Beyond Positive Thinking: Live Hakhel Bitachon Event

to put it together so clearly, to spell it out so clearly this method and to say so clearly this idea that I was saying earlier which I think is the main idea of the sicha that your imperfections cannot disrupt Hashem's ability to do miracles for you. That's a that's a radical concept. This is a live Zoom meeting which is being recorded. So if you're with us live, we'll speak a little bit about how you can interact. If you're watching the recording of this, you'll be able to watch how others interacted. First and foremost, we want to uh announce that tonight's learning is Henya Bas for a speedy complete recovery. The learning that we're doing tonight is not only um in the merit of this recovery, but it is specifically connected to the entire idea of good things happening and our role in precipitating those good things and opening the way and the path for Hashem to be able to do quite anything for us. And that is the the radical concept and I will call it a radical concept that the Rebbe explained regarding bitachon as a tool not only of emotional well-being, but as a practical endeavor that is actually results-oriented. In other words, we're probably all familiar with the idea of trusting in God as a form of positive thinking. Uh look on the bright side. Why worry yourself? Uh Whatever's going to happen's going to happen, so you may as well be relaxed and calm while you go through it, right? That's the general understanding of it. But the way that the Rebbe explained bitachon is that it actually has a practical effect on outcomes and is a rather effective way of making way for miracles. So we're going to talk about that tonight. Um specifically, we are focusing our discussion on a sicha an edited talk from the Rebbe from Likkutei Sichos Chelek Lamed Vav, volume 36. Which is the first sicha of that volume. It's connected to parshas Shemos. And um many of the people who are joining us tonight have already learned this sicha on their own or in groups. So we're not going to be learning the the sicha inside from the text, but our discussion is going to be based on some of the main ideas of the sicha and I'll stress some of the main ideas of the sicha. We cannot obviously do justice to everything in uh in one sitting as we're doing tonight. Um we are live right now if you are indeed with us on Zoom. And we're going to invite you to write your questions in the chat. I will not be watching the chat that uh vigilantly because I'm going to try to focus on on what I'm saying, but we have a moderator tonight. Uh Chanala Grosbaum now. Yeah? Uh she is our moderator. She's also uh Henya's niece. And she will take uh she'll sort of like take minutes, so to speak, be the secretary. I want to make sure everyone's muted. By the way, Chanala, can you try to always For some reason Zoom lets people from time to time the mute function uh lapses. So just if you ever hear any noise, I can do it, but you can also Chanala is a co-host, so just make sure that Yeah, like right now I'm hearing people. I shouldn't really be hearing people. Um Yeah. Okay. So she will uh compile the questions and we'll have a little bit of a Q&A where uh she will uh be the moderator and ask me the questions. Okay. So I think I'll start like this. Um there's a major idea in this sicha that if I have to be honest, was always the idea that I played up when I taught this sicha in the past. And I think my experience is fairly representative of my colleagues. In other words, this is a well-known sicha. Um it's a it's a very exciting sicha both intellectually and emotionally. Intellectually, it's just it's got a lot of really strong questions and answers and it's it's a pleasure to to study just from an intellectual point of view. Also emotionally, it's a very powerful sicha. It's incredibly uplifting and it gives us work to do with uh promise of a a real outcome for that work. So it's it's a it's a well-known and and and revered and and loved sicha which many have taught. And whenever I've taught this sicha, I've I've emphasized the point here that um the Rebbe references later on in the sicha uh with a with a footnote to the Zohar the idea of I'll call it uh in English reciprocity that the way that our lives are conducted from on high is a is a reciprocal action. It's a mirror image of our attitude down below. So uh we have this power to project a positive attitude and then have that reflected back to us uh from on high. And uh I think this is an idea that a lot of people enjoy hearing. Uh I think my experience has been that it resonates with many people who have heard such concepts perhaps in non-Jewish contexts uh l'havdil. Um where they've heard about the power of positive thinking not just as an emotional coping tool, but as something that actually has an effect on outcomes. In fact, I'm just thinking right now when I opened when I opened before just now when I opened this this uh session of learning, I think that's the first thing that I said. I caught myself doing it again. I just caught myself doing it again. Um yeah, when I summarized what the sicha is about. So uh this idea that we have we have the power to elicit uh a a a sort of conduct from on high that is commensurate to the the type of attitude that we're able to muster down here. Um And what I want to say is I think that's a very important concept, but there are some other concepts that I think we really need to focus on and perhaps even it's it's the the need is more acute and more urgent to focus on those ideas. Um and I'll tell you why. Because at the end of the day, all of these ideas are all well and good, but if we come away from it and say, "What a beautiful concept, but you know, a guy like me, how could it apply to me?" And we dismiss it and we we dismiss it by by sort of aggrandizing it, by saying, "It's such a beautiful idea, such a holy idea." And unfortunately, you know, who am I to think that such an idea could apply to me? So we sort of excuse ourselves from it applying to us. And to my thinking, at least the way that I'm learning this sicha right now, and I got to tell you something, Likkutei Sichos is like a new it's a new safer every time you visit it. There's no question. Every time I go back to a sicha, there are new giluyim, new revelations. So the way that I'm learning it now, uh and maybe this is just personally me, but the main point is not so much this interesting concept of this uh law of reciprocity in the in the in the world. It's an important point and it's obviously uh essential to the argument that the sicha is making, but to me the main point is that I must not think. In fact, the whole thesis here of the sicha to me, to my thinking is I must not think that this concept does not apply to me or that I'm not good enough for it or that I'm unworthy of it. To the contrary, the whole point is that my lack of perceived worth or or or my lack of of of deserving that such a thing should should be applicable applicable to me is the first thing that I need to completely banish from my mind. And that this is speaking to me. So, the sicha begins with a question about Moshe Rabbeinu. Um he kills the Egyptian taskmaster who is abusing a Jewish man. And then he observes two Jews fighting. And he seeks to intervene in that fight. And um they say to him, "Hey, what are you going to do? Kill us like you killed the Egyptian?" And Moshe Rabbeinu becomes afraid and he says, "Oh, no, the matter is known." So, what is this matter that is known? There are different explanations, but uh in the context of the sicha, the one that we focus on is it is now known that Moshe Rabbeinu killed the Egyptian. And the very next thing we're told is that indeed the matter was known. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, found out about what Moshe did and Moshe had to flee for his life from Egypt. So, I'm not going to get into all the questions about the that the Rebbe asks regarding Rashi's commentary there and about the flow of the verses and how this narrative uh But suffice it to say, what happens is we we start to discuss the mechanics of bitachon or the lack thereof that are at work in this story. And we do this by first analyzing a midrash. It's interesting, I was thinking to myself the midrash is actually connected to this week's parsha, to parshas Vayishlach. Um although the sicha, the edited sicha, is in parshas Shemot of chelek lamed vov of Likutei Sichos. The uh the and and and the original fabrengens, by the way, that the sichas based on were from parshas Shemot and Beshalach. I think Shemot uh uh chovov and Beshalach chof gimmel, I believe. Um but there's also a strong Vayishlach connection in the sicha, which is uh in the second ice of of the sicha, the Rebbe brings a midrash that describes two great tzaddikim who were afraid. Yaakov Avinu and Moshe Rabbeinu. That both of them were afraid. And the question that we're we're asking is was that a good thing or was it not a good thing that they were afraid? And there are two ways of looking at the different commentaries on the midrash explain it two opposite ways. Once you know it. Like everything or almost nearly everything in Torah, we have divergent opinions. So, to say it was not a good thing, that that's kind of easy to explain. It's it was a lack of faith. Well, why are they afraid that anything's going to happen to them? Hashem is is taking care of them. But you want to explain how it's a good thing. How is it a good thing? Okay, how's it a good thing that they lacked faith? Uh cuz it wasn't a lack of faith. It was humility. See, it was humility. They weren't afraid that Hashem wouldn't make good on on his promise. What they were afraid of is in in in the the rabbinic idiom for this is shema godem hachat. Perhaps sin had an effect. That maybe sin had an effect. In other words, nobody's perfect. And maybe, this is what Yaakov Avinu and Moshe Rabbeinu are thinking, I did something and I've interfered now with the blessings that I was supposed to receive. Ah, so that's why it makes sense to say that it was a good thing that both Moshe and Yaakov Avinu were afraid. And by the way, when it speaks about Moshe Rabbeinu being afraid, it's not talking about this story. It's actually talking about when he was afraid to fight the giant Og. But at any rate, so now we have this understanding that being afraid that something negative could happen to us actually could be a rather pious attitude. It's it's a humble attitude. It's an attitude of you know, nobody's perfect. I'm certainly not free of of of any fault. So, yeah, maybe something could something untoward could happen to me. So, we're we're starting to understand where a person could get that attitude from. Now, remember I was saying to you that what what's really jumping out to me right now about this sicha is the need to stop thinking that the concept of bitachon is such a beautiful concept, but unfortunately, it don't it doesn't apply to a guy like me cuz I'm just too imperfect. This is exactly what we're getting into. You see, if Yaakov Avinu and Moshe Rabbeinu had what to worry about, that maybe they messed up Hashem's ability to deliver on his promises for for them, well, how much more so a guy like me. People like us. We have what to worry about. And and this is one of the main points of the sicha. In other words, how do we explain to someone who, as a point of religious faith, is concerned with their own faults and flaws and imperfections. And is only trying to be honest and humble about their about their status and about their situation. How do you tell a religious person, "Ah, don't worry about it." In other words, what I'm trying to say to you is this. I've told you I've told you I've taught this sicha many times. And I've taught it to all types of crowds. When I have taught this in the past to people who are not coming from a an observant background, the main concept that they're interested in and for them is the most important concept cognitively for them to grasp in order to accept the premise of the sicha is the idea that I mentioned earlier, that that law of reciprocity that the Zohar speaks about, that we do have power and that our attitude does elicit a response from on high. And once you explain that concept and explain how it works, the mechanics of it, um then people who are coming from not such a religious background, they hear that and they're like, "Wow, that's great. Let me go out and do it." The problem is ironically, the more religious people have a greater obstacle in believing in the practical teaching of the sicha. They they believe it in theory, but then they they they say, "Well, hold on a second. How could this work for me? Do you know who I am? What what are you going to tell me all of a sudden that that Hashem doesn't operate measure for measure? What happened to middah k'neged middah? Okay, so I'm not perfect. How could I expect Hashem to treat me perfectly? I want perfect service. That's what I deserve? I don't deserve that. I'm just being honest. Just being humble. So, to me, that's exactly the attitude that the sicha is is focusing on and trying to deal with. It's trying to bring out the idea, or I should say, it successfully brings out the idea and we are trying to believe and absorb and integrate the idea that the rules of middah k'neged middah, the rules of schar v'onesh, all of these principles, these hallowed principles, these axioms, if you will, of Jewish belief are not suspended. They are not held in abeyance in order to give us this life hack of being able to trigger divine favor by simply having a positive attitude. In other words, we're concerned if if this thing really works, and in order for it to work for a guy like me who certainly doesn't deserve it, I'm not a tzaddik, right? In order for it to work for a guy like me, there's a lot of stuff that I held axiomatic that's going to have to be suspended in order for it to work. And what the Rebbe is explaining here is, "No, actually, we're going to stay true and we're going to preserve the concepts of reward and punishment, measure for measure. All of that stuff is going to be held in fact and at the very same time, we have this incredible powerful tool that works for imperfect people. It works for imperfect people. Okay. How in the world is that possible? So, basically, I'll I'll jump ahead toward almost the very end of the sicha but in in ice hay the Rebbe explains that what he's not saying is there's a paragraph there in ice hay when the Rebbe chapter five where the Rebbe says and what I'm not saying is that a person can just go and be happy-go-lucky and say hey everything is fine and therefore it's all fine. What I'm saying is that bitochen itself is an avodah it's a form of spiritual service and it's hard work. You think it's easy? You think it's easy to genuinely not just talk the talk but to walk the walk of bitochen. You think it's easy to actually calm oneself? And as the Rebbe mentions earlier in the sicha according to Rabbeinu Bachya in Shaar Habitachon that bitochen is an emotional state. Machshava bitochen he calls it. What is real bitochen? It's menuchas hanefesh. It's that you're actually calm. So it's not just a proclamation of faith. Ani ma'amin I believe. No, it's an actual emotional state. So the Rebbe makes a point there in ice hay in order to achieve that emotional state that's hard work. And therefore that hard work can be the the um the the the merit with which one actually does deserve divine favor even if that may even be his only merit. So first of all even if you'd be unworthy without the bitochen. If it weren't for the bitochen you wouldn't be worthy. Taka. Yeah, you wouldn't be worthy. And even more than even more than that that even if the bitochen itself is is your only merit. And and the Rebbe brings there there's a footnote which is so packed with information and it's just worthy of of being looked into a little bit more deeply. That's footnote 40 where um the Rebbe brings Sefer HaIkrim that says what does it mean in Tehillim when Dovid HaMelech says haboteach baHashem chesed yesovevenu that someone who believes in God kindness will encircle him. It means that even if he's otherwise unworthy but his merit of believing that God's going to treat him well is actually going to cause God to treat him well even if without that belief he wouldn't have deserved it. And then furthermore the Rebbe adds there Kesser Shem Tov where the Baal Shem Tov says that there's a situation where there's a person who actually is deserving of divine punishment and they cannot punish him from on high because he believes that he's going to be okay. And his belief his bitochen that he he's going to have a good life that protects him from anything happening to him even though not only he's not worthy of being treated well he's actually worthy of a punishment. This person is worthy of a punishment and he won't get punished because long as he has his bitochen. That's in footnote 40 there. So this is a very powerful concept. The idea that we are not skirting the whole concept of of of