Rabbi Benzion Shafier | Shiva Asar B'Tamuz Shmuz: Hashem Loves Us | CHAZAQ

we're told over and over in the Kish that we're the amula the special Nation hashem's chosen Nation Hashem loves us as children and sometimes the question is okay how come I don't feel it if Hashem loves me so much why don't I feel that love and I think if we'll play attention to a story inish I think we'll see a very interesting illustration that answers this concept in a very deep way suim tell us that bolock was very much afraid that the cl were going to kill him they had just won miraculously against s and he realized that he would not be able to withstand the onslaught of the Jewish people so he sent Messengers to billum billum was a prophet billum had the ability to curse and so bollock sent Messengers to billum please curse this nation billum tells these Messengers I can't do anything that Hashem does not approve of and that night he said wait Hashem visited me at night I'll answer you tomorrow morning that night hasm comes to visit him and billum says may I curse this nation the nation you took out of je out of Egypt may I curse them may I kill them Shem says no absolutely not and the next morning billum says to The Messengers of bolock can't no no deal Shem said no so in fact the messenges go back and B sends another group more esteemed more noble and again the same scene plays out will you curse this nation billum says I can't do anything that Hashem doesn't allow me to that night has again comes to visit him and again billum Ask may I curse this nation and Hashem says yes if it's for your benefit if you're going to make money on the deal you can but under one condition you only say exactly what I tell you to say the next day billum gets up hitches up his donkey himself and sets off to curse the Jewish Nation Hashem was Furious billum understood that Hashem obviously didn't want him cursing the Jewish nation and nevertheless he went on the way and then we have the entire event with Bam's donkey at a certain point a Malik appears along the way and billum doesn't see the Malik but the donkey does and the donkey is filled with Dread with fear runs off the road to the side billum hits the donkey back onto the road donkey continue on his way they get to a place with the two walls and at a certain point the Malik appears and the the donkey moves to the side squishing Bam's leg against the whe wall billum again beats the donkey they continue along the way and finally the stands right in front of the donkey and the donkey sits down and won't move B beats a donkey beats a donkey beats a donkey and finally Hashem opened up the mouth of the donkey and the donkey said to Bam why have you hit me these three times why are you doing this billum says what if I had a sword I'd kill you and back and forth ensues finding the Malik appears to billum and it says to billum it's you who should have been killed and billum realizes he's in trouble he then Contin continues on his way despite the warning continues and he meets up with bollock and he says I can only curse them if I'm allowed to let's build seven separate M seven separate altars on each altar he sacrifices seven animals and each time he does it he attempts to curse the Jewish nation and each time instead of cursing out of his mouth comes bras and finally bollock system I hired you to curse and you give them bras what good are you so billum says okay you're right I didn't succeed in cursing but let me explain to you their God hates iniquity if you'd like to defeat them what you should do is have the benos moav the daughters of moav let them seduce the Jewish men and then you'll win against them that's in fact what happened bollock convinced the elders to tell the women to be promiscuous and they seduced the Jewish men 24,000 men died and it was a m almost a civil war Pinas realized what happened because Zim when head of the shave brought one of these women into the encampment Pinas stands up takes the romach takes the spear and kills the two of them and the Maga sto but 24,000 Jewish men died in that plague now it doesn't take a rocket scientists to realize that billum is a Russia the mission off us four times in one mission calls him billum har Russia but in fact if You' like to know what a Russia he was let's focus on a point that Rashi makes why in the world world would Hashem give naua prophecy to a guy Russia to a wicked Gentile the rambam explains so prophecy is something that a person works very hard on for years and years maybe decades perfects himself grows accomplishes he then Studies by an actual Novi and if he reaches an incredibly high level of spirituality he merits Hashem speaking directly to him but that wasn't billum and Rashi says there's only one reason why hasem appeared to billum the um the nations would have a complaint of course the Jewish people became great because you sent them prophets they showed them right way had you sent us prophets we too would have gone the right way so hasem says let's see if that's true hasem sends them prophets and instead of billum leading them correctly he leads them to iniquity he leads them to the BOS Mo seducing the Jewish men and in fact he brought them to a much lower level than they had been at first but the point is there was nothing about billum that merited prophecy nothing about him as an individual that he did he was a wicked individual if You' like to appreciate how Wicked he was let's focus on the first conversation he has with Hashem he says to Hashem you know your