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0:21 [clears throat] Okay. >> Can anybody hear me? Can can anybody hear the mic? >> Mic's good. Thank you. Um, welcome everybody and thank you so much for coming. Um, it's uh it's a true honor and privilege to host Rabbi Sclair um in in our show. Uh, we've been working on this for a long time and I'm overjoyed 0:56 that that it's finally coming um together tonight. Um, besides for the honor of having my wife marry me, the second greatest honor I have in my life is that I've been friends with Rabbi friends in Karus with Rabbi Sclair for close to 14 years. Um, I uh uh his uh his again his friendship, 1:19 his mentorship, he's a rebby to me and uh I adore our relationship and um it's an honor to be able to introduce you uh Rabbi Sclair. So I'll make it really quick. Rabbi Sclair is Rash Colola in Magicher in Baltimore, Maryland. He lectures in numerous local institutions including witz the women's institute of Torah seminary in Masora uh communities across the US and online. 1:41 He receives sman PhD from inmut from Israel binical college. Rabbi's refreshing ability to bring Torah to life and through exploration and creativity has attracted a diverse and beloved following from renowned Tom to just to those just beginning their Torah learning journey. He's the author of the bra a breaking I'm sorry breathtaking panorama a sweeping thematic approach to 2:04 rhyme now in its second printing and I know we're going into Russashana but it's a great book to read uh regardless of the of the season so uh with that um it was my honor to introduce Robert Sclair you can come up and join Turn it up. Turn it up. 2:33 >> Is a very loud voice. >> Huh? >> He's a very loud voice. >> We don't struggle in that department. >> That's good. >> Okay. Here's all too far. Good, good evening everyone. 2:55 I can only reciprocate you DD Hayaker, my good friend Jacob's warmth. Jacob and Julie are friends for a very long time. And I'll tell you the truth as I look around. Really, all of you, there are so many friends in the crowd. We've interacted so many of us in so many different ways. I'll tell you the truth, this time of year, it's a 3:19 it's a sobering time of year. We're all here a limited time. And I often times think we're here a short time. I want to interact with people who will make my life an elevating experience, not kala, the alternative. And when I look at this crowd, these are people who these are people and relationships which I find enriching. May we all continue to learn 3:41 and grow together. Hashem, the subject of tonight's shar is one very close to my heart. It's one which in varying forms I've lectured about around the country because it speaks to an area of very great confusion which people have this time of year, the time of judgment. 4:09 We tremble, right? We might not be the shakers. We might not be the Quakers, right? But if there is any time where we have those associations, the yamora and the suggestion that as with all of Yiddish kite, this is an ava, this is a love opportunity as well, sounds surprising to many and many make an intuitive assumption that if you 4:34 want to make the days of judgment, the days of all loving, you have to engage in apologetics or not believe Hashem's judgment is 100% for real. And I want to suggest the exact opposite. I want to assert the exact opposite. The digger we deep, the digger, the deeper we dig, 4:56 the the deeper we dig, the more we engage in an intimate relationship with a text, turning it over, kneading it over, creatively developing, the more it will become apparent how the den and Hashem's judgment is fully congruent with the entire concept of 5:22 love. Let me begin with the concept of Aino Malcano, our father, our king. And I want to express a very elementary concept. This is kind of hashkafa 101. 5:47 The greatest conception we could have about the sources say is to the loving one. Like take love as you've experienced it in your life. I hope you've had loving figures in your formative experience. If not, there's still hope as is Hashem. But the more in formative years we experience love, the more we give love to young 6:11 people in their formative years, the easier this is going to be. They'll be a step ahead. the easier this is going to be to conceptualize. Right? So take love as you know it and think of that on a divine level. That is our highest conception of Hashem and everything else which happens including the judgment meet. 6:33 It's discipline, right? It's discipline. It's Hashem's means of making for a greater love, making for a more beautiful experience of connection with him. And we all know this as parents. Again, this is very elementary, right? The Torah tells us Hashem chastises us the way a parent disciplines a child. 6:56 A very simple concept. Many of us are parents, grandparents. Are we here to discipline our children? Is there is that is that a an agenda per se? I wake up in the morning, I'm going to discipline my daughter today. I never woke up that way. I'm here to love my child. I'm here to nurture my child because I am here to love you. Because I am here to nurture you. I am going to 7:20 discipline you to the degree that will help. Right? Because I want I'm not here to win a popularity contest. If I was here to win a popularity contest, I would not discipline you. But because it's not about a popularity contest. I'm here because I love you. I want to open up a future to you and a meaningful rich experience. Right? That is why I discipline you. I direct you. But always from a position of love. Right? That's 7:43 the very basis of nurturing parenthood and that's and this very basic truth came alive to me one day when I was probing some very esoteric cabalistic sources discussing the concept of the spheros the divine attributes and these sources speak about how hasham's highest attributes 8:11 relate to love the highest of the spheros which is the realm of the divine will. Hashem's highest will casser is love. The next of the spheros which is associ associated with fatherhood with parenthood. In the highest divine places we have love we have parenthood 8:34 and then the lowest of the spheros is called malus. And it became very apparent to me through probing these sources that malus Hashem's role as a king is an executive function. You know that term which has become very popular today, executive functioning. Well, the cabalistic sources explain malus, hashem's kingship, that lowest of the spheres. 