Pesach: Liberating the Animal Within You - Rabbi Yossi Kantor

nice ideas about the Seder before we get into the specific Mishnah that deals with the Seder okay so first off what is the Seder what is it why do we do it why do you do we do because it's fun it's nice to eat cardboard bread and and really spicy vegetables and it's fun again besides that meal itself most of the foods we are actually not so nice the wine is nice but not like a mean the wine is a little bit difficult you go drink two cups of wine I dare any of you guys actually tell you not to do this my first Pesach I read you have to have four cups of wine right we'll talk about that maybe what if therefore comes about what but right people drink normal wine and if you follow the Mishnah and you restrict your eating already from while it's still day and you go into Pesach without eating and you drink two cups of wine and you don't eat anything do you know what happens you get drunk and actually sometimes kind of sick and tired so I personally even if you like wine I recommend first recommendation is to dull down your wine a little bit maybe grape juice maybe do half wine half grape juice as what i like to do or they even sell they sell yawning doll it's basically sweet chewy wine that's like six percent wine so I'm just telling you as nice as it is to drink a big gulp of real wine it's it's not worth it because you actually unless you can really hold your wine so what's the point gentlemen why are we doing a seder why we're commanded to remember the exodus of Egypt and it did you guys agree with that statement um I agree but you know we do remember the extra divisions you know when remember the exodus of Egypt every day how many times a day twice a day we remember the exodus of Egypt there's a whole place in the haggadah that says i've always been trying to convince the rabbi's that it's a mitten from the tour to remember the exodus twice a day and i was never able to until Ben Zoma another rabbi came around and he gave a nice drush that showed from the Torah that you have to remember it twice a day so if we have to remember today and we do so why we're making a seder we're spending a whole night remembering the exodus you'll have to do it like this you finish ma the third paragraph you say an irrational kingdom I share its ACS chimera time I wish I move took you out of the land of Egypt so you did them it's a baby so why waste why spend a whole night doing it have I stumped you gentlemen ok so I'll tell you the answer now don't give them into sukira remembering Exodus you ever remember you have a mitzvah from the Torah called see poor they got it to live in caballo meheux and you will tell over for your son on that night about the fact that you left Egypt right yeah but you have a special Mitch up from the Torah to tell over the entire exes now let me ask you a question gentlemen let's get a little sicko logical why is it that we have a mitzvah to tell over the entire story and also admit so to remember why would that be why not say one or the other why did it both a sham commanded us to remember twice a day but also to to spend a whole night talking about it why give us to mrs. why don't you tell to remember to relive it one of us to remember it ok ok i had remember i do it's rita the idea that on Pesach night you're basically charging your remember battery you're charging your battery with going out of Egypt energy for the whole year and twice a day you're expected to remember it and kind of like bring it back into our mind it's almost like you know oftentimes what you do is you want to know a lot of information right anyone who's tried to memorize or know a lot of things right you learn a large amount of information and what do you do after you learn it up all the information you try to summarize it and try to make additional and additional summaries until the point that all of the information is locked like a zip drive into a small amount of information and from that small amount of information you can expand it in your brain and remember everything that you once learned understand so maybe that's one of the ideas behind seaport telling over this mitzvah that we have a mitzvah to really just go through all the information and get it and live it and and and review it and know it and then every day we're bringing it back up into our minds oh the remembrance of Egypt besides remembering it every day is there any other times that were expected that we talked about leaving Egypt any other mitzvahs that involve leaving Egypt to fill and we talked about leaving Egypt what else kiddush wearing kiddush a fairly TS meet Roy remember living in Egypt what else feeling because I'm a zone yet we mentioned that a sham took us out of Egypt you're the question general why are Jews obsessed with remembering that God taketh out of Egypt why are we obsessed with it what what is the connection between leaving Egypt and and kiddush right shabbos right shabbos there's a special thing in the kiddush of shabbos that we were mentioned they're leaving leaving Egypt right now very interesting idea right like we think more along the lines of this metaphor that we're talking about leaving the Egypt inside of us what is shabbos have to do with being freed from slavery shabbos have to do with it as a matter of fact I'll say the opposite shabbos is a very huge