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How to Make the World a Better-Smelling Place with Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Tetzaveh

25/2/2021

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In Rav Avigdor Miller's dvar Torah Parshas Tetzaveh 4 – A Sweet Savor, we learn the importance of making the world smell good.

Scent possesses special qualities to awaken & soothe. 

Scent can bring us back to the time & emotional place most strongly associated with a particular smell (for better or for worse).

If you're a spouse, making sure you smell good (especially wives) stands out as a high priority. 

In fact, scent is so influential that the same halachah that encourages wives to wear perfume (or whatever scent-producer the couple enjoys) for their husbands also forbids women to wear perfume when non-husbands can smell & feel influenced by it.

The Beit HaMikdash, with its precious Ketoret mixture, smelled Divine—literally.

We associate clean, fresh scents with cleanliness & good hygiene, while repugnant scents accompany filth & poor hygiene.

Well-made fresh food often smells good. Scorched or spoiled food often smells bad.

But there is a more spiritual dimension to smell.​

Making the World a Smellier Place

Rav Miller recalls the gladiatorial stadiums of ancient Rome, in which fights to the death took place between gladiators or animals or a mix of the two.

The smell of wild animals & slaughter is not a pleasant one. And though Rome enjoyed the best technological advances of its time, plumbing & general cleanliness weren't what they are now. Most of the people and the stadium itself didn't smell so great.

The sounds of pain (from either the people or the animals), the crunch of breaking bones or skulls, the gory sights...

Yet people attended these repugnant competitions in droves.

Likewise, Rav Miller notes the similarity of today's boxing matches.

A boxing arena reeks of beer, cigarettes, cheap cologne, and sweat. People cheer when one boxer lands a particularly crushing punch on his competitor. Some champion boxers gained a reputation for irrational behavior and poor middot resulting from damage to their brain from years of blows to the head.

Yet people attend these matches in droves.

Those are just 2 examples. Rav Miller notes the glorification of shootings, movie stars, pop stars, and athletes in his time.

It's worse now with people filming truly evil acts, like how they torment a helpless mentally challenged person or meaningless inanity, like how they eat from a bath of milk & fruity cereal.

And along with all the people who find these things repellant, these same cruel or inane videos go viral. Even the then-president of the United States decided to honor the milk-&-fruit-loops chick with an interview.

A Tzaddik's Spiritual Sense of Smell

This topic reminds me of a story I read from Rabbi Berel Wein who drove with a tzaddik who never raised his eyes to look at anything around him.

Yet when they drove through Times Square (during Times Square's most depraved phase), the tzaddik suddenly made a disgusted face and asked what the disgusting smell was.

There wasn't a physical smell that Rabbi Wein could perceive.

​But Rabbi Wein marveled at the tzaddik's heightened senses, that upon entering a place of depravity, the rabbi could smell its repugnance without seeing or knowing anything about the place.

Society Works Up a Stench about Orthodox Jews

In Hebrew, one term that means to slander or tattle on someone is l'hasriach—to make
a bad smell, to stink.

Rav Miller notes that the world generally tries to make Orthodox Jews "smell" bad.

Here are modern examples of this:

  • They portray Israel's "hilltop youth" as maladjusted junkies & provocateurs.
 
  • Jews living in the "politically incorrect" areas of Judea & Shomron are viewed as violent dangerous radicals.
 
  • The Religious Zionists are considered nationalist religious extremists.
 
  • The charedi/yeshivish/ultra-Orthodox are considered the absolute worst: primitive, fanatic, ignorant, repressed, blah, blah, blah...
 
  • The modern Orthodox are considered the best of the crowd, but still problematic with their adherence to out-of-date laws like the 10 Commandments, and so on. The mainstream hopes the modern Orthodox will finally come around one day and join their rapidly disappearing Reform co-religionists.

In fact, after hearing the stereotype of the literally smelly chassidic Jew, I was surprised to experience a lack of bad smells when going through the chassidic crowds on the street or the buses.

And even those times when a crowded bus doesn't smell like a field of freshly mown lawn, it's not a lack of hygiene or cleanliness or deodorant.

It's simply a hot day of clean people wearing a couple of layers of clothes crowded onto a not-well-air-conditioned bus.

Very sorry to disappoint all the haters. (Actually, I'm not sorry at all. That sentence was sarcasm.)​

Replace the Stench with Your Own Unique Brand of Perfume!

To combat the stinkers (including the self-denigrators within our own communities), we need to spread positive aromas.

​Here's Rav Miller on page 8:
The sweetest smelling people are the luftishe Yeshiva men.

They’re young. They have no money. They have no power.

But they are devoted to learning the Toras Hashem. People who sit all day long in the Beis Hashem, those are the ones who smell the best.

The wives too!

​Here you have a young idealistic girl and she marries a kollel man and he tells her beforehand, “I have nothing so we’ll have to live in a basement in Boro Park – at the edge of Boro Park in a Spanish neighborhood. And it won’t be so clean either; it’s infested in those buildings. But the rent there is the cheapest I could get and I want to sit and learn.”

And she says, “I’m all in – that’s what I want!” 

And so they move into this little den; that’s all it is, a den! It’s not easy for them. 

***
Now today, some people would disparage that.

If the father-in-law can buy you a nice car and pay for a nice apartment, OK, why not be a kollel man on your father-in-law’s shoulders?

But to live with such simplicity?! Many people aren’t impressed by that.

​But that’s a mistake. It should be our pride that our young couples forgo the pleasures of this world to live idealistic Torah lives!

Rav Miller offers more practical advice.

​For weddings (page 10):
Let’s say you're going someplace, you’re going to a chasuna or some family gathering, so make a plan beforehand.

“I’m going to use the opportunity to propagandize for the honor of avodas Hashem. I’ll speak about the beautiful yeshiva I passed by yesterday or about a new sefer I saw that’s full of wonderful Torah ideas.”

Every time a different thing.

At home (page 10)
When you're home alone with your wife, say something that will praise the mitzvos.

Tell her you’ve been thinking about how great a certain mitzvah is.

“This mitzvah is really something!” you say.

Praise davening! Did you ever think about that?

You’re going to the synagogue every day to talk to the Creator of the world!

Isn’t that something!

​“Ahh,” you can tell her when you come back from maariv, “the pleasure of talking with Hashem – there’s nothing like it!

More at home (page 11):
A father in his home should be thinking at all times what he can say to his family.

Whenever you have an opportunity, say a good word about the chesed Hashem in this world, about Torah and mitzvos.

Always try to say something that will make your family admire lomdei Torah; choose words that will make them admire mitzvos.

You don't have to be a big lamdan to talk about the mitzvos and make them impressed with the importance of serving Hashem – all you need is to understand your role of being a propagandist for Hashem and then your conversation in the home becomes a part of your program.

Don’t think they’re not listening – it goes in, it absolutely goes in. It will enter their minds forever and ever.

***
“We’re the only nation in the history of the world that Hashem spoke to!”

Tell your family that again and again.

From time to time speak about the glory of avodas Hashem; the glory of tznius and of loving our fellow frum Jews.

Speak about the glory of shemiras halashon and about the importance of being a lamdan and obeying the word of Hashem in every area of our existence.

That’s the table-talk of a loyal Jewish home.

​That’s a home where they’re still burning the ketores every day in front of the kodesh kodoshim.

At the office (page 11-12):
Even when you're talking business in the office, sometimes put in a good word.

Agav urcha [casually, "by the way"] you should mention, “I was in the yeshiva yesterday to pick up my son and it was so nice to see those fine boys. It's a pleasure to see how they behave.”

Or when you see frum girls on the street, praise them to whomever you’re with. Don’t be bashful about it. 

When the Beis Yaakov girls pass by, or the Beis Rochel girls or Beis Rivka girls; make it your business to be maktir ketores: “Ah! Boruch Hashem! Frum, tzniusdige girls!”

We’re proud of those girls; they are our glory and we shouldn’t disdain the opportunity to praise them up to the sky.

On the street (page 12):
Look for excuses to talk.

You’re walking down the avenue with your wife, or your children; even your friends.

Say, “How beautiful it is to see a big truck – it’s half a block long – going down the street and on the side of the truck in big letters Chalav Yisroel!”

Tell the people around you that it’s beautiful.

I remember not long ago you couldn't get chalav Yisroel in America. When I came back from Europe, a farmer came once a month, a Jewish farmer, and brought us milk from his cow. It was never fresh, and it was always whole milk.

And now, Mehadrin – Chalav Yisroel in big letters on the truck. Tell your children that you’re excited about it.

Ooh, and right behind it, here comes Kemach, a big truck, the Kemach truck; all yashan, all kosher provisions.

​The fact that the Jews came to Williamsburg now and began to manufacture kosher food products and advertise them everywhere in the world, that's a tremendous kiddush Hashem.

Don't think it's a small thing. They did it for their business but it’s our business to propagandize and make it great.

This type of "perfuming" reaches the highest levels of Heaven—just like the Ketoret.

Meaning, if you go around pointing out the virtues of fellow religious Jews & authentic Torah Judaism, then you receive phenomenal reward from the highest places.
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Credit for all material & quotes, plus any good aromas you experience while reading Rav Miller's dvar Torah, go to Toras Avigdor.


