Shoftim 8: Shituf, Kefiyas Hatov, and How Forgetting Hashem Weakens Tefillah

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. ... perek ches, pasuk lamed gimmel, lamed daled, lamed hei. And actually, it's not only these three psukim here in Sheftim, perek ches, but it seems to be that these psukim is the theme of the entire era of Shoftim and Melachim, and that is Klal Yisrael right away, as soon as the shofet, as soon as the gadol passes, is right away turned to the avodah zaras, which is throughout Tanach, the history of Klal Yisrael, avodah zarah, mitnach avodah zarah. I quote you the psukim over here: Vayamos Gidon ben Yoash b'seivah tovah, and right away, Vayehi ka'asher meis. The pasuk emphasizes, ka'asher meis, as he dies, it's mamash almost simultaneously. Vayashuvu Bnei Yisrael, vayiznu acharei haba'alim, vayasimu lahem Baal Bris, which is the name of an avodah zarah, l'lohim. Vayizkeru Bnei Yisrael es Hashem Elokeihem, hamatzil osam miyad kol oyveihem misaviv. And then the pasuk, lamed hei, stresses, V'lo asu chesed im beis Yerubaal Gidon, kechol hatovah asher asah im Yisrael. So here again, Klal Yisrael goes back, goes back, chazarah, mamash goes back to the old ways, says the pasuk. Teshuvu Bnei Yisrael l'yiznach achar habaalim. And again, time after time, we find that Klal Yisrael slips into a pattern of avodah zarah. Pshat in avodah zarah, maybe we don't even know today. Chazal tell us, the Gemara Yuma samech tes, that the chachamim came and mevatel the avodah zarah, the yetzer, the taiva of avodah zarah, so we don't even know what it is. Gemara tells us that Tannaim questioned previous melachim, that Menasheh HaMelech, he went and he did avodah zarah, and Menasheh comes to him in a dream and tells him, If you would be in our time, you would have done worse. So what's there to talk about pshat? The history of the Tanach throughout is avodah zarah, mitnachah. Maybe we can't relate to it. Yet, if the Torah writes it over and over again as the history, there's something what to take from it. It's, again, in some form, in some pshat, understand what happened, why it happened, and is it applicable in our modern day time. So I'd like to discuss, the pasuk itself is very interesting. When someone does avodah zarah, it's the most chamudik aveirah. You don't need to chapetzu, you don't need to tearg on simple things that he did wrong as well, for example. The pasuk says they did avodah zarah, shteyt a klal. Yet the pasuk emphasizes and continues with two psukim. One, V'lo zachru b'nei Yisrael Hashem Elokeihem. They didn't remember the... yeah, avodah. If you do avodah zarah, that's what it... Isn't that, when a person does avodah zarah, he's obviously forgetting the Rabbeinu Sholeilam? The pasuk seems to be a redundant, self-explanatory pasuk. And then the pasuk continues, Vayiten Hashem... v'lo asu chesed. In beis, hirbu baal, they didn't do chesed with Gidon. So what's the pshat? I mean, l'choira they did a lot worse. They did avodah zarah, and Yiddishkeit got upgefregt. You know what the upgefregt means? You're out of the question. There's nothing more to discuss. You did avodah zarah. That's it. You did the chaf-nun-gimmel chamuros. Ah, you didn't remember the Eibishter. Oh yeah, you did avodah zarah, you got done. The whole pasuk, V'lo zachru b'nei Yisrael... and then it says they didn't remember Gidon's chesed. Is it so relevant? Just say that Klal Yisroel went off the derech. That's unfortunate, but that's what the pasuk...

