Transcript
Good morning, good morning, ladies, Boker Tov, welcome back to Living with Emuna. So excited and wonderful to be together again. I want to thank our super generous series sponsors with tremendous gratitude to Dr. Avi and Bella Morgan for sponsoring in memory of Dr. Brian Galbut and in memory of Bella's mother, Dr. Ellen Schantz. This morning's shiur is also sponsored anonymously for a refuah sheleimah for יהודה לייב בן מלכה, should have a speedy, painless, and complete refuah sheleimah. As always, I want to begin with a few emuna stories. So happy that people send them in, share them, they inspire me, and that alone makes it worth it. But aside from inspiring me, I get tremendous feedback, not only about the emuna stories that have the ending where it all works out, which I always tell you are, they're lovely, they're nice, they feel good, they give you goosebumps, they maybe bring a tear, but they should not be the basis of your emuna. I, you'll never hear me, I never give a drasha, I don't think I ever have, and I don't, I hope I never will give a drasha that tries to promote or tell you, you should have emuna, believe in Hashem, listen to this incredible story, it almost didn't work out, and then the person had faith and then it worked out. You know why? Because when you base your emuna on stories like that, you know how long your emuna lasts? Until the first time something doesn't work out for you. Because if your emuna is contingent, if your emuna is a quid pro quo, if your emuna is transactional with Hashem, I believe in You, I have faith in You, I trust in You, I surrender to You, because those are all the things I need to do to get what I want. So to get the results I want with my spouse, with my children, with my parnassah, with my health, with my life, I have to say this, do this, think this, believe this, so then if that's this relationship, it's transactional, then what happens? The first time I did all those things and something didn't work out, I'm done, I'm out. The emuna has to be, I believe because it's real, because it's true, because You're my Father, because You're the Creator, because You're bigger than me, there's something more that I don't understand. And I believe and I surrender and I submit not only when it all works out, not only when I can comprehend, not only when it all makes sense, not only when it all comes together, but also or especially when it doesn't. So the feedback I've gotten is not only on the stories that have the great ending, and I have great, I have great stories here like that, but it's the stories where the person says, didn't work out great, but you know what helped me get through it? Knowing it wasn't random, it wasn't chance, it was for a reason, it was from Above, it was specifically for me. So keep sending your stories, not only the good ones, but also the ones that don't have that ending, because that is also important. But here are a couple for you. I have so many, thank God. I want to share an amazing emuna story with you. I listen to your emuna lectures and I enjoy them, I think it's such a great lecture, blah blah blah blah. My husband has a long trip home from work, about an hour and a half to get back to Boca. I've been trying to convince him to listen to your emuna lectures. For some reason, it's been hard for him, and he would make excuses why he couldn't. Today was different. He had a very hard day at work and I told him, listen to your shiur from today, this is from a few weeks ago. He agreed and he listened to your lecture while driving home from work. He calls me after he listened and he said he enjoyed it, but even better he said, the lecture may actually have saved his life. He's not always great at multitasking when driving, so while listening to your lecture, he was paying attention and it made him drive slower. He said he saw a major accident about ten cars in front of him with many cars involved. And funny enough, all of a sudden he hears you talking about I-95 during the shiur. He's so grateful the lecture, happy Baruch Hashem was able to avoid the accident. I guess it's true when you say Torah saves a person. Feel free to share this anonymously. So, if it makes you drive, some people drive faster because they want the lecture to be over quicker, but in his case, in his case he drove slower and it and it helped him. This one I got a few months ago. This past winter I had an issue with work. I'm a freelance writer and educator and the company that I worked for was bought by another company. The new company offered me some fantastic opportunities, freelance jobs that would, I hope, take me through retirement and beyond. I happily spent hours and hours working on articles and of course I love what I do. Then there was a misunderstanding and in a terse email I was fired. I was in shock. But somehow I remembered in my shock to say, thank You Hashem. My mind went in all directions, but then I just kept bringing it back to, thank You Hashem. It was not easy, my mind kept on wanting to go to the dark place. I was pretty rattled. But I know because of all these years of practicing in the little things, it was so much easier than it had been in the past. I kept on saying, I know Hashem that my parnassah comes from You, so I don't have to worry about this. My parnassah will come from some place else. I know You will take care of