Welcome to Judaism Demystified, a podcast for the perplexed.
Join us as we explore some of the most fascinating Jewish and
Torah related topics with our esteemed guests.
By tackling some of the biggest questions you likely won't find
addressed elsewhere, we aim to shed light on important issues
and inspire a return to the fundamentals.
Enjoy the show. Thank you for joining the
Judaism Demystified podcast. I'm joined with Rabbi Steven
Prezanski. Can you tell us a bit about
yourself and what inspired you to write your book about the
Yamim Noraeem, which is repentance for life by quoting
press as you can see here, It's fantastic book.
I highly recommend it to everyone listening.
And before you even get into that, or while you get into
that, if you can tell us a little bit about your experience
as a student of Rabbi Chate, because we're, we're all big
fans. Sure.
Thank you very much. It's a pleasure to be with you.
So I was born and raised in the Bronx and grew up in Muncie and
had traditional Jewish education.
She vote went to learn in Israel.
I came back, I went to Colombia and then to Cardozo Law School
and I went to yeshiva and I learned there was a Talmud of
Rabbi Chait, which was an eye opening experience.
Rabbi Chait is not just the tzadeh, he's a a gown, a very
humble person, but with one of the keenest minds that I've ever
seen or had the privilege of experiencing.
His method of analysis of a Gamora of philosophical problems
is superb. And you know, I'd learned for
many years before in a variety of places and had wonderful
rabbinic influences. But to be able to see a mind at
work dissecting the words of Hazal really to its Ross
elements, so we understand exactly what the point of a
Mahloka of a dispute in the Gemara is.
It was to me was eye opening and it changed me as a person, as a
thinker, and as a a student of Torah as well.
Not to mention that the issues heavily influenced by the
Rambam, the ability to understand human nature at which
Rabbi Chaid also as a teacher excelled, enabled all of us to
realize the path to becoming better of the Hashem, better
servants of God. And I write in the introduction
to almost all my books. The one we're talking about
today was my fifth that I'm indebted to Rabbi Chait for the
whole Derek, the whole methodology of learning, which
infuses all the books and everything I write and teach.
Even if I don't quote him, sometimes I'm not quoting him
because I didn't hear it from him, but nonetheless the method
of analysis came from him. So I'm indebted to him even it's
a longer story, but even changed the whole schedule of the
yeshiva in order to accommodate me, something which just fills
me with gratitude to this day. I was already practicing law.
So he moved the the time of the shear up so I could attend.
And yeah, it was a tremendous act of hesit.
I came in almost as a complete stranger, but nonetheless, I'm
I'm grateful to him until this day.
So while I was practicing law, I became rabbi of Congregation
AIDS time in Kew Gardens Hills and then 1994 I became a rabbi
of Congregation Binet Ushuran in Teaneck, NJ.
And there I served until 2020, where I where I made aliyah and
I'm here living in Modi Inn and I teach Torah here, a few
blazes, thank God, both in Hebrew and in English.
And nothing could be more inspiring on a daily basis than
living in the land of Israel. I'll tell the audience, I just
noted to you, I'm 1520 minutes out of the Mahmoud because there
was a barrage of incoming rockets this morning.
I don't know whether it was from the north or the South yet,
having a chance to see what the reports are, but nonetheless, it
makes life interesting. In the land of Israel.
There are enemies of Jews today here, as there have been enemies
of Jews throughout history. Since Sinai, Mishawmiar, the
Sinha, the Olam, since we received the Torah at Mount
Sinai, we've had these enemies, and they take different forms
and their arguments are different arguments.
But nonetheless, it's all really of the same nature, the same
hatred. It manifests in different ways,
and today it manifests in an attack on Jewish sovereignty in
the land of Israel. You know, that's one of the
ironies that any student of history, I was a history major
in college. Any student of history
understands for centuries the enemies of the Jewish people
were yelling at us in Europe and elsewhere.
Go back to Israel. Go back to Israel.
You have no place here. So we went back to Israel and
they hate us anyway. They're attacking us here and
they're saying go elsewhere or worse.
It's just sadly a war of extermination.
But with God's help, we'll be able to persevere and continue
to grow and flourish in the land of Israel.
And you see these random attacks.
It's just an expression of hatred against every Jew.
You know, no one is that the perturbed in the world that all
these rockets like we had this morning and Modi in I directed
at civilians me no one. No one seems to be interested in
that only the fate of the Arab civilians wherever they are.
So we can deal with the perfunctory criticism or
condemnation that comes from these events, but realize the
world doesn't care because I I actually write this in the book.
In one of the chapters, Rav Yakov Moshe Khalab, who's the
great Talmud hover of Ravkuk and the grandfather of Zulm Khalab,
wrote that you could tell what the most essential mitzvah of
any generation is by what the gentiles try to attack.
In certain generations they attack our observance of Shabbat
or Milah or other mitzvahs. In our generation, the mitzvah
that the nations of the world have assailed repeatedly is the
mitzvah of Yeshivarat Israel, of Jews settling the Land of
Israel. That is that the primary focus
of their attack and therefore that in that realm we have to
strengthen ourselves. That's a fascinating way of
looking at things. Wow.
Well, first of all, just to talk 1 of what you said, this is an
unbelievably sad situation. What's going on?
But Mashem, keep you safe. And we all, all of us here in
the States and and elsewhere have, you know, our brothers in
Israel and brothers and sisters in Israel in mind.
So God willing, this ends very soon And, and, and I, I wanted
to also mention that I'm actually from new garden, so not
so far from where you were, and I'm now living in great neck.
But the I had, I had, I told you off camera, but I got, I got the
honor to meet rabbit shade in this house maybe like 10-15
years ago, and it was one of the best experiences of my life.
