;.l1,6,60,66,1,0,10,75,192,2,15,20,25,127,10,0,
=sh_tt2a1 a
Input of Torah Times Volume II, Tape 1:
Side A:  A review of Iyar.  Focuses mostly on applying the conceptof 'no-choice'.
                    
Yom HaZikoron -- 4 Iyar
Yom HaAtzmaut - 5 Iyar
Peshach Sheni: 14 Iyar        
Lag b'Omer:  18 Iyar
Yom Yerushelayim:  28 Iyar.  
[Cf. esp. Kitov, Book of our Heritage (Feldheim, Jerusalem/NewYork1973), translated from Hebrew, Sefer HaToda`ah (Kitov,Jeruslaem 1968)] 
                     
The cover-liner conveys the following information, much of whichmay not be obsolete:
"Torah Times:  A monthly audio magazine of Songs, Stories andStudies, featuring Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach.  Volume II:  Iyar,Sivan, Tammuz & Av:  Sefira, Shvuoth, Tishah b'Av and Consolation. ON year subscription:  $60 plus $12 shipping and handling for alltapes:  Torah Times, 63 W. 38th St. Suite 120, New York NY 10018;Tel: 212-580-2320."  {sa1e} 
Copyright (C) (P) Torah Times.  
Tape I Side 1:  Iyar, Sefirah
Tape I Side 2:  Sivan, Shavuot
Tape II Side 1:  Tammuz, Three Weeks
Tape II Side 2:  Av, Tesha b'Av

R. Shlomo singing, accommpanied by the Happy Horsey Tinkley TunesPlastic Piano.  Excellent sound quality. 
Apparently a well-staged studio recording.
As R. Shlomo discusses tora, the piano subsides discretely intococktail-lounge music.  Quite irrelevant, and with noidentificable cultural value, but inobtrusive, like the lobby ofany 4-star hotel.   

--------------------------------------------------------------- 
================================================================
.p
{START TAPE I, SIDE A, {C000)
{R. Shlomo humming a niggun}

So good hodesh, good yomtov, good shabbos, my beautiful friends,brothers and sisters.   There is so much I would like to sharewith you -- I'll try just to give you the most important part ofthis month.

{Note (sa): So it's maybe that R. Shlomo would have been glad torecord more, but the limitation was with the recording studio.}

This month belongs to Yisachar.  And ______ says {Hebrew:}. 
 
[ REFERENCE:  From: Nechama Sarah G. Nadborny, The TwelveDimensions of Israel:  Ya'alat Chein Publishers, POB 43198,Jerusalem 91431 Israel, about $30 + postage:  "And of the tribe ofYisachar, those who have knowlege of understanding the times ..."I Chronicles 12:32  : Cites parameters as: Vav, understanding,joy, right kidney, thought, Iyar, Taurus, yud-hei-hei-vav ]

Yisachar always knew exactly, what time it is.   What time in ourpersonal life, and what time in the history of the Jews, and whattime in the story of the world.   And the astrological sign isJosef, HEB., Yosef was always -- symbol of Yosef was an ox --Taurus.           

We count the Omer every night -- every day. In fact, according toReb Nachman, everything we are saying, everything we are talkingabout, has to do with the Sephirat.  If we would be great deepkabalists, we would walk on the streets of the world and listen totheir talk, and everything people are talking, has to do with thatvery day.  Unbelieveable.

	And then we have -- gvalt, Yom HaShoah, yidden got together,and they decided, this is the day when we want to remember, the 6million, the holy of holiest.   
	We came back to eretz Israel -- Yom HaAtzmaut -- and -- youknow -- want you know something -- I don't know what level you'reon, in regard to eretz Yisrael -- but in the meantime, in themeantime, where would we be without eretz Yisrael.  Where wouldall the yidden who were nebuch left over in Auchwitz and inDachau, where would they be without eretz Israel today. 

{Note (sa):  That is:  Prior to, during, and after the Holocaust,the nations of the world refused to admit substantial numbers ofJewish refugees. }

	But then we have Yom Yerushelayim -- Gevalt -- we came backto the holy Wall, after 2000 years, we can daven again by the holyWall, and for the first time again, since we got back to eretzYisrael -- 

{Note (sa):  That is:  Under most foreign occupations, startingwith that of Rome, and excluding the British mandate, 1914-1948,but including the Jordanian occupation 1948-1967 (during which theJewish "quarter" [portion, much less than 1/4] of the Old City wasdestroyed and left desolate, Jews were not permitted access to theWestern Wall. }

The world wants to make it hard for us, to daven by the holy Wall,but we have to -- we have to, friends.  Yerushelayim belongs tous.  Yerushelayim {HEB.} -- the way it's translated,, Yerushelayimis surrounded by walls {I think this is a quote from one of thePsalms -- "a city which is compact altogether"} , but at thismoment I want to translate -- Yerushelayim is surrounded --everybody knows -- the mountains are called 'our fore-fathers' -- the mountains, our fore-fathers, won't let Them take it away fromus.   They will not.  So let's begin from there. 
                   
You know, my beautiful friends -- do I have choice to be a Jew --you know, when G_d gave us the Torah, 'HE' asked us, would youlike the Torah, we said yes, n'aseh v' nishma -- we will do and wewill listen .  When G_d gave Avrom the land -- He didn't reallyask him -- He didn't say, Avrom Avinu, would you like to go toAmerica, or would you like to go to Israel -- He just told him. You know when G_d tells you something without asking, that means,G_d put it so deep into us -- beyond choice.
	I want you to know, it's crazy.  There are yidden in theworld who don't feel real connection to anything Jewish.  ONe wayor the other, if you're connected to eretz Yisrael, because Israelis the land which touches so deep, it's beyond our choice.  Yes,we have choice.  I don't have choice.  

I want you to know that Mt. Sinai is the mountain of choice -- onMt. Sinai G_d gave us the mitzvas, and I have choice to do it ornot to do it.   Yerushelayim -- David haMelek, David MalkaMeshicha -- I have no choice.  I have no choice.

You know what happens to the yiddele who comes to the holy Wall --he might go back, and still eat a hamburger on Yom Kippur -- butone thing is alive in his, in her heart -- I don't have choice tobe a Jew.  I just am, I have to be.   
	I want you to know friends, in the history of us Jews, for2000 years we were persecuted by the world, and they always giveus choice -- you know, they always said, Ah, if you want to remaina Jew, we'll kill you, and if you stop being a Jew, you convert,accept another religion, you can live.  The Germans didn't ask us. Because everybody knows, one way or the other, the 6 million pavedthe way for eretz Israel -- they paved for way for being a Jewbeyond choice -- I have no choice.

You know today, all the thousands -- the great awakening in theworld to come back to Yiddishkeit -- is not by choice.  I spoke toa lot of people who came back to eretz Yisrael -- being far away. Was like, G_d was pulling them.

You know my beautiful friends, if I learn Torah by choice, then myconnection is good.  If I learn Torah on such level [that] I haveno choice, then I get into the secrets of the Torah.  

You know my beautiful friends, between people:  If I meet a girl,I love her very much, but I have choice to meet her tomorrow, ormaybe never again, then she will not tell me her secrets.   But ifsuddenly I'm so connected that I have no choice, we'll tell eachother all our secrets.

