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Mindflex- Passover, Relying on Miracles- Rabbi Yitzchok Feldheim
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Transcript
Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
[Music]
shalom alaikum everybody in the project
inspire audience
it's always inspiring to talk to people
looking for inspiration
so let's get uh started
i i called the shirt and you shall
remain silent
relying on miracles and it's
sort of an ironic title is that hashem
wants us to remain silent but on the
other hand
really not supposed to rely on miracles
so
i just spoke about this for purim and i
want to
say what i said for purim and then tell
you
the new version of what i have to say
for pesach
the purim talk was that was also this
but from the opposite angle meaning
that in in the context of purim
like the definitive moment maybe in the
megillah is where mordechai tells us
that you better you got to go to ah
and the words he uses are him
if you will remain silent at this moment
then it's all for naught and and
this is your moment this is what you
were here for and this is your whole
family and your whole history was
leading up to this moment
and you have to be up to the moment but
over here we
the torah uses exactly the same word
and it says you shall remain silent
and i guess for both the um told him you
have to explain why their opposite
approaches
my purim talk was explaining why esther
had to not be silent
god forbid god forbid you should be
sound
if you will remain silent it'll be a
tragedy and
for pesach we have to defend why it is
that we're required to be silent
so the idea i said for purim was really
i want to say it because it's a paradigm
shift and i don't know how many people
heard that speech
but the hebrew word for silence really
has a different meaning
the word for silence in the torah is
really plowing
to be quresh the first malacha right
of anchovies the third time allah is
plowing this forbidden
the word for plowing is called
to plough what is the relationship
between plowing and silence
so this is how we color is so cool it's
like
listen to this there's two stages in
growth
there's the gloria stage which is growth
you know seating and plan
everybody wants to be a cedar or flowers
or
fields of waving grain you know and
this is this is the image of of beauty
is the planted field an orchard
beautiful fruit the less glorious stage
is plowing
is taking your your metal your iron your
steel
blade with a pack of oxen and
ruining the beautiful soil in the
perfect field
but we understand that plowing is
integral and
essential for anything that's going to
grow the relationship of plowing to
planting is exactly
the relationship between action or
speaking
and silence silence is the stage of the
plowing the reason you have to plow
before your seed is you have to loosen
up the soil and open up the soil
so that the seeds can penetrate deep
into the ground and take
root and the minerals can be loosened up
so that this the entire
growth can take place and that's exactly
what the role of silence is the wisdom
the terror is sharing with us that
that in the idea that plowing and
silence is the same it wants you to
understand
silence not as the absence of speech
silence isn't an act of meekness of
passivity
it is the brave act of allowing yourself
to be opened up
so that the growth and the powerful
things can happen
and uh that's how we have to see silence
and and that essentially was the
explanation of why in the initial stage
of jewish history
we had to have atam takarishin you had
to be silent
and because first you have to go through
the plowing and it's only at the later
stages when
that's why it says it's a double
expression if you will be
silent silent meaning that plowing
is beautiful and but but it's just a
preparatory stage
you can't plow forever enough with the
plowing it's time to start
to seed the first stage as we begin as a
nation you have to begin with the
silence
to allow the experience to penetrate i
remember going on vacations and going on
trips and sitting there with a camera
making sure i got every perfect shot
and you really have no memories of the
moment because you were so busy
you know preserving it for the future
that the present didn't take place
it's it's it's a different experience to
put down the camera
and absorb everything that's happening
and uh
okay then you can preserve it but
there's something at least that you wish
you preserved
to preserve something that just reminds
you of empty moments is
i guess the perfect world is both is the
synthesis of uh
you know you you have to you have to
experience the moment and therefore be
silent and allow the things to penetrate
especially in the formative stages
and it's after everything's taken root
and the ground's been loosened up and
the minerals are exposed and the seeds
