Transcript
Okay good morning Boker tov welcome back to Living with Emuna. Our Living with Emuna series is generously sponsored by Dr. Zavi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut and in memory of Bella's mother Dr. Ellen Schanzer. We remain incredibly grateful to them. This morning is also in Zechus for a young boy from our community who had open heart surgery yesterday, איתן זאב בן לאה בינה, she'll have a speedy complete Refuah sheleimah, an amazing young man and please G-d a stronger heart than ever. Okay, start with some Emuna emails as always, please keep sending them. I'm sorry I can't read them all out loud, but all of them inspire and touch me and I know the ones I share are able to inspire and touch others. I'll tell you this story actually is not in an email, but it's my own story. Yesterday, I said I wasn't going to speak about it or speak negatively about it, but I was punished and needed a Kapparah so I had to go to Orlando and spend some time in those overpriced parks. But I'm not going to talk about it because again I don't want to make anybody feel bad. I haven't gone in years because I literally am allergic, I like break out in hives at the thought of having to go there. So they came up with a great plan. My grandchildren came to me and said, "Zeide, can you come with us to Disney?" And that you can't say no to that. How could you say no to that? So Takke it should be a Kapparah. It's... I was able to escape last night, they're still there, Baruch Hashem for the Shiur I said I can't, I have to. I was able to. Anyway, we were in Orlando, we were at one of the parks and my son was climbing on a wall he probably shouldn't have been climbing on, I was also ready to climb on the walls and off the walls and anyway he fell off the wall and he scratched his hands and he really hurt himself. He was fine, thank G-d he's fine, no emergency, no crisis, but he hurt himself a little bit. On the next ride he was really in pain and expressing it and sad and down and tearful because his hands really hurt. And then I saw on the ride his like mind was wandering and at the end of it he said to me, "Abba, Hashem obviously wanted my hands to hurt, so I guess I'm okay with it and it'll be fine." I was like wow. He doesn't even come to the Emuna Shiur, he doesn't listen to the Emuna Shiur, he doesn't have a way to listen to the Emuna Shiur, but again I share that with you only as both a point of pride in my son, I'm grateful that was his reaction, but also because of the impact when we talk this way around our homes, when our children hear us, it's coping mechanisms, it's resilience, it's strength, it's a way to experience the world is to not panic and not be in fear. It doesn't mean I said it's okay that it hurts and it's okay to say ouch and it's okay to be in pain, but it also gives it a perspective instead of regretting why did I climb and why did I fall and why did this have to happen, one can lean in and accept it and be able to move on, which is one of the emails I got. Rabbi, one of my grandsons and I learn Parsha together almost every week. One of the ways we prepare is to listen to your Shiur. We did so today and in order to prepare my grandson listened on his flight back yesterday to New Jersey from Panama. Florida is now passé, it's like who goes to Florida Yeshiva Week? Nebach, you go to Florida? Panama, Cabo, all over the world. There's nothing wrong with getting in your car also and just driving to Orlando. He told me one of the ways he was able to stay calm during the turbulence was by listening to the Shiur. So you're having more of an impact than you realize. Again, helps us get through the turbulence of life and the turbulence of the plane and we're able to get through. Hello Rabbi Goldberg, thank you for the Living with Emuna series. I enjoy and gain from it. A few things: couple weeks ago you mentioned some people complain you speak too fast, please don't slow down. I listen to Living with Emuna while doing my morning runs along Lake Michigan in 15-degree weather and your energetic pace helps me keep my pace as I train for a half marathon. Who knew? We speak right at the pace to train for a marathon. Who knew? Sometimes I speak in public places, people come up to me afterwards and they're like, "I'm not used to listening to you so slowly when you're live," like they can't stand, they can't handle it. A minor Emuna story, the person writes. A few months ago I heard that one of the Living with Emuna Shiurim was sponsored by a name I recognized from a small city on the West Coast. I suspected it was a cousin of mine who I hadn't spoken to in years. Turns out it was him. We connected and used the opportunity to catch up a bit. He told me he usually sponsors things anonymously, but this time forgot to remove his name. We now know why. We now know why. And then the person shares a beautiful Dvar Torah with me, great email, very appreciative. From the happy and works out and it gives us the strength to the more challenging emails, which I find the most meaningful