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The FIRST Antisemitic conspiracy | Parsha Perspectives | Toldos 5786

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Rabbi Efrem Goldberg avatar
Rabbi Efrem Goldberg

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Good morning Bogerto. Welcome back to para perspectives for today. As always we begin with gratitude to our generous para series sponsors Becky and Avi Katz and family in memory of Becky's father our learning shabilish David Gman David Benish. This morning we're also honoring the schlloim and the memory of Sand Ar Benze Dove grandson of our beloved Murray in F should have comfort and strength during this impossibly difficult time as Nash aliyah as we mark his schlloim through our learning together. If you have a cell phone here it's fantastic. Please turn it off. Please turn it to vibrate. Please try to help make it not disturb anyone throughout this year. We're on page 124. We have the privilege and pleasure this morning of learning parastold the beginning of our forming of a family which then will become a nation a people and the para picks up where we left off told us told us a lead these are the legacy this is the story of the son of a gave birth tokashi has a very enigmatic very strange somewhat peculiar comment here on this puk rashi tells us. Who are these told those? What is the Torah telling us? Raiser Nar has a beautiful description of it. Quotes from his grandfather or from his father rather from the oral Yahu about this. Sorry. What is Rashi really getting at? of says Jacob as amur and para who are the offspring who are the progeny Jacob and Asov whom we'll meet in the para who are spoken about in the para wonders what in the world did Rashi just add when Rashi has a comment he's answering a question when Rashi has a comment he's solving a problem what problem did we have with these are the offspring of Yitzk the son of Ara gave birth to Yitzk we know who the offspring are they're Jacob of how else could you have explained who these are? So the illusion, the hint is in the letter Vos. The fact that the letter V, it doesn't say these are the offspring. It says and we were all taught never to begin a sentence, never to begin a paragraph with the word and. basic English don't begin with the word and and yet the Torah here with the letter V told us the VV is beginning with the word and and these are the offspring in that letter VV is the answer to the question which I'm not going to tell you right now because it is a long and beautiful essay but it is um it is not for now told us Rashi also tells us famously why do I need to be told ye is the son of a gave birth So another famous tells us because there were the scoffers and the cynics, the clowns and the jesters, the sarcastic people of the generation who challenged not the son of Aram. Do you have any idea how old Aram was when Yuk was conceived and born? He can't be the father. Who is the father? We all know Sarah was coorting with Avi Melik. Aimelik had his eyes on Sarah. So who's the real father? How many years did Sarah live with Abra? No child. How did he respond? How did he answer? He made Yeets be the spitting image of Aram. When everyone saw Ara, when everyone saw Yitz, rather, they said, "You look just like your father." I was so confused for a minute. I thought it was your father. I thought I was talking to Aram. Hashem makes a miracle. The is the spitting image of Aram in order to preclude in order to offset this terrible thing that the late son that the cynics and scoffers of the generation said, namely that that Aimelik was the father. So I told you recently my cousin came out with a new safer ador. He had a former safer aron. My cousin of arans of Lakewood. So in his new says the following. He makes a point I never thought of. I wonder if you did. We know at the end of last week's para is giving birth to children left and right. God bless him into old age. Aram triple digits still having kids. Unbelievable. Beautiful. He's having many children with Cura Hagar who lives past Sara. So, and meanwhile, Sarah is the one who only has one child and it took her till she was 90. So, if people were to look back and wonder where was the fertility problem in this union, was it with Aram or was it with Sarah? Aram has a Yeshal and Aram is popping out lots of other children now through Catura, through Hagar. So, who's the source of the problem? This late sonos makes no sense. It's illogical. It's irrational. Even the cynic scoffer who wants to plant seeds of suspicion and controversy. It's illogical. If in fact she gave birth to he didn't make the miracle smaller is the one with the miracle. This was stamus. So if these cynics and scoffers are offering stamus, they're just making fun. They're just being cynical. Why did God have to respond with a miracle? Why did he have to make the spitting image of there was never a real suspicion? There was never anything to it. If anyone would analyze, if anyone would investigate, if anyone would actually bother to check it out rationally, logically, they would realize that Aram has a lot of children. He's not the source of the fertility problem. Surely it's his son. Son is the one the miracle occurred through. They would never actually have validity to this contention that it was avi. So why did Hashem have to make a miracle? If it's sonus, that makes no rational sense. Why did God need to make a miracle? And here he's quoting from brisk. And why do I why did this speak to me? Why did this make it into the para perspectives for today? Because this is exactly what we're seeing. The entire phenomenon of social media, political pundits, social commentaries, they all begin this way. The whole phenomenon that we're seeing right now that is tragically dangerous, the splintering