Transcript
Good morning, boker tov, welcome back to Living with emuna here in the Ran Sanctuary in honor of Yeshiva Week and in honor of our allowing the men to sneak into our women's emuna shiur. Why it's only women, I don't know. The men probably need it more, even though they don't admit it. So, maybe we'll permanently allow it, but we don't want to take away from the women. That's why I'm looking this way because it's a women's emuna shiur and we'll let you just sneak in. You could be the yentels of this of this emuna shiur. Is that what it was called? Emuna shiur is generally sponsored by Dr. Avi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut and in memory of Bella's mother, Dr. Ellen Schanzer. We remain very grateful to the Morgans for their generosity. Our series is also co-sponsored anonymously in memory of the 34 fallen soldiers and the alumni of בני דוד מכינה ישיבה עלי who fell on October 7th and since. This week, we are highlighting Lieutenant איתן אבנר בן יצחק, Hashem yikom damo, tragically 22 years old from Har Bracha. He served in the Egoz special forces unit, was a cadet in the IDF infantry officers course. He fell in battle on September 18th, 2025 when an IED struck his Humvee in Rafah. The attack killed four soldiers and wounded three others. Eitan is survived by his wife Atara and his parents Michal and Nachshon and his four siblings. And we dedicate our Torah learning in his memory with boundless gratitude to him and all of our holy precious soldiers. Today's shiur is also sponsored by Andrea Zucker in memory of her father, Dr. Martin Lehman, on what would have been his 93rd birthday. His yahrtzeit is on the ninth of Shevat. And for a refuah shleima for her nephew יהושע צבי בן באשה רייזל, should please God hear good news, he should have a complete recovery. And lastly, in loving memory of Mimi Friedman, מינדל מרים בת קלמן ראובן, on the occasion of her second yahrtzeit. She lived a life with deep emuna, profoundly missed from her children. Thank you for your generosity. Okay. First Psalm 23 sighting. We'll get we'll do as we always do. I know you feel so far away. This is very disorienting. This is not the way we normally have emuna shiur, but we're going to do our best. And then, please God, we'll go back to the way it usually is. So, our first Psalm 23 sighting came from my wife who is away with our kids for Yeshiva Week, but I guess in the absence of being able to talk to me is playing what is this game? Wordle? What is this game? Wordle. And and one of the words in Wordle is Psalm. Psalm 23 sighting. Psalm Wordle. You guys aren't excited about it. Okay. I'm excited about it. She was excited about it. So, we continue our streak. That's enough to qualify to continue our Psalm 23 sightings. We're going to keep going. Rabbi Goldberg, thank you for the emuna shiur. Literally breathes life into me every week. I have a cute anecdote to share. I was doing errands in the car and as I often do, started talking to Hashem and asking him to send us the things we need. Help my struggling child, and so on. Suddenly I realized, this is not the conversation I really want to have with Hashem. So I started over. Hi, Hashem. How are you? Has anyone asked you that today? How are you feeling? Are you, are we, your creations, making you happy and proud today? I hope we are. Immediately after that, I got to a red light. The car in front of me had a sticker on it that said, I hope something good happens to you today with a smiley face. I knew without a doubt that was Hashem's sweet and loving way of continuing our conversation. His messages are there if we are willing to look for them. That email is a great example as we always talk about. If we just extend our antenna, Hashem is signaling messages to us all the time. Through davening, we talk to him. Through learning Torah, he's talking to us. And through living life and walking around and all of the things that may sometimes seem random or chance, but are always by design. When things work out the way they're meant to and supposed to. You know, yesterday I snuck down to Hollywood, took my grandchildren out for a couple hours because Yeshiva Week they were off from school. I could help. My family is away. I miss them. And I found a block of a couple hours. We had fun, Chuck E. Cheese, which in Hollywood Yeshiva Week has not yet discovered. We were about the only ones there. And afterwards I took them to 7-Eleven and I texted my my kids if it was okay, and they said, well, they each had a stomach ache, be careful, ease up, I'm not sure they should. And we went to 7-Eleven and the Slurpee machine was broken. Kids were disappointed, but I said hashgacha protis. It was a hashgacha moment. They weren't meant to have. Your Slurpees are where they're meant to be, and that's not in your stomach. Now I owe them another trip to 7-Eleven Slurpees another time or to the lobby of the Chai corner at Boca Raton Synagogue. But my point is that if you live your life with your antenna extended, if you live your life looking to pick up the signal from Hashem, if you have a high speed connection with him, he's talking to us all day. From when we wake up in the morning to when we fall asleep at night, he is showing us. He's closing doors and opening other doors. He's sending us messages, things that work out and don't work out, but they're all from him and they're all from above and we shouldn't neglect, we shouldn't neglect. You know the Rambam, I'll just tell you for a moment, we'll get back to... the letters and then back to our text that we're learning together. But I want to share with you a Torah that my brother-in-law said at my Shabbos Sheva Brachos, which was just a few years ago. And he said the following. The Rambam talks about on fast days when we fast, the reason we're fasting is to emphasize our soul, not to neglect our body, but that we are a soul that has a body. We're not a body that has a soul. And when we live with a soul that is more attuned, a soul that's more alive, a soul that is more highly connected, then we're able to recognize and see the signal, pick up the signal from Hashem, hear him talking to us, and recognize and acknowledge and reciprocate that conversation that is ongoing with our Creator, with the Almighty, with the Ribbono shel Olam. And the Rambam uses a language. The Rambam says that a person who doesn't see and feel Hashem talking to