are
are are have the perfect you know place
to put them in
that now you can begin to plan and
that's how we have to see this stage in
history
that was my problem talk okay now let me
give you the pixel talk the pace of talk
is
is i'm not i'm i have no problem with
the purim talk
it's just i think it's a much large not
that this isn't large but there's a much
larger message here
you know there are certain huge we call
them
huge fields of study within judaism that
need to be fleshed out
and the place of miracles i think is
is is
is one of the most
one of the least understood or at least
clarity you know we
it needs a lot of clarity needs some
light shine on it and that's what i want
to do
what is the role of miracles so first
let me let me start with
what i assumed for years and i'm sure
many of you assumed and then we'll
we'll see if that's actually going to be
the case the way i understood miracles
is miracles is essentially
a safety net that hashem controls the
world
and he can it'll catch you if you fall
but you're not supposed to rely on
miracles we grew up hearing that you
shouldn't rely on miracles why shouldn't
you rely on miracles because miracles
are
you know you want to cl you know
i always use the masada metaphor for
these kind of things you go to masada
there's always the guy who takes the
cable car
you know but 90 of the group kids in the
trip
do the work and they climb the mountain
it's harder you get sweaty it takes a
long time and
you get you get to the top you're you're
worn you're tired
but you're climbing masada and you're
experiencing the top is vastly different
because it because of the way you made
your journey
the guy who took the cable car he you
know he's a fraud
he doesn't feel the same way you can
tell which is the guy who
the cable car so life is supposed to be
where we eat the fruits of our labor you
know
maybe i'll go off on a tangent because
this is something a question i get a lot
there's a very famous
jewish concept that many people have
heard um
called the bread of shame nama the
kisofa and that's
we understand the reason why god gave us
free choice
and didn't make us all of god like the
jewish ideas that god created the world
only to give
he's not here to torture us he only
wants to give he's a loving god he wants
to give so the question is why weren't
we born then already in the world to
come or ready with all the gifts
if god wanted to give why couldn't he
just give god can do what he wants he
should have just given it to us
and the answer is is that it's
impossible to give
the perfect gift because by definition
the perfect gift is imperfect
because the gift is lacking in pride
in a gift you're a beggar in the gift
you feel guilty and you feel ashamed
and therefore the perfect gift is not a
gift at all the perfect gift is the
opportunity to earn it for yourself and
god who wants to give
give he wants to give in a godly way in
the perfect way the perfect gift
therefore is not a gift
the perfect gift is earned and that's
why we have free choice and a whole
complicated
world of good and evil is also that we
can ultimately experience
the top of the masada through our own
journey
and not take a cable car because it
would be a very sad experience if the
world to come
we was achieved to a cable car we
wouldn't want to spend eternity
at the great feast feeling guilty and
ashamed the whole time
okay that's the famous idea and most
thinkers of people who are on torreira
time classes probably have heard this
you know or in project inspire classes
i've heard this already
the next level question that thinkers
ask on this is
so why did god have to create the
concept of shame
of guilt why why couldn't he have made
people without that monkey on their back
and therefore they could have
experienced
he could have like he created god did
everything so he created a problem
that needed to be solved by all this
complexity just create people without
that problem
create a world where you're oblivious to
earning things
so listen people think it's a great
question i can't tell you how proud
students are when they they come to me
rather i have a good question
it's a good question but it's not really
a good question because the answer is so
obvious
when you think about it i i'm surprised
people don't realize it right away
why i need to say it is that it's not a
game
shame it's not it's not something that
god arbitrarily created and why do you
have to do that
it's it's it's it's just a reality of
logic
it's a law of existence is that if you
didn't create it yourself you don't
really have it
you're not really perfection requires
self-sufficiency
if you didn't earn it yourself then it's
not really the full experience
people misunderstand the bread of shame
as some made up
psychological you know quirk that god
put into people
no it's if if you want to be perfect
