Tisha Bav South Africa Lecture: Why Would Moshe Advocate Placing the Jews in Heavy Chains?

the yeshiva.net thank you very much to my dear friend abmo and thank you very much to Michael and may this evening be indeed a great Merit for a complete and speedy recovery for your mom L for many many healthy happy prosperous years filled with joy Bliss SAS thank you to everybody behind this event and of course thank you to the Beloved Community the South African Jewish Community a community like none other for being here for gracing us here with your presence and for this uh very special invitation to be able to address you during such an evening it's been 1,954 years that's a long time 1,954 years since the year 70 the night of the 9th of of that period that moment that day when God's home on Earth our bet mikdash our Holy Temple was consumed first by the flames of Babylonia and then a few hundred years later on the very same day by the Flames of Rome and here we stand 1,954 years later telling the story but also sadly experiencing the story how many homes of God went up in Flames this year how many temples holy temples were destroyed Every Soul we are told every body every human soul every human body is a betam mikdash is a dwelling home for the Divine is a place of meeting between Heaven and Earth the soul and the body itself is the great miracle of fusion Between Heaven and Earth between infinity and finiteness between the Eternal and the Very physical world that we inhabit how many such holy temples were destroyed this year how many of our most precious brothers and sisters children young and old whose lives have come to a brutal end on Simas Torah 5784 October 7th 2023 how many of our brothers and sisters in captivity including babies how many of our most precious and holiest Soldiers the sweetest of the sweetest the kind kindest of the kind have lost their lives battling a fierce enemy a fearsome enemy protecting their brothers and sisters the millions of Jews living in our Promised Land our Eternal land how many wounded how many bereaved Families how many broken families as we speak victims of this war of this horrific War and how many Jews living with such a fear of the unthinkable fear of the unknown surrounded by countries like Iran surrounded byala surrounded by Hamas in the good old expression of the medish one lamb surrounded by 70 wolves but with a Shepherd who was divine and infinite and Timeless so we tell the story 1 954 years later it's not just a story of the past of a home that once stood on a temple in the old city of Jerusalem and went up in flames it's not even only a story about a commonwealth destroyed a spiritual epicenter obliterated so many lives lost and the Jewish Exile the longest Jewish Exile commencing but like everything in Judaism it's timely and it's relevant and there's also good news that we still tell the story The talmud says in trus said and he lived a few short Generations after the destruction of the second temple he was the editor of the Jerusalem talmud the second century Sage who lived in the Holy Land second and third Century Sage said whoever Mourns and Grieves for J merits and sees its joy in other words those who are part of the grieving process also experience the Bliss psychologically he's saying something very deep only when I'm ready to face all my pain am I also ready to face all my Bliss only when we can really grieve for the most innocent and most pure and holy things in us that seem destroyed can we then discover their TR true nature and the fact that they're indestructible it took me many years to internalize this truth only when I'm ready to face the adversity only when I'm ready to face all the pain and grief for it and we all have our own inner Jerusalem our own inner Jerusalem is the place where you meet God in your deepest place everyone is a bet mikdash everybody is a holy Temple when God introd uces the idea of a holy Temple in the book of Exodus in he says I will create a sanctu create for me a sanctuary and I will dwell among them it should have said I will dwell among I will dwell in it not among them and the commentators say among them the sanctuary is the physical home but it's in the heart of every individual where God wants to dwell and when I'm ready to grieve for my own Jerusalem from that inner space where you meet God that interlacing link between Heaven and Earth where ultimately all of our pain comes from our deepest pain is the pain of that innocence inside of us that may have been abused that may have been eclipsed that may have not been given the attention the love the confidence that it needed to be able to live in a very dark world and when we're ready to face that grief as our generation is ready to do then said says you will also encounter the true nature of your soul that it's indestructible it's fascinating and we wonder is it this way do I have to face my pain in order to face my Bliss it would have been nice to say no we don't have to let's just get straight into the Bliss but apparently for his own infinite wisdom and this is beyond me as the sages used to say if I knew him I was him God created the world in a way where