us, interacting with us, such a person who rather dismisses that everything that happens is happenstance, is chance, like Amalek, asher korcha baderech, that Amalek happened upon us. Rashi quotes several interpretations, one of them asher korcha is lashon mikre, keri. If we walk with Hashem bekeri, then he walks with us keri. Keri means happenstance. Keri means chance. Keri means randomness. And so if we walk and we absorb and we integrate and we understand that whatever happened was chance - the parking spot, the red light, the diagnosis, winning the lottery, good or bad, it's all chance, it's all random, it's all happenstance - the Rambam uses a language that the Rambam says such a thing is cruel. To me this is achzarius, it's cruelty. To walk with God as if it's chance and randomness is cruel. And you can't help but wonder, why is it cruel? Of all the words the Rambam could employ and use, why cruel? It's wrong, it's inaccurate, it's ignorant, it's uneducated, it's secular, it's not religious, it's unfaithful. There's so many words, so many descriptions that you could use, that when Hashem is communicating to us through our lives and all that happens and we dismiss it, we neglect it, we don't notice it, we fail to acknowledge it or validate it or respond to it, so many words we could use, but why achzarius? And suggested my holy brother-in-law Joey, Joseph Ellerstein, suggested my brother-in-law, you know why it's called keri, mikre? You know why it's cruel? Because what happens if someone's calling your name? Do the opposite. You're calling your child. It's time for supper, it's time to do homework, it's time to leave the house, it's time to help in the kitchen, it's time to put away your backpack, it's time for whatever. You're calling. You're calling your husband, you're calling your wife. They're in the other room. And you see that they hear you. They're in your sight line. They're visible. But like on their phone, they're likely scrolling or texting, they're likely playing their game. And they don't even look up and they don't even respond. They don't even make eye contact and they don't even acknowledge that you're calling their name. You know what that is? It's downright cruel. That's how it feels. When you're calling out to someone and they ignore you, they shut you out, they don't look up, they don't respond to your bid for connection in the words of Dr. John Gottman. Dr. John Gottman talks about in marriage, healthy marriage and healthy relationships, a person makes a bid for connection and there are three possible responses to that bid. You could turn towards, which means that someone calls you and you say, \"Yes, what is it?\" Someone walks in a door and you say, \"So happy you're home, how was it? Where you were?\" You could turn towards in the bid for connection. And you could turn away, which is to specifically ignore or shut out or you could give or you could turn your back. Turn towards, turn away. What's the third? But turn against. Thank you, turn against. Turn towards, turn away, and turn against. And he talks about the ratio of those three will determine the health and happiness of a marriage. The health and happiness of a marriage. He gives the example, someone comes in, let's randomly say the woman comes in from shopping at the mall and she says, \"Hi, I'm home,\" and she's carrying a bunch of bags. So turning towards is, \"How was it? What'd you get? Show me, how did it go?\" Turning against is, \"Really, more bags? What's the damage? How much did you spend? I can't believe it. Why do you always have to go? Why are you always shopping? We can't afford, you don't need more.\" That's turning against. Turning towards, turning against. And turning away is you make some grunt, some sound, you don't even look up, you don't even look over, you don't even acknowledge, you don't say anything, you take no interest in how it went. And the ratio of those three will determine the health and happiness of a marriage. I once tried to suggest that Dr. Gottman's insight into turning, how we respond to bids for connection, maybe is how we reconcile the Gemara quotes a stira, a contradiction, the psukim, the Kruvum, the cherub childlike figurines that adorned the top of the Aron of the Holy Ark in the Mishkan, did they turn towards, were they facing each other, or were they facing away? The Gemara has its conclusion, but maybe that image of facing towards and facing away corresponds to how we respond to the Ribbono shel Olam. God's bid for connection because that's what the Gemara says, כאן כשעושים רצונו של מקום, when we're fulfilling God's will and word, when we see Him, when we feel Him, when we're talking to Him, when we hear Him, when we're living a life of Emuna, when He's an active part, a dynamic, vibrant part. He's, we're in a relationship with Him, then the image on top of the Aron reflects it. Then the figurines are turning towards each other. But when we neglect Him, when we don't pick up the signal, when we don't acknowledge Him, when He's calling out to us and we're just scrolling, we're just typing, we're just looking down, we're not even looking up, then they're turning away, then they're facing away from one another. So the Rambam says it's midas achzariyus because we know the experience. Sadly, we know it when we're calling someone, we're shouting their name, we're calling out to them, and they're just ignoring us. You feel your pulse pick up, you feel your breathing quicken, you feel your sweat glands pumping, you feel your anger rising, all because you're calling someone and they don't respond and it's callous and it's cruel. And that's why the Rambam uses that word to describe keri and mikra if God's calling our name. And that's when we fast, what we're saying is that the calamities of our past, that our lives they're not random and chance, whatever happens, good and bad, it's not happenstance. It was carefully curated, choreographed, it carefully came from above. Hashem decided and determined this is what's right and this is what's meant for us. And whatever we're going through and wherever we are and whatever we have to navigate, whatever we have to overcome, it is all designed and meant specifically. It is tapered individually for us. And we say, I hear you. I'm picking up your signal. I got it. I got your message. First of all, thank you. Thank you for the Slurpee machine being