Transcript
Good morning, good morning boker tov, may it be a good morning, it is a good morning, it should continue to be a good morning. I want to thank our first of all it's fantastic to be back together again. I got emails and texts where people thought I retired, I resigned, I was fired, why wouldn't we have shiur. Baruch Hashem I was in Israel last week that's why we didn't have shiur but we're back and please God it'll be a gezunte vinta a fantastic winter together of learning and growing and being able to hear and experience and celebrate only good news. Emuna series is generously sponsored by Dr. Avi and Bella Morgen in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut in memory of Bella's mother Dr. Ellen Shantz and this morning is sponsored by the Sadaski family le'ilui nishmas Rabbi Gershon ben Aaron Sadaski, by Sharon Perez for Hashem and his amazing rachamim and kindness in this world, Jessica Falman and Yoav Gluck with much appreciation for the Emuna lifeline all the way from San Francisco, all the way from the West Coast. Hopefully they're sleeping right now. So all the way from San Francisco a big thank you to all those who sponsored. Also, I want to share one of our listeners from Lakewood, New Jersey has a hobby of making Emuna products, Emuna magnet and little Emuna cards with Emuna messages that come out, shared a couple samples with me, if anybody would like please take, please order more, I don't know where you order, bitachoncards.com. Check out bitachoncards.com. Who doesn't need magnets and cards and reminders that there's an amazing Hashem? So check it out, big thank you bitachoncards.com. As we always do we'll begin with a few letters and emails and then we'll get into a new limud, something I want to learn with you this morning, which actually comes from our parsha but it's not relevant only to our parsha. So if you're listening to this Spotify decided you should listen to this not on Parshas Lech Lecha, still don't turn the channel, don't turn the podcast, still worthwhile to listen. But first a few letters. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, I've been listening to the Emuna podcast on Spotify for about a year now. It's been life-changing, blah blah blah blah. Today I was Baruch Hashem zocheh to the warmest and most comforting hug from Hashem. We always talk about the hug from Hashem, the wink from Hashem, the hug from Hashem, when things happen don't simply say what a coincidence, how random chance, say wow thank you Hashem you just gave me a hug. A little wink, a little reminder you're there and that you love me. So today this person was zocheh to a warm comforting hug. Thanks to the podcast I've been making an effort to really notice and acknowledge those winks and hugs throughout my day. Today was truly incredible and also such an example of how Hashem truly prepares the refuah before the makka, Hashem makes the solution even before the problem. For many many months our family's been struggling financially to the point where we question each week if we'll be able to afford groceries. And we daven for this family and any family who's struggling in that way, for those who don't have to look at their bank account, their balance before they go shopping, be grateful each and every day. It's not a given. It's not a given and it may feel like everyone is that way, they're not. Many are looking at their balance every day before they can choose when to shop, if to shop and how much to shop for and we daven that everybody have overflowing balances, shefa bracha, that people can enjoy in bounty and without worry. For many months our family's been struggling financially to the point where each week we question our ability to afford groceries. Today I sat down to plan our budget for the next two weeks and I found out that after meeting our bills and even after slashing our grocery budget by 75 percent we would still need to be in the red, we would still be in the red by over 300 dollars. I reached out to my husband to update him and ask him if he knew of someone we could borrow some money from so we could make ends meet and lo and behold he told me he already has a job set up, he's a freelance photo and videographer for the next day that should be able to get us by. When I heard I burst into tears of gratitude and was moved to daven Mincha, which is not something I usually make the time to do. Hashem is so incredibly kind and always takes care of us even when we're not aware of it. What a warm hug it was that he gave me the gift of being able to see it so clearly today, putting my mind to rest for at least the next couple of weeks. Hashem should continue to give you the koach and resources to continue to do what you do for the community and for all Klal Yisrael at large. Somebody from the United States of America, I won't even mention which city or what area, what region, what time zone. Now why is this email remarkable? The email's remarkable because it's remarkable. The email's remarkable because it's not remarkable. This is an ordinary person living an ordinary life in an ordinary place and nobody who knows her knows she sent this email or that she's remarkable. That's number one why it's remarkable because it's ordinary. Number two it's remarkable because what a beautiful ability to recognize the hug, the wink, gratitude from Hashem, it worked out, peace of mind for two weeks, thank you Hashem. Here's why it's really remarkable. If I had to live a life where I had to check my balance to know whether I could go shopping and lived in the red and with fear and all I had was a runway of two weeks, I might be angry at Hashem. I wouldn't feel a wink or a hug, I'd feel a patch and a punch. I'd say where are you Hashem? Why can't we turn the corner? Why can't we live in prosperity? Why can't we have enough of a cushion to live comfortably? Why can't we know we have what we need for six months? Why