CHAZAQ's Torah Talks #142 Rabbi Dr. Mordechai Salfer - Listening to the Messages

why is it that God made the Ten Commandments out of all the 613 Commandments we have this two tablets with 10 Commandments that's the big thing carrying it everywhere the ark what's so big about these 10 things why is not the whole 6113 let me tell you the ark represents the Torah and then you got the manur which represents Torah one second I thought the ark represents Torah there's two different toras the 613 Commandments are represented by the manura it's the guide for every day every moment of my life then there is something that's guiding me inside me that's hidden away inside of a box inside of a box inside of a box and that inside me that is The Ten Commandments those are my moral [Music] compass and welcome to Tor talks kazak's Tuesday night program with special guest guys we have with us all the way from Florida welcome thank you for this Merit for the Merit that's right and we're going to be speaking about listening to the messages but before we do uh the topic we get a little bit background about the rabbi and the great work you're involved with yes I have Yeshiva in aatur Florida um boys come from all over the world that's primarily I shouldn't say primarily it's there's almost no locals every body's from Lakewood Switzerland Australia Israel from literally all over the place all over the country yeah that's that's my main work mid high school and basement high school and basement yeah aming so we learn our focus is on really on SM and learning the sugas to be able to learn right now I'm growing my fingernails so I should be able to do all the bik Sak of uh checking of all the knives ritual slaughtering knives and that's uh in fact I'm very close I don't know if you know Rabbi kand D Ro from Florida denil yes so he is right now meeting with us a couple times a week and teaching us all this these laws and practical applications to make sure that everybody's able to have Kosher skirt Stakes because there's a lot of uh challenges with that but that's what that's one of the things we're doing we also do get in we also do uh all areas of Shar it's pretty amazing that's ourv thing and the rabbit grew up in aventur Florida I did not I grew up in in Baltimore and I learned afterwards I learned in uh high school and base man in Long Beach Miss of Long Beach then in the Mir then in BMG then I learned in K in Cleveland Ohio The Rush KY and I were kusas and TS Rush KY for 12 years wow amazing col s for all that you do yeah amazing amazing so um I also have two doctorates yeah you didn't know that I I caught you right now right yeah I have a doctor in Clinical Psychology and a doctor in education that the rash of TS told me you have to get these that's amazing yeah while I was learning with r like you know and all the he says you could do this I think you could help a lot of people with this so that's why he pushed me very very strong to do it amazing wow man have many hats it does doing a lot of great things okay today I found that you it really is very beneficial to have a lot of hats when you're dealing with our uh growing community of Cl Israel yeah it's very very important to be involved and to make things happen to help out so RAB how do we uh have Clarity in one's journey in life how does one uh gain Clarity I really believe Hashem it's not I believe Hashem sends us messages the question is are we listening for the messages and if a person is not really preparing ourselves to hear the message we're not the right you know frequency we're not on that the right you know wave whatever you call it then we're not going to pick up on those messages you know for person's on the wrong station they end up getting different messages and they listen to different things the Torah tells us do not we say in every day we in the last paragraph of shma we say do not go after do not go after Hearts do not go after our eyes now the question is why would you go after your heart and then your eyes first you should be your eyes and then your heart and the answer is that your heart your eyes see what your heart wants to see so we have to have our heart in the right place and then we can see all of the messages that God is showing to us very powerful very true true true how does one build uh our foundations in life to not be distracted by all those noise that are around us there's a lot going on y that is a that is a a very difficult thing I think you know I was just driving here and on my way I I typed in you sent me the address where to come here I came here from Lakewood so uh yeah ER TOA right so I um I was I put in the whatever called the coordin the thing to the GPS the address and and at some point I don't know what happened it just went crazy on me and it started going and it's like going all over the place and showing me the things and moving and it's turning and I'm like uhoh this is this is not good so instead of I just shut it off I just shut off the GPS and I said I know where I'm going I'm on this road and I know there's a lot of turns but it told me I see a you know what whatever a sign that says ahead that I'm going towards the um the the George Washington Bridge and I know that was the next thing I'm staying on the Geor well maybe I'm thinking to myself but maybe this and maybe that I said no I know where I need to go and I I'm I'm going to stick with it I'm not going to listen to all this distractions and so I shut it off turn it back on everything oh tells me you're back you're right on the path you were supposed to be but then it starts doing it again so I said shut it off it's I know where the next space is place I need to go I keep following that and and it keeps telling me no you need to go here you need to go there don't listen I know where I need to go and if a person has inside of them where they