Transcript
Good morning, welcome back to Living with Emuna, our Wednesday gathering to remind ourselves that we don't exist on our own, we're not independent, but rather there's a creator, the Almighty, Ribbono Shel Olam, Ein Od Milvado, there is no one and nothing but Him, that He loves us, He's invested in our lives, and that our lives are so much richer and better when He is in it. I want to thank our generous sponsors for the year, Drs. Zavi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut and in memory of Dr. Ellen Schamzer. Thank you so much to the Morgans for their generous sponsorship. If you'd like to sponsor a future shiur or episode of Living with Emuna, please email lee@brsonline.org. We are learning Rav Itche Meir Morgenstern's Bayam Darecha. We continue to make our way through the chapter on bittul, the notion or the quality of how to nullify our sense of selves, how to not think of ourselves, think less of ourselves, but think of ourselves less often, to be mivatel, to surrender, to submit, to recognize we're not in charge, we're not in control, we're not to blame, we're not to take pride or credit, but to realize that we do our best, we do the most with what we have, we recognize and appreciate the gifts that we've been given, and ultimately we surrender, we submit to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, to the Almighty. The third step of the 12-step program we spoke about last week within the recovery world, the notion that there is a higher power and only when a person realizes that I cannot, I cannot on my own, I need Him, I rely on Him, I lean on Him, I submit and surrender to Him, that is when we are able to conquer, that is when we are able to take on the world and all that it will confront, all that it will challenge us with. We're in the middle of a long footnote on page Nun Aleph, page 51, in Bayam Darecha. I try to share with you the Emuna stories that you, our beloved listeners and watchers, share with me; it strengthens us, the stories themselves, not only the Torah content, not only the deep meaning and ideas, but the actual stories. So a woman in our shul I ran into actually shared with me an amazing story. I said, "I haven't seen you in so long, how are you?" and she said, "Listen to what happened to me." She had been going for a walk in the park near our shul with her husband and she fell flat on her face, she passed out out of nowhere, absolutely passed out, lost consciousness, fell flat on her face, so much so she had to get braces on her teeth in order to repair her teeth. Nearby walking by was a cardiologist in our community, cardiothoracic surgeon, who saw what happened, he came over to her, of course, checked on her, made sure she was okay when she came to, but said, "I saw the whole thing happen. You didn't trip and you didn't fall and you didn't faint from dehydration. I saw what happened and I'm pretty sure that you need a pacemaker, I'm pretty sure it's a cardiac problem and you need to solve it." She ran to the hospital, lo and behold, it's exactly what she needed, and thank God she had the procedure, she's doing well, and essentially he saved her life. Here's the amazing thing: he never, he was coming back from shul, but he never goes to that minyan. For whatever reason that day, he woke up in the morning and chose to attend the minyan that would end at exactly the right time that he would be passing by when she had this episode, when she passed out. So she said, Hashgacha Pratis, look at the greatness, the graciousness of God, look at the kindness of Hashem, of the Almighty, who put him in the exact right place when she needed it to be able to give her the advice to diagnose her problem, to be able to save her life and to be able to help her. Hashem is absolutely amazing, thank you Hashem. Okay, back to Bayam Darecha, Rav Itche Meir Morgenstern. So we've been learning about the middah of bittul, the notion that when a person realizes they're in the presence of greatness, we can be so immersed in what we're doing, so entranced by whom we're with, that we don't think of ourselves at all. In the context, in the presence, in the practice of what we're doing, we don't think of ourselves. There is no I, there is no ego, we can forget to eat or drink, we can forget that we exist, we so surrender and submit to being in the presence of that one, to being in the presence of that thing, to be engaged in that activity, we relate to it. We've talked about it countless times, when one is following some form of recreation, entertainment, a person is so lost in that plot, the unpredictability of how the sporting event will end, that a person cannot even think, they don't even realize something about themselves. So Halevai, Lehavdil, Lehavdil, Lehavdil, a person has such an awareness, a person is living with such a sense of the greatness of God, that Hashem created the entire world, nothing here is coincidental, the details, the minutiae, the magnificence of this world all testify, they are a testament to the greatness of God. I feel His greatness, and in that presence, איך בין א גארנישט, I'm a nothing. Not "I'm a nothing" bittul means that I don't realize what are my talents and skills, what