Transcript
Good morning, Boker Tov, welcome back to Living with Emuna. Living with Emuna in the month of Emuna, Chodesh Nissan, the month of miracles, the month of Emuna, Pesach, Chag HaEmuna, the Yom Tov of Emuna. So all of our Emuna learning all year round is getting us geared up and ready for this month and for this Yom Tov and please God it should bring miracles, miracles in our time, should welcome the hostages home and the soldiers safe and peace and healing for all who need it. Emuna Shiur is generously sponsored by Dr. Zvi and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbut in memory of Bella's mother, Dr. Ellen Shanzer. We remain incredibly grateful to the Morgans. This morning is sponsored by Rebecca and Evan Goldenberg in honor of Stephanie and Perry Friedman, anonymously for their Refuah Shleima of נינה נקדם בת קסיה who's in the hospital. She should have a complete and speedy Refuah Shleima. Anonymously לעילוי נשמת אברהם אבינו, Rosh HaMa'aminim. Wow. Sponsored anonymously in memory of our forefather, Avraham Avinu. And by Betty and Daniel Blumenthal, Faye and Jeff Walkowitz in honor of the Emuna Shiur and the continued Refuah Shleima of ירדנה ליבא בת שרה פנינה, she should have a continued Refuah Shleima and we should hear and celebrate good things and get tremendous, tremendous nachas. Okay, as we always do, we got some Emuna emails to begin and then we'll dive back into the sefer that we are learning, Emuna u'Bitachon of Rav David Abuchatzeira. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, I feel tremendously blessed and fortunate to have discovered the shiurim a few years ago. I feel that listening to the shiurim has added so much to my learning. I finished Mesillat Yesharim with you and Igeret HaRamban, which I have personally said once a week for years and now there's a new level of understanding. That was the series we did in 10 minutes of meaning before Tanya. We started Tanya Part 3 we did this morning. If you want to listen and generously we're grateful to the Fedacks for sponsoring. You could listen to Tanya, but before that, we did the letter of the Ramban, a letter he wrote to his son but a letter he wrote to each and every one of us of which it's said one should read it at least once a week in order to live it. And this author says she did. And now I'm so excited to be finally learning Tanya. Tanya's one of the things that's been on my bucket list for a while. When you announced it would be the next series we are learning, it was so natural to me. Of course, this is what Rabbi Goldberg would choose. Now if only one could just put a good word into Spotify and Apple Podcasts, we're having trouble getting the podcast up. It please God will be soon. For now, you can listen on YU Torah or on YouTube. This letter along with many thanks for many hours of learning, blah blah blah, yada yada yada. My son Akiva, עקיבא בן שולמית יהודית will be headed into miluim for two months in the beginning of Nissan, which is now. Akiva is a D9 driver operator. A D9, maybe you have the luxury of not knowing what a D9 is, that just shows how blessed we are. But a D9 is a bulletproof as much as anything can be bulldozer. He spent many months over the course of this war in Aza and in fact was part of the team that took down Sinwar yemach shemo. He removed the front of the house with his D9 so that the drone could get in and so they could determine if the home was booby-trapped to help protect the troops that needed to enter. By the way, Akiva happens to learn Tanya too. Here's the part of the email. Ready for this? My request is for some decals that my son can give out to his fellow troops to put in their bulldozers. So she's asking for decals which of course we'll send, Embrace Your Place, אחינו יש השם במקום הזה. And she says they'll put in their bulldozers, personal carriers and tanks, reminding them they are exactly where they're meant to be. Without them, there would not be safety here in Israel or anywhere else in the world in my opinion. So that idea, what a privilege, wow, what a blessing that those decals Embrace Your Place, יש השם במקום הזה, we are where we're meant to be, will be sitting in bulldozers and tanks and personnel carriers in Aza and fighting and doing their bidding. Unbelievable. I just got back yesterday morning, Baruch Hashem, I had the zchut to be in Israel two weeks in a row and I was with my nephew who'd finished his service and I asked him, you know, how do you feel what's going on in Aza? And he says I wish I was back with them. He says they're going into Rafah, they're going back into Rafah, I'm jealous, I want to be there fighting, I want to be there protecting the Jewish people. These are our soldiers and troops and this עקיבא בן שולמית יהודית, we should all daven he and all are safe and successful in all that they are doing. And please God they should sit in these personnel carriers and tanks collecting dust somewhere and not needed and not used. But of course we're going to send. She ends, obviously it's only Hashem who provides our safety and security, but what we are fighting now is a milchemet mitzvah and as much as we need the learning as the mother of soldiers, I take that responsibility seriously, especially now. We need our troops in the front line doing their hishtadlut. Akiva has learned and continues to learn in Yeshiva in Avyatar for close to six years now. My next son is starting basic training after three years of learning in Yeshiva in Itamar this coming week, משה בן שולמית יהודית, so if you can keep him as well