because again Emuna are the tools, it's the muscle that gets us through life. Hi Rabbi Goldberg, thank you for taking time to read the email if you have time for it. I've been listening to your class on Spotify for near the two years, so appreciative, yada yada yada. Your Shiurim have given me Chizuk, blah blah blah. I became more religious around 20, I'm now 31 and somehow even have gotten my non-religious yet connected mother hooked on the classes, so much so it's been top podcast for two years running on Spotify. I don't think I get an award for that, but it's nice, it's nice anyway. She quotes you regularly and tries to give me strength when I'm struggling when it comes to dating. I've also shared your podcast with some of my patients, and the author writes which hospital she works in, and this has helped them with their existential distress. and cancer journeys. I'm writing for guidance because I was about to get engaged and instead my relationship ended a couple of weeks ago. He was unable to move ahead. I've been dating for ten years and felt that Hashem finally was telling me it was my time, and now find myself back at square one. The relationship came with bumps, but I recalled some of what you imparted in your classes about love being stronger, more real after you come back from conflict, and felt we had a very solid foundation of love, respect, shared values. I'm understandably heartbroken and can see some of the reasons why this had to happen, but continue to find myself shocked, saddened. Your recent shiur, Don't Beat Yourself Up or Get Stuck, has been incredibly helpful and I've committed to turning to Hashem through the sadness. This is growth for me, I know Hashem is in charge. Still, there are moments of real doubt that Hashem will ever deem it my time. I know intellectually there's a bigger plan than I understand and that any other mindset is unhelpful. Hashem wants me to be here, He's here with me. Still, my question is, even if we know intellectually that Hashem is in control, how do we manage that deeper part of ourselves that questions if Hashem can really do anything? I want to be genuine in my belief and sometimes do not feel I am there. I sometimes feel that my fate is to be single. I don't want this to hold me back from all the good that Hashem can shower on me, I want to be a vessel to receive bracha. So I'm wondering if you might have any insight that could help. And I wrote back to the person, but I'll share a little bit even though we could spend a lot of time on this. Again, as we spoke about recently, sadness and emunah are not a contradiction. When a person goes through a heartbreak, a breakup, a person experiences a loss of a life, God forbid, in which they should appropriately grieve, or a loss of finances that puts them in a difficult position, it is appropriate to be sad. If a person thinks that emunah means you're not sad, that's a counterfeit, fraudulent, fake emunah, it's not real, because the Torah and Hashem don't expect us to be robots, preprogrammed to suffocate ourselves or to somehow pretend we're not feeling very human emotions. The question is what we do with the sadness, how we experience the sadness. Does the sadness make us lean in closer to Him, rely on Him, lean on Him for support, turn to Him, try to understand or experience what has happened, not as random and not as chance and not as a coincidence, but somehow and for some reason choreographed from above to make sense of the sadness? Not to deny or deprive the sadness, but to make sense of it. We spoke about that, that's number one. But number two is, there's nothing beyond Hashem. Now, when we say that, we have a principle אין סומכין על הנס. If a person is in a precarious situation where according to the olam hateva, in natural order, a natural means, it would take a miracle, we don't rely on miracles. Now, on the one hand, Chazal, our rabbis say, אפילו חרב חדה מונחת על צווארו של אדם, a sharp sword is resting on the neck of a person, never give up. Yeush, אין שום יאוש בעולם כלל, there is no yeush. We don't believe in yeush, we don't respond to yeush, there is no yeush. There is no hopelessness in this world. A Yid, a Jew, always has hope, always holds out hope. Nothing is beyond Hashem. Our hope has to be within reason. If something in the natural order would rely on a miracle, we don't rely on miracles. But if somebody is single and getting married, as miraculous as it is, ke'krias yam suf, our rabbis tell us it is as great as the splitting of the sea, to have a harmonious marriage, a happy marriage. If you look at the statistics in the world, they bear it out, to have a happy and a gratifying and a satisfying and a meaningful marriage is as miraculous, that's how appreciative we should be for having one. But yet, it's not a miracle to get married, and it's certainly not beyond Hashem and one's fate is never to feel locked in. And the moment a person does, the moment a person feels fatalistic, it's never meant to be, it's never going to happen, then even when Hashem has someone planned