Rabbi Yitzchak Breitowitz: Confrontation and Common Ground in Today's World

[Music] okay well anyway hi everybody thank thank you for coming appreciate your coming and is right the Sham we should all be and call you sell the world should all be in good good health this parsha of course is a parsha that's filled with many many bitter things that's filled with mclogan it's filled with dissension and the end of dissension is not good the end of dissension was destruction and in fact the Taira says at the end of the whole story lo c ik ik iraq bahadur so there shall never be we had the prohibition there shall never be something like KO ROK and his congregation and the gomorrah and some Hedren says this is actually a prohibition not to generate McLucas not to generate argument not to generate dissension because we're like Kyra and as a DA say in this congregation there is however a very beautiful thought from of crimes from Labatt's he interprets the verse this way he says instead of looking at it as a prohibition thou shalt not be like chorus the Taira is making an empirical statements there will never be a mock locust like coax ever again why is that so because in the mock locust of Kharak against moshe one side was completely wrong and one side was completely right the tire is saying there will never be a mock locust like that again in every mock locust you need to understand that there's a little bit of truth in both sides and that's an important way of how we diffuse my focus because especially in their excess oil I think I noticed that even more than in the in that wealth United States and I was little different with Trump but the old days America was known as a place of conciliation of compromise of understanding the other person's position of common ground of trying to work together that's largely dead in America - in Israel although profession we do get United when there are very serious issues of life and death which we have faced here but on the day the day each side demonizes the other side meaning to say the car a them look at those who are not ready and you know say you're on Molokai or whatever it is and the other side looks at car a them and say they're parasites and each side sees nothing redemptive in the other side and the crime shall have it says the pus ik there shall never be a mock locust like Cora is actually making the point that in every mock locust there's going to be something right and something wrong and your goal is to try to find and legitimate the MS that is in the other person's position and then they will legitimate the MS that is in your position common grounds work together see the legitimacy of many different views and this is across the board I don't want to get too political of the issue should you Shiva students serve in the army one has to understand this is not a total black and white issue there are good legitimate strong arguments on both sides on one hand on one hand the primacy of Torah is a given without limit October we're not going to be zoca to the victories that I shall will give us no matter how powerful the army of Israel is it's going to be outnumbered it's going to be defeated unless God helps us and the key to God helping us is art or in our mitzvahs as well as their alibi to thrill and delight on the other hand the argument just as Moshe Rabbeinu said to the two-and-a-half tribes who want we're going to read in a few weeks who want to the remain on the east bank of the our game the Moshe Rabbeinu said to them your brethren are going to war and you want to stay here how can that be so each side looks at the other side and totally demonizes them when in fact there is an akuna immense in both sides of the arguments and the truth of the matter is if you recognize the legitimacy of the other guy's position he's gonna recognize the legitimacy of your position as well and this is a puss ik initially the puss ik initially says a beautiful beautiful puss occurred Kamiya upon him upon him as water reflects the face that you show the water the heart of man reflects that which is shown to that person the Vilna GaN explains if I look at a pool of water if I spend it reflects back my face if I smile at the water I get a smiling face if I frown at the water I get a frowning face the water reflects back whatever it is shown so to the heart of a human being reflects back that which I show that human being I show that human being love and respect he will love and respect me I show that human being disparagement and denigration that is how they will feel to me so you have to know that this is a self-defeating proposition when we look at the people that we argue with and we consider them to be evil to be foolish to be stupid we don't see any Malcolm of good in the position they're espousing we have to realize that that is how they're going to view us as well and therefore if I'm sure Levitt says the rain shits achma the beginning of wisdom in defusing the animosity the fire of malakut is to try to see the side of the others or the other guy try to see some merit in their position and then you work towards a common ground some type of compromise I know from my own experience of being a rather of a chauffeur for many many years that when people sometimes have complaints let's say progressive elements want to have a women's