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The Great Treasure Of Shabbat - Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky
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Follow us: https://www.hidabroot.com https://www.youtube.com/@Hidabrootcom https://www.instagram.com/hidabroot_global https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VbCYZjl1CYoa4ulQIK2q Due to the war in Israel, Rabbis have advised to make a deeper connection to the Sabbath and strengthen our Shabbat observance. Rabbi Orlofsky delves into the hidden treasure of Shabbat in a new series For more inspiring content: @Hidabrootcom
Categories:Torah
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Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
hi this is damski and welcome to the
rabbi Alami
show whether you're watching with our
friends over at tney time wherever you
watch or listen to your podcast as
always thank you for coming along for
this experience I just met somebody the
other day who says they've been
listening to uh my podcast and I've been
getting emails from someone who suddenly
discovered the podcast and went back to
episode number one and is going through
five years of this so uh God bless
you give you
strength and uh it's just so much fun
because every now and then I see they
they're commenting on like ones that I
did years ago and uh uh the messages
remain uh
hopefully uh um relevant no matter where
we are what happens so as uh we're
making this podcast we're uh still in
the middle of this war with Hamas and uh
already many people in the media and the
world are turning against us uh some of
them are not even pretending that it's
anything other than
anti-Semitism uh big rally in Sydney
Australia chanting kill the Jews so it's
pretty clear uh what's uh what's going
on over here and uh the
motivations so um uh so we uh have only
a v
that's all uh this as I mentioned last
time this is an attack that is beyond
our scope to
comprehend and
uh my son-in-law who is in the unit in
the
Army for collecting the
Dead uh usually they go into a
Battlefield and after people have been
killed right the wounded or taken out by
the but people have been killed he's
part of that unit that goes in to
collect the
bodies
uh well everybody else has been waiting
to go into Gaza and training he's been
very busy he's been going from Village
to Village and collecting all the
dead um please have him in utus along
with all of the other uh people who are
on the front lines they're fighting and
and dealing with everything is Mayor
benora
Alita so uh so I said to him how is it
uh you know I said is as bad as
everybody says he says no it's worse
it's worse he didn't want to give me
details and that's probably just as well
because I'll sleep better at night but
he said probably one of the most
horrific things is that in all my years
in the Army you collect the wounded on
the battlefield you understand that you
know this is a battlefield he says I'm
working into a house where the table is
set fanti a bottle of wine on the table
you know and and everyone's dead it's a
it's just a horrific contrast I can only
imagine uh what he has to go through
someone told me that when 911 took place
uh in Savannah Georgia they had a uh
canine um division that was there to
search for
survivors in the
rubble and uh they sent the dogs up to
New York to look for
survivors and uh or to find the dead
either one and he says after a while
they just had to have people lying in
the rubble they had to put live people
there just like to lie down there
because if the dogs just kept finding
dead people they started to go crazy so
imagine the pressure on someone like uh
might sadik of a son-in-law who has to
sit there bring people to K Isel just
over and over again what a terrible
terrible toll it's taking so uh so we
haven't even as of when I'm recording
this we haven't started the ground
Invasion yet and uh um all the bombing
has been just to be able to uncover the
bunkers so that they can then go in and
and engage in urban hand-to-hand Warfare
terrible terrible
things
yeah he doesn't rest he doesn't sleep
hopefully he'll watch over
us but um but what are the
takeaways that for ourselves right now
when we're working on this because you
want to do something want to do
something yeah I told you this uh the Y
Kip of War when it broke out
1973 my father said here I am in America
and there are young men giving their
lives I got to do something so uh he
started wearing Fillin and doing every
morning gotta do something so uh
obviously there's a call to action and
of course daving is what we need to do
we need to keep doing there's no
question about it I spoke about that
last time but there is maybe one other
aspect my son uh who was learning in the
mirror you they had a special kist and
um uh and uh one of the things they
stressed was the
following this attack took place on
chabas and there's a
uh perhaps a message for us now again
there are no the VM today no one can say
why anything happened but you try as
best as you can to try to connect the
dots at least for yourself to try to
make some kind of sense out of it so um
uh so the
um there are stories I I haven't
verified any of these I'm telling you up
front I haven't verified any of them uh
one of my kids told me a story about
three people who were at this Rave out
in the
desert and uh it started on Thursday it
was Thursday it was Friday and on Friday
two of the guys said to their third
friend listen we got to go back to youim
because uh we keep shabas and we're not
going to stay here on shabas they're
like yeah but the party's just getting
going said I can't I can't we have to
leave so they uh they um they picked up
and they rush to and they got back to
just
before and uh the friend realized that
because he
respected uh his friends sh shabas
that's what has saved
him um I've heard a story that
the uh terrorist had explosives to break
through the fence and the wall to the
security but not to break through in the
