Parashat Lech Lecha - Does changing your name changes your Mazal? - Rabbi Alon Anava

So we in parashat Lekh Lekha and very interesting parasha. Finally, we get to read about Avraham Avinu, our hero. And really as much as the parasha is a positive parasha because we learn about Avraham Avinu, but the parasha is a very harsh parasha because the whole parasha is just about the tests and the challenges that Avraham Avinu had. Not only not only Lekh Lekha, also Vayeira. These are two parashot that you see Avraham and Sarah from one challenge to another challenge to another challenge to another challenge. And we think we have problems. But one thing that I want to talk about today is a topic that raises a lot of interest. We started talking about it before I went to the tour in America because in America I gave a class about the power of our name. And what does our our name signifies, and what is the the power of each letter in my name, and all that topic we started learning. We had already a few classes from the book of formation about Sefer Yetzirah about our name, what does it mean, the letters in our name, the energy, how it's connected to the Sefirot, and so forth. And we're going to continue that. It's going to be probably a long course about the name, how a person can learn from their name their characteristics, their tikkun, their their past lives, and so forth. But we see here in this parasha that this whole topic comes into effect the changing of the name. Now to many, changing of a name is not such a thing that you run to do. But nevertheless, this is where we see from the Torah that Avraham Avinu and Sarah, they have challenges, things don't work out. What's the solution? Change your name. And Avraham and Sarah, they're changing their name. They're I just adding a letter. But nevertheless, we see here that there's a connection between the name of the person and the mazal of the person. Now, mazal, if you translate the word mazal, is luck. So, a lot of people think in in when you're saying mazal that it's my luck. That if I go to night to Vegas, that if I have good luck, then I'll make money. This is not mazal what the Judaism is talking about. Rather, mazal is the tool that Hashem gives you to be able to perform your life mission in this world. This is mazal. And the reason why it's called mazal because it says in Hebrew when something drips from above to below, it's called linzol, nazil, something that is dripping. So, we have a certain bank of energy in the world above, and this energy it penetrates into the world in the right amount, whatever I can handle. And this is the idea of mazal. But nevertheless, we see from this parashah when Avraham and Sarah didn't have mazal, they didn't have a kid, they went down to Mitzrayim, we'll go through the whole story. Then what did Hashem say? Change your name. So, from Avram it became Avraham, and from Sarai it became Sarah. And the main nisayon that we see in this parashah is that they didn't have kids. And Avraham and Sarai didn't have kids, once they changed the letter to Avraham and Sarah, well, then they have kids. So, this is a very interesting topic. If the Torah is talking about it, obviously there's something to it. Just not too long ago, a certain individual, when I was in the last trip in New York, I mentioned her a few times, she was diagnosed with cancer, they were asking me what to do, and and one of the things happened to be, they came to the class of the changing of the name. So, they added a name. They made a whole ceremony. They asked me how to do it, what they did, and they added a name. And you see that that's usually what people do when someone is in a state of emergency of life-threatening situation, then they they add a name or they change the name or they add a letter to the name. I'm not talking about when something doesn't work out that you burned your dinner, you go change the name. Saying about that something serious happens. But comes a big question, how changing the name will change my mazal? Why Why? Why would my changing of my name change the mazal? So, first we have to understand again really what mazal is. Mazal again is not my luck. I come down to this world with a purpose, with a mission. And Hashem hires me and he tells me, "Here's the job uh description. This is what you need to do. Now, I'm giving you your tools. I'm giving you the ability to past this life and to fulfill your mission." This is the mazal and it will be given to me according to my ability, to my spiritual and physical vessel, to my time in my life. Kind of equivalent that the rich father will give his son a lot of money and he says, "I'm not going to give you now the money. We'll put it in a trust fund and whenever you need money for something, I will give you the money. You want to go to college, I'll pay for the tuition. You want to get married, I'll pay for the wedding. You want to buy a house, I'll pay for the house." And it's given to the person according to the timeline in his life and according to what he needs. So, the mazal is dripping from the world above according to how I conduct myself, how I behave, where I am in my life right now, and so forth. But we'll talk about the mazal a little bit more as we go. First, we want to address the question, how changing the name affects my mazal? Why would the changing of the name affect the mazal? We learned, if you remember, we learned that before in Elul before Tishrei, that it says in the Talmud that there are four things that will rip the g'zar din, so to say, of a person. If a person has a g'zar din, a decree against them, then there will be four things that will actually rip this g'zar din. The first one is shinui ma'asim. It's changing your actions. The second one is called tza'akah. Tza'akah means pray. The third one is shinui hashem, and the fourth one is charity. It's to give charity. So, we have here and this is not the order. The order in the Talmud is first charity, then prayer, then changing the name, and then changing their actions. These are the four things that the Talmud says that if chas v'shalom that I did something and there's like going to be a decree against me, it's called a g'zeirah, then I can rip it like I rip the the verdict. Now, it's even interesting because it's also brought down in halakha. You can find that. This is a can be found in the in the portion of Shulchan Aruch that is called Yoreh De'ah in section shin. Shin is 300. In chapter 35, it's brought down in halakha that yes, the changing of the name will change the person's mazal. It's already it's already it's not like kabbalistic. This is brought down in halakha. So, what's the What's the idea of changing the name? And not only changing the name, sometimes it's just adding a letter to a name. I mean, that's what we see now. Avram, we just added a hey. Now he became Avraham. Sometimes one letter makes a huge difference. Now, here, for example, with Sarah, Sarai, and Avram, we see that there were two letters that were added and removed. There was a yud that Sarai had a yud and it was changed to a hey and Avram added added a hey. So we have we see already that there's something with the yud and with the hey. We'll talk about it later but there's something obviously in these two letters. Uh we'll talk about it also later after but just there is an example after Sarai also Rivka was barren and after that also Rachel was barren. And if you remember Rachel later on what she do? She took maidservant Bilhah in order to get pregnant. Not married I said married I meant pregnant. But nevertheless we'll bring these examples as we go but we want to focus on the yud and on the hey that's in the names that were changed. And and how's that affecting us? When I was doing these lectures in the States now about the name then who would raise a number very interesting questions and the main question that I got especially being in North America is what if I have a non-Jewish