And also something else.  I'll tell you what, my beautifulfriends.  Basically, according to the Torah, when you wanted to doa mitzva and you couldn't do it, it is considered in heaven likeyou did it.   So the deepest question is:  Pesach Sheni, when thepeople who could not fulfill the mitzva of bringing the Paschallamb, because they were not fit to come to the holy Temple, --that's not their fault, they couldn't come in -- why were theycrying before Moshe 

[REFERENCE:  Deuteronomy?   Cf. R. Shlomo on Pesach Sheni, 
\LEARNING:(=sh76051a + =sh76051b )
I think I posted to LIST a minor revision/correction, titled(=si76051a.* + =si76051b.*)
B'nei Jeshrun lecture series, May 5 and May 11, 1976 ]

But you know, if it's my choice, then I say ok, it's not my fault,I couldn't do it.   But if I'm connected to something, beyond mychoice -- oh, this is so deep.  And if I didn't really do it.  

You know -- I have this girl I like her very much, I have a datewith her.   Something happened, I couldn't come.  So I said pleaseforgive me, I couldn't come. It's no problem.  If I love the girlthe most -- yes, I have an excuse for not coming.  But gvalt, Iwanted to see you so much. 

You know my beautiful friends, this month is so deep inside of us.Yeshachar is Yod - ____ Binah _____?l'Itim? _ -- the deepestknowlege of what does G_d want of you right now.  Where are youconnected to.
	And I'll make it very fast:

You know basically, Yakov has two holy wives, Rochel and Leah. Rochel is his official soulmate, and Leah is -- deep-deep.   On asecret level.  {This is a reference to the midrash, that Rochelgave over the secret signs to Leah, so that Yakov would not knowher for an imposter on the wedding night. } On a Yischachar level.  

Everybody knows that Yischachar was always the head of the HolyCourt.   And if you remember the story:  Rachel didn't havechldren, and ?the woman? {but this is the story of Reuben findingthe mandrakes}  found some herbs, and Leah gave it Rochel, underone condition -- I want one special night with Yakov Avninu.  Andthat night Yischachar was born.  I mean, was conceived. 

You know friends, the Talmud says -- the Medresh says -- that Leahwalked out to greet Yakov -- and she never looked so beautiful.

You know friends, sometimes we know people -- we know them all thetime -- and we never really had time to see how beautiful theyare.  Everybody knows, Rochel was so beautiful --  That night --suddenly Yakov comes back from the field -- looks at Leah -- gvaltis she beautiful.  Gvalt am I connected to her.  And according toour deepest kabbalists, this was the night when Leah became hissoul-mate.  Ah, this is deep.  Deepest connection.  It's crazy,I've known you for so long, and I'm always connected to you -- butI didn't know how deep.

You know friends, Yischachar -- because our Holy Court {theSanhedrin} was not just to punish a person, or advise a person --when you stood by the Holy Court, they woke up inside of you. They woke up your heart, your soul. To let you know, where you arereally connected.  

So this month is the month of the right kidney.  You know what theright kidney is.  With my head, I have choice. My right kidney is-- I have no choice.  ________ says -- The Gemora says -- thedeepest advice [is that which] I take from my kishkes -- from mykidneys -- 

You know friends -- Rachel had choice -- to give the signs to Leah-- you know when Laban -- put Leah instead of Rochel under thechupah by Yakov Avinu -- and Rochel saw it and she knew, my sisterwill be put to shame.   And she gave over the secret signs.  Andif you remember, we were once learning -- what were the secretsigns -- Ah, gvalt, gvalt -- Kadish, Urchatz, Yachatz -- Rochelgave over to Leah the secret secret signs of our redemption -- thesecret signs of Meshiach -- because somehow, somehow, the kidneysof Rachel were telling her, Leah is the mother of Meshiach
{That is, Meshiach is descended from Yehuda, who is a son ofLeah.}

But you know what Leah gave her back.  Leah gave her back {HEB.}

The deepest Pesach Sheni.  You know, Josef haTzadik -- he wouldhave had 2 million excuses to be angry at his brothers -- {sa2}

He would have had 2 billion excuses really to punish them.  Butgvalt, was he connected. {HEB.}  Suddenly he didn't have choiceany more.

And I want you to know:  The students of Rabbi Akiva, sadlyenough, didn't make it.  24,000 [died] because they didn't honoreach other enough.  You know, whom do I honor the most -- whensomeone is so important to me that I couldn't live without them --?because I'm? so connected. 

You know friends, the world {I think R. Shlomo uses the phrase'the world' to mean 'the goyim'} always talks about lovingsomebody.  For us, how much are you connected.  How much could[or: 'couldn't]  you live without them.

And you know what Rabbi Akiva is -- Rabbi Akiva is, I can't livewithout the Torah -- I can't live without G_d .  And Reb ShimonYochai -- you know, when G_d reveals to you the secrets -- ah,when you can't live without it -- when you get to know the thingso deep, so deep -- 

You know my beautiful friends -- you know what Israel is -- for anAmerican, America belongs to them, and if they have it they haveit, if they don't have it, they don't have it.  For us, the holyLand -- we can't live without it.   Ah, you'll tell me, I havechoice -- I don't have choice.  Do I have ever choice not to thinkof Yerushelayim.  Do I have choice ever ever not to think ofHebron or Sfat.  

{R. Shlomo singing:}

And you know friends, right after Pesach we're beginning to learnPirke Avos -- Teachings of our Fathers .  And I'm sure it's clearto you, I think we were learning it Pesach.  You know, whatparents are giving over to their children -- not the teaching ofchoice.  From my parents I receive this deepest depths -- that Ihave no choice being a Jew.  That I have no choice, to put ontfillin the morning.  I have no choice to keep Shabbos.  I have nochoice to go to Yerushelayim.  I have no choice -- to love everyJew.  I have no choice, to love the whole world.  I have nochoice, to see a poor man, and not to give him [tzdaka, "charity"]-- I don't have choice.

And you know, in Pirke Avos -- We're not learning any laws -- butevery Rabbi -- every holy luminary -- is giving us over -- whatwas the one thing I couldn't live without -- what was the onething I'm connected to most --  
	And you know what's so beautiful -- nature -- coming out --you know, an apple tree -- does an apple tree really have choicenot to become an apple tree -- in the winter, the apple treethinks, oh, I have choice -- it's winter, I'm not ever coming out,I'm not producing apples any more, forget it, I'm sick and tiredof it.   But suddenly, Pesach -- and if you remember, theIshbitzer tora -- it's not because nature is becoming free, that'swhy we become free -- it's the other way around -- it's because weyidden came out of Egypt, effects [or: affects.  Or both. ] thewhole [of] Nature -- the whole world -- they also come out -- 

You know, my beautiful friends -- the diffrence between ascientist being connected to what he learns, and me, a yid,connected to the Gemora -- I have no choice -- I have no choice.

And you know what it is -- anything I have choice -- I don't kissthem -- I'm glad to see you, mazeltov, you're beautiful -- 
	You know, when I kiss somebody, I love them so much, I closemy eyes.  Because if it's my choice, I have to see.  ?With you? --close my eyes -- I don't love you by choice -- it's deeper thanchoice.  
	You know, children when they're born, their eyes are closed.  Because they're still living in the world of beyond-choice. Deeper than choice.  They have no choice, to love their parents. Ah, they love them so much.  Do we have choice to love ourchildren.  We have no choice.

