Bring Me Home - Tisha B'Av 2017

I wanted to say shalom but we are not even allowed to say this beautiful word on the day of Tish and why because that's what we're yearning for today Shalom if we had Shalom we wouldn't have the duty to fast to day so there I came to teach just before tshav in Tel Aviv and she sat there with her jeans and t-shirt and on her T-shirt with huge letters it was written Super Girls Don't Cry and when I saw this I thought to myself that's our tragedy during all the year we are being trained and coached that that super girls don't cry and if there is something that we need this day more than any other thing it's women's tears women that should sit and cry it's true during all the year I do this coaching stop complaining say thank you for what you have be happy with what you don't have but on TSH it's a tragedy to be a super girl when sees you once a year this strong super woman that is holding whenever it's so hard she's crying wow if the supero cries I have to come and answer Hera we are being in a world that crying is weakness that crying is being primitive we want to see all the people around us happy and smiling because it disturbs us to see people mourning to see people complaining today the Supergirl cries how do you do it and kazal teach us the beautiful secret of this day TSH is one tier only one tier you won't find the word tears in me only poor like a lake a tear says to only one tier what's the power of one tier wow wow bet mikdash is being destroyed Hashem calls and says why don't you cry I'm like a father that his son is getting married and dies in the middle of his and you are not crying go and call Abraham and jaob they know how to cry abrah since when are they crying they are the only ones in Jewish history that know what is one tiar when Abraham puts on the the Angels Cry from the sky they shed one tear this tear falls into the eyes of Abraham when he is trying to make the Corban of Y he is crying and one tear of his eyes goes to the eyes of yak yak becomes um blind because of this one tear and then because of this he can bless yakob instead of asav asav sees that itak gave the braa to his brother he sheds one tear and because of this tear he did not have the bra and Leah is watching him and saying this will be my husband this man with no braa and she sheds one tear and when Rael sees the one tear of her sister Leia she sheds one tear and when Hashem sees the one tear of ra he cries cries has a room called hidden place and he cries one tier and when his one tier falls into the sea we feel like an earthquake like a tsunami one tier all you should do on the day of Tish is knowing the power of one tear and do not clean it the benishai says that when the beautiful handsome boys of Yehuda were taking were taken by the Romans their hands were tied they could not clean their [Music] tear you should live this tear going down your cheek with not cleaning it and Hashem sees this tear sees that there is no one that comforts you today so you cry for your house when you're on your way to the big house here that will be built cry for your own house your own husband your own children your own hatred one tear is enough when you shed one tear says thead on it means the it meets the one tier of Rael do you know that Rael in numbers in gatria is twice tier plus is ra only one tier only a woman knows how to cry sit on the floor midnight midday cry your heart out one tear and we will all see this new baby being born [Music] oh [Music] my your [Music] oh oh Ser he oh he [Music] say [Applause] you oh [Music] [Applause] if you're sitting here watching this video today it means that it's Tish again and that's not easy Tish is a time where we tend to feel pretty hopeless and very confused if we haven't gotten it right until now how are we supposed to get it right this time if we haven't yet regained that Clarity of Hashem his miracles his love in such a revealed obvious way how can we hope to do it now the good news is that maybe we do have more power than we attribute to ourselves because if you think about it the mikdash was not that abstract the mikdash was really a reflection of a home that the Miracles that we know that defined the mikdash began in the home of SAR IMU and that home home is a home that we can create in our hearts and share with others today and every day in our lives to the best of our abilities and maybe even with a stretch of our abilities what is a miracle a miracle is Hashem going beyond what we know as nature so since the world works with our actions creating kav hashem's reactions by us going Beyond what's natural to us making that stretch we could elicit hashem's going Beyond nature and bringing us the Miracles that we so yearned for in our lives personally and nationally let's look at those Miracles SAR was able to have the miracle of her bread staying fresh the miracle that was mirrored by theim by the bread in the mikdash SAR had her candles stay lit from one chabas to the next similar to the n mirrored in the mikdash by that eternal light and SAR merited to have the hashem's presence hovering over her tent the way we had in the mikdash with the Anan kavod so ladies how did SAR managed to get those miracles to be her reality because that must be a key to us living our lives with the home that Hashem so knows that we could have and it wasn't that difficult with Kerner says that sar's Miracles were deserved because Hashem was reacting to her motivation and the way she chose to live her life why did her bread stay fresh because she did CU it's so easy in life to get stale to just be from from Habit to just be same old same old every day and every Mission and every shabus in our lives but SAR didn't why did sar's candle stay lit because she stayed inspired it's so easy to go to that right speech and have that aha moment and where do we go to with that inspiration sometimes just to the fridge but SAR had that ability to take that inspiration and