Part 136: Space, Time and Soul

our M series is generously sponsored by Dr Avi and Bella Morgan in memory of our dear and beloved friend and role model Rabbi Dr Brian gabit bar Ru Nan this morning's class is also generously sponsored by rosan hadash Summers our good friends in honor of their beloved Sono becoming a bar mitzvah today ma where is maav ma have a lot of such a wonderful occasion okay we're continuing in our Li we've been learning a from the in which he has been defining for us the term know your know who you are so much of life and this is his theme he builds in different contexts is self-awareness know who you are know how to regulate yourself know how you feel don't just be that thermometer who can say I'm hot I'm angry I'm envious I'm frustrated I'm impatient I'm happy I'm joyous don't just know your how you feel be the third that who can control how you how you feel if you recall we last left off and he's developed for us the notion of what B is and he developed it based on the with shim when they came to the city of they had a plan they had already incapacitated their enemy and they knew with confidence they were positive and sure they would persevere they would Triumph how' they know because they had stacked the deck in their favor so they knew they fixed the game and when you fix the game you walk in knowing you're going to win inside information is illegal but if you had inside information when the stock market opened that day you'd be pretty confident how well you do because you had inside information is having inside information B is stacking the deck B is living with confidence and shorty just like Bo they entered the city knowing confidently positively absolutely that it was is going to go in their favor that is living life is is is waking up and knowing with confidence that no matter what I confront today no matter what happens no matter what I have to overcome I have I have I can be confident and sure it's in my favor how could you say it's in your favor some people are facing really challenging really horrific really difficult things how can you say it's in your favor how could you say it's in your favor I want to say I'm looking at this and I'm thinking right now of a story which is people who came late probably like I'm so miserable there's no room for me I didn't get in the room there's no chair and it's because you can breathe and you're happy and you can move around and the rest of us are suffocating here so it's total as should all put it in your WhatsApp groups today so that's what we all have the ability to when we wake up and we begin our day every situation we enter we can be confident and sure sure it's going to go in how could you say that I'm waiting for results from the doctor I'm waiting for results in the trial I'm waiting for results in the econom I'm waiting for results from the therapist how can you say how can you be sure how can you be confident the answer is everything hasem does this for good even when it feels painful even when it's painful we've said this before and we'll say it many times again bad things don't happen to good people painful things happen to good people and there's a world of difference between bad and painful painful things happen to good people bad things don't bad is a judgment good and bad we don't know and we can't know we don't have the perspective or the scope to know we're not in a position to know only God the King of Kings the judge of Judges only Hashem can determine good or bad we don't determine whether it's good or bad only when we come to the it's the world of Truth where we look back and will we see we don't know what the alternative could have been we don't know what that brought that ended up not would never have happened without it we don't know and that's not supposed to comfort us because guess what we don't welcome painful things anymore than we welcome bad things painful things are no more fun than bad it doesn't make it better it doesn't feel better it doesn't make it easier to endure but it gives it a context it's not bad things that happen to good people it's painful things that happen to good people everything Hashem does by definition all that he does is for the good there a miss that talks about the person who encamped with the rooster and the fire and the and everything went out and it turns out that it was good it went out because otherwise the thief would have heard them the robbers the bandits the we all know those stories so would you say for them that night when they suffered in the cold and without their food was that a good thing was that a bad thing it was a good thing but it was a painful thing life is like undergoing surgery or having a procedure person who has surgery or procedure has to recover from it would they say why do bad things happen to good people you'd say no this is a good thing I've been healed I've been improved I've been repaired my life has been extended the surgery is a miracle it's a miracle that we have the progress to be able to do that surgery or intervention in order to heal somebody but it's very painful it's a painful thing happening to a good person but it's not a bad thing surgery so sometimes someone cuts US Open it's a bad thing sometimes someone cuts US Open it is a great thing just a painful thing is the surgeon in the sky and whenever he cuts US Open it's for the good we may Merit to see it in our life how it was for good we may never understand it or see it in our life and it willever remain painful but it's not bad and that's why Bo at bet we can enter the city we can enter the situations of Our Lives bet knowing that I do the best that I can do I do and ask myself what does Hashem want me to do how am I meant to react how am I meant to respond what am I meant to do next and when I do whatever I meant to do and I respond however I meant to respond I've done my best and then I have to borrowing terminology from the recovery Community then I have to let go and let God at that point I have to realize I've done everything I can surgeon in the sky I'm turning to you do what you need to do operate do what you need to do make it happen so that's what we're up to and therefore oh the last thing we said last week this is all just a review still the last thing we said last week and it's really impacted me I hope it impacted you if we look at our lives if we had a camera following us if each of us were a reality TV show the whole day we would look like we're scrambling we're scrambling the whole day we're fighting off Temptations urges drives desires conflicts tensions from the moment we wake up and I gave