The topic that was suggested is how to try to develop ourselves to become I think the phrase that was conveyed was deeper people to live with a depth. So I just wanted to share a couple of maybe random thoughts not anything not anything less comprehensive. We know that Chazal speak of shnei yetzarim. We have a yetzer hatov and a yetzer hara. On the most basic level, yetzer hatov means that we have a capacity an attraction to devarim ruchniyim, devarim sichliyim, spiritual, intellectual matters. And the yetzer hara is that we have an attraction and impulse for devarim gufniyim, for physical pleasures, for physical involvement. A fundamental distinction between how those respective yetzarim function emerges from the Mesillas Yesharim's Hakdama. So I'll just read you or maybe a couple of lines from the Hakdama. So famously Ramchal begins by saying that likely that the one who's learning his sefer won't find too many chiddushim and therefore the purpose of the sefer is not to learn through it once but to learn again and again to serve as a reminder. And he says it as follows, he says: אין התועלת הנלקט מזה הספר the purpose which can be achieved from this sefer, from Mesillas Yesharim, יצא מן הקריאה בו פעם אחת it won't emerge from learning the sefer once. כי כבר אפשר שלא ימצא הקורא בשכלו חידושים אחר קריאתו שלא היו בו לפני קריאתו אלא מעט
it's entirely likely that you won't find any chiddushim here. אבל התועלת יוצא מן החזרה עליו וההתמדה the purpose will be achieved by constantly reviewing and constantly reinforcing. כי יזכרו לו, here comes the crucial sentence Rabosai, כי יזכרו לו הדברים האלה הנשכחים מבני האדם בטבע because a person will be thereby reminded of inyanei chasidus, inyanei avodas Hashem, here's the phrase הנשכחים מבני האדם בטבע which a person otherwise naturally forgets. So we think of again we have a yetzer hatov and yetzer hara. So we sort of think of, you know, if I'm neutral okay so I'll be equally affected by my yetzer hatov and my yetzer hara. Okay really I should align myself with the yetzer hatov, but if I'll take a stance of neutrality so then I'll sort of be pulled equally in both directions. Ramchal says that's not the case. And one more quote here: וראה כי אין דברי החסידות וענייני היראה והאהבה וטהרת הלב מוטבעים באדם
understand that matters of chasidus, yiras Hashem, ahavas Hashem, the purity of mind and heart, these are not devarim mutba'im be'adam they're not. They're not natural and instinctive. Kemo, I'm skipping a line or so, שימצאו כל תנועותיהן באדם בטבעו כשנה והיקיצה הרעב והשובע וכל שאר התנועות החקוקות בטבענו.
When a person gets tired, it doesn't require a deliberate premeditated decision on his part; it's just a natural physical reaction. A person wakes up when he's slept sufficiently, he wakes up naturally. Hunger is something that a person naturally experiences. Our involvement with physicality is instinctive. If I see a food that I like, I don't make a conscious decision to be drawn to that; I naturally want to eat that food. Physical attraction, physical involvement is something that we experience naturally, instinctively; it doesn't require a deliberate decision. The yetzer ha-tov is something that a person doesn't instinctively... it's not that a person is instinctively drawn. If a person is reflective, then he recognizes and is attracted and wants and will pursue. The yetzer ha-ra functions reflexively, the yetzer ha-tov functions reflectively, and that's the crucial distinction. Again, the yetzer ha-ra is reflexive, the same way there are physical reflexes, the doctor hits you here with a hammer and then you have a natural reflex. We respond again to physical stimuli naturally, instinctively. Spiritual matters require reflection. Ultimately, the yetzer ha-tov is a stronger and more potent force than the yetzer ha-ra and it can channel the yetzer ha-ra that the yetzer ha-ra should express itself only in correct and proper ways. But the yetzer ha-tov has to be activated by our thinking and living reflectively. And if a person again what we spoke about, the so-called stance of neutrality, if a person will go through life, then he's just going to be drawn to the yetzer ha-ra because the yetzer ha-ra happens naturally. And that's what Ramchal says, that the default setting is, if we don't make a concerted effort to live reflectively, the default setting is that the subject matter Mesillas Yesharim הדברים הנשכחים מבני האדם בטבע. A person is naturally going to forget it. These things are going to just be naturally forgotten; they're not instinctive actions or reactions; they're reflective actions. Now, it's certainly true that a person can through constant reinforcement develop, certain instincts can be developed and the yetzer ha-tov can be developed in such a way, but we need to understand again this fundamental distinction. You know sometimes when we're all familiar with phenomenon you know when guys are in Yeshiva