chosen Nation the one that you took Adam the one you love may I kill them but he asked permission to kill the man woman and child Bullock sent the messengers with only one request curse the Jewish Nation so that I could win against them in battle and I'll kick them out of my land that wasn't what bam asked for he asked so much more let me curse them to annihilate them the entire nation man woman and child make them dead but it wasn't just that he wanted to make them dead Rashi makes an interesting observation billum was a very wealthy man a very prestigious individual and yet the PK tells us that when he sets out to curse the Jewish Nation he Saddles his donkey himself why did he do that says Rashi hatred blinds a person he did something appropriate he hitched up the donkey himself why because he so filled with hatred he wanted to curse him with such energy that he did something that's inappropriate let's go he couldn't wait for his saddle boy to saddle up the donkey he did it himself because C mellis is Aur that's how much he hated the Jewish Nation now with that as an observation clearly we're dealing with a wicked individual clearly not someone meritorious and surely not someone that Hashem would care for in any real sense yet Rashi tells us this Mal that appeared in front of the donkey was a Mal how does Rashi know that because look what the Malik did the Mal didn't really try to stop billum the Malik tried to prevent him says Rashi from sinning so he shouldn't be lost because the Mal tried three times to get billum to realize finally speaking to Bam the Mal was a Mal of Mercy that Hashem sent because maybe B will do chuva so that he won't be lost and that should be rather perplexing whym care there's a Russia who turns so wicked that he wants to destroy the Jewish Nation hasem wants to bring it back in chuva but even worse than that the on theem opened up the mouth of the donkey says whym bring such a miracle an animal speaking is a miracle equivalent to D to the we says one was one reason because maybe billum would learn the lesson a donkey that can't speak Hashem can give it the ability to speak so clearly Hashem can take that away as well by recognizing that b would recognize hashem's dominion and he would do chuva that way he wouldn't be lost now that Sno is rather perplexing why in the world would Hashem bring a miracle an overt obvious miracle for a wicked Gentile who's turning to kill the Jewish Nation we're dealing with we're dealing with a sinir we're dealing with a Hitler dealing with a man who makes wants to make the entire nation dead why would hasem have mercy send the Malik of Mercy bring a miracle to tr him we don't want to lose him this Rashi sounds very difficult to understand and the surna sounds even more difficult to understand and to answer this question i' like to focus on something that we typically make a mistake about I believe maybe the biggest theological mistake that many many people make is they misread a PK Andes the PK says Hashem created man in God's image unfortunately people seem to misread that and what they do is they create God in man's image you see instead of understanding that God is infinite beyond all human characteristics beyond all human attributes they take human attributes human limitations and apply it to God and they create an image of Hashem okay a little bit smarter than the average person a little bit better than the average but but still within the context of a human being and when you take human limitations human flaws human frailties and apply it to Hashem you create such a scooted version of our creator that you end up with rather perplexing versions of What Hashem wants from us what life is about and ultimately hashem's relationship with us and to sort of debunk this myth let's begin with one observation what is hashem's IQ right I think it's a fair question right what is aem's intelligent quoti how smart is Hashem now imagine you have a very smart man has a 150 IQ a genius has 180 IQ now clearly Hashem is wiser than all of themm created everything from nothing so does Hashem have a 300 IQ 3,000 IQ 30,000 IQ what is hashem's IQ and the answer is the question is foolish any measure has a start point and a finish any measure is is a scale that has a beginning and has an end any measure does not apply to Hashem Hashem is Limitless boundless beyond all human understanding certainly Beyond any human limitation if you'd like to understand the wisdom of Hashem the knowledge of Hashem everything in creation Hashem brought forth and is maintained by Hashem every moment in existence but Hashem is everywhere at the same time everyone thinks in the platform of God you imagine a super computer we're just thinking we're plugging into the platform of hem because everything that exists exists within hashem's world that Hashem keeps in existence and if you like an illustration of the intelligence of Hashem let me make it very clear imagine I give you a challenge I want you to take two discrete thoughts and think them at the same time think two separate thoughts think them out at the same time now if you have ADD you'll note that that's pretty difficult to do because we human beings are poor at concentrating on one concept surely not two at the same time but here's the observation what is doing is a conversation between me and Hashem I'm speaking to Hashem Hashem listens understands where I'm at maybe he will grant that F maybe he won't he takes into account many many different things where I'm coming from where I'm