Escape the Life You're Trapped In | The Sukkah is a Real Matrix — Rabbi Botton

Like all things in life, nothing always goes  as planned. And we see here, even if God's   the one that made the plan, how could that be  interesting? If God's the one making the plan,   how can it not go as planned? Because  God's plan is created with variables,   making a movie over here. That's for Hollywood to  make movies. I'm making life. And to make life,   variables. It's opened. The end is opened.  And when you have an open-ended story of life,   then life can turn out in a multiple different  ways in actuality. And that's the idea of what   happened with this essential two-month trip that  turned into a 40-year trip. Because God said,   "It's not me that's going to dictate as a dictator  would in a country that's been controlled by   somebody. I'm not going to dictate what's going  to happen. You're not my robots. You're not my   actors. You're my people. You're my children. And  you're going to create your own future, your own   reality based on your tests and your trials and  what you accomplish. When if you can rise to your   maximum potential in the most direct way, then two  months from now, we're going to be home together   because this is our home we're going to. And if  you fail, if you get off course, if you fall,   well then I fall with you and on some level I'm  affected by that failure as well. And I'm stuck   with you in the desert or off course with you.  And when you're going to go through difficulties,   pain, suffering, because again being of course can  become very painful and difficult, especially when   it involves an enemy country coming and attacking  you and and hurting you. I'm with you in that pain   as well because again, you're not my robots. I'm  not a dictator. This is a story that's our story,   not just my story. And therefore we go through  we go through. Getting back to the current issue,   how do we detox from our addictions and insanities  that have somehow, you know, piled up over the   years, especially in modern times. Talk about  having an identity crisis. We can't even figure   out what gender we are. I mean, we still know what  intamacy is, which is unfortunate because we don't   even know how to do that either. You know, who to  do it with, what to do. The world is upside down.   And the crazy thing is, if you come and discuss  a world that's right side up, they think you're   crazy. They think you're upside down. My question  is this. God could have essentially said, "Listen,   you Egyptians were evil. You took advantage of a  position of authority and power that I gave you,   and you abused the Jewish people. Well, it's time  to pay for that. They're taking over. Why didn't   God let us stay in Egypt? It was an beautiful  country with so many advancements. The center of   the most advanced socially, economically, indust  industrially. This was the place to be. It was   the the Manhattan, the the the best place in the  world to be. Why not say, "Hey, Hashem, ho ho,   don't don't don't be so uh quick to to run away.  We could just stay here." And and the question is,   why not? I think it's a legitimate option. Stay  here. It's beautiful. Everything's built. Okay,   they were wicked and they took advantage of us,  so we beat them. We killed them. And whoever's   left will have to follow us. We're in charge.  We're the majority in this democracy. So,   they'll follow us. It'll become our Israel. Why  not? Wh why move the Jews to Israel? Move Israel   to the Jews. That's my suggestion. What do you  think about that? So, here's where we get now   into an important point because we're talking  about how do we achieve where we're trying to   reach? Can we bring is it that simple to  bring Israel to to the Jews? Can we turn   Egypt into into Israel? Or do we have to leave  Egypt in order to reach a place called Israel?   And so here, let's appreciate. So, Hashem says,  "No, no, no. We have to leave." And where am I   putting you? I'm putting you in the desert. What's  in the desert? Nothing but you. Nothing but you.   What do I mean? None of your habits that you that  were created in Egypt. None of your addictions,   none of the insanities that you embraced and  lived with for those 200, 300, 400 years,   none of that is coming with you, you're going  into a desert with nothing. For example,   let's appreciate if a person wants to change his  life, right? He's we'll go for an extreme, a drug   addict. I mean, we're all addicts to something. Uh  but let's talk about the really the harsh When you   see a real drug addict and you almost the person  starts to disappear because of the dependency,   it's it's really sad to watch especially from a  loved one. And this drug addict, let's say he has   a moment of inspiration. He he sees an inspiring  movie, maybe the movie of going out of Egypt with   