KLM Rabbi Asher Baruch Wegbreit: KAVANAH FOR THE MITZVOS OF SPIRITUALITY

[Music] welcome back to klm klm is a grassroots movement um working on a life-changing mitzvah the mitzvah to have cavanaugh mitzvahs klm cavanaugh mitzvos why do i say it's life-changing because uh it applies to every single thing you do every mitzvah and really every act you do and it infuses excitement and this is really important accomplishment if you work on this you're going to feel more accomplished and who doesn't want to feel more accomplished and especially in these trying times so that's what klm is about and that's what we're focused on now as i said in introduction there's two things you have to we have to work on before we get into the actual kavanaugh's and that is appreciating what a mitzvah is number one and appreciating who gave us the mitzvah hashem okay and tonight's share we're really going to target hashem now let's first uh have a little appreciation for what a mitzvah is so i'm going to tell you a a story that is 30 years ago and that happened in the rova i had a roommate who was in his mid 30s and he wasn't wasn't married yet and he's honestly and understandably he was anxious he's very anxious to get married i think he had a kind by the way i was at his wedding has a happy ending but he was anxious and so he wanted to go to the option of revi to get a bracha and you know break through so the i'm sure remy he sees him you know he sees his intensity and is like this a little anxious so he looks at me goes yeah he wants a problem for marriage he goes marriage marriage it's a mitzvah like to fill in right that's a mitzvah like to fill him so it was a perfect thing to say to him to put it in like a in a healthy context right but years later i was preparing a bar mitzvah dress for my one of my boys and you know what do you speak about you speak about to fill in and i realize with all great respect for the um ravi i'd like to say this to fill in it's a mitzvah like marriage right we say i engage it but historically exactly with exactly it's a midsole like marriage where it's an engagement it's like an engagement the thing is no i'm just putting in the other side mitzvahs are a lot about marriage it's not just to fill in okay it's not just to fill in right every mitzvah is a reminder is a conduit back to our hasana our wedding with a cottage borah with sinai so what mitzvahs they're like marriage why did he have to be calmed down everyone's excited to get married right so we can be excited about mitzvahs they connect us to our marriage with the cottageborough okay so that's point number one just every class i plan on infusing some excitement about what a mitzvah is okay that's number one but now let's go to our focus tonight hashem okay now here's with some very fascinating phenomena and and we discussed this you know you can day to day you can spend days and you're making blessings and you're doing kindness and you're learning torah and you may not actually think about hashem that day days can pass where you're not really even on shabbos you we could have a beautiful shabbos meal and a connection and spiritual but are we thinking about hashem are we are we experiencing the presence of hashem we're going to work on this tonight okay and here we must start with this now you may have heard this but if you have it's worth hearing again if you haven't listened to this okay in in 1978 the the big bang theory was really starting to get some traction okay and there was an astronomer physicist named robert yeah robert josh doe he wrote a book called god and astronomy okay now i want to read you what he says in there okay it's about the big bang so he says for the scientist who has lived by his faith in the power of reason the story ends like a bad dream he scaled the mountains of ignorance about to conquer the highest peak and as he pulls himself over the final rock he's greeted by a band of theologians who are there for centuries the big bang the big beginning in the beginning hashem created the world so there was a bunch of rabbis maimonides was up there for hundreds and hundreds of years they knew that the world began and had a beginning right so that that's that story let me update the story okay mindfulness for the mindfulness guru who has lived in his belief in the power of being present in the moment the story ends like a bad dream he scaled the mountains of distraction and lack of awareness about to conquer the highest peak he pulls himself over the final rock he's greeted by three million jews at harsinai standing in the presence of hashem that's what we're all about by the way you know converts were there as well right so here's the thing to realize that we're not just talking about being present in the moment we're talking about being present in the presence of hashem now the world is realizing it i'm not at all lessening the power of this mindfulness right because people are the world's starting to realize if you focus in the moment and you put aside distractions in a non-judgmental way you can excavate the depth of the moment and and you can release joy it's a powerful thing right it enriches life if you're present period if you're present in the moment it's enriching okay but we're talking about something else imagine right imagine you have a secret admirer who keeps sending you the perk perfect gift they seem to really know who you are right imagine that and and imagine this how about being present in the in the moment with the one who's making the moment and he's pumping existence into existence constantly he's we say hashem is mahadesh myself tamid constantly right so how about being present with and in the presence of the one existence after pumping existence into existence that i would like to say to you is the jewish contribution to the world that's what we got at sinai and a whole other dimension okay present in the present however i have a