Living With Emunah (Part 297) - Defeat the Matrix

good morning should be good morning for should hear pleas God the hostages should all be brought home our soldiers should return to their families we should hear about his sweeping victory in the south in the north and all around want to thank our incredibly generous sponsors for our amuna sheer Dr zavi and Bella Morgan in memory of re Dr Brian galber and in memory of Bella's mother Dr Ellen shanzer also our learning should be for a Ru a young girl in our community still urgently is in need of we DAV from the bottom of our hearts she should have a complete Speedy Shas FR everyone's invited as always to remain afterwards to please finish all of safer TM the more that stay the more times we can finish all of safer tillum in just a few minutes for so many reasons that are needed and couple other housekeeping quick announcements um our amazing amuna cups I actually make my first cup of coffee every day in the morning from it and every morning we have our morning Colo very early and I look caffeinate with kavana it reminds me it's really wonderful we're actually ordering more cups so if anybody would like to buy we're offering you can buy sleeves of these cups use them at your home remind yourself in your family to make your first cup of coffee caffeinate with kavana SH everything creates the world the Ambiance everything in it Shak everything is from Hashem so if you'd like to order a sleeve or several sleeves or sponsor the cups for the sh you can be in touch with Lee Le ebrs online.org and she has all the details this Mo shabas we're hosting Ron PES will be back at BRS 8:30 here in the Rand Sanctuary all are invited and that is just one example of the incredible programming classes learning opportunities BRS host which is why next week we'll be having our annual BRS Global campaign for those who are not members of baton synagogue but benefit regularly and we know you want the opportunity to express your gratitude and to partner and to empower and to enable us to continue to teach and share and promote Torah so we want to help you and so we are launching our campaign next week but if you'd like to in advance help us get started with momentum BRS online.org Global BRS online.org Global amuna emails got a couple of emails and then we'll dive back into the text that we were learning together back into amuna together dear rabbi I was laid off from a job a month ago I have a wife and a daughter and it really hurt I've been living in a days and I've been taking it quite personally I'm a giver not a taker I give to my community my wife and daughter and I really hate taking I've been learning and I'll say that when faced with a real and with real challenges there is a question and answer dialectic I wake up with Despair and questions only to have answer only to have to answer with Amun and in other words he's revealing what all of us go through the inner conversations we have with ourselves where our instinct is panic fear anxiety worry and then we have to kick in the AM muscle that says relax it's a plan he's in charge he's in control surrender to him go along for the ride sometimes the questions are stronger than the answers while there are other times answers are stronger than the question it's an ongoing battle I meditate on the struggles of braus the ghoul of MIT the story to quote and then he quotes a Froman that I'm not familiar with I will be following up with you in a couple of days please God when I find a job that's how he signs his email why am I sharing this email because to First all someone took the trouble to write it and I think it's very raw and it's very real and it's very reflective and what do I always say it doesn't say and then as I wrote the email I just got word I got a job and it's a better job than a less job and it pays more than the last job and it's so the best thing in the world I got fired because not he says I don't have a job I don't know how I'm paying the bills I don't I don't know why right now I have to be a taker I like to be a giver I'll be in touch soon hopefully I'll have better news but that's still am is not only when it all worked out amazingly well when it all worked out right of which we have those stories of which we have those stories too here's one from my brother-in-law went to Israel during Yeshiva week father son Mission and there was an amazing story he he went Mo shabas through New York he likes Adventures so he went Mo chabas through New York and to make that connection shabas did not end early here and yet to make the connection to get out of New York his flight was delayed and he had to you know pull an OJ through the airport and run anyone know what I'm talking about he had to run thank you okay he didn't Mur he didn't murder like an ex-wife in the airport I mean saying he had to run through the airport I'm not saying he did did it I'm just saying I'm not sure he didn't do it but that's not the point right now anyway if it doesn't fit you must have quit I'm not it's not the point right now the point is he had to run through the airport and um and he was delayed and P will he make it not making what why why Hashem you know he's going for a good thing to Israel to volunteer to support to help Father Son Mission why why the delay why the why the frustration why the panic and then on the second leg of his flight uh sorry then on that flight he met someone he knows so and so and her husband were in bokeh on vacation were coming back for a funeral in ulet Sunday their sister-in-law's father passed away they got the news after chabas they didn't see any flights they could take except the 8:15 Delta from Palm Beach but it was already after seven they wouldn't make it said maybe if it gets delay we can make it so they check again and sure enough it's now a 9:30 departure they hustle to the airport Hashem has