Transcript
Okay good morning Boker Tov welcome back to Living with Emunah. Thank you for actually showing up. I wasn't sure when we changed the schedule whether I'd be sitting here by myself, so I'm grateful that I'm not. Welcome back. Want to thank our, as always, our Emunah series sponsors for the year, Dr. Avi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut and in memory of Bella's mother Dr. Ellen Shanzer. Very grateful for their sponsorship. This morning's shiur is also sponsored by Carol Wald in memory of her beloved father, Binyamin ben Daniel. Carol, thank you so much. Neshama shetehei la'aliyah. And Janine and Gordon Haas in memory of her mother, Ida Lechtman and רב מרדכי פנחס טייץ whose yahrzeit was yesterday. Of course, an influence for so many of us in this room. Yasher koach and a thank you for that sponsorship. A reminder if you're not yet part of the WhatsApp group so that you can get alerts about our schedule and links and bonus Emunah material, join the WhatsApp group easily at rabbiefremgoldberg.org/whatsapp. Okay, we are in Tiv Ha'emunah. We've been studying this wonderful sefer by Rav Gamliel Rabinowitz, a great tzaddik in Yerushalayim, and we've been learning all about the challenge of our generation. לדאבוננו האמונה בדורנו ירדה פלאים ואנשי אמנה אבדו. How tragic in our time that people go through motions. He has been bemoaning and the community that he's in is not a community that's lax. It's not a community that's flexible in halacha. It's not a community that waters down or treats Jewish law like it's a smorgasbord that you can order off the menu or like you can choose from. He lives in and is part of and is describing a community that is rigorously vigilant, passionately observant and yet even though externally doing everything right, putting checkmarks next to everything one should be doing, scrupulous on kashrus standards, careful about making brachos and davening, learning Torah all hours of the day and night yet וכי מרגישים קשר עם הבורא על ידי קיום המצוות? But do they have a connection to Hashem? Is observance of Torah and mitzvot informed, inspired and animated ultimately by what I'm about to do is connecting me to Hashem? You remember we last left off we're talking on Chanukah. Don't just light the candles mindlessly and then run to make the latkes. Be present, be connected. Shabbos candles, we're done with the Chanukah candles. We finished Chanukah, we finished Zos Chanukah. We're done with the Chanukah candles but we're not done with candles. The Gemara says הרגיל בנר הויין ליה בנים תלמידי חכמים. A person who accustoms themselves to the candle. And there's a big machlokes Rishonim is it the Chanukah candle, the Shabbos candle? But the Shabbos candle is each and every week and is the entire year long. We may be done with the Chanukah candles but the Shabbos candles still come each and every Friday night. So how is it? Are you scrambling, still yelling at the kids, things are not set up, put away, didn't shower yet and you're just lighting the candles so you can be done and collapse on the couch with your Jewish magazine or newspaper of your choice? Or do you sit over those candles and before you light them do you take a few deep breaths and restore your neshama by taking a neshima, restore your soul by taking a breath, and focus and calm and shut out the distractions and say I'm about to light the candles and I want to bring a light into my home and into my life. I want to think about children or the children I want to and yearn to have. Is the candle lighting experience a rendezvous with Hashem? Are you going into Shabbos having had a private audience with Hashem where you take those hands and I don't even know what you women do but you do this whatever motions and cover your eyes and I do know what you do. But you're covering your eyes and in that moment that you're covering your eyes you're going into a private yichud room with Hashem. You're at the end of the week reflecting on the week that was. What went right, what went wrong? What bracha did you feel and where do you object and protest and ask Hashem to do it differently in the week ahead? How can you reflect at the end of that week with gratitude, maybe with even some healthy dose of shame or remorse of things you could have done better? How can we cover our eyes and think about the Shabbos we want to have and we long to have and we're committed to have? How can we think about and daven for the people in our life, our own family and other people we care so desperately for? How do we connect to the light of these candles to dispel the darkness