On Shabbos Chazon, Rabbi Liff turns to the opening of Parshas Devarim, where Moshe Rabbeinu gives his rebuke only through hints, out of regard for the honor of Klal Yisrael. He draws from this the Torah's blueprint for tochacha — that mussar is given by raising a person, never by shaming him, and is always tempered by the back story of a Jew's merits. Through Rav Shimshon Pincus, the mashal of the two streets of Yerushalayim, and the story of Rav Mordechai Gifter at the Kosel, he connects it all to the avodah of the nine days: that the tikkun for the churban is achdus, seeing the good in another Yid, and drawing close to Hashem through Torah. For anyone seeking chizuk heading into Tisha B'Av.

Rabbi Liff brings a striking insight from Rav Shimshon Pincus on Parshas Devarim: rebuke can never be given in a vacuum. Just as Moshe Rabbeinu recalls Klal Yisrael's failures only through hints, out of regard for their honor, the Torah names each place of sin together with the merit hidden inside it — Bamidbar, the Arvos Moav, the Yam Suf, the man. True tochacha is always tempered by the backstory, by seeing the good in the one you are rebuking.

Rabbi Liff recalls Rav Mordechai Gifter, the Rosh Yeshiva of Telz, who told him that he felt the loss of the Churban more at the Kosel than at Kever Rachel. Having learned in Telz before the war — where his father sold his life insurance policy to send him, and where most of his rebbeim and friends were later killed by the Nazis — he knew firsthand what the loss of Kedusha and Torah truly means. We mourn the Churban most deeply when we grasp the greatness of what was destroyed.

Rabbi Liff tells the story of a wedding that took place this week between two of the chatufim who were held in the Hamas tunnels — Sasha, a Russian Jew who came close to Yiddishkeit only in captivity, and Sapir, who refused to give up her Yiddishkeit. The listener takes away a lesson in emunah and how Menachem Av turns what looked like a korban into nechama.

Rabbi Liff explains why Moshe Rabbeinu sent others to fight Midian rather than lead the battle himself — because Midian had taken him in when he fled Pharaoh, and “one who drank from a pit should not throw a stone into it.” Drawing on Reb Chaim Shmulevitz, he shows how hakaras hatov is a middah shetovah and how Moshe fulfilled the command by ensuring it happened without doing it himself.

An Erev Shabbos chizuk shmuess for Parshas Matos-Masei, Shabbos Mevorchim Chodesh Menachem Av. Rabbi Liff begins with the wedding this week of two October 7th captives, Sasha Trufanov and Sapir Cohen — a story of emunah in which what looked like a tragedy became a simcha — and draws out the meaning of Menachem Av: the Father who instructs is also the source of the greatest comfort. Along the way he shares a shmuess on anava from the Mesillas Yesharim, the lesson of hakoras hatov and ayin tova from Matos, and the 42 journeys and Aharon HaKohen's yahrzeit from Masei, with divrei zikaron for Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, zt"l, and Reb Gedalia Elfenbein, zt"l.

In this episode:

In memory of Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, zt"l, whose yahrzeit falls this week, and Reb Gedalia Elfenbein, zt"l.

בשיחה זו, המסכמת את זמן קיץ ונוגעת בענייני החורבן, הרב ליף מדגיש את תפקידן המרכזי של הישיבות כעמוד השדרה של מסורת התורה והחשיבות של ענווה בלמידה מול סכנת הגאווה. הוא משרטט את ההבדל בין חוכמה שמובילה לגאווה לבין חכמת התורה הנבנית על ענווה וביטול עצמי למסורת.

השיחה משולבת בסיפורים מרתקים: הרב דוד יוסף שלמד בפונוביז׳ אצל הרב גרשון פרלמן וזכה לשיעורים בעברית, סיפורו של תלמיד חכם שסטה מדרך התורה בשל גאווה, מעורבותו של הרב משה פיינשטיין עם בחור שתוי בשעת לילה מאוחרת, וגודל כבוד התורה של הרב רודרמן שניקה שירותים לכבוד ביקורו של הרב אהרון קוטלר. הרב ליף מסיים בדברי הרב חיים שמואלביץ על חשיבות ההתבוננות במה שאבד לנו בחורבן הבית, ומדגיש את הקשר ההדוק לתורה כדבר היחיד שנותר לנו.

Rabbi Liff explains why Pinchas is rewarded with a bris shalom, and what that teaches about the limits of kanaus. He contrasts demonstrations that get out of hand with the Seret Vishnitz kollel's public kollel learning seder, showing how protest can remain rooted in shalom, emes, and kavod haTorah.

Rabbi Liff tells the story of a Karlin-Stolin chassid at the Kosel whose tefillah was interrupted by a petek that fell into his hand. The note did not ask for anything; it simply thanked Hashem for health, parnasah, and nachas, turning the moment into a lesson for the Three Weeks.

Rabbi Liff opens with a story from davening at the Kosel this Erev Shabbos Kodesh during the Three Weeks — a petek that fell into the hand of a Karlin-Stolin chassid with a note that simply said "thank You." From there he turns to Parshas Pinchas, exploring why Pinchas is rewarded with a bris shalom rather than praise for the act itself, and what that teaches about the real halachos of kanaus. Drawing on Rav Sternbuch's teaching about Reb Leib Stravisker, the Seret Vishnitz kollel's learning outside the assistant attorney general's office, and stories of Rav Amram Blau and Rav Yechezkel Abramsky, he lays out when zealotry is proper and when it becomes a chillul Hashem. This episode is for anyone thinking about how to respond to conflict — within the frum world or outside it — without losing sight of shalom.