only for two weeks? But this person is choosing. That's why yes we learn in the shiur but we're also learning from the emails because the emails themselves are such a powerful lesson. This woman is choosing, choosing to not feel it's a punch or a patch from Hashem but to feel it's a hug and a wink from Hashem. Hashem for whatever reason it's best for us we're doing our best and yet we live on a very tight budget. Shoestring budget. We don't know necessarily where our groceries are coming from but Hashem here where I thought we were 300 in the red, we're going to have to borrow money, we're going to have to scratch and scramble, we don't know how we're going to get by and lo and behold my husband says you just sent him another job for tomorrow. We'll be fine for two more weeks. Thank you Hashem. I feel the love and I love you back. That's a choice. Make no mistake that's a choice of how to live life. You could be a victim. You could be a victim and a martyr. You could be a kvetcher and a moaner. You could complain or you could be grateful and you could seek the relationship and you could feel a hug and you could feel a wink and you could have two weeks' runway to figure out the next two weeks. And that's why this is a powerful powerful email. Thank you for sending it. Thank you for writing it. I hope you're well. I thoroughly enjoy the emuna shiur all the way from England. I want to share I will I will spare you reading the rest of the email in my British accent. I want to share how much your shiur I'm tempted I'm tempted but I'm not confident enough in it. I do a great Joe Lansberg but not necessarily all British people. I want to share how much your shiurim helped me and completely changed yada yada. My husband was offered a job which he was perfect for and the extra money definitely would have helped us. For various reasons the job didn't end up working out and I could have been angry at the way the company behaved toward my husband or upset that we are now not going to have the increase in parnassa which we thought we would. But honestly didn't think that for a second. Thanks to the way the shiurim have changed my thinking all I thought was it's simply not where Hashem wants my husband to spend his time and efforts and we're simply not meant to get that extra money. I actually feel hakarat hatov to Hashem for helping us dodge a bullet as it clearly was not the right job for him. Thank you again. Now this email and I know you know that I love these emails. This email doesn't end P.S. and the next day he got a different job and it's a better job and I'm so happy that. She doesn't know yet how it's going to work out. He doesn't have the other job yet. She is choosing the fact that he didn't get that job to say thank you Hashem. You closed that door, you'll open another. That wasn't where he was meant to be, you'll open another door. Make no mistake, this is a choice. Happiness is a choice. Emuna is a choice. You don't wake up, you can't, today we live in a day and age Baruch Hashem in many ways you could take a pill, you could take a shot, you could no longer have to struggle or make choices. It's easy for us. Hashem, there's no emuna shot that I know of yet. If you're working on it, let me know, I want in. But there's no emuna pill, there's no emuna shot, there's no emuna medicine. You can't simply get emuna because you just swallow something. It takes work and it's a choice and it's a decision. That last email and this email are written by people who are making the choice. Instead of feeling bitter and miserable and angry and where and why and then another job fell through and I can't believe it. This door closed because it's not where he's meant to be. There is a bigger plan in place. We'll wait to see on this adventure how it turns out. Thank you Hashem. I know nothing is a coincidence. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, I want to thank you for the emuna shiurim blah blah blah. I once heard that whatever you choose to listen to when you're cooking becomes part of the food you cook. I decided I'm going to do my best to listen to shiurim on Torah and emuna when I cook for Shabbos so I can feed emuna to my family and guests. Isn't that beautiful? Nothing wrong with listening to music or other things. Don't feel guilty or ashamed if you do. But if you listen to a little devar Torah, you don't have to listen to the whole shiur, but a little bit, you're also putting it in the food. The Imrei Pinchas, Rav Pinchas of Koretz writes that explicitly. That's the beracha metzuya be'isa he writes. That when Rivka, when Yitzchak takes Rivka into the tent of his mother and now the candle returns and the good taste of the challah returns and it all returns, what does that mean? The dough was in the freezer from Sarah? What does it mean that her challah was still there? What does that mean? What does that mean? So the Imrei Pinchas, Rav Pinchas of Koretz says what it means is the same way Sarah was able to cook into the recipe not only a physical food, but there's spirituality. That's what we believe, we imbibe spirituality in the food that we eat. I don't want to go on too much of a tangent, but the Ramban writes non-kosher food has first of all a person is imbibing the attributes, the character traits of those animals that Hashem said not to eat. So for example birds of prey, those birds that are predator birds we don't eat, those are non-kosher, because we don't want to imbibe predator characteristics and attributes. So non-kosher food is not just some arbitrary yes and no and condition ourselves to live on a good diet. There are also attributes and skills that a person is absorbing or imbibing by eating and by tasting. And the opposite is also true. When we have good thoughts while we're cooking, when we're listening to good things. If a person's on the phone, AirPods, while they're cooking, while they're baking, while they're