Part 94: When Words Don’t Work, Try Action

okay good morning everyone want to thank dor for sponsoring again in memory of their beloved daughter whose should have an Aliyah okay we essentially finished that piece in RI in alore and I thought before we go on to just a random piece on amuna in general this paraa is the paraa last week we last several weeks we were discussing the relationship of amuna and on the one hand andas the relationship between initiative and Free Will and uh faith and amuna so the para the main source for this discussion is our paraa when the Jewish people are boxed in we referenced it in the par class a little bit but we didn't fully expand on it when the Jewish people are boxed in when we're stuck between literally The Rock and the hard place the mitm are pursuing us from behind and the sea is blocking us from in front the Jewish people do exactly what you would think was the appropriate or correct thing for them to do what are they doing titak why did Hashem first respond in Egypt what were they doing that made Hashem respond they were soim they were crying out they were calling out to Hashem so here again they're stuck and when a person feels stuck what are they supposed to do I would think when a person feels stuck the best thing to do is to DAV and you what does Hashem do he says close the tum close the sitter what are you doing for stop doing and start doing and start doing and all the commentaries and all discussion that's why I say this is Ground Zero for the discussion of the relationship between initiative and effort on the one hand and faith in a on the other so this is a piece in the we'll study together the commentaries all ask why isem saying why are you calling out to me what else is there for a Jew to do we Jews have been trained in training our children that when we feel stuck a when we're in a moment of Crisis we should Inuit it that we call out to hasem Pinkus and describes that that a Jew needs to develop their intuition that when you're worried when you're anxious when there's something which is a sense of urgency the intuition is to cry out to Hashem just like a person says ouch when they get hurt so you say ouon sh when something hurts and he describes there that when you hear a siren an ambulance goes by then you stop and you sayon shal I don't know what that's about I don't know if that's a woman in labor I don't know if that's a person had a heart attack I don't know what it's about shom give help them you have a thought you turn to Hashem you hear a siren you see an emergency there's a problem we're taught that as Jews what we do is our intuition our spiritual 911 is that there's an emergency you call hasem so if that's what we're taught to do why here is Hashem criticizing why is he saying stop doing stop crying stop calling out and start doing what else is the Judah do as the P says from the matar is from the boundary from the border from a PA from a place of the narrow Straits from a place of feeling the world is closing in on you what do I do when I feel the world is closing in on me what do I do when I feel anxious or worried or fearful I call out to you was a place I call out to you so why is HEM saying why are you crying out if you ever come to a Goldberg seder you'll hear to S so is that right yeah if you push her after class I'm sure maybe even though it's not PES shall share it with you now so last night we studied today's the site of the author of The and last night we had the class on him and uh first of all it was it was my mind was blown because at the end of an hour and a half class where i' done some research and read several articles books and put together his biography and we studied some of his and we understood or we tried to analyze the transformation he went through VAR anti-zionist a close Confidant of the the into his which is kind of the textbook of religious Zionism and at the end of the Class A woman stands up and she says my mid name is TA that was my great-grandfather and and tells family stories it was it was really uh it was really unbelievable why am I telling you because today's aite and I wanted to learn a little piece of his difference Farm last night you could find this class online on W Torah if you like with the PowerPoint and the sour sheets so we learned the piece from his mishna s on para and he asked this question there why is Hashem criticizing what are you calling out to me and he quotes his re the greenal the who I've told several stories about because y's grandfather was in the camp with in the Barrack with the who he credited with saving his life and his longevity he credited with the BR he got from the so the answers this question quoted by in AER that the says that when a righteous person says something hasem makes nature conform the world conforms to what the sadic is go there so Hashem was saying to Moshe why are you daving why are the people daving you're a sadic just be go there as a sadic just say hey see split and the world will conform to what the sadic states and this was he's quoting the on an Insight with Miriam when Miriam is struck with SAS he says a short instead of a long because goes this was the when Moshe wasn't allowed entry into Israel because he hit the rock and there's 101 opinions what