in the conservative movement on the right, all the qu I'm just asking questions. The whole movement and methodology of Tucker Carlson and his ilk that I'm just asking questions. I'm just asking questions that maybe Epstein was really an agent of Israel. I'm I'm just asking questions. Just a I'm just asking it's just I'm just asking questions. It's true if you investigate. It's true if you think logically and rationally you would dismiss it. It makes no sense whatsoever. There's no evidence for it at all. But the late sonas that planting of seeds, it's pernicious. Penetrates. It transforms people's anchor, what they think, and goes from I'm just asking questions and the next thing you know there's a whole movement of people who believe it, who believe it. This is not new. What we're seeing and what we're suffering from, what we're experiencing, maybe Hashem responded because today Twitter is down as are millions of websites because the host, this is a little hint, what could happen in our life and in our world. But some I don't know how it works. Some internet host of these websites. Millions of sites are down, including Twitter trying to follow what happened in Gushetion this morning. Our heart goes out to the family of those who were injured. A 30-year-old man was stabbed and killed. A terror attack in the Gushetsion Sagush where there've been way too many terror attacks. We daven what's happening. The fastest news source is X is Twitter, but it's down. It's like shut it down. The late son had been silenced. Maybe that too is a miracle in our time. But this methodology, what we're seeing today is nothing new also suffered from it. The I'm just asking questions cynically asking questions, planting seeds. It becomes the new truth, the new reality. And people people plant wicked seeds. Tucker, Dave Smith, Candace. It starts I'm just asking questions. I'm just asking questions. And then it becomes an even question. Nobody's even challenging. So dangerous, so risky that the master respond. And he makes a miracle to offset the lights. You'd say to yourself, for that he makes a miracle. Does doesn't make miracles stop. The Almighty doesn't suspend the rules of nature for no reason. If he does, it's because he sees something as a threat, as a danger. That is the danger. So the brisk says that's the danger of the door. It's irrational, illogical, makes no sense. I'm just asking questions. I'm just asking questions. Maybe Epstein, maybe this. What if? Who controls who? Why that? Maybe this happened for that reason. Stop asking questions. But that late son turns into an MS so dangerous and such a threat that the rebon himself needs to respond. What happens is 40 years old when he takes Rifka the daughter of Basel the sister of lowly ising to we'll have to translate in a moment what means for his wife because she's barren and Hashem's will is transformed and indeed Rifka con Rifka conceives Rifka conceives What is this word? So let's go through several interpretations. Several interpretations. Where should we start? Rashi says the word is simply trying to paint a picture, right? This drama is unfolding before our eyes. And the Torah is painting a picture. Rifka's in this corner. Yitslak's in this corner. Not two heavyweight fighters who are coming to fight each other. Two heavyweight righteous people who are coming to pray. This one's in this corner davening. That one's in that corner dabing. Why do we care? We painted a picture. The drama is helpful. But why do we care where they stood? So the Rasham Rash's grandson interprets differently. Opposite doesn't mean their posture or physically where they're standing. Opposite means on behalf of is dominating for Rifka's dominant want a child too. So the elaborates not worried. And why is not worried? Because the Torah promised, Hashem promised through there'd be a continuity. So says, "I just have to look at my father." He struggled for a long time with my mother. My mother was kind enough to allow for Hagar so that there'd be a So if Rifka it doesn't work out, I'll take also my hagar and I know it's going to go through me. I'm good to go. I'd prefer it to be with Rifka. If it's not with Rifka, it'll be with someone else. But I'm good to go. So says not worried about himself. For whom is he domining? He's domining for Rifka. He wants it to be through Rifka. So why does it say why doesn't it name his wife? It should say Rifka. We know it's why simply use the pronoun his wife. Why not spell out who it is? So theo jumps in the anticipating this question writes that his children would come from Rifka the most suitable wife for him whoever else you're going to find whoever will be the backup whoever will be the understudy it might help me have a continuity that's not my wife my basher is that's my Rifka So the no is ding opposite of the one he feels is his most suitable mate isto namely who is that? That's Rifka. So so far we've seen Rashi and we've seen the Rashbam theuni theo four interpretations of what the word len means. But no can mean something else can mean something more something more. The writes opposite her. Why? Because in order to be able to most authentically, sincerely, genuinely davin for her, he had to feel he's standing opposite her. He had to see and feel her pain. She's not an idea. Her name is written in someone's app group. She's not written on some pekk, some note on the bulletin board in the yeshiva or the entrance of the shul. Please have in mind for Tahillum. She's not just some name in a group on an email chain on a bulletin board. He's standing l you want to din for someone then you have to empathize. You have to feel their pain. You have to know their plight. You have to understand their agony. Connect to their torment. You have to know what they're going through. That