Yud Shevat 5769 Farbrengen: G-d's Orchard -- Do You Think Most People are Rotten?

good evening and welcome to this evening an evening of song study and inspiration in tribute to the 59th yard site of the previous labovitz arriba the sixth Lubavitch Rebbe Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn who passed away on the tenth day of schrott in the year Tov shinu at 1950 also the day when his son-in-law the seventh Lubavitch ever assumed the leadership of the Chabad Lubavitch movement we want to welcome all over the communities and individuals who are joining us here live this evening literally from all over the world whether in your homes in your shoes and your synagogues in your Habad centers or other centers welcome to all of you this evenings gathering and evening is dedicated to a dear friend and colleague lady it's Huck Ben Cyril may God grant him a complete and speedy recovery our main lehayim we will begin with two melodies I'm joined here by Hassan barrold Sucher and his Hasidic choir among others we will begin with two melodies the first is a Hasidic heartwarming and deeply introspective melody one of the favorites and most beloved melodies by the person whose yard site were commemorating today the previous Lubavitch arriba the name of this melody is the Benin II it will be followed by a more joyous and festive melody and we ask all of you wherever you are to join us and sing along the Beynon II [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh [Applause] ah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh [Music] [Applause] Letta did it i yeah [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] [Laughter] the previous Lubavitch Arriba passed away as I said on the 10th of Shabbat in the year 1950 it was a Shabbos morning a Saturday morning at approximately 10 to 8 a.m. in his home on 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn New York on the second floor where he returned to his soul to its maker that Shabbat morning there is no known final will and testament which their ever wrote or public or gave out before his passing which came out after his passing but there was something else which has assumed the enormous significance especially when this day when this time of the year comes around the lubavitcher rebbe the previous Lubavitch Rebbe would publish for each holiday or special day on the calendar a Hasidic discourse no one as a Mimer on the 10th of schrott he had yard sight for his mother for his grandmother his grandmother his father's mother whose name was Rebbetzin rifki rifki the wife of the 4th lubavitcher rebbe no one as rabbi shmuel the Rebbe maharaj his grandmother rifka passed away also on the 10th of SHM at his mother's yard site is on the 13th of Chaumont so for the tenth of smart 1950 which was on Shabbos the lubavitcher rebbe published and gave out a special Hasidic discourse to be studied and learned in honor of the yard site of his mother it happened to be that on that very same day he also passed away and thus Habad Hassidim and his successor the Rebbe the lubavitcher rebbe came to see this discourse as the final message which the rebel left with his pupils disciples and students the world over before leaving our earth and returning back to heaven and in one particular utsava gathering one gathering on the 10th of Shabbat in 1972 the 7th Lubavitch a rabbi there ever addressed this theme and explained how in this discourse his father-in-law the sixth Lubavitch area was presenting and encapsulating a final message almost like a will and testament which we would live leave with the Jewish people before his own passing the discourse which their ever published for this day begins with a verse in the song of songs in XI Reshiram in the Song of Songs there is a verse bossy Lagaan II a high C kala in it King Solomon describes the day when the tabernacle the sanctuary was erected in the desert and he describes that day as the groom being a metaphor for God saying ba Selig Ani I came back to my garden to be with a high sakala my sister my bride and the Midrash explains and this is quoted in the discourse that God calls the world my garden I came back I returned to my garden where I used to be when I created the world I was there I was present but then as a result of human transgression failure corruption and perversion I so to speak departed from my garden and now I am returning this is the opening verse and discussion of this minor of this discourse which there ever gave out to learn for the day when he would we pass away the fifth the tenth day of sharat 1950 and it's in this very opening that the Rebbe his son-in-law saw a critical and valuable message that his father-in-law wanted to share with the world during his last moments before he would end his journey on our planet and tonight I wish to present to you one aspect one point of that idea you know they tell a story about Sherlock Holmes has his short stories with doctor his experiences with dr. Watson and in one of those experiences he goes camping with dr. Watson and they go to the forest or to the park and they build a beautiful bonfire and then they construct a lovely tent and both of them surely conductor Watson go to sleep in the tent the middle of the night Sherlock Holmes turns to dr. Watson looks up at the heavens and says dr. Watson what do you see up there dr. Watson looks up and he says I'm gazing at the Stars and my heart melts away in ecstasy as I'm looking at the kingdom of night I'm gazing at the beauty and the splendor and the grandeur and the mystique of the celestial formations and God's universe ah and he waxes eloquent about the emotional experience of looking at the world and the beauty of Knights Kingdom sure look how about you what do you see and Sherlock Holmes says I see that somebody stole our tent so you see everything and every experience has two perspectives if one knows even a little bit about the life story the biography of the person whose yard site we commemorate this evening the previous six Lubavitch Rebbe Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn one knows that his life was a perpetual living nightmare he was a captain of the Jewish ship he was a leader of the Jewish people in what you might call the worst and darkest era in Jewish history where there arose two individual persons two people who were the personification of evil in its most radical manifestation history has never seen - such tyrants to such murderers on a mass scale like Joseph Stalin and Adolf Hitler and they both lived functioned and achieved part of their dark goals in the same era Stalin emerging in the Soviet Union Hitler emerging in Germany the lubavitcher rebbe a faithful shepherd of his people living in the former Soviet Union succeeded the position of his father as lebara cherub in 1920 only three years after the revolution and four years before Vladimir Lenin died and Stalin would take the reins of the Soviet Union and lead the Empire of the Russia of Russia the Russian Empire for thirty years until his death in nineteen in March 1953 during these years Stalin would murder approximately twenty or thirty million people some historians even elevate the number higher in Germany the Third Reich would be led by Hitler amok Shammai who would exterminate tens of millions including of course the six million Jews and one and a half million children in Eastern Europe a third of the Jewish people who were decimated the Lubavitcher abre as a loyal and faithful leader of the Jewish people endured as so many other Jews and so many other Jewish leaders this black hole this blackest and darkest of times he was arrested he was tortured he was exiled he was sentenced to death although saved at the last moment he watched hundreds and thousands of his own pupils Hassidim followers be sent to the gulags exiled or just shot he created a network of 600 underground Jewish day schools imagine 600 underground Jewish day schools during the years when he led the Russian jury he created a secret network of ambassadors of sulukim of emissaries to hold up he descried to hold up Judaism the study of Torah the celebration of mitts votes in underground cellars on rooftops in Stalin's regime then their ever ultimately left the Soviet Union moved to Poland found himself in Nazi occupied Warsaw in 1939 and then in 1940 until he finally escaped to New York in the Holocaust he lost many of his own family members including a daughter and a son-in-law and many others of course many Hassidim and many Jews in addition to this Doretta was very ill he was physically very ill already in the 1930s he had many illnesses which caused his body to deteriorate swiftly with by the time he came to the US at 19 he was paralyzed and half half his body he was very difficult for the rabbit to speak to communicate based on all of this and much more and to sum it up it reminds me one of the people who worked in the home of the previous Arab who shared with me once that he heard from the Rebbe his wife Rebbetzin akka medina shnayerson who once shared with him with this person that once after seeing people one evening she went into her husband's room on the second floor of 770 Eastern Parkway she saw that her husband is weeping profusely she asked him bus vanes - why are you crying and he related to resent attention is attention is ice Altman did service with leadership Falk I can't beer anymore the tragedies the suffering of the Jewish nation now after 69 years the rapper would be summoned to his father in heaven and returned his weary and courageous soul to its maker what would we expect would be his final message his son-in-law asked what would we think would be his final communicating words to his followers what would he want to leave us with you might think he would express a sentiment I did my duty I served my people I fulfilled my mission I'm happy to leave a world of such darkness falsehood evil a world that can see so many innocent suffer and not say a word in protest to a world of truth he may bless try to inspire and give strength to the people he would leave behind to continue the journey of history and of Jewish history but instead the final words of the rapper with something else let us remember that the previous Lubavitch a rabbit did not hear about the calamities he observed them he experienced them in the words of Jeremiah who writes in the book of eighth of lamentations hear me o our Navi jeremiah the prophet who saw the temple go up in flames and says a knee hug ever on me I am the man who saw the affliction I didn't hear it on the radio or read it on a website I saw it I experienced it I saw the temple go up in flames and therefore he cried that never stopped crying aha Yashiro Vedad her ear abbas 'i'm hosaka mana the opening verse of lamentations of atha how can the city so filled with people become so lonely a city so populated with the Jewish nation has been widowed the Lubavitcher ever saw European Jewry go up in flames he saw war sir go up in flames he saw the millions and millions of Jews who perished who were barbarically exterminated by these two