service or whatever it would be if you simply listen with respect and you legitimate with respect that you know they have some type of taina some type of argument often it doesn't have to go any further meaning you said they will not demand radical changes if they feel they are listened to and that's an amazingly important idea listen to what the other person is saying that is why you say that amount of edema logically Shalom which is piece is connected to shall M wholeness because peace is achieved when you try to see the whole story and not just focus on your piece when I focus on my piece there is P hood now P hood means both my piece and divisive nasaan Shalom uncial M shall then meaning the entire story there will be Shalom because at that point I an try to understand you you try to understand me so Cobra is above all the great parsha of mark locates now what exactly is the story with correct what was correct are trying to do so R as she gives us a back story from the Midrash Tanguma Cobra was a son of Yeats or in each Suriname ROM are brothers so coax is a cousin the first cousin of Moshe and Iran and coax felt that he was entitled to a greater position in the Levite hierarchy than he was getting because he said all right I'm Rama is the oldest son of Kohath so I'm Rams children get to position saber corner always gets a double portion right so Moshe gets the leadership and Allen gets the priesthood that's called the piece and I am because I'm Ram is the oldest son of God but then there was another position who would be the head of the tribe of Lading and that was a son of a person who was a third son meat meaning chaos who is the dominant spiritual source of the Levites had four sons Amram Yeats or Chevron and new CEO Moshe and our own got a double portion from Amram who was the koreff gasps but the head of the tribe of labour was ELISA found been ZL lucielle is the fourth son and Cora claimed he should have gotten the head of the tribe of living so Cora was jealous of the fact that he was passed over and Cora gathered unto him a whole group of malcontents all sorts of people who had different agendas there were firstborn people who were jealous of the fact that the firstborn were replaced by the Levites he which correct was one there were people of the tribe of Reuben Dassin vivarium who felt that Reuben was the firstborn son so that should replace everything which means Cobra is actually kind of like the Democratic Party in America correct is cobbling together a group of people each of whom has their own selfish agenda correct as a lady once a greater position shaiva through vein as Reuben once a dominant position there are other firstborn the 215 the CM who brought incense our firstborn and they resent the fact that the Laveen replaced them after the sin of the golden calf so they're not fighting for the same thing the only common denominator is each of them is seeking a greater leadership a greater ascendancy now here is the very interesting non sequitur that is not the agenda that correct presented Cora came to Moshe with what you might call radical egalitarianism correct argument was all of the congregation is holy we are equal we all heard Hashem it Mount Sinai say a Nokia shymala Kaka I am the Lord your God and shall not have any other gods so if you simply looked at COEX words Co Rock is an anarchist Cobra is claiming there wrought not to be hierarchical authorities and how we connect to God every person should have their own relationship with God can call her a da Coulomb Kadosh in every single member of the congregation is holy okay so Cobra is not articulating a power struggle Cora is articulating an ethos that says there ought not to be hierarchical structures at all every person can and should create their own relationship with God so if that's what's correct is saying then moshus response is not really addressing it moshe says why are you complaining did not God give you me buddy enough honor but wait a second that's not the answer Couric is not claiming more honor Carla is claiming egalitarianism for Moshe to say why are you complaining you're pretty well off is not addressing the fundamental idea answer Moshe understands that there's a hidden agenda here Cora is speaking the language of equality but he really means the language of privilege and he is simply saying he wants to be the boss instead of somebody else very interesting this is kind of the anatomy of revolutions great revolutions are often spearheaded with calls for equality let's consider the French Revolution right liberté égalité a fraternity everybody is equal but what eventually happened you had Robespierre who was certainly no better than whatever King Louie was replaced by the French Revolution those of you might remember the book Animal Farm by George Orwell George Orwell wrote 1984 which is another another famous book but Animal Farm is really a parody of the Russian Revolution of 1917 the communist revolution and the story of Animal Farm it's it's a fable is that the animals revolted against the human owners who were so oppressive and the animals called for the rights of all animals to be treated with decency and eventually what happened was the animals overthrew the human rulers but eventually some of the animals began to be dictatorial and started abusing