Shlomo Carlebach

Let me ask you, sweetest friends, how did King David conquer Jerusalem? Everybody knows that Jerusalem belongs to King David — it’s his personal property, did you know that? Ir Dovid — Sukkos Dovid hanofales. Why is Jerusalem King David’s own property? The answer is very simple. Everybody knew that — you know, the seven nations who occupied all of Israel — and then the Chiti Yevusi [Hittites, Jebusites] — they were such strong warriors, and they were living on that hill where Jerusalem is, and you couldn’t get close. You know, they were waiting for two hundred, for three hundred years in Israel after Y’hoshua, and nobody conquered Jerusalem. And do you know? Everybody knows — Hoshanah Rabbah, the seventh day of Sukkos, is the day of King David — right? If you remember. Why is this day, the seventh day of Sukkos — you know what happened on that Hoshanah Rabbah? King David decided, “I am going to take Yerushalayim all by myself.” One man — all by himself. Because really, if you trust God — does it matter to God if one man is going or if a thousand people are going? It’s the same thing, right? Hoshanah Rabbah, King David walked up to Yerushalayim, and he conquered the whole city, right? That’s a king, right? The king is not somebody who says, “Listen folks, let’s go. I want you to be killed, and I am sitting in my office, and I’m directing traffic.” Right? For that you don’t have to be Dovid HaMelekh, right?

So you see, I want you to know that two people who carried the burden of all of Israel on their shoulders — already: Yosef and Yehudah. You see, Yosef says, “Okay, you can go home.” So all the brothers say, “No, we’ll all be slaves instead of Binyomin.” Yehudah stands up, and he says, “I want to be the slave.” That means two people stood up, and they said, “We want to do it for all of you.” This is two kings, right? This is a king!

And maybe some of you know, according to the tradition, it’s called, “Ma’an malka? Rabbonim.” “Who are the great kings? Our teachers.” Why is it? Why is a real holy teacher supposed to be a king? (Always a king, hopefully.) It’s not someone who puts it on you, right? A real holy king is someone who says, “I’ll do it for you. I’ll take it off you.” L’chaim, l’chaim. [drinks some more milk].

So you see? Let me ask you something else. Why did Joseph tell the dream to his brothers? He couldn’t control himself? Why, he was a yenta — or was he in analysis, and one of his brothers was a psychiatrist, you know? I mean, what was going on there? The answer is very simple. You know, Joseph knew one thing. If I am supposed to be the slave — if I wanna do it — the saddest thing in the world is I have to separate myself a little bit from my brothers. You know? I have to go by myself, right?
So Joseph knew one thing: the moment I tell this dream to my brothers, they’ll be angry at me. But can you imagine? — I have to tell you one more thing, which is so beautiful and so heartbreaking. Let me ask you — what happened at that moment when the brothers saw Joseph? Were they laughing? Were they smiling at each other, you know, we’re finally getting rid of this disgusting Joseph? Without getting involved — because I have to daven Mincha — for whatever reason they decided they have to sell him as a slave, what do you think was going on at that moment? [Long pause.]

I want you to know something. Imagine you’d be up in heaven, right? Can you imagine if someone would have recorded the crying of the Jews when we went into exile? When the Holy Temple was destroyed when we went into exile? Can you just imagine it? Can you imagine the sounds of the crying? It does not compare to the crying of the holy tribes.
And here I want to share with you something which is so holy, that I just have to tell you, and I think if some of you remember — maybe Adina [Elana Friedman] remembers it. Okay, there are these two kings in the world. Joseph is the King of all the Tzaddikim, Joseph is the King of all the people who never did wrong in their life — and Yehudah is the King of all the people who went wrong — everything they did in their life is wrong. And they have the strength to fix it, right?

You see, Yosef is the one who gives you the strength not to do wrong, to keep yourself going all the time, and Yehudah is the one who gives you strength to fix it. And we need both, right? Those two kings [are] the pillars of all of Israel.

Now listen to this — and remind me to come back to it, because we have to daven Mincha. I just want to tell you this. Okay, the brothers decide — basically it was Yehudah’s decision — we have to sell him as a slave. Because they say like this: “We don’t know if he is a Tzaddik or not. We don’t know who he is. We give him a chance. If he goes to Egypt, and he remains a Jew, and he remains holy, he’s one of us.” Right? “If gets lost, then he wasn’t for real.” Right? Okay, they’re picking up Yosef from the pit, and they’re telling him, “Yosef, this is our decision. If you are real, if you are one of the holy tribes — ” You see, without getting involved, you know, they thought he is not one of the twelve tribes. Because if you’re one of the twelve tribes, how can you separate yourself from your brothers? How can you separate yourself from your brothers, right? And they didn’t know that he’s only separating himself because he wants to take off the burden of being a slave [from them]. But anyway, that’s what it was.

