The Man Who Challenged Each of My Sermons - Eulogy for Shlomo Freundlich A"H

the yeshiva.net so our next speaker is someone i have not personally met but i do know schlemme felt deeply connected to him um more than just that schlemmy deeply admired and respected him and he spoke of him all the time he's one of america's premier jewish scholars in torah and jewish mysticism he is one of the most sought after speakers in the jewish world today lecturing to jewish and non-jewish audiences around the world he is considered to be one of the most successful passionate and mesmerizing communicators of judaism culling his ideas from the entire spectrum of jewish thought and making them relevant to contemporary audiences just like schleime did it's no wonder why schleime loved you so much yasi jacobson always used to say that i can quote rab nachman rav sullivacek um ralph cook without that meaning i'm less of a laboratory because there ever was big enough to encompass and knows is great today to me the depth of that message speaks yes to the rebbe's greatness but it also speaks to rabbi jacobson's his appreciation of schlemmie's diversity and interest in what was different is testament to his expansiveness of thinking and openness to the world around him it is my honor to introduce rabbi yui jacobson who will speak about the unique soul of our dear me thank you thank you so so much thank you for the invitation thank you for the illustrious and kind introduction thank you everybody for being here i see we have a very large crowd here thank you my dear friend rabbi joseph schaefer for giving me the skus and the privilege and inviting me for this milestone and this bittersweet occasion bitter because we mourn the loss of the shlaimala of bundy of blessed memory and sweet because we remember him and when you remember him it almost forces a smile out of your lips bundy was one of a kind as they say a unique character and you know when i think of him there's just a certain smile that comes into my soul and that's why i say bittersweet my relationship with bundy begins quite a few years ago as i was privileged to serve as the rabbi and teacher congregation based schmuel the protection of brooklyn a few minutes ago you heard from the founder and president and leader of bay shmuel to this very day and beloved friend maishi pinson and i'm going to begin just with making a shout out to maishi because he was really there for bundy from through thick and through thin and he deserves a lot of credit for that make sure you're here i want everybody to give an applause to maisha pinson bundy went through different stages in his life and struggles and moishi was a real friend and mentor and guide to bundy i'm sure there were others as well but my share just know for my years in base small and bundy appreciated it very much and we all appreciated it so i still hear today from people as you just heard from uh review from my friend that when people listen to my classes on video or or recordings mp3s the years in base shmuel there's always somebody interrupting they want to know who's always interrupting you so the editor did cut out a lot yes if you think he interrupts me now you had to know how it was before the editing before they edit now it's every few minutes before the editing it was sometimes more often the editor before posting it made it a little more smooth but who is this fellow there's a lot of sisters that i would have a sunday morning shear and look at these circus for many years a lot of it is on the web on the yeshiva.net and people hear it and they comment to me years later who's this guy history classes on any theme themes in life that we use to discuss relationships there's always one always one man young man who interrupted interrupts very interestingly doesn't just interrupt you know to hear himself asks questions that are very unique and of course it was the unforgettable bundy frank there was i don't know if there was a shir that he missed i can't remember but very very really he had to have a good good excuse i don't think there was a shia that he missed and there were a lot of shiurim morning early morning late at night very late at night fabregas that went to the wee hours of the morning and he was i'm not going to say always there but almost always there and always with questions that other people wanted to ask but were too ashamed to ask bundy would ask everything he took nothing for granted he was an inquisitive soul and whatever i would say was up for questions first of all at a date wrong forget about it bundy was there to confront it who knows dates you think somebody knows once you hit the 1400s nobody knows what hit them even if you hit 1700s nobody knows what it usually once you hit 1980 nobody knows what hit right 13 11. but last week last week you said it was 12 11. i would say a date that you would say but five years ago in your sermon you gave a different date and i'm like omg with it where do you find these people i had to be so accurate and meticulous if they said the wrong page number the one [Music] where there's no historical reference there's no historical context it drives me crazy you know there's some people by them you know we're all more or less living in the same 20 years in crown heights you have to have perspective you have to have perspective jewish history is very long it's thousands of years he had perspective he understood that