these examples last week I'm not going to revisit them from what we e and where we go and how we do and what we say and how we everything about our lives looks like we're scrambling we're fighting battles we're fighting Wars all the time all the time and and that's on the outside but on the inside we have the capacity for serenity and Tranquility for peacefulness even though it looks like we're scrambling even though it looks like we're fighting even though it looks like we're struggling and we are doing all those things if we do all those we confront all those we exert the effort and take the initiative in all those Realms but Underneath It All We Know that however it turns out is how it's meant to be that whatever happens was designed from above that nothing is random or chance or coin incidence and once I put in my effort and once I engage this struggle whatever the outcome is by Design is from Hashem then I can live with B so if we measure our lives or evaluate our lives from the outside it can look like we're scrambling and we're running and we're doing but if we have a certain confidence that bet then we can live with that calm we can live with that calm and I told you truly great people have a sense of calm truly great people no matter what they're doing their project their ambition their aspiration their responsibility no matter what they're shouldering but Underneath It All is a sense of calm a calm because there's a sense of trust and there's a giving over to Hashem so we are on the second page about halfway down and marked it off for myself this time everything in the world everything in the world exists in three different Creations in three different arenas in three different areas bless you namely sh and Nees it's a cabalistic andic concept the idea that everything in Bria everything in the world exists in I'm giving you a very deep concept here the B is giving us a very deep concept we are one two three four five paragraphs from the bottom begins Cav CA everything in the world everything in creation it exist in three Realms World which means in the in the realm of space Shana year which means man in the world of time and nefes in the world of soul I give you an example I'll give you an example the concept in the Bria of Holiness Holiness Holiness in space is it's appropriate for this we's truma where in you make me a mik make me a holy place and dwell in them doesn't say dwell in it it says dwell in them Holiness sanctity Sanctuary we have a sanctuary in time we have a sanctuary in space and we have a sanctuary in Soul what's the sanctuary in Space the Mish the mikash today the mikash that's a place that's holy sacred it's a sanctuary in space in mum you have a sanctuary in what is that shabas you can immerse yourself you can walk into you can enter a sanctuary as in the place the physical place you can walk into you can enter a sanctuary that's called time that's shabas what the mikash was to space shabas is the time and that's why throughout say foros and in the Torah we find the two always ju opposed build a mishan a observe shabas and our rabbis deduce whatever is defined as a creative labor to build the whole sanctuary in space is defined as the creative labor that is prohibited in the sanctuary in time where do we learn the 39 malos from where do we learn what is deemed a creative labor and shabas I can't flip a light switch on that's a labor that's laborious but I can in August walk a mile to SCH and batone and that's not a labor that's a labor of love so how do you define labor why is flipping the light Swit User it's prohibited but I can walk a mile in August and bokeh which is unbelievable that's okay that's okay you can do you see this 62y old um who didn't set a world record for over eight hour plank have you done an one minute plank an8 hour plank an eight hour plank all right everybody relax we're not g to model it my point is this are you allowed to do a plank on chabas a plank is when you rest on your arms you're your feet are on the ground your arms and you hold that position which requires you to engage your core it's very hard and you start out you can do it for 10 seconds and when you build yourself all the way up you can do it for 3 minutes even Leslie can't do it for how long can you do it for all right 6 hours not 8 hours 8 Hour plank an 8 Hour plank what's my point are you allowed to do a plank on shavas you can do a plank on chabas not prohibited about it it's not chabas dick necessarily if the sweat's going to be pouring out of you it's a form of exercise that guy can do a he should just do seven hours not eight hours on showers but a light switch you can't flick on why because this is a this is a misnomer and a misconception many have Labor work is not what's forbidden on shabas what's forbidden is creative labor in other words anything a monkey can do it's permissible on chabas anything that takes human Ingenuity and creativity you cannot do on chabas because God says I created the world and I put you in it six days a week I want you to go and conquer the world go study the world learn the world and Conquer and manipulate that world understand science and technology and make progress and conquer the world go conquer the world and the seventh day be at peace with that world six days a week be in control and with seventh day a week forfeit and concede that control and be at peace so how are we at Peace by stopping to do not work or labor but by stopping to do what we call Creative labor we're only forbidden to do creative labor how do we Define what's creative labor Torah never tell tells us the 39 categories of creative labor that are enumerated in the mishna and chabas the Torah never tells us Torah only tells us one which one anyone know MAV lighting a fire kindling a fire that's the only one the Torah tells us you're not allowed to do says means what's fire there can't be any anger in all of your Dwelling Places sh not doesn't mean you're allowed to be angry six days a week you shouldn't be angry you shouldn't be angry ever but there's a special emphasis that you cannot be angry and why do you have to be warned not to be angry as shabas comes in because even those who maintain calm six days a week when is it that we're most predisposed to getting angry about 3 minutes before candle lighting you said you were going to shower you said you were going to set the table you said you were going to put the candles up you said you'd be home in time you said you'd be so therefore you can't get angry on a chabas you can't get angry on chabas if you're angry on chabas you violate you're not allowed to have a