Don't MISS your chance! | Living with Emunah #370

Good morning, Bogota. Welcome back to Living with Emunah. Always wonderful to be together, especially on this frigid cold Florida morning. Feel like we have to make a little fire right here in the middle of the room. But instead, we'll have to suffice with the fire of Emunah, the fire of Torah, the fire of Ahavas Yisrael and of community. And so, it's great to be together. As always, we begin with gratitude. Thank you to our ministry sponsors, Dr. Zev and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Gabbay and in memory of Bella's mother, Dr. Ellen Shanzer. Incredibly grateful to the Morgans for their generosity and their friendship. Also, the series is co-sponsored anonymously in memory of the 30 fallen soldiers and alumni of Bnei David Machon Yishuv Na'aleh who fell on October 7th and through the war this morning. We are highlighting Sergeant Major Yona Biton Hashem Yikom Damo, who was 23 years old, a combat medic in the elite Duvdevan unit from Modi'in. He died on November 6th, 2024 from wounds sustained while fighting Hamas terrorists in Kfar Aza on October 7th. He and his team fought house to house, eliminated terrorists. Despite being critically wounded, he treated himself, moved to safety, and helped save many lives. He endured 417 days of severe pain, multiple surgeries, amputations while battling life-threatening infections. Survived by his parents, uh Hazel and and David and his five siblings. Hashem Yikom Damo. With endless and and boundless gratitude to him and to the heroes of Am Yisrael. This morning's sheer is sponsored by Hannah Luft in memory of her mother, Tonya Wilder Tamar Bas Avraham Yeshurun. May her memory be a blessing. Where is she? She has a cold. She has a cold. Okay, she should have a refuah shleima, too. We're going to throw that in for the sponsorship. For the sponsorship, we'll take a vote. By a majority, we wish her a refuah shleima. And as well by Michal Kohn in appreciation of BRS. And anonymously, quote, "In honor of my sister who introduced me to the class and lives with the Emunah daily, to celebrate her birthday, we have flown in to attend the class in person. Wishing her many years of simcha and nachas. And don't spend the rest of the class trying to figure out who that is." I'm also going to try to spend the rest of the class not figuring out who that is. And anonymously for the zechus of a sheer for Oriel Liora Bas Sara Rola, she should find a zivug quickly, speedily, with confidence and clarity. All those who are looking should find their zivug. As always, we will start with some emails. And then we will dive into our safer together. Yes, I did fly this week. I spoke somewhere in New Jersey Sunday night. As always, I have stories, but you're sick and tired of hearing my flying Emunah stories of delays and of people who come up to you and of what worked out and what didn't work out and the hashgacha of it all. So, I'll just have to bore my family with it. Um I want to get to an email that I printed out a couple weeks ago and it made it kept making it to the bottom. Please keep sending. I read every single one. I respond to every single one from my heart. I don't get to read them all and they're all deeply meaningful to me. But I want to share one I got a couple weeks ago I didn't get to. Dear Rabbi Goldberg, I hope you're doing well. Thank you. It's a hard email to write as the emotions are still fresh. Person who writes it describes their father's shloshim was on Thursday night, Friday. But I want to share what felt like a tremendous hug from Hashem and how the shiurim helped embrace our place. Thank you for the Emunah parsha shiurim. I randomly found your parsha shiurim on Spotify about 2 years ago. Recommended them to my mother when she asked for a podcast to listen to during her daily walks. She later found the Emunah shiurim and encouraged me to start listening as well. I began a year ago around the same time my father was hospitalized. My father fell in the last days of Chanukah last year and over the following 11 months was in and out of the hospital and rehab. During that time, the shiurim kept me company and gave me strength. First, short rides to the hospital, later much longer rides to the unit where he was eventually transferred and where he was nifter, where he passed away. Shiurim were a tremendous source of chizuk for both my mother and me, especially in the more difficult days. My father passed away on Tuesday, November 18th. His levaya was the next day, Wednesday, the 19th at his shiur called Yismach Moshe. At the time of his petirah, my mother, myself, and four siblings were with him. One brother joined via FaceTime from Eretz Yisrael. As my father's neshama left the world, his wife and children stood around his bed singing his favorite pasuk to a niggun whose source we never knew. Sabeinu MeTuvecha, Vesamach Nafsheinu Bishuasecha, Vetahar Libeinu Le'ovdecha Be'emes. Fast forward to Monday. My mother was taking her first walk on the boardwalk since my father's passing, listening as she always did does to the Emunah shiur. She texted me immediately. If you haven't listened to the November 19th shiur, you should. I called her right away to ask why. And she told me she had started crying when you began discussing the Yismach Moshe and his interpretation of the pasuk Sabeinu MeTuvecha. Remember that a couple weeks ago? In Rav David Abuhatzeira, you have the safer in front of you. In Sha'arei Tefillah, in what we're learning, Rav David Abuhatzeira Hatzeira quoted the Yes Mach Moshe's understanding of Sabeinu Mituvcha. It felt like a hug from both Hashem and my father. The shiur you gave on the very day of my father's levaya, which took place in the shul, Yes Mach Moshe, was centered around a discussion the Yes Mach Moshe made on the exact possuk my father loved and that we sang on his deathbed. I remember once hearing you say in response to an email, a certain comment you made in the shiur was off-topic and unplanned, but that you clearly said it because someone needed to hear it. On November 19th, you planned to give that shiur and it was because my family needed to hear it. So, thank you for being the conduit for that hug from Hashem. And then they shared a a second story about ways and timing, which is also a wonderful story, but I thought that was powerful. Last week, we had a couple attendees who had flown in from London. They understood my English and they came to the shiur anyway. We have coffee, we don't have tea. Crumpets? What do they have? Scones? We don't have in