CHAZAQ's Torah Talks #213 Rabbi Hillel Eisenberg - Passion in Judaism

It is important to remind oneself perhaps every day, perhaps every hour, perhaps every 10 minutes that God is perfect. He needs nothing. He does not need us. We are ants in his eyes. Obviously, we're not, but we are ants. He doesn't need us. So, why did he give us the Torah? He gave us the Torah because he is a dispenser of good. He is interested in giving goodness to the world. We have been granted access to the most exclusive blueprint and road road path and treasure map to the best way to live your life on earth. It's not a book of laws. It's a rule book to guide me to the greatest, most fulfilled, most meaningful life on earth. [Music] And welcome to Kazak Torah Talks, Kazak's program with special guests. We have with us all the way from Lakewood, Rabbi Hill Eisenberg. Welcome. >> Thanks for having me. >> It is so good to see the rabbi over here at the Kazak headquarters. And we're going to be speaking about passionate Judaism, which is which is a title and topic I'm really excited about. And it's just in time for the high hol days, which we'll discuss as well. Before we get to the exciting topic, Rabbi, we got a little bit of background about yourself and the great work you're involved with. >> Sure. So, my name is Hill Eisenberg. I am originally from Rochester, New York, which is very up north near like polar bears and penguins. And I grew up in this small little town. My father is a baluva. He grew up and be went to Shyoshv >> and got inspired by the great Replom Fryeld founder. >> Yes. one of the leaders of the uh Chuva movement in America and throughout the world. And ever since he met Rabbi Fryfeld, a a passion, a fireball of passion for Yiddish engulfed him. And that's how he raised our home. A home where you're not just a yid, but you're an urgent Yid. You're >> Gishmak to be >> it's Gishmak to be a Yid, but also not everyone's to not everyone could merit, you know, this and don't take it for granted. And this is the greatest lifestyle on earth. And that's the childhood I had where even though we had 150 people in the community, that's it. 150 families, small, but on fire, it doesn't matter where you are. You could have only one schol and one school and one little little cozy village that you're in. But if you're on fire, it doesn't make a difference where where you are. It's true. >> You're on fire. Anyway, so I was sent in ninth grade to Ner Stroll in Baltimore. I learned there for many years. I learned in Eritus for a little bit and now I live in Lakewood, New Jersey where I learn in Bedroskavo, one of the great institutions in the world. >> Yes. >> And I do Kirv in Princeton University as well as many other Scholes and schools and institutions where I go and share some of my passion for Yiddishkite and for Judaism. And I love to share the a blend of the history of the Jewish people and how we are responsible for what the world takes for granted. The beauty, the harmony, the purity that we have in this world is exclusively because of the Jewish people's like unwavering holding of the banner of truth. And I bring that passion and I try my best to plead with teens and young adults and old people in senior living, assisted living place and I say you are the most important people on earth and you have been given such a great opportunity to live beautiful, pure, holy, awesome lives. So that's a little bit of what I do. >> Wow. Rabbi, I feel the passion, the energy and I love it and it's amazing and uh it's great to get to know the rabbi. It's amazing. Uh special thank you to our friends from to time Shimanu and Kyak for bringing over the rabbi to the Khazak headquarters and rabbi. So the question is that some people think of Judaism, you just kind of say book of laws. Okay, I follow the book. I do whatever whatever I have to do. Check this and a check for that and and uh and and is that what it's all about or or or there's got to be a little bit more to it like the rabbi saying. >> Great question. So the Torah on a superficial level can be confused with a book of laws. It's just a checkbook of laws. However, many times it's overlooked. The Torah often says everything that I'm about to tell you is it is good for you what I'm telling you. It is important to remind oneself perhaps every day, perhaps every hour, perhaps every 10 minutes. One should remind ourselves that God is perfect. He needs nothing. He does not need us. We are ants in his eyes. Obviously, we're not. But we are ants. He doesn't need us. So why did he give us the Torah? He gave us the Torah because he is a dispenser of good. He is interested in giving goodness to the world. We have been granted access to the most exclusive blueprint and road road path and treasure map to the best way to live your life on earth. It's not a book of laws. It's a rule book to guide me to the greatest, most fulfilled, most meaningful life on earth. I'll give you an example. Imagine if you're going to Disney World for the very first time and the CEO of Disney World writes you a letter the day before you're going and says, "Dear Mr. Soandso, I heard you're going to Disney World. I want to welcome you, but I noticed that you only have one day, roughly 12 hours there. Here is a list of tips to ensure you maximize your time and get the greatest enjoyment out of Disney World. Don't go to that ride. It's not worth it. Long lines. Go here. Avoid that tunnel. Crowded. Do not eat at that hot dog stand. You're going to get food poisoning. Go here. Go there. Would you take one look at that list, crumple it up, and say, "Look at all the things I can't do. Get out of here. Let me live my own life." And you chuck it out the window. It'd be foolish. Why? Cuz that is the owner of Disney World