Getting Past The Western Wall - What Will It Take For Our People to Get To the Finish Line?

this Torah class is brought to you by Torah anytime.com okay good evening everyone sh it's a real honor to be here this evening the hour is late you know our sages tell us it's possible to acquire in a moment which means sometimes the rabbi has to speak for an hour and a half sometimes a rabbi could speak for a short amount of time actually there was once a rabbi who went to Los Angeles and he gave a very fiery draa he spoke for an hour and a half and people looked like they were really inspired and really revved up and there was a guy in the Sho who came over to the rabbi after and the guy was in media and production and uh video making and the guy was in Hollywood and he tells the rabbi Rabbi you know that was terrific you think I could get you to do that in five minutes and the rabbi's eyes lit up maybe this guy's going to make a movie out of his Shear he's going to put him in Hollywood he's going to be in the cinema the rabbi said you know I think I could do it he said so why didn't you so sometimes shorter is better I would like like to introduce to you tonight to a new Mitzvah and I'm going to share with you that this Mitzvah might be the most important Mitzvah in the whole Torah now if I would have stopped you on a street corner I Come From New York so if I would have stopped you on a sh Corner in New York and I would have asked you what is the most important mitvah in the Tor some people say shabat any other possibilities what do you think is the most important mitvah in the Tor actually we know T the learning of the Torah is the most important mitvah actually one word of Tor is equal to all 600 113 Mitzvah that's why if a person's in the middle of learning Torah they're not allowed to interrupt to perform a Mitzvah unless nobody else could do it because the learning Torah is supreme however I'm going to share with you tonight there's a mitvah greater than Tam what is wonderful it's not more important than T but I'm going to share with you there is one mitvah that is more important than T Tora a wife yeah live to live life honoring your parents these are all good guests nice try but New York they say but no cigar okay here it goes there was once a Mal named Gabrielle and Gabrielle was thrown out of they tossed him they threw him out cuz God gave him him a job God gave him a job to to participate in the destruction of and he did but God didn't like the way he did it he didn't follow the job the way he was supposed to so he was actually he lost his job he was looking for a new job so Gabriel was what we call good he was outside like behind the m and he's trying to figure out how to get back in and the Jewish people were in a terrible abysmal situation and Gabriel was trying to figure out how to get back in and he started to praise the Jewish people he started to praise he praised the wives of he said praised are the wives of that they wait up late until their husbands come back from learning and God said who spoke beautifully about my children they said Gabriel bring him back in bring him back in let's paint a picture of where the Jewish people stand today you know in 1967 when we were given access to many many of our holiest places including thei for for Generations Jews were not able to congregate there and in 1967 claur was able to go back to K to and to and people were jubilant people were IC did you know the closenberg arabba said that when the Jewish people returned to the Western Wall in 1967 it was the most painful moment in all of Jewish history what the most painful moment in all of Jewish history why was it such a painful moment says the CBA let me explain to you what it was like there was once a king and the King loved his son and the son was the pride and joy of the king and the father dreamed of the day that his son would once would take over the rain and be the next king and the father was grooming the child dreaming of the day that the prince would one day be the king but the king the prince was Wayward the prince was wild the prince rebelled against his father and the King told him this is this doesn't bode well for you this doesn't bode well for your future you're not going to be able to to be the next king this way but the kid just went off and he deviated and the King had no recourse but to banish his son not only from the palace but from the Royal City and from the country and the King didn't even know what happened to his son and where his son went and where his son was going and after many many long painful torturous years the king says word to his son you know I'm getting older please come back I can't bear not to see you return return and the boy you know all those years without his father the boy was so pain the boy was so hurt and finally he's returning to his father he's returning to his father and as he can't wait to see his father to hug his father to embrace his father and just as he was about to get into the palace the guard says stop right here he said what do you mean don't you know who I am I'm the Prince my father called me back and the guard said no your father ordered you don't take one more step he says what am I supposed to do stand here stand