Charlie Harary | Rosh Hashanah: Reconnecting to Our Father in Heaven

This Torah class is brought to you by tora anytime.com. >> Okay, Rabbi, thank you so much. It's such an honor to be here to be in such a important part of Kalis Bjx. What you're doing for every for the community and for each individual to Kazak to Rab anytime, thank you for who you are and what you do. Tonight really is uh the the really the the impetus for tonight is this organization called Zanfali. I can really ask you to please go to zanafali.org or it's an organization. It's a charity fund that gives money to people in RTL that need it. And it's hard to understand what need is sometimes in America. Some people have that unfortunately, but it's hard for most people to understand need. And when you have an organization quietly under the opaces of a big rabb big when you have a saddic that's going around and giving out money to people that need it by this time, it's critical. So, you know, it says that your your wages is like your blood. What does that mean? I mean it means it's I always wondered before we get into it just digress. I always wondered like you know chuva feels like very difficult very beyond us very holy very inshaka feels like you write a check almost feels like you know you're out you givea you know what I'm saying like zer see feels like chuva and like the really hard work and and stuck is like no problem here you go but what's really happening when you do chuva is you take a piece of yourself and you sacrifice it a piece of your future is your chuva a piece of your humility and that you're not running the world in your and what you make for a living is a piece of you. It's we own it. It's our identity. It's mine. I did it. And when you give it to somebody else, you show the that it's actually yours. And so if you have before yontifftal.org, it's on the website. If you go to just do number five, I think it's there as well. Please be part of this. And we should be that every has Yantiff. We should be that when every Yid looks at what they have for Yantiff, they have enough for Yantiff. And that no one should feel like they don't have enough. Yantiff is already a big thing to go to, but to go to it with I don't have enough, it's already like the rabbi said, we're brothers and sisters. So, please be generous.org. So, as some of you may or may not know, I have have a reverse name and I had the opportunity to sit with him over the past two three days and really try to download a little bit what he's sadic, what rashashan is about. and he really like shifted my paradigm a little bit. So, I'm going to try to share that with you tonight. If it makes sense, you can be sure it's from him. If it doesn't make sense, you can be sure it's from me. Many times a says something and you're like, I got it. And then it comes out of your mouth and all that stuff that you put in your head just it doesn't come out the same. So, if you're like, what is he talking about? My bad. If you're like, that makes sense, his good. That's the deal. So from now on, have that in mind. Russia Shana is arguably one of the most confusing days of the year. In fact, it feels like a setup. If you pay attention, it feels like a setup to fail. Really, I grew up, my career began in law. So we did all this work. Mach court, moo trial, trial prep, this prep, that we did what we do. Now, I did most of most of my life was corporate law, but still, you're trained to be a lawyer. And part of being a lawyer is making sure when people get in trouble with the law, they can actually get out of trouble with the law. That's why they pay you money. If you would look at what we did to prep and I would tell you if we went to every law firm and every law school and looked at their curriculum as to what to do to prep for law and compared it to what the rabbis are doing to prepare us for yaden. This is the ultimate judgment. Three swarm are open. The garra tells us it's not a joke. It's three and we're in one of them. We all want stuff. The allocation of stuff takes place starting tomorrow night and but it's really is really yaden. Now if the yaden doesn't go the way we want we have the back door of machuva we have the yum kipper which is they stick in fine but yomaden the day of court the day you stand before the judge ayam vanra the day in which the nations the world is shaking is isn't in a day from now it's court and if you look at the way the rabbis prep us and prepare us. It feels like we're being set up to fail because no lawyer in their right mind would ever do what they're doing. In fact, I have a story years ago about what I have a colleague in my firm, my first firm that I worked at. There was a colleague who wasn't a religious guy and he went to his brother's house for a barbecue in the summer when Yontiff was early and his brother got very very very very f and his brother dragged him to shul and the rough got up and gave a fiery speech about Yimhad and this guy was freaking out. He never heard it. He thought high holidays was like you say hi to God. You know what I'm saying? Like he went to shul high holidays. The late the rabbi spoke politics about how bad the Republicans are, whatever. They heard a couple speeches of Democrats and then off they went. He never connected the dots. He never heard that. He never had he didn't grow up with it. He heard for the first time that I make this up. He goes, "Yo, Mad Judge." Now, it happened to be this guy was like a really great litigator. So, he's like, "I got this." Like, how I I'm a litigator and I'm a really good litigator. He's like, "I got this." So, he comes back. He calls the only Orthodox guy he knows, me, into his office and goes, "Get me a prayer book." So, I run down to in the middle of the city. I come running back with a Russian son, the Hebrew, English translate. He looks at it. He flips up. He's brilliant. flips the pages and goes, "No, get me the real player pray prayer book." I'm like, "This real one?" He