the there there being law and order in this world. We're not throwing away the system and saying oh well just be happy and then everything will work out and it doesn't matter that normally speaking there's there's reward and punishment there people who are deserving people who are undeserving. We're not saying that at all. Chas v'shalom. What we're saying is maybe there's another way or maybe even a better way to be deserving than the conventional path. Now this itself requires a very important clarification. Because a person could hear that and say oh so basically and I guess the person who would say this would be someone who's very transactional in his relationship with Hashem. In other words he's only in a relationship with Hashem in order to get goodies from God. And if that if that's the case the person who hears this concept could misappropriate the misappropriate the idea and say oh I just found out a hack. You don't even have to do mitzvahs. You don't even have to observe the Torah cuz as long as you have bitochen you're protected. You're going to be good. So we have to address that because but by the way if you're learning this properly you will have that question. Maybe you won't have the question in earnest because you're not trying to use God and just trying to get him to give you what you want. But at least intellectually the question should should arise. Hold on is this saying that now even a person who has no other merit doesn't do anything else observes nothing else but he has bitochen that Hashem's going to treat him well. So now Hashem can't do anything to him. He can't get punished. Is that what it's really saying? Cuz if so that's seems to be flying in the face of of the whole concept of schar v'onesh which the Rebbe is going to great pains not to go against. And the Rebbe says this explicitly in the sicha that we are not chas v'shalom going against the the axiom of of schar v'onesh. So then how do we explain this? And again a lot of these these technical questions are are addressed in the footnotes which is why it's important when you learn the sicha to to learn with the footnotes. Um there's a footnote and over there he brings the Rebbe brings from Shaar Habitachon and actually when I taught Shaar Habitachon a couple of years ago we had a nightly 30 minutes a night shiur in Shaar Habitachon. I think it was like 45 classes. And we went through the whole Shaar Habitachon. So I remember at the time that I referenced this sicha and and made a big point of explaining this concept. But if you look on page four of the sicha if you have the actual sicha the way it's laid out in Likutei Sichos there's a footnote 35 lamed hay and um over there it brings from the third chapter of Shaar Habitachon and there's there are a few hakdamas he says. There's a few prerequisites for bitochen. And there's the fourth hakdamah hakdamah harvi'is it says that a person who has bitochen has to do God's will. Person who has bitochen has to do God's will. That that's one of the prerequisites. So he calls them hakdamas. So what what does this mean that a person who has bitochen has to do God's will? Let me explain what it doesn't mean. And this is what I explained when I gave the Shaar Habitachon shiur but it's really important right now to our discussion tonight. Here's what it doesn't mean. A person might think like I was saying before he might think very uh might think very economically about his relationship with Hashem as sort of a quid pro quo tit-for-tat relationship or what I called transactional a moment ago. And therefore if I want to get out of Hashem what I want I have to give him what he wants. Okay, what do I want? Bonim chaim u'mazoni. I want uh blessings in my life. And what does he want? Uh apparently he wants taryag mitzvahs cuz that's what he asked for in the Torah. So that's what I'm we'll trade. Let's do an exchange. Let's barter. Now that should immediately strike you as being uh uh certainly at least according to Chassidus that is not what a healthy relationship with Hashem should sound like. Um but even even according to the principles that Chazal speak about mitzvahs lishmah to do mitzvahs for their own sake it's not okay maybe as a intermediate or beginners mode until you get to the real kavana but what are we really saying here that a person when Rabbeinu Bachya says in Shaar Habitachon that a person who has bitochen has to do mitzvahs it doesn't mean that if he doesn't do the mitzvahs then he's not going to get the stuff that he wants to get from Hashem. That's not what it means. And in this footnote footnote 35 the Rebbe explains that. It needs a lot of amplification cuz it's short. But the Rebbe explains like this. It doesn't mean that he's in a transactional relationship with Hashem. Because if it did mean that not only is it like we're saying kind of uh questionable the whole attitude. But but more than that it would contradict something that Rabbeinu Bachya himself has told us about bitochen. Rabbeinu Bachya tells us more specifically the Rebbe references the beginning of chapter two of Shaar Habitachon that um one of the reasons that we do have bitochen in Hashem or he calls them the sibos. The first sibah the first reason for bitochen is the rachamim chemlah v'ahavah. The compassion and the mercy and the love that Hashem has for us. So you're telling me that Hashem has mercy compassion love meaning to say he's going to be nice. He's not going to be mean. He's not going to look to catch us out. He's going to to the contrary, he's going to look to be lenient and liberal and he's going to give us a free pass and he's always trying to do kindness for us, okay? So, if that's the truth, then what are you telling me? Uh-uh-uh-uh, but if you don't give him what he wants, he's going to be a tyrant. He's going to be a martinet. He's going to be draconian. He's going to just catch you out and that's it. I'm sorry. Nothing we can do for you. Our hands are tied. Rules are rules. It conceptually doesn't make sense. So, the Rebbe explains, what does it mean, this concept that somebody who has bitachon has to be observant of God's rules? What he mean what it means is not that in order to get kindness from God, you have to trade with him his the stuff that he wants from you. It's not quid pro quo. It's not a not a user relationship. It's much more simple than that. The statement means like this. I'll say it in plain English. You really trust in Hashem? Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do. No, no, no. I Trust, remember we said it's an emotional state. It's not a proclamation. It's not a slogan. It's not a bumper sticker. Trust means, do you feel calm? Okay. Okay, yeah, yeah. I feel calm. All right, great. So, that means you trust that everything Hashem tells you to do in his Torah is good for you. And that you're not going to have any problem thinking that he's inconveniencing you or messing up your life by making you do these things. Oh, you're right. In other words, being observant is a natural outgrowth of trusting in Hashem. Or it's just another manifestation of trusting in Hashem. It's aligned with the whole concept of trusting in Hashem. If you trust in Hashem enough to be at ease and to feel taken care of in your life, then obviously that goes hand in hand with feeling like doing the mitzvahs is is a good thing to do. And it'll even be good for you. And not just because he's going to pay you for it, but because if this is what he's asking me to do, it must be a good it must be good for me. So, you understand it's a very important concept there. It's not quid pro quo. We're not bartering mitzvahs with Hashem in order to get a 10-speed a 10-speed bicycle uh that we put on our our wish list. That's not the point. The point is that if we want to have truly integrated trust, where we feel it in our bones, one of the indications of that, the litmus test or a litmus test of that, is that we're comfortable being servants of Hashem and doing what he wants. But we shouldn't think that it's quid pro quo. That's the In fact, one of the major points of this sicha, that a person should not say, especially a religious person, should not say, "If I look honestly at my own religious performance, I know I'm not worthy of Hashem's kindness." You have to stop saying that. It's not true. Because even if technically you're not worthy of Hashem's kindness, the fact that you believe that even if I'm not worthy, Hashem can still be kind, that itself is a merit that makes you worthy of Hashem's kindness. The Rebbe doesn't mention