Ki Heim Chayeinu: Torah as Life Itself and the Legacy We Give Our Children

Transcript

This Torah class is brought to you by TorahAnytime.com. Just past. It's important to take away from the Yontif and to keep the yesoidus of the Yontif, that should continue. Yom Tovim, you get so much from a Yontif. Got to work on, in English they say, keeping the Yontif alive, zol nachgein mit uns, it should go with us. So I'd like to bring out a nekudah that we should take from the Yontif, because it's every day we need to be mesayer this inyan that Shavuos gives us, it stands for. And that is, Ki heim chayeinu v'orech yameinu. A person is mischazek, mesayer Shavuos, avada, beautiful. But rabosai, what Shavuos zogt uns, what Shavuos tells us, we must know and chazer, to repeat, it should be clear by us, because it's the yesod of Yiddishkeit, it's the yesod of a Yid. Torah, Torah, Torah, Torah, Torah. And that Torah is Ki heim chayeinu. To a Yid, that's life. Nothing else, nothing else in this world is life. Ki heim, Torah and kiyum hamitzvos is the life of a Yid. I'd like to discuss ki heim chayeinu a little bit. We all know Teisis's kasha. Teisis asks, why did we need kofa aleihem har kegigis, that the Ribono Shel Olam should uproot the mountain and threaten us, sham tehei kevuraschem, that if you don't accept the Torah, this is your burial, this is your death. And avada we all know the diyuk, it's famous, on say poi, on say here, it says sham. It said poi, poi yehei kevuraschem. Here, the mountain is here now. And of course the Teretz, as he speaks about, I'm sure others have spoken about it as well, sham means in the future generations as well. Wherever it may be, in whatever time period of history, that we lack Kabbalas haTorah, we lack the naaseh v'nishma, sham, there, at that time, that period of history will be tehei kevuraschem. But Teisis's question is, but we accepted the Torah. We said naaseh v'nishma. So why do we have to be forced? If you don't accept it, if we don't, I said yes. Okay, I said yes. No one in case... Yeah, I said yes. So the Torah says that the Rabbeinu Shalom was afraid that we would renege on our commitment of naaseh v'nishma from fear, from the eish hagedolah, the fire. And I always translate what fire? For the Torah, we were put into fires for many years. We were burnt at the stake for learning Torah and keeping Torah. The eish hagedolah doesn't only mean the eish hagedolah of Matan Torah. There's oshan kuloi, but eish hagedolah means throughout the doros, the same shom through the doros there will be eish gedolah. Yidden will have to learn Torah through flames. So shom tekfuraschem, the Rabbeinu's sheleimah had to force us. The Maharal in Tiferes Yisrael...

Says a different pshat. The reason why we needed to be forced, sagt the Maharal, because Torah, a Yid must understand, is not just because I want, but I must. Torah has to be hechrech, like air, breathing. If you don't have it, you're not going to live. If you don't have it, you're not going to live. So in order for us to really be mekabel as Yidden Torah, dafim farshtein, we have to understand that Torah is not I want, but Torah is I must. It's life. It's ki heim chayeinu v'orech yameinu. So together with the Kabbalah of Naaseh v'Nishma, we still need it, kof aleihem har kegigis. And he doesn't speak this out, the Maharal, but this is what he means of sham tehei kevuraschem. Like we explained, that without Torah, a Yid lebt nisht. We're not alive. This is our death. So together with the Kabbalah, you still need it, kof aleihem har kegigis. There was a shaila that bothered me for many years. I mentioned this in the past, all the halachos. And minhagim that we have by a chuppah, by a chasunah, is taken from Kabbalas HaTorah. Azoi zogt der Maram Rutenberg, Tashbatz, Rishonim, they talk that all the minhagim. Where is the chuppah? It's the kaf aleihem har kegigis. I don't understand. The kaf aleihem har kegigis, sham tehei kevuraschem. You want to go to a aza chasunah? In English we call it a shotgun wedding. This is what it's called. Am I right about that? I'm not very, you know, I'm not so worldly, but I try to make believe a little bit that I can speak English, mit a bissel this, mit a bissel that. I think that's what it's called, right? It is called. Everybody's shaking their heads. It looks like everybody identifies with the concept of a shotgun wedding. Okay, got it. Aber lecheira, rabosai, how could we borrow from Matan