Thinking Talmudist Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, Texas. This is the Thinking Talmudist podcast.

Welcome back everybody. We're gonna talk about a new topic now. We're going live in 5.4 Welcome back everybody. Welcome to the Thinking Talmudist. It is awesome to be here with everyone The Talmud that we're going to study now is the Talmud in Tractate Ta'anit 8.22b on the bottom and the Talmud is now going to talk about many different stories that we can learn great lessons from primarily regarding the blessing of rain
All right, so we know that there's a blessing that we recite in our Shema That if we observe the laws, And you listen to my commands I will give you the rain for your lands and I will give you all the good for your land. Okay So now the Gemara says Tona Rabona, the rabbis taught in Abra Yisrov, When the verse states and I will provide your rains in their proper times. This means the rains will leave the earth
What does that mean? The rains will leave the earth. Loshi Korah, not drunk. They'll leave the earth not drunk meaning oversaturated V'lo tsmeah, not thirsty Elo b'nonis, but moderately wet. It means the earth if it gets too wet, it's not good. If it gets too little wet it's not good. It has to be a perfect amount of moisture perfect amount of rain This by the way is something that we've discussed numerous times that our responsibility to be in balance right
Jewish life is all about balance. Our responsibility is to be, is to find the Middle of the road. Be balanced. Don't be extremist here. Don't be extremist there. Go in the middle, in the middle path Shekol's manchak, shomeru bim, whenever the rains are excessive mitashtasheh n'sa'aretz, they make the earth muddy. V'einamot tziah peres, and it does not yield Produce Dovah achar, another interpretation of this verse on the top of 23a B'itam, in their proper times, b'leli riviyo yisu b'leli shabbos. When is b'itam in its time?
What's the proper time? Specifically on Wednesday evenings and Shabbos evenings, on Tuesday and Friday nights When people are not inconvenienced by the rain Okay, why? People generally do not venture out on these nights because of the demon igras bas machalas Who is abroad then and can cause harm. Moreover The Shabbos restrictions effectively curtail any travel on Friday nights thus People are for the most part not inconvenienced by rain on these nights. Okay, so we're talking about now These are two nights that are are
Beneficial for the world. These are nights that the demons are out and therefore it's not a time that people travel, people aren't around and about and therefore when it rains it is Suitable because people are not going to be inconvenienced by it. Okay, if there is an inconvenience That wouldn't be such a blessing. It would minimize the blessing Shekin matzin bimei shimon b'tshetach For so we find in the days of shimon b'tshetach sheyardu lehem gishamim that rains fell for them only
b'leilei riviyoys u b'leilei shabbosos on the eves of Wednesdays and the eves of Shabbos, which is Tuesday night and Tuesday night and Friday night. Now an interesting thing We know that the Torah tells us that Tuesday is a very blessed day Tuesday itself is a very blessed day. Why? Because each day of creation It says and it was good except for Monday. Monday doesn't say that it was good. On Sunday God said I looked at creation and it was good
Monday it's omitted. On Tuesday it says it twice Wednesday it says it, Thursday it says it, Friday it says it It doesn't say it about Monday. Why doesn't it say it about Monday? Something that I like to say under the chuppah and that is because God doesn't like two. God likes one Meaning when a husband and wife get married if they remain two It's not gonna be good. You have to become one. Two means separation Two means it two independent entities. No, you have to become one
So on day two God says it's not it's lo tov. It's not it's not it's not a good thing for there to be two day three Now has extra blessing pamayim ki tov Extra it says ki tov twice So it's an extra blessed day. What comes after Tuesday? Tuesday night, which is Wednesday already. What happens there? Now you got diminished from two ki tovs to one So perhaps that's why Tuesday night is the night that the demons have their powers because the world is diminished from two
tovs to one. Maybe, maybe not She came and matzinu bimei shimon ben shetach she yodo leim g'shamim We see that in the days of shimon ben shetach the rain fell on the eves of Wednesday and the eve of Shabbos Ad shenasu chitim ke kleios until the kernels of wheat became as large as kidneys Usorim ke gareenei zeisim and the barley was as large as olive pits Ve'adoshim ke dinarei zahav and the lentils as large as gold dinner coins
