Transcript
Good morning and boker tov. We come together for our living with emuna. A living with emuna shiur each and every week in which we remind ourselves that ein od milvado. There is only one, there is no one and nothing but Him. He is our everything. Ein od milvado, אין עוד מלבדו ואפס זולתו. Ein od milvado, אין עוד מלבדו ואפס זולתו. Ein od milvado. I want to thank our sponsors for the series for the year, Doctors Avi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Doctor Brian Galbut, a great role model of emuna for all of us and in memory of her mother Doctor Ellen Chanzer who lived a life of service and chesed to the Jewish community. Thank you so much for your generosity and thank you so much for your support. We continue with our living with emuna. We are learning this magnificent sefer, a new sefer with the teachings of ר' איצ'ה מאיר מורגנשטרן, B'yam Darechecha and we are on the chapter of deveikus, how to cling to God, how to connect to God, how to stick with God, how to feel that God is over our shoulder, He is by our side no matter what obstacle we face, no matter what hurdle we have to overcome, no matter what challenge that lies in front of us, Hashem is with us. He's watching us, He's holding us accountable, He's supporting us, He's lifting us up, He is by our side and even He's suffering with us when we're going through a difficult time and when we're struggling and when we live that life, when we know He's by our side, when we know He's with us, then we can live the most meaningful, the most purposeful, then we can live a life in which we have the greatest strength possible. I want to share before we delve back into the sefer a beautiful teaching that I heard yesterday, someone shared with me from Rav Meilech Biderman. He quoted from a different sefer, I forget which sefer he was quoting from. A pasuk in this week's parsha, in parshas Toldos. Yitzchak, we know, comes out of Gerar. He has this interaction with Avimelech there and he plants a field and due to his great merit, God blesses him enormously and Yitzchak, Isaac is able to reap a harvest of a hundred times, Me'ah Shearim. He reaps a harvest of a hundredfold and we know that he keeps an exact accounting because he gives generously. He tithes what he takes in. Yitzchak is very, very generous with his income. The pasuk, the verse is very interesting. It says Vayizra Yitzchak, Yitzchak planted, וימצא בשנה ההיא מאה שערים and he found that year a hundredfold. So Rav Meilech Biderman quotes, and I forget again I apologize from whom he quoted, that what do you mean he planted and he found? How does it work? If you plant, you didn't find, you reap the harvest of what you planted. My magnificent garden is finally coming into being and we have beautiful peppers that are finally growing. So you plant that garden, you don't find peppers. You find money in the middle of the street. You find a lost object that somebody left. You find something that you didn't work hard or didn't anticipate or didn't plan for. But when you've planted, Vayizra, when you plant, so when the thing grows you didn't find it. It's the result of your planting, it's the result of your hard work. That is the question. So what does the verse mean Vayizra Vayimtza? He planted and he found. It's a contradiction. If you found, you didn't plant, and if you planted, then you didn't find. So he answers very powerfully and we've learned this lesson so many times before. He answers, you know, just because you planted in one place doesn't mean you're going to find in the same place. Often we make our effort, we put in our hishtadlus, we take our initiative because that's our job, that's our responsibility. Emuna, having faith in God, doesn't mean that you can sit back passively and complacently and wait for Him to step in. We have to exert our effort, we have to do our work, we have to try. However, the result doesn't necessarily come correlated with our effort. The fact that we put in the effort is a form of prayer. A prayer with my lips and my words and I pray with my hands and my feet, my actions and my deeds. Both of those are expressions of prayer. We pray by talking and turning to God and we pray by showing God that we're ready to do, we're ready to jump into the sea so it will split before us. But in the end of the day, even that which we're ready to do doesn't mean that the results will come because of us. The initiative is necessary, it's the key that unlocks the blessing that He's waiting to give us, but it doesn't necessarily come from the same place. Why am I sharing that with you? First of all, it's a beautiful teaching. It's an insight that we've shared often, but that