Israel Inspired: The Blueprint of Our World

[Music] and now live from Jerusalem you're listening to Israel and spidered radio [Music] here your hosts rabbis Aria bream woods and Jeremy Gimpel [Music] Shalom and welcome to Israel inspired on the Land of Israel Network re brand was here with Jeremy Gimpel and we're launching in second week in a row Jeremy we're rocking this yes it's starting to happen I do tell me about the feedback you got from the last program really positive really positive I didn't know what it was gonna be like because we hadn't put out a show in so long and we just fallen off the radar I feel like I've lost touch with humanity I'm just alone on a mountaintop trying to raise six kids and I said well let's try to articulate what I've gone through what I'm going through and share that a little bit with the world because I mean ultimately this move here has been a move on em you know it's a life based on a whanau there's so many things that can go wrong here and without kind of mr. Miyagi wax on wax off wax on wax off the Emunah muscles and it's just it's not feasible it's an exercise in the moon on when you look around like you said you can't look in any direction without a very real possibility of something happening that is on a very large scale and wouldn't wouldn't be good you know the second day that we came out here the kids still a school hadn't started yet and we had moved into the house and it was such a Bala Gong boxes everywhere and was chaos so he tried to like send know'm and some of our littler kids to like a little day camp so he'd have time to unpack and not have six kids all around us while we're unpacking and you know we had traveled for a whole month before moving here you know we were on ashqelon and we were in two very an ordeal as parents house and Marischal I'm at my parents house and just traveling and traveling traveling and it's like destabilizing for children to be traveling so much and when we finally got here we said no I'm it's time to go to a new camp and it's like I don't want to go to camp I mean you have to go to camps like I don't want to go to camp and though you know the mornings like there's a 20 minute reality of no I'm really not wanting to go to camp and I was telling him you have to go to camp and then teyla and I turn around and then where's know can't find know him where did know him go and you know coming out here it's still so new at this time we're only there for two days you know there's there's a mountains all around us there's cliffs there's rocks there's Arab workers I mean where is he did you get kidnapped I mean the worst thoughts go through my mind and the vid oh no he's with a neighbor rush comes towards 30 seconds worse 30 seconds that I remember in a long time where the hell is know'm and we're running around we don't know where he is and tequila's like call the army and I'm like what is this happening call the army and then Akiva finds no I'm hiding under lovey's bed he's like under my oldest son's bed hiding the room because he doesn't want to go to camp but like those 30 seconds were the worst 30 seconds ever but that's just like a taste of the things that can go wrong here right it reminds me the story my father tells when my sister ran away in a department store and he freaked out he went to though he went to the front exit entrance with the sliding doors and he screamed on the top of his lungs no one is leaving here until I find my daughter he was terrified he found her in the middle one of the clothes clothing circle racks hiding in there but but I think that's the point that anything could go wrong anywhere for anyone but here it's just more dramatic it's more obvious the things that could go wrong but but really it's it could happen to anyone anywhere you know that that's a lesson that I feel like has come to me a lot since I've been here and you know re fold of blessed memory was like a dear friend of both of ours I mean I've known the fold family since I was like in the eighth grade and you know re was like Delta in Israel advocacy Delton speaking on behalf of Israel and a proud Torah based voice if he was just like such a comrade such a brother-in-arms and he was just at the shopping center the shopping center that I go to and a terrorist got him I mean it could just happen at any point at any time car accidents they're just there is so much to worry about and it could just come from any place at any time right and that's why one of the tsukimi every time we go to a different place or a different stage in life or station there's different mantras that we have and I think one that we both have here right now I was zio massage Hashem Nagila Venise macabre this is the day that Hashem is made for us I will rejoice in this day and that's it if you get lost in the future the game is over well that's what I've noticed that the vast majority of my fears and anxieties and concerns are very much about what is going to be what is going to be here what is going to be with finances what is going to be with my children what is going to be with this place what is going to be and the truth is tomorrow there could be a nuclear bomb dropped in Manhattan and the whole world will be changed and we have no idea what the future is gonna hold and spending my time worrying about what's gonna be a year from now a month from now two years from now is definitionally a waste of time because I'm losing my present moment in worries and it's not changing and you're also suffering the consequences of these terrible things happening without them even happening because of the anxiety of the fear of them happening it's just a disaster every morning that I wake up now and the other mornings here have just been so transformational for me to wake up when it is pitch black outside and watch the Sun Rise which I'm doing now every morning is just the right way to wake up right well let's hear you say that in the summer when it's no but the point points is taking what I've been doing and is you know I we have these zucchini some of them are from the Taniya some of them most of them are from the Tanakh some of them are from Amazon from the sages of Israel and they're just reminders and I just sit with those pursue qiyam for like 10 minutes in the morning just read them be with them think about them and it sets my head straight for the day and I feel like that's such a wonderful project I think that's what shahe read the morning prayers is supposed to do but sometimes