name and I don't have a Jewish name? How many people in the world they're Jew they're Jews but they don't have a Jewish name? Mark whatever Elizabeth no Elizabeth whatever I'm just throwing names. How many people don't have Jewish names? So it's extremely important by the way that a person that doesn't have a Jewish name to have a Jewish name. And then a person that goes but first of all a lot of people I'm not talking about that somebody's name is Yitzchak and they go by Isaac because if a business it looks better. So I'm going to person that was never born with a Jewish name. So a Jewish name it's very important to have a Jewish name. Now before we continue we have to go a little bit about the background of of the story. So we we are acquainted with Avraham Avinu last week in parashat Noah, Avraham is born. And Avraham is a perfect example for the the story of a tzaddik v'ra lo. A tzaddik that everything is bad. After all, you you see this righteous man and everything doesn't work out. From the beginning of Lech Lecha till the end of parashat Vayeira, our sages say mi'Lech Lecha ad Lech Lecha because parashat Vayeira ends also with Lech Lecha. From the beginning of the parasha till the end of next parasha is just challenge after challenge after challenge after test after challenge after test. And you would think that a tzaddik will have an easy life. So, first of all, it comes to teach us that even a tzaddik, like Avraham Avinu, can have challenges. So, so much more so us. But nevertheless, how does the story start? That's how the parasha starts. Avraham Avinu lives in Haran and he's the chief rabbi of Haran. He has a big center. He teaches Torah. He converts people. Anybody wants to convert, he converts them. The women go to Sarah, he she converts them. They have meals, they have lectures, they have everything going on there. Now, Hashem says, "I want you to spread your wings. Now, only Haran knows you. I want the whole world to know you. So, I want you and your wife to take back your bags and leave Haran. Lech Lecha me'artzecha. Leave. I want you to go and spread the Torah all over the world." Okay. Where do they go? They go where Hashem tells them. They go to Eretz Yisrael, which of course was then Canaan. And what happens there? Right away, a famine. The people there are saying, "Well, what are you a bad omen? You just came to our land and starts a famine. Get out of here." What does Avraham Avinu does? He says, "Okay, let's go to Mitzrayim." As they get to customs, to the border control, he didn't have a green card then. He's looking for the for the passports and finally he says to Sarah, "You know, we're going to have an issue here because you are you pretty woman and we're they're going to kill me and take you. So, tell them you're my sister. And no need to go through the whole story, but that's what happens. They take Sarah to the king. Avram Avinu in the beginning they arrested him and finally somehow they get out of it and they come back to Canaan. Now, they come back to Canaan. Do you think the problem stopped? No. No kids. They're already old people and they don't have kids. Okay. So, what's the solution? Sarai understands that she can't have kids. So, she does a bold move and she says, you know what? I'm going to bring a woman into the house, another woman, and I'm going to have my husband try to have a baby with her. And maybe by that, first of all, he will have at least a child and then maybe because of that that will change the the mazal and I'll have a child. And he brings she brings Hagar. Now, what kind of a woman does such a thing? She doesn't get pregnant, so she brings another woman into the house? Rashi explains that why did she do such a thing? Midah k'neged midah. Measure for measure. Rashi says she said Hashem will see that I'm willing to give up my space, my honor, my man to bring another woman into the house so that Avram Avinu can have a child. Midah k'neged midah, Hashem will see my effort and my mesirat nefesh, my self-sacrifice and he will give me a child. Okay. So, they bring Hagar into the house. Avram Avinu has a child, Ishmael, and he likes him. Even though the person became a terrorist, but Avram Avinu likes him. He likes him. He loves him. It's his son. Okay, at this point the Kadosh Baruch Hu says to Avram Avinu, okay, you know, no Change your name, you'll have a kid. But, Avraham Avinu doesn't understand. How can I have a kid? So, cuz Avraham Avinu was a very big mekubal, he was able to look in the stars, he was able to see what's going on. And he says, "I see in my mazal that I don't have a kid. How can I have a kid?" That's where Hakadosh Baruch Hu told him, "Avram doesn't have a kid, but Avraham has a child. And Sarai doesn't have a child, but Sara has a child." Then they changed their name, and voila! They have a child. Baruch Hashem. Sisu vesimchu. Now what happens? The child grows a little bit, Yitzchak grows, and now the the stepbrother is taking him off the derech. One time, Sara looks out the window, and she sees Ishmael and Yitzchak, they're playing. And Ishmael is teaching him all the bad stuff, how to hot-wire cars, how to to do to do all sorts of bad things. And Sara's like this, "I don't need this this menace, this terrorist influencing my my child." So, comes another test, and Sara says to Avram, "Kick her out. I don't want her here." Avram says, "Listen, I know he's a little bit of a shovav, a little bit of a mischief, but it's my son. How can I kick him out of the house? I know he breaks into houses, and he does all sorts of bad things. I know he's a little terrorist, but it's still my son. Don't ask me to kick him out of the house." Sara says, "He's out of the house, him and and then the mother." And sure enough, that was another nisayon. We know that Avraham Avinu had 10 tests. That's one of the nisyonot. He had to kick his child out of the house, knowing that he's somewhere, he doesn't know where. And after that, the party's not over. Now again, "Now go sacrifice your son. Take your son, the one that I told you that he's going to become the inheritor, and now go and sacrifice him. So, one event after the other after another event after event, Avraham Avinu was placed with tests. Comes a big question, what's the point of the tests? Wha- why? Isn't a one or two or three tests enough? You got another test and another test, and each one is harder and harder. Wha- what's the point of the test? What is standing behind the idea of a test? Why is Hashem testing us? Now, if he's testing Avraham Avinu, who who are we? We are being tested a hundred times a day. Why? What's the idea of the test, and why is Hashem testing me? So, I'm going to tell you a story that will explain what I want to say. And this is a true story. This is not a parable for you to to understand some- this is a true story. And there was a certain lady, and they were from Iran, from Persia. And I don't remember exactly the years. Don't take every detail here. I might be distorting the the fine details here, but nevertheless, in the '60s and the '70s, the Jews were doing very well in Persia. They had a lot of money, they had status, they had respect from the community, and they were free. They were doing whatever they want. So, this lady, they lived in Iran, and they were very very wealthy. And at some point, the government changed, and I think it was with a revolution with Khomeini. I don't remember all the details. It doesn't matter. But at some point, the government changed, and all the Jews started to become uh a target. Now, they were very very wealthy, and one day, she sees the driver of the husband running into the house, terrified, screaming, "What's going What happened?" And the driver tells her, "They killed him. They killed him. They came to the to the factory, and they killed your husband. They shot him dead. His body's on the floor. They murdered him. And that was the government. They were after the money, coming after everybody's money. Okay, so she figured out this is not good news. They're coming after me now. They're going to come and take the money. She packed a little bag, put a few things in the bag, and took the children. She had little children, and she went out of town. And I I she understood I have to run away. So, they found somebody under under ground that takes you over the border. Okay, costs a certain amount of money. They had enough money. And they started the journey. And Okay, as they started the journey, she was a young mother. She had young kids. The person that took her on the journey told her it's going to be a journey of 2-3 weeks. Very hard journey. 