evil monsters first Stalin and then Hitler and then Stalin again after the war he saw it he felt that he endured it he experienced that he was himself physically crushed and broken but the last words he left us with their ever said were bossy lagana high seek Allah a verse in which God calls the world my garden his final message was I know the pain I know the suffering I'm aware of the anguish I experienced the turmoil and there's no way of easily removing that or ignoring it or repressing it and yet deep down I maintain that profound perspective of Judaism that the world essentially is a divine garden a garden we know an orchard is a place where people come to enjoy themselves SOPA smack offences that's the Yiddish word for calling - appreciate it - Gillian the light from it people stroll and sit in an orchard and it fills their soul with the beauty in the aroma of the garden so God doesn't only call the world a necessary evil to deal with not even a necessary place which we must live in in order to experience our goals and ultimately enter the real world the world to come paradise no Basile Agana hi-c , I came back to my garden he calls the world a garden the world in other words inherently essentially essentially and intrinsically is a place that has enormous potential for positivity for rejuvenation for growth and for goodness and kindness the world essentially there ever was saying was a good place embrace it love it cherish it embrace your life in the world because with the proper perspective and work you will be able to transform the world into a divine or of course the orchard is filled with weeds the orchard is sometimes filled with thorns the orchards are sometimes filled with components that obstruct and contradict the world as being a garden and it's the challenge of humanity and it's a challenge of the Jewish people to remove the weeds to cleanse and the world from its selfishness from its violence from its blood from its egocentricity from the conflicts that exist in the world but the focus is knowing that deep down the potential of the world has enormous positive energy within it our job is to expose it so you could see the same reality one sees that somebody stole our tent and one sees the beautiful kingdom of night this reminds me of the time when a woman a young woman wrote a letter to the lubavitcher rebbe this was in 1961 I believe in which she lamented and complained how miserable her life was her life was hopeless it was filled with darkness it was bleak nothing was working out and she enumerated a list of all of her problems and challenges the Rebbe wrote back a letter to her and in the letter he communicates the following message he says like this I want to contrast two moments of history to you one moment the first Adam is in the Garden of Eden in Genesis and paradise God tells them you can eat from everything eat from every tree one tree don't touch of course he and his wife eat from that tree and God confronts him and says I mean I ate a shirt CVC Philadelphia coal memento a halter from the tree that I told you not to eat from you had to eat and of course as the first Jewish husband who does he blame her each our shyness at a mud it's my wife and it's the wife that you gave me you're to blame you gave me the wife and the rabbi's say the sages say Rashi quotes it Adam was a coffee toy though he was given a gift and instead of extending a thank you instead of paying gratitude to the one who gave him the gift he was a coffee table which means he rejected the gift and rejected the one who gave him the gift totally ungrateful which occurs sometimes you help somebody you give somebody and they reciprocate with negative energy or with negative action so if you would have asked Adam at that moment how his life he would have said it's terrible God gave me this wife and she drove me crazy she gave me this fruit and had me cursed and ultimately will have me die would have me die because of it so Adam is in the paradise he has nothing to worry about there was no recession there was no mortgage crisis he didn't have to pay tuition he didn't have to burn a mortgage he had no issues with health insurance he was supposed to live forever life was perfect but if you would have asked him how his life it's terrible do you have anything to be grateful about meet great Harish and us at the Ahmadi I have been cursed and then the replica continues that he knew Jews who were in the camps they were in the concentration camps they had nothing everything was taken from them their loved ones their families their souls their bodies they were skeletons muscleman in the morning they used to wake up and they would recite burkas or Chaka they would recite the blessings which in the Jewish tradition we recite in the morning we say thank you God for giving me another day thank you God for allowing me to breathe another day for giving me a soul you would look at their life at their circumstances they had nothing but they said thank you what did they say thank you for they were alive they woke up one more day they're here to see the sunrise they're here they're present and they were thankful for that so he said you see you could be gone Aidan you could be in paradise everything but you don't have what to be thankful for you're a coffee whatever you can't say thank you to God and there's a person who is in circumstances deprived from everything and he finds what to say thank you about why because it's usually not about the circumstances it's about your attitude it's about your perspective it's what you choose to focus on and to experience most of us he concludes the letter are not in Paradise in atoms or Eve's paradise and thank God today we're not in the camps and the death camps where so many Jews were just six decades ago six and a half decades ago we're in between somewhere in between and it's our choice it's the choice we make in life so what was the final message that they're ever left the world with he gave out a discourse beginning with the words bus Cielo Gani I came to my garden is in life you have a choice either you could sing a huh you can cry a huh or you could sing sheer sheer him both are true the world can be a very dark and bloody and evil place and nobody knew it more than the one whose yard site is on the tenth of sharat but he chose to communicate and to inculcate the message of bossy lagana Hayakawa that the world essentially is a garden cherish and develop it embrace it celebrate it take a look at yourself take a look at another person take a look at the world and see within it the potential for growth for rejuvenation and for transformation which I am [Music] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you know they tell the story about a child who's becoming Bar Mitzvah so he approaches his mother he has to give a Bar Mitzvah speech and he says ma can you tell me about the history of our family who do we come from and his mother begins to describe her parents and her grandparents know I want to go way back where do we come from all the way from the beginning what is the origin of our family she says ah I'll tell you about Adam and Eve and she talks to him about Adam and Eve and how God created them in the garden and the tree of knowledge and Cain and Abel and so on and so forth okay so he has that down pat now he goes to daddy comes to his father and says daddy where do we come from and daddy begins describing his parents his grandparents know the beginning of everything where do we really come from who are our first progenitors and daddy says we come from the apes we are products we are children after many millions and billions of years we have emerged and evolved from the Apes the child is innocent and confused comes back to mommy says mom what's going on I asked you who are who were our progenitors and you tell me Adam and Eve I asked daddy who are our progenitors and he tells me Apes there's a contradiction here she says son there's no contradiction I was talking about my side of the family he was I guess talking about his side of the family you see the above-mentioned discussion about two perspectives how you look at the world also exists on a microscopic level not just in the macrocosm but also in the microcosm because when we look at a human being we can also assume one of two things one school of olofi believes that a person inherently is either evil or if not evil certainly prone to selfishness and narcissism one school of philosophy or psychology would believe that the human being at best is a neutral creature but usually extremely egocentric if not completely chaotic and narcissistic and his or her core in the Jewish approach however Basile Agana Hayakawa the human being inherently and intrinsically is divine the human being at his or her core is filled with goodness is a mirror of the potential is a mirror of the goodness and kindness of his creator and therefore the potentiality within a human being is very powerful and positive is their real hope when it comes to people or there's no hope I want to share with you a lovely Hasidic insight that deals with this theme that we're discussing there is a very strange Midrash in this week's Torah portion in the book of Exodus and mashaallah the Minter's describes the Jewish people after they left Egypt they came to the sea and the sea split when they came to the Red Sea pursued by the Egyptians and back of them there was now a sea in front of them the sea split that parted and the Jewish people passed through the sea as you know ultimately on their way to Sinai the term used for this in the Book of Psalms in hallow hi-yaaaah of ayano's the sea saw and fled and the Midrash asks Marah what did the sea see see as an SAE a a see as an SAE Mauro what did the see observe hiya MA the see saw something and it fled what did it see what did it observe and the Midrash answers are oh no shallow Safra the see observed the coffin of Joseph Moses we read in the beginning of mashaallah was carrying the bones of Joseph with him which he took when they left Egypt Moses the leader took the bones of Joseph with him on route from Egypt ultimately through the desert towards the Land of Israel and when the see observed the bones of Joseph the sea fled the sea split and the minitor says why and the Midrash says the words via nas has used one more time in the Bible it says in Psalms the sea fled but there was one more thing or person who fled Joseph in Genesis there's a verse Potiphar's wife was attempting to violate Joseph for a long time she attempted to persuade him to engage with her in a promiscuous and moral relationship and finally that they came he was not home and he nobody was home and he came home she remained there by Yahweh I by salaices malaki nobody was home and she turned to him and she said she's worried me lay with me and Joseph had no choice but to flee to escape by Janos by a circle it says he fled their home and she was holding his cloak his cloak tore and she held on to part of his cloak and ultimately she hasn't incarcerated in Egypt when the see saw the bones of Joseph and how