Leadership Series 2022 Session #2

okay so everybody's muted Eliza yeah okay welcome everybody so great to see you here um we are working on the uh Foundation series a rabbi no Weinberg uh zatzal may his name be blessed um this material that Rabbi Sampson started last week and hopefully we'll be continuing over a number of months actually was very very deep wisdom that Rabbi Weinberg brought to the world and he used this wisdom to make himself who he was and he taught it to thousands of people and the beauty of it that it could make a great Rabbi like he was which was fluent in all the sources the beauty is a great person and it can make all it made all of his students to strive to be great because the wisdom is literally life-changing so one of the things we wanted to do to throughout the series is um in addition to giving you the wisdom the ideas the way Rabbi Weinberg given to us many years ago was also to try to give you an ability to integrate the wisdom and to be able to own the wisdom and as we know from Judaism you know the the Mitzvah of learning Torres which you shall teach your YouTube teach your children and this would actually learn Torah is to teach it over to someone else because when you teach it over that's when you really get it for yourself so we're going to provide you some exercises some what I call them like Torah nuggets of wisdom that come from these classes and you're going to be able to use those in the intervening weeks to really kind of own them and also the beautiful thing about it is there's such the wisdom is so accessible you'll be able to help all the people you care about all the Jews you come in contact with with the wisdom as well so Riley Sampson last week he started this the class called the four misconceptions of Judaism and but the class gets that is that there are four main misconceptions and a widespread amongst contemporary Jews today and these misconceptions give those Jews emotional blocks to actually encountering and listening to people who are introducing them to Jewish Concepts now why do they have these emotional blocks that probably a lot of reasons for it I can tell you myself I was raised in a reform you know background and to me I went to reform Hebrew school it was really a reformed school for me and I had a negative impression of it and I most of my peers that I grew up with they definitely had a negative impression meaning the playing field wasn't level isn't level and that's why I think that people from many other backgrounds they're very proud of their Heritage and they they're not so blocked about learning more but for some reason for Jews today they have real blocks up so Rabbi Sampson mentioned the first two most important blocks last week first one is that people feel judged that they're being judged they're not good people and they're not good Jews and anybody who feels judged we know it from our children most of us do have children on the line if you judge them make turn off they don't want to hear anything you have to say so the what I first idea was you have to really care for people make them feel that all their Jewish growth is amazing whatever they do is amazing and you're there you're there with them they're 100 Jewish just like you and I'm not just talking to the observant people in the crowd here I'm talking to everybody because everybody has a person to the left of them that's less observant than them and you can be intimidating to them so the way not to be intimidating is a I love you you're doing great you're an amazing person an amazing Gym number two the biggest misconception which I'm sure he spent a lot of time on is that Judaism will take all the pleasure out of my life that really is the misconception and I think it's because most Jews like me when I was growing up I was introduced during the I would call the difficult or somber times Yom Kippur was one of the only experiences I remember growing up Jewish I didn't really have many of the joyous occasions Shabbat Purim those types of things so I'm sure Ravi Samson said you give people the pleasure you show them the pleasure right that's the that's the that's the sh that's the way to really show people what Judaism is all about it's not a big switch Judaism is really about pleasure it really is about deep long-term pleasure that's available and that's really what we want to share with all of our children with our family members and with all the other Jews in the world that we know just want to share with them things are going to make them happy and give them long-term pleasure okay so that brings us to tonight tonight is misconception three and misconception four so the third misconception of Judaism is that Judaism is All or Nothing you heard this Judaism is All or Nothing many people believe that if I put my little big toe in the water of Judaism I have to put on uh Shaco I have to I have to you know do Shabbat tomorrow it's like telling someone who may be thinking of running of getting into jogging and they have to do a marathon tomorrow how could you possibly anticipate doing a marathon because all you see all you will feel is the pain all the pain and none of the pleasure it's the same thing with doing something all or nothing right it's that you're not you're not ready to do everything and that's not what's required of you okay now we need to know that there's a part of us there's a part of us and it that's our sort of our [Music] um our negative part of us our death wish the part of us that holds us back that gets us to break our diet it gets us to do so many things we really don't want to do in our better moments right and we from a Jewish context we know this refers to what we call the Yates is our evil inclination but it's really our sparring part we know that life is about challenges and life's about growing so we have to have this like emergency brake kind of pushing on us giving us a little resistance almost like weights you know resistant fuss and that's our Yates ultimately wants our good but it tries to undercut us and things that we really want to do so with this All or Nothing what are the the uh it presents itself is like this I'm not a hypocrite so I have to do everything if Judaism is something which is worthwhile and I decide I want to get involved I have to do everything there are 613 this is out there I'm not a hypocrite you know the way I've some no no Lisa don't put it up now don't put it up the way that some that that some talk about this and I remember this from was keeping