A Spiritual Perspective on Antisemitism

This is a shmuess of Yiden of Makvitz, Mari D'asra. When the Torah guides us how to respond in a time of milchama, in a time of impending war Rachmana Litzlan, so the Torah says that our response is supposed to be two-pronged. We're supposed to respond both on a natural level as well as on a spiritual and religious level. On a natural level, so an army goes out to confront that threat. אפילו חתן מחופתו כלה מחופתה. That even a chuppah is disrupted in a time Rachmana Litzlan of milchama. And yet the Torah also says וכי תבאו מלחמה בארצכם על הצר הצרר אתכם. If there is impending war Rachmana Litzlan, so then there's a mitzvah of ve-hareioskem b'chatzotzros to blow the trumpets. The Rambam explains in the beginning of Hilchos Taanios that blowing the chatzotzros is דבר זה מדרכי התשובה. That what it represents is it represents a non-verbal form of tefillah which is situated in a broader context of teshuvah. So we're supposed to respond to things that happen in our lives, specifically now we're talking in terms of nationally, collectively, on two levels: on a natural level in terms of making hishtadlus, trying to make effort to counter the threat on the natural plane, on the natural level, but simultaneously we're supposed to address what is the ultimate level and where the ultimate cause and effect plays out on a spiritual and religious level. The fact that the following comments are limited to a spiritual perspective and spiritual responses to antisemitism isn't intended to imply that that's the only response and that that is the only level on which we're supposed to respond. It's just that that's what we're focusing on in these next few minutes, but the response is really supposed to be on both levels. In the Rambam's lifetime, in certain areas, the Jewish community was confronted with severe severe persecution. It was a time of shmad where they were being pushed towards apostasy. And before the Rambam provides halachic guidelines for how to respond in such a situation and whether or not the situation in his day what was being demanded of people did that really require al pi halachah a response of martyrdom of yeihareig ve-al ya'avor. So before the Rambam gets to that, the Rambam provides us with a sort of meta-historical overview of the persecution that we've suffered, of the most most hateful and violent forms of antisemitism. So in Iggeres Teiman, the Rambam writes that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us the Torah. The Rambam mentions in the hakdamah here that the Rambam didn't set out to write a scholarly essay here but something that would speak to all of us. He wants it something that would be as accessible and as intelligible. So the Rambam doesn't necessarily quote every source that he could have and perhaps would have in a different context. So the Rambam says

דע שזו היא תורת השם האמיתית שניתנה לנו על ידי אדון כל הנביאים הראשון והאחרון.

This Torah, the true Torah, which was given to us by the greatest, the unique one of all prophets. שבתורה הזאת הבדילנו הבורא משאר בני העולם. Through this Torah, Hakadosh Baruch Hu set us apart. Hakadosh Baruch Hu differentiated us from the rest of humanity. שנאמר רק באבותיך חשק השם לאהבה אותם. Hakodosh Boruch Hu desired, he loved, loves your ancestors and accordingly Vayivchar bezaram achareihem בכם מכל העמים כיום הזה and Hakodosh Boruch Hu chose, he selected their children, the progeny of Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov from all the nations of the world. Rambam says it wasn't in our own zchus but it was rather because of the zchus of our Avos through their yedias Hashem, through their service of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And then the Rambam says ומפני שיחד אותנו הבורא במצוותיו ובחוקותיו, because Hakodosh Boruch Hu singled us out, differentiated us, made us unique through the Torah, through the mitzvos והתבארה מעלתנו על זולתנו, and it was clear that Hakodosh Boruch Hu had elevated us above the other nations of the world, Shene’emar

ומי גוי גדול אשר לו חוקים ומשפטים צדיקים ככל התורה הזאת אשר אנכי נותן לפניכם היום.

