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=sh_tt2b

SEE DETAILED SOURCE NOTES ON =sh_tt2a
TORAH TIMES, VOLUME II, TAPE 2:
SIDE A:  Tammuz, 3 Weeks
SIDE B:  Av, Tesha b'Av

{START SIDE A {C000}

{R. Shlomo whistling, and humming, and singing:  Eli Ani}
{Plastic piano background, with a Plastic Men's Choir}  

Ah, good hodesh, good yomtov good shabbos, everywhere, my friends.

Now we're coming to two beautiful, but heartbreakingly beautiful,beautifully heartbreakng two months, Tammuz and Av. {sa1} 

And now listen, my beautiful friends.  Essav and Yakov divided theworld.  So let's start from this.  
	Essav says:  give me hodesh Nisan.  Oy vey, what are yougoing to do with Pesach, eating matza is not for you.  Essav says,give me hodesh Iyar.  You have to count the Omer every night, youwon't have time, you'll be drunk, running around in a singles bar,and who knows where else, it's not for you.  Sivan.  Oy, Sivan --do you have time to come to Mt. Sinai -- we asked you, we invitedyou, and you said you have no time -- .  And if you remember,Essav asked:  'What does it say', `The Torah says, don't kill' hesays, `Aw, please G_d, y'know, really, You must be kidding, You'reold-fashioned ' -- in fact, today Essav says, I don't have to doit personally any more, I just push a button somewhere and Idestroy the world. {sa1n}
	It's not for you, Essav.  Stay away. 

Oy. Tammuz.  There's no way of pushing him off.   He took themonth.  Hodesh Av.  The 9th month.  And everybody knows, inTammuz, the walls(?) [or: ?rules?] broke down.  We made the GoldenCalf.  Moshe Rabbenu had to break the tablets.  Oy vey, Essav isstrong in this month.  Av, the destruction of the Temple.

Hodesh Elul.  Essav wants to take everything(?).  No, listenBrother Essav, you have to get up every morning early to go toshul to blow the shofar -- It's not for you, the way you live. It's not for you.  Tishrei.  Oy, gevalt -- Rosh HaShana, blowingthe Shofar, sitting in the sukkah.  Heshvan -- Heshvan, everybodyknows, when Meshiach is coming, the Third Temple will be initiatedwith Heshvan.  And -- the whole month.

And you know, it's very strange.  Basically, in hodesh Heshvan, itlooks like everything is falling apart.  The leaves are fallingdown, and everything is dried out and dead.

{Note  (sa):  But that is only in northern countries; in the landof Israel, the rains have started, and everything is turninggreen. }

And yet it is so beautiful.  Have you ever walked in the forest{sa2} when the green leaves -- some have turned red a little bit{in New England foliage} -- it looks like it's falling apart --and you mamash know, it's just preparing, for even a morebeautiful year. 
Become even more special.  No [Essav,] it's not for you.

Kislev:  Oy, Brother Essav, you're kidding -- Hanuka lights -- notfor you.  Oy, Teves.  He took Teves.  Everybody knows, Esra (10th)b'Teves -- oy oy oy,oy oy -- Esra b'Teves is the one when the warbetween Rome and Israel began.  When they began to surroundYerushelayim.  It's the day when they translated the Bible into 70languages.  And you know what's the most heartbreaking thing is. Today, sometimes you talk to people -- Oh, I read the Bible, inthe King James version.  Oy.  It's a criminal offense against G_d. Can you really believe that G_d said, 'an eye for an eye, a toothfor a tooth'.  What a criminal translation. {sa1a} Everything inthe Torah is so holy, and so beautiful.                             

[REFERENCE:  Exodus (Mishpatim) 21:23-24:  V_AM AMON YiHYeH,V_NTaTaH NeFeSh TaHT NeFeSh, XaIN TaTaT XalYIN, ShiN TaHT Shen<YaD TaHaT YaD, ReGeL TTaT RegeL..."But if [there be] injury, thenthou shalt give, life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, handfor hand, foot for foot ...
Rashi, citing Talmud, Book Baba Kama, Chapter HaChIKoL,  said thatRabbinic opinion said that in case of wounding (and according tosome, loss of life), monetary compensation was required ] 

	Anyway, he took it.  And Shvat, he also took\. {Objection -sa1b}. 

The only thing is, Shvat, on the 15th, when half the month isover, we celebrate, thank G_d -- it's over {so I R. SC here means: from the 15th of Shvat on, the month of Shvat no longer has amournful character. }

And also -- Av [or: Ah]  -- from the 15th day of Av -- becauseeverybody knows, Meshiach is coming on the 9th day of Av, and onthe 15th, Meshiach will initiate the 3rd Temple.  {Note (sa):  SoI suppose this means:  the 2nd half of Av, starting on the 15th,is not a time of mourning (and indeed, the 3 weeks of mourning forthe destruction of the Temple end at the conclusion of 9 Av). 

But -- let's go slow a little bit. 

The month of Tammuz, the fixing is seeing.  And the astrologicalsign in Cancer.  What's Cancer all about -- without even gettinginvolved in the depth -- Cancer walks backward. {sa1c}  Gotta goback.  What happens to a Jew in Tammuz.  Want to go back.  
	And the month belongs to Reuven.  Reuven means:  'Look here,my son'.  The oldest son of Yakov -- the son of Leah -- 
	And the fixing is seeing -- the eyes.