make it work take that flicker of a flame and pass it on to someone else and why did the why did hashem's presence hover over Sarah's tent because in the words of re Kerner he just liked being there because she made him so welcome by emulating him by representing him by seeing people through his lens and loving them as a result we have this unbelievable opportunity of bringing people home and that's the mdash we could ignite their freshness we could ignite their inspiration we could ignite their sense that Hashem is hovering over and waiting for them always waiting for them if we know that we have that potential if the mikdash is a reality in the way that we live our lives and we handle our situations and our circumstances and the relationships we have and the ones that we Forge ladies join me today in learning about three incredibly special women who managed to forge a connection with their mikdash within and to bring a lot of people home with theml Sham I believe represents the she never got stale even into her old age she had a freshness and a vitality and a youth that inspired so many that made everyone else believe in their potential even before they knew they had it ham was that tent that had Hashem hovering over it and everyone felt the same ases did they just liked hanging out with her she was the comfortable chair and reiton Esther Yung sham she was the flame that didn't go out that she came with a mission out of the Flames of the Holocaust and use those not to burn not to rage not to have a temper but to ignite the spark of belief in so so many in a way that was beyond the belief I believe even of herself of knowing just how big her her flame would grow and how warm it would make the world and after we learn about those three Visionaries of our time we're going to have to challenge a belief that many of us have that we can't be them how could I be someone who really brings change to my own life let alone others I don't have the abilities of a rabbitson Yung or the patience of a hen mes or the positiv ity of a pearl banish so maybe this whole mikdash thing I I just I'm not cut out for it I don't have that genan pool I don't have the characteristics we're going to meet someone named lyanna who without any background and without any education she knew that she had a mikdash within and she knew that Hashem was the home that she always had to come back to because she knew something was missing without him so she'll bring us to the place of creating a mikdash in every level of Our Lives just the way the women did who helped lyana in her journey the women of her trip to erisel the women who invited her into their homes in Brooklyn New York and when we're done today hopefully our bread will be fresher and our candles will be that much brighter and last a lot longer and Hashem will have the pride of knowing that we're the kids that love each other that he always wished for us to be pearl banish taught us all how to Vanquish the dragon the Dragon for most of us is the hopelessness that we may feel wondering how we could feel fresh again living in a world that seems stale in a lot of ways and far from the goodness that we hope for but Pearl banish did teach to Vanquish that dragon with a Muna with the belief that everyone and every day could always be something different my mother grew up in krackow she was born in demitz in November middle of a big snowstorm my mother lived right around the corner from SAR shanir and the Seminary like here was the Seminary one block the next parallel block was s's house and my mother was on the corner so she used to pass by and see my mother and she used to call her down to come collecting money with her my mother was 10 10 years old 11 years old P come ask your mother if you can come with me and they would go collecting mother money up and down the steps stalker always she had always another spck but she had a lot of first cousins who survived and some of them were like we were and some of them were not religious some were traditional and they were always welcome to our home to our simus they were treated with tremendous respect and covered we always had an open house I mean we always had people eating by us I remember my father was ding in the shabus and one Friday night he sent my brother home to tell my mother that we're having two guests somebody had gotten off the train at thean a father and a son they had gotten with the train and they they were stuck for sharers they couldn't go any further so no problem he just sent my brother to tell my mother we're having guests for Sharice and it wasn't a problem he knew it wouldn't be a problem with her so tell me what was most intriguing about Pearl Bish's book for you one huge running thing that I got from it was how to live with a Mana everything that comes your way is just simply a hurdle for you to get over or a challenge and that was that kind of concept and the way that I kind of see my life now was born from from reading palan's book even if it's so serious and intense like the Holocaust I mean you don't get more dramatic how she said that she would like say the words of tahim as she was in the freezing cold snow and totally like riddled with illness and God knows what she more saw it as a challenge to overcome to make her greater rather than something to make her suffocate that was her a single point that got her through like Hera just there was nothing else nothing else saved her people would ask her questions like Mrs Benish how is it that you were able to keep your belief in God after having gone through such gehenna so she would say my belief hasn't changed there was evil in the world before the War I saw the evil in the War I see it now what has changed so why should my belief in God change I think her amuna and her knowledge that Hashem loves her and everything he does is good that's what gave her the Sim the ability to be B no matter what we had a very close relative of ours who went through the