What other nation is there? Right? It's a rhetorical question that the Torah is posing in Parshas Va’eschanan. What other nation is there who has such a Torah as you have? So the Rambam says as a result of that קינאונו הגויים כולם על דתנו קינאה גדולה, that because of that it inspired a great and intense jealousy amongst the nations of the world. And the Rambam says that because of that, because of that resentment for bechiras Yisrael, that the Jewish people are the am hanivchar, because the nations of the world don't acquiesce to that bechira of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, he says really רצונם להילחם בה' ולעשות מריבה עמו. He says really the war that they're waging is not a war against us, it's a war against the Ribbono shel Olam. And he says and that's why throughout our history we've been confronted with persecution. Then he goes on to say that the persecution, the attempt to destroy us has taken two forms. It's taken physical form. There have been those who have sought to destroy us physically and then there have been those who have sought to destroy us intellectually, philosophically, through polemics. And then he says in sum, combine those two approaches. The Rambam says that Yeshayahu Hanavi already prophesied these two forms of attack on us as the Ribbono shel Olam’s am hanivchar. Yeshayahu Hanavi already said, the Rambam says כל כלי יוצר עליך לא יצלח, any kli, any weapon that will be raised up against you will not succeed, Vechol lashon, any words, any arguments, any polemic, any sophistry תקום אתך למשפט תרשיעי. No, you’ll reject it and you’ll emerge victorious. זאת נחלת עבדי ה' וצדקתם מאתי נאום ה'. So the Rambam clearly indicates that the source of the anti-Semitism throughout the millennia is this profound resentment of bechiras Yisrael. The Drashos HaRan sees this as pshat in a Gemara in Shabbos. The Gemara in Shabbos comments why Har Sinai has that name. The Gemara is assuming that its real name is Chorev and that Sinai is an additional name that was given to it. ויבוא אל הר האלהים חורבה. The first mention of it, it's referred to as Chorev. So this opinion in the Gemara assumes that its initial name as it were. is so right and that Sinai is an additional name which is given to because of a certain association. There's a message in that name. מה הר סיני הר שירדה שנאה לאומות העולם עליו, which the way the Ran understands based on a Midrash in Shir HaShirim Rabbah that he proceeds to quote, כמו שאמרו אם תמצאו את דודי, if you find my beloved, mah tagidu lo, what should you tell him? She-cholat ahavah ani. So we generally translate that as I'm love sick. But the Midrash says that the peshat is that I'm sick on account of the love that I profess for you Hakadosh Baruch Hu. הגידו לו שכל חלאים שאומות העולם מביאות עלי, tell Hakadosh Baruch Hu kavyachol as it were that all the suffering represented metaphorically as illnesses, all the suffering, all the persecution, all the pogroms, the Holocaust, the resurgence of anti-semitism,

הגידו לו שכל חלאים שאומות העולם מביאות עלי אינם אלא בשביל שאני אוהבת אותך. והטעם בזה מפני שהבדילנו השם יתברך מן האומות,

and then in particular the Derashot HaRan highlights the separateness of a Jew as a result of being part of the Am HaNivchar, the prohibition against intermarriage etc. That's one approach that we find in with sources in Chazal, in our Chachmei HaMesora, one perspective on the anti-semitism throughout the millennia. The Netziv famously offers a second complementary approach as well. He has it in two places. The Netziv wrote a commentary on the Haggadah called Imrei Shefer and he comments on the paragraph in the Haggadah

והיא שעמדה לאבותינו ולנו שלא אחד בלבד עמד עלינו לכלותנו אלא שבכל דור ודור עומדים עלינו לכלותנו והקדוש ברוך הוא מצילנו מידם.

So ve-hi is a pronoun. So what's the antecedent of the ve-hi? So the Netziv suggests that he thinks that the antecedent of the ve-hi is not as is generally assumed the havtachah that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us, but it's rather the what Hakadosh Baruch Hu said to Avraham Avinu ידוע תדע כי גר יהיה זרעך בארץ לא להם. That what sustains us is the fact that we're strangers, that we're never fully a part. We have to be we can't be fully a part because we always have to remain apart. We always have to be כי גר יהיה זרעך. And in that context, the Netziv explains as follows:

רצון הקדוש ברוך הוא היה שזרע אברהם יהיו גרים דוקא.

It's the will of Hakadosh Baruch Hu that the progeny of Avraham Avinu, that we, the Jewish people, should be strangers be-eretz lo lahem. וכפי שאמר יעקב לפרעה לגור בארץ באנו. Right? It's a remarkable thing we say in the Haggadah that וירד יעקב מצרימה ויגר שם במתי מעט, so we quote the Derashat HaSifri that

מלמד שלא ירד יעקב אבינו להשתקע במצרים אלא לגור שם.

