Bereishis: Don’t Get Lost in the Darkness

Dear friends, welcome to this week's virtual dasha. This week we have an incredible project paras and barash begin the cycle of crea satur a new and every year we learn batious there's an excitement even though we know the stories we know what goes right we know what goes wrong it's not like there's any new twists and turns or any new surprises but there's this beautiful feeling of his this beautiful feeling of renewal because although the Torah remains the same the stories remain the same the remain the same we change and as we evolve in life as we get older as we mature as we move forward and as we regress we relate to Torah and all of its beautiful and holy details in different ways. So the para opens up the Torah opens up in the beginning Hashem created the heaven and the earth and the earth was astonishingly empty. On a most basic level is trying to tell us that nothing preceded was the first entity whose primary identity is that of a creator. What was before Hashem? Nothing. What's after Hashem? Nothing. Was astonishingly empty. Who is the first entity in this universe in this cosmos to create something and it's incredible to see we relate to in so many different ways especially coming off of Yim Ainu our father Malenu our king. But the truth is the Torah really introduces us to as a creator. And that is so important because not simply a historical creator either. He's a contemporary creator. Every day is a new creation. Every day is a new recreation. But I want to share with you an incredibly beautiful insight by the great saddic of Alexander. The Reb of Alexander says something so beautiful and a quote to you. says, "What does this mean?" Listen to the Reb's words. If at the beginning of every single day, a person begins to contemplate if the way I begin every day, see the understands that we we translate as the beginning, like the beginning of time. says, "No, the Torah is giving me a plan for how to live successfully day after day." If at the beginning of each and every day, I go ahead and I instill and reinstill within myself one core ideological pillar which is ultimately again that Hashem created everything that Hashem is the creator of all. If I instill within myself that that idea each and every day then what [Music] then a person will see that the arets is empty the arets the earth is astonishingly empty what does this mean I think what is trying to highlight is like this if a person goes ahead and begins each and every day berious instilling within himself the notion that is the creator And what does it mean that Hashem is the creator? It means that there's nothing that happens in our world. There's nothing that happens in our lives without that is the great choreographer, the great quarterback of everything on a global level, universal level and personal level. If a person instills within themselves that ideology then then the which really understands refers to refers to material things are really unimportant. So at first glance it may seem that what the is saying is that each and every day a person should begin by assigning primacy to their spiritual pursuits. Gracious in the beginning of every single day is creator of everything the primary aspect the primary focus of your life and material things material wealth acquisition of material things is important is important but compared to spiritual pursuits they're not as important the earth is tovo is empty it's empty it's nothing the most important think is an emphasis and a focus on one's religious identity, one's spiritual identity. Create that hierarchy first thing in the dayem and then afterem you'll recognize that although material wealth is necessary and material wealth could be enjoyable but it is on such a lower level than the cultivation of our spiritual identity. A beautiful insight. But I think the rabb could also be teaching us something additional think is teaching us that when you start each and every day if you want to make it through the day because dear friends like not a day goes by that something doesn't happen. You know, I could bury my head in the sand and ignore all the different things that are happening all around me, but not a day goes by that, or at least it feels that not a day goes by without something jarring that occurs. And obviously this is a raw feeling for many of us now with the with the untimely passing of Mosha who in our community in Baltimore was just like part of the spiritual epicenter of our community. So on a national level as executive vice president of the OU the he had all of literally all of I still think we don't we don't fully understand the enormity of it there are overwhelming things that happen every day and and and again and and and before this latest tragedy for Israel we were such simp welcoming the hostages home and but yet they still that we can't yet even fully bury our dead And as the details of captivity come out, it'll be more heartbreaking. And it's hard. It's hard. You know, sometimes it's almost like we have this feeling of I just want to shut it off. I I want to shut off the feelings. I want to shut off the emotions. It feels so difficult to be in constant pain. And obviously the last two years have been very painful. And it's not all pain. It would be wrong to say that. There's so much sim. There's so much good. There's so much beauty. But there is a lot of pain. There's a lot of it. And it feels so profoundly acute. And it feels so profoundly