you want to experience totality so you
have to be the whole package
if you need something else then you
then that we call it shame so it sounds
arbitrary
it's not shame it's the lack of
self-sufficiency it's a lack of
perfection
you're dependent on others so you can
never if i'm dependent on someone else i
can never
feel the total feeling of total
self-worth
we together can experience self-worth as
a community and that's how we live
but but independently we need if i don't
earn something
and and you gave it to me it's not a
quirk it's a fact
that i don't really have it i didn't
earn it that's
this is this is a truth it's just
reality
so that's how how we understand the the
real understanding of the bread of shame
and therefore that doctrine you know
is that you got to earn things and
everyone understands this you don't you
don't need
classes to explain this why it's better
to earn your money than to inherit money
you know it's easier to inherit but why
why why we
you know men don't want to ask
directions why why we sit for hours
like doing riddles and you want somebody
i'm doing a riddle and you want to give
me a hint because
you want to leave already i'm not taking
hints don't tell me a riddle if you
don't have all the time in the world
because
i'm old i don't think so fast anymore
but i'm not going to let you help me so
i'm going to be there all day
figuring out like you know uh what the
trick is and what the catch is and
doing the math and because i gotta
figure it out that's a reality of how we
are
so that's why intuitively
miracles are not the ideal way to go a
miracle
is is is leaving us lacking so that's
that that's the way maybe a fancier way
of explaining it but that's the way i
was raised and most of us
think about it if i could sum it up my
whole long speech in one sentence
is that it's better to do things
yourself don't rely on a miracle
god already is god this is your chance
to shine so shine
don't don't ask for him to shut the
shine on you
but we need a safety net you know
because
we can fall and life is hard so there is
a role i understand there's a role for
miracles the role of miracles is
is you know you go try and make some
money and you you
raise a family and if things go wrong we
have social security we have
unemployment
we'll have you know government the
stimulus you know
you'll get your check or your deposit
and uh
but that's not you know ideally you
shouldn't need that so that's
miracles and that would be issue and we
could
we would stop there the reason why i i
have another half an hour left to go is
because here's where it gets complicated
is that it doesn't seem like that
in judaism you know if miracles were a
safety net
then when would we talk about miracles
the metaphor i like to use is in the
circus you know you have the guy who
walks the tightrope so he
he walks the tightrope his goal is not
to fall off a tightrope even though we
put a safety net there you know
the goal is to do his flips and his old
schtick and
to ace the tightrope to do it perfectly
the idea that
that uh that it's a safety net is just
a last wizard we don't want him to
splatter if something goes wrong
you know so if that's the case so if
that's life
god put you in the world let's do it
let's do the job let's feel proud of
ourselves let's eat the fruits of our
labor
let's stand the top of our mountain you
know i
i talk a lot to to in college because
they'll have a lot of potents
you know so it's so you know so
this is how like they all it's all they
want to talk about is like rabbi what's
wrong with the
what's wrong with doing doing doing
marijuana you know it's illegal already
so
what i explained to them is this i
explain to them you know like what's
wrong with it is just
just you come to a mountain you know
you can climb the mountain and feel like
a million dollars
or you can take a nap at the bottom of
the mountain you know
if if you climb the mountain so it's
hard work and you can
break your neck and you can catch
pneumonia but you get to the top you
feel great
the other i go with my buddy and he goes
out there's a dangerous mountain my
clients mountain but you see how much
shade there is you could have a nap here
like nobody ever had
so one buddy takes a nap at the bottom
of the mountain the other guy climbs the
mountain
so we both do the same thing you know
the guy in the bottom is like this lying
flat on the floor the guy climbs to the
top a week later he gets there he lies
on top of the mountain does exactly the
same thing
but nobody would say they're doing the
same thing
right the guy in the bottom is chilling
he didn't do anything the guy in the top
he's
he's vibing you know he's sitting there
like he's
just he did it it's the same posture but
don't mix it up
you know the problem with shortcuts is
is that you don't you didn't climb the
