The Churban’s Deepest Loss: Distance from Hashem and Returning Through Torah, Tefillah, and Chesed

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Now holding that Eli, as he gets older, starts to realize, starts to hear rumors about his children, Chofni and Pinchas, that they're not, they're not ovdei Hashem the way they're supposed to be oved Hashem. The pasuk tells us in perek beis, pasuk chof beis, V'Eli zaken me'od, v'shama es asher ya'asun banav l'chol Yisrael. He hears the rumors are coming to him. He hears what his children are doing to Klal Yisrael. V'eis asher yishkevun es hanashim hatzov'os pesach Ohel Moed. Of course, Chazal already tell us, asher yishkevun, Chofni and Pinchas, v'yishkevun es hanashim hatzov'os, which means the women who came after their leidah to bring korbanos, asher yishkevun, he was mezaneh with them. So Chazal tell us it doesn't mean literally; it's figuratively. Rashi already brings this down: רצה לומר, הם מתעצלים בהקרבת, כי הנה הילדות והזבות. They took their time. You know, today, by appointment only. The rav, the rosh yeshiva, he's busy, he's busy. You get back to him in a few days. דרשתיק, had shein lang gefangen in Beis Hamikdash, ya tamaisa. They came, and they said, Okay, okay, tomorrow, the day after, get back to me. I'll get back to you. Your people will see my people, my people will see your people. ... The levadolos. At the das, the Torah Kedosha, the Navi is telling us, is called, ישכבון את הנשים הצובאות, continues Rashi, when they came to Elimelech, וימתינו על הכרחבן, ולא חזרו לשמש את ביתם. They didn't go back to their homes because they had to wait for the korban. אם כן, היו משכיבין אותם במקום ביאן, so they had to sleep over the night. ולכך יחשוב להם על שביטלו בעליהם מפריה ורביה. למעשה, Eli gives them tochachah, in pasuk that follows: ויאמר להם, למה תעשון כדברים האלה? How could you do this? These things that I hear you doing, אשר אנכי שומע את דבריכם רעים. Here's a chashlechte zach. מאת כל העם האלה, על בניי, my children, no. Leiteiva, ki leiteiva shmua ashenechi shomea, mavirim am Hashem. You're doing bad for Klal Yisrael. And he continues to give them tochacha. Later on, in perek gimmel, we find that the Ribono Shel Olam is very angry at Eli for all this. Vayomer Hashem el Shmuel—we'll get to the details of the pesukim as we get there—but the final episode in the story of this, that Eli hears his children doing chata'im and he gives them mussar, it wasn't enough. The Ribono Shel Olam didn't accept this. Vayomer Hashem el Shmuel, hineni oseh davar b'Yisrael. I'm going to do something catastrophic, something catastrophic and unbelievable, an os, a sign. Asher kol shom'o, whoever hears this, titzilena shtei oznav—his ears won't believe what he hears. And that is, Vayomahu akim el Eli es kol asher dibarti el beiso—what I swore, a gezeirah.

