Part 132: Pursue Holiness and You Will Find Happiness

good morning Boer to it's great to see everyone I'm glad to see that we're growing we'll have to figure out uh what we're gonna have to do with space microphone now can't hear no I can hear you but I don't want you to oh no no I'm good thank you so much my other mother I appreciate it um if you've not yet joined friends of BRS Linda is here she's happy to sign you up members of BRS thank you for providing the campus and my salary and the framework work non-members of BRS who enjoy our programs and classes we love you we welcome you we invite you and we cherish you and we invite you to do your part to contribute as well you can by joining friends of BRS many many many have been joining Linda gets a bonus of she signs up enough people happens to be the bonuses in the world to come but so help Linda help Linda earn her world to come okay I want to thank our sponsors for the amuna series for the year Dr AI and Bella Morgan thank you so much for your generosity they sponsored the amuna sheer in memory of somebody who was the embodiment of amuna Rabbi Dr Brian galet should continue to have an Aliyah this morning's class in particular as well sponsored by Joshua and Amanda pransky and contined thanks to Hashem for saving them several years ago in a terrible car crash 10 years ago we're grateful that they are well and healthy and alive and wish them many many more years in good health okay we are still inas the safer of R and essentially if you haven't caught on yet whether you're here in person or you listen online we basically say the same thing every single week and uh we I say it for me because every week in between the weeks that we learn I forget and it's hard to remember and we confront in our lives all kinds of challenges situations conflicts struggles anxieties and if we don't work out then we're not strong and prepared for when we need to tap into that Reservoir or bank account or engage those muscles of amuna to be able to withstand so we just find other D Torah new stories to essentially say the same thing every week I'm only sharing that because I want you to know I know that too you're not on to me I know it also okay so R has been talking abouta the relationship between y living a life of awe or we would translate as fear fear has two levels fear of punishment and we've talked about with our children we don't want them to be obedient because they're afraid of the punishment we want them to walk in our ways because they admire and they're in awe and they would never want to disappoint or let us down and the same is true in our relationship with Hashem we should be doing all the right things the moral things the ethical things the correct things the righteous things not because we're afraid I'll lose the job or it won't work out or it's not going to happen or I won't get the nas or I'm going to get a bed Health Report it's not because of fear of punishment it's not external it's internal it's because we have such an awareness and all of Hashem we would never want to let him down we'd never want to disappoint him it doesn't matter what age you are you don't want to disappoint your parents you could be 80 and your parents are 105 and at 80 years old you're still uh you're still wanting to give you're still a child you're still a kid nothing is as satisfying as giving your parents pride and some sometimes it's very painful to feel that you've disappointed your parents you've violated their dreams their hopes their wishes their aspirations for you and so a Our Father in heaven doesn't want us to follow his ways because we're afraid lightning will strike he wants us to have a relationship with him out of admiration awe and respect so R has been developing this notion of the relationship between Y and amuna it's not if I believe in God then I will have awe of him it's if I have awareness and awe of him then I will develop an amuna in him and that was what we read every single day in our they saw the outstretched hand so when you live your life and you look around and you say wow that same word y means fear or awe and also means to see you're only going to have awe when you bother stopping looking up and to see this week's para mosha is recruited by the almighty to be the quintessential paradig atic leader of the Jewish people in perpetuity that's his name Moshe rabenu forever he demures he hesitates he doesn't want it and God convinces him later he holds him accountable for the fact that he had to negotiate but where did God appear out of a SN a bush which was it was on fire but it wasn't being consumed you know they like to say where do you see the notion of a grandchild in the Torah we say in a grandchild's an anle where do you see the word anle in the Torah the it was not being consumed on fire if a person merits three generations if a person merits to be able to transmit values and ideals in a LIF to a third lifestyle to a third generation AAL it'll never be consumed it'll never be extinguished it'll never be burnt out that is the notion of a grand child so you have this bush it's on fire but it's not being consumed it is the symbol of Jewish leadership that our mission is to be on fire and never burn out not easy there all kinds of Rabbi and rebbit and conferences how to avoid burnout you people don't make it easy it's not easy not you people not you you're wonderful not you the people who don't show up to the Amun so that's the mission