Transcript
Boker tov and welcome back to our weekly living with emunah series. So grateful to our sponsors of the series for the year, Doctors Zavi and Bella Morgan, in memory of Rabbi Doctor Brian Galbut and in memory of Doctor Alan Schanz, nishmas sheyehei le'aliyah. Thank you so much for your generosity, thank you so much for your sponsorship. Also, this morning's particular class is sponsored as well by having some technology problems, so thank you for bearing with me this morning. This morning's class is sponsored in particular by Leonard Presby in honor of his eishes chayil, Simcha Rochel. Thank you so much to Mr. Presby for your sponsorship as well. If you'd like to sponsor a future class, please email me at lee@brsonline.org, lee@brsonline.org. Living with emunah, we gather every week to remind ourselves that there is a Ribbono Shel Olam, there's a Creator. This is the month that we're in. Not only have we now entered the month of Adar, but we hope and we pray that the month of Adar has entered us. משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה. When we enter Adar, we're filled with joy, but when Adar enters us, what is Adar entering us? The month Adar, the word Adar means aleph dar, the one and only, the Aluf, the mighty God. When we invite God into our lives, when we feel His presence, when we feel His love, then marbin besimcha. Instead of having panic, anxiety, worry, envy, arrogance, anger, all we feel is simcha. I look around and everything is by design, everything is for a reason. So in my last class this morning, when the internet gave out and abruptly ended it and I started to feel frustrated, I said no, obviously what I had to say at the end wasn't meant to be heard. I was saying it to me, myself, and I. It wasn't meant to be proclaimed to the world. And if I lose you now because the internet for some reason, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, there's no snow outside, it's a beautiful day, and yet the internet's playing with us. Everything is from Hashem. It's all min hashamayim. It's all from Hakadosh Baruch Hu. So we get together to remember: aleph dar, Adar, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has dirah betachtonim. He's not just abstract and conceptual. I don't just talk to Him or about Him when I'm in shul, but rather I give Him a dirah betachtonim. Hashem is here in my life, every aspect and every component of my life, and everything that happens in my life. I feel His presence, I feel His love. I even grow frustrated and I protest sometimes what He is doing, but He's in my life. And aleph dar, Adar, when not only mishenichnas Adar, when not only we enter Adar, but when more importantly, when Adar enters us. When we live that level of mindfulness and meaningfulness that Hashem is in our lives, when we submit and surrender, when we let go and let God, then, then marbin besimcha. The relief, the relief that comes, the joy, the happiness that comes from the fact that we can let go and let God. Okay, we are continuing in the B'yam Darkecha, Rav Itche Meir Morgenstern's wonderful sefer. We are on perek gimel, the third chapter, הרגשת אור ותענוג דביקות, the notion of sensing the light and the joy of connecting and attaching ourselves to God. So he said the following: הנה בשביל להצליח לחשוב בדביקות השם יתברך צריך לדעת לשוטט בהרבה מיני מחשבות והרגשות. We left off last time by saying that in order to achieve this level of clinging and attaching and connecting ourselves to God, we have to be able to move between different emotions. We have to ride that rollercoaster of the range of different feelings. כי אם ישאר במחשבה אחת, if we remain with only one thought, with only one feeling, לא יצליח להחזיק בהרבה זמן, we can't live on that level and in that plane for a long period of time. So we have to know there are moments we're going to feel high, we're going to feel close, not high like the bad kind of high, not the counterfeit kind of high, not the high that we have recovery programs from. But the good kind of high, the getting high on God, Lord get me high in the words of Reb Shlomo. So when we feel high on God, we're going to have moments you walk out of a Neilah. I'll never forget my oldest daughter when she was a young teenage girl walked out of Neilah and said, Abba, I don't even need to eat for another day, I didn't want that to end. Halevai you could bottle that feeling, halevai you could capture that moment when you feel so connected, so close, everything's working out, everything's making sense, the beautiful stories that you send me about the emunah moments in your life where you say I know why that happened or that happened in my favor or I felt His presence in my life. But then there're going to be other moments where you wonder where in the world is He, why is this happening, why is He letting this happen to me or to someone I care so closely about or somebody I love so much, and you feel so distanced, you feel so far away, you feel so lonely, you feel so lost. There'll be moments that you live in fear of Hashem, with a sense of awe, and you retreat and recoil with