me. I don't have to worry about this. Thank You Hashem. My chavruta asked me, where's the yeshuah here? What, what's saving you? I said I don't know what the yeshuah is, I don't know what good's coming out of this, but there's a yeshuah because Hashem loves me, it has to be good. In other words, at that moment he was fired out of nowhere, no idea where the next paycheck was coming from, but when you work out the emuna muscles and when you build the emuna muscles. memory, then in those moments that you normally or in the past would have panicked, or would have had anxiety, or would have worried, would have been frazzled, instead you just say, this is the way it's meant to be. This is what's going to happen. Long story short, fast forward to a week later and a supervisor in the company contacted me, apologized, explained it was a misunderstanding, reinstated me with a better contract to protect me and my rights as a freelancer. The deal's definitely better, but I don't think that was the yeshuah. Thinking back, the yeshuah to me was that I was able to see that all the years of emunah work works. So again, that story has a good ending, right? You got the call back, got a job, better contract, it was all for a reason, but he says the best part of the story is not the better contract, the best part of the story was having proven to himself that the emunah works. The emunah works. If you work it, it works. You gotta work it. You can't wait for the crisis. What we talk all the time, you can't wait for the crisis to come and when the crisis comes, then you'll lean in. Oh, quickly, let me go to the emunah shiur. Quickly, let me subscribe to some emunah newsletter. Let me read an emunah WhatsApp. Quickly. It's a little late then when you need it. You need to be strong so that when the challenge comes, you are empowered with the strength to be able to get through it even, even then. Should we do one more? And then dive back into the text. I know because that's really why you come, so I'll do one more. I'll do one more. I'll do one more. Okay. Here's a good one. We'll do one more. Permission to share this. Because my husband is an airline pilot, our family can fly for free. We can put ourselves on a standby list for any flight and if there's an open seat anywhere on the plane we may get it. Sometimes we list and are confident we'll get on because we know there are many open seats and sometimes we see the flight is overbooked, but not everyone's checked in so we hope someone misconnects, there's a lot of traffic or the TSA line is slow, a seat will open up. Always a lot of emunah involved while you wait. Last summer I was returning from New York with two of my kids, one of whom had just come off the camp bus and was exhausted. We didn't try to get on the first JFK flight returning to Florida because it really didn't look like we'd get on. So we went to the airport to try to get on a later flight, which looked a little better. I always have a plan as to what we will do if there aren't enough seats for all of us. On this day I was planning to send the kids ahead, have someone pick them up, and I planned to come home on another flight sometime during that day that night. We waited through the boarding process like we always do. The JFK Fort Lauderdale flight was just about fully boarded and with a few minutes to go the gate agent told me he had only two seats for us. Okay, better than nothing. I was prepared to send my kids and just at that moment a woman ran off the plane saying she would be right back. The gate agent was surprised and called after her telling her she had five minutes. I didn't even know that you were allowed to do that. I didn't know. Okay. The gate agent was surprised and called after her telling her five minutes. The time ticked by and she never returned. Lucky me. All three of us got seats. When I boarded the plane I saw the woman who ran off left her bag on her seat. A big no-no. But I gave it to the gate agent to take off the plane. Many people would have then just run off the plane after her. But okay, that's where emunah comes in. I gave it to the gate agent to take off the plane and give back to her when she returned from security. I felt good getting her bag back to her. I settled into my seat and for some reason in two minutes before we were supposed to put our phones on airplane mode, I happened to scroll through Dan's Deals Facebook feed and saw the following message. I'm looking for someone currently on flight X from JFK to Fort Lauderdale. I boarded and left my carry-on and backpack by seat X then realized I left my laptop at TSA. I made it to security get my laptop but did not get back onto the plane as they closed the doors. My backpack and carry-on are en route to Fort Lauderdale, looking for someone on the flight to collect my onboard items and I'll pick them up tomorrow, please comment or PM. Personal message. How random was that? I was so excited to reply right away, I'm on board, the gate agent took it off the flight, that was the only bag on her seat. We PM'd through the miracle of the internet having it at 30,000 feet, I guess the Wi-Fi was working, in addition to the main thing, and I was able to get her contact info and left her other bag with baggage services at Fort Lauderdale, which she picked up the next day. So at the end of the day, she was meant to miss the flight, I was