Thinking Talmudist Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:00 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH in Houston, Texas. This is the Thinking Talmudist Podcast.

00:10 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back, my dear friends, to the Thinking Talmudist Podcast. Today, not only we begin a new Talmud, we're going to begin a completely new topic and, as we know, the month of Adar begins on Sunday. This coming Sunday.

00:34
Sunday and Monday is Rosh Hodesh and this is Adar, the second Adar, and it's going to be a month of great news for the Jewish people. We know that Adar is a month where great things happen to the Jewish people. Their mazel is, their good fortune is at its peak in the month of Adar. And it says the halacha says that if anyone has any court cases in the month of Av, the month of devastation, the month where the Jewish people where our temple was destroyed change it out of that month, because that's the month of terrible misfortune for the Jewish people. Bad luck during that time. Change it, if you can, to the month of Adar, because Adar, we have good mazel, we have good fortune and therefore it's a great time. If you have a court case during this time, you'll be victorious. Close your business deal, start your companies, do everything in this month. This is a month of great fortune for the Jewish people.

01:42
One of the incredible responsibilities that we have as Jews is the responsibility of communal matters. There are certain things that the Torah says you're responsible for as being a member of a community. That's not your personal need. Perhaps You're obligated to support it. We know we have in government. We have taxes. So what do taxes pay for? They pay for the roads and they pay for the street signs and for the street lights and all of that. That's part of what it means to live in a city, in a community. That's a community. We're all part of one special pot and that pot hopefully fills up the potholes in our city and gives us highways and all of the police and everything comes from our taxes. Okay, so now that we understand that we have those types of communal responsibilities as a Jewish community, we also have Jewish responsibilities.

02:49
For example, we know the Hallukah tells us that a new community gets established. The first thing that needs to be established is a synagogue, a mikvah. These are things that you can't be without a mikvah, you can't be without a synagogue. An Eruv is later. You can live without an Eruv, you can't live. A Torah observant couple cannot live in a community that does not have a mikvah, of course, then a cemetery. There are many, and the Hallukah gives all of the priorities of what comes first, what comes second, what comes third. You need a Torah scroll, right? How are you going to get a Torah scroll? It's not free, it's going to cost, you're going to have to commission a scribe to write it. It's a year or two long project. It's a very long project and someone needs to support his family during that period of time. So these are things that are important for us to start thinking about. What are our priorities?

03:48
Purim is a time of giving charity and we're going to have to prioritize what we give charity to. We know there's a fundamental principle in Judaism Call hapochet yad, not nimla. Anybody who sticks out their hand for charity. You give them. You never, ever, let someone walk away empty-handed. Someone comes for charity, whether it's a charity you do like or charity you don't like. So give them 10 cents. You can't not give a person charity when someone asks you give. That's rule number one. When someone asks, you give Now, if you can't give a lot of money, so give some money, something. You don't have to be passionate about every cause. I can tell you. I have people.

04:34
Houston has become a destination where many door-to-door collectors come in our neighborhood and they're coming for different causes. One is coming because he's marrying off children. I was going to ask someone. Someone came over to me in shul. Yesterday I was in New York. Someone came over to me in shul and said you know, I'm marrying off a child. I was going to be like, I also married off a child, you know, so maybe we should do. I'll give you and you give it back to me, or something like that. You know what, if someone comes and asks, there's more than just a financial need. Always know that if someone comes and asks, there's always more than a financial need. They need a smile, they need encouragement, they need love, they need attention. There's, they're coming.

05:22
A guy is leaving his family in Israel and he's coming to the United States to raise money for a wedding or whatever it may be. Definitely it's something that you need to. You know. Assist, but not only assist with dollars. Assist with a smile, assist with care and concern. Hashem should bless you. The wedding should be beautiful. Everything should go with success. I only have a dollar to give you, so here's a dollar. If you have a hundred dollars, you have a thousand dollars. Whatever it is. Each person according to their ability. But you don't have to love every cause that someone comes to you for.

