Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Living Jewishly podcast.

00:09 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
There we go. Okay, thank you very much everybody. Welcome back to another episode of the Everyday Judaism podcast. We meet here every Sunday morning at 11 o'clock. It's a little bit late because the previous class ran a little late. That's the first of every month we have a live class from our friends up in Kingwood. Come down here. Those in Cleveland, texas, come down here. It's really special. So we're going to do today something a little bit different. Typically, we do our live question and answers offline and then we add it online. Later. This week we're going to do it online.

00:44
I want to start with the first question and then everybody, hopefully, will have their own questions. So there's a couple of things. When we talk about the Shema, the prayer of the Shema, which is the mission statement of the Jewish people, where we declare that Hashem is our God, that Hashem is one, and we take upon ourselves the mitzvahs of the Torah and we bind them on our hands, which is our tefillin that we put on every single day and we put it on our mind, we put the tefillin on our head every single day, obviously, except for Shabbos. So the first question is why, when we recite the Shema, the first verse of the Shema, which is Shema Yisrael, adonai Eloheinu, adonai Echad. Those six words are supposed to be said out loud. So our sages teach us that's because we are to have as much concentration as possible, and when we say things out loud we have more focus, we have more ability to concentrate on those words. But there's many different ways that we're supposed to cover our eyes before we recite the Shema. Okay, as we recite those six words, we're supposed to take our right hand and cover our eyes. Cover our eyes. Now there are many people who have a different custom right hand and cover our eyes, cover our eyes. Now there are many people who have a different custom of how we cover their eyes and some people have, like the Sephardic. You'll see, they cover their eyes like this and I was always wondering where does this come from?

02:16
I started doing it when I was praying for many years in the Sephardic synagogue. I saw that that's what people did and I thought it was unique and special. But I found the source for it. Over Shabbos, I was sitting and learning and I found a source for it Putting the three fingers like that creates a shin the thumb that covers the left eye and the pinky that covers the right sorry, the right eye and the left eye. This creates a Dalet and this is a Yud, and what you do is you have the Shin, the Dalet and the Yud, which is the name of Hashem. So by doing that, you're sort of demonstrating that I want the name of Hashem upon me at all times. Very interesting source. I believe it's from the Ben Ish Chai. I looked it up. It is from the Ket Hashem Tov. He brings it on Siman Ein Hei, which is Halacha number 75 in the Ar Chaim. Really magnificent teaching.

03:21
But all of the, everything that we do and this is something which is, I think, very fundamental for us to understand everything we do in judaism has a source and you have to ask and you have to search for the source. Uh, it's important to know and an important thing to have some new people here in our class. You're going to know one thing which is very, very important always ask questions. In judaism, everything's about questions, which is why we have our question and answer segment, which I think perhaps the most important class we teach the entire week. Why? Because we need to be trained to ask questions. The most important function of a Jew is to never don't take it because the rabbi said it. Oh, the rabbi said it has to be. No, what's the source? Prove it, back it up. That's what the entire Talmud teaches us. We have an entire bookshelf over there just dealing with the questions and answers of our sages, asking and interrogating, investigating what's going on here.

04:21
You make a wild claim. Back it up. What's your proof? There's no such thing as just do it because I said so. No, no such thing. There's no such thing. There has to be a source for it.

04:34
Okay, by the way, my grandfather used to push this to his students. There are many students. My grandfather was an iconic figure and his students idolized him in a way that was like almost unhealthy, like you know, and he would reprimand them for it. He's like don't do things because I do it. Do your research and if you come up with the same conclusion, then do it, but don't do it as a puppet because, oh, this is what my Rebbe did, so this is what I do, this is what my Master did, so this is what I do. That's not maybe. And some people say, well, if it was good enough for him, it's good enough for me. That's puppetry, that's puppetry.

05:18
What we need to do is we need to go and look for the source, understand it, connect with it and then make it your own. So now, I'm not a puppet of anyone else. I'm doing it because this is mine. Let me give an example here. It's different, by the way, when we talk about laws that are given in the Torah. For example, putting on tefillin is not up to whether or not I understand what my rabbi is doing or not. I'm not copying anyone. The Torah commands every man to put on tefillin Phylacteries. So even if I don't understand that, I'm still obligated.

05:56
But what a person should do is take time out of your day to investigate what are the reasons behind it, what's the meaning behind it, so that I don't just do the mitzvah, I don't just perform a mitzvah because I'm a puppet. We should do it even if we don't understand it, but enrich the experience, make the experience even greater. So now we can. We spoke about this last week, spoke about the importance of researching a mitzvah, dig into it.