makes the daming more sincere, more real. Why? Because you're no longer domining only the no for them. But when you feel what they're going through, now you're domining for what? Now you're ding for you. Now you're no. You're not just sympathizing with, but you're empathizing. It's not the other person's pain, but it becomes your own. It's a pain which is it's a pain which is it's opposite. It's opposite and it's for and that's the reality in our lives when we think about the people who need and demand the moment artos we should familiarize ourselves with their story with their plight with their pain the more we know the more we understand the more we can connect the more we are then the deeper our feeling will be the more authentic the more real it will it will go the I like to quote the I've been telling you we went to liska this past summer the liskar of of [clears throat] who was the rebi of until you can say I'm going to keep telling you the great was orphaned at a young age went to go live with the and became his tal his student before he himself became a reba of ker and now we have shuls have coffee corners in his memory all over all because of the and then he says the following listen to this insight He says is characterized by what quality is? Strict justice. If you're all about den, then you're not about. Why? If you're about justice, then whatever Hashem is giving you, whatever Hashem is determined for you, that is the den. That's what you deserve. What are you going to go argue with the judge? Please find favor, be kind, please bend the rules, be flexible. If you're all about justice, you get what you deserve. If you get what you deserve, you're not about dinging. I last week's para, he's davening in the field. It must be that that's not a dvening of requests. That's a ding of gratitude, of praise of Hashem. But you don't ask Hashem to change his mind because that would go that would run counterdo. If you deserve then you don't need the d. If you don't deserve then ding won't and shouldn't help. So stands for is not ding. He doesn't want some hand out. He's all about he's all about earning it. says the he's for I'm about so there's no reason you should change your mind for me because if I deserve it I'll get it if I don't get it I didn't deserve it I'm not trying to influence you with ding but she's so for her her mida you can appeal even through ding that is what the has to say. That's interpretation number five or six. I lost count. He says the following. He says, She is dabbling in the merit of whose are heard more readily. Rashi tells us who's Felos go who's got the higher speed connection above Saddic Ben Saddic or Sadik Ben Rasha I would have thought righteous the daughter of the wicked that's impressive if you became righteous even though you grew up in the home of a wicked that's more impressive if you're righteous and you grew up a home of the righteous okay you're supposed to you had great role models you're supposed to be righteous so feel is more impressive should rise faster or higher that sadic sadik is bas and yet rashi tells us that sadik bin sadic goes higher how is that why is that if you look at tragically too many rabbitic families the answer is obvious and clear alenu and that is if you're the daughter or son of a wicked person you should be so turned off so disappointed so repulsed by what you see that you run the other way to be a righteous person but if you grew up in the home of a gul. If you grow up in the home of a righteous person, then you say, "How can I measure up? How can I compare or compete? I'm not going to bother." [clears throat] So many children who grew up in such homes. We don't talk about it a lot. It's not nice to say or to point out, but many family struggle of great gdollum of very well-known prominent Torah personalities, scholars, righteous men and women whose children grow up in their shadow. And because they're in that shadow, it's hard to even compare or compete. So to be a sadic ben sadic to be a gul beng to be at sadkas the daughter of sades to embrace what you saw to say I'm going to try to fill the shoes I'm going to come out from that shadow I'm going to live that way that's even more impressive so Rifka understood and knew that she was therefore domining in the merit of ye said my wife is domining in my merit because she knows that saddic but sadic goes higher I'm domining in the merit that she's domining in my merit And therefore that's what each was tapping into. That's what each was tapping into. Others say others say this says others say oh we saw last week fascinating we saw last week that conceives right after aime two weeks ago. Right after that's when from there the concludes that when you need the same thing as someone else and you ding that they are answered first you're answered first when you ding for someone else who needs the same thing you're answered first we gave the Arab shabas kola on that topic two weeks ago a shir on that how does that work why does that work one thing is very clear from the and all the opinions. It doesn't work when you're doing it as a cute thing to be answered first. So if somebody wants to have children, they find someone else who needs children. They do for the other person as a scheme. So they're answered first, then it doesn't work. It has to be sincerely din for the other person. And one of the reasons we saw was why why does that work? Because whenever we're dabbing for ourselves, we're biased. Whenever we're dabbing for ourselves, there's a self-interest. But when we're able to dab for the other person, that's let that person get married. Let that person have a child. Let that person make let that person recover from their illness. And Hashem, I'll d for me too, but they're not connected. I care. I love I'm asking you to help