Deep Dive with Rabbi Feldheim May 29th 2024

okay so thank you so much everyone for joining us for our special Zoom deep dive program for Shavuot um we have rabit feldheim joining us he is a renowned International thinker and lecturer who specializes in Jewish thought and philosophy he travels to major universities and Jewish communities to present religious ideas to secular audiences he has spoken for us many times at project Inspire and E programs and he is also the rabbi at the aler in Bay Harbor Florida so thank you so much RBI F time for joining us it's great to be here it's great to be here am I clear it's all good so I'm not so go with the technology okay so so we're on right we we we're on schedule I have 15 minutes we're not starting late it's uh I'm good you are good to go okay okay very good okay welcome everybody it's um it's good to be here with everyone okay so um so we're going to talk twice once before the workshop all the the papers and the workshop and once after so the first time I'll give you the second time I'll speak about what you're studying the first time I'll just give you a really cool thing to think about for sh the the um I like to put things in context like where does the Torah fit in in the context of all the other observances and aspects to Jewish observance so we have Torah study we have serving Hashem prayers offerings Mitzvah so a good place to always do that is to look at the mishkan the Tabernacle in the desert the mishkon is sort of like a microcosm and there are different pieces of furniture in there there's different elements in in the way you serve Hashem so each one of them represents a different relationship to Hashem and uh so I wanted to start off talking about this's an in the mishkan is the altar with they brought all the sacrifices and if you if you can picture it it was very tall and it had a ramp that went up long ramp and the Cain would go up on the ramp and do the service and make the offerings on top of the the mishan on top of the Altar and the the Torah says the following law you may not climb onto your the altar by steers so that you your nakedness so that you won't be exposed to the to the altar the altar is Holy and you can't expose yourself on the Altar and therefore it can't have a steers it has to have a ramp so it's a little difficult to understand why um why there's any exposure you know the co the cohain wore he wore pants it wasn't wasn't like he he wore more a long me looked like a dress but it was there were pants underneath there was there's no exposure and why is walking upstairs different than walking up a ramp like how does that affect what the Torah is asking for that there should be no exposure uh what does that really mean so I want to explain it metaphorically and it the best way to explain it metaphorically would be that when when I used used to do a lot of trips with college students and to Israel and one of the highlights of every trip which to Israel is is msada you go to Mada and everyone climbs you go early in the morning before Sunrise because gets too hot it's in the desert and you you you you Davin on top at sunrise on top of Mada amazing experience and uh you know so takes it's a long time it's a it's it's a it's a very difficult climb and we we would all climb that's what we would do every trip and you at the end you get to the top everyone's sweaty everyone's worn out and tired but it's amazing experience to watch the sun rise from the top now there's always one kid in every group who when no one's looking he goes and he takes the the tram to the top the cable car you know and he gets to the top and he pours his canteen over his head so he looks all sweaty so no one will know that he cheated but you can always tell who the guy who cheated he's always what when you can tell when they get to the group picture at the group picture either he's the guy on the periphery like on the edge of the group the team picture who's like he doesn't feel comfortable being in the group because he didn't really climb so he's on the edge or more often than not he's the guy in the Middle with the most animated expression overcompensating for his guilt and acting like he was like the the greatest CL of the whole group so these are the different ways that people hide their their cheating so what what what I use that as a metaphor because the ideas as follows that when you are achieving things in life so you can get to where you want to get in life by climbing the mountain or you can get there by a cable car there there's different ways to get there it's the cable car is a jump you didn't really you didn't really get there a ramp is the idea that every single spot along the way you climbed the ramp hits every single it's the opposite of a jump the opposite of a cable car is a ramp because the ramp touches every single spot there is it's the opposite of cheating it's that every single thing in my life that I have I earned I paid in full I have a friend of mine of a very wealthy friend and he he he he told me he lost he was one of the richest Jews around he was he lost I think eight billion doar on a darvar Torah you told me he had a Torah thought that costed him a loss of many many billions of dollars he he he bought his first house on on a uh on a credit card he was in coell he needed to make a living for his