King of The Universe Who Gives Strength to The Weary with Rabbi Kalman Flaks

Heat. [music] Heat. [singing] [music] [singing] >> [music and singing] >> It's your sh [music and singing] [applause] So, welcome everyone to our shar on. Tonight we're gonna be doing I think a really exciting topic. Uh we're beginning the segment of um of so I'm going to be dedicating many learnings to deepen our kavana and our understanding of of course our learning will be dedicated for the protection of all of Iselm should protect all of our and send Yeshua to everyone and send more like the rain outside send more to all of our lives. Um and tonight's class will be definitely a different format than my normal style. You'll see and uh it should be a lot of fun um based on the teachings of Rabbi Daniel Gladstein's amazing insights on okay soak are those blessings where we thank Hashem uh for all the beautiful parts of our lives. Let's just very quickly see the garra in we're going to be referencing back to this quite often next couple of weeks. The garra says when a person wakes up and he hears the rooster wow thank you Hashem who gives a rooster wisdom to know to distinguish between y and night between day and night opens up in sizes. I can see. Then he wakes up. He says, "Oh, I can move." And then he gets dressed. He says, "Mali, etc., etc., etc." And we thank Hashem for the various different uh things we're able to do. And there's three blessings which are a little bit different, not about a specific hah enjoyment we're having, or about something in general. And that's uh isa of it and uh different garam. And there's one thing that's really fascinating. But if you look in your sitter, there's one bra mentioned that we say every day. It's in every sittery whatever sitter you open. As far as I know, actually it's funny. There's one I'll tell you about this in a second. There's one sitter I found that doesn't have it, but I'll get back to that. But basically, every normal orthodoxi sitter has a certain but it's not mentioned in the Garra. Anybody know what blessing of the is not mentioned in the Tamuric text? Any Tamuric text? >> Actually, it's the of Where is it? Is not mentioned in the interesting. Okay. Do you think maybe it's in is not in the mid it's nowhere? Nowhere in the text. Thus when you open up the Rambam it's not there. Rambam does not bring down the ofen at the end of this year go into the meaning of this but on a simple level the one who gives the tired uh energy good we all need energy right [snorts] but it's not mentioned in the not mentioned anywhere in it's not mentioned in the okay very interesting and thus in the sim He saw something which some of us might find shocking. He says he brings out all the etc etc. Then there are those who have the custom to say the blessing of the one who gives to the tired um strength and I don't believe their words appear to be true. It appears we should not say this. Okay, don't worry. the right afterwards always comes to bring the Ashkenazi customs says our is to say okay so you can calm down you haven't been saying your whole life you're good to go but the writes you should not say this blessing why not >> oh Interestingly enough, the practice amongst Spartan is to say this, and we're going to get back into that momentarily. Why is it indeed that the practice of mo of ally is to say it despite the of the Okay, we're going to get to that soon. But it but the but the himself says, "Don't say it." Why not? You guys, if you were listening well, you'll probably already know why. Why is it thatim do not say um why is it that the one should not send out because it's not mentioned in the it's not mentioned in the I'll I'll bring it down to the BF you guys know the difference between the BF and the um this is very important very quick um we'll do a little bit of bio biographical notes uh because this is going to be the crux of our shar the bas versus the and we got to understand who these people are. So the basiov grew up, it's easy to remember, in 1488. Why is it easy to remember? Because when he was four, he was kicked out of Spain, part of the Spanish Inquisition. And as a little kid, he's kicked out and he was known, he goes to Turkey, and he becomes known as a great great rabbi. Unbelievably focused, aesthetic. He hardly eats anything. Uh but he's learning, learning, learning. becomes part of the Bezdon and eventually makes aliyah comes to Erit is and uh and he also at a young age was working on two monumental one of them is the base Ysef his name is Yoseph and he's writing a commentary which is showing all of the background on every quoting every single rabbi out there when you're studying form you study the bas because he quotes everyone and he shows his mastery over all of the other very important state he writes is the Mishna which is a commentary on the Rambam where he explains the source for the Rambam in every single that's why maybe you understand why the is so connected to the Rambam he always tries he almost always ends up posing like the Rambam not always but he's one of the main pkim for the he knew the Rambam extremely well and anyway eventually makes aliyah comes to Israel and becomes part of the best there in lives in the golden age infas and he becomes part of the head rabbis