Inspiration is cheap- Beshalach On Fire

This Torah class is brought to [music] you by tora anytime.com. >> A Torah Anytime original series. >> Let's ask an uncomfortable question. If you lived in Mitsry in the times of Yias Mry's story, would you have been part of the 1/5if that left or would you have been part of the four-fifths that stayed behind and were killed? Now, it's tempting to blurt out that are you kidding me? Of course, I would have been part of the 1/5if that left. I'm a fu. I go to Ding. I learn a bit. I keep Shabas. Those crazy Jews who stayed behind in Egypt and got killed during Makas. I would never be like them. Oh no, not me. Well, let's explore this because perhaps we should pump the brakes on our confidence a little bit. Let's ask a brutal, brutally simple question. How is it even possible that after the Jews in Mitzime saw what they saw, miracles the likes of which humanity has never witnessed before and will probably never witness again, there were Jews who still chose not to leave. They watched the Nile turn to blood and they saw frogs crawl into ovens and beds in people's mouths. They watched wild animals tear through Egyptian streets. They saw hail made out of fire and ice falling from the sky. They saw all their neighbor animals just drop dead all at once. This wasn't subtle. This wasn't like symbolic. This was loud and violent and unbelievable reality reality shattering revelation. And yet the maj says inal giml that the Jews who died during makas died because they didn't want to leave. Not because they couldn't go, not because they didn't believe, but because they didn't want to. How does that make any sense? But you had Mosher Rabenu, a man who had light literally reading from his face standing in front of you saying, "Hashem is taking you out to freedom to become holy, to build a bamed to be a light onto the entire world." And their response was, "Nah, I'm staying." How can a person watch nature literally collapse, watch Egypt literally implode and choose to stay there? That question should bother us because if it could happen to them, it probably could happen to us. And this doesn't just happen to the Jews in Mitzim. This pattern repeats itself again and again throughout Jewish history. The Jewish people walk through a desert surrounded by open miracles. Mun is falling from the sky. There's water coming out of a rock. Clouds are protecting them. A pillar of fire is leading them. And yet, what happens? They build a golden calf. They believe the spies. They complain and panic and rebel again and again and again. What? How does that make any sense? Fast forward in Jewish history. You have this dramatic showdown between Elio Anavi and 450 false prophets of Bal. A a public national confrontation and fire comes down from Shemayam. Not sparks, not like symbolism, a roaring fire that consumes the carbon, the altar, the stones, even the water. And the entire screams, "Hashem hikim with tears, with passion, with clarity." And you know what happens like a few chapters later in they go right back to serving of a des how is that even possible? Then you have the era of san arrives to destroy with the largest most terrifying army in the world. An empire that had crushed basically everything in its path. And overnight miraculously the entire army is just wiped out. Tens of thousands of elite soldiers gone. No battle, no strategy, just pure divine intervention. A miracle that shook the entire ancient world. And yet, what happens a little later? Clyra slowly slides right back into the same spiritual mediocrity it had before. What? How is that even possible? Or take the Pum story. A genocidal decree is reversed. The Jewish people are saved in the most obvious orchestrated way imaginable. Hidden miracles that are woven together into this one massive reveal. You would think there would be this spiritual explosion unlike we've seen. And yet when Ezra a little while later secures permission for the Jews to return to rebuild Bikdash, the overwhelming majority say, you know what, I'm good. Like thanks but no thanks. Like I'm going to stay here in Persia. What? After everything you saw, after everything that they experienced, like what in the world's going on? How can people witness earthshattering revelation and still not change? How can people see the greatest possible form of inspiration and still say stay the same person they were five minutes earlier? How does it make any sense? The answer is actually simple, painfully simple. The answer is three words. Inspiration is cheap. That's the whole answer. Inspiration comes, inspiration goes. Unless inspiration turns into concrete action, it makes absolutely no difference how big, how flashy, how emotional, how earthshattering that inspiration was, it will fade. Like, this isn't some worn out, outdated philosophy. This is basic human psychology. Inspiration feels powerful because it activates the brain's emotional reward system, especially dopamine, the part of the brain that reacts to excitement and big moments. But that system is built for short-term motivation, not long-term change. Real change happens in a totally different part of the brain that controls habits and automatic behavior. And that part of the brain only responds to repetition. It doesn't respond to emotion. The brain likes to conserve energy. So, it prefers thinking about change instead of actually doing change because thinking produc requires a lot less energy. It's a lot more cost effective. That's why inspiration can trick you into feeling like you've progressed even when nothing actually changed. Because real growth happens only when an action is