 Good morning, Think Tech. I'm Jay Fidel. This is Think Tech Hawaii. We're doing community matters with Rabbi Itchell Kresen-Jancy of Chabad of Hawaii. Good morning, Rabbi. Good morning, Jay. Nice to be here, as always. Thank you for joining us. We have a couple of holidays I'd like to discuss today. One of them just passed only a few days ago. Last time we spoke, we spoke about it coming up, and now we're looking at it in the rear view mirror. And that's Tisha Bub. And I think some people refer to Tisha Bub as Tuba. The ninth day of Av, if it's a serious holiday, can you talk about it? Sure. Tisha Bub, which is, as you say, the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av, which was last week, is the saddest day in the Jewish calendar because it marks many, many tragedies that took place to the Jewish people throughout our history. Beginning all the ways back from the Torah, the Bible, in which we read about the story that when the Jewish people were in the desert, Moses, Moshe Rabbenu, sends 12 spies to enter into the land of Canaan, and to report back as to how to conquer the land. Because, as you recall, the Jewish people having left Egypt, they were destined to go into Israel, which at that time was called the land of Canaan. So Moses sends these 12 spies to our reconnaissance mission, and they come back with a very, very negative, disparaging report, basically saying that there's no way we could win over the 31 nations that occupy the land. It's futile, and threw the entire nation into despair. And so the Torah says, the God said, that you are weeping for nothing, you're crying for nothing, because in fact you can overcome them, and you can conquer the land. But because you lack faith, this day forever will be a day of sadness, a day for real, a cause for weeping. And ever since then, that day has been marked as a tragic day. So subsequently, the two temples in Israel, many hundreds of years later, were both destroyed on Tisha B'Av, on the ninth day of Av. The first temple was destroyed by the Babylonians on this day, and the second temple was destroyed by the Romans on this day. And then many other tragedies happened on this day. The most obvious one and the saddest one is the Spanish, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain, 1492, happened on Tisha B'Av. So it's considered a sad day. It's a day that we mourn the destruction of the temples primarily. It's a fast day, a 24-hour fast day, and there's prayers. It's like Yom Kippur. But what's interesting is, you know, you cannot keep a Jew down for too long, because in our DNA, we are wired to be happy and positive, even amidst the tragedies. So today, actually, is Tuba of. You mentioned Tuba of the 15th day of Av, which is a mere six days later. And the Talmud says that there was no greater joyous day than Tuba of. Primarily in the biblical times, Tuba of was like what is today known as Valentine's Day. That's when the boys would go meet the girls. And that was one of the many things that happened on Tuba of. And the commentaries point out that Tisha B'Av is the lowest of the low, in terms of the sadness. Tuba of, which is just mere six days later, is the most joyous day. So the journey from the lowest of the low to the highest of the high is very quickly. In a very short time, we are transformed from mourning to rejoicing, especially. Why do I feel this is relevant in the time of COVID? You know, we have COVID. We have the failure of the American economy, and we have parallel phenomena in Israel. And there's a lot of trouble in Israel along similar lines, I think, between COVID and the economy. I read Haaretz, you know, and I see this every day. And then, of course, we have that bombing explosion. It's not clear what it is. In Lebanon and Beirut today, which just demonstrates how fragile the Middle East is in general, and that things like that, that things that are very violent and destructive happen. So what lessons, aside from what you've said already, what lessons do Tisha B'Av and Tuba of have for us, given all the instability of the Middle East? Well, there's a principle in Jewish mystical teachings that every descent, every negative occurrence is for the purpose of a higher ascent. It's a stepping stone to get us even further along. In other words, that the destruction was there to pave the way for us to be able to attain a higher level. It wasn't just a setback, but it was a setback in order for us to grow. And generally speaking, the idea of the destruction of the temples is not the destruction of the physical structure of the building, that the buildings were burnt down, but really it's more of a spiritual dislocation. It is when a person spiritually is severed from their gravity of center, the center of gravity, and we become lost and forlorn. The fact that we're scattered, we understand the exile, the tragedy of the exile is that once the temples were destroyed, Babylonians came in and burnt a temple, they scattered the Jewish people and sent them into exile. But