this in the sicha, but I'll tell you a story which to me I think helps understand this concept. Reb Zusha was one of the talmidei Hamagid. And there was a rich guy who used to come to his house and bring him money. And one time, the guy came to Reb Zusha's house and his wife answered the door. So, he said, "I came to bring money to the Rebbe." And she said, "He's by the Rebbe." And he said, "What? I'm looking for the Rebbe." She said, "No, no, by his Rebbe." Meaning the Maggid. And uh which by the way may have meant that he was at the ohel of the Maggid. Reb Zusha lived in Annipol, which was the town is still the town of the the resting place of the Maggid. I never worked out exactly chronologically when the story took place, but it seems to me after I thought about it for a while, his wife probably meant that Reb Zusha was local, but he was at the ohel. And that's what she meant when she said he's by the Rebbe. At any rate, the point of the story is that this rich guy hears that the Rebbe has a Rebbe. So, he didn't drop off the money that he came to deliver. Instead, he uh decided he's going to give the money to the Rebbe's Rebbe. So, if if it means he went to Mezritch, that's also part of why I think probably was referring to the ohel, cuz I don't think the guy went to Mezritch. I think the guy probably donated toward the upkeep of of the the Maggid's resting place. But at any rate, he didn't give the money to Zusha. He always used to give the money to Zusha. He gave the money to the Maggid. To the Rebbe's Rebbe. So, uh short time afterwards, this rich guy became poor. So, he came to Reb Zusha and he said, "What happened? I'm sure I'm being punished and I think it's uh it's your hakpada that you're you have a grudge against me." And Zusha said, "Chas v'shalom, I'm I'm I'm not makpid at all. I have no grudge against you at all." He said, "Then then why did this happen to me?" So, Reb Zusha said to him, "I I'll tell you why it happened. It's very simple." He said, "You think I'm a Rebbe or you used to think I'm a Rebbe. I'm not a Rebbe. I'm just a regular guy. But uh you gave to me as if I were a Rebbe. So, in heaven, they treated you as if you're a rich man. You're not really a rich man. You think you deserve that wealth? No, you didn't. But you had a Rebbe who's not a Rebbe, so you are a rich you are a rich man who's not really a rich man. But the second that you you wised up and you said, "Oh, the Rebbe has a Rebbe. Let me go to a real Rebbe." They said, "Let's give the money to a real rich man, not to this guy who's not really a rich man." What I'm saying is that fake it till you make it. I'm sure we're familiar with that phrase. Um over here is a very serious concept regarding my identity and the way that I imagine Hashem sees me. When Hashem looks at me, is he noticing my flaws and all of the reasons why according to his system of justice I'm unworthy of kindness or even God forbid worthy of the opposite of kindness? Or does Hashem look at me lovingly? Does Hashem overlook all the reasons not to be kind and focus on his excuses to be kind? So, this is this to me is a very important concept in the sicha. That we have to believe that even though technically speaking, on paper, an argument could be made that we're not worthy. And indeed, perhaps according to those who explain the medrash this way, even Yaakov Avinu and Moshe Rabbeinu had such concerns. What we have to know is that that is not pious. We think it's pious. That's why that's why we're doing we think that look, I'm a religious Jew and I and I believe there are certain rules and if you don't live up to them, I'm you're you're unworthy. What can you do? These are the rules. That's not the pious attitude. That's not the religious outlook. The religious outlook is that if I can muster a true sense of security, of peace, of well-being, that Hashem is able to treat me lovingly. And that means that I'm a makes a point of this in the sicha, in ways that are readily and obviously kind, not things that I have to understand after 120 or after Mashiach comes how they were really hidden kindness. No, that Hashem can show me kindness in the most revealed way. And that my imperfections are absolutely no obstacle. My imperfections are no impediment to Hashem doing whatever he chooses to do in his love and his kindness. Well, that itself is worthy of abundant loving kindness. So, you see what we've done here is that we've figured out a way around the religious guilt and self-hatred without God forbid undermining the entire concept of reward and punishment and and measure for measure. To the contrary, the entire argument here is predicated on the belief of measure for measure. That this itself, the belief that Hashem can be kind to me even when I'm unworthy of him being kind to me, is what makes me worthy of him being kind to me. I like that. It sounds like it sounds paradoxical. It is paradoxical. That my belief, I'll say it again, my belief that Hashem can be kind to me even when I'm unworthy of Hashem being kind to me, is precisely what makes me worthy of Hashem being kind to me. Now, I'll add my own personal commentary. I don't know if I should, but at least I'm going to tell you that this is my thought and therefore you could ignore it if you choose. So, I'm giving you warning. Lubavitchers learn this sicha and they come away from it and yeah, I guess I'm being I guess I'm sort of um being stereotyping when I say Lubavitchers, but this is just my personal experience of who I've seen having this this obstacle with this sicha. They learn the sicha and they say, "Okay. So, if I have bitachon, then it's all going to be good for me." Now I have a new obsession, a new object for my religious guilt. It's that I don't have enough bitachon. You understand? Like a regular religious person learning this sicha has regular religious guilt and he's afraid Hashem's not going to be able to be kind to me cuz I messed it up through uh whatever lack that I I have in my in my observance. The Lubavitcher learns this sicha has a special uh object of of of religious guilt and that is if I had bitachon, Hashem could be kind to me. Oh, but that's how Hashem's not going to be able to be kind to me. That's how I messed it up. I get it. Yeah. Even if I'm not 100% perfect in my observance, but if I had bitachon, Hashem could overlook that. But I don't have bitachon and that's probably if you really want to think about it, that that that's probably even a bigger chesaron. That's even a bigger character defect. To say you're not 100% completely going according to Shulchan Aruch, okay, I mean you could catch anybody doing one thing. You could bite the tzitzis and you find one, you know, you could find a a psul, you could find some type of defect in in anyone's Torah observance. But to say I don't trust God, I mean that's a very foundational thing. Now I have even more religious guilt. Okay, you know what? I'm now I'm worthy of all types of bad stuff, right? And and it's justified because I didn't even live up to the sicha of "Tirachud u'vitzainu" from the Likutei Sichos. Okay. So, here's what I want to tell you. It was and this was important for me personally and that's why I want to share it with you. I found that I had to come to the following conclusion in my process of internalizing this sicha. And that is the following. And when I'm saying this, I'm not saying this as an explanation. I'm actually saying something that that I've lived with. Hashem can do kindness even if it requires miracles. Hashem is unlimited. Hashem is all powerful. Hashem is all loving. And I'm not able to mess that up. I can't mess that up. And in fact, even if I don't perfectly live up to the bitachon. And again, this is on my responsibility I'm making this statement and you can disagree with it, you can disregard it, you can negate it. But here's what was important for me to come to, at least at this stage in the process. That even if I have a lack of bitachon that Hashem can take care of me, my belief is that Hashem can still take care of me even if I don't believe that Hashem can take care of me. I trust that even if I don't trust that Hashem can take care of me, Hashem can still take care of me. That's how I had to do it for myself. You understand what I'm saying? I trust and I actually am able to to convince myself of this and how do I know? I always do the gut check. Not do I understand pshat in my mind cuz for that, you know, for teaching a class, you know, you just have to understand how to say it in pretty words. But I'm I'm