Living With Emunah (Part 257) - Your World

welcome back to living with emuna I want to thank our generous sponsors of the series for the year always grateful to Dr zombie and Bella Morgan in memory over by Dr Brian Gavin thank you and Dr Ellen chancer and Bella's mother Dr Ellen chanser big thank you to the Morgan's also this morning share is dedicated anonymously for their full your good news Speedy painless and complete refusalema and seems almost our weekly sponsor Carol Wald for the reformed shlema of Yvette Cabo we should continue to hear of her Hashem doing well she should continue to do well and be back at the emuna shear soon okay we are continuing in Tiffany rubinovic is wonderful safe for dealing with emuna how can we grow how can we live how can we exercise we've given so many Michelle and so many metaphors for emuna is a Muna and muscle that you exercise and work out and grow and if you don't engage and employ a Muna then it will atrophy and then it will die bring your own coffee with Islam our coffee's not good enough that's my wife in case anyone's watching I'm gonna get a letter you were so rude to one of the women in the amunisher it's okay it's just my way no just joking I'm just only the best for her the best coffee only the best so um only the best milkshake where was I oh is it a muscle that we have to work out and exercise otherwise it will atrophy and die or maybe a moon of the greater metaphor we've been giving the example maybe yamuna are the glasses that we wear they are the goggles through which we View and engage and interpret and experience the world you could look at the world and all you see is what's on the surface or you could put a moon glasses and you see Hashem everywhere you see Hashem behind every leaf and every bug and every ray of sunshine you see Hashem through every experience every red light every open parking spot you see Hashem through the good the bad the pleasurable the painful if you wear the immunoglasses and see Hashem and we gave the metaphor for some people they wear glasses sometimes they're wearing them sometimes they're not for others they put in their lenses they sleep in them they wear them for a week at a time and yet for others they get LASIK surgery corrective surgery so that you now permanently see properly you see straight with emuna even then I had Lasik many years ago even though when you get older you need the reading glasses so even then your amuna is never a given it always needs work you need the reading glasses to be able to see up close with emuna no matter what stage of life you are you are in so it's never done you never have a Muna you never finished with them you never acquired amuna it is a way of life it's a way of being it's a way that you engage the world that's what William was telling us we last left off last week it was describing based on the Posse in Malachi that is our mission our ambition or to be like malach I'm like angels angels have no doubt no uncertainty Angels don't live in this world where they're trying to navigate and figure it out and find Hashem they live with an absolute confidence they live with an absolute certainty they live with a clarity they see Hashem all around them and that's our mission to live that way as well this world is just so temporary it's so fleeting it's so finite we are mere mortals we're literally just passing through enjoy it engage it but don't confuse don't confuse eternity with it is a contemporary still alive in new Shalom today he is borrowing a phrase from the opening of you've heard me speak about this many times one of my favorite expressions in all of Torah literature where the ram Khal says that yasoda is what is the core the core of everything I gave a talk last week to the women of the mission who were down here from around the country and we spoke about this finding your mission you could find it online if you want finding your mission begins his magnificent magnum opus and he says the source and the foundation of all existence the root of all meaning and purpose is to ask yourself not what can I get but what can I give not what are my rights and entitlements what are my duties and obligations not okay I'm in this world God what do you owe me but I'm in this world God what do I owe your world what have I been given what position am I in what talents what skills what blessings what resources what wisdom what work what can I give this world doesn't say that he doesn't say that in here of gamliel quoting also doesn't say it it doesn't say what's my duty my obligation my mission in the world what does it say translate the word Hola MO olamo means in your world each and every one of us are our own world we have our own world we live in our own world and some people are in their own world in a very narcissistic egocentric way and it's horrible some people are in the whole world as if the whole world revolves around their world so you could Retreat into your own world in a very very harmful destructive sometimes even abusive manipulative way however even if one is not in the wrong way we are or we are all our own world in a positive sense do we not have our own world our own DNA our own baggage our own background our own Paco our own people our own things that we're going through we are each our own world our world exists what takes us out of our world our Kenneth uncovered on the bishnayas and perkier must keep referring to what are the three things that hold up the world what are the three things that remove us from the world it's talking about our world our world to wake up and make it through a day we are each our own world and we're trying to manage and navigate our world and we should stop competing and comparing our world with others stop comparing our marriage with someone else's marriage our children with someone else's children are resources with what other resources others have it's not a competition it's not a comparison go find out who you are and what you're all about to try to live a life of avoda to serve Hashem in competition or comparison with others so the Islam recalls Zara means strange Zara