The Meaning of Pesach | Letter #22

we are live from the sea kids shabaton which took place this Shabbos in Stamford Connecticut I was seeing my little badge here I was uh here's my name I was part of the program this Shabbos amazing amazing hundreds of kids and their parents spending a Shabbos together um yeah anyways let's let's do our letter um tonight's letter is an unusual letter and if you hear noise in the background by the way it's because I'm sitting in the lobby and uh behind me are the doors to the dining hall the ballroom so the kids are going in to have their malava malka so uh I'm gonna hear noise as they go in hopefully it'll get quieter once they start eating okay tonight's letter is a very special letter a special kind of a letter it's something called the mitt of clolly a mix of clolly literally translated means a general or public letter um you could also maybe call it a pastoral letter these are letters that the rabbit did not innovate this genre there's a long-standing tradition of of rabbis communal leaders writing public or open letters to uh their flock or their congregation or their following um the Reb is uh Innovation perhaps you could call it was the idea that it was addressed to all Jews everywhere and it literally means it is addressed to all Jews everywhere what do I mean by that um somebody once wrote the rabbit and said there they feel they feel bad because they wrote to the debit so many times and they didn't get an answer and never wrote back and said what do you mean I've answered you many times I wrote that this is to every Jew all Jews everywhere you're included in that so the myth of Chloe the general letter it's not something that has only General relevance it's something that has specific relevance to everyone which is a remarkable concept that we think about it so here's what I would like to try to do I would like to learn tonight's myth of clawley in a manner that we all endeavor to take it personally um the boys got their food and then you hear that in the background you take a picture of me right now how dare you take a picture of me while I'm publicly on YouTube in front of other people already okay I'm joking it's just a joke okay you want to get on camera no that's I'm Goku okay well this is live yes hi which Community we have to give a shout out where Del Mar New York Del Mar New York we're giving a shout out your sloka says hi such a okay all right so what I would like to do is learn tonight's letter in a manner of taking it super personally understanding that the devil wrote this to each and every one of us we're live we're live on on YouTube you guys want to come on camera for a second baby don't don't touch the camera don't touch the computer okay just say hi hello okay thank you all right you guys all right famous now all right yeah famous all right all right anyways okay um so what I would like to do Endeavor to do is learn tonight's ladder a mix of quality which that ever wrote to all Jews everywhere and to take it personally so here's here's the challenge normally you see what I try to do with the letters is I try to decode what the individual who wrote to the deba was um I don't know I don't want to bother him he's walking by but Malaysia we're live right now on YouTube oh this right here I'm Live on YouTube right now you can be on well I'll lift Mason kolasky is here you're out you're Live on YouTube Just say hello everyone Okay so normally what I try to do is figure out the person who is writing to the rabbit like what's going on in their life what do they want and how is that at the speaking to them in a very personal way in this case I can't do that I can't do that but what I want to do is I want to ask you to work with me and do this as sort of like a partnership let's read this mix of quality and let's really really really try to take it personally and think about whatever's going on in your life right now and I know that I didn't write it this year that ever wrote it in 1959 like all of our letters in 1959 captioned good tests but the words of the the righteous are are relevant all times so it doesn't matter the letter was written in 1959 the letter could have been written today so let's try to really really take it personally whatever's going on in your life and maybe you'll let me know some nachos notes if this letter really spoke to you and answered whatever it is that's happening right now in your life that would be awesome okay here we go oh one more note our incredible uh translation that we've been using for our PDFs was provided by citizen English um and I don't always follow the English because whatever I'm in the flow and I just like to do my own translation however I'm going to try tonight to stick to the English that's written in the PDF because in this particular case the English wasn't just um it wasn't what they call students free translation it was it's an actual official translation maybe I'll explain um would come out in several languages the original version was in Yiddish and the English version which was translated by Nissan Mandel was then given back to the rebe for attitude in other words the English translation of the mix of quality that came out was reviewed edited by the rabbit to the to the extent of literally down to the punctuation so in this case the English that we have from Nissan lindel it was reviewed I mean when you have an Englishman of quality that rather Mendel's English was reviewed by the rabbit and down to the most exact details so because of that we're going to try to stick to the English um that we have here so it might be a little