we Face the darkness and we know that behind it there's a crazy insane light and it's only when I'm ready to face that in all of its grief do I also then touch what am I really in pain about I'm pain because of the sweetness because of the Holiness because of the Purity and then I realize I'm in pain because of how indestructible it is how can Darkness eclip something that is so light how can evil Eclipse something that is so good how can unholiness have power over something so sacred so holy so pure and that's painful but then I also realize it doesn't it doesn't really have power over it it's indestructible and theam S one of the greatest Jewish sages in the last Generations the rabbi of prur today bratislav MOS s he says the grammar in the talmud seems off says whoever Mourns for Jerusalem merits and sees his Joy he should say it in the future tense whoever Mourns for Jerusalem will Merit and see the joy not merits and sees the joy now and he says no you're missing the point whoever Grieves for Jerusalem today already merits and sees its Joy the very grief is a symptom of connection we're in pain because we're in love if there's no love there's no pain I'm in pain because I lost something because there something or at least I think I lost something there's something so precious there's such a sacred attachment it's the pain and it's the grief that demonstrates the Holiness the connection the love the way he puts it is he says something that's really dead you move on something that's alive you never forget there's no closure if Jerusalem was gone in the Jewish memory they would have been like every other exiled people but they're grieving for it they're remembering it meant that even during the grief they knew that they're still holding on to something very very real and it's true about all of our Lives we go through ups and downs we go through vicissitudes who of us does not face real pain real vulnerability some of us may be in a more dramatic way than others because of our life stories because of our circumstances but life is a school of suffering every person in their own way and it's the fearlessness of facing the grief of it that actually allows me to also face all the love and that's why the Jewish calendar the sages did not suppress tab they didn't just put it under the into the closet they didn't just say you know let's move on life moves on they did not do that they created a period every every year called three weeks they created a period called N9 days within the 3 weeks and then within the nine days that moment called Tish and it was almost a day where the Jewish people pay tribute to the pain in the world to the darkness that we each have have to face to the adversity we each had to face growing up whatever that meant or means for you physically psychologically emotionally socially spiritually and sometimes in ways that maybe you're not even ready to acknowledge because one of the greatest Defenders and one of the greatest defense mechanisms is suppression repression it could even be unconscious denial creating substitutes to cope with I become a aggressive I become confrontational I emotionally disassociate I become a people's pleaser fight Freeze for flight whatever my response is psychologically I'm not ready to face the pain of the child so individually and collectively our sages and our prophets said no take the time take the night of TSH take the day of TSH and weep cry feel it face it and remember that du eye that can feel all that pain is indestructible the eye that can be the Observer the witness to all that destruction transcends it in a paradoxical way the very fact that we can cry is already such a powerful symbol of Joy because it means that we know that there is something to cry for we didn't lose our innocence it also knows that there is something that's not destroyed that can cry for that innocence because as the prophet Malaki said and he was the last prophet of Israel he says God says I have not changed and you the children of Jacob have not perished as long as nobody can kill God nobody can kill the Jewish people that's the good news we Are hashem's Witnesses in the world that is the secret of all anti-Semitism The Secret of anti-semitism is beyond what any logical person can explain logically 4,000 years of such hatred for what for when what have we done every society we came to disproportionately we Tred to help to be charitable to be giving of course not all Jews are perfect of course we have our share of crooks but when you look at the venomous anti-Semitism coming out from the world today and you wonder who are they talking about which nation are they talking about they're accusing us of things that we don't even dream in our worst nightmares Even in our bad days where we really want to be narcissistic and selfish and aggressive and hedonistic we don't dream of such heinous crimes the crimes in which they accuse Israel and the Jewish people are just a projection of what they're thinking about of they would love to do to us it just shows what evil lurks in people's hearts so Jews always respond in two different ways self-hating Jews who don't know who they are respond