repeated again and again. Each repetition strengthens the pathway in the brain. Each repetition makes it easier until it becomes normal. That's why lasting transformation never comes from one big emotional moment. It comes from small actions done consistently. Inspiration lights the match, but repetition builds the fire. So when the Jews in Mitzime witnessed the makos, of course they were inspired. Who wouldn't be inspired? Blood, frogs, darkness, death of the firstborn. It it shook them. It moved them. It made them emotional. But inspiration alone doesn't move a person out of Egypt because they didn't attach that inspiration to action. They watched what was happening. They reacted. They may have cried. They may have sung. They may have said a cute vart. And then the next morning, back to work, back to routine, back to the rat race, back to chasing material life. And before they knew it, a few people were packing their bags to leave miter. And they said, "You know what? I'm good. Like, I'm not interested. I got my business here. I like the idea of starting this whole holy nation thing, but like I like it conceptually, not practically. So they stayed and ended up dying in Makas. This sounds insane, but it isn't. Nobody in history saw more miracles than the Jews in the desert. And yet once the inspiration wore off and it got a little hot or a little cold or a little uncomfortable, the fire disappeared. Yeah, fire came down from heaven on Hara Carmel. But that was weeks ago. Now I'm busy. I've got meetings. I've got plans. I've got shows to see. I've got restaurants to try. I don't have time to be spiritual. Yeah, Perime was a crazy story. We were saved. Amazing. But now I'm building my vacation house here in Shushan. I'm not going back to rebuild the Bikash with Ezra. Ezra will find someone else. I'm sure I got a life. Throughout history, it's been the same story. Jews get inspired and then the inspiration leaves. And unless something turns that inspiration into action, it will remain inspiration. and inspiration is cheap. Which brings this painfully close to home. Why are we so confident we would have been among the fifth who walked out of and not among the four-fifths who stayed behind? Why are we so sure we would have packed our bags and gone with Ezra to rebuild the Bameikdash instead of staying in Shushan saying I'm good right here in Persia? Let's be honest. Don't we basically do the same thing? All of us have been inspired. All of us had moments where the hand of Hashem was so obvious and loud and undeniable. And yet, how many of us quietly just drift back to the same old versions of ourselves, sort of spiritually stale, inconsistent, increasingly obsessed with money and comfort and status and indulgence. Most of us went to yeshiva and seminary and we came out on fire. So, how is it that 3 months into working in Manhattan or managing properties in Delaware or doing graphic design in Chicago and we start slipping into the gayish world around us? How do we slowly become more impressed by paychecks than by spiritual growth or more excited by upgrades than by what happened to the hundreds of shir and schmooen and lectures and tapes and CDs and flash drives of inspiration that we pumped into our heads? Where did all of it go? Why didn't it stick? What separates the Jews who actually grow, who actually build, who actually become spiritually great from the Jews who don't? What did the Jews who walked out of possess that the four-fifths didn't? Why did the Jews who packed their bags and went with Ezra, what did they have that everyone else lacked? The answer is that they understood something most people miss. They didn't let inspiration sit in their heads. They did something with it. They went home and changed one small behavior. Nothing dramatic, but real action, something concrete. They didn't leave the inspiration as thoughts because thoughts are the cheapest, flimsiest form of inspiration. They're easy. They're flexible. They feel meaningful. And they cost you nothing. And that's exactly why they hate Zahara loves when inspiration stays in the brain because emotions are here today and they're gone tomorrow. But action leaves a footprint. When you hear an idea and then actually do something about it. You're not just feeling inspired. You're rewiring yourself. You're creating new muscle memory, a new default setting. That's what changes a person. And being that inspiration alone is not good enough to change people. I'd like to give five simple realistic tools that work to ensure we don't just in live inspired, but we actually do something about that inspiration. Here's tip number one. Pick one action, not a whole new identity. When people feel inspired, they usually say, "I'm going to become a better person." And that sounds meaningful, but it's also useless. Instead, choose one small behavior. Not, "I'm going to work on lashinhara, but for the next week, I will pause 3 seconds before speaking about people." I'm not I'm going to learn more but after Marv I will learn for seven minutes because big declarations feel holy but small commitments actually happen. Here's tip number two. Attach the action to a time and place. If an action is not connected to a specific time it usually never happens. Your brain treats like vague intentions as wishes. So instead of saying I should start learning say every night at 10:15 I'm going to open a safer for 5 minutes. Not I'm going to learn at some unspecific time at an unspecific place. No, no. I'm going to learn at this and this time and at this and this place. This is why fela has fixed times and there's a concept of makum kava. That's why carbonos