Transcript
Good morning Boker tov, great to be back together again in our living with Emuna support group to reinforce one another to feel Hashem's guiding hand and loving presence in our lives today, each day, and always. I want to thank our generous sponsors Doctors Avi and Bella Morgan, who've sponsored the Emuna series for this year in memory of Rabbi Doctor Brian Galbut ברוך צבי בן ראובן נתן who of course was and is a model for us of Emuna. It occurred to me recently that my dear friend Brian, I don't remember him ever belonging to an Emuna WhatsApp group or subscribing to an Emuna email or listening to Emuna shiurim or necessarily learning Emuna sefarim. There were people who intuited, who lived it, who didn't need to focus or emphasize or sign up for the latest group of it, they just actually practiced it. And that's not to suggest that any of us shouldn't be doing those things; they're wonderful reinforcements, they're an amazing source of support. But it makes it all the more impressive the type of Emuna that he lived with his entire life and particularly at the end of his life without using those other tools or instruments but simply living it his very self. So thank you to the Morgans for that generous sponsorship. This morning's particular class is also sponsored by Leo and Lucy Di-Ephrat in memory of Leo's great grandfather Yehuda HaLevi. Thank you for your generous sponsorship. So we're going to start a new text today. I don't have it copied for you, so I'm simply going to read it and hopefully you'll be able to follow along without having access to it. I appreciate your patience. Please God for next week I'll post a PDF of it somewhere. And it comes from a sefer called Chovat Ha'adam Be'olamo. Chovat Ha'adam Be'olamo was recommended to me by Rav Moshe Weinberger, one of my Rebbeim, and its author is anonymous, which I think makes it on the one hand, you'd say, put your name on what you're doing, don't you stand by your contribution? On the other hand, it also makes it incredibly humbling and really gives it some level of credibility that the author is not trying to advance his own name or reputation or honor, but really it's about advancing the Torah. The Torah is the brand and Hashem's will. So I don't know who the author is. There are many, many volumes, they're very hard to get. Whenever I go to Israel, please God we'll be able to go again soon, whenever I go, I go to sefarim stores and I find a random smattering of them, but there are many, many, many, many volumes. And this is a volume of Chovat Ha'adam Be'olamo on the topic of Bitachon, a very thick volume. Many of the volumes are much thinner. He has on every topic, from anger and envy and serving Hashem and patience and living in the moment and נושא בעול עם חברו. It's really a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful series. So here he has on Bitachon and we'll do some sections of it. I find it really beautiful not only in his drawing from so much of the Torah wisdom that's out there already, but also giving very practical advice about how to advance with it, how to live with it. He says the following. He quotes the Maharal, it begins with a quote from the Maharal: האמונה היא עצם הדבקות. We think that we have three independent and overlapping concepts or mitzvos called Emuna, Bitachon, and Dveikus. And we've spent over the last few years that we've been studying together, we've spent time trying to define what is the difference between Emuna faith, Bitachon trust, and Dveikus cleaving or clinging to Hashem. What is the difference between the two? And if we have to summarize it very succinctly in a sentence or two, Emuna is in the abstract, Emuna is I believe there is a creator, there's a first cause, I don't necessarily have a relationship with him, he doesn't necessarily influence what's happening in my life, but there's someone who created everything, there is something out there, there is something out there. I was having a discussion, I referenced in the earlier shiur this morning, yesterday with a young Jewish guy I know who's struggling with his Judaism and he said, you know, I don't know if I really believe in God, there's some cause, there's some... I said, I don't know if God's particular the name that you give him, as long as you believe that it's not you, you know that it's not random or chance, you know that there's some greater energy, cause, source of it all. That's Emuna. Bitachon is that I place my trust that not only does he exist and not only did he create the world, not as only out there in the abstract and in theory, he's in my life, he's involved in my life, he's with me. And then Dveikus is because I know he's with me, because I know he's in the room, that influences what I say, what I watch, but also influences that I don't panic and I don't have fear or anxiety, I know he's got