Rabbi Yitzchak Aminov | CHAZAQ Tisha B'Av Marathon

We'd like to thank the grill for for hosting this wonderful much [clears throat] needed event. Khazak. And of course Torah anytime for streaming it. And you're at zone by next Tisha B'Av we should be streaming live in Jerusalem Kodesh with the Messiah to come and be Amen. I like to share with you a Gemara in Maseches Sanhedrin and to reveal the conversation between Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi and Eliyahu Hanavi. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi had the zechut to speak to Eliyahu Hanavi and he asks him, "Eliyahu when is Messiah going to come?" The most famous question, the million-dollar question, we ask every single day for over 2,000 years. When is Messiah going to come? And Eliyahu Hanavi says "Ask him yourself. Why are you asking me? Do I look like Messiah to you? You ask him yourself." He says, "Okay, I'll ask him. But where can I find him?" And Eliyahu Hanavi replies to him "A pit'ha de Romi." You can find him in the entranceway of Rome. You want to find Messiah? He's by the gate of Rome. He's sitting over there. He's situated himself by Rome and over there you'll find him. Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says, "Okay. I'm sure there are more than one person situated by the gates of Rome. I'm sure there's a group of people. There are hundreds of people. When I get to Rome, how will I know which one is Moshiach, who's Moshiach? Says Eliyahu, there's going to be a group. And the group of people that are sick, they're not well. He's part of that group. And Rashi says in the Gemara, what type of sickness? Rashi says tsaraat. Leprosy. He's a leper. Moshiach situated himself by the gate of Rome. He's part of a group with sick people. And what sickness do they have? Tsaraat. Leprosy. Then Eliyahu says, I know you're going to ask me a fourth question. Out of all those people, which one is Moshiach? Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi ben Levi says, exactly. I'm sure there's 50 to 100, maybe 200 people that are part of this sick group that have tsaraat, which one of them is Moshiach? Eliyahu ben Levi tells him clear instructions. You'll find once a day at a certain hour all the lepers removing their bandages. They put new cream, ointment, and they put new bandages. The difference between the the people and Moshiach is that everyone else removes their bandages all at once. They put the ointment, and they put the bandages back. Moshiach removes each bandage one by one, separately. And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi says, why does Moshiach do that? He says, because he has to be ready at any moment." If he's busy like the rest of the people removing his bandages all at once, it it'll take much more time. And he has to be ready when Hashem calls him and says, "Mashiach, let's go. It's time to reveal yourself. Time for salvation." He's going to say, "Okay, Hashem, I need 2 more minutes. Let me put all the bandages back together. Give me 2 more minutes." Not to even delay 2 minutes, Mashiach removes each bandage one by one to be ready, to be quick, to bring salvation to the people. And the Gemara continues and says, Rabbi Yeshua ben Levi makes his way to Rome. He takes a trip to Rome. He gets to the gateway of Piska de Romi. He finds the group of people that are choleem with tzaraat, and he's watching that hour that every everyone removes their bandages. And he notices one man takes each bandage one by one. And he approaches him. He says, "Melech Hamashiach, when are you going to come? When are you going to reveal yourself?" And Mashiach says, "I'm ready today. Every day I'm ready. Look how I remove my bandage one at a time. It's much easier for me to remove everything. It's much less painful. But I remove each bandage one at a time because I want to be ready. I'm ready today. But the question is not when I'm coming. Cuz I'm ready to come. The question is, "Are you ready for me to come? Is Klal Yisrael ready for me to come. The Baal Shem Tov he gives his commentary to this Gemara. And he gives a little bit of a different view. Different path. We accept the first answer of the Gemara. It's a wonderful answer. Mashiach removes his bandages one by one because he wants to be ready at any moment. Unbelievable. He's waiting for us. We have to be ready. But the Baal Shem Tov says takes a different twist. Rebbe Yehoshua ben Levi continues Mashiach reveals to him another reason why he takes each bandage one by one. He says, "You know, you see Rebbe Yehoshua, there's a group of people. They're all removing their bandages everyone at the same time, at every hour. In case someone needs help. In case someone is struggling to remove, to add ointment, to get a new bandage. If everyone is removing their bandages at the same time, all at once, Reuben can't help Shimon. And Shimon can't help Levi cuz they're all doing it at once. It's burning and they have to put ointment all at once. So, if Reuben needs help, there's no one to help him. I sacrifice my pain to be able to be there for Reuben or Shimon or Levi or Yehuda, whoever needs my help. So, in case Levi is removing the bandages and he needs help because I'm doing it one by one, I have the luxury of helping whoever needs