Thought for the Week Simchas Torah V'zos HaBeracha ,Simchas Torah Paradigm Shift - Rabbi Winner 5787

How are you? I hope everyone is I hope everyone is healthy, strong and happy physically and spiritually. I'm posting from New Haven. It's hishan after tim a very unuspicious time a special time in the calendar of tish when we're able to accomplish unbelievable things. Today is the day of our kitten k a good theima people sing ah gates that we were successful in our prayers and everywhere was inscribed for a good sweet year on every single level. So I'm in the yeshivas and the shed of as usual we'll start with and we're going to go to say a prayer where this prayer is going to be directly connected to the concept that we will explain today which is in a way the entire essence of kite and how it manifests itself in the holiday of which is the climax. We're coming to the grand finale of the entire unbelievable awesome elevated month of So the prayer we're going to say today and this is going to be the connection to and the prayer we're going to say is the prayer that we say in the morning of The means the prayer means fortunate are you Israel fortunate are you Israel fortunate are you Israel that Hashem has chosen you and given you the as a heritage a gift in the desert so in this week's para there's a puk that in a certain sense as Rashi tells us this p says it all. What's the p in the para mishenu at the last day of his life he gives blessings to the entire nation and to every single pride tribe in particular. But then at the end after he gives every single tribe their particular blessing the the says in giml the says Anyways, the PK starts your praises. So, Rashi says after he had detailed for them the blessings says to them, Why don't I need to detail the blessing for you? In short, everything is yours. In other words, you know, somebody could say, "In how many ways do I admire you? In how many ways are you lucky?" And you mention 100 different ways on every single aspect, on every single level, etc., etc. But you know what? Then it comes to a point where you just say sum total to put it in short you got everything you got everything once you say you got everything is anything to add to you got everything so that's what was saying over here when the says you're so you're so lucky we don't believe in luck but I'm saying hashem hashem chose you and then you had everything. Even though I went on and on blessings to every single tribe, the bottom line is you have everything. That's the in this week's par. Now, the which we'll come to soon, I'll just mention what he says. The bal points out immediately how unusual this these words are praised. Who is a nation like you that helps them and chose them? And the says these words only twice in the entire once over here. That's this week's para. But there's another that's in where the P reads when you eat solely through the labor of your hands which means you don't ask from mother's help it will be good for you and you'll be praised. That's the verse. The Burm does not bring out actually the understanding the meaning of what he's writing that it says over here and it says over there too the words doesn't say but so it says twice in the over there it says so the simple meaning of the bal I would think is what is he's bringing out what Rashi says in other happens. That's it. End of story. Just like Rash over here says what do I have to go into details? But just just say and it means you have everything over here too. Similar the P says you're praised and therefore and you have good. What type of good? What form does it take? What shape does it take? And what realm is it? It includes everything. But I want to say that it's connected also to the beginning of the verse. This is a distinctive Jewish trait which is connected to our here which is connected to the theme which we will speak about of which is the climax and the sum total of what is the understanding behind all this. So the understanding of all this will be understood based on a talk of the previous rebi in the burim. He gave a talk one year on the of and it says a verse over there on the eighth day which then it was and therefore we say this ones and this was a day that was after days and days of celebrating the habes mikdos. So it was a very elevated time great godly revelations and on that eighth day when it came to the climax and God descended and came down into the B mikdash it says sent the people away instructing them to return home the following day they blessed the and they went home to their tents etc etc. So the previous rebi asks a very obvious question we're calling their home tense. We know that the time of melik was the greatest prosperous time of the Jewish nation. As everyone knows, we want to talk about the glorious years of the yidden. There was the years when was king. There was peace in the land. There were many rich yidden. And it's called it was the greatest years in the history of the Jewish nation. It's called the years, the days when the moon was full. The Jews, the moon is a metaphor for the Jewish nation. And it's called the full moon years because things were glorious, things were illuminating, things were beautiful. It was before the B mish was destroyed and hamelik was recognized as the man of the century, the man of the world, the greatest person ever. Um, noblemen, kings, royalty, scholars, wise people from all around the globe came to visit and he was recognized as the world's greatest leader and the smartest person. And Israel is recognized as the greatest country. So what do you mean? They went to the tents. They weren't living in tents. Then people lived in homes, beautiful homes, rich homes. People were rich. So why are the homes called tents? And over here we come to one of the most fundamental concepts of Judaism in general, but in particular inidus. The whole point of a Jew is to make a dwelling place down here below. That's what it says based on the