sign of slavery right you ever talk to her let's say non-religious to use any funds that you're a shomer shabbos uses oh you keep shabbos meaning you don't do this and you can't do this and you won't do this me you don't i do friday night's starter I do whatever I want right so who seems to be the free person Michael just with just with his nod makes us know the obvious truth it seems to be the non-religious guy anyone disagree with that yes oh very nice in front of the millions please what's your answer so no constraints is this true for you it's a fallacy that you heard it here much better and much more English than I could have set it right it's a fallacy to believe that having no constraints is freedom why not sorry closed the tickets of the slaves that of his eye steaks the world's nature Oh Rob Reider its quotes tagore II who is too gory a I think like an Asian poet yeah you've heard this is where I remember everybody's guys like wow he really knows everything he says he says the human soul is like the human soul is like a violin string why is a human so like a violin string because a violin string when it's on a table so mostly looking to say that violin string is free right only when you put it in a violin it's constrained but what happens very obviously right who wants a stupid violin string sitting on a table doesn't nothing makes nothing but once you constraints then the music comes out so the same is with the jewel right I would have been so that that via the constraints via knowing what we can and can't do that's where the true music of the Jewish soul can come out right you ask any person I always i love this example right if any person says I you know what I want to just do whatever I want to do where on earth to do people who want to grow work like that got some guy let's say uh let's say Michael he's he's a very very intense weight lifter right take I come she says you know I want to be super strong I want to be the strongest guy ever he says these weights I'm just gonna start lifting them right what would you say to that guy yeah so whatever whatever I'll figure it out I do what I want and he's definitely gonna come stronger right the best example let's say a guitar player a guy wants to be go I want to be the grip I'm gonna be a great guitar player but I wanted to be so unique so creative right so so just give me that guitar what's gonna happen he's gonna really stink right only via restriction and learning the basics of what you can and can't do with a guitar is there any way he'll even become a good each other and become a unique guitar player right best example ever anybody ever watched LeBron James play basketball right now he is a very unique player is very unique right one of the beautiful thing and beautiful one of the cool things about the new video games right I sound like like what was the new generation of football and basketball video games I don't play video games I just make fun of people who do but when I used to play them right the biggest difference that I saw change was that they were able to have eat with each unique player his style of dribbling right his style of crossover style of shooting right whereas the old video the old basketball video games okay she had Jordan and Pippen other but but they all shot the same right so you have these unique styles that each player the way he laid it but how did that hadal de Bruyne James get to his unique style when he was ages I don't know when he started playing basketball six months maybe from the ages of six months to five years old was LeBron doing anything different from anybody else no only once you submit yourself a complete submission to two rules will you be able to reach any level of creativity within that system right you say that about life as well that's the Jewish Way submit yourself to the rules and via the submission completely to the rules that's where your uniqueness will manifest through that it's a bit of what I would call a paradox actually her sheer one time about the same topic you notice called the paradox I think I might ask the paradox of individuality that isn't it funny but the only way to reach individuality is by what complete conformity so funny huh well you heard it here and that's the truth you want to disagree with me you heard all of my examples okay so Oh an individual the only way can do something unique whether it be in the field of let's say medicine in the field of music in the field of basketball in the field of life there's a certain aspect of confirmation to learn those traits confirmation to the rules right right a guy who's plucking a guitar with his tooth and just making noise is that called unique no he's called like I don't know a loser you know call that guy unique oh you're so unique I maybe when your child is like six years old you're trying to give him a high self-esteem oh that's so great that noise you're making but not everyone knows like no one would pay money for that no one people would pay money to not hear that so that's Judaism in general but what's shabbos shabbos the same idea shabbos is the idea of right that leaving the slaveship is to actually abide by the laws of the Torah abide by and via the keeping the laws of Shabbos sorry let me start over this guy who says that i'm a slave right and he gets to everyone you know what i asked this guy listen you guys