5786/2026 Rav Yitzchak Breitowitz: Yiboneh Tu B'Shvat Seder

You [music] my [music] birthday. [singing] [music] [music and singing] [singing] Shalom everybody. Welcome to the [clears throat] annual seder and I want to thank a few people. First of all, we all came most likely right for to hear Rabbi Brightitz. So, thank you Rabitz for coming. Um it's not the first year. Um but also want to we're just very grateful for all your insights. I want to mention um Yapier. I don't if anybody was by the shook, but Yapier is sings Carly Bach in the shook and u if you ever go to the shook and see him just go over and say hello and thank you very much for coming. [applause] Want to thank my wife. Of course, you know, [applause] >> none of this would have been possible. There's all our seats over here. >> There's one seat over here. >> There's one seat over there. >> Not anymore. >> By the way, you know, we didn't really advertise just through um WhatsApp and our emails. That's it. We didn't [clears throat] have any Facebook. Oh, you you know, we just that's it. And you guys are you answered the call because we turned a lot of people away. Uh in the past, we've had 3 400 people, you know. So, uh we knew we were just going to limit it to a com somewhat comfortable uh space. It would be nice if we could dive in and mar afterwards. >> So, that's at least set. Hopefully, we'll have at least 10 men. That's usually what we do. By the way, Rabbi Rywood speaks here every Tuesday night and we have Mari uh usually afterwards and the only once we didn't cuz it was after a fast and everyone go home and what else did I Oh, there's a big sigula right you know that we only charge 50 shekels. It didn't even cover the cost. We just wanted to we wanted to tempt you to come for a really nice dinner and a really great seder. So there's a little sedak, but it's also sigula andem people already threw money into my pocket and uh nothing can uh prevent you except yourselves from doing so. Um there are two sponsors for tonight and I want to mention them first before we start. Um Jonathan Merrily Bloom Bloom in memory of Mik Abraham She was a friend of ours and uh this is her yard site and uh she was very special person. The story seems to be that even though she converted after her conversion she found out she didn't really need to convert these interesting stories like that and um also sponsored by Levyaka Riggler and his wife in memory of his father David Beneriti. The yard site is on the was on the 10th of Shot. And without any further ado, I hope we have if we have to move the microphone a little bit because we're not used to this, but let's try. >> Okay. [clears throat] Excuse me. Hi everybody. Nice nice to see you all. Uh you are of course the chosen as Poston as Rab Poston mentioned. Before Yona had its own building uh we would make the seder in Nitim with lot much much larger group. So now that we have our own building uh the space is a little smaller. So it was first come first serve and uh you are so very happy that that you're here. Uh before we actually start uh the eating and the consumption based on the prescribed order. I do want to talk a little bit about uh what is tubishvat and what is a tubishvat seder because in the United States to be very very honest uh the people who have tishbat seder the most tend to be reform uh you know it tends not to even be kept that much among the from so you might be koshes you might suspect us of borrowing a reform custom uh but in point of fact that is very very far from the case Um now the idea that tishvat the 15th of shvat is a roshashana tric is in the Mishna. The Mishna says there are four days of the year that are designated as Roshashana. One of which is our Roshashana tish and one of the days that is designated as a Roshashana is the 15th of Shvat. However, the meaning of tubes rashana lean is actually a very technical dryic construct that does not carry explicitly any particular spiritual meaning and it refers primarily to the agricultural cycle of trumos and masos the different tithings that you have. We know that in Erit Israel we operate on a six-year cycle of tithes and the seventh year is shmita where there is no tithing that is done on schmita even for the things that grow by themselves. Now the hala basically is that when you take the truma and the maser and you give it to the coen or the ley which we actually don't do today because of people are tame but in the time of the temple we would give truma to a coain we would give maser to a ley the is you must take a separate maser for every single year. So for example, let's assume you had 10 bushels of wheat of year 1 and 10 bushels of wheat of year two. You can't just combine 20 and then give two bushels because you might be giving two bushels of year two on year 1. Rather you have to make a separate calculation. My 10 bushels of uh year 1, I take one bushel, give it to the lady. my 10 bushels of year two I take uh one bushel and I give it to a labor. You cannot just combine them. This is a very important inos that says you cannot take maser from old grain to cover new grain or aliashan. Now for grains and for uh vegetables the definition of the year is simply roshashana. So as a result I cannot combine let's say the vegetables that were harvested prior to with the vegetables that are harvested after but elot quite literally have a different rashashana point. The rashish shana for trees is said to be, and we'll discuss why in a moment, the 15th of Shabbat. So, and by the way, and the thing that determines what year a fruit belongs to is not the year of harvesting. It's the year of budding. Budding is the stage after the flower drops and you have a little bud. So the rule is that a fruit that budded prior to tubishvat even though it's in tshin sak tshin uh pav still belongs to the old year because the year the tree's year does not change until tishvat. So in that case there is no intimation in the Mishna or the garra that tubishvat is some transcendental spiritual idea. It's simply a technical construct of what is called the new year for fruit. But once we get to the time of the Arizal, the great cabalist in Spat, and we're talking about now the 1500s, they saw and they perceived again based on the zor, which is actually much earlier, they perceived a deep spiritual meaning to tubish. uh and the idea that it's a rashan for trees also has an implication for a human being because a human being is compared to a tree and what happened was that the students of their not their himself they developed something called a seder for tubishvat that is modeled to some degree on the peser not exactly but you'll see you'll you'll see there are four cups of wine you know etc And this eventually got kind of codified. There were different there was no particular exact seder that was followed but it get got codified in a safer called preadar which means the fruit of a beautiful tree is actually a reference to estrog but it's referring to all the fruits and this was written by a tommet of atonement of the Arizal and the standard tubishvat follows the instructions of the safer preadar. This is a safer that you can get. It's even available online uh in uh in part at least partial uh translation [snorts] and essentially uh what the safer develops is it gives you just like a US income tax form there's a short form and a long form uh 1040 104A and so too uh there's a short form in which you eat 12 different fruits and there's a long form where you eat 30 different fruits and then there's a middle form where you eat 20 and that's kind of for whatever reason that's the that's the one that the makabir actually advocates without fully explaining why but let me explain the basis of the 12 and the 30 the 12 if you take the shame of Hashem the four-letter name of God that uh we don't pronounce that's yud v uh that's four letters But two of the letters are the same. Hey and hey, you can actually arrange it in 12 different combinations. In fact, if you look at some sidedim every roesh, every month has a different su different combination of the shamaya because this represents different spiritual energies that come into the world every different month. There's the yudk vvk. There's the hey yud v hey you know different all again if you go through it there there are only 12 permutations uh that you have and also corresponds to the tribes again. Once you get once you get to number 12, 12 opens up many many different ramaz and the says that on two bishvat we're trying to bring into the world the spiritual energies that are connected to different types of fruits and the [clears throat] like and the 12 fruits are connected the yud seufim seuim are combinations of the shame havaya that's the cabalistic idea of the 12 fruits. Now the 30 fruits is very very interesting. The safer pri says that the 30 fruits are divided into three groups of 10. Three groups of 10. And one group are fruits that are totally edible. Meaning there's nothing that you don't eat. basically an apple although an apple may be a seed but by and large 99% of the apple is eaten including the skin. So 30 fruits have no significant pole no significant thing that you disregard. Uh then the second group are those fruits that have an edible outside but an inedible pit. 10 of them 10 different types. A peach would be an example. The peach is edible on the outside but not edible on the inside. And then the third are those that are inedible on the outside but edible on the inside like a pomegranate and the like. Now therefore in the 30 you have a 10 10 10 corresponding to these different types of solet or lack of solet that can exist. So the significance of this is this again this is very deeply cabalistic. So, we're just going over it in the simplest possible way. There are four worlds that God creates, four universes really. Uh, we're in the lowest one. The highest that