at how this thing that I'm requesting will affect myself others Etc and hasm either will grant it or won't Grant it but often time when I'm ding I'm ding next to another person and if I'm ding in a large enough minion there might be 200 people that means as I'm speaking to Hashem and Hashem is listening the person next to me is speaking to hasm hasm is listening but as I have my request he has his request and as I have many intricate balances many people that if this request is granted will be affected so too does he but he and I are not the other only people in the room there are 200 people in the room and Hashem listens to 200 conversations at the same time weighing measuring calibrating whether they should Grant it or shouldn't Grant it where is each person at what this will affect in terms of others but here's the observation it's not 200 people at the same time if it's a r morning morning there's a Sho in every city but if you live in M New York there probably 450 shs but m is not the only city in the world there's New York there's Brooklyn there's Queens there's jerus there's Tel AV there's cities throughout the world you're talking about millions of people all speaking to Hashem at the same moment Hashem thinking it through hearing it weighing it measuring and deciding but really it's much deeper than that on this globe occupied by some 7.8 billion people Hashem is the Creator maintainer and orchestrator of all grant that Hashem intercedes in a greater extent to the Jewish Nation than he does with the Gentiles but everything's interwoven everything's intertwined and that means hasem is conscious present in 7.8 billion people's lives at the same moment at the same time here in Tokyo Singapore and Canada wherever it may be Hashem is there and if you realize that what you quickly realize is Hashem is not a little bit smarter than us sh not a lot smarter than us it's beyond human capacity to even understand relate to in any way the wisdom of our creator and if you study any feature in this creation study a human eye study a cell study the blood system circulatory system you'll see the incredible capacity wisdom of our creator but the problem is we fail to do that and many times a person have questions onm hasm why me why you doing this you doing and somehow that person never thinks to realize maybe Hashem has a better understanding of what I need than I do and I think this is the first fallacy that people make the first manifestation of creating Hashem in man's images they take a human being and kind of extend it a little bit that's hashem's wisdom if human being is so smart AEM maybe even smarter but you so limit Hashem because you're taking human attributes and attributing it to Creator hasem is Limitless boundless Beyond any wisdom of a human being but I think this fallacy of making God in man's image carries another element that might be even worse and might be even more prevalent I'll share with you what that is I was once speaking to an out of town community and I mentioned there four levels of amuna and I spent some time on the third level the third level of amuna is knowing that Hashem knows my thoughts as I'm thinking them hasm knows exactly what I'm thinking as I'm thinking them I'm like that loose sight man in the laboratory you know you see in the science lab you'll see the man made of loose sight and inside you can see the pancreas the liver the stomach the heart that's me when I D Hashem peers into the essence of me understands where I'm coming from understands where I'm going and reads my thoughts hears my thoughts as I'm thinking them as a matter of fact the P we say at the end of every let the words of my mouth find favor in your eyes and the thoughts of my heart in front of you I don't have to speak out my words for God to hear them I'd speak them out for me to create the the power of doing but hem hears my thoughts as I'm thinking them Hashem knows my thoughts exactly as if I spoke them out and that's the third level of moon I spent some time in it and I went to the fourth and then I finished I concluded and people came over afterwards with questions and Etc and I noticed one woman was troubled really really troubled and she came over to me after and said this is terrible Hashem knows my thoughts Hashem knows what I'm thinking as I'm think this is terrible and she's very agitated and I didn't know what to make of it I didn't know certainly didn't know how to answer her and then her husband explained she was a balis Chua and she had grown up with an abusive father and the idea that someone is actually like in her world inner world knows her thoughts is so invasive that it troubled her greatly so I said to Madam I I hear the difficulty but I believe I could solve this problem I'm going to ask you three questions and when we answer these three questions I believe this concept will not trouble you anywhere near as much as it does now let me begin I said question number one is what did you do to make it worthy for Hashem to create you right what did you do that made it worthy to create you meaning before you were created what great deed did you do that Hashem said oh this person is so great I'm going to create them the answer is nothing because before you existed you didn't exist and that's exactly the point there's nothing that you did to make it worthy for Hashem to create you Hashem created you for one reason and one reason only because hashem's the mate of The Giver hasem wants to benefit others hasem wants to give and when you understand