by the wall your father doesn't want to see you yet he's not ready for you says a Clen BBA after 2,000 years Hashem said maybe you've been Wayward maybe you've gone astray come back come back come back to Isel come back toim come back to the place of the bik and we're running back and then God says stop right there I'm not ready to see you yet I'm not ready to embrace you yet you're still in the galut I'm not ready for you I didn't ask you to come any further you stop right there sayba the return of the Jewish people to the Western Wall in 1967 was the most painful moment in the history of kis so that's like a real reality shift that's a paradigm shift we always think of the Jubilation and the Ecstasy but you know come to think of it that means that yes we're invited back but you know we're only invited to the K you know let's say you have somebody you know you have to invite but you don't really want them to come to the wedding so you invite them to the K they're you know thinking he's not going to come to the this way I don't have to see him at all so now that's that's really the reality of where the Jewish people are standing today we're standing behind the wall and our father in Heaven is saying stop right there don't go beyond the wall so we have to figure out how we going to get Beyond the Wall so one thing we learn about Gabriel when Gabriel was thrown out you know how he got back in he was thrown out how do how do we get how does he how did he get back in he spoke positively about the Jewish people I want to share with you an amazing teaching of the benai which is very uh which is not known the Ben says the the the of being on defending the Jewish people to God on advocating for the Jewish people is such a big Mitzvah it's greater than moreover says the Ben in another place in we're all familiar with the famous statement of the the says in a place where the repentance stands even the perfect cannot stand which means we think oh this person he grew up religious and he went Yesa and he learned in and he learned in K and he's a big Rabbi God probably loves him more than a beginner who started at age 40 and learned the Alas and he struggles to read the Sid and he struggles to learn Tor probably God loves the bigad the says no the pedestal of the is greater than the perfectly righteous says the a different interpretation you know who shu is about Chua is someone who responds he answers he says to God God have mercy on the Jewish people it's 2,000 years you're upset with them but look at clais what do you want from them they're in galut for 2,000 years they've been tortur tortured persecuted so maybe they don't observe perfectly but look how much they suffered God look how special the Jewish people are it's 900 p.m. on a Wednesday night and people come out to learn Torah look how wonderful CL is every morning people come okay so they don't come on time but compared to the go they get up early and they pray every single day and they pay a lot of money to send their kids to yot that's a b they answer to Hashem they defend the Jewish people to Hashem they become the defense attorney of the Jewish people that's the greatest that's how you go from being that's how Gabriel who thrown out of the got back in who always talks to God he says God look how wonderful the Jewish people are look how dedicated they are to look how dedicated they are to look how dedicated they are to Kad a sadik like that is greater than a sadik that learns Tor all day long says it's the biggest to be a defense attorney for the Jewish people did you know that they were great Nim that they risked their life to defend the Jewish people you know God listen to this God tell tells Moshe in he says God says I visit sin the punishment of sin on one generation two generations three generations four generations what's the next words ran out says says you know why mosha ran out he wanted to interrupt God God was going I visit punishment one generation two generation three four Moshe was afraid God would keep on going five six so said I'm out of here so izra says Shalom to say like the mo like empty brained people that mosu ran out while God was talking talking to him because if you run out when God is talking to you would have interrupted God because he didn't want God to say fifth sixth seventh eighth now he doesn't say who the he's referring to but there are himself learns that that mosha ran out to interrupt God says this commentary is not re it's a very deep commentary mosha Abu ran out you know why he ran out yes it was not respectful to God but mosu is faithful Shepherd mosu risked his life to defend the Jewish people he didn't want God to say fifth sixth seventh generation so yes he was perhaps but he did that to advocate for cl and that's the right thing the real leaders of the Jewish people risk their life to defend the Jewish people everybody knows yonah God says yon let's go go to inve and do what tell them to do cha yonah didn't go yonah did not go to nve why didn't yah go to nve because it would reflect bad on the Jewish people cuz here it is rabbis speak and they tell people they night you can't bring a phone into bet and people sit at a sh and they're looking at the phone and people don't listen so