talking about the gut check. Does it actually bring me peace? And as we've explained that the Rebbe cites Rabbeinu Bachya as the definition of bitachon, menuchas state. It's not a concept, it's not a slogan, it's not uh principles of faith. It's an emotional state. How do I bring myself to this emotional state? I can tell myself and it doesn't say this explicitly in the sicha. But this is what I tell myself. That I trust that Hashem can be kind to me even in a case where I'm not trusting that Hashem can be kind to me. So, even my lack of bitachon, I trust my bitachon is that even my lack of bitachon is not an impediment. So, in the end, that is a type of bitachon. It's a I guess it's a special form of bitachon that those of us who have religious guilt stemming from this sicha itself are may find useful. But the point is the bottom line. The point is the bottom line. That I'm able to feel emotionally secure. That there's nothing that I can do that would mess up Hashem's ability to help me out even if it requires miracles. And for Hashem, what's a miracle? So, there's nothing I can do that can mess that up. Nothing I can do as far as being not 100% perfect in my Torah observance. And in fact, and I'm adding this, even not being 100% perfect in my bitachon. You know what? Even my imperfect bitachon is enough bitachon and that's my bitachon. My trust, which brings me comfort, is that even in my imperfection, whether it's in Torah observance or it's in bitachon itself, is fine. Hashem's got me. Hashem loves me. Hashem's going to take care of me and there's no impediment and I can't mess it up. There's nothing I can do that can mess it up. And that's the real humility. This is very important. That's the real humility. Cuz the whole original argument of why maybe I'm not worthy of Hashem's kindness came from a desire to be humble. Well, who's perfect? I mean even Yaakov Avinu, even Moshe Rabbeinu. Who's perfect? Who's really deserving? So, we're trying to be so humble. Okay, you want to be humble? Here's how to be humble. You can't mess it up. And again, I'll repeat it cuz it needs to be repeated, I believe, what it says in in footnote 35. This is not a free pass, God forbid, to be anti-Nomian and and and to disregard halacha, God forbid and God forbid. It's not saying, "Oh, therefore you could do whatever you want." No, because as Rabbeinu Bachya says very clearly in chapter three of Shaar Habitachon, being observant is is part of walking the walk of bitachon. If you really believe that Hashem is taking care of you, then you're going to live an observant lifestyle, obviously, cuz you believe that Hashem wants the best for you and therefore his will is the best way to live. So, it's it's not God forbid suggesting, "Oh, now you don't have to observe anything. All you have to do is have have bitachon." God forbid, that's very clearly not saying that. But what it is saying is that we have to stop with the false humility of thinking that our imperfections are making it impossible for Hashem to treat us with the love that a father wants to treat his children with. And if you want to really be humble, realize your father's going to be kind to you and you can't mess it up. There's there's there's a lot more to say, a lot more I planned on saying, but it's the it's it's we're getting close to the top of the hour and I wanted to allow for some Q&A. So, um can we if uh Should we start with some questions? Sure. Are you able to moderate? Yeah, so just to clarify, um people want to know what's the difference between emunah and bitachon. Okay. So, the difference between emunah and bitachon and this is mentioned in the sicha early in the sicha. I think in sif base. Um and that is No, I actually in sif gimmel. That one understanding of trust in Hashem is that well, even if bad things happen to me, it's for my ultimately it's for my good because it's cleansing or it's whatever. Um and the Rebbe makes a point that that's not what we mean. Um bitachon is I believe that it'll be good for me in a revealed way. So then, what is this idea that even things that are bad are really hidden good. I'm going to press mute cuz I hear noise in the background. So, that would be emunah. That's what emunah would be. Emunah, in other words, is the belief that even things that I cannot see as being good ultimately have to fit somehow into Hashem's master plan and those things are good. Bitachon is the belief No, no, Hashem can take care of me in a way that it will be obviously good, in a way that I can immediately see it and identify it as good without any philosophizing. Now, you didn't ask me this, but I would ask me this, well, how do you know when to use which or do you use both of them all the time? And I think the most useful guide would be I would separate between the past and the future. When it comes to what has already happened, for that, we need emunah. Because it is what it is. It's already occurred. That's why, for instance, the Gemara says that if somebody's walking into a city, he's been a he's been traveling out of town and he comes home and as he gets into the city, he hears that there's a a house that's burnt down. He shouldn't pray, "Oh, please let it not be my house." And the reason he shouldn't pray, "Please let it not be my house" is not because just because that would be mean because it means he's praying that it's somebody else's house, but because it's called a tefilas shav. It's called a prayer in vain. You know why? Cuz he was told somebody's house already burnt down. So, either it was his house or it wasn't. It's done already. So, when it comes to the past, if something happened that was not revealed good, for that, we need emunah and we need to say, "Hashem has his reasons even if we don't know them." Or even if they are unknowable. There's a difference between the two. We don't know them means at some point we could know them. Unknowable means fundamentally uh incomprehensible. But when it comes to the future, and this is a very big point of this sicha. We can and we should believe that things will be good in a way of toiv hanireh v'hanigleh, apparent and obvious revealed good, even if it requires miracles. Because for Hashem, that's absolutely no obstacle whatsoever. Um we have another question, which is, you know, we say that if you have like having bitachon actually has the ability to change, you know, the outcome, um but what if like what if the outcome's not good? Someone wants to know, does that mean does that show a lack on their bitachon? Does that mean their bitachon wasn't really um it wasn't true because if it really was true, then that should have changed what the outcome is going to be. Yeah. I hear the question. It's a very difficult question, um not just intellectually, but emotionally. Because, of course, it's not the first time that many of us on this uh meeting have heard the ideas in this sicha. Um the the the the the idea of tach gut vetzain gut. Just by the way, story of the Tzemach Tzedek, which the Rebbe tells in this uh in this sicha. Story about a uh chassid who had a a child who was not well and he went to the Tzemach Tzedek and the Tzemach Tzedek told him, "Tach gut vetzain gut." Which in Yiddish means think good and it'll be good. So, many many of us have either learned this sicha before or heard that concept before or heard that those words, "Tach gut vetzain gut." Think good and it'll be good. And um sometimes we've practiced that or attempted to practice it and it didn't work out. So, uh how do we and which is very painful, obviously. It's not I would say it's doubly painful. It's not only painful because whatever happened was a painful thing, but it's also painful because it can God forbid shake our our belief. Here we went and we tried to do in earnest something that we were told to do and uh we see it not working and it cause us to question. Or at the very least, it causes uh fatigue. Depletes us. Causes burnout, spiritual burnout. So, here here's what I'll tell you. And uh there may be others who will explain it differently. And that's I invite that. I invite other explanations to that. Um And I and I take full responsibility for this explanation. We know that um there are many situations in life where we don't even think about bitachon. Now, it's interesting why why don't we think about bitachon in those situations? Seemingly, we rely on Hashem for everything. But in our subjective perspective, uh a lot of times we feel like, "Oh, I got this. Don't worry, I got this. Don't worry, Hashem, I've got this." Which is