06:29
And, by the way, we have unbelievable, unbelievable resources today. Make sure they're bona fide resources, make sure they're real. But today you can search online the reasons for the meaning behind tefillin, the reasons for putting a mezuzah on your door and it'll give you many, many, many dozens of reasons. Learn them, study them. It really is a magnificent gift that we have so much. Look, we have an entire library filled with books giving us the meaning behind why we do things. Not to just do, do and understand and connect, because the ultimate goal, the ultimate goal is to build our relationship with God and to have a relationship where we become sort of one with the Almighty. To have dveikut, to have a like aik is stick a tape, right glue. We should be glued to Hashem. The reason we do it is because I'm with Hashem, 100% stuck, and that needs to be our objective and our goal. Alright, so now we are going to open the floor to questions. You got a microphone right there.

07:43 - Bruce (Host)
Rabbi, I have a arcane meditative practice question. When I say the Hashkibay morning, usually I try to visualize the resolution to the things that I'm asking. So we say and remove from before us all of our enemies. And remove from before us all of our enemies. You know, at first I visualized the IDF and the IAF going out there and bombing all these horrible Hamas and Islamic Jihad people. Then I got thinking is it proper for us to visualize and pray for the death of our enemies? Shouldn't we just leave it to God as to how he is going to resolve it? Maybe he wants to resolve it not with their death, but with them being arrested by our troops and put into prisons. Maybe he wants to resolve it by them taking the course of action of getting up and just getting out of our land. What is your comment on this question?

08:45 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
That's an excellent question. Thank you very much. I want to just when this whole October 7th catastrophe happened, this calamity upon the Jewish people, one of which we haven't experienced something like this since the Holocaust. It's such an unbelievable massacre. So I want to tell you what came to my mind, because everyone was saying around the world, well, just the jihadis, just the terrorists, not the women and children, right, Not the women and children.

09:18
And I was looking up different sources in the Torah and I didn't need to go far. The first portion, which was the week of that terrible calamity, which was Bereshish. The first portion in the Torah. The second to last verse in the book of Genesis, the first portion by Yomer Hashem. And Hashem said because what happened? This is coming on the heels of Hashem, seeing all the terrible things, Vayarka. We'll go back two more verses before that.

09:55
So we're in chapter six, verse number five Genesis Vayar Hashem ki rabba ras ha'adam ba'aretz. Hashem saw that great and that every product of the thoughts of his heart was totally evil all day long. Does this sound like Hamas to you? Sounds like Hamas to me. That's what they think about. They glorify murdering Jewish people the mothers, the children, the elders, the men, everybody. That's what they glorify. Okay, so it's a parallel, an exact same thing. And Hashem regretted that he made man On earth. And Hashem was saddened in his heart.

10:50
And now the verse that we wanted to talk about right, Listen to this. So what did we say? What did we say? Typically, we would say, okay, so, kill the men, Don't kill the women and children. No, not when you have such evil. And Hashem said I will obliterate man asheberosi, whom I created, mi'al p'nei ha'adama from upon the face of the earth. Listen to this now Me'adam ad behema, from man to animal, ad remes vi'adof ha'shamayim to the creeping things and to the birds of the sky. Ki, To the creeping things and to the birds of the sky, For I regret that I made them. That means over here.

11:30
We see, there's no distinction between man, animal, birds, the entire the earth. Everything needs to be. Why? Because when evil is at such a level, when all they think about is wickedness of murderous acts, of pillaging and raping and just like mutilating, it's unfathomable. The evil that resides in Gaza, this is pure evil. There's nothing.

12:02
I don't want to hear from any humanitarian people, Okay, I don't want to hear from the UN. I don't want to hear from any humanitarian people. Okay, I don't want to hear from the UN. I don't want to hear from any of these idiots that they tell us oh they're, you know human rights. These are barbaric animals.

12:19
It's an insult to animals to call them that these people don't deserve life. They don't deserve life because they raise children to be them. That these people don't deserve life. They don't deserve life because they raised children to be murderers and therefore everything should be gone. And the fact, I think, that our president says let's take them to a different country, I think that's well beyond merciful. But for them to continue to exist there, they should turn over the entire soil six feet to make it nothing anymore, Completely remove all remembrance of there being humanity in Gaza and then make it the Mediterranean Riviera, whatever they wanted to call it. Okay, but that's my opinion on this. I know we're live here, so I'm sorry to our friends online. If you disagree, I apologize, but I'm my opinion on this. I know we're live here, so I'm sorry to our friends online. If you disagree, I apologize, but I'm not Sorry, Okay, yes, one thing. So you want a follow-up question there?

13:11 - Bruce (Host)
Okay, my follow-up question is, of course, specifically when dealing with the Canaanites, we're ordered to kill men, women, children, dogs, horses, cattle et cetera, Everything everything.

