Big Day!!! A Shtreimel In The Vatican - Seeking TRUTH

SHAAALOOOM SWEEETEST FRIENDSSSS!!!!!


Today was a SPECIAL DAY in history!!!


1903 - 1st regular transatlantic radio broadcast between US & England.
1932 - Charlie Conacher becomes 1st Toronto Maple Leaf to score 5 goals in a game, 1st coming at 7 seconds of game.
1939 - Ernest Hausen of Wisconsin sets chicken-plucking record of 4.4 sec. [!!!!!]
1970 - Eight Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in the Netherlands say there should be room in the church for both married priests and celibate priests. פרו ורבו ומלאו את הארץ!!!
1970 - UCLA fires Angela Davis for being a communist. Down with the Commies!!
1977 - Snow falls in Miami, Florida. This is the only time in the history of the city that snowfall has occurred. It also fell in the Bahamas.
SNOW IN MIAMI!!!! That is like a Shtriemel in the Vatican!!!
And most chashuv: 1991 - Sgt. Slaughter defeats Ultimate Warrior for WWF championship belt.

It is ALSO the yahrtzeit of one of my primary teachers, guides and inspiration for more than 2 decades!!! I speak of Mickey Mantle the Holy Sfas Emes of Ger!!! [What happened to Mickey Mantle when he died? He was DisMantled]. 


Since I am so indebted to him as he has taught me SOOOO MUCH and my Shabbos table is not a Shabbos table without 3 different kugels, chumus, techina, four different salads, five different types of meat and three desserts - as a start!!! saying Torah from the Rebbe - I thought I would share a thought. [Plus, I wear a Gerrer "up hat" with a big brim so Ger is mamesh on my head!!!]

I heard a shiur from his great-grandson, HaGaon Rav Shaul Alter Shlita, and he said that the following idea encapsulates the Rebbe's basic philosophy.


We think that this world is called by the Mekubalim "עלמא דשקרא" - the world of falsehood, b/c there is so much falsehood!! Politicians lie, people lie in business, people lie to the government and hide money, the media misleads us etc. etc. How did Billy Joel put it in his hit song? Honesty is SUCH a lonely word - everyone is SOOO untrue. Honeeeesty, is hardly ever heard, but it's mostly what I need from you . If we examine ourselves honestly, as objectively as we can, we will invariably find that we lie from time to time. [One common example: Saying to a Tzdaka collecter "Right now, I can't" implying that in the future you will and that right now you really don't have a few extra dollars. Hmmmmmm. Or the ol' "We'll keep in touch...."]. The ONLY people who NEVER lie are people who REALLY worked on themselves and reached that exalted state. Otherwise - it is just TOO EASY and TOO CONVENIENT to lie from time to time.

That is true. But that is not all the term "עלמא דשקרא" means. What עלמא דשקרא means is that the VERY EXISTENCE of our world is falsehood b/c we only see the physical reality. It LOOKS like that is all there is. It LOOKS like we can sin and get away with it. Like the basketball player who tries to smack away the ball from the other player but instead hits the player himself and then raises his hands to the ref as if to say "Yo man, I didn't touch heeee-im". We do things and then tell ourselves and even Hashem that we are OK. No foul!! It looks like people die and THAT'S IT!! To paraphrase the great American philosopher Yogi Berra: The opera is over and the weight-challenged lady is belting out a niggun. It's over, he/she is in the grave and let's move on.

NO! There IS a G-d, there IS reward and punishment and there IS a world beyond this one. The story that nature tells us is FALSE. עלמא דשקרא!!! The Avos showed that to us. Their job was to find Hashem EVERYWHERE and pass that on to us.