actually not correct. We shouldn't uh we shouldn't have that attitude. But the reality is very often we do. So, in those cases where we don't feel bitachon is necessary. In other words, we don't have to rely on that ace in the hole, as it were. What do we do? We just do plain old-fashioned hishtadlus. Just natural stuff. Um in fact, for many of us, that feels like the responsible adult approach to things cuz it's just it's normal, natural, doesn't doesn't rely on anything supernatural or miraculous, spiritual. But the reality is that there's plenty of things that seem like they're a slam dunk and we go through the process that's the normal process and it's not 100% guaranteed. It doesn't always happen the way that we thought it would happen. I mean, it was it seemed like a logical thing. A B C. You just do this process and and it works, but but it doesn't. At least not always. But we don't say, "Oh my goodness, uh reality is broken." We just say, "Okay, you know, you win some, you lose some." Doesn't shake us to the core is what I'm saying. If you're told, "You do this, this, and this," then generally speaking, the natural thing is it's guaranteed to have certain results and then you do this, this, and this, but it's not 100%. Nobody starts questioning. Nobody's deeply shaken. Nobody starts uh and and nobody's pained by that. They don't take it as a as as a as as personally uh as a rejection or or or they don't take it as a sign of of being unworthy. They just say, "Okay, so not everything always works." What I'm saying about bitachon is that it's as good, if not better, I would argue it's probably more powerful than conventional hishtadlus by itself, although parenthesis for for a second, the Rebbe makes it clear that even when we do the tach gut vetzain gut protocol, we accompany that with hishtadlus at the same time. In other words, we do the natural things at the same time. Um but in the event, like I was saying before, that we we we try to do something that we're we're not invoking tach gut vetzain gut. We're just doing natural stuff in order for it to happen and it doesn't work out. Okay, so we accept the fact nothing is 100% guaranteed. Hashem has other reasons. And I guess what I'm saying is that if in the past you've tried tach gut vetzain gut and it didn't work. Okay, one explanation you could give yourself, and I think this is the go-to explanation people probably already given themselves is, "Oh, I must not have done it well." Because if I did it perfectly, it would have worked. And I'm saying I'm not comfortable with that. Maybe maybe that's correct, but I'm not comfortable with it. And the reason I'm not comfortable, first of all, personally, I'm just going to admit I don't like it. But also, trying in earnest to be true to the sicha, I I I to me, I believe the whole point of the sicha is with our imperfections and all, as long as we can get ourselves into that state of emotional security that Hashem's taking care of us, he can overlook all of our all of our defects. So, I don't want to make this about our defects. To me, the whole point of the sicha is get over your defects. Stop making your defects this this idol that's blocking you off from God. Okay? So, I would say that just like when you try natural things and they don't work and you say, "Oh, it It work. Hashem had other plans. There were other factors, obviously. Factors that only infinite wisdom can perceive. So too, sometimes we try and sign good and it's as good if not better. Again, I would say it's better, more effective, more powerful, more potent, more effective than conventional by itself. But in the event that we didn't get the the result we wanted, okay, so then we go back to the that we spoke of. And the is apparently Hashem has his reasons. Now, here's the difficult part. You got to try to forget about that while you're doing your sign good because if you start preparing in your mind the that you're going to have in the event that things go wrong you're already psyching yourself out. You're already you see you're already taking away your your emotional security. So, we have to focus and we have to say, you know what? That's not this is not appropriate thinking for right now. If we have to talk about it it sounds funny for but if you understand what it means when you have to come on to is when you have to you have something you can't explain. So, if we have God forbid something we can't explain how is that possible? Okay, so then we will go to our and we have our but in the meantime like I said the difference between past and future when events are still in flux and still unfolding even if they require miracles. Let's not think about it. Let's just think let's be focused single-mindedly and let's know that is a totally legitimate and in fact probably the most responsible way of as long as you also do your your little for Hashem to have his undeniable plausibility. Explain that in a lot that you do the the word in the is the you make the you make the vessels for Hashem to hide his his blessings to make it plausible that it happened naturally and not supernaturally even though for sure it happens supernaturally. But the point is you make your you do your normal natural work but the main thing is that and that we believe that that protocol is not only totally legitimate but it's a it's the best approach. It's the most effective approach, most responsible and most most guaranteed and let's not think about you understand how that would undercut the effectiveness of it in the moment. Let's not think about what if. I hope that I hope that I hope that's helpful. We just spoke about making a that like we need to make a because we have to have a way for Hashem to you know hide hide that you know make it look like it's not this great miracle but people want to know if you could expand a little bit more on that also like how much of a like you want to make a you don't need to want to go overboard if you have anything to add to that. Okay, people want lessons in how to make a so I think that is teaching us not how to make a but how not to make one. In other words how to make how to do natural that's our default. That's what the animal soul wants us to do automatically and it's and it's the only thing that the animal soul believes is actually responsible because the animal soul is materialist so it only believes in stuff that it can touch and taste and and see and hear. So, we don't need lessons in how to do natural regular that's I think what we need is some parameters of how to know when we're overdoing it. So, I'm reversing the question a little bit. Not how to make but how not to make at what point does is it too much? And there is a concept of too much that gives this muscle in the glass in the safer to say how he says that is also also means clothing. If a person has a robe that is too long for him you know like the colors with the with the dress and have to hold it they have to hold it up for them so they don't trip. So, if you have like a robe that's too long you're going to trip on it. So, there is such a thing as overdoing the and like a person who's working too many hours to make the that he needs it's actually not only unnecessary it's detrimental. It becomes counterproductive. So, there's such a thing as too much. So, what is too much? How do you where do you draw the line? How do you know? Well let me start by describing the most extreme limit meaning the most the most severe limits upon how little of a vessel you should make. There's a story of the that the told where he was collecting money and obviously it wasn't for personal use it was for a it was to redeem captives. So, he needed to collect money and uh there was a rich guy in town who had some money so the went to the guy's house. He knocked on the window and he turned around without waiting and he walked away. So, the asked why you walking away before the guy comes out? He says, I did what I needed to do. Right? What? I'm expecting the money's going to fall through the ceiling. The didn't use that expression but it's as if to say, what? You think I you think I'm expecting just to make the money fall through the so no, I understand it's going to happen in a natural way. You have to make a vessel for so I made a vessel. I went and I went to the guy's house. Physically went there. Knocked on the window. Physically knocked on the window. Okay, so I did my part. The guy wants to give he'll give and so it turned out the guy came running down the street chasing the and gave him the money. So, at the