Podcasts about all jews

It's one thing to read about or watch news coverage about Israel, and another to experience it. In this episode with Neil in Israel we talk about a new Archeological find called "The Steps".  In the Torah there certain of God's Holidays (Holy Days) which require a "pilgrimage" toi Israel for ALL Jews.  Passover is of course one as is Shavuot (Also known as PENTECOST).   During these pilgrimages the visiting Jews would need to go to the Temple to give an offering and pray. Well there is much doubt that this even happened because NO evidence has ever been found that it was even possible for a very very large group of pilgrams to visit the temple in the required time.....UNTIL NOW!

Torah Class - Parshat Vayigash: What Motivates Mutual Responsibility? What does a loan guarantor have to do with loving our fellow Jews? And what really lies behind the expression "All Jews are responsible for one another?"

Today we see how France has fallen, how South Korea’s President faces Impeachment, how Ukraine will soon be lost to Russia and much more. We also take a closer look at Barry Wunsch’s new vision called “Dismantling the Establishment is at Hand”. 00:00 – Establishment is at Hand 13:18 – Ukraine is Lost 18:39 – Russia Warns United Nations 22:19 – All Jews must come Home 24:44 – No Means to shoot down Russia

Today we see how France has fallen, how South Korea’s President faces Impeachment, how Ukraine will soon be lost to Russia and much more. We also take a closer look at Barry Wunsch’s new vision called “Dismantling the Establishment is at Hand”. 00:00 – Establishment is at Hand 13:18 – Ukraine is Lost 18:39 – Russia Warns United Nations 22:19 – All Jews must come Home 24:44 – No Means to shoot down Russia

Our goal will be accomplished one drop at a time so as to never bring suspicion upon ourselves. This will also prevent them from seeing the changes as they occur.    Clips Played:  Why Israel was Created (youtube.com)    Why did over 2,000 Yemenite babies disappear in 1950s Israel? | Al Jazeera World Documentary – […] The post The Ringworm Children – Jewish Genocide for ALL JEWS except Ashkenazi.  USA funded Genocide same way it funded RWANDA.  Stealing Yemens children to populate.  The push to make Israel the right kind of Jewish State. appeared first on Psychopath In Your Life.

Watch the Sneak Peek of this Support Team Study, All Jews are Messianic, where Nehemia learns why Israeli newspaper columnist Elon Gilad insists the controversial title of this episode is true. I look forward to reading your comments! PODCAST VERSION: … Continue reading → The post Support Team Study SNEAK PEEK! All Jews are Messianic appeared first on Nehemia's Wall.

Question: If only those in the church are resurrected and taken to heaven at the Rapture, when do Old Testament saints get resurrected? If at the Rapture, then wouldn't they be in the church?Response: Before Christ's resurrection, the souls and spirits of Old Testament believers went upon death to “Abraham's bosom” (Lk 16:22-23), where Christ's soul and spirit went upon His death as did the believing thief crucified with Him: “To day shalt thou be with me in paradise” (Lk 23:43). When Christ ascended to heaven after His resurrection, He took these believers with Him.It cannot only be those who died in faith in Christ since His resurrection, but Old Testament believers as well, who are described as the “saints” who come back with Christ at the Second Coming to the Mount of Olives (Zec 14:4-5; Jude 14), “those who sleep in Jesus” (1 Thes 4:14) and “the dead in Christ” (v. 16) resurrected at the Rapture. If Abraham, who “rejoiced to see [Christ's] day” (Jn 8:56) and David and Isaiah, who foretold the Crucifixion and Resurrection, are not raised from the dead at the Rapture, they never will be resurrected.The only other mention of a resurrection of believers is of those who “were beheaded [by antichrist]…which had not worshiped the beast” (Rv 20:4), completing the “first resurrection” (Rv 20:5). Old Testament saints must therefore be resurrected at the Rapture, and are in the church.All Jews and Gentiles who believe in Christ before the Second Coming are in the church. Those who (whether Jews or Gentiles) only believe when they see Christ return at Armageddon will continue alive into the Millennium as the earthly people.

Bava Metzia 113 : Marc Chipkin : 2024-06-20 A lender or an agent of the court entering the borrower's house to take a collateral.Tthe need for two beds. All Jews are considered as princes.

התוכן עה"פ בתחילת פ' וישב "וישב יעקב" פרש"י "ביקש יעקב לישב בשלוה קפץ עליו רוגזו של יוסף". והנה מכיון שהקב"ה הבטיח ליעקב "היטב איטיב עמך" הנה בודאי התמלאה בקשתו בפועל. וכמובן מדברי רש"י עצמו, שהרי "רוגזו של יוסף" הי' י"א שנה לערך אחרי חזרת יעקב לארץ כנען, שבתקופה זו ישב בשלוה. ויתירה מזו: בחמישי דפ' וישב מסופר גם אודות הצלחתו של יוסף במצרים וכו' – התחלת ביטול רוגזו של יוסף, ובפרט עפ"י ביאור הצ"צ עה"פ "ויהי (יוסף) איש מצליח" שענין ההצלחה הוא כאשר השפע נמשך מלמעלה מסדר השתלשלות, בלי לעבור את סדר ההשתלשלות, שאז נמשך השפע למטה תיכף ומיד בלי עיכוב. וזהו"ע ד"יפוצו מעיינותיך חוצה", שהמעיינות עצמם מגיעים באופן ישר להחוצה – "הצלחה" בתורה. וההוראה: עפ"י מאחז"ל ש"כל ישראל נק' ע"ש יוסף" מובן שבכח כ"א להצליח בעבודה ד"יפוצו מעיינותיך חוצה", ובפרט שנשיא דורנו נק' "יוסף", ונמשכות ההצלחה והברכות למטה מטה בפועל, עד לגאולה אמיתית והשלימה.משיחת יום ה' פ' וישב, י"ט כסלו ה'תשמ"ח ל"הנחה פרטית" או התרגום ללה"ק של השיחה: https://thedailysicha.com/?date=06-12-2023 Synopsis On the pasuk at the beginning of Parashah Vayeshev, “and Yaakov dwelt” Rashi explains, “When Yaakov sought to dwell in tranquility, the trouble of Yosef sprang upon him”. Being that Hashem promised Yaakov that “I will surely do good with you,” we must say that this wish of Yaakov was fulfilled. We can understand this based on Rashi's explanation that the “trouble of Yosef” took place eleven years after Yaakov returned to the land of Canaan – during which he “dwelt in tranquility.” Moreover: the fifth aliyah of Vayeshev discusses Yosef's success in Egypt etc. – which marks the beginning of the nullification of the “trouble of Yosef”. Especially based on the Tzemach Tzedek's explanation on the verse “and he was a successful man” – that “success” is when Hashem's brachos comes down from above seder hishtalshelus, without passing through seder hishtalshelus, in which case they come down below directly without delay. And this is also the idea of “spreading the wellsprings to the outside” – that the wellsprings themselves come straight to the outside. The lesson is: Our Sages taught that “All Jews are called by the name Yosef”; thus it is understood that every Jew has the ability to succeed in the service of spreading the wellsprings to the outside, especially being that the name of the leader of our generation is Yosef. And all the success and brachos will come down below practically, to the point of the true and complete Redemption.Excerpt from sichah of Thursday, Parashas Vayeshev, 19 Kislev 5748 For a transcript in English of the Sicha: https://thedailysicha.com/?date=06-12-2023 לזכות הרב יעקב בן הינדא שי' צירקוס ליום ההולדת שלו כ"ג כסלולשנת ברכה והצלחה ואריכות ימים ושנים טובות

Dedicated in Honor of Jack Terzi There are hundreds of thousands of Jews in danger at this moment- Mothers who said goodbye to their children going to battle, not knowing if they will ever see them again. People being held hostage by the cruelest beings on the planet. Tens of thousands of people mourning the losses of their loved ones. Frantic parents continue to search for their children, and thousands of people are injured, many of whom are fighting for their lives. It is incumbent upon us to do whatever we can to help. Baruch Hashem, people from all over the world are sending supplies and food, and in most cases it's Pikuach Nefesh . People who are home-bound are literally out of food. Ashrechem Yisrael ! People are doing everything in their power to help those in need. Rabbi Menashe Reisman quoted from the Chatam Sofer in Parashat Baha'alotcha that the first Sedaka everyone has to perform is giving of their hearts to their fellow Jews. We have to be Noseh B'Ol Im Havero and feel the pain that our brothers are suffering. How can we enjoy ourselves with the regular pleasures of life when so many people are suffering? When it comes to things as simple as sitting in the car and listening to music, a person should say, How can I relax and enjoy myself when my brothers and sisters are worried about their very lives? Every moment of enjoyment and relaxation that we give up, to share in their pain, goes a very long way. Taking time out to go to tehilim gatherings and chizuk gatherings rather than going out for dinner, are wonderful things that show that we are sharing in their pain, aside from all of the zechuyot that they are bringing about. The Chatam Sofer writes in Bamidbar יא that although every person who experiences difficulties is supposed to accept them with love and happiness, everyone else around them is supposed to feel pain for them. And even if we see that the people suffering are accepting it with joy, we don't say, ‘ Baruch Hashem, they're accepting it, so everything is fine.' No! Everybody else's Avodah is to feel the pain that they should be experiencing. From the words of the Chatam Sofer, it sounds like the more others feel the pain, the easier it becomes on the ones going through the difficulty. If, Lo Alenu , a missile hit a certain area, a parent whose child is there will call to see if the child is okay. When the child answers the phone, the parent will breathe a sigh of relief. But the parent can't just go back to sit on the couch like before, because many others have been affected by that missile. Many whose lives will never be the same. The more our hearts feel for others, the less they will have to suffer. The pasuk says, when Hashem called to Moshe from the burning bush, He said, “ Moshe Moshe ,” andis there is no break between the first Moshe and the next one as there is when Hashem called to Avraham twice. The Midrash explains this with a mashal of a man who is carrying an extremely heavy load, and calls out to a friend walking by, to help him. When he calls him, he calls his name twice “ Yosef, Yosef, please! I need your help !” If the Midrash didn't use this mashal , we wouldn't be able to say it, but kal v'yachol, the nimshal is that Hashem was in such pain over the slavery of the Jewish people that He was calling to Moshe to help Him relieve some of the burden. When someone shares the pain, it takes away from the one experiencing it. Our family is hurting. It's up to us to remove some of their pain. This is a great form of Sedaka . B'Ezrat Hashem, if Hashem sees us uniting in such a deep way, it will arouse Him to bring the Geula . Let us all keep this upcoming Shabbat the best we ever did. And may the zechut of Shabbat stand for us and protect us. Shabbat Shalom. URGENT APPEAL From iTorah.com https://itorah.com/campaigns/ special "Kol Yisrael Arebim Zeh La'zeh" All Jews are responsible for one another. Please donate to and provide for your brothers and sisters in Israel who are suffering and need your help! Our campaign will be used to fund purchases of… • Providing 2,000 meals PER DAY to IDF Soldiers around the country • Sisiyot and Siddurim for the soldiers • Supplies for the displaced • Battle Gear for families for protection • Food & Necessities • Financial Aid to Families whose wage earners have been taken from work and deployed into battle.

URGENT APPEAL for ISRAEL from ITORAH.COM https://itorah.com/campaigns/ special We can not go about our days regularly while there's a war going on with our people. Those who do not normally attend Minyan should be attending Minyanim now. Those who do not normally learn Torah should be learning Torah now. Those who may be lax in certain areas of kashrut must be extra careful during these times. Rav Shach said to his yeshiva before an impending war that the only advice was for everyone to improve themselves, especially in the areas of Limud Torah, Kashrut and Shemirat Shabbat. Those who are learning already have to learn better . They have to use every minute of their learning time for learning and not talk about other things. Someone who has difficulty doing any particular mitzvah should say to himself, ‘ I must strengthen myself now and do that mitzvah to help the situation. I have to be strong and overcome my laziness and Yetzer Harah.' Someone once went to the Chafetz Chaim for a beracha and the Rabbi replied, “ You're better off asking Shabbat for Beracha because it is the true source of all blessing.” Rav Shach said keeping Shabbat properly will save us from war. This Shabbat, we all have the opportunity to keep it the best we ever did, and that includes utilizing the time for learning and spirituality. The pasuk in Parashat Ki Tese says, כִּי ה' אֱלוֹהֶיךָ מִתְהַלֵּךְ בְּקֶרֶב מַחֲנֶךָ לְהַצִּילְךָ וְלָתֵת אֹיְבֶיךָ לְפָנֶיךָ That Hashem will walk in the midst of our camp and save us from all of our enemies. וְהָיָ֥ה מַחֲנֶ֖יךָ קָד֑וֹשׁ וְלֹֽא־יִרְאֶ֤ה בְךָ֙ עֶרְוַ֣ת דָּבָ֔ר But first, our camp has to be holy and that comes about through dressing modestly. Anyone who has difficulty with this mitzvah can help bring about protection and salvation by accepting to do the mitzvah properly. And even if the person is not able to do it permanently, at least do it now . We have the greatest power of all- the One who created the world, the One who obliterated Mitzrayim , and the One who has defeated our enemies time and time again throughout the course of history. All we need to do is His will. The first thing we have to realize is that we have nothing other than Hashem. There is no army that can help us. There are no powerful countries that can help us. The pasuk says, אִם ה׳ לֹא־יִשְׁמׇר־עִ֝֗יר שָׁ֤וְא ׀ שָׁקַ֬ד שׁוֹמֵֽר If Hashem does not guard the city, then all the efforts of the guards will be in vain . We may have the best military personnel, the best strategies, the most sophisticated weapons and tanks, but if we don't have Hashem guarding, all of it is worthless. Chazal tell us, in the end of days, the days preceding Mashiach, we must come to the realization of אין לנו להשען אלא על אבינו שבשמים that we have nothing else to rely upon other than our Father in heaven. We could accomplish that right now, in our own minds. We need to work on ourselves not to feel confident in the powers of man, but rather to know that all of man's strengths only come from Hashem. Whatever He says goes. The armies will just be carrying out His will. If we really believe that, then we'll do our utmost to improve our deeds because that is what He wants. B'Ezrat Hashem , in that zechut , we should see the Geula Shelemah B'Karov, Amen! URGENT APPEAL From iTorah.com https://itorah.com/campaigns/ special "Kol Yisrael Arebim Zeh La'zeh" All Jews are responsible for one another. Please donate to and provide for your brothers and sisters in Israel who are suffering and need your help! Our campaign will be used to fund purchases of… • Providing 2,000 meals PER DAY to IDF Soldiers around the country • Sisiyot and Siddurim for the soldiers • Supplies for the displaced • Battle Gear for families for protection • Food & Necessities • Financial Aid to Families whose wage earners have been taken from work and deployed into battle.

URGENT APPEAL for ISRAEL from ITORAH.COM https://itorah.com/campaigns/special איכה ירדוף אחד אלף - How could it be that the enemy was able to kill so many of our people? Our hearts are breaking for all the families whose lives have been turned upside down. Our stomachs are churning, hearing about the atrocities that are taking place. We yearn for the day that Hashem will exact vengeance from our enemies. We yearn for the day when the Mashiach will stand upon the roof of the third Bet Hamikdash and tell us, הגיע זמן גאולתכם ואם אין אתם מאמינים ראו באורי שזרח עליכם “ The time for your redemption has come. And if you don't believe me, look at my light that I'm shining upon you.” At that moment, Hashem will shine the light of the Mashiach upon us and we will live in complete bliss and tranquility. Now we are experiencing the birth pangs of Mashiach. The Vilna Gaon asks why the Geula is compared to Ayelet Hashachar- the point of night closest to dawn. As the night progresses, it becomes darker and darker. And before dawn it becomes the darkest. That is also the way it is in child labor. The closer it becomes to the time of delivery, the harder the contractions become. When the contractions are almost unbearable, then the baby finally comes out. So too with Mashiach, when the pains become unbearable, as we are witnessing right now, we know the Geula is imminent. The world is not a free-for-all. Nobody can harm us unless it is the will of Hashem. Throughout history, the enemy was only able to infiltrate because of our shortcomings. When we do what's incumbent upon us, our enemies will have no power. One of the things we need to improve in is being unified with each other, to end the machloket , to make peace with everyone. Now is the perfect time. Everybody's hearts are a little softer. We all want good for each other. When the Jewish people are unified, we are untouchable. How beautiful it is to see the hundreds of thousands of Jews gathering across the world to say Tehilim , crying out to Hashem from the bottom of their hearts. When the Jews were in trouble during the days of Haman, Esther said to Mordechai, “ Go and gather all the Jews together.” Our power is in unity . And when we are unified in helping each other do the Ratzon Hashem , there is nothing greater than that. Call the person you haven't been speaking to and tell him, “ Let's make peace to help our brothers and sisters in Israel.” It is so beautiful when we look out for each other. Somebody told me his cousin was on the Gaza border fighting to protect us, and he was shot in the stomach. He had his own car there and ran to it to go get help. But before he got there, he saw a fellow soldier who was shot in the face. He stopped to help bring this soldier to his car. They managed to escape the scene and go to a hospital. Baruch Hashem, they are both alive and stable. The parents of the other soldier thought for sure their son died there on the border. They had no idea that he escaped. When they finally found him alive in a hospital and found out that this other soldier risked his life to save him, they cried tears of thanks and praised this soldier to no end. Am Yisrael Chai. We are a nation who cares about each other. Let us perform the ultimate display of care and make peace with our ‘ enemies ' for the sake of peace. And of course, let us improve in any way we can in our Avodat Hashem, and may we see the Geula B'Karov, Amen. URGENT APPEAL From iTorah.com https://itorah.com/campaigns/special "Kol Yisrael Arebim Zeh La'zeh" All Jews are responsible for one another. Please donate to and provide for your brothers and sisters in Israel who are suffering and need your help! Our campaign will be used to fund purchases of… • Providing 2,000 meals PER DAY to IDF Soldiers around the country • Sisiyot and Siddurim for the soldiers • Supplies for the displaced • Battle Gear for families for protection • Food & Necessities • Financial Aid to Families whose wage earners have been taken from work and deployed into battle.

Israel has declared war following the horrific Hamas terrorist attack. All Jews are now on the front lines of battle, be it spiritually, physically, or both. How can we ensure our success in this war and what does Hashem want from us with it?

On October 27, 2018, Robert Bowers entered the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh shouting “All Jews must die!” He then proceeded to open fire. After the chaos had settled, eleven people had been murdered and six more critically wounded. It is the most violent antisemitic attack ever perpetrated on American soil. 

Yechezkeil describes a vision of the Kohanim of the future. This includes a list of what appears to be laws of the Kohanim. But, if you look closely, it is a strange list for 2 reasons. (1) This list has new laws that didn't exist in the Torah. (2) This list features the prohibition of eating Niveilah/Treif--a rule that ALL Jews must follow. That doesn't sound like a description of Hilchos Kohanim...

You must resist the temptation to conclude that the Jews, whom Paul was addressing in Romans 9-11, “will not be saved.” All Jews are God's people who have been born to an inheritance called the birthright, which bestows a leadership role. However, Paul cautions these Jews that unless they overcome the sin of pride, they will be found unworthy of the special inheritance although they will still belong to God with a lesser inheritance.

In discussing various laws relevant to a Jewish servant, the Torah commands, “Lo Ta'abod Bo Abodat Abed” – literally, “Do not work him like a servant” (Vayikra 25:39). This is understood to mean that a master who purchases a fellow Jew as an Ebed (servant) is not permitted to assign the servant demeaning work. The Sefer Ha'hinuch gives the example of a “Balinta” – having one's servant accompany him as he walks outside with a cushion for him to put on the ground if the master grows weary and wishes to rest. Another example is having one's servant carry his towel and other belongings to the bathhouse. These chores are considered beneath the dignity of an Ebed Ibri (Jewish servant), and they are thus forbidden by force of this Biblical command. The Sages in the Talmud remarked that the master's responsibilities toward his servant extend so far that “Kol Ha'koneh Ebed Ibri Ke'koneh Adon Le'asmo” – one who purchases a Jewish servant in effect purchases a master. The Torah demands treating the servant with respect, like an employee, and not like a servant. Even though the master of course can compel the servant to work, he must ensure to show him respect and dignity. The Sefer Ha'hinuch writes that the Torah issued this command in order to draw our attention to the exalted status of our nation. The Torah commands masters to treat their Jewish servants with special respect and dignity to impress upon us that each and every member of our nation is special. This newfound respect for the Jewish Nation, the Sefer Ha'hinuch explains, will, in turn, enhance our respect for the Torah which was given to our people. The Sefer Ha'hinuch adds that the Torah wants the master to realize and reflect upon the fact that the servant was forced into this status due to financial hardships, which could befall anyone, even the master. This awareness will lead the master to repent and to strictly follow G-d's will so he remains worthy of material blessing and will not fall into financial straits. Finally, the Sefer Ha'hinuch writes, this Misva serves to accustom people to act kindly and compassionately, and to distance themselves from cruelty and insensitivity. By molding our characters in this way, we become worthy of the great blessings which Hashem wants to bestow upon us. Elsewhere, in the Book of Debarim (15:16), the Torah says about a servant, “Ki Tob Lo Imach” – that life “with” the master is good. The Sages inferred from this verse that the servant must live “with” the master in the sense that he is given the same comforts and standard of living as the master. He is to be fed the same foods and beverages, and given the same comfortable beds, as the master. This Misva applies to both men and women, but only during periods when the laws of servants apply – meaning, when the laws of Yobel apply (which is when the majority of the Jewish Nation resides in the Land of Israel). One who forces his servant to perform demeaning labor violates this prohibition, but is not liable to Malkut. Since this prohibition is generally transgressed verbally, without an action, by simply commanding the servant, one is not liable to Malkut even if he forces the servant through an action. All Jews have the status of servants of Hashem. As such, the command forbidding disrespecting an Ebed Ibri extends, in a sense, to each and every Jew. We must recognize the value and worth of every fellow Jew, as a servant of the Almighty, and ensure not to disrespect or disparage a fellow Jew in any way.

Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

In Today's Torah talk we discuss why Hevel's Karbon was accepted, and the lesson we learn about adherence of Mitzvos.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

In today's Torah talk: Pairing together a beautiful Rashi, with an insightful Ramban we develop the idea of manifesting our greatness. (Based on the wisdom of Rav Yerucham Levovitz)Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

In today's Torah talk we explore why people seemed to have lived much longer during Torah times, and two possible answers from Rambam and Ramchal.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

In Today's Torah talk we discuss a fundamental idea learned out from Parshas Noach about the power and efficacy of just one person.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

Today marks four years since America's deadliest antisemitic attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, which left 11 dead and wounded six others. Over the last few weeks, the appalling antisemitic conspiracy theories and threats from rapper Kanye West serve as a reminder of the normalization of antisemitism in America and how hate can be translated into action or violence. Listen to former Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto on what it was like to witness the pain inflicted on a community, a city, the country when a stranger walked into a prayer service, declared "All Jews must die," and ended 11 lives that Shabbat morning. ___ Episode Lineup: (0:40) Bill Peduto ___ Show Notes: Tree of Life Synagogue Shooting: 4th Anniversary video 5 of Kanye West's Antisemitic Remarks, Explained Music credit: Sad Child by Dee Yan-Key is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. Listen to our latest podcast episode: Campus Antisemitism – What's Happening at UC Berkeley? Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've enjoyed this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, tag us on social media with #PeopleofthePod, and hop onto Apple Podcasts to rate us and write a review, to help more listeners find us.

In Today's Torah talk we clarify the concept of long term growth, and why with some determination- it's very possible this winter.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

In today's Torah talk: An in depth look at the study of mussar, and why it is needed. An eye-popping vort ending with a valuable "take-home" lesson. Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

In today's Dvar Torah and Torah talk we examine why we learn the Mitzvah of marriage from Adam and Chava if their marriage seemingly went a bit awry. The answer holds a valuable lesson. Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

In today's Torah talk we discuss the first Rashi in all of Torah, and draw out one important lesson.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

In today's Torah talk we discuss the possible heights a human could reach, and the lowly valley's we could G-D forbid descend to. Choose Wisely.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

An important idea following the Holidays and Kedushah we have experienced during this past month.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

In today's Torah talk we discuss two timeless tips in the study of Chumash.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

In today's Torah talk, we explore what is perhaps the main theme and practical lesson from this holiday season.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

In todays's Torah podcast: A packed three days of spiritual energy awaits us, here is one thing to keep in mind. A Gut Yom Tov! Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

One original insight on the holiday of Sukkos based on the wisdom of Rav Yerucham Levovitz. Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

One foundational insight from Rav Yisrael Salanter, based on a Tosafos, and critical reading of a Pasuk. This Torah thought is a valuable vort to keep handy.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

In today's Torah talk, we discuss a deeper look at the "Daled Minim", and how the saintly Rav Zundel of Salant viewed them.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

We are commanded to be totally happy the entire holiday of Sukkos, this mitzvah was described by the Gaon of Vilna as the hardest mitzvah to fulfill, let's explore one avenue to help us celebrate Sukkos in total simcha.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

What was Rav Raphael Soloveitchik out searching for on Erev Sukkos. This Torah talk discussed one essential aspect of this Yom Tov that is often overlooked.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and Follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

A story with the Satmar Rebbe concludes with one thought provoking inspiring vort. One of the evil inclinations favorite tricks is exposed in this Torah talk.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and Follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

The month of Tishrei is packed with mitzvos and holidays. It seems disproportionate, with so few holidays dispersed throughout the rest of the year. Based on the wisdom of the Chazon Ish we suggest one approach to this question.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and Follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

The holiest day of the year is here. We stand before G-d in angelic fashion pleading for forgiveness. In today's torah talk we discuss one approach to Yom Kippur teffilah.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and Follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

On the cusp of the holiest day of the year we cite the Rambam, my father, and Rabbi Twersky all in one powerful teshuvah insight.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and Follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

Gut Vuch! As heard from my saintly father, we develop in this Torah talk a plan to help us judge others favorably. Based an a Mishnah in Mesechta Avos, this idea opens our eyes to something often forgotten.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and Follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

Read on Yom Kippur in the Haftorah, Yonah attempted to flee from Hashem and ignore his heavenly mission. It is precisely here that we learn about the most important thing in life. Heard from Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe, quoting Rabbi Avraham Grodzinsky, this idea will give you a different perspective on life.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and Follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

A truly fascinating insight from the Saba of Slabodka brings us to one crucial vort in our Avodas Hashem. What saved lot from perishing along with Sodom and Gomorra, leads us to a remarkable Torah idea.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and Follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible.Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

In today's Torah insight we discuss the immediate and necessary effort needed to smile at anyone you meet. Torah giants from previous generations spoke time and time again on this topic, and it remains as important as ever.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha, and Follow us on WhatsApp for even more Torah content.The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

In today's Torah talk we discuss the most important character trait one should posses, and the unique power it holds.JetpackThe bulldozer of evilCheck out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

In today's Torah talk we discuss the importance of searching after teshuvah during these days, and how it should look.Have you seen my keys?Search, seek, and probeCheck out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

Tonight begins the holiday of Rosh Hashana. It is the start of a new year. Practically, that means we all have a fresh start to become the person we were always meant to become. Take advantage. Why is rosh Hashanah before Yom KippurInsights from Rav Yisrael Salanter and the Brisker RavCheck out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

On the cusp of Rosh Hashanah we discuss the never before seen opportunities we all have today, in the world of business and spirituality. Join the revolution and choose legacy over currency!Pick your poisonWealth from lemonade stands Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

A gutten erev shabbas! In today's dvar Torah we discuss the thought provoking concept our parsha discusses hither to, the ease and simplicity of Teshuva. In this episode we attempt to clarify and explain this concept. Daily commuteIt is very near to youCheck out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

A penetrating and inspiring insight from the Chazon Ish, in today's Torah talk. How special even a thought of teshuvah is in the eyes of Hashem.What if it won't last?Riding the waveCheck out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. Questions or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

Closing in on Rosh Hashanah we discuss one timely topic. Citing the Ramchal in multiple places we develop the idea of living in Hashem's house.Our prayers have been answered"Deceptive nothingness"Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. 

In today's Torah talk we discuss an idea from the famed Rav Simcha Zissel Ziv, the Alter of Kelm. An insight that will help us stay focused on the task at hand.Bowling ball headReading the words literally Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. 

Thank y'all! On to season two. Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. 

In today's Torah talk we explore a fascinating Rambam from Moreh Nevuchim and draw out one practical lesson.Showdown at the bank One crowning actionCheck out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. 

Touching on a fascinating psychological insight Rav Mattisayahu Solomon tells us why we should keep our commitments private, and we uncover another practical approach to help our commitments stick.Who cares if they think it's weirdlosing the driveCheck out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. 

In today's tTorah talk we discuss why we need 4 days of selichos and why Rosh Hashanah is different from other holidays.Eye-popping Sfas EmesGiving ourselves to G-DCheck out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. 

In this short dvar Torah based on this week's parsha we explore one theme of the mitzvah of bikkurim and discuss the possibly of us giving proper thanks to Hashem. Gut Shabbas!Puzzling RashiThe depth of our blessingsCheck out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. 

In today's Torah talk: We discuss learning from the best, and what "beating" a middah means. Why we must learn to control our character traits, and not always just turn the valve off.Elon MuskOutward signs of heat but cool as a cucumber insideCheck out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. 

In today's Torah talk we discuss the three necessary components of teshuva this Elul, and one pet peeve we all have.The truth about teshuvahHow to protect from wobbly tablesCheck out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. 

In today's Torah talk, we discuss a famous parable told by the Dubno Maggid relaying the power of truth, and we extract one practical lesson.Can a lamp give birth?If it's working does that mean it's right?Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. 

According to Torah law, a person who lent money to somebody before Shemita (the seventh, or "sabbatical," year) may not collect the debt after that year; the year of Shemita eliminates all debts.While many people are quite familiar with the agricultural aspects of Shemita, the prohibition against farming during the Shemita year, fewer people are aware of the monetary implications of the Shemita year. The cancellation of debts applies both in Israel and in the Diaspora, and is not restricted to those who own farmland. All Jews are bound by the prohibition against collecting debts after the Shemita year.It has become customary to write a special document called a "Prozbol" toward the end of the Shemita year in order to allow lenders to collect their debts after Shemita. In Talmudic times, the great sage Hillel observed that many wealthy Jews refused to lend money out of concern that the debt will not be repaid before Shemita, in which case they would lose the money. Hillel therefore enacted the concept of Prozbol, whereby a person signs a document transferring to the Bet Din all the debts owed to him. The law of "Shemitat Kesafim" (the remission of debts) applies only to individuals, and not to public bodies such as Bet Din. Hence, the transferred loan is unaffected by the Shemita year, and one may then act as the agent of Bet Din to collect his debts after Shemita.It is therefore imperative that anybody who had lent money before the Shemita year signs a Prozbol document before Rosh Hashanah, in order that he be allowed to collect his debts after Rosh Hashanah. One who does not sign such a document may not collect his debts after Rosh Hashanah.Summary: Anybody who had lent money before the Shemita year may not collect the debt after the Shemita year unless he signed the Prozbol document before Rosh Hashanah. This applies to all Jews, both in Israel and in the Diaspora.Over the next few days, our Halachot will offer more in depth details as to which types of loans require a Prozbul and which do not.Visit www.iTorah.com to download the Prozbul form.

In today's Torah talk we discuss the scene inside shul this Rosh Hashana, and why we can't just hire a lawyer to get a good verdict for us. Plus, a new approach to the high holidays. Become indispensable. New approach from Rav Wolbe Z'TLCheck out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. 

In this short dvar Torah we explore 5 different small commitments you can make today, that make waves in your life and effect major positive change. Small but mighty changesBucket and a pail.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews!Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. 

In today's short Torah talk, we discuss one of the many things we can learn from her majesty and her legacy after the sad news of her passing, and we delve in to the topic of malchus.Raise the gates and blow the shofar!True palpable awe.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews! Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. 

In today's shiur we discus the unparalleled relationship that our body and soul share together. We search for the truth of the matter- "if two kings cannot share a crown who rules your world?"The odd couple.A battle worth fighting for.Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews! Consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. 

In today's Torah talk we discuss That One Thing. It is our job as Jews to climb the spiritual latter and connect to Hashem, in this episode we discuss that one thing we all face, and how to overcome it. Based on a talk given by Rav Yissocher Frand.How to catch monkeys.Dropping the bananas. Check out our other content!SUBSCRIBE to The Torah Podcast for a weekly Dvar Torah on the Parsha!Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!The Torah Podcast for ALL Jews! Please consider sponsoring a podcast by making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and content distribution. Your Partnership makes it possible. Click here to donate. 

DEFINING THE TERMSCanon – a set of texts (also called "books") which a particular Jewish orChristian religious community regards as part of the Bible. Greek – “rule”,“measuring stick”Urtext - In Biblical studies, the Urtext is the theorized original, uniform text ofthe Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), preceding both the Septuagint (LXX) andthe Masoretic Text (MT). An original or the earliest version of a text.Vorlage - A Vorlage (from the German for prototype or template) is a priorversion or manifestation of a text under consideration.Inspiration – All Scripture is “God-breathed”… (2 Tim 3:16)Inerrancy – The Bible is without error in its original manuscriptsOur Protestant “Tradition” - 66 Books in the Bile39 Old Testament Books27 New Testament BooksJEWISH CANONSMasoretic Text (MT) – Rabbis (descendants of the Pharisees) - the Hebrew Bible numbers thesame books as 24. The Hebrew Bible counts Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles as one bookeach, and the 12 minor prophets are one book, and also Ezra and Nehemiah form a singlebook. This is the same Canon as the 39 Books in Protestant OTs. No ApocryphaWhen? AD110-125 – Rabbinic/Talmudic JudaismSeptuagint (LXX) – 52 OT Books (13 more that the MS), OT Apocrypha, Psalms of Solomon –When? 250BC – 2nd Temple JudaismEthiopian Jews (Beta Israel) – Testaments of Abraham, Isaac and JacobEssenes/Qumran Community/Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS) - Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs (affirmEnoch!) – DSS contain fragments of 5 of them (Levi, Judah, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin).WHAT ABOUT "THE TESTAMENTS OF THE PATRIARCHS"?ALL Jews believed that all the patriarchs from Adam to Aaron (37+) were prophets that wrote “Testaments ”.2nd Century - Rabbis believed they were lost. REJECTED – Why??1600s – Found in an Armenian Orthodox Bible – REJECTED as “too Christian” (see below)Essenes / Dead Sea Scrolls - Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs – DSS contain fragments of 5 of them (Levi,Judah, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin).**Quoted/referenced by Paul in the NT (1 Thes 2:16, Rom 12:18, 21, 2 Cor 7:10 and Eph 5:6)**Fragments from 8 other “Testaments” of these were found in the DSS. (Enosh, Enoch, Lamech, Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Kohath, Amram) Christian "Content" in the "Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs" -Messiah = Son of God -Messiah is God incarnate-Levi's Priesthood ONLY until Messiah comes-Levi's ordinances and sacrifices ONLY until Messiah comes-Messiah born of a virgin-Messiah will be worshipped-Messiah will be sinless -Messiah would die for our sins to reconcile us to God-The Levites would crucify Messiah -Messiah would be resurrected-Messiah would ascend-Messiah would create a new priesthood-Veil of Temple would be torn -Apostle Paul – called from Jews to Gentiles, his writings = inspiredCHRISTIAN CANONS-Muratorian Canon (AD 170) – The Apocalypse of Peter-Codex Sinaiticus (AD 330) – LXX OT – includes OT Apocrypa & Shepherd of Hermas, Epistle of Barnabas (29 NT Books)-Codex Alexandrinus (AD 400) – 1st and 2nd Clement-Protestants - 39 OT Books / 27 NT Books = 66 Books / Martin Luther-Ethiopian Orthodox – OT Apocrypha + 2 Edras, **Book of Enoch** (only one) – 81 books total (35NT, LXX and Enoch) also “Didache - Teaching of the 12 Apostles”, Book of Jubilees-Armenian Orthodox – Testaments of the 12 Patriarchs-Catholics & Orthodox – OT Apocrypha (Tobit, Judith, 1 & 2 Maccabees, Wisdom of Solomon, Sirach, Baruch, Letter of Jeremiah, Additions to Daniel & Esther)-Orthodox – add 1 Edras, 3 Maccabees, Prayer of Manasseh (Russian Orthodox – 2 Edras)DISPUTED TEXTS (DISAGREEMENTS)6 Disputed New Testament Books 1. The Didache (or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles)2. The Shepherd of Hermas3. The Apocalypse of Peter,4. The Epistle of Barnabas and 5. The First Epistle(s) of Clement.6. The Second Epistle of Clement* EVERY BOOK THAT HAS EVER BEEN CONSIDERED SCRIPTURAL CANON HAS BEEN LISTED ON THE PAST FEW SLIDES * NEVER the Gnostic Texts!!! (Gospels, Epistles) - i.e. Gospel of Thomas (2nd Century)*No Roman Catholic Conspiracies! PART 2 – BEWARE OF THE LEAVENJesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” (Matthew 16:6)BACKGROUND of the Pharisees, Sadducees, and the Essenes-175BC – Antiochus IV Epiphanes conquered Israel – Seleucid Dynasty. Deposed rightful High Priest (Zadok Priesthood ended) – outlawed Jewish religious rituals (i.e. circumcision), desecrated the Temple (slaughtered a pig), ordered Jews to worship Zeus-166BC – Maccabean Revolt – successful, cleansed Temple, Hanukkah established! Hasmonean Dynasty began ruling.-153BC – High Priest, Jonathan the Hasmonean – NOT a Zadokite! Hasmoneans had NO TIES to the line of David – so illegitimate priesthood and rulership (kingship)! Later – King Herod-110BC – Got Rome to recognize the Hasmonean Kingdom – start conquering surrounding peoples, forcing them (Gentiles) to convert to Judaism (especially Gentiles)TWO GROUPS FORMED1. Pharisees - against this forced practice (Oral Torah – Talmud)2. Sadducees – Hellenized Jews (follow the government) & Sons of Zadok THIRD GROUP - THE ESSENES / QUMRAN COMMUNITYBeliefs/Practices of the Qumran Community / Essenes- Separated themselves (1st Century “Remnant”)- Broader Canon - Dead Sea Scrolls - LXX – Apocrypha, Enoch, Testaments- Temple leadership corrupt (not from the Sons of Zadok/non-Levitical)- Government corrupt – not from the line of David (i.e. King Herod). - Change in the calendar – Pharisees and Sadducees followed the pagan lunar calendar. All Jewish rituals were therefore corrupt/unacceptable.- Solar Calendar predicted the coming of Messiah between 10BC and 4BC. - Messiah would be God in the flesh - Two Comings of ONE Messiah – once to die as an atoning sacrifice for sins, 2nd time to judge the world (Melchizedek Document)- Messiah would “make the dead live” (Messianic Apocalypse)/Matt. 11:5-Prophecy continued…(No “Cessationism”) - Matthew 11:13 – “For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied UNTIL JOHN”- Were waiting and ready for the Messiah when He cameWHAT WAS "THE LEAVEN OF THE PHARISEES"?Beliefs of the Pharisees - TWO Messiahs – first one only a man to liberate Israel – NOT for the Gentiles!!! - Accepted both the Pagan Lunar Calendar and the non-Davidic Priesthood (Feasts? Temple?)- Cessationists – Prophecy ended  (400 silent years – from Malachi?)- Rejected “Testaments of the Patriarchs”- Oral Torah (“Tradition”) over and against God's written word (Talmud)- 2nd Century Rabbis – Narrowed the Canon, Tampered with the OT Text, radically ANTI-CHRISTWHAT WAS "THE LEAVEN OF THE SADDUCEES"?- Stopped believing in the supernatural (angels, afterlife) – Theological liberals- Accepted the Pagan Lunar Calendar - Capitulation to culture / compromise- “Romans 13ers”  of the 1st Century - Romans 13:1-2 - Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. - Disappeared in history MATTHEW 16:1-12And the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and to test him they asked him to show them a sign from heaven. 2 He answered them, “When it is evening, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.' 3 And in the morning, ‘It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times. 4 An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of Jonah.” So, he left them and departed. 5 When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. 6 Jesus said to them, “Watch and beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 7 And they began discussing it among themselves, saying, “We brought no bread.” 8 But Jesus, aware of this, said, “O you of little faith, why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you have no bread? 9 Do you not yet perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 10 Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? 11 How is it that you fail to understand that I did not speak about bread? Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” 12 Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the leaven of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.APPLICATION for the Remnant todayWhat is today's “teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees”?   1. Believe the prophets!    2. Don't capitulate to the political – Critical Race Theory (CRT), Cultural Marxism, "Safe & Effective", "Free & Fair Elections"  3. RE-think your idea of Canon – especially in light of the Dead Sea Scrolls (DSS)  4. Essenes (1st Century “Remnant”) = the only ones able to discern the “fake news”  5. Essenes recognized and accepted Jesus as the Messiah  6. The Remnant will be “ready and waiting” for the Messiah when He returns

Rabbi Arie Hasit shares his story of officiating a bar-mitzvah when religious extremists disrupted prayers at the egalitarian section of the Western Wall.  And Dan Elbaum of the Jewish Agency for Israel discusses the recently passed resolution that demands the Kotel be safe for ALL Jews to worship. With Teisha Bader.

All Jews possess a “hidden treasure of fear of heaven” in their hearts. Through the faculty of daat, this fear of heaven is revealed and felt in one's thought and also affects his speech and actions.

Tanya: The Kabbalah of You #8 - Chapter 2 pt. 2 Through a careful analysis of the father-child metaphor and applying it to the G-d-soul relationship, we uncover profound depth in the nature of our souls: All Jews are one organism; each soul a pure piece of G-d in its source, and even as each specific soul evolves into its own unique and diverse role, it never loses its original identity as a piece of G-d. You can contact Rabbi Dubov at rabbi@bhchabad.org. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rabbilevidubov/support

Teshuva is a must for ALL Jews

Karen sits down with Jewish advocate and educator Amy Albertson to chat all about Amy's experiences as a Chinese American Jewish woman, and her work to empower ALL Jews to own their Jewish identities with no apologies. A passionate voice for ending gatekeeping within the Jewish community, Amy's celebration of the diversity of the Jewish world and passion for making space for all of us to live our own best Jewish lives, our way, is sure to fill you with hope for the Jewish future.       You'll find out:   - All about her upbringing with a Chinese American mom and Ashkenazi American dad - How attending Catholic high school strengthened her Jewish identity - What it was like diving into a Jewish community in college for the first time - Her journey from viewing herself as Jew-ish to Jewish - Why diversity is the secret sauce to the richness of the Jewish people - How she deals with other people trying to define her Jewishness - Non-intimidating ways to start being louder about your Judaism - The importance of making sure your Jewish identity isn't defined by antisemitism - What it's like advocating for Israel online in 2022 - How Jewish communities can do better welcoming Jews of Color     LINKS:   Smashing Life, my Jewish community for women https://smashinglife.club @theamyalbertson on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/theamyalbertson Amy Albertson's website https://www.amyalbertson.com/

In Memory of Rosline bas Rochel Chana & Ezra, Shimon ben Yitzchok, Masha bas Yitzchok. All Jews united. The power of Daas Torah. Everything Hashem does is for good

  Summary: We are “now” justified (Rom.5:1,9). The word “seek” (Gal.2:17) sometimes means to look to something (Amos 5:5,6). All Jews knew where Gilgal was, but it was filled with idols. So God told the Jews not to look to … Continue reading →

00:00 Rabbi Judas, a West Bank Sephardi settler, joins from Israel, https://twitter.com/JudasMaccabeus7 02:00 Jewish philosopher, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maimonides 04:00 Saadia Gaon, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saadia_Gaon 06:00 Argument from Authority, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argument_from_authority 13:00 Hasidic Judaism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hasidic_Judaism 14:00 Limits of Orthodox Theology: Maimonides' Thirteen Principles Reappraised, https://www.amazon.com/Limits-Orthodox-Theology-Reappraised-Civilization/dp/1906764239 18:00 Rabbi Judah's Youtube channel, https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLgGCISOp6Ytu1W6adwvAtw 40:00 Rambam's commentary on the Mishna, https://www.sefaria.org/Rambam_on_Mishnah_Sanhedrin.10.1?lang=bi 43:00 All Jews have a share in the world to come 53:00 Do not make the Torah into a crown on your head or as a spade to dig 1:00:00 Why do we love studying Torah? For our sake, for Torah's sake, for God's sake? 1:01:30 Reading forbidden literature 1:05:00 Rashbam, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rashbam 1:08:00 Dooovid joins to discuss his interest in many religions, https://twitter.com/RebDoooovid 1:09:00 Reb Doooovid's Youtube channel, https://www.youtube.com/user/doooovid 1:10:00 Hinduism, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism 1:35:00 Haredim vs non-Haredi Jews 1:44:40 Adam Green, https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2018/10/02/infowars-host-owen-shroyer-debates-jewish-conspiracies-antisemitic-youtuber 1:46:00 Judas debates Adam Green, https://www.bitchute.com/video/5ZVWQrktfxJC/ 1:48:00 Luke talks to Adam Green, https://rumble.com/vd9i17-adam-green-of-know-more-news-1-25-21.html 1:50:00 The Jewish approach to informers, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesirah 2:00:00 Philo's weak Judaic background, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philo-Judaeus 2:10:00 Adam Green, https://canarymission.org/individual/Adam_Green 2:20:00 Christopher Jon Bjerknes, https://canarymission.org/individual/Christopher_Jon_Bjerknes 2:23:00 Judas's obsession with anti-semites 2:55:00 Judaism and homosexuality 3:17:00 Jews and the Enlightenment, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Age_of_Enlightenment Join this channel to get access to perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCSFVD7Xfhn7sJY8LAIQmH8Q/join https://odysee.com/@LukeFordLive, https://lbry.tv/@LukeFord, https://rumble.com/lukeford https://dlive.tv/lukefordlivestreams Listener Call In #: 1-310-997-4596 Superchat: https://entropystream.live/app/lukefordlive Bitchute: https://www.bitchute.com/channel/lukeford/ Soundcloud MP3s: https://soundcloud.com/luke-ford-666431593 Code of Conduct: https://lukeford.net/blog/?p=125692 https://www.patreon.com/lukeford http://lukeford.net Email me: lukeisback@gmail.com or DM me on Twitter.com/lukeford Support the show | https://www.streamlabs.com/lukeford, https://patreon.com/lukeford, https://PayPal.Me/lukeisback Facebook: http://facebook.com/lukecford Feel free to clip my videos. It's nice when you link back to the original.