of this the symbol of this Bush it's on fire it's not being consumed you have to be on fire and passionate inspired and never allow yourself to burn out never be burnt out so sees everybody else is walking by and mosha stops and sees this very unusual phenomena it is violating the rules of nature there's something extraordinary going on and everybody else walks right by it and one person stops to take a closer look and Hashem says he's my man k o Hashem says you know why I've recruited you why I'm choosing you Kar Rose you stopped and you turned to see everyone else kept walking and the image I have is of thousands of people there's this incredible phenomena happening and everyone is walking by texting looking down scrolling Snapchatting Facebooking checking the news and the stocks and the sports scores and everyone is looking down so they're walking right by this incredible Miracle going on before their eyes and mosh raenu is the one person who's in the moment he's mindful he's present he's year he's looking and he's seeing and when you look and when you see this world you realize there's awesomeness there's God everywhere he's everywhere he appears everywhere and Hashem tells him you stopped in order to look and that's why you are my man that's why you're my leader it's not your righteousness it's not your Brilliance it's not your Genius it's not your character it's the fact that you live a life of awareness of mindfulness of presence you're look looking and you're living and you're seeing me everywhere you're my man I want a relationship with you the Kut says that that's our mission is to live a life where our eyes are open and our ears are perked up and our antenna is extended and in every day we're living our life saying Hashem where are you bless you where are you where are you kater says we say this in our kadha I love this kort we say in Kad and the ker says not don't read it a where is the place of your glory but a when a person is asking where are you they have found Mako you have discovered God asking where are you is how you find him that's where he's found he's found in the search in the question he's found in your eyes being open and you're looking and the awareness and that's why the same word the same word to see to be seen and to live with awe and fear because if you live life looking down at your smartphone if you live life as a narcissist narcissist self-centered egotistical person only looking in yourself then you're missing everything going on around you I remember several years ago five six seven years ago is he a famous musician Josh Bell Joshua Bell is that his name so so they did an experiment where he went and he played in a Subway and they wanted to see how many people would stop you know what it cost to pay a ticket to go here Josh jhua Bell and Carnegie Hall what it cost what you'd have to pay so they said let him play for free sitting on the ground in a subway station in Manhattan and you know like 90 plus% of the people walked right by walked right by because they were running somewhere doing something engrossed in a conversation had the headphones on we're looking down at the phone and it's similar to mosu and the snav deal there are extraordinary talents and art and people and things and they're going on all around us an amazing animal a little critter walking a beautiful flower a magnificent moment of nature a beautiful person that you can just capture a really an older person with a young person engaged there are moments that if you'd look you'd be filled with a sense of awe but we're so distracted and we're so busy we don't even see it and that's why the formula the order is first you have to look and see God's outstretched hand it's all around us God has an outstretched hand every time an Iron Dome blows up a missile headed towards Israel that's it's a miracle it's a miracle and then you have to look at that phenomena and say in that what do you see you see a lizard you see a coincidence you see chance you see the grand cany of Swiss Alps you know what I see I see the rebon shal I see the Almighty we just had the da two days ago started the new cycle of d the the first says don't read it but read it not there's no Rock like God a God is our Rock he is our foundation he's whom we rely on WE lean on we can count on he's our Rock but don't read it say they say the word means there is no greater artist in the world we had the great Merit and the great privilege a couple years ago we were at n Glacier National Park in Montana and last year we were at the Swiss Alps and please God this coming summer please join us rustic gance a great tour where are we going Yellowstone National Park and when you look you could either say ah some rocks and waterfalls and some interesting animals or you could look and you could say you know what I see you the tour guide you see rocks that date back to this era and you see coyotes and bears and you see a waterfall you know what I see Theon I see the I see the almighty and if I share with you pictures I want you to know there is no artist who can create or recreate certainly on that scale and that magnitude there is no artist so it's a Mitzvah go see those places and see not go see the sashem the Mish says anyone who interrupts their learning to see nature is liable for their life so yeah what's the justif one of the sh I gave that's how I get to go on these trips one of the sh I gave I spoke about many commentaries on that mishna what