we get so lost in finishing because there's so many of them that you have to say where like if you just select one pursuit out of each thing sometimes you'll find that just sitting with that pursuit is what it really gets the job that's also what Maimonides said that it's better to have cover not to have intention and focus and know what you're saying on much fewer of the prayers than to say all the prayers with less kevanna with less focus but but at least I'm not hearing what I was hearing for a while from you you know and I've had moments in my life like this too which is what have I done that's the worst feeling that feeling of what have I done is I don't I've never experienced a worse feeling than that but you know one of the things other than the verses and the tsukimi we tap into at different stages in our life is the Torah portion of the week you know it's really it's it's a living thing the tour is a living thing and I find that the the lessons for that week strengthen me and I I feel like these these Torah portions were now are so compact are so overwhelming with beauty and with lessons I wish I could have a month or even a year on just parshat Viera it's so full it's so full but the the thing about regretting the past I have to say in this in the Torah portion right looked and his wife are running away and running out of the city running out of the city before it's to be destroyed and the angel said don't look back right and I think that's a lesson for for all times and for all of us don't look back you look back you're gonna turn to a pillar of salt you can't look back right the the sages same regime maletto wrote the evil are full of regrets I know I've said this before but you know I listen to other podcasts I listen to Ben Shapiro I listen just you pocket and I notice a lot of them they repeat things it's okay to repeat things it's important for ourselves where were people it's important to reinforce important lessons and this is one of the ones Russia a military took the evil are full of regrets and I used to think oh of course they're full of regrets they're evil so they've done a lot of things they regret but I think no it's they are evil because they have this regret they have the regret and they say oh I wish that shouldn't have happened that shouldn't have happened I shouldn't have done that but when you understand that Hashem is really at the steering wheel of your life then there's nothing - you're exactly where you need to be right now right that's what Rebbe Nachman says whatever journey I'm on Hashem I will find you there so so the this torah portion is it's like so full and i think one of the best themes of the whole thing is Avraham's tests right test after test after test i don't think i've rom knew that they were going to be ten tests i don't think that he knew it was a test while the test was happening and there's also a lot of questions like why did he even need to be tested right well what do you say to that why did he need to does God not know what's in Avram of e-news hearts well I want to bring it out even before that not only did he not know that there were tests but Avraham when he first started his journey in lella ha was saying Lela ha I'm gonna make you into a great nation all families of the earth will be blessed through you you're gonna change the whole world you're gonna be blessed beyond measure you're gonna have so much blessing the blessing is gonna over pour through you on to the rest of the world and Avraham is like yes first of all I think that's really remarkable in tequila pointed this out that you can see why God loved Avraham because of what he bribed Avraham with you can know what Abraham really wanted by what God bribes operon with he says go forth from your country to the country that I will to the land that I will show you and what you'll be a blessing to the world and I was like really I'll be a blessing to the whole world that's what I've I'm really wanted I'm gonna be a great nation I'm like he wanted to change the world he wanted to be a player in the game he wanted to shift global consciousness and that's why Avraham was so beloved by God where Noah you know was concerned about his family concerned about his boat but in the heart of Avraham when that was the promise given to him I'm gonna be a blessing to the whole world I'm gonna be a mighty nation that's gonna bring blessing and change the world that's what opera I'm wanted in that's because I've ROM wanted that that's what God loves so much about Avram so not only did he not know that they were gonna be 10 tests he's like I'm gonna move to the land of Israel or to the land that I'm gonna figure out where this land is that I'm supposed to go to and I'm gonna be blessed beyond measure not only that he's not blessed beyond measure he gets there and then there's an immediate famine and then he was promised children but he doesn't get children this week's partially is like what you're promising me Merritt and then it's like right every single test that he has is followed immediately by darkness by darkness he enters the land that he goes to Cana he arrives in the promised land like we spoke about last week and then immediately there's a drought there's a famine he has to leave the land all the way all the way to the very end with the sacrifice of Yitzhak so what's the end what happens right after that Sarah because of that Sarah died she died that was the so all of the outcomes immediate short-term outcomes seemed very dark and that's the passing of these tests I mean you look at the lives of the righteous in Israel none of them had easy lives King David had a very difficult life Avraham challenging life Jacob challenging life all just Moshe Rabbeinu cha like life for these men was hard and what keeps on coming to mind for me is it re folds funeral his oldest daughter got up in the one sentence that I'm just I'm never ever ever ever ever going to forget it he said I'll be used to always say that if life isn't hard you're not living it right and that is a totally different view than the Western mindset of trying to create this you know avoid avoid pain much as they just to try to create a vacation every day of the week to try it is like no life is a challenge life is hard and the tourists sort of a map in a guide for how we're meant to traverse this very rocky world right and you know so when we're talking about the tests why did I ever need to be tested God already knew his heart he knew who our