a sense of fear or concern. So there's a whole range of emotions and of connections that we can feel towards God, and our avodas Hashem, our service to Hashem, if it doesn't fluctuate and static, it's a bad sign. A marriage, this could be controversial among marriage counselors, but I'll say it anyway. To me the healthy marriage has moments of incredible love and affection and it even has moments of struggle and tension because it's a real living animated dynamic relationship. And relationships are made of two people and of expectations and of needs. And so when it's alive, when it's healthy, it's animated and it changes. And there are days that you feel close that the word love, there are no words that can capture how you feel and you're frustrated by the inability to articulate just how in love, just how close you are. And there are other days that you say, I can't get far enough away. I need a break. Not me, I don't ever feel that way, ever feel that way, but I've heard from others that one can feel they need a break or I'm not even joking, I don't ever feel that way. But one can need distance or a break or they're frustrated or they have to work out some tension, they have to overcome some some healthy difference between them. So real relationships fluctuate. And if you ever meet a marriage and they say, our marriage has been the same 40 years we're married and it hasn't changed an iota. We never fight, we never are overly in love, we're just exactly the same every day, every week, every month, every year for 40 years. I say that's not a real marriage. I don't know how healthy that marriage is. Marriages have to fluctuate up and down. That's exactly what energizes and drives and animates a relationship and the same is true with Hashem. So you have to לשוטט הרבה מיני מחשבות. You have to be able to waver and navigate and move around and every day, how much sleep did you get? What's happening in your life? How much do you feel His presence? אם ישאר במחשבה אחת לא יצליח להחזיק בה הרבה זמן. Because if you say, you know when I'm connected to Hashem? Do you know when I daven well? Do you know when I talk to Him? Do you know when I feel His presence? Do you know when I'm filled with gratitude? Whenever everything's good. But you can't stay there. You're not going to remain there. Today's Daf Yomi for those who learn the Daf. Today's Daf, Nathan Newark, today's Daf, did you do the Daf yet today? And the Daf today it talks about Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, each described the Beis HaMikdash differently. Avraham described it as a har, a mountain. And Yitzchak described it as a sadeh. And Yaakov described it as a bayis. Avraham said it's a mountain, you climb the mountain, but you know who could stay on top of the mountain? Who could remain on top of the mountain in terms of their connection, their relationship with Hashem? And Yitzchak described it as a field that you plant and there's cycles of the field and you harvest, but you know the field also has to lay fallow, it also has to rejuvenate. And so Yaakov describes that the relationship with Hashem is like a bayis, it's like a home. We invite Hashem into our home. A home is a place of a range of emotions, experiences, feelings. Every day the home is the stable place you go for refuge and that you go and return to a safe space called home. That's today's Daf Yomi. Psachim Daf, whatever Daf we're up to, Pei something. So pa'am yargish ahavah, sometimes you're going to feel love. O pa'am yirah, and sometimes you're going to feel awe or fear. או פעם יתבונן באמונה, sometimes you'll be contemplative and you'll think about all the evidence for God's existence and the desire to connect with Him. Vechein bemachshavah bisheimos, similarly when you think about, I don't know if anyone's tried this at home, but we talked about a few weeks ago, Rav Itche Meir encouraged us to concentrate on the different names of Hashem, to draw those names or to see them as a as a flash before our eyes and that you connect. A name is an intimate connection. When we use someone's name, someone uses our name, to use a name is to create a sense of connection, of affection, of intimacy. To think about the names of Hashem and to attach ourselves to them. So not every day, there's the name of Hashem which reflects middas hadin, strict justice. There's the name of Hashem which reflects middas harachamim, compassion. There are all kinds of names of Hashem and different days you're going to connect to different names. והנה אף שהעסק בשמות הקדושים הוא חשוב מאוד מאוד מכל מקום כדי לזכות באמת לדבקות ללא הסחת דעת צריך שלא יפסיק פיו מהזכרת דברי תורה מתוך דבקות. Using those names are wonderful, but Torah, attaching ourselves to Torah, ki bam chiyisani, it's our life force. If you don't breathe, you're in trouble. You can hold your breath for a little bit, but if you ever you ever eat something, did you ever get your wind knocked out of you? Did you ever have a cough that you take this inhale and the air's not coming in and you panic? Because if you can't breathe, you can't live. You can't live. If you don't