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The Purpose of Life: Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Terumah

17/2/2021

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In Rav Avigdor Miller's dvar Torah for Parshas Terumah 4 - The Jew, a Sanctuary, we discover that offering a korban (sacrifice) to Hashem is a person's innate inclination.

Modern philosopher's belittled this idea so cuttingly, we no longer relate to it.

(Although reading what Rav Miller says about it helps a whole heck of a lot. Please see here: torasavigdor.org/parshas-vayikra-animal-sacrifice-a-pillar-of-the-world/)

And until the first Pesach in Egypt, no one ever thought to eat it.

Only the holy fire consumed the holy korbon.

Yet a shocking aspect of the korban Pesach was that Hashem commanded Am Yisrael to eat from it!

How can that be?

​Rav Miller explains on page 6:
When a Yisroel consumes a korban it's like the fire of the mizbeach is burning it!

And that's the answer to how it could be such a thing now that never happened before, that a human being eats from a korban.

Because a Yisroel is not a human being! He’s much more than a human being! 

That's a very important lesson. At that time Hashem declared that the Jewish body is kodesh kodoshim.

When they ate from the korban Pesach, that was the mizbeach, it was a fire of the Jewish spirit consuming the korban Pesach in their body.

Embracing the Real You

The deeper meaning behind many of the Torah's Laws on eating (no eating chocolate-covered ants, no bacon double cheeseburgers, no steaks without proper shechitah, no green eggs & ham, etc.) rests on this idea of a Yisrael's holiness.

Rav Miller constantly emphasizes the idea of Jewish holiness in order to transform the way we see ourselves.

A Jew who regards him or herself as holy with a holy mission behaves with more integrity, refinement, compassion—and treats fellow Jews the same way.

Why?

Rav Miller explains on page 12 that "holy" means you are constantly seeking to perfect yourself; you're spiritually ambitious.

Likewise, every human being needs to internalize the fact of being made in the Image of God. 

Additionally, Hashem breathed something of Himself into every single human being, no matter how lowly, defective, or deformed that human being may seem.

Every human being holds an aspect of Divinity within.

Internalizing this concept motivates people to behave better and to treat others better.

If You Really Want What's Best for the Everyone...

It's difficult to summarize the essential Torah concepts every Jew must internalize.

Rav Miller elaborates upon them until page 12, including some insightful comments on the founders of other religions.

Jews today, including many frum Jews, wish to get all buddy-buddy with Western culture.

Ideas like "finding similarities" & bonding "focusing on what we have in common" rise up as the call of the day.

However, we must remain separate in a positive way.

A lot of our issues derive from either melting down our identity to fit the current mold or standing out in a material way rather than a spiritual way. (I'm not saying this; this idea comes from the words of Rav Miller, Rav Itamar Schwartz, the Kli Yakar, etc.)

Despite all our warm fuzzy feelings & intentions, we are not actually helping ourselves or the surrounding nations by melting ourselves down to fit the latest mold.

Geula (Redemption) comes when the Jews finish our tikkun.

To do that, we must determinedly dance down our unique path (both as a Nation and as unique souls).

Bringing the Geula helps everyone, both Jews and non-Jews: world peace, happiness, wealth, health, and much more.

If we really care about everyone, we'll do our best to hasten the Geula with mercy.

The Purpose of Life

Rav Miller emphasizes that with the definition of "holy" in mind, we now need to see the world & our lives as it all really is: a test.

​The word nisayon, often translated as "test" or "trial," comes from the root nes—to uplift.

Page 13:
​By putting Mankind to test, Hashem brings forth the greatness that is buried inside of our neshamos; the tests bring forth from us the potential kedusha in a measure far beyond what we possessed before.
...
And so, we’re learning now that everything that happens is for the purpose of eliciting the perfection that's hidden within you.

Of course, it takes some thought, some preparation, to see how you can achieve perfection from this event or from that object or this happening but there are always opportunities in our lives to choose greatness.


I will just interject here that many people who truly struggle to elevate themselves nowadays (and not people who merely say they try, but people who actually adjust their behavior in order to rise to grueling occasions)—many people feel like they're failing.

Regardless of how they twist themselves into a pretzel, they rarely feel any sense of accomplishment.

Maybe I'm wrong, but my personal feeling is that figuring out the "right" response or the "right" behavior or the "right" way to emulate good middot has become increasingly elusive.

When should you remain silent & when should you speak up?

When should you be gentle & when should you be firm?

What should you say & how should you say it?

Should you do this or do that?

What are the correct priorities? And I mean the REAL ones, not just what people say?

And you can't always tell the right way by the situation.

For example, people & situations can respond positively to bad middot & unethical acts, while responding negatively to good middot and morality.

I don't have an answer.

But I just wanted to acknowledge and validate the feelings of people who realize that life is indeed a series of tests—a series of tests they keep failing.

​(Or THINK they keep failing. Maybe they are actually succeeding brilliantly, but part of the test is to feel like a failure?)

On page 14, Rav Miller discusses the differences between the masculine path to perfection and the feminine path to perfection.

Yes, there is a general path. But there are also paths according to gender.

​Page 15 discusses how to grow through happiness & how to grow through mitzvot.

​Let's leave ourselves with Rav Miller's words on page 16:
Everybody should know that he has an endless store of perfection within himself and people who live their lives without this attitude of yearning for perfection are making one of the most tragic errors in their lives; it’s a big misuse of continued existence.

If you don't attempt to become better and instead you’re satisfied to continue as you always were, it’s a tragedy.

​What’s the purpose of continuing to live if not for the purpose of becoming better and better?

Don't forget to check out the practical tip on page 16!

Also, Rav Miller offers a brilliant insight into Amalek's hatred for Am Yisrael starting on the last page.
​
Credit for all quotes & material goes to Toras Avigdor.
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THE ROAD TO SUCCESS—NOT WHAT WE THOUGHT, EH?
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Be True to Your Soul: Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Mishpatim

10/2/2021

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In Rav Avigdor Miller's dvar Torah Parshas Mishpatim 4 – Badges of Honor, he points to an intriguing use of language regarding the Jewish slave: eved Ivri—Hebrew slave.

Rav Miller notes that throughout Tanach, Am Yisrael is called "Yisrael."

The surrounding nations tend to use the term Ivri/Hebrew...but Hashem & Am Yisrael tend to use terms like "Yisrael/Israelite," "Am Yisrael/Nation of Israel," "Bnei Yisrael/Children of Israel," and so on.

Rav Miller explains that when speaking to others in Tanach, Am Yisrael used the word Ivri because that's what the other understood. 

(Sort of like how we say the English "God" instead of our more meaningful Hebrew or Yiddish terms because if you start going on about "the Aibeshter" or "Hashem," how many people will understand you?)

So Moshe Rabbeinu & Yonah HaNavi used the term "Ivri" when speaking to Pharaoh or the non-Jewish sailors.

​But it's not a term we normally use.

Based on this idea, it's interesting that even today, Bnei Yisrael of ancient times tend to be called "ancient Hebrews." 

That term makes us sound like a race, rather than a nation on a special mission.

​Sure, that may have made sense until a certain point. But for the vast majority of Tanach, we are called "Yisrael."

​Yet Rav Miller explains "Ivri" as a dismissive term. It literally means "passer-over"—someone who passed, like passed over the Euphrates.

(That's what it means for those who don't know. Spiritually speaking, Avraham Avinu passed from the profane to the holy. But that's not how the other nations mean it.)

It implies that the descendants of Yaakov Avinu are merely another branch of the Semitic tribe (from Shem)—they came from "over there"—in other words, nothing special.

Rav Miller also notes that the language Ivrit/Hebrew was generally called Lashon Hakodesh (The Holy Language) among Jews, and not Ivrit/Hebrew. 

Here's another interesting point on page 6 that I never considered (but always found the name awkward & odd—now I know why!):
So you know now that the Union of American Hebrew Congregations is not a Torah organization. And if you read in the New York Times – you shouldn’t, but if you did – that a group of reptiles, of loathsome animals who marry a certain way, organized a congregation, a synagogue, and they received recognition from the Union of Hebrew Congregations, so we say,

​“Of course Hebrews would do such a thing; but Yisroelim or Yehudim could not.”

Be Yourself—Your REAL Self!

But in reality, the truth is on page 4:
Yisroel is a chauvinistic name, a badge of honor that we wear with pride, and therefore it’s understandable that the nations of the world are not interested in hearing such things.

Interestingly, the American Jewish community increasingly attempts to show the world "we're just like you!"

This attitude ("We're nice & harmless! We're not so different than you!") has spread to parts of the frum community, especially among those frummies prominent among the general American population.

​​Clothing styles, speech patterns, slang, and even in foul language in some cases increasingly imprints itself on many frum people.

(For instance, it's weird to hear a born-and-raised Monsey FFB speak like a Valley Girl or a guitarist from California.)

Needless to say, we should be nice. We should behave with supreme derech eretz.

And even when the plain halacha doesn't obligate us a certain way, we should still take the high road.

For example, Rav Miller notes that the laws against lashon hara only apply to fellow Jews.