is closest to God is called the world of atilot, the world of emanation. And then as things get more concretized and more physical, further removed from God, we have the world of Bria, the world of creation. And then it goes down another level to the world of yitsira, the world of formation. And then it hits this physical world which is called the world of assa uh of doing actual tangible action. On each level there's a greater concealment of divinity. This world has the greatest concealment of divinity. Now is not represented by any fruit because atot is such a spiritual realm that it's disconnected from physicality. So the first of the worlds that is represented by physicality to some degree is the world of Bria. But because Bria is so ethereal and so spiritual, those are the fruits which are totally totally edible. There is no kipa, there is no peel, there is no pit, there is no impediment. their goodness and their nutrition bursts out. Now the second group which does have uh an ed in an in inedible pit but edible fruit that's already a lower level in which there is some blockage there but the holiness is so overwhelming that it breaks through the blockage so to speak and that is the world of uh yity and then we finally reach our world where the goodness and the holiness is very much concealed by kipa. by a pit and therefore the concept is uh if you're doing the long seder which we're not exactly going to do uh you bring down from to Bria and then from Bria to Yira to AA and there is nothing that represents the world of itself. Some say that what represents is you should make a bereim and smell something. smell is ethereal and spiritual and but in terms of ailus has no connection to a it reminds me a little bit of a misa that they tell about the sons of rebi of sons that he was once uh kind of in a trance he was speaking by sudashitz and he was in a very very deep mystical way but he also had a very bad hacking cough he couldn't stop coughing So his son brought him a cup of tea. So uh Zebraim got a little upset because he was he was in the middle of a very deep thought. He says you're not sealless. We don't drink tea. [laughter] And the son said you're not sealless. You don't cough either. He says so you know you're not totally [laughter] you're not totally in the but that's that celus is removed from physicality. the most there might be is is rayak reak the spiritual okay so that would be the notion of the 30 now again in spite of the fact and this I I don't really see an explanation in spite of the fact that the makab himself recommends either the 12 or the 30 depending on availability in the actual book he only lists 20 things to eat and that's the state we're going to follow we're going to follow the actual book as he put it and he doesn't really explain uh the the idea of the 20. Moreover, it's a little more complicated because even if you're eating the fruits, so there will be a mix of things without peel and with peel with with pit, but we're not following an order of 10 10 meaning we're going to be eating it beer bouvia meaning uh we'll be mixing the different types nevertheless. So that's one aspect per the second aspect is an idea of four cups of wine. Four cups of wine or four cups of wine of course is familiar to us from the seder and the makubalim simply borrowed the four cups wine. I will say that some of these booklets make a big mistake. They say when you drink the four cups in the tubish drink reclining to your left uh rest assured that there is no even min to recline when you drink uh this wine. Uh it's not the same thing. I mean tubishvat was about I mean pesak is about freedom from slavery. This is a different thing. But the twist with these cups of wine is the following. It's a particular order. The first cup of wine is totally white. The second cup of wine is a little bit of red mixed with a majority of white. The third cup of wine is like a 50/50. And the fourth cup of wine is a majority of red. And of course, you're not going to see the white and a majority of red. It just gets uh dissolved. Now, what is the significance of the progression from white to almost 100% red? This itself is very significant. So there are two interpretations that are given. One is a bit more of an environmentalist interpretation although it's valid within our tradition as well. And that is the different colors represents the seasons and that is the white wine represents the dormcancy of the winter when things are not growing. So if you have snow then obviously it's white but even if you don't have snow it's like bleak. There's no color in the landscape. And then the little bit of red is the spring, the coming of of things. And then uh so you have winter, then you have spring, then you have summer where there's uh fullness and then autumn which is the maximum red. So it's referring to the cycle that Tubishvat is celebrating the cycle of nature going from the dormant winter to the lushness of the autumn sukosimo the in gathering of the crowd. The alternative understanding is that it refers to the four cababalistic worlds. White represents rakam in pure mercy in the world of which is the first receiver of divine emanation from the ano all there is is pure mercy but as things get more and more physicalized and as God gets more and more concealed the mercy is still there it's always there but [clears throat] it has the appearance of the red red is representing den and punishment so in a sense you're going from Atsilus to Bria to Yats. Yeah. To Yira to AA and AA is our world. And the thing to remember is that even in our world which looks totally red, the white wine is still there. The rahim of Hashem is there. And in many ways that's a greater rack because that's a rakim that still survives even in the middle the middle of. So we have uh again two features here. We have the Akilas Perros procedure 12 30 20 although I don't have an explanation with the 20 per se and then we have the four kos procedure and then there was a third thing that actually was added a little later and that is that appropriate divora were to be recited as you eat every particular species and the safer pates for every one of the of the 20 fruits at least. that he enumerates. He gives you passages from the uh either the zo zora has a lot of prominence. Uh sometimes the Mishna, sometimes the gamorrah remember that the actually talks about one of the signs of the redemption of the Jewish people, the coming of Mashiach is the fertility of the land of Israel. You might remember Mark Twain visited uh Palestine as it was called in the 19th century. He visited Palestine uh just traveling and you know it was dusty, rundown, filthy, dirty. There were there were Jews here but not that many Jews. And Mark Twain wrote he couldn't understand how depressing it was, how despondent it was, how lonely and desolate it was. He says, "Why on earth would God choose like an ugly city like Jerusalem?" It was a rhetorical question to be the place of his divine presence. And yet uh we haven't we don't have a B mikdash yet. There's so much that we don't have, but we also have to be grateful to Hashem for what we do have. And the Gomorrah itself said that Eric Israel does not respond. The fertility does not yield to anyone but the Jewish people. That's the nature of it. Erit Israel shuts down when the Jews are not here and when Jews come. So we could talk about Israeli ingenuity. Of course, that has a role too, but but but the truth of the matter is it's a spiritual phenomenon. The land yields its fertility to Israel and the noescal says that when Israel begins to generate its fruit that is a sign of gula now it doesn't mean gul is the next day I mean we've been we've had produce for a while already but at least we're in the season of mashiach uh in that u in that way so those are the kinds of the dra Torah that that that are recited so I just want to conclude that I would suggest that maybe there are four themes when we ask ourselves what is our tangible avod uh in tubishvat what do we think about what do we try what idea do we want to incorporate so I would say biker I would basically say four four basic ideas I number one is the meaning of a human being being compared to a tree what exactly is the mashal that we are like a tree this is based on a Although to be actually honest, the mikra is actually making the opposite point. The the Torah says when you wage war, do not destroy fruit trees. Is a fruit tree a person? Meaning it's not. So the actually says a fruit tree is not a person. And yet and yet kazal have the well-known dra that it's an affirmative statement. a tree or a person is a tree. Why is a person a tree? So, one explanation might be because a tree is truly a wondrous thing. We're an upside down tree. An earthly tree has its roots in the ground and it grows towards heaven. We have our roots in heaven. We grow to earth. But really, we belong in heaven. Our roots are in shmayam with Hashem. Maybe that's why we're confused a lot because we're upside we're upside down. But a tree is a wondrous thing because although if any of you have trees, you probably did not buy an apple seed and plant it. You probably bought a sapling. But trees grow from seeds ultimately, right? So you look at a tiny seed. The greatest oak, the greatest cedar, the greatest redwood trees comes from a a relatively small seed. I look at that seed. The seed seems to have nothing in it. You could chew it, you could eat it, you could swallow it, a bird could eat it, whatever it would be. And yet in that seed is tremendous potential. A human being is that way as well. We might look at ourselves insignificant, tiny, puny. In fact, there's a tremendous potential in every one of us. And we have to think about the tree. The mightiest tree comes from the smallest seed. So this is the notion of recognizing the inner greatness [snorts] that Hashem has