Transcript
Good morning, Boker Tov, welcome back to Living with Emuna. Welcome to our new location. We could spread out a little bit more, a little bit more comfortable. I want to thank our generous sponsors for our Amuna Shiur series for the year, Dr. Zavi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut, zichrono livracha, and in memory of Bella's mother Dr. Ellen Chanzer. Huge thank you to our friends the Morgans, deeply appreciate their sponsorship. This morning's shiur is also sponsored by לייזר מרדכי בן יצחק הלוי, Eli Green in memory of his mother Bela bas Shmuel, the shloshim is observed today, neshama should have an aliya, and as well sponsored for a refuah shlema for חיה רחל בת שושנה צרנה, who's undergoing a procedure this morning. We daven it goes smooth and that she have a speedy and complete and painless refuah shlema and recovery. Okay, we are continuing learning our insights from Rav Wolbe on Emuna. We're learning this new sefer, Ha'aros, a collection of insights from Rav Wolbe. I hope nobody got lost and went to the wrong place since we moved locations this morning, but it's great to be back together. If you're not back together, if you're watching online and you live locally and you feel safe and comfortable joining, please join for the granola bars, the water, and the coffee, not in that order. I can't imagine a better way to start your day, so you don't want to miss it. Okay, we are on page peh hey, page 85. We are up to os tes, letter number nine in Rav Wolbe's insights here on Emuna and deveikus. We've been talking about educating our children and educating ourselves, living with Hashem not only as a theory, not abstract, not conceptual, but in practice. That our daily living, that when we begin to panic or fear, we remind ourselves that there is a plan. When we begin to get envious or jealous, we remember what we have, what is meant for us. When we begin to get arrogant and inflated ego, we remember we are not in fact in charge, we are not in control. That Emuna and bitachon are the answer. If we want to remain healthy mentally, spiritually, physically, if we want to not panic and fear, if we want to remember there is always a master plan. I was texting yesterday with someone who's going through a hard time, asking him how he's doing, a major change in his life. And he said, ups and downs, enormously stressful, very anxious and concerned. In the end of the day, it's all about Emuna and trusting Hashem has a plan. And I said exactly, Hashem absolutely has a plan and the best is yet to come. And we take our initiative, we make our decisions, we do what we think is best, we do all that we can, and when we are done, we submit and surrender. We let go and we let God. And all these are great bumper stickers and clichés and would make great mottos and logos for coffee cups, they also happen to be the truth. They also happen to be the secret and the formula for healthy living, for healthy living. You can walk around all wound up, feeling you're in charge, you're in control, blaming yourself or taking pride and taking credit. You can walk around anxious and panic and fear of what will be. One of my favorite quotes, I've said it to you a million times, Mark Twain, what is it? My life has been filled with troubles, many which never happened, something like that. My life has been filled with many worries, most of which never happened. That's true for so many of us. We spend our days and our nights worrying about things that don't happen or that our worry certainly does not contribute positively to avoid. So all that we do is forfeit our happiness and forfeit our health and forfeit our serenity and forfeit our peace of mind because we're walking around in that state of fear and in that state of panic. So Emuna, bitachon are the answer, which is why you come back every week, even though we say the very same thing. It's an amazing thing. Every Wednesday we say the same thing basically. I say the same thing to myself every Wednesday and it must be the Dunkin' Donuts coffee that brings you back to listen and eavesdrop and hear it again and again. So we're up to os tes. בעולם קיימים תענוגים רבים. The world is filled with tremendous pleasure. There are great pleasures in the world. There are great delicacies and delights. There are great experiences and excursions. There are great physical pleasures that we are capable of experiencing: food and drink and aroma and scents. There are physical pleasures and intimacy. There's all kinds of pleasures we can experience. Lidugma, says Rav Wolbe, for example, ma'achalim tovim, good food. I'm a foodie, I love good food. I love the texture, I love the smell, I love to try, I love the flavors. I love food. Some people, they could care less about food, they have to be reminded to eat. If they wouldn't be reminded to eat, they'd have to set an alarm on their phone to eat. Some people. I don't relate to them whatsoever, we live on two different planets. But