that concept you understand our relationship to Hashem Hashem did not create us because we're deservant and Hashem doesn't need anything from us Hashem only wants one thing one thing only our benefit our good hasm wants to share of his good with others and when I understand that there's nothing that Hashem lacks nothing that I could ever do for Hashem I could spend my entire lifetime I can't give Hashem anything because Hashem lacks nothing I begin then to understand my relationship with my Creator there's one single thread that runs throughout that relationship goodness giving kindliness there's only one reason why hasem created me put me on his planet and keeps me here because hasem wants to share of his good with me but that's the sole reason Reon nothing in it for God nothing to gain just the desire to give to be a benefactor to be a mative to others I said that was question number one what did you do to make it worthy for hasm to create you question number two is a little bit more troubling question number two is what can you do to make Hashem angry right let's imagine you say that's it God I'm going to get back at you and you decide you're really going to do something to make God angry with you what could you do to make Hashem angry with you I said Madam I'd like to share with you the answer the answer is nothing there's nothing you could do that could ever make Hashem angry why people on the same level can anger one another if I do something bad to you and you're frustrated or angry and really anger typically is a lack of control a lack of there's nothing that Hashem doesn't control but even more than that if you understand that planet Earth is amongst aund 100 billion stars as bright as our sun or more in a local milkway Galaxy our milkway galaxy is one of a 100 billion galaxies amongst the 13 billion light years of ever expanding space and all of it is occupied by Hashem hasem is called the mck the place because hem is everywhere if there's anything that exists it only exists because Hashem keeps it in existence and that means that Hashem occupies every single particle of physicality throughout the 13 billion light years of ever expanding space so imagine that I decide to get hashm angry hasem searches oh let me find that oh there's the Galaxy Milky Way oh yeah yeah I see it oh and there's oh yeah and the planet earth oh yeah there's planet Earth and there's 7.8 billion people oh there's Schaefer oh you want we're not on the same level with Hashem to get Hashem angry we're not combatants it's imagine you have an infantry child 6 days old and the child scratches oh I'm angry with you you bad infant you can't get angry with an infant you're not there's no no not on the same level not in the same world does Hashem Care About Us absolutely for one reason because hasem is a mative hasem is the giver but Hashem can't get angry with us number one it's so absurd it puts importance to human being well beyond anything human being will ever have but more than that anger is a limitation anger is a limit that a human human being reaches and then he steps over that line there are no limits to Hashem Hashem doesn't get angry Hashem doesn't get jealous and Hashem doesn't wreak Vengeance when the Kish describes that Hashem acts with anger it's what the Bal explained Hashem wears mid a little bit what we call kasim sometimes you have a little child you have to act angry you want to hold back to laughter because the child's so cute but you have to act angry for the good of the child Hashem Acts with midm acts with anger punishes us but not to wreak Vengeance not to get back for one reason or one reason only for our benefit for our good and any punishment in the Torah is a kapar is an atonement good for the person receiving it done with loving kindness much like a person might take his child to the doctor and the doctor may have to do an operation an operation may cause a child a lot of pain but certainly the father doesn't hate the child the opposite it's at a love for the child concern for the child that the father spends money and all efforts to help the child that's our relationship to AEM there's nothing you could do to get Hashem angry but I said question number three is another interesting question question number three is how much patience does Hashem have right some people have a lot of patience some people have a little patience I was a high school Reby for 15 years High School boys that job requires an awful lot of patience how much p patience does hasem have and the answer again is the scale of measure does not apply to our creator it's a human limitation a human Frailty you can push my buttons just so far push me push me and then I lose patience and I flip I go into my anger mode or whatever it may be but that doesn't apply to Hashem Hashem may act with these MOS that hasm doesn't lose patience and once you understand these three points you'll understand our relationship will create a much different ly than most people do number one there's nothing in it for Hashem only wants our good he created us for one reason not because we're great or good or bad or indifferent Hashem created us just to give and all that Hashem wants in this whole world is to be a mative to be a giver Hashem doesn't get angry Hashem will act that way sometimes because it's for our benefit but there's no such concept of hasem really being angry and number three Hashem doesn't lose patience it's not like oh after what you've done after what you've gone through I will absolutely I