war and when the war ended he became irreligious and my mother always used to say you can't judge anybody who'd gone through the horrors the geham of the Holocaust you can't judge them for losing their faith and I remember when I was 14 years old this man came to America for a visit and during the 10 days that he was at our home he made a complete turnaround he became sh shabis he went to bmes he had a Shear he had a Kusa every night and to what do you attribute them I don't know he was just by us for PES I don't remember them my mother must have been she was busy making we were just being ourselves when my parents first came to America their first apartment was in a walkup building in Williamsburg and on the second floor lived a middle-aged couple they already had a married daughter and a young teenage boy and they were room but they were so nice to my parents Mrs Stein would babysit for us occasionally when my mother was in a pinch and whenever we had an emergency we'd go running down to the Steines the six years that we lived there during those six years they became sh shabas wow and I think you know they were just so amazed by this couple who were from and spite of what they've been through so you were driven to meet Pearl Bish after reading her book Rabbi naali shiff gave me her address and I I sent her a letter telling how much she changed my life and then he arranged a phone call what did she say I just remember a lot of it was just love it was as if I was like she was speaking to her granddaughter didn't know who I was but I very much felt like we spoke for about half an hour she had like she just was showering me with love and care and advice um that was beautiful so anyway so then I I made a promise to myself that the moment I step into America um I would go straight to her house and go meet her um I think it was yeah 5 years later I finally went to America I literally came off the plane and I went straight to um her her house to meet her it was 10:00 at night she didn't mind I can't it was there about 2 hours and she was just showering me with unbelievable advice and words of Torah and just love she believed in everybody no matter what their level of yish was and she encouraged us to love everybody and not to judge people I definitely felt as I was speaking to her that only was she seeing the huge potential that I had she was bringing that out in me I just felt it she did not know and has not no idea of the impact she made on me you know like I only had a few interactions with her um but she she fall me into the person that I am today for sure my mother had a lot of groups coming here all kinds of cir of organizations would bring groups to her she had a big impact on them I could tell by the way they reacted they crowded around her and they asked her questions I think they were just amazed at this woman who had to deal with all these Faith issues during the Holocaust and how she came out of it was just amazing she created my desires to give and make an impact in the world without me even necessarily knowing you know I read those books I I carried her lessons with me for life and I'm going now back to London to work for an organization for girls at risk in the fir Community when you see these girls that you work with how do you view them through Mrs Bish's lens you're part of me we one um you're my sibling you're my family and I'll do whatever I can to try and help you and I think that was a lot from heavy heavy from pal pales she spoke in Beth L to a group of 200 boys and girls who had also just found out they were Jewish and um you should see what these children looked like these 200 children boys and girls um 17 18 19 20 at the end my mother took out the whole group and bethl has this beautiful staircase in the front and they lined up on the um on the steps and um she stood herself right in the middle of the group in the front first the second step with all the 200 children around her boys and girls and and she wanted a group picture and as she's standing there with all these children some two ladies two BB OFA ladies cic women passed by and they knew my mother she was very well known and they tell her PKA P tell me are these your grandchildren and she looked up at the woman she says yes these are my grandchildren cuz that's how she felt about every Jew didn't matter what they looked like she loved everyone and they were all her children and her sisters and brothers he has Che we have grandchildren we have great grandchildren isn't that great isn't that some didn't he give us so much joy I just pray Hashem you tested us enough don't test them anymore I remember as a child seeing my father cry the day his father died and I asked him what the saddest thing that he was going through was and he said it's hard not to be someone's child anymore pranish made us all feel like someone's child and children need to go home and they need to feel that there is a mother caring for them who always wants them who always loves them who always accepts them them so unconditionally and openly and nurturing and that was hen Maas hen Maas gave us the home that we all need the home that just always has that extra piece of chicken the home that always has that hug and the way that she was able to feel and do and be so much to so many is because she connected herself to a limitless source of love she knew that she was the proud daughter of hak that he was always over her tent and loving her throughout and giving her energy that was far beyond the energy that she could have generated on her own so let's look at the life and the home and the warmth of Henny Maas and get a taste of what a real home could feel like my mother used to say that every Jew has a a spark could be there's a lot of dark spots but in every Jew there's a spark take that spark and make believe that the person is that whole spark because they all have a beautiful light to them and that's why my mother one of her beautiful qualities