When LOVE for God overflows...

A number of years ago, there was a video that they found 20th Century Fox found it or whatever, some type of old reel that they had from almost 100 years ago, even more than 100 years ago, of the first Agudah convention. As we know, there's the famous picture of the Chofetz Chaim, a person who didn't have much photography that was done about him, and they were able to see the Chofetz Chaim walking into the Agudah convention over here over there, the first convention that there ever was. You see him walking in there, and I know everybody has seen it. It's a very famous thing that took pictures of it. Pictures of our in our sukkah, etc., etc. It's an incredible thing that people found. Question, what did he say when he was in that Agudah convention? What did the Chofetz Chaim say over there? So, in the morning, of course, you understand he was one of the beginning speakers, the Chofetz Chaim, one of the anchor speakers, and he spoke over there about the importance of going out and being mechazek other people. You have to go out and do kiruv, you have to do tzedakah, we have to use our capabilities to give a shiur. If you're able to give a shiur, if you have the money, you should go and give tzedakah. If you're able to be mekariv anashim, you're supposed to get out there. We're all busy, he said. And as busy as we are, we have to go out and do something for Klal Yisrael. We have to get out and help Klal Yisrael. That was a more or less his his drasha, coupled with some extras that Chofetz Chaim Kedarko would mention. What's strange about that specific convention is that in the afternoon, batzohorayim, the Chofetz Chaim kam od pa'am, he got up a second time, and he asked permission, "Can I speak again?" Speaker, "Why not? Chofetz Chaim got on the floor once to speak, no problem." But it's very strange. Why would anybody speak a second time? Whatever he didn't say in the beginning, why why what does he have to repeat again? A person like that doesn't in the first place he doesn't forget things. So, he got permission, Baruch Hashem, to get up and speak again. And you know what he said? He said, "I was listening to the murmurs that were going on in the audience after I spoke, and they said, 'Yeah, for the Chofetz Chaim, it's okay. He's a kav. For someone as great as the Chofetz Chaim, we understand he can get out there and spread his Torah and go out and spread and do everything that he does, and go be mekariv the Shema writes for him and everything that the Shema writes for him and everything that the Shema But for the for the simple people like us how are we ever going to get away with this that's so simple you know as they say easier said than done it's easier to get up here on the microphone and speak about it but you know when it comes down to it you can do it not every one of the can go ahead and do such a thing. So the said I decided to stand up again for that reason cuz I didn't enjoy these warmers and he brings a Marshall which some people might have heard but it's necessary to mention over here. And he says there was a person who was a important figure he invited over an important political figure into his house back then political figures were important things have changed a little bit. But >> [snorts] >> he invited an important he gave him a he gave him a nice you know a table refreshments or whatever it was and he gave him a you know a cup of tea he gave him a cup of tea to drink. And in the cup of tea there was a lot of sediment they were like cold there it was dirty the tea was a little bit dirty wasn't clean. So this is important you know governmental figure he was a high position said to him you know you know your tea is dirty here I hate to say it but you know I'm I'm a little bit important to be drinking stuff like this over here. And he told him yeah I apologize we just didn't have time you know I I didn't know that we're supposed to he said you're supposed to you know that's just the way the water is here he says it's just the material of the water here in the area. He goes well the answer is you're supposed to filter the tea take your time before I come filter the tea and give me some pure water here giving me dirty tea who's to blame? That's what he said. And that was it he said okay believe it or not next time I'll try to make sure to do it. >> [clears throat] >> A few weeks later there was a fire that burnt out in the city and it burnt many many houses there was damage that was done. And you know this governmental figure came and he said what happened why don't you guys put out the fire what took so long to put out the fire till you got the thing he said I'll tell you the truth it took a long time till I was able to filter the water I had to filter the water in order to spill on the fires but it took a while till we did didn't, you know, it was slowly but surely, but it took a while to filter the water. So, as the Hafetz Chaim spoke out in that uh very important convention, he mentioned, "When [snorts] you're serving and drinking water, you go ahead and filter the tea. When you're trying to put out fires, you don't have to filter the water. You take anything you can get, whatever you can get, and whoever you can get to go ahead and burn out fires." That's the importance of going in and doing such things. That's what the Hafetz Chaim's message was. It doesn't matter who you are or where you are. Don't tell me you're not the Hafetz Chaim. You don't have to be me. You have to go ahead and be anyone who cares, and you can go out and do something, and you can change the world, and you can go ahead and affect even one person, two people. It doesn't It doesn't make a difference. The example I