KMTT - the Torah Podcast
Erev Shabbat Bahaalotcha
Erev Shabbat program for parashat Bahaalotcha, with Rav Ezra Bick, and a short excerpt from a shiur of HaRav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik zt"l.
I've never heard of anybody today still observing it. There was a fast day that was visually instituted after the Hormlitsky programs in Takhvat, 1648-1649, when the Jewish communities of Poland, of eastern Poland, were overrun in the Kazakh uprising against the Polish overlords, and hundreds of thousands, we don't know the exact numbers, hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed, and at the time, the Jewish history becomes very relative, at the time it was viewed as being the greatest catastrophe, at least in Ashkenazi Jewry, since the Höbenerweid, more or less parallel to the expulsion from Spain for Spanish Jewry, and afterwards, on the date of Khabzivan, was instituted a fast day, it's mentioned in the post-game, and was observed, definitely for many hundreds of years, i.e. recall when I was younger, and I know someone who was supposed to get married, and when the rub heard that it was the wedding was set for Khabzivan, he asked them to postpone it, they postponed it, it's still a day of a certain atmosphere, and this was 35 years ago, more, but at least in that case, I know that some observation, some observance, excuse me, some observance of Khabzivan, was still practiced, even if the fast day, as such, has lapsed, it's a, nonetheless, a day of remembrance for a very, very extremely tragic period in Jewish life, anyone who has European background, Eastern European background, the name Khmalnitsky, was used even a generation ago as saying, you know, something terrible, Khmalnitsky was the archetypical Jewish antagonist, I suppose this place has been taken today by later antagonist of the 20th century, the older communities of Eastern Poland were destroyed, hundreds of thousands of Jews were killed, and everything had to be rebuilt, rebuilt again, I remember once hearing that there's a theory that's found in some Jewish thinkers, that certain periods of time, certain dates, are crossroads, which, where you go on the crossroad, depends on a lot of factors, on the scruiote of Amisur, with Amisur merits or not, but there was a well-known douche in years before 1648, that claimed that the machere would come in 1648, the year tach, tachret in the Jewish, the Jewish year, and there was a douche that said, tympa shat, a haremot, bizot yavo aron ira kodesh, bizot, in gomatria, bet, zion, alif taf, is the year, zot, zot, bizot, zot, zion, alif taf is the year taf hret, which is 1648, in the coming era, bizot yavo aron ira kodesh, in the year zot, haremot will come to the kodesh, meaning the betamiktach will be rebuilt. Instead of that, haremot coming to the kodesh, the kasaks came to the Jewish communities, and this, I think, to other cases as well, with the theory of ours, but this is one of the more well-known instances where some people try to say the prophecy or the gomatria was not incorrect, but what it means is that it's a potential. Aside from the mystic background to this, to this thought, I think there's a great deal of truth here. What it's really saying is that all the mechanical and numerical rules that we can apply in the shi'aqah come now, this should be this, the only potential. We really believe in bhihi waqaf shis, we really believe that the relation between ourselves and God and Jewish history is dependent on how we behave, on what our relationship with God is. And it's true, there might be certain times which have an outside influence, but that's only potential for going one way or the other. The particular theory that I'm mentioning claims that it goes one way or the other to an extreme. It won't be an average year. It'll either be a year of great redemption or a kasushalamir, a year of great destruction. I don't know if that's true or not, but the basic idea it says is that even if you are this bent of mind to look for gomatria, et cetera, you should remember that it's only a potential. And we still have to build on it both in our actions of relationship with God and in our actions in the real world, and only from that can come the Ishua. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] A short comment from this week's Pasha. The Pasha describes in getting ready for the Jews to enter Eretis Erte's set off on the journey from where they are near Hasinai. It would have been only a few days to go to Eretis Erte's. So it describes how they're going to move. God told Moshe Urbino to make trumpets and to arrange the Mahane and when it came time to move they would move in, go into the trumpets in a certain way. And then the Pasha describes how this is how they would eventually travel through the desert. They would travel when God told them to travel. They would stop and God told them to stop. Al-pih Ashemiah Chanu, Al-pih Ashemi Sal. According to God, will they in camp? According to God, will they travel? The Shilah stated that this is a vemes. This is a hint to us. That everything a person does, all his actions, all his activities, he should remember to say the name of God. For instance, if you're saying you're going somewhere, Al-pih Ashemi Sal, which means Al-pih Ashem, the hint. What does it mean? Al-pih Ashemi Sal, you should travel. Al-pih Ashem means you should travel Emiyets Hashem. And when you're in camp, when you stop, so you say, well, I'm stopping here and we found a good place to stop. The name of God should be, in your mouth, everything you do, it's a Jewish custom to say Emiyets Hashem. Say, "Bezrat Hashem." Say, "Bezrat Hashem." For everything we do, you should have said, it's a person. Al-pih Ashemiah Chanu, you should do what you're doing with God's name in your mouth. Al-pih