telling you how to maximize your It's the exact same thing. Hashem gave us a rule book to maximize our time. You want to live the best marriages. I want mediocre marriage. I want the best marriage. I want the best life. I want the best kids. I want the best job. I want the best happiness. I want a soul that's most meaningful, a house that's most I want the best. Jews want the best of everything and this is the best. So that perspective changes it from here we go again. I got to, you know, go through all these motions and make sure I do this at one second. That's not the right approach. The approach is this is goodness. This is the definition of goodness. Let me re-energize myself to and block out all the distractions the places in this world and then it sells itself. The Torah truly sells itself. So I think it's an amazing perspective to have when you're going into the yumm, the high holy days where it could be daunting. Even life in general could be daunting. Here you have all these. There is no more restrictive appearing book of laws in any religion in the history of the world than the Torah. Nothing comes close. There are not 613 mitzvah, commandments. There are 613 categories with dozens and hundreds and hundreds of add-ons and rabbitic add-ons and and cong and and and rules and regulations that are addition added on over the years. It's immensely restrictive. But let me ask you something. Isn't it unbelievable that the most restrictive religion in all in the whole world also survived the longest? Does that make any sense? With the most persecution. How does it make sense? The answer is cuz it's not restrictive. It is it is releasing us to a an amazingly beautiful harmonious life and that is the ultimate perspective one could have and when one has that perspective their life suddenly becomes one where you're not fighting religion where religion is actually facilitating your enjoyment in this world >> 100% Rabbi Eisenberg is beautifully well said and it's 100% true Judaism definitely the best thing in the entire world and as the rabbi mentioned and touched upon the high holy days are coming upon us and some of people they call the days of awe. Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh my gosh like they could get scared. Uh there's a beautiful line, don't be scared, be prepared. Uh so uh maybe you could add this t this topic of passion and Judaism to the high hol dayss which are coming. >> Sure. For sure. So I think one of the reason why people struggle with the high holidays, >> day of judgment, >> the day of judgment it's scary also that people are very practical and they're very realistic and they say, "Hey, I went through the high holidays last year. I committed myself to do this, this, this. I failed in 80% of them. So, here we go again. So, I'm like sort of fooling myself. What What are we doing? So, I'm going to go through the motions, but it's like I know I'm getting judged. I'm going to make all these commitments that I'm that I know I'm like I'm I I I'm going to promise not to say any more gossip and I'm going to promise not to eat things I shouldn't eat and look at things I shouldn't look at, but I know that I'm going to do so. Like, it's like this silly wishywashy thing and it adds to my anxiety and my stress. I'm trying to be better, but I'm not really being better. Let me give you a perspective that I think can change things a lot. Please, >> what if I told you that the goal and the purpose is not to fulfill those commitments, but the goal is to simply make the commitments. Of course, God knows that we are going to fail at 80% of our commitments. But he also made human beings like that. The same person who instructed us to re-examine our day-to-day life and to become better also made us fail made us human beings. The goal of the high holidays is to simply recommit to make the commitments knowing that we're probably in all likelihood going to fail yet again. And I'm 40 and I've been committing myself to not speak gossip every year since I was 12. And I'm still going to speak gossip in all likelihood. However, God wants to see the recommmitment. I'm going to try again. That is the end. It's not a means to the end. It is an end in and of itself. Of course, one should try their best to fulfill their commitments. No question. But don't discount the power of just making the commitment. It is an immensely cherished thing in heaven. And sometimes knowing that we're going to fail in the commitment makes us discount the the power of the commitment that itself. So a a great perspective to have in our holidays is how beautifully cherished our commitments are even if we know in all likelihood they're going to be um you know only half fulfilled. That's one thing I can say. Another thing that I could say is oftentimes the pressure of the high holidays is amplified by the fact that we are doing a lot of things and saying a lot of things that are very lofty and maybe even esoteric and we don't necessarily uh get to the nitty-gritty day-to-day life. And I think that's a mistake. I think what is not spoken about enough is when it comes to bettering ourselves. It's not just a new year resolution that's cute and you see someone on YouTube make a new year resolution and like you roll your eyes and like that's not ever happening. What is demanded of us of is really taking a pen and paper and being very practical. You don't want to say gossip. Okay, make a list of the people that generally speak gossip to you or around and try to avoid or make sure be be cognant of who you are around or you don't want to look at things you shouldn't look at. So, write down the places that you struggle the most and and make practical be very practical. For example, it's very very daunting the prayers, the high