mountain you just feel like you climbed
the mountain
but you didn't climb the mountain life
is about the achievement
so if that's the case so then
when should we talk about miracles we
the whole jewish calendar should be all
about hard work we should have a holiday
about waking up early and holiday about
pulling up your bootstraps
on a holiday about discipline and
structure and responsibility and loyalty
and ethics and diligence and vigilance
a lot of holidays and then the last
holiday and if all else fails
the last holiday should be and now we
have safenet holiday if this all fails
don't worry god will catch you and he'll
come in and
wave the wand and or the moshe's staff
and everything will
you know you know moshe is like
our fairy godfather you know that's what
moshe is and he's the guy who's going to
turn everything
right all the pumpkins and the coaches
and everything will be perfect in the
end because
we didn't do it ourselves the problem is
that that's not the reality the reality
is is
the first mitzvah terror gives us
this is the beginning of your calendar
the first month is the month of nisan
the month of miracles
judaism begins with splitting seas and
plagues
weirder plagues one after another every
plague miraculous
the ocean has the waters have to split
we walk through the middle
this is this is far from a safety net
the entire role of judaism over here
seems to
the role of miracles and judaism seems
to be the first stage the most important
stage
then we have a seder we sit down with
our kids and we do weird things just to
make them ask about the miraculous
and we talk about the miraculous we talk
about god's plagues we count the plagues
and we we count all the miracles and
it's very hard to reconcile the judaism
that we
that we know of in the texts and in our
experience
with the judaism that logically we
assume it is
the assumption is earn it miracles will
have
a backup plan but the reality of judaism
seems
seems to be that we're missing the bone
in miracles miracles have a whole
different role
i'll i'll just because the people who
are in these kind of classes probably
have
a little more background and thought so
i'll stick in something i normally
wouldn't stick in
because the haggadah starts off we refer
to god by a very rare name of god that
we don't normally refer to him as barak
hamakum
right connect the the four sons begins
with the phrase of
referring to hashem as the makkah it's a
strange name of god
and those who will know this will
recognize that
that name hamakum shows up most it's
most known as the name of god you use
in the house of mourning we say hamakom
god will come for you and the the name
for god we use there is
means the place so how do we explain
the idea of hamakom what what what is
the connotation of hamakum
so this is a cool thing and really i
don't know why i went here because
i should spend the whole class
explaining just this point i'll say it
fast
is we do the kedusha in shmo nester we
have
right uh in the second blessing
when the khasen repeats it we do
something called the blessing of
holiness
and kedusha's a few stands there's a few
freight lines that we say
responsibly the first one is called
kavodo maliolum
that god's right god's honor his
splendor his honor his perspective
fills the entire world that's the phrase
we say kadosh khan
right everyone puts their feet together
and you raise yourself up
hashems
splendor his honor fills the entire
world the next paragraph
says
from his place he will turn to us with
mercy
now when we when you get into prayers
everyone just gets all flowery and
we unfortunately we don't think of it
as something precise that needs to be
analyzed but that's exactly what it is
and when you analyze it you realize this
is weird because it's it's
it's really the two lines are in a total
conflict with each other
is his kavodo his honor malay kala islam
is he filling the entire world
right does god is god everywhere or is
it minkoyma
his place he can't be everywhere and
have a place
which one is it so this is the idea of
the two phrases
first we say kavoda malayolam that god
exists everywhere that everything is
godly and you just have to invest
yourself in life
and the way we experience god is in my
house in shul in my office
there's a godly life and the godly
marriage and the godly parenting and is
this being a godly student and a godly
teacher and a godly boss and a godly
employee
there's a way to live life and what we
do is in that course of our lives if
every one of us lives a holy spiritual
life
then our life is holy and that's that's
what we mean when we say cuddles
cut is the sound of every individual
embodying his holiness living life a
certain way
and that kind of holiness fills the
entire world it is the symphony of
existence where every element of the
world is proclaiming god
through his everyday life and that's
