Transcript
Good morning, Boker tov, great to be back living with emuna as we get together each and every week in order to remind ourselves what we already know and should know, that there's a creator, there's an Almighty that we're here for a reason, that he has expectations of us, that he's in a relationship with us, that we can rely and depend on him, and if and when we do, our lives are so much better. We're much more at peace, less angry, less arrogant, less envious, less anxious. Our lives are just so much better. I want to thank our generous sponsors of our emuna series for the year, Drs. Avi and Bella Morgan, thank you so much for your generosity. We don't take it for granted, in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut, and in memory of Bella's mother, Dr. Ellen Shanzar. Thank you so much for that generosity. I also want to thank today's sponsor, Pam and Dr. Prosper Abitbol, in commemoration of her father Lester Greenberg's yahrzeit, Eliezer ben Meir, may his neshama have an aliya. Also a big thanks to Merrill and Jeremy Strauss, the amazing Strauss family, in memory of Jeremy's father Michael Strauss. Thank you to all of our sponsors. If you'd like to sponsor a future shiur, please email me lee@brsonline.org. Okay, we are continuing in Byam Darchecha, רב איטשע מאייר מורגנשטרן. Now many people email me asking what sefer are we learning? How can I get it? I obviously say his name very quickly, so I get all kinds of emails asking what's the name. Itche, Itche is a Chassidish nickname for Yitzchak. It's רב יצחק מאייר מורגנשטרן, but known as רב איטשע מאייר מורגנשטרן, who is a great rav, a great Chassidic leader, a great kabbalist in Eretz Yisrael in Israel today, and his sefer is Byam Darchecha. It's not yet been translated into English, but it is available in Hebrew on the internet, and I highly recommend it to learn both independently or to be able to follow along together with us. We are on page kuf alef, page 101, and he's been talking about dveikus. How to acquire this quality of dveikus? How to acquire the mida of attaching and connecting ourselves to the Almighty? How to connect ourselves to him, our destiny with him, and interpret all that's happening in our lives through him, to feel his presence. We spent significant time on when it works well, when it flows, when we're inspired, when we see the light. Most recently, he's been talking to us about what about when it doesn't? How well are we able to stay connected? How well are we able to stay elevated and enriched, even when we're not feeling it, even when we feel distanced, even when we feel apart, even when we don't feel that light? Before we continue in Byam Darchecha, I want to relate it to this week's parsha, Sefer HaChinuch I've shared many many times, but it continues to not only inform and inspire but be mechazek to give me great strength. We have two parshas this week, Achrei Mos and Kedoshim, and in Kedoshim we read about the prohibition לא תקום ולא תטור. We are forbidden, we are not allowed to take revenge. Someone has done something to hurt us or to harm us, we are not allowed to take revenge. Lo sikom is to outright take revenge, lo sitor is to not take revenge, but to remind the other that we are in fact superior to them. We're better because we're not taking revenge. So the classic examples that are given are I go to my neighbor because I need to borrow the lawnmower, I need to borrow a sharp knife, I need to borrow their Wi-Fi connection, and they say no, can't borrow it, don't trust you, don't feel like lending it, don't want to share. So what do I do when they come and knock on my door the next week and they say do you have any salt, do you have any pepper, do you have any flour? I say no, absolutely not, I take revenge. That's lo sikom. Lo sitor is I say sure, you're welcome to borrow it, you know why? Because I'm not like you. I'm so much better than you. You wouldn't lend to me, but I'm so much superior and better to you, I'll lend to you. That is the prohibition of לא תקום ולא תטור. We're not allowed to take revenge and the question is why? Revenge is, isn't revenge sweet? Is it revenge sometimes warranted? Why should we be nice or kind or generous or magnanimous with somebody who was unkind to us? Why are we forbidden? If we want to ask a question even more broadly, which we will not examine this morning but is worthy of our thought, doesn't God take revenge? Kel Nekamos Hashem, God is known as a vengeful God. So why is it good enough for God but not good for us? Why is it okay for God to take revenge but we are cautioned and warned, we are prohibited and told that we must stay away? I just realized that I did not remind everyone in our Zoom groups that