8:58 That's how Hashem sees through his loving project. Yeah. I mean, think about it. In this life, in this great journey of love, right? We all have a lot of very exciting loving things to do to get the job done. We need to be disciplined, right? Have an organized day, have a scheduled day, right? We all know unfortunately so many people with a lot 9:23 of creative potential, but they don't have executive functioning. I pick up on that word executive, which is the word meling things in a right, your executive functioning reigns all those other stuff in all the creative energies, right? I want you to think about that child in the classroom. That child who interrupts, that child who calls out and in unsophisticated quarters, they 9:45 believe that child is unruly. Right? But we've come to understand in child development. No, no, no. That child brings a lot to the table. They're just very excited. They have energies, they have brains, they have heart, right? They don't have executive functioning developed yet to rein that in and show executive malos, that word executive to rein it in. And now is not the time to talk. Right? 10:08 But it's very clear the executive functioning which is reigning oneself in so then they can have a more loving positive experience. That's the way it is with whenever we talk about Hashem as king. I'm going to say now I'm going to make an assertion now which seems simple but at the same time audacious. 10:30 Melik is never the ultimate association we have with Hashem. It's the bottom sphere. It's the means. It's the executive functioning. The highest association we have with the divine is love. It's fatherhood. Kesser lovema parent. 10:51 And therefore I assert when we say Aino Malcu and think about the many Aino volcano we're going to say we're going to recite that many many times in the weeks ahead. I want to suggest when people think Aino balanced by volcano as though Hashem yeah you have two faces to you that's such an ava that's horrible the true 11:17 read of a malco I have ran this by some real cabalistic authorities a veno volcano actually is a conjunction you are a venu you are my loving father and therefore you are going to be on top of nurturing me as Malcano to see it through and you're not going to let me 11:41 slack off so easily. You know there's an expression which has gained currency in some social quarters. I'm going to speak sensitively because the subject matter but when we deal with the issue of discrimination and various ethnicities and demographics that feel discriminated against and that whole 12:04 issue which has been so overwhelmed American consciousness for the last 60 70 years well there's a new expression which developed which called the discrimination of basement level expectations. 12:21 Those who say, "Oh, we're going to be very nice to certain groups. Yeah, we're going to give them a lot of freebies cuz we don't really believe they have what it takes to succeed. You and your group, you're you are just not capable of having the resilience of putting yourself together to see to see yourself through and be a mench. So, we're just right." And 12:44 some members of the discriminate group say, "No, we don't want to be baby. You think I'm a baby? Right. That right. Hashem refuses to discriminate against us with such basement level expectations. I meet us at dinner. My actions have consequences and he scrutinizes my behavior and everything which happens on Russashana. It's Malcano to advance OA. 13:09 I would like to bring out this idea really with a citation from the great Rahutner and he has an entire essay in Rashashana about how Hashem's judgment is all about loving discipline and it's all about love and there in all of one line he quotes a very interesting puss and 13:37 this I have in source number Who? Amos. Amos is one of the Naveim and the Trey. Amos. You see paragimal. Read with me carefully. I want you to read this P with a sensitive ear. Perimo P base. 13:52 Hashem says to to the Jewish people, I only know you Jewish people. We have a special relationship here. Yodati, which means intimacy. I know you. I have intimacy with you. I only know you Jewish people. You're mine. 14:13 Therefore, because you and I have a relationship, that is why I'm going to scrutinize your sins, Jewish people. I'm stricter towards you. Yeah. when a Jew violates when we do as people are not true to this Torah we were given right we suffer wor worse retribution 14:42 than any other people you know why it's not because we are more distant from Hashem but the contrary right I am close to you right I know you you're mine that's why I scrutinize your aes it is a provocative ironic puss I screw scrutinize you more 15:05 because I love you. And Rafund says this puss is what Rashashana is all about. He's scrutinizing us more because he loves us more. Those who is less invested in. 15:23 Okay. Right. Okay. I'll take it easy on you. I won't give you the hard coach stuff. I'm not investing in the big leagues. Right? If you're investing in a single A player, he's not going to get much beyond single A, you know, okay, go easy going on him, right? 15:44 And I'll tell you why I am exhilarated. I mean, this is a revelation. This P R Hutner simply quotes this PK. But whenever you have a great thinker who quotes a verse, they're really directing you to do more creative work yourself. 