kosher I remember even when I was a young person before I even got involved in anything religious I thought you know there were people I knew who kept culture in the home and out of the home they didn't keep coaching but I remember thinking that was a little bit hypocritical like he's a cheap coacher or don't keep coach like I understand where this it's a Hara where this idea is coming from now first of all let's talk about misconceptions there are many sources in Judaism which talk about um the idea that no person does all the Torah without sinning that the Torah was not giving to the given to the angels it was given the flesh and blood human beings many different sources in the talmud talked about the reward we're going to get for the littlest Mitzvah steps that we take to do Buddhists to do Mitzvahs to do worse without important things in life we're gonna get tremendous tremendous reward for it so this is first and foremost an amazing misconception but let's talk about that idea of a hypocrite I want to give you an analogy consider the following an hour someone is at a convention uh he's trying to quit smoking there's this great weekend convention a really helpful habit for the last time but there's a charismatic speaker and he is extolling the virtues of being smoke free and how bad it is and he really is passionate and he believes in what he says so on the break you walk outside you happen to peek down the alley behind the auditorium and you'd see this guy lighting up a cigarette you go over to him you want to kill the guy what a hypocrite how could you do that don't you practice what you preach and he tells you the following you don't understand for 20 years I smoked two packs of cigarettes a day I'm down to my last three cigarettes hopefully soon I won't need any at all now I ask you is that guy a hypocrite or is that guy a hero I think you'd all agree with me a person's a hero a hypocrite is somebody who believes in something talks the talk and doesn't walk the walk it doesn't even try to walk a hero is someone trying day to day no matter how many times he or she falls they're not only gonna talk the talk they're gonna try to walk the walk that's the growth that God wants us to do and that's the growth and the pleasure we must take from doing things one bit at a time now there's another aspect I just want to mention about it's not all or nothing and this aspect is realize this is not a Jewish issue people think this is a religious truth it's not a Jewish issue this is a human issue think about anything in your life that you try to do to better yourself there's a voice inside of you that's undercutting you want to go on a diet you want to lose personal wants to lose 20 pounds or they want to get in shape or they want to master a skill they want to be more organized at work there's a part of them which says you know that's a mountain you have to climb how are you going to possibly run that Marathon how are you going to possibly lose those 20 pounds and you possibly to control your anger who are you kidding who Do You Think You Are and they get you to quit and again focusing you often on the pain of the situation the pain it's too hard of a mountain to climb uh I'll never get there so I have another analogy for you the second analogy is as follows imagine one of your really good friends goes to South Africa he's in the mining business and there's a piccular region which is known for gold and he's looking for gold in this area of South Africa and it comes back and you see him in the store and he's a little depressed he's long face and you kind of figure oh my gosh it must not have been very successful and your most empathetic voice you say oh I guess it really didn't work out for you in South Africa you didn't get gold and he said what are you kidding of course we found a gold mine one gold mine but it's one I'm one thousandths of the bull mines in South Africa I failed miserably so you look at him you said man are you kidding me you are rich inestimably rich you will never be able to spend all that money that you just discovered in that goal mine take pleasure in it understand its vet in as in estimable value it doesn't matter if you'll never get another piece of gold net and not my friends is our view our view of all the good things we do all the kindnesses we do for people all the Torah of the Jewish wisdom that we learn well the municipants that we do it's an estimable value and not only that when you learn to take a little bit of pleasure from the good that you do and understand that it's like a gold mine that you can never possibly even get the pleasure in this world the rabbi say vote in ethics of our fathers at every mystery you do the pleasure is worth all the pleasure in this world is worth all the physical measurement that must mean so if you take a little bit of that pleasure do you think it would help you through the next Good Deed do you think it would motivate you and Galvanize you to do the next step and that's what we say we say a Mitzvah a good deed drags along another the goal is to habituate ourselves and who knows maybe we we won't get all the gold in the world but we might get really really close okay this is the this is this is the misconception of it's not all or nothing and I I want you to take one page from the our friend Sahara the evil inclination well let's take it's it's let's look how it operates and turn it around for the good this is how it goes the the it's a hurray will never say imagine you're on a diet it never tells me and I'm going to fight almost every week it never tells me Simba go eat that entire melt away from Sonic's Bakery in the five towns even though I liked what it tells me I bet you ladies could I knew you could tell me she puts a finger up my age isn't better mine takes a sliver just a sliver right my mother I met my mother told me I just took the sliver but you know what all of a sudden it takes God right yay Sahara says one at a time one at a time bow down the road no don't worry we'll start to buy it tomorrow don't worry we'll we'll put off our exercise regiment until tomorrow you guys all know the drill right we it says it's not all or nothing don't be such a fanatic right it's not all or nothing so we should have to turn this around and we have to do this for good things in our life Mr Yates you're right it's not all or nothing and I can't run my three miles today but you know what I'm gonna do I'm gonna go outside and run a half a mile I know I don't have a lot of time