my back, I know he's with me, then Dveikus is I therefore cling to him, I therefore stick with him, I therefore trust him. So the Maharal writes in Tiferes Yisrael: האמונה היא עצם הדבקות. Emuna is the core of Dveikus. You're not going to cling to someone or something you don't believe exists. You cling to that which you believe is real. And the Reishis Chochma writes: כי אי אפשר לאדם שידבק באלוקיו אם אין לו ביטחון בו וכשיבטח באמת הוא בוודאי דבוק בו. When a person really believes Hashem exists, then you'll cling to him. The really the two go hand in hand is what he's saying. Meaning, meaning, if you really believe there's an infinite omnipotent God who's involved and knows everything in your life, who influences the outcome, the happiness, the joy, the satisfaction, the fulfillment, all of your heart's wishes for the good, then of course you would cling to him. Of course you would want to be near him, talk to him, love him, give to him, dedicate to him, be devoted to him. And if you don't do all those things, what it really reveals is there's a chink in the armor. What it reveals is there's a little bit of doubt that's crept in. Because who wouldn't, who wouldn't want to attach themselves to someone who is the source of all, who is all-powerful, who is entirely responsible for that outcome. You know, lehavdil in this world you see all the time, people cling to, they literally practice dveikus, they try to cleave and cling to the individuals they perceive are powerful, wealthy, have fame, celebrity, honor, name, and you'll see people cling to them, attach themselves to them, try to get to know them, have a relationship with them, name drop them. So if that's true for the mere mortals, if that's true for people basar vadam of this world, all the more so. If that's how a person would feel or want to be connected, then all the more so to the King of Kings, the Almighty, to the Almighty who truly is the source of everything. So the level of dveikus we practice, the degree to which we feel his presence and try to cling to him, stick with him, feel he's got our back, depend on him, rely on him, defer to him, reveals how much we really believe he's there. Because if we don't do those things, we may not or must not fully or entirely believe he's there, otherwise, otherwise we would. Otherwise we would. דבר קשה וכואב לאדם הוא הבדידות. So he begins this, this chapter by saying the following. A very difficult and painful thing, you'll see why I chose it. Kasheh vekoev, difficult and painful for a person is bedidus. Now, six months ago you might not have been familiar with what that word means, bedidus, bidud, badad. You might not have heard that Hebrew word six months ago, you might not have been familiar with it, you certainly might not have identified with it. But by now, all of us, particularly if you have family in Israel or you're planning to go to Israel, and you know the law in Israel, know what that word means. And what it means is quarantine. What it means is alone. What it means is isolation. What it means is to be, to be by ourselves, to be by ourselves. One more sponsor, by the way, we left out, I'm sorry, thank you Linda, Julia and Richard Ehrlich in honor of Eliyahu's Bar Mitzvah this Shabbos tomorrow morning and the Shabbos, what a yontif, wonderful young man I met with him yesterday, he should be a great source of nachas to his parents, his amazing parents, his wonderful grandparents, and he has such a great attitude to having a Bar Mitzvah in this difficult time. What a display of emuna and bitachon to be able to be so happy about a Bar Mitzvah even in this difficult time. So thank you to the Ehrlichs for that, for that sponsorship as well. So davar kasheh vekoev, a very difficult and painful thing for a person is bedidus, is bedidus, is being alone, is being isolated, is feeling that we're entirely by ourselves. In Israel the law is, my kids went back to Israel finally and they had to go right into bidud, they're still in their state of quarantine in their apartment. Not like American quarantine, Israeli quarantine like they check your cell phone GPS, they call you several times, they show up at the door and you have to hold up your baby to make sure everybody's in the home who's supposed to be in the home. That's like legit bidud. So bidud, aloneness, loneliness, isolation, we spoke about this Tisha B'Av night, eicha yashva vadad. How the pain, Yirmiyahu Hanavi describes that the pain of the Jewish people was to be alone. There's nothing more painful. If you think about it, when a person is being punished in a prison, what is the greatest punishment? We put a person in solitary confinement. It's the most painful punishment, solitary confinement, alone, no one to talk to, no one to connect with, no camaraderie, no community, nothing, alone, alone. אדם בטבעו צריך אנשים סביבו כמעט תמיד. Man