making their challah and they're sharing the juiciest, greatest lashon hara. latest lashon hara, then that challah has the poison of lashon hara. And if a person is making phone calls to wish people a gut shabbos who don't get phone calls, I'm thinking of you, I'm checking in on you, how are you, then that challah has the energy of chesed and love and Avas Yisroel. And if you're listening to Torah, if you're working on emuna, the challah, the kugel, it's that's the taste. That's the taste that the Gemara has all story about Shabbos that when food is made for Shabbos, there's an ingredient, there's a different taste than that same food made during the week. Anyway, back to this. This is a personal story I've been debating sharing for a while but I feel it's worth it if there's a chance it will give chizuk to even one person. When I got married a few years ago, I struggled with infertility. After many months of treatment of physical, emotional, and spiritual pain, I finally got pregnant and gave birth to a healthy child. Baruch Hashem. I was surprised then when around a year after my baby was born it seemed I was expecting again. And naturally this time. But it was evident right from the onset that something was wrong with the pregnancy. I quickly made an appointment with a doctor and was told they couldn't seem to locate the pregnancy in the ultrasound. I knew what this meant. It was a pregnancy of unknown location. It was either a miscarriage or an ectopic pregnancy, which is rare and could be extremely dangerous. As I waited for the doctor to come back and explain the options, I felt a mix of emotions. Firstly, I was grateful to Hashem that I had gotten pregnant naturally, something I hadn't been able to do before. For me this was a glimmer of hope showing me that Hashem was holding my hand and maybe someday in the future I'd have a healthy child without interventions. Secondly, I had emuna on my mind thanks to the shiurim and I instantly recognized this as an opportunity to tap into the realization that whatever happens is completely out of my hands and Hashem is in control. He put me into this situation and knows what's best for me. And with that, while I was sitting in the chair waiting for the doctor to return, I began reciting Mizmor L'Sodah, thanking Hashem for giving me the opportunity to connect with Him and see Him through the pain. Can you imagine? We have mizmorum of Tehillim which are all about Hashem, I'm being crushed, I'm in pain, I'm miserable, you know, יענך השם בעת צרה, hear me in a time of distress. And then we have a Mizmor L'Sodah. Hashem, thank you. A lot of people are saying Mizmor L'Sodah this morning. We'll talk about that in a moment. Hashem, I see Your hand, I'm grateful that You answered consistent with what I wanted. Mizmor L'Sodah, a mizmor of thanksgiving. This woman in the room, when she found out that her pregnancy was going to be terminated or wasn't viable to begin with, doesn't say יענך השם בעת צרה. Doesn't say Hashem where are You, how could You? Says Mizmor L'Sodah. Thank You, Hashem, now I know I can get pregnant naturally and thank You from saving me from what could have been a lethal pregnancy. An ectopic pregnancy could kill the mother. In the end the pregnancy did end, but thank God it ended on its own and it was a regular miscarriage instead of something could have been highly complex and potentially life-threatening. And although I wish I had a happy ending with some flowery feel-good hashgacha, I don't. I've had more miscarriages since and I am thrust back into the infertility world once again. But one thing I've learned from the shiurim by life in general is the ability to let go and let God. And while I still am in pain and I feel the pain daily, I know Hashem had my best interest in mind and that fortifies me with a sense of calm throughout this ordeal. It's a new year and imirtzah Hashem it should be a year filled with mazal, bracha, hatzlacha, and besoros tovos. I can't wait to write back soon with the flowery feel-good ending we all love. Thanks million for everything you do for Klal Yisrael. This person and all those who are waiting should be blessed immediately, should hear besoros tovos good news and dance at simchas and please God only the best. Okay, one more quickly and then we'll get into the learning. Again, this third email, person is choosing sitting in a doctor's office, more miscarriages, infertility since then. Could be woe is me and why me and a victim and miserable and negative and the negative energy breeds negativity and negative results. And the positive and the hope and the optimism it brings about, we create the energy and the reality. These are three people, not coincidentally women, who are choosing to live with emuna. Again, it doesn't—no pill you could swallow. They are choosing to look at their life and see Hashem. Last one. Dear Rabbi, I felt a very strong pull to send you this email as I truly believe that listening to your shiurim I overcame a big challenge. A couple of weeks ago I went to a midwife appointment of twenty-eight of pregnancy. When I got to the appointment the midwife couldn't find the baby's heartbeat. She then continued to call in a different midwife who brought a different machine, they still could not find the baby's heartbeat. I was beside myself. And when I asked her if the baby had died she told me she couldn't reassure me but had to take me to a different unit to get a scan. On my way to the new unit I called my husband and told him he had to come because they could not find a heartbeat. I then continued to tell Hashem that if He was to give me a heartbeat for my baby, I would pledge 180—I don't know what this symbol is. Euro. What do they use in England? Pound? Pounds, Euro, pounds. I very quickly changed my words and reassured God whatever the outcome I'd give the money. Thank God not long after I was able to be seen by a different