What's their secret? | Tisha B'av Inspiration Presented by Oorah's TheZone | 2023

[Music] the ninth of of the day we commemorate the destruction of our Temple the saddest day of the year if any of us were given the opportunity to rebuild the Temple we would rush to do so tonight you will learn why the temple was destroyed and why we continue to suffer and what each of us can do starting today to bring the temple back as we sit here on the floor tonight we know the sad night the temple was destroyed and we're in Exile but we may ask ourselves what does that have to do with us here we are we're in the zone we have all kinds of exciting fun things our lives are comfortable what does the temple have to do with us why are we mourning why are we crying why are we sitting on the floor to understand this we must not only understand current events but understand the history of the Jewish people why do they hate us we're invisible Stars let's go back to the Torah to the beginning the onset of the Jewish people at Rome of Eno our forefather Abraham was chosen [Music] to be the man through him and his children would bring the world to his Perfection a few hundred years later an event took place which changed the world which put the world onto its course towards Perfection the purpose of the world that event foreign millions of Jews witnessed God's presence the giving of the Ten Commandments the receiving of the glucose and the entire tour our rabbis tell us at that moment your dog the world became hateful jealous at that time we were set on a course that creates to work towards to accomplish a mission a mission to expands Generations the mission that we are still in the middle of captioning the rabbis teach us that everything that has happened to us throughout this long Exile is really connected to the destruction of the Temple for thousands of years since we've left Israel after that horrible horrible upon destruction [Music] we went through strategy after tragedy in country after country and yet we survival not only did we survive we triumphed we grew we flushed [Music] throughout our history 1428 BCE [Music] enslaved us 422 BCE the first temple was destroyed and the Babylonians exiled us 355 BCE Heyman and the Persians wanted to eradicate us 312 BCE the Greeks conquered us 70 CE the Romans destroyed the second temple leaving Israel in Ruins once again 1096 the Crusades wreaked havoc on Jewish communities across Europe 1492 the Spanish acquisition set our nation aflame 1648 once again Jews were massacred across Europe 1942 the Holocaust Hitler's Final Solution implemented until 1989 communism nearly destroyed generations of Russian jewelry today Arab extremists want to wipe us off the face of the Earth just as so many have tried before one of the greatest rabbis of the 17th century writes that greater than all the Miracles that happened in Egypt greater than the Miracles that happened in the deserts and greater than the Miracles have happened to the Jews when they came to Israel is the miracle of Jewish survival the fact that we exist today the fact that we existed in the 17th century in and of itself is a miracle beyond comprehension we have been persecuted we've been targeted we've been decimators and yet here we are today even the non-jews recognize this unbelievable fact this is the words of the great writer of the 18th century Mark Twain his question his famous Jewish question and the answer the real answer if statistics are right the Jews constitute but one percent of the human race it suggests a nebulous dim puff of Stardust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way properly the Jew ought hardly to be heard of but he is heard of has always been heard of he is as prominent on the planet as any other people and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk his contributions to the world's list of great names in literature science art music Finance medicine and abstruse learning are also way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers [Music] he has made a marvelous fight in this world in all the ages and had done it with his hands tied behind him he could be vain of himself and be excused for it the Egyptian the Babylonian and the Persian Rose filled the planet with sound and Splendor then faded to dream stuff and passed away the Greek and the Roman followed and made a vast noise and they are gone other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burnt out and they sit in the Twilight now or have vanished the Jews saw them all beat them all and is now what he always was exhibiting no decadence no infirmities of age no weakening of his Parts no slowing of his energies no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind all things are mortal but the Jew all other forces pass but he remains what is the secret of his immortality [Music] you are the secret of our immortality what Mark Twain didn't realize was that the survival of the Jewish people is not our scientists our doctors and our Nobel Prize winners of Jewish survival is our adherence our observance clinging to our Jewish faith to the Torah to the mitzvos and to Hashem for Generations one after another they try to stop us but throughout it all we stood up we held on and we continued to be not only did we hold on and survive in fact we flourished generation after generation produced great Jewish Torah leaders the greatest spiritual mentors greatest yeshivas were produced in trying of times thousands of our best and brightest Minds Learning and becoming great Torah Scholars and steadfast Servants of until today the Toro flourishes our yeshivas are growing and overflowing our Greek Torah Scholars continue to guide us to show us how to live and grow that is the true secret of Jewish survival every time you keep Shabbos you learn total you do and you are faithful to Hashem you are connecting to that secret that