and there's a framework which very helpfully encourages them and steers them in the right direction. So they're preoccupied with learning with growth and then sometimes it happens you know hopefully it will never happen again but but sometimes it happens that when at at a future stage in life when a person assumes the responsibility for parnassah making a living for supporting a family so then a person just gets so caught up in those preoccupations and occupations and a person is supposed to make hishtadlus for parnassah. Not that the person isn't supposed to be involved with that. But if he's involved with that without making this concerted effort to be living reflectively so then it's just naturally going to happen that he's going to lose his focus on dvarim ruchniim that he's not going to be mindful of the the aspirations that that he had earlier and at every stage of life we we need to always try to be living reflectively. That's why they they tell the story about many gedolei olam. It's it's told about the Chofetz Chaim. It's hard to know when when you read stories which ones are true which ones are not true but sometimes even if you don't know whether it's factually true you know you can at least judge that it's no that it's true on another level. That that they used to carve out time for hisbodedus. Used to carve out time just a quiet time to be alone for solitude to be able to think to be able to reflect to be able to to take stock and it's very very important to as a way to try to ensure that we don't just lapse into that mode of living where things are nishkachim b'teva as the Ramchal describes. That's one thought. Another thought in terms of looking to for growth to try to live with depth. So if there's one middah that a person can choose to focus on whenever you hear that so obviously you know there's at you know at best tremendous oversimplification and and it's not really intended literally. But with that with that disclaimer if there's one middah that a person wants to focus on it's the middah of consistency. And and what typifies people who develop their potential is that they're people of remarkable consistency. I think the they give a mashal from Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz that that Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz said you know if you let's say you want to boil some some water for a cup of tea. So he said if you if you take the the tea kettle and you put it on the fire for a minute and pull it off for a minute and you put it back on for a minute and then you pull it back off in a minute put it back on pull it back off it's never going to boil. That that you need that constancy and consistency in order to in order to develop. So if there's one middah it's obviously not I think for many of us it's not a middah which is comes so naturally and and requires an avodah and requires being mindful of trying to to develop and obviously we're not going to you know on day one we're not going to be batting anywhere close to to a thousand. We're not going to be challenging Ted Williams who was the last person to hit over four hundred. We're not going to be we're not going to be. But if there's one middah to try to be koneh, it's that middah of consistency. And the third thought and with that I'll conclude, I think maybe the Ramban has this in his Iggeres that he writes to his son that whenever you learn something when you finish learning, and it doesn't matter whether it was Gemara, Halacha, Mussar, whatever the area of Torah that a person should always ask himself is there anything I learned here that I now need to apply. How do I apply halacha le-ma'aseh? How do I implement what I learned? If I was learning Hilchos Netilas Yadayim, okay, so what are the halachos now of Netilas Yadayim that I need to be aware of that I need to be mindful of in washing my hands. If it's a shmuze, so what are the principles that I'm looking to take away and to implement that whenever a person finishes learning he should see how he can translate it, how he can translate it halacha le-ma'aseh. Okay. Ad kan, those are the ten steps that the Rav has set himself to commit to. Ask them if they have any other or if they'd also like to ask the Rav questions. Okay, maybe we'll get to that later on in the function. I believe the Rav was of the opinion that staying in America's chinuch is of value instead of Eretz Yisrael. What would he say or how does this war and our current situation affect that? So as you correctly referenced the Rav zichrono livracha was of the opinion that if a person is going to make an impact in chinuch in chutz la-aretz and wouldn't make a comparable impact in Eretz Yisrael or alternately even if he could make a comparable impact that maybe in chutz la-aretz it's a makom she-ein ish if the job that he'll do in chutz la-aretz no one else would do ma she-kein if he'll come to Eretz Yisrael so