bit more cumbersome for me to kind of jump back and forth between the Yiddish and the English but that's what I'm going to try to do okay Brooklyn New York in general they started out actually the first myth of Bali was Kai yellow tuftion good so we're talking about before then you see us even we're talking about after yudhvat after the stalkers the passenger and kayalo is of course hayal the birthday of the Walsh and the and the alpharable but it was a pre-titary letter it was pretty high holidays and that was sort of the format of the problem they would come out before the high holidays and before PESA 30 days but uh the theme of the letter was peso okay so how's the Sound by the way now because that Lobby is really full can you guys hear me or is it like crazy impossible to hear me let me know in the chat this is uh this is not really uh working doing my best over here perfect okay great all right so um to our brethren the Jewish people everywhere meaning blessing greetings and lessons all right approach I'm going to try to use the official approaching the festival well see it's already I'm having problems here because I'm chopping up the Yiddish differently than okay maybe I'll do one full sentence at a time foreign approaching the Festival of matters the season of our liberation um I'm sending my prayerful blessings to my brethren everywhere this is a long sentence wow gotta be careful all right there's a Lobby full of kids he just knocked my light off my camera uh this this seemed like a good idea at the time okay all right I'm having trouble yeah yeah I'm having a little bit I'm Live on YouTube yeah okay there's like a lot of people coming by and they're knocking the table okay let me let me let me try this again so we're getting close I'm gonna really try to use the English because they'd have a good review of the English okay let's not knock the table kids all right approaching the Festival of matzus the season of our Liberation I send my prayerful blessing to my brethren everywhere that the festival and still into the daily life of every Jew and Jewish I just want to stop there and point something out but Abba says if you know Yiddish grammar so that pronoun is in the date of uh case which means it's a direct object s is the feminine in the dative case and I've pointed this out before takes great pains to do something that is not so smooth and sometimes uh doesn't roll as fluidly but he goes out of his way to specifically mention both men and women so in this case as well and that ever could have just used the masculine and in Yiddish it would have included women as well but that ever goes out of his way to say yeah okay so Deb is wishing a true and full uh Liberation a lot of people taking little videos here yeah all right um free of complete Liberation free from all anxiety and adversity both material and spiritual so as to rise to the inner meaning of Yates the Prelude to receiving the Torah and to fulfill the Divine promise I think that's where I got up to in the dishes when you bring out the people from the time you will serve God on this mountain Hashem told me you're live right now that's interesting how people come and they want to interact with me when they see me give me class okay yeah all right I didn't realize when I parked out here that I was sitting in front of the uh the ballroom okay so just to uh recap that episode as we're approaching peso I want to send my prayer for blessings that you should experience freedom freedom from what from all your worries material and spiritual s um matters connected with Torah and Mitzvahs are of course infinite and eternal as God himself who has ordained them interesting concept there that just like God is infinite and eternal so too the messages of the Torah of his holy Torah are infinite and eternal I guess that also backs up what I was saying before that although this letter was written in 1959 we should take it as if it were written in 2023. foreign so are are also their instructive teachings which are valid for all kinds and places and can and must be applied in daily life [Music] even more so in the case of such a comprehensive matter as the yante of PESA of yes which we are enjoined to remember every day okay so the devil says Hashem is eternal and infinite is Torah is eternal and infinite so every teaching of Torah is eternal and infinite and especially that's talking about any any message of Toyota but especially something like PESA which celebrates The Exodus from Egypt which is something that we as Jews remember every single day we are enjoined to Remember The Exodus from Egypt not just once a year and the anniversary of our Liberation and pesach but every single day ain't nothing from the unviser gun from them jumped of Pacer is in a violet 's and gaganzatz one of the instructive messages of the yantev of PESA is that a Jew has the inner capacity and actual ability to transform himself in a short time from one extreme to the opposite okay so one of the teachings of PESA is the idea that we can go from one extreme to the other very very quickly it doesn't take a long time to change your life sometimes it feels like we're in a situation that we cannot see how we're ever going to get out of it it ever says the message of pesach is it does not take long Now by human power maybe not only would take a long time maybe it would never be accomplished but this isn't human power this is Hashem doing it and it can happen in the blink of an eye let's let's hear more the bitter kite fungalusa the Fallen Kite from the Eden Indiana site in our holy scriptures and in rabbinic