doctor who reassured me there was a heartbeat. Thank God everything was okay. I felt so relieved and so grateful to Hashem for the outcome. What was more of a hug from God than ever before was when I went to pick up some prescription from the pharmacy, I was given a ticket to wait until my prescription was ready. The number on the ticket 613. I couldn't stop crying because I never felt Him more in my life and this is due to all the help through all the sharing of the shiurim thank you for everything. A meaningful fast this was before Yom Kippur. Baruch Hashem we ended that one that had a positive ending. Im yirtzeh Hashem the pregnancy is continuing or a healthy baby has been born. Mazal tov we should continue to hear only good things and happy things and wonderful things. It's a choice. In those moments we have a choice. I had the privilege of being in Israel last week and it was another extraordinary trip and I wrote an article you can read about the hospital visits and the shiva calls that I did and the soldiers that I met with and there's a lot to say. I had the zechus to attend the Brody bris where's Mrs. Brody? Mazal tov in Karmei Gat, Kiryat Gat, what's it called? Karmei Gat where they live. Wonderful. I was going from Yerushalayim took me 45 minutes to get there. I had a very exciting appointment afterwards, somebody I was really looking forward to spending time with, and then the highway didn't move. And what should have taken me 45 minutes took two and a half hours and kept me running late and late and later to this exciting opportunity and appointment. And so I just sat in the car in traffic that wasn't moving and I said, "Hey buddy, you give the emunah shiur, what are you doing?" Take a few deep breaths and realize this is where Hashem wants you to be. And what's the big deal? You miss it, it gets delayed, the person waiting, it was no problem, and we had a great time and it was all as it often is no big deal. But for those two and a half hours it didn't feel like no big deal. You're looking at the clock, you're looking at the traffic, you're looking at Waze, you're looking at the, what's it called on the side of the highway you're not supposed to go on? You're looking at the shoulder. And you could either, I'll tell you this: being anxious and worried and angry and miserable and resentful and bitter won't open up the traffic. So instead put on some music, put on a podcast, listen to a shiur, enjoy the fact that it's still the middle of the night in America so no one's bothering you, your phone is quiet, and just lean into the peace and quiet you have in the car for that time. Those are the choices. So whether it's something insignificant like unexpected traffic, unexpected traffic, and it was worth it, well worth it to go to the bris. I would do it again ten out of ten times. It was well worth it. But you're stuck in traffic, or God forbid these much more significant situations, it is a choice that we make, it's a decision how we want to live our life. A victim, a martyr, passive spectator, miserable, negative, pessimistic, or grateful, finding even if it's a kernel. This woman with the miscarriage, "I'm grateful I've learned that I can get pregnant naturally. I'm grateful I avoided what could have been a lethal pregnancy with a horrible, horrible conclusion." There are nuggets, kernels, seeds, opportunities we can find always something to be grateful, something to extract, some positivity, that's a decision that we make. There's a pasuk in our parsha. And again it's not, whenever you're listening to this, it's not a parsha shiur, it's an emunah shiur. Oh before I get to this one other comment. One other comment. A lot of people are ecstatic this morning, the result of the election last night. And while I have strong opinions and feelings and davened and do daven, I will never speak from the pulpit or publicly because I don't think that's a rabbi's responsibility. In fact I think it's a misuse and abuse of the pulpit to weigh in politically. We talk about what we should care about and the issues we should care about and where our passions should be and how a person then concludes that should be applied is their choice. That's not my job. I don't believe in that. Aside from risking our 501(c)(3), I don't believe in that. I don't believe in that. I too am very optimistic and hopeful and positive that hostages will come home and that a threat from Iran, Iran might be a little more nervous and quaking in its boots, and that an economy might turn around and that Israel's wars might end and that peace with Saudi Arabia may result, and there's a whole list of things one could be incredibly optimistic and hopeful and grateful for this morning. But I want to remind and caution everybody, and a lesson that we should have learned over the last four and eight years, if not over all of history, is הממליך מלכים ולו המלוכה. Hashem coronates kings, but He is the only royalty, He has all the kingship. לב מלכים ביד השם. I think that the great people of our history and the great people of our present regulate their emotions. When something doesn't go their way, they don't get too depressed or despondent and too fatalistic that this means it's the end and it's a disaster and it's going to destroy because they realize, you know what? Hashem's in charge. And conversely when something does go their way, they don't announce, "This is it!" And it's Moshiach and everything's amazing and now I understand why and this person, to be a person of faith, to be a Yid, to be a person of Emuna and Bitachon is to have a calm and a tranquility and the serenity that Emuna provides, that I did my Hishtadlus. I voted, I campaigned, I argued, I persuaded, I did what I could do because that's my job. But now, even when it went my way, I'm cautiously optimistic. You know, I don't know whether it was a joke or it was serious, there was a group, one of the Minyanim, they