13:23
Well, not just Malak. It's the original Canaanite tribes, those that didn't get out of Canaan. We weren't supposed to make a compact with them, we were supposed to kill them. However, that's restricted to the Canaanites, and we don't know who they are or if they even exist anymore after the Babylonian invasion. So that's not really the question. My question is shouldn't, instead of us praying for God to do it in that way, shouldn't we say, shouldn't we leave that to God to decide how he is going to remove all these people from us? That's really the underlying question, because I started off by praying that they'd just kill all the bad people.

14:09 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Okay. So I hear your question and I appreciate it. I'm sorry I didn't answer it first. So first I talked about the severity of how I believe Hashem needs to rid the world of them. So here's my thing we need to pray.

14:25
I'm going to go through that evening prayer of Hashkiveinu, which is right before we recite the Amidah in the evening service, and we say like this Lay us down to sleep, hashem, our God in peace, raise us up, our King to life and spread over us the shelter of your peace. So this all makes sense. This is good things we are asking for. Direct us well with good counsel from before your presence and save us for your namesake Meaning. If we have so much horror, so much terror on us, we can't serve you. So we're asking remove all the evil from this world, shield us, remove from us foe, plague, sword, famine and woe, and remove spiritual impediment from before us and from behind us, which, by the way, is a very interesting thing. Why does it say before us and behind us? So our sages tell us a very, very important lesson Before us, we understand that makes sense. But behind us, that's the Yetzirah who tries to push us to take too big of a step, he says go, go, go, you got this. No, no, and we fall over and collapse. So it's not only the foe, doesn't only mean the enemy, who's coming to attack us from in front of us, it's the Yetzirah who's trying to push us to move too fast in our growth and then we fall as well, equal to that of the enemy in war, and shelter us in the shadow of your wings. For God, who protects and rescues us are you, for you are God, the gracious and compassionate King. Safeguard our going and coming for life and for peace from now to eternity. So this is the blessing that you're referring to, correct, right. So what we're saying is remove all evil from this world. We're asking Hashem to remove. Is it our job to do it? No, it's Hashem's job to do it. We pray that Hashem does this. Why? Because we suffer. We suffer when. Okay, now we have to see the big picture here. What's the big picture? Zoom out 30,000 foot lens, okay, and now we're looking from high up. What's the big picture here? What is Hashem trying to do here? So we mentioned this before is trying to do here? So we mentioned this before. Is that all challenge that we face as a people is Hashem, pointing the nations of the world towards us to wake us up.

16:52
You know, today I woke up with very terrible news, frightening news, that a Houthi ballistic missile landed in Ben Gurion Airport. Okay, yeah, but thank God nobody was injured, nobody's injured, and I mean there's cosmetic damage, but nothing really severe happened. But it hit an airport. Imagine if that happened in Heathrow, if that happened in JFK or in IAH. You know what would happen. I guarantee you the nation that did that would not no longer exist. But when it comes to the Jews, I guarantee you, these idiots we mentioned before the aforementioned ICC and the Hague and the UN, all of these useful idiots, all of those are going to say, oh, you can't do that. We should show restraint, restraint. They're shooting ballistic missiles at our airport, at our towns, at our cities, at our preschools, and we're supposed to show restraint.

17:50
It's insanity and that's what we're asking for. We're asking Hashem remove the insanity from this world, remove the UN from this world, remove the insanity that's limiting us. This is craziness. I mean, when did this happen, that it became fashionable to be not normal? You know, I don't want to say the word stupid, but to be stupid and to not be able to see right from wrong, to not see black and white. How does the world not see this? When has this world gone so awry and so crazy where, you know, people can't either define what a male or a female is? I mean we're talking about really it's like not like. I have young children. These things are easy things to teach your children. It shouldn't be so complicated where a nominee for the Supreme Court cannot define what a woman is. I mean we're talking about craziness, what is going on in our world, and that's what we're asking for. We're asking Hashem remove the craziness from this world. Remove the craziness from this world. It shouldn't be politically incorrect what I'm saying In our Torah.

19:09
We know the Torah doesn't teach us common sense. The Torah only tells us beyond what you wouldn't understand without common sense, which is why there's no commandment in the Torah not to murder, oh Rabbi. But it says in the Ten Commandments thou shall not murder. And if you look in all of the commentaries, the commentaries will say do not murder does not mean don't take a knife and stab someone. It doesn't mean don't shoot ballistic missiles to playgrounds of schoolyards. That's not what it means. Everybody knows that. That's common sense. When it says do not murder, it means don't embarrass someone in public. When it says not to murder, it means don't embarrass someone in public. When it says not to steal, it means something else Not to steal your friend's Rolex or their purse. That's common sense. The Torah doesn't need to tell you common sense. There you have a very special gift that, if you haven't smoked too much to lose it, it's called a brain, and that brain teaches you something that every human being knows common sense, unless it's been warped and destroyed.