you are the story of a Jewish immortality a story is told in Germany in the early 1930s before Hitler Rose to power he would travel around the country spewing his venomous hate he would give speeches in many places as one such speech that was given in a local pub in a small German Town there was one man in the audience that was listening to what Hitler was saying and he kept having this smile on his face at the end of the speech Hitler came over to him and he said to him you find it funny what I was saying so he said I happen to be a Jew so he spat in his face and he said filthy Jew do you not think it's true do you not think my threats are true the Jews said I do indeed believe that your threats are true and I believe that you will carry them out but the reason I'm smiling is because you're joining a long list of people that try doing exactly what you're trying to do some of them did more damage than others But ultimately none of them succeeded two will not succeed and I'm smiling because I'm wondering which holiday we're gonna have we are still waiting for our final Redemption we are still Mourning but indeed Hazel do call this day annoyed a holiday perhaps this is a holiday that we celebrate our strength a holiday that we celebrate despite everything we have been through we still here we haven't forgotten your name we still scream shamay Israel we still remember you every single day this is a celebration of strength that we are still here that we can still make a difference and we beg you not all don't forget us [Music] the ninth of of the day we commemorate the destruction of our Temple saddest day of the year if any of us were given the opportunity to rebuild the Temple we would rush to do so tonight we will learn why the temple was destroyed and why we continue to suffer and what each of us can do starting today to bring the temple back [Applause] foreign Crossing into Israel killing two Israeli soldiers there is a developing hostage situation at a synagogue near Fort Worth Texas anti-Semitism in America haunting Jewish communities from coast to coast more than 100 Graves damaged or overturned the Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia a SWAT team entrance discovering a scene of unimaginable performance and this centuries-old form of hate is sharply Rising people have to stop the hatements here you feel unsafe it's getting extreme huh and getting 2700 acts of assault vandalism and harassment against Jews Jews make up just two percent of the U.S population but the FBI said they are the most targeted for religious based hate crimes these are the Flyers the residents here in the golden Harbor community [Music] became the third fatality from the terrorist Colorado dying in hospital on Saturday he was buried Saturday drove his car straight into a bus loaded with people foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] we have the opportunity to help bring us closer to the third base amigdash by being in a place that screams and having the opportunity to spread our love to every fellow yet please join me in singing The Following song together [Music] how long am I to wait for all my children to come on a house [Music] my son from far and wide all came to see it's Beauty and it's [Music] so much [Music] again [Music] [Applause] together together [Music] forever forever we must stand together forever [Music] it is a story that said that the person was taking a voyage on the boat and the captain heard some noise coming from his room knocked on the door came in and saw these drilling to hold the bottom of the boat so what are you doing boat's gonna sink with the water coming in the person said what do you mean this is my room it's nobody's business what I'm doing in my room do what I want to that the captain was very angry naturally saying you can't do what you want because they're all one we're on this together if the world comes into your room the whole boat's going to sink and this is how we have to look at ourselves as Jewish people We're All in This Together and we'll have to be concerned for one another but one person does affects everybody therefore we have to be have a very concern for each other the show or love for every Jew and this is what we have to live with live by here for instance all of the campers in this Camp come for different backgrounds different places and we put together in the same bunk in the same room and we have an opportunity to show or togetherness a concerned for the other person not only in physical way mundane ways down to earth things like helping them in different ways teaching somebody how to swim but teaching someone how to play better even though he might play against them for the next game but showing that you have concern for them but also in spiritual matters to make sure the person gets some time for the fill up for praying for davening making sure a person says benching after eating make the bracha wearing a yamaka wearing a keeper that's also very important to have this feeling for one another in spiritual matters just like in physical matters and this is really what we have to concentrate on things Redemption to come speedily we have to be concerned for the other person not only in actions but also in the feelings to have Ava for the other person to concentrate on their good things everybody has something good about them even though we might see some not perfect or not a special leaders and character traits in somebody else maybe we see certain faults that they have but we have to concentrate on the good things and the good things that everybody has something good about them this is how we have to look at our Jewish uh Nation neighbors friends family Associates people that we deal with have to look at them these are Jewish people all one nation got to be in it for for them and show the actors and togetherness and is what will bring the Allah