Israel Inspired: Why Do We Do What We Do?

[Music] and now live from Jerusalem you're listening to Israel inspired radio here your hosts rabbis Aria bream woods and Jeremy Gimpel [Music] Shalom and welcome to Israel inspired on the Land of Israel network on the Land of Israel calm this is Aria brand what's here with Jeremy compel and we are back not that we've really been gone not that we've been John but it's good to be sitting here with you Jeremy it's good to be back on the air it's good to be back on there and the truth is you know I've been things are so overwhelming not only at the farm in Israel and things that are happening in our social circle this little boy here a crime band racquel Devorah the little boy of Rachel and simcha there's feels for me something very powerful and overwhelming happening there not only there but in the world and getting married in just a few more weeks I'm getting married in ten weeks I believe to the farm in six weeks you're moving to the farm in six weeks that's true and this farm is just such an exercise of faith such an exercise of surrender you know and the you know it's almost the for me the one theme that's been recurring out here has been the manna you know when you collect two pieces of manna it goes it spoils and is full with worms and rots and is disgusting and it's like a perpetual exercise of faith in the desert don't try too much to squirrel things away your that's why Hashem loves on Easter hell so much he loves the Jews people so much he puts us in the Land of Israel where all of our water is dependent on falling out of the sky he wants our hearts he wants our prayers he wants our constant realization that were dependent on him and having faith that he will give us what we need when we need it because it's the human condition to try to squirrel things away yeah you know and at the farm you know there's so many overwhelming needs out here that we can get lost in trying to bring in funds for this place and not actually love it and work it because I've come to realize that even you know the the the land itself it doesn't matter deeds or pieces of paper who owns it who loves it is really the question MSI's who's working the land we've started actually I'm happy to say that I'm grateful that we've started me you and our two partners Joseon honey we've started waking up early in the morning and working for a number of hours in the vineyards working the trees working the land and is it's just it's therapeutic it's good its healthy it's bringing us together even more as friends in his fellow Jews and it's just I think there's nothing greater for Jews to bond upon then working the land itself and especially this time of the year we were entering into Paris la where this was like the beginning of the end of the Jewish people wasn't the sin of the calves it wasn't the the complaining about the manna from heaven or complaining that there's no water I mean the golden calf ideology that should have been our engine sink right the the golden calf would be the pinnacle God would say after that either you're wiped out or you're not entering the Land of Israel but that wasn't the straw that broke the camel's but right after the revelation during the revelation of Sinai here we go in worship idols but it was specifically speaking ill of the land of Israel that said that's it you're done but I think there's also a theme there that we've just been talking about why did they want to build this Idol or really if you really dig deep you have to understand that they're at a very lofty high spiritual level it wasn't like they were in their minds worshiping the idol as an end in and of itself but Moses wasn't coming down they didn't know what was going on and there we go again trying to take control trying to create their own God then not that they'll pray to but pray through you right right because one of the the legs of the chariot that God is riding upon it has is the face of a calf so that it's not like they were saying that that is God but they were praying through but when you were not commanded to do what the the cherubs in the temple that was allowed that was allowed why isn't it idolatry because God said to do this when God says does not say build a golden calf build a likeness of some sort and pray in that direction then that is just not allowed no matter what your intentions and motivations are and and you know that's really is something we see also in this whole sin of the spies I feel like maybe you and I decided that the you know this week we need to do this program because if there's any that has a Torah portion that needs to be addressed and needs to be Dovan into and we need to swim in these waters of these words because the calling of our generation I believe lies within this Torah portion it lies within this Torah portion so you know this spies it first of all I was thinking just in your credit because sometimes you know we're best best friends so I can be really hard on you and I was thinking about the spies and what their sin really was right so Rebbe Nachman Kahana he came out with a beautiful thing he says it wasn't really the spies that had the sin it was really the nation itself and the spies came back with a message that exposed the internal blemish in the nation itself now what was that blemish what do you think that initial blemish was that they just didn't have faith that a Shem is with us that it'll be okay even if it seems insurmountable that whenever the it may be challenging yes there's going to be there Giants there and there's walled cities there but we just defeated Pharaoh in Egypt we can defeat them as well right these were great Saudi King the the sort Torah says on a Sheen Moshe was supposed to choose on a shame and Rashi says great men Saudi King because they really had good intentions but what did they want they wanted Judaism to remain a theology it's it's I don't want to cast aspersions because I love every fellow Jew and I'm willing to say that I'm wrong about everything that I'm saying I don't know anything but I can help every time I read the sin of the spies I can't help but to think about the rabbi's in the Exile today that are not encouraging alia even many that are proactively discouraging alia and it's very for very similar reasons it's a terrifying prospect there in the desert they were able to be a religion a theology they had God guiding them with with clouds and with pillars of fire and manna coming out of the sky and clothing wouldn't wear away and they were able to be in this little cocoon in this little womb and now they have to be born into the world and they have to fight their own battles and they have to to work the land and they have to be a nation among other nations but at the same time a nation that's unique that Hashem is with them but through their own hands it's very difficult to make that bridge between Hashem actually doing outright miracles and then miracles happening through you and you not attributing those miracles to yourself right that's like one of the most difficult things actually King David he says hey Monty Kia do bare aney aney t my ode are you ready for this Jeremy you've said this many times right in in in Tehillim in in hallow we say that now what is Rev Eliezer Biederman say about this it's really beautiful mantequilla de bear I believed he had a bear because I said honey me it's me I did it Anita mode I was very poor in that judgment of