kadosh that's the kedusha of god that
fills the world
but then let's say it doesn't work let's
say
you're not successful in any field in
any field in all fields
then you can appeal to a different
version of god
yes god revealed himself in the world
and all you need to do is live an
ethical moral life
and you'll have blessing but sometimes
we're too depressed and we can't do that
i don't have i know if i went to work i
make a living i know if i study with my
kids i'll have nakas
i know if i i do what it takes
everything will work out
but that ship sailed and i'm too broken
and i can turn to hashem and say hashem
i the i can't experience the you that's
in the world
i need the you above the world and
kaimuri the god who's above it all
beyond it all
you turn to me with mercy barakamim
kavodo is mali olam is justice i earn it
minkomov misplaced god turns in mercy
mercy is the miraculous side of god
that's beyond this world
it's his place this two versions of god
is the god that embodies all of
existence
this is when you say kadusa is what
you're supposed to think you're supposed
to think first kavod mali ola mashem
fills the world
and then we say but if that if that
fails
then hashem you will turn to turn to me
with mercy
miracles and mercy to me are synonymous
and justice
and and reality and nature are
synonymous in fact the word elohim which
is the name of justice
has the same numerical value as nature
nature and
and the god who fills the world are the
same
and miracles and mercy the god of above
i didn't earn he's going to carry me
that's that that's also the same so
in in kedusha the script is exactly like
we would expect
first we talk to the god of justice and
only then when that doesn't work
then we say to the god of mercy in comma
and this is what we do in the
god this is what we do in the house of
mourning when when life didn't go the
way we want
when someone's died and we feel the loss
then we don't talk about that god has as
he's revealed in the world
we say god
beyond the physical world the god who
who
when life is is is not wrecking with the
perfect
perfection of life and the justice is
not cognizant it's not
recognizable then we turn to hashem we
say
the makkah will will come for you
hashem's merciful god who's beyond
you you're not going to understand this
and that's the same god that we talk
about ironically
i'm not going to go with go there but
that's the god that we relate to in the
haggadah
the haggadah is the god of mekomo the
god beyond this world
and that's the same god who wants me to
be silent and don't do anything
you should be silent not the plowing
idea
but the idea is is that for some reason
even though
in the normative way of thinking of it
we say kavodo mali olam before makomo
first we try and do it ourselves and
then we appeal to the god
the holiday of pesach is different the
halal pesach is introduced by the god
who is makomo
the god beyond the world the god of
mercy and of magic
and by the cleaning of the sea hashem
says you be silent and by all the
plagues everything is the hand of hashem
not of our hands there's no role for us
we leave we going to desert all the food
is magical
everything's magic everything's there's
nothing earned
so now i have to explain why that's the
case we explained
what it is and we explain how it's
really the opposite of the way we
normally understand judaism
and uh why are miracles
all of a sudden front and center when it
comes to pesach
and if pesach was the last month of the
year it would make sense why miracles
are front and center but pesach is the
first thing
it's our first holiday this is the first
month why are we beginning with the
safety net
why don't we begin with the tightrope
what's the glory of jumping in a safety
net
at the beginning of the production it's
only supposed to catch you on your phone
so here's where we understand this is i
think the entirety of what pesach is
and everything i said now i said it with
such confidence and like i had no right
to say that i was
it was misleading because
miracles have nothing to do with
catching you when you fall that's not
the reason for miracles
if there was to catch you when you fall
then it would be exactly like we said it
would be an afterthought in judaism and
everything we'd ever read about would be
about doing it yourself and we wouldn't
be having holidays with plagues and
splitting seas and
every mitzvah wouldn't be and remember
the leaving of egypt
the leaving of egypt should be a source
of shame that god had to carry us
we're a proud people how come everything
is that god carried us god took us out
of egypt and we were just
props little marionettes right
so what are we missing
what are we missing is is
it it's it's it's probably maybe the
most important thing that people need to
know
is let's talk about why people people