our emuna shiur has begun, so I'm going to try to keep talking while I remind everybody, you'll excuse me if I seem distracted. So why is emuna okay for God but not okay for us? What is the source of the Torah's prohibition for emuna? So Sefer HaChinuch says something absolutely important, critical, and brilliant. Sefer HaChinuch says that at the core of the prohibition of לא תקום ולא תטור is to recognize that Hashem is involved. in every aspect of our lives and that if something happened to us that we have to realize and we have to recognize that it's not coincidental it's not by accident it's not only the wish and the will of the other person but if that we've been hurt we've been harmed in some way that somebody that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has allowed it because if he didn't want to allow it he wouldn't have allowed it it only happened because he allowed it and so on the one hand I hold the other person accountable on the one hand I hold the other person utterly responsible however simultaneously simultaneously I cannot and must not take revenge why because I have to realize that everything is from Hashem so if I would go take revenge against somebody if I would go and lash out against them then it would be to knock Hashem out of the equation then it would be to suggest that God didn't want that to happen to me however the other person did the other person did but we don't believe that and we don't live like that and therefore what I need to do is that if somebody harmed me or somebody hurt me I'm allowed to hold them accountable I'm allowed to create consequences I'm allowed to stand up for myself I'm allowed to have some self-respect and dignity when it regards to it but I'm not allowed to take revenge because if I take revenge then I am eliminating God from the equation then I'm acting as if God didn't want it or God didn't allow it so what comes out of the Sefer HaChinuch I'm back with you you have my full concentration sorry about that what comes out from the equation is that when someone's harming when you're going through a painful thing an embarrassing thing when you're going through something that you think is unfair unjust unwarranted that a person needs to pause and a person needs to say to himself that you know what on the one hand I need to pursue my rights on the one hand I need to hold the other party accountable but on the other I can't get too emotionally invested or involved in the pain or the hurt of this behavior I have to recognize that for some reason Hashem intended for it to happen because if he didn't then it could not happen to me if it happened it's only because there was something for me to learn something for me to extract some way for me to grow from it that's what comes out from the Sefer HaChinuch it's tremendous chizuk it gives tremendous strength to think about and to live life in that way to simultaneously and in parallel hold others accountable and create consequences for behavior somebody rams their car into yours you don't say well if God wanted my car to not be dented then this never could have happened obviously he wanted it and therefore I accept it and therefore I just give the other party a hug no you tell the other person can I have your insurance information you tell the other person you need to pay for the damage you caused but while I ask the other person to pay for the damage they caused and if they refuse then I pursue whatever avenues are available to me to hold them accountable but simultaneously to it I say God for whatever reason wanted me to get this dent in my car and to have to go to the body shop to have to shop it around to have to get it repaired to have to live with the rental for whatever reason I was meant to experience this they're not contradictory they're incongruous we're able to experience them both at the same time to hold the other accountable to pursue our rights to pursue justice but to not emotionally lose ourselves but instead to filter everything through the prism of emuna through deveikus to attach ourselves to him it's a very I think healthy way of approaching life but it's also a very helpful way of approaching life because rather than think of something as random or chance rather than wonder God where are you and why would you let someone hurt me in this way you realize that no God you're my loving father and as a loving father you would never let anyone hurt me and therefore there's something to help me through this that doesn't mean I don't stand up pursue justice doesn't mean that I don't seek consequences and accountability but it means that I never ever seek revenge I never ever get emotionally involved in a way which actually corrupts