our shaila corner, but we're open. If any British people or otherwise would like to sponsor scones, we'll add we'll add it to the shaila corner, happily. Anyway, they brought a letter from a friend in London who also listens to the Emunah shiur. Dear Rabbi Gorlick, many others have stumbled across your podcast on Spotify. I owe Spotify so much. So many of the emails begin, I stumbled upon, randomly it came on, of which we know there is no stumbling and nothing is random. Spotify is the greatest shadchan. I'm not giving it a charhana, but it's the greatest shadchan. When searching for some chinuch in a time chizuk in a time of need and I've never looked back. You accompany my husband and I in our daily lives, my life enhances it significantly, so thank you. We're warriors, not warriors. We embrace our place, our lives are with an attitude of gratitude. My friends have traveled from London plan to come and hear you in real life, therefore I seize the opportunity to share a moment with you that blew my husband and I away. We were traveling home from a wedding with one of our lovely rabbis and his wife and I his wife thought it was only fair to share our love of your podcast with them. As is our habit, poor Rabbi. As is our habit, we randomly searched for historic podcast and hit play, but as we all know, nothing is ever random and Hashem is in charge. We listened intently to the story you shared about a well-loved member of your congregation who was sadly on his deathbed. As his family rallied around him, one of them went to retrieve a siddur for vidui and grabbed one from the prayer room of the hospital at random. As they took it to his room, the family were touched and uplifted to see the inscription. The siddur that had been chosen was dedicated to this man. A wink and a kiss from Hashem indeed, however, for us, it was a profound moment. 16 years ago to that day and approximately that time, he was being put in a coma on life support. We were parents to a two-year-old girl and I was 32 weeks pregnant. When when he had been taken critically ill with toxic shock syndrome, sepsis, and within 12 hours deteriorated rapidly. At this time, I was sent home to rest when I received the call that they would need to put him in a coma. I asked that they could wait for me to arrive so I could see him. However, I was told no, it needed to be now. We spoke on the phone and needless to say, it was one of the most heartbreaking moments of my life. The community had over 100 people in a Telegram group and prayer stormed the heavens. That same evening, one of our wonderful rabbis heard of his condition and called his daughter to ask her to retrieve a siddur from Chabad in Edgware. She grabbed one at random, took it to the hospital for her father to leave by his bedside. On reading the inscription, he discovered presented to her husband at his primary school. The siddur remained by his side for the six weeks he remained in the hospital. Baruch Hashem, he made a full recovery. He's an incredible soul who lives his life to the max with simcha and emunah devoted to his family and community. Nothing is random or coincidence. Those siddurim were exactly where they were meant to be. Thank you for reading it aloud. Please come to London very soon. Maybe if the weather ever got better. Okay. >> [laughter] >> Oh, there's so many. Um Got more pictures, got more spottings, more Psalm 23. We are on a roll and a streak. We're going to see how far we can take it. Here's one. Someone wrote a the long and very heartfelt email, very personal, so I'm not going to read it, but many of the challenges and the hardships in navigating life's complications and doing so with Hashem, feeling his presence, trying to connect, trying to surrender, trying to let go and let God, but also shared the picture which she wears on her wrist. And every day looks down on it. It is her hoda'ah bracelet. It says Hashem ro'i lo echsar, lo yira ra ki ata imadi. Hashem is my shepherd, I'm not lacking. As we learned in our Rabbi David Abu Hatzeira, let us never be lacking in knowing he is our shepherd and therefore I fear no evil cuz Hashem is with me and it's a beautiful image and idea and mir Hashem everything should turn for Everything should turn for. Rabbi Gorlick. Thanks for everything, really really appreciate what you've done, appreciate what you've done to change my Hashem my perspective, yada yada. It's a perspective. We go over things with him, flight story happened a couple months ago about the time I told Hashem, I'll email you at the time. We had an 8:00 a.m. flight planned to land just in time at 8:00 p.m. Keen to make it to a family event in London, which is why we got that flight after a wedding in America the night before. We go to the plane after on the plane for some time they announced technical issues with the engine. That point they allowed us to get back in the airport to get snacks. Which didn't feel like a great sign. Very soon after we were with the plane entirely. What was meant to be an 8:00 a.m. flight slowly turned into a 12-hour delay, finally scheduled for 8:00 p.m. After we already been at the airport for hours. While it was disappointing, especially for a family member where the event in London was meaning full and hard to miss, I felt a real sense of clarity and calm. I'm exactly where I'm meant to be. It was clear this was not meant to happen and I was thinking of you. We went from Newark into town to get some supper, took a taxi to the airport. Traffic was increasing heavily. A drive that should have taken straight forward took much longer. While he definitely kept an eye on the ETA, something to work on, and said some tillim along the way. Baruch Hashem we made it on time. But throughout it all I kept repeating, I am where I'm meant to be. I am where I'm meant to be. I am where I'm meant to be. I had done my hishtadlus, the rest was entirely in Hashem's hands. A very much extended trip, missing two nights of sleep, wedding, early flight, the actual night flight, remained calm and touched from Hashem meant to be. Hashem definitely gave us the strength to keep going, stay calm, turn that all good, and appreciate the good yummy lunch and extra day in town. Thank you for instilling this awareness in me. I'm in the 1%. 