So I'm great. I'm grateful to my friend Eitan
and also Marshall Gisser who helped set that up.
So it was really, really a nice experience so before.
One thing I should add is that even after I got smika for Rabbi
Che, I went for the next almost 10 years to the Sheba.
I was ready in the rabbit it and I would go every Sunday morning
to listen to the sheer and Pyrkyovo.
He taught Pyrkyovo probably over 15 years or so, and the analysis
of Pyrkyovo as it relates to the quest for human perfection and
insights into the human psyche are mind boggling.
I mean, they're so illuminating. You can't help but become a
better person and a more thoughtful person than
understanding the essence of Abbot as it was taught by Rabbi
Shade. So I'm blessed to be and
privileged to be his Stallman. Very well said.
So I wanted to get started on the book.
I really once again, I really highly recommend this to
everybody. Kodish Press usually does not
disappoint. So thank you to them for helping
making this happen. I wanted to ask you the main
ideas from the chapter about repentance and the land of
Israel. Now we spoke about the land of
Israel, so can you just explain what those main ideas are?
Just to give people a little nice teaser about the book.
Sure. I mean, this is something I
would say it's almost uncanny that I I noticed several years
ago in the Torah, the process of Truva, of repentance is almost
always linked with Shiva, with return to the land of Israel.
And this is most noticeable in the parsha of Nitsavan
especially. We'll read in a few weeks and
it's always an introduction to the the season of tribute to the
Yom Noram. You have, for example, the Torah
speaks about repenting and then returning to the land of Israel
and then repenting again. You have all those 3 when the
Gomorrah says, for example, Ane Israel, ELA bitchuva, that the
Jewish people are only redeemed because of repentance, and
there's a mahogany, the Gemara that ultimately is unresolved,
whether it's a prerequisite or not.
We see that the redemption of the Jewish people, meaning the
return to the land of Israel, sovereignty over the land of
Israel, coming of Messiah, is either tied or not tied to
chuva. Take another example.
We'll start saying slihot in a few weeks.
You have right before Shmakolenu an entire paragraph of Sukhim
quoting some of the absukhim, the Parshina Truvo that really
speaks about, speaks about the need to purify ourselves, to
cleanse our hearts, to seek atonement from Hashem.
And then it segues into Kibbutz Goliund, the ring gathering of
the Exiles, which is almost a non sequitur unless we
understand the background. And then it speaks about the
building of the bait of Mikdash and the return to the land of
Israel. And it ends that my house shall
be called the House of prayer for all the nations.
So how do we get from repentance, which often we
understand in a very narrow way, to these grand ideas of return
to the land of Israel? And you see some other things as
well. The, the, the parsha I was
talking about the Shava Shamela. That's right in the middle, but
we have to repent and then God will bring back our captivity
and have mercy on us. And then it's kita shuvela
shamala kaho. When you repent as if there's
repentance and then return and then repentance again.
And then in slihot, then we see, for example, the measure says
that Yeshivarat Israel settling the land of Israel is Schuluck
and eight column. It's so it's the equivalent of
all of it, as is Shuvo. Also the Gemara says Shuva was
created before the world was created, a most enigmatic
statement. But so too the Beta Mikdash was
created. Mashiach was created before the
world was created. So what does all that mean?
Both are considered mitzvot. Cola loads.
I mean, they'll take it from a different perspective.
Both of these mitzvot, Shuva and Yeshuvar Tisrael, are strange in
that, for example, the Rambam doesn't list chuva as one of the
Tayag mitzvah. He mentions that we have to do
chuvah, but the mitzvah, the Masai mitzvah, the action is
vidui that we have to confess. So there's really no mitzvah to
repent, at least as we read the Rambam in Tayag.
Other Rishadam disagree by by in a similar way.
The Rambam doesn't have a mitzvah of Yeshua Vertizrah, of
settling the land of Israel, of making aliyah.
According to the Rambam, it's omitted.
It doesn't mean the Rambam doesn't recognize it as a
mitzvah. Because the Rambam says in Ilka
mulahem mitzvah ladur bear tisrah, it is a mitzvah to live
there. So if it's a mitzvah, why isn't
it in Tayag? How do we understand that?
So you have all these symmetries.
I've only mentioned a few between Shuvah and the land of
Israel. So how do they conflate how do
they work together these two mitzvot?
And one answer that I gave is that both Truvo and Ishvarat
Israel repentance and settling the land of Israel that with the
realm called and Rothkuk mentions this mitzvot kollalote
all inclusive mitzvot, meaning many, many mitzvot are tied to
them. But more importantly, they're
part of they're intrinsically a part of the Jew.
They transcend mere mitzvot. That's what makes them almost
supreme mitzvot. It's.
Like a given, it's a given. It it's a given, but it's it's,
it's it's part, it's inherent in the Jew.
What's inherent? The need to return to Hashem, to
connect with God, to restore our souls on to the path of
perfection that gives us a connection with Hashem.
What's also inherent is that God gave us this land, and this is
the land where his presence rests, and this is the homeland
of the Jewish people. And it's from this place that
Torah emerges. Kimiti ante SE Torah, and it's
this place, and only in this place we're under optimum
conditions. All the mitzvot in the Torah can
be observed. There's no other place on earth
but in the Land of Israel where all the mitzvot can be observed.
So what then is the connection between Truva and the Land of
Israel if Truva means a return to Hashem?
So now we understand why Truva in the Torah is always linked
with Eritrea, because that represents the full return, the
complete perfect capacity of a Jew to connect with God and to
live a godly life. Everywhere else is going to be
deficient on some level. We can be personally perfected,
but nonetheless, there's a sorrow, there's a deficiency if
we're not in the land of Israel because one, we're not in the
place where God intended us to be and therefore our ability to
observe the Torah is going to be somewhat constrained as well.