Torah? The chuppah, which is kaf aleihem har kegigis, chasdei Hashem, the chuppah was kaf aleihem, and with a sham tehei kevuraschem. Imagine, Mishnei tonte the chuppah, and the father sits there and he tells the chassan, Hazak, tzu. Either you accept, or if not, pulling the whole place down. Sham tehei kevuraschem. That's what. So I'd like to share with you a Meshech Chochmah, which the Meshech Chochmah gives me a little bit more to understand the kaf aleihem har kegigis, which gives me a little more to understand why we use the kaf aleihem har kegigis. As a chuppah by a chasan. Zogt der heilige Meshech Chochmah in hakdamah to Shemos, says, Klal Yisroel, Torah, bechirah. You need bechirah. Torah needs choice. If you don't have bechirah, then you're no different than an animal. An animal has no bechirah. It's muzai mit bechirah. And since by Ma'amad Har Sinai, we saw so much, we were so moved. You look at Shir HaShirim, so much ahavah, there was so much, we lost our bechirah. Yeah. Sometimes, when you see it's so gevaldik and it's so true and it's so beautiful, and so many other adjectives, trust me, ilufinu malei shirah kayam, we would never finish the adjectives of how beautiful the Torah is. Just look at hakdamos, you'll understand the beauty of Torah. Beauty. Sheinkeit fun Torah.

We had to. Zogt the Meshech Chochmah, that was the kaf aleihem har kegigis. It wasn't that the Ribbono Shel Olam actually took the mountain and said, I'm going to kill you. No, chas v'shalom. Kafi forced us. I read you the Meshech Chochmah. Says, ... Meshech Chochmah. ... בהירה בלי עירוב דמיון וגשם כלל, עד כי הוכרחו כמלאכים, שמוכרחים מצד שכלם. על זה נאמר, כפה עליהם הר כגיגית, שהיו מוכרחים מצד שכלם והשגתם. ... Emeileh what? Zogt the Meshech Chochmah in continuing, after Matan Torah, the Ribbono Shel Olam said, Shuvu לכם לאוהליכם. You can't stand on the madreigah of Matan Torah because you need bechirah. So go back. Go back to your ohel. Go back to your life. The Gra says, interesting, ohel, the neshama, the guf. The guf is the ohel of the neshama. ... The olam's looking, Oh, he must be saying over from chiddushei Torah, which is also good, but that's not. It's a Meshech Chochmah, Rabosai. Shuvu לכם לאוהליכם, the ohel, the neshama. Go back to the ohel, which means your geshem, your physical, because you need—it shouldn't just be ruchni; it has to be geshem. It needs that it should be that the body... Gashmi, the person, also with his taivos and his ratzonos, because Torah needs bechirah. You can't just be on the lofty level of neshama alone, pachad, nishmasa mamish, ruchni, completely ruchni. You hear? I think with this, he can understand something very interesting. Tasha always bothered me: kaf aleihem har k'gigis. What is a gigis? A barrel. Why is it important that we should know that the har was like a barrel? Barrel? What is it? Take the har. You need an illustration of gigis? And I have another shaylah for you, they say. You think that's all that we're left with? Rashi goes further, and Rashi explains what a gigis is. What is a gigis? A gigis is a barrel that you put sheichar into it. It has to be a keg, and the keg has to be shenoisen boi sheichar. It's a shaylah. Now you ever thought about it? Take a mountain. Any child would understand, you have the mountain, and the mountain's on top, and it's— no, it's like a barrel. It's like a gigis, like a barrel. And the barrel is— so Rashi, you have to know what's in the barrel. The barrel, the sheichar inside. What's in the barrel? What's in the barrel? I want to tell you something mehevdik, and I think this is this meshichach. I see everyone smiling, Baruch Hashem. Tasa sheinah other, basically. Itch pashut pshat. You know, all your life you heard kaf aleim har kegigis. Ever think about what it means, the words? The pashut, the pashut. A barrel. Rashi: har kegigis shnoislo b'sheichor, put beer in it. It's convenient what you put in it. Pasuk in Shir HaShirim: Heviani haMelech el beis hayayin. Who took me el beis hayayin? The Melech. When did he take me el beis hayayin? You know when the Eibishter took us to beis hayayin? Zu Matan Torah, zogt the Medrash. It's Har Sinai. Matan Torah, Heviani, He took us el beis hayayin. There's another Medrash: yayin, Torah, yaina shel Torah. It's areivim. It's sweet. It's delicious. Torah, Torah is yaina shel Torah because it's yayin, it's masik, it's areiv alayhem. The goyim says, Yayin, what's the gematria? Seventy. There's yayin ponim laTorah.