i got a detail inaccurate but there immediately to confront him not only that i wasn't allowed to repeat a speech listen let's face it i'm in the recycling business i can't come up with shabbos with new revolutionary ideas it's recycled you know story here a variety and inside there not with bundy it was like so now you put it in practice but four years ago somehow it made it into your sermon after and shall pass but i see what you did you took a story here you changed the story there and there was no no shame then there were other questions that other people wouldn't ask he would ask questions obvious he wasn't afraid to say this whole thing doesn't make sense from the beginning bundy would ask after a sermon he would come over and he would ask questions that other people would think but they wouldn't ask for example you know he could say publicly so rabbi jacobs how does your ego feel after you just got a standing up face most people don't ask that after a speech you like that how does your ego feel are you insecure are you covering are you covering up for your insecurity how long how long did it take you to prepare it was that do you believe what you said he could come over to me and say rabbi jacobson do you do you believe what you said i don't think you believe anything you said so in in a very interesting way i found it very refreshing because it was raw it was naked it was authentic it was honest it was very real it was refreshing he often kept me on my toes if i made a mistake he would jump on it and he would ask the obvious that ebby used to say in fabregan's that clotskashas are the best questions that nobody asks clocks cautious means stupid questions but really they're excellent questions they never would often ask questions on arashi then the rebel would say and now a clotskasha klutzka means like a kasha of a clutch clutch means a piece of wood it's like a foolish question that ever would say these are the best questions we call them foolish because we have no answers you know so that's what the rebel would often say it was very interesting to hear that from the devil and bundy was an expert in clots caches you know the questions that nobody asks but for me as a teacher as a speaker as a communicator it was extremely extremely refreshing it was innovative it was raw and it was good to hear it was good to hear he would not let me get away with anything anybody who dove in the basement or came to my shield or even hears the recordings knows that i did not get away with the free free lunch everything was challenged if i quoted something wrong if i even sat at a gemara or the wrong amara the wrong page he called me out on it it's either in the middle of the speech or after the speech or massage shabbos i got a call or a text or the next day it was an announcement by the way rabbi jacobson wrong wrong uh wrong reference and it became ultimately very endearing because it was bundy you know bundy was bundy other people might have annoyed me if they did it but bundy it was bundy it was forgivable i want to share with you an interesting moment that uh moishi pinsin is my witness it's going to be some of you will think it's not such a real story and if bundy would hear this she would say you really you're making it up but maishi pinson is my witness i think he saw this together with me i still remember this it was shabbos haggadah yudnissan a few days before pesa quite a few years ago i don't remember the year exactly but quite a few years ago bundy had a makam kavoor where he sat at my speeches i used to give long sermons and he had a place right against me he would sit in the corner you know during the ovening he was taking care of the crowd and being hospitable to everybody for my sermon he would sit down and he had a permanent place so he sits down there and he's sitting and i spoke then i don't remember what i spoke about i think it was about jewish pride shabbos i got jewish dignity i think i told an interesting story about a harvey swedish a famous jewish writer who came to see the rabbi in 1962 i think i think that was it i'm not even sure and it was about jewish identity and knowing who you are in life making peace with yourself and as i'm talking bundy always came across as a cynical person not cold but cynical because he questioned everything and everybody you know there were no holy there were no sacred institutions he would challenge anybody and anything about anybody and anything and i mean that seriously which i personally didn't mind i actually liked it but uh he was not you know the type would get swept up in an emotional speech he would retain his distance and he would sometimes even tell me afterwards you know what's this propaganda or manipulating the crowd human the crowd with emotions he was very frank with me privately and publicly as well but suddenly i see bundy was weeping like a baby sobbing i didn't know why and every word i was saying was triggering more most i never saw crying and he wasn't just crying he was sobbing sobbing sitting there and tears were streaming down his eyes i wasn't talking about some very emotional tragic situation i was talking about emotional stuff i sometimes talk about emotional things i think i spoke about jewish history a lot and jewish identity i spoke about the war second world war the struggle of the jewish people i spoke about hannah aaron what was the name aaron the philosopher i think that was