with more self-hate with more self-blame with more self- denigration and they become even more deviant in their own eyes they become more self-loathing self-hating they suppress themselves even more they crunch into a smaller Circle yet they become crunched up like a little worm as they squirrel away from Life facing their own mediacity and just trying to please the world through psychological Maneuvers that are Sox iic and unhealthy but anybody who has a relationship with their soul knows on the contrary this is a time where you have to dig much deeper into your n into your Purity into your goodness into your Holiness this is what the world is craving for this is what Redemption is looking for searching for such moments of Darkness create the deepest resilience in the Jewish people not because they understand the darkness but because they understand what is at stake what is at stake is that the goodness is being bes besed by such profound forces of darkness and it only tells you how good and holy and innocent and pure and sacred you are how much you need to believe in it how much you have to live it how much you have to embrace it the temple can't be destroyed in its spiritual sense a physical building can be destroyed but the inner the inner core the inner resilience can never be destroyed the inner spiritual Essence could never ever be a obliterated so in the very grieving of Jerusalem there's also a tremendous power the power of community the power of Faith the power of resilience and the power that the fact that we could be here almost 2,000 years later to tell the tale to say that I'm not just collectively that of course but also individually to be able to say that after all these years of so much darkness and so much destruction there were times the Jewish people thought everything is over it certainly came close to it and one of those moments were when the temple went up in Flames once and then twice and yet here we are almost 2,000 years later we share the story we cry for the story and we're here together and we cry for the story that happened today and happened yesterday and happened two days ago and happened 3 days ago when you follow the news coming out of our precious and holy Homeland ER is all our Eternal and beloved Divine gift and my dearest friends at such a night such a powerful night such a special night a night of sadness a night of grief but also a night of tremendous strength of tremendous [Music] fortitude I want to share with you a little story in the tal the story goes back to the first to the Tish above 1,954 years ago you got to love our people we remember everything we put everything down in writing you know 3,000 years later we know who lived when when they were born when they passed away you know it's amazing like we could trace back our lineage all the way back to Abraham and Sarah it's pretty cool how many people can do that like sure a was my Z Sor was my bubba you light choas candles exactly what SAR and Rebecca and Rachel and Lead did so the Tama tells a story about a man his name was Rabbi Joshua rabi yosua the son of Kan he was a levite in fact he was one of the musical he was one of the vocalists in the Holy Temple in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem there was a daily kerto in the morning and the afternoon it was a pretty exciting place to be there were there could be 120 musicians and 12 120 vocalists it was a pretty Grand Symphony every day in the Holy Temple he didn't have to pay for a ticket and it was a most beautiful symphonic expression of ecstasy and Bliss from the intimacy with God and Rabbi Joshua was one of those Levites who would sing and he was a composer and then he saw the temple go up in Flames his actually for a for for for a living what he used to do was he used to produce charcoal so he seemed very you know he his the labor that he did didn't reflect that he was one of the greatest Giants one of the greatest sages among the Jewish people Not only was he well-versed in Torah but he was also well versed in all of the sciences and he was the great debator of the Jewish people against the greatest philosophers of the time so the talmud and the mid recount numerous numerous debates and exchanges fascinating between rabi yahushua rabi Joshua and the Roman philosophers the Roman governors Roman Aristocrats Roman Royals literally during the temple destru during the era of TSH of 1,954 years ago one of the stories it's in talud page eight it's one of my favorite ones Rabbi Joshua debates 60 sages of Athens 60 these are the people who are the successors they represent Socrates Plato Aristotle a few hundred years later they're already living under the Roman Empire but they represent the greatest and deepest of Greek wisdom and philosophy they're called the sages of Athens the spiritual and intellectual capital of Greece the intellectual capital of Greece of course Athens and 60 of these wise men of Athens debate one Jew Rua Ben and the talmud records the entire debate and it's all done in riddles so you have to really decipher it because at the surface it seems like childlike talk and in each debate they try to Vanquish him and