Podcasts about hamakom

In the midst of the terrible Trump tax bill moving through Congress, Ralph invites Sarah Anderson who directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies to discuss the massive tax loopholes huge companies like Amazon get that allow them to pay far less in taxes than ordinary working people. Then, Greg LeRoy from Good Jobs First joins us to discuss how state taxpayers are footing the bill for these massive data centers companies like Google are building all over the country. Plus, Ralph has some choice words for passive unions and responds to listener feedback about our guest last week, Nadav Wieman.Sarah Anderson directs the Global Economy Project at the Institute for Policy Studies and is a co-editor of the IPS website Inequality.org. Her research covers a wide range of international and domestic economic issues, including inequality, CEO pay, taxes, labor, and Wall Street reform.They're (Congress is) planning to give huge new tax giveaways to large corporations like Amazon and wealthy people like Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. And partially paying for those tax cuts for the wealthy by slashing programs that mean so much to so many Americans like Medicaid and food assistance.”Sarah AndersonWe're not going to have a healthy, thriving society and economy as long as we have the extreme levels of inequality that we have today.Sarah AndersonDubbed “the leading national watchdog of state and local economic development subsidies,” “an encyclopedia of information regarding subsidies,” “God's witness to corporate welfare,” and “the OG of ensuring that state and local tax policy actually supports good jobs, sustainability, and equity,”* Greg founded Good Jobs First in 1998 upon winning the Public Interest Pioneer Award. He has trained and consulted for state and local governments, associations of public officials, labor-management committees, unions, community groups, tax and budget watchdogs, environmentalists, and smart growth advocates more than 30 years.Public education and public health are the two biggest losers in every state giving away money to data centers right now.Greg Le RoyWe know of no other form of state spending that is so out of control. Therefore, we recommend that states cancel their data center tax exemptions. Such subsidies are absolutely unnecessary for an extremely profitable industry dominated by some of the most valuable corporations on earth such as Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, Facebook, and Google.Good Jobs First report: “Cloudy With a Loss of Spending Control”They've (Congress has) known for years that the ordinary worker pays a higher tax rate than these loophole-ridden corporations.Ralph NaderIn my message to Trump, I ask him, "Why is he afraid of Netanyahu? And doesn't he want to come to the rescue of these innocent babies by saying, ‘Mr. Netanyahu, the taxpayers in this country are paying for thousands of trucks stalled at the border of Gaza full of medicine, food, water, electricity, fuel, and other critical necessities? We're going to put a little American flag on each one of these trucks, and don't you dare block them.'”…No answer.Ralph NaderNews 5/23/251. It seems as though the dam in Israeli politics against acknowledging the horrors in Gaza is beginning to break. In an interview with the BBC this week, former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert stated that what Israel "is currently doing in Gaza is very close to a war crime. Thousands of innocent Palestinians are being killed.” He went on to say, “the war has no objective and has no chance of achieving anything that could save the lives of the hostages.” These quotes come from the Jerusalem Post. And on May 21st, Haaretz reported that opposition party leader Yair Golan warned that Israel could become a “pariah state, like South Africa once was,” based on its actions in Gaza. Speaking a truth that American politicians appear incapable of articulating, he added, a “sane state does not wage war against civilians, does not kill babies as a hobby, and does not set goals for itself like the expulsion of a population.”2. Confirming this prognosis, the Cradle reports “The Israeli military has admitted that more than 80 percent of the people killed in the attacks on Gaza since Israel breached the ceasefire two months ago are…civilians.” This fact was confirmed by the IDF in response to a request from Hebrew magazine Hamakom, wherein “the military's spokesperson stated that 500 of the 2,780 killed in the Gaza Strip as of Tuesday are ‘terrorists.'” Leaving the remaining 2,280 people killed classified as “not suspected terrorists.” The Cradle compares this ratio, approximately 4.5 civilians killed for every combatant, to the Russia-Ukraine war – a ratio of approximate 2.8 to one. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has “claimed that the ratio is just one civilian killed for each combatant killed.” At the same time, AP reports that while Israel has allowed a minimum of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza, under immense international pressure, “none of that aid actually reached Palestinians,” according to the United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric. The renewed offensive coupled with the barring of humanitarian aid has raised the alarm about mass starvation in Gaza.3. Developments on the ground in Gaza have triggered a new wave of international outcry. On May 19th, leaders of the United Kingdom, France and Canada issued a joint statement, reading in part, “We strongly oppose the expansion of Israel's military operations in Gaza. The level of human suffering in Gaza is intolerable… The Israeli Government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable and risks breaching International Humanitarian Law…We will not stand by while the Netanyahu Government pursues these egregious actions. If Israel does not cease the renewed military offensive and lift its restrictions on humanitarian aid, we will take further concrete actions in response.” The Parliament of Spain meanwhile, “passed a non-binding motion calling on the government to impose an arms embargo on Israel,” per Anadolu Ajansı. This potential ban, supported by all parties except the conservative People's Party and the far-right Vox, would “ban the exports of any material that could strengthen the Israeli military, including helmets, vests, and fuel with potential military use.” Left-wing parties in Spain are now pushing for an emergency session to impose a binding decree to this effect.4. The United States however seems to be moving backwards. Drop Site news reports Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff made a deal with Hamas ensuring that, “the Trump administration would compel Israel to lift the Gaza blockade and allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory…[and] make a public call for an immediate ceasefire,” in exchange for the release of Edan Alexander. Of course, once Alexander was released Trump reneged completely. Basem Naim, a member of Hamas's political bureau, told Drop Site, “He did nothing of this…They didn't violate the deal. They threw it in the trash.” Besides prolonging further the charnel house in Gaza, this duplicity undermines American credibility in the region, particularly with Iran at a time when Trump is seeking a new deal to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons.5. Democrats in Congress are inching towards action as well. On May 13th, Senator Peter Welch introduced Senate Resolution 224, calling for “the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to address the needs of civilians in Gaza.” Along with Welch, 45 Democrats and Independents signed on to this resolution, that is the entire Democratic caucus except for John Fetterman. On May 14th, Rashida Tlaib introduced House Resolution 409, commemorating the Nakba and calling on Congress to “reinstate support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which provides life-saving humanitarian assistance to Palestinians.” This was cosponsored by AOC and Reps. Carson, Lee, Omar, Pressley, Ramirez, Simon, and Coleman. And, on May 21st, a group of eight senators – Welch, Sanders, Kaine, Merkley, Murray, Van Hollen, Schatz, and Warnock – sent a letter urging Secretary of State Rubio to reopen the investigation into the death of Palestinian-American journalist Shireen Abu-Akleh, per Prem Thakker. The Biden administration ruled the death “unintentional,” but a new documentary by Zeteo News reveals a “Biden cover-up.”6. More action is occurring on college campuses as well, as students go into graduation season. At NYU, a student named Logan Rozos said in his graduation speech, “As I search my heart today in addressing you all…the only thing that is appropriate to say in this time and to a group this large is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine,” per CNN. NYU announced that they are now withholding his diploma. At George Washington University, the Guardian reports student Cecilia Culver said in her graduation speech, “I am ashamed to know my tuition [fee] is being used to fund…genocide…I call upon the class of 2025 to withhold donations and continue advocating for disclosure and divestment.” GWU issued a statement declaring Culver “has been barred from all GW's campuses and sponsored events elsewhere.” The moral clarity of these students is remarkable, given the increasingly harsh measures these schools have taken to silence those who speak up.7. Moving on, several major stories about the failing DOGE initiative have surfaced in recent days. First, Social Security. Listeners may recall that a DOGE engineer said “40% of phone calls made to [the Social Security Administration] to change direct deposit information come from fraudsters.” Yet, a new report by NextGov.com found that since DOGE mandated the SSA install new anti-fraud checks on claims made over the phone, “only two claims out of over 110,000 were found to likely be fraudulent,” or 0.0018%. What the policy has done however, is slow down payments. According to this piece, retirement claim processing is down 25%. Meanwhile, at the VA, DOGE engineer Sahil Lavingia, “found…a machine that largely functions, though it doesn't make decisions as fast as a startup might.” Lavingia added “honestly, it's kind of fine—because the government works. It's not as inefficient as I was expecting, to be honest. I was hoping for more easy wins.” This from Fast Company. Finally, CBS reports, “leaders of the United States Institute for Peace regained control of their offices Wednesday…after they were ejected from their positions by the Trump administration and [DOGE] in March.” This piece explains that On February 19th, President Trump issued Executive Order 14217 declaring USIP "unnecessary" and terminating its leadership, most of its 300 staff members, its entire board, installing a DOGE functionary at the top and transferring ownership of the building to the federal government. This set off a court battle that ended Monday, when U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell ruled that the takeover was “unlawful” and therefore “null and void.” These DOGE setbacks might help explain Elon Musk's reported retreat from the political spotlight and political spending.8. On May 21st, Congressman Gerry Connolly passed away, following his battle with esophageal cancer. Connolly's death however is just the latest in a disturbing trend – Ken Klippenstein reports, “Connolly joins five other members of Congress who also died in office over the past 13 months…Rep. Raúl Grijalva…Rep. Sylvester Turner…Rep. Bill Pascrell…Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee…[and] Rep. Donald Payne Jr.” All of these representatives were Democrats and their deaths have chipped away at the close margin between Democrats and Republicans in the House – allowing the Republicans to pass Trump's “Big Beautiful Bill” by a single vote. Connolly himself prevailed over AOC in a much-publicized intra-party battle for the Ranking Member seat on the House Oversight committee. It speaks volumes that Connolly was only able to hold onto that seat for a few short months before becoming too sick to stay on. This is of course part and parcel with the recent revelations about Biden's declining mental acuity during his presidency and the efforts to oust David Hogg from the DNC for backing primaries against what he calls “asleep-at-the-wheel” Democrats.9. Speaking of “asleep-at-the-wheel” Democrats, Bloomberg Government reports Senator John Fetterman “didn't attend a single committee hearing in 2025 until…May 8, about a week after an explosive New York Magazine story raised questions about his mental health and dedication to his job.” Fetterman, who represents Pennsylvania on the Commerce, Agriculture, and Homeland Security committees skipped the confirmation hearings for Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and Budget Director Russ Vought, some of the most high-profile and controversial Trump appointments. Fetterman still has yet to attend a single Agriculture committee hearing in 2025.10. Finally, in more Pennsylvania news, the state held its Democratic primaries this week, yielding mixed results. In Pittsburgh, progressives suffered a setback with the ouster of Mayor Ed Gainey – the first Black mayor of the city. Gainey lost to Allegheny County Controller Corey O'Connor, the son of former Mayor Bob O'Connor, the Hill reports. In Philadelphia however, voters approved three ballot measures – including expanding affordable housing and adding more oversight to the prison system – and reelected for a third term progressive reform District Attorney Larry Krasner, per AP. Krasner has long been a target of conservatives in both parties, but has adroitly maneuvered to maintain his position – and dramatically reduced homicide rates in Philly. The Wall Street Journal reports Philadelphia homicides declined by 34% between 2023 and 2024, part of substantial decline in urban homicides nationwide. Kudos to Krasner.This has been Francesco DeSantis, with In Case You Haven't Heard. Get full access to Ralph Nader Radio Hour at www.ralphnaderradiohour.com/subscribe

Where the Sparks Enter — The Tzadik's Mesirus Nefesh in Tefillah Main Ideas from Likutei Moharan 26This Torah begins with a cryptic Gemara: when a chick dies within its shell, through which point does its soul exit? Rav Nachman reframes this as a metaphor for the tzadik's avodah in tefillah. The tzadik must direct his greatest mesirus nefesh precisely to the areas where foreign thoughts (machshavos zaros) enter during prayer.These “foreign” elements are not distractions to escape, but rather sparks of holiness (nitzotzos) awaiting elevation. The avodah, then, is not about bridging distance from Hashem — chas v'shalom — but about recalibrating perspective and reconnecting each experience to its true source. The tzadik, operating from an elevated vantage point aligned with Hashem's ratzon, is uniquely able to reveal Elokus in the very places where it appears most concealed. This is a function of his alignment with the ultimate context: HaMakom. Additional Expansions and Key ThemesTefillah is not primarily about personal requests; its essence is aligning oneself — and the world — with Hashem's ratzon. Individual bakashos only carry meaning within that larger context.Even misdirected emotions (e.g., love, desire) are not disconnected from Hashem. They are divine energies misapplied. Teshuvah is a reorientation, not a reconnection.Perspective defines reality: everything in creation is rooted in Elokus. What changes is how we see it.The tzadik can descend into concealment without spiritual harm, enabling him to elevate the deepest sparks. His inner purity and orientation keep him above contamination.The shell = tefillah = pre-creation/revelation koach: Just as the chick emerges from the shell, creation unfolds from tefillah. The tzadik, deeply aligned with Hashem's will, activates and channels this pre-creation power on behalf of the world.

Episode 127 In part 21 of our Sinai and Synapses interview series, we are talking with Rabbi Dr Jack Shlachter.    Jack Shlachter is a physicist who worked at Los Alamos National Laboratory for over thirty years with briefer stints at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York, the Atomic Energy Agency, and the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty Organization, the latter two based in Vienna, Austria; he led both the Physics Division and Theoretical Division during his LANL career. In parallel, Jack is an ordained rabbi who led the Jewish congregation in Los Alamos for many years, was the rabbi in Center Moriches, NY, during his years at Brookhaven, and now serves as rabbi of HaMakom, a congregation in Santa Fe, NM as well as the Los Alamos Jewish Center. He has also provided itinerant rabbinic support to far-flung Jewish communities including those in Vienna, Austria,  Beijing, China, and Warsaw, Poland.   Sinai and Synapses - https://sinaiandsynapses.org/   Support this podcast on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/DowntheWormholepodcast   More information at https://www.downthewormhole.com/   produced by Zack Jackson music by Zack Jackson and Barton Willis 

Questions? Comments? We love feedback! Email us at info@baishavaad.org

Increasing numbers of Israeli soldiers are becoming disillusioned with fighting in Gaza and other areas of conflict in Lebanon and the West Bank, leading some to refuse to return to the battlefield. According to a report in Israeli outlet HaMakom, interviews with over 20 parents and fighters in a range of battalions have revealed increasing disatisfaction in the ranks.   Among the Nahal Brigade, soldiers spend five weeks fighting in Gaza before returning home to rest, something they have done 11 times so far since the beginning of fighting October 2023.   Jimmy speaks with Congressional candidate Jose Vega and retired Marine Scott Ritter about why the circumstances in Gaza would lead IDF soldiers in particular to refuse to fight any more.   Plus segments on MSNBC's disappearing of a segment during which journalist Jeremy Scahill excoriates the network for pushing Israeli propaganda, how opposition to the US-led world order is bringing other nations together and a BBC whistleblower's revelations about the network's pro-Israel bias.   Also featuring Kurt Metzger, Stef Zamorano and Mike MacRae. And a phone call from Jake Tapper!

Debra Cohen returns to the show to share her Emergency Evacuation Story: Hurricane Helene and MiltonDebra Cohen's Bio My band opened up for Joan Jett at The Rathskeller in Boston, Massachusetts, in the eighties.  No joke.  But I messed up my life back then with drugs.  Took me a long time to find my way "HaMakom". I started piecing my life back together in the 90's and moved to Nashville, TN, and formed a Blues band.  Had some record label interest until they discovered my age (ageism).  I gave up my dream and got a "real job".  Retired early because of stress and moved to Florida to allow the ocean to calm my rattled nerves.  I came down with a bad case of Lyme Disease. I thought that was the end, but God ...  Then, Covid came and I was hospitalized twice.  I thought my singing days were over, until the Summer of 2022.  https://debracohenmusic.com/bioDebra Cohen's beauty contest link:https://votefab40.com/2024/debra-cohen-2People can have ONE FREE VOTE.If they choose to vote more than once, it's one dollar per vote which supports the National Breast Cancer Foundation! Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/i-am-refocused-radio--2671113/support.

Hilchos Nizkei Shcenim Part 6: If there are “Noichlim” do we say “Minhag Hamakom”??? Very Controversial sperm Donation Sheila?!?!?

