CHAZAQ's Torah Talks #226 Rabbi Akiva Tatz - Rosh Hashanah: What Are We Here For?

I'm sure all our viewers know that in Jewish law, a majority is good enough. If your suka is 51% covered, it's fine. You're cooking a meat soup and a little milk falls in, it's fine. I mean, don't try that at home. Yeah, >> but it's okay. Which means if we said, "Hashem, we want you to rule the whole world, we might mean 51%." And that's not right. We don't mean 51%. We mean 100%. You mean every Zulu cattle herder and every [music] Wall Street stock marketer and every Queen's teenager painting her nails black. You mean everyone, right? [music] And so the point is to go back to unite all of humanity as accepting Hashem's rule in the world. And that's what the day is about. Today's episode is sponsored by Borism Tax Planning and Advisory. Schedule your free tax strategy session online and get started now. Call us at 2124306881 to learn more. >> Hey, welcome everyone to today's very special episode, Torah Talks with Yakats. Welcome. Thank you for joining us. >> Sure, my pleasure. Thank you. Okay. Um, we have a special topic today. We're talking about Rashana and of course we're on the these days of of um of Rashana and Yamiper. And before we jump in the topic, I guess if the the rough name, you just give a background a little bit about yourself >> about myself. >> Yeah. >> My name's Aut. I was born [clears throat] in South Africa where many good things come from. And >> yourself included. >> Myself included. And um I went to medical school in South Africa. I was a military physician for a couple of years in South Africa. Uh there was a terrorist war going on. So there was conscription. After that I went to Israel. I worked half day as a doctor, half day learning in Yeshiva in Israel. And after a number of years I gradu graduated and gravitated more to full-time learning. And I still have a very strong interest in medical haka. you know a lot of consulting and teaching about um medical hakic dilemmas and issues. I wrote a book about that for doctors you know and I like to I like to teach Jewish philosophy and also teach Jewish doctors about their Jewism. >> Beautiful. Amazing. So we of course the today's topic is very it's very timely where this no matter anyone's level of level of observance the rashish shana the the the new year yam kipper we could have that fresh slate and we're we're all asking um we're all asking Hashem everyone knows but the concept of the book of life hashem put me in the book of life but can you cy tell us more about what does this book of life what does it mean even life what does that even mean >> right well I think the the way to What that question is that since we are being written in the book of life so the judgment is a life and death judgment the question is why don't we relate to that on we don't do ch we don't have any confessions or vidui like we do um in fact we don't ask for anything the additions to the prayers like write us in the book of life and so on they were added much later and they're not essential at all so the essential theme of rash is only one thing and that is hashem god you king that's all For example, in the main prayer of Rajashana, we have right means your king means let's remember that point of origin when you began in the world to be king and the chauffar which takes you back to the sound of the soul. The chauffar should sound like a like a cry like a scream. In other words, we're not talking about the words that are coming out of the mouth. We're going back to the root which is a cry of the soul. And the question is why do we do that? that and we don't do chuva, right? It's not like we're not we don't care about cha on your quipper. We do it all day. It's like a lawyer telling you to go to your court case, your life hangs in the balance, don't relate to the case at all and then try to win it on appeal 10 days later. So the answer to that and the answer to your question about life is that what we try to achieve on Rashashana is to go back to the root of what it means to be human. In fact, not only the root of being Jewish, but the root of being human. What happened on rash originally? Hashem created the human being, created Adam, Adam and Eve. And every festival in Judaism is a recycling. It's a revisiting on a spiral the point in time that happened originally, right? Pes for example, we celebrate becoming the Jewish people. For him, we celebrate the survival of the Jews in Persia. What [snorts] are we celebrating in Rashan? It's an anniversary of the creation of the human being. And notice that the human being was created long before Jewish identity came into being. And therefore, we're not talking about our creation as Jews. We're talking about our creation as humans. In Torah, we say that means being a decent human being comes before being a Jew. Of course, of course, your essence is Jewish. We're not forgetting that. But there's something that much deeper than that. And so, what you're doing is you're going back to the point of origin. What I'm here for in the world as a human being. Let me give you one beautiful example. We say we want you to rule the whole world. The whole why do we say the word twice? The reason is cuz we if we said we want you to rule the whole world, we might mean a majority. Cuz as I'm sure all our viewers know that in Jewish law, a majority is good enough. If your suka is 51% covered, it's fine. You're cooking a meat soup and a little milk falls in, it's fine. I mean, don't try that at home. >> Yeah. >> But it's okay. Which means if we said, "Hashem, we want you to rule the whole world," we might mean 51%. And that's not right. We don't mean 51%. We mean 100%. We mean every Zulu cattle