Transcript
Good morning and a gut yuntif and welcome back to Living with Emunah. Please help yourself to some coffee and refreshments and as always a big thank you to our Emuna series sponsors. We remain deeply indebted to Avi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut and in memory of Bella’s mother Dr. Ellen Shanz. Today’s shiur is also sponsored in honor of my dear friends Rabbi Mark and Jill Wildes BRS and by the sponsors Zaiden and Omo set the foundation for a Jewish life and by Cara and Ben Friedman in memory of her mother Helen Cohen on her fifth yahrtzeit. Okay, thank you to all of our generous sponsors. We got a couple of Emunah emails to share and then we'll dive into a text specific to Succos relevant to all year round so whenever you're listening to this it is the right time but a specific message relevant to Succos which can enormously impact the way you observe and celebrate Succos this year. If anybody wants to follow Rav Gamliel there are sheets there but first a couple of Emunah emails. Here we go, here's the first one. I always play the Emunah shiur in the evenings but after a sleepless night I felt I needed the Emunah shiur to start off my day on the right foot. This isn't the typical story of a random Spotify shiur but of a random timing to listen to the current shiur. As mentioned in previous emails I am dealing with challenges in the fertility realm. Recently particularly with the start of the new year I've been feeling overwhelmed, not so great, and exhausted. I've also been having a hard time sleeping at night which has not been helping the situation. My day started on the wrong foot and the Emunah shiur got it off to a better start. Number one, the rav shared the idea—that's me by the way. The rav shared the idea—took me, took me a minute I had to reread it a couple times—the rav shared the idea תורה עבודה גמילות חסדים fill up mini worlds not just the world at large. You remember the last shiur we spoke about when we talk about the world a world מלא כל העולם כולו. Did anyone listen to Ishay Ribo? Yeah. How many times? Just on repeat over and over? That was my erev Yom Kippur just repeat over and over מלא כל העולם כולו. So remember we learned מלא כל העולם כולו why chol kulo? It's repetitive it's redundant. Why do you have to say twice? מלא כל העולם כולו. God you're the king we coronate you king we surrender to you as the king of the whole world the whole world twice. So we answered because one is the world out there and the other is our world. There are people who are ready to surrender that Hashem you're in charge of the world. So the war between the Ukraine and Russia and you'll decide who's going to win the World Series and you determine what's going to be with the stock market. You're in charge of that world but my world? My world? Whether my plane took off on time or not? Did I hit all the red lights on the way to carpool? How I react when my kid leaves the toys in the middle of the floor? My world? Fact that it doesn't stop raining and what's going to be on Succos? My world? So a lot of people are not willing to surrender to Hashem when it comes to our world. So we saw מלא כל העולם כולו the double language is because our world also. So and then we spoke about then you can interpret that's what the seventh grade girl taught me Kehas Marsha 1902 that you can interpret all the mishnayos in Pirkei Avos on three things the world stands three things remove you from the world. Every time in Pirkei Avos it uses the word world it doesn't mean the world out there it means our world our equilibrium our mental health our spiritual health our world. Our world exists on three things. Any day that doesn't have Torah Avodah and Gemilas Chassadim. If your day didn't have a little dose of Torah. If your day didn't have a conversation with the Almighty a little Avodah. If the day didn't have any selfless act where you cared about someone else Gemilas Chassadim your world is off kilter your world is unbalanced. The world is not rotating on its axis the right way. And similarly if a person indulges in kinah taivah v'chavod if a person gives in to lust or envy or pursuit of honor it removes you from your world. You're living someone else's world. When you're pursuing honor or when you're jealous of what they have or when you're lusting after something that doesn't belong to you is not appropriate for you it removes you from the world. Okay so that was the review of last week and the background of this author of this email. So the rav shared the idea תורה עבודה גמילות חסדים fill up mini worlds not just the world at large. I was considering canceling a chesed I offered to a friend afterward due to my exhausted state not sleeping the whole night but decided as I was listening to keep my plans as is because that's what keeps my world going. So very gratifying very beautiful this person says I was going to cancel but chesed. It's a very very important