Reb Shlomo taught us that Elul is a time of repentance in preparation for the High Holy Days. In Aramaic (the language of the Talmud), the word “Elul” means “search.” The Talmud writes that the Hebrew word “Elul” can be expanded as an acronym for “Ani L’dodi V’dodi Li” – “I am to my Beloved and my Beloved is to me.” Elul is seen as a time to search one’s heart and draw close to God in preparation for the coming Day of Judgement, Rosh Hashanah, and Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.

Read:

Elul: Opening the Gates

Ki Va Mo’ed: When the Time Comes

Elul: Redemption Through Responsiveness

New York, Elul 5750

Reprinted with permission of Kehilath Jacob News

How does a person know the taste of joy?   We are living between two worlds.

We live in the world of thinking and in the world of beyond thinking.

The Tree of Knowledge level means “everything is thinking”.

The tree of life level means beyond thinking (a first flash).

If you only live on a thinking level you never put your life together….

Beyond thinking goes much deeper.

Love does not come from thinking.

It’s so much deeper.

Doing a friend a favor without hesitation is also beyond thinking.

How much does a person have to work on himself to know when to think and when not to think?   Why does Rosh Hashanna come before Yom Kippur? Rosh Hashanah is like the tree of life.

It’s beyond thinking.

The whole value of doing teshuva before Rosh Hashanah is that something inside of me wakes up.

Yom Kippur is all thinking.

Every one of the six million Jews had a flash from God: LEAVE! A German person told me, “I was a spy for Russia.

One night at two am, I knocked on the door of my neighbors and told them “they are arresting you at three am.

He laughed in my face.

I had to tell this to another person.”   In 1967 we came back to the Holy Wall.

It was the awakening of Rosh Hashanah.

At this time we must cleanse ourselves from anger.

We are playing with our lives if we are angry.

G-d is building a new world and what are you doing — yelling! It’s of utmost importance that parent’s don’t yell at their children on Rosh Hashanah.

Yelling is destroying the world!   How do we cleanse our hearts from anger and fill our hearts with more joy? When we stand before G-d we have to stand straight.

Standing straight means my head is on top of my shoulders.

It means that I’m listening — my head is connected to G-d.

We hardly know what people are really saying to us! If we are CONNECTED TO ABOVE we know what to say to people.

We need to pay attention to the red lights and the green lights.

Whatever we need to fix can be fixed in one second if we pay attention to the moment.

To know the moment is so deep! Not every moment is meant for getting married — they call out in heaven the moment you are getting married.

A wedding is like the tree of life.

I don’t love you because I THOUGHT.

When you meet your mate you are beyond thinking — you become completely cleansed of anger when you get the first flash.
How can I make someone else dance at my wedding? If I’m really happy with my joy, others will dance at my wedding.

When the bride and groom are not happy, then there is no desire to dance when people are fill with anger.

Between husband and wife — if you think, you’ll never make it! Marriage counseling needs to be connected on a “beyond thinking” level to get rid of anger…

The Shofar doesn’t come from thinking: the Shofar has no words.

It comes from the deepest deepest depths…

The soul operates on the level of the first fig.

The Isbitzer tells a Torah of the greatest joy being to come back to the Holy Land.

It was the greatest thing to take the first fruit and come back to the Holy Temple.

Imagine Michele the slipper coming with his first fruit of one fig! Baron Rothschild comes with ten thousand figs.

Word gets around that Michele is coming with one fig for his fruit for the holy temple.

Baron Rothschild is also coming with his ten thousand figs to Yerushalyim.

Both are coming with their first fruits.

Michele thinks inside– “Baron Rothschild squeezed the blood out of poor shleppers like me to get his ten thousand figs– I won’t dance with Baron Rothschild.

Michele was not happy with his one fig.

(When people brought their first fig — you don’t know what jealousy was!) The problem of the world is people aren’t happy with their portion.

How much a person has to cleanse him self to know when to think and when not to think.

