The Need to Use One's Talents & Influence | Letter #5 of 30 Letters in 30 Days

good evening and welcome back to 30 letters in 30 days we're on our fifth letter of our journey our 30-day Journey and um we're working through volume 18 of egress kadish we're going through not reading every single letter but we're going through in order uh skipping some letters but we're going in the order of the of the safer so which is chronological the whole egress is chronological so we started at uh Rosh Hashanah now we're on hey Brooklyn New York uh by the grace of God the 25th day of the month of Tuesday 5719 meaning the last few months of 1958 Brooklyn New York and here is a name sometimes egress are redacted not to have the name for privacy reasons here is a name and it's actually the name of somebody quite famous the prestigious and the esteemed is means a renaissance man a multi-talented person a person of many many talents not just a jack of all trades master of none but to the contrary somebody who is a deep master in many many areas so it's a big compliment um uh somebody who's a master of many um scientific fields [Music] a God-fearing man etc etc meaning there's surely more praise to be added our teacher Eliezer Arya haleviya Alias may he be well may he live who is perhaps better known as Dr Finkelstein so who is Dr Finkelstein it is uh Lewis Finkelstein a very very famous uh figure in modern Jewish life he was born in Cincinnati in 1895. and as a child he and his family relocated to New York and New York is where he lived most of his life he was a student of the Jewish Theological Seminary jts and later he became actually the chancellor of jts which is uh a seminary of the conservative movement and he was actually Chancellor from 1940 until 1972. so during the those are the years during which this letter was written this letter was 1958. so Dr Finkelstein was Chancellor of jts at the time and he lived until 1991. he lived uh quite a long life I think 96 years old at his passing so a well-known figure an important figure and in the letter that ABBA actually references quite clearly that uh part of the motivation of the Reba's letter is Dr finkelstein's incredible influence okay let's uh let's read I hereby acknowledge gratefully with thanks receipt of your letter from your Zion ello from the 17th of ello meaning about three weeks earlier and also the books bad the books that you started to send for my library the library the web is Library is a world famous research Library a very large Library and it had all kinds of books so the Rebecca thanks Dr Finkelstein for sending some of his books Dr Finkelstein wrote over a hundred books during his illustrious career he had a habit of waking up at 4am every morning and he would think and he would write before attending early morning prayer services at 7am so writing was part of his regular routine and he was quite prolific the number thanks him for sending the books y It's My Hope a shagam lahaba that also in the future you'll send us more of the books that you print uh periodically keep on sending through them I ask for your forgiveness for the delay in my response that was due to the busyness of the days that have been happening in between my receipt of your letter and and my response in other words it was uh Tisha it was a high holidays and that's something that Dr Finkelstein would certainly recognize and appreciate and and you see this letter is written in Hebrew and not just in Hebrew but in a rabbinic Hebrew um although uh he was born like I said in Cincinnati and he grew up in New York um so you would think why not write to him in English well because he was a tremendous scholar tremendous rabbinic scholar and would have been quite at ease with this type of rabbinic Hebrew and probably uh would would appreciate it being written this way in fact we don't see the letter he wrote to the rabbit but I'm assuming he wrote to the Reba in similar uh rabbinic Hebrew and uh that that would make sense for somebody who was of the the level of uh scholarship okay so now that Eva begins to get into the and and we're going to find out in as we progress that this is actually the first time that Eva is writing to Finkelstein and it seems like Finkelstein initiated the correspondence and then the debit responded but this is this is the first uh back and forth that they're having so the number says there are those who wonder about the saying of our sages it says in the talmud in eriven that the redactor of the mishnah a great scholar and leader of the Jewish people in the mishnayak period that he used to honor wealthy people so many people wonder about that what's what's up with that why did Robbie why did Yehuda hanasi honor wealthy people and I want to point out that this line in the next few lines are very very similar to a letter that the devil wrote a couple of years before this letter um about two and a half years before this letter there's a famous letter of yodelif Nissan uh 1956 that that ever wrote to the president then president of Israel uh Benz v and it's a famous letter because there that ever gives a rare glimpse into his personal life and he tells Benson why he will not use the official governmental title of Nasi which is how the president of the state of Israel is referred but the Reba says that that term Nasi to use the more ashkenazic pronunciation has very specific meaning to me that ABBA says uh anasi really describes the type of a leader that we will only truly have when mashiach comes and the devil says since I was a little child before I went to school moving before school age preschool I was already fantasizing of what uh the the era of mashir would look like and so the dev explains I hope you'll understand that for me I have very specific uh visions and and therefore of what the world will be like it needs to be like and therefore these terms have very specific connotations to me and I can't use them out of those contexts I can't just use them in a secular uh in a secular uh context it just I can't abide by that so that's a famous letter uh for that reason