Joseph fled the home the co so fled the co so ran away the co supported it ran away from its position and dry land was created in the Jewish people walk through the land what's the meaning of this Midrash it's a very strange observation what is the connection between Joseph fleeing and the sea fleet why would the sea only observe Joseph's coffin and then flee if not for that the sea would not flee so it seems what wasn't about Joseph that attempt that caused the sea to part ways now you know there's another very interesting Midrash the Talmud tells us the rabbi's say my gosh of hye-jung wa8 Canole it no it says in this week's portion after the Jews parted the sea the river and the sea came back to its original condition 'la a son Oh to its original strength it's the same letters like the word Li - no - its condition the sages say that God when he created the Red Sea he created it with a stipulation with a condition he said this I'm creating you with uncondition that when the day comes and the Jewish people need you to part you will part if you agree to this condition I'm going to create you if not let's forget our relationship I will not create so the C agreed to this condition and thus it splits for the Jewish people and that's the meaning of the word Allah a Tsar Noli - no there was a condition God made with the Red Sea according to our rabbis if that's the case the sea needed to split it was compelled to split it had to fulfill its obligation seas don't make don't have breaches of contract it made a contract with God it couldn't refuse and yet from the Midrash it would seem that it was only because of Joseph's coffin which had observed which compelled it to split if it would have not observed Joseph's coffin it would have not splits it fled because of Joseph but even if Joseph's coffin was not there it made a condition God made a condition with the sea and they'd agreed to the condition it consented that it would part ways so why the need for Joseph there was a lovely Hasidic explanation was given by Rabb Aaron Carlina rabbi Aaron of Carlin was one of the students of the magnatum is rich the successor of the Baal Shem Tov and he presents a little insight that I'm going to elaborate on he says this you know the Talmud says that marriages are as difficult as the splitting of the sea cautious if Wiggum curious Yamcha a marriage is as difficult to splitting the see obviously the Talmud is trying to say a good marriage is unique it's special it's almost miraculous because relationships can be very difficult very complicated but why did the town would use this miracle the talmud could have used many other miracles the talmud could have said marriage is as difficult as mana falling from heaven or marriage is as difficult as the ten plagues well i guess maybe that's not a good metaphor or marriage is as difficult as the clouds of glory that surrounded the jewish people I mean there were many miracles why in the Bible there are many supernatural events why does the town would use this particular miracle of splitting of the sea to describe the nature of marriage the answer my dear friends is this you see when God created the Red Sea he made a condition with the Red Sea one day the Jewish people the Israelites will be here they will be running away from the Egyptians who have subjugated them for two hundred and ten years they have been in exile now they're free at last but the Egyptians want to pursue them and Riaan slave them I need a favor from you God says to the sea I need you to part ways I need you to let them go through in dry land this sea said no problem Almighty God but just show me the customer show me who do you want me to split for who do you want me to renounce myself for so God said let me show you this is the third day of creation when the Seas and the rivers and the oceans were created and God takes the sea the arms of into the chamber of the souls souls of the Jewish people and the sea takes a look at a edition Schama a Jewish soul Kaval for these guys I'll do it every day for these guys I'll split every day of my life I will renounce myself and my identity every day the see observed the grandeur of a soul the depth of a soul the passioned purity the holiness of a neshama of a soul a soul is a helical akame mouth a soul is a fragment of God it's a spark of divinity the sea observes the souls and says I am more than happy to fulfill this condition granted the sea is created now forward the tape recorder of history two thousand four hundred and forty eight years the Jewish people have left Egypt they come in front of the red sea their exhaustion formatted it's a method it's a broken they're broken they're exhausted they have been enslaved they're now running away from the Egyptians and of course as the Bible describes the Torah describes they attack Moses are there not enough graves in Egypt that you had to bring us here to kill us now I love study that comment in this week's portion are there not enough graves in Egypt how much cynicism how much frustration is embedded in this comment how many bliing quorum permits riot there are no grave than those cemeteries in Egypt you needed to place our corpses here in the desert they gave up and they got into a major argument they were protesting they were rebelling according to the Talmud you saw me in the Midrash they split up into four groups one group of Jews said let's surrender let's go back to Egypt and become slaves one group said let's commit suicide let's jump into the water a third group said let's declare war even if we die will die with grace and honor and a fourth group said let's pray ultimately all four groups were wrong Moses said let's travel let's journey it's not a time to pray it's not a time to fight it's not a time to kill yourself and it's not a time to surrender you have a mission journey if the sea has to split it'll split but they got into a major argument the major fights so you can imagine the scene there are three million Jews I know how much politics and how many fights that can be in one Jewish community in one Jewish synagogue and one Jewish organization and one Jewish movement imagine when you have all Jewish organizations movement synagogues and temples together can you imagine what was going on over there just think about it so they're all there they're bickering with each other there's tremendous aggravation and conflict for good reason after all of this they're now going to end up in the hands of the bloody Egyptians who enslaved them who murder their children and who would now finish them off perhaps or re-enslave them and here they're stuck there stuck between Egyptians behind them and a see in front of them and they're upset they begin to argue and fight with each other now imagine the scene God turns to the sea and says time to part ways the Jews have to go through this is the time you remember I told you one day you have to split one day you have to create dry land in your midst the sea tells God for whom do you want me to part ways for the truth the Jews where are the Jews where are they you don't have eyes take a look three million of them the sea takes a look and says initiative zelda's ah it's not the same Jews the Jews that the sea observed in the chamber of the souls in the beginning of creation were not the same people here they're the sea observed transcendental souls one with God in complete communion with the creator of the world which were saintly wholly idealistic selfless pure here the see observed exhausted conflicted tumultuous confused anguished tormented Jews it's not the same it's not the same drew I never made a condition to part ways for them I made a condition I agreed to part for the souls in the chamber of souls which I observed then and the sea refused to part ways until it observed our inertial yes it observed the casket of Joseph then it split because this was the story of Joseph this was the story of Joseph Joseph was a person whom on the surface you did not recognize in him the depth the conviction the spirituality of his brothers when the Torah says in Genesis by yea kurios APHIS f of a blowie kiru Joseph recognized his brothers but they did not recognize him the Hasidic explanation for that is Joseph always recognized his brothers but they never recognized him they did not see in Joseph who Joseph was internally they were isolated spiritual Shepherds growing up at the cocoon of their father Jacob Joseph was a kid of the big city he had grandiose visions in the world of economy in the world of politics Joseph used to dress differently than his brothers Joseph was massage table sorry he combed his hair and he dressed beautifully and his father bought him this colorful tunic Joseph was a person who dreamt of grandeur and power and leadership the brothers thought that Joseph was the black sheep of the family Joseph was the apple that fell far from the tree indeed Joseph would become the prime minister of the greatest empire of ancient civilization Joseph would speak Egyptian which rest like on an Egyptian would run the entire economy of the Egyptian Empire and saved the Fertile Crescent from famine and nobody knew that inside this Joseph there was a hard on fire towards morality inside his Joseph there was a soul that was aglow with beauty and spiritual kindness inside this soul there was a Jew there was a person who was impassioned and an ear of the great golden chain of Abraham Isaac and Jacob at the surface you looked at Joseph and you saw perhaps somebody who was secular who was more assimilated than his brothers who was very different than his brothers but if you gaze deep into Joseph's heart if you knew Joseph from the inside if he didn't only look at him externally you could see in Joseph a hard that was imbued and saturated with godliness and holiness and idealism and goodness and resolve to transform the world into the divine abode it ought to become the moment of truth the moment of truth emerged that fateful day when Potiphar's wife enters into a home she feels what does the seventeen-year-old slave have to lose if he follows my desires and what does he have to gain if he rejects what I want I will have him tortured and carcere for life losing all freedoms he has if he follows my desires he would become a successful person here Joseph had no family Joseph had no family influence Joseph was living in a society and a culture where moral depravity was the norm and yet at the moment of truth Vilas Hudson Joseph Lent that's when his inner light emerges in its deepest splendor Joseph then captures the story of so many people and of so many Jews on the surface you look at a person down here filled with distress and anguish an agony of existence people can often be stripped from their true nobility from their authentic calling from their inner core of holiness but if you gaze deeper you see the yosef at Sadiq the righteous Joseph we're at a moment of truth flees and rejects everything that pootie for his wife wants notwithstanding the glory and honour and reward which he would benefit from following her desire rejects it all for