Transcript
Good morning Boker Tov, welcome back to Living with Emunah, our weekly learning session. We try to remind ourselves what we already know, what everyone knows intuitively and instinctively: that there is a God, there is a Creator, there is an omnipotent being, that we are not here by accident, we are not here randomly, we are here by design. We have a meaning, we have a purpose, we have a mission in this world, and we have to live with Emunah, to go through life and to know that we're never alone, to know that the Meshaleiach, that the one who sent us on this mission is right by our side, is rooting for us, has empowered us and enabled us in order to be able to pursue it, in order to be able to achieve it. I want to thank our generous sponsors for the Emunah series for the year: Doctors Avi and Bella Morgen in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut and in memory of Bella's mother, Dr. Ellen Shanzer. Thank you so much for your generosity and for your sponsorship. If you'd like to sponsor a particular shiur, please go on beisonline.org/sponsor, beisonline.org/sponsor. You can choose the date, write the language, make the payment all in one convenient place. What a way to honor a yahrtzeit, a birthday, an anniversary, a special occasion, to help promote and support our Torah learning, and I thank you in advance for that. We are continuing in Rav Itamar's B'yam Darkecha. We have been studying about bitul. We have been studying about what it means to nullify ourselves, to submit and to surrender to the Ribbono Shel Olam, to the Almighty, to Hashem. How we have to recognize that no matter how far away physically we may be away from biological parents, the Avinu Shebashamayim, our Father in Heaven, is always by our side. And the moment we live with that consciousness, with that mindfulness, the moment that we remember then nothing will throw us for a loop: not being stuck in traffic, and not the plane taking off late, and not somebody disappointing us or misbehaving, and not something not working out or going wrong. We will recognize it's part of a masterpiece, that everything by definition is for our good, whether we appreciate it, whether we feel it or not, and that will keep us with our serenity, our tranquility, our happiness. That will keep our mental health, our physical health, our spiritual health no matter what we're going through. It's the way it was meant to be, it's by design, it's from above, and that is the greatest gift that we can have. Rav Itamar has been describing four levels, four madregos, four steps of bitul. What does it mean to submit and surrender? What does it mean to nullify ourselves to Hashem? So let's review quickly and then we will vaiter, then we will continue. Number one was bitul of kabbalas ol. Number one was: I know that I exist, I know I'm an entity, I know I'm independent of God, I'm here, but I accept, I receive His sovereignty over me. I recognize that He is the King of Kings, His providence, His control, kabbalas ol. I don't live in this world, I don't answer only to myself, so I see myself as separate and apart, but I realize that I work for Him, He doesn't work for me. Number two is bitul bamidos. Number two is not just intellectually, cognitively, rationally—I don't just study about God, I haven't read books about Him, I don't take that leap of faith intellectually—but emotionally, I'm invested in a relationship. There's love and there's awe, there's clinging to God, there are ups and there are downs, I'm in a relationship. There's emotion, there's emotional connection. Number three was bitul hayeish, was to nullify my sense of I. There is no ego, there's no I, I'm here to serve Him, I'm here on His mission. I am not the center of the universe, He is the entire universe, and therefore I need to meet His expectations, I serve at His pleasure. I get the greatest pleasure by giving nachas ruach, by giving pleasure to Him, that's bitul hayeish. And lastly was bitul bametzious. The fourth and final level, said Rav Itamar, is the notion of bitul bametzious means that in His presence I don't even feel like I exist. And as I said, as he's described, we can relate to that. There are people who are so great, so accomplished, so powerful that while we're with them, we forget we even exist. We're not hungry, we're not tired, we're not thirsty, we don't even remember we're breathing, we don't even remember we exist, we're merely in their presence. And that's what it means to be in the presence of Hashem, so powerfully, so tangibly, so palpably, so intensely that in that moment I'm in His presence, it's as if I'm not even here, I am subsumed under Him. To bring that mentality, to live that life, to try to have that attitude is not to forfeit our own sense of selves, but rather to recognize