there and eventually he gets from the bay people haven't had real smika for 11 centuries but the bay reinstitutes Mika and when the bev passed away him and the mabbit head up the the main um headquart um and uh ultim imately all the questions in the world come to him and he becomes known as really the god had as the greatest rabbi of the generation and not only was he known as the master in but he's also master in cabala and he would have a private session with an angel called the mid and he writes a safer called the mid mesh which was the conversations we only have a piece 150th I believe writes uh or someone else writes we only have a little piece but uh but You see the amazing conversations how the mag is telling cabalistic secrets. I myself have this book in my house. It's in English now. Um and it's amazing. And you see what a holy roller the B Ysef was. How was not just a halak genius but he was so steep in holiness wouldn't eat one extra food uh unnecessarily his whole all every moment was learning Mishna and Torah. So it was unbelievable sadic unbelievable and an unbelievable that's the base Ysef who ultimately was accepted as the god not only of the door but the god of the greatest master of our generation to this day. Okay, that's the B and the B or Caro explains in the is a short version. His students said I can't we can't handle we can't learn the whole B it's too much they get a very short version and that's the you actually look at the book it's not that long it's big because we have all the commentaries on on on the okay so so the B explains the rationality says well it's not in the garra so what right do we have to reinstitute which are not in the garra suffix we don't want to say in vain better not to say this we don't know where It's coming from that's what basio writes. So far so good. So far we're clear. Who goes in line with this way of thinking the gr. Okay. Now I don't know. You could ask some hardcore gro who go with all the customs of the grow what they do to this day. I'm really not sure. I know in the gro they do say this this but I don't know. I don't know if you had a guy who only went with the customs of the GR what would they do? I did find I was researching this in the there's a new sitter based on the Rambam on the Rambam's sock and in that brah I was surprised they they didn't have this brah so I don't know if anyone really goes like that maybe some Yemenites do actually go with the sitter uh of the Rambam because many Yemenites go with the customs of the Rambam exclusively I'm not sure if you ask your local Yemenite Pekk um but the GR says we should not say it's not mentioned the Gammorra Who else uh is on the don't say it it's not in the gar team and the team the preadesh okay the preadesh was a great uh rabbi actually um silva he was very karif a super genius he was asked to be the rabbi of Amsterdam the chief rabbi of Amsterdam but on one teni that he doesn't try to give them so much muser he said no I'd rather work on my book no deal the job of a rabbi is to give his students muser to help them improve and ultimately comes to your and he writes very sharp uh sometimes kharif commentaries at the time he was critiqued uh because other rabbis felt he wasn't respectful enough of the other great authorities like for example, he viewed it him as a and others as so they can you know talk together and argue on each other. Um ultimately he's studied he's one of the great commentaries of the he's buried in the mount of olives. He died at a very young age only 38 and he's known as one of the genius of the generation to this day studied and the pre says everyone says but there are a few people who don't say it. A few in the generation don't say it and I'm one of them. I'm one of those rabbis who does not say and why not. He explained why not because it's the only reason why we're saying it is because of the reason that people are saying it's because the said we should say and just because the says it doesn't mean we should say it. In other words, he said, "Okay, the reason is a but uh if it's not in the garra, I don't think we have the authority to say it. Better not to say it." That's the pre opinion. And the okay, the the last great rabbi that I'll mention who says maybe we shouldn't say it. He says, "Some say it, but the min is not to say it with God's name. Sayem." Why? because of the basis and because the result um the result said in his to say it but the bas said not to say it. So the mrainer a great polish uh rabbi who brought in the minhagim often of the of the cabalistic works but he says our min is not to say it. Okay. So, I bet you a lot of people didn't know a lot of rabbis originally were not into saying it with God's name because it doesn't have a source in the However, don't stop here in this year comes the who is these Aulai >> smart guy. Yeah, I'm very connected to him because I give a lot of tours by the sh [snorts] where the learned in the B synagogue has very nice coffee place right there. Jeff Sidell's right there and the Rashul is there and the wrote 84. He was an amazingly genius colorful character. He was so genius. He wrote a book on at age 12 on he was asked to represent the Jewish community and go around the Israel go around the world to raise money and to give beautiful