sources or our our holy scriptures and rabbinic sources describe in detail the bitterness of the enslavement in Egypt and the Nader of spiritual depravity to which the enslaved Jews had sunken in those days okay meaning Egypt was not a good situation for the Jews it was not fun we were materially oppressed and Also spiritually we're on a very low level I don't want to dwell on painful subjects but we're all going to say in uh in the uh in the hagada we're gonna as the as our sages enjoying us to do we're going to say the truth about our our origin story that we begin with what our Sage is called with a disgrace that we were in a disgraceful situation and um that's part of our story to acknowledge the things were not good not only they were materially oppressed but spiritually morally um we had fallen as well okay in a land was kinder enslaved in a country from which even a single slave could not Escape completely in the power of a pharaoh who bathed in the blood of Jewish children that was describing how bad it was broken and the frying is we were broken in body and spirit by the meanest kind of forced labor and suddenly Pharaoh's power is broken the entire people is liberated I found it fascinating that this is written in present tense and as I mentioned to you the English was revealed and edited meticulously by the river so it is very intentionally in present tense and perhaps that's because this is not history this is actually something that's happening right now okay so suddenly Pharaoh's power is broken present tense the entire people is liberated present tense the erst while slaves emerge from bondage as free men bold and dignified with an outstretched arm and with great wealth okay does glycan is the goola we just described how the material bondage was broken how Pharaoh's um political power was suddenly stripped through him but what about the spiritual dilemma what about the spiritual Straits that we were in so now we describe that does glycon is to consume getting uh hold on oh nice somebody's texted me a picture of myself sitting here in the lobby okay does gliding is the Gola and guys to continue likewise is their spiritual Liberation in a manner in a manner that just be that bespeaks a complete transformation again the theme is Everything Changes rapidly from one extreme like the lowest of the low to The Other Extreme the highest of the high in very very quick time okay this to them so this to their McGregor from Aveda Zorro on ought to say that may only gets Foundation so after having sunk to the 49th degree of unholiness that's the an ultimate level of unholiness if you go to the 50th God forbid there's no return so this is right before the brink this is at the brink right before the point of no return after having sunk to the 49th degree of unholiness to the point of pagan idolatry the Jews in Egypt that retains their cultural identity which is one of the merits that they have but they did fall into Pagan idolatry like their slave masters they suddenly but at that lowest level they suddenly behold God revealed in his full glory and only a few weeks later God was revealed in this full Glory at the splitting of the sea from the sea split on the seventh day after they're leaving Egypt and only a few weeks later meaning unsure and Martin Taylor which is seven weeks after they left Egypt and six weeks after the splitting of the sea they all stand at the foot of Mount Sinai on the highest level of Holiness and prophecy and God speaks to each one of them individually without any intermediary not even that of my shirabeno and declares I am God thy God [Music] therefore it's interesting the translation here because I would say the teaching and the in the instructions from this are colon but it says the lesson is highly instructive which is not a literal translation but I guess that's how the devil wanted it you know you're Live on YouTube yeah just letting you know okay okay uh the lesson is highly instructive someone's reading hot okay anyone wants to come to Stamford right now you could also be famous is it really painful right now to try to hear me I have a good mic a lot of Hashem so I think you're mostly getting me but uh I'm super distracted by the noise I hope I'm not too rattled over here I hope I'm giving you some idea some quality uh share okay you want to be famous no you're good okay foreign no matter what the status of the Jew is individually or collectively right that means individually means your personal life collectively means there are times in history which are harder for the Jews um and even when an individual Jew may not be having a hard time as an individual but there are times collectively which are challenging for the Jewish people so no matter what the status of the Jew is individually or collectively no matter how gloomy the position what what was gloomy a translation of by the way uh I'm just interested I love that word gloomy uh so it the original Yiddish was no matter how the situation appears later upshot some Financial according to human evaluation doesn't really say gloomy but I guess that's that's the point and as I said again the Abba reviewed uh Robbie Mandel's English down to the the latter and the punctuation marks okay no matter how gloomy the position appears to be in the light of human appraisal the Jew must remind himself every day of Yates and strive effectively towards complete Liberation and freedom in a bold manner with an outstretched arm to the fullest attainment with great wealth freedom from all shackles and obstacles and escape from his mitzrayim in order to reach the height of Priestly