Transcript
Good morning Boker Tov, it should be a day of Besoros Tovos, please God may we hear good news and good tidings, good things for Israel, may the hostages come home, may they have a sweeping victory over our enemies, and the soldiers return to their families. I want to thank our amazing Emunah series sponsors, Doctors Avi and Bella Morgan, who continue to sponsor in memory of Rabbi Doctor Brian Gabbay and in memory of Bella’s mother, Doctor Ellen Shanzer. Very, very grateful to the Morgans for their generosity. This morning is also sponsored in honor of Anna Cone by her friends and co-sponsored by Anna Cone in honor of her friends, in honor of the BRS community going from strength to strength. Anna has lived here for thirty-nine years and will continue to be in South Florida and come to the Emunah shiur. You could come, you’ll come, you’ll come. But he’s moving and thank you for all of your years and leadership and generosity and helping build this community. We remember back what it was, it's not what it is now, and those original pillars helped create what it is, so we're eternally grateful to you for that. And we will continue to see, so we’re not saying goodbye, but a big thank you. Today is also the Yahrtzeit of my wife’s grandmother, her Oma, who was a very, very special woman, Edith Goldsmith, and our learning should be dedicated in her memory as well, a very, very special person. Okay, we'll start as we always do with some Emunah emails, Baruch Hashem received many, we won't be able to read them all, and then we'll get back into the learning that we're doing, the incredible, incredible insights that we have that we have been learning together from Rav Moshe Shapiro. Hello Rabbi Goldberg, this one I got yesterday, I don’t know how it turns out, I didn’t get the follow-up yet. Hello Rabbi Goldberg, sitting on a plane for three plus hours, hoping it will take off so I can make my flight to Newark, from Newark to Israel, where I will be joining my 11 siblings and parents for a big family event. Delay, delay, another delay. Just sitting, letting go and letting God, strengthening my Emunah muscles, the result of what happens here doesn’t matter, I’ll make the connecting flight or I won’t, but I’m okay, I’m not late, I’m not missing anything, I’m right where I’m supposed to be, where Hashem wants me to be. Thank you for the Emunah shiurim, they really help. It’s like a, it’s like a poem. Yeah. It was written, that’s how it’s written, like a poem. Really. It’s the most gratifying thing to me, as you know, I say the same thing each and every week, I say it for myself, for some strange reason you all come to listen nonetheless, and it’s the most gratifying thing as I know I try to employ our learning when people send emails that when we’re in those circumstances that can be frustrating and aggravating and anxiety ridden, will the connecting flight, will I make it, will I get to the event, the whole family, you know what, worrying doesn’t change anything, getting anxious or angry never made the plane take off, ever. So just let go and let God and take a deep breath and know you are where you’re meant to be, no Jew, no Yid is ever stuck, that’s not part of our vocabulary. We are where we’re meant to be, we’re never stuck somewhere, that’s where we’re meant to be, and like I say, I don’t know, did he take off, did he make the connecting flight, did he get to the event? If you’re listening, please send the follow-up, we always like to hear what happened afterwards, but that’s the power of Emunah. It takes care of us, it helps us, it heals us physically, emotionally, spiritually, and which in turn helps and heals our relationships because when you’re with someone who’s anxious and angry and worried and envious, then you don’t want to be around them. So not only does indulging those emotions and feelings sabotage our own happiness and success, it pushes away and it hurts the people around us. So just take that deep breath and realize I’m not stuck and I can’t change it and I do my best and after I take my Hishtadlus, after I make my effort and I do my best, I just let go and I let God, it’s all up to him, from that point it’s all up to him. Next email. Rabbi Goldberg, hope you had a great Shavua Tov, just a quick story happened to me tonight along the lines of everybody’s in the place they’re supposed to be. I was walking down the street here in my hometown of Teaneck, I heard a large crash about half a block away, turned out to be pretty insignificant car accident, I arrive at the scene, called 911, and kept the older woman who got the worst of it calm until the police, ambulance, and fire department showed up. I thought about it afterwards and I understood that the walking pattern that day was very different than my usual, and that this was where I was meant to be. Shabbat Shalom. I got it on Friday. So this person says I don’t know why I walked that way, I don’t normally walk that way, but now I understand why because I was in the right place at the right time when I heard that crash so I could call 911 and calm the person and be there. In life, always realize we are where we’re meant to be. Wherever we choose to walk, however we choose to drive, whether we have that traffic or whether that’s the delay, and a person rather than focus on how do I get out of here, lean into why am I here? Why am I here in this moment? Why am I here? Why am I here? Next, I’d like to share a Nachas moment. I’ve