That Yaakov Avinu didn't move to Mitzrayim to settle, lehishtake'a, but rather lagur, to be there as a stranger, as a ger. But Chazal tell us that Hakadosh Baruch Hu had told Yaakov Avinu that he was going to die in Mitzrayim. ואנכי אעלך גם עלה. So Chazal tell us Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave Yaakov Avinu havtachah that you'll be buried in Eretz Yisrael even though you're going to die in Mitzrayim, you'll be buried in Eretz Yisrael. So what do you mean that לא ירד יעקב אבינו להשתקע במצרים? Hakadosh Baruch Hu told him this is the final move of his life. This is the final place he's going to dwell. So what do you mean he's not settling? No. So it's a matter of attitude. A person can live somewhere and a person can even know that he's going to live out. his remaining days in that place, but attitudinally it's lagur ba-aretz banu. Attitudinally, in terms of the person's attitude, he feels himself not a part, but apart. He feels himself separate. That's what Hakadosh Baruch Hu wanted.

וזה היה רצון הקדוש ברוך הוא והבטחתו לאברהם אבינו שיהיו גרים.

This is both the ratzon Hashem and this was also the promise that Hakadosh Baruch Hu made, the guarantee that he gave to Avraham Avinu that ger yihye zar-acha. ובשביל שישראל נתקלקלו וביקשו להתערב הרבה because Jews wanted to integrate to an unacceptable degree, beyond what's acceptable. Uk-de'ita be-Shemot Rabba, the Midrash says that כשמת יוסף הפרו ברית מילה that after Yosef Hatzaddik died, so then the Jews began to neglect the mitzva of berit mila. Ameru nihiyeh ke-Mitzrayim. We'll be like the Egyptians. Keivan she-asu ken, this is the Midrash in Shemot Rabba to which the Netziv is alluding. Netziv has these same ideas which he presents more, which he compresses here into his commentary on the Haggadah. In the back of the Netziv's commentary in Shir HaShirim he has an essay called She'ar Yisrael. Netziv explains that that's a phrase from the Navi Yeshayahu where he elaborates these ideas at greater length and there he quotes the text of the Midrash. אמרו נהיה כמצרים וכיון שעשו כן, when the Jewish people had this assimilationist impulse, הפך הקדוש ברוך הוא האהבה שהיו המצרים אוהבים for for the Jews into sina. Shene'emar, and as jarring as this idea is, as staggering as it is, the Midrash says it's a pasuk in Tehillim, הפך לבם לשנוא עמו להתנכל בעבדיו. Hakadosh Baruch Hu transformed their mindset, their hearts to hate His capital H people to conspire against His avadav.

מי גרם להם לישראל שיפזרו לבין אומות העולם קרובה שהיו חפצים בהם משום שהם חפצים להתקרב ולהשתקע ולהיות כמותם מאס הקדוש ברוך הוא מפיזרם למקום אחר,

quoting from Chazal, Netziv says. When Jews want to lose, forfeit their identity or part of their identity, when we don't maintain the ger yihye zar-acha on our own, so then Hakadosh Baruch Hu sees to it that it's imposed upon us. One thing that anti-Semites will never allow a Jew to do is to forget the fact that he's Jewish. No matter how much Rachmana litzlan a Jew may want to forget that he's Jewish, so the anti-Semites don't let us forget that we're Jewish. At first glance, these two approaches almost seem opposite, almost seem opposing. That the Rambam says that the source of the persecution, of the anti-Semitism, is Bechiras Yisrael, the fact of Bechiras Yisrael. The Netziv seems to say in the opposite direction that on the contrary, it's our, we inspire it, it's not because of Hakadosh Baruch Hu's bechira, but we're responsible, we trigger it. But the emet says that the Netziv himself really integrates these two approaches. In that essay Shear Yisrael, the Netziv basically says, and it's just frightening how historically accurate what the Netziv says is, that Sinas Yisrael, anti-Semitism is always present. Sometimes it's dormant, it's beneath the surface, and sometimes it's awakened. It's always there because of what the Rambam explains, what according to the Drashos HaRan, the Gemara in Shabbos explains of Sinai that ירדה שנאה לאומות העולם, that the hatred that the umos ha-olam have for us comes from Har Sinai, comes from bechiras Yisrael. It's there, it's always there. Sometimes it's dormant. The Netziv says, and what triggers it? When does it cease to be dormant? When is it awakened? He says, so that's the second complementary perspective that he offers us. But the emes is that even if the Netziv hadn't integrated these two approaches for us, practically, the upshot is the same. The response to a resurgence in anti-Semitism has to be for us to deepen and intensify our genuine Jewish identity. Anti-Semitism again forces that identity upon us in the ugliest and cruelest of ways, and the spiritual response to anti-Semitism has to be to cultivate that Jewish identity in the most genuine and noble of ways. So what is Jewish identity entail? So let's just review again, there are no chiddushim in anything that has been said or in what will be said, a few basic fundamental elements, components of what genuine Jewish identity is, and it's intensifying that, it's reaffirming that, it's recommitting ourselves to that, which lich'ora is the response that we're supposed to have. First of all, Jewish identity means a practical commitment to Torah mitzvos.

