Conversation with G-d - Rabbi Akiva Fox

[Music] there's a famous kids book about the uh the train I forgot what it was called the train that could I think there were the Caboose the Engine That Could and it's the famous story of the little train that was trying to go up the mountain and it had to keep saying I think I can I think I can and ultimately it did and and one of the lessons that we're supposed to learn from this story is that if you think you can you will be able to achieve that which you want to accomplish that which you're trying to accomplish now this doesn't work in every aspect of life I know for instance that every morning for the past uh 30 years I have looked in the mirror I said I think I can grow hair I think I can grow hair and it has not happened yet but I still do it every morning um with the hope that one day perhaps um somewhere deep within uh my uh folically challenged head there may grow some sort of growth perhaps but saying I think I can is one aspect of speech that helps us internalize something which is that if you think you can and you express it then you will learn to internalize that which you're expressing another another way that this comes out sometimes when people are in uh you know in a scary situation or in a time of trauma uh one of the things that we find ourselves doing even subconsciously is Whispering to ourself I'm going to get through this you can do this I can do it one of the reasons that even though we don't necessarily know we're doing it or why we're doing it is because the power of speech has the the ability in a certain sense to relay to the heart something softly calmly that in a certain sense is already there you just need to remind yourself of it it's a phenomenon that exists so talking again don't talk to yourself don't uh you know don't walk in the street I know I I used to tell my wife that I talk to myself cuz I'm the only one who listens but don't talk to yourself but the point is that the power of speech has the ability to calmly you know boost the heart uh with that which exists already and remind us of what is inside so one of the ways that we find this specifically about faith and amuna there's a there's an interesting thing that you'll find um with Jewish people specifically uh Orthodox people there's a famous joke about Seminary girls that if you ask a seminary girl what is 1 + one she will say imem to which meansem if God wants it to be it will be two now we're going to delve into this for a second um what when we say that imem or with the help of God or these are phrases that are constantly being uttered by Jewish people they don't even realize how often they say God it's literally it can happen in a conversation so many times that they're oblivious to it that we are oblivious to it if you'll look in the uh in if you'll look at the video um that we've we've done I I myself have said it probably hundreds of of times we will this is something that we constantly have at the tip of our tongue the name of God we're always saying it meaning that in our lives Hashem is very much a reality a tangible part of our very existence it's something that we constantly have on our minds Hashem is not just there he's here he's with us we realize that and we learn to internalize it by the amount of times that we bring him into our life by the way we speak so again what we're learning the message that we're going to learn from this is not just to say the word a million times that's not the point the point is that sometimes you can realize a person's closeness to something by how he speaks about it by how often he mentions it I know that with little children this happens all the time if a if a little kid wants ice cream the amount of times that he will remind his dad or his his mother about that ice cream or the amount of times that he's going to speak about it is endless why because it's something that's very much what desires that he wants but it's also something it's part of his reality in the right here in the here and now this is something that we are constantly saying this is because it has become part of our speech we have in a certain sense an elevated speech elevated the Jewish people and the Jewish language above all of humanity but it's not just that it's that the constant review in our daytoday life in our day-to-day conversations with constant reminders of God's existence and how much we need God this will help us very much so when we were discussing speech and how speech helps us internalize amuna or helps us reveal the amuna this is one of the aspects this is one of the express that it has which is that if you want to see it play itself out go speak to somebody and listens H listen how often he he he enunciates God in his life I know from myself andir AEM I'll say it right AEM this will come out good but I know for myself growing up my grandmother is a wonderful special person who constantly utters this type of phrase but not only does she say this in Yiddish or in Hebrew but in English this is something when she says when somebody sneezes it's God bless you and she says it in English please God you'll be able to go or may God God will help you to have a safe trip this is a woman who lives with faith who lives with amuna this is not just a way for her to teach herself or to train herself to follow the path that she wants to lead no it is an a revelation an expression of what exists deep inside that the amuna comes out when she says these type of things you realize how close she is to God or how close she is to belief in God that this is something that she constantly says and this is something a lesson that's in it for us all which is that there are certain phrases and again I'm not uh overzealously trying to encourage people to utter these phrases at at any given moment that's not the point but the point is that the power of speech has the ability to bring out certain things that already exist inside and therefore when we find ourselves with the the name of God the name of Hashem on our lips both in prayer and in thanks and appreciation and in every aspect of our day-to-day life it's always connected to that will help us be able to learn what already exists so deep inside of us that God is with us and like that poem that I spoke about if I would look into your heart my fellow Jew if I would look into your heart I would see the face of [Music] God