Q&A on Any Topic - Rosh Hashana Edition {Ish Matzliach}

This Torah class is brought to [music] you by torahanytime.com. >> If anybody has any questions on uh this year or on the Yamim Noraim, I'll be happy to take them. Yes. Connection between? >> Shofarot and Torah. >> Good. So, the the central theme of the bracha of Shofarot is the giving of the Torah to Jewish people. It starts Ata nigleisa ba'anan k'vodecha. God revealed himself in his cloud of glory at Sinai amidst the sound of the shofar to give Klal Yisrael Torah u'mitzvos. Take another look at the liturgy of Shofarot. You'll see the main theme is the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people. Yes. >> Um how come we have to say vidoi so many times like shalom u'vracha after shacharit? I'm going to like It's very repetitive and I don't know >> We don't. We don't even say it one time on Rosh Hashanah. >> Give the question. >> The um >> Sorry. I guess I'll be on >> On Yom Kippur. Yeah. Actually, on Rosh Hashanah, we don't say vidoi. We don't mention any sins on on uh Rosh Hashanah. Uh why do we Why do we repeat it so many times? The answer is that there uh was a speech expert who it's his role to determine who the best speakers in the United States of America are. And he is the final arbiter in a yearly and annual contest of the best orators in the United States of America. And after a couple of years, he decided to ask the finalists what their practices are, how do they bring themselves to become eligible to be finalists as the best speakers, and they all shared the following preparation in common. The best speaker, the runner-up, and the third runner-up all rehearsed their speeches dozens and dozens of times. The best speaker was always the one who prepared the most, sometimes 30 to 50 times. The second best speaker prepared 20 times. Never did the the person with the most raw talent win the contest. It was always the person who prepared the most, because the way the human mind works is that you need repetition, repetition, repetition, repetition for things to sink in your head. People want to know, why do I always say you shouldn't bring your phone in the show? The answer is cuz I said it in the beginning of the show, and people still have their phone in the show. Because they heard it, it entered their mind, but they didn't actually take it out from in front of them, and put it in their pocket, and then walk out and remove it. A human being needs to hear things many, many, many, many, many, many times until it starts to sink in from the head, course down through the veins, and enter the heart. That is the way Hashem programmed us. So, it is a great chesed of the chachmei Yisrael that they ordained that we say the viduy 10 times on Yom Kippur. They had rachmanus on us. That's That's minimal. They We got away easy with 10 times. You think you remember something after 10 times? Usually you need 101 times just to remember something. 10 times is mamish the rachamim gedolim. On your own, you should probably say, you know what, this is not enough. I should say it another 90 times. Maybe then afterwards you'll remember, you know, hey, I actually do this. I need to stop. Yes. Where is it mentioned? So, a few things. First of all, like I mentioned, the main reason for Tashlich is to commemorate Akedah Yitzchak. That that liturgy, I do not think it is found in the Shulchan Aruch. It's added. It's not essential necessarily. Furthermore, Tamer Devarim says, "V'sach b'mtul yam kol chatosam" is God's attribute of mercy. And that attribute of mercy is that when the Jewish people repent, all the punishment that was supposed to befall the Jewish people, God then hurls on the enemy. Which is what we read in this week's parashah, that all the k'lalot will go al oyvecha v'al sonecha. So, it's not really relevant. It's not really connected to uh teshuvah per se. It's one of God's attributes. Even though most people think, you know, you take out the bread and the bread is my sins. You know, it's very easy. You see, you could sin the whole year and then you just take a lot of challah, as much as you can. The more challah, the better the teshuvah. And you dump it all into the lake, and the more challah you dump into the lake, the more you cleanse your soul. You don't have to throw challah in the lake. If you don't throw challah in the lake, you're still yoitzei Tashlich. It doesn't say anywhere to throw bread anywhere. Actually, on Rosh Hashanah, it is prohibited to throw challah into the lake. It's an aveira. You're not to feed animals on Yom Tov. It's a sin. It's a sin. You're better not to do Tashlich on Rosh Hashanah than to throw the bread in the lake. It is assur. It is assur to throw the bread in the lake. Actually, I'll tell you a humorous story. You know, I uh I used to be a rabbi in Queens, near and I used to do Tashlich in Corona Lake. And one year, I waited to do Tashlich until the last day, Hoshana Rabbah, and I came to the lake, and there were thousands of dead fish in the lake. So, what? All those sins killed all the fish in Corona Lake. Actually, they There There was a comic somebody once made of a piece of bread going down in the in the water, and the big the daddy fish says to the kid fish, "No, no, don't eat that one. There's a sin in it, you know?" But But it's a phenomenon in Corona Lake and other lakes