today but I'm not going to give up how many times have I broken my diet at nine in the morning or ten in the morning now you know what I usually do I usually say ah just throw the towel for the day start tomorrow now that's exactly what my it's a heart wants why can't I just say you know what I messed up at nine I'm gonna start this diet at 9 30. now that's that's the logical thing to do right but no we're full of the desire and our and we don't want to do that oh no oh no not a hypocrite oh nothing okay so let's turn it around now Eliza let's go let's go on to the uh um actually you know don't do this go through the chair for now I want to open it up though for people I want to ask you I want to ask you so how do you think we could introduce people to the pleasure of our heritage in bite-sized pieces what are the kind of things you think we can do now that we have this idea that it's not all or nothing everything's important how what's the process anyone I want to give a an idea of what the process might be open up open it up Elisa I did a lot of people unimuted themselves already okay anybody want to enter no let me let me actually start someone on our trip recently told us he already tells people he says you know there's a customer on Friday night to bless your children wouldn't that be a beautiful thing to do to remind yourself of Shabbat I'd say a perfect example of it's not all or nothing and to start with a beautiful pleasurable meaningful step and he actually follows up he actually told me that he would suggest you know maybe a few weeks later what do you think maybe he'll make the kiddish to break period Buffett I'll show you how to make a blessing you'll do it with your family maybe you'll have it you'll have you'll just do it with your meal you're having a meal anyway and that's pretty buzzed little by little by little and you know what he he himself he himself did this this was interesting he was introduced this way to Judaism himself so he has a feel for it what else do you think you could do with people to bring them a law I think it's I think it's even smaller than that like it's it's really like I would just suggest to a family or to somebody just trying to go to a kosher restaurant once in a while or if you're not feeling well um try to sit at the table make sure that you set the table on Friday night and Saturday just very small effects but yeah no very nice little small small steps this is the this is the idea you know putting up a little bit about them how many people you know don't even have a mezuzah you know when I was not when I was not religious I thought and a lot of people and friends I know when they go to Israel together I think the missus is the the case you know a lot of people have misconcept misconceptions they think it's the case and when I showed them and I actually showed them as the scroll and I in my house for that reason I have clear misses right so I want to show people when they come that the music is really what's inside right so it's such a nice thing to do to like you know talk about the beautiful God protects us and we think about him when we go in then we go out there's so many things we can do in this fashion this of Curves now let me just put on the uh the the uh message here Elisa the the uh screen share put on the uh the two nuggets that I that I prepared for um everybody put it on foreign to show you guys there are two idea shares here that I think you know I put two because actually I went over them just you know in the last 10 minutes as we were going this first idea a share of Judaism is All or Nothing is either I do all or do nothing I'm not a hypocrite so what I what I wrote here were those few paragraphs talking about that analogy of this of the speaker and who smoked 22 packs a day and now he's down to three so I took a very bite-sized nugget of Jewish wisdom to show people in a nice way it's it's it's self-defeating and it's not hypocritical to have a path to have a journey to do good things that build one on top of the other so this is the first idea to share so if you resonate with this part of the the uh misconception at least can we push it down yeah please look at that now the second one over here is Judaism is All or Nothing is I can never do it all so I shouldn't get involved it's too hard I can't ever run the marathon I'll never be able to lose 20 pounds I'll never be able to you fill in the blank here right so this is the analogy that I that I told you before about to die looking for the gold in South Africa beautiful small uh bite-sized piece of wisdom that I think we can all kind of Master and tell over to someone the next couple of weeks to see if we really have this sort of concept sort of concept down okay so now what I want to do is I want to just open it up for just a minute if anybody has any questions about this misconception I'll have enough time for like one question maybe two and I want to go I want to go on to the fourth misconception does anybody have any uh questions and you don't have to have questions I'm sure I did a wonderful job you know uh telling you about it so maybe you know also you can always contact me as Barnett bar n-e-t-t maybe at least you can put in the chat with two T's at projectinspired.com any about this or anything else related to all things Jewish please be in touch with me okay let's go on to the next misconception now the next misconception is that Judaism is based on a leap of faith right I resonate with people Judaism is based uh it's not just Judaism that religion in general is based on a leap of faith and I would say I just want to point out to you A lot of that comes from the fact that we know more about Judaism from Christianity those of us like myself we didn't grow up uh religious I don't I knew more of my religious Concepts from the Christians in the world that I really did about Judaism and of course Christianity makes no bones about it it is about faith it's a faith-based religion now our religion Judaism does have a place obviously for a faith what we call a Muna in Hebrew but our version of faith is much more like Trust it's a trust born of a relationship based on evidence we are religion our tradition is replete with concepts of knowing there's a God not believing not a hope and a prayer that we base our tradition on a rock-solid foundation of I would call evidence and to me when I heard about this and I encountered Judaism for the first time in this way it was very refreshing because my life my um heretofore was