Against Eli's family will happen. What was the gezeirah? That all his descendants will die young. Maharasha speaks about it. We'll get to that in a few moments. Hachel v'kaleh, wipe them out. V'gadati loi ki shofeit ani es beiso ad olam. I will take nekamah. I will judge his family forever. B'avon asher yada. Now what did Eli do wrong? The children, okay, they did whatever they did. They were not holech b'darkei avos of their father Eli. As, like I said, we skipped a few of the pesukim just to get to the conclusion of this, of the story. But what did Eli do wrong? And the answer is, b'avon asher yada, ki mekallin lahem banav. That his children are bringing disgrace, v'lo kihah bam. He didn't stop them. Lo kihah bam. Rashi says, lo hikeh pneihem. It צריך נשיקה פראסקט, hikeh pneihem. I don't know if it means literally or figuratively. Today, az men git a frask, you could get sued. Tata can get sued for that. But מסתמא in the times of Eli that was accepted. So either it means literally, lo hikeh pneihem. V'akapan, Rashi continued, l'ha'aviram migedulasan. Maybe it only means just to get them away and take them off their gedulah that they had, the prestige. Shtelas, so to speak, that they had. So this became the Rabbeinu Shleilom's decision against Eli and his children. And what is the gezeirah? V'lachein, and therefore, nishbati l'beis Eli, continuing pasuk yud-daled, nishbati l'beis Eli. It's a shvuah. Im yiskaper avon beis Eli, if there will be a kaparah to the home of Eli, to the house of Eli, b'zevach uv'minchah ad olam. Korban, zevach, minchah. Mistama there's two types of korbanos. There's zevachim and menachos. Zevachim is a chata'im. Menachos is minchah, present, which means either type of korban, l'choirah. Zevach o minchah, which means korbanos that forgive, as well as korbanos that bring peace, that bring minchah, that are of peace offering, shalom. It's not going to work ad olam, forever. So there seems to be an implication, this is what Chazal are medayek in the pasuk, that b'minchah uv'zevach they're not going to have a kaparah. It doesn't say they're not going to have a kaparah in general. It doesn't say that there's no such a thing as a kaparah for Bnei Eli. No, the pshat is that he does not have a kaparah b'zevach uv'minchah, implying with what could he have a kaparah. That is already a very interesting shaila in the Gemara and the Rishonim. But in order to get to that, I first want to discuss—it's interesting—there's no teshuva. It can't be that there's no teshuva. Rabbeinu Yonah tells us that there's no chet in the world that teshuva does not work for. אפילו הרהר בליבו שיהא, ... תשובה. Teshuva always works. There's such a thing called teshuva with Kiddush Hashem. Anything you'll throw at me, I could bring you a Gemara and a Rambam and a Rishon that tells you you have teshuva for it. The famous classic one is, in Yoma, of zeh l'vatala, there's no teshuva. The Zohar—many people know this, but unfortunately they don't know the entire Zohar, because many places in the Zohar it says there is teshuva for it. And the teretz is, miteirah. If you learn Torah, even for shichvas zera l'vatala, take a machshava, veis men, that's the altereid. Famous, famous yesoidos in teshuva: Kiddush Hashem. Oh, it doesn't say in the Rishonim that Kiddush Hashem is a teshuva. A chilul Hashem, psheitach klar.

We know in halacha, there's times where there's nimna lo מלעשות תשובה. For example, Parai. The Rambam brings down that sometimes it can happen that a person could do such aveiros, so many aveiros, that it's a gezeirah that there's no such a thing as teshuvah, no teshuvah. And Parai is the raya: Vayechazek Hashem es lev Parai. He couldn't do teshuvah. There's a very big problem with this Rambam, because Parai did do teshuvah. According to many shittos, the Parai that we know from Yam Suf is the same Parai from Ninveh. Gelebt toyznter yahren, hunderter yahren, ich veys vos, I don't know the exact amount of years, but that gelebt and gelebt. When Ninveh ziche gevent teshuvah, that was the whole idea of Ninveh, to show that there was teshuvah. You want to know if there's teshuvah by goyim בכלל? Mabit talks about it, it's bigdein rishonim. But al kol panim, Parai ziche had a chance to do teshuvah. So what's with this Rambam? Some meforshei Rambam nit azoi. And the answer is, if you look at the Rambam Hilchos Teshuvah, it says clearly. If I'm not mistaken, I didn't think I was going to go there this year, but as we talk, it's כדאי to get the inyanim from, I think it's perek hei, halacha gimmel, and in halacha daled, Hilchos Teshuvah, halacha daled, the Rambam says, V'al davar zeh ispalel Dovid HaMelech, Horeeni Hashem darkecha, that the Eibishter should show him the way of teshuvah. Al