Transcript
Good morning, boker tov, welcome back to Living with Emunah everyone every Wednesday morning as we gather to remind ourselves what we already know, whatever every child intuits and has to make sure not to unlearn, and that is that we don't come from some nowhere but rather we have a creator, we have a Father in heaven, Avinu shebashamayim, who loves us and who's intimately involved in our lives and that everything is for the good whether we understand it or not. These ideas, this knowledge, these values are so fleeting, they're so difficult to maintain that we have to get together every week. A person has to remain vigilant in reviewing and studying and thinking so that it can inform our each and every day. And when we live life with emunah, Tzadik be'emunato yichye, when we live our lives no matter what is happening, no matter what is occurring, no matter what we confront, no matter what we have to overcome, we remember we're not doing it alone, He's right by our side. We can lean on Him, we can depend on Him, He's orchestrated, He's curated, He's choreographed all that's happening for a reason. Nothing is random and nothing is chance, but everything is by design. And it gives us peace, it gives us tranquility, it gives us serenity, it gives us strength to be able to confront, to be able to overcome whatever we need to. I want to thank our generous sponsors for the Emunah series for the year, Dr. Zavi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut and in memory of Bella's mother Dr. Ellen Chanser. Thank you so much for your generosity, for your friendship and your support. This morning's shiur sponsored as well by the Saka family, my new dear friends, in honor of the yahrtzeit of Batya bat Shmuel, may her neshamah have an aliyah. Thank you so much for your generosity and sponsored as well anonymously in the zechus of שושנה לאה בת עליזה to find her shidduch speedily. Sponsored anonymous - I don't know who שושנה לאה בת עליזה is, but I hope I'll be invited to dance at her wedding very, very soon, im yirtzeh Hashem besha'ah tovah umutzlachas. Okay, Living with Emunah. Before we dive back into רב יצחק מאיר מורגנשטרן, before we dive right back into the study of bittul, what it means to nullify ourselves in the presence of Hashem, what it means to submit and surrender ourselves to His will, what it means to not even have an awareness or a consciousness of our appetite, of our lives, of our needs when we are in His presence. I want to just share a couple of thoughts from our Parshas Ki Savo and whether you're listening to Living with Emunah and happen to be up to Parshas Ki Savo or you're catching up to the series at a later date and it's not the parsha, the messages remain equally relevant. The theme of this parsha from beginning to end, opening with bikkurim, the gratitude the farmer has to have for the goodness that he or she has received, God's graciousness to provide that income, to provide that livelihood, to provide that food to eat, all the way through the end of the tochachah when we're told what precipitates, what is the catalyst, what brings about that harsh and graphic punishment and reality. The theme that runs throughout is the theme of simchah. It's the theme of joy. Hashem wants us to be happy. He wants us to be happy. God did not create us, He did not create this world to walk around like this with our head down and wringing our hands and oif tzuluch and all negative, all anxious, all worried, all wound up in a ball. He wants us to have a smile on our face. He wants us to be besimchah. He wants us to feel this sense of comfort and confidence and relaxation to know that He is escorting us through life. That doesn't mean that there aren't things that we take extraordinarily seriously. We are in the month of Elul, אני לדודי ודודי לי, this is a month where we are working on our relationship with God, our relationship with others, our relationship with ourself. We have to take it very, very seriously, but taking something seriously doesn't mean taking it sadly. One can approach and one can tackle important areas of life with ambition and at the same time feel a sense of simchah, a sense of joy. So the farmer at the end, when the farmer not only brings their first fruit to Yerushalayim and then the Torah includes what we call the vidui ma'aser, the farmer recites the confession of the tithes, pledging and promising that he's done everything correctly, he's distributed and allocated all the