So, meile teirah is yayin. Tell me, you ever walk into the store to buy schnapps, wine? So I had the complicated task of doing that before Yom Tov. Made a simcha shtickel, so I went. I was sent to buy. I came in there, I almost got lost. ... vodkas. I bought vodka, I bought vodka, I bought yene vodka, I bought vodka. I had no idea. I said, Could you help me out? There were seventy alei vodkas, no? They had the nice ... They took us to the ... Yayin, ponim laTorah, shakeinim ... ki tovim dodecha. Yayin, it's the ... shel Torah. Rav Ruderman, I once heard in Camp Agudah, he was walking with Rav Gifter. He was walking with Rav Gifter, and he said to Rav Gifter the following. He said that, I can't pass by a sefarim store. A zevi a shikker tonisht durchgehen a bar, ich tonisht durchgehen a sefarim store. That's it. Yeah. I told this over to Reb Eliezer. He enjoyed it so much, ... Yeah? Why? There's a beautiful ... Chaim. Chaim says, V'samachta b'chalatov, in the parsha of Bikurim, Devarim chavav yud aleph, V'samachta b'chalatov asher nasan lecha Hashem Elokecha, leveisecha, atah vaLevi, you should be happy with all the good. Says the ... Chaim, what's all the good? Merumaz in them is Torah. ... in os pei vav, Mishnagim, v'ein tov ella Torah. The ultimate tov is Torah. Shem hayu bnei adam margishim b'mesikus v'areivus tov haTorah, hayu mishta'agim. They would go crazy if they only tasted, if they were able to tap into the taste of the sweetness of the Torah. U'mislayehatim achareha. If I ask the ... ... what is the translation of mislayehat? Drawn. So he told me the following. He said, the ... ... ... ... addiction, addiction. Mislayehatim, addiction. ... is addicted to schnapps. Not schnapps beer, he said. In those days it was beer. Today it's more schnapps. Alcoholism, addiction. You know, if you go to the AA meetings, Hashem, hopefully nobody has to go, but those that go... They always have this need, is addiction with bechirah or without bechirah? When someone is addicted to something, you're smiling. Are you addicted means, do you have choice or you're mamish no choice? And they say, I think it's the only addiction that hakol modim, there's no question about it, that you don't have a choice. And how do I know this? That's this Meshech Chochmah. Meshech Chochmah says, hakaf aleihem har kegigis, there was no bechirah. And what was the kaf aleihem har kegigis? Because they were masig, was teirahs they had. And when Reb Eliyahu Shwei, zicher tzaddik livrachah, told me over this shtickel from Reb Aharon, I told him Rosh Yeshiva, in the nusach, az evi a shikker, addicted, az evi a shikker. Chovah maaseh fadir. Then in Kempaguder, Rav Ruderman said that he can't walk past the sefarim store. Az evi, az evi a shikker, toldish.