is designed, man, generic man, we are designed and we are created as social animals. We need people around us. Now true there are introverts and true there are extroverts, on one of the episodes of Behind the Bima we talked about that. The rabbis talked about what we discovered about ourselves, whether in fact we are social animals, you know the quarantine, we talked about it much earlier on, but did we discover in fact that we're okay being alone or do we crave and need to be with other people? Are we some hybrid of the two? Is it what we always thought? There are introverts and there are extroverts, but even the introvert craves connection. The introvert might stay quiet in that crowded room, but occasionally they want to be in a room with other people. אבל לא רק אנשים יש סוג של קשר פנימי עמוק ושורשי שהצורך שלו נובע מעומק הנשמה של אדם. הקשר עם אדם עם בוראו. So where does that come from? Where is the nekuda, where is the source, what is the point, what is the root of that craving or longing within the psyche of all people, men and women, to not want to be alone? Why is it that nobody in prison says, solitary confinement, awesome, perfect, that's what I was going for, that's not a punishment, that's a reward? Never has the child who's been put in time-out said, awesome, maybe if they have their device, they're excited because they're connecting with others. Take away their device and put them in time-out, and you might as well cut out their kidneys, you might as well take out their spleen, you might as well remove an organ, you might as well sever a limb. To be alone, all of us have this nekuda, this core inside us that craves connection, camaraderie, that wants to be with people and says the Chovos Ha’adam Ba’olamo, that's what we're going to have to call his name because we don't know who the author is, where does that come from psychologically in our psyche, in our very development and design? It comes ultimately from the craving to connect to our Creator. To know there is someone and there is something so much bigger than ourselves. To not want to walk through this world and think we're really all alone with the obstacles we face and with the challenges we confront. And even in the moment of joy and the happiness and the celebration, to do it alone, to not have anyone to share it with, to lean on, to rely on, to be supported by, it's deeply, deeply, profoundly painful. You know, when I was younger, I took up golf a little bit in high school, I took a long break from it in my Yeshiva years where I came down to Boca, I rediscovered it. In certain sections down here, I was able to play often and now I can barely play. But in all that time, I never played golf alone. I could count on one hand with a few fingers left over how many times I played golf alone. Because to me, the golf is a platform to connect socially, but it's also the opportunity to share the experience. So to me, if you hit an amazing shot, you hit the best shot of your life and there's no one there to see it, to share it with, to celebrate it with, it takes something away. On the other hand, you have a terrible round and there's nobody there to laugh at it with, there's nobody there to laugh when you shank the ball or hit how many in the water, then it's also, what was the point of going out? So we all naturally, instinctively have this draw, this desire, we want to connect with others. Where does that come from? Ultimately it comes from the desire to connect to our Creator. Adam HaRishon, the first man, had that desire, that need, even before there was anyone to spend time with, there was no Chava, before there was an Eve, he still felt this yearning, this draw. With whom was he meant to connect? Why did he feel this draw? He wanted to connect to Hashem. הנשמה שירדה לעולם הזה מרגישה לעיתים בודדה. The neshama that has come into this world at times feels alone. And you know psychologists have identified a feeling of being alone even in a crowded room. There's a lot of loneliness, one of the plagues of our generation. It's been written about. Google and you'll read research and you'll see, is even with all the connectivity online, a million Facebook friends, a million Twitter friends, a million this, a million that, you could have all the online friends and connections in the world, but the more people are connected online, the lonelier they're feeling offline. How much real connection, face-to-face, heart-to-heart, intimate, confiding connection is there? People at times really feel alone, they can feel alone even in a crowded room, they could feel alone even with a big family. Rabbi Soloveitchik felt this, the lonely man of faith, to be experiencing things whether it's intellectually, emotionally, spiritually, that you just don't believe others can connect with, identify with, share in, there is occasionally that feeling