family so he bought a small house in Trenton New Jersey in a that area and he bought it on the credit cards and then he sold it he made a little money to bought two of them then he bought a four family house and within a year he already bought his first $500,000 property and then he got up a year later a million dollar properties and they got up a $10 million properties and then he was doing $20 million properties and 10 years into it he bought his first $ hundred million property and then he bought few deals for 500 million and he was finally ready to do his first billion doll deal he was very excited he had slowly step by step progressed after he learned one level of deal and he was ready now to do the big deal and he want he was looking for a billion dollar deal and someone came to him a bank came to him with an8 billion doll deal a major chains of of hotels all over the U North North America and it was way out of his League he knew what he was ready for he was ready for a billion dollar but it was right before pass over right before pesak and he was appearing for the Seder and he was reading the verses and the Torah says that God skipped over the houses and he says you know my whole life I've been doing everything one step at a time but it seems like skipping is also a thing and there's such something called skipping and maybe I'm I'm supposed to jump sometimes God wants me to jump and I jumped and he lost everything he said I just got back to where I was this was 10 years later to where he was beforehand he said he lost all this money from AAR Torah this is the best way to understand when you grow organically one step at a time and you acquire each level you become an expert you live within your skills then then that's called climbing Life by a ramp you're doing it step by step when you jump and you you do things you take cable cars or you steal or you cheat or you lie or you fake so then when you stand at top of the mountain it's not really yours what the Torah is really saying is as follows is that the altar represents your service your calling and climbing the altar in the in the temple is just a metaphor it's it's a microcosm but it's the real Rabbi feldheim you're on mute that's my fault okay now I'm not now I'm good okay so let me go I don't know where you lost me when you climb when the Torah says that you're supposed to climb your Mountain climb the altar on a ramp what it means is the altar is just a metaphor for you it's a it's a really it's a real thing but it represents in the larger picture Our lives our service what my offering is to God my offering is my life and to your the your life your mission has to be achieved by a ramp do it for real if you earn everything along the way and you don't cheat you don't take shortcuts then you're never exposed You Have No Secrets nobody can say I caught you you didn't really climb when you do shortcuts and you cheat or you steal or you manipulate so then you're always exposed there skeletons in your closet where when you stand on top of your mountain and life at the end of your life you know that there are gaps it's not really your achievement this is the lesson of of of the altar the altar is that you have to earn everything in your life step by step no shortcuts the question is then two questions there are two elements in the mishkan that represent Torah the altar is is service is the sacrifices the Torah is the ark and the manur so the manora had stairs if you know how the temple looked there was a stair a few steps going up to the manura so if steps are if you have to climb your mountains using ramps so why was the manora allowed to have steps that's the question or better yet really um I think the the the arc The Arc is the ultimate cable car it says that the ark would carry those who carried it it it it lifted coing up you didn't carry it the people who were lucky enough to have the job when they traveled of carrying the ark they were carried they didn't carry the ark the ark carried them so okay so I I I I don't want to go too long so I'm I'm going to wrap this short thing up with the punchline the idea is as follows so let me just recap what I said I want to get make sure I got the question out there it it we the bulk of what I said is that life is supposed to be done through a ramp and this way when you stand on top of your Mountain your Mada or your altar you feel no shame you're unexposed you're totally real and this is why in life we don't you know definitely men we don't like to ask directions we're going to figure out ourselves if you ask me a riddle as long as it takes you're gonna you know two hours lat say can I give you a hint no you can't give me a hint I'm gonna do it myself I don't want I want to climb my life with a ram I don't want anyone to say They Carried me they got me there and then I'm not exposed then I can enjoy every one of my achievements that's mine so why is the ark does it carry the people who carry it why and why is the manura a staircase if specifically on the altar there were no stairs so I think the answer is is that there's two aspects to Judaism yes in life you want to do everything yourself you don't want shortcuts you want to climb the mountain but and you don't want hints but let's say I'm in the mall and my kid is lost and I'm looking for him in a panic and someone says