Hodesh Av -- belongs to Shimon.  And the fixing, is hearing.
	And here's the awesome classic tora, from the heilige B'neiYessochar -- 

[REFERENCE:  Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapiro of Dinov -- the BaalYissas'char, b. 1783, d. Dinov, Galicia, 1843.  Studied under theChozeh of Lublin, The Maggid of Koznitz, Rabbi Menachem Mendel ofRymanov.  B'nei Yissachar, discourses on the Torah and Festivals,by RAbbi Rabbi Tzvi Elimelech Shapiro of Dinov, first published inSolkova in 1846.  BNeI YeShaShKaR ]

-- and I wish for some of you, who have never heard of him, let mejust tell you, he was one of the greatest pupils of the Seer ofLublin -- and maybe one of these days we'll have more time -- oh,I wish you and I, we should meet -- and sit together, and telleach other stories -- he says the deepest tora in the world -- 
	Everybody knows, the destruction of the Temple began, withthe sending of the spies.   And the way the spies looked atIsrael, was not the right way.  So Tamuz is, when the spies left, so the fixing is:  Seeing.  They came back on Tesha b'Av.  Sadlyenough, we listened to them. {sa1d}

So, our wrong-doing was that we listened.  So on Tammuz the fixingis  'seeing' -- and on Av is hearing. 

But Itzbitzer goes even one step deeper.  
	In hodesh Tamuz, until the holy Temple is destroyed, theworld looks beautiful, but yet, the way I see it, I realize theworld is just about falling apart.   And I see behind the fallingapart, G_d is preparing a new world.  On Tesha b'Av, when I lookat the world, the holy Temple is destroyed, I look at Auchwitz,what I see is too terrible, I have to close my eyes.  My onlysalvation is ______ {HEB.(?)} {HEB. quote).  
	You know, when I look at the gas chambers in Auchwitz, what Isee is smoke coming out.   But what I hear -- I hear the footstepsof Meshiach. 
	I want you to know friends:  I was in Cracow, a few years ago-- and {HEB.} I was privileged to make up a little melody -- itwas like -- walking behind the 6 million -- 
	You know, when you close your eyes, what do we see.  We'renot only seeing the gas chambers, we see all the 6 million,walking, walking --

	I want to share with you something awesome:
	I was once in a pizza shop in Toronto.  And a young ladycomes up to me, she has a little boy of 6.  And she says to me, Iknow you tell stories, let me tell you:
	We are not so, let's say, super-observant, and my little boyis -- now he is six, then he was five -- and we are sending him toHebrew School, in Holy Blossom [a Reform something-or-other inToronto ] -- syngagogue, `Temple' [my scare-quotes, not supportedby R. Shlomo's intonation, which is neutral  -- sa] --
	One Sunday he's coming back -- can't stop crying.  We'retrying to talk to him, and ask him, why are you crying -- andcouldn't even get it out of him.  Late at night -- somehow hecalmed down a little bit -- and we ask him, why are you crying somuch.  He says, do you know, I heard today, that they killed 6million Jews.  How could I ever stop crying. 

	What a neshama -- what a heart, what a soul.
	So she says, mamash, we tried to calm him down.  But itdidn't really work, he was still -- crying a little bit.  Then Iput him to sleep.  And he says to me, Mommy, tell me the truth: Does G_d love the Jews -- Oy, what a heavy question.  So she says: I said to my son:  Yeah, 100 percent, he loves us the most.  Andsuddenly he smiled -- he says, you know, Mommy -- I had aunbelieveable idea -- I think that the 6 million never died in thegas chambers -- I think they came out on the other side, and theywalked straight to Yerushelyaim.
	Sadly enough, sadly enough, I lost the address; but whereverthis little boy is, I'm sure he'll be the one to see me(?) -- whenwe all go to Yerushelayim, when Meshiach's coming -- 

{R. Shlomo strums his guitar:}

	So the first part, my beautiful friends:  Slowly walkingbehind the 6 million.  And when this melody came to me -- mamash Icould see with my inside inside eyes -- we're walking behind the 6million -- slowly -- and you know what we're trying to do -- allthose little kids -- who were torn away from their parents -- Oy,oy oy -- we're trying to hold them by their hand -- 'cause theyneed so much someone to hold them -- can you imagine how manylittle kids they pushed in the gas chambers -- and they needed somuch a father and mother to hold their hand --
	But then suddenly, they realized -- 
	Wherever you are, sing with me:
        

{R. Shlomo whistling:}
R. Shlomo chanting:  When the heilige suisse Reb Sholem Schachner,the father of the heilige ________ was on the wedding -- his ownwedding -- and he was only 14 years old -- he came to Berditchev - to ask him, the heilige Reb Levi Yitzhak, {HEB.} -- Reb LeviYitzhak {HEB.} -- {apparently repeats previous previous phrase:} Reb Levi Yitzhak {HEB.} -- so Reb Levi Yitzhak says, I want towalk you to the outskirts of the city -- and suddenly suddenly RebLevi Yitzhak Berditchever turned around and he was dancingbackwards -- before the holy groom, Reb Shlolem Schachner -- 
	The hasidim said to Reb Levi Yitzhak -- heilige Rebbe, don'tyou think you're overdoing it -- you're the Rebbe of all theRebbes -- and Reb Sholem Schachner, it's true, he's your Rebbe'sgrandson, but -- he's only 14 years old -- you're dancing backward-- don't you feel it was ?a little? maybe too much --  

	So this is what he said:
	Don't think for one moment, I was dancing alone.  I was notdancing alone. Eliahu haNavi, Eliahu haTishvi, Eliahu haGiladi.{HEB: ________ v' Meshiach ben David} He was dancing backwardsbefore the holy Chosen, so I just joined him.

	You know friends, I had this very deep feeling.  Imagine if Iwalk in front of my children -- do you really think I just walk,and I don't look at them -- G_d should give us the privilege asparents -- or(?) we still walk in front of our children -- but Iwould like to walk backwards -- 
	I don't ever want to take my eyes off my children -- when Ilook at them all the time {HEB.  ___ malkus secha} -- I couldswear to you:  Yes, it's true, the 6 million walk in front of us - but they're going, they're dancing backwards -- and they'retelling us to go to Yerushelayim -- don't walk sadly, dance withgreat joy.