Kingdom and holy nationhood that's how God described us at the giving of the Torah he called us collectively a Priestly Kingdom and a holy nation so you're going from this low situation to this High situation of being a Priestly Kingdom and holy nation through receiving the Torah in all respects as in the days of your Liberation from Israel when Sheikh comes the prophet tells us it will be reminiscent and in fact even greater than the Miracles that we experienced when we left Egypt okay so here you're following the message okay so the message here again you see us with time is the story of dramatic radical rapid transformation okay dramatic radical rapid transformation the lowest of the low you can't go lower than Mentos you can't get lower and then to the highest of the high Hashem revealing himself to you directly you can't get higher than that and that all happens in a few weeks so that's what the story is that's that's the narrative you want to say the story in in a sentence we were lower than you can possibly you can't get any lower than that and in a very short time Hashem brought us to a level that you can't get any higher than that that's the story and if this applies to your life right now just know that this letter was written to you okay hi it's okay you're the 100th person we're seeing kids yeah of course yeah no you're the hundredth person who did it it's fine no it's fine 100 yeah okay we're live right now by the way your voice is on YouTube I hope you're not the witness protection uh I hope you're not in the witness protection program your voice is Live on YouTube right now you want to give a shout out to anyone see kids okay uh mentors other that is a real Yiddish word you I don't somebody use your computer and tell me if banklin zip is that's only the kind of Yiddish you see in a mix of Kali or uh or a secret to uh but that's that's a real term of the quaintenance then uh there must be no pause and no hesitation on this road need Ed let me I was going to trans I was so excited I want to translate it myself I'm going to use the the official English there must be no resting on one's initial accomplishment I want to tell you a comments five minutes okay you're taking my table away in five minutes um I would have thought in English to use the Expression resting on one's laurels I see it wasn't used I'm assuming it's because uh Robbie Mandel knew that the rebel wouldn't allow it because it has non-jewish Origins and connotations uh from the Greeks because when I read it I was like oh how I the idiom in English is resting on one's Laurels but I see that that's not what Rabbi Mendel used and I'm sure it's for a reason because it would have fit so perfectly the Reba wouldn't allow something that had that kind of uh origin okay so there must be no resting on one's initial accomplishments when darf urun business one must go on and on higher and higher until one apprehends and experiences the call I am God thy God and we see this is the Reba's General approach in life you did great amazing congratulations keep going don't stop Don't Stop Don't Stop go from strength to strength what you did is strength already I'm not saying you're weak no you're strong now celebrate your strength by doing even more that's the numbers General approach to life okay unvising I got five minutes before they take the tables uh [Music] foreign whatever gives now a very specific application of this message And Timely in our present time and age when Jews as individuals and in groups have bestowed themselves to seek for a way of Liberation from their spiritual bondage and to set foot on the road of true freedom of the spirit above all to completely free themselves from the fear what will the guy meaning the non-jewish Nations say so that bit is expressing this uh this rapid progress of going to Freedom specifically I mean it complied to other things as well but specifically to the idea that there's this Zeitgeist uh right now in the world I don't know if right now means 1959 or 2023 but the Jewish people are saying you know what we do not have to assimilate we don't have to impress the rest of the world we have to be true to ourselves we have to do things that are authentically Jewish of misguided Jews and the guy within oneself the yitzahara today is that drama to these especially pesach calls do not stop go further rise higher with an outstretched arm um and your Liberation will then be complete and certain with the young and the old the sons and the daughters and with great wealth um with blessings for a kosher and happy peso and may the prophetic promise as in the days of die Liberation I'm reading thy it says thy I'm reading thy as in the days of thy Liberation from Egypt will I show him wonders through our righteous mashiach we've soon fulfilled in our own time and then it has the Rebel's name and as you notice it says that of his full name and what's fascinating is normally the rebel would sign letters men schnerson the rebel just write his initial were very special in that the devil will write his full name in the early versions that would actually write his full name and then Ben Hannah which was unusual as well so make of that what you will but there's something very special about this type of letter so again Facebook is the message you can go from the lowest of the low to the highest of the high in Rapid time and in our times we need to especially apply this to the idea that we don't care what the world says we have to do what we know is right as Jews and we can transform everything just like that mashiach can be here already mashiach now okay