Transcription
[Music] My dear friends, there was once a fellow from Switzerland who booked a flight to New York. And when he booked this flight, he asked to make sure that they give him an aisle seat. The day of the flight arrives, he comes to the plane, he gets onto the plane, and he approaches his seats. He takes out his boarding pass, takes a look at the number of his seat, and to his dismay and horror, he sees he was given a window seat. He is outraged. He didn't ask them once, he called back four times in preparation of the flight to make sure he got his aisle seat, and he never did.
He comes home from his trip. He comes home and his wife says, "Why are you so stressed?" He says, "You will not believe the hubris, the book, the suits, the book, the dishonesty, the lack of empathy and empathy of this airline." And I want to sue them and get them out of business. His wife says, "What happened?" "So I asked for an aisle seat again and again and again. They gave me a window seat." His wife turns to her Swiss husband and says, "My dear husband, why didn't you just ask the guy sitting by the aisle to switch with you?" He says, "There was nobody in that seat."
I share this anecdote with you because I think it explains in a very powerful way that unique and enigmatic statement in the Gomorian Talmud, tractate Ines 29b.
[Music] Talmud rabbi, let me just mention a few moments ago with the Mishna says, "Patricia above Nagala vase and Aleya Cancellara's." On the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, there was the edict and our forefathers that they would not enter the Holy Land. They would remain in the wilderness for forty years. "But he saw Khalidov, I eat newest coil, my youth go humble allow." When the spies came back, the ninth of Av, they dissuaded the Jewish people from entering into the land. They inculcated them with fear, with dread, that they will all be slain if they dare tried to conquer the land that was promised to them. And the entire nation wept. There was a mass hysteria of dread and terror of what might befall them if they follow their journey, their destiny. They all want to remain in the desert.
Says the Talmud, "Omar Abu Americana robbers said in the name of revelation on Tisha B'Av, oil." That night when the nation wept, it was the ninth of Marla Hakodesh. Burroughs who are Shem said to them, "At embarrassin, we're here shall he nam varney develop empathy ladarius. You have wept tears that were in vain. Adam, but he's simply Asahina. These were unjustified tears. There was no reason to weep. There was no excuse for sobbing." As a result, "I will turn this day into a when you will weep for generations and have a reason to weep for generations." That became, of course, the day of destruction and exile over the generations.
But I want to ask you, my dear friends, a question. Imagine this happened in your home, and I assume it happens in your home. One of your children is crying for absolutely no reason. Which can include your husband or any one of the children. And there's really no reason. He got a lollipop, he got supper, everything is fine, but he's crying. Some fear that he is afraid of. And your baby is crying. So what do you do? Maybe you need a discipline. Then maybe you need to train them. Maybe you need to educate them. Maybe you need to rehabilitate them. Maybe you need to give them a lesson. Maybe I have to explain to them a few facts about life. But I never heard of a parent or an educator turning to the child and saying, "You're crying in vain. But I will make sure to give you a reason that you could sob justifiably." Doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doctor, doc. Now you have a reason to cry. What's, what's the logic behind us? You're not talking about an impulsive, vengeful mother or father. You're talking about the master of the universe, who has the Baal Shem Tov says, loves every single Jew more than a parent loves a child, an only child that was born when they were older. You can imagine, only imagine the infinite love of a parent to an ordinary child. Never mind parents who were blessed with one child after waiting for decades. How much love is there in that relationship? And the Baal Shem Tov said that doesn't capture even a glimmer of the love that God has for every single one of his children.