Vetsorim mehim and they put away bundles of them to save dugmul adoiris an example as Examples for future generations lo yidia kama hachet gorem to demonstrate How much ruin? sin causes Okay She never as it states. I want to say him he to a level to say him mono hot of me Kim First your sins have turned these blessings of rain away and your transgressions have withheld the good from you
So it it's it's a sign for generations you see the blessings we had why did we have those blessings? Because they did good If you're to do no good and you don't have the proper success Just remember why and they saved bundles For posterity so that people should remember for future generations Okay, it's important for us us to remember that we see that Whenever the Jewish people Did good? They got good When they didn't do good They didn't get good
You look through the entire Teachings of the prophets and the writings and you'll see the exact same story We're about in less than a month. We're gonna be celebrating the holiday of Purim And you know what? It's really amazing. The holiday of Purim teaches us That when the Jewish people didn't do so good They were about to get persecuted annihilated So what did they do? to Shuba they repented and What did the truth bring about? The greatest redemption the story of the book of Esther
And I recommend if you want to see the greatest Hand of Hashem that was open and the way the the Megillah is written The way you read it. It's just it the words pop out. It's like the miracle is it's impossible not to see it Of how all of the quote coincidences how everything just happens to work out perfectly No, it's the hand of Hashem playing perfectly through Mordecai and Esther We also see this in the days of Herod
So you always can be meaningless English when they were engaged in the building of the Holy Temple Oh, you're dim. Shama Lila and the rain would fall only at night when no work was being done Lamacha the next day not Shavar. Oh, the wind would blow Venus parza of him and the clouds would disperse Is our Haman the Sun would come out the odds are on the Malachtan and the people came back to their work We y'all do some lectures. I might be a dame
Knowing that the work of heaven was in their hands. Their work was approved by Hashem. So this is another thing that that You know God communicates to us. We mentioned this so many times God communicates to us Very very clearly sometimes too clearly for us to even comprehend How clear Hashem is just telling us straight to our face Wake up We think oh, it's just a coincidence. It happens to be raining today. No, no
No, God is talking to you. God is communicating to each and every one of us We see that in those generations of that when they were building the temple God didn't want to inconvenience them during their time of work, which was during daytime so it only rained that night and Then the Sun would come up dry up everything so that they can continue to work Okay, God is communicating So does anybody know the story of honey? I'm a girl Okay The circle. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes
So we're going to it's it's mentioned here in the Mishnah and And we're gonna we are of course, of course, we're gonna talk about it I think I think we mentioned it in a previous episode, but we're gonna go over it now through the Talmud. We're going to Elaborate on it so It once happened that they sent a message to honey the circle maker Okay, this is the brought in the Mishnah now that Gamora is going to elaborate on the story
Tone or a bone on the rabbi's toward an appraisal palm ahas. It once happened Yotza Rove a double or your dug shaman, you know what month we're in right now in the Hebrew month of Shabbat Next month is month of Adar Okay, right next to Adar is Nisan which is Pesach. So you have you have You have a holiday of Purim coming in less than a month and then a month after that exactly is the holiday of Pesach and Then starts the summer the summer months
So something really fascinating Something really fascinating happened One year there was no rain till Adar And they were very concerned. It's almost rainy season is over over almost over and It still hasn't rained So what's gonna be? So who the honey I'm a girl. They sent a message to honey the circle maker. He's parallel the yard If you do come in we need you to pray for rain So that the rain should fall He's parallel the lawyer the shaman he prayed but no rain fell