that she was able to see in every person the real spark and to see that every person above what what a human being could see she's very loving very sweet very accepting she knew exactly what to say my husband always says that that she had like a little like but it wasn't really but she could he said IMA could get away with saying anything cuz she would like just say it in the right way or even like people like completely secular she would like she said also a very non-judgmental she was extremely non-judgmental everyone was okay in her books so like if you were religious not religious Jewish not Jewish asazi it was like you're okay in my books I see you and people felt it well she loved people so she would meet someone and say Hi H Maas right and she would just have this big smile and big warm welcome and very unassuming and she would share of herself and and and really care for people so on chavas it was always very exciting cuz there were like between 80 and 120 people coming for the meals every type of person you could imagine Yeshiva gu Seminary girls tourists balas people who were were interested in converting to Judaism or or even not interested in converting to Judaism the door was open to just anyone I'm from California San Diego and I was a professional swimmer in high school and happy gol lucky um I started keeping a little bit and what I was keeping was not chabis but I was keeping to going to the to go to SCH I had a scholarship to go to San Diego university and I'm like Mom I want to go to Israel I mean I want to go to Israel please and she wouldn't let me she said only if you can defer your scholarship and I found Baron University onee program that's when I met Rabbi M he was teaching on the that was he was The Beginner's program that was like my first Rabbi Rabbi M said you're all on this chabas invited in my house oh my gosh can you imagine you're not you're not accepting expecting anything and you walk in and you think that you're going to be your the guest and we're going to get so much attention here and then I can talk and we our friends and you open up there's like another 60 of you 70 of you and you're like we're probably in the wrong place and then you see RAB Maas come in and honey Maas come in she came from the side Shalom oh my God you know really really happy there was something about being in in in that house and in her presence uh that was just so comfortable no judgments like welcome you're a human being Welcome to our home this is your place uh and and that's really what it was like for everybody for everybody I remember once she came to our house to visit uh and there was a gardener working in the back uh and he had an Arab worker so she offered him something to drink and she was talking to him she said tell me what's your name and he says my name is Kim she she said Kim what do you mean your name is k is a Jewish name she said he says oh yeah well my my dad is an Arab but my mother's Jewish my mother couldn't believe it she said you're Jewish do you know that you're Jewish he says I'm Jewish he says you're Jewish and then she calls me a quick bring your Fillin bring your filling right and and that was her you know she wanted to give him the gift of of a Mitzvah and it's it that was her interest in in in in helping other people anything she had she would share like she didn't really have a sense of you know me versus you it's kind of like us anything anything I have if you need it take it she taught me so many times that another person's physical needs is they become your spiritual needs I worked on my relationship with the mes from then on cuz I said this is what I want I knew this is what I needed for myself and I would go and I would after the meals I would do the dishes till 2:00 in the morning but it was I got something back cuz they would stay up with me I was there doing those dishes cleaning up because I wanted to hear about them to know about them and ask questions and Henny would say it all the time I feel like you're I feel like you're my daughter I feel like you're my first daughter cuz I was older than y did she say that to all her guests I don't know but I didn't care she said that to me that was like the world how did you see her real amuna play out I remember once there was a it was a Friday and there was some type of chicken shortage I think in Jerusalem I don't remember exactly long time ago and EMA was just totally you know indifferent yeah nonchalant like no worries you know whatever we we'll make do whatever we have you know there's other we'll feed them other things you know Hashem will take care of it I don't know a few hours later someone shows up I don't remember the details but just someone shows up with like a case a couple of cases of chickens 's like oh okay here are the chickens let's let's put them in the oven you know let's just get them into the oven you know and I remember thinking one of the things that was the most amazing about amazing part of that story is that it did it didn't F Ima she just lived with Hashem she was like totally just she said oh hashem's going to take care of it it it wasn't like wow like what do you mean you know if I ask you for a glass of water you know or if I ask you to pass me you know pass me the fork I can assume you'll pass pass it to me you ask God Hashem can you plast the chicken he'll he'll pass it it's like well of course that's what's going to happen your mother's book was unbelievable unbelievable and so many women reading it would say how could I ever be heny Maas what would your mother's message to those women be everyone could do it their way there are no two rebit and mes there are no two Moshe RAB there's only one of each person and everyone is in a unique way I want to read you something that that IMA said so my dear girls remember to love yourself to know that there was never anyone like you and there never will be you have unique talents personality wisdom character traits looks