the job he would potentially do someone else might do that that would warrant staying in chutz la-aretz. You know in the hierarchy of Torah values, nothing equals transmitting Torah, transmitting massorah. There's no value that equals that. There are many values within Torah values but in the hierarchy that's the highest within the hierarchy to transmit the massorah to have such an impact. How does the war change things? On one level it doesn't. On another level, I think European Jewry even before the war were already getting very strong messages as to how tenuous their place has become in their respective host countries. Those of us living in the US are operating with more of an illusion because we weren't necessarily getting those messages, but immediately with the Hamas yimach shemam atrocities of Shmini Atzeres, so right away the explosion of such vile antisemitism in America certainly drove home for a lot of people that American Jewry's place is also tenuous. If that will continue to spur Aliyah and the Anglo presence in Eretz Yisroel will then increase and there'll be more need and more opportunities for chinuch here, so then it will increasingly become efshar l'kayeim shneim and it won't be that either/or which for many people it was, and adaraba, again the need will be for the different style of chinuch will become greater here. So on that level, yitachen that the momentum will impact the reality, will change the facts on the ground and therefore can change the calculus for a person who's deliberating. I apologize for the crass mashal, but whenever a person goes shopping, if I walk into the department store, I have to know what I'm looking to buy. I'm not just going to get lost and wander around. To choose what yeshiva is the best place for someone, a person has to know what it is that he's looking to get from the yeshiva. That doesn't necessarily provide a hundred percent of the answer. A person also has to know himself. A rebbe and a talmid is a type of a shidduch. The halacha is that a person is allowed to leave Eretz Yisroel to go to chutz l'aretz to learn Torah. So the Yerushalmi is muva and explains what the noam is in yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel, that that's what that halacha is assuming. So it's no, even when there are yeshivos in Eretz Yisroel, לאו מכל אדם זוכה ללמוד. So one variable in making the decision is knowing what a person is looking for, knowing what he's looking for in terms of a level of learning, a derech hachaim, a particular masorah within our general masorah. And the other variable is a person has to know himself. And with those two, so then a person can hope to try to make the right decision. For guys in Shana Bet in Eretz Yisroel and plan on going to YU, if the opportunity arises to stay in Eretz Yisroel, is it better to take the opportunity to stay and not go to YU? And if not, how can one maximize their time in YU while maintaining the desire to return to Eretz Yisroel? Should you stay in Eretz Yisroel as opposed to going back to YU? I guess it depends upon what the opportunity is in Eretz Yisroel in terms of what opportunities that opportunity provides. Al hatzad that... It's, it's you know, it's kind of related to what we were just talking about. We forget things when we're mesiach da'as. If we make a concerted effort not to forget, then we don't forget. So if the connection to Eretz Yisrael that someone has forged during the time here, if a person doesn't pay attention to it once he gets back to chutz la'aretz, well then it's going to weaken and you know, he may three years later not find himself with such a burning desire to come back. But if he's you know, if he's very conscious of maintaining it, of cultivating it, then b'siyata d'shmaya he's not going to forget. He's not going to... it's only through hesech hadaas that it will be frittered. If a person remains focused on it and a person is reinforcing it, I don't know, does that mean that you have a seder in Yehuda Halevi in the Kuzari, does that mean that you join the Aliyah club, or does it mean both, or does it mean you know, many other possible ways of staying focused and keeping the flame burning? The main thing is not to be mesiach da'as. Can we go back to the question before? I wanted to know more about the hashkafic differences or nuances between YU and Kerem B'Yavneh. Why are you better? So I can, I can try bli neder b'ezras Hashem to talk a little bit about YU. I can't engage in comparisons, so I'm not, I'm not talking about any other place. I'm not describing what any other place is or isn't. I'll describe bli neder b'ezras Hashem a little bit what I've come to know first hand over the past decade, but I can't, I'm not engaging in comparisons. A life of avodas Hashem on the one hand is there's single-mindedness. That it's very easy that life is only about one thing. And that's about מה השם אלקיך שאל מעמך. That's