Transcript
Good morning, Boker tov, Freilichen Chanukah. Welcome back to Living with Emunah to all, so excited to be back together again. Want to thank as always our generous Emunah series sponsors, Dr. Avi and Bella Morgan, in memory of Bella’s father, Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut, and in memory of Bella’s mother, Dr. Ellen Schanzer. Very indebted to the Morgans for their generosity. Also generously sponsored anonymously in memory of the 34 fallen soldiers and alumni of בני דוד מכינה ישיבה in Eli who fell on or since October 7th. This week we're highlighting Captain Harel Edinger. Hashem yikom damo. He was 23 years old from Eli, a team commander in the IDF's Egoz Commando Brigade. One of the first soldiers to fall in battle in Southern Lebanon, October 2nd in 2024. Fought bravely, survived by his mother and 11 siblings. His father, Rabbi Achiad Edinger was killed in a terrorist shooting attack in March 2019, heroically stopping his vehicle to help neutralize a terrorist. So that family has suffered tremendous losses, and we think of them and dedicate our divrei Torah in his and his father's memory. This morning's shiur in particular is sponsored by Eli Falicov in honor of his awesome wife Cass on her English birthday. Thank you to BRS for the words of Torah. They make his day and drive a whole lot better. And anonymously for the refuah shlemah of Michal bas Varda and Tinok ben Michal for her strength, emunah, and bitachon. And that's dedicated by someone who was a Golani soldier in miluim for more than 300 days in combat, and a baby was born during that time while he was fighting. Again, these heroes just unbelievably inspire. And lastly for יעקב ישראל בן שרה אלקה, should have a yeshua. Hashem should watch over and protect and bring only good things and good results for him. One of the hardest challenges of taking off time, we missed last week because we were in transit, is how many emails come in and how hard it is to catch up. So again I give the disclaimer I always do: every single email is precious to me, every email inspires me, every email I'm grateful for, every email I hope impacts the author and the person who wrote it, but I can't possibly read all of them or share all of them. So I printed a bunch of them, we'll see how many we get through. They're in no particular order. I'll tell you my own emunah experience first. We went last week, we had the big zechus to be in in the UAE, in Abu Dhabi and Dubai. Fascinating, fascinating trip. Met incredible leaders, Emirati leaders. Very grateful to my dear friend Eli Epstein for having arranged this incredible trip. And if you want to know more about it, Mishpacha magazine this week, we have a long article in there telling about the trip, you could hear more about it. We went from there, once we were, how could you be in the Middle East and not pop over to Israel for Shabbos? So we popped over to Israel literally for 48 hours to see our children and grandchildren, spent Shabbos there, and the plan was to fly back Motzei Shabbos through Newark, see our children and grandchildren in New Jersey a couple hours, fly back Sunday afternoon in time to light candles with our children here. Baruch Hashem, baruch Hashem, baruch Hashem, so many places and spaces, and that was the plan. But as is always said, man plans and Hashem laughs. So there was a lot of snow in New York and sleet and hail and ice, and when we landed on Sunday morning in Newark, it took about 20 minutes from when we landed till we got to the gate, and then when we got off the plane, it took almost three hours for the luggage to come. And while waiting for the luggage to come, we got the text from JetBlue that the flight that afternoon was canceled. And I want to tell you something with tremendous pride. Not ego, but pride in the work we do together in this shiur. And the pride is that Yocheved and I for one moment, we were not frazzled, we were not fazed, we were not upset. I just kept looking at my luggage tag: embrace your place, you are where you're meant to be. But here's the amazing thing, and I share this because maybe there are people listening or watching right now who were there, and I share this because we should be proud of what we're learning and working on and growing in the movement that we're putting together together, is there was a a flight, another El Al flight that left Israel to Newark an hour before ours and landed an hour before ours. So the two flights were waiting at the conveyor belt together. I was able to participate in three and a half Shacharis minyanim next to that conveyor belt. That's how long it took. But I'm proud to tell you, I can't describe how many people came over. I'm just standing with Yocheved minding my own business. I actually used the time to write an article about what had happened in Australia, and it went up on Aish that morning. So, embrace your place and just deal with it, get done what you're meant to do in that moment. I can't tell how many people came over and said, \"Rabbi, I'm embracing my place.\" The whole Newark terminal, Baruch Hashem, and all walks of life, some from Lakewood, some from Boro Park, some Bergen County, all over, they were coming. And it's Baruch Hashem, it's not a point of pride for me personally, but for us and what we're learning, what we're working on, what we're doing. And Hashem's plans. So, okay, we came back the next morning, we spent the first night with our kids and grandkids. There's a lot worse places to be stuck. A Yid, a Jew is never stuck when we embrace our place, we know where we're meant to be, and we figure out why we're there. And I just kept looking at that luggage tag and the sticker on the back of my phone, and it was just, I was meditating on it. It was a reminder. And then you just lean into it. Okay, three hours, you could daven nicely, you can meet fellow Jews, you could have a cup of coffee, you could write an article, you could open a sefer. And there's where it was. I just kept saying, it's dry and it's warm and there's a roof over us and we're good. We're good. And then I said that when the first piece of luggage came and the next who didn't. And then I said it. We just embraced our place. And then it was the last luggage off the whole two flights were gone and our, okay. That's where it was meant to be. It was all Baruch Hashem. It was a beautiful thing. This was not a test, this was not a challenge. People go through real tests and real challenges. Halevai this should be the worst. This was a big absolute nothing. But I just share it with you as a description, a demonstration that I'm working on myself, we're all working on ourselves, we're working on implementing it, and there's no one immune from it. If you're awake and you're alive and you're living life, then you are confronting disappointments, frustrations, delays at best, and bad news and challenges much more significantly at worst. And the more that we practice and live and learn emunah, the calmer, the tranquil, the happier. I was watching people become unhinged. How long is it taking? Why can't they bring the luggage? And I got to get out of here where I meant to be when I. And I, calm, cool, collect. Emunah is the greatest drug. Emunah is just the greatest elixir, it's the greatest medicine, it's the greatest. And it's hard to remember and to be mindful in the moment, but when we lean into it, amazing, amazing things can happen. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, thanks for the weekly women's sessions. It infused my week. Yada, yada, yada. There I said it for you. Shkoyach. I'd like to remind all the listeners, this is a public service announcement from one of our listeners, that Chanukah is approaching. This was after two weeks ago shiur. Chanukah is the hardest time of the year for singles or those alone. It is all about finding the little light in the thick darkness. It's so hard to find the light when the world feels so dark and lonely. People assume that singles and others have where to be and what to do. People have to remember to open their hearts and homes. People think they need to work really hard to host. Sometimes just sharing their everyday life and regular is meaningful to others. I'm typically a fighter, but for some reason every time I think about Chanukah, I burst into tears and I think all about the times I've lit the menorah by myself. Let us all, let us and all those that are holding on so tight to the light, remember what the ner represents, the fire of Torah, the fire of the soul, the fire of direction. And then we should all embrace our place this Chanukah, that same light will bring us to the very good places God willing. So a public service announcement and reminder, that you know people, invite them over. Invite them over. Halachically, everyone has to light in their home, but you can invite them after, light with you, invite them over for latkes, invite them over to sit. You don't have to host. You don't have to make a five-course meal, and you don't have to do a, what's it called, grab bag, mystery Maccabee, all these new. You don't have to do anything fancy. You don't have to decorate your front lawn. All you have to do is reach out to your neighbor, your friend and say, hey, what are you doing the fourth night, fifth night, sixth night, seventh night, eighth night? Got plenty of Chanukah to go to ensure that people are not, imagine, so the people here don't have to imagine, you light the menorah by yourself with no one there to watch or see, no one to sing Maoz Tzur, no one to exchange gifts, nobody to talk about. And you sit on a couch and that's Chanukah? That's Chanukah? All of us can and should, and there's plenty of Chanukah left, think about friends, family, mere acquaintances, a neighbor who you don't talk to that often, and just say, it's not a chesed. Don't do it as a chesed. They're not your subject or act of chesed, and you're not such a great baal chesed, and don't do it out of a sense of chesed, just do it out of a basic humanity. And don't even do it for the other, selfishly do it for yourself because it'll transform your Chanukah and it's all about the light. You know Rav Dovid Abuhatzeira, we're learning his sfarim. I picked up in Israel, I think four or five more of his, they're exploding now and they're all fantastic, and I'm so grateful for them. He has one on Chanukah and it's magnificent and there's a whole perek, there's a whole chapter about what the candle represents. Again, many, most of the ideas, of course he has chiddushim, but he's melaket, he collects and they're familiar ideas, but he does a fantastic job of organizing and collecting them. נר השם נשמת אדם Every one of us is a flame, is a candle. We look into that flame and we see our soul. That's what Chanukah is all about. That's why the candle, the flame represents the soul. God forbid a person leaves this world, the soul is extracted from the body. We light a seven day candle, we light a candle in the room where their soul has left the body. That's the minhag, the custom is to light a candle in that very room. In the tahara room where tahara is being done, a candle is in that room. On a yahrzeit, we light a candle. When yizkor is said, we light a candle. What's this obsession? What are we pyromaniacs? Why are we obsessively lighting candles? for souls? The answer is we look in that in that flame and we see the soul because the flame, it flickers and you can't grab it. You can't hold on to it. But you could feel its warmth and you can see its light and you know it's there, you know it's real. And so to the souls of even those who are no longer physically here, but whose souls exist and live eternally and immortally, we feel their warmth and we see their light. We know their presence, and even if we can't hold them and grab them and touch them, they are as real, they are as ever present as they ever were. But that's not only true for the souls that are gone. We light the Yizkor and the yahrzeit and the seven day candle for those souls that are gone. Chanukah we're lighting for the souls that are here, our souls. And the Gemara says the Chanukah lights are lit ner ish u'beiso. The mitzvah is that we light a candle for ourselves, our spouse, our children, if we have them, if we aspire to have them, our prospective and our future and our anticipated spouse and our children. But this is a candle, this is who we are. Chanukah is milashon chinuch. Chanukah is a time that we're with our family and we're educating, informing, inspiring, transmitting. This is what this holiday is all about and we see in that flame, we see that light. Our soul is like the candle. It illuminates. A little bit of light can dispel a lot of darkness. And our soul has that capacity to overcome so much darkness. Obviously, we all woke up Sunday to and we're still reeling from Australia, attacks in New York, challenges that are happening everywhere. But the answer is to dispel that darkness with a little bit more light for our soul to be a little bit more on fire, to be on fire. Don't sleepwalk through light. Don't be a dimly lit spark. Don't be just barely holding on a pilot light. Be a light on fire. And a light on fire is not just ner ish u'beiso. You know, minimally you could fulfill the mitzvah of Chanukah by lighting one candle. Ner ish u'beiso, one candle lit and you're fulfilled the mitzvah. But we have mehadrin, and mehadrin min ha'mehadrin. We light, everybody lights, and everybody lights and adding for each night of the holiday of Chanukah. Why? Because we want to be on fire. We want to illuminate the world. We want our souls to be transforming and redeeming and repairing ourselves and our home and the whole world around us. Whatever way you hold a candle, the candle is like the soul. If you hold the candle and you turn it upside down, which way does the flame flicker? If you hold the candle sideways, which way does the flame flicker? No matter which way you hold the candle, the flame flickers up because the soul of a of a Yid, of a Jew, the soul of a Jew, it is flickering up. It's reaching up, it's striving up. There's a piece of us