Oh Uga, we all met besocha. He drew a circle and stood in it Kid Derek show us a havoc or canopy just as havoc cook had done Havoc cook the prophet she never as it states. I'll miss Marty Imoda This yachts were all Mozart. I will stand at my post and I will set myself for a siege I'm all the fun of he said before God rebondish a little master of the universe But Neha some open am a lie. Your children have turned their faces towards me
She I need to bend by slip on echo because I am like a household member Before you So they're expecting me to do this Nishpa I need to be shimukha God. Oh, I swear by your great name She ain't he's Oz Mikan, Ajit Iraq. I'm a bone echo that I will not budge from this circle Until you take pity on your children. He'd he look Gushan him me not him in response. The rain began to sprinkle Amrullah tell me dove his disciple said to him Rebbi our teacher
Ray Nuka below Namus We wish to see you and not die Meaning we need more rain Or we will die it's not enough rain just a little sprinkle is not going to do it for us Kim it do mean Anu it Seems to us she ain't gush on him your dim that the sprinkle sprinkling of rain is not falling Hello, Leha Tisha was echo except to release you from your oath meaning Hashem just wants you to be released from your oath
So now you can get out of your circle and stop with your nonsense, okay It's not really because we God is giving us rain God is really just nullifying your vow because you said you're not going to leave the circle till it rains So God gave a little sprinkle. Okay now you can leave right, but it's not really because I'm God's giving us rain. So that's what the students say We don't want you dying on in this circle. Like let's go. We need rain or
We die because we're not gonna have produce we're not gonna have food Omar He said before God Lokak shalty Not such rains have I requested for I didn't ask for this a legish me borrows see him or us Maros, but rains ample enough to fill water holes ditches and caves We're drinking water restored Yardu bizarre if the rain began to fall in great force I check all TIPO TIPO come low P Chavis that the size of each drop was like the size of a jug
It rained in torrents We she are Rukha homing and the sages estimated she ain't tip up who's a maloik The log is a is a is a is a volume of liquid They say that each drop was about the size imagine like a cup size drop massive drop of water each one Umbrella Tommy dove his disciple said to him Rebbi reenough of low numbers our teacher Rebbi We wish to see you and I die Meaning we will die if these rains continue
Okay, we don't want this to um Kim adumin on who she ain't showing me or demella Abed Olam. We see previously we they said We think it's raining just so that you get out of your vow Now they say we think it's raining so that God destroys the world. I mean, this is unbelievable the rain that we have now it's just on Unfathomable. I'm a Lafonda of so honey says to God Low kashanti, this is not what I requested
Ella gish may rot so in bravo Nadella, but I asked for rains of goodwill blessing and benevolence Yordoo kitik non and indeed the rains then fell normally and continued I'd show all look all the Amlah our bias We've made me panic showing until all the people were forced to go up to the temple mount because of the rain I'm rule. Oh, they said to him our teacher Kishin she's Paloto she year do kakis Palo she yell hula him just as you prayed for the rains to fall
please pray for them to end to depart Amar lehem. He said to them kak mikub Lani. I Have a tradition From my teachers chain miss Palo Mal. Rovato That we do not pray regarding an abundance of good that it stop we never say stop Okay, it's an important thing when you have blessing don't say, you know, it's God. It's enough blessing never say it's enough Never say it's enough off alpichane notwithstanding his Teaching that he learned from his
Teachers honey said of you leap our Oda bring me a bull for confession of sins Have you low power dawn they brought him a bull for confession some actually other wall of he leaned his hands on it Amar Lafonov and he says in front of the Almighty rebunded Shalom master of the universe I'm pleased all shades a semi Mitzrayim your nation Israel whom you have taken out of Egypt Ain on your highland library of time a library of Puranos
They cannot bear either an abundance of good or an abundance of misfortune Casta lame you became angry with them. Ain't him you call a llama. They cannot bear it He spat our lame to have you bestowed upon them an abundance of good anywhere. Come on, but they can either Bear it Now what's the theme we spoke about at the beginning of class today? balance too much good We can't handle too much Curse, we can't handle. It's got to be a balance