the sake of upholding his moral integrity his fear of God and his rejection of engaging in an act of simple immorality this see didn't want to split it tells God these are not the same Jews that I have seen in the beginning of creation but when the see observes Joseph it understands its mistake learn from yourself and you'll understand who's standing in front of you at the surface they may be quarreling they're exhausted they're tormented they have been in Egypt for so many years but deep down these are the same souls that have been in heaven so pure and holy and idealistic it's just here on earth you have to have the courage and you have to have the perspective and you have to have the ability to be able to peer beneath the layers to be able to excavate their holiness to be able to excavate their saintliness my dear see Joseph was communicating his subtle and silent message don't do to others what you don't like to be done to you when somebody comes to the ocean or the beach of the sea and says so there's nothing inside this order and people say of course there's a lots inside this water sea or the ocean stretches miles deep I don't see anything you don't see anything because there's a bed of water that's covering it but if you have the courage to go down if you can dive in you will discover gems diamonds coals minerals millions of living species fish and so forth beneath beneath the water inside the water what you don't like to be done to you don't do to others see so when I am raw when it observed Joseph it's blood that's the reason that the Talmud compares marriages to the splitting of the sea you see before you born so you know they announce in heaven who's going to marry who bas plane Neela plane e the daughter of this person is by shared for this person so before you're born you want to go look at the soul of your brush shards that your future husband that your future groom so God shows you that young man would one day become your soulmate and you take a look and you say wow for such a guy anything such a guy I'll split every day our part ways I'll renounce myself I will be committed to this person with love with was devotion for such a person look at this person look who I have that's the moment you see the beauty the depth that's contained in his soul then you're born you grow up twenty years later 25 years later 30 years later 35 years later or whatever the situation is you meet the same purse you date you get engaged you get married and now you sometimes have to do Kriya Sam's of now you sometimes have to split you ego a little bit now you sometimes have to compromise you say I don't want no what do you mean you were so impressed with them it's not the same person you say the person I saw there the person may see here it's two separate people here I see a schlemazel a schlemiel a nudnik here I see a person who has issues who has problems west challenges and it works the other way as well before you're born you see your soul mates you see you're bright and you're overwhelmed you're mesmerized you're captivated by the inner beauty of this human being but sometimes in this world the reality does not match up with the ideal image of this person whom you saw before you were created just as the sea had these two Jews and it could not make peace between them but of course what does he learned from Joseph is that what life is about is discovering the beauty within yourself and within another person in this world understanding that your spouse may have two faces but the two faces are really one understanding that every human being may have two faces where the two faces are really one the Jewish people may have two faces where the two faces are really one yes there is a beautiful spiritual celestial heavenly face and there is a faith face that is tarnished by the gravel of Earth but the same face is really here on earth - you just have to have the courage and the love and the commitment and the dedication to look beyond to penetrate to excavate the interface to be able to see that face here and to understand that everybody struggles in this world life is a struggle the soul struggles our personality struggle people are confronted with many challenges and it's difficult for us to excavate that level of depth therefore the Talmud says you want a good marriage you have to be able to remember the story of crius yourself you have to be able to remember the story of the splitting of the sea you have to be able to have that serenity that kraut and clarity to look beneath that's the bossy leg Ani a high Sakawa just as there are two perspectives on the world there are two perspectives on every single human being there are two perspectives on every single Jew there is his side of the family and her side of the family either you come from Adam and Eve who were created by God or you ultimately come from bacteria how inspired how saintly how pure can bacteria be this is a choice it's a choice it's two perspectives and the final message of the Rebbe on the 10th of schrott and the message that his son-in-law the Rebbe continued to teach and to personify and to embody was to be able to unite the two faces to be able to look at the world to be able to look at yourself to be able to look at another Jew and an another human being and celebrate the divine orchard embedded within them which I am Ohio [Music] ha ha ha [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] yeah yeah [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Laughter] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] yeah [Laughter] [Applause] yeah yeah [Applause] yeah [Music] yeah [Applause] yeah yeah I [Applause] [Music] yeah [Music] [Applause] lehayim I want to welcome all of our new additions the many who are joining us here from all over the world communities and individuals in your centers and your Shoals in your homes Lucayan lehayim this evening of study song and inspiration is dedicated to lady it's cook been Cyril may God grant him a Rafale myrrh a complete and a very speedy recovery Bakara very speedily our main kami here at sign and I'm going to ask all of you to say Alec I am and a prayer for him among call Hollister all among all over the hill of our people that God grant him and all of them a complete and speedy recovery our main Luke I am luke I am there was a story an episode I heard a number of years ago which illustrates a very central theme connected to this evening and really reflective of the theme we have been developing earlier this evening the rapper the Lubavitcher ever had a custom each year the day before Yom Kippur on the eve of Yom Kippur in the afternoon he would distribute honey cake lekha for all those who wish to come and get a piece of cake bless them with a shana tova Masuka with a good and sweet year and for those who remember the scene the line will extend down Eastern Parkway usually till Brooklyn Avenue would go up Brooklyn Avenue and this was the day before Yom Kippur tortion ma'am 1979 there was an individual Jew a Hasidic Jew who decided to come and get a piece of cake and blessing from the Lubavitcher ever on this eve of Yom Kippur this Jew was a hostage a Hasidic Jew from the group known as Satmar he was a Satmar Hassan he lived in Williamsburg and you know over the years especially during that time there were some profound ideological differences between Chabad Lubavitch and Satmar particularly in the issue of how to approach secular Jews had a deal with secular Jews whether to have relationships with secular Jews and so on and so forth there were some very serious ideological differences between these two groups in 1979 in the summer on the 26th of of the famous Reber of satmar rebbe by a leash tidal bomb of blessed memory passed away it took a year and a half till the movement appointed his nephew as his successor rabbi moshe teitelbaum who passed away a few years ago in between in the in the interim between his passing and the appointment of his nephew there was no rabid there was no leader in Satna this Satmar drew wanted to receive a blessing from at sadiq for the new year for the High Holidays so he made the trip to Crown Heights and got on line to go to the Rebbe his room in 770 Eastern Parkway and receive his honey cake and blessing Murphy's Law Mazel or whether the baal shem tov was called the vine providence who's standing in front of him in front of him is standing not only a secular Jew but a hippie and not just a hippie but what you might call a my heart drew me now Mehadrin hippy which means a truly authentic hippie following all of the customs and traditions and rituals of the hippies may we say that is here extended quite long and his general look was that was one to which the Satmar Casa de Williamsburg was extremely unaccustomed to they engage in a conversation and when he realizes that this secular hippie is also going to the river just as he's going to the raba he becomes really turned off thinking to himself if that man is yerba he can't be my leper how can we how can you and me how can we be in the same boat how can we be included in the same group in the same category he's looking at this person and he's disgusted literally from his perspective he is disgusted with Chabad with Labov ik he's an ultra ultra Orthodox religious Hasidic Jew and here is a Jew from a very different world and a very different perspective and a totally opposite veldt and shaolong are these the products of Chabad are these the students of the lubavitcher rebbe are these the people he's proud of this is what he has to show this is what all their outreach is about that he regrets coming and yet he's there ready he wants a blessing even if this person can't give him a blessing certainly won't hurt him on harm and I guess a good piece of honey cake is always nice to have so he stays online it's a long line it took time finally his turn comes in front of him is this secular Jew the hippie there ever gives this Jew the secular Jew a piece of honey cake with a luminescent face a radiant face he blesses him for the new year and then he gives a piece of cake to this Hasidic Jew from Satmar and he blesses him for the year and this man begins moving away to go home to leave and go home but the river calls him back and the rabbi asks him in Yiddish tube estas at MIT at hafsat are you accosted of Satmar yeah I am yes Mac Marshall errands to do you learn in the book yes Mac moisha for the benefit of those who don't know what the book is I'll explain is Monisha was a is a commentary on the on the Torah that was authored by a man named rabbi moshe teitelbaum he was the rabbi of oh hell in hungary and he is considered the founding father of the dynasty of Satmar the isthmus moshe his book is called east malaysia let Moses rejoice because the waters name was Moshe rabbi moshe teitelbaum and this is a classic work which is studied in the Satmar movement continuously like tanya has studied in Habad so the river asks this jew your ass at medical said are you a follower of Satmar yes you smoke moisture you study yes I study is my commission do you remember the story