saying Omni a Marty : m KO Zev right I said okay everybody fails sometimes I mean King David was saying there's even times where he himself says honey me I did it I did it Moshe was looking for people that would go to the land that would understand that nothing they do is their own doing nothing they do is you know sometimes we sit here and we're like what should we do the truth is we really don't need to do anything but it's so hard not to do anything and just to do what we're supposed to do when we say not do anything we're not talking about just sitting down and doing nothing we're saying to do our mission to call out to the world to study Torah too but not to proactively make the ends in our minds be achieved through our own doing we can leave those ends the practical means to chef but just do what we need to do in that and understand that Hashem will work through us am I making myself clear yeah but I think that that just needs to be refined a little bit because the whole essence of entering into the land of Israel is you know you have to go and plow the land and then you have to go in plant seeds and then there's a part of waiting and praying and learning Torah hoping that the rains will fall okay so but there has to be that interaction where we are actually pushing the ball forward we are doing our part in making we're doing our part meaning we're opening the door okay but we're not actually doing it when when King David says am mantequilla de bear aney aney Chima hood he's saying I I can accomplish something in and of myself through my own strength he Moshe wanted to choose people that would understand that there's nothing they accomplished themselves and if they really understood that and internalize that then when they saw these massive spies massive you know they look like grasshoppers in their eyes that's what how they projected on the spies how they saw them but they would say okay I can't do anything anyways it's nothing's up to me anyway so this is just as ridiculous and overwhelming odds as anything else but when you actually believe that you can do it that it is in your hands and your own strength then the challenge is 31 different countries six hundred thousand Jews men fighting in the desert jus that just came out of Egypt they're not like skilled veteran warriors and fighting 31 established kings and countries it's impossible it's totally rationally impossible but I feel like just you and I coming out here and seeing the magnitude just of this place like okay this is so much bigger than us and I have to tell you that I was thinking about you on and I feel like on a certain personal level give credit where it's due you're really rectifying the sin of the spies in a way that I'm really I don't want to say envious of but I am I yield you know I I put my head down because when I put my feet in your shoes I don't know that I would have the courage and strength to do it because there's every reason in the world for you not and I don't want to start talking you out of coming out here but there's every reason in the world for you not to write the MIT one of the main reasons is your brother Danny he has all these kids and you have all these kids and they run to each other's house and play and your brothers do your wife is best friends with his wife that's something that you can't just replicate anywhere you had a house you're settled in you the dream the dream that everybody is looking for and then you sell the house to build a house out here and a place where everything can go wrong every direction I'm looking I'm like that could happen that could happen that could happen all of these things could go wrong we could be attacked by the Israeli government could come and decide to throw us out of here and destroy our homes and or the Arabs could come and attack us or a hundred and one different things that I don't want to go into all the different but you are unreasonable unreasonable you're saying I'm going to sell my house come and build a house out here on this mountain in the outside of fences outside of gates no security is it not tell me about that how is that for you what is be honest you know share what's the internal struggle because for me I got to tell you my great-uncle was a fighter pilot he was a bombardier in World War two and there was a guy that would come up with him on all the missions he went on and he soiled himself every single time and my great uncle said that is the most courageous man because for me I have some sort of death thing I'm not afraid I'm not havin triol II connected the dots on the danger that I'm facing here but he knows the danger and he does it anyways do you know the dangers yeah I think that the reality is kicking in I feel very much like I've reading the story of the Jewish people leaving meets rhyme and coming to air at C Sorrell and it's a process I think of anyone in their own journey in their own life it's just a blueprint of how we should all live or how we all live and you know two years ago I said that's it I'm gonna move my family out to the mountain I'm gonna raise my children here barefoot you know working the land of Israel shepherding sheep there's something about the barefoot kids running around thing yeah when it's like indigenous Judy and children it's nice the way it was meant to be and so I said you know if this is the last generation of the Exile the first generation of mushiya I want to live the way the Jewish people have dreamed of living for 2,000 years and I'm coming out and so I made that commitment I knew that it was the right thing to do it felt like it was the right thing to do I know that eye shadow is calling me to make this place come to life because without living here then it's still just a construction zone once we move here and Families live here then it will it will act just like breathing the spirit into this place and so it was like you know and Moshe first spoke to the Jewish people he said I'm gonna take you out of Egypt and one day your children are gonna ask you how did we get here and why are we doing this and you'll be able to tell them we were in Egypt and this is the story and they're like yeah Moshe we're with you let's go out to Egypt and now as they come right to the very end they're sending spies into the land and they're like whoa there are a lot of things that could go wrong here and we're really gonna do this no we're actually gonna go into the land where this is like a little bit terrifying dar you sure you want to do this and so I definitely feel now a pushback of reality of like well we're actually gonna have to go up against these fortified cities and there are these challenges and there's I injure here but just let me just interrupt when I see it from the outside looking you I knew that there was going to be a pushback but I feel like I'm sub subconscious level and tell me if this resonates is true you know that there's a big reality more of a reality and and negative resistance will be ahead of you then you see but you intentionally don't look at it you intentionally don't think about it you burn your bridges behind you meaning there's someone moving into your home that yeah in Nevada al July 24th that is happening that bridge has been burned there's no going back now you're like oh my goodness all these things but on some level when you sold it you you didn't want to think about those things or did you look at them soberly yeah I think I looked