20:14
And we're living in a culture, sadly, I don't know how I got on this rant. Oh my gosh, what's going on here? You guys got me. You got me started right from the beginning here. You got me started right from the beginning.

20:28
But the idea here is that we cannot let our basic intellect be run over with this craziness. We cannot allow it. Hashem gave us something which is called common sense, which is sadly uncommon. It's like wow, so revolutionary? No, it's just basic common sense. My dear friends, my dear friends, we got some way to go and that's why we need to continue to pray a lot and ask Hashem, hashem, please bring sanity to this world. Restore there is hope. There is hope. There is hope that you know that our children, yes, 100%. Hashem wants evil to be removed from His midst. Hashem wants evil to be removed from his midst. Hashem wants evil to be removed from this world and we need to demonstrate that in our prayers, saying Hashem, we want this evil to be removed from this world. Our vote counts with the Almighty. That's what we do in our prayer.

21:33 - Anna (Host)
Alright, next question so there's no cutting of the hair during the Omer, correct? Is that a time-bound mitzvah?

21:41 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Okay, very good question. Okay, so we know that men and women are different, right? We mentioned that just a minute ago, right? Some people don't know that, so it's unfortunate. But men are obligated to all the mitzvahs of the Torah. Women are only obligated to mitzvahs that are not time bound.

22:00
The question you're asking is what's about the Omer, the laws that are restricted on the Omer? For example, let's just take a step back. What happened during these days of the Omer, the days between Pesach and Shavuot? So, 33 days, the students of Rabbi Akiva perished, 24,000 students. They were sages, they were scholars. The Talmud says that they didn't have the proper, the adequate honor and respect for one another, and Hashem says that's not the way you study. Torah and Hashem took them away in a plague and they all died. 33 days we observe days of mourning, which is why our beards grow a little bit more wild, we don't get haircuts and we don't do weddings. So you won't be able to find a Jewish wedding in Lakewood, new Jersey, where there are weddings every day, in every single hall. Wedding time is over between now and Lag B'Omer.

23:03
Why? Because this is a time of observance of mourning, and the mourning is observed in several different ways. One of them is getting haircuts. We don't get haircuts, which is something you do when someone is in mourning. They don't get a haircut. So the question is does that law apply to women as well? The answer is no, the law does not apply to women as well. Women can get a haircut. However, if a woman can, if a woman can observe this, it's special that they can be part of it. If a woman, for whatever reason, needs to get a haircut, that is fine because, yes, this is a time-bound mitzvah and therefore a woman is not obligated to it, but because it's a time of mourning as a people, it's something that it would be special if we can be united in this experience of mourning.

23:51
For the students of Rebbe Akiva, one Slag Ba'omer comes, which is going to be next Thursday, next Friday. So Friday, from sunrise you can get haircuts, we can do everything. We can play music, we can do all the things that we do and, of course, for our young professional crowd, we have a massive, massive bonfire scheduled for our young professional division. There's going to be, they say, kegs and legs turkey legs and kegs of beer, and it's going to be out in a ranch in Southeastern and I'm looking forward to seeing all of our young professionals there. So get your tickets while it's hot. So we're looking forward to that.

24:35
But yes, the idea is, and there's a whole reason of why we celebrate Lag B'Omer in such a way. It was a day of Shimon Bar Yochai. We have an episode that we talked about this. It's very, very important to know the meaning behind it. It's a very powerful, very spiritual and a very holy time and some people just say, oh, it's a bonfire, it's a great thing. I love bonfires and I love s'mores. That's not the meaning behind it. It's something way, way, way deeper.

25:08
As we mentioned previously, fire is a very, very spiritual power because it defies gravity. It goes up versus everything else goes down. This little piece of plastic when I leave go, you know what's going to happen. It falls down. What? It's such a small thing. Yeah, this is gravity. Gravity is controlled by gravity. Fire defies gravity, but fire is also. This is physical. I feel it, I see it, I can hold it, but fire, you can't hold it. It's not there. But you know it's there because it's burning your hand. So it's there but it's not there. It's a blend between physical and spiritual and what we're saying is?

25:43
The Maharal talks about this, one of the great commentaries.

25:46
He says that what we're trying to do is we're trying to take the physical and elevate it.

25:51
We're trying to take the physical, the things that are tangible, and bring them to a whole world of spirituality. And what Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who passed away on this day, on the day of Lag B'Omer, what he was able to do, we can get into the whole story. It's a much longer conversation, but what he was able to do was to see beyond the physical. He was able to see things when he looked at someone. There were people who died because Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, who was living in a total spiritual realm, sort of zapped them almost like movie-like form with his laser eyes, was able to. And the heavenly angel said what are you doing? You came out of your cave to destroy mankind. Get back in there. He went back in and then, when he came back out later, came back more, let's say, civilized, in the sense that he wasn't killing everything he saw, but he was able to get his incredible spiritual wisdom to a form that was more palatable for humanity in a materialistic world. All right, eliana.

