is impeccable flawless sees how do I become a citizen of this country his best friend says mashallah I'll set you up with a clerk a Jewish clerk he's doing this for 50 years he always asks everybody the same five question all you need is remember eyes five answers you don't understand a word of English and you'll pass the test you'll become a citizen what a response question his first question as always what's your name the moment you hear the question you don't have to understand English you just say my vice the second question is how many children do you have you hear that you say five third question how many states are there in the United States of America you'll say 50 the fourth question who is the first president of America you'll say George Washington the first question you have parents you'll say thank God both for three months he memorizes these five responses might advise five total 50 states etcetera the great day comes he comes into the interview the man looks at him and says welcome we'll do this very fast I just have five questions question one he turns to the Hasidic Jew and he says what was the name of the first President of the United States of America without skipping a heartbeat without blinking he says my vice he says tell me something else how many states are there in the US he says father just tell me how many children do you have it says 50 he looks at this Jewish I said it drew a black coat of extreme alongside like some bearded what's your name man says George Washington he says I have one last question he's a Jew he understands what's happening he says tell me who is Meshuga in this room you or me to saying God both said you see my friends you can memorize lines master techniques but at some point if you don't get it you get stuck you know the other day there was about mid Savoy if you ever go to bat mitzvahs okay but mitzvah boys the bar mitzvah whatever it is oh you just got that okay it's one of the oldest so he wants to give a speech in a bar mitzvah to give a speech right very important in America they give speeches loosely and speeches the only two things that are important so it comes to his mother well this is great what do you want to talk about I want to talk about where we come from our origin but this is our origins our origin she talks about family great famine I'm along all the way back where we come from we come from God created the world in six days on the sixth day created Adam and Eve Adam and Eve decided to have children for whatever reason and the rest is history actually her story and then you had Abraham Isaac Jacob Sarah Rebecca Shanaya here we are coasters father father was an enlightened graduate of Columbia University his dad where do we come from another way back Oh after fifteen point three billion years we have evolved from apes where the Apes come from that came from monkeys we did the monkeys come from they came from other primates how did it all happen they evolved from the primordial soup he says but we did it all beginnings as it began with an explosion of gas and bacteria comes back to his mother and says mom are very confused about my bar mitzva speak I want to talk about where we come from you tell me we come from God add an e Abraham Isaac Jacob Sarah dad tells me we come from monkeys apes gas and bacteria totally whether we come from what do I say that if a mitzvah mother looks at him and says son there's no contradiction your father was talking about his side of the family I'm talking about my side of the family completely no contradiction whatsoever there's two sides of the family so my friend I just got that it's a funny one anyway you know it was this guy it was this fellow it was this fellow who would come each night to the bar and he would order two cups of Crown Royal big guy like some of you two big glasses of Crown Royal or a blue label of black label I don't know what your taste is over there on this table so every night two glasses of crown rot the bark of this is why don't you change your menu there's a lot of drinks in the bar what I'll tell you I had a best friend every night we had a drink Crown Royal he died I want to remember him forever so each night I drink two cups of gravel one for him and one for me I'm going to do this forever 30 years lady comes to the bar in he orders one glass of Crown Royal bartender says what happened he says I'll tell you I quit drinking so so you have a situation they say denial denial is not only a river in Egypt Tosa part of people's lives but in the positive sense some people know how to drink for other people they know how to celebrate not only here the cup of loneliness as Billy Joel would say but also share the cup of joy it's a true pleasure and thriller to be in this great community of risk of Rama Pharoah where one can sense the warmth and the camaraderie I grew up in America but I grew up with Russian parents very Russian parents rabbis Ultima can testify and therefore I know that there's something unique about the Jewish warm romance passion sophistication yes I love America you came here the streets are paved with gold especially in New Jersey but there's three types of Jews Darla meals for models and Ludemann you know the difference you don't know I'll tell you that schlemiel is the guy who pours this soup on the schlemazel the nudnik is the guy who wants to know what type of soup water you always have these three types but I see it as a community we love to laugh we love to celebrate actually we have a good comedian you think I should continue as a rapper I probably make more money the other way around now okay you know Jackie Mason he repeats a lot of my jokes you know that so so my friends