at all the realities of what we're not meaning we can either navigate our lives by the fears of what will be or by the desires of what we want to see and so I feel like I'm just being led by my desires and not by my fears and my desire is to settle the Land of Israel and I think on a deep level I was talking to my children yesterday I said you know I try to be a good father and I you know try to give over the values and teach the things that I believe in but more important than what I say is what I do and I feel like my children will always be able to look at me and say you know our Abba believed in the Land of Israel and he lived it and so he lived his beliefs and he followed through with those beliefs in a very real way and so if just for my children to see the way a Jew is meant to live in the world that we're not just meant to believe in this religion or have a theology or an abstract God that we sort of relate to but rather to take our beliefs and to bring them into action to live by Emunah to actually take that and moon that loyalty that we have to take the e moon the practice to that cause and bring it into reality so there's gonna be a lot of challenges here there's a lot of obstacles that stand in my way but I feel like it is a tikkun because the spies could have come back and they saw the reality as it was listen they are giants in the land there are fortified cities there are huge they didn't lie about anything there was nothing there was just too then given an honest report and so I'm looking at the reality that's before me here and I say wow there's gonna be a lot of challenges we're gonna be alone on a mountaintop my wife is gonna be alone my children are gonna be alone how are we gonna do this and I just want to see it through different eyes and I think that it's an opportunity of a lifetime and you know we all have only one life to live at least this life maybe we have multiple lives that we've already lived in that we will live but right now in this role as far as I know I don't know about those past lives and I don't know about future lives I know that I have this life to live and so I want to live this one the best way that I can I want to make this life a work of art that I will be able to present at the end and say I had these opportunities and I lived it to the fullest and so this place everyone that comes out here whether they be Jews whether they be Christians whether they be atheist Israelis out of out of towners they come out here and something magical happens to them so I know that this place is going to be a blessing for so many people right for me also at the beginning I thought it's like okay this is just me something's up with my brain there's a quirk here that I see that this place is destined and magical and holy but then when I see a person after person Jew Christian whoever comes out here is so deeply touched and moved and says things like it's changed their life after they've been here for ten minutes I have to agree with you so let me just give you an example here right so in the spies enter the land well fortified cities now the sages say that while that intimidated the spies that should have been an encouragement to them right because if the cities are so well fortified fences and alarms and and all of these protective measures well it says that the people may not be so strong themselves and so that I think was part of the subconscious psychology of us when we came out here not putting up fences not putting up walls not putting up alarms but are you nervous about that you know for me I'm a lone guy on a hilltop with a gun and a dog you know but you're bringing out six children and a wife is that a concern for you I mean there's always concerns there's concerns of getting in the car in the morning there's a concern of getting on a plane in the afternoon and you know there are fears and their concerns everywhere but coming out here in living the way that the patriarchs and matriarchs of Israel lived to live the way the Jewish people lived in the times of Ezra and Nehemia in the times of the Maccabees in the times of the judges just to live out in the land to wake up in the morning and work the land to not live in a quadruplex surrounded by 300 other homes because we have to live in settlements but just to live on the land as was envisioned by the prophets it says each Todd Jeff Nova Taha to annatto that each man will sit under his fig tree and under his vine it doesn't say we're all gonna live in quadruplex Azure in shoeboxes in some skyscraper in a condo in Tel Aviv but that each Jew should actually live connected to the Land of Israel and so there is what to fear but there are precautions that can be taken and I just if this is the era in which we're living that the Jewish people are actually being restored we are returning back to ourselves then I want to live that life now I don't have that many more years on this earth so I want to contribute my ilyich my part my part is to create the vision that the prophets had and bring it into the world so the world could see what it would look like and then invite people from around the world to come and participate with us you want to come and live alongside us you want to come work the land with us you want to study Torah with us let's do it but there is no place right now that's actually bringing that vision into the reality of 2018 and so if we have that opportunity to do that now and raise my children in that consciousness we will raise a new generation it's a new kind of Jew that hasn't been seen yet yeah it's beautiful but you know you guys you have always been a little bit different than me in that way and it's not a better or worse it's just different that you know you say the patriarchs and the matriarchs for me that verbiage is OMA it sounds monarchic it sounds very official it's it's like our Abbas and II must write it's our parents that's one thing I've noticed when I speak to these Jewish kids that come to Israel one of them said what is Judaism to you I said it's it's a family right we have our great-great-great-great grandfather Abraham and yet Isaac and then there was Jacob and Jacob at 12 sons and we were all descended of those 12 sons and we're a family first and foremost beyond anything else and when you say the vision the prophets had I don't know less and less since I've been out here am i compelled by the visions of the prophets it's almost taken on a life of its own within me meaning I love being here I have like a passion for the land it's not like oh this is the land that the Prophet said that this would happen I want to fulfill that prophecy it's just a passion in and of itself and I think that perhaps the prophet saw what would be happening in our hearts and said that this is what's happening but it's almost backwards in some level for me but but I know also the prophets were is said these words to guide us so here's the question why do people do what they do that's really the question why am i doing what I'm doing why do you do what you do why do people do what they do why do you think um well just like you said earlier - there's two potential reasons fear and desire right okay what is their desire what do they want who's they who people why do you do it you can't answer that very broad question all right why do people do what they do I have an answer okay go ahead people want a feeling that's what they want they want a feeling why do they