Addiction. It's such a nof from it. ... kof aleihem har kegigis. What's gigis? ... Gigis shel sheicha, ... shikur. ... kof aleihem har kegigis. The Rabbeinu Shalom showed them. Ah, s'gevaldik. ... It's an emes, Rabbeisai. It's addiction. ... Sheichor is something hamishtaker. The word sheichor always means not necessarily beer, per se. Davar hamishtaker is always called sheichor. It's a radical, also. Sheichor, the concept of shikrus. Davar hamishtaker, gigis. Kof aleihem har kegigis, Rabbeisai. This is what the hechrech was. You ever see, ... the size of a barrel today, Baruch Hashem. I saw such things today recently. ... the size of a ... Like, you ever see the fuel at the tank? If you want to fill up unleaded, ... diesel fuel. ... beer, schnapps. ... You can stick it into the mouth ... Yeah, but let's just go back one minute now to the chuppah. Tosan, the chuppah is the kaf aleihem har kegigis. So I ask you a kasha: is that a good thing? It's forced. The forcing is the ahav aleinu is the forcing. It's a different type of a forcing. The yesod from kaf aleihem, from chuppah, means, ... chovdei azei lib, Torah, chovdei azei lib. Mimeila, ich farshtei, azoi gut. I understand, I'm masig. So the chuppah is a whole different... the kaf aleihem har kegigis is a whole different idea. ... It's a good thing. It's a sign of tremendous ahavah. It's a beautiful vort from the Dubno. Heilige Dubno Maggid: Heviani ha-melech el beis hayayin. What is heviani? I went or he took me? He brought me. Heviani, he brought me, says the Dubno. He forced me. Heviani ha-melech el beis hayayin, kaf aleihem har kegigis, ... af al pi lo yahavah. Mimeila, nagilah v'nismechah bach. Even though you forced me, I'm so happy. I'm so happy. I'm so thrilled. What do you mean? But you forced me. You forced me and you threatened me. Gut, ... v'chadi libi. And I think, habei sai, the nasa v'nishma was on the kfiyah too. Klal Yisrael accepted Rabbeinu Shleilam, yes, force me more. I will. That's what I want. I accept the forcing too. Where did I get this from? I'll tell you. There's a Mishnah that for korbanos and gittin, when necessary, when the din is that you have to divorce or you have to bring a korban, it's a Mishnah in Erchin. Koifin oso ad sheyomar rotzeh ani. The Rambam, the famous Rambam in Hilchos Gerushin says that every Yid, he's maskim. Why? Even though he's being forced. Rambam, perek vav, halacha chaf: me'achar sherotzeh lihyos miYisrael, he wants. I's yelling and screaming, I don't want. Eh. The way I always learned it and heard it.

He's saying no. His mouth is saying no, but him, his neshama is saying yes. He could be saying and screaming no. That's his mouth talking. His neshama, his neshama is saying yes. Yes, yes, yes, I want, I want the karbon, I want it. This is the mitzvah, I want it. And l'maaseh, you're forcing him. Something's missing. L'maaseh, you are forcing him. Good, you like the kasha. You don't like the kasha. Acharonim talk about this question. At the end of the day, you're taking a—let's not talk about current events—but al kol panim, you're taking a bat and you're hitting him over the head. All right, check. Kasha for maaseh. You're doing it. What are you talking about? So I went in to Rav Shach, zecher tzaddik livrachah, many years ago, and I asked him, ... this is not a kasha. You like the kasha. Whether you hold, you hold it's good, because it's a yesoddike thing. A Yid wants to be forced. I heard from ... that it's not the pshat you're maskim to do the mitzvah, so all you need is to be forced to get to your ratzon pnimi. You're maskim on the forcing too. A Yid, he wants to be forced to do mitzvahs. ... as maskim of the kfiyah ... I heard from Rav Shach ... You know, everybody asked the kasha: on one hand, simcha, teirah, kabbalas haTorah; on the other hand, what was it? We were forced — roda, fear, pachad. So many sefarim talk about this, and I never really understood the kasha. Remember, Rav Gifter once said, a Yid has strange emotions. He's able at the same time to have gilui and roda. A goy can't. A goy has a ... He's in fear, he's in panic, or he's gilui, he's happy to the point that ... He doesn't go together, gilui and roda. A Yid. And he