blessed us with. But there's other associations with the idea of a human being being a tree and that is trees [clears throat] in the winter go through a period periods of dormcancy and apparent stagnation. A lot of the year it looks like nothing's happening, but you think nothing's happening. Inside there's a whole factory of sap being generated, manufactured, etc. So too in our own lives, we sometimes go through periods of stagnation happening. But we have to recognize that those periods can be the seeds of very fertile growth and productivity. Things are happening below the surface. sometimes that are preparing us for the challenges of life. Trees have roots, a foundation. A Jew has to have roots. We're rooted in Torah, in mitzvos, in a Israel, in a hashem. Trees grow high self-esteem. Recognize your importance. Trees have fruit and shade. You help other people. You don't just grow high to be high. You grow high so you can help other people in various ways. And therefore we look at the tree and we say that's what I should be. I should have firm roots and I should grow high recognize my mileas and try to be a person that is there to help others in various in various ways. So that's uh one thought that we should think about man compared to a tree. Second thought is hakar sat gratitude. Gratitude in Judaism is a very important thing. That is why we recite braos before we eat and drink. Do you know that the very word fu youd comes from the term to be grateful? Leia called her fourth son Yehuda because she said hapam o desashem I am grateful to god now and rashi explains why was she grateful with number four what about ruen shimon levy answer she knew with kesh there would be 12 tribes and she knew they would come from four women so 12 divided by four is three so she figured she's entitled to three When she got four, she wound up with six, but when she got four, she said, "I got more than I'm entitled to." That's when you're grateful, says the Spasmus. Every Jew is called the Yehudi because we have to go through life with the sense that God has given us more than we're entitled to. So the term a Jew means a thankful, grateful person. So we look at the diversity of fruit, we look at the colors, we look at the tastes, we look at the textures. You know the points out that if God made us that we have to eat and of course not so clear why he made us that we have to eat or sleep. Those are actually good questions. Why is there sleep in the world? Something to think about. Yeah, we have to sleep. Uh but but God could have made us that we didn't have to sleep. Okay. But whatever it is, if God simply created a need to eat, he could have made mush, inedible mush that would give us the calories that we need and the even the vitamins. But God created food of color, of texture, of taste. The points out that God's goes beyond what is necessary for survival to give you pleasure, to give you enjoyment. to give you just joy in the experience and therefore tishvat where we connect to the colors and the textures and the different types of fruits are designed to heighten the sense of hakoras hat right so that's the second theme first theme man compared to tree second theme the sense of gratitude hakarat in the And that's why the tommy shami says a strange thing. You know we sometimes preach that ideally a righteous person should not be connected to the pleasures of the world. That's kind of a maybe a standard refrain. And yet the Tom Shami says after 120 years man will be held to account for every pleasure of the world he could have enjoyed that he didn't enjoy because Hashem says I put it there for you. Why did you turn your back on what I put into the world? Rh used to say first of course lived uh in Germany near the Swiss Alps. He says, "Hashem is going to ask everyone, every person at least who lived around there, why didn't you look at the Alps? Why didn't you enjoy the Alps? I I put them there. I put them there for you." So that I think is theme number two. By looking at the diversity and the poss, uh, we see God's [snorts] loving kindness and that generates within us Hakaratov, which is such a fundamental mida of of being a Jew. Uh the third theme which overlaps a little bit is to connect us a little bit to the cycle of the earth and to the environment you know and this is really a problem to the urbanized Jew. You know you know for really until we got back to Eric Israel and even in Aristotle most of us are urban creatures you know the Jew in Europe was not a farmer. The Jew in Europe was not allowed to own land for hundreds of years. So Jews became petty traders. They became businessmen. Uh they went into banking. [laughter] A lot of the anti-semitic accusations against Jews precisely were there because Jews couldn't do other things and they were kind of forced into it. And as a result, we became really urban creatures and we're not connected to the physical world in any significant way. Again, in Israel, it changes a little bit, but but even even in most of us are not really connected to that to that physical world. And yet, if you look at the Torah, the Torah deeply wants us to be connected to the rhythms of nature, the idea of day and night and the change of seasons. Now, the yumm is actually a very good example. We tend to say that the significance of Pesak is the exodus from Egypt, which is of course is true. Shivuos is matan tora and sukos are the clouds of glory. That of course is true. No question about it. But if you look in the Torah, the Torah emphasizes at least with equal number of words that this is part of the agricultural cycle of the year. Pesak is the ripening of the first barley [clears throat] and shivot is the ripening of the wheat harvest and sukkot is the in gathering of produce that was drying in the field. And the shalos regum were celebrated as expressions of gratitude for the laress within the agricultural cycle of nature. Even the notion of ding right a person should dil with the rising of the sun. [clears throat] Now I'm giving you an example how we ruined that. We pervert that. Uh I was once I once uh at the Davinet of Aikin Minion was my father's yard site. So I needed to to go there and it was in a room without windows, a basement without windows. And they had an atomic clock that measured exactly when sunrise was. And I was the cousin. I was diving for the it was my father's yard site. And I think I was two seconds late uh beyond that clock. They told me I couldn't dender again. [laughter] Now, you know, this is kind of missing the point. The point of aikin is as the sun is coming up and it's beginning a new day. It's like it it's singing a song of praise to God and you want to join in the cosmic song of the universe as it greets the creator at the start of a new day. It's not like you're sitting in a windowless room, you know, staring at a clock. First of all, they didn't have those types of clocks in tomudic times anyway. That's not how they measured any of this. So, we take something that is very clearly supposed to link me to a natural world and then instead I disassociate myself from that natural world. Right? The world of nature is a very very beautiful. If you look at Shirim, much of the love imagery is describing the fields and the mountains and the the liies and and the flowers and the birds. And then the book of Eve at the very end when after the heavy debates when Hashem appears to Eve and he shows him the magnificence of the world you can see very much that whoever wrote these biblical books had a tremendous love and attachment to the natural world. So we are urban creatures and I certainly am an urban creature. uh but tub is one time when we get a little bit to connect to the rhythms of the rhythms of nature which is a very very important very important idea. Uh and the final point is that eating is a function that we share in common with animals. And one of the lessons of tubes is that we sanctify not only our spiritual activities but we can take the most physical animalistic parts of our being and we consecrate them through blessings through brahos through gratitude. And this is said to be a tik, the rectification for the original sin of creation, the sin of the eight sadas. And that was a sin of eating the fruit that you weren't supposed we were not supposed to eat. And we used eating as an act of rebellion and an act of hedonistic pleasure and tubish. We have a chance to rectify that primeval sin by eating with gratitude and lash shayim. So biker uh these are the four avodos perhaps man compared to a tree gratitude connection to the rhythms of nature and recognizing that we can sanctify and we must sanctify even the physical. Uh [clears throat] we don't create a dichotomy between the physical and the spiritual. For example, there are religions that teach celibacy, that a holy person separates from marital relations, for example. We reject that idea. We believe that all of those things that on one superficial level, we are sharing common with the animals can in fact be elevated and sanctified to a very very high level. So that's kind of the the special unique quality of tishvat. So now we can u you know begin some of the some of the eating. Uh again I'm I'm sorry to keep on talking because there is there is a lot of comparatively a lot of information that that comes out here. Uh and that is when you have many different types of fruits. So of course uh the goes into on which one do you make your braha brioates and the general rule is that you follow the order of the first the first thing you follow is the order of the seven species that erit Israel is praised for and this is in paras avat land of wheat and barley gean the vine which is grape. Tina a figone a pomegranate zemen a land of uh the olive oil or actually olives of oil udash and honey which in the Torah always means date honey not uh not be banani uh per se. So the rule is