point. If you cancel the chesed you were meant to do for another who would suffer the most? Not the recipient the beneficiary of the chesed you were meant to do you would. You would. I don't know if anyone googled I told you to google it not to believe me at take me at my word but one of the therapies today the top therapies to help treat somebody struggling with depression or anxiety is to volunteer. Get out of your world get into someone else's world. Give do volunteer show up care about another it's enormously impactful enormously transformational. So if we were to cancel the chesed we were meant to do for another so the person who needed that chesed surely will suffer but we will suffer more because we've retreated back into. into our world instead of extending ourselves to theirs. Number two. Just like the text we learn, I give you my Rashi the whole time, we darshen up the emails too, we darshen them up. Number two. Usually I spend my walk to work with bitachon input by calling bitachon hotline. Today you read an email from someone who decided to channel a stress into a simple four word prayer to Hashem, just asking for help. I decided I already had my input from the emuna shiur and changed my routine to use the ten minutes for bitachon output to just talk to Hashem, which is also great. We have a lot of bitachon input. We subscribe to the email and the WhatsApp and we listen to the shiur and we read the book and we get the newsletter. There's a lot of sources of emuna out there, much better than mine, incredible that you could sign up for and get. So we do a lot of emuna input, but how much emuna output? Right, we study, we learn, we listen, we read, we tell the story, we forward the email, but then push comes to shove in that moment we have to dig deep into our emuna muscle or wear our emuna glasses to see the world in that way. We also have to have emuna output. So she writes, to be honest I've been recently having a hard time finding the time and brain space to do so. It's harder to get in the zone of actively talking to Hashem and applying bitachon ideas than listening to a shiur. I thought about the pasuk, השלך על ה' יהבך והוא יכלכלך. Dovid HaMelech says, Hashlech, just cast onto Hashem all your problems. Just, you know you have a friend and really they didn't solve anything, they didn't make anything better. But when you had that coffee or that phone call and you just were able to unload, unburden, you were able to list all the challenges, struggles, the issues, everything not going right right now and you feel, I feel a little bit lighter. You're carrying that load with me, you're holding the other end of it, you're lifting it with me, so it feels a little lighter for me. So Dovid HaMelech explained that exact same phenomenon with Hashem. Hashlech al Hashem that if you cast your issues, your challenges, your struggles, whatever you're going through, unload, unburden, cast it on Hashem. So she writes, I told Hashem all my problems because they're only problems in my eyes, one by one. After each problem I let Hashem know I was giving it over to him and I would just try to go, let go. I imagined me throwing each ball up to Hashem with all my might to unload. He caught the balls and I tried to feel the issue dissipating as I handed them over to him, who's so much bigger than these tools to help me grow. The keyword is tried, because even in the moment I recognize I still feel the weight on my shoulder but the load is definitely lighter with the reminder that Hashem brought me here and he will continue guiding my way. He already has the solutions and is in the process of resolving every stress, so it'll be okay. Hopefully I'll continue finding time for the output as this is so important to stay grounded and connected. Thank you for the inspiration, blah blah blah. Gmar chasima tova, may the coming year be and feel sweet. So a great image, right? Different mental images, people use different vision. We spoke about Shabbos Shuva, the tzaddik, the Alter of Kelm taught us that the difference between a tzaddik and rasha is the capacity to use your imagination, to use vision. So her vision is, each problem is a little peckel, it's a little ball, just throw it up to Hashem. Hashlech al Hashem, just throw it up. He catches it and he says I got it, I got it, now you go back to, I got it, I got it, you go back to you, I got it, I got it. So again, these emails where the, we give her a bracha this year she should welcome a new healthy baby into this world. I can't wait to get that email imertze Hashem from this same writer that she should welcome her healthy baby. But even before the story is over, our stories get lighter, they're very heavy, they weigh on us. There's a lot weigh on us. Relationships that are under pressure, financial challenges, waiting and longing for companionship or for a child. There are enormous challenges that people have, the pain of loss and