davar zeh, which means on the thing that we just mentioned, that Parai did not have a chance and a choice to do teshuvah. David HaMelech was mispallel it shouldn't happen to him. Horeini Hashem darkecha, v'chein hatzaddikim. The Rambam says over there that all tzaddikim request this. V'avazel un tzaddikim meinu. Why should the tzaddikim think that, like Parei, that the Ninveh, ludacha tzai, teshuvah was? You're saying an interesting thing, that Parei was afraid that he can't do teshuvah. I'm sorry, that David HaMelech is afraid he's like Parei, that he can't do teshuvah. You're comparing David to Parei. What does it mean? And the answer is, and we've spoken about in Hilchos Teshuvah in great length, there's no such thing as you can't do teshuvah. The siyua, the help that the Ribono Shel Olam helps you to do teshuvah, that sometimes the Ribono Shel Olam takes away. Rabbeinu Yonah speaks about how the Ribono Shel Olam ozer lashavim; He helps you to do teshuvah. The gezeirah on Parei was that the Ribono Shel Olam will make him a lev kasheh, that all the yissurim and all the nisim that he saw, that did not help him to do teshuvah, didn't move him. And we spoke many times from Rishonim, Sippun and others, that it says this yesod. Frekt David HaMelech, Horeini Hashem darkecha, that the Eibishter should show him the way of teshuvah. So there's no such thing as I can't do teshuvah. No such thing. This is klar in all the Rishonim. Either the Rabbeinu Shlolam helps you and makes it easy for you to do teshuva, or at worst-case scenario, the Rabbeinu Shlolam is not going to help you, siyata dishmaya of teshuva. But that you can't do teshuva? No such thing. And this, that it says in the Zohar that you can't do teshuva for gilui aveiros, shtei cheninah l'rishonim. Again, I don't have time to go through it all, the Gemara mekoimos, but with Torah, you can do teshuva even on aveiros that you can't do teshuva for. So if you marbeh Torah, if you add Torah to the teshuva, the teshuva works on everything. Why am I giving you this hakdamah? Now you'll understand the Gemara Rosh Hashanah about Bnei Eli, Sonachamel chadeisa. The gezeirah was, Lachein nishbati l'veis Eli, im yiskaper avon Eli, that the sin of Eli will not be miskaper b'zevach uv'minchah ad olam. So the question is, does it mean that there's no kaparah for Bnei Eli? It can't mean that, let alone that the mashma'us of the pasuk is not that. There's got to be a kaparah possible. So then what was the gezeirah? The gezeirah was that it can't be with—

Zevach uminchah. The metzudas explains, why not? Because their aveirah was a b'zevach uminchah; it was about the korbanos of the women. So we have a klal of ein keteig na'aseh saneigor, as zeh zogt the metzudas. Ki ein keteigor na'aseh saneigor, al ki chetam haya b'dvar hakorbanos. And just to explain it simply, if you misuse a korban, when you misuse something, don't expect that thing to help you later, right? If you abuse things, mei nishpetes kumen di helfen? Ein keteig na'aseh saneigor. Ulam, and this is the chiddush nifla, ulam b'tshuvah yechupar avon. Zogt the metzudas a chiddush nifla, and we'll soon see why it's a chiddush nifla, because the Gemara seems to say not like that about the Bnei Eli. But al kol panim, this is the reading of the pesukim, rabosai. So nachamo, mitaklalkeit, that definitely there was some gezeirah that korbanos won't work for them. No matter which dor that comes from, Eli, there is no korbanos that will be mechaper the avon, and they're going to get this gezeiras kalah, that they do not have long life. The pasuk, as well as we know in the halachah, there's got to be teshuvah. There's got to be something that works. There's no such thing as ein alu dales shel teshuvah. So the diyuk of the pasuk, as well as the yesod in halachah, is, aber mit eppes ya, there is a way to break through and do teshuvah. The metzudas explains it's only korbanos, not of a mitzvah. That's how he explains the pasuk. Now let's see what the Gemara does in Rosh Hashanah, Rosh Hashanah daf yud ches. Zogt the heilige Gemara, Amar Rava, b'zeh v'achlu b'minchah eino miskaper, aval miskaper b'Teirah. Hear, rabosai. You're right, with a korban nisht, aber zitzn lernen, dos vet helfen. Many times, like I mentioned, even an aveirah that you can't do teshuvah, aber Torah works. Zogt the Gemara by Bnei Eli. Abaye amar—Abaye argues on Rava and he says, nein, b'zeh v'achlu minchah eino miskaper, aval miskaper b'Teirah uv'gemilus chasadim. Teirah mit gemilus chasadim. And the Gemara brings a maiseh. Rava and Abaye, interestingly, were from Bnei Eli. It's interesting. Yedel man zog Teirah, s'tzegeit. People are oisek in choshen mishpat, if you notice, they must be having a fight over a neighbor