ma'aser, all the tithes, the way it was meant to, the way it was supposed to be. And that parsha ends with a pasuk, V'samachta bechol hatov, and now the farmer should feel glad, should feel happy, should be joyous for all the good they've received. ושמחת בכל הטוב אשר נתן לך ה' אלקיך, be grateful and be happy with all the good that God has given you. What is happiness? Happiness is not an emotion, happiness is a decision. We've said this so many times. People mistakenly think that happiness is an emotion, so they are pursuing happiness like this great America offers us and promises us the right to pursue happiness. When you think that happiness is an emotion, you have to pursue it, you have to chase it, you have to run after it because it is elusive, it's running away, you have to try to catch up to it. But when you realize that happiness is not an emotion, you don't stumble upon it, you don't have to pursue it or chase it, happiness is a decision. It is a decision. We choose to be happy. People think that they're happy then they smile, science shows that when you smile, when you use the micro-muscles in your face, you release endorphins and then you find that you are happy. Choose to smile, choose to see what's there, not what's missing, choose to see what you have, not what you want, choose to see what you could be grateful for, not what you're upset about. When we make that choice, when we make that decision, then we are happy. Vesamachta, how are you vesamachta? B'chol hatov. When you look around and you realize all the tov, all the good, there are always things. Our happiness, if happiness is defined by what we don't have, you'll never be happy because you could always want more, no matter where you are, no matter what you have, there is always more to want. So if happiness is determined or defined by what's missing, then you'll never ever be happy. But if happiness is determined, if happiness is defined by focusing on what you have, looking around, do you have your health, are you well, do you have your functions, do you have your faculties, do you have family, do you have a roof over your head, a car to drive, food to eat, do you have the bare minimums of life? Even though there are things that we of course might want, that we might crave, if happiness is determined or defined by what we have, then there is always something to be happy about. Vesamachta b'chol hatov. What's the source of that simcha? Vesamachta is b'chol hatov. When we see the tov, when we see the tov, then we can be happy. That's what it says, טעמו וראו כי טוב ה'. טעמו וראו כי טוב ה'. That מי האיש החפץ חיים אוהב ימים לראות טוב. Who is the ish hachafetz chayim? Who is the one who wants life? You want a good life, you want a happy life, you want a calm life, you want a serene life, you want a tranquil life, you want a meaningful life. Do you want a life of true connections with others? מי האיש החפץ חיים, who is the person who really craves life? Who wants to not only biologically, anatomically, physically be alive, but to spiritually and emotionally be living? מי האיש החפץ חיים אוהב ימים לראות טוב. So normally we punctuate as a question mark after, מי האיש החפץ חיים אוהב ימים לראות טוב? Who's the one who wants life, who wants to see good, question mark? The answer is נצור לשונך מרע ושפתיך מדבר מרמה. Don't gossip, don't slander, don't put a divide, don't create daylight between you and others. If you want a long life, if you want a happy life, then protect your power of speech. מי האיש החפץ חיים, that's how Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan of Radin became known as the Chafetz Chaim. He wrote a book about being careful with our speech, being careful with our language, and it's called Chafetz Chaim. And that's how we gave him the name. We gave him the name from his book. He's known as the Chafetz Chaim. Mishna Berura's written by the Chafetz Chaim. Shmiras Halashon is written by the Chafetz Chaim. But at Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan's bris, they did not declare ויקרא שמו בישראל חפץ חיים. That was not his name. He was given a name at his bris, Yisrael Meir. And Rav Yisrael Meir Kagan became the Chafetz Chaim because of his book. So most assume מי האיש החפץ חיים, who is the person who wants life? Netzor leshoncha mera, protect your mouth, don't slander, don't gossip, be vigilant, be mindful of how we speak. But others suggest that's not how to read the pasuk. It's מי האיש החפץ חיים, ohev yamim. Who is the