March 19, 2025 • 13 mins
More stories about Rabbi Herber 3/19/25
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
We approaching the your site of Chaim Jose Herbert secretatic
ra And you know, sometimes I speak from a shender,
and sometimes I do it sitting down without an audience.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Sometimes you just.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Have to say things when they come to mind. We
have some awesome stories. We've said a lot before, but
I'm going to say I'm going to add on to
a couple of Nikuda's that we did not cover in
(00:43):
the first episode. But I think one of the most
amazing things about reb Herbert, besides his authenticity, was the method.
The method you whoosed in discussions and learning with him.
(01:04):
I you know, to Rebbi Herbert, it was if you
have a brain. He has a brain and you have
a brain, therefore you can have a discussion. I never
felt like I was stupid, meaning I never felt like
I did not have the ability to do.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Something when I was speaking with him.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Many times, when you speak to someone who's big in learning,
so it's not really such an inspiration because you just said, listen,
this guy's been learning for many, many more years. He's
quoting gamars from all over the place. I've never learned
those gamars before. What do you want from me? But
with Rebbe Herbert, it was all in logic, it was
all in a thought process.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
It's just any brain can handle it. It's nothing to
do with a high IQ.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
And it always seemed within reach. And that's what made
the discussion so inspirational. That's also why and felt so
stupid if they weren't able to answer one of his questions,
because it really was within reach. And I think also
that's one of the reasons why he was willing to
(02:14):
challenge anything and everything. He wasn't intimidated by titles. And
I want to say a couple of stories regarding this.
One of them was a request from a family member.
This is a story which I don't know firsthand. I
heard it secondhand. They could be some of the details
are off, but here's the story. So one of his
(02:41):
granddaughters came home with a math binna.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
She came home with a math briinner.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I believe it was an algebra, and so reb I
Hearber wanted to look at the math beginner. Now, okay,
he saw the gray. The grade was not one hundred.
There were some things she got wrong. Ravie Hebbert is
not a mathematician.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
He didn't study math.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So you know, I'm sure she did well on the test,
she just didn't get a hundred. But Rebi Herbert decided
to see what exactly did she get wrong?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Why was it wrong?
Speaker 1 (03:18):
So he must have taken the book and he just
quickly studied how to do the math, how to do
the algebra that she was doing. And he saw the
work that she did, and he said, you know, you
got it right. You got these right. Maybe she got
something wrong, but there definitely were questions that she got right.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
The professor marked it wrong.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
So he said, I want you to go to the
professor tomorrow and you should get credit. You should get
the credit you deserve. So she went to the professor.
The professor realized he made a mistake, and she got
the credit she deserved. Now what's remarkable about that story
is just the the title didn't scare him. The fact
(04:04):
that he never learned math or was never an expert
in algebra, that didn't scare him off from looking into it.
To him, it was he has a brain. The math
professor has a brain. He has a brain.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Okay, he knows math, he knows how to do it. Well,
I have a book here that explains to me how
to do it.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
I'll look in the book. I'll see what she got
was wrong. I'll see what she did wrong, and I'll
help her. I'll get it right. I don't think he
was trying to challenge the teacher. This was totally unexpected
for him to look into the problem and to see
in reality the professor made a mistake. But that's something
that I Herbert would do. That's an inspiration to me.
(04:45):
That's something inspirational, because uh, it just tells you that we.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Just do it. Just don't pay.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
If you have a kasha on something, don't just say listen,
I have a kasha.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
But he's the spurt, So what can I do?
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Try to understand if you have a way of understanding
the expert, try to understand the expert. And if it
still doesn't make any sense, perhaps the expert is the
one making the mistake. So nothing was off limits to him.
(05:24):
Another example was when of Bei Kolevsky was at the
Ogoda giving a Shaerbi Kolevsky's a.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Big time va. He's no longer living, but I remember
I heard a tape of this. He was giving.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
A share and in the middle you hear a herber saying,
excuse me, did you read the rashi, read the rashi,
and he read the rashi.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Thank you. That's what Raschi says. Okay. So again.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
It was the title didn't mean anything then the title.