don't succeed in life
why do we need a safety net
why are safety nets necessary
why don't people succeed at their tight
ropes
between me and you it's a good question
everyone if you're not drunk you can
walk a straight line
right there's nobody in the world not
nobody but very
few people who are sober and healthy and
stable who can't put one foot in
front of another so if you can do it
here how come you can't do it up there
what what difference is it if you're 500
feet in the air or you're on the ground
it's a straight line
right we're not falling over walking on
the ground we're not losing our balance
walking straight
so why should you lose it up there
i'm really that that's a metaphorical
question but
really we're asking the question on life
itself why
do people fail why
like what real our jobs are like what's
my job my our jobs aren't insurmountable
they're not they're not jobs that we can
do
we're quite capable of doing our hashem
gives you jobs that you can do
so why are we failing at jobs that we're
capable of
and that's a very big question right
what's the answer the reason why people
fail
is not because we don't have the ability
to do it every single thing that i'm
giving i can deal with
if i wasn't able to deal with hashem
wouldn't send it to me he's not cruel
he's only there for our for our good
so there's two reasons why people don't
succeed at life
they're really the same reason but
there's two ways it plays out
one reason is we're too scared to fall
so we never try
we get paralyzed in that little box
at the side of the tightrope and we're
afraid to put our foot down
and we do it in shidduchim in dating i'm
afraid to go on a date i'm afraid to go
on a job and if you're afraid to apply
to the school i want i'm afraid to go
over to someone when i'm a kid and say
be my friend
i'm afraid to ask to be chosen for the
play or to do the solo or to sing
we spend so much of our lives on the
sidelines in the wings
because we're too scared to put our feet
down even though we could do it
it's the fear of stepping on to the
tairoa
that's the first reason we fail and then
we fail because
even when we're brave enough to step on
the tightrope and we force ourselves
onto the stage
but we don't sing the way we could have
sang because we're scared
and we don't walk the way we could have
walked because we're scared
we fall because we're shaking we sing
our voices crack because we're tentative
i don't make the money because when i go
do sales i knock
meekly i answer the phone
i answer the phone and i talk on the
phone i don't do it with the confidence
and the
the power it's necessary there's two
reasons we fail
one is that we don't try we don't take
the first step
and one is that when we talk we try we
do it tentatively and reluctantly
and we're bound for failure if a person
would bring his whole character and
personality to beer he would succeed at
all the things that were offered to him
if you knock on the door with power and
you talk and your eyes are lit up and
people feel your fire they want to do
business with you
the lit up person the person who's
confident and proud and
you know he's in a good place you wake
up in the morning and you go to chakras
and then you learn after chakras and
then you go to work
they don't stand a chance they're going
to buy whatever you're selling
and everyone's going to want to hire you
they're going to want to date you
they're going to want to study under you
they're going to want to hire you as a
student they're going to want to
sell what sell you what you need and buy
what you're selling
because when you feel good and you live
life
without reluctance you lose your
tentativeness
you'll hit it out of the park so the
reason we fail in life is because of the
fear that we're going to fail
either and therefore either we we don't
try or we try and we fall
so you know what the secret of the
tightrope is
the secret of the safety net is the
secret of a safe man is not to catch you
when you fall
it's that when you know that there's a
safety net you're never going to fall
the safety net is the first thing not
the last thing
if it was they catch you when you fall
then the safety net would be the last
month of the year
but our first month of a year is nissan
we begin with the seder
your kids first memories need to be the
pesos
they need to take a nap so they can stay
up and they'll ask their questions
because you have one job at the seder as
a parent
and that is to convince your kids that
hashem will catch them when they fall
and if your kids know it there's a
safety net no matter what they do hashem
will catch them
they will live life they'll be doing
flips and jumps on that rope because
nothing can go wrong
what's the worst thing they're going to
fall into this fun soft bouncy net
the purpose of miracles is not to catch
us when we fall on the bailis out the