I can offer the world, it means I recognize them, I identify them, I realize them, and now I channel them, and now I use them in the pursuit of God's vision for me, not on my own. So in this footnote that we began... Get on page Nun Aleph, mahus habittul, we're in the first chapter by Amcha Rachaicha, we are on page Nun Aleph. And in this footnote Rav Itzchok Mayer's been telling us the following: that when a person is margish, when a person really feels, not academically and not intellectually and not just conceptually or theoretically, but when a person truly feels that I'm in the presence of God who is so great that there is no I, there is no me, I submit and I surrender entirely to Him, it also is a very, very protective measure. First of all, it protects us from being arrogant, to realize whatever gifts or talents we have they are on loan, they're not part of our permanent collection, we cannot take credit for them, they are from God. It protects us from being envious, why would I be jealous, why would I be envious, I have what is destined, what is designed for me. It protects me from getting angry, why would I ever fly off the handle, why would I get angry, even when something doesn't go my way or the way I want it to go, why would I get angry, I have to recognize this is the way Hashem planned it. ואף שכל יהודי מאמין בזה מכל מקום עבודת הביטול היא להרגיש את זה יותר ויותר. We know it intellectually, we know that God takes up, He is the entire universe, He lets us live the illusion that we exist independent from Him, but really we are all only in His imagination. But to feel that, to know it is one thing, to feel it, to palpably feel it is different, עד שיגיע למדרגה להרגיש מישהו אחר, to get to the point that there is no one and there is nothing but Him. If I eat and I drink and I sleep, if I exercise, if I laugh, if I have fun, if I take vacation, if I, all else I'm doing is in the context of being of service to Him. Why am I in this world, why did He create this world, why did He put it in me, put me in it, what is His plan for me, what difference am I meant to make? דהיינו שלא יצטער מה שקרה ורק אז יחזק את עצמו שהכל לטובה אלא שמתחילה זאת תהיה הרגשתו. A person has to not get bent out of shape after what happened. It's not that we go through a challenging time, person's stocks went down, person lost a job, person goes through a terrible, terrible challenge in life, whether it's in the quest for fertility or the quest to find their shidduch, to find their significant other, or whether it's in a career or whether it's in their own spiritual growth or whether it's in their own health or mental health, it's not that you wait for the crisis or catastrophe and afterwards, part of the way that you find support is to see it in the context of bittul, that I nullify myself to God, I submit and surrender and therefore I now have what it takes to persevere, it's that even when going through it to begin with, mitchila, when encountering it, when going through it, that's your feeling. That's your feeling. Last week I was having a meeting in one of our local restaurants and there was somebody who was talking to me, somebody stopped by the table was talking to me, and at that point turned, and when they turned they knocked into a waitress, and when they knocked into the waitress who was carrying a scalding hot cup of coffee, the waitress accidentally, of course, spilled the scalding hot cup of coffee directly on the arm of the individual who had been turning to me. You saw the steam, without exaggeration, you saw the steam coming off of his arm, hot coffee all over his arm, on his pant leg, and you saw the steam coming off. And the whole area, the whole restaurant went gasp as they saw it. What would he say, how would he react, was he okay, how would she feel? And you know what he did? He raised that scalding arm in the air, the arm with the steam coming out of it, and he said, and he said, Gam zu l'tova! He screamed out, Gam zu l'tova, this is also for the good, this was meant from Hashem. It was that waitress's first day on the job, she was a little bit nervous, she obviously felt absolutely horrible, and this very special tzaddik, this very special person, told her it's not your fault, it's my fault, I turned, it happens to everyone, and then he gave her great advice, which is a great lesson by the way in how to try to help someone through a hard time. He said to her, this is the best thing that ever happened, now you got it out of the way, you don't have to start your career in this industry and worry when will you first spill coffee on someone, you got it out of the way the first day, now smooth sailing from here. And he made her feel much more comfortable, it was a generous, magnanimous thing that he did. And he had, I actually had to meet with him a couple days later about something altogether different, asked him how his arm was, and he showed me the red marks, how probably first or second degree burns on his arm. And yet because he was working on this quality of bittul, he actually demonstrated it, it was on display. I wish I could get the security camera from the restaurant and be able to share it. He put his arm in the air with the steam