are you looking for a lost kid I go yeah I goes well I saw your I saw a kid I go we and you want me to tell you I I'm not going to say don't tell me I want to figure it out myself don't why not why won't I say don't tell me what is the other Dynamic at play it seems like there are two opposite parts of life I did a very long explanation of the ramp type of life where you climb things yourself and you hit every spot along the way but there is something in life called a cable car tell me you know and uh like so what if you had to explain that what would it be what would be the diff the two different aspects to life when do we want cable cars and when do we want to do it ourselves so I think the answer is is that when it's about me so I have to be authentic I need to climb it myself and I don't want to to compromise my achievement but when it's about someone else it's not my trip this is my son and he's missing tell me right now I want I love my son I want to see my son it's not about my achievement you hearing me I don't know if uh something just okay am I I'm good okay so so this is this this is the other if I would to give you the Mada metaphor of both I could show you both on the Mada when you climb Mada so you want to take the cable car you want to take the the ramp because you want to feel like you conquered the mountain but let's say you are in Israel for a very short visit and someone told you there's no view of Jerusalem like from the top of msada that's what you want to do you have a couple of hours before your flight goes back go to msada and and go see the view of yusim so if that's the case then you certainly are going to take the cable car because your goal isn't the climbing of Mada your goal is the experience of the view of Jerusalem and then you want to takeit the cable car because every moment that you spend climbing is less time for you to see The View when it's about me I need to take I need to climb when it's about something larger outside of me Jerusalem or my son then I want the cable car there's two different experiences the actual actual experience of the climb and then there's the experience of the view from the top the view from the top is there is no difference in the view if I took a cable car or I climbed it myself no difference whatsoever so this is what sh is if you want to understand in life we have a whole Torah of we my job I'm a servant of Hashem and I want to prove myself I want to be dedicated and I don't want to take shortcuts but then comes Torah Torah is a whole different trip Torah is the knowledge of God it's I want to experience hashem's wisdom if you want to experience hashem's wisdom so then why would you go figure it out yourself go to a Torah class and learn the wisdom take going to a class is a cable car right we're cheating well we're not cheating because it's not about me it's about wisdom and the truth and being one with God it's the relationship when it's about the relationship with God then you want the cable car the altar is where it's about me and the Ark is where it's about the knowledge of God and the intimate understanding of God and then there's something halfway between the Altar and the Ark and that's the manura what the manur is is a fascinating thing what why do you need two vessels in the temple dealing with Torah if the arc is Torah said then why need a manura of Torah why we already had we don't need a duplicate and why they different so the short answer is is that there are two aspects the Torah there's the theoretical Torah which is the knowledge of Torah and shu is certainly about the knowledge of Torah but shu is about climbing the mountain to receive the Torah why because there's there's another job which is halfway Ark and halfway Altar and that is toiling in Torah the studying and debating and the figuring it out I want to know the Torah and I want to experience myself at the same time the knowledge of Torah where I toiled and I figured it out is where I could experience The View and the climb at the same time it's half the ark is pure knowledge the the altar is Pure service the manur is the learning of Torah the study of Torah and therefore it has a staircase the staircase is half ramp and half cable car it's a synthesis of the two it's a beautiful combination to think about it where where at the same time I'm learning the knowledge of God it's that's what we say give me my portion in Torah of course the Torah is the mind of God but I have my portion in Torah my specific trip up the mountain a good good way to think of Mount Si and the whole Shu experiences is that if we're all gathered around around Mountain 360 Degrees around the mountain and the Torah is given on top so life is my journey to the Torah top of the mountain every single one of us has a different path to the Top If we all walk forward and walk up the mountain so then we will all get to the top but no two people walk the same steps and that is the idea that we're trying to climb the mountain but I want to affirm myself and I want to get to the Torah and that is that's why I'll just end I know I when we started a little late but I'm already over anyway is that why there's different blessings we say in the morning on Torah the first blessing if you say the morning blessings on Torah the first blessing is to toil in Torah and I would call