for shalom bayis and for shalom in this world and connect to every mitzvah? I could sit here 613 times and describe to you every mitzvah we can go through motions, it can just be get it out of the way, discharge the obligation, put the check box next to it and back to the real life we want to be living, or each mitzvah you can immerse yourself in, you can lean into, you can connect with and be transformed by and have a mindfulness of and it becomes a means and a medium to live with and connect with Hashem. And that's what Rav Gamliel's, he's bemoaning. He's describing a community who are so devoted to Torah and mitzvot, who are so vigilant and scrupulous in their observance and level of observance and stringency in observance, and yet is at the core of all of it a relationship? Is it all a relationship? It's like being in a marriage and being like here's your flowers, here's your candy. here's your card, here's your... like what do you mean? But I did everything, check, check, check, like what are you talking about? Every milestone, every significant date, every motion I'm supposed to go through, every gift I'm supposed to get you, yeah, but did you forget one thing, which is the everything, which is the relationship? Which is that you're supposed to be present and feel connected and be invested and confide and be vulnerable and feel an intimate affectionate connection? That's all of it. All the motions on the outside are means to, they're platforms, they're invitations and opportunities to connect internally. Do we go through the motions and forget everything else, everything else? And this is what we left left off. If you'd stop even a Rosh Kollel, ask the Rosh Kollel where do you get your paycheck from? How do you pay your bills? He'll say Yeshiva of South Florida. He'll say the Mir, BMG, Yeshiva University, Landers, whatever, you name the Yeshiva. He'll say what do you mean? I get it from the Yeshiva. That's the name on the check when I deposit it. That's what comes through on the automatic deposit to my bank account. Will they say, what do you mean where do I get the check from? I get it from the Ribbono Shel Olam. It's not just stam that the businessman, the lawyer, the doctor, the other person says where do I get my income from, I make it from my customers and clients, but the person who all day is immersed in learning and teaching and living Torah also mistakenly and corruptly says today I get my paycheck from the institution I work for, instead of actually our answer being what do you mean Hashem sustains me? Hashem takes care of me. How does He do, oh how does He do it? Oh, I get it from the institution I work for. That's how He does it. But where does it come from? What's the real source of it? It's from Hashem. Do we live with that mentality and that attitude? That what I'm meant to have is what I have is what I'm meant to have, what I'm going to get is what was determined from Hashem on Rosh Hashanah. I have to work hard and take initiative because that is, that is the price I have to pay in order to access the gift and the bracha that I get. That's just the way Hashem set up the world. But where does it really come from? It comes from Hashem. Is Hashem part of our vernacular? וכי ידים של אדם הן מפרנסים we're on the top of page samech tes, 69. Is this, is it our hands that really achieve and earn our income? וכי כשרונותיו הברוכים עומדים לו לעזרה בכל צרה? Is it my acumen and skill set and brilliance and talent that really is what saves me in every situation? It's all from Hashem. It's all from Hashem. So I'm able to stay calm because I feel His presence in my life. I was in the airport yesterday morning, my flight was delayed. I was waiting and the alarm went off at the airport, Newark Airport. By the way, Baruch Hashem for flying because it gives me such good stories. I don't think I've ever taken a flight, I don't think I've ever taken a flight without having a story from it. So Baruch Hashem I have many stories. So, sitting in the airport, flight was delayed, which was okay. It's all from Hashem, right? And the alarm in Newark, a piercing, relentless, deafening alarm is going off. So the scene was unbelievable. Nobody moved. Nobody cared. Everybody's in the airport, it's packed, still the end of this time period people are traveling. Airport was packed, you couldn't get a seat. The alarm is blaring the whole terminal, lights flashing, alarm blaring, and nobody moved. And this guy gets on the loudspeaker, I was laughing, I think out loud, and he goes, this is only a test, please nobody panic! And I looked around. Nobody panicked. Nobody