eat, you're really hungry and there's no food and you're looking everywhere and you have no access or towards the end of a fast day where you feel like you're going to collapse, you need to eat in order to live. Well, you also need to have faith with Hashem to live. You need to connect, you need to know that there's a higher power, you need to know there's something so much more to us, you need to know in order to really be alive, for life to even have value. Someone told me a story yesterday about someone they knew who worked at Lehman Brothers, who was a top executive at Lehman Brothers and spent his life in investment. His whole business network, his social network, his net worth, everything was tied into Lehman. And when Lehman went under, so too collapsed all of that. His business life and network, his social network, and his life worth, his net worth, it all went down the drain. But he was able to recover because there was one investment he made overseas, which was a throwaway investment, he didn't think would ever do anything, and it had an enormous return, so much so it made him a wealthy man and he was able to retire. Non-observant, a non-observant Jew. And this rabbi told me just yesterday that he met this non-observant Jew and that non-observant Jew said to himself, he said, what's the point of life? I invested several decades in attaching myself to that part of my identity, to my business life, to Lehman Brothers. But when it collapsed, when it disappeared overnight, so too did everything I had known and all the work that I had done. So what's the point in life? If all I'm invested in is the here and now, in the material world, in the physical world, it can collapse, it can disappear overnight. If everything I worked towards and everything I have and everything I define myself can disappear overnight and collapse, then what will last? What is immortal? What comes with me? So the next day he started to learn Torah. He's still not observant, but he learns Torah every day because he decided that if my entire definition is my physical identity, more things, more money, more shopping, more botox and more plastic surgery and more sheitels or hairdressers or more Neiman Marcus or Nordstrom and more Amazon Prime, if that's my entire life, it can disappear in this world and it certainly doesn't come with me to the next. So what am I doing in order to pamper and indulge, what am I doing to invest, not in my here and now, my physical sense and being, but in my soul? Not my body but my soul. What am I doing to have a great not net worth, but to have a great spiritual worth? In order to take that which will really give meaning both in this world and the only thing that I can take with me into the next world. So this man came to that conclusion, he wasn't or isn't yet observing Shabbos or observant but yet he's invested in what nourishes his soul. So essentially you're not alive if all you are is a body. And your soul, yeah, you know, Wednesday mornings for a couple minutes you listen to a class. But then in between when the rubber meets the road, when you're pressed to express that emunah, to not get angry, to not respond with envy, to not panic, to not be overly anxious, then all you are is your body. All you are is working towards more money, more things, more experiences, more status, more high profile, more friends, more followers. If that's what defines our happiness, that's what defines ourselves, then you're not alive even while you're in this world. You're dead even while you're walking around alive. But if you're alive to, if you're dedicated to something noble, to a legacy that lasts, something meaningful, if you recognize and invest and nourish your soul, your soul, you know, we go for physicals, supposed to go once a year, physical, lab report, EKG sometimes, an exam by a doctor before they did it over the internet. You're supposed to go for a physical once a year, but when's the last time you had a spiritual? When's the last time we had a spiritual? Who are we and what defines us? And what are we invested in? And what is our well-being? And what will last? And how are we thought of? And how are we perceived? And how do we think of and how do we perceive ourselves? So that's what Rav Itche Meir is saying is that a person has to attach themselves with dveikus. You have to cling and connect and attach ourselves to that which is immortal, to that which is eternal, to that which will last forever and that's God. The Ribbono shel Olam is the creator, he was here before the world, he'll be here after the world, and the more that we attach ourselves to him, then the more that we connect our future to him. The more we grab onto his coat tails, the more we ride the wave with him, the more he gets us across and takes us to the other side. B'lo hesach da'as, it's interesting he uses the language of Rav Itche Meir, without interruption, without interruption, without delay, without procrastination, without interruption. צריך ליזהר לפקח את דעתו מענייני העולם אבל שהכל יהיה עם שמירת השייכות להשם יתברך. Enjoy this world. Hashem gave us this