Thinking Talmudist Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

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

Good morning, everybody. It is so wonderful to be here to continue our Thinking Talmudist series. We're going to continue learning about the rainmaker. Who is the rainmaker? So the Talmud now continues. We spoke about many different stories about different sages. Now, we have to understand, let's just introduce this idea. Rain is the essence of our sustenance. It is the key of all blessing. When God
wants to punish the Jewish people, all he does is turns off the faucet and that's it. When you don't have rain, you don't have grains, you don't have the wheat, you don't have the barley, you don't have the anything. You don't have anything you need to sustain yourself. Our livelihood is dependent on rain. So if God wanted to punish us, the best way to punish people is in the wallet. That wakes them up right away. So Hashem is
demanding something from us, which is why he holds back that blessing. In many, many generations, unfortunately, God was trying to teach the Jewish people something and he withheld the rains so that they repent, so that they come closer to God. And many of our sages needed to use their power for prayer to relieve this tremendous decree. Additionally, we see that many of them were requested by the members of their generation. Can you please pray for us? We spoke about Choni the circle maker, Choni HaMeagel,
and he had a tremendous power of prayer. I just want you all to know one thing. Each of us have the power to pray. Each of us have the power to influence and make big change. Someone yesterday called me from overseas and asked me what to do with someone that they were, their acquaintance, that was dealing with a very challenging situation. And I said to them, the first thing you can do is pray for them. Me, pray for them? Yes, you have a tremendous power of prayer.
Power of prayer is unbelievable. We cannot, we should not underestimate the power of our prayer. Don't undervalue it. It's tremendous, the power of our prayer. Okay, so now the Talmud is going to continue with a few stories of how rains came for Rav Yehudah. Rav Yehudah saw two people, Dehavo kapartzi b'riftah, that they were playing with their bread. They were throwing it back and forth. Omar, he said, sh'ma'amino eekos saba ba'alma. It is evident from this that there is an abundance of food in the world.
Yo ev'einei hava kanfa. He focused his eyes angrily upon these people and there was a famine. Omer luhu rabbanu lerav kahana b'rei, dirav nechun yoshma shamei. The rabbis then said to Rav Kahana, the son of Rav Nechunia, Rav Yehudah's attendant, mar de sh'chiyah kamei. You, master, who appear regularly before Rav Yehudah, ni'ashye de leifuk b'pischa de samach l'shuka. Cause him to go out through the door that is near the marketplace so that he will pass through there and see how desperate the situation is.
Asye v'nofek l'shuka, he caused him to do so and Rav Yehudah went out into the marketplace. Chaze k'nufiah, he saw that the crowd of people were there. Omer luhu, mai hai. They said to him, what's going on here? Omer lei, he said to them, akuspa de tamri kayemah de mizdaben. They are standing waiting for a container of dates that is to be sold. Omer sh'ma mino kanfa be'amo. He said it is evident that this, that there is a severe famine in the world.
Right, it's evident from this that there is a big famine. Omer lei l'shamei, he said to his attendant, shlof li misanai, take off my shoes, shlof le'echad misano. He removed one shoe, v'asamitra, and it began to rain. Kimotu le'mishlaf acharina, when he reached to remove the second shoe, osel yo v'amalei, the Prophet Elijah appeared to him and said, Omer kodesh boruchu, the Holy One, blessed as He said, ee sholaf, ee sholfas acharina, if you remove his second shoe, makharivno le'alma, I will destroy the world. Why?
Our sages explain that after bringing enough rain to end the drought, and famine, by removing one, Shurah Behudah wished to remove the other shoe to bring more rain to restore the prosperity that had existed before. He was told, however, that after causing heaven to alter radically the course of nature once, it was not proper for him to ask for this to be done a second time, when such intervention was not critical. Others explain this is quite a reverse, quite the reverse manner.