that the Isthmus moisture presents in his introduction to his commentary on tehilim he has a book on Psalms it's called tequila La Mancha and in the introduction he writes a story do you remember that story the Jew remember the story so the revenue did only to remind him the story the end of the story let me tell you the story the story they are a by moistur teitelbaum transcribes in that book goes like this there was a Jew a man by the name of rebukes kakou passed away and came to heaven who welcomes him in heaven none other than Rashi Rashi Rabbi it's rocky the great biblical commentator the well-known Jew from France Germany Robin shall you throw the rabbi of all of Israel a teacher of all of Israel Rashi comes to greet Robert Schoch and when a beautiful asks Rashi why this honor he says it's for your son who was still alive he had a son whose name was rabbi a seal myth who loves lucious he's known as your initials lachcha where he was a student of the Baal Shem Tov the founder of the Hasidic movement he was a very great Jew a great man his name was rebels lover and his father passed away rabbi yitzchak and raschi comes to greet his father in heaven for the honor of his son Rab Mickle's lots of em and Rashi says there is something about your son that I am eager to discover your son's service of God generates a tremendous commotion in heaven your son's service of the Almighty causes tremendous positive energy in heaven God has knock us and he fells from your son's work like nobody else and I want to know what is unique about your son's service of God what makes him special what sets him apart sir rabbi yitzhak says my son sits and studies Torah at every possible moment day and night he studies Torah Rashi says that's extraordinary but there are other Jews who are completely immersed in the study of Torah and yet I don't see that their behaviors and their life generates such powerful delight in God's heart there must be something additional to that so he describes his son's prayers his prayers are done with every fiber of his being he almost expires in prayer that's how deeply connected he becomes during prayer and here again Rashi says I know of a few others and then he discusses his sons tremendous discipline when it comes to the material world he fasts he shuns material pleasures and here again Rashi says there are others so he talks about his sons charitable works his son rib missiles lunch ever would raise money for widows and for orphans and for people in need and Rashi says it's true that charity is the greatest mitzvah to help a person in need is the greatest mitzvah and there's no question that that creates such a powerful beautiful commotion in heaven but there are some other Jews who are also dedicated hard and sold to charity to philanthropy to Dogma and I still see that there's something your son is involved in that causes God infinite pleasure and gratification and nachus and I want to know what it is finally rabbi yitzchak tells Rashi there's one more thing about my son one more thing and he quotes three words from the Prophet Malky to describe his son the robbing hey siob may oven meaning he brought back many people from a life of iniquity Reb Michels lot severe was involved in kindling Sparks and in bringing back many people who have been lost morally and spiritually to their source giving them their deserved place of dignity within Knesset Easter all within the Jewish people this my son does when Rashi heard this this yeshiva died he calmed down he got an answer to his question he relaxed this he acceptance the Reba turns to this purse to this Satmar accosted standing there online and communicates to him this message I don't know the story verbatim but I know the content if rashi calm down you can know so calm down if Raschi relaxed you can also relax and he wished him a good and sweet year and this person went on he related a story a few years ago and said what moved him was not only the fact that the rapper apparently felt what he was feeling for 45 minutes the resentment the garage the negative energy the judgmentalism but what touched him even more and what was so novel for him was the perspective a perspective he wasn't raised with a perspective he was not nurtured with a perspective he could not even appreciate from his own upbringing and background the perspective that the greatest one of the greatest things you can do in life is they robbed him hey shove me of it to expand the bosom of the Jewish people and embrace every individual human being whoever he or she is wherever he or she is and allow them to resume their place and to restore them to their righteous place within the divine symphony of Jewish history of the Jewish people of the Torah of Israel of the God of Israel and of the people of Israel to allow them to come back to their home to their roots to their source to their own core to their soul to find God once again I heard the story and then something struck me if you ever went to visit the resting place of the previous lubavitcher rebbe whose yard site we commemorate tonight the 10th of Shabbat tonight is the 59th yard site there was a tombstone the tombstone is very brief I am not sure who wrote the text back in 1950 I assume it was his son or mother ever there are very few titles on the tombstone engraved about the Lubavitch Ariba one of them is a line from the Prophet Malaki the rabbim hey Shiv may oven he brought back many people from iniquity from being lost from being a stray and I used to wonder why was this title chosen one can say many many many things about the previous Lubavitch Rebbe he lived a life of endless sacrifice for the Jewish people and for Judaism volumes would not capture the enormous Macias nefesh sacrifice that the previous Lebovitz share ever had not just for his Hassidim for his own pupils but for the entire Jewish world and in the most difficult and darkest of times but from all the titles that could have been chosen this one was chosen for a beam Haitian may of and that's the reason if you look at the left to that tombstone on the tombstone of a son-in-law of the Rebbe his resting place they put the same three words we rob him they shove me over I assume because they were engraved on the tombstone of his father-in-law of the previous rep perhaps this story can shed some light on this question and yet the message is clear bossy Lagaan efi Sakawa we look at ourselves we look at other people and sometimes we can develop a sense of judgmentalism a sense of negative energy as we lose touch with the truth and the truth is that the soul with all of its purity and holiness is present in each and every person in each and every Jew and our challenge is to be able to see it observe it connect with it appreciate it honor it love it and embrace it if you see it in them they'll be able to see it in themselves and thus the previous era and the son-in-law they're ever in many ways their life story can be captured by these three words for a beam Heysham a oven never believing that there's anybody you could give up on that there's anybody you should give up on because deep down our job our role our mission is to reveal within ourselves and with went with every person we come in contact with that core soul may we have the courage the inspiration and the clarity to be able to look at ourselves and to look at others in that light Messiah Messiah [Music] [Laughter] yeah [Applause] [Music] yeah [Applause] [Music] [Applause] my Oh [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] I yeah I [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] Oh [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] yeah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this approach that we have been developing and discussing is extremely relevant in the area of education as well somebody a rabbi shared with me the following story that he experienced parents came to see him about their child but before I tell you this story I want to tell you an anecdote they tell the story about the two brothers who were classical troublemakers they terrorized their entire home family community whenever anybody anything went wrong they were the ones to blame naturally intuitively you knew these two kids Yankel and shmatte oh they were the ones who made the fire who broke it who destroyed it it was all their fault their mother their poor mother didn't know was took man what do we do with these kids so one day a great rabbi was coming to town she decided she's going to bring each of the children separately to the rabbi in order to have him perhaps inspire them or lift them up or transform them or refine them okay brother number one Yankel comes to the rabbi enters into his office and the rabbi looks at him and says tell me uncle who is God where is God the boy does not respond the rabbi asks again where is God he doesn't answer a third time a fourth time where is God tell me where God is the boy picks himself up and runs out of the office runs out of the home runs the seven blocks to his own house the fastest pace that he can he enters into his house he comes to his brother's room he locks the door he's completely out of breath and he says my brother's medal you won't believe what happened now God is missing and they think that we did it so this rabbi tells me about parents who come to see him because of problems they're having with their child their child is 10 years old or 11 or 12 and it's misbehaving and the main problem is they discovering in him a proclivity to lie and to steal so they come to ask his advice what should they do the mother had to go out for a moment so she excused herself and when the father was there alone with the rabbi the father tells him you know I just want to tell you that I always knew this about the kids when this boy was three years old two years old three years old four years old I already knew that he's a gun of he's a thief I knew that he's a shokran he's a liar I knew that he's a little terrorist I knew it I always said it about him I saw it in him so the rabbi was looking at him and the father says I didn't want to say in front of my wife to aggravate her but this is the truth I knew this from day one the rabbi responded to him very wisely he said you know I then really don't understand why you're so disappointed you're sitting here you're crying to me why are you disappointed your son lived up to your expectations impeccably you expected this from him and this is what became of it is a true observation because what we see in our children is what ultimately they can see in themselves and what we see in our students is what they can see in themselves if you look at your student you look at your child and you see the negative qualities you see the flaws you see the challenges you see the problems you see the bad behavior you see the negative or destructive patterns you see it you emphasize it you accentuate you're pained by it and that's what you see in this person often chances are that they will live up to those expectations de vil they will live up to the image you projected onto them what do you