They said, “If you’re one of us, you’ll make it. But if you get lost — so you get lost.” I want you to visualize — it’s the deepest, deepest depths. But again, it’s so holy, it’s awesome even to think of it. How do you think the brothers said good-bye to Yosef? How do you think the brothers said good-bye to Yosef, right? Because deep down, can you imagine how much — how much love do you think was between the brothers and the house of Jacob? Unbearable, right? It was so deep and so holy, we have no concept, right?

Let me ask you, do you think, really, without knowing the depths, do you think there was jealousy between Rachel and Leah? Remind me to talk about it later. There [were] never two sisters in the world who loved each other more than Rachel and Leah, right? The deepest love, like Moshe and Aharon, right? Because everybody knows, Moshe and Aharon fixed the sin of Cain among men, and Rachel and Leah fixing jealousy between women and hatred between women until Mashiach is coming, right? The two pillars — Moshe and Aaron, Rochel and Leah.

Okay, the brothers saying good-bye to Yosef. Okay, so Yehudah, who’s the king, right? He says to Yosef, “Okay, we’re selling you as a slave, and you’ll have to prove yourself, if you remain a Tzaddik or not.” So you know what Yosef says to Yehudah? He says to Yehudah, “My holy brother, please bless me I should make it.” Right? “Bless me to be a Tzaddik.” Now listen to this unbelievable thing: Yehudah blessed Yosef to be a Tzaddik. And you know why Yosef remained a Tzaddik? Because of the blessing of Yehudah, right?
What do you think Yehudah says to Yosef? ‘Cause he’s selling his brother as a slave, as much as he knows “I have to do it,” so Yehudah says to Yosef, “Please bless me I should do t’shuva.” Right? So Yosef blessed Yehudah to do t’shuva, right? And Yehudah blessed Yosef to be a Tzaddik. Right? It’s mind-blowing. Mind-blowing is not the word, right? So the two pillars of Yiddishkeit, the Tzaddik and the Ba’al T’shuvah — they blessed each other. It’s unbelievable! Yosef is only a Tzaddik because of the blessing of Yehudah, and Yehudah is a Tzaddik because of the blessing of Yosef.

And you know, I want you to know something. L’chaim [sips]. You know — [someone stifles a sneeze] God bless you. [And again] God bless you. What’s the holiness of the holy wall? You know what’s so strange? It’s a broken wall. And yet, you can see with an unclear prophecy the holy Temple, right? When you stand there, you see, mamesh, the Beis HaMikdash, right? But again, if you would see the Beis HaMikdash clear, it wouldn’t be so deep. Because behind all the brokenness — like on a dream level — you see the Beis HaMikdash — therefore, it’s so holy. Right?
I have to tell you just one more beautiful thing. When was the day that the wife of Potiphera mamesh really made it strong with Yosef — she says, [either] you do it, or I take you to prison. Which day was that? Everybody knows, it was Rosh HaShanah. But listen to this unbelievable thing. It was in the morning ’cause everybody — it was a whole big thing — it was a little thing in their pagan temple — and Yosef stayed home. Okay, I want to — [responding to someone's importunity] I’ll daven in a minute — I want to share this with you. [Hebrew quotation] — it says, “he saw his father’s face.” [Sotah 36b] What — he saw his father eating breakfast? They [had been] living together. He saw his father waking up? What moment did he see? Which moment was revealed to Yosef?  Which moment he saw his father? So the answer is very simple. He saw his father blowing the shofar.
You know, friends, I don’t know if you have ever seen mamash Tzaddikim. I had the privilege of seeing the Lubavitcher Rebbe, I saw the Bobover Rebbe, I saw mamesh Tzaddikim the way they looked before they blow the shofar, right? When you remember that, it’s something else, right? So I want you to know, Joseph went into prison on Rosh HaShanah, and everybody knows, he came out on Rosh HaShanah. L’chaim, l’chaim [he drinks again].
You know, the Ropshitzer says the portions of the winter wear heavy furs — you know? It’s all covered up. It’s all covered up. And it’s such a privilege — you know, it’s very crazy. Before Mashiach is coming, in our generation, really, we have such holy books; it’s getting more and more open to us, and it’s really more and more accessible to us — the deepest depths of the Torah, right? Let’s say twenty years ago, nobody was sitting in Santa Rosa talking about Yehudah and Yosef, right? L’chaim.
[This the end of Part Two. May the tears that we shed over the Joseph story be transformed into drops of rain to moisten the parched land of Israel, fill her rivers, lakes, and streams, her reservoirs and aquifers. — RG]

From the series, Reb Shlomo at Congregation Beth Ami, 4676 Mayette Avenue, Santa Rosa, CA 95405 . Sunday, November 30, 1980 (22 Kislev, 5741), Parashat Miketz. (Two days before Chanukah, the week of Parashat Miketz.)
Recorded and transcribed by Reuven Goldfarb.
Transcription dedicated to the complete refuah of Yitzchak ben Leah — Jerry Strauss, Shlomo’s great friend and supporter — who organized the concert and learning at which these teachings were given over.
Copyright held by the estate of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach.