which is going down. There's a piece of us connected to here and now, connected to the ground. That's our body. We just learned Tanya this morning about the godly soul, the חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש, and the nefesh ha'bahamis, the animal soul, the godly soul, it strives, it flickers, it it it dances up. And the animal soul, that's drawn down. The animal walks on all four because it's looking down at the ground, says the Maharal. The behema is ba ma, what you see is what you get. The animal walks on all four, it's looking down at the ground, it lives for the here and now. But the godly soul, the Yid, the human being, the חלק אלוקה ממעל ממש, we don't walk on all four. We stand on two because we're striving, we're stretching, we're standing tall, we're reaching for the heavens. And that flame that flickers from that candle, נר ה' נשמת אדם, the soul inside each and every one of us, it is flickering up. And more than that. If you look at the flame, it doesn't sit still. If you look at the flame, it doesn't sit still. It's dancing. It's dancing. It almost looks like it's dancing. It hears the music, maybe you don't. Maybe it's dancing to your Haneiros Halalu or Ma'oz Tzur. But even when the music stops, the flame is still dancing, because the soul inside us is dancing. It's dancing. It's a chelek eloka mima'al, it is connected to the infinite, the omnipotent, the endless light, the or ein sof. That soul inside us, even when the body, the knees have to be replaced and the hips have to be replaced and the, that has to be and the warranty on this ran out and that thing is working and this thing is. So even when the body says I can't dance anymore, don't, I don't care where a person's lying in God forbid in a hospital bed, they could be lying wherever, the soul is dancing. Like that flame. נר ה' נשמת אדם. It's all dancing. There's so much more to say about these parallels. But another one of them is we pasken and we have a shamash because we don't light from one candle to another. But there are opinions that technically you are allowed to light from one to the other. And the amazing thing about a candle is that when you light another wick and it catches fire, you've brought it to life, it's now dancing, it's now flickering up, it's now illuminating, it's now providing energy and warmth. It's now dynamic and alive. And did it take anything away from you? The image of the flame is the one commodity. If I have money and I give to you, I have less money. If I have my time and I share it with you, I have less time. If I have my sufganiyot. Check out our Reb Shaya'le corner this morning. I don't know if there's anything left, but earlier this morning, there were sufganiyot, and we've got our slushies and caffeinated with kavana with our coffee and our great Reb Shaya'le corner or Reb Shaya'le Cafe here at BRS. If I give you my sufganiyot, it's probably good for me that I have less for me. All other commodities, the more I share, the less I have, but a flame I could light and I can touch the wicks of and I can ignite endless flames around me all without losing any of my own, any of my own. And that's the image of Chanukah, and that's the power. So I'm grateful for this public service announcement that reminds us that we have to light the flames of others around us. Madlik minner laner. We have to illuminate and light and ignite and invite and host and connect and integrate our lives together. We need this achdus so desperately now. We're in it together. We're awake and we're alive together. And I'd say not only our frum friends, our religious neighbors and family and friends, look where we live and look who we're around and who don't really know the essence of what Chanukah is about, its story and its light and what we're trying to do. Stare into that flame and see your soul. We're learning now, maybe eventually we'll get back to it this morning, but we're learning in the sefer Shaarei Tefilah, this perek about davening for emuna. This is the yom tov that we look and we stare. The Kedushas Levi of Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev says that every holiday is associated with one of our senses, one of our senses. So Purim is the sense of hearing. We hear the megillah, and we hear the gragger, and so the sense of hearing. Pesach is the sense of taste. You eat the matzah and you eat the maror. You eat the korech sandwich. And Chanukah, he writes, says the Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, is the yom tov of the sense of sight. And there are endless examples of it, from the fact that the pirsumei nisa, we look at the candles. אין לנו רשות להשתמש בהם אלא לראותם בלבד. That we're not allowed to use these flames. You're not, don't turn the lights off in the room because the Chanukah candles burn so bright, they're so pretty, and now you're going to read next to them, learn next to them, or the Gemara gives the example of counting your money next to them. You're not allowed to use the flames. They have no function other than to sit and stare at them. אין לנו רשות להשתמש בהם אלא לראותם בלבד. This is the one mitzvah if a person's in a circumstance that they didn't light and can't light, but they see someone else's lit menorah, haroeh mevarech. There's a halacha, there's a din, that if you see lit candles, you make a bracha. I don't make a bracha when I see you eat matzah. I don't make a bracha when I see you light Shabbos candles. I don't make a bracha when I see you put on tefillin. I don't make a bracha when I see you do any other mitzvah. But here haroeh mevarech. So you see that the essence of this is to be roeh is to sit and stare. And this is a personal hangup I have, I mentioned it yesterday at the parsha shiur. We've now come to a time where we've filled our schedule every night of Chanukah, there's something that you have to go to that you light and then you rush out or you don't have enough time to light till late so you light and you go right to sleep. And the lighting, you're meant to sit and bask in the light, sit and stare and gaze at the light. Sit with your family and disconnect from technology to connect to the light of those candles. And through that light to illuminate what's inside you and around you all along. See your soul. See your capacity and capability. See the elokus, the godliness in you. See that faith and that courage and that confidence and that clarity. See our source and where we come from. See that whatever we're going through, however low we've sunk, wherever we feel we are, that there is a plan, that it's curated and choreographed from above and that there is a way out. Sit and look at those candles. Watch that flame flicker. Watch it go up even when we feel like we're falling down. Watch it dance even when we feel like we're sitting still and we can't move. And know that we have all that inside us. Sit with your family and spend at least half an hour staring and gazing and watching. Sit, learn, and sing. Be in the presence of those candles. Don't run away from them to spin your dreidel or fry your latkes