based on evidence was based on science it was based on psychology I I didn't want to do something that was out of fashion old out of Step old-fashioned I wanted to do something that was true to do something which was right now you should know how many people go into the synagogues to probably show you how much knowledge is in play so many of the curtains you know the uh paroch which is called on the on the ark it says seven out of ten probably no for whom you stand doesn't say hope it says no before whom you stand that famous Elena prayer that we say at the end of every prayer service it says you shall know today and put that knowledge on your heart that there's a God in the world the maimonides the famous codifier of the Mitzvahs he looks at the first Mitzvah faith in God as laid the Sham eloka know that there is a God that's how he puts renders the first very first Mitzvah knowledge of God you can know and we can know and have areas of evidence we don't have to just go on a limit and believe you know I want to say that for the most part people today don't seem so hung up on philosophical truths on is this really uh is it really true do I need evidence I find that about I've been this in in this area with Jews of all kinds for about 30 years and I find that I would say 10 or 15 of Jews want hard evidence intellectual philosophical proof most don't I I was one of the 10 15 who did and I pursued it because that's what I understood that was the language that I that registered with me now but I want to say I don't mean to say that most people are not at the truth what I mean to say is people in get truth in different ways many people Intuit the truth of something from the wisdom the meaning the beauty the Torah itself in other words it's more an intuitive approach to knowing something and affirmative and affirmative Adam getting an effort I'm getting an echo please and maybe you can help me do your magic I'll just talk I'll just talk like little by little little by little okay well that's annoying oh good fantastic fantastic so Rabbi Lawrence Kellerman wrote many years ago an amazing book about this topic there were four areas of evidence for God and Torah and it was called permission to believe and some of you may have heard of it it's like a beautiful the red thin book fabulous and I recommend getting it if you like this area of inquiry but he titled it very interestingly permission to believe and he said you know why I'm titling that permission to believe because he says most people out there all they need is permission they intuitively know there's a God they feel it in their souls they look in the world and they believe it but they've been bombarded so much because this idea that I have to have a hundred percent proof that will be science gives proof when the computers give proof evolution that I need to they have like a a monkey on the back so to speak so he says most people you just need to give them permission they don't have to exhaustive analysis you don't have to have you know deep conversations for six months at a time which I actually went through for most people I've actually found just knowing that Judaism believes in truth that Judaism believes in knowing there's a God and that there is evidence out there is enough for most people truthfully it's enough for most people and you can refer them to h.com at least it's going to send you guys two articles that I prepared for you from h.com one of that a beautiful idea of proof of God and one area of proof of Torah to me these are the two best she's gonna put in the chat and you and maybe you can do it now Eliza you can put in the chat and you guys at your leisure can you know download it and read it now there's many websites simpletoremember.com I told these I'm going to put together a list of you guys those are really into this list of books a list of some websites and you can you can have a have a have a picnic have a ball right for those of you who want but for those of you and most people out there I'm going to give you two analogies two analogies one about like we did four actually for the last misconception but about God and one of that Torah I think this will be very accessible to everybody and you can go deeper if you want with the Articles and the resources I'm going to suggest okay so the first one is for God the proof of God now it goes as follows the best area of evidence I would say for God is designed is that the world is so intricate so amazingly designed it's such a sophisticated level I mean I remember once reading about the double helix of DNA and they said it was a Computer Sciences a scientists like wish list it was like hitting the mother load if only a computer scientist could have come up with such an intricate way to relay information and so concise a fashion right and that is an example a great example of something which was which was designed now the idea goes is that design implies designer that's the idea it's the one of the oldest areas of evidence that exists now what's fascinating is that up until recently up until the last 50 75 years if you can believe this or not Aristotle many of the philosophers after him and most of the scientists they believe that the world was eternal did you know that they believe that the world had always existed they did not believe that it had a moment in time where it started now think about this for a second if you have a world that's eternal just maybe all that incredible design that you see came about by chance hear that it's possible it's probably it's it's very slim those chances but who knows you know if the world stretched around forever and you gotta you got a an infinite number of times to throw a guard at a cardboard but we think you're gonna get a bullseye once in 50 trillion billion you know times okay I hear see you guys next you know saying not really but it's possible that's what scientists did up until 1965 and about 1965 69 the Big Bang was confirmed and what does the Big Bang really mean that there was a point in time when this world started and how long do anybody know how long do they say this world's been around they they posit this world's been around it's only at most 15 billion years old hear that 15 billion years old now you guys might think 15 billion is a long time but in in evolution and biology it's not a long time at all it's a short time so this is the conundrum how can you possibly have created this incredible level of sophistication that we see in this world in 15 billion years