need to go they know the direct not just the direction they know where I need to be we're not going to be distracted by all those messages problem is we end up getting caught like offu in our frequency changes and we're thinking to ourselves well maybe that's really the message maybe that's really the message and maybe Hashem if I even bring Hashem into my picture a lot of times I just say yeah but maybe I should do this maybe well that looks smarter and I spoke to other people and and and everyone else is doing this and every and I like nope don't listen this where I know I need to be so the question really is what gives me that that that direction what what how do I have that so to speak gyroscope or Focus or whatever we want to use and I know exactly but I I know where it is so but the question is how am I not what what becomes my gyroscope then and when I'm caught in all this turbulence and everybody's you know saying oh you know what's going on in the world and you know all the wars and the killing and this and that and maybe the Jew maybe the Israelis are wrong and maybe this and I don't like I don't want to listen to it anymore I just I know I'm supposed to E toim I know I'm supposed to learn Torah I know I'm supposed to you know to pray for others and and that's what I stay focused on and I'll give you a interesting thought a a number of years ago a couple years ago since I have all these hats that I wear right so uh I came to I came to a city I was there for shabas and a man who knows me says to me I really I I'm I'm going to ask you to do me a favor um how long you here for shab you here for shabas I said yeah I'm here for shabas he goes well I came in like Thursday night I had to speak somewhere so he says if you have for shabas is there a way he could speak to my son it turns out his son is this very prominent very religious person in the community he says I did it's some background on my son I've been watching him I'm like okay he goes he's a much he's got a bunch of kids and everything he goes he's he's been involved with somebody outside of his marriage he goes and this is like a real bad thing he goes and I need you to speak to him I go like what am I going to do tell your son hey I heard from your father that you've been doing some bad stuff I can't do that so he says I don't know you you figur it out but I had to I know you could help me you I I don't even know who else to speak to so I'm like I'm not really sure what to do Shem got to help me out here I don't know do not you're not really prepared for that kind of thing so I could shabas Friday night we dve and Sh shabas Day come the sh I sit down somewhere in sh it's big big sh I'm like I got some open space near me but I don't know like where everybody sits but I figure if I sit closer to the front probably most people like to dve it in the back all right so I sit down there and um of all people in the whole thing this man's son comes and sits down right next to me yeah turns out you know it's that week that uh we were there it was Paras yel all right we're all daving and and he's not really talking to me he knows me very well this man the son and um he studied in like major institutions and he's like very very you know a big professional and he's also a Torah person very from very religious he's the big you know president or I don't know exactly of of the SCH of the school of the very prominent person but it's everybody has challenges so he turns to me during laning and he says to me you know I never really understood this why is it that that God made the Ten Commandments out of all the 613 Commandments we have this two tablets with Ten Commandments he says and not like that like you know that's the big thing and they're putting this you know the T you know the whatever they call it the the right the Arn kodes and we're carrying it everywhere the says the ark says like what's so big about these 10 things and why why is not the whole 613 in it like why these why this 10 so I said it's a good question so I turned to him I said you know I'm going to tell you a very deep thought and I don't think I could share this whole thing right now but I'll tell you a deep thought that that there's two it says the the Tabernacle has a bunch of different you know different different vessels different uh I don't know you want to call Furniture but you know different things in the Tabernacle right and we have like the the Shan we have the table the where you put all the the show breads on and then we have the manura and then we have the Holy Ark the golden Ark and then you have I said the arc is behind a partition that's in the holy of holies so no one even goes in there I said and it's a box inside of a box inside of a box I said and then inside that is the you know the the the the Ten Commandments the broken ones and the real the ones that with the second bear they're they're in that box and it's really stored Behind These and no one can go in there except for the the coang god the the high priest onum Kipper I said so no one ever sees it it's deep inside there I said then we have the manura which is very lights everything up which it's not really God lights it up it's not really that we needed the the light from the manure to light it up yeah it do not but we have this light I said and then we have this each of these things I said and each of these really represents and it's teaching us like a a very important vital role and message I said the the the the ark represents the Torah I said the showbread that represents our parasa you know our livelihood money money that we need you need to live so you need to eat food you need to red and then you got the manur which represents Torah I said one second I thought the ark represents Torah so we have the manura which is the light you know that represents Torah but the ark represents