the animals below them till eventually they morphed into human beings meaning people who are revolutionaries for the rights of man often have a hidden agenda where power is the motivation rather than equality and George Orel was saying that was the communist revolution the communist revolution overthrew the Tsar to establish equality right to each according to their needs you know from each according to their abilities what did it turn into lemon and then Stalin Stalin certainly was worse than almost any Tsar that there was so what you're dealing with here is that the hidden agenda of power be very very careful about revolutionaries the whole path that can talk about Cambodia very often revolutions are simply pretenses to change and alter the power structure and that is why mojo Boehner says the chorus I'm not even going to address your egalitarian arguments because that's just a fake that's just a way to get your people behind you you're really talking about taking away the power that a Shem gave to Moshe and IRA and you want to take it instead one power for another power that's why Moshe Rabbeinu says Rav Elohim the name av you have enough kavod you have enough medulla you don't need anymore now there was only one person besides Moshe Rabbeinu himself there's one person who understood this very very clearly that's a person who's not even mentioned in the Commish to the wife of own been peles now who has owned been peles own been palace is mentioned only once in the whole Torah he is a man we know nothing about him and he is listening he must have been a well known person at the time a local celebrity because he is listed as one of the people who joined chorus rebellion people from Chabot Roubaix enjoying 250 elders and a fellow called own Ben peles but later when we read about the ground opening up and Korra gets swallowed and a fire destroys the 215 the CM who brought incense there is no mention of what happened to own Ben palace what happened to this man owned Ben palace who initially joins correct the turbo doesn't say but the gomorian Sanhedrin tells us that own Ben peles was saved by his wife because when cara came to bring on Ben peles to the confrontation with Moshe which would have resulted in owns death because that's where the ground opened up so misses own basically told her husband you're an idiot right a good wife will sometimes tell her husband that because owned impellers comes home he is so impressed with this talk about equality co-op says every person is equal every person has their own relationship with God you Imam who was a famous famous American demigod in the 1930s he got assassinated he he had a chance of being president and he might have turned the United States into a communist country he was essentially a a a socialist and UE long his motto was every man a king so correct is raising the flag every man a king so honed Ben pelvis comes home and he says it's so exciting all of us common people are going to be leaders of course how can everybody be a leader we're all going to be leaders and mrs. owned impellers says to him you're an idiot because either way you're going to be a loser if Moshe wins your certainly in trouble and if Co rock wins you think you're going to be a big shot you'll be a nobody anyway so if you're going to be a nobody one way or the other why don't you stay with motion right don't change your allegiance if the only thing that can happen is a bad outcome or no worse than your why right now right that's the presumption of inertia again she's not making he's not making a little big language he didn't give them a muster smooth she didn't say oh Hashem gave the Torah Moshe Rabbeinu assertions nothing no mussar she simply said you are an idiot you're gonna be a loser no matter who wins this game so why plate and cuz I'll call her the wise woman it says in Mitch lay the wisdom of a wife builds a house and the foolishness of a wife can destroy a home and cause I'll say on that person the wisdom of a wife builds the house this is the wife of own bent Ellis and the foolishness of my wife can destroy a home this was the wife of Korah who egged her husband on and said yeah you can be the boss keep on fighting for it etc so this stuff teaches something about marriage as well that sometimes the role of a good wife is to prevent the husband from being too grandiose in his expectations of it's very very interesting I don't know I'd say it's against a good question I do not know her name but I can't promise that it's not recorded somewhere I'll try to check up and see if I could if I could find it ends as the evidence recess you see the ebenezer points out as I as I said a few moments ago that all of this egalitarianism is a fraud on all sides because every single subgroup had their own agenda the ruling people wanted ruling to be on top the firstborn people wanted the firstborn to be on top the Le'Veon of like co-op wanted to Olivia to be on time so each one is really only out for themselves but the way they unite is by a pretense that we're going to abolish hierarchy it's a fascinating psychological political study because this is the way politics often work that the language of fairness and equality is simply a power grab in this way the Vilna Gaon says a very very beautiful thought perky of us ethics of the fathers