{R. Shlomo humming the niggun:  -- I think this is the blindChazan niggun  -- of course the blind chazan was blinded in theconcentration camps }                            
{C400}
{R. Shlomo humming an upbeat niggun; then re-sings at half-tempo}

So you hear, my beautiful friends:  Tammuz and Av:
Our holy Rabbis teach us:  The holy Temple was destroyed, becausewe didn't love each other. 
	You know it's strange -- you can do everything right: [Suppose] I do everything right ____ there are a few people Ican't stand.   You know, my beautiful friends, what's our holyTemple all about:  You know, on the street, I don't mind meetingpeople who I don't like -- in my house, I can only stand peoplewho I love.   And if there's so many people you cannot stand, soyou cannot be ?in? one House with G_d -- because the Master of theWorld -- _____ we all are His chldren --

	You know, imagine -- I bless you and me, our children shouldalways love each other -- what do you do if two children__________  {2 words indistinct -- ?fighting?} ?please? -- not inmy house. 
Oy vey.   
	Where does it start:  We don't know how to look at eachother. 
	You know friends, to look at a human being, specially to lookat a Yid -- takes more than good eye-glasses.  You go to anopthamologist 
{Comment (sa):  sic, opthamologist -- first time I've heard thatword in R. SC teachings } 

-- and he says oh, your eyes are good.  Takes more than that.

	And here I want to share something very very deep with you,friends:

	You know, Moshe Rabbenu had clear prophecy.   And MosheRabbenu says to G_d, please let me see the Land -- the way aProphet sees, from one corner of the world to the other.  And thesame question is also -- G_d says to Abraham, Go to the Land whichI will show you -- [do you] have to go to the Land to see it?{interrogrative intonation in R. Shlomo's sentence} -- AbrahamAvinu has good eyes -- he can sit in Horon [or?: ?Hebron?] -- 

{note (sa): but from Bet Horon, on the road to Meor Modi'in, onecan see the Mediterranean.  Ben Yehuda St., in Tel Aviv, is 2blocks from the sea] } , 

and see exactly where Ben Yehuda is -- he can see Diezengoff, hecan see the holy Wall.  	But the answer is:  Obviouslythere is -- deeper than seeing; deeper than Prophetic Seeing.  Andto see the holy Land -- Oh, G_d has to show it to you -- it'ssomething so deep, so deep. 
	So every year when it comes Tammuz -- mamash, all of us,we're begging G_d, please, Master of the World, let me not look atthe world even with Prophetic eyes -- Master of the World -- 

	I want you know something very beautiful -- it's justsomething to think about --
	You know, in Belz -- especially shabbos mincha -- you davenvery very late -- and at one time , the ANUKE KADISCHE fromKarlin, from Stolin, came to Belz.  And the Belzer Rebbe says tohim, I want you to read the Torah for mincha.  It was -- reallydark.  So the Stoliner says to the heilige Belzer Rebbe:  It's sodark, I can't see anything.   So the Belzer Rebbe says -- I'llgive you my eyes.  Gvalt.

	So you know -- comes Hodesh Tamuz -- I say Master of theWorld, the world is so dark, I can't see anything -- so our holyrabbis promised us -- this is the fixing of seeing -- 
	And I want to bless you -- G_d should hear our prayers, giveus His eyes --  

{R. Shlomo singing a chaser niggun:}
{END RECORDING, {C574} -- about 34 minutes}
{END TAPE, {C643} -- about 37 minutes}
--==============================================================
{START TAPE 2, SIDE B:  Av, Tesha  b'Av {C000}

{R. Shlomo:  Niggun -- I don't recall haven't heard it before.}

You know friends, the story of hodesh Av is -- it's a long story. 
It's 2,400 years old.  It all began with the spies coming back. And here the most heart-breaking deep question is -- the spies hadclear prophecy -- they were all the greatest pupils of MosheRabbenu -- why did they come back and say bad things about Israel. And also -- Kholev [Calev] -- and Yoshua [Joshua] -- who gave themthe strength -- who gave them the strength to hold out.

And there's so many, so many toras.  Let me share with you one.

The first thing is, that the truth is:  Yes, they had clearprophecy:  You know what they saw:  They saw rivers of bloodcoming out of Yerushelayim -- flooding the whole world.  {sa3}

They saw the destruction of the First Temple, and they saw thedestruction of the Second Temple.  They saw Auchwitz, they sawDachau.  They saw the 6 Day War, they saw the Yom Kippur War.  Youknow what they said:  Why do we need it.  Let's stay in thedesert.  
	So they were right.  The only thing is, they make onemistake.   They didn't realize, that all this is only happeningbecause of them.  If they would [have] come back and say goodthings [about the Land of Israel ] -- all the rivers of blood inYerushelayim would be turned into rivers of joy.
	You know how deep this is -- sometimes we see bad things inthe world, we see terrible things in another human being -- andYeah -- but it's all your fault. 

{Note (sa):  This reminds me a line from R. SC, which I don't nowfind as input:  "On Rosh HaShana it's clear to me -- it's all myfault " [N.B. for PSearch --  I don't recall how I spelled RoshHashannah in the previous input. ] }
{Similar quotes occur in: Connections Vol. I #4, "Thoughts on RoshHaShana and Yom Kippur, excerpted in \KIDS1094:=kidb1094' :Cf.=sh_tt3a}

It's all your fault.  I mean this is -- ?it is? deeper than YomKippur; it cuts right through you in a million ways. 