uh kib Sim if you've ever been to Israel
so you know there's protective walls
around and then there's this big metal
gate and of course they want to come in
with their trucks and you know so what
was their thing and and the Kamas showed
a video of this you know they hid until
a car would come and the car would you
know have a opener and they would open
the gate once they open the gate know
and started to drive in then the Kamas
jumped out and killed everybody in the
car and the car blocked the gate from
closing and then they were able to drive
in and yesu that were shabas they
couldn't break in because there was
nobody coming to open the gate and so
they moved on to to you know places that
would be easier for them to get in
Jonathan Rosenblum writes that there was
one MAV which was MTI they were
traditional
but that shabas punk they decided to
start keeping shabas they said this
shabas we going to keep shabas we're not
driving we're not opening the gate and
the terrorists couldn't get into their
mosab so like I say I haven't tried to
verify any of these stories Etc but
there are a lot of stories coming out of
how sh shabas helped to protect it's
interesting expression Shir shabas right
just as much as we are sh shabas
us when we keep shabas shabas is a to be
able to protect us so uh if we're
looking for where we can strengthen
ourselves there's no question that
shabus is probably an
area where we can
use so I decided that we will dedicate
some of the coming podcasts to the
concept of
shabas and talk a little bit about
chabas and maybe use that as a way for
us us to be able to strengthen our own
shabas and uh chabas for and in that
process hopefully use this as a shm for
all those people who are now in terrible
danger yeah
um Ben Shapiro made an observation which
uh which is true and that is that Hamas
comes in does all these atrocities and
then hide behind civilians and then if
we go after them so we end up killing
civilians they say well you can't do
that says so what are you doing you're
incentivizing people to hide behind
civilians because if I can do any
terrible thing I want then I hide behind
civilians and you're not allowed to
attack me so I can come and attack you
and you can't attack me back yeah so uh
we of course are sorry for any loss of
life we're not looking to kill Innocents
but you know if uh if murderers decide
to hide their headquarters under a
hospital or in a school or in a
residential building and Innocents get
killed it's not really on the fault of
the people chasing the terrorists it's
fault on the people who are uh
committing the crimes and then like
cowards hiding behind uh hiding behind
civilians there were pictures from the
last Gaza War where Kamas terrorist
would grab a kid and hold him in front
of him as he was running in order to be
able to uh to protect himself to figure
okay shoot the kid you know brave brave
Fighters um so uh in any event yeah
so this is one of these terms you hear
prop
proportionality I remember one of
the Gaza Wars been a number of them
already with Kamas so uh Mayor Bloomberg
he he was still mayor of New York he was
on CNN and they said do you think
Israel's response is proportionate he
says it shouldn't be
proportionate says I'm the mayor of New
York if I get a call that there's a
gunman in Times Square according to you
I can only send one police officer after
him with the same type of weapon that he
has what are you crazy I'm going to send
a SWAT team you understand I'm going to
do whatever I can to take out this
threat to innocence so no we're not
talking about proportional
you
know uh one person observed he goes
according to that you know you'd have to
wait to find a music festival in in Gaza
and then kill exactly the same amount of
people in exactly the same way is
happened here if you want to be
proportional yeah so uh so like I say um
I'm the Torah says about the Jewish
people we live alone that is when we
mourn we mourn alone and when we when we
celebrate we celebrate alone nobody
shares our SAS and our tragedies so uh
you know we have to take care of
ourselves that's how it goes
so it's so interesting they say why
isn't Israel taking in the refugees you
know says well there's a lot of Arabs
why aren't they taking in the refugees
none of them seem terribly
concerned in any event this is politics
I don't want to talk about politics I
want to talk about shabas so um
I became shammer shabas when I was
12 I grew up in a home that was not Sher
shabas and the fact that my father
worked Friday night and
Saturday but when he would come home
Friday night whatever time he came
home my mother would light
candles and my father would make
Kish and he would wash
he was the only one who would wash he'd
make
hamotzi and we'd have uh you know
chicken soup and prisk and you know
Friday night suda you know so there was
a of shabas so was some kind of a that I
grew up with but you know when
I when my rebi uh re yakob whales
atal um forced me into a corner an
intellectual corner where I had no
choice but to recognize the truth of
toyra at the age of 12 I was always
precocious and uh I realized this is
true so then I knew I had no choice but
to keep it uh not everybody makes those
kind of decisions should I'm always
surprised to hear that but a lot of
people are not uh motivated by the truth
it's just not enough for a lot of people
you know I remember I said to my friends
when I was fighting with him and I
already styled myself as something of an
intellectual
I said to my friends we have to argue
with him and they said just ignore him I
said' but what if he's right they said '
ignore him
anyway I couldn't do that because if
he's right then how do you close your
eyes to the truth so that's how I became
from you know you these people become sh
shabas because they spent the shabas
someplace and they had you know chant
and they had a nice time Etc not me I I
went Kicking and
Screaming um it was a difficult thing
for me to become uh from I my life was