it's a thriller to be in such an environment to send the warmth the brotherly and sisterly love and affection created especially where I've a Mendelian Elkie and Rabbi Saltzman and for language long years to him is late Rebbetzin and to be able to see the atmosphere and the love and the bridges that would create it it's extremely powerful but let me tell you something that I'm thinking about you know Jews love to correct right yeah they're still in New Jersey too in New York they connectional day that's what they do every Jew I know cleanses ideas having a heart attack he's about to have a stroke his back hurts the stomach hurts his neck hurts he has a headache his mother was driving him crazy wife who's driving him crazy he wants a divorce he almost got divorced he's going to get divorce she wants to kill him he wants to kill her a guy called the rabbi and a guy called the rabbi is his rabbi my wife once the poison is really I found in the tea she makes me tea in the morning I found poison hmm rabbit says I got a poker it says here is herself rabbi talks to her Jew calls him back next day just knew the rebus that I spoke to her I spoke to your wife of four hours if I were you I would drink it so juice that's what Rebecca knows he meant when he spoke about the power of the Jewish woman right just a joke relax relax I love women I love women I even married a woman it's not it's a big thing today don't underestimate it don't underestimate it not only that my mother is a woman my grandmother's was a woman my great-grandmother all the way back to Eve and then the Apes and the monkeys I don't know what they were so my friends you understand what I'm telling you people crash people of the other day I was in a kosher restaurant the waiter was going from table to table and he was asking one question is anything all right Hughes complained they love complaining and they love complaining look you ever see Jews on an airplane you know I don't go anymore with the Jews on an airplane you know that I used to go with Jews today I only go with on an airplane not because I don't love Jews I love Jews I told you my father was Jewish my mother is Jewish I even married a Jewish girl my kids are half Jewish I mean my kids are Jewish but not the flaw not the flaw you know why because they don't sit down you ever see Jews on an airplane they don't sit down you remember tower air there was an airline towel all of our Shalom I say Kaddish for it I'm very happy so New Years come at the time we once landed in Tel Aviv so the captain gets up and he says to all those who are sitting Happy New Year to all those who are standing Happy Hanukkah that's all it is you ever see Gentiles on airplanes they walk in for hours before they sit down and they sit like this like Marines and they don't come with baggage they read those magazines in the seats you everywhere doesn't please don't read those magazines but Gentiles read them you have to see Jews the first billion come late and they come with Peck walk with baggage and suitcase they're flying to Montreal for heaven's sake it's an hour of flight they come with baggage and they open up every compartment they go back and forth poom poom poom poom poom and finally after two hours the flight attendant starts screaming at him enters sit down the whole flight is waiting for you he turns to his wife and says she's an anti-semite the Holocaust is not going to happen again I will not listen to her and then he says I forgot my food they open up they all bring food they bring sushi and hard-boiled eggs and sponge cake and polkas they bring polkas of tricker that's what they bring and they all bring nine books it's an hour flight but they have nine books I say what the hell do you need nine books more he says you never know what happens to airplanes these days you never know look at Malaysia who knows where I'm going to end off and then you finally sit down and you fall asleep and somebody says Minh hair we need a minyan Minister Minister that's why I have a hard time flying with them they're Restless people choose are restless they don't know how to realize very hard for Jews to relax that's what is it that's why don't you women drink you know what they don't want anything to interfere with their misery it's a fact Jews are a restless people I love Jews but we have issues there's no question let's face it most psychiatrists are Jewish most therapists are Jewish the father of psychoanalysis was Jewish his name was slim Allah Freud I know three types of Jews I don't know more psychotics neurotics and psychiatrist the psychotics builds castles in the air' the neurotic lives in the castles in the year and the psychiatrist collects the rent from both of them and erect and the rent these days is very very expensive extremely expensive but you know what Jews are most anxious about these days anti-semitism do you know that wherever I go anti-semitism they're worried with anti-semitism there's a bigger problem than anti-semitism it's called self-hating Jews Jews who don't like themselves they don't like dude they're embarrassed with themselves but after semitism is also a serious problem do you know there was a Jew sitting in Central Park you ever go to Central Park stop it's not bad you sit there the only normal place in Manhattan he's sitting on a bench drinking an iced coffee a latte iced coffee 950 Causton Starbucks and he's really is really good newspaper and an anti-semite comes in punches him in the nose can you imagine punches him in the nose and he says this is a punch from Hamas guys bleeding comes a moment later smacks him in the face and says this is a smack from his Bala comes a moment later kicks him in his