05:58
Oh, I you know, I had a guy come to my house I'm not kidding you Very, very sweet man. He said his wife became, fell ill, she passed away. He has five children, four or five children. He says he owned a dental clinic and when his wife got ill he like, basically he sold his business and the guy cheated him and never paid him. It was a whole, a whole story. Either way, he says I want to get back on my feet. I, just I, I'm trying to put some money together so I can get back on my feet and and start my business.

06:30
Now, you know everyone has different opinions on that. Some people can have the side of mercy, saying you know what I'll give him, give him some money, help the guy out, get him, get him on his feet. He's a widow or right. Other people would say go find an investor. Another person would say I can give you a little bit. One person. You know everyone has a different edit.

06:48
You don't have to love it, but when someone comes and asks you have to give. That is a fundamental principle. Someone asks my children all have in their tolus and to fill in bag. They go every morning to shul. They all have a little, a little bag with coins. If you don't get, give to your synagogue, give. You have to give charity. Give charity every day.

07:13
It's a if you understand that charity is a muscle, charity is a muscle. The Ram Bam teaches us that if you have the ability to give $100, so you can give $100 bill, pull it out of your wallet and give $100 bill, or you have the opportunity to give $101 bills. He says it's better to give $100 one at a time than to give $100 at a time. Why? Because what you're doing is you're strengthening the muscle of giving. Just understand for a second what's better for you to take, you know, 100 pounds and lift it, or to take 10 pounds and do it 10 times, 10 times 10 times. Why? Because it's going to do more for your muscles to do 10 pounds 10 times than to just one time. Oh, I picked up 100 pounds and I drop it on the floor. The idea is that giving is a muscle and when a person is able to give, I try every time I go into shul, I have a certain amount of money that I want to give every time I'm in shul.

08:26
There's a synagogue in New Jersey that I frequent at when I'm there in the summer and they have a big sign on the wall Did you give a dollar a day to shul? A dollar a day? You're coming to synagogue. There's electricity, there's heat when it's cold outside. There's air conditioning when it's hot outside. They have to get someone to pave the driveway and to salt the walkway and to have beautiful flowers around the synagogue. I'm not a member there, I don't have to pay anything, but I enjoy. I come there, I pray there every morning, give a dollar every time, just a dollar. Not my synagogue. I come to school just to help pay for the electricity, help pay for the, for the toilet paper, just to feel it. You're part of a community, you take responsibility for the community. Now and it happens to be that in most Synagogues you don't have someone coming and saying you know, have you contributed to the synagogue today? Have you contributed? Sometimes you have someone go with the push, go with the charity box and they'll go. You know that's a duck a box and you know during the ovening they'll go.

09:37
Because there is a very special Omen that if you want your prayers to be accepted, you give charity, because charity breaks the barriers of the forces of evil. They can't control. When someone does charity, they can't handle it. They're like they fall. They get shattered. The forces of evil get shattered. Oh, you want your prayer to be answered. Well, he got to do is give a little charity and it knocks away the evil forces. So that's what the commentaries talk about now.

10:10
Today we're going to talk a little bit about communal responsibilities. So the previous Gamorah brought the opinion of Ravasi in Rabi'ukhan and his name. So now the Gamorah is going to say oh, now that we mentioned Teachings from Ravasi, who said things in the name of his master, of Yohanan let's mention a few other things that he said the Omar of Aasi, of Arab Yohanan, of us, he said, in the name of Rav Yohanan, haqal le pasay hoir, all of the people of the community must contribute towards the cost of the boards to fortify the gates of the city. Ve'afilu mi yasmi, and the officials may collect, even from orphans, because usually orphans are not obligated. They don't have a father in their house, so they're not obligated in the same way as everyone else, to give the regular taxes. But for this, even the orphans need to get, for they also require protection. Listen to this Avalorabonan loy. However, the rabbis are not required to contribute. Why not Dhirabonan loy, tsrichi, nityrusa? For the rabbis do not need human protection. Someone who's a rabbi has Godly protection. They don't need a physical board to close down the fence so that enemies don't come in and break down their city. The rabbis are protected in a different level and therefore the rabbis are not obligated in this, in this tax. The orphans need the physical protection, but the rabbis don't.

