Mechiras Yosef: The Sin of Cruelty and Our Duty to Hear Another Jew’s Cry

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. One of the most complicated, difficult sugyas in Yonim to understand. Till today, the effects are still felt. Throughout the doros, we had to be meshalim, we had to pay back for the mechiras Yosef, as we know, Asar Harugei Malchus was a tikkun, one of the tikkunim for mechiras Yosef. Was mechiras Yosef k'din? It's the first question that has to be asked in all the mefarshim, in all the Rishonim, in all the Acharonim. Discussed the shaila. L'chora, there was a psak beis din. The shevatim sat and paskened. Are we allowed to question a psak beis din? A beis din is a psak, and whatever they pasken is gepaskened. Besides that, we know that the Rabbeinu Shleilam was the tenth one. He was the dayan, the last dayan. There was nine brothers and the Rabbeinu Shleilam was with them. As a matter of fact, famous Torah from the Gaon in yeshivos, they all talk about this Gaon, that Asar Harugei Malchus, asiri yeh kodesh. L'maaseh there was only nine brothers. So why the tenth, asarah? Why ten? And the answer is one is for the Rabbeinu Shleilam's part in the asarah harugei malchus, as hezogt the Gaon. Kol asher ya'avor tachas hashavet, v'osiri kodesh laShem. It's for the Eibishter. Why Rabbi Akiva? Because Rabbi Akiva darshened es l'rabos talmidei chachamim, v'ahavta es Hashem Elokecha, es... Shimon HaTemani said, I don't know what the es means. There's no ribui. The Rabbeinu Shleilam, and that's it. Es l'rabos talmidei chachamim. Oh, so you're the talmid chacham that's going to go b'makom d'Rabbeinu Shleilam. So the Rabbeinu Shleilam is the tenth dying on this beis din. So what's the question? What's the issue? What's the sheleike din that needed so much tikkun? Why is it that till today we're paying for something, a maaseh, versus g'zeirah, al pi psak beis din? Now what exactly was the chet, so to speak, of Yosef that the beis din paskened that he's mechuyav either in misa or a mechirah? There's a lot of Torah. There's not enough time for it today. It's a long shmues. Seems pashut he was a rodef, and why he was a rodef needs to be explained, but that's not what I want to focus on. I want to focus on if he was a rodef and beis din paskened he was a rodef, so what exactly was the chet of the brothers? What did they do wrong, and why are we still paying for mechiras Yosef till today? What's the ta'ina? So the Yedua, the Ramban already points this out. In Parshas Miketz, later on in the parsha, in Miketz, next week we're going to learn, the brothers, when they realize that this is getting to Mitzrayim, it's not going. So they realize something is wrong. Vayomru ish el achiv, aval asheimim anachnu. Like every Yid should always look and make a cheshbon hanefesh. Things that don't go right is for a reason. You don't just say it's mikreh ba'alma, it happens. It's a cheshbon, asheimim anachnu. Halachinu. They started to chaper that something to do with mechiras Yosef. But what is the chisaron, what was the chet that they did wrong? So they themselves say, not the mechirah, asher ra'inu tzaras nafsho, b'hischaneno eileinu v'lo shamanu. צריך להתב. He begged, and we didn't listen. So the Ramban noticed that they didn't single out the mechirah to be the chet. But what? Asheimim anachnu al achinu asher ra'inu b'tzaras nafsho b'hischaneno, achzariyus. That's what the Ramban says, the lashon of the Ramban. Chashvu lahem l'achzariyus l'einish gadol yoser min hamechirah. You see that they singled out...