Ashemi Sal. My guest today, guest, so to speak, is Maureen O'Baino, Maureen Rauvavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavavav general populace and Jews of all different kinds, and in the course of Devab's answer, he also recounts a fascinating story about Lauren Harafcock. "If the rabbis would just be able to inspire the Bible, and have a mean inspired thing, the rabbis should become a helmet, not no one demanded from the rabbis or from any pen they are, they should see that there is the religious tremor and the rabbis, etc, the religious tremor, that the rabbis swept off his feet by the storm of religiosity, by the experiential storm, swept off his feet, they don't see it, the women, and I want to tell you, I'm American, Jewish, women in America are very intelligent and very critical, and they cannot be fooled. That's the way, never underestimate the meaning, the intelligence of the women, how they made it in America, and this is the problem, you see, you ask me how to communicate our ideas for fascination, of course, how is fascination possible, fascination only possible if there is a religious experience, how to develop this religious experience, I don't know. You see kumesh many times, you see, you don't have your kumesh, but many times you have kumesh brages, kumesh moes, all right, I don't want to interrupt now, this session, kumesh moes, kumesh moes, the people, the people were, all right, fine. And the people began to rebel, people were in a rebellious mood, in a nasty mood, they about the stone, Moses and I. (coughing) (speaking in foreign language) - (speaking in foreign language) - What did they see? They saw the glory of God appeared in the cloud. Did God spoke to them? No, did God speak to them mean? Did God speak to them? No, there was no communication of ideas between God and the people. There was a miracle, there was silence. What would be silence of beholding the blood of the Father's Name in the cloud that appeared to the people changed completely, by one? What medium has God employed and how to influence the people? And how to change a rebellious mood into a mood of tremor and a mood of sanctity and solemnity, what did he do? What did he do? He told them something, no, there was no communication. Of course, this Job God engaged in a debate. I understand, so Job realized something which he didn't know before. What year there was no debate? There was no dialogue within God in his whole conversation. (speaks in foreign language) They were just confronted by the glory of the shrim. All you need, if you want to change a present, you don't have to talk to you. The best communication is to silence. No vocabulary can convey as much a silence. But if the silence is impregnated, it is why, that's all. This is fascination. And this is if a religious personality, he doesn't have to talk too much. This exactly, this is wrong with our thoughts in our, you see, we don't fascinate. There's not fascination in our path. (speaks in foreign language) Absolutely, not equivalently fascinate. And you see that even God, but very long, employed in that explanation, but fascinate in us. Suddenly, the people of Israel were in an estimate in a motor mode, just out for flash, for the patch of flash. People just hung me like animals. Suddenly, suddenly turned into an elected community. Not by accepting any new message, but just by being confronted by God. Whoever is capable of that is a religious leader. Whoever is incapable, they can be the best speaker. The most wonderful scholar is effort, as far as religious leadership is concerned, who will be wasted completely. I'll tell you what I, years ago, five, 24 years ago, I was, all the time I was in Israel. I came to the kibbutz, it's called kinarats, one of the oldest kibbutz in Israel. It's Kanya and kinarats, the two oldest kibbutz. I believe now it's a mappan kibbutz or asha marats, I hear kibbutz, I don't know, but it's quite undidish. I'm on the border already, on the borderline of Stalinism. At least very close to this border. I came in, it was, I believe it wasn't during the three weeks, that I wasn't. I remember it was a very hard day that were working the fields in the vineyard, fields in the orange groves, working very hard. I came in, I mean, raff, raff, raff, raff, america, raff, raff, my fight. I have cynical, I have sarcastic. And young boys, because by now they are middle-aged, they're all, I don't know, I have age, they are age probably. I haven't seen it for a long time. So, of course I'm in the cynical approach to an American Jew, particularly an American rabbi. You see, I, okay, okay. So, it was tough to lose it, it was tough. (audience laughs) So, it was still by a work-wide hospital. Work-wide hospital. So, they, so, of course, I mean, the kitchen was safe. So, they treated me with grapes, I remember, grapes, fresh grapes, so I refused to eat. I refused to eat. I assumed the kitchen was straight, so they gave me grapes. So, I refused to eat, so I said, why? This happens, why? What's wrong with the grapes? The grapes are not great. So, if not the grapes are great, too. I mean, in the artsy soil, the grapes are great. It's not too misamizes, I mean, it's terrible. It's just like it wasn't horrible, you can't say. We said, no, I mean, in the shria, under a banu, tara, she'd come and, somehow, I set a party to misamize it. Fine. Then, you told me, even, we can assure you that our kitchen is kosher. Kitchen is kosher, I opened my eyes. You had the kosher kitchen, a kosher kitchen? Yes, they had. So, I simply asked them, what made you make? It can be an introduced kosher kitchen. And they told me, just, he's the following incident, which took place, a few years before. A rough cook, which was a religious person. Many people think that a rough cook was a great