11:54
Now there's a big conversation going on in the world today, in the world of the Jewish people, with regarding the Army, whether or not the sheva students need to enlist in the army or not. Should they, should they not? It's a very, very big discussion, a very impassioned one, because you have many forceful voices Saying each way, one is saying, and even, by the way, even many secular who are saying that's our holy grail. You don't, you won't ask the priest To go serve in the military. You won't ask the pope to serve in the military. Why? Because everybody understands they're the holy grail of the Jewish people. The sheva students are the holy grail of the. Now, I'm not personally. I'm not getting into this argument. I have Pretty strong opinions.

12:51
I personally went to enlist into the IDF. My father served in the IDF. I wasn't not accepted because I was already married and had two children. I Said please, please, I want to do it for my people. I want to just go into the army for my people. I want to, I want to be part of the team. And they're like thank you very much, you can go home. Thank you very much, you can go home. We don't need you. If we need you, we know exactly where to find you. And I Tried, I really tried. But I only became a citizen Anew when I was 24 years old and had two children. So it wasn't, it wasn't a, it wasn't an option either way. I Remember when I came to the office you know I dressed like a sheva student, you know, young married man but a sheva student nonetheless with my, with my jacket, my hat, and I said I came to enlist.

13:45
I came with my fresh to that's a hoot my, my, my, my, my citizen license, my citizen card. But I'm an Israeli citizen, I said, and like they looked at me, like what are you doing here? I said what do you mean? I came to to fight for my people. They're like. They looked at my card, like put the stuff. They put some, some digits in the computer. They typed around and like you can go home, we don't need you. If we need you, we know where to find you. Either way, I say, yeah, I can, I can. I can deliver food to the people, I can give them to the soldiers, I can clean their guns. You know something? No, they didn't need me. So either way, I am not a fan of people Avoiding the army If they're not learning 100% of the time.

14:37
I'm talking about 100% of 100, you know, to 60 minutes out of 60 minutes you're learning. That's holy of Holies. That everybody agrees. Even the secular agree that those who are we're talking about if someone is half in and half out has a little side job. Yes, that there's no excuse. Go to the army If you're not fully in you.

15:02
She ever, my grandfather said this. He said anybody who's not sitting in you, shiva, and learning with the utmost seriousness, has absolutely Blood on his hands. It's called a Rodaeff. It's a pursuer. You're get because of you. They're running after the regular guys who are learning 60 minutes out of 60 minutes Because you're playing games in the coffee room or you are, you know, taking a side job because you're not learning full-time. With all the seriousness, with all the fire, Now they're pursuing those who are Because you're playing games, and it's something which is very serious, I think.

15:44
I think, look, we have to feel a sense of burden. But the Gomorrah here says the tama that we just learned here, eight, a Intracted Baba Basra, I, towards the bottom, the six, seven lines from the bottom, is telling us here that if you are a scholar, if you're a, calls it a rabbi, but the rabbi means rabbi khachmah, that you have a great amount of wisdom of Torah and you study and you teach and you're there. That's your communal responsibility. We have to understand that communal responsibilities are not the same. They're not the same. We all know that we make preference to women, have different, different responsibilities than men. Why we're all the same. We're. What happened to equality? It's different. We know certain responsibilities that certain people have. Artists they don't pull out of the studios. They tell you we need artists, musicians we don't pull them out of off the stage. You need to, you need to perform Torah.

16:52
Scholars are the protectors of the spiritual protectors of the Jewish people, and the soldiers say this. The soldiers, secular soldiers during this war, now the Simhastora war in Gaza, pleading yeshiva students don't stop your Torah study. Your Torah study is our engine. So there has to be a balance of this. It can't be all on one side that you only have people in the military or that you only have people studying Torah. A person needs to know. If they're not all in I'm talking all in on the study of Torah, then they have to go to the army or find a different responsibility that you will do for the community and work out some type of agreement Then, which they do have. They have people, you know. It is amazing, though, that if you look at the religious community, you have maybe 10,000 charity organizations that help with every different type of assistance.