that when we attach ourselves to Him, we are living our best sense of selves. There's a godly soul, a godly spirit inside every one of us. There's that which yearns for and aspires for more, for holier, for higher, for better. There's that godly soul which is the epitome of discipline and sovereignty and self-control. We don't have to give in to that impulse and that instinct, we don't have to act like an animal, we don't have to, we don't have to feed the yetzer hara, that desire within us, but rather we can live with that discipline, that self-control, that godliness, that godly soul. So when we connect, when we attach ourselves to that godliness inside ourselves, then we are... submitting and surrendering the rest of our sense of selves to him. And as I point out each time and I want to continue to point out because it is critically important that when we talk about submitting and surrendering to Hashem and living a life of a mission to him, it doesn't mean we can't have pleasure, enjoy a nice steak, a fine glass of wine, enjoy a football game on a Sunday if what one needs to re-create, re-create, if what one needs to be entertained. We're allowed to take time off, we're allowed to vacation, we're allowed to have fun. We're meant lehis'aneg al Hashem to get pleasure in this world and pleasure in life. Hashem designed us, but we're doing all that not as an ends unto itself; all that is a means to help us to elevate us, to enrich us to be our best selves so we can get back to the real reason we are here, which is to serve him. Enjoy, have fun, laugh, play. It is a big part of life to spend time with our family, with our friends. All of that is beautiful and has religious value to it, but they're not ends unto themselves. Really all of that has to be informed and inspired by the question that we have to ask ourselves daily and ask ourselves regularly. What does Hashem want from me? Am I giving him nachas? Am I giving him joy? Is he right here by my side when I'm making that decision about what to do next or how to spend my time or what to watch or listen to or where to go or how to behave or how to vacation or who I am on my vacation? Does he come with me or do I leave him behind? We are on page nun vav, page 56, in this wonderful sefer Bayom Derechecha of Rav Itche Meir. Let's continue. והנה ענין הביטול בלב חייב להיות יחד עם עבודה בפועל. The notion that in my heart I nullify myself to you, that in my heart I submit and surrender to you, that in my heart I feel integrated together with you, God, cannot just be a theoretical, academic, abstract idea in my heart. It has to be an avoda bipoal. It has to express itself and manifest itself in reality. And this is true not just for this quality of bitul; it's true for every quality. In Siddur Snippets every evening our six-minute Siddur Snippet you can listen online or any podcast player or get it delivered right to WhatsApp by signing up for the Siddur Snippets WhatsApp group, and in Siddur Snippets we're up to Shema and we have the mitzvah of ve'ahavta. We are told to love God. And we ask the question: how can you command an emotion? How can you command to love? Any more than someone on their second or third date can turn to the person on the other side of the table and say, 'I demand of you, I command of you to love me now.' How can you command of someone an emotion? You can command or demand of someone to regulate their behavior. You can tell someone how to act, but how can you tell them how to feel? So in Siddur Snippets, we shared three or four or five different interpretations of what ve'ahavta, what does it mean to love? But the most important interpretation, which really combines them all, is that ve'ahavta is not an emotion. We in Judaism believe that love is not an adjective; love is a verb. Love is not how I feel; love is a decision how I behave. Ve'ahavta lereiacha kamocha—we have to love our neighbors as ourselves. It doesn't mean I have to gush and cry and swoon over my neighbor with a sense of love from the emotion. It means I have to treat my neighbor that I love them. I have to be loyal and I have to have their back and I have to make their life easier, not harder. Everything we talked about what it means to be a good friend earlier this morning, Mesillas Yesharim, 10 Minutes of Meaning. What does it mean to be a chasid, a pious friend, is to make our friend's life easier, not harder, to make them simpler, not more complicated, to be part of the solution, not to compound their problems. So love is all about how we behave. Love is an action, love is a decision, love is not an emotion. And the same is true here about bitul. Bitul is not, 'Oh, I listen Wednesday morning and I heard about and studied about and I read about bitul.' So surrender and submit, we can debate and we can