It must start with the first flash in your head — without thinking.

The soul operates on the level of the first fig.

People whose lives are not so good do not bring their first fig to the Holy temple.

What is the greatest ANTI first fig? The arch enemy of G-d is when you don’t listen to the first flash of your heart.

Imagine in Sanz do you think that people didn’t listen to the inner words of the Rebbe? The greatest thing is to teach each other to listen to the first flash.

You don’t listen when your heart is full of anger.

Anger destroys everything inside and you lose touch of the little holy prophesy.

The Isbitzer says we must cleanse ourselves of anger.

To cleanse myself from anger I have to start first to fill my heart with joy.

Only a heart that is full of joy can be void of anger.

Anger destroys everything in the world.

It is hard to tear out anger from your heart.

Imagine you wipe out Amalak, that you have cleansed yourself of anger.

When Michele with one fig and Baron Rothschild with ten thousand are dancing together! Gevalt! Israel is only given to us completely when we have cleansed ourselves from anger.

Anger is still evident in Yerushalyim.

Cleanse yourself from anger at the Holy Wall.

Everybody knows that there’s nothing wrong with the tree of knowledge, that it is okay to think and to use your brain.

Just know what comes first.

First Adam should eat from the tree of life — the first fig — then he should eat from the tree of knowledge.

Wishing everyone the sweetest and most joyous New Year.

Transcribed by Michele Garner for Connections Magazine Issue.

Fall 1988.

From a class given by Reb Shlomo in Chana Klemberg’s  home.

So we are inviting each other again for an even deeper Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur, a more heavenly Succos, and a more beyond heaven Simchas Torah.

When I was a little boy, I always asked my father, “Where are the songs of the Holy Temple?” And I never got a good answer because I could not believe that Jews can live without at least one song from the Holy Temple, a song of King David, a song of beyond time and space, a song that reminds us that we are part of G-d.

A few years ago, late at night, I saw a frail Jew by the Holy Wall who drew my attention. He really prayed. I waited until he finished and he began telling me he had arrived that day from Russia after ten years in Siberia. I asked him, “How did you survive Siberia?” He said, “I was singing all the time.” Suddenly I had this flash and I asked, “Did you sing the songs of the Holy Temple?” And he was quiet for a long time tears of ten years of Siberia and maybe two thousand years of exile came out from his holy eyes. And he said, “My whole family are Chassidim from the time of the Baal Shem Tov, and my holy grandfather told me in the name of the holy Baal Shem Toy, that the way we chant prayers on the High Holidays is the way they were singing them in the Holy Temple – the way King David composed them.”

That evening changed my life. Whenever I give a concert, I always include the prayers of the High Holidays. The melodies reach, like the Shofar, to the deepest chambers of our souls.

Just imagine Baron Rothschild, suffering from amnesia, standing on it street corner, dirty and filthy, begging for dimes. The first thing he needs is to remember is that he is Rothschild and then to wash up and change his clothes, and then to go back to his home. All year long everyone in his own way is suffering from amnesia. We forgot what a Jew is, we forgot what a human being is, and we forgot who G-d is. Rosh Hashanah when we blow the Shofar, we remember everything. On Yom Kippur, we wash up and on Succoth we move back into our heavenly abode –to the palace we are meant to live in.

There is war in the world and hatred because the world has amnesia and his forgotten what it is to be human. There is so much trouble in Israel because the whole world refuses to remember that G-d gave us the land.

Let this Rosh Hashanah wake up the world.

Let this Yom Kippur clean us and the whole world.

Let this Succos, when we bring sacrifices for all the seventy nations in the Holy Temple, restore dignity all the nations of the world.

There were never so many homeless people in New York as today and this phenomenon is actually all over the world. It is as if G-d is reminding us that if true humanity, true belief in G-d has no home in the world yet. Succos we are building a new home for G-d, for all of Israel and, via Israel, for the whole world.

Let the New Year be the year we have been waiting for.

