What Sets Jewish Spirituality Apart? - Avraham's Secret Gift to the World - Rabbi Shmuel Reichman

a man was going on a dream and he appeared to the right and he saw this this 24 25 year old boy was the most peculiar smile painted on his face okay it's a little strange but I'm gonna mind my own business a couple minutes later he saw the boy pointing as hysterically out the window and saying dad dad look we're passing by the trees way above was a little strange but it's a sight it's gonna keep this on business couple minutes later before he started doing the same thing but this time you saying dad dad look look the clouds are passing us by it's at this point he just felt them comfortably it turned to the father of this boy and said excuse me maybe you should think of taking your son to the hospital see if everything's okay so the father smiled him and said actually I just did we just came back from the hospital my son just got eyes a new set of eyes he's been blind his whole life this is the first time in his life he's ever been able to see obviously the man felt really bad he realized that nothing in this world has ever as a sees everything has a story everything is really deeper then it seems then it's so important to realize the power of perception how we perceive the world so I Michael do right now is to ask a very simple question what did Abraham bring to the world what what is with I've remotely known for what was so great about him so if you ask a regular person most people will say that what was so great about Abraham as Maya theism having brought monotheism to the world before I am no one believed in God but after I from people start to believe in God he was the first Balki Ruth now there's a very obvious problem with that is that that's not true Adam believed in God and Adam just lived a couple generations he died a couple of generations before Adam Noah lived in the same generation as and he believed in God so what exactly is going on Shaymin ivar lived in the same generation if you want to say no I died a little bit before Avraham Haim and Eva were teaching Torah Yaakov went to the the basement is a shame in a ver clearly people believes in God before half-round so the simple answer that people give is that yes it's true that some people believed in God but they didn't teach it to the public ivan was the first one that spreads to the masses the idea of God but I'd like to suggest a much deeper answer based on a couple of very deep alibaba the ideas like this Moshe Shapiro's talks about this they're on cloud talks about this the idea is like this in order to really understand that we have to first understand the different levels of spirituality you see the most undeveloped understanding of spirituality is that the physical world was a dangerous place the physical world is unspiritual Sinhala and in order to really be spiritual you have to transcend the physical world which is also why so many of the different philosophies of the world they posit that in order to be spiritual you have to transcend Buddhism if you want to be a spiritual person in Buddhism you have to go and completely remove yourself from the physical world you go to the mountains you meditate on your navel you have no interpersonal relationships you probably don't even talk that much Buddhism is a very transcendent version of spirituality in Christian need to be spiritual you have to be celibate priest element which is the complete opposite of Judaism Judaism there's a mitzvah to have to marry and have children in Islam you're not even allowed to own wine Judaism we're giving by personally of the kid where we're ready to give a ham wine after eight days you have wine almost every time of kaduche on Shabbos by marriage on young totem what exactly is going on because in Judaism it's a very physical religion physical mitzvahs physical things what exactly is the concept of spirituality are we supposed to remove ourselves from the physical world are we supposed to live within the physical world what's going on so there I'm calm there embalmer allah many other Bosch explain that the physical world is not just a place that we live in the physical world is an expression a manifestation emanation from the spiritual world as well just like a seed expresses itself into a tree as I go you were all once a zygote and then you became manifest and expresses you knew then the physical world is an expression of the spiritual root which means that the physical world while not the spiritual root itself is potentially very spiritual however it is important to also realize that's potentially unspiritual it's potentially unholy the question is are we supposed to remove ourselves from the physical or to use it and that is what reason comes to teach that is what a form comes to teaches that the goal is not to transcend the physical but to use it and the most important principle to understand this is the idea of potential as there are Mahalo explains in many places and the morale everything in this world is potential but central is neither good nor bad it can be used for the good or the bad electricity you can use it to power your house or you can get an electric shock money you can use it to support Tory you can use it to create chaos and murder and do all these other horrible things with it good looks a great personality you can use it to corrupt people or to inspire wisdom can use it as a corruptive tool or you can use it to to enlighten to help other people it's not what it is it's how you use it and that is such an important principle evil evil is when you misuse something's potential something could be used for the good and you misuse it for the bad rah evil it only is a breakdown it's where something can be used for one way we break down that paradigm you shatter it and create chaos the more power there is the more potential there is a couple hundred volts and you can pinch our Jura 'pliance twenty thousand volts twenty thousand volts you can light up a whole community but with a couple hundred volts the worst that could happen is you can get electric shock twenty thousand volts in the electrocuted you can die the more power the more potential for both the good or the bad as such an important principle is also why it's why the guimard refers to Torah as the table once they get Zara now the simple are saying that tor is the antidote for the it's a hard said the American Duchenne tough labrum abyss but the deeper explanation is that Torah is not just the answer the table means spice that what makes it better the Torah enables you to use the HR cuz either isn't good or bad you have physical desires emotional desires intellectual desires different components of yourself but the goal is to use all the aspects of yourself properly to harmonize them - first the Harmonized them