of just really being alone. Inner thoughts, an inner dialogue that you're not comfortable sharing with anyone on the whole planet, there can be feelings of being alone. היא הרי היתה חלק אלוק ממעל וחוצבה מתחת כיסא הכבוד. בשלב מסוים היא נותקה מבורא עולם ועברה לגור בתוך כלא הנקרא גוף. You see the soul, the soul comes from the Kiseh HaKavod. Our soul comes from God's divine throne. Our soul is a חלק אלוק ממעל ממש, the soul actually comes from God. And here it was taken away from God and it was brought down to this earth and it was placed into this prison called the body. And the soul in this prison called the body is in the solitary confinement of the body. And the soul says, yes, through this body I find expression in this world, but I also feel trapped and I also feel to a degree isolated. Because while the body presents opportunities and the body's a vehicle and an instrument to interact in this world, the body's also filled with temptation, desire, limits. Rav Nachman of Breslov writes that he longs for when he leaves this world and he can disrobe from the body. What he meant is, I've said this analogy many times, when you come home, I wear a suit and a tie all day long, and that opportunity, whatever day or time of night it is, to finally take that off and put on on the T-shirt and shorts, put on those pajamas, finally put on something more comfortable. It's like taking off a straitjacket. It's like taking off something, chains that are imprisoning. So to the soul, to Rav Nachman, his soul that wanted to fly free, that wanted to reconnect to Hashem, that body is like a suit and a tie, it's like a straitjacket holding us back and creating all kinds of distractions, temptations. היא מחפשת בכל עת התחברות עם האבא האמיתי שלה. The soul is constantly looking to reconnect with its true source, to connect to God, and can feel lonely within that prison that is the body. אדם צריך לעבור במסלול העולם הזה בהרגשה שהוא לא לבד. So this is what Emuna, Bitachon, and Dveikus are all about, he says. And this is the message I want to share with you this morning, I want to share with me this morning, is that a person needs to know and needs to feel in this world that we're never, ever alone. That that feeling of loneliness that others, that the atheist or the agnostic or the doubter struggles with, that feeling of loneliness and aloneness which is profoundly painful and difficult, the faithful Jew, the faithful person never has to feel it. שמישהו תמיד הולך איתו because there's someone always with us, and there's someone who loves us, and there's someone that we can confide in, that we're never, ever alone. יש בורא לעולם המתעניין בו. There is a creator of the world who's interested in our lives. You know, sometimes there are people who live with a spouse or children and they feel, I talk but are they really listening? It seems they're distracted, they're multitasking, they don't respond, they don't really absorb what I'm saying. Maybe they even can mimic back the words I use, but are they really listening? Are they really interested? Does anyone really care what's going on in my life? Has anyone asked me how I feel, what are my dreams and aspirations, what are my fears and concerns, where do I ever want to go, what do I want to do? Is there anyone who's really interested and concerned and wants to learn about me? There are people, like I say, with large families or of a marriage that on the outside looks happy, but they struggle with that sentiment and sense of, does anyone really care about me? Do they inquire? Do they ask? Do they want to learn? Do they want to get into my head? Can I trust? And that feeling is of loneliness, of loneliness. So says the Chovat HaAdam Beolamo, if you live with faith, with Emuna, Bitachon, if you know that there is a God, a creator that he's involved and invested in our lives, then you never need to feel that. Yes, it's difficult. He's invisible and he doesn't answer back, and you can't hear him talking, you can't touch him, you can't feel his embrace, you can't smell him. The awareness of him doesn't use the five senses, and it makes it difficult, of course. But yet, he is there, we can know he is there, and therefore never ever have to feel alone or lonely. Melaveh oto, he accompanies us. צמוד אליו בכל שעות היממה, he's with us all times. You wake up in the middle of the night, you have insomnia, you can't sleep, you're worried about certain things, he woke up, he's awake with you. It's the middle of the day and you're driving back from New York and and you feel alone, he's with you next to you, he's keeping you awake. Whatever you're going through, you're in the doctor's office and you're in the second waiting room and you're still waiting for that doctor but now they've taken away all the things so you're bored and you have nothing to do, he's in there waiting with you. Whatever