world and he says, ess mein kinder, eat! It's a very Jewish thing to eat. Eat! Enjoy breakfast, lunch, dinner, we're not saying fast, don't fast every day, don't fast necessarily any day other than the prescribed fast days. Eat! Enjoy! But don't overindulge, don't live to eat, eat to live. Eat because you're putting fuel into your machine, into the factory called your body. Make a bracha, invite Him to the table at the beginning, make a bracha, have an attitude of gratitude at the end. Make sure it's kosher, eat the right amounts and the right types and the right time because we're putting fuel into our system, into our body. Enjoy! Physical intimacy, pleasure is part of the kesuba, it's part of the obligation, it's part of the arrangement between a husband and wife, responsibility. All of the areas of pleasure that exist in this world, the Torah and God who designed us and programmed us wants us to experience. But he wants to invite us, he wants us to invite him rather. He wants to be present. He wants us to remember that even as we're enjoying this world, we're enjoying this world as a platform to already make contact with the next world. To give him a dirah betachtonim, Adar, Aleph Adar, to bring him down here and to do so with that level of mindfulness and meaning, that level of consciousness that it is without interruption. Which brings us into this week. And this week we're going to read Parshas Zachor in shul. Next week, hard to believe, is Purim, a year into this ridiculous pandemic. Purim, it's really hard to believe and it's going to be really jarring to experience Purim and to recognize we're a year into this. So this week we'll read Parshas Zachor even if you're listening to this class sometime later it doesn't correspond with the week of Parshas Zachor, but the message nevertheless is true. Who are Amalek and what did they want to do? Amalek is not some external voice, Amalek is not outside ourselves, Amalek lives within us. Amalek is not a genetic, Amalek is not a nation or a people that you could trace. There's no Wikipedia entry, genealogy or whatever those websites are dot com, they're not going to prove that seven generations ago you were part of Amalek, it's not going to show up in your DNA. That's not who Amalek is. Amalek is an attitude, Amalek is a perspective, Amalek is a philosophy, Amalek is a way of life. What is their way of life? We're going to read this Shabbos Asher korcha baderech. We were on our way, we had come out of Egypt, and we were marching and on our way to Har Sinai. We were on fire, on fire! You know the way that kid who comes back from the year in Israel, you know the way you are hopefully at the end of the emuna shiur, you know the way we are when we walk, oh come on, did I just lose my picture? When we walk out of Neilah, I think I just lost my picture on one of our platforms, having trouble connecting. Okay, I think we're back. Hopefully we are back. So when we walk out of Neilah, you're on fire, on fire! Passionate, excited, on fire, wanting to do the right thing, not even struggling, driven. And then, you know what they did? Asher korcha baderech. You know that cynical, sarcastic person, that biting person who walks up and splashes cold water on your fire? They put out your fire. Oh, you're so excited about this? What are you so excited? Think about that. You're so excited, you're on fire? Eh, it's all fake. Eh, it's all an illusion. Eh, it's all counterfeit. If I have to summarize who Amalek are, Amalek are: eh, eh, Amalek are eh. You see the Jewish people are supposed to have this koach, this strength that we look everywhere and we see Hashem in everything. Hashem is everywhere and in everything in our lives. And Amalek come along and they say: eh. You think they're in that? Hashem's not in that. They interrupted, we were marching to Har Sinai and they said you're on fire, let me cool you down. And how did they cool down? Asher korcha baderech is milashon mikreh. They cool us down, korcha milashon kor, korcha means cold, and mikreh means happenstance, chance, randomness. Nothing's by design, nothing's organized, nothing curated or choreographed from above, it's all just chance, it's all just happenstance. They came upon us and they interrupted our march. And even when we resumed and made it to Har Sinai, but now we had a little voice of doubt. Amalek is gematria safek, Amalek is the same as doubt. They introduced a notion of doubt into our mind. What if? Maybe they're right? Maybe there's nothing real here? Maybe it's just chance? Maybe there is no one above? Maybe this whole thing is a joke? What if and maybe? And even if it's 1% or 0.01%, Amalek introduced that. They ruined, they doused our fire, they cooled and extinguished our fire. They cooled us off, and they interrupted the momentum that we had built. The momentum towards something special, the momentum to something transformational, the momentum towards something life-changing, they interrupted, they interrupted. And we still have that voice of Amalek inside us. We too struggle with that voice that says: eh, don't be so