What My Brother Gabi Taught Me About Mystical Torah (18 Minutes)

0:00Okay, so I'll show you the book. There's a book, there are a few books that talk about it. There's also the Midrash Me'am Loez. Midrash Me'am Loez was written by Rabbi Yaakov Culi. That's not an exaggeration of the Midrashim, right? No, Midrash Me'am Loez is one of the best Midrashim there is. He uses hundreds and hundreds of sources. It’s not like it's his own Midrash, not his own words. Midrash Me'am Loez, if you look at the back of the book, is a series of 45-50 volumes. Average book, you'll see no more than 500, no less than 500 different sources from Gemara, from Zohar, from all types of books, Shulchan Aruch, everywhere. So it's all sourced. It's not like he created it out of his own mind. Rabbi Kuli was a tzaddik gamur. Before he would write, he would do something called a...

1:06which means he would stop eating Motzei Shabbat, eating and drinking with fast, starting Motzei Shabbat until Friday. No eating, no drinking until Friday. How many years ago was this? 300 years ago. The whole week. The whole week. Every week? He did it a few times. I don't know how many times he did it. He did it. No drinking, no eating for a whole week. But not all no eating, no drinking. And he's not like us on Yom Kippur, where we're like half-dead. He learned Torah and wrote the whole time. Non-stop. Non-stop learning. Non-stop learning and teaching and doing everything. But also not eating. Like I said before, when you are... connected to Hashem, connected to the Torah, that's all you need. Everything else becomes meaningless. Let's say this Midrash says 100,000 people left Egypt, and that Midrash says 5,000 people left Egypt. Right. So, Rashi says this, Me'am Lo'ez says this. So who should I hold by when I tell people about Yetziat Mitzrayim? Well, generally, most of the Midrashim, they don't provide you with information that is, if there's a difference of opinion,

2:29It's not usually something that's monumental to such an extent that it changes or anything. It's just a detail. So, for example, whether there were 5 million people that left Egypt or 500 million people, it's irrelevant. You still have to be Jewish. You still have to keep Shabbat. You still have to keep Taharat Mishpachah. You still have to not waste seed. Nothing changes. Nothing changes. So generally, as far as Midrashim and details, it's up to you, really, whether you want to believe it or not. I mean, generally, it's part of the Oral Torah. It's very much real. But some people have an easy time with it, some people don't. Like, for example, if you look at the Midrashim about the 12 tribes, The 12 sons of Yaakov Avinu—if you watched the shiur we did about it—they're the definition of superheroes. Now someone, like, for example, my dad, he doesn't really like mystical stuff. He doesn't like mystical stuff. I didn't like mystical stuff in the past either. I didn't like when people told me this tzaddik made a miracle. That kind of stuff just didn't sound right to me.

3:39You know, there's a Gemara, a famous Gemara, with an argument between Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurkanos versus all of the Tzaddikim. His opinion next to everybody else. And there's a Mishnah, there's a Mishnah in Pirkei Avot, that says if you put the value of all of the Tzaddikim, all of them, in comparison to just Rabbi Eliezer ben Hurkanos, he outweighs all of them. He's more than all of them. He was one of the rabbis under Rabbi Akiva. And he was a major, major tzaddik. The point is that one day there was an argument. And he said one thing, they said something else. And he says, listen, but you know I'm right. They say, no, listen, the way that halakha is judged is based on the numbers. We have a situation where the majority of the rabbis, versus one, and we rule according to the majority. He says, "Yeah, but I'm right." We don't make halakhic decisions based on what an individual thinks is right or not. He then says, "Okay, but if I'm right, right now Hashem is going to send lightning and split this tree." And exactly that is what happened; lightning came down and split the tree.

5:04And they said, "We're sorry, we don't learn halakha from split trees." He then said, "Okay, if I'm right, the water of the river is going to start going backwards, against the current." And indeed, the water started reversing its flow. Yet again, they responded, "We're sorry, we don't learn halakha from water going backwards." He says a few other things, but then he gets to the last miracle. He says, if I'm right, there's going to be a bat kol. A heavenly voice is going to come down and say, I'm right. And a bat kol came down. Why are you messing with my son, Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus? Don't you know that halakha is always like him? And they said, "We're sorry, but according to our Torah, we don't learn halakhah from a bat kol. We don't learn halakhah from a bat kol. We learn halakhah based on the rules that Hashem gave us. Majority here wins." Later on, one of the tzaddikim saw Eliyahu Hanavi. Eliyahu Hanavi would appear and ask him about this big argument.