God's love for Rav Yehudah was so great that he would not permit Rav Yehudah to further afflict himself. Okay, so Rav Yehudah took, had one shoe taken off, and the heavens opened up and rain came. But he said, don't, Elijah said, don't take off the second one, because that's gonna be a destruction for the world. Right, too much rain is not either good. We know everything in life, doctor, right? Everything in life is balance.
And if we are out of balance, it's not healthy. Being too happy is not good. Being too sad is not good. It has to be a balance. It has to be a balance. The Gemara now continues. So what happened after the story? Rav Mori, the son of Shmuel's daughter, said, I was standing at the banks of the river, Papa. That day that Rav Yehudah brought the rains, and I saw angels, who appeared in the guise of sailors, bringing sand and loading the cargo boats with it.
And the sand miraculously became fine flour. They then sailored into the famine-stricken port, and the entire population came out to buy flour from them. They said to them, do not buy from this flour. Because these are products of a miracle. The next day, the wheat boats of Parisna arrived, and the famine was relieved in a natural manner. Okay, so you have to be careful that although miracles are great, but you need to have a natural... That's why I'm sometimes afraid of all these miracle-growth stuff, this miracle...
Not the grass product they have also for vegetables, right? You gotta be careful. It has to be a natural way. It has to be a natural way. All right? It's important. Okay, the Gemara relates another story about the prayer for rain. Rav once came to the city of Hagronio, Gazartani, and he proclaimed a fast due to the lack of rain. But lo, Asa Midran, it didn't rain. It didn't rain. So they made a fast, which is what people did. They would fast and they would pray.
And here they didn't. Nothing happened. Then nothing came as a result. Amar-Luhi said to them, Pass the night, all of you, in your fast, meaning let's not break the fast tonight. Because usually you'd be a fast during the daytime, and at night you can eat like... L'havdil, not to compare between holy and unholy, Ramadan, right? During the, right? So they fast during the day and they eat at night. And which we have fast like that. We have four fasts that are like that.
Yom Kippur starts the night before. The fast of the 9th of Av starts the night before. But the other four fasts of Tzom Gedalia, Tanis Esther, Asar Beteves, and the 17th of Tammuz, they are all fasts that are just during the day. And at night, once it's nighttime, we can resume eating. So here he says to them, Rava says, Don't eat tonight. It should be a day and a night. L'moch or Amar-Luhi, the next day, when they reassembled, he said to them,
If there's anybody who saw something in a dream, please tell us. Amar-Luhi, Rabbi Loza from Hagronia said to them, I was caused to call out in my dream, Good greetings to the good teacher from the good master. Who, from his goodness, dispenses good to his people. He said, it is evident from this dream that it is an opportune time to pray for mercy. So everyone prayed and the rain came. What does dreams have to do with anything? We mentioned this previously as well.
Dreams, our sages tell us, the Talmud says, A dream is a 60th of prophecy. A dream is a 60th of prophecy. However, notwithstanding that it's a 60th of prophecy, a dream is, the Talmud says, I had a phone conversation just a couple of days ago. Someone told me that he's been having, for a long time he hasn't had dreams. And now he's having dreams every night, crazy dreams, good dreams, bad dreams, every dream. I said, it's a good thing you're having dreams.
Why? Dreams means, the Talmud says, a dream means that Hashem wants to communicate with you. No dream, it says, if someone doesn't dream for 30 days, they should be concerned. Why should they be concerned? Why does Hashem not want to talk to me? It doesn't mean a person should have scary dreams. But a person should experience dreams, that's a good thing. But a dream tells you something. It also says, by the way, that Shabbos is the 60th of the world to come.