person who wants life, who loves days? Then אוהב ימים לראות טוב. Look for the good. You want a long life, don't see what's missing, see what's there. Don't see what there is to complain about, see what there is to compliment. Don't see what you want, see what you have. Vesamachta, how do you find simcha, b'chol hatov, b'chol hatov. And at the end of the parsha, when they, when we encounter the tochacha, and God says, you know, if you don't listen, if you don't heed my warning, if you're not embracing the lifestyle, the reason that I created you and put you in this world, then you will suffer this horrific, horrific consequence called the tochacha. And we read it now before Rosh Hashanah because we want the year and its curses to end, so we can welcome and begin a new year, a year of blessings. So the Torah itself tells us why. What did we do wrong? What was so egregious, what was so heinous, what was so deserving of this harsh reality called the tochacha? And the Torah tells us, you know what it is? תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלהיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב. Because you didn't serve Hashem besimcha. You didn't serve Hashem besimcha. You walked around fabbisened and miserable and looking down. You were sad all the time. That's not why Hashem created us, that's not why He put us in this world, that's not why He showers us with all the good. So תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלהיך בשמחה, because you didn't serve Hashem with joy, simcha. Simcha is the solution. Smile and you'll be happy. Don't wait to be happy to smile. Simcha is not an emotion, simcha is a decision, and you can make it today. Make the decision to be happy. Besimcha u'vetuv levav, we didn't serve Hashem with simcha. U'vetuv levav, our heart didn't look for the good. You will make the decision to be happy when you identify and when you see the good in life. So do you want to be the negative, the complainer, the miserable, what's missing? Do you want to pursue happiness, but never get up to it, never catch up to it? Or do you want to make the decision to focus on what matters, to see what you have, to identify what to be grateful for, and therefore to make the decision to feel simcha? We spoke about this in the parsha class too, so I won't belabor it. But I saw a beautiful interpretation. תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלוהיך בשמחה. The word tachat means what's underneath it and what's underneath the fact that we didn't serve Hashem besimcha, what's driving it, what's underneath it is we don't have emuna. If you really felt the presence of Hashem, if we walked through life and we said, He's right by my side, He's in this room, He's looking over my shoulder, He's holding my hand, He's with me at every moment with whatever I have to confront, with whatever I have to overcome, He is here and He's in it with me. Tachat, the reason then you'd be besimcha. You'd be besimcha because you'd say I can face anything. Do you know who I have an in with? Do you know who I know? Do you know my connection? The King of Kings, the most powerful, the creator of the universe, why would I ever get bent out of shape, why would I ever get sad, why would I ever be anxious or worried? Do you know who I know, do you know who's got my back, do you know who I've glued and attached myself to? If one really lived their life that way and we walked through life that way, we'd always be happy. We'd have a skip in our step, we'd have a confidence that everything's for a reason. Even that which is painful and not pleasurable, we know it's not random or chance but it's by design, it is from above. So what is the driver of the tochacha? תחת אשר לא עבדת את ה' אלוהיך בשמחה ובטוב לבב. Tachat, it's what's underneath, it's the driver of the reason we don't have simcha. And what is underneath and what is the reason that we don't have simcha? Because we're not living life with emuna. We don't feel Hashem there. But going back to the beginning of the farmer, the farmer who distributes their tithes. Vesamachta bechol hatov. So Rav Nachman of Breslov says so beautifully, he says, ושמחת בכל הטוב היינו אף בעת שתשמח בכל הטוב אשר נתן לך ה' שתאסוף הפירות לתוך ביתך ותשמח בהם. When you're gathering your fruit, when you're cashing that paycheck, when you are shopping for those groceries, when you are bringing in that income, that is the time to express a feeling of simcha. That is the time to make the decision to