Enhancing Our Emunah - Rabbi Moshe Lazerus

[Music] Lynden achievement many years as I was growing up and I had a question I once had a question that was bothering me and never asked it I just I heard my mesquite him at her lucky - ear telling me that haben Girma him and others a sham so once I asked and the answer I got was you know made of linen you learn Torah if you learn Torah you will have yours Hashem I assume that means you sir on the loose and also you'll have that was a sham I felt very funny because I have I done in fish as several times and it didn't have that feeling I think I extensional yesterday I was there not today but I was standing on this way and I was deafening to something it was a sham I was that me to him and he knew that he was there but to say that I loved him I have a family I have friends people I love what is love what's this Mitzvah the Mishna burro in Sioux and Allen from the barrel Allah says that he quotes from the Savior he no dama there sheesh mates with the media's one of them is a visage Shan you happen to love Hashem so it's thinking about it Alizee Shem is it's a mitzvah it's a heel that means were obligated to love Hashem you have to love a sham so there it is a sham puts a gun to our heads and he says you're forced to love me you have to love me I was one speaking in England in a shul early in the morning I didn't realize it at the time but the the object the standard that it was speaking before was some kind of phone that was sending out my my my Russia to 7,000 people who listen to this this program every week and I was a guest speaker didn't warn me and and I was speaking in this very hush of British called Golden's green shoe and I was talking about I was I was talking about actually I was talking about emunah you have to believe in a Shannon the believe in a sham you mean Hashem is here we all said Dora Dora Dora chance for Kozma Lafayette squared oh that means his cupboard fulfills everywhere it feels here where we all right now so each one of us has to ask ourselves do we feel ashamed covered anyway that was the point that what will make me so I told them you can force somebody to say something you can force them to agree with you you can force them to say I love a sham you tell them enough that's the right answer I go over to one of the buckram in the Shiva tell me you know do you enjoy the you learning Torah you have course you know you were very great you know you loved a sham yeah of course I love a so I told this group of elderly men about 50 men there most of them were older and what I used to think was old until I pass 70 then I said to them I know that I look like a person and I sound like one even my wife says that but I'm really a frog I'm really frog well you know that's like in a British overseas do the eyebrows go you know like past the top of their hats you know like who brought this young this Yankee he's a frog they're looking at each other I said that's right I'm a frog and you all agree with my frog because you see I opened my jacket and they said you see this under here this belt is gonna explode if there's one person here who will not agree that I am the Frog I'm going to blow this whole shul up with myself well yeah all kinds of reactions you know looking like this they go back what I said and now I'm gonna ask the question is if one person any person who doesn't agree that I'm the Frog raised your hand nobody raised their hands I said oh so you all agree on the Frog huh I'm sure they want to get out of there yeah so I confessed I said the truth is I'm really not a frog but you were forced to say something because your friend you get killed you didn't really mean it we say things that we don't always mean even when it's things like I love a sham in order to do that mm-hmm so this thing that bothered me this question bothered me because I didn't love a sham I didn't dislike him I wanted to love him I tried to love him I went mm-hmm I went it didn't work I tried the love of it I don't know it's like I know what love is so I decided I better find that what love is because it's a few of how could I not love him so I decided I'm gonna try to find out for myself how I could really feel love for sure because love is an emotion one several years ago I discussed this subject and they asked in this forum I asked can someone tell me that the definition of love what is love you know I got all kinds of different answers love is when you care about somebody when you do something for somebody when you show it those are all actions love is an emotion you have to feel something you have to feel something for a sham that's very hard if you don't know who he is people want to make a relationship with a shun I have to meet him to come and they're not just ballet juvett also they will everything in the color and all the goggle and they have asked me so how do you how do you do it and you feel it's not an easy question to ask ourselves why don't I feel loved fresh and if you don't if you happen to be fortunate enough to love my Shem then we have to stand up for you and if you think that you love ish and it could be the era knowing yourself you're not in touch with your emotions