אשר קדשנו במצותיו וצונו אשר בחר בנו מכל העמים ונתן לנו את תורתו.

Sometimes we might be inclined to think that, well, is that perspective really need to be articulated for ourselves? Baruch Hashem, we are shomer Torah u-mitzvos. But Jewish identity and for that matter, shmiras Torah u-mitzvos is not an all-or-nothing proposition, and it's not necessarily the case that when Baruch Hashem that nothing isn't the appropriate description. It doesn't mean that there isn't room for improvement, doesn't mean that there isn't room for upgrading. We can be shomer Torah u-mitzvos in the sense that again, practically we comply with what the Torah tells us to do. We can even up that a notch. We can be shomer Torah u-mitzvos in the sense that our religious commitment is a focus within our lives, is a central focus within our lives, and obviously both of those are very important and both of those are wonderful. But neither of those really represents the ultimate of what we're supposed to strive to achieve. The Rambam writes in a teshuva, the context of the teshuva is the Rambam was asked about. the listening to Arabic music with lyrics. So the Rambam didn't think too much of music. He didn't think too much of the Arabs, and certainly the combination of Arabic music didn't enthuse him too much. So after the Rambam quotes the sources that he thinks are relevant, he says, but in general he says, he says the question clearly betrays a mistaken orientation, a mistaken focus. The Rambam says when Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives us the Torah, he says: ואתם תהיו לי ממלכת כהנים וגוי קדוש. He says, what does it mean to be a goy kadosh? So the Rambam writes, again, this is in Hebrew translation from the Judeo-Arabic, so the Rambam writes as follows. He says שהכוונה בנו שנהיה גוי קדוש. Again, this is what we aspire to.

ולא יהיה לנו מעשה ולא דיבור אלא בשלמות או במה שמביא אל השלמות.