abdomen he says this is a kick from Iran comes a minute later punches him in his back and says this is a punch from thorium poor Jews bleeding black and blue mainland he gets up and he leaves the anti-semite is happy since dawn takes his iced coffee takes the newspaper and continues reading the drew comes back a half an hour later he's holding a wrench goes over to this guy and knocks him over the head with all this power as the guy's about to become unconscious he says this is a wrench from Home Depot but so you see friends yes this anti-semitism but then there's also is also self hate who's who don't like themselves I have a senior colleague dr. Twerski is a big psychiatrist he was once on an airplane now do you know dr. twisties he's dressed like a real Hasidic Jew he has a round black hat you know that look long black coat square white beard he's on an airplane a Jewish woman from Russia an old Jewish woman turns to him and tells him in Yiddish dubis - under you know what of Sunday's you're a disgrace you're the cause of anti-semitism if only you would dress normally they would stop hating us but you stand out and that's why they hate us he looks at her and he says which language are you talking she says Yiddish he said I don't understand you dish I am Amish he says AHA I thought you were acidic he says now I'm Amish she says I love the Amish he says why she says because you're a minority and yet you maintain your heritage with such pride I respect you he looked at her and he said in Yiddish ah I won't give an Amish customers lib yet does this mean I eat customers fine I would have been Amish you'd love me now that I'm Jewish you're embarrassed by me I bless you to be able to respect in your own people that which you respect and other people but this is you see and here I want to share with you a moment the moment happens in Montreal McGill University where their snow is worse than here in the late 50s there's a debate the debate takes place between two personalities Arnold Toynbee and dr. Jacob Harrison Arnold Toynbee is a famous was a famous British historian Cambridge University did not like Jews that not like Israel Yaakov Herzl was the ambassador of Israel to Canada a scholar a rabbi a very educated man the son of rabbi yitzchak Isaac a Larry Hertzog second chief rabbi of Israel the brother of hiam Hertzog president of Israel the uncle of bougie his hug Herricks at the head of the opposition today just to give you context dr. Jacob Hartzog was a student of mr. Solomon Meltzer one of the great rabbis of Jerusalem he was a very great man who died very young unfortunately I think he has a book called nation that dwells alone he debates Toynbee about Israel Toynbee claims that Jews are not a nation Judaism as a culture why we have Russian Jews you have Italian Jew if America goes you're French Jews we belong to all nations we're not a nation or a code through we're a religion we don't have a homeland Australian Jews French Jews North American Jews South American Jews Canadian rules Belarus Jews Ukrainians ruthless way ninjas all types British truth we're not a nation we're a cult Jacob Hertzog asks of what is a nation give me an example he says the Italian tarnation the Greeks are a nation to choose on animation the tunes are all over the place they're part of other names hurts and responds the nucleus of the ideas his developing and a little bit in a mad three Olympic airplanes land one lands in Athens in Greece an old man comes out the man in the airport greets him and says what's your name the old man says my name is Socrates and the man in the airport says what brings you to Athens this is what brings me to Athens as my city this is my country since I never heard of you just get out of here take me to the Acropolis he says they're crap Alice for seven dollars and fifty cents I can take you to the remnants of their crop on us he says take me to Zeus since we don't worship but Zeus anymore says what are you worship because we have the Greek Orthodox Church says what's the Greek Orthodox Church he starts explaining him about the church which of course developed centuries after Socrates Jesus tell me how is Greek philosophy doing he says I don't know how to say this is pretty obsolete he says you mean people are not studying or estoppel people are not scrubbing Plato my student people are not studying Socrates this is a few professors he says so what are you talking about in the cafes as we talked about iPhone 6 iPhone 7 Facebook Instagram after we talk Socrates says how is the Greek Empire doing how is Alexander the Great Empire doing he says Empire they're barely a country and we're not sure of their economy will ever serve art he says a country what type of country is a member of NATO what the hell is mela gives him a lecture on NATO he says you mean when the people hear the word Greece they don't tremble he says no they cry we get into a bad mood Socrates says why aren't you speaking the language of ancient Greek he says we don't speak that language anymore Socrates says get me out of this place this is not my Athens another airplane lands in Rome a statesman comes out who you could see that he's been through a lot too even has some wounds on his chest somebody from the airport comes up to greet him says welcome to Rome what is your name and the man says my name is Julius Caesar he says are from the Caesar salad he says you I could kill you for that truly a Caesar the Ceaser of Rome how is Rome doing how is the Roman Empire doing Roman Empire it hasn't been home an empire in 1500 years thanks to your friends Constantine he says so what is wrong he says it's a city a city we're in Italy is what Italy does