Transcript
Okay, good morning, good morning Boker Tov, welcome to Living with Emunah, my personal and private support group for myself, my personal therapy in front of a live studio audience. It's amazing and kind that you come back each week and let me work on myself. Emunah series is generously sponsored by Dr. Zavi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Gabbat, in memory of Dr. Ellen Chanzer. We remain very indebted and grateful to the Morgans for their generosity. This morning's shiur is sponsored by Carol Wald in memory of her father Binyamin ben Daniel, נשמה שתהיה לו עלייה, and there's a Mazel Tov to Rebecca Babit and Lior Brenner on their engagement and to Rebecca's parents, Kevin and Shelly Babit, on their 20th wedding anniversary. Mazel Tov on that simcha, sheyihyu od many more simchos. Very happy birthday to Mrs. Brody, it's not her birthday, but her son's. In case you don't know, in case you don't you know, you don't have to worry because he'll tell everyone, it's her son's 50th birthday today. So, but that's more of a Mazel Tov to the mother who birthed on that day the birthday. Rabbi Brody is much older than I am, he's already hit that six-decade, so happy birthday to him and to you. Okay, welcome back to Living with Emunah, we're going to get into, we're going to finish up the text that we're learning, this wonderful sefer that we have discovered, Emunah uBitachon of רב דוד אבוחצירא שליט״א from the north of Israel from Nahariya. And then we're going to learn a new chapter. I want to share with you some ideas about Chanukah. I want to begin with a couple of emails as we always do and they inspire us. Okay, first an update email. We love update emails. We love update emails. So you remember the story of the person who got an international phone call. They didn't think they had international calling on their phone. They took it, grateful to find out that they did, only after they hung up to get a huge bill. And only after they got the big bill to get a call from work that their paycheck was miscalculated and it was essentially the same amount that the bill was, and it was a wink and a nod and a hug from Hashem, and isn't Hashem amazing? Well, we have an update. We have an update. I just want to update you on my story, Rabbi. I called to pay my 132 dollar bill from the international call. At the time that I called she told me she couldn't do anything that day due to a technical issue, she'd call me back in two days. The woman calls me and tells me she's giving me a one-time courtesy. She completely canceled the charge. I didn't have to pay anything in the end and all I ended up with was an incredible feeling of a hug from Hashem and an extra 122 dollars in my pocket. If that isn't pure proof that Hashem just wants us to keep His will and trust in Him, I don't know what is. Thank you for sharing my story in your class. When I listened to the shiur today I heard you read my story, I could not but get choked up. Hearing you publicly tell over my story how much Hashem is part of my life made me feel so humble to share Hashem's greatness and make a kiddush Hashem. So amazing, keep sharing the emails and the stories, I appreciate it, I read each and every one. Even if I can't get to each and every one I read each and every one, so please continue to send. Rabbi Goldberg, I really enjoyed listening to the shiur, it helps me deal with day-to-day stresses. One such instance, I was recently on the subway, which in itself can be a huge stress. The train had stopped and was not moving for over 10 minutes and I was going to be late for work. While I was waiting on the train I was listening to your shiur. You were talking about how when someone feels stuck they need to check their emunah and felt stuck in that moment. Hearing your words describe my situation made me realize this was a test. Usually, I'd feel frustrated but instead I felt very connected to Hashem in that moment. It was a clear moment of hashgacha pratis. I realized I was not going to make it to work on time if I stayed on the train. Luckily, I was able to work from home that day. Because I left when I did I was able to warn another person that the train was stuck, saved from my predicament. Thank you for giving me a living with emunah moment. On a train, in traffic, at an airport, in a doctor's office, anywhere we are in life, we're never ever stuck, we're never lost, we are where we are meant to be. Which we're going to get back to in a moment can be complicated. Rabbi Goldberg, it's a lot of excitement I write this email as I travel to Boca in order to attend the shiur. I will not say, well, I don't know, but I will not say who it is, read the name without permission. I look forward to the shiur weekly online. They give me the chizuk I need and truly help me to look for the good every day, especially during the painful past year for all of us. And while I personally navigate my challenges and continue to wait to be blessed, I try to see Hashem's hand in everything and through your shiurim I've been zocheh to bring Hashem into even the mundane moments. It must be working because as an example, as we were leaving Epcot last night, my eight-year-old son who was hoping to finish our time in the parks with a special rollercoaster had a bad pain in his stomach and he couldn't stand up and felt too unwell to ride, which is how most people feel right before going on the ride. So we caught the next bus back to our hotel, missing out on the highlight of the day. Instead of complaining or being upset, he simply said, I guess Hashem just didn't want us to ride the rollercoaster or see the fireworks up close. Wow. Baruch Hashem he felt