The World Cup On Fire

This Torah class is brought to [music] you by tora anytime.com. Every few years, the world [music] becomes transfixed by the World Cup. An event that takes over the global stage. Every country in the world trots out its best soccer team in the hopes of climbing to the top of the soccer world [music] and claiming the trophy. From Russia to China, Argentina, United States, France, Australia, the whole world shows up. But what fascinates me the most about the entire event are the smaller countries that managed to succeed. Countries like Costa Rica and Sagal and the Netherlands and Morocco, Croatia, Panama, tiny little countries that often [music] take down countries 500 times their size. When you think about it, it almost makes no sense. [music] America with a pool of around 400 million people from which to select its soccer team from [music] loses to the Netherlands, a tiny country that has 17 million people. Countries with every technological advancement and with access to every form of medical equipment are losing to Sagal, a third world country in Africa that doesn't have running water. That doesn't [music] make any sense. How do you explain this? The answer is that [music] America might like soccer. These countries live soccer. [music] These countries breathe soccer. These countries go to sleep thinking about soccer and wake up thinking about soccer. Every thought that crosses their mind is soccer. Every dream they dream is soccer. And not only that, but they are children and grandchildren and greatg grandandchildren of people who were obsessed with soccer. Soccer runs [music] through their blood. It is infused into their very DNA. And therefore, despite being 1% of the size, despite having no medical technology whatsoever, despite living in a thirdworld warridden, dilapitated, dysfunctional country, they often come out victorious because for them, soccer is everything. We are a nation obsessed with spiritual greatness. We are a nation obsessed with [music] godliness. We think and speak and dream about Hashem. Godliness runs through our veins. It's part [music] of our DNA. Our dreams don't care about the people who say we can't. Our dreams don't care about the people who say we're wrong. Our dreams don't care about the people who call us old and archaic and outdated. The Jewish people clutch [music] close to their dreams, stronger and with more passion than any other dreamers out there. That's why we're still here dreaming while the nations of the world have all taken their dreams and have vanished long ago. And we dream about spiritual greatness. And no one will ever convince us not to. The difference between the people who achieve greatness in life and the ones who don't has little to do with their talents or their upbringing or their exposure or their environment. Many great people are brilliant. Most aren't. Many great people could sit and focus for hours on end. Most can't. Many great people are born leaders and they're born thinkers and they're borners, but most great people aren't. The common denominator among all great people is that no matter what and no matter when, they never stop dreaming. They take their hopes and their dreams and their aspirations and their goals and never let go of them as long as they live. We are a people who dream. Lucky are the people who never let go of their dreams. Lucky are the people who don't let mediocrity and normaly [music] and the pressure to be regular rip those dreams of greatness from them. We are a nation of dreamers. Lucky [music] are those who know how to keep on dreaming. You've just experienced another Torah [music] class brought to you by tora anytime.com.