Motzei Shabbos Korach Part 1
The Ribono Shel Olam does not need you to say ברוך השם. The Ribono Shel Olam needs you to be real.
Listen, friends. Can you come here, friends? You know what, beautiful friends? Could I have your sweetest attention, friends? Do you know what we're doing one second after Shabbos?
We're making havdala. Do you know what havdala is? This is one of the things the world needs most, most, most. The question is always, do you know the difference? Do you know the difference? Sometimes you can meet a person and tell them, "Gevalt, Shabbos is so holy. Rosh HaShana is so holy, right?" You can tell them the deepest Torahs in the world and the person, with glowing eyes, will say, "You know something, it reminds me of Christmas." It happened to me a thousand times. Nebach, what is the problem? They don't know the difference. I can tell someone, "Gevalt, the heliga Baal Shem Tov!" and they might say, "It reminds me of Bishop Sheen." What should I do then, right? I want you to know something. It's not enough to know what it is to be a Jew. Do you know the difference?
Imagine I tell you something. You know I am madly in love with this girl, let's say Shprintza, right? And I would say, "You know something, Shprintza looks exactly like Rivka." How does it sound to you? If I'm in love with Shprintza, what do you mean she reminds me of Rivka? What kind of talk is that? You don't know the difference.
I remember I was once on television in Washington and the person says to me, "You know, Jerusalem reminds me of the San Fernando Valley in California." A yid, you know. A goy, I would say it's beautiful. A yid! I said to him, "I hope your wife doesn't remind you also of someone else."
You know, a lot of times you meet people and they say, "Maybe for you Shabbos is only Shabbos, but for me, Shabbos is the whole week." So, what do you do with them? Sure, if you do nothing, it's Shabbos the whole week. It's still not Shabbos! You don't know the difference! Okay, fine, we had a good Shabbos. But now the deepest question in the world is, do you know the difference between Shabbos and Sunday? Do you know the difference between holy and unholy? Do you know the difference between light and darkness?
You know, my beautiful friends. Let me tell you, my beautiful friends, it is very beautiful to be an emesdika yid, but you need a lot of strength. You need a lot of strength. We were learning a little bit today about Korach. But just from my heart to your heart, friends, I'm not talking about an ordinary yid. I'm a yid. I have a yarmulke and tzitzit. This goes without saying. I'm talking a little bit deeper. Inside. Inside. And that's frightening. It is frightening. It's so easy to be nothing. It's easy to be a little herring among herrings. It's very easy to be a bagel among bagels. But it's a little bit frightening mamash to be real, mamash real.
It's easy to be a little herring among herrings.
It's very easy to be a bagel among bagels.
But it's a little bit frightening mamash to be real, mamash real.
You know what the world is all about? Don't be real! When you smile, don't mean it. When you cry, don't mean it. When you say hello, please don't mean it. When you invite me, I hope you don't mean it. You know what kind of world we're living in? When you go to a funeral it looks like a wedding and when you go to a wedding it looks like a funeral.
I want to tell you something. Just recently, nebach a tragedy, mamash. Nebach, a young man of 33 nebach died. In the middle of his sleep. The doctors didn't know what happened; it was not a heart attack. He just didn't wake up! Should never happen to you. I know the family, so they call me up. What am I going to say? How can you console the parents? But friends, I didn't have to console them. I'm coming in there, and I'm so broken. What am I going to say to his father and mother? The mother says, "Hiiiii." Hi?
When I was in Lakewood, during Purim, I was the Purim rav. I would say, "Give me a pasuk and I'll say some Torahs." I don't remember what I said, but I just remember the first Torah. Someone told me, "Say a devar Torah on the first pasuk, וַיְהִי בִּנְסֹעַ הָאָרֹן." And I was a little bit high, so I just remember the first Torah. I said, "וַיְהִי is two words. Vi Hi. Woe to those people who always say 'Hiii, Hiii.'" Vi Hi, right? The mother says, "Hiii." Your son has just died last night, what are you hi-ing about? And the father comes and says, "How was the trip?" Because the funeral home was in Long Island and I was coming from New York. "How was the trip?" I want you to know something. Do you think they are not broken? They're afraid to show it. Afraid to be real. Nebach, the mother is afraid to come out with it and say, "My dear friend, I don't know what to do with myself."
I want you to know something. Okay, fine, we had a gevalt Shabbos. What does G-d want of me the most? But you know, I can also be saying, "I believe in G-d." You know, there are some people who say ברוך השם every two seconds. And I'm a little bit suspicious. Because sometimes people say ברוך השם one time too many. I realize the whole thing is not real. It's not real. The Ribono Shel Olam does not need you to say ברוך השם. The Ribono Shel Olam needs you to be real. So you know, when we make havdala, we say, המבדיל בין קודש לחול. Ribono Shel Olam, I promise you I will not be afraid anymore. I will not be afraid. You know why? Mamash, Shabbos gives me so much strength.
The Ribono Shel Olam does not need you to say ברוך השם.
The Ribono Shel Olam needs you to be real.
Sometimes I'm on a non-Jewish television station. They ask me, "Hey, you Jews, what are you living from?" So, I say like this. Economically, you goyim live from American Express. We live on G-d Express, right? G-d's paying our bills. The second thing I say is, we have one vitamin which you don't have. Vitamin S. Vitamin Shabbos. Gevalt, this is a strong, strong vitamin. You know, we are ready to give it out, but the world isn't ready. So I say, כי אני ה' רופאיך. The Ribono Shel Olam, you give me so much strength.
You know, friends, sometimes I'm at the end. What do you do when you're at the end? I want you to know. Physically, when you're at the end, you're hungry, you didn't eat, you need a lot of food to regain your strength. When you're at the end sometimes, emotionally, divinely, spiritually, I don't want a lot. I want one drop, just one drop. Give me one word. So we say, Ribono Shel Olam, master of the world, thank you for showing me, for showing me where it's at.
Listen, my beautiful friends. I don't want to doubt your musical abilities, but you could do a bit better. I can also do better. You know, I'm singing like this and it's so easy. Really, open your hearts. You know the difference between a speech and singing? Very simple. When someone's speaking, one says yes and the other says no. It's off, right? The Gemara says, אין שני קולות נשמעים כאחד. You can't listen to two people talking at the same time. But when it comes to singing, I can sing high and you can sing low. You know, when Mashiach comes, you know how it will be? Suddenly, you'll see the whole world is full of harmony. All the things we thought were against us, right? Even yidden, when you think they're anti-semites. Not true. It's harmony.
Yes I know what Havdala is and I can read some Hebrew