with a house. I'm kidding, rabosai. All I'm trying to tell you is it's interesting, Abaye and Rava are arguing about this Gemara, Bnei Eli, yeah? And the Gemara says it was negea to them. Why? Because Rava v'Abaye mi'devei Eli ka asu. Rava d'asik b'Teirah, haya arba chaya arba yeshnin. He lived, what? Forty years. Abaye, d'osak b'Teirah uv'gemilus chasadim, chaya shitin shnin, he lived sixty years. So for one, the Torah helped him to forty, and for the other, the Torah helped him to what? To sixty. So what's halacha l'maaseh? Do we pasken like Rabba or Abaye? Zogt der Chofetz Chaim, and avas chesed. I made a mistake, because you see, I do it from memory, so I said Rava; it's a mistake. The machlokes was Rab and Abaye, and the raya was from Rabin Abaye. Correct. I stand corrected, rabosai. Rabin Abaye, one lived to forty, the other one lived to sixty. Who do we pasken like, zogt der Chofetz Chaim and avas chesed? You see clearly, min haShamayim, מען פסק'נט ווי Abaye, because miba'al, Abaye lived to sixty. It's a raya, mit Torah, mit middas chasadim, you could lengthen the life. Azoi zogt der heilige Chofetz Chaim. A kasha, rabosai. Rabba didn't do gemilus chasadim. Es tut זיך a cheshbon. He was a shlechter mensch. What does it mean? Apelteke zach. What do we say?

עס מגמילות חסדים. וי קען מען נישט זיין עוסק בגמילות חסדים? It's one of the mitzvos haTorah. Un efsher kamen klaren. Good, he's middle of learning, and the gemilas chasadim came up, and was he supposed to stop learning? So that's a good halachic she'eilah. Mitzvah she'efsher la'asos al yedei acheirim. There's a rule: don't stop learning. And if it's not efsher la'asos al yedei acheirim, do stop learning. So what happened here? Ada Rabbe's gerecht, ada Abaye's gerecht. I mean, there's halachos about this. If it's the wrong thing, you're not going to live long because of it. So let's discuss this. One second. First of all, let me begin by telling you, so nishmain kashya, okay? The Chofetz Chaim alein, in Ahavas Chesed over there, asked this kashya. That's his kashya. If it's a mitzvah that I have to stop for, so then Abaye was right and Rava doesn't deserve anything for doing it. I mean, it's a chapelah, right? And ela mai, it's something that you're not supposed to stop, so what's Abaye—what's tzu tzachopte? So the Chofetz Chaim says a pshat like this, a chiddush nifla. Zogt der heilige Chofetz Chaim, you know, when certain gedolei olam, when they get involved in a chesed, only they could do it, because then people will follow them. You ever see the big tzedakah organizations, like BuildaLach, the gedolim, they did this and they went here and they put tzedakah there, right? Now, the truth is it's efsher li asos al yedei acheirim, technically. Someone else could go and run and speak, right? Someone else could do it, but not the way they do it, right? So, the Chafetz Chaim, that's the shakla v'tarya. Rabbeinu's getainit, someone else could do. I have to go and get involved in this ma'aseh chesed? Un Abaye claimed, but if I do it, the way I do it, it's going to cause more people to be involved in the chesed, m'meila I stop for it. That's the heilige Chafetz Chaim. I will tell you another pshat in Abaye, which I think is interesting. Maybe you alluded to it, Mr. Chacham, maybe you alluded to it. Efsher kemitzagin, a pshat is this: osek, the word eisek. What does the word eisek mean? You know, eisek could mean that even when you learn, where is your chesed? In the learning itself too. You know, there's a rule called, v'seiras chesed al leshena. What does that mean? Teirah alein. Ke miton chesed mitoirah. How much chesed you could do with the Teirah alein. The lashon of the Gemara is not that he was osek in chesed. Abaye, d'osek b'Teirah uv'gemilus chasadim. Together, Teirah uv'gemilus chasadim could mean that a person uses his Teirah. Und durch der Torah to the chesed, helfen a tzveiter lernen. Zei Torah. This is called Torahs chesed. There's a different type of a Torah. Some people learn Torah, vazich. And then other people want that alles zol lernen Torah, helfen yedem zol lernen Torah. That's called Torahs chesed, Torah gemilus chasadim. Some people sacrifice in order that it shouldn't be ich zol kenen lernen, az yener zol oich kenen lernen. This is Torahs chesed al ha'sheinah. I would like to give you a little more, only because time constraint, different pshatim in the Rishonim, based on Chazalim, in what the klala actually was. There's an interesting Yerushalmi. The Yerushalmi says in Pei Beis, Halacha Hei, it's not miskaper b'zevach uv'minchah, aval miskaper b... So the Metzudas says, b'teshuvah. The Gemara seems to say either b'Torah, either b'Torah uv'gemilus chasadim. The Yerushalmi says aval miskaper...