defeat him and he comes back and emerges triumphant in one of the fascinating but strange in enigmatic and bizarre exchanges they turn to Rabbi Joshua and they say to him we have a question when a chick dies while it's in the egg wi its Spirit leave a little chick is alive it dies inside the egg it's sealed off from all directions it's stuck in an egg where does its Spirit descend to how does it get out of the egg how does the spirit how does the soul how does the consciousness of the chick emancipate itself this is their great question and you know what his answer was the same way it got in it's exactly the same way it gets out he won the debate that's it what is going on here what are these two children playing around with these funny cute riddles oh big question how does the spirit of the chick get out of the egg oh I have an answer the same way it got in WoW amazing in genius this is like the greatest Genius of the Jewish people debating the 60 sages of Athens friends I'm going to quote another mid of very very difficult story to understand it's a mid on this week's P portion this week's portion is and the mid mid quotes the following story there was a prince and he was the hope of the nation he was the Beloved Prince of his majesty an extraordinary young man and unfortunately he completely left his parents' path he became what you would call in South Africa an oar whatever the expression is in America they used to call him a bum I don't know if you have bums in South Africa we have some bums I don't know if they still use that word he became a real bum you know a no goodnick as your grandmother would say to of kaparis he was involved in all the wrong things saas for a prince this is not the future king and the mid says this boy this Prince had three pedagogues that's the language three pedagogues who mentored him who nurtured him who raised him who educated him and they were all insulted and the first pedagogue the senior pedagogue said he should be Chained and the thickness of the chains should be 100 liter Mayra the weight of the chains the density the thickness and the heaviness the chains should be so heavy they should weigh mea lra 100 litra which lra in the talmudic times was a very well-known weight of silver very very very int very heavy weight there was a second pedagogue he said no no no it's not going to work 12 liters 12 litra that's how much the shackle should weigh and the third one says no he'll never survive one lader one litra and the med says this is Moses jeremi King David and Jeremiah Moses speaks in Deuteronomy about the Jewish people forgetting who they are and encountering mitsu Sor ver encountering so much pain and disaster those are the shackles of 100 laders King David says God will answer you on the day of distress a day has 12 hours so that's 12 liters 12 litra of chains chains that weigh shackles that weigh 12 litra and Jeremiah says it's a time of distress it's one hour not 12 but one liter of shackles is enough that's the end of the medish what is going on there this is what Moses looked like Moses the man who shepherded the Jewish people through thick and thin who stood up to the almighty himself he told God after the creation of the golden calf if you forgive them great and if not erase me from the book that you have written and he caused God to forgive he is the one who led his people From Slavery to Freedom from bondage to emancipation he molded them as a people he single-handedly as a messenger of God stood up to the Pharaoh and staged a mutiny and Revolt remember Pharaoh was his own step-grandfather it wasn't easy to create a mutiny against his own step Z against his own step-grandfather cuz Pharaoh's daughter raised him as a mom and then he led them through the Wilderness really this is what the pedagogue looks like lock him up chain up in shackles that weigh a 100 lra really that's what Moses was about and then Jeremiah and then King David says let's go a little lower and then Jeremiah says let's go lower he's not going to survive and also why do they all talk about chains I mean I could understand the prince needs discipline the prince needs consequences the prince needs penalties the idea of chains is usually when they're taking away a prisoner and they don't want him to or her to Escape so they chain them up but that's just like what you would call a he it's a it's a prerequisite for bringing them to where you want to bring them why is that the issue like the chains and who cares how much it weighs if the if the prince can escape he can escape if it's heavy or not heavy and if he can't escape I don't care what what he's wearing like why is that the issue one of the great Masters was the alter of gur he passed away 1905 the third Reb of the GIC Dynasty in Poland he has a work called book called and I think is be 1896 he has a very very moving meaningful commentary on this med I get emotional when I think about it it's a very moving commentary he says you know when we think about chains we think about it in a negative sense bet is a home of confinement we think of prisoners who are in shackles who are in Chains who are tied up and they can't leave and that's a