Love,
Shlomo

New York, Elul 5748
Reprinted from Cong Kehilath Jacob News

I remember when I was a little boy. My tatte, my father, was such a sweet Jew, I could swear that there was not a second in his life when he was not thinking, “Moshiach is coming and we will be going to Yerushalayim.” I remember when I was little, I was sitting on my father’s knee and I asked him, “Can you teach me a melody from the holy Temple?” I shall never forget how my father started crying, and said to me, “We don’t know any melodies from the holy Temple. We don’t know any.” I said to my father, “I can’t believe it. How can we live without one note from the holy Temple?”

As time went by, just a few years ago, I met an old Yid who had just come from Siberia, by the holy wall. I asked him, “How did you survive in Siberia for ten years?” He said, “I was singing the whole time.” I had this flash in my head and I said, I can imagine that G-d must have revealed to you a melody from the holy Temple.” so he said to me, “I am in a direct line from the Baal Shem Tov. The Baal ShemTov said that the way we chant prayers on the High Holidays is like the way they did in the holy Temple.” It may not be one hundred percent, but it’s a little bit like that. Those melodies are so deep, that’s why they touch us so deeply.

All the Jews sing the same prayers. In the fifteenth century, there was a great Chazan in Maintz. He was a great Kabbalist. He was a divine musician. He stabilized all the melodies.

We have to keep to the nusach. The way he stabilized the melodies was that he knew exactly where each note reaches in heaven.

One beautiful prayer contains this phrase:

“ad aznecha bamarom, yoshev tehilla”,

Please, Ribbono Shel Olam, listen to me from the highest place in heaven, You Who Are Yoshev tehilla. I am a father. What is the sweetest thing in the world for a father? When his child says something good to him. You can give me two million dollars (I need it sometimes.) But, how does that compare to when my children say something good to me. G-d is the same way. When His children get together in this world to sing His praises — He Is sitting on it, so to speak. When G-d hears us singing, He feels it is worthwhile to be G-d, just to hear that.

The end of this phrase is

“lishmoa el harena ve-el hatefillah”

G-d, listen to our singing and to our prayers. To our singing first.

Sometimes, I am angry at my child, yelling and screaming at her. Suddenly, in the middle of my yelling, there is a fire. What do I do? I take my baby and carry her out with the greatest love in the world. This shows that the yelling didn’t reach very deep.

We are saying to G-d, it’s true our mistakes are very heavy. But, we know that on a certain level, our mistakes never even reach that high. There is one place where our relationship to G-d is so deep.

In a business deal, I have to offer something. If I walk into a bank, unless I have money in there, I can’t take anything out. If I walk into a store, I must have the exact amount of money to buy something. If I tell them I’m a little bit short, they won’t sell to me.

In a certain way, I am coming to G-d in heaven and I am saying,”Ribbono shel olam, give me a good year.” G-d says to me, “Let’s see how much you have.” I say to G-d, “The truth is, I have nothing. I’m not coming to buy. I’m coming to beg.”

When my child asks me for a favor, do I ask her for something in return? We say to G-d, “Please, don’t deal with us on a business level.”

I want to share something very deep with you. You know, I walk in Yerushalayim and see all my friends. I’m so glad to see every person. But, imagine, I am in the Fiji Islands and I don’t know anybody and suddenly, I see a Jew from Yerushalayim! Imagine how good I feel!

The unholy people have something that the holy don’t know. The holy people are sure G-d is everywhere, so, when they meet G-d, it doesn’t amaze them. But, people who aren’t holy, for them G-d seems far away and when suddenly, they discover that G-d is right there – it’s a great discovery for them.

“Obikashtem misham omatzatem ki tidrishenubechal levavech obechal nafshecha”

And you shall seek from there, and you shall find (Him), if you seek with all your heart.