impressed. Eh, don't see the person on fire and want to attach ourselves or let them ignite our flame. Eh, maybe it's not real, who knows? Doubt, uncertainty, maybe it's just a fluke, maybe it's random, maybe it's chance, maybe we're in control, maybe there's nothing more. They came along. So what's the response? זכור את אשר עשה לך עמלק. We have an obligation to remember what Amalek wanted to do. We have an obligation to remember what a life looks like where Amalek is allowed to rule, Amalek is listened to, Amalek has influence. We have to awaken and arouse within our heart, says the Rambam, sina, שיחייבו בני אדם שלא תסור שנאתם מהלבבות. The mitzvah of remembering Amalek, writes the Rambam in Sefer Hamitzvos, the Rambam writes this in mitzvah kuf-peh-tes, this is not in Rav Itche Meir, we're taking a little detour right now based on this week, Parshas Zachor, but relevant to the whole year round. So a Rambam tells us sheyachivu bnei adam, we have an obligation responsibility, שלא תסור שנאתם מהלבבות, to never stop hating Amalek. Now hate's not a very Jewish concept or Jewish word, we don't believe in hate. We don't believe in hate. Hate the sinner, hate the sin rather, not the sinner. That was taught to us by Beruriah eisheis Reb Meir, that יתמו חטאים מן הארץ. Yitamu, not chotim, chataim, that we hate the mistake, we don't hate the person making it. So we don't believe in hate. We don't hate people. We don't hate people. We hate the actions, the behavior, we don't hate people. But there is a people that we hate, and they are Amalek. We hate that concept. We hate the interruption, we hate the voice of doubt, we hate the procrastination, the laziness. We hate the cynicism and the sarcasm that undermines meaning and purpose in this world. And writes Rav Avrum Shor, the Lekach VehaLevov, כי יסוד הצלחת האדם למחות עמלק הוא דוקא על ידי שנאה. If you want to erase and eradicate that doubt, that uncertainty, that biting cynicism and skepticism, then you need to develop a hatred for it. You need to despise it, you need to see it as the arch-enemy, you need to see it as the kryptonite, you need to see it as the very thing that will undermine us. מי שאינו שונא הרע אינו יכול למחות הרע. If you don't hate it, you're not able to erase the bad. If you don't hate it, you're not going to destroy it. If you're willing to tolerate it, if you're willing to allow it to perniciously penetrate into your life, then it will rule, and it will corrupt, it will compromise, and it will bring us down. ומי שסובל הרע אינו יכול למחות הרע. If you're willing to tolerate and you're willing to endure wickedness, then you're not going to come to hate wickedness, and you're never going to eradicate or eliminate the wickedness. רק על ידי שנאה לרע יכול למחות הרע. Only when you develop a hatred, a hatred. And so a person has to know that the thing that they're confronting, even the thought they were so attracted to it, it's what stands to undermine them. The addict in recovery has to know that the alcohol or the drug or the gambling or the very thing that they're drawn to and attracted to, it is their kryptonite. It will cost them their spouse and their children, their financial well-being and stability, their reputation, their happiness, their life. And therefore, the one needs to develop a hatred to it. They need to see it as the arch-enemy. They need to say, I would never go near it. Why would I touch it, why would I look at it, why would I be drawn to it? It is the very thing that threatens everything I care about. It's the very thing that threatens all of my happiness. The person who has struggled with their weight or high blood pressure or high sugars or heart disease or whatever it is that eating in an unhealthy way can compromise and cut short their life, they need to look at that unhealthy food and say, that is the enemy. It's the kryptonite. That, it's a moment on the lips, forget a lifetime on the hips, it's a moment on the lips, it's going to shorten my lifetime. I know it doesn't rhyme, a moment on the lips, shorter lifetime. That doesn't rhyme, so it's not as compelling, you won't make a bumper sticker out of it. But it's even more true. Forget the hips, it's a moment on the lips and I won't be able to crawl on the ground and play with grandchildren and great-grandchildren. So what do you want more? The cheesecake, the potato chips, the corn chips? What do you want more? The chocolate? What matters more to you? The pasta, the carbs, or longevity, or time with your children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, time enjoying this world? And so when will you overcome, when will you never conquer but learn to manage successfully? When that which threatens we see as the threat, we name as the enemy, and we develop a hatred towards. I hate it. Why would I put that poison in my system? I hate that alcohol, I hate those drugs, I hate that behavior. It's poison, it threatens to undermine, to corrupt, it threatens to take away everything I hold dear and everything I care about. So only for the Rambam when you develop that hate, will we be able to overcome