Transcript
Good morning, good morning, boker tov, boker tov, welcome back to Living with Emunah. So wonderful to see good friends, visitors, guests, thank you for joining, always amazing to be together. I want to thank our Emunah series sponsors, Doctors Avi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut. I had the privilege of meeting Bella's sister the other night at a wedding, very grateful to the Morgan family, and in memory of Dr. Ellen Schanzar. This morning is also sponsored by Randi Scheval in honor of Penny Pearlman and Carol Wolf with tremendous appreciation for their friendship, they are great friends and worthy of honor, and by Moshe and Chaya Wolf in memory of their great friend פערל לאה בת ישראל גרשון her neshama should have an aliyah. Amen. Also I want to dedicate this morning's shiur to a member of our community who was a past president, who worked tirelessly for our community, whom we will miss terribly, Jerry Kamenetzky, יהודה לייב בן משה חיים. And I want to dedicate the shiur in his memory but also tell you a story. I was meeting with his family the other day after he passed away and his son Shimon shared the most incredible story with me and he said it again yesterday at the levayah, Shimon. And it really bears repeating almost as our opening emunah email, we'll share a few emails and we'll get back into the text הרב דוד אבוחצירא שליט״א that we had started studying together. So Jerry unfortunately very quickly took very ill and had a rapid, rapid decline and on Sunday morning Noam and Shimon and Gigi were home and they got a call they should come to the hospital and it was before Noam and Shimon had davened so they went to the hospital and they were by their father's bedside and at some point when it seemed that there were a couple moments of stability they went to the Shabbos room, the Bikur Cholim room at Boca Regional Hospital to be able to daven. So they went to go daven and Gigi said, "Could you bring back a siddur because I forgot a siddur at home? So bring back a siddur I want to be able to daven too." They went to the Shabbos room, the Bikur Cholim room at the hospital and while Shimon was davening he thought to himself his father had slipped out of consciousness, "I didn't get a beracha from my father, he's so sick he's declining, I don't know if he'll come out of this, I was desperate, I didn't get a beracha, that last conversation to be blessed by my father." He grabs a siddur in the Bikur Cholim room, the Shabbos room at the hospital and returns to his father's hospital room. At that point the decline was so rapid the doctors said it was imminent. He used the siddur in order to say vidui with his father, the last moment, the last conversation to ask forgiveness from Hashem, from the people around us, the vidui that we say with someone on their deathbed. And he finished saying the vidui, heartfelt, emotional, painful, he closed the siddur and his nephew, our beloved Eitan Kamenetzky that we all know, looked at the siddur and he said to his Uncle Shimon, "Did you look inside the siddur? The opening inside of the siddur?" So Shimon opened the siddur and he said, "Yeah, it says return to the Bikur Cholim room, don't take the siddur from the room, so what? Yeah I'll bring it back, it's fine, we'll put it back." He goes, "No, no, look at the other side." And this is the other side, the sticker on the other side of this siddur, they randomly hadn't davened so they randomly went to the Bikur Cholim room and randomly grabbed a siddur to randomly bring back to randomly be able to say vidui and the inside of the siddur says, "Donated to Bikur Cholim of South Palm Beach County by Gigi and Jerry Kamenetzky in honor of our children and grandchildren." That's the beracha. So Shimon said, "I got the beracha from my father, I got the beracha." Hashem had orchestrated and organized that we'd grab a siddur with a label my father dedicated in honor of us and our children, they said vidui from that siddur for their father and that was the beracha, he got that last beracha from his father. So again we do this every week, I'm shocked you all keep coming back but I'm grateful, I'd be sitting here anyway because I need it, but I'm so grateful you all keep coming back. We say the same thing every week, you could live life and you could say, "What a coincidence, what a coinkydink, what a chance, random, wow, what are the odds? That siddur? Well the odds are decent, I mean Gigi and Jerry live here, they were friendly with Stan Smith and they donated it, okay, the odds, yeah, I don't know how to calculate the odds." Obviously they're better than my winning the Mega Millions last night, which I did not, not for me, for this campus, I want to get back to work and not have to, so but nobody won so I didn't lose, I didn't lose last night, we just didn't win. But anyway the odds are better than that, you could say it's random, it's chance, it's a coincidence, there's no random and chance, Hashem's winking, He's nodding, He's hugging. Shimon, Noam, Gigi, they felt Hashem gave them a hug, they're at the deathbed of their father, their husband, but when they saw that sticker in the siddur that Hashem had brought them to that room, grab that siddur, bring it back, check inside, there are no coincidences, everything is for a reason, everything is for a reason. His neshama should have an aliyah, Jerry was a very special person, we wish a lot of love and nechama to his family. Rabbi Moskowitz and I were in New York on Sunday, in and out, quick. for a wedding, a beautiful simcha, Baruch Hashem. And when we landed, we went to go get something to eat, and where we were, going to take an Uber to the wedding. And it should have been a place that it's easy to get an Uber from, very prominent location in New Jersey. And I ordered on the Uber app, I think four or five Ubers in a row said they were coming and then canceled. And here I am looking at the clock and watch and thinking, we got to get to this wedding. That's the whole reason we're here. And now we're going to be running late and I can't believe it. And we're standing there in the parking lot. It wasn't freezing cold, but it's cold, colder than here. And and what do we do? Keep hitting Uber and nothing's coming. Rabbi Mot, you try on your Uber app, I'll try on my Uber app. All of a sudden a guy comes up to us, not Jewish, and he says, you need a ride? Now you get that in the airport and elsewhere and usually you turn that down, but I was