or compromises myself I stay focused on deveikus I attach myself to you God and I recognize and I respect that everything that happens is only because you allow it or you will it which is the same thing and so maybe you did it because you want me to stand up for myself maybe you did it because you want me to hold the other person accountable maybe you did it because I need to be humbled maybe you did it because there's something I need to learn but nothing could happen without your will oh we continue now with Yam Darecha we're back with Reb Itche Meyer and now he continues last we spoke about what happens when you don't see the light what happens when you're trying to live with deveikus you're trying to attach to God but you don't feel close to God and we gave the metaphor of marriage that you're married and you have the status and identity you are bound by the moral obligations of marriage even when you're not feeling the romance the fireworks and the love hopefully marriage is something that enriches and elevates hopefully it's something that excites and energizes hopefully in marriage there's romance and intimacy but even when there is a rough patch and it's missing that does not that does not mean that you're off the hook from your responsibilities to marriage and the same is true in our relationship with Hashem there are moments of high and moments of excitement and moments of closeness and moments of inspiration and moments of light and moments of fire and those are wonderful moments but even when they're missing and even when we're struggling to feel it and even when we're looking for it we are bound by this marriage. There are moments of high and moments of excitement and moments of closeness and moments of inspiration and moments of light and moments of fire, and those are wonderful moments, but even when they're missing and even when we're struggling to feel it and even when we're looking for it, we are bound by this marriage, by this relationship, by this loyalty and fidelity to him and he to us. But now we continue. Chashuv lasim lev, it's very important to put your heart, very important says Reb Itche Meyer to pay careful attention shebizman hargashas ha'or that when you're feeling the light, when you're feeling the inspiration, הרגשת התענוג בהשם יתברך, you're on fire, you're having a very deep and a very meaningful and a very beautiful tefillah. You witness the magnificent sunrise or sunset, you've experienced the simcha, the birth of a child or you've walked one down the aisle, whether you walked out of a kumzitz or a tish or a ne'ilah and you are on fire by the song that absolutely finally broke open that hardened heart. You're on fire, you've seen the light, you're in love with God, you're talking to him in the car and while you're cooking and while you're working out, you're alive. שלא ישאר האור כתענוג והרגשה בעלמא, says Reb Itche Meyer, something so critically important. It is it is imperative that that feeling not remain a feeling. That seeing the light, that being on fire, that being energized and enthusiastic spiritually, religiously, Jewishly, in a Torah way, yeah, must not remain a thought and a feeling. But rather it's got to be captured and concretized, it's got to be transformed into the world of action. אלא להכניסו שישפיע למעשה וישאיר כח ורושם גם כאשר הוא יסתלק. Be ready, you need to know now and you need to be ready now that it will dissipate, it will disappear. All these feelings do. We are not robots, we're human beings and we live in a roller coaster of fluctuation. And we're into it and then we're out of it and we're on fire and then we're cold as ice, and we feel close and then there is some distance. It is the nature of life. It can be in our marriages, it can be in our relationships, it can be in our relationship to exercise or food or Torah study or a hobby, it can be an attitude towards our profession or our employment. We wax and we wane, we go up and we go down, we are on a roller coaster called being human beings, humanity. And therefore, in the moment of a high, in the moment of excitement and enthusiasm, in the moment of being enlightened and on fire, capture it, concretize it, figure out how you will keep it going. What is the kabbalah, what can I accept upon myself, what new habit can I adopt, what new habit can I form or create, so when the feeling dissipates, the habit remains. The habit remains. So I'm on fire, do I want to take on saying Tehillim every day? Do I want to take on learning Daf Yomi every day? Do I want to sign up for a chesed? Do I want to put in place a habit or responsibility or an obligation that even when I feel less on fire it will remain and it will keep my equilibrium, it will keep