extreme what is a is um the bare minimum something physical something physical and the reason you want something physical is because you want the blessing to reach you here in the physical world. Blessings come from on high but they need to reach down below. And in order for it to actually reach us you have to prepare an opening in the physical world for it to be received. So, you do something physical. How much? Anything. Just like the story. But so I said that's the most extreme definition of making a vessel. But if you want to follow a more moderate opinion of what it means, here's what it means. And this is also according to from the that just be normal. Just be normal. Sit down and figure out what are the things that would normally need to happen in order he says it regarding making a living. So, figure out what's a normal way to make whatever your budget is. You make a budget figure out how much you need and then do the normal things. And don't overdo it. Because in the final analysis the whole purpose for the vessels is only to provide what I called I called earlier I referred to this earlier plausible deniability. It's allowing Hashem an excuse an alibi to say that he didn't miraculously sustain you even though Hashem is miraculously sustaining you. But since you did the natural normal thing it looks like you just did it on your own. And that's all really that's necessary is just for you to provide that cover so it's not obvious that miracles are happening. However, now let me flip back because I said because I said the extreme limit of not doing too much and then I said the moderate definition of now I'm going to go on the third hand this hand on the other hand and on the third hand and I'm going to say you know there's a from the pillow chair. He says um you know we have the the phrase from chapter A which we were singing the other day and we'll sing again next week for this kiss with we sing it for kiss with the of the we'll sing it again for kiss with for the of the of the of the of the of the of the of the so over there of uh chapter of of of of of of of he says lay on Hashem you have a cast your burdens upon Hashem and by the way that that phrase is brought in the that we're learning. That's the scriptural origin for this idea of being worry-free. Cast your burdens on Hashem means be be completely at peace. If you have a And he will sustain you. Um Like Malchut Kallah, like we say in the Al Hamichya Bracha. Means sustenance. He will sustain you. But Hilchos Brachos says it's Lashon Keilim. Hu Yechalkelecha means and he will provide the Keilim. That technically, really you can just tell Hashem, you know what? I'm going to skip the Keilim. I'm just going to go straight to the Bitachon. And if you want there to be deniable plausibility for your miracles you'll work that part out, too. So, you're going to say, well, which one should I do? You just described a lot of different answers, a lot of different approaches. And, you know what? There's a reason why there are a lot of different approaches. You know why? This isn't a technical thing. This is an emotional thing. It's like you're asking me, how should I spend time with my wife? Well, I don't know. Tell me about you. Tell me about her. This is not a technical thing. This is not This is not something that you go through the motions with. It's an emotional state. And therefore it has to be real to you. You can't lie a prayer. It's an old expression. You can't lie a prayer. Right? Prayer is you're talking to Hashem. You can't lie a prayer. You can lie to people. You can't lie a prayer. So, you have to do what works for you. The main thing is that you should be at ease. So, if you're only going to be at ease if you do a certain amount of Hishtadlus that puts your uh Nefesh Habahamis at rest and gets it to back off, okay, so that's what you're going to have to do. But if you can follow uh Reb Hillel's approach and let Hashem make Keilim, too, and feel at rest Adrabba, why not? Why not? The main thing is that Machshavas Bitachon is Menuchas Hanefesh. Whatever you have to do to convince yourself that you're not being crazy by being calm. It's not crazy at all. It's actually completely sane. It's the most sane and most responsible approach. What else uh So, we have some a lot of questions. We kind of touched on it before, but um a lot of questions about you know, like having Bitachon and then things not working out and feeling like seeing people who have a lot a lot of Bitachon and then things are bad for them. Like, how does that make sense? And then also um just to add to that, someone wanted to know if if this is true, if having Bitachon makes um makes the reality different, right? It changes reality. And then in order for it to be truth and if for it to be emes, it has to work across the board. So, what about the times when we don't see it working? Okay, so those are similar questions. One is about, well, what if I saw someone who I think has a lot of Bitachon and things didn't work out for them. And then the other question was, well, if it's true, it's got to always be true. So, I feel like I answered this question already, but the fact that it's still being asked now maybe people are asking it who are coming on the chat new, who weren't here 15, 20 minutes ago when I feel like we spoke about this. But if people are who people were here and they're still asking, so then maybe it needs to be said again. Um Like I said earlier Dirchu v'Tzein Gutt is an incredibly powerful method for achieving results. I will furthermore say, which I didn't say before that I do believe that the Rebbe put himself at personal risk to reveal this to us. Now, that sounds like an outlandish statement. But we just had Yud Kislev, we're going into Yud Tes Kislev. We know that those are the days of liberation from imprisonment of the Mitteler Rebbe and Alter Rebbe. So, we know why those imprisonments took place. There was a Kitrug, there was a accusation in the heavenly court that they were spreading too much of the secrets of the Torah. And the Rebbe speaks about this. If if the acquittal of the Alter Rebbe on Yud Tes Kislev meant that the heavenly court approved of teaching Chassidus, then how come it happened to his son a generation later and he had to go through the whole process again? So, the Rebbe explains, well he was acquitted for revealing those secrets. But then the Mitteler Rebbe came and pushed the envelope even more and started revealing more secrets. The Alter Rebbe was Chochma, the Mitteler Rebbe was Binah. Chochma is just a hint of an idea. Binah is the elaboration. He spelled it out. He said it really clearly. So, when you start spelling things out, hey, hey, hey, we gave you permission to say the hints. We didn't give you permission to spell it out. So, again with the imprisonment, again process is. But I think it's a fair and safe assumption to say, I think it's self-evident that the Rebbe chose to reveal this information because he felt that it was needed. I think is that fair to say? Is that I mean, we're comfortable saying that? That the Rebbe chose to share this information because he felt that it was needed. It wasn't God forbid I even speak in such a crass way, but it's not like the Rebbe needed something to say at a Farbrengen and thought this would be interesting. God forbid. The Rebbe is sharing really sensitive heavenly secrets with us. Obviously because he feels that this generation needs it. So what am I trying to get at? What I'm trying to get at is that there are questions that you can ask after the fact where you have observed that this tool seems not to be foolproof. Or questions you have about how reliable this tool is. And I'm not sure I can answer those questions. Maybe there are others who are better suited to answer that. What I can tell you is that the Rebbe gave us this tool in full confidence that it would improve our lives that it would make the world a better place and it would bring us closer to Hashem. I think those are safe assumptions. So you can ask questions about where you perceive the tool not to have been 100% effective, but I hope that at the end of the analysis, your takeaway is that your feelings about this tool still remain that it's a really good thing to do. It's a smart thing to do. It's a responsible thing to do. And even if you've seen things in the past that have made you question whether it's smart or responsible or safe or guaranteed or whatever it may be, I hope your your your final conclusion will be that this is not only a good way to move