Unity & Chesed: Past, Present & Future. By: Rabbi Zvi Gluck

Amud and kazak are two organizations which seemingly serve very very different purposes yet over the last few years and more so over the last few months we have been doing many joint events together and we're focusing on various issues that plague our community whether it's local issues Global issues amudam related issues of addiction abuse mental health communal related issues whatever it is we have been joining together people often ask what's the connection between these two organizations one focuses on Jewish continuity and the other one focuses on various forms of mental health the truth is now more than ever we actually have that answer there are no sides there are no different missions there are no different goals there's only one mission to help those in need whatever way possible and to address the issues that affect us all teach us that the BR from are measured based on and unity of Ben Isel we have been taught that when we are united as one we receive an abundance of we've also been told that no lasting blessings can actually exist without bringing in to love every single person unconditionally in order for that to work we need to do everything in our power as individuals and as a community to avoid the pitfalls of Lara rusus and judging others we're constantly taught that if we follow these prescriptions our community the United States ER in the World At Large will undoubtedly enjoy greater bras from above tonight's Gathering reflects that Unity which brings us together many Community leaders community members Community leaders ranim different professionals but most importantly all different backgrounds just a few weeks ago whether it was from stot to yusan from New York to California Israel to Australia we all read the same paraa par no we learned something so powerful that I need to share in here we learned that Noah was the first human being to be called ish a man of righteousness by the himself in conversation we see that hasem tells Noah how upset he is about the world's immorality and the corruption and he's decided to destroy the world and start again the story continues where Noah has given Specific Instructions of what to do build a t this is the size this amount of floors how many animals different types and he's given over 100 years to get the job done the most mafam explained that the Hope was that perhaps people will see it ask what's going on do chuba and hopefully the world will be saved we know how that story ends as we come to the end of the par we meet a ainu for the first time a ainu is given two very very interesting and special unique titles one is our father a ainu and the other is he is considered the first member of Israel and these two things hold true we still consider that till today thousands years later so the question remains if Noah was the first sadic and he did his job he did what hasm asked him to do he was trying to save the world mankind his role was very important why is he not considered Noah why is he not considered the first member of the tribe we learn in life that no matter what is going to happen even if we think we know what the outcome is we are never to give up hope we are always taught that we have to do our part no may have had 100 years to build something to warn the public teach them Inspire them simply stated to do whatever he can to save humanity and not just his family yet he remained quiet he was not proactive furthermore he never actually asked Hashem to remove that decree with we see something very different the par uses the language of hasem commands us to do what we need to maintain Justice mercy and acts of kindness when Hashem decided to destroy the two most notorious evil communities in the world s andu what Didu do he did all he can to persuade the one above to have a change of heart are we saying Abu didn't know what the result would be it doesn't matter he still tried he not only tries but he tries multiple options everybody some 50 20 like what's going on here and what's interesting is every single time he tries he pleas for these cities he pleas for these people no matter what happens Hashem responds to him in kind he doesn't say mind your own business I know what I'm doing he explains okay if you find x amount of people we'll do it this way find this do it this way what we see is that abam was not only worried about the entire world but he was worried about every single individual so when the says that he did exactly what commanded we see that's not enough this is what set Abu apart Abu was a wealthy person successful according to many he was King likee yet his concern was for each individual and the not just the entire world we've heard a lot tonight so far and we've heard a lot over the last few weeks and there's a lot going on in the world there's a lot and we have to internalize what we're seeing and what we're learning and the lessons being taught in a way that can help us grow as omn thr there's a magic potion which is how we have survived all these thousands of years which is based on the teachings the life and the actions of ainu more so the main tenant of him which is in its entirety be it Mercy advocacy Justice s any type of is we talk about the concept of begins at home and we see that is the primary in life when things are stressful is when it's easiest for us as people to lose sight of what's important and we have to remember that these are trying times and we'll get into it a little bit in a minute and it's okay that we are upset by things we're hurt that's fine but we have to remember that in addition to the relationship with Hashem and the relationship with people we have to remember the relationships at home we come home the news was something you're in a bad mood something's going on we got to take a step back and say wait we have to learn begins at home the relationships at home is where it starts and where it ends in order for us to be able to do what we do in a better fashion if you look around there is no community in the world that has the amount of organizations organizations that help multiple organizations like we just heard from daily giving there is nothing like amus Ro this doesn't apply only in Queens New York the US it's globally we are a nation of and that is the secret to our survival the volume of that comes out of kerol is Extreme ex disproportionate to the numbers of people in clel but we remember we are the children of ainu and as clero as a group we care not only about ourselves but about all of humanity down to the individual who's downed this is the recipe to keep us going we talk about SED sis sadic we talk about righteousness which is very important yet we see that Noah who was an ish which is very very important but was not what we consider an is we're living in unprecedented times between what's going on in ER anti-semitic attacks around the world and at home and none of us can make sense of it we can't realistically speaking I'm sure if we ask every person in this room within two degrees of separation everyone is directly impacted by what's going on in Israel right now I could speak from myself I have the nephew in the Army we have the entire amudam Israel staff that we're worried about and we're all struggling it's not easy and to this we say it's okay not to be okay we're all human we have emotions we feel but we also also need to be strong enough to know when to ask for help no one should struggle alone usually the speeches I give are more about specific issues whether it's abuse addiction mental health issues various communities but the message is always the same be strong and ask for help I say this proudly I'm myself I'm in therapy I go every week today was probably one of the most intense sessions I've had since I started therapy many many years ago and that's because I realized I was not okay and that's okay because I had who to discuss it with my second message that I want to leave you with and final note for this evening is that we always have to look at the positive in everything in life we have to take out the good as you just heard from Rabbi Dr donut and from rabbi mayro [Music] the unity in clausel right now is something that none of us have ever seen in our life here at home in ARR around the world it's simply incredible but we have to remember those important lessons from a we need to keep this momentum going so that we can benefit from the brus bestowed upon us I mean look at er alone there is no right there's no left there's no parties no political affiliations everybody is working everybody we look around here we are one people we're not ashkanazi Lish modern Orthodox reform conservative Russian barari and Israeli it makes no difference we are one and this is the way we need to keep it we are proudly a nation of a Nation that CES and when we remember this and we keep a in unity together we're able to ensure that the prophecy that Hashem told ainu when you'll be blessed like the says all the nations will be blessed the ultimate unity maintaining that that's what we need to do we need to keep this message loud and clear and live it this way we can continue to enjoy the blessings of being AMR and more importantly we can continue to live with peace Harmony until the coming of msia and be able to proudly say I'm is thank [Applause] you