say should they say Hallel? Hallel? You say Hallel after a miracle. We have no idea what's about to happen. We think we know, we're hopeful or optimistic with what will be, we believe it will be better than what might have been or the alternative. And when I say we, I don't mean everybody, I'm not speaking for everybody, many, many think. But if there's one word to describe where we're going, it's unpredictable. And so anyone who could enter a zone of unpredictability with complete confidence has no faith in who's really in charge. One thing we've known. So I just feel such an incredible fear, worry, that particularly the frum community, who it's almost a moment that's a test for us. Be grateful, express gratitude if you feel it, not everybody does, if or those who feel it, be grateful to Hashem. Say Mizmor L'Sodah in your Tefillah, say thank you Hashem. Keep it going as far as we see and I hope this tracks in the direction that I'm hoping for and that we need. Be grateful, don't don't be, express gratitude. But be only cautiously optimistic. Don't have complete confidence, don't put faith in people. We say it every day in our Davening, Al tivtechu binedivim. Don't trust, don't put your faith in elected officials, in princes, in royalty. Don't put your faith. Of course, we develop relationships, we lobby, we hope, we support, we guide, we encourage. Of course, that's the way of the world, that's the world that Hashem put us in. One thousand percent. I last night was texting, I'm grateful to be able to text our congressman, I'm so glad that he won, he's outstanding, Jared Moskowitz has been phenomenal on Israel. We may agree, disagree on everything else, but on Israel, he's been fantastic. And our senator is amazing and anyone with whom I have the privilege, Richie Torres, I expressed enormous gratitude and hope and faith and encouragement to them. But a frum Yid says that's how I live down here, that's my responsibility down here, but only a piece of me is down here, my shoresh neshama's up there. Where I really live is up there. הממליך מלכים ולו המלוכה. Hashem decides the outcomes of elections, but He is the King. He is the King. He is the Kingmaker and He is the King and don't ever, ever, ever forget it. Don't get confused about it. Al tivtechu binedivim. We have to operate down here, that's the world He put us in. We live in, we work, we operate, we're grateful, we're hopeful, fantastic. But we're talking mere mortals, unpredictable mere mortals, forces and variables we have no idea what's going to happen in the world. And therefore, simultaneously we continue to operate down here, but where we really focus is up there. Where we really לב מלכים ביד השם. The next decisions that will be made, appointments that will be made, policies that will be made, they're coming from above. They're coming from above and that's the place of our faith and that's the place that we put our trust. That is what a Jew does. So a Jew regulates their emotions. I would have said this today, whatever the outcome of last night. If it went in a different direction, I would have said relax, don't cry, don't tear kria, don't sit shiva. Whatever the outcome, and maybe for those, that's what they're doing today. Again, I'm not assuming where a person fits or falls on this issue, I'm just speaking to what the polls show or the majority at least of the Orthodox, of the Orthodox community. A Jew of faith, a person of Emuna, has regulated emotions. We don't become too depressed or despondent when we think it didn't go our way because we know He's in charge and because we don't know His plan. And we don't become too gleeful and overjoyed when we think it did go our way because we don't know His plan. We're regulated. We express our gratitude, we're cautiously hopeful and optimistic, and we put all of our trust in Him. Shane, I said enough. I hope I didn't get in any trouble. Our parsha introduced to Avraham Avinu, our forefather, a great patriarch, Magen Avraham. We spoke yesterday in the parsha shiur there's an Avraham inside each and every one of us, that's the bracha, Magen Avraham, Hashem shielded Avraham. How did Hashem protect the Avraham in us? There's an Avraham in us. If you don't, and it connects to what we just said, if you're a person who gets too depressed, too scared, too anxious, too nervous, have too little If you can, because Koh Yihiye Zar'acha, your children are going to be like the stars in the sky. Now what does that mean? I don't want to get too distracted by this, I'll just tell you what the great Lubliner, the great Rosh Yeshiva of Lublin, the founder of the Daf Yomi, Reb Meir Shapiro said on this pasuk. Koh Yihiye Zar'acha. I said this in a shiur on Succos of why we look through the schach and see the stars. Why seeing the stars is very important for a Jew. The succah we go outside we look up and we see the stars. A chuppah, a couple's getting married, outside under the sky, under the stars. Some are more or less careful, it's not always easy. I went to a wedding in Detroit several years ago in the winter. The chuppah was outside, I am not exaggerating, I kid you not, there were icicles hanging from the chuppah. That was my first ice bath. There were icicles hanging... I got it in, took 26 minutes, I got it in. Icicles hanging from the chuppah. So we are people go outside and look up at the stars. And there's all kinds of answers. Is it the stars? Is it the sand? Why do we need multiple metaphors? What is this promise and bracha? I just want to tell you Reb Meir Shapiro. Reb Meir Shapiro said Hashem tells Avram go outside look up at the stars because Koh Yihiye Zar'acha, thus shall be your children. Anyone else would have gone outside and looked up and said one second. Have you ever googled or maybe you just know it? You don't need Google. Do you know how many stars there are in the sky? Not millions, not billions, not trillions. There's an