What is he trying to bring out? Why does it emphasize and consider it a part of the list of the chataim that they didn't remember the Eibishter, and also, lo zachru, lo asu chesed, and beis Yirubal Gidon, they didn't do chesed to Yirubal. So I have a question on that, and I'll show you, I found actually Chazal discuss this shaylah. But you see, Chazal, they say a statement, and from the statement you understand that they were bothered by a question. From the statement you start to understand that there was a question that led them to this statement, and that is: do we translate v'lo zachru as a list also? Also v'lo zachru? Is it also v'lo asu chesed? They did avodah zarah. Also, they didn't remember the Eibishter. Also, they didn't do chesed. Then the question becomes, if you did the chamur, why do you have to chap a tzdad kalus, so to speak? Chazal say that the pshat is not also, but because. The v'lo is the because. Why did they do this avodah zarah? So the mefurash in Yalkut. The Yalkut says that the pshat in the pesukim is, you know what led them—it was a ... avodah zarah? And the answer is, mitfagesin b'ribono shel olam's chasadim, hamatzil osam miyad kol oyeveihem, hakfiyas hatov. And then there was another kefiyas hatov, mitfagesin gidon. So if you're a kafui tov to the Eibishter, and you're a kafui tov to the manhigim around you, the next step is avodah zarah. Mitavodah zarah. So eizehu Chazal. Rabosai, let's see the taich. What is the pshat? It's k'ilu that this and this is hainu hach. This is called being oved avodah zarah, because the pshat is v'lo yizachu could also mean this and that they did this aveirah, that they didn't remember the Ribono Shel Olam's chesed, and that they didn't remember Gidon. So pashut means, like the Chazal, that this is the result of. Or maybe the Chazal are saying that this is one of the chisronos in the avodah zarah itself. I'll explain to you what I mean. You know, rabosai, they talk about in Yisroel, shituf. It's a very important topic. What is shituf? Shituf is that if you believe the Ribono Shel Olam, you worship the Eibishter, but also — that's called shituf. There's also something else. Christianity today, l'choira, is shituf. Believe in a Trinity. L'choira, shituf is avodah zarah, that's for sure. When Bnei Noach are metzuvin al ha'avodah zarah, are they metzuvin al hashituf is a shaylah how to learn a peshat in Yoreh Deah. It's a very famous issue. It's a very famous topic. The haskamas haposkim is that Christianity is avodah zarah shituf, while Muslim, the belief in the Muslim, in the Koran, in the ... That's not avodah zarah, bichlal. If they believe in one Ribono Shel Olam, we all believe that there's a Ribono Shel Olam. Nafka mina lahalacha are great. Poskim bring down teshuvas. You can't walk into a church, yet you can walk into a mosque. There's no issur to walk into a mosque, because it's not avodah zarah. I'm not going to tell you it's a very, very good idea. I don't think it's a very safe idea, but, or unless you conceal the fact that you have some shaykhus to Jews or Eretz Yisrael, but lahalacha there is no issur. The word shituf is the avodah zarah. Okay, so if you believe in one deity, that's not avodah zarah. If you live in the shituf, that is avodah zarah. So I have a question. If a person does avodah zarah, Hinduism, which is, that's clearly avodah zarah, without any shituf, because there's no beirah olam in it. It's all about whatever Hinduism stands for, and I don't have to go into it right now. I think we're enough intellectual to know the difference. But al kol panim, so there there's no beirah olam, right? It's whatever it is, gods and so, whatever it is, it's nisht.