is it possible uh there's is there any chance what are the odds so I just want to show you one share with you one piece of information an analogy which will really put this across now this was actually done by Sir Fred Hoyle he's a Nobel prize-winning biologist sir Fred Hoyle and what he did was he said what is the most simple form of organic life at all organic animals human beings everything is based upon and he said it's the simple bacterium that is the most simple form of organic life and he did a calculation what are the odds that a bacterium could come about purely by chance and he came out and this Nobel Prize winner it's one in 10 to the Forty thousandth hour one over ten times forty thousand to give you an idea in our understanding what that means is what he said he said he said it's about the same probability of a tornado ripping through a junkyard and out popping up a Boeing 747. you hear that one bacteria the most simple form which all organic life comes from the chances would be as if a tornado ripped through a junkyard and came the sophisticated Boeing 747. well let me ask you questions anybody think no matter how many times a tornado went through that junkyard that would ever happen when I told this to a good friend of mine he said to me he was eating a banana he said Simba I want to I want to show you something imagine you ate the banana he shows me the Achilles I'm going to take this pill I'm gonna throw it in the backyard your backyard the soil in the back he says there's a much better chance that this but this that appeal is much bigger than one bacteria much much much higher on the heavy he said simple do you think you came back in three billion years you could have a conversation with this banana peel really when you think of that all of the the ears and the eyes and the DNA all the complex systems so much much greater greater greater greater greater and that bacterium and you could see that even for the bacteria it's something oddly past our imagination when you realize that you say to yourself there's only one solution to the problem and the solution is an intelligent designer now there could be aliens from outer space you know you may have heard before some some theorists scientists they understood these numbers and they said we don't want to pin this on God so maybe they they were these aliens who impregnated the planet they call it panspermia they inject it in the planet in intelligent computer program okay but at least you understand at least they're saying design means there must be a designer so I would I would rather have God because you know if you if you think it's an alien then you gotta ask yourself a question where'd the alien come from at some point you have to get back to the Big Bang the big woman or the big person you know up there in the sky okay so that is the proof of odd from design I think it's a great proof Eliza there's an article that she's going to put down here I think she already put it the first article here is a beautiful article about this design okay I want to give you another an analogy or a area of evidence for proof of Torah okay and one of the most interesting areas of of Torah of our claim is what's called National Revelation the Jewish people make a claim that God spoke to us in a very different way than all the other nations of the world make their claim if they think of that other nations whether it's the the Muslims whether it's you know um the Christians whether it's even John Smith other religions other religions that are revealed religions clean there was a revelation always goes like this that one person says God spoke to me revealed himself to me or revealed um who revealed his will for mankind and now I'm going to give you the good news maybe he did a few Miracles you know maybe isn't as in the case of Jesus they say he rose from the dead but but the the Revelation wasn't to any of the followers the Revelation came right to Muhammad on the Temple Mount he went up to heaven so to speak John Smith Book of Mormon right it was a personal encounter a personal revelation Judaism is the only religion that has uh a totally different uh approach and that is that God spoke that revealed himself to the entire Jewish people every living Jew at Mount Sinai I want to draw your attention to other claims that we accept as true no matter what we call them historical planes the fact that there was a president called George Washington hundreds of thousands of people ended up meeting him in their lifetime knowing he existed and we know that George Washington cut down the cherry tree but heard that that when they call a myth right that he may have by the way we just don't we can't prove it the fact that he may have said it or someone may have said it it doesn't offer any proof so too Muhammad says that God revealed the Quran to me right we don't have any proof in the claim that he made that's to basically convince us some other way right with his Charisma perhaps with the ideas maybe some Miracles but the claim itself tells us nothing of the truth of the claim but how about the claim I'll give you an example when I was in California in the 90s there was an earthquake in Los Angeles in 1992 I believe millions of people automatically felt the earthquake now that earthquake became history that very day and you didn't need a newspaper article written about it you didn't need one picture about that was secondary tertiary evidence but the main evidence that told you that there was an earthquake millions of people eyewitness testimony the claim was millions of people witnessed that World War II millions of people witnessed World War II if you look at everything in history or separates history from myth from a story is that there were thousands upon thousands of eyewitnesses now why is that so interesting well look at the earthquake in LA for example for a moment what if it never happened and the child of one of the people lived in LA in the 90s come along now in 2022 what are the children they want to claim there was an earthquake oh my gosh a terrible earthquake that killed x amount of people it happened in Los Angeles in 1992. now say it didn't happen would they be able to create that as history remember everybody lives in Los Angeles at the time would have had to experience that earthquake right so when they they come to me I wasn't born you know the kid who was born 10 years ago he wasn't born in 92. so he puzzled all his what are the new generation they're not Millennials anymore they're