1% listeners on Spotify. So, they get their emails read. Dear Rabbi Gorin, why did I read that one again? Because for all of us, we have situations and we have moments and they're frustrating and they take enormous patience and we wonder why are we here and stuck here? But again, all along, just let go and realize we're passengers. We're along for the ride and life is an adventure. And be curious in this adventure. What's coming next? I wonder how the story turns out. I wonder what is the next scene. I wonder where this goes. Because worrying never got the plane to take off faster. Dear Rabbi, do I have a story for you? >> [laughter] >> Last week I went to pick up local newspapers at the Grove. But to my dismay, they weren't there. I had to go back to carpool. But one problem there was a huge truck blocking my car. I couldn't leave. I was extremely frustrated. I don't want to be late. But as I got out of my car to look for the missing truck driver, lo and behold, I saw the guy walking with a large cart of all the newspapers I'd been waiting for. Hashem gave me a big hug and blocked my car so I'd be able to have my newspapers for Shabbos. As you always say, you are exactly where you're meant to be. Sincerely full of emunah and very grateful. Rabbi Gorin, I'm an original listener to the emunah shiur and first-time writer. Longtime listener, first-time caller. >> [clears throat] >> No one knows what I'm talking about. I'm still floating on cloud nine wrapped in Hashem's loving embrace of what happened yesterday. Each Monday I meet a friend at a local Starbucks in neighboring community to study and connect. We were literally talking about emunah and hashgacha protis when I saw an amazing sight. A young man walking at the Starbucks wearing a sweatshirt with Look at the sweatshirt. Where do they sell this sweatshirt and who wears this sweatshirt? Whoops, I got a Psalm 23. A young man. I was excited as a little child seeing this with my own eyes. I totally appreciate it was a nod and wink from Hashem. I watched the door hoping he would exit. When he did, like a fangirl, I approached him and asked him if I could take his photo. He now has a restraining order against me. No. I said I did not have to include his face to share with the group I study with. He was so kind, said, "Of course." Gave a big smile and he and his friend walked away. They said, "God bless you." I knew I had to write my first letter to you sharing the story. Thank you for the class, all you do. I aspire to come one day in person. You got to love it. Psalm 23. There's the young man in the picture. Okay. I want to thank you for continuing to inspire me and all of Klal Yisrael. When I have my hisbodedus each day, I always thank Hashem for the podcast. Sending you a screenshot of my Spotify Wrapped summary of the year 2025, which shows I'm in your top 1% of listeners. Although I may not be there for coffee, pastry, super slushy, rest assured I would be there if I could. And here, by the way, and this is what all your Spotify should look like. This is her top podcasts. Her Her top podcasts. And what are the top podcasts? Number one, Living with Emunah. Number two, Parsha Perspectives. Number three, 10 Minutes of Meaning. Number four, Tanya. And number five, some other Jewish podcast. >> [laughter] >> These are her top five podcasts and this is what every one of your Spotify list should look like. And she shared that with me. And listen to this. This is an amazing picture. The story and also that she's in the 1%. Last year she listened to 5,000 minutes of emunah shiur in the top 1%. God bless you. I don't know what award you get. Recently I've taken a six-week hisbodedus boot camp where I learned about different methods of speaking to Hashem, but also listening to Hashem when he speaks to us. Sometimes difficult to see or believe. A couple weeks ago, unrelated to the boot camp, I saw someone post a link for the I love you Hashem plaques to put under your mezuzah as a tribute to Rabbi Vigder Miller, who taught that a simple effective practice to cultivate a love for God is to say, "I love you, Hashem." Every time you pass and kiss the mezuzah. I received two plaques in the mail last week. All week I was kissing the mezuzah and saying, "I love you, Hashem." Here's the plaque. You can order You can make one on your own. You put it under your mezuzah and it says, "I love you, Hashem." And every time you walk in or out and you remember, "I love you, Hashem." Wherever you're walking into, I have a house, I have a roof, I have people who live there, I have food. Wow, I love you. I can walk. I wasn't wheeled through this doorway. I And I wasn't wheeled out, God forbid, in a body bag. I am walking. I can see. I can touch. I can kiss. I love you, Hashem. It's a beautiful, beautiful idea, beautiful reminder. All week I was kissing the mezuzah and saying, "I love you, Hashem." Listen to this. It's crazy. The end of the week I went outside my house to an area that I really got I was in shock. As I looked down into an empty planter that was filled with rainwater and rocks floating in a picture of a perfect heart. Have you ever seen anything like that? These are the rocks that were floating in a planter and they randomly were floating in a picture of a perfect heart. I can't believe it. I ran inside and asked my husband and my kids if they did it. They had no idea what I was talking about. This time it was not difficult to hear Hashem speaking to me. It was like he was saying, "I love you, too." Truly one of the most amazing moments I experienced just showed me we just need to be open to seeing Hashem and he's always speaking to us. She ordered and puts under her mezuzah, "I love you, Hashem." Spends a week kissing the mezuzah saying, "I love you, Hashem." And the rocks in the planter in the area of the backyard she never goes to happened to float into a formation of a perfect heart. Have you ever seen anything like that? She could probably have tourists come and stop by over for a prayer, make a lot of money, donate it to the campus at BRS. Thank you for reading and thank you for the emunah of the shiur and wishing you a living with emunah all the best regards from the community in which she lives on another coast. There are many more incredible emails not only to talk to Hashem but hear Hashem talking to us. Hashem is talking to us everywhere and all times. Even when we're stuck, even when we feel that we have to take deep breaths, be patient, we are where we're meant to be, he's talking to us. He's saying, "I need you there. I need you not where you think you need to be. I need you not where you think you belong. I need you where you are. That's why I'm keeping you there. What are you meant to do while you're there? Maybe you work on yourself and your patience. Maybe there's someone you're going to meet and have a conversation with. You never