me going, it will provide a sense of consistency. It cannot remain a thought, it cannot remain a feeling, then it's not real, it's fleeting. Then it's just then it's just osiyos porchas ba'avir, that's letters floating in the sky. It has to be concretized and realized, person has to accept upon themselves a kabbalah. Something real, something they can apply, something we can execute. כי הנה לפעמים אדם רואה שבשעת האור הוא מרגיש את השם יתברך מאוד, because at times during a moment of light we see Hashem with great clarity, we see Hashem with great passion and love, we are drawn to him and we're elevated by him. אבל זה לא משפיע על זמני הניסיון. But then what happens? The person confronts a test, we run into the proverbial or literal wall and now we're challenged in emunah. You got bad news, you're put in a challenging situation, you were made uncomfortable, you're struggling. And now what happened to the guy who was on fire? What happened to the woman who was inspired two weeks ago? Where was all the with God's help, im yirtzeh Hashem, be'ezras Hashem, chasdei Hashem? What happened to isn't emunah amazing, isn't Hashem amazing? Let's sing, let's have a kumzitz, let's have a kumbaya. Where did it go? The answer is if when you were on fire it just remained theoretical and it was never concretized, it was never cemented, it was never executed on, then when you run into that wall, you run into that challenge, there's nothing to draw from, there's nothing to stabilize, there's nothing to hold on to. הטעם שזה קורה הוא כיון שבזמן התורה והתפילה ושאר הרגשות הדביקות היה לו רק הניצוצות והרגשת האור אלוקי אבל זה לא היה מחובר לחיים בפועל. Maybe maybe you are on fire, you were spiritual, you had a spiritual conversation, you had a spiritual experience, you had a spiritual moment where there was music or song that moved you to tears, but it was a spark. But what did you do with that spark? If there's a spark but you don't use it to ignite something that will be sustained, then the spark gets extinguished, then the spark goes out. How do you take the spark and how do you fan the flame? How do you turn the spark into a raging fire? That is the challenge and that is the question today. So previously last week, the last few weeks we spoke about what do you do when you don't feel it, when there's not even a spark and there's no light, how do you sustain it? Now we're talking what do you do when you're on fire, when you see the light, when you're excited, when you're moved by that borei. And for the first time in a long time or ever, now you're in touch and contact with your neshama with your soul. Wonderful. What do you do with that? How do you execute that? How does it manifest itself? What do you do with that? Is it a spark? Quickly grab the spark and turn it into a raging fire, a flame, or will the spark go out? Will it burn out? Will it be extinguished? כי כל אור והרגשת אלוקות צריך שיהיה לו לבוש וכלי. When we talk about the light of God, when we talk about spirituality, it needs a container. It needs a utensil. It needs a garment to wear. שיהיה בור לאדם מה האור הזה אומר לו בחייו. So that it's clear, so that it's... it's revealed, so that one can observe. It needs to be captured. דהיינו לתרגם את האור למעשה. To translate the light into action. ולחבר הרגשה לענייני החיים בפועל. And to attach and to connect feeling to lifestyle. How many times have we or have we kind of had conversations with others who describe "I may not be observant, but I'm very spiritual"? So well tell me about that spirituality. How does the spirituality manifest itself? Well I pray sometimes, at times I'm moved, I'm just a very spiritual person, I just feel connected spiritually. Well that's like saying I just feel connected nutritionally or in a dietary way. It doesn't really reflect itself in my cupboard, my cabinet, my pantry or my refrigerator. It doesn't reflect itself in my eating habits or on the scale, but I feel very, very nutritional. I feel very, very connected to healthy eating. What would your scale say about you? What would your refrigerator say about you? What would the video cameras around your kitchen or dining room table say about you? Is it just a feeling or does it manifest itself? Is it a reality? We sometimes confuse feelings with realities. And saying "I'm spiritual" as a feeling in theory does not often connect with the reality. And therefore it is so critically important that when we're on fire, when we see the light, to create and to be that vessel, that utensil, to be that container. That's called a habit. That's called a kabbala, that's called to accept upon ourselves. That's called a new lifestyle, a new component. And that means that if I'm inspired right now and I say, you