you're going through and wherever you are. So an amazing video that surfaced of Rabbi Steinsaltz, zecher tzaddik livracha, passed away. Steinsaltz was an incredible, what an accomplished person, not only as a Talmid Chacham but his whole life and his contribution what he gave us. So there's a video that surfaced of one of the times that Rabbi Steinsaltz was very close with the Lubavitcher Rebbe, zecher tzaddik livracha, was visiting the Rebbe. You can see this video, it came out. The videos of the dollars of the Rebbe came out and people have sliced and diced them to find different personalities, even to find themselves in those videos. So someone found Rabbi Steinsaltz online getting a dollar from the Rebbe when he was visiting America one day. And in their conversation, which is fascinating, the Rebbe says to him, takes an interest, how is your wife? To Rabbi Steinsaltz, which is in itself fascinating. And Rabbi Steinsaltz says she's doing well, she's she's still in Israel, I'm here, I'm on this trip all alone. That's the language Rabbi Steinsaltz uses. To which the Rebbe turns to him and he says, never say you're alone, Hashem is always with us, you're never alone on any trip. It was an exchange, Rabbi Steinsaltz takes the dollar, they wish each other well and he goes on. It was an exchange that if you don't pay attention, you won't even notice it. And yet it was profound, brilliant, and beautiful. And for the Lubavitcher Rebbe it wasn't a vort, it wasn't a dvar Torah. He wasn't saying it for the camera. It wasn't something to motivate and inspire the community. It was his instinctive reaction. What do you mean a Jew says I'm here, I'm traveling alone? The words I'm traveling alone are an oxymoron. The words I'm traveling alone don't belong in our vocabulary for the Lubavitcher Rebbe. It's just never true. It's never ever true. You're never ever ever traveling alone. You're never not traveling alone. You're never alone. Hashem is with us. He's with us. Not only collectively, nationally, internationally, he's with us individually. Every step that we take. אין הבורא אומר לאדם בראתי לך את הבריאה יש בך את כל היכולות והפוטנציאל תסתדר בעצמך. He doesn't say I created you and I invested you and I empowered you with all the potential in the world, good luck, go and do. אלא הבורא מצוי לידו בכל עת. God is with us every single step of the way. Yes, he wants us to exhibit a certain sense of independence. He wants us to graduate, to work hard, to learn, to take initiative, but even while we do all those things, he is with us every step of the way. בבחינת קרוב ה' לכל קוראיו. He is with us as Hashem is close to all who call out to him. We say in Ashrei קרוב ה' לכל קוראיו in תהלים קמ"ה. Karov Hashem, Hashem is close. Why you looking for him? Why searching for him? Why do you feel you can't find him? He's right there. All you have to do is call out to him in earnest. All you have to do is be authentic. Lekol korav הוא אוהב כל אחד, he loves us, מתעניין בו ודואג לכל צרכיו כל רגע ורגע. He's worried about us and concerned with us. He's with us each and every, each and every moment. You know, if you, I bless everybody who wants to have children to have children. I bless those who have children who want to see them married to enjoy the pleasure and the gift and the simcha of seeing them married. So you know that recently, I hate the expression because it's not English to marry off a child. I don't even know what it means. But recently we celebrated the marriage of our second child. So, you know, I think about this. That to a certain degree you say to your child, you know, we raised you and we gave you an education and we hopefully tried to role model for you and we've empowered you, we've given you the tools and the life skills, and go, go now, build your home, build your family, create that continuity, go. On the one hand, it's given to you. Hashem has given it to you in your DNA, in your nature, and we hope we've given it to you in your nurture, and now go, go make us proud, go do it. But at the same time, are we not FaceTiming every three seconds? Do we not go and see that apartment? Are we not with them every step and every decision? Are we not trying to help and do we want not to know about everything and are we not cheering them on and are we not taking pride? And if they struggle, are we not crying and are we not sad and are we not worried right next to them and right with them? Now, it's not a perfect analogy whatsoever because obviously, unlike the case of Hashem, we're not living in their apartment, we're not literally with them at every moment. But one can, the model, the paradigm, the perspective of a parent can give us insight into how Hashem feels about us. That you can on the one hand desire the independence and empower, give the tools and encourage go, go do, and at the other hand still be