26:59
You know you say that you know nothing happens without God.

27:05 - Eliana (Host)
And they said well, if that's true, what kind of God allows six million Jews to be killed? What kind of God allows Rabbi Yehiva's students to all die? And I'm not sure how to say the proper way.

27:23 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Okay.

27:23
So that's a very, very powerful question, a very tricky question. I'm going to repeat it. So here's the question. The question is if we say which is true that Hashem controls everything, what type of God allows 6 million Jews to be slaughtered in the Holocaust? What kind of God allows Rabbi Akiva and his 24,000 students to die in such a fashion? And it's an excellent question. It's also a very dangerous question. I'll tell you why it's a dangerous question. It's a question that needs to be answered and there are books written about it. There are many books, there are many explanations.

27:59
I personally don't answer that question. I'll tell you why I don't answer the question. I don't answer it because imagine this you know someone is sitting, we know that everything is from the hand of Hashem. So we go to someone's house they're sitting shiva, they're mourning for someone who passed away and we walk over to them and say listen, everything is for the best, hashem knows what he's doing. That's a true answer, but it's not the right time. There's a right time and there's a right place for it.

28:27
The Holocaust is something which is so painful for us. It's something that you know me. I'm a grandchild of three Holocaust survivor grandparents and you know who went through the ghettos, who went through Auschwitz, who went through the most barbaric, most awful experiences. It's still too raw, it's like we're still sitting, shiva, you can't come, say now, everything's for the best, don't worry. But we have to take a step back and we have to look at the Almighty God, the creator of heaven and earth. Knows his accounting. You know Moshe Rabbeinu asked Hashem, I want to see your greatness Meaning. I want to see how this all plays out. See how this all plays out. Our sages tell us that Rabbi Akiva was the reincarnation of Moshe and Rabbi Akiva's body was being combed with iron comb, with steel combs, and Moshe was seeing this vision.

29:33
Moshe's asking God in that question what's going on here? So God says stop asking, because if you ask one more time I'm going to destroy the world. That sounds to me almost like a childish response, like stop it or you're going home. Like he's just like what's going on here, like, oh, I got you in a place that you can't answer me. Or say just explain, no, what Moshe was really asking and what God was really answering what Moshe was asking. He says I want to understand how this fits into your world. And God is giving him an answer to that question. If you ask one more time, I'm going to destroy the world and start it all over again.

30:17
Meaning the only way for you to understand this is you have to see a full picture. You have to see from the beginning of the world to the end of the world. You have to see a full picture.

30:28
It's like imagine you remember that guy who would paint on television with the big, big hair right. I don't remember his name, but whatever his name was, so you know, I was always fascinated by it because he was painting a beautiful, beautiful picture of like you see trees and you see mountain and snow caps. He was putting little, little drops. And then suddenly he would do something and you're like uh-oh, he just ruined this picture. He would take this black, you know stroke of his brush and he would throw it right across the middle, like what did you do? Why did you do that? Right, and that's us asking about the Holocaust In God's beautiful painting of this world.

31:12
We're asking what did you do? But meanwhile he's painting the rooftop of the cabin that isn't yet there. Okay, meaning he's, it's all part of a painting. But because we don't see the full thing. We're like what? What in the world is he doing? And what God is telling Moshe is.

31:30
You don't see the full picture. You just see the limited view that you can see. We see, you know someone who's born in 1950, someone who dies in 2070, 120 full, healthy years, that's it. They see, they can learn history books, but you only have the perspective of the author, right, he can share with you, even being as true to the word that he researched and he went through all the libraries. He only has the limited scope of the perspective of what he sees. The Almighty doesn't see that way. The Almighty has a full perspective, from the beginning of creation till the end of creation Okay, from the entire perspective of the world. We just have a limited glimpse. We're like this doesn't make any sense, but there's a big picture. It's a very, very, very big picture and that is the only way for me to even. Are there answers? I can give you answers, but it doesn't really carry any water when you understand that there's a zoom out and zoom out, and zoom out and zoom out. You see there's so much more to this picture than the eyes show. There's so much more to this picture. It's part of a global picture, that the Almighty.