desire to have a dwelling place down here below. And that's our mission. So, it's about engagement. You're meant to be in the world, planet Earth, and look like a human, talk like a human, engage in business like a human, eat like a human, but really act like a Jew, which is totally different. And we've spoken about this many, many times. And that's what it means. You're meant to be in you're involved in the physicality of the world in materialism and at the same time everything you're working with the lens through which you see the world is not the materialism but the godly force which animates the world and your job is to reveal that godliness in all of totality in all of reality in all of existence. You see the true. It's like imagine you have X-ray vision. You see what's really what's the entire world. You know what the entire world is? The entire existence of the world is just the embodiment of God's word of the giving life to the world. There's no two existences. This as we spoke many times and this is one of the main innovations and discussions of this that when we say there's one God we say it doesn't only mean that there's one God there's one reality and this is as everyone knows even though we say this during the year but in some is when we cry out in the before and before office. And how does it start? And everyone knows this one. And over here, I don't know why it's not even discussed so much in the novelty of but the truth is there's such a it's it's absolutely astonishing the literal meaning of the is that Moses is talking to the Jews and he says you Jews were shown to Soim and there's nothing else but which according to this means that represents the infinite channel the higher level of God his essence name his essential name and then there's alikim which means judgment it's already God as he lowers himself the verse saysim like a son and the sheath is the name of and the name of so there's a core the core of the sun is too powerful we cannot really feel the benefit from it therefore it has to have a sheath which is around it and that's like and that's so the two names work together in giving sustenance to the world now's not the time to get into the details but the point is you could ask a question that's that's a literal translation you Jews shown through Hashem that you should know that is one thing and that's what it means that a Jew knows. Alterb came along and said it's like it's a statement about the essence of God and we're addressing God directly which is a very powerful statement. You you in your essence Moshe is letting us know to like to God that God revealed himself. You revealed yourself in your essence so that we should know that. Now you can ask a very deep question. What's the difference if we talking to God so to speak and saying and letting us know that you revealed yourself so that we should know or if we say to us that we should know that you could ask a question what's the difference if this is this interpretation or that interpretation but without elaborating the difference is Because ata goes in the essence. It's a really this we could talk about this for weeks but I just want to say one point and we spoke about this many times in many different ways the difference that it makes but the power of essence is to unite opposites and this is the key to the whole Judaism. How is it possible that a Jew could be a Jew in a physical mundane world and look human like all of the humans but act so spiritual, so transcendental? How is it possible to be IN THE WORLD HIGHER THAN THE WORLD? Similar to we spoke many times, a part of the world but apart. We're in it but yet above it at the same time. How is it possible? And many people have that question. How can we be in the physical world in a way and with an approach of engagement which means in a way involved but at the same time that involvement does not harm me. There's no there's no casualties. there's no collateral damage and we're in the world but yet we're still elevating the world without it us being bring being bring being bring being bring being bring without it bringing us down and the answer is because we're connected to at to atmos to to put a simple analysis we spoke many times we have fire and we have water if you believe in one god that created fire and water that means that there's a certain place where FIRE AND WATER ARE NOT OPPOSITES because they come from the same source And that's what happened by the miracle of B where the great fire balls of ice came down and Rashi says it was ice but in the ice was fire. So how could it be that fire and water could coexist? The answer is that the way God brought it down, he made one channel, another channel, male, female, yin, yang, call whatever you want. Fire, water. That's the way it evolves in the way they made a system as it comes down into the world. But in the source they really won. Because if everything comes from the same source that means there is a source that in that source everything becomes nullified to the source. And once you bring out the source and everything there could be a fusion and a unification of opposites are connected to this source. And this is what we're celebrating the essence of he injected and he put into every single with mountain as explains the I put my my essence my very eye into every single Jew Because we have otherworldly out of this world infinite empowerment which could accomplish anything. And what is there anything we can accomplish? We're connected to the essence which in that essence opposites are united. Therefore we could be doing something which seems to be impossible. What is impossible? Impossible is to be inim the lowest of the low lowest material world and yet in that very material world accomplished absolute revelation of the essence of God which will be revealed in every single physical thing. Now the entire month of tre is this sort of inculcating ourselves educ educating ourselves. There was a rash, there