have schedules because when something has a slot on your clock or a spot in your space, your brain stops treating it like an idea and starts treating it like reality. Here's tip number three. Say it out loud to one person. Tell someone you trust, I'm working on this this week. And once you say it, it becomes real. Private intentions sort of fade. But spoken commitments, they stick. If you never said it out loud, you probably never fully decided. And before you know it, it's gone with the wind. Tip number four, build a speed bump. Most spiritual failures are not acts of rebellion. They're acts of autopilot. People don't wake up saying, you know what, today I'm going to go mess up. They drift. They slide. They fall into habits without thinking. So don't rely on heroic willpower. Sort of design your environment. create friction. Want less phone time, so leave the phone in another room. Want less mushroom? Put a small note in your wallet that says pause. Or want more learning, so leave a saver open on your table. Make good behavior slightly easier. Make bad behavior slightly harder. Small environmental changes quietly reshape behavior. Now, here's tip number five. Review yourself once a week. Take five minutes and that's it. Ask yourself every week, what did I try this week? Did it actually work? If yes, so then keep going or gently strengthen it. But if no, make the goal smaller and try again. No guilt. Don't beat yourself up. Just honest adjust adjustment because Judaism is not about overnight transformation. It's about steady realistic growth over time. Here's the big idea. Stop asking how do I become different person and start asking what is the one small behavior I can repeat? Because repeated behavior becomes identity becomes who you are. That's how people leave Egypt. Not with inspiration alone, with small consistent steps. Because change doesn't happen when we think something. Change happens when we do something. Here's a story. There was a boy in yeshiva who was struggling badly. He wasn't like a bad kid. He just he wasn't rebellious. Learning was simply hard for him. He felt lost. He was out of place a little little by little. He began slipping through the cracks. And one day he walked over to his rebi. said, "Rebi, I'm leaving yeshiva. I'm taking up wrestling." And the Rebi tried to talk to him. He tried to encourage him, to slow him down, to convince him to reconsider, to inspire him. Nothing worked. The boy made up his mind. He was wrestling. He walked out. He found himself a wrestling coach. And that world quickly became his entire life. A year later, right before Rashashana, the Rebi walked into the yeshiva and noticed that someone was sitting inside who he barely recognized. bigger, broader, muscular. And it took him a moment to realize it was the same boy. And after diving, the boy approached the Rebi and said, "Rebby, I need to talk to you." They sat down and the boy said, "I've gotten into a relationship with my wrestling coach's daughter and we want to get married. She's Christian. She told me that she will only marry me if I've become Christian. So, I just wanted to let you know that I am becoming Christian." And the Reb is just stunned. And after a moment, he said quietly, "You know, maybe you should go to Israel for a few weeks just to think about this decision." And the boy looked at him. He said,"I was I didn't come here to ask you. I came here to tell you." And he stood up and he walked away. A few weeks passed and one day the Reby's phone rang. It was the boy. And he was out of breath. "Rebi, I am at the airport. I'm about to catch the last flight to Israel before Shabas. I'm not thinking about anything. I'm just going, but I don't have money for the ticket." And the Rebi quickly, he opened up his laptop. How much do you need? I need $3,000. The rebby opened his bank account and click, he sends. Done. Sent. Go learn. Make me proud. And just like that, the boy was on a plane headed to Israel. Now think about that. The first time around, the boy thought about his future and it nearly destroyed him. But the second time, he didn't analyze. He didn't map it out. He didn't debate. He stood up. He sprinted to the airport and he took off. And that's what saved him. That is how you utilize inspiration. Inspiration in your head doesn't really change your life. Inspiration that turns into movement does. Sometimes the difference between losing a soul and saving a soul isn't like some brilliant idea or a deep philosophical breakthrough. It's one simple step taken before your brain has time to talk you out of it. Because sometimes in Judaism, less thinking and more doing is how you're going to become great in life. You see, all of us are like this in like this. Inspiration is everywhere. All of us hear shim and speeches and watch extremely powerful moving videos. The difference between the Jews who walked out of Egypt with Mishenu or the Jews who stayed behind or the difference between the Jews who went with Ezra and the Jews who stayed in Persia, the difference between people who walk with Hashem and people who fight Hashem their whole lives is not who heard more. It's not who saw more videos. It's not who understood more. It's who stood up and moved. Because inspiration that doesn't turn into action isn't inspiration. It's just spiritual entertainment. So the next time you feel drowning in inspiration, realize something. You don't need more inspiration in your life. You just need more small actions. That's how the Jews left Egypt and that's how you'll leave your Egypt. [music] You've just experienced another Torah [music] class brought to you by tora anytime.com.