insane amount of galaxies and cosmos and stars. If you spend the rest of your life every hour counting, you'll never make a dent. You'll never scratch the surface of counting how many stars. So what would you do if you were given a task that you couldn't make any headway in? You'd say, it's a waste of time, forget about it. Thanks but no thanks. What does Avram Avinu do? One, two, three, four, ten, 20, 100, 200. He counts. And Koh Yihiye Zar'acha. Avram makes the impossible possible. He takes on the task that everybody says can never happen. And that's what he instilled in us. Koh Yihiye Zar'acha. Avram, your offspring will absorb that ability to make the impossible possible. Do you know how long American scientists, physicists worked on creating the Iron Dome, a system that could project the velocity and the trajectory of a missile and blow it out of the sky? Couldn't do it. The world scientists said couldn't do it. And the Jewish scientists in Israel said we did it. We're done. And we've moved on from the Iron Dome to the Arrow, and now we've developed our space laser that everyone's been suspecting us of. You know, they're rolling out the laser that will be infinitely cheaper and more accurate, and you could just aim the laser at the projectile and blow it out of the and blow it out of the sky. And all of these things, just this week they took out another deputy, the chief of staff, another leader in Hezbollah that America had a bounty on his head for millions of dollars. America, the great empire of the world, has been chasing some of these villains for a decade or decades, offering millions. And Israel, who knew where they were all along, just the time needed to be right, said yeah we took care of this one and that one and the other one, and no problem. And the pagers. Koh Yihiye Zar'acha. And that word Koh we see it throughout the Torah. ואני והנער נלכה עד כה. On the way to the Akeida, he leaves Yishmael and the donkey and Avram says that the lad and I, that leaves Eliezer, and says that Yitzchak and I we're going Ad Koh, we're going to our destination. Nelcha Ad Koh, we're going to Koh. What's the bracha the Kohanim give? כה תברכו את בני ישראל. Whenever you see that word Koh, Koh Yihiye Zar'acha. This capacity, this ability to make the impossible possible, to do what other people think can't ever happen, that is the Jewish people. Our existence is a miracle. Our existence defies all the rules of nature and history. Our existence is against all odds because we are the people who go outside and start looking up and counting the stars. There's nothing that's impossible if we want to do it. Koh Yihiye Zar'acha. So Avram goes outside and he starts to count. And that's what our people are doing right now. And how does Hashem react? והאמין בה' ויחשבה לו לצדקה. This is פרק ט"ו פסוק ו', the end of Chamishi Parshas Lech Lecha, but again you can listen that relevant only to Lech Lecha. Hashem says, He'emin Ba'Hashem, Torah says, and he trusted in Hashem, He'emin Ba'Hashem, he had emunah in Hashem, Vayachsheveha Lo Litzdakah, and he reckoned it to him as righteousness. Vayachsheveha Lo Litzdakah. Avram had a lot of emunah in Hashem, and he considered it a great tzedakah that he had a lot of emunah. Who's the he? We got... Who's the he considered him? Hashem considered Avram's Emunah a really nice thing? A kind gesture? An act of righteousness and charity? Or is it Avram Vayachsheveha lo litzdakah? Avram considered Hashem doing tzedakah for him? What's going on over here? What's going on over here? So this is a machloket Rashi and Ramban. Rashi says God considered Avram's faith an act of righteousness. Hashem says really you believe in me? Really? You actually went outside and started counting? You trust me? You believe in me? Wow! Yashar Koach! Thank you very much, that means a lot. Wow, I can't believe you have Emunah. Wow, that's really nice to hear, that's really nice to know. And the Ramban says excuse me, are you kidding me? Avram's Emunah has already been established. Avram who already fulfilled the test of Lech Lecha. Avram who fought the four and five kings. Avram who's overcome all these tests. Avram has been in conversation with God. Now Hashem says oh you believe in me, that's such a nice tzedakah you're doing for me. Says the Ramban that makes no sense. That makes no sense. Now? Now Hashem says I know you believe in me? He's been demonstrating that Emunah, that belief all along. How can that make sense? So the Ramban flips it and said and the Ramban says that actually Avram was the one who says Vayachsheveha lo litzdakah. Hashem your promise to give me children, that's a tzedakah, that's a kindness. So how do you read the pasuk? Says the Ramban, Vehe'emin baHashem. Avram believed in Hashem and he articulated that belief by saying to Hashem Vayachsheveha lo litzdakah that the fact that you just promised me children, that's such a nice kind, I'm unworthy, I'm undeserving, it's amazing you're promising it anyway. Thank you so much for that. Thank you so much for that gift. Thank you for that. But the Ramban is right in his question on Rashi. What's going on over here? It's a tzedakah to believe in Hashem? Like that's the basics of life. It's the foundation of life. It's the ABCs of life. That we're in a belief in Hashem, we're in a relationship with Hashem, we trust in Hashem, there is a Hashem. So what a strange, what a strange thing that Hashem considers it so kind, so nice, so praiseworthy of Avram. Oh it's so nice that you have Emunah. What do you mean it's nice? That's your job. You know a parent, I don't know whatever for the child, thank you that's amazing, yeah that's your job. The spouse, the whatever, like our job is to have Emunah in Hashem, to live a life where we see and feel and believe in Hashem, Vayachsheveha lo litzdakah. Where's the tzedakah in it and how does that make sense? Everybody talks about it, everybody gets