That's why the two work together.
That's why they dovetail and that's why you have all these
linkages that I just mentioned a few, but there there are many
others. It's always intertwined in the
tell row. They're both Mitsotkola loads.
They're not both not considered positive commandments, part of
Tayag according to the Rambam. They're both created before the
world exists because it part of the human condition.
And that's what Hashem wants from us.
And add to that one point, you see clearly a distinction that
we often don't think about. Come the Yamim Noraim, the days
of awe. There's such a thing.
Ruff Cook wrote about this extensively in Arota Chuva.
There's the personal chuva repentance that we have to
undertake this time of year and really constantly, it's a should
be a daily process. But there's also such a thing as
a national chuva, national repentance where the people as a
whole come back. And when you see that the people
do Chuva, that is when the seeds of redemption are planted and
flourished. And that's that order that
exists in the Torah. We find in Nitsavim, the partial
Nachova, that there's what I would call repentance, return
and repentance, that there's repentance that catalyzes the
initial return to the land of Israel.
And Ralph Cook wrote so beautifully that the very desire
that Jews had in the 19th century, as small a number as
they were, the very desire to return to the land of Israel,
that was part of the national Triova.
And even though many of those Jews were distant from terror
observance on a variety of levels, that itself, that
motivation could only have been spurred by this, by by the soul
of Israel, by the inner world that we have that draws us like
a magnet back to the land of Israel.
So you have that national repentance, and then you have
the return to the land of Israel, Kiba's Golioth, which
that parsha refers to as well. And then it ends when you
repent, Meaning from a national perspective, there are two
moments of Chuvo 1 before the return to the Land of Israel,
and then one following the return to the Land of Israel,
meaning the physical redemption of the Jewish people comes
before the spiritual redemption of the Jewish people.
And that's part of the, you know, excitement that exists in
the Land of Israel today. Rockets and missiles aside,
there's this competition, sometimes even acrimonious,
between what type of Israel people want, how how Jewish the
state is going to be. And I don't doubt the
overwhelming majority of Jews in Israel, even most of those who
we would not define as observant, but we say
traditional, they want the Jewish state.
They want the the state to be Jewish in its character, in its
presentation. In its laws, maybe not yet a
state according to Allaha where we're working towards that, but
they want it reflect, they want Jewish values reflected in its
laws and the conduct of its policies.
I did a series years ago entitled The Torah State six
parts. What the different facets of a
Torah state look like. You could find it on Yu Torah.
It's foreign policy. It's the it's the domestic
policy, the law, the culture, what a Jewish state looks like.
It was based on the writings of a very wonderful Jew Fine Thomas
Hoffman, who just died a few months ago, Revnath Tolitzvi
Yehuda Barilan and who was lived in Rehovote.
He was the rough there wrote a, a, a, a, a colossal 4 volume set
about what the Jewish state looks like.
The name sounds familiar. It should.
He was the great grandson of the Nitzif and named after him
Naftali Tsuyuda Barilan, or Mayor Barilan's grandson, Kulam
Zehana Lovraja. And that's what we're that's the
real struggle that we're engaged in now.
You know, Arabs aside and Gazans and Iran and all that, the real
struggle in the land of Israel is over what the spiritual
character of the land is going to be.
And as a result, everything else will work out that overtime will
come as well. And I think very often audiences
in America and elsewhere in the world become a little perplexed
when they see all the demonstrations in the land of
Israel and some of the harsh and almost anti Jewish decisions
that are made by various courts, both the Supreme Court and the
local court. The whole controversy that
existed last year before the war about having the Mahisa, the
public domain for Filo Tanyomaki, Purim Filo, that
attracted thousands and thousands of what we'd otherwise
call secular Jews. But they're just really less
observant Jews now. But nonetheless, they have such
such a passion and a commitment to want to dove in on Yomah
Kippurium and they don't feel comfortable in jewels.
And the fact is there no, not enough jewels in the country
that could accommodate everyone who would want to dove in there.
So they became comfortable dovening called Nidre and and
the E law in public, Mahisa Kikar Dysenkov elsewhere in the
country as well. And the court and Tel Aviv put a
stop to it. The municipality said no, you
cannot have any physical barrier in the public domain that
divides between men and women. That's considered the offensive
to women. ICC now than just the last week
a group of 11 women plus the organization that hosts the TELO
petition the court and Tel Aviv to allow it.
And all these women, again, less observant, all said no, if we
want to dove in, this is how our grandmothers dove in.
We want to be part of the Jewish people, say Yomaki Purim.
How could we think otherwise? And the same thing happened, the
same organs. So it eventuated last Yomaki
Purim in actually public fights between the various groups,
which is a terrible, terrible hoolashem.
And they anticipated the same thing come Simcha Torah with
what's called in Israel Hakafochnyo, the second Akafa,
which also attracts thousands and thousands of people who
don't would not enter a shul, but they want to be able to
dance with the tower and sing tower songs and bring the
children and honor the Torah. And as we can understand, the
enemy pre empted that last year by attacking on Shmitiatsera and
many people in the country, myself included, see that as a
sign from Akarish Barakho. Like this is what you're
fighting over. You're fighting over the
opportunity to serve me. I'll send the enemy against you
and something else will bring you together.
Many people in the land of Israel have that understanding
of what's happening in the last year.
That it is recurring now shows you how ingrained this
opposition to Torah is among that small element of the
society. And that small element, let's
face it, has a disproportionate hold on the judiciary and on the
media. And over time, that's going to
change. It's going to change because
elections change things, as they do all over.
As part of the protest that happened now in Israel
constantly against the Netanyahu government.
They they protested the day before he was elected.
They protested the day he was elected, and they call for new
elections the day after he was elected.