exactly did he do wrong when he hit the rock instead of speaking to the Rock so the says you know what he did wrong he should have realized go all mosha had to do was say rock be a water fountain and it would have been a water fountain but he didn't because his humility was so great he didn't see himself as aad or didn't want to use the superpower of thead and that was the mistake that's why he was criticized so the soing says maybe that's the here why you daving to me you're aad I've been given you capacity goes it's a very notion the doctrine of Theus is very much built on the notion of the doctrine of the tadic you attach yourself to the tadic and part of your aod to Theon is through attaching yourself to thead not worshiping thead but the sadic having a special closeness and confidence and relationship with Hashem that one can attach themselves to Hashem through thead it's known this is the doctrine of aad the idea of eating shim you eat the shim of aad of a Reb so when that sadic ate the food when you and I eat the food it's for our Bo we're freshing on the food because we love food we're Foodies it's delicious when the Tad eats the food he's only eating the food to live and he transforms the food from food into something a spiritual nourishment so he has transformed the status of the food if we can get leftovers of that food we eat the and so on and so forth the doctrine of thead so that piece by who was a himself and very close with so that doctrine of the that's how he answers the but come back to so why is hm criticizing close the sitter close the what are you daving start walking the whole way that we first got out of redemption was first launched by our crying out to so it worked once why wouldn't you try it again the whole Catalyst for the Redemption it began because we cried out what is wrong with crying out says the following the attribute of divine justment was MRI it was Prosecuting the Jewish people and it was saying what do you think the Egyptians are so wicked and evil and such pagans the Jews aren't such Hot Stuff themselves they've become assimilated they've become influenced they too are idolators in Egypt the low and hashem's compassion was not enough to be able to offet or to be able to balance the prosecuting voice answer by the says the prosecuting voice whatever that means the prosecuting Angels telling hasem don't have compassion on this pathetic people you think they're so worthy and the mm are So Unworthy they're no different they're both a group of pagans the Jews too wor shab Idols you're going to interfere with nature to save them ah let nature take its course whatever happens happens let the Egyptians get them cuz the Jews aren't much better Hashem says you know they got a fair point the Jews have not demonstrated they're so much better they too are idolators and pagans so how do you respond how do you offset how you negate the prosecuting voice theem says you know what don't D to me I don't have the power to overcome I don't have a good response to that Prosecuting voice you know what the only response to that Prosecuting voice voice is you need to demonstrate amuna the prosecuting voice is saying that you also don't have amuna you're a bunch of pagans and idolators the only answer the only antidote to that voice is to demonstrate through your actions that that's not true that you in fact have incredible faith that you have amuna and this is similar to what we discussed in the last several weeks that the ran the notion that hisas effort and initiative are not are not the opposite of amuna taking effort and showing initiative does not detract from the faith we have in fact it's the opposite it is an expression of faith and I'll say further the more improbable and the more unlikely that the effort you're about to undertake will be successful the greater it is an expression of am and that you have so when you do something that's likely not going to work it's a long shot you do an experimental treatment you go see another doctor you try something one more time you give it one more shot you go above and beyond and extend yourself you take a risk which makes no sense when you go above and beyond and you do something which is improbable borderline impossible what you're saying is Reon I put my trust and my faith in you but I know you like to operate through the natural world so I'm going to give you an opportunity to do something special here I'm going to give you an opportunity to do something special here the any great Shalom an extraordinary woman from our community a great teacher mother friend who passed away this year chose eight years she lived with her brain tumor eight years she lived with her diagnosis and didn't tell anyone didn't even tell her family for a long time and certainly didn't tell even her closest friends literally no one knew she lived heroically so a couple things that are important to be said one is that this is not this is not necessary for everybody this is not the standard it's not the default it was what was right for her and no one should feel bad if they need help turn for help and support tell other people rely on them for their filos there certainly is a perspective in Judaism that one should tell as many people as possible to invoke their filos