They can't bear it. You're awesome. If an echo she if Sikua gishomin V. Hey, Rev. Ah Baola made be your will that the rains should cease and relief should come to the war to the world Me yad noshva Roach immediately the wind began to blow We nespa's who are of him bizarre. Ha ha ma the clouds dispersed and the Sun came out We yatsu ha'am la sada and the people went out into the fields we view lamb came Patriots, they brought themselves truffles and mushrooms
Shalakh lo shimon v'shatach shimon v'shatach sent the following message in Mollay Honey, Otto were you not honey goes rain or lecho need I would pronounce a ban upon you She illu shinayim Shonin kishnaya Leo moreover Even your oath was improper for had these years been similar to the years of Elijah the Prophet Shem if I'm if I toss Gishomin be yad shell le the other shall yo when the keys to the rain were in the hands of Elijah
Lo nim so shim shaman is hollow. Deco would not the name of heaven be found to have been disgraced on account of you Why? You honey swore that you would not move out of the circle until it rained and Elijah swore there would not rain unless he wished it had Elijah lived and made his oath during Coney's time one of their oaths would have fought would have proven false and This would have resulted in the desecration of the name of heaven Shimon v'shatach
Use this as an example of Elijah You use this example of Elijah to illustrate the principle that there are times when the decree withholding rains should not be countermanded Had the current drought been the product of such a severe decree Forcing the issue with an oath Would have resulted in either the oath being voided or in the decree of heaven being forcibly rescinded so to speak Either way the result would have been a desecration of God's name
Accordingly, it was improper for honey to have chanced this situation by taking this oath Okay, so there's another important thing that we need to learn from this and what our commentaries explain here This is from the Yerushalmi is that? Taking an oath is a very serious thing Taking an oath is something that a Jew is not allowed to do for no reason All right, so here you have Shimon v'shatach Reprimanding honey saying what are you doing? And Had you been in the generation of? Ellie Eliyahu
Elijah the Prophet It wouldn't have been good because it would have been Elijah against you. So one of you would go out Because you've made a false. Oh Oh See he's saying to him. I don't think it's such a good idea that you made this oath You need to be very careful about making an oath in the future See, he says He says I will my ass Luka, but what should I do to you?
Sure, Adam is hot to lift me. I'm welcome that you misbehave before God by expressing Dissatisfaction and demanding from Hashem different rain you didn't like this light sprinkle rain You didn't like the heavy rain. You wanted it like this. You wanted it like that. It's not it's not appropriate The Osa Luka Ritz on Ha and he fulfills your wish Kibin shim is hot. I love you like a son who misbehaves towards his father by demanding from him
Whatever he desires the Osa Luka Ritz on Ha and the father fulfills his wish The Omar low and the son says to him without proper respect Abba father holy Haney Lerach at Saini Bahaman shut faintly Bits onan He says I want you to take me out and bathe me in warm water and then rinse me off with cold water Tane Leah goes in shade them a fire secondary morning. Give me nuts almonds Peaches pomegranates, but no salon. He gives it to him. Well, that's a cause of Omer
Yes, my hubby hubby. May I have a so good about the devil May your father and mother rejoice and may she who bore you be glad Since God grants your wishes. It must be that you find grace in his eyes. And therefore I shaman Richard Cannot pronounce any ban against you Okay, so shaman been shut the here is recognizing this guy's got blessing in his hand. He's got blessing That it may not be my style is irrelevant
Hashem loves it because Hashem is responsive to your prayers. There's something unique that you have and Therefore he says I can't I can't put you in any kind of ban and I can't limit you in any way You're good to go Okay, and I got a shaman which I thought was the leader of the generation Right. He this was his job to oversee that people were behaving themselves Okay, Tony Robb on Okay, it's an interesting story. No What do we have to do next time we need rain?
