Torah is Life - Rabbi Akiva Fox

[Music] T we were discussing the the fact that Torah is is the life source of everything in the world obviously God Hashem is the Life Source but the Torah is it's all there the Torah is Holy the Torah is kades what that means is that it's not just words the Torah is the secrets of life itself this includes not just the Bible but this includes all the garas the tractates the mishos and everything that is handed down throughout the generations all of Torah included there is so much to it there is something in the world called a Yeshiva Yeshiva is a study place for men for students for boys and I'll tell you something fascinating that I once saw you know when you're learning in a educational institution and when you go to first grade you get little you know you learn pre 1A you learn ABCs then you read little books and then when you get into second grade you read Cam Jansen and when you get into third grade you read about g roll travels or whatever and every every year you progress a little bit more and a little bit more I happen to have done that I uh I just I I stuck to Curious George and I'm still reading it I find it fascinating but some people many people you progress a little bit more every year and then when you get older and you lose your hair some people when you get that big and that old you look back those books that you were learning there have no impact on your life now meaning to look at them now is is worthless it's foolish you don't go and read you know first grade books when you're when you're 30 years old and not first grade math books you don't do 2 plus two these type of things they they they have no influence on you meaning they influenced you then and it helps you now but you don't go back and read the same books again that is true in every education except for Judaism in Judaism the things that we're learning when we are 5 years old 2 years old three years old and when we're 90 and when we're 60 and when we are at the peak of our Brilliance and the greatest minds are learning the exact same thing as they did when they were four because when you get older and you get smarter you realize that there's so much more in the book that you were reading back then what you read then with shallow superficial Vision or understanding has so much more when you've gained intuition and you've gained wisdom and intellect so it's the exact same book or set of books the Torah the gamar the mishna the MIM everything it's all the very same thing that we're learning then we're learning now but it's with so much more profound insight and if we were to live 120 years if you were to live a thousand years you would constantly be learning because you ain't even touched a drop somebody my father's rabbi sim kman said if you look at a uh uh if you go to the beach and you see you're standing on the where the water comes and hits the sand that's where you're standing and you see somebody go far out you know 100 feet he's by the big waves so to you he looks far away but if you go over on top if you're in an airplane you look and they look like they're right next to each other so the same thing is true with a person's insight and understanding of Torah when we're on this world it looks like you know I just began I started learning the alive Bays I started learning Kash I just I'm not really that much I'm not that I don't have that much uh Brilliance but that guy over there wow he's far he really knows his stuff and when you get to the world to come you realize even that guy he barely started you can only say that when something is Godly you can only say that that when the wisdom that is inherent in the in the book you're reading is infinite there is so much in Torah I want to tell you a fascinating story that happened to me personally there's a Jew he passed away two years ago he lived well if you're watching the video doesn't make a difference but that way so I met him he was very very sick very sick he had a terrible disease cancer it affected him in many areas as ultimately he uh he he died from it and when I went to visit him he had bags coming out of his stomach and of his legs it was terrible and I want to tell you something that he said to me that I don't even understand to this very day and I probably can't portray it in a way that will be understandable but it's just something that I I think it's it's something we may not be able to relate to but at least to realize what we're dealing with he said to me when I looked at him suffering he was yellow he had IVs and bags coming out of him and blood and he could only eat certain things it was terrible and he said to me as follows I would do the same thing over again I would go through it all if you could explain to me a certain passage in gamarra there's a certain talmudic lesson that he didn't understand he said I would go through the cancer again I would go through everything all the surgeries and all the chemo and everything if you could explain to me a certain passage in the gamar a certain talmudic passage it's it's almost impossible for me to say it over but the point is realize that there is not just words and there's not just wisdom in that passage in gamarra that passage in the gamarra was his key to life that passage in the gamar was God himself and when he said I would go through it all again it wasn't that he just wanted to you know quench his intellectual thirst that was God the words of the Torah are the words of Hashem IM they are the words of God the Torah itself is God himself if you want to connect if you want to come closer to Faith to belief to God then besides looking at nature delve into the Torah don't restrict your delving don't satisfy yourself with saying yeah I read it whatever put your heart and soul put your life into this treasure map to the keys to the world to the keys to your life and to God himself who guides you through this holy Torah put yourself into it because this is how you are going to connect to Hashem toras Hashem this is the Torah of God this is not a book it's not history it's not stories it's not fables it's not poetry this is the word of God this is the guide book of God toras Hashem when we delve into it we will learn learn to connect to Hashem himself in a certain sense this is what Isaac our forefather one of the ways that he came to a closer connection to Hashem is through Torah now you may think wait a minute the Torah was not yet given when the forefathers were around the Torah is the world the Torah is the blueprints to the world the Torah and God and the world are all one if you learn to read the words of God in Torah you can learn to read the Torah in the world because the essence of this universe is one big safer Torah if you choose to read it if you have the eyes to read it if you can see with a vision that is beyond the typical human superficial the animalistic eyes you can see the Torah in the world this is something that the forefathers did this is something that you can do look you have the word of God in your hands it's tangible it's accessible it's right in front of you grab onto it because it is life delve into it because it holds everything that you need and everything that you will ever need this is the word of Hashem don't just go into the Torah with a superficial view with a limited Vision put your heart and soul put your life into it because this Torah is your very [Music] life