wasip, there was a sukus. Every single one of these holidays is adding more and more to training us to make the spiritual dominant that even if we're in a physical environment, we're really walking on air. Even though we're walking on earth, we're living a higher existence and there's no split. Because as we spoke many times when we talk about the essence of Hashem, Rrookness is not higher than Gashm. Gashm is not higher than RN. God is not RN is he's not spiritual. Hashem is Hashem who created spiritual and created physical. We're connected to that essence. Therefore, we can bring together the rrook and the gashm. But at the same time, we're not fooled by the facade of the gash. The world is a place which is called because someone could be walking this planet earth and deny God's existence. He covered himself up. And our job is to uncover the truth that it's Hashem's word which is giving life. That's the real reality of the word every single second. So therefore once a person lives a life in such a way he has no split. There's no dichotomy because in the physical he sees the spiritual in the spiritual he sees that the purpose was to bring it down into the physical and therefore he never would make the physical as a priority as an end in itself. And this is how the getting back to of says this is what it means that on the eighth day finally the climax of the entire tish is when we went home after tish after such a spiritual experience we looked at the world differently. Now I looked at my mansion as something that's just a tool and a vehicle for godliness. It's not about a home because physical is important. I have to look at the whole physical in a way just like a tent. That's what it means a tent. It's like a dear. It's just like a temporary dwelling. It's not about gashm gashm. It's about using the gashmas and to elevate it and channel it and to see how the physical is in the spir how the spiritual is in the physical. And in that the it's called the paradigm shift. In other words, the ultimate accomplishment of the entire month is that this sort of paradigm shift that your priorities become in order. It's all about the priorities. When does it finally break through fully that it hits the spot with the saying of we're saying that and that means that it was a level of das das means like we spoke many times that it becomes absorbed that it becomes inculcated that it becomes um integrated internalized it becomes you that's what das means And that's the connection between as we said many times the word means it's the day when all the stay together but on a personal level it represents absorbing means everything everything of the entire the whole and sukas finally finally hits the spot like conception that means and once this conception Then there's results that it really became you totally go together and is the climax and now based on this maybe we could also understand the the versat but let's get back to a story a very famous story that I definitely said before and the source of that story is this that there was once a who came to the because he used to v visit his reb the holy bash. But this was in the days when the bash was the reb and the mag who would later on become a successor was still a disciple of the bump. This balabos was returning home and the asked him told this balabosid you know what if you can do me a favor on your way home can you stop in by where the mag lives the mag I have a disciple his name is and he's a holy man and he's a special man please on your way home just send my regards anyways he comes to the town with the Mr. Zich lives and he says where's this holy go this holy that be he asks around most people don't know know what he's talking about one guy says oh you know you mean probably the the mammed he lives over there at the end of the town in a shack in a heart he's teaching children okay surprised He thought this guy would be the main ro of the community and getting a lot of respect. Anyways, he walks to where the mag is and he sees the mag teaching kids mameish malamit. The the the mag tells him, "Sorry, I can't really engage with you right now because we're learning. Come back in an hour." He comes back and lo and behold, he sees the kids are still there. And the same benches that were sitting on learning, now they're sleeping. Like this is where they sleep. Anyways, so he comes into this shack, this hut. And he asked, "Okay, so let's sit down and talk right then and there, right in that spot." The book the market starts talking to him. Says, "You don't have a room. You eat?" "No, we eat here." And and and the students are sleeping here too. Right here. Yes. And he look with them over here. Yeah. So he tells the market and he's shocked. He can't believe it. In utter disbelief. He says, "Hello, where I come from in my home. There's one room for learning. There's one room for davining. There's one room for eating. There's one room for sleeping. And over here, I see everything's in one spot." So the mag says is in my home it's also like that. In other words, what he meant is but right now it's just a temporary journey. Our whole life in this planet earth is not really what it's about. Now the Reb said many times when Mia comes we're going to be with all our material possessions. But the point is, you have to live your life to understand that it's not materialism for the purpose of materialism. We're not people that are into our purpose is to make money. Our purpose, God forbid, is not to make money. Our purpose is not to to pursue the pleasures of the flesh. It's not to climb the ladder of success in the physical sense. Our purpose is it was all meant that we have a mission. We have a purpose. We're dealing with all these things only they should be elevated. And we have to realize if something is not so amazing the way it is in the physical. It doesn't matter because this is not my real home. What does mean my real home? My real home is where my soul is at. Like