feeling pretty desperate. And he says, you need a ride? I specialize in driving Jewish people. Okay. It's a little bit of a flag. I don't know where you drive them and drop them off and what you do with them there. Anyway, so he wants to show me, so he takes his phone, puts in contact, he puts in Jew, and all these names come up that he saved. Abraham Jew, Moishe Jew, Shprintza Jew. He saves them all as Jew. All these people I drive. I said, what does that mean? He said, I live in Passaic and I drive all these Jewish people whenever they need to go. So you know what? We got to go somewhere. I said, you're not you're not going to kidnap us and kill us, right? He said, no. That was good enough for me. So we got in the car, and I knew we were in good shape. Why? Because he said, don't worry, I got a playlist for you. And he plays Ishay Ribo. He's got a playlist. This non-Jewish guy's got a playlist of Jewish music. And he's talking to us all about Passaic and the schools and the shuls and he's anyway, he was a great driver. Got his name, got his number, Hashem's. So Uber, I got listed under Jew in his phone. So Uber kept canceling because we had to go with the Jewish driver. We had to go with this guy. Hopefully we made a Kiddush Hashem. No coincidences, no chance, everything is from Hashem. A couple quick emails and we'll get back. Again, it's the filter, it's the glasses, it's the way to live life. You could get all panicky. Where's the Uber? No one's coming. They keep canceling. We got to go. We're going to be late. Or you could say, okay, we're not stuck, we're not lost, this is where we're meant to be. We weren't irresponsible. I checked Waze right before lunch, how long should it take to get there. We were responsible, checked the Waze, the Uber, everything we did our initiative, we were responsible. So okay, we'll get there when Hashem decides it's the time for us to get there. And he did decide, and he always has a plan. He always has a plan. Rabbi Goldberg, I'm in my 30s and single and watching my younger brother get married recently brought me so much joy. I know all too well it shouldn't be taken for granted and yet it has also come along with some pain as it draws a spotlight on what I wish I had. Last week before listening to your shiur, the Meaningful People podcast popped up on Spotify, so I decided to listen. They were interviewing Amy Baron who runs the organization I Was Supposed to Have a Baby. Her interview at some point asked what she would want to say to her audience who's struggling and isn't where they want to be yet. She paused and pointed out how that word yet is so powerful and holds so much hope and she appreciates him adding it in. The interview went on and then I continued to listen to the Emuna shiur. And as I went along with my Shabbos cooking, you shared emails you always do and a few were from people who are also struggling to find their partner or with fertility challenges. At some point you mentioned these stories are powerful because they don't all end with a positive outcome, these stories are from people who have emuna even though they don't have that happy ending yet. Was it a coincidence? Twice in a row you both happened to take pause and linger on the word yet. I could choose to see it as nothing more than a coincidence. Instead, my mindset has shifted largely thanks to the shiur, and I saw it as a little wink from Hashem. What were the chances this week I happened to listen to both on Spotify back to back one after another? What were the chances you both decided to take a second and linger on that word yet? I felt like Hashem put those words in your mouth just for me. It was like Hashem sending a nod my way saying, hang in there. Have emuna. I have a plan for you. It's just not your time yet. It was exactly the words I needed to hear. Thank you for the shiur, helped me open my ears, notice these nods, feel that Hashem is with me even if I'm not where I want to be yet. I sent that email to Amy Baron as well because it was directed to her too. I don't know why Hashem puts these words, but obviously they mean something to people and they give us the chizuk to hold on, to hang on, we're not lost, we're not stuck, we are where we're meant to be, we're not where we want to be yet, it's not over and we're not done. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, hope all is well, thank you for the Torah, the emuna, yada yada yada, blah blah blah. My husband returned to miluim two weeks ago for the second time, which has been a true test of emuna. We think we have emuna tests because the Uber didn't come? Garnisht. Husband's in reserve duty, miluim, for the second time. For the second time. Personally, it's easy to feel deep connection if They both know that Abba is in Israel helping the Am. Last night was particularly challenging for me. I had an internal pit of fear, had a hard time being present and patient with my children. I did not share with my kids how I was feeling nor why I was scared. I brought them up for bedtime, and while I was getting my two-year-old into pajamas, my four-year-old started singing the Tefilla l'Chayalim. I started crying. In our house we try to implement the idea of talking to Hashem both in davening as well as personal prayers. But my children are two and four. How much could they actually internalize? They internalize. I thanked my four-year-old for reminding me to speak to Hashem. My husband still has another few weeks until Baruch Hashem comes home. I'm utilizing this time to hone in on my emuna. Thanks for the shiur which has helped strengthen the emuna when I'm feeling emunah-ly weak. That's a new word. Emunah-ly weak. Emunah-ly weak. These are our heroes. These are our heroes. My friend who I guess heard me talk about it and has an ice bath in his backyard that he loves when soldiers, he said soldiers who come back use it all the time. So yesterday morning I woke up, he sent me a little video and he said straight back from Lebanon and it was a soldier in his ice bath. And I just wrote back. I wrote back, heroes on ice. There's Disney on ice, there are heroes on ice. I want every day. Don't, you could only see his neck up, it's not on video, just but here he is in the ice bath, the soldier right back from Lebanon. All of our soldiers today are back from Lebanon, please God it should last and stick and stay forever, a peace and a quiet. Just heroes on ice. I want a daily video of a hero on ice, combining some of my favorite things. IDF heroes and ice baths. But anyway, so these are our heroes. This woman, not only the people in miluim, their wives and children, this four-year-old singing the Tefilla l'Chayalim. A child in Israel today, that's their bedtime song. The Tefilla l'Chayalim for their father, for their father, his second tour of duty. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, thank you for the life-changing emuna, blah blah blah. Every week it's like Hashem is giving the exact words I need to hear. Regarding being in the right place even if it doesn't feel like it. I recently graduated for a certificate job and it's taking longer than I expected to find a new job. I feel stuck at my current job which is work that I don't especially enjoy and the schedule is difficult. But I keep trying to remind myself there's a reason I'm still here and the minute Hashem wants me to have a different job, He'll show me the way there. A few years ago when we moved from here to there, we intended to rent a house for the first year to make sure the new community was the right choice for us. The only house available was a great house that had been on the market for six months but the owners couldn't find a buyer. They agreed to let us rent for a year in the hopes they would find a buyer after the year was up. We bought the house ten months later and everyone was happy. The woman who owned the house later told me she found it very difficult to understand why they couldn't sell the house all those months. It's a great house on a great block and they were asking a fair price. Once she met our family and saw that it worked out really well, she realized Hashem was taking care of our family. All those months of waiting had a purpose and she was happy it worked out the way it did. Sometimes we get to see the purpose of our waiting and sometimes we don't. I'm trying to keep that in mind, whether I can understand or not, my waiting has a purpose, it's Hashem's immense love and kindness to keep me where I am because for now this is where I meant to be. Last one, and this is a little bit of a difficult one and I want to use it to launch into the Torah for this week. This was a difficult one. It's a difficult one. From a young man. Good morning Rabbi Goldberg, I hope all is well, I had a question for the Rav and his support group and would love some advice, help or chizuk. That's you by the way. Over the last six months, I've taken part in a few Tehillim WhatsApp chats. This is a new, again technology is a double-edged sword. Technology can distract and destroy, technology can be terrible, but technology is a gift and a blessing that can be leveraged for incredible things. And one of the ways that technology is leveraged for incredible things are the Tehillim WhatsApp groups where round the clock people here in Israel, time changes, people just pick up, they say the next number or a few kapitlach they're saying, someone picks up from there. And when there's a sick person, Tehillim can be said around the clock non-stop on these WhatsApp groups, it's incredible. So this letter writer writes: Over the last six months I've taken part in a few Tehillim WhatsApp groups. Without exaggeration, Tehillim have been finished hundreds of times on these chats. Unfortunately, none of the cholim lived to see the support and love they received. My Rosh Yeshiva, my eleventh grade Rebbe who was also the Rav of my shul for my entire life, my grandfather, and just this week my close friend's father. And now, I've joined another Tehillim cycle. He names the person, the soldier. And to be quite honest, it's very hard for me to believe the next chat will work. I still do what I can and I do it anyway, but it's hard after seeing the hundreds of cycles didn't save these incredible people. I know people say this to be nice, but we're talking about giants of people who looked up who people looked at as a North Star. Any advice will help. Thank you again for yada yada yada, he wrote. And he signed his name. I think we all feel this way at times. We're pouring our hearts 14 months, hostages aren't home. Where are all these Tehillim going? What's the point of all this Tefilla? Why are we davening? How many people in our own lives did we daven, did we storm the gates of heaven? How many people did we cry countless tears? Did we protest, did we beg, did we grovel? And the answer was no, and no, and no. And this young man in six months has got a lot of nos. So Rosh Yeshiva, his Rebbi, his Rav, his grandfather, his friend's father, all these groups. And he's saying Tehillim all these free moments, all these subway rides, all these downtime. And it all adds up to no, no, no, so you say why am I going to ask again? What is the point? And why bother? It's a powerful, powerful question. These other emails are like, oh, I want to share that one, oh, that's a good one, oh, that inspires me, oh, that's so beautiful that person had that great attitude. And I got this email and it was like a punch in the stomach. Not only because he's describing how he feels, but because he was putting into words how often many of us feel. So I want to just share briefly, because you could really elaborate for a long time. And there were more emails I got this week we're going to share them in the future, keep sending emails if I don't read it that week, don't think it's not worth sending, they all mean something to me and to everyone else. So please keep sending. The Gemara in Brachos דף ו עמוד ב tells us, כל הקובע מקום לתפלתו, anybody who sets a place for their davening, Elokei Avram be'ezro, the God of Avram will help them. U'k'shemeis, and when a person who has a makom kavua for tefilla, says the Gemara, a person who has a set place where they daven, that person who's imitated and emulated Avram by having a set place to daven, when that person dies, omrim lo, they say, הי ענו הי חסיד, wow, what a humble person, what a pious person, מתלמידיו של אברהם אבינו, this person was a student of Avraham Avinu. Wow, that's a lot for simply having a set place for davening. What does it mean to have a makom kavua? A makom kavua means a set place. It means that our life shouldn't be random or chance or all over the place, a person should have a set place where they daven. A set place. Where are we talking about? Most of the Rishonim, most of the commentators on the Gemara say the makom kavua means in shul. Don't sometimes sit here and then your friend is there and then the other one you want