18 hours a day riding on a camel in the mountains, in the valleys, in extreme heat. No food, no sleeping. And this is how people used to do it, by the way. My father My father's from Lebanon, and they had the same thing in the early '50s. Things they were in Beirut. And my family is Syrian. They moved from Syria to to Beirut. That's where they replaced their business in Lebanon in the '20s, '30s, and the '40s. Beirut was the the capital for business. They were extremely extremely wealthy there, and at some point started closing down on them. And they had to make a move. And nobody could just get up and leave. They did the exact same thing. Middle of the night, riding on on donkeys for 3 weeks. My father was a little kid going on the mountains. You know what it is to cross from Lebanon to to Israel? The terrain. This is not walking on a on a path walk. This is mountains, very hard mountains to walk through. Nevertheless, that's what people used to do. Okay, so the guide tells her before we even start, "I'm telling you this is going to be a 2-3 weeks journey, and we can't stop for 1 second. And my rule is very firm. Anybody that cannot make it, I shoot him on the spot. We cannot take them. We cannot I cannot stop the the whole convoy because of one child. Anyone that will not be able to continue in the journey, I'm sorry to tell you, I shoot him on the spot and we bury them there. We cannot stay behind. Okay? They start the journey. And the journey starts 18 hours a day sitting on a camel. And you barely eat. You can't go to the bathroom. You can't stop to the bathroom. You can't do anything. And this is with little kids. At some point, they had to cross a river and they went through the river. So, as they're going in the water, the shoes got so soaking wet. And this is said by the woman. I'm not inventing anything. This woman is giving a testimony. The shoes became so soaking wet from walking so many hours in the river that by the time they came out of the river, their shoes disintegrated. It's not like what we have now, good, solid leather shoes. The shoes all broke down. Then they had to go through a field full of cactuses. So, they were going on the everything with the thorns and bleeding and and at some point, one of the kids started crying. They couldn't make it anymore and the guy turns around and pulls out his gun and she's like, "We can't stop. I'm shooting her." And she's like, "No, no, no." She picked up the daughter on her and she was going in blood and tears and pain and you have to hear the description of this story. But she she was like, "We have to make it. We have to make it. We have to make through this journey." Finally, after I think two or three weeks, they crossed the border into Turkey. And they survived. And the guide turns around to the woman and he tells her, "By the way, I'm Jewish, too. And I just smuggled the Jews out. And the reason why I was so firm and so strong by telling you, if you're not going to make it, going to shoot you." is because if I wouldn't say that, you wouldn't make it. If I wouldn't threaten you that I will shoot you or your kids and bury you in the in the way, you will never make it. So, I'm sorry I was so harsh. I'm sorry that I had to use this tactic, but the fact that you had the fear that I'm going to kill you or one of your kids, you made it through this journey. So, good luck on your journey, and they made it to Eretz Yisrael. And needless to say, they didn't have any money, but nevertheless, they had their life. Now, excuse me? Of course they paid for it. Yeah, yeah. Beginning of the story, I said that the husband was murdered. They had a lot of money. She took whatever she could. They bribed the the the guide, and they made it. I mean, this is not one story. There's thousands of stories of that. Don't go too far. I'm telling you my father, when he was 7 years old, that's what they did. They lived in Beirut. They were they should hear his testimony also. They had to walk only at nights. During the day, they had to all lie on the ground covered with sand and leaves so that nobody nobody will spot them. This is going with little kids. Can you imagine my grandmother with seven kids and and sisters and brothers and my grandfather got arrested on the border. Should bring one of my once my father to tell the story. He was in the He was the the one in the back, and he got arrested in the border. And he was in jail for 2 years. He couldn't get across. Then when my parent my father came to Israel till my grandfather got released. But nevertheless, yeah, of course they paid for it. They paid a lot of money. Every every person, you pay a lot of money. So, but nevertheless, the good story was they made it to Eretz Yisrael, and everything was good. But what what's the point of the story? Is Hashem is testing us because he wants to get the best out of us. By nature, we are very very lazy. If I wouldn't have to do anything, I would be just sitting in bed all day long. But, because I need to pay the rent, I need to get up. I need to pay for food, I need to get up and make money. If I didn't have If I would get a house and food delivered to my house, I probably won't work. I would be going like this all day long. Right? So, what? Or studying. Or studying. I'm talking about the nature of humans is to be very Some people will take advantage of it and study all day long. Most people just be couch potatoes. But we're lazy people. Very few people get motivated. So, Hashem is pushing me to the extreme to get the best out of me. Now, the reason why we have so much difficulties in our life is because Hashem wants to make sure that I keep on moving, that I keep on pushing. Just imagine the guide. Every time somebody falls on the camel, the guide takes out the gun. No, no, no, no, no, I'm going to walk on the thorns. Just don't shoot me. So, every time Hashem puts throws a challenge, Hashem says, "I You need to keep Keep on moving. Keep on moving. Because if you don't, you're going to stand in one spot." Now, the difficulty, the challenge forces me to do my maximum. And that's what Hashem really wants. Hashem says, "What do you think? I brought you here to just sit all day long and lick your fingers from a milk licking milk and honey? No, I need you you to get your maximum." So, baklal, when you're looking at the word nisayon, nisayon, if you translate it in English, it's a test. And Hashem doesn't test us, by the way. This is a misconception. You know why Hashem doesn't test us? Because he already knows the results. So, what's the point of the test? We call it a test, and it's the wrong grammar, by the way. If baklal, when you translate words in English, it's from Hebrew to English, it doesn't work. A test is a nisa- is a is a is a A nisayon is not a test. Test in Hebrew is mivhan. So, Hashem doesn't test us only for the fact that Hashem knows the result already. He knows everything. So, what's the point of doing the test if he knows the result? The word nisayon in Hebrew comes from the from the root nes. Nes is not a miracle. Don't be confused. You know what a nes is? Nes is the pole is the top of the pole where they hang the the flag on. That's a nes. On the boat, there's one big pole that where they put the flag on. That's the top there. That's a