The achzarius in the mechirah to be the taina that caused that they should have to suffer retribution for the mechirah. It wasn't the mechirah itself. Otherwise they would have said, It's al achinu asher machalnu, that we sold him. They didn't say that. It says, Asher ra'inu b'tzaras nafsho b'hischanno eleinu v'lo shamanu. And the Ramban says, Sipashut azoi, even though we don't see in the pesukim that he begged, that he asked for rachmanus, says the Ramban, it's pashut because im haya acheinu b'saram, mischanen, lo yisaper ha'kasuv, because it's yadua b'teva. It makes sense that that's what happened. It's interesting, the Ramban doesn't quote the meforshei Midrashim that say that that's what happened. I don't know why the Ramban doesn't taka quote. Steit klor in Medrash that Yosef HaTzadik went by the feet of his brothers and he was begging, Achi, achi, I'm your brother. Achi, I'm your brother. Don't sell me. But the Ramban says, adaraba, pashut, and the pasuk didn't have to speak it out because it's pashut. But there was the taina, zogt the Ramban. The taina was not the mechirah per se, and maybe because, like the way we're explaining, the mechirah was al pi psak beis din, and af al pi kein, there was a behischaneno eileinu v'lo shamanu b'kolei. It's kibeden, rachmanus. This was an act of an achzarius. And they chapped that that achzaryus is what they're being caught with, so to speak. Nitfas oleha, they're being nitfas on the achzaryus of the mechirah, to the point that they have to start paying even then in Mitzrayim, and we know doros later, asaru rega malchus, and continuing the tikkun for the mechiras Yosef. I always wondered, mechiras Yosef brought about Aseres Harugei Malchus. The achzaryus that was shown to the tzaddikim of Aseres Harugei Malchus is neirah v'ayom. And we enumerate, we stress, we're madgish all the tremendous yissurim that they had. It wasn't just they were taken out and killed. They were killed mamash in the most achzaryusdike ways, pilei ployim. It's beyond human comprehension. When you kill, there's laws, there's rules, there's ways, right? Even in war, there's a mahalach. This was shelo k'derech hateva. When you kill, you kill with such passion of achzaryus, chapel, pilei ployim. And I always wondered, what's the pshat? And I thought to myself one of three things: chomer hachet. You know, some chata'im, misah's mechaper. And some chata'im, the Rambam tells us, is yissurim at meisah. The Rambam in Hilchos Teshuvah, the first Rambam. Some chata'im are so chamur that it's not even misah enough, but it has to be misah b'yissurim, Rabosei achzaryus, kegen abrudes ein az azach, maybe. Seider, chalomal getracht. There's such, such... I don't even have the word in English for this Achzarius. Can't be mean; it's more than mean. It's, huh? Brutal. It's worse than brutal. Achzarius. Achzarius, the chapela. It's not ממש a pela how they took asarah harugei malchus, with the... shreklach. It's unbelievable, the amount of yisurim that they had to go through. ... chomer achet. If you would understand what it means. And I'm even not talking about the mechirah anymore, because the Ramban says it's not about the mechirah. It's about the beschaneni leinu v'lo shamanu b'koli, and that is a chomer that's so strict that it's not enough just to have misa, but you need misa with yisurim. Another pshat I thought maybe we take it to the cheshbon, the tzaar of Yosef. Yosef went through 22 years of tzaar, the suffering that Yosef went through. ... everything goes into the cheshbon. The midah keneged midah. We have to know why is this Achzarius a midah keneged midah to the Achzarius that they showed the brother, they showed a brother Yosef. But part of the—