all thees Bonos and calculates everything 9:30 was enough time for them to make it so they get to the funeral and enough time for me and my son to make our L connection they made it to Israel so sometime yeah the luggage didn't but sometimes sometimes we get the but it wasn't anyway going to make it sometimes we get the answer in real time sometimes there's the amazing ending we were delayed I didn't know why it's because they made it to the funeral they made it to the funeral we made it to Israel and all ends well and other times we don't have the new job yet or we didn't meet the shid yet we didn't get pregnant with the baby yet and we don't have the happy we don't have the ending we don't know the way the story ends that's real Amun that's real that's real if you don't know by now frustrated by those who try to inspire and build only with the stories where everything works out and the reason that I get frustrated by that is because then if the story doesn't work out for you I have no and no it didn't have that ending it didn't work out so therefore I guess he doesn't love me I guess there's no God I guess there wasn't a plan so our our and is not because it's not transactional it's not transactional it's not conditional it's not if I believe in him then it'll work out the way I want we learned way back when before most of you ever heard of me or living with Amun we learned the one of the first things we we learned way back when before we had caffeinate with cavana cups we learned the defines you know what people think you know is I have faith Hashem is going to make it work out the way I want I have faith I have faith is going to come through I have faith the person's going to get better I have faith the sh's going to work out I have faith I'll get job I have faith my I have faith the way it's going to work out the way I want and the writes that's not a that's not that's not faith in God that's faith in yourself you think here are all the initiatives and steps I take for the outcome I want and one of them is faith in God and I can check it off I went to the doctor I work out at the gym I dieted I did the job interview I whatever initiative whatever Arena whatever area of life and and I'm talk are just another check box and if I do it then I'm still in charge and I'm still in control because as long as I check all the box I get the result I want that's not am that's not surrender submitting that's not faith in God that's faith in your interpretation of the world and what you want to have happen and what you think is best for you and that's not faith faith is Hashem and this is the ongoing conversation Hashem from my limited finite mere mortal perspective I think this job would be really great for me from my mere mortal finite perspective I I think sh would be great I hope it works out from my mere mortal finite perspective I think this outcome I desire and want so badly is what's best for me but if you disagree let's go with your your decision because you're omnipotent you're infinite you're all knowing you're all powerful you are the source of all of existence and everything you do is for my best doesn't mean it's not painful it could be painful but painful is different than bad painful things happen to good people bad things don't happen to good people because all that God does is good sometimes we know the good this is why I got delayed so they could make the funeral and sometimes we don't know why it was good and all we experience is the pain of it but it's never bad because it's all from God and it's all by definition good it could be painful but it's never bad but real says the definition of is here's the way I hope and want and will work for it to work out and if it doesn't I know whatever happened is from you is not random is not is for the best we're now in the month of there are two Adar you can go through each week and day and month of the year and think you're you're going to be in a wrestling match with God who's in charge who's in control who's right who sees the world the way it should be and you're just wrestling with God you just want a different outcome you just want a different result you just want credit and you want responsibility and you want the glory or the blame you're just in a wrestling match or you could let go and let God doesn't mean when you enter the month of ad it means when Adar enters you when Adar enters into usar is Al the alof The One and Only The Almighty the Hashem the AL the one Dar he has a he has a dwelling place down here on Earth it means that everything that happens everything that happens everything that happens is from above everything that happens is from above I was listen to a podcast the other day someone was telling a story and said you know the difference of life or death can sometimes be your shoelace he was telling a story his shoelace became untied took one second more in his house to tie his shoe which meant he left the house a second later which meant he missed that intersection by a second which meant he M missed that accident that he could have been T-Bone the direct Collision that could have cost his life we don't know all day long whether the shoelace became untied stayed tied the red light the green light the delay the on time all the different variables of Our Lives from when we wake up in the morning morning until we fall asleep at night to have a is to realize it's all none of it's random or chance that's the voice of amalik all of were fighting am Malik ham was am Malik the story of is Malik the attempted extermination of the Jews of shushan was from Ham was from the original is MRA means chance happen stance so when you go through life and you say it's just it was a chance encounter it was a chance that I tied my shoelace so the it was chance that we missed the flight it was it's all random and chance and happen stance and it