coming out of it and he said, Gam zu l'tova, Ein od milvado, this is also from Hashem, and that's what Rav Itzchok Mayer says we're capable of. If I didn't see that with my own eyes last Friday morning, I would say maybe we're capable of, we're capable of in theory, we're capable of in potential, but I saw it with my own eyes, I saw it with my own eyes, we have that capacity. Not only after the fact when we're trying to how do we absorb and integrate, how do we make sense and understand, how do we- While we're going through it, we have the ability mitchila while actually going through it. וכן אם מישהו פגע בו או הכהו, if a person hurts you, injures you, I don't mean by accident with a cup of coffee. I mean in business, I mean in friendship, I mean in social circles, I mean in life. Somebody injures you, someone harms you, someone hurts you, מדרגת הביטול היא שלא יפגע בלבו ורק אז ירגיע את עצמו. It's not that first you're insulted and you're hurt and then you calm yourself down with the concept of emunah, על ידי שיכנס לאמונה שהכל מהשם יתברך, אלא שמלכתחילה הוא בכלל לא יפגע. But rather to begin with you say I'm not going to be hurt, I'm not going to be insulted, it's Hashem's plan. This is what Hashem intended. כי מיד יראה בזה רק את יד השם יתברך וטובו. Harbe shluchim lamakom. God has many agents and God has many ambassadors. They come in the form of a waitress, they come in the form of a business associate or client, they come in the form of someone who supposedly was a neighbor or friend. Harbe shluchim lamakom. God has many agents. So when something happens, we can be distracted, we can absolutely lose focus by concentrating only on who was the messenger, or we can think about who sent the messenger and what is it meant for me? וייתכן שאין כאן בכלל מישהו אחר. There is no one else. There is no party who injured me. Now again, if somebody hurt you, they bang into your car, you have a right to take their insurance information, you have a right to be compensated and made whole financially. We have something called a beis din. We have a proper place to go to adjudicate, to resolve conflict. But it means emotionally, it means spiritually, it means in our hashkafa, to not be consumed and fixated, to not perseverate on who was the one and getting even and I gotta stop them, but realize that was from above, that was from Hashem. It couldn't happen if it wasn't by design. So what am I meant to learn? How am I meant to improve? How am I meant to change? How am I meant to take it on? Maybe I have to meet with someone, maybe I have to engage someone, maybe I have to repair something. There could be an action item for me to do, but as I am absorbing it spiritually, as I am experiencing it, I don't have to first be devastated, hurt and traumatized and then say oh yeah, I go to, I listen to the emunah shiur, now I'll calm myself down and engage emunah. But we can all get to that point. We can get to the point that the literal or metaphorical hot cup of coffee spilled on us, that we could yell gam zu letovah. I don't know why, I don't know how, but gam even this is for the good. And even this is from Hashem. Now I'm going to put ice on my arm, now I'm going to try to heal the burn, now I'm going to try to make the waitress who did this by accident feel better. And even if a person did it on purpose, maybe there's actions, maybe there's things I need to do, compensated to be made whole, to reconcile, to repair, but as I experience it, it's only ein od milvado. There's nothing but God. What am I meant to learn? How am I meant to grow? וכמובן כמו בכל דבר יש בזה מדרגות רבות, veharbe avodah. Just like every quality, every area of growth, there are many levels and we can't skip steps. If you try to skip a step, you trip and you fall. Try to skip a step, Torah tells us you run up the ramp, you reveal your nakedness because it's corrupt, it's hollow. Can't skip steps. So just like every area of avodah, every area of personal growth, spiritual growth, incremental steps, slowly laat laat. Aval zu hamatara, but this is the goal, this is the endgame. Even when you're going incrementally, even when you're going step by step, if you're training for a marathon tonight behind the bimah at 9:00, Beatie Deutsch, record-winning marathon winner, even when you're training—I don't know this from personal experience, but I understand—when you're training for a marathon, you don't start out by running the full length of the marathon incrementally, slowly, but you start backwards. You know when the marathon date is, you know how many miles you need to be ready to run and now you can train. We know what the matara, you know what the game is, the goal is, לחיות בהרגשה ברורה שהכל מבוטל. To live with a clear and precise sense that everything is from above. And that I submit and surrender and this is the way it was meant to be. Don't fight it, don't resist it. What do you need to do? What initiatives do you need to take? How do you need to improve? But don't resist the will of God. ולא יראה בעיני רוחו כלום אלא רק את השם יתברך. All I see is God. So I don't say well, I guess I'm sick, I'm meant to be sick. You go to a doctor! Of course we're not suggesting one should become passive, a