right We don't have to make a circle You don't have to make an oath We just have to pray just ask God talk to Hashem and say Hashem We need rain we need that. The problem is that today we're so removed from that reality of Our livelihood coming from our field You know my children think that the food comes from the refrigerator They don't understand or that comes from a Walmart delivery, right? They don't they don't understand
That it comes from Hashem's blessing on the earth that someone has to plow and someone has to plant the seeds and someone has to Harvest the crops and someone has to take care of them and someone has to has to transport them and someone has to deliver them to the grocery store and then You know, I I use I think one of the biggest problems of all of these delivery services
Whether it be like the Instacart or the Uber Eats or whatever it is or Walmart Plus or HEB delivery and there's various others The biggest problem is that we don't get to go into the supermarkets and see with our eyes the beautiful produce It shouldn't be a photo for us to look at on our phone when we click order We should see we should see the beautiful coloring book Where Hashem created a beautiful world and gave us beautiful fruits and vegetables
That's that's what we should experience. I think even if you have the app great It's very convenient, but you should make sure step foot into a store Whereas they say touch grass, right? right go and and Look at the fruits see the magnificent shades of colors. It's magnificent It's the hand of Hashem telling us I love you Yeah Okay, so the Gemara says now the rabbis taught in Ebrahizotton Rabbon on ma sholchu
b'nei lishka sagozes l'choni yame'agel. What message did the members of the chamber of the hewn stone meaning the great Sanhedrin Sent to choni yame'agel, choni the circle maker They applied to him the following scriptural passage v'sigzor omer v'yokam loch v'alderochei chonogah or You will pronounce a decree and it will be fulfilled for you and light will shine on your ways They expounded it regarding choni as follows v'sigzor omer and you will pronounce a decree and it will be fulfilled for you Atah gozato melomato
You choni decreed from below on earth that it should rain v'akodesh boruchum mikayim amorecho melomalo and the Holy One blessed as He fulfills your word from heaven above v'alderochei chonogah or and light will shine on your ways and that is dor shehoyo ofel hi'arta b'sfilosecho a generation that was in darkness Was brightened up through your prayers So this is an amazing an amazing Praise that they heaped on choni Saying that you brought light to this world you brought light to this world and
The the the world wasn't Ready for it But in your merit you brought it How many amazing blessings were brought to this world because of individuals a single person Made something possible Whether it be the telephone Whether it be other types of inventions or not inventions discoveries Nothing was invented. Everything was given in the six days of creation Everything was then the radio waves everything who's discovered later Who's discovered Magnificent discoveries that are being found by individuals now
Whether it be the advent of Internet of the smartphones and all of these things In in a great way. It's bringing blessing to this world That we can communicate With our family 8,000 miles away and see their faces It's a very very huge blessing one person brought that blessing down to the world one person discovered something and Shared it with the world This is honey. Was that one person in his generation generation wasn't worthy, but he was so in his merit Something great happened to his generation
Who knows if that? Person isn't each of us that there's some aspect of this world's Becoming better we could bring to this world. I'm always inspired by Susan Komen No, Susan Komen the Komen Foundation. I Believe it was her sister That started the breast cancer awareness month and the pink ribbon and all of these things What one person decided to do something? to do something meaningful and Change the world. I Think it's a remarkable thing How many individuals
My grandfather always used to say the world is waiting for an individual For one person to stand up Moshe was that individual for the Jewish people. He was reluctant. God says you're the person go do it and later Joshua was the individual and In different times different people stood up to be the man the woman the leader What Mordecai was telling Esther was you are the man now you are the woman the woman you are the woman now It's time for you to stand up
Now what happens if the person doesn't? Mi yodea im le'ez kazo sigat la malchus. What does Mordecai say to Esther? Esther's reluctant She doesn't know. I don't know I don't know if I could go because the king if I approach the king and I'm not and I'm not summoned Then he could put me to death So what does Mordecai say? Who knows if not for this actual moment you were actually brought in to be Queen you were brought in for this
So she says yes, yes, of course, I'm gonna do it, but this is my condition I need the people to fast I need the people to be worthy so that I can be that that person for them To make all of that happen on my own. I don't have enough merit They need to have merit So what does Esther do Esther goes in but what does Mordecai tell her if you say no Don't worry Revach v'atzol lo yamud la yehudi mimokam achar
Their blessing will come from somebody else You'll be thrown out to the wolves and we'll get somebody else in there because God will save his people God will bring those revelations to the world and if you're not the one to do it Someone else will you know, one of the worst things in the world is regret Regret is a terrible thing a person who lives with regret is a person who's miserable you can't live with regret and There's a story that I heard about someone who authored a book
He wrote a book I'm not gonna say what the book was about but he was he was commissioned by the publisher to write this book and Many years later. It was it became a bestseller many years later He met somebody who was in the exact same industry Who had the exact same skills and talents that he had and he says, you know, they asked me to write that book before you But he didn't and he had regret Because that was the bestseller