that the altar part of Torah the service where I have to toil I have to earn it myself don't take when we when I was in Yeshiva there were certain books that you could study that gave you all of the Deep Thoughts already worked out it was like an anthology of old we were never allowed to buy those books or you if you had it you had to hide it nobody it was cheating you had to figure everything out yourself that wasn't toiling in Torah it was you got to climb the mountain yourself but on the other hand the Second Blessing of Torah is is V is that God should make the the Torah sweet and make it sweet for me so it's easier for me to climb and it ends off made Torah who teaches Torah to the Jewish people so is it to toil in Torah or the god should teach me the Torah am I learning it myself or is he teaching it to me and every morning we make both blessings because we're doing both things is a d y it is the joy of of climbing and toiling in Torah and feeling that we're valid with no shame that we put the time in and we make time in our schedule we study Torah at the same time it is that intimate connection to God of just on top of the mountain nothing about me I just want to know the wisdom I want to understand the world I want to climb Mada and I want to see The View and that that's the experience of Shu and those are the different blessings in Torah and and that's the to me that's what a staircase is the staircase is the synthesis of cable car and uh and and mountain and ramp okay did I lose every okay welcome back everybody so how how long do I have 10 minutes what do I have yeah maybe a maybe 15 okay all right so here's the story so you guys had a fascinating thing to read there I don't know if you made it through the whole thing but I'm going to give a little bit of a recap with some extra information and hopefully we'll come away with a clear understanding of what exactly happened on Harina announ siai so the the phrase he gave you to study the idea that the most famous phrase in Judaism ishem here o Isel the Lord Our God the Lord is one what's interesting about that phrase is that it's it's very commonly mistranslated most people think that shama is teaching us monotheism but it's not really 100% accurate it's making a much larger statement than mono ISM because here are two sentences compare them one sentence is there is one God and one sentence is that God is one they're the same words in different order but they have radically different meanings when I say there is one God then what I mean is monotheism there is one God means there's one God not many gods but what does it mean when I say God is one that's very different than saying there is one God there is one God is saying that there is one of him God is one is a definition of God that he is one how do you is one one is a number how do you be a number so here's the simple the simplest way that to understand God and it's probably the deepest way at the same time some usually the deepest things are simple it's a puzzle there are are three stages in a puzzle there's the cover of the puzzle box which is a beautiful picture that someone took with a camera and then that's stage one then they take that picture and they cut it up in a machine and they put it into a box and that's stage two our beautiful picture fragmented and now instead of having a beautiful picture you have 500 colorful pieces of cardboard and then there's stage three which is the the pieces of the puzzle put back Together Again by us when we finish assembling the pieces stage three is the same thing as stage one exact same picture the cover of the box and the finished picture what's the difference between between stage one and stage three literally the first class we had is that stage three is where I climb the mountain myself is the cover of the puzzle box was Tak was Milton Bradley made that who Parker Brothers whoever made the puzzle it was their picture the finished picture is the same picture but with my reassembly and therefore it's the experience of the picture of the the Oneness but not a gifted Oneness and earned Oneness this PCT State these three stages one two and three is the way Judaism sees the entirety of the universe when we say God is one what we mean is that God is the cover of the puzzle box he is the Oneness before Creation in science they would say it's the singularity he is the total perfect Oneness where everything is one what is the universe the universe is stage two where God hid himself what does that mean to hide yourself so if I'm strong I hide Myself by acting weak if I'm intelligent I hide Myself by acting foolish if I'm one oness the hiddenness of Oneness is fragmentation and disunity so the universe is the hiddenness of God but what does that mean in English it means that God is the cover of the box and the universe is the puzzle the universe is trillions of colorful pieces of cardboard essentially and that's what we're given and our purpose of life is to put the pieces together if you had to define the role of humanity is we are puzzled makers that's who we are the universe is that great big dining room table with all the pictures spread out and the whole family gathered around the table trying to finish the puzzle that is the story of life and then what we have when we're done is we have the original picture God himself