but at the beginning of Her diagnosis eight years ago she went to a great God a great POS and wanted to know whether it was legitimate and Justified for her not to share not to tell people she didn't want to feel she was a neb or a source of pity she didn't want to feel dependent and Reliant she want didn't want to be fined by her illness she wanted life to go on as normal as possible and for 7 and A2 years that strategy worked for her husband and for her children it was extraordinary so the PO told her that what she had in fact was so dire and we know tragically that that diagnosis not for everybody please God there are Miracles but is very dire that he said you know if people know about it and you were to have longevity and survive it would be a miracle to challenge to do a miracle we don't do that the less if people don't know and he were to perform a miracle nobody would know you're giving Hashem the outlet you're giving him the ability to do a miracle where it wouldn't be a revealed miracle and he's more likely and it's easier and he's more predisposed to do a miracle which is not a revealed Miracle than a revealed Miracle thought that was a very very interesting answer I don't know that it was a proscriptive answer meaning he wouldn't tell anyone with that that they have to do that but that was her inclination she wanted it and he found Source in for her to be able to to live the way that she wanted so we have this principle this idea that doesn't interfere with nature doesn't violate nature he set nature in motion and for the most part it is in motion only in extraordinary circumstances for Extraordinary People would he interfere with nature so the more we doas when we take initiative when we do things when we take action we're inviting Hashem to be able we're giving him an opening we're enabling him to do his thing so says the here the MRE the prosecuting voice is saying these Jewish people aren't worthy if you're doing a miracle so says you know what you're right they're doing to me and putting it all on me forget about it you can't delegate responsibility you got to be my partner what are you willing to risk where's your skin in the game what are you willing to do what initiative are you willing to take are you willing to believe in the improbable are you willing to put Faith In The Impossible are you willing to risk and not does exactly that he starts walking and he takes the ultimate risk because the water goes up to his ankles and his knees and his waist and his shoulders and his mouth and it's about to go to his nose when splits the sea you know there are times that our doing just doesn't work there are times that are daving in thei tells us by the way because of this TI of morning we're not wearing and we limit Theos that we say we don't say we don't really do bakha there are times we're so alienated from Theon that he says you know what I'm not really interested in your words I don't really want to hear what you have to say sometimes people can be so alienated from one another a husband and wife parents and children can be so hurt a relationship can be so damaged you say save it I'm not interested in what you have to say they're empty words they're hot air I don't want to hear it I can't even talk to you right now I can't even hear that from you right now so the turned to the Jewish people and he says and this is how we feel Tish of morning we sit low to the ground no tals noin we don't say our f for prayers says save your hot air save your empty words it's too late the damage has been done your action speaks so much louder than your words possibly could so there are times that ouros are empty we're saying k I love you and you're amazing and I want to have loyalty to you and I'm asking you to do this for me and he looks at us and he says are you kidding save your empty words save your hot air but you know even in those moments even in those moments and the same again is true in the human relationships a husband and a wife parents and children friends where the relationship has been damaged borderline broken and there aren't words that can heal there aren't words that can repair but what can still repair action demonstrating loyalty and love don't tell me and don't pledge and don't promise show me show me put it into action when a Jew says you know I'm not just putting it into words Hashem I'm going through crisis and I'm not just going to open my tum I'm not just going to put it all on you I'm going to demonstrate that I believe in you I'm going to show that I put on my faith in you not just with words anyone can say words not everybody says words but we could say words it's easy open a sitter open a to Hill and start talking to God God please spare me God please save me God please intervene God please do and I don't mean to minimize the power of words because communication is the essence of a relationship I met last week with somebody not from our community came for advice because he's having struggling with daving and to his great credit he's not going to daving he stopped daving altogether and he doesn't like who he's become and how he feels and he wants to address that I give him remarkable credit I told him as long as he's in the struggle he's already won plenty of people have experienced