just wanting things to feel a little bit lighter, to not wake up with that heavy heart and with that ache and that pain. So how do you make it a little lighter? נושא בעול עם חברו, we can lighten the load for one another. That's the chesed that we have to do for each other. Nosei b'ol, Chazal, our rabbis' language is carry the burden with another. Doesn't say solve the problems of the other person. We wish we could but we can't. There are so many problems we wish we could wave a magic wand, press a button, solve the problem, bring the lost person back. We can't, as badly as we want to, we can't. But what we can do, make things a little bit lighter. Someone walks in the room, you get the text, I'm pulling in from Costco, whoever's home meet me in the driveway. You ever send that text? Get that text? All of a sudden everybody, all of a sudden the same people who can't lift their eyes from their phone, I wasn't on my phone, all of a sudden the same addicts who can't get off their phone, sorry I didn't see, I wasn't on my phone. So why do you send that text? Because I'm coming in, I'm carrying a boatload of very heavy things, make the load a little bit lighter. Could you help? Could you take the other side? Someone walks in the room, they're carrying an enormous heavy suitcase, a big box, you rush over, let me take that with you, not let me take it from you, let me carry it with you, let me make it a little bit lighter for you. So among the people who can do that, we turn to friends and we should be those friends for others, but also Hashlech al Hashem. Say Hashem, this is so heavy. Hurry, hurry, take the other side. Carry it with me, make it a little bit lighter for me. We have that ability, that is email number one, even before that end of the story that's happy, please God, but still until then, until it gets to be a happy end to the story, we can turn to Hashem to make it a little bit lighter. Next, I'm going to read one more email to share it with you, hopefully to inspire our emuna, because also, but also, you never know who's listening. You never know who's listening who knows somebody, and maybe we can help this person. Rabbi Goldberg, here's an emuna story that has not worked out yet. I know that's your favorite, smiley face. I'm probably the world's biggest Ishay Ribo fan. He greatly influenced me in my religious journey and my decision to make aliyah, happening next month. His music literally opened my heart and was largely responsible for bringing me to Orthodox Judaism from my secular upbringing. First of all, that's unbelievable. Somebody's music and poetry and words can touch someone so deeply and so real, it awakens and arouses something in them, bless you, that they change their life. That's unbelievable. So first of all, we got to just tell Ishay Ribo that. I'm sure he hears it often, but every time it's meaningful. When I heard he was coming to Madison Square Garden, my hometown, I was ecstatic. I've seen him over five times in concert, but a Jewish performer in MSG is a different story. Unfortunately, I had a family obligation that coincided with the concert, and I knew it was important for me to attend. It was painful, but I had emuna it was for the best. First of all, I wish him and all of us this should be the worst thing, he knows that, exactly, this is not the worst, he knows that. If it wasn't painful to miss my favorite performer in my hometown and hear from all my friends after the concert, I received news that a large Jewish organization is providing unbelievable benefits to olim exactly like myself. Things like a private Ishay Ribo concert, free sefarim, free grocery stipend, and so much more. The one catch, you had to be at the concert. I was crushed. These stipends would have been a huge game changer for both me and my fiancee who are leaving our jobs and so much of our lives to fulfill our dream of aliyah. I had a decision to make. I'd sit there stressed, confused, hurt by what happened, or I'd look to Hashem, smile and laugh about this. I focused on the good and realized that despite not getting the extra benefits, baruch Hashem making aliyah now is so much easier than ever, thanks to Nefesh B'Nefesh, Rabbi Fass, and a whole slew of Jewish organizations. Instead of getting these valuable benefits and an amazing concert, I got something way more valuable, reinforced emuna. Thank you for your amazing podcast, let you shine, blah blah blah, gmar chasima tova by the author of the email. So first of all, we've got to get this to Ishay Ribo, that we can do, we know somebody who knows him. But we also got to get him these aliyah benefits. So it was Bnei Akiva, I think, who gave it out at the concert, Bnei Akiva hosted the concert. If you're listening Bnei Akiva, if you know somebody, if you're on the board of Bnei Akiva, and even though our friend couldn't make the concert, but he became religious, he's making aliyah, he gave up his job, and he