Yeah? Is that worse than shituf or better than shituf? You're looking at me and he's saying, What? This became a Tanach shiur? How did this—did I switch gears, or did I forget what day of the week it is? No, it's very, very, very nogea to Tanach, and I'll show you how it's nogea to the reading of these pesukim, as well as to the reading of pesukim later, and even later than that. Many of the pesukim we're going to come across, this question becomes a very essential question. So again, my basic: Which avodah zarah is worse, the shituf, or bichlally avodah zarah that has no beirur eiluf in it? Is shituf worse than avodah zarah, or is avodah zarah worse than shituf? So let me tell you, this is a machlokes rishonim. If you look at Rabbeinu Yonah in Sanhedrin, samech gimmel, and if I had the time, I'd learn with you in the mekoros; it's based on the Gemara over there, that the Gemara says, and this is the way that Rabbeinu Yonah learns, that even though the implication there is that shituf is worse, don't be medayek like that. The Gemara says, Rabbeinu Yonah, actually it's the same: avodah zarah, nafka mina shituf adonish, avodah zarah is avodah zarah. Azoi lernt Rabbeinu Yonah. Rabbeinu Yonah Sanhedrin, daf samech gimmel. The Yad Ramah on that Gemara, the Yad Ramah says, No, the Gemara is mashma klar, a shituf is doch erger. Because the Gemara says those words, that if someone is over the shituf, it's ke'ilu mamash he should be עוקר from the world. It's the worst, the worst of the worst. It's not the Yad Ramah. I mean, you take the Gemara at its word, that the shituf seems to be the worst type of avodah zarah. I'd like to direct you to an interesting Rashi, and soon we're going to show you that actually Rashi wasn't the mechadesh of this. It's actually a Chazal, a Yalkut, a Midrash. Rashi was mefaresh the pesukim late, the Chazalim. You ready for mefurash pasuk? I'm not going too far. We're going to learn Sheftim, perek yud aleph. Suck the pasuk like this. Give me a minute, we'll make sure I get the right pasuk. Second. The whole perek here is that they were oved the baalim. Sometimes when you got to find something, you just don't find it. The pasuk says, V'chol Yisrael went out, and they were oved. Let me see what they wrote over here. Shoftim, perek yud aleph. So let's go to perek yud aleph. Pasuk... I wrote pasuk yud here, but it's not in pasuk yud, unless I don't have perek yud aleph. Okay, so I'm going to quote you the pesukim בעל פה. The pasuk says like this. Maybe you're not familiar with this Tanach. That's what I'm not finding. Okay, the pesukim are as follows, everybody. Pasuk says the Klal Yisrael went out, and they were oved seven types of avodah zarah. Vayaazvu es Hashem, that they left Hashem, and yet v'lo avdu oso, they weren't oved the Ribbono Shel Olam. I wish we could really find this pasuk. If anybody finds the pasuk, efsher, make it easier, no? Okay. Perek yud, pasuk vav. Okay, so I made a mistake, that's what it is. Okay, I wrote it the opposite, and then because of that, that's what happens when you do things in haste. Perek yud, pasuk... shgeach. You see? Sometimes in haste you write...

Okay. Vayesevu Bnei Yisrael. Again, they don't stop doing this avodah zarah. There's no end to this avodah zarah here. But here the pasuk elaborates to tell me the names of all seven avodah zarahs: laYa'vods haBaalim, ves haAshtaros, ves Elhei Aram, ves Elhei Tzidon, ves Elhei Moav, ves Elhei Bnei Amon, ves Elhei Pelishtim. Seven. Actually, there's a Gemara in Beitzah that says, you know what this is like? This is like a certain turmus, a type of a vegetable that needs to be cooked seven times. But after you cook it seven times, it finally becomes sweet and edible and usable. While Klal Yisrael, even after seven times, still remained baalei avodah zarah. That's the pshat in the Gemara, pshuto shel Gemara in Beitzah. So we have over here a list, okay, a complete list of avodah zarahs, and the pasuk continues: Vayaazvu es Hashem velo avduhu. Isn't that a double lashon? Isn't that redundant? If you were ozev es Hashem, avadu velo avduhu. You left Hashem; you weren't oved Him. So Rashi, what's the pshat that they were ozev velo avduhu? Afilu — no, rabosai, afilu — mishutafim. You see, it would have been at least that chutz, right? Isn't that what the pasuk is trying to bring out? They weren't oved avodah zarah. Yeah, afilu nishtutafus. Now, if shutafus is worse, so they couldn't have been the word afilu. Rashi — many gedolim discuss Rashi. Chayra, this Rashi should have been... Quoted by the Rishonim in Mesechta Sanhedrin. Good. Why it's not