just happened to be coincidences that's the voice of and we're fighting that voice of amalik inside ourselves don't ever forget what amalik does to us when they attack us with the pernicious attack of chance happen stance Randomness we're victims of Randomness you know what Randomness leads to hopelessness and helplessness I don't know how the people who go through life thinking everything's random you know there's just I'm not saying it's easy but kala God forbid someone's diagnosed with an illness because you say well statistically this number of people will get this illness and I guess it's just a random unlucky chance I'm the lucky winner or someone I love was the lucky winner and got that illness and it's just random it's just chance and it's just data and it's just statistics I don't know that's the most depressing thought in the entire world to me and the other thought that says I don't understand it I reject it I protest it I beg I plead I DAV I take every initiative Under the Sun to stop it to fight it to overcome it but in the end of the day nothing is random and one day maybe we'll understand the reason but there is nothing that's random now there's meaning now there's purpose now there's there's hope because there's something that's beyond the here and now and there's a a meaning and a purpose to whatever that pain because it was part of a bigger plan if it's just random and chance and happen St there was no plan it just happened to you so how do you live how do you go on living how do you find Hope and resilience and perseverance and tenacity and when you say everything is part of a bigger plan and sometimes we'll see it and sometimes we know won't but it's all for a purpose so now I have the hope and the strength and the resilience to overcome and to persevere and that's a message our children desperately desperately desperately need resilience resilience this world is throwing at them and us things we never dreamt of or anticipated could have never predicted and and it's going to be survival of those who have resilience those who have resolve those who have strength and where do we get our resilience and our strength from where does it come from it comes from it comes from the the calmness and the Serenity and the tranquility and the inner piece of of equinity you know life has moments of Joy if if we're making a Sim we're going to sing and dance and be happy and smile if we get great news we're going to be elated it's filled with Sim and if there's loss we're going to sit we're going to cry we're going to grieve and we're going to be sad but even while experiencing that range still there's a equinity aav because it's all from hem theim is from hasem tells us the us that the same energy and the same attitude and the same that we brought to say thank you a million times thank you we're so grateful you know and thank you and the the thank you thank you thank you nobody ever gets up at a funeral and says nobody ever gets up walks out of the doctor office with diagnosis but that's what what our rabbis are telling us is yes the the behind the tears and behind the smiles is the same equinity there's an inner piece the inner piece of knowing it's not random it's not chance it's not random and chance that I've been Z that I have the Merit and the privilege to have this to have this not everybody does many are waiting and longing and when we get it it wasn't random and it wasn't chance and you have to thank Hashem through his graciousness and equally and opposite on the other side so amalik that voice that just says Ah it's random it's chance chance you found that parking spot it's chance your child find their Basher it's chance that God forbid that illness that diagnosis came that's the voice of a Malik it is depressing it is hopeless it it is it it just empties us of any energy or resilience it's deflating it's depleting that's aik they attack they attack that voice it's attacking us random chance happen stance statistics data it's attacking us it's attacking us and that's why Z we have to remember never forget what it can do to us how it can drain and deplete and debilitate and paralyze and compromise and corrupt relationships confidence Faith energy strength will it's attacking us it's attacking but when you live with faith when we let go un let God when we surrender to him when we say nothing is chance and everything is from you the happy moments the sad moments but there's an equinity hisas it's all the same to me mha's book which really captures hisas which is an ancient concept long precedes the bov goes back to DAV and earlier this notion that my highs and my lows my happiness and my sadness they're real we're meant to feel those emotions the same way that we say sadness doesn't mean don't feel sad we we the whole sitting shiv is sad sad lean into the sadness cry but it means that behind the tears is not the hopelessness of its chance and random andik said everything I'm living a life of equinity I just I don't get bent out of shape there's not the drama of the rise and the fall the Panic the fear the drama the anxiousness the and then we're able to not live a spiritually bipolar life we're not living a spiritual multiple personality life there's not the drama of the highs and the lows there's an equinity a calm I'm calm while I'm crying because crying is a human emotion of grief and sadness that's appropriate that's reasonable that's right that's an expression of loss that's correct rambam says to not grieve is cruel it's cruel I'm not cruel I feel but behind the tears there's a calm there's the calm of this was all part of a plan it's painful it hurts it hurts so badly but there's a plan there's a plan and similarly with the happiness and with the joy and with the highs I'm going to sing and dance and smile and be happy and joyful and elated but there's an equinity behind it is also