Machlokes Bavli and Yerushalmi. In Bavli, it states that the kaparah is going to come from, ad teira, ad teira, u'gemilus chasadim, based on which shita Abaye v'Rabba—we pasken obviously like the Chofetz Chaim says, like Abaye. The Yerushalmi says, miskaper, yelaveh kaparah through tefillah. What does it mean, a kaparah? No? It's interesting. That's the kashya. Epes likta. The korban nisht, aber the tefillah, yeah. Un the gantze tefillah, rabbeisai, is what? Geboyt on, on the korban. Good, good. Rabbeisai, loma ich zog in pshat, and I apologize that I'm being mekatzer today. I need to relieve literally five minutes. That's why you're not getting the whole background for every teretz I just said, but there is one. Okay. You know, every teshuvah has and has to come with Torah, tefillah, and gemilus chasadim. Teshuvah. And if you look at the Rambam's mitzvah, that a person who did chato'im should learn more Torah, he should be oisek in chesed. All meforash in Rambam's in Hilchos Teshuvah. Marbeh kefi kochoisav b'teshuvah. That's why in Hilchos Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, the Rambam says you should be marbeh tzedakah, you should give more tzedakah. What does it have to do with teshuva? What does tzedakah have to do with teshuva? Now, if you come and tell me it has to do with im yechupar, that it's kaparah, that a person gives tzedakah, he gets a kaparah. Okay, I hear that. But how is it a din in Hilchos Teshuva? A beisai, zog di, nu, zog. How? It's klar in the Rambam. Yeah, more Torah, you give more tzedakah. You notice the mitzvahs never said more Torah, more gemilus chasadim. It's not mechaper b'zevach u'vaminchah, but what's it mechaper? B'teshuvah. And here we all of a sudden have different pshatim. What is the teshuvah? It's not a kaparah because of the Torah. It's not a kaparah because of the tefillah. It's how to do teshuvah. The teshuvah will not come b'zevach u'vaminchah, but you need to do teshuvah. And what is the way to do teshuvah? B'Torah, b'gemilus chasadim. And the reverse is also true. Torah, gemilus chasadim, and tefillah brings to teshuvah. It's the same thing. And this is, I want to talk to the oilam about for one minute, if you don't mind. What is aveiros? It's richuk meHaKadosh Baruch Hu. That's what it is. The more we get fatumlt mit aveiros, the more rachok we are from the Rabbeinu Shalom, and we don't even realize it. As it slopes down and away from the Rabbeinu Shlelem, vat vaiter un vaiter, un mefashteyt afilu it. You know, in these three weeks, we talk about the churban, and we talk about the galus. It's very far from everyone's understanding what galus really is. Yisomim hayinu v'ein av. I always think to myself, chai, what does it mean, yisomim hayinu v'ein av? A yosom, vat nish kein tate. What is it? Pashut pshat: yisomim hayinu v'ein av. Yeah, a yosom doesn't have a father. So every year I say a different pshat. Those that are with me for years already know this, but I would tell you a different pshat this year. You know, a yosom lives with the memories of his father. A yosom, you know what keeps him going? The tatte tazaygen ton, un der tatte vet hoben nachas az der childas ton. What happens when there's no father? He never saw, he doesn't even know that there's a father. Yeah, tomerdiker vort. Thought about it.