philosopher. This one, he was not a philosopher. With all my reference, a rough cook. Believe me, he was not a philosopher. He was unfastered. What he was, a great religious personality. Judaism, to him, was not an idea. It was a great experience, a passion, a lot. It was a reality, a living reality. He simply, not only Judaism, he didn't, not only was, you see, not only the mind comprehended Judaism, but simply his five senses perceived Judaism. Judaism, to him, was a sense experience. Not intellectual experience. This was his greatness. This was his greatness. And his impact is still felt in our society. Just the last few days I spoke with his rabbit, rabbit 80s from Israel. What's still on the immersion name of a rough cook, his reverence, and basically it's to better to die. I mean, so soon, because the potentiality, his heat aboutness, will be almost unlimited, of course. By work, by his philosophy, no one knows. Basically, he'll ask me what a rough cook's philosophy is. I don't know. I don't believe it's possible to systematize. Systematize is philosophy. I don't believe. But when you read his books, when you read his writings, you see it is like a stormy sea, stormy sea, like a powerful tide driving you into lens unknown, into the path into mysteries' paths. That's what you say. Death impression, I guess. And that's enough of me. I don't have to understand so much and to complete philosophical years, initiative. You wouldn't find it. But it was basically religious personality. And he came there. He came for shadows. He came Friday, late afternoon. He brought along with himself to hummus. Wine, because he didn't drink the wine, because he had access to movement. And so a Friday night, so he came into the dining room. The dining room was completely trife. Completely trife. He sat down at the same table. He came accompanied by shamism for someone, a friend of his. And he set the key dish over the wine. May I miss him a lot of my notes. I had a cazzar, his color, and a bench. He didn't eat anything else. And they switched on the light and switched on the light. I heard it from them. That's not just a legend, switched on the light. It didn't care about it. The simple thing about his present, as if he-- does he feel, I mean, I mean, I haven't come to the other place. Then Saturday morning, he wanted a million. He refused to give a million. So he down for himself. They went out into the fields to add whatever. They cultivated the land, I mean. I don't know what harvest or whatever happened. I don't know what season he came. And he came back, and he sat down. He trife, he made the key dish. Saturday morning. It is hard. The same the whole day they were cooking. And so he went, yeah, it's like a regular wedding. They didn't make much fuss about him. And Saturday night, Saturday night, of course, after a dolly made our dolly. Then they had a gathering. So he joined the gathering. And he began to dance with them. Talking stories about his, about his past, about his father and mother, absolutely not indicating disapproval. Even by one word, disapproval or censure with regard to their behavior. He was doing his saccia when they were staying in the house. Sunday morning, he got on the-- no, I came by the machine. He got his saccia loan. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] The next day, all dishes were thrown out. The kitchen was hung up in the kitchen. I can tell you, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] Wouldn't have helped. Wouldn't have helped. You asked me, what was the power he simply sought to say, accept it? What power I mean? The power of his personality. He was a religious personality. He was in love as Yaddus. As my mind has said, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] As in one is in love with a woman, so should a man be in love as Yaddus is cut. If you don't have it, you can't give her a smile. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] You were listening to a recording. He's some 35, 40-year-old recording of [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] Another section in today's passion, it's a very, very rich passion. A lot of things which are, at least on the surface, disconnected. There's a deep underlying connection between everything in the passion, namely the preparations for setting up the journey to Eretisrael, but all different sorts of preparations. One of them was the anointment of the levium to be levium. Levium was switched with the first one, and they became levium. They became servants of the Mishkan. And there were 22,000 levium. And the levium, it says, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] should raise and wave the levium to [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] before God, the [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] and the only [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] was that each and every levium was raised by [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] There's a certain activity in [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] I mean, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] specifically. When you bring a [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] which is an offering to God from the vegetative world, made from flour and oil. So the offering is done by [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] So if that means it's raised up, the [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] up and down to the four directions of the world. Here it says, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] picked up and took each levium as though he were a sacrifice. And weighed them, apparently, this is how we consecrated the levium to God. But there are 22,000 levium. The postkium are at a loss. How is it possible that