But then there's a deeper tora, I would like to share with you.
It's actually based a little bit on Mea Sheloach [by theIzbitzer]:

Yeah, they had clear prophecy.  But if you remember, we weresupposed to be in Egypt 400 years, and then go to the holy Land. G_d took us out from Egypt before our time,

[REFERENCE:  Cf. =av3.*, Achishena, before the appointed time;7/29/92, Yerushelayim, before Rosh Hodesh Av [probably at"Mishkanot", Witts' home.]                 

because the pain was just -- unbearable.
{Note:  (sa):  I think this is in reference to:  the 49th gate ofdefilement.}

You know the spies saw, that it's not time yet, to go to Israel. And I'm sure it's clear to you and me -- all the problem we havetoday in Israel, is also because, it's before the time. {sa4}

Obviously when we were in gas chambers, it was like coming out ofEgypt -- it was not time yet to come back to Israel -- {sa5}
but the pain was so unbearable, that G_d opened gates of Israel --but the gates are not completely open yet.  So we have so muchtrouble -- so much heart-ache, still.

	But now:  So what was so good about the spies:  didn't MosheRabbenu know this also.  
	But everybody knows:
	Meshiach has two times when he can come.  ?It says? {HEB: ____ ?achishem?} .  Or ['or...or' = tr. of mod. Heb. 'Im...im','either...or'] he comes at that point of time when G_d created theworld, or was a point of time when Meshiach is coming, when theworld will be redeemed.  {HEB.  ____ achishema.}  If we'll beg himso much, won't be able to bear it any more, Meshiach will comesooner.
	So Moshe Rabbenu sent the spies.  And he thought, he washoping, they'll look at the Land, and they'd say, it's sobeautiful, G_d, Master of the World, please give us the Land, wecan't live without it -- please give it to us -- we'll beg Him somuch, He'll give it to us sooner.
	That's what Calev and Yeshua [Joshua ben Nun] did:  theyreally understood what Moshe Rabbenu meant.  The other miraglimjust looked at it, and they saw: It's not time yet.  And theconnection between [the people of] Israel and the Land [of Israel]is not so strong yet.  So this is what they said.

	You know my beautiful friends:  The [matter of] Spies [theMiraglim, representatives of the 12 tribes, sent by Moshe Rabbenuto describe the Land of Israel] is only between us Jews and theholy Land.  We all are spies, the way we look at each other.  Ican look at another human being and find a few things -- this iswrong, this is wrong.  
	You know, according to our holy -- all the great kabalists --when I meet my soulmate, why does it take so long 'till you getmarried.  ?And then?, you know, how many brides and grooms nearly[or?: ?really?] run away one second before the chuppah.  Becausewe have eyes of spies.  We look at each other, this is wrong, thisis wrong, I don't like her nose, I don't like her ears -- allspies.

	You know, the 15th day of Av -- a few days after thedestruction of the Temple -- the holiest thing was -- that all theholy young ladies would dance on the streets of Yerushelayim, andevery young man would walk up, and say to their soulmate's, Ah,you're _____ ?my? soul-mate; let's get married right away.  It wasno problem.  Because after Tesha b'Av, when I realize, what eyesof spies can do, how they can destroy the holy Temple, can destroyhuman lives, then I fix my eyes, and I fix my ears.

	And here I want to share with you something deep.
	You know so, on the 15th day of Av, I'm walking up to mysoul-mate, and I look at her, and I say gvalt, {HEB.} Mamash,you're so beautiful.
	And also something very deep.

	What is beautiful and not-beautiful.  
	I'll tell you something:  I'm very much in love with thisgirl, let's call her Channa-le, but I want to see if she's reallybeautiful, so I'm inviting all the eligible young ladies in BoroPark, and I want to compare, to see if she is beautiful.  How doesit sound to ya. {sa6}  Disgusting.
	But imagine I meet a girl, I love her so much.  I don't careif other girls are more beautiful, less beautiful.  Because in herpresence, nobody else exists.  Nobody else exists.

	You know folks, there are a lot of people who are a littlebit Jewish; yeah, and they start to compare their religion; andthen they think, oh, the Jewish religion is really a finereligion, I think I find my roots in the Jewish religion:  youknow, I experienced Christmas, and Thanksgiving, and yet I feel,Shabos is really the answer. ________? {Yiddish?), Little bitshwach, right??  What are you comparing.  I can't compareanything.  Because when shabbos is there the world doesn't exist.
 
	You see the spies came, and they say Ah, we don't like Israelso much, we have seen better ones.  And Yeshua, Calev, the realones, they say Ah:  {HEB.}.

	Listen friends, y'know, if I come to Yerushelayim, and Idiscuss with my friends, if I like Paris better, Amsterdam better,or Rome better, or Yerushelayim -- forget it.  I ?have? never seenYerushelayim yet.
	You know when I stand by the holy Wall -- I don't seeanything else.

	So the fixing of Tamuz is, again:  seeing.  When you [really]SEE {emphasized} Yerushelayim, ?do you? see anything else.  Idon't see anything else.

	You know friends, when I walk up Fifth(?) Avenue, with thegirl I love the most, {sa7-SOURCE} I don't see anything, I don'teven see the number of the [cross-]streets.  I don't see all thebeautiful stores {sa6a}, I don't see all the people -- my eyes arejust glued to her - that's all I see.       

-------------------------------------
{CROSS-REFERENCE: (sa):   Cf. =sh9312ha:  
But anyhow, Reb Stoliner?? Elimelekh, he came to eretz Israel.
He arrived by ship in Jaffo, 1936, took a cab to Jerushalyim
And the whole time, the windows are open, and he stares outside.  
So someone says, Rebbe, you're so tired, why don't you rest alittle bit.  He says, G-d's eyes are glued to the land, G-d'slooking at the land, {Ayin HaSHEM _______}, G-d always looked atthe land.  If G-d looks at the land, how can I not look at italso. 
	It's unbelieveable fixing of the eyes.}
                                           ----------------------

So the first thing is, Tamuz is fixing. 