Torah uh to represent Judaism and to bring money to the community in your he didn't really want to do it but he did it for is and he goes and travels all around the world all around you know France and England and Spain really and he goes from library to library and has photograph in memory and he memorizes works and he writes bibliographies. He's one of the first modern bibliographers and he meets Louis the great who says he never saw a more beautiful person than the and has amazing miracle stories and maintain his wondrous cabalistic practices. He would never eat anything extra and it everything done with holiness. I have his book in my house about all of his beautiful practices and um and anyway so that's the and of course he was a cabalist a great cabalist and by the way ultimately he he he lived his life in Lavo he he became the rabbi of Lavno and wrote his books there but he was brought back to Israel in uh 1964 and he you can see his burial spot right by Harmanus right by Makba and him helped bring him back and his his his ke is a great place of Yeshua. Many great people come to pray by the holy anyway. So the is in the school of thought that really attributes greatness to the cabalistic stream of thought and writes in the safer that even though we accept Maran is the but in this case had the base known that the Arizal said we should Surely he would have taken his opinion back and agreed that the Ariza was right and he would have said that um actually we should say this because said we should say the brah and in fact he writes that there is a tradition brought down in the safe in the safer that indeed the Arizal at the end of his life there's a rabbi that's said, "Oh, we should say this." And likely because said that we should say this. Okay. And later in the reiterates to the was revealed all of the secrets and he says that God forgive the preos for saying that he wouldn't follow the Ariza. [laughter] How dare he challenge the holy Arizal? Even though he normally does bring in the the cabalistic teachings of the but we always have to follow the resultal. And in other words, the says this is our proof that when we have a matter versus a cabalistic matter being the master and the knowing the mystical secrets, cabalistic secrets win. We go like the based on the that's the opinion because of the great holiness of the and even though he lived in the same little town and he lived contemporaneously the same time period as the Arizal still he didn't understand the greatness of the that's what the holy writes okay now a little turn back Who is the I forgot to say the the shak ended up living a very long life. Um and he actually had a child in his 80s which is pretty amazing. >> Yseph Ysef car had a son named Yehuda in his 80s with his third wife. Uh and his other two had passed away unfortunately. And um and he died 3 years after the Ariza. Even though the reason the Ysef car was a great catalyst as we mentioned, he was a different school of catalystic thought more in line with the Ramach and who was one of his students and he learned the Torah of the author of the Alabets but he was not a student of the Arizal. The result would not accept him into his students interestingly enough was much younger. Now, Rizal Ritz um Lura um basically was from a very young age a genius and very inter uh connected to his self. He originally actually wrote a Tammuda commentary on but eventually steeped himself very very deep into the mystical works and he would go to the Nile River and he wouldn't return home. He would be there six days a week only go home on Shabbat. He would fast. He would pray and many many mystical uh teachings were revealed to him in his deep quest to understand the cabala, the deeper messages of life. and he ended up um coming to Tvas um and he was only there for 22 months, but when he got there he had a few select students including Vital and he ended up explaining the deeper secrets of the Cabala and kind of giving a much deeper understanding of Judaism, making Shabas, every meal so holy, the every holiday is so holy with so many kavanote, every minog many more deeper ideas and explaining everything was much much more deeper than you ever thought it could be and bringing many many is including revolutionizing the words of the sitter itself. Okay. It's based on the not exactly what the result said, but it's based on the additions of the andidis is based on the additions of the andala. And thus writes the who died at such a young age. He had all the secrets. He was like a na'vi unbelievable. have to you know give if the result said it then the would have agreed if so you might say okay how come the didn't write that oh maybe he didn't print it at the end of his life now it's not it wasn't so easy to print everything and there was a who was made who testified that the said it okay so that's the opinion you with me not just the holy um but the ben writes similarly the is also in the cabalistic stream of and the banish asks let's say we have a suffic so let's say we should say something but a lot of other greed say we shouldn't say a particular so what does say don't bless us cuz if it's a that's a general rule but there's one exception to the rule and that's with the when it comes to the whatever the says it's like it's