all life is about. What's life about? To know מה השם אלקיך שאל מעמך and to do it. There's a single-mindedness. L'maise, we know from the Torah that what Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants from us though encompasses many different things. And what Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants from us is to balance many different practical commitments. There's only one axiological commitment, which is to do retzon Hashem. But retzon Hashem translates in different contexts, at different times, in different occasions. It translates, it guides us, it instructs us in different ways. So retzon Hashem tells us that תלמוד תורה כנגד כולם. But retzon Hashem also tells us that a person is supposed to make a hishtadlus for parnassah, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu created a natural world, a world that functions according to chukei hateva and requires us to live on that level, that all bitachon notwithstanding, a person is supposed to live on that natural level. So a person has to have, be able to strike a balance between that commitment to Talmud Torah and making a hishtadlus for parnassah. Another area of balance that is needed in Avodas Hashem is how we interact with the outside world, and interact doesn't just mean personal interactions between Jews and non-Jews, although that is part of it also, but interact even intellectually and culturally with the outside world. What we accept and welcome from the outside world and what we reject and what we spurn from the outside world and clearly it's not an all-or-nothing thing; it's not that someone is supposed to accept everything, that obviously isn't the case, but it's also not the case that a person is not supposed to accept anything. Just to illustrate, it says in Shulchan Aruch that when you have a shayla in halacha which requires medical input, so if the doctor who's expert is not Jewish, so then we look to him for his medical input. Again, the Rav has to process it, and ultimately the Rav will decide whether or not the choleh needs to eat on Yom Kippur or not, but the input will come from him. So to find the balance between what one filters out and what one lets in from the outside world is another area in which there needs to be balance in living a life of Torah. That's certainly one of the values that YU traditionally has sought to transmit to its talmidim. Another value which is so crucial and so vital is that Torah should never ever be politicized, that a person's stature in Torah should be measured by his greatness in Torah, his yiras shamayim, his humility. Whether or not his views accord with the derech that one follows in terms of so many of the issues that differentiate different drachim in Avodas Hashem, so one should recognize and have the appropriate respect for genuine Gedolei Yisroel, whether they're the Moreh Derech of our community or not. Torah should never be politicized. In Rav Schechter's shiurim, so you hear he quotes the full range of Gedolei Yisroel, he'll quote from Rav Kook, he'll quote from the Minchas Elazar. Obviously they had very different opinions on lots of things, but they were both very great people; they were both Gedolei Yisroel and the fact that halacha lemaaseh one is going to live within a particular path within Torah, but Torah's not supposed to be politicized in the sense of not acknowledging, respecting, and even learning from those who are not necessarily our primary Moreh Derech. That's another core value of the Yeshiva. In some of the drashos that Rav Soloveitchik delivered before Mizrachi, which were then some of them were then gathered in what was first called the Four drashos, then they added another one was called the Five drashos, so he speaks rhetorically of a fourteenth ani maamin. Again it was rhetorical obviously, the fourteenth ani maamin is that Torah can be completely. Followed, implemented regardless of what historical epoch a person lives in, regardless of what the metzius of his day is. Now the reason that that's rhetorical is obviously that that's part of the eighth ani ma'amin of the eternity of Torah and the eighth or ninth Torah min hashamayim and זאת התורה לא תהא מוחלפת. That the way to, and the way to do that is not to change Torah but to recognize that sometimes as historical circumstances change so the Torah's directive changes. Maybe in Eastern Europe it would have been considered a pirtzah at a certain point to teach Torah in a language other than Yiddish, but at a certain point that obviously no longer became the case. And sort of recognizing what tactical, not substantive, never ever substantive changes, but whatever tactical changes are needed to respond to modernity. One of the ideas that the Rav talks about here is that the need for advanced secular education is that realistically Jews are not all going to be electricians and plumbers or businessmen. They're going to go