said, take a look. A Yid is able to make hatov hameitiv and Baruch Dayan HaEmes at the same moment — macht zwei brachos, yeah? It's a chassidishe. You know, Freud would have a hard time with this. You're talking about mamash a schizophrenia she'ein kamoihu — hatov hameitiv and Dayan HaEmes. It doesn't go together. I gift to you, a Yid has hergeshim which goyim don't have. Azoi flekt es. A beis ichvil zogn, nachashtik a leidah. It's not a stirah. The kfiyah. Because of the roiv ahavah, I want the kfiyah. That's good for what I want. That's exactly what I'm looking for. Heviani el beis hayayin. Ribono Shel Olam, chaviv azei, Torah, I love You so much. Torah, You're my life. You know, when they take a guy and he's not breathing, and the doctor's forcing the oxygen down his throat. What is he, does he hate the doctor? Or does he thank the doctor and pay him a big sum of money? Nu, yedalach, you're starting to chap what I want. Teiras heim chayeinu, ki heim chayeinu v'orech yameinu. This is our life. It's hechrech d'marah. Mimuz, you have this, like, air. So you're not appreciative, you're not happy. Okay, it's a good thing that the doctor is forcing the air down my throat. It's a good thing. It's the right thing. Ki heim chayeinu. Now, rabosai, I want to tell you a maiseh. You see, the oilam is already starting to doze off. It's already reaching that part of the shiur. And they're looking at the clock and saying, Huh? Supposed to finish soon. Okay. I grew up in a home with tremendous ahavas haTorah. My father was a dugma of hasmadah and ahavas haTorah. Many brothers, like all other bachurim, some, you know, had easier times in yeshiva, and some had, you know. And the only reason why I say it is because my brother, who has happened to repeat...

And he says it over, he's not ashamed of it, and he says it in shiurim in public, so it's no problem, I can repeat it. I had a brother that when you'd ask him which yeshivas he went to, he would ask you, You want to hear them in alphabetical order? Zay flikter anfer, yeah. Which means, Baruch Hashem made the rounds from yeshiva to yeshiva, almost weekly. Baruch Hashem. Okay, good. And he would say, until today you can go over to him and ask him, What kept you? You had a rough, rough terrain. He said, Abba, my father—we call our father Abba—sent me a letter to yeshiva, and he says, I know that you're probably very, very frustrated with me, how I ... I don't leave you alone, I don't stop bothering you, and I'm sure deep down you have resentment towards me. But let me explain to you something, my son. If a father would see a child drowning in an ocean, would you question the father's reaction, that he's frantic and he tries everything, and that he's pushing and shoving and kicking and screaming to help and save his son? You'd understand it. My kind, ... as if he died. You can't have tainas on me. You can't have tainas on me that I'm trying to save your life. My brother kept this letter all the years, and he shows it to people. ... ki heim chayeinu is not just— Just, mizaktes. Ki heim chayeinu is a metzius by a Yid, that that's life. And I'd like to borrow a few more moments of your time to explain oirech yameinu. Ki heim chayeinu, rabosai, shvuos. Take this with you. Shvuos is ki heim chayeinu. Take it with you daily. Work on it. And I want you to know that your children's hatzlacha in Torah depends on your showing ki heim chayeinu. Az m'zet pantatn ki heim chayeinu, then all the children will learn and live and follow by example, ki heim chayeinu v'oirech yameinu. It's all in the father's hanhaga and the father's gisha, his approach, the way he looks and views Torah. But what's oirech yameinu? I want to tell you something. You know, it's interesting. Matan Torah was pachad nishmasan. Why did we need pachad? Why did the neshama have to fly out? We died. Geshtorben. So there's a lot of pshatim, there's a lot of Torah, and it's not the right time now to go into it. But I like pashut pshat. A Yid on Torah is toit. He's not alive. And when the Ribono Shel Olam said, Anochi Hashem Elokecha, hechya, He revived us. It's a techiyas hameisim, rabosai. The Torah was techiyas hameisim. This is what we had to learn from Ma'amad