is beautifully expressed through a verse in our parsha. But I also want to share it with you because I got an email. I've been encouraging you, my talmidim, our listeners, members of our living with emuna support group, share your stories. I know I'm enriched by your stories of living with emuna when you were willing to give up and then you remembered that God's got a plan, when things worked out and you saw Hashem's hand, you saw God's hand in the unfolding. So I got an email, I don't have permission to use the person's name, I didn't ask for it, so I'll just tell you the content of the email without. about the author. Somebody wanted to share a story that reminded me of a shiur you gave on emuna bitachon. I work as a professional organizer, and I haven't been busy as I would like to these past few weeks. I finally decided I put in a little extra hishtadlut, a little extra effort, and I reached out to a designer to see if she'd recommend me to some of her clients. Almost immediately after I emailed her, I received a message from someone else inquiring for me to help organize their mother's move. When I asked how she heard of me, she said from a Facebook group. It reminded me of what you said about Hashem helping us once we put in our effort, that just because I put my effort in one place doesn't mean that's where the blessings will come from. And so that was a perfect expression of this teaching. Vayizra, we plant. You've got to take your initiative, you've got to do your networking, you've got to promote your business. We have to take our initiative. But the vayimtza, you'll find the success doesn't necessarily come in the very place that we planted. It could come from anywhere. That is the way that God operates. That is the way that God functions. Our initiative is a form of our prayer. Vayizra, we plant all over. I've got to network, I send out my emails, I've got to promote my business. Vayizra, I'm planting everywhere. But vayimtza, lo and behold, all of a sudden out of left field, the effort or initiative I was showing, yet the initiative was the key that unlocked the gates of the flow of blessing of bracha, the shefa bracha that Hashem had waiting for me, that is able to then come from elsewhere. So keep those stories coming, they give me a lot of chizuk, they strengthen me, and it gives me the opportunity to share with you and to strengthen you as well. Okay, we're on page Pey Vav. I don't know if anyone was ever able to get this beautiful sefer, Be-Yam Darkecha, Rav Itche Meir Morgenstern, his teachings. We are on dveikus, and we have a footnote that we have to make up for before we keep going. We last left off with a section that had a footnote and we didn't have time to see that footnote inside. So what was the context of the footnote? We last left off: ומי שזוכה להידבק בחוזק בהשם יתברך, if one merits to truly cling to God, to stick with God, to know that God has our back, אזי יוכל לעמוד כנגד פיתויי היצר הרע. So it's not just that a life of emuna and bitachon gives serenity and peacefulness and peace of mind. It's not just that it gives you greater mental health and spiritual health and physical health, and it does give all those things. Why would I ever be envious or jealous of someone else if I know that God is giving me what I have? Why would I ever be angry at someone, angry at nature, angry at the universe, if I know that God controls the universe and everything that he does is for my good, even when it's painful, even when it's difficult? So a life of emuna helps us confront and avoid anger, envy, and all these negative qualities that corrode and that corrupt and that confuse and that cloud us. Not only does it do all that, not only does it do all that—I sound like a salesman like I'm trying to sell you emuna—not only does it do all that, but for three payments of 19.99—not only does it do that, but emuna also gives us the strength we need to fight and to combat and to defeat the yetzer hara. You know what the yetzer hara is? There's that voice inside us. It's not like what they taught us when we were little kids, like there's some devil sitting on one shoulder and the angel on the other shoulder, and the devil's got the pitchfork and he's wearing red and he's got the horns and the devil's whispering in your ear. It's not that image unless that image works for you. The yetzer hara is in our own minds, it's our alter ego. The yetzer hara is the one who says, "It's a good idea, eat that bag of potato chips at 12 o'clock at night. You won't regret that when you wake up in the morning." That's the yetzer hara. That's the yetzer hara. The yetzer hara says, "That juicy lashon hara, that gossip, it's