be besimcha. כל זאת עיקר השמחה תהיה אצלך אשר נתן ה' אלוהיך. A beautiful insight. So we normally read this as vesamachta bechol hatov, be joyous, be happy with bechol hatov, all the good that you have. But read it, he says, the end of the pasuk, vesamachta bechol hatov, be happy because of all the good, and what is the good that is the reason you should be happy? אשר נתן לך ה' אלוהיך. That you were given God, that you have a relationship, that you have an invitation, that you have an opportunity to be connected with the creator of the universe. The fact that we can make contact with the divine, that we have a relationship with the infinite, that He cares about every one of us, He is aware of us and He cares about us and He's involved in our lives. That's the reason to be happy. Vesamachta bechol hatov, be overjoyed and be happy bechol hatov for all the good. And what is the ultimate good? אשר נתן לך ה' אלוהיך. That you were given Hashem Elokecha, that you were given a relationship with God. That is the greatest reason to be happy, the greatest reason for simcha. Last week we lost a very, very dear friend of our family, somebody who was family to us and to the whole BRS community, Mr. Martin Judovits, zichrono livracha, Mordechai ben Shlomo, whose shiva continues through today until tomorrow morning. He was a Holocaust survivor who lost his entire family, his parents, his siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins in Auschwitz and the other camps he was in. He had an illustrious dynasty, he came from the city of Dezh, of Dej. He was an einikel, he was a great-grandson of the Mareh Yechezkel, of Rav Yechezkel Paneth of Dezh, of the Rebbe, of the Rav of Dezh, an illustrious yichus, illustrious background. And as I said, he lost it all. So we in several Yom HaShoah programs that he participated, several panels, and we had the great zechus, the great privilege around our Seder table in the Haggadah when we got to Vehi She'amda, בכל דור ודור עמדו עלינו לכלותינו, we would turn to Mr. Judovits, tell us about your story. And he told us about deportation, and he told us about being a slave labor camp, and what it means to be a slave, what it means to go from slavery to redemption, slavery to freedom. So we've asked him several times and it appears in his magnificent memoir, which is absolutely a must-read for everybody, but how did he have faith in Hashem? He was so devoted, so dedicated, so singularly focused after the Holocaust. He had a whole proposal how to bring six million more Jews into the world. He was so committed to Jewish continuity and he built our shul, he built our community in Jewish causes. And he was asked, how did you feel connected to Hashem? How did you still have faith? How did you have faith after the torture you endured, after the servitude, after the persecution, after the oppression, after the murder of your family, after you experienced the worst atrocity in the history of humanity? How did you have faith? And listen to what he answered. He said, you know, they took my mother and my father, they took my brothers and my sister, they took my entire family and everything I had. I lost everyone, I lost everything, I lost my parents. The only one I still had is Hashem. The only one I still had is the Ribbono Shel Olam, they couldn't take Him. The only one I still had is Avinu Shebashamayim, my Father in Heaven. I lost my physical, my biological... biological parents. I should throw away my last parent, my father in heaven? Why would I hurt myself? Why would I punish myself? Why would I do that to myself? He was the last one I had left, I held on tighter than ever to him. What an unbelievable answer. It moved us then, it moves me every time I mention it and repeat it, l'iluy nishmaso in his memory. I mentioned, I forgot which shiur in another context, that at the end of his memoirs, at the end of his incredible, incredible book, he has a chapter called Emuna, and he says: How did I maintain faith after the Holocaust? And in the chapter he goes through and he lists every miracle he felt he personally experienced. As he led his life from his childhood in Dej, through being deported, through surviving Auschwitz and other camps, through returning to Dej, and coming then through Europe, ultimately to America, he lists each and every time he felt that God revealed His hand. Each and every miracle that he personally experienced. He said: How do I have faith? Look at these miracles. They're not