even moved, nobody flinched, nobody looked up, nobody cared. There was nobody panicked, it wasn't like there was a mass exodus or scramble where everybody was worried, nobody could care less about this piercing alarm that was going off. And this guy was the only guy panicking over the fact that people might panic. He gets on the loudspeaker and he goes, it's just a test, it's not going to last long, please don't panic! And he was panicked over our panicking when nobody, not one person, not one, was panicking. Why am I telling you that story? Because you know what I was thinking to myself is that this is a, this was a metaphor for the way the world should look if we were all living with emuna. The alarm is sounding, the lights are flashing and okay, Hashem has a plan. Whatever's meant to be is going to be. Now again, in a world of emuna you still have to react, maybe we were all grossly irresponsible. By the way the thing went on forever, and then when it finally stopped the entire terminal erupted in applause and gratitude. But, but you know again, maybe we were all, thousand people were grossly irresponsible that nobody moved or budged or cared, and nobody looked up from whatever device they were staring at and consumed by. Maybe that's not the safe way of being. But I thought to myself wow like this is, this is the world the way it should look if we live with emuna. The alarm's blasting and blaring, the lights are flashing, but like Hashem's in control, so what do I need to panic? So the people with no emuna are yelling don't panic! And if you live with Hashem you keep calm and carry on. Keep calm and carry on if you have emuna in Hashem. If we live Hashem in our life. So all those mitzvos are invitations and platforms connect with Hashem. I've shared before the Noda B'Yehuda's objection. Chasidim love the Noda B'Yehuda but the Noda B'Yehuda did not love Chasidus. Noda B'Yehuda has several chuvos, Rav Yechezkel Landau, where he objected to some of the radical innovations of the Chasidic movement when it began. He objected to several of them, we spoke about it in our People of the Book on the Noda B'Yehuda, you could find that entire talk online. But one thing I'll share with you he objected to was the Chasidim introduced before you do a mitzvah to say לשם יחוד קודשא בריך הוא, you say a whole formula that I'm really doing this to invoke the sefiros and the energies of Hashem and I'm connecting to Hashem. Noda B'Yehuda said, what are you doing? What are you introducing new things to say before you do a mitzvah? You know what we have before we do a mitzvah? We say a little something, you know what it's called? A bracha. And you know why you say the bracha? To focus you on the mitzvah you're about to do, that you're not going through a mindless motion, but you're doing something to connect you and to bind you to Hashem. So he said what, we've become so so dulled, so desensitized that we just say the bracha without thinking about it, so now you add a new formula? Then what happens when that becomes rote? And takeh now you see Chasidim who mumble לשם יחוד קודשא בריך הוא while they do the mitzvah on their way out to the sufganiyah. Like now that now we have to introduce three new formulas each... So Noda B'Yehuda was opposed to the new formula. He said just focus and when you say the bracha because the bracha is that formula. So when we do a mitzvah, the mitzvah, the tzav, the word tzav means a bridge, a connection, a bond. Tzav is a connection. It's almost like you close an electric circuit and now the the electricity can flow. When you close the circuit the electricity can flow. I was learning with my chavrusah the other day and part of the power in his house went out, which normally is not terrible but when you're suffering the frigid Boca winter and you need the heat in the house, he was without heat. The problem was that a circuit breaker popped. So when the circuit breaker pops, the circuit's not closed, the electricity doesn't flow, you have no heat, you have no power. And when you close the circuit, then all of a sudden the electricity is flowing, now it comes to life. Now there's power, now there's light, now there's warmth. So a mitzvah, tzav, tzav is the closing of a circuit. We close a circuit in a connection with Hashem. And now there's an electricity that flows. So I'm not just a lifeless being out there on my own withering and dying and trying to barely hold on, I do a mitzvah, I connect to my source. I close a circuit. The electricity's flowing, I come back to life. It's like also the power on the plane was out, my phone