that they've stopped struggling he's in the struggle and I said it's a similar answer I gave I was on a panel at Young Israel Deerfield last week they talked about uh people talking during daving and daving and how you grow in daving I said you know the challenge I heard this from a great Rabbi n the challenge is that we focus on daving but really the emphasis is not daving it's being a daver what's the difference between daving and daver daving is do I understand the words I'm saying am I articulating them correctly am I on the right pace am I in the right page am I in the right place with the seor that's daving daver is am I having a conversation with Hashem do I believe in him do I believe he's listening do I believe he cares what I have to say do I believe he'll respond to what I have to say am I having a genuine authentic conversation with Hashem so I said to this young man who came to me I said you know you're very focused on daving why aren't you interested in daving why doesn't daving do it for you how can you get back into daving all great questions but you know if you look at a relationship and there's a breakdown in communication then you have to look at the whole relationship communication is a symptom of the relationship in general so you have to look at the relationship are you in love are you invested in the relationship are you making time do you feel the presence do you feel loyalty to the other communication is one part of a greater relationship SOB says K is telling the Jewish people communication is important that's great talk to me but you know what if your actions are not consistent with your words your words don't do it you don't get to neglect and ignore Hashem and you don't dominating to Hashem can't just be one of the things on your checklist well I went to doctor and I did this and I took the vitamins and I did here and oh yeah superstitiously I also want to make sure I davened if I don't Daven then then the thing may not work out so on my list of superstitions that I do are the initiatives I take and the superstitions I follow and one of the superstitions I follow is check I said myum I did my davening I took care of my my uh talking to Hashem I I wasn't focused on one word I don't know one word I said I'm not even sure he's listening I don't feel his presence I don't really trust him I don't put my faith in him but check I did my doing says in that case what do you think you get away with just calling out to me and I'm going to come to the rescue no no no no no no no you have to start is I want to see your action so sometimes sometimes the talk doesn't do it you say to your child I don't want to hear again that you're going to try harder in school you deserve your devices back you want to be ungrounded show me you got midterms show me your Gra show me your studying show me the effort no more talk no more talk talk is cheap I don't want to hear from my spouse sorry I spoke to you that way I'm sorry I promised I'd be home and I didn't come home I'm sorry I came whatever I don't want let's say someone says I don't want to hear that anymore I want just show me show me be home when you said you're going to be home be on time when you say you're going to be on time be there and show up when you say you're going to be I don't want to hear the words enough with the words show me you want to win me back you want to overcome the prosecuting voice which is much louder than your words the only thing louder than the prosecuting voice which is louder than your words are your actions are your deeds and here in this case the deed is so stand there says put up put up or stop talking because it's being recorded so I can't say that put up or stop talking this is a rated G she clean God and you put trust I'm not ashamed a person came to the town of the king and slept outside so the guards of the king found somebody a SCH outside the white house so they were going to uh put him in handcuffs and throw him away no no no before you put me in handcuffs and whisk me away no I'm related to the present I'm related to the king they wait till the morning and they go and they ask the king they ask the president new do you recognize this this guy do you recognized me said no how are you a member of my home the truth is I'm not a member of your family and I'm not related to you but I have such faith in your kindness that I knew that if I said I'm a member of your home you couldn't help but want to help me I'm I wouldn't try this at home I'm you know what you know what since he put his faith in me flattery will get you everywhere since he put his faith in me he slept outside he he he he set up camp outside he did everything he could to get an audience with me because he thought that when all hope was lost he put his trust in me and he risked everything sleeping outside he could have been beaten he could have been imprisoned he risked everything he demonstrated with action you he demonstrated with action that he put his faith in me so you know what I'll help him God I put my trust in you I'm taking risks and I'm demonstrating that I put my trust in you we saw this also Queen esta that even though was withdrawn she lost her prophecy but she double down on her faith when she went into what did she she fasted three