home was and so I always thought it was on some level so Avraham himself could see who he was but the maha rel says an answer that seems sort of obvious experientially personally obvious that these tests are for us to grow to refine our character to expand our range of from our normal predisposition of who we are that the handout Hashem gave us of our attributes and we can now expand our range and and become wider and more encompassing souls so who was Abraham right all of the fathers they represented they embodied a certain attribute and I've Rama Vina was I said kindness compassion and what does he have to do I mean every test I see that Avram did I'm like that had to be the hardest one that had to be the hardest one all of them I can see why there's an argument make that that's the hardest one but when he had to send away Hegar has maidservant and his son who he loved and he had to send them into the desert with nothing but a little bit of water I mean that's it to die this is the embodiment of compassion I mean the Torah says he was very distressed about it but distressed would have to be and you know and an understatement but he had to be willing to go above and beyond and expand his capabilities for Hashem in order to best serve Hashem so you want me to give you any who you might take on it yes what were the first I love that answer I think that's beautiful obviously the tests and the challenges that we go through they like they refine us they mold us they make us who we are it's imagine if if life was just a big bowl of cotton candy we would all just be fat and spoiled it's like the challenges in life are what build our character what build us into who we are you know the move here out to the mountain was so hard for me you know I found myself just like crumpled up and just suddenly just knocked out and I look over my shoulder and I see tehila and she's like we are moving to that mountain full speed ahead she like didn't miss a beat and it was like only through the really really incredible hard times was I able to ever really appreciate how incredible wonderful amazing tehila is like without the challenges it doesn't even give us the potential to bring out the best I mean Eric's eastrail is a rough neighborhood I mean we don't have any natural resources it hasn't rained on our Mountain almost at all in this quote-unquote rainy season we're surrounded by hostile Arab terrorists it's challenging here but it's like these challenges in Israel bring out this innovation within the Jewish people bring out this perseverance within the Jewish people so on one hand the tests are like what the morale said there they're like they're bringing out the best they're expanding our abilities through these challenges but I think the other reason why these tsadikim were put through so many tests was more importantly for us that in 2018 I could look at the life of Avraham and see how he was trying to live by faith while he was trying to follow the calling that he had and when he followed that calling what happened after that another test another challenge I should know that because I'm trying to live a called based life or I feel like I'm trying to be led by God whatever that even means that's so confusing to say cuz God is so much beyond our grasp can I even be guided by gutters this only left for prophets can I try can I attempt to be well I'm trying well if I didn't have Avraham's blueprint of what he went through I would never know how to deal with the situation the one that really gets me is this week's portion at the very beginning um he's like I'm gonna give you a lot of Sahara Rob's car haha Mehmet he's like you're gonna give me a lot of merit that's what I've RAM says type to God you're gonna give me a lot of merit what what what can you give me I'm alone my my my servant Eliezer he's gonna he's gonna inherit me I'm I'm soon gonna die and I have nothing and imagine what that means lack laho of rom was seventy Yama L is born at 86 that means I've ROM promised was promised a child to be a great nation at the age of 70 16 years have passed and he's still waiting for a child and every year that passes the likelihood of having a child with him being this old Inserra getting older is less likely and less likely and he's just another year goes by and another year goes by and then another year goes by and say yes this is like the test are you ready for the long haul and in my opinion although this isn't really brought out so much that I've seen it led to the probably the biggest mistake in Israel's history in Jewish history and that was after 16 years Sahra is eventually like okay here take my handmaiden this is too much take him and maybe from this you'll be able to have your nation that was such a mistake boy imagine if that wouldn't have happened we wouldn't be dealing with all that we're dealing with in the quote-unquote arab-israeli conflict the whole Arab world would not exist let me take it a step back first of all to say what a mistake you're saying Hashem doesn't know what he's doing I don't think you can say what a mistake and if you want to take the mistake back to its core when Abraham was praying to God for a child Sarah says Rashi says that he should have Sarah was saying to him okay you got a child why weren't you praying for me too why weren't you praying for us you were praying for you to have a child and so you had your child but what why weren't you praying for us well and that that could have been really the root to the core that Abraham and that goes back to Todd um they were thrown out of the Garden of Eden when were they thrown out of the Garden of Eden when Adam blamed hava when I done blamed kava so it's it's about this lack of of marital solidarity and understanding each took a goofer that's just an argument to me well there's something to that I mean you can imagine that over 16 years in a world that polygamy is allowed that that conversation had to have happened more than once where I imagine Sarah coming to our island being like okay just take another wife you need to have children Iram you're like your acid all you want to do is to spread out you want to give love you want to change the world go take another wife I'm sure that that conversation happened more than once in the 86 years before Ishmael was born and here Sarah comes once again and says I Rama here take my maidservant and then as soon as he does that she immediately first of all as soon as evil is born the first time though it's