was dying and I was trying to keep it barely holding on and when you find an outlet and you can plug in, it's like oh, techiyas hameisim. Techiyas hameisim, right? Rav Machlis, Rav Machlis when he was on Behind the Bima described that. He said we talked about the loss of his wife, Rebbetzin Machlis, the extraordinary Rebbetzin Machlis. He said how painful as it is, you believe in techiyas hameisim, we're talking about that now in Siddur Snippets, the second bracha of Shemoneh Esrei, Gvuros. So he said you know, he said today people use their lashon, they say the language, my iPad died, my phone died. It didn't really die, you didn't hold a funeral for it. All you need to do is find a cord and an outlet. And what happened to it? The thing that you used the language it died, it's dying, it died, we should say viduy, it's dying, it died, we have to have a levayah for it, it died. It didn't really die. As soon as you find an outlet and a cord, what did it have? It had a techiyas hameisim, it came back to life. And that in our time is a metaphor for what we will all experience and that's why Rav Machlis said even though Rebbetzin Machlis was his other half, how is he able to move on? He said because I know that Mashiach will come and we'll get the cord and the outlet and the people who are gone are going to come and spring back to life. So we use that language, we were wrong to say they died. They didn't die, we just need to wait for the outlet and the cord. They didn't die, like our iPad and our phone didn't die, we just need the cord and the outlet, it will come back to life. So we're dying, we're withering, we're disconnected from our source and every mitzvah's an invitation, reconnect to the source. Close the circuit. Let the electricity flow. Spring back to life. The lights come back on. The heat came back on. The energy, whatever's driving whatever device, it came back on. ואם תאמר שאינך מאמין באמת, says Rav Gamliel, if you say I really believe in truth authentically, וכללא לא עלה על דעתך שאין השם בעולם, it never occurred to me there's no God in this world. I would never believe or live or act as if there's no Hashem in this world. איך יכנו אותי כאפיקורס? How could you call me an apikores? You're going to label me a heretic? I learn Daf Yomi, I go to Shacharis, Mincha, Maariv, I give my tzedakah, I volunteer for chesed, I lit the Chanukah candles, I built my sukkah. What do you talk I'm an apikores? How dare you say I'm an apikores? How dare you say or accuse me or label me a heretic? הבעל שם טוב הקדוש מביא, the heilige Ba'al Shem Tov taught, Besht on Parshas Eikev, os nun zayin. Pasuk says וסרתם ועבדתם אלוהים אחרים. We say in Shema in the second paragraph. We deviate, we lose our way, and we serve and we worship foreign gods. V'zeh lshono, אזוי זאגט דער בעל שם טוב, vesartem vaavadtem. What does it mean vesartem? We turn, we pivot, vaavadtem. We pivot and we worship. Ksiv, shtait in Yeshaya, כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם. The Navi, the prophet Yeshaya, Perek nun-hey, this is the haftara that we read on every fast day. It says כי לא מחשבותי מחשבותיכם. Hashem says, my thoughts, my thought pattern are not your thoughts. V'lo darchaichem drachai, and your way of being, your behavior is not my way. Perush, so said the Baalshem Tov, כי כאשר האדם מפריד את עצמו מהשם יתברך, when a person disconnects from Hashem, מיד הוא עובד עבודה זרה רחמנא לצלן. If you're disconnected from Hashem, if Hashem is not the one who pays your paycheck, Hashem is not the one who will heal your wounds, רפואת הנפש ורפואת הגוף, not only physical pain and wounds, but mental anguish and wounds. If you don't see Hashem as the source, if you're disconnected from Hashem, if he's not part of your vernacular and language and everyday conversation. Hashem got us this parking spot, Hashem made the flight take off, Hashem let us land safely, Hashem brought us, gave us this incredible meal. If Hashem is not part of the regular... we don't know what to do, let's hold hands and pray on it. Let's ask Hashem to give us clarity. If Hashem is not part of our language, zen we're oveid avoda zara. You're an idolater. I, but I went to the daf and I went to Shacharis, Mincha, Maariv, and I'm on 17 Tehillim groups, and what are you talking about? What do you mean? No, כי לא דרכיכם דרכי, lo machshvosai machshvosaichem, lo machshvosai machshvosaichem. ולא יש דבר ממוצע, v'zehu vesartem vaavadtem. There is no middle path. If you're vesartem, if you turn away, then by definition and automatically vaavadtem, you're worshipping something else. You're worshipping something else. What do you think is the source of your success? 