What's the meaning of this response? The Jews cried for no reason. Yes, they were terrified. They were overwhelmed by the message of the spies. They needed to be educated. They needed to be rehabilitated. Perhaps penalized. But what's this message? "You cried for no reason. I will make sure that this day of Av is gonna be a day in which you will cry and cry for good reason." P leaders. But the truth is, this wasn't the punishment. It wasn't a threat. This was a statement of, "You started up with me, I'll start up with you, and I'm bigger and stronger." This wasn't about making a point, scoring points. Rather, what regulation, and I think is conveying, is that God was telling the Jewish people about the consequences of what we call today, learned hopelessness. Learned hopelessness. You learn to become hopeless. What indeed allowed the spies to dissuade the people from entering into the land? After all, this was a generation for whom miracles was the stuff of daily life. If you would have asked the spies, "What did you have today for breakfast?" And they would have said, "Mana from heaven. Oh, it comes down from heaven every day." And what you have to drink? "Just before you gave your speech, oh, we have this rolling stone that we call Miriam's well, that gives us water." How did you get out of Egypt? "Oh, ten plagues." How do you get through the Red Sea? "It splits." This happened just a few months ago. Suddenly, like Newhall alloys, we can't.
But friends, that is exactly the power of fear. What fear achieves is it paralyzes you. It makes you believe that you can't. And here is the great truth of life. Bear with me. Whether you believe you can, or you believe you can't, you're right. I once read about this fellow, he was a real pessimist. He always predicted the worst of the worst. You know, they used to say the Jewish telegrams would read, "Start worrying. Details to follow." Right? In a kosher restaurant, the waiter walks around, wants to know, "Is anything all right?" So this fellow, you just got it. Okay, that's fun. No worries, no worries. You could say, "My Donnie." This fellow, this fellow was a real, real pessimist. Everything was bleak and dark, and it's getting darker. It's not over yet, but we'll soon be over. They once asked the pessimist, "What's the difference between an optimist and a pessimist?" So the pessimist says, "The optimist says it can't get worse. The pessimist says it can't get worse." Anyway, what he did for a job was he worked. He would upload trains that were transports foods. And one day he uploaded a train that was going on a long journey, and he was uploading it with dairy food, yogurts, and milk, and ice cream, and cheese, and butter. It was a refrigerator train, supposed to be a refrigerated train. And he finished his uploading. It's a long 48-hour journey. And lo and behold, the doors closed on him. And of course, his cell phone died. And the train starts moving. And he's banging on the doors, nobody can hear it. And he knows that for the next 48 hours, he's supposed to be seated in a refrigerated cabin. For all the dairy. No way he could survive. He finds a cardboard, takes out a pen, and writes his last will and testament. "My dear wife, I always knew that something like this would happen." And he goes on to describe what a horrific, dark, bleak, disastrous, tragic, catastrophic life he left. "I now must say goodbye. As the frost will take my soul. Love." And he signs his name. Train arrives in Vancouver. Doors open. People come to unload all of the dairy products, and they see a fellow lying on the floor. They call my doctor. Symptoms of hypothermia. Revives him, takes him into the hospital. But they can't figure it out because the refrigerator was off. Thus, you believe you can, you're right. You believe you can't, you're also right. That's the power of fear. The fear often becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. My thoughts start telling me, "I am paralyzed. I am inept. I am a loser. I am incapable." It's horrible. It's getting worse. And indeed, that's the reality that unfolds before my eyes.
So what tribulation turn is saying is not a punishment. God says, "Today you're crying in vain. Why? You cry. You know you could go into the land. You know you could conquer the land. You know that this land was given to you. You know that this is your destiny. This is your journey. This is your promised land. But this demonic fear enters into our consciousness, takes us over, and you believe you can't. And then you really can't. And if you can't, you have to stay here." But the problem is that as a result of this, you really will become paralyzed. And you really will not be able to confront your challenges. You really will not have the tools to be able to face adversity. And the fake tears can, God forbid, become genuine tears. Which might explain, according to the great mystics, why it happens on the ninth day. Why the ninth? And we're now in a period known as the nine days. Why nine? Well, you might say it happened to be nine days from the first day of Av till the ninth of Av. It happens to be nine days. What do you want? Would have been eleven? All it been eleven? But in history and in Jewish history, everything is precise.