So that's actually all part of the excitement of life, part of
the democratic process, except to the extent that there's not a
real acceptance of the results of an election.
When the Tanya was the victor, then suddenly the people, these
people are demanding new elections almost immediately.
I don't doubt it'll happen again whenever the next elections are
held. And if he wins again, there'll
be calls again for the exact same thing, new elections,
because it can't be. So the reality is that in
Israel, media side, most people and I would say most religious
Jews, Jews who are less observant, they don't really pay
much attention to demonstrations that take place in Tel Aviv
because they've gone on so long, for so many years already.
Sometimes the cause changes a little, but it's all anti
government. It's just part of the fabric of
the society. But in any event, that's the
connection between repentance and the land of Israel.
I should give a little background like why I wrote the
book. And the truth is, all of these,
there are 18 essays in the book Repentance for Life, titled it
in Hebrew of a heart of a Haim. You should choose life and I
thought I had the title the heart of a Haim before, but when
I thought of an English title repentance for life, it does
have several meanings 1 is repentance for life meaning to
improve our lives, to better our lives for life.
That's who the heart of a Haim, but it's also for life in the
sense that repentance is something that permeates us,
that pervades our souls, that makes us different people and
gives us a slice of eternity as well in terms of perfection of
our soul. So it's repentance for life
because the whole life, life and then our individual lives as
well, each life. So these are based on the
Shabbat Shuba Drashov that I gave for many years.
I used to speak, and this is really it's genesis, I used to
speak Shabbat Shuba, Shabbat Gadot.
I meant Shabbat Shuba. I used to speak Shabbat shuba,
Shabbat Gadot like 7590 minutes, something that's really unheard
of today. The format always was to take
one of these topics like Eretz Israel and the others as well
and analyze it from different perspectives and raise about
1520 questions on that particular topic, including how
it intersects with Chuva and then articulate 1 theme that
brought everything together and answered all the questions.
And then I would end with some peroration trying to inspire
people for the for Yomakipuram which was always just a few days
away and invariably they were well received.
Tough for me to say, but invariably after I would finish
and people would congratulate me, thank me, be a handful of
people who would say to me, you have to write this down, you
have to publish it. And especially because not
everybody was able to see in the, in the thrust of the
presentation how each of the questions were answered.
And I assured them that they always were answered because as
I prepared it, I had all the questions in front of me and I
would check them off when I came to the answer a particular
place. So over the years, this this
interest grew. People would say to me, you
know, I have to publish this. And I would then over the years
say, all right, in due time, in due time.
And indeed, this is my first project when I made aliyah.
And one of the things that I did in the footnotes is I would
always note in the text and when I was in the main theme, I would
write this answers question 5 or this answers question 12.
And I would list the questions also in the middle so people
would have the opportunity to go back and see questions.
That was a great part. I I thought that one of the best
things about your book was it was very clear and organized,
but also you kept bringing up those questions in the middle
just to like kind of bring everything back.
Bring everything. To you don't you don't get lost
and you and I also think that you really I think you covered
pretty much every kind, you know, potential topic related to
CUVA. So I thought that, you know,
this is a really phenomenal work.
So I really commend you for what you've done.
Thank you, I covered many, I'm sure there are others as well
because CUVA is such a multi faceted topic.
So I covered many and I I hope I gave at least in these 18 essays
an overview into trivia from so many different angles that it
really encompasses a good part of the topic.
I should add that I think almost all the people who said to me
should write the book never bought the book in the end.
But the split. But the split is there.
So I thank them for their for motivating me.
All right. Well, I one thing I just want to
touch on a little bit, what you mentioned before, I actually
think there's something very poetic about the fact that the
seculars had this, had this inclination to, to build a state
to begin with. Because not only is it, is it,
is it showing that people on, let's say, like the bottom of
the spiritual world, Let's just put it that way.
I don't even like to put into those words, but they're the
ones who were with the driving force.
It's it's almost as if like this is the ultimate Chuva, right?
You're getting it from the bottom, you know, and, and it's
and it's almost like a beautiful ending, you know, to a book.
So I, I, I was that's. Why, As it turns out, that was
my last Shabba Truva drush on tough shin pay after I announced
I'm making aliyah was the last one, and that's what I wanted to
to leave the people with. I'll just note the long though
in in that divine that Ralph Cook wrote in Arota Truva.
I'll say in Hebrew, that in English hit our root, the very
awakening of the desire of the nation to return to its land,
its essence, its spirit and true qualities that contains within
it the light of repentance. And that's what the Torah says,
this Shafta ad Hashemelokaja. In fact, Ravkuk distinguished,
it says the shafta ad Hashemelokaja and kita shuv El
Hashemelokaja. So what's the difference?
You return in English, it sounds the same.
You return to God, you return to God.
So odd, Ravkuk said it's a partial return, the shafta ad
Hashemelokaja. This still remains a distance.
Kitashuv El Hashem lokaha, that's a full return, That's
Truva. Gomorrah, that's complete truva.
But he saw notwithstanding, you know, many of the people who did
it, they did it not for religious reasons.
They did it actually to escape from Telrad.
Rufbuk was very well aware of that.
So the forces that operated on them were unconscious forces,
but nonetheless they were deeply embedded in their souls and
their spirit in a way that we have to say is only divine.
Who we it again? It's beyond the realm of reason
that a person so estranged from Torah and Jewish life, like
Theodore Herzl, he should be the orchestrator and founder of the
political Zionist movement. It makes no sense at all.
Just a few years ago. And he was a person always
thinking. He was a journalist, a writer.
He suggests we all convert to Christianity.
And that would save the that would save Jews from
destruction. That such a person should
somehow be motivated to spearhead a movement which in
less than half a century took Jews from the exile and made
them sovereign in the land of Israel.