finally you know in a good place and I
destroyed everything by becoming from
and starting over again you know so um
but in any event uh I went through the
process so the time I was Bar Mitzvah I
was already uh sh shabas and um I spent
a lot of shabos by
myself and uh it's kind of lonely I
remember at the time I said that I was
going to have guests when I got married
because I wanted to be able to have a
home and have guests as it is I would
find a couple of guys who are you know
uh like me you know loners and we would
invite them over for uh for shabas lunch
we would sit down have shab's lunch
together especially in those long summer
shabam when you know shabas goes out at
n9ine o'clock at night you know it's
it's a it's a toll for a kid you know to
get through
that but
uh I
remember most
profoundly the shabos in the Autumn the
beginning parous
no you know the first those first weeks
of autum now okay full disclosure I love
autum it's my favorite time of the year
yeah spring is just too hopeful for me
summer is just too hot and the winter is
just too cold but Autumn I love it all
the trees turn colors and uh it's
hypnotically beautiful and the the
weather is crisp but not cold and uh
it's just everything about it's nice um
the strange thing is of course that when
they change the clock and suddenly
shabas comes in at like 4:00 4:15 look
like 4:15 you know um and uh and
suddenly boom you have these long you
know these long Friday nights yeah which
uh um a lot of people aren't used to you
know so uh so I love those shabas I love
it when it comes in early and and uh
it's it's a little like I say crisp it's
not cold you know and sit down to a hot
bowl of chicken soup and you're
exhausted I don't know why on a on a
short shice I'm I'm tireder on Friday
night than I am uh you know on a on a
summer one when it's later but you know
the best one is to sing the old man that
just knocks you right
[Music]
out you fall face first into your into
your chicken soup that's okay because
it's nice and warm and you cover
yourself with a few
[Laughter]
noodles that's why they came up with
mols so that you it's like a little
pillow but uh to me that's that's shabas
and and I and I guess maybe part of it
is because as you
know since the decided to take and turn
it into
so right after you start uh having a
shabas now last year last year the
calendar was was more dramatic yeah this
year was a little more
straightforward but um uh last year I
remember you have the last chabas of the
year and then you have rashash Shana and
then you have shabash shua and then you
have yam Kipper and then you have an
extra shabas before um before sukus
which is it's like just sort of there
and then you have sukus then you
have chabas and then you have shis and
when the dust finally clears you come to
shabas
barus and chabas barus is shabas I don't
remember who made the observation but
they said you know one of the one of the
pities is that chabas comes every week
if it came like you know once uh you
know once a year just a plain ordinary
shabas it would have so muchas to us but
it comes every week so we start to take
it for granted now
um I remember when
uh I was engaged to my wife she said at
one point um you know I feel like you
you know I just afraid that if we're
married for a long time take each other
for granted I said I hope
so
if you don't take your husband or wife
for granted then when you're saying is I
wake up every morning and I'm not sure
if they're there or
not oh you're still here what a surprise
yeah you want to take it for granted
yeah shabas is what our entire week is
and that's why there is a
Mitzvah which
means every day we're counting toward
shabas right the LA first three days of
the week are left over from the last
chabas in fact you can make hav dollah
if need be till uh
Tuesday and then already starting
Wednesday that's already getting ready
for the next shabas yeah and uh that's
why we added on at the end of the sh
shom on
Wednesday which is of course the next
Capital but it's the beginning of cab
shabas we getting ready or ready for
chabas we're we're in that chabas mode
yeah um I have a neighbor told me years
ago uh that uh how do you know that
Wednesday is uh the beginning of chabas
because you know I tell my family um I'm
putting out all the shabas leftovers on
Tuesday you better finish
it it's Wednesday we're already getting
ready for the next shoers so can't have
any more shoers left
overs so um uh so the the idea is that
our entire week revives around chabas
and shabas it should be something that
is so comfortable to us where we live in
chabas Adam
died when he uh AE from the a to d the
only reason he stayed alive is because
of shabas he got his and he lived on his
for the rest of his life life that extra
soul that you get that's the only thing
that kept him going and uh you get this
extra Nish on chabas which means that we
really live in shabas and everything
else is just preparing for chabas or
coming after shabas but but our life is
shabas and uh I remember when I was
running ancs Y and uh we made a lot of
shabat um at my height almost every
shabas between sukus and pesak we were
running anywhere from one to three
shabbaton every single chabas we had
strike teams and we were going around to
different communities and uh making you
know we used to call uh you know uh you
know local shabat we'd have the big
regionals those were big shows but you
didn't do the real work there the real
work was at the smaller shabat in each
Community amazing concept I have a
friend Yehuda Alban who runs a k
organization in Chicago
and he uh it's called Torah Hub and the
idea is that it's a clearing house for
all of the other organizations and he
raises money to be able to help them out
and he told me once he says there's a
this
babos this Jewish guy and I kept trying
to get him over my house for shoers and
he wouldn't
come and I finally said you know what
I'll come to you
I packed up my wife and kids and we