broken. Thank you for the parking spot working out. Thank you for the bumper sticker on the car in front of me at the red light that lets me feel that I was behind that car davka in that moment to davka read that bumper sticker to davka at a red light because I know that you're answering my conversation with you. When we do that, it's the opposite of cruelty. It's love. It's kindness. It's connection. It's what life is all about. Rabbi Goldberg, I recently started listening to your Emuna shiurim. I've had struggles internalizing Emuna due to some difficult childhood experiences, but listening to the shiur to work on my Emuna muscle. And two recent stories I want to share. This past Thursday night, I was driving home and I was switching lanes and got into a car accident. Baruch Hashem, no one was hurt, but there was a substantial amount of damage to the other car. I've been driving for many years and had never been in an accident before. In the past, I don't know how I would've handled it, but in the moment, while still somewhat anxious, I started thinking about seeing Yad Hashem. And in the moment, it hit me. So in other words, someone's in a car accident and there are two reactions you can have. Woe is me and why me and where are you, Hashem? And I can't believe this, there's no God, I'm giving up religion. 20 years I haven't been in an accident, now I had a fender bender, I'm out. That's one. And that's one that many have. Why? Because their expectation is that my life is meant to be smooth sailing and perfect and the way I drew it up and anytime anything goes wrong, it's your fault and where were you and I'm a victim and woe is me and now I'm done with you. That's one reaction that way too many people have. But he, because he's listening to these shiurim and he's part of our support group and our living with Emuna movement, instead decided to stop and think, was there a Yad Hashem? Where is the Yad Hashem even in this? I've been driving my grandmother's car for a couple of years, she's no longer able to drive it and been left largely unused. During the time, I'd never gotten around to transferring the car to my name. A couple of weeks before insurance was expiring, my mother reached out to me and said, we need to transfer it. She was leaving for Israel and it needs to be done that day. At the time, it was an annoyance, but we ended up getting it done. Two weeks later, car under my name, my insurance when the accident happened. I don't know how things would've proceeded but imagine the situation would've been far more complicated and worse if the insurance were not under my name, the car were not in my name and hadn't been driven in over a year. So in that moment, he was capable of identifying and seeing a Yad Hashem that, you know what, as unfortunate, as miserable, as frustrating as this is, even in it, here I see Your hand and I'm picking up your signal and there's something here, there is a reason. And he shares a second story as well. Rabbi Goldberg, we flew for Yeshiva weekend and we had a pretty crazy flight with intense turbulence. Said Shema a few times, but that's not even the story. By the way, I just saw an article, I don't know why, but there is a lot more intensity in turbulence on flights these days, so much so that the article talked about how to sit and how to brace yourself so you won't get hurt because people are finding themselves getting hurt because if you don't have a strong core and you don't know how to steady yourself when there's the turbulence, you could literally get injured. I was on a flight like this recently. Someone was screaming out, shouting, and that never helps anyone else. So I screamed out, Live with Emuna! No, I didn't. I said, we are where we're meant to be! No, I did not do that. I did not do that. And I do not suggest you try that either. But anyway, that's not the story. We landed, went to baggage claim, Baruch Hashem, all our bags were there. We headed to the hotel, checked in, got to our room, started unpacking when I opened one of the suitcases. But I remained calm. Now I want to tell you if you think that there aren't wonders of the world today in תשפ\"ו 2026, this is a wonder of the world. How is it that on the conveyor belt so many of the suitcases look alike? And particularly if you're on a Jewish flight which means from Israel or between Florida and New York and the soft duffels from Amazing Savings are about 50 percent of the pieces of luggage and they all look the same. And how is it that more people don't go home with the wrong bags? But I'll tell you even further if you're looking for a miracle in our time and I'm not trying to suggest this to any thieves who may be listening. How is it that people don't pull in front of a airport baggage claim, go inside nonchalantly and casually take luggage off the conveyor like it's theirs, walk out with it? If they're stopped they'll just say, oh I was confused, I thought this was mine, looks just like mine. And if not they go. How is it that our luggage is not all stolen on a more regular basis? I don't get it. I'm not giving you one more thing to be anxious or worried about because after all if you go to the Emunah Shiur we are a group of, we work to be warriors not worriers. I bought a big pillow I have a throw pillow now on the couch in my office, you could order it online: Be a warrior not a worrier. So when you come in I see it on the couch someone's coming to meet with me they first see it that's the message. I got two pillows. I bought myself a little gift. One says let go let God and the other says be a warrior not a worrier. We could use our furniture to give us messages. I'm being serious. Use your furniture not to flash where you bought it from some brand name. Instead of flashing a brand name use your furniture, maybe we should like line the inside of our suit jacket with a message then you see someone in shul if there's turbulence on the plane and you just open your jacket. You know you are where you're meant to be, be a warrior not a worrier, let go let God. I don't know these are all great ideas for our future swag. So you know or the future sweatshirts on the back not you know mother of the bride but the future sweatshirt on the back: Be a warrior not a worrier, let go let God, you are where you're meant to be. So I tell you that about the luggage not so you have yet one more thing to worry