it. Now, what is it that we're hating? What is this midah of Amalek? What is that voice, what is that character trait we said? It's the voice of cynicism and skepticism and sarcasm that some find so funny. But you know sarcasm? Sarcasm is one of the most, I find sarcasm terrible. The sarcastic individual takes nothing and no one seriously. Sarcastic individual uses sarcasm as a coping mechanism to avoid having to take anything or anyone or anything anyone says seriously. That sarcasm is Amalek. Everyone else is in awe, oh, did you see that? Hashem is amazing. And the voice of Amalek comes in and says, eh, not so amazing. Eh, not so special. Eh, not so great. So says the Sfas Emes that Amalek is the one who caused the chet ha'egel. Amalek is the one who caused the Jewish people to cheat on God and to make that fateful error of worshipping the golden calf when Moshe didn't descend and return on time. Why? Asher korcha baderech. Because we were marching out of Egypt and we were marching right to Matan Torah. And it came on the way. Asher korcha baderech was b'emtza haderech, right in the middle. And says the Sfas Emes פורים תרלז באמת כל חטא העגל נראה שהיה על ידי עמלק הרשע שלולא הוא שערבב את בני ישראל בדרך לא היה שום חטא. They introduced that notion of safek, of doubt. So what happened? What happened was we're waiting for Moshe Rabbeinu. So until then, we were on fire. Ten plagues, splitting of the sea, Hashem is everywhere, Hashem is in my life, Hashem is the answer to everything. So Moshe didn't come back? Okay, there's a reason. He'll be back when he's meant to be back. He'll descend when he'll descend. I believe in Hashem everything is by design. But once they encountered Amalek, and once Amalek contaminated them with their poison, now the Jewish people said, Moshe's not back? Maybe this whole thing's a farce. Maybe it's wrong. Maybe Moshe's not who we thought. Maybe it wasn't God who took us out, it was a fluke of nature the sea split. And the next thing you know, they're building a golden calf. Once that voice of doubt, of uncertainty, once that voice of sarcasm and cynicism, once that voice of skepticism and of eh enters into us, then all of a sudden we're struggling to see God, to feel God. Our fire has been extinguished. It's been dimmed, it's been lowered. So Amalek is the one who brought about the chet ha'egel. The only reason that they had that doubt that led to that mistake was because Amalek had entered into their mindset. ונראה דיש לומר הכוונה כמו שידוע בשם הגאון רב חיים שמואלביץ Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz in Sichos Mussar, it's a beautiful idea that Rabbi Akiva who learned to Torah and then he went home and he found his wife. He learned Torah twelve years and he saw his wife and he overheard his wife who was alerted to the fact that he was coming home after twelve years. His wife said, "I would be fine if he went back for twelve more years." So he turned around and he went home and Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz wonders: the great Rabbi Akiva, his wife whom he attributes and says everything that we have is for her, is because of her, who stuck with him and left her the wealth and the prominence of her father's house in order to marry because she believed in Rabbi Akiva even more than he believed in himself. And he couldn't stop and say Shalom Aleichem? Twelve years! A twelve-year business trip! He comes home from a twelve-year business trip and he overhears his wife say, "I'd be fine if he went twelve more years, that's how much I believe in the mission and the cause." So he turns right around, takes the next flight, goes back for another twelve. And wonders Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz: just pop in and say hi. Just a quick visit, a little gratitude, a little something, a little coffee and cake eppes, a little something. He turns right around and leaves. So says Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz, he says, "Had he come in after twelve years and gone back for another twelve years, he would not have learned for twenty-four years. You know what he would have learned for? Twelve years and twelve years. But in order to have learned for twenty-four straight years, he turned right around." Now don't extrapolate, and I'm not suggesting in a Shalom Bayis series to try that at home. I'm not suggesting that that's the way to go. We're not Rabbi Akiva and we shouldn't expect from our wives to be Eishes Rabbi Akiva, and that's not what we should try at home. I'm not suggesting it. But the lesson that he extracts is the notion of what he calls retzifus: consistency, constancy without interruption, building momentum. Someone just told me they're reading a book called, I think, "Deep Thought": the ability to immerse ourselves in something. We don't do that. The phone is buzzing and it's beeping and it's vibrating, and the alerts are coming through on the four thousand plus platforms that we belong to, and we can't even make it through one thought. We don't immerse ourselves deeply in anything, in anything. So had Rabbi Akiva turned right around—had