story for you this is going to show you it's not so simple okay and and uh story of rabbit green years ago my rebbe um he was in in yeshiva in in jerusalem in the uh 70s and there was people you know it was the hippie times and movement and and thank god a lot of people were seeking god right so there was a guy from brazil i think it was a brazilian argentine in brazil something he was uh he had gone to india and he said that he saw the white light you know and he came to jerusalem because he's jewish he came to jerusalem to jewish and he wanted to like connect to the white light and hashem so rabbi green's rebbe said here let me sit him down with rabbit green right so he sits down i'm going to give you my best south american accent which is not very good but that's all i have okay so the this he was by the way he says a striking looking man right young man so he says to rabbit green i want to experience god with you so rabbi green says okay so the he looks at robbie green goes i want to experience god with you so everyone goes okay again he says i want to experience god with you he goes okay [Laughter] you are experiencing god reverend green saying okay what do you want he's here he's here right now what's really what i think is funny is that you know we're like him you know like what do you mean okay right it's that this man from brazil i understand his question rabbit green's right you want to experience hashem okay okay but it's not so easy okay and why isn't it so easy because i'd like to suggest because it's a mitzvah okay attaining awareness of hashem more than just i know hashem created the world i know hashem gave the torah awareness presence in the presence is a big mitzvah you gain you gain existential meaning from this and it's not going to be meaningful if it's easy you just conjure up oh i'm right there okay okay so it's a it's not an easy thing to do but it's incredibly valuable and it's incredibly it it'll change it's a life changer if we can up our game in this it's called das awareness of the president you want you know how important it is i'll just give you uh how about this the gemara bracha says if you can attain this awareness it's as if the base of migdash was built for you it's like the you're it's like you're in the times of the base of mig that's how what a huge thing this is and you know it's interesting because right now you know people are seeking more spirituality you know and then the hasidic you know movements and there's a lot of they want to experience hashem and they're right right they're right to seek this we we should seek this but i want to point out this is an ancient desire that's clear from the torah it's clear everywhere you know it says in perique avos right it says right he wrote a letter to a close friend and he says i want you to know the most important thing is to know before whom you're toiling be da be aware in the moment who you're working we're all working hard you know and and everybody has to with a torah life you have to manage so many things right and the torah right and the mitzvahs and the family and the friends right but so he's saying you know what's so important be aware of who you're toiling from okay in front of okay it also you go into every show what does it say da lift me lift me up be very aware of who who before whom you're standing you hear this it's a it's a it's a very very stressed idea very important right and i want to make it even more important okay um klm kevin since it's a mitzvah right kavana now we go into kavana having intention what's the mitzvah of awareness right of awareness of hashem's present is it an important mitzvah unbelievably uh may i'll just ask this you can answer how many commandments did we hear from the voice of hashem himself two just two of the commandments were directly the voice of hashem right so the first one anoki right the first commandment right is the rambam explains is to be aware you're in the presence of hashem awareness i'm the god who took you out of egypt you once you discover that and you know that you believe that which is a your life changes from that of course right but this is the mitzvah of anohi shivisi hashem la negli-samin david melhouse saying the first commandment how do you do it place hashem in your presence constantly okay so you hear that's the mitzvah that we're about to that's the missile we're going to work on because this is imagine if if having intention for the mitzvas how about having hashem in our presence when we do that okay so first of all i would like us to just do it right now uh one fulfillment and then we're gonna have a whole other dimension of application and uh we'll explain that to the people who are watching as well there's going to be an assignment that we're going to do in the moment okay first let's let's just do this right now okay i'm about to have us just take a moment to think right i'm in the presence of hashem okay but before you do that okay before you do that i want to warn you something okay we're gonna do it and it may not you may not feel anything yet okay i just want to make two points about that okay the whole exercise kevana from mitzvahs will change your life will transform you will turn will make you alive but you have to be patient and you have to realize what's going on so number one even if you if i say have in mind this mitzvah of enoki we're going to do it in a second but i just want to prepare you to get the maximum out of it okay but when i say that i want you to realize that something happens in other words i i like telling this story i gave a class um in the middle of a class this class on michelin and i had this you know this man from georgia russia georgia right and um i looked at him he's very serious and intent looking in the you know and listening so i looked at my go just gave him a little smile and then he just gave me a big smile back so what did i why did i smile