However, slandering & rumor-mongering stand out as mean behavior that makes you a mean & nasty person in the end.

Thus, even though you're not breaking the Torah law against lashon hara by speaking negatively about, say, your non-Jewish colleague...you ARE engaging in ugly behavior that ruins your character.

(https://torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-gentile-lashon-horah/)

​So you should not do it.

Our job is to rectify the world.

When you make a bracha over a glass of water, you are rectifying something in the world.

When you light Shabbat candles, you are rectifying something in the world.

When you put on tefillin, you are rectifying something in the world.

While doing all those rectifications, we should also lead the way in proper behavior.

We should look & act like bnei haMelech!

We should be very good!

But we aren't like everyone else, nor should we try to be.

With all today's emphasis on "being yourself!" and "be true to yourself!" (and hearing this said constantly in the frum community too), it's odd that being true to your Jewish neshamah is less emphasized.

​After all, your neshamah is the REAL YOU! 

The Most Important Function of a Jew

On pages 6-10, Rav Miller explains how to be a proud Jew.

And it has nothing to do with being a jerk.

On page 10, Rav Miller briefly addresses the idea behind the more modest bat mitzvah celebrations for girls.

​So the big tragedy for the eved Ivri is that he chooses to loose his special status as a Yisrael.

​Let's end with a thought from Rav Miller (page 6):
And even after the destruction of the first Beis Hamikdosh when we lost the ten tribes of Yisroel and only Yehuda remained, so we took the name Yehudim – that’s also a name of glory because Yehuda means, “the one who praises Hashem.” 

That’s the most important function of a Jew, a Judah, in the world; to speak about Hakodosh Boruch Hu.

We are the nation that speaks always about Hakodosh Boruch Hu.


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Credit for all quotes & material goes to Toras Avigdor.

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What We Can Learn about Healing the World from the Song of Devorah (according to the Me'am Lo'ez)

4/2/2021

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According to the Me'am Lo'ez, Shoftim/Judges 5:2 in the Song of Devorah (the Haftarah for Parshat Beshalach) provides intriguing insights into the role of Am Yisrael in the world.

First of all, the Me'am Lo'ez states that "Yisrael is the heart of Mankind."

It goes on to explain that a strong & healthy heart helps the body stay in good health.

But an ill heart weakens the entire body.

A heartbeat determines whether a person is alive or dead.

Although organ failure can also cause death, death isn't defined by a liver's or lung's lack of function.

Only the heart.

Likewise, when the Jews keep the Torah, this Torah-observance positively influences the entire world.

Even the "heathen nations" that deny Hashem experience a subtle influence from the good deeds of the Jewish people (whether these "heathen nations" realize it or not).

As Hashem promised Avraham Avinu, "Through you will be blessed all the families of the Earth" (Beresheit/Genesis 12:3).

Conversely, when the Jewish people abandon the Torah, the other nations worsen too.

We see this today, with the worsening assimilation of the Jewish people to the point that millions of Jews are honestly ignorant of even the basics of Judaism (and many externally committed Jews experience a tepid observance), the countries of North America & Europe & Oceania suffer increased secularism (Europe is pretty much atheistic), depravity, economic downfall, natural disasters, crime, and so on.

What Happens When the Light unto the Nations Goes Out?

The Me'am Lo'ez invokes the famous verse "I have made you a light for the nations" (Yeshayahu/Isaiah 49:6), explaining (page 83):
When a group of people go out at night, one carries a lantern ahead of them to guide them.

If he drops the lantern and lets it go out, who stumbles?

He alone?

No! They all do!


When Success Breeds Destruction

At this point, you might be wondering about all the times other nations received the upper hand.

After all, didn't they enjoy that?

​For example, many Germans who remember the days of Nazi power still miss those days and even recall them as the best of times.

(They hide it, but occasionally reveal their true sentiments when they feel it's safe to do so.)

However, the Me'am Lo'ez notes that their very power transforms into the source of their destruction.

The glory days of Egypt, Canaan, Babylon, ancient Greece, and Rome led to their utter destruction & dispersion.

Germany, via its reparations to the Jews, managed to gather itself from the dust, but the initial defeat of Nazi Germany included the brutal & merciless destruction of the Third Reich, particularly by the savage Russian soldiers, who showed no mercy on even elderly women.

Today, we see nations from all sides rising up against the Jewish people. 

Among civilized countries, they hide their Jew-hatred behind fake self-righteous concern for Arabs in Eretz Yisrael (while doing absolutely nothing effective to help those same Arabs).

Or they hide behind a holier-than-thou focus on how much religious Jews follow whichever government protocols are in current fashion, while conveniently ignoring other religious & ethnic groups who do the same—including those groups who commit much worse acts.

You see this most strongly from the Liberal/Left, but many on the Conservative/Right also proclaim such sentiments (often combining them with badly misunderstood conspiracy theories & the inability to differentiate between fully assimilated Erev Rav & sincerely committed Jews).

Warming Relations in the Middle East

Interestingly, as the Jews of Eretz Yisrael make a gradual shift into open-mindedness toward religious Jews & increased Torah-observance, we see the nations of the Middle East warming up in peace toward the Jews of Eretz Yisrael.

It used to be the opposite.

They (the more diplomatic ones, anyway) used to proclaim they held nothing against Jews in general, but only against "the Zionists." (And Jew-haters on both the Left & Right in America still make this dubious distinction.)

The better-informed of us see through this doublespeak, recognizing the lying forked tongue for what it is.

But as Jews in Eretz Yisrael warm up to their own Judaism, we see a parallel warming of relations in the region.

I think part of it also derives from Hashem's promise to gather in the Exiles.

That's just my private opinion, so feel free to reject it.

​But here's why I think it:

Before the official borders of today, Jewish populations flourished throughout Arabia

In fact, today's Mecca was originally known as Yathrib and thrived under Jewish authority until around 400 CE.

Mohammadan conquests of Jewish groups included the annihilation of Jewish males and the seizure of Jewish females for the new Muslims—and this happened throughout what is today known as Saudi Arabia.

In addition, the widespread long-term abductions of Yemenite Jewish girls for forced marriage to a Muslim occurred frequently. Furthermore, a temporary law (the Orphan Decree) in Yemen forcibly removed Jewish children orphaned of either parent from their remaining family for these orphaned (or partially orphaned) Jewish children to be raised as Muslims.

So you have a lot of completely unaware descendants from Jewish mothers wondering around Saudi Arabia, Oman, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, and so on.

Years ago, Hamodia published the true story of a Jewish girl adopted by frum parents in New York (if I'm remembering correctly), who was born to a halachically Jewish women in Saudi Arabia, whose grandmother had been one of those kidnapped Jewish Yemenite girls.

​The Saudi-Jewish mother, raised as & married to a Muslim, knew of her maternal Jewish line.

They lived in a primitive area.

During her third pregnancy after 2 girls, she sensed this third baby was also a girl, which she knew would enrage her primitive husband. Furthermore, she suspected the Arab midwife would kill the newborn girl to placate the primitive father, passing off the murder as a stillborn. (This is weird because Muslim law strictly forbids female infanticide.)

Anyway, the Saudi-Jewish mother arranged for a sympathetic middle-class Saudi-Muslim woman to be present for this village birth, pay off the nefarious midwife, and transfer the baby for adoption by a Jewish family in America. The rest of the story of the Saudi-Jewish woman was not known.

But just think of how many Jews live in that area of the world without anyone (even themselves) realizing it.

At the same time, I'm reluctant about getting too sentimental regarding the seemingly peaceful developments because of the hidden motivations for what's being called the Abrahamic accords, but simply acknowledge that it's happening in parallel to a shift among Jews in Eretz Yisrael AND that I think it also emanates from unknown Jews in those countries needing to be ingathered. 

​I do think peace is sincerely desired by some, but I wonder about the true motivations of others.

That's all.

Note: When examining statistics of Jews in Eretz Yisrael, one needs to differentiate between the Russian & Ethiopian non-Jews who self-identify as "Israeli," which gives the impression they are Jewish. Yes, there are also many Russian Jews & Ethiopian Jews, but the secularists of the Israeli government—particularly under Shimon Peres as Foreign Minister—brought in & continue to bring in thousands & thousands of non-Jews from both Russia & Ethiopia in order to destroy Torah in Eretz Yisrael.

​The non-religious Jewish media always portrays this in a positive light as if they are helping Russian & Ethiopian Jews (which they are not). For example, these misguided Jewish journalists interview, say, a non-Jewish Ukrainian woman who, in a petulant & entitled manner, insists that Israel is obligated to collect her and her non-Jewish children from the Ukraine simply because her husband is a Jew.

In contrast, a lot of regular Jews in Eretz Yisrael are warming up & exploring Judaism.

If I Am Not For Myself, Who Will Be For Me?

Once again, listening to our real chachamim (the Me'am Lo'ez) lights the way for us.

While so many well-meaning but misguided Jews fall into Liberal silly-putty values & the deceptive bigotry of soft expectations, the real way for Jews to help unfortunate non-Jews in their society is for Jews to devote themselves more warmly to real core Torah values.

Likewise, non-Jews who truly wish to help their society should not support Liberal Jews (no matter how sincere or well-intentioned) or conversely, try to convert Jews or lessen Jewish observance in any way.