32:52
But let's just talk another perspective, and that perspective is the perspective of what is the result of the Holocaust. The result of the Holocaust is that a few years later we got our homeland. The result of the Holocaust is that we have the most incredible outgrowth of Torah study in the world of Jewish observance, in the history of the Jewish people. We have millions and millions and millions. You know what a Baal Teshuvah is? A Baal Teshuvah is someone who comes, who grew up perhaps secular, and has changed their path, changed the course of their life to become more observant. Do you know, since 1990? 1990, okay, it's 35 years Do you know how many people have changed their life to become more observant? I would say it's in the range of two to three million Jews who have taken upon themselves more and more and more and more to become Shomer Shabbos, to keep kosher, to put on tefillin every day, to have a mezuzah on all the doors and to perform the mitzvahs of family purity, et cetera, et cetera, taking on one after another after another mitzvah.

34:13
This is the result, and I think that there's a tremendous disservice that one may experience in certain movements. They're like it's fine, it's fine, you can live your life as long as you feel like you're part of a Jewish community, and the result of that we've seen is that that really doesn't carry any weight, because it has to be in action, it has to be an actual observance, because those Jewish communities have dispersed, have become suburban Jewry and then what happens is, you know, they don't go to synagogue anymore, it's only a once a year Jew. I don't need to go anymore Friday night because I can watch it on my Zoom. I can watch it, I can watch any synagogue I want. And then you break away the fabric of what it means to be part of a Jewish community and you break away the fabric of what it means to be observant in any way, and then basically, we're like everyone else, we're assimilated, and there's no real connection to a Jewish life. It's in name only.

35:19
And that's a very tragic thing. It's not them against us, it's all of us, and it's something that us here in this room are trying to combat Jewish ignorance, jewish apathy and we're trying to change that by us learning ourselves, taking time every single day to learn to grow, to connect on the greatest level we can and to hopefully influence others, to learn more, to grow and to connect in every way that they can. So, again, it's not an us against them, but we need to take every single experience that we have to learn and to grow on a personal level. And I think, if anything, the one lesson we can learn from the Holocaust is that we don't take an opportunity that passes us by without making a change in our lives. That's the goal, that's the real purpose. You have a lesson that we've learned. Hopefully, make an impactful change.

36:21
And I can tell you that there are many, many, many Jews who came to the United States after the Holocaust had a very difficult time holding a job because there was no such thing as taking off for Shabbos and they gave up one job after another after another. A friend of mine told me that his grandfather had in his sukkah in the celebration of the holiday of Sukkot you know it's custom sitting outside in our sukkah he would have a custom to hang all of the pink slips that he got from all the jobs that he lost for the observance of Shabbos. There's no greater decoration than that showing I'm committed Every week Sunday morning. You would get a new job Every next week. You know he didn't show up Saturday, he'd get fired.

37:04
That shows commitment, saying I'm not giving up on my Shabbos for anything. I'm not giving up on anything. I'm going to observe this even stronger because we know there's one constant in this world, and that's the Almighty, that's Hashem, who takes care of every one of our needs. Hashem should bless us all. We should merit to take every experience that we have and make it a positive message for us, a positive force in our lives. I mean great question. Next question yes, one second. Let's get the microphone here.

37:37 - Ed (Host)
No, I understand that there will not be a state of Israel today, probably without the Holocaust, and that we have more Torah scholars, but we also have a lot more secular Jews than we used to, and in 1939, there were 16.6 million Jews in the world. Today there are only 15.8 million Jews, so we still haven't made up the population, and meanwhile the world population overall has increased by a large amount and now it still hasn't caught up to where we were in 1939.

38:09 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
It's a good question. We have to always remember, though, that the Jewish people are not about numbers, we're not about quantity, we're about quality, and we have to take a good look at ourselves, each person as an individual, and see in what way can I improve my connection with my Judaism and figure out a way to grow more, to connect more. Look, I know a guy who drives 35 miles to learn Torah every single day. Every single day Drives 35 miles each way to Torch and back. You know he's a special guy. So it's an Only three or four days a week. Oh, only three or four days a week. All right, you imagine that. Like you know, I don't want to hear about Jewish people not being connected as much as they used to. Look at that, someone who's driving 70 miles, only three, four times a week, just to learn Torah. That's an unbelievable gift, that's an unbelievable treasure in our midst. But so, yeah, look, there's no question that we have to regain our numbers. Yes, we need to have more of our Jewish people who are passionately involved and engaged in their Judaism. You know it's funny, because my wife and I are blessed to have eight children, and I can't even tell you how many people are, you know, look at us like, isn't that a little bit crazy? So many children, like you know. And what I always say is like we'll stop when we make back our six million, when we get back our six million. That's when we stop. We don't say like, oh, that's enough. No, on the contrary, we have to fight a war here, a war of you know. But then again, it's not about quantity, it's about quality. It's making sure that every single person that we know feels a connection to their own Yiddishkeit, to their own Judaism. And to encourage every person we meet to be involved. It doesn't have to be with torch per se. Just go to a synagogue, go be involved, go get engaged with something that's meaningful in Judaism. You know not to just sit on the, you know, in the background and say, yeah, it's okay, I watch my Zoom of some congregation out in the Hamptons, you know, do their Friday night service. That's not enough. We have to really engage in learning, in growing, in connecting. That's the ultimate goal and hopefully we'll merit to that. But again, it's not a numbers thing. We're trying to not let it just be numbers. We're not about numbers.