means unfamiliar Zara means foreign it's not your avodha that's avode Zara to try to compete and compare to keep up with others that's an avoda which is Zara stop it look at your world sit in focus and contemplate and evaluate and reflect and have a self-awareness what's my world what stage of Life am I in who are the people around me what opportunities do I have what are my strengths and what are my weaknesses and now what's my what's my obligation person has to make a Kenyan now all that begins with the surrender that there's Hashem in the world he created the world and he has a reason that he put me in it I'm not here by chance I'm not random I'm not random I don't want to get crude but there was a guy I went to Yeshiva with whose nickname growing up he only came to teach I only met him in Yeshiva his nickname growing up was oops his oldest sibling was many years older than him can imagine can imagine it's not cute how horrible for a kid to grow up thinking he was an accident he was unplanned it's a terrible thing today's day and age you know he'd grow up he'd write a book he'd say his parents they'd be arrested make a lot of money but then then when we were much less sensitive I didn't give him that name I didn't know until he was an adult I first met him After High School in Yeshiva what a horrible thing what a horrible thing because he's younger than his next oldest sibling and it was obvious to all including him that it was not a planned this was not a planned existence but the truth is every one of us is a planned existence we wouldn't be here if it weren't the result of love and connection if it weren't the result of hashem's will if Hashem didn't want that to yield Anu nishama in this world they we wouldn't be here there is no one there is no one who exists he's random there's no one who exists his chance there's no one who exists who's not meant to be or not meant to be here in the way that they are I spoke last night on a zoom to an amazing group called of uh it's a group of women who are navigating mental health challenges and they have an online support group and it's not recorded and it's private and they're an amazing group those who organize it and host it and those who have the courage to attend it and to navigate it and I was blown away and inspired but one of the things I spoke about one of the things that became clear from them and I've heard from all who navigate a world of mental health their world is a complicated World their world is a world which is not spinning smoothly on its axis it's a world that can be filled with hurricanes and earthquakes and tsunamis it's a world which has all kinds of storms to it is that people feel in their world they feel invisible they feel inconsequential they feel they don't matter we talked about the role they invited me to speak about the role of rub on them the role of community what can rabbis and Robinsons be doing and the issues of mental health which for too long nobody spoke about and nobody addressed and nobody focused on nobody validated nobody felt created a safe space to come for help for love for support nobody created a network work and I said system the same way if somebody God forbid was struck with a physical illness would kick in to high gear with all kinds of support the same thing should be people feel invisible and consequential why am I here why did he make me like this does anyone know does anyone even care do I even do I even matter and the answer is no we have to know there's no such thing there's no one who's an oops there's no such thing as random or chance if you're here if we woke up this morning Hashem your faith in me is great Hashem your faith in me with my beauty and with my pimples and warts your faith in me with my strength and with my weaknesses your your faith in me at my highs and your faith in me even when you've seen my lows if I woke up again today it's because you still believe in me because I'm not done yet it's because you have faith and you have faith you have faith in me my existence is not random or chance I'm Not Invisible or inconsequential the whole world exists for me all of it everything in it the billions of people on the globe and the breakthroughs of technology and the wonders of nature all of it is just for me Hashem you created all of it and you I woke up this morning all of the Bismillah it's all from me not in a self-centered way it's all for me everyone and everything is here to serve me but it's all for me that's how much you believe in me that's how much you love me that's how much you have faith in my future and now now that I believe that let me look around at This Magnificent world that you created and now let me look at my world and my world with all of its wonderful opportunities but in my world also with all of its challenges and now in my world why am I here what difference am I meant to make and I can tell you what the answers are not what the answer is is different for every one of us as I said I spoke about Atlant last week I've spoken about it before and I'm still working on figuring it out for myself that's why I keep speaking about it I can't tell you what it is it's different for each and every one of us I can tell you what it's not we are not in this world to accumulate and amass the most things because the best things in life are not things art bookwall said the great best things in life are not things so there's nothing wrong with things have nice things enjoy nice things nothing wrong with it Hashem he created those nice things for us he created those nice things for us a great steak deliciously cooked steak some good onions that's for you to explore the beautiful nature of this world we spoke in the pasture class yesterday about the tadiq and the righteous people would go to zoos to be able to see the animals and to take in the safaris and to see hashem's creations and his world he created it for us enjoy enjoy the Aromas and the fragrances enjoy the tastes and the textures enjoy explore this world nothing wrong with it live within your means don't go beyond it but if your means enable you enjoy the beauty