but in that letter the rabbit uses very similar I won't say verbatim but uh a few of these lines here about rebe Mohamed used to honor wealthy people is is very very similar and and over there it's being used in in the same way the Deb is explaining to Ben SV look you're president of Israel You're an influential guy and I I want to explain to you why I have interest in influential people okay and that's similar to what the lab is telling Lewis Finkelstein is that look you're very influential guy you're a leader of an entire movement of Judaism you have many many disciples your disciples have disciples and yeah I'm very interested in speaking to you because of that and and so basically that I was explaining now what's the elephant in the room the elephant in the room is obviously you're talking about the leader of the conservative movement So theologically speaking there would be much to differ about um even in fundamental subjects although they say those uh who knew him that he himself actually was what we would call Orthodox if we were to use the the modern labels and that he felt that he needed to go along with what he went along with as a concession in order to eventually get people back to uh traditional observance anyways I don't want to speculate about those things the the the fact of the matter is that he was the leader of uh of a movement which I'll I'll state it gently and respectfully that were one to seek a a combative standoffish a way of of engaging there would certainly be much too much basis for that but seems to set that aside um and In Case by the way anyone's wondering about the fact that he sent his books to that of his library and that I've thanked him for them and you're wondering if that's a huskama by the way that but never gave us comma never give a rabbinic operation for books but if you're wondering if that's somehow a uh implied approval of the content of the books you should know that the the Rebus Library the the library at 770 the research Library uh the academic Library uh was and still is full of many kinds of books not just the types of that you would expect to find in a basement never spoke about this openly that there are actually books of epicursus there for the sake of research that one needs to be able to check these books like a member of the Sanhedrin would have to be be versed in an idolatry so there were all kinds of books in in the library and what I'm saying is it doesn't mean anything necessarily it don't take it as an approbation but the devil is always interested in in adding to the library okay at any rate um is telling Dr Finkelstein listen I want you to know why I'm very interested in forming a relationship with you that's basically I'm using those words but it's a well-known and somebody like Finkelstein who was I don't know if he was a Bucky Bashas but uh so it was probably within you know within the range of that he would have been quite familiar with a uh well-known hazal such as that okay so the debit says who is according to my understanding from my perspective I think that this saying about rebe honoring rich people could be explained according to one of the foundational concepts of the balshamtov's approach that everything in the world even something really really small It Is by Divine Providence okay that's one of the foundational concepts of the balshamtov's teachings that even tiny trivial matters are bashert they are they are overseen and orchestrated from on high on them especially things that are General matters meaning things that affect the public okay so everything in the world is Divine Providence especially things that are going to affect a lot of people meaning even even if little details that affect only one person so much more so things that affect the public so rich people yeah the rabbit defines rich people as people that Divine Providence has given the means to make a lot of uh to have a lot of effect in hashem's world you know money is one way of having an effect in the world there are other ways as well would you rather be richer would you rather be famous right famous question so rich people are people that the Divine Providence has granted a means for having a big effect on the world therefore for sure certainly the appropriate personality traits to to fulfilling that potentials these are this is a mission that is uh how should we say it's uh greater I don't know I should say greater but uh has much more of an effect than a regular person and and how much more so than a poor person so like let's just be honest rich people have more of an opportunity to affect the world than people who have less means just just a fact okay but and and and the fact that they were given this this means to affect the world they were given the the qualities that are necessary in order to use out the that potentials was the leader of the Jewish people it's very interesting the way the the rabbit describes this he was the leader of the Jewish people during an era that was a transitional period from a period of relative peace to one of relative persecution Roman persecution of course we're describing Israel [Music] so it was his obligation as the leader to recruit and to Galvanize all of their powers among the people that were necessary in order for the Jewish people to stand up to these tests of this difficult time that they should emerge unscathed from this from this difficult time and obviously one um thinks when one reads this that that may be also hinting to our time to the modern era a time of great upheaval and changes was the leader during a time where a lot of stuff was happening and and it wasn't all so necessarily good and so therefore he had a special role as a leader to be aware of the the resources the talents the abilities of various people in order that he could actively uh Channel those those abilities into strengthening the Jewish people during uh during a very tumultuous time therefore he be a regish covered clappy ELO he developed a certain appreciation of honor for those people that from above National that were given an extra capability and