Tonight, the holiday of Purim begins. Purim is the holiday we read Megillat Esther (the Book of Esther), hearing the story year after year of the Jewish people's near-annihilation but eventual triumph. If this was Netflix preview description this is how I'd summarize Megillat Esther: After Stealth-Jewess Esther becomes queen, she hears of a plot to kill all Jews. Esther is faced with a choice: reveal her true self and save her people, or die trying… Dramatic, right? I'd watch that limited series. Like most kids, I grew up loving Purim. I loved the idea of the beautiful and righteous Esther HaMalka, Queen Esther, defeating Haman with said beauty and righteousness. I loved the Shushan (the city where the story takes place) that I formulated in my mind. (In retrospect, I now realize that the “Shushan” I created in my mind was definitely just a Jewish version of the made-up city of Agrabah from Aladdin… I digress). We grow up idolizing Esther, viewing her as the model for a strong Jewish woman, a woman who ensured the continuation of the Jewish people, a model diaspora Jew (a Jew not living in Israel). Okay, inter-faith or non-Jewish readers, please stick with me. As I got older, I wondered why an inter-married Jew who hid her Jewishness was our model. If we want diaspora Jews to feel proud, to feel a sense of responsibility to others, shouldn't we pick a new story? This question came up recently in my 4th grade Hebrew School class. We were learning the Purim story, talking about Esther and how she had to hide her Jewishness, and so I asked my students if they ever felt they needed to hide their Jewishness. Keep in mind this is at a Reform synagogue on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. There are over 60,000 Jews between 60th and 100th St on the UWS. Some said, “No, I'm proud to live in a place with lots of Jews and I never feel scared to be Jewish.” Others said, “Well even if I'm not acting Jewish, I'm still Jewish.” Always the inclusive, progressive teacher, I quickly said, “Yes of course! There are lots of ways of being Jewish!” I wasn't super proud of the way I handled that situation in class, I felt like I could have clarified or made a more definitive statement… so I consulted with a few friends who helped me realize a better answer lies in the Purim story itself. Esther isn't the only hero. A very important character is Esther's cousin, Mordechai. The whole reason Haman wanted to annihilate the Jews was because Mordechai, as a practicing Jew, refused to bow down to Haman. It was below Haman's stature to strike back at just one Jew, so he decided to strike back at ALL Jews. Mordechai and Esther are foils, exact opposites. Mordechai is a proud, unapologetic Jew. Does this mean Esther is an ashamed, apologetic Jew? No! Whatever Esther's Jewish “practice” was, she still filled an irreplaceable role in the events of this story. Every type of person serves their purpose, and this is the message I choose to emphasize. Of course it would be nice if every person observed their religion in the same way you do, (because of course — you the person reading this, of whatever faith you are — the way you observe is the right way, right???) Kidding. Obviously that's not how the world rolls. And we can hope and pray for them to practice the way we do!!! But until then, this the message I am taking from the Purim story. We are irreplaceable cogs in the human story. Irreplaceable and all equally imperative. For full text, email me at shirajkaplan@gmail.com or join my email list here. opening theme: reCreation by airtone (c) copyright 2019 Licensed --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/shira-kaplan/support

In honor of the Bris Of Mordechai Tzalach Haleivi Sheyichy"e. All Jews are Guarantors for one another. All Jews from all different walks of life enter into the covenant with Hashem even all future generations. Two more Mitzvos. Never too hard to do Teshuv

In this episode, Josh and Ian talk about the uses and abuses of technology throughout modernity. In the first half, they talk about the roots and history of technology, art and creativity, language as a tool, mathematics and logic, planned obsolescence, nuclear energy and nuclear weapons, irradiated cookies, the history of the World Wide Web and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), the demand for data and information sharing over the internet, accessibility to the deep web, the power of video and narrative framing, Tristan Harris and the commodification of attention, and the problem of morality and ethical persuasion. In the second half, they talk about the New York Times Rabbit Hole podcast, YouTube's "recommended videos" function and finding conservative voices, the responsibility of social media platforms, the Nice truck attack of 2016 in France, the rise of PewDiePie and the advent of new media, free speech and the internet, TikTok and Chinese artificial intelligence, and the production of the Rabbit Hole podcast.On this week's segment of Read/Watch/Play, they talk about Marcus Aurelius' Meditations, Dune, The Last of Us Pt. II, Netflix's Dark, Iron Man VR, and Hunt: Showdown.Follow them on Twitter at:Josh @theonlyoneblogIan @modernovermanand the podcast @NBSPodcast1Website: https://www.necessarybspod.com/Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/necessarybspodLinks:History of TechnologyA short history of the WebOur Minds Have Been Hijacked by Our Phones.Making Sense Podcast #71 - What is Technology Doing to Us?The New York Times Rabbit Hole Podcast Series2016 Nice truck attackPewDiePie - Death to All Jews full episodeThe Healthy American - Mask Don't WorkRecorded 15 July 2020Support the show (https://www.patreon.com/necessarybspod)

Shabbat 128 : Marc Chipkin : 2020-07-12 All Jews have the status of aristocracy, returning an escaped chicken on Shabbat, breaking Shabbat for a woman in labour

All the laws of Shabbat apply equally to both men and women, and therefore, women are included in the Torah obligation of Kiddush just like men.The Halachic authorities addressed the question of how a husband can recite Kiddush on behalf of his wife on Friday night after he prayed Arbit. The Torah obligation of Kiddush is introduced with the command, "Zachor Et Yom Ha’Shabbat Le’kadesho," which refers to verbally mentioning Shabbat. On the level of Torah obligation, one needs simply to verbally speak of the sanctity of Shabbat; it was Hazal who then established the requirement to recite the Kiddush text over a cup of wine. Therefore, once a man recites Arbit on Friday night, which includes mention of the Kedusha of Shabbat, he has fulfilled his Torah obligation, and now has only the Rabbinic requirement to recite Kiddush over wine. Most women, however, do not recite Arbit, and thus when a husband returns home from the synagogue on Friday night, he bears a Rabbinic obligation of Kiddush while the wife bears a Torah obligation. The question thus arises as to whether the man, who bears a lower level of obligation than his wife does, may recite Kiddush on her behalf so she can fulfill her Misva.The consensus among the Halachic authorities is that a husband can recite Kiddush on his wife’s behalf, because of the principle of "Kol Yisrael Arebim Zeh La’zeh" – "All Jews are responsible for one another." This means that every Jew bears responsibility not only for his own observance of Misvot, for also for that of his fellow Jews. On the basis of this rule, the Gemara in Masechet Rosh Hashanah establishes that "Af Al Pi She’yasa Mosi" – even after a person has fulfilled his obligation, he can still perform the Misva on behalf of somebody else. The classic example is that of a person who already heard Shofar blowing on Rosh Hashanah, and thus fulfilled his obligation, but may nevertheless blow the Shofar for somebody else who has yet to fulfill the Misva. Since we are all responsible for each other’s Misva observance, even after one has fulfilled the Misva of Shofar he is still eligible to blow the Shofar for others. By the same token, even though a husband fulfills his Torah obligation of Kiddush by reciting Arbit, he may nevertheless recite Kiddush for his wife so she can fulfill her Torah obligation. Although the Dagul Me’rebaba (Rav Yechezkel Landau of Prague, 1713-1793) questioned whether the principle of "Kol Yisrael Arebim Zeh La’zeh" applies to a man fulfilling Misvot for a woman, Rabbi Akiva Eger (1761-1837) proves (in his glosses to the Shulhan Aruch, 271) that the rule indeed applies to such situations. Therefore, as established by numerous Halachic authorities – including the Aruch Ha’shulhan (271:5-6) and Hacham Ovadia Yosef (Hazon Ovadia – Shabbat, vol. 2) – a husband is certainly allowed to recite Kiddush for his wife, despite the fact that he has recited Arbit and she has not. Hacham Ovadia adds that this ruling applies in the opposite case, as well. If a woman recited Arbit and the husband did not, the wife may recite Kiddush for her husband.Summary: Despite the fact that men fulfill the Torah obligation of Kiddush on Friday night by reciting Arbit, and most women do not recite Arbit, nevertheless, a woman can fulfill her Kiddush obligation on Friday night by listening to her husband’s recitation.

Does one have to be rich, religious, nationalistic and/or educated to come home to Israel? Aliyah is for ALL Jews from ALL lands. Rough-hewn and flawed, Israel is only 72 years young and waiting for YOU to come home and be counted. Pull Up a Chair 07MAY2020 - PODCAST

Parshat Emor continues the theme of holiness which was introduced in Kedoshim. All Jews are commanded to be holy on the individual and communal level. Our national mission is contained in the injunction to... The post All Jews Can Become Cohen? appeared first on Netiv.net.

In 10 days, just before the 2018 midterm elections, Americans saw four terrifying new hate crimes. On October 24, 51-year-old Gregory Bush tried and failed to break into a black church outside of Louisville. He went to a nearby Kroger, and killed two black shoppers, telling a bystander that "whites don't shoot whites." Two days later, a 57-year-old Florida man and Trump supporter named Cesar Sayoc was accused of mailing pipe bombs to political critics of Donald Trump. The following day, 46-year-old Robert Bowers, shot and killed 11 people at a Pittsburgh synagogue, while shouting "All Jews must die!" We covered the Tree of Life synagogue shooting in episode 8 of this podcast. Finally, on November 2, 40-year-old misogynist Scott Beierle shot and killed two women at a hot yoga class in Tallahassee, Florida, before turning his gun on himself.

Professor Zvi Zohar, Chauncey Stillman Professor of Sephardic Law and Ethics - Bar-Ilan University, presents his Valley Beit Midrash lecture "All Jews are Jews by Birth: Are Jews a Faith Community?" before an audience at Temple Solel (www.templesolel.org/) in Paradise Valley, AZ. ABOUT THIS LECTURE: A person born as a Jew remains a Jew, however s/he behaves. Surprisingly, this is stated in the Talmud only with regard to one kind of Jew: a former Gentile who became Jewish by the halakhic process of giyyur. Indeed, the Talmud says that such a person is like a newly-born (Jewish) child. We will read together sources that enable us to understand this view of giyyur as birth, and discuss the implications for our understanding of how the halakhic tradition understands Jewishness. DONATE: bit.ly/1NmpbsP 
LEARNING MATERIALS: https://bit.ly/33Tf4VM For more info, please visit:
 www.facebook.com/valleybeitmidrash/
 
twitter.com/VBMTorah
 www.facebook.com/RabbiShmulyYanklowitz/ Music: "They Say" by WowaMusik, a public domain track from the YouTube Audio Library.

Not by law. The salvation of sinners is not by works (4:1-8), not by circumcision (4:9-12), nor is it by law (4:13-17). It is by faith and therefore consistent with grace. In this section of Romans Paul continues his contrast between the law-system and the grace-system as ways of salvation. Not By Law Abraham is called the "Father of Israel" because it is through him that the nation is established. All Jews are physical descendants of Abraham. As we saw last time, circumcision is the physical sign of the covenant God made with His people. Abraham is also called the "Father of the faith". Why? Because the promise given to him (and his descendants) is delivered through faith. The blessing (i.e. being credited with righteousness) comes "not through the Law" but through faith. This makes the promise accessible to anyone (and everyone) who has the faith of Abraham. Not necessarily the "degree" of the faith of Abraham but the same faith as Abraham. Not By Law But Through Faith That the promise is delivered by faith makes it consistent and in accordance with grace. When a promise is given, the only way to accept it is to believe it. Paul makes the point that the grace-faith relationship is inevitable. Why? Because the reality of sin (i.e. lawlessness) mandates that the law can only enforce the penalty of God's wrath (vv. 14-15). The law - regardless of its form - cannot deliver lawbreakers from the penalty due. But the fact that Abraham received the promise by faith assures us all that we can receive it the same way. In fact, it is guaranteed to all who have the same faith as Abraham. He is "the father of us all" (i.e. Christians; v. 16). AS Paul has pointed out before, this is not exclusive to Jews. Gentiles also have the very same access to the promise through the very same promise. ___________________________________ Study Romans From the Beginning By Clicking Here

