Parshat Yitro: Waking Up Jewish - Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair

the verse says and yet Joe heard one of the blessings I say every morning is blessed are You Hashem king of the universe who has not made me a non Jew the question is why do I make this blessing every day was there any chance that I might have woken up this morning and found that I was no longer Jewish that my name was now Christopher and for this I must make a blessing thanking God why isn't this blessing a once of thing that I should say I don't know it my permit sir and that's that sometimes holiness can look a little bit too holy yet ro was convinced that to become Jewish he had to be on a very lofty spiritual level before he could convert and so he held back from taking the plunge so what changed his mind the Torah says that yet ro heard what did he hear Rashi says he heard of the splitting of the sea and the war against the Moloch Yitro saw that even after being raised to the highest levels of prophecy of the Red Sea in which the simplest of the servants had received the greater prophetic revelations in the Hesco the prophet despite this the Jewish people still had to do battle with a Moloch the evil inclination incarnate yet Rose saw the being Jewish doesn't mean being on an unassailable platform of holiness rather being Jewish means struggling everyday with the eight Sahara with the evil inclination and that can only be subdued with prayer can merit and the help of heaven once yet Roe understood that he decided that he could become Jewish every day I thank God for the privilege and the responsibility had been created Jewish and every day I wake up and become Jewish again by reminding myself that being Jewish doesn't mean just having the Great Sea splitting moments of spirituality in my life it means getting out of bed and being prepared to fight my own negativity with the help of heaven [Music] [Applause]