as Akiva in mind for tefillot, that would mean a lot. So this mother has two sons, one going back, a third I think. third stint she said of miluim, and now her son enlisting for the first time. And we should, we certainly have them both in mind. As a mom and a mother-in-law of soldiers, working on my emunah has been a real source of strength and comfort for me. In fact, I recently started a family chabura once a week with the women of my family in Israel, the US, and Canada so we can meet on Zoom once a week and support each other while learning emunah, bitachon together. We're using Shaar Bitachon of Chovos HaLevavos, Beis Halevi on bitachon, and I occasionally slip in some of the amazing things I learned, as in let go and let God. So again, thank you for the moment, give all my appreciation, and when I hear you run your campaign to request for donations, I do make a note to myself, when Hashem feels the time is right and I have the resources, to contribute as well. All the best from Israel and wow, these are also the unsung heroes of Israel, mothers who have two sons who are fighting and they are living with emunah in extraordinary ways and how amazing and fantastic. This next letter is from someone sitting... Yeah, their names. Have them in mind. Maybe I'll post in the WhatsApp group. Yocheved, you'll remind me. עקיבא בן שלומית יהודית, yeah, Shulamit Yehudit, and משה בן שלומית יהודית. Have them both in mind among all of our soldiers. This next letter is written by one of our Emunah members. Your emunah shiur has transformed blah blah blah, hug from Hashem, messenger to make a Kiddush Hashem. This past Shabbos, I woke up at 1:00 AM and experienced several hours of violent vomiting. I suffer from an autoimmune condition which require me to live on steroids. When my body experiences the physical or emotional stress, I need to increase. As I was quite ill, I knew that I needed a stress dose for steroids. My husband called Hatzalah to take us to the hospital, as a result I was admitted. I was in a room with a woman who was quite difficult and the next day I was told they were changing my room. The reason for the change was unknown to me at that time. My physician ordered several tests to assess the cause of my problems. She also was concerned about something in my blood work which she needed to pursue. I hoped to be released on Sunday but due to unusual blur on a CT scan, it was decided to do another kind of scan on Monday, so I had no choice but to stay there as there was a possibility of a serious medical issue. Thank you. Thank you. A serious medical issue. My new roommate was a non-Jewish woman, but from her conversations on the telephone I ascertained that she was a religious woman, very active in her church. She was in the hospital to have a cardiac procedure to help her condition. Her procedure was scheduled for Monday. Sunday evening, again, the author of this email says, could have and should have been released earlier, was switched rooms and doesn't know why, and finds herself with this roommate in a room she shouldn't have been in and shouldn't have been in any longer. Sunday evening, my new neighbor started having breathing issues and I asked if she was okay. She said no. I asked if I should call a nurse, she shook her head and I called and two nurses worked with her for over an hour until they got her breathing under control. The next morning she told me I saved her life. She had been in such state that she was unable to pick up the phone to call the nurse, had I not done it, she would no longer be alive. She also acknowledged that someone else in my bed might have just ignored her. I now know why Hashem orchestrated I should stay an extra night in the hospital. He made me the object of a Kiddush Hashem to a non-Jewish woman. As you always say, you are where you're supposed to be. Hashem also gave me a big hug when the additional CT scan was negative. Thanks for giving us the tools to get to appreciate all of Hashem's gifts, and we are certainly very grateful that that person is healthy, well, and back in shiur here this morning. Okay. Next one. This is a special Pesach email emunah. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, we've been going to Orlando for Pesach several years, the family flying from list several cities. What started as a modest operation has become a huge endeavor with 14 people including eight children under the age of eight, Baruch Hashem. We need so much equipment, food, a grill, you name it, that this year we decided to load up our van and drive. More hours to listen to Living with Emunah, which secretly and now not so secretly my husband loves. This club of men who won't admit that they love, it's like asking for directions, they can't admit that they love listening to Living with Emunah. We rented a six-bedroom house with a pool and we were really looking forward. Man plans, God plans better. After driving for a total of 16 hours, we pull up to the house in a popular gated community 48 hours before Pesach. Something's not right. I hear the strains of hard rock music emanating from the house, and it's not Rabbi Brody on the drums. Why are there people in our house? Hubby rings the bell and a lovely non-Jewish family answers the door. Did we have the right address? Indeed we did. But the lovely family tell us that they have rented the house for the next two weeks. Hubby, usually cool, calm, collected, starts to sway in the doorway and cannot speak. The color drains from his face. I remain calm but instantly understand we are an