	And here I want you to know something so deep.
	G_d has choice to give us the Torah; G_d could not-give usthe Torah.   But when we pray -- does G_d have choice. {Arhetorical question; the implied answer is, no. }

	You know what Yerushelayim is:  G_d says, I have no choice. When a Yid is asking, how can I not, it's ______?what's known as? the headquarters for prayers; Yerushelayim -- basically ?it'sTfillim? HEB. ; G_d says, I'm so sorry, but I have no choice.
G_d, the Master of the World, the Master of All, the Creator ofAll, says:  When someone turns to Me in prayer, I have no choice.

	So in hodesh Iyar, it's the month when we came back toYerushelayim.  {I suppose this refers to the recapture of the OldCity in the 1967 War; not to the return from Persia. -- sa}. Andwe count every day. 

	You know friends, if someone says to me, in a few weeksyou'll get something which you like, then I have choice to take itor not.  But when the moment comes, I'm glad to see it.
	When someone gives me something which I have no choice -- Ineed it so badly I can't live without it -- and I count theminutes, I count the days.

{R. Shlomo singing a break:} 

	There's a very beautiful story:
	You know, when we count the Omer -- I bless you, not toforget, every night to count the Omer -- the heilige ziesse RebBaruch -- the grandson of the holy Baal Shem Tov 

[REFERENCE:  I assume, from Finkel:  R. Baruch of Medziobosh, sonof Adel (daughter of the Baal Shem)] 

-- said to one of his hasidim -- are you by any chance passing byKossov -- by the heilige suisse Reb Mendele Kossover 
[REFERENCE (from Finkel):  I assume:  Dynasty of Kossov-Sizhnitz,lst generation: R. Menachem Mendel Hager of Kossov , 1768-1825,student of R. Moshe Leib of Sassov ]

and everybody knows -- Vishnitz are the grandchildren of Kossov 

[REFRENCE (loc. cit):  eg, Dynasty of Kossov-Vishnitz, 3rdgeneration: R. Menachem Mendel Hager of Vishnitz, 1830-1884]

______?The Yiddele?  says yes, I'm going there.  So Reb Baruchsays, do me a favour:  listen to those melodies, bring me back anew melody.             

The Yiddele comes back, and he says Rebbe, I'm so sorry, it justdidn't come out to be Shabbos in Kosov, I was just during theweek.  The Bobover says Yeah, did you hear anything.  He says Yes,it's not much of melody, it's just like a little tune, after theheilige Reb Mendele counted the Omer, he hummed a little tune. ___ Reb Baruch says, please sing it to me.   So he gave it over toReb Baruch.  Reb Baruch says yes, this is what I needed to hear.Let me tell you the story.

	The heilige Baal Shem Tov -- the heilige suisse Baal Shem Tov-- one of his hasidim, bought a field from a non-Jewish neighbor. He began digging, he found a treasure.  He went to his non-Jewishfriend, ?the owner?, says to him, I only bought the field, but thetreasure's yours.  He says, Can't believe it.  I cannot believethat someone is so honest to give me back the treasure.  Thatnight he invited the whole village to the bar, to the Kretchmer,and he was standing on the table dancing, and he would sing, Greatis the G_d of Israel.  And he had a little tune to it.  And theheilige Reb Mendele would sing it, to Sephiras Omer.  And theRebbe Reb Baruch wanted to hear it. 

	You know friends:  If my connection to G_d is a choice, Idon't think I'll make G_d's name very great.  You know why myG_d's name is so great -- because we Jews have no choice.  Gvalt,Rabbenu shel Olam, gvalt ?do? I have no choice.  I have no choiceto believe in G_d, I have no choice to love every human being,because if I'm connected to G_d -- if I'm really connected to G_d-- isn't G_d taking care of every -- every human being in theworld.  
	What gave this yiddele the strength -- must have been a bigstruggle -- such a treasure. Because he realized -- gvalt, my nonJewish neighbor -- G_d is taking care of him too.  Great is theG_d of Israel.

	You know what, Sfiras Omer is really strange:  One one hand,if I miss one day 

[that is, failing to count immediately after Ma'ariv, fail tocount before daybreak with the b'racha, and fail to count all daywithout the b'racha] , 

I can't count any more 

[with the blessing; one remains obligated to continue counting,without the bracha];

on the other hand, during Sfiras Omer we have Pesach Sheni 

[14 Iyar, ie, precisely one month after Pesach, that is(approximately), the day before the full moon of the followingmonth (which is Iyar) ].

	Let me just share with you very fast:
	Yosef haTzadik -- you know what a Tzadik is -- a tzadik issommebody who does not rely on doing tchuva.  He's doing everysecond the right thing, because G_d forbid if I do somethingwrong, that's the end of me.  And what is Leah all about.  Youknow what Leah's all about.  Yehuda -- I can do everything wrong,but it takes only one second to come back. 

{REFERENCE: I assume this is in reference to  Yehuda's confessionwith regard to his unbeknonst unintentional Levirite relation withTamar, who turns out to have been a foremother of the propheciedforebearers of Meshiach  -- 'she is more righteous than I'[Genesis: 38:26].}  

	So just remember, Hodesh Iyar, the sign is Josef haTzadik,the sign is:  Like an ox, don't stop working, don't every rely --you know, when the Ox is ploughing the field, he goes straight. He makes no U-turns, he goes straight.   But yet the month belongs to Yisachar.  You know what Yisachar is.  Yisachar is the son ofLeah, but it's a gift from Rochel.  It's both together. It isknowing, if I do wrong, it will be so hard to come back.  But yet,gvalt, it's so easy to come back.   Because we all are -- we'refrom a nation of both -- we yidden, we don't want ever to dosomething wrong -- yet, we are living witnesses:  We always goback -- to Yerushelayim.  We go back to it all the time.

	And Reb Nachman says:  Wherever a Jew goes, he's on his wayto Yerushelayim.  Wherever a Jew goes, every step he takes, shetakes, we're always getting closer to G_d, closer to our children. But you know what Sephiras Omer is:  Every night I know I getcloser, and closer and closer -- until we get there.

{R. Shlomo singing a chaser niggun.}

You know how beautiful it is, when parents and children gettogether -- and they count the days.  Knowing that tomorrow we'llbe even closer.  I want to bless you friends -- the most important thing -- you should always know where you're going.  Most peopledon't know where they're coming from, or where they're going.   Ifyou want to be a free person -- Yes, we are still on the way, butyou have to know where you are going.  And you have to knowexactly, how many miles are behind you, and how many miles are infront of you.  Just please get there.

{R. Shlomo singing one of the old war-house nigguns.}
{END SOUND, {C770}; END TAPE, {C777 -- just like the Brandy -- soit's about 42 minutes on a side. 
{END PASS 2 (PROOF AGAINST TAPE), SIDE A}
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Side B, and most likely Tape 2, will be ZIP'd into =sh0498.* andPosted to my Temporary Homepage, www.kinneret.co.il/sa9802
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START TAPE 1 SIDE B: {C000}
Stated topics: Sivan, Shavuot  

Nadborny, Op. Cit.,  notes:  
"Zevulon shall dwell at the shore of the sea
 And he shall be a haven for ships
 And his border shall be at Sidon." (Genesis 49:13)
Parameters for Sivan:  Zevulon, zayin, glory, sincerity, leftfoot, walking, Sivan, Gemeni, Yud-Vav--Hei-Hei

START TAPE 1 SIDE B: {C000}
{Oy. A plastic Hammond organ in the background.}
R. Shlomo:  Whistling and humming:

So good shabbos, good yomtov, good hodesh my beautiful friends,brothers and sisters.   
Entering hodesh Sivan.  It's the month that we stood on Mt. Sinai, and it's so special, it's also the month of Yerushelayim. 