like whatever they are now right they tell them this story there was this earthquake and we you know we got to commemorate it and one of all his friends tell him the obvious thing all his friends girls and guys they say to him wait a second my mother never told me about the earthquake that happened in Los Angeles my father never told me in this this couldn't have happened he go to you go to a thousand friends and everybody says no such thing you know it's you know it's a lie the reason why people don't make claims that are historical in nature when they can't substantiate it is very simple because as soon as they make the claim they're caught in a lie that they can't substantiate now take that to the Jewish people the Jewish people the claim is every single Jew man woman and child was at Mount Sinai God spoke to all of us if that didn't happen how could we have possibly created that history now I know what you a lot of your thinking people deny history all the time what about Holocaust people deny the Holocaust want to make a very important distinction here you can deny history all you want but could you create a holocaust if it didn't happen if you want to deny the Holocaust happening present to hate anybody can do that anybody can be irrational but why do you think most people don't buy that nonsense because the Holocaust is history to people but say the Holocaust didn't happen but anybody be able to write that into the historical record and the answer is no because they would be because then it would be history right and that is the incredible difference between the Jewish people and the rest of the world and I'm going to give you this one analogy which is the idea share that I wanted to leave you with the next idea share that we're going to post in a minute after we do this and this is a beautiful we call it the Indian Chief story some people call it the Hasidic rabbit story I like the Indian Street story so there's an Indian chief Papa Running Bear and he has three sons and he unexpectedly passes away without directing who's gonna be the next chief and as a bali God people are going crazy this faction wants the warrior this faction once the businessman the statue wants the hukum the wise son you know everybody wants their own player finally Hawaii's son youngest son comes into the camp one day and he says I have solved the problem I am the new chief and I'll tell you how I know because Papa running there came to me in a dream last night and told me I was going to be the new Chief break out the war paint what a happy day and they were confused one old Indian wise Indian in the back comes and says son if the chief wanted us to know that you were going to be the next chief he shouldn't have come to you in your dream he should have come to us in all of our dreams fascinating and he says not only that that's why I know you cannot possibly be the chief because if the papa running their had the power to come to everybody that is exactly what he would have done and this my friend is how I know that the only religion that has a true claim is the Jewish religion because God if he came to us in all of our dreams that's the claim which we said before you can't make that up proven a liar before you even get out of your mouth that he would have come into all the other religions in their dreams and done it in a way which was unassailable which was clear it's no accident just to let you go a little further why I believe the Christians and the Muslims had to base their religion upon us it's given them no end of grief but Wandering Jew you know the Christian theology said the reason why they're kicked out of Israel is because they burned our God what happened to Christian theology man we went back to Israel in 1948. no end to problems we cause them why they had to accept it because it was historical fact and historical reality so you can put it on the screen just for a second Eliza so we did two yeah this is the one the the design in nature right and we talked about over here the idea of the bacteria I love this analogy of Sir Fred Hoyle the you know the the tornadoes in the junkyard which is a very beautiful cup few paragraphs for you to you know get that to chair and then the last uh on this page is our unique claim of national revelation now I do recommend you can take it off the screen now Lisa it's on your chat everybody you can get it on the chat uh where is it Elisa it's on the chat right this is I'm putting it again right now in the chat okay put it again right now but I just want to uh draw your attention the national Revelation at Sinai is an excellent presentation I didn't do it justice right now because it really have to think about it it really does take time the article that I referred to from God speaking Mount Sinai it's excellent excellent we've done I've read many different you know Renditions of this it's an excellently done if you want to go deep deeper into it also you can get in touch with me personally to go into it if this is your thing if you like I guess the takeaway right the takeaway is as I said before that hey we should be very proud that we have um evidence to base our trust and our faith in God upon we should feel we shouldn't be ashamed we should feel very proud that we have a tradition that's based in reality and I believe really the best uh proof of Torah really is Torah learning I mean the more people learn the more of the wisdom that you get over time at some point you say this couldn't have been created by people three thousand years ago it certainly to me it might be in the past but obviously there are barriers to enter into motivated to do that right but I I think for you to first know that that evidence is very helpful to a lot of contemporary Jews today who feel they they're being an old-fashioned or anti-scientific to be religious okay especially in all political polarized environment they're very density it's very tough number two is that um to share with people to know that sharing with people that we do have evidence Judaism is a a knowledge-based religion I think is very important for people I think it gives them a lot of comfort and a lot of Pride again and then if they want to know more I do believe that you can give them either an article some of these that we've talked about perhaps some others that you might look at at age.com a website called Simple to remember.com but I'll try to email you these things tomorrow so you guys have if you're if you enjoy this and and they also should know