This is a story the Heliege Rizhiner would tell every year, on the second night of Rosh Hashanah. One time, Rosh Hashanah was very heavy. The whole world, especially Yidden, was on the scale of justice and the side of the sins was very heavy. So, the heilege Rebbe Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev ran and stole all the sins from the scale. He took them off the scale and they just disappeared. Suddenly, there was a voice in heaven: “What’s going on here? Who stole all the sins of the Jews?” There was another voice proclaiming” Levi Yitzchak, ben Sorah Sasha stole all the aveiros (sins).” Okay, the heavenly court gets together. And, you know, if you steal something you have to pay double. Can Rebbe Levi Yitzhakl, one human being, pay for all the sins of the Jews? No, he cannot pay. Especially not double. Comes the next question: What happens when a person steals and cannot pay? He is sold as a slave. According to simple law, to Halacha, if a person steals and cannot pay, he is sold as a slave. So, the holy court announces that Rebbe Levi Yitzchak cannot pay and he has to be sold as a slave. They begin to auction off Rebbe Levi Yitzchak. They call out: “Who wants to buy Rebbe Levi Yitzchak?” There is another voice in heaven, the Ribbono Shel Olam Himself. “LeKonehavodov badin” (To the one who buys His servants with justice).Ribbono shel Olam says: “I am buying Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev.” Therefore, “Le-Rachem avodov bedin,” therefore, G-d is compassionate.

Do you know what this means? We all know some people whose scale is not so good. Imagine if I decide that before Yom Kippur, I am going to steal all your sins. You know what happens to us after that? We are becoming the disciples of G-d after that. So, in heaven, they auction us off. Who wants to buy a little Jew like you and me? Only G-d.

On Rosh Hashanah night, when you bless somebody with a good year, it’s not just like wishing someone a good Shabbos. On Rosh Hashanah night, when you bless somebody with a good year, you are telling them: “Tomorrow, I am going to steal away all your sins. I shall steal away our sins. I shall cover up for you.”

I want you to know something very deep. What was the downfall of the world? How did the downfall begin? The first person who did something wrong was our mother Eve. The Kotsker Rebbe said that he wished that one time in his life he would stand before G-d in so much holiness, on Yom Kippur, like Eve did when she stood before G-d after eating from the Tree of Knowledge. The downfall of the world was, when G-d said to Adam: “Why did you eat the fruit?” and he answered, “It is Eve’s fault.” Is this how he loved his wife? We are created in G-d’s image. Is this what you think G-d is all about? He should have said: “It’s all my fault.” He should have covered up for her.

If, G-d forbid, my child would do something wrong and someone will come and ask: “Who did that?” I will say, “I did.” When I love somebody, I cover for her.

We see the influence of the Tree of Knowledge. We are not permitted to lie. We have to tell the truth. So, when G-d asked Adam what happened, he blamed it all on Eve. He didn’t cover for his wife. He did not act like a mentsch. That’s why G-d said to him: “Get out of my Paradise.”

I want you to know, the deepest depths of Rosh Hashanah is that we cover for each other. We each say to G-d, “It’s all my fault. “Who is a Cohen Gadol (a High Priest)? If somebody killed another person, innocently without wanting to, the Cohen Gadol is responsible for it. The Gemara says, if you are a Cohen Gadol, why didn’t you pray that it shouldn’t happen?

In the Passover Haggadah, we have the four sons. One of them is wise and one is evil. The evil one is not the opposite of the wise one. No, tzadik is the opposite of evil. Why is not one of the sons called tzadik instead of wise? So, I learn peshat for myself. The wise one thinks he’s very clever — he’s a Rebbe, he’s a Rosh yeshiva. So, how come, in his neighborhood, there is a rasha, an evil man? He couldn’t even get through to him, so he’s surely not a tzadik.

Yom Kippur, we stand before G-d and say:

“I did everything wrong. Forgive me.”

On Rosh Hashanah my fixing is not that I am telling G-d my own mistakes. Rosh Hashanah, it’s the other way around. I say to G-d, “Ribbono Shel Olam, the way You created the world, the whole world should know that there is one G-d. And, I’m so afraid that if that didn’t happen yet, that it’s my entire fault.” On Rosh Hashanah, I am covering for the whole world.