The human soul is made up of ten faculties, ten building blocks of the soul: Chochmah, Binah, Da'at, Chesed, Gevurah, Tiferet, Netzach, Hod, Yesod, Malchut. Simple English translation: we have the power of conception, the power of comprehension, the power of application. We have the ability to love. We have the ability to discipline. Empathy. Victory. Gratitude. And humility. Bonding. But there's the tenth faculty of the human soul, Malchut. Malchut means royalty, kingship, leadership, aristocracy. Every soul has all of these ten. What is the final intent attribute? It's the deep, unwavering conviction at the core of the self that "I matter. That my dignity is non-negotiable. That you are an ambassador of the divine to this world, an ambassador for love, for light, and hope. And thus, you are invincible. You carry the characteristics, the infinity, and the love of the one who sent you." God sent every soul into this world for a mission. Says the Gemara, "Kedushah Lukoil shall Adam kamisa." When somebody sends you, you become an ambassador, a representative of the one who sent you on the mission. Every soul is an emissary, an agent, an emissary of the divine. The soul is divine, and if the soul is divine, it remains indestructible. No force in the world, no abuse, no negative experiences. Some of you in this room have been through difficult things in your youth, but all of those challenges, even trauma, addiction, mistakes that we make consciously or unconsciously, willingly or unwillingly, can snuff out the divine, infinite value of a soul. That's what Malchut, that sense of Malchut.
I've once said, some of you may remember the name, some of you don't remember the name, some of you remember the name but you can't say it. There was a fellow known as Zero Mostel. Zero Mostel was a well-accomplished actor, many awards. But I always wondered, who gives their child a name, "Zero"? You friends, named Zero? Anybody? Good boy named Slaughter? The steeple operas used to have a song, "A Boy Named Slaughter." Who names their child Zero? You know the story. His name wasn't Zero Mostel. You could look it up. His name was Samuel Joel. But in Hollywood, Samuel Joel doesn't go that well. For whatever reason, Samuel Joel grew up in the Bronx. He grew up in a very, from a very observant family, one of eight. But then he left Judaism. He went to a different world. He needed a new name. And he named himself Zero. So he said, there was somebody, I won't mention whom, but somebody close to him who would always tell me, he said the same thing in Yiddish. I'll say it in Yiddish and translate. "Smile, du bist are garnished. But if it's bleiben are garnished, smile." "Yo-yo, you're a zero and you're going to remain a zero." Says, "Well, today I want to make sure this person has no. I have lived up to his expectations." And his name becomes Zero Mostel. And I learned from this, friends, if you don't make your child feel special, somebody else will. But it may be in a different way than you want it.
The nine days represent the loss of the tenth, the tenth quality, Malchut. The ninth, lacking number 10. What allows for personal destruction? Tisha B'Av is not only collective destruction, it begins with personal exile, personal destruction. Your own presence of the divine in yourself becomes concealed. Why? Because of a loss of Malchut. The moment a person starts believing that they are essentially zero, that "I'm valueless, that I don't matter, that previous things that I did or have been done to me have destroyed me at my core," the gates are now open for all forms of self-destruction. And those of us who are more sensitive and more spiritual to pain must numb this void, this sense of anxiety, with all types of numbing agents that some of you know all too well. And I won't elaborate. I won't elaborate upon.
You know, Gomorrah says, and Succoth of Christ rebuked in a Ben Zakai on this to the conversations of animals. You ever go to a zoo? I live in Monsey, a lot of animals around me, and they're always having conversations. And those who are sensitive can understand the conversations. Let me tell you what happened the other day. A baby camel turned to her mommy and she said, "Mommy, I want to ask you three questions." And mommy said, "Okay, go ahead." And the baby camel said, "Mommy, why do we have these three ugly, three-toed feet?" And mommy said, "Because we're not like other spoiled animals. We march thousands of miles through the Sahara Desert. We need good, sturdy feet." "Mommy, what about these ugly eyelashes?" "Huh? In the Sahara Desert, there are sandstorms. These eyelashes protect our eyes from becoming blind." "Mommy, what about these grotesque humps? Why can't we just have a handsome, cute, flat back?" And mommy says, "We go thousands of miles through the desert. We are the animals, the mammals, that can go weeks without drinking, without eating. How our humps? All that fat that then dissolves and gives us the nutrients we need for weeks marching in a desert without water." She says, "Mommy, one more fourth question." "Mama, Svoboda friggin a fair takács. Three-toed ugly feet to hold us strong as we march thousands of miles to the Sahara. Ugly eyelashes to protect us from the sandstorms as we go thousands of miles and our trekking. And repulsive humps to store the fat and the water as we march thousands of miles from one end of the planet to the other end of the planet." "I got it, mommy. Now one last question. If this is true, what in the world are we doing in a cage in the Bronx Zoo?"