Weekly Meditation led by Rabbi Nicole AuerbachNovember 14, 2023

Join us in this episode for a conversation with a wise friend about the deepest matters of the heart. Our guest is theologian, novelist, and mystic Mary Lane Potter. Mary's quest for a closer relationship with the divine stretches from her childhood in an immigrant community steeped in the traditions of Christian Reform evangelism; to her Ph.D. at the University of Chicago Divinity School, then a life of service as a lay preacher and tenured academic; followed by a conversion to Judaism and a literary career. Mary has authored the novels Strangers and Sojourners: Stories from the Lowcountry and A Woman of Salt, as well as a spiritual autobiography Seeking God and Losing the Way: A Story of Love and Conversions. Her upcoming novel is based on the biblical character Miriam. An avid essayist, her work is published to diverse audiences, including Tablet, an online magazine of Jewish news and culture. Mary's stories will whisk you off to Sri Lanka to step over moonstones, into the Sinai Peninsula on camelback, before returning to the oceanic Pacific Northwest just in time for the Jewish festival of Sukkot. We conclude with an open invitation for you to participate in building what Mary calls “a pop-up sacred space.” Mary's storytelling—intimate yet prophetic—will illuminate the liminal spaces between the sacred and the profane in your daily life. "What I knew as a child...and I've been spending my whole life trying to understand and articulate, is that we can experience the divine or the sacred; and we can experience something that is more-than; that something that is greater-than; something that is beyond us, and not know it." ~Mary Lane Potter

Our series exploring the book God Is Here continues by exploring one of our favorite metaphors for God, HaMakom! Join us in a soup of transcendence, absence, concentric circles and confusion. Visit our website to ask us questions at xaihowareyou.com and call or Text the Talmud Hotline at 401-484-1619 and leave us a voicemail. Support us on patreon at patreon.com/xaihowareyou. Follow us on twitter @xaihowareyou and @miss_figured. Music by Ben Schreiber.

Questions? Comments? We love feedback! Email us at info@baishavaad.org

From Siddur (acheinu) --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/mayer-aark/support

Join the discussion group: https://chat.whatsapp.com/Lj6a5VZhRnBKCumXLE43QK   To contact Franciska: franciskakay@gmail.com   www.franciskakosman.com   Leiba is a cofounder of 10K Batay Yisroel. She is a high school friend of Yisroel Levin AH's sister and just like the rest of the Klal Yisroel, she wanted to do her part in doing something as a z'chus for Yisroel a”h and his fiance Elisheva Kaplan a”h after they were killed in a tragic car accident. After watching the funeral and hearing Yisroel's father speak, Leiba and her friend started this movement when they realized that this is exactly what Klal Yisroel needs. Each person in Klal Yisroel is the key to helping out the singles they know that are in Shidduchim by taking the time to think about ideas and networking for them. You do not have to be a professional to suggest a shidduch! While Leiba is a full time software developer, she is fully devoted to running and managing 10K Batay Yisroel and hopes that everyone in Klal Yisroel will take time out of their busy lives and think of ideas and suggest them today!   info@10Kbatayyisroel.org   IG: @10Kbatayyisroel   The Afikoman Song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtb7rmvx4po   Hamakom by Franciska: [kol isha] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OawiiEca1lk

Rabbi Feiner shiurim

On the next Industry Night: Kosher dining -yes Kosher dining. Kosher is not a cuisine it is a way of observing and eating bu, you don' have to be Jewish to enjoy the benefits of it. Chap Gage & Yehuda Malka of Schmaltz Bros give a Kosher 101 and the latest on their new concept, Hamakom. But first, Nycci gets naked - not really - but she does chat with Tanecia Britt & Kohn Glay creators of the visual art experience,

Parshat Vayetzei - The Rabbis learn from the multiple use of the word MAKOM - Place in the story of Jacob's Ladder, that God is the Place of the World, but the World is not His Place. What can we learn from the Rabbis? Special "Guests" Baruch (Benedict) Spinoza and the Kotzker Rebbe Sefaria Source Sheet: www.sefaria.org/sheets/360797 Transcript on Podcast Website: https://madlik.com/2021/11/10/hamakom-place-no-place/  

A spiritual practice requires "makom": a place, God (called HaMakom by the rabbis of the Talmud), and kiyyum, our own personal presence. Rabbi Karyn Kedar brings us through her personal practice of Makom, her personal evening and morning prayer practice.

Thoughts on Yerushalayim and the secret of HaMakom

Why did God choose Judah over Joseph to carry the lineage of the Messiah? And why do the Rabbis use the Hebrew word "HaMakom - המקום" which means place, as the name of God?? Dive into the ancient Hebrew and discover amazing insights into the Messiah in the Torah as we continue our series with Dr. Broshi. Learn more and become a One for Israel partner today! https://www.oneforisrael.org/outreach

The Four Sons and Baruch Hamakom

Por quantos nomes podemos chamar Deus? El Shadai, YHVH, Hashem, Hamakom, Shechiná, Ya... Como a nossa fé influencia no modo como rezamos e como enfrentamos as injustiças do mundo?

This series of shiurim on Bishul Akum is presented by Rabbi Moshe Elefant, COO of OU Kosher and world-renowned daf yomi maggid shiur.

Standing where Abraham stood ‘Then on the third day Abraham lifted his eyes and saw the place (ha makom) afar off’ (Gen. 22:4)Humans make primary connections to things (or people) from which they believe (or have been persuaded) they will draw life, identity and purpose.As children we find these in parents, lineage and country. These are important things which constitute our human pedigree and give us a sense of legitimacy. Until we have an encounter with God through Jesus Christ we are looking for Life. When we are ‘re-born’ (‘born from above’) we receive a new pedigree as adopted sons and heirs—joint heirs with Jesus Christ in an inheritance, as Peter says, ‘that can never perish, spoil or fade...kept in heaven for you’ (1 Peter 1:4).A different kind of Life now flows to us and within us—we’ve been joined to Life…of the eternal kind that heightens and adds vibrancy and colour to everything in this realm as well (an old hymn truly says, ‘heaven above is softer blue, earth around is sweeter green; something lives in every hue, Christless eyes have never seen’).Then, His intentions and desires for us supersede the demands of the natural world because we have become new creations in Jesus Christ—adopted by the Father—and given True Life. Heavenly Father has now become the Primary Connection from which we receive life, and our identity is in the Son, Jesus Christ and purpose has become to bring praise to Him. We have been re-connected and re-positioned. Some Christians don’t get this with clarity—or stray from it, and , as a result, may keep trying to draw life from dead things but when God gets hold of our life, He asks for (demands actually) this dis-connection and re-connection; to find in Him what we had thought we could organise elsewhere! This is the grand message of Abraham. The Old Testament is full of ‘types’ (physical events or things which ‘typify’ a spiritual principle or truth and often point from the Old to the New). And here is one of them typified and exemplified in Abraham 4000 years ago. He became the father and exemplar of a new way where earthly and familial connections are not the most important—and they are not Life-giving.To exemplify this and establish it as the principle by which life was to work, God called Abraham. And it was a big call; ‘if you’re prepared to let all that go as the means from which you think you can draw life and identity—and find it instead, from your connection with me, then I will make you...’ (Jesus said the same thing to Simon and Andrew, ‘follow me and I will make you…’It’s this ‘being made’ that we all seek, but many look for it in the wrong places. Abraham found that disconnecting was just the beginning—the first step—in the process of being ‘made.’ He had to stay in connection; He found himself on a journey into a series of examinations. Each examination passed made this new primary connection the more firm and sure. Yes, he stumbled here and there but it was a journey of disconnection from ‘that’ and into connection with a ‘THIS’ that a loving God was holding out to him! (What grace is here!). It turned out to be disconnection from self-imposed (self-chosen) limitations—and connection to enlargements.His willingness to begin the journey was the first test; He faced a further lessons and tests—at least three…Three major tests for Abraham:1.Primary connection—God; 2. Primary Source—God; 3. Primary Dependence—on God: this is the test he now is facing as he stands, looking ahead to The Place in the distance. So here stands Abraham: where would he place his absolute dependence? Would his reliance now be on the apparently fulfilled promise of God—now standing beside him—or on the God of the promise?This is the difficulty we all face once we receive some long-awaited blessing from Him. Now that it’s here we treat it as a destination. But a blessing is never a destination. God Himself and The Place of His next appointment must always be the destination—and our absolute trust and dependence must continue regardless of what he has already given. (This is problem with all His gifts).Abraham was facing the test of total abdication of his own agendas or ideas to learn to utterly depend on the God who ‘sees ahead’—Yahweh Yireh! This was the special significance of this place—The Place, HaMakom, which was now in view. Would he be willing, even now, to let go the means by which he thought God was going to effect the greater promise he’d been given? Let go—and depend entirely on the God of the promise instead of the promise of God. Hebrews tells us that figuratively Abraham received him back from the dead.Can you now see the significance in the phrase, ‘Abraham lifted up his eyes...and saw The Place?’ He was standing where it was still possible to change his mind and return to Beer Sheva! I stood there a few weeks ago and one picture shows what it looks like today. The other, an artist’s impression of what it looked like in Abraham’s day—but with even less buildings. There was just a walled enclosure around a spring known as Gihon and joined to that enclosure, another compound with dwellings in the hillside and above it. It was where Melchizedek (himself being a ‘type’ of Jesus Christ) lived, whom Abraham had encountered some years earlier.This has significance as we stand on the edge of the new year, 2020. Can I suggest that Abraham too, had 20/20 vision as he stood here? Will we have 2020 vision as we face the year 2020?Abraham was being brought again to The Place: where he’d encountered with Melchizedek—as we are brought again and again to the place of encounter with Jesus—the place where we first raised our hand in allegiance to Him and said we were ready to follow.* As we lift up our eyes to 2020, and see the place that God is taking us, we may be tempted to retreat. Will we go on?* It could be that we are being called to willingness to surrender the very things we thought God was using to bring about His purpose. If so will we go on with everything on the altar?* At this point Abraham believed that God could effect what He had promised in whatever way He chose. And so he yielded. Will we too, yield again to that all-knowing, all-seeing and wonderful sovereignty—and allow God to do it His way in 2020—whatever that be?Ian Heard, Dec.29, 2012  

HaMakom Yenachem: Exploring the Philosophy of Shiva and the Mitzvah of Comforting Mourners by Rabbi Noach Light