terrible terrible predicament I don't have to explain it one of the most heart-wrenching images in Jewish history is when you go to Rome and you see the Arch of Titus the Arch of Titus was engraved in honor of Titus who was the son of Vespasian the emperor of Rome and Titus when Vespasian became the emperor he appointed Titus to finish off Jerusalem so TI Titus Titus was the one who actually destroyed the temple and destroyed Jerusalem when he came back to Rome there was a what we would call a ticker day prey there was a huge prey to welcome his success in decimating Judea and then his brother diishan Titus died shortly after his brother diishan created this beautiful Arch of Titus and there you have the picture of the Jewish prisoners engraved and you could see it till today in Rome the picture of the Jewish prisoners being led in shackles from the land of Israel to Rome with the vessels of the temple that's where you have the famous picture of the monora and in fact my tomorrow Tish lecture which you could watch 3:00 p.m. on Tish by us Tish 3:00 p.m. New York time will be focused on the Arch of Titus in the picture of the manur and if it's the real manura not the real manura very interesting debate it's going to be Tish at 3 p.m. you could watch it on the yeshiva.net but that is one of the most debilitating humiliating experience in fact throughout history they would sometimes Force Jews to March under that entrance onto that Arch like a passageway they can go through to humiliate them to denigrate them but this says there's different types of shackles sometimes there are shackles that don't allow you to escape so you could face what you have to face and then he adds something else all the pain that we experience in life are essentially shackles chains that are trying to help us stay where we have to stay face what we have to face encounter what we need to encounter and embrace that which we've been running away from our entire life and I go back now to the beginning when I run from my pain I run from my Bliss when I run from my soul I'm also running from my joy so I have to be chained life is teaching me to be present Don't Run Away don't go to your Defenders don't go to your coverups we know there's ways to escape I have a way of self- soothing this person has alcohol this person has binging this person gets into a crush this person has their addictions their phone whatever it is we all have our ways to run away and God gives us shackles and he says no no stay here can you face yourself can you see who you really are can you see the power of your soul this is what all real spiritual work looks like all spiritual real work looks like standing and facing the full raw naked truth of me there's a lot of pain there there's a lot of pain there how many blockages that I have to develop how many Defenders did I have to create how much disassociate ation that I have to do how many crazy habits destructive patterns how much guilt and shame and lies and deception and crookedness and Ridiculousness and pettiness that I have to create in my brain simply to be able to survive because I never was ready to know who I was and it's ultim ultimately comes down this is what gal says this is what Exile is says this is what the med is talking about the prince who loses his path simply doesn't realize who he is we don't realize who we are we don't realize that we are the Divine Light in this world I don't know who I am you don't know who I am so I create all these substitutes identities so now I need an ego now I need validation now I need power now I need control I just don't know who I am I don't realize that I am God's infinite light in the world you are the purest thing that ever happened you are the best piece of news that ever occurred that ever will occur the says every person has to say the world was created for me yeah for you for you for you for you you say me I'm just a little guy living in Jo I'm just some Jew in Johannesburg or in Cape Town wherever I am my son actually is now in Durban so welcome Durban as well so the question is me the world was created for me what am I a narcissist with narcissistic personality disorder the world was created for me but yeah there's something at stake in your life that is incredible the whole world needs you nobody before you can do your work nobody after you can do your work the light that you bring into this world is indispensable to the cosmic Symphony you are an indispensable note in the Divine Symphony of history for me the world was created for you the world was created that's real that's not a joke that's what Judaism believes with every fiber of its being but we become exiled from ourselves we become alienated from ourselves the sound sounds like Strange Talk like almost religious spiritual talk like what are you on what craziness are you on you know come down just make your money do your thing and move on stop complaining but this is the light of the soul the light of the soul that cries out so Moses the greatest pedagogue says you got to chain them up with a hundred leaders bring them back to themselves force them to face themselves force them to look in the mirror