into this. So I'm not sure which one to start with before we get to the source sheet. I want to share with you an insight of the Nachlat Yehoshua of Yehoshua Heschel Ephrati who was a chassid a talmid of the Ohev Yisrael of the Apta Rav. And in his Nachlat Yehoshua and he says the following. He says the word Vehe'emin baHashem. What does the word Vehe'emin baHashem? That which Hashem considers it so nice, so praiseworthy, so wonderful is it that he had Emunah? Vehe'emin? He says שבאמת היה צריך לכתוב ויאמין בה' והאמין הוא לשון שהפעיל את האחרים. It doesn't say Avram had Emunah in Hashem. That's not what the word Vehe'emin baHashem means. Vaya'amin baHashem means that Avram had Emunah. He demonstrated faith and belief and trust in Hashem. But that's not what it says. What it says is Vehe'emin baHashem. What is Vehe'emin baHashem? Vehe'emin baHashem means he instilled faith in others. He lived a life that he instilled faith. Hifil et ha'acherim. וביאור שאברהם אבינו הכניס אמונתו בכל דורותיו אחריו שגם המה יאמין בה'. He didn't just keep it to himself. He didn't live it to himself. It wasn't a private faith. He was proud. He was practicing. He shared it. He inspired it. He modeled it. And he influenced others with it. His children certainly when they finally came, but until then הנפש אשר עשו בחרן, the souls that he created in Charan. We live in a world in which some people are you know they mumble the brachah, they cover their mouth, they take off their yarmulke, they tuck in their tzitzis, they don't want to talk about God. They don't want to offend others by bringing God into the conversation. But what Avram did is he didn't stop talking about God. And he ultimately transformed the world into ethical monotheism. If you look carefully at the Rambam, the Rambam writes this. We make the mistake, the misconception of saying Avram introduced monotheism to the world. But that's wrong. It's inaccurate. It's inaccurate. True there was widespread paganism beforehand. True many worshipped idols contemporary to him. But Avram's not the first to discover God. Adam Harishon talks to God and his children talk to God. Noach talks to God and makes a mizbe'ach and an offering to God. Shem, Cham and Yephes. We have Yeshivas Shem Ve'Ever. They have Yeshivas. Yeshiva Shem Ve'Ever, Yaakov goes to learn it. There are many who knew there was one God. So why is Avram the founder of our people? Av Hamon Goyim, Avraham Ha'ivri, Magen Avraham, Elokei Avraham, why is Avram our founding father? Because everybody else who believes in God had a relationship with God, kept it to themselves. They kept it to themselves. It was a private matter, separation of religion and state, church and state. They kept it to themselves, it was a private matter. In their house they closed the door, they lowered the shades, a beracha, a davening, an offering to Hashem. But Avram's the first and he puts up a soapbox and he climbs on top of it and he gets a megaphone and he says, hey chevre, hey world, do you know that you're not the all end all and be all? There's a God, there's a controller, there's a source of existence. Do you know that there's a being, a bigger being, and he needs us and he wants us to mold and shape his world? Stop being so self-centered, stop being so egotistical, stop caring only about the pursuit of your pleasure. Open your tent on four sides like mine is. Welcome and warm and change and transform this world because if you really believe in God, you love all of his children. You're not going to rob and steal, you're not the Tower of Bavel that you're going to want to make a name, but you want to do and live on a mission for God. Everyone else kept it to themselves, then Avram says separation, shmeparation. Forget any separation. We need to pray, proud. We need to talk, we need to practice. We need the world to know that our business dealings, not to indoctrinate and not to offend and not to overwhelm others, but that there's nothing wrong with saying, excuse me I want to take this drink, I just need to make a blessing and thank God for the privilege of being able to drink this Diet Coke, this Diet Peach Snapple, this cup of coffee. Thank you. And the other person's not going to be, oh now I can't do this deal, you're fired. The person's going to go, wow, every time you drink you, every time you eat something you pause and you acknowledge where it comes from and you're grateful you have it, you can digest it, you can eliminate it, and you say yeah, you don't? Let me teach you how. Let me teach you how. Avram stood up on a soapbox. And that's what Hashem, vayecheshveha lo litzdaka, what Hashem said thank you, that's really righteous is not the belief. That's, would you go up to someone and say thank you for breathing? Thank you for, it's so nice of you to breathe. Nice of me to breathe? I can't live without breathing. It's spontaneous. I don't, what do you mean? I'm not alive if I don't breathe. So living with emuna is breathing, spiritually. Hashem doesn't have to thank us, that's not going above and beyond, that's not considered tzedaka. What's the vayecheshveha lo litzdaka is that Avram goes. ואפשר לומר ביאור לדבריו הקדושים. Now the Amaros Tehoros De'Rachmistrivka says, let me unpack that. כיצד פעל והכניס אברם אמונה זו בדורותיו ולעתיד לבוא? How did Avram instill this emuna not only into his contemporaries in that generation, but the generations that are to come? When I visited Hadassah Hospital, soldiers covered in burns because Hezbollah opened the gas in a home knowing those soldiers were coming and the first bolt they fired made the home explode. And these soldiers are sitting there, by the way now, miluimnikim, reservists, three, four, five children at home. Second, third round serving. And they're not bitter and angry. They're talking about Hashem, Baruch Hashem, Am Yisrael Chai, we're going to win, Geula, everyone has to come live here. Where did that emuna come