in New York that sometimes the oxygen level sinks, and the fish just die. That's what happened. It wasn't the sins. There are no sins in your bread. There are no sins in your bread, unless that bread was bread you threw on Shabbat or Rosh Hashanah. Then there are sins in the bread. Sure. Go ahead. >> It doesn't seem like it's like, you know, you dump in Tashlich, Hashem will give you like >> Okay, good question. Rabbi Yamin wants to What is the concept of simanim? Why does it play such a central role on Rosh Hashanah? Here are a few quick ideas, okay? >> [clears throat] >> On Rosh Hashanah, God is decreeing everything that should happen in the upcoming year. There's a concept that a decree is a very nebulous, tenuous formation. And for instance, remember when Hashem came to the Navi Yirmiyahu, he tells Yirmiyahu, "Take a stone, throw it into the river, so shall Bavel drown." What's going on? That when God makes a decree, when an action is done, it brings the formation of the decree, it concretizes and it materializes down here in the world, and it makes it happen. It brings it to fruition. Because God's decree up in heaven it now has to trickle down, down, down through all the various worlds. So, when an action is done, it brings it to fruition. So, God decrees we should have a sweet year. But we don't want that decree to so to speak dissipate. So, by eating the sweet apple or dipping the apple in honey, it brings that decree to formation. It makes it form. There are many ideas. That's one of the ideas of the simanim. Another idea is that we're we're reminding God of the simanim that Rachel gave to Leah. Rachel gave to Leah the simanim so that Leah should not be embarrassed. So, by having these simanim, it stirs Hashem to remember the merit of Rachel Imeinu. There are many, many reasons. All of the all Jewish customs, yes sudasam beharei kodesh are founded in great sanctity. Last question. Second to last question. Okay. >> Rabbi, uh very nice class. today. you. >> Thank you. >> Uh I think you gave a sheer not too long ago um some reasons why a shofar can or cannot be blown on Shabbat. And I don't I think you brought up a law that said it's not a not a problem. >> That you could, yeah. >> Um why are we holding back from that today? Really it feels like something that is really needed cuz in a sense it feels like a part of the year is missing on Shabbat. >> So good. What's your name? >> Isaac. >> So Isaac is referring to the sheer of the class that I gave this past Monday about uh interesting personality of Akiva Yosef Schlesinger who in Yerushalayim ruled to blow the shofar at least in Jerusalem when when Rosh Hashanah falls out on Shabbat. Last night I gave a class of why we don't blow the shofar when uh Rosh Hashanah falls out on Shabbat. Um the bottom line is even though the shofar is a good defense attorney the shofar is good. Shofar and Shofar LLC one of the best law firms anywhere. Shofar and Shofar they could bail you out of any but even better than Shofar and Shofar LLC is the best defense attorney of all. She could bail you out of any trouble as long as you treat her well. Your wife. You know your wife could get you out of any mess as long as you don't abuse her. Our wife is Shabbat. She's the benzug of the Jewish people. She's our defense attorney. But this year you got to be extra careful. You got to treat her well. You got to treat her well. This year you really have to treat the Shabbat well cuz Shabbat is what's going to bail us out this year. That was last night's share in a nutshell. Okay, last question. >> Um someone told me once about maybe you mentioned it after the honey. Someone mentioned to me once that the shiva minim that honey represents din and that's why we don't dip the apple and that's why many people are not dipping the apple in the honey. What does the rub say about that? >> The first thing I say is that if somebody told you something, it's irrelevant. You need to ask them, "Where does it say it?" Who cares? Who cares what somebody told you? Why is that have any bearing on Judaism? No. Don't pay attention to things people tell you. Tell them you want to see the source. Okay? Next. There's a song called "Dip the apple in the honey, make a bracha loud and clear." No. The song is incorrect. It's halachically erroneous. You do not make the blessing on the apple. Instead, you make the blessing on the shivas minim, on the pomegranate or the date. That's the halacha. That you make a because when you have two fruits and one of them is shivas minim, you need to make the blessing on a fruit. So, not only should you ignore things that people tell you, you should also ignore common folk songs, okay? And that's a very important lesson. Now, if somebody tells you something, "Aizeh hu chacham? Haloei made me chol adam." You need to learn from everyone. You should learn from them that maybe yeah, maybe no. And then you need to educate yourself. What is the source for this teaching or halacha? And uh this way you'll know on your own. Nobody Nobody owns Judaism. Not your friend, not the rabbi. Every The most important thing is you need to uh constantly educate yourself. You can't be reliant and dependent on things that people say. K'siva v'chasima tovah. Good gebentschen. Good. >> You've just experienced [music] another Torah class brought to you by torahanytime.com.