for you, we'll get in the way. That negative image, that negative disposition, that negative attitude, the negativity, the negative energy we're putting out into the world, who's going to want to set such a person up? And even if the right person meets you, will they be attracted and drawn to you? So we have to control and regulate our energy that we put into the world and our attitude that we bring to the people around us because it's a reciprocal world and the energy we give is the energy that we're going to get back. And it's never beyond Hashem and never give up. אין יאוש בעולם כלל. Yeush is shelo mida'at. Hopelessness means we've lost our minds. A Jew, a Yid, always has hope, always has hope. So feel sad for a moment, lean in and cry, feel maybe alone and maybe this is our fate, spend a few minutes, don't deny it, don't deprive it, feel it, and then pivot from it. And then put on that happy face and positive attitude and exude the great energy that's going to make the world want to feel connected to you and closer to you and find the person for you and then Hashem is going to bring them. Hashem is going to bring them. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, thank you for the emunah shiurim you do. I see through the story that listening to them has penetrated over time. When this happened, I thought I must send it to you. It's a flight story. Three friends and I planned a short trip to Florida together. I live in such and place and the other people live elsewhere, took a lot of planning back and forth. We're all young moms, it's not easy to coordinate, get away from home. kids, work. The night before our scheduled departure, one of my friends' flights was cancelled due to the impending snowstorm. She quickly rebooked on the flight with other two friends. The next day she made her way over to them in an Uber. My friends encouraged me to change my ticket to an earlier flight, since our community was expecting snow earlier than the other. After re-planning things back and forth, I booked an earlier flight that day, ran to the airport, I made my flight before the snow and I was taxiing to the runway, my friends let me know that their flight a few hours later had just been cancelled. I was already buckled, heading down the runway, I found out there was nowhere for me to go. At that moment I said, "It's all good. Like Rabbi Goldberg says, I'm right where I'm supposed to be." I can end the story here since in my mind, mission accomplished, but the rest is great too, so I'll share. My friends frantically tried to figure out what to do. I was not sure if I should just land in Florida then turn around and get on a flight home. They were able to rebook a flight a few hours later. Originally we were all landing in Fort Lauderdale. They booked West Palm Beach. Baruch Hashem I was the one who arranged the rental, so I was able to pick up the car. I landed, I landed. We were still not sure if the flight was going to take off. At that point, the weather in New Jersey was really bad. My grandparents live in West Palm. They had actually gotten the last flight out of JFK early that day, landed when I did. I had to go pick up my friend in West Palm. I drove to West Palm, had a nice visit with my grandparents, waited for my friends, they finally arrived 12:45 AM. Best part is nobody was stressed or overwhelmed. Everybody tapped into their emunah muscle, took it in stride. We were all where we were meant to be and Baruch Hashem we had a great time. Okay, I'll read one more and this may be—I don't want to say the best emunah email so far, because all the emunah emails are great, you're not supposed to have a favorite, but you'll see why for several reasons I enjoyed this one and then we'll get back into our learning. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, four years ago for the first time in my life, I was fired from my job. I couldn't believe it. The pain was especially sharp because I had helped start the company, building it with my connections, expertise, and energy, all to help another Jew in my small Jewish community acquire a successful business. Almost five years later, I found myself sitting down with HR as they let me go. I asked them, "How could they fire the person who came up with the idea for the business?" It made zero sense. I went home in tears and of course my wife tried to comfort me by quoting all your emunah. However, at the moment I still wasn't ready to accept it. Later that afternoon, I went to shul for Mincha. And there he was: the man who fired me. I was preparing myself to give him a piece of my mind, but then I remembered my wife's words and your teachings earlier that day. When I got home from Mincha, I told my wife I held back and bit my tongue this time, but it would be impossible for someone like me, who always says exactly what's on his mind, to continue on this way of letting go and to just have emunah. She suggested, she suggested I just listen to your Living with Emunah shiur. But I brushed it off thinking, "That's only for women." Still, she