into fields that require advanced education. And if one doesn't show how that can be done while maintaining a full commitment to yahadus, if one doesn't show how that can be done while still aspiring to be a ben torah, to be a talmid chacham, so then we're just pointing people on a path of assimilation. So that principle of recognizing how to meet tactically how to meet the challenges of modernity, not how to change Rachmana litzlan substance, but tactically how to meet the challenges of the era in which one lives and not just sort of literally imitating the tactics and reproducing tactics from 150 or 200 years ago when it was a different metzius. Once upon a time in Eastern Europe yeshivos they didn't teach dikduk. So someone once asked the Chofetz Chaim it says in Masechet Berachos that כל הקורא קריאת שמע ומדקדק מצננין לו גיהנום. Rachmana litzlan, a person has to go to gehennom if he said krias shema and he was medakdek in krias shema. He knew the shva na from a shva nach and he pronounced and he articulated the krias shema properly so then mitzannin lo gehennom they turn the temperature down. So why don't you in Radin or in the other yeshivos why don't you teach dikduk? So the Chofetz Chaim answered he said you're right. He says but what's the din bedieved? He says the din bedieved is קרא ולא דקדק יצא. If you say krias shema but you don't know the difference between a shva na and a shva nach, yatza. But dikdek velo kora is not yatza. But if you know the dikduk but you don't say krias shema then you're not yatza. So once upon a time what that comment from the Chofetz Chaim reflected is that when haskalah began so one of the ploys they used to try and make inroads into the frum community was with things like dikduk. So because of that it became off-limits. But that's not true anymore. That's not the battle over assimilation is not going to be lost by knowing the difference between a shva na and a shva nach anymore. I don't know anyone who's had a fault in emunah because they discovered the difference between a shva na and the shva nach. So to recognize again what tactics were just those and appropriate for a particular historical era and then now are different. The same thing is when it comes to chinuch habanos. Chinuch habanos also. So these are all I think are some of the elements of the mesorah that we try and transmit. How does Rebbi think we could open a dialogue with people of different Hashkafos that may not recognize the Gedolim that you hold in a high esteem? Depends. Depends whether there's any openness, depends whether there's any interest. If there's no openness then you're not going to. Such a thing Chazal tell us in Yevamos, there's such a thing as a devar hanishma and a devar she'eino nishma. If there's an openness, so then it's not so difficult. And if there's no openness, it's impossible. Doesn't matter what you'll do. I think I once heard quoted that the Baalei Mussar say דברים היוצאים מן הלב נכנסים אל הלב. But what does it mean? It's not always true. Sometimes a person can very sincerely say something and it doesn't go anywhere. So I think the Baalei Mussar say no, if two hearts are attuned, so then דברים היוצאים מן הלב נכנסים אל הלב. But if I'm not open to what you have to say, it doesn't matter how sincere you are, it doesn't matter how effective and compelling your presentation is. If I'm not really interested, I'm not really open in hearing what you have to say, I'm not going to hear it. So it depends on whether or not that receptivity, that interest, that openness is there. Could Rebbi give maybe just some criteria or how to know how we should define who is a gadol? There are certain comments and things being said publicly by people, people we hear from, figures that people claim is a gadol. Those comments can be either hurtful or seem to be at odds to certain values, and it would be helpful how should a person figure out what people we should consider gedolim? So the easier part of the answer and of us trying to figure that out is there are certain behavioral markers. Rav Chaim Volozhiner comments in Ruach Chaim, I mean he didn't write it but it's the notes of his shiurim in Pirkei Avos, that on the first mishna משה קיבל תורה מסיני ומסרה ליהושע ויהושע לזקנים וזקנים לנביאים