when you have a lot of foods you want to follow the order of the shivaim but there's one big exception. So the first thing that you eat will be will be wheat and that'll be a misonote which we have. Uh now the second thing would be barley. I don't think we have barley so we don't have that one. Now here's where things get tricky. You would think, would you not, that if you're following the order of the Shiva Geffin, gein is number three. Not not so. Because here's the problem. You determine priority based on its proximity to the word eritz. [snorts] And the word eritz appears twice. So it says it says what? Erits [snorts] gean remon. So five of them are adjacent to the first eritz. Then it says erits again erits zash six and seven are adjacent to the second erit. So since six and seven are one and two visav the second erits they beat out three four five in the first. So therefore the actual order of eating the shivam is sor [clears throat] olive date. So you did one two of first erits one two of second erits then you go to three four five gan to aim right now having said all this I have to say that it's largely irrelevant and the reason it's irrelevant is is for the following reason once you make a this is only if you have a bunch of fruits which one do you make your braha now once I made my braha on the number one the order of eating can be any order in other There's no to eat them in an order. This is just an order of what? If I didn't have wheat, I would do this, right? If I had olives and and uh and uh g and grapes, I would do it on the olives. But once I make it on the wheat, so the whole order becomes over in bail. Okay, again, this is a mistake a lot of people make. The shivaim order simply tells you what you make on. It does not dictate how you eat it once you made your braha on the highest priority that you have. Okay. All righty. So, uh the first thing we do uh is uh pour ourselves or some have a min they do the pes of one person pouring for the other. Um I'm not sure how um how how do you got people get wine? I'm not sure how it works on the tables. >> Oh, okay. Okay. All right. >> Okay. So, remember that the first cup is 100% white. >> No, we we will. We're not going to We're not drinking the wine now. We're just pouring it. >> We're pouring the wine. We're not drinking it. Just uh >> Okay, you guys have to help yourselves with everything. Now, >> after you pour the wine, >> we don't we're not going to drink the wine yet. Just the wine should be there as you recite things. Uh you make a bra on the wheat cracker. the wheat cracker boret misonos because that is the first of the shivas hamm >> so I'll wait till everybody's We need one. We need one more. Right. >> For what? >> No, it's totally min not not but the laws about the braos the order of the back. Thank you. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Should we pass it around? Maybe this pass it around. Got it. It's okay. I'm going to just Is there another cup over there? >> Yeah, I'll take two cups. Okay. So, I'm going to make the braha and the cracker and then >> everybody should make their own braha. Betos on the wine first. >> No, no, we're drink. Yeah. Yeah. Don't think about Now the uh the first we're going to make will be on the olive because the olive is after the we don't have barley. So after the kita we make the hets and the zat which is number six but it's the first one after the second er and the olive has a >> no not yet no >> no no no we we don't have olives. Is that true? >> Oh we have >> uh yeah yeah it's coming. It's coming. I'll just talk until it comes. The >> olive olives >> uh olives are very important. Obviously uh the moral points out that the kaduca of the basikdash comes by anointing that Mosher Rabenu anointed the Mishkan and anointed the kohanim the kings. In fact the word mashiach the anointed one because the kings of Bavid were anointed with oil to this very day. La Habdil uh the kings of king queens of England are anointed by oil and they took it of course as a from a bib biblical ceremony and the Jewish people are compared to an olive because an olive finest part of the olive comes when it gets crushed and you get the oil out of the olive. So too, the Jew becomes his finest. When there's adversity and struggle, people try to destroy us. People try to kill us. And I'm Israel, the greatness of the Jewish people comes out precisely in adversity. And therefore the olive is a remesal Israel. Um so we're going to make a boret prio on the olive and one has intention that it covers all other fruits that one is going to eat uh the rest of the evening. Is there a olive here? >> Oh, thank you. Thank you. We also have barley. >> Oh. Oh, you have barley. >> Oh, I didn't know that. I didn't know that. >> One second. We should have bar. Yeah, actually we do have barley. So, we'll eat the barley first. I'm sorry. I didn't know we had it. >> Barley first. >> But but there's no braha on the barley because barley is miso. You already covered it. But >> the barley. Yeah. Oh, I see. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. >> Yeah. Eat the barley before the olive. Yeah. >> No. No. the barley's mazonas. It's covered by the wheat. >> We don't say a br on the bar. Let's just eat. >> Technically, as I said, you don't have to eat the barley now because it's it's not no bra you're making on it. But um we'll follow the shamina order. >> No, no, I'll I'll announce. We're not doing the one yet. Um okay. >> Okay. When when you are ready the olive is next. The olive is boret pre. Olive. Olive >> make beret po eggs on the olive. Anybody need more freezer and crazy water? Yeah, oil. Now the date. >> Okay. Now we do date. The date is honey dash. Uh let me tell you an interesting thing about about dates. Um when the Romans conquered [snorts] Judea culminating in the destruction of the Basam Mikdash uh they burnt they burnt miles and miles and miles of palm trees. uh Ericel was almost totally bereft of palm trees and even in modern times in the 19th century they had to appoint huh >> no by a cheny by a chain the Romans the Bay Cheney and in the 19th century when Jews began to cultivate the land they had to import date palms from California so the the the date that was growing here for a long time was the California >> date that's interesting thing >> the what >> at the museum of the day museum of what they say it was a smoking system >> yes >> from Iraq because we have no date >> that's correct that's correct what happened was that they found in Msada and other places they found date seeds date pits that could actually still germinate they were preserved for more than a thousand years >> almost 2,000 years and they were able to produce it's still relatively small scale but they were able to produce from those pits the indigenous erich Israel date and it was found that it had a sugar content that was double the California date. >> So there's a very good reason why the Torah calls the date the vash honeyash. This is a land that flows with the milk of goats. Goat milk is referring to and the honey of dates. And the truth of the matter is I'm not I'm no expert, but they tell me that um dates can actually be a complete food. You can actually be relatively healthy on living on dates. Dates has a lot of uh nutrients and uh it's relatively complete in many many ways. Uh now the only thing about dates is that dates do have unfortunately I guess the bugs like the honey too. So there is sometimes uh insect infestation. So it's proper when you eat a day to first open it up, give it a visual inspection and uh we don't have to make a braha on it because we already made a braha on the olive which will cover all the other fruits. >> How about has anyone ever seen a a bug in a day? >> Oh yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. As a matter of fact, >> I've seen I've seen it in um whatever. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Oh, good. I need that more. Okay. >> Uh don't worry. We we are approaching the first cup. I I'll announce I did I didn't forget. We will be drinking the wine but not not quite yet. >> Next >> following the although we don't have to follow that order once we made the right bra. We're up to geen >> which is not bio gaffin. We're talking about the fruits and it's either grapes or raisins which are dried grapes. We have raisins. Uh again, no braha is recited because it's a fruit and we already covered the fruits with the boret prio on the olives. Okay. So don't do not make a braha on this. But thank hashem for the raisins. >> Thank you raisins. >> I'm sorry I took a prune instead of a raisin. One second. Again, it's interesting. There are parallel mid Russian that the Jews are compared to olives and the Jews are compared to grapes and both have kind of the same meaning and that is the best is when you crush it. You crush the grape, you get the wine. You crush the olive, you get the olive oil. And therefore, the Jew flourishes under pressure. You know, it's fascinating that when Napoleon was going to invade Russia and the Jews in Russia were under the Zar were living under horrendous conditions. There was a mlo among the Sherebbises in Europe. Should we pray for Napoleon's victory because he would liberate the Jews as indeed he did. He abolished the ghettos and he gave Jews access to higher education. So many rabbis said let's pray for Napoleon to win. Thesar is so bad. The one exception was the Balatana the the firstbi who lived in Russia and he said if thesar destroys our body Napoleon's emancipation will destroy our soul and therefore it is better better to be in a state of oppression he said and that creates a stronger spiritual life than to have unlimited freedom and the truth is even though it sounds a little strange but in truth um the reform movements I mean The Haskcala, the Enlightenment, all came as a consequence of the fall of the ghetto in