purpose of miracles is that we know that
hashem
will will save us and hashem will make
it work
and if you know that then you'll never
need a miracle because you'll do it all
yourself
of course the goal is to do it yourself
and decline the mountain to take no
cable cars
but if you know there's a cable car and
you know that you get tired they're
going to take you you're not going to
miss anything
you know that you're going to make it
then you live life freely
with fire and no reluctance because the
stakes aren't that high
and that's why judaism begins with
miracles they're not it's not a safety
net
and this is the secret of why this why
islam says
the first things you have to know is
watch me
if today you're silent and you watch me
and you see that i can do anything
then the rest of life i can tell you in
this don't be silent you're safe
you can be all in and that's what we
learned
and that's why to say there is this the
night of the say there is a night where
there's no messengers
we're not doing yourself hashem goes out
he himself he smites the firstborn he
splits the seas hashem does it all
because if you know that he does it then
you'll live a different life
and that's our job as parents we go into
the seder we don't know what our job is
this is your job your job is that your
kids should see in your eyes and hear in
your stories
the unlimited nature of hashem because
we all want the same thing
we want our children to giggle and
bounce their way through life
we we don't want to ever see them scared
and reluctant
and foregoing their dreams and what they
wanted and watching
life pass them by but everyone's
reluctant
because we believe we're going to
splatter on the floor
so the first thing you have to teach
your kids is that hashem
is going to save them hashem does
miracles
and then they'll never need a miracle as
long as they live that's the goal of the
satyr
it's one night it's a night of miracles
and then from then on
once you learn this then never be silent
again
then go with the ghost you'll sing every
solo
this is the lesson of pesach and this is
especially listen raising kids i think
that's why we say parham can be raising
kids
you know i remember when i had my first
kid we got every single book on
parenting
and then you realize that they don't
agree on anything
then you realize that you know what the
torah speaks to all four sons that
hashem is going to make it work
if i didn't believe in hashem i don't
know how i would have killed howard to
raise kids
every single step is terrifying
everything's scary
how do you do a shidduch gonna marry
somebody forever how do you go on a date
how do you choose a yeshiva
how do you choose a community this so
everything has flip sides and downsides
this is why in judaism we focus so much
on the miracles
we're hard-working people we don't like
shortcuts we're not socialists
we're not looking for for free rights
the purpose of miracles is to make you
feel so safe
that now you can have as many kids as
you can have
and and never look back and
hashem's gonna make it work and now i
can love my kids fully enough to protect
myself and
and not care and not have them i can
throw myself into work and
everything this is the secret of why we
say in small nesters
those who say no the swanes we say
when i cry out to the name of hashem it
gives strength to eloquem
why does it change from name hashem to
look him because this is exactly what
we're saying here in the synopsis
that i can cry out to the name of hashem
which is a name of mercy
that will give me the strength to face
eloquent shame hashem
it gives me all the ability to face
elohim the god of reality
my goal is to live in reality but it's
the knowledge of hashem that
allows me and this is the highlight of
yom kippur the final punch line of
wolverine kippur we say hashem
hashem like him seven times what are we
saying
of the goal is to face it like him but
allah kim is so daunting ella kim is
terrifying i can fall
hashem is like him that hashem fills the
world but beyond all that is
he's really there i'm repeating i wish i
could repeat it 10
15 more times because
everything depends on this bottom line
is is
everybody dreams everybody wants the
same stuff
but then we spend lives frustrated
we we learn young to say whatever
words like whatever sad words that that
describe a sadness and a frustration and
we give up because the world is scary
you know justice is beautiful it's
beautiful to know it is justice and that
hashem
gives you whatever you deserve but as
beautiful as it is it's terrifying
this is the secret of what it says that
hashem created the world with justice
and he saw the aina muskayam it's not
going to work
why won't it work we all love justice
right we don't we hate injustice we
definitely hate injustice but we love
justice the idea that hashem is going to