vesechnisht. One thing I did, I did a lot of research over the years, and I found the mekor is actually the Yalkut Shimoni of the pasuk, of Pinchas. The Yalkut Shimoni says, V'afilu, even b'shutafes, chashdas? Chash b'shutafes? So we have here a third shita. One shita is Rabbeinu Yona, that it's the same, same aveidas av. A second shita we have is that it's worse. And then we have Rashi, based on a Yalkut, that if anything, it's better. Now why is it better? How does it become better? You think it's better? ... What's the ... What did it become better? So ... over years I thought about this. You know, aveidah zarah is a ... to the point that we don't even have a musag what it is, but it is something. It's one of the ... aveidah zarah, epes, ... to us. So what is this aveidah zarah? You know, aveidah zarah is called znus. You know how I know this? You just read it in the pesukim we just read in perek ches. We started with these pesukim. In perek ches, the pasuk says, Vayehi ka'asher meis Gideon, vayashuvu Bnei Yisrael, vayiznu. At the klal, znus. Did they do znus or did they do aveidah zarah? Unde teretz is— Every time it talks about avodah zarah, it uses the lashon of ... It's all. So why use the words nus? So it's brought from the Gaon's sefarim, that the Gaon says, Kabbalah b'yadeinu mehageonim: ish mipi ish ad Moshe Rabbeinu, that whenever there's avodah zarah, check in, you'll find nus there also. ... Avodah zarah ... as he says. The Gaon says this klal. There's a famous Gaon. The Gaon's in a few places in sefarim, and he writes, Kabbalah b'yadeinu mehageonim, ish mipi ish. Whenever it says the word avodah zarah, nus ain't too far around the corner. There's going to be nus. Now the truth is, in the eigel that's what happened. They did the eigel, and then it was ... And who knows if it's not b'pi Moshe that that's what it means, b'pi Moshe. Moshe's saying, Oh, ... avodah zarah ... avodah zarah brings nus. ... Pashut means that's halacha l'Moshe miSinai. What's the connection?

It's a pashut pshat is. A manch, וואס איז מפקיע זיך פון יראה שמים, so he's a free person, and freedom brings nus, chai. I mean, I would say, aveidah zarah. Aveidah zarah gives you a pass to do whatever you want. There's no... mimeila, you can go and do do whatever. You know what I think the pshat is, my pshat? The word zonah is to be boiged in the husband. Znus is usually, in most cases, the story of pegidah. Arayos is not necessarily the word znus. Arayos is asur, but znus means ish v'isha, and there's a pegidah, and then it becomes znus. As a matter of fact, there's interesting teshuvos, which I would rather not discuss in great length, but just to bring it out that you should understand this, that the teshuvos of the Kadmonim, the Rishonim, used these teshuvos in many cases, that if the husband isn't makpid, if the husband isn't in—it's not against his will—then it's not znus. The word znus means to be boiged in the husband. It's a famous teshuvahs. I had, unfortunately, had to pasken such a shailah in the past, and I sent it to two of the biggest gedolei olam. There was a story about teshuva. They went off the derech. They were ... He went off the derech. He led his wife to be mafkires. Sent her to Reb Elyashiv. And I said, because the question was, she did teshuva afterwards. Now she wants to come back and be with her husband. There's children involved. It was a tremendous issue. I sent it to Reb Elyashiv. I sent it to Reb Dovid. So first Reb Dovid wrote me back, I have nothing to do with this. Send it to Reb Elyashiv. And I wrote, but the Chashukei Chemed in the teshuvos works with this shita of—it's a Chacham Tzvi, it's a famous poskim, it's famous ... Don't want to touch it. Send it to Reb Elyashiv. Reb Elyashiv wrote me back the same word: Don't want to touch it. I have nothing to do with this. But in yesod ... I just want to show you that the word zonah needs to be boged in the baal. Aveidah zarah is a begidah in the Ribono Shel Olam. It's the same shoresh, hamidah. The same way when a person is a boged, then he becomes a boged in everything. So ממילא he's a boged in this inyan too. He's boged in the Ribono Shel Olam, he's boged in the baal. It's all in the same yesodos of begidah. Why do I want to discuss this? I think that's the pshat. That's the pshat that the pesukim are telling us. You know what the begidah in those days of avodah zarah was? It's deep, the begidah. It had to do with the ... avodah zarah of— V'lo zachu Bnei Yisrael es Hashem Elokeihem, v'lo asu chesed. It had to do with the shoresh, mekfiyas hatov. Avodah zarah, the shoresh of it is to forget the