goes, "No, it's not." I'm like, "For real? Like, you know, you just found the show yesterday. Like, you don't think like you know, like I I I got a little bit of history like I on you." He's like, "No, really. Get me the real one." I'm like, "It's the real one." He goes, "No, it's not." I'm like, "Yes, it is." He's like, "No, it's not. I'm fighting with him now." I'm like, he goes, "Come here." He flips the book. He goes, "How in? Show me where I say sorry. Show where I defend myself. It's court. Throw me." I'm like, "What?" He's like, "It's court. I I trial. It's what I do for a living. All I'm doing is prepping the the defendants to say sorry in the right way and how and not my fault and blame this guy and that guy. That's what we do. Show me. And I'm like that. No, it's here. Oh my god. It's not here at all. I don't understand. It's yin. When you get to show is going to the gonna go up here. If you're Ashkanazi, sorry, not so much. Chauffeur Musf. And by the way, look at Hashem's the king for temps. Hashem remembers everything for tempimra and chauffeur forms gin. That's it. There's no there's no there's no katano. There's no vidy. There's no I'm sorry. There's nothing. In fact, we have a minute to have nuts because nuts have the same kamachi as s. Why should Why should we be bothered with sin on the day of judgment? How does that make sense? and better. How do we actually defend ourselves? Like what's the judgment going to be on then? Fine. You don't want to put in sin? Fine. What is Hashem doing to say you're going to get a good judgment? If you're not even defending, you're not even saying by the way, I'm sorry about October and November, Jan. Yeah, the whole Yeah, my bad. And I'm sorry I said this and I said that and her and him and that. My bad. I'm sorry. I shouldn't. In fact, if you take your Kipper's moxer and you bring it to Rashad's moxer, that makes sense. It's yo madin. The judge is open. The books are open. Why wait till the end when it's already almost done to finally say sorry? Start early. Say my bad again and again and again. Hashem goes, "Wow, he really is." She's really sorry. How else are we being judged on by what? By how loud you scream. Is that it? Is it color? If you can get louder, is that how Hashem does it? Like who can say hamelik louder? Who lasts in shul as long as the other person? Is it like a contest like a marathon? But what what what is Hashem doing? If it's not I'm sorry, then what is Hashem going to be doing to be looking at us to say you are going to get in the good book and you may not be? What is his metric for judgment? If we don't know that, how are we walking into Yantiff? What's the game plan with me? I'm like, you're right, Rabbi. So, I want to share with you what he said to me. But let me tell you a story first. This happened a bunch of years ago. So you don't have to go into my career, but I I I moved on to the the business side a bunch of years ago. And when you're in the business world in in the corporate world, you end up in different places, out of town, different projects, whatever. Hashem takes you wherever Hashem takes you. So there's a time in my career where I was out of town for a while. I would go and commute to a certain city to be part of a project and I'd come back and go and come back and when you're out of town for a few months every week for a night or so the crew that you go with becomes like you know you see them all the time you know you're not just coming home so I had gone with two or three guys or bunch of company whatever a few people around the same few people around for a long time so I got to know these guys pretty well and you know after a few months you start to talk and these people start opening up and there's one guy from this group of uh colleagues that one night Russ I'll never forget we're sitting around one night and it was late at night and we had just gone this tough thing and we got through it and everyone was so happy and it was a relief sitting in the conference room it's late and everyone had somehow left and it's me and this guy left there and we were smoozing and he's a great guy he's like a real like he's like a real real wasp you know what I'm talking about I don't know if you guys are like real wasp you know like they come from Connecticut and like you know he has a Roman numeral after his And like his his grandparents are literally from the Mayflower, you know, Brooks Brothers, the whole thing. Lap Dog, you know that crew. He has a yacht. You following? And he's like a real good, strong, solid, real guy. And he's like in his like early 60s. And we're talking about kids and this and that. And he says to me, you know, my life almost took a different turn. Now he had a credible career. I said, what do you mean? So he goes, "There's a moment in my life." We were talking about this guy that really I had one year of my life that changed my whole life. Now when it's late at night and a guy says that to you, that means get comfortable. You're going to hear the entire story. So I'm like, "Hold on. Let me get a cup of coffee. Be back in a minute. What happened?" And he tells me this incredible story. Like awesome. He says, "As a kid growing up, I was a total and complete wreck. Wreck. I'm one of like six. My parents are like, you know, religious Christians and I had nothing to do with it. I rebelled. I'm out. I ran my small little company. I was I had a gambling thing on the side. I had an investment thing on the side. He was like I was, it was like a disaster. And my father, my mother, they drive me crazy. My grandfather would come in and he would try to like, you know, somehow like contain me. I would like totally like I would yell at him and like I was we don't even you know anything. You're so old. He said maybe you should start studying a little bit. I would like forget about it. I was a disaster. And as I got a little older, I was in high school. I had a moment where I didn't have enough money. I got a