immediately better once again. Thank you for all you've done and continue to do for Klal Yisrael, may we merit to see Mashiach very soon. Amen. Absolutely. I have, I may have shared this many many many many many shiurim ago, but I was reminded of it on Friday night. One of my daughters reminded a episode when she was a little girl of being in a amusement park and waiting for that rollercoaster. And she was one of those children who wanted to go on the scariest rides, but had enormous anxiety and literally got sick about going on the scariest rides. And if you’d suggest to her, well you know you don’t need to, there’s no obligation, you don’t have to, nobody’s watching, nobody’s taking account, you don’t get an award for doing it, you’re literally getting sick, you’re anxious, your face looks like, you don’t have to do it. No, I want to, I want to, I want to. And we’re waiting on that line and she’s anxious and she’s shaking and she’s nervous and she’s sick to her stomach, and she reminded me that I just said to her, let’s sing a song together, and we sang Ein Od Milvado, אין עוד מלבדו כי השם הוא האלקים. I must have spoken about this when we learned that piece in Nefesh Hachaim, Rav Chaim Volozhiner taught that if a Jew is feeling stuck or lost or in trouble, we have and this is the Nefesh Hachaim, the great Rav Chaim Volozhiner, the primary student of the Vilna Gaon, of the Gra, he says a Jew should simply say Ein Od Milvado. There is no one but you. There is nothing but you. Everything that’s happening, everything traces itself back, everything reduces itself to you, Hashem. You’re the source of all existence, you’re in charge and you’re in control of all existence, and you’re involved in everything happening in all existence. And the Brisker Rav, Rav Yitzchok Ze'ev Soloveitchik was once on a train in Europe, concerned that the Nazis were going to catch him, and he told the story that he invoked this segulah, this practice of the Nefesh Hachaim, Ein Od Milvado, Ein Od Milvado, and he says that’s what he credited with navigating and surviving that very precarious train ride that day. So not comparing a roller coaster to a train ride with SS officers on it, but that’s what I said to my daughter and we sang Ein Od Milvado, Ein Od Milvado, and that got her through to get on, and of course as soon as it was over she said can we go again? Which I think I did with her one or two more times and then her mother had to do it with her because I couldn’t take it anymore. Not Ein Od Milvado reasons, but just my stomach couldn’t take it anymore. Okay. There are a lot more emails, but I want to, I want to share one more and segue then into our learning together. And the other email I want to share is a difficult one. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, it is not without apprehension but with great respect, the Emunah shiur is our Wednesday evening commitment and it has enriched us and strengthened our emunah as I’m sure it has for many others. Blah blah blah. The phrase you are where you’re meant to be plays over and over for me and it does bring an incredible sense of shalom and shalva of peace and of serenity. But this morning, when I was saying Shema Koleinu and pleading with Hashem for refuos and yeshuos for Am Yisrael, when I began my bakashos for the hostages, when I began praying the hostages be released, my tears were unstoppable, because all I could think of was your phrase we are where we’re meant to be. I know the drill, everything is for the good, that is the ultimate emunah in Hashem. But how can we as human beings as Jews stand the pain that the hostages and their families are experiencing? Do you feel the hostages are where they’re meant to be? I know that this doesn’t follow the usual pattern of your Emunah emails, no it doesn’t, but if you can help me come to terms with these apparently conflicting ideas I would be more than grateful. Emunah is easy to come by when life is good, but what would you say to a hostage and what can we say to our hearts and more importantly Hashem? With great respect. And I read it with total respect. Not only do I have no problem with this email, I’m very grateful for the email because it allows me the opportunity to clarify a thing something that is critically important to clarify. How could I? It’s so easy to sit in the comfort of Boca Raton. It’s so easy as we’re preparing to celebrate Chanukah tonight, we’re setting up our menorahs and we’re wrapping our presents and we’re calculating which concerts we’re going to go to and we’re going to fry our latkes and sufganiyot. It’s easy to say I am where I’m meant to be. Why? Because I was stuck on the subway ten minutes or I waited for my prescription at the pharmacy or I was at a red light and I missed the turn or I was, it’s easy, it’s easy then or a roller coaster Ein Od Milvado. It’s easy to say you’re not stuck, you’re not lost, you are where you’re meant to be. Would you have the audacity, would you have the brazenness to say to a hostage you are where you’re meant to be? So I want to clarify two things. The first is, and I’m so grateful, so grateful for the opportunity to do this, I’m so happy if this email weren't written, I wouldn’t have thought of, I wouldn’t have realized to go back and to and to bring it up. This attitude and this philosophy is the one that we have to have for ourselves. God forbid we don’t impose it on anyone else. It’s not the way that we judge, it’s not the way that we approach, it’s not something that we project onto anyone else. The doctor doesn’t peek his head in the waiting room where you’ve been sitting for two hours and say yeah I know we’re running a little bit behind but