of this world but don't ever confuse that's why we're here those are means not ends those are instruments and vehicles to pursue our agenda of why we're here and we are not here to have the most things the best things in life are not things you can't take any of them with you we are not here to have the most things we are here to make the biggest difference we are here to have the biggest impact we are here to leave the greatest Legacy that's why we're here but in order to do that you have to know there's a Hashem because without Hashem there's no afterlife there's no world to come there is no Legacy there is no immortality without Hashem Carpe Diem why not enjoy take it all in live that moment seize the moment it's when you believe in our immortality when you believe that there is eternity when you believe there is a forever and all of the Here and Now is temporary and fleeting and it's just a platform to express our free will to make a difference that's when we can really live life that's when we can live life so the Hebrew of the world if you look around the world we're in and I keep driving this point home because I believe it's an enormous challenge that we have to speak about we're living in the most prosperous time ever and we're living the most unhappy time ever because when a person thinks that the purpose of life is prosperity and pleasure then it leads to unhappiness and misery and substance use and anxiety and mental health challenges when a person says the purpose of this life is not pleasure it may be pleasure but the greatest pleasure is to get high on God the greatest pleasure is the greatest pleasure is nothing physical it's nothing I smoke nothing I inject it's nothing I swallow it's not an edible nothing I drink the greatest pleasure in the world is to know I'm here for a reason and it's to find out what that reason is and to fulfill that reason to make that difference to find that Legacy to leave that impact so then then life has meaning and purpose then you can be joyful and happy and happy but I was up I'm an apostle that's the Posse in Micheline says to his son turn your heart to me why does he ask for his heart not his head why the heart not the head isn't that the place of wisdom the head is the place of thought and thinking that is the place of analysis and conclusions so turn your head to me what do you mean your heart the answer is the greatest distance between any two things in this world is the distance between our head and our heart how many things do we know up here how long does it take to filter to come down here how much do we know up here stop yelling and getting angry at your kids it won't make anything better stop eating those things that are bad for us at the wrong times of night that we shouldn't be eating them don't get too little sleep it's not good for you don't feel envy your job all the things that we know we know up here do they make their way down here so that's why that's why it begins up if you had that we have to know and that's why Shiloh says my son turn your heart to me don't just know it in your head let it filter down to your heart as far as the East is from the West as far as the farthest farthest two points on the globe is the distance between our intellect and our emotions and that's what the ikara Voda the core of aravada is to feel wake up and feel there are so many intellectual Jews who know a lot analyze a lot learn a lot memorize a lot one might argue this is a big challenge in our Jewish educational system where we spend the entire time making them memorize learn study memorize spit back what about feel what about open your heart feel maybe it'll get an A in my class you need to cry not because of how hard the final was but because of the comets I want to see you emote I want to see something maybe in order to succeed in Excel maybe academic grades should not be how much did you memorize but how much did you transform how much did you grow how much did you feel how much did you experience experiential learning not just only the head so much of our education and so many schools their programming it speaks only to the Head we got to speak to the heart and we got to speak to the soul because the future of the Jewish people is also the head you can't you can't practice and you can't observe if you don't know of course the centrality of Total Learning total study total knowledge but all the knowledge in the world if you don't feel how about inspiration how about inspiration to feel the darkness of life to feel that why am I here what's it all about and what mission do I wake up every morning feeling you could know from heinza Morgan you could know everything is true and right that won't make you do you've got to feel you gotta feel passion and enthusiasm and alacrity and love and awe and the whole range and gamut of emotions feel what does a marriage look like when the person says well yes intellectually I believe you check all the boxes of what I'm looking for and according to my calendar I said I love you three and a half weeks ago I'm on schedule for how many times I'm supposed to recite I love you and intellectually oh that's nice a little connection a little energy A Little Romance a little electricity a little longing a little love a little something not just all up here where's the heart where's the heart says the same thing if you're going to pursue and fulfill the tacos of why you're here it doesn't just happen upstairs it's got to happen it's gonna happen in the heart I used to go to square a lot for Shabbos I went for yantef when I was younger and uh not to romanticize any Community is perfect but there's a lot of energy and a lot of passion a lot of experiential Yiddish kite there that I used to be renewed recharged with you talked to see them they were the gartel agartal separates between the upper body the lower body the heart the erva the Quest for Holiness which is the base part of the human being that could bring a person down said to me you lit Vox I guess then I was alive nobody accused me anymore I said you lit box you wear a tie you know why you're separating