about but the opposite. When you leave with your own luggage each and every time you have one more thing to be thankful for. And whereas usually you're scrambling: Did you order the Uber? Are you in touch with whoever's supposed to pick us up? If this is JFK I can't believe we have to travel five miles to go wherever we're going on some tram it's miserable. Instead of doing all that when you pull your own luggage off a conveyor belt and you in fact double check and triple check and it's yours stop and offer a prayer: Thank you Hashem, the luggage made it, it's my luggage, it doesn't have a rip in it, it came off, I have it in its whole, it's not soaking wet or covered in snow. Thank you. Even the little things that we think we're entitled to, we have the expectation that they should happen, we should pause. And our day is filled with these invitations and opportunities to press pause and say thank you. Thank you, they got off to carpool or on the bus smoothly today. Thank you, I got where I was meant to go and everything was safe there was no car accident. Thank you, I got a seat at the Emunah Shiur, I found a parking spot, I didn't have to circle several times. Thank you. Whatever it is that we do: Thank you. Just then my phone rang, it was the woman whose suitcase we had. Back to our story. She had ours since the bags looked identical. I asked if by chance she was staying at the same hotel, that would have made a great story. Unfortunately she wasn't so we had to send her luggage to her in a taxi across town. The same time friends we're traveling with had been delayed on their flight. They were supposed to land before us. We called them, they had just landed and still had to go through customs. I asked if they were able to get our luggage but they had a long line of customs to get through. We got a little nervous that our bag might be moved so I called the airline asked them to set our bag aside so it would be easy for them to locate. Baruch Hashem everything worked out smoothly in the end, what a hashgacha pratis. Again you could be miserable, how annoying, what a terrible start to the vacation we mixed up our bags. Or thank you Hashem that settled itself and worked itself out fairly easily could have been a lot more complicated. Little opportunities and moments to offer a thank you Hashem. Here's another one. I was sorry to miss this morning's Emunah Shiur this was last week. You remember last week we spoke or two weeks ago, two weeks ago we spoke about someone who saw the idea of putting a note under the mezuzah, say I love you Hashem, and they weren't sure if they should do it or not. Last week and then they were going through a box in the Pina Chama in Gush Etzion and they found a box of notes that say I love you Hashem. Wow, that was an affirmation. So someone writes: I was sorry to miss this morning's Emunah Shiur in person because I was up in Brooklyn cleaning out my mother's house. We were able to finish earlier than expected since we had extra time before going to the airport we stopped at my daughter's house. Since she has internet and I had the time I listened to today's podcast. As we were leaving I went to kiss the mezuzah and was rewarded with a beautiful hug from Hashem. Posted over her mezuzah was the sign you spoke about: I love you Hashem. Thank you for the constant encouragement. So she missed it in person, listened online, just as she listened there leaving her daughter's house was a sign next to the Mezuza, say I love you Hashem, should remind us we say I love you Hashem. Rabbi Goldberg, I've been having difficult few weeks with a lot of uncertainty. The concept you taught a while back, do you remember a while back we learned about the concept of Hayom? Don't worry about tomorrow, you'll get to tomorrow, tomorrow. Hayom. I know I gave a Drasha on Shabbos, that the difference between us and them is that we think about tomorrow, they think about today. But every Drasha I give, that's the Drasha for that Shabbos. Just know that for that Drasha, there's an equal and opposite Drasha. So that was the Drasha this past Shabbos, ושמתי פדות בין עמי ובין עמך למחר יהיה האות הזה, the P'dus, the difference, the distinction between us and the Egyptians was L'machar. Pharaoh and the Egyptians live for the here and now, immediate pleasure, immediate gratification, they want same-day delivery on demand, instant gratification and we, the Jewish people, are born, the Geula happened because we live L'machar. We're able to live for the future, we're able to see the future, plan for the future, we have an awareness of our future self. He's not a stranger, she's not a stranger to us, but we live for our future self, we're able to be Roeh Es Hanolad. That was the Drasha last week. But the Drasha this morning is that we also live for Hayom. That don't worry about L'machar. Machar is tomorrow. Who lives Machar? Also the difference between us and Amalek. Tomorrow, tomorrow is people who are anxious and worried, but what's going to be and how's it going to work out and what's going to happen and what? That's anxiety that debilitates. Instead, Hayom, today. Just get to the end of today. I was taught in my share, every crisis I intervene, every person or couple or people I counsel, I say and I try to practice this myself, just get to the end of today. Sometimes someone loses someone so special, sometimes someone gets a diagnosis that they can't help but project what's going to happen, what's it going to be, will I be there, will it work out, will I be healthy, will I survive? Sometimes a person goes through a financial crisis, a relationship crisis and they can't help but fast forward and try to predict and anticipate and they want a crystal ball to know everything that's going to be and they can't. We don't have a crystal ball and we don't get an insight into the future because all we can live is today, that's all. So we spoke about that a while back and the person who wrote the short email says, the concept you taught of Hayom, focusing on making it through each day as opposed to getting overwhelmed by the unknown, has really been what I'm holding onto and getting me through. Thank you for the Emuna Shiurim, the fuel that gets me through everything that life's throwing my way. Hope all is well with you and your family. I love that email because it allows me to remind you that Imrei Chaim, the Heilige Vizhnitzer, at