Everybody knows that David haMelech conquered Yerushelayim on erevShavuos.  And Shavuos was the first time the yidden davened inYerushelayim. Gvalt.  It breaks your heart; it's too beautifuleven to fathom it.   Everybody knows David HaMelek left the worldon Shavuos.  That means David HaMelek was also born on Shavuos,because {HEB.}, with all the holy people, everything's socomplete.   Yerushelayim, the holy city.  The two holy mountainswe have:  Yerushelayim and Mt. Sinai.  

	And I want you to know something:
	I hope that some of us, maybe all of us, have been Shavuos inYerushelayim.  There's something unbelieveable is happening by theholy Wall.

{N.B.  (sa):  Yes, but remember:  at Mt. Sinai some were told notto come too close. And also, everyone says:  Don't distanceyourself from the congregation.  I say:  maybe this means, 'fromyour congregation' -- because at the Kotel, apparently most davenwith a regular minyan of associates.}                 

You know, we all know that the revelation at Mt. Sinai took placeexactly at dawn.  Let's assume dawn is 10 to 4.  

{Note (sa):  I don't recall precisely, but that's approximatelythe time of the very first light in Jerusalem at Shavuot. I don'trecall if that is 'when it is light as far as Hebron'.  And factis, the way the Old City is built up now, I don't know where youhave to stand to see Hebron.  Probably could see it from the topof Har HaBayit, in the good old days.  Can see to Moab fromanywhere in the upper city (ie, the Jewish Quarter) wherebuildings don't block your view.  And can see toward Bethlehem,though I think not all the way to Bethlehem.}} 

Exactly 10 to 4, hundred, hundreds of birds coming to the holyWall, and flying around in circles, for a few minutes, and thensuddenly they're not there any more.   Exactly Shavuos morning, at10 to 4.

{Note (sa):  I think these are the Jerusalem doves, who nest inthe Wall.  But maybe they are swallows.}
        
{Note (sa):  Alev said, at the Kotel:  Birds know holy places. } 

It's awesome, awesome, awesome.     

And gvalt, Yerushelayim, the holy city, the city of David haMelek,it is also the yotzer [or: yahrzeit?] of the holy Baal Shem.  Andeverybody knows, all the tzadikim, before they leave the world,the very last second, they're giving us everything -- everythingG_d gave them all their lifes.
	You know:  Money, you give over to your children, after youleave the world.  But holiness and sweetness and teaching is --you give it while you're alive.   So the last second of DavidhaMelek, the last second of the Baal Shem, on Shavuos -- can youimagine how much he left for us.  

	Again, this month is the month of Zevulon.  Zevulon is L'chov Yamim -- Zevulon is the one who travels all over the oceans.{sa3c} 

You know what the Torah is.  By most -- religions -- a holy personis someone who has nothing to do with the world.  You know, aperson who has no wife, no children.  The Torah is given to uswhile we are in THIS world -- in this world.  {HEB.}  You know, Ican be a businessman, and sitting on the Queen Elizabeth, andtravel.  But _____ late at night I'm taking out my Gemora, I'mlearning Dam Yomi.   This is what Mt. Sinai is all about.  Youknow how beautiful it is sometimes I'm sitting on the subway, andI see so many yidden take out their Gemoras, and learning on thesubway, gvalt gvalt.   See how many beautiful young ladies sittingthere -- and they're not reading Playboy or Playgirl, they're notreading the New York Times -- ah they take out the Commentaries onChumash, they're taking out Reb Nachman in English, gvalt.

I want you to something.  You know, G_d's name has 4 letters: 
Yud-Kay, Vav-Kay. 
Yud-Kay is the light the way it is from above -- Yud is the light,and Hay [sic, Hey, not Kay] is always the expansion of the vessel--  Vav -- ?is? a long letter, the way it's coming down {ie, Vavrepresents how it descends from heaven}, and Hey is the vessel. 

And:  The combination of G_d's name for Sivan is:  Yuv-Vav, andthen Hey-Hey.

And I just want to give you one little drop.
You know, if you want to -- to measure [or: you measure, or?imagine?] your vessels, before you receive the Torah.  If youwant to measure your vessels, before you receive the Torah -- ifyou want to measure your vessels, and think, how much I can take,of yiddishkeit, of the Torah -- 

{Comment (sa):  And that sounds like the story of the guy who wentto Gush HaLav, in the territory of the tribe Asher (which holdsthe territory, from Haifa almost to Tyre, assigned in the blessingto Zvulon -- and (Asher) is associated with Shevat, which I guessis when olives are ripe -- I don't recall)  to bring back someolive oil, up to a million dinars' worth, for his community, andfound the most humble guy imaginable [well, that's my spin; but helooked poor at first], and so came back with a whole carvan, withborrowed vessels, and was in debt to the guy. }, 

then you were not on Mt. Sinai, and you're not part ofYerushelayim.

You know what Yiddishkeit is, what Torah is:  Yud-Vav.  I'm takingall of light, G_d's light, the way it's shining in Heaven, and I'mtaking all of G_d's light, the way it's coming down to  the world. I don't even know about vessels.  G_d will give me vessels.  Andwho needs vessels. 

And I want you to know, all the Rebbes say the same thing:  thecombination of G_d's name is from the passage where it says:  Andthe nails of the Mishkan " -- and you know how a nail operates --in a hole, right.  You put a nail in a hole. {sa3di}

{sa3di}
{Comment (sa):  Actually, that's a bolt; a nail makes its ownhole; a screw starts with a very shallow hole, not as wide as thescrew. }  

But if the hole is bigger than the nail, the nail falls out.  

{Comment (sa):  Not if the nail has a big enough head. }  

That means the nail has to completely-completely cover the hole.  	You know friends, all of us, there's so much missing in ourlives.  We all have little holes in our hearts, in our souls.  

{Comments (sa):  And this is, Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts ClubBand (the movie):  The Sea of Holes. }.  

And unless the Torah makes you whole, then you were not on Mt.Sinai.

