Chazaq: Kabbalas HaTorah Requires Every Jew

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. We are privileged and honored by the president of our Rosh Yeshiva, who is here, and I've never met a Rosh Yeshiva before, so I—but I feel already that I know him. I don't know why. This is Rabbi Walkin. Welcome, Rabbi Walkin. Thank you for coming in and speaking to us. My honor and my pleasure. My honor and my pleasure. What are we here tonight for? So tonight we're doing an amazing thing. We are raising money for the programs, which you're going to tell us about, actually. We've heard from the other rabbanim, we've heard from some of the counselors and some of the staff people, and now, you know, we build it up to you. And now that you're here, we want to hear about what Chazak is all about. Chazak, in general, and tonight specific, is about u'va'u kulam bivrit yachad, together but kulam, everyone, Klal Yisrael by Matan Torah accepted the Torah as unified, everyone, everyone. U'va'u kulam, kulam bivrit yachad, na'aseh v'nishma amru k'echad. What does it mean, kulam? I want to tell you something very beautiful that I heard from my grandfather's zechut tzaddik livracha, Reb Shmuel David Walkin. We all know Shavuos night we stay up. Why do we stay up? To fix that when it came to Matan Torah, everyone overslept. They overslept. They overslept. And because of that, we try to fix and we stay up the night of Shavuos before Kabbalas HaTorah, Shavuos morning. Mefarshim ask, how is it possible that everyone overslept? Everyone. Six hundred thousand people. There's got to be someone that was up at night, a baby, a this, something, and they should have woke everybody up. How could it be that we understand that nobody showed up on time for Kabbalas HaTorah? Everyone overslept. How could it be? So many mefarshim say, maisah Satan. The Satan was able to put some kind of a spell that everyone overslept. Everyone slept and everyone missed it. My grandfather gave a different teretz. He said a beautiful story. In the yeshiva in Kelm, there was a custom that before they started yeshiva in the morning, the Shacharis and the first seder of learning, everyone had to be there. If one person was missing, one, we're not going to learn in the yeshiva today. You know why? We're a yeshiva. All of us, and if you don't have all of us, you don't have any of us. Kulam. A yeshiva means kulam, together everyone. You miss one, you already don't have what? Kulam. By Kabbalas HaTorah, they did come. Most even came. But what was the problem? There were a few that were missing. And when a few are missing, it's not uboh kulam. Torah needs that Klal Yisroel, united, all six hundred thousand nefashot together. That's Kabbalas HaTorah. It's not me, it's all of us together. Tonight is about getting all of us. There's plenty of children in the public schools that need our help to give them Torah, to bring them to Kabbalas HaTorah. This is what we are trying to achieve, kulam, to reach out to get everyone. Torah is not meant only for a few. Torah is meant for everyone. Tonight is uboh kulam, bivris yachad, naaseh v'nishma, amru kechad. And I want to tell you something. Listen to me carefully. Those children in public school, they're not strangers to you. They are you. Them and you are united in nefesh and in lev. And I want to explain to you what I mean. And if you hear it, you'll hear the responsibility that we all have.

And the chiyuv that we need to go and help them. We need to help them. You know, Sivan is the month that was designated for Kabbalas HaTorah. What is the mazal of Sivan? You know what it is? What is every, you know, it has the mazalot, right? You know what it is? Teumim. Teumim, right, twins. Teumim is the mazal of Sivan, right? Geminis? No, twins. Twins. Okay. Says the Chida, why was the Torah given in the month of Sivan, which its mazal is twins? And the answer is, Kol Yisrael achim. Torah, Torah was given, given to us as brothers. We need to be achim, but not just achim, teumim. You know what the difference between achim and teumim is? Brother, and this is what? A twin. The same. Same opportunity. Just like my opportunity in Torah, the other person has the same opportunity. He's my twin. He's my equal. But I want to tell you more. You ready? It says in the pasuk, Vayichan sham Yisrael keneged hahar, k'ish echad. Ah, so wait a minute. Are we just brothers? No. Are we just twins? No, we're actually more. What are we? K'ish echad. We're Sivanese twins. And what are we? Attached. In the heart as well, b'lev echad. We beat with one heart, Klal Yisroel, the child in public school and the Rosh Yeshiva in the yeshiva. It's beating with one heart, and kulam together. Could you separate, are these twins? Could you separate if the heart is all one? That's Kabbalas HaTorah. You want to know what Kabbalas HaTorah is? Vayechan sham Yisrael k'ish echad, attached, but more than ish. They're attached b'lev echad, with one heart. Tonight, rabosai, I ask of you: open your heart, which is the same heart as your brethren in the public schools, and unite for Kabbalas HaTorah. Unite. We should come together as one, as one nation, as brothers, k'ish echad b'lev echad, to Kabbalas HaTorah. Open your heart, your heart, my heart, their hearts, all one heart. We beat with the same heartbeat. Well, this will be zoche, taka. The Eibishter will come down from Shamayim and say, Here, my nation, v'yisabli segulah mikol ha'amim. You'll be my pride, my joy. I will give you my precious gift, my Torah. Tonight we'll be zoche, taka, be able to reach out to these children. They're good children. They mean well. They just didn't have the opportunity. They didn't have. Let's give them the opportunity to have a life of Torah. And it's not a life of Torah. It's life, which is Torah. Without Torah, not a life. Not a life. For a Jew, it's definitely not a life. This will be zocheh, l'kabel pnei Mashiach Tzidkeinu bimheirah v'yameinu, amen. Shkoyach for your zechus, for your merit. I wish you lots of hatzlacha. Make sure they double and triple. Yes. All right? Quadruple. Yes, we're quadrupling today. Shabbrachah and hatzlacha. Amen, amen. Mazel, mazel. Thank you, Rosh Yeshiva. You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.