want money because they think it's gonna bring them a certain feeling why do they want to get married because they think when I find that person I'm going to feel a certain way why do they it's a feeling that people right want maybe that maybe they don't know how to define the feeling is it happiness is it joy what is this thing they want something if meaning if you were to offer someone a billion dollars but you know you're going to end up depressed paranoid anxious and in a mental hospital the billion dollars isn't going to do it so people are desiring some type of feeling and they're there they're chasing it their whole lives and they're running after money and they're running after women and they're running after drugs and they're running after Fame and they're running after fortune but all of these pursuits are because inside they want a certain feeling that's just the truth at least that's what I think today true and so as I've come to learn in my life what then is that feeling and in my opinion the whole Torah and all of the visions of the prophets are the pathway to that feeling but let's first define in my mind what that feeling is that feeling in my opinion is when our soul is revealed when our soul is revealed a certain life force enters into our body a certain passion excitement thrill happiness serenity it's when our soul takes over not our fears not our bodies but when our soul is revealed that's the feeling that we want when our stru selves come out and so sometimes our soul can be revealed when we just have a good meal our soul is actually excited by that a new thing that we buy our soul gets excited about that and it doesn't last but what the vision of the prophets gave us in the way our patriarchs and matriarchs lived they were living a soul filled life a soul guided life why am i coming out here ultimately because as soon as I step out of my car and I put my feet on this land my soul is revealed yeah you have your spotlight you have your thoughts there's a place there's places in this farm that I go to where immediately my soul just becomes more present and I feel that feeling that I've been looking for my whole life and what's so exciting about this place is when other people come out here it happens to them as well and they say I just want to come back again it was the highlight of my trip they've been to Israel 50 times they've been to the Kotel they've been to the they've been to you know the highest places in Israel but somehow there's something that happens in this place definitely for me but I see that it's happening to other people as well but here's the deal a study was just made about this happiness or this feeling and it says that the way that happiness is revealed is in the service of a cause beyond yourself it's as if you try to make yourself happy by making yourself happy you won't you won't find it there if you serve a cause outside of yourself you actually discover happiness but if you serve that cause outside of yourself in order to make you happy you won't find happiness can you you said something to a group here yesterday that really resonated deeply with me exactly on that subject so we had a group that came out to the farm just in the last two weeks just so you know we've had groups from Norway Australia Germans that came here and planted a new vineyard for us Africa Canada all over the United States so yesterday was a group for the United States that came out and now we were just learning the Torah portion together and I was saying that you know when the spies went into the land the Hebrew says via turu at tourettes and they went and spied out the land but letour doesn't necessarily mean spy i mean also means spy but uh no it also means to tour the land to just go in and look at it and the tough in the race which is really the roots of those words are those two letters are very peculiar because the first time we talked about seeing in the Torah it says Vitara how shocked he Tova its limit how bejita Avihu line I'm in Eve the woman saw this tree of good and evil and she had a lust for it because it was a lust for the eyes but Tara hasha Viator ooh Etta R 'it's the way that she looked at the tree of knowledge of good and evil was the same way that the spies looked at the Land of Israel and the way we can look at the world as in two ways we can look at the world as good and bad is this good for me is this bad for me what do I get out of this but tarry high shots that televised it's a lust how can i fulfill my own desires in the Land of Israel people walked in and they weren't loving it they were spying it out is this good for me is this for me what do I get out of this am I going to be served by this when I marry a woman what does she do for me what is that what do I get out of this and there's another relationship you know there's a relationship of how do we look at our wives how do we look at the Land of Israel what should our relationship be to this land and so what came to me is that the Land of Israel is without a doubt a feminine aspect it's written about all throughout the Torah Eretz Yaffa Adam iifa mother earth M homonym Smith thieves are planted within its seeds are planted within it it's what gives birth to us there's no question that the relationship that we have with the Land of Israel it's a relationship that we have in some ways with a woman now we have lots of women in our lives but what is the woman that we look at the Land of Israel so the way Latvia Toru and tyrunt's the parsha of course ends with lota - ruh a her a live of him again the same the same toughened race don't go after your eyes Sheraton Zone Imahara ham as you prostitute yourself to them that's a relationship we can have with a woman I mean that's what I want what is this good for me I just want to get what what's what's in this for me that's the tree of knowledge of good and evil what's in this for me but then there's the tree of life and how do we look at the Land of Israel well we could look at the Land of Israel as our wives but I think truer to that is Aaron sees for Eleazar EEMA she's our mother and so some people ask us about the farm look are you ever gonna finish this Center I mean you're a million dollars away are you ever gonna finish this Beit Knesset are you ever gonna finish this project what are you gonna do or how do you think you're ever going to accomplish this so obviously this is so much larger than Ari and I could ever accomplish by ourselves but if Aaron sees for Eleazar email it's not about accomplishing it's not about winning it's about how much we love this place how much we try towards this place you know Ari just said you know when a child makes her mother a picture doesn't matter what the picture is it's how much time and effort and love was put into that picture that was presented to our EEMA and so the way to look at Eric's Easter L with the eyes of life through the tree of life isn't to luck Torah to Eretz bateria Volokh tattoo rocker a love of kavaja rain ahem it's not that kind of seeing but it's seeing the Land of Israel when we were out in the vineyards just the other day we were there for four hours at the crack of dawn just working the land because we loved the land and I feel like there was no purpose there was no goal it was just to be with Eretz Israel just happy and you you really said it beautifully yesterday also because there's a certain foundational verse the group that came yesterday