there are people who have to set a reminder on their phone to eat. Eating is a nuisance, eating is annoying, eating takes time, and they have to remind themselves to eat. I set an alarm to remind myself to stop eating. You're good, it's late at night, don't eat, intermittent fasting. So you're either setting the alarm to remember to eat or you're setting the alarm to remember to stop eating. There're ma'achalim tovim, there are delicious foods. Tiyulim ושאר כל מיני תענוגות. There are tiyulim, who doesn't want to see God's... beautiful world? God see Hashem's incredible landscape, see this amazing, amazing backdrop that Hashem has created, the ambiance of the world that Hashem has created again. You don't notice it if you're walking and going like this. You walk right by that sneh. Moshe walked and he said wow, there's something phenomenal happening. There's a bush, it's on fire, it's not being consumed, there's something extraordinary. How come nobody else noticed it? Only Moshe stopped to say wow, what is this? I've got to look a little bit further, a little bit closer, because everybody else was texting. Everybody else was walking by, looking down, texting, watching, listening, scrolling, the election last night, earthquake happened in politics, got to check it all out in real time. Everybody else was looking at their device, Moshe Rabbeinu who's conscientious and conscious, Moshe Rabbeinu who's mindful and present, he stops and he sees and he says wow, what's going on, what is this? I've got to check it out. So there's a beautiful world. So there's food, and there's drink, and there's scents, and there are aromas, and there are perfumes, and there's nature, and there's backdrop. HaTa'anug HaAmiti but what is the greatest pleasure that we're capable of? This is a true observation. This is an axiological truth, which is a fancy way of saying that this is not subjective and this is not one person's opinion and that this doesn't change depending on when you live or where you live or how you live. There is an axiological truth, an existential truth about all humanity, which is that the greatest high that we can get is not from alcohol, and it's not from drugs, and it's not from fleeting temporary temporal pleasures, which at the moment feel phenomenal, taste phenomenal, are phenomenal, but are gone as quickly as we consumed or enjoyed them, and the craving just returns even stronger. HaTa'anug HaAmiti, the greatest pleasure and the highest high that mankind is capable of, הוא להתענג על השם ולהינות מזיו שכינתו. He's quoting here from the Ramchal רב משה חיים לוצאטו. The Ramchal's Mesillat Yesharim says, we referenced this when we began this last week, Lord, get me high, get me high, get me high, in the words of Reb Shlomo Carlebach. The highest high we can get is getting high on Hashem, it's getting high on Hashem. When you've walked out of a Ne'ilah where your neshama was on fire, someone tapped or touched into your soul in a very deep way. There were words that transformed you, and your eyes were welled with tears, and there were goosebumps on your skin, and your neshama your soul was on fire, and you had a dream and a vision of who you could be and how you could live life, that you tasted the greatest pleasure which is to be in the presence to bask in the light and the glory of the Almighty where everything came together and made sense for a moment. That is the greatest high. That is the greatest high. That pleasure. Perhaps it's at scenery of nature. Perhaps it's at the birth, the miraculous birth of a child. Perhaps it's at a major milestone in life. Perhaps when you felt desperate and all help was lost and all of a sudden a miracle occurred and there was salvation and breakthrough for you. Whatever the circumstance, that high, that joy, that satisfaction, that fulfillment, that feeling I'm connected to something bigger and greater than myself, there's order and meaning and purpose to the universe. I'm not a victim of randomness and chance. That is the greatest high. Lehit'aneg al Hashem, to get high on God. This is not we mentioned this last week, began to mention it. This is not what too many of us are taught in our education in our background in our experience growing up. We're taught that religion is about submission, religion is about sacrifice, religion is about compromise. You have to give up and you have to sacrifice and you're going to be miserable. All your friends, all the other kids, all the other adults, all the other people who live in the fancy country clubs could eat at the shmorg unlimited whatever they want. They could eat in any restaurant they want. They could go on Saturday wherever they want. They could experience and dress and do and be whatever they want. But you, you're a yid, you're born a Jew. So you have to sacrifice. You can't dress how you want, you can't eat where you want, you can't go where you want, you can't do what you want. You got to sacrifice. שווער צו זיין א