17:59
I got a phone call just Monday morning. A guy said there's a patient who's in. There's a patient in Houston who's from Israel who needs a certain type of device. Can you get it to them? This is someone I know in Israel called me about the patient from Israel who's here in Houston getting treatments, so I said let me look around. I asked a couple of people that I know in the medical field. Do they know about this device? They said, no, I can't get my hands on it. So I let them know I can't get it. They said, no problem, I'm sending it from Israel. That someone from Israel who was traveling the next day bring it to New York. Someone from upstate New York brought it to where I was staying in five towns New York. I went to their house to pick it up and today it's going to be delivered to those people.

19:00
Some charity organization in Israel is caring for a patient that's 8,000 miles away who has a need. They're a little device that they need for their treatments. That's only one of probably 10,000 organizations that are all run by religious Jews who care for one another, not only religious. All is an organization. One of the largest charity organizations in Israel is called Yatsara. You know what Yatsara is. Yatsara is the hand of Sarah. That's the name. It was started as a little medical device, free loan.

19:43
You need a wheelchair for weekends. You need a wheelchair, you're in treatment. You need a hospital bed, you need an electric wheelchair. For They'll have it delivered to your house in less than an hour, anywhere in the country, anywhere in Israel. It's the most magnificent organization. They have branches all over the country, everybody knows it, and it's all run by religious Jews helping every single person who needs it. Everybody knows you need something. Don't go buy it. You'll get it delivered to your house by Yatsara, by the organization. When does it need to be picked up? Six months, no problem. Six months, they'll have it down. Someone will be at your house in six months to pick it up. If you need it for longer, no problem. How much does it cost? It's free. So that's a different form of communal service. That's a different form. We're all one family, definitely, all right. So now I can go on, because there are so many organizations that I love in Israel. They do such beautiful. I'll have to give you another example, but then we'll go back to our Talmud, one more beautiful organization.

20:48
I don't even know the name of it, but how many of us have had a medication that we needed? You got the medication and you never finished the whole medication? No, sometimes medications are expensive, so you have now 10 more pills left for your expensive medication that you took. Thank God, you're feeling better. You're back on your feet, everything is great. Yeah, there's extra 10 pills. There's a poor family who needs that same medication. They can't afford it, so they created an organization that you can donate your leftover pills. It's only prescribed by doctors, so it's not like a drug. Come pick up your no, no, no, we're not talking about that. This is all legit and legal and basically your 10 pills now go into a central free pharmacy and someone who can't afford regular prescription will get your 10 pills and that person's six pills and this person's four pills and they have their new prescription that they get and it cost them nothing. All in Israel. Yeah, it's unbelievable. We all have so many medications. I don't know if they let from America, but either way, in America you probably have all these regulations because the pharmaceutical companies spend so much money on their lobbying of the government. They probably made some law to outlaw this in America because it's unfortunately.

22:16
We're a land of. I can share with you a few more, but it's not. I can go on forever talking about our responsibility, that we need to feel for our brothers and sisters, and we're obligated to do something. We're obligated. Now. There are priorities that we're obligated to like. We said amicva, a synagogue, a Torah scroll. These are things that are obligations. These are not. You don't say, okay, well, he's a nice guy, he does so many other volunteer work, we're not going to bother him for this. No, no, no, no. You know, this is something that everyone is required to participate, even, like we said here, the orphans. The orphans are obligated to contribute to the wooden beams, the boards that would fortify the gates of the city. Okay, so now the Talmud discusses other communal expenses.

