Tomchei Shabbat - Rabbi David Haber

Just to begin with a bit of a ha. Stanley adjust for an engagement party. So that the sham very soon we'll see one of those for you maybe in this home I'm in. Ricky and Monique it's a little surreal to be in your home. I'll tell you why. Because my mother-in-law Shalom Rachel Haber Rachel Haber Cohen was one of her dearest friends with Monique. And I have many pictures in my home currently as we speak of my wife and your children my mother-in-law and your wife Ricky Sheba De La Hayim I just interesting to stand here knowing that these are people and since I'm a little child and since my wife was a little kid we're hearing about how special they are and about what they do and about how much they care. Ricky our fathers and my Shalom were very very very close. Shmuel our fathers were very close. If you're paying attention what they will learn is orchestrating it that there's a unified voice coming together to tell the community that there is a very strong need that is pressing. So Ricky to you and to Monique and to Stanley I shall shall bless this home and I shall shall bless your family that the sham forever and ever your generation the one after that and the one after that and so on and so forth should always and forever be on the giving end. Amen. And and Stanley let me just tell you this. You said I'm one of your favorite people. That's very nice. You also have a lot of other favorite people. But you know how much I love you and you know how close we are. And there's a reason for that. Because there are men your age that today are busy thinking about what time are they going for drinks or what time are they going for mazza? Whoever they hold by what time are they going to the pool? What time are they going to the beach? And you're figuring out how we're getting food to the tables of those in our community in need. If you're doing this at this age, I wonder what gifts >> [snorts] >> Hashem has in store for you to give back to our community in the future. I don't know 100%. I'm not a prophet. But just reading the tea leaves, so to speak, you could tell that this is a person who has an extraordinary extraordinary future ahead of him. Stanley, Hashem should bless you with all the Baruchot in the Torah, amen. You heard from many people this morning, many on the video, many Rabbis here. So with the permission of the Rabbis, I just want to crystallize it if I can. Some things in life are debatable. Deal, Brooklyn, meat, dairy, even sports teams, the Rangers, the Devils, the Knicks, it's not debatable but them. Things are debatable. Some people like things hot, some people like things cold. And then there are certain things in life that are simply just not debatable. It's not even a discussion. Some say this, some say that, but then there are areas in our life, you will see if you're young as you get older, there are certain areas that are simply not debatable. I want to share with you something that's not debatable. The Pele Yoetz says as follows, he's a fascinating work and he says as follows. He says every person is implored to treat their fellow man like a limb, like a body part. That's what he says. And he says as follows, "K'asher Yachus al echad me'evarav, a person is supposed to treat their fellow man as a body part." Literally. It's like who's a call a dummy cell. Why? Kikulanou. Because all of us Kishikhad. Kiguf Ekhad. We are like one man with one body. Why would the Paleo use the phrase that we should treat somebody else as a body part? Why not treat him as a friend, as a family member, as a brother, as a sister, as a father, as a mother? But that's not what he says. He says we are employed, we are implored to treat people like a body part. The reason I think is this. Yesterday, maybe around 4:00 or 5:00, or for some of us maybe it was 6:00, maybe it was 7:00, maybe for some of us it was 10:00 to 8:00. But our stomachs, our belly began to ache. And we began to say, "I need to eat." Not I want to eat, I need to eat. My system must have food in it. If you would have gone 1 hour past 8:44, if you would have gotten to 9:44, somebody could have paid you 10 grand, you wouldn't have gone an extra hour. Because something in me said that I need this, not I want it. It's not debatable. I absolutely need this. But I food is not debatable. It's not a question of should I live in Allenhurst or should I live in Deal or should I live in West Deal or Long Branch? It's not do you think we should go to Deal a little bit earlier should we go a little bit late? Where should we go for vacation, Florida or Aruba this year? Those things are debatable. Food [snorts] is not debatable. There are a lot of great organizations in the community, a lot of great organizations in the community. And people have different feelings on each particular organization. I like it, I don't like it, it's my it's not my I like the rabbi, I don't like the rabbi. He's good, he's not good, they're wasting money, they're spending money. I don't like what they're doing. All sorts of stuff. Tomchei Shabbos is not debatable. I don't care if you're the blackest of the black hat or you're practically an atheist, it doesn't make a difference. At the