it's not just a geographic scattering, but it's also a scattering in the sense that we are now dislocated from our core truth, our core reality. And the purpose of the destruction, the descent for the purpose of a higher ascent is that somehow this experience serves to allow us to pull it all together in a much deeper way. And this is really the work of the Jewish people in the diaspora. And this is our aspiration of coming back to Israel with the coming of the Messiah. It means that once we totally heal and we pull it all together and we center ourselves, so then that is the restoration of how things were in a much deeper way because when something is broken and you fix it, it's stronger than before it was broken. Well, let me ask you a question, but I think it's a hard question. A question only a rabbi can answer, rabbi. So how do you know when you're riding the right road? How do you know when you're in the process of fixing it and it's getting better, not worse? How do you know when we're climbing out of a problem time? Well, first of all, for that we have the Torah. The Torah is referred to as like the blueprint, the blueprint for life, the blueprint for living. And we turn to the Torah to get our direction, to get our guidance. So it's all spelled out in the Torah. Now granted, the Torah is a little cryptic and it's like a code because on the surface it's just stories and laws, but if you dig a little deeper and that's where the commentaries come in, specifically the mystical teachings of the Torah, we find that it actually, it speaks to life and how a person should live life and how a person can live life fully and to fix it as we're talking about. But also it's instinctive. It's also instinctive. A person instinctively knows if they are on the right path or they're lost. Now the problem is that if you're lost for a long time, you just accept it and you just make a life the best you can. But every once in a while we get this little zing whispering to ourselves, are we actually doing something meaningful with our lives? Are we living life as our Creator intended us to live? So these are the wake-up calls that God sends along our paths. Yeah, it's a moment for introspection. Certainly COVID, either here or in Israel or anywhere, is a wake-up call of asking us to take a look, re-examine, reorient ourselves, ask whether we're living our lives the way we should be, whether we're being productive in a physical sense and in a spiritual sense too. Well, let me reintroduce our guest. Our guest today is Rabbi Itchel Kresnjanski. He is the Rabbi, the chief Rabbi, I would say, of Chabad in Hawaii. Chabad is, I mean, I say, a worldwide organization emanating out of New York City. And it has deep roots in Israel, of course. So Rabbi, let me ask you about the next holiday to follow, which I believe the next holiday is what people refer to as the High Holidays. That's Russia Shona and a few days later, Yom Kippur. So these are the most important, am I right, Jewish holidays in the calendar. And I know we're not there yet. They don't happen until September, but I would like to sort of get started on examining what they are and what they mean to us. Okay, sure. And actually, we're not too early because within the structure of the Jewish calendar, you know, we are well prepared for Russia Shona by the time it comes around, because the entire month before, which in Hebrew is called the month of Elul, is referred to as the month of introspection. Because that is the time when we take stock of how the year has gone. And that's the time when we make the resolutions for the new year. Russia Shona, first and foremost, marks the beginning of the Jewish new year. And Russia Shona, the new year, immediately ushers in the 10 days of repentance, which culminates on Yom Kippur. Yom Kippur is the 10th day from Russia Shona. So it is a time of introspection, as you say. And it's also a time of celebration. But the emphasis is on introspection. And I guess that as you say now that we're living through COVID, even, you know, it lends itself for double measure of introspection. You know, how we go forward and make the best of a terrible situation. So, you know, the difference between the Jewish new year, Russia Shona, and the secular new year, December 31st, January 1st, is that, you know, secular new year is all about partying and celebration, beginning with the ball dropping in Times Square. But for the Jew, Russia Shona, for the Jewish people, Russia Shona beckons us to ask the questions that we mentioned before, and to, you know, about life, about our relationship with God, our relationship with other people, and to work on ourselves. And even though that seems a little somber, but as we said before, in Judaism, you know, joy and happiness is a constant companion. Even when we take stock of ourselves and we take stock of life around us, you know, the emphasis is always on the positive. And what more can we do to bring out that positive that there is in life and in the world? You