herder and every Wall Street stock market and every Queen's teenager painting her nails black. We mean everyone, right? >> And so the point is to go back to unite all of humanity as accepting Hashem's rule in the world. And that's what the day is about. >> Beautiful. And and and I guess h how can we make the rashana how do we make it personable meaning like talking about lives everyone's always thinking like if you look up on Google like one of the top let's say 10 things people are saying what is the everyone's looking for happiness but really looking for the purpose what's the meaning of even in their own life maybe not even general but how can they how can you have the laser on your own >> right so I think the way to approach that is when it comes to yum kipur we are thinking about every detail of our lives very complicated there's only one thing. That's your agenda. What are you here for? And what you're here for is to be a good person. That means to represent Hashem in the world. People should look at you and realize that there's a God. It couldn't be simpler. It's only one simple agenda. And that's why we spend the whole day saying, "Hashem, you're king." To take it a bit further, the Gamar says you can offer Hashem a bribe on offer a bribe. >> How do you do it? With a chauffar. But how do you do the bribe? You say, "Hashem, you don't need me to make the sunshine. You don't need me to make the rainfall. But there's one thing you need me for. There's no king without a nation. Let's talk business. In other words, you need us to represent you using our free will. You can't force us into that. Right? If you force us into honoring you, it's not honor at all. I put a gun to your head and say say I'm a great guy don't mean anything. So [snorts] we use we can use our free will to declare that Hashem is king of the world. to be a good person which means to reflect spiritual values and rash is only for that and therefore we don't ask for anything you look at all the onash all they talk about is hashem being king remembering that and blowing the sha you're not asking for money and for you would think that the people say I want I want I want I want some more parasa maybe like >> right so the time to do that is now and the time to do it again is after but the day of let me put it to you this way. If you have 5 minutes to speak to your boss every year, you stand in front of a desk and ask for whatever you want. If you spend those 5 minutes negotiating with your boss for a better salary or a bigger expense account or a better company car, you're making a bad mistake. There's only one thing to discuss in those five minutes. Do you have a job next year? Once you get your job clear, then you can spend 10 days hanging heranging your boss about salaries and company costs. But you look like an idiot talking about that if you don't have a job. >> Yeah. And therefore is for one thing only. Hashem, you're the greatest CEO. This is the greatest company in the universe. You need us. That's the only thing to establish. You know, the Mishna says a person is like a tree. A tree can be planted in good soil, but it [snorts] might have some branches hanging into bad space or it might be planted in bad soil and have some branches hanging into good space. What does it mean? When the branches are cut off and pruned, then you see exactly what it is. This is why some good people could suffer in life. They're being paid out for their bad deeds so that they are clarified as purely good in the next world. This is why some bad people could have a very good life. Hashem is paying them out for their mitzvah. He has to pay them for their for their mitzvot getting paid in this world. So that the branches are pruned and they left as purely what they are. The question of the branches, this branch and that branch, that'll be decided on your rash is only for where your trees planted. That's all. You know the Rambam says my says that inash you should see yourself as a person who's on the knife edge of 50% mitzvot 50% exactly 50/50 and therefore you have to do ch you have to bend yourself and lean yourself over into the good side. And the question is, is it possible that anyone is 50.00? How unlikely is that? What he means is most people never move from where they born. How are you born? You're not born good or bad. You're born neutral. You're born talented, bright, smart, you're rich, but you're not born good or bad. That's up to you. And most people on Earth have never made a policy decision what they're here for. I can assure you most people on Earth have never decided that they want to be evil. Even the worst people on earth, they've not made a policy decision. They've got it to and through various ways. And unfortunately, most people have never decided that they're here to be good. Even very religious people. How many people have made a decision? I'm here to be a good person. I'm here to represent Hashem. That's tragic. That's tragic that people haven't done that. Rasham is only for making that decision. The reason we don't do vidui, confession, cha details, is not looking at that. He's looking where the trees planted. It's a day of origin on a day. It's the moment when the genes of the parents fuse in conception. At that moment, the whole future of the child is laid down. And therefore, the work of Rashashana is to define what you're here for. You know, Rabbi would say that in any aspect of life, the most important thing is always to go to the root. In science, we're looking for the rules. Grand unifying theories. I'm a doctor. You're looking for the diagnosis, not for the detail of the problem with the finger and the problem with the eye. You want to know the underlying diagnosis? When you're