Jews don't listen when their speak and I'm GNA go to nve and I'm going to tell them to do Chua you know what they're going to do they're going to do chuva how's it going to make the Jewish people look it's going to make us look bad you want to say I'm not going so God says what do you mean you're not going you're risking your life a who doesn't give over y says I don't care my job is to defend the Jewish people that's my responsibility more important to be faithful to my people even than to be faithful to you so this is the practice the writes in it is the it is the holy practice of the leaders of Cl is they devote themselves they dedicate themselves to be B to always to Advocate always to defend now I just want to share with you without getting in too deep and heavy into the topic an unimaginable advocacy that the kenberg rebba offered to defend the Jewish people in 1967 that's very relevant to the times we're living in I want to speak about an interesting topic very briefly in a nutshell we going talk about Islam and is islamar are you allowed to pray in a mque you're in an airport so if there's a a room that's a room of prayer for not and you can't go in there you can't pray there what about you're in the Middle East now I don't personally recommend going there right now but let's say you're in turkey and there's a room of prayer there could a do pray there it's generally assumed the ramb writes in the unedited edition of the rambam says Christianity is certainly a a desar as not going to find it in your RAM but the Shi Franco R the unedited Edition the rambam says Christianity is AAR but Islam says it's not a if they touch the wine it's so simply put a mask would not be a place of aod Zar and it should be permitted to pray in a mask and this question came up in 1967 because when we had access to Jews streamed in to pray side by side with our cousins and it was a a place of prayer for Islam and for Judaism and the question is are you allowed to pray there and rabad ysf and many many pokim said of course you're allowed to pray there and the kenberg rebba said it's assur to pray in the mar did you know that the great Rabbi leader of the Jewish people he said it's assur to pray in the Tob of the Patriarchs first he br one proof from from the who says is if they touch it's and then he brought a proof from the radas rvas says wait a second how could Islam not bear if you accept that religion then you're accepting that there is a prophet greater than Moshe that's if a person were to be challenged give up one mitvah or will kill you they don't say don't wear say is not aah you have to give up your life so now you're going to say that you follow Islam that's advoc that's abandoning the entire religion R says the kenberg rebba said you cannot go you cannot go to he wrote this chv on my birthday remember the date I'm expecting a card a cake on the cake I want candles and on the card I want a boat no I'm just joking the cener wrote you can't go to this he wrote 1967 vly disagreed he said if there's a chuva of the r you know it's very interesting all the biblical aod you know what they are there's is very beautiful you uncover yourself and then you do your needs you go to the bathroom in front of the aazar it's a very very inspiring service that's one type of aazar another type ofar is marus you throw stones at thear another kind ofar is Kos the r writes all of these AAR were the of but says the ramb that was back in the day but in our times they are there is no question of the is's belief in monotheism and one God the ram says it is not a says R even though there's a ran the ran says a very interesting idea the ran says yeah but watch how they worship the Bowing and the prostrating that even though they believe in one God the form of worship is reminiscent of the service of idolatry so even though the belief is not idolatry but the form of worship is is is similar analogous to idolatry therefore it should have the status of says the Rab in om that's very nice thean but nobody knows isim like the r if thean would have seen the Chas har he would have retracted but the kenberg rebba still ruled that it's and explains that you know in in the mind of the rabba are you allowed to go to a Jewish house of worship where the brand of Judaism is does not believe in the Divinity of the Torah without getting exactly explicit are you allowed to go to a Jewish house of worship where the official policy is they do not believe in t Call It Whatever name you want it's aore to pray there say but it's the only synagogue in the whole city you're not not to walk in there you can't pray so if you can pray in a Jewish sh that does not subscribe to t you should be able to pray in a mque that's what the closenberg re held but the truth is R says yes yes because we're not afraid if you go pray in the Bas of you're can be drawn after the religion but if you pray in a Jewish house of worship where they don't subscribe to T and we're afraid you might be influenced by that so the is that you indeed can pray in a mque but you cannot pray in a Jewish house of worship if they do not believe in Tor but now we're here tonight to try to understand what was compelling the kenberg Reba to rule that Islam is so we're going to