but the difference is it wasn't the God that was a cable car God it was a god of a climbing massada God it's a ramp God but it's both because it's the whole puzzle was a gift but I don't want to mix the two classes I was was tempting to connect the two but the main point is is that the the way we visualize life is one stage of unity second stage fragmentation and the third stage is our created Unity this is how Judaism in cabala sees the universe when we say God is one what we mean is he's the cover of the Box the universe is the puzzle and the third stage is is where we reassemble God will we put everything back together again and that is really what in your sheare you had an unbelievably deep idea is that every single time that you exp people think that religion is about avoiding pleasure and it's exactly the opposite the experience of pleasure the experience of pleasure is sorry my I got noise over here the experience of pleasure is the experience of Oneness every single time you ever smile in your life it's because you just experienced Oneness let me show it to you there are seven ways that Humanity experiences the universe really three ways but it's really I'll show you why it's seven the three ways are we physically experience the world with our senses we also emotionally exper we have emotions we experience reality emotionally and intellectually with our minds the physical side has five different senses so I call it seven altogether what does that mean that means that we see the world we taste the world we smell the world we touch it and we and we hear it those are the five senses but besides the five senses we also have thoughts and we also have emotions so every human experience is either a thought emotion a smell a taste a touch or or a a sound now every single one of those seven experiences has positive pleasurable experiences and painful ones let me do a really quick run through to show you what in each category what it is what is eye pleasure what do my eyes like you know our eyes like when things match when they blend we like patterns we like symmetry what is patterns symmetry blending and matching have in common they're all versions of Oneness what do we find visually painful when things Clash when the pattern is broken where things are off center and off-kilter all disunity is all visual pain it's fascinating every single time I experience visual pleasure it's Oneness all visual pain is disunity then we do hearing what is what is Audible pleasure Harmony Symphony Rhythm what is the common denominator of Harmony Symphony and Rhythm they're all Oneness what is what is ear pain where it's off off key where the rhythm is broken someone's out of sync the same thing is with taste somebody figured out how to make it sweet and sour and perfectly synthesized the same thing with perfumes you know scents someone figured out that lies go with lilac but not with lavender and those are easy the senses but think about emotions what is emotional pleasure love teamwork acceptance friendship caring empathy all Oneness what is emotional pain fighting division um jealousy uh being left out neglected forgotten alone all isolation and separation is painful allog togetherness and Oneness is pleasurable the same thing with our mind what is brain pleasure logic order Justice fairness system what everything connects and everything is a bird's eye view what is brain pain Injustice things are all out of balance gaps faulty reasoning gaps and logic what we're discovering is that every single pleasure in the universe is the experience of Oneness every single pain is the experience of fragmentation to the point that every single person in the world is really spending their entire life from the moment they're born till the moment they die doing exactly the same thing we all spend our lives trying to achieve pleasure and avoiding pain but we go about it in exactly the same way except our what's different is just our palet meaning the painter has a pet of colors and his goal is to synthesize them when he succeeds he's he feels pleasure the musician does the same thing with his life just instead of colors he has he has sounds on his pallet and notes when he synthesizes those he feels pleasure the chef is doing the same thing with his life just instead of colors and notes he's doing it with with SC with with flavors and ingredients and the perfume maker is doing it with sense and in relationships we're looking to find love and friendship our palet is people and personalities and we're trying to harmonize and synthesize those the mind I'm sorry yeah there was another sorry okay so someone got some someone's not muted so and then the mind we all scientists and thinkers and philosophers and economists and Nutri ists they're all taking the facts and the phenomena of the world and trying to synthesize them can we have an economic theory where there's productivity and there's no inflation but everybody has jobs and there's growth can you have a n a diet where we have the right balance of which V vitamins and fats and carbs and everyone in the world is spending their entire lives doing the same thing and you we think we're searching for pleasure and we are but it's really deeper than that cuz we showed that all pleasure is Oneness so therefore and Oneness is God so we're really searching for is