as we mentioned the rich people were given an extra ability to influence the world and for sure those abilities to influence the world were given at least in potential to be used to to protect all that is Holy among the Jewish people foreign was doing whatever he could to strengthen the Jewish people and to protect the Jewish people but specifically here that I was saying how do we explain this well-known saying that that Rabbi honored rich people Robbie honored rich people because he understood that rich people have influence if they have that influence it was certainly chosen from on high to grant them this influence so therefore it's not just the influence they also have certain inner potential to use that influence and therefore the role of the the leader is to spot that and to appreciate it and to try to influence the influencers to uh to coin a phrase okay so the dev is explaining all of this um as a way of introducing what he wants from Finkelstein okay Allah however in in keeping with the general way that the world works Jewish people were given free choice okay we can do whatever we want to do um Hashem allows us to choose so that he can test us to see whether we will love Hashem and keep his Mitzvahs and listen to his voice well this free choice was also given to rich people so when we say rich people were given extra means for influencing the world and they were given extra inner potential for using those means to influence the world doesn't mean that they have to do it it means they could do it but they have free choice whether or not they're going to use it properly like it says I'm giving you today or placing in front of you today the good the uh the life and the good as well as the opposite giving you free choice of like the verse girls doesn't finish the verse because it has negative words in it and therefore you should choose good God forbid the opposite okay foreign so it is obvious that if this applies to people who are wealthy in the sense that they have gold and silver Allah much more so because people who are wealthy in the sense that they have the ability to influence their environment near and far okay so now that I've been saying it was a talent scout rappy was always on the lookout for Jews who could do things that would benefit the Jewish people during a time of upheaval of upheaval wealthy people were definitely on that list and like we said people have free choice whether or not they're going to live up to their potential well they're going to use it in the best way or not so sometimes Talent needs a little management okay they need a little encouragement to channel their talents the best way and if this whole true holds true with wealthy people people who are wealthy in the monetary sense how much more so people who are wealthy in uh in the intangible sense that they are influential people so that I was getting to his point basically that you're an influential person and you're you're on my radar and and I need to reach out to you I and I need to try to make my pitch to you basically that's what that I was saying it'll become more clear as as we continue okay moving gam King it's also understood I share cave and she is at Lam since there is a uh a leader of this world meaning Hashem is running the world and nothing in hashem's world is Superfluous nothing goes to waste so much it is absolutely necessary that the wealthy person's potential be used be actually capitalized in a positive way in other words lest you think the potentials are allowed to just remain unactualized and that that's okay no because if Hashem created anything even a potential this is such a deep concept everything Hashem created is necessary there's nothing Superfluous everything has a purpose even a potential even a potential therefore if a potential exists it has to be actualized in the devil's worldview it's not possible a person has an ability to do something good and he should just take a pass and not act on it the world won't allow for it watch what the devil says as we continue here the Ain Master clalo Claus it is not sufficient that the person should use their potential in a way that is not desirable um the potential has to be actualized and it has to be actualized in a positive way that's a very powerful statement even the lack of actualizing a potential disrupts the natural order it causes dysfunction in the world you think the only way to damage the world hospital is to do something negative no no even it's not just commission but even Omission when you have a potential a talent whatever it may be you're rich you're famous whatever it is people listen to you you have a big social media following whatever it is that's in 2023 2023 terms but if you have an ability you can't just say well I'm not doing anything wrong with it I don't know if there's a possible way of using it for good it's disruptive to the entire world if those things don't get channeled positively causes dysfunction when those things don't come out the right way and by the way the Reba says it disrupts the whole world I think it's probably pretty clear to us that in the microcosm of an individual how disruptive it could be when a person has potential that they don't actualize uh I think it was Maslow who said Abraham Maslow creative capacities clamor to be occupied so that clamoring isn't the necessarily uh a pleasant thing if you don't use it it's not going to just uh lie quietly in the corner and not cause trouble you have to use it okay for you and for the world um yeah so it's disruptive to the whole world if you don't use it Kevin foreign everything every purpose every every potential has to be used to to assist to facilitate the the ultimate and one purpose of of everything like ultimately everything has one purpose and we know ended up is worldview what that is very clear it's uh strengthening the the knowledge of God in the world and then people's Devotion to God and that that's it so everything money Talent possessions it all has to be channeled toward that it is unnecessary certainly unnecessary for me to emphasize that my