prayers. You're going to be in in in synagogue for a long period of time. So instead of just being fearful about it, wait, take 10 minutes a day for the next 30 days and translate and look up the meaning of some of the prayers, doing so makes it exponentially more meaningful. It's just a very practical, incredibly practical way of of of releasing a lot more spiritual energy that you can tap into in the high holidays and also making change actually practical. It's nice to scream and shout and inspire yourself in cute ways, but unless you roll up your sleeves and actually take out a pen and paper and say, "I'm going to change in this way and this is how I'm going to do it or these are the areas of my life that I struggle and here I'm going to change in these ways by doing this X, Y, and Z. It's never going to happen." So, I think between those two perspectives of the commitment is so unbelievably cherished. It's it's half or maybe even more than half of the whole thing. Don't focus on the the end result where you go back to your old self. No, the the recommmitment is is beautiful and what God wants and the focusing on more practical aspects of translating some of the words of being very practical with yourself I think is a great >> 100% beautiful practical tips. Uh but I I wanted to follow up with that with regards to lasting impressions with regards to being passionate in their Judaism. if there's uh maybe some tips that you could offer for an individual watching this. Oh, this rabbi is full of energy. He's full of passion, you know, he he he he had it from home or his father or from a 5-year-old or something. I'm a completely different story. >> 100%. So, I like to travel and recently, not long ago, I was in Bangkok, Thailand, and I'm walking down the street and I meet a I see a Jewish person coming down the street and he's very noticeably Jewish. And I go over to him, I say, "What in the world is a is another Jew doing here in Bangkok, Thailand?" And he says, "How do you know I was Jewish?" And I'm thinking to myself, like, you're wearing an you're wearing a FJJ hat. You have an Hamodilla coming out of a pomegranate shopping bag and you're eating a tradition soup. He's eating a tradition suit. How do I know you're Jewish? What kind of question are you asking? >> Doesn't get more Jewish than that. >> Anyway, I asked him, "What are you doing here?" He said he recently got divorced >> and he's he's you know he needs time to run away. And I said, "I'm sorry to hear that. I hope that you find, you know, calm here in Bangkok." And he said, "Yeah, but I want to tell you, I I I just don't get something." I said, "What's that?" He said, "I I just did such big things for my family and my kids, my wife. I took them to Europe. I took my daughter to Disney World. I gave my wife a $20,000 ring. I bought my my son World Series tickets. I just don't get it. I don't understand. And he walked off into the streets of Bangkok. And I'm think standing there thinking to myself, nobody cares about the big things. Nobody cares. They want the daytoday attention when they know you have other things going on. They want to know that you're there with them, looking them in the eye, even though you're stressed or you're annoyed or wherever. That's what kids want. That's what a wife wants. It's the same exact thing with Hashem. I'm not discounting in any way the severity, the importance of the eye holidays. However, a great way to maintain the passion and to use the the the fuel that the that the high holidays gives us throughout the rest of the year is knowing God wants to see how you pray on a random Tuesday in January. the small things. Anyone could show up to synagogue anam kipper and look your best. And I'm not discounting the importance of that. Everybody should do that. However, God wants to also see how you dance when it's not and how how God wants to see how you you're how you learn when it's not the night of God wants to see the small things. It's a story. There's a story that they say that when the one of the great great rabbis of all time when he died a very wealthy man came to his widow and said I'd like to buy his keepa his yamaka that he wore. I'm I'll pay 30,000 rubble for it. So was sure take it. I can make some money. I think great >> come back to me tomorrow. I'll get it for you. Great. He leaves. She quickly goes finds his famous yarmaka, a very big yamaka which was very prominently displayed on his head on his holy head. And she goes and she washes it and she dusts it off and she makes it perfect. And he comes back the next day. He says, "Okay, here's 30 30,000 rubble. Where's the yamaka?" And she comes out with this beautiful shiny clean yam. He says, "That's that's it." >> She's like, "Yeah, that's that's not his yamama." She says, "Yeah, it is yamaka. I just cleaned it." He's like, I wanted the sweat, cry, tearfilled Yarmama. That's what I wanted. I don't want a clean Yamaha. That's what I wanted. That's the same thing. Hashem wants us when we're raw on a Tuesday at 5:00 p.m. in the middle of January. You spilled your coffee on your shirt. You have 30 things. Your kids are flinging schnitle across the Hashem wants to see you in your element. stay calm or you're still going to go to nights or you have a headache, you have 10 million other things you'd rather do, you're going to still say to him because you agree to a quota of three, three chapters a day and you still do it even though you have a splitting migraine headache. God wants to see the small little things and I think that's an important perspective to have because true the high holidays are these massive mega pit stops where it's like the bellerba another great master he recently told his uh his congregants he said and the yum the high holidays