that each of those links in the mesorah are identified and defined by their extraordinary humility. And he quotes pesukim for it, beginning with the pasuk והאיש משה עניו מאד. And that has remained a hallmark of Gedolei Yisrael. So that sort of a behavioral marker, as is the integrity in terms of behavior, those are behavioral markers. The more difficult thing for us in our ignorance to assess is the understanding of Torah which is a sine qua non for Gedolei Yisrael. So the more we know, the better chance we have at trying to understand that. There used to be, I think they went out of business a while ago, so Rabbaim will know but I don't think you will, there used to be Sy Syms' School of Business. So Syms founded a department store called Syms. And their advertisement was that an educated consumer is our best customer. What they used to do is when those who would manufacture, let's say with men's apparel, when those who would manufacture suits, so at the end of the year, next year they wanted to roll out a new style suit, so they needed to get rid of this year's merchandise. So what all the fancy suit brands haven't been able to sell, so at the end of the year they would sell to Syms heavily discounted, and then Syms then sold suits which were top of the line, but if they were one year old, so you got it at a very significant discount. But in order to appreciate what they were giving you, so you had to be a maven, you had to know, you had to know suits. And the more you understood about what a quality suit was, the more you appreciated what you were buying for it. So that was their advertisement, that was their line: an educated consumer is our best customer. So being an educated hedyot, the more educated we are as hedyotos, so the better positioned we are to try to recognize Gedolim. Even so, obviously it remains a challenge. But one thing that we're looking for on that level is Torah consists of an awful lot of details, an awful lot of se'ifim in Shulchan Aruch. Because Torah guides every facet of our lives, so Torah is very detailed and there are lots of minutiae in Halacha. But then there are also overarching principles in Torah. And clearly there can't be Gadlus in Torah, regardless of how encyclopedic one's knowledge of the minutiae is, there can't be Gadlus in Torah without that understanding of the yesodos of Torah. We spoke before about how Hakadosh Baruch Hu created a natural world, and it's axiomatic to Halacha that we're required to live, all chiyuvey bitachon notwithstanding, it's axiomatic in Halacha, it's one of the pillars on which Halacha is built. It's not, it's also individual halachos, but it's more than an individual detail in Halacha, it's a pillar on which Halacha rests, is that we're obligated to live on that natural level. And for instance, so that's where the Yerushalmi says that if a person sees a situation of pikuach nefesh and he runs to the rav to ask a shaileh about should I be mechallel Shabbos, shouldn't I be mechallel Shabbos, הרי זה שופך דמים. Why is it הרי זה שופך דמים? Because we live in a natural world. In a natural world, if a person's having a heart attack and instead of driving him to the hospital right away, a person stops to call his rav and find out should I do it or shouldn't I do that, so those few minutes can make the difference between life and death. We live in a natural world. The Ramban writes at the beginning of Parshas Vayishlach that the reason the Torah records Parshas Vayishlach is to teach us how Yaakov Avinu in his impending encounter with Esav, so the Ramban begins, he says that Hakadosh Baruch Hu saved Yaakov Avinu, and then within the same breath that the Ramban says, but יעקב אבינו לא בטח בצדקתו vehishtadel b'chol yicholto. He prepared himself to engage in milchama with Esav. Because yes, we believe that ultimately Hakadosh Baruch Hu will determine things, but part of what Hakadosh Baruch Hu takes into account is whether or not we're doing what we're supposed to be doing, what we're obligated to be doing on the natural level. Ramban repeats that again in Parshas Shoftim, he says that כי תצא למלחמה על אויבך, when you have to go to war, Rachmana litzlan, וראית סוס ורכב עם רב ממך, and you'll see an overpowering force, לא תירא מהם כי ה' אלוהיך עמך המעלך מארץ מצרים.
Don't be afraid because Hakadosh Baruch Hu is with you. And then okay, so who's going to win? Who's going to fight the war first? Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And then it says ופקדו שרי צבאות בראש העם. And then it says you have to appoint military commanders. What are you appointing military commanders? Because התורה תצוה בדרך ארץ. The Torah says... כי השם אלוקיכם ההולך עמכם להילחם לכם עם אויביכם להושיע אתכם.
Don't be afraid because Hakadosh Baruch Hu is with you. And then the, okay, so who's going to win, who's going to fight the wars? It's Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And then it says ופקדו שרי צבאות בראש העם. And then it says you have to appoint military commanders. What are you appointing military commanders? No, because התורה תצווה בדרך ארץ. The Torah says that beRatzon Hashem is Hakadosh Baruch Hu, Hakadosh Baruch Hu doesn't like to perform open miracles. He doesn't like to perform supernatural feats and because of that he requires that we act on a natural level and because of that there's cause and effect and there are consequences to what we do and don't do on a natural level also. So those are yesodos of Torah. If a person only knows the yesod habitachon but doesn't know this, if a person only knows this and doesn't