16:04 I want to study this verse with you in its fullness and its context and you will see why it is such a poignant Russashana verse. For starters, the words the final words of this P I am going to scrutinize your sins, Jewish people, because I love you. The term here fode 16:32 does that ring a bell in anyone's mind? Pika well on rashashana morning. What is the laning going to be the first day? Hashem s hashem remembered sor that was on rashash shana sorrow was a barren woman and the entire notion that hashem remembers those who feel forgotten. No one feels more forgotten, more abandoned than a mother who yearns to have a child. And really in a very deep way 16:57 when we think on rash about life and the gift of life and a woman who feels that she's been denied from birthing life, right? It's a very very powerful thing that sorrow was remembered to bring life on Rashashan. You notice the expression is the garra explains is a synonym with zikar remembrance and 17:22 therefore if hashem if hashem's remembering it must be yhikaron it must be rashashana which is called the day of remembrance. So the garra is telling us that pad equals rashashana. So I'm going to take the garra one step further. The gar saying hashem in that context is a synonym for rashashana. I think we have every license to do the same thing 17:45 with this pen. I'm going to remember your sins integrated within the gar. I mentioned that's rashashana. It's so clear. Rutner does not say this but I think this is what I call the worlds below the words of rautner when he cites this p rashana. 18:03 He's scrutinizing our sins. He's remembering our sins. You know what? That's where that's from this verse. Because I love you. And let's pull this strand, right? Expand the thread, right? A few more inches. 18:28 Let's scroll down here in Amos Paragiml to Pekk V. Look at the Nyamos here says chauffeur. If a chauffeur is blown, doesn't everyone quake? Well, hold on. What do you think? That's a reference to a chauffeur blowing and people quaking, shaking, trembling. I mean, this puss is 18:58 brimming with the [clears throat] spirit of rashana. People are shackling. People are listening to a chauffeur trembling. And that puss is being said in this context which is talking about Hashem disciplines us because he loves us. 19:13 So brought all together from an expansive integrated development of this narrative almost parakeim. What that means is every Yiddisha attitude we associate with Russia, the sense of our actions being scrutinized, the intensity, the chauffeur, that entire aura is true, 19:44 is authentic, but all from a place of love. I want yen Jews to continue to quake and shake. Yo is real are real. The yorama are real. There's a judgment and there's a truth. There are hard truths about life and selfanalysis and everything rashana 20:08 is. It's all true. But there's one game changer. It's all true from a place of love. I cannot I am not going to even try to express to you my dis discomfort as an understatement. my really my it's very very tragic individuals who call me and a woman reached out to me by 20:36 email to New Jersey last week and spoke about how she approaches the Yamu Ram with a a spiteful perspective and I really wanted to say I don't really believe in your god either your god is a tyrant and I wouldn't like him very much myself but but this is this is real or from this narrative when we develop of it 20:59 holistically. All of the trembling, all of the judgments, all from a place of love. Hashem, you love me too much to let me drift through life. You're going to see me through here, and that's why you're taking my life so seriously. 21:20 Life is a joy. Life is a big party. The end of days will be a big party of divine bliss. The sudasa we're going to get to the party and it's going to be all the more rich and enjoyable because the game is serious. 21:38 But never over the course of the game should we think that because the coach is looking me up and down, that means that this enterprise called life is really one of a god with a wagging finger. Those who think on the other side the first question, the first statement of Hashem is going to be, "Were you a good boy? 22:03 Were you a good girl?" Right? Were you a good boy? Were you a good girl? is that's a means to enable then we could then the real thing could happen then the love the intimacy the debate then it could all come together and I'm going to bring this out really source number three which I quoted here very cabalistic source in the tuni zar 22:26 which talks about how in this world life is tough life is you know it's a big job to live this life right but then we push through and on the other side. It's beautiful. It's and fascinatingly these two aspects of the Jewish experience, the working very hard. 22:50 Hashem doesn't let us off the hook on one hand, but ultimately it's all about love. The tikuni zah associates with the two matriarchs and it says rael is rau is from the revealed word. That's the revealed world as we know it where life is tough and the life of Raal Mayo and her children is certainly a 23:13 testament to this right her husband snatched away from her on day one a struggle to bear children ultimately buried for dark and cold on the road to Bah right foreshadowing the story of her children and their goss that's roughly me that's the revealed world as we know it a tough place but 23:36 says the zawa are the tonies are Leia Desia. Leia is from the h the hidden world. Leia is the Jewish experience in that hidden place that in the end it's all beautiful. And we're going to see in the end that no one saw it coming. 23:51 Right? The wonderful reality of being a Jew, of being alive, no one saw it coming. And according to my interpretation, the Tikon Zar is saying just like Leia, right? Leia was a reject from day one. 24:07 Let's face it, Leia was less than pretty physically. Leia did not have a great prognosis. Yeah. Right. Her It did not say in her yearbook that her future is with [clears throat] the quarterback and so on and so she was she was headed in the ASV right in the Ace of Correct. 24:27 And somehow someway she made it to Yakov and she mothers most of the It's her. It's her. It's the reject. It's the ugly. That is in the end there are going to be beautiful Yeshua which no one saw coming and lea and the benl the benoa are seen as these two dimensions of the Jewish experience the ben rael ra's 24:49 prime firstborn firstborn son yoseph and msiach ben yoseph the melik of gullis yoseph is a king of mine and gullis his descendant through Ephim Messiach ben yoseph he's going to fight the battles of Israel He's going to fight the enemies of Israel. That's the Jewish experience of fighting. It's very very hard on me to set mothers 25:13 the final meal. That whole world was going to be very very beautiful. And even though you and I are living the Raul reality today, the notion that Raul is turning to life, the great fights of Mashiach Ben Yosef and fighting the good fight, it's really to pivot to a more beautiful place. That's a gamecher. 