fast forward from my birthday in Z 196 I wasn't around but that was it was we're now holding two days before Yer still in 1967 but it's Thursday the day that in we say it's a day that you could elicit from Heaven great Mercy from sh we sayem that's how asham sing it okay it's good to hear ashaz Tunes sometimes they're they're very melodious you know okay if you want afterwards we could we could learn some ashkenazic tunes then they will appreciate more what I love but as have better Tunes okay but um in any event it was before and turned to the rashash of kenberg he says I want you to add on to my cha I can't start until we add that even though do you know did you know that the I want to tell you something very interesting you know um we were in Morocco when did we go to Morocco last January 6 months ago when a year and change ago you know I have a saer on like a thousand maybe more than a thousand 2,000 now I'm not completely unlearned I learned a few years in the I know a few I've heard of a few I tell you this book of marash maybe I heard of one or two of them I don't know I didn't know about any of them thousands and thousands of and I realize you know why I don't know about any of them actually I hardly knew about any of the in Morocco you know why cuz Morocco never had a printing press so theim of older were never really published there was one from Morocco who had ma to he had good mazal he left Morocco and in rout to the land of Israel he stopped off in Italy and he published his saer and he's one of the most well-known of the saf the he had the ma that to leave Morocco go to Israel and root go to Italy we know the left the land of Israel and he lived in learo for decades cuz Leo had the two most important things that the needed even though he loved living in is but he loved the what I'm about to say even more in learno he had sponsors for his books and he had a printing press so he lived in learno to be able to publish his for in any event the writes that if it's not and theb says before we write before we pray we have to I need to write I want you to write that the would say that today if they it is so the rash said okay if that's what the rebel wants I'm going to write that and he he wrote an addendum to the chva and then they started to say the and the rashash of kenberg said I saw in the rebba that this was not just a halic ruling that yesma AAR this way this was his way of advocacy of defending the Jewish people they were about to start they were about to pray to God to save them that year the Jewish people were in a very precarious situation they were praying on yum kipur that God should watch over the Jews in the holy land they just were in a vicious war and in order to give the Jewish people better protection and better judgment the kenberg rebba wanted it that in the bz sh there should be a ruling that is are idolators they so that in sh when God looks at the Jewish people is we would be considered M and he wanted this pack to be in a sense a condemnation of that our cousin so this was not just a halic ruling this was based on a deep desire to defend the Jewish people and by so to speak ruling Hally down here in this world that and again I don't think we rule that way we follow most place can follow R Anda in their places of worship you're L pre but nevertheless I'm not here to tell you because and nowadays we do go to the first of allenberg wrote that nowadays the kenberg rebel would agree that we certainly could pray in in um in the mar because anyway Abraham and Sarah is ours we have that area yov and Le is ours the problem came that 10 days a year we get to Pray by and they get to go to abah and Sarah and yob and Le but they figured had a plan they basically stuff up the place of worship with all kinds of benches and chairs and potato coule and other sort of things that they leave the place where we worship unavailable so therefore at no time in the year are they praying there but I'm just illustrating this is an illustration of the lengths the leaders of the Jewish people will go so that Hashem should look favorably at us Vis the nations of the world so again if you want to know where what is the state of the Jewish people today in 20 23 we're standing at the wall and our father's saying I'm not ready to let you back in and we're looking for we need to get past the wall we say we want you to return to us we want our eyes to see your return to se we don't want to have to stand behind the wall so we could look at the Paradigm of Gabel when he was when you're walking down the street you want to do something that will create like an earthquake in shamay you say Almighty look at a wonderful people we have look how dedicated they are to look how dedicated they are to look how how wonderful Kao the outpouring of to the soldiers in is to the residents of is saying these type of things being on is the Merit that could get us past the wall in a place where aad who Advocates who defends CL stands so I just wanted to share with you this very precious and Priceless and SK and mitvah grab it learn to practice it we should to we should to see the coming of you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by tor 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