It was just we both know how to learn. We
both have a rashi, we both so it didn't mean
he saw things in a very to me. It means
he saw things in a very tomistic away. I think
that's something very special, and for many people there's a
(06:18):
certain inspiration and certain accomplishments that could be done if.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
We were to look at it like that, if we would.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Accept upon ourselves to look at things like that, I
think we would be able to accomplish things and be
able to recognize a greatness within ourselves that we never
knew we had.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
We never knew we had.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
I remember, for one time, see this is the opposite.
I want to show you how I get scared off
by these things.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I remember the shop as it came to Saint Louis.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
After I got Sniko, I got my rabbinical ordination, I
came to the Agod.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
You my green blood announced it.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Mauzzel talks to simp Claw on getting Okay. Now, right
after that, not by Herbert, I was like, oh no.
But Herbert was like, excuse me, Rambi, are you a rabbi?
(07:23):
I said, well, I'm not a real rabbi. You're not
a real rabbi, said, didn't he just saying you're a Rambi?
Didn't he just announce that you're a rabbi? Sodah, I
announced that I'm a rabbi. I passed some tests to
be a rabbi, like saying you're a rabbi, Rambi, I
(07:45):
have a question, Rabbi. I have a question on Rashi
in the PARTI just a simple question, Rabbi.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
And to me, like I didn't even want to hear
the question.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
It was like, it's like, to me, this is probably
some trick question or I'm not gonna know the answer.
I got scared off right away, and I just said,
we didn't. I didn't learn that Rashi in.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
My sneak up program. You don't learn Rashi in your
sneak up program. Oh, you never learned Rashi in your
sneak up program. Thank you? And then he just walked away.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
So, but if I would take his mahalak how to listen,
forget about all the rabbis, forget about all these intimidating terms.
Just he has a question on a rashi, maybe just
pretend like someone's just asking. But what if my third
what if a third grade son came up to ask
me a question on the rashi, I would listen to
(08:42):
the question.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
I would answer it.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So it's just that something Robbie Herbert was able to do,
even if it was an autumn goddle. He heard the
question the same way the third grader asked the question,
and he would give it consideration and then answer it.
He never said this is too hard for me. It
was he gave it thought maybe he didn't know. Maybe
he didn't know. So that's something that I know, at
(09:06):
least back then.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
That's a trade I did not have, and that's something
that I could learn from him.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
That's something that I could accept upon myself to do
and I'll be able to get further. Don't get intimidated
by this other person, you know, shas cold. He knows
that doesn't necessarily mean that he has an answer to
a question. I don't have an answer to a question.
And that's one of the things that Rabbi Herbert. I
(09:31):
think that was very much in a certain way. I
wouldn't say that was his essence. But in a certain way,
that's what it felt like. In a certain way, it
just felt like talking to him and learning. It felt
like I had all the tools I needed to succeed. Well,
this isn't until I was called Rabbi. It felt like
I had all the tools I needed to succeed in
(09:53):
having a conversation in Toro with him. And that's why
it felt so not good when I couldn't answer a question.
But sometimes I was able to do it. And that's
something unique about him. He provided an inspiration to just
(10:14):
the regular malabas. It was something very special about him.
We covered a lot of stories in the first podcast
that I gave. People are always welcome to to listen
to it, but we have some additional stories as well.
(10:45):
There's another story, a more unique story, but it's when
I was back in fourth grade. So we were headed
to Jim and there was water on the floor. Now
this is going to sound strange, but what actually happened
is there was a student that had an accident. I mean,
now I happened to have known that I Rebbite Herbert,
(11:10):
but it looked like water Rubby Herbert asked, how did
that water get onto the floor. Maybe he hopped what happened,
but no one was embarrassed. There were plants that were
on the windowsill, and he just said, oh, I bet
some of the water came out of.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
The plants and it's on the floor.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
It's okay, let's just go to the gym.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Okay. It's a cute little story.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
And if that's momached what he was thinking, it just
shows how he didn't want to embarrass anybody. He didn't
want to embarrass anybody. Some other stories that come to mind.