spectator, fatalistic. What we're saying is that even as I take my initiative, but emotionally and spiritually I understand whatever initiative I must take, I'm doing in the context of, this is all from the Ribbono Shel Olam. I go to the doctor, but while waiting for the diagnosis, the test result, while going through whatever therapy, taking whatever medicine, there has to be the recognition ein od milvado, bittul. I submit surrender and it's only when I put myself in your arms, it's only when you carry me from place to place. that I can endure. ויירא ויירגש בבירור מוחלט איך כל הבריאה כולה וכל מה שיש בה הם כלים ביד השם יתברך to see and to feel with a decisive clarity how the whole creation, this entire world and everything in it are keilim, they are utensils, they are simply instruments and vehicles for God to interact with us. So God could use a cat or a lizard or an iguana, God could use a person, God could use wind or sun or rain, God could use the stock market, harbei shluchim lamakom. There is no shortage and there is no end to the agents that God could employ. ואינם עושים בעצמם כלום. They're not doing it on their own. Just like the iguana, just like the squirrel, just like the bolt of lightning, the sunshine, the wind, just like if a boiler were to break and flood, what are you going to get angry at the boiler? You're going to take it out on the boiler? You're going to start to feel I'm so hurt by the boiler, I don't know how to bring it up, moved me to tears, after all I did for that boiler, can you believe the boiler is hurting me? But it's an inanimate object. The same attitude we have to inanimate objects, says Rav Itche Meir, we should have to all people, all objects, all forces of nature, to everything. Kol habriah, all of creation and all of the world are agents and ambassadors carrying out God's will. I have to react, I have to respond, I have to take initiative, don't be passive, don't be fatalistic, but as I do it, just like I got to replace my boiler, got to clean up the flood of the water that spilled, that overflowed into the garage or into whatever room, I've got to replace the boiler and I've got to clean up, but I don't get bent out of shape, I don't lose my cool, I don't punch the boiler, I don't call it a name, I don't get angry, I don't feel hurt, similarly everything in life. אמנם עיקר ההישג בביטול צריך להיות העבודה לבטל את עצמו את הרגשת הישות ועצמיות ובזה עיקר הקושי ועיקר העבודה. In order to make room for God, in order to allow Him to overflow, in order for Him to fill our whole universe, we have to be metzamtzem, we have to be willing to let go of our ego, to let go of our ego. In recovery community it's all about the ego. Ego gets in the way. Why did I say that? Why did I insist on that? Why did I go there? Why was I tempted impulsively to do this? Ego. How do you check the ego? How are we constantly evaluating and reevaluating, reflecting and re-reflecting on why am I doing that? Because if it's ego it will lead to no good, but if I let go of my ego, if I surrender my yeshus, my sense of self, my very existence and I realize I am an instrument of God, others are an instrument of God towards me. This doesn't all lead by the way, and I have to express this, because I know why someone could mistakenly conclude based on what we're learning, that what God, what Torah, what Rav Itche Meir are suggesting is that a Jewish or a Torah way of life is one of misery. Just surrender, just accept whatever happens, just be of service, don't have joy, don't have happiness, don't have life, don't have pleasure. It's not what he's saying. We learned half an hour ago Mesillas Yesharim on Wednesday mornings, but we learn in Mesillas Yesharim the Ramchal similarly, lehis'aneg al Hashem, the goal is to get high on God. Lehis'aneg, the word oneg means pleasure. Feel pleasure, get high on God, that's the goal. That's the mission, that's why He created us. But the point is what do I get high on? By my ego? Am I getting high on things that feed my ego? Is my ego getting high or do I get high on letting go? All the research will show you that you'll actually find more happiness, more pleasure, a greater high, not a high from substance, but a greater genuine high from being of service to others, volunteering, giving. You know there's one research, they took two groups, they brought them to the mall, gave each some money. To one group they said go buy something small for yourself, to the other group they said go buy something small that you're going to give to another. They measured people's angst, anxiety, happiness levels before and they measured after. And what do you think they found? Who was a happier group? Who let go of more anxiety and worry? Who had more pleasure? The one who spent a little bit on themselves or the one who spent a little bit on others? Not surprisingly the answer was the one who spent a little bit on others. There are countless studies that one of the ways to try to tackle depression, to climb out of sadness and despondency, not to go shopping at the mall, not to take a vacation, not to lie lounge by the pool, volunteer. Go to a soup kitchen, go Habitat for Humanity, go Chesed L'Avraham, go volunteer, because getting