nes. Where do we learn that? There are a few places in Tanakh that we learn the word about the word nes. And again, we take the word nes, we think it's a miracle. Yes, it's a miracle. But the the root of the name nes is the top of the pole that everybody can see. Where do we see it clearly in the Torah? In book In the book of Bamidbar, remember the situation there was a a plague and Hashem told Moshe Rabbenu, "Take a snake a copper and put it on the on the pole." What does he say? He says, "Vayomer Hashem, saraf sim oto al nes v'yiru oto kulam." Go to the book of Bamidbar. This is chapter 21. See what it says there. Let me read the translation. And he says, "Take the the snake and put it on the top." And he says, "Take the saraf." Saraf is a snake. "And put it on the nes. Put it on the top that everybody will see." So, we see the Torah is telling us nes is not a necessarily a miracle. Rather, nes is the top of the pole. We see it again also in the book of Yeshayahu, chapter 30 in verse 17. And it says, "Ad im notartem k'toren till you were left as a toren is a big pole al rosh hahar v'kinnus v'kinnus al hagiv'a." on the top of the mountain and as a nest on the top of the hill. So, there are verses in Tanakh that tall shows us that nest is the top the top of the hill the top of the pole the top of the of the of something that is always so everybody can see. That's a nest. So, the Nissan here is that Hashem is elevating us to the top. Now, with Avinu, why did Avinu have to go through so many misses missional? So many challenges so he will be our hero our father. We look up to him. Wow, look how much challenges he went through and he's my role model. But really the idea of a nest unless it's something high and Hashem is elevating us to the highest that we can reach. So, you know looking at an athlete an athlete wants to be successful. You know how hard they have to work? You know how much training how much effort? Once I saw a movie how Mike Tyson a very great boxer how he trains. So, and you think he's sitting there and eating Twinkies? He's sweating and the the the trainer is punching him and kicking him and running and jumping and push-ups and and the trainer is screaming at him. So, you want to get the best you want to be the best this comes with a lot of sweat. So, Hashem is pushing us and pushing us and pushing us to get the best out of me. Yeah, we 100% we inherited myself you're right myself what's in my living in the action of the fathers is a sign for me. I inherited we are kids of Avinu. We inherited the power that any challenge that Hashem will put in front of me I have the potential of overcoming it. Now, I just have to be pushed and and and and inspired to go and do it. Now, let's go back to what we were talking about before. About the Nissim. There is a book. The book is called Sefer HaIkkarim. I don't know how to translate it in English. This is written by Rabbi Yosef Albo. About 500 years ago. It's called Sefer HaIkkarim. He says there, I don't know, maybe to translate, maybe the book of main, I don't know, I don't know. The what? Principle. Principle? Principle? I'm sure there's some type of explanation in English. I don't know, I never found that translation or a name, but it's called Sefer HaIkkarim, written by a very famous Rabbi, Rabbi Yosef Albo. He says there that Nissayon, a challenge, is a habit. It's like a habit. What does it mean a habit? When I have a habit, I do it very good. Right? Now, what does the Talmud says? En Kivan Nissayon. A There's The real wise person is a person that has a lot of Nissayon is a lot of a What's the word? The No, Has V'shalom, not Chutzpah. That has a lot of like a a lot of a knowledge. No, Nissayon is a No, I have the word right on my tongue. It's like a muscle. Not a muscle. Yeah, but a But how do you say it? Let's say a person has a lawyer, he's in the field for 40 years, he has a lot of experience. Sorry. So, a habit is you have experience in something. When you have a certain habit that you do every day, I'll give you I'll give you an example. Most people they pray every day. They're ready because the the words are already stuck in their mouth. When you prayed the first time, you read every word baruch ata All right. Now When you pray for the first time, thank you. The first few times that I prayed every It took me three three hours to go through it. So, now you go fast. This is kind of like a habit. It same can be with anything. It can be with the knitting, can be with the building. Nisayon is in Hebrew is a test, but nisayon is also experience. And chacham k'val hanisayon. I said, "Who's smart? A person has a lot of this experience." When you do something very well, go now to a dentist that just graduated. You know, they're You know the one he's already doing it for 30 years. He's doing it with his eyes closed. So, Rabbi Yosef Albo says that nisayon is kind of like a habit. And Hashem is giving us all these tests over and over and over. Why? So, we should have experience. Experience in dealing with this thing with this problem. And just the other day we were talking to one of the guys here, you know, all know him, doesn't need to mention names. And And he said, "You know, I have the same test over and over and I always fail." So, what's the point here? And I told him, "Because you're gaining experience. You fail once. You fail twice. You fail three times. After you will fail 100 times, will come the real test. Then you'll have experience. Then you'll you then you'll win. You'll have the power cuz you failed so many times. You cannot win without failing. If you're going even to the work to the to the area of sports, in order to be a winner you have to fail many times in order to know what does it mean to be a failure, what it means to lose, then you know how to become a winner. Same thing here. The Kadosh Baruch Hu gives us another challenge and another challenge and another challenge to give us experience. Okay. So, now we covered the idea of the challenges. So, the nisayon, the real one is the end of this So, how do you call the the steps? The steps is the training process. But in the meaning Uh well It's all everything is a nitzayon. I have to understand that this is just a we should should sidetrack for a second about the nitzayon. I have to understand that the nitzayon the nitzayon is not if I win or lose. That's how I conduct the fight. That's what Hashem is looking at. If I will win or lose, that is in the hands of Hashem. According to the shamayim, everything is in the hands of Hashem. He will decide if I will pass the test or not. That's why I told you Hashem is not testing us, taking the word in Hebrew mivchan, cuz he knows the he knows the result. So, excuse me? Tikkun will do? Tikkun, that's a whole different thing. We're talking about a nitzayon. Nitzayon is a challenge, a test. So, the thing is that when I have a nitzayon is not if I win or lose. It doesn't matter if I win or lose. It's how you put the fight. If you have the right attitude. I'll give you an example. Sometimes you're test test with something. And when you fail, you know what you do? You curse. You get angry. You break things. You hurt other people. You don't show up to the minyan. You get upset. Then you failed the test. Not because you lost the test itself, because of your reaction. Now, sometimes you lose the test, but you have a good attitude and next time I'll do it. You still have a smile on your face. As the test is going on, you pray to Hashem, you have bitachon, you have faith, you you smiling, you have a good attitude. It all depends how you behave during the test. It doesn't matter the result of the test. What matters is the process and your effort and mainly your effort. How much hishtadlus you put in there. Whether you win or lose, that's in the hands of Hashem. So, but this is about nitzayon, we want to go back to the letters, not to the nisyano. We want to understand how can changing the