איד. It's not easy, it's challenging, it's difficult, it takes sacrifice. That's what too many were taught and that's where too much of the emphasis was. But it's inaccurate. There are truths to it, 100%. There are going to be points in our life and in our day where what we want is incompatible with what Hashem wants for us. Our view of the world doesn't align with Hashem's view of the world. Our attitude or our approach or our desire or our temptation is not exactly the same as what Hashem thinks that we should have. And in those moments absolutely, sacrifice, submission, surrender, he, we work for him, he doesn't work for us, absolutely. But that's not the sum total of Yiddishkeit. That is not the energy or the atmosphere, the attitude that we should be projecting about Yiddishkeit. The attitude about Yiddishkeit is not שווער צו זיין א איד, not that it's difficult to be a Jew, not that you have to give up and you have to sacrifice and it's miserable and you walk around farbissener and angry and resentful and bitter, but what can you do, you have to do it, you're a Jew. It's the opposite. and every day they're less and less happy. The more autonomy and the more personal choice and the more personal freedom, the less happy the world is, and the more they're numbing themselves by using all kinds of substances. If you're miserable in your own skin, then you need to escape your own skin, and how you escape your own skin to numb yourself from your misery of daily living: drugs, alcohol, gambling, and the list goes on and on, overeating, and the list goes on and on. People who are emotionally escaping the misery of their life by numbing themselves through an escape through some type of compulsive behavior. But if you love your life and you're comfortable in your own skin and you find the ability to find happiness and pleasure, now that doesn't mean that life is hunky-dory. That doesn't mean that you find happiness and pleasure and you're comfortable in your own skin because nothing ever goes wrong: your children all behave exactly the way you want, and your spouse always does exactly what you want, and your boss and your employees do exactly what they want, and the red light and the airplane schedule and life always reacts and responds and is exactly the way... There's not a person alive who doesn't run into challenges within the first four minutes of waking up. You open your eyes and you're already, the phone, your toothpaste cap, the child woke you too early, who doesn't wake up and already they're greeted by the day with, you know, it's still dark outside, I can't adjust, I'm exhausted, my body feels it's the middle of the night, why does my alarm clock say I'm supposed to be waking up? We're all desperate to change the clock. So we wake up already in a miserable mood because it feels like we're waking up at 3:00 in the morning. You could be waking up at 7:30 a.m. right now and if you look outside, it feels like it's 3:00 in the morning. Pitch black. So, what's going on? I'm miserable, I'm angry, I'm resentful, I'm exhausted, I'm tired, I feel like I got hit by a truck. What a way to greet the day, what a way to start the day, what a way to start the day. So, who doesn't have a difficult day? But if so, if you already wake up that way, then you don't have a drink, you don't drink a cup of coffee to start your day, what do you drink a cup of? Irish coffee. What's Irish coffee? Irish coffee is you slip a little something extra. I don't mean hazelnut flavoring that turns your coffee into a milkshake, I mean you slip a little mixed drink, you have an Irish coffee to start your day because if you already wake up miserable, angry, resentful, bitter, victim, then you're going to have to numb yourself even before you get out of bed and start your day. But if you wake up and you say, okay, it feels like it's 3:00 in the morning, my kids are out there, nobody's getting dressed, nobody's listening, we're late, the person for carpool's running late, everything's wrong, everything's miserable, I live with emuna bitachon, what a day! I'm alive! I'm alive and my children are alive and this is all part of the master plan and I'm so grateful it's going to be the greatest day and I, all I have to put in my coffee is a little dose of Hashem. I don't have to slip anything Irish, nothing against the Irish, I don't have to put anything Irish in there. Every shiur I give I get an email afterwards of what I said wrong. I love the Irish, the Irish are wonderful, they're amazing. Nothing against the Irish. But I don't have to put anything Irish in my coffee, a daily dose of Hashem, I could be on fire with Hashem. I wake up and a moment of mindfulness. By the way, what do we do in order to align that? So at first I woke up, I opened my eyes and I looked out the window and it felt like it's 3:00 in the morning, so I looked again at my phone and it said, halevai my phone said 7:30 when I wake up, but it said 7:30. So I'm miserable, it's