mentions Calma hocus shakeela shame shamayim any mock locust that is for the sake of heaven we're arguing because we really want to serve God properly so Foley it's kyang that's Mike locusts will endure meaning we will continue to study it we will learn from it we will grow from it but a mock locusts that's not lachey me shamayim that's not going to enjoy that's going to be destroyed the Mishna then goes on and gives an example what is an example of a mock locusts for the sake of heaven this is the mock locusts Hillel and Shammai Frank Hillel and Shammai and there you see votes beit el obeid sham i have numerous numerous maha locum throughout the Mishnah throughout the Talmud and to this very day we don't even though the halacha is like baser well that's true because of their humility by the way but we still learn Beit Shean I we debate shamans like neshama is mentioned first people think pajama is mentioned first people think because since we passed him like base hello it's a corona her own Cavia actually it's the opposite it mentions the shamans mentioned first to give honor to Beit Shean and because Botello always gave honor to Beit Shean i that's why they married it that the halacha is like base ella but we still learned HMI and we analyze Beit Shean i because the mach locus hello and shanghai and later baekeland Beit Shean i was for the sake of god but what's an example of a ma hello guess that's not Lachey mission I am the Mishna says Cobra via do so carafes and his congregation so the before she mask the mission is a symmetry any symmetrical because when it talks about like locust Lachey mission item it gives both sides Hillel verses Shama so when you're giving the mock locust not mache mission mom it should have said Cola against motion cornea does is only one side of the McLucas now what answer might be because it's only one side that's not machine shamalia moshe is the same sure Maya but they think that if some cypher says correctly add the sign means when you have a mock latest not l'chaim shamayim even the people on the same side are really in McLucas meaning to say co-rec and his own group every one of them have a different agenda a difference because they were not objectively seeking something they were seeking individual power for them for themselves you know you often hear when people feel slighted we get upset and again I mean I'll include myself in this group so we often say it's not personal it's a matter of principle meaning I'm not upset because of what was done to me I'm upset over the principle of the matter well you need to know whenever you find yourself saying it's the principle of the matter and it's not personal it actually is personal because the truth of the matter is why does it only bother us when we're the ones who got hurt I mean if we get hurt we're not the first person in history who got hurt there are plenty of people who got hurt and if we didn't have that same outrage then it's not the abstract principle of unfairness it's because it hurt us there's a certain self-absorption here if I could quote I think this may be the first time I have quoted him Mel Brooks Mel Brooks once said what is the difference between comedy and tragedy so he said tragedy is when I stubbed my toe and it hurts comedy is when you slip on a banana peel and you break your leg meaning say even big things that happen to somebody else are not as significant as little things that happened to me so this is one of the important things we need to look about karak beware of hidden agendas and that also means beware of hidden agendas within ourselves as well what is it that we honestly 1oa chief and sometimes what we honestly want to achieve is something that's kind of negative and let's be strong enough to identify that and put it on the table because once we're honest with ourselves we're then able to deal with that which is negative within our own personalities now let me share with you a very very amazing thoughts of the Arisa that is explained by the casillases savor the shame is more correct in many ways was a very very great person effect Cora was the ancestor of the prophets MOA who was considered to be as greatest motion I remember kourosh sons didn't die that the ground opened up and they fell in but they did she were the last moment so there was a little cliff that saved them and they climbed out and they were very great and there were the ancestors of small into Hillen there are 11 chapters of tehilim that say a song composed by the children of coal in fact you may if you know if you say to him regularly you will of course encounter this it is one of the songs of the week and it is also a tell him that we recite before the blowing of the shofar on Rosh Hashanah alum not say a caliph Nakoa that is this color this is the same the correct the guy that died because the ground opened up his children his descendants composed great to Hill him and they were great Levin in the basin mukesh among whom was the Nervii Shmuel who was a lady so chorus had a lot of greatness we are told that Cora understood the greatest secrets of the Torah the meddra says someone inexplicably that the para Duma the ritual of the red heifer which no one understood even King Solomon didn't understand Cora understood exactly what was going on and we'll see that Cora is kind of