Jonathan or the new version, whatever. And he's  inspired. You know, if they can get out of Egypt,   if they can get out of their slavery, maybe I can,  too. But the problem is what? He goes to sleep   and he wakes up and it's the same him in the same  environment, the same home with the same pitfalls,   the same things that that he's drawn to and the  same friends, the same things around him. And so,   how how realistic is is a real change going to be  to face his enemies and his demons within without   being able to separate from them? How likely is  he going to really overcome them and become this,   you know, renewal, this trans transformed person  into this unbelievable saintly angelic being or   just just a better person, a different person?  How do you break out of the you to become a   new you? If you don't change, if you don't go  somewhere, if you don't leave, you can't press   pause on this cycle of life you're stuck in.  How do you get how do you break out of life?   So that's why it's important to leave Egypt. Egypt  in a deeper sense spiritually means to be trapped.   To be trapped in you, the you that you created.  Because again, remember, we'll take a little   lighter approach right now. The first time you  touched that chocolate, that candy bar, you were a   free man. You were not dependent on chocolate. But  once you had the first chocolate and liked it, so   now you will be eating chocolate for the rest of  your life and everything else you touch. Whatever   you touch, something in you pulled you towards  it or something in it pulled you towards it.   Whatever is the pulling factor, you you you become  drawn to and attached to everything you touch and   everything you're involved in. How do you change  that? How do you if you decide you want to change   that? How do you change it? How do you break away  from that? Well, this it's like breaking out of   prison. And that's why we had to break out of  Egypt. And that's why we all in our lives today,   if we want to see real change, we have to break  out. And you need a place to go in between.   There's a place between the home you want to  leave, the prison that you are trapped in, and the   paradise that you want to go to. There's a place  you have to be in between. What is that place?   So here we see the deep secret. It's no place.  Before you can pick a new place, it needs to be a   new you. And then you can go to a new place, a new  you, and create a different tomorrow. So now let's   put all this together. We're stuck in Egypt, and  everyone is stuck in Egypt. We're stuck in my job,   stuck in my my marriage, my kids, they're just  not it's not working. Something's not working   there. The personal relationships are broken. My  job broken me broken. And unfortunately, if it's   very serious, addictions, abusive relationships,  broken, broken. How do I I don't want that. I want   a better life. I want a different life. So God  says, "Listen, do what I did with my people, you   know, 3,000 years ago, 3,500 years ago. Do what I  did. Send them to the desert." Right? That's what   you need to do. Get out of your house. Get out  of your routine. Yeah, it's comfortable. Yeah,   it fits. But don't forget, maybe you've squeezed  yourself into it and it's not such a good fit.   So leave your house for a week. It's very very  illogical. It's actually insane to leave your   house to go into a shack into in nowhere. And  that's what essentially circles is. Leave your   home where you're planted, where you're rooted.  Leave your routine and make your home nowhere.   What does it mean nowhere? You're making a shack  in the middle of nowhere. It's in the middle of   a grass area. Could be in the middle of the  street. You make this small area that you're   designating as your new home which is nowhere  and it's nothing. It's just a few pieces of   wood and everything in that place is temporary.  Plastic chairs, plastic table, no fancy art,   no fancy cars, no fancy interior design. Nothing  but you. Nothing but you. And what you make of   that place with living people, with you, your  thoughts, your activity, the people around you,   it you you take all of the externals and all  of the superficials and you're stuck with you   for a week. And that's maybe a chance for you to  get to know who you really are, what you like,   what you don't like. And then after that week of  of working on it, of going through this process,   this mini mic microcosm of of of going  out of Egypt, of staying in the desert,   so you come back a week later to your same home,  but it be can become a different home because   you're a different you. And that's where  the change can begin because you can wake   up. You can you can gain a new perspective.  You can see things that you were missing.   It's really taking a time out, stepping out of  yourself, out of your life, and then stepping back