the end of this week's Parsha, Parshas Bo, but whenever you're listening to this, it's relevant, especially if you're close to Pesach, you could say it at your Seder table, והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא לאמר. At the end of this week's Parsha, we quote at the Seder, Vehigadta L'vincha, tell your child, Bayom Hahu, on this day, Leimor, saying. And then the Torah says, what do you tell him? The Sippur Yetziat Mitzrayim, Haggada, tell the story of the exodus. Tell the story, share it: the good, the bad, and the ugly, the highs and the lows, the oscillating narrative of our people. Don't just say everything was amazing and don't just say it was miserable. Say there were highs and lows, there were good and bad, it was challenging. We all have children, we all... don't, but those who are waiting and longing or who don't. But children, not everything is always smooth sailing. Sometimes one calls you they're having a hard time socially, academically. And when you tell them, you know, just bounce back or stick with it or what's your problem or ignore it, you have to tell them, you know, I once went through, let me tell you about my life, my childhood, let me tell you when I struggled, let me tell you about some of the grades on my report card that Sabba still has filed in his file cabinet in his home. Let me tell you about sometimes socially where I struggled that summer at camp or that year in school or that time even now as an adult where I was upset I wasn't invited, I saw a picture online of a bunch of friends they went out, they celebrated a milestone and I didn't even know it and I wasn't even invited. Let me tell you, when we share our own oscillating narrative, our own highs and the lows, then we give Chizuk, we give encouragement. We talk about how we endured and how we got through it and how we connected. And part of the way to do that is to say, והגדת לבנך ביום ההוא לאמר, says the Imrei Chaim, says the Heilige Vizhnitzer, Vehigadta L'vincha, what is it you should tell your child? Bayom Hahu, get through today. Live now, live in the present, live the moment. If you start to project the future, but what's going to be, what's going to be, who am I going to room with in college? What's going to be with Shidduchim? Where am I going to live? Will I have friends? When will I get married? What? You can't wake up, you can't get out of bed if you start living that way. The only way we can live is Hayom, Hayom. ראה אנכי נתן לפניכם היום, that's what we spoke about last. Hashem says I put the concept of Hayom before you, Beracha U'klala. use hayom as a bracha. Today. Today. V’higad’ta l’vincha bayom. What is it that we have to teach and tell and model our children, our nephews and nieces, our neighbors, bayom hahu? Live today. You'll get to tomorrow tomorrow, but today, live today and get to the end of today. One more Psalm 23 sighting, I know we have to get to our text. Rabbi Goldberg was listening to the emuna podcast while driving around town running errands. I have a lot on my plate lately and was really looking for inspiration and clarity. I was listening with fascination to the discussion about the 23 sightings and realized I had never really noticed them before. I wondered whether I'd ever be able to see a 23 now that I was sensitized to the whole concept. Right? So now not only do we have our emuna, everyone's looking for messages, now we've got everybody looking for תהלים קפיטל כג, Psalm 23. I paused the shiur at that exact moment and ran into Staples to drop off a package. On a bit of a whim I then stopped at No Frills, a Canadian grocery store, to grab some granola bars for my daughter's lunches. I picked up a few really random items. As I was checking out the cashier looked at me and said, I bet that doesn't happen often. I was kind of spacey, had no idea what she was referring to. She said, look at your total. Look at your total. It's a perfect 23. No cents, just a nice round number, 23 dollars. I asked her to repeat herself. She told me your total is an even 23. I started laughing and I asked her, this is the cashier in the Canadian grocery store, I asked her if she ever read Psalms. She said yes. I told her I'd just been listening to a podcast about Psalm 23. She was amazed and said I was spooking her out. I was definitely not spooky but it was surreal and it was a much needed message from Hashem on a day I truly needed it. Attached the receipt so you can see it for yourself. It all happened just an hour ago. There it is, for those who don't believe, highlighter, debit card, you could have earned Optimum Points if you had been a member of No Frills. Yeah, 23 dollars on the dot, no cents. Just as a person says Hashem, I could use a little message, I could use a little wink, I could use a little hug, I'd love to see the number 23, I want to join the the train, the Psalm 23 train, and then they go into a grocery store and there it is. The cashier who didn't have to notice it, who didn't have to look up, who didn't have to point it out, who didn't have to say anything, said, ha, have you ever seen that before? No cents, just even dollars, 23. Okay, last one. I started having an eye twitch about a year ago and it didn't go away. I eventually went to a neurologist who said baruch Hashem it's nothing serious, just a hemifacial spasms. And yet I've been struggling to accept the new reality. Since then other parts have subtly twitched. I don't love the idea of the twitches getting pronounced. I imagine it'll make me self-conscious. Here's where you come in. I'm an avid listener of Living with emuna. I've been trying to feel more at ease with accepting the situation. Again, you can go through it: what was me, why me, I'm miserable, I'm embarrassed, I stay home, I'm so angry. Or you can say let me stop and analyze and think how can I interpret and experience this in a way where I can see Hashem? I find myself thinking, I love this, WWRGS. I find myself thinking, WWRGS. What would Rabbi Goldberg say? Embrace your place wasn't working as a mantra so I revised it. I tell myself, embrace your face. Which others have to do too. Sometimes our facial features aren't exactly what we'd want. Sometimes age, signs of age begin to show. So not only embrace your place, also embrace your face. What swag can we put that on? The makeup bag? Embrace your face. On the mirror. Put that on the mirror in the