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David HaMelech

 

“Cos yeshuot ehsah” [I will uplift the cup of salvation]. David HaMelech will hold the cup all the time in his hand.  Gevalt, gevalt.  I cannot imagine David HaMelech not coming to this wedding, and not holding this beautiful cup here.

 

 

Gd’s Circle

 

“Yancheni bemaglei tzedek lemaan shemo” [He directs me in paths of righteousness for the sake of His Name].  “Maagal” means “Ribbono Shel Olam, let me be in the circle of tzedek, for Your name’s sake.”  And you know, sometimes we are just human beings, right?  Sometimes we get angry at each other, and this is beautiful too.  Because people who are never getting angry at each other are not normal, right?  Because only in the cemetery are they sitting there having no emotions.  But, thank Gd, if you are alive, one day you are good, and one day you are bad; one day you are disgusting, the next thing you are the most beautiful thing in the world.  Baruch HaShem, that is the way Gd created the world.

 

Do you know why Gd threw Adam out of Paradise?  Because he thought that a human being has to be holy all the time.  Gd says, “This is not what Paradise is all about.  In Hell you are always the same.  In Paradise, one day you are good, one day you are bad; one day you are holy, one day you are not so holy.  The most important thing is that you are alive, right?”  There was one Rebbe who always said, “The most important thing is, ‘Is steam coming out of your oven?’  If steam is coming out, you are OK, right?  So, lastly, I want to bless you, that heavy steam should come out of you all the time.  And one way or the other, you will cook the right cholent, and everything will be OK.  And here I want to talk to you very straight, very deep.  “Lema’an shemoh” [for the sake of His Name].

 

 

Believe that You Can’t Live Without Each Other

 

You know, when you love someone very much, you cannot imagine the world existing without them, right?   You know what it is to believe in Gd?  It doesn’t mean that I believe that there is one Gd.  I believe that Reagan was the President of the USA.  Not the same, right?  To believe in Gd means I cannot imagine that there is a world without Gd.  I can’t bear it.  You know, to keep Shabbos is not simply that when Shabbos comes, I close my store.  Do you know what, for us Jews, it  means to keep Shabbos?  It’s that I cannot even imagine it can be Sunday without Shabbos, right?  I cannot even imagine Monday without Shabbos.  I cannot be without Shabbos, right?  So I want to bless you; you should be Shabbosdik to each other.  That you cannot imagine the world without each other.  And you know something?  If it’s clear to you that you cannot be without each other, Gd cannot be without you either.  Because the Ishbitzer Rebbe says that the greatest, highest, deepest, the most glorious Gd revelation is, when Gd lets you know that He needs you.  You know it’s very easy to serve Gd.  But it’s so hard because I don’t know if Gd really needs me.  Yeah, I know I’m a Jew.  I’m supposed to put on tefillin.  Does Gd really need me to put on tefillin in the morning?  I have trouble putting them on.  The moment it’s clear to me, mamash, Gd the One, the only One, mamash needs me to put on tefillin, I’m jumping out of my skin, right?

 

There was this Kabalist.  He was fasting from Shabbos to Shabbos.  And then he came home, and Friday night everything by him was 12.  Because the 12 Lechem Hapanim are the 12 showbreads, right?  So Friday night, he ate 12 challahs, after not eating for a whole week, right?  He’d drink 12 cups of wine for Kiddush, and eat 12 challahs.  And everything was 12:  12 soups, 12 portions of fish, 12 portions of meat, 12 desserts, right?  So can you imagine, I mean, physically?  OK, he’s the greatest Kabalist, but physically, he still has his kishkes like you and me, right?  Imagine how he felt when he went to sleep.  At exactly 12 o’clock, he would hear a voice from Heaven saying, whatever his name was, they called him by his name.  And they said, “Please get up to learn Torah, because it’s midnight…”

Listen to this!  He would say, “Ribbono Shel Olam, Master of the world, I’m so tired.  Tell me the truth, can’t the world continue without my learning tonight?”  And he would mamash hear Gd’s voice saying, “My most precious son, I promise you, the world cannot exist without your learning Torah.”  Can you imagine?  I want to bless you that, not only do I want to bless you to love each other, but also I bless you to tell each other every second, mamash, that you can’t live without each other, mamash.  If I can make a deal with you under the chuppah, that every morning when you wake up, that you will tell each other that you cannot live without each other;  and every night before you go to sleep, I want you to swear to each other that you will tell each other that you cannot live without each other.  And then I’ll bless you that your children will also tell you that they cannot be without their father and their mother, because so many children think that they could do so much better without them.  I bless you that your children should always, always need you.

 

 

How Could I Live Without Being a Jew?

 

And I bless you:  Your house should be filled with holiness, filled with sforim.  Mamash, I bless you to have the deepest, most glorious library in the world.  I don’t mean a library of books.  I mean sforim, sforim.  Do you know what sefer means?  Sefer comes from the words “Sapir veyalom” [jewels, shining].  Do you know that a book written by Gd, it’s not just a book, it’s shining.  It fills the whole room with light.  And I bless you, before you go to sleep, you should look at your books, and say, “Ribbono Shel Olam, how could I live without these holy sforim?  How could I live without Your Holy Torah?  How could I live without being a Jew?  How could I live without being Your servant?”

 

 

Do you know why people get divorced?  Because there was one Amalek person standing under the chuppah who said, “I bet it won’t last.”