little bit broke and somebody says your grandfather actually has a company. Why don't you work for your grandfather? So I thought to myself, you know what? My grandfather has a company. Yeah, I'll work for him for a year and he'll probably give it to me. You know, like I'm the smart I'm 16 I'm 16 years old. I'm the smartest guy in the world. Like, what does my grandfather know? So, this is perfect. I'll go into the guy's company. He'll clearly take me because I'm his, you know, best grandson. And after a while, he'll probably give me the business. So, this is like perfect. So, I sign up. My grandfather says, I go into the interview and they said, "You're so and so. Who's your Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And they get me a job." First day for day one comes and it was an investor meeting. That's the first day. So the way investor meetings work, you go to this fancy hotel and who comes into the investor meetings? The investors, but the investors in this business are billionaires. So all these banks come rolling in with the most fanciest guys, the smartest guys. I knew these guys cuz I knew of them and their fancy suits and their private, you know, drivers and they all coming in lining up and they sit in these chairs like in a conference center. And as I'm sitting like what is going on over here? And as they're sitting in this conference center, all of a sudden, guess who walks in on the side of the room in front of a big board presentation, my grandfather? I'm like, grandpa. But he's in a suit. He's not like in like, you know, Sunday clothes. He's in a suit and he's got a tie and he looks so sharp and he gets up and he starts he starts shooting stuff out of his mouth about the market, about the company, and we're going left and we're going right. almost took out to take over and I went back this way and I fought here and there and the guys are all these guys that are like sitting there like drinking and I'm thinking like grandpa and he's on fire and they're loving him and I can't believe that's the guy's my grandfather. I just couldn't believe that was him. So I go up to talk to him afterwards and I have to go up and the manager looks me goes what are you doing? I go, "What do you mean?" Goes, "My grandfather goes," I hear it's not. You can go to grandfather because I worked for the manager of the manager of the manager of the manager of manager. I got to my grandfather. I was five. I my job was five people like, "No, no, no, no, no. It's my grandfather." He goes, "It's Mr. So and so." He's like, "My grandfather." He goes, "Here, it's Mr. So ando. You sit in the back." I talk to him in the middle of a conference. He goes, "Please sit in the back. You want you want to leave?" Goes, "Okay." He's in the back and all of a sudden he goes and he's watching up and he can't even get close to his grandfather goes and that whole month was out of control. I'm sitting in these construction meetings and my they don't know what to do and these big guys that are so important that I'm working for are like so nervous and then he walks in and they're like shivering and my grandfather comes in and everyone's like Mr. So and so Mr. So and so Mr. someone. So, what do you think of this and what do you think of this? And my grandfather comes in and goes, "What are you crazy?" And he goes shouting orders and telling him how to move and strategy and and I can't even believe it. And I'm like, "Grandfather, like, excuse me." And every once in a while, I see him in the hallway and he goes, "Hi, how are you?" And I'm like, "Hi, Griffin." I want to jump into his office, but I can't go to the CEO's office. He's And after week I'm watching him and I just can't believe it. He's the way people talk about him. Then I hear about this thing that he started to help people out. I had no idea. And the way they're talking about him at the at the lunchroom and the way they're talking about him in the at the at the warehouse and on the construction jobs, they're talking about him and I'm like, "That's my grandfather." Like, "Yeah, right." Like, "No, for real." And all of a sudden, I come home one Sunday and you know who's in my house, my grandfather. And I've seen him my whole life. >> Sorry. >> Not at all. But when I look at him now for the first time, I had this weird feeling. I I I I don't know how I it was like I it was it wasn't the same. I was like a little scared, like a little like in awe. Like I I I I I instinctively stood up when he walked into the house. Like I don't know what like I just stood up and he's like, "Hi." I'm like, "Hi." And I prepared like I prepared like I I wrote things down to talk to them about because I know he's going to be there after Sunday. whatever we did on Sundays, whatever, it doesn't matter. And he and I like I'm like, "Hey, grandpa, what do you think about the investment that I'm having?" He goes, "Yeah, I did." And I'm like, "What do you think about this girl?" And he's like, "No, nothing." And what do you And I'm like asking him questions. And as he's sitting here, he's talking to my mom, I notice he has this big long cup and it's a it's a he's telling me it's like this glass cup that's full of tea. And as the tea gets lower, I instinctively took it and I go, "Oh, I fill up with tea." And I go, "Grandpa, I I got you some tea." He goes, "Thanks, honey." He said, And he said, "Thanks, honey." I don't know what that felt like. like he's my grandfather. I was like, "You're welcome." I just couldn't believe that he's my grandfather. And then Monday came and I just watched him. He was on TV and he was talking to investors and he's he's larger than life. And then he came Sunday again and he's my grandfather. I didn't know what to do with myself. As he walked in, I had this like mix of like awe and love and happy and sad. I didn't know what to do. And as I got to the end of my year as an intern, I said, "Grepa, what should I do?" He goes, "I think you should go into the military." And I