not there it's all from Hashem it's all from Hashem that's real says the real is the statement not that I'm confident Hashem will make it turn out the way I want that's faith in yourself not faith in God faith in God is however turns out I know it's from him here's how I hope it turns out here's how I'll be working for it to turn out here's how I want it to turn out but however it turns out I know it's from him that's Faith that's Faith so the emails that come in that say huh it turned out the way I wanted it you see he's amazing I love him he's great that's not that's just it turned out the way you want that's easy that's easy the that says I don't yet know how it's going to turn out but I know and I trust it's all from him where it turned out not the way I wanted and not the way I hoped very powerful email to share with you next week very painful powerful email of an incredible demonstration of it didn't turn out the way I wanted the way we wanted and yet somehow I still know that it's all from him that's amuna that's and if our Amun is predicated and built on it will turn out the way I want we're setting ourselves up for a disaster and a failure and a meltdown but if all along what we're working on the amuna muscle that we're building the sh that we're learning the Gate of B that we're building within us is preparing us for when God forbid it won't turn out exactly the way we want we say it's no problem acity I'm still calm you know why I never felt entitled for it to turn out the way I want I never expected it would all always go the way I want I know that there is a bigger purpose and a bigger Plan and there's something more one more email boy do I have a story for Rabbi Goldberg Exclamation point Exclamation point Exclamation point subject line Y Hashem I was at Target doing a return before picking up my new glasses they messed up on a return and could not do an exchange on a return so the lady said here miss here's a $15 gift card I felt bad because that was worth more than the return but she was happy to make the customer happy for the mistake and let's assume for the moment she was empowered to do that I go to pick up my glasses Target Optical and after my insurance my co-pay was exactly $15 the exact amount I was just gifted what does one do with glasses they see because I literally see y Hashem and everything Hashem gave me these glasses for free because I see Hashem and everything Hashem gave me the glasses for free to see him so again you could walk out you know what a mik says in Target first of all mik says in Target keep buying things that you can't afford and go into debt and that looks so good and you you don't need it but you should have it you deserve it that's amalik all over Target but that's whatever that's a different amalik but you know what amalik says in Target amalik says in Target that what a coincidence huh $15 gift card $15 cop what a coinky dink what a coincidence isn't life filled with coincidence that's a mullik and you know what the B says the author of this email she says she says I'm putting on my new glasses I see Hashem everywhere it wasn't a coincidence Hashem gave me the glasses for free $ $155 Hashem gave it to me we can see it all around us we see it for free and that's our mission and our mandate go defeat amalik amalik in US yeah was never fully defeated he's still fighting in each and every one of us that voice that voice of amalik what rautner describes the rautner writes that there are two voices and what's the difference between and H is like is secular profane mundane nothing is impressive nothing is awesome nothing is wow nothing is the hand of Hashem it's all just yeah that's nature that's coincidence them that's statistics that's everything is a big fat e e is a new word the Next Generation say is that amazing H what do you think of dinner eh what do you think of concert eh what do you think of the rabbi big eh disappointment I heard so many great things about him what an E Eh we never had that in our that was not part of our vocabulary when I was growing up we didn't have that in our vocabulary I certainly didn't hear from my parents or grandparents anything was e e I think that's how you spell e all the time oh what you think of the N it's okay it's okay you know how hard it is to impress young people Nothing impresses them did you hear about the mirror and the rescue and that yeah okay yeah okay that's that's the voice of aik you know what you know what claw used to all say used to all say h is is wow that's amazing hold on I got to sit down tell me again what happened they rescued they went in CT they PR all sides nobody was injured nobody was harmed nobody was hurt nobody was tell me wow wow Hashem is a the soldiers are amazing the courage is amazing hostage is Hashem is amazing that's Hashem is amazing he's awesome but like the real word awesome awesome or inspiring awesome it's okay yeah it's all right whatever whatever that's aik amazing amazing I is awesome did you see that view did you see that Sunset do you did you hear what happened I was delayed it so someone could get to a funeral yeah okay versus wow that's amazing Hashem orchestrates everything it's amazing so which one will win which voice is g to play in our head which voice do we mute and silence which one do we turn up the volume on the the it's okay yeah or the wow it's awesome that's amazing that's amazing that's all up to us back to where we were last week last week we were interrupting our general learning we've been learning on the war the that he gave in Thea we interrupted that to learn Moran St on sh the purpose of sh last week we spoke about bris the Covenant the bris the promise we made with ourselves to let the light shine through to peel back the coverings the layers the shells the cipa that's covering it anyone remember what talking about last okay good and we