	So, just -- it's such a beautiful month -- it's so good, it'sso good.  Friends, where would we be without the Torah.  You knowfriends, one thing hurts me always -- that after we came out fromAuchwitz, from Dachau, why didn't the Jewish parents get togetherand say:  Eichman also went to Univeristy.  Eichman went toschool.  I want my children to have something else. {sa3e} 

I want my children to have something else.  I want my children tobe yidden.  I want my children to learn Torah.  And maybe thisyear from now on.  I want to bless you -- See, I'm not negatingthe world -- it's Zevulon  -- I'm still traveling on all theoceans of the world --    

	Friends, I was in Paris, I was in Monacco, I was in SydneyAustralia, I want to be everywhere in the world.  Wherever theworld is beautiful, I want to be there.   But gvalt:  {HEB.:_______ Sidon 

[ probably a reference to Yakov's blessing of Yeschachar, he liesdown against Sidon:  Genesis 49:13:  
ZVULoN L_HOF YaMIM YiShKN, V_)HOA L_HOF ANIoT, V_YRKTO AL TzIDoN
Zvulon [shall dwell] at shore of the sea, And he [shall be] ashore for ships [ie, harbour], And his flank [shall be] at Tzidon.
Now to me this seems that Zvulon is a animal -- a lion, maybe(though that is said of Yehuda)  crouching (as is said ofYesachar, who is likened to a wild ass -- an onager? --  if Ifollow), facing out to see, left flank of Haifa, and right flank at Sidon, holding and guarding those harbours.  As noted, thatterritory, apparently assigned in the blessing to Zvulon, came toAsher.]                                                  


I want to know always mamash that my place -- my place is in theholy Land.  My place is on Mt. Sinai.

I want to share with you a fast story, which is very veryessential.  Because on Shavuos David HaMelek left the world -- theBaal Shem Tov -- but let me add one more very very -- one of theholiest in the world -- Graf Potovski.  One of the greatluminaries.  One of the most outstanding converts we ever had.{sa4}

I'll make it very fast:
Everybody knows, Pototski is that family in Poland, who produceswhiskey.  And they're producing whiskey, and you can imagine,they're sitting there drinking day and night, cursing each other,hitting [or: hating] each other, they don't much have a familylife.   So the young Graf Pototski is 18 years old.  And he's sodisgusted.  His father and his mother always drunk, hitting eachother, hitting the children.  One Friday night he couldn't bear itany more, he jumped on his horse, riding around in theneighborhood of the palace.  And you and I know that the onlything we Jewish people were permitted to do [ie, the onlyoccupation open to Jews in the shtetls ] is selling whiskey in thekretchmers.  So there were always Jews around the palace ofPototski.  He passes by a kretchmer, and obviously the kretchmeris closed, it's Friday night.  He looks through the window. Andhere a father sits, with his wife, and his children; and they sitwith so much sweetness, so much love.   Can't take his eyes off.  Thinks oy:  mamash [or: I wish] I could have a family like this. I wish my parents could sit with me one time like this pooryiddele on Friday night.  
	He knocked on the door.
	And you know in those days, when a nobleman knocks on thedoor of a Jew, smells with danger.   The yiddele opens the door,and he says, what can I do for you.  And he says, could I -- maybejoin you.  He ?says?, gvalt.  
	He comes in, and he's so taken by the sweetness -- by thesimple sweetness of this -- yidden.  Gvalt are yidden holy, gvaltare yidden precious.  The poorest yiddele on Friday night is aking of all kings, putting all the kings of the world to shame. 
	Can I come back next Friday night?  OK, ?good night?

	Slowly slowly he came every Friday night.  They beganteaching him Torah.   
	And one more very important thing.  The Kretchmer-[owner] hada daughter -- who was so beautiful -- and so holy.  It was clearto Graf Pototski , and also to this girl, that they are soulmates.  But he's not Jewish yet.  And in Russia, to convert, firstof all there's death penalty, and then there'll be a pogrom thenext day.  So what he decided, he's going for 3 years to Holland - in Holland it was permitted to convert -- and then he'll comeback.

	So he disappeared suddenly.  His parents -- I don't know howmuch they cried for him.  But anyway, he disappeared.  Comes back,3 years later.  And again, his soul was so big.  
	I want you to know, when he was a little baby -- his motherwalked, in the baby carriage -- somewhere, I don't exactly knowwhere -- and the baby was crying.  And the holy Baal Shem Tovpassed by on the other side of the street.  And the Baal Shem Tovsaid, to the hasidim who were ____ with him:  You see this baby onthe other side -- this baby stood next to me on Mt. Sinai.
	The holy Baal Shem walked over to the baby carriage, pickedup the baby -- and the baby began laughing, and was so -- happy. All(?) the hasidim were watching, they knew this baby -- must besomething special.   Ok, now we know what the Baal Shem Tov meant.

	Anyway:  Graf Pototski comes back after 3 years.  Not only heknow the whole SHAS, he was mamash a mekubala ?taki?, a divinekabalist like -- what some of us don't reach in 2000reincarnations, he reached in 3 years.  He came back, he marriedthe daughter of the Kretcher -- but obviously nobody couldrecognize him -- {sa4a}  -- you wouldn't see the old Graf Pototski-- had a long beard, and payalech -- and looks beautiful -- 

	Sadly enough, sadly enough, in the shul where they daven, wasone Jew, I don't want to say anything bad,  really a little bitobnoxious -- and he was always talk during the davening.  And GrafPototski was so serious, {sa4b} he was always begging him, that ifyou're really disturbing everyone, when you talk so loud. {sa4c}
One time, Graf Pototski says to him, really, it's not fair.  Whydo you talk so loud during davening.  Opened his mouth.  He says,look here.  The convert is telling me, Jew what to do.   
	The moment he said it -- came out in the open -- ?people?began asking.  And gvalt gvalt, HEB. -- next week, he wasarrested, and his mother recognized him.   Oy yoy yoy.
	And his mother came with the Bishop, and they told him in thename of the Church, who  was so merciful, that they should comeback to the Church, and maybe [or: it will be] G_d will accepthim.  Otherwise we'll have to burn him on the marketplace. 

	To make it very short:  He was sentenced to be burned on --the first day of Shavuos. We don't know exactly, on the first dayor the second day of Shavuos.  [ EJ states: 2nd day of Shavuos.]But obviously gvalt, was a privilege to up together with the Torahfrom(?) this world.

	And obviously it was dangerous for a Jew to be seen on thatday when they burned a Jew.  But yet, one of the holiest people inthat time, Reb Alexander Ziskin, the one who wrote the book, YesodHaAvodah, Foundation of Serving G_d -- who was like -- one of thegreat great kabalists, maybe one of the great servants of G_d --he decided, I gotta be there.  Because when Graf Pototski yellsShma Yisrael for the last time, I want to say it together withhim.  And obviously he was on the level to do it.  He hung himselfon a tree [ie, climbed up a nearby tree and concealed himself]over the marketplace, and obviously he was on a level to becompletely out of his body -- didn't have to go to the bathroom{sa4d} didn't have to sneeze, didn't have to eat.  He was hangingin there.  And then mamash, comes the afternoon, and they'reburning the Jew, and everybody's yelling, at the top of theirlungs, death to the Jews, death to the Jews, and he yelled inHebrew, that the Graf should hear it, you know, {I'm not clear if'you know' is R. Shlomo's interjection, or was part of what R.Ziskin said} -- You're not alone; I'm here in the name of all ofIsrael. 
	Gvalt. 
	And -- then they said Shma Yisrael together.  

{Note (sa):  So it looks like one can say it at any reasonabletime, one doesn't have to try to time it to hit one's lastbreath.} 

What a shma Yisrael.  Gvalt, gvalt.  You can still hear it.   

	So -- Shavuos is so special.
	You know, like -- if you remember:
	The portion of receiving the Torah on Mt. Sinai begins: V'yishma Yisrael -- Yisrael heard.  So every Shavuos, what we hearis not only Yisarel, also Graf Pototski -- and Ruth.