you are where you’re meant to be. Too bad, too bad. The husband doesn’t say to his wife I know I told you I left work but I didn’t really leave work. I know I said I’m on my way home but I’m not exactly on my way home. I know you’ve been waiting forty-five minutes, dinner’s cold, everybody’s waiting, the kids are all your fault, but you know what? You are where you’re meant to be. I heard a shiur and Goldberg said you are where you’re meant to be. No, this is not something that we project or demand or expect or judge with others by. This is an attitude, approach, philosophy for ourselves. It has been said similarly, you know, that you have to pray like it’s all up to God and work like it’s all up to you. And, and, you know, I don't know if it was Baal Shem Tov... Everything that exists in this world, there's a good usage, a good application of it. So what's the good application of atheism? If somebody denies, a heretic who doesn't believe God exists, the person who denies God's existence. So we say that everything is neutral, it's pareve, it's benign, and we transform it. We empower it, we elevate it, we enrich it, we give it its status. You could use it for good, you could use it for bad. So if everything is neutral and we give it a value, what's the value of atheism? Is there any good in heresy, in denying God's existence? And whoever the Tzaddik, that great Rebbe, the Rav, who answered him, said yes. Said yes, there's a use for heresy, for being a heretic, for atheism? And said yes. When you're going through a hard time, you have to act that it's all up to Hashem. And when your neighbor or your friend is going through a hard time, you have to act like there is no Hashem and it's all up to you. The application, the usage, the value of being a heretic is that when it comes to your friend in need and trouble, in that moment, don't say, not my problem, believe in God, go to the Emuna shiur. So that every meshulach who knocks on your door, every cause that asks for tzedaka, the people who say I can't afford a menorah for Chanukah, I don't have one gift. Our beautiful Florida Chesed Network ran a drive and collected gifts and wanted to make sure that every family could give their children gifts. Could you imagine the child who's already wearing the hand-me-down, child who already is not going on vacation this winter break, the child who already doesn't get to eat or enjoy or go where their friends go, Chanukah comes and I'm sorry, we don't have any gifts to give you. The gift that you have is the lights are on over your head, you have a roof over your head. So Florida Chesed Network ran a drive, as did many other very worthwhile organizations, to make sure that everybody would have Chanukah presents. You don't tell that kid, you don't tell that kid, well, I go to the Emuna shiur, you have everything you need, that שעשה לי כל צרכי, Hashem gives you everything that you need. No, you go out and whatever presents you buy yourself or your children, you match those by giving to others. Rabbi Moskowitz, one year we had a beautiful program where the gift for children that night was giving them a gift but not for themselves, to give to someone else. So the shul was set up with different tzedaka kiosks and organizations. Children were given a certain amount of money, come to shul, interview, evaluate, decide where you want to give it. That's your Chanukah present is the gift of giving tzedaka. What a Chanukah present, the gift of giving tzedaka. We should have repeated it, it's not too late, we still have eight nights, you never know. But what a beautiful gift to teach children the gift of giving. So that's the answer. When it comes to ourselves, all Hashem. So even with ourselves, we take initiative, we go to the doctor and we exercise and we try to go to work and we try to derive an income and we try to solve our problems. We take initiative, we act also like it's up to us, but ultimately we surrender that Hashem it's up to you. But when it comes to the people around us in need, we act like there is no Hashem. We have to go to the ends of the earth, we have to do whatever we can, we have to show up, we have to stand up, and we have to help the people, we have to help the people. So that's the answer. When it comes to the hostages, nobody should, God forbid, say to them they are where they're meant chalila, chalila, chalila, chalila. When it comes to ourselves, wherever we are and whatever we're going through, the philosophy, the approach, the attitude for ourselves, I am where I'm meant to be. When it comes to others, you don't belong there, I'm going to get you out. I'm going to get you out. You don't belong with that illness, you don't belong lonely, you don't belong waiting for a child, you don't belong not having a Chanukah present, you don't belong with hand-me-down shoes, you don't belong being denied a Jewish education because you can't afford. When it comes to everyone else, you don't belong there, I'm going to get you out of there. When it comes to ourselves, I am where I'm meant to be. I am where I'm meant to be. So it's not a philosophy, it's nothing that we project. But I will tell you something heroic. You can go back and watch it to see that I'm not exaggerating an iota. On Tisha B'Av this past year, we had an interview, Tisha B'Av afternoon. You talk about a Tisha B'Av program, a Tisha B'Av theme, we called it a living Kinah, a living elegy of kinot of Tisha B'Av. It was a hostage who was released whose boyfriend unfortunately is still there though he's one of those that signs of life video was released a few weeks ago. And she shared that when she was taken and saw the picture of her on the back