Part I. We’re TenantsEARTHQUAKE IN ERETZ YISROELAnyone who reads this week’s parsha knows that in ancient times there was a great “earthquake” that shook the land of Eretz Yisroel every fifty years. Now, the land did not actually shake but on the tenth day of the year, soon after Yovel came in, a loud shofar blast was blown in Eretz Yisroel, and it was a sound that reverberated throughout the land causing great turmoil. It was a blast that was the catalyst for such great commotion, such movement and upheaval, that it was as if an earthquake had shaken the land.What did the sound of the shofar mean? It was an announcement, a grand proclamation to all the residents of Eretz Yisroel that: וְהָאָרֶץ לֹא תִמָּכֵר לִצְמִתֻת – “The land shall not be sold forever” (Behar 25:23), and what that meant was that the fields and homes that had been purchased in the last forty-nine years were now returned to their previous owners. That’s how it was in Eretz Yisroel in the times of the first Beis Hamikdash; whenever someone sold a property, it would revert back to the previous owner when Yovel came around. And so, as the Yovel year began, many people who had purchased real estate during the last fifty years had to pack up all their worldly possessions and leave their homes. Many large families with many children were uprooted from their homes.THE REAL ESTATE TUMULTFifty years! That’s a long time! People had become accustomed to living on this property and they invested a lot of money and effort into beautifying their lands and their houses. And now, when that shofar sounded, it was a decree from the King that all the fields that had been purchased in the last fifty years were to be surrendered back to their original owners. And that meant that there was a great flow of people, a tremendous commotion, as people moved from one place to another. Many who had no land of their own for fifty years, people who had wandered like beggars because they had to sell off everything to pay debts, were now restored to their ancestral estates. And on the other hand there were those who had been living in style in big beautiful houses, on spacious grounds – but they had bought them – so now they moved out, back onto the street.Of course, it wasn’t a surprise; they knew it was coming, but as prepared as they could have been, we understand that it was a big disturbance for the nation. It had to be, because when real estate must change hands it’s not a simple matter. You’ll have to set records straight, and there are bound to be arguments to settle; this man says that the implements on the land – his plow or the livestock – belong to him, and the other one disputes that. There was a great deal of arranging to do and it wasn’t simple. The whole land was in a hubbub. The roads were packed with families; mothers and fathers walking, wagons filled with children and belongings, some heading back home, others leaving their homes. Nobody felt settled; the nation was in an uproar.IT’S ALL MINE!Now, such a ceremony, such a national displacement – multitudes of people leaving their homes and traveling the roads – had to have an important purpose! And therefore we should pay attention to what the Torah tells us about this great commotion of Yovel; why is everyone moving? So we take a look at the reason Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives: כִּי לִי הָאָרֶץ – “The land belongs to Me! You can’t sell My land outright!” כִּי גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם עִמָּדִי – “You are merely sojourners, settlers, who are living by Me.” That means, “I am your host, and you are My guests.”And now we learn a reason for this great commotion. It was a message for the nation; all over the country, they were learning the lesson that the land has a landlord. And it’s a lesson that had to be learned. Otherwise, it would be easy to forget. Here’s a man who came in with Yehoshua bin Nun when they conquered the land and he had delighted in a beautiful fertile land that he found spread out before him. So he invested everything he had into it. All of his energies and all of his time, he put into the land, both he and his children. And so, after a while, they forget that this land once was not theirs and they therefore had to be reminded that somebody had given it to them.And so, once in fifty years all the purchased properties returned to their previous owners to show that nobody has a right in the land. Everybody took notice. Even the people who had no minds, people who didn’t think, they became aware. They saw movement, moving off land, moving into the land. “What’s happening here?!” And that was the great drama of the Yovel that Hashem intended. In order to make everyone understand – not just understand, but in order that everyone should feel in their bones that they are only visitors on the land.WILL AMERICA TURN SOCIALIST?Now, it’s not only the nation that practices and studies the mitzvah of Yovel, who are mere visitors in this world. The Germans and the Norwegians and the Eskimos are only visiting as well. The Pole who has been living in Poland way back as far as his history records is also a stranger. And the Hottentot climbing the trees in the same jungle where his forefathers have been running around for hundreds, maybe thousands of years, he’s also only a visitor in this world. They’re all visitors here and nothing is going to change that; when the time comes they’re also going to leave this world – the only question is where they’re going to leave to.But the gentile nations weren’t privileged to have the mitzvah, the reminder of Yovel. If a goybuys or sells real estate in America or in England, so as long as the liberals don’t have their way, as long as the government doesn’t turn Socialist, so the gentiles could stay in their land forever. They don’t have to be reminded that the land is not theirs, because they are the mishpechos ha’adamah, the families of the earth; that means – their function is this world. Their purpose here is adamah purposes – to farm the land, to put down roofs, to be firemen and everything else the world needs. But the Am Yisroelwas given the special privilege of being taught by Hashem that they have a different purpose altogether. By means of the special institution of Yovel we’re reminded that our stay here is only temporary and that what we’re aiming for is something much higher than this world.MR. P. NEEDS OXYGENNow, when you don’t get special instruction, or if you don’t listen to instruction, so you begin to think that this is your place. Like the man who moved in next door to me years ago; I remember him well because as we walked to shul on Shabbos morning, he would be outside in his garden clipping his bushes. So this man – he was quite elderly already when he moved in – he decided to put up a metal fence, an expensive wrought iron fence. And in the middle of the fence was a big metal circle – like a shield, an escutcheon – and he put his initial, a big P of cast iron in the middle. It was something that would last for the next two hundred years. And I was thinking, that initial is only good for him, for his name. But how long will he be there?Well, it wasn’t too long. One night, we heard outside somebody crying out. His son was running out of the house, running down the street, yelling “Oxygen!” He ran around the corner to the fire station and brought back a little oxygen tank, but it was too late; his father was finished already. And so the family eventually moved, and now somebody else bought the home. The colored man living there now has a big P on the gate in front of his house! It’s not his initial, but it’s still there in heavy metal, an insert in the gate memorializing the man who thought he would be around forever.A HUNDRED YEAR VISITNow, I never saw a Yovel in my life, but this message I did see. I saw it with my own eyes and I took it as a lesson from Hakodosh Boruch Hu that that’s what happens when a person becomes attached to one place; he begins to feel that it’s permanent, that this is security. People start thinking after a while, that they’re here for the next thousand years. It’s not an exaggeration; that’s exactly what they think! Of course, if you tell him so, he’ll ridicule you: “Don’t be silly; I know that one day I will be gone.” But in his heart of hearts, he still hopes, “Maybe I’ll make it. Maybe I’ll be around for a thousand years.” Everybody is like that; they think they’ll get out of it some way. “I’ll hang around; not like the other fools who get finagled into leaving this world.”The gentile, or chas v’chalila, the Jew who doesn’t learn the lesson of Yovel, so he puts his initial in wrought iron on his fence. But when you know, when you really know that you’re only a visitor here you live differently.Now, some people understand this lesson; they take the hint of Hakodosh Boruch Hu and live with the understanding that they are only visitors here. Like the Chofetz Chaim, zichrono livracha. I told you this story already, it’s a story you all know already, but I’ll say it again because it’s the point of our talk tonight. Once a visitor came in to the Chofetz Chaim’s house and he was waiting in what he thought was the anterior room, a waiting room. There was a table there made of a few boards of wood nailed together, and there were a few old benches there too, also just some lumber nailed together. So when the Chofetz Chaim finally came out to greet the visitor, the guest said, “Rebbe, you don’t have to talk to me here; let’s go inside.” So the Chofetz Chaim said, “This is the inside.” “But rebbe, where is the furniture?” So the Chofetz Chaim said to the visitor, “Where is yourfurniture?” “My furniture?! I’m from America; I can’t take my furniture with me. I’m just traveling through.” So the Chofetz Chaim said, “So am I.”THE LANDLORD WANTS RENT TOO?!On the other hand, I visited a poor man once. He was earning about ninety dollars a week in those days; it was about twenty years ago. I was sitting on the sofa in his house and he told me – maybe he was trying to impress me – he said, “This sofa cost me eight hundred dollars.” Now today, it’s nothing, but in those days when I heard eight hundred dollars, I nearly fell off the sofa. I was sitting on a sofa that cost this man almost ten weeks of his life. Now, I don’t know if that sofa is still around like my neighbor’s P; probably not. But the lesson is still there – it means that the lesson of Yovel hasn’t been learned yet; it means that we don’t yet understand that we’re only visiting here.Number one is to know that you’re not a landlord here, you’re a tenant. Because of habit, people tend to forget that there is a landlord. Let’s say your landlord takes a trip to Eretz Yisroel and he stays away for five months and in the meantime he doesn’t collect rent, so it becomes a habit. If he would come back and ask for rent so you feel like it’s an imposition. In just five months you became accustomed to being the owner of this place. And we’re here for much more than five months! Seventy, eighty years, is a long time and so we begin to think that this is our place, that this is where we’ll be forever.THE VISIT HAS A PURPOSEAnd so, keeping in mind that we’re visitors here becomes a very important function of how we live. It’s not enough to say over a story of the Chofetz Chaim; you have to think about it – it’s a very important subject and we should study it seriously. Olam Haba; that is our place! Here we don’t really belong – we’re just passing through, headed to a better place. And if you’re a person like the Chofetz Chaim let’s say, if you feel like a visitor in this world, so you have higher hasagos than iron fences and expensive sofas. You consider your success to be in more important things, in things of the spirit.This is expressed in a possuk in Tehillim (119:19) when Dovid Hamelech said: גֵּר אָנֹכִי בָאָרֶץ – “I am a stranger in this world, אַל תַּסְתֵּר מִמֶּנִּי מִצְוֹתֶיךָ – Don’t hide from me Your commandments.” What’s the connection between the first part of the possuk and the second? I am a stranger in this world and therefore teach me Your will?! It’s a non-sequitur.And the answer is this: “If I had no other function in this world than just to be here like a forest or a mountain, if I was from the mishpechos ha’adamah, so my function would be fulfilled just by living here. I wouldn’t ask You for anything. But that’s not my function. Geir anochi ba’aretz – I realize that I am only a visitor here and I am headed for a different goal. And if that’s the case, I have a lot to accomplish in this world where it’s very easy to get lost in its ‘permanence.’ And that’s why I’m asking You to give me success here.Part II. Tenants with PurposeTHE BOOK OF MEDITATIONSAnd now we come to the subject of what is this success that Dovid was aiming for? What should be the result of this knowledge that we’re only visitors here? So for that we look into the Chovos Halevavos, and because his words are always gems we should pay attention to what he says. His Sha’ar Cheshbon Hanefesh is a section in which he talks about subjects which people ought to meditate on; certain mental exercises that we are expected to think about. And he suggests thirty different ideas – thirty forms of contemplation which he recommends for people who want to make progress. Of course there are many things concerning which we should think, and those who are capable can add to the list, but he gives us thirty ideas to fill our mind with.Now, you can be a good Jew even if you don’t strain your mind too much, but if you want to be something better, if you want to be successful in this world, it’s necessary to contemplate certain ideas. There’s no doubt that to be something in this world you must spend some time thinking. And therefore, the list of the Chovos Halevavos is a boon for those people who want to make progress in this world.At the end of his list, he comes to hamashlim hashloshim, his grand finale, what perhaps is the most important attitude upon which he urges us to spend time thinking. And we’ll quote his words and try to understand them: Hamashlim hashloshim hu cheshbon ha’adam im nafsho, the thirtieth thing that a man should think with himself is, b’tna’ei hageirus b’olam hazeh, about his circumstances of being a sojourner, a visitor in this world. That means that everybody is expected to set aside time for thinking, for contemplating the fact that he is only passing through this world temporarily and that he doesn’t really belong here. And therefore he should never feel completely settled and secure in life.TAKING MONEY FROM THE CHINESELet’s say a man went to China for business. He didn’t go there to mingle with the Chinese, or even to visit the tourist sites there. He went for business; in order to make some money to bring back to where he reallybelongs. He’s not interested in anything else – their language is alien to him, their customs are strange to him, their customs are queer in his eyes. He doesn’t belong to them at all. And even though he might want to go see the Great Wall of China; he’s curious after all, and it’s easier to look at walls than to close business deals. But he knows that he came for one purpose – to take as much money and goods from China as he can. And while he’s there that’s his sole interest.So he gets into the export business. He gets busy exporting as much as he could out of China. He doesn’t want to leave anything there because he knows that sooner or later he’ll be back home. And that’s us! Our job in this world is to get into the export business. We’re here to take out all that we can. Now, what to export, that’s a lot to talk about, but good deeds surely are valuables that you can take along with you. Thinking about Hashem, that’s definitely something you’ll take with you. Torah u’ma’asim tovim, that’s the cash you’ll take along with you. Or tzeddakah that you gave. If you give away charity, it’s in your pocket and you’ll take it along with you forever.ALL FOR THE BOSSI once knew a Mr. Herman zichrono l’vracha from the Lower East Side. Now, Mr. Herman was one of the very few devoted frum Jews in the olden days of America. B’leiv v’nefesh he was devoted to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And he told me once that when he saw that all his money was going lost, that his business was quickly failing – it was at the time of the Great Depression. So he right away took a thousand dollars – in those days a thousand dollars was a small fortune – and he gave it away to tzedakah on the spot. He said, “Why should I lose that too? Why should I lose my chance at exporting more goods into the Next World?” And so Mr. Herman was a smart businessman and he quickly exported another container out of China.Now, what to do for this world while you’re still here – I’m not going to tell you right now what you should or shouldn’t do. Should you beautify your home? Should you try to make money? The businessman in China has to sleep somewhere! He can’t sleep on the street. He has to eat as well and keep himself healthy if he wants to succeed. And if he’ll be there for a few years so he’ll have his family with him and he’ll have to provide for them as well. And that costs money.YOU’RE ENTITLED TO A GREEN THUMBSo if you buy a beautiful home and you have a big garden around it, OK, I’m not saying you can’t invest into beautifying your place. Why not? If you like garden work, agriculture, if you have a green thumb, why not? If you can paint on your own, or you can hire people to beautify your home, why not? Maybe why yes? You’ll have to think that through. But whatever you decide, there’s a condition that you always must keep before your mind’s eye: That we’re only tenants. Even though you have a deed and it’s registered in City Hall, and even though you’re painting your house, and fixing your garden, you can’t forget that you’re only a tenant here.It’s Hashem’s home and you’re visiting for a little bit; you’re a tenant. Certainly you should live a normal life; but it has to be the normal life of a visitor. You should keep in mind always this great principle, that you’re like a man in a railway station. Let’s say you’re in Grand Central and you have a chance to do some business there. You can buy from one person and sell it to somebody else at the station. Why not? No reason why not. But you have to know that soon you’ll be hearing a whistle and the conductor will shout, “All aboard.” And you won’t have a choice, you’ll have to get aboard. And so if you’ll keep that in mind, that the train is coming sooner or later, so there’s no reason why you can’t have a nice home as well. As long as you’ll be able to hop on board with a big amount of paper money or banknotes that you’ll be able to cash in when you get to your destination, so you’ve accomplished!And so, in order to remind the Am Yisroel of their condition in this world it was necessary to have a Yovel. It was necessary to have this big commotion every fifty years as a national lesson. Everybody became aware. Even the people who had no minds, who didn’t think, became aware. They saw the tumult, the roads jammed with people, families moving out of homes, into homes. What’s happening here?! What’s going on? “It’s no secret,” says Hashem. “I’m telling it to you as open as could be. כִּי לִי הָאָרֶץ – “The land is mine”, כִּי גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם עִמָּדִי – “You are only strangers and sojourners with me.” The land doesn’t belong to anyone, not to the one who bought it and not the original owner. It belongs to Somebody else; the real Landlord.” THE LANDLORD AT THE DOORNow, it’s true that we don’t have the Yovel nowadays. We don’t have that privilege of being reminded with such an earth shaking event that turns the AmYisroel upside down. But there are other ways that we remind ourselves. We put the name of our Landlord on every doorpost. Did you know that? וּכְתַבְתָּם עַל מְזוּזוֹת בֵּיתֶךָ (Devarim 11:20). That’s one of the important reasons for the mitzvah of mezuzah. Whenever you pass through a doorway, it should remind you who owns the house (Rambam Hil. Mezuzah 6:13). Of course, you saved up for years, and finally you got the deed to the house. For years and years you paid and paid to the bank until finally they mailed to you the deed – you’re free and clear. It’s finally yours!No, you’re not free and clear! Because every time you pass the mezuzah you’re reminded that you still have a Landlord who is the real Owner of the property. And so the mezuzah is a remarkable opportunity for learning the lessons of Yovel. If you take advantage of the mezuzah, even if it’s only once a day, you can succeed at acquiring the realization that כִּי לִי הָאָרֶץ, that the earth belongs to Hashem and that we’re only passing through; just as our forefathers did in Eretz Yisroel when they still had the institution of Yovel.Part III. Friends of the LandlordONE HUNDRED MEANINGS OF “ONE”Now, the most important words inside your mezuzah are Shema Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad – “Hashem is One.” You know that these first words in Shema have a number of meanings. I know one mechaber who wrote a sefer with a hundred meanings and they’re all valuable, all very important. But we won’t try that much; right now we’ll concentrate on the one peirush that we need to better understand our subject.The Chovos Halevavos (ibid.), tells us that the possukdescribing the Yovel, כִּי גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם עִמָּדִי “You are sojourners with Me in this world,” is actually teaching us a peirushin what it means that Hashem is One. Because actually, Yovel teaches us much more than that we are travelers who don’t own our homes. כִּי גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם – עִמָּדִי – “You are sojourners with Me!” “With Me,” means only with Me. Hashem Echad – as far as you’re concerned there is nobody else in the world except you and Me.And so, the Yovel is letting us know that as we live out the years of our lives in this temporary world, we do so as lonely strangers, passing through this world. Nobody else exists in the world, except for Hashem. That’s the idea contained in this important meaning of Hashem Echad, that He’s the only One in our lives.BUT I DON’T FEEL LONELY!Now, that’s not easy for a person to accept. He thinks that b’soch ami anochi yosheves, that he has relatives, a community, friends. He doesn’t feel alone. Hashem? Yes, Hashem is also real, he’ll admit that, he’s a frum man after all. “But the people around me, that’s really real,” he thinks. And what that means is that he’s missing out on the most important point of this entire drama of Yovel that Hashem is making. Yovel is telling you – that you are עִמָּדִי, together with Me, alone, all the days of your life.I want you to listen to the following words of Dovid Hamelech. Dovid appealed to Hakodosh Boruch Hu: תָּעִיתִי כְּשֶׂה אֹבֵד – “I am wandering like a lost sheep, Hashem, בַּקֵּשׁ עַבְדֶּךָ – “Search out Your servant” (Tehillim 119:176). That means, “Please find me Hashem because I’m lost; I’m all alone in this world.” Now, you know that Dovid was a man of very great success and power and we’re told that לִבּוֹ כְּלֵב הָאַרְיֵה – “He had a heart like the heart of a lion.” (Shmuel II 17:10). He was born with a nature of a lion, and fear was alien to him. He was energetic and brave, and that’s besides for his bitachon, his trust in Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And yet, this great man revealed his soul when he appealed to Hakodosh Boruch Hu: “I am wandering like a lost and lonely sheep; please find me.”WHO IS THE RIGHT CANDIDATE?Now, if anybody wasn’t lost in this world it was Dovid Hamelech. Looking at him, you would say that he’s the last person in the world to be a candidate for the role of the lost sheep. But what we see is that Dovid understood more than other people what is man’s station in this world. He is enunciating here the great principle of our loneliness in Olam Hazeh – the great principle that there is nobody in the world except for you and Hashem.And that’s what Dovid said: הַבֵּיט יָמִין וּרְאֵה וְאֵין לִי מַכִּיר – “I look on my right hand and I see that there’s nobody who knows me” (Tehillim 142:5). “Nobody who knows me”!? Dovid of all people?! He was always surrounded by friends; he always had loyal men with him. And yet, when he looked around he saw that he had no one. He felt he was a stranger to everyone. I look at my right hand side and I see that no one knows me! You think they know you? No, it’s only a dream. That’s the real truth, and that’s what Dovid Hamelech was always telling himself. He would sit in the royal court, and look around at his many friends; his admirers, all the courtiers, and he would whisper to himself, “Ein li makir, there’s nobody with me; there’s nobody in this world except for You Hashem.”WALKING WITH HASHEMNow, some people think that Dovid was just saying words – he was just being poetic, creating prose for his sefer Tehillim. But that’s not who Dovid was at all; Dovid spoke words that came from the heart, words that would spring forth from his neshama after many hours of walking in the fields with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Dovid walked with Hashem making that cheshbon ha’adam im nafshothat we spoke about. He thought many hours b’tna’ei hageirus b’olam hazeh, about his condition of being a sojourner, a visitor, in this world. And he realized the truth that as far as a man is concerned there isn’t anybody in this world except for Hashem.There isn’t a soul around and that’s the real truth. It’s only imagination. All the forms around you are just ships that pass in the night that have no permanent connection with you. And the truth is – don’t say this over at home – but even your wife and your children are transitory figures. They’re not really who you are. It so happens that Hakodosh Boruch Hu took some protoplasm made from some of His chemicals and He gave you a father and a mother; He gave you brothers and sisters; and friends and neighbors. But it’s only protoplasm after all. It’s only Hashem’s imagination; it’s only temporary. They came out of the earth, and they were put there for you to deal with them according to the ways of the Torah. And that’s how they’ll deal with you as well, because you’re also only the imagination of Hashem.YOUR IMAGINARY ALLIESNow that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get married. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have friends. Oh no! You have to do everything that’s expected of you while you’re in this world. You can’t ignore everyone else. You can’t say, “My father and my mother are only transitory figures, so I’ll ignore them.” Nothing doing! Nothing doing! You have to discharge your obligations fully – only that you must not lose sight of your Best Friend in this world, Hakadosh Baruch Hu. You have a wife, and you have children, and friends, and neighbors, and teachers, but you can’t be fooled by it all. It’s a big danger, this world, because if you don’t ever make this cheshbon ha’adam im nafsho, if you never make time to think about your condition of geirus in this world, so life creates the impression that you’re surrounded with allies; fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, relatives, and friends.When things are settled, when life settles into the humdrum, so a person feels secure – he has his home, his family, his job – and he’s surrounded by people. And it’s among people, when a person feels like he belongs, that’s when it’s so easy to forget about Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Like right now, it seems like we’re together; we’re sitting together in the same room; maybe some of you are sleeping but more or less, it seems like we’re together. But it’s not true; really we are all at sea like ships passing in the night. They pass for a moment and then they’re gone. That’s how people are in this world. It seems that you have friends but the friends disappear in the course of time. And of course you also disappear. And all you have left is Hakodosh Boruch Hu.THE HOLY BACHELORSo even if you’re a loyal husband or a loyal wife, a loyal father or a loyal mother, and you have a house full of children, kein ayin hara, sometimes, when you find yourself alone, make sure to utilize the opportunity to exercise these thoughts. Let’s say the babies are all asleep, and the other ones went out to the yeshiva, and your husband is at work, and you’re alone. Or better yet, if you’re a bachelor. It’s not better to be a bachelor, but if you are, make use of the opportunity.You’re alone. Revel in that opportunity. Just think of how you’d be deprived of the awareness of Hashem if you were surrounded right now by a large family. You would have to exchange your thoughts of Hashem for banter with the children, and for talking with your wife. The telephone is ringing all the time. And here you are alone, nobody bothers you, nobody even knows about you; you’re sitting all alone in your little den, and you’re alone with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. You and Hakodosh Boruch Hu are alone together. That’s an opportunity! And when such opportunities come your way, you should grab them and utilize them.ALL ALONE ON THE CROWDED SUBWAYBut we’re saying here that you don’t have to wait for that quiet moment; for when the special occasion presents itself. Because even when you’re walking on the street, you’re all alone with Hashem. Let’s say you’re on Broadway at the end of the day, and a wave, an ocean of humanity is pouring out of the office buildings. And sometimes it’s so crowded you can’t even walk, you’re being carried along to the subway, with thousands of people. Just then, that’s when you should think, “Hashem Echad! I’m alone with You in this world.”And when you get onto the train, no difference. You’re hanging on to the strap at 5:30 in the subway – if you were lucky enough to get a strap to hang on to. And as you’re hanging on the strap, first of all make sure that your wallet is secure – don’t go off in dreams and forget practical things. And as you’re holding on tightly like this, with one hand on the strap and one hand on your wallet, think that you’re all alone here; it’s just you and Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Close your eyes and feel that the place is empty. All around you is a storm of humanity with all their little interests, their little worries, their conversations, their little minds; and you’re holding onto the strap all alone with your Best Friend.It’s an exercise – and it’s well worth it. And it comes highly recommended by the Chovos Halevavos. He says that it’s possible to be in solitude in the midst of a multitude. That’s his expression, הִתְבּוֹדְדוּת בְּתוֹךְ הֲמוֹנִים – “In the midst of a multitude you can be all alone.” Because that’s the real truth; even when you’re in a crowd, you’re hanging on a strap in the subway, you’re all alone because everything else isonly a dream – kachalom ya’uf– like a passing dream. And the more you think, the more you’re exercising the flabby muscles of your soul. And therefore as frequently as possible try to remember that you and Hakodosh Boruch Hu are alone in the world.MOSHE RABEINU’S COMPOSITIONMoshe Rabeinu said that, and he said it in words that everybody knows. Only that most people never stop to think about these words. תְּפִלָּה לְמֹשֶׁה אִישׁ הָאֱלֹקִים – It’s a prayer composed by Moshe, one of the rare things left over from the days of old, a memento of Moshe’s own composition that lets us peer into the mind of the ish ha’elokim, that great man of G-d. Moshe Rabbeinu, he said a lot of good things, but we don’t have them. One remnant remains from the precious mouth of this great teacher, and it’s a diamond. A prayer by Moshe; isn’t that an opportunity?! We should study that! Moshe’s own composition!And here’s what he said: הַשֵּׁם מָעוֹן אַתָּה הָיִיתָ לָּנוּ – “Hashem, You are our dwelling place” (Tehillim 90:1). It’s a remarkable statement. It means, “Hashem, we don’t have a place to live and so we live in You.” You know when that was? Ideally it was in the wilderness. We had no place to be in the wilderness. We didn’t have any land, no place to settle. Wherever we did settle, it was only temporary. We were surrounded by the Shechina, by the clouds of glory, and You were our dwelling place. We lived in You. And that was the training, the prototype for the rest of our history; because wherever we go we still live in You.That’s why the Am Yisroel, when they talk about Hashem, so they say Hamakom. Hamakom yinacheim, Hamakom this, Hamakom that. Makom means place and Hashem is the place. We live in Him. You think you live in a house; you think you live in a home with your parents or your spouse and your children. No, you live in Hashem, that’s all. He’s your home.THE ARABS TEACH US ABOUT YOVELWe have to be aware of that. That’s part of our job in this world, to remember that there’s no place in this world; it’s all imagination – there’s only one true place. Hamakom! Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the place. Even the place where we are is only a dream, it’s our imagination. We have no place but you!That’s why a Jew is always hounded in this world; the Jew walks on the street in Europe and the goyim cast slurs on him; they tell him, “Get out of our country you dirty Jew. Go to Israel!” And if he does, so the Arabs tell him to get out, the U.N. tells him to get out. And it’s not for no reason – it’s important instruction to let him know that he really has no place in this world. And the purpose of not having any place in this world is to discover that we do have a place. And that place is Hamakom Baruch Hu – Hakadosh Baruch Hu is called a place, because wherever we are, it’s only Him whom we live with.So what do we see? That the great ceremony of the Yovel was intended as a lesson for the Am Yisroel. It was a national demonstration of the most important truths – I say most important because it reveals to us the truth of our condition in this world. It’s really one lesson, but we separated it into two for the sake of better understanding it. First of all, the Yoveldemonstrated to us that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the Landlord and that we are only tenants visiting in this world. And in order that we should keep this lesson in our minds at all times the Torah instituted this remarkable practice – a great shuffle up once every fifty years – so that it would make the deepest impression into our neshamos.OUR OLD FRIENDAnd the second lesson, the more subtle teaching, is that our Landlord is the only one we have in this world. We’re strangers, we’re all alone in this world and Hakadosh Baruch Hu is our only Friend. And He’s the best Friend you could have. That’s what it says: רֵעֲךָ וְרֵעַ אָבִיךָ אַל תַּעֲזֹב – “Don’t forsake your Friend and the Friend of your father” (Mishlei 27:10). That’s אֱלֹקֵינוּ וֵאֱלֹקֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ. That’s our old Friend. He is tried and trusted and He’s the only one we have.And even though today we don’t have the Yovel; we don’t hear the shofar blast, and we don’t feel the earthquake that once woke the Am Yisroel from its slumber, from the lethargy of not thinking, but we study it and we gain as much as we possibly can from its teachings.And the wise person always makes use of the deed to his home that adorns his doorposts. Every time we pass in and out of our homes we are reminded that our home is not really a home at all; it’s merely the place we’re visiting temporarily. It’s the place where we spend our fleeting lives preparing to enter our permanent home in the next world, where we will meet the Hashem Echad who was our one and only true Friend in this world.HAVE A WONDERFUL SHABBOS See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Part I.We’re TenantsEARTHQUAKE IN ERETZ YISROELAnyone who reads this week’sparshaknows that in ancient times there was a great “earthquake” that shook the land of Eretz Yisroel every fifty years. Now, the land did not actually shake but on the tenth day of the year, soon after Yovel came in, a loud shofar blast was blown in Eretz Yisroel, and it was a sound that reverberated throughout the land causing great turmoil. It was a blast that was the catalyst for such great commotion, such movement and upheaval, that it was as if an earthquake had shaken the land.What did the sound of the shofar mean? It was an announcement, a grand proclamation to all the residents of Eretz Yisroel that: וְהָאָרֶץ לֹא תִמָּכֵר לִצְמִתֻת – “The land shall not be sold forever” (Behar 25:23), and what that meant was that the fields and homes that had been purchased in the last forty-nine years were now returned to their previous owners. That’s how it was in Eretz Yisroel in the times of the first Beis Hamikdash; whenever someone sold a property, it would revert back to the previous owner when Yovel came around. And so, as the Yovel year began, many people who had purchased real estate during the last fifty years had to pack up all their worldly possessions and leave their homes. Many large families with many children were uprooted from their homes.THE REAL ESTATE TUMULTFifty years! That’s a long time! People had become accustomed to living on this property and they invested a lot of money and effort into beautifying their lands and their houses. And now, when that shofar sounded, it was a decree from the King that all the fields that had been purchased in the last fifty years were to be surrendered back to their original owners. And that meant that there was a great flow of people, a tremendous commotion, as people moved from one place to another. Many who had no land of their own for fifty years, people who had wandered like beggars because they had to sell off everything to pay debts, were now restored to their ancestral estates. And on the other hand there were those who had been living in style in big beautiful houses, on spacious grounds – but they had bought them – so now they moved out, back onto the street.Of course, it wasn’t a surprise; they knew it was coming, but as prepared as they could have been, we understand that it was a big disturbance for the nation. It had to be, because when real estate must change hands it’s not a simple matter. You’ll have to set records straight, and there are bound to be arguments to settle; this man says that the implements on the land – his plow or the livestock – belong to him, and the other one disputes that. There was a great deal of arranging to do and it wasn’t simple. The whole land was in a hubbub. The roads were packed with families; mothers and fathers walking, wagons filled with children and belongings, some heading back home, others leaving their homes. Nobody felt settled; the nation was in an uproar.IT’S ALL MINE!Now, such a ceremony, such a national displacement – multitudes of people leaving their homes and traveling the roads – had to have an important purpose! And therefore we should pay attention to what the Torah tells us about this great commotion of Yovel; why is everyone moving? So we take a look at the reason Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives: כִּי לִי הָאָרֶץ – “The land belongs to Me! You can’t sell My land outright!” כִּי גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם עִמָּדִי – “You are merely sojourners, settlers, who are living by Me.” That means, “I am your host, and you are My guests.”And now we learn a reason for this great commotion. It was a message for the nation; all over the country, they were learning the lesson that the land has a landlord. And it’s a lesson that had to be learned. Otherwise, it would be easy to forget. Here’s a man who came in with Yehoshua bin Nun when they conquered the land and he had delighted in a beautiful fertile land that he found spread out before him. So he invested everything he had into it. All of his energies and all of his time, he put into the land, both he and his children. And so, after a while, they forget that this land once was not theirs and they therefore had to be reminded that somebody had given it to them.And so, once in fifty years all the purchased properties returned to their previous owners to show thatnobodyhas a right in the land. Everybody took notice. Even the people who had no minds, people who didn’t think, they became aware. They saw movement, moving off land, moving into the land. “What’s happening here?!” And that was the great drama of the Yovel that Hashem intended. In order to make everyone understand – not just understand, but in order that everyone shouldfeel in their bonesthat they are only visitors on the land.WILL AMERICA TURN SOCIALIST?Now, it’s not only the nation that practices and studies themitzvahofYovel, who are mere visitors in this world. The Germans and the Norwegians and the Eskimos are only visiting as well. The Pole who has been living in Poland way back as far as his history records is also a stranger. And the Hottentot climbing the trees in the same jungle where his forefathers have been running around for hundreds, maybe thousands of years, he’s also only a visitor in this world. They’re all visitors here and nothing is going to change that; when the time comes they’re also going to leave this world – the only question is where they’re going to leave to.But the gentile nations weren’t privileged to have themitzvah, the reminder of Yovel. If agoybuys or sells real estate in America or in England, so as long as the liberals don’t have their way, as long as the government doesn’t turn Socialist, so the gentiles could stay in their land forever. They don’t have to be reminded that the land is not theirs, because they are themishpechos ha’adamah, the families of the earth; that means – their functionis this world. Theirpurposehere isadamahpurposes – to farm the land, to put down roofs, to be firemen and everything else the world needs. But theAm Yisroelwas given the special privilege of being taught by Hashem that they have a different purpose altogether. By means of the special institution of Yovel we’re reminded that our stay here is only temporary and that what we’re aiming for is something much higher than this world.MR. P. NEEDS OXYGENNow, when you don’t get special instruction, or if you don’t listen to instruction, so you begin to think thatthisis your place. Like the man who moved in next door to me years ago; I remember him well because as we walked to shul on Shabbos morning, he would be outside in his garden clipping his bushes. So this man – he was quite elderly already when he moved in – he decided to put up a metal fence, an expensive wrought iron fence. And in the middle of the fence was a big metal circle – like a shield, an escutcheon – and he put his initial, a big P of cast iron in the middle. It was something that would last for the next two hundred years. And I was thinking, that initial is only good forhim, forhisname. But how long will he be there?Well, it wasn’t too long. One night, we heard outside somebody crying out. His son was running out of the house, running down the street, yelling “Oxygen!” He ran around the corner to the fire station and brought back a little oxygen tank, but it was too late; his father was finished already. And so the family eventually moved, and now somebody else bought the home. The colored man living there now has a big P on the gate in front of his house! It’s not his initial, but it’s still there in heavy metal, an insert in the gate memorializing the man who thought he would be around forever.A HUNDRED YEAR VISITNow, I never saw a Yovel in my life, but this message I did see. I saw it with my own eyes and I took it as a lesson from Hakodosh Boruch Hu that that’s what happens when a person becomes attached to one place; he begins to feel that it’s permanent, that this is security. People start thinking after a while, that they’re here for the next thousand years. It’s not an exaggeration; that’s exactly what they think! Of course, if you tell him so, he’ll ridicule you: “Don’t be silly; I know that one day I will be gone.” But in his heart of hearts, he still hopes, “Maybe I’ll make it. Maybe I’ll be around for a thousand years.” Everybody is like that; they think they’ll get out of it some way. “I’ll hang around; not like the other fools who get finagled into leaving this world.”The gentile, orchas v’chalila,the Jew who doesn’t learn the lesson ofYovel, so he puts his initial in wrought iron on his fence. But when you know, when you really knowthat you’re only a visitor here you live differently.Now, some people understand this lesson; they take the hint of Hakodosh Boruch Hu and live with the understanding that they are only visitors here. Like the Chofetz Chaim,zichrono livracha. I told you this story already, it’s a story you all know already, but I’ll say it again because it’s the point of our talk tonight. Once a visitor came in to the Chofetz Chaim’s house and he was waiting in what he thought was the anterior room, a waiting room. There was a table there made of a few boards of wood nailed together, and there were a few old benches there too, also just some lumber nailed together. So when the Chofetz Chaim finally came out to greet the visitor, the guest said, “Rebbe, you don’t have to talk to me here; let’s go inside.” So the Chofetz Chaim said, “This is the inside.” “Butrebbe, where is the furniture?” So the Chofetz Chaim said to the visitor, “Where isyourfurniture?” “My furniture?! I’m from America; I can’t take my furniture with me. I’m just traveling through.” So the Chofetz Chaim said, “So am I.”THE LANDLORD WANTS RENT TOO?!On the other hand, I visited a poor man once. He was earning about ninety dollars a week in those days; it was about twenty years ago. I was sitting on the sofa in his house and he told me – maybe he was trying to impress me – he said, “This sofa cost me eight hundred dollars.” Now today, it’s nothing, but in those days when I heard eight hundred dollars, I nearly fell off the sofa. I was sitting on a sofa that cost this man almost ten weeks of his life. Now, I don’t know if that sofa is still around like my neighbor’s P; probably not. But the lesson is still there – it means that the lesson of Yovel hasn’t been learned yet; it means that we don’t yet understand that we’re only visiting here.Number one is to know that you’re not a landlord here, you’re a tenant. Because of habit, people tend to forget that there is a landlord. Let’s say your landlord takes a trip to Eretz Yisroel and he stays away for five months and in the meantime he doesn’t collect rent, so it becomes a habit. If he would come back and ask for rent so you feel like it’s an imposition. In just five months you became accustomed to being the owner of this place. And we’re here for much more than five months! Seventy, eighty years, is a long time and so we begin to think that this is our place, that this is where we’ll be forever.THE VISIT HAS A PURPOSEAnd so, keeping in mind that we’re visitors here becomes a very important function of how we live. It’s not enough to say over a story of the Chofetz Chaim; you have tothinkabout it – it’s a very important subject and we should study it seriously.Olam Haba; that is our place! Here we don’t really belong – we’re just passing through, headed to a better place. And if you’re a person like the Chofetz Chaim let’s say, if you feel like a visitor in this world, so you have higherhasagosthan iron fences and expensive sofas. You consider your success to be in more important things, in things of the spirit.This is expressed in apossukin Tehillim (119:19) when Dovid Hamelech said: גֵּר אָנֹכִי בָאָרֶץ – “I am a stranger in this world, אַל תַּסְתֵּר מִמֶּנִּי מִצְוֹתֶיךָ – Don’t hide from me Your commandments.” What’s the connection between the first part of thepossukand the second? I am a stranger in this world and therefore teach me Your will?! It’s a non-sequitur.And the answer is this: “If I had no other function in this world than just to be here like a forest or a mountain, if I was from themishpechos ha’adamah,so my function would be fulfilled just by living here. I wouldn’t ask You for anything. But that’s not my function.Geir anochi ba’aretz– I realize that I am only a visitor here and I am headed for a different goal. And if that’s the case, I have a lot to accomplish in this world where it’s very easy to get lost in its ‘permanence.’ And that’s why I’m asking You to give me success here.Part II.Tenants with PurposeTHE BOOK OF MEDITATIONSAnd now we come to the subject of what is this success that Dovid was aiming for? What should be the result of this knowledge that we’re only visitors here? So for that we look into theChovos Halevavos, and because his words are always gems we should pay attention to what he says. HisSha’ar Cheshbon Hanefeshis a section in which he talks about subjects which people ought to meditate on; certain mental exercises that we are expected to think about. And he suggests thirty different ideas – thirty forms of contemplation which he recommends for people who want to make progress. Of course there are many things concerning which we should think, and those who are capable can add to the list, but he gives us thirty ideas to fill our mind with.Now, you can be a good Jew even if you don’t strain your mind too much, but if you want to be something better, if you want to be successful in this world, it’s necessary to contemplate certain ideas. There’s no doubt that to be something in this world you must spend some time thinking. And therefore, the list of the Chovos Halevavos is a boon for those people who want to make progress in this world.At the end of his list, he comes tohamashlim hashloshim, his grand finale, what perhaps is the most important attitude upon which he urges us to spend time thinking. And we’ll quote his words and try to understand them:Hamashlim hashloshim hu cheshbonha’adam im nafsho, the thirtieth thing that a man should think with himself is,b’tna’ei hageirus b’olam hazeh, about his circumstances of being a sojourner, a visitor in this world. That means that everybody is expected to set aside time for thinking, for contemplating the fact that he is only passing through this world temporarily and that he doesn’t really belong here. And therefore he should never feel completely settled and secure in life.TAKING MONEY FROM THE CHINESELet’s say a man went to China for business. He didn’t go there to mingle with the Chinese, or even to visit the tourist sites there. He went for business; in order to make some money to bring back to where hereallybelongs. He’s not interested in anything else – their language is alien to him, their customs are strange to him, their customs are queer in his eyes. He doesn’t belong to them at all. And even though he might want to go see the Great Wall of China; he’s curious after all, and it’s easier to look at walls than to close business deals. But he knows that he came for one purpose – to take as much money and goods from China as he can. And while he’s there that’s his sole interest.So he gets into the export business. He gets busy exporting as much as he could out of China. He doesn’t want to leave anything there because he knows that sooner or later he’ll be back home. And that’s us! Our job in this world is to get into the export business. We’re here to take out all that we can. Now, what to export, that’s a lot to talk about, but good deeds surely are valuables that you can take along with you. Thinking about Hashem, that’s definitely something you’ll take with you.Torahu’ma’asim tovim, that’s the cash you’ll take along with you. Ortzeddakahthat you gave. If you give away charity, it’s in your pocket and you’ll take it along with you forever.ALL FOR THE BOSSI once knew a Mr. Hermanzichrono l’vrachafrom the Lower East Side. Now, Mr. Herman was one of the very few devoted frum Jews in the olden days of America.B’leiv v’nefeshhe was devoted to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And he told me once that when he saw that all his money was going lost, that his business was quickly failing – it was at the time of the Great Depression. So he right away took a thousand dollars – in those days a thousand dollars was a small fortune – and he gave it away totzedakahon the spot. He said, “Why should I lose that too? Why should I lose my chance at exporting more goods into the Next World?” And so Mr. Herman was a smart businessman and he quickly exported another container out of China.Now, what to do forthis worldwhile you’re still here – I’m not going to tell you right now what you should or shouldn’t do. Should you beautify your home? Should you try to make money? The businessman in China has to sleep somewhere! He can’t sleep on the street. He has to eat as well and keep himself healthy if he wants to succeed. And if he’ll be there for a few years so he’ll have his family with him and he’ll have to provide for them as well. And that costs money.YOU’RE ENTITLED TO A GREEN THUMBSo if you buy a beautiful home and you have a big garden around it, OK, I’m not saying you can’t invest into beautifying your place. Why not? If you like garden work, agriculture, if you have a green thumb, why not? If you can paint on your own, or you can hire people to beautify your home, why not? Maybe why yes? You’ll have to think that through. But whatever you decide, there’s a condition that you always must keep before your mind’s eye: That we’re only tenants. Even though you have a deed and it’s registered in City Hall, and even though you’re painting your house, and fixing your garden, you can’t forget that you’re only a tenant here.It’sHashem’shome and you’re visiting for a little bit; you’re a tenant. Certainly you should live a normal life; but it has to be the normal life of a visitor. You should keep in mind always this great principle, that you’re like a man in a railway station. Let’s say you’re in Grand Central and you have a chance to do some business there. You can buy from one person and sell it to somebody else at the station. Why not? No reason why not. But you have to know that soon you’ll be hearing a whistle and the conductor will shout, “All aboard.” And you won’t have a choice, you’ll have to get aboard. And so if you’ll keep that in mind, that the train is coming sooner or later, so there’s no reason why you can’t have a nice home as well. As long as you’ll be able to hop on board with a big amount of paper money or banknotes that you’ll be able to cash in when you get to your destination, so you’ve accomplished!And so, in order to remind theAm Yisroelof their condition in this world it was necessary to have aYovel. It was necessary to have this big commotion every fifty years as a national lesson.Everybodybecame aware. Even the people who had no minds, who didn’t think, became aware. They saw the tumult, the roads jammed with people, families moving out of homes, into homes. What’s happening here?! What’s going on? “It’s no secret,” says Hashem. “I’m telling it to you as open as could be. כִּי לִי הָאָרֶץ – “The land is mine”, כִּי גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם עִמָּדִי – “You are only strangers and sojourners with me.” The land doesn’t belong to anyone, not to the one who bought it and not the original owner. It belongs to Somebody else; the real Landlord.”THE LANDLORD AT THE DOORNow, it’s true that we don’t have theYovelnowadays. We don’t have that privilege of being reminded with such an earth shaking event that turns theAmYisroelupside down. But there are other ways that we remind ourselves. We put the name of our Landlord on every doorpost. Did you know that? וּכְתַבְתָּם עַל מְזוּזוֹת בֵּיתֶךָ (Devarim 11:20). That’s one of the important reasons for themitzvahofmezuzah. Whenever you pass through a doorway, it should remind you who owns the house (RambamHil. Mezuzah6:13). Of course, you saved up for years, and finally you got the deed to the house. For years and years you paid and paid to the bank until finally they mailed to you the deed – you’re free and clear. It’s finally yours!No, you’re not free and clear! Because every time you pass themezuzahyou’re reminded that you still have a Landlord who is the real Owner of the property. And so themezuzahis a remarkable opportunity for learning the lessons ofYovel. If you take advantage of themezuzah, even if it’s only once a day, you can succeed at acquiring the realization that כִּי לִי הָאָרֶץ, that the earth belongs to Hashem and that we’re only passing through; just as our forefathers did inEretz Yisroelwhen they still had the institution ofYovel.Part III.Friends of the LandlordONE HUNDRED MEANINGS OF “ONE”Now, the most important words inside yourmezuzahareShema Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad– “Hashem is One.” You know that these first words in Shema have a number of meanings. I know onemechaberwho wrote aseferwith a hundred meanings and they’re all valuable, all very important. But we won’t try that much; right now we’ll concentrate on the onepeirushthat we need to better understand our subject.TheChovos Halevavos(ibid.), tells us that thepossukdescribing the Yovel, כִּי גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם עִמָּדִי “You are sojourners with Me in this world,” is actually teaching us apeirushin what it means that Hashem is One. Because actually, Yovel teaches us much more than that we are travelers who don’t own our homes. כִּי גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם – עִמָּדִי – “You are sojournerswith Me!” “With Me,” meansonlywith Me.Hashem Echad– as far as you’re concerned there is nobody else in the world except you and Me.And so, theYovelis letting us know that as we live out the years of our lives in this temporary world, we do so as lonely strangers, passing through this world. Nobody else exists in the world, except for Hashem. That’s the idea contained in this important meaning ofHashem Echad,that He’s the only One in our lives.BUT I DON’TFEELLONELY!Now, that’s not easy for a person to accept. He thinks thatb’soch ami anochi yosheves, that he has relatives, a community, friends. He doesn’t feel alone. Hashem? Yes, Hashem is also real, he’ll admit that, he’s a frum man after all. “But the people around me, that’sreallyreal,” he thinks. And what that means is that he’s missing out on the most important point of this entire drama of Yovel that Hashem is making. Yovel is telling you – that you are עִמָּדִי, together with Me, alone, all the days of your life.I want you to listen to the following words of Dovid Hamelech. Dovid appealed to Hakodosh Boruch Hu: תָּעִיתִי כְּשֶׂה אֹבֵד – “I am wandering like a lost sheep, Hashem, בַּקֵּשׁ עַבְדֶּךָ – “Search out Your servant” (Tehillim 119:176). That means, “Please find me Hashem because I’m lost; I’m all alone in this world.” Now, you know that Dovid was a man of very great success and power and we’re told that לִבּוֹ כְּלֵב הָאַרְיֵה – “He had a heart like the heart of a lion.” (Shmuel II 17:10). He was born with a nature of a lion, and fear was alien to him. He was energetic and brave, and that’s besides for hisbitachon, his trust in Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And yet, this great man revealed his soul when he appealed to Hakodosh Boruch Hu: “I am wandering like a lost and lonely sheep; please find me.”WHO IS THE RIGHT CANDIDATE?Now, if anybodywasn’tlost in this world it was Dovid Hamelech. Looking at him, you would say that he’s the last person in the world to be a candidate for the role of the lost sheep. But what we see is that Dovid understood more than other people what is man’s station in this world. He is enunciating here the great principle of our loneliness in Olam Hazeh – the great principle that there is nobody in the world except for you and Hashem.And that’s what Dovid said: הַבֵּיט יָמִין וּרְאֵה וְאֵין לִי מַכִּיר – “I look on my right hand and I see that there’s nobody who knows me” (Tehillim 142:5). “Nobody who knows me”!? Dovid of all people?! He was always surrounded by friends; he always had loyal men with him. And yet, when he looked around he saw that he had no one. He felt he was a stranger to everyone. I look at my right hand side and I see that no one knows me! You think they know you? No, it’s only a dream. That’s the real truth, and that’s what Dovid Hamelech was always telling himself. He would sit in the royal court, and look around at his many friends; his admirers, all the courtiers, and he would whisper to himself, “Ein li makir, there’s nobody with me; there’s nobody in this world except for You Hashem.”WALKING WITH HASHEMNow, some people think that Dovid was just saying words – he was just being poetic, creating prose for hissefer Tehillim. But that’s not who Dovid was at all; Dovid spoke words that came from the heart, words that would spring forth from hisneshamaafter many hours of walking in the fields with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Dovid walked with Hashem making thatcheshbon ha’adam im nafshothat we spoke about. He thought many hoursb’tna’ei hageirus b’olam hazeh, about his condition of being a sojourner, a visitor, in this world. And he realized the truth that as far as a man is concerned there isn’t anybody in this world except for Hashem.There isn’t a soul around and that’s the real truth. It’s only imagination. All the forms around you are just ships that pass in the night that have no permanent connection with you. And the truth is – don’t say this over at home – but even your wife and your children are transitory figures. They’re not really whoyouare. It so happens that Hakodosh Boruch Hu took some protoplasm made from some of His chemicals and He gave you a father and a mother; He gave you brothers and sisters; and friends and neighbors. But it’s only protoplasm after all. It’s only Hashem’s imagination; it’s only temporary. They came out of the earth, and they were put there for you to deal with them according to the ways of the Torah. And that’s how they’ll deal with you as well, because you’re also only the imagination of Hashem.YOUR IMAGINARY ALLIESNow that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get married. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have friends. Oh no! You have to do everything that’s expected of you while you’re in this world. You can’t ignore everyone else. You can’t say, “My father and my mother are only transitory figures, so I’ll ignore them.” Nothing doing! Nothing doing! You have to discharge your obligations fully – only that you must not lose sight of your Best Friend in this world, Hakadosh Baruch Hu. You have a wife, and you have children, and friends, and neighbors, and teachers, but you can’t be fooled by it all. It’s a big danger, this world, because if you don’t ever make thischeshbon ha’adam im nafsho, if you never make time to think about your condition ofgeirusin this world, so life creates the impression that you’re surrounded with allies; fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, relatives, and friends.When things are settled, when life settles into the humdrum, so a person feels secure – he has his home, his family, his job – and he’s surrounded by people. And it’s among people, when a person feels like he belongs, that’s when it’s so easy to forget about Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Like right now, it seems like we’re together; we’re sitting together in the same room; maybe some of you are sleeping but more or less, it seems like we’re together. But it’s not true; really we are all at sea like ships passing in the night. They pass for a moment and then they’re gone. That’s how people are in this world. It seems that you have friends but the friends disappear in the course of time. And of course you also disappear. And all you have left is Hakodosh Boruch Hu.THE HOLY BACHELORSo even if you’re a loyal husband or a loyal wife, a loyal father or a loyal mother, and you have a house full of children,kein ayin hara, sometimes, when you find yourself alone, make sure to utilize the opportunity to exercise these thoughts. Let’s say the babies are all asleep, and the other ones went out to the yeshiva, and your husband is at work, and you’re alone. Or better yet, if you’re a bachelor. It’s not better to be a bachelor, but if you are, make use of the opportunity.You’re alone. Revel in that opportunity. Just think of how you’d be deprived of the awareness of Hashem if you were surrounded right now by a large family. You would have to exchange your thoughts of Hashem for banter with the children, and for talking with your wife. The telephone is ringing all the time. And here you are alone, nobody bothers you, nobody even knows about you; you’re sitting all alone in your little den, and you’re alone with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. You and Hakodosh Boruch Hu are alone together. That’s an opportunity! And when such opportunities come your way, you should grab them and utilize them.ALL ALONE ON THE CROWDED SUBWAYBut we’re saying here that you don’t have to wait for that quiet moment; for when the special occasion presents itself. Because even when you’re walking on the street, you’re all alone with Hashem. Let’s say you’re on Broadway at the end of the day, and a wave, an ocean of humanity is pouring out of the office buildings. And sometimes it’s so crowded you can’t even walk, you’re being carried along to the subway, with thousands of people. Just then, that’s when you should think, “Hashem Echad! I’m alone with You in this world.”And when you get onto the train, no difference. You’re hanging on to the strap at 5:30 in the subway – if you were lucky enough to get a strap to hang on to. And as you’re hanging on the strap, first of all make sure that your wallet is secure – don’t go off in dreams and forget practical things. And as you’re holding on tightly like this, with one hand on the strap and one hand on your wallet, think that you’re all alone here; it’s just you and Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Close your eyes and feel that the place is empty. All around you is a storm of humanity with all their little interests, their little worries, their conversations, their little minds; and you’re holding onto the strap all alone with your Best Friend.It’s an exercise – and it’s well worth it. And it comes highly recommended by theChovos Halevavos. He says that it’s possible to be in solitude in the midst of a multitude. That’s his expression, הִתְבּוֹדְדוּת בְּתוֹךְ הֲמוֹנִים – “In the midst of a multitude you can be all alone.” Because that’s the real truth; even when you’re in a crowd, you’re hanging on a strap in the subway, you’re all alone because everything else isonly a dream –kachalom ya’uf– like a passing dream. And the more you think, the more you’re exercising the flabby muscles of your soul. And therefore as frequently as possible try to remember that you and Hakodosh Boruch Hu are alone in the world.MOSHE RABEINU’S COMPOSITIONMoshe Rabeinu said that, and he said it in words that everybody knows. Only that most people never stop to think about these words. תְּפִלָּה לְמֹשֶׁה אִישׁ הָאֱלֹקִים – It’s a prayer composed by Moshe, one of the rare things left over from the days of old, a memento of Moshe’s own composition that lets us peer into the mind of theishha’elokim, that great man of G-d. Moshe Rabbeinu, he said a lot of good things, but we don’t have them. One remnant remains from the precious mouth of this great teacher, and it’s a diamond. A prayer by Moshe; isn’t that an opportunity?! We should study that! Moshe’s own composition!And here’s what he said: הַשֵּׁם מָעוֹן אַתָּה הָיִיתָ לָּנוּ – “Hashem, You are our dwelling place” (Tehillim 90:1). It’s a remarkable statement. It means, “Hashem, we don’t have a place to live and so we livein You.” You know when that was? Ideally it was in the wilderness. We had no place to be in the wilderness. We didn’t have any land, no place to settle. Wherever we did settle, it was only temporary. We were surrounded by the Shechina, by the clouds of glory, and You were our dwelling place. We lived in You. And that was the training, the prototype for the rest of our history; because wherever we go we still live in You.That’s why theAm Yisroel,when they talk about Hashem, so they sayHamakom.Hamakom yinacheim,Hamakomthis,Hamakomthat.Makommeans place and Hashem istheplace. We live in Him. You think you live in a house; you think you live in a home with your parents or your spouse and your children. No, you live in Hashem, that’s all. He’s your home.THE ARABS TEACH US ABOUT YOVELWe have to be aware of that. That’s part of our job in this world, to remember that there’s no place in this world; it’s all imagination – there’s only one true place.Hamakom! Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the place. Even the place where we are is only a dream, it’s our imagination. We have no place but you!That’s why a Jew is always hounded in this world; the Jew walks on the street in Europe and thegoyimcast slurs on him; they tell him, “Get out of our country you dirty Jew. Go to Israel!” And if he does, so theArabstell him to get out, the U.N. tells him to get out. And it’s not for no reason – it’s important instruction to let him know that he really has no place in this world. And the purpose of not having any place in this world is to discover that we do have a place. And that place isHamakom Baruch Hu– Hakadosh Baruch Hu is called a place, because wherever we are, it’s only Him whom we live with.So what do we see? That the great ceremony of the Yovel was intended as a lesson for theAm Yisroel. It was a national demonstration of the most important truths – I say most important because it reveals to us the truth of our condition in this world. It’s really one lesson, but we separated it into two for the sake of better understanding it. First of all, theYoveldemonstrated to us that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the Landlord and that we are only tenants visiting in this world. And in order that we should keep this lesson in our minds at all times the Torah instituted this remarkable practice – a great shuffle up once every fifty years – so that it would make the deepest impression into ourneshamos.OUR OLD FRIENDAnd the second lesson, the more subtle teaching, is that our Landlord is theonlyone we have in this world. We’re strangers, we’re all alone in this world andHakadosh Baruch Hu is our only Friend. And He’s the best Friend you could have. That’s what it says: רֵעֲךָ וְרֵעַ אָבִיךָ אַל תַּעֲזֹב – “Don’t forsake your Friend and the Friend of your father” (Mishlei 27:10). That’s אֱלֹקֵינוּ וֵאֱלֹקֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ. That’s our old Friend. He is tried and trusted and He’s the only one we have.And even though today we don’t have theYovel; we don’t hear the shofar blast, and we don’t feel the earthquake that once woke theAm Yisroelfrom its slumber, from the lethargy of not thinking, but we study it and we gain as much as we possibly can from its teachings.And the wise person always makes use of the deed to his home that adorns his doorposts. Every time we pass in and out of our homes we are reminded that our home is not really a home at all; it’s merely the place we’re visiting temporarily. It’s the place where we spend our fleeting lives preparing to enter our permanent home in the next world, where we will meet theHashem Echadwho was our one and only true Friend in this world.HAVE A WONDERFUL SHABBOS See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Part I. You’re a JudgeTHE WEALTHY MAN AND THE PAUPERIn this week’s parsha there’s a mitzvah of בְּצֶדֶק תִּשְׁפֹּט עֲמִיתֶךָ – “You should judge your fellowman with tzedek, with righteousness” (Kedoshim 19:15). Now, in its most simple pshat what that means is that if you’re a judge, if you’re a dayan in the beis din, so you must always be on guard that your first inclination, your emotions, shouldn’t be the reason for your decision. Don’t allow any superficial thoughts to lead you to conclusions; instead you must be careful to follow the din of the Torah in all its details.Let’s say you’re a judge and now there’s a poor man standing before you; he’s one of the two litigants who came to the beis din. Now, you’re a compassionate man after all – so you might say, “This poor fellow has a tough life – and I should go now and make him guilty and make it even worse?! Let me give him a break!” “No,” says Hashem, “Don’t do that”: לֹא תִשָּׂא פְנֵי דָל – “Don’t follow your superficial emotions in the courtroom and try to give an edge to the poor man” (ibid.).On the other hand, sometimes it might be a wealthy man, somebody important, and so your inclination might be to judge him more favorably. After all, he’s much more impressive, this well-heeled fellow, and just seeing him in his four hundred dollar suit makes his arguments seem stronger. “Nothing doing!” says Hashem: וְלֹא תֶהְדַּר פְּנֵי גָדוֹל – “Don’t show any preferable honor to an important person” (ibid.) If you’re a judge, it has to be b’tzedek. You have to follow the strict letter of the law; whatever Hakadosh Baruch Hu prescribes in the Torah. That’s the job of a dayan – he has to subjugate his feelings, his emotions, to what Hashem expects him to think, and to pasken b’tzedek.AN ADDITIONAL LAYERNow all of this appears to be irrelevant to us here. It’s an admonition to dayanim who sit in a court, but for us ordinary people, it doesn’t seem to apply at all. Where does this mitzvahof b’tzedek tishpot amisecha come into our lives? It could be that one or two of you will one day study the intricate details of Choshen Mishpat, all the dinei mamonos, and you’ll get a certain semicha, ‘yadin yadin’.And once you receive that permission to judge dinei mamonos so besides for all the dinim you’ll have to know, you’ll also have to always remember these words of the Torah: בְּצֶדֶק תִּשְׁפֹּט עֲמִיתֶךָ – “Don’t let your emotions get the best of you when you’re sitting in judgement in the beis din.” But for most of us it’s not applicable at all.However, that’s not the full meaning of the possuk. There’s an additional layer of meaning in those words that we’re going to study tonight, and it’s a mitzvahthat applies to all of us, all the time. In Mesichta Shevuos (30a) the sages tell us that בְּצֶדֶק תִּשְׁפֹּט עֲמִיתֶךָ is also teaching us as follows: עַם שֶׁאִתְּךָ בַּתּוֹרָה וּבְמִצְוֹת הִשְׁתַּדֵּל לְדוּנוֹ יָפֶה יָפֶה – A person who is with you in Torah and mitzvos, be mishtadeil, put effort into judging him favorably” (Shevuos 30a). It’s what we learned in Mesichta Avos: הֱוֵי דָּן אֶת כָּל הָאָדָם לְכַף זְכוּת – “You, every single one of you, should make sure to judge your fellow Jew with righteousness.” L’kafzechus means that you have to ignore the kaf chov, the side of guilt,and instead go out of your way to judge your fellow man l’kaf zechus, to the side of merit.DON’T BE A COW OR A LIBERALAnd what that means is that every person is a judge – it can’t be helped. As soon as you see somebody, you’re forming opinions. You can’t avoid it! If you were a cow, chas v’shalom, so you’d be able to go through life without thinking, without judging; but if you’re an adam then you’re already a dayan. Don’t be a liberal and say “Oh no, I don’t judge anyone; I would never do that!” It’s not true! You’re always passing judgement on people; don’t