forward, but I would say I think I'm think I'm confident in saying it is the best way of moving forward. I don't know if I'm answering the question or not answering the question, but I think on a practical level on a maybe there are those who are better suited to answer the nuances as far as the the technical concepts, but from a practical level, I believe this is this is the answer. Don't allow anything you've perceived in the past about the the effectiveness of this tool to to cause you to make yourself miss out on this incredibly powerful and effective tool. Um just to end off tonight with one more question. Uh maybe you could give people on some practical tips like how to get yourself from being in a state of like you know, fear and anxiety and whatever and bringing your head and your heart into a place of like bitachon and bitachon and believing that things will be good. Um if you have any tips that you could share or any practical advice for people. Okay. So, you know what? It's a great question. I mentioned earlier that the nefesh habahamis the animal soul or the survival impulse always wants to see what it thinks is the responsible way of dealing with problems, which is something physical. Cuz the animal soul has a completely materialistic uh point of view. And for it, the only responsible effective response to any situation is a materialistic response. Meaning a physical response. And it gets really nervous about spiritual explanations for physical phenomena. One of the things that this does, and when I say this, I mean all of it, the entire body of siddic teachings. Whatever specific topic in siddic you're studying, one of the the one property of all siddic, and I'm when I say siddic, I mean siddic habad, but one property that all siddic habad has in common, regardless of what specific subject the a given mimer or sicha may be focused on, is that it gets us thinking about reality from a spiritual perspective. Um and not just our godly soul, which already intuitively understands the spiritual perspective, but our animal soul, chiefly our animal soul, which is why siddic explains very often um when we're when we're davening and we're getting ourselves ready to say shma and to proclaim the unity of God, we we talk about the angels who are called animals. Why do we do that? Why what's what's the point? Cuz we're reminding our animal soul that its source is in those angelic animals. In other words, we're telling our animal soul, you're actually a spiritual being, too. Right? It's that old saying that people like we're not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience. So, every time I say that, people like that. I don't know why cuz it's got good structure. But uh I'll tell you something even better. You have to tell your animal soul, behema, listen. You are not when you're davening, I'm talking about. When you're about to daven, you say to your animal soul, when you're in the middle of birkas krias shma, you don't say this out loud cuz you can't be mosek, but you say in your mind to your animal soul while you're getting ready for shma, behema, listen. You are not an animal having a spiritual experience. You are a spiritual being having an animalistic experience. You're a heavenly entity that's come down to be the survival impulse of a Jewish body. And that's why cuz you're wired to be survival impulse, you think about food and sleep and money and physical stuff, but really you're you're actually a spiritual being. And I want to talk to you about the spiritual mechanics behind all the physical stuff that you care about. That's what siddic is. I mean, siddic is a lot of things, but from one approach, that's what siddic is. Getting that really concrete part of ourselves, that ego that just wants physical actions with physical results, we want to get that part of us to start thinking abstractly. The Rebbe Rashab mentions in kuntres umayan that one of the advantages of learning siddic, any siddic, is that it speaks about concepts for which you cannot have hasagas umamos, you can only have yedias umatzias, which means hasagas umamos means I know the thing, I've experienced I I I know what the pen is. I've held it in my hand. I've looked at it. I can draw it. I can weigh it and tell you how much it weighs. That's hasagas umamos. Then there are things for which you only have yedias umatzias. You only have an abstract notion of their existence cuz you can't experience them. You can only hear about them. So, like some place you've never been, somebody could tell you what it's like, but until you've been there, you don't have hasagas umamos, you only have yedias umatzias. Now, that's a place that you've never been, but you could go there. What about a place like atzilus, you know, the higher worlds, where it's not just you haven't been there. It's it's not something you can experience, at least not in an in an embodied state. So, you're going to inherently have to have yedias umatzias, not hasagas umamos. So, the the Rebbe Rashab explains like this, when you learn spiritual subjects, which siddic is rife with, um what you're doing is you're you're stretching your human brain's capacity to think abstractly and spiritually, to start to take seriously ideas for which it is fundamentally impossible to have a physical experience of or a sensorial experience of. So, to answer your question, what I would encourage everyone to do is exercise your capacity for spiritual thinking. The moment you open your eyes, you're already being bombarded with physical senses, and your mind is making sense of that stimuli and giving a lot of credence and a lot of importance to that stimuli, and it's getting itself into a mode of assuming that the physical reality is the absolute reality. And that's not a healthy world view for us to function within. I mean, the physical world exists, of course it does, but it only exists because bereishis bara elokim. Doesn't exist because my five senses tell me it exists. It exists because the Torah tells me that God made a world and therefore the world exists. It talks about in the in the madrashes mimer in uh Micha Moicha. So, I would encourage you just in general to learn siddic, any siddic, even if it even if the topic isn't emunah and bitachon, because it will make you think more spiritually and be more comfortable with spiritual ideas and more comfortable with taking seriously things that your body can't touch and taste and and and and see and hear. And when you do that, you're going to start feeling more comfortable with a lot of things, including bitachon. Because it's going to be more logical to you that of course of course, the most effective approach to something isn't a purely materialistic approach to it. Of course, in fact, it makes perfect sense that the most powerful approach to something should be something that's chiefly spiritual with a minor physical component mixed in just for the purposes of providing a channel for things to come down to the physical world. You understand what I'm saying? That the mechanics of bitachon are pretty simple. That I don't think takes a lot of explanation. You believe that Hashem can help you even if it takes a miracle and that there's nothing you can do to make it to to to mess that up. That's what it is. But to actually take it seriously and to respect yourself as an intellectual in the morning after you do, for that, you have to really keep yourself in a in a mode where you're where you're you're studying siddic and and therefore your brain is comfortable uh functioning in that world of abstraction, in the world of spiritual ideas. Yeah, so much more to be said about this. So, are uh we're good for now? Yeah, I think so. Um thank you so much for for taking all those questions. There were some more, but I think for now Okay. We're good for tonight. continue, we can continue. Can we end off um with a capital to him? Are you okay with that? Sure. Which capital do we want to say? Kuf kaf aleph. Okay. We're going to say kuf kaf aleph 121. It's a great capital for many, many reasons. And this is again b'sros refuah shleima Any of us Bracha Dwaira bas Bracha Dwaira Leah. A complete, speedy recovery. Ezri me im Adonai eseh shamayim va'aretz. Hinei lo yanum v'lo yishan shomer Yisrael. Adonai shomrecha, Adonai tzilcha al yad yemincha. Yomam hashemesh lo yakkecha v'yareach balaila. Adonai yishmorcha mikol ra, yishmor et nafshecha. Adonai yishmor tzeischa u'vo'echa me'ata v'ad olam. Thank you so much. Yeah, thank you. great. All right. Thank you again. Good night to everyone.