didn't finish last week and we spoke about every one of us is in our own personal MIT is the place of that sea of wisdom the knowledge that we have the light the access the Revelation the knowledge that we live with that we're in a world where everything's carefully curated choreograph is in charge we get blinded matar there's there are boundaries there's a Siege around that world that knowledge and MIM is is a world of constriction the world is closing in it's caving in The Roof Is Falling Down that we we can feel that way we can feel that way there's a MIT and we're looking to be liberated and freed and emancipated and saved from our own personal MIT you ever have that your blood pressure is going up and and you can't breathe you can't breathe because it just feels like it's all it's all it's overwhelming it's all overwhelming it's all just it's all just the list of emails the list of phone calls what you have to prepare what you have to do and coming from this side and coming from that side you have take care of your parents you have to take care of your children it's all just MIT it's all just closing in caving in on all sides it's coming in it's coming in and you say to yourself what's going to be what's going to be what's going to be how what's going to be what's the way out how do I get out it's it's all just closing in and caving in that's our own personal we're on the left side page 62 the middle of the page so when we can't breathe and when our blood pressure is going up and when our sweat glands are pumping and when we feel hyperventilating physically and spiritually and it's all closing in and caving in and the sky is falling and what's going to be and how we're going to get out and we're not looking with Clarity we're not seeing the light we're not peeling back the layers to let the light of Hashem shine through because we're living some superficial surf surf life that anything we can't see with our eyes we don't think is real seeing is believing we say to ourselves and if I can't see it and I can't measure it if I can't take a picture of it and post it then it didn't happen then it didn't happen yesterday we spoke in the parir about pictures at weddings the ran says that the building of the Mish was the continuity of and says the same way that you have a videographer and a photographer at a wedding because you want to revisit it you want to relive it you want to be back there at it so so I said you know it's amazing nobody I said the par nobody doesn't have pictures at their wedding some have a huge Cru some have a one person who does it so someone stopped me this morning a vision apparently Vision said he'll only come to a wedding if there's no photographer he made six weddings his children no photographer no picture you just have the experience without without someone sent me last night a video um AKA T the great singer his his unit his good dude was M was was free they're done with the army they sent home they're done there was a big concert for the soldiers AKA and isba was beautiful so someone sent me videos from it and and I I showed you in the video everybody's holding up their phone taking a video so I was like they're singing to an empty room there's no one actually there I'm guilty of this too I'm making fun of myself when you're at that thing you're like I gotta get a video of this that concert that moment so they were actually singing to an empty room because nobody was experiencing it nobody was present everyone was just they should have just one person you take the video send it to all of us and let the rest of us just experience it just be there just be there so we take a picture we want to go back we want to relive we want to be able so we think seeing is believing if I could take a picture and post it if I can put it on my status it happened if I can't put it on my status I don't have the picture of it it never happened that's what we think but saysay we're wrong because there's a panus it's not just superficial and surface it's not just the things you can take a picture the most real things don't come up in a picture the most real things do not appear on a status that moment that feeling that experience that memory that emotion that doesn't come you can't you can't take a picture of that that doesn't come up in a picture AI can't do anything with that that's the most real the pous the deep deep truth when a first Falls prey to the Shell to the layers to the covering to the peel and you think that there's a truth there's there's actual nature there's something called disease and nature and statistics and data and happen stance and Randomness and chance when we live in this world when we confuse the Matrix for reality The Matrix that we're living in and we confuse that this Matrix which is an illusion it's really all a big optical illusion but the optical illusion of the Matrix is so good that we think it's real so statistics and nature and physical material things it's so the illusion is amazing you ever look through one of those optical illusion books like wow really that's just the drawing it's not really the 3D and you're like Blown Away holograph that's not real go grab to T reach to touch it and it's not that's so real it looks so real wow so to this world it looks so real that we confuse the illusion of the Matrix of this world with a reality but it's not real what's real there is only one real it's all only part of the imagination of Hashem we are images within the ongoing imagination of Hashem that's only thing that's real that's the only thing that's real and when we're locked into the Matrix and we think that the illusion we confuse the illusion with what's real then we are giving into the Kos so what happens in when you're living in that place that you think that but what do you mean Hashem has a plan what do you mean look at the pus what do you mean let go un