that somebody is somebody is one of those 10 or 15 who really want to go further we have the resources you can refer them to a rabbi you could refer them if that you're bent a few books or we really have the resources and no one should feel that we don't have the answers and uh it's great it's very affirming and it's very beautiful so I want to conclude and I just go back to the beginning from Rabbi Sampson really talked about the last time and that is that you know the most important emotional block people have is that Judaism is anti-pleasure Judaism really is going to take my my life away so the sweetness of Torah the sweetness of Jewish life that's the most important thing and of course to love to share and not to be judgmental and not to in any way uh and say that a Jew is not as good as you any of us right we're all growing we're all on a ladder and the goal is to go up right so these are the four and then strategy it's not all or nothing right little at a time you want to win the race you don't want to like you know Sprint the head I always think about the tortoise and the hair that's my favorite Little Rock little analogy from growing up you know gotta be the tortoise you got to be the tortoise little by little little by little wins the race and if that niggling idea of this is a leap of faith comes in as we did tonight you have this you know a very solid backdrop of evidence that really we're based on a lot of a lot of reality okay so that's our presentation for the nut tonight we'll let everybody go once anybody who wants to stay on now can unmute you can ask me a question or two um but I don't want to keep anybody else because we're at our at our time limit and but I'll I will open it these let's open it for questions if anybody would like to to ask or make a comment uh before we call it call it a night did I put I gave everyone access on mute themselves now if you have anything anybody wants to make a comment or a question or and again if you don't that's okay too I have a question is that best did you have a question yeah okay um is there I mean you just mentioned you know it's okay we're all on a different part of that ladder yeah um what uh but there's that goal to be at the top of the ladder what if that isn't your goal to be at the top of it of the ladder like is that okay do you know what I'm saying or are we always propelled to just keep going higher higher higher more and more and more listen I think that I think that you know like in life in life it's a good quality question but when when you understand first of all that something is a desired destination right say a marathon you want to run into desired destination so so if you feel that that's a good destination it's desirable right then you're going to want to get there and you know most most Jewish people and most human beings they want the most out of life so you're going to want to get there I feel the only reason people stop short of moving up a ladder is because they somehow are afraid that it's not going to be a desirable destination I think that's the point but what if you say what if you if your goal is to run five miles and you run five miles it's not necessarily a given that you're going to want to run 10 miles yeah in road racing that's but that's the in road racing you break the analogy is that your soul is pushing you to want to be the best person you could be it might not be pushing you to be a marathon runner you know I mean it's a so that's where I think that analogy would break down you see so I mean you have to understand this goes back to the truth of Torah if Torah is there if there is enduring truth to it it's basically a guidebook for your soul to be the greatest it could be so in other words it's like a onion you know they're layers that onion and it and it's all up to you and no one's saying you're a better or worse juice if you don't get up a ladder but like you know that if at some point you realize that the latter is leading you to to unlock the potential of you of who you are you'll want to go up that ladder and if you don't you won't in other words but it's going to come from your perception that there's some bull that's really good up there got it okay a great question though Rabbi Barnett yes hi this is Sarah Langer um one of the things I'm learning more and more is that we need to know where each person is at and um I have an example of this the other day so um I give a class on lubavator Reba's book on positivity bias and um we're talking about uh talking about Shabbos and this woman she said you know I've started lighting Shabbos candles and that's amazing and she said I light them at the right time and then I go and I turn on my stove because my husband wants dinner and so I very gently was saying well maybe you could do this a little bit no my husband wants it when he wants it and and I said well in May she says I turned the lights on and I said maybe you could set them before no my husband is so strict about using electricity that size dropped it I dropped it I and I said I'm so happy that you are lighting Shabbos campus no that you're and you're right really it's a very good point you have to know where people are and you have to support them in in this in discovering for themselves The Next Step you know without an agenda without an agenda there is no exactly right exactly I think that that you that's your best your point you you know this has got to be process Discovery for the person themselves and at some point they'll come through it and they'll say you know I want more and I'll you know it's like it'll happen but you can't I saw your hand go up yeah go ahead yes hi I wanted to say that it's one thing to run a marathon yourself and make that decision and just run and take one step at a time and keep on going but it's another thing if you're feeling pushed from behind to run then if your natural feeling will be almost to resist right right exactly no exactly listen I always look at it like this is that you know you I I always felt you know and I think Chabad is great with this I'm setting uh a buffet a table a buffet and I'm offering great food for people I care about to enjoy it's up to them to decide what they want but they want to enjoy and what they do and they may want more they may not want more in it and and we're in this together and that that to me is the you know important thing like but it is just so important to realize you and now the last point I want to say is it's very important to realize you're running