He could have written it, but he didn't step up to the plate to be that person When we are called upon We need to step up to the plate Every Person has a moment of leadership. Every person has a moment where they're meant to shine and be a leader For some it's a majority of their lifetime for some it's later in life for some it's earlier in life Some of these whiz kids who do amazing things to inspire the world and when they're
Older nobody cares about them. Then they had their moment of leadership And people who like presidents don't really do much but then they become a president at a later age And they change the world. They may have thought when they were 50 or 60. What have I done with my life? But God says now is the right time for you to take that leadership mantle Now is the right time for you to and a person needs to step up when they're called upon God sends us messages and not
To turn it down and later live with regret because that's a really really Awful way to live life Honey was called upon and he took that responsibility. He took that responsibility Seriously Recognizing what the needs of the people which I think is why Why does the Talmud say this whole interaction with his students? It sounds like you want us to die you want us to this right? I see he kept on modifying his prayer
Because you if you are a leader of the people you have to have the pulse of the people You have to you have to gauge the pulse of what their needs are You have to gauge you're representing people Not representing yourself That's a responsibility of a leader The Gemara now continues The message from the great Sanhedrin continues with expositions relating to the next two verses Relating to the next two verses to honey. Oh, okay
Really in the next key is Shpilu, but Tomer gave up if they have fallen low you said That they should be uplifted door show how your show failed he got to between a generation that was at a low state because of the lack of rain you Raised them through your prayers This are a name your Shia and one whose eyes are Downcast he will save doors. Shush shush. Ah, the a no be a bono
He shot over to philosophy a generation that was laid low by a sin you saved from death through the prayers Which God answered you malate II Noki he will deliver one who is not innocent Door Shulaih, oh, you're Noki Milata Toba to Los Echo a generation that was not innocent you delivered through your prayer But name lot before Capejo and he will be delivered because of the purity of your hand Milata toe bit mass a your deca beruren you have delivered your generation through the clear pure deeds of
your hands Okay, the pure deeds of your hands. So The they were heaping praise on him Recognize that you've done something really incredible here honey Honey, you stepped up to the plate and you elevated an entire generation They had sin They weren't worthy You uplifted them It's not just to carry them on your shoulder help them become great help them become uplifted help their Horizons shine and I think that this is again something that is crucial in leadership
It's to raise up the dignity of the of the generation of the of the constituents raise up their dignity Give them jobs give them things to go home and be proud of their accomplishments I think the the the the just a general this is not I'm not here to talk politics but I think in general all of these These handouts that are being given are a necessity for every culture
You need to be able to help those who are downtrodden those who are poor those who are infirm those two who are But you know, what's even better? Not giving him a handout Uplift them Uplift them give them a way so that they can produce That they can feel more than just being able to pay their bills. You give them dignity that they have a job You give that they're able to earn something on their own
Entitlements are okay. They're a last resort for those who aren't able to But to get it to have a whole generation and a whole culture of entitlements But today it's like it's amazing Today on entitlement programs alone and in in Republican states you wait till you get the Democratic States Okay You're living better than a king lived a hundred years ago They give you rides to and from the doctor aside for free medical care
Which also is something that a doctor's in there. They give you free cell phones. They give you free televisions. They pay your rent They pay your electricity They give it whatever you want. It's an it's an amazing thing. And that's it's a beautiful thing that We are able to hopefully support it without abuse right wink wink nod nod Somalia, right? But the idea That we're able to do that for those who are downtrodden for those who are in need However, what's even better than that?
What's even better than that it's if you're able to get them off of those entitlements and get them a job and Uplift them. They feel like they accomplish something. They feel like they're worth something Which is a lot more valuable than out than a handout Now these are obviously two world views that we're discussing here. You have two different parties in our country that are each Trying to handle these things and I know people think that politics isn't Torah politics is absolutely Torah because Torah is all about how
the world should operate What is politics? Different opinions about how the world should operate but it is interesting though That if you asked was is God a Democrat or Republican? You're very very wise People and you've listened to many many of these classes and you'll know that everything is balanced It isn't too much here and it isn't too much there. We see that Abraham was the quintessential Liberal He had the soup kitchen. His tent was open all for all four sides
Anybody who needed anybody who wanted he took them in he took all their abuse. No problem He gave he gave he gave he was kind he was giving he was loving no judgment and Then you had Yitzhak Yitzhak was a true modern-day conservative Republican, but he was all the way to the to the right on that What was Yaakov? Yaakov was a balance of the two Because each one in a an extreme isn't healthy So who was Korach? Which one was he?