Rather, encouraging Jews in genuine Torah observance is the right way.

And some non-Jews do this, by innocently asking secular Jews, "Why are you eating a cheeseburger? Don't you know you're not supposed to eat dairy & meat together?"

Throughout my youth, non-Jews periodically asked me with sincerely friendly curiosity, "What's 'chosen' exactly? What does it mean that you Jews are the Chosen People?"

I didn't know the answer & I credit them with playing a part in the impetus for me to find out!

But mostly, we Jews need to get our act together and look inward for fulfillment & answers as much as we can.

Looking inward includes looking at our fellow Jews & joining with like-minded Jews.

Meaning, growth-oriented Jews regardless of where they stand in actual mitzvah-observance.

As Rav Miller himself pointed out several times, some outwardly not-so-frum Jews are actually on their way up while some outwardly frum Jews are on their way down.

Certainly, the outside can reflect the inner-growth process.

But not always.

However, as Rav Miller also repeatedly emphasized, the obviously frum Jews are the main place to start as far as loving & embracing one's fellow.

You don't reject or scorn secular Jews.

But you start inside with yourself, and go on from there.

​You need to strengthen the base first—or the whole thing will fall over (sort of like we're seeing now).

We can encourage each other, shine & absorb each soul's unique light from each other, help each other, comfort each other, teach each other, and cheer on each other.

​And that's the best way to truly heal the whole world.
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The #1 Lesson We Learn from Yitro: Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Yitro

3/2/2021

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In Rav Avigdor Miller's dvar Torah, Parshas Yisro 4 – An Ear that Listens, he focuses on the incredible phenomenon of Yitro, a highly regarded non-Jewish idealist from the elite of the ancient world (and best of all, the father of Moshe Rabbeinu's wife), who joined Am Yisrael and even merited to offer Torah ideas of such importance, they merited a place in the Torah & the Gemara.

Not only that, Yitro merited the promise that his descendants would always be among the Torah leaders of Am Yisrael.

Until a certain point in Jewish history, Yitro's line was traceable. But Rav Miller assures as the even today, some of our Torah greats still descend from Yitro, even if we don't know which ones.

Yitro's Extreme Turnaround

Shockingly, Yitro's beginnings were repellant.

Rashi tells us that Yitro gained fame as one of the most dedicated priests of idol worship.

For example, when an idolater came to sacrifice a mediocre animal to an idol, Yitro's dedication led Yitro to delay the sacrifice until Yitro managed to groom & fatten up the animal (at Yitro's own expense) into a sleek, plump delicacy fit for the glory Yitro desired for the occult worship.

As Rav Miller states, Yitro soared from minus-zero to the heights of spiritual greatness.

​So we see here we have something massive to learn from Yitro.

How did he pull off this impossible feat?

Yitro's Lesson #1: Listen 

First of all, Yitro allowed himself to be affected by the news.

Prior to the Internet (via which issues & events can be drawn out & analyzed ad nauseum), the media hyped a certain event for a day (or more, if it served their needs) & that was it.

(They still do this, but certain types of people no longer allow certain events to go lost so easily.)

Rav Miller offers examples, like a 276-passenger jet that crashed in the ocean or the mass murder-suicide of the cult in Guyana.

It's true that the cult murder-suicide still enters into discussion on some websites today—not as an official part of the media, but by people who chose to study the event in order to glean lessons from it (sort of like Yitro, but with a lot less clarity & self-honesty).

Most of the time when an amazing thing happens, it gets blared about throughout the media, then it dies down, swept into the annals of history.

​Even when regurgitated for analysis, the analysts usually leave Hashem out of the picture (which thus ensures they never glean the real lesson of the event) and focus on the wrong aspects due to confirmation bias.

For example, if a murderer enjoys the diagnosis of mental illness, everyone pretends that mental illness makes a person 100% incapable of moral choice (despite the fact that on forums & comment threads, you can find people who suffer from hearing voices that tell them to hurt themselves or others, but the hallucinator refuses to listen, claiming that obeying the voices violates their personal value system.)

As many frum Jews noted after the Chanukah machete attack in Monsey, the proclaimed mentally ill attacker was apparently in control of himself enough to obtain a lethal weapon, to target Jews, and to know where to find Jews...yet he wasn't able to understanding that hacking into a sweet old man was evil?

Anyway...

That's the first lesson of Yitro: The Exodus of Am Yisrael wasn't outta-sight-outta-mind.

No. It stuck in his mind.​

As the Torah says: Yitro HEARD...and he came.

He heard about it, thought about it, then acted on it.

Yitro's Lesson #2: Ponder What It Means for You

Listening properly is a major fundamental in Judaism.

We're even supposed to listen to criticism.

Yes, even painful criticism.

And because this concept understandably imposes so much distress on people, I'm going to digress for a moment to offer my own unauthorized opinion based on some learning & experience:

You don't necessarily need to listen to the criticism the exact way the critic means it.

Sometimes you should. For example, maybe you really are causing harm & you need to stop.

On the other hand, destructive critics mean to destroy you (whether intentionally or not) to enable themselves the dubious pleasure of fake superiority.

But we are supposed to take a step back and, in a more composed moment, ponder what message Hashem meant in the agonizing interaction.

(And it's meant to be a loving message, even if it doesn't feel like it.)

Having said that, if a person loves to criticize & denigrate others, then that person loves to engage in the Torah prohibition of onaat devarim—verbal torment.

Such a person also transgresses the mitzvah to judge others favorable & loving one's fellow (one of the 10 Commandments), and so on.

Contrary to what you hear in many Torah classes on ahavat Yisrael, the classic mussar books (Orchot Tzaddikim—The Gate of Love, Pele Yoetz, etc.) actually exhort you to AVOID associating with people on a lower level.

Otherwise, you get influenced by them.

Even kiruv calls for caution, states Rav Itamar Schwartz. Not everyone can associate with off-the-derech or assimilated Jews without being affected negatively. Some can. But not everyone.

So should you hang out with people who relish committing these person-to-person Torah transgressions?

To answer that, ask yourself whether you should you hang out with atheists?

​Or people who wolf down pepperoni pizza while watching Friday night TV? 

Should you hang out with gossips, slanderers, and tale-bearers?

Drug dealers? Gamblers? 

No. 

If someone regularly violates the Torah (whether knowingly or not), you aren't supposed to be all buddy-buddy with them.

You generally don't need to hate them, but you certainly shouldn't spend time with them any more than absolutely necessary. (Sometimes, the situation necessitates interacting with emotionally unhealthy people because you share children together, or certain relatives, or a co-worker or boss).

Chronic critics violate the Torah.

Instead, you should associate with people on a higher level, people who teach you by example good behavior and influence you positively.

Yes, you should treat every human being considerately. You should do chessed when necessary and you're able.

But you don't need to maintain "friendships" with those who relish gutting you (figuratively speaking) or engage in what my grandpa used to call "chiseling" (a great description for passive-aggressive sniping)—even when they claim to be "helping" you.

But to privately dig out the message within?

​Yes, definitely.

After all, everything comes from Hashem & happens for a reason.

Delectable Mussar

On pages 9-14, Rav Miller discusses mussar in a compelling & highly readable manner.

On page 10, he emphasizes:
Not only boys, not only men.

Like the Gra used to say to his daughters; he told them that they should always learn mussar seforim – the greatness of mussar is available to everyone.

If a girl learns all these things then she’s a gaon; she’s considered the same as if she became a gadol hador; she has learnt her Torah, she has achieved success no less than the greatest talmid chacham.

As usual, Rav Miller's top recommendation is Mesillat Yesharim/Pathway of the Just by Rav Moshe Chaim Luzatto.

But he also recommends:
  • Hilchot Yesodei HaTorah in the Rambam's Mishneh Torah (HERE)
  • Hilchot Teshuvah in the Rambam's Mishneh Torah (HERE)
  • Hilchot Dei'ot in the Rambam's Mishneh Torah (HERE)
  • Chovot HaLevavot (Duties of the Heart) by Rav Bachya ibn Paquda (HERE)
  • Shaarei Teshuvah (Gates of Repentance) by Rabbeinu Yonah

All the above come in English translations too.

It's also worth noting the story on pages 12-13 of Rav Yisroel Salanter as a boy: None of the great talmidei chachamim of the town recognized the greatness of Rav Yosef Zundel, the tzaddik from whom Rav Yisroel Salanter learned.

Only Rav Yisroel Salanter recognized the tzaddik for who he really was.

Why?

Because Rav Yisroel Salanter listened. He noticed. He pondered. And he acted.

Just like Yitro.

Credit for all quotes goes to Toras Avigdor, which offers us such great mussar. And don't forget to check out the Practical Tip on page 15!
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How to Learn the Real Lessons in Life: Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Beshalach

28/1/2021

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In his dvar Torah for Parshas Beshalach 4 – Learning from Others, Rav Avigdor Miller notes that the Plagues, the Makkot, were really a lesson for us even more than for the Egyptians.

​In fact, Rav Miller explains that even as Bnei Yisrael felt profound gratification at seeing their persecutors receiving their just desserts, Bnei Yisrael also felt tremendous apprehension at the same time.