do you mean if you interrupt your learning A person who's walking in their learning in Torah and they interrupt the learning to stop and notice look at that beautiful phenomenon such a person it's a capital crime you're liable for your life and the commentaries say well how do we do that then how do I go on the tour how do I go on that group and the commentary says something so beautiful you know when you're liable for your life when observing the nature is an interruption to your learning but if it's a continuation of your learning if when you see that natural phenomena and you see that miracle and the extraordinary event person place thing you say there's the Reon sh look at that artist look what he can create look at the magnificence the beauty then you haven't interrupted your learning at all you've just continued it with a different vocabulary in a different way and that's where you find Hashem so says RBA it's not that well if I had amuna then I'd see Hashem everywhere if I start seeing Hashem everywhere you know what it'll lead to amuna so if I start seeing Hashem everywhere then even when I need him because I'm feeling a challenge this friction and a relationship in my life there's a Health crisis there's a financial worry there's a problem I'm encountering there's anxiety I have about a future event if I've worked on seeing Hashem everywhere then I'm also going to find him when I need him so if I saw him in Glacier National Park in the Swiss apps and at Yellowstone I'm going to find him at the red light or the delayed flight or in the doctor's office I'm going to find him in the boardroom or in the courtroom or the operating room if I look to see him everywhere he's going to pop up and he's going to be present without effort because that's how I've trained myself it's the new habit I formed so the formula is live with a not with e but with wow see hasem everywhere feel his presence be impressed take a moment and realize that is incredible what just happened I'm going to tell you a great amuna story I think on chabas from a member who just told me a great amuna story I'll tell you another great amuna story right now but reserving the right to repeat it in another context like a like a Shear like a drasa we had over somebody a couple months ago who told us she bought a cell phone at a heish cell phone store in other words that resells cell phones and resells a phone number or whatever the system is probably buy airline miles there too some potato C and some pcha on the side so she got someone's phone number and it was very annoying for several months or even longer she would regularly get texts of people looking for the previous owner of that number and she said she was added to countless family WhatsApp groups as that person and she would always have to leave these WhatsApp groups and it was so aggravating she saved a few dollars by buying the phone and paying for the service in this way and it was worth it but it was aggravating kept getting gred to groups and having to remove herself from groups and it was very frustrating one day she gets a text from a buddy of the previous owner of the phone who says heyim um I'm looking to hire some sales people for you know my job do you know anybody good I need someone so she writes back I'm not Kim I bought his phone number I get this all the time God bless you and he writes back stop pulling my leg I know it's you look I really need to hire somebody this is the you you know my business I'm thank God doing well I need sales people are you available so she writes back I'm not I live in Florida I bought the number and you know thank you but it's just delete the number it's not him anymore he says one second you live in Florida I'm also looking for salese in Florida now she is out of work and very much in need of a livelihood and income and has been looking very hard to find a job a parasa and she says tell me about the job he tells her about the job she says I'd be interested he says actually I'm texting you from the free Wi-Fi on JetBlue I'm on my way to Florida right now are you available this afternoon to meet me for an interview for the job meets him it's now several months later I saw her recently I said because I need the story to work out I said did the job work out she says the job not only worked out it's do he's doing great I'm doing great it's working beautifully if only he were single and they got married the whole story would have really would have really come together but so again you could say wow what a coinci and she got the number of the friend of the guy and he needed a salesperson and he kept pressing and she said leave me alone I'm in Florida she didn't have to say I'm in Florida wow it's like the Milla sester wow what a string of coincidences or you could look at the story with Y open your eyes you're looking everywhere for a job you've done your hasas locally you've networked you've put your resume out you've done all of your effort in your initiative locally and Hashem sent you literally from 30,000 ft up Hashem sound sent you the answer literally sent to your phone the answer you did your ASAS I know she daved like crazy for it and he sent to the answer it's an incredible incredible story but you have to read the story correctly you have to see Hashem pulling the strings from above the 30,000 feet even okay so let's get into the text Page Hashem has given us a general outline about how to attach to him a general perspective