of the bicycle by those monsters, those animals, and she said the civilians, Sapir, the civilians who, civilians, innocent, in quotation marks if you're listening not watching, the innocent civilians when she got into Gaza, who groped her and grabbed her and who celebrated her capture. And she sat first in a home and then later in a tunnel, and when she was first there, she was hopeless and helpless, she was in a state of despair and despondency. But she sat in the other room and she said, you could watch this, she said, I quickly realized if I'm here, this is where I'm meant to be, I have a mission while I'm here. And she was taken hostage with a younger girl who really was crumbling, was imploding, and she said... She said, I'm here to help her. And she became determined for the rest of the time that she was in captivity to support, to uplift, to hold up that younger girl. And when they were taken into the tunnel, she made a joke. She said, it's fantastic. And the girl said, fantastic? She said, yes, Gaza's known for the tunnels. You don't go to Paris and skip the Eiffel Tower. You don't go to New York and skip the Statue of Liberty. We're going to see and take a tour of the tunnels. And the girl smiled and changed her whole perspective. And she said, I figured out my mission and my purpose and that's why I was there. And the only way I survived being held hostage and in captivity is because I decided I meant to be here. I'm here for a purpose. I'm here for a mission. We could never tell her that, but that's what she said on her own. That's what she concluded about herself in an extraordinary, extraordinary way. Anyone was there that day? Did I exaggerate an iota just now? I did not exaggerate. Go watch it. It is not rabbinic hyperbole. I didn't exaggerate an iota. That's what she said. So when it comes to all of this emuna, we don't tell the person who's in need who knocks on our door, hey, check out the emuna shiur, I'm not giving you anything. We don't tell the person who needs a food train because they're in the hospital, they're in trouble, you know what, figure it out, make your own food, something called Uber Eats because I go to the emuna shiur, have a little faith in Hashem that someone's going to knock on your door and just drop off food. We don't say that. When it comes to the people around us, we go to the ends of the earth to get them out of whatever they're stuck in. It's only when it comes to ourselves that a Jew says, I'm never stuck and I'm never lost. I am where I'm meant to be and I'm going to work. That doesn't mean that Sapir didn't decide to change her residency to Gaza. When she was released, she didn't say, no, I am where I'm meant to be, I'd like to stay. Of course not, chas v'shalom, chas v'shalom, chas v'shalom. We don't say that in a hospital, you don't say that in a tunnel, in a hostage, you don't say that. We try to get out where we otherwise feel stuck, but as we're making our effort, we recognize and we surrender to Hashem. I want to share with you a Chanukah thought and then get back to emuna in general because I know people don't listen always around the calendar, so it's a valuable thought all year round, but it relates to Chanukah. How can we go into Chanukah tonight and not prepare a little bit to think about Chanukah, to think about Chanukah? We know the whole story of Chanukah, the miracle of Chanukah, the little flask of oil that lasted for eight days. Where did they discover, where did they find that flask? So the Gemara says, badku u'matzu, they searched and they found. In a little crack in the floor, in a little crevice in the stone, in something on the ground, they didn't give up, they searched, they looked, badku, they looked, u'matzu, and they found. Tosafos, Tosafos in שבת דף כ"א where the sugya of Chanukah appears is disturbed by a question. He says if the Yevanim entered the temple and destroyed all the holy utensils, why'd they leave over this little flask? What was it still doing there? If their goal was to eliminate all of our holy vessels and all the holy ingredients, so then why was it left? Why was it left? And if it was left, why was it so hard to find? What was it still doing there? So Tosafos answers שהיה מונח בחותמו של כהן גדול וכבר גזרו על הנכרים להיות כזבים וצריך לומר שהיה מונח בחותם בקרקע שלא הסיטו הכלי. He answers, the small flask was embedded in the ground and the Yevanim didn't see it or touch it. The Syrian Greeks, our enemies and adversaries who came in and tried to destroy our holy temple, it was embedded in the ground, they didn't see it, they didn't notice it. Okay, so how did the Chashmonaim notice it? How did the Maccabees notice it? How did our heroes who found it and lit it and therefore we have Chanukah, how'd they find it? How'd they find it? And the answer is, badku u'matzu. They were determined to search and to find. When you live with emuna, when you live with purpose, when you live with your life being a mission, then you don't take the easy way out. You don't say, I gave it a shot, looked around, didn't see anything. You say to yourself, Hashem doesn't want his menorah to not be lit. It can't be the menorah's going to sit in the dark, Klal Yisrael will sit in the dark, the world will be covered in darkness. It can't be. There must be a flask of oil and I'm not stopping till I go to the ends of the earth or at least the ends of the Mikdash to find it. They were determined, they were tenacious, they were resilient, they wouldn't give up. Badku, they searched and they searched and they searched and they searched. They looked and they looked and they looked and they looked. And that's why the Rambam codifies Chanukah and he