If we picture ourselves witnessing what Bnei Yisrael witnessed at that time, we can imagine how unnerving the Plague of Blood must have seemed. 

The Plagues of Frogs & Lice must have been incredibly disturbing & distressing to behold.

And the Plague of Wild Animals? Terrifying.

And so on.

They knew that Hashem, Who can do anything, could easily turn these punishments on Bnei Yisrael if Hashem decided it necessary.

As Rav Miller sums it up (page 5):
Hakodosh Boruch Hu reminds us by showing what comes on other people and we are expected to look and become afraid; it’s one of the fundamental ways of learning yiras Hashem.

Pompous Pompeii

On page 6, Rav Miller recalls the volcanic eruption that destroyed Roman Pompeii.

Today, archeologists & tourists marvel over the well-preserved city, which displays advanced living relative to its time.

However, the real lesson of Pompeii is its decadence & debauchery.

Signs in the pubs and many other facets of Pompeii point to Pompeii as having been a center of immorality.

​Yet due to the low moral standards of our own times, researchers & journalists present this role of Pompeii with humor & admiration.

History shows us that this same volcano erupted several times with disastrous effects.

The area attracted human settlement due to its natural assets. But those same assets facilitated an ease of life that ultimately proved detrimental to the moral character of those who exploited its goodness.

Learning Spiritual Lessons from Events

Throughout the dvar Torah, Rav Miller recalls catastrophes occurring around the time he gave that shiur: earthquakes in San Francisco, a loaded passenger plane that crashed into the ocean, the war in the Balkans, etc.

He also recalls the era leading up to the Holocaust, when Hitler yemach shemo invaded Czechoslovakia and slaughtered many non-Jews there.

​In the yeshivah of Slabodka, Rav Miller remembers how they took that lesson to heart and recited copious heartfelt Tehillim.

But the rest of Slabodka either ignored it or felt only a fear of the Nazis and not Hashem.

​As Rav Miller laments (page 9):
In Slabodka, there were not even one hundred young men under the age of twenty that put on tefillin.

When they saw what’s happening, did they say, “Maybe we have to stop our headlong dive into Marxism, into atheism. Maybe the rabbonim are right and it’s time to come back to Hashem, to begin putting on tefillin again.”

Did they think such thoughts?

Rav Miller always expressed his feelings of loyalty & gratitude for the unique security & opportunity America always provided the Jewish people.

It's impossible to ignore his heartfelt desire for the Jewish people to live up to our potential, an accomplishment that only brings tremendous benefit to the entire world. 

And his words back then (the early 1980s?) ring chillingly true to what's happening right now, decades later (page 10; boldface mine):
Don’t think it can’t happen again.

Who said America is forever?! You have to be afraid!

We’re here, enjoying all luxuries, with plenty to eat.

We have liberty, we have safety, we have equality, everything we have.

​But someday I’m afraid we’ll look back on America and say the same thing because we’re not afraid of Hashem; we’re not learning the lesson from Mitzrayim, from Kush and Seva.

​Oh no! Instead of learning the lesson, the Jews are trying their best to break down America.

Jewish congressmen like Solarz are helping Communist regimes all over; Cuba, Nicaragua. And Jews are voting for Solarz and Koch. Jews are keeping them in power. Of course Koch gives them in return some benefits.

And for that benefit, the askanim, the shtadlanim, sell away our votes – whole kehillos of frum Jews, whole congregations vote for these people who are breaking down everything we have!

Look what’s happening to America! The whole youth is being demoralized!

The public schools are hammering away in the minds of the children, telling them how bad America is, how wicked the establishment is!

Finally the gentiles in the Midwest will get so disgusted and they’ll make a revolution!

They’ll try to fight to save America but I’m worried it’ll be a little late. 


America will already be shorn of its greatness – it’ll be surrounded by Communist
enemies.

Chas v’shalom it’ll turn into a fascist country and who knows what kind of gas chambers can be here?

​They can make better ones in America than the Germans did.

You Don't Need to be an Exalted Tzaddik (though that never hurts if you can manage it!)

Now, if you've been reading or listening to Rav Miller's shiurim for a while, you'll know that he encourages self-transformation one very small step at a time.

​Page 12:
...the best teshuva is the teshuva you do over a piece of watermelon; when you recognize that all happiness and enjoyment is from Hakodosh Boruch Hu.

Fear of God is an eminently positive quality.

Even in the extreme example of Slabodka, what did Rav Miller say to do, all in all?

Consider NOT being an atheist. 

Consider NOT being a Marxist.

Consider the opinions of the real rabbis.

Put on tefillin!


None of these require a person to achieve the holiness of the Baba Sali.

Other examples Rav Miller gives:

  • When seeing a blind person, think of how you use your own eyes & how it would be if Hashem would take away one's sight.
 
  • When seeing a person who lost his arm in a machine accident after a life of thieving, think of how you use your own arms & hands.
 
  • When you see men who get the police called on them, then served with a restraining order so they can't enter their own home, think of how you speak to your own wife; whether you use your tongue kindly in your own home.

Here's Rav Miller again on page 14:
A man says something to his poor wife and hurts her heart by saying a mean word, it’s a terrible sin.

The poor woman is working all day long with children, she’s worn out to the bone, and he comes home and says something mean; it’s like a knife in the heart! 

​That’s what you have to think about when you hear about this man who was taken out of his house by the police.

​I once heard about a verbally abusive husband who ended up suffering cancer of the jaw. 

Gradually, he lost the power of his lips and tongue.

The decaying flesh also made him smell pretty bad.

You'd think he'd take the Heavenly hint, but you know how Gemara Eruvin 19a states that a wicked person standing at the gate of Gehinnom still won't do teshuvah?

Yeah...that.

So instead of his former tongue-lashings, he started growling & snarling his displeasure. (His throat still worked.) In this way, he continued to abuse & berate his family.

What's sad is that the connection was so obvious (I mean, come on, how often do you hear of cancer of the jaw?), it's entirely possible that had he done teshuvah and started speaking nicely (plus expressing gratitude to Hashem), that he would've experienced a complete cure.

But as the Gemara says about wicked people...

Learning Practical Lessons from Unpleasant Events

Rav Miller advises us to also learn from the practicalities of a disastrous event.

For example, he relates the story of a friendly man conversing in the kitchen who stood with his back against the gas stove and his clothing caught on fire, causing him terrible burns. Since then, Rav Miller said he himself never leaned against a gas stove, even when it wasn't in use.​

I've heard directly from young men who started out with petty law-breaking, then saw the consequences of friends who committed more serious crimes: jail time, difficulty in finding a job, police raids on the home, ill health, no true friends, societal rejection, bad reputation, etc.

They turned themselves around, broke off with criminal friends, or even the law-abiding siblings & friends of criminal friends—all because they wanted to avoid such an unsavory outcome.

I noticed that many youngest children in families tend to show a lot of common sense, savvy, and decisiveness about what they want in life & how to achieve that (whether it's a comfortable slow-moving life or a high-intensity ambitious life). It seems to me they learn from the mistakes of their older siblings!

Fulfilling Your Fabulous Fear of God in a Few Minutes

Fear of God should lead us to a happy place.

The Practical Tip on page 15 helps us start that journey.

And also the advice from truly great people as summarized in the following posts:
  • A 60-Second Exercise to Fulfill Your Main Purpose in Life
  • Why Does Hashem Want Us to Talk to Him So Much? Rav Avigdor Miller Provides the Answer in Parshat Lech-Lecha
  • More Guidance to Connect with Hashem (including baby-steps that start with 30 seconds a day!)
  • ​How to Save the World One Step at a Time
  • How the Baby Steps in This World Create Your Future World of Beautiful Pulsating Light
  • Judaism's Secret: Achieve the Glorious Maximum by Doing the Bare Minimum
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All credit for all material & quotes goes to Toras Avigdor.
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How to Laugh & Not Get Lost: Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Bo

21/1/2021

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Before we go to Rav Avigdor Miller's dvar Torah for Parshat Bo 4 – Take for Yourselves Sheep, we need some background.

Ancient Egyptians felt toward sheep similarly to how the culture in India feels about cows: reverence.

Furthermore, the astrological sign of Nissan is Taleh/Aries—a lamb.

Nissan is considered the first of the months, so that makes Taleh/Aries the most powerful sign, and highly esteemed by ancient Egyptian idol-worshippers (Kli Yakar).

Ancient Egypt looked down on shepherds—yet another reason to despise Am Yisrael, a nation of shepherds whose greatest holy men worked as shepherds at some point.

Rabbi Dovid Kass at Neve Yerushalayim once described the dynamic of taking the pascal lamb and slaughtering it at that time as similar to a Jew burning the Nazi flag in front of the Nazis during the Holocaust.

So when we read about Am Yisrael taking the pascal lamb & slaughtering it, we need to understand the powerful context in which it occurred.

The Egyptian Demand for Safe Spaces!

With the above in mind, Rav Miller explains on page 5 about the Egyptians:
And a terrible idea began to enter their minds: “Who knows what these depraved people are going to do to these sheep! They certainly don't worship them. Oh no! Could it be that it’s true what we’ve heard that the Hebrews do horrible things; they didn't do it in public, but secretly we hear that they eat sheep! The Hebrews are preparing for a sheep massacre!” 