'Cause you're some influencer, you're some entrepreneur, you're so brilliant? It's your customers, it's your clients, it's your marketing, it's your PR? You're worshipping something else. It's your ego, it's your sense of self? That's what you're worshipping. בכל מקום שברגע שאדם שוכח מהקדוש ברוך הוא הוא כבר נכלא בעובדי עבודה זרה. There is no par, there's no neutral, there's no agnostic. There is no agnostic. You know, we think that there's an agnostic. What's an agnostic? The agnostic is the person who hedges, who says, I'm not really sure if there's a God or not, so I'm an agnostic. I'm undecided. I'm an independent voter on God. I'm an agnostic. We even use that to describe, I'm agnostic on the... what do you think about gun control? What do you think about abortion? What do you think... I'm agnostic on that. Agnostic is the word we use to describe somebody who doesn't take a side. I don't take a side, I'm agnostic on it. So you can be an agnostic in theory, but in practice you're either an atheist or a believer. You could be an agnostic in theory. You could go to the yom iyun on is there a God or is there no God? You go to that yom iyun and you examine all the evidence and you walk away and you say, you know, academically I'm undecided, intellectually I'm undetermined, I don't know. So intellectually and academically you could be an agnostic, you could be in the middle. But lemaisa, you're talking to God or you're not talking to God? You're crediting God or you're not crediting God? Are you surrendering to God or you think you're in control? Do you believe everything's from God or you think there's some chance or randomness to the universe? Agnosticism is only in theory. In practice you're either an atheist or a believer. It's one of the two. So the moment that you're not a believer, you're not an agnostic, the moment you're not a believer, what are you? You're an atheist, you're an oveid avoda zara. You're crediting money, power, fame, celebrity, nature, randomness. There's no shortage of things that you could be giving credit to rather than Hashem, rather than God. So Gamliel is describing, he's painting a picture. You could go through all the motions. You could be doing everything right on the outside. But if it's not informed and animated, if on the kishkas there isn't a genuine relationship and ongoing conversation, if you're doing mitzvos as checklist items but they're not a tzivuy, a tzav, you're not closing a circuit with Hashem, when there's an electricity, a bond, a connection, then you're not... then you're not really living with Hashem. You are an apikoros, you're a religious apikoros. פעם הזדמן לי לעשות טובה לאדם חשוב והודה לי מאד על זה. So says Gamliel, I was once asked to do a favor for someone and that person was incredibly grateful to me for it. Amarti lo, I said, וכי שכחת שאני רק שליח? Your overwhelming excessive gratitude to me, you forgot that I'm just a shliach. Thank you for the thank you. I appreciate the gratitude, but the excessive gratitude as if I'm the one who got that done, you've forgotten that I'm just an agent. I'm just a middleman. I'm just acting on Hashem's behalf. הרי בעצם הקדוש ברוך הוא זה שאתה צריך להודות לו. By the way, this works perfectly with the parsha, not this week so much as last week. But in last week's parsha when Paroh summoned Yosef from the pit and he says, I heard about you, that you're really good at interpreting dreams. I heard you're the man, you're the dream interpreter guy. So I need your help. And what does Yosef say? The stupidest thing of all time. This man's been languishing in prison, falsely accused, was thrown in a pit, was abandoned by his family. This is his moment. This is his like Shark Tank moment. This is it. You're in front of Paroh. And what should he say if he's smart? All he should say is, yeah, I'm pretty good at interpreting dreams, I'll see what I can do to help you. Yeah, I've been given this gift and so grateful for it, let me see what I can do to help you. He doesn't say that. What does he say? He says, what? Me? Oh, no, no, no, no, no, not me. No, no, Hashem is the one. Hashem's the dream interpreter. He just sometimes uses me to get it across. If I'm Paroh, I'd be like, yeah, whatever, just I got dreams, I need you to interpret them. I'd be like, get rid of this guy. He has no confidence. What is he talking about God's the one who, like, throw him back in the pit. Yosef risked everything by saying something so foolish. He should have said, yeah, I'm the man, I'm the—Hashem, I know you're the one, but just for