like a Greek tragedy remember the Greek idea of tragedy is not that the building falls upon you you know that's a very sad thing that's a catastrophe but a tragedy in the Greek sense is when you are destroyed not from something outside of yourself but when you are destroyed because of a flaw that is within that is a true tragedy because there's greatness there's nobility there's brilliance and yet there's a fatal cancer within that destroys all of the goodness that could have been that's much more tragic that's much more poignant than simply the building fell falling down on somebody so here is what the a result says the arise I'll presents us with a gamut Riya and the gematria is a little enigmatic the gamut ria of Moshe mem shin-hey is 345 the gamut area of coal rocks is 308 345 - 308 is 37 ok following the numbers 37 is the gamut area of the word hello hello means vapor or vanity something very ephemeral futile therefore we have the following arithmetic or correlation choral plus Hevel equals moshe or to put it another way moshe - FL equals current that's what the every result says he does not explain what is the significance of this Kamat area and what is heaven what is heaven - Masha - hello was Co Rock Co Rock + heaven is moshe right how do you explain all of this what does it mean so the great Ksyusha safer the shame machine or says the following idea the very first act of murder that occurred was of course the killing of heaven by his brother kyon let's go back to the first so to speak children that were born from human beings kyon and Heba they were born the same day in fact they were born as adults basically why did Kaaba call Cayenne Canyon because she said Kaneesha ish Emma Shem now what's the translations here you have to know Konishi we often translate this I have acquired to be Kona I have acquired a man or a son with God but in truth in Biblical Hebrew kana is not so much at position it actually is creation for example Avraham praises Hashem that Hashem is connais Somalian pirates KO nation my mirth doesn't mean he acquired heaven and earth heaven didn't go to the market and bought heaven and earth somewhere rather Kona is to create so Canisius Hashem means I have created a human being with God I am a co-creator of life Baba indeed is called why she called cava aim call hi the mother of all life hey Bell also has a meaning now the Torah doesn't give us the meaning but we know that heaven is literally vapor vapor remember the famous refrain in Megillah qohelet in the book of qohelet Ecclesiastes KO hell that's what occurs I'll say Shalimar hemella wrote three for him he wrote the song of songs in his youth what is sheer actually rim it's a love song it is full of romance it is full of passion although it is a metaphor for the love we have for God and God has for us but it is a song whose tone is Mateen to that of a young person who is passionately in love with the world she Reshiram is the passion of youth the second book Schlemmer Melek wrote is Mitch Lee Mishnah is proverbs Mitch lay is the sober prudence of course obviously there's a lot of holding this year but I'm just looking at it in a superficial way it is the sober prudent practical advice of a man of middle age you know the feet although are deep meanings obviously but a lot of Mitch ladies common sense save your money you know get up early don't be lazy work be industrious kind of you know the middle-aged guy that says you know we got to be responsible be a responsible person qohelet was written in HoMedics old age towards the end of life there is a certain sad tone in qohelet there is a certain depression in Thailand in which a person at the end of his life looks back at all of the things they spent their time doing amassing wealth trying to be powerful slow my Malek above all was powerful he ruled over a world empire and then you realize that when you die it's all going to go away and everything you've done is futile except for serving Hashem and doing his Mitsos that's why the end of coelus is the most important thing it's a very depressing melancholy reflection on the futility of life but it ends with one message of hope soft of are a call Mishima the end of the matter after we've heard everything aslo Chimaera revere Hashem that's mitzvah of shamora keep his Commandments keys a call ah Adam that's all that matters to you as a person so what is the refrain that goes throughout the book of coelus a veil half a limb amar qohelet a veil of a limb a coal hovel now here I have to point out the famous standard King James translation of the word heaven that entered the English language is vanity of vanities everything is vanity but I think that potentially might confuse a modern English reader because what vanity ments a few hundred years ago is not the way people use vanity today today vanity is used for a person that's arrogant or prideful do not be a vain person but the original use of vanity is similar to do not take Hashem name in vain that doesn't mean arrogance means for no purpose so really a better translation of Havilah volum is not vanity of vanities but futility of futility and it comes from the word breath just like the breath or the vapor that comes out of your mouth you know it has no mama should there's no substance it just goes away it doesn't go anywhere I mean