let God what do you mean submit and surrender what do you mean have hisas have a calm and an inner tranquility and an equinity what do you mean but but but but but the bills are coming in but the lab reports coming in but the child with the issues but the shalom's problems but the war but what happened in but Lebanon now what's going to be what do you mean what do you mean that's the voice of Kos that's the voice of amik with all of it there's a say my to my daving take my Mission to Israel I've got to be healthy I have to live healthy I have to work on shayas I have to work I have to do all my initiative but underneath it's a cal It's a cal the greatest people I've ever met and I've been Z to meet great people there's a calm to them there's a cal to them big rabam Bigos big men big women people of greatness of great amuna there's a calm there's a calm to them and so sometimes you think of course there's a cal to them the whole world loves them they're the biggest influencers everybody's throwing money at them everybody lining up to go meet with them of course there's a Comm everything's easy and good for them right and then you learn about their lives you know how many ailments and illnesses and disappointments and frustrations and youur they live with big people big rashash recently here children with special needs challenges because of that despite being an enormous Riva there's big problems and yet when you meet with them it's a calm why because the more that you live with him the more you surrender to him the more it empowers whatever we're going through there's just a cal there's an equinity there's aavas we don't indulge the kipos the Kos are what do you mean that child that issue that challenge that test that problem that that bill that what do you mean those are all the voice of those Kos and the just like we couldn't even hear why we couldn't hear the voice of Moshe we couldn't hear the sound of our own Liberation why because we were drowning in the aodha and so to us when we were in a place of MIT that the world that's everything's caving in on us because we're we're confusing the illusion of the Matrix with the reality that is all Hashem then also we hypervent we Panic we we we have a what happens we overcompensate we do too much initiative too much initiative there's such a thing as too much initiative which can also be a lack of faith too much initiative because we're not hearing Turn the Page until we forget our Essence our and the purpose for which we came to this world you know why we're here we're here to know he exists we're here to take the pill that will make us see the reality and not the Matrix the illusion that's why we're here that's why he deposited Us in this world he said I'm putting you in this world and now we're going to play hide and seek and I'll see you later and you're the winner if you find me I'm depositing you in this world and it's tough I'm really good at hiding says Hashem I'm really good at hiding when there's a war and there are hostages when there are rockets and an innocent person is killed in the holy city ofat I'm I'm really good at hiding I'm really good at hiding and there'll be periods in your life where you find me easily and periods in your life where you can't find me anywhere where I'm hiding and here's how you become a winner when you look for me and when you find me and that's your Tas that's your Tas I'm going to put you in a world of Temptation with food and drink a world of Temptation of intimacy physical connection I'm going to put you in a world that you have to work and earn I'm going to put you in a world of time I'm going to put you in a world of conf and you know what you've got to navigate it all and find me behind it all and in it all and now go and seek I'm Hiding Seek go start that's the that's the that's the essence and the purpose when people act out in inappropriate ways when they looked at inappropriate images and act out in appropriate ways it is in fact in psychologist research will tell you this there is a longing for connection it is a inappropriate application of a longing for connection but inside that grossly inappropriate expression of the inner desire for a longing for connection is the NIT is the spark of kadha that is a longing for connection and the degree to which a person indulges and acts out in an appropriate ways looking at and acting out inappropriate ways it becomes a barrier and an obstacle to genuine connections to what are the real connections to are the most appropriate connections with others and most of all with Hashem with it could be an inappropriate connection to food or alcohol or drugs it could be an inappropriate connection to to shopping or working or even exercise I was praising someone the other day you know they look fantastic and they're working out and they're exercising they were telling me but like it's gotten to a point that it's a problem so what do you mean he said I'm addicted I need my couple hours a day and I'm neglecting my family and other things so of all the addictions whatever but it can also even exercise can become an addiction so when we have a connection to something that in the core in the root the the seed is is good there's a a spark of kadha but the expression the manifestation of it the application of it is inappropriate becomes a barrier and a block and an obstacle a cipa a shell a peel that is covering the light of what is that in inner connection that should be what is connecting us to Hashem there's are very deep ideas and there's a lot more to say about them but let's finish this piece takes us in whatever Direction down whatever path we reveal and we reflect we really want to be able to go so and then it becomes a a pattern and a habit and a vicious cycle and we become sucked into that place because there is a counterfeit connection there and that counterfeit