fact that the Eibishter, to forget its begidah. I'll tell you where I saw this. In the sefer, what is the yesod of avodah zarah? You made it with your own hands, eitz va'even. I mean, so what could you be? You know what the ta'ava says? If you made it, then you don't have to be makir tov to it. If anything, that has to be makir tov to you; that does vilich, that's avodah zarah. The Alter mentions koach hakfiyas hatov is that he inherently can't be makir the Ribono Shel Olam, so he creates, and now he becomes the creator, so to speak, and to him that's good, that's avodah zarah. Avodah zarah is the kfiyah in the tov. With this havanah, I think we can understand the pshat in the Midrash. Told you that the Yalkut says that Rashi, the Shutafes, it comes from a Yalkut. The Yalkut continues, okay, the Midrash continues and says like this: V'lo osi kara Yaakov.

People stopped davening. They were mis'atzel b'tefillah. What's the pshat? He says the same thing: Vayavdu, vayazvu, that they left the Eibishter. Al kochach, a person's mis'atzel b'tefillah is the same thing as going to be doing avodah zarah. I mean, the Medrash is connecting. It's a peledike Medrash. The Medrash says, you see, vayazvu, they did b'shutafus, b'meizid lo yosi kare Yaakov. They stopped davening. They were mis'atzel in tefillah. How does shutafus, shutafus, and tefillah, and the Targum ...? When a person stops to be makir, what's the Eibishter gave, then he stops to realize, so whatever I have had to be that I did it, that I'm mishtadel and it works because I made it. That becomes a mis'atzelus in tefillah. The moment you recognize that you have no shaychus, it has nothing to do with you, it's all the Ribono Shel Olam, then a person davens thoroughly because he knows that's the only way he can get anything. When a person starts to undermine the tov that the Eibishter gives, ultimately, ultimately, his davening becomes weaker because then he realizes that not everything I have is from the Eibishter. If I believe everything's from the Ribono Shel Olam, and I'm makir everything tov, tov from the Ribono Shel Olam, so avadai, go and I daven knowing that that's where everything comes from. So the moment I start being a kafui tov, I'm mis'atzel. L'maaseh, in that case, shutfis, and I think it's a chiddush Chabad, becomes a little bit better than stam avodah zarah. Voltas geven b'shutfis. At least I have that koach hatov that I remember the Ribono Shel Olam gave me. Aval v'lo zacha, if you start forgetting the Eibishter, and because of that lo avdu, that's the kefias hatov, and that's what the pasuk is being madgish. And how is it relevant to avodah zarah? They took away the avodah zarah from us, so we don't have the taiva that we have to bow down to eitz va'even. But the shorashim they didn't take away. The shoresh of avodah zarah, which means that I, I'm boged in the Ribono Shel Olam because I'm a kafui tov. And it's because of that I'm mishtadel. I have to go and I have to do the his'atzlus in tefillah, which comes from it. But that avodah zarah we have very much today. The pasuk, and this is what I think is very important to understand, the avodah zarah of Amalek, it was strong. It was whenever they were in eis tzarah, there was no one to lead them. What did they fall back to? They fell back into the yi'ush of the v'lo zachar Hashem. They forgot the nissim, so they searched. You start searching for outer things to help you. See, the olam's standing here staring at me, and they're not waiting to leave, so let me explain it one more time. I showed you something very interesting. And that is that the yesod called shituf, which Rashi says at least that. Now why in Hilchos Avodah Zarah is shituf better? And the answer is because it's really based on the pesukim of V'lo yizachru bnei Yisrael es Hashem Elokeihem, that you bichlal forget the Eibishter. Shituf, rabosai, means avodah zarah, avodas avodah zarah. But the avodah zarah is, I remember that the Ribono Shel Olam is a kayam, but I don't have full emunah, I don't believe fully, so then I make shituf. So the begidah in the Ribono Shel Olam is a lot less. If a person's oved avodah zarah, so he's boged in the Ribono Shel Olam completely. The mesa'atzel in tefillah is based on how much are we in the shituf that we understand the Ribono Shel Olam, or we feel the Ribono Shel Olam, and that's where hisatzlus, that's where tefillah becomes weak. When a person recognizes that there is nothing but the Ribono Shel Olam, why and how can he be weak in tefillah? It's impossible. When a person, as Chazal use the lashon, devarim she'omdim birumo shel olam.

