How to Renew in 2023 - They Party. We Pray. - Jeremy Gimpel: The Land of Israel Fellowship

so here's the deal um it's the first day of 2022. oh yeah and oh by the way yes thank you everybody 2023. um I sort of celebrate the fact that I had to be reminded by all of you of that that that's the case that I didn't even know but anyways yeah go ahead happy 2023 for those who care for those who care well so that's the thing like um I actually just got a little bit of physic that the laboratory said listen if the whole world is like recognizing this as a new year we should use it as a time for Renewal every time there's an opportunity for renewal for chuva to start over again if it's a new month a new year Rosh Hashanah the secular year the Gregorian year it's a new year let's start over let's renew it let's like bring renewal to our lives and I'm just thinking about like what a difference what a shining light this Fellowship is to the world I have little doubt that sometime in the future there will be historians and theologians that will be looking into this fellowship and saying what was happening there this was the beginning of this incredible movement of the Torah going forth from the Nations and and how the whole world enters into the new year with parties and celebrations we enter into the new year with prayer with Torah with inner work and reflection and what a shining light that is for the world to see that even in the secular New Year if it's a time for Renewal then the way to enter into the new year isn't with New Year's parties and drunkenness it's to enter in to the new year with prayer with Torah and with inner work and with reflection and so what I would like to do now is to start off the new year with a prayer together and so we are in some ways um Beyond Time because there are people that are in different time zones from Africa all the way to America but I know that there are also people that will be listening to this that are not even alive and they're going to be joining us in this prayer as well so it's beyond time it's beyond space if you're listening to this on Monday or Tuesday you're joining us now with one heart with one Land one Torah with one God one Fellowship Hashem Master of the Universe thank you for bringing us to this new opportunity 2023. thank you for bringing us together thank you for allowing us to gather together on the first day of this New Year bring a new light into our lives help us renew our path help us renew our love renew our commitment renew our covenant with you with the ones that we love most help us remember our priorities and remember they are what matter not what other people think not what other people say but what matters in our hearts is what matters and the people around us most they matter the most and so Hashem bless us and bless our loved ones guide us and Shine Your Light in our life and as we start this New Year in a relatively dark time in the season help us shine the light of Torah into our lives and into the lives of everyone around us and may we live as a shining example of what it is to align ourselves with your word with your vision for the future with your vision for the world and how we should live in it may this year be the best year of Our Lives I mean okay and so why um do I want to specifically Focus about the new year I could just ignore it a lot of people don't like the fact that I'm even recognizing the new year but what I want to do is I just saw that the Parsha right now is literally giving us the key to really unlock hidden potential in this upcoming year help us start the new year afresh and we are to where we are today all of us in our own lives because of everything that's happened to us in 2022 meaning we are just the next Domino of whatever has happened before that and everything that happened in 2021 and our lives now are the culmination of all of our thoughts and all of our past choices and we are here now because of everything that has happened up until our past has led us to this moment in time and in truth to the atheists and to the nihilists that see nothing spiritual in the world forget about it you are a hundred percent an effect of your past the past is the ultimate cause of your present is the effect you have no choice in the matter we are all just physical pinballs that are bumping into the bumpers and bouncing around and and you have no control you have no choice and the sad and hopelessness life that that brings upon the atheist that philosophy shapes uninspired choices drains their motivation and leads them really on the road to Hell on Earth and in perfect timing for the new year the Torah gives us this incredible story of Joseph how he reveals himself to his brothers and that's actually a key of revealing our soul in the world and changing everything about whatever was in the past and all of a sudden when we arrive at Joseph's stories he tells the story of how it happened to him he reveals himself to his brothers and when he tells that story over to his brothers we hear a totally different story it's the first time in the tour that a story is retold but the narrative is totally different I learned this Insight from Rabbi Jonathan sex so just look first pay attention to what Joseph says to the butler when he's in the dungeon when he's in prison here's what it says in Genesis chapter 40 verse 15. I was forcibly carried off from the land of the Hebrews and even here I have done nothing to deserve being put into the dungeon so he's telling over the story of his life I was betrayed by my brothers I was kidnapped I was thrown into a prison and now like this is where I'm at but when he eventually Reveals His identity to his brothers we hear a totally different story look at what it says in chapter 45. here's what it says I am your brother Joseph the one who sold who you sold into Egypt and now do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourself for selling me here because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you for two years now there there has been famine in the land and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping but God sent me ahead of you to per to preserve for you a Remnant on Earth and to save your lives by a great Deliverance so then it was not you who sent me here but God he made me father to Pharaoh Lord of his entire household ruler of all of Egypt so now we're reading this like whoa It's not a kidnapping story at all anymore the Betrayal has become a story of Divine Providence and Redemption it it wasn't you my brothers it was God you didn't realize that you were a part of a much larger plan and though it began badly it's ended really well so don't hold yourselves guilty we were all being directed by a force greater than ourselves greater than we can really understand and Joseph in that story is teaching the world how to enter into a new time how to enter into a new year usually people think listen I can't change the past at least I can change the future Joseph is teaching us when we do the inner work and we reflect on the past how we tell the story of our lives changes our lives that we can redeem ourselves from the past that's why the atheists are wrong because it's not just a pinball at one point you can stop in everything is in the hands of God except for uracha mine instead our ability to see Heaven are awe of heaven we have no choice or any control over anything outside of us but we have control over one thing our Ira mind our ability to see God in our lives no one and nothing can control or Force us to choose to respond to reflect to believe or to interpret we have all of that power how we see it is entirely in our hands and Rabbi Sachs writes it like this this is a direct quote if we cannot change the past then it is always there holding us back like a ball in chain around our legs we cannot change the past but we can reinterpret it by integrating it into a new and larger narrative that is what Joseph was doing and having used this technique to help him survive a personal life of unparalleled ups and downs he now uses it to help his brothers live without overpowering guilt so you think about that now reflecting on the past going into a new year in prayer with inner work telling our story with mashiach glasses knowing that everything in our life must be part of our gaullah it must be a part about our own Redemption not only frees us from the past but it helps free the people we tell the stories to like Joseph's brothers parents have the most incredible power to help their children shape The Narrative of their lives in some ways that might be the most important purpose of parents is to help their children build a healthy strong story of their lives with all the ups and the Downs the victories the defeats and the Lessons Learned you build a story into how you want to see the world and when you open your eyes to mine to something much larger to God's plan then you can enter into a new year Unshackled by the past and as we enter into this new year just want to bless us all that 2023 be a totally new year and as long as we enter into the year with the power of tefila the power of prayer and erotica mine to unshackle us from all the causes that would have affected this year we're totally free when we bring God into our lives it gives us the power it's the power given to every believer to change the future and so we should be blessed this year with the best year of Our Lives amen my friends shalom