out of oneself, getting out of one's ego, getting out of one's insatiable appetite for pleasure, that's when you make contact with the divine in you and that's when you most feel alive and happiest. Again, don't take any of my word for it, we live in a gifted time called Google. Go Google, go research on your own, don't take for granted, don't take my word. So when we learn bittul, the notion of submission and surrender to God is not in order to deplete or distract or take away from our happiness, it's actually the most direct route to it, the fastest way you'll get there. How many people you know who are consumed by pursuing pleasure and they never get there. They're the most unhappy and they have to numb themselves with addiction to those substances. It's when you let go and let God, it's when you submit and surrender, it's when you realize it's not all about me. What difference can I make in this world? Yes, I could still enjoy the finest parts of life and the great pleasures God designed into it, but how can I be of service to Him and to the people around me? How can I let go and realize I'm not in charge, I'm not in control? How do I feel His presence so much, so consuming, so encompassing, there is no me compared to Him, there is no my ego compared to what He wants? To think and to do this throughout the day. You're confused? There's a dilemma? It's a complicated decision to make? Pray on it. Hashem, help me, give me some clarity. To when there's a decision to make to ask ourselves, what does Hashem want me to do in this moment? What would give Hashem the greatest nachas ruach? If I stay up and watch this, if I go to sleep, if I do this activity, if I go there. What will make Hashem the most proud? Not about my ego, not about my mission, not about my agenda. What's on His agenda for me to do today? Now, on His agenda could be a wonderful lunch, a beautiful dinner, a great barbecue. On His agenda could be shpatsiring around the mall, window shopping. On His agenda for me could be taking in a sporting event or exercising, a round of golf or a game of mahjong. It's not to suggest His agenda will never have fun or recreation. His agenda almost always will have it because He designed us that it's what we need. But are we doing it because we've asked ourselves is it on His agenda, not ours? Is it about our ego or bittul? Are we willing to submit and to surrender? עיקר העסק בביטול להיות העבודה לבטל את עצמו. We have to be willing to let go. This chapter, I doubt Rabbi Yirmiyahu ever attended or read up on what happens in recovery, but it's exactly that community who are tackling so admirably their challenges. It's exactly, exactly the notion of let go, let God, of submit and surrender. Zeh efshari, it's possible. אפשר לאדם להגיע למדרגה שירגיש כל כך את מציאות השם עד שלא ירגיש את עצמו. It is possible. It's not easy and we have to grow. You can run a marathon, you gotta start out by taking a few steps, you gotta start out by walking and then jogging and then running. You'll get there. It is possible to live life where we submit and surrender to Him and our lives will be so much richer and so much better when we do. It's possible. ובכל מעשה שיעשה לא יחוס המעשה לעצמו ובודאי שלא ימתין בלבו לקבל כבוד על כך. And as we take every action, don't think we're doing it alone. We're only doing it because God allows it, He partners with it. And that we therefore don't deserve honor for it. Whatever achievement, whatever accomplishment, don't have an ego. Don't walk around arrogantly with honor. It's all Him. It's a gift from Him. ירגיש איך השם יתברך נמצא כאן. Wow, I just made contact with the divine. I had great mazel, God was good to me, business is good, my relationships are good, my family's healthy, everything is good. That's not a reason to take pride, to feel arrogant, to walk around and say give me honor, look at me, I'm successful, look at me, the deals I've closed, look at me, the family I've raised, look at me, the volunteer positions I have, look at me, the difference I've made. Rather we should recognize what a gift, what a bracha, what an absolute bracha from Hashem. Hashem nimtza kan. Wow, the deal went through, Hashem can be found here. I look and I have healthy children, Hashem can be found here. I have a happy life, a happy marriage, a happy, Hashem can be found here. והוא זה שעושה ואני רק כלי שלו. I'm His instrument, I'm His vehicle. Wow, there was success, there was success in this community project, this was a successful drasha or article, this was a successful endeavor, it's not me, it's not me, it's all Hashem, it's all Hashem. And I'll tell you something personal, I'll tell you something personal. Every week, I need a little break and I can't wait to take it starting after our classes next week. But every week, baruch Hashem, the greatest, greatest privilege and pleasure in life to teach Torah, to write Torah, to share Torah. But I'll tell you, I live every week, I live every day knowing that it's really about His generosity. When I open the sefer and we start learning together, will the words flow? Will the ideals, ideas, and metaphors be available and accessible to me? When I sit down for a drasha, will I find the vort quickly? Will