	You know, when G_d gave the Torah, He wanted the whole worldto come.  Sadly enough, it didn't come.  But every year we hope,maybe -- maybe this year they will come.

	You know my beautiful friends, let it be clear to you, thatall the great souls all over the world, they're on their way toYerushelayim.  All over the world. 

	I want you to know something: Without mentioning names orplaces, I want you to know:
	Many years ago, I met this Abbey [Abbot].  You know, a bishopis a like a Rebbe-le of the Churches;  an Abbey is the Rebbe-le ofMonastaries and Convents -- and he said to me, I want you to know: I was a little boy during the time of the Holocaust.  And it wasclear to me, it  was clear to me -- that the yidden are -- they'rethe chosen people, they're the real ones -- 
	And -- not so long ago I saw him already in a shul, daveningwith a talis -- gvalt, you know, all those real real great souls,they're coming back to Yerushelayim -- Yerushelayaim HEB., youknow in order to get to Yerushelayim, you have to be ready reallyto go up to the Mountain.

	And I just want to share with you something:
	The Medresh says:  When Avrom went to sacrifice Yitzhak, inYerushelayim, ?basically? Yerushelayim was in the valley.  
{Comment (sa):  I suppose this refers to the location of the Cityof David, around the pool of Siloam. }
But Avrom Avinu prayed, Rabbenu shel Olam:  I don't wantYerushelayim to be in a valley.  I want Yerushelayim to be amountain.
	And basically, the mountains of Yerushelayim are the prayersof Avrom Avinu.
	You know, a valley you cannot see from afar.  When you getthere, you see it.  A mountain you can see from afar.  
	And I want you to know in Yerushelayim, the whole world islooking at it.  Some have guts to come, some don't have guts yet. But every year we're hoping they're coming -- getting closer,closer, closer.

	And friends, let's sing this one more time.  Oy gvalt, I wantto be there when David haMelek is signing it {HEB.  ___ TirenasMalchut-secha}, 
	And join me wherever you are:}
{R. Shlomo singing:} 

{THE FOLLOWING PORTION OF THIS TEACHING ALSO OCCURS IN ANOTHERVERSION ON ANOTHER COMMERICALLY RELEASED TAPE; 
\NEW69496:=sh_n547; Cf. also my transcription in \SH1297:=sh_samut
{I'm giving the \SUBDIR because the subdir-name is usually thename of the *.ZIP of *.EXE (ZIP2EXE of *ZIP) on my TemporaryHomepage, www.kinneret.co.il/sa9802}
I append that version. }

	You know friends:  If I can, if I may -- You know, everybodyhas their dreams.  I'll tell you my humble dream.

	Have you ever watched those movies -- the time of theAustrian Kaiser -- and Johann Strauss - playing waltzes -- 
	And you know, I grew up, in the first few years of my life,in Baden-bei-Wien, so I was listening to waltzes like, day andnight.  
	Anyway, you what it is so-to-speak:
	Festivities, ?all? those steps, and the Kaiser -- and theRebbetzin, Mrs. Kaiser -- coming down -- and on one side, all themen, on the other side, all the women {Note (sa):  Sounds like asnias Busby Berkeley show}  And then the Kaiser and his wifebeginning to dance 

{Note (sa):  So that's out of the movies, since I doubt R. Shlomoattended formal balls in his youth} , 

and then all the couples get together.  And I always have thisidea, when Meshiach is coming {sa5} finally, Adam and Eve willmake peace.  Because Adam and Eve didn't really get together yet. When Meshiach is coming, there'll be mamash all the holy couples - Avrom and Sorah, Yitzhak and Rivka, Yakov and Rochel - Leah; allthe tzadikim, David haMelek and Batsheva {sa6}
 -- they'll be standing in line.   And Meshiach begins to dancewith his wife.  And then mamash, all the couples, until Meshiachis come, will be dancing together.  
	And then maybe David haMelek will come up to me and say, Hey, Shloima, I hear you have some good waltzes. Can you play meone.                     

{Note, (sa):  For some reason, I think of that line from OrsonWells' Chimes at Midnight, spoken by Mistress Quickly as theimpromptu epitaph for [Shakespeare's] Falstaff:  'He's in [King]Arthur's bosom now.' }                

I will say mamash, Heilige suisse Zeyde, holy grandfather, youknow how long I've been waiting for this moment.

{R. Shlomo whistles, and hums, the niggun: }

You know friends, I would like to go back, just for one second --about measuring your vessels:

You know friends, if I decide I want to be a Professor, I've gotto have a little bit of a higher IQ.  If I want to be the top manat Columbia University, and Harvard, they test my talent, theytest my ability to think. {sa7}

The Torah -- is something else.  The Torah depends, how much doyou want.  
	Want you to know, there are thousands and thousands ofstories, of people mamash who later on became the greatest -- thegreatest rabbis in the world. 
	You know, there's a story -- one of the biggest RoshYeshivas, before the 2nd World War, his name was Reb MosheKabliner -- I mean Reb Pesach Kabliner -- he was a great-greatgrandson of Reb Moshe Kabliner, the big Rebbe.  
	You know like, all the rebbishce eineklechs, grandchildren,would sit in yeshiva and learn, they get married, sit in thekollel -- but saddest thing is, he had -- simply -- he had alearning disability.  He couldn't retain anything he learned.  Nebuch he gets older older older, he's sitting by the Gemora, buthe can't even read properly.   And it was heartbreaking, he triedto hide it.  But everybody knew, that he can't even read properly. So one night he was sitting there nebuch, heartbreaking.  Some ofthe chevre in the yeshiva, sometimes they're a little bit cruel,ganged up on him.  One of them walked up to him, and he says,could you explain to me this Tosefos.  And he's trying to read it-- can't even read it.   And he's already married.  Was so broken.
It was a cold winter night, and he had no jacket on, but he didn'teven care.  He ran out into the cold forest, mamash he fell downunder a tree, and he said, Rabbenu shel Olam, please, why do youput me to shame so much.  
	But then mamash, his soul grew wings, he said, Master of theWorld, it's not because being ashamed or not -- I really want somuch to know the Torah.  I'm begging you, open the gates of theTorah for me. 
	I want you to know that this Reb Pesach Kabriner, 3 or 4years later, was one of the biggest gaonim in the world.    Imean, everybody heard of Reb Baruch Baer, of Shimon Shkoach(?) --those luminaries -- who were giants.
	You know what someone told me once:  that all thoseluminaries were not one Einstein -- seven times Einstein -- 10times Einstein -- {sa8}

	I want you to know, somebody met my Rebbe, Reb Aron Kottler,and he knew also Einstein.  He says, I swear to you, that Reb Aronis seven times Einstein.  Mamash ______   Unbelieveable talent and[[so he was]] -- mamash, G_d gave him so much depth, and so muchstrength.     

	[[ Want to bless you friends, ?me and I?, this -- Oh -- ]]

	So what do we do the first night of Shavuos -- we're notlearning with our heads.  Because I have no idea what the Torahsays.  I'm just learning -- I'm just actually saying it -- thefirst three sentences and the last 3 sentences [of each parsha] --I'm just saying it, saying it, saying it -- and I say, Master ofthe World, shine into me what it means -- shine into me, I shouldbe connected, to every portion, to every masecta, to every mishna,to every letter of the Torah.  
 