Learning to Love All Types of JewsONE NATION UNDER G-DWe all know already that the children of Yaakov were inMitzrayimfor two hundred and ten years and it was there that this small family of twelve brothers developed into one great nation. And because they didn’t have any territory to divide among themselves; they were primarily in the area ofGoshenand couldn’t spread out and settle into separate districts, we would have therefore expected that they should have lived together as one people, theAm Bnei Yisrael. L’havdil, like they say in America, “One nation, under G-d.” That’s whatwewould have anticipated.And yet, what do we see? That the developing nation of the children of Yaakov remainedtwelve separateshevatim. For more than two centuries they maintained the boundaries; everybody knew hisshevetand identified primarily with his own tribe. Everyone knew where he belonged.For two hundred years they didn’t give up their individual identity.Yehudah remained Yehudah, Reuven remained Reuven, and Shimon was Shimon. And that’s a remarkable thing because it was inMitzrayimthat they were supposed to grow intooneunified nation. And therefore we should study that; it’s a strange thing and it deserves a great deal of attention.THE GHETTO OF 1776Imagine that for two hundred and ten years Jews lived in America.Let’s say, in 1776 some Jews came to America from Germany and others came from Spain. Some immigrated from England and the Turkish Jews also arrived on the shores of America. So by the time two hundred and ten years would pass, by the time 1986 would come,halevaithey should still remain Jews! But that they should remain segregated into strict boundaries, separate people, living separate lives?!Such a thing couldn’t even be imagined! It’s one nation and the different families and nationalities would all be amalgamated after a while. They would merge together and the boundaries would disappear.And why not? After all, we’re all Jews, one tribe ofovdei Hashem. And yet we see that inMitzrayimit wasn’t like that. Not only did they remain Jews, but they retained their status as separateshevatim.So you’ll say maybe it was something temporary, something reserved for their stay inMitzrayim,when they were still a growing family of different brothers, and not yet a unified nation. But when they would come out ofMitzrayim, so now they’re a full-fledged nation already, so who needs this segregation anymore?THE SPRINGS OF SEGREGATIONAnd yet surprisingly, what we find is that this was the permanent plan ofHashemfor theAmYisroel; it was His conspicuous policy to maintain the individual identity of each tribe. We see that Hakadosh Baruch Hu insisted there should be separateshevatimeven when they came out ofMitzrayim. We find that in ourparsha: ויבואו אילמה ושם שתים עשרה עינות מים – “And they came to Eilim and there were twelve springs of water…and they encamped there near the water” (Beshalach 15:27).Now if the Torah goes out of its way to tell us the number of springs, then the number twelve is not superfluous. Twelve springs?!That wasn’t an accident; that was Hashem’s plan from the days ofma’asehBereishis– they didn’t dig the springs on their own. This was the hand of Hashem guiding His people in the way He wanted for them.So we’ll understand that the springs of much needed fresh water in the parched desert was the preferred place for people to gather. Everyone needs water after all. And therefore there is no doubt that it was the plan of Hashem to have separate springs for each of the twelveshevatim.The plan of Hashem was segregation. TheReuveineeshould spent their time with theReuveinee, theShimoneewith theShimoneeand so on and so forth.And we’re told about it; the separation is emphasized. More than emphasized; Hakodosh Boruch Hu made sure that it would remain that wayalways.ARE WE REALLY “KE’ISH ECHAD”?Because when you learn Torah, if you pay attention to thepesukim, you’ll note that this wasn’t an isolated incident; it was no aberration.You see a very clear thing that this is how theAm Yisroelalways lived in the ancient times- as distinct and dividedshevatim.You remember when they came to receive theTorahatHar Sinai.Everyone knows what the Torah says: ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר – “And the nation encamped there, opposite the mountain” (Shemos 19:2). And Chazal are bothered by the wordvayichan– andheencamped, in the singular. And they say that the nation made camp כאיש אחד בלב אחד – “Like one man, with one heart” (Rashi, ibid.)However even there we find something very queer. They all encamped together “like one man, with one heart,” and yet Moshe Rabeinu,al pi Hashem,had different plans for them. When they were about to receive theTorah, it says (Shemos 24:4) that Moshe built twelvematzeivos,one for each one of the twelveshevatim.ויבן מזבח תחת ההר ושתים עשרה מצבה לשנים עשר שבטי ישראל – Moshe built – not onemizbei’achat the foot of the mountain, but he builttwelvematzeivosfor each one of theshevatimseparately!That was what Hakodosh Boruch Hu insisted on atkabalas hatorah.Twelve separate “standing stones.” Now that’s very strange. Why was it necessary?They’re all coming to receive theTorahtogether“like one man, with one heart.” What’s the problem with that? Let them come together as one nation!I’ll tell you something else that always bothered me. You know that thekohengadolcarried always on his chest thechoshen, the breastplate. And on the breastplate he had twelve precious stones, each one distinguished from the next; separate colors, set off from each other in separate settings. And on these twelve precious stones were engraved the names of the twelveshevatim.והאבנים תהיין על שמות בני ישראל שתים עשרה על שמותם… איש על שמו תהיין לשני עשר שבט – “The stones should be according to the names of the Bnei Yisroel, twelve according to their names… each man by his name they should be, for the twelve tribes” (Shemos 28:21). That’s what Hashem wanted to see – that in theMishkaneachshevetshould remain separate.And it wasn’t just the symbolicchoshenin theMishkan. It was actually how they lived their lives in themidbar! They lived in separate areas, under different colored flags, each one distinguished from the next. They lived and traveled for forty years segregated from one another – set boundaries, thisshevethere, this one here. There were no walls but there were always clearly defined boundaries.HASHEM WANTS STRONG BORDERSAnd a biggerkashah; even when they came toEretz Yisroel, they should have become one great nation. But no. There were twelve tribes, and each one got a separate territory.That’s a queer thing. Throughout all the generations the fact that they lived apart, within separate boundaries, caused them to have separate lifestyles.They all kept the Torah but each one hadminhagimthat were different.Anshei Galilhad thisminhag, anshei Yehudaa differentminhag. There weredifferent traditions and separateminhagim,and in the course of time many things became very deeply ingrained in them.It was like twelve different nations within one people. And for me, that’s really a very bigkasha –why did there have to be separateshevatimwhen they settled down permanently inEretz Yisroel?Nowlehavdil elef havdaloswhen the English first came to America so they settled here and there; they settled in Massachusetts, and in Connecticut and Virginia. Not because of any reason that they wanted to remain separate; that’s just how it came about. One colony settled here, one there. And after they settled, so in order to manage the collection of taxes, so the head government in England, divided them into states.In each state there was a tax collector, and they had separate offices for each state. But it was for the sake of convenience – not because there was any real difference between the states.They were all the same.All thegoyimare the same.Now it could be that in the course of time they developed certain dialects, certain differences, butlechatchilah, at the beginning they had no intention of being different people.Butlehavdil elef havdaloshere it wasal pi Hashem. The land was divided according to the command, the will, ofHakadosh Baruch Hu. He wanted His people to be separate.I don’t know if it bothers you but it bothers me very much. Now why didn’t they say we should all unite and be one people?Let’s all be one people now.Why should we be broken up into twelve different tribes?Why did they need twelveshevatim? They came out ofMitzrayimand now they’ream echad.They’re one nation.Why keep separateshevatim?And to my little head, that’s a very big question.Why couldn’t it be one country?That’s what we would do if it would have been our littleseichelmaking decisions.EVERYONE BRINGS SOMETHING TO THE TABLE!Now we have to understand; there are no accidents in this world.Hakadosh Baruch Hu has planned these things that way- and it’s a puzzle. And so we’ll try to understand why is that, what is the purpose of Hashem over here?And so we’ll say as follows: It’s clear to us that the purpose of maintaining the individual status of eachshevetis becauseeach tribe possessed its peculiar characteristics, which were its contribution to the general perfection of theAm Yisroel. And Hakodosh Boruch Hu insisted that eachshevetshould maintain its identity, and thereby contribute to the general perfection of theAm Yisroelas a whole.We get so many benefits from eachkehillah, because each group of frum Jews brings something else to the table, some benefit for theAm Yisroel. Our nation wouldn’t be the perfect nation it is, if it wasn’t for the variety of paths in the service of Hashem that make up our people. And that’s exactly why Hakodosh Boruch Hu insisted on the twelve springs inEilim. Because those separate springs signified Hashem’s plan to encourage each tribe to maintain its individuality. As they came to draw the much needed water, each tribe frequented its own well and was therefore able to avoid being swallowed up by the others. Each group retained their individual identity.Now you have to know that the differences among theshevatimwas a model for what would persist throughout the entire history of theAm Yisroel.Even when some theshevatimwent lost, or became diluted one among the other ingolus, we always remained a nation of different tribes; different ideals and attitudes, various preferences of paths in the service ofHashem.WHO NEEDS CHASSIDIM, MISNAGDIM AND SEFARDIM?I’m frequently asked: What’s the benefit of different types of servants of Hashem? Who needschassidimandmisnagdimandsefardim? Wouldn’t it have been better if we all walked together on one path towards Hakodosh Boruch Hu?So I always say: Why is it that you’ll find in the supermarket clover honey and orange blossom honey and buckwheat honey? There are at least ten varieties of honey! Who needs it?! And the answer is that it makes life more delectable! Variety is a pleasure! After all, Hakodosh Boruch Hu could have given us nothing but red delicious apples. Let’s say you’d pass a fruit stand and all you would see is bins and bins of red delicious apples. Now, red delicious apples are a treat; we can’t complain about them, but how much more fun it is when we have ten different kinds of apples! And even better, to have tens and tens of varieties of fruit. It’s much more fun when you can choose from a wide variety of good things.And therefore, there are all kinds of methods of serving Hashem, each one that has been cultivated by Hashem Himself, by the separation ofkehillos. Sometimes a person can choose one method and stick to it always. Or sometimes you can choose from the fruit store of the differentshevatim. Sometimes you’ll choose something from theGerrer, another thing you’ll take from Lakewood, something you’ll pick from Lubavitch, something you’ll take from Belz, and something else you’ll nosh from Satmer. And so on. Everyshevethad something to contribute. You can be sure that there are a lot of delightful fruit in all of these various places that help theAmYisroelin itsavodas Hashem.Everybody is helping out! Somekehillosbrought to theAm Yisroelthe great benefits ofmussarto theAm Yisroel, while otherkehillosbroughtchassidus. From some communities we learn to bekanaaimfor the truth and others impress us with theirhasmadahinlimudhatorahorgemillas chasodim.I myself have learned from one group of Jews in Flatbush what it means to bemichabeid talmidei chachomim.Because there’s no end to the variety of paths that theAm Yisroelwalk toward the One Hashem and there’s what to learn from everyone.MAKING ENEMIES FOR RAV MILLERNow I’m not going to tell you what’s best. Someone asked me, what does Hakodosh Boruch Hu want from me? Am I supposed to bechassidish, orlitvishor what? Now that’s some big order. He wants me to make enemies, the one who asked me that question.Hashem wants you to be the best that you can be. Some people can be their best if they’rechassidish. Some people can be their best if they’relitvish. Other people can be their best if they’resefardi. It’s like asking – “What is the best diet for all of mankind?” The best type of diet depends on each individual person. People are different. Some people are so different that their diets are radically different. So whatever it is that you choose, you should make it a principle in your life to always choose whatever it is that willgive you the most success in life– and success in this world means preparing for the Next World.EVERYONE IS WRONGEveryone is right. And everyone is wrong. Nobody is perfect in this world. And most important is to live with the principle of knowing that we ourselves are not altogether right.And we have to do our best to improve. Although we don’t have to adopt what everybody else does, and everyone should follow the customs and manners of hiskehillain the very best manner, nevertheless, he should know that there are things to be learned everywhere.Even though you’re achossid, when you walk into Telshe Yeshiva, you can learn good things there too. And if a Telshe bochur goes to Williamsburg, he can learn good things there, no question about it. Therefore, everyone should try to steal from others all the good things they can. Instead of going around and saying “Well, I saw in thisshteibelthat they talk during davening so it’s not so bad.” Or, “In the other place they daven fast, so I can also daven fast.” So this person goes around collecting all thewrongthingsfrom all the places. No! Go around collecting all the good things from everybody – that’s what they’re there for.BE JEALOUS AND STEALAnd that’s the person who will succeed. That’s what jealousy is for.Kinahmeans to bekoneh, to acquire, to be jealous of all the good things that you find. “Why is he saying a longshemonahesreiand not me?” “Why does he treat his wife so nicely and I’m so gruff?” “Why does he go out to learn at night and I’m still wasting away?” And everybody should try to steal from everyone else all the good things that they find.That’s our purpose – to acquire all the qualities that find favor in the eyes of Hashem. Because what Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants of us isshleimus– perfection.Shleimusin knowledge of the Torah, perfection in knowing His ways, perfection in recognizing Him in history and in nature. Perfection in character and self-control and perfection in kindliness to our fellow man. Every form of perfection that’s possible for a person to emulate, to imitate, to steal from all sides, he should do that. And the various groups that make up theAm Yisroelhave all of those things to offer.And so whenever a person comes comes into contact with people different than himself, othershevatim, otherkehillos, whenever he sees anything good in the world, he should recognize that these differences are exactly what Hashem was cultivating in theAm Yisroelwhen He separated theshevatim. And therefore he should emulate whatever good he sees and decide that he wants to take it for himself.MADISON SQUARE GARDEN IS TOO SMALLHowever there is another subject altogether – maybe even more important – that is vital for understanding why Hashem insisted on the separation of theshevatim. And we’ll begin this subject with the followinggemara. Thegemara(Brachos 58a) says thatהרואה אוכלוסי ישראל, if you see a big throng of Jews, you have to make a specialbrachah.What’s calleduchlusei yisroel?600,000 Jews.It’s azechiyah! We’re talking here about Jews who areshomrei Torah.600,000shomrei Torahs! Ahh!It’s an illumination of the mind,it’s such asimchathat you’re required to make abrachahon something like that.Now in thatbrachahyou mention a number of things.And among the things you say in thatbrachahis that אין דעתם דומה זה לזה ואין פרצופיהן דומים זה לזה – In this big throng, no two of them have the same faces. It’s a remarkable statement.The fact is that nobody has an exact replica of your face. Even twins are not exactly the same.And that’s only thechitzoniyus. Because even more than that, no two people have the samedeios, the same minds. People have various characters. Eventzadikim; no twotzadikimare the same. They think differently. When it comes to דעתם, their ideas, their attitudes, it’s a remarkable thing, that even twins who look so much alike, they’re actually very different from one another.THE MOTHER WILL ALWAYS FIND SOMETHING ABOUT THE NOSEIt’s a remarkable fact if you look at a family – let’s say you visit your cousins or it could be your own family – it’s remarkable how different the children are from each other.It’s one of the surprisingnissim.From the same parents, and yet brothers are so different one from the other.Here you have one brother.He’s handsome.He’s graceful.He looks like a real Lord Fauntleroy.He’s a beautiful boy, but a little bit sleepy, a little bit lazy.Now next to him is his brother; not good looking but a very good boy,full of energy.They look like two families, two different brothers entirely.They don’t look alike at all! Maybe you’ll find some resemblance in their nose – their mother will always find some resemblance – but otherwise they are entirely different. It’s a remarkable fact.And sisters also, sisters are very different one from the other.Now, some people think maybe it’s only their own family where this is a problem. He thinks that one of his brothers is too smart. And his little brother is too dull. One is akanoi, and the other one doesn’t care about anything. Maybe in other families it’s better. But the truth is that it was this way in the best family as well. Thegemara(Pesachim 56a) tells us when Yaakov Avinu was on his deathbed and his holy sons were standing around his bed, so he looked up at them, and he was very much worried.They were all different, remarkably different, and that concerned him as he was about to leave this world. After he would pass away, what would hold his children together? They’re so different, and he wouldn’t be around to hold them in place.YOUR HUSBAND’S LONG NOSEAnd so we see that this peculiar fact, that אין דעותיהם שוות and אין פרצופיהן שוות is no accident. Hakadosh Baruch Hu intentionally made people different from each other. Nobody in the whole world has the same face.Their voices are not the same. Their thoughts are different, their ideas, their desires. It’s a remarkable thing.And so here you have a man married to a woman, a fine woman, but he has a nose a little bit longer than she would like.She doesn’t like such a long nose. And he doesn’t like this or that. It gnaws at him. They don’t like the same foods. And I’m only mentioning some superficial things. There’s much more than that, many more differences. I know all about it because my phone is constantly ringing.Don’t ever expect when you get married that your wife will be like you.You will always discover that after all she is a woman and you are a man.נשים עם בפני עצמם, women are a different nation, thegemarasays (Shabbos 62a). Of course we shouldn’t try to emphasize the diversity.Before you get married it’s best to look for somebody who eats the same kind of food that you eat, someone who comes from the same background, as much as possible.Of course you should do that; there’s no reason to make it more difficult.It’s difficult enough as it is.But we have to know beforehand that no matter what, no matter what theshadchantells you, you’re going to be surprised to find many more differences than you ever imagined.And so what we’re seeing now is thatnotwo people are the same! One brother is different than the next, sisters can’t agree on anything, husbands and wives are from different “nations,” every neighbor is different than the next – theAm Yisroelis a nation of variousshevatim.And so we have to wonder, why is that?Wouldn’t it be so wonderful, so beautiful, if we all had the same noses. You’d be in love with your husband’s nose. And if we all thought alike?! Ahh, it would be a pleasure!Shalom al Yisroel!But no such luck. Nobody is the same. And so we see that there was some reason why Hakadosh Baruch Hu made all of us so different one from another. And we’re going to learn now that the answer to this puzzle is actually one of the most vital opportunities for perfection in this world.IF YOU’RE HERE, THERE’S STILL HOPENow to try to answer this puzzle, we’ll first study apossukin Koheles (9:4).We read there:מי אשר יחבר אל כל החיים יש ביטחון – “If somebody is still connected to the living then there’s still hope.” Now that seems like such a simple and obvious statement that we’re surprised that it’s even made – that if you’re still breathing, if you’re still alive, then there’s still hope for you to achieve something in this world.However, we’ll note a superfluous word in thepossuk. It says, אל כל החיים – “He’s connected toallthe living.” It could have said you’re connected “to the living.” Why mentionallthe living?If you’re among the living there’s still some hope for you, that’s all. If the person is already in the cemetery, it’s too late.And if he’s still with the living, if he’s still breathing, he can still accomplish something with his life. Why mentionkolhachaim,allthe living?GET ALONG WITH HIS BLUE HATWhat we’re beginning to see now is that all of these differences among ourselves that have been nurtured by Hashem throughout our history – the twelve springs inEilimare only one small example – are there in order to test us. By means of the wide variety of our fellow Jews, we are provided with the great opportunity of getting along with people who are different than we are.And that’s whatKohelesis telling us – that the one who still wants to retain somebitachon, some hope of accomplishing perfection in this world, it’s only if he understands that he must beyechubar el kol hachaim– attached toallthe living. Learning how to get along withallthe different types – the black hats and the blue hats, the long coats and the short coats, the Polish Jews and the Hungarians, the Syrian Jews and the Persians.El kol hachaim!Now of course if he’s friendly to you, you’ll like him.Or if he wears hispeyoslike you do, or he shakes during davening like you, so you’ll like him. Why not? If he’s your “type,” if he’s yourshevet, it’s much easier.But what will you do with theAm Yisroelin its totality – with all of thefrumJews who are your brothers? Hakadosh Baruch Hu expects you to have a certain attitude of affection,of love, for theAm Yisroelon a whole. It’s amitzvahmin hatorah.Veahavta l’reiachahdoesn’t mean this man right here who is a good friend of yours, who thinks like you do.Veahavtameans all of them. And that’swhywe have people in the world.In order to test us whether we’ll choose to overcome our natural tendencies to shun those different than ourselves, and instead train our minds toyechubar el kol hachaim, to feel connected to everyone.A LOVE FOR THE SEAWe are always being tested by the differences among people.The fact that some Jews saybureechand some saybaruchorboruch,is a test. You know that, don’t you? Even theshevatimpronounced the words oflashon kodeshdifferently. We see that in theTanach(see Shoftim 12:6). And there’s no question that they used idioms peculiar to themselves, ate different foods, dressed differentlyand thought differently. And it was the will of Hashem that the differentiation should persist. And itdidpersist! The distinctive physical features and characteristics of eachshevetbecame emphasized by the inbreeding, and to the untrained eye they appeared as different nations.Like thegemarasays inPesachim(4a) : ההוא דהוה קא אזיל ואמר , a man used to go around and say אכיף ימא אסיסני ביראתא, he loved the seashore.He loved the seashore.בדקו, they began to investigate.Why are you talking so much about the seashore?And they found out he came fromZevulun.זבולון לחוף ימים ישכון,Zevulunlived near the seashore and they loved it.It’s a remarkable thing.Hakadosh Baruch Hu put intoZevuluna love for the sea, and therefore they were a seafaring nation.They were sailors with boats and they loved the sea.SOME KIDS OBEY RULESAnother man used to go around saying דונו דיני – “Judge my dispute.”That means whenever there was some case between him and a fellow man, he didn’t want to arbitrate.He didn’t want to make apesharah.“No, let’s go to the judge and let’s hear what the judge says.”Now he said it so many times דונו דיני, דונו דיני it was suspicious to people. So בדקו אחריו, they searched after his pedigree, and they found that he came fromDan. You remember what it says byDan, דן ידין עמו.Danwas a strict fellow.He followed only the strict line of the law.There are people like that who are very strict with laws.They keep rules.Even little children sometimes are born that way. Some children are like that. They keep rules; it’s their nature. Other children, not so much.Now, all of these character traits were planted in our nation by Hashem – after all,Dandidn’t follow the strict line of the law because he went to a university of law and read the law journals. It was a trait that Hashem gifted him with. AndZevulunwasn’t reading Boat Fishing Monthly or whatever magazine it is, and teaching himself to like the sea; no, it was a characteristic that Hashem placed in his heart. And by maintaining its own territory and its own identity, each tribe tended to marry among themselves, and thereby maintain the characteristics that Hashem gifted them with. The character traits were planted by Hashem, and they therefore deserved to be cultivated.And therefore they remained different. Reuven was very different than Dan and Zevulun. Naftali, Levi, Shimon; they all looked different.They even made sure theirbegadimwere different, and they spoke a different language oflashon hakodesh.Their dialect was different.They lived separately, and they had different expressions. Eachshevetdeveloped different kinds ofmelitzosand language, differentmalbushimandminhagim.DON’T GET BOGGED DOWN BY THE DIFFERENCESSo we see that Hakadosh Baruch Hu put in theshevatimdifferent qualities andthe purpose was in order that they should all get together despite their differences. And when they would come up three times a year to Yerushalayim, it was supposed to beחברים כל ישראל, they’re all together as one family, despite everything that made them different. They were expected to achieve the perfection ofyechubar el kol hachaim, despite the difficulties involved.But it wasn’t an easy task. So when a person fromDanwas passing by and a boy fromYehudahsaw him, he might have ayetzer harato ridicule and say “Tatty, look at that man. Look at his funny clothing.” So the father scolded his son, ‘Oh no, don’t laugh at him.He’s our brother from the holyshevetof Dan.Have respect.Everyshevetiskadosh.” And when a boy ofshevet Reuvensaid, “Look Abba! Isn’t that strange how this person fromEfraimis speaking a queer language – he can’t pronounce the words,” so the father said, “Shh, we don’t talk that way.Shevet Efraimis holy.It’s a very holy tribe,” he said.“They’re our people, our brothers.” And theAm Yisroellearned to overcome theyetzer haraof factionism, ofmachlokes, of partisanship. They learned to respect each other’s customs and idiosyncrasies and trained themselves to refrain from mocking or ridiculing the language, the clothing and the manners of their brother tribes. They knew that Hashem favored these differences and that they were all “tribes of Hashem” (Tehillim 122:4).OPPOSITES: ATTRACT!And so we’re expected to learn from that, the lesson of how important it is to be connected to all of theKlal Yisrael.Because the many differences are there just for that – to give us the opportunity to train ourselves to respect each other’s idiosyncrasies.These have this way of talking and that way of dressing. And evenminhagim, as mentioned, inGallilthey had certainminhagim, while inYehudahthey did the opposite – otherminhagim.And theAm Yisroelhad to get used to respecting the differentminhagimof their fellow Jews.Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to give us the great opportunity of perfection – the perfection ofyechubar el kol hachaim. Hashem wants us to struggle to beyechubarto all those who are living,el kol hachaim, to feel an affection for all the different types. We are expected to overcome the tendency to break up into factionsin our minds– that’s ayetzer hara, to actually feel that we are different factions. Now that’sa very bignisayonby the way, to retain the individuality that Hashem wants, and yet to feel attached with an actual affection to every frum Jew – it’s a very big test.BUMS IN THE BAR MAKE PEACENow, of course there will always be dissension because each one has his own mind. Each one is working toward a principle – when a principle is involved you can’t just yield. You know when bums get together in a bar and they have a dissension, so they could make peace more readily. They could unite with ease because what are they fighting about already? It’s nothing after all.Whereas people who have principles can’t unite. That’s why you findLubavitchergo their way and theSatmerertheir way. And theLakewooderand the otherlitvishehyeshivosdon’t go on either of those ways. Thelitvishehgo their own way and thesefardimwalk a different path. Andchasv’shalomthat they should become united in their principles!Chasv’shalom! Because if so, all principles would die out. Each one tries to serve Hashem according to the way he understands best – and each one respects and loves the other onejust because of that.YOU BETTER ARGUE!You know when Beis Hillel and Beis Shammai argued, nobody ever said, “Come on boys, let’s just settle down and come to an agreement. What’s the use of arguing over nothing?” No, it’snotnothing. It’s everything! It’s the most important thing to argue about – there is nothing else worth arguing about except how to serve Hashem. And each one sought to serve Hashem in the best way. And Hakodosh Boruch Hu intended that – it was no accident. From the beginning it was all planned – eachshevet, eachkehillahwith its own ways, because of the great opportunities for perfection it affords us. Because that’s what Hakodosh Boruch Hu wantsfrom us, theshleimusof learning to get along with those who are different from you.A grandson once showed him a picture in the newspaper depicting an apparent conflict between Jewish groups. “It’s trick photography,” said Rav Miller. “The media loves to drum up conflicts even where none exist. These Jews really love each other and so we love both groups.” “But they seem to be really fighting,” his grandson persisted. “I’ll explain,” Rav Miller replied. “The army has many divisions: the marines, the navy, the air force, etc. Each one is convinced that they are the best, and naturally they feel animosity toward the other branches. Yet, as far as the rest of the nation is concerned, they are one unified army supporting its country. And that is how everyone must look at them, for that is all that concerns them. Every soldier must know where he belongs and stay there – and so should you.” The grandson asked, “Who should I side with?” “You just have to know that you are in the army of Hashem,” Rav Miller answered. “and continue doing whatever service you are performing, keeping your own position. You don’t have to be concerned with the issues of others.” (Rav Avigdor Miller – His Life and His Revolution p. 292)You know, when Hakodosh Boruch Hu brought theLubavitcher Rebbe, the previous one,zichrono l’vracha, to America, it wasn’t an accident. Now, we think that he came here in order to bring back people toyiddishkeit. And it’s true – he wasmachzirb’teshuvaa lot of people. But that’s not the whole truth.And when Hakodosh Boruch Hu brought theSatmerer Rav,zichrono l’vracha,to America, people think it was for the purpose of helping rebuildchassidusin Williamsburg. They were theud mutzal m’eish; people who went through concentration camps, dejected people, broken families, ruined men and women. And he encouraged them to marry again and have children, and he almost single-handedly built up a bigkehillah. So people saw that he was sent by Hakodosh Boruch Hu to bematzila very greatkehillah. And he did! We can’t thank theSatmerer Ravenough for what he did for America. But that’s not the whole truth.THE LUBAVITCHERS ARE LITVAKSWe have to realize something that we don’t like to realize. There was another great benefit that Hashem wanted by bringing variouskehillostogether. And that’s the fact that theLubavitcherRebbecame to America to help theSatmererkehillah! And theSatmererRavcame to America to help theLubavitcherkehillah! You understand that it’s two separatekehillos. They can’t even talk together – their language is different. It’s hard to understand what theSatmererare saying if you’re not accustomed to their language. And they have differentminhagim. I’m not talking only about Torahminhagim– they have differentminhagimeven in eating – how they eat, what they eat. Many things are different about them. These arelitvakers– theLubavitcher chassidimare mostlylitvakers. They speak alitvisheh Yiddish, and theSatmerercome from Hungary and places like that – it’s a different language.So what did Hakodosh Boruch Hu do? He said, “I can’t let them remain that way. To be so separate that they never see each other, and never learn to get along despite their differences, that’s a failure. I want them to get ashleimus. So I’ll bring them to America. I’ll bring the Bobover and the Litvakers together, and the Syrians and the Persians too. I’ll bring them to one place so that they should continue to stand strong in their principlesSo that they should see the differences between them, and retain those differences,and yet at the same time they should get along with each other and love one another. Themachlokesis a great benefit for them, a great opportunity for perfection.RAV MILLER PREDICTS THE FUTUREBecause no matter how important are the principles that they stand for – and theymuststand their ground – but all of them have the same Hakodosh Boruch Hu and the same Torah. And the end will be that maybe they’ll intermarry too. They’ll dance together at weddings! It might take some time, a generation or two generations, but the perfection of being loyal to their principles at the same time as feeling a deep affection for one another, will come. At the end you’ll see that they’ll live together. And each one will gain a perfection that he could never have gotten otherwise.If you would sit inSatmarin Europe all your life and you would stew in your own juice – you’d never have any opposition, you’d never see people with differentminhagim– so you’re not being testedand you’re not being perfected. It’s the opposition that makes you great. When you’re sitting in your ownbeismedrashbut you come into contact with someone who has a differentRebbe, and different ways, that’s your opportunity for greatness.A BENT-DOWN HAT MAKES ME ANGRY!And sometimes it’s not even important things – it’s little things that bother you. Hisyarmulkehis this way and youryarmulkehis a different way. Maybe your hat is round and his hat is bent over. You don’t like that! A bent down hat you can’t stand; you’re angry at it! And when he sees your round hat, he thinks you look like aba’al ga’avah.“What does he think he is? Arebbeh?!” And so there’s friction. It’s אין “כובעיהם” ואין דעותיהם שוות – their hats are different, their faces are different and their ideals are also different.And with all that, they overcome those petty things like hats andyarmulkehsand coats, and they say “I choose to beyechubar el kolhachaim, to all of the various frum Jews, becauseit’s all just a test. And I’m going to pass that test and make myself more and more perfect every day.”EASIER SAID THAN DONENow all this is easier said than done. But once we begin to understand how important thisavodahis, so we begin to realize that this is one subject on which it pays to concentrate. Because it’s easyto say, “Get along with people,” but it’s not always easyto do. You have to have some motivation and that’s an important subject on which we should concentrate for a few minutes.So the question is how do you start working on that in order to fulfill thismitzvahfrom theTorah?Veahavtais aklal gadol betorah, it’s a very great rule of the Torah that you should have a feeling of love, of actual affection, for your fellow Jews. But how do we do it? How can we learn to love our fellow Jews?FELLOW JEW MEANSOBSERVANTJEWNotice that I’m not saying your fellowman.Forget about fellowman.Your fellowJew! Fellow Jew means only your fellowobservantJew.Thereshaimwe leave out.Achicha, reiacha, means people who areshomer mitzvoslike you are; theעבדי אלקי אביך – all the servants of Hashem, that’s theAm Yisroel.And I’m stressing that point because that is the answer to our question! I’ll explain that.I mentioned to you before about Yaakov Avinu’s worries as he lay on his deathbed. He saw children who were so different from one another, and he was concerned, “How could these children become one big unified nation?” So the sons understood their father’s worry and they consoled their father. Now listen to what they said because it’s what we have to always be saying if we want to overcome this problem and succeed atyechubar el kol hachaim, to be connected with all the living. They told Yaakov Avinu, “There’s nothing to worry about: שמע ישראל, “Listen our father, Yisroel, השם אלקינו, Hashem is our G-d, השם אחד, all of us have one G-d.” We might wear different hats and pronounce words differently. And we’ll even argue sometimes. But we’re all together “one nation under one G-d.” He’ll keep us together; He’s the “glue’’ that keeps us together. We’re all עבדי אלקי אביך – despite our differences, we’re all the servants of Hashem together.”And when Yaakov heard that, he said: ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד.“If, notwithstanding all your differences you’ll be together forever, theAm Echaddedicated toHashem Echad, that will be a glory for Hashem, and I can go to the Next World in peace.”HASHEM ECHADIS THE ANSWERAnd so we’re learning now that the solution to our differences is the overriding knowledge that we’re theAm Echadserving theHashem Echad. We’re all one people and that’s something we have to not just say, but to feel.It’s very important for us to learn that, to love every part of theolam shomrei Torah, theAm Hashem,with all of our hearts.Now don’t just say, “I know that; I do that,” because youdon’tdo it. It takes work; it takes thinking and talking. You have to think about this whenever you see a fellow Jew who is different than you. He dresses different. He talks different. He davens different. You’re almost sure he’s from a differentshevet. So you have to begin planting thoughts in your head. Think about the fact that he’s ashomer mitzvoslike you are.He’s a brother in arms.We’re all fighting together to maintain theAmYisroel.We have a big army against us, enemies all around us.Thefrei yiddenare all enemies with us.The irreligious Jews hate us very much.You should know that.גדולה שנאה ששונאים עמי הארץ את התלמידי חכמים יותר ממה ששונאים אומות העולם את ישראל, “The irreligious people hate the frum Jews more than the gentiles hate the Jews” (Pesachim 49b).It’s a fact.We have to fight for our people and be the best of friends among ourselves because we’re surrounded by enemies on all sides.בכל דור ודור עומדים עלינו לכלותנו, everybody wants to overcome us.And therefore when we feel that we’re all fighting together for one cause, forHashem Echad, we’re all marching together in the same regiment against the same enemies, so it’s easier to have a love for your fellow Jew.BE PROUD OF EACH OTHER!And so now we have learned the necessity of identifying with theAm Yisraelof today. But you have to identify.If you’re ashamed of your people – of any of thefrummeh– then you’re not identifying.You have to be proud of all of your people.That’s important.And who are your people?All of us, all the good Jews.Not the liberals.They don’t belong to us.Not the reformers, no.They’re not proud of us, and we’re not proud of them. They want to be like gentiles and they’renichras mei’amav.They’re all cut offnebach.Pity on them.It’s a tragedy.What can we do?But we don’t want to identify with them.We don’t identify with Ben Gurion, and not with Herzl. And not with anybody like them. עמך means עושי מעשה עמך, those who do the deeds of your people.That’s what theAm Yisroelmeans.All the “heroes” that were not loyal to the Torah don’t exist for us. We limit our love to thosewho serve Hashem, those who love Hashem, because that is the only glue that binds theAmYisroeltogether despite our differences.We identify with all observant Jews, whether they’re Jews inTeimanor in Lakewood or inLubavitchor Bnei Brak or in Boro Park or Baltimore.Wherever they are, we identify with them.Whether they’re Sephardi Jews, whether they’re Syrian Jews, whether they’re Egyptian Jews.All Jews that are loyal to the Torah, that’s our people.That’s theAm Echad, and we have to identify with them.It’s important.You can’t feel like he’s a stranger.A Galicianer can’t think, “I’m a stranger to a Hungarian Jew.” No, we’re not strangers to anybody if they’re loyal Jews.It’s very important for us to learn that.DO YOU WEAR A TOP HAT FOR YONTIF?So now theTeimanimcome with their robes and their turbans and the Jews come let’s say from Canada with black hats.Some would come in with top hats yet.Some still wear top hats onyontif,silk hats.A man wearing a top silk hat and another man wearing a turban look at each other with the greatest respect.That’s my brother.Anothershevet,allshivtei Kah,holy people.Ohhh, now we’re talking! Because even though we all have our differences and our own lives, there always remains this glue of service of Hashem that binds us together in this kinship of brotherhood. It’s much more than a blood line; it’s a real bond, a bond of the mind, something that actually ties us together.We’re not merely connected to each other by blood, by DNA.A fellow Jew is a brother who is עמיתך, he’s עמך בתורה ובמצוות. Chazal tell us that אחיך means אחיך במצוות, “your brother in mitzvos.” It’s not merely a brother of the same ancestor; it’s a brother of the same mind! With the same ideals and attitudes; he’s your “brother in arms.” Among ourselves, we have to be the best of friends. Because no matter where you are; you could be Jew in Australia, aSatmererin Williamsburg, or a Jew in Tel-Aviv, we’re all in this world for one purpose, to serve Hakodosh Boruch Hu. When we feel that we’re all fighting together for one cause, to serve Hashem, we’re all marching together in the same regiment, so it’s much easier to have a love for your fellow men. How much of an affection are you supposed to feel for brothers who are of one mind with you!MODEH B’MIKTZASIS STILL SOMETHINGAll thekehillos, even the Modern Orthodox who are far away from what we consider the great ideals ofavodas Hashem, are our brothers. Absolutely! If a Jew is ashomermitzvos, he tries to keep themitzvos, then even though he doesn’t exactly do everything the way we do it, he’s still a brother. If he doesn’t doaveiros, I don’t care what kind ofyarmulkehhe wears. If he wears a knittedyarmulkehor if he wears something else, he’s still my brother. Even a small littleyarmulkeh,so he’s “amodeh b’miktzas,”but he’s still one of ours. A person who keepstaharashamishpacha, he eats kosher, he sends his children toyeshivaand not public school, he’s ashomer Shabbos, he hasmezuzoson his doors – so a person like that is our brother, and don’t make any mistake about it. And you love him like any other Jew.Now, don’t misquote me; I’m not saying that the modern orthodox man has to be your brother in the sense that you’ll move into the same house as him. It doesn’t mean that you should associate with him if you don’t have to.That’s something else altogether. If your brother has the flu, you don’t want to be too close to him because it’s contagious. But you still love him, no less. Over here, in this place, we say that we want to associate only with the best onesbecause we want to be the best.But when you see another frum Jew on the street, any frum Jew, he’syour brotherin the most literal sense of the word. And you have amitzvahof ואהבת לרעך כמוך – you have amitzvahto love him. That’s how to think about your fellow Jew. And even though he follows a different rebbe, or a different set of political objectives, nevertheless, don’t lose sight of the fact that fundamentally he belongs to your people and that therefore you’re obligated, to think well of him, to recognize him as your brother, and to love him.TRY TO SEE FROM HIS VIEWPOINTThat’s what it means לעולם תהא דעתו של אדם מעורבת עם הבריות – A person’s mind always should be united –mi’urevesmeans joined – with the minds of other people (Kesubos 17a). Now this I mentioned here more than once that it doesn’t mean you have to yield when somebody is doing something wrong; it doesn’t mean you should stand down when someone is doing sins. But when you happen to like one thing and somebody else is enthusiastic about something else, and you have no interest in that thing, don’t belittle it. Try to agree with people. Always try to see things from the other man’s side.Your mind is different – and Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants you to keep your mind. And his mind is different – and Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants him to keep his mind. But Hashem brought you together now just for the purpose of benefiting the both of you. That’s theshleimusof both of you.So if you walk in the streets and you see Jewish boys with yarmulkes and black hats coming out of theyeshivasor buses carrying children toyeshivos,so your heart should overflow with happiness.You’re looking at your people! Or you see a group offrumgirls dressedb’tzniuscoming out of the Bais Yaakov schools, walking with decency, and wearing long skirts. It’s a pleasure to see!Your heart is full of happiness to see theAm Hashem.You walk through blocks and blocks and see fathers with children going to thebeis hakenesesand you love to see it.Your heart swells with pride and happiness.You love your people.Hashem wants that.Some people are so happy when they see Jews.They just weep with joy when they see the Jewish people.My people,ami.THAT BOY WAS RUNNING TOWARDS HASHEMI’ll tell you a little story.There was a boy in Chicago.A true story – I won’t say his name but today he’s an important personality. He lived in a gentile neighborhood. He was a young boy and his heart yearned for his people so one day he got up, took a long walk to the east side of Chicago, to the Jewish neighborhood. And as he saw a Jewish child walking in the street, he burst into tears. This boy burst into tears.He was so emotionally happy.