There are two kinds of Torahs and two kinds of relationships in the world. There is a relationship where somebody gives me everything without my asking that person and there is something so much deeper –asking. There are some things that you cannot give without asking if the other person wants it. You cannot marry a woman unless you ask her first. The asking is so deep.

When G-d gave us the Torah, He asked us first if we want it and we answered,

“Na’ase venishma.”

We didn’t run after G-d asking, please give us the Torah. G-d didn’t ask Avraham if he wanted Eretz Israel; He said, “I am giving it to you.” So, what was missing was, we never ran after G-d begging Him for Eretz Yisrael. We had to go into exile, we had to go through all the mistakes, and we have to wait for Moshiach because He will only come when we beg for Him. Eretz Yisrael, the real Eretz Yisrael, the Moshiach Eretz Yisrael, will only be given to us when we beg for it.

There is Pesach, the getting out of Egypt when G-d didn’t ask. He just took us out. Pesach Sheni, the second Pesach, was given because the people were begging Moshe, “We lost the first Pesach. Give us Pesach Sheni.”

When people make mistakes in their relationships, if, instead of just saying, “I’m sorry”, they ask for another chance, it’s so much deeper.

There are two Torahs. There is Mount Sinai, the Torah from heaven that we learned from Moshe Rabbenu. And then, there is the Torah that we learned from Aharon HaCohen, the Torah of Yerushalayim, of Eretz Yisrael, the Torah of the Beis HaMikdash, the Torah of Teshuva. In short, there is the Torah of Moshiach ben Yosef, the tzadik who does everything right. The Torah of Teshuva, Mashiach’s Torah, is the Torah of mistakes. It is David HaMelech’s Torah. Yosef the Tzadik didn’t make any mistakes; he was holy from beginning to end. Yehuda made mistakes; he did everything wrong. Saul made one mistake and he was finished. David made many mistakes and still, David chai vekayam, David is still our king. Saul was the child of Rachel, Rachel the tzadekes. Saul was not supposed to make mistakes. David, from the beginning on was making mistakes, but, after every mistake, he said, “I’m sorry”, and ran right back to G-d.

The question is not how much you love each other when you love each other. The question is how much do you love each other when you hate each other? The question is not how much you love G-d when you love Him. The question is, how much are you running back to Him when you do something wrong?

Sometimes, I have the privilege of being with Jews who don’t keep Shabbos, but, gevalt, are they longing for Shabbos. They are not longing for the type of Shabbos that most frum people have — some chicken soup, some noodles, the Jewish Press. They are really longing for the Yom shekulo Shabbos, for the true Shabbos, the real Shabbos, which is so much deeper. The Torah, the Torah of rules, is very holy. You learn it and you do it. The Torah of mistakes reaches the deepest depths of our being.

Moshe Rabbenu is the master of Mount Sinai. Aharon HaCohen is the master of the Beis HaMikdash. Aharon is the one who made the Golden Calf. Aharon was the master of mistakes.

G-d gave us the Torah of non-mistakes. On Mount Sinai, G-d asked us if we want it, and we said yes. As for the Torah of mistakes, we have to run after G-d to get it.

As for the Eretz Yisrael which G-d gave to Avraham, we have it. It belongs to us. But, this is not the Eretz Yisrael of Mashiach.

What is the holiness of a house? What is the difference if I live by somebody else or if I live in my own house? When I live with somebody else, if I knock on the door at four in the morning and I am drunk or I’m dirty, they might not let me in. My house is the place where I can go after all the mistakes. I can always get in.

Today, when so many young people are doing teshuva, we cannot ask them, “Why were you following that guru, why did you go to the Moonies?” Teshuva means that they are coming home. We cannot ask them anything. They are just coming back home. They must come home and we must be so glad they are back. We do not say a word.

