Yiboneh Lag B'omer with Rabbi Aaron Dovid Poston Torah message 5777

Edition here at the I kumit that I speak a little bit towards the end it's not the end it's really only the beginning I learned with some guys in the morning and we went over some very interesting pieces this past week and I wanted to share some of the deep conversations that we we had about LBA om about RI AA you want me to play backgound okay we really want to thank Anders nurman once again from thank you guys very much Canada I live in raav I've been here for 10 years I'm really Israeli now I'm from Jerusalem Jerusalem thank get Isaac from the other end of Jerusalem and of course Mor Epstein from somewhere from Cleveland so the benar tells us this month of er the month of er which we are in we all know pesak sheni just passed the month of er fits right between Nissan and Sion it's the only month where we have the entire month of counting the the Omare we started Midway in Nan we finish off right before shivas we're we're counting up we're counting towards what we call the receiving of the revelation of the Torah and it's it's something that each and every one of us hopefully will experience on a personal level and of course unifying on a national level as my wife Bina is over there thank you very much for everything for the food all the preparations she mentioned today that uh when we when we encamped at Mount Si throughout the desert we were Yu plural we we we encamped but there was one time that we were all together encamped as one as Rashi says we were all unified in the hearts we really felt we were all one people and how have I that we should feel that way once again very soon if not already by the end of the evening RAB yanan had five R Ben zakai which is the name of this street right here behind us RAB Ben zakai he had five students and he asked the students to go out and see which is is the best character one should acquire which what does the Torah really want from us which is the best way to live your life so the five students came back and each one had an answer it was all based on the same verse the same word because he said which is the best Tova which is the best good so there's a secret a secret everyone should know if you ever want to find out anything about a concept A word go to the first time it's ever mentioned in the Torah and that one word it's the first time it's mentioned includes all the other Concepts and it's the most General um it includes all the subcategories of that word so they all chose the word Tove the first time the word to appears in the Torah and they all came back with a different perception a different way of looking at the word Tove so the five answers that each one came back with was an TOA a to to be a good to be a good um a good friend well I should I translate I to have a good eye to be a good friend to be a good neighbor the fourth one was to see to see the consequences Road Road see the consequences of your actions and the fifth student came back and said La Tove and I think our Banner here says love your neighbor as yourself which is also the theme for the evening with a la Tove there's no doubt that we all come to love our our El and our neighbor so rokan said that the last opinion included the other four ideas so let me just go into the other ideas and how they got where they got to and how they got it so when we said I in TOA because the word to does anybody know the first time the word to appears in the Torah says the God created light and he saw that it was good right so it was good so that's the first time the Ted is ever used and it's the first time the word Tove ever appears so because it has to do with God seeing the light was good so the first student came back with the idea that an i in TOA is the best trait because that's what God had God had an eye in TOA he had a good eye right A Generous eye seeing good he saw that it was good second opinion said a correct to why because it was already Darkness so God created the light excuse me can I help you don't go in there excuse me you don't want to go in there thank you if you're looking for the bathroom there are candles leading the path over there just follow the candles okay Soto so God already had created the darkness so he created the light to to match up with the darkness so to be a good friend that's a great trait that's how the second student perceived that it was good it was good to have a partner and the third was a good neighbor why because immediately after God created the light he separated the light from the darkness so up on the northern border any Border in Israel we have a good we have a fence we can have a good neighbor right you have to have borders to have a good neighbor so by creating that separation between the light and the Darkness that's called creating a possibility for a good neighbor and the third the fourth opinion was seeing seeing the future Road seeing the cons consquences of your actions which I equate with maturity a mature person realizes that there are consequences we're young I don't think we perceived that yet but uh so what did Hashem see Hashem saw that there were going to be people who weren't going to be so good and why should they benefit from this light so he hid the light this is called Ur new and this is part of the story of Rish shimai and the writing of the Zohar and God himself took this good light and he hid it so that only the righteous people should be able to benefit from this light and that's why the fourth opinion said to see the noad that God himself saw it was good but it was so good he going to separate it from the evil people the fourth opinion which is the the last opinion the fifth opinion which I think is the most interesting because rokan says this opinion incl in encapsulates all the other words and that's literally what he says and what does that mean that includes all the other character traits for sure and how does it happen because the first letter T or even the word to is a 33d word in the Torah which means there are 32 words before so 32 is the Gat lamid LA and then that's 32 words and then you have the 33rd word which is to and today's the 33rd correct 33rd day the OM and the gatria of to is 17 big deal no it is a big deal 32 and 17 is how much any mathematicians in the audience anybody have a phone you 49 what's 49 again there are 49 days that from the day we left Egypt until we receive we're ready to receive the Torah per in the sixth mishna in the sixth chapter sixth mishna it says there are 48 ways to acquire wisdom even though there are 48 ways you you must ask we have 49 days we're waiting to acquire the Torah so R Weinberg of blessed memory my rebi explained that the 49 way is review has to be constant continuous involvement in trying to acire the Torah and it's hidden Hashem gave us the written Torah every hotel has in the bed stand next to it a Gideon's Bible maybe they don't anymore they were all stolen I don't know but they used to in my day they used used to a smoke on an airplane they used to have Bibles in the hotel desk anyway the whole world has the written Torah but we were chosen to be the light to the Nations to bring out the hidden light the Zohar is a key the Zohar actually means the word is to shine and God hid his light in the Torah and it's through the oral Torah the cabala which we're celebrating tonight believe it or not there are many me Jews of all stripes and all colors celebrating tonight the revelation of the Hidden light the organ that Rish shimai wrote or authored passed down and we're learning it we're learning it in yeshivas and I invite you all we have a Bas medress in the morning for yanet we learn twice a week in the afterno in the afternoons we learn several nights a week but we're not the only ones there's there's yes all over revealing the hidden light and we invite you to uh to join in but you realize what we spoke about this idea of RAB yanan had the five students he took the fifth student said his words Encompass all of the others because his learning the way he the leud the way to extract the meaning sorry the meaning of the other four we're also included in the first 32 words as well as the 33rd word and it's not just a technical scientific understanding but on a deeper level if we can just acquire a la Tove for ourselves for our families for our neighbors for our neighborhood for our city state and the world and uh I just uh I pray I welcome everyone to to want the same thing that we all are able to acquire figure out how a la to hopefully through Li Torah and working on our character and will see the uh the light of the righteous Messiah Mia amen [Music] amen