so delicious. Share it. It doesn't matter if someone will be harmed or hurt, everybody knows it anyway and you'd say it even if they were here and it's public information." The yetzer hara is that voice inside us, that voice of negativity, that voice that sabotages our relationships and our happiness and our success. It's that voice that tries to drive us in the wrong direction and undermine us. It's the voice of temptation and seduction and insatiable appetite. And what is the greatest antidote? What is the greatest tool that we have to be able to defeat it? A life of dveikus. ולא תהיה לך חלישות הדעת משום דבר. Because never give up. Not those corn chips from Trader Joe's, and not the image that you see on the internet that's tempting you, and not the gossip that you so badly want to share with your circle of friends. It doesn't matter what your kryptonite is, what your yetzer hara is, and each of us have our own, but don't have chalishus hadaas. Don't have despair, don't give up and don't give in and don't walk away, but realize that if you cling to Hashem, if you live a life of emuna, it gives us the strength and the tools that we need to defeat it. וזוכה לתכלית שלמות המנוחה ושלמות האמונה. And you can walk through life peacefully, with a certain sense of peace of mind, shleimus ha'emuna. ובכל מקום ומתי הוא מרגיש שהשם יתברך עומד איתו. Everywhere you are, you're with Hashem, and because you're with Hashem you have all the strength that you need in order to overcome anything that you need to overcome. Reminds me of a story I told recently, I don't remember in which context, if it was Living with Emuna then I ask you for your forgiveness, but it's worth repeating. The story of the father and the son... that are going for a walk, and the son asks the father when they come to a huge log and he says, Dad, do you think I can lift this? And the father says, if you use all your strength. So the son bends down and he musters all of his strength and he tries to lift a large log and it doesn't budge, it doesn't move, it doesn't go anywhere. So he says, Dad, do you think I can do it? He said, yeah, use all your strength, you've got this. So the son bends down again and he puts his all and he takes a deep breath and he tries to move it and it doesn't budge. And this happens a third time and he turns to his father and he says, Dad, you told me you thought I could do it, I would succeed if I use all my strength and the father says that's right, but you didn't use all your strength, you didn't ask me to help. And HaKadosh Baruch Hu the almighty is over our shoulder and he says, use all your strength and you know what part of your strength is, dveikus. When you cling to me, when you stick with me, when you're with me, then you're using all your strength. And when you live your life and you go at it alone, when you confront whatever is your kryptonite. Your kryptonite might be shopping and putting debt on your credit card that you can't afford. Your kryptonite might be the food that you shouldn't be eating. Your kryptonite might be the thing you shouldn't be looking at or the acting out you shouldn't be doing or the substance you shouldn't be using. Your acting out might be reacting with anger, with rage, whatever your kryptonite that's tempting you, if you think you can go at it alone, if you think you can overcome, if you think that you can purge it from within you by yourself, you are gravely mistaken. You're wrong. None of us have that inner strength to overcome that voice, to be able to defeat that kryptonite. But if we use all of our strength, and part of our strength is turning to our father and saying, Dad, I need your help. Abba, tatti, whatever you call him, please help me. Then, if we engage and employ all that strength, then there's nothing that we can't overcome. So don't have chalishas hadaas, don't ever give up, don't despair, don't give in, stay strong, because when we use all of our strength, there's nothing, nothing at all that will stop us. So that brings us to the footnote. And the footnote says the following. הרבה אנשים מרגישים שהיצר הרע גדול למעלה מכוחם. Many mistakenly think that the yeitzer hara, this voice of temptation and I don't mean somebody who's struggling with a real, a real addiction, somebody who has a diagnosed addiction, when a person has a diagnosed addiction, learning about emunah is going to be part of the solution. Even in the 12-step program, part of recovery is submitting to a higher power. It's not a coincidence that the recovery program, which is true, tested and true, and which works, and which is a beautiful program, that program includes as one of its steps submitting to a higher