pitch black out. But then I say words on my lips to start my day that are designed to already get my day started with an attitude of gratitude from the very beginning. So I was poised, I was all prepared, I was all positioned to be resentful, bitter, miserable, to get out of bed furbissener, my kids wake up and it feels like it's 3:00 in the morning, and to my husband, why did you wake me when you woke up two hours ago and if... and I don't get enough sleep... and then I say מודה אני לפניך מלך חי וקיים שהחזרת בי נשמתי בחמלה. You gave me back my soul? How many people die in their sleep? How many people wake up to horrific news? שהחזרת בי נשמתי בחמלה. Everyone gets that wrong. It's not שהחזרת בי נשמתי בחמלה רבה אמונתך. That's the wrong punctuation of Modeh Ani. If you've been singing it that way your entire life, try to erase it and start from scratch. It is the wrong punctuation. Modeh ani lefanecha, grateful am I, we don't begin the day by saying ani. Even though grammatically it should be ani modeh, we don't begin the day with the word I. It's not about me. We don't live in selfie world. Modeh ani lefanecha, grateful I am to you, shehechezarta bi nishmati. It feels like it's 3:00 in the morning, my kids are all out there misbehaving, carpool just texted me they're running late, the dog ate the homework, the husband is miserable, everything's wrong, shehechezarta bi nishmati. But it's a new day, it's a fresh start, I have a soul, I have health, I have a roof, I have kids to be angry at, I have a life. It's a new day, it's a fresh beginning, it's a new start. It's pregnant with possibility and with meaning and with opportunity and with hope and with optimism and no matter how it began and no matter how it got started, שהחזרת בי נשמתי בחמלה, b'chemla with kindness, with goodness, with graciousness, wow rabba emunasecha, your faith in me is great. It's great. So our rabbis designed and they said, before your feet hit the ground and you can start your first complaint, we're going to give you a script. And the first words you're going to say before you could say the complaint that you want to say, before you could say, oh I'm exhausted, what time is it, I feel like I was hit by a truck, miserable kids get ready, before you could say anything else, talking about my neighbor right now, none of this happens in my house. No offense to the neighbors, before you could say any of those words, chazal put words in our mouth. They put the words in our mouth, modeh ani lefanecha. Psh, I'm so grateful. Before I could say what I'm miserable about, I have to say what I'm grateful about. So now I've reoriented, I've reoutlined, I've recalibrated my day. Again the challenge is that most of us say modeh ani under our lips as we stumble out of bed, mindlessly saying it, not paying attention to one word. If you asked me 20 minutes later did you say it, I have no clue, I have no idea, probably I did, I've been saying it since I'm a little boy, but were we present, were we mindful, were we paying attention, do we remember? So pause. How long does it take? In your bed, modeh ani lefanecha. I once read a study scientifically, medically, you're not supposed to open your eyes and jump out of bed, it's not healthy. I've mastered this, I'm very good at taking care of my health and not jumping out of bed. I have seven snooze, it takes me like alarm clocks all over, multiple snooze, a whole system to get me out of bed so I am not at risk of jumping out of bed and the dangers that it poses, baruch Hashem, that's one area that I am safe, nothing bad will ever happen. But I forgot exactly how many seconds it said you're supposed to take before you get out of bed and it was the exact same amount of time that it takes on average to say modeh ani lefanecha. Our sacred Torah is timeless. Its wisdom, its brilliance is just beyond measure. So it puts the script in our mouth to say modeh ani. It keeps us in bed that extra millisecond until from when we woke up it's safe to get out of bed and we begin with the attitude of gratitude even though we're ready to be miserable and we have all the reasons in the world to complain. Even though we have all the reasons to complain. So yiddishkeit is not שווער צו זיין א איד, it's not about why it's miserable to be a Jew. We wake up and we say modeh ani, ah it's geshmak to be a yid. Kinderlach, you misbehave and you're not getting ready, you're in bed, you're fighting with each other, you're splattering cereal on one another, but I love you and isn't it geshmak to be alive? Isn't it great to be a Jew? Did you say a bracha on the cereal? How great it is to be alive, how great it is to have cereal, how great it is to make a mess, how great it is to have to have carpool, how great it is to have to drive you to school. How many people would give their left arm to have children to drive them to school, to afford Yeshiva tuition, to have kids screaming at each other? It's the best noise in the world. I was