don't let them run anywhere David lives a little later on in history and he doesn't have that spiritual intensity like Moses Moses would not compromise even deviation of the slightest that's why in the desert either you were in or you were out you know today we can do horrible things and become leaders in communities you know I live in America and I could tell you situations where corruption and politics take such deep root and sometimes you have people you know in the community they're on the top of the game but if you know what's happening in their homes and in their families among their children it's a sham it's a joke it's fake it's pure poison and toxic and then the kids who scream the truth are blamed they're blamed because they're innocent because they don't want to deal with corruption Moses couldn't tolerate that you know you rebelled against God you was swallowed up there was no there was Moses was it's truth truth truth it's not always kind so Moses said put on the chains with all their heaviness let them face themselves David went a little down David been a Iz that Jeremiah lived much later David was be before the first temple Jeremiah watched the destruction of the first temple and Jeremiah said in an age of Destruction the chains need to be of a different nature because you always wanted to be integrated you don't want to break people you don't want to destroy people you want to guide them you want to Mentor them every chain in life every challenge in life every obstacle in life the darkness and the pain that I'm facing is there to guide me to help me and now we'll come back to the little chick and the Egg the sages of Athens look at Rabbi Joshua and they say your people has been through so much your people have been your nation has been through so much you have been through so much why are you happy why do you have Serenity why are you celebrating life why are you still walking around with a smile you know Rabbi Joshua is the one who says in the ethics of the fathers he speaks about I know in South Africa there's a big focus on learning the ethics of the fathers Rabbi Joshua the same man says an evil eye meaning looking at other people you call it n for for you know I can't stand you I'm I'm a petty person I can't deal with your success is petty inclinations toxic inclinations sin is hating people says this is what take people out of life they don't let you live start looking at Yeshua and they're saying you know how how how do you guys remain happy how do you remain resilient they're challenging him and you know how they do that challenge very sophisticatedly they say you're a chick who died in the egg and when the chick dies in the egg you're sealed off from all sides the Mah says in Hebrew means you're crushed you're broken you're decimated the whole world hates you everybody wants to destroy you don't you get the memo didn't you get let the memo we hate you why you happy why you making a Kish on chabas why right after Tish do you guys start dancing why the shabas after Tish do you say are you crazy haven't you gotten the memo like how many generations do you need to get this memo that you're really non person Gata we don't like you the Jewish people still did not get the memo we got didn't get the memo from Pharaoh from s from CRA from from vpan from Titus from Adrian we didn't get the memo not from Stalin not from Hitler not from Nala not even fromen or from the aalas today in Iran but this egg is sealed off from all sides looks at them and says you don't understand what a soul is you don't understand where our pain comes from our pain is not disassociated from our joy our pain is not disconnected from our Bliss our pain and our Bliss live together that's why Tish is considered my man says it's going to be a holiday with M comes that's what we're waiting for we're waiting for to finish Tish as a holiday why the pus says the med says it's going to be the happiest day in the calendar why because behind all Jewish pain is the aess of our innocence it's the awareness of the innocence in the world it's God's presence that's being eclipsed that's the pain and because that is the pain we know truth prevails goodness prevails reality prevails your soul will prevail abuse doesn't Prevail evil is a lie we never ever surrender to that lie said the same way the Spirit came in that's how the spirit G out you don't understand you're not talking about something that can be eclipsed or stuck in an egg the Divinity cannot get stuck your soul is divine your soul is a the says your soul is a derivative of infinite Consciousness it's not a it's not just anecdotal it's not good sermonic material for rabbis on your shash this is the real truth of your soul your soul is infinite light if God exists and you want to know where God exists look in the mirror and if you look deep enough you'll find that's where it all is that's where the action is make your soul your best friend make your soul your best friend you don't need anybody's validation you need your Soul's validation and your soul doesn't need validation your soul is infinitely connected the same way the spirit got into the egg that's how it gets out