6:29That they had Rabban Gamliel versus Rabbi Eliezer ben Hyrcanus. You know, they put him in cherem after that. They said, listen, because you went against the rabbis, that's it, we can't take your judgment anymore. They put him away. And they said, they asked Eliyahu HaNavi, what was Hashem doing? When this craziness was happening, these miracles were happening. What happened at the end? When the bat kol came down, which in essence is like an echo of Hashem's voice. It's not His voice, but it's like an echo of it. What was He doing when we said, no, halacha doesn't go by Him? He said, Hashem was laughing. He said, I tried to trick my sons, but they beat me here. They followed the Torah. They did right. They were right. Allah does not come from a bad call. So, this is a cool story. Well, he continued. It ended the rest of his life. He was not part of the Beit Din anymore. But there was another story where his wife was Rabban Gamliel's sister. So his wife knew that he was a big tzaddik. So every time he would pray,

7:52She would interfere with him during his prayer because she knew that if he prayed and started crying, people were going to die, as Hashem would listen to his prayer. So, every day before he would bow, she would always interfere with him to stop him from bowing. Then one day, she got caught up with something, and when she returned, she saw that he had already bowed. And she starts crying and screaming, saying, "Oh no, my brother is dead. My brother, Rabban Gamliel, is dead." And then shortly after, someone knocks on the door. He's like, "I'm sorry, ma'am. It's a big tzarah in Am Yisrael. Rabban Gamliel is dead." So Rabbi Ezra Nochano says, "How did you know? How did you know? Were you a prophet?" She goes, "No." I knew that your prayer is very big in Shamayim. And I knew that as soon as you feel sorry a little bit about anything, Hashem will avenge your blood. Without it, you didn't pray for him to die. But he still felt sorry that he's alone and he's not part of the Beit Din. They kicked him out, and so on. So Hashem didn't like it. That took a life. That's how big he was.

9:19That's how big he was. You learn all this. So now, the story, this very same story—it's a very cool story. It's a very nice story. But I have to do teshuva because of this story. Why? Because the first time I heard this story, my brother, Gavi, told me this story. He was trying to tell me this story. And I was like really, really early in my teshuva. Very, very early in my teshuva. I was completely not into mystical stuff. I didn't like it. I wasn't connecting to it. I thought it was crazy. I thought it was made up. Never learned a page of Gemara bachlal. Didn't know anything. Not that I know that much now, but this I didn't know. So he starts telling me this story. He was doing teshuvah, Baruch Hashem. He was much stronger than me. And he starts telling me this story. I'm like, listen, I don't know this stuff. I'm just focusing on Pirkei Avot or whatever I was learning over there. I'm just focusing on something else. I don't want to hear it. I don't want to hear it. And I hurt him. I know I offended him because I didn't want to hear what he was saying.

10:29I offended him, and I'm sorry for it. Ever since that day, I haven't been able to stop thinking about how wrong I was. Whether you like it or not, it doesn't make a difference. It's Torah. Be quiet and listen. That's it. Understand? So, it's very, very important for us to know there's certain types of Torah that you're going to connect to. Certain types of Torah that you're not going to connect to. It doesn't mean that Torah you don't connect to is not true. It doesn't mean that Torah you don't connect to is not good. It means you're not ready. Understand? You're not ready. Understand? So, it's very, very important for us to know there are certain types of Torah that you're going to connect to. Certain types of Torah that you're not going to connect to. It doesn't mean that the Torah you don't connect to is not true. It doesn't mean that the Torah you don't connect to is not good. It means you're not ready. Understand? You're not ready. I... Make sauce once in a while, whenever I actually have time. Not anymore for a long time. I make sauce, spaghetti, you know, different sauces. Now, to make sauce, you can either just throw a bunch of tomatoes in there or tomato sauce in there, and that's it. Heat it up, and it's fine. Or you can make sauce properly. You have to add some sugar, some salt, and some tavlinim (spices) to make nice sauce. But if you add everything at the end, after it's already cooked, it's worthless. If you add everything in the beginning, it's also worthless. Everything has timing.

11:45Everything has to be at a certain time. Everything has to be at a certain quantity. It's the same thing with your Torah learning. If you just started keeping Shabbat, you're beginning with Chumash, and suddenly someone suggests you should learn Zohar, run. Run. You're not ready, my friend. It can ruin you. It can ruin you. You're going to learn something that's going to mess up your mind. You're not ready for it. What do you think—do they have a hospital in Har Nof for crazy people for no reason? Most of the attendees were people who learned Zohar before their time. It's not a joke. Okay, so you didn't listen to my advice, and that's what happens. Don't learn, don't listen. Basic stuff, yes, you make somebody mention Zohar as a source, but the really, really deep stuff... You know what's the best thing to cleanse the Zohar? The Torah. Basic, basic, basic level Jew. Basic level Jew. All this stuff like high-level stuff, going to some kfar, going to some woods and praying there, going to a cave, asking for names of angels that's mentioned in the Zohar. I don't know, doing all these different things that... Basic, basic, basic level Jew. Basic level Jew. All this stuff of high-level endeavors, like going to some kfar, going to some woods and praying there, going to a cave, or asking for names of angels as mentioned in the Zohar. I don't know, doing all these different things that...