or approach told us you know what our mission our mandate is we are to live lives of righteousness and virtue and Holiness because God says I am Holy now I can speak for the next five hours I won't about what is the Jewish definition of holy kadosh kadosh kadosh what is Holy Holy Holy what is Holiness holy is not a Jewish word we have done a disservice by having adopted Christian terminology into our vernacular into our vocabulary into our glossery sin if you've been with me long enough to know sin is not a Jewish word a is not a sin it's a missed opportunity and holy is not a Jewish word holy is goes with a cross and it's on a hospital I don't know what the word holy is what does the word holy mean what is Kos to you Kad so rash the and it means we're not going to get into all the definitions but what kadha means is that you're striving and you're reaching for something bigger and better and more kadha is when you're not giving into the animal impulse and Instinct that animal drive that says eat like an animal live like a pig give into your urge your appetite your Temptation that's what an animal does the animal wants something and it takes it it doesn't ask who does it belong to should I have it the animal doesn't First Take The Girl out for drinks or for dinner develop a relationship check the resume of the other animal Theus how you know where the animal went to Seminary and who the uncles and brothers are the animal wants something and the animal does what the animal does and the animal does it in public and the animal does it with No Boundaries no sense of modesty because the animal had an Impulse the animal had an urge the animal had an appetite and the animal fed it and gave in and we have a NE we have aam we have that animal Instinct in every one of us the yid the Jew is made up of three Souls the animal Soul The Godly soul and the the intellectual Soul the three so the animal Soul the animal impulse us says just do what you want you have juicy gossip tell your friend it's a great commodity to trade in juicy gossip and it feels good that you were the one with that inside information so just give the gossip you're not supposed to look at or say or go or do that thing but you want to whether it's eating the cheesecake or whether it's looking at the inappropriate image or whether it's sharing the gossip or whether it's cutting the corner in business or whether it's being harsh and cruel of another whatever the area arena we have this animal drive inside of us and the animal Drive says just do it just give in and The Godly Soul says whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa you're godly you have a piece of me in you and you know what it means to be Godly you're disciplined you have discipline you have self-control you can regulate your behavior you don't have to eat that you don't have to go there you don't have to watch that you don't have to say that you don't have to do that you don't have to feel that you're in control and says God how do I know you're in control because I'm in you you're an extension of me you are an embodiment you're an expression of me and God says I'm defined by discipline and control that is godliness so kadha is we achieve a level of kadha of Holiness and sanctity and righteousness and virtue when we say my wardrobe won't be defined by what the secular world or pop culture is telling me is in the tightness the length the sleeve you know from men what I'm looking at what is okay or moral to look at or watch or behave it's not going to be defined by some world that is influenced by the Naish baham who the animal impulse is calling all the shots I live in another plane I live in another level I live in a world of of Godly Souls where I am striving and reaching for something so much more something Holier something higher for kadha that's our mission that's our mandate Kos God says be the embodiment of righteousness in an immoral corrupt world who by the way what does the world look like when everyone's just able to give into their appetite it's like Stone Val Mish I would think that if we're living in this world of sexual Revolution and fre freedom and gender fluidity and self-identity fluidity and everyone can have and do whatever they want and here are the only two criteria that matter does it make you happy and does it harm someone else those are the two criteria in 2020 in the United States of America and the Western world as long as it makes you happy and it doesn't hurt anyone else okay everything is game do whatever you want dress how you want behave how you want do whatever you want public private as long as it meets those two criteria it makes you happy and it doesn't harm anybody so I would think wow if we create a society like that where everyone gets to do what they want and as long as it makes them happy and nobody's hurting anyone else okay now I'm going to measure happiness pleasure Health well-being mentally physically emotionally spiritually and what would you expect to find off the charts of Happiness of health of Wellness of stability of function and you know what you find the opposite there's more mental health challenges there's more physical health challenges there are fewer relation ships that are lasting divorce and breakup and infidelity it's all happening more than ever so how do you understand that Judaism understands it very well because if you have the choice of trying to figure out on your own how to get happiness or