Uvnei Adam mizalzlim. What does it mean, it's dvarim she'omdim birumo shel olam? So the pashut pshat is, rumo shel olam means it's very big and it's koiches, it's tremendous, and people are mezalzel. Rishonim say that's not the pshat. Dvarim she'omdim birumo shel olam means the world stands on it, that a person could do anything. A person has the koiches with tefillah to break through and do unbelievable things. So if a person has that, wouldn't he utilize? And the teretz is they're mezalzel in the tefillah, not realizing its koiches, its power. This, chaveisai, is the avodah zarah today. Avodah zarah today doesn't have to be that we go, and I think I pretty much mentioned this once in the past, how many times you hear a person speak about avadah d'Rabbeinu shel... Baruch Hashem, chasdei Hashem, and then he'll speak, and in the same sentence, Chasdei Hashem, I spoke to this guy, and this guy, Baruch, told me he's going to help me. In the same sentence, Baruch Hashem and chasdei Hashem and the Rabbeinu shel... megvaldik. But what does he do? That's shituf. Shituf means, and again, you see, you don't realize that avodah, we're not going to sit and go into a church today. We don't have that yetzer hara anymore. But the shorashim of what it was all about, we have every day in our life. Shituf could mean when a person feels there's koiches besides... It's also a type of shituf. And when the person thinks there's koiches or hishtadlus that can help, then the tefillah becomes weaker. The person understands that in the tefillah there's nothing else, there's no other way to reach what I have to reach. So then the tefillah becomes stronger. This Chabei says the pshat in the pesukim: Vayehi ka'asher meis Gideon, vayashuvu vayiznu. Vayiznu after baalim, the avodah zarah chelek was that they were boged, and that begidah is what? V'lo zachru Bnei Yisrael Hashem, it's the kefiyas hatov to the Eibishter. And you see that it's going to be a kefiyas hatov to your neighbors as well. It's all the same kefiyas hatov. So what is the lesson, ma limudus speak today? And I think it's important. A person should really work on himself to appreciate everything, everything that a person does for you. You have to work on it, and I'll show you where it's relevant, rabosai. Give me just one more minute, and then you'll see the mahalach hamachshavah that I want. Just last week in Parshas Metzora, I thought of an interesting thing I'd like to share with you. The metzora is taken lchutz lamachaneh. Tamei, tamei yikra. He has to announce he's tamei. So why does he have to announce he's tamei? Because people shouldn't come in contact with him. Chazal say a different reason. Chazal say, Tamei, tamei yikra, kedei l'hodia tza'aro l'rabim, kedei sheyevakshu alav. The rabim should come and daven for him. So there's a very famous kashya from the Chofetz Chaim. Any time a person's sick, he's got to tell people to daven for him. So why does it become like a mitzvah, a chiyuv? P'shat, tefillah does a chiyuv. Tell me, tell me, Yitzchok, it's good advice that he should do it so people should daven. I can't command daven for. So that's the Chofetz Chaim. You hear? If a person speaks lashon hara, the Borei doesn't listen to his tefillos. The guy's stuck. Poor guy's stuck. He's sick and there's no way to get out of it because he can't daven, because the Borei is not interested in hearing from him. So the Chofetz Chaim, that's pshat, sheyedia tzaaroi, l'ham, k'dei sheyevakshu alav rachamim, because they need to daven for him. He can't daven for himself. And I'd like to add to the pshat of the Chofetz Chaim, that's pshat, l'hodia tzaaroi. What does tzaaroi l'rabim mean? That's his tzaar, that he's sick and he has no way to turn. That itself is tzaar. The lashon of Chazal, wait, taish, you say, l'hodia la'rabim that he's sick. It's more than that tzaar, that he's in a bad matzav, as kein, un er ken nisht daven tzu dem Ribono Shel Olam. I'd like to add an interesting nekudah, chaversai, and with a story, if you don't mind, another half a minute, minute or two, you'll thank me.