from sham it's like that's what God said the reason said we should say it we say it okay and so some great cabalistic rabbis will this of of as a proof that Kabala will trump when there is a clash. Okay, in the few cases when there's diff a little bit of a clash in perspectives, however, there is another stream of thought even within the cabalistic even with the tradition of masters. Okay. And that is presented by Y. Okay. The great defender of the one of the things that Raady was trying to do in our generation was to bring back the cover for he goes out of his way to almost always defend the and his opinion. He will generally go in in accordance with the there are other sparty rabbis who will take into account the benai and otherarty cabalistic rabbis but not will generally will generally go like and he says he watch this he will still maintain that we should say okay that is a completely agreed upon minhog in our generation but he will explain it for a different reason. Not because the beats, but for a different reason. Okay, so let me explain the rationale of the says in my humble opinion. How could it be? Where would we get this crazy idea that the of the where did he get this from? And if the would have known that the Arizal's opinion was this, then he would have bowed to him. Who says we we we make that up from? [laughter] You know, you could always start saying, "Oh, if that rabbi would have known, then he would have changed his mind." That's not what he writes. And he lived contemporaneously. So maybe the knew what their result's sake was. They lived in the same little town in maybe they did, maybe they didn't know. Where do you get that just because the Arizel says it that that he would have vowed to him? And in any case, who says just because the Arizel says it, we have to follow the Ariza. So you say, "Ah, the he had no from he had the greatest secrets being revealed to him by Hashem himself." So what big deal? Because we have a concept in It's not in the heavens. We don't pass in based on a what a prophecy of what God told us to do. We take the out and we look and we try to figure out to the best of our brains knowledge what the is based on the based on the we don't try to get you know divine messages to tell us the answer. We base it on. In other words, let's say we have and they're all lining up and they say, "Okay, this uh this restaurant is is we're sure it's then you have and Feinstein on the other side. They're going through the sug and they say and they have a thousand and one not a thousand they say not kosher not kosher according to so what's the like not kosher okay so they're prophets very good but this is we're talking about and we go like majority we there's principles here okay so just because was a great rabbi doesn't mean that we always go like him says says Rabi Yseph. Not only that, this is amazing. He quotes the GR. No, he quotes the Balata who quotes the GR. I think not exactly always going together, the Balata and the GR, but they went together in this who said that not everything there said was from we have to be that it might have been from but everything in the was necessarily from maybe some things were his own opinion. And so we don't have to accept everything he says cart blind says oh the result said we have to do it okay and therefore so then they ask for so then why do we say it he says well first of all the ashkanazam also say it and the don't always follow the cabalist ashkanazam sometimes follow the catalyst so why do thems say it so there are some who Say a it was a decree not of the garra but of the goni and sometimes the braha is decreed after the by the and this is one of those brahas in that period let's say the fifth century sixth century um where the the garumar was closed there were still great rabbis and they could make certain decrees and this is one of those decrees and the bach has a different answer he finds a gear of a garra which actually has this I find it I'm a little skeptical about that if that's a legitimate gear but one way or the other there's other reasons but besides for the fact that the Rizal said it and maybe that's why the minog became to say this and thus we do indeed say this but not because of the result versus by the way an interesting thing he He quotes there's a safer I mentioned it before called shoot there's a certain tophite rabbi who knew how to ask questions to the heavens in dreams and then get answers from the heavens it's a real safer shoot me check it out and this safer is is rabbis argue upon it okay so you got that answer from the heavens but I have my opinion based on my perspective on the garra so you can argue on the heavens it's not in the heavens God gave the Torah for us to Pascin and based on what we pos stamps his approval. That's Raadya's amazing uh principle. So uh says of course you should say the I'm sorry because that's the min of the Jewish people. And if it's a min of the Jewish people, there's no of it being a right. In other words, 98% of the time, 99% of the time we pass like the there is every once in a while we don't pass like the this is one of those cases the has shifted. Why? According to the cabalistic perspective because who wins cababalistic perspective but according to no for other this is a min for other reasons