into a oneness and to use everything proper as the Vilna Gaon explains Mela that's the ideal of life Malik has moaka live conveyed first develop your mind then express that into your emotions your heart and then conveyed lemons liver it also covered how you express honors when you recognize something it's how someone is expressed into the world you're supposed to manifest your thoughts and your ideas through how you feel valued live and that's the goal to create that ultimate harmony the ultimate one is colleen is one of the opposite cavae lammott a tough lie made men that's what bilham tried to do create column distraction to take this one step further the Gemara says something very very peculiar it says that when the gates of her is challenging you what should you do you should bring it to the base my dress why do I bring it to the base my dress why not destroy it the answer is that the goal isn't to manipulate and destroy rates or AIDS or is not good or bad it can be used for the good or the bad bring it to this madness means you using that same nature for the good I serve them hydraulic swings of the Pharisees wrong half hey that I'm Shavuos we bring a carbon of heights but I thought Pisa is all about destroying plumbing it's destroying the physical now first you have to we'll talk about in a minute the ideal is not to just destroy the physical and get rid of the physical but you use it to bring it into the framework of Torah living a great life of utilizing and using the potential of the physical world which is why we do believe in the idea of transcendence the idea of the meditation transcending the physical that's why um Kippur is all about becoming a mama all the most of em keep our transcending the physical world but that's not the ideal that's the starting points the first stage to transcend complete transcended spirituality perfection but then you have to come back that into this you world and you use the physical that's why right after M Kippur we have circus some onsen casino tsimko space actually tha a time of evening a lots of food delicacies of engaging the physical world because Circus is about the survey is about engaging the physical using the physical properly uplifting the physical world which is also why introduced and we don't believe in the solidus II in Judaism there's a mitzvah unlike Christianity ISM it's what they get married have children the most spiritual people have tons of children it's not you know getting stuck in the physical world is using the physical which is why whenever we have as mine a time where we engage in the physical a time where we trying to really uplift the physical we have kiddush when do we have kiddush we've cleared my marriage with potential was animalistic relationship between man and woman we have looked at with Kennish when it comes to a bris mila we take the most physical aver the most physical organ of the human being when we uplift that with kiddush job is the the mundane physical days of the week we looked at with Shabbos why do we have it with wine because wine as the Vilna Gaon explains the most potentially spiritual entity and all physical foods physical elements why because wine is potentially distracted we all know stories of people who did terrible things because they got drunk but it's also the most potentially spiritual anthony wine as the villain explains all physical things decay with time food rots gets moldy decays wine gets better as it ages also spiritual things get better as the aged wisdom gets better as you go as you get older you don't your body your physical body starts to fall apart your mind and your wisdom develops and gets better if someone rose a man our bath explains that when it comes to wine when it comes to most physical things the more you eat the more full you get the less you want when it comes to drinks the more you drink the less you want when it comes to wine the more you drink the sweeter it becomes in the thirst you come and one also has the potential to expand your consciousness expand you into the infinite realm beyond the physical realm so I mean if nasty soat it's a single match iron and sewed because you enter into a realm of not just secrets but the secret realm that would it comes with an expanded consciousness into the spiritual realm and this is what Abraham brought to the world however I'm didn't just teach to the masses he taught that you can use the physical world you don't have to transcend it you can come down and use it so Avraham the kamacho Avram is 248 which is same time actually the same number of 248 mitzvahs I say the physical mitzvahs and also two hundred and forty eight limbs of the physical body it's wondrous to think about it the Jewish religion is almost completely physical almost all the mental I'll say safer let's say a couple our mistress of the body you're only a couple mixes with her mind believing in a sham urs i Shama don't be jealous almost all needs are physical mitzvahs why because the goal isn't to be just meditating it's to come down and to use the physical world profit that's what mitzvah Sheikh mu of eating matzah wearing tefillin putting on senses physical actions that you're using to engage the physical world think about why did Avram make all things sa breakfast rash equals some interest to all Ivan's guests had to say brothels when they came to him what's a Braga perfect is a blessing Hashem the rash burn at the time explained that abraha it's not blessing a shame it's recognizing high shine as a source of blessing it's saying everything the physical world comes from Hashem that the physical comes from the spiritual it's sourcing the physical back to the spiritual truth that's what averin represents the physical as an expression of the spiritual and therefore you can engage and use the physical world and this is also something that we have to learn to do we have to learn to see the world in a deeper way just like that man from the story in the beginning that 24 year old to got eyes and was able to see for the first time we have to learn to see for the first time every day to change our perceptions to change the way we see the world because we are who we think how do you think determines how you feel which determines how you live moral a evade if you can change the way you can think if you change the way that your mind sees the world you can change to your entire experience of reality you can change your life because if you think the you've always thought you'll feel the way you've always felt and you'll live the way you've always liked but you can change the way you think you can learn to see the world in a deeper way then you can learn to also live in a deeper way to experience life in a deeper way and to build a deeper connection with a sham with Clio and with yourself [Music] you [Applause]