like immediately there's come us she says the word come a sea alayka it's like interesting that the word Hamas appears right next to each male being born creates Hamas and here we are now a once again dealing with the Hamas in 2018 but amelie their relationship changes I mean Sarah says a shrimp boat vania vania he'll like God is will judge between me and you she was like so devastated that I'm sure Avram each time said no no I'm waiting we're gonna do this together we're gonna do this together we're gonna do this together 86 years we're gonna do this together and eventually aramis said okay fine I'll take hug are but imagine the test 16 years he would but he was promised and nothing nothing came nothing was moving and so to me that was the biggest test of all that sometimes tests really need like a long time to breathe and wait to see how things unfold because it doesn't happen in the next day or the next week or the next month or the next year sometimes things happen to us and it takes maybe five years maybe 16 years to finally realize why that happened why that happened and that's why when you started off by saying these tests they give us strength because we can now understand that Hashem is testing us and when you know you're being tested and I feel like out here our lives have taken on such a macro Clow you know a communal a National Front a national level that I feel much stronger the finger of Hashem guiding everything that's happening in the tests that I face here seem much more cosmic and much more orchestrated to the degree where when you're facing this test and you know you're being tested and you believe that maybe you really can with God's help you can pass that test then even in the test there's a little bit of joy I know that in our shows we haven't been introducting too many sound clips but I received this voice message from our friend Yossi sawsan who brought out his ultra-orthodox was it his uncle I'm trying oh you weren't even there as a rabbi who was a rabbi from Montreal ultra or the time and that's one of the most exciting demographics because you see the foundational perception of Judaism being a religion being challenged at the core level without us even needing to say anything and like our friend Jim long who was just here famous no hide friend he just said God doesn't say I'll make you into a great religion I'll make you into a great nation and so he came out here and and Yossi sent me this voice message to listen to this hey I just want to thank you for today it's always nice coming out to your home and the farm and just seeing how passionate you are you really opened up the minds of menachem and his wife and my mother-in-law but particularly of an awesome I mean guys been sitting in like a lake with Cola learning and teaching really almost had his like foundations shaken of orders a Jew who was a Jew was passion me there was a whole debate on lure you back about whether or not what you're doing who luckily counts as mysteriously FS most people took a look at mean obviously said of course this is my serie Snapfish look what he's going through his new wife being out there but he said he felt like you were enjoying it too much you were too passionate about it for it to count us and serous the flesh from from a loving standpoint there may be some other good qualities you have but I don't know that a serous nefesh would fall under that I don't know it's just there's an interesting as an interesting discussion but really from driving up saying turn around this guy's insane to Wow when we bring our families here and how can I help design the place and other things it was great I really was nice so just thank you all right so what's the answer right can can this be Missy root nephesh if we're enjoying it so much is it can it be self-sacrifice if we're enjoying it and I think the answer is absolutely yes it really can be I I don't feel like it's self-sacrifice but then again when you go to have Rohn and you see these jews living and totally surrounded by hostile arabs and you say what self sacrifice is it like i wouldn't want to live anywhere else this is the greatest joy for me right when you know it's a mitzvah to always be happy then even when painful devastating things happen and you're weeping at a funeral those tears are still built on the foundation the core central foundation of happiness so I do think it's it's possible to be happy even when you're tested but I have to say that my whole perception of these tests have really been it's been a theme that I've seen coming up in conversations over Shabbat the my host last week and one end he said God does not give us tests we can't handle and the other few senators leaders like you know what I'm not sure we can handle all the tests that God sends us and I've been really thinking about that because I don't know if it's necessarily our place to share right now but in our lives right now there's such holy incredibly beautiful sacred people who have walked with Hashem that are facing tests into the naked eye it seems like they're being crushed and that the test is just beyond what is fair to have any human being deal with and so I'm struggling does God give us tests that we can't pass could it possibly be and as I'm like working through this I feel this conflict I start I've started thinking what is the definition of pests of to pass the test right I think on some level if you were confronted with the test and you give it your all even if to your own personal human judgment to the naked eye it may seem like you failed it in God's eyes you may have passed it because that's as good as you could have possibly done with all that you've had and in Hashem's eyes you've passed that test and only in the future maybe this world maybe the next it will become clear all the light that you brought to the world even though in your own estimation you you didn't pass it in the the story I just thought of earlier today that I used to share that I really loved was the story about the two doctors right they both have to perform a life-saving surgery the next day one of them is thinking and strategizing and praying and saying what is the best interest of this pig how can I say this huh and he does the surgery and the patient dies the other doesn't really care oh if I do this extra procedure I'll get some more insurance when he does the the surgery and the patient lives well in God's eyes the the doctor who gave it his all he saved that life and the doctor who