entirely invested and want to be present and aware of and love and be there to help every step of the way. That's how Hashem is in our lives. מטרת הבריאה היא להמליך עלינו את הקדוש ברוך הוא ולבנות איתו קשר יציב. Matarat habriah, the word matara means a goal. The goal, the mission of creation. This is our goal and this is our mission. Are you listening carefully? This is why we are here, each in our own way and each with our own personality and each with our own liability and challenges. But our mission and our goal, the matara of the briah of creation is להמליך עלינו את הקדוש ברוך הוא. Lehamlich, to coronate God as our king. Not to go through life thinking I'm empowered, I'm in control, I'm in charge, I take pride or I take credit or I take responsibility or I take blame. Our goal, a matara, the mission of the briah is to be mamlich Hashem, to walk around in this life and to say it's up to him. Power went out, the tent blew away, the traffic, the sheitel's still nowhere to be found, nowhere to be found. It's not up to me. I'm mamlich Hashem, it's not up to me. It's up to him, he's the king, he's the king of kings. I defer to him. I defer to him, he's the king of kings. He is the king of kings. To be mamlich Hashem. Tonight's Rosh Chodesh Elul. Friday's Rosh Chodesh Elul, first of Elul. This is it, the countdown has begun. This is the countdown to Rosh Hashanah, to Yom Kippur. I wrote an article this week: don't write off Yamim Noraim this year. Don't take a loss on Yamim Noraim this year. Don't think just because we're in a pandemic and we don't have the normal sources and the trappings and the sources of support that help us, that therefore I should just write it off. You can still be inspired, you can still grow, you can still break through and I would argue even more than in other years. It just means that more of it has to be coming from internally and from ourselves and we can't rely on the usual sources of support. We're putting out our new Elul brochure today or tomorrow. It's filled with opportunities, but you, we have to take advantage of them. We have to stretch, we have to reach, we have to leave our comfort zone, we have to set goals and make resolutions to achieve them, we have to measure our success. We're having a mind, body, soul challenge. We set up WhatsApp groups and we have an app to be able to register for all kinds of challenges, mind, body, soul, and over the 30 days to take on these challenges and to measure the progress. that we're going to have, to be driven ourselves to be able to do it, to be able to do it. But that's what this time period's all about, to be mamlich Hashem. When we get to Rosh Hashanah and we hear the sound of that shofar it is the trumpet at the coronation, at the inauguration ceremony. It's the trumpet. We are declaring that God is not our nominee, we are declaring that God is the King of Kings. He is it. He is everything. He is in charge. And therefore I want a relationship with him. Who doesn't want access to the greatest source of power, the most powerful person on earth? Well, a million billion trillion gazillion times more lehavdil, who doesn't want access, an audience, a relationship, a closeness, an intimacy, a confidant with the King of Kings, the source of it all? וצריכים להגיע למצב בו נרגיש באמת כי השם יתברך רוצה את טובתנו. We have to be mamlich Hashem to realize that not only is he the King, he's an unusual King. The King doesn't usually know all of his subjects. The King can't possibly have a relationship with the billions of people who live in his kingdom. But God is an altogether different type of King. He is the King of Kings. Hashem is a King who not only has an awareness of the census of everyone in his kingdom, he has a direct and intimate and personal relationship with each and every one of us. Every one of us שבבאמת אכפת לו מאיתנו, that it matters to him, it matters to him. You see, my dearest friends, listen carefully what I'm saying. Our goal for the next 30, 40 days until we get to Yom Kippur and well beyond really for the entire year. This notion of being mamlich Hashem is not that Hashem is arrogant. It's not that God has some ego and he needs to be stoked and stroked and we have to tell him how great he is and be mamlich, oh, oh yeah, here we go, it's that time of year that we gotta tell God how great he is and we gotta make him the King of Kings, and we gotta submit to him, and we gotta bow to him. It's all about God. No, it's not about that. It's the opposite. It's do you know what it means for us to know that I have a relationship with the King of Kings? You know what it does for my sense of never ever ever feeling lonely, never ever ever feeling unworthy, inconsequential or invisible? These are things that are plaguing the world today. The mental health challenges in the world so much emanate from feelings of being