overwhelming. So how do I make it through? How how do I navigate this? How do we navigate through this? And I think what the Dav Alexander is teaching us is there's a very simple formula. vious. At the beginning of every single day, at the beginning of every single day, remind yourself of one thing. There is a who runs the world and that loves us and he cares for us. Like say the most beautiful metaphor more than the mother wants to nurse her young. Right? If the mother doesn't nurse her baby, it becomes painful for her. More than the mother wants to express the milk to feed her young. I say differently. More sorry, more than the baby wants to nurse to receive nourishment, the mother wants to express her milk because if she doesn't, she doesn't it's painful for her. She has so much to give. So the baby of course wants to eat. But even more than the baby wants to eat, the mother wants to give. He wants to give us so much. He loves us more than we could ever imagine. More than we could ever fathom. Every parent, every person who is to be a parent knows what wouldn't you do for your child. What wouldn't you give for your child? Any person who a loving marriage knows what wouldn't you give to your husband? What wouldn't you give to your wife? Anything. Anything. And the greatest love you could conjure up in the world who loves us even more. I think Alexander is telling us that if you want to make it through the complexities of life and you want to make it through the difficulties of life at the beginning of every every single day remember that created everything. He choreographs everything. He organizes everything and does so with a profound sense of love greater than anything we could ever comprehend or imagine. And if you have that then even even when it's dark even when life is dark because sometimes dear friends life is dark and sometimes it's overwhelming and sometimes it's difficult and sometimes it's profoundly tragic. It happens sometimes. The arits, the earth in which we live, the lives which we lead, the circumstances of our existence are so astonishingly dark and empty and I could lose myself in the pain and I could lose myself in the difficulty and I could lose myself in the sadness and I could develop a sense of yosh a sense of despair and throw my hands up and say I give up. I give up. How much could one heart take? How much could one person take? How much could one people take? And the Reb Alexander says steady yourself. Steady yourself. First thing is first. am who loves, who guides, who cares, who embraces, who holds, who soothes, who repairs, and who at some point in time will dry all our tears. And if you have that mindset and you start life with that mindset, no matter how astonishingly empty the arets becomes, I can handle it. I'll get through it. Not only will I get through it, but I'll grow from the adversity. I'll grow from the difficulty. Tell us that the righteous are even greater in their death than they are during their lifetime. And says something so beautiful. He says when a sadik is alive when sadik is alive so you see what you see. But most sadiki, most righteous people are humble and don't really broadcast their deeds. But when they die, when they die says cook, then everything comes out. That's when the real kapara comes. When the world sees after the saddic leaves this world and the world sees what the saddic really did, that's when we begin to say to ourselves, "Wow, I need to be like that. I need to do that. I learn all about the sadic and now I realize what it is that I have to do." And I think although as I mentioned before we are reeling from this tremendous loss for us not just in Baltimore but beyond dare I say it feels a little bit like Vavu Kalis has lost an incredible shepherd has lost a tremendous leader and when the flock feels like who's guiding who's doing the world feels dark but have the ability even more in their death. Taught us that it is not really what you say but it's how you do or what you do and you could speak in a soft undertone and a whisper because people don't really pay all that much attention to what you say but they pay all the attention to what you do. You could have the softest voice, but yet your actions could reverberate across the globe. Howard taught us what it meant to live a life of selfless dedication to selfless dedication to family. And they need not be mutually exclusive. That's godmos. That's godless. And who's whispering us, don't lose yourself in the grief. Don't lose yourself in the sadness. Don't lose yourself in the right now. But first thing is first. The same shalom who gave Rabbi Howard all of the cohos he needed to probably be one of the most influential leaders of our generation is the same gives us the khos to pick up the pieces to steady ourselves to learn from this great nishama and to figure out how to be better how to be more and over time how to become whole once Again a message for today and a message for all time. There is no shortage of days that feel like that everything is so overwhelming. But that is where our amuna that is where that is whereas first thing is first. We have aeshu and he has us and as long as that's true which it will be for all eternity then whatever comes our way it's hashem will be successful and over time we will even begin to restore the light to a landscape that sometimes feels so very dark. Wish everyone a good night of Shabas, a beautiful Shabis and may we be hashem to shoros to for all of Cloud Israel.