Har Sinai, pachad nishmasan. You're not alive. You look like you're alive. You sound like you're alive, but not. A yid is not alive. The velt, yeah, aber du. It's pacha nishmasan, and then when Hashem said, Aneichi, chazra, it came back. You know, we say in Birchas HaTorah, after we learn the Torah, V'chayei olam nata b'socheinu. Chayei olam. What's chayei olam? What does it mean, chayei olam? What's that mean? I saw the Maharik Kra, it's a rishon. He says, Nata? Eitz chayim hi l'machazikim bah. Torah is the chabayim. It's a tree. It's the tree of life. Mimeila, nata. We use the lashon of netiya, planted. A tree? A tree is planted. It's a nice play on words, rabosai, what does it mean? You have a tree growing inside you? Vas vil men do? Zei is eina drush. Pshat rishon. Un s'pshat, we say this is Birchas HaTorah. What are you saying? What do you mean? I think the pshat is, rabosai, b'kitzur, I have a few mahalchim, but I'll tell you just the last one. Poneh Mishneh Rav said over in the Chofetz Chaim, a dovor shel peleh.

Something peladik. We all know that Torah is more than all mitzvahs. V'chol chaftzecha lo yishvu lach. Why? We could talk for an hour about this, but the Ponevezher Rav said over in the Chofetz Chaim, the reason is, and I quote, Lefi shekol mitzvah hi pe'ulah toivah. Every mitzvah is a pe'ulah toivah, and avada you get Olam Haba for it. Torah? It's not you're going to get Olam Haba for learning Torah. Torah alone is Olam Haba. That is Olam Haba. What do you think is going to happen in Olam Haba? You learn first seder, you learn second seder, that's it. That's Olam Haba. They asked the Alter Zeide, the Beis Aharon, what does he think about Olam Haba? He says, I'll tell you the emes. He said, If you ask me what my Olam Haba is, nothing different than I have in Olam Hazeh. My Gemara, my shtender, my notes, my sefarim, my... That's this Chofetz Chaim, I say, I read to you: Ach limud haTorah hu atzem Olam Haba. It is Olam Haba. And here he brings a raya which is unbelievable. The Gemara in Kesubos, we just learned it in Daf Yomi, those who follow the Daf Yomi, Kesubos kuf yud aleph, only lomdei Torah will get up for techiyas hameisim. It's a Gemara. A rasha won't get up for techiyas... Why not? Kol Yisrael yesh lahem chelek l'Olam Haba. Sagt der Chafetz Chaim, ... yeah? They'll get up? No. They'll get Gan Eden. But to get up, to live, leben in Gan Eden, that they're not going to have. Techiyas hameisim in Gan Eden will they not have. Chelek b'Gan Eden yekablu afilu hamaratzes. Avadeh the Eibishter will pay them back fully. Ach chayim lo yehei lahem b'techiyas hameisim, because Torah is chayim; you don't have it. Chas v'shalom. What are you going to do? V'chayei olam. You're living now. Okay, I'll throw out—correct me if I'm a ... on these inyanim, I'm very shvach. There's like zachar going back to the future or back to the past. How does it—give me a little bit, okay? So I want to teach you that Klal Yisroel, when they learn Torah, they're going into the future, bichlal. They're not—it's chayei olam, lepnei olam haba, bichlal. Not here. And I'll prove it to you. Do you know, we say, the Gemara tells us that there was a child who did kibud av va'em. He jumped on a tree, the tata and the gebet, he fell down and he died. Yeah? So they asked the question, it says, L'maan yarichun yamecha. What was the answer to the Gemara's teretz? Yarichun yamecha is not in this world, but what is it? ... says the pshat, Ki heim chayeinu u'orech yameinu. It's a different type of chayim. It's a different life. The chayeinu that we live is oirech yameinu chayim. It's a different life. It's the l'maan yarichun yamecha al ha'adamah, which is b'olam haba. The Chofetz Chaim is telling us a chiddush that the life with Torah is not here now. It's living a life of Olam Haba. Chaim, mir darf zach, that's ki heim chayeinu, but it's also the oirech yameinu. A story. Okay, that is a story. I want to tell you two other things that my father instilled in us. I remember my father was once learning. It was a difficult situation. So I asked him, I see you learning, and I noticed that every time—I mean, my father always was learning, but especially in difficult times, his...