convinced me to give it a try and I did, and I was hooked. Not wanting my wife to know that I liked it, I told her it wasn't for me. However, I would wait until she fell asleep and start secretly listening to each episode. I love this email. Again, not endorsing—the marriage could use a little more—nothing wrong with admitting your wife is right, nothing wrong with it, I'm working on it myself, I have regular opportunities to do so. Some men wait till their wife falls asleep to watch God forbid inappropriate things at night. This guy is waiting and sneaking out to listen to the Living with Emunah shiur just so his wife can't say, "I told you so." I love it. I love it. For the next few years, for the next few years, every time at Mincha I'd see the guy who fired me, it would remind myself I was exactly where I was supposed to be. He'd say hello to me, and all I wanted to do was tell him off, but I didn't. I just smiled back as per your suggestion. Then this past Thursday, just before Mincha, he approached me. Not just to say hello, but to tell me he was no longer affiliated with the company, and the company was facing criminal and civil charges and was going under. Oh my God, Baruch Hashem. I stood there speechless. He continued, quote, "It's a good thing you got out when you did." I was trying to gather my response, but Mincha was starting and he walked away. In that huge hug from Hashem moment, I broke down in tears. I had the most powerful Shemoneh Esrei of my life. When I said Modim Anachnu, I had such kavana. I had the best conversation with my Creator, confirming He knows everything and I know nothing. I got confirmation He only wants what's best for me and even though I didn't see it right away, He had my back the entire time. I'm grateful to say I now have a great job in the same industry. It helps to know that Hashem always has my back. I also no longer feel embarrassed to admit that your shiur got me through this. In fact, I now listen to it together with my wife by my side. He should have to put a magnet on his car, maybe tattoo the Living with Emunah logo on his arm. Thank you, Rabbi Goldberg, the awesome shiurim helped me get through this time in my life. Isn't that a great email? It's a great email. Even though it does have a positive ending and it's a reminder: sometimes at Mincha, we find out why what happened happened and what was meant to be. But I will tell you, unfortunately, most of the time we don't. Most of the time we have no idea, and we spend the rest of the minchas of our life looking at that person or thinking about those people or having to live with that fact of getting fired or dumped or disappointed and we don't get to find out why and what was the reason and what was the deeper meaning. But even then he has our back. Whether we find out or we don't, whether we come to understand or it's always a mystery, he always has our back. And that again doesn't mean that you shouldn't be sad for the five years or however long it was until he found out why. It's okay to be sad. But with the sadness to then pivot and understand it's not random, it's not chance, there's never hopelessness or despair, we're never beyond help, that he always has our back. And that's exactly what dveikus is. Dveikus we learn the Meshech Chochma so many times. Rav Meir Simcha the heilige Meshech Chochma says that dveikus is from the language devek. Devek means glue. And dveikus to cling to God means to cleave to God means glue yourself to him, attach yourself to him. He has our back. If you attach yourself to him, you're good to go. You're good to go. Someone's we have a phenomenal new Rosh Yeshiva for our Yeshiva, Yeshivas Ateres, רב יהודה ויליג שליט"א, we're so excited his family's moving down here, they came over the other night they were visiting and their son is going into my son's class and he Shai, my son's not only named Shai, but is shy and I said to my Shai, I said Shai, tell Yaakov you can't wait for him to join your class and tell him don't worry you've got his back. He has nothing to worry about. You'll show him where to sit and you'll introduce him to the other boys and you'll take care of him at recess and make sure he gets picked for a team because we're always so afraid to go into a new circumstance and if somebody says don't worry I got your back, I'll take care of you, I'll show you where to go, you'll sit next to me, it'll all be good, oh now we can exhale. Right? You go into that event you think you're going to know no one, you show up at that simcha and you think you know no one and then you find the one person you know and they say just stick with me you're good, we'll sit together you're fine, okay, now you can let go, enjoy the ride, now you can have a nice evening, now you can go. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu says dveikus, devek, glue, glue yourself to me and don't worry I got your back and now you can let go and you can enjoy and you can enjoy the ride. So whether we find out or we don't find out, whether it makes sense or it is forever a painful mystery to us, but part of the way that we endure, that we can ride through the turbulence of life, the turbulence of life is by leaning into that emunah to know with confidence and with clarity that nothing is random. Let's finish up on page yud daled and then we're going to move over, we're going to skip forward in the sefer to page chaf gimmel, that's why the two booklets here, page yud daled the left hand column, we're learning the sefer Emunah U'Bitachon, Emunah U'Bitachon there's several Emunah U'Bitachon, this is the Emunah U'Bitachon of רב דוד אבוחצירא שליט"א. So I want to finish off this last paragraph because we left off with a question. ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו. We learned the last couple of weeks, we'll read soon in Parshas Beshalach, we'll celebrate soon on Pesach that when the sea split, the Jewish people finally Vaya'aminu BaShem they had faith in Hashem and in Moshe his loyal servant. We said it's a question, we're equating Moshe and Hashem? We use the same term emunah in both? Aren't we not supposed to put our trust and faith in people, only in Hashem? So what do you mean ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו? We're not going to answer that question. But the other question was Vaya'amen ha'am. In what merit were we redeemed and liberated? How did we get out? Because we trusted, we had faith, even in that darkness, even when we couldn't see what was next, even when we didn't know where the turbulence would lead us, even when we're getting on that roller coaster ein od milvado, ein od milvado. We brought that back this week. Nevertheless, what merit were we redeemed? Vaya'amen BaShem because we had faith. So what do you mean only now Krias Yam Suf ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו? What do you mean? So רב דוד אבוחצירא שליט"א said there are multiple levels of emunah. Emunah's not binary, it's not all or nothing, you don't either have faith or you're faithless. There are levels of faith that we live with in our life. The top level of faith is emunas hamoach, number one rung on the ladder, intellectual. What Rav Moshe Shapiro zatzal called emes. Emes and emunah. The emes is there's an Eibeshter, the emes is that there's a first cause, the emes is there's a founder, there's a creator, the emes is that there's Hashem in this world, the emes is this is his world and he runs it, and the emes is he doesn't need you to know it or believe it or live with it for it to be true. That's the emes. He exists whether you know it, recognize it, live with it or not. That's the emes. Emunah is putting it in practice. So emunah is the intellectual, conceptual, abstract, the investigation, the evidence that there is Hashem, that's emunas hamoach. And then we said there's emunas halev. The farthest distance between any two objects on earth is the distance between the head and the heart. So many things that we know, stop eating, stop staying up late, stop saying that, stop doing that, and yet for it to filter down from our head to our heart is so hard, is so hard. So hard, so for the emuna to not only be I know there's a God and I know He's present and I know He's by my side and I know He's in my life and I know there is always a reason, but how do I live it? How is it in my heart? And then there's Emunas HaEvarim, the Evarei HaGuf. Kol atzmosai tomarna. I live it in all of my limbs and organs, my entire being, my essence. It's not emuna when I'm in shul or when the Tehillim's open. It's emuna in everything I do and everywhere I go. It's emuna when there's turbulence in the air. It's emuna when I'm getting on or off the rollercoaster. It's emuna when the receptionist at the doctor's office, despite waiting many months and despite waiting in the lobby a long time, says, So sorry, there's an emergency, I can't believe we're going to have to do this, and you say, Okay, okay. That's Emunas Evarim, that our whole being just exudes, it's the way we experience and absorb and interpret and live that we're never frazzled and we're never bent out of shape and there's never drama. The highs are never too high and the lows are never too low. Ishtavus is equanimity and equilibrium and balance because Emunas HaGuf, Emunas HaEvarim, my whole being just speaks and promotes and exudes emuna. Uvezeh muvan - we're on the left hand column page yud daled - ובזה מובן מה שנאמר עתה בעת קריאת הים ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו. Now we understand, כי תחלה היתה אמונה קבועה במוח. While they were in Egypt, they looked around, they said, Where? Who? What? There's a God? We don't see Him. There's a God? We don't feel Him. There's a creator? Why doesn't He care about me? Yeah, I went to the Egyptian Aish HaTorah bible codes. I went in Egypt to Aish HaTorah's evidence for God's existence, the wonders of history, and I saw God. Okay, yeah, got it, I got the notebook, I took notes, I have all the pieces of evidence for God's existence. But the backbreaking labor and the oppression and my young baby being drowned? Where is God? I