analyze, we'll have a stimulating, thought-provoking conversation about it, and then when I go back to my life, now I'm exactly who I was beforehand. It has to be an avoda bipoal. Any one of these qualities has to express itself. In marriage, you could write the mushiest, gushiest card in the world and deliver it with flowers and chocolates and jewelry, and then if you go back to being ruthless and cruel and unkind and impatient and self-centered, then it doesn't really matter what you wrote in the card. It doesn't really matter what you hired the plane to draw in the sky. None of that matters if bipoal, if in action, if in the world of reality, one is not putting into place. So we can talk emunah, you can shuckle all day long, and baruch Hashem, im yirtzeh Hashem, chasdei Hashem. But when the rubber meets the road and when you run into that moment where you're ready to lose your cool and fly off the handle and get angry, when you're ready to feel envious and jealous of what your neighbor has, when you're ready to feel arrogant and pursue honor and think you're the center of the universe, in those moments do we actualize all that we're learning to stop and to take a deep breath and to remember? I'm not in charge, and I'm not in control, and the world doesn't revolve around me. I have to let go and let Hashem. I have to recognize he's in charge, he's in control. There's no reason to be envious; I have what I need and what's meant for me. There's no reason to get angry. because I'm not the center of the universe. I refuse to worship the idol called the ego, and rather I recognize that Hashem has a plan and I can't control everyone and everything around me. I refuse to get arrogant. I am not the most important thing there is. So it has to be bepoal. וצריך להזהר שלא ליפול בקליפה האומרת ממילא הכל זה רק השם יתברך אז מה יש לי לפעול כי לא כן הדבר אבל צריך לקחת שני הצדדים יחדיו. So says Reb Itche Meyer now we run into a great risk. Now there could be a significant unintended consequence of a successful life of emuna. What is the big risk and what is the potential unintended terrible liability of a life of emuna? They have such emuna and you live with such bitul that you say, you know what? I'm so mevatal myself to Hashem, I so submit and surrender to him, I'm not going to work. He's in charge, He's in control. If He wants my bank account to mysteriously find itself fuller with money, He'll put money in. If He wants someone to drop off some cash at my front door, there'll be a ring at the doorbell any moment. Why do I have to put in effort? Why do I have to take initiative? Why do I have to work hard whether it's parnassa in earning a living or work hard on my relationships or work hard on who I am, my self-development, or work hard if God forbid someone is unhealthy? Why should I get vaccinated? Why should I go to the doctor and get an antibiotic prescription? Why should I ever make an effort to take an initiative? Because I have such emuna and I am so mevatal myself, I so nullify, relinquish, submit, surrender to Him, He's in charge. So the answer says Reb Itche Meyer is don't fall into that trap because part of what it means to live with emuna is to take that initiative, is to recognize that He will meet me halfway, but I'm responsible for my half. I have to make my effort. I have to take my initiative. I have to do my part and then He does His. מצד אחד צריך לחיות בביטול עצום להשם יתברך לזכור שהכל זה רק השם יתברך that the entire world and everything in it, that the magnificent Yellowstone National Park and the Grand Tetons and wherever you merited to go, even if it was simply your backyard to look out the window and to see those blades of grass, the hills, the mounds, the mountains, to see the river and to see the ocean, to see the sea and to realize hakol, everything, from the large enormous to the minute, seemingly insignificant, everything is Hashem. והוא הפועל והעושה האמיתי. He is absolute everything, everything. And boker tov we have the privilege of once a month, Erev Shabbos Mevarchim, a sunrise minyan at the beach, we daven hanetz hachama at the beach, vasikin at the beach and you listen to those waves crash as you're davening and you see the sun come right up over the horizon exactly punkt, exactly what it says sunrise will be the sun, we say in Kiddush Levana, we say that we should be like the luminaries. What does it mean like the luminaries? It means that Hashem programmed, told the luminaries what to do and they don't sleep in and they're not lazy and they don't make excuses and they don't bail on Him, but the sun is supposed to rise at an exactly specific time, punkt, you see the top of the sun come right above the horizon of the ocean exactly when it's meant to rise. And when I daven and I look out and I think and I see those waves