25:37 See, I believe deeply that most people and most Jews are not afraid of good light. I was just speaking to at a bar mitzvah where shabas and I told the bar mitzvah boy I said I'm going to tell you what I shouldn't your life is not going to be a bowl of cherries so I've never met the person who's is 26:02 but I told him that I hope your family's I know your family's imbuing you with love sufficiently that you will have the resilience to fight the good fight you see when we have a reservoir of love we could fight the good fight and we can embrace life with all of with stuff the big job with all of its vicitudes right when it's from a place of love we really 26:26 could deal with just about anything right as the Gmorra says when a husband and a wife in the context of Sha Payas when we're in love we can lay together in the blade of a sword when there's love you could deal with anything you could really face face anything there right so long as we know we're pivoted in the Leia direction we could deal with our raal reality and we could deal with the d of rashashana And I find relevant here yet another 26:51 statement of Zahar which I quote in number four. This Zahar again I'm interpreting as many of the Sparum the Tanya and other sarum do. It talks about two expressions of love which means a lot of love abundance of love right a lot a lot a lot of brooming love. The summer of love. Oh, right. 27:15 Ribbit. Aar. And then there's another expression called aasola. A love which lasts. Well, the zor explains a lot of love where it's just love all over the place. The zor that's a rare occurrence. 27:32 Sometimes it's the zor calls a matana. Sometimes hashem sends a gift that you just feel a lot of love. That's not the everyday because usually day in day out aasolum means as I called it here hard work. If you work hard, you get up in the morning, you dive and you plug into a deep place, right? You're working on 27:55 your midos, reigning in your ego, being more selfless towards others, you work hard, that will evoke in you a feeling of divine love. It's a very powerful expression, I find, because we all want to be showered with overt love day in day out, but that's not life. 28:17 Aaraba is great. Those moments of inspiration are great. But it's not life. Aasol is a very powerful expression. Aasol, the love which comes with hard work. Ola means it's what lasts. What lasts. 28:35 When we feel love because we're engaged in personal work, personal development, it's hard. It's sometimes not exciting, but it's what lasts. And that's what the dinner of Rashashana is all about. 28:56 Hashem's love is a love of resilience. Hashem, you and I, each of us could say, every better, we're engaged in a long-term project here of connection, right? 29:12 In a certain sense, this is the truism of male to- male female relationship, right? When infatuation wears off and and the romance is very very important. It's the catalyst. That's abar, right? And throughout life those that candle of course needs to be rekindled. 29:29 But but but day in day out, it's the dedication, it's the work, the statement. The three most important words are not I love you. Rather I was wrong. So I see it differently. I see it I love you is a I was wrong is a solo. 29:51 When a spouse says I was wrong and does the most beautiful thing on the planet which is he him or her lose the fight or be wrong because when you're wrong you both win and we're long we're both happier. Right? It's it's a in the moment it's an investigure but it's an investigure in the most important is 30:15 that less loving it's more loving. It's investing in a longer term product of us all. Right? So I see I was wrong in that sense as the counterpart of I love you. 30:33 Well, how do I know this is all Russash? So I want to so let's develop this a bit. Does anyone here have any associations with these two expressions abaraba and abasolum? Is anyone familiar with those two expressions? Would someone like to take a stab at it? 30:52 Yity, my good friend. We learned together in the morning yet is a member of my morning call. I'll >> you say both. You say both, right? >> And you have a but like you were raised with in good old Baltimore. You say aa when >> when 31:19 >> is in the morning you're right is a bit different but let's talk now a lot of love right that's the preceding the more >> good Good at night on the other hand what do you say and here are the same 31:48 this is based on whether you could use the sitter for a second I think you'll see very poignantly playing out in the center to me this is clear the morning the sun is shining the birds are chirping right that represents things are great right then we say abi feel the love at night when things are dark and time I'll take 32:12 questions afterwards when things are dark it's one of those days in a certain sense it's the everyday the love is still very much present the night it's abas that's when there's I feel very wrong I was wrong right that's like a rash perspective right think about these we're going to be saying a lot of I was wrong 32:37 but it's throughout this season. But but it's this love in the harshness which is just as loving. Hashem, we're building something. Olam, we're building something eternal. You hear in that word Olam? 32:54 Well, look at this. I want to show you something amazing. If you turn your source sheets to source number 10, source number 10, which is a rather [clears throat] lengthy narrative I quoted from Yer Yermy Yahu, this is the Ha Torah of the second day of Rashashan, right? This is the famous Ha Torah which concludes with the words 33:22 Hab and Yakim, the song, right? It's a very rashesque. Now, you'll see something amazing. Y you're my friend and I know you do not I know you're not shy you never have been shy long as I've known you so would you mind reading the pusk for us this is the second pk we're going to read in the second day rashana I always try to choose a student who I know is not shy 33:49 10 year mel so this is rash the of the second day go ahead No, I was I was not even going to start here, but because you see he read it. I'm going to Right. What this pusk is saying is hashem I found I found this nation favor to this nation in the midbar of a nation of survivors. This is the this is a struggling Jewish people, right? 