A Meaningful Lag B'Omer Message from Rabbi Benzion Klatzko

I have a little minute it's my own little custom which is on Friday night aside from dipping the Holland into the salt which a lot of people do which is the brought down in short on our F in our book of law I also dip the challah in the honey every week I like honey honey is very healthy by the way and I like orange honey orange blossom honey and I take that honey and I dip the challah in the honey every Friday night and sometimes I've guests become they say rabbit why are you dipping challah in honey it's not rush Hashanah Irish Hashanah we do it with the pahala and we also dip the Apple but we don't do it during the year we dip it in the salt why are you doing it every Friday night so I really throw it back on to the questioner and I say let me ask you why do we even do it on Rosh Hashanah what's the point of living in the cow and the honey on Rosh Hashanah and the answer which is always given is that we should have a Shanah Tovah Masuka we should have a sweet beautiful year that's what you want and in order to get a sweet year we take the Apple we take the hollow we dip it into sweet honey and we eat it and that will give us a sweet year and I asked that so how how does that work I mean it'll give me a sweet second while I'm eating it but what about the holy dear how does that make my whole year sweet how does even the cow and honey give me a sweet year interesting the answer is very simple concept is dipping the column in the honey is actually a prayer it's a prayer we are praying through that action of dipping the found on honey we're saying Almighty God you're the source of sweetness in my life in the world and I really want I really need a beautiful sweet year so what I'm gonna do is I'm gonna take the challah and I'm gonna dip it in the honey specifically to show to indicate that I want sweetness it's Rosh Hashanah and you are that source of sweetness on making abraca on the column and that same color then I'm doing the Mitzvah on I'm gonna dip in Adani to indicate to pray that I want to sweet here and that's why we do it so I think um I said well if that's the case if it's a prayer guess when I want a sweet week so why shouldn't I pick the challah dip it in the honey each week because it's really a prayer see the way it works is all of our actions can be prayers we think of praying going to shul going to synagogue taking a book and shaking back and forth and trying to connect them it's not easy prayer is the hardest thing in Judaism people people tell me rabbi you know I can't be religious or I can't do this I I can't because praying is hard I say you know it's hard for me to Shabbat I love so much about easy you know you set yourself up for success Shabbat is wonderful kosher not so difficult today but prayer foreign language same thing every day going to school that's tough but that's not the only way to play that's important and that has to be done that's part of being a Jew but there are other parts as well and part of that is actually that our prayers so when we dip the how on the honey that's a prayer God you get a sweetness it turns out all of our actions can be like that when I raise my children and I am merciful to them and I hug them I take good care of them I'm really praying I'm saying God you know I'm your child and just like I protect my children I hug them and I take care of them please take care of me in the same way my taking care of children become a prayer dancing around the fire and I bummer like a lot of people did yesterday that's a prayer it's not weird it's not strange it's not bizarre it's us praying Torre's compared to fire burns in one's heart I pray I say you know what I want to be so joyous with the Torah that I sing and dance with it and that's even why we remember every Shabbat I tried the source of the holiness of the ZOA of Kabbalah it's a player our actions our prayers it says in the Blessed call a small site to Minor all my bones will state will say God knows like you all of my bones can be involved in prayer so in a halakhah we learned from there the concept of shotgun china praying and i going this i pray i am fulfilling the concept of collapse most say all my bones will declare this don't like you but instead of just shuffling in front of a book i can also go about my day to day and when i eat them when I sleep I'm also praying I'm saying Almighty God I need that energy I don't want to be grumpy I don't want to be angry I'm hungry and angry only behavior I want to be of good spirits and I want to be healthy and I want to live a long life so I could bring up my children and grandchildren got really great grandchildren and therefore I mean am i eating becomes a prayer I want to tell you a really quick story and then I'll end with this because this is it's very meaningful to me my wife and I last week we're gonna go out for smoothies you know it's not gonna get a nice juice based smoothie I bet that lactose-intolerant somebody choose that but I might juice based smoothie now we made up we're gonna leave two o'clock and she comes in and I happened to be in front of my computer waiting for an auction so I been a noise I enjoyed Jewish art it adorns my walls but this was not a piece of art I wanted to bid on I had been waiting over 300 blocks until it was my turn and I predicted the moment it's going to be my turn I was gonna bid online on eBay if it's a live auction so you click bid bid bid I predicted at the moment I'm ready to bid my