power, essentially recognizing that emunah is part of the recovery program. It's not a coincidence. But a person who's diagnosed with an addiction, of course needs therapy and needs support and needs serious, needs serious intervention and help. So I want to be very clear about that, I'm not suggesting that whatever you struggle with, just come to the emunah shiur and you're good to go, you don't have to do anything else. Often there are other things that need to be done. However, what I am saying is, whether you are seeking professional help or whether you're part of our emunah shiur and working with our emunah, clearly part of the answer is, by definition, submitting to that higher power. It's not a coincidence. It's why the program works. If you work it, it works because it includes submitting to a higher power. So many people think, harbei anashim margishim, many people feel, שהיצר הרע גדול למעלה מכוחם, that the yeitzer hara is greater than their strength ואינם יודעים מה לעשות, they don't know what to do. Aval hatshuva hi, the answer is, שזה קורה בגלל שלא עסקו לקנות הדבקות. Why do they despair, why are they hopeless, why do they give in, why do they indulge that voice that ends up sabotaging their life? Because they think they are all alone. They don't submit, they don't recognize, they don't cling to and stick to that higher power. וממילא הם לא רכשו את הנשק האמיתי נגד היצר. You know what the greatest weapon, the greatest gun that you can use to fend and fight off the yeitzer hara is, dveikus. כי הנשק נגד היצר הרע הוא הדבקות. The greatest weapon, the most successful weapon to fend off the yeitzer hara is, dveikus, is emunah. Kemo she-omru Chazal, our rabbis taught, the Gemara says in Kiddushin: Barasi yeitzer hara, בראתי לו תורה תבלין. I created the yeitzer hara. God says, what do you think? You're struggling with something I don't know about? I'm God, I invented you, I programmed you, the hardware and the software, I invented the yeitzer hara, I know that voice of temptation, I'm the one who gave it to you, I'm the one who planted it in you, I'm the one who presented it to you. And you know what else I gave you? בראתי לו תורה תבלין. I created the Torah as the tavlin, as the antidote, as the spice. Another time we can talk about why do our Chazal, why do rabbis formulate it, it should say that Torah is the medicine, that Torah is the therapy. Why does it say Torah is the tavlin? The word tavlin means a spice. Why does it say Torah is the is the spice, is the tavlin? Okay fine, because you insist, I'll explain it now. Torah is the tavlin. What does it mean Torah is the tavlin? What is a spice? A spice is what takes an otherwise dull dish and... gives it life. It makes it palatable. It gives you flavor. It makes you want to eat it. The goal of Torah is not to extinguish the yetzer hara. Because a person who has an extinguished yetzer hara, we know this, sometimes there are children, adults who need to be medicated. They need a little bit of help with their anxiety, they need help with their ADD. But you have to find that right dose that's not going to numb the person and rob them of their personality. The goal of the medicine is not to give the person the strength and the courage to be able to conquer whatever they're struggling with by essentially turning them into a golem. The goal is not to dull the person until you've essentially extinguished the fire within them. The goal is to channel and transform the anxiety or the ADD or whatever it is into living a healthy and a vibrant and a successful life. So similarly here, the Torah is not here to extinguish our life. You know the yetzer hara is a beautiful thing. And you'll look at me and say what's the matter with you Goldberg, yetzer hara is a beautiful thing? We're spending all this time talking about how to defeat it, how to not give into that voice that says eat this, say that, look at that, go there. How to have mindfulness and presence to find the most meaningful, the most disciplined, the most dignified life. So how could you say the yetzer hara is a beautiful thing? You know how? I don't say it, the rabbis say it. When the Torah in Genesis describes creation and it says God looked and he said it's good, and then it describes God looked and he said it's very good. Our rabbis understand good is the yetzer hatov, is the good voice. Very good is the yetzer hara. You know the passion that's inside a person that expresses itself in poetry, the passion of entrepreneurship and creativity and innovation, the passion that is romance and relationship. That's all from the yetzer hara. That all draws itself from the notion that a person has passions, that a person