meant to make the flight with the kids, but she was meant to not worry about missing her bags, I was able to reassure her right away where they were. It all worked out the way it was supposed to from one of our OG emunah shiur members. Great story. I'm sure you can't narrow it down who's married to a pilot in this room. But I'll leave that to you. Okay, we've got more but we've got to dive into the into the topic. Tiv HaEmunah. We're back in Rav Gamliel Rabinovich's wonderful sefer Tiv HaEmunah to be working on emunah, working on emunah. Again, the emunah is not just stories. If you read stories all day long, you will not grow and be stronger in your emunah. You have to think about, you have to contemplate, you have to exercise that emunah muscle as you're challenged. Goldbergs always had passport stories, we have another one, our daughter with her baby are ready to go back to Israel, that baby needs a passport, passports are really backed up, can't get an appointment, the flight's coming up. We're not sure exactly, I don't know how this story will end. I'm gonna have to tell her to write me an email I can read when it ends. I hope it will be one of the ends that it all came together, it all worked out. But what gets you through while you're waiting is each time you don't panic, what will be and what will be, you say, this is fun. This is. It's an adventure. You may be with us for a little bit longer. Who knows how it will turn out? Can't wait to find out how the story ends. All we know is it will end the way it's supposed to. If it's meant to be, you'll be on that flight, you'll get that passport, you'll get there. And if it's not meant to be, then you'll get it when it is. The great thing is just let go. Let go and let Hashem. Let go and let God. Stop trying to force the issue. Take your initiative. Trust me, we've called everyone we know who has connections anywhere. Her abba is being tapped to use any connection he may have. We're taking all the initiative that we have, but you could do that without that panic and without the worry and without the sleepless nights. You could do that and say, but however it turns out is exactly the way it's meant to be. יש לנו עבודה גדולה. We have a great job, we have a great work. לא רק להאמין בהקדוש ברוך הוא. Our mission, our mandate in life is not simply to put our trust in Hashem, ela l'hargisho mamash. In other words, faith and trust can be intellectual. Faith and trust can be if your back's against the wall and someone challenges you, you say, "Yes, I believe." If Pew knocks on your door and says we're doing a study, "Do you believe there's a God or not?" you can answer in the affirmative. You want to be on the side that says, "Yes, I believe." That's one level of trust. One level of trust is I go to the emunah shiur on Wednesday mornings, I went to a seminar, I went to a conference, I went to a convention, it was evidence for God's existence, I was convinced intellectually, academically, conceptually, I believe there's a God. But the other is to feel it in your kishkas, to feel it in your bones, to know it without a doubt, to react, to intuit, to respond instinctively, to experience the entire world around you through the prism with the glasses that there's a Hashem. So as you go for a walk and experience nature, Hashem is everywhere and you can't help but say, "Wow, it's amazing." As you interpret the events of your life to feel and to see His guiding hand, and not only leave the message in your family hashgacha pratis group for whenever everything turns out well, but listen to what happened, then I tripped, then I broke my nose, then I, all from Hashem. Everything, good and bad, it's all from Hashem, it's all by design, it's all for a reason. L'hargisho mamash, to feel it in your kishkas, in your kishkas, to make time to have conversation, to invest, to surrender. You know, if you're in a relationship with a child and the child says, "Do you love me?" First of all, it's a bad sign if they're not sure, if they have to ask. But you might say, "Yes," and they may say, "I know that intellectually. I know that. I know that you love me. You've paid for this, you bought that, you woke up then, you worry this. I know it intellectually. But make me feel it, make me believe it, make me know it, make me not even have to wonder or ask." So Hashem says don't just, you know, you mumble the words in the siddur, you put a checkmark next to all the things you're supposed to do as an observant Jew. L'hargisho. Is it in your kishkas? If someone doesn't know you and all they do is watch you, do they see you as somebody who lives with God, who's in constant conversation with Hashem, who's in conversation not only talking to Hashem, because that comes sometimes easier for us because we have things that we need and there's no atheist in a foxhole and when you're waiting to figure out if you have a passport appointment it's easier to not stop talking to Hashem. But do you also listen to Hashem talking to you through the signals and the messages, through nature, through His Torah hakadosha? Are we in that conversation, are we making the time, are we invested, is it l'hargisho mamash? Do we feel Hashem in our kishkas? Do we pray on it? I told you that story once. I was sitting at Starbucks getting work done and there were a few women meeting about something at a table near me and they