Sleep is a 60th of death. But there's a lot of great things that can come from dreams, a person has to know. However, the author, there's an halacha, halacha says, that if someone has a really terrifying dream, a person should do a hatavas chalom, which means interpreting of the dream in a positive way. So if a person talks about their dream in a negative way, they're giving life to the negative dream. Instead, you should tell someone who's able to interpret dreams,
and they'll interpret it in a positive way. Someone once shared with me that they had a terrible dream that someone they were close to was going to die. So I said, ah, it's your Yetzirah. Your Yetzirah is going to die because Yetzirah is very close to us. He knows a lot about us. He's good friends with all of us, right? He's going to die and you're going to be able to overcome Yetzirah. It means you take the, you interpret it into something which is good,
even though it's something which is in their memory, in their dream was something bad. We try to turn it into something good. And that gives it a positive life forward. The Gemara tells of an incident in which Rava's prayer for rain was deemed inappropriate. Ha'hu g'avra di'ichayev nagdo, bevei dino de rava. There was a certain person who was sentenced to lashes in the court of Rava. Mishum de ba'al kusis, because he cohabitated with a Kutaith woman. Nag de rava umis.
Rava had the man flogged and the man died. Ishtama milsa bei shevar malko. The matter became known to the palace of the king. Ba'al litz'urei le rava. And they wanted to punish Rava. Amra lei ifra hurmiz imei di'shvar malko li'vra. Ifra hurmiz, the mother of the king, said to her son, lo leheve loch esek dvorim behad yehudai. Do not quarrel with the Jews. By the way, hurmiz. Remind anyone of anything? We have the straight of? Hurmuz. Here we go. This is hurmiz.
Don't mess with the Jews, she said. Dekol man de bo'en li'murayu yo'evlu. Because whatever they ask for from their God, he grants them. Amar lo mayi. He said to his mother, what is it that he grants them? Bayon rahmeh ve'osrei mitro. She said they pray for mercy and the rain comes. Amar lehu, the king said to her, ha'hu mishum dizimno demitru. Nah, that's just because it's the rain season and the rains would have come anyway. Elo li'bo rahmeh o'idnu betkufas tamus.
Rather, a true test would be if they rained for it in the summer season, if they prayed for it in the summer season and it rained. Ve'leisi mitro. And let's see if the rain comes then. Shol chalei le'rovo ifrahum was the mother of the king. Who admired Rava and wished to save him, sent a message to Rava. Kei van ka ve'en da toch u'ba'i rahmeh ve'leisi mitro. Concentrate and pray for mercy that rain should come. Ba'i rahmeh ve'leisi mitro. He tried to pray and it didn't rain.
Amar lofanov. Rava said before God. Ribboni sholei, the master of the universe. Elokim be'oznenu shamanu avoysenu sapru lano. God, with our ears, we have heard our fathers have recounted to us. Po'al, po'alta b'mekhedem. The work which you wrought in their days, in days of old. Ve'onu be'inenu laro'inu. But we have never been privileged to see these miracles with our own eyes. Osa mitra adeshfuch marzveh de tzipori le'diglas. The rain then came in such an enormous volume
that the gutters of tzipori emptied into the Tiger's River. Meaning there were streams of water running from the houses to the river. Asa avu'a Iskhazi le'bechel. Rava's father came and appeared to him in a dream. Amar le'i said to him, Ma'i ik'o de mitrach kamei shmaye kulehai. Why did you have the chutzpah, the audacity to impose upon heaven to such an extent? Amar le'i, shanei dukhtich. His father then said to him, change your sleeping place. Shanei dukhti. He moved where he slept.
L'mocha ashgechei le'mir sham puryei ve'sakinei. The next day he discovered his bed marked up by knives. Commentary says that is. He discovered slash marks on his bed. Demons had attempted to kill Rava for soliciting this miracle. It seemed from this story that when demons are given the power to harm a person in a certain place, they have no power to harm him elsewhere, which is why our sages tell us, mishanei mokke mishanei mazel. Sometimes we tell people if they have bad luck in a place,
they should change places, go someplace else, go move to different cities, move different home. Right. Why? Because if the demon can affect you in where you are, if they're given permission, they don't have permission to do it elsewhere. Thus, Rava was speared by the expedient of moving. To a different place. So, OK, so there's a there's a bunch here. So first is, again, we see here the power of simple prayer. The power of simple prayer. When someone asks for something, just simple words.