from? Where does that emuna come from? The emails I read, the four emails I read this morning, three out of them don't have that good ending, yet. Where does that emuna come from to say Mizmor Lesoda and thank you Hashem? בעת ההיא עדיין לא נולד לאברם בנים והקדוש ברוך הוא הבטיחו שיהיו לו בנים ואברם היה לו אמונה בהבטחת הקדוש ברוך הוא שיהיה לו בנים וביד אמונה זו הכניס אמונה בבניו בני ישראל. Because Hashem promised Avram he was going to have children, he didn't have children at that point, but Avram lived as if they were already there. Avram lived a life that you couldn't help but see his faith. And he instilled and he imbued within us, it's in our DNA, we have that capacity, the faith. כל מה שאנחנו מאמינים בהשם יתברך הכל מכוחו של אברהם אבינו. All that faith comes from him, כמו שהיה רגיל לומר במה שכתוב בספר התניא. The holy Baal Hatanya writes שאפילו אנשים הפשוטים יש להם אמונה. The most simple Jew, the most simple Jew when their back is against a wall, the most simple Jew who claims they're an agnostic or even an atheist, when push comes to shove, when they're in that foxhole, if they're asked to give and pay that ultimate sacrifice, the Baal Hatanya writes how the most simple, simple Jew, you don't have to know shas b'al peh, you don't have to know Talmud by heart, you don't have to have worked out all the complicated evidence for God's existence, the most simple... The most simple Jew intuits, the most simple Jew has in their kishkas, the most simple Jew knows the truth inherently, instinctively, that there's a Hashem. שמנצנץ בהם אותו נקודה מאברהם אבינו להאמין בהשם. The Pintele Yid זהו ירושה מאברהם אבינו וכן ראו בכל מצב ומקשה בשעת המלחמה. This has been the Jewish story throughout history. How do we survive expulsions and exiles and pogroms and a Holocaust and Jews going to the gas chamber with the word Shma Yisrael? The same Jew who had cast off the yoke of Torah and Mitzvos in the gas chamber is singing Ani Ma'amin, Shma Yisrael. Where does that come from? Because Magen Avraham, Hashem has preserved within us the Avrohom Avinu. How and why? Because that's how Avrohom lived. Avrohom didn't just live for himself, he tried to teach and spread, he made emuna viral. Make emuna great again. He made emuna viral. He made emuna viral. It was a movement. Avrohom didn't keep it to himself, he didn't hide it, he wasn't apologetic about it, he wasn't defensive for it, he wasn't ashamed of it, Avrohom made emuna great again. Made emuna great for the first time. That was mega. Yeah. Now he made it for the first time. He made it for the first time. He made emuna viral. He made emuna go viral. He was the influencer of his time. He made emuna popular. And through that, he instilled it in us, in our hard and difficult circumstances. What I really wanted to get to... start the first sentence. And then return the sheets, we'll bring them back again next week. Vayachsheveha lo tzedaka, this is the Tiferes Shmuel, Tiferes Shmuel written by Rav Shmuel Berenbaum. It's not written by him, by his students. Rav Shmuel Berenbaum was the Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir in Brooklyn. Vayachsheveha lo tzedaka, הקדוש ברוך הוא חשב לאברהם הזכות לצדקה על אמונה שהאמין בו. Hashem was so grateful and he credited Avrohom and he was grateful to Avrohom. It's so nice, so kind, so above and beyond that you choose to have emuna in me. To which the Ramban, as we mentioned, asked, תמה הרמב"ן איני מבין מה הזכות הזאת למה לא יאמין באלוקי אומן והוא הנביא בעצמו ולא איש אשר יכזב. ומי שהאמין לשחוט את בנו היחיד האהוב ושנית נסיונות איך לא יאמין בבשורה טובה. The same Avrohom that's destined to be willing to slaughter his son is not going to believe in Hashem when Hashem says go outside count the stars that's going to be your children. Go outside count the stars, you're about to win the lottery. Avrohom hears good news he's not going to believe? When he has bad news he believes in unimaginable ways. When he hears good news he's not going to believe? Wonders the Ramban, that makes no sense. That makes no sense. The Ramban gives his other answer. But what the Tiferes Shmuel says is יש לומר יש הבדל גדול בין ידיעה להרגשה. And that's what we'll pick up with next week. There is a world of difference between what we know and what we feel. We know the Cape Cod potato chips are bad for us. What we feel is that it's late at night, we're watching things unfold, we're on edge of our seat, I really just want to eat a bag of Cape Cod potato chips. What we know and what we feel. So many things we know, we know we shouldn't lose our cool, then we find ourselves raising our voice. We know we should wake up in time, we find ourselves coming late, we know we shouldn't talk during daf... what we know and what we feel. Yedia ve'hargasha. And that's what he's going to explain, that's what Hashem, that's what Hashem detected here. It's not just the knowledge but a hargasha. That's what Hashem was grateful for but that's what emuna is all about, that's how we need to live. So we learned a little Rachmash Rivka, a little Nachlas Yehoshua, began to learn a little Tiferes Shmuel, but I would say the most powerful thing we learned today were those four emails. So please keep them coming. When you feel the hug or the wink, or even when you struggle and you want to raise the question, share it with us because it inspires and motivates me and I think all of us. For some today was a great day of bsoros tovos, we already had phenomenal news. For others, they don't process this as phenomenal news, we should hear phenomenal news. But either way we can all agree, may it be a day of בשורות טובות ישועות ונחמות, please stay and complete all of Sefer Tehillim. Please God we should hear the hostages are coming home, our soldiers are returning to their families, only good news. Feel free to take bitachoncards.com anyone who wants first come, please take, please take the Tehillim and we'll finish it all together.