23:08
Amar Raphpapa, lashura, ulparsha Ulatarzena. Raphpapa said funds for repairing the city wall and for hiring a horseman and a weapons guard. Afilumi asked me, maybe collected even from orphans, for they also require protection. Avurab bonon, lezrichin, eti-rusa. However, the rabbis do not require such protection, so they are exempt from these taxes. Raphpapa offers a guideline Klala de Milsa, what is the general rule of this matter? Call Milsa di Islahu Hanamine, any project from which people derive benefit, a tax may be collected, afilumi Yasmi, even from orphans, so long as they are beneficiaries.

23:59
Now, when we mentioned about the horseman, the horseman would ride constantly around the city to watch over it and see what needed attention and repair. So that's what we would say, like the people from the HOA, and they go around and say, hey, you have a spider web by your, by your garage door, like you know, whatever they'll come up with to, just like you have to do this and have to do that, whatever. So basically, that's the horseman, that's what his job would do Go around. So you have, for example, in Houston, you have when you have a rainstorm we've all seen this you'll have lights that go out. I have, you know it's dangerous. You'll have street lights, the red light, green light, you know the that go out and then they're blinking red and it can line up traffic for miles and miles and it could be, and it can cause many accidents. So how does the city know that it's out? Someone has to call it in. That would be the equivalent of what the horseman's responsibility was. This was their job to go around and find all the problems that need to be fixed, all the security measures that need to be addressed.

25:04
Okay, the Gamora reports a related incident Rover uh, rubber rum Otsuka Yasme, the Bay bar Marion rubber levied a tax for charity on the orphans of the house of bar Marion. I buy a question, this action. I'm a layer by a, by a set to rabble. What, tony Rob Schmuel, bar you, who do? We learned from rabbi Schmuel, the son of you who do ain't post skin stock. All you saw, man. We do not impose charity payments on orphans. I feel a lipid, you know, shoo him, even for the purpose of redeeming captives with the funds. So why then did you levy a charity tax on these orphans?

25:54
Now, charity tax means it's not for a specific, it's to give charity. There's to be for the general fund of the congregation, of the community. There's a general fund where they give charity when someone comes to town. They need charity for whatever cause they need. It'll go from the communal fund. So Robert replied I'm a layer of Robber, said to a bio on a lash, anolah Shuvinu Ka'vidna. I did this to make them prominent in every charitable cause, as their father had been. Thus, since the tax actually benefited the orphans from the House of Bar-Maryon, it complied with the guideline established by Raph Papa Abaf, meaning, because they were beneficiaries of the charity, I wanted them to feel like they were prominent, to feel good that they are giving like their father did. But the truth is because they were recipients of that charity the communal fund. Therefore, it was okay to levy this tax.

27:02
The Gomorrah relates an incident involving Raph Shmuel Bar-Yahudah's teaching, ifrah Hormiz, imei Deshavur Malkah Ifrah Hormiz, the mother of King Shapur, shadrach Arnachal Lydinrei once sent a pouch of gold dinner coins, lechameder of Yosef, before of Yosef Amr, and she said to him Lechavi, limitzvah rabah, let the money be used for a great mitzvah. But she did not specify which mitzvah she had in mind. Yosef was perplexed. Yosef Reb Yosef for Koma Ayinbe Reb Yosef was sitting and analyzing the question of my mitzvah rabah, which act of charity is considered a quote great mitzvah? She said to use it for a great mitzvah. What's a great mitzvah? Abayah suggested an answer, amr Le Abayah. Abayah said to Reb Yosef midduttoni rav shmuel bar Yehuda.

28:01
In as much as Rev Shmuel bar Yehuda taught ayin poskin, stakal Yisomen, we do not impose charity payments on Yisomen. Elah afilu le pidyun shvuin, even for the purpose of redeeming captives with the funds Ramina from here. We learn from this teaching that pidyun shvuin, mitzvah rabah, that redeeming captives is a great mitzvah. Since Rev Shmuel stressed that orphan funds are exempt even from the mitzvah of redeeming captives, we see that this mitzvah surpasses all other acts of charity. Abayah therefore advised Reb Yosef to use ifrah huhrmiz as donation to redeem captives.