reading the owner's manual that the manufacturer gave you that says here's how to use it to get the most out of it which one is going to bring you the greatest function satisfaction out of that complex entity that you're trying to realiz the almighty gave us the manual he says I designed you I built you I've programmed you and here's the manual follow it and you're are going to live to your fittest to your finest to your best ignore it and try to figure it out on your own and good luck you're going to break things left and right and not only are you not going to utilize it to its fullest you're actually going to end up compromising it and that's what we see in the world around us whatever you define as that which will bring happiness there are countless people who achieved that and they're still so unhappy is it money it's a lot of rich people grossly unhappy is it power is it Fame is it notoriety is it being an influencer how many athletes and celebrities and famous people and wealthy people are numbing themselves through all kinds of substances and practices because they've reached the top of that mountain that they thought would be filled with happiness and you know what they got there and they're just as unhappy maybe even more unhappy than ever and so what do you do when that happens you have no choice but to numb yourself so our sacred Torah kadosha says and I love this quote that comes from David Brooks in his book not his most recent one about the mountains the one before that he has a great expression a great chapter and he the one before that and he says we live for Holiness not for happiness Jews live for Holiness not happiness that's what the Torah kadosha teaches us while the rest of the world is trying to find happiness you notice what America promises us as loyal citizens is the pursuit of happiness you know why you're pursuing it because it's running away from you you only have to chase something which is elusive something that runs away something which is fleeting something which is hard to catch so you have to run after it it's the pursuit of it doesn't say you have the right to be happy it says you have the right to pursue it you'll never get it and here's the thing the more you chase it the less likely you are to have it and the less you're concerned with being happy the happier you'll be it's paradoxical it's ironic the more you're focused and obsessed with being happy the less happy you are and the less you think about and you concern yourself with your happiness but you're focused on Holiness the more happy you're going to be in the end so it's a perfect kados to you David Brooks didn't invent it he just found the right vocabulary for it kados God says be holy because I am Holy in other words if you want to tap into what's going to make you feel the most alive the most fulfilled the most gratified and satisfied then it means you're tapping into the godliness in you and you know how you reach that godliness you know how you make contact with the godliness in you by being like me says God I'm holy be holy and what does it mean to be holy to transcend to rise above to control that animal Voice or Instinct and to reach for something more stop being focused on happiness and start being focused on holiness okay so if we want to attach ourselves to God if we want to feel his presence in our life then we have to be living of lives of of Holiness we have to try to transcend even that which is permissible in this world we don't believe in living aesthetic aesthetic lives we are not living lives removed from the physical world Judaism tells us the opposite it's why I love our religion so much for example in Christianity to to be holy you have to fast and take a vow of abstinence and take a vow not to speak the more you escape this physical world that's how you get to be holy and the Jew says no that's how not not how you find Holiness you know how you find Holiness by taking the physical world not diving in head first not immersing ourselves in it fully but by taking from it and separating it so Judaism says eat is there a religion that has more of an emphasis on enjoying food is there a people is there a people who loves food more than the Jewish people God says esine Kinder eat enjoy make sure it's kosher make a before and after share what you have with others like and and truma God says I want you to enjoy eat I created you and you know why I want you to have the greatest on the greatest pleasure in the world the pleasure you will have doesn't come from happiness the pleasure you will have comes from Holiness you know what's even better than having is sharing the joy the satisfaction the meaning when you give something when you share what you have with someone else the s that it brings and the studies that have all shown that they give $10 and drop someone at a mall they say to one group buy something for yourself and they tell the other group buy something for someone else and they've measured before and afterwards all kinds of criteria and variables of health and wellness and they find that the people who buy something for others end up measuring more than the people who buy something for themselves so when you share what you have with others that's what leads to more pleasure and greater happiness that's why so God says enjoy the food enjoy the triol filter fish and 14 salads and seven side dishes and four meats and nine desserts enjoy it all enjoy it all but it has to be kosher