at him i want to make him feel good right so it was just a little moment that moment is preserved forever you hear this these little seconds of kavana of doing a mitzvas you're going to go you're going to in 120 years you're going to return and see all its glory and grandeur okay so number one is something big is happening every time you have component for a mitzvah and do a mitzvah huge huge that's number one but number two here's a key thing that i want when we do this work that we're about to engage in you have to realize this i i saw this and i i feel bad that i don't i couldn't find the source i believe it was in a commentary in the art school sitter but it says in the krishma right that these words that i'm commanding you today you should place on your heart right so it's every day take the words the krishma the words of the torah and place them on your heart place them on your heart so what the commentary says what why do you do that because one day your heart's going to open and the words are going to go in you hear that so right now we're going to start to place this on on our minds and on our hearts and if you keep at it it's going to go in here and then it's going to be really beautiful and amazing okay so right we're gonna do this uh the first thing right now i want everyone including you those who are listening first of all the mitz having kavanaugh for missus is a mitzvah okay so let's start with that have in mind that i'm doing the mitzvah of having kavanagh for the mitzvah of anoki and just everybody take a second and recognize that you're in the awareness of hashem okay that was incredible what you just did okay we just have to realize that okay now part two and i'd like to ask those who are listening uh to pause and get a glass of water or if you want to get a glass of fruit juice i want you to be able to make a blessing of shahakol and then i want you to drink okay i i chose a drink if you want a little piece of food if you're watching but i want we're gonna see the richness of jewish time the richness of mrs i you won't believe what's involved with a blessing of shack call and the drink that's what we're going to do right now okay what's the meaning and the purpose of life devakis with hashem that's our goal to get closer and by the way when you have that goal in the beginning when you begin with the end in mind as they say it's transformative okay because you can ask yourself you should note i've just become closer to hashem i have more to vacus so we're going to take the famous bracha this is going to be a live demonstration that i want everyone to do and we're going to first uh just discover i said that mitzvahs are some type like antiques that you find imagine you find an antique vase and you don't know how much it's worth but you sense it might be worth something you take it to be appraised and he said wow i can't believe it's worth a hundred thousand dollars right so a lot of the misses we do need to be appraised okay what do we have here the blessing of shall call right the blood so you'll say you'll say to me it's a blessing the rabbis require us to make blessings so i have a rabbinic commandment okay keep in mind every rabbinic commandment is a torah commandment because hashem says do what the rabbis tell us okay that but that's beside the point i want to show you i have praised this blessing of shaykh khal as having five mitzvahs derisive five torah commandments okay so right now i'm just trying to show you the treasures that are buried within the mitzvas i'm not expecting you to master this okay but i am expecting us to achieve some very significant things when we make this blessing we are going to make a shackle and then if we're going to make have a glass of water okay so let's begin just so we get the most out of this i'm going to translate this blessing i know you probably know the translation but allow me to translate it a certain way right the way blessed are you literally but the way this is translated is you hashem are the source of blessing point number one you are the source of blessing next hashem eloquenu right these are hashem's names okay we're gonna discuss okay let's discuss that right now when you uh mention when you discuss hashem's name when you say hashem's name right hashem's name you would k has two central meanings a donut called master of everything haya hovia right was is and will be elo kenu there's a lot here take mighty totally capable master of all forces okay hashem's names have meanings and that's going to come in very can be very important next now the the the simple way to translate that which does not maximize is you'll say king of the world and the problem is you'll think world means just the earth or something that is not correct we're talking about the universe we're talking about i don't know if universe is big enough but universe physical universe spiritual right king of that entire entity that understanding is going to be important for all the treasure treasure mitzvahs that are lie here and then finally shaha ko nihiya that everything came into being with his words separate point okay that's the text we're going to use now let's discover okay right now let's discover uh some of the hidden treasures that are in this blessing okay uh i'm going to say the the one we're going to focus on most for last this one but you are the source of blessing hashem what do you think of when you think of blessing it's something you would like correct blessing is a gift and good that hashem does right rabbenu yonah and shari chuva teaches us that we have a mitzvah to remember every good thing hashem does how do we know this hashem tells us i want you to remember what i did for your ancestors in the midbar hashem did a lot of wonderful things right now if i have to remember these things that didn't happen to me guess what says rabbini owner all the more so every good thing that happens right so