didn't care he's a negligent killer the outcomes of our actions in this world aren't really what we need to focus on because it's just not our department to be able to judge or to gauge what is a success and what isn't we may have that internal voice like I could have done better but but that's sort of what I'm facing and you know that's why Hashem says to Avram of you know it's so beautiful I don't know if you ever thought of it this way he says go outside and count the Stars if you were able to count the stars and like them shall your children be right so it's such a beautiful teachings as if you're able to so Avram goes outside and begins counting the stars it's impossible nobody can count all of the stars Avram avinu knew he couldn't count all the stars but he still went out and started counting the stars and that is that Abrahamic Jewish characteristic of going out and even if the job seems impossible if it's the job you're given just go out and start to do it just start doing it and why the Stars what's the the similarity between Israel and the Stars that the stars shine brightest at night the stars shine brightest in in darkness and that's when the Jewish people we shine that's why the olive oil right when the olive is crushed that's when the most precious part comes out so this darkness brings us out and brings out our mission and in that way the the evil inclination that poses this constant struggle for us it provides that darkness that gives us the opportunity to serve God to come close to God without that evil inclination without that resistance how would we be able to serve God that's what they say that I Adam in the Garden of Eden why did he eat from the tree because he was walking with God in this light and this paradise and he felt like I'm Busha the bread of shame that he didn't deserve all of this goodness he wanted to somehow give back to serve God so he ate from the tree to integrate within himself this evil inclination so he could overcome it but I've made that mistake before also there were times that I have decided to take on real challenges in order to serve God that God didn't give me that challenge it's not it's not our job I would have advised him otherwise but I made the same mistake I feel that he did a certain times in my life you don't take on challenges just to take them on well it's interesting what you said that he went out and started counting the stars even though it's like a task that he won't be able to fulfill but he's like well this is the mission at hand I'm gonna go out and do it and you know Avraham wasn't a Jew the Tanakh refers to him as an every Hebrew and the word ev'ry there's the famous me Josh that Avraham is on one side of the world and the rest of the world is on the other side from the word of ever he's on the other side and it's like one man with his truth against the whole world and that's what it is to be a Jew to be able to stand up against the European Union in the United Nations and that's a marvelous teaching but there's another meaning for the word every which means to love or which is cross over and it's like all of us have comfort zones in our lives we have the place that we are the place that we're happy with the place that you know place that we exist in and Avram was constantly crossing over that comfort zone constantly in a search to be better to be closer and that is the inside fire of the soul of Israel is to constantly want to better ourselves but that path is not going to be easy that path is going to be a challenge that path is gonna demand refinement I mean the more elevated you get then the more refined you're going to have to become and being refined is not an easy process and sometimes these refinements that we go through it feels like you're saying God saying walk outside and count the Stars just count the Stars it's like what how am I even gonna go about doing that think about the throughout Jewish history the Maccabees right this ragtag group of like Kohanim of like priests in the temple went to war against the Greek Seleucid Empire right at 20 60 year war of attrition against the Greeks of totally impossible if anyone would say it's a suicide mission just like the six-day war suicide mission suicide mission and on some level I feel like Lahav deal not to try to you know magnify unnecessarily what we've taken on coming out here but I remember up until we came out here we had to support this over the land of Israel Network which was not an easy task but it wasn't in retrospect any money it was like nothing that we had to raise even though at the time it seemed very formidable and then when we realized we had to come out here and what we had to do out here and just the finance and finances it was like if we were rational we just said we just have we wouldn't even know how to go about doing such a thing but we took that step forward and got his every step of the way right when we need it most we've shared this before that's when it comes it's been really an exercise in Emunah and that's why you reverse relevant he says that in the times of mushiya before mushiya comes the of the generation is going to be a muna and it will be as hard to hold on to em Yuna as climbing up a straight wall that's the times were in so hard to get to hold on to em ona then it's like climbing up a straight wall and and so that's one of the reasons these these Torah portions strengthen me so much because I see the tests that I've run went through and they look so painful and so difficult you used to have not seem that way to me like of course he's Abraham he's gonna he knows what he's doing and but no I think when he was there it was not as clear but the blueprints of everything that we're seeing in the world right now I think really was those seeds were planted in this week's Torah portion I mean also just here at the farm you know last week I shared the one of the biggest liberating breakthroughs that I've had which is that I am NOT here what is one of my if not my primary purpose here is hakama sot or fame i don't think i'm that great at it i used to think i was a lot better at it but to greet guests to bring guests into my home and that's it arguably we're talking about what made Abraham Abraham what made him so unique and so special so that's the way the Torah portion even starts he's sitting in his tent right after the circumcision which was super a difficult challenge for him because what did you just start off the show by saying what did Abraham wants