You know, he said to me, he said to me, Here in Queens, the problem exists. We used to live in Queens, you know, here in Queens. Up in Nardarnpumpedisa, there's no problem. When I walk the streets of Nardarnpumpedisa, the problem isn't. I go back in time to Nardarnpumpedisa. Yid, his feet might be here, where is his pnim? He's worlds away. He could be in Bavel, or he could be in Olam Haba. He's not here. It was one Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, I saw my father was very misragish, and I asked him, What was he thinking about? I want to learn. He says, I told the Ribono Shel Olam that I'm ready to make a deal. To me, that my children learn Torah is the most important thing, and for me that's my life, not interested in anything else. He said, Ribono Shel Olam, how much more years I have to live? I'm ready to trade them in if You could guarantee me that my children will finish Shas. I heard this from my father on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. I'm ready to trade, I'm ready to go now, he says, tomorrow. Because to me, Torah is chayim, it's life. If not, there's no life. And I end with the following story, and I want you to hear, rabosai, take with you ki heim chayeinu. Let your children also see that you believe, and it's a metzius by you of ki heim chayeinu. My grandmother, alah hashalom, she had a massive heart attack. So she was more or less a coma. They used to do surgery for many hours. They tried to save her. My father sat with his tefillin, mamash for 30 hours straight. Didn't stop, tefillin straight through. Then the doctors came out and said, There's not much we can do. We tried this surgery and that surgery. The blood pressure is dropping. It's 20 minutes to petirah. My father closed his tefillin, and he opened up his red Gemara. My father used to walk around with a little red Gemara from the shas. He used to carry it with him wherever he went. Chassid is everywhere, his little red Gemara, famous, his little red Gemara. And he started to learn. So I told him, Abba, since you'll be avel, you can't learn. Are you trying to chapern the daf yomi? You shouldn't miss the next few blatt. So he said, No. He said, Till now, we had to have rachamim Shamayim to daven. That's what the avodah was. The Eibishter wanted we should daven to change the gezar din. Now that the gezar din is already, it's already looks like it's over, I want Bubby to go up to Shamayim with the zechus of my Torah. He said something so interesting. She's not dying. She's going with the zechus haTorah. She's going with the Torah. The chayei olam nata. You know what nata, rabosai, I believe is? Planted it deep b'seicheinu, from within us. Only a Yid has such hergesh. It's deep-rooted, deep and planted, with tznus, nata. It's eingeflanzt, that this is chayim and it's chayei olam. It's nata, so deep-rooted. Ask a goy to explain it to a goy, you'll never be able to explain it. There's no explanation to it. It's nata, planted it deep in the neshama, in the lev of a Yid. Ki heim chayeinu. Rabosai, shvuos, please, I'm asking. The cheesecake you'll forget, I guarantee you. And if you didn't forget about it, you'll have to work it off. Trust me, you're gonna have to work it off, rabosai, all right? It's gotta leave your system one way or the other. I see everyone's laughing. What, everyone's going to the treadmills today? What's going on? Okay, all right, gotcha. But the shvuos on Shavuos, we are off, rabosai. Ki heim chayeinu v'orech yameinu, vahem nehgeh yomam valaylah. You've just experienced another...

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