been listening to Living with Emunah shiur for the past number of months, I’ve been inspired to introduce Emunah into my day-to-day language. We always quote Chassidishe Rebbe. So when we create an environment and an atmosphere within our home and to our family, we talk about and evoke a language of God all the time, then we are instilling, we are embedding, we are planting the seeds of a life of Emunah. If our children grow up in an environment where they never heard about Hashem. He wasn't invited. Sure Kiddush and Havdalah were said. Sure Shabbos was kept. Sure kosher was kept. Sure maybe even there was davening, but there was no Hashem. That was just a list and a checklist, but there was no conversation and ongoing dynamic relationship. Hashem thank you or Hashem please or Hashem why are you? There was no conversation with Hashem. He wasn't a presence at our table and in our home, then people will struggle to have, but He'emanti ki adaber, the more you talk about Hashem. Yesterday in the parsha shiur we spoke about the Shlah HaKadosh. The Shlah HaKadosh says our parsha is the source of the words God willing. We read the Miriam Miriam, not Miriam, Merriam Webster dictionary definition of God willing. Maybe her name was Miriam, I don't know, which is we'll call her Miriam. Miriam Webster. Miriam Webster. Wow. Of blessed memory. I don't know if she's still alive, Merriam, Miriam, I don't even know. But in her dictionary, in that dictionary it defines God willing inaccurately. God willing comes from our parsha על פי ה׳ יסעו ועל פי ה׳ יחנו. Our parsha tells us about how the Jewish people and the camp knew to travel when the clouds of glory would lift. How did they know when it's time to go, when it's time to stay? Al pi Hashem. It was always based on God. And the Shlah says a Jew, whether they're stationary and still or whether they're on the road and traveling, always Al pi Hashem. I am where I'm meant to be, I'm not stuck, this is where Hashem wants me. I make my effort, I take my initiative, but the result, the part that's out and beyond my control, Al pi Hashem. That's where Hashem wants. So the Shlah HaKadosh writes, this is the origin of a Jew, every time you pull out of your driveway, every time you start going for a walk, you say God willing. Be'ezras Hashem, Im yirtzeh Hashem, with God's help I'm flying today. With God's help this is my destination. With God's help I'm sitting still. With God's help staycation. I am where I am. It's always with God. God willing, God willing. על פי ה׳ יסעו ועל פי ה׳ יחנו, God willing. Anyway, so this author of this email says I've been inspired to try to introduce Emunah into my day-to-day language. We have to bring it into our language. He'emanti ki adaber. We'll believe if we speak, if we use that language. God willing, with God's help, thank God, please God. You know, this is going to pain me to no end to actually talk about the Celtics, but the Celtics won the NBA Championship. I wish there were a way that the Mavs didn't win because they have a big antisemite on the team, but also the Celtics didn't win, but that wasn't an option. Anyway, Celtics won. Why am I telling you that? Because their head coach is a very, very, very religious Christian. Their head coach is an incredibly religious man who actually walked the perimeter of the court before the last game and prayed. And who, when the game was over, rather than put on a t-shirt that says NBA Champions or I'm going to Disney World, he put "First I thank God". That was his t-shirt. First I thank God. And in every interview, every interview, they interviewed him apparently I don't know the British royalty or ex-royalty attended one of the games and they said, "How do you feel about the royalty being present?" And he said, "The royalty?" And then he said, "God," and he mentioned some other people that we don't believe in, but that royal family, that's the only royal family I know and care about. I don't know any other royal. He talks about God, I never see a Jew talk about God the way that this coach of the Celtics talks about God. No fear, unabashed, unafraid, unapologetic. Every interview, all he talks about is God. All he talks about is God. I just saw an interview they they before the last game where they won the championship, he went to visit not the celebrities who are coming out for the NBA Championship, he visited a few children who were struggling with cancer and he talked about he said, "You know, it's easy to smile when you win an NBA Championship, they were smiling and positive despite what they're going through." That's what I think about. Amazing. I'm not saying we're bringing him as a scholar in residence or he should give the mussar shmuze because it's the wrong religion and a different religion, but I think it's good for religion. I think that somebody who's got a platform and a microphone and a spotlight is telling the world "First I thank God" and "thank God" and "this is what matters and this is just a game and it's just silly". It's unbelievable. I don't like his team but it's unbelievable. Sorry. Sorry. But it's unbelievable. Anyway, he is fulfilling in his own way He'emanti ki adaber, He'emanti ki adaber. I'm sure his team talks about God all the time and thinks about God why because they have a coach. Every one of us is a coach in our life. We're the coach of our team. Our team could be our family, our team could be our work environment, our team could be our friends. We're