34:22 people who are survivors. Continues psay go ahead yet and I will translate. >> Stop right there. Hashem is appearing to me from a distance. It's not summer of love. He's from a distance. Right. People have survived. 34:40 What does it then say? Go ahead. Stop right there. Aasol. I love you eternally. This is the only time the expression abasol appears in all of Tanakh. Abasol. This expression which we traced in the Zohar is about the love when the going gets rough is in the ha tora of rashashana when it talks about a surviving Jewish people. 35:05 I'm dear a people who's who really is a people who've we fought the good fight throughout the scholus. It's in this context a and that is rash. 35:19 That is what the ynam are all about. And I'll show you just in the just to just just to show you, you know, when we learn texts, when we learn texts from Tanakh in a creative fashion with a with a certain revelatory excitement, okay, I'm here to have a good time. Okay, I'm here to have a good time in a meaningful way. And this is 35:51 one of the most meaningful ways to have a good time. I want to revel in every time you every time you see a textual p like this is exciting. Like this is like um I feel often times like a bug under a rock when you pull out the rock and that ant sees the never saw the sun before like when I when I run a textual I see like all the textual clues like it's right there like that this is like a world is opening up right I want to show you Yity I'm going to continue with you 36:14 I ain't done with you yet would you read for me here in number 10 parac yo paraclamadol would you read for me puk yud and I want you to weigh in have someone else to weigh in. If these words are familiar, Hashem has redeemed Yakov, the Jewish people, and saved Yakov from those stronger than him. Are those words 36:45 familiar to anyone here? Why do we say those words? >> Good. And God say, "But hold on yet." You remember we saw that this narrative which is all about how Hashem loves us even when the going gets rough, even when it's dark. Even when I'm not feeling the love, how that was woven into this narrative here. 37:18 It's the mar of abolum. Here we see yet another mar of creeping into this crea of rashash. In other words, if you really want to look at it this way, crema at night is sandwiched between two sukim from the ka of rash. Right? 37:40 every night begins with it's prefaced by it concludes with it's telling us we we relate to Hashem at night the rash way do you appreciate it's it's not just a it's not just a a loose technical thing no when verses are being interwoven in the cohesive 38:05 tapestry of the is speaking to us when I when a yid says shama night and I want you to think of everything that our votes yen who said shama night you know yen who said shama night my great-grandmother was gassed in shbanka I've often times thought what were those final seconds like in the gas chamber I've seen various accounts of survivors of gas chambers 38:29 I can only imagine there was a shama right they knew what was happening at that stage and you know right at that stage shama on this night and we need not be so melodramatic. We all have our shama at night. 38:46 Shama at night is sandwiched with aim from the rashashana. The going gets roughed but we encounter hashem a hashem of aaraba at night and onashan. 39:06 So I would therefore like to suggest returning to my original Aino volcano formula. You remember I we came to discover Aino Malcano. You're my father. You love me and therefore volcano and therefore you're reigning it in and you're scrutinizing me, right? Executive functioning. 39:29 If you would have to pick a Yantiff, which is the Yantiff of Avid, I would give you one vote. one vote the y of a the when we feel like hashem's child there there can be many right answers but what would the group suggest a y which is the yiff of parents and children what would you say 39:50 pes no pes parents and children right even Jews of relatively limited Jewish experience right unfortunately some millennials in my life it's so troubling how little they know Many of them are familiar pes and children that which they know. Well, it's parents and children in the human sphere. But the 40:14 parents and children of visa be hashem because what did hashem declare in Mosha's very first mission to par along with let my people go you know what he says not simply let my people go shali right as mishi said let my child go the Jewish people are my firstborn let my not simply let my nation go which 40:39 is another verse but let my child go. The Jewish people are my firstborn child. And you know what he says in the vernacular? This is not very nice but very powerful. You know before the world was such a PC place. Ara my good friend of Ara back in the day when you were a kid what would your dad say if someone would 41:03 dare start up with one of you? >> There you go. Right. That that that was when it was not very politically correct. You dare lay a finger on my child, I'll knock out yours. It's not very politically correct. You know, that's what Hashem obstensively says in pyro. The Jewish people are my Bakar. 41:23 Start up with my Bakar pyro. I'm going to knock out your Bakar. Right? Those were the good old days when that's a protector, right? You stand up for your child and you ask questions later. In that arena, protecting children is a cause which is of paramount importance in my mind. Protecting children I have a good story about that. We'll leave it for the end if the group is interested. 41:49 Pes is the yup about parents and children. We feel Hashem's our father. He redeems us. He takes care of us. But the Jewish people were wallowing slaves spiritually dysfunctional. You're my child. I'm I'm got this one, buddy. I got this one. I got this one little guy. Rashashana is the day of Malca. 