‘Ahh!My people.” He felt connected to his people.A boy like that is headed towards not just people.He’s headed towards Hakadosh Baruch Hu.That’s why it does you very good to walk through Boro Park.Bigmezuzosone after the other.Blocks and blocks of Jewish houses. And you’re thinking as you walk, “I’m walking among my people. בתוך עמי אנכי יושבת. It’s my people and I love them. I don’t care what hat he wears or what group he belongs to, it’s all my people!”You can’t even imagine what an opportunity you’re missing by not making use of this feeling ofachvah,of brotherly camaraderie, that is available to you all the time. The next time you walk intoshuland you see theAm Yisroelgathering todavento Hashem, you should put your mind to work: “This is my nation! My brothers! And we all share the common purpose of serving Hashem.”And when you’re shopping in the kosher supermarket and it’s crowded, and the lines are long – those are precious moments! You’re looking down the aisles and all you can see are your “brothers and sisters”.Women, men, children, all buying kosher food. That’s a nation dedicated with a singular heart to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. ישראל אין להם אלא לב אחד לאביהם שבשמים – “The wholeAm Yisroelhas but one heart devoted to their Father in Heaven” (Sukkah 45b). It’s not just poetry; that’s actually the greatness of theAm Yisroelthat binds us as brothers.THIS IS A CAREERNow this is not a small thing that you heard tonight.It’s a career.You have to be serious of course.You have to not only hear it, hearing is very important, you have to try to practice it.Now even though you do it a little bit, it’s a tremendous achievement.If you’ll think once a week about it, once a week, for two minutes on the subject of achieving a certain respect and love for kol hachaim, for all of your fellow Jews, then you know that you came to this world for a purpose!Now, all this might seem little queer for those who don’t know their purpose in the world. So when you go outside later and they’ll ask you, “What did Rabbi Miller speak about tonight?” So you’ll say, “He told us to love our fellow Jew.” They’ll laugh at you: “What’s thechiddush? Who doesn’t know that?!” But the truth iswho does it?! Who thinks about it? If he loves, he loves; if not, what could he do already? He’spatur,he thinks. But no, we’re learning tonight that you have to work on loving theAm Yisroel,with an intense love. And you’ll do it by first of all recognizing that we’re anAm Echad.You have a big career ahead of you because when it says ואהבת לרעך כמוך, it doesn’t mean that you should tolerate him, or even that you should get along with him. It means that you should generate aahavah,a love, a real love, for your fellow Jew. You have to understand how far away we really are from even beginning such anavodah.Of course, we’re willing to say that we agree with the idea. Maybe someday we’ll even come around to it. But we won’t. You won’t come around to it unless you start doing something about it. And when a person begins to understand that, and feel a little bit of love for all of his fellowovdei Hashem, then he has achieved the perfection that Hashem expected from him since that day many years ago when He prepared twelve separate springs inEilimfor theAm Yisroel.It’s the perfection of choosing for yourself the good from all theshevatim, as well as the perfection of feeling a love, a real affection, for all those different than you. And those two methods ofshleimus, are the main purpose of why Hakodosh Boruch Hu brought you into this world of the twelve differentshevatim.HAVE A WONDERFUL SHABBOSGo Back See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Learning to Love All Types of JewsONE NATION UNDER G-DWe all know already that the children of Yaakov were in Mitzrayim for two hundred and ten years and it was there that this small family of twelve brothers developed into one great nation. And because they didn’t have any territory to divide among themselves; they were primarily in the area of Goshenand couldn’t spread out and settle into separate districts, we would have therefore expected that they should have lived together as one people, the Am Bnei Yisrael. L’havdil, like they say in America, “One nation, under G-d.” That’s what wewould have anticipated.And yet, what do we see? That the developing nation of the children of Yaakov remained twelve separate shevatim. For more than two centuries they maintained the boundaries; everybody knew his shevet and identified primarily with his own tribe. Everyone knew where he belonged. For two hundred years they didn’t give up their individual identity. Yehudah remained Yehudah, Reuven remained Reuven, and Shimon was Shimon. And that’s a remarkable thing because it was in Mitzrayim that they were supposed to grow into oneunified nation. And therefore we should study that; it’s a strange thing and it deserves a great deal of attention.THE GHETTO OF 1776Imagine that for two hundred and ten years Jews lived in America. Let’s say, in 1776 some Jews came to America from Germany and others came from Spain. Some immigrated from England and the Turkish Jews also arrived on the shores of America. So by the time two hundred and ten years would pass, by the time 1986 would come, halevai they should still remain Jews! But that they should remain segregated into strict boundaries, separate people, living separate lives?! Such a thing couldn’t even be imagined! It’s one nation and the different families and nationalities would all be amalgamated after a while. They would merge together and the boundaries would disappear. And why not? After all, we’re all Jews, one tribe of ovdei Hashem. And yet we see that in Mitzrayim it wasn’t like that. Not only did they remain Jews, but they retained their status as separate shevatim.So you’ll say maybe it was something temporary, something reserved for their stay in Mitzrayim, when they were still a growing family of different brothers, and not yet a unified nation. But when they would come out of Mitzrayim, so now they’re a full-fledged nation already, so who needs this segregation anymore?THE SPRINGS OF SEGREGATIONAnd yet surprisingly, what we find is that this was the permanent plan of Hashem for the Am Yisroel; it was His conspicuous policy to maintain the individual identity of each tribe. We see that Hakadosh Baruch Hu insisted there should be separate shevatim even when they came out of Mitzrayim. We find that in our parsha: ויבואו אילמה ושם שתים עשרה עינות מים – “And they came to Eilim and there were twelve springs of water…and they encamped there near the water” (Beshalach 15:27). Now if the Torah goes out of its way to tell us the number of springs, then the number twelve is not superfluous. Twelve springs?!That wasn’t an accident; that was Hashem’s plan from the days of ma’asehBereishis – they didn’t dig the springs on their own. This was the hand of Hashem guiding His people in the way He wanted for them.So we’ll understand that the springs of much needed fresh water in the parched desert was the preferred place for people to gather. Everyone needs water after all. And therefore there is no doubt that it was the plan of Hashem to have separate springs for each of the twelve shevatim. The plan of Hashem was segregation. The Reuveineeshould spent their time with the Reuveinee, the Shimonee with the Shimonee and so on and so forth. And we’re told about it; the separation is emphasized. More than emphasized; Hakodosh Boruch Hu made sure that it would remain that way always.ARE WE REALLY “KE’ISH ECHAD”?Because when you learn Torah, if you pay attention to the pesukim, you’ll note that this wasn’t an isolated incident; it was no aberration.You see a very clear thing that this is how the Am Yisroel always lived in the ancient times- as distinct and divided shevatim.You remember when they came to receive the Torah at Har Sinai.Everyone knows what the Torah says: ויחן שם ישראל נגד ההר – “And the nation encamped there, opposite the mountain” (Shemos 19:2). And Chazal are bothered by the word vayichan – and heencamped, in the singular. And they say that the nation made camp כאיש אחד בלב אחד – “Like one man, with one heart” (Rashi, ibid.)However even there we find something very queer. They all encamped together “like one man, with one heart,” and yet Moshe Rabeinu, al pi Hashem,had different plans for them. When they were about to receive the Torah, it says (Shemos 24:4) that Moshe built twelve matzeivos, one for each one of the twelve shevatim. ויבן מזבח תחת ההר ושתים עשרה מצבה לשנים עשר שבטי ישראל – Moshe built – not one mizbei’ach at the foot of the mountain, but he built twelvematzeivos for each one of the shevatim separately!That was what Hakodosh Boruch Hu insisted on at kabalas hatorah. Twelve separate “standing stones.” Now that’s very strange. Why was it necessary? They’re all coming to receive the Torah together“like one man, with one heart.” What’s the problem with that? Let them come together as one nation! I’ll tell you something else that always bothered me. You know that the kohen gadol carried always on his chest the choshen, the breastplate. And on the breastplate he had twelve precious stones, each one distinguished from the next; separate colors, set off from each other in separate settings. And on these twelve precious stones were engraved the names of the twelve shevatim. והאבנים תהיין על שמות בני ישראל שתים עשרה על שמותם… איש על שמו תהיין לשני עשר שבט – “The stones should be according to the names of the Bnei Yisroel, twelve according to their names… each man by his name they should be, for the twelve tribes” (Shemos 28:21). That’s what Hashem wanted to see – that in the Mishkan each shevetshould remain separate.And it wasn’t just the symbolic choshen in the Mishkan. It was actually how they lived their lives in the midbar! They lived in separate areas, under different colored flags, each one distinguished from the next. They lived and traveled for forty years segregated from one another – set boundaries, this shevet here, this one here. There were no walls but there were always clearly defined boundaries.HASHEM WANTS STRONG BORDERSAnd a bigger kashah; even when they came to Eretz Yisroel, they should have become one great nation. But no. There were twelve tribes, and each one got a separate territory. That’s a queer thing. Throughout all the generations the fact that they lived apart, within separate boundaries, caused them to have separate lifestyles. They all kept the Torah but each one had minhagim that were different. Anshei Galil had this minhag, anshei Yehuda a different minhag. There weredifferent traditions and separate minhagim, and in the course of time many things became very deeply ingrained in them. It was like twelve different nations within one people. And for me, that’s really a very big kasha – why did there have to be separate shevatim when they settled down permanently in Eretz Yisroel?Now lehavdil elef havdalos when the English first came to America so they settled here and there; they settled in Massachusetts, and in Connecticut and Virginia. Not because of any reason that they wanted to remain separate; that’s just how it came about. One colony settled here, one there. And after they settled, so in order to manage the collection of taxes, so the head government in England, divided them into states. In each state there was a tax collector, and they had separate offices for each state. But it was for the sake of convenience – not because there was any real difference between the states. They were all the same. All the goyim are the same. Now it could be that in the course of time they developed certain dialects, certain differences, but lechatchilah, at the beginning they had no intention of being different people. But lehavdil elef havdalos here it was al pi Hashem. The land was divided according to the command, the will, of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. He wanted His people to be separate. I don’t know if it bothers you but it bothers me very much. Now why didn’t they say we should all unite and be one people? Let’s all be one people now. Why should we be broken up into twelve different tribes? Why did they need twelve shevatim? They came out of Mitzrayim and now they’re am echad. They’re one nation. Why keep separate shevatim? And to my little head, that’s a very big question. Why couldn’t it be one country? That’s what we would do if it would have been our little seichel making decisions.EVERYONE BRINGS SOMETHING TO THE TABLE!Now we have to understand; there are no accidents in this world. Hakadosh Baruch Hu has planned these things that way- and it’s a puzzle. And so we’ll try to understand why is that, what is the purpose of Hashem over here?And so we’ll say as follows: It’s clear to us that the purpose of maintaining the individual status of each shevet is because each tribe possessed its peculiar characteristics, which were its contribution to the general perfection of the Am Yisroel. And Hakodosh Boruch Hu insisted that each shevet should maintain its identity, and thereby contribute to the general perfection of the Am Yisroel as a whole.We get so many benefits from each kehillah, because each group of frum Jews brings something else to the table, some benefit for the Am Yisroel. Our nation wouldn’t be the perfect nation it is, if it wasn’t for the variety of paths in the service of Hashem that make up our people. And that’s exactly why Hakodosh Boruch Hu insisted on the twelve springs in Eilim. Because those separate springs signified Hashem’s plan to encourage each tribe to maintain its individuality. As they came to draw the much needed water, each tribe frequented its own well and was therefore able to avoid being swallowed up by the others. Each group retained their individual identity.Now you have to know that the differences among the shevatimwas a model for what would persist throughout the entire history of the Am Yisroel. Even when some the shevatim went lost, or became diluted one among the other in golus, we always remained a nation of different tribes; different ideals and attitudes, various preferences of paths in the service ofHashem.WHO NEEDS CHASSIDIM, MISNAGDIM AND SEFARDIM?I’m frequently asked: What’s the benefit of different types of servants of Hashem? Who needs chassidim and misnagdimand sefardim? Wouldn’t it have been better if we all walked together on one path towards Hakodosh Boruch Hu?So I always say: Why is it that you’ll find in the supermarket clover honey and orange blossom honey and buckwheat honey? There are at least ten varieties of honey! Who needs it?! And the answer is that it makes life more delectable! Variety is a pleasure! After all, Hakodosh Boruch Hu could have given us nothing but red delicious apples. Let’s say you’d pass a fruit stand and all you would see is bins and bins of red delicious apples. Now, red delicious apples are a treat; we can’t complain about them, but how much more fun it is when we have ten different kinds of apples! And even better, to have tens and tens of varieties of fruit. It’s much more fun when you can choose from a wide variety of good things.And therefore, there are all kinds of methods of serving Hashem, each one that has been cultivated by Hashem Himself, by the separation of kehillos. Sometimes a person can choose one method and stick to it always. Or sometimes you can choose from the fruit store of the different shevatim. Sometimes you’ll choose something from the Gerrer, another thing you’ll take from Lakewood, something you’ll pick from Lubavitch, something you’ll take from Belz, and something else you’ll nosh from Satmer. And so on. Every shevethad something to contribute. You can be sure that there are a lot of delightful fruit in all of these various places that help the AmYisroel in its avodas Hashem.Everybody is helping out! Some kehillos brought to the Am Yisroel the great benefits of mussar to the Am Yisroel, while other kehillos brought chassidus. From some communities we learn to be kanaaim for the truth and others impress us with their hasmadah in limud hatorah or gemillas chasodim. I myself have learned from one group of Jews in Flatbush what it means to be michabeid talmidei chachomim.Because there’s no end to the variety of paths that the Am Yisroel walk toward the One Hashem and there’s what to learn from everyone.MAKING ENEMIES FOR RAV MILLERNow I’m not going to tell you what’s best. Someone asked me, what does Hakodosh Boruch Hu want from me? Am I supposed to be chassidish, or litvish or what? Now that’s some big order. He wants me to make enemies, the one who asked me that question.Hashem wants you to be the best that you can be. Some people can be their best if they’re chassidish. Some people can be their best if they’re litvish. Other people can be their best if they’re sefardi. It’s like asking – “What is the best diet for all of mankind?” The best type of diet depends on each individual person. People are different. Some people are so different that their diets are radically different. So whatever it is that you choose, you should make it a principle in your life to always choose whatever it is that will give you the most success in life– and success in this world means preparing for the Next World.EVERYONE IS WRONGEveryone is right. And everyone is wrong. Nobody is perfect in this world. And most important is to live with the principle of knowing that we ourselves are not altogether right. And we have to do our best to improve. Although we don’t have to adopt what everybody else does, and everyone should follow the customs and manners of his kehilla in the very best manner, nevertheless, he should know that there are things to be learned everywhere.Even though you’re a chossid, when you walk into Telshe Yeshiva, you can learn good things there too. And if a Telshe bochur goes to Williamsburg, he can learn good things there, no question about it. Therefore, everyone should try to steal from others all the good things they can. Instead of going around and saying “Well, I saw in this shteibel that they talk during davening so it’s not so bad.” Or, “In the other place they daven fast, so I can also daven fast.” So this person goes around collecting all the wrong thingsfrom all the places. No! Go around collecting all the good things from everybody – that’s what they’re there for.BE JEALOUS AND STEALAnd that’s the person who will succeed. That’s what jealousy is for. Kinah means to be koneh, to acquire, to be jealous of all the good things that you find. “Why is he saying a long shemonahesrei and not me?” “Why does he treat his wife so nicely and I’m so gruff?” “Why does he go out to learn at night and I’m still wasting away?” And everybody should try to steal from everyone else all the good things that they find.That’s our purpose – to acquire all the qualities that find favor in the eyes of Hashem. Because what Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants of us is shleimus – perfection. Shleimus in knowledge of the Torah, perfection in knowing His ways, perfection in recognizing Him in history and in nature. Perfection in character and self-control and perfection in kindliness to our fellow man. Every form of perfection that’s possible for a person to emulate, to imitate, to steal from all sides, he should do that. And the various groups that make up the Am Yisroel have all of those things to offer.And so whenever a person comes comes into contact with people different than himself, other shevatim, other kehillos, whenever he sees anything good in the world, he should recognize that these differences are exactly what Hashem was cultivating in the Am Yisroel when He separated the shevatim. And therefore he should emulate whatever good he sees and decide that he wants to take it for himself.MADISON SQUARE GARDEN IS TOO SMALLHowever there is another subject altogether – maybe even more important – that is vital for understanding why Hashem insisted on the separation of the shevatim. And we’ll begin this subject with the following gemara. The gemara (Brachos 58a) says that הרואה אוכלוסי ישראל, if you see a big throng of Jews, you have to make a special brachah. What’s called uchlusei yisroel? 600,000 Jews. It’s a zechiyah! We’re talking here about Jews who are shomrei Torah. 600,000 shomrei Torahs! Ahh! It’s an illumination of the mind,it’s such a simcha that you’re required to make abrachah on something like that.Now in that brachah you mention a number of things. And among the things you say in that brachah is that אין דעתם דומה זה לזה ואין פרצופיהן דומים זה לזה – In this big throng, no two of them have the same faces. It’s a remarkable statement. The fact is that nobody has an exact replica of your face. Even twins are not exactly the same. And that’s only the chitzoniyus. Because even more than that, no two people have the same deios, the same minds. People have various characters. Even tzadikim; no two tzadikim are the same. They think differently. When it comes to דעתם, their ideas, their attitudes, it’s a remarkable thing, that even twins who look so much alike, they’re actually very different from one another.THE MOTHER WILL ALWAYS FIND SOMETHING ABOUT THE NOSEIt’s a remarkable fact if you look at a family – let’s say you visit your cousins or it could be your own family – it’s remarkable how different the children are from each other. It’s one of the surprising nissim. From the same parents, and yet brothers are so different one from the other. Here you have one brother. He’s handsome. He’s graceful. He looks like a real Lord Fauntleroy. He’s a beautiful boy, but a little bit sleepy, a little bit lazy. Now next to him is his brother; not good looking but a very good boy,full of energy. They look like two families, two different brothers entirely. They don’t look alike at all! Maybe you’ll find some resemblance in their nose – their mother will always find some resemblance – but otherwise they are entirely different. It’s a remarkable fact. And sisters also, sisters are very different one from the other.Now, some people think maybe it’s only their own family where this is a problem. He thinks that one of his brothers is too smart. And his little brother is too dull. One is a kanoi, and the other one doesn’t care about anything. Maybe in other families it’s better. But the truth is that it was this way in the best family as well. The gemara (Pesachim 56a) tells us when Yaakov Avinu was on his deathbed and his holy sons were standing around his bed, so he looked up at them, and he was very much worried. They were all different, remarkably different, and that concerned him as he was about to leave this world. After he would pass away, what would hold his children together? They’re so different, and he wouldn’t be around to hold them in place. YOUR HUSBAND’S LONG NOSEAnd so we see that this peculiar fact, that אין דעותיהם שוות and אין פרצופיהן שוות is no accident. Hakadosh Baruch Hu intentionally made people different from each other. Nobody in the whole world has the same face. Their voices are not the same. Their thoughts are different, their ideas, their desires. It’s a remarkable thing. And so here you have a man married to a woman, a fine woman, but he has a nose a little bit longer than she would like. She doesn’t like such a long nose. And he doesn’t like this or that. It gnaws at him. They don’t like the same foods. And I’m only mentioning some superficial things. There’s much more than that, many more differences. I know all about it because my phone is constantly ringing.Don’t ever expect when you get married that your wife will be like you. You will always discover that after all she is a woman and you are a man. נשים עם בפני עצמם, women are a different nation, the gemara says (Shabbos 62a). Of course we shouldn’t try to emphasize the diversity. Before you get married it’s best to look for somebody who eats the same kind of food that you eat, someone who comes from the same background, as much as possible. Of course you should do that; there’s no reason to make it more difficult. It’s difficult enough as it is. But we have to know beforehand that no matter what, no matter what the shadchan tells you, you’re going to be surprised to find many more differences than you ever imagined.And so what we’re seeing now is that no two people are the same! One brother is different than the next, sisters can’t agree on anything, husbands and wives are from different “nations,” every neighbor is different than the next – the Am Yisroel is a nation of various shevatim.And so we have to wonder, why is that? Wouldn’t it be so wonderful, so beautiful, if we all had the same noses. You’d be in love with your husband’s nose. And if we all thought alike?! Ahh, it would be a pleasure! Shalom al Yisroel!But no such luck. Nobody is the same. And so we see that there was some reason why Hakadosh Baruch Hu made all of us so different one from another. And we’re going to learn now that the answer to this puzzle is actually one of the most vital opportunities for perfection in this world.IF YOU’RE HERE, THERE’S STILL HOPENow to try to answer this puzzle, we’ll first study a possuk in Koheles (9:4). We read there: מי אשר יחבר אל כל החיים יש ביטחון – “If somebody is still connected to the living then there’s still hope.” Now that seems like such a simple and obvious statement that we’re surprised that it’s even made – that if you’re still breathing, if you’re still alive, then there’s still hope for you to achieve something in this world.However, we’ll note a superfluous word in the possuk. It says, אל כל החיים – “He’s connected to all the living.” It could have said you’re connected “to the living.” Why mention all the living? If you’re among the living there’s still some hope for you, that’s all. If the person is already in the cemetery, it’s too late. And if he’s still with the living, if he’s still breathing, he can still accomplish something with his life. Why mention kol hachaim, all the living? GET ALONG WITH HIS BLUE HATWhat we’re beginning to see now is that all of these differences among ourselves that have been nurtured by Hashem throughout our history – the twelve springs in Eilim are only one small example – are there in order to test us. By means of the wide variety of our fellow Jews, we are provided with the great opportunity of getting along with people who are different than we are.And that’s what Koheles is telling us – that the one who still wants to retain some bitachon, some hope of accomplishing perfection in this world, it’s only if he understands that he must be yechubar el kol hachaim – attached to all the living. Learning how to get along with all the different types – the black hats and the blue hats, the long coats and the short coats, the Polish Jews and the Hungarians, the Syrian Jews and the Persians. El kol hachaim!Now of course if he’s friendly to you, you’ll like him. Or if he wears his peyos like you do, or he shakes during davening like you, so you’ll like him. Why not? If he’s your “type,” if he’s your shevet, it’s much easier.But what will you do with the Am Yisroel in its totality – with all of the frum Jews who are your brothers? Hakadosh Baruch Hu expects you to have a certain attitude of affection, of love, for the Am Yisroel on a whole. It’s a mitzvah min hatorah. Veahavta l’reiachah doesn’t mean this man right here who is a good friend of yours, who thinks like you do. Veahavta means all of them. And that’s why we have people in the world. In order to test us whether we’ll choose to overcome our natural tendencies to shun those different than ourselves, and instead train our minds to yechubar el kol hachaim, to feel connected to everyone.A LOVE FOR THE SEAWe are always being tested by the differences among people. The fact that some Jews say bureech and some say baruch or boruch, is a test. You know that, don’t you? Even the shevatimpronounced the words of lashon kodesh differently. We see that in the Tanach (see Shoftim 12:6). And there’s no question that they used idioms peculiar to themselves, ate different foods, dressed differently and thought differently. And it was the will of Hashem that the differentiation should persist. And it did persist! The distinctive physical features and characteristics of each shevet became emphasized by the inbreeding, and to the untrained eye they appeared as different nations.Like the gemara says in Pesachim (4a) : ההוא דהוה קא אזיל ואמר , a man used to go around and say אכיף ימא אסיסני ביראתא, he loved the seashore. He loved the seashore. בדקו, they began to investigate. Why are you talking so much about the seashore? And they found out he came from Zevulun. זבולון לחוף ימים ישכון, Zevulun lived near the seashore and they loved it. It’s a remarkable thing. Hakadosh Baruch Hu put into Zevulun a love for the sea, and therefore they were a seafaring nation. They were sailors with boats and they loved the sea.SOME KIDS OBEY RULESAnother man used to go around saying דונו דיני – “Judge my dispute.”That means whenever there was some case between him and a fellow man, he didn’t want to arbitrate. He didn’t want to make a pesharah. “No, let’s go to the judge and let’s hear what the judge says.” Now he said it so many times דונו דיני, דונו דיני it was suspicious to people. So בדקו אחריו, they searched after his pedigree, and they found that he came from Dan. You remember what it says by Dan, דן ידין עמו. Dan was a strict fellow. He followed only the strict line of the law. There are people like that who are very strict with laws. They keep rules. Even little children sometimes are born that way. Some children are like that. They keep rules; it’s their nature. Other children, not so much.Now, all of these character traits were planted in our nation by Hashem – after all, Dan didn’t follow the strict line of the law because he went to a university of law and read the law journals. It was a trait that Hashem gifted him with. And Zevulun wasn’t reading Boat Fishing Monthly or whatever magazine it is, and teaching himself to like the sea; no, it was a characteristic that Hashem placed in his heart. And by maintaining its own territory and its own identity, each tribe tended to marry among themselves, and thereby maintain the characteristics that Hashem gifted them with. The character traits were planted by Hashem, and they therefore deserved to be cultivated.And therefore they remained different. Reuven was very different than Dan and Zevulun. Naftali, Levi, Shimon; they all looked different. They even made sure their begadim were different, and they spoke a different language of lashon hakodesh. Their dialect was different. They lived separately, and they had different expressions. Each shevetdeveloped different kinds of melitzos and language, different malbushim and minhagim. DON’T GET BOGGED DOWN BY THE DIFFERENCESSo we see that Hakadosh Baruch Hu put in the shevatimdifferent qualities and the purpose was in order that they should all get together despite their differences. And when they would come up three times a year to Yerushalayim, it was supposed to be חברים כל ישראל, they’re all together as one family, despite everything that made them different. They were expected to achieve the perfection of yechubar el kol hachaim, despite the difficulties involved.But it wasn’t an easy task. So when a person from Dan was passing by and a boy from Yehudah saw him, he might have a yetzer hara to ridicule and say “Tatty, look at that man. Look at his funny clothing.” So the father scolded his son, ‘Oh no, don’t laugh at him. He’s our brother from the holy shevet of Dan. Have respect. Every shevet is kadosh.” And when a boy of shevet Reuven said, “Look Abba! Isn’t that strange how this person from Efraim is speaking a queer language – he can’t pronounce the words,” so the father said, “Shh, we don’t talk that way. Shevet Efraim is holy. It’s a very holy tribe,” he said. “They’re our people, our brothers.” And the Am Yisroellearned to overcome the yetzer hara of factionism, of machlokes, of partisanship. They learned to respect each other’s customs and idiosyncrasies and trained themselves to refrain from mocking or ridiculing the language, the clothing and the manners of their brother tribes. They knew that Hashem favored these differences and that they were all “tribes of Hashem” (Tehillim 122:4).OPPOSITES: ATTRACT!And so we’re expected to learn from that, the lesson of how important it is to be connected to all of the Klal Yisrael. Because the many differences are there just for that – to give us the opportunity to train ourselves to respect each other’s idiosyncrasies. These have this way of talking and that way of dressing. And even minhagim, as mentioned, in Gallil they had certain minhagim, while in Yehudah they did the opposite – other minhagim. And the Am Yisroel had to get used to respecting the different minhagim of their fellow Jews.Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants to give us the great opportunity of perfection – the perfection of yechubar el kol hachaim. Hashem wants us to struggle to be yechubar to all those who are living, el kol hachaim, to feel an affection for all the different types. We are expected to overcome the tendency to break up into factions in our minds – that’s a yetzer hara, to actually feel that we are different factions. Now that’s a very big nisayon by the way, to retain the individuality that Hashem wants, and yet to feel attached with an actual affection to every frum Jew – it’s a very big test.BUMS IN THE BAR MAKE PEACENow, of course there will always be dissension because each one has his own mind. Each one is working toward a principle – when a principle is involved you can’t just yield. You know when bums get together in a bar and they have a dissension, so they could make peace more readily. They could unite with ease because what are they fighting about already? It’s nothing after all.Whereas people who have principles can’t unite. That’s why you find Lubavitcher go their way and the Satmerer their way. And the Lakewooder and the other litvisheh yeshivos don’t go on either of those ways. The litvisheh go their own way and the sefardim walk a different path. And chas v’shalom that they should become united in their principles! Chas v’shalom! Because if so, all principles would die out. Each one tries to serve Hashem according to the way he understands best – and each one respects and loves the other one just because of that.YOU BETTER ARGUE!You know when Beis Hillel and Beis Shammai argued, nobody ever said, “Come on boys, let’s just settle down and come to an agreement. What’s the use of arguing over nothing?” No, it’s not nothing. It’s everything! It’s the most important thing to argue about – there is nothing else worth arguing about except how to serve Hashem. And each one sought to serve Hashem in the best way. And Hakodosh Boruch Hu intended that – it was no accident. From the beginning it was all planned – each shevet, each kehillah with its own ways, because of the great opportunities for perfection it affords us. Because that’s what Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants from us, the shleimus of learning to get along with those who are different from you.A grandson once showed him a picture in the newspaper depicting an apparent conflict between Jewish groups. “It’s trick photography,” said Rav Miller. “The media loves to drum up conflicts even where none exist. These Jews really love each other and so we love both groups.” “But they seem to be really fighting,” his grandson persisted. “I’ll explain,” Rav Miller replied. “The army has many divisions: the marines, the navy, the air force, etc. Each one is convinced that they are the best, and naturally they feel animosity toward the other branches. Yet, as far as the rest of the nation is concerned, they are one unified army supporting its country. And that is how everyone must look at them, for that is all that concerns them. Every soldier must know where he belongs and stay there – and so should you.” The grandson asked, “Who should I side with?” “You just have to know that you are in the army of Hashem,” Rav Miller answered. “and continue doing whatever service you are performing, keeping your own position. You don’t have to be concerned with the issues of others.” (Rav Avigdor Miller – His Life and His Revolution p. 292)You know, when Hakodosh Boruch Hu brought the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the previous one, zichrono l’vracha, to America, it wasn’t an accident. Now, we think that he came here in order to bring back people to yiddishkeit. And it’s true – he was machzirb’teshuva a lot of people. But that’s not the whole truth.And when Hakodosh Boruch Hu brought the Satmerer Rav, zichrono l’vracha, to America, people think it was for the purpose of helping rebuild chassidus in Williamsburg. They were the ud mutzal m’eish; people who went through concentration camps, dejected people, broken families, ruined men and women. And he encouraged them to marry again and have children, and he almost single-handedly built up a big kehillah. So people saw that he was sent by Hakodosh Boruch Hu to be matzil a very great kehillah. And he did! We can’t thank the Satmerer Ravenough for what he did for America. But that’s not the whole truth.THE LUBAVITCHERS ARE LITVAKSWe have to realize something that we don’t like to realize. There was another great benefit that Hashem wanted by bringing various kehillos together. And that’s the fact that the Lubavitcher Rebbe came to America to help the Satmererkehillah! And the Satmerer Ravcame to America to help the Lubavitcher kehillah! You understand that it’s two separate kehillos. They can’t even talk together – their language is different. It’s hard to understand what the Satmerer are saying if you’re not accustomed to their language. And they have different minhagim. I’m not talking only about Torah minhagim – they have different minhagim even in eating – how they eat, what they eat. Many things are different about them. These are litvakers – the Lubavitcher chassidim are mostly litvakers. They speak a litvisheh Yiddish, and the Satmerer come from Hungary and places like that – it’s a different language.So what did Hakodosh Boruch Hu do? He said, “I can’t let them remain that way. To be so separate that they never see each other, and never learn to get along despite their differences, that’s a failure. I want them to get a shleimus. So I’ll bring them to America. I’ll bring the Bobover and the Litvakers together, and the Syrians and the Persians too. I’ll bring them to one place so that they should continue to stand strong in their principles So that they should see the differences between them, and retain those differences, and yet at the same time they should get along with each other and love one another. The machlokes is a great benefit for them, a great opportunity for perfection.RAV MILLER PREDICTS THE FUTUREBecause no matter how important are the principles that they stand for – and they muststand their ground – but all of them have the same Hakodosh Boruch Hu and the same Torah. And the end will be that maybe they’ll intermarry too. They’ll dance together at weddings! It might take some time, a generation or two generations, but the perfection of being loyal to their principles at the same time as feeling a deep affection for one another, will come. At the end you’ll see that they’ll live together. And each one will gain a perfection that he could never have gotten otherwise.If you would sit in Satmar in Europe all your life and you would stew in your own juice – you’d never have any opposition, you’d never see people with different minhagim – so you’re not being tested and you’re not being perfected. It’s the opposition that makes you great. When you’re sitting in your own beis medrash but you come into contact with someone who has a different Rebbe, and different ways, that’s your opportunity for greatness.A BENT-DOWN HAT MAKES ME ANGRY!And sometimes it’s not even important things – it’s little things that bother you. His yarmulkeh is this way and your yarmulkeh is a different way. Maybe your hat is round and his hat is bent over. You don’t like that! A bent down hat you can’t stand; you’re angry at it! And when he sees your round hat, he thinks you look like a ba’al ga’avah. “What does he think he is? A rebbeh?!” And so there’s friction. It’s אין “כובעיהם” ואין דעותיהם שוות – their hats are different, their faces are different and their ideals are also different.And with all that, they overcome those petty things like hats and yarmulkehs and coats, and they say “I choose to be yechubar el kol hachaim, to all of the various frum Jews, because it’s all just a test. And I’m going to pass that test and make myself more and more perfect every day.”EASIER SAID THAN DONENow all this is easier said than done. But once we begin to understand how important this avodah is, so we begin to realize that this is one subject on which it pays to concentrate. Because it’s easy to say, “Get along with people,” but it’s not always easyto do. You have to have some motivation and that’s an important subject on which we should concentrate for a few minutes.So the question is how do you start working on that in order to fulfill this mitzvah from the Torah? Veahavta is a klal gadol betorah, it’s a very great rule of the Torah that you should have a feeling of love, of actual affection, for your fellow Jews. But how do we do it? How can we learn to love our fellow Jews?FELLOW JEW MEANS OBSERVANT JEWNotice that I’m not saying your fellow man. Forget about fellow man. Your fellow Jew! Fellow Jew means only your fellow observant Jew. The reshaim we leave out. Achicha, reiacha, means people who are shomer mitzvos like you are; the עבדי אלקי אביך – all the servants of Hashem, that’s the Am Yisroel. And I’m stressing that point because that is the answer to our question! I’ll explain that.I mentioned to you before about Yaakov Avinu’s worries as he lay on his deathbed. He saw children who were so different from one another, and he was concerned, “How could these children become one big unified nation?” So the sons understood their father’s worry and they consoled their father. Now listen to what they said because it’s what we have to always be saying if we want to overcome this problem and succeed at yechubar el kol hachaim, to be connected with all the living. They told Yaakov Avinu, “There’s nothing to worry about: שמע ישראל, “Listen our father, Yisroel, השם אלקינו, Hashem is our G-d, השם אחד, all of us have one G-d.” We might wear different hats and pronounce words differently. And we’ll even argue sometimes. But we’re all together “one nation under one G-d.” He’ll keep us together; He’s the “glue’’ that keeps us together. We’re all עבדי אלקי אביך – despite our differences, we’re all the servants of Hashem together.”And when Yaakov heard that, he said: ברוך שם כבוד מלכותו לעולם ועד. “If, notwithstanding all your differences you’ll be together forever, the Am Echad dedicated to Hashem Echad, that will be a glory for Hashem, and I can go to the Next World in peace.”HASHEM ECHAD IS THE ANSWERAnd so we’re learning now that the solution to our differences is the overriding knowledge that we’re the Am Echad serving the Hashem Echad. We’re all one people and that’s something we have to not just say, but to feel. It’s very important for us to learn that, to love every part of the olam shomrei Torah, the Am Hashem, with all of our hearts.Now don’t just say, “I know that; I do that,” because you don’t do it. It takes work; it takes thinking and talking. You have to think about this whenever you see a fellow Jew who is different than you. He dresses different. He talks different. He davens different. You’re almost sure he’s from a different shevet. So you have to begin planting thoughts in your head. Think about the fact that he’s a shomer mitzvoslike you are. He’s a brother in arms. We’re all fighting together to maintain the Am Yisroel. We have a big army against us, enemies all around us. The frei yidden are all enemies with us. The irreligious Jews hate us very much. You should know that. גדולה שנאה ששונאים עמי הארץ את התלמידי חכמים יותר ממה ששונאים אומות העולם את ישראל, “The irreligious people hate the frum Jews more than the gentiles hate the Jews” (Pesachim 49b). It’s a fact. We have to fight for our people and be the best of friends among ourselves because we’re surrounded by enemies on all sides. בכל דור ודור עומדים עלינו לכלותנו, everybody wants to overcome us. And therefore when we feel that we’re all fighting together for one cause, for Hashem Echad, we’re all marching together in the same regiment against the same enemies, so it’s easier to have a love for your fellow Jew.BE PROUD OF EACH OTHER!And so now we have learned the necessity of identifying with the Am Yisrael of today. But you have to identify. If you’re ashamed of your people – of any of the frummeh – then you’re not identifying. You have to be proud of all of your people. That’s important. And who are your people? All of us, all the good Jews. Not the liberals. They don’t belong to us. Not the reformers, no. They’re not proud of us, and we’re not proud of them. They want to be like gentiles and they’re nichras mei’amav. They’re all cut off nebach. Pity on them. It’s a tragedy. What can we do? But we don’t want to identify with them. We don’t identify with Ben Gurion, and not with Herzl. And not with anybody like them. עמך means עושי מעשה עמך, those who do the deeds of your people. That’s what the Am Yisroel means. All the “heroes” that were not loyal to the Torah don’t exist for us. We limit our love to those who serve Hashem, those who love Hashem, because that is the only glue that binds the AmYisroel together despite our differences.We identify with all observant Jews, whether they’re Jews in Teiman or in Lakewood or in Lubavitch or Bnei Brak or in Boro Park or Baltimore. Wherever they are, we identify with them. Whether they’re Sephardi Jews, whether they’re Syrian Jews, whether they’re Egyptian Jews. All Jews that are loyal to the Torah, that’s our people. That’s the Am Echad, and we have to identify with them. It’s important. You can’t feel like he’s a stranger. A Galicianer can’t think, “I’m a stranger to a Hungarian Jew.” No, we’re not strangers to anybody if they’re loyal Jews. It’s very important for us to learn that.DO YOU WEAR A TOP HAT FOR YONTIF?So now the Teimanim come with their robes and their turbans and the Jews come let’s say from Canada with black hats. Some would come in with top hats yet. Some still wear top hats on yontif, silk hats. A man wearing a top silk hat and another man wearing a turban look at each other with the greatest respect. That’s my brother. Another shevet, all shivtei Kah, holy people.Ohhh, now we’re talking! Because even though we all have our differences and our own lives, there always remains this glue of service of Hashem that binds us together in this kinship of brotherhood. It’s much more than a blood line; it’s a real bond, a bond of the mind, something that actually ties us together.We’re not merely connected to each other by blood, by DNA. A fellow Jew is a brother who is עמיתך, he’s עמך בתורה ובמצוות. Chazal tell us that אחיך means אחיך במצוות, “your brother in mitzvos.” It’s not merely a brother of the same ancestor; it’s a brother of the same mind! With the same ideals and attitudes; he’s your “brother in arms.” Among ourselves, we have to be the best of friends. Because no matter where you are; you could be Jew in Australia, a Satmererin Williamsburg, or a Jew in Tel-Aviv, we’re all in this world for one purpose, to serve Hakodosh Boruch Hu. When we feel that we’re all fighting together for one cause, to serve Hashem, we’re all marching together in the same regiment, so it’s much easier to have a love for your fellow men. How much of an affection are you supposed to feel for brothers who are of one mind with you!MODEH B’MIKTZAS IS STILL SOMETHINGAll the kehillos, even the Modern Orthodox who are far away from what we consider the great ideals of avodas Hashem, are our brothers. Absolutely! If a Jew is a shomer mitzvos, he tries to keep the mitzvos, then even though he doesn’t exactly do everything the way we do it, he’s still a brother. If he doesn’t do aveiros, I don’t care what kind of yarmulkeh he wears. If he wears a knitted yarmulkeh or if he wears something else, he’s still my brother. Even a small little yarmulkeh, so he’s “a modeh b’miktzas,” but he’s still one of ours. A person who keeps taharas hamishpacha, he eats kosher, he sends his children to yeshiva and not public school, he’s a shomer Shabbos, he has mezuzos on his doors – so a person like that is our brother, and don’t make any mistake about it. And you love him like any other Jew.Now, don’t misquote me; I’m not saying that the modern orthodox man has to be your brother in the sense that you’ll move into the same house as him. It doesn’t mean that you should associate with him if you don’t have to. That’s something else altogether. If your brother has the flu, you don’t want to be too close to him because it’s contagious. But you still love him, no less. Over here, in this place, we say that we want to associate only with the best ones because we want to be the best.But when you see another frum Jew on the street, any frum Jew, he’s your brother in the most literal sense of the word. And you have a mitzvah of ואהבת לרעך כמוך – you have a mitzvahto love him. That’s how to think about your fellow Jew. And even though he follows a different rebbe, or a different set of political objectives, nevertheless, don’t lose sight of the fact that fundamentally he belongs to your people and that therefore you’re obligated, to think well of him, to recognize him as your brother, and to love him.TRY TO SEE FROM HIS VIEWPOINTThat’s what it means לעולם תהא דעתו של אדם מעורבת עם הבריות – A person’s mind always should be united – mi’ureves means joined – with the minds of other people (Kesubos 17a). Now this I mentioned here more than once that it doesn’t mean you have to yield when somebody is doing something wrong; it doesn’t mean you should stand down when someone is doing sins. But when you happen to like one thing and somebody else is enthusiastic about something else, and you have no interest in that thing, don’t belittle it. Try to agree with people. Always try to see things from the other man’s side.Your mind is different – and Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants you to keep your mind. And his mind is different – and Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants him to keep his mind. But Hashem brought you together now just for the purpose of benefiting the both of you. That’s the shleimus of both of you.So if you walk in the streets and you see Jewish boys with yarmulkes and black hats coming out of the yeshivas or buses carrying children to yeshivos, so your heart should overflow with happiness. You’re looking at your people! Or you see a group of frum girls dressed b’tznius coming out of the Bais Yaakov schools, walking with decency, and wearing long skirts. It’s a pleasure to see!Your heart is full of happiness to see the Am Hashem. You walk through blocks and blocks and see fathers with children going to the beis hakeneses and you love to see it. Your heart swells with pride and happiness. You love your people. Hashem wants that. Some people are so happy when they see Jews. They just weep with joy when they see the Jewish people. My people, ami.THAT BOY WAS RUNNING TOWARDS HASHEMI’ll tell you a little story. There was a boy in Chicago. A true story – I won’t say his name but today he’s an important personality. He lived in a gentile neighborhood. He was a young boy and his heart yearned for his people so one day he got up, took a long walk to the east side of Chicago, to the Jewish neighborhood. And as he saw a Jewish child walking in the street, he burst into tears. This boy burst into tears. He was so emotionally happy. ‘Ahh! My people.” He felt connected to his people. A boy like that is headed towards not just people. He’s headed towards Hakadosh Baruch Hu.That’s why it does you very good to walk through Boro Park. Big mezuzos one after the other. Blocks and blocks of Jewish houses. And you’re thinking as you walk, “I’m walking among my people. בתוך עמי אנכי יושבת. It’s my people and I love them. I don’t care what hat he wears or what group he belongs to, it’s all my people!”You can’t even imagine what an opportunity you’re missing by not making use of this feeling of achvah, of brotherly camaraderie, that is available to you all the time. The next time you walk into shul and you see the Am Yisroel gathering to daven to Hashem, you should put your mind to work: “This is my nation! My brothers! And we all share the common purpose of serving Hashem.” And when you’re shopping in the kosher supermarket and it’s crowded, and the lines are long – those are precious moments! You’re looking down the aisles and all you can see are your “brothers and sisters”. Women, men, children, all buying kosher food. That’s a nation dedicated with a singular heart to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. ישראל אין להם אלא לב אחד לאביהם שבשמים – “The whole Am Yisroel has but one heart devoted to their Father in Heaven” (Sukkah 45b). It’s not just poetry; that’s actually the greatness of the Am Yisroel that binds us as brothers.THIS IS A CAREERNow this is not a small thing that you heard tonight. It’s a career. You have to be serious of course. You have to not only hear it, hearing is very important, you have to try to practice it. Now even though you do it a little bit, it’s a tremendous achievement. If you’ll think once a week about it, once a week, for two minutes on the subject of achieving a certain respect and love for kol hachaim, for all of your fellow Jews, then you know that you came to this world for a purpose!Now, all this might seem little queer for those who don’t know their purpose in the world. So when you go outside later and they’ll ask you, “What did Rabbi Miller speak about tonight?” So you’ll say, “He told us to love our fellow Jew.” They’ll laugh at you: “What’s the chiddush? Who doesn’t know that?!” But the truth is who does it?! Who thinks about it? If he loves, he loves; if not, what could he do already? He’s patur, he thinks. But no, we’re learning tonight that you have to work on loving the Am Yisroel, with an intense love. And you’ll do it by first of all recognizing that we’re an Am Echad.You have a big career ahead of you because when it says ואהבת לרעך כמוך, it doesn’t mean that you should tolerate him, or even that you should get along with him. It means that you should generate a ahavah, a love, a real love, for your fellow Jew. You have to understand how far away we really are from even beginning such an avodah. Of course, we’re willing to say that we agree with the idea. Maybe someday we’ll even come around to it. But we won’t. You won’t come around to it unless you start doing something about it. And when a person begins to understand that, and feel a little bit of love for all of his fellow ovdei Hashem, then he has achieved the perfection that Hashem expected from him since that day many years ago when He prepared twelve separate springs in Eilim for the Am Yisroel. It’s the perfection of choosing for yourself the good from all the shevatim, as well as the perfection of feeling a love, a real affection, for all those different than you. And those two methods of shleimus, are the main purpose of why Hakodosh Boruch Hu brought you into this world of the twelve different shevatim.HAVE A WONDERFUL SHABBOSGo Back See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Today we examine the tragedy of the recent terror attacks in the US and what it means for conspiracy theories and then we travel to Brazil to explore one of the most dramatic UFO incidents that you’ve never heard of.   In one week, the US has had a spate of mailbombs and one massacre in a synagogue. When conspiracy theories become obsessions, blood is spilled.   Then we go to Brazil and look at “Operation Plate,” an investigation by the Brazilian government in 1977. 2 people died, dozens were injured and one suspicious suicide later, we are still left with the question: What exactly was the source of those glowing lights in the sky?   ----- Help Promote Dead Rabbit! https://deadrabbit.podbean.com/p/season-2-1533793822/ -----   'I'm going in': Synagogue shooting suspect, 46, posted chilling final message before the Trump-hating antisemite 'opened fire with an AR-15 on a BABY naming ceremony yelling "All Jews must die"', killing 11 and injuring six - including four cops https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6323781/Active-shooter-Pittsburgh-synagogue.html   MAGA bomber suspect Cesar Sayoc was banned from mother's home over his support of Trump http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/ny-news-sayoc-maga-bomber-20181028-story.html   UFO Files - Brazil's Roswell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn8VtAth1co   Operação Prato https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opera%C3%A7%C3%A3o_Prato   Operation [Flying] Plate—Amplest UFO Investigation in Brazil, Recently Declassified by The Air Force https://alienpolicy.com/operation-plate-amplest-ufo-investigation-mission-in-brazil-recently-declassified-by-air-force/   Alien attack......Colares Brazil http://kellyskrazynews.blogspot.com/2010/05/alien-attackcolares-brazil.html   “Operation Saucer”: New Revelations https://www.info-quest.org/documents/Operation-Saucer.html     THE COLARES INCIDENT: HOSTILE UFOS KILL TWO PEOPLE, VICTIMIZE DOZENS https://ufoholic.com/conspiracy/the-colares-incident-hostile-ufos-kill-two-people-victimize-dozens/   Brazilian Air Force Admits Investigation on UFOs https://www.ufocasebook.com/brazilianairforceadmits.html   Colares, Brazil UFO Invasion 1977 "Operation Saucer" http://ufo-blogg.blogspot.com/2012/04/colares-brazil-ufo-invasion-1977.html   PHYSICIAN COMPELLED BY BRAZILIAN AIR FORCE TO LIE ABOUT UFOS http://www.ufoinfo.com/news/physician.shtml     Listen to the daily podcast anywhere you listen to podcasts!   ------------------------------------------------   Logo Art By Ash Black   http://www.DeadRabbit.com   Email: DeadRabbitRadio@gmail.com Twitter: @JasonOCarpenter Facebook: www.facebook.com/DeadRabbitRadio   Paranormal, Conspiracy, and True Crime news as it happens! Jason Carpenter breaks the stories they'll be talking about tomorrow, assuming the world doesn't end today.