crashing not only at the beach but further out in the ocean, the waves forming, and you see the white of the waves and you think none of this is a coincidence. How many waves, the pace of the waves, the rhythm of the waves, when the waves, it's all from Hashem. He is so great that He is monitoring that and He has providence over that while He's also involved in every one of our lives. And while He is involved in every blade of grass, when I was in Wyoming I had the privilege and the great blessing to tour God's magnificent creation. אין צור כאלוקינו ואין צייר כאלוקינו, He is the greatest artist there is. And when you look out at that landscape and you see the mountains, the snow-capped mountains of the Grand Tetons and you see every blade of grass, and the Gemara says that every single blade of grass only exists because of the will of Hashem. God has determined that that blade of grass needs to be there and that beaver's going to build that dam right there and that elk is going to take a nap in the middle of that road and block that path and Hashem has determined that that bear is going to take care of those cubs right there. He is involved, He's omnipotent, He's controlling, He's watching it all. So הוא הפועל והעושה האמיתי. The whole world continues to revolve on its axis only because God wills it, He desires it. מצד השני אבל צריך לדעת שהשם יתברך נתן בידינו שליחות. So He created the world and He controls it and He runs it, but He deposited us in it and He deposited us with a mission, with a shlichus, with a sense of mission. לפעול ולעשות וחובותינו לעמול. We are here to work. We are here to exert effort. We are here to toil. We have things to accomplish and things to do and it doesn't matter what age you're on. It doesn't matter what age you are in life. There is the next chapter of your book, literally or figuratively, to write. Every one of us has a mission. There is no such thing as retirement. It doesn't exist. We can retire from a career or a profession but We never retire from life. And in fact for some people their greatest influence and their greatest impact and the biggest difference they're meant to make is not during their career or profession, it is specifically when they hang it up and now they have time to volunteer, now they have time to lead, now they have time to have vision, now they have time to be a role model and example that inspires and influences others. There is no such thing as retirement in life, there's only retirement from a profession or from a career. And so says *Rav Itche Meir*, there are these two things simultaneously, two truths that exist side-by-side: one, that God is really not only the creator of the world, but the *Ribbono Shel Olam* the Almighty is running His world. Every breeze, every blade of grass, every animal, every everything is all from *Hashem*, it is all directly from above. And for us to deny that, for us to interfere with that, for us to live and not believe that is to deny a basic truth. There are basic truths of physics and there are basic truths of metaphysics. And a truth of metaphysics is God's existence, omnipotence, dominion, providence in this world. He did not only create the world, He remains in control, involved, invested, intimately connected with every blade of grass, certainly with each of our lives and everything that's happening in it. But that does not absolve us, that does not relieve us of our responsibility in this world. He created the world and runs the world but He deposited us and we have a mission. We're each unique, we're individual, we're distinct and we're here for a reason. And if we woke up this morning, it doesn't matter, some of you listening right now are going through a hard time, some of us are going through struggles and tension, whether it's the spike in Corona and what it means for the *Simcha* you've planned or the plans that you have for life, or the *Simcha* you meant to attend of a family member that I was meant to go to Israel in two weeks for my beloved dear nephew's wedding and I'm still hoping for some miracle in some way that it can happen. But there are all kinds of disappointments and challenges and tensions that we're living through. And in those moments we can lose ourselves and we could fall to a place of sadness and melancholy, which will rob us of the happiness of each day, which will rob us of the potential of each day. Or we can lean in and recognize that it's all from above and there's a plan and things will be the way they're meant to be. And we have no choice. So we have a *Shlichus*, we have a mission, do our best, do what we're meant to do. But in the end of the day after we've done everything we can, let go and let *Hashem* do His work and recognize that it's all part of His master plan. כי יש בו שני צדדים גם להתבטל וגם לפעול. There