brought our own food and brought our own
hot plates brought everything that and
we stayed in his house for
shabas and we made shabas for him in his
house and okay so uh you know he would
go shopping in the middle or he would go
to the club or he would but for some of
it I actually get him to sit and
participate in shabas which is an
amazing thing because uh you know to be
able to bring people shabas shabas is
the the life of a Jew a Jew revolves
around chabas I'll tell you a
story when I was living in Los
Angeles this
story was
probably I'm trying to think now
[Music]
1978 maybe was 79 I'm not
sure but uh AB Rottenberg
uh of uh Deus and marvelous MOS and all
kinds of Jewish music fame um was the
principal of the boy
school and
uh him and his wife were going up to
this shabas in Big
Bear Um mountains in California outside
of La it's about 4our drive for my New
York friends let me try to put this into
perspective um I hate snow I've always
hated snow there's nothing about it that
I like it's cold it's wet it gets inside
of your boots it gets inside of your
hands it's just everything about it is
terrible you
know what could be worse than going
outside and finding that not only is
your car snowed over but the plows came
by down the street and buried it in snow
you know and you go out with your shovel
and you dig and you dig until you get
your able to get enough room to pull
your car out you clear off your car and
everything and you take off and right
away someone moves into your spot you're
just cleaned you know it's uh I remember
one year in in h New York it was
snowstorm after snowstorm I remember
watching the snow the uh uh they were in
snowplows they had like tractors picking
up the snow and putting them in dump
trucks and dumping it into the river it
was like there was nothing just terrible
so anyway it was in the middle of
January
uh that I ended up moving to
LA and I come out there and uh it's in
the
70s in January you know there were palm
trees growing birds of paradise you know
and they said oh it's been a terrible
terrible winter it's been raining a lot
I was like
raining I would train snow for rain any
day you know so uh so to me I I hate
snow I there's nothing about snow that I
find attractive you know every now and
then it they predict snow here in
Jus and all my children when they were
little they were so excited because you
know they wanted to see snow and I said
this is tough because Myas have to fight
against thousands of little Jewish
children who are all ding for snow and I
alone am calling in all Myas God please
please don't make it
snow because as bad as snow is in New
York it's even worse here in J because
they have no way of dealing with it we
had one major snowstorm years ago the
whole city was closed down for weeks it
was just terrible you know they don't
even know what to do with it you know
whereas when you go to certain places
you know up north when it snows it's
like you know they live they live in
snow you well I went to Yeshiva in
Rochester New
York
um where there was snow on the ground
from October to
May parenthetically Rochester has one of
the highest suicide rates in America for
what I consider to be obvious reasons
but uh you know I I hate snow you know
so in Los Angeles you know it go see
snow it's very exciting you know people
don't mind uh seeing snow as a dilaton
as long as they don't have to actually
live with it so these mountains outside
of La where in the winter it snows and
there was going to be a
this organization was making a shabat
tone and
uh rabie Rottenberg asked if I would go
with them uh him and his wife you know
to try to do kir at this at this
event H it was supposed to be kosher but
they weren't sure about it so Mrs
Rottenberg made her own uh made her own
food we're taking it along we figured
okay the Kal is are probably okay the
wine is probably okay you know anyway we
set out with plenty of of time on an
Arab chabas um note you should always
start out early on Arab chabas do not
wait till last minute to travel
um how many hair
raising stories are there of people who
you know end up getting stuck on the
highway or stuck here or stuck there
because you know they didn't leave
themselves enough time so we left that
Sal was plenty of time and uh we're
traveling up into the Big Bear Mountains
and we were the third
car after the landslide it's one of
these mountain roads and there was a
landslide and there was some uh park
ranger or something like that over there
and that's it the road is closed until
they can get someone to come and clean
up the
landslide and we missed it by three cars
we the third car so we said how can we
get there he goes well you can go down
the mountain go around the mountain and
com up from the other side it'll take
you about 8 hours 6 hours 8 hours
something like that so he made a
quickman and said well that would get us
there during shabas that doesn't sound
like a good idea and so on Friday
afternoon in the winter we raced back to
Los Angeles you don't race anywhere in
the Los Angeles area there's no such
concept it's bumper to bumper so we came
down from the mountains and we're on the
road making our way very slowly back to
Los Angeles and as we're going you can
see the sea and the distance and the Sun
moving lower and lower down the Horizon
now that's a very beautiful site if it's
not Aros shabas it's
arabas I went I'm said to somebody I was
walking with I said oh look how
beautiful it is it's almost Sunset he
goes yeah it's a beautiful site if
you're already D in M I didn't D
yet different different things mean
different things different people anyway
we're watching it slowly it's all flat
over there you know just watching the
Sun moving down the Horizon and fin we
made the kin we weren't going to make it
weren't going to make it so we jumped
off of the highway into a small town
known as Ontario
California uh if you have the
opportunity to Miss Ontario California
take advantage of it this is not any
place you want to