you know you appreciate what hashem does right do you appreciate the goodness you have yes have in mind the mitzvah him him means have in mind have in mind the mitzvah of remembering hashem kindness every time you think about the kindness hashem does you fulfill a mitzvah that's number one treasure number one baruch you're the source of blessing okay next let's go down hashem eloqueno we said if you say hashem's name with an appreciation for what the meaning is right a donut called let's just take that right when you say it when we say right and we're going to make a blessing in a minute. so when we say adonoi right and we think i don't call yeris hashem there's a mitzvah to have reverence for hashem's name reverence is expressed by by reciting his name with understanding what it means we could take that master of all forces in reality right so when you say elo kenu and you have in mind taki if he's my any meaning of hashem any explained meaning of his name you have in mind him you're asshashem so we have remembering hashem's kindness you're the source of blessing hashem if you keep in mind the meanings of the names you have reverence you have yuris hashem and two more okay there's probably more but this is a good start i'd say okay i told you let's not make it too simplistic and understate things by saying it means our world it means the universe the physical universe the spiritual the whole thing is being wisely run by the king of kings right what mitzvah is that the higher level of yours hashem there's a urus hashem that is fear of punishment but there's what the rom call says is the spitz the ki urasaromamus being in awe of hashem's exaltedness whenever you recognize by the way sukita zimmer is filled with opportunities for being in awe of hashem's exalted uras a romaness right so melech if you think about he's the king of that entire universe just think about a few galaxies what a galaxy is think about the spiritual world the number of spiritual you think that he's king of that urus aroma moose you just did your third torah commandment okay in five words five six words you hear this there's only nine words here okay but look at look what's going on here is it not incredible okay last okay but not least no no we're going back to ata this is one thought of hashem's awesomeness and his exaltedness this is a different thought how about the fact that everything in this room wherever you're sitting wherever you are it's all being brought into being by hashem's speech the entire thing brought in by a speech that's an encounter and recognition of his exaltedness that's a separate commandment you hear it you think melancholam with a little bit of depth just a little right fear of hashem is exalting this and then a second time each one of these things the the the the safer hennig says you have to realize there's it's inestable okay and you know the top computer cannot match an angel a malek right a molecule is a pure intellectual being amala can't cannot calculate the closeness to hashem you she achieved from one of these thoughts right so i just want to show you but now let's go to what i want to focus on we're going to make a blessing in a second here we are what mitzvah is this when you say you and you realize who you are saying that too and he's here what mitzvah anoki the first command awareness of hashem right awareness of hashem is a mitzvah and mitzvah srika's kavanah right so we're going to have in mind the mitzvah of amuna the mids of uh knowing and being aware that god is here the same guy that took us out of egypt okay this is the treasures that are available now um so first what i okay so the the key is this um it's gonna take um it's gonna take some time for you to be able to integrate and apply all of this okay okay the this these are the opportunities in the blessing but look here a glass of water okay whatever you're drinking but let's just look at the mitzvahs in drinking the glass of water okay we talked about the blessing right there's five torah commandments in the blessing but look at all look if i appraise drinking this glass of water and you have intentionality look at this ready okay glass of water first one nish martin there's the torah says there's a missile to take very good care of yourself the kitser shulkin ark says any effort you make for your health hydration is obviously one of them you fulfill this mitzvah and you come close to hashem taking care of your self number one let's go up in all your ways we have a commandment in mishlai says you should know hashem attain awareness hashem in everything you do not just the mitzvahs how about having a glass of water right so you can say to yourself hashem thank you for the glass of water and i'm going to drink this water so i can have strength to serve you guess what you did the villenegon says this is one of the most important mitzvahs there are okay just from a glass of water you hear this next loving hashem because two hearts nates are toe of yetzer one of the classic explanations is that you can love hashem with your physical desires right you're thirsty you would enjoy a glass of water or an apple right so have in mind hashem i i'm gonna take my thirst and my hunger and i'm gonna say you know hashem i love you and i want to be in a good mood i want to if i'm hydrated i'm going to be able to serve you better right so have in mind loving hashem with your physical desires okay the water is sanctified even more next gomel this is an incredible mitzvah that our generation i think needs to work on okay i think we're not so good at self-care okay we don't always take care of ourselves sufficiently guess what slo-mo mel says someone who's kind and bestows good upon himself is a kind person right you have an obligation says the safer radium to be kind to yourself right so by taking care of yourself by hydrating by drinking by eating by sleeping right by relaxing by enjoying