was never I'm like, "Sure, I'll go." Goes, "What should you be?" He goes, "Do what? Go into the platoon that I went into." He goes, "You got it." And I went to his platoon. And if you thought he was awesome in business, holy cow, he was a legend in the army. And he saved people's lives. And they still talk about him. And I would walk the streets and they would say, "You're so and so's grandson." I'm like, "You better believe him." Like, "Holy cow, nice to meet you." He put me in this spot. I was a junior. And and then I met your grandfather. Now I'm a lieutenant. I I walked the halls and I got back. I didn't take a move without him. I followed him. Everything he said, I'd walk around, take notes, and he would speak. I He helped me pick my wife. He helped me pick my investments. I did not move without my grandfather. He was my hero. He goes, "When his grandfather died," he said, "I was I I was I was broken as a man. I never in my life felt the feeling of awe and reverence and love. I never had a mix of emotions for something that was larger than life, like my grandpa. And I'll never find that again." He said, "Ever." So he's telling me middle of the night, we're like crying. too old now, too. I'm He's older than me, like by a lot. And he looks at me and he said, "And for the rest of my life, the rest of my life, the only north star I had was what would my grandfather say?" That's the only thing I think about. There isn't a day that goes by. There isn't a moment that there isn't a decision that I make for my life that is not starting with the following question. What would my grandpa say? Incredible. You know, if you've seen some stuff before, you know that I've been talking about this one thing the whole year that I'm want to keep on talking about. It's the battle that we're in. And I want to talk about it again because I don't want to forget about it. David Sutton wrote a book. Rabbi David Sutton wrote a book if you know called he translated the bas on if you don't have it you got to read it like required reading buy it. Don't collect $200. Don't pass go just go get it right now. From here to the book he wrote another book where he translated the basia on on um an ava. In that book he asks a question one of his footnotes. It's a brilliant question that we always think but we never understand. He asks you know it says that we have two basdoses and one was destroyed first and we got it back pretty quickly and one was destroyed second and we didn't get it back. We still don't have it back. The first one was destroyed because of three major sins. You remember this murder, idolatry and idol and adultery. The second was because of sin baseless hatred. So we all tell what's worse baseless hatred. Really? Do you really think that if you're sitting in Shaw and there's a guy sitting here that just killed somebody on the way and he's like, "By the way, you're annoying me. Pop." He comes to Shul and he's got a Buddha in his back pocket and he's an adulterer. And next to him is a guy who's like, "Hey, I don't like you." You're like, "For real? I don't like you. Get out. You want an Leo? You think that ever happens?" Murder is a big deal. So why do we even say that for? And he answers based on who he quoted that it's actually not worse or better. It's different. Murder, idolatry, and adultery are things you do, things somebody could do. So you know when they're not doing them, they're outside you. And so if there are sins or things that you do that are wrong, that are outside you, you can tell when you're done with them. So then you can stop, fix them, and go back to the basic English. Smom is not outside you, it's in you. You don't even know what it even means. This is why tissue is so hard. We don't even know what that means to us. Is it isn't it? We're just constantly figuring out. We have no idea. When something is out inside you, you can't fix it. It becomes you. When someone's not feeling well and they don't want to have the sushi, they're like, "Do you want sushi? Like, I don't want it." But like, but I thought you love sushi, but I don't want it. But do you or don't you? Like, I don't know. Because it's inside you. The virus. When you have a mentality that someone is good or bad or something is good or bad, it's not outside you. It's in you. So you see the world through that perspective. The gullus that we're in right now is a very specific gullus and it's so good and they're so good at getting us to not understand it. The reason why the gullus is still here is because we don't even know what it is. We don't we're not even fighting it. It's not outside us. It lives in us every day and we think it's us. That's why it doesn't go away. You can't beat the thing that's you. The gullus that we're in right now is a gullis that began with one man. It began with Alexander the Great. It's the Greek Roman gullis. Edom is Greek Roman. America is the grandchild of Greece and Rome. Democracy was created by Pericles which is Greek. Every building you see the system of law. Sunday footballs is is is a grandchild of the stadium. Our whole West right now is a product of the same Greeks and Romans that we're talking about. When Alexander the Great came to Eritis and he walked in and they were freaking out because they thought that he was going to destroy the place because he was conquering the world. And he didn't destroy the base Hamdash. What he did at the time that may have been even worse than taking fire to B mdesh was he kept it around and before he left he dropped some pamphlets about Greek culture because the reason why Alexander was there in the first place wasn't because he was looking for territory he didn't want to be something was just gold he was on Alexander believed in his rebi Aristotle and they had a way of seeing the world and what they brought to the world was so major that it took over the entire world by storm until this moment right now as we speak. The Greeks came up with the greatest shift in how the