were very loud and enthusiastic about whatever they were meeting about and clearly they had a decision to make and weren't sure what to do and they did something I had never seen before. They said, "You know what? Let's pray on it." And they held hands, they closed their eyes. They said, "God give us the wisdom and the insight and the breakthrough. Help us come to the right decision about what to do." And I was just watching like, I daven Shacharis, I'll be back for Mincha and for Ma'ariv, I daven, but did I ever daven like that? Was I ever with someone and said, "Let's daven on it"? Where should kids go to camp, or what should we do this summer vacation, or we're worried about this issue in our life. "You know what, Yocheved, let's daven on it. Let's ask Hashem to give us the wisdom and the insight and the breakthrough right now and to help us feel confident that we're coming to the right conclusion. Let's daven on it. Let's daven on it." I don't know that I ever reacted that way. That's l'hargisho mamash. I'm watching these women, I said, "Wow, they have real faith." They hit a wall, they're not sure what to do and their answer wasn't, "Let's ignore it," or, "Let's flip a coin," or, "Let's think that we're so smart and overconfident that we have the right conclusion." Their answer was, "Let's pray on it. Let's pray on it for a moment and see whether we can have some insight." So l'hargisho mamash, do we live those lives where we feel Him in our kishkas? Avoda zu nitzrecha. For this level of avoda, for this level of a lifestyle, it takes enormous effort and it takes enormous work. It doesn't happen. You don't wake up overnight living that life. עד שמרגיש ונעשה חלק ממהותו ועצמותו ממוחו ולבו till it becomes a piece and a part of who you are, your etzem. It becomes part of your essence, your essence of who you are. Mocho velibo, your brain and your heart. וזאת על ידי ריבוי מחשבה ויגיעת המוח והלב and by concentrating, by being contemplative, by thinking, by emoting, by feeling, all of that will build up that reaction, that response, and to leave us in that place. I've been giving you this metaphor over and over the last few months, but it's true. Nobody needs to tell you, are you a mother, are you a father? Nobody needs to be reminded. You don't have to schedule in your calendar, you don't, your alarm doesn't have to go off to tell you, don't forget you're a father. Maybe the father does. The mother doesn't have to. Don't forget you're in charge, you're doing carpool, you're this. The father does. But the mother doesn't need that alarm. 24/7, the rest of her life, her identity's intertwined, and those who are waiting and longing for children should be blessed to know this feeling, to know it soon. But those who are mothers, grandmothers know, it's in their kishkas. It's in the background playing all the time wherever they are, whatever they're doing, I'm a mother. I have children. Where are they? Are they safe? What are they up to? Are they happy? Are they good? It's in their nefesh, it's in their moach, it's in their lev. It's not just if someone says, are you a mother, pew, knocks on the door, do you have any children? Oh, let me think about that. Oh yeah, that's a good question. Let me go check the safe whether we have any birth certificates in the safety deposit. You don't have to think about it. It's not intellectual, it's not academic. It's in your kishkas. Absolutely I am. And let me tell you all about it and why they're the best and why they're the brightest and why they're the smartest and let me show you a few pictures and let me poor pew person who knocked on your door. על ידי זה נעשה הבורא יתברך כל כך ברור לו. The Almighty, the Ribbono Shel Olam, should be as clear to us as our children, as clear to us as this table, as this chair, as real to us as anything else in our world and in our life. עד שמרגיש בנפשו ממש. We feel Him in our kishkas. There's no doubt, there's no uncertainty, there's no hesitation. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is not blurred, He's not in the background, He's right in front of us. אין צריך שוב אחר כך לעסוק בזה להעלותו במחשבתו ולהתבונן בזה אלא כבר נעשה כחלק ממנו ומהותו שראה בכל דבר ממש את האלוקות. Rather, all that we do is a part of our perspective, our outlook, our life, and our lifestyle that it all includes Him. Wherever we're going, whatever we're doing, we're talking about Him. We're asking for His help, we're thanking Him when it worked out well, we're objecting and protesting when we wish it were different, but it's our essence. We permeate, it's part of who we are, it's visible on us. It is, it is intertwined with our identity. I think it's missing so much in our lives. Some of us have a discomfort with it. If we weren't raised that way, that language makes us uncomfortable. We say, oh, those women at the Starbucks table, that's like a Christian idea. Let's pray on it? But that's not a Christian idea, that's a Jewish idea. Let's daven on it. Hisbodedus. I'm reading a sefer now from Rav Kluger who was just here this week. Rav Avraham Tzvi Kluger is a great kabbalist, a great mystic, a great rebbe, a great rav in Beit Shemesh in Israel, Chassidishe rebbe. He's many, many sefarim, the Nezer Yisrael, he's a בית מדרש נזר ישראל, and he has a wonderful sefer on hisbodedus. The notion of not when you're talking to Hashem in shul and from the siddur, not