yourself you're being kind to yourself and that's a mitzvah that can be sanctified you hear this and finally kadoshin to you to be holy okay one of the expressions of being holy is to not be indulgent says the run ban in parshas kadoshim is you know you could have like uh whatever 11 beers okay or you know two co two bottles of coke right you could may not want to but you could by saying you know what i'm gonna make the healthy choice i'm gonna have some water you're being holy you're preparing yourself to not be indulgent within the domain of the torah okay so this is all from the drink okay so what i'd like us to do is um we'll go down here i'd like us to do our best to fulfill as much as okay if you want to be part of klm's cavanaugh and mitzvahs all right we have to understand something you know a whole world is opening up to you and you're realizing things you never realized before all these mitzvahs that you weren't aware of so the yay zahara i just want to know he is so bummed out that you are learning about governor mitchus it is ruining his day okay now he's going to want to ruin our day by saying are you kidding this is too much this is overwhelming okay that's what the eta is going to say but we have to realize something okay first of all the one who uh made us and loves us he knows when you're getting exposed to this information he knows this is a lot at first but first just realize this is the path that lies before you so many chances that the taryag missus says the tsar is tarjag there's 613 strat conduits and strategies to connect to hashem i'm just trying to show you what lies before us okay but just realize svs small victories all we're looking for right now we did it earlier we had in mind the mitzvah of enoki and just saw vishen's awareness that was in turn a profound thing that just took a place okay so right now uh i just brought to you all the misses involved in making a shah cull and then the mitzvahs in a drink of water okay i want to review them just briefly and we're going to use that as a prep stage okay i'm gonna just prepare us to make the uh what we can think about how about this ready just join me right now have in mind the following so if you pl if we place these thoughts in our mind now okay then it counts okay so let's just maybe pick up your glass of water okay and i encourage people at home try this at home okay so okay so uh um i'm gonna i'm gonna say the cavanas for this blessing okay and you can have them in mine now and try whatever whatever you remember most important what we're working on tonight is more awareness that we're in the presence of the presence of hashem so when you say baruch hashem al-qaeda you hashem our god try my main goal here for having mind the mitzvah of menohi i'm building my awareness of hashem okay but let's let's might as well get some mixes on the way okay so i'm going to mention them and then before i make the braca however i have to tell you what you should think about as you drink okay so i'm gonna do that as well okay and then we'll make a blessing and then we'll drink and in my humble opinion will be closer to hashem because we've done a lot of mitzvas in nine words and one drink okay so we're just going to get prepared here so the blessing i'm going to remind you the blessing just have it in mind him have him in mind have in mind right now and i'll take us through everything and then we'll do it okay all right so baruch you are the source of blessing hashem i have in mind the mitzvah of remembering the kindnesses you do for me you i'm in your presence hashem eloquenu hashem you would keep que adona col master of everything elo kenu by the way i have in mind the mitzvah of reverence for your name right adono call elo kenu takif mighty balako host coulomb right i have your your the meaning of your names in mind and therefore i'm fulfilling the mitzvah of reverence for your name king of the physical and spiritual universe managed with brilliance and wisdom and kindness that's an encounter of hashem's exaltedness so that's called uracim romanus aw of hashem's exaltedness that's one fulfillment of of urus aromas but number [Music] everything that's in existence and was in existence and will be all came through sam's speech if you will another profound awesome thought so therefore have in mind uras aroma mousse and now when we drink this water have in mind the mists of nismartin the mitzvah take care of myself by having healthy food and drink next knowing god in everything you do hashem the purpose of my drinking is so i can have strength to do your will ava shemba kobalav my physical desires i'm offering to you i love you and i want to be in a good state to serve you so i'm going to drink some water okay and when i drink water i'm being kind to myself and that's a mitzvah as we learn in michele it's a mitzvah to be kind to yourself not just others and finally kadoshim to you by having a healthy drink and not indulging in liquor or whatever it may be to an excess not for a mitzvah i'm making a true choice to not be indulging and to be closer to you to be holy okay let us all make our brachas and uh and drink the water [Music] while you're drinking have in mind kindness the smart times et cetera the chain you'll remember that drink forever this whole idea of literally it comes from my heart because i i unless i taurt it go straight to my heart beautiful but it it it's organic it flows through the blood beautiful it's supposed to come from everywhere that fall into the floyd river beautiful that's how we're that's what we're aiming for yeah exactly beautiful that and i was saying that if you don't if you're if you're not like yehuda and don't feel that right away just keep in mind by placing these mitzvahs on your heart by reviewing these their hearts going to open up and they're going to go in and you're going to be very connected okay chamber should give you slackholders [Music] oh