the coach of that team. What t-shirt do we wear, what does it say? He'emanti ki adaber. talk about Hashem. Please God, God willing, Bezras Hashem, Mirtzeh Hashem, with God's help, על פי ה' יסעו ועל פי ה' יחנו. Traveling today God willing this is where we're going on vacation God willing. We're staying home God willing. Everything God willing. And in a very subtle nuance way we introduced that language, we're introducing ideas and values, we're introducing relationships, we're introducing consciousness and mindfulness, we're introducing a way of life that is healthy and that brings greater happiness and that gives us strength to endure. I know there are people in this room who've recently suffered loss, I'm so happy that you're here and that you're joining us and it means so much. And how does one navigate finding comfort and recovering from loss and struggle? Irreplaceable people that leave a hole in the heart is only with Hashem. Could be angry with Hashem, that's also okay, he can take it. Anger at Hashem also means that you believe he exists because you don't get angry at figments of your imagination. If you're angry at him because he took someone so irreplaceable, he says, I can handle that and I appreciate that because if you're frustrated at me, it means you know I'm here and it means you're in a relationship you're still in it. But there's no way to have the strength to endure without leaning in and without leaning on him. Back to the email. For example, yesterday I had to get my kids to the shoe store before it closed at 4:15. School was over at 3:45 and it's a 12-minute drive. I got to school early, piled the kids in the car, made the trek to the store, we encountered traffic and I was watching the arrival time go up. I found myself muttering at the traffic to move faster and then I realized that my kids were listening. So I changed my language even though I didn't really feel like it. I said Hashem, you are in charge. I really want to get the kids shoes and the guy will not stay past 4:15 but you're in charge and if it's not meant to be that's okay too. I kept repeating you are in charge Hashem not me. Fortunately the store does have a happy ending, miraculously all the kids found their dream shoes in a few minutes, we made it out with the new pair of shoes in time. But the best part of the story was the email I got from my daughter today. She's 11 and I see that the message, the message stuck. Is this your youngest Emunah? And then she shared with me the email she got from her 11-year-old daughter. Ma, I want to tell you a story. You know how Miss, her teacher, told us we could give her a note for the Kotel? Anyway, my note for the Kotel said I wish I could see my cousins from Israel and Hashem listened to me. They're coming to our house, it's amazing. So this 11-year-old is now speaking a language of Emunah. I asked Hashem, Hashem is amazing, my cousins are visiting, that's connected and correlated with Hashem in my asking him. He'emanti ki adaber. The more we speak about him, the more we speak about it, the more we lean in and the more that we believe. It's up to us. He'emanti ki adaber. And this, I should know his name because I'm referencing him, it's not nice. What's the name? Mizrahi. Something like that. But the name, we should look it up, he deserves for his name to be mentioned. We'll mention it later. He'emanti ki adaber. We Jews, religious Jews, we're so embarrassed and afraid. You know, we go to the airport and we find a way to hold our phone and go in the corner, no one should see us davening. And we have a business meeting, we have to make a bracha, put our hand over our mouth and we mumble it and we figure it out. And you see so many that wear the baseball cap because they don't want to be and what are we scream it from the rooftops. God willing, with God's help, please God, thank God, scream it from the rooftops to your colleagues, to your patients, to your clients, to your friends, to the cashier. What are we embarrassed, what are we apologetic? He'emanti ki adaber. You know why we're here? We're a Mamleches Kohanim. Our mission, our purpose, our mandate is transform the world in God's image, bring God down into this world. This world is increasingly godless, it is pushing God out, it is not speaking God language, it is polluted, it is contaminated. And why are we here, what are we charged to do? Bring God back into the conversation. Talk about God, bring people closer to God, give them permission to feel connected to God. Make their lives better like our lives are better because we see and feel and talk to and lean on God. That's what we're here for. Don't be embarrassed, don't be ashamed, say it out loud. I told you this story before that I was once in Starbucks and there were three women sitting at a table near me and they were I don't know what they were working on, business or they were on a committee for the bake sale, I don't know what they were working on, but they got frustrated about something and I wasn't eavesdropping, I was in fact trying to do my own thing and I was distracted, but then I heard them say, you know what, let's pray on it. And all of a sudden the three took hands at the table in the middle of Starbucks, said God, please help us figure out what we're supposed to do right now. Hashgacha pratis. Have you ever seen three religious Jews in Starbucks say you know what, let's ask Hashem for help? Unclear what we should do or we need help or we're