you understand and in a way the said in another that the whole purpose of the whole entire month of is the we say the whole thing tomorrow we end the last time we say this and what is the central point of the entire Is it true? Is that what your purpose in life is that you would like to sit all day and and and be connected at a very intimate level with God? And that's what we're saying on and says what we've worked on the entire month. I can actually proclaim that it's true. I don't have to say it anymore. That's all my request is. And now I actually live it. I experiencing it. I experience it on says and therefore when they left when the says finally that day they felt that their homes were only a tent. And now connected to the in says there's a famous interpretation according to this that the stresses when a person invests his hands in the work then he's praised. In other words, if your mind and heart becomes involved in your business, which means you become obsessed with making another dollar, you become obsessed that you believe that it's your brains that is causing you your success in business, then that's not what Judaism is about. What makes a Jew different when he knows that it's not really my heart and mind is on the mission. My heart and mind eye on the prize is on the objective. The reason I make money is to have a big house on Y so I could have 30 guests. It's not about money at all. And that's why I never would sell my soul to the devil, so to speak. I don't become a slave to the work because I never thought that it's about my heart and mind are not enslaved to the work. My involvement to the work is only with my hands. In other words, lower aspects of my being. What does it mean lower as my being? I'm always in a higher place. My heart and mind is in a higher place. In other words, channeling it to the purpose of what am I? What's it all about? What's the point of it all? Why am I working 10our days? And the answer is to elevate it and to bring God in it last and to reveal how the it's not about the mundane dollars and cents, but it's about the godly sparks that are in the dollars and cents and how I could channel those sparks and bring out God through my work, etc. I hope you understand what I'm saying. And therefore now we understand that's what we're saying on on on the same time that we said the same time we read and the same connection the other only place in the where it says because all these things bring out what's the uniqueness of a Jew that only a Jew like the other we spoke recently is only a Jew is involved in physical agricultural procedures and he knows that it's not about doing these steps. The only reason he's doing these things is because the Aisha wants him to do it. That's why he's doing it. So in other words, you could look at two people. You could look at the Tom, Dick, and Harry. He's doing his thing and it looks like he's planting. But when he's planting, it's because he believes in nature. I want to eat his planting. It's the only reason why he's doing it is because the told him he has to follow the natural course. But what the once is that as you're following the natural course, you should cry out and say, it's because of Hashem. And only because of Hashem that I follow the natural course. But the real success is totally in the hands of Hashem. This week we had an unbelievable miracle in Israel with an airplane where it was revealed. Everybody even as the news was reporting the story they said miracles miracles. So we have to give a big praise to Hashem for this miracle where 174 people their lives were saved and there's so many details to the story. It's absolutely startling revealed Gileus. So similar thing, we're in a physical world. There's a threat. It seems to be insurmountable odds. The plane fell 17,000 ft. Nose dive and everyone saying that the chances of coming out of such a situation were minuscule. It was complete. Everyone's saying miraculous hand of God. So this is we have to do our part in don't get carried work don't become a slave to your work don't say your soul to your work realize what the whole purpose is and when you realize what the whole purpose is then it's and you realize what it's all about and there's many many stories that bring out this point but it's already too late to go on so I'll just finalize with with the vert of we spoke many times. It's it's it's a mind it's a mindset and this is what it means looking at the world through a lens of Torah like what's the default position? Are you listening to the messages? Are you looking for the signs to see God to see Hashem in the world? That's a chas or mainly you see nature once in a while you say oh that seemed like it was the hand of God. So this is what our work is and the most famous famous story is the story of the who I think it was he was writing an accounting he was in business and he was coming making the reckoning of the sum totals and he took his pen and he went and when he went and made that line across coming to the sum total he wrote and the reb loved this story and spoke about it mentioned it many times times mean to say and what and he said the Reb said the of the story is that when he made that line across to come to the sum total he automatically wrote that there's nothing else but him because that's like the immediate default position when the when he thinks what's the sum total of everything that's what it means he's in his office on Wall Street and he's doing something which is very important to his business. Am I am I making money or am I not making money? Bottom line, that's what it means. Bottom line, I'm putting to the paper. I'm coming to the sum total. And what is in his mind? What's bottom line? It's all God. Kuchabis posting from New Haven 3:40 in the morning. have a wonderful yontiff. The climax is mansimu and the simka should continue throughout the whole year higher better greater and we should come to the ultimate sim of take from mamish.