the aftermath of Napoleonic defeat uh I'm sorry liberation where he when he was successful that is what happened in Russia of course he was defeated and Russia continued to be very very strong eventually they fell to the Huska too but it was much later and there were several you know many decades of sustained spiritual growth the Baba used to say that it's easier to be a Jew in Siberia than suburbia. Uh he said suburbia was a real real problem. Uh because precisely when you have unlimited opportunities, you just leave. You know, you leave. If you were in Eastern Europe and you were a bright person, there was, you know, you could say it's no good, but there was no avenue except going to yeshiva. I mean, you couldn't go to medical school, you couldn't do anything else. So, the bright people stayed in Torah learning. Now granted, I'm not suggesting that should be the main motivation because there's nowhere else to go, but it did have that that side effect of the most brilliant Jewish minds being uh directed to Torah precisely because they didn't have the opportunities to do to do other things. So both the grape and the olive bring out that same symbolism because you get the best from being crushed and and oppressed. Okay, >> our next one. Hashem wants to pick us to choose him out of love, not because of >> That's true. [clears throat] But sometimes we need some motivations, you know. >> The carrot and the stick. >> Okay. Next is the fig. The na >> I didn't hear you. needs to be checked. You need to check your day. >> Um if if if they are seasonal, if they're not available all year, you make a shakyanu. >> Um I I believe they're they're they're available all year. I I don't think you make shanu on the fig. >> They're not. >> That's true. Also on on dried or pickled or canned fruit, you do not make a shakyanu. Is that that would be an answer, too? Um, okay. >> The fresh ones are available right now. >> I didn't hear you. >> So, dry dry are available all year round, but the fresh ones, >> right? Right. But we we don't we don't have a we have a fresh I don't think I don't think so. Yeah. Yeah, I understand. Um, so >> they were hung off the string. >> Okay. >> Yeah. thing. I've heard from numerous people that you have to be very very careful very frequently there are bones underneath hard for fig. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> And I I haven't eaten a fig since I came here. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Yeah. I know that. Uh in fact in in our I have another tubish tomorrow in Orsame and I know that uh they normally do [snorts] not serve fig but I I'm so on visual but uh but some people are very strict about fig. Yeah, it's hard it's hard to check. It's hard to check. Yeah. >> Yeah. Do you have >> Yeah, fig went around. >> Oh, okay. Do I have it here on the plate? >> Yeah. >> Okay. again. No, no braha because it's a fruit. >> I've seen a bug in a bag. >> It's really gross. life. And the last of the Shiva Saminim is number five from from the first eras and that is the pomegranates. the remon and here the remon of course a lot of this is overlaps with what we eat on the regular rash right the different sim and uh it's yua there's a famous statement of rabi shiman ben lish that even the sinners of Israel are as filled with good deeds >> as a remon is filled with seeds there's an old tradition sometimes kids like to count it that there are 613 seeds in a remone. >> Thank you. >> I'm not sure if that's an average or whatever it is. >> And even the sinners of ami Israel are filled with mitzvos. It's >> true. >> And you know, it's a beautiful thing that the one who said that was none other than Rabbi Shiman bin Lish. And some understand this is actually an autobiographical statement. Do you know Rav Shim bin Lesh's backgrounds? He was originally a gladiator and a highway robber. >> He may have murdered people. We don't even know. And he once accosted Ravokan. And he said to Ravokan uh Raokan said to him, "You're so powerful. You're so talented. Why don't you go learn Torah?" And Rishlakkesh said very offensively because was very beautiful. He says why don't you give your beauty you know to prostitution and he said I have a sister that's even prettier than me and if you learn Torah you will can marry my sister. In these stories the the woman is usually not consulted but uh but the story goes that Rakkesh became uh a student of Raban but he was kind of like an equal. He's called the Talmid of Raan. And throughout Shash, throughout the Talmud, you always have arguments. Raan and Rash is Rabi Shimon bin Lish. So, isn't it interesting that it's Rakkesh who observes the idea that even a sinner of Israel [clears throat] is filled with goodness, filled with potential. In later it's called the pintit the little spark of Judaism that comes out in all sorts of crazy times. The balatana writes how come a Jew who doesn't keep shabas doesn't keep kosher doesn't do anything but when push comes to shove is willing to give their life for God for Hashem for the Jewish people where does that come from? It comes from a deep place that is so deep that the person is normally not even aware of it but in extraordinary situations it comes out the pint and that's what the pomegranate represents on one hand there's a kipa we talked about that there's a shell inedible unapproachable but inside there is goodness and there is sweetness that's a beautiful remnance to the sinners of Israel on the outside. This is what they used to say about sabras, right? The the original meaning of sabra is that desert fruit that uh prickly prickly on the outside but delicious on the inside. So here we're using the pomegranate as kind of a mushel for that idea that there's a tremendous goodness within [clears throat] even if there's roughness outside. So uh we eat the pomegranate, we think about the tremendous goodness that exists in Ami Israel. This should foster within us aas Israel as well as a self-awareness of the goodness that's within us. So it's both the notion of f focusing on the other and then also focusing on yourself uh in that way. You know, again, I don't want to this is not the time for uh political speeches in in any way, but we we do know, of course, that because of so many difficult issues that we face in our society, there's a great deal of polarization, a great deal of makas, a great deal of name calling, a great deal of demonization of the other side, which whichever your other side is defined as in in whatever particular issue. And after October 7, for a while there was a great upsurge in unity and togetherness, which was what you would call the silver lining to a very dark cloud, but there was a silver lining that we were together. Unfortunately, it's kind of disintegrating right now and it's back to business as usual. I I often think of the mush of an elastic band, a rubber band. You pull it, pull it, pull it and it stretches, but then you let go, it just goes back to its natural place. It seems to be very unfortunately that our natural condition is makus. Extraordinary events can take us out of the makus mode for a while, but after a while, you know, the extraordinary events become normalized and we're not in an active state of war right now and hope it'll continue. who knows with Iran, you know, what's going to be and then we simply go back to Maklo. So eating that, >> huh? >> Why is that? >> Well, you can give you can give positive reasons for it. You could say that people care very [clears throat] deeply about issues on both sides of things. And when people care, it's hard to be tolerant. Meaning, you know, Americans like to say, you know, I mean, I'm an American myself, like to say, well, Americans, we're tolerant. we understand everybody, you know, why can't these Israelis, you know, understand? The question is, are we more tolerant or just we don't care as much? You know, [clears throat] that's the question when you care deeply about something. So, it's hard to be tolerant. That would be the the nice way of describing it. Uh, okay. There are other ways of looking at it too. And and the point is that our vod in life is to be passionate about our ideals and to stand up for what is right and what is wrong but at the same time with a sense of respect and deritz for those that disagree with us and that's a difficult road uh to navigate uh you can either feel strongly and stand up or you can be a pushover and just don't care and neither of them are really the right uh the right derk. I mean, okay, again, I don't want to get into demonstrations and all that stuff, but but there's a lot here to think about that. How do you stand up for the ideals that are important to you, which whatever they are? I'm not taking any sides on anything here. Uh, but how do you stand up for your ideals and not compromise on fundamental truths and at the same time have love and respect for those who don't see things exactly the way you see them? uh you know says you know it says by korak uh that we should not be like korak and his congregation explained it this way there was only one maklokus in history where one side was totally right and the other side was totally wrong and that was kak against mosha there will never be another maklokus where the other side is totally wrong meaning in any maklokus there will be some right and some wrong in both sides. Korak versus Mosha was the last one >> uh in which you know totally right totally wrong. Huh. >> What about Eli Yahu and the Bal? >> Uh yeah I I well yeah that's a good that's a good question. That's a good that's a good question. Uh yeah okay I hear that that wasn't a mus within within [clears throat] Judaism but okay. Uh so this is where this is what we can think about as we eat the remon to remember Shima bin Laksh's statement that uh even the sinners of Israel are as filled with virtue as the remon again no braha because we are