or eat your sufganiyot or exchange your gifts or run out to one of the billion events that are going on over the holiday of Chanukah. Chanukah used to be you stay home. It's Chanukah used to be Chanukah chinuch. It's a time to be and surround with family, learn and laugh and enjoy and bask in that light and see your soul and be on fire. That's what it used to be about. We should bring that back even if we have to go to the wonderful events, I'm not criticizing, even if we're going to these events, but don't do it at the expense of, don't neglect these candles and don't do it alone. Madlik minner laner, take that flame, don't just light your fire. Invite that friend, neighbor, acquaintance, coworker, the person you met or worked out at the gym, person on line at Publix who bageled you at Costco and said oy vey or happy Chanukah. Invite them over, light candles, share your your latkes, and now I'm off my pedestal. Okay, a few more a few more emails and then we'll get back, we're we're integrating the Torah and the learning into the I'll tell you one other thing we said it yesterday too. The Chofetz Chaim. I mentioned it yesterday but it bears repeating because a lot of people listen to Living with Emunah or don't listen to Parsha, vice versa, so it it bears repeating. An incredible Chofetz Chaim that we said yesterday. Yosef HaTzadik is sitting in the pit for two years. Two years. And by the way, my friend Marilyn reminded me last year Parsha shiur we mentioned the insight, why was Yosef extended longer? Why did he sit there for two years? The Chazon Ish says because he expressed excessive initiative. He doubled down with the Sar Hamashkim. Twice he said, please don't forget me, remember me, remind Pharaoh about me, get me out of here. And for someone at his level, do your initiative, you were yotzei, you buy your one lottery ticket but not more than one because because you just need one to be in it to win it. More than one is excessive and it doesn't increase your chances of winning it. Yosef did excessive and therefore he had to stay a little bit, a little bit longer. That speaks to this balance that we've spoken a lot about. What's the proper, what's the right recipe for initiative versus faith? How do you know where the line and the boundary is between the two? Yosef, according to the Chazon Ish, crossed the line, so much so that he had to languish a little bit longer. That was on his level. People are on different levels. So the answer is what's appropriate, proper initiative, what's excessive initiative, is different for different people in different places. But here he is languishing, and he becomes helpless and hopeless. He grabs the Sar Hamashkim on his way out and he says, buddy, I interpreted your dream, I got you out of here. Don't forget me. When you get where you're going, get me out. Lobby and advocate and mention my name and wear a sticker and say how many days I've been in prison and get me out. Get me out of this tunnel. And the Sar Hamashkim, two years he's sitting there. And Yosef certainly, two years in, he's writing on the side of the prison wall, one, two, three, four, across. One, two, three, four, right? The side of the prison wall, he's counting the days. At some point he says to himself, helpless and hopeless, I'm done. I'm destined to just be here and stay here. I'm in this low pit, dark and grungy and cold and lonely and miserable. I've been discarded by my family who wanted to kill me and settled on selling me and I was falsely accused by the person who I brought prosperity to his home. And now I'm sitting and languishing and the person I interpreted his dream and rescued his life has forgotten me. And it's hopeless and helpless and I'm just meant to be in this pit forever. It's dark and it's gloomy and it's dungy and it's cold and here I am. And says the Chofetz Chaim, in a moment's notice, someone comes and opens the cell. Says, Yosef, Joseph, Ivri, hey, Hebrew. Come with me. Quick. Here's a shaving kit. Shave, shower, put on this clothing. Why, where am I going? What's happening? You're going to meet the emperor of the world. And in a moment's notice, he goes from being helpless and hopeless in a pit with no future, feeling abandoned and neglected, to rising to be the viceroy of Egypt. And the Chofetz Chaim says וירצוהו מן הבור. Vayiritsu, it was rushed, it came quick, and it came exactly when it was meant to be. The Chofetz Chaim says, it doesn't happen on our schedule. Hashem doesn't operate on our timeline. It doesn't go according to our plan. Our tefillos are heard, they matter, they count, they mean something. But we have to know and we have to remember that wherever we are, and there are people sitting in this room, there are people watching and listening from wherever they are. There are so many emails I get from those who feel so alone, and they're sitting in that pit, and they feel lonely and they're waiting and they want, where's my shidduch? Where's my zivug? Where's my husband to light Chanukah candles with? Where's the baby I want to hold in my arms? Where's the confidence I can pay my bills and I know how I'll keep this roof over my head? Where's my clean bill of health? Where am I going to get the lab results that say I've recovered? They feel I'm sitting and I'm languishing, I'm lonely, and I'm in a pit and it's helpless and it's hopeless. And that's where we hold on to remember that it doesn't happen on our timeline, doesn't happen according to our schedule. Keep the faith, keep davening, keep turning, keep surrendering, keep submitting to Hashem. Find that timeline, because here Yosef says, hey, I was meant to be out of here forever. And Hashem says, yes, you're right, but you expressed too much initiative. You didn't have enough faith in me. So it took a little bit longer but now וירצוהו מן הבור. When it's right, when it's meant to be, come with me, here we go. So to those sitting in a pit, to those who feel that they're languishing, that it's cold and dark and gloomy, somebody mentioned after the Parsha shiur that Yosef sat two years in a tunnel, in a pit, and then וירצוהו מן הבור. And the hostages sat two years in a pit and darkness and languishing, and vayiritsu, vayiritsu. When we gave up hope and thought it wouldn't happen, President Trump his administration deserve tremendous credit. Leadership of the UAE we just met with were involved in orchestrating it and the other countries that put the pressure where it needed to be. And those who are sitting and languishing got that phone call. And וירצוהו מן הבור, came out of that pit. And whatever pit we feel like we're in in life, whatever number we're up to of loneliness, whatever number we're up to of hopelessness and helplessness, vayiritsu. Don't give up. Don't give up. Hashem has a plan. and it may not happen on our timeline or our schedule, but hold on and lean in and feel his love and turn to him and protest, be frustrated. We spoke a lot about, you could even be angry, but ultimately collapse into his arms and know and say, nu, when's the timeline? When's the plan? When's the vayiritsuhu min habor get me out of here. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, I love the shiur Living to Emunah. I, I got a lot of emails and pictures. This was great. Apparently, I don't know anything about this, but on Spotify, towards the end of the year, I don't know why they don't do it beginning of December. On my calendar, the Gregorian year ends at the end of December, but at the beginning of December, apparently these podcast platforms will give you a summary of who you listen to the most. They give you a summary of how many minutes you listen to what podcast and where you ranked among the listeners of that podcast. So I got so many emails and WhatsApps and texts of people with screenshots of where they fell on Spotify. And the most interesting part were the people who sent me the list of the top five podcasts, 10 podcasts they listened to. And some were very gratifying because in the top 10 were Parsha Perspectives, Living with Emunah snippets, and mixed in with other podcasts they listened to. It was fascinating to see which other podcasts they listen to. So in another country, someone listened to a lot of my podcasts and then something about I think a Brazilian soccer player. And in this country, somebody listened to a few of my podcasts, and then one which is known to be a little raunchy. Of course, it was fascinating to see. And I'm honored. I was honored to make it, honored to make it on anyone's list. I still don't feel worthy and I still feel like an absolute imposter and I still don't believe anybody's listening anywhere, so it's incredibly, incredibly inspiring to me and motivating to me. So this author writes, actually on Spotify, I'm one of your top 4% listeners. 4%. As I'm listening right now to the latest podcast, you say please keep sending in your perek kaf gimmel. Psalm 23. We're still going with our Psalm 23 sightings, and they are still happening. The person writes, I'm one of a very popular, a very prominent rabbi who passed away's granddaughters. And one of my cousins was trying to get as many tapes of shiurim on current technology forms so we can all hear. Two weeks ago I just happened to go on this cousin's WhatsApp status, which led me to his chat, and the last thing he sent me was the link if I wanted to hear my Zaidy's shiurim. And wouldn't you know it, the Tehillim series I chose to listen to went straight to Psalm 23, perek kaf gimmel. You can't make this up. Wishing you continued hatzlacha in all you do. Thank you for bringing me chizuk each week. And she should have chizuk and simcha and bracha in her life. I love it. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, I've been holding on to this story for almost half a year, but since the shiur is focusing on Tehillim kaf gimmel, I decided to share it with you now. At the height of the war, my son came home on Shabbos from the Lebanon front. He'd been positioned there for almost four months at the time. Unfortunately, over Shabbos, a classmate of his was killed in Gaza and he received permission to remain home so he could attend the levaya. He was told to be back on base by 10 p.m. Getting back to his base up north was fraught with difficulty. The bus that he was supposed to take passed him by him as he was distracted by giving directions to a driver that stopped at his bus stop. The bus he finally got on took a more circuitous route. By 10 p.m. he was still on a bus somewhere in the Golan. By 11 p.m. he finally arrived in Katzrin, a city in the Golan, but now had no way to get to his base. My husband started making phone calls to random taxi companies. I started reaching out to random people I could find on a Facebook group, and our son was out in the middle of the night in his uniform in the middle of the Golan stranded with no way to get to his base. My go-to perek of Tehillim is Psalm 23. Kapitel kaf gimmel. I started saying it to keep myself calm. As I said the words with such uncertainty in my heart, I literally started laughing out loud. I came to the words דשנת בשמן ראשי כוסי רויה. I knew at that moment it would all be okay. You see, my son's base is called Revaya. And moments later my son called and said he got a ride to his base. Baruch Hashem I recognized it in the moment. It was a kiss from Hashem. דשנת בשמן ראשי כוסי רויה, the base was Revaya. In that moment he got a ride to the base. Psalm 23. My friend Adina, Adriana, the now Jewish nanny, sent me and allowed me to use her name. She's in Israel for the very first time, having an extraordinary experience, and she was so excited to share. She's up north in Tzfas, in Tzfat, and what did she see as displayed in an art gallery? Halevi gallery. Psalm 23, an artwork on Tehillim kaf gimmel. She's in Israel for the first time, Tehillim kaf gimmel, and another Tehillim kaf gimmel sighting for the very first time. So happy she's having an amazing experience. Rabbi Goldberg, I listen to your shiur every week, and like, as all, it has helped me strengthen my emunah. Thank you. A couple of weeks ago, one of your writers mentioned they pretend to write emunah emails to you through their day and experiences. I really liked that and I started doing that in my head. Usually I do it during rougher parts of my day and work life. This week I was flying home, and I'd been away from my wife and kids all week. When I woke up in my hotel, I'd already received a message from United saying due to the weather in the city I was traveling, I should expect delays on my flight with taxi and takeoff. I immediately told myself, I'll embrace my place. I am where I'm meant to be. I'll be home when I'm supposed to. I was hoping that meant I'd at least be home for dinner. My original flight was scheduled for eleven, landing around one. With the delays I thought, best case I'll be home by five. Since I left my hotel and got to the airport 9:30. As soon as I got through security, my phone notified me that my flight was pushed to 12:30. I breathed and said to myself, my wife on the phone, I'll be home when I'm meant to be home. I walked to my gate getting settled in for a long day when I noticed the same gate had a plane there ready to depart to the same city that had been scheduled at 6:00 a.m. was now preparing to board. I walked up to the lady at the desk and asked if there were open seats. She said yes, printed me a ticket. I boarded at 10:00 a.m. I'm an hour earlier than I even planned to pre-weather delays. After taxiing and waiting for the all clear, we took off at exactly 11:00 a.m. I landed when I was supposed to. All along I was where I was meant to be. Okay. Another one. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, ooh, I should have brought my glasses for this. My name is such and such, I live in such and such. You have quite a following in my shul, and I wanted to double check that Tehillim Chaf Gimmel is the correct perek. All I need to do was ask on my shul WhatsApp chat. While I've considered sending an emunah moment many times, I usually suffice by noting to myself it's an emunah moment, but with the Psalm 23 sightings, I'm happy to send an email today. I was pulling up to my daughter's daycare, I noticed two people walking up the block. The front of the car blocking the sidewalk and they would either need to walk close to the street or wrap around behind, so I backed up to give them space to walk on the sidewalk. Usually when this happens, the person walking gives a wave or thanks, a nod. These two men completely ignored it and kept walking. I even commented aloud to my daughter about their lack of thanks. I watched as they walked and could not believe the back of their sweatshirts. They both said in bold letters, child of God, and in small letters underneath, Psalm 23. Although I still think we should express thanks, I got myself I got off my self-righteous tower and appreciated the opportunity to see them. Thanks for accompanying me on my way home from work every Wednesday afternoon. I'm a psychologist with a firm clientele, however some are not in a place of talking about emunah. I have learned that emunah is very often interchangeable with ACT and DBT term acceptance. Everyone know what those are? We'll talk about them more another time. I talk about concepts from the emunah shiur, to DBT group that I run. And thank you for helping me. Anyway, here's a picture, Child of God, Psalm 23. Which is similar, I guess this is becoming popular, so much for us producing the swag. Recently guided someone in the city of David wearing this t-shirt. When I asked him about the shirt, he said he thought it was the most appropriate place in the world to wear it. And what does it say? The Lord is my shepherd, Psalm 23. So someone in the old city, this is a guide, a madrich in Israel, a guide in Israel, who all over this T-shirt it says, The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in lush pastures. The Lord is my shepherd, Psalm 23. I don't know if the guide told him, but before he could go into the bathroom, he probably had to take his t-shirt off. So, I'm not sure how that worked out. Hope he had something on underneath. So, but that's a great t-shirt. The Lord is my shepherd. Another email. My wife saw this and immediately said we have to pass it along. This is from a website, the Honors Jeweler, and it's a bracelet that says, let go, let God. A let go, let God bracelet. Only $49. It can be yours. Okay. Yeah, we should learn a little bit. We've been learning about Hanukkah. We brought me Hanukkah. Oh. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, my son and I met you and your wife this past Shabbos morning in the old city. Which is true. Baruch Hashem, we made aliyah I told you a year and a half ago from Toronto. We're living in a certain community in Israel. Your emunah shiur has given me tremendous chizuk. I listen every Thursday as I cook for Shabbos. My son just brought me Rav Abuhatzeira's sefer emunah because I share so much of the shiur with my family. As I mentioned this past Shabbos, my brother-in-law was niftar almost three years ago at the age of 38. Each week while he was sick he would post updates in the Tehillim WhatsApp group where hundreds of people were davening for him. These updates were full of divrei Torah, chizuk, and emunah. After his passing, his posts were turned into a book called 'Even Higher'. I hope this book, she's sending it to me, I'm very grateful for that, inspires you as it has so many. And Baruch Hashem my son got to Mincha on time. We were walking out of the old city together. We had gone, we had gone for Mincha on Shabbos afternoon. She was with her son, and he was trying to get Mincha elsewhere, and they were rushing and he thought he wasn't going to get there and she kept telling him, you are where you're meant to be, and embrace your place. As I reminded him, we're always where we're meant to be, with tremendous hakaras hatov. So it was very nice to meet her and grateful and looking forward to getting that book. I wanted to share a great moment. Just put in the other Aron for now. I want to share a great moment that made me feel so incredible to see how my son is really learning the lessons of emunah. Yesterday my son was taking the city bus home from school and he said there was a lot of traffic which made him late to meet me so we could go out and run some last minute pre-Hanukkah errands. When I mentioned I was a little frustrated that he got home later than anticipated, he said, Mommy, I was exactly where I was meant to be. So Baruch Hashem happy the children are getting it too. Dear Rabbi, we'll do one or two more. I've been living with emunah since age three. When you are disabled, Hashem becomes your best friend at an early age. I see incredible incidents all the time. Last week I went to renew my ID, there were over 100 people sitting down, 33 stations, and only two stations with seats. My husband and I both waited at least a half an hour, not even realizing that there were stations with seats. As it might take up to an hour to renew, I was blessed to get one of the two stations, two out of 33. I said thank you Hashem and told the employee how God saw to it that I was sent to station 32 for a reason. So little hugs and winks and nods from Hashem, a very powerful and a beautiful thing. One more. There are so many, I'm sorry. I really wish I wanted to share them all. One more. Baruch Hashem, my baby, this is somebody who I had shared previously they waited a long time for a baby, somebody had a baby. My baby came home from the NICU after a little over two months. We were so happy he was finally home, but another huge miracle happened I want to share. My stories with this baby just keep on getting crazier. A little less than two weeks after he was home from the hospital, we were driving to take my two-year-old to her two-year checkup at the pediatrician. We picked her up from school and as soon as she saw me, she begged to sit next to her, she begged me to sit next to her and the baby. At first I said no, only because with two car seats now in the back, the middle seat was a really tight space and not the most comfortable. She kept on asking and I felt so bad, of course I eventually gave in. So her husband was driving, she went to sit in the back between two car seats. If you've ever done that, better hope you didn't have a sufganiya beforehand. We were driving for maybe five minutes when I took a glance at my baby. What I saw was horrifying. He was completely blue. I began yelling to my husband who quickly pulled over the car and took the baby out of the car seat. I was frozen, I completely forgot how to unbuckle the belt, but my husband quickly got him out and ran to do CPR. It was complete hashgacha, there was a shmira car exactly where we pulled over. Two rabbis got out of the car and while my husband was doing CPR, one called Hatzalah, the other was saying Tehillim. I was sitting in the back seat frozen on autopilot trying to entertain and distract my daughter who was scared by the commotion. As I found a song to play for her to distract her, I began davening, at least trying to. I wanted to say Shir Hamaalos, but as