abilities that AES who wants you to use to shine your specific light in this world then remember to empower all of your friends and the whole world remember that Hashem loves you like his only child and everything you are and you experience is only to draw you closer to him remember to speak to him always to achieve the clarity you need to fulfill your purpose in this world by maximizing your potential remember not only to do what you can but more than you can because one more said we'll bring the Gula and remember I love all of you meeting Hy M's children and getting a taste of her home left us feeling what the Ana cavod must have been those Clouds Of Glory hovering over us giving us that feeling of hashem's love of his nurturing of knowing that we are all of his kids when we're all his kids there is no I and there is no you we all do just become one and there's another way that that's manifested in all of us that we're one in the sense that we share a flame and when I give of that flame to you we know about Flames that they don't get extinguished they just keep growing and stretching Beyond us and staying illuminated and Illuminating others that ladies was the gift of the legacy of Ritson Esther Jung Ritson Yung brought that flame out of the Cinders of the Holocaust and she proved that inspiration can live on and Beyond just about anything and she didn't let people have it easy when they didn't believe it themselves and we have a chance now to get a taste of it and make it our own let's see so I grew up in a home that had a very traditional Jewish connection but was not that observant I was B Mitzvah on a Sunday in in the in an orthodox school we didn't keep kosher but we didn't eat like the real trafe but we didn't follow all of the laws I did go to Hebrew school I was able to read Hebrew so there was a connection there but it certainly wasn't you know a full observance I was very fortunate I went to Harvard as an undergraduate and um I had a very interesting career that took me to Washington DC to Jefferson City which is the Missouri capital I took a position as legal council in the Missouri State senate for the Democratic minority leader but after a year a position opened up because of term limits in the legislative district where I had grown up in St Louis and I was elected as a a state representative while I was doing all of this legislative work I was studying with an a rabbi in St Louis Rabbi gromberg and he gave me a copy of the ritson's book The committed life and it really was transformative for me somehow when I turned turned the pages of that book it just resonated with me I she would have these anecdotes about people and I would think this is the way life should be lived this is the way I want to live my life about 20 years ago and it was Christmas Eve and I I I met the ribbits and that was like that was it I could not get over the rabbits she's unbelievable I just could not get over it she was you know just such a um like a Powerhouse I was just regular secular girl living in New York and I had a cousin who found out about the singles um party or so as we're there they tell us that there's a lecture that you have to hear before you go to the party and I'm sitting there and she's talking about the para and she's relating it to modern day times and just so happened to be that that para was exactly what I was going through in my life at that moment I just couldn't believe what I had heard every Tuesday night I would go listen to her speak and her soft voice sounded to me like a hummingbird singing a sacred song cuz her teachings they were so easy to connect with but they were really deep she was incredibly warm and I think there was something about how she held your hand and touched you and how she looked at you and focused on you and held you and I think there was like some kind of warmth that you immediately felt like you know you were the only person in the room and that she really really loved you which she did she loved every Jewish nsh she had an uncanny sense of perception when it came to people my mother taught me at a very early age that if you can't help somebody the least you can do is feel for them she would literally stay on stand on her feet until 1:00 in the morning until every person that had a problem or was looking for a sh up or whatever had a chance and these were acts of kindness that she did herself there'd be another person wanting to talk to her she would see that and she would take her hand and hold the other person as it to say one minute and I'll be with you and that's such a kindness that a person shouldn't feel that they're just standing there being ignored it was little things that she always knew how to be kind and good and understanding my mother was and and and Rachel's mother the same thing both had terminal cancer and the Ritson would call both of our mothers every shabas just to give him like another holiday these calls were so meaningful to my mother she really looked forward to it all week even when my mom was sick in the hospital the rabbitson would call her that was the the kind of hassid that she could do even though she lived her life on a global platform speaking around the world writing books she was famous in the Jewish and non-jewish world she could take those moments to reach out to a human being on a personal level how did she get her energy she would recharge by being with people by speaking by doing I never saw her waste her time if she'd be sitting down she had a toil him she had a safer she'd be preparing for a class she would always say you must accomplish something every single day so a couple years years later she had written another book it was called life is a test and the riton came to St Louis to speak at an event around her book and she she wrote an inscription that I would like to share which said to my dear Rachel May Hashem be with you and guide you to your soulmate your mother is watching over you never forget much