all have to ask the non-jew the non religious jews in yourselves right when he says oh you just decided why you can never do what you want get me what you want anymore always have to do what God says you're such a slave right note i asked that none that non-religious you inside myself and across from me who's being a slave right now meaning according to you who believe that the body is everything so yeah the body's enslaved right but I don't believe that that's who I am I believe I'm a soul and if I'm a soul so I'm not in Simon slaving the body so the soul can do what he wants right because we understand that the tour is the true yearnings of the soul so I've been slaving the body in order to and you who's not keeping shabbos she does whatever you want who's really the slave your souls of slaves your body that makes sense so now we understand that's the idea we're trying to escape slavery and like you said not just pesach not just when the Jews left Egypt but that was a microcosm of all the slave ships that we leave now what's called leaving slave ship leaving the bonds of whom the bonds of the physical body physical body and where do we see that you have to leave the bonds of the physical body shabbos you have to any person who has an addiction right i personally i'm addicted to biting my nails I said it national television right but on shabbos you're not allowed to detach something from its life source right the Malacca in the Michigan was that they they cut they cut stuff they cut living things so the told of that right you have the of which is at plants that that's what they did in the mish cut wheat and plans from its life source and and the told uh right the general principle is that you're not allowed to detach anything from any life source right hair beard hair um right to fingernails right so shabbos comes around and I have to overcome my yearnings of the body to want to bite my nails in order to in order to serve this all in order to serve a sham another idea gentlemen is that is that the only thing that we're dealing with with pesach know even though that is a very beautiful spiritual idea but what did I spoke about this work what did the leaving of Egypt peach the Jewish people right what lesson in Jewish thought did the leaving of Egypt implant in the Jewish people forever what does that mean what does that mean in in in the realm of day-to-day life that is shem and then everything comes from one one big thing I should take the 10 plagues for example each of the plagues I forgot where I saw this house maybe I'll bring it in one day each of the plagues showed the Egyptians it brought it showed them that even this ash mms power over right even this that that after that like like to take the first plague red plague of of blood richer than that their power source was not powerful than a sham was more powerful than their parcels and each each plague showed more and more how much betta Shem runs every little thing so the leaving of Egypt is a big lesson for each and every one of us that to remember inside of ourselves at a Shem is running everything ok good Seder what goes on at the Seder basic ideas don't know what do we do at the Seder what mitzvahs what mitzvahs first we going to do when there was a temple and even when there's not a temple what mitzvahs uh first one there was a temple what midst us from the Torah did we have korbin mozza morrow what and currently four minutes for mr. Natori your former student or a matzo mar or arm quorum pass off any judgment and entailing over sir what do we have today Matt so we don't actually have more because they say that the midst of Mara that we do today is rebenok why because the Torah Mitzvah the Torah mr. required that you do with the korban pesach right right so good so now we have the midst of matzah ok so now basic understandings of each of them right what is right this is you should know that we get to a point in the Haggadah right maybe let's all just go to this when we say that a person is obligated to mention three things three things in order to be yo to his Mitzvah of you'd see a superuser time what are those three things that a person has dimension Oh Reuben Galileo Mayer call Shalom associative our email uba PESA lawyer zydeco bustle my person has to mention these three things in order to fulfill his obligation right PESA matzah kumara what the act of telling over the super eight serious crime what are we essentially doing the majority of the time we're telling over what the miracles playing over all the miracles that a Shem did for us right when we left Egypt now let me ask you a question want another contradiction what is the word se dará mean order why is it called order so let's look right first page we have the order of the Seder what is se termine order so really do to translate this sentence would be the order of the order but ok we call the Seder state it really means order why is it called order because we have 12 how many steps 15 steps to this now two ideas here gentlemen why is it called seder why is the essence of this thing that we're doing based on order why is order so important here it's just because okay we do things step by step by step guys like we said the goal of pesach is to leave Egypt every age every every year we try to leave Egypt like I said not just on saturnite but every day we try to leap and and