And basically in 1897 at the Basel Conference, the first
Zionist Conference predicted it would happen in 50 years.
So that's something can only come from Hashem.
Why him? Why is he the Shalia Hashem?
Why is he God's agents? We have to be God to understand
that. A lot of the Jews are always
bothered by the fact that it was him and not them.
Well, the bottom line is others weren't doing it and harbesh
Shalhuma maqam God as many agents.
And we can't question why God, God does what he does.
That's what makes him God. Perhaps it's the mashiach come
riding on a donkey on a lowly donkey.
That's the you know this. Right.
Also, true redemption comes from unexpected sources.
Exactly. So yeah, that's definitely a big
part of our tradition. I I wanted to get into one of I
thought was one of the best chapters repentance and
suffering. So which key points can you
maybe hone in on from from that chapter?
Right. So obviously it's a weighty
topic and no doubt it's been on people's minds this year as well
in the Land of Israel, because it hasn't been a simple year
this past year. Tufshen paid alid.
And yet we see, look at the Rambam at the beginning of
Hilfochuva. The Rambam says that Yasur in
that suffering does play a role in Kapora in gaining atonement,
that there's certain sins that are atoned for by the Sahir
Mishalaya, the the, the the sacrificial goat, the scapegoat
on Yomaki Purim. And there's certain serious sins
that Rambam says Yomah Kippuram is tollah.
It's Yomah Kippuram suspends the punishment, the surin MI markin,
but only Surin, only suffering can urge us of those sins.
Well, again, it's not something we like to consider because it
affects us closely and everyone's life is marred on
occasion by esurin. At the Gamora says in Arahin
that no person goes even 40 days without some type of yisurin,
but even minor types of yisurin that are annoyances,
inconveniences, but Truva involves some yisurin as well.
So much so that in the addendum to each of the tila on Rosh
Hashanah, Yomaki Purim, I should say Shahid and Musaf, and on Yom
Kippen to heal as well. We say this Tila of Rava, we say
God AD Shalonat sarti anikdai. The before I was created I was
worthless, and now, now I'm not much better.
But we end Hashem. Alokai should be your will, the
Lord my God. I should not sin, but for what I
have sinned. Marek erase, purge in your
abundant compassion of a low, but not through suffering or
terrible illnesses. And one of the points I
mentioned is that isurin we call suffering at its root is really
mussar. It's teaching, it's instruction.
It's a way that God gets our attention, that God connects
with us. So I I go into the entire area
here, which is a most abstruse and in fact almost overwhelming
area of thought. What does it mean?
Called the other Rahmana Latavovid, That whatever God
does, he does for good. What are ye surin?
Shall I have a suffering of love?
Why? Why do we have this institution
in Jewish life? The Gemara says in Brahod
Dafayam and Olive that God gave us 3 gifts, but He only gave us
these gifts through Yisurin Torah, Olamaba and Ereti Israel.
God gave us through suffering. We have to suffer for it on some
level. The Torah and the world to come.
And again, back to that, to the land of Israel.
What kind of gift is given to us through suffering?
And I discussed the Rambam in the Mourinho Vohem, the Rama
speaks about the three types of evils that exist in the world.
And he knows similar to what Ramban did in Tarah Adam, which
I delved into as well, the three types of evils that afflict
human beings, even though the world is basically good.
And it's again, one of the astounding aspects of life in
the land of Israel that when you're outside and you hear the
news sometimes when you're inside Israel and watch the
news, news almost by definition is always bad.
No one ever gets on the nightly news and reports that bad.
Nothing happened today. All was good.
Children went to school, people went to work, everybody was
happy. No accidents, no terror.
That would not be news. Nobody reports that.
So there's an exaggeration as to what's bad or negative or
harmful in the land of Israel and elsewhere as well.
But the world is mostly good. And like I was saying, even now,
I mean, you get up in the morning and it's a beautiful day
again today in the land of Israel.
And it's filled with holiness and everyday experience.
Beerkat Khanim, the blessing of the Coen.
And it's a day filled with Torah.
And you could do masim Tovim and Hassan and, and help Jews and
learn. And it's just so much.
You can live a full Jewish life here and yeah, occasionally
there are rockets and missiles that come in and so we have to
deal with that also. But by and large, the world is
good. And like Rava Avinir often says,
most of the people in the world are not suffering or are not
I'll So the Rama wrote the Mora that the three the Mora of
Wuchem that the three types of evils.
The first are things that happened to us because we're
flesh and blood. Sometimes we'll call them acts
of God nature. Hurricanes, tsunamis, tornadoes,
earthquakes, etcetera. And also there's a natural
decline, deterioration of the human body that exists, but it
happens gradually. The second type of evil are the
evils that we do to each other. Man because of our bad
character, because of jealousy, hatred, and other things that
the rhyme says is more numerous in quantity than the first evil
that happens just because man is man.
But the greatest of all evils that exist in the world are the
evils that man does to himself, the harm that we do to ourselves
in a variety of ways. The harms that we do to our
bodies because of how we eat or drink or sleep or don't sleep
and increase the pressures and anxiety on ourselves, and the
evil that we do to our souls because we tarnish our souls by
pursuing fantasies and illusions and putting up a barrier between
ourselves and Akashbarahu. That evil, the Rambam says, is
preponderance. It's the greatest, the dominant
evil that exists. So people think of evil in the
world. The worst, most prevalent form
of evil, Rambam says, is the one we do to ourselves.
And notwithstanding those three types of evils, nonetheless the
world is basically good. The world is mostly good.
Hod lashem keto kilo lumhas though.
That echoes the creation, right? Everything was good until Adam
chooses between doing good and evil versus everything else
which is created good. So right.