name or adding a letter in the case of Sarai and Abraham remove the challenges from Abraham Avinu and Sarah? Why? Because after they changed the names, kind of everything was good. From about the year 100 of Abraham Avinu till the end we didn't hear about any more challenges. That's it, stopped. So, we kind of understand here, oh, wait a minute, Abraham got a hey, Sarah got a hey, remove the yud, challenges everything was stopped stopped and they kind of had a normal life. So, maybe I should change my name every Monday and Tuesday. No, I will be called Alona. Nevertheless, what's the idea of the changing of the name and changing the mazal? How and why? So, let's go a little bit to the Rishonim and see what they say. Rambam, for example, doesn't agree with this whole thing at all. Rambam says, I don't agree with the whole changing of the name. It's not referring to changing the name from Moshe to Yaakov or from Sarai to Sarah. Rather, he says the changing of the name is when you change your behavior to such an extent that your name by default gets changed because in the beginning you were Shimon the robber, now you're Shimon the tzaddik. So, your actions are so changed that your name is already changed in a way that you are being referred to completely different. So, 20 years ago, then somebody will call me Alon the cheat, Alon the Alon the thief, Alon the bully. Now, they call me Alon the rabbi. Or Alon the whatever. Can't say anything about myself, but the point is that Rambam says, you change your actions, you're not called anymore a certain way, you're called in a different way. So, you're suddenly called Dr. So-and-so or is whatever it is. This is what Rambam says, that you don't actually change the name. You have to change your actions. Then don't go now every Monday and Tuesday and everything that happens just changing your name. Change your actions. That's the way the Talmud, going back to what we said before, the last of all force, change your actions. Don't don't Don't pretend. And Rambam says, if you change your actions, you become a different person. Be from becoming a an angry person, you become a calm person. You becoming a from becoming from being a stingy person, you become a baal chesed, a very a giver. So, your your so to say your title changes. This is what Rambam says. Another explanation is given by Haran. Haran is Rabbi Rabbenu Nissim, a very big commentary on the Talmud on the on the Mishnah and all Torah. He says, "It's kind of in the middle. Don't be so extreme like Rambam. Changing on the name is as a result uh as a result of changing my name, then my actions will be changed. So, if my name was I don't know what, I'm not going to start some give examples, but my name was so-and-so and now I changed my name to a more profound name. I know an individual that his name was a very not Jewish name and he he made teshuvah and he took on himself a Jewish name. So, according to the Ran, you change the name to something a little bit more holy, then you by default your actions become much much better. Okay, so this is the explanation for the Ran says. As I said before, once you were just a David, now you're David Chaim. So, you added another name, more energy, different behavior, and you see that many times. How many times people about teshuvah, they are called Richard, suddenly they change the they become a a baal teshuvah and they become a Rachamim. Now he's a totally different person. Before the teshuvah, she was Jennifer. Now she's, I don't know what, Sarah. Pito the the behavior is completely different. So, according to the Ran, you change the name, by default, your behavior starts changing because you hold already a name of a Yakov or Sarah and so forth. Okay. According to that, we see that the changing of the name also changes my actions. When a person changes the name, it changes the actions, but also it changes the mazel. Now, why would it change the mazel? How is all this work with changing the mazel? Now comes a a bigger question because we just saw both from the Rambam and the Ran that you have to change your actions. But when Hashem told Avram to change the name and Sarai to change the name, he didn't tell them to change actions. He just told them add a letter. Change a letter and add a letter. He didn't tell them, "Oh, by the way, I also want you to add these actions. I want you to open your midrasha three more hours a day." He just told them to change names. He didn't tell them to change actions. He just told them, "I want Sarah to Sarai to add a hey, move the yud and add a hey, and Avram to add a hey." So, how that works well with what we just understood from Rambam and the Ran? And not only that, what is the idea behind the changing of the name? So, we have to understand something about the nature of a name to understand it. There is a story in the Talmud. I told that story already a few times. It's can be found in the tractate Yoma. And it's talking about three great sages, Rabbi Meir, Rabbi Yehuda, and Rabbi Yossi. And they had to go and fundraise. Believe it or not, even 2,500 years ago, the rabbis had to fundraise. Not only in this generation. Even then, the great all three great sages, Rabbi Yossi, Rabbi Yehuda, and Rabbi Meir, they go out and they fundraise. The story says that they actually not only necessarily fundraised for their institutes, rather at the time there was a lot of problems with the with the Romans, with the government, and the people used to get arrested. They would go to fund a lot of money to do pidyon shvuyim, to get the prisoners out. The story says very This is a very the the short version of it cuz I told the story several times. They fundraised a lot of money, and on the way back home, they had to stop in a hotel. They had a lot of money. It was Shabbat. Now, what are you going to do with the money? The money is muktzeh. So, they came to the clerk of the hotel, and they told him, "Do you have a safe here?" "Yeah, of course. Can you keep our money?" "No problem." So, Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yossi, they give them the the clerk the money, and he locks it up. Rabbi Meir comes to the clerk and tells him, "What's your name?" And he says, "My name is Kidon." Rabbi Meir says, "Thank you very much. Give me back my money." "I'm not giving you the money." And the story says that he went out of town, he found a cemetery, he digged up a hole, he buried the money in the cemetery. He says, "Nobody will look for money in the cemetery." Motzei Shabbat comes, Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yossi come to the clerk, and tell him, "Give us back the money." The clerk says, "What money?" He says, "What do you mean, what money? We just gave you a lot of money before Shabbat. Give us back the money." Clerk says, "No. Sorry. Wrong one. You didn't give me anything." "Are you out of your mind? We gave you a lot of money. Give us back the money." He says, "No. Not me. I didn't give anything. You didn't give me any money." Rabbi Yehuda and Rabbi Yossi go to Rabbi Meir and says, "How did you know not to give him the money? He robbed us. Now we don't have proof." Rabbi Meir says, "Very simple. I asked him his name, and he told me his name is Kidon." So, they say, "So, what if the name is Kidon?" So, Rabbi Meir says, "Well, don't you know? There's a verse in the Torah, in the book of Bamidbar, and it says, 'Kidon ta'apuchot hema, banim lo emun bam.'" And he says, "I took the name. The name has an a connotation. What does the verse say? 