and to answer that other person. That's that's genuine and sincere. It's selfless. And it's a merit of that that Hashem listens to you. So here he's domining for Rifka is domining for him also it's true they both need the same thing but when they prioritize and do for the other person that's more sincere that's more authentic says to Hashem I can bear the pain of baronness but my wife can't do it for her I'm domining for her even though I'm doing it and domining for her but I want to tell you the last interpretation we learned it together in the amunir for those to attend or listen to the amun but I want to repeat it here because this is the par you are headed in the right direction you're on the right flight in a safer and then I realized this year that the also brings it down as do several others quote from the zerakadesh who wrote the zerakodeses the zera kodesh was written by the holy rupshitzer the great and the zerakodesesh writes in parto Listen to what he says. This is unbelievable. Is always ding to hem. We usually put the comma. Is dvening to Hashem where? In the corner opposite his wife. For whom? On behalf of his wife. says the holy rupture putting the ka in the wrong place is domining what is what he's domining for is hashem it's hard enough on my wife she's struggling with infertility among the most painful and difficult and lonely and strugg among the most difficult hashem let her not only not go through that but as she goes through that journey and that suffering Let Hashem be noto, let her not lose her connection to you, her faith in you. Let her never lose you. What's that? Hashemto, Hashem, let you always be opposite. Let you always be opposite my wife. And the holy expands it is an illusion to the Jewish people. are going to go through a gulus. Jewish people individually, collectively are going to go through hard times. And when they go through hard times, often that hard time is compounded not only by the physical struggle or emotional, but the spiritual. The spiritual I wrote an article two weeks ago. I had spoken about this too about a letter I got before Rashashana. the Jew who wrote his letter writing off God, "I'm angry. I don't see you. I'm giving up on you. I'm turning against you." And my response to him, and I can't tell you the outpouring of letters I received since, how many people feel so alone? How many are struggled to connect with Hashem? But those relationships are raw and they're real and they're authentic. Why? So many feel abandoned. So many are victims of abuse. So many have struggled whether in their upbringing or their educational system because they were undiagnosed at the time with ADD or other things. They were thrown out or they were marginalized or they were ignored and they therefore struggled. And we have to d for them and for all of us that not only people not have to go through that hard time but as they're going through whatever hard time let it not be compounded by feeling I've abandoned I don't have Hashem I'm walking away what was let Hashem always be opposite his wife always be opposite Knesses Moving along. So she conceived these children she's conceived are agitating inside her and she says if so why me? Hashem and she goes to investigate from Hashem. She goes to investigate. She goes to investigate from Hashem. So the um these children are agitating. Why are they agitating? Why are they agitating? So running walks by he's agitating. He's trying to run. He's trying to get out. He's trying to escape. He wants to be in the yeshiva. When they pass the house of Zara, As is agitating is trying to escape. As is trying to get out of Mayor Salv, the son of the briskerv, I don't understand. Kasha ladifka who wrote maybe. Why is she bothered? What happens? Rifka conceives these twins. She doesn't know it's twins at the time. There's no sonogram. Few years ago, a holy member of our shul came to me in chabas and said that his wife went to the hospital in labor. Friday night she was feeling pain. She went in labor. He stayed back to watch all the kids. He got a call from the hospital that in fact she's having twins and there's an emergency and it's best for him to come. And he wanted to know should he go? I said you didn't you didn't know you were having twins. How's that possible? So apparently the rebat held unless medically mandated better not to get a sonogram. Leave things to God unless you need to know for medical reasons. Don't get a sonogram. No need to know what's going on inside. So he had no idea. He had no idea. It's possible even in our time. Rif had no idea she was having twins. So what she thinks is this is one singular child with a dual split personality. And that's what frightened her because very frightening for a parent is my child will have no conviction, no beliefs, no consistency. They'll just blow at the wind. They'll constantly change. They're going to be a griper and a grifter. These are new terms in today. What are gripers and grifters? Ask your grandchildren. What are grop gripers and grifters? They're internet pe personalities, influencers who take whatever position will get them the most followers, will bring in the most income, the most money. And you're seeing it today. People who used to be our staunchest friends quickly have pivoted to become our archeneem. Why? It gives them the biggest fan base and the most money. So that's what Rifco is afraid of. Maybe I'm carrying a graper or a grifter inside. I'm carrying someone inside who's going to grift to whoever will bring in the most followers the most money. They pass the B med they think that's where I'll get the following. They pass the B Zara that's where I'll get the most money. She's worried. She's worried. So asks the son of the briskar. Why is she so worried? This one child is trying to escape in both