are two contradictory behaviors that we need to do simultaneously. It's what it means to be a Jew. To be a Jew is both to submit and surrender and at the same time to act with zeal and alacrity. ושניהם אמת כאשר הם יחדיו. And both are true, they complement one another. They're both true. It has been said, I think I've shared before in the *Emuna* *Shiur*, it has been said, you need to pray like it's all up to God and you need to work like it's all up to you. And I think it's a beautiful, beautiful way of capturing what *Rav Itche Meir* is saying right here. *Davin* and pray like it's all up to God, but take initiative and work like it's all up to you. *Davin* and pray, in the moment that we're *davening*, *Hashem*, I submit, I surrender, you're in charge, you're in control, it's all up to you. The outcome, the result, the consequence, it's all up to you. But the effort, the initiative, that I'm going to give it my all. I'm going to give it everything I have because we're not a people of mediocrity, we're not a people of mailing it in, we're not a people of good enough. We are, we aspire, we have ambition, we are not only achievers, we are overachievers, and we should be spiritual overachievers. So simultaneously it's not a contradiction to allow these two ideas to complement one another. That on the one hand, submission and surrender, *Hashem*, you're in charge, you're in control, I recognize you don't work for me, I work for you. But now that I recognize that I work for you, let me get to work. And let me be your best worker. And let me give that work my absolute all. כי מצד אחד אם אדם עושה לעיקר את חלקו שלו ומתייחס בעיקר לעבודה המעשית של הנברא הוא גם מחטיא את המטרה וגם ייפול לבלבול ולגאווה לעצבות ודאגה ובכעס. If all we do is take initiative and if all we do is make effort and if all we do is think that it's up to us and our hard work, then we can so easily fall into the trap of arrogance, of pride, of anger, of anxiety, of worry, of sadness, of disappointment, of failure. If we think that really it's all up to us then not only will we be inspired to make the effort, but then we'll suffer all of the side effects that come with over effort, excessive effort. And the side effects of excessive effort are anxiety and worry, arrogance and pride, anger and frustration, fear and disappointment. Those are all terrible side effects. And those side effects rob us of our physical health, our emotional health, our spiritual health. ומן הצד השני אם אדם לא יעשה כלום אלא רק יתבטל ויאמר הכל זה רק השם יתברך. On the other hand, there are side effects of excessive *Emuna*. And you heard me right. What do you mean excessive *Emuna*? Can you ever have too much *Emuna*? It's not excessive. of too much emunah. And you heard me right. What do you mean, excessive emunah? It's not excessive or too much emunah; it's really a counterfeit or a false or fake emunah. But if you have an emunah that makes you become passive, an emunah that makes you complacent, an emunah that makes you apathetic or indifferent, an emunah that makes you sit still or sedentary, then that is a fraudulent fake counterfeit emunah. כי זה אין התכלית, that's not the mission, that's not the goal, כי לא לתוהו בראה, God didn't create us to sit on the couch, to be passive spectators to His world, השם יתברך צונו לפעול בעולם. He put us in this world to work, vekivshua. It says pru urevu, go promulgate and propagate the world, go fill the world, multiply, have a beautiful family, vekivshua, and go conquer my world, says Hashem. Study science, study the world, study nature, study my Torah, the blueprint for creation, and then go and conquer my world. Go and make a difference. Go and be in charge. Now we have the gift of Shabbos because Hashem said six days of trying to conquer my world can get to your head. Six days of over-effort, of excessive work, initiative, can burn you out. So we have a concept called Shabbos. Every Shabbos we're at peace with nature. Stop trying to conquer it. Stop trying to manipulate it, stop trying to control it, be at peace with it. No creative labor, thirty-nine categories of creative labor, rest. So all week long we are about drive and effort and initiative, and one day a week we're all about sit back, be comfortable, be at peace with nature, be at peace with the world, stop trying to control, stop trying to conquer. They're both true. That's true on the microcosm of Shabbos at the end of every week, which is the tachlis of ma'aseh bereshis. It is the reason for why we're working hard all week, and it's also true within the agricultural cycle in Eretz Yisrael, we have a Shmita year coming next year, we just read about Shmita in last week's parsha. But after six years of conquering the world by manipulating your field, your farm to produce, seventh year let it lay fallow, let