know the yesod habitachon, so that kind of skewing of yesodos of Torah is not consistent with gadlus. Gadlus is not only knowing every other seifim, all the minutiae, it's especially knowing also the yesodos of all of Torah. How does one create a healthy and correct perspective relationship with olam hagashmi throughout zman? You know there's a tendency that we naturally have to define moderation in relation to those around us, to the world around us. And to have a healthy and correctly proportioned relationship to olam hagashmi, at least in America, one has to resist that tendency of sort of defining ourselves and moderation by looking around us. You know there's so much, there are people who struggle but there's also so much affluence and the assumption of what's needed as opposed to being a luxury or a comfort or an indulgence is just has just become so inflated that we have to be careful. You know we have to look in the Rambam's hilchos deios, not just for knowing that we need to be moderate but to know what moderation is and not to define that in a relationship to the world around us. The world around us is obsessed with olam hazeh and taanugei olam hazeh and one can be moderate in relation to the world around us and still be way way out of sync. Are there any consistent or constant issues concerns that you see in the tekufos of dating and marriage that you think we should be aware of or things that should be done or worked on? I think one can without too much oversimplification reduce things to a few salient points. Dating certainly provides a context and a framework to see if two people enjoy spending time together and obviously that is of value and is definitely a box that people should be looking to check off. But it shouldn't be mistaken for, I think we all know let's say from our friendships. There are people that we enjoy spending time with but we don't necessarily have so much respect for them. They can be fun people but we don't necessarily look up to them, we don't necessarily have that much respect for them, we don't necessarily want them to be a formative influence on our children. And while that is a value, it shouldn't eclipse the value of when a young man is getting married, he wants that not only should he be able to have a sense of companionship and enjoy spending time with his wife, but he wants that his wife should be someone that he wants to be a formative influence on his children, that can be a role model for the children and need to recognize the primacy of that, not to the exclusion of that companionship. Yeah. I also think of hishtadlus and not so much juggling many factors and perspective, having the right hashkafa as well as which efforts to take in the realm of effort as normally considering choosing a degree or trying to find out what this career path would look like of people who've trodden down that path. The era of AI, I was curious to hear Rebbe's thoughts as I know personally of many friends, one such example was my chavrusa back in Rebbe's shiur thirteen years ago, brilliant individual who was training to finish his PhD as a chemist and has just discovered that the past six years of his hard work can be reproduced easily by AI. And for many people looking into the hishtadlus therefore now of the future, it's trying to understand not, okay, so I have this path and this path, I have to consider how to juggle everything, as much as many industries, at least perspective from many, that many industries are on the precipice of being completely overturned by AI. So when facing the unknown in terms of hishtadlus, almost like other eras in Jewish history where there was a massive change which was about to involve people, to what degree does one invest in conventional wisdom of okay, so like this has always been around, this will continue to be around when there's a very good chance, I don't know exactly how high, that it can be replaced by something we haven't quite seen. At what point then does one, I don't want to say give up, but just shift gears and just wait for siyata d'shmaya? We're still going to need food or other such things. You know, in other areas I pretend to be competent, but when it comes to this, I can't even pull that off. I can't even pretend to be competent. I don't mean without the comparison I don't want to give. I don't mean to compare necessarily in terms of degree. But you know at various junctures in history, there have been revolutions that totally changed the way people make a living, whether it was the Industrial Revolution and certainly the movement to living in cities as opposed to out in the country. And you know as the definition of hishtadlus is that it makes sense, is that it's very cogent on the natural level. Again, we don't believe in koach v'otzem yadi, but the definition of hishtadlus again is Hakadosh Baruch Hu says this is a natural world, I'm going to channel things