(11:54):
I remember I'd be standing in the very back of
the yagoda, directly behind his van. It was behind this fan,
but it was very far away. I would be dobning
schman estra. Then I would hear yeaskandn the east khanda.
I would hear up A Herbert's voice, and behold, the
voiceould suddenly get much louder. So it'd start off with
(12:17):
eask down thing east kandas. So I would stop my
schmen estra, open my eyes and I would see it
up A Herbert staring right at me. His head would
be turned back. I figured I must be doing something wrong.
So one thing I could be doing wrong is the
very fact that I'm dobbining schmunesay while and not answering
(12:38):
to his kadage. So I decided I would pause my
for the and just be silent. I figured I must
be doing something wrong, so for the y Aba I
was silent, very pleasant memories.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Also, he held that the.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Ladorvador part of kadusha at the end of Kadusha is
not part of the kadusha. Most people keep their feet
together for that final paragraph because they're not sure what
to do. But Rabbi Herbert immediately separated his feet. He
would look around at people's feet as if to say,
you're doing it wrong. When I was in the mirror Ertistralla,
(13:24):
I was telling a certain baker about this. He told
me he thinks it's all in my head. But then
when he came home during banezman him, he looked arondli
Aguda and he noticed the same thing. He said, it
was the cutest thing, and that this really does happen.
That almost everybody keeps their feet together, including Rabbi Greenblat.
But I started to follow what Rebbi Herbert did and
(13:47):
separating my feet at the end
We approaching the your site of Chaim Jose Herbert secretatic
ra And you know, sometimes I speak from a shender,
and sometimes I do it sitting down without an audience.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Sometimes you just.
Speaker 1 (00:21):
Have to say things when they come to mind. We
have some awesome stories. We've said a lot before, but
I'm going to say I'm going to add on to
a couple of Nikuda's that we did not cover in
(00:43):
the first episode. But I think one of the most
amazing things about reb Herbert, besides his authenticity, was the method.
The method you whoosed in discussions and learning with him.
(01:04):
I you know, to Rebbi Herbert, it was if you
have a brain. He has a brain and you have
a brain, therefore you can have a discussion. I never
felt like I was stupid, meaning I never felt like
I did not have the ability to do.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Something when I was speaking with him.
Speaker 1 (01:24):
Many times, when you speak to someone who's big in learning,
so it's not really such an inspiration because you just said, listen,
this guy's been learning for many, many more years. He's
quoting gamars from all over the place. I've never learned
those gamars before. What do you want from me? But
with Rebbe Herbert, it was all in logic, it was
all in a thought process.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
It's just any brain can handle it. It's nothing to
do with a high IQ.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
And it always seemed within reach. And that's what made
the discussion so inspirational. That's also why and felt so
stupid if they weren't able to answer one of his questions,
because it really was within reach. And I think also
that's one of the reasons why he was willing to
(02:14):
challenge anything and everything. He wasn't intimidated by titles. And
I want to say a couple of stories regarding this.
One of them was a request from a family member.
This is a story which I don't know firsthand. I
heard it secondhand. They could be some of the details
are off, but here's the story. So one of his
(02:41):
granddaughters came home with a math binna.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
She came home with a math briinner.
Speaker 1 (02:50):
I believe it was an algebra, and so reb I
Hearber wanted to look at the math beginner. Now, okay,
he saw the gray. The grade was not one hundred.
There were some things she got wrong. Ravie Hebbert is
not a mathematician.
Speaker 2 (03:06):
He didn't study math.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
So you know, I'm sure she did well on the test,
she just didn't get a hundred. But Rebi Herbert decided
to see what exactly did she get wrong?
Speaker 2 (03:17):
Why was it wrong?