much as I tried to remember the words, I was in such shock I completely blanked out. The only tefillah I could remember from start to finish was Mizmor L'Sodah. So there I am, saying Mizmor L'Sodah over and over as I watch my husband do CPR on our baby who looked completely lifeless. Baruch Hashem a million times. Because of inflation I'm going to upgrade that, to a billion times, a trillion times. The CPR worked. My husband was able to get some slow breaths out of him. Hatzalah came just in time to take him to the closest hospital. He was admitted and put on a ventilator for five days, overall had a 10-day stay. I don't want to know what would have happened had my daughter not begged me to sit next to her on that day. Or if those two angels, shmira, weren't there to help, or if my husband didn't know how to do CPR. Every part of this story was a complete and total miracle from Hashem. While my son was still on the ventilator and I was spending Shabbos at the hospital, I remember looking out the window and telling Hashem if my baby gets better, I'll share the story to show the world how amazing Hashem is. And here I am doing just that. That's what you call on these days of Chanukah, pirsumei nisa. It's exactly what we're supposed to do, is share and spread the miracle. That's what these days are all about. On Al nisecha, Al hanisim, בימים ההם בזמן הזה, the miracles that happened in those days and the miracles that happened in this time. But I want to tell you one other thing before we get back into our learning. It's okay, as long as I just keep saying that. That's an open miracle. That's a revealed miracle. A baby was blue and lifeless and everything was aligned for her to be in the back seat and to pull over davka next to a shmira car and Hatzalah to be there in moments, and the stars were aligned for the miracle of saving that baby. But I want you to know that every time you drive and pull in somewhere and your children in the back seat are healthy and just fine, that is no less of a miracle. It's no less of a miracle. And that's בימים ההם בזמן הזה, that's על נסיך שבכל יום עמנו. Sometimes sadly we only recognize and see the miracles when they stand out, when they seem extraordinary. But this is one of the answers to the Beis Yosef's question. Again, I told you we're doing learning throughout. I'm the only one who feels guilty about this, none of you seem bothered by it, but we're doing learning throughout. We're not just reading emails. The Beis Yosef asked a famous question. There's a sefer called Ner L'Meah, a hundred answers to the Beis Yosef's question. By now there are a thousand or 10,000 answers to the Beis Yosef's question. A famous question, you've probably heard it. How many days is Chanukah? Eight days long. Why should it be eight days long? They found when they returned to the Beis Hamikdash, to the temple, and they discovered one flask of oil and they had enough to light for one night. They lit it for one night and it lasted eight nights, so they had enough to light for eight nights. And to commemorate that miracle, we light the Chanukah candles for eight nights. Fregt the Beis Yosef. Asks the Beis Yosef, a gevaldige kasha, a great question. Chanukah should be instead not eight nights but seven crazy nights. Why? Because one night they had enough oil for. One night they had enough for. So there's no... miracle for the one night that they found the oil for, the miracle is that it lasted seven more nights. So Chanukah should be seven crazy nights, not eight crazy nights. Why is Chanukah eight days long? It should be only seven, asei fregt the Beis Yosef, the famous question of Rav Yosef Karo, the author of the Shulchan Aruch. As I said, ner la'mea, a hundred answers to that question. There are many, many answers. Some say the miracle was that they actually divided it into eight parts and only lit a little bit each night, and the little they lit each night lasted the whole night. So indeed, there were miracles for eight days, not only for seven. There are all kinds of answers that are given. It's a great question, and there are great answers. But I find one of the most compelling and beautiful and inspiring answers is the following. The night they found the oil, the night they already had oil and it was meant to light, and what's the big deal and where is the miracle? It too is a miracle. Who says that oil should light? Who says that when you put a strand, a thread, a wick into a jar of oil that it should light? That too is a miracle. That too is a miracle. The Gemara, the Talmud tells a story about a woman who didn't have oil and it was time to light Shabbos candles, and she panicked because she didn't have the oil to light the Shabbos candles. So what would be? She'd miss lighting the Shabbos candles. And her husband, the sage said to her, light the vinegar. Light vinegar? Vinegar doesn't light, doesn't ignite, vinegar is not a fuel. You can't light a candle out of vinegar. And he said the same God who made oil light will make vinegar light. And taka, so it was, the vinegar lit, and that special miracle, Hashem made a miracle that the vinegar lit. The same Ribono Shel Olam who could make, this is the miracle. The miracle is the eight days of Chanukah, what we're supposed to see, that we're gazing at the candles and we're looking at the flames and we're seeing our soul, what we're supposed to see is that everything around us is a miracle. We divide our lives into two categories, right? There's the mundane and the ordinary and the expected, and then there's the story like the one I just read. Wow, what a miracle. But the truth is everything is a miracle. That you turn on a switch and a light comes on, that we've produced something that could provide heat or air conditioning, that you could sit in a tin box and it flies through the sky, these are all nothing short of miracles, miracles. Chanukah is eight nights because the number eight is one more than seven. Seven, the Maharal says is nature. Seven is ordinary, seven is creation, seven is the natural order, seven is the expected. Eight is supernatural. Eight is one more than seven. Eight is that which is above teva. Eight is that which is above nature. And Chanukah is that we look around and we see that in the seven is eight, that everything, even that which looks natural is supernatural. Everything that looks ordinary is extraordinary. We say a Tehillim on Shabbos morning. It's called Hallel HaGadol. It's not part of the Hallel we know that we said this morning. It's called Hallel HaGadol. You know the Tehillim that are two columns? הודו לה' כי טוב, ki l'olam chasdo. And the second to last line, the penultimate line is נותן לחם לכל בשר, ki l'olam chasdo. Hashem, when I go to Publix, there's bread. Ooh, your kindness endures forever. And that line doesn't fit. It doesn't belong because the Hallel HaGadol is filled with, you created the heavens and the earth, ki l'olam chasdo, and you'd made miracles, ten plagues in Israel, in Egypt, and you split a sea, and you made miracles, ki l'olam chasdo. Wow, your kindness