my help. And Baal Shem Tov says who's Mashiach? He's a friend. His whole mission is to be a friend. His whole mission is to be there for someone else. His whole mission is to not look after himself so much, but make space in his heart big enough for someone else. And Mashiach tells us clearly, "I'm ready every day." But are we ready? You know, all of us we're waiting for Mashiach to repair the world, to fix. But perhaps Mashiach is waiting for us to begin to begin repairing it ourselves. And the way we bring out that energy of Mashiach is to emulate his trait. This is a big secret the Gemara reveals to us. Mashiach is a leper. He's one of us. He can relate. His biggest quality is that he's a friend. And as long as we can emulate that, to start to be a friend. Be a friend. Have Have a heart big enough, enough space for someone else. You know, they say when you look at the mirror, you're looking at the most important person in the world, which is yourself. It's true. And you have to feel that way. But there's another person who's more than who who's as important, at least should be in this season, is the person sitting next to you. Once the person sitting next to you becomes the most important person in the world for you, then that's emulating Mashiach. Because Mashiach is suffering, removing one one bandage at a time just to be able to be available to help someone else remove their bandage. In fact, I'd like to take your attention to another Gemara. Which brings the brings this point out even more. The Gemara is not such a well-known Gemara in Menachot. The Gemara tells us Yavo Yadid. Yadid over here is translated you can translate Yadid in many ways. Beloved, a companion. Another way to translate Yadid is a a friend. So, the Gemara says something unbelievable. Yavo Yadid. There will come a friend. Ben Yadid, the son of a friend. V'yivneh Yadid, and he will build a friend. LeYadid, for the friend. B'chelkoshel Yadid, on the in the portion of Yadid. V'yitchaperu bo yedidim. To cleanse the rest of the friends. Who are these friends? The Gemara says, Yavo Yadid. Yadid here is Amelech. Ben Yadid, the son of Avraham Avinu. V'yivneh Yadid, and he will build Yadid. Build what? Beit Hamikdash. LeYadid, to the friend. To who? For Hakadosh Baruch Hu. B'chelkoshel Yadid. In the portion of Yadid. Whose portion was it built on? Binyamin. V'yitchaperu bo yedidim, to rectify the friends. Who Who's the Beit Hamikdash going to rectify to? Am Israel. The Gemara over here says Melech, Avraham Avinu, Binyamin, Beit Hamikdash, Hakadosh Baruchu, Am Israel, refers to all of them as yedid, a friend. We can give many praises to in many ways. We can give many praises to Avraham in many ways. The Gemara chooses to refer to them as friend. Since when is a building called a friend? The Gemara highlights the quality of being a friend. Because that's the most important quality. That's the quality of Mashiach, like the Baal Shem Tov said. It's to be a friend. Once we have this character trait of being a friend, of reaching out, of having a heart big enough for someone else, of doing a little more, being a little more friendly, we're invoking the power of of Avraham, of Binyamin, of Hakadosh Baruchu, of Binyan Beit Hamikdash, and Klal Israel. Because it's the quality of being a friend which going to bring the Geulah. How many years ago was the Beit Hamikdash destroyed? 1,000 958. How do we know? How do we get to that number? Let's say we forget. How do we calculate it? So, the Chachamim tell us, you want to know how to calculate it? You take the Georgian calendar, our calendar, and you minus it by 68. So, what year are we in today? 2026. You minus by 68, what number do you get? 1958. That's how you know how long ago um the Bait Hamikdash was destroyed. What is this number 68? It's an interesting number. 68 is the gematria of Chaim. Chet, Yud, Yud, Mem. Why Chaim? Why do we Why do we take Chaim to calculate it? Why that word? Chachamim say the Bait Hamikdash was also known as Beit Chaim, the house of life. Out of all names, why that name? You ever gave a compliment to someone? You ever made someone feel good? When you compliment someone, when you make them feel good, what do you give them? You give them life. You know, sometimes a person can make you feel like a million bucks. He He made you feel He He gave you a dose of life. You're on You're on top of the world. You're walking high. You ever got embarrassed? You ever got hurt by someone? You're looking to dig a hole to bury yourself. And these are the words of Hamelech, Mavit v'Chaim b'yad halashon. Chaim, life. The way to know how many years of destruction we take our year and minus 68 Chaim to tell us every single year give life to someone else. Be a friend. Invoke a life. Reach out. Say good words. Be the reason someone else smiles. Be the reason someone else walks proud. Be the reason if someone feels good about themselves. And like this we will we will be able to invoke the Geulah Shleimah and Yirat Shamayim. By next year, like we started, we should be zocheh to be so happy to to sit with Messiah to take you and we should be streaming in Torah any time in Jerusalem and we should be saying stories of of Moed of of of Simcha of of of praise and amen. Thank you for your attention.