overcome the yates a heart inside of us the Egypt inside of us how is that dawn the only way gentlemen is via order step-by-step process what's the point I'm trying to say has anyone heard the book masiela yashar him what does Miss Celie's to shower I mean the path the track what everyone called the path of the just and what is he outlined for us in that book a step-by-step process of becoming the greatest human being that a person can become and he says it's based on a brycee of pimco spin yard that says this trait leads to this trade this trade leads to this trade and and a person's goal is to go step by step in order to reach the highest heights so what does that teach us not only with our examples I've used before but now we have this almost as an example is that the pathway to the greatest being that I can become is via steps right by going step by step not jumping too quickly but by going step by step along the lines of the path that our forefathers have taught us right that there is a exact given for us step by step process of how to become the greatest person we can become right and like I was telling Michael actually from under my rabbis that Judaism mirrors weightlifting or weightlifting mirrors Judaism in two ways right what do we say the first rule is of weightlifting no pain no gain right that you have to be moving and you have to be challenging yourself but the other is you have to move little by little right you can't jump step and some of the most difficult things that people had to deal with in Judaism are when you try to skip steps you try to act above your level of righteousness right but if you follow the path of the just that the round call sets out for us which is from the from the 10am so you have a step-by-step process of becoming the Jew that you want to become and you see also from the say there have the same idea right that's step by step good now let me ask you something when we think of the word order right order means kind of like organized right things are going very good right now the natural world the natural moves with an order correct patterns right everything fits into its place a miracle when a miracle be called out of the ordinary a miracle is disorder a miracle is when something disrupts the order of the nature natural world so another contradictory question gentlemen how could we call this order if the entire time we're speaking about this order all the Americans it took place all the times that there was a lack of order in the world right order me the world goes via and order right nature goes by an order you go to work you make money you do this you get hurt you've ever right cause and effect there's a normal cause and effect that runs nature that's called order and our night of order is specifically speaking about all the disorder that happened when we left Egypt it's a cute question I don't know if it's the best question but it's cute it's a nice question and it and it really gets a very important aspect of Judaism the essence of a Jew the order for a Jew is outside the realm of order what does that mean a Jew's way of life a Jews order is in the realm of miracle that a Jew as much as we might look like a normal human being as much as me I act and sound like a normal non Jewish person Jews are not governed by nature right and that's a very difficult thing for most people to comprehend and I have a feeling a lot of the guys in this class or saying themselves it's not true right juicer we also have to go by order it says about avril lavigne oh right avril lavigne when God told Avram um you're going to have children how old was Avram forgive my ignorance but I'm not sure but I know above 90 and his wife Sarah was also super old right no way in the realm of order would Avram of you to be able to have children and what does it say about that what happens when I'm happy new asks God how am I gonna have children oh it says in a tour beautiful words that a Shem took I've rama v new hoots outside right and it showed him to he said look at the stars these stars they're going to be like your children gonna be like these stars right whether in a mount or in the amount of shininess that they're going to be a light to the world gentlemen did that answer our levinas question how am I gonna have kids your kids are gonna be like these stars that answers a question so a feat lalita prasad doesn't seem like it answers the questions but lafee lead roush the deeper meanings that I rabbis teach us he was answering what was he telling I've rum I remember said how am I gonna have children and God told Abram took Abram outside and what it really the deeper meaning that I rabbis teach us is that he took him outside the realm of nature he took him above the stars so to speak and he says this is going to be your your your line that you Jews are not bound by the realm of nature so much so gentlemen so much so we're forever be Shimon bar Yohai gym by oh hi once again a part in the good more that a lot of people depending on your background don't love to hear if Sherman yokai has argument of you smile should a Jew learn Torah all day not do nothing else sit and learn that's rebbi shimon bar yohai and rubbish wall says no a person should try to work a little bit and then learn the rest of the time but a person should try to try to should work because if he doesn't work so he could become