'Kidon ta'apuchot hema.' This is a generation a very it's very quick to switch. One time you smile, one time you you hate. The boys the the men the the children of this generation there's no trust in them. So he said his name is Kidor, I didn't trust him. So we understand that the name of the person says a lot about the person. And we started the course in where I was explaining a lot the that the name is given to us way before we're born. Our name is a stamp that is on the soul. If you take the word soul in Hebrew is you write it neshama. Take the noon away and take the hay away, you left in the middle with two letters shin and mem, shem. So the name is the DNA of my soul. The result says that the parents get a glimpse of prophecy whether they feel it or not and they look at the child and they name the child. That's how it's extremely important not to have people interfering in naming a child because this neshama already is radiating the characteristics the nature and the name is attached to the to the soul already. Now the teachings of Kabbalah explains that the name is a pipe so to say we call tzinor. Tzinor shel shefa. It's a pipe through that pipe an abundance of energy can go down from the world above to the world below. This is the way how Hashem is communicating with us. Like I told you in the beginning there's a trust fund in the world above this is where our our mazal is and has to be a way a channel how the mazal will start coming into the world and that is through the name. Now if you're looking at in a very lower level let's put it this way we'll explain a lower level of the name and a more mystical part of it. The lower level of the name a name is a business card. Sometimes you meet somebody in a dinner, in an event. What do you do? Here's my business card. I do so and so. I'm a banker, I'm an investor, I'm a lawyer, whatever it is. Adam Harishon, if you remember, we should be fresh in our mind. We just read that 2 weeks ago, not even. Adam Harishon named everything. Adam Harishon sat on a chair. Hashem brought everything to Adam Harishon. Adam Harishon looked at the at whatever it was, an animal, a fruit, or whatever it is, and he named it. Why? Because Adam Harishon was able to look at the animal, see the characteristics of the animal, and give the name according to the characteristics. Adam Harishon had a very high level Ruach Hakodesh, and he was able to see the the spiritual structure of the soul. There is a a beautiful explanation. We're not going to go through it cuz it's long, but it's brought by Rabbeinu Behayei, how he brings every animal, how the name of the animal is the nature and the characteristics of the animal. And he says, for example, a donkey. A donkey in Hebrew is chamor. Chamor, a donkey, is a slow animal. It's a lazy animal. It's heavy. It's not smart. This is chomer. This is material. So, it's called chamor. Same thing with a sus. A horse. Sus, the same thing. Adam Harishon looked at the horse. Horse is jumping and is This is happy. Sus. Sus vesameach, he's jumping. So, he's a sus. So, and he goes Rabbeinu Behayei goes one after the other. For example, the now we read with Noah about the crow. Crows are Why are they called orev? In Hebrew it's called orev. Because it's dark. What is dark that we know of? Vayehi erev, vayehi boker. Erev is dark. So, he's called orev cuz he's dark. And then he goes like this over and over. You know, a dog. A dog is kelev. Why? Kulo lev. It's just a heart. A dog is just love. If you just give him a bone, he'll lick you all day long. Chatul. Chatul is a is a cat. Why is it called chatul? Shumechatel et tzo'ato. It's the only animal that covers their their droppings, their excrement. Modesty, but "hatul" comes from the word "hitul". "Hitul" is it like a diaper. "Mehatel et tzo'ato", he covers his excrement. No other animal does that. Nevertheless, Rabbeinu Behaye goes one after the other, not only with animals, with everything. How you see the nature. Why is Adam called Adam? Because he came from the "adama". He came from the ground. Not only that, he resembles the world that "me'anavav adame le'elyon". Hava, why her name was Hava? Her name was first of all was Haya. But, she was "em kol hai", the mother, the first mother of everything. Everything in the Jewish words, in the Hebrew words, have a meaning to it. So, another thing, and this is in a very superficial way to look at the name of the name. The name represents Now, of course, will come a big question. What, so all the Davids are the same? All the Moshes are the same? How many Moshes are there? That doesn't make sense. Now, you know where you see it most? You go to a certain group, and all the boys and the girls are called by the name of the leader of the group. So, in Chabad, everybody is Menachem Mendel. In Breslov, everybody is Nachman. In Satmar, everybody is Yoel. In the Litaim, everybody is Chaim. Why? Because their rabbi, that's how he's he's called. So, so it means now all the Menachem Mendels in Chabad are the same thing. All the Nachmanim from Breslov are the same thing. No. Why? Because the name you have, I don't know how you say it really in English. I couldn't find the right word. In Hebrew, say "netiya", is what you're drawn to. You have a a what? Tendency. Tendency. I couldn't find really the right word, but nevertheless, the name, you can take the quality of the name, and you can use it for different things. So, for example, you can have in your name the power of leadership. So you become you can become a leader as a of a congregation in a very positive way. You can become also a leader of the robbers and the head of the mafia. So David for example, yeah, that David has a very strong quality for leadership. So you can become a prime minister and you can become the head of the mafia or head of a gang or whatever it is. So you can take the quality of the name and to use it to different to different places. This is what it says in Hebrew netiya. You take a tree now, you can push the tree this way, you can push the tree that way, you can push the tree wherever you push the tree, that's how it will grow. So you can take now almost any characteristics and use it to positive and to negative and to different types of positives and different types of negative. So it doesn't mean all the Davids will be the same and all the Moshes will be the same. But nevertheless, the name is kind of the business card of the person and will tell you more or less about the individual. We want to go one step ahead of that, what the teachings of Kabbalah explains. The the name is not only the description of the actual person, the nature of the person, rather the name is the channel through that channel will come the energy from above that will determine who will be the person. So the name is a very very profound part of designing me. Now, how does that really work? How does the name becomes the channel that through that channel the real me manifests into this world? So every name is built from letters. There's no name that is not built from letters. We have 22 letters, if you remember when we started the course about the names and the letters, I asked a good tricky question and everybody failed. How many letters do we have in the alphabet? 22 22, right? 