	And I want you to know, when you meet a human being, createdin G_d's image, you see a Yid, what are you comparing. 

{N.B. (sa):  that is, anything created in the image of the Divineis beyond compare [as, being by definition, infinite (albeitinnumerable creatures are on a lower order of infinite that istheir single Creator); and hence beyond, not constructivecriticism [`for the sake of Heaven'] but beyond destructivecriticism, beyond thee power of negative thinking.}

	And I want you to know something so beautiful:
	Seeing -- this is not prophetic seeing -- this is eretzIsrael seeing -- mamash this is such a privilege --
	Have you ever seen little babies -- and the way they look attheir mother, their father -- their eyes are fixed on their mother-- like nothing else exists -- 
	Only thing is, when we grow up, we see so much -- and we forget already how really to look at the things we love the most 

	You know friends, I've never seen anybody walking up toRockefeller Center, putting your face on the stones -- because --what's -- nothing personal between me and Rockefeller Center -- 
	The holy Wall -- Ah, every stone -- so deep.
	And when I put my eyes on the stones -- you think I'vestopped seeing -- Ah, I see everything. 

	And here's the deepest tora from Reb Nachman.  Reb Nachmansays, Why is it, when we say Shma [R. Shlomo quotes the Shma], G_dis one, we put our hands over our eyes, and we close our eyes. SoReb Nachman says, when something is a little bit far away from myeyes, when(?) I keep my eyes open, I can see it.  When somethingis very close, I have to squint my eyes.  And then there'ssomething which is so close -- that in order to see it, I have toclose my eyes completely. 

	You know what Tamuz is?  And here I want you to knowsomething so heartbreaking.
	Basically, we were supposed to close our eyes, and feel soclose to Eretz Israel, and see every corner of the holy Land.  Butsadly enough, we look at eretz Israel, and we thought, Yeah, it'sbeautiful but -- Paris [or: there it's], not so bad; Amsterdam,yeah I like a little bit. 
	But then Reb Nachman says again:  You know when you cry, thevery split second when the tear's coming out, your eyes have to beclosed.  So you know G_d says, You know what your problem is -- ifyou don't close your eyes out of love, maybe you'll close youreyes out of pain.        

{Note (sa):  This is from a Midrash.  Cf. Kitov}

	Oy, oy oy:  Gvalt did we go through pain.  How many tearshave we shed. 

	So this is fixing of Tamuz:  the fixing of Tamuz is, that weclose our eyes.
	And also I want you to know something: 
	Tamuz is ,the sun is shining the strongest.  You know, whenit's shining, you have to close your eyes.  Because there issomething else.  Sometimes the light is so strong.  You also haveto close your eyes. 

{Note (sa):  R. Shlomo spent most summers at Moshav Meor Modi'in. The surrounding hillls are rocky, and bare in summer.}
           
You know friends, when I stand by the holy Wall, I close my eyes.First of all, because I'm so close.  Then, because of the light. 

You know, by Birkas Cohenim, you have to close your eyes, becausethe light of the blessing -- ah, gvalt is that strong.  So.

And then comes hodesh Av.  Hodesh Av is hearing. 

You know friends, what do you hear.  
I want you to know something.
What's the difference between parents and strangers.
When babies are crying, I just hear somebody crying, I don't knowwhat they want.  A mother and a father love the baby so much, theyknow exactly what the baby wants.
	You know, the world is full of crying.  Sometimes peoplelaugh, but inside it's crying.   And if you're not close to them,if your soul is not purified, you hear the wrong thing.
	So hodesh Av -- why is it called hodesh Av -- what's a father [Heb: Av -- father ] all about -- Ah, when my Father [or: father]hears me, he knows what I want.

	You remember the famous story of Reb Levi YitzhakBerditchever -- comes to a synagogue -- and the way they daven,you know, they rattle off the prayers.  So after the davening, hewalks up to the [or: a] yidden and he says {R. Shlomo says a rapidstring of muttuered nonsense syllables} .  And he says, what doyou mean.  He says, that's how it sounded when you prayed.  So theyiddele says to him, Yeah -- but when the baby makes noise, thefather knows what it wants. 

{Comment (sa):  This is a story told against Reb Levi Yitzhak, butin my entirely uniformed guess, probably came via Reb Levi Yitzhakthrough his hasidim -- simply because an other undistinguishednon-hasidic congregation is unlikely to have transmitted such astory.}	

So I want you to know -- gvalt, hodesh Av.  I say Rabbenu shelOlam, I make so much noise, and the world doesn't know what I want-- but you know what I really want -- mamash -- {HEB.} - Master ofthe World, believe me -- you think all this-world pleasures -- doyou think -- Wall Street --- money or power {C300} -- take awaythe depth of me, mamash, Rabbenu shel Olam --- 
                                                                  
{R. Shlomo humming:  A niggun I do not recall having heard before. Then singing, but I can't quite catch the words. }

So you see, my beautiful friends:  I'm walking up to this girl,and I say to her, Oh, you're my soul-mate -- I want to marry you - what does she hear -- if outside _______ ?if? another admirercame up to me -- he likes my nose.  He likes my perfume. He likesmy hair-do.  Ah, if she's my soul-mate -- Ah, then she says, Iheard him bringing me a message from G_d -- telling me I wascalled out for him, 40 days before he was born.  If she is mysoulmate, she can hear -- Ah, he's bringing me a message from ourchildren -- telling us, it's time for both of you to get married,to bring down all those sweet little neshama-le, all the littlesouls who are waiting for both of you to bring us down.  So we getmarried fast. 