the perfect story come across my desk? When I want to write, do I have an idea? Do I bang it out quickly or do I sit over it because I just can't make it flow? I don't take credit for it, that's not me. And the way I know that is from one day and one week to the next, this time it went so easy, Hashem gave me the whole package, opening story, the great joke, the dvar Torah, He gave me the perfect article, He allowed the perfect metaphor to come to my mind and other days, strike out. Other days, it just wasn't there. Other days, just don't feel it. So anyone who could get arrogant to think, I'm a great speaker, I'm a great writer, it's all me, I'm changing lives, it's not us, it's not us. Klee. We are a klee, we're an instrument, we're a utensil, we're a vehicle. Whatever reason Hashem has given me the privilege and pleasure, at least for this time, to put words in my mouth, to put words in my fingertips, to type, to write, to share. He could stop doing it, he could take it back, it's on loan, it's not permanent collection. He can make it go quickly and easily and be effective and successful. He can make it fail, he can make it flop. And it's true for every one of you, whatever you're in in life, whether at home with family, whether at work professionally, if it flows, comes easily, other times it comes difficultly, with difficulty, and the answer is because it was never us. We are the vehicle, we are the instrument, we are the agent, but it's really all from Hashem. We should live with that awareness, it should humble us, it should bring a happiness, it should relieve anxiety, it should prevent us from ever getting angry. So that this isn't just a coping mechanism, it's not just, you know, let's do this because it's the opium of the masses, but rather it's true, there is a God Ein Od Milvado and he runs the entire world. And when we submit and surrender to him, our lives are so much better. ומי שזוכה להרגיש כך אפילו מעט, and if you can merit to live with this, if you can scream Gam Zu L'tova when the steam is coming off your arm because you realize you are an agent in that moment for the whole restaurant to see how you would react. You are the agent to see would you make the waitress feel better, would you make a Kiddush Hashem and Marbeh k'vod Shamayim that everyone saw, wow, there's somebody living with bitul. שאי אפשר לבארו במילים פלאי פלאים, pilei pla'im, pilei pla'im, mamash wonder of wonders. It's indescribable to live this life, to achieve this level, והוא ניצל מכל הרע שבעולם, and we're saved from all the negativity in this world, U'berosham haga'ava ha'arura. Living with bitul, submit and surrender, it's all him, it's not me. I've got my mission, I've got my charge, I've got my cause, I've got my marching orders, I know what I've got to do to make a difference here, but, but, it's not me. We can be spared and saved from ga'ava, which is so pernicious. Ga'ava, which is so poisonous, arrogance, which absolutely sabotages relationships, arrogance sabotages material success, arrogance sabotages judgment, arrogance sabotages health, arrogance sabotages connection with Hashem. היא הגורמת העיקרית להרחקה מהשם יתברך. The number one wedge or barrier from feeling close to God is arrogance. והיא היא הגורמת העיקרית לכעס. Arrogance is the number one driver of anger and sadness and chosser emunah. And the arrogant person doesn't say in that moment, must be God, there's a message, let me work on, let me think, let me figure it out. ולשלושה המרירי חיים אויבי הנפש הן קנאה תאוה וכבוד, arrogance leads to the three behaviors that remove a person from the world, arrogance leads to the behaviors that absolutely violate the reason that we were created, kina, ta'ava, and chavod. They lead to envy and to lust and to honor, they take us out of this world. וטוב לו בכל אשר השם יתברך מנהיגו וחי מאושר ברוחניות וגשמיות, בכל עבודתו נעשית מתוך טהרת הלב. Focus on the good and the blessing and the gifts that we have, recognize where they come from, remain rooted to God who expresses himself in us and as we discussed in the past, when you practice bitul, when we nullify ourselves, we are actually nullifying ourselves to ourselves, because there's a tzelem Elokim, because there's the Godly soul and the Godly spirit in us, we're nullifying ourselves to the best of ourselves. Don't think of it if I need to submit and surrender, but don't I deserve, what about me? The answer is submit and surrender to the best version of you, to the tzelem Elokim in you, not to the the negative version. Pick up tonight 9:00 PM Behind the Bima, Beatie Deutsch, learn her story, her emunah, her faith, her tzniut, her modesty in every which way. Hope you join us tonight and we'll continue next week is the last week of classes before our summer break. So please make a note, if you still like to sponsor you can always be in touch with Leah Beiras Online, and if you'll want to know when we're back, the easiest and best way, if you have not yet, if you have not yet subscribed, subscribe to our YouTube channel and you will be notified every time we go live, you'll know we're back with our programs, our learning, our conversations and so on. Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy.