connection draws Us in to do it over and over and the deeper we get into it and the more of that counterfeit connection that we have the harder it is to break away to go have the authentic connection that our soul is really yearning if you know what I'm talking about you know what I'm talking about and if you don't I'm sorry there many different layers and many different levels of this so when we are enslaved to whatever addiction we have for some it's going to Starbucks even though you can't afford it Manny Petty even though you can't afford it shopping beyond our means going into deep debt because we are addicted to the latest fashion and style and lifestyle and behavior and I have to have the latest tequila and the single maltt and I have to have the latest bottle of wine whatever the Indulgence whatever the Indulgence addiction is not only the substances that have a stigma to them there are other addictions that are unhealthy and when we're drawn into that addiction we are enslaved to it we are enslaved to it usually I share this around pesak time this is what I think about in the month of Nissan going into pesak sitting at that seder because otherwise you say we have freedom we live in Great America the Democracy of America how do we connect to Slaves slavery and the answer is open up on your phone your report on your screen time and tell me whether you're slave or a free person show me your Amazon account and let's decide whether you're a slave or a free person let's look at your use of social media and let's see whether you're a slave or a free person let's look at your credit card statement and how many times you went to get your triple latte carel upside down m whatever whatever whatever and let's see whether you're a slave or a free person slavery is not just in handcuffs or bondage in Egypt slavery is when there is a pattern of behavior that we compulsively turn to and we can't stop ourselves Or Break Free of it we are enslaved that's our MIT that's our MIT because we think that there's a connection we think that there's a pleasure we think that there's something real or true in it and we that's our MIT that's our and what we're trying to do and break free of in so we're still in it truma two more weeks of it in this period of sh we're getting out of our we're looking for genuine real authentic connections and we're not going to be satisfied with the counterfeit ones we're not going to live any longer with layers and covers concealing the light that is our Nish and that is Hashem expressing himself in us and through us and to us in this world and now we are working on shiris we are going back to that promise of that Covenant the promise that we have to him into ourselves the promise of being our best selves and our best behavior so why didm do the makos 10 plagues in Egypt 10 plagues in a splitting of a you know why you know what the best way to defeat the illusion is to knock it down so ah this piece of paper the thing looks real because it's an optical illusion if you tear it up now in pieces what happened to your optical illusion I guess it wasn't real hashem's makos were tearing up the optical illusion there's an optical illusion called Mim it has a Nile you think the Nile is irrigating and sustaining and feeding you it's a place of idolatry you think this is all real this whole Matrix this whole illusion this hedonistic corrupt moral depraved pleasure you think it's all real that's the maros one by one Hashem is ripping it up tearing it into further pieces 10 different little pieces and he was destroying it in order to say I'm not going to do this again I'm not going to do this often but every once in a while I want you to see that this thing called nature science chemistry biology physics all which we endorse and believe in studying the r writes that's how we learn about Hashem through nature but the nature is not an entity on its own there is no there's nature and there's God the ran says there's no such thing is nature it's Hashem expressing revealing himself so when you learn biology and chemistry and physics what are you learning about Hashem you're not learning about nature you're learning about Hashem so he tears it up he's forcing us to look at the at the pemus at the authentic at the genuine what's real it's what's inside what you can't see with your eyes but is even more true than the optical illusion and that's how we destroy the you how do you get rid of dark you walk into a dark room how do you get rid of the darkness turn on did you get rid of Darkness you didn't do anything to the dark but when you turn on a light M automatically there is no dark you didn't get rid of dark you didn't destroy dark you didn't put the dark back in the bottle back in the canister you didn't eliminate the dark or collect the dark and put it in the garbage how do you get rid of dark not actually by getting rid of dark you don't get rid of dark but when there's light there's no dark how do you get rid of kipa how do you get rid of the illusion The Matrix the counterfeit by experiencing the real when you let in the light of Hashem when you experience the authentic and the real of hem so M there is no dark there is no kipa when you're living a life of connection life of love a life of surrender a life of Faith a life of equinity so M there is no Nar silliness Panic fear it disappears just like the light the dark disappears because there's light the kipa disappears because there's K because there's truth Hashim and what was the conclusion and the result of the curriculum called the makos now the MIT look up and they say Hashim we thought there was something called nature we thought there was something called AAL but it turns out all there really is is and then the Jewish people got out to become the people the treasured people we are in order to reveal and to publicize And to clarify this superficial