days and she uted a prayer she saidon I'm putting my faith in you I'm not invited in there he didn't invite me to have an audience this is not my week with the King and if I go in there Uninvited he could behead me I could have the same I could have the same consequence as vashi Buton I have to take my initiative and I'm not going to sit here Esther Amala didn't sit in the chamber of the queen zum what did she do she got up and she went in and demanded an audience with the King and she took great risk but with that risk she showed her so she closed her to hel she stopped with the words Hashem it's all up to you do a miracle I want to sit here passively and I want to be a spectator and I'll be the audience and I will be apathetic and you take care of me she didn't say that she got up she ried it all and she demonstrated with her action what far surpassed what her words could say so when it came to leaving that was the Fulfillment of a promise did the Jewish people have to demonstrate great faith they did we studied that in the past too they tied the lamb to the bed post and the deity of the Egyptians they slaughtered it collected its blood spread it schmeared it on the doorposts and they told their neighbors you see your God it's now my wall decoration and that took incredible courage and bravery they did do their part but anyway says the God made a promise to your children your progeny are going to be enslaved but after it all I'm going to take them out they're going to leave with great wealth so they didn't need to do anything to be the Catalyst for that beginning stage of redemption that was the Fulfillment of a promise made earlier to the great Z to aam but now that promise has been fulfilled they're out of MIT Hashem doesn't owe the Jewish people anything when they're stuck between the mitam and the and the yamu Hashem doesn't know them there is no promise that is that is standing so what is the thing that's going to get them out they can no longer afford to be passive they can't be Spectators you got to get up and you got to do you have to reveal that your faith is inem jump in sometimes you got to take a leap sometimes you got to jump in even when it means leaving your comfort zone even when it's uncomfortable you got to jump in you know the med says and this is a play on the word y was Ys ran away when AES potifar relentlessly pursued him propositioned him ysf summoned superhuman Supernatural strength and withstood the temptation of ases potifar and there the Torah describes he ran outside and the med says he ran you could have just said V he ran why do you have to say h outside isn't that obvious that where he ran was H outside the med says that term that word h should be reminiscent actually continues with this in the next piece which we're not going to learn I taught it on Sunday it's online if you want to hear it but what is h reminiscent of Hashem tells somebody go outside and look up who does he tell a go outside go outside and look up and count the Stars the no of H is leave your comfort zone leave what comes naturally don't calculate the world based on probability and possibility don't live down here on Earth don't live in the world of the natural when you when he tells AB go outside and look up give a kick look at the stars count the Stars what is he telling a you know everyone else is bound by astrological signs Every Other Nation every other people every other individual ual on Earth they're Bound by the laws of nature so you're bound by the this world but you the Jewish people collectively and individually a is look up at the stars you live in the heavens you're not bound by the rules down here on Earth so H go out of your comfort zone and go out of what comes naturally to you and go out of the Rules of Nature and believe in me and no no your faith not in Dean Warwick and the and the Psychic Friends Network not in the astrological signs not in the horoscope don't put your faith in any of that narish kind of a red Bendle or schoola or any of that silly Superstition Hashem says I took you out of Egypt to leave all that silly Superstition behind don't follow the silly Superstition yesterday there's a Min to say par on the Tuesday of the week of B now the notion of saying par is referenced in the says it's good to say it's good but many people misunderstand why is it good to say you don't make bras you eatos you don't keep shabas you speak a lot of lar cheating business you don't pay taxes honestly you're an ice fire you don't come to sh you don't do this you scream with your kids and then I said par so now it's a schoola for parasa oh I'm going to do phenomenally well this year my parasa my stocks are going to go up my bonus is going to be fat why because I said par I don't really work so hard I cheat on taxes I cut Corners I ruthlessly compete I'm mean to my co-workers but I Zed par I said par so I'm guaranteed parasa you know what that is stupid aara that's paganism that's the aara it's foolish and it's stupid and it's superstitious and that's the way the Egyptians live took us out of Egypt you don't say doesn't say it's good to say because it's some schoola why is it good to say our B the this is the why is the why is it good to say because you realize just like in the midbar the M fell