could use these benefits. Let's get him the benefits and let's let his email go from 'I got something even more valuable, emuna' to getting also with the increased emuna, let's also get him the benefits, wouldn't that be amazing? Okay. Tivei Ha'Emuna, Rav Gamliel, page תתנ"ו. Are you ready for this? Something we do every year on Sukkot, but you're going to do it differently this year and every year forward from now on. And I love this piece because this piece is consistent with our emuna shiur, which of course we tell emuna stories that are wonderful and it worked out and it was amazing and Hashem's plan and it was hashgacha, but also when it doesn't, and also when it isn't, and also when it hasn't yet. כשאומרים הלל בחג הסוכות, if anyone wants a copy, there are more trees that died. כשאומרים הלל בחג הסוכות. When you say Hallel on Sukkot, מחזיקים ביד את ארבעת המינים. So whether it's when you're saying Hallel or you take the Arba'at haMinim on your own, u'l'da'at ha'Arizal, the Arizal in Sha'ar haKavanot, in Siddur ha'Arizal, the great Ari, Rabbi Yitzchak Luria, the great Kabbalist, mystic, בפסוק הודו לה' כי טוב מנענעים את הלולב לארבע רוחות השמים ולמעלה ולמטה. We know that when we take the lulav and etrog, we hold the four species together. The lulav, the etrog, the aravos and the hadassim. They represent four types of Jew. The one that has the positive scent and the positive flavor, the one that has one, not the other, the one that has neither, all four combinations we hold them together because all Jews belong, achdus, aguda, you have to bind them together. The lulav, the hadassim, the aravos have to be bound together because the Jewish community has to be bound together. We don't have minyanim that are just my flavor, just my species, just who I want. You have to bind it together, all the eight minyanim have to come together, we shake the lulav, we all unite, we all integrate, we're all one community, we have to have a sense of unity. And the four species also represent four parts of a Jew, spoke about this on Shabbos Shuva too, the medrash, the lulav is the spine and the etrog is the heart and the aravos are the lips and hadassim are the eyes. How many hadassim are there? Three. And yet we have two eyes. Why? So we spoke on Shabbos Shuva... Because Chochom einov berosho, there's an eye that's in your head, the eye of the imagination, the eye of vision, the eye of dreaming, the eye of picturing, the eye of being roeh es hanolad, the eye of living with your future self. Future self who says don't don't eat that. Future self who says turn it off and go to sleep. I promise you, you need it, you'll want to, you don't want to suffer the opposite. The the future you who says don't lose your temper, don't scream, don't lose your cool, you're going to damage the relationship. The future you who says take your Yiddishkeit seriously. Don't have a Judaism that's at a ten-year-old level, let it grow, let it develop, let it mature. So the future self, that eye, that third eye. So the Arizal's custom was when you take the lulav and esrog in Hallel, you shake the lulav and esrog in all directions. In front of you, to the right of you, behind you, to the left of you, above and down below. Six directions all around, we take the lulav and esrog, we shake it in every direction and when do we do it? During הודו לה' כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו. What do those words mean? Dovid Hamelech Tehillim. הודו לה' כי טוב. I give thanks to you Hashem because it's all good. Is it all good? For Hashem. So we've spoken about this countless times in the Emuna shiur. Shocking that you keep coming back, but ki tov is the great expression. Right? It's a very yeshivishe answer. How you doing? It's all good. It's not all good. It's not all good. What do you mean it's all good? People are going through difficult, painful, struggle, suffering and the eitza is it's all good? And the answer is, it's all good. It's all good because it's from Hashem. It's all good and all painful. It could be how's it going, it's all good, it's all miserably painful. That's not a contradiction. Bad things don't happen to good people, painful things happen to good people. It can be all good because it's the will of Hashem. It's all good even if it's painful. הודו לה' כי טוב. So we say thank you Hashem because it's all good. First of all, that's the low level. The higher level is הודו לה' כי טוב, it's all good. What's the tov? Tov ayin, a good ayin means you see the good in everyone and everything, you see the good all around you. I'm alive, I'm breathing, my faculties work, I have a roof over my head. There are good things that are still happening even if there are others that are painful. So I focus on and I count and I look at and I'm mindful of the good. I've been saying this for years, repeating it from others, but I get a text every now and then Rabbi Leo Dee spoke in my yeshiva. Rabbi Leo Dee spoke