Yeah, it's, it's even more than that because God says twice the
NATO, the world is very good. So you're sensitive to the text.
God didn't say the world was perfect.
God said the world is very good. You want the world to be
perfect, make it perfect. Each of us do a little more.
Each of us do our share and make the world perfect.
If God said the world was shalame, gamour, perfect,
complete, nothing else to add, that's a different dynamic
altogether. That's not what God said.
The world is told mode. The world is very good.
Very good allows for the fact fact the measure said that says
this Al Atar on that place or that PASIC at the end of the
first pair of Brashid in NATO mode, Zamovit perplexing Medrich
what's good, Very, very good mode.
That's death. How it is a perplexing question.
There's an answer to it. I entertain it here as well.
But that is the way the world was created.
So it has to be very good. The difference between very good
and perfect is because very often that little, that little
portion beyond very good and short of perfect is what bothers
us are the things that affect us directly.
It even includes the sewer and the suffering that comes in
life. But nevertheless, that's part of
the way we're created and that is the system that God gave us
in which he wants us to operate, to live, to enjoy, to serve him,
and to perfect our souls. So ultimately, it's obviously a
very, very long topic, but what how is the Sur connected to
Truvo? And this brings everything
together, the many, many different ways suffering induces
humility in a person, certainly in a Jew, humility is a
prerequisite for Chuvo, and people are often inclined to
once again accept the yoke of God's kingship.
And it's a teaching. And some of the Roshona even
said that particular suffering that we have will target
physical suffering, will target an area of sin, meaning that
organ, that limb has to be rectified because it was engaged
in certain sins. So many, many different ways to
look at it. I would say ultimately, as many
of our great thinkers said, a broken heart is the prelude to
Truva. What does God want from our,
from, from us, Lave Nishbar Vinditka?
He wants a broken heart. He wants us to feel even a
little despondent in our hearts because that means that tells us
there's room for growth. The things that we can do, that
we have to do in order to improve, in order to get closer
to Him, in order to advance the redemption as well.
So one part I wanted you to kind of expand on, which I found
really fascinating in this chapter was the part on Misaka
Shabbat where it says Amarav AMI en MI tabelohet veni serene
below Avon. Can you expand on that part
particularly? Right.
So that is actually something that is not so easy to
understand. Obviously death relates to it,
but one of the points that I raised is that Avon iniquity is
a sin. Amazed an intentional sin, but
hate is always considered a sin. That's bishoggang.
That's an unintentional sin. So it should be the reverse.
The Soren should be a lesser punishment than death.
The gomar should have said Amy Soren below hate.
I'm sorry, Amy Soren below Avone.
The 8. I'm saying Amy Soren below hate.
They meet up below Avone. We should be punished for our
intentional sins with the ultimate punishment.
So I gave a few approaches, one of them based on their I'm how
but but others as well. Is that Amy tableau Heik means
that death is part of the human condition.
That's me. They told my own Zaamovit is
part of the human condition. That is like God did not create
us to be eternal. God created us to be finite, to
be temporal. Then after we shed our mortal
coil with souls as perfect as they can be, we live a blissful
existence in Olamaban, the world to come, the world of souls, and
then if it were they come resurrection, then we come back
to this world as well. Have a big mahlocat between the
Rambam and the Rambam. Whether we live eternally in the
resurrected world, which is Ramban's opinion, the Rama says
no. The Rama says the ideal is to
have this perfected soul living in the bliss of God's company.
But then I entertain something else as well.
Any sword below avone. There's no suffering without
intentional sins. It's because that's designed to
perfect us, meaning everyone's going to commit a sin Bishogi,
right? The other ain't Sadiq bartha
shiasa to the asato Belo yet, though it's impossible.
Shlo Muhammad said in Koala that a person does not sin
unintentionally to sin intentionally.
That is not necessarily so, but that is where the Mabit, one of
the great authorities in the 1500s, wrote that we see that 80
symbol of own. That's when a particular
punishment or suffering is going to target a sinning organ or
limb, because what it does is weaken our desire.
And then the Yatesa hara inclination for instinctual
gratification is also enervated. It subsides, it no longer
overpowers us. And once the the the material
powers of the body are not dominant, then the soul can
shine. I have.
I have, I have a question like just the the problem with that,
just to push back on that idea is that for example, if if
chasing after lusting after things leads to the punishment
of let's say, weakening of the eyes.
OK, I'm just using that as a, as a random example, then the
opportunity for teshuva is not actually the same as it once was
because because you're no longer have that desire.
So so that because your eyes are not working the same way.
So how are you really achieving full teshuva if you don't have
the same strength that you once had?
That's a very good question, and this the Ramam addresses in the
second paragraph Hiljo Chuva, where he distinguishes between
Chuva Mihua and Chuva Shehnaamu Allah.
Chuva Mihua is going to be a chuva that's preferred the
ideal, meaning a person is still in full possessions of his or
her physical passions and strength, and the same situation
presents itself of sin and a person abstains.
That would be truva Mullah that prefer the ideal truva.
But the Ramdas say there's such a thing as truva shahena Mullah.
But a person is already, I want, I don't want to say past the age
of passion because it never ends.
But let's say the passions have been reduced in their ardor,
they've subsided somewhat. And then a person doesn't feel
the same attraction, the same allure, and then he abstains.
Yeah, that Truva is not as preferred as the Truva that came
before, and as a result it's not ideal, but nonetheless, it's
Truva as well. There is such a thing as Ikuvim
as a hindrances obstacles to the performance of Chuva.
Rama mentioned this as well and Hilha Chuva and I address it.
Also, there's certain things that make Chuva more difficult
that hinder our ability to do Chuva.
By the way, this is to go back to the first topic we discussed.