know. But I need I need you. I need you there. I need you in that place." My father, I mentioned this yesterday, my father and I were waiting to board the plane on Sunday and a man walked over to us. We were both visibly wearing our yarmulkes, obviously Jewish, and he leaned in. This is in West Palm Beach, PBI, West Palm Beach Airport. You'd think, "Who in Florida?" Tough pay buck, 102025. The man leans in and he whispers, "I'm Jewish, too." And then he says, "How is it walking around like that? Have you had a lot of anti-Semitism?" And we had a whole conversation about being Jewish. Regrettably, I didn't take it far enough. I didn't invite him for a Shabbos meal or take his number, and that's a major failure of mine. I didn't put tfillin on him. Should have put tfillin on him. >> [laughter] >> Weak. You know what? We were actually boarding. But still, no excuses. I could have found him on the plane. Weak. Weak. I'll be accountable for that. But while waiting on that line, you can be frustrated. It's a line. Why aren't we boarding already? We were delayed. There was a snowfall. But I was meant to be on that line near that person whose pintela Yid, Jewish spark and soul came alive seeing fellow Jews, shared it, just made that brief Jewish connection. I hope that left a positive impact and impression. And I spoke about being proud to wear this yarmulke wherever we go. And don't worry. Be proud and be practicing. Don't cower. Don't be shy. He tells me as a child is in Michigan. He was wearing all his Michigan clothing. His child is in Michigan where they're having a very hard time and the university is failing to protect them. I said, "Good. Channel that into your being a more proud practicing Jew." The answer is not cower or hide. Be more proud and practice. Wherever you are, that's the line that you're supposed to be on. Those are the people you're supposed to be surrounded with. Those are the conversations you're supposed to have. That's what life is throwing our way because that's where we're supposed to be. Bashlama Samer, we're back in the safer page kuf chof ches, 128 towards the end of this piece of David Abuhatzeira, Sha'arei Tfillah. Bashlama Samer she'amuna mashpia tfillos shel Adam. We've been learning about the idea that emunah impacts the prayers of people. The idea that counterintuitively or somewhat paradoxically, we have to daven for emunah. That makes no sense. Daven to the one that you're not sure you believe in to ask for his help and believing in him. Illogical, makes no sense. And yet, it's exactly what we're supposed to do. With the recognition that I surrender to you, God. I know, just like the addict who in recovery, one of the steps is to surrender to a higher being and to realize whatever I'm trying to overcome and confront, whatever I need to navigate, I cannot do it alone. I need you. That's how we begin. That's the middle. That's the end of every one of our days. Whatever we face, whatever we navigate, whatever we have to overcome, whatever we get and receive, whatever we have to be grateful for, it all comes from you, Hashem. That's what feeler is. Whatever I have ahead of me, whatever is in this day, I don't know how anyone davens without first looking at their schedule. The most powerful thing to me to inspire my davening is to look at the schedule, whether literally or figuratively, to think about what do I have in the day ahead? And that informs the davening. Because how could you possibly say, I struggle to concentrate, and then I'm in trouble focusing on the words, my mind wanders. All you have to do is look at your calendar. You have a doctor's appointment and visit? You have a big meeting and business deal you're negotiating? You have a meeting with your child's teacher cuz you're concerned about how they're doing? You're calling the shidduch about your child, reminding them, putting them back on their radar? Whatever is on your day, you have to travel to an event in Bal Harbour where it's easier to fly to New Jersey these days than have to drive. Do you remember when Bal Harbour was 35, 40 minutes away? They moved it. >> [laughter] >> Now, it's like an hour 20. Maybe because today, hopefully, there's no traffic. Everyone's preparing their fireworks or whatever they do. I don't know what whatever. But, you look at your schedule, you say, what do I have on tap? What do I have on board today? What's on tap? What's on board? You have a night? I won't get in trouble for doing this. Oh, from the morning we tech, what do you have on tap today? We're sharing. What do you have on tap today? What's happening for your day? I want to feel connected to you. I want to know what you're planning. I want to know where you'll be. I want to know what's going on. I want to think about you. I want to wish you well. What do you have on tap? That's our What do you have on tap today? So, that's feeler. Hashem, here's what I have on tap today, and I need you for a successful outcome to whatever's on tap today, which could be whatever's on tap today. What's on tap today is going back to bed. Well, will you fall back asleep? Will you have a restful sleep? Will you stay asleep? Okay, I don't know who has that luxury. I'm going back to sleep today. But, whatever you have on tap today, you need Hashem for its success. How could your mind wander in davening if you actually were to before davening think about, here's where I need you, and I know the success of anything I need you, the outcome is all entirely, ultimately dependent on you. You're going to not concentrate? You're going to not concentrate? What do I have on tap today? Lab results. You're not going to daven? Doctor's appointment, business meeting, shidduch phone call or first date or tenth date. Whatever is on tap, whatever is on tap, meeting with the lawyer, meeting with the advocate, outcome of whatever is on tap. Just waking up and getting out of bed. That's what I have on tap today, not falling down. What I have on tap today is making it where I want to go safely. Whatever we have on So, don't look at your phone necessarily. It's a very good practice to not look at your phone before you daven in the morning cuz once you engage, you're elsewhere. Once you start checking headlines, what's happening in Iran, could this be it? Are they going to take down the regime? What's going on in Israel? What's going on in Florida? The weather? Do I have to what? You know what I have on tap today? You know what I have on tap today, Hashem? Let no iguanas land on my head. >> [laughter] >> Cuz we are back in falling iguana