Speaker 1 (03:18):
So he must have taken the book and he just
quickly studied how to do the math, how to do
the algebra that she was doing. And he saw the
work that she did, and he said, you know, you
got it right. You got these right. Maybe she got
something wrong, but there definitely were questions that she got right.
Speaker 2 (03:40):
The professor marked it wrong.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
So he said, I want you to go to the
professor tomorrow and you should get credit. You should get
the credit you deserve. So she went to the professor.
The professor realized he made a mistake, and she got
the credit she deserved. Now what's remarkable about that story
is just the the title didn't scare him. The fact
(04:04):
that he never learned math or was never an expert
in algebra, that didn't scare him off from looking into it.
To him, it was he has a brain. The math
professor has a brain. He has a brain.
Speaker 2 (04:17):
Okay, he knows math, he knows how to do it. Well,
I have a book here that explains to me how
to do it.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
I'll look in the book. I'll see what she got
was wrong. I'll see what she did wrong, and I'll
help her. I'll get it right. I don't think he
was trying to challenge the teacher. This was totally unexpected
for him to look into the problem and to see
in reality the professor made a mistake. But that's something
that I Herbert would do. That's an inspiration to me.
(04:45):
That's something inspirational, because uh, it just tells you that we.
Speaker 2 (04:51):
Just do it. Just don't pay.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
If you have a kasha on something, don't just say listen,
I have a kasha.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
But he's the spurt, So what can I do?
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Try to understand if you have a way of understanding
the expert, try to understand the expert. And if it
still doesn't make any sense, perhaps the expert is the
one making the mistake. So nothing was off limits to him.
(05:24):
Another example was when of Bei Kolevsky was at the
Ogoda giving a Shaerbi Kolevsky's a.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Big time va. He's no longer living, but I remember
I heard a tape of this. He was giving.
Speaker 1 (05:34):
A share and in the middle you hear a herber saying,
excuse me, did you read the rashi, read the rashi,
and he read the rashi.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
Thank you. That's what Raschi says. Okay. So again.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
It was the title didn't mean anything then the title.
It was just we both know how to learn. We
both have a rashi, we both so it didn't mean
he saw things in a very to me. It means
he saw things in a very tomistic away. I think
that's something very special, and for many people there's a
(06:18):
certain inspiration and certain accomplishments that could be done if.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
We were to look at it like that, if we would.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
Accept upon ourselves to look at things like that, I
think we would be able to accomplish things and be
able to recognize a greatness within ourselves that we never
knew we had.
Speaker 2 (06:37):
We never knew we had.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
I remember, for one time, see this is the opposite.
I want to show you how I get scared off
by these things.
Speaker 2 (06:52):
I remember the shop as it came to Saint Louis.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
After I got Sniko, I got my rabbinical ordination, I
came to the Agod.
Speaker 2 (07:00):
You my green blood announced it.
Speaker 1 (07:02):
Mauzzel talks to simp Claw on getting Okay. Now, right
after that, not by Herbert, I was like, oh no.
But Herbert was like, excuse me, Rambi, are you a rabbi?
(07:23):
I said, well, I'm not a real rabbi. You're not
a real rabbi, said, didn't he just saying you're a Rambi?
Didn't he just announce that you're a rabbi? Sodah, I
announced that I'm a rabbi. I passed some tests to
be a rabbi, like saying you're a rabbi, Rambi, I
(07:45):
have a question, Rabbi. I have a question on Rashi
in the PARTI just a simple question, Rabbi.
Speaker 2 (07:53):
And to me, like I didn't even want to hear
the question.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
It was like, it's like, to me, this is probably
some trick question or I'm not gonna know the answer.
I got scared off right away, and I just said,
we didn't. I didn't learn that Rashi in.
Speaker 2 (08:10):
My sneak up program. You don't learn Rashi in your
sneak up program. Oh, you never learned Rashi in your
sneak up program. Thank you? And then he just walked away.
Speaker 1 (08:20):
So, but if I would take his mahalak how to listen,
forget about all the rabbis, forget about all these intimidating terms.