it's a it's [clears throat] a fruit we already made the braha >> even though we didn't think about at the beginning we didn't plan at the beginning say wait I'm going to have this and that and that >> uh Well, I think if all the fruit is out, I think uh >> intentions. >> Yeah. Yeah. Intentions cover. >> Okay. So, we finished the seven species, which is the first segment. So, now we can I didn't forget about the wine. Um you can drink as much or as little as you want. You don't you don't have to have a raviet. You don't have to have a shear and you don't have to recline. Uh but the one thing to keep in mind is this. Since this is not an obligation, so by the seder ashkanaz make a beret priyaguan on each one of the four cups. Um we will not do that. We will make one beret priagen and that will cover all of the wine that you will be drinking. So only this is the only bay priyan you'll be making. Have kabana to cover all the wine and you need not recline and you can drink as little as as [clears throat] you want. boretin. >> Who made the first two bishvat? >> Yeah. So it seems to be these were the disciples theim of the z. So you're talking about in the 1500s or early 1600s. >> Yeah. >> Rabbi. >> Yes. Why did we do not do the wine first like you would have? >> Yeah. So, normally you would you would have done the wine earlier. The thing is that by analogy to the peser where you you recite things and then drink the wine. So, we have to have a recitation section and then drink the wine. >> But we do that in the seder. I mean, we do that as well. Well, well, yeah, but that's because kdish was your recitation. Meaning on the first cup, you recited the kdish and then you drank the wine. On the second cup, you recited the hagada and then you drank the wine. On the third cup, you recite birkason and then you drank the wine. On the fourth cup, you recite hollow, then you drink the wine. So, every one of the four cups is preceded by a recitation. So in the tubishvat uh every cup will be preceded by a recitation and the eating of some fruits. Okay. So this was part part one. Okay. Uh now the next cup of wine which we're not going to drink till after the second section. Um and you don't have to add anything now and I'll announce it again. You'll add a little bit of red to a predominantly white wine because we're moving from the dormcancy of the winter uh uh to the spring, the rejuvenation or the cababalistic interpretation. You're moving from the spiritual world of pure mercy which is uh emanation to a more physicalized world of berea in which there's a little bit of concealment of rakamim in the midatin but it's still a little bit but we're not going to do that yet. Um I mean you have a choice I'll leave it to you. You can either add a little red right now or before you drink. That's up to you. Uh, but we're back to our fruits again. And here we have the esrogue. >> Now, this is a candied estrogue. So, there's no sheakyanu because generally preserved fruits. >> It's not preserved. It's fresh. I just made it yesterday. I made not yesterday. Friday. >> Oh. Oh, that's is a pizza fresh. >> Yeah. >> It's it's it's boiled. That's all. Boiled and candy. >> No, but it was cooked. But it was cut. It was cooked. It was cooked. Yes. So no. >> Uh now there's an old tradition by the way. This is an old tradition not from BI but later >> that to Bishvat you should pray to be Zoh to a beautiful esrogue in the coming sukkot. Now let me explain >> your white woman >> that that today >> people don't think it's such a big deal because so many arrogance >> why why shouldn't I assume I'm going to get a nice esro but you have to know that in Europe >> for really hundreds of years esroim were extremely rare and it was very common in a lot of the smallet that the rav was the only one that had the esrog and everybody came to borrow it >> and if that esro got puzzle >> there was there wasn't another. >> So the idea that you're desperately praying that you should get a good esrogue was a very very powerful need in those days. The truth is we need it even today but we're a little spoiled because there are so many esrogenim all all over the place. Uh but so again this is a good time to think about give us a beautiful beautiful esro for the holiday of sukus and may we be able to fulfill the mitzvah the orisa of taking it seven days in the ba mikt because it's interesting that outside of the ba mikdash there's only of the orisa of day one the other days are midan when there's a ba mikdash in the ba mikt It's all seven days. So that becomes a dough risa. >> No braha, right? >> No braha and no shaky because it's been boiled and cooked. >> This is surprisingly good. >> Very good. >> Something cannot be exception. >> I I I believe that even if you need to cook it here, you don't mix your piano. We cooked the barley. You were >> We cooked the barley and the wheat. >> We cooked the barley and we baked the wheat. >> No, I understand. So, we didn't make We didn't make I mean Yeah. >> No, the reason is precisely because the normal way you would eat it is by cooking it. Raw is too sour. It's like a lemon. Okay, next is apple. >> Um, again, we're no longer with the shivam. We're dealing with different assortments of fruits. >> Uh, but you'll remember, yeah, I'm just following the order of the sheet here, which is the order of the paor, the safer, uh, paor and If you remember in Shira Shirim >> the song of songs which is written as a very romantic book a love story and in fact there were there were rabbis who didn't want to include Shirim in the Tanakh because they said it's romance what are you putting romantic stories but what do what does Rabi Rabaka is the great savior of Shira because he said, "If all of these songs are holy, Shirim is the holiest of holy because it is a metaphor and a parable for [snorts] the love of Hashem for the Jewish people and the Jewish people for Hashem." And the woman is none other than Ami Israel. And the Melik or the shepherd, he's in two guises, is God. And that is the holiness of that story. And uh it describes there the fragrance of apples as describing an ultimate pleasure uh the beautiful fragrance of apples. And indeed uh Rashi brings a medish that when Yakov was disguised as >> and Yakov comes to Yitk and Yitk smells a fragrance as the field which God had blessed. So Rashi says it was so Rashi says and in Kabala if you if you say the and I don't know if you know three zamiros of the Shabas meals many people only only say the one at Sudashis if at all but the Arisal wrote three poems for each meal of Shabas. And he talks about the revelation of Hashem's presence as tapen, the field of apples. Although I will tell you an interesting thing. Some biblical scholars actually say that tapuak in biblical Hebrew is not apple, but it's apricot. I don't know the arguments on one side or the other. The standard translation of taponikra is apple but some do suggest apricot. Yeah. >> I have a question. I have heard the phrase the holy apple seed. Does that appear in any of those poems? >> Heard that phrase? >> Yes. Yes. Yes. >> Which poem? >> Well well the I could if I show you in a in one of the poems for Shabas. >> I don't remember. It's the Friday night. I don't know [clears throat] if it's Friday night or Shabas day. I have to look. It's tapadish. That means the feet. It's in Aramaic. Aramaic. >> It's Aramaic tapin kadishin. Now it doesn't say holy apple seeds. It says the field of holy apples or the holy field of apples. >> Yeah. That lion is the tapuk and kadish. Yeah. And [snorts] of course on rashash shana the uh first fruit although there's a shila because of the shaim but many people have the min that the first fruit that they eat on rashash shana is the apple dipped in honey and they ask hashem to give them a shana tova. So we can also ask under Hashem should bless us and all of the Jewish people and all of the world with the balance of a sha. >> Okay. >> Okay. I'm just again following the list here. Okay. Uh you can do these both together. There's walnuts [snorts] and almonds. Almonds, very good for the heart. Now, here, these are tree nuts. So, hopefully no one has an allergy here, but uh tree nuts are. So, once again, there's no braha because they're covered by the fruit. >> The apple, >> huh? >> Do we eat the apple? >> Oh, I'm sorry. We didn't eat the apple yet. I'm sorry. >> I'm sorry. We didn't eat the apple yet. Yeah. Um Oh, the apple's here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, I'll wait. Does everyone have an apple? Uh, >> okay. I apologize again. No, no bra apple. Okay. We just have dreams also. >> No, that's that's optional. You guys back the walnuts now. >> Yes. >> Now a general idea about nuts. Now you know just just to contrast it for a moment. You know there is a minhug on Roshashana the regular rashashana not to eat nuts. And there are two different reasons that are given for the menagnat to eat nuts. One is that nuts sometimes get stuck in your throat uh fleg and therefore it may uh may uh distract you in davening etc. And the other is the gamatria of ego. So it goes is alf gimmel which is four and vav uh which is six that's 10 and the zion is 17 is the same gamatria as sin not counting the alf [laughter] which is a silent letter so we don't want to e that goes because it's connected to sin etc. >> Never understood that because to is >> that's correct to 17 there. That's right. That's right. Uh I think the flem reason was the main reason actually. Um um because on two bishvats we do eat nuts and [clears throat] nuts are regarded as very positive. In Shirim again the Jewish people compared to all sorts of things. The Jewish people are compared to grapes. They're compared to olives that we already looked at. And the pomegranate is even the sinners of Israel are as filled with mitzvot as a pomegranate is filled with seeds. But nuts are also good because the