This is another parallel to Chuva and the land of Israel
that just says Chuva promise has 24 different things that are
obstacles that can be obstacles to Truva.
So to there are obstacles to Yishuvarat Israel, among them
Golut exile. That's no greater obstacle.
And one of the issues I did address in that chapter is how
is it that because we failed to live up to the ideals of the
Torah while living in the land of Israel, that God took away
that misra from us as the possible?
Think about it. If the old Jews, God forbid,
stopped observing Shabbat or kashrut with God, then say, all
right, I'm taking away Shabbat from you.
Don't, you don't have it anymore.
It's a punishment. You don't want to observe the
laws of kosher food, forget it. I'm taking away from you.
That's a punishment. Many Jews won't see it as
punishment. So there's no such thing as an
area of the tower of being stripped from us because we
don't observe it properly except for Yishuvarichiserao, and
except and except for Chuva. All right, So I discussed why
that is. But nonetheless, there are
different gradations of Chuva. There are different times of
life that are more or less optimal for Chuva, But
nonetheless there is no person who is not in a position to
fully repent. And even a person say whose
passions are behind him or the the abundance of passions are
behind him, that person can do truva as well.
And not just God forbid if there are esurin but in understanding
how he went wrong and thinking about it and teaching others and
guiding others. But one point that's important
to mention is that's why we say in that fila of Rava that we
append to the end of the Amida on the Yamnarayim that God
should cleanse our sins, but not through suffering or terrible
illnesses. Because suffering does have the
ability to take a person away from a connection to God.
It drives us, us closer. But like you say, if a certain
part of the body is afflicted that we can no longer perfect
it, if we can't see, it's harder to learn, it's harder to dove
and we can't walk, it's hard to go to shul, etcetera.
So in all those real. You can also drive kind of a
wedge between certain people and God because some people will see
that suffering as like kind of a, you know, they might not
interpret it as, as, as a positive.
They're going to see that, as you know, if if God isn't do
this to me, then why do I need God, you know?
Yes, that's called boate B sword and I speak about this as well
in that chapter on suffering. Boate B sword literally means
kicking away. Kicking away God that this is
what he does to me. I want nothing to do with him.
By the way, when a person actually says that boipi surin,
that's actually connecting to God.
And here I I deviate someone from my training and quote the
Katskarebi, that anger towards God is not rebellion against
God. Even anger is a relationship.
What's rebellion against God? Apathy, indifference when a
person just doesn't care anymore.
Adi shoot in Hebrew, a person just doesn't care anymore.
That means the connection is severed.
But as long as a person is angry, gets worked up and you do
find this, there are people who have suffered, God forbid, and
they are filled with anger against God and they deny God's
existence and they rant and rave against God and their whole life
is dedicated to God forbid this anger against God.
And yet that's a relationship with God.
That means God's presence permeates your consciousness at
all times. It may be even in a rancorous
way, but nonetheless it's there. It means you still care and
actually it's it's you see the same thing in relationships,
right? It's like if you're.
Absolutely. So very good point.
If you're apathetic, it's over, pretty much.
If the there's, there's hope if you're just fighting.
That's correct. The worst thing in marriage is
apathy. When a person gives up and just
says that I want nothing else. But when people fight, it means
they're desperate for a relationship.
They want some type of rectification in the
relationship. So it's a much better place to
be. It's a bit paradoxical, but it's
a much better place to be. Very interesting.
So the last thing I want to tie in is something you mentioned
very early on in this segment, which is the repentance and the
Yom and the Yom Kippur scapegoat.
So if you could just tell us a little bit about that?
Right, so this is very hard to concise in a few moments, but
this chapter is I I heard completely from my rabbi, Rabbi
Chait, you should live and be well that the the Sayer Lazazel
on Yomaki Purim, which was the highlight of the service in the
Betha Mikdash in the Holy Temple.
It sounds very cryptic to us. It sounds almost Pagan.
You have these two goats and they're equal in appearance and
value and size. And one goat is dedicated Lachem
his his blood is is offered on the on the parochet.
And the other Sayer, which is the Lazazel, has a red string
tied to him and he's taken into the desert by an issue T by
special person designated every year for that task.
And he's accompanied to the into the wilderness by Yuki Ray
Urushalayan, by the nobility of Urushalayan.
And then he walks to a Cliff. And by the way, up to that
point, there are 10 or so refreshment stations that this
ish ET who's escorting the Sahir, the goat, into the
wilderness? He's allowed to eat on Yomaki
Pura if he wants to, and yet the Gomorrah says no one ever did.
And he escorts. By the way, it's also Musser in
that that when something becomes permissible, the desire for it
really weakens. But in any event, he goes in the
wilderness and he tosses this Sahir over the Cliff, and that's
a year that goat, the scapegoat dies the most gruesome death.
And every year this is acted out.
So I have to be very brief. But in essence, this is all a
morality play. And the two goats, Rabbi Tate
said, represented these two choices that are before us at
all times. The Sayila Azazel represents the
Gumar says Azazel, strength, resilience is gone over the
Cliff. These two choices represent
essentially of a heart of Bahaim or not, to choose life or not.
One choice represents the life of the Yates Rato, the life
that's in God's service, that's the Sayil Hashem, and the other
represents the choices of the eights are all the desire for
instinctual gratification. And note that the whole right is
acted out because we want to recognize that these are
powerful forces in our lives. The eights are all and it's not
enough just to repress it and to say it doesn't exist and deny
that we have these passions or desires and negate them and call
them evil and beyond the pale of humanity.
No, it's part of our very being. We're created with the 8 Sahara.