The downfall of the world was caused by two things. The first is that Chava ate, and gave Adam to eat, the forbidden fruit. But, we were not driven out from Paradise at that moment. We were driven out when G-d asked Adam and Chava, “What’s going on here.” Chava should have jumped up and said, “I’m sorry. It was all my fault.” And Adam should have said, “I’m sorry. It was my entire fault. I should have told her better.”

What is the first sign of people loving each other? That they cover for each other. A house is a cover. Loving somebody is a cover. The beginning of a chupah, of a marriage, is that the husband covers the face of the bride. He is telling her, I won’t be like Adam who said, “Chava did it.” I’ll cover for you.

What did Aharon do when he walked into the Holy of Holies? He would say, “Ribbono Shel Olam, it’s all my fault.” Aharon is the Anan haKaovd, the cloud. On Yom Kippur Aharon says, “It’s all my fault.”

The Succah covers every Jew and every Jew says, “It’s all my fault.” On Simchat Torah, we dance with the Torah when it’s covered. The Torah covers for us. Until Simchat Torah, I open the covers Torah and I feel guilty. The Torah makes us feel guilty. On Simchat Torah, the Torah covers us. We don’t kiss the Torah, we only kiss the cover. We only kiss what covers for us.

Children dance the most on Simchat Torah. Parents are covering for their children. When babies are born, we cover them. When a baby is born, the mother doesn’t go to the Temple for one week or two weeks. Why? The mother is saying to her baby, “I shall cover for you. I am already not going to the Temple for a while. I am already covering what you will do wrong in your life.”

First of all, we ate from the Tree of Knowledge. That is not the tree of mistakes. According to the Tree of Knowledge, there is no such thing as covering for someone. If somebody did something wrong, let them fix it themselves.

Why is lashon hara such a sin? According to the Tree of Knowledge, lashon hara is not a sin. If you saw somebody do something, why not tell? You’re telling the truth. The moment Adam and Chava ate from the Tree of Knowledge, they didn’t cover for each other.

Why is the Temple the deepest fixing? Because Aharon HaCohen is coming again.

We have Gemara on almost everything. But, we have no masechta for loving each other, none for doing teshuva. Why not? Because this is the Torah of Moshiach, the Torah of the third Temple, the Torah of Aharon, of covering for each other.

How does Aharon cure the one who speaks lashon hara? Aharon comes and says, “Ribbono Shel Olam. It’s all my fault.” The person who speaks lashon hara can only be cured when it is clear to him that there is only one way to live in that world — to cover for each other.

The husband covers the bride’s face. The kallah gives him back a tallis. He covers her eyes, but she gives him back a tallis which covers all of him. A tallis covers until techivat hamaytim, until the dead will rise. When Yehuda left Tamar, he left with her a sign. The Zohar says that he left her with tallis and tefillin. Tefillin is the cover. Tallis is the ultimate covering. This was the beginning of bringing Moshiach. She was saying you have to cover for me. Everybody knows Boaz was the neshama of Yehuda and Ruth was the neshama of Tamar. When Ruth said, “And you will spread your wings over your servant”, she brought back the tallis which Yehuda gave to Tamar and she said, “Now, put it over me.” I wish every one of us a Good Year, a year in which we shall all cover for each other and we shall all be forgiven.

Brooklyn, Elul 5745

Transcribed by Rivka Haut for Connections

It would’t be so terrible if God answered the next day. I want you to know something so deep: sometimes you have an awakening in your heart, and you want so much to do something good, but at that time, on that day, it doesn’t work. Sadly enough, the next morning you wake up and you don’t want it anymore.

I have seen so many young people who mamash wanted to be on fire, or wanted to go to a Yeshiva or to maybe go to Yerushalayim, wanting to do something for the whole world, but on that day, it was impossible. The next day came and their luck turned.

So, “Master of the World, if You answer me, I am begging you, answer me the same day.” I can assure you too, I have seen thousands, thousands, who could have been the highest yidden in the world.