material illusion world it's not real it's it's a modern optical illusion and we'll know that when our soul is extracted from our body and we go live eternity with him and we leave all that illusion behind now the illusion has a role it gives us free will it lets us express Choice it has meaning and purpose it becomes the instrument through which we can express ourselves and make choices our free will but in in itself I me the closest we can come we confuse this writes like like clothing would you ever concl confuse your clothing with yourself would you treat your clothing your clothing is not your body it's not you it's your clothing does that mean clothing is worthless no clothing has a purpose keeps you modest keeps you dressed protects you from the elements it reflects in appearance and values clothing has a very important purpose but clothing in the end of the day is clothing it's dispensable you can get rid of it you should get rid of it it's not something that we worship or Elevate or invest too much much in and certainly are never defined by because it's just clothing so this whole world is the Lush the whole world the physical world is the clothing the Wardrobe of the light of the reality which is Hashem and it has a purpose and it has meaning and we use it it has utility and function but just like we would never confuse our clothing with ourselves we know that we're not taking our clothing with us we wouldn't shouldn't want to give up our kidney to an extra piece of clothing we'd never confuse our clothing with ourselves this world is the Lush the Garment of the light that is the truth that is Hashem and and we the makos Hashem did the makos for us to see it and now we need to liberate ourselves from it last paragraph so while we're reading and living we are reinvigorating and Reawakening and re-energizing these ideas always a new and da in this time it's a very auspicious time the energy of this time is such that we can draw the strength we can give our own makos to the in our life we bring the 10 plagues I don't mean literally the 10 plagues but it means like God struck MIT we can strike down the illusion the confusion of the Matrix in our Liv lives and to liberate ourselves and free ourselves and unshackle ourselves this is the time of year that delete social media from your phone cut down your screen time cut down your Starbucks visits cut down whatever in your life that you're doing compulsively that is incompatible with who you want to be this is when we can liberate ourselves from that MIT we have that energy this is the time that carries that it's auspicious for to to feat the voice of Randomness and chance and happen stance and lean into and turn up the volume on the that hasem is amazing and everything is awesome and I'm going to live a life of equinity I'm not panick and I'm not anxious and I'm not filled with drama and highs and lows I'm yeah yeah whatever it is we're going to get through it Whatever It Is we're going to experience it whatever it is it's all from above and whatever it is therefore it's all by Design This is the time that we have that power to free ourselves to free ourselves from that place called MIT to overcome it to realize there's something so much bigger there's something that's happening that's so much more real there's something that's going on there's something so much more there's a pus there's an Essence there's something that's going on that we need to access and when we do we'll be living on a whole other level be living a whole other level and that whole other level you'll be living a whole other life it's the best life the amalik people are miserable look around this world I'm the luckiest person because I'm teaching something that is not only true to me it's now so obvious and it's so enriching and it's so empowering and I'm trying so hard to live it myself but you look around at a world that think that the physical the material The Superficial the surface that's what's real and the more they have of it the more unhappy they are I I it would be interesting to try to correlate the Forbes 400 with their medicine cabinet I'd be really curious to correlate it who would do that study the more money you have do you have more happiness do you have more inner peace and Tranquility do you have better relationships or perhaps is it the opposite it doesn't have to be the opposite you could have a lot of money and have all of that if you understand the role and the place of money but if all along you thought that money or fame or friends or followers or influence would bring you happiness and then you have it all and you're still not happy then your medicine cabinet becomes full hopefully of prescribed medications sadly often of non-prescribed but if you realize what really brings fulfillment and meaning and peace and tranquility and serenity and happiness then you also still want money don't get me wrong but you understand its role and its place and its purpose and you'll never confuse it with what being the thing that's going to give you happiness so it's not just that we're sharing something which is true you just I want to scream it from the rooftop you want the whole world to have it and to live it because it's another life all together it's another life all together to live it and feel it that whatever comes our way we live it with this equinity we can live it with this Tranquility we can be happy and sing and dance and we'll be sad and we'll we'll cry when something hurts and feel pain but behind and driving it all is the sense that we're free from MIT we don't live that surface superficial life we don't feel that things are caving in we're not confusing that nature has its own entity existence or power we're living in this connection mm we should live it should Merit to live it we should see hasem everywhere we should see the hand of hem bring