Asera u'gemalchus is the tzaar and the yisurim, v'al Yosef's a doch yisurim. Maybe, maybe it has to do with the fact that Yosef—we don't just take it into the cheshbon, the ma'aseh, but all the yisurim. It's a tremendous limud, Rabosai. When you do something to somebody, it's not only the ma'aseh that you did; it's all the agony, nefesh you caused him. Who knows if, chas v'shalom, nichnas b'toch hacheshbon. Be very careful, Rabosai. The sleepless nights that that person has, the loss, the pain, the self-esteem, the walk around that he was hurt—it's also chelek of the cheshbon, maybe, Rabosai. But besides these two pshatim, I think the third pshat, which is probably more karov la'emes, achzariyus means that the Ribono Shel Olam pays back achzariyus with achzariyus. It's the pashut pshat. It's actually a Rabbeinu Yonah in Shaarei Teshuvah, shaar gimmel, os lamed-vav. Zogt there, eileh sheha'chozer b'teshuvah, lo yis'ametzes levavcha v'lo sikpot es yadecha, zalnu l'hasim b'nafshenu midas ha'achzariyus. This mitzvah, zogt the Shaarei Teshuvah, is that we shouldn't be achzarim. U'lenatoya bo niten ha'mamonim heim rachmanim v'chanunim, that a person has to plant, to plant in himself, rachmanus, behavior and feelings of rachmanus, kemo shekasuv, v'halachta bidrachav. Then the Rabbeinu Yonah speaks out clearly, v'ein ha'achzariyus ra u'mar. We're speaking about, beisai. The onesh of achzariyus is going to be bitter. Bitter. Ra, mar. Kashi yisborei b'shaar achzaris b'eizeh keil. V'amar Raboseinu zichronam livrachah, v'nasan lach rachamim v'rachamecha v'becha, kol hamerachem al habriyos, merachamim alav min haShamayim. V'chol she'eino merachem al habriyos, ein merachamim alav min haShamayim. Achzariyus is payback with achzariyus, and that's the taich of the ... like the Ramban. The Ramban speaks clearly that the chet hachamor was the achzariyus, and mimeila we find the goyim were shlichim to pay us back for this mechiras Yosef. This also, al pi achzariyus, u'novadim ... tzuf larayn trachten in dem, as a chush b'derachmana. We read the ... gemalchus, and it's there for us to learn and to delve into it, to understand it. And the goyim has a lot of Torah on ... gemalchus, the why and the what, which gives us, l'cha'orah, the heter to say why and what also, to understand the why it happened and what happened. The pasuk tells us, B'nefol oyivcha al tismach. When your enemy falls, you shouldn't be happy. Why not? So it seems in the Rishonim and the mefarshim two reasons. One is, Rabbeinu Shlolam wins wars for you. The Rabbeinu Shleilam, don't be so bolstered with gaiva, gevunin, parade. It's all the Rabbeinu Shleilam. You know, there's a concept called k'tanti mikol hachasadim. The Eibishter helps you overpower your enemies. Be humble. Don't walk around gevunin, proud of yourself. Kochi v'otzem yadi could fall into that, to could start becoming part of the thinking process. U'nefesh lo yivcha, al tismach. It's all the Rabbeinu Shleilam. Efrat, the velt. Don't be so joyous. Don't make parades. Don't celebrate. It's a long topic. It has a lot to do with the history of Eretz Yisrael in the past years, of how to respond to the milchamos and the nisim that happened in Eretz Yisrael through those milchamos. It's a big discussion. I'm just touching on it, and I'm going to continue with the second pshat. It seems to be the more pashut pshat. U'nefesh lo yivcha, al tismach. It's felt in rachmanus, rachmanus. It's your enemy, yes. A Yid doesn't have such hergesh. A Yid should not have a hergesh when he sees somebody...