naturally, which means that I'm only going to channel things if you function and make your effort on the natural level. So I think as much as possible, again whatever unknowns remain notwithstanding, but as much as possible, a person has to try to anticipate what the implications are going to be. Like certainly some fields are not going to be affected. All the fields of bein adam lachaveiro, whether it's teaching or people who do therapy or something, there's no—you can't—yes, you can have a computer teach math. You can have a computer teach math. But you know one of the lessons of COVID and education on Zoom was, you know, it maybe in theory it works but in practice it doesn't work. So it's hard to see—I'm not saying the field of education isn't affected, but it's not going to be displaced, it's not going to be shut down. And the same thing in terms of therapists, whether it's psychologists, whether it's social workers, people are not going to get what they need from talking to a computer program. A computer program—it isn't going to happen. It isn't going to happen. The creativity which sparks new businesses, which sparks entrepreneurship—computers are not creative. I mean they can have tremendous bekius but I don't think—by the definition they only have what you put in them. So those kinds of things presumably can't and won't be shut down. Will some jobs be eliminated? Efsher will. You know, there used to be toll collectors on bridges and there's no more toll collectors on bridges. I remember Zekher L'Tzaddik Livracha once telling me that when they first came out with mechon matzos, so there were two possible objections. Somehow, you know, that when you make a mechon matzos, it's not lishmah because you're just pressing the button on the machine, you're not kneading it with your hands, etc. And the other one wasn't objecting based on lishmah but they were worried about all the people who earned their living from baking the matzos, how they would—so there certainly will be jobs and fields very much impacted, but I think to a certain degree we can prognosticate. And that's all hishtadlus requires of us. The bar of hishtadlus is to do what we can on a natural level, you know, and whatever is impossible to foresee on a natural level. The Rav obviously supported and taught women Gemara. How has that ideology changed over time or...? Chazal unequivocally say that the father should not take the initiative with his daughter, I mean in teaching her Torah, and that's especially true in terms of Torah Sheba'al Peh. So that's something unequivocal. I mean it's Masechet Sotah but then in terms of how we pasken. Mi'idach gisa, it's also as abundantly clear that one is supposed to transmit Yahadus to women, that women should be deeply rooted in our mesorah and should be ovdei Hashem as well. And there was a recognition amongst the many Gedolei Yisrael, they didn't agree necessarily on the details on the curricular particulars, but that required teaching Torah Sheba'al Peh, not as an Eis La'asos going against the Gemara in Sotah, but the Gemara in Sotah is talking about it as theoretical knowledge. And this is a question of transmitting emunah. One has to constantly, every generation has to assess and reassess what the how the challenges of Chinuch Habanos in their generation are best met. It's not necessarily going to be the answer the same for every community. That's why we can't only quote the Chafetz Chaim in Likutei Halachos or only quote the Rav. Again, those Maaseh Rav certainly remain of vital importance in terms of the yesod that you have to meet the challenges of the generation, but how you meet those challenges depends upon that generation and we learn from experience of the past 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years. So one can't just slavishly transpose because you're ultimately dealing with responding to today's metzius which isn't necessarily identical with yesterday's metzius. Or if it is, that itself requires a judgment of the Chachamim who are alive today. How much should the Moreh Nevuchim be studied? In the Rambam post-Rambam era there were many advancements in Kabbalah which he wasn't necessarily aware of or modern philosophy. There's nothing dated or outdated in the Rambam other than some scientific facts in terms of say the cosmogony. Beyond that and even there what the Rambam is sort of seeing in them may be true for modern cosmogony as well. That's a different shmooze. But beyond that there's nothing outdated in anything the Rambam ever wrote. Well whether there are other concerns as to... Whether one should or shouldn't study Moreh Nevukhim. But being outdated is not the concern. We solved all the world's problems, I think. We didn't break. Either way everyone, maybe to give some time before I know he has a shiur very shortly, and then next door for the tefillos, so just thank you very much for sharing over.