Okay, this is the story. I had the privilege of hearing this story from the holy Modzhitzer Rebbe, zt“l. Of all the Rebbes, he was a Rebbe for the longest time. Finally, he came to Tel Aviv and he passed away. A Rebbe doesn’t pass away; it means he’s not visible in this world any more. He became Rebbe when he was 17 years old, and I think he passed away when he was 92 or 93. He came to New York, nebach he was sick, and it was too much for him. He wanted to have a little farbrengen Friday night. I had the privilege of being there that Friday night. Right after the davening, this is how he told the story. He said, “I heard this from my father, who heard it from his father, who heard it from his heiligeh Tateh‘s heiligeh Tateh, Rebbe Yisroel. Rebbe Yisroel heard it from his Tateh, the heiligeh Rav Yankev, who heard it from his father, the heiligeh Rhizhyner.”

In the year 1490 there was a big gathering of all the congregations of all the yidden in Spain, near Barcelona. You know, the yidden were at the peak – since the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash, yidden hadn’t had it so good. They all had the biggest positions in the government, and they were all rich, so they where talking to each other, asking, “What can we do to make yiddishkeit stronger?”

So one of them said, “You know how rich we are? We are so rich! Let’s send a message to Istanbul that we want to buy the land of Israel back from the Turks. Of course, whatever price they want, we will pay, and we will build the Beis Hamikdash! We’ll go back!! We’ll return to the Holy Land!”

After he said that, there was so much simcha! Gevaldt, they were going to build the Beis Hamikdash again. Do you know what they did? First of all they appointed three outstanding people. In those days, to go from Spain to Istanbul and back would take a year. They decided that those three people would go talk to the Pasha in Turkey, and they gave them a year to come back. In the meantime, they decided, they would mamash opened new yeshivas for Kohanim to learn Kedoshim, for Levi’im to study music, and their simcha was up to the high heavens, ad hashamayim. Then they decided that the next year, on Rosh Chodesh Elul in the year 1491, they will all meet again.

The time came for the simcha, every body came, all the Kohanim knew the laws of Zevachim – sacrifices, the Leviim knew b’shira v’zimra. So they all get together, the door opens, and the three delegates come in. “We got a great price! We are buying the Holy Land!” Pssssshh! Not to be believed! The simcha was gevaldt. Suddenly a yid gets up and he says, “Who gave us the right to buy the holy land? The Ribono shel Olam drove us out from the holy land, so we don’t have the right to go back unless we have a sign from heaven! So the people said to him, “Are you crazy or what? Do you need a bigger sign? We have the money! The Pasha wants to sell it to us, and we want to go!”

So, sadly enough, do you know what poison is? There were already two parties, one said, “White,” and one said, “No! That’s red!”

They decided to wait another year, until Rosh Chodesh Elul, 1492, and everybody knows that on Tisha b‘Av that year they where driven out of Spain. Do you know what the problem is? Ki Va Moed. When the time comes, Don’t wait, Don’t wait…

Transcribed by Benyomin (Benjie) Steinberg, Tel Aviv

Photo

Reb Shlomo and the Rebbe of Modzitz, Rebbe Shmuel Eliyahu Taub (1905-1984)

Rebbe Shmuel Eliyahu

Rebbe Shmuel Eliyahu was born in Lublin, Poland on 9 February 1905. In 1935, Rebbe Shaul Yedidya Elazar and his son Rabbi Shmuel went on a pilgrimage to the then British Mandate of Palestine. While they were there R. Shmuel fell in love with the Land of Israel and asked his father if he could stay there. His father agreed and within a year Rabbi Shmuel’s wife and their child came over to Israel. After his father’s death in 1947 he succeeded his father as the Modzitzer Rebbe, to be known later as the Imrei Eish (“Words of Fire”). He continued the traditions of Modzitz both as a composer and Torah scholar. He died on 6 May 1984 (4 Iyar 5784), when he was succeeded by his only son, Rebbe Yisrael Dan Taub. His teachings have been recently published in a sefer under the title Imrei Eish.