think otherwise. You’re judging your wife or your husband all the time! Why did he do this? Why didn’t she do that? Why did he say this or that? You’re judging your neighbors all the time! Why did he block my driveway? Why does he let his son ride his bike on my lawn? You’re judging your children all the time! And your co-workers, and your chavrusa, and the people in shul, and the Rav of your shul. You’re even making judgements about strangers who pass you by on the street! You’re a full timedayan.And even though you’re not publicizing your decision, you’re not telling anybody what you’re thinking, nevertheless, Hashem is yireh l’leivav, He sees what’s going on in your thoughts. And so in the eyes of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, you’re acting as a dayan. And so, if you want to succeed in your “career of dayanus”, you had better get busy purifying your thoughts as much as possible, and doing whatever you can to make sure that you’re judging those around you favorably all the time.WE’RE OBLIGATED TO DRILLNow, if you’re paying attention you’ll note that the mitzvah בְּצֶדֶק תִּשְׁפֹּט עֲמִיתֶךָ is a source for two seemingly contradictory halachos. On the one hand, the Torah is obligating a judge to issue his verdict on the basis of absolute justice, in strict accordance with the law. And yet, these same words are teaching us that outside the beis din we are obligated in the mitzvah הֱוֵי דָּן אֶת כָּל הָאָדָם לְכַף זְכוּת -“Judge your neighbor favorably,” which means that we are obligated not to be strict and instead to do our utmost to justify the actions and behavior of our fellow Jews.And it’s the resolution to this apparent contradiction that will provide us with the tools we need to be successful at being dan l’kaf zchus. Because what b’tzedek tishpot really means is that we expect from a dayan in the courtroom not to be fooled by superficialities. So what of it if he’s a poor man dressed in rags?! Who cares if he’s mumbling or stuttering when presenting his claim?! And if he’s a wealthy man, if he’s dressed in a tailored suit and he’s so impressive looking – so what?! Are you going to pass judgement on the basis of such a shallow thing?! With half-baked ideas you’ll pasken on a Yisroel?! Chas v’shalom! The dayan is expected to ignore the veneer of superficialities and drill down to the core of justice – he’s expected to be dan din emes la’amito.It’s not easy for a dayan to see past the superficialities in the courtroom. It’s not easy to ignore what’s right in front of his eyes – it’s there; it’s so real and concrete. What he sees in the poor man is real! What he sees in the wealthy man is obvious; it’s so tangible! And so, it’s very hard to push it all away, to ignore it completely, and come to the right decision. And yet, as difficult as it might be, that’s the obligation of b’tzedek tishpot amisecha.WE HAVE A BIG JOB!And outside of the courtroom we’re expected to do the same! We have that same obligation outside the beis din; absolutely. In all of your contacts with amisecha, with your fellow Jews – the ones you like as well as the ones you don’t like as much – you’re expected to ignore the superficial things that bother you and instead you’re obligated to drill down to the core of the person and judge him favorably. And that means that we all have a big job ahead of us! Because it means that you have to think!So don’t be lazy about it! Nobody said it’s easy; you might have to take a minute or two to think, but you have to do it. You’re michuyav to think, to search your mind for the answer that satisfies you, until you can give your fellow man the benefit of the doubt and walk away without any hakpadah in your heart.WHO WILL CRITICIZE THE GREAT MAN?Let’s say your wife says a sharp word to you – it happens sometimes. So instead of getting upset, instead of being hurt, you’re obligated – it’s a mitzvah d’oraisah – to search for reasons to give her the benefit of the doubt. First of all, maybe you deserved it – it could very well be you deserved to hear some criticism. Absolutely! When a wife criticizes a husband, you should know that she is doing a very great thing. Nobody will criticize this great man. Who’s going to tell him the truth outside the house? And after a while he begins to think, “Maybe I really am great.” So he comes home and right away his wife deflates him. She puts a pin in his balloon and it bursts. That’s a tremendous achievement. It’s a perfection to be cut down to size once in a while. And so, you can forget about being upset at her; you should thank her.And let’s say she was wrong – you didn’t deserve to be told off at all. So you’ll be a failure and judge your spouse because of something superficial; she criticized you; so what?! In two minutes she’ll forget what she said. You’re going to judge her because of that?! Maybe she was up all night with a crying baby while you were sleeping soundly. Maybe she had an impossible day with the children. Whatever it might be, you’re obligated to seek to justify what your fellow Jew does or says by giving him or her the benefit of the doubt.MEASURE FOR MEASURENow in Mesichta Shabbos(127b) there is a statement which has to be examined by us if we want to understand this subject more thoroughly. The gemara there states as follows: הַדָּן אֶת חֲבֵרוֹ לְכַף זְכוּת הַמָּקוֹם יְדִינֵהוּ לְכַף זְכוּת – “If you judge your fellow man on the side of merit, so middah k’neged middah, Hakodosh Boruch will judge you favorably.”Now, those words are somewhat difficult for us to understand. Because up until now we learned pshat in being dan l’kaf zechus like this: if a person did something, and you’re in doubt – it’s possible that he meant well, it could be; but it also could be that he did it for a wrong reason, that’s also a possibility. It’s a safek, a doubt, so it’s a mitzvahto judge him favorably. You should be charitable and give him the benefit of the doubt.But if judging l’kaf zechus only means that you’re obligated to give others the benefit of the doubt, then when the gemarasays that Hashem will pay you back in turn, it means that when Hashem is in doubt about you, He will judge you favorably. But how could we say such a thing? What sense does it make to say that Hashem is dan l’kaf zechus when He’s in doubt, chas v’shalom? Doubt?! He’s never in doubt about you! Hakadosh Baruch Hu knows exactly who you are. You can’t give the benefit of the doubt when there’s no doubt at all.LEARNING A NEW ATTITUDEAnd so we’re forced to learn another layer in the pshat of what it means to fulfill the mitzvah of b’tzedek tishpot amisecha, and we’ll say as follows: To be dan l’kaf zchus is actually much more than learning how to clarify a doubt – it’s learning an attitude in dealing with other peoplethat leaves no room for doubt altogether! What that means is that we’re expected to acquire the middahof seeking out the positive in people; to be a חָפֵץ בְּטוֹבָתוֹ שֶׁל חֲבֵרוֹ, to want only good things for the people around us, and thereby train ourselves to see only good.When you appreciate people by focusing on their ma’alos, so you begin to actually like them and want them to be a zaka’im – you want them to be free of all faults, to always be good. If you want a person to be a zakai – if you actually desire to look at people favorably – so you’ll find ways to explain his actions in a way that it should be a z’chus. And even when you can’t do that, you’ll appreciate his other ma’alos so much, that it will weigh down the scale to the kaf z’chus and you’ll overlook the negative. “Who cares about that?! It’s only a narishkeit,” you’ll think. “I love that man!”“Oh,” Hashem says, “You want him to be a zakai? So I want you to be a zakai too.” And when Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants things to be good for you, you can be sure He has ways of accomplishing that; He has His ways. And so when you train yourself to look at the good, to overlook the superficial things that may bother you, so middah k’neged middah, Hashem treats you the same way.THEY ONLY WANT DIRT ON THE PRESIDENTNow, in order to judge somebody l’kaf zechus, if you want to succeed in seeing people as zaka’im, so you’re going to need training in becoming an oheivtzedek; you have to love to see people in a good light. You know, when people love to see trouble in the world, so they pick up the newspaper to see what crimes were done. No one is interested to see if somebody did a good thing; if somebody kept the law let’s say, or if somebody helped his fellow man. That doesn’t matter – they wouldn’t put that in a newspaper. “Who was caught doing something embarrassing?” “What new faults did they dig up in the President today?” That’s news! That’s what people want to hear.To say that here we have a President who is a decent man, who minded his own business – I’m talking about Reagan now – that he didn’t want to put big taxes on you and that he wanted to protect the country from the Soviet Union, that they won’t speak about. They won’t tell you that President Reagan didn’t mix into other people’s business. To say that he didn’t try to push the Medinas Yisroel into making agreements with Arabs, no, that they won’t talk about.He wasn’t pressing anybody; he just wanted to keep Americans safe and wealthy. He was a quiet man and he was good natured and smiled to everybody. But that wasn’t good enough for the journalists, for the meshuganehliberals. No, that’s no good at all, nothing doing. “Reagan, no good!” “Reaganomics, no good!” “The Reagan years were the worst years! He’s no good at all.” Always looking for faults.A PRACTICAL PROGRAMAnd therefore the program for success is to rise above all the faults that you have the tendency to see in people, and to see the tzad zchus, the other side of the scale. Now, I know it’s not easy to think, to always be using your mind – it’s a burden – it’s much easier to make judgments on what you see superficially. But Hakodosh Boruch Hu says that you have to make up your mind to get along with any meshugas, anything that you think is an idiosyncrasy, that you think is unreasonable. And so you have to, as much as possible, ignore all the faults you imagine you see because that’s what the Torah requires of you; to judge a person by his kaf zchus, and to overlook the kaf chov.It’s so important to develop an appreciation of the good qualities of the people around you. I’ll give you a practical eitzah for accomplishing this – an eitzahthat’s been tried and tested. One of the most practical programs for success in this endeavor is to attach a good middah, a ma’aleh, to all the people you know. Your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers, everyone has something that makes them special. I had a rebbe once, a great rebbe, and he once told us that a person is not one thing, he’s a bundle of things. It was sixty years ago that I heard him say that and I remember it like yesterday. “A person is not one middah,” he said, “He’s a bundle of middos.” So one thing might be not good, but something else is good in him.YOU’LL BE SURPRISED AT WHAT’S IN THE BUNDLEAnd so when we see the man in shul who is a nuisance, the one who gets on people’s nerves, we don’t see that. Instead we look for the ma’alos, for the kaf zchus. He pays the electric bill for the shul. Quietly, without anybody knowing, he pays the bills for the shul. Now, when I see this man, I see the man who pays for the air conditioner; the man who pays for the lights. That’s what I see and I don’t see anything else! Because our job in this world is to ignore the more difficult parts of the bundle and focus on only the good parts. And once you begin to look at people and see them only with their ma’alos, that’s your ticket to overlooking the superficialities of the things that would bother you, and fulfilling the mitzvah of being dan l’kaf zchus.Now, if you’ll try to think about a person’s middos tovos, you’ll be surprised there isn’t a person who doesn’t have good in him. Among the shomrei Toraheverybody has good qualities. In this middah he could be excellent, whereas somebody else is excellent in a different middah. So in case you can’t love the person entirely, love at least one aspect of his personality. Let’s say he davens well. Love him for that. It says that Hashem is “oihev tzadikim.” Why does Hashem love tzaddikim? Because they give Him kavod?! They pay him money?! No; He loves them because they’retzaddikim; they daven, they learn, they dress with tzniyus. So you can love them too! You see a tzaddik that davens well. Love that man just because of that! In your eyes, from now on that’swhat you see when you see him. Another person learns well. Another person gives tzedakah. Another person is quiet and well behaved. Find what you can in each person and you’ll be surprised. You’ll be very surprised; people are full of good things. And that’s the only thing you should be looking at.PLANT THE SEEDSThe shomrei Torah, no question that they’re full of good things. They’re raising up families of children who will be ovdei Hashem. They’re upholding the shuls and the yeshivos with their money, with their participation. They themselves are mekayeim mitzvos every day. There are many reasons why you should love these people. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu loves them for that, so with a little bit of thought you could do the same.Try to like him because of his ma’alos – whatever they are – and little by little it will enter into your heart and you’ll gain a certain warmth towards that person. And that warmth as little as it is, it’s a tremendous achievement. That’s why we came to this world. To learn to be happy with, to see favorably all kinds of people – even the ba’alei ga’avah, and the ka’asanim, and the nuisances; everybody!We’re learning now that the mitzvah of b’tzedek tishpot amisecha is really a program for life; and it requires planting the seeds of loving your fellow Jew in your mind, of seeing the ma’alos – of seeing only the positive- of the people around you. It’s not easy; I understand that. But even if you’ll achieve only a ma’shehu, a small fraction of this avodah, it’s a tremendous perfection of your character. And the more you plant and nurture the proper thoughts in your mind, the more you’re won over, and the more you’ll be able to fulfill this mitzvah in all of your encounters throughout your life.Part II. How to JudgeTHE JEWS YOU BARELY NOTICENow, the possuk doesn’t say b’tzedek tishpot es ‘your wife’ or ‘your neighbor’ or ‘the nuisance in shul’; it says amisecha, ‘your nation’. “B’tzedek tishpot amisecha” means that “you should judge your fellow Jews – all of them – favorably.” עַם שֶׁאִתְּךָ בַּתּוֹרָה וּבְמִצְוֹת הִשְׁתַּדֵּל לְדוּנוֹ יָפֶה יָפֶה – “A person who is with you in Torah and mitzvos, be mishtadeil, put effort into judging him favorably” (Shevuos 30a). If he’s a loyal Torah Jew, then you have to judge him b’tzedek. The reshaim we leave out; it’s not our business now. Being milameid z’chus on wicked people, that I’ll leave to somebody else, somebody bigger than I am. But the great mass of frum Jews, we’re obligated to look at them all with favor.So what do we do now with the whole Am Yisroel – people you pass on the street that you’ve never even thought about, frum Jews that you barely notice? All those frum Jews are your brothers and Hakadosh Baruch Hu expects you to have a certain attitude of being dan l’kaf zchus when you see them. It’s a mitzvah min hatorah. Amisecha doesn’t mean this man right here who is a good friend of yours; it means all of all the frum Jews. And that means that even the people we don’t know; the strangers we pass on the street, the unfamiliar people we see in shul, everyone from the Am Yisroel, we’re obligated to see them in a good light. If he’s a loyal Torah Jew, if he’s amisecha, then you have to judge him b’tzedek.But we’ll say here that the word amisecha is doing much more than including all of the frummeh; what it does is give an impetus, a dynamo, for how to fulfill the mitzvah. Because if you train yourself to look at all of your fellow Jews as the עַם שֶׁאִתְּךָ בַּתּוֹרָה וּבְמִצְוֹת, as your comrade in arms – you’re on the same team after all – so you begin to develop a favorable attitude towards all of the Am Yisroel. TAKE A TRIP TO BORO PARKThis is a remarkable opportunity for success in this world. It’s something you can practice all the time in the street. You see a fellow Jew, so what should you think? “He’s my brother, this man. He puts on tefillin after all. That’s enough!” When you see a Jew in the street with a covered head, whether it’s a black hat or a yarmulke, or a woman with a sheitel, you’re already sold out to that person. “He covers his head like me! He’s ours. He’s wearing a yarmulke, a cap, whatever he has, if he covers his head, he belongs to us.”I don’t care what kind of yarmulke he wears, he’s still my brother. And even though he follows a different Rebbi, 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 michuyav, you’re obligated, to think well of him. This alone that he is amisecha, that he is on your team, that should be enough for you to always look at him with favor, l’kaf zchus.Let’s say you’re walking in a far-off neighborhood, in Bedford Stuyvesant let’s say, where there are no Jews. And suddenly you see from a distance a man with a yarmulke. A yarmulke! It’s exciting! So you feel a warmth towards him; it’s a brother, a chaver. And it’s true; he is your brother.But it’s a mistake to think that it’s a thought you only have when you’re in an Italian neighborhood or a colored neighborhood. In a strange neighborhood maybe you’re happy to see a fellow Jew because you feel safer that way. But that’s how you should think when you walk in Boro Park. Boro Park! Big mezuzos, and everybody has beards and payos. It’s a neighborhood of amisecha so you should practice feeling warmth towards everyone on the street. I told you once before – if you have some time, I think it’s worth it to go to Boro Park and just stand there for a half hour appreciating the frum Jews. You watch as they walk back and forth, back and forth, and you’re thinking, “These are my people, and I love them all.” It’s worth every second.THE WORLD IS GOING CRAZYNow all this is work, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu expects that work. Otherwise, you’ll remain a person who sees only faults all of his life. Because when people have that attitude, when they’re looking for faults, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, “You’ll succeed,” and that’s what they find. Not only do they find faults in people, but they find trouble too. That’s what happens in this world. The natural tendency is to see the imperfections in people, and all the good, the kaf z’chus, is ignored.Constantly today people can’t get along with each other because they are dan each other l’kaf chova. If you’re a rabbi, you’ll sit at the telephone and it’s always ringing. Husbands and wives are fighting all the time today. And in some places – a man told me he was in a certain community; I don’t want to say where it was – and he said that there are divorces, and divorces and divorces. Among Jews! What’s doing here? The world is going crazy; everybody’s fighting.THE HUSBAND WHO IS ONLY TROUBLENow when you speak to them, you see right away that nobody has a havah amina of being dan l’kaf zchus. Nothing doing! Only themselves they judge favorably. I spoke to a couple of women today. They called me up to tell me that their husbands are no good at all.I said, “Is he working?” “He works.” “Does he bum around?” “He doesn’t bum around.” “Is he shomer mitzvos?” “He’s shomer mitzvos.” “Does he give you money?” “He gives me money.”“So what’s the trouble?” I said. “Oh, he’s only trouble,” she says. He does this wrong, he says this wrong, he acts like this and like that – a whole laundry list she’s reading off to me. “He’s so mean to me; he’s inhuman,” she said. Now, if I ask him I’m sure he’ll give me a report about his wife. She doesn’t do her work. She’s nagging me; this and that. And I’m sure that everybody’s right. A little bit everybody is right. Butthey’re all wrong because they’re all sinning against this great quality which Hashem said you should try to gain – to judge your fellow man l’kaf zechus – to ignore the faults of people and train yourself to focus only on their good qualities.FORGET THAT HE FORGOT YOUR BIRTHDAY!When she thinks about her husband, she should think that he goes to work every day. He’d like to sit home instead. He’d like to go the beis medrash to learn and instead he’s wasting his life in the shop where he’s working. It’s a great pity on him, but he’s doing it out of loyalty to his family. And she should think, “Look, my husband is an ish ne’eman.” He works hard by day and then he comes home at night. There are so many loafers today in the world, unfortunately. Some people loaf around in Brooklyn and then they take a vacation from loafing to go to Atlantic City to loaf some more. The frum loafers, they go to shtiblach to loaf; they sit in shtiblach and open a gemaraand get busy loafing – he doesn’t learn a word. You ask him, “Why don’t you get a job?” he says, “תּוֹרָתוֹ אֻמָּנוּתוֹ”, he says, “My umness is learning.” What he means is that “Loafing is my umness.”But your husband is a decent man. He’s working, supporting his family; he’s giving away his life. His life! And the wise woman appreciates that. When she sees her husband walking up the steps to the door, that’s what she sees – the man who comes home and he gives her money she needs and she appreciates that. She should think, “I love that man! He’s working all day long to support my children.” “I admire my husband the talmid chochom.” She doesn’t see that he opened his big mouth last night and said something stupid. She doesn’t see the man who forgot it was her birthday. She’s overlooking the kaf chov and she’s being dan him l’kaf zchus.CHOLENT FOR THE MINDThat’s your job in this world – to look for the good in each person. You’re going to say that you can’t find good in your wife?! You can’t find good in your husband?! Come on; come on! That’s nothing but wickedness! And Hakadosh Baruch Hu pays the wickedness with wickedness; they see only faults and they suffer as a result.Every man has a tendency to have complaints against his wife – it’s only natural; you’re living together and your tendency is to see the faults of a person. But the avodah we’re learning now is to train yourself to always see the kaf zchus and to let the good side of the scale outweigh the kaf chov. A wise man understands that his wife is important; that she’s raising the children, and feeding the family. Not only does she fulfill her duties in the home; she is the home! But it’s not enough to know that in general terms – he has to study the details of that so that whenever he sees his wife, that’s what he sees!Let’s say your wife made for you a cholent. Don’t say, “It’s nothing; it’s just food.” For the wise man, for the one who wants to be dan l’kaf zchus, even a cholent is enough to win him over. If you think about it, your wife gave you cooked potatoes; but not only potatoes, she knows how to make it brown and tasty. She added in onions for you, and barley and beans too. It’s a whole meal that she prepared for you. And if while you’re sitting there and enjoying it, you think about that wonderful thing that she did for you, so it will become part of your personality. Not only does it go into your body – it becomes your hair and your bones and your eyes – but it goes into your mind. Your wife should be a different person in your mind after a good cholent. And after every supper she becomes even more and more precious in your eyes.DON’T STOP THE DRILLINGThat’s how you should think about these things; the appreciation for the food she made for you should fill your mind at the same time it’s filling your stomach. Now, I’m just giving one little example. There’s no end to the appreciation you should be feeling for your wife; its mamish endless. And once a person begins to think in these terms, he’ll find ways and means of assessing the importance of his wife in his life, the happiness that she’s giving him by taking care of the children and the house, and for what she creates in the kitchen. It’s an endless happiness that she brings to your life.And so you have to train yourself – it won’t happen by itself. So you see your wife you should say to yourself, “I love that woman over there.” You see her on the street from far away, she goes shopping, and now you see her coming back carrying shopping bags, so you say, “I love that woman over there, carrying home the food for my children.”Only that what happens? The husband ignores all the good that his wife does and he sees only the superficialities – she nagged him, she complained, she wasted money – he never drills down past the superficial things to the core of what his wife really is, and what she means to his life. And same thing with the wife – to be a dan l’kaf zchus she has to be a dayan who ignores all the superficialities of the ba’alei din, and focuses only on the truth to fulfill the mitzvah of b’tzedek tishpot amisecha.CANCEL THE THORNNow, I only mention a husband and wife because it is the most common interaction and the home is a great opportunity for perfection – but that’s how you should train yourself to look at everyone, by focusing only on the good; even small things. You must look for good things. No question, everyone has good things. And even if one thing might not be the best, something else is good. And your job in this world is to ignore the more difficult parts of the bundle and focus on only the good parts.Here’s a man is roidef achar hakavod, he loves kavod. He’s a ba’al ga’avah, he thinks much of himself. Naturally, that’s what sticks out at you – it’s a thorn in your eyes. And it will remain that way forever unless you cancel out the kaf chov by focusing on the kaf zchus. And if you’ll look you’ll find a lot of good! But if you’re busy looking only for what’s wrong, you’ll find that too and that’s how you’ll remain a failure.And the truth is that once you start looking, you’ll discover, you’ll find all types of good qualities. And that’s the mishpat tzedek, the righteous judging that Hashem wants from you.בְּצֶדֶק תִּשְׁפֹּט עֲמִיתֶךָ – You should judge your fellow man with tzedek, by focusing only on the tzedek. You’re a judge all the time, and if you’re an oheiv tzedek, so you love to find good things in people, and that’s how you follow the program of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. THE MOST INTERESTING THINGNow, you have to know how to look at your fellow Jews – it’s an avodah! First of all, look at his face, and remind yourself that it’s tzelem Elokim. Isn’t that reason enough to honor him and to think well of him? Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave that reason! He said, “The face of a man resembles Mine” (Bereishis 9:6). It’s not an accident. Every person you look at is a tzelem Elokim. It’s a beautiful sight, the human face. Look at a person’s face. Eyes! Eyes are so expressive, so beautiful. You can see theneshama, you can see intelligence shining out of the eyes. Even the cheeks, the way the cheeks move, a smile or sadness; it’s expressing emotions. The nobility of the human countenance is unequal. In the entire universe, there’s nothing like it – if you’ll travel, let’s say, to the far off countries; if you’ll climb mountains and search the vast wilderness, you’ll never see anything in the universe as interesting as a human face.Now how to explain that, that’s a different subject. It’ll take us a lot of time to understand that. But we have to at least practice it up – it’s in the Torah after all. So when you look at the face of a fellow Jew, the very first obligation is to think that you’re seeing something very very impressive.Only that we’re very far away from the ruach haTorah. The spirit of the Torah declares that when you look at the face of a fellow Jew, you should be very much impressed. Now don’t tell me, “Oh, it’s exaggerated. You’re blowing up, making a whole story out of nothing.” It’s in the Chumash! כִּדְמוּתוֹ – that’s the resemblance of Hashem. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu insists that we should learn the Torah and get into our heads, that when you’re looking at the face of a person, you should think that you’re seeing the tzelem Elokim.Men look in a men’s faces, and women look in women’s faces. And when you look, the first thing is to think, “Tzelem Elokim.” And no matter how much you’ll think, you should know, you’re not thinking enough. Don’t say, “I’m maybe overdoing it.” You’re always under doing it! And even if you spend years of this effort, you should know, you haven’t reached the standards that Hakadosh Baruch Hu expects in appreciating what it means tzelem Elokim.THE GREATNESS OF TALL SKINNY JEWSSo now you have what to be busy with. Instead of thinking what faults you can find in people – he has a comical face; he talks too much; he’s tall and skinny; he’s short and fat – instead of looking for things to ridicule, you have to get busy now looking at the tzelem Elokimin his face. If you can’t do it with all the people around, then start one at a time. You’re standing on the street and looking at your fellow Jews walk by and you’re thinking, “Tzelem Elokim, tzelem Elokim, tzelem Elokim.” Now I understand that these words don’t find an echo in your mind immediately. But you must understand that Torah must be learned; it’s Torah after all. There’s a lot of work to be done and don’t think you can shirk it. It’s expected of us that we should plant this seed in our minds and as the years go by it will take root and it will grow branches and fruit. Of course it’s artificial; in the beginning you’ll be a hypocrite, but הַחִיצוֹנִיּוּת מְעוֹרֶרֶת אֶת הַפְּנִימִיּוֹת. We make an attempt, and after a while, the spark will be kindled in your heart. הַבָּא לְטַהֵר מְסַיְּעִין לוֹ – Hakadosh Baruch Hu will give you assistance and you’ll gain a certain appreciation of amisecha, the Am Yisroel.Now once you understand the greatness of tzelem Elokim – you don’t yet, it’s a tremendous idea; a skyscraper – but there’s another skyscraper that’s even greater than that one. The mishna in Avos says (3:14)that while it’s true that all of humanity is blessed with tzelem Elokim,but there’s one nation in the world that is praised with an even greater title. It says חֲבִיבִין יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁנִּקְרְאוּ בָּנִים לַמָּקוֹם – “How beloved are Yisroel who are called the children of Hashem.” A child of Hashem! Now, that’s something! The first skyscraper of tzelem Elokim goes up to the skies, but this skyscraper goes all the way up to Hashem. “How beloved are Yisroel who are called children of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.”TORAH OR GARBAGE?We’re accustomed to saying, “We’re all children.” Let’s say the reform Jews get together on a stage with the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and they say, “We stand in solidarity with our African American brothers because we’re all children of the same G-d.” That’s not Torah – it’s garbage. Nobody is the children of Hashem except for the Am Yisroel. בָּנִים אַתֶּם לַהַשֵּׁם אֱלֹקֵיכֶם – Youare children of Hashem and nobody else, and make no mistake about it. Now, we don’t care what the world says – they’ll say it’s chauvinism; maybe so, but we stick by the Torah, and the Torah says that only we are the children of Hashem.Suppose a man comes to see you. “I noticed that you married my cousin.” So you ask him, “Who are you?” “I’m the son of the rosh yeshiva of Ponovezh,” he says. “Oooh-wha! I didn’t know I got such a mechutan! The rosh yeshiva of Ponovezh became my mechutan by marriage.” You’re excited over him; he’s the child of somebody great! But you can tell him, “I’m the son of somebody greater. I’m the son of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.” He jumps up! “You’re the son of Hakadosh Baruch Hu?!” “Yes, I am”, you say. “It’s in the Chumash, בָּנִים אַתֶּם לַהַשֵּׁם אֱלֹקֵיכֶם.” THE VERY HEAVY JEWWe’re expected to think that way. It’s not written in Pirkei Avos for nothing. Chavivin Yisrael! We are the beloved ones! Now when it says we’re beloved, it doesn’t mean that Hashem likes us like we let’s say, like a second cousin or a nephew. It’s much more than that; it means He loves every single one of us more than anything else in the entire world.And we’re told this for an important purpose. And that is because we’re expected to think that way about every single Jew. Not in general, in a way that’s abstract. Yes, that you’re willing to say: “In general, on all Jews, I can say chavivin. I can love the Am Yisroel in general. But when it comes to this Jew, not this one. And that one? No, not him either.” And that’s a terrible mistake. Chavivin Yisroel, means every one of them! All shomrei Torah; even though he’s not from your shtiebel, not from your community. A different shtiebel, so you might think, he’s not in your neighborhood, maybe not your nusach; maybe he’s a Sefardi or a Taimani. Maybe he’s a Russian Jew or a Polish Jew, so you think, “Not him, not him.” No, when you see any fellow Jew, any shomer Torah u’mitzvos, you’re looking at a person who is most beloved by Hashem.If you have a big scale, and you put on one side of the scale the sun, and also the millions of stars and all the planets too; and also all the nations – all the Englishmen, all the Americans, all the French, every other people on the face of the earth, all on one side of the scale. And on the other side is this one Yisroel, this one Jew that passes by you on the street, so he is machri’a es kulan – he outweighs all of them. That’s what chavivin means, and that’s how you have to think.DON’T BE LAZY!Now, I’m very sorry to say that all of this will not happen, nothing good will grow in your head, if you’re a lazy man. עַל שְׂדֵה אִישׁ עָצֵל עָבַרְתִּי – “I passed the field of a lazy man,” said Shlomo Hamelech. And what is growing there? הִנֵּה כָּסָה פָּנָיו חֲרוּלִים thorns and brambles; all types of weeds grow in the head of a lazy man. Maybe he was too lazy to come to these lectures altogether. Or maybe he came, but it was entertainment, to get out of the house a little, that’s all. That’s good too, it’s also good – but if you never work on these ideas, so what grows in your mind instead of delicious fruit? רֹאשׁ וְלַעֲנָה – “Poison growths.” Sinas chinam, miskabeid b’klon chaveiro, other thorns. But not b’tzedek tishpot amisecha; no, no, that won’t grow on its own.And so you have to always be on guard – you’re busy always weeding out your field, pulling up thorns that creep up in your mind. Let’s say a thought comes into your mind when you see this person, “Why is he wearing that?” “Why did he do such a thing?” “Why did she say that?” You can’t let a poison weed like that fester in your mind! You can’t be an ish atzeil, a lazy person, and allow that thought to grow. You have to do something about it! And so you get busy right away thinking the thoughts we spoke about tonight.Now, don’t think that it’s merely a thought. No, you’re actually planting seeds in your mind. And these seeds, once they take root, they grow into beautiful flowers of dan es chaveiro l’kaf zchus. Try to judge a fellow man with a meritorious balance, to think well of him. And the more you do it, the more you’ll succeed at this program. And the more you succeed, then Hakodosh Boruch Hu y’dineihu l’kaf zchus, the more you’ll succeed at gaining the goodwill of Hashem for yourself. Because that’s the purpose why Hashem brought you into this world, to give you one opportunity to plant a garden of delicious fruits and flowers in your mind, a garden that will last forever.HAKADOSH BARUCH HU WILL LOVE YOUNow how much can you do?! You’ll say, “I should love my neighbor? I should love my chavrusa and my boss? I should love the man who sits next to me in shul? That’s too much!” So Hashem says, “At least plant the seeds; as much as you can always look at that person with a favorable eye. Be dan l’kaf zchus; go out of your way to judge him favorably, to find a reason to make him a zakai in everything he does.” And הַבָּא לְטַהֵר מְסַיְּעִין לוֹ, if you try to be good, then Hashem will help you be good.And one of the ways He’ll help you is by giving you more and more opportunities to perfect yourself – He’ll send you all types of people, He’ll put you in contact with all types of frum Jews. And כָּל עִנְיָנֵי הָעוֹלָם נִסְיוֹנוֹת הֵם לְאָדָם, everything in this world is an opportunity; every person that you meet is a test for you to see if you’ll rise to the occasion and use the opportunity to plant the seeds of b’tzedek tishpot amisecha in your mind.And you’ll live a happier life because of it – you’ll be happy with your spouse, and with your neighbor and your boss, and with all your fellow Jews – the world becomes a happier place. And it’s a good investment as well, this business of thinking well of your fellowman, because Hamakom yidineihu l’kaf zchus,Hashem will look at your ma’alosand He’ll be happy with you. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is going to love you too; despite the fact that sometimes you can be a nuisance too. Hakadosh Baruch Hu will overlook that and see that you have good things in you. בְּמִדָּהּ שֶׁאָדָם מוֹדֵד מוֹדְדִין לוֹ – “The way you treat others is how you’ll be treated.” And when Hakadosh Baruch Hu does that, He does it with a full hand, a heaping hand of reward in this world and also in the World to Come.HAVE A WONDERFUL SHABBOSGo Back See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