28:46
Okay, let me ask you what does it mean to redeem captives? Imagine the situation we're in right now. We're in a war. Let's say, hamas says if you give us $5 billion, we'll release all the captives. Who would be the first in this room to donate? Now we don't jump our hands, jump up. What do you mean? If that's what gets 134 remaining captives out of Gaza, we'll do it in a heartbeat. Who wouldn't do it? That is such a great mitzvah. It's called a mitzvah rabah. There's a mitzvah in the Torah.

29:19
If someone is taken captive, by the way, governments used to do that all the time. Governments used to do that. They used to take the rabbi. They used to take a leader of a community, put him in prison. For what, oh? You want to release him. You're gonna have to give us money. That's what they did it for. You know what you got to do it? Because no Jew is going to be left behind. No Jew is going to be left behind and therefore we give the money. It's fine, it's just money. Get the Jew out, because the Jew has to be free. You can give the money and then take your sniper rifle.

29:53
Oh well, I don't know about people. That's a different question. That's a really really serious, halachic dilemma Whether or not you can release someone who has blood on their hands. We're not talking about someone who did a small theft and stole a chocolate bar from a supermarket. You know what I'm saying. We're talking about someone who killed another human being or planned a terrorist attack to release five of those animals. I don't know that. That's a. And then it's not only one You're talking about. Sometimes it's 10. Or in Gilat Shalit case, it was over a thousand people released. It just shows you the value of a Jew. It just shows you a thousand to one Right. So money, yes, money is very different than releasing an actual terrorist, which is, by the way, some of, I think, possibly the policy of why Israel stopped doing.

30:54
Israel stopped taking terrorists as prisoners. I mean, they are now in Gaza because they're getting a lot of intel, but they used to take them as prisoners. Now they just shoot them and kill them. There's a terrorist attack. They're not trying to save the guy. Get rid of him, we don't need his intel, and it's one less bargaining chip for them. And it's another, you know. And plus, that guy's a terrorist, he doesn't deserve to live. There's no country in the world that will say, oh, a terrorist who just blew up a bus. Let's just take him for, you know, for questioning, and bring him in and, you know, put him in prison. What do you mean? No, kill the guy. This. This should be absolutely no place for any type of leniency on this matter. On the contrary, I think they should be much, much tougher.

31:40
Okay, so the Gamora now explains how we know that redeeming captives is such a great means for Amalirah. Valorabah. Barmari Rava said to Rava, the son of Mari Minoho Milseh the Amorabon. From where do we derive this point that the rabbis have said, namely Dippidyun Shvui in Mitzvah Rava? He, that redeeming captives, is a great Mitzvah. So he gives a source. Again, we know that everything we do in our Talmud class needs to be sourced. No sources is not a Jewish way. We have to give sources to everything. So he brings a source, amalirah Dixitv, because it says in the verse where does it say this?

32:25
Jeremiah 15, 2. And it will be when they say to you to where shall we depart? And you shall say to them thus hath Hashem, those destined for death depart to death, and those destined for death by sword depart to death by the sword. And those destined for death by hunger depart to death from hunger. And those destined for captivity depart to captivity.

33:11
Rabbi Barmari uses Reb Yochanan's insight to explain the proof of the verse. And Reb Yochanan said Kaulamu uchar ba'apasuk, zea kausham ichaveiro. Each subsequent calamity in the verse is harsher than the one preceding it. The first one started off with death, second one was by sword, third was by hunger and the worst, worst, worst, is by captivity. So Reb Yochanan establishes the truth of his insight. Kharev Kausham ima'apas, death is death by sword. The calamity mentioned second is harsher than death. Why that's number two is worse than number one. Why what's regular death? Death is natural causes.