these purposes, for my freedom, for my safety, for my life, pikuach nefesh, I'm the guy. But Yosef's incapable. Rashi says because Yosef lives שם שמים שגורה בפיו. Hashem, he, Baruch Hashem, Imirtzah Hashem, Chasdei Hashem, Hashem, everything's Hashem. So Paroh says I need a favor and what does Yosef say? I'm happy to do it, realize I'm just doing Hashem's bidding. So if Hashem wills me to be your agent to do the favor, I'm more than happy to. I'm more than happy to. By the way, just parenthetically, and how does Paroh react? Not throw this weirdo back in the pit, how does he react? Ooh, there's a Hashem. By the end of Yosef's incessant references to Hashem, Paroh says, wow, Hashem really—אשר רוח אלוהים בו. Paroh volunteers on his own describing Yosef that Yosef is somebody אשר רוח אלוהים בו. All of a sudden, Paroh's now a believer. Because when you don't—this is very I think instructive also, this was the drasha last Shabbos, this rise of antisemitism, assimilation, the answer's not to cower, apologize, be defensive, don't take off your yarmulke, don't hide that you're a Jew. The answer is to speak more pride, more passion, more public practice that we're Jews. A bigger yarmulke, make it more obvious that we're a Jew, more obvious that we're a Jew. I was getting beigelled left and right on the plane yesterday. I was flying JetBlue. So across from me was an older man, when we landed I asked him could I help you take down your luggage? I took down his luggage. So everyone around me's beigelling me. This one other older person sitting there says, now you did your mitzvah for today. I said, yes, I did. Am I done for the day? Am I exempt the rest of the day? I did my mitzvah for the day. Everybody were talking mitzvahs. But be more public you're a Jew, more—I don't know how he knew I was Jewish—more public, more proud, more public, more public, more proud, more passion. Yosef who's in this foreign land, there's no such thing as a Jew in Egypt, they never met a Jew, and all Yosef does is talk about Hashem. And the result of nonstop talking about Hashem is not Paroh saying these weirdos, beat them up, antisemitism. He doesn't—let's post something on Twitter about it, let's come out with a new line of clothing with swastikas on it. No, the answer is, wow, there's something worth respecting here. He respects himself, he's not defensive and apologetic, he's passionate and practicing, there's something worth admiring, something worth looking at over here. I think very, very instructive for all of us and how we should be reacting and what we should do. But says Rav Gamliel עד כדי כך טיב האמונה. You know what it means to live a life of emunah? To live a life of emunah is Hashem is in part of our conversation all the time. Someone says can you do me a favor and you say sure if Hashem wills it, absolutely I'm happy to. Then they thank you, thank you for that favor, the favor was unbelievable, you got me into that doctor and that saved a life and only because of you is a life saved. You don't say you're welcome, you could buy me a case of wine, you're welcome get me tickets to the Hamilton, you're welcome you say stop thanking me so much. I appreciate it, yes I made the call, but really Hashem is the one who allowed the connection, Hashem is the one who healed you. If you really live with emunah, I don't care if you daven Shachris, Mincha, and Maariv, what do you do in between? What do you do in between? Do you talk about Hashem? Do you say happy to do a favor if Hashem allows? Thank you, thank—stop being so excessive in your gratitude. I was—it was my pleasure, but really it's from Hashem. Are you willing to in the doctor's office tell the doctor, you know, God willing you're the—God will guide your hand, my surgery will be successful. Doctor I want to thank you, I'm going to send you a case of wine, thank you for the surgery, I'm so grateful God chose you to be the instrument to help heal me. like Yosef everywhere we go are we talking about God? Don't be shy don't be embarrassed don't be defensive don't be apologetic. That's our responsibility that's our mission that's who we are. And that's the ultimate demonstration of belief in Hashem. You believe in Hashem when you said Shacharit Mincha Ma'ariv Shkoach. You believed in Hashem when you made a Bracha on the candle lighting? That's a Chidush but Shkoach you're supposed to. But do you believe in Hashem in the doctor's office? Do you believe in Hashem when it comes to the favor? Do you believe in Hashem about where the paycheck comes from? בעצם הקדוש ברוך הוא שהרי מי ששלח אותי לעשות לך טובה. Who sent me and