always think of when I say this idea is is uh the idea behind here is How do you torture someone? You know you torture someone? I'll tell you how to torture someone in a very funny way, something you never thought about. Put someone on a stranded island. Put him on an island by himself. I'll give you one example. He's playing a video game. He's playing a video game, and he wins the game. He beats the game. He beats [snorts] the game. He does a very good job. He played enough time till he beats the game. Do you know what torture that is? You can't go and tell someone else about it. What's the use of this game if I can't show Look, I won. How exciting when you're so excited. I got engaged. You're so excited. You go ahead and you're so excited. You go ahead and you go ahead and tell the chassan goes ahead and tells his friends. He goes, "Oh, really? What's the call of this?" Or a kallah goes and tells HER EVERYONE SAYS, "WOW, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT." [screaming] JUMPING UP AND DOWN ON THEIR HEADS AND THAT'S RIGHT, RIGHT? It comes from going out The whole excitement getting Probably only get engaged if you're able to tell people, right? The whole enjoyment is to be able to go ahead and spill it over. Why? Cuz I mean, in every of the verses, I have such excitement, such pure satisfaction from I have to go ahead and tell someone about it. I just had a son. I just HAD A BOY. WOW, YOU GO ahead and tell people. I just got my degree. I just passed my PhD. Incredible. I just got smicha. It It's It's almost useless, if I could say, if you can't go ahead and tell someone about it, family member, friends, neighbors, it doesn't matter who, you have to be able to spill it over. Why? It's important to you. When something's expelled, when something cares, when something's intrinsically intimate and loving to you, you will go ahead and tell everyone in the book in order to do it because you love it so much. For those of us who are learning Torah, I know everyone in this room is, but we do it because it's a mitzvah and we have to do it. That's what we do. We do what we have to do. We clock our hours and we go ahead and we do our daf yomi, we go ahead and do the shiur that we do. We have all seder, all vile, all void. You have all seder that you're able to go ahead and do it. We do what we have to do. For those of us who are crazy about Torah, for those of us who love Torah, you don't just keep it to yourself. You go ahead and spill over everywhere you can get it to. Anyone else who can get it also, I have to let them know. Anyone who loves so much, I'VE GOT TO TELL THEM. I CAN'T keep it to myself. I can't keep it to myself. I go ahead and give it over to as many people as I can give it over. I go ahead because it shows such a need of avid that it spills over. It goes all over. It goes all over. It goes all over. When you have a when you have a full cup, it's fantastic. But when it's spilling over the side, that's a giluy, that's an expression of what this Torah of what my relationship with means to me. It shows a lot more about me and my relationship with when I go ahead and show that I I I just I I I can't stop. I have to go ahead to go and stop everyone I can to be able to go ahead and do it. I don't have to explain what I'm about to say cuz I know everybody in this room knows what I'm talking about. Before I do that, I'm going to speak about someone before that. It's parshas so how can I stop? Right? As he was just mentioning, then we talk about that's the behind I'm not going to sit here making any comparison, obviously. We're not we're not there. But the idea behind look at this man, he passed us. Can we talk about I left he left his family his home to go through all his years. We know it wasn't easy all the trials and tribulations with all the four sheets that there are about what those 10 tests were. And still we find in the possuk, what does the possuk say? "Ki l'man ki yedati l'ma'an asher et tzavah et banav v'et b'notav acharav." What do I care about? What do I really, really care about? "Yedati." You know what yedati means? It It doesn't mean "I got it." "Yediah" is an intimate relationship. It's a connection. How could it be one who says about Avraham Avinu, "L'ma'an yedati." This is an important possuk. "L'ma'an yedati." That means "Yediah." There's a relationship between me and Hashem. Right? Hashem says, "I very much have a connection with Avraham Avinu." "Yediah" is a connection. It's a relationship. Like I said, "Adam yedati chava." What is it? Okay, this is Yitzchak, no? What is it? The fact that he gave up his whole background. He ran away from his home. He didn't have any type of connection and he left everything. What was it? All the trials and tribulations wasn't any of them. "L'ma'an yedati asher et tzavah et banav v'et b'notav." He commanded his children and his and his daughters after him. He went ahead and told them to do my Torah. Now, this is my own question, but I think it's an obvious one. I I just have a simple question. Who are all these "banav v'et b'notav" that he's talking about exactly? I don't know. Last I checked, Avraham Avinu I You know, he wasn't the most chareidi mishpacha that we have around, I hate to say it. His older son, you know, not exactly the tzaddik hador. Yishmael. He wasn't a true tzaddik at all. He wasn't exactly the one who's giving us all our problems that we're surrounded by right now. He didn't get such a "yediah shleimah" from his bochur. So, we move on to the next kid, the next child. Baruch Hashem, Yitzchak Avinu, who was a self-made godol hador as we know. He was the man who was "alum u'me'ever rosh u'rubo." I don't have to have to go into the details about