happened to be non-jews and or at least many of them were I think and and there's a verse a foundational verse in their mantra about why they support Israel what's the foundational verse he who blesses Israel be blessed Genesis 12:3 and and you you you pointed out beautifully that if your blessing Israel in order to get that blessing that that's the reason you're doing it because you want something then you're right back into what is this going to do for me it's this you know as some of this video was circulating about this pastor that's raising money for his third jet and it's so important for him to have this private jet that doesn't make doesn't have to make one stop more than 50 million dollars right he's bought other jets before meaning other people are giving money well intentioned good Christians are giving money to this because there's this thing called the prosperity gospel where if you just give money to this pastor then you will have money too so it's really about what you get but you said it beautifully said the blessing is to be a blessing to be that vehicle you know that one thing Joshua and Caleb said well I just wanted to bring this one quote exactly on that issue is this is a quote from Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel and he says this was really the sin of Eve this is the sin of our generation and it's how we can fix our eyes and he says our age is one in which usefulness is thought to be the chief merit of nature in which the attainment of power the utilization of its resources is taken to be the chief purpose of man in God's creation man has indeed become primarily a tool making animal in the world is now a gigantic toolbox for the satisfaction of his needs and so is that how we look at our land what can we get out of it maybe I'll just pump the oil I'll dig the gold I'll just ruin it with the land in order to pull out its resources so I can then go use it but what's so beautiful about this mountain as when we first got here there was not one tree it was just rocks in thorns and we've come and we've blessed the land we've given everything we have to it we're to a degree sometimes I'm like oh I literally have let's see my net worth consists of my toyota from 2004 that's worth about maybe fifteen hundred shekels and I feel like the richest guy in the world digging and spending at all pump pumping it all into here which by the way our personal financial resources planted there wouldn't have gotten it close to where it is there's none of these people that come along the way and just are filled with a passion and like a love show man listening our and just I need to help I need to give unconditionally you know I also find it really interesting the fact that the spies what did they bring back they brought back grapes pomegranates and figs and that's kind of interesting but those are like really good snacks those were like old school junk food you can't really live off that kind of food they could have brought wheat they could have brought barley but they brought back pomegranates and grapes and so that's in some way like it's like Israel is just like a Disney World yeah it's like a one night stand it's like really fun to snack on but to like bring it on me which is like another expression of the relationship that had no relationship it was just like a tourist coming you just have to say this tourists that come to the Land of Israel and their Jewish tourists and there's Christian tourists and there's business tourists and they just come in and they kind of see what's happening and they get that that fix they get their fix they got what they were looking for and then they leave and they go and then once a year they'll probably come back maybe they'll come back for Sukkot but it's not a case of live right it's not a place to live it's just a place I got my fix I got that good feeling okay I got I used the land for what I needed it for I got energized now I can go back to New York and go back to that life instead of you know what can we do for EEMA that's true but I you know while it's very easy to throw stones I can just be honest about my experience at this place and it's not all a big exhilaration alai III have there are times when I'm here and I look around and I just say wow wow my greatest imagination is surpassed exponentially by the magnitude and the beauty and the mystery and the holiness of this place but there are other times I look and I see this spiritual retreat center that we're building for lack of a better more accurate term I we just say different prophecy school Judy and embassy whatever it is I'm like oh my goodness how much money is it gonna be how are we gonna get enough money to build this thing is it gonna go is the Builder gonna go away and all of a sudden my eyes get shrouded with fear and concern and and all the same thing we're one minute I'm seeing a one-way the next minute I can see it another way and it's like it really is a human condition and it can happen to anyone and that's why you know you said this beautiful idea about the tourists letour they came to when they left there was in order to see the good in the land and then once they were here they became marilene and what our spies do they they're here to see that see the bad and the weaknesses and the badness there and so their eyes just shifted and there had to be a very powerful force of resistance that has Shem put into the world and into their mind that's why caleb is great it's Atticus he was he wanted to go to heparin to the to the tomb of Abraham Isaac and Jacob in order to pray please please help me with the self-awareness and recognition that he himself could fall victim to that I'm not sure how what side I would have fallen out on I would like to believe that I would have been like Caleb and Joshua but you know even them their words if you know are say just say that they their words may have misled the people themselves I don't know if you've ever thought about this this way but they said em cuff it's banu hashem they spoke to the entire Assembly of the children of Israel saying the land that we passed through despite out the land is very very good but here's the crazed it can throw people off if Hashem desires us that's even how its translated in the in the Torah of Hashem desires us he will bring us to the land and give it to us a land flowing with milk and honey and the people like who if Hashem desires us is there an F here is their rule for because if there's 31 countries 31 kings with massive armies and with only us if you're saying there's a question even art scroll has translated if Hashem desires us but if you read it differently my FETs Banu Hashem if Hashem desire is within us meaning it's not a bad I shouldn't desire he desires us but they were saying if Hashem desire if we make our desire into a Shems desire then it's done the story is over of course their bread in our hands we just have to put aside our own thoughts and our own fears and our own confusions and say is Hashem desire our desire not how can God serve me but how can I serve God right it was a Kennedy that said that would ask not what your nation could do for you what you can do for your country so that's that's what really the question needed to be and just you know when you're afraid of things when there's a specific thing you're afraid of your radar is up ding ding ding ding ding ding and it's looking for any sort of Achilles heel in the idea that