40:57
As a Jewish people, we don't need to import Jews. We don't need to lower the standards of observance. We don't need to lower the standards of observance. We don't need to lower the standards of conversion. There are some people who think it's a mitzvah or a good idea that they just convert people for $1.99,. Sign here, come to two classes and that's it. You're good to go. That's counterfeit and that's fraudulent, and that's not what it's. That's counterfeit and that's fraudulent and that's not authentic. We're talking about, you know, someone who undertakes the 13 principles of faith, having emunah, having an observance of those mitzvahs that are written in the Torah, and believing in Moshiach, and I would say, defying all other faiths and speaking out I don't accept any other God except for Hashem Elokeinu, hashem Echad and to declare that that's a whole different story and that's really what we. We don't want numbers.

41:56
We want real quality, and that's our hope, that's our prayer, is that we don't give in to the temptations of the world of just having numbers and everything being grand, and that's not what we're about. You know, the Torah says that we'll be like the stars in the heavens and like the sand by the beaches. Which one is it? Is it the sand or is it the stars? Well, it depends how we act. If we act like the stars, then everyone will look up to us, and if we act lowly, everyone will trample us. The numbers is not what really counts, it's the quality and our job is to be quality that everyone looks up and says oh, this is a god, kishem, hashem, nikra, alecha, this is a godly servant of Hashem. Look up, look up, look how great they are. Versus shouldn't look down at us and trample over us, and I think that that's really the goal and the emphasis we need to make.

42:56 - Bruce (Host)
Yes, Rabbi, you mentioned the number of students of Akiva who died in the plague, and it hit me that that's unless I'm wrong, you'll correct me. Isn't that the same number of the children of Israel that died of plague after the Sin of Baal Peor? And if so, is there a connection?

43:23 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Okay, so it's a very good question. There is definitely a connection, because there's no random right Number numbers right. There's several other references to the 24,000. I don't know how to link it right here right now. I'm going to do some research and get back to you, hopefully with a better answer. I know I still am in debt from last week on the Havdalah for women. I'll get to that as well. I apologize, it's been a little bit of a chaotic week, but again, all of the Torah that we studied today I wanted to be in honor and the merit of a speedy recovery for Tinok Ben Me'ira and for Me'ira Bat Z. So everyone should please include them in your prayers. Don't relent, don't give up, don't stop praying. Please shake the heavens. We need a miracle and we need a lot of blessing, god willing. Okay, one more question.

44:21 - Carlos (Host)
Rabbi, correct me if I'm wrong. Of course, If I'm praying at home by myself, I do need a minion for kedusha in the midah right, but do I need a minion for kedusha in the blessings of the Shema and the uvalitzion?

44:40 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Oh, such a great question. Okay, so the ideal, the question is like this we say Kedusha. Kedusha is a very, very holy part of our prayer and we have multiple Kedushas. We have one during the blessings of the Shema, we have one during the repetition of the Chazan of the Amidah, we have one in the end of prayer in the Uvalot Zion. Very good question. So here's the thing If a person can be in a synagogue, then great, that's the ideal.

45:14
The proper way to pray is to be in a synagogue, to pray with a quorum of adults, and then the Kedusha has a tremendous, tremendous power. Now, even if one is without a minyan, if someone doesn't live near a minyan, if someone is unable to pray with a minyan, the Kedusha that is part of the blessings of the Shema and the Kedusha that is part of the Evoluzion. Even if you don't have a minion, you can recite them, the one that's during the repetition, that we only have if we have a repetition. When do we do a repetition of the Amidah? Only when there's a minion, all right. So therefore, those two, even if you don't. And now it's a very important thing, the Halacha says that one should not remove their tefillin till after the last Kaddish of the morning prayer, and if someone is unable, someone is in a rush at least the Kaddish right after Ovalet Zion, all right. So it's an important thing to know A person. It's like I'll just tell you a joke. It's not a joke, it's actually a true story. It's actually a true story that happened. It was once a rabbi that was getting fired from his job and the president of the synagogue and the rabbi didn't get along very well and it was like the last few days before the rabbi was leaving his post and they had the gala dinner for the synagogue. So they asked their rabbi, of course, to speak. He's still employed by the synagogue. He asked him to speak, but he was not in good terms with this president and he's like you know, it's like it was rough, rough waters Either way. So the rabbi spoke and he said the following thing he said three came to God and complained. He said three came to God and complained. Three came to God.