The story of Korach. Korach was a communist True Korach was a communist and That Moshe had no pity on Moshe prayed for all of the sinners he paid for all the people made mistakes He did not pray for Korach. He said God get rid of him Communism has no place because communism takes away your human rights. It takes away your free will it takes away your ability to thrive It takes away your ability and if you look carefully in the verses of Korach
You'll see that it is the definition of communism Okay, so the Torah is very much talking politics But not in the politics that we have today and this congressman and this congresswoman and this senator and this senator It's like guys. It's like the newspapers do need to sell papers, you know, they need it So they have to Create some firestorm constantly. It's like they have this is their this is their livelihood. Nebuch
They have to support themselves with dignity. So they have papers that make them become undignified. That's great. Yes, sir So Yitzhak was a very tough guy Why was he a tough guy because he was Din. What's Din? Din is judgment. You earn what you what you sow Right what you what you work and that's that's what you take there's no handouts. There's no mercy. We see it with the with In the early days of Yitzhak you can see our sages teach us about how Yitzhak was very very
The opposite of his father His father was what did he say about stone Abraham? Right. He was righteous Isaac was was a pillar of fire in holiness this Again, what there were these were the greatest in the world Abraham Isaac and Jacob We're not we're not denying that this is we have to make sure that we know that But they had different philosophies and how this should be done Yaakov came Yaakov was that the Ferris he was the blend of everything
So he took the good of Abraham took the good of Isaac and made it into a into a happy medium And that's the way it should work Yes, we should have the programs for those who need but but you also have to make sure that there's a limit to that and You encourage them to go back into the workforce. So there has to be a balance here of these two worlds
now you can start a new party and then that party becomes extremist also because the problem is that people don't know the middle of The road middle of the road is very uncomfortable place For people to be people want to be defined black or white It's a generation where people need to be and that's that's a it's a it's not it's not necessarily. It's great There's a lot of shades of gray. Yes right, and
the right that that that many times does happen where people try to steal other people's glory and take it for themselves and Yeah, we see that It's a very interesting that probably every computer that each person here around the table owns has a program Called Microsoft or a software called Microsoft that was stolen From Xerox Okay, so even that was not it was stolen Okay, and and and and he's one of the wealthiest people in the world
From stolen equipment. That's not our place to judge other people, right? But but definitely I know it's very painful. It's very painful. I'm just thinking like what is mr Xerox in you in this case feel When their stuff was stolen and someone else now got the glory It happens a ton 100% it happens every day when someone takes credit for something they didn't accomplish and They want the acknowledgement and they want the fame
Hashem is the one who's the ultimate judge and Hashem is the one who decides who's going to be and who's not going to be Receiving you know what they may have momentary pleasure in this world, but not not not in the world to come Right, but if a person if a person steals honor, that's that's like anything else But it's not long lasting you have to know that also it's not long lasting for someone to to To steal another person's honor take credit for something. They didn't do I
Was just talking to someone recently they were talking about how in their company they I'm trying to think who it was and where it was But someone was talking about to help the people who sell their product only talk about the things that they brought to the table But the other things the other good ideas the other new Inventions. No, they don't mention that because it doesn't give them this was my idea and I asked them to do this and
They added this because of me wouldn't be saying but the but what someone else did for the company or for the product They're leaving out because it doesn't bring them honor Right. So that's the way human beings are, you know Human beings that's why we learn Musa. We learn to be bigger people not small people Small people like to take everything for themselves All right. What the worst room to be in is in a room with an arrogant person
Because an arrogant person nobody else feels good near the arrogant person because everything is them Everything is about me All right, so you can say a story and they're like, oh you think that's something let me tell you right then they they can they're always gonna one-up everybody or ten up everybody because they can't handle not being the center and the and the But but that's what that's very good. You know what? There's many many ways for the world for us to bring good to the world. There's no limit
It's a big world and there's a lot of good things we can do and it shouldn't be it shouldn't definitely not be limited to You know to just Africa everywhere You know what? We're gonna stop here. We're gonna stop here. We've we're finishing up a piece of Talmud here God willing next week. We will resume will continue another story about Honey, I'm a agile. All right, my dear friends have a marvelous Magnificent terrific delicious week. Have a great Shabbos. I look forward to seeing everyone

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