recently at a bris of someone who waited seven years to have their first child and the baby was screaming during the bris and I saw the father cringing at the cries of the baby and I said to him, that is the best sound in the world. Not the pain of your child, chas v'shalom, of course nobody, the pain of your child is very painful, but that your home right now is filled with the scream of a baby, psh, that's the best sound that you could have because seven years there was silence, seven years there was quiet. So so when those kids are fighting, oh it's geshmak! Modeh ani! I'm so grateful! I'm so thankful! I'm going to get high on you, Hashem, because I'm going to see you everywhere. You're in the cereal fight and you're in the late to carpool and you're in the kids not listening and you're in the miserable boss and you're in the traffic and you're in the fact that I can't believe it the laundry wasn't done when I went to the drawer and I thought I was going to have the dry cleaner you're in all my problems you're in all my good things you're everywhere because you keep me calm and serene and you remind me what matters and you remind me what my priorities are and you remind me that whatever is is meant to be. I wasn't meant to have clean clothing today. I wasn't meant to have my shirts. I wasn't meant to have children who cooperate and are calm. This is what was meant for me and for that I'm grateful too. So there are all kinds of pleasures in this world. There's the pleasures of food and drink and the pleasures of the flesh and the pleasures of scenery and atmosphere, the pleasures of nature. But the greatest pleasure, the highest pleasure, the highest high we can have is not that which makes us escape, not that which makes us numb, not that which makes us live outside ourselves. התענוג האמיתי להתענג על השם ולהנות מזיו שכינתו. To get high on God, to get high on Hashem. וזה התענוג האמיתי ניתן להשיג רק כאשר נכיר שכל מה שיש לו מאיתו יתברך. But you can only get high on God when you realize God is everywhere and you realize all that you have is from God, including the challenges and the pain. Banu modim lo. and what meant to be and what's meant to be and I will grow from it. I will be better as a result of it. I will come out stronger on the other side. I will emerge the person I was meant to be. So even though I'm miserable about parts of it, I'm grateful for what I have. Did we mention this last week? That last week Chayei Sarah we marked the death of Sarah Imeinu, our great matriarch, and we described she lived 100 years, 20 years, and 7 years, a very efficient way of giving her years. And Rashi says kullen shavin l'tova, that they were all equal for good. השם ברך את אברהם בכל. Right after Hashem makes Sarah drop dead, God blessed Avraham with everything. So commentators ask separately but on both of these places. ברוך אתה ה' אלוהינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו. Amen. Commentators ask on both: What are you talking about? Kullen shavin l'tov, did we say this last week? Sarah Imeinu, all her years were for good. None of you remember, a week later I can say the same thing, so I'm going to say it anyway. All of her years, 127 blissful, beautiful, magnificent, equally pleasurable, equally happy years. What are you talking about? She was barren and infertile, she was in pain and suffering, she struggled and kullen shavin l'tova. Hashem, You just made Sarah, Avraham's other half, better half, die, but Hashem blessed Avraham with everything. What are you talking about? You just took his everything and a moment after you take his everything you say Hashem blessed you with everything? What are you talking about? The Torah sounds so callous, it sounds so cruel in describing in this way. Ela mah, what's the answer? The answer is, the answer is that a person goes through nine months of pregnancy and the pregnancy is characterized, we spoke about in the parsha shiur yesterday because of Rivka struggles in her pregnancy, and the pregnancy has pain, it has nausea and the pain in my rib cage and I feel a little bit pressing over here and my back doesn't work and I have blood clots over there and I'm struggling over there and nine months you're in pain. And then in labor, and labor, which I have not experienced but I understand it is not pleasurable, but labor, unbearable pain, unbearable contractions, unbearable pushing, being torn apart literally, and then the baby comes out and you hold the baby in your arms and you say those nine months were unbelievable, they were fantastic, everything was amazing and this labor was amazing. And you say what are you talking about? During labor you curse your husband out and you swear you'll never have another child for the rest of your life. That's not a joke, that's what the Torah says. A woman has to bring a korban after she gives birth to annul all the promises and the vows and the cursing out that she did throughout her labor process, throughout her labor