Yitzchak Avinu, the "kodesh kodashim." So, that was it, you know. Bnei Ketura came later. They weren't even around. The later kids that he had from Bnei Ketura, they even came later. Who is this whole gang entourage of "L'ma'an yedati asher et tzavah et banav v'et b'notav"? All these children in his family that he went ahead and was with him. That's why I love him so much and I'm crazy about him. We all know the more says that your children are called your children. Your children are really all the people that you teach. The people that you go out and you spread to the one that you spread Hashem's name out to, those are called your children. Those are the ones that you consider your child. When it talks about you know why I care about him? He says even more than even more than all the because he loves me so much he's going around to everybody because of three Arabs are walking in the field and he's going ahead and grabbing the just please a little bit. One person here and one person here you give a little share here to grab someone IN THE BUS STOP IN order to be able to just tell you want to come into a minion. Can you just come and help me out a little bit? Just come I'm making a kids minion. Someone like that is crazy about him. He's about him. I love him. I love him. You know why? Because I see it's not about himself. It's not about obligations. It's not just a and therefore I'm learning it's because there's a true and it's spilling over the sides of can't control himself. He's going everywhere and everywhere to be able to spread the word of because it means so much to him. Like anytime we have a good to tell someone I can't hold it in I have to tell someone else. I have to tell someone else. And when you care about it if really you have such an intimate relationship with the and with the you're going to tell the world about it. You're going to spread it all over Manchester. You're not going to make sure you're going to make sure that nobody here remains no stone remains unturned. You're going to make sure that everybody knows about it because it's very very important to me. >> [clears throat] >> I saw once a beautiful that if you look at and you look at we find that many times when when When the the refer to people, as we know the says called sir. it refers to people as are or this is what it says as we all know said about she was he was but what does it say about what we just mentioning The idea about he doesn't talk about anymore he's not talking about flesh he's not talking about looking at a person he's looking at the a a a a the the that was contained that was contained within there or what he said to what he said to Sarah later on what does he say our relationship is a relationship of of it's not just about it's not just about externals it's not just about an external relationship between the two of us it's something much deeper a person [snorts] who cares about everybody else sees the inside of every he appreciates the inside of every this is my brother this is not some person who's around the area this is someone that I love this is someone that I care for this is someone I want to do and we do everything you if you think about it like I think about it very often I don't know why how much do we do for our children it's a little bit insane almost right most of all you know if you think about it you don't have children but how hard would you have to work how much would you have to do you buy some one bedroom apartment you wouldn't need that much if you didn't have your children the amount you have to put into your children the amount you have to raise them to send them to schools and I'm not going to talk about weddings cuz people might get scared right but the amount that you have to invest into your children is is absolutely insane and we do it because we love them enough she they're part of me they're an extension of me I'm willing to sacrifice literally my whole life for my children A person who's standing on a pedestal a person who's standing above that every all he calls is well is his children he goes way above that. He sees every single Jew as a as me me. Not never he's an That's how everyone is someone that I love. Someone who's directly related to me, connected, and I'm willing to give up everything, my whole life, just for that person or any person that passes by. That's an incredible idea. No, it's something that you can't can't pass over. R' Shimon writes in his introduction the Sha'arei Yosher, it's a famous introduction. But it's [clears throat] something that every person has to know. The Sha'arei Yosher says, you know, intrinsically in my nature, most people are I have to come over. Most people are thinking about themselves. As a rabbi, I'm quite familiar with this phenomenon, right? I'm just telling you that most people are busy focusing on their own personal interests, on what I can do for myself and take care of myself, which is understood, especially in Eretz Yisrael when one is making money. But I'm just saying where, you know, most of the focus [clears throat] a lot is about myself. Naturally, it's not How do I learn to focus on other people? So, he says you have to extend your that you're talking about yourself, you have to make it bigger. Some people extend it to their Some people extend it to their family. My family's part of me, and I'll give up a lot for my family. Not everyone does. I'll tell you the truth. I was just recently in I spoke to one of my relatives, and I know he's a guy who travels around the world. He likes to travel a lot. And this I was wondering, you know, fine. He said, "No, me and my wife committed, I'm not saving one penny for my children. I'm not saying I'm going to go out and