believe about them they will come to believe about themselves but if you look at your child you look at your students and you see a diamond and you love this diamond but you understand that the diamond has to be polished the diamond has to be cleaned the diamond has to be developed the diamond has to be refined the diamond has to be cultivated on still it becomes the diamond it's capable of becoming then the child and the student will see that quality in themselves as well Bosse Lagaan II if you look at an orchard if you see your child as an orchard as a gun as a garden producing capable of producing the most beautiful and exquisite aromas he or she will be able to see that within themselves but this is critical not just in homes and in education also in schools in our educational systems teachers principals educators mentors parents rabbis must be able to look at their children to look at the students and to see diamonds if you immediately develop a negative attitude if you put them down they will put themselves down I want to tell you a story there is an educator in Israel his name is rabbi TV greenwalt he's a very warm person three green world very warm individual he wants visited the Rebbe at the lubavitcher rebbe and during their audience he posed the following question to the Rebbe he said you know my style and education is that I display tremendous warmth to my students I embrace them I hug them I shower them with passion and love and there were a few individuals who told me that I'm making a mistake I'm far too mushy I'm far too warm I'm far too embracing I'm far too loving good education requires distance be harsh be colder be aloof be sublime don't be so warm don't let them use you and manipulate you that way and I'm asking the rapid advice is my approach flawed is my approach erroneous should I cease to do things the way I have been doing them till now and develop a different approach become more harsh and he related he said when there ever heard this question his face grew very serious he was sitting on his chair in his room he lifted himself up from his chair because of his emotion and he said that's McCollum god forbid do Vista of boy and I'm a hit sir shall be results of endearment at home Eden if you follow this approach you will construct an Iron Curtain an iron partition between you and your students but then he added what I think is a very contemporary psychological observation he said this I want to tell you something about these students in today's day many of them are extremely self-critical they put themselves down better than anybody puts them down if your approach is one of criticism if you further denigrate them if you further belittle them if you further put them down you will not be telling them anything new you will just confirm what they already believe about themselves that they're worthless what they need from you is for you to tell them how great they are and how great they can become that's what they need from you as much as you denigrate them you're not accomplishing anything they know that they know it better than you and what this really means is it's a very telling I think observation about so many people today put themselves down in a very profound place they don't believe in themselves they don't love themselves they don't trust themselves and therefore they don't care for themselves your job as an educator your job as a parent is to see the garden very album Haitian may oven not to be naive not to ignore flaws not to deny challenges not to repress problems not at all to be aware and mindful of the challenges but to help the person give them the tools to be able to celebrate themselves celebrate their soul celebrate their life celebrate their choices and become the people they're capable of becoming this is what the yosef represented this is what Joseph's represented he had that power that was given to him by his father and therefore at a moment of great challenge he can withstand the challenge by Janos vak who he fled and this is what inspired to see at that fateful moment to part its ways for Joseph Joseph was only 17 years old but he had a father he had a father who always taught him to remember what he's capable of becoming who he really is and in that challenging moment it proved to save his life and his future well hi I'm Ohio yeah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] my [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] yeah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] hi lehayim hi him to life was time to health was time to happiness lehayim to redemption welcome all those of you who have now joined us in the midst of our evening of song study and inspiration commemorating the yard site of the previous Lubavitch Arriba and the day that the rabid Alabama Trevor the seventh lubavitcher rebbe assumed the leadership of Chabad Lubavitch on the 10th of Shevat 1950 were gathered here this evening with individuals and communities literally across the entire globe and I want to welcome all of you individually and collectively I know many communities and families are watching this together in their homes or in their shoes or in their Habad houses or in other places of assembly Brooke Lemar volume welcome all of you who are here with us please say look I am with us join us I want to mention that this event this fabrini endures gathering this evening is dedicated especially to our dear colleague levy it's Hogben cyril may God grant him a complete and speedy recovery our main Keaney here at CERN and this should be but I call Halley's role among all of our brothers and sisters who are in need of a reformer in need of a recovery I also want to mention that these classes here on the web and these fabrini ins began in the merit of cannabis Russia Zelda who has since passed on and made this also belay LuAnn - ah mashallah for her soul made rest in peace - Hamish Mossad surah Baqarah fiim Kanna Basra Zelda and Bastrop Aaron Labe of blessed memories right now the shrine Allah varaha we will now continue and sing a beautiful acidic melody known as anagen a song for Shabbos and yom tov as we are joined by internationally renowned cantor barrelled Sucher and a Hasidic choir [Music] yeah [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah [Music] [Applause] [Music] how does one in a challenging world in a world of recession of financial crises in a world when many individuals who just a few months ago were on top of their game life was successful rewarding they commanded tremendous respect tremendous honor their lifestyle was extravagant and they can afford it thank God some of them gave enormous amounts of charity and in a few months so many of them lost enormous amounts of money in such a world with many other challenges besides the economic and financial challenges there are the psychological and emotional challenges of life there is a world threatened by terror on a daily basis our brothers and sisters in Israel after weeks in Gaza still face an enemy on the north and an enemy on the south and an enemy on the East on the West you have the Mediterranean and then ultimately the United States of America and with all of this combined together it's often hard for us to maintain our equilibrium never mind to be empowered and inspired and here the discourse maintains bossy lagana that we still have to be able to look and see the flowers smell the flowers say thank you celebrate the world as a garden bus Lila Gandhi a high C kala once at a Shabbos gathering of this week's portion of mashaallah the Rebbe the lubavitcher rebbe addressed the scene at the end of the portion a mullick declares war against the fresh Jews Jewish people who have just left Egypt it's a war that was not a response to any provocation nobody provoked him it was totally unprovoked a male came and declared war on the Jews Moses tells Joshua say he loved him by mulac choose men and Beaufighter Mallick but he himself does not engage in the fight against Tamil lake instead Moses goes up to pray for Hayashi your emotion your day when Moses lifts up his hand in prayer he lifts up his arms and pray of a governess Royal Israel is strong Israel prevails and when Moses hands are not uplifted when they go down Israel is weakened at the end Joshua is successful a mullick is defeated the Jews are survived but this is the only war the only war in the five books of Moses where there's this interesting arrangement the leader goes up to pray Joshua actually engages in the war what is the symbolism of this what is the significance of this every war requires prayer and requires action if you just sit at home and pray the war will not be able to get done somebody has to be on the front somebody's in the front lines there is the infant goes in to take down the enemy which wants to murder you and your children and then there are those who pray every war requires both but in this war the connection was extremely blatant and conspicuous Moses says you go fight I'm going to go and lift up my hands and at some point he's become tahi becomes tired and his brother and his nephew have to hold up his arms hold them up so that he should not cease to pray and the Rebbe explained one of the explanations and this is a male represents not just a physical nation which came to terrorize the Jewish people a male cos'è represents a trend the philosophy of culture and it's the trend of cynicism coming from coldness and apathy a mullick is defined in the Bible in the Torah Chikara by dareth in the book of Deuteronomy and one of the explanations brought in the mid Washington human and Russia is there was a hat hot bath and everybody was scared to enter into the bath and I Moloch was determined to cool off the bath I'm awake is the expert cynic who knows how to turn every situation around and cool off people from any passion from any excitement cynicism is really a form of depression whorfin unhealthy cynicism comes when people are incapable of dealing with life they make fun of everything they scoff at everybody at everything and at everything it's a way of resigning to the evil of the world by just becoming endlessly cynical there is no sincerity left because you don't believe there's anything to be sincere about cynicism erodes conviction it erodes love it erodes community it erodes resolve it arose productive growth and our lake is therefore a continuous perpetual enemy from within and I'm awake the antidote are Malika's prayer and that's the story Moses says you will not be able to fight a mullick without davenic without prayer prayer is the time in the day when the person goes in to himself or herself and finds their soul finds their innocence finds their optimism finds their confidence if you don't have those few moments in your morning when you encounter your true depth when you go and face the world the first challenge can take you down or at least turn you extremely cold and cynical so Moses says lift up your arms and prayer because when you're facing a world and when you're facing daily challenges that can cut you down emotionally psychologically spiritually