has desires, a person has longing, that there is emotional and physical blood flowing through their veins. Without that we were dull and nullified, we'd be sleepwalking through life, we'd be dead. There'd be no innovation, no creativity, no romance, no passion, there'd be no life itself. The yetzer hara is the life force. The challenge and the question we have is how do we channel it, and how do we direct it, and what do we do with it? If it's uncontrolled, that yetzer hara, that passion expresses itself in an unbridled, uncontrolled fashion, it's not directed, there are no boundaries for it, that's when we have licentiousness and lewdness, that's when we have promiscuity, that's when we have negativity and danger. But if it's directed, which is what Torah says. Torah says don't put out that fire in your belly for physical pleasure, however experience it with the right person, the right setting, at the right time. How do you know who's the right person, when is the right time, what's the right setting, what are the guidelines for it? Torah tavlin. Torah is the spice, it gives the flavor to life. It tells us don't put out the yetzer hara, but here's how to take it and direct it. Here's what to do with it. I'm not trying to take away and suppress my appetite, then you'll be malnourished. But you have to eat the right thing in the right quantity in the right time in the right place with the right beracha before and after. How do I know how to do all of that? The answer is Torah tavlin. The Torah gives the spice of life, the Torah gives the flavor to life. The Torah doesn't try to numb us and make us walk around like we're zombies. The Torah says take and capture and bottle that yetzer hara, that passion, that desire, that longing that's flowing through your veins and express it in its most healthy manifestation. העיקר ענין התורה הוא הדבקות. So when we say that Torah is the antidote to the yetzer hara, what do we mean? The core, the ikar of Torah is dveikus, it's clinging to God, is emuna. וכמו שנתבאר בסיעתא דשמיא במאמר על התורה כי הדבקות בהשם יתברך היא הכוח שיכול להכניע את היצר. Clinging to God gives us that strength. Knowing that we are not alone, that we have companionship and camaraderie, that we have a cheerleading team rooting for us, that we have access to the source of all strength who's sharing that strength with us. Knowing we have a Father and we ask our Father to help us is the only time we can say we used all our strength. כי מי שזוכה לדבקות ומרגיש תענוג בקרבת אלקים חיים, a person who merits to live a life of dveikus, who glues themselves and attaches themselves and clings to God and feels the joy of closeness to Hashem, ממילא הוא שונא את הרע בתכלית השנאה. Then you're going to hate bad, you're going to hate evil, you're going to hate evil. If you are, if you have your Father by your side, if you have that source of goodness by your side, you're going to be repelled, you're going to be repulsed by that which is wicked, that which is evil, that which is negative. כמו שכתוב אוהבי השם שנאו רע, as we say in our davening Friday night from Tehillim, ohevei Hashem, those who love God, sin'u ra, they hate evil. וממילא על ידי הדבקות שוברים את כל התאוה והקנאה והשנאה והגאוה שבעולם. This is the antidote, says Rav Itzhamayer. If we work on that dveikus, feel and see Hashem everywhere. Hashem is in nature and Hashem is in what happens in my day. Hashem is in my history and Hashem is part of my destiny. Hashem is in everything that's happening to me. I see and I feel and I'm mindful of the Almighty's presence always and wherever I am. He's always in the room, He's always by my side, He's always with me. So then I have the strength I need to overcome Taiva, Kinah and Sinah and Gaiva. These are the most pernicious, these are the greatest kryptonite, these are what sabotage all of our happiness and success and relationships. Taiva, desire and lust. I'm tempted to take my phone and look at that wrong thing. I'm tempted to eat that wrong thing. I'm tempted to say that wrong thing. But then I remember, you know who's right next to me? Would I say it in front of my father? Would I say it in front of my rabbi or my Rebbi? Would I say it in front of somebody who I'm inspired by, who I aspire to be like? Well if I wouldn't say it in front of them, I shouldn't say it in front of God, I just have to remember He's in the room. If I remember He's by my side, if I cling to Him and I remember He's right there, then I'll be able to say, you know what, that's not worth it. He's taught me that's not worth it. I know that the pleasure of overcoming that impulse, the pleasure of having the discipline to say no, is more powerful and