the topic but he was just sobbing sobbing i didn't know why i asked somebody afterwards i think meishi pinson or maybe somebody else maybe shmuley cups didn't remember why was he sobbing so much he didn't know i went over to him i went over to him and he didn't answer me he didn't answer me but sorry shabbos sorry shabbos we found out that his father passed away that shabbos it happens to be i asked moishi pinson what time his father passed away he should find out and he told me it happens to be literally the same moments while i was talking and he just started to sob and then i realized something very very deep it was like something that happened to his soul at that moment maybe unconsciously he felt that his father's soul passed away because there was no rational explanation this wouldn't happen in my speeches but it was something that stayed with me which brings me to another very you know interesting i think and powerful quality about bundy and that is he was an extremely non-judgmental person i know moishi pinson just mentioned this a few minutes ago and it was extremely refreshing you know we often look at people with a certain lens we frame them and it's really our own insecurities we protect ourselves it was extremely open there was no such a thing with him i'm comfortable with you i'm not comfortable the type of person i can get along with this person i can get this person is material this person is religious and secular her sin is too extreme this person is too liberal for me he didn't every person had that infinite dignity and complete openness to who you are what you bring to the table of life and what light do you bring to god's world and touched him in a deep way he really saw humanity as part of a cosmic symphony and each one of us an indispensable note in this divine symphony and it wasn't just cliche and words he really experienced the world that way which is why he was comfortable with i think every single type of person from the entire gamut and the entire spectrum with literally literally no distinctions whatsoever this is something that is extremely refreshing bundy also had a certain simplicity to him things were black and white there was a certain simplicity about life you would say something he took it very very literally i know of a plumber he called them up three o'clock in the morning come fix something in the house a pipe the plumber says it's three o'clock in the morning bundy says on your card it says that you are available 24 hours a day 24 hours a day means 24 hours a day it was something literal and also his ammuna there was a was beyond his sophistication he had an ammunition simplicity and it wasn't a contradiction he could be sophisticated he could question everything he can be inquisitive but there was also a certain conviction a certain faith a certain simplicity there's an expression and there is shown him that's brought in siddhis when you dive in you dive in like a child you have to be like a child no child is black and white there's a simplicity there bundy had his challenges bundy was a uniqueness but at the end of the day you know some people it was difficult for them because of the different challenges at the end of the day he had a purity to him he had an innocence to him and he had an idealism to him he was idealistic he would always say to me so you really believe that there's like at the end of a speech so you really believe that there's truth in the world or you just fake that there's truth and ultimately are you also manipulating everybody he craved for innocence he yearned for idealism he had an idealistic soul we would learn is very very spiritual it's pristine and he didn't always understand everything intellectually but he sensed he had a smell shockingly energy when there was holy energy he like felt it it resonated with him it it just it touched him in a very deep way and he knew he knew when to back off and when to attack like he can smell a sacred moment that you don't have to challenge because he could challenge everything and everybody but there were certain moments and instances that you can see it was a sacred moment there was also very it was you know bundy was a soul that's not a regular soul you all know this anybody who knew him these are souls that are planted in this world they're on their own journey they have unique gifts and challenges resources virtues vices like each and every one of us has our vices and our virtues but bundy's soul was also an alarm clock it reminded people it reminded people about innocence reminded people about honesty reminded people about authenticity reminded people about the need to be genuine and the need to be able to strip ourselves from layers and garments and facades and masks and about the courage to be able to be non-judgmental to be able to cut other people's slack now you know there are two types of people who are not judgmental there are people who are not judgmental because they don't care if i don't care i don't judge you i'm in my own my own orbit i'm quarantined in my own cocoon i really don't care i don't judge you because i don't believe in anything it's not a big deal i don't judge you because i don't have positions because i don't have convictions because i don't have any strong values so why should i judge everybody is good that's a superficial lack of judgmentalism it comes from not being part of the fabric of life there's a much deeper form