In Israel, in former good days, the four corners of the field belonged to the poor. The law is very strong; it’s not that you cut off the corners of the field and give it to the poor, because then it is yours, and you are giving it away. You can’t cut the four comers; they don’t belong to you.It is the poor man’s field. Another law is when you gather from the field, if you forget something you are not allowed to go back. If something falls it also doesn’t belong to you. So, when Ruth and Naomi came back to Israel Ruth went to gather food, and by divine providence she went to the field of Boaz, who was actually a cousin to her husband. Boaz came to look at his field, and he saw a very, very beautiful woman; not just beautiful, in every way shining. He asked who she was, and his workers told him she was a princess of Moab who came to Israel, poor now. He said to the workers, Please make sure that a lot is forgotten, and a lot falls down, and during lunchtime, when you eat, give her some olives, some bread. The Torah says that the Moabite is not to be accepted into the congregation of Israel. Only if a Moabite converts, then after three generations he can become part of Israel. Why? It says because he did not bring you bread and water when you went into the desert.” Who was the tribe of Moab? Moab was the son of the daughter of Lot. Lot the nephew was the of Abraham. Abraham rescued Lot from Sodom by his prayers. That means Moab owed its whole existence to Abraham. Moab had a chance to pay back to the Jews what they owed them, what they owed father Abraham, by bringing them bread and water in the desert. In those days who was to bring bread and water? Only the men. In those days women wouldn’t go out of the house to bring bread end water to the desert. Suddenly, on the very day, the very instant that Ruth and Naomi crossed the border, the high court in Jerusalem started discussing the law which says a Moabite cannot come into the congregation of lsrael. They said this means the male Moabite not the female, because she cannot be accused of not bringing bread and water. This became the new law.

In former good days the law was that if someone died, leaving a wife without children, someone in the family had to marry her. The day after the court decision Boaz said, “Someone has to do somthing for this girl. Someone has to marry her.” There was one man who was a closer relative than Boaz, but that man was super-holy, and he said, “No, I couldn’t marry a girl who was converted. I know the holy court decided the woman Moabite is O.K. but I am not so sure about the holy court.” Boaz said, “O.K. then, I am next.” Boaz married her, but the very sad thing is that Boaz died the next morning. That means he was married to Ruth for only one night. The Zohar says the reason Boaz came into the world was for just that one night. Ruth had a son, Obed; Obed had a son Yeshai, and Yeshai had a son David, the king of Israel, the ancestor of Messiach.

O.K. now, who was this woman, Ruth? Our father Abraham, had two star pupils. One was Lot, his nephew, and the other was Chedorlaomer. Abraham was really giving; that was his message to the world. Suddenly his star pupil, Chedorlaomer, turns around and becomes the king of Sodom, where the law was that if you were were caught giving something to the poor you were killed. If you killed someone, you were rewarded. If you hit someone you got paid. Everything completely perverted … and Chedorlaomer became the king! A few months later the second star pupil of Abraham, Lot, took off also and became the high judge of Sodom. This was the end for Abraham. The Zohar says that after Lot left was the first time that Abraham really prayed for a son, because all the time he had thought, “I have two sons, maybe not physically my sons, but they are spiritualy my sons. After they left he realized he had to have ason who would really continue. Listen to this. Who was the real star pupil of Abraham? The real star pupil of Abraham was a little girl, the daughter of Lot. She really absorbed all of Abraham’s teaching. When her father went to Sodom she didn’t want to go along, but what could she do? After she came to Sodom the most horrible thing happened. The poor wouldn’t die in the streets anymore. The Sodomites couldn’t find who was feeding them. This went on for a long time. If you remember the story, two angels came to Abraham and one of them said, “God sends word to you: Her crying reaches Me, and I am going to destroy Sodom.” The other angel told Abraham he would have a son, Isaac. The Zohar asks what “her” crying is, who is this “she”? The answer is that day in Sodom the little girl was caught giving a piece of broad to a poor man. The Sodomites poured honey all over her and they put her on the roof, and she was eaten by the bees. This is the most painful death anyone can be subjected to.

When the time is right, God works fast. The next day Sodom was destroyed, and Abraham needs another star pupil, Isaac. Although Isaac was very holy, be was ready to die for G-d, he doesn’t compare to that girl. That girl died for giving a poor man a piece of bread. Tne Zohar Kodesh says that the soul of that girl came back to the world, and she was Ruth. So Messiach is the descendant of those two star pupiIs, Isaac, who was ready to die for G-d, and Ruth, the soul that really died for people. That’s the story.

House of Love and Prayer, San Francisco. Sivan, 5732. Reprinted from Holy Beggar’s Gazette, vol 1 no 3.