so much he wanted to be a blessing to the world he wanted to be a buzz and what does that mean that it's not about him it's about the world being blessed the world coming close it was about the world an international mission a universal mission he's on and then he has to have a circumcision and it becomes now an individual personal familial mission that had to be a very very difficult and challenging challenging a foundational challenging test for Avraham and if his goal is to get more and more followers it's like come and follow us and this is what you have to do you're like I have to do that the members of this nation right no thank you right and so Abram is is right that's way the tour portion starts it's all my omits the heat of the day and Avraham is in the third day after the circumcision and the pain is the most and our sages tell us that God was fulfilling them of beaker whole iam visiting the sick this is a great mitzvah to do and God is visiting Abraham with this sort of a nirvanic prophecy experience that Abraham is having and then he sees from his tent who he sees he thinks her three pagan idolaters walking through the desert and he runs away from this prophetic experience that he's having to bring these who he thinks are pagan idolaters into his home and you think on some level you'd think that God would be insulted you're leaving me for but no from that we learn that the laws of bringing guests into your home that when you bring guests into your home you're bringing the divine presence into your home it's a higher level than prophecy itself and that I think was the big difference that Noah was about saving himself but Avraham was about he was the first one to recognize that the highest level I think this is true I don't know if anything I'm saying is true but I think it is that the highest level of really expressing your love for God in an authentic real way is by loving mankind by understanding that God in this world shows up with man on the stage that is man and within every human being is a spark of godliness and I don't think I've shared before I don't think Abraham was a missionary and he was sitting and trying to convince people to become a understand the God of Israel I think he gave them love and he gave them respect and he gave him food and he pampered them and he treated them like royalty and here he was royalty the wealthiest man in the world right imagine going in to drop Donald Trump's house he's not the wealthy but billionaire and he sits down and gives you food and washes your feet and treats you like you're royalty and that's what I've room didn't I think it spoke to a part of the soul of every one of these people that came into his home that there's something greater within them and and so that's that's a the x-factor that I think really is the internalization and the understanding of that but it's important to know also that in that story he thought that they were just idolaters but they turned out to be angels and a lot of times in Tana you see stories where you can't differentiate or the people East have trouble differentiating was that a person was that an angel the story of Samson when he was first conceived an angel appears to Samson's mother and he's questioning was that real was that not real was that a person was that an angel and I think the message there is that in some ways in that sort of biblical consciousness there was a very fine line that people saw other people as angels that they saw each interaction that you have when someone comes on to your door and knocks on your door there's no coincidence here that behind that person is Kadesh Barnea behind that person there's like not only divine in within them that needs to be revealed but that that person is being sent to you by a Shem for a very specific reason with a very specific message with a mission and that to see the world where you hold God and men in one thought in at one time that's where that comes from about Herschel says so that is to be a religious man is to find Hashem within humanity and to love humanity because you love Hashem and that's why that line is so blurred in the Tanakh to like lay the foundations for that understanding but is it interesting that you know Avram has this epic debate with God when he with these angels he's like what do you want to say something well no I just wanted to say that on the angel front I don't think that ever in my life I've been in such a situation where I don't myself know that line that difference I'm not going to say the names of certain people because the a lot of the people that support this place are so humble that they wouldn't even want me to say their name but there's people we have never even met or spoken to that have been so overwhelmingly supportive and generous and I've never spoken to them I did sometimes I really are they angels of God like quite literally and not even needing to be in human form I mean that but it's and also not difficult to see as people come here that show up here in person it feels very much like angels the conversations that we have that they start are exactly what I need to be hearing at that time especially you know this coming week we have these Germans that we spoke about on the last show that are helping us to build this promenade this deck here in in the southeastern tip of Judea that is going to really glorify and beautify all of Judea and they want nothing they just to bless and to help and these people show up in there exuding such holiness and such kindness one of them I can't help but to think of his name as a frien right you know you remember crying sure and so if Ryan is um he shows up and I'm speaking with him and he's telling me that him and his wife they have been praying for many years now for children and you know as they're getting older the chances are the secular rational linear chances are getting less and less and you know Shaina and I we we recently got married and we're already really doing the prayers and and you know we're not spring chicken so much anymore even though I feel very youthful and vibrant and and she's definitely gives off that energy too but we we need prayers and I was talking to a Fryman I said if Ryan this is what we need to do what's your wife's name he said Rivka and I said where my wife and I are going to be praying not for us to have children we're not only for us to have children we're gonna be praying for you Fryman rifki and you a friend you pray for us to have children why why