48 Kinyanei Torah 16, Ahuv and Ohev et haMakom, by Rav Dovid Gottlieb Why is it important to be beloved by other people? How does loving Hashem help a person succeed in learning?

Tehilim Perek 132 Hello everybody, in today’s NachDaily we’ll be discussing Tehilim chapter 132 in the Shir Hama’alos chapters. The perek corresponds to what happened with Dovid at the end of Sefer Shmuel. In order to stop a plague, Gad Hanavi instructed Dovid to purchase Har Hamoriyah from a man named Aravna Hayivusi. After the purchase, Dovid built an altar and brought korbonos, sacrifices, to Hashem. The plague stopped, and the people were saved. Although not mentioned at the end of Sefer Shmuel, in Divrei Hayomim Aleph perek 21, it says that on buying the land Dovid explicitly stated that this is the house of God and the Mizbayach, Altar, for the Jewish nation. Up until that very moment the exact spot of the Beis Hamkidash had not been known. Although Dovid didn’t build the Beis Hamikdash, he wanted Hashem to consider his thoughts as if they were his actions The perek opens with Dovid’s intense desire to find a home for God to rest in. While growing up in Ephrat, Dovid had heard from the elders that God would one day choose a home for Himself where mankind would be able to serve Him. The chapter moves on to quote several pessukim that overlap from Divrei Hayomim Beis, perek 6. At the inauguration of the Beis Hamikdash, Shlomo invited Hashem to enter His place of rest, inviting the Kohanim to rejoice in front of the Ahron, holy Ark. The author reiterates that Hashem swore to Dovid that the kingship will stay in his family and move to his son Shlomo. The last part of the perek affirms that Hashem chose Tzion, the spot that Dovid bought from Aravna Hayivusi, for His resting place. Mashiach will come from the house of Dovid forever and ever. Verse 13 says: כִּֽי־בָחַ֣ר יְהוָ֣ה בְּצִיּ֑וֹן אִ֝וָּ֗הּ לְמוֹשָׁ֥ב לֽוֹ׃ For God has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His home. It’s important to speak about this, as I feel that there is no end to how much we need to connect to Eretz Yisrael. Reb Nosson once asked Rebbe Nachman of Breslov, “When you speak about Eretz Yisrael, to what part of it are you referring?” “The rocks!” Rebbe Nachman replied. We have to believe that even the physical rocks of Eretz Yisrael are somehow different than the rocks in the rest of the world. This is why Avraham Avinu spent his entire life searching for Hamakom, the Place where the Divine intersects with this world. This was the same place that Dovid most deeply desired to find. As the Ramachal in his sefer Mishkeny Elyon explains, the Makom Hamikdash, the place that Dovid bought from Aravna, is the umbilical cord of creation. The entire world receives its sustenance from the Makom Hamikdash. It’s like a super highway between this world and the next. This is why the world was created from this spot, which contains the “Even Shesiyah, the Foundation Stone.” All Divinity continues to enter into our world from there. May we merit making our lives a mini Beis Hamikdash for Hashem, for us to feel His closeness. May we never give up the search to find that Place inside of ourselves! Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day.