can't forgive those Concepts don't apply to Hashem I said to this woman when you understand this she'll be a lot more comfortable with hasem being present in your life and my friends I believe that is exactly the answer to Bam a go Russia Wicked Gentile who turns to destroy the Jewish Nation he didn't do it yet and Hashem says maybe I could save him he shouldn't be lost Hashem sends a Mal him try to convince him try to CH try to stop him finally the Mal doesn't succeed but ISM opens up the mouth of the donkey why because maybe maybe we could save this billum B you want him dead he's sinir he's Hitler answerers he didn't do that yet he's not there maybe we could stop him maybe he could do Chua and I believe this Sno and Rashi are incredibly powerful insights into our relationship with our creator because even a a wicked Gentile Hashem wants one thing to help to do benefit not to have to punish not to have to certainly not to have to destroy completely and totally which is what the end of billum is four hotos four people have no in the world to come one of them is billum but the point is I'm not a go and I'm not a rusher okay I'm sure there many things I do that I shouldn't do I'm sure many things I could do and I okay you're right that's true but I promise you in my entire life I never once dreamt about killing an entire nation I don't even think I dreamt about killing a person and I certainly didn't do what billum does and yet Hashem waited for Bam's chuva Hashem did various things to allow B to do Chua and how much more so we abob the Jewish people hashem's chosen Nation hashem's Beloved okay I'm not living up to what I should be I'm not the great sadic maybe I could have been but at the end of the day I'm a Jewish person who's trying trying sincerely and I can turn to my Creator and say Hashem please help how can I turn to hasm after what I've done after what I've seen the answer is Hashem doesn't lose patience doesn't get angry and more than anything is only one thing Hashem wants for us to grow to accomplish to change so that for eternity we can enjoy the good and I believe this has a number of applications that are very very important one simply understanding our relationship with our creator but secondly in understanding something I think that troubles a lot of people here's a simple observation I guarantee you are not living up to 85% of Your Capacity I guarantee it how do I guarantee it because the only people who got above that were people on the caliber the ilk of moshu Ari but the vast majority of people don't come anywhere near living up to their capacity so that means I'm a failure I'm a loser the answer is if we understood the greatness of human being who understood how much Hashem gives us the capacity to accomplish we'd realize that if we're hitting 65% That's mighty impressive and mighty good are there people who did greater yeah there were such people there was Shi there was mosu there was Arin but we're not them and how if we're at 65% of our capacity were doing very very well and you may say to me say how could I live with myself 65% of my capacity I'm a loser maybe even 50% I'm I'm I'm a worthless bum I'm a creep and more than that what's my going to look like if I'm only at 50% of my capacity that means 50% is left over my goodness what's what's my world to come I'm an absolute worthless creep and i' like to share with you a mush to help clarify things a little bit imagine that you have a successful business and you work hard at it and build it and build it and build it for 20 years and it grows and grows and grows and finally you get the offer a multinational conglomerate wants to buy out your business for [Music] $250 million whoa you gladly sit down to the table you bring your lawyers you sign and you get the deposit in your bank for $250 million and you start living the life you've always dreamt of very nice within two years you realize that had you waited another two years you wouldn't have got 250 million you've could have gotten $400 million for your business 100 50 million I blew I'm such a loser I'm such a it's true but most of us somehow could e it buy with 250 million it's true I could have had more it's true 150 million is a lot of money but 250 million ain't too bad and that's the understanding that I have to get comfortable with it is true I'm not living up to my capacity maybe I'm at 60% 65% Hali hopefully it should be I'm leaving over a lot okay I'm going to try more I'm going to work more but I also have to get comfortable with that simple reality that I'm going to leave a lot on the table but it's okay as long as I'm really growing I'm really learning I'm doming I'm working on my mid I'm really doing that I'm really doing what I should be doing in this life it's okay because I'm racking it up maybe not 400 million but 250 million ain't bad and that understanding helps me relate to my Creator in a much greater way because you see often time we may feel so inadequate so how could I approach Hashem I'm living up to 50% of my I'm like I'm living half of my I'm living half what I could be doing I'm I could be somebody I could be somebody great I can know sh I could be a b of incredible proportions I could have fabulous and I don't how could I even D to hm how could forgive me for what I've done with this opportunity called life and that's when I have to stop and say wait a minute let me stop putting human traits on God let me stop limiting AEM to the way human beings feel the way human beings think all Hashem wants is our