inch away from disaster, material and spiritual. Pesach starts in two days. I have enough food to feed a very hungry football team, salmon and brisket that's now slowly defrosting, some of the kids from out of town already en route, and there are more supplies, appliances, strollers, cribs, romaine lettuce, wine, don't ask, being delivered to the now occupied house in just a few hours. Hubby can't talk. He's frantically gesturing, but no words coming out of his mouth. The lovely family see his distress and invite us in. We decline. When my husband finally finds his words and explains that we also booked this house, and the family actually invites us to use their spare guest room for our holiday and they feel terrible. They don't know anything about Pesach, but they feel that something catastrophic has happened. Now the contrast of the mother of two soldiers and tanks and personnel carriers and Pesach in Orlando shouldn't be lost on any of us, but in the moment, each person's crisis is their crisis and relative to others and it's a very healthy reminder. Hubby comes back to the car and is in a panic, dialing the rental agent. When he finally reaches her, she says, oh, I made a mistake. How about you guys just go to a hotel instead? completely unaware of what Pesach entails. And then I realize, it's the Yam Suf. This year Pesach is starting early. We're not going just we're not just going to read about it this year, we're going to experience it. Time to start walking in, no time to waste. I tell my husband to get in the car, sit down, let's see what happens. He's beyond himself and at this point just follows my instructions, like a good Jewish husband, that's my editorial comment. It's sunny here in Orlando and I remember the one thing that now looking back saved our Pesach. I put my Emunah glasses on. I then pulled over onto a nearby street and calmly took out my phone and wrote a text to the three largest WhatsApp groups of Jews that are in Orlando for Yom Tov. Chevre, I typed, our family of 14 has lost its accommodations for Pesach. I know it's a huge ask, and Yom Tov is 48 hours away. We aren't picky, please help us in any way you can. I lean back, I'm humming a Niggun waiting for the sea to part. My husband is looking at me wondering if I've truly lost it. And then, this is in bold in the email, Am Yisrael, the greatest nation that has ever lived, replied immediately. My texts were blowing up with offers to stay with total strangers, 14 unexpected guests for Sedarim, and with ideas how to help us find a house. My husband's on the phone with the kids who are at JFK wondering if they should just stay put. No, I say, just walk through the Yam Suf. Get on a plane. Ditto to the kids who are 10 hours into their drive, just keep going. Just like Mitzrayim, there's no alternative to turn back, it's too late. Then my phone rings, it's a lovely young Chabad couple from Miami who rent houses in Orlando for their Parnassa. Where are you? the Rebbetzin asks. When I tell her she says, perfect. You're two blocks from a house we have that's available. The issue is, it's 13 bedrooms and 13 times the price of our original house. I tell her thank you anyway, she asks me what was the price of the original rental and then puts me on hold. She returns and says, please just go to the house, it's yours. For the same price as your original rental. My husband protests but they insist and she says, get in the house and start making Yom Tov. You'll pay us later. We're total strangers and without a second of hesitation she gives us the house code. I thank Hashem and the Lubavitcher Rebbe for raising such people. It's very dusty in here this morning. I thank Hashem and the Lubavitcher Rebbe for raising such people. These Chabadniks. The Gerrer Rebbe for teaching us to channel the fear. Mostly though, I thank Living with Emunah for teaching us about Emunah. It's a revelation and a revolution. I love that. Living with Emunah is both a revelation and a revolution. I smile at my husband, see, Yam Suf came early. He's still kind of shell shocked. We drive two blocks and walk into the house more like a palace. There's a dining room table set with 14 seats. Hashem is winking. I cannot believe it, but I can. As if it wasn't enough, the Chabad couple had it turns out also rented homes to Ishay Ribo and he provided her with free tickets which she gave to our family for Chol HaMoed concert. Here's what I learned from my years of listening to Living with Emunah. You never know when the Yam Suf will open before you, it's too late to prepare in that moment, so you have to prepare every day in advance. You have to make sure you've topped off your Emunah bank account so when the moment comes you can make a withdrawal, so you can embrace your place and move through the challenge. To this day my husband says watching me in the car and make my Emunah withdrawal was the highlight of his Yom Tov. Mine too. PS: We're staying home for Pesach this year. It's beautiful, calmer, more affordable, much easier to organize. But here's a little advice, if you decide to go to Orlando for Pesach, it's very sunny there, trust me. Don't forget your Emunah glasses, bring the tinted pair. That's one of the great Emunah all time emails. What a great email, what a great email. Oy, there's so many more, but we want to learn. So I'll tell you one more insight before we begin learning, before we begin learning. And that is the following. So two days ago I was on Paran with my children and my grandchildren and I was pushing the stroller, and