Everything we do should be calibrated towards achieving perfection in avodas Hashem. Everything a person does, this is the goal that each one of us as a card-carrying member of the goy kadosh aspires to. It's a lifetime quest. But the quest is to reach a level that לא יהיה לנו מעשה ולא דיבור. There should be neither action nor speech that's frivolous that isn't calibrated and calculated towards the goal of אלא בשלמות או במה שמביא אל השלמות. So even Baruch Hashem we're shomer Torah umitzvos, even Baruch Hashem bli ayin hara Torah umitzvos are a central focus in our life. The Rambam says the challenge, the aspiration that we're all supposed to have, the quest that we're all supposed to be engaged in as part of a goy kadosh is that not that it should be a focus, a central focus, it should be the focus. The focus of our life. Goy kadosh, the semantics of kadosh. Kadosh means something that's set aside, something that's consecrated. The Jewish people are a people who are consecrated. They're consecrated to avodas Hashem. Torah umitzvos isn't just a lifestyle, it isn't just a focus, it is the raison d'etre of life. It is the defining focus of life. What are some of the other elements of Jewish identity that we want to look to reaffirm and intensify as part of our response? The Gemara in Yevamos tells us that there are ג' סימנים באומה זו. There are three defining, identifying character traits in the Jewish people, that they're רחמנים ביישנים וגומלי חסדים. A compassionate, sensitive people, a people with a sense of refinement, dignity, maybe somewhat introverted people, vegomlei chasadim, who practice kindness. And this isn't just an aggadic statement that the Rambam writes based on the Gemara and it says like this in Shulchan Aruch as well. כל מי שיש בו עזות פנים. This is what the Rambam writes in Hilchos Issurei Biah and the Mechaber has something similar in the beginning of Even Ha'ezer. כל מי שיש בו עזות פנים. If you see someone again with an arrogance v'achzariyus and cruelty vesonei es habriyos, hates people, ואינו גומל להם חסד, and doesn't act with kindness, chosheshin lo beyoser. You have to question the person's lineage. If you see If you see those three traits coalescing within a person, you have to question the person's lineage. חוששין לו ביותר שמא גבעוני הוא. Maybe he's a descendant of the Givonim שסימני ישראל האומה הקדושה the identifying characteristic traits of the holy nation of Jews that they're bashanim, rachmanim, ve-gomlei chasadim. It would seem that in today's world of those three defining identifying characteristic traits, the one that's most susceptible to being distorted is that of bashanim. We live in a world in a society which is so crude and so extroverted, all of which is the antithesis of bashanus. A sense of dignity, refinement, privacy, healthy inhibition. There are sort of crude violations of the midah of bashanus, but then there are more subtle violations as well. If I'm walking down the street talking on my cell phone in a very much in a public space, talking about private things, it's also a more subtle form of that impairment of the midah of bashanus. Another way in which we strengthen and reaffirm our Jewish identity is by ensuring to the best of our ability the presence and purity of these three simanim of rachmanim, bashanim, and gomlei chasadim. Another aspect of Jewish identity, the Gemara tells us that כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה there is a concept of mutual responsibility and interdependence that exists amongst all Jews. The Gemara says that this is the basis that מי שיש בידו למחות ואינו מוחה that if a person is in a position to influence other people and doesn't influence, so then that person is responsible for what the other person does. It's not acceptable for a person to אני את נפשי הצלתי but a person has again, there's interdependence, there's mutual responsibility. The Rishonim then say that it's this concept in the Gemara that underlies the halachic principle of yotzei motzi. If a person has already made Kiddush Friday night and is no longer seemingly no longer obligated in Kiddush, nevertheless he can say Kiddush a second time for someone else who hasn't heard Kiddush yet even though to be motzi someone else you have to be mechuyav badavar because he's still mechuyav badavar. So the Rishonim say, how can that be? Why is he still mechuyav badavar? Why is he still obligated in Kiddush if he just made Kiddush 10 minutes ago? So the answer is no. If someone else, every other Jew's mitzvah of making Kiddush is not just that I should make Kiddush, but my mitzvah is that every other Jew should make Kiddush as well and my obligation isn't really discharged fully until that happens. More broadly, כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה means that there's a sense of complete identification with all other Jews. Something which expresses itself by being nosei ba-ol by sharing in other people's suffering, emotionally, practically. What the Rambam describes as in Hilchos Teshuvah as being nichnas betzorasan, that even if the physical conditions and circumstances, even if one doesn't live in the southern part of Eretz Yisrael and one's days and nights are not punctuated by constant shooting of missiles from Gaza, but a sense of nichnas betzorasan, a sense of... of experiencing that as one's own tzora, as being part of that tzora. Another dimension of Jewish identity. Our attitude and relationship towards Eretz Yisroel is also a key element in Jewish identity. We mentioned before the drashos Chazal how Yaakov Avinu, even though he knows he's going to die in Mitzrayim, nevertheless doesn't move to Mitzrayim with the attitude that he's settling in Mitzrayim, but that he's there on a temporary basis, that he feels as a stranger. Even when a person makes a legitimate calculation as to why he's living in chutz l'aretz, but the perspective and attitude one is supposed to have to that is that a person is abroad, a person is living away from home. A Jew's home is Eretz Yisroel.

מלמד שלא ירד יעקב אבינו להשתקע במצרים אלא לגור שם.

Jewish identity also implies a unique Jewish destiny, and part of reinforcing and embracing our Jewish identity is recognizing and identifying with that Jewish destiny. What is the Jewish destiny? Jewish destiny first of all tells us something about our relationship to olam hazeh and it also tells us something about the future. In terms of our relationship with olam hazeh, Chazal say vayitrotzetzu habanim bekirbah, that the twins, Yaakov and Esav, were agitating inside Rivka's womb. So Chazal say, Rashi quotes it, they were מריבים על נחלת שני עולמות, that they were fighting over who would inherit each of the two worlds, there's olam hazeh and olam habah. A Jew's shiyur is not in olam hazeh, a Jew's shiyur is in olam habah. When a ger comes, when a prospective ger comes to Beis Din, so the braisa in Masechet Yevamos says, and the Rambam reproduces this braisa, says that the first thing that the ger is told by Beis Din is

אי אתה יודע שישראל בזמן הזה דוויים ודחופים וסחופים ומטורפים?