wife is gonna come and ready for her smoothie so she comes in and sure enough right then time for the auction so I I tell it can you wait one moment I just wanna like bid on this thing she is what are we bidding on I said just one moment one moment trust me one moment so she waited and it was our turn right then and I could bid bid bid bid bar oh hush thank God we won I turned our smallest that we want it she said one what what did we win so I said I don't I don't know if you're gonna understand honestly she said no really what did we win is my money also what are we win I said I'll tell you what we want and actually I'll show you I took the computer and I turned it around and I showed her that we won a hair clippers from Auschwitz she's what what is this I said you know in Auschwitz the Nazis didn't want to waste anything so therefore they would cut off the Jewish people's hair either before or after they were gassed in the gas chambers they would take all that hair and they would send them back to Germany and they would use it for stuffing you can't waste anything the German philosophy you can't waste so they would take that hair they would send it back to Germany and they would take these clippers and they would shave the Jewish Jewish hair with these clippers so sheesh my wife said why do we need Clippers from Auschwitz what's the point and I told her I'll tell you why I said you know there is such a thing called severus to Omer of course spirit where we don't shave we don't cut our hear and the three weeks which is another time well we're mourning about the destruction of Jerusalem so over those three weeks we don't shave we don't don't cut our hair so I'll be honest with you those of you who are watching you know I'm a rabbi and people expect rabbis to have beards but honestly I don't like beards neither does my wife actually if she likes that smooth look I'm a college rabbi and she and she would rather that my face was clean-shaven and I'm not used to a beard so it feels a little prickly also and I can't wait for live Bomer I can't wait for the three weeks to be over so that that moment that I'm a lot of shave I take out my Clippers and I just get it off completely and I feel my smooth cheek that's what I like I couldn't stand the beer but I feel a little bit no bad or guilty I feel like that that sort of missed the point because the three weeks we were mourning during the armor were warning we had sadness we had destruction we lost the temple now the three weeks are over there's a temple rebuilt no do we still have seen my skin a baseless hatred yes so why am I in such a celebratory mood that I could shave I did not accomplish we did not accomplish what we're supposed to the hair is still there the base of mikdash is not rebuilt the air is gonna come off the bed something dish still will not be rebuilt so maybe I missed the hunk wait the morning just in order to get rid of the morning to get rid of the sadness so I had a vision it was my vision my vision was to buy this Clippers and when it's finally time to shave or to get a haircut that the first clip should be with these Clippers from House Rules want to show you he's published emotions and my vision was that I would be saying a prayer Tasha a prayer to God the prayer is it's true we did not get the I make this Reno we don't deserve a death we have fallen short but what will we venture what we as a nation have been cashton shooting in the fields of Babi Yar and yet here we are Jewish and proud so it reminded me of the words will the calls are simple or Schaffner and with everything your name we haven't forgotten so non physical trainer don't forget us even though we've been through it we've been through even though the three weeks are over even though it's live bomber even though I'm gonna shave even my shaving is a prayer to say god I'm always still in mourning even without my beard but I still believe I still trust and I still have hope so I wanted to share this idea with you and actually here let me see if I can bring this close to the camera this is this is a Clippers it was a very well known Clippers called Juno - old fashioned Clippers and it was used all over the world and this is the Germans you could see the word oh it's because see there - what's there yeah see there are woods and Germans were very meticulous and labeling everything I doubt that these have been used since ash wits my guess is these this is gonna be the first clips since our wits who knows how many of our brothers and sisters hairs have been cut before they met their maker I don't even know if it works it may just pull but that's okay also so this is gonna be my first clip and then afterwards I'm gonna shave okay yeah I'm gonna got a hair not much to see but probably the first hair in 73 years since the Holocaust it's my prayer so I wish a prayer for each and every one of you who are watching you should have a wonderful log bohmer dance around your own internal fire y'all have a fire inside of us that refuses to be extinguished dance around that fire appreciate that fire even if it seems a little bit dim and whatever you do however you do it have in mind those beautiful words of King David a sheer illusion behind a somber little Cody Asche relational stink - of the Fae I with my entire life as Umrah little Chi I will I will serenade my god od with my everything with my all my body collapse most like all my body says Hashem I want to connect with you I wish you all a wonderful day thank you for watching