Just he has a question on a rashi, maybe just
pretend like someone's just asking. But what if my third
what if a third grade son came up to ask
me a question on the rashi, I would listen to
(08:42):
the question.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
I would answer it.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So it's just that something Robbie Herbert was able to do,
even if it was an autumn goddle. He heard the
question the same way the third grader asked the question,
and he would give it consideration and then answer it.
He never said this is too hard for me. It
was he gave it thought maybe he didn't know. Maybe
he didn't know. So that's something that I know, at
(09:06):
least back then.
Speaker 2 (09:07):
That's a trade I did not have, and that's something
that I could learn from him.
Speaker 1 (09:10):
That's something that I could accept upon myself to do
and I'll be able to get further. Don't get intimidated
by this other person, you know, shas cold. He knows
that doesn't necessarily mean that he has an answer to
a question. I don't have an answer to a question.
And that's one of the things that Rabbi Herbert. I
(09:31):
think that was very much in a certain way. I
wouldn't say that was his essence. But in a certain way,
that's what it felt like. In a certain way, it
just felt like talking to him and learning. It felt
like I had all the tools I needed to succeed. Well,
this isn't until I was called Rabbi. It felt like
I had all the tools I needed to succeed in
(09:53):
having a conversation in Toro with him. And that's why
it felt so not good when I couldn't answer a question.
But sometimes I was able to do it. And that's
something unique about him. He provided an inspiration to just
(10:14):
the regular malabas. It was something very special about him.
We covered a lot of stories in the first podcast
that I gave. People are always welcome to to listen
to it, but we have some additional stories as well.
(10:45):
There's another story, a more unique story, but it's when
I was back in fourth grade. So we were headed
to Jim and there was water on the floor. Now
this is going to sound strange, but what actually happened
is there was a student that had an accident. I mean,
now I happened to have known that I Rebbite Herbert,
(11:10):
but it looked like water Rubby Herbert asked, how did
that water get onto the floor. Maybe he hopped what happened,
but no one was embarrassed. There were plants that were
on the windowsill, and he just said, oh, I bet
some of the water came out of.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
The plants and it's on the floor.
Speaker 1 (11:25):
It's okay, let's just go to the gym.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Okay. It's a cute little story.
Speaker 1 (11:31):
And if that's momached what he was thinking, it just
shows how he didn't want to embarrass anybody. He didn't
want to embarrass anybody. Some other stories that come to mind.
(11:54):
I remember I'd be standing in the very back of
the yagoda, directly behind his van. It was behind this fan,
but it was very far away. I would be dobning
schman estra. Then I would hear yeaskandn the east khanda.
I would hear up A Herbert's voice, and behold, the
voiceould suddenly get much louder. So it'd start off with
(12:17):
eask down thing east kandas. So I would stop my
schmen estra, open my eyes and I would see it
up A Herbert staring right at me. His head would
be turned back. I figured I must be doing something wrong.
So one thing I could be doing wrong is the
very fact that I'm dobbining schmunesay while and not answering
(12:38):
to his kadage. So I decided I would pause my
for the and just be silent. I figured I must
be doing something wrong, so for the y Aba I
was silent, very pleasant memories.
Speaker 2 (13:03):
Also, he held that the.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
Ladorvador part of kadusha at the end of Kadusha is
not part of the kadusha. Most people keep their feet
together for that final paragraph because they're not sure what
to do. But Rabbi Herbert immediately separated his feet. He
would look around at people's feet as if to say,
you're doing it wrong. When I was in the mirror Ertistralla,
(13:24):
I was telling a certain baker about this. He told
me he thinks it's all in my head. But then
when he came home during banezman him, he looked arondli
Aguda and he noticed the same thing. He said, it
was the cutest thing, and that this really does happen.
That almost everybody keeps their feet together, including Rabbi Greenblat.
But I started to follow what Rebbi Herbert did and
(13:47):
separating my feet at the end
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