world thought before Alexander showed up. Who would ever have the gall to turn around and look at the world and say, "I am in the center of it." Everyone bowed to something. Pyro bowed to something. Everyone bowed at the time to some winds, earth. Even if Osara it was outside them. Even if Odora was the bowing to something outside you. You have the goal to think you're going to control the crops. Alexander came to the world and said the center of the world is not these gods. You're missing it. You know what the center of the world is? Man. You. You see, you thought you were created in the image of God. No, you have it backwards. The gods are created in the image of man. That's why they're running around like men. Zeus and Aphrodite and this and that. And that's why you can play to them. You can go to this one or that one. We have hundreds of them. They're like they're like supermarkets. You walk down the street, pick one you want and just got to go shop. This one doesn't like you. Then you give to this one. That one doesn't like you. This one. It doesn't matter. They all act like humans because the center of the world is the human. It's the body. Olympics. It's the mind. logic. And if you're in the center of the world, everything bows to you. That was crazy at the time. But you know what happened in Aritis? People loved it. And out came these groups called Hellenists and they fought the Tadikim. When Antio showed up in Kaneka, he didn't just knock on door, I need some more land. You know who invited them in? We did. There was a civil war. You can do rituals, but you're the center. It's what makes you comfortable. It's your life. It's competition. It's how much you have. When you walk into a room, who's looking at you? When you have your your your screen, how many do you got? The way of me, of the world surrounding, what I have, how I look, who looks, my mind, me, my stuff. When I'm in the center of the world, I'm in the center of the world because what's inside me is a virus that Alexander dropped on the grass of Ericel hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of years ago. And by the way, you can take it and make it so from you can put black and white and Hebrew and Yedish and Tory all over Greek. That's what makes it so powerful. You can come up with sukim to prove you're right. You the malucas of our lives could be anything but at the end of the day the whole the core of what it means to be a Greek is that I'm in the center of the world. It's about me. It's how I feel. Which is why for those remember we spoke this on Tisha from the rabbi same thing which is why jealousy is killing me because everything's a competition. So if the world says at this age you have to be doing this let's go. And if the world says everyone makes this much money in this community, let's go. And then I judge myself based on the local competitive environment. And whatever the trophies are is how I feel about myself. And so if I have what they have and more, I'm successful because the world of competition is Greek. Because Greek has nothing on the inside. Greek only has the shell. So I walk into a Simka and all I think about is what's on my body. It's because I all I care about is my shell. And if I value my life by what I bought and where I live, it's because I value my life on my shelves. That's the Greek way. In fact, the coolest thing I'll tell you a little digression in this when when we translated the Torah called a subtuent by Talmay, which is a Greek king, do you know that they made errors on purpose? Did you know that they made actual errors? One the Gumar speaks about it. One of the errors they made was we say it doesn't make sense. God stopped working on on the seventh day. When do we stop working on the sixth day? You know what they wrote in the subent not that it was a they made a mistake. They wrote because they knew that if they wrote the Greeks would be like hey you went to work Saturday morning. get to work all of you. We couldn't go with it's a day of soul. They wouldn't buy us. You know what we went with? It's a day of rest. Six days of work and one day of rest. And guess what? We still believe that today because it went from the Greeks to the Greeks to the Romans to the Middle Ages to Judea America. And here we are today. Now watch this. We're almost there. Stick with me just a few more seconds. We're going to connect the dots with Hashem. If you're the center of the world, you know what's the biggest threat to you? Watch this. You know what the biggest threat to you is? If you're the center of the world, >> who's above you? >> Anything that's above you is a threat to you. No, beneath you is not a threat because you're above it. Which is why, if you notice, you know who's under attack for the past 30 years as the Greeks pick up their game? Parents. No. If anyone has ever watched anything in the world that's Greek, anything, a show, a movie, anything, you will see dad is always the buffoon in the corner. Always. Mom is always the best friend. She's never disciplining. She's always one of the girls. Because to the Greeks, authority, authority is a threat. So, let me show you that parents are no longer in charge of you. They can't direct you. You know who could direct you? I'm not knocking everything. This is not about that. Don't go this don't don't don't hang on to this hook for those in the room. Everyone has to be a therapist. Tell somebody what to do. I'm not knocking it. Just don't go there. You know why? Cuz science is respected. But parents, not so much. Grandparents, if you're not cool, why should I hang out with you? And because I at 9 years old know how to program a phone better than my grandmother does. She's not cool and she doesn't know anything. And you can see a world that if you're not paying attention, there was once a time where kids were like, "Hey, mom and dad, what do I do?" Those days are over. Chad GBT will tell you what to do. And if you and if you don't like Chad