good all Hashem wants is our growth and all Hashem wants is for us to reach out and ask for help ask for more and more and more help because ultimately that's what helps us grow more than anything and ultimately that's what hasem wants and again I believe these concepts are very important because we often don't think about them we often don't realize to what extent they happen and they often stop us from really reaching our potential but I think there's a whole other area that these Concepts apply to to the explains to us the essence of are two fundamental concepts the first is pretty easy to attain the second is very very difficult the first concept that a Jew has to have clearly embedded in their Essence is the understanding that Hashem loves me more than I love me as much as I want my betterment as much as I want everything good for me as much as I'm concerned for my good as much as I love me Hashem loves me even more and that concept well it may be lofty is not that difficult to really attain I'll give you a simple exercise watch the mother of a newborn baby with that child the mother will go sleepless nights for the child mother does anything for the child likely the mother would give her life for the child now here's the question what great deed did the baby do that the mother says oh great baby after what you've done for me I'll give up my life the answer is nothing so why does a mother feel that way the answer is because Hashem implanted a maternal Instinct into the mother a giving nature a desire to give a love concern for the baby but that was implanted in her by our creator says any love that you experience comes from Hashem and you have to realize that if you take that unbal love as much as a mother could love a child multiply by 10,000 10,000 10,000 times it doesn't equal a splinter of the unlimited love that Hashem has for any one of his Creations not MOS not AR any one of his Creations a wicked Gentile even proof being B the point is we take human limitations and we assume Shem can't really love me Shem can't really be concerned to me cuz look human beings don't really care that much about me how much other people really care about me and obviously hashem's a little bit more compassionate but you can't assume hashem's like Limitless love and again we apply human limits to Hashem and we falsify we create a false deity we create I want to say I don't want to sayar we create an image of Hashem that's completely utterly false that has no connection to Hashem because any human limit that we place on Hashem is exactly that false it's not applicable doesn't apply and nothing that I do gets Hashem angry hashm doesn't lose patience with me Hashem doesn't say I'm fed up he's living up to 50 25% of his capacity throw him out human beings have those flaws human beings have those limits but that's not the creator of the heavens and the Earth and if we stop applying human fallacies human flaws to God we have a much better understanding of Hashem much better understanding of our relationship with Hashem and how much we could rely on AEM and that's the first concept that a person have to trust AEM to be hm loves me more than I love me but it's a second concept that explains to us that I believe gives us a lot more trouble the second concept is as much as I want my good Hashem wants it even more that is not so hard to understand but the second concept is that Hashem knows better than I what's for my best the second concept is as much as I know what's good for for me Hashem knows even better as much as I clearly see this is what I need Hashem has a much clearer version as much as I think this is the best thing in the world for me Hashem may have an understanding vastly different than my own as much as I understand what's for my best Hashem knows even better than I what's for my best and this concept gives us trouble all the time because I've said this before but it Bears repeating the problem is we play God playing God means I know what I need I need to marry this woman I need to get this job I need to get my kid into this class and I try and I try and it doesn't go Hashem what's the deal I broke her a deal with I learn daom I give more I work on my me I don't get itm I need this it's so important what's the deal angry me why are you doing this to me where are you and the thought that maybe this which I think is so good for me isn't good for me at all never seems to cross my conscious mind how many times do you hear a guy had to to marry that woman and he doesn't marry that woman she marries somebody else and 5 years later he hears the word mentally unstable is an under statement to describe her condition I have to get that job he doesn't get that job three years later he finds out the entire industry is shipped over to India I have to get my kid into that class and he tries and he tries and it doesn't go and six months later he finds out there's another child in his in that class who would have been the worst possible influence on his child understanding that Hashem knows better than I what's my best is understanding my relationship with Hashem Hashem is the master and I am the servant Hashem is the Creator and I am the creation many times what we do is we have our version of what's supposed to be and we expect hhm to play along Hashem I've written the plot I know it's supposed to go please follow along as if I'm the Creator and Hashem is the creation I the master and hashem's the servant to follow my bidding the only problem with that is it's completely