That's the question of Malchut. If you realize who you are, if you understand what type of soul and body you have, if you understand who you're representing and what your power is, why do I allow myself to live in a cage, confined, inhibited, afraid to flex my spiritual and physical muscles? We look at ourselves. So many of us are not only dumbing down our lives because of a fear that we're so small. Some of us also have a fear to be great. We look in the mirror and we say, "Who am I to be powerful? Who am I to be successful? Who am I to be happy? Who am I to be gorgeous? Who am I to make an impact? Who am I to have an awesome marriage? Who am I to have a great relationship with my children? Who am I to live an incredible life?" Me? I'm a zero. "Amish matter." What do you mean, "Who are you?" You are the infinite light of God manifested in this world. And when you dull your light, you don't help anybody else. On the contrary, when each one of us expresses our infinite light fully, we help others manifest their divine light fully in this world.
You know, in India, talking about animals and camel conversations, you know, they train elephants. A little baby elephant is born, and they want to train the elephant. They want the elephant to surrender to the rule of the master. So they tie, they take a little rope and they tie one of the legs of the elephant to the tree. And the baby elephant kicks and tries to get out of it hundreds of times, thousands of times, but he can't. He gives up. And now years later, the baby elephant turns into a massive, powerful elephant that you don't want to start up with in an alley in Queens. And here is the amazing fact: with one kick, the elephant could break the chain or tear the rope and get out. But it doesn't even try. Because as a baby, it knew with try, then it can't. It doesn't try. It remains bound to that tree. And when I read about this, I thought, this is true about elephants. How often is it true about people? What's the mistake of this elephant? This elephant is being bound. It's a victim to its own belief that it can't. It could. It just thinks it can't. How many of us, when we were young, we also tried to run, but somebody held us down? Maybe something within our self held us down. And for the rest of our lives, we're tied by that shame. We are victims of our own belief system. Because if you believe you can't, you're right. And if you believe you can, right, you can give a kick. You can transcend those thoughts. You can transcend those instincts. You don't have to worship them and surrender your soul to those confinements. But so often, I am a victim to my own belief system. And that is what defines me.
You know, my dearest friends, I want to share with you a little story. When I read about it, at first, it left such a profound impression on me because of how authentic it is till today in other areas. In the 19th century, there was a terrible fever that took the lives of thousands upon thousands upon thousands of young mothers who have recently given birth, known as childbed fever. And it was the cause of what's known today as the black death of childbed. In the 1800s, thousands and thousands of mothers gave birth, and within a few days, they had died. And none of the physicians can figure out what is this cause for it. There were regions in Britain and other places where 50, 60, 70% of women giving birth died within the next few days. The tragedy was alarming, and to no avail, according to the knowledge of medicine that they had. Now, this is the 1800s, so the science of medicine is developing rapidly, as is the arrogance, the pompousness of the physicians.