Yisoymim hayeinu. A yasom davka fun a tate, ober az az nisht קיין yasom afilu fun a tate. There's a meredige pasuk: Aleila ani bechiyah einei, ki rachak mimeni menachem, meishiv nafshi. Hayu banai shemeimim, ki gavar oyev. Zogt der Alshich, pshat in the pasuk. You know what the biggest bechiyah in golus is, the biggest bechiyah of the churban is? Aleila ani bechiyah, eini eini yoredah mayim, ki rachak mimeni menachem, meishiv nafshi. It's not all the tzaros. Zogt der Alshich, it's not the tzaros. It's the menachem. Who's the menachem? So the Gemara in Sanhedrin says menachem is Moshiach. Most mefarshim learn menachem means we don't have Moshiach. Ki rachak mimeni, menachem meishiv nafshi. Menachem is the tachtonomen for Moshiach, says the Gemara in Sanhedrin. So that's Aleila ani bechiyah. Ober der Alshich says that's not what it's referring to. Zogt der Alshich, it's referring to the Rabbeinu Shel Olam. Menachem, we don't have—who to be menachem? We're rachok from the— That's the ikker churban of the churban habayis. Ki rachak mimeni, bin vayt from the Rabbeinu Shel Olam, menachem meishiv nafshi. Hayu banai shemeimim. My kinder zenen shomeim. You know what the word shomeim means? Fatumult, shmama. They're empty, lost. Why? Because they think he gavar oyev, that the ikar of the churban was that the oyev was gavar, ki gavar aleinu oyev. And it's not that. The real, real, real tzaar is, bastere Rabbeinu shleimim is nit mit uns. There's an interesting pasuk at the end of Eichah with a Gemara, and then I'll show you how it ties back to everything we just spoke. You'll understand what I want. Al zeh yoda velibeinu, al eileh chashchu eineinu, al har Tzion sheshamem, shualim hilchu bo. That's it. That's the whole tzaar of the galus. Shualim hilchu bo, al zeh hayah. For the ganze churban, the ganze... shualim hilchu bo. That's the... The Gemara says makom that even the Kohen Gadol couldn't go. Okay, but that's symbolic. That's the symbol from the galus, shualim hilchu bo. The Gemara zokt doch in Makos that there was a machlokes, Rabbi Akiva and his friends. Those were laughing and those were crying. And he said, Why are you laughing? Why are you crying? Kitzur, Rabbi Akiva saw shualim hilchu bo. He laughed, gelacht. Rabbi Akiva was lacht. Shteit, al zeh yoda velibeinu, al eileh chashchu eineinu. Vikens lachen? Good. It's a siman. Okay, the nevuah of Zechariah is going to happen. Got it. Aber l'maaseh, in pasuk shteit, al zeh yoda velibeinu, al eileh chashchu eineinu. I'll basically—let me tell you, pashut pshat. You know, shualim, the Maharsha says, you know when shualim come. When there's no Ritzpah, there's no floor. And a building that has no floor, shehu olim kamdim. How we makriv korbanos today, it's a very big shaila, why not? The Rambam clearly, makrivin af al pi she'ein Bayis bani. We should be makriv korbanos today, theoretical. Many sefarim, complete sefarim are written on this inyan. One of the reasons we don't be makriv korbanos is based on the Rambam that says you need Ritzpas haAzarah. In order to be makriv a korban, you need Ritzpas haAzarah. Al zeh yadavel libeinu, alei lechashku eineinu. What does chashku mean? Chashku means we became dark, our eyes. Vot naklaponim chashku ken makriv zain a korban, epes a kesher mit der Ribono Shel Olam in galus. Alei lechashku eineinu al artzin sheshamim shualim. The shualim was a siman that there was no more korbanos, the bittul of the korbanos. We cannot be makriv a korban because—