you can spread Corona you know we can have some dangerous things right the mask puts it back in so how they'll have the line' everything is heavy it's not it's ephemeral it's transient so it's interesting that's the second son of cava should be given the name Hevel that's not such a great name so here's what the Seamus Seamus Royal explains the Seamus model explains that Cayenne for heaven represents two active aspects of human identity that you actually need both kyon represents the impulse within the human being to create to build to to construct it is the Kyon's of the world that builds cities that discover cures for cancer because they have an ego they have a drive they don't say oh if God wants people to be well God will create the medicine know you're in the image of God so just as God as a creator you're a creator right you have to be a person that's why in Judaism Emunah faith in God is not passive or quiescent faith in God calls upon us to be God's partner in making the world a better place that's true scientifically we drained the swamps we look for cures for cancer that is true politically we try to organize societies that hopefully will advance justice that is even true in the way we study Torah that is part of why the Torah Shabbat path is a dynamic process where instead of God giving us the exact rules God gives us parameters and then the common struggle how to apply that MS to new situations in other words Cayenne represents partnership with the divine but if salivate recalls that majestic man Cayenne represents the majesty of man the greatness of man man's connection to God as a co partner in bringing goodness into the world whether that goodness is technology whether that goodness is science whether that goodness is justice whether that goodness is Torah learning and Alaka very very important Emunah is not passive or quiescent we don't say if the poor man is suffering God will take care of you I mean we do say that but we have a responsibility to do our part we don't simply say if you're sick like a Christian Scientist says if you're sick it must be God's will right Christian Scientists do not go to doctors I mean listen there are reformed Christian Scientists to go to doctors but they reformed if you're a from Christian Scientist you do not go to a doctor every year and I know in the United States there are Christian Science parents who are good parents they're not abusive but they lose custody of their children because they refuse to give their minor children medical treatments of the state takes the kids away that's the way the law works now these are not abusive parents but this is their schita that if God made you sick only God can heal you so they go they job and they pray or whatever it is but we don't believe that we believe our immunise still requires that we take an active part so that emanates from the name kaien taient TYIN i have created life with god and that's the mission of the human being to be a creator to be an initiator not to simply passively accept malaria or whatever God has put into the world and refers us that goes all the way back to the Creator the six days of creation when it says at the end of our Hulu I share Buckeye elokim that God created the world la SOTA lasts out to continue to make meaning that's our job God left the world in a state of incompletion so we would continue the job Hevel represents the idea of man's humility man's lowliness man's vulnerability hewill represents what your salvation calls redemptive man where man understands he is not the boss he is not the master of his faith kaien is the egotism that invents the Internet's and builds cities and rail routes heaven is the humility that understands that everything comes from God now you can see that each meda has its dangers and has its strengths it is the Kyon's of the world that confront the world and get things done sometimes in a positive way but the Kyon's of the world are prone to you proced to err against to divert the heavens of the world have humility and submission to God but they will tend to be passive and paralysed and submissive eyed you see the problem here ideally you need the combination of the kind and the heaven so here's what the shame is Shmuel says kyon killed him to be sure but the iris I'll very much believed in the doctrine of reincarnation which is called gilgul and that is heavy with righteous heavens was much more righteous than giant pebble was connected to Hashem Hashem accepted Abel's offering because he gave us him the best that he had but heaven did not complete his mission Havel needed to incorporate some of the qualities of kyon within his personality to achieve a fusion of humility and proactive initiative so therefore there was a reincarnation kyon needed to be reincarnated to absorb humility and Havel needed to be reincarnated to absorb initiative so the original rites in the Shiro do ghulam that korra was a reincarnation of kyon and Moshe was a reincarnation of heaven and it's fascinating that the outcome is the exact reverse of the first story because if in the first story it was the kyon who orchestrated the death of heaven in the reincarnation act - it was the heaven of Moshe who orchestrated the death of the kyon of colors but the purpose of the reincarnation was to allow each neshama to absorb the