I promise that you have never heard Christianity broke down like this! Ride with me as Orlando Williams educates us on the original Christians, the Hebrew Israelites... Show notes: - What does the title of Hebrew Israelite mean? (8:30) - The problematic disparity that Orlando recognized pertaining to the promises of scripture for Christians and the treatment of African Americans, who seem to be primarily of Christian belief (11:33). - Digging into Deuteronomy 28 (23:38) - Juxtaposition of an account by Pastor Eric Mason, who said that the curses of Deuteronomy 28 have already passed (30:36). - The true biblical definition for who a Gentile is (39:46) - The importance of distinguishing the the definition of who is truly Jewish by heritage/history vs Religion i.e. Judaism (44:30). - All Jews are Israelites, not all Israelites are Jews (48:40). - The meaning of life for a Hebrew Israelite (53:50). - Following the Torah and Christ (57:00). - If you are already a Christian, why would one need to hang on to a title of Hebrew Israelite if we are all supposed to be “One in Christ?” (1:07:45) - The basis of morality for a Hebrew Israelite (1:17:30). - In the Bible is there a justified reason for killing others? (1:24:15) - The difference between murder, and manslaughter (1:27:20). Manslaughter = Killing on accident. Murder = Premeditated killing. - New Covenant believers (Christ followers) relationship to the Levitical laws (1:33:47) - Connecting the Hebrew Israelite diaspora in 70 AD to their extraction from the West-coast of Africa 1,400-1500 years later. Extraction via transatlantic slave trade. (1:37:00) - Black folks in America • how how we fought for integration and presently fight for validation from our oppressors (1:49:30) - An explanation of how the 1804 Haitian revolution could still fit into the narrative of all those involved in the transatlantic slave trade being from Hebrew Israelite descent (1:51:40) - A suggestion for thought, speech and action against white supremacy for a Hebrew Israelite (1:57:00) - When does the curse stop? (2:03:26) - The final destiny for Hebrew Israelites and Christ followers (2:06:30) - Orlando’s Fab 5 (2:15:00) Host: Emmanuel Williams @emmanuelsince85 - IG @SXSNDLS - IG and Twitter Guest: Orlando Williams Music: Faux Pas - Artist: @shaunlamott - Producer: @tonejonez Neva Can (Instrumental) - Producer: @emmanuelsince85 Diamonds N’ Pearls - Artists @shaunlamott @justoncoleman Alex Stephens - Producer: @emmanuelsince85