when you're talking to Hashem from the template of Shacharis Mincha Maariv, but do you ever go for a walk with nothing in your ears? You ever go for a walk and nobody's standing by your side? Do you ever go for a walk and it's just you and Him? Do you ever just sit and talk and it's just you and Him? Are you ever driving a car and nothing is playing? It's just you and Him and you're just unburdening yourself, you're just talking to Him. You could be screaming at Him, you could be crying with Him, you could be thanking Him. You're just talking to Him. Hisbodedus, that yichud, that yichud, that connection, that being connected, that conversation. So let's pray on it is not a Christian or a Catholic or any other religion, it comes from us. Hashem loves us and He longs for that relationship with us and we should and could love Him and to be in that loving relationship, there is nothing better. Now, we don't believe that you should just sit still all day long be in conversation, we have things you gotta get done. You gotta go to work, you gotta take care of yourself, you gotta take care of your family. We have activities, we have things that we've gotta get done. But while we do them, in fact, in his sefer, Rav Kluger brings the mashal that a woman wears a wedding ring and every time she looks at that ring, it is a reminder that her identity is that she's married. That the chuppah wasn't a one-time event and now it's moved on, but it transformed an identity to be an ongoing relationship where there's a mindfulness and awareness of in perpetuity. perpetuity and forever. And the husband should have that same mindfulness, and that we, hisbodedos, those moments of conversation, that yichud, that connection, that being intertwined and having that relationship with Hashem leaves us with that feeling, with that same sense, with that same feeling. We've got to grow more comfortable talking about him. At our dinner table, the beginning of our carpool, when we're going on a trip somewhere, gotta talk about him. I met with a group of educators this week. Wonderful, selfless, incredible, so grateful, under-appreciated, outstanding mechanchim that our community is blessed, blessed, blessed to have. And we were talking about this. Some of the challenges that teenagers have today. Do they believe in God when they go off particularly to universities that don't have a strong Jewish support system? And the statistics and the data and what's happening and were they on their way before they went or is it there that they're, that they're losing a lot of their observance and intensity? And what are the challenges that kids struggle with today? The Jewish view of this and the Jewish view of that and the Jewish view of the other thing. And can we formulate talking points that are persuasive and compelling and how to address these issues? But one of the things I suggested was, if they're in a deep and profound and meaningful and palpable relationship with Hashem before those questions arise, there's a much greater likelihood that they're not going to arise. And if they do arise, there's a greater likelihood that they're not going to overwhelm to the point that the person ends up abandoning or giving up or losing their religion. The problem is, if we're honest with ourselves, how can we as parents and how can we as educators inspire and motivate this intense and palpable and passionate and dynamic relationship with Hashem if we don't have it? How can we use that vocabulary and language if it's not natural and comfortable for us? How can we model and exhibit and how do they have a precedent to follow if it's not who we are? I don't know those three women at the Starbucks table next to me. This was years ago. We haven't kept in touch, believe it or not. I don't, I don't know who they are. This was several years ago. But if I were a betting man, I'm going to guess that all three were raised by mothers and fathers who when they ran into a wall in a difficult decision, prayed on it. I'm going to guess that their meal began with the family saying a prayer about dinner going well and being grateful for the food. In the end of the day, if we want our children to maintain that passionate, dynamic, vibrant, alive relationship with the one above, do they see that in us? Is it the language that we speak? Are we comfortable with it? And if it is a language, is it our third language or is it our first language? Are we most comfortable with it or is it clear that this is a language that we're struggling with? Which is okay, too. That's certainly better than nothing. But are we able to make it our first language, our primary language, the language of Hashem, the language of seeing him everywhere, the language of being grateful, the language of in that conversation, the kink in some appointment and we've used everything and are we going to get the passport? Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't forget there's Hashem. We're all good to go. Everything's going to be fine. There's a plan, it's an adventure. Whatever's meant to be is what's going to be. Baby's healthy, you're healthy, everything's good? Yeah. So it's just a question. Are you going to get back this day or will it be a few days later? It's going to figure it out. Don't forget it's His plan. You really want Him to change the timeline to your timeline rather than His? If it's a choice between His infinite, omnipotent, all-knowing timeline of what's best for you or your puny little timeline of what's best for you, you really want Him to switch His timeline for yours? So, figure it out, take initiative, work on it. And it's that, do we, do we have that instinctive reaction? Is that the language? Is that the atmosphere? Is that in the environment in our home? When it is, there's peace, there's tranquility, there's calm. When there's yelling and screaming and anger, then there's no Hashem, there's no God. Because ka'as is a form of avoda zara, anger is idolatry. We're worshipping ourselves and we're worshipping our view and our wish and our want of the way the world was supposed to go. And when it didn't, when it didn't match up to our plans, when it didn't meet our expectations and we lose our cool and we get angry and we raise our voice, then we've knocked God out of the equation. So we have to take all of our initiative, we have to do our effort, we have to do everything that we can, but our life and our lifestyle has to reflect an ongoing conversation, relationship with Hashem. וזה בעצם אורו של משיח. And that is the light of Moshiach, a time when it'll be undeniable, when we'll live with certainty and clarity, when we'll live with confidence and comfort of knowing there's Hashem. Nothing's random, nothing's chance, nothing's accidental. It's all curated, it's all carefully choreographed from above. And therefore we have the strength to be able to endure whatever it is we're living with because it's what we're meant to be. kemo shekasuv, as the pasuk in Yeshayahu says, ונסגב ה׳ לבדו ביום ההוא, שלא תהיה אז מחשבה. Right now he's hidden, and that's the way he meant the, made the world. Why did he make the world that way, by the way? It's annoying. You got to come every Wednesday or listen and you got to remember and remind ourselves. Why can't we just get it? I got it. You're here. You're in my life. You're in charge. I surrender. Let's move on. Done. Why do we have to keep reminding ourselves? Because we so easily forget. And why do we so easily forget? Because he's hidden. Because he's hiding. Because there is no absolute proof for Hashem's existence. There's overwhelming evidence. But the atheist or the agnostic has what to rely on or lean on. Hashem is hidden because the Almighty is hidden. Why does he choose to hide? Why not reveal? Why not speak to us? Why not tap us on the shoulder? Why not perform an open miracle? Why? Why does he remain hidden? Why did he create the world that way? Did you ever think about that? Ever wonder? Does it bother you? Because for free will. That's 100% correct. Because Hashem wants us to choose and opt into that relationship with him. If we're forced, if we're obligated, if we have no will, then we have no relationship. And he wants, maybe even needs that relationship. And because he wants, and maybe even I'm growing more comfortable with the idea that maybe even needs that relationship. A relationship is predicated on it not being coerced or forced. You can't go on a date and you love the other person and you see a future, so now you're going to take out a gun hold it to their head and say: We're getting married, right? Is that a, what does that relationship look like? There are those who feel they were in such situations not with a literal gun but some other form of pressure on them. And that's not a relationship. When a person's there because they're coerced, because they're forced, because they can't escape, because there's no way out, because they have no alternative, because they have no choice, because they have no free will other than to be there, then they're not in fact in a relationship. And Hashem wants and maybe even needs a relationship. And the only way, sort of ironic, every other relationship the more present you are the better relationship you have. In this relationship, the more hidden he is, the more we have to choose. The more we choose, the deeper and more meaningful there is a relationship. So because Hashem wants and needs a relationship, he stays hidden. Because if he were revealed, would you have a choice other than to have a relationship with him? If the omnipotent infinite source of all revealed himself to you, would you really have a choice other than to have a relationship with him? I always give the example. There are people who speed on the highway. Shame on them, terrible. People who speed on the highway. You could have a heavy foot, but you know when you speed? When there's no police car near you. I've never seen somebody be driving next to a police car and hit the gas and fly by them. Why? Let me ask you this: When you're driving behind a sheriff's car, do you have free will to pass them? Yes, you do. I would argue you don't. You have free will in the sense that you could press the gas or the brake. You literally could choose which pedal to press. But you don't have free will because free will means there are equal options presenting themselves to you, non-biased, and you can choose. And you don't have free will because the consequence is right in front of you. If you pass that police car, he will likely put on his lights and siren and pull you over. And knowing the consequence is right in front of your eyes, you don't have free will in that moment to pass him. So if Hashem were revealed, if Hashem were