aspect of the other to create an ideal fusion inside moshe rabbeinu it was perfect because moshe rabbeinu on one hand is praised as the unloved McCullough done the most humble of all people that's the quality of course of heaven and yet Moshe Rabbeinu was the leader of three million people six hundred thousand men but total of three three million people Moshe Rabbeinu guided us he taught us he dealt with all the different quarrels that existed so Moshe Rabbeinu became in spite of his humility the leader and the dominant force so Moshe was Misaki Neville's neshama by absorbing the leadership and initiative of kyon but Cora never transcended the kyon that was with it within him Cora had genius Careca talent Cora had ability but Cora did not absorb the humility and submission of Ewa so now let's look at the correlations Cora and motion Cora and motion are the same they have greatness they have brilliance they have leadership ability but the difference is Moshe had the quality of heaven so now it's beautiful Cobra plus heaven gives you a notion Moshe - the Heather gives you a color that's why I say Cora is indeed a Greek tragedy because Cora had all of the abilities of my sharavino but he didn't have the humility and therefore he was destroyed by his own arrogance his own Guyver the Cayenne in him was never fused with the qualities of heaven as opposed to Moshe Robina when his gilgul was able to take the quality of TYIN and integrate them within the framework of heaven so this is the same wish more based on the Irene when this explains the mathematical correlation that Co rock + FL equals Moshe Moshe - mo equals equals Kyra and this might explain another minor Cazale Rashi brings this money Marcos out at one of the ways that Cora wanted to discredit Moshe is Cora gave two Michelin we know that in cities ideally is supposed to have both white strings right the white strings and to of the age or some say one of the eight so my hook is some say Ford v8 they're really three different she just have to be this died Walt blue that's called the salient the fail that is a blue die that is obtained from an aquatic creature and the stitches have to be divided between LaVon and to say let's in fact that is the basis of the Israeli flag Coco love Ivan it was actually taken from the to faileth and the LaVon although faileth was a probably a darker blue as you know there's a big big big malukas has the sailors been rediscovered because the sail that comes from an aquatic creature that is called the schema zone and for hundreds and hundreds of years we lost the identity of the FEMA's own part of reason was because in roman times it was a capital crime you would be beheaded if you were wearing royal blue because blue was only allowed to the aristocracy so as a result you stopped wearing to faileth because of Sakana and for hundreds and hundreds of years the source of the two faileth was just forgotten around a hundred and thirty years ago there was a ha sido Rebbe the radzyner rebbe who claimed to have discovered the source of the salient and he started making to heylet's and his source was the cuttlefish and unfortunately most feel feel that that has been totally discredited and the Rodina Rebbe himself may have been deceived by a scientist whether whatever it would be who literally added blue dye blue dye to the secrete meaning disagrees in itself does not turn blue he just added some ingredient so today the only people who wear the threads inert assailants are breast lift breast love actually still goes with the red Xena at the payment of cuttlefish but that is not accepted by the vast majority of people who wear tekhelet even though they themselves are a minority the standard identification of the salient that's that people use today is from a shellfish the murex trunculus the murex is a snail mu re x and those who wear to fail at 95% of those who wear the toilets wear it from that snail but I still have to say a majority of the religious world claims that even that identification is not sufficient and therefore most religious Jews do not wear toilet I don't worry silence I have to admit I'm not going to give us on that now maybe some other time that I don't understand why I don't wear it to fail is because the big problem is what's the downside meaning like this well it does cost money yeah that that's true but the problem is this if let's let's assume that the identification is not a hundred percent let's assume it's only fifty percent probability let's assume it's a twenty five percent probability let's assume it's a five percent probability one thing I can tell you for sure the case worth the fail it is certainly much more than five percent and it may approach the eighty percent it's a very very strong identification but even if you take a bit it's a very small possibility well if it is the toilet you're doing a great Mitzvah and if it's not the toilet you're wearing blue sitsit so you don't have a Mitzvah but you also don't have in our favor because cities are allowed to be any color if we spin the other so it's not like if the identification is wrong you're doing a sin if the identification is wrong you're no worse than you are without the payment so if there's even one percent chance that maybe I'm getting it right what is the downside I don't know I don't have