God says Gemara, says Bharati. 8 Sahara Bharati Tara Tavlin God
says I created the Yeatsarah, I created the Torah as the
antidote, as the spice to take that yeatsarah in service of
God. But if a person just blindly
follows the Yeatsarah and seeks only material gratification and
instinctual satisfaction, essentially lives an animalistic
life, but in a human form, that route has only one destination,
the Cliff, because that is the end of the soul.
So now we understand why the Jews who came and witnessed this
in the Beita Mikdash. And of course, as we know the
Gamora says, it's alluded to in the Nivea.
When the when kapar would come, the red thread, that was also
the qadhar that would turn white to demonstrate to us that we had
been atoned by, forgiven by Hashem.
We see why that had the power of conveying atonement in its own
right. So Rama says that their sins,
the Sahir Hamishtalaya alone is Mahapir.
All the sins that we do, we call them minor sins, not capital
crimes, but all the sins that we, most of us don't commit,
capital crimes, at least not that frequently, I hope.
But the sins that we do commit, they were toned for just by the
right of the Sierra Michela, the scapegoat, even sometimes
without triva, the realm says, even if we don't repent on a
formal level. Why?
Because merely witnessing the right or being aware that it
exists and knowing that they're these two roads, and every day
I'm confronted with these choices of going down one path
or another path, that itself brings atonement because that
brings us closer to Hashem. You know, we, we, we feel like
that's people today might feel like we can relate to these
ideas, but the, the truth is they didn't have television
didn't have like imagery and this was kind of like a play.
It's kind of like a, it's such a psychological effect on, on
people that I, I think it. If we put it, that's why I
called it a morality play. In fact, that's correct.
Right A. Morality, that's what it is,
yeah. So before we go, I just wanted
to again plug your book Repentance of Life.
Oh, very good. You know I'll match you.
I have one right here also. Oh, perfect.
So this book you can acquire, you can acquire this book.
The easiest way is at kodishpress.com, KODESHPR,
ess.com and just look for it there.
I guess you get on Amazon also, but then also in the Jewish fine
bookstores should have it. And in Israel, I know you can
get it to to Pomerance, they have it on sale here.
But most of the most of fine bookstores in America have it.
And by the way, that's the definition of a fine bookstore
if it's carrying this book. And where can I say it
facetiously? Where can people find you also?
So I'm on, I live in Modi Inn and I write all the time Rabbit
przanski.com. Anybody wants to contact me they
can contact me there. On that website you'll find my
shurum are posted there as well, rabbiprzanski.com.
And by the way, when you mention the whole it's a hara bit, it
reminded me of the, you know, just I wanted to mention that
people should look up Rabbit's article on EOV is an essay on
EOV, which is phenomenal. But before we go this, if you
have one last message on Teshuva for all the listeners going into
the High Holiday, didn't to Yami Manaraim, do you have a message
for everybody? So as I mentioned at the outset,
at the outset, it has been a not a simple year in the Land of
Israel. So many enemies that we have and
they're coalescing and we're at a very sensitive juncture in
Jewish history. You know, we don't like to think
of these terms, but the our enemies are powerful and they're
relentless and they're filled with hatred.
That cannot be a swage. Anyone who thinks the hatred is
going to go away because we create a Palestinian state or
not, that's a delusion. It has nothing to do with
anything. It will just be another means to
destroy us. That being said, the fact that
we're at this juncture in history behooves us to
understand what the next stages are.
We're at the end of history. We're towards the end of that
great book, and that book has a prophecy.
And that prophecy is that all Jews will return to the land of
Israel, and we're going to have to fight and struggle for the
land of Israel. But here we are to build the
modern Jewish state, to bring God's presence to earth and to
be the springboard for the Mahmoud Hashem, for God's
Kingdom. That's where we are now.
I don't see any alternative. It's not going to be a situation
why, where there's just, you know, peace and everybody is
calm for 30 years. That's not the reality that we
are living in. So I think it behooves all of us
to take these Yeoman, the Rahim seriously, to take the words of
the Torah and mitzvot and the words of naevium seriously as
well. Recognize where we are and what
the hour calls for. The hour calls for a recognition
of what Jewish history is and how it's led to this moment.
A recognition of the connection that we all have to Kaddish
Baraku, how God is manipulating events to bring us towards that
glorious era that is yet to unfold, but that we can glimpse
on the horizon. And to recognize that God's
presence is very real and very close to us.
Emo anohi. But Sarah, even in the most
difficult times, even in great tribulations, God is with us.
And in the last year, despite the catastrophe that we had
almost a year ago now in Srini and Sarah, to see the spirit of
the people, of self sacrifice, of dedication to Torah, of a
youth imbued with the ideals and values of Torah and the Jewish
people and the Land of Israel. People in their 20s willing to
sacrifice their lives, our futures, just in order to
preserve the Jewish people in the Land of Israel and build
here a mamlekhat Karabagai Kadosh, the Kingdom of priests
and a holy nation. What could be more inspiring
than that? What we should then do, all of
us, each and every one of us, in our own way, is aspire to be
part of that. And that should be the goal of
every Jew on the Yomim Naram. How can I increase my share in
this great and noble drama of the Jewish people, the chosen
people, put here on earth, in order to disseminate God's
message and morality and values? How can I make that part of my
life in a more meaningful way and convey that to my children
and my grandchildren and my community, to the Jewish people
and to the world at large? And that itself will be a
catalyst for the coming of Mashiach.
I wish everyone, and I want to thank you very much for the
opportunity. Tiva bhatima Tova to everyone.
It should be a year that's filled with the strength and
goodness and God's grace and the feelings of God's presence and
atonement, where we all return to Hashem, body and soul, and
witness the Kingdom of God coming through.
Melaka mushiyaf bimhaira be almenu almen.
Amen. Thank you so much.
Thank you again Shana Tava be well.
Blessings to your audience. Bye bye.