to talk to is up there and then the seat was over here. You have a set place. Now it happens to be our shul doesn't have a makom kavua in the sense you're not entitled to throw anyone out of your seat. A makom kavua, the Mishnah Berurah, the Chofetz Chaim writes in his Mishnah Berurah means anywhere within daled amos, wherever you like to sit, draw a circle six feet around it and you're still in your makom kavua. It means a general area. That's my area. You sit on the left side, you sit on that right side, that's my area. If someone's sitting in your seat, certainly when you get there late, don't throw them out. Otherwise, you're not a student of Avraham Avinu, you're a student of other people, and we don't say such nice things about you. So it's important to have a general area where we sit, it's not haphazard, it's not scattered, you have some consistency to us, but not to the extent that you're throwing someone out of a seat. Most understand it's talking about in shul. Rabbeinu Yonah says no, it's not talking about in shul. Rabbeinu Yonah says where is it important to have a makom kavua? Shul is the makom kavua. If you made your way to shul, the whole shul is a place designated and dedicated to davening. Where do you need a makom kavua? Listen carefully. In your house. In your house. Don't sometimes daven in the living room, sometimes in the den, sometimes in the kitchen, sometimes while you're bringing the dishes to the sink, sometimes while you're picking up the toys in the playroom, sometimes you need a makom kavua litfila. Shul is the whole makom kavua, is a dedicated space, a person should designate a space. If you have it, beautiful, if you don't, go home today, order online one of those mizrach signs, east, and find that spot. And say this is my spot. This is the spot that when I go to here, I leave my phone behind, I leave everything that distracts me behind, and that's where I go for a few minutes of peace, serenity, a few deep breaths and to lose myself in conversation with Hashem. A makom kavua. You could have one indoors, you could have one in your backyard or on your porch, you can have a few. Rabbeinu Yonah says you don't need it in shul, shul is the makom kavua. Where do you need it? In your house, says Rabbeinu Yonah, a makom kavua. And I have to tell you it's transformative. It's transformative. It's transformative. Instead of it being haphazard and scattered and where should I go and I'm gonna do other things and multitask, which means you weren't really *davening* because if you weren't giving *Hashem* your attention you weren't really in a conversation. Where's that spot? Where's my *shtender*, where's my chair, where's my couch, where's my seat, where's my corner, where's my spot when I go there, that's where I go to? If you have a chapel in your house, it's a chapel, most people—where's my spot? Where do I go to be able to *daven*? *Rabbeinu Yona* is talking about in *shul*. I will tell you, just as a side, I happen to believe it's critically important a person needs to have consistency. What, why is the *Gemara* saying this is important, a *makom kavua*? Why can't it be every day depends how I feel where I want to be what the moment grabs? No, no, because a person needs to have a certain habit, a certain pattern, a certain consistency. I recommend, I recommend, you know if a girl's on a date, a young lady's on a date, she says to the young man she's with where do you *daven*? What's your schedule like every day? If he says I've got this great *minyan* factory in my community and there are *minyanim* from 6 a.m. to 1 p.m. *Shacharis* every 15 minutes and they're beautiful and they're wonderful we're incorporating a lot from them into our *shul* you may have walked by our slushy machine coffee machine water machine our cinnamon buns and soon to be crock pot with a hot soup for a cold day. We're trying to incorporate a lot we've added *minyanim* they're beautiful when you're a certain age and stage of life but when you're a young man let's say you're in *yeshiva* it shouldn't be the answer shouldn't be it depends when I wake up. If the answer is it depends when I wake up you're not a go-getter. You know a person has this is when I wake up. I wake up like a lion I roar to greet the day what do I want to accomplish what do I want to achieve and it doesn't mean you're at the 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. *minyan* it could be you roar at 7 or 8 a.m. but yeah this is my *minyan*, this is my seat, this is my *gabbai*, this is my *siddur*, this is and then I go for and then I do then and that's where I show up I'm at my desk at work or I'm at my table with my *chavrusa* this is my life. כל הקובע מקום לתפלתו. If a guy says depends when I wake up. Depends every day's different depends what I did how late I was up the night before where I was what I was doing how late I wake up to me no judgment that's a flag. That's a flag. I wouldn't want my children I want them to be with people this is my *minyan* this is when I wake up this is where I go this is my schedule this is my I'm not talking about you have a certain day a bad day you had a wedding you had a flight that was delayed you had a whatever I'm not talking about exceptions to the rule but there's a rule. כל הקובע מקום לתפלתו. I feel better I got that out of my system now back to our regular scheduled program. Now back to my point. Why am I telling you this? Why am I telling you this? What does this have to do with *Avraham Avinu*? And this makes you great? You have a set place in *shul* or at home and so when you die we give you a eulogy: you're a student, a disciple of *Avraham*. אי ענו אי חסיד! Wow how humble incredibly modest how pious what a special person. 'Cause you had a set seat in *shul*? 