be it's best known for its racetrack the
Ontario racetrack yeah anyway we pull
off the
highway and uh we found a trucker's
motel that was about all there was we we
pulled in the car in between and we
quickly started emptying the car we're
running out of time and
uh and we run out to the local
supermarket CU we made and
wine now in Ontario California as a big
surprise they don't carry kosher wine in
the supermarket eventually there's not a
big demand for it so okay he bought beer
and uh we found a box of matzes you can
always find a box of mates for hamotzi
you
know and lots of ice and they filled up
the uh uh bathtub with ice and
you know put all the food in there so
that it would stay throughout
shabas and we had adjoining rooms and I
went into my
room
and to get ready for shabas in t Davin
in Ontario California you know truck
stop Motel I just threw myself on the
bed and did what I do best feel sorry
for
myself I don't do it so much ever since
my heart attack 10 years ago in March
will be 10 years
uh when two of the doctors told me I
should have died and I say okay I'm
still here I'm on overtime now this is
this is extra so I don't feel sorry for
myself so much anymore but back then I
was I'd always feel sorry for myself as
a kid especially I was a real sad sack
but anyway so I said I can't believe it
I'm going to spend shoers at some truck
or a motel and uh you know it's like you
know what are the facilities you know I
think there's a I think there's a soda
machine I think I not sure you know the
middle of the
highway
anyway the last time I remember feeling
that sorry for myself was when I became
Regional director of Long Island and
technically when you become the ncsy
director you're automatically the OU
director and um I was the OU director of
Long Island now considering there was
one kid in the region it's not as Kush
as it might sound you know but by the
second year I was up to about 100 kids
but still not so when I was the OU
director and they were having the OU
convention in uh in um Boston I drove up
in this terrible storm and it was in
November so it's also a short short
chabus you know I get there you know and
and I check in I get a fancy hotel room
you know I'm in the OU convention you
know and I go up and I had at the time
this sort of nice nice gray suit with
like a a little red stripe in it
I had a red gray tie put it all together
so beautifully and I had picked up my
clothes from the cleaners on the way and
instead of giving me my suit pants he
gave me a pair of beige
slacks now there is nothing that can
bring together a pair of beige slacks
with a gray jacket with a red stripe in
it not unless you put on like a clown
hat you know what I mean and juggle so
so uh I I I I remember I opened up my
clothes I just kept looking like that
sense of disbelief I threw myself on the
bed I was like oh my gosh what am I
gonna do now you know it was pretty
embarrassing but uh at the end of that I
remember I said to the National director
I said it seems kind of silly to bring
all of us regional directors to this
convention and not give us anything to
do in my mind that meant like you should
give us a forum or something to talk
they said yeah you're right and they
never invited us again so that was uh
that was my contribution to the course
much as the Torah tells us about the
moon who says toes hey you can't have
two kings with one Crown he says oh good
I'll make you small he goes hey that
wasn't what I was trying to get
at I arranged for future ridle directors
to never be invited to the OU convention
that was my contribution to the course
but anyway so um so here I am in this
truck stop motel and I just throw myself
on the bed I said I can't believe this
is happening
yeah okay so I get dressed and I Davin
and I knock on the adjoining door and I
came
in
and 88
98088 this is 45 years
ago and I will never forget what I saw
yeah so AB renberg is old dressed for
chabas yeah and uh his wife is all
dressed for
and she took these napkins and put it on
the little Motel you know half
table gillet candles the kalas were out
well the matzas were
out and it suddenly hit me it's
shabas I mean all those weeks that I had
to spend shabas by myself because my
parents went to work you know and and
I'm I'm sitting there singing ziros to
myself this is already better you you
can make shabas anywhere because chabas
is a reality shabas um
uh moves Beyond
boundaries
yeah which is probably why it says the
reward for keeping chabas you know is uh
is a um a reward without limitations is
the way it's described yeah beyond
beyond limitations shabas moves Beyond
everything chabas is
inherent right the gamar says the
difference between chabas and Yanti one
of the differences is that you decide
Yanti the Bas then decides when will be
and decides but chabas comes every seven
days it's something that is inherent
inside of it and it's an opportunity
that comes to us every
week so the first point that I would
like to make in this new series speaking
about shabas is appreciate chabas take
it for
granted that shabas is here and that we
uh should always treasure it every
single week when it comes how we do that
we'll talk about but but at least let's
start with the idea that what could be
more beautiful more and more important
in life of a Jew than chabas so I hope
this will be the beginning of a new
series and we will talk a little bit
more about chabas as these weeks go and
like I say in this time specifically
when this terrible
attack happened on chabas we should beaz
ourselves in this
regard and now we come to
the uh question and answer period of our
program we haven't haven't had this in a
while but with all theim and with matv
and things like that but life must go on
life will find a way yeah uh they tell a
story in one of the concentration camps
that they put God on
trial and they for the Holocaust they
found him guilty it was guilty so they
say okay what do we do now
D life has to go on life has to go on