GBT, you pay somebody that knows science because your parents, what do your parents know? That's Greek. It's totally Greek. And And if you had issues with your parents, this isn't about that. Grandparents, forget, they don't know nothing. But you know who gets it the most? Let's get there. Let's get a little bit deeper now. You know who gets it the most? Hashem. Hashem's not there to He's not He's not Relax. Hashem's there to give you what you need. You need stuff, don't you? It's hard to live your life without stuff, aren't we? We have so much stuff. You know who's going to get you stuff? Hashem. Amazon.God. Now, I have to order things on Amazon with with with money, not by Judaism. It's it's clothing, food, stocks, and prayers. And by the way, if you do the right things a couple of times and you don't get it, Amazon delivers overnight. They have Prime. What's taking you so long? And if I don't want to listen to you, you know what I got to do? I'm going to find something that you didn't deliver for the humanity and say if you really were a good God, you would have delivered this. So clearly you're not here because your only value, Hashem, in being here is to deliver us peace and prosperity. So as a proof to why I shouldn't listen to you is any moment in history in which there were no peace and prosperity. Yeah, I know I'm breathing because of you. I know I'm living a life because of you. I know all the food in my fridge because you don't care about that. I don't want to listen to you. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm gonna go back to a place where you didn't deliver for humanity and say if you're not delivering for humanity, why do I need you for? You know how many questions we get? Where was God in the Holocaust? You know what that is in real life? If you can let something like this happen, why do you even exist? Because your only reason for existence, Hashem, is to make sure my life is smooth and I get what I want. Now, it's not so extreme, but it is. And if you make me feel uncomfortable, I'm out the door. I don't need to be here. I want to be here until you make it uncomfortable. And then I'm going to choose not to be here. Be careful. You know why? Because at the end of the day, my gut feels comfortable if I'm being honest. And by the way, if there's ever a time to be honest, and if you're like you're crazy, okay, I'll just be crazy. I'll just tell it the way I think it and you'll tell me that I'm wrong. for being honest. Honest. There's me and there's him. Me and him. And I'm here because I was taught as a kid that if I don't step up now, he's going to be upset. So, I better step up my game cuz I got 10 days to kiss up and I'm going to deal with it my whole life. That's why because we are done with yum kipper and I'm done with it. And when I'm done with Yom Kipper, I can finally be free from having to bow to the king that I don't even want to bow to. And in comes Rashashana. And Hashem looks at us and says, "You've taken me and made me into the grandfather that you don't respect anymore." What is Rashashana about? Roshashana is not about what we did right and wrong because you know why that's not what we're being judged on. Rashana is about one thing and one thing only. One thing and you know what? Let's not get distracted and think it's many things. I believe he said to me straight one thing. Look at the swarm. Just look at this. You get to shul you open up the safer and you go where's my confession and it's not there. Do you know why? Because you know what Rashan is not about us. Hashem is about one thing and one thing only. Holy cow. There's a Hashem in this world. And he's a melik. He's a melik. Wait, wait. The whole world. He's the melik on everything. Wait. I haven't thought about this all year long. Wait a second. Wait a second. He remembers everything. And he is everywhere and he was everywhere and he'll be there everywhere. Oh my gosh. All the tadik and bow to him. All the mala can bow to him. My grandfather's the CEO. Wait, I've been using He's the CEO of the world and he remembers everything and the cracks that took place in Mitsim he ran towards and a time in the show of where they wouldn't listen and he came and he took care of it and he gave us the Torah and he's so big and it's so big when a when a person comes to Roshushana the action that he start with is one thing wait my dad is the mel that means He controls everything. That means everything inside me is him and everything outside me is him and every breath that I have and every thought that I have and everything that I know and everything in the whole world is his and he's waking up on this morning and he's looking at the entire world and going, "Who should stay and who should not be here this year?" The Greeks are going, "Don't think about that. It's going to make you feel uncomfortable. You don't feel uncomfortable. And Hashem is saying, "I'm the mel." And I'm standing up here today and I'm looking and going, "Let's see. I built this world so the world knows me. I gave you life. I gave you wisdom. You think, you walk, you talk. You're one of my children. I have every rock and every leaf on my control. What'd you do this year?" And we stand there Rashana and we open up the Torah and we open up the the the Torah and we read about people that are willing to give up their children for this and we read about people that didn't have kids and are able to change their lives and we read about the Kesh who having all the control of the world and a Jew is supposed to sit at Roshes Shana and for a minute in their lives stop the whole Greek thing and sit in go holy cow he's so big he's so big I didn't appreciate this all year. I'm so focused on myself all year long. I've had this Greek virus. I've been running and running and running and running and running since I'm a little kid. I've been trying to build my own mala. I think I'm the melo of my life. My toys, my clothes, my friends, my life, my my mo, my my company, my