bedroom. Embrace your face. Okay, we're expanding our swag repertoire. I'm not totally there yet at a place of no worry, completely letting go and letting God, but I'm taking baby steps. And the dose of emuna from the weekly podcast definitely helping. Thank you so much for all that you do. And I thank for embrace your face. That is a good one. I like that. Okay, really the last one. As long as you say the last one you can keep reading more. This is not another email, this is the dvar Torah to take us back to what we're learning. Psalm 23, Kapitel Kaf Gimmel. We'll launch this long string. Anyone know what week we're up to of Psalm 23 sightings? Exciting to see how long we can go. Rabbi Goldberg was thinking about the pasuk, ה' רועי לא אחסר. This is how it all started. The pasuk, Kapitel Kaf Gimmel, Hashem roi, the Lord is my shepherd, lo echsar, usually translated the teitsch as I shall not lack. We learned it here in Rav David Abuhatzeira's sefer, just had the hillula of the Baba Sali, from whom Rav David Abuhatzeira comes, last night, otherwise known as Sparty Gras. It was amazing last night. So it was fantastic. So Rav David Abuhatzeira said ה' רועי לא אחסר doesn't mean Hashem is my shepherd and therefore I'm not missing anything in my life. It's a tefilla to Hashem, let me live of a life that I'm never lacking that you're my shepherd. Whatever I'm going through, wherever I go, whatever's happening, let me remember, let me be aware, let me feel you are my shepherd. I'm not missing anything. So that was another interpretation, but listen to what, listen to what Ethan suggests. I'm saying his name because it's such a great pshat. Hashem Roi. He has a new reading. Hashem Roi, now, lo in quotes, echsar. The only thing lacking is no. Hashem only says yes. When things don't work out, he's saying yes, this is even better. Hashem Roi, when Hashem is my shepherd, then I can live a life that lo echsar. I'll have no lo, no, no in my life. Whatever's happening is a yes. It may not be the yes of what I asked for, it's a yes to something else. It may not be the yes of walking through this door, he closed that door, but he made a yes to opening another. It may not be the yes to what I hoped, what I dreamt, what I davened, what I asked, but everything if it comes from Hashem is by definition a yes. So therefore he suggests oh what a beautiful pshat that Hashem Roi, if indeed I can live my life that he's my shepherd, then lo, the word lo, no, echsar, I'll be missing the word lo in my life, everything is from Hashem. Imagine if someone orders a steak well done, gross. Hashem says yes, of course you can get a steak, but try it black and blue it's much better. Okay he listens to Tanya too because last week we spoke about the Alter Rebbe, the Baal HaTanya talked about how we can eat out of Elokus versus eating out of ego. And he said one of the examples he gave for example you sit down to great marbled meat. That was his example. So I said how do you cook the meat, how do you make the meat? So my in-laws are here they'll tell you when I first got married I admit chata'ai ani mazkir I used to like meat well done. But they taught me, they opened my eyes to so many things including that it's meant to be eaten rare. But I miss the old days of the char and the well done. So the proper way to eat a steak, you thought you came for emunah, but aderaba I'll just tell you the proper way to eat a steak is what's called black and blue. Black and blue means char on the outside and nice and rare on the inside. And if you go to a fine dining establishment and you say I'll take it black and blue and they say excuse me then you're in the wrong place. If they don't know what that is, that's the proper way, so he knows, he writes it in the email. Hashem always says yes, Hashem always says yes. It's just a matter of when that yes comes and how it manifests itself. Hashem is the ultimate yes man. Azoi zugt Ethan a beautiful insight back to our holy sefer. So there are copies, there are some more up here if you want to look and read and follow along, they're on the front table. We're in the Shaarei Tefilla of Rav David Abuhatzeira page kuf lamed aleph, page 131, the right hand column on the bottom. In this perek, in this chapter, the great Rav David Abuhatzeira has been teaching us how we daven not only for the gashmius, we daven not only for the material and physical in our lives but we daven for the ruchnius. And while what we daven for physically and materially may or may not be a yes for what we asked because do we deserve, do we merit, is it what's right, is it what's best, but when we daven for ruchnius, when we daven for spiritual breakthrough that's always a yes. That's always a yes. Hashem can't say no to that. That's hakol biyedei shamayim hakol, everything is in God's hand. Will he give us a yes or no? It's all a yes. Will he respond positively for the way we asked? Hakol, that's all biyedei shamayim chutz, but the one thing that when we ask yes to automatically give is yirat shamayim. When we daven for yirat shamayim, you hear that interpretation, wow, what a different way of teitshing chutz miyirat shamayim. Od bemilsa acharisa. You see where we are bottom of the right hand column page kuf lamed aleph. כאשר כוונת האדם לתקן עולם במלכות שדי תפילתו נענית מיד. When a person davens to Hashem and their mission and their purpose is they want to repair the world in God's image, we want to repair the world lesakein olam. You know you ever hear the they say there's a joke about the Federation mission to Israel where one of the participants asked the tour guard how do you say tikkun olam in Hebrew because tikkun olam has become such a catchphrase. Everything is tikkun olam, why do we believe in this, recycling and we're believers in environmentalism and we believe in fighting all forms of why tikkun olam and all of Judaism reduced to those two words tikkun olam. Now that is a very Jewish concept. In fact you say it every day. When do you say it every day, which tefilla? Aleinu. In Aleinu we say every day lesakein olam. But many years ago Rabbi Pelkovitz zecher tzaddik livracha, the great Rabbi Pelkovitz spoke here in our shul and he pointed out I'll never forget. He said tikkun olam, tikkun olam or lesakein olam. Tikkun olam is a very Torah concept. It's why we're here, it's what our mission is, it's what it's all about. It's a great Torah