it's always linked we never get stuck in life we're never sold we're sent the Divine spark was sent into the egg it was sent into confined place it was sent into a dark World in order to transform it in order to elevate it in order to sublim sublimate it in order to bring Redemption to it not to run away from it in order not to run away from it I have to face it but I don't face it with fear I don't face it with a sense of Despair and mediocrity I don't face it with a sense of Gloom and hopelessness I face it I feel the pain I cry for the pain I sob for the senselessness for the for the stupidity for the lies for the deception for hatred for evil that still Reigns in God's beautiful world and yet I know exactly that's exactly why I'm here I was sent into this egg not to believe that I'm stuck but to teach everybody that nobody is stuck and the worst thing that happens is when Drews start doubting their own mission we don't realize our power think about it psychologically worse than abuses when you internalize the abuse if somebody is abusing me somebody is hurting me and I know that they are the perpetrator and I am innocent at least there's a story I can te tell that's why those who know about trauma know that if you had somebody to share the story with right in the beginning and that person believed you the effects are so much different because you didn't internalize the shame the guilt the blame it's also true collectively when we as a people don't understand who we are when Israel doesn't understand who it is when instead of looking at the world and saying you don't get this this is not a joke the land of Israel is not a joke God created The World God is serious Abraham and Isaac and Jacob weren't Jokers Moses wasn't a Jester Joshua wasn't a comedian King David and Solomon Jeremiah and Isaiah weren't comedians who were trying to entertain people this is as true as DNA this is as true as electrons this is as true as every molecule in every atom that is's a piece of land which is the spiritual center of the world the link between Heaven and Earth that God has given to a people to hold to safeguard to represent that light it's not even ours to give away to negotiate it's not good for you the Arabs never got the memo that they lost to war cuz we're insecure we are insecure with ourselves the greatest tragedy of modern Jewish history my friends is not powerlessness it's power to quote Professor Ruth Weiss from Yiddish Yiddish professor in Harvard University she said what happens when a Drew makes a fist what happens when a Drew makes a fist you know what the next step is oh I'm sorry I'm going to confess for the rest of my life for so many years we experienced the pain of powerlessness Our Generation before Messiah comes God has given us the gift of prosperity of blessing of empowerment almost half of the Jewish people are living now in the our homeland that's incredible you know that since the day that the 10 tribes were exiled during the first temple since the days a little after King Solomon you haven't had 50% of the Jewish people living in the land of Israel and today we're getting close to that number K but it's incredible this is a time of tremendous Miracles when you think about where our grandparents and great-grandparents were but you know who creates the deepest Exile we create it in our own mind with our lack of confidence with our lack of security with our lack of understanding the gift of what it means to be a Jew and what it means to be a Jew today and what it means to live as a Jew and what it means to be an ambassador of God's love and light and hope and healing so my dearest friends 1,954 years later we are more determined stronger more resilient than ever tears streaming down our eyes for the pain of a people and for the Brokenness of so many innocent but remembering how much love love and commitment and faith and warmth is behind each one of those tears so we hold each other's hands today with commitment and determination collectively and individually for each of us to be able to live our own lives to the fullest as human beings and as Jews on a practical level it means that every one of us becomes not just a fan of the Jewish people you're all fans of the Jewish people you're all fans of Israel but everyone of you could say you know the Jewish people can depend on me that's our challenge to each other today if I may put that challenge in front of each and every one of you especially those who you are young idealistic spirited my young brothers and sisters the talud says everyone should say from me the world was created I want each and every one of you tonight is say you know for me the Jewish people were created for me the world was created that means they can depend on me I'm not just another passing inconsequential blimp on the surface of infinity I matter and I'm going to show up with all my ferocious love and intensity to be able to do my part in restoring a beautiful world back to its original infinite love which we call Redemption amen thank you this class is brought to you by the yeshiva.net please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at trip w.the usa.net donate