don't see Him. It was only up here, it was only in the head. אבל לא פשטה במעשיהם. But it wasn't in the heart and it certainly wasn't in the limbs. כמו שאמר משה רבינו vehein lo yaaminu, כי אין אמונתם חזקה כדי לשלוט בכל גופם. And Moshe says, Yeah, they know it intellectually, they're showing up, they're davening, they're saying the Tehillim, check, check, check, check. But do they really feel it? Does it animate and inform and inspire who they are? Do they exude it? No, no, hein lo yaaminu. They don't believe. They believe because they were taught they're supposed to, they want to fit in, they feel they have to, they're going through the motions of believing, but is it really what in their kishkas? No. ועל זה השיב הקדוש ברוך הוא שבני מאמינים בני מאמינים and Hashem turns to Moshe and He says, You don't know what you're talking about, they have it in them, it's in their DNA. Do you know from whom they descend? Avraham, Yitzchak, and Yaakov as we spoke in the parsha class last week, HaAvos. It's in our DNA, it's who we are. ומעט מעט עלה בידם להמשיך את האמונה גם בלב ובשאר האיברים. And if we work on it, we can get that emuna to filter down. Gravity can bring it down from our brain, from the area of evidence, from being academic, to being in our heart and from our heart to spreading out into all of our limbs. עד שבקריאת ים סוף הושפעה האמונה בקרבם בשלימות ומסרו נפשם להיכנס לים סוף בלי מורא. It's almost like this last email. This guy, he's going to mincha every day. So does he believe in Hashem? Of course he believes in Hashem, you don't go to mincha if you don't believe in Hashem. But where was that belief? Bamoach, bamoach. And maybe he went to some good kumzitz or farbrengen, maybe he had some moments where it was even balev. He had a good Neila, he heard a good shmuoz, when he stayed up at night to escape to listen to the emuna shiur, hiding and deleting his search history and deleting the cookies and listening in incognito window so no one would catch that he listens to Goldberg's emuna shiur. I love that email. Right? So maybe it went from the head to the heart. But that day at mincha, where'd the emuna go? Vayaaminu BaShem. That mincha, that modim, it was in the evarim. How do you know it? Because he writes, I started to cry, my whole being, my whole modim, my whole bowing. Al zeh nemar ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו באמונה שלימה שאין למעלה הימנה. So we need to know that emuna is not binary, we're not either a believer or a non-believer, we have faith or we're faithless. Emuna has levels. And I would argue that emuna, the engagement with emuna is different in different chapters of our life, different moments of our life, different days of our life, different hours of the day. Some days we wake up and the emuna is just bamoach. I know, I'm going to say my Tehillim, I'll do my davening, but I'm not feeling You right now. I'm looking, I'm searching, I'm davening that we're back, connected, but I don't feel it. In other days, it's balev. We hear that speaker, we hear that shmuoz, it evokes, it pulls on the heartstrings and we start to cry and we feel it, Hashem is here, He's in our heart. We heard that email, wow, that moved me. But then the evarei haguf, we're trying to get to that level where our life it comes together, we figured. out, it makes sense, we feel His presence, His hand is on our shoulder, He's getting us through that hard time, He's lifting us and carrying us when we thought we were going to collapse. And then we feel eivarim baguf, all of a sudden things came together. That's the level that we're striving for. That's what we're trying to achieve. And that's ויאמינו בה' ובמשה עבדו was they were able to get to that next level. Okay, turn to page chaf-gimmel. chaf-gimmel? chaf-tes, sorry. I want to pick up, I want to move over to page chaf-tes. 29, is that where we're picking up? Yeah. Again, there's more booklets here if you want to learn and follow inside. We're still with Rav David Abuhatzeira, Emunah u'Bitachon, skipping a couple chapters, אמונה ותפילה דבר יום ביומו. The need for the daily, I don't want to use the word grind, because the daily grind is going to work out. The daily grind for some people is having to go to work. If you're not lucky enough to love what you do so you never work a day in your life, it's the daily grind of having to go to work. So daily grind of getting in that ice bath, those are daily grinds. Emunah is not a daily grind, Emunah is like daily nourishment. If you get to have your cup of coffee every morning, that's not a daily grind. That's like, that's your jolt of energy. On a fast day, you know what it's like to live without that coffee. That's what it's like to live a day without Emunah. You're dragging, you're pulling, you're passing out, you're falling asleep, you can't have clarity, you think, can't think clearly. So Emunah is not a grind, it's the daily nourishment. It feeds our, our soul, it feeds our soul. But you have to do it daily. You have to do it daily and it's not something we do daily. I can't emphasize