Possibly you've heard of him in the past. Possible. If you haven't heard in the past, you'll thank me, okay? And even if you did hear in the past, you'll give me yashar koach. I don't know if you'll thank me, but you'll give me yashar koach, okay? My son Yitzchok was born. He was the second boy. NYU, a whole nighter the night before. You heard the maiseh already? You ever heard the maiseh from me? Huh? Who? The coffee. So you're the only one that heard it? You heard it also? Okay, so you... okay. Ketzar hamaaseh, here hamaaseh. Erev Rosh Hashanah. This was Erev Rosh Hashanah. A whole nighter. I came back. Besides for the fact I got a flat tire because it was a pothole, and it's another whole story, but I got home right before Rosh Hashanah, I got home. In the morning, my shvigger was with me. Now, she was cranky. It was a whole night. She needs coffee. So I donated, I'll go get you the coffee. I figured I'll be— it was more for me than it was for her. I'm gonna get you the coffee, meaning if she takes the coffee, I'll feel better. Okay. Ketzar, I go down to the coffee shop down on First Avenue. I walk in, a lady comes over, can I get you the shirt? She was wearing pants, more of a modern Jew, Orthodox, with a glint in her eyes. We heard what happened in Boro Park. So maybe Boro Park wasn't— I don't know. What do I know happened by? So I'll tell you the truth, I was a whole night in the hospital. I don't— you know, when you have a baby, you know, you lose track of what's going on outside. I don't know. She tells me, No, they caught two chassidim from the kehillah with the drugs after Shabbos. I can't tell you the pain I had. What are you telling me? Bleed in your eyes? You're so besimcha. What are you telling me? I thought, I felt like someone took a knife and stabbed me. I couldn't listen to this. This was something that, the pain. What are you mevazeh? What's wrong with you? I couldn't believe it. In nature, I don't respond much. It's a tznius. I keep quiet and I move away and I say, Machulach, machulach, machulach. But I knew I had to respond. Achilah Hashem, achilah Hashem. Kitzur, I said, Ribbono Shel Olam, give me the right words. I want to respond. And this is what came out. So I guess the Eibishter either, like Bilaam, like the chamor of Bilaam, maybe the Eibishter, Vayiftach Hashem es pi ha'ason. All right, let's use those words. What came out of my mouth was, you know, if you have a fellow in the street, heart attack or what, nobody would tend to you. They'd be afraid to touch you. The only people that would come to your rescue, to your aid, are these bava chassidim with hatzalah in Borough Park. Don't talk against them. You might need them one day. And I was surprised. Wow, where did that come from? I was unbelievable. I started thinking, I didn't know I have it in me bichlal, but I knew it was good gezugt, because she was taken back by it. Good shtickl musar. Years later, fast forward. My son Yitzchak's 11 years old. My other son, 12, pinchas. It's bein hazmanim Sukkos. What time these kids get up in Sukkos? Before chatzos, after chatzos? Okay. They wake up around chatzos. They need—they want to daven with the minyan. I said, Now? I daven, it's like seven in the morning already, you know. I said, The only place you can find the minyan for davening at 12 o'clock is Babov. I'll take you to Bobov. So they all take the lulav and esrog, go to Bobov. I drop them off. I tell them, 50 minutes, not more, and I'm picking you up, because the day's got to start, chol hamoed trips and everything. Fifty minutes. I said, Listen to me. If you care to daven more than 50 minutes, you should have woke up at 7 o'clock. If you wake up at 12 o'clock, you don't get more than 50 minutes. That's it. Check. Kitzur, I come back 50 minutes later, they're coming out of the thing, and they put the— My son, pinchas, you know, I think I forgot my lulav and—thinking already. At the end of davening, that was, he already forgot his lulav over there. I said, You know what? I'm waiting. Go get your lulav. He goes in, and all of a sudden I hear screaming. Iphosel tik. Be careful. Ata bix, he has a gun. I'm thinking, Gun? Who has a gun? I look up. At first I didn't know what was going on. It was such a tumult. Then I chap right away, there was a Spanish guy.