morally individually and collectively we desperately need prayer we desperately need those few powerful moments or minutes when we retreat into private oasis of our neshama of our souls and we connect we connect with God we connect with our core we connect with the garden within us with the orchard within us so that we can then identify the garden within every person we come into contact that day and the garden in the world that's the element of prayer and then there is the partner of prayer which is study which is learning the baal shem tov says there's a flood the flood is going to drown the whole universe so the baal shem tov says God tells Noah bow a lot AVA enter into the ark David doesn't only mean Ark Haven Hebrew means words enter into the words what does it mean to enter into the words these are the words of prayer and study I can say the words but I don't enter into the words I am NOT in the word the words are just being said I'm doing a lip service it's an external experience I'm not there I'm saying the words I may attend the glass I may read a book I may go to prayers I may Darvin but I didn't go into the word I am not present its robotic its monotonous there's no experience that's one of the great crises Judaism has today many people are doing lots of good things there's a lot of Torah being learned and a lot of prayers being said and a lot of mitzvahs being performed but very often what's missing is the experience of it our children or ourselves are not experiencing Judaism prayer is not an experience nothing happens to you during prayer and learning is not an experience nothing happens to me during learning I don't allow myself to go into the word the baal shem tov says when there's a flood in the world when the world is being flooded and you want to remain afloat boil up David go into the words go into the words of prayer go into the words of study because prayer and study are the islands they are the arcs they are the tavis where you can have a world flooded by lots of challenges but within that arc within that word you're not only surviving you're thriving because you connect to a place that's unbreakable you connect to a place where there are no breaches you connect to a source of comfort and strength that nothing and nobody can take away and that's why as we focus tonight on the significance of this night of 10th the 10th of Siobhan's and Bosse lagana coming to the garden is believe it's extremely appropriate to challenge ourselves and rededicate ourselves thank you to the art of prayer and to the art of study not just as robotic external superficial acts of lip service but as authentic daily commitments and experiences people who dedicate that time to Davin to connect to God in a sincere way every day and people who dedicate time to learn to become submerged in terror studying terror on a daily basis are capable of experiencing a serenity a clarity a wholesomeness especially in today's world that's unparalleled because if you're not connected to the source of inspiration it's very easy to lose that inspiration and this is one of the reasons and here I an extend an invitation to all of you who are here physically and to all of you who are here virtually to come join us here on the web on a weekly basis and we will continue to grow and expand the classes and the learning experiences and opportunities for yourselves for your friends for your loved ones for your children until the world is filled with terror the world is saturated with Tara so then when we go out from the arc we go out of the word we can bring the inspiration and power of Tara and the perspective of Tara to ourselves to our communities and to the entire world hi I'm Luke I am Oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah yeah [Music] [Laughter] [Music] [Applause] [Music] yeah yeah yeah [Music] yeah yeah yeah [Music] the original discourse that the previous rabbit published for the day which ultimately was the day he passed away the 10th of schlopp 1950 contains 20 chapters for that day he published the first five the second five he gave to be published three days later for the yard site of his mother on the 13th of sharat the next five for Purim and the last five for the second of Nissen which was the yard site which is the art sent of his father the fifth Lubavitcher Rebbe Rabbi Shalom bearishness in the repair shop therefore it is a custom among Habad Hassidim that each year when they study this discourse on the yard site of the previous Rebbe at the 10th of schlopp they focus on another chapter the first year 1951 the first yard said they focused on chapter 1 1969 chapter 19 1970 they finished the first cycle 20 chapters in 1971 they resumed again the cycle and the rabba the successor of his father-in-law each year at the Utrecht gathering would give a discourse bossy lagana and would focus on one chapter of the twenty chapters of the discourse explaining it elaborating on it and revealing new layers of depth in that particular chapter today we're in the midst of the third cycle and this year 200 nine five seven six nine we study chapter 19 actually the second to the last chapter of this long discourse of Basile agony which as I discussed in the beginning of the evening was the discourse the RIBA the previous RIBA published for the yard site of his grandmother for the tenth of Shabbat 1950 ultimately the day when he would pass away one of the points that the rabbit makes in this 19th chapter is a concept knowing in hebrew as biz bows her interests the squandering of the treasures explaining that orphan a king a masses enormous amounts of priceless treasures that have been given to him from earlier generations sometimes for hundreds of years the Kings Treasury contains priceless treasures that one can't even estimate they have been there for generations he barely ever shows it to anybody maybe at the wedding of a child maybe when the best friend comes to visit him and even then he would not show everything and certainly not squander it and give it up there was an exception at a time of war and a time of war when the king is a gauged in a war for his very life for his very Empire for his very country at such a time the king will enter into his Treasury and take out every single priceless gem that is there and use it for the sake of victory explaining that victory is one of the deepest drives in the human soul that is one of the most essential qualities in the human soul the need to win when confronting an enemy any type of enemy the need to win it brings out what's called me - a net sucks the quality of victory in the deepest place and the rebbe uses this as a metaphor to describe the war of the Jewish people defined as the army of God to bring goodness to the world to saturate the world with godliness that for this war for this battle God would give them gives them the deepest treasures that I usually not expose the highest deepest levels the most intimate aspects of God himself are given to the soldiers on the front he may give them through the generals and commanders but the objective is the infantry the soldiers on the front to actually carry out the battle and bring victory these are the ordinary human beings who wake up each morning and battle they battle the evil within themselves they battle the narcissism and the selfishness within themselves and they battle the evil and the negativity within the world around them and at a time of war the king is ready to squander all of these treasures it has been suggested that this concept perhaps can be explained a bit clearer by a fascinating story that's recorded in the Midrash one of the mysteries of Jewish history is King David build jerusalem King David is a great warrior King David reunites the land and the Jewish Kingdom King David a masses all of the wealth to build a temple to build a beit hamikdash a permanent structure for God in Jerusalem but he never ends up doing it why not he has the blueprints he writes the plans he has all the material the merchandise and the money prepared but he does not end up doing it he says clearly in the book of Chronicles chronicles 1 chapter 22 Vonnie by only me and my poverty happy noise Teela base Hashem I prepared for God's house key Korean mayor Ella for Casa fell afoul of from key criminal facie Silla bars Elaine mystical enormous quantities of gold and of silver and endless quantities of copper and iron but he never ended up building the temple his son slow-moe Solomon would build the temple why there is a Midrash y'all qodeshim oniy in roofs in the Book of Ruth the Book of Ruth gives us this explanation David says in my poverty I prepared for the house of God all of this wealth what does he mean by my in my poverty if he was so poor how how Denis amassed so much wealth it's like this to the teacher who once said if I would be Rothschild I would be richer than Rothschild why because I wouldn't stop teaching so in addition to Rothschilds money I would also have the money I get from teaching David calls himself poor and yet he has so much wealth so the Midrash in el coche emini says this the day that David killed Goliath he Schlick who all of benissa royal colic a service of Jewish women Jewish girls to pay tribute to David's extraordinary victory ridding the world and the Jews from Goliath from the giant Goliath they threw all of their gold and silver on David he took all of the money and he donated it and put it aside to build one day a base--emitter to build one day a home for God on the mountaintop in Jerusalem this was still the time of King Saul David was not the King years would pass and this treasure would grow and grow and it was an enormous treasure and the Midrash says it came from the money from the silver and gold that the girls hurled upon David after he killed Goliath in the midst of David's Kingdom there was a hunger three years in the Holy Land a terrible famine the Jewish people came to David and said you have stored away so much gold and silver from the days of Goliath give it to us let us feed the hungry David did not want him he refused he said this money is dedicated it's consecrated to build God's home I'm not going to take this money and use it for the present famine let's find other solutions for the famine interestingly to be honest in a piece it's in his book yar is vast rush Bay's connected this madness to the famous gomorian brothers where David advised the sages to go to war in order to provide for the welfare and the food for the welfare and nutrition of the Jewish people and he says because he didn't want to give this money on marleah Kadesh burro who God told him like he bout Allah Allah Hafiz Bonifacio's Kaka Shaina mikdash Naveen Alioto since you did not take this money and use it to vitalize souls I swear to you the temple will not be built through you it would be built through Solomon and AB unison a bishops explains that this is the meaning of the Prophet who tells King David why didn't David build a temple because you spilled much blood because of all of your wars reputation says it's not the wars he fought for survival