'Cause you made a little corner at home that's what it means? So I saw an incredible incredible interpretation. You know what it means? Where do we learn? Where does the *Gemara* learn the idea that you should have a set place to *daven*? From *Avraham*. When did *Avraham* return to the same place to *daven*? After what? After what did he *daven* for? Sodom. *Hashem* tells *Avraham* *Hamachaseh ani me'Avraham*? Am I going to conceal and hide from *Avraham* everything I'm going to I can't *Avraham* is my man. In the world where no one sees me talks to me believes in me *Avraham*'s my man and he's paying it forward he's passing it on to his children I can't hide anything from him I've got to tell him. So he tells *Avraham* I'm destroying Sodom. And what does *Avraham* do? He says well you're God you're infinite you're omnipotent you're perfect and I'm not and I guess if that's your plan what do I have to say no you know what *Avraham* does? He says no you're not over my dead body if there's fifty righteous people forty five forty thirty twenty ten you can't do that I'm protesting! I'm protesting! If there are good people you can't do bad things to good people I'm protesting God don't do it! God says okay I'll take that into account I hear and register your protest but at the end of the day I'm God you're not I'm doing it anyway. And *Avraham* says okay I accept that I gave it my best shot. From here we learn we've said many times in this *shiur* from here we learn *Avraham* gave us the license the invitation to protest God. This is the source someone's sick someone's waiting to get married someone's waiting to have a child soldiers are fighting on a battlefield hostages are being held we say *Hashem* I protest! How could you do this where are you? It's wrong! I disagree I'm protesting! But like *Avraham* sometimes when the answer is no we have to accept the no. *Avraham* hears no. *Avraham* hears no. Now if you're *Avraham* you just entered a negotiation you're sweating you're *shvitzing* you battled it out with *Hashem*. 50, 45, 40, 30, 20, you negotiated, you fought. Any righteous people, you can't do it, please. You protest, you fight. You leave it all on the field. And you got a big fat no. And you watch Sodom go up in smoke. Are you Avram? You ever going to daven again? You got a no. What was the point of the protest? What was the... you wasted your energy, your emotion. What was the point? What does Avram do? Kol hakoveia makom, he goes back. And he consistently goes back. And he has a place. And it doesn't just mean physically, geographically, the coordinates. He went back to the place he davened. He went back to the place he davened. He went back with all of his heart and all of his soul, with all of his yearning, all of his longing, all of his faith, all of his belief, all of his hope, and he kept going back again and again and again and again. And that's what it means to have a makom kavua letfilaso doesn't just mean physically, geographically, the shtender, the seat, the chair, the spot, the place. It doesn't just mean to return to that physical place. It means to return to that enthusiasm, that passion, that energy, to never let it wear out, to never let it dissipate, but to keep coming back again and again and again and again. Were Avram's tfilos for Sodom a waste? Absolutely not. I think it's the Chasam Sofer, others say, what happened? Where'd they go, those prayers for the people of Sodom? God gave him a no. Where'd they go? They were banked. They're banked. And we don't know when Hashem makes a withdrawal. And so to the one who wrote this email, all those Tehillim chats, all six months, those Tehillim were not for naught and they were not a waste. They were not a waste. They didn't go down the drain. They weren't in the garbage. Just because they didn't get the answer that you and we wanted doesn't mean that they were a waste. We don't know which soldier was saved because of those Tehillim. Which chayal will come home because of those Tehillim? Which choleh will get healed because of the Tehillim? Which person will have a baby because of those Tehillim? We don't always get to connect the dots. We can't draw the line. We can't see exactly the withdrawal and the deposit. But we make deposit, deposit, deposit, deposit. And somewhere else, someone on the other side is making withdrawal after withdrawal, withdrawal. And we can't always see the correlation between the two. Never stop making those deposits. We say in Tehillim throughout the month of Elul, in L'Dovid Hashem it ends, קוה אל השם חזק ויאמץ לבך וקוה אל השם. Kavei, lashon tikvah, hatikvah. Kavei means hope. Hope. Put your hope in Hashem. Chazak v'ya'ametz libecha. Be strong, have courage in your heart, v'kavei el Hashem. And our rabbis deduce from that, the Gemara Brachos lamed-hey says, kavei el Hashem, daven to Hashem. Chazak, have courage, have strength. And when he says no, kavei el Hashem, come again, ask again. Don't stop pounding the pavement. Don't stop protesting. Don't stop asking. Don't stop. Don't ever stop. So it can feel like after six months, it can feel like a whole lot of nos. A whole lot of nos. You remember what Mrs. Waxman, Esther Waxman, taught all of us when her son, soldier, Nachshon, was taken captive, held hostage, and the Israeli commandos in a heroic effort went to go try to save him, but they were too late. Nachshon Waxman, Hashem yikom damo, was killed. But when he was first kidnapped, it was a Friday that Nachshon's parents went on Israeli TV and asked all of Israel, millions of people, especially those who had never done it before, to light candles that Friday night in his merit that he come home. Everyone light candles and offer a prayer that he be rescued, he be returned, that he come home. And the commandos went in for that operation. He was murdered, he was killed. He never came home. And the Waxmans went back on TV, afraid, in their own shiva, not lost in their own grief, but connected still with Klal Yisrael, they went back on TV and they had a message for all those who prayed: don't think that Hashem didn't hear. He heard every prayer. Sometimes the answer is no. Anyone else who says that in that moment, at that time, after what they went through, they taught us still now, all these years later, decades at this point later, sometimes the answer is no, but those prayers were not wasted, were not squandered. They were deposited. They were banked. And we don't know when we, our children, or grandchildren, or Am Yisrael will need to make a big withdrawal and we need that account to be as full as possible. As full as possible. Can you even picture it? Hashem has some repository where these WhatsApp groups, he's collecting all of the... every time someone posts the next number, they said the next paragraph. He's collecting... Every time when you stay after a shiur that we give and we go through all the little booklets, Hashem has this repository and there's a file of all the little booklets and a file of the WhatsApp groups and a file of the people no one knows about they were driving in their car or doing the laundry mumbling Tehillim talking to Hashem and these deposits, deposits, deposits