between The Head and the Heart we separate between the heart and the ervah you wear the tie around your neck you're separating between The Head and the Heart okay I can see them don't wear a tie instead of wearing the tie around the neck they wear the gartel around the waist people wear both believe me if I could get rid of the tie I get rid of the tie I'm not wearing the tie because I want to the gargle of the neck the uh you know the Noose around around the neck but you can't separate The Head and the Heart they have to talk to each other that's why the Torah says who do you send home from war somebody who's faint of heart you send home for more because who is this villain a person who speaks and instead of speaking to a room full of women but when men put on fill in they're forbidden to speak or interrupt between putting on the thrilling of the arm and the thrilling of the head tones can't speak or interrupt it's got to do all in one motion without interruption speak before you can speak when you're done can't speak in between that's a person you sent home for more that's all egregious that's so terrible that's who you send down for more not somebody who cheats and steals in business that's who you send them for more the person who couldn't help but their friend walked in and they said something in between sirosh so I once suggested that maybe it means a person who speaks between The Head and the Heart is on the head so a person who speaks in between is separating The Head and the Heart someone who lives with a separation between the heart head in the heart we can't afford for them to be a soldier in our army and to go to war what happens when their Superior says this is the plan this is what we have to do they heard it up here but it didn't make it over here that's not who you want to be giving you cover that's not who you want to be fighting in the front lines with that's who you sent home from war if we can't live Where The Head and the Heart talk to each other where they're sinking one with the other then we're in trouble that's who we send home that's who we send home so it says that a person has to totally is we have to live with our whole being you know the whole idea of shuckling a person when they die when they shuck or they get into it the whole idea of shuckling is all of my being is screaming out not you know I'm sitting back on the couch lying down while I'm davening while I'm saying to tell them let me just check let me just get rid of this obligation let me just be done with this let me just say I did it that's not tomorrow it's my whole being is so excited so excited to have Bobby anxiety we used to visit the marigo park Leia mashalem if they knew we were coming they were outside on the street waiting they were so excited they're like they weren't at the apartment you knock on the door then they're there right oh by the elevator they were they were waiting they were waiting it wasn't like yeah the doors open come in but the Price Is Right is on I'm not getting up come in you know Jeopardy's on I'm not getting up come in I'm learning the duff I'm not getting up we signal and we communicate with quotes like come here give me a big hug come here so excited my whole being is in this relationship it's not just up here intellectually you're here let yourself in I duly acknowledge Your Existence and your presence I'm giving you the biggest bear ugh I'm gonna squeeze you and break you in half I'm so excited I'm gonna walk you out let me walk you back because we're worried it doesn't walk you back and I'll walk you back all of my being I'm so excited I'm so excited very often at the end of a Tish this past week at the end of Charlotte it's not every week it shallow shoot us the special should us depending on the mood should have said the singing is like everyone's so into it that we spontaneously stood and locked arm and arm and dance in place and sing a fast niggan and everybody just caught I don't want this to end except for the people in the other room where I can't wait for Shabbos to end they're looking at the clock and judging us and I understand I'm in trouble now I gotta this week we gotta end on time but the rest of us said time what's time there's no clock in a casino and there's no clock at shellishers there's no time there are places and there are experiences where there is no time there's no time I'm not making it up there's no clock in a casino because they don't want you to ever be aware of what time it is right there's no windows right the department stores also department stores casinos in places where they don't want you to be focused on what time it is or how long you've been there with no clocks no clocks we Big Clock control Rabbi you need to make sure you can see the clock while you're speaking cousin you got to see the clock we have big clocks casinos and department stores have no windows or clocks we we live with the clock says there's no clock everything about who I am have you ever been somewhere music comes on and you got a little skipping you just can't help it people there they're not there they think you're weird they see they don't see the camera catches it doesn't there's just anything outside of this we wake up every day with an understanding and a focus on who am I why am I here what am I meant to do what am I meant to accomplish what is my life meant to be about what is my everything what is my everything do we have that but he talks about singular minded Focus is tamidam will tell you they just celebrated a major anniversary of their of their Yeshiva all the stamina spanning all the years including Rabbi Brody we've been there for a short time did you know that Mrs Brody Osama didn't tell them for a short time so Rabbi mizama talks about single-minded Focus what is that he said it comes from the dominant single-minded Focus means when I wake up in the morning there is no confusion who I am and what I'm all about I'm I'm giving these personal stories not to focus on ourselves but just because they're illustrations but I picked on her before with her coffees and I'll tell you something nice email