invisible, inconsequential, I don't matter, nobody cares, what difference does it make? If you've ever counseled people who've been suicidal they will literally use the words and say, I've heard it too many times, "If I disappeared nobody would care." Often that's what drives suicidal ideation, which by the way has been enormously on the rise among young people in this pandemic. It's one of the costs of quarantine, shutdown, and one of the variables in this calculus that has to go on about what we should do. But people with suicidal ideation use those words they say, "If I disappeared nobody would care. If I weren't here it wouldn't matter to anybody." No it would. Not only would it matter to the people around you and people who love you, but it would matter to the King of Kings. Do you know that the King knows you exist and cares that you exist and what you do next matters? What you choose to watch, what you choose to say, where you choose to go, how you choose to behave, and most significantly, if you choose to have a relationship with him. Do you talk to him, do you thank him, do you ask him, do you protest him, do you object to him? All of that he cares about, he cares about. So this whole time of the year what I'm trying to do is recalibrate. This time of the year is not about God, it's not that he needs to hear that he's the King, it's not that we have to have a coronation celebration for his ego or for him. It's for us. It's that when we realize, whoa, I'm not just one of his loyal subjects, but he knows and he cares about me. He knows I'm here. He has a relationship with me. I have access, I have an audience with him, at will, at will. Who can get into the Oval Office at will? Who gets into the Prime Minister's office at will? Who can get into the doctor's office at will? Who can see that lawyer, who can see that, who can see anyone at will? And yet we take three steps forward, close your eyes, don't even do that, and you are talking to Hashem, the King of Kings. And he's interested in what you have to say. Unlike for many the people around them, you don't have to wonder, do they really care? Are they really interested? Are they really listening? Hashem cares. So that's the matarat habriah. That is the goal of creation. It's why we're here, to coronate God and to know that every blade of grass and certainly every human being God has an individual and a personal and an intimate relationship with. That we matter, that he cares, that we are here, we are here to make a difference. And by the way, we read in last week's parsha, banim atem l'Hashem, we are his children, and that makes us royalty, it makes us princes and princesses. It means that we too are his ambassadors, and we are his agents. We are part of his family and we have a role and a mission to play here on earth. Every one of us can make a difference, can make a difference. So we're being mamlich Hashem and it makes a difference. We said last Shabbos... Does anyone not desire good for themselves? Does anyone ask or crave harm for themselves? So why כל משאלות לבנו לטובה? Hashem answer all of the desires and all of the requests of our heart letovah, for good. Lubavitcher Rebbe zatzal, quoting the Rebbe a lot today, asks the same question about Rosh Hashana. What do we say on Rosh Hashana? Ksiva Vachasima Tovah, L'shana Tovah. Have a sweet year, have a happy year, Shana Tovah, Shana Tovah. So Lubavitcher Rebbe said the following: How could it not be letovah? So Lubavitcher Rebbe says the following: He says, you know there's what we want for ourselves that we think is good, but often what we want for ourselves that we think is good really isn't good. We have such a finite limited perspective. So ask Hashem make this job work out, make this shidduch work out, make this house work out, make this moment, that vacation work out, make this result of this test I took work out. We have this thought process and we say Hashem, we push Him for what we want based on our perspective. But you know kol mishalos libeinu, all the desires of our heart are not necessarily good. There are people who can look back in their life and say thank God I didn't get that job. Thank God I didn't marry that makhshefa. Thank God I didn't, whatever that didn't work out in that moment, I didn't get that parking spot. Thank God I didn't. I wanted it so badly and I asked so hard for it and I thought it was exactly what I needed, but thank God I didn't get it. So therefore we say kol mishalos libeinu, but כל משאלות לבנו לטובה. It should be for good, it should be for good. Sorry, the Lubavitcher Rebbe's insight was that's why we say Shana Tovah U'mesukah. It's Shana Tovah by definition. God only gives us what's good, but we ask God, we hope and we wish for one another, we say may the Shana Tovah, may that which is good also be sweet. It should be Shana Tovah