stronger, is a greater pleasure than whatever I gave up in the process. And Kinah, jealousy, envy, lust, I look at the person next to me and I want what they have and I want it instead of them, I deserve it more than them. But if God is by my side, if my father's right here and He always tells me, I give you what you need my son, my son, my daughter, just rest, just relax, don't worry you have what you need, you have what you deserve, you have what's best for you, don't look at what anyone else has, then I'll never be filled with envy or jealousy. Sinah, why would I hate someone else if they're my sibling and we share the same father? Hagaiva, why would I be arrogant and why would I think that I could micromanage and control the world? Why would my ego force me to think that the world has to conform to my view and my wishes and my plans? If my father's right by my side and I know He's the one in charge, He's the one with the master plan. So Dveikus, cling to God, inviting Him into the room, having Him by our side is the strength we need. It is the medicine. It empowers us and it enriches us to be able to triumph over whatever we're confronting in this world. Again, if you don't believe me empirically, it works. Part of the recovery program, and make no mistake, I've written about this after I've had the great honor of presenting at recovery meetings to people who've reached major milestones in their recovery, I've walked away and I'm blown away and it works. The people who go to the program and stick with it, and one of the things that blows me away every time I've been there is the people in that room have the courage to admit their addiction. They stand up and they say, my name is Ploni Almoni and I'm an alcoholic and I'm addicted to drugs and I'm addicted to gambling and I'm addicted to whatever it is. They have the courage to admit their addiction. But let's be honest my friends, can any of us, can any of us really say that there's nothing we're addicted to? Some are addicted to their phones, some are addicted to social media, some are addicted to Netflix, some are addicted to working, some are addicted to working out, some are addicted to shopping, some are addicted to eating, some are addicted, but you know what? Many or most of the addictions I just mentioned, they're not diagnosed. They don't have the stigma of addiction. In fact, we praise the person who works out too much and we even praise the person who works too much, even though they are also addicted in an unhealthy way that's compromising their happiness. They are also struggling with compulsiveness. They feel compelled to have to work out, to have to work, and it's wrong. And the answer to whatever addiction, whether it's one with a stigma and a diagnosis and one ends up in a room with others, or whether it's the ones that every one of us face, every one of us, none of us can admit that we don't have something we're addicted to. Part of the answer and part of the solution, this was what Rav Itzamar is telling us. No matter who you are, no matter what your addiction is, part of the answer is submitting to a higher power. Dveikus, the recovery program, the 12-step program borrowed that from us, that is our tradition. The Barasi Yeitzer Hara, I created addiction says God, ובראתי לו תורה תבלין, and I created something called submitting to a higher power, Dveikus. The recovery program just gives it a new language, a new vocabulary, but it's an ancient timeless teaching of our Torah and our tradition. בראתי לו יצר הרע בראתי לו תורה תבלין. Whatever is your Yeitzer Hara, working, working out, shopping, Netflix, social media, gossip, things we shouldn't be looking at, overeating, whatever is your addiction, בראתי לו יצר הרע בראתי לו תורה תבלין. He gave us the answer and the answer is a life of Dveikus. כי מי שזוכה לדבקות אמיתית הוא כל כך מרגיש השם יתברך, because a person who truly, truly merits, the person who truly has arrived at a place of Dveikus, of clinging to God, כי מי שזוכה לדבקות אמיתית הוא כל כך מרגיש השם יתברך. There is such an acute awareness of and a mindfulness of the presence. presence of the Almighty וכל כך אכפת לו ממנו and you so care what God thinks. He's in the room and all you want is to make him proud. All you want is to gain his approval that עד שלא יתכן שיעשה איזה פעולה נגד השם יתברך, you would never do anything to disappoint him. You would never do anything to hurt him. You would never do anything to undermine the relationship you have with him. So again, if we want the answer to never feeling jealous or envious, the answer to never getting angry, the answer to always being happy and satisfied with our lot in life, the answer to