my... granddaughter, the older sister. How old is Miri? Miri. We're supposed to know this, we're grandparents. Nineteen, twenty months. Nineteen, twenty months. She insists on pushing her sister's stroller. But she could barely reach the bar. So she's pushing and every time I try to just help her, like a very strong-willed young woman, she gets it from her Bubby. So she's pushing me away and I'm trying to push her because she's about to push her sister into the street on Paran and she's pushing me away. So I just go to the front and I hold on to the awning and while she's pushing with a big smile and happy she's doing it all by herself, I'm really holding on to the awning, to the cover and I'm guiding it making sure she's okay. And my beloved daughter turns to me and she says Abba, it's just like your Emunah shiur, it's just like Hashem. We think we're pushing in life, we think we're in control, we think that we're driving, and really he's holding on and all along he's taking us in the direction we're meant to go. And oh what a nachas moment when your daughter gets it and she's helping provide you material for your Emunah shiur. That's my Liora. So what a beautiful moment and I love that. Is that just like my little grand- we're all twenty months old and we all think we're driving our car and we all think we're in charge through life and we all think we're pushing the stroller of life but the truth is if we were pushing the stroller we'd go right into the street. Thank God Hashem is holding on the other end and he's guiding us and he's grabbing us and he's taking us and he's protecting us where and when we're supposed to and where we're meant to be. Okay, we are on page I believe Lamed Gimmel. Does anyone want to agree or disagree? I'm pretty sure that's where we are. Hishtadlus ad kama, we're on the next perek. Rabbi David Abuhatzeira is dealing with the question and again this sefer came out during the war. Rabbi David Abuhatzeira shlita who lives in Nahariya, in the north of Israel, the very north of Israel, was living with rockets, bombs, and the threat of Hezbollah and gave these shiurim and this sefer came out under that in that time. And now this next perek deals with hishtadlus ad kama, how much effort, how much initiative do we need to make? This is really a seventh day of Pesach question because like the author of the Orlando Emunah email, on that seventh day, just a couple weeks from now, we'll all be standing opposite that sea and Hashem says what are you doing? Why are you davening? Get moving, get walking. So we know, we demonstrate and we communicate our emunah in our heart but also with our hands and our legs. You gotta take initiative, you gotta take action, you gotta solve your own problems. And in fact to a large degree this is, now's the shameless plug for the Shabbos HaGadol drasha. This is the theme of the Shabbos HaGadol drasha. The windy road of redemption from Galus to Geulah. Why do we have to go through Galus before we get to Geulah? How can we embrace our place in Galus that in fact gives us a sense of Geulah to break out? Why is it the last two thousand years we take two steps forward and one step back? And the last eighty years from the Holocaust to the State of Israel, two steps forward and one step back. And for the last year and a half in the war of Israel, two steps forward and one step back. And in all of our efforts for finding a shidduch and having children and shalom bayis and earning a parnassah and taking care of our mental health and our physical health, it's two steps forward and one step back. Why did Hashem create a world such a way that we have to embrace our place? How much initiative do we take and how much emunah should we have? Do we let go and let God or do we solve the problem and bring the geulah ourselves? All of that this Shabbos. Almost as long as Cory Booker's speech but not quite. I said I'm not impressed with him because he said that in order to not need a bathroom break he fasted and he dehydrated himself. I give the Shabbos HaGadol drasha after three Shabbos meals, shalosh seudos, off the record, visiting a couple of kiddushes. That so he's not impressing me. Anyway so that is our topic for this Shabbos, join us and no it will not be recorded that is the one last thing. Shabbos Shuva, Shabbos HaGadol are the last things that are just our community, our intimate community, our local community as much as we stream and we share we have to keep something to the family, we have to keep something for ourselves so we don't give it again after Shabbos, we don't record it, we do provide the outline and the sources if you want to go through it yourselves and if Hashem enables me to stretch more hours into the day, please God somehow we will get that done, I'm not sure exactly how. So hishtadlus ad kama, bottom of page Lamed Gimmel and I posted the source sheets in the WhatsApp group. We opened the second WhatsApp group because the first one ran out of space so if you're watching or listening but you're not yet part of it go to rabbiephraimgoldberg.org/whatsapp and join all the WhatsApp groups to get up to date on the schedule and bonus material. ידוע לכל שמתחילה היה אדם הראשון יושב בגן עדן והיו מלאכי השרת צולים לו בשר ומסננים לו יין. The Gemara in Sanhedrin daf nun tes tells us that originally Adam HaRishon, Adam, was created and sat in the Garden of Eden and the angels were busy barbecuing for him. Today we have barbecuing for soldiers, heroes who barbecue for soldiers many days a week. So today we have organizations