address tells you everything about her her email address on those who are longing and want to have children should be blessed with children no you're going to get a lot of emails is goldbergmom gmail.com it's just it's not by the way it's not goldbergwife gmail.com you'll notice the essence of her being there's no confusion singular minded Focus when you wake up in the morning till you fall at night who am I what makes me tick what animates my day what take ups my energy what's my identity what's my identity wake me up in the middle of the night who am I goldbergmama gmail.com that's that's what it is that's that's who that's who I am so the Yahoo Irish single minded what's my mission why am I here and that will inform everything would I choose for a career what I bring to the work that I do how I interact at the gym or the supermarket what mission and and what mentality What atmosphere I'm trying to raise my children what does my Shabbos table look like what are my priorities in shopping everything single-minded Focus love and awe of you advancing perfecting your world redeeming repairing this world giving not what can I take what can I give not one of my rights and entitlements what are my duties and obligations why am I here I'm now whoops I'm no random I'm no chance I'm here for a reason and I'm here for a mission and now I've single-minded Focus I wake up in the morning why am I here why am I here soldier in the Army wakes up there's no confusion oh what am I supposed to do today where do I go today can I sleep in today what am I today a Navy SEAL has a single minded Focus Hashem wakes up with a single-minded focus enable us to harness and focus our heart a single-minded focus single-minded focus I am here to get high on you Hashem I want to get high on you I want to sing and dance I want to burst into movement with all of my being called I want to get high on you and I want to be a drug dealer and the drug that I'm dispensing is getting high on Hashem nobody should clip that part of this and just promote that but the drug I'm dispensing you know I heard that there's a problem these days someone told me we should address it but I heard I haven't seen it that people now in Shabbos morning are coming to shul high Edibles they bring Edibles they come High that's how they get through shul they used to be at like sneak out during school or after school where you sat down lingered after schools I understand now there's a big phenomenon of people it's the most you're replacing the most authentic high with the most counterfeit one it's it's replacing the most authentic shul is the place of the most authentic High shows the place that you come and you say I'm leaving all my problem or I'm bringing all my problems but I can unload them and burning them I connect with you it's the place of classroom inside tomorrow I'm part of a community of people who bring out the best in me who don't judge me who warmly welcome me who we feel United and connected and supporting one another to get high on Hashem Let's get high on God together that's how chakras should begin every day someone should give a clap and say Let's get high together that's what it should be that's what it should be never on us not even judgment on the people who are coming the wrong way what are we doing wrong that instead of coming to get the authentic eye someone needs to have a counterfeit High just to get through what should be the authentic eye what are we doing wrong we need to sing and love and listen and welcome and warmly Embrace and make it a safe space comfortable welcoming supportive space and it has to be the place that a person can't wait to go to get high on Hashem it's a big problem it's a big problem for so many reasons but one of them being that you're dafka it's a counterfeit High the Edibles and all the other things they're numbing you to escape any of these Highs are all designed for you to escape your reality that's why they're there and that's why people get hooked and addicted to them ask anyone who works in the recovery space person it's never about the alcohol or the drug or the gambling or the online it's never about that those are vehicles for the person who's numbing themselves to escape a reality which is so painful it's a reality which is so painful and that could be because of abuse because of neglect because of failing relationships because of low self-esteem because of mental health there's a million and one factors of why a person says my reality is so painful I need to not be in it as often and as long as possible I need to be sleeping or if I have to be awake let me at least be escaping it using one of these agents and the answer anyone in recovery will tell you is not to focus on the agent they're using to numb and to escape it's to figure out how to make reality a place you want to be not to escape from how to change that reality so the reality is a place that you want to live in not be numb to not be numb to so if a person needs to use Edibles or get high or be drunk in order to be in school in order to be in davening what a reflection on how difficult that reality is for them we need to change that reality because that's the reality that you get high on Hashem that's the place that's the place to get high on God we can and we should so what if we're not what if it's hard what if that reality we want to be numb we've tried we listen to them want to share we learn we're going through those motions we have the children we've had the chicken soup we went to the Tish we didn't want to stand and dance we did it to fit in what do you do then what do you do then that's what we'll start with next week in musician even though Toshiba week we're still here if you're not here you can watch live listen later but we're going to have nonetheless nonetheless I'm going to share doesn't break for Yeshiva week so we'll still uh we'll still be continuing yeah get high on YouTube but you'll have to wait in line and can't get parking but you could get high in the shipwig we'll pick up with the missions until next time stay happy stay healthy stay holy and stay high