the min has become to say by the way to this day there's different streams in thekenazi world do we how much do we put cababalistic practice into our uh um practice? Of course, kabala does make its way many times into our practice. But how if there's a conflict, who wins? There's streams which factor kabala in more. There are streams that factor cabalistic practices less more. You know, classic yeshiv less. And this is also true in this world. I just thought that was a fascinating a little bit of background uh to this little bra which we say every day but we didn't realize uh what a controversy it it it really had within Jewish history. Now that I gave all that background, let's take our last segment of our shir to actually jump into the meaning behind. Okay, sounds good. Beautiful. Okay, now this asshanab brings down in his safe really seems out of place. So that's the one question we have to ask ourselves because it goes like this. First, we thank God for universal things that happen to all humans. Saying, "Thank God." Okay, we start off thanking God to distinguish between day and night that we can wake up. We'll get into the meaning behind it later. Then we thank God for being Jewish, etc. Then we start go going into specific um things that are I God opens our eyes that I can move that I can walk that I can move I have strength and then the last two blessings we shift back to things which are specifically relevant to the Jewish people. Okay. Okay. So we start moving from the universal to the specifically Jewish things and then at that point we add in who makes the tired awake. So which category is on it's >> universal. So what's going on here? Why is that? Why are we placing a universal thing in something which should only be uh connected to ami is an excellent question which Roshwab asks. The second question which asks is another excellent question. He says but why? Okay so let's assume that at some point the gauim inserted this blessing which is not mentioned into the garra. Why did they insert this braha into our daily texts? And what shifted? What happened between the tamudic era and the postmudic era that that these rabbis felt that we suddenly need another blessing of what suddenly people became more tired after the tamuric era? You know, they didn't have any coffee. So we we needed to say like why what happened at this period? Did we suddenly need this extra blessing? Right? Two great questions. So answers first by going back to the text. [clears throat] These they were always basing themselves on different terminology. In this uh verb, this blessing is based on the goes like this. God gives to those who are tired strength. And to those who don't have energy, those who are totally lost, he gives energy. Isaiah >> it's Isaiah 40:29. So if you look in the there based on the context of the who is this verse referring to? Who is God giving strength to? Well two verses earlier we had another verse which helps us. It says this be a good popular song. Those who hope to God will have strength. They will fly like eagles. I can't help myself back. They will run and they will not be tired. They're going to go and they won't be tired. Who are those people who are not going to be tired? So one explanation is the Jewish people. A second explanation that sadikim within the Jewish people. So it turns out that who are these Pik referring to? Who are the Y? Who are these people who are tired? It's the Jewish people. It's not talking on on a general level about tired people. Not thanking God because I was tired only. We're specifically thanking God that we, the Jewish people, the Jewish nation, had experienced tiredness. And we're asking God for strength. And we're blessing God that he gives us strength in the dark gullus. And now with that understanding, we can understand what's the real meaning behind this braha. Not just blessing God for the fact that I'm not no longer groggy in the morning. By the way, I have a proof for that for this perspective because just in the next we say thank you God who makes me not groggy who takes the sha from my eyelids. He wakes me up. It's already have a braha for my alertness in the morning. So it must be that this bra is not only it has a dual meaning. Yes, it's also thanking God that I'm feeling awake, but it's not specifically talking about me, K, but rather who's it referring to the Jewish people because we've been stuck in this gullus for so long. And apparently after so many years on the gullus, the goim felt that we needed extra and an extra blessing to thank God for the ability to withstand the gullus and all the persecutions of the galut and at the same time to give ourselves a push that Hashem is the source. of our energy, of our vitality, of our strength to withstand all the persecutions surrounding us. Okay, so that's according to the meaning behind by the way he says a is someone um who's tired and an is someone who's even more tired. believe but you can check out the the safer his safer in English make sure I I got that right versus like okay so that explains why we put this verse here and why this was inserted on a push-up shot level now on a cabalistic level there's deeper meanings which I am not much of a cabalist so I don't really I'll be honest I looked in a do this for him. I