my family. They're my kids. It's mine. It's my life. It's my actions. I have little fftoms. They're mine and I know that you have stuff. So, I'm willing like everyone, I'm willing to bow to kiss the cray hand so that my mala has more resources. I'm willing says, "You think that's what I'm looking for? You think you're the king and I'm your distributor?" And comes and we look around. We go, I can't say sorry, so I can't get out of trouble. I know how to do that really well. I know how to maneuver the system. And I was like, what what am I focusing on? What am I being judged on? Hashem says, "Look at the words." No, I don't. I don't see it. Look at the words. I don't see it. It's all about you. How could it be about you? He's like, "Yeah, I'm not the grandfather in the corner that you need. I'm the CEO." And I do rash if they're doing it right. I believe he told this morning, they're not running away from that feeling of being uncomfortable. They're not running away and trying to find a way to say, "No, it's okay. It's not a big deal. He loves me. He loves you." They're not doing that. You know what they're doing? They're going, "Oh, wow. The king of the world, every thought, every action, every every stone, wait, the whole world, all the defenses can't stop bad people. All the things we everything I'm looking at, everything I'm seeing, no one has, it's just him. Hashem is the king of the world. And if you do it right, what you feel is this mix of emotions of awe and fear and love. And I want him to look at me. Just look at me, Hashem. No. Look here. Just look. Look at my direction. Hi. You can almost feel like you want to stand up for the king because there's a king now. He was a distributor beforehand. He worked for us because we're Greek. And we turn to the Greeks and go, "Just give us a minute, okay? The king is coming to town." And they blow the chauffeur. And your heart skips a beat because the king is coming. and all that we've learned about authority in our way, all that woke stuff that all that for a minute we stop and we stop and we go the king is here and we realize that I don't have a mala. It's all Hashem's. It's his family that he gave me. It's his clothes. It's his friends. It's his brain. It's his good idea. It's all him. I just got to use it. It's the It's on the corporate card. I have nothing. I mean, I have nothing. I mameish have nothing. It's all belonging to the king. And I want to skip the step and go right to But he loves me. It'll be okay. It'll be okay. Okay. I'll get my stuff. Hashem says, "Nah, we'll get there. We'll get there. Relax. Yipper's coming. I'll forgive you. Sukus will have relax. But if you skip the step, if you don't see your grandfather for your 17th year, you'll never get him for the rest of your life. If you don't get a year to watch your grandfather happen, if you're going to go skip it and turn your you, trust me, you'll lose." Because the reason why we're lost is because we don't feel the privilege of being in the royal family. You see, as the Greeks bring down authority into ourselves, you take away the meaning of life because life can't be about us. It feels good for the moment, but it's not meaningful. It's meaningful when you fight and you live and you die for something beyond yourself. Rashana shows up and Hashem says, "Stop. Come to shul and don't think of yourself for two days. Open the book and look what it says. Yeah, there's a king. I know it's not in vogue. I got it. I'm sorry the Greeks are winning. I got it. Respect your parents cuz they're your parents. Stand up for your grandfather. Don't sit in your father's chair. The rabbi speaks. You get up for the rabbi. Authority is not going to ruin you. Now, if they break it, if they lose it, if they lose it, I'm not doing that. If they abuse it, I'm not going there. generally, but I'm Hashem. And if you skip this step, you're not going to know what it's like to be a Jew. Don't skip the step step of malus. Malus means you're freaking out. You're freaking out. The king says, "I'm coming over. He's coming to your table." If the president said, "I'm coming to your table," you'd be freaking out. You'd be like, "Kids, kids, kids, stop talking. Get dressed." What are we making? Oh my god. Get to the go next door. She has a better table. If the king says, "I'm coming over for a meal." We should be freaking out. And as soon as you freak out, you go, "Oh my god, I can't freak out. It's not healthy. It's not good." Relax. There's nothing wrong with freaking out for the king because the second you freak out for the king, you know how you feel? Wait. Wait. Hayyishbuts. Wait, everyone's being judged, but why are they driving? And why are they still playing ball? Wait, wait, am I in the royal family? Did I get a ticket to the presidential ball? And the bigger Hashem is a king. And the more you bow to his crown, the more privileged you feel to be in his family. Cuz when that grandfather was a regular dude, that guy could care less. But when that grandfather became the CEO of his company and he saw his grandfather in action, man, did he feel privileged to be his grandson. And Rashana comes and I'm telling you we're going to fight it. I'm telling you this is your fight cuz it's my fight. Today I'm like talking to the rabbi like rabbi what about simka about simraha about he's like stop it with the simka I'm like he goes there's simraha but why are you so obsessed with there's going to be simra relax cuz I was so scared of malus were so scared to let go and to say I don't have anything I amish have nothing in fact most of my problems this year is because I thought I had something that's why I made her nuts that's why I don't realize that my marriage is a gift from Hashem And my kids don't belong to me. They belong to him. And my job is just to bring him into this world. That's why the challenges went crazy because I was competing and not realizing was testing me. Everything of my year was just a manifestation of