okay I'd like to remind everybody that
in addition to being able to sponsor the
podcast and in addition to being able to
sponsor the five minute
para uh segments that have started to
come out you also have the option to
sponsor the
Q&A and get a special shout out you know
this is everything that we do here is
but of course the question answer is an
opportunity for people to be able to ask
those questions they may not be able to
get answers to and have the opportunity
to watch rowski try to avoid answering
them okay our first question is by
Anonymous what's the idea behind
changing a sick person's name why should
changing their name change the gire din
ah Gala question
my good friend
uh Dr morai Stern who is not only a
genius in implants and one of the top
people in the world when it comes to
that dental implants but uh also an
enormous and had uh connection to many
of the Great GD Torah he has stories
that you could start to day and by the
end of the week you still will not have
heard all of his stories about various
gulum that he personally had interaction
with just really really amazing
things and
uh he said to me once by the way he says
I don't I don't look at myself as a
um as a dentist I don't look at myself
as doing implants I look at myself as a
b person comes into my office and that
they can't eat an apple and they walk
out they can eat an apple you know I've
I've giving them given them a gift
giving them something to make their life
better anyway so I I tell you one more
uh M Stern story you know he said that
sometimes he has people come in and they
say we can't afford to pay so he used to
have like you ever see those donation
cards you know they used to give out on
at Yar you know where you fold over the
flap so there there was like you know
zero there was you know a small amount a
larger amount a large amount full pay he
says he he would give it to someone say
just fold over what you can pay don't
worry about it he says no one ever took
zero ever you know well I always i i i h
that over my head all the time what a
beautiful beautiful idea anyway the
reason I'm telling you this story is
because like I say you could just listen
to to him tell stories for a week
straight yeah so he told me this story
and this stays with me every par AEV I
think of this story he says he's at a
bris I have a friend of his and
um
uh I don't know if he wants the person's
name publicized so their last name
starts with a B imagine any name that
you want yeah I'll tell you the name the
name was not Burger okay we'll pretend
it was
Burger and they're all waiting for the
bris to start the m is there
everything's all set up everybody's
there except for the parents and the
baby and
surprisingly they play a very
significant role in the
bris he really would like to have them
there anyway so you know uh M's more
proactive so he goes in searches for
them and they find the mother's sitting
there crying and the husband is looking
helpless and the baby's not really doing
anything at that
point and he says what's going on so he
says my wife can't de
decide whether to name the baby kman AKA
or AKA
kman so he says what's the question
it's Ros a Comm
Burger every par is a when I look at the
word a I think of that story yeah so um
um when you name a kid it's an amazing
thing because it's a a a moment when you
get
n yeah uh there is of a person that I
know and I don't know if he want is
mentioned or not it's not secret
but he had a name to give his son at the
BR and the mo says what's the name he
says I don't know why I said of
Shalom now aam ASV nimro these are some
of the names that we don't usually give
you know uh Jesus Benedict Donald I man
there certain names Adolf you know
certain names you don't give he says
sham and the the the you know my didn't
even blink
shom and he was like oh my gosh what did
I just do and they asked the shy they
said that's the name when it comes to
naming your kids that's the time that
you get NAA and the fact is that I never
got it right ever
once any name that I gave was not the
right name it wasn't there nobody was
ever happy you know I mean my father
loved his mother was Mariam you know I
mean so I named my daughter Miriam I
said dad I marri name for your mother he
goes her name was Mariam I said Dad
that's just a Russian version of Miriam
it's name my mother-in-law I said I
named you you know my my daughter ra for
your mother go her name was really Rael
I said it's the same name so finally
when it came to my last daughter we were
naming for Aunt Minnie who everybody
loved you know I said what's her name I
said mindle I said okay that wouldn't
have been my first choice but you know
when you have eight girls you know you
know I named my seventh daughter Beva I
was going to name mindle originally
bachon because I just ran out of ideas
you know I mean I okay mindle by the way
she does not like her name she's made
this very clear many times okay you in
America people have Mindy mind is pretty
commonly but here in Israel it's like
Mindy oh you m you know I was like so
doesn't like her name so uh um so uh so
I named her mindle so I I told my MLA I
said I named her mindle she never liked
that
name never got it right never got it
right anyway but you have this moment of
inspiration where you name a person and
that is who the person
is barowitz who is a legend in the field
of Jewish Education
uh he told me a story once where he got
involved with this mul that's a great
story for itself but I'm not going to
tell you the whole story I'm just going
to tell you this one thing that at some
point somebody was sick and he gave the
person the
name um now usually a g gets a name like
Ben Abraham so you know that the person
so and so Ben AB you know he's a GE this
person didn't he took a different name
for himself you know you know mosm who
knows what you know and he tells him the
MBA he tells him the name he goes oh
he's a
gar there was nothing in the name to
indicate that but you know you you make