28 22? Wrong. We don't have 22. We have now 27 because we have five letters that are called man tzadik mem nun, right? Samech pe and kaf. They're the otios sofiot. So we have already 27. But we know based on Sefer Yetzirah that there was another letter. The letter is called dot and when Adam Harishon sinned that letter fell off fell off the alphabet. So we're missing a letter. Just imagine how much things will be more clearer when we get another letter. But we have in the Jewish alphabet 28 letters. One is gone now, we're left with 27, not 22, because we have five letters mem nun samech pe and kaf that you have a beginning a middle one and an end one. Okay. Every letter is a certain energy, is a channel of an abundance and every letter has a certain energy. Now if you have just aleph, it's one energy. You have bet, it's a different energy. Put the aleph and bet together, it gives a completely different energy. Now switch the order between write it first aleph and bet, it's one energy. Switch it around, write it bet aleph, total different energy. We just learned that in the month of Cheshvan last week. We said the name of the month is Mar Cheshvan. Mar means bitter. Take the word mar, switch the letters around, from mar it becomes ram. Ram is high and exalted. So you can take something bitter and turn it into something great. So every letter is a certain energy and where do we see the energy? By the shape of the letter. Hashem very soon the course of the letters will go online at least the lectures that I gave in America where I give the foundation, the the preparation of the course and then the classes that we have here will continue. But I explained that the letters have three types of channels so to say. The shape of the letter, how you pronounce the letter, and the numerical value of the letter. So, aleph has a ah. Bet is a bah. Doesn't matter right now if it's a ah or oh, but it's a ah. There's no other letter that sounds ah. Even one can argue say ain. Well, ain is a ah, not ah. So, that's why you have to pronounce the words the right word the letters the right word, but nevertheless, there are a few letters that will sound the same like kaf and kuf, but if you pronounce it the right way, the real way, you'll see it's also different. But nevertheless, you have the sound of the letter, you have the shape of the letter, and you have the numerical value of the letter. So, if we concentrate just on the shape of the letter, the shape of the letter show you how the energy runs in the letter. Take the aleph for example. Aleph, the energy of aleph is a connection. It's called in Hebrew hibur. The energy this is the energy of the letter. Why? If you look at the aleph, you have a line on the slanted line, you have a yud on the top, a yud on the bottom, and the line is connecting them. We know that the yud on the top is represents Hashem, the yud on the bottom is representing us humans, and the line is the Torah. That's the connector that is connecting the two parts together. So, you see the energy of the aleph is connecting. Bet for example, the energy is stability. The bet has a very strong base, and it's shaped like a house even a bet. That's how we say house in Hebrew, bait. Gimmel for example, it has an energy of giving. Gomel dalim, giving. Why do we see the gimmel? Because in the gimmel has a chupchik on the bottom that it goes out. So, gimmel has an energy of giving. Dalet is receiving cuz it has an opening on the back. But anyways, it's not the time to do a class now but every letter how the energy is, but we see the shape of the letter will show us the energy of the letter. Now, if you have just one letter, this is one type of energy. But now put in a letter in in one word four five letters, then the energy gets a completely different structure. So, that's how we see that the words in Hebrew, especially names, they will have a completely different energy. We just learned now, it should be fresh in your mind. Last week we learned about the month of Heshvan. I mentioned that the the tribe that is associated with the month is Menashe. And how many words did we take out of the combination of mem nun shin and aleph? Menashe is the name. The his his uniqueness, he was secondary, mishneh. Then we said that he has the power of neshama, nun the same letters, that the the that he used to praise Hashem all the time. And we took the all these these four letters and switched the order all the time. You get so many different meanings. And that's where you see with how the letters affecting the name. Now, if you concentrate on the two letters that we are focusing on, which is a yud and a hey, cuz Sarai had a yud, the yud was removed and she got a hey, and Abraham got a hey. Yud is a very small letter. This is called ot nikud, a letter of punctuation, cuz yud usually will change the the the word uh for I and you can remove the yud and have a punctuation and you don't need the yud. With the e or o or yee. So, yud is called ot nikud, a very small letter. In the Kabbalistic term to it, this is a a male letter. Hey, for example, is a very large letter. The hey, it's representing uh fertility. I hope I'm saying it the right word. In Hebrew it's called piryon. And fertility means the force the power of development. So, a woman that is fertile, she can receive uh sperm and develop a child. So, hey has the power of fertility and development. What is called in Hebrew widening, broadening. And hey is a female letter. Now, if you're looking at Sarai, you have the shin, the sin, and the rage, and she had a huge she had a male letter. So, her energy was a male energy, so she couldn't get pregnant. When it was first changed to Sarah, the youth was removed, the the male energy was removed, the female energy came, then it became Sarah, then she was able to become fertile and to start developing. And same thing with Abraham, Abraham only had Avram, he was only the chief rabbi of Haran. Once he got the hey, he was the chief rabbi of the world. He became gazillionaire in money, became extremely wealthy, and he was known all over the world. Everybody came to Avraham Avinu to to learn Torah. So, where do we see again the the addition of the hey? Right after Sarai that was barren, Sarah wasn't barren anymore. Once she was Sarah, well, right away a child. She was able to bring a child to the world. The next one in line was Rivka. Rivka was also barren. She had a hey, but nevertheless, later on she got pregnant. But who do we see down the line that didn't have a hey and was also barren? Rachel. Rachel didn't have a hey, and she couldn't get pregnant. Leah got pregnant, Zilpah got pregnant. Now, what did Rachel do? Rachel said, "I can't get pregnant. I don't have a hey, and I will never have a have a hey. I'm going to change it to Rachel." So, what did Rachel do? She brought Bilhah. Bilhah is written with two heys. So, she says, "I will bring her." What did she says? Ulay ibbanemi mena. That's what the verse says. If I take her, maybe I will get pregnant because of her. So, she took Bilhah as a maidservant. So, Bilhah got pregnant right away and Rachel took the hey of Bilhah. She didn't add it to the name. She just used that hey and she was able to get pregnant. So, we see that every letter is a channel of energy. So, to conclude because the topic is very, very broad, especially everybody you start telling them now your names, everybody is like, "Oh, so what does my name mean?" You know, when we when we advertised the tour before I went to the States and the main lecture of the tour was the name, I think we got like 5,000 emails. My name is Moshe, what does it mean? It means it means Moshe. What do you want me to I can start now interpreting every little thing. We offered during the tour private sessions to do a name reading. And it was really on the surface, 20 minutes chick-chak just to give an analysis of the name. But, so many people, my name is so and so, what does it mean? It's more complex. You have to see each letter, what's the energy of the letter, where it's placed in the name. You can have an aleph in the beginning of the name, an aleph at the end of the name and so forth. If you remember, we before I left, we did already five or six classes. We started going through it and we're going to continue cuz it's very, very special, very, very important because if I know my essence, my nature, my characteristics, my goal in this world, the name can tell you also a lot about your previous life. If you remember in the one of the classes that we that we did, I explained what the first letter of the name says, the second letter of the name, the third letter of the name, the fourth letter of the name, what does it say? And it can tell you a lot about your previous life, about your your purpose in this world. But, nevertheless, what's the bottom line? What's the conclusion? The first of all, we have to understand that every letter of our my name has a certain energy. And yes, in some situations we do add a letter or add a name. When a person is extremely extremely sick, something's going