love Esther Yung well that same night the rabbitson pulled me aside at the end and she said there's someone very special I want you to meet and she told me all about Barry I was 50 I was not married I the rabbitson never gave up on me and she knew me for 20 years and she never gave up on me she most people gave up on me they everyone gave up me like Terry you're never going to get married it's just it's just not going to happen you know but the bottom line was the Ritson never did Rachel and I got engaged and then the Ritson came to St Louis you know my mother passed away so I said would you walk me down the aisle she said no I I can't walk you down the aisle she said but I'll walk behind you and I always used to tease her I said you were walking behind me because you were afraid I was going to run away she did not tell me when we were dating or when she first introduced us that his mother had also been sick and passed away and that she had had a very similar connection to Barry's mother that she had had with my mother and before both of our mothers passed away each of them had asked her to connect us with a Jewish soulmate and then she connected us to each other and when she came to the wedding she said that our mothers were dancing in the heavens and we you know we always felt the power of those words that's what we all said at that wedding these mothers are dancing in shmay because not only have their children connected but they have Yiddish grandchildren who are going to know about Hashem and knowing how to doen and becoming the Next Generation that they never would have been there's so many people that would call her our Tabby because she made their sh and now they have children and grandchildren who are from because of her the rabbitson gave us a blessing on our marriage night our wedding night for children and again we were a little bit older you never know what could happen in life um but very quickly barem we had a son so whenever I look at the kids I always think of her and I think of how proud she'd be she introduced me to my husband she made us room we have six beautiful children all in Yas and bakov and she spent her entire life doing this to zillions of people what do you think that she'd be proudest of about your children anything that they do or about who they are well you know we we celebrate Shabbat to come to the table to say the bras to you know to light the candles down my is watching that feels very good and very right to us beautiful how would you define her Mission you know the rbit went through the Holocaust and then when she got to America all these people were not only not following Judaism but they were you know marrying non-jews they would not keep en kosher and so she said there was a spiritual Holocaust in the United States or around the world she wanted to make the uh to change that when my mother was just a little girl she began her mission in this world and she took a place of terrible gehenna and instead of sitting in the darkness and being angry she came to this country and she learned from her parents that you have a choice in life you can either sit in the K and be angry and upset about what Life deals or you can light a candle and my mother told us always light a candle wherever you go never sit in there was no stopping the rabbitson and look just in my family my brother and I we both grew up sacular we probably did things we weren't supposed to do and the rabbitson really brought us back when people would start to become from and discover she would say now it's your turn to invite somebody to your house for shabas or teach somebody and they would say but rabbitson I I don't know enough and my mother would say whatever you know you share one kind word one piece of knowledge just saying one thing to another Jew a little little spark could ignite and become a flame bar hasem um we light Six Candles on chabis and um these are always at the center the rabbitson presented these to my husband and me on our engagement you know it it brings her presence to our Shabbat do you have a personal prayer that introduces chabas for you I always say the Hebrew names of each of my children and my husband and I pray for their well-being and I pray that I can continue to grow our home in in a Torah way you must feel a tremendous void in your life now without her it sounds like she just such a force big void she was just there I mean you know but the the great part about the Ritson is that she was she was so prolific in the speeches and all that she wrote and she did that you never forget her you know wait till I talk speak all the time to say that we had the honor to meet someone of this caliber she was bringing me to the connection to God and to his mercy and to his protection and there was nothing like it it was extraordinary when my mother became ill this past year it was a very difficult year when we heard the terrible news and I looked at my mother and I saw two tears roll down her cheeks and she said I have so much more that I want want to do and so much more that I'd like to teach can I still teach Torah because I have a nation waiting I have my people waiting and I love to teach Torah that was her only question so listen to me my wonderful people my sisters my brothers my kind I'm a great grandmother say oh my kind I want to leave you all of you withm should be with you should give you the wisdom and your heart to understand who you are you are shabas you are the Angels of shabas never forget your legacy never forget your Tyra remember my father's words after he discovered nobody's left no only one thing I ask of you hasem all my children and my grandchildren should remain with t there the only thing that can't you say it is in sh in the heavens above by saying please children don't forget that remain with I to give to don't forget who you are where you came from should give you children and Grand great grandchildren I thank you all for listening and ieng that