the medish tells us that a tree nut that's in a big shell, even if you throw it in the mud and the filth, the inside doesn't get affected. It all goes back to the same type of metaphor that the pineot remains pure and good even when the kit is filthy and the like. So again, it's kind of repetitive because the same point is being made in different ways, but it goes back because we need to we need to remember this and therefore we have many many different symbols that bring this to the to the four. So you can do the almonds and the uh the uh walnuts together. Orange. That's what my husband Now here we do have the 20 uh 21st century adaptation and improvement and enhancement of the carob. Uh when I was growing up uh so we got every tubish we got this thing called bxer which is carob dried carob and it quite literally was eating a piece of wood and somehow we were celebrating tubish by eating a piece of wood and yet and yet the garumar itself indicates >> oh did you like did you like it okay [laughter] that um the gummor itself indicates that the karov was the food of the very righteous people who did not seek pleasure in the world. The Gomorrah says about the Tana Rabbi Khan Benisa who lived in abject poverty. >> The whole world gets parnasa because of kina bendisa and he is satisfied with a small measure of from shabas to next of shabas. And do you remember the story >> that his wife was so poor, they were so poor, she did not have oil to light the Shabas candles. [snorts] >> She didn't have any oil for the Shabas candles. So he told her, "Light the Shabas candles with vinegar." And she says, "Vine does not burn." And he said, "The same God who lets oil burn can actually let vinegar burn." And indeed, Hashem did a miracle that vinegar burns, which it normally doesn't do. What [clears throat and snorts] is his point? That everything is a miracle. You think oil is nature and vinegar is miracle. Everything's a miracle. Think the thing miracles that happen more often we call nature, but they're still miracles. In fact, this is to go back for Khaneka a little bit. This is one of the answers to the famous Kaneka question. And that is if they had enough oil for eight uh for one day and the miracle was it burnt for eight days, there's only a miracle for seven days. Why do we light the first night? There was no miracle. There are hundreds of answers to that question. But one of the answers is to remind us that even the normal burning of oil life normal life we have to look at as a divine miracle. And the karov connects us so to speak with Rabbi Khan Benisa who taught that attitude and therefore we can think in our own lives as we say in Shimonu because of your miracles that are with us every single day. Now as I say though this is a 21st century enhancement by Rabbitson Poston in which the carob powder was mixed. This is actually a mison but this is covered by the wheat mazonos that so the carob powder which is like a cocoa is mixed with the flour but we're still eating the carob even in this particular form. >> Say again. >> Um yeah this is yeah this is [laughter] for sure. No, it's covered. It's covered by the >> covered by Would you say because you didn't eat cow? >> No, it's just No. That's where we get the boxer. All right. [laughter] >> And our last fruit before the second cup, we're going to have the second cup in in a few seconds, is a pear, a gasim, apple. Again, no braha because it's a fruit that's been covered. We don't have uh do you have Okay, >> we have mangoes. >> No, mango is is later. We have mangoes. That's that's the next thing. The pairs went out with the apples. If anybody needs >> No, we don't have pairs. We didn't get pairs. Okay. Uh, second cup. Add just a little bit of red. Again, we are moving from the dormcancy to the of the winter to the beginnings of the rejuvenation of uh of spring. Remember that tubishvat is the beginning of spring in a hidden sense because botanically what happens is the sap is rising even though you don't see it and that's going to enable the production of the fruit. So in a sense we're beginning the spring. Now whether scientifically it's astronomically it's the date or not makes no difference but spiritually this is the beginning of that rejuvenation. >> Okay. And we're also moving from the total rakamim of the world of Atilus to a greater concealment in the world of Bria where the rakamim which is represented by the white is a little colored by the redness of den although it's still dominantly rakamim uh there because we're getting closer and closer to our world. Okay. Um, no no braha because no braha. Just take a little sip and no reclining. Maybe yellow. The red one. Okay. >> Uh for some of these things I I frankly do not have uh any any real explanations and nor do the say it. Uh but again part of the simka is the diversity of just looking at all of the things that are available. You know uh we've been spoiled. This even has implications on shakayanu. There's all sorts of laws about shakyanu and seasonal fruits. Uh in big cities there is almost okay is a little different but in the United States certainly in big cities there is virtually no concept of seasonal fruit. Everything is available all year round because everything is imported from everywhere in the world. So the truth of the matter is the occasions for making on fruits let's say in New York City uh and the like are going to be comparatively rare. Now Israel were still hashem a little bit closer to nature in which there are you know there are months in which certain fruits don't appear and the like but you know we are getting spoiled itself is getting uh has been getting more westernized and the spoiled Americans are insisting you know that everything be be available. So un I think it's an unfortunate thing but uh you know we might wind up like New York at some at at some point. Um so even if we don't have a commentary so to speak on the fruits uh it is still a great joy just to see the diversity of what's going on. In fact it's brought down that the joy is not only eating it. The joy is looking at it. you know, I mean, colors, textures, uh, these are things that can inspire a person and bring them closer to Hashem. So, the next thing on the list is either azerole, which I have no idea what that is, or mango. >> Mango. We had >> mango. I know. Okay. This is dried mango. >> Oh, is that mango? Okay. Thank you. >> Does Rob have a ride home? We would love to take >> Oh, I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. >> I don't have right now. really good. We're always Heat. Heat. dry. Okay, here we get into uh the esoterica of nuts. I'm not an expert in that. I I know almonds and walnuts. I don't know what filbert I mean I've heard of it. I don't know what it looks like. A filbert is hazelnut. >> Hazelnut. H we >> sure >> filbert is hazel? >> We don't have >> We don't have it. >> No. >> Okay. >> Cherries we do not have. Right. >> Oh, crains. Okay. Well, crains are cranberries, but but whatever. But um >> craisins are next. Craisins. Thank you very much. Sweet. >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay, our next one is the dried apricot. >> And now we uh can take the third cup. Add a little more red. >> We are moving into the summer >> as more and more produce gets ripened more red. >> [clears throat] >> We are also leaving the world of Berea, entering the more physicalized world of of of yet where God's mercy is once again more and more concealed in a koi of miden. We're getting closer to our world again. No braha. Take a little sip. what is apricot for >> I don't know some of them I I don't have any explanations >> although some say as I say some say apricot is a tap you know >> is what >> tapak so >> so all the symbolism of apple could be applied to apricot Actually I want to share with you as an aside a very interesting thought from the first Gabb the Kadushim. The Tomu Shami says that any tree that blossoms from Tubishvat onwards blossomed from the rain of this year. And this year, of course, we had a lot of rain. If a tree blossomed before Tubishvat, it really got its nourishment from the rain of last year. that one of the reasons why Tishvat is the new year is because any tree that blossoms from this point on is from this year's rain. If it blossoms before Tishvat, even in the new year, it's from last year's reign. The says that symbolically gem refers not only to rain, but gashm refers to all of the goodness and blessing Hashem's brings into the world. So he says a very interesting we know then on rashash shana regular rashashana god decides who will live who will die how much money you're going to make healthy sick and know the final judgment is on kipper but rashashana is the initial judgment but the kaducim says even though decides that we don't start drawing on the new blessings until twoish mean meaning even though this is 5786 Six for tish keshvan kislave tes and the first half of we are living off the brahos that were allocated to us the rashash shana of 5785 and are we are able to access [snorts] the brahos of 5786 only from tisha not tish only from tishbat now we hope the blessings will be But they might even be worse. I mean, meaning they'll be different. That's all we're saying. We're getting it from a different source. >> Until tishvat, we're getting it from last year's den. >> After tubishvat, we're getting it from this year's den. And he says a spiritually sensitive person. Not all of us are spiritually sensitive per se or maybe not as much as we'd like to be. Should be able to tell the difference in the quality of their aodas hashem before tishbat and after tishvat. Again, hopefully better. Hopefully better, but maybe not better, but it'll be different. That's what he says. Different for sure. >> That mean doesn't that mean we'll get more breath? >> Uh, yes. That that could very well be the case once once that could