and there's this big file cabinet, this big repository and he's collecting it all. And then he looks down at a moment at a crisis that someone in trouble and he says I'll make a withdrawal. That person who made the deposit will never know, but only because the bank account is full am I able to make the withdrawal. So it's painful to lose so many loved ones, to daven so hard and to get so many nos, but they wasn't wasted, they weren't squandered, and don't stop asking, we need to keep asking. It's what's gotten us through 2,000 years of exile, of galus. It's what's going to bring the geula. It's who we are and what we're about. It's the recognition. It's not wasted, it's not squandered. It's always from him. We're on page zayin, this new Sefer Emuna Bitachon we're ready to start. The new Sefer Emuna Bitachon, Rav David Abuhatzeira, the sefer was released now given all that's going on. I hope he and Nahariya and the others at north will be safe. Hope those heroic communities can go home. 80,000 people displaced. Unbelievable. The debt of gratitude Am Yisrael owes those 80,000 people not in their homes, not in their schools, not at their work, not working their fields in their vineyards. If they go back to those vineyards, we got to just buy, we're going to take one for the team and not stop drinking wine because we're Zionists. So we're going to drink a lot of wines, make a lot of L'chaim to their being able to go home. But we have to, we have to find a way to not be fatigued from helping and caring and thanking. we're on the second paragraph. וצריך לדעת שכל הקורה והעובר על האדם בכל ימי חייו, a Jew, a Yid has to know that everything that happens and everything that passes over a person all their life. וכן כל פעולה פעולה שעושה אינו אלא כגרזן ביד החוצב. Everything that happens is like an axe in the hand of the, of the chopper. ואין דבר שנעשה סתם אלא הכל בהשגחה פרטית ומדויקת משמים. Nothing is random and nothing is chance. The Ubers keep canceling, that's what's supposed to happen right now. The red light, the traffic, the delayed flight, that report, that answer, that job, that door closed and another door opened. No chance. It's all by design. ומדויקת משמים שכך וכך צריך להיעשות באופן הזה ועל ידי אדם זה בדוקא. This is who and where and when and why everything that happened is supposed to happen. ומשכך אין לו להצטער על מה שנעשה לו או נגרם לו על ידי מישהו. Never get phased, never get frazzled, never get bent out of shape. I'll tell you my first instinct was, I got to report all these Uber drivers who saying yes, then canceling, then I'm going to be late, I got to get to a wedding, don't they know who I am? What's the matter? What's going on over here? I'm going to report them, I got to ruin their rating, they should lose their... No. No. Hakadosh Baruch Hu will take care of them. Whatever their calculation, whatever their moment, if the Uber's canceled, it's because you weren't meant to get in that car. And who knows what you were spared? Who knows what could have happened? Who knows what kind of reckless driver? Who knows what was wrong with their car, the flat tire they were going to get making you really late? Who knows? Who knows? But don't look at your app and go crazy. Don't look at your app and want to crawl into it and strangle all these Uber drivers who keep canceling. Look at your app and say calmly, okay, I guess not that one either and I guess not that one either. Hashem, what's the plan here? You always got a plan. What's the plan? The plan is I'm sending you the non-Jew from Passaic. I'm sending you the non-Jew from Passaic who's got a long list of Jews in his phone, hopefully for the right reasons. Everything is for a reason. כמו שאמרו במקום נוסף וזה לשונו בלשון זהב בהירה כל המקרים שבעולם הכל בהשגחה פרטית מן השמים כנודע בשם צדיקים שאפילו קש או רוח מפזרם ממקום למקום. Even the straw, the grass, the leaves that are blowing from one place to the other. Those leaves that keep falling in your pool, the leaves no matter how many times you ask the landscaper to blow them out of your backyard and they keep falling, that's where they're meant to be. That's why they keep coming back. Not only for us and Uber drivers, leaves, leaves and wind. It's all from Hashem. It's all hashgacha. וכך גם עור הבהמה התלוי על יתד אצל מעבד עורות for the one who tans the hides, the leather skin hanging, הוא בהשגחה מן השמים אשר עור של החיה הזו יתלה על יתד קיר אצל אדם זה where it is and how the recipe turns out and what works out and what was left at the supermarket and did they run out of the, it's all from Hashem. So you never lose your cool. That's why the great people that you know, calm, they're calm, they're calm. I have the privilege to know and to meet with great, great people. trip a couple weeks ago to *Eretz Yisrael*, I met with *Reb Meilech Biderman*, I met with the *Gerrer Rosh Yeshiva*, I meet you meet with great people they're carrying the world on their shoulders, the world's problems, the people who are meeting with them, what they're *davening* for, their responsibilities. And when you meet with them, there is no one and nothing else in the world but you. It's amazing. And then you meet the person who's doing nothing, contributing nothing, in charge of nothing, responsible for nothing, and they're so busy and frazzled and they can't take it and they're so upside down and they're so angry and they're so resentful and they're so bitter. And you meet with these great people, the whole world's on their shoulders, all there is in the world is you and they're calm and they're cool and they're whatever it is, whatever's going to be. Why? You ever meet with *Rav Gamliel*? *Rav Gamliel*, the great kabbalist? He's unbelievable. He's smiling, he's practically jumping on the table, singing and dancing. He suffers all kinds of illness, chronic pain, challenge, he's suffered loss, and he's dancing on the table with a smile across his face and an energy, he's twice your age, you can't keep up with. Great people have in common, we spoke about it last week, *hishtavus*, not *hishtadlus*. *Hishtadlus* is initiative. *Hishtavus* from the language of שיויתי השם לנגדי תמיד. *Hishtavus* is, it's all equal to me. Did everyone order the book? I get no commission, Moshe Gersht, I'm just promoting your book, but It's All the Same to Me, the name of his book, It's All the Same to Me. There's very few books that *Rav Asher Weiss* and Deepak Chopra are on the back of the book recommending. When I say there's very few books, it's