a mistake by thinking that a name is a
random thing that we call something as
Shakespeare says a rose by any other
name would smell as
sweet as Dave Berg who used to write for
Mad Magazine said I don't think so if
you called it a kurun I don't think you
would have the same
appeal or as the old commercial goes
with a name like Smuckers it has to be
good CU why in the world would you name
it that unless you knew it was really
good so when you give somebody a name
that is who they are think of it as a
strip of
DNA and the letters have significance
the numerical value of the letters the
shape of everything's significant when
you change a person's name you have
changed their meas
not just I'm calling them by a different
name when I give this person different
name they're a different person that's
why there are certain people who get
very upset when you add on another name
when you're naming for somebody right
you're naming for somebody and his name
was Y and uh you know I decided to add
on from my side of the family yob so we
call him y yob yeah that's not the
person's name it's a new name you
created it's very nice maybe it gives
covered to both to and to jakov who
you're naming for but that's not the
person you didn't name for the person
yeah when you uh when you're naming for
a person yeah it's it's taking on that
person C who you name for me M's wife
was meant to be anyway if you appreciate
the reference so when I change a
person's name I didn't just change their
name I changed who they are this is now
a different person and so because of
that they can be subject to a different
gardin okay next question is by
y I have a group of friends who are all
young married guys with one or two kids
all of us including myself do not enjoy
our jobs should we just keep switching
or maybe you're not supposed to enjoy
your
job there's no Mitzvah not to enjoy your
job that's not a hinder now
um it's
uh my father shom he used to say say if
you didn't get up in the morning and go
to work you starve to death there was no
concept that the government was going to
take care of you or things were going of
that you did what you had to do you you
you you were lucky if you found a job if
you found a profession you found
something that you could do and you were
happy you had that that that that that
was your parosa that's what kept you
going you know and
uh Rabbi Dr Ivan Lerner who is a
psychiatrist he's in Silver Spring and
also a legend in the field of Jewish
Education um so he told me that when he
made the decision to become a
psychiatrist his father said to him if
you're going to spend all that time in
school already why don't you become a
real
doctor so he says because I can help
people this way and his father said
people are going to pay you for this and
he said yeah and his father
said when I I was young people were too
busy making a living to be
crazy you had to get in the morning and
go to
work you know I remember seeing a sign
once in the store it says new employee
incentive uh uh program work hard and
don't get
fired so okay so we live in a world
today where people can say I don't feel
like working I don't feel like doing
this
yeah ER the uh congresswoman from New
York AOC when she wrote the original
Green deal which the best of my
knowledge has never been revised even
though she claimed that it was but it
never has been not online or anything it
said to provide a uh uh to provide a
living a sustenance for people who are
unable or unwilling to
work so this is a New Concept there was
there was no kind of a concept that you
that you get supported if you can't work
it's okay there's kinds of giving
charity to someone who can't work
they're sick or they're old or something
you know but just a person who's an
able-bodied person and just I don't feel
like working so you you're lucky to get
a job having said that there's a certain
amount of choice now if you're someone
who is as brilliant and talented as I am
and trust me it's a curse so you get
stuck because there's so much stuff you
could do I had I had so many different
choices available to me I didn't know
what to do
yeah I went because I figured that if I
work for when I get up to sh I'll go on
the employees entrance that was my so uh
you know just always trying to beat the
w beat the system but uh ideally you
should look and
say what is and this is what the G in
kadan says you want to teach your
children a
parosa that is Kala viia
easy and clean if you can find it right
and so when you look over what my
choices are so for example I knew a guy
in America he was planning on making
Aliyah and um he became an
anesthesiologist he says because one of
the things about an anesthesiologist is
you don't really need to develop a
rapport with your
patience so he could fly in for a few
months year and work and make enough
money to support himself here in Israel
and that's why he chose that particular
profession I know another person who for
that reason decided to become a
radiologist because I just have to read
the x-rays and now they can send it to
you online I can look at it write up my
report and send it back I don't have to
be there so they chose their professions
based on what would Le leave them the
freedom to able to do what they uh
really want to do now sometimes uh you
don't have that option if you don't have
those particular talents or those
particular gifts you take what's
available and you're very often lucky to
have a job to be able to support your
family and so the answer is if you have
a choice and you could find a job that
is fulfilling and will support your
family that's better than a job that you
do not find fulfilling and uh uh will
support your family if you have a job
that you find fulfilling and will not
support your
family uh and you have a job that will
support your family by all means take
the job that will support your family
now again I'm not talking about clees
I'm not talking about getting involved
in in any of those formats because that
itself then I'm working for a KES that