places. Maybe the one child wants to get out in the base measures to go learn and when they're passing the base of Zara, you know why he wants to get out? to protest, to lead a rally. Why does she assume the reason he wants to get out is to go into the and to practice the idolatry. So listen to what he says. A child who wants to go to the base is not itching to attend rallies and protests. If you sincerely want to sit and learn, you're not running to rallies and protests. You're sitting and you're learning. So it can't be if he was trying to get out to go to the base mish, such a personality would not be running to go to a rally or to a protest. Interesting. Interesting. The para of also has a interpretation and he says, we're not going to get into it at length, but when the Torah answers There are two children inside you. She says, "What does it mean? What's exactly her language?" She goes to consult. I saw another beautiful she says, "Why am I thinking only about myself?" opposite me. Why am I thinking and doing only about myself? He's domining for me. I shouldn't be domining and thinking only about myself. So what does she goes to consult and what is she told? Two nations are in your womb. Two regimes from your insides shall be separated. What's rashier translates as insides. We translate it as inards. But what do we use it anatomically to mean? What does it really mean anatomically? May our intestines. Intestines. So brings down from your inards from your insides they'll be split one for evil and one for purity one for goodness one for goodness. So of the Israel says you see a hint and illusion from here. The fact that the Torah says from your intestines, from your kishkas, from your insides, you see that eating is an aod. Eating can be a holy act. Eating can be a mundane act. Eating can elevate or eating can lower. eating can make you a saddic or a Russia. Our whole para a theme that runs throughout is the attitude and the aod of how we eat. Somebody who eats in a gluttonous manner. Somebody who stuffs their face. Someone who runs to eat. Somebody who's not careful what they eat. Somebody who doesn't pause to make a proper bra with kavana. Somebody who eats excessively. Somebody who eats unhealthy. Somebody who eats in a way they're serving the body gluttonously has lowered and limited themselves. They're debasing themselves. They're acting like an animal. But somebody who eats mindfully with intention. Someone who eats carefully, someone who eats to make a bra. Somebody who eats to live doesn't live to eat elevates themselves. And that's what this whole para is about. How you eat is what separates people. Are you eating in a gluttonous debased animal way or are you eating in a mindful intentional elevated way? There's an illusion from the kishkas from the way you eat is what separates people. And then you see the opposite as of the Russia comes and says give me the red stuff. Rashi says because of ate like an animal. Give me some of that stuff. Give me some of that red. Give me more. Shovel it in. The opposite of because the whole way we eat reveals our whole attitude and aod and way of life from the kishkas from the attitude from the avod of eating is what separates people eating in an elevated or eating in a debased way. When when as ultimately sells the bakura because he's the base because he's an animal because he's indulging in the physical and the mundane he forfeits his soul his spirit the so much so the Torah tells us his eating and drinking the way that he approached eating and drinking made him he dismissed he diminished the We have to learn from here. It's not just what we eat that influences us. It's the way we eat, our mindfulness, our intention, our presence, our portion control. It's not just what we eat, it's how we eat with intention, with thoughtfulness. He has a beautiful essay in his I'm not going to read to you the whole thing, but this is what he says. If we want blessing to flow, if we want the of then how do we interact with our gashmas? Do we transform it? Do we elevate it? Are we elevated by it? Or do we indulge gluttonously? Do we act impulsively? Are we mindful and present or are we mindless eating like animals? The of the is directly correlated with the attitude of the eating we bring for sure follows this throughout. We'll come back to it in a moment when we get to the end of the par the gives Jacob and Isov seem almost the same. So we'll see the subtle difference between them is all about exactly this. What's our relationship with? What's our attitude with? What is our consumption of the physical things in the world? But you see it already from the para the student of the Israeli from these words from the kishkas from the attitude to eating is what separates the saddic and the Russia separates the people and what we bring to it. Yes, we are turning the page. We have these two personalities. As comes back and he says Yakov is busy making this delicious chalant. Super excited to announce that with the change of season and the cold weather that's hit bokeh. It's in like the low 70s, high 60s, we now have in our incredible Raya Cafe and BRS. We've introduced soup last night. First it was onion soup, notem slushies, pastries. Come learn davin just to see friends, enjoy, make a braha. Another reason to come to the holy boar atone synagogue. We have holy soup. So Asv comes back from the field. When you come back from your day hunting, hunting the next deal, hunting the supermarket, hunting at the rehab, wherever you're hunting, hunting the doctor's office, the waiting room, wherever you're hunting when you come back. So now we have soup waiting for you. But hopefully you'll eat it. Eat the soup like a yakov, not like an asv. Because as comes back and he says, "Give me some of this red stuff. Edom and therefore he's