	And I bless you friends, the night of Shavuos, I'm beggingyou, I'm crying before you -- that night is so holy -- whatsometimes we cannot do in a lifetime, we can do that whole night. 
And please, you know -- at dawn -- and I'm inviting you, if youcan, come to my shul -- mamash, the last hour before dawn --mamash, we're singing -- at then, at that second of dawn, we sayshma Yisrael -- and mamash, I bless you and me, the light of theTorah should shine into us -- in the deepest deepest way -- 
	We gotta sing a song fast --

{R. Shlomo:  starts with a new phrase, but goes into a familiarupbeat niggun -- R. Shlomo had something in his throat, and theplastic keyboard pushes all the buttons to cover it}

{END SOUND} {C615, about 35 minutes} {END TAPE 1 SIDE B {C647} 
{END PASS 2, PROOF AGAINST TAPE}

===============================================================
=================================================================
APPENDIX I:  PSearching for Mrs. Kaiser:

=SH_N547
TRANSCRIPTION OF TEACHINGS FROM COMMERCIAL TAPE NOAM 547
TRANSCRIPTION:  2 PASSES (sa)

All legal copyrights reserved to same.

Pini Dunner, A Maleva Malka with SC, c 1995    Also CD (?)
Pini Dunner, SC:  A Melava Malka in Notting Hill.     Copyright1995. circle-C circle-P, by NOAM  547 Jerusalem:  02-375994; 02651-1704	.  Recorded live Notting Hill Synagogue London, MotziShabbos 16 Jan 1993.  Mixed, editted & produced by Pini Dunner. Apparently in conjunction with Jerusalem Star.
includes story:  Moishele Gut Shabbos

3) Teaching:  Introduction to V'einu:

Ok my friends, did I tell you my dream?  Tell you now. 
?You know when? Messhiach's coming?  Have you ever seen those oldmovies, the Austrian Kaiser's coming down, with the Rebbitzin,with Mrs. Kaiser, and Johann Schtrauss [pronounced sic, with adash of shmaltz] begins to sing a waltz, and mamash, all begin todance -- Meshiach's coming -- And Adom and Chava will make peace - because Adom and Chava have not made peace yet, hundred percent. They haven't fixed with?? [or up??]  evrything.
	So gevalt just imagine it -- Avrom and Sorah -- Yitzak andRivka -- the heilige _____ Jakov Rochel and Leah -- Moishele andZippora -- Aaron haCohen -- all the tzadikim, all the gdolim arecoming -- ___________ Chava??  -- and Dovid haMelech -- heiligesuisse David haMelech  -- gevalt -- bless you and me it?? {or:I??} should be there -- playing a waltz -- 
	And -- and?? this is my deepest dream -- bless me it shouldhappen -- Suddenly David haMelech calls me over and says:  Hey,Shloime -[laughter] -- wouldn't you like to play a waltz?  So Iwould say:  Heilige suisse Zeide -- don't [know if you??] you knowthat my father -- before my father passed away -- for years he didresearch in our family -- we mamash are descendents of DavidhaMelch -- 18 branches.   
	So I would say:  Heilige Zeide David HaMelech:  you know howlong I was waiting for you? -- to ask me to sing a melody --  

{Whistles): Ve'enu  

3) Ve'enenu -- V`ININU	  
V'eineinu Sir'enoh #2 = Za#24

-----------------------------------------------------------------
{sa04} Viyisayu:
Stately, about MM=30 in 4/4; or better, MM=60 in 2/2
Scored as 4/4:
C / f g a f G2 /
    e f g e F2 /
Changing to 3/4, but at same MM=
  / A F C  / D3
  / E F G  / C3 [this is line is embellished, hazzanut ad lib]
     or D
? / A B^A / G3
? / G A G / F3            

I think David Herzberg presented this song on one of his programs,with a preposterous wedding-cake accompaniment from the Temple ofthe Holy Bagel (Reconstructist of Houston); with R. Shlomo tellinghow he wrote it; maybe this is the "Kaiser and Mrs. Kaiser"procession song -- I forget from which tape, but I've input thatstory.
----------------------------------------------------------------
===============================================================
APPENDIX II:  Encyclopedia Judaica entry on POTOCKI, VALENTINE,written by A. Cy = Arthur Cygielman.

Potocki, Valentie (Abraham b. Abraham) d. 1749.  Polish Count. "...while studying in Paris became friendly with Zarembar, anotheryoung Polish aristorcrat."  "According to legend, once while in atavern they noticed the owner, an old Jew, immersed in the studyof the Talmud, and expressed a desire to be instructed in theprinciples of Judaism.  The two vowed that they would become Jewsif convinced of the error of Christianity.

{Comment (sa):  Not ruddy likely; for that they should get kickedout on the street.  First of all, who needs converts; and anyone,Christianity ain't wrong, just dumb.  Only Christians, with alltheir dogma, think the essential part of Judaism is what we do anddon't believe; heck, we hardly know, and don't even think muchabout it.  To be Jewish is to have an irrevocable obligation tothe Jewish people (and accordingly, to the state of the Jewishpeople), and (if one is religious), to do the mitzvot, as much andas best as one can, in the long run.  Belief in Judaism is in onesense implicit (presupposed); and in another sense, epiphenomenal.  Precisely what those two distinct senses are, I can't yet say.}
	And besides, converting Counts was probably not good forbusiness in the long run.} 

 ..Pototcki, after spending some time at the Papal Academy in Rome[and then disappeared without telling anyone] , went to Amsterdamand became a Jew...Potocki went to Lithuaia and settled as a Jewin Ilya, near Vilna.  [His buddy, Zaremba, who had gotten married,took his family to Amsterdam, converted to Judaism] "andsubsequently settled in Eretz Israel."
	"Once Potocki scolded a boy for disturbing the prayers in thesynagogue.  The boy's father, a coarse tailor, took umbrage andreported the eixtence of the proselyte to the authorities, thusleading to his arrest.  Potocki was put on trial, and despite thepleas of fellow aristocrats, refused to recant.  On the second dayof Shavuot 5509 (1749), he was burned at the stake at the foot ofthe fortress of Vilna, on his lips the prayer, "..who sanctifiesthey name before multitudes."  A local Jew, Eliezer Ziskes,pretending to be a Christian, succeeded in collecting some of theashes and a finger from the corpse, and these were eventuallyburied in the Jewish cemetary.   From the soil over the grave ofPotocki, who was called by them the Ger Tzasdik, there grew a bigtree which drew vast pilgrimages of Jews.  The grave wasdemolished by Polish vandals.  The first to publish the story ofthe Ger Zedek was the Polish writer J. Kraszewski in 1841.  Heclaimed to have found it in a Hebrew manuscript.  Later it waspublished byh I.M. Dick in Hebrew (1862) and in Yiddish (no date),under the title, Gerei ha-Zedek...So far no historical evidencefor the story has been discovered, although it is generallybelieved to have been true...The Jews of Vilna celebrated theanniversary of Pototski's death by reciting the kaddish and bymaking pilgrimages to his purported grave on the 9th of Av and onHigh Holidays. "
[The writer makes no mention of Pototski's learning in Talmud norin kabalah. ]
==============================================================

[N.B.:  Footnotes are Deep6'd to the version to be ZIP'd into=sh0498.*  on my Temporary Homepage, www.kinneret.co.il/sa9802 ]
================================================================

APPENDIX 3:  COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY:


As reprinted in the Jerusalem Post Magazine, Chris Kaltenbach ofThe Baltimore Sun said that James Van Pragh said that recentlysomeone named Norma (formerly aka Marilyn Monroe) said:  
'I wish they would pay homage to themselves instead of to me.' 