not making the budget or we don't know how to make the plan or we don't know how to figure this out. Let's ask Hashem for help. Let's take out Tehillim and ask. Let's in our own words. Have you ever seen that? I've never seen that. I've never done that. But we should. We should, and without hesitation and without being embarrassed. He'emanti ki adaber. That's our mission, our purpose. Oh, there's more emails. More emails. They're important emails. The next one is a very painful email, sad email. One more? Okay, the Rebbetzin paskens. She's the real posek. One more. Name is Joe Mazzulla. Joe Mazzulla zochor latov. Joe Mazzulla again we daven he should be a ger toshav and he should accept the שבע מצוות בני נח and worship the one and only God. But that said, he's bringing God into the conversation and for that he's zochor latov and hopefully the Yankees will sign him. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, you always say the emuna emails that do not have a happy ending are your favorite ones and that inspired me to write today. I don't have an inspirational story to share, I just have raw emotions coming from someone who feels hurt but knows strongly that Hashem is orchestrating everything in my life in a way that is perfect for me. I've been in shidduchim for a number of years and every day gets harder and more painful. It is torture to be in a society that puts labels and negative stereotypes on girls who are older as if it is my fault that I haven't met my zivug yet. I wish the entire Jewish community would listen to your living with emuna shiur so they understand that everything in this world is from Hashem and they would know to stop judging people because ultimately nothing in this world is in our control. As my birthday gets closer every day, I've been feeling very down. I've gotten to the point that it's really hard for me to daven. I've been listening to the emuna shiurim weekly and it's really kept my spirits up and it gives me powerful tools to use my suffering. I have a really good relationship with Hashem and I talk to Him throughout every day but recently I've gotten mad at Hashem. I know that He can send me my zivug and give me bracha that I don't even know possible and yet He hasn't. And He doesn't seem to be doing it. I've tried every silly segula that exists. I've cried rivers of tears, I screamed, yelled, and sweet-talked Hashem. I've reached a real low and I don't understand why Hashem is making this journey so hard for me. I haven't gotten a single shidduch suggestion in months and it really hurts. It is so so hard. I've begged Hashem to send me a sign that He cares. I used to listen to living with emuna on my bus ride to school every day. Today when I got onto the bus, I was so tempted to turn on some music as I really wasn't in the mood to listen to the shiur because I was feeling so down. However, I choked back a sob and did as I knew was best for me and turned on your shiur from yesterday, June 6th. Right at the beginning of the shiur you told a story about a man who had a really challenging life, was feeling down, but went into shul, channeled his emotion and davened to Hashem. Hashem sent him your daily dose talking about him. Remember that story? Got back into his car, moved his phone, didn't even on purpose, but touched it in a way that it played a status which happened to be me telling a story that he told me. So he heard a message from himself through me. That was a crazy emuna story. Remember that crazy hashgacha story? Crazy hashgacha story. That was I guess on June 6th. And that's how we began the shiur that day with that story. I got chills and started crying. I cried because I felt Hashem was sending me a message and giving me a hug. I also cried because I have davened countless times and poured my heart out to Hashem in tefilla even more times and I haven't gotten my yeshua. Despite that though, I am able to smile and hold my head high. I know Hashem is doing this for my good. When I use the analogy that you gave today of the virtual reality glasses, I'm able to know that societal pressures are fake and purely an obstacle that Hashem has put in my life to get me to grow. I know that thanks to the emuna shiurim that Hashem loves me more than I will ever know. And even though I feel upset at Him right now, when we make up, our love will be stronger than it has ever been. I love that. I'm upset at Him right now but when we make up, our love will be stronger than it's ever been. As you said in the shiur today, Hashem is going to heal all of us spiritually, physically, and emotionally on Shavuos. I'm sincerely looking forward. This was the last shiur two weeks ago before Shavuos and I hope I'll be able to write soon that I'm able to see why Hashem is doing what He's doing in my life. Until then, I am trying so hard to stay positive, focus on Hashem's greatness, that He's doing this for my ultimate benefit. I know Hashem will say "my princess, the time has come." May Hashem continue to give the strength and wisdom blah blah blah blah put the right words in your mouth that I need to hear every time I listen to the shiur. I feel like you're talking directly to me. Deeply appreciative, Hashem should bentsch you and the family with bracha hatzlacha. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. And we daven that soon, very soon, not too soon because she should date long enough to know, but soon we should get an email that she's engaged im yirtzeh Hashem and celebrate her simcha together. So why do I say those are my favorite emails? Because the shoe store stayed open and we made the traffic and we got the... I love... they're beautiful, they're wonderful. I daven for my cousins to come, they came from Israel, we had an amazing time, fantastic, amazing. I love those, keep writing them, keep writing them, I want to hear them, I need to hear them, we all need to hear them, they are amazing. But the most amazing are the people who say I don't have. The guy on the plane who wrote a poem, I don't know what you call that style of poem, but he wrote a poem, right? Delayed, delayed, he wrote a poem. And I don't know how it turns out and it could be he didn't make the connection, he didn't make it to the event, and he didn't make it with all of his siblings. And he's still sticking with the plan. He's still sticking with Him. He's still sticking with Gam and not feeling stuck and knowing I'm always where I'm meant to be. Those, those are the emails. They're all amazing emails, please keep writing them. Don't hesitate because I say I like the ones that don't have, they're all amazing, please keep writing them. Back to Rav Moshe Shapiro, Rei Emunah in his amazing Sefer about the Yud Gimmel Ikkarim, we're on page Kaf Gimmel, page 23. We'll have to make more copies in the future. We're up to Os Vav. המצוה למעשה שיש לנו מענין האמונה חוץ מחובת הלבבות זו המצוה של ענית אמן. In addition to the feeling in the heart, in addition to the daily living of Emunah, our attitude, our approach, our perspective, like the emails we just read. But the actual expression or manifestation, our practice of Emunah each day, a demonstration or affirmation of Emunah each day is when we answer Amen. A person makes a Bracha and we say Amen. We studied previously that העונה אמן בכל כוחו. A person who answers Amen with every ounce of their being, they've opened the gates to Gan Eden. Which means that previously they were locked. How do we get back to Gan Eden where Adam HaRishon undeniably with certainty knew there was Hashem? How do we get back to seeing into Gan Eden? When you say Amen. When you answer Amen B'chol Kocho. Amen. Amen. A Gemara asks Mai Amen? What is Amen? Where does the word Amen come from? Amen is Kel Melech Ne'eman. Alef, Mem, Nun. Kel Melech Ne'eman. It's a, it's an acronym. Amen. Shabbos דף קי"ט עמוד ב. לומר אמן פירושו להיות מאמין בנאמנותו של הקדוש ברוך הוא. Every time you say Amen to someone's Bracha, which is even greater than the person who said the Bracha, what are you saying? What are you saying? To answer Amen, what are you saying? Scream it, B'chol Kocho. You're, it's a real Amen, not a mumbled Amen, not an Amen while you're still texting. It's an Amen, Amen, Amen. What's that Amen? God, who's the Melech Ne'eman. He is the reliable, dependable King. Ne'eman, we spoke about like building a Bayis Ne'eman B'Yisrael, that we wish for the Chassan V'Kallah, we wish the bride and groom that they build a Bayis Ne'eman. What is a Bayis Ne'eman? Reliable, trustworthy, dependable, strong, that you can lean on it. Ne'eman. Faithful, trustworthy, credible, honoring each other. So Amen means העונה אמן בכל כוחו פותחין לו שערי גן עדן מכיוון שהוא מאמין בכל לבו במה שהשני אומר בברכה. What the person is saying in the Bracha, Amen means Kel Melech Ne'eman, he is a reliable, dependable King. Yeah, ditto, absolutely, 100%. So I'm gonna make a Bracha and I'm gonna caffeinate with Kavana, my second of the day already. That's what kind of day it is. So I'm gonna caffeinate with Kavana, I'm gonna make a Bracha and my Bracha is gonna say, as on our cup you can order we'll send to you, disposable or the permanent one, we don't make any money off of it, Shehakol Nihiye Bidvaro. What do the words Shehakol Nihiye Bidvaro mean? Shehakol, that everything, Nihiye Bidvaro. Not just Shehakol this coffee, that God bless, bless God for the coffee. Wow, one of the most important and greatest discoveries in the history of this world. Coffee. Coffee. The caffeine wakes you up, the emotion, a hot cup of coffee. Ah, a hot, a hot cup of coffee and a danish. Is there not more Olam Haba than that? A proper hot cup of coffee, not a milkshake, not the milkshake with all the milk and the, and the sweet, a proper black coffee like a, a proper coffee. A hot coffee and a danish. Ah, it doesn't matter what else is going on in your life. It doesn't matter what else is, if you can get access to a, right? You see people in the, in the cafeteria of the hospital, they got out of that room, that Gehennom for a minute, a hot cup of coffee, it's Mechaye Meisim. It gives you back your life. Okay, now that I expressed my love for coffee, I wrote my poem. So, so what's the Bracha? Why am I saying? Because what's the Bracha, Shehakol? The Bracha, Shehakol Nihiye Bidvaro on the cup of coffee or could make on the bottle of water. What's that Bracha of Shehakol Nihiye Bidvaro? Not just the coffee. I'm not just blessing the farmer who planted the coffee bean and blessing the rain that nurtured, that grew, that harvest, that packaged, that distributed, the truck driver who drove it, the person who ground it, the person who packaged it into the K-Cup or the Dunkin' Donuts box. There's, there's seven million layers of thank You Hashem to be able to get to the point, by the time I'm done it'll be cold, but to get to the point of this hot cup of coffee. So Shehakol, Hashem thank You for the truck, the truck driver, thank