called red edom the g the gullis the exile we still find ourselves in today is the gullis Adam that nation is still called edom all originated by the forefather because he asked for some of that red stuff some of that red stuff now interesting I never noticed this rashi says who called him who called him says give me the red stuff al therefore for his name was called Edom. His name was called is a very passive description who called him Edom. They got together they made him the rabbi took a cup of wine wherever he is. So Rashi says who called him who called him. Others said the US means kulum. Everybody, that was his name on the street. That's how he was known. That was his nickname. That was his handle on Twitter, on Facebook, on Instagram. He was probably even on Tik Tok because he was Asa. Not everyone on Tik Tok as now I'm going to get the emails. I'm not saying he was on wherever he was. Whatever his handle, his name was Asov. Edom. Edom. He was called Edom. But the Torah is ambiguous and that's probably by design. So who called him that? Who called him that? So say is a fascinating suggestion quotes from Ebing. Who called him that? Miko who atmo he himself. How said for now on know me as Adam. Call me. When did he say that? He he demonstrated that all he cares about is the external, the physical, the mundane. He revealed I'll I'll explain it in these words. Through the way he carried himself, through his actions, through his behavior, through his choices, he earned a brand. You know, we have a brand. Every one of us has a brand. Are we generous? Are we stingy? Are we punctual? Are we late? Are we kind-hearted? Are we are we cruel? Are we complimentary? Are we hyperritical? What's our brand? How are we thought of when someone says your name to someone else? What immediately comes to mind? Every one of us have a brand. The same way there's an emotional connection and relationship with brands. If I say Nike or Nordstrom, if I say Boca Raton synagogue or Goldber, everyone has a brand, there's an emotional connection, association, affiliation, and we immediately have things that come to mind. What's your brand? What's your brand? We create and we earn a brand by the way we behave, by the way. Says, you know who called him? As how he got up and he said, that's my name. That's how I want to be referred to. No, through his behavior that was the brand that he earned. I said last week in Shuluk has a beautiful insight on [clears throat] last week's para when Eleazar comes and he meets Rifka. He says bas whose daughter are you? And by the way, do you have an extra bedroom? Do you have a guest room at home? Does your father does your father in his house have a guest room? a place for me to crash wonders. Those are two legitimate questions, but they seem entirely disconnected. One is a shik question. No basmat, where's your resume? Where is your father? Where are his tax returns? Where's the pharmacy log? Where's the lab results? Where's everything I need to know for the shak basmat? Yes, I'm being cynical, but bas, who's your father? Who's your father? What's his net worth? How much does he earn? Basmia separate and parallel from that I need a place to stay do you have a guest room why is that all these two questions in one puk has a magnificent insight he says they're not disconnected they're entirely intertwined the answer to bas is does your father have a guest room I could stay tonight I want to know basat where do you come from how were you raised what's your family brand and in order to know the answer to that question. I have one other question. Do you have room for me in your house? Because after all, Alzar is sent on a mission. A says, "Find someone from my family." How will he know if they're from the family of Ara? What mida? What character trait? What practice my used to? that he grew up in a home that was known their brand in Elizabeth before right was my great-grandfather would be sent to show on Friday night if he came home without a guest my great-grandmother was disappointed in him it wasn't just if there was someone if they made an announcement if there was a person who had no place to go feel free we'll squeeze them in it was don't you dare come home without a guest so my grandfather where would he sleep they didn't have a lot of bedrooms there was no guest suite He slept in the bathtub. No water. No water. There was a pillow and a blanket. That was his bed. Many or most Friday nights because that was the family brand. Not only we'll sign up begrudgingly if you can't find anywhere else. If there isn't a hotel motel, if nobody else gave a yes, fine. It was absolutely make us the first on the list. I don't want to hear that you put the guest somewhere else. Don't come home from shu without a guest. That was the family brand. So Eleazar is asking Rifka new where do you come from? Where were you raised? What kind of home do you live in? And how will I know the answer to that question? Do your parents have a place for me to stay? What's your brand? What's your brand? When Boaz meets Russ, he says, he's observing and he sees how she's behaving and he says, "Who who raised her? Who does she belong to? I see her quality. I see her character. Who does she belong to? Who does she belong to? I said, Lash Shabas, you know, sometimes I get a call and they say, "Rabbi, quick, what committee can I volunteer on? Where can I volunteer?" said, "Is there a committee? Is there an upcoming event? Where can you plug me in?" I said, "That's wonderful. Let's talk about your talents, your skills, what you want to do. Why all of a sudden this awakening? Where did this come from that you're calling me? And so suddenly, so urgently, you need to be volunteering. You need to be plugged in. You know what? Often the answer is I have a child going into my