give me exactly what i deserve
there's no cheating you know it has the
good side that nothing
every kindness i did will be paid but
also every bad thing i do will be paid
and as sad as that is it's sort of you
know
it's nice to know that to live in a
world that's fair
but the flip side of justice is
terrifying
and if i don't work hard and i'm
depressed or i'm broken i'm going to
starve
if i if i check out for a week my kids
might hate school
and everything will change anything
could go wrong
if every single thing is a result of
what i do you understand how scary
justice
we can talk all day long about the
beauty of justice of experiencing the
sodogas declined to yourself but you
have to understand the terror that comes
with justice
and this is what ghazal described in
their wisdom
is that hashem created the world with
justice
because he wanted us to experience
masada like kings
but russia ain't a misguided he saw that
it wasn't going to work because it's too
terrifying
and no one's going to do it everyone
will just be in
in the wings of the stages would have
could have shut us
and um and
you know i just thought of something i i
never thought as i'm saying this
is that's the image of the slave who's
afraid to go free
he stands in the doorway and the thing
i'm thinking about now is the whole
point here was the silence
we nailed his ear to the wall because he
was supposed to dream
but you didn't do the haresh you didn't
do that
the reason why he's the reason why we're
scared
why is the slave nobody dreamt of being
a slave everybody wants to
conquer the world for themselves so when
the slave is able to go free
he paid off his debt he stole and
therefore he had to work for the master
till he could pay off his debt
and it's paid off and now we should go
free why would he say i want to stay
right he's entitled to say he wants to
stay it's his choice
but if he wants to stay you have to
pierce his ear in the door frame
you know why because the door frame is
where you look out to the whole world
the dream of the slave is by the doorway
looking at that tomorrow and all of a
sudden open the door and he's stuck he
can't cross the threshold
and that's that's our lives we're all
nailed to the threshold
but why is it the ear that's nailed
that's what i'm just thinking of now
that i
just had this thought it's because the
reason why we get paralyzed by the fear
is because we
didn't listen first hashem and know that
he does miracles
the atem you should be silent
just open your ears and listen to hashem
once you've gotten your dose of watching
hashem do anything
you'll never be afraid to cross the
threshold again
so if you're afraid to cross the
threshold let me nail your ear to the
doorway
so you'll just sit there listening for a
while and when it finally penetrates
that look
listen to all the sound of hashem in the
world
then next time we ask you maybe you'll
run across the threshold like you should
have in the first place
so this is our world justice is scary
beautiful magnificently beautiful
but dauntingly scary and this is why
this is what i'll say russia ain't in
the sky and we saw that it wouldn't work
and therefore what did he do
he partnered with justice kindness
mercy mercy god added the miracles back
to the world mercy
the miracle is the part of life that you
didn't earn where god just steps in and
does it all himself
and god only did it because the justice
is not going to work on its own
hashem added to kindness and that's we
want you to face i like him to see to
face the justice in the world and to
build yourself a magnificent world
where you can sit one day at the top of
your mountain and knowing that you
climbed everything yourself
but you're only gonna get there
when you're fearless and you're only
gonna be fearless when you know that
hashem can catch you on your phone
and that's what you have to teach your
kids and that's your job i'm going to
say that
one night i mean it's not one night but
this is the night if you don't do it
this night
you know it's like everything you don't
do it the right way it'll take you
forever to do it the wrong way
try and do it the right way sit there by
the seder
and you know we have so we as parents we
have so many thoughts of what we're
supposed to be accomplishing and
and then we end up guilty after because
did i listen to enough of their things
did we
did we did we spend enough time on this
the kids were so tired in the end they
missed the songs
it's good to know what your goal is your
goal is that your kids
should bounce out of the seder feeling
like nothing could ever go wrong
because hashem is going to save them
that's the jews felt like
you should be silent watch what hashem
can do
and then dance for the rest of your
lives on this stage of your life
wish you a beautiful say eternal nachas
from your children and everyone that you
touch
good job