your own race not someone else's race in America we have the slowest thing winners losers we're really in we really think we're in One race with everybody else and Judaism it's not like that spirituality is really you have to know it's your own race so you have to just be honest with yourself and Hashem you and you and God talk to each other and you'll decide what the next step is and he has faith in you and so do I that you will get to that you know that next step you're supposed to get to it's not it's not not a racial running with us really all of our we're reading a race against ourselves and um yeah it's really true really really is true one of the one thing I did want to mention and say in the class I usually say sometimes when we say it's not all or nothing um you know people have had this niggling thing that I'm talking about like Chinese menu Judaism you know it's a little two two dishes from column a two from column B you know I need you guys used to order Chinese from Chinese restaurant like you can pick and choose and I don't really mean it that way because there's It's All or Nothing in strategy how am I gonna get to a goal that I want to get to that's my All or Nothing that is like human it's a human thing if you try to do everything at one point you're gonna burn out that's the way it is okay but there is one question which I do believe it is all or nothing as Judaism is concerned okay and this question is there a God and did he give it Torah in other words it might not be a question that's important for you right now but at some point a person's got to come to a decision a conclusion is that real or not right to me I think it's like if not it's like you can't be half pregnant right either are or you're not this is the one question in in Judaism that I would say at some point at the right time people have to like find for themselves because basically our tradition really do feel it's based on truth it's not something we do willy-nilly it's not something we do listen it's not something we do because the world loves us right think about that for a minute so if we're going to endure all of the negative that we've had to endure because of our beliefs and I feel we might as well enjoy the positive about our beliefs but it's got to be based on something real or really how are we any different than anybody else and by the way I wouldn't do all this cleaning on pesach for the month if I didn't I I if I didn't think this was legit I mean I would think this was made up by a bunch of cougars but in other words I do feel at some point that's a worthwhile thing to discover for yourself you know whether you really believe this is based in truth and based in reality goes to our last misconception the fourth fourth misconception all right ladies so so nice to speak with you and I'll see you God willing in two weeks in no four weeks Robbie Samson's in two weeks and I think we're gonna do what the five levels of pleasure right this next class is the classic Rabbi weinberg's classic classic classic presentation well the five levels of pleasure it's like unbelievable material five Newton three sessions because it's we this is quick we have to like do it give it its time this next one because it's so worth it anybody thanks guys for thank you Elisa for uh hosting and doing all this and really appreciate it and um thank you so much thank you thank you we'll talk to you soon bye-bye thank you so much everybody asked me if a teenager could get on it I think you can put someone on if they're very interested you can have someone listening I don't see why not I'm making trouble with my colleagues for that but uh you know just keep it on the QT put them to the side of the camera okay all righty can I just make a comment quickly yes okay yeah sorry um if I had never done anything and started lighting Shabbos candles and doing it on time and then someone commented to me why don't you do this why don't you put your burner on earlier or automate your lights I I would take that as a criticism actually I would feel judged no you no listen you might I want to just I want to give you I want to qualify that for a second you you probably wouldn't feel judged if you had a very uh strong relationship with that person in other words if you if if you had a very good relationship where that person was helping you do something you wanted to do you wanted to grow in a certain way you might not in other words I agree with you in that kind of that context if you're lighting candles and someone's you know heavy-handedly telling you do this do that the other thing you you know you'd be totally but I can un I found in my experience that if you have a real relationship with someone when you care about them and they care about you that when you have open dialogue and make suggestions it's really picked in that context but when you don't have a a good enough relationship or much of a relationship at all a lot of stuff is very off-putting I think you have to qualify like that's the thing with anything to make a suggestion I always say by the way like this Beth to your point I would say have you ever considered if I want to make a suggestion to somebody in a very respectful way that they think is important I would say have you ever considered X because when you do it when you say that it basically gives that person the um the standing that that if you're not telling them something you're engaging in a discussion you want to give their opinion with their bet it's a whole different discussion so I would often I would often tell people if you want to ask you know approach something do it do it have you ever thought about this or that the other thing if we're friends why not why can't we have a great discussion about whatever that that uh that case might be but and the lady who brought that up she might have actually felt it was too heavy-handed I think that was her point that she really she really made a mistake and you know I think that that was where she was coming from but I I've just often felt it's not cut and dry what you might think is is quote unquote a little bit off-putting that's learned together they might have a whole different relationship and it might not really be off-putting to them but to put that as a qualification right if I totally understand your point fair enough all right later I guess I said anybody want to be in touch with me that's Barnett h.com great okay I mean our project.com either one okay have a great night ladies thank you very much bye