there are two approaches to dealing with this question mm-hmm in the laboratory that I have I tried I've tried this on my children my grandchildren and I'm trying and my great-grandchildren I haven't seen in years also my great grandchildren yet okay so the oldest one was only five but my children and grandchildren it worked and they they have passed me by with flying colors I wish maybe I thought I started doing this earlier it would have been I've been more successful for myself I'm just an all of them there are two approaches one approach is the approach of the cola Cevallos and Cheryl Bettina however those tells us all the miracles and all the complexity that occurs protocol goes to the veracity gives us we can see we can feel they can taste all these gifts of our chairman he gives us that week we benefit from we like these things we have cause you know those of us have parents or children or relationships friends we have all these things that Hashem is giving us a VAR AA Hashem has for us of a rabba a great love for us we say it every day we don't say that they say I was shot I was so long we know that a sham loves us but it's similar to the people in that shul we accepted it could be that we accepted when we younger and therefore we now of course we know why sham loves us if we don't think about it the ballet Musa pickin on bhai Buster to spend some time thinking about these basic ideas can you imagine what it's like maybe you do I don't know again for me it was it was a to put on tefillin in the morning like this a college bar oh-ho I hope that I'm gonna give you a novice for what I'm doing now and I want to thank you for the privilege of being a Jew every day you know it's like when you put on you it's film like that and you could imagine that Shem smiling because that's what he wants us to do well Sabo says look at all the complexity look at the haka that I Shem put into the creation into us I want to suggest the following this is something that that I been talking about it for over forty years make a list of 50 things at least 50 things I say 50 only to give yourself a sense that that you have a lot from a sham things that you have for mission your health your eyesight your clothes all the things that you can think of that you benefit from my full everything start making a list if you're fortunate enough to have parents but that then if you're fortunate enough to have siblings so you have a good relationship with put that down you have friends put that down you have Rob am that you can look up to put that down list you have shoes if you need glasses if I take this off this is a very convenient thing of course well god bless me with this poor eyesight so it allows me to walk out in the street sometimes I have to go into town and on the Sun me just take off my glasses you know Baraka sham for that / Shem for the fact that you have a little work with Shem that I could take them off start making a list each and every not just I have parents each one each sibling each friend each item of clothing that you have you have shoes to wear you're lucky right in the wintertime sweater coat to wear that's on your list I did this about 40 years ago I started doing this I write this list and then they said took one thing on the list one thing there was very that I felt was outstanding on the list that was important to me happened in my eyesight and I went into a room in my house my I locked the door my wife couldn't come in my children couldn't come in and I had a conversation with a chef and it was very important that they did it that it had to be audible I had to hear myself speaking and I had to use my imagination our thoughts and our emotions are in our nefesh Bahamas the nefesh Bahamas is a physical thing that it's passed down in the genetic material of every person okay and that's where we that's that's where I'm that's called our mind okay it's not the brain the brain is a machine mm-hmm the average Bahamas is connected on one end to the grain on the other end it's connected two in every syphilis which is part of the Shama the soul and I decided to use this car that the RAM car says one of the co-hosts of the nefesh Bahamas is the my own imagination are you dislike to use this imagination and I said I want to try to thank Hakadosh barukh who for some of the hesed that he does for me I picked up my eyesight I said my conversation was like this I said I sham I want to express my appreciation for my eyesight I said it audibly like this and then I try to use my imagination what would I think that sham would say to me I was creating for myself a personal relationship with Asia so therefore I would relate to me who I am all kinds of different people can have different reactions I've heard I've done this for many years and people have told me that when they did this they said I'm said to them you know I'm so happy finally someone has an appreciation for what I do for them you know and some people said said and I only want to give you more this is only one of the things I want to give you I want to give you more because I love you knew I was a tough guy and I sham said to me something else he said to me I imagined my imagination you do