Rabbi Akiva not turned right around—he would have learned twelve years and then he would have learned twelve years, but he wouldn't have been learning twenty-four straight years and the momentum would have been lost. It would have been interrupted by that visit. Now again, maybe that's the right thing to do for us. Don't get caught up on that detail of the story, but the message Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz is communicating is that yes, twelve plus twelve equals twenty-four in the world of math. Yes, it would have reflected on his tax return that he learned for twenty-four years, twelve plus twelve. But there's a difference between twelve plus twelve and twenty-four straight. Twelve plus twelve and twenty-four straight is the difference of building momentum, of retzifus, of gaining a sense of momentum. And that's Amalek. Amalek broke up our momentum. We were marching out of Egypt and we were marching to Sinai and we were marching to a life and a lifestyle of being on fire, of seeing Hashem everywhere, of submitting and surrendering, of feeling gratitude to Him. And Amalek came along and they said, "Are you sure? Maybe He's not real. Maybe this is not real. Maybe it's eh, I'm unimpressed. There is nothing worthy of awe, there is nothing that is awesome." Amalek's power. So we have to hate that. We have to hate that interruption. We have to hate that voice of "eh," we have to hate that voice of sarcasm and cynicism and skepticism. If we're going to eliminate it, we have to hate it. We have to recognize it as our kryptonite, we have to recognize it as that which is going to remove us, we have to recognize it as that which is going to undermine us. And we have to attach ourselves with a sense of consistency without Hesach HaDaas, without interruption. We need retzifus, build momentum into momentum into momentum, and hate the things that knock us off the course of that momentum. Ve'al zeh ne'emar back in Rav Itche Meir, back to Rav Itche Meir's sefer. ועל זה נאמר כי הגדלת על כל שמך אמרתך כי בדביקות על ידי שמות הקדושים יש גבול כמה יכול אדם לזכות לדבוק. There is a limit to how much a person can grow by utilizing or focusing or meditating on the names of God. על ידי תורה הקדושה אפשר לדבוק בשם יתברך בלי הפסק. But if we attach ourselves to Torah, then we can connect to God without interruption, without interruption. Someone else told me—I was talking yesterday to Rav Aaron Kotler, Aaron Kotler, the CEO of Lakewood BMG—and we were talking about whatever project we're working on, and he mentioned to me a story of his grandfather, Rav Aaron Kotler. I reserve the right to use the story again in another context because I find it a very powerful story. It's on my mind because he told it to me yesterday. I was remarking that his grandfather, Rav Aaron Kotler, Zecher Tzadik Livracha, Rav Aaron Kotler was a Gadol ShebeGdolim, a great Rosh Yeshiva, also a communal leader and a great activist. How did he have time, how did he manage it all, how did he achieve greatness in every area? So he was describing to me a certain time that there was a need for him to express communal leadership and he had to make a series of phone calls in order to create a certain outcome. So he went to make those phone calls and his Rebbetzin, Rebbetzin Kotler went to go get the phone book so that he could call a certain communal leader in order to be able to work on something. So Rav Aaron told her, "I don't need the phone book, I know his number by heart." So the Rebbetzin said to him, "Rav Aaron," she said to him, "your mind, your brain, your memory is for remembering Torah, not phone numbers. That's why we have the phone book." She gave mussar to her husband. She said, "Your memory and your mind is for remembering..." But Torah, that notion of a relationship with Torah, the timeless message of Torah, the eternity of Torah, Torah as the diary of the Almighty and therefore the way in which we attach and connect ourselves to Him. So Torah is something which is immortal, and when we attach ourselves it informs and inspires our lives, when we draw from it, when we learn it, when we're inspired by it, when we prioritize it, then we attach ourselves to the infinite. אמנם צריך לזכור בכל עבודת הדבקות, we have to remember when it comes to all the work and all the effort of attaching ourselves to Hashem, שהשם יתברך אינו דורש מיהודי אלא לפי כוחותיו. He comes back to Reb Itche Meir. That's why he's so beautiful. He understands that every Jew, we're imperfect and that we struggle and that we're doing our best. So he says all God wants of every Jew is Lefi Kochosav, according to our ability. Beguf Ubnefesh, physically and in a spirituality. ויזהר להתנהג באופן המתאים לנפשו, and a person has to work within their capability, their capacity, and work within whatever they're going through. וכבר כתיב ולא תעלה במעלות על מזבחי, you cannot climb, you cannot run up the ramp of God's altar of the mizbeach too quickly or you will stumble, you will fall, it will reveal your nakedness. You have to take your time. Le'at le'at, slowly, incrementally, what are you adding to your