process. The Torah already says that that pain is so great it'll make you react and act in a way that you'll regret a moment later, so we build in the system how we can fix whatever you broke when you were in all that pain. But when you hold the baby in your arms, when you go to the nursery, when you bring that baby home, you say those nine months were unbelievable, it was amazing, the labor was fantastic. Why? Because at the end when you hold that baby it was all worth it. And the ups and the downs and the pain and the discomfort, it was all worth it because in the end it yielded the baby. So kullen shavin l'tova they say for Sarah Imeinu, she lived her life backwards and she said kullen shavin l'tova. So the whole life was worth it because in the end of the day she had an Avraham, in the end of the day she left a Yitzchak, in the end of the day whatever she had or didn't have, even that which she didn't have, it was from Hashem, it was all part of a master plan and therefore it was all for her best. Kullen shavin l'tova, it was all for her best. Chassid once came to the Maggid of Mezeritch, Reb Dov Ber, and said I don't understand, the Gemara says כשם שמברכין על הטוב כך מברכין על הרע. The same way you bless the positive you're supposed to bless for the negative. So if you win the lottery and you say thank You God, thank God I won the lottery, the lottery of life, you get married, you have a child, lottery of life, or the lottery literally, you won the lottery, I'm still trying to track down whoever won those two tickets in Boca, Camino Real, won the lottery, wow thank You God I won the lottery. Keshem, the same way with the same fervor, with the same enthusiasm, with the same genuine passion that you say thank you when everything goes right, you say thank you when everything goes wrong. Chalila, a person loses a loved one, they make a bracha. When you win the lottery you say hatov vehametiv and when you lose a loved one you say what bracha? Dayan ha'emes. God, You're the judge of truth. And you're supposed to say the bracha with the same kavana in both directions. So if you win the lottery you say hatov vehametiv, I won the lottery, thank You God. And if you lose your life savings, if the market crashes, if fraud, someone stole all your money, if you invested in a Ponzi scheme and you find you have nothing, thank You Hashem, Dayan ha'emes, it's all from You Hashem. So this chassid came to the Rebbe, Dov Ber, Maggid of Mezeritch, and said I don't understand, how is that possible? How can you see that it's all from Not only the good but even the bad? How can a person live that life with that level of mindfulness, of presence? How can it be? So he said, I want you to go to my talmid, the Rebbe Reb Zusha of Anipoli. Go to Reb Zusha. And ask Reb Zusha this question and he's going to give you the answer. So the Chasid makes his journey all the way to Anipoli and he goes to the Rebbe Reb Zusha. And he lives with the Rebbe Reb Zusha for a day, and it doesn't take long, it doesn't take an hour, for him to see that the Rebbe Reb Zusha lives in poverty, that he has nothing, that he is sick, he's living with illness, and everyone in his family and everyone around him is struggling in suffering, he's living in poverty and misery, he has none of the pleasures of this world, all he has is pain and suffering, anxiety, everything is miserable. And he finally, at the end of a day of living with the Rebbe Reb Zusha and of observing and of watching and of witnessing all the challenges and all the misery and everything going on in his life, he turns to the Rebbe Reb Zusha and he says, can I ask you a question? The Rebbe Reb Zusha says, sure, with a smile on his face and the joy in his heart, sure, ask me whatever you want to ask me. So he says, I went to the Maggid of Mezeritch and I wanted to know, I was bothered, I didn't understand. How could it be that the Gemara expects of us that we're supposed to make a bracha with the same fervor, the same enthusiasm, same joy, the same excitement when things go wrong as when they go right? How are we supposed to feel happiness even when everything is missing, even when everything's wrong the way everything is right? And Reb Zusha said, okay. So he said, I went to the Maggid and the Maggid said I should come to you and to ask you. So Rebbe Reb Zusha looked at him and he said, I don't know why he sent you to me, everything in my life is right. Everything in my life is good. Everything in my life is happy. I wish I could help you. I don't know how to answer. I've never had to make that bracha because everything in my life is wonderful. So he understood. He understood. That for the Rebbe Reb Zusha, he was living with that level. I'm not saying it's for everyone, I'm not saying it's easy to attain. Don't feel guilt, don't feel shame if you have a hard day. Don't feel guilt, don't feel shame if you're going through a difficult circumstance and it feels like it's a difficult