did dabble. I tried to understand what they were saying. They said some what I saw was something to the extent that they're when our soul comes back into the world and it could be because of our sins the day before um tired and God revitalizes our soul with extra energy despite our sins. Maybe the Rizal felt in our generation we needed extra uh spiritual revitalization because of the loneliness of the generation and that's my best guess at maybe what the Rizal had in mind why he needed to specifically this but that's really just a guess so ask your cabalistic friends or we'll do research as to the reason's deeper meaning behind this uh one last um kavana One last uh idea from a little bit of a muser perspective. So has a fascinating he says that the biggest problems come upon us when we are when we let ourselves become tired. Ah then we're in trouble. then we're in trouble. And he gives I'll explain myself before I explain what I mean by that and how to apply that to our lives. What's his mak for that? Where do we see that someone in the Tyra is and then troubles coming >> almost not Yakov the opposite of Yakov because Yakov let's start with Yakov. Yakov never tired. Yakov 14 years he's learning and learning and learning. He never naps, never goes to sleep. And then he comes and he sees the rock that needs to be plucked over. And even though he hasn't slept, he sees all these, you know, 10-ft tall guys. They don't know how to knock over the rock. But Yakov pushed over the rock and he's not tired. He mameish, it says he went to sleep that one time by Harabas, but he had he hadn't gone to sleep for all those years in the base me. So Jacob represents someone who's never tired. He's always energetic. He's always pushing himself. But who was if not Moshe as you the midra says that Asav was not completely off the dar. He was still you know the son of Abrau because Abram died when he went off the dar. Remember that terrible day when Asav according to the Midash murdered and raped and did all those terrible things and then went back to get the first the soup and sold his firstborn rights. So what led to all of that downfall of it says in braces 25:29 he had come from the field and he was tired he was tired and because he let himself become tired that was the end of it. It was all downhill from there and he left to be the grandson of Abraino became Russia. So says says this is the downfall of mankind when you let your self become and he has another proof of what why all the bad things happen when we let ourselves become if >> Moshe's hands were were were were slacking but it doesn't say if doesn't describe as if it says I think he his hands were weakened and and Yeshua and Aron and I'm sorry but it doesn't say he was but who was if who was tired when did sorry >> as but who else he's a relative of as >> Amalecch attacked the Jewish people 258 says says when you were tired, that's when he attacked. When we let ourselves become tired, so AMC attacks us. He prays upon those who are tired and those who are on who were tired from learning to he attacked us and he was able to uh wreak damage upon the Jewish people when we were ayat. I know what you're thinking. Thinking that's a little harsh. I mean, doesn't everybody get tired sometimes? It happens. It does happen especially when the heat's on you know or you know late at night. I also get tired sometimes. So I think the idea is like this. There's tiredness and then there's tiredness. There's tiredness when you're supposed to be tired. Then there's tiredness when you know deep inside if you pushed yourself you know you could mazic yourself. You could draw upon extra energy, extra vitality and stand yourself up and make sure you're not you're energetic in your service of Hashem. Not easy, but you could do it. You know, sometimes we're falling asleep in sheer and we know if we just stood up, we just pushed ourselves up. Not just in Torah study, it's in everything in life. When you're excited about a project, suddenly you could be up in 3 in the morning on 3 hours of sleep and you're excited and you can do it. But when something's boring to you, so then we don't value it. So then you can become tired of it. So of course this is a little bit of muser. It's very natural for us to become tired of things. And it's okay. Don't worry about it. You're not a bad person if you get tired sometimes. We all get tired sometimes. But is trying to push us and say at that moment when you're feeling tired and in your service of God, push yourself. Give yourself extra energy, grab on to the one who's who gives us strength and uh and with that extra vitality, that extra energy, we will be energized and be able to overcome our challenges. So, those are a couple of thoughts on the of and uh I thought that was a fun way to start off. Maybe next week we'll do some uh more less controversial stuff like you know easy easy topics that won't uh won't get anybody upset. Um, you know, we're going to try to bring light and meaning to every single of our uh of our and let's end with a niggan to invest our our our to bring up our to our learning to a higher level. of the night. foreign. [applause] [singing] foreign. [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music] You see your [singing] >> [music] [singing]