intent when I speak about the ultimate true purpose of the Jewish people both collectively the people and as well as specifically meaning individuals [Music] I'm talking about living a Toyota life living according to the living a pure Torah without compromise that is about as uh polemic as the Reb is going to get in this letter again I said if there ever had chosen to if another leader had chosen to uh an orthodox Rabbi right into the leader of the the conservative movement certainly they could have had a theological debate that Emma does not engage at all in a theological debate that have been mentioned here in this one sentence what am I talking about I'm talking about a life of of tairus foreign without compromise without compromise regardless of whatever works in a second Point here and the greatness of Torah is like I say to say that great is Torah meaning study of Torah because it brings to action this whole discussion in the in the talmud what's greater study or action so ultimately the conclusion of study is better but why only because you need to study in order to do and the most important thing is doing so even by saying this study is greater than doing it actually says that doing is the greatest because studying brings to doing so the Reba says study that brings to doing that means actual practical Mitzvah observance day-to-day practical Mitzvah observance regarding which the trader says and you shall live with them um that I was writing to a deep deep intellectual scholar of the highest order and the dev is saying bottom line we need action practical Mitzvah observance so the rabbit is telling Dr Finkelstein you are a rich man rich in terms of influence I have to focus on my relationship with you because you have so much potential to increase specifically the debit tells them what what he's trying to get from him that you have so much potential to increase the Practical Mitzvah observance of the people that you influence and it's interesting that again the web is not trying to have a have a debate here the dev is not telling him to you know close up shop and leave and go uh distance yourself from from your current position that doesn't say any of that that ever just says can you work in some more practical Mitzvah observance you know could you could you get people to be a little bit more aware of that because I think they'll listen to you foreign so I apologize to you I hope you'll forgive me that immediately in my very first letter meaning this letter my very first letter to you and there are other letters in this uh helicavigurus by the way two or three more letters Justin uh so the devil says I hope you'll forgive me that right here immediately in my first letter to you it's like I didn't even like warm you up you know how's the wife and kids I go straight into like the sales pitch I'm already like touching upon this foundational point this might perplex you um I'm hoping in the coming lines the letter is not finished yet I could explain to you what my intention was what I hoped would be the outcome um and there are several explanations meaning the web is saying it's not so like polite of me to just jump in and make demands of you and tell you hey I want you to influence your your people to be more uh mindful of of practical day-to-day Mitzvah observance so the dev explains now why am I like being so forthright with you so so so blunt let's continue Oh Olive so the first reason s how you gather an IM noise we are living in an era where there are events that only a short time ago would have been considered impossible but I don't know what that ever specifically uh referring to but it sounds here good things that the world is changing so rapidly you know think about technology and transportation and Science and all the things that changed so rapidly in the first half of the of the 20th century so that I was saying look things that were science fiction um In Our Lifetime you know about the devil and uh Finkelstein are from from the same uh era so that I was saying look things that in our lifetime were impossible they were fantasy they were science fiction you see them happening now the column is so at every step you see things that are totally like above intellect Ive um how true are the words of our sages don't discount anything don't reject anything in other words that I was saying like this it's a crazy world in a good way in this context Like Anything could happen so don't discount anything you're gonna say to me people aren't going to be receptive it's not really a message that they'll listen to that is saying in so many words you know crazier things have happened so I'm pushing you to do it because you know what maybe maybe just maybe it'll work out okay base uh the second reason I'm being so forthright with you said this this is a point whose truth is absolute and it's based on the teachings [Music] see this explains why every Jew every Jew without exception is called a spring like a spring of water for the gardens a fountain a Wellspring of Living Waters it is the nature of every Jew and his is his deepest personality her Maxim lead a little modern Hebrew word there when you speak to him about Torah and Mitzvahs in the maximum form you don't have to innovate anything new in other words you don't have to bring anything new to him in order that he should be able to hear this message because [Music] his insides already agree to this you just have to remove the obstruction then he becomes a Wellspring of the garden a Wellspring of Living Water so in that this is so foundational to the devil's worldview that every Jew already is open to all aspects of Toyota Mitzvahs and if you find that they're not there's just an obstruction that is foreign to them and you just have to remove that obstruction and you're going to find that deep down they're already receptive okay um and it's like a Wellspring specifically a Wellspring flows on its own that's a very important Point metaphorically it's not just yeah you could talk any Jew into ultimately embracing Terror mitsu's well talking him into it that's you