What Does R' Orlofsky Think Of The Song "I Wanna Be Like Zusha"?

What’s said in this shiur

The opening of this shiur, in Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky’s own words — taken from the captions, so names and Hebrew terms may be approximate.

Hi, this is Rabbi Wolbe with our question and answer series, where in a few minutes we try to answer reader questions. What does Rabbi Wolbe think of the song I want to be like Zusya? Shouldn't we want to be like Moshe Rabbeinu or Aaron the Cohen? There was >> [laughter] >> in the 1960s, a TV show called The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour. The Smothers Brothers, um uh Tommy and Dickie Smothers, that was their actual name. Um were hysterically funny. And they had a show, and the show was you know, a little controversial to the point that CBS canceled it cuz they did all kinds of controversial things. But, um uh they introduced a lot of different people. And uh one of them was this comedian called Pat Paulsen, who was a very like he had a sad sack face. Anyway, he ran for president in 1968. He was using the show as his forum to be able to run. And uh I remember he would have this line that he would use in different kind of context. People say I have no experience. People say I've never held public office. People say I have no qualifications. Picky, picky, picky. >> [laughter] >> And that became a catchphrase at one point in the '60s. Picky, picky, picky. Yeah? Um Yeah, of course everybody should want to uh be like Aaron and be like Moshe. But do you have a problem if a person says I want to be like Rashi?

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1. 0:00Hi, this is Rabbi Wolbe with our question and answer series, where in a few minutes…
2. 0:31funny. And they had a show, and the show was you know, a little controversial to…
3. 1:02in different kind of context. People say I have no experience. People say I've never held…
4. 1:34Do you have a problem if someone says I want to be like Rabbi Akiva or…
5. 2:04like this is that we live in an era where we have celebrities. Do I think…
6. 2:34And um and Benny Friedman maintained that we have an audience because we are celebrities and…
7. 3:05You're just a singer." Uh that does not give you any moral authority. The fact that…
8. 3:35"Why? You're just singers. Just sing. What does that give you any moral ability above or…
9. 4:07But you're foolish if you don't recognize that there are celebrities in Klal Yisrael. So, all…
10. 4:37No. You want to sing like the singers. That's what the song is saying about. It…

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