Italy is a member of NATO take me to my gladiator it is for $8.00 I can show you the remnants take me to the Colosseum for $7.00 I'll show you some excavations take me to the steps of the Senate where I was stabbed and I uttered those last words 8 to brute a then Caesar Falls he says there's no Senate and there's no steps of the Senate take me to my gymnasium this for $9.50 I could show you the remnants he says are people still frightened from the word Rome he says no - so what are we famous for he says pizza and pasta just take me to Venice since we don't worship Venice what are you worship he says we have the Vatican he said what the hell is the Vatican because Catholicism what's Catholicism she starts giving him electors as he never heard of Catholicism in ever heard of Christianity in ever heard of the boat because no one are these men yes I'll tell you very briefly there was a Jewish boy it all starts with a Jewish boy now every Jewish boy who grows up in a Jewish home with a Jewish mother is told by his mother not only that he's God's gift to humanity but that he is God himself that's more or less what every Jewish mother teaches every Jewish child you are God however most of us are lucky enough at some point to marry a Jewish one and usually within a few months or a few weeks and if you're really lucky a few hours your wife makes it very clear to you not only are you not God not only are you not God's gift to humanity but there's even a question if you're entitled to have a position in this world and for the rest of our lives most of us are in therapy negotiating the view of our mother versus the view of our wives I mean more or less that is what most men I know are dealing with my mother taught me I'm God my wife thinks I belong in the mousetrap how do I negotiate these two views my mother thought I'm infinite my wife is not sure if I have a right to exist not easy so chouette design I eat now this is little boy Josh killer he never got married so he continued to believe whatever Jewish mother tells her son and that's what Christianity began and now two and a half billion people also believe his mother you Julius Caesar Julius Caesar looks at him and says why don't you speak Latin he says who speaks Latin few academics be glad this is what do you speak tele honor we speak Italian Julius Caesar says this is not my Rome bye-bye I'm out leaves a third airplane lands in Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv an old man comes out somebody in the airport comes up and greets him and says two words to him Shalom Aleichem and he responds a latham mashaallah he looks at the old man and he says Masha now what is your name and the old man says my name is Moshe and what is your name to Graham I mean Marcel I'm also Masha I come from Tbilisi feebly C Georgia I'm here already eight months Israelis already written me off maybe you have a donation Moshe donation for my wife and kids where do you come from an old man Moshe says I come from Egypt really what brings you here that came to my homeland says have you ever been here before it says no so why do you call it your homeland Moshe says I tried getting here for 40 years I worked very hard to get here didn't work out trust me I made a lot of sacrifices for this land I'm entitled to call it my home one he says Marcia welcome to your homeland old man Moshe looks at him and says I have an embarrassing question I was in a rush to come down Socrates with Julius Caesar were rustling me they were in a big rush they thought they're gonna discover you know they're gonna discover the golden the golden streets to pay the paved golden roads in Athens and and wrong I was in a big rush this is okay what's the problem that's a got some so what did you forget old man Moshe looks at him and says I'm a little embarrassed does anybody in this country have what's called a talent to fill in he looks at him and says now I'm don't like you anymore why not he says now you're like holier than thou you think you're the only one who knows what that we've been trimming our a this hood stop I just was in the airport and there's a bad mix kidnapped me like they do everywhere they put a palace on me they say one minute you Jewish and they start putting on filling on me I just put on filling here look at the stripes well you go in there they have a kiosk they have a booth from the airport you put on paladin's villain Moshe says one more thing I'm starving I haven't eaten in a few thousand years they got no normal food in heaven tuna and jarred gefilte fish it's not a Jewish food do they have any food in Israel he says food in Israel they don't stop eating in the airport itself they have 90 restaurants motion says you don't understand I need kosher they have kosher he says kosher they have every type of coach and every conceivable type of kosher certificate they have glutes not gloves almost glad semi Glatt Kosher style almost kosher style dearie glad deli glad my husband Robin Hood Mazda min imagine almost my husband almost closer tomorrow kosher yesterday kosher rabbi Lando bada say da craters Jerusalem he doesn't eat this he doesn't eat this that every type of culture in the world Thai kosher French kosher Italian kosher New Zealand culture Brazilian culture Russian every type of Japanese Chinese everything they have kosher Wow so Moshe comes down and as they go out one of the doors this Jew from Tbilisi kisses the doorpost not does what are you doing it says now you should be embarrassed you don't know what this is he says what is it some mezuzah what some Azusa he says let me give you some basic Jewish now at three thousand years ago we had a teacher his name was also motion and he told