There were two doctors, two doctors who believed that they came up with the solution. The first was named Ignaz Semmelweis. The second, Oliver Wendell Holmes. Both 19th-century physicians. And Semmelweis started to walk into the wards, walk into the rooms, and just examine all of the factors. He wanted to know what is happening between birth and death, between the birth of the children and the death of the mothers. And he just looked at everything. He even thought maybe the priests were coming in for the final confessions, and they came in with bells, and maybe the bells were scaring the mothers and killing them. He did not rule out anything. And he was looking and looking and examining. And then his eyes noticed one detail. You know, hindsight is 20/20, but then it was revolutionary. He was looking at what the doctors are doing. Of course, the doctors trying to figure out what is happening. Every dead body, they were doing an autopsy. So in the morning, when the doctors would come into the hospital, they would examine all of the corpses of the young mothers who gave birth a few days ago. They would do autopsies on them. They would examine their bodies. They tried to identify the cause of death. And then he also realized that these same physicians in the afternoon were going to deliver new babies. And he realized that they weren't cleaning their hands in between. And he came and he proposed, "It's you doctors who are killing these mothers." From what up? So you go to a childbirth, and you know how they rewarded Ignaz Semmelweis? They put him into a mental asylum in Vienna. They say, "There's a Michigan man. That's a director. That's a Rudy Ted. That's a hacker." There's nothing like Yiddish when it comes to describing or meshuggener. There's nothing like Yiddish. You'll forgive me, nothing like curses in Yiddish. Nothing like love in Yiddish. And nothing like describing certain people in Yiddish. You can ask those of you who are Ashkenazim, ask your great-grandmothers about Yiddish curses. Even the Yiddish are pretty good with sharp words. Don't come close. Somehow, a thousand years in Poland, they just developed certain stuff, right? This is what they would say. "It's sine V, I'm in Noida. So sine V, I'm annoyed. Hanging by Tagum Brennan banana. You should be like a candelabra. Hang during the day, burn at night." "Islets, same as all my rice fallen hoods from diva sister tray. All your teeth should fall out besides the one that kills." I don't know who came up with these stuff, but you're gonna anyway.
So they decided, they decided it's fine. You don't have to sue them. They're finally giving feedback. It's not simple for a Jewish audience to get feedback. Usually, Chicago, so to cook it off, this you don't know. I don't know if you guys are Jewish. I think some of you got to convert after this evening. So they took Ignaz, they took Ignaz Semmelweis, and they put him in a base Michigan where he was abused too. It took 30 years. 30 years and countless deaths for the world to get to realize the truth. They were right. They were right. And when doctors started to wash their hands and sterilize the equipment and the instruments they were using, and their own hands, and their own bodies, suddenly it dropped. The women were not dying anymore. Today, thank God, it's very, very rare.
I thought to myself, "Wow, it's so easy to blame the world. The doctors came in, you know, doctors, right? They came in in their physician suits." That's out in the Gomorrah, "Toy super rifle lagaa hanim." Stormy types arrived from in condition. They came in to figure out what's the source. Not even realizing it's you. The expert is the one who's guilty. That honesty, that ability for me to be able to take accountability. You want to take credit for your great accomplishments? Great. Do that. But take accountability. Sometimes, as we look around at our communities, at our homes, and our schools, and our environments, and it takes 30 years for some of us, sometimes, to realize certain truths that it's so easy not to look at because it's difficult to look myself in the mirror and say, "Maybe it's my hands that are unclean. Maybe it's my attitude that is contaminated. Maybe it's my mindset that is subjugated to an exile mindset. Maybe it's my own imagination, my own expectations, my own trauma, my own way of looking at the world that is so not allowing me to be able to bring healing, recovery, life, and salvation."
So rebuking honest teaching us and saying, "God told the Jewish people, never, ever underestimate the power of fear. The destructive power of fear." Was Roosevelt who said, justifiably, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself." Each one of us was granted with incredible, infinite potential to bring light, love, redemption, and hope to the world. The spies were wrong. Yoko looka. We could fulfill our mission. We could transcend our mindset of exile. We could prepare ourselves and usher in into our own psyche a consciousness of expansiveness, of infinity, of redemption, of Gula, and bring that light to people all around us. And then that great night of Tisha B'Av will be transformed from a night of tears in vain to a night, as the Rambam says, of dancing, festivities, and joy.
Boom. Hey, Rabbi Amane. Who our main? Thank you very much.
[Music] [Applause]