of the Jewish people and for the Land of Israel you can't blame him for those Wars it's the wars that were fought in order to provide for their economy because he didn't want to use this money and that's how the venison apeshit explains this matters let's reflect on this why didn't David why didn't King David want to use the money for the famine why didn't he want to use it to build the economy to stop the recession why didn't he want to put it into the market to be able to feed people who didn't have jobs apparently what King David thought was you can allow the pressures and the crises of the moment to interfere and overwhelm your global grand vision which is relevant for eternity the famine is bad its destructive ATAR but it's a momentary crisis we need to find a way out of it how can I allow the gray dream of Israel the great vision or after hundreds of years of God being homeless as King David writes in the Book of Psalms how can I go to sleep when God doesn't have a home after hundreds of years of being in one building one tabernacle on another tabernacle on another Tabernacle in Noven and given and in Shiloh David feels he cannot go to sleep he cannot rest if God doesn't have a permanent home the base are making thirst the Holy of Holies so he's now going to squander the dream of eternity to turn the world into a home for God the beit hamikdash was the place where God would well this is where the divine presence would be manifested this is where the world would become the garden bussy lagana if I seek Allah this will be the garden can he really squander that dream and just take all of the money and put it into the market and get people jobs and give them money and give them charity and get bread on the table and milk on the table and nutrition on the table what about the great dream and therefore he decides you cannot substitute the holy for the mundane you cannot forego the eternity for the moments you cannot and yet he made a mistake relative to his level that was an error God says the temple cannot be built through this approach demonstrates to me that you're not worthy of building the base on mikdash of bringing history to a new level you got all of these treasures for your personal victory you dedicate it all to God David could have said I killed Goliath these girls want to honor me let me go home and start building my own bank account and my own portfolio he does not do that he consecrates it to God but God says since you didn't want to use it to feed Jews in the three years of hunger you cannot build a temple King Solomon will use it to build a temple one of the possible explanations and this is that God is communicating to David what Jewish Redemption is all about there is no real Redemption if it doesn't relate to the problems of individual people this very moment the power of redemption is that it liberates the whole world and all of humanity including small people and ordinary people if small people who suffer from day-to-day problems are a burden to you if you cannot deal with their issues with their needs because you have a grandiose of vision of changing the world then you cannot be their Redeemer David God says you were responsible to allow your dream to crumble not to crumble and be destroyed but to crumble and be fed to small people who need crumbs somebody who is not ready to take the treasures and give them to the people who often need ordinary things does not appreciate the true meaning of redemption which is redeeming the world the physical world and creating this redemption through physical ordinary beings through their ordinary lives if you want to bring Redemption you have to know these people are your soldiers the only way you will be successful is if you believe in them if you feel that they are very far from your vision if you feel that their needs are not your needs you live in a world of a temple you live in a world of God you live in heaven you're giving all your money for an eternal dream and here they're coming and nudging you for bread and milk and you look at them and you say how do you compare you to dreams I'm thinking and dreaming about a baked I make there's about a temple and you're focused on your own physical needs God says there is an issue here there is a problem here ultimately the temple is built through these people and within their hearts you must believe in them you must nurture them you must invest in them you must give them your treasures you must empower them you must believe in the people of your generation perhaps if David would have sacrificed his dream he can inspire them to sacrifice their dream if he would have sacrificed his dream and given them the treasures they would see the pain the anguish that he endured from getting rid of these treasures from saying goodbye to these treasures and they would then be able to reciprocate and renounce their smaller dreams for the sake of his dream they would be able to become sensitive to what David really felt just as he was being sensitive to what they felt but if he was not ready to renounce himself to renounce his treasures to renounce his vision for them a gulf remains between the two and in that gulf they have a difficult time experiencing who David is and ultimately the temple cannot be rebuilt this perhaps is one of the elements contained in the idea of the King squandering the treasures during a time of war David did not squander the treasures he didn't want to they're too precious Who am I going to be giving them to for what will I be using them and yet here the rapper explains the previous Rebbe explains in chapter 19 if you want victory you need Savoy Hashem you need your soldiers you need your people you need to invest your faith and your passion and your idealism in them and it's only if you give them everything you give them all of your treasures you squander everything there's nothing left do they see what you have invested in them then they can respond they will reciprocate and they will be able to give you their hearts their commitment and build a temple build a base I mean just construct the world I think it is fair to say that this the Jewish world has seen throughout his years of leadership in the Rebbe who took these words of his father-in-law very seriously the Rebbe contained this very powerful paradox on one hand he was the opposite he totally was he was completely aloof from the materialistic world and pleasures that so many of us are connected to a very private segregated sublime individual a godly person a holy person a peer purse dreamt of a base hamikdash dreamt of building a base of mikta of building the divine presence in this world of creating a world in which Redemption can materialize in which a fragment of heaven can be built on planet Earth but he was the leader of a people and the people don't always dream of building temples of creating heaven on earth the people often dream of paying mortgages of making a living of buying a home selling a home of taking care of themselves especially in a post Holocaust era where American jury were just trying to get themselves together and start life over again one of the easiest things for the rabbit would have been to detach to give up a little bit not on this dream but on people who don't identify with the dream on people who just want to take care of their day to day lives they're hungry they want to go on vacation they want to nap on - no they weren't charlatans what's wrong with having salt a guy told me he went on vacation the other day - I'll tell there were a lot of Jews there and he sees Friday afternoon there's a room and on the door there's a sign that I am at simmer the Tamara Tamara room meant the room of tasting he walks into the room and he sees a smorgasbord all the food that would be served on Shabbos they served Friday afternoon for everybody to taste and he says the meal in that room the amount of food in that room was more than the amount of food they had the whole Shabbos the Jew says I want I am al I want to taste I want to taste I want a nap I want to relax I want to feed myself I want to feed my family what's wrong King David is dreaming and says I can't sleep at night because there's no bass I make a dish I can't sleep at night because there's no redemption I can't sleep at night because machines didn't come but the Jews want to eat it's very easy for a leader to say let me retreat into my chamber and try to pursue my dream the own way in my own way but the rabbit took the cue of his father-in-law and took the treasures the treasures meant his entire soul is entire passion his own treasure called himself His Holiness is saintliness as godliness his wisdom his depth this perspective this purity is ideal is and sheered all of it all over the time with anybody who wished to take and absorb his treasures his father-in-law's treasures the treasures of terror of godliness of of Kabbalah Sidis of Talmud of Midler's the treasures of the deepest elements of terror and of serving God always turning to the people to the Jews and saying we're soldiers on the front together that everybody respond not everybody respondent but some respondent when people saw how much he gave up and inspired them also to give up a lot the world learned this year about one such couple the ambassadors of the rabbit to Mumbai India Gabrielle Maya and Rivka Holtzberg they could have chosen another life a much simpler life and they would be justified according to all standards but when they saw the person who gave all of the treasures to share that dream with people they gave up all of their treasures to build a base of McNish in Mumbai this is what God is telling David to be a true leader you have to believe in your people and you have to give everything to your people and when you empower them they will surprise you and instead of having an enormous amount of wealth to build your temple you may not have that wealth because you gave it up but you'll have the people you'll have their souls you'll have their hearts today we're here continuing on that March with an incomplete mission yet so the chapter of this year talks about the giving of all of the treasures to the soldiers so that the soldiers could find within themselves and within their hearts the power to complete the construction of God's presence in this world and bring redemption to a world so desperately in need of it what I am what I am now for our final melody [Music] [Laughter] [Music] hi I'm Luke I am la hi I'm Oliver akka at the conclusion of our evening here of song and study and inspiration I want to once again welcome all of you who have joined us here this evening the special night of you trot I also want to thank Cantor barrel zuker hooker who was joined us together with his Hasidic acquire le Marcus and Pintus forest and you strolled over to a lee in gyeom can Sapolsky and your own levy and connie sucker on the piano thank you very much lehayim la high in Ville of Rafat everybody leshawna haba bearish a lion lion [Music] [Applause] eleven [Music] - never bow away [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]