exposed, if you saw Hashem before our very eyes and we understood, we didn't understand with a leap of faith, we understood because we could palpably see the consequence of our bad choice or poor judgment, then would we have free will? No. So the only way for our life to have meaning is to have free will. And the only way to have free will is for Hashem to stay hidden. So even though he would prefer to be visible, he makes the difficult choice to stay hidden all for our good, so that we can have that relationship with him. But when Mashiach comes, that'll be over. The gig is up. When Mashiach comes, he pulls off the mask. He comes out of hiding. When Mashiach comes, he comes out from behind the, what's the, behind the curtain. Who hides behind the curtain? The Wizard of Oz? He comes from behind the curtain, lehavdil. He comes from behind the curtain. The gig is up. He comes from behind the curtain and he says, "Hi, it's me. We've been talking all along. We've had this relationship all along. Now we're finally here, connected, face to face." So that's what it will be like. Undeniable. Certainty, confidence, clarity, comfort, courage to know that there's a Hashem. Oh, it is you. You are here. And everything that has happened, that is happening, that will happen, it's all from you. It's all by design, it's all for a reason. I may not understand it, it may be unbearably painful as I'm going through it, but... but at least I know it's not for nothing, it's not random. ונשגב ה׳ לבדו ביום ההוא. Bayom hahu on that day, on that great day of Moshiach, there'll only be You. You, only You, only You. All there'll be is You, Hashem. I'm going to send the link to that song, You only You. It's a great song about Hashem. You only You. You'll remind me, please. You only You. You alone, only You. It's a great, just press that on repeat. You want to do some hisbodedus? You want something to listen to on your walk that will put you in a place to be able to talk to Hashem, just press play on repeat. Several years ago, Rav Moshe Weinberger was here in the middle of his farbrengen, you remember? He took the microphone and his phone and he played this song that hadn't yet come out in that way. You, only You, You alone, only You. It's all about Hashem. And it's a great, puts you in the mood for that hisbodedus, for that conversation. So, that's Moshiach. When Moshiach comes. Until then, it's on us to choose. It's on us to invest. It's on us to engage that relationship. שלא תהיה אז מחשבה אחרת, then there'll be no other thought. רק עין בעין יראו בשוב ה׳ ציון. ועלינו להחיות אורו של משיח כבר בימינו אלו. We don't have to wait for Moshiach. You don't have to delay. You don't have to wait until then to feel with certainty and clarity and confidence that He's here, He's involved, He's in charge, He's in control. You don't have to wait until then to surrender and submit to Him, ולהרגיש שהבריאה כולה היא אלקות. The tzaddik, righteous people. In the two-part series we just finished about how to relate to our family members who choose a different derech, and we quoted from that wonderful book about Rebbetzin Machlis. If you read that book, if you haven't yet, read the book about Rebbetzin Machlis, and you will read about an ordinary woman who grew up in New York and went to Central, but who lived a life in which Hashem was everywhere and part of every conversation. She was extraordinary, and we can be too. You don't have to wait for Moshiach to be like her. We can live with Moshiach right now. And there's nothing wrong with being Chabad, but this is not a Chabad. We want Moshiach, we want Moshiach now, mamash, v'chulu v'chulu, bimhera b'yameinu. We want him. But until he comes, we can already live with him. How do we live with him even before he's yet here? By living a lifestyle of clarity and confidence and certainty that there's Hashem, that He's in our lives, that there's something bigger and so much more going on than the here and now. We think we're in control, we think we're in charge. We can't even fix, like your phone's not working, it won't send the thing, I can't check the box, I can't, like we're pathetic. The moment we do that little gut check to remember that we're just pathetic. You're pathetic. We're just pathetic. Baruch Hashem, it reminds us that we're not all that. So with all the accomplishments and all the achievements, with whatever we get done, with whatever we earn or whatever we have, whatever we drive, wherever we live, with all the good, just remember where it comes from. Don't believe the hype, never lean into the hype, don't believe it. Just, just remember how pathetic we are. First time you're driving and you have to go to the bathroom and you panic because you don't know how you're going to pull that off, just bottle that feeling, and next time you swell with pride or ego or arrogance or think you're all that, just remember that desperate feeling of urgency and realize how pathetic we are. And not to beat ourselves up or knock ourselves down or feel shame or guilt, but to give ourselves the context and a perspective. There's someone and something so much bigger than us, and our lives have so much more meaning, and how do we want to live them? And what do we want our legacy to be? And how do we want to be remembered? And what is our brand? Is our brand those three women? You know the amazing thing is, they have no idea