Oh, somebody suffering, and he's happy. And he's happy. V'nafal a yivchal tismach. It is your enemy, yet rachmanus dictates that the response has to be one: you feel bad, not that you're happy and joyous. Sfelter rachmanus. A Yid is shemida. A Yid is a rachman. A Yid is not a b'folei v'cha tismach. He's not that. You find the goyim in the outside world, they kill, they dance, they celebrate. They take the murder itself and they celebrate it because of simcha. It's the most foreign thing from a Yid. You have to do what you do, what you have to do, but the simcha shebah, sfelter rachmanus. And who are we talking about? The Gemara actually applies this by Haman. Mordechai HaTzadik was told, amusah shmues, by Haman. It's a Gemara in Megillah. V'nafal a yivchal tismach. I always clarified pshat in the Gemara is, was he right or was he wrong? Meaning, Haman is telling Mordechai, so maybe taka that's the din, that even on a Haman there's a din of v'nafal a yivchal tismach. B'efshar, Haman's teireh, maybe it's right. You know, Rabbei say, it's such a pashut a zach. The Gemara seems to say that Esther wanted a Yom Tov Purim, kivuni l'doros, and the chachamim didn't want to do it. Kinat me'oreres aleinu levein hagoyim. It wasn't so simple, this whole union of Purim. Why? A nefilah yivchal tismach. Here also another cheshbon, me'orer kinah, brings jealousy. So she answers back, V'kasuv ani b'sefer milchemes Paras u'Madai, which means the goyim understand that it was a nes, because even they wrote it in their textbooks. V'kasuv ani al sefer milchemes Paras. So they won't view it as we're being proud and happy, b'nefilah yivchal, that the enemy, they and Haman, has fallen. They would understand we're being meshabeach the Eibishter. A lot to talk about this Gemara. But this is an interesting shaila: who is the yivchal that al tismach, that a Yid is not allowed to be happy? A Yid, ma shorachmanus to who? Even to a Haman. I'd like to tell you a few things which I, over the years, stories, so to speak, that teach us in this inyan: how far does the b'nefilah yivchal tismach, how much rachmanus, to who do we have to have this rachmanus? It's ידוע the Steipler. What a beautiful classic encyclopedia. Steipler is an encyclopedia. The yedias haTorah there, and it's before the computer, rabosai. Not the computer. All right, it's also hachashiv, but it's not a... He wrote, the Steipler, before the computer, and the Steipler attributed... His zechus to write this was to a certain particular story that happened, a maiseh. He was a rosh kollel in a city, and the city didn't want it. The balabatim in the city didn't want the kollel. Fights that go back hundreds of years. It's nothing new. The Steipler held the kollel; he was the rosh of the kollel. So a balabos in shtot went to the mesharses, to the cleaning lady of the kollel, and said that I want to give you a heyner aver money. I'll take care of you: house, medical. I want you to topple the kollel. I want you to topple. I want you to help us get rid of the Steipler. At night he'll be the last one in the beis medrash. You run out and you scream. The Steipler was trying to do aveirah with you. I see everybody shaking there. I thought they knew the story. It's a famous, one of the most famous stories about the Steipler, one of the classic stories of Yadus. And kach Havah, she did it. And the town, of course, they believed, and the kollel suffered terribly.

But the heads of the kehillah said, We're keeping the Stei Chemed. We believe him; we don't believe the mesharses. The yissurim that the kehillah and, of course, the Stei Chemed b'reisho went through was unbelievable. Yet, years, years later, this balabos lost all his money. No kidding. Why? Avada, the Eibishter paid him back. He lost all his money, and he couldn't keep the payment checks to the mesharses, to the cleaning lady. She lost her job, and she was stuck, and without any, I guess, shame, she went back to the Stei Chemed and said, You know, it was a lie. I know it was a lie. I'm ready to come out in public and say it was a lie. Could you give me back my job? I have no way to support my family. Stei Chemed looked at her and said, You'll