34:00
Iba yis eimakr, if you wish to, what's your proof to that? He says if you wish to say that this point is established by the biblical verse, iba yis eimasvaro. He says you can say it either as a biblical proof I'll give you a verse for it, or I can just tell you that it's rational arguing, a rational reasoning Just makes sense that you and you can deduce it like that. Iba yis eimasvaro, if you say that it's out of that, I should prove it out of a rational argument. He says hai kauminavel, the hai kauminavel. He says this one is put to death by sword, is disfigured, and this one who died naturally is not disfigured. Someone who's killed by sword is disgusting. It's like bleh, dismembered, disfigured, killed by sword. Someone who dies naturally dies in a bed, and it's very interesting. I'll tell you a beautiful story. I've said this many years ago. I haven't said it in a long time.

35:01
Robert Aaron Cutler was the leader of the Lake with Yeshiva, brilliant, brilliant, brilliant Torah scholar. He was approached during the during the Holocaust. They approached a bunch of rabbis, approached the mafia and they said that there was a certain village of Jews in Italy that was going to be massacred by the Germans. And they asked the. They went to one of the mafia families in New York and asked if they can help save the Jewish community and they said we'll do what we can. The next day the entire Jewish community was evacuated and saved.

35:44
So Rabbi Aaron Cutler came back to the head of the mafia to the dawn with one of the great philanthropists with a large sum of money. They came and they asked what, how much? What's your fee? You saved the whole Jewish community. So he says, rabbi, I don't want your money, I want your blessing. Now, what would you bless the head of the mafia in New York? Right, you know you should kill a lot of people. I was what's the blessing you should? You know he gave the most incredible blessing, rabbi Aaron Cutler. He said my blessing to you is that you die in a bed and his eyes lit up and for the, for the people of his family the mafia family they were like this is the greatest blessing ever. And he did die in a bed and an old, ripe old age he died in a bed and Rabbi Aaron Cutler had already passed away.

36:52
And one day these two mafia fellows come to the Lakewood Yeshiva and he said we want to speak to the rabbi. And it was already his son, rabbi Aaron Cutler's son, who had inherited the Yeshiva, and he was a great, great, righteous rabbi of his own right. And they said we want to meet with him. They brought him to Rabbi Cutler, the son, and he said I'm not my father, I can't give blessings. They came to get a blessing. They said your father's blessing came to fruition and indeed our father wasn't killed in an alleyway, he died out of natural causes in a bed, just like the rabbi blessed. And they wanted to get the blessing as well, now that they're the ears to the throne. And Rabbi said I'm sorry, but I don't have the same power as my father had and I can't give the same blessings. But this is a true story. It's an unbelievable thing.

37:53
There's a big difference between dying in a bed and dying by sword. Sword could be many things. Sword can be a God forbid a car accident. It could be another type of traumatic injury that causes death. It could be, and it could be with terrible pain and it could be with terrible disfigurement, and that's why it's more severe than regular death. So that makes sense. It's a rational proof.

38:25
And if you want me to give you a verse, yocor be'eni ha'ashem ha'amov s'al ha'asidof, honorable in the eyes of God, is the natural death of His pious ones. Why? Because that's the most appropriate way for a person to die. It's just natural causes. Okay, abyochana now proves that. Why death of the sword is preferable to starvation? So Rav koshem icherev, we know that death from hunger that's the third level is harsher than death by sword, which is the second level.

38:59
Iboi sehmesvara, I can give you an irrational argument, or I can give it to you by verse Iboi sehmesvara, ho'komit stari. We know that a person who starves to death suffers in the process terribly. The high luck, komit sar. But one who is killed by sword does not suffer. They die very quickly. Iboi sehmesvara, if you want a verse to prove this, I'll give you a verse Toevim ho'yu khala lehcherev nechal lehrov. More fortunate were the victims of the sword than the victims of the famine. So we see that natural death death by sword, death by famine now Rav Yochana now establishes that captivity is the harshest fate of all.

39:42
Shvi koshem ikulam. Captivity, which is mentioned last in the verse, is harsher than all of the previous enumerated calamities. Dekulhu, all of them are included in captivity. Thus, since the captive faces such a high risk of dying, it is truly a great mitzvah to affect his release. You understand that how a person who is captive is being. As we know from the women who were released, they were all being raped regularly. They're being beaten Every day. They think it's their final day. They're living their death every day. Today is 154 days that our brothers and sisters are held captive in Gaza.