You don't have to be some holy, holy, holy rabbi. You don't have to be someone who's been completely removed from the physicalities of this world. You don't have to be some, you know, some sheik or some minister. Simple, simple Jew has a power to pray and for it to be heard and to be answered. Every prayer is heard. And every prayer is answered. The Talmud says, Ein Tvila Chosera Serekam. There's no prayer that returns empty handed. The answer might be no.
And you have to be willing to hear that. But there is no such thing as a prayer that returns unanswered. It may also be not now. Our sages tell us that there were many who prayed for something and they didn't get it, but their grandchildren got it. Their great-grandchildren got it. That's also a prayer that's answered. May not be now, now might not, now might not be the right time. Another story about a prayer for rain that went unanswered at first.
Rav Papa Gozar Tanis, Rav Papa, decreed a fast, Tvilas HaMitra. And again, the rain did not come. Cholash libei, he became faint. Sraf Pinco de Daiso, he consumed a spoonful of grits. Uboi Rachmei Velo HaMitra, and prayed for mercy. But the rain still did not come. Amreli Rav Nachman bar Ushpazti, Rav Nachman, the son of Ushpazti, said to him, I sarif mar Pinco Achriso de Daiso HaMitra. Perhaps if the master were to consume another spoonful of grits, the rains would come.
Ich Sif, Vichol HaShtati, Rav Papa became ashamed and dejected. Ve'as HaMitra, and the rains came. OK, the rains did come, although it might have been necessary for Rav Papa to break his fast because of his weakened condition, Rav Nachman ridiculed him for breaking it before praying for rain. By causing Rav Papa to feel the severity of his humiliation in not having his prayer answered, he hoped that God would show him favor and compensate him by answering his prayer. So he was humiliating.
He says, you ate, you broke the fast. You decreed a fast. You got weak, so you ate. Eat another spoon. Maybe then your prayers will be answered. And indeed, because he was so humiliated, God answered his prayer. Now, we're going to get to some other interesting stories that the Talmud here is going to, we're going to finish up with the stories of the rain. The Gemara now relates a series of stories about the Tanor, Rav Hanina Ben Dosa.
Rav Hanina Ben Dosa was once walking on the road. As HaMitra, when the rains came, Amar Lefanov, Rabboni Sheololim, he said before God, Master of the universe, the entire world is at ease. Everyone is enjoying these rains. But Hanina is in distress because I'm getting soaking wet. Passach, Mitra, the rain ceased as a result of Rav Hanina's prayer. When he reached his house, Amar Lefanov, Rabboni Sheololim, when he got to his house, he said, Master of the universe, the whole world is in distress.
And Hanina is at ease. Also Mitra, the rain was returned as a result of his prayer. Rav Yosef comments on the power of Rav Hanina Ben Dosa's prayer. Amar Rav Yosef, Rav Yosef said, Of what value was the prayer of the high priest, of the Kohen Godol, in regard to Rav Hanina Ben Dosa, the Tanan? We learned from Mishnah, The Kohen Godol would pray a short prayer in the outer chamber. Maimatzli, what would he say? What did he say?
Different sages say that this is what he prayed. May this year be a rainy and hot year. The Gemara interrupts the text of the prayer in question. Is excessive heat a benefit? What are you asking for it? It should be hot. I understand it should be rainy. Okay, that's great. It's great for our agriculture. It's great for our produce. It's great for our livelihood. But why heat? Well, what does heat have to do with this?
He says, on the contrary, it's a detriment. Why then did the Kohen pray for it? The Gemara, therefore, revises the text of the prayer. Ella, rather, what did he say? If it is hot, it should be very rainy and dewy to counteract the drying effect of the heat. Okay, so if it's hot, it should be rainy. The Gemara now continues the text of the prayer of the Kohen. So the high priest would continue their prayer.