get back your job, but one condition. We would have said the condition is that you should tell everybody it never happened. The condition is that you don't tell everybody that it never happened; you don't talk about it. Because then you're rehashing the story, and you're causing vayter chilul Hashem, and vayter people should talk about it. Drop it. Forget it. Maaseh, you don't have parnassah. Feel bad; you can get back your job in the kehillah. The people in the kehillah were furious. We'll never take her back. You know what this woman did to us? You know what this woman did to you? And the Stei Chemed stood on his ground and he said, I want her to come back. The lesson taken from this story everybody takes out. Kiddush Shem Shamayim. Look how the Steipler cared for the honor of the Ribono Shel Olam. You know what I take from this ma'aseh? The rachmanus that the Steipler had on another person, beyond human nature. It's a gevurah that no human being could have. What this woman did to the Steipler is unbelievable. The Steipler saw a broken woman without parnassah; he had rachmanus on her. He let her come back. Tachbili playin. To me, this is the lesson. Yes, there's also a lesson in kavod Shamayim, how much he cared about kavod Shamayim. But you see the rachmanus of a mensch. No matter what this person did to the Steipler, the Steipler, the gadlus of the mensch, was able to overlook everything for the sake of rachmanus. The Steipler said that that tekufah, he realized, Niftchu lei haShamayim. The sky opened and the Ribono Shel Olam gave him teirah, and he was zocheh to write the Steipler. The Steipler attributed his gadlus b'Torah, his sefarim, to this ma'aseh. Rachmanus, rabosai. On who? On what? On ... zi, ... the ...? Can you imagine what she did? I want to tell you over a ma'aseh that I don't think anybody here knows. My wife's mishpachah comes from France. The chief rabbi in France told my wife's parents this maiseh. The chief rabbi is Rav Sitruk, zichrono livracha, the Kashsha talmid of Rav Shach, the chief rabbi of France, beloved, a beloved rabbi by everyone. The head priest, the head Galach in France, is a Yid, was a Yid, the one that just passed away about five years ago was a Yid. His mother was a Yid. He was a child that got lost in the war, was taken in by a goyishe family, came to Paris, he forgot that he was a b'chalal a Yid, and he became the head, the head bishop of France. He was dying. He had a machlah and he was dying. Rav Sitruk went to Rav Ovadia Yosef, zichrono livracha, and asked him, as chief rabbi, should I go to him, say vidui with him? And the chief rabbi, my responsibility, should I say Rav Ovadia paskened that he should go and he should say vidui with him, al lefachot, at least Shema Yisrael, at least that. Rav Sitruk was let in as the chief rabbi. They let him into the bishop.

And he tried. He tried to get him to say at least Shema Yisrael. It didn't happen. Rav Citric went back to Reb Avadi and told him that it never happened. Rav Citric said that Reb Avadi Yosef started to cry. I have so much rachmanus. ... What's waiting for him in the next world? And he could not say Shema Yisrael before he was niftar. You hear that, beis? Rachmanus. HaKadosh sees the rachmanus, and now I'm going to show you from the Alter what Reb Yerucham brings down. My handshake when I read this and when I say it over. Listen to him from the Alter, beis. You ready? ... Reb Yerucham in Daas Torah. He אומר, כאשר רואה איך שהגויים — not Yidden, goyim — הולכין כמה פרסאות לבתי התפלה שלהם. They travel to the churches. לא יוכל לסבול הצער, והרחמנות אשר עליהם. Listen, guys. He has rachmanus on the goy that goes to church. It's rachmanus. He can't take the tzaar. Reb Yerucham is saying this. Reb Yerucham is saying that the — yeah, everybody's looking at me — it's pilei ployim. It's pilei ployim. Mamash pilei ployim. Says Reb Yerucham, Gam li. Yesh ktzas hergesh b'inyonim ka'eilu. He also have a sensitivity in this. Eini yachol lirois es hagoy. I can't see a goy. Asher soif kol soif, harei hu b'tzelem Elokim. It's a chamench. U'k'shemechalel es haShabbos. When a goy is mechalel Shabbos, yei Reb Yerucham, rabboisai. You're