concept, but how? Not just lesaken olam based on how I see, how I dream, how I feel, but לתקן עולם במלכות שדי. So when we daven, Hashem, I'm on a mission. I accept the mission, I accept what You've sent me to do, I accept what You've sent me to do. But I can't do it if I don't have my health, I can't do it if I don't have wealth, I can't do it if I don't have peace of mind, serenity. So give it to me not for me, but Hashem, help me so I can help serve You. כמו ואגב אורחא גם הדברים הגשמיים יתקבלו כי אם יעלה עליו עול מלכות לא יוכל לעשות חפצי שמים. Hashem, without it I can't help or serve You, I can't fulfill my mission and purpose. It's a totally different paradigm of tefillah. Means when I stand up and get up to daven, I'm not davening out of ego, I'm davening out of Elokus. This is the book. Did you read my new book? You haven't. Where can you get it? Right now only in my head. But I hope to get it out of my head. Really, this is my new book. I have a lot of books. You don't have any of them because so far they're all only in my head. But this one is Ego versus Elokus. It is an entire paradigm and platform for how to live life. Everything we do, everywhere we go, everything we say, everything we think, our whole approach, our whole perspective, our whole paradigm for life is either Elokus or ego. There's only two ways. And that defines everything about our lives, our relationships, our career, is ego or Elokus. Every aspect of our life is indulging, is feeding, is nourishing either ego or Elokus. Elokus means godliness, means God's world, it means my mission for God, it means a life of connection to God. That's why we're here. We're not in this world to take, we're in this world to give. We're not in this world because of our rights and entitlements, we're in this world filled with duty and obligation. The Ramchal begins Mesillat Yesharim not, \"Okay Hashem, You put me in this world, what do I get? What do I get with it? What do I get with this membership in this world? What do I get with this membership called life?\" No, we say Hashem, You put me in this world, wow! What a privilege, what a blessing. So grateful. What's my mission? Why am I here? What do You need me to do next? What's my next assignment? Why? When a person lives that second life, now everything I ask for, my whole davening is different. I don't get up and ask Hashem, whether formal tefillah or even more authentically in my own words, I don't ask Hashem, \"Hashem, help my investments do well, help my career take off, help me get that raise and promotion, because me, I want a nicer vacation. I'm following where everyone is in yeshiva week, I want to go too. I'm not asking for a bigger house and a nicer car for me.\" Say \"Hashem, help me because more resources, true, I could live a nicer and more pleasurable life. Nothing wrong with that, like we learned in Tanya, Alter Rebbe says there's nothing wrong with saying if I have better things I'll have greater oneg Shabbos and more beautiful simchas Yom Tov and I can offer hospitality and give people greatest delicacies and how geshmak that will be. I'm asking for it for Elokus.\" And \"Hashem, help me, my knee hurts, my hip hurts, my back hurts, I've had a cold or the flu going back and forth for the last six months Hashem, what's with the weather changes already? Help me. Not for me, because it's interfering with my mahjong and my tennis and my plans. Hashem, help me because I can't, I can't check in on others and I can't do bikur cholim and nichum aveilim and make it to the shiur and I can't concentrate when I daven to You when I have this horrific head cold and sinus infection.\" It's a different paradigm of davening, of tefillah. It's entirely different. When I stand up and talk to Him, when I look out and interpret everything happening in this world, am I doing it out of ego? \"How could it be I was in this fender-bender car accident? How could it be I switched up this suitcase?\" All that if we swell with anger is ego. But if I live my Elokus, I say \"What's my mission? What's my assignment? Why do I have the wrong suitcase?\" I'm in the fender-bender, I'm on the side of the road and I say \"Hashem, where can I see Your hand even in this moment? Ah, I switched the insurance, I switched the title, that made it easier. Hashem, You put the refuah before the makkah, thank You. My mission right now is to stay calm, my mission is to see Your hand, my mission is to live bayom hahu, to live today and not worry and fear and get anxious for tomorrow. Maybe my mission is to be a warrior not a worrier, to embrace my place. That's my mission. Or maybe my mission is bigger. Maybe I'm here in this moment, maybe the person who got my suitcase...\" meant to be invited for a Shabbos dinner. Maybe the person in the supermarket who said, \"did you notice the receipt?\" nobody noticed her name the entire day, and now when I say, \"yes,\" isn't it amazing? Tracy, whatever name is on her, do you say Psalms? Listen to this class I've been I've been listening to. Maybe that was your mission, maybe it came out to a round number not so you got your twenty-three siding, but so that cashier had someone who actually saw her and said her name, wasn't invisible as she was the whole day. All day long Hashem is giving us missions and assignments. He's putting us where we are, both that which is pleasurable, that which is painful, that which is going smoothly, and that which feels like friction. And each time he's saying, you have a mission, you have an assignment. Embrace this place, embrace this moment and find your mission. And when you do you'll daven so differently. Hashem, help me fulfill and complete it and I can't do it, I need good health, and I need resources, and I need serenity and happiness. I need good relationships. I need enough nachas. וכעין מה שכתב השפת אמת בשם זקנו החידושי הרי\"ם. And this Sfas Emes whose Yahrzeit is tomorrow night Friday, the holy Sfas Emes quotes in the name of his grandfather, the first Gerer Rebbe, Chidushei HaRim, Be'ur Divrei HaMidrash, קרוב ה' לכל קוראיו, the posuk in Ashrei, Hashem is close to all who call him. Yachol lakol. Posuk says Karov Hashem, God is close, lakol, to all. So I might think taka all. Talmud lomar, not all. All, lakol, asher yikra'uhu be-emes. So the way to read that posuk is two parts. Karov Hashem, lakol kor'av. God is close to all who call him. Really