Rebbe Reb Zusha said something similar.

And everyone knows:  When Elvis wrote 'You ain't nothing but aHound Dog', he was referring to Premier Shimon Peres.    

{sa1e}
Volumes II are presently (4/98) on Sale at T.O.P. (YakovFogelman's Torah Outreach Project) in the Rova, Jerusalem.  Forabout $36 for a set of 2 I think, which suggests that Yakov boughtthem at retail, and then marked up.  I gather he considered itrather an achievement or bit of luck to be able to get any. Idon't think they're on sale elsewhere in Israel.  Offhand, it'sthe first time I recall seeing Volume II on sale in Israel.  Idon't think I've ever seen Volume I on sale in Israel.  I'vewritten to Torah Times a few times over the past few years, butnot received an answer.
Torah Times appears to be produced in the same style as JerusalemStar, but no information about persons nor organizations involvedis given on the tape nor package.                           
	Therefore:  If the chicken ain't selling eggs to the natives,or leastways not for anything less than gold, maybe the fox shouldhold a tailgate sale.
	Of course this is cutting into Fogelman's business, but hecan always sell a bit herring on the side; he's got a good storefront location, since cousin Ishamel kicked out the Crusaders fromthe holy Land. 

	As to the background music.  It's just one honkey-tonk piano,not a plastic Disneyland, but it's still shlock.  One hopes it wasstripped in afterwards -- in which case, there must exist a studiotape of R. Shlomo alone, which should be re-issued as an unpluggedversion.  If was playing while R. Shlomo was bringing down and outthese observations -- I don't see how any creative thinker, muchless a religious/mystic,  with musical sensibility could eventhink against that pap.

{sa2}
{Comment (sa):  Well, fact is, tonight Al Gore on TV -- he was thelatest post-Zionist jet-set guest-of-honor, popping into Israel'sJubilee Independece Day commemoration, on his way between SaudiArabia and Gaza -- and he somehow took Joseph's brothers as thearchetype of anti-Semitism -- but then, he sort of figured thatwhen Joseph got to Egypt, he made good -- sort of like MartinIndyk and Dennis Ross, I guess. } 

{sa3c}
{Comment (sa):  I think better, 'seas', not oceans.  For theMediterranean Sea is composed of many seas.  They speak of the'Seven Seas':  Well, within the Mediteranean Sea there's the Seaof Cyprus, and the Aegean -- which has sharp cross-winds --  theIonian, and the Adriatic}.  But maybe one ocean.  Robert Graves,in the White Goddess, makes a fair case for saying:  some of ourpost-chayelim went to Ireland and became the original Druids. Just kept the old religion, with the new botany.  Although Gravesdoesn't put it in precisely those terms.  But everyone knows,Irish don't sail much farther than the nearest pub, even if thatis in England.   Says I.}

{sa4}
{Footnote- (sa):  I'm darned if I see why folks -- R. SC anyhow,but he seems always to have proceeded from a strong basis oftradition -- make such a big to-do about this Graf Potovski,besides that he got himself killed. }
{Toenote (sa):  Susanah left New Buffalo, and went to SanFrancisco, and came back about a year later with a very smallbrown baby.  Everyone said, 'Susanah got herself knocked up.' Some woman asked, 'Why does everyone say, only of Susanah, she gotherself knocked up.'}

{sa4a}
{Comment (sa):  Sure -- who notices that millionaire from Hollandpops back to his fiefdom and immediately marries the barkeeper'sdaughter, and settles down to feed the chickens.   He couldn'tmaybe ask her to meet him in the city?.  Like I say, looks likeGraf Pototski got himself killed -- wasted all that goodeducation.} 


{sa4b}
{Comment (sa):  Oy.  Baal Tchuvas. }

{sa4c}
{Comment (sa):  This is a great kabbalist?.  Sounds more like ElieWiesel.} 
{sa4d}
{Comment (sa):  Ain't that hard; just don't eat nor drink for awhile. }

{sa5}
{Comment (sa): But davka, stopping first in Prussia?} 

{sa6}
{Comment (sa):  Well, it's interesting that R. Shlomo chosesBatsheva as the wife of David haMelek.  Also it's interesting thatMeshiach comes with his wife [as R. Shlomo as said elsewhere, andas others have noted], and that the first thing Meshiach does, isdance with his wife -- look like things will be a bit more relaxedwhen Meshiach comes}

{sa7}
{Comment (sa):  Oh shucks, that reminds me of a story my mothertold about Kittredge.  He had never gotten a Ph.d, because in hisdays they didn't have them, and so eventually Harvard gotembarassed, and wanted to give him an honorary docterate. Kittredge said, 'Oh?  Who could examine me?'} 

{sa8}
{Comment (sa):  Well Einstein also had trouble in school. Einstein was a genius.  A genius is someone who can createGestalts. Like Marilyn Strauss said, Mozart said, his one gift wasthat he had a whole symphony in mind before he sat down to writeit.  There are many types of intellectual/intutiive/aesthetic excellence, apart from genius, and not clearly 'lesser' than it.(Like the Greeks said, at the Olympic games, "Of many kinds is thegreatness of men" -- and the Greeks hadn't even started to countedthe kinds of greatness of women } A Gaon -- I don't know, maybejust an organic encylopedia, obsoleted by CD-ROMs.  If R. Shlomohad a dash of genius, one would see it only in the way he, verysubtly, almost invisibly, threads teachings together -- and onewould find that only in the transcripts of his advanced teachings,in particular the "Mishkanot" teachings given at the Witts' home[which I have not included on by Temporary Homepage.].}

EVALUATION:
Side A:  Side A starts didactic, and flat; R. Shlomo sounds tired,and almost going through it by the book -- though his Fakebook youcannot buy even from Aronson's -- but he does touch a number ofpolitically important points -- acknowleging Yom HaShoah, YomHaAtzmaut, and especially Yom Yerushelayim as holidays; statingunequivocally that Jerusalem is within the domain of the Jewishpeople.   He drums a lot on instantiating the concept of 'nochoice'; but toward the end of Side A he starts pulling many ofhis remarks together as a commentary on Iyar.   The level ismostly elementary, but it jumps up into advanced in a few spots.
Side B:  The focus seems to be on defending the absolutelegitimacy of converts; a lot of space is taken by a ratherimaginative tale about Graf Pototski.  There's a new version ofthe (=sh_n547, appended) `Meshiach comes to Kaiser & Mrs. Kaiser' 
song-blurb.

{sa3e}
{Comment (sa):  Well, there is a case to made for saying thatNazi-ism rested on pseudo-intellectuality.  Although that suredoesn't account for Heidegger, or Heisenberg.  Now Wittgenstein,who had emigrated to England in 1932 or so, explicitly saw hiswork as an antidote to 'der Krankheit einer Zeit' -- though I'mnot clear what he had in mind as that sickness, how much heidentified Nazi-ism with that sickness.  Malcolm recalls making aremark about 'the British national character' and encoutering W.'sretort, 'Haven't I taught you anything. '}