listening to Reb Yerucham, Reb Yerucham. The whole Torah stands on every word Reb Yerucham says. When a goy is mechalel Shabbos, im kiyamnam, patur u'mikol... He has no Shabbos. Why should he have that Shabbos? Aval mah, rabba Rachmanis alav, shemechayev. I feel bad for him. What's his life worth? And what is he going to come to the next world with? Nothing. Says Reb Yerucham, I'm reading you word for word, Reb Yerucham in Daas Torah. Rachmanis on who? On who? I need this rachmanus. I'll tell you a maaseh. My father told me that he went with my zeide to visit someone in a hospital. The person was okay. He was going to leave the hospital any day, but my zeide felt he was kedai to visit him. He needed to visit, the chizuk. Nope. They went, and then my father excused himself for five minutes to pay the meter. He was going to get a ticket. So he asked if he could just, he told the zeide, You wait here, and I'll go to the meter. He comes back a few minutes later after paying the meter, and he sees the zeide's crying. Mamash crying. In those five minutes, the man says, A vek. Who knows what happened in those five minutes? Five minutes. Only five minutes. So he turns to Maizeidah. Maizeidah chaps, No, no, no, er iz b'seder. He's okay. Nothing happened to him. So he says, Tatte, why are you crying? What happened? What are you so...? So he says, They brought in a guy who was in a car accident, and he was in such bad shape, and he was so much in pain, I couldn't see it. I couldn't see it. I just couldn't see it. They were wheeling him, they were rushing him, and he was screaming in the pain, and he was so... he was up into shmatte, in such bad shape. My father said, Okay, I hear. As they leave, they pass by the intensive care unit. So Maizeidah tells my father, You see, that's the guy they brought in. Father looks. It's a guy with a long ponytail. He had tattoos, mirosho v'ad... He was a biker. He was a biker. He ended in an accident because he was a biker. He was driving his motorcycle. He was racing, and he got into a major accident. So my father turns to Maizeidah and he says, Of em? That's who you...? My father told me that Maizeidah didn't speak to him an entire day. He went into a car.

My father said, Pat, what? He says, Hashem zach, vuz der Yid? Hashem zach. I'm ashamed. What happened to the Yid? A Yid that doesn't respond with rachmanus. Where is what? He couldn't swallow the fact that nichneru, the hergesh of rachmanus that a Yid must have, even on who? Look at the rebiruchim. Look who. Look who. Haman maybe. Chabayis say, the Rambam writes in Hilchos Matnas Aniyim, perek yud, halacha beis, when an ani comes to you, you have to give him money, like we learned from Rabbeinu Yonah, that this is lo sisametz es levavcha, lo sikpotz es yadcha. Says the Rambam, V'chol mi shehu achzari v'eino merachem, yesh lo chush l'yichuso, that v'chayish for zichus. It's a Rambam, rabosai. We know that these are the middos of the Yid. Ah, but the Rambam codifies it. The Rambam brings it l'halacha that you have to call him and be choshesh for zichus. She'ein ha-achzariyus metzuyah ela ba'akum, shene'emar, achzari heim v'lo yerachemu, v'chol Yisrael v'nilva aleihem k'achim heim, shene'emar, banim atem laShem Elokeichem, lo sisgodedu, v'lo yisametzu, ach achicha yirachem alav. A mensch on rachmanus, it's like what you take a test, the genes, the DNA. DNA doesn't lie, rabosai. If you take a test and you see it's missing the certain genes, you know that this is nisht a kind from dem tatte. The DNA test for a Yid, rabosai, is rachmanus. That's the DNA test. The Rambam. I'm not telling you mine. It's the Rambam, rabosai. Yesh lochush l'yichusoi. Halacha, you have to go and say efshar nisken Yid. Beis tachan the velt zogt, a mensch vos es ken cholt of Shabbos is ken Yid, azoi zogt men a pshat in nusach. That's what they say. Trust me, that's not it, okay? It's this: Yidvus hakadosh kerachmanus, rabosai. Nachon, nachon shi, rabosai. You hear? I was thinking maybe that's the pshat, l'keil erech apayim, l'vaveis. There's an interesting nusach: l'rachem amoi. You know what I mean? Why amoi? It's interesting, the nusach, because amoi is rachmanus. It's