this enough. This is what we've been talking about, I don't even know what number shiur this is. But this is what we've been talking about for the last many, many, many, many years that we've been learning, that we've been, I recently came across the picture. I wonder if any of you were there when we started this shiur around my dining room table, a handful of women. It was in my house the first many months or even years of it. Baruch Hashem it's grown and it's, I'm so grateful that you all come because it's really for me, it's my weekly affirmation and you are my therapists and this is my couch and I thank you for, for showing up. Unlike other mitzvos that you do and you're done. You light the candles, you put on the tefillin, you said your shacharis and you're done for the day. Emunah is not a mitzvah that you do and you're done. Emunah is a way of being. It is an existence. It is an attitude, it's an identity, it's a lifestyle, it's a perspective. It's a perspective. הברכה הגדולה ביותר שיהא אדם בוטח בכל לבו בה', the greatest blessing in the world is to be a person who puts their trust in God. ולא ידאג מדאגת המחר. There's so much anxiety and worry. I'm not talking about the clinical, it's no one's fault, it needs the treatment, medical or support. We're not talking about that, I want to make it clear I do every time. Talking about the everyday. To live today despite having the greatest creature comforts and the greatest conveniences and living in the most prosperous time in history, we're also living in the most anxious time in history. There is so much to worry, to fear, to be uncertain, so much doubt and people are absolutely paralyzed by it. You look around at the world, the pharmaceutical industry, you look around therapists, you look around just the everyday. People are struggling. daigas machar, the worry and the fear of tomorrow. What will be? What's going to happen? What will we learn? כמו שפירש הרבי הקדוש מסאסוב את הפסוק. There's a pasuk in Bereishis, פרק מח פסוק כ, ויברכם ביום ההוא לאמר. Anyone know whom that pasuk is speaking about? When Yosef brings his sons Ephraim and Menashe to his father Yaakov to get a bracha, pasuk says ויברכם ביום ההוא לאמר. He blessed them on that day saying. And says the Sasover, the Heilige Sasover, Rav Moshe Leib Sasover, יעקב אבינו בירך את בניו ביום ההוא שבכל יום יחשבו ויעסקו בענייני אותו היום בלבד. Rav Moshe Leib Sasover reinterprets the pasuk, not he blessed them on that day saying, he blessed them with the blessing of bayom hahu. Live every day. Be able to live that day. ולא יעלה על לבם מחשבות ודאגת העתיד. Don't worry about tomorrow. Don't worry about next week and next month and next year. Be in the moment. Get to the end of that day. No matter what you're going through in life. And there are so many challenges and obstacles, so many things to overcome. We cannot get over any of them if we don't first learn to live to get to the end of that day. But what will be and how will it work out and will they and what will and... Get to the end of today. Get to the end of today. Parnassa, chalila illness, loss, shidduchim, fertility, a war, soldiers, a frontline, a ceasefire, hostages. What get to the end of today. Tomorrow will be tomorrow. What will be next week, what will be next month, what will be next year, what will be next decade? We can't know, we can't control, it's not here yet. The only thing in our power is today. Is today. The only dimension to live in is this one. The past is gone. We spent several weeks learning about reshaim mele'im charata. It is wickedness to be filled with regret. To be consumed by regret. Regret is not a Jewish concept. It's a super Jewish concept. Let me rephrase that. Regret is an enormous Jewish concept in the sense of teshuva. If we make mistakes, I regret, I have remorse, I learn from it, I pledge to not repeat it, and I go forward. The regret of learning, the regret that helps me be better today is a super Jewish concept. The regret that makes me get stuck in yesterday is not a Jewish concept. I should've, I could've, why did I not, I can't believe it. That's, that's rishus. Reshaim are mele'im charata. That's rishus. That's rishus. We're doing the Parsha Shiur this afternoon because I needed a kapara and I wasn't here yesterday. I had to be elsewhere. So the Parsha Shiur is this afternoon if anybody wants to come. It's evening at 6:30 PM. We're not sharing this tonight, but I saw Rav Shmuel Berenbaum, Tiferet Shmuel, zecher tzaddik livracha, Rosh Yeshiva of the Mir Brooklyn. He says that's the tze'aka gedola that filled the whole Mitzrayim. The great scream when the firstborn in every home, the firstborn in every home. That is a plague we don't want to even imagine. What that means. Everyone went to sleep that night thinking everyone was healthy with a head count in their home. And the Mitzrim, and Rashi says not only the Egyptians, any guests who were in Egypt even from other countries, and even the lowly shifcha, everybody's firstborn children didn't wake up. And there was a tze'aka gedola, an enormous