season. Now, New Yorkers who have no sympathy for us just because when I left this morning, my weather app registered 30s. It was feels like in the 30s, but the actual weather now is 40s. So, we're not asking for sympathy. >> [laughter] >> We're not asking for sympathy. I we don't really have it. We don't have coats. We're not set up for this. Okay, but we're not asking for sympathy or empathy. But, we have something you don't have in New York, which is the iguanas were not native to South Florida. When the weather dips below a certain level, their bodies go into hibernation. Their bodies become solid and still. They go into hibernation. And when they do, they fall out of trees. And every year, someone is injured. Baruch Hashem, not normally, but you can look for the crazy Florida stories. If someone was walking on a sidewalk when a iguana fell out of a tree, solid in hibernation, and connect them on the head. So, what do we have on tap today? Check the weather app, and then say, I'm going to fight with my kid, what they're going to wear, will they be warm enough? Do I have the wardrobe? I got a text from someone. I'm not going to say who it is. Can I just listen at home? It's too cold out. I don't feel like coming to the minyan this year. Not going to say who it is. Not going to say who it is. Possible I said you have on tap today to come to the Amud Hashavua. Anyway, >> [laughter] >> so how much trouble am I getting every sentence I say I'm just digging a deeper and deeper hole. Deeper and deeper hole. So, we all have on tap today things that we need Hashem. I gave a shiur this week to a group of parents, a beautiful school initiative, the Consortium of Jewish Day Schools has a program they're rolling out in different yeshivas and schools that in the school and the shul and the home this triumvirate should work together to inspire tefillah. So, I had the privilege of giving the opening shiur for that program locally. I actually posted it online. If you go to my YouTube page you could watch it. It was half an hour on Hashem Sefasai Tiftach. We did 6-minute snippets snippets on Hashem Sefasai Tiftach but a half an hour. And we quoted Rav Tzaddok Hakohen and other interpretations, but essentially what I said and what I'll repeat, Hashem Sefasai Tiftach is exactly what we're learning in Rav Dovid Abuhatzeira. What is Hashem Sefasai Tiftach? Why? We're about to daven to Hashem. So, before I daven to Hashem I daven to Hashem that I'm able to daven to Hashem. I take my three steps forward. People get it wrong. You don't you don't say it while you take your three steps forward. You don't say it before you take your three steps forward. You take three steps forward and then you begin. Deep breath, neshama to neshima to restore your neshama, a breath to restore your soul, and you say Hashem Sefasai Tiftach. Hashem open my lips. Ufi and my mouth yagid let it say your praises. Six words. Six words. Hashem Sefasai Tiftach. Hashem I'm here to talk to you. Open my lips, let the conversation go well. And then we begin. Then we begin. Okay, just begin. You're here, you have an audience. You got in lahavdil to the Oval Office and you're sitting in front of the president, the prime minister, or the king. So, you say can I please meet with you? Let me share with you. Let me speak to you. They say, "Yeah, you're on the clock. You got 30 seconds. Talk. Why are you wasting all of those extra So, we have an audience with Hashem. We're here the Amidah. We're supposed to ask for what we need. Thank him, praise him, ask for what we need. Why are we spending the time Hashem Sefasai Tiftach? These six words, open my lips, tell me The answer is what we're saying is Hashem it's so easy for me to be distracted. It's so easy for my mind to go elsewhere. It's so easy to take three steps back, not even remembering when I took the three steps forward. I go right from three steps forward to three steps back and don't remember anything in between. Find myself at the end of the seder. It's so easy. It's so hard to daven. It's why Chazal the Gemara says four things need chizuk and one of them is tefillah. Tefillah needs enormous chizuk. It needs chizuk. So, how do we begin our tefillah? We begin our tefillah with a tefillah for tefillah. We begin our davening for a davening for davening. Hashem, this matters. This means something. This is important. This is critical for the outcome of my day. And so, I ask for your help. Help me focus. Help me concentrate. Help me be mindful. Help me be intentional. Help me, knowing what's on tap today, turn to you for your help in wherever I'm going and whatever I'm doing. Help me ask for the right things. Help me not squander this moment or this opportunity. I don't want to live with regret after the fact that I didn't ask. I don't want to live with regret that I didn't ask. That I didn't ask. Tempted to tell you a story, but I don't remember the details and I'll I'll butcher it. But there was a story during World War II where there were orphans who had gone on the Kindertransport and were taken living in London who were dressed and lined the streets because the king was going to be passing through and everyone was going to honor. Everyone was going to honor. And one of the children who had been rescued in the Kindertransport as the king ran through, rushed from the sideline. Again, I'm not doing it justice and I apologize. I wasn't planning on telling it, but someone somewhere needed to hear it. That's why Hashem is making me say it anyway. So, I'm curious to find out who that is. Maybe they'll write a letter. And one of those children saved in the Kindertransport rushed towards the king of England at the time and navigated around the security and insisted he had to have an audience and came to the king and said, "My parents are still caught in the fiery furnace of Europe. My kid My parents are still in the target of Hitler and the Nazis yimach shemam. Please rescue them." And the king, caught off guard, who couldn't believe that this child had rushed and had actually accessed him, asked for the names of those parents and in fact and in fact saved saved the This was shared on a radio program in London. Someone was being interviewed and told that story. It was another boy. It was not the boy who had rushed and saved his own parents. It was a boy who stood next to him who said that for the rest of his life he lived with regret. Why wasn't it me? I had access to the king and I could have asked and I didn't. And for the rest of his life, having lost his parents, he regretted, I could have run to the