it go. Be passive, be at peace with nature. Imitate the Almighty who did the same. So the yin and the yang, we have this tension, we have this back and forth, we have two truths that are—they need to complement one another. Either one in the extreme, either one excessively is fake, is counterfeit. So too much initiative, too much effort will lead to arrogance and anger and pride and frustration and disappointment and anxiety. That's too much effort. And conversely, too much emunah, an attitude of emunah, God's in charge, so I'm just sitting back, I'm just along for the ride, I'm just a spectator to the whole world, relinquishes our responsibility of the mission that we're meant to have. So no matter who you are, no matter where you're listening, no matter what stage of life, no matter what you're going through, all of us have a reason to be here. All of us have a mission, all of us have a shlichus, all of us have something to accomplish. And how do I know that? Because you woke up this morning. Because you are breathing, because the heart is beating in your chest, because you are alive. Now for some, the mission is to get to the end of the day. For some the struggle—I know very holy, very special people who are role models to me, who I look at and admire, who their goal is just to get to the end of the day. The chronic physical pain, the chronic emotional pain, the chronic mental anguish that they go through, to simply get through the day and do what needs to be done to take care of their family, to take care of themselves, to live a virtuous life, that is their mission. It's not solving cancer, it's not solving world peace, it's not being the president or the vice president or the chairman or the co-chairman of the committee, it's simply getting to the end of the day. And there's no shame, there's no embarrassment, there's nothing wrong with that. For that person who those are their challenges in life, and if you've never lived with chronic pain physical emotional or spiritual, Baruch Hashem, thank your God every single day, but we can never ever ever judge those who do and the lives they live and the admiration we should have just by their ability to get to the end of the day. That too is a mission, just to get to the end of the day. That too is a success. That too is a win. But the point is that we never sit back as spectators. We're never passive or apathetic or indifferent. We don't just accept with some sense that fatalistically this is our reality. We are here for a reason. Get to work! Get to work on being the best husband or wife, on being the best mother or father. Get to work on being your best friend. Get to work on making the biggest difference. Get to work on what you need to do to get to the end of the day. Whatever it is, each of us have to analyze and study and evaluate. Each of us have to take the time, the hisbodedus and the hisbonenus, the contemplativeness and the alone time to really think about who am I and why am I here and what difference do I mean to make. Not what do I do to make a living, but what do I do to live? What is my living? How do I live and what difference do I make? That is the balance that we're meant to have. This is what the Ramchal, Rabbi Moshe Chaim Luzzatto, introduces his Mesillas Yesharim. We are doing a series, Wednesday mornings, ten minutes of meaning. You can go back to the very first one and hear the introduction and start from there. But the Ramchal begins מה חובת האדם בעולמו, what is a person's duty responsibility in his world? The right translation is Because the person with chronic pain is living in a different world than the person who's never felt pain for a moment. The person who's struggling to put food on their table and pay the bills is living in a different world than the person whose bank account is overflowing that they don't even know how to spend their money. The person whose children are all giving them nachas is living a different life than the child who one is desperately, desperately concerned about and trying to guide them towards their own happiness. We each have our own world, we each have our own peckel, we each have our own background, we each have our own DNA, we each have our own skill set, talents, and we each have our own liabilities and struggles. And therefore, our my mission, says the Ramchal in his introduction to the path of the just, is not to figure out what's my goal, what's my job, what's my mission in your world, or what's your mission in my world. My job is to figure out מה חובת האדם בעולמו. That the yesod hayesodos, that the core principle, the pillar of all pillars, is to ask myself מה חובת האדם בעולמו. What is my mission in my world? So first I have to define what is my world. Who am I? What are my talents, my skills, and what am I weak at? I