The pasuk says הצילה נפשי משפת שקר. The word "שפת" can mean lips but also means a bank, as in שפת הנהר - the bank of the river. Save me, cried Dovid Hamelech, from שפת שקר, from everything in this world which is surrounded by falsehood. Nature tells us "fake news". It LOOKS like the evil prosper and that there is no justice in this world but there is. Save me from that false perspective. Save me from thinking that this is a [as they say in French] hefker velt!! Save me from thinking that I can read stuff on the Internet that is not appropriate for a Ben Torah human being and it is OK. When I contaminate my eyes with immodest images, it is MUCH MORE HARMFUL to me than putting physical acid in them. The עלמא דשקרא rails against that and says "No, it's OK. I just looked.....". [This last note was sponsored by Shovevim Inc.....].


The entire thrust of the sefer Sfas Emes is to find that spark of Hashem in EVERYTHING.


YES - Hashem is with us in Corona and Hashem is with us in our struggle to pay the bills and Hashem is with us in our צער גידול בנים and Hashem is with us in ALL our struggles. The more we believe it, teaches Rabbeinu, the more we will see it!!!


Here is the Torah in his words.

וארא כו' ושמי ה' לא נודעתי כו'. כי האבות כל עבודתם הי' עבור בנ"י לכן נקראו אבות והלכו בכל המקומות הנסתרים תוך הטבע. ויגעו עד שמצאו גם שם הארה הקדושה. ובחי' זו היא ההנהגה בשם אל שדי. כמ"ש ז"ל שיש די באלקותו לכל ברי'. פי' זה שהש"י נתן בכל דבר נקודה חיות אלקות. שיהי' כח להיות נמשך כל הסביבות לנקודה זו. כי בעוה"ז שנק' עלמא דשקרא יש הרבה שקר לכל נקודה של אמת. כמ"ש סביב רשעים יתהלכון. וע"ז נאמר הצילה נפשי משפת שקר. כי לכל נקודה של אמת השקר סובבת בכל צד. ועכ"ז ע"י יגיעה נוכל למצוא נקודה של אמת בכ"מ. וזה הי' עבודת האבות. לכן נאמר ארץ מגוריהם אשר גרו. מלשון גר. כמ"ש אברהם גייר גיורים כו'. פי' לשון המשכה שהמשיכו כל הדברים לשורשן. ובגלות מצרים וכן בכל הגלות הוא בבחי' זו. ועומד לזה זכות האבות. ואיתא משה ראה באספקלריא דנהורא ושאר נביאים באסדל"נ. ולמה נק' אספקלריא כיון דל"נ. רק הפי' שיש הסתר להנקודה שמתגלה בתוך הסתר. ומרע"ה זכה כמו שיהי' לעתיד ה' ושמו אחד. שלא יהי' שום דבר רק חיות אלקי. ובעוה"ז נתלבש הכל בטבע. וכפי התקדשות האדם בעניני עוה"ז זוכה להשיג דבר מה. ובחי' זו נק' אסדל"נ שע"י ההסתר זוכה להתגלות כנ"ל. וזה הוא עבודה קשה. וכדמיון זה הוא עבודת ימות החול. וש"ק אסד"נ. שבשבת יש התגלות יותר לכל נפש מישראל. אמת שכפי העבודה בימות החול זוכין להארת ש"ק. כי בגלות זוכין לאמת ע"י אמונה כמ"ש במ"א. ושמעתי מאא"ז מו"ר ז"ל שמתי חול גבול לים כי ימות החול הוא גבול להגביל כ"ד שלא יתפשט רצונות האדם רק בגבול כו'. והוא הצימצום. וכפי מה שיש נקודה זו באיש ישראל. מתגלה אליו הארה של אמת: 

May we be zoche to live it and see Hashem reveal Himself speedily in our days when the eternal truth is revealed. As the Rebbe quoted shortly before his passing

שְׂפַת אֱמֶת תִּכּוֹן לָעַד וְעַד אַרְגִּיעָה לְשׁוֹן שָׁקֶר. [משלי י"ב י"ט]

מצודת דוד

"תכון לעד" - מתקיימת עד עולם, אבל לשון שקר לא תתקיים כי-אם עד רגע, הוא עת האמירה, כי לאחר-זה יתברר השקר. 

LOVE, BLESSINGS AND A FREILICHIN YAHRTZEIT!!!!