you're afraid of and you will latch onto that and I think that maybe even the people didn't know that Hashem could conquer these nations himself it was so overwhelming and daunting a task really it's hard to throw rocks at the nation of Israel with this sin when it's it's a very very human thing but here's what we can do we can look at their mistake and see like wow those were real people in real times in real situations and now you know they cried and then Rashi says you cried for this generation I'm gonna make this crime last for many generations and so all of us really have to ask ourselves so many questions where am i living how am i living what is driving me in my life what am i crying about and so you know Ilona Olivia Rashi Otaki a whole new call out those like the most inspiring words in the Torah like let's go up let's do it we can do it and so folks I mean we just have this one life to live and I just look at re Abramowitz and I'm thinking he's already on this mountaintop he's already living life and so in general I'll tell you that Jeremy I put up security bars on the windows that to me was like my gesture towards reasonable thinking why I got engaged she's gonna be moving out here with me soon that's a huge leap of faith on behalf of Shayna to come out here as she's super excited about it she said it's been a dream of hers but at the same time it's it's a leap of faith you know and so I was like okay bars on the windows that's the least that's the least I can do that's that's that's a good a good gesture there but but you know that's what we're talking about if there's a one thing I would say what's the theme here from the beginning of this show until then from really the Torah also the theme is what do we focus on Hashem puts us into this world if you walk into my bedroom you would say that is the mind of a madman I have whiteboards I have papers I'm constantly trying to write mantras and that I can read morning afternoon and night to remember Who I am and what I'm about because I can see things so clearly and then the next minute I'm so confused who are we doing what are we doing what is going on and and you know that's a it's not a coincidence that the deceits eat the commandment for to wear that seat seat the fringes on our garments came right after this sin of the spies because they saw the wrong thing they had the wrong eyes and that seat seat is there to make sure we have the right eyes I mean there's deeper parallels to it also I remember once I was sitting on this long plane ride next to this very ultra Orthodox rabbi from Borough Park and we were talking about Israel and Zionism and why he's not and he gave me all his reasons and I remember asking him just one question I said so I asked the rabbi why do you wear a seat seat what why do you wear seat seat we don't need to wear seat seat but we go and we want to fulfill all the commandments that we possibly can so we go and we get a four corner and where you only need to word cc'd on a garment if you have a four corner garment but if you don't then you don't need to wear to t but why does every Jew want to wear it seat seat because if it's a commandment that you can fulfill then you got you buy the garment you put seat seat on it so you can wear it I said in the Land of Israel there's all these laws these meats vote even referring to the the fruits and the vegetables of the land just on a very basic level these are commandments that you can't do in the Exile if it's about wanting to fulfill as many Commandments as possible shouldn't you want to be here but but but really it's it's it's not just about the the commandments it's about that seat seat giving you the eyes to to see it with I remember when I was working for it with the Israeli government and there was so much moral confusion there and I would wear my seat seat out and I was like oh you know I always thought that seat seat it says they're there to protect you that like you get in a car accident and there's some sort of metaphysical protection or that seat seat give you but no no it's saying it gives you the eyes to protect you from falling to the sin of the spies to see things through a fearful manner through a selfish manner and that's why there's two teton all four corners of your garment so whichever direction you look in the four corners of the world you remember I'm created the whole world whichever direction you look in that seat seat are there to remind you that Hashem is in charge of everything that you're sort of immersed in and but that's the point you have to let seats you actually have to look at them if you just put them on you say I'm good then they won't really do as much for you as they really could if you look at them throughout the day if you touch them and you remember what the message of the seat seat is really about because you know on some level Abramowitz is especially the other side of the family my grandfather is identical twin brothers children they would always always wear tie-dye it was like the Abramowitz family uniform if they would go to Disney World together tie-dye tie-dye and then they would just stand out as the tie-dye family and they would be able to see each other on some level seed seat these messages within the seed seat it's like a uniform it's saying I am a servant of Hashem I'm not a servant of my physical body of my lusts of my fears I'm a servant of Hashem in Heifetz bono if Hashem is will is within me I'm serving Hashem and then when you when you get over the thing of saying I don't want to be anyone's servant and you understand that being the servant of the creator of the world is the most invigorating and exciting and freeing thing that you could possibly ever do then of course you're going to want to pursue fearlessly all of the wonderful opportunities that Shem has put in the world the primary one being the Land of Israel this land is so there's you know I'm thinking about going and interviewing people because I always talk to these Oleum clutter shame and I say don't what is so exciting about Israel what how has your life changed and I noticed that there's always a certain frustration there's a certain variable that is just difficult to put into words it's like something in the air it's some sort of abstraction that you can get close to conveying but it's beyond words the life living the life in the Land of Israel it's just imbued with a certain vitality that you just don't have anywhere else but I think on some of it you get it when you come here and it's like you can wear white seat seats right which is just playing and playing it safe what white isn't means it's like a expresses the compassion of Hashem but the blue the toilet in the TT which of course is coming out into the world in our generation Yishai talks about it the true blue Jew toilet we have it on our seat see now that I've started wearing it it's like I can't go back to living inside a fence anymore I can't go back to wearing suits eat without toilet it would just be like a body without blood that's what it feels like to me and what are the toilet remind you of there's a God in heaven God is the creator of all of the heavens and all of the earth and that's who were serving and what a wonderful merits yeah I you know it's why are we here and I think that's the ultimate question all of us want to get to the Land of Israel spiritually emotionally we all want a certain feeling inside of us and if we realize that