coincidence, they're not chance, they didn't just happen, they were designed from above and therefore they reinforce my sense of emuna, and he says: After the Holocaust, I was blessed to live a long and a beautiful life, and to raise a beautiful family, for that I have faith and nothing but gratitude to God. And I thought, like on steroids, I always tell you about the Hashgacha Pratis WhatsApp group that we have in my family. All the Hashgacha Pratis, all the seeming coincidences that always work out. They're not random, they're from above. And that if we live our life every day, Rav Yaakov and Rav Moshe both encouraged us to keep a journal, to write down, to record each and every day when we felt Hashem in our life, and that will reinforce our awareness of him, our connection with him, our gratitude to him. So this was on steroids, to write a chapter in one's memoirs, in one's book, and to recall each and every miracle that God did is to express hakaras hatov, is to live really that incredible, incredible life of emuna. V'samachta bechol hatov. Martin, zichrono livracha, and so many other survivors, despite what they went through, and despite what they lost, v'samachta bechol hatov. They chose to be happy bechol hatov with all the good. They didn't look at who was missing and what was missing and the years that were missing and stolen and snatched from their life, but they look bechol hatov. How many survivors do we know, how many people who've undergone, who've encountered, who've endured horrific, horrific things and nevertheless remained, persevered, resilient and remained authentically true to a life of emuna because v'samachta, and they didn't wait for the emotion of happiness, they didn't pursue it or chase it, they made the decision to be happy, v'samachta bechol hatov. מי האיש החפץ חיים אוהב ימים לראות טוב. Choose to look at the good and when one looks at and identifies and focuses on the good and makes the decision, they can be happy. ושמחת בכל הטוב אשר נתן לך ה' אלוקיך. Martin and others, אשר נתן לך ה' אלוקיך. I was given an audience, I was given access, I was given a relationship with Hashem. Why would I throw that at? Why would I walk away? Why would I not lean in, embrace it, and take advantage of that opportunity, of that extraordinary bracha, of that incredible gift. Okay, so I wanted to share all that with you, and now we dive back into Be'yam Darechecha, Rabbi Itamar Morgenstern. It's been taking a long time, we've been taking our time through his definition of bittul. And he says the following: אמנם צריך להבין איך לעשות את זה בפועל. We have to understand how do you live a life of bittul. We talked about four levels, and what does it mean to nullify, what does it mean to submit and surrender our sense of self to the Almighty? How does one do that in practice? כי לכאורה ברגע שאדם יעסוק לפעול because ostensibly the moment a person does this in practice, זה יגרום לו לרדת ממדרגת הביטול להפסיד את ההרגשה המוחלטת שהכל זה רק ה' יתברך. The moment we kick into action, the moment we take the lead, the moment we take charge, the moment we take initiative, the moment we do. Why am I doing? I thought I'm nothing. I thought I'm nullified. I thought I've surrendered to God. Why am I making an effort, why am I taking initiative, why am I doing? ולהכניס את הרגשת עצמו כי הרי הוא צריך לעשות. So derech hashlama, the answer is: How do we reconcile? How do we reconcile submitting and surrendering to God and at the same time taking initiative and effort? שכאשר האדם נכנס לפועל, לפעול לא ייכנס במחשבה אני הפועל ועושה. Here's the message, here's the critical point. You ready? You listening? Listen carefully. The message is, the critical point is, lo yikanes bemachshava, don't let it allow, don't allow it to enter into your thoughts, ani hapo'el ve'oseh. I'm the one acting and I'm the one doing. Ela yargish, but one should feel, אני רק שליח של ה' יתברך בפועל. I am just the agent. I am just the ambassador. I am just the shliach. Vehu po'el derachai. He is the one driving me. He's the one giving me life, He's my life force. He's the one giving me energy, He's the one giving me creativity and vision. He's the one enabling my success. אני כלי לאור שלו. I'm just a vessel. I'm an instrument, He is the light, לגלותו בעולם הזה בגילוי. You know when the ambassador to a country goes to meet with the prime minister or president of another country. So the US has ambassadors all over the world, Israel's ambassadors all over the world. And when