the only book in the world that Deepak Chopra and *Rav Asher Weiss* both have a testimonial on the back of the book. Who wrote this book? His name is Moshe Gersht, and he spoke here last year, you could also watch the interview I had with him online, and the name of the book is It's All the Same to Me, it's about equanimity, *hishtavus*. Calm, calm, calm. When you don't believe in *Hashem* or when you only believe in him academically, intellectually, conceptually, meaning you're observant, you go to *shul*, you learn the *daf*, you light the candles, you keep the *Shabbos*, but you've never ever once had a conversation with him, you've never ever once felt he's involved in your life, you've never ever once submitted to him or protested to him, you could be fully observant and not believe in God. Let me rephrase that. You could be fully, fully observant and practicing and believe in God but have no relationship with God. And then you're going to get scattered and frazzled, your highs are very high, your lows are very low, or *hishtavus*, it's all the same to me, equanimity, it's equal, it's from *Hashem*. I don't know, I'm on an adventure. Uber's canceled, how am I getting to the wedding, *Hashem*? How's this going to work out? How's that going to turn out? What's the outcome of this going to be? I'm waiting for this job, I'm waiting for this *shidduch*, they're not here yet, yet, capital Y, capital E, capital T, exclamation point, yet, because it's all from you, *Hashem*. It's all equal to me. Great people, that's how they live their life. Let's see how this is going to turn out. Everything, everything. *Mishkol shekein*, מצעדי גבר הנוסע מעיר לעיר. We said last week, this is the *kavana*, the intent a person has to have when you make this *bracha*, one of the 15 *Birkos Hashachar* we say every morning. God, thank you for opening my eyes, thank you that this works, that works, the other thing works. *Hameichin Mitzadei Gaver*. God, you prepare the footsteps of man. I don't know where my feet are going to take me today. I don't know. I don't know. Where am I going to be called to go? I'm going to be on a walk, who am I going to run into? What problem or solution is going to present itself to me that I never anticipated I was going to see today? *Hameichin Mitzadei Gaver*. You prepare my footsteps. So the simple understanding we said last week is *Hameichin Mitzadei Gaver* means thank you, *Hashem*, that my feet work. I woke up and nothing was swollen or broken or infected and it all works. I don't need a hip replacement, a knee replacement, this replaced, the other replaced, the parts aren't breaking down. Thank you, *Hashem*. You get to a certain age and a stage and you have much more *kavana* for those *brachos*. This didn't break down, that still works, this is still okay, that checked out. It's not a small thing, it's not a small thing. When do you begin to appreciate it? When it no longer works, when the warranty wears off. That's when you begin to say the *bracha* with *kavana* while it's still working. Don't take it for granted, *Hashem*. Thank you, thank you, thank you, I got it all working. So that's what I thought it meant, *Hameichin Mitzadei Gaver*. I'm grateful for you, *Hashem*. When I, when I tore my Achilles and I had surgery and I was on that terrible knee scooter for that time, I couldn't get across a room while carrying *sefarim*. I couldn't get across a room and also hold my own cup of coffee. I couldn't be independent on my own and I realized *Hameichin Mitzadei Gaver*. If you can walk and be independent and get from point A to point B and carry something and not spill it on yourself, you're ahead of the game, you won the lottery. Forget the Mega Millions. I'm not forgetting, I'd still like to win for the *shul*. It's not for me, it's for the *shul*, it's for the *shul*. But if you woke up this morning, your eyes are working... successfully went to the bathroom, your feet on the ground, everything's working in order, you won the lottery. Isn't it amazing? What are the odds that you won the lottery yesterday also? And you also won the lottery two days ago and three days ago and four days ago. You won the lottery. Wow. Hamechin mitzadei gaver, it's all working. That's what we understood. But Rav David Abuhatzeira gave us this additional understanding. That Hamechin mitzadei gaver means Hashem, I'm prepared for wherever you take my footsteps today. Where are we going on this adventure called life? Where's the next journey? What's the next step? What door are you opening or closing? Where are you leading me to? I told you last week how I go for meetings going for a walk, I'm still doing it as often as I can and I went for a walk with someone and we ran into someone in crisis and Hashem put us in that place in that moment at that time, that's where we were meant to be. Where will you be walking today? In Publix, the gym, the supermarket, work, in your home, outside your house, on the circle. Hamechin mitzadei—where will we be walking at that moment in that time, in that place and that thing happens, it's all Hamechin mitzadei gaver. The kavana for that bracha is that wherever I go and whatever happens and whatever I encounter and whatever's the next step of my journey, it's all from you Hashem. It's all from you. וכל שכן עכשיו בחבלי משיח says Rav David Abuhatzeira all the more so now. We are in the days of Mashiach. This is it. Ot ot he's coming. He's coming, you can begin to see he's coming. The miracles that are around us. Miracles. You know the miracle that happened last night? We don't even know the miracles. I don't even want to quote him because he didn't qualify for my list. I wrote maybe the strongest article I've ever written in my life this week where I talk about when I say the bracha of Velamashinim I have in mind Bernie Sanders, Peter Beinart, Neturei Karta, J Street, Velamashinim. And I wrote in the article and I mean it, that Jews who collaborated with the Nazis had at least the argument they were doing so to save their lives. But Jews today who collaborate with our enemies by calling for embargos against Israel to not be able to defend the lives of Jews around the world don't have that excuse. They're evil. Velamashinim we daven that their plans should be unsuccessful. Unsuccessful. Thomas Friedman didn't make my list. Came close but he didn't make my list. He had an article yesterday, two days ago, second half of the article was horrific, as is his usual case, but