backwards I really don't know how many times do we hotly pursue something and it turns out to be bad for us how many times do we try to run away from something somehow it happens anyway and it turns out to be the best thing in the world for us understanding that as much as I know what's best for me hasem knows even better allows me to be no a to act in this world as an intelligent functional person my job is to do my St I'm supposed to use my mind I'm supposed to use energy and vigor I'm supposed to pursue the ways of the Earth the ways of the world but once I've done that and the door shut and it shuts and it shuts again IO say okay I get it as you don't want this to happen maybe because that which I think is so good for me Isn't for my best and that's what I'm supposed to understand as much as I know what's good for me Hashem knows even better but you see these two concepts that Hashem loves me more than I love me and Hashem knows better than I what's for my best is the underpinings of all of our all of our trust in hem once I firmly have this in inside me of course I don't bulk of course I don't get upset of course I get it you know better than I you love me more than I love me you know better than I what's my best you're bringing me along the path and I fully trust with the commity with joy in my heart I follow the path and again if I stop putting human limitations on God stop taking human attributes and attributing it to Hashem it's a lot easier to do that but I think there's one more step that we need to focus on one more step to fully understand why is it that we don't feel the love of Hashem we don't feel that showering of BR we don't have joy in our heart of Hashem deeply deeply being concerned for one thing our benefit and to understand this I'll share with you an interesting conversation I had our is a 12-minute walk from my home and when it was operating we had many many B would come over many fellows would go through we have them over for shabas guests had many many interesting conversations at the shabas table one young fellow who was on the way to becoming a BAL Chua wasn't there yet at the shabas table he said Rabbi I've asked everyone I know this question I asked my professors I asked my uncles I asked my any intelligent man I can find I asked him this question and I cannot find an answer to this question Rabbi maybe you can answer this question so I don't know let me hear what the question is maybe I can maybe I can't I don't know he said the question is why have kids why have kids not why I have kids because I want to enjoy this world I want a party why should I waste my time and resources on kids uhuh why have kids when the world is so filled with pain and ugliness why do that to an innocent Soul why take an innocent baby and bring them into such an ugly pain-filled world why do it because I want a kid because I want for selfish motives I should have a child why should I do that to the child and I said young man that's an interesting question and I have two answers to the question the wrong answer and the right answer which would you prefer well he's Jewish so he said I'll take both I said okay fine I'll tell you both let me tell you the wrong answer first the wrong answer is you're right life is really ugly it's tough it's rough but if you knew what the world to come is worth you know how great it is to be close to Hashem there it's worth suffering an entire lifetime entire lifetime of deprivation of pain it's so worth it because if you saw the end game you'd see it's well worth it I said to him that's a 100 % true but that's the wrong answer to this question the correct answer to the question is if you live a life of meaning and purpose life is beautiful if you understand why you're here life is filled with happiness joy and inner satisfaction are there rough moments there sure are are there pains yeah there are there stomach AE and toothaches and there's heartache and there's all kinds of troubles but life itself is beautiful but you see what's lacking in this generation is an understanding of why we're here if you live a pointless meaning life whether it be that act to gain as much money as you can or honor or wealth or pleasure whatever may be you're living a life that's not in sync with you Hashem created you for a purpose to grow and accomplish when you live your life for that purpose there's an Inner Harmony and inner Joy the world sings out with joy you wake up in the morning and say wow let's go does that mean every moment of life is pleasure no there will be hardships and pains but there's an inner satisfaction inner Joy but when you don't know why you're here when you're living life in a meaningless purposeless way why do it it's so ugly there's so much pain but more than there's no meaning to life there's no purpose and you say things like why bring kids into the world but once you understand why you were here and you live your life that way there's an inner Joy you see the beauty of this world yes it's true we living here for the world to come that's why hasem created us and it's worth it even going through a life of deprivation and pain but that's not the world we live in the world we live in has some pain but it's beautiful it's joyfill but that's based on one thing you're understanding why you're living understanding why you're here and if people say Hashem doesn't love me I don't feel hashem's love the first question I ask is how much aligned with your life purpose are you how much are you living a life the way you Creator