the tourists telling us that that feeling is when our soul is revealed so our soul can really only be revealed prophecy can only be achieved in this land but there's so many fears are so many reasons not to go to the land of Israel so many reasons not to make alia but fear is literally the blockade of our soul being revealed in the world it's like the antidote you cannot have your soul revealed if you are consumed with fear and anxiety and so do we have it in us to just be driven by our desire to actually like achieve what we deeply deeply want and have our soul be revealed and have it be revealed in this land and so this is our opportunity to fix the greatest mistake in Jewish history and we can fix it in our generation by stepping beyond our fears following our desires and having our soul be revealed in the land that reveals it right that's a beautiful dress I want you to know your home move out here however much it's been making your head spin has been very inspiring I know not only to me but to your friend in of a Danielle and a front everybody's talking about it it's a pretty irrational unreasonable thing to do and inspiring in that way and and so I want to end by introducing the better-known Jew I really want to start diving into that more there's so many incredible Jews I meet not only in Israel but also around the world and recently I don't know recently maybe a couple months ago I interviewed a man a Jew a rabbi of a congregation his name is Raphael Freund liffe he's the congregation to ferret bait daavid yerushalayim in canada that's a mouthful but there's a lot in those words and I love the fact that end with you Rochelle I'm and what really struck me about him was that was his story that he told me that that you know and early on he was not a Zionist he was not into alia he was not really into the Israel thing and and then his his eyes were opened and he was intellectually honest he was true to that which he knew was true no matter what the cost was and so he's now a rabbi in Canada but as opposed to the other spies he has a positive message about Israel he celebrates alia from his community and and so he came out here to our mountain we're calling it the mountain now right because we've been calling it the farm but someone came out here and really put into words what number of people have been telling me in sort of more abstract ways he said I was agreed to come out to the farm you asked me to come I like to say yes to things and I was picturing a corn on the cob and some stuff like that and then I see that this is the 7th 8th and 9th of wonders of the world you can't call it the farm so I said what should we call it he said call it the mountain and I'd like that so call it the mountain it's a that's really what it so he came out here to this to the mountain and I was able to interview him and he was really touched by this experience so to our listeners out there meet Ravi Fusco Freund liffe be in touch with me and Jeremy re at the Land of Israel Capcom Jeremy at the Land of Israel calm love y'all and come out here Shalom Aleichem are you Bram woods here from the hills of Judea and as promised we have a series called better Noah Jew and we have not just a Jew with us but a very prominent and important Jew who has come out here to our hilltop in Judea from Montreal he is the chief rabbi of Montreal one could say where is there not really a chief right not quite there actually is somewhat of a chief rabbi he would take offense at that statement but other than that we'll be okay you're definitely the chief rabbi of your shul that's correct in in Montreal fact the Bailee shul as it's known as or TBD JT v David Jerusalem s Cal Froylan honor but have you join us at I am thrilled to be out here this is so far away from Montreal I am loving every moment of it it is gorgeous the scenery being out here in the hilltops the farmland I love it so what brings you to Israel on this trip this particular trip was started off as a little bit of a family trip my sister is make a made a bat mitzvah for her daughter and my parents live here my two sisters live here so I took the opportunity to come and while here as I was speaking with a little bit earlier I had a chance to visit in Parvati LOD the widow of a Brazil Ava and then taking some opportunities to just see the beautiful land that Hashem has blessed us with it and we already established here that you're an official extremist because you're going to the different extremes that Jewish presents tip in the north and the south right is right that is right the first time I've been called an extremist but I wear with pride this so let's find out a little bit more about your story briefly so you born in I was actually born in Louisville Kentucky Louisville Kentucky yeah I was talking to Phil oh yeah southern that's the right that's that's right that's right and I after there I spend very little time that my father was finishing a doctorate in psychology I had the good fortune of being born while he was there I grew up a little bit in Cincinnati Ohio and then most of my life really in New Jersey post high school spent two years here in arts easterland carry a veena and then took spent five years in Baltimore nary strong in Baltimore after Karen Bay after Kennedy Avenue which was really sort of compromised I wanted to stay here a third year my parents would have nothing of that but in Baltimore in the yeshiva you can't do college classes for the first six months so it sort of was a way for me to gain another six months of time in yeshiva and it'll Eastern negotiating tactics it worked was the second year here also a negotiation that I got that was okay that was okay so I spent five years in Baltimore during the time I got married and then my wife and I moved to Atlanta Georgia and we spent 15 years there about four or five years there teaching in high school boys high school and then nearly 10 years as the Associate rabbi of a Congregation Beth shakable with Rabbi Ilan Feldman in Atlanta in Atlanta and you found your way up to Canada how and we are now a year and a half in Canada after our stints in Atlanta we were looking around for a chance to begin in a shul of our own and timing worked out perfectly with the shul in Montreal behind Steinman's had been there for 19 years and he took a position in New York City and should have was made and it's been a year and a half it's been a glorious year and a half and let me ask you this is clearly a very pivotal point in Jewish history and particularly among the Diaspora exiled Jews there's there's a lot of challenges I'm sure you're you're facing there as a leader of a community in Montreal what are some of the great challenges you see the truth is it's safety-wise we don't have any such challenges yet thank God in Montreal physical safety yeah as far as physical safety but spiritual challenges are all over the place in the Diaspora that is clear and it's montreux happens have a very strong ally irate because of the French aspect of Quebec many many marshmallows have moved here over the last 10 20 years I'm told and I see it regularly even the last year and a half that I've been there it's a it is a destination and slowly but surely all the communities other the aspera are filtering their way back to vanish em I'm not clear on the connection between the French oh because very the the French have required a lot of French language laws one could not move to to Quebec