light of rabbits and young rice is a light that lives on in the homes of so many women who light her candlesticks who ignite The Souls of their children those children who learn the Torah that has become their life because it was life to rabbits and Yung three phenomenal women seeing the freshness of a pearl banish the student of a sarne who teaches us what it means to keep going and forging ahead as those benos Yakov we saw the home and the nurturing and the graciousness of aeni Maas and the spirit that she had that so many felt and we saw that inspiration that incredible energy of a rabbitson young rice where do we go with it all we go to Brooklyn New York to a group of women just like us women who are busy baking their own bread keeping things lit keeping that inspiration and realizing that it's not enough to just keep it in here that there are people that deserve it that need it as much as they do as much as we do they find a girl named lyanna and that name says it all Le Anna me where is it coming from can I relate to those greats can I be that Visionary can I create the mikdash and the answer ladies is yes that mikdash is our inheritance it's our right to perpetuate and to pass on to others lyanna began her journey in a little town in azerbajan and We Begin by asking her just what it felt like to be that Soul among the people there and not realizing how much she was missing let's see you know we were hiding the fact that we were Jewish I remember on Fridays sometimes my um grandmother would light candles and you know on holidays she would we we couldn't understand why she was doing this we were completely secular we thought that she just had her own agenda that's how she would she grew up and this is something cultural we didn't think it had anything to do with religion itself uh I came to the United States when I was uh almost 18 it was difficult for us for my parents especially um we didn't know the L language we had to learn our community we have a a very small Jewish Community uh where my parents live so we tried to go for holidays here and there but there wasn't really much of an influence and after I got my degree I I went to work at the Immigration Center as a fingerprint technici and then I transferred to customs and that's when I met hashy I guess me seeing me with my armac on and and knowing that I was a religious she would come over and we would talk about you know uh Jewish you know uh studies Jewish subjects it wasting in these things you know whatever I I felt she would be able to handle you know we we would speak about we had invited her a number of times previously and she never accepted and suck us time it was chabas of H and she said yes and we made room for her and and it was wonderful she came over to me one day and she said you know what I heard about this trip um to Israel with this group you think I should go it's for women that want to become you know more religious whatever to see the country so without knowing anyone else on the trip gutsy was that scary it was it was but uh I thought you know I'm going to just go and meet all these wonderful Jewish women and maybe connect somehow so when I first met lyanna we were close to closing the registration for our trip and right away I was stricken with her I would say her her her grace her Poise her presence and her genuine desire to learn about Judaism and she felt that if she came on this trip she would get that that that opportunity to to share it with her kids you know to have it for herself but I don't think she realized how much she would get for herself I think she was really motivated that her kids should get but she didn't get a chance to you know the moment I I I landed in Israel I it hit me this sense of okay this is home I'm home that's it a great group of women they were just very open and inspired and you know the the Brooklyn women that we take are mostly all of Russian background we loved lyanna on the trip she was just she was an absolute Delight she was just fun and easy and very very very very very open and very very receptive it just impacted her so she really wanted to get it and take it with her and um and she did she did we were there for 8 days and we had just one event left and that's when this terrible tragedy happened we just saw a a bus just craying down backwards I we knew there was no way for us to dodge it so we both got head um what happened was I got the the bus hit me and then I went under the wheel of the bus and it dragged me all the way until it hit the nearby building the ambulance was there within about a couple of minutes a man he knew that he he he was asking me constantly questions to keep me I guess uh conscious he said we don't want you to panic but the wheel of the boss is still on top of you and we can't get you out so I had we had to I had to lie there bleeding broken bones and everything I was not aware of how bad it was I wasn't even aware what happened to me I uh in my mind I thought that I had a broken leg I I I didn't know what happened we you know got to the hospital and they were Wheeling Leon in on the stretcher and she looked frightening and uh we were basically beside ourselves we just didn't know and we were Ding and um it was it was just a shock the doctors didn't didn't think there was there was anything they could do they said that the dangerous the inuries that I suffered um were catastrophic I went to hadasa in uh in Jerusalem I I couldn't move for two months I couldn't do anything at all I was basically just pinned to the to to my to my bed um so I needed I needed the help I mean the the doctors weren even sure if I was going to survive if I was never going to walk and thank you Hashem he brought me to a team of brilliant brilliant doctors so when she woke up so I was able to be by her bed and um I I was crying I I woke up and I saw shalamas was standing in a corner crying looking at me I said thought to myself why is she crying I'm I'm okay I'm okay it