People say some stupid stuff when they think they're among friends. "All Jews" are this, maybe. Or "all Muslims" are that. Do you confront casual racism when you hear it, in private places like the dinner table, from family or friends? Or do you bite your tongue? Two Sydney women weren't sure that straight up confrontation would work all by itself, so they helped write a play that worked it. Nur Alam and Yvonne Perczuk are part of the writing collective Abe's Babes, which wrote the play The Laden Table about casual racism around Sydney's Muslim and Jewish dinner tables. Links for this episode: Follow Abe's Babes on Facebook to keep up with future productions of the play.Bakehouse Theatre's production of the Laden Table has a short video of the production.Some short explainers, if you want to know more about the Nakba and the Holocaust. Songs from Dinner Table Racism: Poyeyu (feat. Mariela Gerez) — SelvaMir — MurcofKravchenko – Fair (Guitar Version) — Richard Patterson (Little Odessa soundtrack)The Song From Venus — Stephin MerrittCornfield Chase — Hans Zimmer (Interstellar soundtrack)

APOSTLE TALK – Future News NowWWW.REALMIRACLES.ORG Prince HandleyPresident / Regent HOW TO WIN OVER COVETING & LUSTBED PARTNERS OF DESTRUCTION~ A MIRACLE PODCAST PRODUCTION ~ You can listen to this message NOW. Click on the pod circle at top left. (Allow images to display.)Or, Listen NOW >>> LISTEN HERE Email this message to a friend. Subscribe to this Ezine teaching by Email: princehandley@gmail.com (Type “Subscribe” in the “Subject” line.) 24/7 release of Prince Handley teachings, BLOGS and podcasts > STREAM Text: “follow princehandley” to 40404 (in USA) Or, Twitter: princehandley_____________________________________ HOW TO WIN OVER COVETING & LUST BED PARTNERS OF DESTRUCTION “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” Torah: Exodus 20:17 “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world. And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” 1 John 2:16-17 Let's start with a couple of basic truths as follows: Coveting is one root of moral failure. Comparison is the root of coveting. Let's look at some examples from the Holy Bible. ACHAN “But the children of Israel committed a trespass regarding the accursed things, for Achan the son of Carmi, the son of Zabdi, the son of Zerah, of the tribe of Judah, took of the accursed things; so the anger of the Lord burned against the children of Israel.” The children of Israel had just experienced a tremendous victory at Jericho (their first battle after crossing the Jordan River into the Promised Land). They decided at their next battle, which would be at Ai, that they take lots less men to battle because they had learned from spies sent out that the people of Ai were few. However the Israelites suffered terrible defeat at Ai. Joshua fell on his face and cried out to the LORD. God answered him, “For they have even taken some of the accursed things, and have both stolen and deceived; and they have also put it among their own stuff.” “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.” Joshua called out (through revelation) the tribes, families, clans and households in the camp of Israel. It was found that Achan had taken a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels and hid them in the ground in the middle of his tent. He had taken the “accursed things” that belonged to God. Notice that in the original Hebrew―and depending on the context―what is “devoted to God” is “accursed to man” when stolen from God. So all Israel took Achan―with his sons, daughters, animals and tent … and the “accursed things” he had stolen―and burned them with fire after they had stoned them. ACHAN LUSTED AND STOLE FROM GOD SOLDIERS & FAMILY DIED AS A RESULT ~ ~ ~ MESSIAH JESUS CAME TO GIVE US VICTORY IN PURPOSE EVE AND ADAM In the Garden of Eden, Eve was tempted by Satan. God had instructed Adam: “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.” Satan tempted Eve to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, which she did. “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” NOTICE THIS: You can talk to God. He understands the situation. Ask Him for help. When you are tempted with coveting or lust, learn to say to the LORD, “Jesus, do you want to do this with me?” And, if you can't ask that question—or feel uncomfortable asking it—then you know NOT to perform the action. Just because it feels good—or looks good—does NOT make it good. In Genesis 3:6 we read that Eve thought the fruit was: Good for food Appetite Lust of the flesh Pleasant to the eyes Appeal Lust of the eyes Desired to make one wise Applause Pride of life But in 1 John 2:16 we read that, “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” And in verse 17, “And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” EVE AND ADAM DISOBEYED GOD … OBEYED SATAN … AND PLUNGED THE WORLD INTO SIN, DEATH AND HELL ~ ~ ~ MESSIAH JESUS CAME TO HEAL THE SEPARATION ANANIAS & SAPPHIRA When the Holy Spirit was poured out on Jesus' followers—on the Jewish Holiday of Pentecost—the people in the Early Church decided to have all things in common and share their goods in community with one another. They were so happy that the promised Messiah had come to pay for their sins on the cross-stake and was raised from the dead after three days. They were ALL Jews who followed Him … plus maybe a few unkown Gentiles. “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common, and sold their possessions and goods, and divided them among all, as anyone had need.” (Acts 2:44) “Now the multitude of those who believed were of one heart and one soul; neither did anyone say that any of the things he possessed was his own, but they had all things in common.” (Acts 4:32) “Nor was there anyone among them who lacked; for all who were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the proceeds of the things that were sold, and laid them at the apostles’ feet; and they distributed to each as anyone had need.” (Acts 4:34-35) But a certain man named Ananias, with Sapphira his wife, sold a possession. And he kept back part of the proceeds, his wife also being aware of it, and brought a certain part and laid it at the apostles’ feet. But Peter said, “Ananias, why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the price of the land for yourself? While it remained, was it not your own? And after it was sold, was it not in your own control? Why have you conceived this thing in your heart? You have not lied to men but to God.” Then Ananias, hearing these words, fell down and breathed his last. So great fear came upon all those who heard these things. And the young men arose and wrapped him up, carried him out, and buried him. Now it was about three hours later when his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. And Peter answered her, “Tell me whether you sold the land for so much?” She said, “Yes, for so much.” Then Peter said to her, “How is it that you have agreed together to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look, the feet of those who have buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out.” Then immediately she fell down at his feet and breathed her last. And the young men came in and found her dead, and carrying her out, buried her by her husband. So great fear came upon all the church and upon all who heard these things. Ananias and his wife, Sapphira, coveted the praise of others and fell prey to the pride of life. They wanted to compare themselves with the other believers—to be seen as sharing in like manner—while holding back part of the price of the land they sold. They did NOT even have to give the price of the land ...it was theirs … but they wanted to look like the others who were sharing 100% … and therefore they lied to the Holy Spirit. ANANIAS AND HIS WIFE COVETED THE PRAISE OF MEN THEY DIED SPIRITUALLY AND PHYSICALLY ~ ~ ~ MESSIAH JESUS CAME TO HELP US BE GENEROUS SUMMARY It's easy to see that coveting and lust are bedpartners. It's also easy to discern that the antidote―basically, the solution―to COVETING is contentment. “Now godliness with contentment is great gain.” 1 Timothy 6:6 “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have.” For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Hebrews 13:5 The other bedpartner―LUST―can actually be removed with a good dose of faithfulness and self-control. “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. Those who belong to Messiah have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let us not become conceited … envying one another.” Galatians 5:22-26 Coveting and lust are basically stealing: wanting what is another's. There are, also, some other areas of coveting that are often overlooked. Coveting can involve stealing from God. Stealing the glory―or the credit―that belongs to Him. Lack of respect for your neighbor … or another person or entity. Doing what Satan does: desiring to be like God. When Eve desired the fruit of the (forbidden) tree to make one wise, she was the same as attempting to sit in God's throne. TAKE YOUR MEDICINE: Contentment is the antidote to coveting. Faithfulness and self-control are the antidote to lust. REMEMBER:"You once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air,the [evil] spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience."Ephesians 2:2   THE KEY: When it comes to character, play offense!“Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill lust of flesh.”Galatians 5:16   HELP FOR YOU: If you have NOT received the POWER to WIN over coveting and lust, Pray this prayer ... “Lord Jesus, I need help. I know you're there. Please save me and forgive my sins. Give me the POWER to walk in the Holy Spirit and to serve you here on earth. Take me to Heaven when I die. Thanks for hearing me!” OTHER RESOURCE: Sexual Immorality: Addiction of LossFour things to know about sexual immorality.   ________________ OPPORTUNITY We do NEW things for the LORD … Holy Spirit things! Work with us to reach the nations … and Israel … with exploits! Get rewards in Heaven … and on earth … for partnering in unique works! Click on the SECURE DONATE button below. A TAX DEDUCTIBLE RECEIPT WILL BE SENT TO YOU ________________ Baruch haba b'Shem Adonai. Your friend, Prince Handley President / Regent University of Excellence Podcast time: 13 minutes, 46 seconds. Copyright © Prince Handley 2017 All rights reserved. NOTE: Scroll down for ALL previous podcasts last 10 years. _________________________________________ Rabbinical & Biblical Studies The Believers’ Intelligentsia Prince Handley Portal (1,000’s of FREE resources) Prince Handley Books _________________________________________  