repertoire in your relationship, in your conversation with God? Be'ezras Hashem Yisbarach, with God's help, Kesheyeyaved Veyaaleh Nachon, if we can rise and challenge ourselves little by little. You know, anyone who gets into running, they join these running apps and they're so excited to share with you, you know, it reminds me of the old joke. How do you know someone's a vegan? Don't worry, they'll tell you. How do you know someone's into running? Don't worry, they'll tell you how many mile, what they're running, how many minutes per mile, how many miles they've run, and the app and the competition, and whether you've asked or not, whether you're interested or not, they'll be sure to share it with you. So wow, you started out and you were doing a 13 minute mile and you got it down to 11 and a 10, eight, you broke an eight minute mile, it's outstanding, it's outrageous, my friend did, he didn't, I did on this one run, eh, they tell you all about it. It's incremental. You go in the gym, how many pounds are you bench pressing? How many pushups can you do in a row? How long can you hold the plank? Who remembers our Elul plank challenge? How long can you hold the plank? So what's true in the world of physical health and wellbeing, that you're not going to walk into the gym and bench press 600 pounds or else it's going to break all your ribs, you're not going to try to keep up and run an eight minute mile or else you're going to last one 100th of one mile, but you need to start slow and build yourself up. So the same is true spiritually, says Reb Itche Meir. Start slow, build yourself up. In what arena, what part of your life, which part of the day are you going to dedicate to spending time with God, having a conversation with God? יהיה לו חיות כל כך גדולה מהדבקות. The same way that the runner's high, the same way as the high of building your muscles, the same way of the high of holding that plank and being able to post a longer score, so there is a spiritual high from dveikus when you've successfully attached. So in that moment where you were about to lose your cool, the moment you're about to fly off the handle and you remember there's a God, there's a design, this is the way it's meant to be. Calm, cool, collect, you're not going to knock me off my game plan. The moment you're about to be envious of someone else and you remember Hashem's in charge, He gives me exactly what I need, I have nothing to be envious of. The high you get from connecting with and expressing and feeling that dveikus, psh, that high is going to propel you further. עד שלא יוכל למנוע עצמו ממנו אפילו זמן קצר, until you cannot stop, until all you want is the next. That runner can't wait till their scheduled next run. The workout, you can't wait till the next workout. When you're on fire with davening, you can't wait after Shacharis for Mincha, you can't wait for Maariv, you can't wait till the next Shacharis. You cannot wait, you're so on fire, you love it, it's giving you the high that you want to draw from it. Incremental, slow, climb, little by little. Challenge ourselves though to do more. You're also not going to be a great runner if you started doing a 15 minute mile and you're still doing the 15 minute mile. If you haven't challenged yourself to make a better time, to do better, then you won't be better. So we need to challenge ourselves spiritually to be better and to do better. Oh, David Eisen, a moment on the lips will beat out the corn chips. There you go, there's your rhyme. A moment on the lips will always beat out the corn chips. So there you go. So we got to work. We should all grow in our emunah and our dveikus, in our connection, in our gluing ourselves. Overcome that Amalek, don't let Amalek win. Learn to hate Amalek, see Amalek as the threat, as the danger, as the kryptonite. Amalek is an enemy trying to rob us of everything. Amalek is the enemy trying to rob us of everything. Serenity, peace of mind, wellbeing, health, relationships, people, everything. So therefore you have to come to hate it if you're going to eradicate it. And what we're eradicating is not some external genetic people, what we're eradicating is that voice of cynicism, sarcasm, skepticism, the voice of eh, the voice of doubt, the voice of uncertainty. We can and we should have a certainty. There is a Hashem and He's in our lives and He loves us and just extend that antenna and you will pick up His signal, you'll feel that love and you'll become even more devoted to Him. Second week, the final week of BRS global. If you enjoyed this emuna shiur, if you think it add value to your life, even if you don't, go on BRS Global and please do your part, be a partner, be join this global community, brsonline.org/global, brsonline.org/global, we welcome and we would love your participation. Also, if you're watching on YouTube, take a moment and hit the subscribe button, you'll be notified in real time every time we go live with the next class, the next program, the next panel that you do not want to miss. 9 p.m. tonight behind the bimah. Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy.
