Vaeschanan: Rebbe Nachman and the Power of Anywhere

Dear friends, welcome to this week's virtual Dasha. This week we have the incredible paras and usher in the beautiful shabas of consolation. And in this para like in many of the parios of mo tries to prepare us for the future. The beloved shepherd the devoted shepherd knows that he will not be with his flock in this next stage of the actualization of our national destiny. And as such he tries to prepare us. He tries to be maz for the good. And in this week's para he tells us that there are going to be some rough patches in the future. And he says to us, this is in paral verse 25. You'll have children. You'll have grandchildren. And ultimately, again, literally they'll become stale. They'll become embedded. They will become destructive in their ways, their worship, idolatry, and they will essentially shalom forsake and says I'm just going to tell you that if you forsake your relationship with God and if you turn your back on God there are consequences there are repercussions and ramifications and therefore what will happen will scatter you when we turn our back on exiles us from our beloved homeland I'm going exile you amongst the people amongst the nations of the world you'll still retain your identity but you'll be scattered amongst the nations And again there you'll really worship idolatry because you'll be embedded in all the gentile culture. And then the says as follows. This is verse 29. And literally again you will seek from thereem your god and you will find him when you go ahead and you seek him out with all of your heart and with all of your soul. In other words, in the midst of all of this difficulty, in the midst of all of this sadness, in the midst of foreshadowing, that we will turn our back on God. And unfortunately, will not never turns his back on us, but will allow us to suffer the consequences of that exile, repression, persecution. But yet has he Moshabin almost can't escape the fact that our relationship with is unbreakable. And therefore he says to Khalis, even when you're in the gulas, even when you're in diaspora, even when you're suffering, you shall seek from there. From there is a reference to gulas, even when you're in goblas, even diaspora, even when you're amongst the nations. If you seek out God and you seek out God with a genuine heart and soul will never turn away will never ignore your supplicative please when you choose to become when you choose to return ultimately will never turn a deaf ear to your supplications to your pleas to your prayers will if you return to Hashem Hashem will always return to us and of Of course here Moshe has pretty much encapsulated the entirety of the Jewish experience. Unfortunately, we get comfortable and when we get comfortable, we tend to forget about and then that sets off a whole series of events. Persecution, difficulty, tragedy, trials, tribulations, and then we find our way back to and once again repair the relationship. But unfortunately, this has been somewhat cyclical over the last thousands of years of the history of our people. But moshabin wants to always explain to Isel no matter how far you veer no matter how much you go off no matter how much you turn your back in just know the relationship is never irreparably damaged you're going to have to do work I'm going to have to become I'm going to have to make my way back toes but reconciliation is always possible as quoted by his devoted disciple Rabbi Nas says something beautiful and the Reb is intrigued by these words misha You will seek out other words didn't have to say that the could have just said you will seek out. We understand the context. The context is that the Jewish people are in exile. So all the needed to say is even when you're in exile if you search out if you seek out God will never turn away that overture. But yet the feels the need to put in there. If you will seek out God from there and says something incredibly beautiful. He says means says means wherever you are in life. Wherever you are in life could mean a geographic location. Mish which literally means there right from there. From there could be a geographic location. From there could be an emotional location, a spiritual location. The ability to reach out to the ability to repair our relationship no matter where we are holding in life means says wherever you are wherever you are in life whatever your geographic location is your emotional your theological your spiritual your material your physical whatever wherever you are in life if you seek from wherever you are in life says I'm ready to reconcile. I'm ready to create the relationship. I'm ready to rehabilitate. I'm ready to get going again. And goes on and he says something so beautifully. He says, listen to this. Many people make a tremendous mistake with this. People often say, you know, if only I had more money, then I would really be able to serve. Or and it goes on. Another person says, "If only my health was the way that I needed it to be, I could serve. If only I had a if only I had this." Right? We're we're all missing something. We're all lacking something. And so it's human nature to say I can't be the person I need to be because of the things missing in my life. And if I only had those things, then I would be able to be a servant of then I'd be a holy Jew. Then I'd be inspired. Then I'd be connected. And therefore, the Reb says something amazing. Person says, "If only God would give me A, B, C, D, and E." Some people it's F, G, H, I, so on and so forth. Would just give me what I need. I would be I would be inspired. I'd be learning. I'd be ding. I'd be engaged. The says this is not a way to approach life. The in