How to Stay Connected When Life Is Crazy - Rabbi Hillel Eisenberg

[music] >> A Torah Anytime original series. Over the last year, I've had the incredible to interview many leading rabbonim [music] and rosh yeshiva of our generation. And no matter who was sitting across from me, I always ended [music] the interview with the same question. How do we stay on fire in today's crazy world? In a world that distracts us and exhausts [music] us and can slowly cool us off. How do we stay passionate and connected and alive? And their answers were powerful and honest and real. And every one of them carried a spark. [music] Here are some of the highlights because the world isn't exactly going to turn down its heat. So, we have to turn up the flame. Just in >> [music] >> in in closing, can you give a chizuk for the hundreds of thousands of regular Jews out there who are just trying to be good people and make a living and live in today's [music] confusing worlds? Can you give them a piece of advice that would keep them on fire in their Yiddishkeit throughout their lives? Don't get distracted with all the other things. But mom teaches you and always remember and always be focused on doing the mitzvahs. [music] So, I would tell people to get busy. We need to be busy. I started my own learning project recently. It's mamish changed my life the last, you know, year or so. We need to be busy. We need to be busy. So, we have to get be busy with things. We have to be busy with with [music] women, busy with chosid. Find shiurim. Different people may talk to us. [music] You know, find shiurim that we like. Find s'farim that we like. Find chosid projects that interest us. [music] We need to be busy with good things. Man, busy with learning. We need to be busy with good things. If we're not busy with good things, I think it's inevitable, as chazal tell us, we're going to end up with sin. We'll end up not feeling good about ourselves. Again, we should recognize who we are despite everything we've done wrong in the past. I just shared with my back home an incredible Gamara that Nimus Ra'anan who killed millions and millions of people. It's hard to say it over but it's a Gamara in Gittin nun zayin amud beis. He became a Ger Tzedek. How he was accepted I don't know. But he became a Ger [music] Tzedek, he became a Yid. And I think there's a godless on Nimus Ra'anan's part. He should have said, "I killed [music] millions of people. It's over. Kill yourself. You can't, it's forbidden. Okay, so lock yourself in a room." Can't, he became a Yid. He didn't say I killed millions of people so my life is over. We cannot take away the past. Certainly most of us didn't murder anybody. We can't take away the past, especially we hurt hurt people. We could do Teshuvah and Hashem has a lot of compassion. But there's the whole present future. But we need to be busy We need to be busy with doing good things. We don't live on an island, we live in a context. So we have our family, we have our colleagues, we [music] have our neighbors. We have people that we meet when we travel. Because Baruch Hashem to you, >> [music] >> can you be a positive influence in their lives? Can [music] you be a light in their darkness? Can you smile and compliment people who are going through stress and going through anxiety? This is the call of [music] our era. This is what we have to focus on. That's what it's all about. Till Mashiach comes, we can say we were there. We tried our [music] best for you. This is what it's all about. foundation and on all those sprinklings and drippings and make it a gishmake Yiddishkeit. [music] Sprinkle and make it come alive because that's what the Ribono shel Olam wants. He wants you to have a dark and a numb to know >> [music] >> there's something in Yiddishkeit for everyone. There's something in Torah and in Tefillah for everybody. And you got to know what's going to be marked as a mission but [music] it is you haven't found it yet. The quest continues every single day. We're left with a yellow my show. It's not about [music] the destination. It's about the journey and every year it is on a journey but keep that quest keep that search [music] going and find the people that are excited about you to sky. Follow them and read from them. Listen to them. Talk to them. And keep that fire burning bright and sometimes [music] the fire is going to Sometimes it won't be the same passion. Won't be the same purpose and that's okay. As long as I'm constantly on that insatiable quest to get closer and closer to Hashem. To Vegas with this on the ocean. That's the end goal and I may should give everybody see how to dish my my eyes broke leader. See how to dish my to continue to enable and empower every single year to live with [music] a Hashem. They need to they need to know that the is compelling. If you if you use your and look into it a little bit you're going to discover that it's that it's cool MS and we and there is no competition in the world. It is okay if your fire [music] is not burning every single day. Not you know if let's say one day you wake up and you say you know what I'm really not on fire. You can go to and we're going to learn and we're not on fire. Because that's life. You know uh We try to >> [music] >> we try to continually stoke the flames. And don't get down on yourself if the flame is not burning at at a particular time. You know there are ups and downs in life. My the God bless my my the God bless. There are though some techniques to ensure [music] a certain uh, meaningful connection to Tyra. A, make sure you have a rav or rebbe that you're connected with because we're not computers. So, when if you're just going to sit in front of a safer, then you're just taking [music] in information. I don't want to say we're living in the worst times ever, God forbid, but I do want to say we're living in [music] probably more challenging time to be a Jew than in a lot of other times, especially in this country. On the other hand, we're also the beneficiaries of unprecedented [music] bracha. Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants us, wants us to connect with him. He wants us to to [music] reach out. He wants us to to be a chellum with each other. He wants us to [music] improve. Hopefully, if we keep those in mind, we'll we'll move away and we won't fall into the pitfall of uh, of hagalus. What I would say, the koach of the neshama, the power that lies inside of us, we have no [music] idea how great it is. We deny our own potential. Each of us has explosive potential. [music] We have yicholus. Break out. Break break out of those confines of the uh, line that I'm not supposed [music] to go over. Do it. Don't worry. Learn it. You never let Don't worry about it. Learn it. You never experienced a Shabbos? Go and experience Shabbos kid a boy like it's supposed to. When they're singing and dancing and you didn't enjoy it, go and sing and dance. Break that line. Break through. Help out. Be a member of the of the cloud. Know the potential that you have is tremendous hashpa'ah. The great Rebbe Nachman me Uman said such a word. Dor l'dor shabach ma'asecha. Every generation praises you. Dor l'dor shavach l'cha, Hashem. We praise Hashem. Shavach l'cha, Hashem. Life is tough because Hashem wants to bring out goodness in us that otherwise would not come without these challenges. But Hashem is ultimately a God of love. He loves every Jew. He's mashiv every Jew. Every Jew has a purpose [music] in the world. And when times are tough, speak to Hashem in your own words besides davening and saying >> [music] >> Tehillim. In your own words, "Hashem, I love you. Things are very rough for me. Can you help me? Can you give me the strength? Can you give me the insight?" And although it's not likely you're going to hear Hashem speak to you, you're not going to hear it in that way, but I think, you know, your heart will be lighter and you'll feel that you have the wherewithal to go ahead and do what you need to do. And that's also Hashem answering the prayer. Hashem is answering your tefillah by giving you that koach. So, don't give up. Don't give up. Try to appreciate life. See the blessings even in the difficulties. And when difficulties come, always ask yourself, "How can this make me a better person?" And then, you're taking the difficulty and you're making it a gift.