42:12 What's very interesting is so then Pes and Rashashana which the two respective beginnings of the year, right? Rashash is of course the beginning of the year. Rashash, but from a Jewish perspective, the first month is of course what Pes is the beginning, right? The talk about how Rashashana and Pes are the two respective beginnings of the year. If you think about it and this another very 42:36 exciting revelation in my judgment the pesak rashashana nexus tissan is really the conjunction and the cleavage of a mal. It is the symmetry between pes and rashash is the two beginnings of the year which teach us au and ab and 43:00 are really one. They are two different faces. When I hug my daughter and when I say I have something to talk about and you know what follows. These are two faces of the same loving parent and therefore I want to show you something amazing. 43:20 Yetsy, would you do the honors for me again? H very good. When when you tell Yity, can you jump? He says, "How high?" So bear with me. 43:48 It's a little of a long pity. Would you read for us? This is of the second day. the redeemed Jewish people. We're going to be crying. We're going to be Yeah. Go ahead. >> Hashem says, "You're going to be crying, but I'm going to bring you to a safe place." How does he finish off? 44:27 You won't stumble on anymore. Followed by the words and listen to what Yzi reads now. >> I am the Jewish people's father. Ephim, which as we mentioned before, Ephim Yoseph, that is the raal, that branch of that's the struggling Jewish people. You are my bakar. 44:55 The only other time the the the the symmetrical expression the Jewish people are myar appeared where we said where else does this expression appear? You're my child you're my firstborn. Here on the ka of rashashana fry you are my bakar. 45:19 Why learning tax sacred tax history in an integrative fashion on Russ we have an evocative echo of pes for all of the volcano we're thinking back to right of this is the other place in where it speaks about there is as though a cut and paste from 45:42 toash you know why because hashem is telling a fry hashem is telling the ble the ben those who struggled in this life those who lived the Hashem is saying don't forget this for a moment I love you pes is true all the love when we're in the trenches here when it's the 46:05 aasola mode of this passage don't think I forgot about loving you I'm the same loving father I was Rajashana and Pes and this is part of a much larger shear which to do justice to I believe for another occasion we should get together as Hashem but the Rashashana Pesak Nexus or cleavage is all about the Aino Malcu becoming one 46:38 and that is why Rashashana Malcano is really just the means of the Aino. As I once heard a father tell his daughter, right? 46:58 I love you. That's why I'm disciplining you. I love you. Please don't make me prove it. Right? If the gun gets rough and you're in danger, I'm going to prove it, right? 47:20 You know, but if it doesn't hit rock bottom, right, I respect you. I'm disciplining you. That's the mount in Nexus with Aenu. And you will see many other clues. 47:36 I will conclude with one last one in the interest of time management and then open the floor for questions. Share with you one other clue that on rashashana the day of judgment the day of divine keship au the pesak perspective is really lurking in the background. Not only the expression bakar which we 47:58 traced in the ka of Rashashana along with the aas but what is one of the most famous about rashash shana we say this in the mak throughout rashash shana so if you turn to your source sheet to number seven famous right think of the kazan Suburban has been famous for its melodious. I'm sure the here says this 48:31 with a nice baritone right blow aer in this month. What does that mean? According to Rashi, this means blow the chauffeur when the moon is covered. the holiday when the moon is covered. 48:56 Rashashana is the only holiday on Ro Kesh when the moon is not visible. Right? So rashashana is defined as the time that the moon is covered and obscured. The moon is obscured. That defines rashashana. 49:12 Why is it so significant? The moon is obscured. It's clearly significant. In fact, I'll tell you something interesting. The Shabas is the Shabas before Tish, right? Shabasim this week. No, that I I can't say do they have a Shabas because I think they have a K here every week, right? But Shabas Yeah. Right. You know the whole ceremony on Shabas, 49:38 right? Misho, right? The whole thing. Is that going to happen this week? No. Shabasim. We do not bench the kesh and one of the reasons the pice can say is because because of this the new moon has to be hidden when it comes to 50:00 question is why what's this business about concealing it's ro kesh today for crying out loud and yet the entire drama is but the moon is covered well ro kesh ro kesh marks which event in Jewish history when was ro kesh taught the Jewish people marked the redemption of the Jewish people marks just as the moon which waines will 50:31 wax again the Jewish people and all their suffering their gullus will wax again and so on all of that wonderful redemptive stuff Rosh kesh marks redemption the irony is Roshashan is the only holiday on Rosh kesh It's the day when the rejuvenation of the Jewish people and all the Pes associations, I'm going to redeem you. 50:54 They're all present. They're just hidden. You know why? I'm going to share you a semicon. Semi-confession in your life. In your life as a child, in your life as a parent, is there one parent who's the discipline disciplinarian and one parent who's kind of the softy? 51:23 Everyone tells me yes. And children know how to play this game so well. It's the art of the deal, of course. And you don't need Steven Wickoff. You you you right. You play off the soft. They master this so so quickly. Okay. Well, eventually the the parent who's the softy has to kind of man up and often times 51:47 it's the man. By the way, believe it or not, this is a by the way true in Capabola. Believe it or not, men are mit generally, right? Fascinating discussion why that is. That's for another year, right? Women generally have the pragmatism and the strength to see a disciplinary process through. Again, every rule has an exception. I I don't want to generalize generally not in the area of gender you can't generalize but 52:11 in cabalistic model very often this is true and he has to literally man up man up to discipline his child and man up because otherwise his wife is going to say you need to do some of the disciplining you'll excuse me right so if he knows what's good for him he has to man up and discipline but he's a real softy