circumstance. Don't feel bad. I'm not trying to impose on all of us, us, that we need to rise to the level of the Rebbe Reb Zusha. But it's possible. It's possible to live a life in that way, to see Hashem and to feel Hashem everywhere. When you get high on God, you can take care, you can do anything. So how many people go through painful loss? How many people go through difficult time and they get high on substances? Because the only way to get through, the only way to endure, the only way they can have the resiliency to come out the other end is to drink, is to do drugs, is to get high. So what the Ramchal is telling us is that there's an alternative high you can get. It's a much healthier high. It's a much more genuine high. Those are counterfeit. It's a much more lasting high. Those are temporary. And that is to get high on God. Don't turn to the substances, don't turn to the distractions, don't turn to the numbing agents. Turn to God. Because if you turn to God and if we submit and surrender to Hashem and if we allow Hashem into our life and if we talk to him, to feel his presence, and to feel his support to hold us up, then we don't need to turn to anything else. He, he is what we can get high on. עניין זה עצמו הקריבות לה' יתברך, אכן בתוך חובות הלבבות בונה את כל שאר עבודת האלוקים, חובות הכרת הטוב כלפי הקדוש ברוך הוא. רבנו בחיי אבן פקודה, the great Spanish commentator of the medieval times. The Chovot HaLevavot has a whole chapter called Sha'ar HaBitachon. He has a whole Sha'ar Avodat HaElokim. He has a whole gate, he has a whole chapter on the service of Hashem and he builds the entire life of a service of Hashem begins with gratitude. Gratitude, an attitude of gratitude. How did the Rebbe Reb Zusha feel that nothing was wrong in his life? Because he didn't look at what was missing, he looked at what he had. He didn't look at what he wanted, he looked at what he got. How often do we daven our hearts out for things and then we get them but we never pause or stop to say thank you? We just go on to daven for the next thing. For the next thing. We're always thinking about what's the next thing. Hashem, make this person better. Hashem, help me with this child. Hashem, make me breakthrough in this area. Hashem, provide this for me. Hashem, make that work out. Do you ever stop and realize that my life today was Hashem saying yes to what I asked for yesterday? Do we ever stop and say my life today was Hashem saying yes for what I asked for yesterday? Do we pause to say the gratitude? So I'll tell you personally, a lot of my davening, a lot of my day is not only davening for the many members of our community and beyond who need tefillos like you can imagine, but like you can't imagine. The pain, the suffering, the challenges that people are going through. So we daven for them, they should have a refuah sheleimah, they should get good news back on that test, the divorce should go smoothly, the marriage should be fixed and repaired, the child should give them nachas. There are so many people living with such hopelessness. They feel stuck in situations where they can't imagine they can become better. They're in such pain, such unbearable pain. So we daven for them. Of course, that's a top level of davening. First of all, everything else daven for will be put in a different context if you think about the people who need the davening for the things. That really feel that really feel painful. So we daven for that and then just below that, we can daven for ourselves. So very often I daven, I have a big shiur, I have a big article I have to write, I have a big public—so Hashem, help the right words come out, help me marbe b'kvod shamayim, help it all go smoothly and well, help me not have to run out to the bathroom. Now after this past Shabbos I have a new thing to daven for. Help me not lose my voice. I don't know how many of you were here on Shabbos morning, in the middle of my drasha, Hashem decided about five minutes into the drasha, enough Goldberg, you talked enough. He pressed mute, you know Zoom, Zoom shiurim you can mute people? Hashem said Goldberg, mute, enough, you talked enough, all of a sudden I had no voice. But I'm a little bit competitive so I said Hashem, I'm going to fight you on this one, and not for me, there were two bar mitzvah boys, twins, beautiful boys, they deserved their moment in the in the spotlight. So we fought through. So now you have to add another davening. Hashem, I have a big talk to give, I have a big platform, please help me not lose my voice, please help me find the right words. So I realized after years of doing that, how often each day I'm asking okay, what shiur am I giving today, what responsibilities do I have today, Hashem help me succeed with them. Did I ever say thank you that last night it went well? So yesterday I poured out my heart to Hashem and I said I have some big opportunity, I'm speaking in some big venue, and Hashem help me find the right words, help it flow