king. I could have asked the king. I could have saved my parents. And he lived with the regret that he didn't. I shared that before in the elo one year to inspire this is our chance. The gates are still open. We have access to the king. Don't let and neglect this chance. But the truth is, it's not a pre in the elo story. It's a pre shachris, pre mincha, pre maariv, pre tehillim, pre whenever you want to talk to Hashem, any day of the year. We have access to the king. We're in the oval office. We can ask him for anything. You're going to squander that? You're going to let that go by? You're going to let that pass? You're going to wake up at the end of the amida? You're going to close the sitter and give it a kiss and realize, you know, I didn't talk to him about anything going on today. And it's a big day. I got big things happening. I got a lot on tap. I got things for me, for my spouse, for my children, for my parents, for my grandchildren, for klal yisrael. How did I not rush the king? How did I not take advantage to talk to the king? So, all of that's in these six words. We take three steps forward. We take a deep breath. We turn to Hashem and we say, "Hashem s'fatai tiftach." Hashem, open my lips. Let me ask for the right things. Let me be mindful and present. Let me be intentional. Let me talk to you from the bottom of my heart. Let me focus. Let it register what's on tap so that it's real. You know the example I've given it countless times. The anniversary, the birthday, the Mother's Day, the Father's Day, you can't just write in the back of a napkin, and you can't just give a blank card. You got to take a card, and you got to write something else in it. The tfilah of the sitter is the card. It was written by the anshei knesset hagdolah, not American Greetings or Hallmark. And we take the sitter as a template. We take the sitter as the card. We don't just write our tfilah in the back of a napkin, but we have to author in our own words. And who wouldn't want to? Atah chonen l'adam da'at. Hashem, you give people intellect. Help me with my memory. It feels like it's starting to go. Help me with my intellect. Help me with my thinking and thought process and cognitive ability. Help my child on their test. Help me study or do well in school. Who would let Atah Chonen go by without inserting something about themselves? L'refa'enu. Do we not all know people who need our heartfelt feelas for a speedy, complete, painless recovery? How about all those injured in Israel, visibly and invisibly? How about all those injured in Australia still fighting? We don't have people to think about and talk about in Refa'enu. How about Barech Aleinu? Is anyone so secure that they don't need to ask Hashem, "Help me with my livelihood. Help me do well with my investments." And if I'm secure and I'm doing well, Elon Musk doesn't have to pay attention in Barech Aleinu. But think about somebody else who does. Barech Aleinu, help them. Set them up. Who doesn't have to think about Teka b'shofar gadol? We want kibbutz galuyot. Help gather us together. Help bring us in. Help the exile. Help bring geulah. Shma Koleinu. Do we not have other things to insert? Do we not have things that are taking place in that day? I got this crecht and this hurts and that needs to be replaced. And I got this issue and that doctor's appointment. This child's going through that thing and that child I'm worried about what's going to be with this. And which camp should I send them to? Help me have clarity and confidence and finally come to a decision, which is the best camp so it doesn't haunt me and keep me up that I can't sleep at night. Who doesn't have things to insert? So, you could have asked the king for clarity and confidence on which is the best camp. Instead, you just let it go by? You didn't think about that or ask for that in Shma Koleinu? Hashem s'fatai tiftach. Last salman, back in the safer. Emunah mashpia al tfiloso shel adam. The more emunah we have, the better the tfilah will be. This is the critical mistake we make. I forgot to mention it the other night. I meant to say it to the group who are working on this initiative. The initiative is beautiful and amazing. And my friend Rabbi Yemin is fantastic for for introducing it. And I encourage everybody to embrace it. But here's the thing. You won't improve your tfilah just by memorizing the Hebrew and the English and the translation, understanding the rhythm and the themes of tfilah. All of that's critical and it's important. And it will enhance and empower your prayer. But if you don't have emunah, if you don't know who the shepherd is, you don't have a relationship with him, are you really going to talk to him? If you don't believe in Hashem, you can know what every word means. You can offer 17 divrei Torah on every sentence. You could be in the num- 1% listeners of Sukkah Snippets. You could be in the .01% of Sukkah Snippets. You could be the one who gives Sukkah Snippets. But if you're not tuned in, plugged in, high speed in your emunah, if you're not connected, you're not talking to him, you're not feeling him talking to you, you're not in a dynamic relationship, you're not giving it the time it needs, you're not communicating in a transparent and open way, then knowing all the divrei Torah in the world on the sitter is not going to help. Not going to help. That's what the Chofetz Chaim was writing. Emunah mashpia al tfiloso shel adam. Emunah influences and impacts the prayers of a person. Yesh lanu l'hafsik l'omar on the page kuf kaf tes on the page. We should introduce with a vort of Rabbi Dichi Meir M'Strochovtza. Says the Meir Einei Chachamim. B'chein regel al lashon chasidim v'sharim. It's a famous vort. What's the vort? Omer man of the t'fillah at the end of davening on Shabbos when this is far daily after shacharit daily Ein K'Elokeinu, Ein K'Adoneinu Ein K'Elokeinu, Ein K'Adoneinu. Usually people are closing the siddur by then. They're already tasting the kiddush. They're already put on their way home, finishing setting the table. They've already checked out, tuned out, they're done. It's a very holy prayer. Ein K'Elokeinu. What does it mean? Ein K'Elokeinu, Ein K'Adoneinu. No one like you, God. No one like our master. Mi K'Elokeinu, Mi K'Adoneinu. Who is like you, God? Who is like you, our master? B'lo chachma u't'vuah. Sh'lach ti alam. The world asks the following question. Min ha'rosh l'shaila b'tchilah, v'al ha'lashon t'shuvah. Did this ever occur to you? It's a famous vort. Ein K'Elokeinu is backwards. First you ask the question, then you give the