the Jewish people to put a parchment of the Torah on every door of your office of your home of your bedroom now we kiss it every time we go in and out and then he says now let me show you a little bit of what happens here Moshe hears a song he says what's this he takes a man and there's a little classroom and is a teacher and the teacher is speaking to his little children to his students and he asked the students to open up their home us to open up the Torah the Bible and he says repeat after me and they repeat after him these words from the Torah vaya da darada and i almo shall lay more and God spoke to Moses saying and two large hot pearls that we call tears stream down the cheeks of Moses as he observes this phenomenon in the Israeli classroom dr. hare took turns to dr. twinbee at McGill University at this debate and he says dr. Toynbee if Socrates or Julius Caesar come back today to Greece or to Italy to Athens at the Rome what will they find not the same language not the same culture not the same values not the same God not the same faith not the same traditions not the same heritage not the same culture not the same lifestyle not the same philosophy all that remains is the geographical soil and yet and yet you call them a nation the French are a nation they Italian are a nation the Greeks are Anish if Moses if Moshe Rabbeinu comes back today to the Holy Land to Israel what will he do scum the same language the same tradition the same God the same it's thoughts the same exact since this the same exact to fill in the same exact ram's horn chauffeur the same loulou's the same Shabbat the same Torah the same he described the same God the same philosophy the same values the same traditions and even the same arguments and yet you don't call that the nation that's not a nation we're not a nation back the point being if Israel is not a nation what is a nation and to his credit dr. Toynbee look that dr. head surgeon said you have a point not easy not easy for Arnold and there's at that moment but I discovered the power of Jewish continuity then after thousands of years if Moses Joshua King David King Solomon rabbi akiva revelation ovens are trying rashia Maimonides the most sensible the altar ever rabbi Isaac learner of Yosef Cairo with walking to bris have Rama feel or New Jersey the entire world change there's nothing that you could recognize today from a thousand two thousand three thousand years ago but the same exact Torah the same exact mitts votes the same exact text even the matzah tastes exactly the same in fact it was stale a few thousand years ago and it still stale nothing changed even the filter fish tastes the same the same kiddush the same experience the same Judaism that's the power of Judaism and it's the power that allowed the Jewish people to survive and thrive despite everything what did we have that the Egyptians they are Syrians the Babylonians the Greeks the Persians the Roman of the business boys didn't have they have greater armies greater empires greater greater military prowess greater technology greater monuments what did we have that they didn't have why are they gone where is Julius Caesar weary sucker tease where is Cyrus where is Miss Bayesian where is chemical your where is Adrian where is Pompeii we missed I bury Asst where's the who hot nets are pyro some Harris where is gobbles where is ever we're Stalin where are they the answer is they are in wikipedia you could google when I finish talking Wikipedia and you'll have a long entry on each of them we are the Jewish people the tiny nation that has been hunted down generation after generation where are they I'll tell you we created Wikipedia that's the fast take a look at the four great revolutions that shape the last century who created them the revolution in politics a name you know very well Karl Marx revolution of psychology Sigmund Freud revolution in science and physics Albert Einstein revolution in biology Charles Darwin these four people change the world's marks Einstein Freud and Darwin three of them were Jewish Darwin was wrong because our people were created not to play Little League but to play big league not to be followers but to be leaders not to be victims but to be moral teachers of society we were charged as the ambassadors of God's ambassadors of love light and hope to bring the world from Sinai to Redemption from Sinai to Macias to turn the world into the place it was destined to be to reflect the harmony the goodness of its creator through its Torah through the mitzvahs and through acts of goodness and kindness this is a nation that Gamble's with eternity we don't know how to play small league I wish we would we're always center stage and always big league somehow I can't figure it out we don't constitute even one quarter of one percent of humanity do you know that we don't constitute one quarter of one percent but the noise we make god preserve us the number of the Jewish people is smaller than a statistical error in a Chinese census but the ruckus because the Jew was given the gift of Torah and the gift of Torah allows eternity now imagine what would happen if Mozart grew up in the house without a piano what would happen to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart what would happen anybody we were the genius go it would go somewhere but it wouldn't have a healthy outlet and it may be destructive because it's too powerful thank God Mozart had a piano Jews are Mozart's every true was a little Mozart if you don't believe me ask your mother every Jew is a little Mozart's tremendous power tremendous divine energy but we need a piano the piano of the Jewish people has been the Torah it is what managed to