has its own
rewards um but uh but if you're looking
at a job look at a job IDE deally that
you enjoy doing that you get up in the
morning and you'd want to do it assuming
that you can support your family if you
can support your family then it makes a
fine hobby but something to do on the
side but uh if you have a good job and
you can tolerate it without getting
depressed yeah I was running ncsy and by
the end I was so burnt out I I can't
even put it I I I dreaded coming to the
office I remember I I would kep my desk
I put my head on my hands and the
secretary would say someone's on the
line and I'd say tell them I'm dead so
they say Reby alow is not available and
I would start yelling no tell them I'm
dead don't tell them I'm not available
tell them I'm dead she's covering up the
phone and says yeah yeah he'll get he'll
get back to
you I knew I had to leave and people
were shocked cuz I was really at the top
of my game at that particular moment I
was you know my my region was doing well
everything was in place everything was
running smoothly we had the funding
everything was good we had the you but
it wasn't I was so burnt out I I needed
to recreate myself and so I came to a to
learn for three years and then I was
going to go into rabanus that was 35
years ago I haven't gotten around to
going back yet packing is such a pain
but anyway uh but I knew I had to move
on to whatever was next and that's what
you have to always ask yourself right so
if I have a good job and it's killing me
it's killing me you know I just can't
handle it you know so then yeah you have
to move on to something else but if it's
just like this is not my fulfillment
your job is not supposed to be your
fulfillment I was living in a TR for a
year and I came back so I met someone
and goes oh you're living in a TR uh
what are you
learning before I can answer he says
I've learned my lesson he says I me meet
people who come from erel and I say so
what do you do and he says I'm learning
kadan and I said uh oh you're uh you're
learning a Colo he says no I'm a
computer programmer but you didn't ask
me what I do for a living you asked me
what I'm doing what I'm doing is
learning
kuuan and I make my living from this I
make my living from that but that
doesn't Define me it's the famous story
with the brisar RV where this guy is uh
T says who are you he says I'm in the
sugar business okay asked him a little
later who are you he say you know I'm a
sugar business I I bring in you know the
the sugar cane from uh you know the
Caribbean and I makeing the sugar uh and
he does this like three or four times
like I can't understand and finally the
bris says I didn't ask you what you do
for a living I asked who are
you so your profession is not supposed
to Define you what's supposed to Define
you is your your Judaism your connection
to your family your community and the
you know the job is just a way of
supporting the things that are important
in my life so uh so if that's helpful
okay
next Anonymous what would you give to
someone who would like to take it upon
themselves to only cover their hair with
tickles and not shael in a community
that looks down upon
it the I give you
is um to quote sh spe to thine own self
be
true uh you're never going to make
everybody happy it's a Fool's errand and
any time that you're going to live your
life based on what everybody else thinks
of you forget about it you know I
remember seeing I'm and he engaged in
this discussion with this secular guy
couldn't have been totally secular if he
came to hear I'm ready but you know and
he finally answered all of his questions
and then he says but if if I become from
he says all of my friends are are going
to make fun of me so he gives him a
marshall he says
imagine that you've committed
crimes and you're guilty no question
you're guilty and you're about to be
sensed and you're going to go to prison
for 25 years and the judge says if you
can show me real
remorse you can show me real remorse I
if I see a tear I'll let you
off so you start to think about it and
your eyes start to water up and your
friends in the back
go are you a baby a girl you start so
what are you gonna do you're going to
stop because of that and go to jail for
25 years because I don't want to be
embarrassed you know trust me I have
been in many social situations as I was
becoming from and it can be quite
embarrassing yeah walking down the
street in dark clothes and a white shirt
and a black hat in certain areas
especially uh Beach Club yeah it could
be very
[Laughter]
embarrassing um I remember when uh I was
speaking at a Birthright group once and
the guy in charge says Don't Leave Your
Hat in the car I said if my hat stays in
the car I stay in the car so he says to
me no because when people see a black
hat they you know right away make
certain assumptions and I said I know I
want to wear my hat so that I can break
those
assumptions know if I if I if I'm if I'm
defined by my clothing if I let myself
dress in a way that's going to make
other people accept me then I I have no
I have no existence I'm just a product
of whatever anybody thinks of me and I
know girls who wear skirts that are at
the knee and when they sit down it rides
up because that's the style and they
want to fit in and I know people who
wish you know where they're not covering
all of their hair because that's the
told them is the style and they want to
fit in even though they themselves have
told me that they are
uncomfortable and the answer is to thine
own self be true you if this is what you
believe is right then you follow it
through if it's not if it's not
something that's inherently negative and
you're following whatever your m is or
whatever is positive embrace it and uh
read uh peric Hey of melarm where he
discusses what to do with people who are
making fun of
you and that's it for this
episode uh if you want to find out more
about the show you can go to my website
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