the ambassador is in the Oval Office, when the ambassador's at the palace, when the ambassador's in the capital, when the ambassador is meeting with the highest elected official of another land, on the one hand, the ambassador is an individual, a gavra, they are the ambassador. On the other hand, they are a representative. They are the agent, they are the ambassador of the person to whom they serve. And they're only allowed to relay the policy, the message, the communication of the individual who sent them. So the ambassador simultaneously feels: I live in the ambassador's residence, I have the ambassador's privileges, I am the ambassador, I have a certain identity, and yet at the same time simultaneously, the ambassador always feels: I'm a conduit, I'm an instrument, I'm an agent, I am a representative of another. And that is our mission here on earth. We are ambassadors of the Almighty, of the Ribbono Shel Olam. He's appointed us, He's designated us. You're the ambassador in your home, you're the ambassador in your community, you're the ambassador at work, you're the ambassadors to Jews, non-religious Jews, non-Jews who don't have contact with the Ribbono Shel Olam, who aren't aware of our Torah and its values. You are the ambassador. And that is the mentality, the attitude that the Izhbitzer says we're meant to have. So believing in God, bittul, submission and surrender to Him doesn't mean being passive. Doesn't mean being a spectator, doesn't mean being still. One should take initiative, one makes an effort, one cares, not as part of as an expression of our own identity, but rather in our position as His ambassador. דהיינו שיגש שאין לו מציאות כלל לעצמו. I have no existence on my own. You know, the ambassador realizes on the one hand, I'm an ambassador, I live in the ambassador residence, I have the ambassador driver, I have the ambassador bodyguard, I have the ambassador privileges. But they could be stripped of you at any moment, and then you lose it all, you lose your whole identity. אין לו מציאות כלל לעצמו. You think in that country you have any status because of you? Nothing, gornisht. You're the ambassador. וכל מה שיש לו מציאות וכח לפעול זה רק ככלי וצינור לגילוי אורו יתברך. Whatever the ambassador, whatever power, whatever privileges the ambassador has is only as a vessel, as an instrument, as a pipe to reveal the light of God. ואין זו מציאות שלו אלא גילוי מציאותו יתברך ולמשל. So therefore, therefore, ka'asher hu medaber, when we speak, ירגיש איך בעצם השכינה מדברת מתוך גרונו. When the ambassador speaks, the ambassador is meant to communicate, it's their voice, it's their choice of words, but the ambassador is meant to communicate as a שכינה מדברת מתוך גרונו. God is speaking through their mouth, through their voice. So when the ambassador goes to meet with the president of the other country, and the ambassador goes to meet with the prime minister, the foreign minister of the country, the ambassador needs to make sure they can't speak freely, they can't be liberal with their thoughts, and they can't communicate their own message. As an ambassador, they must transmit, they must communicate the message they were sent to say. And the same is true with us. When we speak, השכינה מדברת מתוך גרונו. We have to feel that God is speaking through our mouth. We are His instrument, we are His agent, we are His microphone. דהיינו יחוש שאני איני כלום, I'm nothing. אלא השם יתברך הוא בעל הכוחות. It's all God. וכביכול הוא מדבר דרכי, He is speaking through me. So therefore you're sitting down for an important meeting, you're going in to make a deal, whether it's in the professional world, whether it's in your religious world, whether it's in your community leadership, a person has to be able to say to themselves, what does God want me to say? I'm here representing Him. I'm His ambassador, I'm His agent. ובכל מעשה ירגיש שרוח השם יתברך שבקרבו. And with every act, with every deed, with every effort, with every initiative, the spirit of God is in me. Hu hapoel. He is the one who's driving me. Why am I awake? Why am I alive? Why do I have the power? Why do I have this idea? Why do I have this capacity or competency? It's only because of Him. I am His instrument. I am His ambassador. כאשר אדם הגיע למדריגה זו לראות בכל דבר בחינת אלוקי בקרבי, when we reach that level, when we reach that awareness, when we reach that mindfulness that God is in me, זו תכלית מדריגת הנברא. That is the essence, that is the goal, that is the pinnacle. That