During these four days, the land of Egypt was in an uproar.

There were meetings about what to do, how to deal with the Hebrews. The fact that they didn’t make a massacre was a mofes in itself.

The Egyptians didn't make massacres by the way; they were civilized people but this was going too far already!

​“To slaughter our god in front of our eyes?! And to do it with such brazenness?!”

It kind of recalls today, with all the morality written in the Torah that so many people find so offensive today.

You can picture the more activist & diplomatic members of Am Yisrael back then bending over backward to explain their controversial attitude toward sheep to Egyptian society in strenuous attempts to make shepherding & lamb chops more palatable to Egyptians.

Or the renegades of Am Yisrael who stand up & say, "I ALSO revere sheep! Even though our ancestors roasted lamb & shepherded sheep & made delicious cheese with their milk, many people find that offensive today. Just the phrase "braised lamb chops" triggers some people—how can we not be sensitive to that? Let's make safe spaces for sheep & those who worship sheep. We need to progress with the times!"

I don't know if anyone did, but they sure would today.

Anyway, this whole mitzvah caused tremendous anxiety for Am Yisrael.

Looking back, we know nothing happened during those tense days.

​But Rav Miller notes that in real time, Am Yisrael lived in dread of mass pogroms & genocide carried out by triggered Egyptians.

The Value of Mishchu: It Protects Us from Getting Lost

Rav Miller emphasizes that Hashem not only wanted Am Yisrael to take the sheep for holy slaughter, but to make a demonstration of it.

He explains this on page 6 by using a modern-day example (Toras Avigdor gave it a very witty title: "Concealed Carry"):
It’s like the person who buys a lulav, and he’s traveling on the bus.

He went to Crown Heights to purchase a lulav and now he’s riding the bus back to Flatbush, a bus full of gentiles.

What does he do? He wraps it in paper so that people should think it’s a curtain rod.

He doesn’t have a backbone so he’s hiding it. He wants to fit in better with the Italians. 

I once got on a bus with a lulav and esrog – I used to ride the bus to go to shul. 

​As soon as I got on the bus, all the Jews on the bus looked for a crack in the floor where they could hide from embarrassment.

I didn’t hide my arba minim like a curtain rod, you understand. It was killing them! And I enjoyed it. I enjoyed every minute of it.

That was one of the most important lessons of mishchu ["pull"—as in the verse: "Pull and acquire for yourselves sheep."]

It means you should grow some backbone.

“Everybody get busy and do some pulling on your own; your job is to do it not secretly.”

And that’s why when this command came from Hakodosh Boruch Hu it was a very unwelcome kind of mitzvah.

It was a mitzvah that required readiness for martyrdom; it was actual mesiras nefesh.

If you think about, this display of holy spiritual backbone must have been great preparation for freedom.

Such a display breaks the slave mentality.

Interestingly, Rav Miller states that all those who refused to pull the sheep through the streets (rather than taken them quietly, disguising them, or taking them somewhere else for slaughter)—they ended up lost to the Jewish people.

​Rav Miller brings more modern-day examples of this (page 7):
It’s like the Orthodox Jew who wears a big beard.

A beard is a flag.

You know, if you walk down the street waving an American flag, then you’re going to be the target of all the bums, of all the beatniks, of all the liberals.

Whereas if you carry the American flag inside, beneath your lapel, you might be a big patriot, but you’re not suffering for it.

A Jewish patriot is willing to suffer for it – it happened to me more than once.

Three times people spat in my face.

I was walking once up the subway stairs and a woman looks at me and spits directly into my face.

In those days people didn’t wear beards.

Today, meshugaim also wear beards, but in those days it was different....Stones have been thrown at me.

Once I was bruised! All because of the beard.

Now, you think I would sell that? I wouldn’t sell any one of these incidents!

It could be that if you offered me a very big sum I might weaken, but for a mere five hundred dollars I wouldn’t sell it because that’s what it means to be a proud eved Hashem.
​

​Rav Miller ends that particular chunk of mussar with some very sobering food for thought (page 7):
That’s the lesson of mishchu; it means that if you're interested in being redeemed from Egypt, if you don't want to be destroyed when the destroyer passes over the land, you'll have to be willing to stick your neck out for Hakodosh Boruch Hu.

​And all the people who keep their necks inside their collars and try to hide, those who are only interested in their own protection, the end will be that they will go lost.

The Struggle to Maintain a Torah-Based Identity

While we accept today that Am Yisrael kept their core identity in Egypt, we also know that we were redeemed for 3 aspects:
​
  1. We kept our Hebrew names.
  2. We kept our modest, dignified Hebrew dress.
  3. We spoke our holy Hebrew language (not modern Hebrew polluted by secular Leftists, but authentic, uplifting, refined Hebrew).​

Yet Rav Miller notes that Egyptian culture influenced Am Yisrael in other ways.

He compares the length of time Am Yisrael remained in Egypt to a Jewish family in America from 1770 to 1980.

(Or in the current time, from 1811 to 2021.)

The fact is that Jew arrived in America in 1811 and before. 

Yet where are those families now?

​So Rav Miller notes that whatever Am Yisrael preserved of their core identity, wisps of Egyptian culture still seeped in.

The whole episode with the pascal lamb helped uproot these wisps from the hearts of Am Yisrael.

​Rav Miller again uses a modern example (page 9):
It’s like the shomer Shabbos Jew who walks out of his house on a Sunday morning and he's happy; it's so peaceful and quiet.

The factories are closed, the streets are quiet and he enjoys the peace.

Sunday is a part of his life; it could be he gets up a little later for davening; other things too.

That's a good thing about going to Eretz Yisroel; the first thing you notice in Eretz Yisroel is that there's no Sunday.

But if you walk on the street in Flatbush or even in Williamsburg on a Sunday so you appreciate it; it’s a nice quiet holiday.
 
***

It’s like the man who says, “I don't have, let’s say, a Christmas tree in my house. Never!”

But as he passes by the stores and he hears the holiday music coming out of the stores; they play it in order entice the customers in order to buy gifts for the season; so the carols are coming out of the stores and it's hard not to have some sentiment about it; you become sentimental about the season.

​So even though you certainly are a religious Jew; you don’t subscribe to that at all, but a certain sentiment you have.

***
But that's also idolatry; if you have some respect for the gilulim of the ovdei avodah zarah, the abominations that they worship, the ideals and attitudes that they live with, that’s already a mistake.

“I don't subscribe to it,” you’ll say, “but there's a certain beauty, a certain poetry in it.”

​Ooh, once you say that, you're hooked – you’re in trouble.

Authentically Kosher Jewish Humor

The idea Jewish humor is well-known.

(After I became frum, life became so much funnier; there was more opportunity to find things amusing; I thought maybe it was just me, but others said it too: Life becomes more amusing when you become frum!)

Yet despite our ready humor, Judaism frowns sternly on leitzanut: mockery, ridicule, joking around, making fun, and the like. 

In modern society—in which leitzanut earns you popularity, likes, retweets, and even money—this utter contempt of leitzanut sounds strange.

Yet even leitzanut can be used for holy purposes: to fight avodah zarah—idolatry, the occult. Rav Miller includes in this definition: wrong ideas, wicked ideas, and lies.

​And that's exactly what Rav Miller does on page 4:
That’s the way of the Torah when it speaks about idols; it degrades them.

It calls them elilim from the word al – the nothing gods.

Or gilulim, like gelalim, manure.

Manure gods!

Because that's exactly what it is; bowing down to an idol is like bowing down to a full chamber pot of feces. 

How to Live Forever

I didn't write much on my own in this post. Most of it end up copied 'n' pasted from the PDF.

I couldn't help myself. It just flowed like that.
​
So let's end with this final idea (in Rav Miller's own words yet again), which applies so strongly to us today, wherever we live, especially in this oppressive darkness of cancel culture:
​You know, when you have to fight back against the public so you gain a certain hardiness.

And you need that to survive because there’s a lot of propaganda; the poor Jew is kicked around and scorned.

And if an Orthodox Jew maintains his principles in the face of all of that, that's one of the greatest achievements of life; that’s why we’re going to have a kiyum [existence] – that’s why the Am Yisroel will survive. 

Everyone else, every nation, every country will go lost one day, but the Am Yisroel, the ones who have backbone, will remain forever and walk on their ruins.
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Thank you very much to Toras Avigdor for helping us be proud Jews. All credit for quotes & material go to them.
Don't forget to check out their practical tip on page 15!


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Intriguing Ways to Help See Things in the Most Authentic & Fascinating Light: Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Va'era

13/1/2021

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In Rav Avigdor Miller's dvar Torah for Parshas Vaeira 4 – Seeing His Wonders, the rav takes us in for a much deeper look at the 10 Plagues.

Seeing as so much of our liturgy recalls the Exodus from Egypt—even the blessing after eating bread recalls it—it's vital we understand what went on during that torturous yet miraculous time.​

Intriguing Observations about Bnei Yisrael & Erev Rav

On page 4, Rav Miller makes a shocking observation: 
There are eirev rav who have become greater than us.