completely wrong, this is not something you do every day. It's not a everyday you change your name. Rather, you once in a lifetime a person is extremely sick or something goes on then you add a name or you change the name or you add a letter. But nevertheless, the conclusion is that my my name is very powerful and every letter in my name holds a certain energy in it. So what we want to take from this whole story in the Torah is two things. First is regarding the nisionos, the challenges. That Hashem is testing me and we have to stop saying the word testing me. Hashem is not testing me, Hashem is elevating me. Every time I have a challenge, Hashem is just elevating me. He's elevating me higher and higher and giving me more experience and more experience and more experience. More than that, if we want to take the approach of the changing of the name, let's go back to the Talmud what it said. The first thing if a person has a problem, a gzar din, a decree against First of all, you give charity, you pray. Third in line was changing the name and the last one was changing your actions. So we don't run to change the name right away. Rather, we will take the approach of the of the Rambam, of Maimonides, change your actions. Don't run away to A lot of people looking for shortcuts. Not too long ago somebody text me, tells me I have this and this problem. I I want to donate a certain amount of money and that merits then should this problem should disappear. I said, "Listen, you know, that's very nice of you, but how about you just start observing Shabbat? It will cost you much less and I can with my hand on my heart can guarantee to you that will work much better than you donating that amount of money. You want to donate it, great. I will accept the donation. But how about you just observe Shabbat? I wanted to tell him, how about you stop cheating on your wife? I think the problem will disappear very fast. So, the point is that we have a lot of challenges in our life. Don't run for shortcuts. Shortcuts they never work. A lot of people tell me, "What's the remedy for that?" Remedy just in learn Torah. Don't look for remedies. Don't look for shortcuts and briberies and that doesn't work like this with Hashem. And a lot of people say, "What's the remedy to to do this and that?" What's the remedy? Don't stop looking for remedies. Learn Torah. Follow the mitzvot. Do what the Torah tells you. That's your power. So, Hashem is telling us, yes, the name is a powerful source of energy. It is a powerful source of controlling your luck. And if somebody Has v'shalom a mash, the luck is you see, the person is everything doesn't work out, then you want to consult with the right authority if to add a letter to your name, or to change the name, or to add a name. Don't get a person that already in their 50s and one problem after the other, like a Job, Ayov. And you're saying, "Okay, maybe I should change the name." But, instead of running to change the name, what I like to conclude from that is change your actions. Is your actions affect your the the mazal how it comes into this world. If I have a pipe that delivers water into my house and the pipe becomes clogged, the water will come in a very thin stream. Or Hashem v'shalom on the way out, on the drainage, if it's clogged, it's not going to go through. My actions will cause this tzinor, this pipe of shefa to either be open or to be clogged. If I do bad actions, I do sins, I lie, I cheat, whatever, I slander, I start clogging this pipe where the shefa is coming down. So, I have a problem when the parnassa is not so well, relationships are not so well. Here I have a lawsuit. Here the the city's after me. This guy's after me. This is good person is doing this and that. This is enough to tell you, "Wait a minute. Maybe my actions Maybe my actions are not kosher." The reason why we taking the that direction of we didn't have any problem with his actions. So we see with was strictly the name. To teach us that yes, the name has a big meaning and you do want to go to your name and to analyze your name. That's why you're going to go and continue the learning will be with the course about the names that you can say, "Oh, I know I know the purpose of my life. I know my characteristics, where I need to put if I have a lot of in my name, then the should be moved to the right direction." The word that I use in Hebrew is to lean to lean so to say. So take all this and lean it to a positive thing, not to a negative thing. I know people that they're so caring and charitable that all they care about is saving I don't know some monkey in in in in in in Africa. Take all this and save human beings and do it something normal. Don't take all your time to save some extincting extincting specie. So we have to know a lot about the my name and how it feeds my energy, but this is a different topic. How do I take it from that that when I see things don't go so well, look at your actions. And your actions will change the nature how this luck how the shouldn't even say the word luck how the how the energy comes into my world. That's why the a person accepts hardship if look at your action. Maybe you did something. You get a ticket, don't curse the the officer that gave you the ticket. That's what most people do. They give him curses. All the diseases in the world he receives on that point. Why are you cursing the the officer that gives you the ticket? Think what did I do? What did I do? Maybe I stole money. Maybe I owe somebody money. Maybe I did gezel with money. Maybe I I I I did something wrong with money that I'm being notified with a ticket, with something with money. So, a chos v'shalom, as I I I something bad happens, look in your actions. Maybe I'm doing something wrong. If you find that you didn't do anything wrong and you are complete tzaddik, then you go to plan B. But where I can sure I'm sure that each and every one of us can find something that I that I did wrong and Hashem is just telling me what? Warning light. Cuz the way it works in the world, our world is very bouncy. You throw something at the world, it will throw it back right at you. So, this is what we want to take from that, that really Hashem is not testing us. Rather, Hashem is wants to elevate us. He wants to bring bring us into a state of a and I'm already professional, that I know how to fight these challenges. And more than that, so I should be aware constantly of my actions. Most people are not aware of their actions. They say things, they hurt other people's feelings, they behave a certain way, they don't understand that their behavior, their actions, their words, they're hurting other people, they're affecting other people. So, I have to be aware of my actions. When I'm aware of my actions, I'm able to open a greater, broaden channel channel to bring this abundance into my life. May Hashem should take these all these beautiful examples and stories into our life to be able to apply it and to always have a smile on my face. You know how the challenge disappears very fast when you have a smile on your face during the challenge. Usually during the challenge you curse, you swear, you kick, you break, you say lashon hara, all these bad things because the challenge is hard. But if you have a smile on your face and you thank Hashem, you see suddenly this challenge dissolves, disappears. That's where our sages say that we have to accept the yesurim b'simcha v'ahava. Accept with love and happiness. So, we're able to do that, I can assure you that life will get a little bit better. Our luck will be shining on us. Better things will work a little bit better. Less problems, less sadness, less arguments and disagreements. May Hashem we all be able to open the the channel of our abundance that we should be blessed with an abundance of health and happiness and success and parnassah and kids and yirat shamayim and everything. Hashem should only bless us all with with an abundance of good.