You for the farm, the farmer, the field, the rain, thank You for the Dunkin' Donuts and the worker and the box and the cup of Joe and the sponsor. There's Shehakol, everything, Nihiye Bidvaro is from You. Thank You also for the environment, thank You for the room and the light. That's the intention the kavana that goes into that bracha. And I'm gonna make it in one second. And when you answer Amen to it, if you're listening later don't answer Amen, but if you're live answer Amen. What are you saying when you answer Amen? I have to make the shehakol. Why do I have to make the shehakol? Because the Gemara says if I drink this coffee and I don't make the shehakol, you know what I did? I just stole. If they hand me the cup of coffee in Dunkin' Donuts and I walk out and I didn't pay I stole. And if I take the cup of coffee and I don't make a bracha and say thank you Hashem, I stole from him. Only the Dunkin' Donuts deserves to get paid? Only Starbucks deserves to get paid? God doesn't deserve to get paid? What's the currency with which we pay God? A bracha. That's all he asks. And the bracha is really for us not even for him. So the currency that we pay God is something that's for us not even for him, which is a bracha. I would never walk out of a store without paying. So how could I ever take a sip without paying for it and say thank you Hashem, shehakol nihiyeh bidvaro. So I have to make the bracha why? Because if I don't make the bracha I can't take a sip of the coffee. But you, when you say Amen, you're not getting coffee. You're not coming back to life. But you're saying Amen why? For one reason only. You know what you're saying when you say Amen? Ditto! Yes! I believe! Yes, I'm in! I affirm. I agree. There is a Keil Melech Ne'eman. Yes, shehakol nihiyeh bidvaro. 100%. Amen. I agree, but the farm and the farmer and the truck and the truck driver and the beans and the grinding and the box and the worker and the, yeah, Amen, Amen. Keil Melech Ne'eman. He's ne'eman, he's reliable, he's dependable, he's faithful, he's everywhere. Amen. To answer Amen bechol kocho. That's how we open the gate to Gan Eden. ברוך אתה ה' אלוהינו מלך העולם שהכל נהיה בדברו. Amen. Not bad. The Amen could have been better. We gotta work on it, but not bad. If Coach Mazzulla were here, he would give an Amen. Let me hear an Amen. Give me an Amen. He would be able to say a real Amen. חובת עניית אמן אינה אלא הברכה שמברכים לשמו של הקדוש ברוך הוא. The obligation of an Amen is on the bracha. כשאומר ברכה יש בזה החלוש של שפע מלמעלה על מציאות הצר והמצומצמת של עולם הזה. When a person makes that bracha, a mezonot, a shehakol, an asher yatzar, they came out of the bathroom and everything was working. Person makes a bracha on lightning or thunder. Person makes a bracha on besamim on spice. Whatever someone around you is making that bracha on, they are connecting God to the here and now. They are bringing down God to this physical world. God is in the cinnamon, the spice that we smell. God is in the digestive system and the capacity to eliminate the waste and hold onto what I need, the nutrients. God is in the cup of coffee. The physical, here and God is in the thunder and the lightning, God is in the mountains. When a person makes a bracha, they are bringing down God into the physical world and the here and now, שהוא מצד עצמו ארור ומקולל בגלל הניתוק שלו ממקורו. The physical world, the material world is inherently somewhat cursed because it is disconnected from God. And our mission, our mandate, our purpose is: reconnect it to God. Reconnect it, create the connection. There's a flow from Hashem to this world. And all the effort of all the people who say there is no God and I don't know if there's a God and I don't believe in God and I don't follow God and God doesn't get it right, they are creating a disconnect. They are severing the connection between this physical world and everything in it and God. And every time we say a bracha and every time you answer bechol kocho with all your might Amen to someone else's bracha, you are reconnecting. You are reconnecting, creating that connection and the shefa, the flow of God and godliness and godly energy and light is coming down. So if you would be so willing to sit in Starbucks and take hands with your friends and say let's pray on it, if you say I'm gonna make a bracha, you're meeting someone for lunch, you're meeting someone at Starbucks, you're coming out of the gym, you're both taking a sip of water and you say, I'm gonna say a bracha, you say Amen, you say a bracha, I want to say Amen. Not we're in the middle of a conversation, someone swallowed their bracha, the other person swallowed their bracha, nobody heard a bracha. We're gonna do that. You are creating reconnections that are gonna bring down an energy and light that are gonna fill this world with godliness and with godly blessing. That's what we're doing. That's the intent that has to go into every Amen. And we make the mistake because we think that's childish. Ah, little kids, you teach them to say Amen. Little kids, you teach them to make a bracha. We are sophisticated, mature adults. We are intellectuals. And that's kid stuff. But we're wrong. We're wrong. It's not kid stuff. And our kids will never do it if they don't see adults doing it as adult stuff. It's our stuff. Reconnect, create the pipes, reconnect, reconnect so there can be that flow. Hamivarech bo. Hashem has so much blessing waiting. He's waiting. He's waiting to