47:06
Asher Yatzar said it's not fear. Look at my prayer. My prayer is said after people come out of the bathroom. That's the prayer I get when people come out of the bathroom. That's what you recite. It's like a little bit. You know, give me something better. And then Elenu. Elenu came to God and said it's not fear. People say me as they're running out of synagogue at the end of prayer the last thing we say is Elenu, you know, I get, I get. I get the last little bit. You know like people hardly pay attention to me.

47:32
And then the mamzer. The mamzer is the bastard child. The mom, who was married, was with another man, got pregnant and that child is called a mamzer. He says what's my fault? What's my fault that my mother did something wrong? What's my fault that she had an extramarital affair? It's not my fault. What did I do wrong? Why am I labeled as the mamzer?

47:59
So the rabbi said during his speech. He said you know what Hashem said. I'm going to appease you, asher Yotzar. You know what we're going to do Under the chuppah. When a bride and groom get married, there's a blessing that begins with Asher Yotzar, asher Yotzar, sa'odam b'tsalmo, and that's going to be my compensation to you. You're right After psalmo and that's going to be my compensation to you. You're right After the bathroom. I'm still going to give you a special blessing under the chuppah. The aleinu God says you know what, in the middle of the prayers of the high holidays we're going to insert the aleinu. You're not only going to be at the end of prayer, you're also going to be put into the prayer of the high holidays and it's one of the prominent parts of the prayer. He was appeased and he says to the mamzer he says you know what I'm going to do with you, I'm going to make you the president of the synagogue. Right, that will be your thing and that was the story. So I don't think they asked him to speak the next year again in the synagogue.

49:05
But either way, it's very important for a person to be. It's very important for a person to be, if they can, in a minion, to be in the synagogue and to pray and to not run as soon as the prayer is about to end, but to stay there. Come early, leave late. That's one of the great blessings that we recognize in the Mishnah that those who come early and leave late to synagogue. Because we're coming to pray to God. We're not coming to just check a box, we're coming to. So if a person is able to pray with a minion and to pray properly in a synagogue, that is the absolute best. Okay, one more question. Anna, you had a question. Aren't we forbidden from counting people?

49:53
So what did we count?

49:55 - Anna (Host)
So we're talking about the numbers of the Jews and you were talking about quality over quantity.

50:00 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Very, good, oh, excellent question, excellent question. So if we're not allowed to count people, then what are we talking about even having numbers of how many people, how many Jews? So this is in general. I think it's a very interesting thing. Whenever they do come.

50:13
The Pew Research does every five or 10 years they do a study on the Jewish community, which to me doesn't make any sense whatsoever, because the Torah observant community, the Orthodox community, has been growing leaps and bounds. I'm talking about the average family is six to 10 children and it doesn't reflect that Every 10 years there should be a leap of growth in the Jewish community and they still show them as like 10% or 11% of the Jewish demographic, which doesn't make any sense at all. I don't think they're doing those numbers correctly. Again, I'm not doing the research there in a Pew Research. I don't know what they're basing it on, but if you look at synagogue membership, I mean the Orthodox synagogues are the only ones that are really exploding. There are more and more synagogues opening and more and more of them that are filled to capacity. So I don't know what numbers they're basing it on. I don't know how they're counting, but either way, you're saying a very true point.

51:13
The Torah prohibits us from counting the Jewish people. The Torah prohibits us from counting even when you're counting for a minion. So for your minion, carlos, that you're going to, they want to know when they have 10, when do they have a? You don't count them by 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. You can say a verse that has 10 words in that verse and that's how you know Hoshiya et hamecha uvarechet nachratecha urein menasem adolam is 10 words and that's the way typically people will count. Because you don't count a number. The Torah says it's a prohibition you cannot count my children, they shall not be counted.

51:51
How did the Jewish people count in the desert? We know that they were the book of numbers. What is the book of numbers? They counted the Jewish people. Nope, every Jew. Very good, every Jew gave a half shekel and they counted the half shekels. We don't count the people. We count the coins, we count other things. We don't count the people. That's a very, very fundamental principle and it's an excellent question. We don't count the people. We're too great to be counted. We're not a number, right, we're a quality, and that's the essence of who we are. All right, my dear friends. This concludes today's episode of Question and Answers the Ask Away series. This is Ask Away 10. I didn't publish yet number nine, so we're gonna have to do a backtrack right. But, my dear friends, those of you online, thank you so much for joining us. Please like and share this episode and our other episodes. You're welcome to join us at future classes. We're live here for all of you, filled with amazingly good news. It should be with only blessing. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

52:57 - Intro (Announcement)
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