the midah keneged midah. What is amoi? Amoi means the umah Yisrael is rachmanus. From the meila, it's l'rachem amoi b'yom din. And I want to tell you something more. Avada we have it in our genes. And because of that, the Torah has to teach us when and where, because if not, theoretically we should have it all the time to everyone. There's a Rabbeinu Yonah, the next shtikel, in Shaar Gimel, os lamed zayin, by a meisis, a machtia, a machshil es harabim. On him you're not allowed to be a rachman. Kol hanaser rachmani al achzarim, l'soif naaseh achzari. Al haRachmanim. The parshan tell us, because you have to take the Torah. You have to use the Torah to teach us when and where and how nisht evi rachmanus is warranted. Yes, we have it in middah, but the Torah has to dictate to us. Rachmanus. I want to tell you over from Reb Berel. I have a minute or two; I'll try to finish it in the next minute or two. Someone told me, a talmid of Reb Berel said to me that he heard from Reb Berel that the Brisker Rav, which had a big kesher with my zeide, they used to do a lot of klal work, especially for almonehs and money and collecting. I have these letters; some of them are printed already in the Brisker sefarim. There was a big kesher between my zeide and the Brisker Rav regarding klal work in chesed zaken, almonehs, the Brisker Rav by the almoneh, you know, that's all. My zeide knew how to press their buttons. You know, you write the word almoneh to the Brisker Rav, you know the Brisker Rav didn't sleep till it was taken care of. Okay, I have such letters. So the Brisker Rav said about the zeide that he had tremendous ahavas Yisrael, ober toychedik ahavas Yisrael. I said, Reb Berel said that the Brisker Rav meant—

Ahavas Yisrael can come from two things. A mensh can have an ahavas Yisrael. Oh, there's a mensh, he loves the people around him. He loves his nationalistic feelings, you know, my brothers, my people, my nation. He says, 'Einah hatli b'tzveita, einah kaneh.' It's not a true either, but hakupanim, that's what they say, right? He says, 'Einah hatli b'tzveita.' We're both. Lantsman. Yidish sagt, 'men a lantsman.' Zogt Brisker Rav, lantsman's not going to work. It has to be teiredik ahavas Yisrael, because if not, this ahavas Yisrael can make a lot of problems. It doesn't really work, and we're not going to go into what he meant. But al kol panim, this is the same thing with rachmanus. Rachmanus, teiredik rachmanus. When and where, it has to be guided by Torah. What's lemaaseh, rabosai? Can I take out a lesson lemaaseh that I can offer you, that you can walk away with? I'll tell you what I think. Bischananu eileinu, he begged us, he begged us. How many times during the day do we come across notes on a wall, in a newspaper ads, begging, davening for me, daven for me, I'm sick, and they have names, and we pass by, we look who's sick and we move on. To me it's a davar shel peleh. It's a davar shel peleh to me. We read a name on a wall, no, we're mispallel, begging you to daven for. We're good people. We look and we say, 'Nebach,' we feel bad for a second, but this is the bischananu eileinu v'lo shamanu b'kolecha, rabosai. This is what it is. Rachmanus is mechayiv to listen to what a person is begging you. He's begging you for something. Someone puts an ad in a newspaper. It means it's serious. He needs you to daven for him. I want to tell you over two ma'asim of this. Everybody knows I had a kesher with my Rebbe, Rav Pam. Anybody who's ever come to this shiur should know it by now. I never learned in Torah Vodaas. I'm not a Torah Vodaas talmid. I never even, I think, stepped foot into Torah Vodaas till I saw Rav Pam. I had nothing to do with Torah Vodaas. As a matter of fact, I learned in Torah Tmimah, the yeshiva down the block of Torah Vodaas. I never was a Torah Vodaas talmid. The first time I met Rav Pam became an experience that I became attached to him b'lev u'nefesh, and I was kovea that he will be my Rebbe, Rav Pam. What happened with that meeting? In Queens there was a bachur that was thrown out of yeshiva, deservingly, I must say. He deserved to be thrown out of yeshiva. The menahel couldn't take it anymore from him. All