harness and directs the greatest talents and resources of the Jewish people to invest it in that which is timeless and eternal and it's what we had to the other empires did not have the dedication to Jewish education the dedication to the daily mitzvoth to the celebration of Jewish life on a day-to-day basis now you might ask me a question how can me giving my file the Torah education survived eternity great question but the fact is that thousands of years later we are here today not exhausted not numb not lifeless as fresh as pulsating and as creative as ever friends a few weeks ago I took a group of 65 University students from America I took them on a trip to Eastern Europe to Poland to Russia to the origin where many of you come from will you come from your parents come from where I come from where the Habad movement was born Belarus Russia Ukraine with a Baal Shem Tov was born it was a very meaningful trip extremely meaningful and one of the cities we traveled by is a city named Dumble of to city in poland it was a town before the war with thousands of Jews Russia had millions Poland had three and a half million Jews today a few thousand left in dumb broth the SS gathered all the Jews Friday afternoon and marched them to a forest and when they marched them to a forest they had the Jews dig graves the SS went to eat lunch and they got drunk which was a strategy they told the SS murderers the Einsatzgruppen who would go from city to city town to town in Belarus in the Ukraine and parts of Poland to be drunk that way they would be more oblivious to what's going on and what they're doing and they were drinking and then laughing and enjoying and the Jews were sitting and waiting it was Friday it was late Friday afternoon and the Sun was close slowly setting and one of the Jews sitting on the ground stands up and he turns to a few thousand men women and children and he says to them these words he says the Germans don't only want to destroy us they don't only want to kill our bodies they want to murder our spirits they want to crush our souls they want us to be embarrassed that we are Jews we may not be able to save our bodies but let's not give them the victory of destroying ourselves and therefore I say this is our last opportunity to welcome the holy day of Shabbat because next week we will welcome the Shabbat in heaven this is the last time we can welcome Shabbos here on earth and therefore friends I ask you all whoever wants join me and he tells to the Jews let's welcome our last shoppers here on earth with soul and with spirit and he begins my my lesson Malachi our show a la la I the truth here is swung so the other group start joining me MELAS Molokai I'm a love of a core Dyer bar within two to three minutes you had thousands of Jews singing together [Music] haha hey lar [Music] it was in front of me my love now in the beginning the SS the Germans thought it was cute the Jews are singing but after few moments they felt that there's something off it's too much spirit and they ran over and they began shouting at the Jews to be quiet far floor then they using stinking curse Jews quiet silence but at this point as they say if you got nothing you got nothing to lose they understood they really have nothing to lose and in their hearts they imagine themselves sitting in their homes around their Shabbos tables the table be decked and whites the Shabbat candles burning and glowing the father the King the mother the queen the boys the princes and the girls princesses dressed in their most beautiful garments singing as a family bonding together in a semi paradise here on earth which is what a home saturated with Shabbat looks like and in their minds they connected the hundreds of generations of Jews who each week stopped and went out of the world that's hustling and bustling stressful and anxious and welcomed the holy dirty and thus their song written by Shalom Aleichem mala funny me mollify amylose the SS were in fury as they hollered more the Jews just continued see they finally shouted and said if you don't stop singing right now we will shoot but they knew that that was the plan regardless the pits were waiting they continued singing and the shooting began the mass murder began but two Jews ran they ran dodging the bullets to the forests that's that's right to pursue them but they somehow got only they survived the war with the partisans and the forest and for the rest of their lives they told the story about how the holy Jewish community of dumb bro died as Shabaks descended on the horizon of the forest around Umbra in middle of the Song of Solomon interrupted by the bullets the screen cries the bloodshed and the horror of that Friday evening and I thought to myself my dear friends isn't that why you and I are here this evening to make sure that that melody will never get into melting who will make sure that the sacred melody of those Jews of those children of those women of those men will not be interrupted for eternity who will make sure that their melody their song their ballad or symphony their lives their passions their ideals and their values will continue if not you you you and I but will tonight embrace our great calling as the people of eternity to continue singing their song until the great day when sulla Malaysia when the peace and the serenity of Siobhan's the Yom circulars about the day that will be full of Shabaks will overwhelm our entire aching planet speedily in our day our main thanks very much thank you thank you very much for Abbi Jacobson [Applause] this class is brought to you by the achieve Annette please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at triple w dot a yeshiva net slash donate