answer. You don't make a statement that's an answer and then follow it up with a question. We start out oh, Ein K'Elokeinu. There is no God like our God. Ein K'Adoneinu. No master like our master. Mi K' Is there a God like our God? Is there a master like our master? We got it backwards. First ask Mi K'Elokeinu, Mi K'Adoneinu. And then you got to Ein K'Elokeinu, Ein K'Adoneinu. But we got it backwards. That was impressive, no? But we get it backwards. We get it backwards. D'ilu kan anu es ha't'shuvah tchilah, Ein K'Elokeinu, v'rak acharkach sho'alim. Teirutz ha'Rebbe M'Strochovtza, yesod gadol b'derech emunaseinu. Listen to the answer and listen to the insight. U'n'vi b'shmo. He says I'll bring it in his name and his words. Ki mi she' rotza lachkor b'sichlo l'hasig es amitas metzius Hashem Yisbarach v'chol prat emunaseinu al y'dei ra'ayos v'hakdamas sichlios tzarich mikodem l'hachlish b'libo heiteiv heiteiv emunah shleimah b'p'shitus. We have to start with the end in mind. We have to begin with the answer and only then are you entitled to ask the question. We have to start with the solution. We start out Hashem I have faith in you. I've got emunah p'shutah. I know there's a God in my heart, in my kishkes, in my soul. I know from my parents and my grandparents and my great-grandparents. I know from my intuition and my instinct. I know. I know there's you, Hashem. I know you exist. I know you're here. I know you created the world. I know you're intimately involved in my life. I know I'm in a relationship with you. I know you're here. Now that I said that now that I know where I'm going to arrive now that I know what the conclusion will be now and only now am I entitled to say but let's talk about how do I know? Is there evidence? Is there proof? Where do you see him? Where do you feel him? Where do you hear him? Only when we begin with the conclusion only we start with the statement I know you're here. I love you. I know you love me and it's going to be good. Sometimes even in a relationship, in a reconciliation, in a marriage that had a conflict or tension or a fight or parents and children it's really healthy and it's really wonderful to start out that says let's begin with how we're going to conclude. Here's how this is going to happen. I have a meeting coming up between two people who started to go at it, not related. But we need them both. And the community will be better off if they love each other, they're cooperating, they're collaborating on things they both care about. Right now, they can't be near each other. So when I have this meeting and try to mediate the opening statement, spoiler alert if they're listening, they're not. But spoiler alert, here's the opening statement. Guys we're not leaving this room until we can with everyone hugging it out. When we leave we're going to be hugging. We're going to be brothers. We're going to care. We're going to collaborate. We're going to be close. We're going to be connected. Now let's get to work. Now we got to figure out take accountability, take responsibility, apologize for things that were said, that were done. Understand where were the impediments, obstacles, roadblocks. Why did this happen, this fight? How do we avoid it happening again? There's a lot of work that has to happen. A lot of questions that have to be answered. But we start with at the end a couple having a fight. Okay, let's start. By the end of this we know we love each other. We know we're best friends. We know we're confidants. And by the end of this we're going to be madly in love. Now let's talk about what happened. Who has to apologize? Where we went wrong? Why did this come up? How do we avoid it happening again? What but we start Ribono shel Olam, we start. Here's how we start. Ein K'Elokeinu. Ein K'Adoneinu. We start there's no God like our God. There's no master like our master. We love you, you love us. We know you're here. You created the world. You're intimately involved in our lives. That's how this ends. Big hug with you, Hashem. However, we got some questions. Is there evidence for your existence? Why would bad things happen to good people? And why do I feel so alone and abandoned? And why am I struggling? Yeah, I'm coming. Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere. By the end, we're going to be as close as ever. But in the meantime and along the way, I've got some questions. As I That's his brilliant insight in This is what we accepted. This is what we received. This is the tradition from our forefathers. This is what we This is what we put and we This is the peg in our heart that can't move. We start with the end. We begin with the conclusion. We begin with a statement. In In Hashem This is where I'm at. This is how I what I received from those who came before me. This is what we know. But now I'm also entitled to ask some questions. I've got some legitimate, compelling questions. First, we make an absolute categorical statement with no doubt, no uncertainty, no equivocation. And only once we've planted that deeply in our heart, only once we've shouted that statement from the roof, now only then the hello Mika Mika hello. That's the inside of the of That's what he said. That's our daily grind. Hashem, I'm starting my day. I know you're here. I have complete clarity, confidence. I believe in you. I see you. I feel you. I'm talking to you and I know you're talking to me. But I have to be honest. I struggle. I have some questions. I'm searching. I'm yearning. And I'm also trying to understand and see the evidence and the proof. What's the point is that we don't start and say I'm undecided. You know, they do the polls of voters. I'm undecided. Do you believe in God? Are you in a relationship with God? Do you live with me to talk on? I've been undecided. I'm an undecided voter. I'm undecided. There is no undecided. What is that? You're not undecided. I'm a decided. I vote for Hashem. He's got my vote. I vote. Hashem, that's my statement. I don't first look and investigate and ask, "Give me evidence. Give me proof. Satisfy my questions. Make me feel good about my dilemmas." We don't begin with I have all kinds of questions and if you can answer and if you can persuade and if you can solve my problems and if he does what I want and if he reveals himself to me, then I'll vote for him. No, we're the opposite. I vote for you. I'm in. I'm in this relationship through and through. I'm not going anywhere. By the way, the best way to answer questions and the best way to heal rifts is to start out by saying, "I'm not going anywhere." When are you on eggshells