know, it reminds me of the Fiddler on the Roof, which is not my namesake, where he sings about the Chaim. He sings about life. And I think that's what you're saying, isn't it? You have to be joyful that you are alive and that you can enjoy life. And what you're saying so much reminds me of that song in Fiddler on the Roof. Yeah, I mean, you know, life is a continuous celebration from the moment you're brought into this world until we pass on. And unfortunately, for many people, along the way, we get burdened with different things and different experiences. And that saps us or has the ability to sap us from our natural joy. And very often people, you know, consciously or subconsciously just throw in the towel and just, you know, continue existing day by day. Well, let me sort of take a slight digression here, Rabbi. So in COVID, not only in the U.S. in general, but here we have deaths here and our curve is spiking here and we're threatening yet. And of course, in Europe and of course, in Israel, people are dying. And the very unpleasant thing about COVID is you usually die alone. You don't even have family around to support you. You die with the hospital system surrounding you. And it's very troubling and dying is troubling and that's troubling. And you're, you know, speaking of religious principles, philosophical principles about living life, but what about living death? What is a Jew or anyone to do to handle this dreaded way of dying, which is going to come to a lot of people before it's done, this dreaded way of dying from COVID? Well, that's a very, very difficult question. I mean, death in general is a very dreaded, a very sad event. And God forbid for those who died in the setting that you mentioned away from family, that's really, really, really, really beyond words in terms of how sad it is. You know, the only thing that comes to mind is, first of all, we have to do everything we can to stay healthy. And we have to be, I don't know if we have to go overboard in terms of paranoia, but we have to be very, very cautious and very careful. And we all know what we have to do to stay healthy, to God forbid if someone does get the virus. And thank God for most people who comes and goes. I was just now in New York for several weeks. And over there, it's like an alternate reality. People go about their lives without masks, for the most part. I didn't see the social distancing. I also didn't see people getting sick. Maybe they already experienced that in the very beginning of the virus. But that's a whole other discussion. I mean, just one point to that is I was talking to a friend of mine yesterday. And she said, a month or two ago, she didn't know anybody who had contracted the disease. And that's consistent with my experience too. I just didn't know anybody. But she said in the past few weeks, half a dozen people that she knows have contracted the disease. And that's also consistent with my experience. So as the numbers go up, it seems to get closer. And your concerns should be that much greater. And your mindset on how to deal with the risk and the eventual possibility, you have to think about it. And that's why I interrupt you to just mention that. No, no, no. I hear what you're saying. So first of all, in general, something which is very, very foundational in Judaism is that our faith in God, that God is with us and whatever step of our journey, even the final step. And that's also a source of strength. Because ultimately, God is the healer of all flesh. And surely, God forbid, someone is wrestling with the virus that we pray to God for to be healed from it, not to resign, God forbid. And there's a lot of progress going on now vis-a-vis how it was at the very beginning. Percentage-wise, much less people are dying today from the COVID as they were dying earlier on in the pandemic. Now, in general, about death in general, just a comment about death in general, which interestingly, according to Judaism, according to the Torah, death was imposed upon mankind after the sin, Adam and Eve, sin in the Garden of Eden. And one of the repercussions was that God decreed for man to die. So it's not by design. It's not originally we were not intended to, you know, to die. And as a matter of fact, the prophets speak about a day, a time, when the Messiah comes, where death will once again be abolished and will no longer be death. It will be eternal life. But in general, you know, depending on how you live, that's how you approach death. A person who lives, you know, a good life and tries to be a good person, moral person, and to, you know, make your life impactful. These people, for the most part, you know, pass on with, you know, it doesn't create a crisis. You know, there's less fear associated with death. It's the person who, you know, wasted his life or lived a life that with many regrets, etc. That person, those people, from what I understand, have a much harder time accepting death because you feel that you're being taken away and you haven't, you haven't