positioned me to do the favor for you? מאיכן היה לי רצון כח וכלים להטיב לך? Where did I get the will and where did I get the power? How did I have the connections? Why was I positioned to do the favor? It's all from Hashem. Hashem put it in that position. אם הרגשת צורך להודות רק לי סימן ששכחת הקדוש ברוך הוא. If the result is all you're doing is thanking me and you're not thanking him then you've forgotten Hashem. You're an apikorus. You're a heretic. You're a righteous heretic. You're a believer heretic. You're a practicing heretic. But in the end of the day you're ultimately a heretic. If when you say thank you to the person who did the favor and the only one you thanked was the person and not Hashem then ultimately you're an apikorus. Lema'aseh bottom of page samech-tet. למעשה בכדי לבא לאמונה לחזק את האמונה שתהיה יותר מוחשית צריך לעשות עסק ותעמולה מזה. Lema'aseh in order to live with Emuna practice Emuna be a person of Emuna not just talk about Emuna not just talk about God but talk to God talk with God then you have to be feeling and sensing. You have to increase not only put on your Emuna glasses the way in which you see the world but also the Emuna senses and sensitivity and sensors that you sensor you experience with Emuna. סיפור לי אחד שהקיש להרב הגאון רב רפאל סולובייצ'יק זצ"ל. Says Rav Gamliel somebody told him a story with the great tzadik Rav Refoel Soloveitchik. פעם דיבר עמו אגדלות אביו מרן הגרי"ז. He spoke to Rav Refoel Soloveitchik about his father the Brisker Rav Rav Velvel the Brisker Rav the Griz. אגודל אמונתו ובטחונו בהקדוש ברוך הוא. The Griz had a tremendous Emuna. The Griz described he only survived and escaped Europe. He was on a train with Nazis positive he was going to be identified and eliminated. And it's only because rather than panic the alarm was going off the lights were flashing but you know what he did instead of panicking? He kept calm and carried on. How? Like the people of Newark Airport. How? Because he repeated over and over and over again Ein Od Milvado Ein Od Milvado. The Nefesh Hachaim Rav Chaim Volozhiner writes it's a big segula that you say in a moment of crisis Ein Od Milvado. I'm not going to panic and I'm not going to fear ki ata imadi I could walk through Gehennom. I could be in Gehennom and I won't fear. You know why? Ki ata imadi you are with me. And in a moment of crisis and in a moment of panic and when the alarm is sirens are all blaring and blasting and the and the lights are all flashing you just start saying Ein Od Milvado. I'm good to go because Ein Od Milvado there's nothing but You. There is no such thing as a Nazi Ein Od Milvado. I'm not panicked in this moment. Now there were six million many of whom said Ein Od Milvado on their way to the gas chamber. It doesn't mean everyone will be saved. We're not describing that Emuna is the ticket and then no one will be sick and nobody will ever struggle with infertility and nobody Emuna doesn't mean that it solves all our problems but it gives us the it gives us the courage and it gives us the the faith to endure and to navigate whatever challenge that we have as we're going through Gehennom. גם כי אלך בגיא צלמות even though I'm walking through the gates of tzalmaves of Gehennom לא אירא רע כי אתה עמדי as long as ata imadi I can do it. And how do we get ata imadi? How do we get Hashem to be with us? Ein Od Milvado Ein Od Milvado. There is no one there is nothing but You. Ein Od Milvado Ein Od Milvado. There is only You. So the Brisker Rav the Griz said the only way he escaped when he was others would have panicked on that train he just kept repeating Ein Od Milvado. There's no one there's nothing but You Ein Od Milvado. ושאלו הן אמת שהיה כך אולם איך יכולנו לעכב שייכות לזה. So they asked Rav Refoel his son it's true your father the Brisker Rav lived with such an Emuna but how can we come close? How can we live that way? ענה לו רב רפאל שלקבל אמונה זה רק על ידי תעמולה. You know it takes effort and exercise. It takes person has to work on it. It doesn't happen on its own. You're not going to walk out of the gym with the same muscles as the biggest bodybuilder unless you start working the machines. You gotta start working it. You're not going to grow in Emuna if you don't work it. It's not enough to go to the Emuna shiur every Wednesday or Thursday. It's not enough to go to the Emuna shiur subscribe to the Emuna newsletters mine and countless better others emails and books and Emuna all of that's great and Then what happens? Then what happens in a moment of crisis? You panic? You fear? You start screaming? Someone does a favor and you start thanking