dealing with a human problem in a family, what's the problem? Where is the put your finger on the essence? When you're studying Torah, what's the essence here? What's the point that explains everything else philosophically? When you're analyzing a situation, what's the one thing that makes everything else move? If you don't think that way, you're a disorganized thinker. And therefore, unfortunately, we do that when it comes to business. You sit in the boardroom, they have that chart with you know the revenues and deeply analytical. But when it comes to your life, most people wake up every day hoping today won't be worse than yesterday. That's tragic. In your business, you're analytical. When it comes to your your working out, you're analytical how you're working, right? When it comes to your marriage and raising your children and your life, how many people make decisions? >> Yeah. >> Rash is only for the root decision of what I'm here for. >> Okay? >> And and let me say one thing if I may. If you want money and all the good things in life, there's no better way to get them that that tell when you say to the the boss of your company that you're here for the company, he's going to give you all the expenses you need. Why wouldn't he? If you're using the money that he gives you to bring in deals for the company, you're using it. But it's better than telling you you need money. Just telling him that show him that you're here for the company's interest. Of course, you'll enjoy it as well. That's fine. And of course, he's going to give you all that you need. And therefore, not necessary to ask for the details of it. So, and so of course we're we're we're approaching Rashana and there's some people they have that that fresh inspiration like I fine I got a new start. Some people are like I made maybe they made a commitment on January 1. Maybe they're making it this year. They made it 20 years ago. Like they're like why should I even try again? I already I I hit the roadblock. I there what are some practical steps that we that that the people can have a a new action plan but not just new plan but a new plan that hopefully could be successful >> very important question the main thing to remember is that Roshashana is a new creation no matter how unsuccessful one has been in the past it's irrelevant the year the world is given life one year at a time what happened on the original rashashana Hashem decided whether to create the human being or not that's all he decided every rash decides are you worth being created and therefore people need to know no matter how unsuccessful they've been in the past you can start again if you fail again this year you'd have to make amends for that you have a process of cha which hopefully we'll talk about tonight in the atak but um the main thing to remember is no matter what the past has has caused one can literally start again that's miraculous and therefore the the main thing is not to lose hope most of us have made the same mistakes time and again but the power of opport you can go back to the point of origash as a rocket powered opportunity to do that. >> Beautiful. The rabbi gave us so much a beautiful amazing insights today. Can can you leave us off with maybe just one one final anecdote message that that that that if we take upon ourselves as we're preparing for Rashana and maybe a mindset we could have on the actual day days of Rashana itself maybe. >> Well, I think the most important thing to tie this all together is probably understanding what the blowing of the chauffar means. You know the word chauffar means the chauffar. It also means beautiful. Shapir also means to improve develop the shaper and it also means the fluid the liquid that the baby's born from me shafir. In other words, the chauffeer takes you back to the original waters of creation. The world was formed in water and then it split to reveal dry land for the human being. The flood took the world back to water. It was then split again for a second generation of human beings. And the Jewish people were formed in an ocean that's split like a baby when the waters break in labor and the child is born. So the Jewish people are formed in the situation. The chauffeur takes you back to the original and that's why it has no words. There's no misunderstanding the meaning of a scream of a child in the night. And therefore the chauffeur is to take you back to the point of origin. Everyone should look in the mats for the 10 intentions you should go that should go through your mind when you're listening to the sha. Of course, the most important thing is to realize you're doing the mitzvah, right? On Shabbat, we don't blame the sha, but on the second day, we do. And the sha takes you back to that point of origin. When you hear that that call of the sha, first of all, it should terrify you. And the reason is when you're afraid, then you know what life means. When you're traveling at 30,000 ft above the Atlantic and you're thinking about your next um you know, French press coffee and suddenly the wings start flapping badly at that moment for my child. So when the chauffeur sounds and you hear the the the sound of life terror, it takes you back to your essence and you know what you have crowning of a king, the opening of the grave, the birth of a child, the giving of the Torah. These are all intentions in the [music] I think if you ask for one thought that's the mitzvah of today. Thank you very much for thank you so much for joining us. We wish everyone of all all the listeners of course should take all the amazing practical steps that the rabbi just inspired and enlightened us with and wish everyone a sweet happy new year >> and above all everyone should be haz. >> Amen.