from heaven it came from Hashem it wasn't just the isless of the people ultimately Hashem is the deiser of how much parasa so that reminds me that even though I go to work and even though I try hard and even though I take my initiative I put my faith in the Reon and I realize that ultimately my parasa comes from him the reason to say is to support and reinforce not to act with some foolish silly Superstition I love every day I see the people they say Pak T is from a says I think it's the if you say Pak Tor is from a written like a CL like a Torah school for parasa so you see all over the people who've been indicted who spent time in jail I'm not joking I won't say certain communities I visit and I DAV and you see you know they just got out and they've got their parishes a mon or they're on their way in with their par you see the people they walked in late to sh they leave early from sh they talked all of DAV and they had the shortest on the planet but they were sure to say par from a CL before they left and you say I'm sorry pakoras from a CL before they left and you say you fool you have an audience with the King Shimon EST is your opportunity to talk directly to the Reon shalom imagine you're invited into the yov office and the President says tell me what you need tell me what you want I'm happy to help and you say excuse me one second I'm reading my horoscope what you will you leave me alone I can't talk to you right now I can't talk to you right now I'm reading my horoscope or I can't talk to you right now Mr President in the overal office I I'm I'm uh I have this little Superstition that I do if I want the stock market to go up so it's ridiculous so we left all that Superstition and we're supposed to place our and directly in and with the the when all help seems lost and when we feel desperate and there's a real sense of urgency and crisis that's not the time to open theum and let me rephrase that we also open theum but but not at the expense of our andun go to the doctor go to a 10 more singles networking and go meet the 400 more sh and go set up a thousand more appointments to network and to make a business get a job if you want Theon to come through you have to say what I'm about to do is painful and annoying and there's risk involved and it's time consuming and it hasn't been successful yet and it's improbable and may be impossible and Against All Odds but you know why I'm doing it because my and are in you I'm giving you the window I'm opening the door for you walk through make it happen bring me the results I'm not going to sit back I'm not hopeless and helpless I'm not giving up nor am I being a spectator to my own life I'm not just watching passively I'm getting up I've closed my tum and I'm going at it again and I'm trying again and I'm doing more and I'm taking risks and I'm demonstrating my am and my are in you action is not antithetical to amuna it is another expression of amuna we pray with our words and we pray with our deeds and he says furthermore we can explain the Jewish people lifted their eyes and behold they saw the Egyptians were pursuing them they weren't worried about their physical well-being and safety what did they see about the mitam that were pursuing them they saw the spiritual impurity they saw the mentality they saw the spiritual corruption coming after them that's what they were afraid of they lift their eyes to hem and they say they and spare us don't be afraid stand and you're about to see Hashem do his thing when when tells the people a great Al songu stand still and you'll see salvation what does mean stand firm in your amuna don't let your amuna waver don't let your amuna shake don't hesitate in your stand firm in your you know it's not enough to stand firm in your while sitting back on your couch when there's something so so above nature such an urgency of the crisis it demands an urgency of action you got to take risks on the back page now there are times that crying out doesn't help you've got to do your part we have to do our part what risk are we willing to take there's a story of someone who comes to and and cries out to the Reb to DAV for and I don't remember exactly the story but basically the rebba explains that unless the person doin for themselves his fos aren't going to help you can't just delegate your faith to others oh if you D for me you give me a br you do the things in my Merit you can't delegate your faith to others faith has to be demonstrated most authentically genuinely from ourselves otherwise it's counterfeit finish there are two terms of Faith there's a faith where I so believe but I sit back passively and there's the faith which I am willing to act and take risks That's How Strong my faith is there are Great Moments and they call and they call for great action and not just great talk was saying just stand still be firm you could be passive but be firm in your faith to which said no no no no no no don't stand still don't be you so there are moments that call for standing firm in your faith by standing still and daving and there are moments that call for being firm in your faith not by standing still but by action we should all Merit great Miracles great salvation ouros and our actions should combine to bring us the Redemption that we seek