in my seminary. Rabbi Leo Dee spoke in Modi'in. And he doesn't quote me, he quotes who we quote, but through me, and he when he says it, he says how can you find happiness even after one's wife and two children are brutally murdered on Chol Hamoed Pesach? He says because I count my children who are still with me and I look at the good of the years that I had the people I've lost and I'm focusing on the good and by focusing and being mindful and being positive, that's outrageous. When he says it, that's a whole other level and we're not judging anyone who doesn't feel they're in a place or a perspective to say it, chas v'shalom, we'd never judge such a person, but it's a whole other level of הודו לה' כי טוב. And then acharkach m'na'anim b'pasuk in Hallel, if you're shaking the lulav and esrog, when is the next time you shake it? You shake it for הודו לה' כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו, those four sentences. And then again at the end of Hallel, אנא ה' הושיעה נא, אנא ה' הושיעה נא, we shake it again. Ul'vasof, and then again at the end of Hallel, the third time we shake is הודו לה' כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו, we repeat that pasuk again. So we shake it again then. Now, I always thought my whole life why are we shaking the lulav during those words? What do those words mean? We're saying Hashem in every direction there's good. In front of me there's bracha, to the right of me there's bracha, behind me there's bracha, to the left of me there's bracha, above me there's bracha, below me there's bracha. There's such good everywhere, everywhere I turn, everywhere I look, I can focus and count what I have. There's good, there's that which to be grateful for. Gratitude is a decision, not an emotion. And gratitude is based on what I have. Right? Happiness is not from what I want, happiness is from what I have. If I count what I have I'll always be happy. If my happiness is defined by what I don't have yet, I'll never be happy because there's always something I don't yet have. So I always thought my kavana in shaking the lulav and esrog each direction is Hashem, in front of me, there are things that are yet to happen, they're going to be so good. Behind me, look at where I came from, look at everything I have, it's good. To the right, to the left of me, above me, below me, it's all good. Listen to what Rav Gamliel says. It's going to change your Sukkos forever. חשבתי שהנענוע מרמז לאדם שגם אם הוא במצב של טלטולים וצרות. He says that's not the kavana. You know what the kavana is? You're shaking the lulav and esrog in all directions. You know what the kavana is? I'm the lulav and esrog. My spine, my heart, my eyes, my lips, I'm being rattled, I'm being frazzled, I feel shaken. The world is throwing things at me and I'm shaking, I'm trembling, I'm rattled, I'm all shook up. מנענעים אותו לכל הרוחות שבעולם והוא משתנע. מנענעו אותו לכל הרוחות שבעולם והוא משתודד מצד לצד על גלים של צרות. And a person feels the winds of this world, the challenges and the hardship, the difficulty, it's just throwing me around. It's just throwing me like left and right and up and down and forward and backward. I just feel so rattled. עם כל זאת עליו לדעת שכל מצב שהשם הביא עליו הוא רק לטובתו וקודם כל עליו להודות לו להכיר שהכל לטובתו. And you say, even while I'm being shaken, even while I'm rattled, even while I'm frazzled, even while I feel like I'm just being thrown in every direction, הודו להשם כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו. The whole image of the lulav in every direction is I feel like I'm being thrown in so many different directions. The sandwich generation. People taking care of their parents and their children at the same time. It's a lot of people and it's underrated and underestimated how difficult it is to be in the sandwich generation, to be caring for aging parents and be the responsible party for aging parents and at the same time, small kids small problems, big kids big problems to be taking care of kids. You're just being thrown in a million directions. Do I run to take care of my parents? Do I run to take care of my child? Do I ever take care of myself? How do I earn a living to take care of the parents and the children and myself? Just as one example. At work, it's difficult. At home, there's struggles. Person can feel every direction, everywhere I go I'm being thrown around. I'm being rattled and frazzled, I'm just being thrown in every direction. Everywhere I look, professionally, personally, my parents, my children, outside my home, inside my home, wherever I go, I'm being rattled and frazzled and I'm being thrown around like the lulav and etrog. My spine, my heart, my eyes, my lips, the arba minim together are me and I'm shaking them in every direction because that's how I feel. That's how I feel. It's incredible. Rav Gamliel's insight this year. Because that's how I feel. I'm being thrown in every direction and all I