loud scream. And says the Tiferet Shmuel, you know what that tze'aka gedola? Why did the Torah need to tell us they screamed? This loud krechtz, yell, scream, pain. That loss, we didn't think, we didn't know they would scream? Torah has to tell us they screamed? He says that tze'aka is the tze'aka of charata. When the Egyptians said: why didn't we let them go? Why didn't we listen to the messages that were being broadcast our way? Why didn't we tune in? Why didn't we extend the antenna? Why didn't we pick up the signal? Why didn't we follow the lead? Why were we so stubborn and why did we hold on? And that regret led to a tze'aka gedola, the scream that comes from that. But a Yid, a Jew, the only regret we have is to become better here and now in the present and to shape a better future. But a regret that makes us paralyzed or stuck, a regret that makes us perseverate on our past, a regret that paralyzes us, that's rishus. We don't believe in that. We don't believe in that. So the greatest bracha, the greatest bracha that Yaakov was giving Menashe and Ephraim, vayivarechem bayom hahu. He gave them a bracha, may you live every day that day. With the tranquility and the peace and the serenity to know I have what I need today. What will be tomorrow? I don't know. Relax. We're not there. I have a roof over my head today? You have today. You have your faculties, you're alive, you're breathing today? Today. Today. The head count today? Today. Get through today. Can you get through today? Can you get through the end of today? Get through the end of today. Vayivarechem bayom hahu. Bayom hahu, וזו הברכה ביותר טוב הטובה ביותר. This is the greatest bracha, the greatest bracha. ועל פי זה יתבאר גם הכתוב: ואתחנן אל ה׳ בעת ההיא לאמר, when Moshe Rabbeinu davens. He tries 515 times, the gematria of Va'etchanan, 515 times. That's impressive. Even our kids don't hit that number when they want that thing that we keep saying no to. 515 times Moshe Rabbeinu turns to Hashem and says: please, pretty please, pretty pretty please, cherry on top, let me in. I want to get in, please let me in, please let me in. And Hashem says no. But שבקשת משה רבינו היתה על מדריגה גבוהה ביותר שמתחנן לפני ה׳ שיהיו כל מחשבותיו רק בעת ההיא. Another way of understanding what was Moshe Rabbeinu's tfillah? What was he asking for? What was he davening for? Va'etchanan el Hashem, he asked Hashem, ba'et hahi. Let me live in this moment, let me embrace the here and now, let me be mindful in the present. Tomorrow, I'll get to tomorrow. But next week and next month and the simcha and the fear and the illness and the health and the shidduch and the... today. What do you need to do today? I can't emphasize strongly enough how important this is for resilience for ourselves, for our children, for our families, for our lives, to learn to live: bayom hahu lemor. ואתחנן אל ה׳ בעת ההיא. Can I do it today? Can I eat right today? Can I eat right today? Can I speak calmly for the rest of today? Can I have positive thoughts for today? Can I believe in myself and in Hashem for today? Can I get to the end of today? That's my mission and mandate. Vayevarchaim bayom hahu. The greatest bracha is bayom hahu. Today. Tomorrow you'll deal with tomorrow. Next week next week. Of course you got to plan. We save, we plan, we buy insurance. I'm not talking about to live a reckless life as if you're not concerned about tomorrow. We're not talking about that. But it means in our attitude and our philosophy and our emotions and our spirituality, vayevarchaim bayom hahu. To learn to live today. The serenity. Hashem is with me today. Hashem has my back today. I can cling and glue and attach myself to Him today. I believe that He has my back. There's always a plan today. Then today. אלא אותו רגע ממש ולא ידאג אפילו דאגת הרגע הבא. Don't even worry about the next moment, this moment. Moment by moment, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, that's how we live. That's how we live. That's how we live with a peace of mind. That's how we live with a serenity. That's how we live with a holiness and a happiness. Bayom hahu. Today. And that is the bracha hagedola beyoser. That is the greatest bracha. So how do we get there? It's almost impossible. Our mind and our heart almost always skips to and jumps to: But what will be and what will happen and how will it turn out? It's hard. It's hard to not go there. So how do we do that? Come next week. I think we're off next week. We're off next week. In two weeks, we'll pick it up in two weeks, but pick it up in two weeks and then we'll tackle it there. This motzei Shabbos, Rabbi Daniel Kalish and Ben Lutz on the guitar. It's going to be incredible. Men and women all are invited. Motzei Shabbos, the great Rabbi Kalish, the great Rabbi Kalish of Waterbury. Talk about somebody who can talk right to the neshama and the heart and the head. Rabbi Kalish is phenomenal. Join us motzei Shabbos. Great music and a great inspirational time. Please stay to complete kol sefer tehillim. Acheinu benei yisrael שישמעו בשורות טובות ישועות ונחמות.