unload it. Hashem has so much blessing that he's waiting, waiting to flow into this world. But it can't flow because there's a disconnect. The pipe is severed. It's buffering. It can't connect. But you know why we get the high speed connection? When we bring him into this world. על זה צריך לענות אמן כיון שהאמונה עניה להוציא את האדם מהמציאות המצומצמת של העולם הזה. So that's why we have to answer Amen. Amen is trying to lift us out of the here and now. It's trying to stop and pause and say, I'm in the middle of working out, in the middle of shopping, in the middle of cooking, I'm in the middle of a business deal, but I'm having a water, I'm having a coffee. One second. Everything in my life and everything in this world, it's all you. It's all you. The coffee, the spice, the lightning, the thunder, the bathroom, everything, it's all you. And then now we made space and room. Now we created the connection. Now the holy blessing of Hashem can flow. There's no kli, there's no vessel for him to flow, and there's no pipeline for him to flow through if we don't create those connections, if we don't make that bracha, if we don't answer Amen to one another. על זה צריך לענות אמן. אמירת אמן מתייחסת בדווקא לברכה שיש בה חיבור לעולם העליון. You can't just scream Amen out of nowhere. אמן אל מלך נאמן. Amen is the motto of emuna. So why can't I just get up in the middle of a room and yell Amen? Stand up in the middle of the airport and yell Amen? Get up on the plane while we're delayed? Saw a bit of kiddush Hashem a few weeks ago. Some rabbi with his yarmulke and beard, a plane was delayed for like five hours, people were going crazy. So he led all the adults on the plane in a game of Simon Says. I'm pretty sure he worked God into that Simon Says and he'emanti ki adaber that's a kiddush Hashem. It's unbelievable. So why not just get up in the middle of the plane and yell Amen? Don't try that at home. But it's also not something that we do or encourage. Why not? If Amen is the motto of emuna, just get up and yell Amen. Because the Amen has to fall on a bracha. And the bracha is the way that we bring God into this world. And the bracha can be caffeinated with kavana. Why do we make these cups? Big thank you to Ilana Landau who helped design them. Caffeinate with kavana. Because most people have coffee first thing in the morning and get your day started by caffeinating with kavana. Don't mumble the bracha, don't forget to make a bracha, don't swallow the bracha faster than the coffee. Stop and caffeinate with kavana. People have sent me, they made the coffee section in their kitchen where they have their Keurig or Nespresso or whatever coffee snob thing that they have. They put up a big sign: caffeinate with kavana. Go into our shul beit midrash and the coffee area in it has a big beautiful sign: caffeinate with kavana. We're creating a movement. Caffeinate with kavana. Don't just caffeinate. Don't say once I caffeinate then I can have kavana. Caffeinate with kavana. shehakol nihiyeh bidvaro. So the Amen has to go on a bracha, has to go on a bracha. So when you hear someone make a bracha, when you make the effort to hear someone make a bracha, when you demand somebody didn't make their bracha out loud, they've stolen, they robbed, they robbed you. When I'm with someone and they mumble, they start eating, you say, what was that? You didn't make a... what did you do? You denied me my Amen. I could have screamed Kel Melech Ne'eman, emuna, I believe, I affirm, I'm in, I see him everywhere. Now I don't have my pipeline. I could have screamed Amen and I could have opened a high speed connection for bracha in my life. But you denied me an Amen. We shouldn't make that bracha out loud. You're with someone, say, excuse me, give me one second. Baruch ata... make the bracha shehakol. It's okay, it's okay. The other person will be grateful, you gave them the chance to answer Amen. Amen has to fall on a bracha. השומע ברכה ואומר אמן מחבר את עצמו לעולם שנאמר בברכה בכוח האמונה. You are attaching yourself to the connection made between this world and Hashem. So someone comes out of the bathroom and makes an Asher Yatzar. It's a big deal an Asher Yatzar. I read years ago, I don't even know what number shiur this is, we're deep in the hundreds, but years ago I read Dr. Prager wrote in the journal, maybe you edited it, was it the journal, I don't know which journal it was, the Journal of Medicine, about the power of the bracha of Asher Yatzar. About a young man who was in a car accident that left him partially paralyzed and he had a catheter and couldn't go to the bathroom. And finally after surgeries and therapy was able to go to the bathroom and he came out and he said the ancient blessing. He wrote to the medical journal, I'll post it in our WhatsApp group today, of Asher Yatzar. Anyway, I won't spoil it about who that young man was, how he finishes that article, but Asher Yatzar. Asher Yatzar. Only the people who've need to be catheterized... Or only the person who has a colostomy, or the people who have to go for infusions for their bowel disease, they appreciate what an Asher Yatzar is. When things don't work, what we think is so natural and easy and should just be a given and should be taken for granted, when it doesn't work, you begin to understand how humbling it is and how important it is. How about the people who are so sick that their body doesn't hold onto any of the nutrients? It all flows right through them. Or the people