says something unusual. The Rabbi, Rambam, Maimonides, who usually lists the mitzvos that we have, just tells us the mitzvah, the parameters, the criteria. He doesn't usually assign, you know, a value, an adjective. He says this mitzvah is chaviv, oh, it's beautiful and beloved, it's a precious mitzvah. What's so precious? Because it's the result of our emuna, of our faith, of our tenaciously clinging to our faith, to our hope, to our optimism, to refusing to give up or to give in, refusing to submit or surrender. Hashem, we are the Am HaNetzach, Hashem has our back, he doesn't want us to be in the dark, he's going to help us, he's going to help us. The Greeks didn't see that jar, that little flask, it was on the ground, it was buried. So they kept going, they kept going. They overlooked it and they walked right by it. But we were badku umatzu. We keep looking, we keep looking. That's the Jewish way, that's what it means to live with emunah. That's what it means to live with emunah. We say in the tefillah we add for Chanukah, we say in Al HaNissim להשכיחם תורתך ולהעבירם מחוקי רצונך. The Greeks tried to make us forget your Torah and to uproot our ratzon, retzoncha. What's ratzon? Drive. Ratzon is will and drive and desire. What's your ratzon? To come to Shalashudes, Ra'ava d'Ra'avin, ratzon she-be-retzonos, the holiest time of the week? As the sun is setting on Shabbos afternoon, the holiness of the week is ratzon. Why? Because when did Hashem create the world? What's the first day of the week? Yom Rishon. What's the first day of the week? Sunday. But in Judaism the day follows the night, so when did God create the world? What we would call Saturday night. What was the moment before creation when he decided, when he expressed his will and desire to create a world? Was Mincha time Shabbos afternoon, Shalashudes. That's why it's the greatest eis ratzon. ואני תפלתי לך ה' עת רצון. It is an eis ratzon. So many people neglect it. I don't want to wash, I don't eat Shalashudes, it's a short Shabbos, I'm still full from lunch, who has time? I don't feel like singing Mizmor L'David, how many times can you sing Mizmor L'David? Do you know what you're giving up on? That's the eis ratzon. That's going to determine the whole next week. What you think about, what you picture, what you want, the ratzon that you express. Every week at shul where we sing Mizmor L'David three times, Yedid Nefesh, Kah Echsof, we share Chassidishe Torah and we remind this eis ratzon, Ra'ava d'Ra'avin. Ra'ava d'Ra'avin is from the Zohar, it's Aramaic for ratzon she-be-retzonos. It's the time ratzon she-be-retzonos. It's the eis ratzon, it's Hashem's eis ratzon, but it's a time for us to identify and express and affirm our ratzon. What do you, what's your goal for this week? How do you define success this week? What's important to you this week? What will be different for you this week? When do we think about that? When we lose ourselves in the song. And where do we sit? We turn the lights off. It's a lights-out experience so that nobody's looking, nobody feels inhibited. All that's a room full of neshamas, there's no guf, a room full of souls, there's no bodies. It's very powerful, Shalashudes, Ra'ava d'Ra'atzon, Ra'ava d'Ra'avin, ratzon she-be-retzonos. So le-hashkicham Torascha. That's exactly what our enemies tried to extinguish. That's exactly what they tried to squash. They wanted to set us back in the dark, so what'd they want to do? Me-chukei retzoncha, leha'aviram me-chukei retzoncha. They wanted to uproot our ratzon. But a Jew has ratzon. We have will and we have desire. Ratzon means will and desire. What's the root of the word ratzon is the same word as ratz. What's ratz? To run. When you run, when you run, you get from point A to point B, but you get there faster. When you have ratzon, you get from point A to point B, but you get there faster. That's why it's the same word. Ratzon, will and drive, is the same as to run because you could walk, you could go slowly, or you could run. And the more ratzon you have, the more will you have, drive you have, the more determined you are, the faster you're going to get to that goal. Ratzon and ratz is the same word. That's what the Syrian Greeks tried to extinguish. They tried to turn the lights out. They tried to have us have no ratzon, to be dispassionate, to be dispassionate. But we turn up the passion. Chanukah we light more lights and we're mosif v'holeich. We don't just light one, we add and we add and we add, more and more and more and more. Chanukah's a time that we look at those candles and we become lit, we become on fire. I was just having a conversation this Shabbos, last minute. Alex Clare is coming for Shabbos. He's going to daven Friday night. He's going to have a conversation Shabbos afternoon. If you don't know who Alex Clare is, you should. He was an incredible pop star in England on the way to, one of his songs has a hundred million views on YouTube, and he became a frum Jew. And now he gave up his career—I mean he's singing in the Jewish community, which is an illustrious career—but he gave up. He's an incredible person. He's coming for Shabbos. So I told him it's going to be a lit Shabbos. He said "no, no, Rabbi, it's going to be a lichtige, gevaldige Shabbos, see Unkelos on this parsha, we don't use the word lit." But I said "in America, lit means an exciting and a pumped-up and it's going to be..." but so I don't want to say we're going to have lit. I'm trying to learn from him. We're going to have a lichtige Chanukah. It's going to be, we're going to light up the world. There's so much darkness. So starting tonight and for the next eight days, when you light those