barbecuing for soldiers in Gan Eden. The angels were busy barbecuing for whom? Adam HaRishon. He was the only occupant, the only citizen, the only resident, and then later joined by Chava. But that's all that was happening, a big barbecue. Notice it doesn't say the Malachei HaShareis were mixing the kale salad. That's Gehennom, not Gan Eden. They were busy tzolei lo basar, they were busy making a barbecue, fleish, they were busy roasting the meat, umesanen lo yayin, and they were straining the wine, delicious wine. ומשחטא נגזר עליו בעצבון תאכלנה, but what happened? He blew it. Could have been that way forever. Could have sat under palm trees enjoying the barbecue. It sounds like a Pesach program. The midnight barbecue, the open bar, the quinoa sushi, the rolling cigars. That was Gan Eden. But what, he blew it? He made a mistake. Pesach came to an end. He was kicked out. Beitzavon tochlena. בזעת אפך תאכל לחם. And now you want a barbecue? Get to work. You want bread? Work the field. You want a barbecue? Hunt the animals. You want wine? Run a vineyard. ומאז ועד היום הוטלה עלינו חובת השתדלות להשיג טרף ומזון. So it went from Adam being handed everything on a silver spoon. The original intent, the original design of the Almighty was that we'd live in a world where we were given everything. And what were we meant to do? Why create us? All that was left was to bask in the glory of God, to immerse ourselves in His sacred Torah, to teach, to learn, to connect to Him, and to bring light into this world. That was all that we were meant to do. But then we made a mistake, a fateful error, and we were expelled from Gan Eden. We were cast into a world in which we need to work and take initiative and make effort. Nothing is handed to us. We have to work hard for it. And that's the world and the life that we now have. By the way, Moshiach, what we long for and daven for, tzipisa liyeshua? We will be judged. Did you long, did you desire, were you driven for a time of Moshiach? When Moshiach comes, it's not going to be a supernatural world. It's going to be a similar world the way we live now, but instead of having to work, it'll be back to Gan Eden where everything's handed to us. There'll be no wars, we'll live in safety and security, and what will we do with our time? Sit and learn and teach and transform and redeem and repair the world. Someone recently shared with me, someone who is a big proponent and student of AI, artificial intelligence. Artificial intelligence is an incredible danger and threat. A lot can go wrong with it. It is creating a world, an olam hasheker. Rav Schorr, who was here recently, shares that AI, he's very afraid, is turning the world into an olam hasheker. Why? Because you can recreate, manufacture fake videos, fake speeches, fake images. It's a world of fake. You don't know truth from falsehood. That's a very dangerous world. But this person I was speaking to sees in AI the opposite. Today you can talk into AI and it could do almost anything you need done. And we're just at the very beginning of it. And AI will be able to accomplish so many tasks that take us so much time and hopefully one day index our Emuna Shiurim and so much more that we want to do. And he said AI could be what ushers in Yemos HaMoshiach. If there is a feeling that we are in the as-chalta de'geula, this is the era and the days that, please God, of Moshiach, AI could be taking care of all those things that all that will be left for us to do is sit and learn Torah and fill the world with light and AI will automatic-driving cars, automatic laundry machines, automatic cooking, automatic all those things that we have to do. AI, AI will order and replenish and restock that will get delivered and that will put it right into the- AI one day, that's his image of AI. So the world we were in is the world that we're so busy trying to get back to. You understand that that's what this world is all about? Hashem created a world of Gan Eden and we had a certain life and lifestyle. We blew it, we messed up, we were expelled from it, cast into this other world where we have to take initiative and work. And all we're trying to do is get back. All we're trying to do is repair a world and repair ourselves and get back to that place and certainly in the world of mysticism, in the teachings of the Arizal, in the teachings of Kabbalah, so many of the mitzvos we do are a tikkun, they are a repair for eitz hadaas, the eitz hadaas. Eating the matzah, almost every Yom Tov you'll find somebody who describes that what we're doing is trying to undo and repair with a mindfulness and a presence and elevating our actions to get back to Gan Eden. How do we get back there? Through Moshiach, please God. But alas, we are now in this world where we have to work. You got to go to work. You got to take initiative. If you're sick, you've got to go to the doctor, you've got to take medicine, you've got to undergo therapy. If you want bread on your table, you've got to work. ומקור הדבר בספרי בפרשת ראה, and the source is in the Medrash in Parshas Re'eh. Pasuk says uverachacha Hashem Elokecha, God will bless you. יכול בטל תלמוד לומר בכל אשר תעשה. It says God will. Now you might think good, I'm sitting back in my recliner, I'm putting my legs up, I got a massage chair, and God will bless me, bring on the blessings. I'm going to open the app and I'm going to watch my bank account just go up. After all it says God's going to bless me. I'm going to see my children just be married. I don't have to answer any calls, I don't have to network for