is bittul be'etzem. That is the highest level. So everything we're describing and we've been describing for the last weeks and months, it's not easy. It's a very high level, it's an ambition and aspiration, but we should have it in our mind's eye. We should aspire to it. And even if you can't do it consistently, once a week for an hour, one time when walking into a meeting, an effort, a place, once in a while to return to this mindset, to recognize and remember that maybe I exist, but my existence is only empowered as an agent, as an ambassador of God. Uvemadrega zu, and on this level, לא רק שאדם רואה שיש רק את מציאות השם יתברך. It's not just that we see that all there is in essence, all there is in truth is God. Ba'ofanim. Uv'madrega zu and on this level, לא רק שאדם רואה שיש רק את מציאות השם יתברך, it's not just that we see that all there is in essence, all there is in truth is God, באופן שכל העולם נמס ובטל כלא קיים שזו מדרגת ביטול במציאות, not just that we all exist only in God's imagination, it's a matrix, it's an illusion that really God controls the whole world. He's manipulating and maneuvering and the entire world is an illusion and we are in it. But rather, אף על פי כן אינה סתירה לאמת המוחלטת של מציאות השם יתברך. So there is no contradiction, there is no contradiction between His being in charge but also our being His representative who's meant to work hard here on earth. We have to do them both. We have to do them both. God is all over, God is everywhere, and God is in nature, and God is in events that unfold, God is in history, and God is in us. He is in us, we are His agents, we are His representatives. So the sikum, this is the conclusion. And then we move on to darkei kinyan habitul. What is the way that we can acquire this? Some strategy that he gives us, some practical strategy. And here is the—we said there are four definitions. הכרה בסיסית במציאות השם, קבלת עול מלכות שמיים to realize I work for God, God doesn't work for me. Number two, which is a higher level, that bederech hachayim to realize that it's not just in theory, but it's in practice, to feel a love and feel a sense of awe and feel a presence of Hashem all around us. Number three, that God is the source of everything I submit to Him, that He is the priority, He's everything in this world. And number four, in His presence, it's as if I don't even exist, I am an utter and a total, I am a total nothing. And that is what we're striving for, what we're trying to achieve is to live at that level. Like Yaakov בא משורש נכון מהכרה שהשם יתברך הוא הכל. God is everything. He is the source of everything, He's in charge of everything, He's in control of everything. Vechol t'filah uma'aseh and therefore every prayer and every effort comes from that recognition, that beinei Elokim ve'adam, haholech bederech zu מרגיש בבירור ויודע שזה מה שהשם יתברך באמת רוצה. That's what God wants. He wants that mindfulness, He wants that awareness, He wants that effort, that when we go through life, what does He want me to do in this moment, to always ask ourselves, what will give nachas to Hashem? What does He want me to say? What does He want me to decide? Where does He want me to go? What does He want me to do in this moment? He should be at that conference table. He should be in that parent-teacher conference. He should be at the decision-making conversation, that God is the principal partner, He is the principal participant, and that we need to have the mindfulness to remember that all the time. Wishing you vesamachta bechol hatov. May we not only feel the emotion, but because we've made the decision to be happy bechol hatov with all the good, well we have only good in our life, and only feel good and see good, and that gold, that good, and gold, may yield a sense of simcha, of feeling happy, of feeling grateful for all the bracha in our lives. Tonight, 9:00 PM, we're going Behind the Bima with Rav Moshe Weinberger. You talk about living with emunah, someone who inspires so much of the language I use and inspires my whole shift and mindset to this way of being and way of thinking. Rav Moshe Weinberger, mori verabbi, Rav Moshe Weinberger tonight on Behind the Bima 9:00 PM. You will not want to miss that conversation. If you're on fire, it will fan your fire. If you're not on fire and you're waiting to be lit on fire, you will be lit on fire. 9:00 PM tonight, come Behind the Bima with us with Rav Moshe Weinberger. Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy.