them excessively and forgot the real source of the favor? Someone asks you where's your paycheck from and you mention the institution or the client rather than God? All the emuna newsletters in the world don't help if you don't exercise emuna, if you don't work out the emuna muscle, if you don't put on the emuna glasses, if you don't start to see the world through emuna. And how do we do that? How do we do that? Should we end here? We'll go two more minutes. How do we do that? Time flies when you're having emuna and fun. V'chein pirshu hachasidim page ayin. Turn the page. This is how the chasidim explain the pasuk. He'emanti ki adabeir. שהאמונה תלוי לפי הדיבור. You know how you'll grow in emuna? We think mistakenly, we think mistakenly, if I have emuna then I'll talk about God. But it's the opposite. If I always talk about God, I'm going to live with greater emuna. Don't wait. With the eating comes the appetite. אחרי הפעולות נמשך הלבבות. Sefer Hachinuch writes, we think that when I'm driven and motivated, then I'll act. And a core principle of the Sefer Hachinuch he repeats in many places is no, when you act, then you're going to start having the drive and the motivation. Dress for success. Dress for the job you want, not the one you have. Fake it till you make it. A million clichés I can tell you, but they're all from the Sefer Hachinuch. אחרי הפעולות נמשך הלבבות. Start showing love and you'll love the person. Love is a verb, not an adjective. Start acting with love and you will love. You say I couldn't possibly eat, I have no appetite. Seven main dishes later, why had that happen? Because with the eating comes the appetite. With the eating comes the appetite. אחרי הפעולות נמשך הלבבות. Don't wait for the drive and the motivation and then you'll act. Start acting and then the drive and the motivation will follow. Don't wait for incredible faith and then you'll start talking about Hashem. Start talking about and seeing Hashem everywhere and then you'll start feeling a tremendous sense of faith. וכמו שבעניינים גשמיים רואים במציאות שכשעושים תעמולה למוצר מסוים אף על פי שבעצם המוצר כלל וכלל אינו מלהיב אלא אדרבה הוא מאוס כיוון שעשו תעמולה על זה כאילו זה עיקר החיים. We'll start with this next time. But I recently heard Tony Robbins describing this, the great motivational speaker. He was talking about identity. He was talking about we live in a way, we make choices that conform with the identity how we see ourselves. So I shared this before, but I was recently hearing him unpack this in a fuller sense. So he says, you know, if I see myself as the alcoholic, I'm going to drink. But if I see myself as the recovered alcoholic, then it's pashtus, how could I have a drink? He didn't say pashtus. But how can I have a drink? How can I have a drink? So right, he describes this in the world of jogging. If I say I want to run, I'm going to run, I'm going to buy billion dollar sneakers and running outfits and run and running apps, but I don't really want to run, so I never run. But if I start telling everybody, you know I'm a runner, I'm a runner, so now again it's pashtus for a runner to not run. So when you make something part of your core identity, then you're going to start doing it. So you don't wait to start having emuna to say I'm a person with a lot of emuna. I'm a Baruch Hashem person. No, no, I'm a Baruch Hashem person, then it's pashtus for the person who's always talking Baruch Hashem to not start seeing Hashem. So it's counterintuitive, it's sort of paradoxical. Don't wait to feel to act, start acting and identifying, and by identifying and acting, then you're going to start to feel. So that's your homework for next week. And it's a very short week because today's Thursday and our next shiur is on a Wednesday. So it's a short homework week. You have less than a week to turn in your homework. And the turn in your homework, your homework is He'emanti ki adabeir. Again, the people around you might start giving you strange looks, especially if you're married to them or your children, and they've never seen you talk or act or behave in that way. But just do it. Do it. Fake it till you make it. Do it. Hashem gave us this great dinner. Why are you thanking me? It's from Hashem. Hashem gave us this parking spot. Hashem, if Hashem wills it, then it's going to work out that dinner will be ready in time. Whatever the, whatever you want to say. Start invoking Hashem in every part of a conversation, and by doing so we'll all grow tremendously in our emuna. Join the WhatsApp group if you haven't yet. And until next time, stay happy, stay healthy, stay holy.