not I said more thing I appreciate your giving me eyesight and he said to me I imagined he would have said to me because I know myself you do not you know really appreciate it you're just saying that and then I said I was thinking to myself when they said I was gonna say no I'm not I really and then I realize well I'm talking to you know it's not good to figure anybody out but you can't fake a shed you know like it so I said okay you're right I but I want to I want you to help me I thought that was like that was good one you know say that yeah come on so help me help me feel this you know this appreciation for your eyesight so I thought he would I feel here you go for that one in a big way but my imagination didn't let me imagine that's what he was saying he said I'm gonna stand you you have a family you have children you do things for them if you do things for them a lot of things to them and good things and you do it with a full heart and you just care about them you want them to be happy and they say I'm sorry I can't feel that appreciation of what you do how would you feel I said I wouldn't feel so good Sam said to me so how do you think I feel that's a shame this has been ten minutes okay could we have down to tomorrow you won okay you beat me up this time okay I tried tried tried actually I connected to it well they realize that mm-hmm he doesn't owe me anything I take the sub-grantee so what did i do how do I do it I was giving schmoozing yeshiva it was massage most 7:00 7:30 Sheila's and I told the ball the buckram who were there I said a small group of muttering I said let us go and try to go to the head Rocco eat supper and get back to Seder nights later with our eyes closed so we all tried including me it was a riot for the rest of the sheep let's use guys now you know when I put his hand in the soup you know like I was like you know but when you don't have the eyesight it's like health people don't appreciate the health that well Newton started to begin to realize what a wonderful gift it is and eventually I was able to say that sham sham now I I do appreciate it and that's one of the I've been telling people to do this for over 40 years and people have come back and tell me the works you know I say go into a room by yourself with nobody around don't do but anyone's around because the men in the white coats they come to take you away you're talking and you're imagining a sham is gonna you know yeah because you have to do it audibly you have to do it portably because if you just think it's it sounds powerful because you wanna know something the shell is really there you see her it's here I hope he approves of what I'm doing right now he's here and when you talk to him but we Davin we saber off a talk at our second person that means you're talking to someone who that's one way to do it one way to begin to feel love for Hashem and to build a relationship with Hashem is to look at the way that a Shem does Hess it for you and if you can build on that and look at how Shem discuss it for other people as well and I have to stand up for you it's also wonderful but there's a better way harder way in order to love someone even if it's some with a capital S you have to know something about him if there's something about the person him or her or whatever it is that you love you have to know there has to be something lovable about them in our relationship with Hashem mm-hmm which is as bar a to navara with a Niva is the bar a ain't self he doesn't relate to us we can't relate to him there's just no way but he allows us and the round cow begins the safer of there Hashem by the first paragraph first chapter is called hibari because that's how we relate touch them he is the beret we are the NIV Rock he has given us a Torah in order that we as never can relate to the beret and in the Torah he has described his personality he he describes things about himself Hashem is all head he loves his kill Rahul maja noon Erica pmfs the Vienna's these on earth on earth Athena cambia on earth food is at the honor for Rashi on the pasta to each Moshe autumn EcoLog on says what was that love of motion a new right she says oh no oh no savoir faire une facade lon he was an arrogant but he was a sob lon what does have 107 is someone who can take punishment you could insult him you could say things about him and it doesn't the Tomer Devorah says that hashem is an on earth why because of the way we treat him you'll see anybody make the bench as honest oven pull over to her chamber hisses Arafa me who knows in back in the harbor saw you talking to the roberto show them all my walking tremble when the phrasing where are we talk to it's hard to keep consciousness is that if you don't develop a relationship so we trying to tell the lab regime first in all egala the TAM media mineral samara to develop this relationship appreciate hashem is he is so good his hessen is so great he is so me so smart he is so powerful the Rambam in the second pair excuse me you soviet-era says that if a person wants to get to this level of avila europe so he should look at the universe look at my son created the same form it says he says something else is about learning but in