how do we know that this is such an important spiritual mechanism it's from this week's Torah portion right where Avraham goes and again he has to say Sarah is my sister and not my wife and avi Mela takes her as a wife and he's stricken with this plague and he prays for AVI Mela to get better and when he prays for avi mouth to get better him and AVI Malik and his wife were blessed with children and then so are Abraham and Sarah and from that we learn that even more potent to prayer is when you pray for others rather than when you simply pray for for yourself yeah it seems that so much of Abraham's life that is recorded is about his prayers especially this the prayers that he has for stone I mean he just went to battle to save stone and then Hashem says I'm gonna destroy stone whenever I was like what I just you know he's just he just like went out to war like the first world war the in in so stone was like well it wasn't just to save them it was primarily to save vote but he saved stone in here once again stomas like under it seems I guess some sort of interest in stone but he has this like conversation of like you know how could it be that Hashem you you're not doing justice in this situation what if there's Sadiq that needs to be saved there and either think this debate and it goes back and forth and it's interesting note that like Hashem had already sent the two angels to go get load-out meaning that whole conversation that whole debate that Avram was like negotiating with God God is already on the Justice thing he's already like sent the angels to get load out of stone he's already like preparing the wave tool Ike not punish the righteous with the the regime with the evil people of stone even though it does say that wasn't necessarily he was saved because of Abraham's merit not necessarily because of his own righteousness okay I think it's like a dispute but either way I think he was definitely more righteous than the people of stone and so um in that reality III I never saw the Torah portion that way until this year that I always saw like a promise like having this negotiated mean he's sort of like bending God's arm he's like he's like winning the argument and what an amazing thing that I really had this little real-time relationship where he's like changing the decree in some ways but it's not the truth the angels were already sent Hashem was already on the Justice thing but it's almost like Hashem really enjoyed that conversation that Avram was pursuing justice in such a way and caring about mankind caring about as a whole and so sometimes I feel like very often it'll definitely in the last few months of my life I've been just wondering like Hashem are you on this like praying and concerned and worried and Hashem is on it I think that that's what the message that I got from this week's Torah portion there like as I'm worried and I'm concerned is this fair I was gonna be okay is this gonna be alright like angels have already been sent to stone don't worry behind the scenes there's someone who's running the show here and I might want to like call out for justice and call out for fairness but know that Hashem runs the world and a Shem is a good king he's like a righteous judge and that whatever needs to be taken care of is being taken care of and I feel like that's kind of interesting to see it from the other side of Rama's perspective as he's like you know a la pêche Maya just like fur has storming the heavens demanding justice where justice is already being taken care of well I don't know if I would see it necessarily that way they're like oh it's all happening anyways we don't really have a part in it God's doing the justice thing there are times that we see that mankind's intervention changed the course of things at least from what they could have been like when God said to Moshe Rabbeinu you know we'll start a new nation with you and Moshe reveille nurses no erase me erase me and he says to turn around and go for me I'll destroy them and much does it turn around you know I'm gonna stay here then right so Avraham Avinu I think he was there making this compelling plea with God and I agree with you that that was a source of enjoyment that Hashem had that finally there was someone that showed up in history that understood what this whole game is about right and that's and we're talking about the seeds being planted and that's why you know when I'm looking at you were thinking about what happened to re fold and the senseless horrific tragedy of the the murder and then the murder of of this wonderful girl Kim and it was a little baby boy and the would murder after murder after murder that the Jewish people have suffered throughout Jewish history genocides what what is this about why is it why do especially with the Arabs it's a different type it just seems sort of obvious to me and it I feel like it should be obvious to everyone that this political veneer that this whole conflict is taking on is just a smokescreen it has nothing to do with what's really happening here the hatred is so deep and overwhelming and visceral that to say oh it's about the occupation and that's why they're murdering babies and laughing about it there's something really sick and dark and twisted that's going on that has much deeper deeper spiritual roots but not even from only the Arab side I mean do you think about the international law and the United Nations and the European Union and you know just 75 years ago the same European countries were passing laws where yes well we'll ship the Jews off to concentration camps and we will steal their homes and loot their stores and that was law and that's what they passed because that was the European law seventy-five years ago and so even today the politicization of the israeli-palestinian conflict in the 67 borders and the UN resolutions I don't know why we give any stock to that why do we care what the European countries are passing and what they're saying now we're just 75 years ago we saw what they did nothing has changed there hasn't been a fundamental chuhwa movement within Europe and so there's a deeper war that's happening not just between us in the Arab world but there's us in the Western world as well right and I think that the seeds for both of them are planted here on some level as well right when Avraham went to AVI Mela so he said Davi Mela she's my sister Sarah's my sister and then avi Mela takes her as a wife and then his family in the whole kingdom the castle is stricken