endures forever. And also, I open my freezer and there's some bread, ki l'olam chasdo. That's on par? That belongs? That's consistent with this other theme? The answer is yes. It is no less of a miracle that when you put seeds in the ground, wheat grows and that you can undergo all the steps to produce bread. Having bread to eat is no less of a miracle. Bread growing out of the ground is no less of a miracle than it falling from the sky. The only difference between the mon that fell from heaven and the bread that comes from the ground is our expectation. So the bread from the ground is ordinary, the mon from heaven is extraordinary. The bread from the ground is natural, and the mon that fell from heaven was supernatural. But the truth is if a person is living with emuna u'bitachon, if a person is living with a God awareness and they see Hashem everywhere, then you know that there is no ordinary, everything's extraordinary. There is no natural, everything is supernatural. And what the Chanukah candles enable and empower us to see is to see Hashem everywhere, to know he's in everything, to see him behind not only every curtain, to see him on the stage in front of the curtain. Everything that is unfolding and all that happens, and there is nothing that's ordinary. It is all a miracle. It's all a miracle. And the same Hashem who could make the oil light can make the vinegar light. And the fact that that little pach shemen, that little flask of oil lit that one night is no less miraculous. and it lasted seven more nights. Ah, it's supposed to light the first night, and it wasn't supposed to light seven more nights, so that's not a miracle. It is a miracle. Even the ordinary is a miracle. I must have told you this before but I'll say it again. A friend of mine, actually someone who lives in our community, his father was the, maybe still is, but he's a doctor, he ran the pediatric *Nikyu* at a hospital near where we grew up. And he spoke at his grandson's *Shalom Zachar*. And he told the following story. He said there were a team of specialists who came to their hospital in their *Nikyu* to see these babies, to study, to understand how they rescued and saved and and how they were able to take care of these babies. Extraordinarily premature babies, babies born with all kinds of illnesses and extreme situations. And he took these doctors through the *Nikyu* and he saw this one fit in the palm of your hand, this one would weighed a few ounces, not even pounds, this one the organs were on the outside of the body when he was born and had to have surgery to put inside the body. And one of the doctors commented on the way out of the *Nikyu* and said, wow, this is a room full of miracles. These are all miracles. They're miracles. And he shared at his grandson's *Shalom Zachar* how he took that team of doctors and he said, this isn't a room full of miracles. You want to see a room full of miracles? Come with me. I want to show you a room full of miracles. And they looked puzzled, where were they going now? And he took them to the nursery, to the healthy babies that were born. And he said, this, this is the room of miracles, for all that could go wrong, everything that could happen, chromosomal abnormalities, anatomical abnormalities, for catastrophes in the pregnancy, in birth. If there's a nursery of healthy babies, that's the room of miracles. על הניסים שעשית בכל יום עמנו, בימים ההם בזמן הזה. The miracles are not only the revealed, the extraordinary, the baby in the back car seat she chose to sit there because the other daughter told her to and the *Shmira* vehicle *natzala* and the CPR, and wow, it too is a miracle. Of course it's a miracle. And *pirsumei nisa* on this holiday *pirsumei nisa*, I'm so glad to have read that email, we're publicizing that miracle, thank you *Hashem* for that miracle. But guess what? The next week the car pulled, the kid in the back seat who went in healthy and came out of the car seat healthy, that's also a miracle. Every car that doesn't crash, every brakes that don't fail, especially if you live in that place called New York with the snow and the sleet and the ice and slip and slide. You should probably *bench Gomel* every time you pull into a parking spot or a driveway. And I'm not rubbing it in, I don't want anyone to feel bad. I'm just saying, there are other options, I'm just saying. You have to shovel and de-ice your windshield and bundle up and and wait three hours for your luggage and just saying. So, but but every time, especially in that weather, and in our weather down here, when we have stormy weather and hurricane, tropical storm, when you arrive where you're going and you pull into that driveway safely, על הניסים שעשית בכל יום עמנו. Thank you, *Hashem*, for that miracle. So on this holiday of *Chanukah*, I want to wish everyone a *Freilichen Chanukah*, which means a happy *Chanukah*. I want to wish you a *Lichtige Chanukah*, which means a lit *Chanukah*. Now I'm told that lit can mean different things depending on what age you are. So I only mean it in the best and most appropriate way, depending on your age, but it should be a lit *Chanukah*. Get lit, get lit up. Light up the world. *mehadrin min hamehadrin*, *ner ish u'beiso*, light up your family and touch your flame to the wick of others and illuminate the spark in them, invite them over and feel connected to the world, repair and redeem and illuminate so much darkness. Let's bring the light to dispel that darkness. It should be a *Freilichen Chanukah* and a *Lichtige Chanukah*, a *Chanukah* of *pirsumei nisa*. Let's publicize the miracles big and small, ordinary and extraordinary, natural and supernatural, and whatever you do tonight and for the next nights, don't run away from the candles. Sit and stare, gaze and see yourself, see who you could be, see who you're meant to be, see the courage and the conviction and the clarity and the confidence, see and feel *Hashem*, see the light in you, and know that even if you're in the *bor*, you're in that dungeon, more than two years, and you feel it's hopeless and helpless, וירצוהו מן הבור. That salvation can and please God will come at any moment. That next phone call could be the person you marry. And that next pregnancy could be test could be the positive result. And that next job interview could be the financial stability, and that next lab result could be the healing and the health that you crave. וירצוהו מן הבור. Don't give up, see in that candle that light of hope and faith and that light of a beautiful and a bright future. Don't just share and enjoy and bask in that light for yourself, but sit next to that light and bask in it with others. This is when we turn the recording off for the Spotify, maybe for the 1% we should let them stay on for the question and answer. Maybe that should be a reward for the top 1% listeners. Whatever percent you are, thank you for joining us and being part of us. Keep having the Psalm 23 sightings and spottings. They entertain me. I enjoy them a lot. And now questions and answers for those who are here live.