my children, I don't have to deal with any references, they're just going to be... I'm just going to live in a world, I'm just going to lean back in my recliner and every ailment, every ache, every illness will just be healed. Uverachecha after all, the Torah promises Hashem is going to bless you. So bring it on Hashem, I'm ready. Kick back, sit back in that recliner and have Pesach just be ready. But what does the posuk continue with says the Sifrei, uverachecha Hashem's going to bless you. How? With what? Bechol asher ta'aseh. With all that you do. So what's the prerequisite to the blessing? What's the foundation of the kli kibul, what's the vessel to receive the blessing? Do. All that you do. All your effort, all your initiative, all your effort, all your initiative, all your hishtadlus. אך דא עקא שטרדת עולם הזה והיצר טשטשו את הגבולות ואדם אינו יודע עד היכן מוטל עליו חובת השתדלות. So that's a given and that we know, and that I hope we all know, that you have to do hishtadlus, we have to take initiative, we have to create the vessel to receive the blessing. But now the danger comes in. Once we're living in a world and once we're taking initiative, once we're making effort, what can happen? Oh, now we mistakenly think it's all about only my initiative. I have to go to work and I have to work harder, and I can't earn all that money and when I do it was all me, I get the credit, it's my honor, my glory, my pride. I am responsible for my success. It's all about me. You see this in what area more than any other? This is a point that the Vilna Gaon, Rav Shlomo Zalman has something on it, in the area of shidduchim. The area more than any other of life where Hashem says in finding that balance between hishtadlus and emunah, between initiative and belief, we have to find a balance and there's one area where Hashem says lower the hishtadlus and lean into the emunah. And what's that? Shidduchim, getting married. Why? Because after all the Gemara at the beginning of Sotah tells us that since misheishes yemei bereishis, God created the world in the six days then he rested. He's retired. He must be bored. How much mahjong can he play? How much shuffleboard can he shuffle? What's he doing with his time? Lehavdil, Chazal wonder. And our rabbis said you know what he's doing? Since he retired from creating he's been busy with making shidduchim, mezaveig zivugim. He is connecting pairs and I got to tell you, you see it in life. There are people who are so interesting, so fascinating, have such idiosyncrasies, and they're married and you see in their spouse Hashem made them the perfect spouse. They complement, they share some of these unusual attributes, traits, behaviors and you say Hashem you are the greatest shadchan ever. That's amazing how you brought and put those two together. That's what he's busy doing. That's what he's busy doing. And indeed he declares it, he proclaims it. The Gemara at the beginning of Sotah tells us that forty days after conception Hashem says that this person bas ploni leploni, a bas kol yotzeis goes out and says so-and-so for so-and-so. So the Vilna Gaon, the Gra writes based on this that Hashem himself is doing it. It doesn't say Hashem is busy with your parnassah. It doesn't say Hashem is busy healing the sick. It doesn't say Hashem is busy ending wars. He's of course doing all those things too, but if our rabbis emphasized and highlighted what is he busy doing since he retired, he's making shidduchim, what they meant to tell us is get out of his way. In all the other areas he invites you to be his partner. When it comes to shidduchim, take your initiative because you can't rely on miracles, but after you take your initiative, get out of his way. A lot of people get in his way. We create problems. I'm not going to get into this now because it's not for Living with Emunah shiur, but I have a lot of thoughts on this subject. How many layers of problems we've added to the area of shidduchim. We've gotten in his way in so many ways. I won't list them now, but we have created so many barriers and so many obstacles and we have gotten in his way and he says I got this. I got this. This is what I do. This is what I'm busy with now. And I'm in charge. So yes, I need you a little bit, you got to do something, you can't sit back and just wait for it to happen, but once you've done the little bit, get out of my way. Stop adding and interfering and creating problems and adding layers. Get out of my way. And Rav Shlomo Zalman writes, he bemoans the fact that in the area where we're supposed to lessen, lower the knob of hishtadlus, initiative, and increase the emunah, Hashem I'm doing my initiative, I'm doing my part and now I'm getting out of your way, we do the... The opposite. This is an area where people do excessive ishtadlus. 