and it should be in theory healthy and eat the right portions and share it with others and have others at your table enjoy food and enjoy my world go see the Grand Canyon and the Swiss Alps and enjoy intimacy it's in the Cuba it is a marital not right it's an obligation romance and intimacy and physical pleasure is is not only permissible in Judaism it is a responsibility it's an obligation God says enjoy it but with the right person in the right context at the right time in the right modesty filled with the right love you see when you take the physical world and you elevate it and you transform it that is Holiness but when you take the physical world and you dive into it and you engage it like an animal that is the ultimate of the mundane the profane and the secular so where do you find God by living a holy life and what does it mean to live a holy Life by enriching and elevating and transforming everything that we engage God says I am entirely spiritual I'm transcended you can't put God in a box you can't point to him smell him touch him feel him God is Not physical at all so when we Engage The non-physical side of ourselves when we promote the non-physical side of ourselves the spirit within us then we are making contact with the Divine we're making contact with the Divine it's how we can have a license to operate in this world enjoy the physical world but enjoy it as a spiritual being as we've say countless countless countless times it's not that you are a body and you have a soul we are a soul and we happen to have a body and the body is the vehicle instrument through which we engage the world but we should never confuse who is our core what we are at our Essence we are a soul we are a sha we are a sha it's a great question I start asking people instead of you know RAV gold was here recently he encouraged us to ask what's the good news which is a great question but most people ask each other some meaningless greeting how's it going what's happening what's new I ask how's your Nish how's your people stop and they have to think what is it how's your Nish I don't know do I have a Nish where is it how do I measure it how do I tell you how it's doing I don't know have we ever asked our children our spouse have we spent a moment of hodus to be alone and to evaluate how's my soul I know how my body is because I got my Manny Petty and I got my and I got my massage and I recently upgraded my wardrobe and I got the new lease of my car and I'm eating like a king and I'm working out four times a week and I could tell you everything about my body my blood pressure my cholesterol I could tell you what my glucose level is I could tell you everything about my body everything about my body I go for my physical and I take my get on the scale every day and I know my weight I could tell you everything about my body good bad and ugly but how's my soul how do you measure how's your soul where do you find the answer to that question how do you understand the wellness of your soul have you ever stopped to think about have we challenged the people around us do we have that conversation with children and grandchildren that says you know physically everything looks great and I'm so proud of how you're caring for your body but let's talk about your soul what are you doing to nourish your soul because the same elements that take care of the body you need for the soul it needs to be nourished it needs nutrition it needs to work out the soul it needs enough rest the soul needs the same elements as the body so we all know about the body what we're putting in and the time we spend and how we measure but how's your soul how's the N because the real happiness comes from when your soul is on fire when your soul is healthy and well when you're nurturing your soul that's when you're alive that's when we're alive why because that's how we get the closest to making contact with the Divine that's when we're experiencing godliness in hem says you want to connect with me you want to feel my presence here's how you make contact with me do my Mitzvah Mitzvah means it means a connection a bond when you do a Mitzvah you are connecting with God you're connecting with God somebody I was recently at an event and somebody said to me I was at a I was at a vort I was at a couple and someone from uh Miami was there who I know it was grandfather recently passed away so he gave me a cigar from his grandfather and he said this came from my grandfather and when you smoke it I want you to say my grandfather's name this was from his yador my grandfather loves cigars and Rabbi I know you would never touch them but in case you would here's one and uh how do you think I how do you think I stay looking so young so so in other words what was he saying to me and this is a terrible example but it just came to what was he saying to me my grandfather loves cigars and if you smoke this cigar his cigar you will connect to to my grandfather it'll be meaningful to me because you'll be creating a connection something you have in common something he enjoyed something was his hobby something he did and when you do it you'll be connecting to him says I enjoy a b and c these are my values there my ideals when you do the Mitzvah you're connecting to me we have something in common we're doing something that we care about together the mitvah is the means through which we connect with him sh but you could do a Mitzvah in one of two ways a Mitzvah can be an empty act a