life is find God wherever you are, wherever you are. It means wherever you are, it is possible to have relationship with Hashem. Whatever is happening in your life, it is possible to have relationship with. The moment we begin saying I'll have a relationship with God when or I'll be an inspired Jew if the moment we start going ahead and kind of creating a set of expectations that need to be in place in order for me to fully self-actualize. It says that's flawed thinking. His wording is so profound. If God would just give me what I need, then again, I'd be inspired. I'd be a good Jew. That is not a way to approach life. So what is the way to approach life? He says seek out God from wherever you are in life. Seek out wherever you are in life. seek out God from wherever you are geographically and whatever is happening in your life really introduces us to this just incredible idea is not just simply telling us that God is available in diaspora we know is not just telling us that even when we've been exiled you can access God is perhaps one of the most profound statements in Torah because knows how we operate and we think that in order to be successful ful we need optimal circumstances in order to be successful. I need everything to kind of come together and coales exactly according to plan, according to my vision. And if anything is off, then I'm sorry. I can't do it. I I can't self-actualize. I can't accomplish because again, the planets aren't in alignment. The stars, the constellations, the universes are not in per I can't do it. The says it's a clow. You can't live life like that for one simple reason. No one always has everything in place. The pieces don't always fall into place. In fact, the all the pieces rarely ever fall into place together. So, if I'm waiting for the universe to align, for the planets to align in order for me to become the best version of me, it's never going to happen. Says it doesn't work. So, what's the alternative? The alternative is wherever you are in life, make it happen. Wherever you are in life, accomplish. Wherever you are in life, self-actualize. Don't wait until your circumstances become some per perfect ideal. Don't wait until all the pieces fall into place exactly the way you need it or you planned it or you wanted it or you pined for it. Wherever you are in life, know that you have the to make it happen. Wherever you are in life, know that you have the ability to do great things. Wherever you are in life, know that you have the ability to become the best version of yourself. Stop waiting for the perfect circumstances. Stop waiting for everything to fall into place. It will be kashmish. Wherever you are in life, that's where you have the ability to create the beautiful relationship with Hashem, with your fellow Jew, and with yourself. Wherever you are in life, that's where you have the ability to achieve greatness. And once you understand this, dear friends, the progression of our timeline this week makes so much sense. Here I'm sharing with you this Torah on and this is Shabas Shabu and it's always intriguing the fact that we go right from ultimately again into Shabasu with no real tangible difference in our external circumstances. It's the strangest thing in the world and it's strange year after year was sitting on the floor mourning literally crying for thousands of years of loss and then comes party everything's good it's vacation it's exciting like you would have thought Mashiach came will come but he didn't last year we thought come this year and even if he doesn't come this year I mean after then we're still going to have shab so what what's the simple distinction It feels like the sky is falling on part of the is that the sky is falling but then we realize that it's not then we open up and we see words and he says beautiful Jews holy Jewish nation wherever you are wherever you are whatever your circumstances you have a bdash you don't have a bdash you're in you're in gulos of course there are optimal circumstances which we daven for and pine for each and every day. But the absence of those optimal circumstances in no way prevents us from becoming the best version of ourselves. The absence of those optimal circumstances is not an excuse for non-accomplishment. And the absence of those optimal circumstances does not allow us to absent ourselves from the process of personalistic elevation and transcendence. will be and once I know that once I know that I could become the best version of me that we as a nation can become the best version of ourselves even in the midst of all the difficulties that's a sim that's a what changes in the world ultimately again between very little except for two words says we realize that no matter where we are geographically emotionally spiritually theologically, nationally, individually, we have the ability to attain greatness. We have the ability to self-actualize. We have the ability to become the best version of ourselves. And once I know that, once I know that there is no greater form of joy to a meaningful and uplifting, we should be to feel the pain of our people and to allow it to cose through us. And then we should be to dust ourselves off, to get back up, to be Because I'm not going to wait till everything is perfect to live a great life. I'm not going to wait till everything is perfect to become the best version of me. I'm not going to wait till all the circumstances are just as I need them to be in order to self-actualize. I'm going to take what I got. I'm going to make it great. No matter where I am in life, I we have the ability to accomplish great things. Wishing everyone a meaningful tishov, an uplifting of Shabas, and a beautiful and sadik.