with this terrible plague and he calls to Avram and he says why have you done such a thing why we don't do things like that in this kingdom we don't do adultery here this was not right what you did and what was I've roms answer there's no fear of God in this place yes that's true you don't do adultery but you note you do murder so you would have murdered me and then taking my wife a wooden have been adultery because you've arbitrarily decided that that's your own moral code that you go by and murder that's okay but adultery is not and it's this arbitrary code of morality that was already back then and that when you allow that to manifest itself fully in our day and age if everybody agrees yep it's the law is the Jews be killed and that's the law that's their code of morality and if you're saying that the look keeping the law is is morality well then that's your morality but but that's with so much of the Western world but the Arab world is a different story and the seeds are much deeper here and that's what I've been famous we're surrounded by Arabs here not only all of our neighbors but many of our workers and we're dealing with Arabs all the time and on a macro level we hear on the news constant trickle of terror of stabbings of murder and it's just enough that it's just tolerable we tolerate it because what's one dead Jew here or one dead Jew there but let's look at the Arabs for a second and let's look with this week's Torah portion and see what some of the some of the season this is my own thoughts of Maya there I could be totally wrong but first of all what is one thing it's easy to call the Arabs bad and evil and dark but one attribute we know that they do have what is the one attribute that's really good that they do have half Masada Raheem welcoming people into their home's that is an Arab quality it's they say it's a middle-eastern quality but it's a Jewish and an Arab quality and Arabs are very hospitable any of these even I think the terrorists you walk into their home they will treat you with tremendous respect and and good things but then once you walk out they will stab you in the back right but what was that where does that come from right when the angels come into Abraham's tent what does he do he says he says to the NAR to the lad go get the the the Sheep to to slaughter for them and who is the nah the nar was Ishmael Rashi says and why did Abraham do that because he was educating him in half Mossad or him and those seeds have stayed alive until today in yesh mal Avraham was a fantastic educator that's why God also says that's one of the reasons he says he loves Avram so much in an explicit pasukan this this week's Torah portion because he guided and educated his family and his household on my ways of kindness and compassion and justice and so that's that was part of so that we look at you shmeil today but also when you look at what happened when Avram sent away he Sh'ma and he sent away Hegar to die your father you're his firstborn son and he sends you into the desert to die that is a huge trauma multi-generational transcendent trauma that you really carry with you big time and I think that that had a big part to do with the hatred that the Arabs have towards us today whether it's a conscious thing or not I tend to think it's not a conscious thing I think that really planted the seeds there of of resentment and hatred also when God says to Avram sacrifice your son your only son the one you love Yitzhak right and all of those things and Ishmael is is aware of this and that in he's not even Avram son talk about legitimate reasons for hatred and resentment but that's why I feel like the real here the real healing with the Arabs needs to be around that it needs to be about that it has to be a spiritual reconciliation and explanation to them that Avram did love you Sh'ma el tremendously he loved you smiled tremendously that's why it never says anywhere else that Avram was so distressed as when he had to send him away and why do they have to say your son your only son because I've room so do I have two sons the one you love I love them both Yitzhak had to say yeah it sucked because he loved you schmell too I think that the real healing that needs to happen in our times really needs to be built built around that and that's what I think this is a lesson to really take and the reason to focus so much on these initial stories it's almost like when a child is conceived that initial genome the rest of its life is a manifestation a actualization of the genetic code that was planted at conception and the way to really understand what we're going through as a nation and as a world is to look back at the initial conception and we can then understand how to bring about this Redemption what is the redemption even we're trying to bring about but I just know that it's in these Torah portions that if we really look within and we say who are we as Jews God God said of Ramallah Hamid semi mulatto Tessa go from your land and from your heritage and from your pair all of your values everything that you thought was you you have to leave it behind you have to let it go and I think that that's a big part of the times we're moving into really letting that go think about when Avraham and LUT parted ways right and what the Avram said you choose which way and what did lo choose you remember just to go to stone he chose to go to stone why it's beautiful there there's pasturelands and green and because that's where his sheep would bill he'd be able to get richer and wealthier and wealthier so he chose the play money and what happened at the end he had to run leaving everything behind he wasn't even allowed to look backwards and that's what I think if we allow these idols that we have set up to guide us in life they're going to be shattered in the most painful way possible and so it's this is the time where we need to really look within I'm trying to do it myself I know I have idols all over the place but I think you're doing great Jeremy and and we we'd love to have all of you come out and see what we're doing out here on the southeastern tip of Judea it's really unreal it's difficult to describe and it transcends any sort of even if we're not here just coming to this land to this place it's an experience that is unforgettable so you could reach out to me re at the Land of Israel Jeremy Jeremy at the Land of Israel calm we'd love to hear from you Shalom from Judea you're listening to the Land of Israel Network at the land of