13:09Learn some Gemara, learn some Chumash, learn some basics. Do that for the next 25-30 years. Then we'll talk about the other things. First, learn one Masechet. One Masechet. I'm not asking for a hundred—just one Masechet. Have an understanding of it—not even by heart, but an understanding of the entire Masechet. One book. You see, this Masechet has two books. This is a 70-something page, 75, 76 pages for the G'dai Masechet. So it's two books. Learn Masechet Avodah Zarah to a point where I can ask you any question about this Masechet, any question, and you know the answer. One. One. Then we'll start talking about something else. It's not easy, it's not easy. I'm telling you, it takes a long time. You have to become baki. Baki means an expert. In the entire Gemara, in the entire Chumash, in the entire Tanach, in the entire Shulchan Aruch, before you even think about Zohar and Kabbalah and all this other stuff. There are certain things you're just not ready for. This is the reason why also I've been thinking more and more about this shiur that people ask me about this Gehinnom.

14:2499.999% of people are not ready for it. And the people that think they're ready for it, they're not ready for it. Because every time I mention something that happens in Gehinnom, nobody's like... It's horrible. It's horrible. So what I decided that I think I'm going to do is, here and there, I'm going to throw a little fact. Here and there, I'm going to throw it. Last week, on Thursday, we talked about Lashon Hara, what happens to people who speak Lashon Hara, or people that steal from Hashem. They feed them sand, but their tongue, they hang it to the ceiling—all types of things, you know. So, that's one thing that people get scared of. Okay, so, the Lord Hashem, they do teshuva for that. I'm not going to go into the details, but for sexual crimes, they do the same thing, but just with the sexual organs. Anyone? It's not for everyone. It's not necessary. You learn the basics. You be a basic-level Jew. That's all you need. That's all you need. That's all you need. All you need is the basic, beautiful Torah. Learn Parashat HaShavua. Maybe learn your Parashah for your Bar Mitzvah by heart. Whenever your Parashah for Bar Mitzvah is, actually learn it by heart, but actually know what it says. Understand what it says. Learn Rashi, Tosafot, Rambam.

15:48Learn Mishnayot, learn some Mussar every day, learn how to have patience, learn how to have manners, learn how to be a human being. Learn that. Learn that. Without being a human being, your Torah is considered To'eva. Your Torah is considered disgusting. You can have all, you can know all the verses in the world by heart. You have Ga'ava, you have no manners, it's worthless. Worthless, very much worthless if one dismisses what it says in the Torah. So you have to understand that the key to the Torah is to make you into a human being. Once you become a good Jew, you become a human being, then you can build on it. But if you don't learn Torah or you just start making your own rules, then instead of worrying about doing tefillah on Rosh Hashanah because it's Judgment Day, what are you going to worry about? You're going to worry about buying a white suit. So you can wear it to the Beit Knesset like people do. They buy a white suit. A guy just did teshuva six months ago, he goes to buy a white suit.

16:58goes to buy white suits, you can go to Beit Knesset because in the old days they used to wear white. So you heard about this. And you know, he and his friends go buy white suits. They barely know any mitzvot, they barely know any halachot, they barely know anything from their life. They still act like animals, still have no manners, still nothing. But they want to go buy white suits. Why don't they just look at what Rav Ovadia Yosef, zatzal, Gadol HaDor, did? Did you ever see him wear a white suit? No, why not? Because he wrote in his book that in our generation, someone who wears a white suit, whether it's on Shabbat or on Chagim, is a chutzpah. It doesn't belong in this generation. It doesn't belong. It doesn't belong. It doesn't belong. No, he doesn't wear white suits. It's not a style. It doesn't belong in our generation. It's a long-standing custom in certain chassidic circles. White suit, I'm talking about. White suit. Yeah, white suit. So, again, it's a... We have to stop worrying about the external stuff. We have to stop worrying about the things that are far away from us, you know, things that we have no idea what they even are. Focus on the basics because the basics themselves are so significant that even if we learn them every single day, night and day, 24 hours a day. For the next 500 years, we still want to know all the basics. That's how big the basics are. That's how big the basics are.

18:2524 hours a day. For the next 500 years, we still want to know all the basics. That's how fundamental the basics are. That's how essential the basics remain.