from any other place let's say from the States and not you'd have to send your kids to a French immersion school as an immigrant so that is prohibitive for regular Jews someone from Tina couldn't possibly move to Quebec so there's no external growth into the community of Montreal it's all just internally with what's there or the Moroccans who are natural French speakers so the Ashkenazi community is either staying stable or getting smaller over the years and so many people where they go the if they've gone to Toronto and a lot of come here how do you feel about those French immersion laws these and no comment no comment okay I mean there's something there's something that sort of tickles me about it being that for me I'm my name is aria Hooda our Lion of Judah I guess right in English and coming out here to RA yahudah I realize this is my indigenous habitat you know learning the language better and working the land and there's something towards grasping onto our identity why don't you present okay so is there a movement and what is the Zionism of Canadian Jewry like particularly in contrast with what it was liking for Jews in Kentucky or in the south yeah so the truth is Montrose a very Zionist ik City my shul is very Zionistic Eretz Israel the Land of Israel Medina tea stall is very much prominent in everyone's thought process as well as where their heart is as well as they come often a lot of people come to visit regularly for the optimum for summers for winters it's a very very common destination for people who belong homes here it's I find it's what the hard part is staying makuu char staying connected to what's going on on a day to day business people think about Israel they love Israel they support Israel but being in the Diaspora were still remove moved from the day-to-day living the day-to-day politics the day-to-day things that are going on here and that's really a task to try to keep together one of my goals and coming here is to then bring that back to share my experiences to share my visit in Havasu Gilad with the revenue Sheva to share my experiences here in the gorgeous mountains of Judea just to bring that experience back to the people that they feel more connected and it's it's no secret that the Land of Israel the people of Israel have become the center of the Jewish world you we could have debated that maybe 40 years ago it's not a debate this is the center of the Jewish people it's the center of Torah learning it's a center of Jewish thought this is where the Jewish people are coming together the kibbutz goleo this happening in front of our eyes and it's it's happening it's a process it's not simple anyone who lives here knows that but we're on the sidelines in Montreal everybody knows that in their heart of hearts where the all the Jewish communities of North America were on the sidelines watching what's taking place so slowly but surely people are coming but it's a slow process for sure the Aliyah from North America but it will happen it will happen and this is a place to be this is a center development to the Jewish people but what's so refreshing about hearing you speak is that you know the reason Orthodox Jews for lack of a better word don't call their but a Knesset a temple is because we have one temple and that's in your shall I'm so to hear a recognition and that you're leading your congregation to recognize that this is where their eyes are focused on Israel on your shell I'm and that's the center and that's a you know very a spiritually healthy place it's hard for me to restrain myself but just to say I meet a rough like you who is obviously like true leadership characteristics and I think that you know there's a ton of being written about our time and there are rabbi's there have been a few risking you know that the relocates an entire community yes it's a dream of mine it is definitely a gee Mike I used to talk about that with my community in Atlanta that one day we're gonna buy a hilltop just like the one that we're standing on right now and we're just gonna move the whole community and I would have a few people be like let's do it but you know it's it's not so simple as you know and it's a dream of mine and we'll have the same talk in Montreal and and God willing earth to shine one day will actually happen well like one of these empty hilltops we're just gonna or just gonna come here we're gonna settle it that's that's the goal there's no future and I said this from the pulpit several times there's no future for Judaism in North America whether it's gonna be 10 years 50 years 100 years you know who knows but long-term that's not where the Jewish people are ending up we're all coming here this is where we're going and it's happening in 70 years of miraculous 70 years look at what's happened and it's only going to continue so there gonna be a time in a place we'll be able to do so looking forward to when that will when the time will be right I know you have to go I just want to shift gears in one last direction and you know there's a phenomenon that we're seeing here of nations from around the world coming to Israel and being so thirsty to learn Torah to connect with Israel to connect with Jews which is in sharp contrast to the rest of the world much of it that is against Judea and Samaria the West Bank as they would call it and seems to really be against Israel and there's this phenomenon of those that are seeking to connect are you seeing that also locally where you are that that non-jews are interested in their coming and are seeking to connect a little bit I can't say too much certainly there are a number of people who are interested in converting but I don't know that I would can't say in Montreal I think here you're seeing it because this is where the center of the light is emanating from so there's an attraction you know all these Jewish communities outside and the well I don't know that it's such a center of the light that the non-jews are drawn to it well I think they're drawn to it but because they're over there they're being drawn to their closest Jewish communities where some we're surviving in the Exile but to say that we're this shining light that everyone wants the kind I haven't seen it I haven't seen it I also appreciate the fact using the word exile because a lot of people say the word diaspora to me smacks of a certain legitimacy means the Jews are dispersed there and there's some Jews here and some there and to each their own and but exile means we're not where we're supposed to be we are not you know is that's that's so thank you for for being a leader of your community that's led spiritual health there and thank you for coming it really be hard for me to leave my wife and kids back home and my community we need to go there to bring everybody back here God willing but we see ourselves as custodians at this place so really like when you come back there I'll take a piece right over there like that's yours done let's sign on the dotted line let's go further thank you so much thank you for having sass and hats left thank you hi this is Eve herro host of rejuvenation on the Land of Israel Network you can hear a new show for me every Sunday and every day of the week shows from another one of my very talented fellow show hosts reach me Eve at the Land of Israel calm and keep listening everybody we love your feedback the land of Israel coming at you every day every week that's the Land of Israel Network on