our [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] weighed up down east, west, north, south, 22,000 levium? And the only answer that I know of another first name is, it was a miracle. Alan was given superhuman strength and perhaps superhuman speed. And individually lifted and weighed each and every levium consecrated into the name of God. I once heard an interesting comment from a [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] Shiver of Mir about or directed from out of this particular postk and the understanding that you're dealing with the miracles. It says that one of the levium was [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] because he was a levium. And [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] is part of the ongoing development. It's a little bit before the actual rebellion of [NON-ENGLISH] but it's part of [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] ongoing developing rebelliousness. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] After being waived by Aronika Hain, it started making fun of the whole idea. Look what they're doing inside Aron and Mosheh. They're taking each levium and they're waving him like he was a [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] like he was a pan of flour. It's in the silly, isn't it? It's making fun of the levium. It's part of his inciting the people, perhaps inciting the levium, against Mosheh Urbeno. The function of it's asked, but the whole thing was an obvious and clear and distinct miracle. How could Kaurach be a personal witness? He himself had been raised up in Aron's hands, together with the other levium. He witnessed in his eyes and in his body the miraculous nature of what was going on, and yet he could walk out and make fun of the whole thing. And if Hain's answer was very simple, it's just to repeat the question, or to add a question mark, or what's an exclamation point. And this we learned that people are capable of viewing the miracles and being totally unchanged. If Hain said this, the [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] he said, in the [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] after the six-day war, about the six-day war. He said, now you understand how it is that people could have been in your [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] could have seen what took place, could have seen how the guns of the enemy fell silent. How we returned, and in five days conquered all of the West Bank, the [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] the Sinai Peninsula. We turned to [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] We turned to the [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] viewed obvious miracles right in front of your eyes, and yet we know that they've unchanged. And I think [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] comment was not only about religious Jews who weren't [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] but also was about religious Jews who weren't [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] Most of the population viewed the miracles, recognized that this thing was really extraordinary here. But one day later, when about the regular business. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] To teach us, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] said, this is what we learned from [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] was a wise person, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] was a smart person. He personally witnessed amazing miracles in the [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] But in the end, this didn't change his path in life, even one bit. It's a sad lesson, but what if we take the heart? Perhaps we can avoid its implications in our own lives. And that's all for today. Wishing you a [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] We'll be back on Monday, as a share of our [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] the next installment in the weekly [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] This time for [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] You might notice that the different [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] on the same partial. This program, the [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] program, we talked about [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] just like the [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] should have been about [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] we had a [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] But the [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] series of the [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] is deeply more deeply rooted in [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] And in [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] we'll be very reading [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] tomorrow in [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] next week. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] next week. We'll be for [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] That doesn't confuse you. Well, you should be confused. I'm confused. And until then, [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] this has been [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] I was your host. Our guest today was the [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] of your six celebrate check. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] This has been KMTT. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] podcast, broadcasting from [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH] We'll be back next week. [NON-ENGLISH SPEECH]