never, ever hating another, the answer to never giving unto our lust or longing or desire in a way that we have compulsive behavior, the answer to it all is deveikus. Cling to God, stick with him, invite him to be in the room. Mindfulness, consciousness of his presence in our life. Because once you once you take that bold step and once you invite him and know he's there, you won't want to disappoint him. He is the source of all, the King of kings, the infinite, the omnipotent, the one who's in charge of everything that we want and everything that we cherish and everything that we love and everything that brings us happiness, and we'd never want to disappoint, all we'd want is his approval, all we'd want is to give him that nachas, and that will help us regulate and control our thoughts and our speech and our behavior, which is exactly what a meaningful life is all about. That is that footnote. So really the chapter is about deveikus. The chapter is all about clinging to God, sticking with God. But Rav Itche Meir is throwing in is that that submission to God, that clinging to God is exactly what we need in order to overcome whatever urge, whatever compulsive behavior. Before you give in, before you reach for the corn chips, before you reach for the mouse or the keyboard, before you reach for the social media, before you stay at work an extra hour even though your spouse and your children are waiting and missing and want to see you, before you give into whatever that is say, you know what, he's right here and he's giving me the strength and he's whispering in my ear and he's looking at me because he wants to have nachas from my making the right choice, because making that right choice will give me more happiness than whatever it is I gave up in that process. Let's just do a little bit more because all we did was the footnote. Os daled. In the same perek we're continuing with os daled. כל יהודי צריך להאמין ולדעת, every Jew needs to believe and know שאדם יכול להגיע למדרגת הרגשת אלוקות. You need to know, you need to believe that you can believe. This is another profound lesson, a profound idea, we're just going to start it this week and continue it next week because it really needs to be developed. But you need to believe that you can believe because some people have gone through their lives and they say, you know, I've tried. I don't see God, I don't feel his presence. Not only do I not see or feel him, I feel abandoned by him. I'm going through a hard time, I'm going through a difficult situation, and I struggle to feel connected, I struggle to see or feel him in my life and I don't believe anybody can. So you have to believe that you can believe. You have to know that you're capable of feeling his presence. You have to know that at a magnificent sunrise or sunset or a visit to a national park or a visit to a magnificent natural setting or at the presence of the birth of a child or at something coincidental simply working out that you have to know that you can feel the presence of the Almighty. ולהאמין שיש מציאות של חיים בדבקות בהשם יתברך. There is such a life, there is such a possibility of living a life with a clinging and a presence and awareness of his presence. שאפשר לנו להתענג על השגת אלוקות, that we can get high on God, ולהחיות את יחודו בחיות ובעונג ובדבקות. You have to believe. Before you begin the process and the journey of living that life, it's predicated on knowing that you're capable of living it. You have to believe that you have the strength to do it. You have to look at others. That's why reading biographies is such a powerful tool. Tal Ben-Shahar once spoke in our shul. Tal Ben-Shahar gave the most popular class in Harvard's history on the science of happiness, an Israeli scholar, and he spoke in our shul about happiness and he talked about, it was a very powerful statement he made as the author of self-help books you would have expected when asked what books he recommends to find greater happiness, productivity in life, you would have expected him to say go to the self-help aisle, read self-help genre of books. But he said don't read those books. Even though he writes them, don't read them. He said if you want to find the greatest happiness and meaning and purpose, you want to draw the greatest strength to live the best life, read biographies. Read biographies. When you read biographies of great men and women, when you read biographies of great people and not hagiographies. A hagiography is not a biography. A hagiography says that that man or woman, they emerged from the womb perfect. They were born knowing kol hatorah kula and they were born with no yeitzer hara and they were born practically