​There is no question that we have talmidei chachamim and tzaddikim, famous roshei yeshiva in our history who are descended from them.

He prefaces this by noting that while Am Yisrael today consists of many different races from all the different people who converted to Judaism over the millennia...:
We have among us more Egyptians than we have of any other race.

This seems like unique way of phrasing the old idea from Chazal that at the End of Days, Erev Rav (Mixed Multitude) will outnumber true Jews.

Very interesting, no?

Rav Miller acknowledges that we lack the ability to trace the lineage to see who descended from Egyptians & who descended from the 12 Tribes. But the original Egyptian descendants certainly exist!

Likewise, he notes that many Bnei Yisrael did NOT leave Egypt.

With these 2 observations, he presents an intriguing twist:
​
  • Many Egyptians left Egypt with Bnei Yisrael, primarily BECAUSE of the 10 Plagues, and even sincerely said na'aseh v'nishmah (we will do and we will listen) at Har Sinai.
 
  • At the same time, many Bnei Yisrael did NOT leave Egypt.

So you have non-Jews who converted because of the 10 Plagues, but Jews who did not do teshuvah despite the 10 Plagues.

Whoa.

And, in contrast to common belief, Rav Miller states that the Bnei Yisrael who remained in Egypt were not actually wicked, but only called reshaim (bad) in contrast to those who left.

If those refusers were around today, they'd be our most respected frum Jews.

​So those who did actually leave were quite exceptional.

The Erev Rav Elite

Continuing along this fascinating theme, Rav Miller describes the Erev Rav Egyptians as the crème de la crème of Egyptian society. 

That's right.

The original Erev Rav consisted of the "intellectual aristocracy" of Egyptian nobility.

​Actually, we see this today with the elite of American society. So many marry Jews! Especially the millennial generation. It's weird. Some even seem to convert (though with many of them, their commitment seems lackluster compared to the many sincere converts we've all encountered & according to what basic halacha requires; many don't even go to a real rabbi for "conversion") But I digress...

Is this partly why so many Erev Rav today (as predicted by Chazal) aim for the highest echelons of Jewish society, both politically & religiously? Are they trying to reclaim their former status?

​Anyway, these Erev Rav people gave up lives of luxury & prestige to follow Bnei Yisrael into the Midbar (desert wilderness)...all because of the 10 Plagues' display of Hashem's Mastery.

​The Egyptian intelligentsia discussed every plague with incisive analysis.

So why didn't Paroh (Pharaoh) do the same?

He did, actually. He just came to different conclusions.

The Paroh Paradigm

Basically, says Rav Miller, Paroh responded like the academics today: He theorized that reddish microorganisms infested the Nile.

And Paroh assumed that Moshe Rabbeinu predicted it by analyzing the Nile beforehand.

In other words, Paroh concluded that Moshe Rabbeinu (whom Paroh knew to be very intelligent & educated) examined the Nile beforehand, realized what the red-producing bacteria were about to do, then based on that, told everyone the Nile would turn to blood.

Ta-dah!

​Likewise with the Plague of Frogs. Frogs already existed in the Nile. So what's the big deal about a sudden infestation of them? It can happen. Also, sometimes a hail of frogs occurs from the sky, right?

So with each Plague, that's how Paroh confronted it, which Rav Miller details further on pages 7-8.

​With this, Rav Miller segues into the great contradiction within modern society, which carefully analyzes the great miracles of every human tissue & of nature, yet dismisses all these wonders as happenstance.

And in answer to the question of why Hashem no longer performs Biblical miracles for us today, Rav Miller says: He does!

We simply don't view them as such.

But with our advanced technology (also miraculous, BTW), we can see into so much of the natural workings and truly see Hashem's Hand in it all—just like the Egyptians could see into the Plague of Frogs, etc.

Why Doesn't Hashem Cause a Mass Frog Invasion of Hollywood Studios?

But sure, Rav Miller acknowledges, New York's Hudson River doesn't turn to blood and frogs don't go invading movie theaters & places of ill-repute.

It would be nice if they did, but they don't. (About the frogs, I mean, not the Hudson River.)

Why don't they?

​Because (pages 9-10; emphasis mine):
​​The secret of everything in the world is that it should be a secret!

That’s why Adam Harishon came after creation; the first six days Hakodosh Boruch Hu created all the phenomena by supernatural means.

There were no seeds, and Hashem caused the trees to appear. Grass appeared! Rivers appeared! Frogs appeared!

That’s the teaching of the Torah and you have to get any other pictures of the origin of life out of your head.

Everything came yesh meayin, something out of nothing, and the ‘nothing’ was Hashem's word.

And then, after the six days of Creation, that’s when Adam came.

​When Adam first opened his eyes, he saw a ready-made world.

And that, says Rav Miller (quoting the Mesillat Yesharim/Pathway of the Just) is our purpose in life: to pass this test of emunah by seeing Hashem in a world in which Hashem is hidden.

When we insist on seeing Hashem's Hand in a life seemingly devoid of Hashem, we reap tremendous reward for this.

We create for ourselves huge merits!

It's especially challenging today, so we get especial credit.

Yay us!

​To help us overcome this momentous challenge, Rav Miller delineates on pages 11-14 the Divine aspects of daisies, rosebushes, apple trees, and dandelions.

Also, make sure to check out the Practical Tip on page 15.

And though this dvar Torah didn't come out and say it, the implication here is that the Yisrael majority who stayed behind did not analyze the 10 Plagues properly (according to the principles outlined in this dvar Torah), but the Erev Rav did.

And that made all the difference.

Very chewy food for thought...
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Credit for all quotes & material goes to Toras Avigdor.


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Miriam as Azuvah–Rejected: The Little-Known Story of How Miriam HaNeviah Found Her Shidduch

7/1/2021

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A truly caring friend makes sure to send me the Bitachon Weekly every week. Bursting with fascinating Torah ideas, it also gleans from a wealth of Navordok mussar.

I love it.

For Parshat Shemot, it mentions a little-known fact about Miriam HaNeviah (the Prophetess):

In contrast to the majority of other saintly personalities throughout the Torah, Moshe Rabbeinu's famous big sister was not so good-looking.

And that's putting it lightly.​

Rejected, Sickly, and Pale

Sotah 12a explains how Miriam was known by different names to reflect her unfortunate situation:

  • Yeriot (curtains)—because her face was extremely pale like yeriot.
 
  • Chelah (sickly)—because she was sickly.
 
  • Azuvah (rejected, abandoned)—because "everyone abandoned her" due to not wanting to marry her because of her sickly, unattractive appearance (!!!)

It's hard to believe after everything she did for Am Yisrael, no one wanted to marry her due to her sickly, unattractive self.

Such wholesale rejection implies severe unattractiveness (but Chazal is too nice to come right out & say it. But the implication is definitely there).

Also, think of the tremendous slap-in-the-face against the concept of positive middah-k'neged-middah (measure-for-measure) this must have seemed.

After all, since her young girlhood, Miriam HaNeviah embodied the concept of unswerving loyalty.

She stood by the continuation of Am Yisrael by encouraging the fruitfulness of Am Yisrael under the sick decree of Pharaoh against the newborn boys of Yisrael.

She stood by her baby brother as he floated down the Nile.

Later, she risked her life as Puah to stand by Am Yisrael as a dedicated midwife, saving life after life.

She never abandoned one Jew, even at risk to her own life.

​So how was it that she herself was abandoned & rejected to such an extreme?

Also, while sickly is never an asset, it used to be worse before modern technology.

With so much of the most basic domestic duties demanding intensive labor (getting a fire going, digging up vegetables & washing them without running water, hand-washing laundry, cooking, childbirth, nursing, childcare, etc.) that challenged a healthy woman, how could a sickly woman possibly manage?

Sure, in the Midbar, bnei Yisrael enjoyed the luxury of manna & the Cloud Pillar (which did the laundry), but women still faced other demands.

And can you imagine being such an object of rejection that it becomes your name?

You know how people sarcastically say, "If you look up _____ in the dictionary, you'll find my name under the definition"?

Well, for Miriam, it was literally true! Azuvah. Rejected. Abandoned. Unwanted.

Yet one man rose to the occasion: Kalev ben Yefuneh.

Her Greatest Flaws were Paradoxically Her Greatest Assests

Yes, Kalev again. The famously positive & emunah-filled spy.

​Kalev married Miriam solely for her holy personality.

And because he married l'Shem Shamayim (for the sake of Heaven, for the purest motives), Kalev earned unique merits; Hashem rewarded him richly.

After marriage, Miriam's appearance transformed into the opposite of what it had been.

Thus, she became known by new names:

  • Vardon (a type of rose)—because she developed a beautiful rose-like appearance
 
  • Na'arah (young woman)—because she became healthy & beautiful like the ideal young woman.

While her initial state of extended singlehood may not have seemed fair (after all, she was a savior of Am Yisrael—and saved Am Yisrael more than once!), it was her flaws that launched her into a marriage with one of the best men of the Nation.

Only Kalev was willing to marry such a sickly & unattractive tzaddikah.

Had she been more attractive & healthier, she would've had her pick of husband—a very good man, of course, but still not on the level of Kalev ben Yefuneh.