17 reference calls, we need to see some bank statements, I'll need some laboratory, I'm going to have to have some blood samples. We add layers and layers and layers of problems. We find every reason to say no and not give a yes. We find every reason to have a problem instead of a solution. In the area where we're supposed to have less initiative and more faith, we have excessive initiative rather and less and less faith. But that's a danger. That's the danger of the fact that Hashem created the world now that we need initiative, that we need initiative. ואדם אינו יודע עד היכן מוטל עליו חובת השתדלות and it's lost on man. We didn't get a manual. There is no instruction book that says now that you need to take initiative, here is how much. Go home from work at 5 o'clock, 6 o'clock, 7 o'clock, 10 o'clock, 11 o'clock. What time should you go home from work? How much initiative do you have to take? Work eight hours a day, 10 hours a day, 14 hours a day. How much initiative do we need to take? Health. How far do we need to go in preserving and protecting our health? How much initiative do we have to take? Exercise a little bit, exercise a lot, exercise too much. How much? How much? ומתי אומרים לו השלך על ה' יהבך when do we say this pasuk that we love? We spoke about it a few months ago. תהלים פרק קפיטל נה פסוק כג Tehillim chapter 55 verse 23. השלך על ה' יהבך cast on Hashem all your problems, throw on Hashem all your issues. Throw it all on him, he's got it. When do we say that? ובודאי הוא דבר המסור לכל חד בדרגתו אך תורה היא וללמוד אנו צריכים עד כמה גדלה מידת הבטחון אצל צדיקים שהאמינו ובטחו בה' בישועתו. So where do we find this balance? When do we cast it all on Hashem and then we get back to my learning and my chesed and when do we say no, no, no, I've got to solve this. It's on me, it's on my shoulders, it's on my back. I've got to take the initiative, I've got to show the leadership. Where do you draw that line? Where are those boundaries? How do you find that balance? That is the magic question that we are going to explore together. We're going to explore together. Look at footnote kuf yud beis. Footnote 112. U'kemashalo this question is like the mashal of the Maggid mi'Dubna. The famous Maggid of Dubna in his אהל יעקב פרשת יתרו has the following. משל לעני שהיה הולך בדרך. There was a poor person who was on the way. וחבילתו על שכמו וכמשא כבד יכבד ממנו. He was carrying his package, his baggage, and it was incredibly heavy. ויפגע בו סוחר אחד נושא במרכבו רחבה and there was somebody who was who was traveling. There was a merchant who was going. ויאמר אל העני עלה אל המרכבה עלה על אל המרכבה climb in. So there was someone going in their wagon and they passed this poor person who is carrying this incredibly heavy baggage luggage and they said, nu, climb in, get in. ויעל וישב הסוחר נוסע לדרכו and they got in. ויפן הסוחר אחר כך לאחוריו עבור איזה ענין and now the wagon driver, this merchant, this wealthy man who's got the transportation, turns around and he sees the poor man who is sitting in the back העני יושב ומשאו על כתפו כאשר בתחילה. He's still holding onto the baggage on his shoulder. He's still holding it in his arms, he's still carrying it in his hands. V'yomar eilav he says, מה לך אתה לשאת? So why are you still holding onto it? הניחהו בקרון והקל מעליך. Put it down. Put it down and rest. Put it down and relax. Put it down and let go. שתסבול משא גופו תסבול עוד משא חבילתו? So what happened? Sorry, ויאמר העני די לך אדוני מה שתסבול משא גופי תסבול עוד משא חבילתי. I'm not putting it down because it's so nice of you and kind of you and it's bad enough that you have to carry me in the wagon. You also have to carry my luggage? I'm going to put it down? Amar lo so what does the wagon driver say? Fool. הלא גם בהיות המשא על שכמך מי נושא אותך? Even when it's on your shoulder, who's carrying it? It's still adding weight to the wagon just because it's in your arms or on your shoulder, fool. הנמשל אחר אשר כל העולם וכל הברואים כולם כביכול עליו יתברך. This whole world is being driven and operated by Hashem. What do you think? When we hold onto our baggage, when we hold our fist tight and we hold onto our problems and we hold onto our baggage and we hold tight to it all, what do we think? We're making it better for Hashem? He's already carrying the whole world. Put down the baggage, let it go, lighten your load. Hashem can carry it, he's got it, he's got it. אני עשיתי ואני אשא ואני אסבול. And if so, אין לך מה לדאוג על משא חבילתך הניחהו גם כן. So therefore whatever baggage you're carrying, whatever hardship or challenges, whatever struggles or suffering you're going through, put down your baggage, Hashem's got it. You lighten your load and he can carry it, it doesn't make it any heavier for him. That was the mashal, that was the parable of the Maggid mi'Dubna of the Dubna Maggid. How do we find that balance? In many ways it's what Pesach is all about. On the one hand Hashem says, certainly Makkas Bechoros, stay home, lock the door, there's nothing for you to do, I've got it. Fast forward a few days, standing opposite the sea, and the people say, okay God, you've got it. The Egyptians are running behind us, the sea is closed in front of us, we're panicking, this could be the end, but you taught us, you've got it. So what are they doing? They're davening. You've got it. And Hashem says, mah tiz'ak elai, what are you doing? Start walking. דבר אל בני ישראל ויסעו, what are you doing? What are you doing? You think you just sit back? You think you're just a spectator? You think you're just watching? Start walking, this is your krias yam suf moment. Start walking, start walking, start get going, get going, get going. So in Pesach itself, the chag ha'emunah, we have this tension. Are we supposed to stay home and lock the door and Hashem, you've got it, everything on the outside, or start walking? We're the ones to take the initiative, we're the ones who make the difference, we're the ones to solve the problem. Is it on Him, is it on us? How do we live in this world? How do we find that balance? And this is a very real, you'd say, halacha l'ma'aseh question. It's a halacha l'ma'aseh question. Halacha l'ma'aseh question. How many hours should you work? When do you call it a day and go home? How much do you have to do to heal yourself? And when do