perfect. That's a hagiography and it's lovely, it's nice if you want for a hobby interesting reading then go for it, but it's not going to transform you. If you want to do reading that's going to transform and inspire you. You have to read a true biography. And a biography shares the good, the bad, the ugly, the pimples, the warts, it shares the struggles, it shares everything. Rav Hutner wrote a famous letter to a student. And the student was ready to give up. The student was feeling helpless and hopeless. And Rav Hutner says in there, I wouldn't say it but Rav Hutner does. He says, you think the Chofetz Chaim was born the Chofetz Chaim? The great Rav Yisrael Meir of Kagan of Radin. The great Chofetz Chaim, who to us the Chofetz Chaim is synonymous with the power of speech, with controlling our speech, with never gossiping or slandering, with never speaking Lashon Hara. Do you think the Chofetz Chaim was born the Chofetz Chaim? He worked on himself. He struggled. He overcame. He worked on himself and he took on that responsibility, that goal, and he became the father, the symbol of that movement of being careful of the power of speech. But he wasn't born that way, writes Rav Hutner. None of us were born that way. And so said Tal Ben-Shahar, not necessarily talking about reading biographies of rabbis and rebbetzins. He's talking about in general. Read Lincoln biographies about how many times he failed before he succeeded and broke through. Read the biographies of people who turned to faith as part of their solution, as part of their answer, as part of what helped them turn around. Read those biographies. So says Rav Itche Meir, that if we don't think that we're capable of tapping into this antidote, this solution, this medicine. בראתי יצר הרע בראתי תורה תבלין. We all have struggles and we all have things that we need to overcome. And we think that we're not going to be able to do it. We think that yeah, this emunah shiur is for somebody else. Somebody else could live that life of knowing God's in the room, but me, never seen him. I've never encountered him. I've never met him. I'm not sure I believe in him. I'm not sure he believes in me. Read a biography. Read a biography of somebody who did believe, who was a believer, who discovered the life of belief. It's one of the answers. Believe that you can believe is the foundation, is the prerequisite, is the step before a life of belief. We have to have emunah in emunah. You have to believe that we can live this life of deveikus. Because the payoff is so enormous. The payoff is so enormous. You know, when you're in that room, and I don't know how today's shiur turned into a endorsement of the recovery program, although you know, it's great, but if you're in that room, you know, one by one, the people who choose to share, they talk about how sobriety has given them their life back. So when the thing that they were addicted to they thought gave them happiness, they needed the next drug, they needed the next drink, they needed the next gamble, they needed the next whatever it was they were addicted to, they thought that was the answer to their happiness. It was clouding their judgment, it was confusing them. Only a life of sobriety from it, only a life of submitting to a higher power, only a life of knowing that God is in charge and God is in control and we turn to him for help and need him by our side. Now that life of sobriety offers a clarity and offers a happiness, a joy, a meaning, a fulfillment. You and I, we're all capable of that. We have to invite him in the room. We have to submit to that higher power. When we have that urge or that yearning for that thing we're addicted to, to go for that snack at midnight, to go watch one more show on Netflix, to stay at work an hour longer, to work out one more time than we need to, which is taking us away even from our family. Whatever that addiction to, to dig deep and to know that God is by our side and with him by our side and with our submitting to him, בראתי יצר הרע בראתי תורה תבלין. God says, I created that addiction, I created that instinct, that compulsiveness, but you know what? I also gave you the antidote. Stick to me, cling with me, invite me to be by your side and I will hold you up and together, together we will conquer those enemies. Together you will triumph and discover a life of happiness, a life of fulfillment. My dear friends, have the most wonderful day. Stay healthy, stay happy and stay holy. Join us tonight 9:00 PM, we're going Behind the Bima with Ben Brafman on our YouTube channel. Feel free to subscribe, listen to Behind the Bima, rate and review and until next time, always live a life with emunah.