the first half he makes the point. He says because Israel doesn't flaunt and they don't flex what they do, that's what they—that's their style, but do you know what Israel pulled off in Iran? He writes is no less than the Six-Day War. He writes how far it set back the nuclear program, how it eliminated their missile defense, how it took out certain missiles, all sort of all literally and figuratively under the radar. He writes was no less than the Six-Day War. And do you know that last night, hours before this ceasefire went into effect, Israel said, "Okay, if it's being forced upon us, this ceasefire," you may have seen that in two minutes there were 200 places of Beirut that went kablooey. Do you know what they blew up? In tunnels underneath in the Beirut, in this city, where the missile manufacturing that Hezbollah didn't know that Israel knew? But Israel said, "Okay, if we're going into timeout and we're taking a break, we're just going to do a little something on our way." And in two minutes, 120 seconds, they blew up 200 locations, the missile manufacturing—it was a miracle. It's a miracle that they knew it, they had the coordinates, they pulled it off without anything happening to them on the way into the—these are miracles. Chevre, these are miracles that are happening. So anyone here who says, "You know, if I lived in the times of Tanach and I saw miracles, I'd believe in God. If I lived and God spoke to—I'd believe in God." Wake up! Wake up! The pager episode was a miracle that movies are made of. Movie scripts would be rejected because nobody would believe them. And we're living through them. And they are miracles. And does it break our heart, the soldier from Modi'in, my sister and his family know, who was injured since October 7th, was the longest standing in the hospital and succumbed to his wounds. And you sit and you wonder, like this letter writer, we've been davening for 420-something days for him. For what? For what was his family put through this hell? For what? To succumb to his wounds in the end, to not have this wake-up? For what? For what? And every loss, and every loss breaks and devastates our heart. But don't let them obscure our sight from seeing the miracles. The miracle—there are miracles, miracles. I'll end with this. I spoke last Shabbos. השם ברך את אברהם בכל, God blessed Avraham bakol. He gave him everything. What's everything? The Ibn Ezra says arichas yamim, he gave him longevity, osher wealth, bonim children and grandchildren, kavod he gave him honor, a name, he gave him everything, right? It's a very funny pasuk. God gave Avraham everything. What's the next pasuk? Avraham says, oh, there's something I'm missing. I don't have a wife for my Yitzchak. I have a Yitzchak, but he's not married. I don't have grandchildren. I'm... so which is it? If he gave him everything, he's not missing. If he's missing something, he didn't give him everything. What does it mean השם ברך את אברהם בכל? All the seforim say the same answer. Rav Kook writes in Oros HaTeshuvah very beautifully. What does it mean bakol? bakol doesn't mean everything a checklist. I got the car, the house, the this, the that. No, it's not a checklist. To be blessed bakol is to have a panoramic view of the world. To see not only that little narrow view, to not only feel this pain, this ache, this krechts, this is what's missing, this is what I need, this is what I want, but to have a panoramic view of the world. Wow! This world is beautiful! The universe is in harmony! God is running an incredible world! And even with my pain, even with my suffering or struggle, even with what's missing in it, with this panoramic view, it's magnificent, magnificent view. It's an incredible, incredible world. Avraham lived, so it meant that even in that moment that Yitzchak wasn't married, השם ברך את אברהם בכל, with what was missing he saw panoramically everything. Wow! What a view! Wow! What a view! How'd the end of the parashah go last week? ויתן אברהם את כל אשר לו ליצחק בנו. He gives his kol to Yitzchak. What does Yitzchak do with the kol? He gives it to Yaakov. Bakol, Mikol, Kol. With Avraham it says השם ברך את אברהם בכל, Yitzchak it says Mikol, and Yaakov it says Kol. When Yaakov and Eisav, spoiler alert, coming up in a couple weeks, when they reunite, Eisav says Yesh li rav, i've got a whole lot. And what does Yaakov say? Yesh li kol. No, no, I got my father and my grandfather's kol. Whatever I have, whatever's missing, but my attitude, my perspective, my philosophy, my approach to life is... I see the big picture. I see the big picture. I live in the big picture, not just that little what's missing, that little what's missing. And what do we daven for? The end of bensching. הרחמן יברך את כל אשר לנו. Just like you blessed Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov, bakol mikol kol. Give us that blessing of a kol. Give us a panoramic view. So chevra, join me in that panoramic view. Yes, every soldier, every loss of life is unbearably painful. We're not blind to it. It breaks our heart. But we also have the panoramic view. There are miracles, miracles, miracles! Another one last night, what they did in Beirut on the way out, a miracle. That's what Rav David Abuchatzeira says, ומכל שכן עכשיו בחבלי משיח אלה מסעי בני ישראל אנו רואים כל העולם רק נוסעים לכאן ולכאן ואין נחים בביתם נוסעים וחוזרים נוסעים לבקש לחפש פרנסה אין זאת מקרה חלילה השגחה פרטית מן השמים בזה לקרב את הגאולה. We're running, we're going, we're doing because, says Rav David, in the end of times when Geula's coming, we gotta run and go. The movement is so much faster. Running, going, doing. Hashem is moving us around, moving the parts around because it's all unfolding. At the end of the show, at the end of the play, all of a sudden the scenes get faster and there's more active and they're more dramatic because we're at the end. We're at the end. And when the scenes are unfolding faster, the stages change quicker because we're at the end of chevlei mashiach. We should be zocha, we should be blessed, הרחמן הוא יברך אותנו ואת כל אשר לנו כמו שנתברכו אבותינו אברהם יצחק ויעקב בכל מכל כל. Hashem should give us a bracha. We should see that panoramic view. It should have no narrowed-in loss, only the big picture. It should be a day of בשורות טובות ישועות ונחמות. Keep banking those tefillos. Klal Yisrael need it. Please stay to add more Tehillim to the bank account of Am Yisrael. They'll take just a few minutes. Should hear בשורות טובות ישועות ונחמות.