right. The tata came to me and said to me, What can we do? Can we speak to the menahel, this and that? I said, Let me tell you something. If I speak to the menahel, he might let him in even less, especially today. You see what goes on with the yeshivas. Don't get anybody to call because they're not interested. So I said to him, The only person that maybe could be mashpia would be Rav Pam zechrono livracha. At that time, the head of Agudah, the head of Torah Mesorah and that. He said, Really? That's a good idea. I said, Make the appointment for Rav Pam. Come to him. Maybe Rav Pam could call for you. Shay, the bottom line is he couldn't make the appointment. I had to make the appointment. I made the appointment for him, Shay. Then he tells me the day or two before, Could you come? I feel uncomfortable. I don't know what to say. Could you come? I said, This is an opportunity to be one-on-one, to have, you know, to see him for the first time, to talk to him. I always heard of him. We saw him from far. We came up to this house, simple pashut, Rav Pam sitting behind the desk, and the person starts rambling about his tzarah. He almost was not coherent. He was not coherent. All of a sudden, I see the way the yeshiva starts to cry. I'm looking. I said, He don't know this person, and the guy's dead wrong. The kid doesn't belong back there. We're asking the Rosh Yeshiva to do something that's a nes. He's crying, and I looked at the Rosh Yeshiva, and I said, Look at the tzaar that he's in. Look at the tzaar that a tatte is in. It made up my mind right there and then, this is my rebbe. I will never move from him, from what he tells me. And years and years, every opportunity I had, I stood by his door to wait till he come out, hishmuzen. I realized, erg men a Yid. What is...

A Yid is a bischanenu eileinu, v’shamanu, we listen. The ears have to be open, rabosai. I will end with the following maaseh, forgive me. My father told me that my zeide used to cry. I remember this. He used to cry a lot on Yom Kippur. This was a day that, I mean, he cried—the truth is, he cried all the time. On Yom Kippur, it was a lot. One particular Yom Kippur was even more than a lot. It was more than regular, to the point that my father went over to the zeide and he asked him, Is there something going on that I don’t know? Because I see that it’s more than regular. The zeide said, Yes, there is something. My father thought he was going to say that he’s not well, or somebody in the family is not well. The zeide tells him, You know, remember two days ago, Thursday—I guess Shabbos was Yom Kippur, I think it was—Thursday there was a chashuv Yid, Rav Sankevitch here. Rav Sankevitch was the gerrer rosh yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael. He was the one who was maimid all the mosdos of Ger. He was the shliach of the Beis Yisrael. He was a gaon אדיר, Rav Chanoch Henoch Sankevitch, a gaon. So he would keep in kesher. My zeide, my zeide helped him with the money, with yeshivas. He was on his way to Brazil to collect money. He’d rather spend that Yom Kippur in Brazil. Thursday, on his way to the airport, Kennedy—Queens, from Queens—Kennedy is on the way to the airport, he stopped off by my zeide and he spent an hour. My zeide tells my father, You remember when he left? He went with a taxi to Kennedy, to the airport. I went out to the car and we spent time by the taxi. He said, You know what he told me? He looked at me and he says, ‘Rav, I don’t feel well. I don’t feel well.’ My zeide told my father, אז א ייד בעט אז א צוייטס זאל דאווענען, תפילות חסידים. Go into it and tear the shamayim apart. Yom Kippur, I was mekayem what I told him I would do. He grabbed—this was the matzav—Yom Kippur. It was with the Rachmanov, Beis Medrash, with all the panim. We looked mamash right after Yom Kippur in Brazil, a day later, mamash a metzuyan. The point was, this nekudah: a Beis Yidner Rachmanim bnei Rachmanim. V’schaneinu can be in many areas, especially in tefillah. A Yid bet, davening, when he needs help, when he needs a kind word, chizuk. V’schaneinu v’lo l’shamanu b’kailei d’Rachmanus. You’ve just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.