God to the point that every single person in the world is really a religious fanatic all they do from the moment they're born till the moment they die is chase after pleasure which is really just Unity they're chasing Unity human beings are unity Seekers and therefore we're puzzle makers we're puzzle makers that's our skill because our tastes are for Unity and the reason why Unity is appealing is because the entire universe really is one and this is what happened on Mount Si what did the Jewish people experience it said Rowan esak colos they saw the sounds it wasn't a audible experience or a visual experience it was for one moment the entire Jewish people heard the Symphony of existence that's a metaphor but what is the Symphony of they saw the puzzle they saw how every single thing in the world connects and fits the perfect system the perfect diet where is no Wars where every nation you understand the necessity of different nationalities the Symphony of humanity of different personalities different countries different ingredients the animal kingdom the bugs every single thing in the world fit the experience of Mount saai was the Symphony of the universe that's what the Jewish people experienced and the Torah is supposed to be the lifestyle that allows us to live what we experience at that moment I'll leave you with this image of what the Torah is is that I gave you the puzzle metaphor it's really a little more sophisticated and that's where it gets cool is that I'd rather think of it at the puzzle is useful but it's really a deeper puzzle it's like a Rubik's Cube a Rubik's Cube is a three-dimensional puzzle each side is its own puzzle but I can do the green side and ruin the yellow side or I can do the yellow and ruin the blue the secret is can I do the green side where I don't ruin the blue or the yellow and every side fits that is the Symphony of the universe where I figure out how to be a loving husband and a loving father at the same time and a Ed member of my community and a good employee and a good employer and a good study partner and a good teacher and a good student am I neglecting my family when I go to work am I neglecting my work when I go home I have to figure out the perfect synthesis of all of the puzzles and then there's the elements of intellect versus emotion versus action I have to be synthesized in action and healthy and strong but I also have to be deep emotionally and empathetic but I can't I have to be able to detach and think logically and understand the world and and pursue Justice the true symphony is to figure out how to synth synthesize the individual and the community the family and and and and and and the nation had to synthesized the mind the heart and the body when you figure all that out that is what was given on Mount Si that is called the Symphony of existence the experience of putting all the puzzle pieces back together again right down here the three-dimensional puzzle and that's what shuis is about that we were given by God a glimpse for one moment of what the world could look like of what life could be the all the sides of the Rubik's Cube together at one time Imagine The Joy if all pleasure is Joy imagine the joy of all Oneness together if all pleasure is Oneness and that is then and that is the gift of the Torah is people we say there's six 63 laws it's a very it's not I have a different way of thinking about it don't think of 613 laws because the truth is it's not 6113 it's every single thing in life has a law not a restriction but the laws are where does this fit how is this part of the big picture there's a law about everything because everything is part of the symphony we might call it 6113 because everything is divided into those categories but but really there's nothing outside of Torah Torah is just had to see the entire world as instruments and notes and how do we make that music and that's what we do and that's why there are laws of relationships and marriage and business and ethics and friendship and and philosophy ideas and practical ideas and laws about food and diet and it's not the scope of what we're doing here today but shuis is not the study of all of the Torah it's the except of what it is that we were given and that's the Majesty of what it was we were given a glimpse of the cover of the puzzle box made through our own achievements our chance to make the puzzle ourselves and that's what we're thanking Hashem for on this holiday where we ourselves climb the mountain to receive the Torah sort of God brings it down to the mountain and we climb the mountain we meet somewhere in middle and uh we create the unity that represents God and that's how we end all of our prayers every prayer ends with the end of alenu the last part of prayers alenu and the last words what's the last words on that day Hashem will be one and his name will be one Hashem will be one he always is he's the cover of the box and his name will will be one is the way he's perceived that we will reassemble those pieces and make it ourselves and that's that's that's that's us that's the gift and that's what we're here to do okay thank you so so much thank you RBI Fel time and thank you so much everyone for joining us thank you for haa for doing our Tech side of everything and wishing everyone a wonderful shot everybody have a great sh it's been great