smoothly, help it come out well, help please take nachas, have pride in how I do. I poured out my heart passionately and and authentically. But the next day did I ever say thank you it went well? Thank you I got great feedback, thank you Hashem for letting me be your mouthpiece. That's true for me but it's true for every one of us in whatever area with Hashem. Hashem please help me I just took lab tests and while it still wouldn't be an open miracle, let it come out well, Hashem please please please I say the whole sefer tehillim and I make 40 challahs and I tie red ribbons about anything that moves and I do everything in the world, Hashem please please please please please. And then we get the lab results and it says you're all clear. Ah, all clear, amazing, we go back with—were you equally did you spend the time and the energy and equally invested in being grateful? In being grateful? So the Chovos HaLevavos says that you know the foundation of all of this is an attitude of gratitude, the modeh ani that we spoke about that we begin our day with. Just stop every day and say what am I grateful for? You know you can download like 4000 apps that are gratitude journals, journal, journal gratitude. Not the same things every day, I'm happy I'm alive, I have a roof over my head and a car to drive and I have a family, thank you Hashem. Not, it's gotta be different, it's gotta be real. Thank you Hashem today I swerved, I almost killed someone else or myself, it's a miracle I'm alive. Thank you Hashem today I almost lost my cool at dinner but I kept my calm and my family had such a different feeling because of it and thank you Hashem. A real, a real differentiated moment of the day or things that I'm grateful for today. I'm grateful for today. I'm grateful the Wi-Fi didn't break down and I was able to stream the shiur and it all went smoothly. I'm thankful my voice didn't disappear or I'm grateful my voice came back and I was able to finish the drasha. Other people are like Hashem why'd you make his voice couldn't he have just sat down? Everyone's gotta have a different you know what you're grateful for what you complain about depending on which side of the table that you're on. But Chovos HaLevavos begins avodas elokim, the service of Hashem begins with gratitude. If you're not gratitude you're not—if you're not grateful you're not humble. Arrogant people are never grateful. Gratitude and humility go together. הדרך להגיע לתענוג אמיתי להיות מכיר טוב להקדוש ברוך הוא שברא אותנו. You want to get high on God, being high on God begins with an attitude of gratitude. Grateful, grateful. If you want to submit to the higher power and you want to feel his presence in life and you want to be able to get high on him so you don't need to get high on anything else, you know someone I read a lot about recovery and addiction, not because I'm an expert by any measure or stretch I don't have any education in it, because I've met a lot of people struggling and I care about them and I think it's an area we all need to be more sensitive to. So when I do someone said to me recently you know you always talk about alcohol and drugs and gambling and and pornography and all kinds of—said but you never speak about overeating. And do you know there's an overeating anonymous? There is also OA, Overeaters Anonymous. So someone said that to me and told me he lost 100 pounds, he was up and down his entire life and he's only healthy now and kept that weight off because of Overeaters Anonymous. OA, Overeaters Anonymous, which is complicated because it's one of the addictions where you can't go cold turkey and you don't stop altogether, you need to eat to live, so just how do you do it in a healthier in a healthier way. So you know if please God we don't relate to numbing ourselves with drugs or alcohol or gambling. Maybe we don't relate to numbing ourselves or escape with that but how many of us are emotionally numbing ourselves with food? When late at night we turn to that food or when we keep eating food or we're using that food as an escape or an emotional crutch. So that too we can replace that high that food is giving with getting high on Hashem, ועל ידי זה יחד עם כל המצוות we are overtime ניתן להגיע למעלת להתענג על השם. So if we get high on God and we replace that which we're being numbed with with mitzvos and with Torah and with those feelings that are authentic and real and lasting. They're genuine, not counterfeit, then we don't need to turn to these very unhealthy things. Wishing everyone stay happy, stay healthy, stay holy. Join us tonight behind the bimah with the Chief Rabbi of Israel, Rav David Lau, and Friday, we turn Friday to Erev Shabbos. Tomorrow, Rabbi Moskowitz, Tehillim, growth with Tehillim. They're incredible learning opportunities throughout the shul. Thank you to those who come in person. Thank you to those who are watching online. If you're watching on YouTube, feel free to subscribe. Have a fantastic day, everybody.