wife told me that the rabbi is going to start to get calls and the references on the list are going to start to get calls and they're going to ask, "Are the parents involved in anything in the community?" So quick, rabbi, plug me in, sign me up, place me. I need to do as many as I can quickly. So, it's good. On the one hand, it's never too late. And on the other hand, it takes a lifetime to build a brand. If your brand all those years until your child's ready to date is you never do anything. You don't show up. You don't volunteer. You don't give. That's not you. It's hard to change your brand overnight. Overnight. So, it's such a beautiful insight. And therefore his name was called Adam who maybe the street society but says you know who gave him that name he gave it himself I we don't label or name ourselves punctual or late generous or stingy hospitable we don't name ourselves literally it means our actions our actions pyavos quotes sages why does it tell He used to say just tell us what they said. So many interpret means the way he lived his life said this about him. He never said it explicitly. He never actually articulated. He never annunciated the words. But who who he was and how he lived omare it spoke volumes about who he was. The theme, the common denominator of all these ideas is how we live our lives, our behavior. It becomes our brand. It says everything about who we are. Moving right along. A famine. We This is not the first time. We've seen this story before. He goes down. He's not allowed to leave Israel. He's in Tima. But his famine forces him to the pleim gur and hashem tells him don't go down to mitim come to gr and he goes through the same the same story as his father she's my sister and then takes her and then hashem has to intervene intercede confronts we've seen this whole story before keep going and then the prophetic dispute over the wells what happens had dug wells. Now, it means literally, but it's also an illusion, a metaphor for symbolically to dig wells is to reveal the hidden blessing and to make it accessible and available to others. And that after all was Aram's mission. That was Alam's life to dig wells. Wells of wisdom, wells of truth, wells of blessing. And the came and they filled them all up. So much so that had to dig them all again. And he gave him the same names as the names that his father had given. That were dug by his father previously. on these words says birth was connected with laughter according to some the embraces translated as follows and sah said hashem has made laughter for me everyone that hears will laugh on account of me rash and render the word not as laughter but as joy other commentators among them translate the word laughter literally people laughed at the event They didn't believe that would inherit a that he a young lad of the new generation would continue to carry out Aram's visions and laws. That he would engage in building altars and calling in the name of Hashem when Aram dies. People said his entire philosophy will perish. His altars will be dismantled. They didn't hate Yitzk. They belittled him. They laughed. They derided. But they did not hate. They didn't hate Yitzk. They laughed at him. He was a laughingstock. Why? They thought Aram these old and archaic and outdated ideas. Huh? The new generation, they're not going to embrace the new generation. I don't even know what letter in the alphabet we're up to. Millennials, generation Z, generation this, generation that, whatever is the latest that we're up to. Ah, they're going to laugh. Archaic, outdated, they can't relate to. They derided, but they didn't hate. Years passed. Those who are want to laugh at Yitzk and the hopes that Aram pinned on him suddenly began to ask is Yitzk really sincere in his efforts to resuscitate Aram's work. What is going on? They rubbed their eyes. Yitsk was indeed continuing with Aram's enterprises. He was fighting for the same ideals, doing the same things his father had done. And the laughter ceased. They stopped making jokes on Yitzuk's account. They began to fight against him. In place of derision came jealousy and hatred. The cynics, scoffers of the time, the leanador who want to bandi jokes stories and slander about a suddenly became the wicked of the time who thought to crush yitzk. Now they recognized his existence. Now they felt hatred and jealousy. Jealousy as usual leads to oppression and persecution but also brings about respect. They began to hate Yitzk but they also began to respect him. In this attitude towards we may discern the first victory of Aram's house. It is better to be an object of jealousy and hatred which lead to respect than an object of pity which is always accompanied accompanied by derision and contempt. I found this insight that the RV gave many decades ago. Again, it's timeless and it's just as true today. He could have offered it today because we too those same cynics and scoffers that we started with who begin with it's illogical, irrational, doesn't irrational doesn't make sense. just asking questions. I'm just making a joke. I'm just dropping a cynical comment. It becomes truth. It's pernicious. It's dangerous because it can penetrate and it become true. Just like today, those who look at the Jews and say their ideas, their dress, it's outdated. It's archaic. It's done. But that laughter has turned into jealousy and hate that also come from respect disproportionately giving us credit. Jews control this. Jews are in charge of that. All of America decides because of the Jews. First of all, if you look at the outcome of the election in New York, clearly Jews have very little control over almost anything. We now don't have control of California, we can't influence New York. We have so little control. We don't determine outcomes. If the president gives Saudi