are like grape juice concentrate where you have a bucket of concentrate that you're handed and you pour it into a bottle of water, you could go the whole year, it could produce bottles of grape juice. That is owl. It's a giant bucket of concentrate that you've been handed and that you're given and that you attain through the process of the owl and the high holidays. And you use it a little bit throughout the whole year where you inspire yourself when it's snowy outside, when there's nothing going on. You could use it for inspiration. Another thing I'll add which is very unique. If you look at the Jewish calendar, there's something very bizarre about it. The Jewish calendar has basically six months nonstop action. Nonstop. There's just one after the next. You go from Pes to Lagr to to the three weeks to the nine days to there's just something and it goes into the andash and sukus and then comes there's nothing going on and before the story of there wasn't there wasn't literally nothing was maybe nothing there was nothing going on so the question is why did God arrange the calendar in this way you're going to tell me well that's how the events came about, right? That's where the Jews went out of Egypt then and the Jew, you know, they sat. Please, there's nothing random. The calendar was designed 17 or 18 million years before the world came into existence. God could have designed it where we have a little bit of breathing room between, you know, Pes and then why don't we, you could have spread it out a little bit. The answer is that God wants to give us a chunk of time in the year where there's nothing going on where we can use the power and the holiness that we got from that six months that high holiday season culminating in culminating in sukkot. We use it when we're quote unquote back to real life back to where it's just ourselves in our office. And the true test of a soldier is if he does the will of a of a king. even when no one's looking and I think knowing that is uh is great great uh fuel to be passionate >> encouragement 100% there's a beautiful line that small actions equals to big people it's a small action that adds up and a little bit more and a little bit more it makes a person very very big and very very successful Rabbi Hill Iceberg so uh excited to have you on Kazak Torah talks the passion is you feel it passionate Judaism we have a minhag we have a custom which is one final message for our broader audience >> for Sure. For sure. I could give 40. I'll give one. If you open up the the code of law, Jewish, the Jewish people's rule book, the number one law is get up like a lion. So, for many years, I thought that meant that you should get up early. But then I realized recently that that cannot possibly be what it means because who exactly is this talking to? I mean I'm not getting up at 11, right? I have kids. Like I have a normal wife. Like I have a job. So like it's hard to say that the the Torah is talking exclusively to 10th grade girls. Doesn't make sense, right? Who was it? It can't mean get up early. It doesn't make sense. So I realized that it means get up like a lion. I was examining lions recently. Lions sleep more than all animals in the animal kingdom except for they sleep the whole day because if you're the king of the jungle, why ro waste energy roaming around? Let's just sleep and then when you need to eat, you get up and you eat a zebra and you go back to sleep. Well, that's who you should, you know, emulate. Get up like a lion. The answer is that a lion is unique in one sense. It is the king of the jungle. Not because it's the strongest animal because there are many animals that are far stronger than lions. It is not the fastest animal because there are many animals that are far faster than a lion. The answer why lion is called the king of the jungle. Even the gamarra talks about how the lion is the king of the jungle is because it is 100% fearless. It is the only animal that does not fear any other creature or being or person. It is completely fearless. It is why the Jewish people are likened to lions. This is why David the King David is likened to a lion is because we are unique in one sense basically in one sense only and that is we are completely fearless people. When the to when when the Torah says and the says get up like a lion what it means is get up put on your kipah or put on your mug and do necklace whatever makes you feel Jewish and look out in the world and be completely fearless to be a Jew. not unapologetically Jewish. You are completely pridefilled to be Jewish. No billboard, no ad an, no YouTube video, no influencer will ever diminish your pride in being Jewish. I think that is an immensely powerful perspective that you get up like a lion at powerful. Abby Hill Eisenberg, very, very powerful final message. I totally agree. We deal with all these kids in public schools and all these kids, you know, sometimes they uh want to quote unquote hide their Judaism, god forbid, but we have to be passionate about our Judaism. We be proud of our Judaism. And every single one of us should take these messages to heart. Uh to for the high holy days to be ready and Rabbi Is really really inspired us all. Special thank you to the rabbi. Special thank you to the various different platforms that hosts Kazak Torah talks with a special shout out once again to our friends at to any time. Uh special thank you to daily giving. A dollar day goes very far away. Uh we want to thank Natan behind the camera for always doing an amazing job with the media. I want to thank our audience for today. My two sons of and that came to join us today and we shall all only hear the only good news we should see the redemption meaning our days. Amen. Amen. >> Amen. >> Beautiful. Amazing. [Music]