filled your time while here, you know, as good as you could have. So in general, you know, you know, when it comes to death, in Judaism, by the way, death is not the end of the road. Death is when the body and soul part. The soul, the body is buried from dust to dust, from, we come from earth, then we go back to earth. But the soul is eternal because it's a part of God. It's a godly spark within us. And that's who we are. The body, so to speak, is only our envelope, right? The person is the personality, the character, the spirit, and that lives on. It lives on in a different dimension, not in the physical dimension. So there's a very interesting story. The previous Lubavitcher Rebbe, who lived during the darkest times of communist Russia, when they set out to stamp out any trace of religion. So the religious leaders were arrested, some were killed. So the previous Rebbe was arrested in Russia in the early 1920s by the communists for his work on behalf of Judaism in the former Soviet Union. And while he was arrested, he was interrogated. And they tried to pry information from him as to who, you know, who are his followers that are doing the work, the this quote unquote illegal work of spreading Judaism underground. And he wouldn't reveal anything. So at one point, the one of the interrogators took out a pistol, my gun. And he said to him, you know, that this little toy, you know, has made many, many people talk, basically threatening the previous Rebbe that if he didn't talk, that he would be killed. So the previous Rebbe said that this little toy can only frighten people that have only one word, that have many gods and only one world, believe in many gods and only one world. But I as a Jew believe in one God and many worlds. So this toy doesn't threaten me. So this is the idea, you know, that this, you know, somebody once explained just talking about this, someone's explained it in a very, very simple, but beautiful way. Imagine twins in a mother's womb before they're born. And it's already nine months in the mother's womb. And all of a sudden, they feel that they're being pushed out from the life that they know. So one turns to the other and says, oh, how terrible it is, you know, it's all coming to an end. You know, we're being pushed out. And who knows what we're going to, it's the end of the road. Little do they know that it's actually the beginning of the road that they're they're born into this world and life begins in the same way in a similar way as the passage of death. You know, we, you know, we move on from this dimension, from this physical world into a better world, better in the sense that it's a godly, spiritual world, not physical. So yes, even though that that life is sacred, and God gave us life, so we have to utilize every moment of it to the best that we can and to do good and to be the best that we can. But when our journey, our journey, you know, comes to an end, then we, we know, then then we transfer to the next passage. Oh, you know, Rabbi, that reminds me of a slogan we've taken on here at Think Tech. It goes this way, day one starts now. Every day is day one on a new, on a new part of the journey. Well, I think I get, I get the message about the reset in Russia Shana. It's a new year. It's a time for introspection. It's a time to reset your, your thinking, your relationship with the world and with God. And that helps you stay in tune for eventual, eventual problems that, that may be, be sent to you, including problems around COVID. So next time, Rabbi, I would like to go into, you know, how we celebrate Russia Shana, what it means, you know, to individual people, what they do in Russia Shana, and how it relates to Yom Kippur 10 days later. And I'll ask you, I can tell you now I'm going to ask you this question. If Russia Shana is a time for review and retrospection and reset, why do we wait 10 days to atone for our sins? Wouldn't it be more logical? Don't answer this now. Wouldn't it be more logical to atone for our sins first and reset second? So think about that. Next time we meet, Rabbi, we're going to discuss the relationship. I'd love to discuss that. It's a very, very important question, but that leads us to some very deep insights into the holidays. So I'm looking forward to Jay, as always. Thank you. And thank you for the opportunity. Yeah, by the way, by the way, this year, Russia Shana Yom Kippur is going to be challenging because I mean, things can change and hopefully they will change. But right now with the governor's edict that no, no more than 10 people can congregate, does that mean that we're limited to only 10 people? It's interesting. Maybe the governor without even knowing picked the number 10 because that's the required minion that we need, at least 10 men for a minion. But it'll definitely provide us with some interesting challenges, how to conduct services with this limitation. Yeah. Looking forward to our next discussion, Rabbi. Stay well, be well. Thank you so much. Have a wonderful day. Be well. Thank you.