Yet after she married Kalev, she no longer needed her sickliness & unattractiveness. Those negative qualities had served their intended purpose. So Hashem replaced them with health & beauty.

Also, this marriage enabled Miriam to become a mother of royalty.

She not only married into the Tribe of Yehudah, but Mashiach descends from Kalev's line—a fitting reward for the woman who served as the courageous midwife, Puah.

​So Miriam's "flaws" actually ended up being her assets; they enabled both her & Kalev ben Yefuneh to express their highest levels of emunah & righteousness.

This aspect of Miriam's life also recall the theme of rejection running throughout the lives of our most brilliant & most accomplished ancestors: Noach, Leah Imeinu, Yosef Hatzaddik, Moshe Rabbeinu, David Hamelech, Chana HaNeviah, the Shoftim (Judges) Gidon & Shimshon, Yirmiyahu HaNavi...

Even ma'asu habonim hayatah l'rosh pinah.

The stone despised & rejected by the most expert & professional builders?

​THAT stone ends up as the foundational cornerstone of the most important building in the world.

Please, please, please realize that Mashiach descends from rejection, loneliness, and maltreatment.

Throughout the line of Mashiach, you do not find stories of privilege, honor, popularity, power, and prestige (at least, not initially, anyway).

​This is straight from the Torah.

Being cast down & cast aside may paradoxically be signs of GREATNESS, and not signs of inferiority.

Please never give up on yourself and please do not believe a society that tells you otherwise.

A Modern-Day Miriam-Kalev Shidduch Story

Miriam HaNeviah's  episode recalls a true story that happened in Yerushalayim decades ago.

A yeshivah student was set to marry a poor, sickly, pockmarked girl with sterling middot from a wonderful family.

Though repelled by her appearance, he strove to overcome his repulsion by speaking positively with his roommate, repeatedly emphasizing her wonderful & righteous personality.

However, as they stood together under the chuppah, the bridegroom realized he simply could not go through with it.

He stepped down, effectively abandoning her under the chuppah before the crowd gathered to celebrate the wedding.

His roommate, who spent so much time hearing about the bride's exceptional character, stepped up to marry her instead with the intent of saving her from this public humiliation.

She agreed and they married.

Not long after the wedding, her pockmarks, ill health, and other external flaws completely cleared up, showing a very nice-looking girl.

It's clear that, as with the case of Miriam HaNeviah, Hashem arranged these physical defects in order for her to marry the right guy—someone like Kalev ben Yefuneh, who publicly demonstrated his willingness to marry a woman purely for the sake of Heaven. (In this case, solely to save her from this public & shocking rejection.) 

After meriting such a wonderful husband, she no longer needed her physical flaws, so Hashem wiped them away.

They ended up raising a large & particularly wonderful family—just like Kalev & Miriam did too.

Related posts:
  • What Tanach Teaches Us about Responding to Rejection & Persecution
  • Loneliness & Rejection as Aspects of Mashiach
  • ​The #1 Path to True Greatness & Achieving Your Absolute Best: Rejection, Isolation, and Being Quashed​
  • Were You Ever Despised or Treated as Inferior? Then You Need to Read Rav Avigdor Miller's Dvar Torah for Parshat Vayetzei

Note: I don't see a website for Bitachon Weekly, but one can sign up by sending a request to this email: ​thenewbitachonweekly@gmail.com

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Rav Avigdor Miller on Parshat Shemot: How to Embody More Scruples than Algae

6/1/2021

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In Rav Avigdor Miller's dvar Torah for Parshas Shemos 4 – Ladder of Gratitude, Rav Miller notes that it cannot possibly be that the new Pharaoh literally did not know of Yosef Hatzaddik.

Yosef Hatzaddik performed his duties far above & beyond any expectation, plus Egypt benefitted in every way from Yosef Hatzaddik's leadership.

Instead, this pretending-not-to-know of Yosef Hatzaddik emanated from a deplorable lack of appreciation.

This sealed the eventual doom of Mitzrayim.

​As Rav Miller notes (page 4): 
​“Oooh,” said Hashem, “If you can be a kafui tov, a denier of good that a person bestows on you, then you’re never going to recognize what Hashem does for you. A man who can throw stones at Yosef will surely throw stones at Me. There’ll come a time when the one who said, 'I don’t know Yosef,’ he’ll say, [lo yadaati et Hashem] – I don’t know Hashem either.’ ”

That’s what happened eventually.

​Eventually, when Moshe and Aharon came to Pharaoh, he said, “Who is Hashem? I never heard of Him” (Shemos 5:2).

Your Divine Aspect

Gratitude is the most important aspect of serving Hashem.

Gratitude is what leads to love of Hashem, and also to a healthy fear of Hashem.

Gratitude opens up the heart's conduit for joy to come gushing in; it enables a person to serve Hashem b'simcha.

Our very label "Yehudim" comes from the name of Leah & Yaakov's son, Yehudah.

It carries within it the root hoda'ah—gratitude, thanks.

​It's a defining quality for us, whether we realize it or not.

On pages 4-6, Rav Miller appealingly details the gratitude we should feel for parents & apples.

He acknowledges that it's much easier to feel gratitude toward people than to Hashem because we see more clearly people & the direct results of their actions.

On page 7, Rav Miller recalls the verse from Beresheit in which Hashem breathed into Adam's nostrils.

Seeing as Adam is the spiritual & biological root of every human being who has ever & will ever live, we must realize this means that Hashem breathed something of Himself into each & everyone of us:
The Creator breathed into a man’s nostrils the spirit of life (Bereishis 2:7).

​Now, that sentence is so important that we should talk for forty years on that one subject; I’m not exaggerating!

Because who breathed into Man's nostrils Hashem? And...if somebody breathes, he breathes from himself.

​So it means Hashem breathed into Mankind something of Himself – there is in Mankind something of Hashem.

Why is this idea so important?

It means that every single human being—Jewish or not Jewish, physically disabled or Olympic gold medalist, mentally disabled or screaming genius, slave or king, white or black or yellow or red or blue, billionaire or impoverished--EVERY single human being possesses something Godly within himself or herself.​

"Why Should We Have Any More Scruples Than Algae?"

We all sense Divine aspect, explains Rav Miller. But this sense of having received something Divine gets corrupted when we allow our minds to become corrupted.

For example, with the exception of truly humble people, most human beings expect gratitude.

We expect appreciation for our efforts—even when our efforts result in foolishness or destruction.

Rav Miller offers the example of how Communists expect you to appreciate any benefit they bestow on you.

They take away all your rights, torture & kill people, lower the standard of living & quality of life...but expect you to grovel to them for offering you free healthcare.

They will break your bones & slaughter you, they will steal everything you've put heart & soul into, they will force you to live a lower-class lifestyle (while they enjoy a life of wealth)...but as long as you aren't a threat to their power & luxury, you can have free visits to the doctor & free operations.

And you darned well better be grateful for it, you insignificant pawn!

Atheists feel same way, of course.

Here's Rav Miller again, explaining it as only he can (page 7):
Let’s say a college professor; he believes that a man is descended from algae.

Now the algae doesn’t have any qualms about ingratitude.

And yet this college professor is outraged, he has an instinctive indignation at people who don’t appreciate what he does for them.

Now if you would question him, “Why should we have any more scruples than algae? After all according to your own teachings we are merely the result of accidents and development, and therefore all these things – gratitude, honesty, decency – are merely figments of imagination according to you; they’re imaginary social structures. So why should we be obligated?”

But despite all the theories, although he doesn’t believe in anything, the professor is still influenced by his non-evolutionist mother.

He still believes in the innate decency of gratitude because he can’t escape the inherent traits of character in every man’s soul.

​And that includes the basic decency of feeling thankful and indebted to anyone who does even the smallest favor to you.

"When a man is deficient in his conduct towards his fellowman,
we know that he’s deficient in his conduct with Hashem."

–Rav Avigdor Miller (page 8)


This, explains Rav Miller, is the actual meaning of "Derech eretz—proper behavior—comes before Torah."

Derech eretz, he says, means the correct qualities of character.

And correct qualities of character derive from gratitude & appreciation.

BTW, from personal experience...every time you see a person who seems very frum & knowledgeable, but displays bad middot on a regular basis, you can trace it back to lack of gratitude toward Hashem.

Again, emphasis on REGULAR basis. No one is perfect, and it could also be that you're misjudging someone who is genuinely behaving well but seems like not.

​But if someone regularly displays bad middot, you can trace it back to lack of appreciation.

​Boy, could I tell you stories of examples about this!

But I won't this time. 😉

Praise Your Real BFF

On pages 11-15, Rav Miller discusses how our speech expresses where we're holding with regard to our appreciation of all Hashem does for us, and also how this applies to different aspects of life.

Rav Miller reminds us that Hashem is our Best Friend.

It doesn't always feel like it, but in our soul, we know that Hashem is our true BFF.

​(And make sure to check out the practical tip on page 15!)

And thank You very much to Hashem for creating Toras Avigdor, which enables copious & easy access to the wisdom of Rav Avigdor Miller ztz"l. All credit for quotes & material goes to Toras Avigdor.
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