was this [Music] peace and she said to me that she didn't know why I was crying cuz she felt so peaceful and she felt Hashem was with her and Hashem was safe in her and why was I so sad and that's what I knew that the whole trip affected her so amazingly because a week before that when she wasn't on the trip she would never have spoken like that I had this peace in my heart I was grateful that I'm alive I knew I knew Hashem was with me I I I was just I was was okay so I actually have a friend some friends that like let's say m alah live in Israel and I would just get like certain messages through you know I went to see lyanna I brought her a sandwich and I really feel like she got to see the best of CLA ra like she's in a hospital bed she's not a she's not a from woman she wasn't really exposed to to a lot of religious people before and and this is what she sees like you know that someone's coming people are taking care of her all the time and I feel like she sees it and and Hashem sees us taking care of each other and it was like that to me was like wow I could see why she would come home and want to keep shabas when I was in Israel I felt something was changing inside of me I felt like I was finally finding myself I knew that there was no way I could come back the same after I woke up in a in a hospital I made that packed with myself to go on with go on with this and um just try to reach a a higher spiritual level and it was like unbelievable uh change she start telling me all the things that she was doing you know she starts asking me questions like uh I had uh orange juice and oatmeal for breakfast today and I goes does the AL cover the bir of Fes or do I and I say to her I go I go like who are you it was like unbelievable she was she was learning how to read and to D she gave me such it was is unbelievable I read my sedor in Hebrew now I mean I'm very slow very slowly but I I still read it yeah you were so worried about the kids how did they take to all of this I pulled them out of public schools right away put them both in yeshivas and I saw the difference in them what what was it like standing at your son's Bar Mitzvah feeling that your body was yours again and that your children were home the way you wanted them to be what what was that happy Pride I don't know I don't know all of these things I mean um Indescribable feeling the people were there for me and you know we danced danced with shalam danced a little with etti you know and it gave me so so so much happiness I I it's definitely just about us trying giving over caring sharing um Hashem is in charge of kind of having that that that that wheel uh take it to whatever level it's going to you just have to be a link in the chain and uh and share um developing these wonderful relationships with these women is is so uplifting and so inspiring and uh really makes my life very meaningful and uh also makes uh my family appreciate um different people and you know what you can accomplish by just being a nice person and talking to people and bringing them to your home showing them the beauty of a shabis and the beauty of yish K how have you seen it impact your family um well I remember the first first one of the first shaton that we did at our house which we at some point I think at the M we must have had about 150 people and um my son who was a teenager then he said mommy this was the best shabas of my life I said what you know I wasn't able to give you any attention I was busy with all the people with everything he said you know just to see how much they appreciate what we have all the time changed my life and he was six so lyanna the women that are watching us today they're sitting in the audience and it's Tish above and it's the day that we lost the temple because we weren't good enough at loving each other what would you want to tell those women as your message from your experience about being loved and coming home we should love each other there should be this this love for each other I can't stress enough the love that I have for my fellow Jewish women make a connection it's so easy we're women what's the worst that can happen make a connection lyanna if you could go back to that little house in azerbajan and you could see your grandmother taking her candles out on a Friday what would you want her to know I wanted I wanted to say thank you I wanted to thank her thank her for teaching us although we didn't understand it and we dismissed it there was something inside of us it was always there we just needed someone someone else to open it that's all so I guess the whole sh was experience started with my grandmother seeing her and knowing her story is got to give to anybody if you can reach out to another fellow JY just do it we all have what it takes to be that home to have our bread stay fresher to have our light stay lit and to have that awareness of Hashem in our lives constantly and consistently L and feel his love through every stage that we go through through every up and every down knowing that he's with us and then we have the ability to create a difference this Tish by deciding that we have enough light to share with so many that we could bring our home to be their reality in the workplace by a gesture a kind face an invitation offering someone to learn with us just giving whatever we have in us to light that next Nish that much more we have the ability to remember that we are the home that we could bring to others and by offering it to others we become ourselves we could get it right this year we could give hakes the home that he has been waiting for us to give him back for so long by recognizing that the home that we have the home that we live in the home that we breathe is the oxygen that'll keep his children alive and going and it'll be the air that we breathe in the mikdash tomorrow mem we'll see you there [Music] sh [Music] because [Music] because [Music] beond for 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