this some rabbi all these years later is still talking about them, because they had a difficult decision and they prayed on it for a moment. That's the other part, by the way. The other lesson of this is think about how you can change someone else's life without ever knowing it. Those three women are going to come upstairs one day, and I don't know exactly where they go, they weren't Jewish women, so I don't know how that works out, we'll figure it out. I don't know whether we're going to hang out up there or not or be in different places, I have no idea how that works out. They're going to come up there and they're going to be greeted and Hashem is going to say, you impacted Goldberg, and through Goldberg he shared this story, you impacted a lot of people, and the fact that you prayed on that decision in that moment maybe changed the course of someone's life who now dealt with difficult decisions differently. And they're going to say, I'm sorry, excuse me, could you back up, God? What was that again? What are you talking about? Where? I never gave a lecture at Boca Raton Synagogue. I never heard of Boca Raton Synagogue. The last time they tried to get someone like me to give a lecture at Boca Raton Synagogue, it didn't work out. What are you talking about, God? What are you talking about? And God's going to say, no, you, someone overheard in a Starbucks that you prayed on something for a moment and look how that trickles down. So, that's the other part of living with emuna. You have no idea when you're in some public place, you're boarding the plane, or it's delayed, or you're running late or the Wi-Fi stopped working or you're at Disney or you're that's all Jews those different yeshiva week Disney. But wherever you are, you're in Starbucks, you're at work, you're online at the pharmacy, you're dealing with customer service at, when you deal differently, when you live on your sleeve like Yosef שם שמים שגור בפיו, Hashem's name was dripping off of his lips, you have no idea how that will trickle down, who that will impact, how you will change a life. That's not the reason to do it, but that's a really nice kickback from it. It's a good feeling to live not knowing, knowing that you don't know who you may have impacted by living in that way. וכל מי שחי בזה כבר עכשיו, and whoever lives that way right now, you don't have to wait for Mashiach. Live now, feel, see him everywhere, acknowledge, notice, speak about, talk him up everywhere. הריהו מעורר בגילוי ביאת המשיח. You are revealing the arrival of Mashiach before he's even here. וכמו שאמר הבית אברהם צדיקים שכבר נתנו את חלקם בביאת המשיח היינו שראו כבר את אורו של המשיח העתיד לבוא. So the truth is we all want to bring Mashiach, want to bring Mashiach now. We all want to lay a cornerstone for that third Beis HaMikdash, we can. How? Our contribution is to live with more emuna. To talk more about Hashem, to feel his presence more in our life, to surrender to him, to live that language of Hashem. And when we do, we reveal him to those around us. When we do, we're already living be-bechinas Mashiach even before he's yet here. You know, we're already basking in his light, his light is so great that the light comes even before he arrives. So we could be basking already in his light even before he's yet here. How? Work out those emuna muscles. So that's my challenge for you today. What are you going to do about it? I don't know what you have on tap today, but if you're going to go for a walk, look for Hashem in nature, listen to the song and find a few moments of conversation. If you have to drive somewhere, make the determined decision not to put on any noise, don't listen to something, just talk to him. It's going to feel really awkward and difficult at first. 30 seconds will feel like you did it for 30 hours, 30 seconds of talking to Hashem if you've never done it before. Out loud, move your lips, vocalize, talk to him. He's right in front of you, he's your best friend, talk to him. It'll feel really awkward. But that's your homework: see Hashem in nature, see Hashem through conversation, see Hashem through a difficult decision. Are you going to have the guts to go to work today and tell someone at work: let's pray about this, let's ask for some insight, let's ask God to help us feel confident and comfortable with a good decision, a good conclusion? Are you going to do that? Are you going to do that? Are you going to say thank God, please God, with God's will? Are you going to use God's name all around us to bring others with us closer to Hashem? Stay tuned tonight for Behind the Bima, special guest co-host sitting over there. We're going to interview Lisa Elephant, who is the founder of Adopt-a-Shadchan. She also has gone through a lot of loss recently, tragic loss of her son, a loss of her brother-in-law Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein, and she has a tremendous resilience and faith and optimism and remains determined in her work for Adopt-a-Shadchan to help everybody who's looking for a spouse. An incredible organization. That's tonight, Behind the Bima at 9:00 PM. Until next time. Next week, I think we're here. Two weeks we have another wedding, Baruch Hashem, so we have to move it. But next week I think we're still regular time. Until next time, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy. Have a fantastic and emuna-filled day.