so what does he need to learn to do he has to learn to suppress this 52:34 and When Sunny Boy comes home and this softy, it's the man up and discipline. I'm over dramatizing, of course, right? Does he really want to be disciplining right now? I love you. I'm here for you. And this actually going to be very, very unpleasant. I just want to have a good time with you, but I have to do this because I'm invested in you. I care more about you than winning the 52:59 popularity contest, as we said. So, he has to kind of suppress. He can't even smirk. See, believe it or not, that this might sound a little infantile. Some guys have a lot of trouble at this. Don't you smirk, right? Sunny boy is suddenly going to see right through you if you smirk. So, you got to at least play the discipline game, right? Okay. 53:21 I love you. Things are great. There's just something I have to do. Right. So, you hide the love. You hide. You hide the Aarabi. You hide the Aino. now that you're playing the volcano game but it's really there it's just you hide it right that's how I see 53:43 on rashashana pes becomes hidden it's really present it's the day of roes it's the day marked by pes and the love in the parent child it's just concealed and final we'll share with you my delight by revelatory thought. A final delicious realization which in 54:09 contains the laws of how we sanctify the moon which all the laws of sanctifying the moon is which you ever thought about that in the Torah is introduced when with pes Right. Okay. It is on the day of kesh. 54:37 But why is the Mishna deviating from the but don't you see there's something splendid going on here? I believe when Hanasi drafted the missionary he was in on this game here. He was saying the new moon redemption pes that really is what rash is all about. 55:01 It's just the text needs to hide it. It's only over and pes. But the mission to which is the realm of Jewish thinking and Jewish development when we tease deep deeply beyond the surface realm, we come to see that Pes and Rashashana a love you versus I was wrong. 55:31 All of these modalities of Vinu Malcanu, they're really all one of the same. You know, we did a lot of good textual work tonight. A lot of good textual work work tonight. And I want to I will I would like us all to be proud of the work we did. I'll tell you the truth. I I will share something with you. 55:57 Barashem Israel has many great mytori many many great presenters each one brings something else to the table right I have been asked by many people and many communities why don't you do the fluffy thing with us like everyone else and I tell them this is not my mission my mission in life is to do something a little more substantive I believe in the refined pallet which 56:23 has a little more of a sophisticated sense than candy but albeit a child likes candy better than steak. Right? We did good textual work. This is a mature group. This is a spiritually sophisticated group. Right? When you go do good textual work, a much more sophisticated spiritual inspiration than the fluffy stuff. 56:45 But ultimately beyond all the good sophisticated work, what do I really want everyone to walk away with? I want everyone to be proud of the judgment process, the to return to that original citation of the amos from auterm says I love you. I know you Jewish people, you're mine. 57:15 We're like this Jewish people, you and I. That's why I scrutinize your sins because I love you. Right? We're here to grow together. We're here to invest in something. I want everyone to approach Russashana that way. It's serious. It's real. 57:35 God forbid to anyone think of a divine tyrant. I even, you know, I I I don't even want to even mow those anathema words which I've heard way too often, including in this correspondence a few days ago. 57:56 What I want to be proud of this, proud of this. The Jewish experience is the most beautiful, the most wonderful, not despite its intensity and severity. You know, we are the religion of love. 58:13 You all know what I'm referring to. And I'm not here to castate any other faith. I want us to be I want the Jewish people to be proud of their faith. You all know the misunderstanding what love means. That love means God forgives all your sins or someone else dies on your behalf. What that really means is you're a baby, right? You're a baby. You need someone to bail you out. Right? So love 58:37 means you can't do it. You just can't make it. And that that's the Newman misunderstanding. Very fine people, including people whom I have very wonderful relationships with, subscribe to. That's not love. It is, but that's demeaning love. That's what I refer to as the social scientists refer to as the 59:00 discrimination of basement level expectations. Our concept of love is because we have rash. I'm a big boy. You're a big girl. Hashem values you. Hashem's going to see us through an audous process of growth. But we're going to all see it's beautiful one day. That's a mature love. I want everyone to be proud of we are the 59:22 religion of love, but of mature love, not of a babying infantile love. May we all be z to feel this and experience this during the yam and the entire year on maintain and briefly I would like to open up the floor for questions but before I do so I want to again reiterate thank you suburban orthodox thank you Jacob for enabling thank you 59:47 my abson with his graceful ease makes it seem like it's nothing who arranged this entire this really the entire recording and the likes so many friends and intimates who are here tonight and I will tell you what I mentioned to Rabbi Sber in a private conversation barash I am associated with many segments of the community here something 1:00:11 which I'm very proud of okay you want to get a sense here when I am I will give she one night it in the most kydi community of Baltimore olim and then in the most lumi community. Okay, because in Baltimore that's what we have here in B. 1:00:33 Okay, that's a Baltimore phenomenon, right? I said Rabbi Silver, I am connected as he knows to all segments and we are going to miss you, right? But you built something beautiful which is going to continue to be lash with and is going to be na now on a broader scale than what this space represents. That's 1:00:56 certainly my my vision, my dream. Our best our best days our best days as a clus are ahead of Hashem. And let's be proud. Let's be proud the whole year. May we all continue to learn and grow together. Thank you very much. And I'm going to open the floor for questions for a few minutes if anyone you know if anyone has something more extensive or something more private in nature. We touched on something here which is a 1:01:20 very personal subject. We certainly can, you know, discuss this in the right setting. Are there any immediate questions which some or comments which anyone has? >> Yes, Bab. >> Volcano an either or or it has to be both. >> In light of my share, what do you think? 