	I want you to know something very very beautiful.
	We're doing tchuva on Yom Kippur, and hopefully, we'rebecoming just a little bit better, but -- on Yom Kippur is notespecially particular that we are waiting for Meshiach to come. We hope he's coming , but -- not more than any other day.  Teshab'Av he's coming.
	Why on Tesha b'Av.  Let me share with you:
	You know, I love this girl very very much; we had a bigfight.  Then I meet her again, after 2000 years, then [or: and] Iapologize to her, then I say, you know, 100 years ago I did thiswrong, and I'm sorry; 200 years ago I did this wrong, pleaseforgive me.  She says OK, I'll forgive you.'  
	That's beautiful.  It's Yom Kippur.  
	Tesha b'Av is something else.
	Tesha b'Av I'm not standing before G_d, and I tell Himeverything I did wrong.  Tesha b'Av I'm telling G_d, Master of theWorld {HEB: Hashivenu '' elekha v'na_tchuva' (Lamentations, end),Master of the World, I cannot live without Yerushelayim.

{NOte (sa):  Taking, correctly a literal translation:  Let usreturn to the LORD your G_d, and there will be a returning [ with'returning' understood as 'returning to Jerusalem', since it isthe destruction of Jerusalem that is the subject of Lamentations. And since many would say, the Returning is of the Divine Presenceto the people of Israel, one may rejoinder:  the returning is notmerely that of the people of Israel to Jerusalem; the returning isof the Divine Presence to Jerusalem, for the people are banishedonly when the Divine Presence departs, and [as it says in thePsalm of Return], the people are drawn back by the Divine toJerusalem (when the Divine Presence has returned to Jerusalem.)}

Cannot live without the Beis haMikdash.  Ah, that's when Meshiachis coming.
	Meshiach will not come when I tell G_d, Oy, I was not such agood Jew, forgive me, and I'll be better, and then Meshiach iscoming.  Meshiach's coming when I tell G_d, unless you take meback to Israel, unless you give me the whole Land again, the wayyou promised us, _____ I can't live.
	And you know friends, why don't I eat on Tesha b'Av.  It'snot a fast day.  

{Comment (sa):  I don't understand that point; in halacha, it is afull fast day, evening to evening (or to sundown?) -- in someways, stricter than Yom Kippur, for even learning Torah isprohibited)}.  

It's just like -- the threatening of suicide to G_d.   I sayMaster of the World, if Meshiach isn't coming, I'll never eatagain. {sa8}  Unless You build Yerushelayim, I don't want to be inthis world.

{Note (sa):  On 5/5/98, Hod sh'b' Netzach, a student at AteretCohanim yeshiva in the Old City, was killed in a knifing --evidently a politically and likely economically-sponsored setambush by several persons, not a supposedly individual spontaneousexpression of socio-economic-politcal impatience, within whatliberal opinion takes as acceptable norms of third-world, or atleast Palestinian, ethics.} 

But I want you to know something even deeper.  
On Tesha b'Av we're not learning.  Because you know what it is:I'm learning, I'm learning, I'm learning, I know so much -- and ithasn't -- made me yet the kind of Jew I want to be.   On Teshab'Av I say to G_d:  Master of the World, unless you give me thereal Torah, the Torah from heaven which lift me up so high; unlessyou give me the Torah of -- give me {HEB. -- ??tzier-detze??Torah} -- 
	you know the Torah from Mt. Sinai did not prevent me frommaking a golden calf -- the Torah from Mt. Sinai did not preventme from sending out spies.  I say, Master of the World, give methe real Torah.   Give me the real thing.

	Oh mamash, and then Tesha b'Av night [ie, the night at thestart of which Tesha b'Av ends; that is, the onset of the 10th ofAv ], mamash I make kaddish levana -- and one yid says to theother, Shalom Aleichem, I never seen you before, gvalt, I rememberyou from before Tesha b'Av, but ?gvalt? what happened to you, youlook so new, you look so beautiful.   Ah gvalt, gvalt, after Teshab'Av we all are new yidden, and we are so happy with each other,and I gotta sign 'David Melech Yisrael' [which is sung at KiddishLavana]; I'm going to G {sa9e}

{R. Shlomo humming, David Melek Yisrael}

You know my beautiful friends:  So many people come to Israel,they like it, and they leave.  And some people come to Israel, andthey can't leave.  And even if they have to leave maybephysically,  or their heart is always there.
	Some people pray by the holy Wall, and they like it, and theyleave.  Some people pray by the holy Wall - it was 10,000 YomKippur's -- 500 Rosh HaShanas --
	On what does this depend -- want you to know, friends:
	When Avrom Avinu, and our holy mother Sarah -- when theywalked around the holy Land {sa10} they thought of every Jew untilMeshiach is coming.    And if you walk on that spot, where AvromAvinu thought of you, and [or: then] you can't leave any more. But if you haven't walked on it yet -- I just bless you, the nexttime you come, your foot should step on this one little spot whereAvrom Avinu thought of you. 

	I want you to know, Shlomo haMelek, when he built the holyTemple, when he built the holy Wall {sa11} he thought of every Jewwho'd come there to pray.  And if you didn't find that stone yet,where King Solomon thought of you, then you feel like a strangerto the holy Wall.   I bless you next time when you come -- I blessyou to come late at night, and pray to G_d, Master of the World,show me, where is my stone, where is my place by the holy Wall.

	I want you to know, the holy Belzer, ??Sukka time?? waswalking in ?Marienbad?                              

{Note (sa):  Everyone knows, from 'Last summer in Marienbad',Marienbad was a famous spa last century}

and a so-called kabalist -- obviously he was a little bit of akabbalist, but a little bit straight -- comes up to the Belzer and he says, I'd like to talk to you about the secrets of the Torah; Iwant you to know I"m a kabalist -- 
	The Belzer Rebbe says to him, Ok, how many stones are therein the holy Wall.   He gives him a number.  Belzer Rebbe says, No. He says, I was there, I counted it.  He says No, you're wrong. There's one more stone. 
	{R. Shlomo half-singing:}  There's one more stone -- There'sone more stone -- where all the prayers of Israel come.  And fromthat stone, they go up to heaven, before the Heavenly Throne.  But only tzadikim see this stone.  He says, I was never inYerushelayim, but on the day of my Bar Mitzva, my holy father --the heilige Belzer, showed me that stone.