sell and let them fend for themselves. I've fend for myself, let them fend for themselves." There was a like that in the world Right? But he says I would have that chose you a cup, that chose you a certain way of thinking. The is extended to more than me, it was my family. By us, and hopefully, you know, that we can learn a lesson from today's message, is that sometimes your has to go a little bit beyond yourself, a little bit even beyond your family. Maybe to the If a big chemist if you live in Manchester maybe a little bit farther than that to go to class as well to see what I can do. You're not a nobody. Everybody's a somebody. And we all know that. We all have the capabilities to do a little bit of something. Anything. If you have the money, you can do it. If you have the capabilities give a share, you can do it. Like you're going to right? Or you can go ahead and put your arm around someone show a little bit of whites a little bit of a smiling teeth make a little bit of 10 minutes with someone do my sister like to give my sir of your time a little bit anything you can do to help someone else have one person. Every person is an amulet, right? Familiar I don't need to tell you. The amount that one person can achieve is incredible. How much one person can accomplish is unknowledgeable. I can quote you the moment finishing. The words of the in I have I quoted word for word. He says a feeling me sham a moment God a person is a big ball of mud. He says he's called the showers but meters. He has incredible meters. So he was attacking himself for the government. This man is top of the line pure as anything top of the meters. He says it still doesn't compare it pales in comparison and doesn't compare to someone who straightens people out in the right way. And gets the and makes people who are going off the and straightening them out. He'll avoid his words cuz he has double which we all understood. He has his own and then he has his own and he has his of everybody else that's around him. He goes ahead and he's doubling up in many ways. He's able to go ahead and give over. Incredible. He was talking about someone who says he was called the this guy was a good ball meter and everything still doesn't compare to someone who's able to get out there and go ahead and help class as well can do what he can. I think everybody knows I wouldn't just mean to to here by the Ramayana and I'm not coming to make comparisons with Roma Villa cuz we're not talking about the of the show, but at least we should learn the lesson. When we're speaking about a man who done this done this telling was such an incredible man. I had such a school to be able to see him for 3 years. And you know, it was only maybe 3 3 and 1/2 years. I think it was something like that, but I was tremendously connected. I felt very connected to him cuz I knew that this was a Adam Godol that was sitting in our midst. I knew every time they were Benji saw every time I passed by the same house came up to him. I said, "Hello." And I gave him a I said, "I'm so happy that you're here." Such a school that you're here. I always tried to give him a tremendous amount of whatever I could cuz I really meant it. It wasn't stuff a show cuz I was a big school to have him here on every day. I knew that you know, tomorrow he might not he might not be here anymore. And therefore, I have to take advantage of this opportunity to have such a person in our midst. Reb Yankel uh you know, might come here soon. And most of us know he said it at the Levaya that you know where he picked him up at a bus stop. I assume he might speak about it. I don't know. But how do we know that we cuz Reb Yankel is one of the door. He's one of the door. So, we know oh, he found him at a bus stop and look all the that he has Reb Yankel. Excuse me, don't stop there. Just because we happen to know Reb Yankel doesn't mean that that's where it stopped. Trust me, that wasn't the only guy he found at a bus the person that he found at a bus stop. And it doesn't stop there that that's where he found it. Just happens to be that's the one we know. If he found in one, he found hundreds that were standing in a bus stop. Can you just join our team minion? Can you come ahead and join and be part of us? All the people that you don't know about. Those are the real incredible things, right? How many people you don't we don't realize that are there just by sitting in the Shiva and the truth that Reb Yoni just said this to you. I was I was there when that person mentioned the that that story that Reb Yoni just mentioned now. That he said he would call him every day every week and say, "Did you read the lane the parsha with Rashi?" And with Rashi I was sitting there at the time thinking how many stories I heard over the Shiva. But there I was listening to him every Shiva and he said, "No." For a full year he told him no. Trust me, I wouldn't go more than a week or two. I'm telling you. And I tried to help people, you know, but after a week or two I'm like this guy is a loser. I'm not moving. I'm not budging. I'm not going to do anything. Until after a year he got him to get there and he got him there. He was consistent and he wouldn't give up and he had a you know, he did it with a like he said it with an arrogance, with a toughness, with a brazenness that I ask a number and it's incredible to see. Not sure if we can get away with it these days. That's the truth but back then and first of all they're English and second of all it was back in the olden days where people were tough you know, on a park. I'm just mentioning that there's no end to the amount that such a person gave over. I'm sure that to most people know but it doesn't make a difference. I just