the forgetfulness that I bow to the crown and I am privileged to be in his royal family. You know, La Havdil, when the players line up for the SARS spangled banner in front of 50,000 live and 50 million on TV on Super Bowl, there isn't one guy not pissing in his pants. Only the ones who are psycho that are on crack. But let me tell you something. When they run on that field, there isn't one guy that doesn't feel that he was privileged to be in this moment. You know what the dinner of Rashashana is? going to the rabbi. You ready for this? Who's the melik of your life? Cuz if you're the melik, hashem says, "You don't need my malus. Hope it works out. I have nature for that. By the way, I put nature in place. You'll be gone. You're not going to like disappear." And he looks he looks in your heart and says, "Hey, who's the melik of your family? Who's the melo of your dating? Who's the melo of your mouth, of your of your mouth, of your eye? Who's the mel of your company? Who's the mel of your mid of your shul school? It doesn't matter how big you get or how firm you get. Everyone could be. Trust me, the eight can get into the most biggest people. It's yours. It's yours. You could be sitting in the nicest seat with all the right stuff. It's your company. That's your organization. Sh says, "Really? You think?" And on Rashashana, we stand before Hashem and look up and go, "Wait, wait. Just give me a sec. I just give me a sec. Just give me a sec. I just I just want to I just want to see the words here. Just give me a sec. Wow. There's a king of this world." And I am in awe. I I'm a little terrified, but I feel privileged and I hope he looks at me and when he does, I hope he smiles cuz I don't know. It doesn't matter what I do. It matters how I did it, right? And I hope he's happy with me because I hope that the king I hope the king is proud of me and it's all yours, Hashem. It was always yours. I didn't think so during the year I got lost, but let me tell you something, Hashem. I realize it now. It's yours. Thanks for giving it to me. I hope I did well with it this year. I hope I have the confidence of the king for next year. But I trust you and I bow to you because you're my king and I'm privileged to be in your family. When a Jew can reach a level of malus and not be scared to have the humility to bow to something beyond themselves that's rush Shana and the rabbi said he said every day of your life is rashana because you come home and the thing is burnt and you go really you think you're the king and someone says the wrong thing to you on the way out of shul and you go can you believe cuz you think you're the king. And every second that we say, "You're the king." Hashem says, "For real? Cuz I got to tell you something. If you think I'm the king, I got stuff cuz I got stuff. Who thinks I'm the king?" And a bunch of Jews go, "I'm not perfect, clearly, but I'm loyal and I bow to you." And then maybe if a Jew feels that way, they they're privileged to walk out that room because now they're subjects to the king. And Hashem, they come a couple days later and they look at the book and they say, "Holy cow, I did that. That's not me. That's not the cupadick for a princess that Hashem says, it's okay. I'm careful. I'll clean it for you." And you go, "That one." She's like, "I got that one, too." And then maybe after that, Hashm goes, "Oh, by the way, you want to come to my house for seven days? Plenty of food. Trust me." And you come out of yamminatis in a private meeting with the king. Do you see how that works? Shinyatis is you sit with your grandfather Laabdul and say, "Grandpa," and he looks at you and goes, "I'm so proud of you." And you go, "I just want to make you proud." And you walk out of Seres and you are focused. I want to represent the king. This is a fight because it's not outside us. It's in our heads. And every second you're going to feel uncomfortable that Greek virus will be like, "Nah, it's you. It's you." And when a Jew is able to bow to Hashem on Rashashana, he says, "You're the Malik." Trust me, Hashem doesn't need us. He's just waiting to give to us. But you can't skip the step. I my braha my to all of us is that we should stop fighting what it means to be a subject of the greatest king in the world. We should accept it with the privilege that it is. Fight the Greeks. Don't be scared. It's a virus that's kept us engul our whole lives and Hashem is waiting for a few subjects to just fight it. Tomorrow night begins. And when you stand in shul on Russashana day, take time to get in your head what it means to have a king and give him your mala. And when we understand what it means to kiss the king's ring and to bow to the crown, allow yourself to tell Hashem, "It's you. I am yours." And when you get home, watch watch the Yates throw you soft balls, curve balls, and fast balls to test you. Things are going to go a little wrong. Someone's going to say the wrong. You're wearing this. Where'd the food go? Lights get shut off. This person shows up the wrong watch. Hashem's going to send you and that's where the funds are going to be in Russia Shana. You can't get stuck in sh all dayh. It'd be easy. You got to get out to the streets. And then Hashem sees who's the king now? What's your table going to be like? Politics. If Hashem was sitting at your table, what would he say? And when you walk the streets with that royal jersey, you become the proudest, greatest nation that ever lived. That's who we are. to be this way, to act this way. And Hashem should see this wonderful, amazing community right here do this and say, "Ah, Malim, look at these humans. Look at the Greeks around them." And they still were able to realize that I'm the Malik. And when we do that, maybe this year, Hashem will say, "I got it. I heard it. I love you guys. And now I'm going to show everybody that I'm the Melik of the entire world. May we see that with our own eyes this year." 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