all? No, no, no, we qualify. Not all. לכל אשר יקראוהו באמת. שעדיין קשה תחילת הפסוק שנכתב בו שקרוב ה' לכל. If we're qualifying it, then why did we say lakol to begin with? Why say he's close to all if we never really meant all? He's not close to all. To whom is he close? Only to those who call him be-emes, in truth. So why did we say all? Hear the question? Answers the Sfas Emes, השפת אמת מבאר שבזכות הצדיקים הקוראים באמת יכולה תפילתם של הכל לעלות השמימה ולפעול פעולת צדיק לחיים. The answer is it's true. It's true. If our tefilla's not authentic and sincere, if we're struggling, if we're buffering—let's go back to the metaphor, the example we gave a couple years ago. Sometimes in life, we're buffering. Our internet is slow. Our Wi-Fi connection's not working. And therefore we can't pick up the signal, can't download our emails. We're not able to connect to the website. We can't ask AI our question, 'cause we can't connect. So what do we do? We find someone who has a hotspot. Sometimes when I drive, we drive our family, so our children might have a device that has no independent connection. So when they're near Wi-Fi they have it, but in the car they don't. So what do they always do? Abba, can I use your hotspot? Can you make your phone a hotspot? What does the hotspot do? Someone else can connect, someone else can link, hook up with your connection, and now they have high speed. So we spoke about in emunah sometimes when we struggle, I don't see Hashem, I don't feel Hashem, I don't feel like feeling Hashem. Sometimes we're struggling, we're buffering, we don't have that great connection, find a hotspot. Find a survivor. Find a person of deep and profound emunah. We all have friends, we're all exposed to people, we all know people who are extraordinary and remarkable. Go watch an interview with a hostage who got out and found Hashem in the tunnels. We had Bar Kuperstein, and please God soon we're having Sapir Cohen and Sasha, and Im yirtzeh Hashem—it's not entirely confirmed but the second week of March, Eli Sharabi. Why are we continuing to bring hostages? Because their lessons are so powerful. They're heroes of our people, they deserve to be honored and celebrated, but they're also hotspots for all of us to connect to. Hotspots. Connect, connect through and to them. So that's what the Sfas Emes said, that's how he answered the posuk. קרוב ה' לכל קוראיו, Hashem is close to all who call, לכל אשר יקראוהו באמת. Not all. לכל אשר יקראוהו באמת. You have to call—so which is it? To everyone or qualified? No, only those who call him be-emes. The answer is, when you use someone who's calling him be-emes as your hotspot, even if your prayers are imperfect, they can go up too. Connect and attach your prayer to those whose prayers are high and holy. Daven in a shul and go to a minyan and surrounded by people whose prayers are going straight up. Find those people. Find the person in your life who you know, who is enduring, who's overcoming, who's overcome, who is struggling, who nevertheless has a profound faith in Hashem, who hasn't given up. Find that friend who always says Im yirtzeh Hashem, Be-ezras Hashem, Chasdei Hashem, and they mean it. And make them your hotspot because when you do, your tefilla can ride on their coattails. Your tefilla can ride on their coattails. You know the story of the Bluzhever Rebbe jumping over the canyon, jumping over that huge gap, and the person who was behind him asked the rebbe, \"But how did you get across?\" \"Because I grabbed on to you.\" So we can grab on to those rebbes, men or women tzadikim tzidkaniyos, those people of deep and profound faith, no matter what they've gone through. And our tefillos can ascend with theirs. We can connect and attach ourselves to them. We can get a high-speed connection to Hashem through our connection with him. כיוצא בזה מצינו בדברי הרבי הקדוש רבי אלימלך מליז'נסק. We find similarly, we'll end with this. Bapasuk in and then we'll go to questions and answers so that our visitors and guests who are here for yeshiva week have an opportunity to ask. Not those who are streaming, we turn the recording off, but only those who are here in person. So any, as we finish up, think of a question. Any topic, halacha, hashkafa, controversial, whatever you want. Bapasuk רצון יראיו יעשה ואת שועתם ישמע ויושיעם, another pasuk we continue in ashrei. Ratzon yeraiv ya'aseh Hashem, you do the will of those who fear you, ve'es shavasam and their prayers, their call, yishma you hear veyoshi'eim and you save them. Pasach bilashon yachid. Ratzon. Ratzon is in the singular. It's addressing the individual. In the singular. Hashem, you hear the will of the individual. And then it ends, shavasam in the plural, their prayers. So it's a kasha. This pasuk is incongruous, it's inconsistent. It begins in the singular and ends in the plural. Which is it, the singular or the plural? Answers הייליגער רבי אלימלך מליז'נסק, שכאשר עם ישראל זקוקים לישועה ואינם ראויים לכך אז הקדוש ברוך הוא מביא רצון צדיק להתפלל לישועה ומתקבלת תפילתו ועל ידי זה נושעים כלל ישראל וזהו ואת שועתם של ישראל ישמע ויושיעם. Sometimes the Jewish people need a yeshuah and it's in the merit of the tzadik, of the individual. Our collective prayers ride the coattails of the holy tzadik. We use them and turn to them as a hotspot, we connect high-speed through them and that's how the prayers ascend. That's one of the ways. So first of all, when you daven for ruchanius rather than gashmius, they're guaranteed to be answered. Second of all, when we couch all, even of our gashmius, \"Hashem, I'm turning and davening to you not out of ego but out of elokus, all that I need is not for myself but so I can fulfill my mission and better serve you,\" now he'll be more predisposed to answer favorably. But remember, every answer is a yes, because השם רעי לא אחסר. I'll never have or lose anymore. So thank you for coming, next week also we're going to open to women and men and we'll be back here. Now we turn the recording and the stream off for a few minutes of question and answer. Our upcoming, upcoming, not yet, in a couple of weeks, Be'eress global campaign. Don't leave today without doing your part. If you're a member you've done your part. If you're not a member, how could you live with yourself and enjoy the coffee, the pastry, the shiur, the parking, the security and not do your part to make it happen? Until next week, stay happy, stay holy.