know, there's one blessing which is from the Torah, it's called bentching, maybe Birchas HaTorah, maybe the blessing on the Torah too, but ve'achalta vesavata uverachta, when you eat and you're satisfied, not our parsha Eikev, not our parsha, but when you eat and you're satisfied, uverachta, you gotta make a blessing. You gotta make a blessing. You gotta say thank you. We all know that. We try to teach our children and we try to behave that way ourselves. Someone made a meal for us, we say thank you, hopefully at the beginning and again at the end. It was a delicious meal, thank you so much for the effort, it was really delicious, so appreciative. I walk out of Publix, I walk out of Stop & Shop, I walk out of Pathmark, which I hear is alav hashalom, I walk out of the supermarket I shop in. I don't go up and down the aisles and collect the items and ingredients I want and then walk out. What do I have to do either at a self-checkout or at some conveyor belt? I have to pay. So the cost of benefiting and deriving pleasure from this world is making a brocha, the the commodity or the credit card that I use in this world is my words. I say thank you. ve'achalta vesavata uverachta. I eat and I'm satisfied, I'm full. It did something for me, and I'm grateful, say it, express it, uverachta. So let's say a person hears a whole shiur about bentching, a whole drasha about bentching, they read a whole article or a book about bentching, they read a story about bentching, and they're so moved and spiritual and connected, you need to take a kabbala, you need to translate that into a commitment in concretizing it in the world of action, in forming and forging a new habit. So what would be a new habit? Let's use it as an example. You're moved about making brochos, what would be the new habit? You'd say, you know what? From now on I am committed to always bentch from a bentcher. When I bentch by heart, I I realize that I'm mindlessly saying the words. I don't even remember all of the words. I mumble and fly through the words. I'm clearing the table or checking my phone while I'm supposedly bentching and thanking God. So you know I'm so moved right now, I'm so inspired, I've seen the light about gratitude and attitude of gratitude, of being appreciative, of common courtesy and derech eretz, of saying thank you to God for the gift of the food I ate. So how do I concretize it? I make a commitment. I'm not suggesting this is the commitment you have to make right now, but it's an example of what the Vitry is describing. That when you see the light and you feel the inspiration, concretize, translate, create a habit. And what's the habit? I'm always going to bentch from a bentcher. difficult. You had to get up out of a chair, very difficult, walk three feet and find a bentcher. Very difficult. Required tremendous mesiras nefesh. But today, at least during the week, everyone on their smart device has benching. Also not the ideal way to bench on a smart device, other notifications pop up and they distract and they interrupt. However, you could open your smart device and simply bench. There's no excuse today to not say a bracha from a text, be it a hard copy or be it a technology copy. There's no excuse not to be reading the words. And there's also no comparison of reading the words or saying them by heart. There's absolutely no comparison between the two. So this is just a small example of the difference of feeling the light, of tapping into inspiration and allowing it to remain in the air, theoretical, versus concretizing, versus applying, versus creating a new habit. Creating a new habit. Creating a chibur, creating a connection in the words of Itche Meyer, creating a connection between how I'm feeling and how I'm acting. כי צורך לקבל את האור בדעת. You need to receive the light with thoughtfulness, with insight, דהיינו לחבר אותו להבנה שלו. So not just, yeah, I'm a spiritual person. What is spirituality? Let's define it. Let's set goals for it. Let's measure it. Let's recreate it. Let's capture it. To be thoughtful and strategic in my attitude towards my spirituality towards light, ולהשגת נפשו בחיים המעשיים, and to be constantly evaluating and reevaluating in a practical way my life. If you ran a business would it be any different? The people who own their own business or employees in a business are regularly called upon to do evaluations and reviews of the business. Sometimes it's weekly or monthly or quarterly or annual that you set goals and you reflect on whether you achieved them and you create new goals and you create a path towards how you're going to realize them. You sit and you take a look and you reflect on what's working, what's not working, were goals too