actually be a very positive message. That's one of the reasons we call >> even an abundance of rain which was you know it created difficulties. I don't know you know we had a lot of leaks in my house you know so [laughter] there are there are problems but on the other hand we call it gishme braha we call it reigns of blessing in fact one of the most beautiful things I remember when I first came to I'm I'm sure you've seen it maybe more than I have even is that we were caught in like a flash rain a really heavy rain and people were dancing as people dancing in a certain and wherever I happened to be and it was a wonderful thing people are dancing in the rain is such a sim if you ever learn mak's tinus which talks about fasting because there's no rain and you see how lyrically the gammor describes the joy of what rainfall was what what what a joy it was to people as opposed to you know at least in the kutzar it's where most of the in America most of the time you know it's not a drought it it rains with a lot of frequency so people look at rain as an inconvenience when in fact it's one as God's greatest greatest blessings in life and I think here precisely because so much of the year we don't have rain uh rain is even heavy rain we look at it as we we always need it and uh you know with all [snorts] of the fancy technology that we have you know we ultimately still need that rain [laughter] we haven't managed to totally get our get ourselves out of that >> food we have today >> say again >> all the food we have today is not tubish last year. >> Yeah, that's correct. That's correct. Yeah, that Well, yeah. Well, we can't have the post. Yeah. Yeah, you're correct. But it's it's last last two. So, that's something to to think about. Okay. Uh we have our Oh, did we did we drink our third cup already? I don't remember. >> Okay. So, this is the third cup. >> Uh third cup once again. We're moving into the summer >> and uh Huh. >> Which one is it? >> This is Yira. >> Yira. It's s okay we are now our fourth cup uh in the pes it would be time for halal but the truth is the whole tubishvat is one big hal that's what it is so essentially everything is halal and our next thing is one of the favorite foods of many many people in aritis that is the pistachio IO se the pisto if you remember pistachios seem to be so popular that at least according to one commentary in Rashi when Yakov is trying to figure out how to send a nice little gift to the viceroy of Egypt remember he said some of the choicest of the land so according to Rashi's medus that Rashi brings he sent uh >> pistachios that was one of the things that he sent uh now it was a famine so probably there wasn't a lot of pistachios, but it was more of a symbolic gift and that was considered to be something very very treasured. >> The rabbi say pistachio. >> Yeah. Pist pistachio. Yeah. No, no, no, no. [clears throat] I'm not with ADHD or something neuro diver. You know, I tell the uh the boys in AR that, you know, uh Jewish Vat is a really important day because it's the only day of the year they eat fruit. Uh but yeah, the guys don't don't eat fruit. You know that that's a well-known that's a well-known [laughter] but I assume that the adults here eat a eat a more balanced diet. Okay. Our next thing is interesting because this is this will have a braha. Pine seeds. >> Now pine seeds on one hand come from a pine tree. So you might assume it's a fruit but it is not uh the normal fruit uh that's eaten. Uh meaning it's not normally uh eaten as a fruit. So in such a situation you make a shahakle on it. Now let me point out something. There is a special rule about wine that when you make ber priya guffin on wine you don't just like hamotzi when you make hamotzi you don't make a bra on the individual foods. When you make a bur priya on wine, that exempts you from shahako on any >> drinks on any drinks, >> but it does not exempt you from shahako on solid foods. On the other hand, when you actually make a shahakle on drinks, that does exempt you. So, I have to say that I'm not going to make a shakle because I had club soda. So if any of you had water or any type of drink, you will not make a bra on the pine seed. But if the only thing you drank was the boret priyagen on the wine, you will make a shahako on the pine seed. Okay. Yeah. Now >> there's a very interesting comparison. in Tahillim. This is saddic base 92 which is a very well-known chapter msir leom a hash shabas. This is the we say both Friday night and shabas morning and it ends with the verse. Look at the two comparisons that sadik should flower like the date paler balvanon like a cedar in Lebanon yiske should go high so that sadic is compared to both a tamar a day and an irez a cedar tree and the gammorra explains that we have these Two comparisons. A cedar tree is majestic, high, strong, powerful, but it doesn't produce edible fruit. The tamar produces edible fruit, but it tends to be a relatively low tree, small tree. Date palms are not gigantic like cedars. So that sadik has to have these two qualities. He has to be like an ays. He has to be strong. He has to be so committed to Torah and mitzvah that nothing can move him. He's a cedar of Lebanon, right? Or in my neighborhood, our arab, right, the cedars of the of the capital. But at the same time, he can't just think of himself. He can't just be the cedar that doesn't produce fruit. He has to produce fruit in the and the Torah that he teaches and the wisdom that he shares. And that's why the saddak has to have the two characteristics as strong as the cedar but as giving as the as the tamar. So we already had the tamar earlier the shaim and the pine nuts remind us of the erys tomato. >> Our next uh we just have two more. Our next is hackberry, which I have no idea, or prune, which we do have. Prune uh is here. A prune for though I'm sure you all know that a prune is a dried plum. And once again, I I don't know the exact significance. Um I apologize that uh there's we don't have the full explanation for every everything >> and part of this is just the diversity to have sim Okay. Good. Heat. Heat. And our our last >> is Pen [laughter] >> at some point. I I don't know, but that's okay. You never had we have an orange on the plate, but we never said anything about >> uh Yeah, we didn't officially again, if you enjoy it, take what you enjoy. >> It's not officially listed, but >> what is this? >> What is this now? >> You know, it's interesting that oranges again were so rare uh in Poland that uh you only they were so expensive because they didn't grow they didn't grow in that climate at all. They had to be imported. That uh you only bought an orange for a child that was sick. >> Rabbi, I brought it over these pecans. Do you have pecans? >> Um I don't have pecans. >> Yeah, I think. Thank you so much. >> So they used to say what they used to say um that oranges were only for the sick children >> and even chicken soup was not always available. So they say uh if you got chicken soup during the week uh either the kid was sick or the chicken was sick. That [laughter] was the only that was the only condition. >> If these if this all this was written two generations after the resol in the 16th century >> apparently. Yeah. Apparently they did. Yeah. Anything special with pecan or just >> anything special with pe with but the pecan >> pecan I don't know I don't know >> again the general the generality of the tree nut and we ate a number of tree nuts is the medish in shiim that the inside of the nut never gets dirtied by whatever is on the outside and that that refers to the Jewish people so all the tree nuts have that that thing in Honey, [clears throat] our fourth cup. >> Pour the red wine in. It should look almost totally red. >> We're moving into the fullness redine wine. >> The fullness of the autumn >> is man of sucos, >> the in gathering of all of the produce. >> Thanks very much. But at the same time, we're entering our world of assa in which the mercy of God seems to be covered up by an overabundance of red wine. >> It was close. >> But we have to know that even in the red wine of den lies the hidden >> mercy and compassion. >> Oh yeah. >> Of the white wine. >> Oh. >> So as we leave this tubished, we live in a world >> where den seems to be very very dominant. >> Oh good. But in the den is ultimate rakhim and compassion. Our prayer would be that the white that is within this red should become revealed and perceived by us and that should be reame. Amen. >> Um in order to make a um Corona on wine, you actually have to drink a fair amount of wine pretty quickly. So unless you dr if you drank the if you drank a full cup uh all at once, you would make the after brahan wine, if you simply sipped a little bit every time, even if you wound up finishing a cup, you would not make a bra on on the wine. >> What are you going to do? >> So uh I I >> What's your drink this time? >> One whole like this size. Uh half. No, not the whole cup. Yeah, you have to drink the whole cup. If you drink the whole cup, you make Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> What's the time? >> Red wine. >> Okay. Sure. Sure. Uh >> do you have to have >> say what >> how much milk do you have? If you had like a couple of those big >> Soonos, if you had really one one wheat cracker, that's enough to Yeah. >> Yeah. Yeah. So, so that's true. What now? Once you're going to say an alamya because of the cracker, you can then include even the wine that you wouldn't make your own bra for and the fruit as well. Uh probably fruit people probably did eat enough uh of the shaminum to make the aloe. So I would assume based on this um I I'll make a I'm going to make a bra on everything because um I ate a kazias of misonos for sure and ate a kaz of fruit. So even though I did not drink the shear of wine, but once I I have [music] My birthday [singing] [music] is your sh [music]