wanted you to do are you living with Mission you living with purpose are you living to serve your creator are you really growing are really accomplishing CU I've yet to meet a person who's really growing and accomplishing who doesn't have that inner joy and I'll tell you something even more interesting if you watch any of theim in Rafa now watch any of the Kim in Gaza they're fighting for their lives it's an existential battle for Israel and these soldiers understand the D danger they have many friends who are killed or injured and they recognize the danger yet you see the joy it's incredible when you talk to them when you see when you the joy that they experience is incredible why because they're living for a purpose their mission is to save the Jewish nation and when you live with a purpose there's a joy there's an inner satisfaction there's an inner happiness okay we're not all on the front line that's not our job but our job is to live exactly the way our creator wants us to with Mission with purpose with drive with an understanding and when you do that there's an inner Joy does Hashem love us to a boundless Limitless sense absolutely Ely listen to what Rashi says that Hashem looked at BAM and said yes he wanted to curse my beloved Nation yes he wanted to kill man woman child he hasn't done it yet maybe he could still do send a Russ he was given a gift to and he uses it for doesn't matter he hasn't done it yet maybe I could bring him back and not only that he doesn't listen to the surely now hasm should lose patience uhuh but opens the mouth of the donkey maybe we can get him to do Chu he hasn't stepped over that red line yet he hasn't really engaged in cursing maybe we could stop him and Hashem brings a miracle without proportions how much more so for us the Jewish nation and we try to serve AEM we're not R him again I'm not a great sadic but I'm certainly not a Russia and I certainly don't try to kill dozens of millions of people that's not my life but even more than that I'm been abob how much more Waits my much wants my why is it that I don't feel the love of hem so for for a number of reasons the first reason is because we take human limits and apply it to God we create man we have an image of man and we create God in that image the problem is we got it backwards when you understand the wisdom of our creator hashem's IQ is not limited there's no number there's no number to hashem's wisdom and understanding because hashem's wisdom understanding knowledge is Limitless and it means in plain simple language hasm isn't a little bit smarter than me not even a lot smarter than me not even wow much much smart than me there's no scale of comparison between human understanding and God's understanding and once I get that I can then then take the next step I can recognize that hem isn't limited to any human flaw Shem doesn't get angry hasem doesn't lose patience and more than anything Hashem doesn't need or want anything and finally says I've had enough I want it and want it and want I need it for you and you didn't do it for me I'm angry with you Hashem created us for one reason to give to us hasem needs nothing all Hashem wants is our benefit for us to grow and accomplish hasem Waits and waits and waits and Hashem Will Wait even for B Russia until the last moment how much more so us we don't experience the love we don't feel it the first problem is likely we take the image of man and place it on God we have to stop doing that and the next part we have to live life with Purpose with meaning you have to grow you have to accomplish you have to be learning you have to be dominant you have to work on auna you have to work on your mid when you live that kind of life there's an inner Joy there's a happiness and I want to close with one last observation we laugh at BAM harha his donkey stops and he doesn't get the message his donkey squishes his leg against the wall doesn't get the message his donkey sits down and beats the donkey finally opens the donkey's mouth and the donkey says billum why have you done this to me three times to hit me why' I do to you if I had a sword I'd stab you billum stop billum it's your donkey your donkey is talking to you maybe something's going on here we laugh he's comical he has a conversation a debate with a donkey until the Mal appears and says it was me was doing it oh he sounds like a clown and while it is comical I'd like to share with you I think many times we do just about the same Hashem sends signs Hashem says messenges hasem sends various various shim to allow us to come back to change our ways to grow to accomplish and we don't pay attention we get angry atmm why did you do this to me I broke my leg and this failed and this failed hm why why are you doing this to me we get angry and we're a little bit like billum instead of getting the message instead of listening to our loving God who wants nothing but our benefit get angry with God and we turn against him and like Bill we start beating the donkey we start arguing with our situation in life and the understanding that Hashem only wants our benefit and many many times Hashem will send signs messages various ways of getting us back on the path is something the person has to be attuned to you have to open your ears open your eyes understand the unlimited love hashm has for us and look for Hashem guiding you when you do that you live a life of purpose there's an inner joy in your heart there's happiness you accomplish your mission in this world and you gain the world to come