talking him into it this is different this is you can get him to see it on his own and then it's like a Wellspring that flows on its own it's not like it's being irrigated from somewhere else itself is is generating its own water okay so sometimes you might have to remove the obstruction that's blocking the Wellspring from flowing but once you do the Jew who has found his faith is not going to be dependent on you to keep on uh you know pumping him up he it's it's coming from within him okay um yeah and then adds another detail according to the the expression of Desire after that this could occur meaning getting this Jew to all of a sudden turn on to the fullest version of Taylor mitzvos that could that could happen in an instant so the dev is saying why am I bothering you so to speak to start pushing this message of practical day-to-day Mitzvah observance to your crowd which you're going to tell me is not the crowd for that um what are you talking about they're Jews and they are the crowd for that and you never know it could just like that it could happen in an instant that you'll get them flowing there's another main point here so this is our third point Asha Kevin since you by Divine Providence whatever stresses It Again by Divine Providence we're graced with influence again the Deb is emphasizing that you're an influential guy let's not pretend you're not and you know I'll tell you I was just I was Googling around when I was researching for this class and I and I I have to admit that perhaps I I personally did not appreciate the stature uh of uh Louis Finkelstein and the way that he was viewed but I found an obituary from the Jewish forward the English Jewish forward that said was written and I think uh well what year did he pass away what did we say it was in 91 so I it was written um so it wasn't an obituary but it was an article written a few years afterwards and uh I don't remember who the author was but he said that in just the past few years the Jewish World lost its rabbi and then it went on to explain that the rabbi was Lewis Finkelstein and the rav was yes of beresolovacic and the rebe was the lab they all passed away within a few years of each other in the uh early 90s so you're talking about somebody from the perspective of of American Jewelry would be mentioned in the same breath with two of I think on inarguably the the the the most uh recognized uh Jewish leaders of that era okay I'm just talking about pure recognition um reputation uh somebody whose name would would have weight and currency and and that seems to be what that was clearly referencing here he's saying you your name means a lot people listen to you they respect you okay so it's it's not a mistake it didn't happen by accident it's Hashem chose to give you so much influence and again that I wanted to he could argue about the you know theology here that's that that skips that whole thing by the way I'm I'm over time already but I'll just mention to you um there was a there was once a a a yeh this came to the river and said that they were asking in Williamsburg why the rabbit was close to shazar president of Israel being that he wasn't observant and he was a Zionist and so that answered and said and at the satmodov's too she had Ed Koch sitting next to him so why is just our worse than Ed Koch we all understand that and it's interesting the debus said also according to this person's report this that they're also Jews and you should be makat of them but the focus what that ever said look you're talking about influential people and the submar of himself knows that when you're dealing with influential people then you you don't make a theological fight with somebody because of differences in your understanding of observance why would you be foolish to do that you you use the the opportunity to to make alliances with influential people so at any rate so the rep is telling Finkelstein look you're a really influential guy and that's why I said that and you have a considerable number of uh of disciples he was a rabbis Rabbi in the conservative movement many of your disciples themselves are highly influential people in certain circles obviously not in all circles but in certain circles in there in their circles they're very influentials so if the few lines that I spent writing to you are gonna make any change in you listen to that I was thinking [Music] this is going to spread out and it's going to double itself P comma many times over meaning it's going to be exponential growth through your people that you influence in other words it's going to go viral so the dev is explaining very clearly from beginning from honor rich people and he's explaining look I gotta invest in you because if I can have even a small effect on you it's going to have a huge effect in the world because you're a guy who has that type of influence it'll be a ripple effect and I think there's so much that we can learn in our day and age where the virality of messages is just so clear and that influencing the influencers can make a message just catch on like wildfire yeah I somewhat elaborated at length on these points bemidt of Chloe shashana in the general ladder we spoke about before that the devil would write sometimes a letter to the entire Jewish people at certain times of the year so in the mid of Chloe that I wrote before Rosh Hashanah I spoke about these points a little bit enclosed as a copy of that letter vitik Fosse it's my hope you're going to find this interesting you're gonna you're gonna read the mix of quality you're gonna like it with esteem and with blessing all right went a little bit over time tonight uh we're gonna see you tomorrow night Hashem for a double class Thursday night is lechemishna in preparation for Shabbos we do two letters because we can't learn together Friday night um at least not the way that we normally learn virtually using technology so we do tomorrow night we do Thursday night's letter and Friday night's letter together and then we'll be back with a with one letter per class on matsushabis okay so we'll see you tomorrow night God willing