wanted to show the incredible schuyot that such a person has for doing that. I'm going to mention one thing which I didn't hear anyone mention. I don't think anyone mentioned it. Or will mention it and I think it's a big siman for me. All [clears throat] our parents get older and we all have to take care of this. The reason I went back to this is now is to help out my father whatever you know, where where we all get older we're here to taking care of our parents. And we do it because it's a mitzvah to keep it up and such as the Hebrew you know, I'm telling you it's a tough thing. It's a very important thing to do. Besides the fact it's keep it up and it's just a cut to the bone. You don't need a mitzvah to be able to do it. There's a slight difference that I see with the children of Salem that might be with not everyone. I'm just saying that I saw that bullets. All all the kids I wouldn't even mention one specific name. They did it with such a simple with such a such an excitement. They did it with all their life and they didn't give up on it for one second. Every day they were willing to do it as well every second. If it's from seder if it's a sacrifice for my obligations in life wasn't like okay I have a needs me. It's fine. I have a needs me. I'm going to go. I had to go to the office. My mom was the day before he was lifted I happened to be at the doctor's office and I saw her benching with his mother. At the office and they were all there taking his father hand in hand and walking him there. It wasn't like with like hesitation and you know, boy I was watching them trying to do that and I've seen it. I've I've been around the block. People do it. Yes, they're looking at their clock doing what they have to do but they have to do it and try to get it over with as soon as possible. For some reason, over here, the scenario was different. It was done with an olive excitement. You know why? When a person cares, when a person spilled over, if it went to Klal Yisrael, trust me, it went to his family, and they could tell you more stories than I can, obviously. But when it went to everyone, his whole life was a life of ahava, of interest, of care about everybody else, k'mai panim el panim, it came right back to him. Everything was golesh chutzah. All right, everything came right back. Every grandchild, every child, they all Whatever, I'm not I'm not the family member, I'm not going to say how much they loved him, how much they cared about him. And of course, we all care about our parents, but when you see such a level, you should know where it comes from. I'm just giving you a hint how to treat your children, right? Or what you should be doing to your children, cuz it's an incredible thing. A man who came home every day and finished the hillum for the sake of his mishpacha, for the sake of each one, do we even one kapitel of the hillum for our for our family? I'm saying, I don't know. I I I I I I daven, there's a lot of hillum in there, and try to be makayam with it. Daven. Tzurei zimra, right? Right? How much are we really giving over for that? But if we can take a lesson from a from a certain adam gadol that I find in my eyes that I feel is a big loss, and I really take it you know, almost like a father. Almost I'm not saying it's I'm not saying the same thing, but same type of thing. This connection that I felt with the person who was so given to Klal Yisrael, and it's only because of what I started with, his ahava, his ahava, his connection to Kodesh Baruch Hu. He loved it so much, he couldn't hold it back. Reb Yonah mentioned about his eyes getting better, miracle miracles. I remember talking to him, and he said, "Rabbi, I can see. I can see so much." And you know why he was excited to see? I mean, I would be excited to see. I don't have the best eyes either, and every time I could see, baruch Hashem, I have a tremendous pokeyach ivrim. I try to say with kavana. But you know why he was so excited? Cuz he could turn around and look at the Torah when they open up the Torah. He could open up a siddur and look inside the siddur. He davened bal peh, or he davened whatever Reb Bentzion Jew able to help him with at the time. He had to do things about Ben. When he was able to look at the safe the clap, he was able to see it. That was a simple not just because when he could walk outside he could see the sidewalk and know how to get home by himself or whatever it was. That comes from a spilling over of Ava of tremendous connection that comes only from a person that we can turn a tremendous lesson to. A person whose door was always open with this I'm finishing. I'll tell you truth I heard many stories about the kind of risk his door was always open and it's a surprising thing cuz kind of was deep and apparently his door was open 24 hours. We know that this house was even a shortcut cuz a lot of people used to walk in put up they say put up signs of this house. I tell you truth I have believed it with a half year I'm like maybe you know maybe they exaggerate stories sometimes it could be and this and that. But then I'm hearing stories about someone from our generation. Whoa whoa whoa whoa. So I said well maybe it is true. Maybe it is possible for something like that. 24/7 you can go talk to his wife think you know the medicine who was behind him everything that was behind it. She knows exactly what the house was like and it was a tremendous amount to be able to let people in to be able to give over to go to everybody because of this Ava this love this connection that we can only take a loan. So to show we should be able to see >> [clears throat] >> the trees of Mason I really hope to see him back again with him here in sort of sort of kind. Sure.