Don't you know, do you know how persecuted they are and how lowly they are? And it's only when the prospective ger says I know that and I accept that that the geirus process can move forward. I think the Maharal comments why is it that we find that Esav practiced kibud av v'eim? And why do we find that the Gemara in Kiddushin, when it wants to illustrate עד היכן כיבוד אב ואם, illustrates with stories from a non-Jew, Dama ben Nesina? It illustrates it with stories of a non-Jew. How are we supposed to understand that? So the Maharal says that the basis of kibud av v'eim is שכן אביו ואמו הביאוהו לחיי עולם הזה. The basis, the mechayev in kibud av v'eim, is that one's parents are responsible for one being in this world, that one is alive in olam hazeh, so the partners, Hakadosh Baruch Hu's partners in bringing that about, were one's parents. It's an olam hazeh as it were, it's an olam hazeh centric mitzvah. He says olam hazeh, so that's the lot, that's the nachla of the other nations, and that's why we find that an Esav can excel in kibud av v'eim. And that's why we find that when the Gemara in Kiddushin says עד היכן כיבוד אב ואם, it tells us a story of maaseh benochri echad. A Jew finds his fulfillment in this world by being oriented towards olam habah, not by looking to maximize and capitalize on. on the Olam Hazeh enjoyments. But Jewish destiny also means being oriented towards Keitz Hayamim, means being oriented towards a future of geulah. One of the questions that a person is asked after, when they come before the Kisei Hakavod, is tzipisa liyeshuah. Not simply did a person believe that there's gonna be yemos hamashiach, that there's gonna be an ultimate redemption, but tzipisa liyeshuah. Did you long for for that for that redemption? Of the Rambam's yud gimmel ikkarim, arguably the most challenging is the twelfth, which is about yemos hamashiach. Twelve out of the thirteen are basically a matter of belief. To believe to believe in the Ribbono Shel Olam, to believe that the Ribbono Shel Olam is is there's no multiplicity, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is incorporeal, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is is above and beyond time, they're all matters of of of belief. But yemos hamashiach, the Rambam writes in Hilchos Melachim based on the pasuk in Chavakuk, a person has to be mechakeh liviyaso. It's not only that that I believe that I subscribe to the belief that mashiach is coming, that there will be a yemos hamashiach, person is supposed to be mechakeh liviyaso. And clearly clearly that is a very very fundamental aspect of Jewish identity, that identification with Jewish destiny, with the destiny of of of a yemos hamashiach. In order to be mitzapeh liyeshuah, a person can't long for something if everything in my life is good now, so I'm not looking for change. Right? If it ain't broke so so don't fix it. If if everything is good, if if there's no sense of void or or vacuum in one's life, so one's not gonna be mitzapeh for a radically different existence, an existence with a Beis Hamikdash, an existence where all the mitzvos hatorah once again become become operative. In order to be mitzapeh liyeshuah, there has to be a sense of of a void in one's current one's current life. There is a major major principle articulated, he wasn't he's neither the first nor the last but but articulated amongst others by by Ramchal in Mesillas Yesharim, where Ramchal explains that he gives the he illustrates this principle in context of talking about the middah of zerizus. And he says that that a person can have an inner burning desire to do something and that will cause him to act with alacrity. And the alacrity will be an expression of this inner state. But he says it's also true that even if a person doesn't have that inner hislahavus, if he'll push himself artificially as it were, if he'll push himself to run, to act with alacrity, so that will help create and generate that that inner inner hislahavus. Big big tzaddikim, big big baalei avodah are consumed with their concern for kvod shamayim. It's very hard, I apologize for projecting, but it's very hard for us to to relate to that, that that intense concern for kvod shamayim. Halevai that that that someday I'll I'll explain to you what what that means. But absent that a person can make strides towards developing and cultivating that, if a person does things to be marbeh kvod shamayim. Again, like the like Ramchal says, maybe I'm not feeling this... But let me act with zrizus anyway and that will help create this zrizus. So maybe I'm not yet on a level where I'm so passionate as the Chofetz Chaim and and and people of that ilk were and are. Maybe maybe I'm not so passionate about kvot shamayim but I understand I understand the concept and I do understand that that it is the ultimate value. So let me see what I can do in in my own small humble way to be marbeh kvot shamayim. Maybe it's contributing something to to my shul, whatever, helping make a tikkun in in my shul, generating a certain momentum, maybe it's in terms of a chessed, maybe it's in in in a totally different context in in pushing myself to learn more Torah, in whatever form it will take. The more a person is moseir nefesh for kvot shamayim, then the more a person generally becomes concerned with with kvot shamayim. If a person's concerned with kvot shamayim, a person can't be content with the world as it is today, as it exists today. You know, it's customary, it's traditional to to end drashos with a bakasha for geulah, bimheira beyameinu amen. Sometimes it takes a little bit of creativity to sort of tie the drasha in to that to that bakasha. I think here it there's a very natural transition and and we segue very naturally into that bakasha that that we should be zocha to see the end of of the anti-semitism, but rather it should be that all should be safah achas and it should be ומלאה הארץ דעה את ה' כמים לים מכסים.