have to do a SWOT analysis, a SWOT analysis of myself. What are my, who am I? Who am I? Olomo, what does my world look like? Who am I? And when I know what my world looks like, when I know who I am, then what's my chova? The next question is not what can I take from the world, what are my rights and entitlements, but what are my duties and obligations, what can I give to the world? So here too Rav Itche Meir is describing this balance between on the one hand a life of emuna, which makes me submit, surrender and recognize I work for him, he's in charge, he's in control, never get angry, never get arrogant, never get anxious. On the other hand, on the other hand, to not become passive as a result and to realize it's true this is his world and I work for him, but that means there's work to do, there's work to get done, and it's relying and it's depending on me. He put me in this world, I'm unique, I'm distinct and there's no one else who can do what I am meant to and what I need to be able to get done, what I need to be able to do, what I need to be able to do. ואחר שהרגיש את הביטול יכנס לפניו לעשות כל מה שיוכל. So after you submit and surrender, after you live a life and you say I'm not going to get angry at the stewardess who spilled, I'm not going to get angry at the waiter who this, I'm not going to get angry at the person who cut me off or is not going to go even though the light turned green, I'm not going to get angry at my family member who's not behaving the way I want them to. I realize that there's a submit, surrender, there's Hashem, I have to do the best I can be and I have to live the best life I can live and I have to be able to look in the mirror and I have to be able to face him. That's all I'm concerned about. But, but, תוך כדי שזוכר כל הזמן שלא הוא עושה אלא רק שליח. I'm not the one doing, I'm not, I'm just a messenger, I'm just a messenger. I'm doing what he's asked me to do, I'm doing what he's set me out to do and I am the messenger on the mission and on the message. He says here in the footnote, we'll end with this, בתחילת העבודה צריך להתבטל לגמרי לפני השם יתברך. At the beginning of the process of bitul of submission and surrender, one has to be mevatel l'gamre, איך בין א גארנישט, I'm nothing, the whole world is you, yes I have a mission, yes I'm a somebody, yes I'm your child, I'm a prince of God, but I'm just here to serve you to work for you. ולהתבונן שאין שום מציאות בעולם אלא רק הוי' אלוקינו הוי' אחד. That there is no existence in the world, it's all an expression of you. Hashem you're in charge, you're in control, there's a unity to your existence, this is all just the matrix, the world is an illusion, we're only here because you willed us. ורק אחרי שהאדם תבטל בביטול גמור לפני קונו אזי רצונו יתברך שהאדם יעסוק עבודה. So only once I have a context, only once I know who I am, only once I understand the categorical difference between me and you, that you only don't just fill the world, you are the world, you are the entire world. Now I'm ready to get to work. But unless I know my job description, unless I know the hierarchy and to whom I report, I can't get to work yet. So the first step he describes is bitul. First I have to know to whom I report, for whom I work, and then I can get to work. I shouldn't skip that step. I don't try to embrace my shlichus, I don't embrace my mission and get to work and then oh yeah now let me remember who I work for. First I have to remember who I work for and then I get to work. I think our davening is structured this way, maybe we'll begin with this next week. Pesukei D'Zimra is getting to know God. I have to remember who I am, who he is, how he controls history, how he controls nature the world. And now I davening and ask for things, now I get to work. Davening and asking for things, not just for myself, for those around me, for the world at large, is getting to work. So we'll talk more about that when we start next week. Thank you for joining. Again, if you'd like to sponsor a future shiur, brsonline.org/sponsor, brsonline.org/sponsor, conveniently one location, choose the date, write the language in honor, in memory, and make the payment. Tonight 9:00 PM we're going behind the bimah. We are back live, so excited to be joined with Rabbi Moskowitz and Rabbi Brody and to welcome a hero, Rabbi Yosef Mendelevich. If you've never heard him, his story, Russian refusenik, is absolutely extraordinary. You talk about living with emuna, listen live tonight 9:00 PM or you can hear it later on YouTube. Or a podcast player. His story of keeping Shabbos and kosher in the Russian Gulag, what it meant to live with faith, the sacrifices he meant, he made, psh, mind-boggling, mind-boggling. 9:00 tonight, behindthebima.com. Hope to see you there. Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy.