Arabia these planes without normalizing with Israel, I don't think anyone is following orders from Israel or from the Jews. It's irrational. It's illogical. It's not evidence-based, but it doesn't matter because the ador just keep repeating it over and over and over and it goes from laughter to jealousy which leads to oppression and persecution and hate and it's laced with a little bit of respect and says Salvet better at least to be the object of jealousy and hatred which lead to respect than an object of pity which is always accompanied by derision and by contempt. Rabbi Saxs also has a comment here says Rabbi Saxs says Rabbi Saxs the newish that are now available for you to read on Shabas or any day of the week here in the Bookerone sh Rabbi Saxs writes centuries later parro will say at the beginning of the book of Exodus you see the Jewish people are many and more powerful than we come let us wisely let us deal wisely with them in case they increase and if war breaks out they may join our enemies and fight against us, escape the land. That same word, power describes, we say it also in the seder. How are the Jewish people described? Why are they a danger and threat? They are atsum power. Powerful. Same word as a melik stated reason for sending away. You've become too become much too powerful for us. Our passage signals the birth of one of the deadliest of human phenomena, anti-semitism. Here it is traces itself all the way back to here. Amy Chua's thesis in her book World on Fire, writes Rabbi Sachs, is that any conspicuously successful minority will attract envy that may deepen into hate and provoke violence. All three conditions are essential. The hated group must be conspicuous, otherwise it would not be singled out. It must be successful, otherwise it would not be envied. And it must be a minority, otherwise it would not be attacked. More specifically, what gives rise to anti-semitism is the phenomenon of wealth without power. Anti-semitism is a complex protein phenomenon protein phenomenon because anti-semites must be able to hold together two beliefs that seem to contradict one another. Jews are so powerful they could should be feared at the same time so powerless that they can be attacked without fear. Emotions are not rational. There's a world of difference between rationality and rationalization. Wealth without power precisely describes the position of Yeitz among the pishtim. The pishim do not ask yet to share his water with them. They do not ask him to teach them how he discovered a source of water. The day residents of the place did not. They do not even simply ask him to move on. The act of stopping up the wells harms them more than it harms. It robs them of a resource that will in any case become theirs once the famine ends and returns home. More than hate destroys the hated, it destroys the hater. More than hate destroys the hated, it destroys the hater. And this two and the areent of what will eventually happen to the Jewish people in Egypt. By the time of the plague of locust, we read parro's officials tell him, "How long must we leave this man to ensnare us?" In fact, they say to parro, you may think you're harming the Jewish people, you're harming us. This is the self-destructive nature of hate. Those calling for BDS against Israel. Could you imagine? Now Israel came out produced a non-dairy milk. Everyone see the news of that yesterday. They can draw water out of thin air. Israeli technology. They can help you drive where you want to go knowing where the police are hiding ways. The Intel chip in your laptop and your phone. It was comes from Israel. So many of the security high cyber security is from Israel. And now just this week they invented I didn't follow it closely. What was it? It's milk that doesn't come from a cow. It's not almond or tofu or some other or soy. It's lab grown milk. Is that what it is? Any of you people follow the news here? [laughter] Ignoramus bores. No, nobody saw this news. Only the lactose intolerant. Smartum. I understand why you didn't bother following the news. But if you're Ashkanazi, what was your excuse for not following the news about a dairyfree milk? That's a gift to you. No. Anyway, so those calling for BDS, they're punishing themselves. They're punishing themselves to alienate and isolate Israel, to cut off and shut off Israel. That form of anti-semitism is still true today. It's irrational. And again, it's the exact same story that tells itself 3,300 years more, 4,000 years, still telling the same story again and again. Wealth without power. The contradiction that on the one hand, Jews are so powerful they should be feared. Isn't that what our enemies are saying right now? And yet, and yet at the same time so powerless that we can attack them without fear. Which is it? It's irrational. It makes no sense. He writes in Nzar apa sure also writes about he says the very word it comes from from this he writes the lion of the bat writes in Torah or is So all the all these wells filled them up is it's something which is split. What is the core root of the attitude of the late cynicism scoffers? What we're seeing right now is just a repetition of what we saw so many times before. Okay, we didn't get to the at the end of the par where's the biggest is give me a huge check and I never have to come back to you again. Where's the give me enough for today and I'll come back to you tomorrow and I'll ask you again and then I'll come back to the day after and then I'll come back to the day after. The bigger would be give me everything I'll need for the end of time in one shot. Not that I have to keep coming back. What's that's not a that's a only is a a huge bra. But we don't have time. Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy, stay holy. Have a wonderful week with Benefit from us.