The Monkey & I

1:31had lots of money, lots of power, lots of everything, and had a son that every five minutes would ask him something. "Abba, can I have a drink?" Okay. "Abba, can I have something to eat?" Okay. "Abba, can I get a blanket?" Okay. "Abba, can I this?" "Abba, can I that?" Every five minutes, the whole flight, he's asking for something. Rav Kamenetsky was actually sitting also with his son. Rav Kamenetsky was sitting with his son, close by. And every five minutes, his son says, Abba, do you need this? Abba, do you want a drink? Abba, do you want this? Abba, do you want a blanket? Abba, do you want to eat? Abba this, Abba that, Abba, do you need anything? Now, the professor was eating his heart out, the whole flight. How could it be that I, a professor at a university, Harvard, Binghamton, whatever university he's affiliated with, am running the place while my son is like a little monkey, constantly asking for things?

2:32turned me into his pet. And this rabbi, maybe he makes 500 bucks a week. His son is serving him with joy. How could it be? He's eating his heart out. At the end of the flight, he says, "Listen, Rabbi, I have to give it to you. You've trained your son well." He goes, "What do you mean? Look, the whole plane, all right, I'm watching it. My son is asking for stuff. Your son is giving you stuff. It just doesn't make any sense. How did you do it?" He says, "No, no, it's pashut, it's not that I trained him." It's that there's a difference. You told your son that we all came from monkeys, and your son believes you because you're his father. Every son believes his father. So your son says, "You know what, Abba, if we came from monkeys, that means that you are closer to the monkey than I am, which means that I'm more advanced than you. Therefore, you should serve me." We, on the other hand, believe in Hashem. We believe in God. And we believe that God created man. And then man was the top creation, mamash, made from the hands of Hashem. And we've been going down lower and lower each and every generation, unfortunately. But nonetheless, each generation that's past us, that's before us, is closer to the original. It's closer to Moshe Rabbeinu. It's closer to Rabbi Akiva. It's closer to Kodesh HaKodeshim. It's closer to Har Sinai.

4:03Therefore, it's greater, my son. He serves me because I'm closer. I'm closer to the best path. Your son thinks you're closer to being a monkey. So, the reason why we have a generation of people that are dying to be like monkeys is because, if you tell somebody that God exists, then that means I have to listen to what He says and... And if I have to listen to what he says, that means I need to know what he says. And if I need to know what he says, it means I have to spend time away from the things that are my desires, away from baseball and football, and all the different desires that people have, which means it's obligating me. It's obligating me to change. It's obligating me to improve. It's obligating me to not be like a monkey. And that's why people don't want to do it. So it has nothing to do with monkeys. Poor monkeys. All it has to do is with our yetzer hara, our desires and how we struggle to control ourselves, and how we refuse to improve. But that's also why the Torah began with the word "Bereshit." Bereshit bara Elokim et ha-shamayim ve-et ha-aretz. In the beginning, the beginning of creation, Hashem created the heavens and the earth. Why does it say beginning? The Ramban explains that "beginning" means with wisdom.

5:26With wisdom beginning means with wisdom. If you use a little wisdom, you understand that it's impossible for us to come from monkeys. The reason why is because, simply put, if there were just five steps between the monkey and us—let's say there were five steps from the monkey to us—for every single creation to be able to mutate, that means it has to be self-sufficient. be able to mutate. That means it has to be self-sufficient. That means it has to have sustainability power. It has to survive, which means that at every given time from point A to point B, C, D, and E, A and B exist at the same time. For B to become C, A still has to exist because it's self-sustaining. It's fine. It's strong enough. It can't just disappear because it has to have enough time to mutate, which means, for argument's sake, that if the five-step process actually was real, we'd still have all the steps, or at the very least, a few of the middle. All we have today is the monkey and the person who is trying to be a monkey. Stop being a monkey. Be a Jew.