Tehilim Perek 119: Letter Samech Hello everybody, I’m Rabbi Shaya Sussman, covering the entire TANACH one perek at a time. Today’s Nach Daily we’ll discuss the letter Samech. Samech represents Semicha, getting up after a fall. Samech, which is shaped like a circle, also stands for Sovev, to surround. In a deeper sense it refers to the Somech HaGadol, the One on Whom the world is completely reliant, Hashem. In Ashrei we read that Hashem is “Somech le’kol hanoflim, Hashem picks up all the fallen people.” Each time that we have a Nefila, fall to a low place, we can rely on Hashem to pick us up. The previous letter, Nun, which denotes Nefilah, falling, is the only letter not mentioned in the Ashrei prayer. We skip it and go straight to the Samech because every descent is for the purpose of ascent, and Hashem is using it as a means to draw us closer. The first time that the Samech appears in the Torah in the beginning of a word is “Shem echad Pishon, hu haSovev es kol ha’aretz Hachavila – One name of a river flowing from Gan Eden [Garden of Eden] is Pishon , which surrounds the entire land of Chavila.” Kabbalistically, the round shape of the Samech reminds us that when Hashem created the world, He was “metzamtzem His Elokus, He constricted His Light” so that creation could take place. This Light was equally limited and refracted in all areas, represented by the circle which indicates that His Light was equally spread out in all directions. There was no one single area which received more than the others. This corresponds to Hashem’s name of HaMakom, the Place. The world was created within the chalal penuy, vacated space, which was made at the time of the original tzimtzum, constriction, of Hashem’s Presence. All this is represented by the shape of the Samech. The circle shape also reminds us that Hashem’s Light is Sovev and malei kol ha’olamim, surrounds and fills all the worlds. Just as God has no beginning and end, so too the circle has no beginning and end. Ultimately, we can’t comprehend God’s ways, which are beyond anything that we can possibly fathom. The circle is like a fence, closed on all sides for protection. So too Hashem is Somech Am Yisrael and is constantly being Sovev us, surrounding and protecting the Jewish nation as a fence protects a garden. Hebrew words indicating enclosure and protection begin with a Samech. Examples of this are: Sagira, blocked off, Sagur, closed, Sod, secret, Sof, end, and Seser, hidden. The Yetzer Hara is called the Sam’al, because he wants to close us off and prevent us from achieving our missions in this world. Samech has the numerical value of 60, which represents protection. It is said of King Shlomo that he had 60 armed men surrounding his bed at night. The Birkas Kohanim blessing, known as the Brocha of Protection, contains 60 words. Last but not least, we mentioned in a previous class that the second set of letters all have lower letter counterparts. The counterpart of the Samech, whose numerical value is 60, is the Vav, the letter of connection, with the value of 6. The Vav has the “koach ham’echad, the ability to join things together and make them one.” This is precisely the power of the Samech, as an enclosure brings different things together. In the next episode of Nach Daily we’ll be taking a look at the Ayin. Thank you for listening, and have a wonderful day.