ambitious, were they not ambitious enough? So why shouldn't we do that in our own lives? Why don't we have our own personal mission statement? Why don't we have our own review? Why don't we have our own analysis? Why don't we set our own goals and reflect on whether they were too ambitious or not ambitious enough or the methodology, the strategy to be able to achieve them? Not only in the world of action. How about, I made a commitment. Continuing our example, let's say. I made a commitment, hypothetically, to bench from a bentcher. Have I? Why aren't I? What are the obstacles preventing me from doing it? Why haven't I? How can I eliminate or remove them? And when I have, how has that made me feel? And how can I continue to do it more often or better? What can I add to it? Maybe I'll make every blessing from a text for now on. כי צורך לקבל את האור בדעת. כך שהאור לא יהיה דבר מופשט עליון שנמצא מחוץ לחיים. That is spirituality and the light can't remain something pie in the sky. Even in our vernacular, we refer to something that's not put into practice as pie in the sky. I don't know why it's pie in the sky, what if I like cake better or cholent or steak? Steak in the sky, a new expression. But pie in the sky, even in our vernacular. If something, it shouldn't just remain pie in the sky. It's got to be captured. You know, you have a heart to heart with your spouse, one goes to therapy, one experiences a magnificent getaway, an anniversary, one goes for a walk or has a conversation which feels transformative. And then what? What do you do with it? How do you ritualize it? How do you create a habit out of it? How do you create some consistency? Does it remain pie in the sky? We made commitments to one another, we promised we would do this more often, we talked about a new paradigm for our relationship, or did we put into practice? Did we come up with a plan? Do we have a resolution? יהיה חיים מתחבר בתוך המציאות. Will what we spoke about, will the feeling that we had, will these thoughts, will they remain pie in the sky? Will they remain theoretical and abstract or will they manifest, will they concretize? So I'm challenging you as you're listening, as we're learning this together, in every area of our life, bein adam lemakom, bein adam lachaveiro, bein adam le'atzmo, reaching out, reaching up, reaching in, in each of these three areas, how are we able, how will we, how will we become that vessel to capture the light? What changes will we make? What habits will we form? How will we ritualize that inspiration, that spirituality be more real? What are you willing to take on? What are you willing to do differently in order to be able to be a different person, in order to be able to change all together? ואזי בעת התורה והתפילה והדביקות יכול להיות מלאך ואחר כך הוא עלול להשתנות אחרת לגמרי חס ושלום. Because if we don't, says Reb Itche Meyer, you know what happens? Maybe you relate to this or maybe you've just seen it in others. But you know what we're capable of doing? We're capable of having an amazing shemoneh esrei, I'm shokeling, I'm lost in my amidah. davening, maybe I'm shuckeling and my arms are flailing, maybe I'm absolutely still but in my heart I'm on fire. It is the most real, the most genuine, the highest connection I've ever had with my creator and then we're able to finish davening, close the siddur and become a ruthless business person. Look at things on the internet, speak gossip and slander, act competitively or cruelly to others. How could that happen? How could it be that we have a genuine authentic spiritual experience in davening or in Torah learning? And yet, a moment later we lose it all together. A moment later we're back to who we were. לדוגמא מתפלל ומקבל את האור כראוי. If we daven and accept upon ourselves the light appropriately, צריך שאחר כך יוכל בקדושה להתנהג כראוי. So how do you go from the most amazing davening in shul? Oh, we had a Baal Musaf, we had a Baal Tefillah let's say, the Kedusha, the songs, we were lost, it could have gone on forever. I was so moved, I was so on fire, I was so inspired and then we go home and we stuff our face, I don't make a bracha before, I don't make a bracha after, I mumbled benching while clearing the table, while not even paying attention, while not even saying every word. What happened? What happened to a moment ago that Chazzan? What happened a moment ago being on fire? What happened a moment ago seeing the light? That is what we're capable of. That we can experience one moment, but if we don't concretize, if we don't apply, if we don't habitualize and we don't ritualize, then we lose it. We can lose it in between the shul and the walk home, and I live next door, such that at lunch our eating has not