end of the day, food is not something that is debatable. So, I want to share with you this. We think in this world that there are other people problems. Other people problems. You hear about issues that happen, you watch them on TV, you see them in the news. Those are other people problems. We have rich people problems and they have other people problems. That's what we think. Nobody really believes that food is a real problem. Food? What are you talking about? Go out to that table and you could feed an army. Food's not a problem. I will tell you food is not other people problems. These are our people problems. I know people and every rabbi here knows people receiving food from Tomchei Shabbos. We know them. They have names. They have spouses. They have children. They probably sit next to you in one shul or another. Very real. There's 150 plus families in our community. Yes, in our community. With all the opulence and all the wealth and all we have going on who need food. And food is not debatable. This morning, I want to share with you something as we close. And that is this. There's a conversation relating to Eved Ivri, relating to a Jewish slave. Something that doesn't apply nowadays, but it did apply. And the conversation is this. that there's a halakha, there's a law that if there's one pillow in the home, it goes to the slave and not to the master. So, the Hachamim asked the following question, I don't understand. There's a concept called "Chayecha Kodmin", that my life comes first. And if my life comes first, then how could it be that I don't get the pillow first? This question is answered from one of the greatest Torah and Chesed builders in the history of our nation, a rabbi named by the Ponevezher Rav, Rav Kahaneman. He says, "Here's why. Because [snorts] as Jews we know that if he can't sleep, then I can't sleep. So, me giving him a pillow is me giving a good night's sleep. It's true Chayecha Kodmin, my life comes first. I need to sleep. The only way a Jew is able to sleep is if he knows another able another Jew is able to sleep. The only way we could eat is if we know somebody else is eating. The only way we could come to Shabbat is if we know somebody else is able to have a Shabbat. The only way we could actually cut our food tonight after breaking challah, and we put into our mouths roast for the first time in a week or so, the only way we could do that is if we know with 100% certainty that all those families that need food are getting food. Because "Ki Ish Echad KeGuf Echad", if they're hungry, then I am hungry. As you give this morning, I want to suggest something. Go back to your hungriest fast. This past Tisha B'Av, Yom Kippur, before it, what have you. Go back to it. And just remember, if you can, that feeling, that knowing feeling that, you know what, I would pay for a glass of water? You know what I would give for a burger? These are not other people's problems. These are our people's problems. I want to give you a phrase this morning and then we'll go to Harry. But I want to lend a phrase if I can. I know that officially this organization is called Tomchei Shabbos. In our community generally speaking, we like a good English translation for everything. So without giving you the exact translation, let me give you my own translation. Call them food angels. That's what they are. Because there are dozens and dozens, if not hundreds of people, this coming Shabbos will be fed and will be full and will be satiated because an angel gave them a box of food. Because Keisha Echad Ke Goof Echad. If their fridge is empty, then we need to feel like our fridge is empty. If their cabinet is empty, then we need to feel like our cabinet is empty. And if their belly is empty, then we must feel as though our belly is empty. Because the reality is this, there are certain things in this world that are debatable. This organization, this place to live, that place to go on vacation, this girl to marry, that guy to marry, all these things were debatable. But there's one thing that isn't, and that thing is food. And here's what else is not debatable. In this community, as Shmuel so eloquently said, we are the nuclear power plant of Chesed. We give and we know how to give. Let me tell you what I'm seeing on my end and then I'll close. I'm a young rabbi. I deal with a lot of very young people. Rabbis, I don't know how you did it and I don't know what you did, but you prepped our community good and well cuz the young are giving and they're giving like crazy. Believe your eyes, you talk to a man who's 60 or 70, I have commitments, I'm not sure, let me get back to you. You talk to somebody that's between 20 and 35, Rabbi, I'm coming to you. Just send me the Zell, I'm giving it to you. That's the community we live in. This is the young people that we have. This room is predominantly young people. I credit you for coming here. You got dressed, you woke up, that's already an accomplishment on a Friday. You came here and you're caring about somebody that likely you never met and likely you'll never know. But here's the thing, you two know that this is not debatable. Here's why, because if they're hungry, I'm hungry. Ke'ish Echad, Ke'guf Echad. Thank you.