you say, I saw a doctor, do I need to get a second opinion? Or, it's in Hashem's hand anyway, so can't Hashem operate even through the local doctor, not the greatest expert on Earth that all the Jews have to go find and track down and go to? I think I mentioned once, we had a child from our community, ברוך השם בלי עין הרע, is better and married and healthy and a mother, but who was sick in Sloan Kettering and I went several times to visit in New York. And I saw there was a disproportionate number of religious Jews, Jewish children, and I asked someone there, what's the deal? Do Jewish children disproportionately chas v'shalom get cancer? And the person said to me, no, but Jewish families disproportionately insist on only going to Sloan Kettering. Because everyone else, the local hospital's good enough, they don't expect more, they don't have any more connections, they can't get in anywhere else, and that'll be good enough. But you know, and it's one of the beautiful things about about Jews, we have entire organizations that are dedicated, it's a beautiful thing. The cynic can say oh those Jews they need their connections, but it's a beautiful network of Jews who take care of total strangers. We have entire organizations that for free you make a phone call and say here's the condition, the malady, the illness, who do you recommend and how can you get us in? To places nobody can get in, the line is so long. Jackie Mason's whole routine, alav hashalom. My doctor is so good you can't get in to see him for five years, you know he has a whole routine about how good the doctor is and how long it is to see him, and yet these organizations, Rofeh Refuah, you have all these organizations. It's a beautiful beautiful thing. But do we need it? Why show that hishtadlus? Why not just say, Hashem is the real doctor, so like I don't know, flip through the phone book, whoever you get go see and Hashem is going to operate through their hands. That's emunah. Or do you do the hishtadlus that says get a second opinion, a third opinion, track down the mumcheh, go to the expert, insist, break in, get an appointment today? Someone needs an MRI. Everybody else waits till you can get the MRI. Jews say, who do I know that I can get an MRI within the hour? Why why do we need that hishtadlus? Maybe get the MRI whenever it is that you got the opening to get the appointment? If you're in Israel it's a three months. If you're a... just whenever you get the MRI. Show the... this is a halacha l'ma'aseh shaylah. Hishtadlus or emunah? What's what's the answer? How much effort and how much faith? How do we figure that out? You're running a campaign to build a campus, to transform a world. Do you work on it from morning to night, or do you say Hashem someone send somebody to knock on the door and just drop off the money and to announce that they had a few extra million they weren't sure what to do with, so they're giving it to you? That has not happened yet, by the way. This is a halacha l'ma'aseh shaylah in all these areas. And that's why next week we'll pick up with it. What do we do? How do we draw those boundaries? What's that winning formula? But that's what Pesach's all about. This is also, this is a... I'll end with this. This is a conversation for the Pesach table. Maybe not the Seder table, maybe yes the Seder table, but if not the Seder table, you know you're also allowed to talk about holy things even during the other even during the other meals of Pesach as well. You're also allowed to talk about holy things. So these are the conversations that should happen. What's freedom? What's freedom? By the way, when you are enslaved to initiative you're not free. When you're a slave to it all being up to me. When you're a slave to micromanaging. When you're a slave to power trip. When you're a slave to being in charge and in control. When you're enslaved to being a control freak, you're a slave. Some people have to liberate themselves from being a control freak. It's not a very nice name, we don't really call anyone else a freak. How come the person who likes to take control is called a freak? What? They don't call anyone else a freak. On behalf of control freaks, I'm insulted. We don't call anyone else a freak. That's not nice. But anyway, trying to be less freakish. But but that's also being enslaved, we're enslaved to the to the needing to be in control, needing to have power, needing to solve problems, needing to manage everything, micromanage everything. That's a conversation for Pesach. How do we liberate ourselves? But then you have other people who say fake and fraudulent emuna, they hide behind counterfeit emuna. Oh, you know why I sleep in, you know why I don't work hard, you know why I didn't study for the test, you know why I don't go to the doctor, you know why I don't work out? It's all in Hashem's hands. That's the freak. We'll call them a fake emuna freak. That's not so this is a conversation for Pesach, where's the balance? How do we strike the balance? What does Hashem want from us? What do we learn from the first days of Pesach and the second days of Pesach? How do we find the balance between the first days and the second days and figure it all out together, im yirtzeh Hashem we'll pick up with it next week. Please remain for all of Sefer Tehillim, certainly on behalf of the two soldiers whose names we just mentioned, משה בן יהודית שולמית and Shmuel Akiva, Akiva Shmuel, Akiva, עקיבא בן יהודית שולמית and משה בן יהודית שולמית and all the soldiers, please stay to finish all of Sefer Tehillim.