1:01:37 And let me let me I'm going to turn the Yeah, go ahead. >> It sounds like both, but you know, but in life, you don't always get let's say the example of the hashbah totally. Most of us get it lopsided. At least you know in my upbringing Latino and the volcano are not they don't sit on the same on the same plateau whatever the reason you know we all are brought up in 1:02:00 different ways holocaust sur whatever it may be but there's always a seessaw here you know extremes so can you exist with one being stronger than the other if you have to >> I love your comment I love your com you know That was a very revealing comment when 1:02:22 you said a venu right the loveydove the disciplinarian like are they and you said well we don't always experience both because sometimes we have parents who have a lot of baggage like Holocaust survivor parents wasn't that a very revealing comment that Rabra made and I have found I've dialogued about this subject with many different people from many different backgrounds men women people on 1:02:47 different places in the religious spectrum and I have found the issue that adult figures in our formative years are wonderful people but they're people really figures into this whole issue. Yes, all of us as mortal human beings were wonderful parents but we're humans. 1:03:09 So of course it's going to be lopsided. It's going to be that seessaw right? But Hashem Hashem is not lopsided. Hashem is not that seesaw, right? So the the perfect parent without baggage doesn't exist in the human sphere. And if I may make a personal statement of acknowledgement, my own mother who is a stellar parent, anyone who's na from my degree Torah 1:03:33 has to thank she who experienced quite a few white hairs to make this to be right. But all of our parents are ultimately humans, right? But we spiral higher to that parent who doesn't have baggage. And he does the love and discipline thing very very well. So yes, there is total synchronicity. There is no lopsidedness 1:03:56 in the Aino volcano as I understand it. Any additional questions or comments? Your name is >> Le. >> Leave. Go ahead. >> Thank you so much. >> My pleasure. Can you remind me just what the source of the words? 1:04:17 I know that you mentioned but the source in here where it was in the sources of so if you turn on my source sheet to number four I am summarizing a statement in the zohar the way I summarized it here is avara equals matana gift the feeling of abundance of love like everything's just going great I just I feel the love that's a gift we sometimes 1:04:44 get that but ava the love that last that's all that's that's what comes through hard work if you want to see probably the most expansive treatment of this I mentioned in the brackets the Tanya parak gimmel he has about two gimmal he has a wonderful rather deep intellectual treatment classic Tanya style on this subject but that's the idea here yes >> and those are also connected with the 1:05:09 Russell and Leia paradigm that's part of the same kind of Yes, very much so. If we want to do this justice, we're going to have to study Rahul Ala more. I look forward to the opportunity to do this, but yes, very much so. Is there a final question or comment in the crowd or the group? Yes. And your name is 1:05:35 >> How are you? >> My pleasure. So correct me if I'm wrong, but should we be thinking about individual or community tragic events as part of but he does it with so much love and change. 1:06:02 So is it correct? So very much so meaning to cite the words of the PK that I mentioned before when Hashem says when Moshe says really on behalf of Hashem Hashem disciplines us the way a parent disciplines a child right and that's kind of as I said before when the parent is wearing the volcano right occupying the volcano space when 1:06:33 the going gets rough right apparently we need this to Bro, I mean you could just imagine and there are sources especially that talk about this. You know we think of Jewish pain and Jewish personal suffering. We all know suffering. 1:06:50 How do you think Kivyah Hasham feels kivyah? He wants me to thrive as much as I want to thrive even more than I want to thrive. He wants you to th right it hurts him so much but he knows we need this. 1:07:06 And we we never have to understand per se the how. And we don't have to play God. We really don't have to play God. The simple knowledge of loving Aenu is in the volcano space doing something we need to grow. 1:07:21 This might sound simplistic. I have found that's really all people need. Really all people need. Less explanation of tragic events and more just the power of the faith. this from a place of love really gives us all we need all we need to function. 1:07:39 Um again the ability to face down struggle to stay firm fa you know in terms of faith and religion to be a healthy person a lot of it has to do with upbringing and so on or personal resilience and really building up that font of feeling loved. The more one feels loved, was brought up with love and build builds that reservoir in oneself, the more when one faces down 1:08:02 that stuff, we could accept this is something beautiful to grow from. Whether I could make sense of the pieces or not, it's really again this is very simple. This ashkuffle 101 but this is the powerful truth which we're all living now you know on this on this you know during this small sliver the 78 maybe 120 years but this relatively small sliver of our of our journey of our mortal journey here when you know 1:08:25 we're going through this phase of growth that's really what it's all
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