Micah 4:2 NLT 'People from many nations will come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of Jacob’s God. There he will teach us his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For the Lords teaching will go out from Zion; his word will go out from Jerusalem.' As I have grown older, and as my perception of what God requires of me has changed, my appetite to leave home diminishes every year. Nothing pleases me more than a ‘staycation’ with the lovely Jayne. We plan little but natter away with each other as we garden, walk the dog or simply sit and gaze into the middle distance. I feel fulfilled and immensely happy in such circumstances. Had I been a faithful Jew in Old Testament times, I would have been expected to journey to Jerusalem three times in the year, at Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles. This latter festival included an invitation to Gentiles to attend – no surprises that Jesus announced his great invitation for anyone thirsty to come and drink during Tabernacles. All Jews journeying to Jerusalem had an objective in view. However, that objective can itself prove a dangerous distraction from the true purpose for making the journey. Life and work today are easily reduced to a series of objectives. For example, the quality of healthcare is measured by the number of operations achieved ahead of any subjective appreciation of patients’ emotional well-being throughout their experience. The outcome can become the priority, even the only, value attributed to the process. Yet process and experience can both offer valuable change. How I started my journey with Katey along the valley of MS wasn’t the same as how we emerged. Initially I was focused upon healing, assuming I’d problem-solve Katey’s needs.  Meltdowns taught me the journey itself demanded my attention. Indeed, we both emerged, albeit on different sides of eternity, conscious of the value of the moment ahead of any outcome, planned or imagined. We couldn’t establish the value of ‘moments’ objectively. But in a series of ‘moments’ we touched base with our insecurity, vulnerability, brokenness and hope. We found moments of deep joy and excruciating sadness. QUESTION: Where are you in your walk of faith? PRAYER: Lord, on this journey, wherever it takes me, teach me your ways.

Another way of finding motivation to do mitzvos is by activating the soul's latent love for G-d. All Jews possess the capacity to make the ultimate sacrifice in order not to be separated from G-d. If one understands how all sin separates one from G-d, and every mitzvah connects one to G-d, he or she […]

Another way of finding motivation to do mitzvos is by activating the soul's latent love for G-d. All Jews possess the capacity to make the ultimate sacrifice in order not to be separated from G-d. If one understands how all sin separates one from G-d, and every mitzvah connects one to G-d, he or she will find sufficient motivation to adhere to all of the mitzvos.

  Hard Verses Episode 14: Face toward Jerusalem, Luke 9:51 Hard verses is a podcast not afraid to take on the harder verses in the Bible.  Each week we find difficult verses in God's word. Wanted to give props to Dr. Ed Gallagher for directing my mind to the verse because of his class. Limited Resource Dynamics in Ancient Israel. The Problem. Luk 9:51  And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, Luk 9:52  And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. Luk 9:53  And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. What was going on here? What does it mean that He “stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem?” He sent messengers to Samaria and did not receive Him, because His face was though he would go to Jerusalem????  All Jews were supposed to go to Jerusalem for three feast days, so why are the Samaritans made at Him now? The Solution. Luk 9:51  And it came to pass, when the time was come that he should be received up, he stedfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, Luk 9:52  And sent messengers before his face: and they went, and entered into a village of the Samaritans, to make ready for him. Luk 9:53  And they did not receive him, because his face was as though he would go to Jerusalem. Luk 9:54  And when his disciples James and John saw this, they said, Lord, wilt thou that we command fire to come down from heaven, and consume them, even as Elias did? What does it mean that He “steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem?” He resolved Himself to go to His death. They rejected Him because His face was though He would go to Jerusalem. The Samaritans knew where He was going.  The route (Josephus, Antiquities, 20.6.1) was that of one going to the Temple. The Samaritans had their own temple in Mt.Gerizim.  They thought that was the God ordained location.  They had Biblical reasons for that. Deu 11:29  And it shall come to pass, when the LORD thy God hath brought thee in unto the land whither thou goest to possess it, that thou shalt put the blessing upon mount Gerizim, and the curse upon mount Ebal. What caused even more division is the destruction of the temple at Mt. Gerizim. After the end of the Babylonian Captivity, a large schism between the Samaritans and Judaism developed, with the Samaritans, but not the Jews, regarding Mount Gerizim as theholy place chosen by God.[3] Subsequently, in the Persian Period, the Samaritans built a temple there probably in the middle of 5th century BCE.,[11] arguing that this was the real location of the Israelite temple which had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar,[26] The religious tension between the Jews and the Samaritans led to the temple on Gerizim being destroyed by either John Hyrcanus in the 2nd century BCE (according to Josephus)[27] or by Simeon the Just (according to the Talmud). The date of the Samaritan temple destruction, the 21st of Kislev, became a holiday for the Jews during which it is forbidden to eulogize the dead.[28] However, the mountain evidently continued to be the holy place of the Samaritans, as it is mentioned as such by the Gospel of John[29] and coins produced by a Roman mint situated in Nablus included within their design a depiction of the temple; surviving coins from this mint, dated to 138–161 CE, show a huge temple complex, statues, and a substantive staircase leading from Nablus to the temple itself.[30] (wiki page—sorry scholars). Joh 4:19  The woman saith unto him, Sir, I perceive that thou art a prophet. Joh 4:20  Our fathers worshipped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship. Joh 4:21  Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Joh 4:22  Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship: for salvation is of the Jews. Joh 4:23  But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth. There was a true debate about where the temple should be. Jesus set her straight and told her how it was going to be. Back to the original questions. What does it mean that He “stedfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem?” He sent messengers to Samaria and did not receive Him, because His face was though he would go to Jerusalem???? All Jews were supposed to go to Jerusalem for three feast days, so why are the Samaritans made at Him now?   The lesson for us today. As we learn the word are we willing to change? Tools I Used Barnes, Pulpit, Josephus, TSK, Wikipedia   Call to action. Subscribe and rate. You can also write a review. (Itunes). Check out the new Bible Study.  “The Bible Genius Bible Study” now available for free on preacherbryan.com There are also the podcasts available on Youtube, look for “hard verses” with some additional videos besides the podcast. Check out my friends at Godseverlastingword.com.

Refuah Shlaima Aliza Shulamit Brocho bas Rochel Hinda. All Jews gathered, every level. Birthday & Yartziet equal level.How to remember? A lock of hair. Ivan the Jew. Even 15 minuets are of of value.

All Jews know that we do not believe in Jesus, but not many know why. In this episode, Rabbi Wolbe outlines the reasons why Jew do not believe in Jesus, have not done so in the past and will not in the future.

Today's host(s): Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O'Connell, and Susan Abbott Today's guest(s): Sr. Olga Yaqob, Servant Mother of the Daughters of Mary of Nazareth Today's topics: Christmas Gospels and The Incarnation Summary of today's show: We prepare for Christmas as Scot Landry, Fr. Mark O'Connell, Susan Abbott, and Sr. Olga Yaqob consider the four different Gospel readings and reflect how each one illuminates a different message of Christmas and the Incarnation of Christ. Our panel then discusses the meaning of Christ being born as a baby in the most humble circumstances and then growing up in obscurity for 30 years in preparation for just 3 years of public ministry. Finally, they look at the first heralds of Christ, the humble shepherds who dropped everything to adore and then proclaim the Messiah, and encourage us all to take the opportunity this Christmas to make Christ our top priority and to proclaim him fearlessly and with enthusiasm. 1st segment: Scot said this is the last broadcast prior to Christmas and next week we'll have a series of Best Of programs. Scot welcomed Sr. Olga to show. Fr. Mark said he will be celebrating a vigil Mass on Saturday and then Sunday morning, but he's celebrating midnight Mass for his parents in their home with his family. Susan will be celebrating with her family at her daughters' home. Sr. Olga said her sisters will go to nursing homes and then feed the homeless and see the families of the young women. Scot said his family will travel on Christmas Eve to his brother's parish, where Fr. Roger will celebrate Mass and then they will all have a Christmas Eve meal. On Christmas morning they will go to Mass at their home parish where his daughter sings in the choir. Scot said there are many who will also experience sadness on Christmas if they've lost a loved one recently and we will pray for them. Scot said we will look at the Mass readings for Christmas and then reflect on the meaning of Christmas. At the end of the program, we will discuss some of our favorite Christmas hymns. 2nd segment: Scot said there are four different Christmas liturgies from which readings come. One is the vigil Mass, the midnight Mass, the Mass at dawn, and Mass during the day. We will hear the four Gospels. Fr. Mark points out that if someone goes to the same Mass every year they only hear one of these Gospels. This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about. When his mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found with child through the Holy Spirit. Joseph her husband, since he was a righteous man, yet unwilling to expose her to shame, decided to divorce her quietly. Such was his intention when, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home. For it is through the Holy Spirit that this child has been conceived in her. She will bear a son and you are to name him Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel, which means “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke, he did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took his wife into his home. He had no relations with her until she bore a son, and he named him Jesus. In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that the whole world should be enrolled. This was the first enrollment, when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So all went to be enrolled, each to his own town. And Joseph too went up from Galilee from the town of Nazareth to Judea, to the city of David that is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and family of David, to be enrolled with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child. While they were there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn. Now there were shepherds in that region living in the fields and keeping the night watch over their flock. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were struck with great fear. The angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for behold, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. For today in the city of David a savior has been born for you who is Christ and Lord. And this will be a sign for you: you will find an infant wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.” And suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” When the angels went away from them to heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let us go, then, to Bethlehem to see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us.” So they went in haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the infant lying in the manger. When they saw this, they made known the message that had been told them about this child. All who heard it were amazed by what had been told them by the shepherds. And Mary kept all these things, reflecting on them in her heart. Then the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, just as it had been told to them. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world came to be through him, but the world did not know him. He came to what was his own, but his own people did not accept him. But to those who did accept him he gave power to become children of God, to those who believe in his name, who were born not by natural generation nor by human choice nor by a man's decision but of God. And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth. Scot said there's so much richness in these readings and so many characters in these readings: infant Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the shepherds. He asked Fr. Mark to reflect. He said we have accounts from Matthew, Luke, and John, which shows the variety. The full version of Matthew has the complete lineage, placing Jesus in his historical context. Luke tells the story focusing on the shepherds, Jesus coming to common people. John has high language and his audience was both Jew and Greek. Susan said in St. John what strikes her is that the light shines in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome. There is so much darkness and division in the world today. In Paul we hear a lot about hope. We have to hang onto hope and she sees hope in this line of this Gospel. Sr. Olga said she loves the Gospel of Luke and always wonder through the heart of Mary and Joseph how they felt in that moment when they first saw the birth of the Son of God. She wonders what happens in the heart of priests what happens when they first consecrate and it becomes the Son of God. For her, Incarnation is in the heart of the Christmas season. As a campus minister, she saw how the students would get excited when famous people came to campus. Do we pause and think about the special guest who we are celebrating this season. “Blessed be the Lord, the God os Israel, He has come to set his people free.” It is overwhelming to think about the beauty of the Incarnation. Scot said what he didn't fully appreciate growing up until he heard his brother preach about it a couple of years ago was what the setting was really like for Jesus. He was laid to sleep in a place where the animals ate from. It wasn't a pleasant scene. Scot read from Fr. Roger's homily. Jesus, the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, the Son of David, the one who will reign forever, is not born in a palace, but in rock-hewn animal stable. Rather than having a floor of marble, he had dirt. Instead of a throne or a princely crib, he was placed in a trough from which animals were accustomed to eat. Rather than being clothed in fine royal linens, he was wrapped in poor swaddling clothes. Rather than the perfumes and incense common to middle-eastern homes, he was surrounded by the smells of animals and what they leave behind. So often we can sentimentalize and romanticize the scene in Bethlehem by gazing at the gorgeous figurines in our beautiful Christmas crèches, but then we would miss the incredible humility of God, who divested himself of all majesty to be born in such poverty that by his poverty we might indeed become rich (cf. 2 Cor 8:9). Moreover, as we know, his birth was just the beginning of this shockingly humble life. He, through whom all things were made, would be hunted down by assassins while he still nursed, be an illegal immigrant in Egypt before he could walk, and a quiet boy, teenager and young simple carpenter in Nazareth until his hour had come. When his hour did come, he would take off his humble robes, cover himself with a towel and wash our feet. Then he would be betrayed by one of his closest followers, framed by the leaders of the people he had formed for centuries, be less wanted than the murderer Barabbas, and hammered to a Cross between two thieves by soldiers he had formed in their mothers' wombs. As Archbishop Sheen used to say, he was born in a stranger's cave and buried in a stranger's grave. Jesus' life was one of tremendous embarrassment and the homily goes on to explain why God took on such humility. This was His choice. Pope Benedict talked a few years ago why St. Francis created the living creche so that we could visually come to terms what it must have been like on that Christmas morning. Fr. Roger's homily is very strong in its imagery. This is how the shepherds saw him. Fr. Mark said St. John couldn't show that poverty. It was high language and people who come to Mass only on Christmas Day don't get the sights and sounds of the stable. John was speaking to the Greeks and the Jews and beautifully speaks to them with the Word. All Jews have respect for the Word. All Jews would know of the power of God's Word throughout history. The Greeks had the same idea of Logos, a divine word. John could bring them both into the story. We go into the heavens with John and come down the stable with Luke. Susan said the tension and balance of these readings is that they are so familiar, which can give comfort, but we can also take them for granted. She encourages people to pick a word or a phrase and then put yourself into the scene, using your imagination of what you see, hear, taste, and touch. Who are the characters? If I were there, who would I be? Sr. Olga said she always prays and ask for the grace to be with the shepherds. It's amazing they were chosen to be the first to see the newborn Savior. She prays to be able to see him through their eyes. As we read in the Scripture, it was at night. We get so busy and noisy and crowded that there is no time to pause and reflect on that silent night to hear with the shepherd to hear and see the signs. Fr. Mark has preached in the past on his favorite rendition of Matthew's Gospel on Christmas. When he was a seminarian, he was assigned as a chaplain to St. Elizabeth's hospital. On a hot day in July, he was told to speak to an old man in his bed. He was so still at first he though the man was dead. He asked Fr. Mark to read the story of the birth of Jesus. He had to scream the story of Jesus' birth to the nearly deaf man on a hot day in July. His homily is that there's something about this story that it needs to be screamed from the rooftops. Susan said it is indeed Good News to be proclaimed. Scot said he thinks of the angels telling the shepherds, Do not be afraid. The shepherds then dropped everything they were doing. They made it their top priority to visit Jesus, even leaving behind their flocks. They were prepared for the Messiah, but perhaps not for a child born in a manger. They took this gift of being the first witnesses and went out and witnessed to others. Those they encountered were amazed, not just by the story, but by their great enthusiasm. How are we the shepherds today? We should have the same priority as the shepherds to encounter Christ at Christmas and then proclaim it to everyone. What will be our conversation at Christmas dinner? Will we talk about the NBA season or about Christ? 3rd segment: Scot said the Sr. Olga that one of her favorite topics to speak about is the Incarnation and she spoke at the WQOM conference on being missionaries of the Incarnation. Christmas is often misunderstood that we are just celebrating the birth of the Savior. Sr. Olga said we can't just stop at celebrating the birth of someone who came 2000 years ago. Christ came to reconcile us to himself, to redeem us, to free us. He came for each one of us. If we don't take this message of Incarnation beyond just celebrating the birthday of the Lord, we are missing the mission of the Messiah. We have to take Christmas to examine how much his coming to the world to dwell among us has changed us, to be redeemed and live in the heart of the Word? How am I changed spiritually? We have to examine our personal journey with the Lord? And what am I doing with this changed in me caused by this personal journey? For those for whom Christmas is a time of sadness because of broken relationships or death or poverty, the message of the Incarnation is that you are still loved, whether you are in prison, a nursing home, a hospital, a shelter or a big cathedral, it's the same God, the same Love who came to dwell with us. Scot said his kids ask great questions and he often responds, “Because can do whatever he wants.” But they ask why Jesus came into the world as a baby and why did he live for 30 of his 33 years doing ordinary things? He chose this way. Scot said one reason may be that our response to babies brings out the best in us. Even a crying baby makes us want to pick him up and comfort him. He chose to take on human flesh in this way and what is our response? We should have a response to Christ as a new baby entering our home. If a new baby came to our homes this Christmas, we would gather around and appreciate him. This encourages us to appreciate all that God brings to us and treat him with the same love and attention as a new baby. Fr. Mark said during those 30 years Jesus saw the lilies of the field, he observed the shepherds, he watched the sparrows, learned how to work, to share in our lives. Jesus born as a baby and growing up with a mother and father is a gift of God that he truly became man. He didn't just take on human appearance. Susan said she has a piece of art in a Christmas card. It's set in a city and shows a woman in a window of an apartment building, waving at a truck pulling up outside which says on the outside, “Joseph and Sons Carpenters”. Jesus was a little boy who grew up with his parents. His mother taught him his prayers and he lived an ordinary life and by doing that he lifts up our ordinary lives and makes them holy. Scot said not only does he take on our flesh, remaining fully human and fully divine, he also raises us up to communion with God in our flesh. It shows us the way and helps connect us in a deeper way with God. Sr. Olga said when she hears people say they believe in God but have been away from church for awhile and it's impossible to go back now, she says just go and read the nativity and reflect on the way he came. It's a sign that I am your God and I am the God of the second chance. He spoke through many signs and miracles and prophets and people walked away from him so he came as a man in an impossible way—virgin birth as a baby among animals—to make us his children. Because of him who reconciled us to himself, he allowed us to call God our father. For anyone who's been away for any reason, it's a great opportunity to come back. Fr. Mark said we have an opportunity this Christmas to start conversations at Mass because of the new Missal. Instead of staring at the person next to you in the pew and being annoyed that they don't know the right words. We could turn to the people next to us before Mass and introduce them to the new prayers in a pew card or missal. Someone can get a positive experience of being helped and welcomed. Scot said in Pope John Paul II's last Christmas homily, he wanted to draw the specific connection between the Incarnation and the Eucharist, which is Jesus' ongoing Incarnation to us. Our churches swell at Christmas. It's wonderful all these people are here and let's pray us that they stay with us. Or there's the resentful attitude when you can't get a seat in church and there's so much traffic. Let us all pray that those who come to Mass because of the human interaction they encounter. It's important we approach everyone who comes with the same love as we would approach the newborn savior. Sr. Olga said we become what we eat. If God dwells among us, we have the opportunity to receive this God who became human every day if we choose. We can become one with the person who came to be one with us, to be his love, mercy, and kindness in every place we go. This is living the mission of the Incarnation. As we each experience this Christmas season, we have to take this impossible way of loving to the people around us. The most difficult thing that has torn humanity apart is anger. We need to reflect on reconciliation. He came to reconcile us to himself and if that is Jesus' main purpose, then we need to reflect on areas we need to reconcile with in ourselves and with others. This is the heart of Christmas. 4th segment: A roundup of everyone's favorite Christmas hymns. Rick Heil's favorite Christmas hymn os “Silent Night”. Fr. Mark's is “Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming.” Susan's is Handel's “Messiah”, even though its an Easter song, but have parts related to the nativity. Sr. Olga's favorite is “Joy to the World”, because nothing else brings us joy than that God came to love us. Scot's is “O Holy Night”, because it begins softly and ramps up the emotion.