candles, sit by them and look at them. Don't be in such a rush. The donuts will be there, and if they're not, it's better for you. The latkes will be there, and if you run out, it's better for you. And the dreidel will be there and your gift is waiting for you. Don't run away. It makes me so sad every Chanukah, mamash so sad. We, the whole idea is to light them in our home and look at those lights. We light them and book out as quick. It's like "fine, are we done yet? Did we sing HaNerot Halalu? Did we sing Maoz Tzur? Are we done, do we have to sing all of them?" You know, making our way out to the presents, to the latkes they're frying. Sit there, there's nowhere to go. There was a campaign, I don't know if they're running it this year, called Savor the Moments. moment. That for half an hour after lighting the candles, turn your phone on airplane mode, collect all devices, put them in a drawer and for half an hour, be a family just sitting around the candles. Kedushas Sevi says Kedushas Levi Reb Levi Yitzchok says, if you look at the candles, it heals whatever problems you have with your eyes. Now I'm not an ophthalmologist or a retina specialist, I can't tell you glaucoma and macular degeneration and the challenges. I can't tell you it won't work, but I can't tell you it will work. What I will tell you is he means spiritually. If we've looked at, if we've gazed at the wrong things, the wrong images, the wrong ideas, if we've looked with envy or jealousy, if we've looked with arrogance or haughtiness, then if you sit and look at those candles of the menorah, pss, we repair the eyes. Repair the eyes. הנרות הללו קודש הם. אין לנו רשות להשתמש בהם, you can't use the candles to learn, to count money, to read a book, ella lirosam bilvad. What are you lighting a candle that you can't use for? Because you can use it. The whole purpose of the candle is just to look at them. Look at them. What are you supposed to do when you look at them? It's just a candle. You're supposed to see yourself in that flame. It's dancing, it's flickering, it's alive. You've never seen a flame standing still. The flame is the neshama, כי נר ה' נשמת אדם. A flame of a candle is likened, the pasuk says Shlomo HaMelech tells us, to a neshama, to a soul. The soul is like the candle. First of all, no matter which direction you hold the candle, how does the flame flicker? Up. The soul of a Jew is always striving up. You could turn the Jew upside down in life, but the soul is always still stretching up. No matter which direction, no matter what way you hold the candle, the flame is flickering up, because a Jew is always flickering up. And a candle, it's windy or there's no wind, no matter where you light that candle, that flame is dancing. You ever watch a flame? This past motzei Shabbos, it was a nice beautiful 60-degree night. We made a fire pit in our backyard, family just sat around, they made, what do they call? S'mores? Yeah, marshmallows and graham crackers. It was amazing. It was an amazing moment. It was maybe a prelude to Chanukah, because I said to my children and my parents were over, my sister's in from Israel, I said to everyone, there was a fire pit in the middle, we're all sitting around, we're talking, we're having the greatest time, I said if I took this fire pit out and I suggested our activity tonight is let's sit in the backyard in a circle and just spend time together, you would all make the craziest face at me and you would dismiss me, but when you have that fire and that crackle and you're watching the and I was mesmerized. Mesmerized. And that's the prelude to Chanukah. Be mesmerized by the candles and watch each flame, tonight's just one, the one neshama of each of us, watch it dance. Watch it be lit, watch it be alive, watch that flame dance and dance up and start dancing. Wake up with emunah and bitachon, like our heroes who unlike our enemies overlooked the little things, be so determined that you're going to find even the little flask that they overlooked. Because sometimes you just have to work harder. Sometimes you just have to look a little bit more. I'll end this part, the Chanukah part, with the story. Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, I saw this story, I tried to find its origin, Jerry Jones, if you're listening and this isn't true, I don't want to know. This is the version I heard. But if you are listening, I'd like to meet with you, we have a campus project we're working on. Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, was the first to build a billion-dollar stadium. And everybody knows that he's super successful and super wealthy and he owns the Dallas Cowboys, but where did it begin? How did he get started? It got started, his wealth began because he purchased 13 abandoned oil wells. There were enormous companies that sunk huge money into studying and studying these oil wells. And their research and their science and their evaluation determined that these were the perfect spots to dig, they were going to discover oil. And when they didn't, these enormous companies moved on. And they abandoned them. And Jones and his partner said to themselves, why start from scratch? If the big boys did their research and there was thought there was something there, it's worth looking. And sure enough, he struck oil in 12 out of the 13. And when he was asked, why did it work for you and not for them? How come you struck oil and they abandoned it and walked away? His answer was, there was oil there, I just dug a little bit deeper. I dug a little bit deeper. So the Chashmonaim dug a little bit deeper and they found that little flask of oil, and we have to dig a little bit deeper. And if you dig a