U'mesukah. Whatever happens in our lives is by definition good because it comes from God. But we ask for and we hope that whatever is Shana Tovah, whatever is good should also be mesukah, should also be, should also be sweet. So that's our mission, that's our work, that's your homework, that's my homework, is to be mamlich Hashem. That feeling of bidud, of loneliness, we're not in quarantine, our soul is not in quarantine in our body, and we're not in quarantine even in a crowded room. We don't have to ever feel lonely, invisible, inconsequential, unworthy. We don't have to ever wonder does anyone care, we don't have to ever worry, we're never ever alone. Like the Rebbe told Rabbi Steinsaltz, traveling alone? Chas v'shalom, you're never traveling alone. You're never having that Shabbos meal alone. You're never in quarantine alone. You're never ever ever alone, ever. That word alone, loneliness is not part of our vocabulary. The faithful believing Jew knows God is always with me. He says בספר חובות הלבבות חיזוק האמונה למדנו, he references another one of his volumes, we learn כי אדם צריך לחשוב בשבילי נברא העולם. We have to believe that the whole world was created just for me, the world and everything in it. Everything Hashem put in this world He did just for me. השם ברא כל העולם בשבילו משגיח עליו. So He made the whole set, the whole stage, and He just put one actor on it, me, and He's the director, and all the there's no audience, there's no other actors, there's a whole stage, there's a whole costume, there's a whole play, and He just put me here and He's directing it. מספק לו את כל צרכו. He's taking care of everything. Every chai Yehudi needs to hafneem ani lo levad. Ani lo levad, I'm never alone. אני בן של מלך שאוהב אותי. I'm a child of the King who loves me. V'doeg ishis litzrachai. And He's worried personally in detail about what I have. בן מלך לא הולך אף פעם בלא שמירה. You know the royalty, the President's kids have protection always wherever they go. Well if I'm a ben melech, a bas melech, if we are princes and princesses, if we're the children of royalty, then we have divine protection everywhere we go, everywhere we go. President, the Prime Minister, the head of state's children never ever travel alone without protection, ever without protection. Ivanka Trump's kids went to Camp Morasha last summer and I know kids from Morasha described to me that some of the Secret Service who were trying to blend in by dressing as modern orthodox kids and counselors, but it was hilarious because they couldn't pull it off, so but you knew exactly who they were stationed all over the camp and they were scheduled to go again this summer which is really extraordinary if you think about it, the President's grandchildren at Camp Morasha where I went to camp. But the President, the Prime Minister, the head of state's children, they never go out without protection. They always have Secret Service. Well we are the royalty of Hashem and we're going through our lives, we're never going through our lives without protection. There is Secret Service, it's the most secret service, it's Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It's actually invisible, he actually blends in, his angels and he himself are protecting us everywhere we go, everywhere we go. So I think this is such an important message and we'll continue to learn this piece. I think it's such an important message, particularly in this time because there is such a pervasive feeling of loneliness. Even the people who have crowded homes and who are not living in isolation, but there's really a feeling of loneliness. How badly do we crave kiddushes and simchas and davening next to each other? How badly do we crave Shabbos meals, Shabbos learning in person instead of over this Zoom? How badly do we crave being together? We have this feeling, this sense of loneliness, but it can be offset. We have to work on, we recognize Hashem by remembering and reminding ourselves and working on this together. That emuna means knowing not only that he exists, but that he exists in this room, his hand on my shoulder. There is no solitary confinement in Jewish life. There is no I'm traveling alone. There is never, ever, ever alone. And when we feel that way, we find the strength. When we feel that way, when we feel that way, we have the support. When we feel that way, we're able to have the balance, the equilibrium, the happiness in our lives that we all crave. It's a pasuk in our parsha: תמים תהיה עם ה' אלהיך. Tamim, be whole. Be im Hashem Elokecha, just everywhere you go, be im Hashem Elokecha, that he is with us everywhere we go, wherever we are. We should be zoche, we should merit that. See you tonight nine o'clock Behind the Bima special guest and looking forward. In the meantime, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy. Have a great day, my friends.
