to all the listeners, participants, the

rabbi, and to all those who are involved in the OU.

It's a great honor and pleasure to once again be part of this wonderful, wonderful call.

And we thank the OU for all that they do, for Kal Yisrael, and Yirat Zon, that very soon we should all be together in Yerushalayim, our Kodesh, greeting Moshiach, the King.

We are in the days of the Omer, and we actually just concluded the morning part of the Omer, where we weren't allowed to have weddings, listen to music, get haircuts, shave.

It was a time of mourning.

And as we know, the Talmud tells us, For what reason did Am Yisrael have to mourn? The Talmud tells us it's because of the tragic passing of the 24,000 students of Rabbi Akiva.

I think in Mitzvah 8, the Father of Mitzvah, obligates us to emulate God.