And made the prayer of travelers to hold back the rain, not be permitted to enter before you. Stated in the name of Yeshua, Rav Yehudah, that the prayer of the Kohen Gadol would conclude as follows. And may your people, Israel, not be required to receive sustenance from one another and not from any other nation. We shouldn't need any handouts from one another, and we shouldn't need any handouts from another nation. So that's the prayer that was prayed by the Kohen Gadol, by the high priest in the temple.
The Gemara now notes the greatness of Rukh Hanir Medoso and the poverty in which he lived. Rav Yehudah Merav said, In every single day, a heavenly voice emanates and proclaims, The entire world receives its sustenance in the merit of Hanina, my son. While Hanina himself finds it sufficient to live off one Kav of carobs from one Shabbos Eve to the next Shabbos Eve, from Friday to Friday. Rav Hanir Medoso had no bread to eat and survived on carobs. Carobs provides all the nutrients that one needs.
But there's only one challenge with carobs. What's the challenge? It takes 70 years for the tree to produce fruit. So if you're planting it, it's most likely you're not planting it for yourself. You're going to plant it for your grandchildren. The Gemara relates an incident regarding the wife of Rav Hanir Medoso. His wife was in the habit of heating the oven every Friday, and throwing in a smoke-causing substance. Because of embarrassment. She had this bad neighbor.
Who said to herself, let me see, I know that these people have nothing. What are they producing? What is all the smoke coming out of their chimney, from their oven? She went and knocked on the door. Rav Hanir Medoso's wife felt embarrassed. And withdrew to the inner chamber. And a miracle happened to her. And the neighbor saw that the oven was filled with bread. And a kneading trough full of dough. The neighbor called to her. Bring a baker's shovel, because your bread is getting burnt.
It's time to take it out of the oven. Rav Hanir Medoso's wife replied to her. Indeed, it is for this reason that I went into the inner chamber to get my baker's shovel. She indeed entered the inner chamber to bring a baker's shovel. Because she was accustomed to miracles being brought upon her. Regularly, she kept her own baker's shovel on hand. Because she was accustomed to have miracles wrought on her. And thus, could expect to have bread in the oven, even when she had prepared none.
Pretty incredible. Okay, so this is an amazing, this is an incredible story. The Gemara now relates another story about the intensely, this intensely pious couple. Amar Lala Debissu, once Rav Hanir Medoso's wife, said to him. How long are we going to continue to suffer so much from this dire poverty? Amar Lala, he said to her. What should we do? She replied, pray, pray for mercy. That you should be given something of value. Boerachme, he prayed for mercy.
And something like the palm of a hand emerged from heaven. And he was given a leg of a golden table. He then said to her, I've seen in a dream. That in the future, the righteous are going to be eating on a golden table. And that table that they eat from only has three legs. But you are eating from a table that has only two legs. She said to him, are you content that everyone eats at a complete table? But we eat from a defective table?
They had to probably have two legs, they had to lean in on the wall. She said to him, what then shall we do to rectify the situation? Beerachme, pray for mercy, that it should be taken back from you, the table, the leg. He prayed and the leg was taken, taken back. Tana, the Tana said, the last grace, the last miracle was greater than the first miracle. Digmiri, for we have a tradition, Dimeh Av Yoyvi, that things are given from heaven.
But Mishka lo shokli, but things are not taken back. And here they had the miracle that it was taken back. They didn't want to have the leg from the world to come taken away from what would be their future reward to get it in this world, which is a very incredible perspective that we need to learn from. You see, you can ask someone, we talk about our campaign. I'll just do this for example.
Everybody earns their money and everyone earns it hopefully in the most honest, in the most beautiful way. They pay their taxes and now they have their money. What does it mean when we give charity to someone else? It's our 401k for eternity. That's what it is. We're giving money into our 401k. When do we get that return in the world to come? A friend of mine I was talking to last night, he said that he was solicited by an institution of a relative of his in Israel.