40:36
Frankly, if I was Prime Minister, I would treat it very differently. I would. Every day, another village is gone. I don't care how many people live in that village. You demolish the first village. The whole world will be in an uproar. Come to Be'eri, come to Kfar Gaza, come, take a look at these places and then tell me that you're condemning us.

41:01
But Arabs only understand force. You know why they have peace with Jordan. You know why they have peace with Egypt Because Israel put them on their knees. That's the only way they understand this whole nice, oh, we're going to go to Qatar and we're going to negotiate a release. This is a joke. It's a joke. They didn't need any. Jordan and Egypt were very, very happy to have a peace agreement with Israel. Just don't kill us anymore.

41:37
It was too brutal of a beating. Just don't, we're fine. We'll keep whatever agreement. Just let's call it a truce. That's what you need to do the first day after such an attack no warning signs, no, nothing.

41:54
50,000 Gazans gone. If we have to wait another day, it's another 50,000 tomorrow. And all of you in the world, come with your wives, come look at what they did, look at the devastation. We're playing footsies with them. This is not. It's not serious. Thank God, we're doing an excellent job. We have tremendous blessing from the Almighty. God is guiding our military. God is succeeding our way in unbelievable fashion. But that's not the language they understand. So, either way. We're going to stop here.

42:35
But, my dear friends, I think that it's important for us to remember that we all have responsibilities towards our community. We have responsibilities, whether it's something that we were passionate about, something that we're not passionate about. It's important for each and every one of us to exercise the muscle of charity, to give charity as a regular practice, not something that we do once in a while I give my charity but to do it on a regular basis. For a person to. I'll tell you. I have a friend of mine who told me he gives us a monthly contribution. So I asked, I thanked him, I said I want you to. I want to know do you want a monthly receipt or an annual receipt? He says I want a monthly receipt, I want a monthly receipt. So I'll tell you why. It's because every month I want to feel like I'm giving again. It's a reminder I'm giving again. Now, not everyone needs that reminder, but he says, every time I open up the mailbox and I see that receipt, I'm like, oh, I gave money again, I gave money again. It's a good perspective for a person to flex that muscle and not to show off, but to flex that muscle and to strengthen it as much as possible.

43:55
Charity is a responsibility. Where the Almighty gives us things to, gives us challenges or, sorry, gives us opportunity. God gives us opportunity. He says I'm going to give you money, let's see what you do with it. Are you going to be a good custodian of the money I give you? And that's our challenge, that's our task is to not say I'm going to have it for a rainy day fund for some day.

44:25
You think Hashem can't replenish your account. Every penny you give you get back. Hashem says oh, you're a good custodian of my money, you give it out properly. Here's more money for you to give out and here's more money for you to give out. That's the way it works. Anybody who hasn't tried it and tested Hashem? You can test Hashem on this, no problem. We have to be. It's not our money. That's the mistake we make. We think it's ours. It's not ours, it's Hashem's. So I'm not going to be tacky and I'm not going to be, but this coming week is our only fundraiser that we do.

45:03
In the entire year we don't ask.

45:05
The entire year we don't ask. We don't want to ask, we just learn and learn and learn and learn and learn, and that's our entire mission is just learning Torah One time a year. We have to pay for the electric, we have to pay our rabbis, we have to pay for all of the things that we do, all of the technology that we have there, so we can continue to share Torah with the world. So, god willing, next week everyone's going to have an opportunity to participate and to be partners with us, and it truly is a partnership, because if someone says I want to invest, we can continue.

45:38
Someone says I don't want to invest, I'm sorry, I'm not interested in what you do, so we have to close our doors. It's fine, it's not a big deal. I'll get a job. I'll work in Walmart, I'll bag groceries. It's not a big deal Hashem is going to provide anyway, but I love what I do and I hope all of you love it as well. So, my dear friends, have an amazing Shabbos and let's do charity together, god willing, every day of our lives. My dear friends, have a great Shabbos.