like what's the I said let me tell you there's two different toras that's right there's the Torah that's the oral Torah the written Torah I said that's one thing I said but there's I think a deeper message there and that is that the 613 Commandments are represented by the man that's the light which shows me how I'm supposed to walk around it's the guide for every day every moment of my life every waking and sleeping moment every living moment every moment even after we pass that is the Torah that's a 613 I said but then there is something that's guiding me inside me that's hidden away deep inside the holy of holies inside of a box inside of a box inside of a box inside of a box inside of a box and that inside me like that that that is The Ten Commandments those are my moral compass I said and I will know no matter what happens and whatever kind of things are going on in the world deep down my moral compass of the Ten Commandments says Anem God said I am your God I am an I am your God and that's the first thing and that's the foremost thing and don't get distracted by anything anything else in the world that is what always and all the rest of the the other nine it's the same thing those are what guides us and I said if my moral compass is off if my Ten Commandments are off if I'm a thief right I stole say though not steal I said my Shabbat I don't have shabas I said my my compass is off I said listen there are a lot of things I could go without but if I'm missing the lacking those things or they're messed up it's my Jeep PS is going around in circles and I can be led by oh maybe I do this maybe I do that that's where and without that I'm never going to hear my messages I'm not even going to look at the messages I'm on the wrong frequency powerful wow amazing R sfur love you very very much and the question is how does one recognize God's messages how does one realize it how does one open his eyes I guess for a lack of better words yeah well a person there's a story I once I mean believe God says in the Ten Commandments the first one is I am God right I am your God and you know it's a whole discussion as to how do you have belief now we all have belief you know I heard this story about this this gentleman who was at this um I don't know what they called it that uh that party in the desert in Israel and and he closed his eyes cuz he saw the he was they were driving away as fast as they could and all of a sudden there were these guys that were shooting at him and he calls out is and he drove right he says I don't say shma I don't do any of this stuff but inside of us we have that amuna we have that belief that's that really the question is it's so covered it's so it's it's like it's like sometimes I don't know what to call it it's like underneath a whole thing of dust it's in the corner it's been covered over by so many other things that we've put in the way and that we've been involved in that kind of we have to dig and pull it out so if it's if it's fresh in our minds and a person has constantly been on that wavelength and listening to our messages listening to our you know our frequency listening to the the radio program right we've always been listening to it then we're we're going to be listening we're in touch with it now you know the even the greatest rabbis my rebi you know Rabbi shim olster you know blessed memory told me used to tell us over that I think it was the stier the stier big Rabbi in babra very very famous Rabbi who's big big Rabbi greatest the greatest and people said he had divine inspiration and all these you know you know very very high levels he himself used to after he he wouldn't use the electricity he only used um batteries and and and candles and when it would all go out Friday night and he still had he was still ready to continue learning but he can't learn because he doesn't have the the light he would sit there in the dark and he would say God was God is God will be he is the master of all God was God is God will be that's [Music] right he would sit there for an hour an hour this great Rabbi because we have to really you want to get to that frequency you got to it's like polishing it's like sharpening KN so to speak it doesn't have you just couple things and it's sharp now you got to go over carefully and you got to just and repeatedly and you go back and forth he was he is he will be he was he is he will be he is the master of all and you got to constantly put ourselves back and we're fine-tuning the frequency so then we can hear those mess consistency you have to constantly work on it it's constant and if we're not a touch it starts collecting dust wow powerful very very true so many beautiful gems insights we love every very moment of it we have a custom on our Torah talks kak podcast a final message for our broad audience you know we're living in very difficult times yes we are you know time challenging I used to think to myself you know and I've heard this from so many people you know I hear the Holocaust stories and you know like oh why why didn't they do this and why didn't they do that why didn't they run away got all these plans and you know and I told my Yeshiva a couple years ago when he had Co I and I did not know about covid but I said I could feel you know right in the beginning stages I said I have a feeling that this is going to shut down the whole world I said and I warned the boys beforehand they said this is a very very you know uh very challenging time I said connect you need to use this time to learn to DAV Etc game a whole thing and sure enough Co hit and we were all shut down and we were shut down for a long time and people a lot of people passed away and know my very very close friend Rabbi Walkin I mean I was one of yeah really really hit me like hard like a like a sack of bricks and all this was going on and then after Co we came