little bit deeper, you don't know what you can find. You won't, can't imagine what we're going to find. If we just dig a little bit deeper and we believe that we can find it, we should know what we could find. Okay, back to the Sefer Emunah U'Bitachon, page Yud-Beis, I gave you a new handout, it's a new perek of the same sefer, Emunah U'Bitachon Rav Dovid Abuhatzeira. Rav Dovid Abuhatzeira, look into the candles for the next eight nights and be determined that your will, your ratzon, is to dig a little bit deeper, to dig a little bit deeper. כדי שנוכל לבוא למידת האמונה, he writes, in order to arrive, if anyone else wants sources, we have up here on both sides. כדי שנוכל לבוא למידת האמונה, in order to arrive at this quality of faith. צריך לסיוע מן השמים לזכות בה. A person can't—sounds counter-intuitive, right? It's going to sound paradoxical. You can't believe in Hashem without Hashem's help. Doesn't sound so logical. You can't believe in and have a relationship with Hashem without divine assistance, without Hashem's help. ועל זה תהא תמיד תפילת האדם שיעזרהו השם יתברך לשית בו מבטחו בכל תהלוכותיו בעולם. And that's why one of the things that we pray to God for is to believe in God. Sounds absolutely paradoxical. What's the point of praying if you don't believe in Him already? And if you believe in Him and you're praying to Him, why are you praying to believe in Him? How does that make any sense? You're going to pray to God to believe in Him? Prayer presupposes belief in Him. So what does it mean to pray to God to believe in Him? How does that make any sense? How does that mean anything? How does that mean anything? So the answer is, we can't do anything in this world without Hashem's help. In the same way we've been learning the last couple weeks that Reshaim mele'im charata. It's a wickedness to be filled with regret. Even if we made a poor choice or bad judgment or did something we wish we could redo, that was also all from Hashem. So if Hashem wants us to live a life in which we see that wink and feel that hug and live knowing that He's here, He's going to help us feel close to Him. And if Hashem wants to hide in the corner or put us in circumstances in which He is shielded from us, it's hard to see Him, it's hard to know Him, we feel abandoned and all alone, then it's going to be hard to take that leap of faith and to really believe. So even the relationship with Hashem needs Hashem's help to have that relationship. So it's one of the things that we daven for, that we daven for. Who davened for? כמו שאמר דוד המלך עליו השלום, השם רועי לא אחסר. Like Dovid Hamelech said in the famous Kapittel Chaf Gimmel, Tehillim Psalm Chapter 23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not lack. השם רועי לא אחסר we sing it three times at Seudah Shlishis. If you haven't noticed, I'm a Seudah Shlishis Jew. I love Seudah Shlishis. I live for Seudah Shlishis. Changes my whole week. If I don't have a proper Seudah Shlishis. So we sing it three times. The tradition is three times at Seudah Shlishis, Mizmor L'Dovid three separate tunes. Start slow, uplifting, slow, there's a philosophy to everything. So Hashem ro'i, Dovid Hamelech says Mizmor L'Dovid, a Psalm of David, Mizmor L'Dovid, השם רועי לא אחסר, the Lord is my shepherd, lo echsar. What does lo echsar mean? The Lord is my shepherd, I'm His flock. Why does Dovid invoke the image of a shepherd and sheep? Why is that familiar to Dovid? He was a shepherd! We think of him as a king and a warrior and a poet and he emerges to be that, but you know how he started out? A shepherd. He's not the only one. Our greatest leaders began their careers as shepherds. I once mentioned that in a parsha shiur and I said you've never heard a Jewish parent say, I really, really hope my kid becomes a shepherd. And I got an email from someone whose son was going into something else but first became a shepherd. One of the experiences of being a shepherd. So you never know, you never know. Why? Why did our greatest leaders first, first need to be shepherds? Who are they, these greatest leaders, the seven shepherds? I'll give you a hint: they're guests to each and every one of us, simultaneously, in our Sukkah. The Ushpizin, we invite the seven guests into our Sukkah, there's a night for each one of them, the seven guests, the Ushpizin, are the zayin ro'im, they're the seven shepherds. Why did they each have to be shepherds? Our patriarchs goes all the way back, our greatest leaders. Why'd they have to be shepherds? Because a shepherd in the field with their flock, there's at least two things, there's many more but at least two things. A shepherd in the field doesn't have an iPad, doesn't have a smartphone, doesn't have a satellite signal for Elon Musk. The shepherd in the field in antiquity had nothing but their own thoughts and conversation with Hashem and themselves. If you want to take a person and have them be in touch with themselves, in conversation with themselves, in conversation, hisbodedus with Hashem, put them in a field with no one to talk to, no device, nothing. The shepherds had to first become comfortable being alone, comfortable in conversation with Hashem and with themselves. But the other thing of a shepherd that has a flock, a shepherd with a flock has to know how to be selfless, how to be giving, נושא בעול עם חבירו. The Alter of Kelm has a whole piece in fact, why was Moshe Rabbeinu chosen as our quintessential paradigmatic leader? Moshe Rabbeinu is Rabbeinu, he's our teacher in perpetuity, forever. What was it about Moshe that distinguished him? Was it his brilliance, his charisma, his righteous fervor? His devotion, his lovingkindness? What was it about Moshe? Which