And he said to him, I want you to undertake, I want you to consider undertaking this sum of money. He said, you know, if my business grows, then I will be able to give that. He said, you're looking at it wrong. You give it and the business will grow. Right. You give it and the business will grow. There's many, many people that I know that did this annually. They decided how much money they wanted to make and they pledged the tithe of it at the beginning of the year.
They said, God, I want to make a million dollars. They immediately pledged their 100,000, their 10 percent. So now, Hashem, I made the pledge. I got to fulfill it and kind of locking it in. But really, what is it? It's us investing in our future. Just like we take money out of our income to put it into Social Security, which will hopefully help us when we retire. Or we invest in a, in one of these IRAs that you'll get when you retire.
You're taking away now for later. What may seem like we're taking away now from ourselves is investing in our future. The Gemara now relates another incident about Reb Hanina Bendosa. Chad Bei Shimshe, one Friday evening at twilight. Chazye leberate dehaves atziva. He saw that his daughter was sad. This is a remarkable story. Amar la biti. He says to him, my daughter, lema yitz atzivas. Why are you sad? Amar le, she replied to him, kli shal chometz, nizchal eifli be kli shal shemen.
I mistook a container of vinegar for a container of oil. Vehidlakti mimenu or l'shabos. And I poured the vinegar into the lamp and lit it, lit with it the Shabbos light. Amar la, he said to her, no, biti, ma yichpach l'slach, what do you care? What do you care? Nizchal eifli shal shemen vehidlaik. Hu yoy merlecha matzvidlaik. Whoever commanded the oil to burn will command the vinegar to burn as well. Tana, the Tana taught, ho yedolek veholech kola yom kulo.
The lamp continued to burn the entire day of Shabbos. At shehiviyu mimenu or la havdola, till they used the same light for the havdola candle. That's how long it lasted for. Rebbe Hanina did not want to use a miraculous light for havdola, but one should distance himself as much as possible from benefiting from a miracle. On the Shabbos, Rebbe Hanina had no choice but to use the miraculous light, but to use the miraculous light. But after Shabbos concluded, he lit an ordinary lamp from the flame
and extinguished the miraculous light. The Gemara states another story about Rebbe Hanina, but no so. Havu lei hanoch izei. He had a few goats. Omar lei, the people complained to him, ko mafsidon, your goats are damaging our fields. Omar, he said, i ko mafsidon, if you're truly being damaged, they're damaging other people's fields, my goats. Nichlinu dubey, may bears devour them. Ve'ilo, and if it is not true, kol chad ve'chad teisi le'urto duba be'karnayu.
May each goat bring home with it in the evening a beer on its horns. Le'urto aisi kol chad ve'chad duba be'karnayu. In the evening, each and every one of the goats came back with a beer in its horns. The Gemara tells of another miracle wrought by Rebbe Hanina ben Doso. Havu lei hayi shibavto. Rebbe Hanina had a certain woman neighbor, Dekobonya Beso, who was building a house. Ve'lo mati kshure, but the beams did not reach from wall to wall.