You don't have the ritzpah, and that was choshkah eineinu. It's not the golus. It's not the yissurim. Yidden are able to be sovel unbelievable yissurim. Sagt er, from the Ostrovtza, that by Shalosh Seudos once he was sitting, and at geveint. Hashem gefregt, Rebbe, vos veinst azoi? Sagt er, golus, the tzaarim from Klal Yisrael in golus. So he said, Aber Rebbe, du host אונז אויסגעלערנט, you taught us, az der Ribono Shel Olam doesn't give tzaares to a person unless he could survive it, unless he's able to handle it, unless he's able to cope with it. So what are you crying about? Vos veinstu? Az der Ribono Shel Olam git es, מסתמא me ken es oyshalten. Hot er geentfert, he answered, Yeah, but you don't know vifl Yidden can oyshalten. You don't know how much a Yid could be sovel. It's a lot. It's a lot. Yidden can be sovel unbelievable things, un lieb hobn dem Ribono Shel Olam. I want to tell you a maaseh. Last Friday night in my shul, somebody came over to me, b'tzkunim an alter alter Yid, and he says, ... and he rolls up his sleeve. He shows me the numbers on his arm. No, that doesn't take much to get me to cry. I couldn't see it. He looks at me, he goes, I want to show you something. And he starts showing me on his hand the numbers. This and this is gematria Yud-Kei-Vav-Kei. This is gematria Hashem Echad. Numbers in the Yiddish, Brinstein. I'm looking and I'm thinking to myself, ס'דאך א פלא. A bench ken nemen the numbers on his arm, and then the Ribono Shel Olam's gadlus, the Ribono Shel Olam's Hashem Echad. I couldn't take it all in. It took me a whole Shabbos to think. What the dos is a Yid. Yidden are capable of tremendous things, with libam in the Ribono Shel Olam. It's a dovor shepela to me. The eintige zach vos a Yid ken nish oyshalten, whether or not he knows it, is when he's rachok from the Ribono Shel Olam. Today, with psychology, with dos. Let me tell you, the psychology of the goyim does not work on the Yidn, because what the goy is missing has nothing to do with what the Yid is missing. It has no shaychus. It has, farstel, goy daf hoben. There's oylam hazeh they can problem in it. The Yid, what makes him unhappy is rachok from the Ribono Shel Olam. Ki rachak mimeni menachem meishiv nafshi. The only thing that's meishiv nefesh of a Yid is the Rabbeinu Shleilam. That's all it is. You could run and you could try, and you could try to look for all different eitzes and solutions. You're running in circles. It's not going to work. Ki rachak mimeni, hu, the Rabbeinu Shleilam menachem meishiv nafshi. A korban. What is a korban? Korban means to be karov laKadosh Baruch Hu. The kaparah, the tikkun, is to זיין נענטער to the Rabbeinu Shleilam. What is the teshuvah? The teshuvah is mitoch midos chasadim. This is all teshuvah. Teshuvah means to return back peshutai to Rabbeinu Shleilam. They had korbanos and they abused it. Mitkahat korbanos and they abused it. So the korban now doesn't work. Ein keteig na'aseh sanegor. The korban didn't bring you close to the Rabbeinu Shleilam. What brings the person back is teshuvah, tefillah, gemilus chasadim. Im yechupar avon...

Vorts de ovn, de rachok. Kares habayis, and this I'll end with. You know what kares is? Kares hanefesh. The nefesh. Bnei Yisrael had a tremendous kares, so to speak. What is their kares? The Rabbeinu Shalom said the neshama is not mekushar with the Rabbeinu Shalom. That is kares. That's what kares is. Dal kaparah is through teshuvah, through tefillah, through tzedakah. Habayis in the three weeks, it's very important to go down to the basics. The basics: Rabbeinu Shalom, when menutak from you. Think and to be mechaven on ways to learn Torah, to attach yourself to the Rabbeinu Shalom. And das is menachem meishiv nafshi. Of the tata, tachton, ve'ein av, yechabya tatan him. Yechabya tatan him. And even if the tata is not here now, because the Beis Hamikdash is not here, af yechab the tata. The tata is there. And das darf men arbeten in avodah mit a reichach. You've just experienced another Torah class, brought to you by TorahAnytime.com.