	I bless you and me -- every Friday night when we bless ourchldren -- Master of the World, please show my children thatstone, where our prayers go up to heaven, to ?wait for? [or:?welcome?] the coming of the Mesiah -- 
	Next Friday night when I bless my children:  Master of theWorld, let my children show me that stone, from where our prayersreach heaven -- 
	I bless you, with different eyes, with different ears -- withheavenly eyes, and heavenly ears --  {sa12e}

{R. Shlomo singing a niggun:}
{R. Shlomo goes into a diferent niggun}

{R. SC interrupts himself to call out:}
Let there be peace in Yerushelayim, peace in the holy Land, peacein the world.                         

{Fade out} 
{END RECORDING }
{END TAPE {C646}
{END PASS 2, PROOF AGAINST TAPE}
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FOOTNOTES WILL BE DEEP6'd to the bundled version in =sh0498.exe onmy Temporary Homepage, www.kinneret.co.il/sa9802  
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Gershon Gorenberg (Jerusalem Report, "Israel at 50", 'Viewpoint': "But being a 'chosen people' never meant we posdessed anyintrinsic moral superiority, only that we'd accepted a very highstandard for ourselves.  Politically...Jees were at the front ofevery liberal or radical movmement in the modern world, but whatcould be more natural for the outsiders than to oppose the givenorder.  In part, too, Zionists shared a mesisanism common to manyrevolutionaries:  that the revolution will solve everything, thatthe oppressed, once given power, will be virtuous."

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COMMENTS FROM THE PEANUT GALLERY:

So anyhow, the bored again Xians says, salvation is by grace, notby deeds (mitzvot).  But that's simplistic.  Ok, by definitionpersonal (individual) salvation (which we never paid much heed to,being rather involved with saving our people/nation) is grace. But to suppose mitzvot are disjoint is silly; everyone knows, gooddeeds build good character ("we will do and understand").  In theXian parody of Judaism, only the mitzvot adam/shemayim ("ritual")are noticed; but one wants to say (though can't quite, for a mitvadone for ulterior motive loses its zehut, merit), mitzvotadam/shemayim are of secondary ontologic status, a means tomitzvot adam/adam; and it is those which, by sympatheticresonance, enhance character and so lead to at least the thresholdof salvation. 
	Yes, salvation can come to one bereft of deeds -- Carla FayeTucker, maybe -- but one must then assume (as she did) theobligation of doing mitzvot for others, and of bearing witness inone's own character. (For this was someone who, by the fewaccounts we saw, lived the last portion of her life bearingwitness to the goodnes, and even joy, of heaven.).  And as forGeorge Bush, Sr. and Junior , those imitation Texans -- well,there is the story of Lazarus.
	But I digress.



 {sa1}
{Comment (sa):  Those are the two hottest months of the year, theheat in Israel is ennervating, demoralizing.  And of course thoseare the months in which a siege is most effective, for thelimitation of water supply is most painfully felt.  And so thosewere the months in which the sieges, both the Babylonian and theRoman, prevailed against Jerusalem.  [And R. Shlomo said, KingDavid conquered Jerusalem on erev Shavuos, which is at the startof Iyar.	And also in Iyar there are chamsin's.}

{sa2}
{Comment (sa):  In the good old days of the Bible, there wereforests in Israel.  The occupiers destroyed them.  When wereturned to the land, we started to replant forests.  For a while,the Palestinians would start fires in the forests.  Now some arecut for urban development.  None are diverse and establishedenough to have reconstituted a stable ecosystem; most aredisperesed Jerusalem pines. }

{sa1n}
{Note (sa):  Essav is associated with Rome, and thence with theUSA.  I guess because both were the pre-eminent Imperialist powersof the day. }                

{sa1a}
{Note (sa):  Well, that is the literal translation; though maybeit was not, or anyhow not long, intended literally.  
So:  Exodus (Mishpatim) 21:23-24:  V_AM AMON YiHYeH, V_NTaTaHNeFeSh TaHT NeFeSh, XaIN TaTaT XalYIN, ShiN TaHT Shen< YaD TaHaTYaD, ReGeL TTaT RegeL..."But if [there be] injury, then thou shaltgive, life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand,foot for foot ...-- The reference is not to the general case ofinjuring someone [but W. Gunther Platt, in the Holy Bagel Chumash(aka The Torah: A Modern Commentary (UAHC)), Notes of 21:23-25:"The law of retribution.  Usually called lex talionis (but seecommentary following [in which he adds: 'the rule 'an eye for aneye', which APPEARS to lay down the principle of literalretribution (or 'talion') was not at all formulated for such apurpose...no case of physical talion is recorded in the Bible, norwas such talion the intention of the biblical law, as has not beenshown clearly from a study of older Near Eastern law codes" [R.Platt details the modernity of the notion of state-inflictedpunishment, rather than civil restitution, and concludes, citingTorah Shalemach, 17:258-270,  'The Rabbis' contention {Comment(sa):  Them was heavy dudes; they did not contend, they ruled.};that financial compensation, and not literal, physical talion wasthe intent of the law wat therefore essentially correct ).  Thoughstated only as applying to a specific case, it means to convey ageneral principle {Comment (sa): That abduction [to use a termfrom C.S. Peirce] ain't self-evident, and the commentary don'toffer evidence} but as a sub-case of the case in which menfighting together cause miscarriage and/or injury to a pregnantwoman (the connective, verse 23: V_AM  is unclear to me; it mightbe taken as dijunctive or conjunctive.  That is an crucialquestion:  Do these penalties apply to a case in which the womandid not miscarry, but was injured; or only to a case in which thewoman miscarried, and was injured.  Rashi notes that the rabbinicinterpretation was divided in the case that the woman was killed,on whether monetary compensation would be allowed; but as I readit, Rashi, citing Talmud, Book Baba Kama, Chapter HaChIKoL,  saidthat Rabbinic opinion said that in case of wounding, monetarycompensation was required (and not punitive wounding). }