a good answer for that huh well that seems to be less of a problem meaning to say that the main problem always seems to be it has to come from a designated source and we're not entirely clear with the sources the color itself is described or the color of the sky the color of the ocean etc so we do have much more of a miss aura regarding the color okay but B does ignite I'm not going to address in full detail whether you should or should not wear to faileth one should talk to their rabbi about it but certainly in motion of anus time there was the famous so coax said to moshe rabbeinu let me ask you a shower moshe of a know if you have a talent that's totally blue it's totally to faileth do you have to put the valence in your citrus do you have to do that and Moshe said yeah what does the Tallis have to do with its faileth so Cora said ah that's so foolish that's so stupid if even one string of the toilet or two strings of the payment is enough to do the mitzvot how much more so the whole toilet now the simple meaning of correct Marshall is he's making the point that the salient is a mark of distinction a mark of leadership and corrects argument is we're all holy we're all leaders we're all salient if we're all two fellas why do we single out some strings to beat the favor but one might take this a little further with the following analogy the Citiz cannot be all to fail at they have to be to fail at and LaVon now what does the famous represent so as I'll say when I look at that the famous I think of the sea and the sea reminds me of the sky and the sky reminds me of the the sapphire throne that is the key saya covet so when I look at the salient I through a number of stages I connect myself to God so the Fela trep resents the Vegas in gods it represents the self-actualization of the highest potential of the human being loved one although I know that scientifically white is the combination of all colors but in terms of what we see it's the absence of color love on his absence so two famous represents what we can aspire to love on represents the humility of what we haven't yet achieved the salient is our greatness lovin is our vulnerability coatrack understood to fail it carafes didn't understand the idea of lovin and couric understood the idea of defense that you don't need success when you have two payments right so this fits in exactly with what the shame is small and the IRAs are saying that Cobra had all of the capacities for greatness but Cora did not have the humility and without the humility you become a Greek tragedy in which you are destroyed from within and therefore that's a quality that we very much need to need to cultivate within ourselves and the truth of the matter is this is encapsulated in the famous statement of Rev William of precious Club that I think I've quoted more than once maybe even last week that is you always have to have two ideas in your two pockets at all times in pocket number one bish V lean nevron olum because of me God made the whole universe God made many cows and many horses and many dogs and many cats but only one man and one woman and the Mishna says that is to teach me that for one person the whole universe would be justified fish really never Olin and in the other pockets whatever AMA V news said to Hashem enoki a far be a fair eye dirts I am ashes I am nothing kyon and heaven you need both the kyon gives you the energy and the incentive to create in the world and the heaven is the modesty that knows that everything is connected to God you know many of you have heard recently they know the street Shia grouch mor Yosef AG nun who was the first writer in Hebrew to win a note maybe the only writer in Hebrew to win a Nobel Prize in Literature so he's called shy Ignacio Yosef unknown right we have a streets in Yerushalayim and when he won the Nobel Prize the sky thing goes back to 63 it's a long time ago so he was asked you know the photographer's wanted to take a picture so they asked him to sit at his desk and just write something so they get a picture of the author writing so he sits at his desk he's writing for a few seconds and they take a picture as if it's a picture of him writing a novel so after they finished somebody went over to the desk after I've done left the room they wanted to see what did he write what did he write on that piece of paper and it says he wrote under piece of paper an Okie offer vfn I am dust and ashes meaning at this great moment of the great great honor the greatest really one of the greatest honors that human society can confer on a person the Nobel Prize tremendous thing again the Nobel Peace Prize has been severely diminished in recent years because of the people that received it so I don't know if it's a big honored I mean you know them I guess the money is helpful but I don't know if it's a great honor to get the Nobel Peace Prize anymore but still in literature economic right dr. Elman etc are still a cover at that moment of the greatest greatest covet he wanted to remind himself or no clear for behavior without God I'm nothing and that is the difference in in Moshe and a Cobra not that motion was smarter or more gifted but Moshe had the another that allowed him to turn his abilities into true greatness can you have a good weekend thank you for thinking thank you for coming [Music]