gesture it's G be a checklist let the candles done made the BR done David done gave sta done blew the chauffer done shook the Lula done heard the Milla done let the Kan candles done done done done done God it's the end of the year I'd like to submit my form there's a check next to everything on it done done done done done God says it's nice you did all that I I didn't feel that I was there at any one of those acts I don't remember you're connecting with me in any one of those moments checklist checklist checklist checklist it's like you get back your car after the oil change they said yeah we filled the window washer fluid and the brake fluid and we uh also CH change the oil check check check check but you're not looking for a relationship with the mechanic so you don't need him to be thinking about you or connecting with you when he's doing those things because all you care about is the functionality of the car and if he takes care to make sure that the car has the maintenance on it you're good to go but hashem's relationship with us he doesn't ask us to do all those things in our life because he just wants us to be functional he does it because he wants us to have that relationship he wants us to have that relationship there's a story with the GB who had a who was going to Europe on a business trip to another part of Europe and so he came to the rebba was the to say goodbye before he went on the trip so the rebba said to him you're going to Paris you you know there's a brand of cigar it's not a theme but this happens to be a true story there's a brand of cigar which is uh very exclusive which I've heard is amazing and when you go to Paris if you could pick me up a case of the cigar if you could pick me up I would be very appreciative please get the cigar so the business the goes the businessman goes on his business trip and he goes City to City to City he's doing business and he's in Paris and he has his several meetings and he and he leaves Paris and he forgot to get the cigars so he comes back and he buys the duty free I'm making up uh buys the rebba some great single Mal scotch and he comes to the rebba when he comes back to check in get a he's back from the rebba with the Reba and he says rebba my business trip and it went well was successful I forgot to get the cigars but I got this other gift and the rebba looks at him and says don't you understand it wasn't the cigars that I wanted I don't care about cigars I wanted you to remember even while you were on this trip that you have a rebba yeah throughout the trip I wanted you to remember that you have a Reb and that he has expectations of you and that you strive for holiness it was never about the cigars it was so that throughout the trip you would remember you have a rebi so says you know what the mitzah are four the Mitzvah enhance your life every Mitzvah has a reason and a Tom and a sweetness and a flavor but Hashem says throughout your day I want you to remember I'm here make a 100 bras during the day enjoy that great coffee make the braa remember who invented the Coffee Bean remember how it got to you enjoy the aroma and the flavor and the caffeine burst and remember we're at all who designed find it where it all came from so I'm inviting you throughout the day to remember I'm here says Hashem the Mitzvah is not an empty gesture act it's not like the maintenance on your car it's in order to have a relationship remember I'm here we'll pick up with this next time but I want to tell you one in Closing one last of our Torah I said it yesterday at the par but it Bears repeating because I really really love this V so I'm going to repeat it here says the following very quickly the M says in never say you know when I have time that's when I'll grow religiously right now I'm trying to raise young children right now I'm still working right now I'm at a stage I'm going to 400 doctors a day and six rehabs a day right now I'm busy busy busy stress stressed stressed overwhelmed overwhelmed overwhelmed ah no time for you right now God but I promise you're on my calendar for 2045 I promise when I retire and when I have time and when the grandchildren leave leave their visit and when the doctor subsides and when I conclude the rehab and when the kids grow up and graduate then I'll start then I'll start then I'll go to classes then I'll really work on myself I'll do it all then says the mishna never say that why because first of all you never know if you'll get to that point in life and tragically we know that all too well never ever wait because you never know you have to live each day to its fullest so says the that's theat when Hashem sees Moshe at the burning bush and he says take your shoes off and what does the POS say the grand the Earth that you're standing on this is Holy Ground says read it differently the place you are in life it's kesu wherever you are in life at whatever stage and whatever is happening around you and however many responsibilities and however long your to-do list and however many reasons and excuses for you not to be able to no KES you can find K in every love are you home are you on a business trip are you on vacation are you retired are you working hard are your children young are they grown up are you single and waiting for children whatever stage you are in life whatever mum you're in in life KES it has the potential for Holiness stop chasing happiness and you will find AEM Holiness everyone have a wonderful wonderful day