quality stood out that Hashem says you're my man? I don't care about the speech impediment, you're my man, not only for this time but forever. And the Alter of Kelm has an entire essay where he describes, it's because Moshe is the paragon, the paradigm of נושא בעול עם חברו to feel not only sympathy but empathy. How do we know that? Because the Midrash tells a story that Moshe is directing the flock in Midian and a little sheep'll run away and he finds that sheep drinking from the stream. All the rest of the flock, all the rest of the herd are making their way and this little sheep is sitting by the side and Moshe Rabbeinu realized the sheep is tired and the sheep is thirsty, so he gives it to drink and he takes it and he puts it on his shoulders and he carries it back to the rest of the flock to reunite with the herd. And a leader who sees not the best of the sheep, not the most achieve, the overachieving sheep, you know what it means to be a leader is to see the one that got lost, to see the one that fell behind, to see the one that needs a little extra love and nurturing, that's leadership. And that's why Hashem says you're my man. See the one that strayed from the path, that's off the derech. The whole herd that's on the derech, good, they need love, they need direction, they need to be fed, but they're a herd and they're on the derech. Go find the one that's off the derech, that strayed from the path, and go show love and go put it on your shoulders and carry that one. That's the one that needs your love, and that's the one that becomes, that's why Moshe Rabbeinu is chosen. So our seven shepherds, our seven shepherds. So for David HaMelech it's familiar, being a shepherd and sheep, it's all familiar to him. So he says to Hashem, Mizmor LeDavid, says this is a psalm for me, Hashem Ro'i, you're I'm a shepherd to the sheep, you're my shepherd. And because you're my shepherd, lo echsar, I lack nothing. My sheep maybe lacking. What if I'm lazy? What if I don't feed them? What if I don't direct them? What if I don't nurture? What if I don't nourish them? My sheep, David says, I'm human, I'm fallible, I could fail. But you're Hashem, you're Ro'i, you're my shepherd and as my shepherd, lo echsar, by definition I'm not lacking anything. However, says Rav David Abuhatzeira quoting, quoting the Rebbe Rav Mordechai of Lechovitch, הכוונה שביקש דוד המלך שלא תחסר לו ידיעה זו כי ה' הוא רועי. David HaMelech was davening for something different, not Hashem, you're my shepherd so I have whatever I need I'm never lacking, but ה' רועי לא אחסר, may I never be lacking knowing you're my shepherd. Lo echsar, may I never ever be lacking in knowing Hashem Ro'i that you're my shepherd. That was his prayer. So what was David HaMelech davening for? Emunah. Faith. Hashem, I know you exist, I love you, I know you love me, let that knowledge only grow more and more. May I never, may I never fail because it's easy to fail. A person's going through a hard time, struggling or suffering, experiences a devastating loss, and it's easy to have a little stumble, to be filled with doubt and uncertainty, where is He, does He exist, does He love me? So David HaMelech says, and his life was filled, filled with troubles, trials, travails. His father-in-law tried to kill him, his son rebelled against him and tried to kill him. Nothing came easy for David. He had to earn his way because Shmuel never considered or Yishai that he was the next one destined to be the king. He had to defeat Golias, Goliath, in order to get that role. Nothing came easy for David and his life was filled with trials and complications and the episode of Batsheva. He had to be on the running, on the high, he was hiding, Shaul his father-in-law tried to kill him, Avshalom his son rebelled against him, some children had sibling, there was Sefer Shmuel, you don't need a soap opera, just learn Sefer Shmuel. Just learn Sefer Shmuel. And with all that David HaMelech says ה' רועי לא אחסר. May I never be lacking in knowing you're my shepherd. That everything that happens, wherever I am, it's where I'm meant to be, I'm never stuck, I'm never lost. You're the shepherd, you're the shepherd. וכן זה פירש הרבי מלינסק אב של הרבי הקדוש רב נפתלי מרופשיץ שדוד המלך מתפלל שתמיד לא תחסר לו אמונה זו שה' הוא הרועה אותו מעודו. וזהו ה' רועי היינו הידיעה הזאת לעולם לא אחסר. This knowledge, this belief, this way of life that you're my shepherd, lo echsar, may I never be lacking. שלא תחסר ממנו האמונה בה' יתברך הרועה ומנהיג את האדם בכל דבריו. May we never fail, may we never be corrupted or compromised in this knowledge that Hashem, you're my shepherd, that Hashem, you're in charge, Hashem, you're in control. You're in control. So as we look at the candle tonight for the next eight nights and if you're listening to this because Spotify my shadchan put it on for you and it's Pesach or it's Purim or it's Rosh Hashanah time, it's still relevant. It's still relevant. נר השם נשמת אדם. We are all souls. That's why we light a yahrtzeit candle or a Yizkor candle. The soul is likened to a flame. It's relevant all the time. Look into that fire, look into that flame, start dancing. Start, no matter which direction you feel like you're being held in life, start dancing upward and ratzon. Don't allow them lehashkicham, don't allow them to extinguish our ratzon. Run, tenaciously with drive and determination to whatever it is, including living with emuna. May it be a lichtige and a freiliche Chanukah. Let the hostages come home, let the war end, let the soldiers be with their families. Please remain to recite all of Sefer Tehillim. The more people who stay, the more times we can finish all of Sefer Tehillim together.