changed, our conversation has not changed, our interaction has not changed. ולא שתהא עבודתו באופן שחושב רגע אחד בתפילתו של השם יתברך ואחר כך בעת האוכל הוא שוכח מהשם יתברך חס ושלום. Real Avodas Hashem, a real service of Hashem, a real dveikus, a real sense of clinging and attaching ourselves to Hashem means that I don't relegate God to shul or the Beis Medrash. I don't relegate God to the Emunah Shiur or the Emunah WhatsApp group. I don't relegate God to when God is explicitly present, but God's presence informs and inspires everything in my life. And so when I have that moment of spirituality and when I see that light and I have that enthusiasm, then I eat differently, I speak differently, I sleep differently, I exercise differently and I carry out my business differently. Everything is changed, everything is different and everything is changed as a result. באופן כזה השגת והרגשת האור תיתן כוחות לאדם לנצח במלחמת היצר. So if in fact when you see the light you become the vessel, you create the utensil, you concretize, habitualize, ritualize and every other 'ize' that you can think of, then it in fact strengthens you. Because if you took God home from shul with you, now when you took him to the supermarket he's going to give you the strength and the courage not to buy the unhealthy things, not to buy the non-kosher things, not to buy the decadent things. So whatever form of a Yetzer Hara, but if God has become not relegated to when the siddur or the shiur is open, to when the Sefer is open, but God now is an active conscious part of life. There's dveikus, there's a clinging and connection with him all the time. Now there will be the strength to say, oh you're in the right, you're with me. So a person who has a trainer. So imagine you hire a trainer, you pay for the trainer, you work out with the trainer. But then imagine you leave the good habit, you leave the inspiration, the light, oh I'm going to you know living a healthy life is the most important thing in the world, I'd never put poison in my system, I'm going to exercise and work out all the time, there's no reason I can't do sit-ups and push-ups wherever I am throughout my day. That's it, that's it, from now on I'm going to be the healthiest person on the planet. But then you leave the trainer and you leave all that conversation, all that thought, all that spirituality, all that inspiration at the gym and now you go to the restaurant, the supermarket or your kitchen or your dining room table, now you're lost because now you're confronting the corn chips or the potato chips, now you're confronting that pie it's not in the sky but it's on your table and now if the trainer is not there you're lost. But what if you took the trainer with you everywhere? What if you had the ability to feel that the trainer's in with you in the restaurant looking at the menu? Trainer's with you walking down the aisles of the supermarket? The trainer's with you in your kitchen? Trainer's with you around your dining room table? Won't you feel won't you feel more strength, more tenacity, more resolve in order to eat the right things and eat the right way and eat in the right measure? So we have that. Hashem is our greatest trainer and we don't leave him behind in the place in which we saw the light or felt the spirituality, we take him with us wherever we go. He is with us. He is with us when we're turning on the device, he's with us when choosing what to watch or listen to, he's with us when we're walking in the gym or the supermarket, walking through work. He's with us in our home. He's with us when others are around and he's with us when we are by ourselves. But he's only there if we invite him, if we welcome him, if we want him. He's only there when we practice dveikus, when we cling and glue and attach ourselves to him. Then he is there. And you know what the result is says Reb Itche Meir? The result is תיתן כוחות לאדם לנצח במלחמת היצר. It gives us. strength and it gives us endurance and it gives us resolve in order to triumph and succeed in the battle, in the war with our yeitzer hara, with our yeitzer hara. So not only is it true, not only is it correct, not only is it what's warranted of us, but it's also enormously helpful. You want to live your healthiest best self? You want to live your most mindful self? You want to be the most proudest of your choices, thought, speech and deed, then live a life of dveykus in which you don't leave God behind when you close the sidder or when you close the safer or when you turn off the shier, but we take God with us everywhere and throughout all that we do. Join us tonight behind the bimah 9 PM special edition and till then and until next time, stay happy, stay healthy and stay holy.