Asi le'kamei, she came in front of Rebbe Hanina. Amar lei, she said to him, Bonisi besi, ve'lo kamatu kshurei. I built my house, but the beams did not reach from wall to wall. Amar lo, mashmech, he asked her, what's your name? Amar lei, Ayku, my name is Ayku. Amar, Ayku nimtu kshureich. Ayku, may your beams elongate and reach from wall to wall. Tano etanatot, hi gyu, achi, yotsu, amolokan ve'amolokan. The beams indeed elongated until they protruded a cubit
on each side of the wall out, outward. Ve'yeshem, and some say that it was actually snifin asuam. The beams were made longer to mean by means of sections that were miraculously added to the ends of the beams. Tanyo, it was taught in the Brayzo. Plimo, Omer Plimo says, Re'isi oso habayis, ve'hoyu koros of yotsos amolokan ve'amolokan. He says, I myself saw that that house and its beams were protruding outside of the house about three feet in each direction. Ve'amor lei, and people said to me,
Bayise shekeiro Rebbe Hanina bedosa betfiloso. This is the house Rebbe Hanina bedosa covered with beams through his prayer. The Gemara returns to the incident cited above regarding Rebbe Hanina bedosa's goats and the beers. So the Gemara asks Rebbe Hanina bedosa, me'hechan habalei izim, from where did he even have goats? Where did he get goats from? Ve'ho'oni habi, don't we know that he was very, very poor? He was extremely poor. Ve'od, omeru chachamim, moreover, the Seder said, ein me'gad lo'behem ha'dak ober etz Yisroel,
that one is not permitted to raise small cattle in the land of Israel. So what's going on here with Rebbe Hanina bedosa and his small cattles when he's such a poor guy? And he didn't have anything. The Gemara answers, Omer Av Pinchus Rebbe Pinchas said, ma'ase ve'ovar odam echod al pesach beso. It happened once that a person came to the doorway of Rebbe Hanina's house. Ve'hini achsham tar na'golan, and he inadvertently left some chickens there. Umetzon ishtosh Rebbe Hanina bedosa,
and Rebbe Hanina bedosa's wife found them. Ve'omar lo, and Rebbe Hanina told her, al tokhli mi'beytzem, do not eat from their eggs. Ve'hiru beytzem ve'tar na'golan, eventually they produced many eggs and many chickens. Ve'hayim mitzaron oysam, which became a nuisance for them, for Rebbe Hanina bedosa and his wife. Umekharon, and they sold the eggs and the chickens. Ve'kona bidmeim izim, and he bought goats from the prophet. Pam achas ovar osa odam she'ovdum menu atar na'golan, one time the very same person who lost those chickens
passed by the house of Rebbe Hanina bedosa. Bekan he'inakhti atar na'golan ushli. This is where I left my chickens, at the doorstep of Rebbe Hanina bedosa. Shomer, Rebbe Hanina, Rebbe Hanina heard him say that. Umar lo, he said to him, Yei shlokho ba'hem, Simmon, do you have any identifying marks on your chickens? Umar le'hayim, yes, I did, the person said. Noson lo, Simmon, he gave Rebbe Hanina the identifying mark. Ve'nat alas izin, and he took the goats. Ve'hayn hayn izay da'aysi du bebe karnayu.
And these are the same goats that were able to bring the beers back on their horns, right? They weren't his. But here's an amazing thing. You know, the Torah tells us that if you find an object, you have a mitzvah to return it. You find you walk outside, not in a public domain, but you find a a pen, you're not allowed to use it. You're not allowed to destroy it. You're not allowed to throw it out. You got to announce it.
It's not only pets you find lost dog, lost cat, lost. You know, you see that on the streets. You have these signs on the on the telephone poles. No, you find something you can't dispose of it. But what's if it's something that's going to get ruined? It's going to get ruined, an apple. So if a person is able to, what they should do is sell the apple. And then when the person comes and says, I left my apple here.
Oh, it's going to get ruined. We sold it. Here's your dollar for your apple. But like that's that's what Haneen Mendoza did. He wasn't going to let the chickens die. And he wasn't going to let the chickens that all the eggs, you know, get get ruined, becoming a nuisance. It probably wouldn't smell right. It probably wasn't a very pleasant. So but he's got to get rid of it. But he also has to he can't he can't get rid of it because it's someone else's possession.
The mitzvah and the Torah, you find something to return it. You find something, you return it. A beer, a dove. So we're going to stop here, my dear friends. We'll see the Gemara tells about other stories of people who were poor. Maybe we'll continue this next week and we'll be able to resume. Then it goes back into the prayers for rain. Till then, my dear friends, have a magnificent Shabbos. Thank you so much for joining us.

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