want like Yaakov Avinu, bikesh leishev b'shalva, just like put down the lulav and etrog and let it rest. I just want a rest. Can't you just put the lulav and etrog down and just let me be? You know, in the backyard Hashem, under the palm tree, next to the pool, I have a chaise lounge, just put the lulav, the etrog right next to it, hadasim and aravot next to the lulav, put a piña colada, maybe if you allow yourself a nice good Cuban cigar, just right there, a glass of wine. Hakadosh Baruch Hu, just put the lulav and etrog on the lounge chair, under the palm tree, next to the pool. That's what I want. That's where I want to be mekayem the mitzvah. Okay, even better, in the sukkah, but a lounge chair in the sukkah, a couch in the sukkah, Hashem, just put down the lulav and etrog. Just can't I just breathe? Can't I just be? Can't I just have calm? Yaakov Avinu wanted that. ביקש יעקב לישב בשלוה. He was like, I went through a lot. You know, I had to run for my life from my brother, then I had to live with Lavan, and then the switcheroo was pulled on me and then I bikesh leishev, can't I just retire and sit in the retiree kollel and learn all day? I just want to relax. I just want some peace and quiet and peace of mind and serenity. Can't I have one day? Hashem, can't there be one day where there's no crisis? One day. One day where the phone won't ring with someone with some crisis. A parent, a child, a sibling, a neighbor, a friend, a community member, the electric company, my boss, my, can't I just have one day? One day. But that's not the way the world is. That's not what Hashem responded to Yaakov and it's not the way Hashem responds to us. We desperately want that. That's the posture we wish we had and we wish we could take, but it's not it. Instead, how is our life so often, too often, how do we feel? Shaken. Every direction. You're just shaking me in every direction, everywhere I turn, everywhere I go, everywhere I look, every experience I have, I feel shaken in every single direction. And uvchol zot says Rav Gamliel, who suffers from six or eight different diagnoses and ailments and you never saw such a little excited, enthusiastic, energized, incredible man in your life when his shamash listed off all of his ailments and limitations and pains and chronic problems and struggles, but you would never know any of them because he doesn't wear one of them on his face. He has a huge smile and I love you, the only three words he knows in English, and the hug and the energy and he lives his life like a lulav and etrog all year round. Right? Every minute he's shaking, he's just bouncing up and down. He's energy, he's just all over the room, all over the people. Because קודם כל עליו להודות ולהכיר שהכל לטובתו. כמו שאמרו בגמרא חייב אדם לברך על הרעה כשם שמברך על הטובה מפני שהכל לטובה. Person has to make a bracha on the good, on the bad, because it's all good, it's all from Hashem, we don't understand it, it's yet unrealized. It's all good. It's good and it feels good. It's good and it feels unbearably painful. It's all good, but there's good that feels good and there's good that feels unbearably painful. לכן מנענעים ואומרים הודו לה' כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו פירוש בכל מצב שנמצאים בכל רוח שנמצאים צריכים להכיר ולהאמין שהכל לטובה. In any direction you might feel. Your forward, your backwards, your right, your left, your up, your down. We do that because however you feel you're being thrown, whichever direction you're being rattled, whichever direction you're shaking right now, it's all from Hashem. That's the statement, that's the affirmation, that's the meditation, it's a meditation. We unfortunately sometimes don't think of it that way. We think of it as I just gotta get it done, checkbox. Lulav ve'etrog check. It's back in the box and the bag, not broken, the pitom still on it, the top is still good. That's all I care about. Check, it's still kosher, good. But that's not what lulav ve'etrog is supposed to be, it's not what Sukkos is supposed to be. Judaism is a meditation. It's a meditation. It's close your eyes, ground and center yourself, enter some pnimiyus, think about the deeper meaning of what you're doing, shut out everything else that's happening, and for a moment be moved by what you're going to experience. Take that lulav ve'etrog, make that bracha, hold it upside down, make the bracha, turn it right side up, and then say הודו לה' כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו. Say that sentence, whether you're saying it in Hallel, which mostly men have the daled minim during davening are doing it during Hallel, and if you're not doing it during Hallel, a woman's taking the daled minim, volunteering to take the daled minim, still say that sentence. Say it with Hashem's name. הודו לה' כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו. For Hashem we're straight, all the other words adds up. There's a direction for each