the mission Atari says this what he says and when a person thinks about it deeply enough and he understands it and then a siesta contemplate it and think about it then the yard he'll begin to feel powerful love and awe of a sham so we need time to think about it I was mm-hmm I was I was the first mayor of Mali ammos the issues there were three of us that that started this he showed I went to a shop to get a brothel to start the issue and told him that we want to start a place for cheap housing for bonito toriel community we did always work out that way but I'm shocked I'm sorry first I went to the steigler and I went to the Sackler and they yes the stapler for Braco for this project he gave us a profile and then he asked them for us comma I asked him will he give us come out then I kept saying his name that the Rev said that we could encourage people to come to you he says come on it says no Russia only Russia and you ask oh my hair is the God Allah door and was event whatever he says devar shame it's devotion I didn't hear the second hand I heard this from the stapler so we went from I went from the from just thankless house I was with at that time a grain in Manila show um he was one of our partners and we went to workshops house and I've heard what it was and we asked for shop if it sounds like a good idea could we encourage people in his name and he said yes I said give us a Bravo he said you have to go to this tackler here's their go to that door we really got the brush-off in the sideway turned out later on I was it was shortly after I moved here to Sorel I didn't know what the Green Line was and apparently Molly Olmos was over the Green Line and shock found out about it so when my friends if I'm welcome tell me the Rochelle wanted to see me so I my back to a shop and he said you didn't tell me this over the green line I said what is the green line and I said what is so I said we're supposed to go up the Jewish Agency in invested two million shekels and attach need of this issue and if the Russia Shiva tells me that we shouldn't go so then I'll take responsibility for the 30 families that gave up their apartments you know and find places for them and he says guys for hooli let me tell you not to go I didn't understand my shock because I was young and I was inexperienced and I and I didn't pick it up I didn't pick it up he really preferred that we gotta go but he wasn't gonna tell me not to go I didn't know that so we went I don't know at the end his story is because it's still there I'm not I left after several years but I continued to have a relationship with her shop many for many years after that he said I know you didn't know what you're talking about why did I mention anything about Molly Ellis because when I spoke to her shop he said to me the message that you have to give people is that they have to do things fashion everyone you have to do things you have to bench when you say because Amazon you bench to our college ball it's a chocolate badge sir Shiva you know I'm talking it you talking to Billy tombery top I say he said I said listen you she would do it so we have to make it real we have to make it real a chorus for who is so good that when we stand before him and we davon without willing to the power the owner of the avoir he's there he loves us he does expect this to be perfect He loves us even if we're imperfect in fact he knows we're imperfect and he focuses on our importance and the efforts that we do do even if they seem smaller their own eyes this is something you have to try to do over time the five-minute exercise that I was talking about the people who have done it have told me it's changed their there not just their lives they it's changed their avodah in the sense that when they davon they feel like did that make this there's somebody there this was miss Alicia Shari says when he talks about casinos he talks about darvany he said you should davon as though mama SH you Stanley for our Shannon he used the word mama SH if anyone had ever learned it sales to show him at least 20 times does he have to in order to really appreciate it you understand that the wrong hog was the missile is he showing that was him he was talking so only someone who knows that could say mommy chef Tom Amish feel like that by the way then you have to feel like you're talking to fresh air but when you feel like you're talking to a chef use the term knowledge and that's something that we should all strive for we should try to teach our children the child featured anyone who we can our friends and ourselves first of all you know I'd like to end that college Bravo should give us a Hummer now it's she was a Baton Rouge need a valium a new the core of we will see the Binion de Semak - and we'll be able to serve a college Bravo with one third at least another third of shots that we can't do we learn about and be able to see his love and feelings that's something we could do now we could start working on now and my brother to you and to everybody here it's the broth I give my children as well and I feel that my parents gave me that we should be so her to live in you most assur long of emotion Ashiya Lazaro so hi mama [Music] [Applause]