out of Co and everybody like the air clears and they said oh and we're going to be so much closer and then and I said no it's not over I said I don't know it's not Co but this is not over when I can't just go back to our lives we're not learning we're not haven't learned the message God's showing us a message it's like that message was I I don't need to attack you with a holocaust I could attack the whole world with a little bug and everybody is running and hiding and it's a war against the entire world Against Humanity I said that was the the message of Co but then the Jewish people the message wasn't directed at the do the message was directed at us you know when Hashem gave you know I told Moshe he said Moshe you go in front of you know pharaoh and I want to bring you should bring some signs he goes and it's really to the Jewish people you get it first get them on board he says and you'll bring these in front of pharaoh to show him like you know some signs and he says the first thing is you got the stick you drop it on the ground and it turns into a snake and you pick it back up and it's a stick again right and he says put your hand inside your seve that's and it turns white and it's it's it's leprosy and then you put it back in and it's like you know it's like and for my next trick you know I mean right it's almost like that's what the the Egyptian uh The Magicians they looked at go oh gosh please when you get pull out a hat a rabbit now I mean like so that's the way they looked at it and the Jewish people it says Ah and they believed what from parlor tricks I mean like the Egyptians can do the same thing and it was messages that God was saying no you know you put down you throw down your stick which is supposed to be something to protect you like lean you lean on and we rely on it but God says no no no if you rely on it too much it turns into a snake it's a snake it's the Yates it's going to be an evil inclination to think that oh this is what's protecting me this is what's taking care of me and he says no and the Jews heard that message and he says put your hand inside your thing and come out and you're going to have SAS have lepr see so we think to ourselves my hand you know what they say there's nothing better than what you could do yourself really what you could do yourself God says it's leprosy it's nothing it's they can't do anything your hand even our own hand forget about the stick that we rely on even our own hand that's nothing is going to protect us and we have to realize that God is sending us messages all the time that we have that it's to us the Egyptians didn't see this the the Jews heard this message and they go wow you're right it's only God and they they realized it but we have to realize these messages so what are we going to do it's very difficult and I was saying today you know it's a really amazing thing everybody saying so many Psalms for for the for the hostages and for the people that are you know being attacked and the soldiers that are fighting in in know in Gaza and all over and the Jews all over the world were're praying for everybody our people and we're the ones have to recognize this this message and I I was saying to myself this morning at this the same Psalm that I've been saying every day three times a day or more and all of a sudden it says Hashem Hashem is your guard hasem is your shade your gives you shade you know like whatever you call it Shadow with I said but what where does the shadow come from some most of the time it comes from something dark over us it could be a cloud it could be a black cloud and we're thinking to ourselves oh no I don't want the black clouds and I don't want this negative thing and I don't I don't want Hashem says no that itself is what I'm protecting you with I what you're thinking is something negative is something good and we have to if we're on the right frequency and we're looking for our messages and we're constantly preparing for this then we will recognize when the message comes through we go oh I just heard that message but if we're not preparing ourselves to hear the message and we're not listening on that frequency that it's all from Hashem then we're going to hear all kinds of things that are distracting us powerful powerful powerful words it's 100% true we have to really work on it it's a constant work and we have to rely on on God Almighty and uh listen to the messages that's right got to hear the messages okay amazing Torah talk we just had about for uh listening to the messages we got to listen to the messages and we want to remind everyone every single Tuesday night 8:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time kazak Tor talks with special guests what an amazing Torah talk we just had I personally really enjoyed it very very very much it's really really true and we want to thank all of our platforms that host kazak Torah talks a special thank you to our friends at Torah anytime and special thank you to our friends at Daily giving a dollar a day goes a really really far away uh we encourage everyone to become come daily Giver daily giving.org and we want to remind everyone that kazak is on the a very big campaign mode uh we are working non-stop to uh continue our holy programs of getting kids from public schools into over 1500 I've already been transfer the last few years alone with our No Child Left Behind initiative we have thousands of more kids that have been coming to our after school program Sunny school programs teens division programs our new Youth Center which is a amazing amazing uh new addition to kazak it's a factory of of lifechanging programming and we want everyone to be part of it please reach out to kazak chq.org be part of it suggestions for future guest speakers always welcome and should should Merit see the complete Redemption amen amen [Music] [Applause] [Music]