I visited Auschwitz for the first time last week and am still processing that whole experience, which has left a lasting imprint on me. In Parshat Vayetze (Genesis 28:10 - 32:3), there are several references to HaMakom - the place, which can be any place where we are conscious. Jacob happens upon a "random place" and lays down his head and dreams of a ladder with angels ascending and descending. He awakes and says "manorah hamakom hazeh - how awesome is this place." After many years, wives, children later, he sets off on another journey and is accompanied by angels; they punctuate the journeys. Can angels exist even in Auschwitz?

Psalm 26:8; Psalm 27; Psalm 91; Hebrew 4:16The fallen-world system can only offer uncertainty and chaos. It can assure nothing. Everywhere, people try to mitigate uncertainty by placing faith in superannuation, the stock market, investments, medicine, alliances, formulas. Millions of dollars go into prognostication, yet fear, depression, paranoia and stress abound. These are in fact, disorder! If that environment becomes ‘home’ to us , we will speak, work and live from that centre. We will live and speak uncertainty, doubt and fear, even though a different and superior place is available; a place of security, out of which we can live and speak certainty, grace and faith. It’s not God’s intention for us to live from disorder. He is righteous—meaning everything in his realm (kingdom) is in right order and alignment—and, if we know him, he bestows on us his righteousness (government of right order… ‘I bestow on you a kingdom’ Lk. 22:29) , intending us to live out of the same place as he! Here’s a typical description of where it’s possible for me to live (typical because these descriptions occur again and again in God’s word!). This place (see Psalm 91) provides for us... *Deliverance from traps deliberately set to bring me to harm and from plagues of mischief. * Protection as a hen protects its chicks; ‘You can’t hurt them without hurting me’! *Absolute Truth shielding me. *Freedom from fear...the dreads that night awakenings can bring or the danger of attack in the light of day. *Angels taking charge over me, to watch, protect and deliver. *Authority over that which would either eat me or poison me (lion and cobra). *Answered prayer, assurance of salvation and length of days! (What’s not to like!?)Is this where I want to live? How does it become reality? Who gets this? Those who learn to live where David lived. This is the ‘come what may’ place! The, ‘though the fig tree does not blossom….yet will I rejoice in the Lord’ place of Habakkuk 3: THIS IS… THE SECRET PLACE: (Psalm 91:1 and 26:5 ) David knew about the ‘secret place’, HaMakom (The Place) where God settled among his people. In the tent, among them, yet hidden. He lived then, and now, in hidden accessibility. The people could not enter the most holy place; only their representative could go there, once a year, taking the blood! That meant that faith was required to draw near—a heart response. God still lives in this ‘hidden accessibility’ but the difference now is that the veil has been torn away and all may enter into the Presence freely, but it’s still by faith because it’s a heavenly room; the heavenly holy of holies! Still the Secret Place—but we’ve been allowed (indeed, invited) in—it’s by the blood of Jesus! Our High Priest now takes us in for we are in him! This is our HaMakom, from which we are to live! THE PRESENCE PLACE: the word translated ‘dwells’ in Psalm 26:8 and ‘dwell’ in Ex. 25:8 is from the Hebrew SHAKAN from which the word ‘shekinah’ (a Rabbinic word not in the Bible) is derived. It describes where His presence and its glory settles! They had to believe he was in there….above the mercy seat, between the wings of the cherubim, just as he said he’d be—THERE…for them and with them! (‘Have them make me a sacred place [miqdash—sanctuary] that I may dwell [settle] in amongst them’ Exodus 25:8). This was what made them a distinctive people. We, no matter where we are physically, can be in the Presence. Paul was there on a sinking ship with 200 unbelievers, assuring them and instructing them. He and Silas were there in a Philippian jail. No matter our physical location…we can be at HaMakom. This is what made it, for David— THE BELOVED Place: David said, ‘LORD, I have loved the habitation of your house, HaMakom where your glory dwells’ (Psalm 26:8). David’s heart was always there. Wherever he went his heart was connected by a cord to the Locus of his life; into battle, among liars and cheats, facing Goliaths and dealing with Sauls. Like the sons of Korah (Psalm 84:5-6) he could say, ‘blessed is the man whose strength is in you; in whose heart are the highways to Zion’—that is, those who, even though separated physically, make pilgrimage in their hearts into God’s presence in Zion. For such people, says the Psalm, ‘as they pass through the Valley of Weeping they make it a place of springs’! THE PRIORITY PLACE: For David, HaMakom was the priority in his life. He said, ‘one thing have I desired of the Lord (Yahweh), that will I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord….’ This was David’s first desire; the one nothing else could supplant. It’s why God described David as a man ‘after my own heart’ (1 Samuel 13:14 & Acts 13:22). David said, ‘I have set the Lord always before me; because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved’ (Psalm 16:8). By faith, wherever he went, he was dwelling there! (And this, under an inferior covenant!) THE MEETING PLACE: God’s heart and David’s heart met at HaMakom. It was where David’s desires became one with God’s so they flowed together…the place of answered prayer! He wrote, ‘when you said, “seek my face” my heart said, “your face Lord will I seek.” Jesus said, ‘if you abide in me and my words abide in you, you shall ask what you will and it shall be done for you’ (John 15:7). The meeting place is where our will becomes subsumed in his and his desires become ours and ours, his. God’s heart is that we seek his face. He has provided a place where this can occur. He longs to meet with us. THE SECURE PLACE: ‘In the day of adversity He shall hide me (as treasure) in his hiding place (den), in the secret place of his tent he shall hide me.’ It was where David found utmost safety. Here was a security nothing in the world could provide; not David’s armies and valiant men; not fortresses and palaces; not wealth or power or success. This is not escapism, but the place from which to function in total security! THE EXALTING PLACE: ‘And now my head shall be exalted above my enemies all around me’; being properly in the Presence and living from there, guarantees that God is taking care of those spiritual (or physical) enemies against us. Why is this? Because if we will humble ourselves in his presence, he will exalt us. Peter wrote ‘humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God (that in due season he may exalt you), casting all your care on him.’ We humble ourselves by casting ALL our care on him! And from that place THE PLACE, he is then able to exalt us. His grace for me, for us, flows at HaMakom, THE PLACE. As soon as I allow my heart to go to another ‘place’ there’s a sense in which I’m on my own, becoming independent. THE PLACE is where he calls us to live from and to live out our days. ‘Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need’ (Heb 4:16) Ian Heard - Sept. 2/2018 www.until-we-see.com

Special guest singer and Kol Dodi sister Beckah Shae shares a special song before Rabbi Ken gives a message on the Torah portion and Jacob's dream. Where is your HaMakom? This week's verses: Genesis 28:10-16; Isaiah 43:1; Psalm 91:9-11; 105:8-15; John 1:51; Romans 8:31; 11:33-34

Hamakom y’naheim etkhem b’tokh sh’ar av’lei tziyon virushalayim. Min ha-shamayim t’nuhamu. May God comfort you among the mourners of Zion and Jerusalem. May Heaven comfort you. Elliot Weiss, arr. Oran Eldor Elliot Weiss (1952–) Mr. Weiss’s works include Bittersuite: Songs of Experience, winner of the Off-B’way MAC award for Best Musical; The Witch of Wall Street, recipient of the Eugene O’Neill Award for Excellence in Musical Theatre; and the oratorio Dori: The Life and Times of Theodore Herzl, featuring lyrics by Eric Blau, creator of Jacques Brel. Mr. Weiss is currently at work on an opera based on the holocaust memoirs of Dr. Thomas Nyiszli with a libretto by noted author Leslie Epstein. He has also recently completed a sequel to Bittersuite entitled Bittersuite: Songs of More Experience, exploring the humorous side of growing older.

The post Vayeitzei – Le’havin Ma Shekasuv B’Zohar All Pasuk Vayikach Mei’avnie Hamakom Part 1 appeared first on Maayon Yisroel.

Understanding Hamakom III

Understanding Hamakom III

Understanding Hamakom II

Understanding Hamakom II

Understanding Hamakom

Understanding Hamakom

Hamakom - The Place

Hamakom - The Place

The meaning of - Hamokom(Hashem) shall comfort amoung the mourners of the Tzion and Yerushalayim (Originally given January 18, 2006)