and when do you not want to be vulnerable and when is it difficult to when when you're worried that if I say the wrong thing or this goes the wrong way, then this may be over. But if you already begin by planting the flag that says, "I'm not going anywhere. I'm in it to the end. This is it. This is real. This is forever. Now let's talk. Now let's work out. Now let's have the conversation that we need. Then you can have a healthy and a great conversation cuz you're not living with the fear and the panic what if and they might leave and what if I'm alone. With the we don't start out, let's see how it goes. Let's see my I'm going to go to the I'm going to go to the seminar. I'm going to go to the conference. I'm going to spend time with the expert. I'm going to listen to the podcast. I'm going to read the book and let's see. See if they persuade me. See if they make the argument. See if they answer my questions. See if they satisfy my my issues. And then I'll see. No. If we start out Hashem, you created the world. You created me. You've given me all the blessing that I have even among the difficulties I struggle with, there's so much to be grateful for. I'm not going anywhere, Hashem. I know it. I see it. I believe it. I live it and I love you and I'm not going anywhere. Now is it okay if we have a difficult conversation, Hashem? Where were you? How could you? Why do you? How do I know? Is there evidence? Is there proof? You'll never say the same way again. Don't run out and rush out. It's a very holy prayer. And that's says the that's We start out every Shabbos or however often you say hello. That's what we're reminding ourselves. We're reminding ourselves to begin with a statement. And then we can ask a question. The total mirror This is the model of prayer. this is We begin prayer I believe I know I know you are the answer now. I'd like to talk to you about some things. Can we have a conversation? That is a chance to say to stop with those six words. Please help me pray that I can pray. Please give me faith that I have faith. Please be the answer to my questions and we live that way with that clarity or to feel our day. What's on tap today? I shall miss us. Hey, what's on tap today? Come talk to me. Come talk to me. That's what shockers is. What's on tap? Who would neglect shockers? Who doesn't have time for shockers? Who's going to dive in shockers while drinking coffee and putting away last night's dishes and emptying the dishwasher? Seriously? You're talking to the king of kings. You're talking to the answer and solution to any of your problems. You're talking to the person can bring the outcome that you so desperately claim you need and you're going to do it while you're emptying the dishwasher. Stop. Give it attention. Give it some time. Have a conversation. And if you say, "But I don't connect. They're words I say every day. They're old and stale." Just look at your schedule. Look at your to-do list. Look at the problems in your life. And tell me you're not going to be inspired to dive in. Don't be like that young man on the radio who regretted for the rest of his life. I could have rushed to the king. I could have asked for anything and I didn't take the opportunity. And the anything could be my kid is a math test in school to somebody's in the ICU in the hospital. Everything in between. The king wants to hear it all. Nothing's too big. Nothing's too small. Nothing is beyond his grasp and his reach and nothing is beyond what a father wants to do for his child. And so by you guys, she says, "I'm approachable. Approach me." No matter what you've done. No matter where you've been. No matter how you behaved. No matter how absent you've gone. I'm approachable. That's why the word by you guys says that we says that we are blessed with we learn from by you guys by you guys says that we cuz what I shall wants us to know is you're always always approachable. Always approachable. Unlike the young man who came to meet with me where to appear before a judge the next day. Someone who grew up intensely religious and I had walked away from it all and said, "Rabbi, what do I do? I know I need to pray. I know I need to dive in in order to have the judge have a favorable outcome. But I can't imagine I shall wants to hear from me. I haven't spoken to him in so long. I don't even know how to begin the conversation." You know what I told him? I shall miss us I tip talk. That's exactly why we begin by saying I shall open my lips. Maybe I haven't opened the sitter in a week, in a month, in a year, in a decade. So I don't know where to begin. I walked away. I abandoned you. I haven't been on my best behavior. I haven't lived up to your expectations of me and I don't even know where to begin. So I shall miss us here's where you begin. I shall miss us I tip talk. I'm here. I'm your father. By you guys, I'm approachable. Come. Fall into my arms. Come. Let me hold you. Come. Let me take care of you. Come. Let me guide you. I didn't say it in the dress show. Couple of people asked, "What happened?" The young man appeared before the judge the next day. What happened? Aren't you curious? I shall miss us the judge let him off. His feel was answered. He had a heartfelt feel after the conversation in which he was convinced that I shall does want to hear from him. And a parent always wants a child. And the more authentically you surrender to him and you recognize that you need him for that outcome and the more he's going to hear you. And the answer is not always yes. I don't want to you know I hate those stories where well, he met with me. He dove in well and therefore he got the outcome he wanted. The answer is not always yes. In his case it was. And I give us all a brothel that for us the answer is also yes. We're going to continue with questions and answers only for those who are here. And while I'm tempted to record and post, it is only for those in person. So any topic, nothing big or small. First of all, I want to end by encouraging you before you go anywhere tonight. Behind the beam is back and it's better than ever. We put out two episodes already so far. They were fantastic. Tonight tonight my co-host is none other than Rebbetzin Yocheved Goldberg. Together we interviewed Mayor Michelle Weiss of University Heights, Cleveland, the first female Orthodox Jewish mayor in America. And we interview her. It's a fantastic conversation. You don't want to miss it. It drops tonight at 8:00 p.m. And now any topic, nothing big, small, salacious, controversial, Halacha, Shkafa, anything that you have on your mind.