one. Hashem thrown in this way, I'm thrown in this way, I'm thrown this way, I'm thrown this way. However I'm thrown, you're with me. However I'm thrown, I surrender to you. However I'm thrown, I feel you by my side. Whatever way I'm thrown, whatever life will throw me today, that I expect or don't expect, that I know or don't know is coming. הודו לה' כי טוב because I know you're good. It's realized good or it's unrealized good. It's sweet, joyous good, Hashem hatov vehametiv or it's painful, unbearably good, but I know either way it's from you and it's good. ובכל זאת מוטל על אדם חובת התפילה ואינו סתירה לאמונה שהכל מאתו יתברך על צורך אדם לבקש מהקדוש ברוך הוא שיושיענו מצרותיו. לכן מנענעים גם פסוק אנא ה' הושיעה נא. We also shake when we get to the words אנא ה' הושיעה נא. Hashem save me. Ana, not enough words, so we have to אנא ה' הושיעה נא. We shake also, Hashem save me. מבקשים שייתן לנו הקדוש ברוך הוא חסדים מגולים שנראה בחוש שהכל לטוב. First we say Hashem, whatever direction I'm being thrown in, I know it's from you, I know it's for the good, even if it's painful right now, and I recognize it's from you. Good. Now that I did that, now I go אנא ה' הושיעה נא. Now that I said that, now that I believe that, could you help me get out of that? I know whatever's happening it's from you, it's for a reason, it's for a purpose, it's not random, it's not chance, it's carefully curated and choreographed from above. I know that and I'm demonstrating that and I'm actually showing that. But now that I've affirmed that, now that I've meditated on that, אנא ה' הושיעה נא, you mind getting me out of that? Get me out of that. Which is one of the things a lot of our emailers share with us. When you apply emuna you say hashlech al Hashem, I'm throwing all my problems on you, lighten my burden. Hashem I know whatever's happening right now it's not random, it's not chance, it's from you, it's from above. But Hashem with that, now that I know and I believe it's from you, get me out of it. Give me the strength to get through it. Show me the path how to get out of this. It's from you, I know you're the source and I know it's for a reason and I know it's for good. But now that I've acknowledged that and now that I affirm that, now get me out of that. And that's exactly what we're doing with the lulav ve'etrog. So shake it twice. Even if you're not doing it during Hallel. If you're doing it at home, you're doing it in your sukkah, you're doing it before davening or you're doing it after davening, once every direction, הודו לה' כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו, whichever way I'm being thrown, I know it's from you. Ki tov, ki tov, ki le'olam chasdo because everything from you is chessed. And then a second time, whichever direction I'm being thrown, get me out of it. אנא ה' הושיעה נא. אחר כך מנענעים פעם נוספת את הלולב ואז באנו full circle הודו לה' כי כך ייסדר אדם תפילתו שבח בקשה הודאה וכמו בתפילת שמונה עשרה שמתחילים שלוש ברכות ראשונות שהוא שבח אחר כך מתפלל על בקשות ולבסוף נותנים שוב הודאה ומודים לה'. In bracha achronos. Just like our Amidah, our Shmonei Esrei is made up of three parts: first praise, then our requests, then gratitude. So, הודו לשם כי טוב in each direction is praise, Hashem it's all from you. Then bakasha, ana Hashem hoshiana, save me. And then hodah, gratitude, הודו לשם כי טוב כי לעולם חסדו. So it's the hodah sandwich. Thank you in the beginning and thank you in the end. It's all from you and you're all good and I see the good in everything in the beginning and the end. And in the middle, ana Hashem hoshiana. Hashem, help me, Hashem, get me out of this. So shaking the lulav becomes an altogether different exercise. It's an altogether different experience. It's not a check mark. Shake lulav and esrog. Too many homes you grow up right, each of the kids, did you take lulav and esrog, did you shake, did you do it yet, you're running out of time, why didn't you do it yet, go take it, you got to take. It's not, that's not, that's not our attitude. It's not our posture, that shouldn't be our experience. Did you take it, did you do it, check, no check. Did you break it, did you put it back, were you careful? It's, okay, let's take it now. Chevra, mishpacha, family, kinderlach, einiklach, friends. Here's the kavana. Here's the kavana. Everybody. And if you're in shul, you have hundreds of men holding their lulav and esrogim, women if you want bring a dalet minim volunteer, do the mitzvah during Hallel too. And you see it's amazing. One year I gave a drasha and I described the na'anuim of the original flash mob. It's already out of style. You remember when flash mobs were like the in thing? Right, like in some public place all of a sudden one person would dance and then everybody choreographed and planned it and then everyone would you know, remember flash mobs? So na'anuim were the original flash mob. The whole shul choreog-, everyone together. It's an amazing thing. If you're