sa1b}
{Comment (sa):  This I can't believe.  The month with Tu b'Shvat - it's like Christmas -- first you look forward to it, thenthere's the full moon and a party, and then the rest of the monthyou eat all the leftover goodies -- and tu b'Shvat, the birthdayof the trees, and the almond trees come into blossom of tub'Shvat, and all the wildflowers are coming out , and the hillsare turning green -- or even back in Massachusetts, it's midwinter's day, and with Haverat Shalom we went out on a frozen pond-- and all that wine to drink -- no, definitely Shvat is Tam, it'sYakov.  And the proof is:  if Essav can get half the months,Reform can get half the toras.  And the super-proof is:  with 4glasses of wine, one can prove anything.  And if you insist, I cansay:  Ok, it was given to Essav, but right away he sold it back toYakov, for a spare bowl of lentils.  Because everyone knows, Yakovhad some really good recipes for lentils. }

{sa1c}
{But crabs scuttle sidewise, I think -- because their 6 legs arefrom the sides of their body. Lots of crabs by the shore of theKineret.}

{sa1d}
{Comment (sa):  Heck, nowadays they have their own newspapers andTV stations.}

{sa3}
{Coment (sa):  But most say, what one sees in prophecy, even theclearest of prophecy I guess, is not inevitable, for man alwayshas free will.  Like, you can see that the boat has lost itsanchor and is being blown toward the rocks, and will almost surelybe broken on the rocks, unless someone wakes up and doessomething. 
	And also, I think, one should be very wary of one's propheticintuitions, especially if you haven't been eating and sleeping andin general fulfilling your maritial/familial obligations properly;because like they say in New England, '[the adversarial forces]finds work for idle hands to do'; and there's 'the fiend who lieslike truth' who has a great time playing around with falseprophecies.
	For a false prophecy may be self-fulfilling trap.  
	And the midrash says:  it was because of what the spies said,that the Temple was destroyed.  [That destruction had not beenordained until the children of Israel over-reacted with despairrather than tchuva to the spies' report ("Do you weep withoutcause -- you will weep with casuse.") So the prophecy of the spieswas not from an omniscient, disinterested standpoint outside thesysem of history; on the contrary, it was a causal factor withinthat system.
	And that's back to Nineveh:  Faced with a prophecy ofcatastrophe, one carries on with as ethical a life as possibleunder worrisome circumstances, and hopes that it will be averted. Jonah was right, Nineveh would not have been destroyed; but wrongin not realizing that his job was to bring them to tchuva -- andit was that error which took him -- very much of his own free will-- in the opposite direction from tchuva -- ie, toward Gibraltar - and the movement toward tchuva which caused him -- the physicalworld taking over when one abdicates one's responsible free will - to be drawn back ("I learn by going where I have to go.").}

{sa4}
{Comment (sa):  And so this puts nicely in context the ultraorthodox ideologicall_anti_Zionist position that a legitimatestate of Israel can only be established by Meshiach -- that is, ifyou usurp control of, and short-cut, the spiritual-historicalprocess, sure, you can do everything on the physical-historicallevel, but it won't ammount to the real thing (rather like having,or taking, sex with your companion before she's ready). }

{sa5}
{Objection (sa):  Here I must side with the Zionist anti-Jewishreligion crowd, and say:  it was time to come back to Israelimmediately upon the Balfour declaration, but the perifdiousBritish, abetted by the opportunism of the other goyim, and thereactionary inertia of the Jewish community, delayed that untilthe nations of the world "in their great unwisdom" [WinstonChurchhill, introduction to, if memory serves,  'The GatheringStorm'] left the stage of history to the petit-bourgeoistechnocratic evil of the sheep-like Germans; so the problem is notthat the state of Israel was established before its proper time,but that it was established after its time. }

{sa6}  {Comment (sa):  Like the Judgement of Paris.}

{sa7-REF}
[SOURCE:  Maybe the USA popular song, 40's I think::  "In yourEaster Bonnet:...'On the Avenue -- Fifth Avenue -- ] .  
{sa8}
{Comment (sa):  That just doesn't ring true to me; I'd not knownTesha b'Av to carry an anticipation of Meshiach, in the usualfeeling of the day.

{sa9e}
{Editorial comment (sa):  So it looks like that fershluggenerplastic keyboard was playing while R. Shlomo recorded -- it so,it's amazing that these tapes are anything more than pablum.  Howanyone of musical senibility can even thing against that sensorysurround of shlock, baffles me. }

{sa10}
{Note (sa):  this is infered, from the line 'Arise and walk overthe land' -- the commandment was given to Avraham, R. Shlomoassumed that his wife accompanied him -- reasonable notion, sincethey were nomadic herders {but Cf. Albright -- maybe he was adonkey-carvan-er} , not members of a hiking club}

{sa11}
{Comment (sa):  But historically, the Western Wall was built byHerod the Great [Maniac], to buttress the built-up area for the2nd Temple}

{sa12e}
{Comment (sa):  About half-way through this Side, R. Shlomo seemedto have fallen off this rhetoric, and spent the rest of the Tapetrying to inconspicuously re-mount, while being dragged along byit -- }

{sa6a}
{Comment (sa): in particular, the two jewelry stores just up fromRockefeller Center -- that's just about the first place I saw realdiamonds, and rubies and a few emeralds -- of course, that was inthe late 1950's--early 1960's} , 