poor and then he's gonna need to well if you read me Sherman yokai he held that for every single Jew that every Jew has the ability to be on the level that you could learn and be be completely involved in service of God the whole entire day oh and what how do you get food what about food what about providing for your family so he points to a plastic in the Torah then the tour it says that the non-jews will do your work for you that non-jews will come and they'll take care of the things that you need they will serve the Jewish people I see what I'm saying I already I can already tell people think well this is our tour this was a tour tells us I don't feel so bad because Gomorrah says right be shown by our ice sheet this reassure him by heart that if the Jews are doing what they need to be doing all of the physical labor that needs to be done for the Jews the non-jews will do it rebbi shimon new hi he said this but he held that this was however you should be living he just might have been the only person to do it fully that to that amount right but um yordas or right we all know the story of shimmer how you went to a cave for 14 years right and that's where he got fed and miraculously via carob tree and he was able to produce bizarre from those a time there um now now listen don't get me wrong gentlemen the other side Rebbe schmehl people always say and the truth is at the end of the day the GU Morris the war ends many did like rebbi shimon bar yohai and they were not successful many did like rubbish ma rubbish ma said that a person should work as much as work what's necessary and then learn right and they were successful right so what does that seem to me does that mean that rebbi shimon bar i was wrong and rubbish mom was right so people are mad Iook be my dad can I were gentlemen be exacting in my words many did like rebbi shimon bar yohai and were not successful ah anyone is a little bit of gomorrah many but but few that for the selected few can live on the level of fukushima barrio cry right and until this day we have people that that completely have given themselves up into service of a shaman and learning of Torah and there you see that they are supported and that's really that's really how it ends up being that for the masses for the masses it's like rubbish mile and for the UM few that want to take up upon themselves that that lifestyle that they can live miraculously if they really believe it but just don't get don't ever know what everyone gets so excited you know Rebbe Schmo the hope of time and his explanation of in the mission of Brewer right if you want to look this up it is after he'll coast Fela talks about when a person goes out to work the certain helices Cobus crime says how much should a person work he gives a very good thing he says imagine you were obligated imagine you are obligated to support let's say at a cousin or an uncle who was poor and he needed help so you support him what rules and regulations would you make for that cousin right would you get him steak every night would you give him a vacation would you give him anybody ha what lifestyle if you were obligated right well say you could see it a cousin's a bad thing happened to him and he couldn't go to work right she's that fine I'll support you how would you support him you give him would you meet meet every night vacations vacations what anyone we're gonna pay for his vacations so the whole time tells us whole time says a think about how you would support someone like that and and tri tri is very difficult but try try to live according to that that all the dainty's of the of the world is not it's not what did you should be interested in we should be trying to be interested in spiritual growth right and not to be spending all of our time and money on this guy a good story just want one serve anyone heard the server the call it sky him how he was able to live like this just a very interesting story they had a guy who come came to visit the whole time um call this time lived in riding in a very modest place and he was the RAB of the entire Jewish people and this traveler this rich traveler comes up over time bags in his hand and he says to the whole time look he had a whole time n maybe a table a chair he said the folks claim you're the biggest rabbi in the world and this is that you live like where's your stop you know where's your you know where's your furniture it's like it's like how can you look like this Copas crimes says to the guy where's your stuff right like any good you you always ask answer a question with a question so where's your stuff you guys heard this thing I'm Louisville story clovis crime says the guy says back to her Italian says well I didn't bring all my stuff I'm just traveling you know I'm not he says i'm not i'm not i didn't i didn't bring all this I didn't bring my stuff with him just traveling you know all the stuff that I have is is waiting for me back home I don't so was the cover the crime say back to him tell us time I'm also just traveling I'm also just traveling right that the point is gentlemen that that like I said with a person realizes that this world is not the the main thing that we're after so he'll be able to you'll be able to live a little bit more of a modest lifestyle because he knows that the true enjoyment is is is not is in the next world okay thank you gentlemen you