not among them you've already davened and you're just watching and you see hundreds of people in sync. Should be a new Olympic event. We'd get the gold every time, geez. Lulav right, what do they call it, synchronized swimming? Synchronized na'anuim. We'd get the gold every time. But it's amazing. But it shouldn't just be everybody's doing it like don't poke the guy in front of you in the back of the head, don't poke the-. It should be there's a kavana, right? I feel I feel rattled. All over the shul there are people struggling, suffering, navigating challenging times. Whatever direction I'm being rattled, whatever direction I feel I'm being thrown, whatever direction I'm frustrated and struggling, הודו לשם כי טוב, it's all ki tov. ki le'olam chasdo because everything you do is chesed. The realized good and the yet unrealized good. Now I pause as a realist and I say ana Hashem hoshiana. Shake off of that. Hashem, you know the thing in front of me and to the right of me and to the left of me and behind me and above me and below me, all those problems everywhere, ana Hashem hoshiana, if you don't mind could you get me out of it? If you don't mind could you give me the strength to get through it? And then I come back to הודו לשם כי טוב. So it's a new kavana. Rav Gamliel gave us a new kavana for Succos this year for the dalet minim. It's true not only if you're listening to this on Succos, if Spotify made you listen to this in March. It's also a very beautiful idea that every direction that we face. And I hope it will enhance your Succos this year. Want to wish everyone a gut kvittel, a gut yohr, a gut yom tov, a chag sameach. Should be a yom tov. All the cooking and all the work and all the building the succah and all the assembling the lulav and esrog, don't put in all that work and all that effort and then arrive as a shmatta. We always give that on Pesach and it's true on Pesach, it's true on Succos too. Sit in the succah. The succah is the place of emuna. The succah is the tzel d'mehemnusa. Tzeila de'mehemnusa. You're sitting in the shade of Hashem. We leave the protection of our homes and we go expose ourselves to the elements and we say Hashem, I'm sitting under your shade. I'm feeling your embrace. The Chiddushei HaRim gives a d'var Torah every year in our succah. It's given, the Gra, chasidim, all the Rebbes, that the succah has to be made up of two walls and a little bit. To be a kosher succah you need two walls and a little bit. Why? Because your arm is one wall, two wall, and a little bit. The succah is the hug of Hashem. You go into the succah and he's giving you a hug. Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, teshuva mi-yirah, teshuva mi-yirah. Shaking in fear and awe and consequence. And now Succos is a hug. Come here, let's hug it out. Let's hug it out. Let's hug it out. I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I failed, I failed, I failed. Mistakes, mistakes, my mistakes. And Hashem says, we're all good. We're all good. You know, you have that friend you said you're sorry but you still sense there's something, a family member, you say are we all good? They don't even have to say anything, they just say come here, they give you a hug, and as you hear, someone in the shul every time I see him he gives me a hug, he says you have to be on this side. Why? Because your hearts have to be touching. You have to feel the hearts beating against each other. Can't hug on this side, you have to hug, Charlie, you have to hug on this side because your hearts have to be beating against each other. That's a hug. That's a hug. So Succos is the arms. Hashem says, you say Hashem, Rosh Hashanah... Rosh Hashana, Aseres Yimei T'shuva, Yom Kippur, Neilah, a little touch and go there, wasn't really all in it, didn't really pay attention to all of it, came a little bit late. I'm still pretty bitter and annoyed at you at certain things that you've done. Are we good? He says come sit in the sukka, come, come, a hug. Your heart, my heart, let them beat in sync, let them beat in sync. We're all good, come, let me give you a hug. That's Succos. So we should be zoche to feel the hug, we should be zoche to reciprocate the hug, we should be zoche to feel that we're all good with Hashem, he's all good with us, we're all good with our family, we're all good with our friends, everybody's been moichel one another, we're taking the four species, all kinds of Jews and we're holding them together, there's just achdus and love and good energy and good weather im yirtzeh Hashem to be able to sit outside in the sukka. Should be a beautiful and a great yom tov and we'll see you on the other side. For update on the schedule, join the WhatsApp group, make sure you're in the WhatsApp group for how you'll know the latest Ishay Ribo song, but be in the WhatsApp group for the schedule, bonus material and so on. Have a great yom tov everyone, stay happy, stay healthy, stay holy.