of non-judgmentalism people form of non-judgmentalism is a profound ability not to allow god to become stuck in your limited orbit the ability to always challenge yourself to transcendence bundy understood what is yiddish it's a daily battle for transcendence it's the daily attempt to be able to go out of my insecurities out of my ego out of my trauma out of my skeletons out of my uh all of my orbits of scars that make me petty and make me small so that i could become more expansive and put on lenses that allow me to see the infinity within a person by seeing the infinity within the world bundy had a certain khush for this i don't know if he would articulate it this way but this is how i'm articulating it his presence enriched my life is passing impoverishes all of us bundy since i believe that the soul is always present especially at ashley the day of commemoration so i'll speak also to bundy directly thank you i don't know if i ever thank you explicitly for all of the challenges the stimulation questions the curiosity the fact that i always knew that there's somebody listening to what i'm saying and not sleeping and if i make a mistake i'm going to be accountable so thank you and thank you for your friendship thank you for your love thank you for the positions you took and thank you for the commitment that you had for the convictions that you embodied and that despite your life not following the trajectory that many of us are accustomed to and your life not being so simple on many levels nonetheless you tried hard to live life to the fullest to make people comfortable with judaism make people comfortable with siddhis give people an experience of a shabbos table make sure there's lively conversation and yes not everybody always appreciated it some people thought you were obsessive you were too literal you were too demanding you sent them too many texts and i understand that i know what it means nonetheless you have brought light many people's lives you have made people comfortable who otherwise would have never been comfortable you have brought people in and may gave them a feel of home that they would have not had otherwise without judging anybody and that was a unique skill that we should all i think and could all learn from bundy first of all don't be afraid to be curious even after you hit 45. remain curious blackman said we become old and we stopped telling stories bundy never got bored of telling stories remain inquisitive curious never become stuck in any particular orbit never come confined by how we how you were yesterday allow yourself to be fresh be creative to start all over again allow yourself to be original i'm going to conclude with avert from the katsuke bundy would have he probably heard this from me and i probably loved it but i don't remember for sure the major says that a person's life you go through different stages almost like an animal it says you know when you're born you're like this uh this the king you know everybody adores you so then you're two years old the meddler says this and kahelas you're like a pig you're you're in mud you're getting dirty all the time then you're jumping around like a goat then he says when you're 20 you're like a horse beautifying yourself to attract the women and then you get married and you become a donkey just schlepping against the thug schlepped and schlepped and slept and then he says you become like a dog looking to survive and then the medra says and at the end of your life when you get older you become like a monkey like a chimpanzee but then why why like a monkey why like a why like a koi why so the madris says because a koi for a monkey starts imitating people okay a monkey imitates people so everyone understands it matters you know when you're like a zadie you're 70 you start imitating your grandchildren and making faces you know to entertain them the katsuka rebels set some incredible insight he says when you get older you know who you start imitating you start imitating yourself you start copying what you did throughout your youth you don't have the courage to reinvent yourself you just become a copy of who you were yesterday you're a monkey because you're imitating yourself there's no originality in your life anymore you're not ready to expand your horizon to rethink things you become stuck in the quagmire of your comfort zone bundy was not that way it was ready to rethink it was original it's creative it was open because he was open he was also very non-judgmental he was curious so i pray for all of us and for all of you and i say you know bundy's song was interrupted at a very young age but may we you and us and all of us continue his unique melody and light in this world through our lives and as a result perpetuate the love and the light that he brought into the world they also offer profound condolences sympathies to his mother who's with us for many of his siblings who are with us who his relatives cousins and close friends from obvious israel from beijing from crown heights from all over the world who are with us and i really really am saddened by his loss we'll continue his love in his life in our own lives and be able to challenge ourselves the way he would have liked to continue to challenge us each in our own way thank you thank you very much this class is brought to you by the yeshiva.net please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at www.theyoshiva.net donate