whose body holds onto all the waste, not only the nutrients. Hashem created the most incredible sophisticated factory in the world and it's called the human body. And it knows how to hold onto nutrients and get rid of waste, and it is the most incredible factory in history. And we make a Bracha every time because we say, keep that factory working. I desperately want that factory to keep working. And that's an Asher Yatzar and it takes moments, it takes seconds to say. And when you say an Amen to the person who just came out of doing the most animal base thing, which is to eliminate, to go to the bathroom, the most base animal thing, and they make a Bracha and they say Hashem you were even there, thank you even for that. Thank you. Thank you I made it to the bathroom, thank you there was a bathroom, thank you that it was clean, thank you that it flushed, thank you, there's a million parts about thank you about the bathroom. It was available, thank you. There's a million parts about that and someone says Amen, yeah Amen, yeah Hashem, you're in the bathroom. Yeah what he said, what she said, absolutely. Then you also get the blessing of your factory will still work. You get the flow of blessing from Hashem too. ולמעשה של אמונה לשמוע היטב את הברכה שמברכים ולדעת שבעניית אמן על הברכה אדם תופס שהמציאות אינה מתחילה ונגמרת כאן במקום שיד הבנתו מגעת. And you know Hashem, my comprehension doesn't begin and end here. I have no idea how the human body and factory works. I have no idea what it took to get this cup of coffee. I have no idea about the thunder and lightning. But when I make this Bracha, I am admitting that even though I don't know how it works, I know that you're behind it. I know that it's all about you. חיי האדם באים ממקור המציאות אצל השם יתברך ולשם הוא מחבר עצמו. I want to attach myself to you. To you. I want to be connected to you. Hashem you're my brand. You're it. You look around this room people are wearing logos, I do too. It's the most bizarre thing in the world. Adidas and Nike and whatever sports team should be paying us to promote them. And yet you pay a premium to buy the Nike hat, the Adidas pants. You could get a generic brand, the Costco Kirkland brand, and it costs more to have the privilege to promote their brand. Nike should pay you! But you have to pay them and you have to pay a premium to have the privilege to promote their brand. And we all do it. Why do we do it? I'm not going to psychoanalyze us all now, but because, why do we do it? Because if Nike or Adidas or whatever brand is cool, and if I wear it and I have the logo of it, I am now cool. I've now attached myself to it, what it stands for, what it represents. People see it, they think winner. They think success. I want them to see me and think winner and think success. So I wear their brand. I wear their brand. And that's true for logos, and it's true for sports teams, and it's true for designer wear. When I was a kid, the little Polo logo was this big. And now the Polo logo is this big. And you know what we do? We pay extra for the privilege of wearing a logo that takes up half of our shirt. I don't have any. I didn't then and I don't now. But the Polo logo's only getting bigger and bigger. Soon it'll be like from head to toe. You'll look like you're actually sitting on the horse. That's how big the Polo logo's going to get. That's how big it's going to get. Why? So why do people wear it? I don't know. Ralph Lauren is laughing his way to the bank. Why do people wear it? Because if that's success, if that's winner, if that's style, if that's in, I want to be connected. So when you say Amen what you're saying is I'm attaching myself to the brand of Hashem. I'm attaching to the brand of Hashem. I wear Hashem. Amen. I'm proud and I'm privileged and I'm unapologetic and Amen with all my might. Amen. I am connecting, I am attaching, I am promoting the brand of Hashem. That's me, that's what I'm about. We should all be zocha to answer Amen bekocho. Let's make our brachot out loud. Let's be Heemanti ki adaber as the Shlah said. God willing, be'ezrat Hashem, thank God, if it please God, here's where I'm going, that we're never stuck, we are where we're meant to be, that we daven that young lady, she's not an old shidduch single, she's a young lady, we daven she finds her shidduch and all those who are waiting and longing have their tefillot answered. And then im yirtzeh Hashem by answering Amen bekocho, by answering Amen and realizing he's Kel melech ne'eman, he's reliable, he's dependable, he's faithful, we can lean on him, that please God he should bring ישועות ונחמות בשורות טובות אם ירצה השם בקרוב. We are off next week, we resume two weeks from now, please God. Pay attention to the Emuna WhatsApp group, the schedule will be updated throughout the summer. and the Asher Yatzar article. Have a wonderful day. Please stay to complete all of Sefer Tehillim. Shir Hama'alos, ממעמקים קראתיך ה'. ה' שמעה בקולי, תהיינה אזניך קשובות לקול תחנוני. אם עונות תשמור יה, ה' מי יעמוד. כי עמך הסליחה, למען תורא. קויתי ה', קותה נפשי, ולדברו הוחלתי. נפשי לה', משמרים לבקר, שמרים לבקר. יחל ישראל אל ה', כי עם ה' החסד, והרבה עמו פדות. והוא יפדה את ישראל, מכל עונתיו. Mizmor l'David, ה' רעי לא אחסר. בנאות דשא ירביצני, על מי מנחות ינהלני. נפשי ישובב, ינחני במעגלי צדק למען שמו. גם כי אלך בגיא צלמות לא אירא רע כי אתה עמדי, שבטך ומשענתך המה ינחמני. תערך לפני שלחן נגד צררי, דשנת בשמן ראשי, כוסי רויה. אך טוב וחסד ירדפוני כל ימי חיי, ושבתי בבית ה' לארך ימים.