He was trying to abduct the Yiddishe kind. He was trying to take the kid. These chassidim, they left the shul with the lulav and esrog, and they see it. Now, when you hear a gun, you want to run. I was going to run. Be honest. I was ready to, you know, put my foot on the gas and disappear. I had my son. My son was inside. So I was stuck anyway, and then right away I became stuck because there was a tumult. So I saw the whole thing. It was right in front of my car, and all my children besides couldn't see it, then people came out to see. So we all saw this. What did we see? We see them running to the guy, screaming one to the other, Be careful, he has a gun. Instead of running away, instead of running from, they're running to to save the kid, knowing that he has a gun, and they're screaming, What? ... Be careful, he has a gun. I started to think to myself, Why was Yeshaya able to see this? It's beautiful. ... I realized years before, I said, I ... ... It's because I spoke good, and I saw positive. ... gave me to see. You see? Look, this is it. ... This is it. I think this by the metzora also. The metzora is told, You spoke against your neighbors. Guess who's going to meet? Guess who's going to daven for you? And the neighbors come to visit you. ... Now you know what you need. Now you know what Klal Yisroel is. Don't talk against them. One day you might need them. One day you might need them. What am I trying to bring out from this? I'm trying to bring out that hakaras, to recognize what neighbors do for us. We sometimes take for granted what a neighbor, what a friend. It's almost inherent how much help people help. We don't even realize. We don't even put focus on it. We should have the midah of recognizing every tov that anyone ever did to us. I appreciate, I appreciate this. I thank you for this. Thank you for smiling. I thank you for walking. Whatever. We take it for granted. My neighbor, he's my friend. And this becomes the midah, where hakaras hatov is a training in the person, becomes a training, and he's makir everything that the Ribono Shel Olam gives. When a person is makir every chesed, I promise you, the tefillah is a whole different tefillah. When you daven, every word, realize everything, every breath, every... to the Ribono Shel Olam. It's a promise. I use the word promise because I'm secure in what I'm saying. Davening is something else. Start to understand every chesed and everything that I have, and everything that's, if not, Rabosai, it's the shorashim of shituf. That's what the pesukim are teaching us. You believe for one minute that people who hung around Gidai just bowed down to avodah zaras? You think people walked around with Christian bichlach over there? You think that's what happened? You think... and I see... Rabbi Isaac Sher speaks about it. How yitachen it means this. This is a kiyum in this. In some level, it means what we have a chisaron in bitachon. What we find, chisronos in bitachon became a l'maaseh by them in their avodah zaras. So we don't have the avodah zarah. We're not going to sit and bow down. But whatever was in that avodah zarah, they bowed down to, and whatever reasons that they bowed. And that's why the pasuk enumerates them. Why would the pasuk have to say seven different avodah zarahs? It's negea to me the seven different avodah zarahs. It's so important for me to know, doirus later, this and that and this and that, and I'm doing this and this? And the answer is yes. There's in the ... This, chabeisai, forgive me, I went a little bit ... You've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.