fire I'm not saying you're not allowed to have a fire htic you violated that's the one that Torah says how do we know the other 38 when the rabbis looked and they said these are biblical prohibitions all the 39 malas you can't plow you can't plant you can't Harvest you can't winow you can't need you can't bake you can't all of them separate and color and how do they know how' they know they looked at the Torah and you always find the mishkan and chabas jxap poost next to each other and they said huh let's see how are we going to Define What's called the creative labor that's meaningful that is a spiritual component to It Whatever went into building the Sanu sanctuary in space is a creative labor that's forbidden that you have to be at rest from in the sanctuar in time so I'm just giving you an example so far we did half a sentence everything in the creation everything in the world exists in three Realms namely so holiness is an example sanctuary in space is the m the mishan sanctuary in time is shabas sanctuary in our soul we have to talk about so here too we find this notion of that word confidence short calmness knowing that it's going to come in your favor in these three Realms where do you see it in the in the realm of space anybody where do we have a promise in the realm of SP space that says do what you need to do do your best and then you can be confident calm and sure that I've got your back and that it will fall in your favor where do we have that whatever we find the word being used by and our by our rabbis it is referring to one of these three Realms of Life space time or Soul let's start with space we all know we all know the central place that Israel has in battle war conflict tension Israel is smaller than the state of New Jersey Israel fits into the State of Florida several times and yet last night at the debate Israel what do you think but no one gave a good answer but Israel Israel Israel Israel is a place of tension of conflict he this goes all the way back to when Yeshua conquered those do who finished the book of Yeshua no City by City they face enemies and adversaries they rely on Miracles and Triumph and the sun has to stand still and the walls have to cave in and they have to not take the spoils and cases but in the time of yosua when they first conquered the land faced enemies and adversaries even though it was promised to us how long did it take to conquer seven years seven years to conquer the land and and then seven years too split it up then seven years we began counting and the first was only observed the 2 first year the first was not the seventh year after Yeshua took us in seven years of Conquest seven years of dividing the land then Begins the count seven years the first was the 21st year in and then you get to and you read about the Babylonians and later we know the story of the Romans who drive us from the land the Crusaders who are going to liberate the land and the terrorists today and the enemies today who seek to destroy us and drive us from the land you have the last hundred years in our our land so how in the world are you going to describe that Israel is a place of it's it is protected it's G it's safe it's secure if there's one place on Earth that's not if it is the capital of conflict it's Israel forever different civilizations different Empires different peoples different relation religions have been struggling over the land of Israel is it is the last place on Earth you would describe as a however the Torah tells us if you walk in my ways you will live with in your land what's the word the Torah uses to describe the attitude the approach the feeling that we can have towards our relationship with the land of Israel the word it uses what the Torah is telling us is if we live correctly if we live morally and righteously and virtuously if we if we're walking in his ways which means not only observance shabas kasas and the standards that are being observed in Israel it means none of our leaders are corrupt or go to jail or are indicted because the Nim when the Nim talk about why we're exiled and kicked out of the land they don't talk about you know they ate only raban they didn't eat mahadin they didn't eat Ruben they didn't eat M they didn't eat the N don't talk about the level of kasas and I'm not minimizing kasas is very important and we have to be scrupulous and Vigilant and it's legitimate to want to keep higher standards I am not not mocking or minimizing kasas but be clear when the talk about while we're exiled from the land it is not because of the Kasra standards it's because we neglect we neglect the vulnerable population we don't take care of the Widow and the orphan that we were distorted in business dealings we were liars and cheaters and we cut Corners it's because we gossiped about others it's because we marginalized that's why that's why they uh thei tells us God says why do I need all your carbonos it's so beautiful you come to sh and you Shuckle and you have the longest and then you go out and you cheat in business and then you go out and you sit in Judgment of others then you go out and you're rude and unkind and then you go out and you neglect and abandon the people who need your help that's why we're exiled from the land so when we live correctly in our land and correctly means we care about kasas and we care yes about shabas and we care about conversion standards and we care about also people their feelings the vulnerable population Justice and charity and righteousness when we care all about that you have nothing to worry about there's no enemy there is no nuclear bomb there are no Rockets there are no tunnels there are no knives there are no viruses that could be released there's no chemical warfare if we are doing our part then you would have absolutely nothing to worry about nothing to worry about so that land and by the way that's not said about anywhere else the Torah does not say if you live in tin or the five towns or M or LA or Detroit or Chicago maybe bone but if you live the Torah does not say if you live in Brooklyn or Lakewood if you live righteously then you know everything's going to be good you'll never have any problems nobody will ever raise your taxes you'll never have major snowfall you'll never have major turn doesn't make that promise anywhere else there's one land there's one place that's one place and that one place is the heavens belong to God and the Earth he gave to us but the I think it's theer Who Says with one exception he gave Earth to man except for Israel that he kept that still belongs to God that is filled with spirituality even as it's physical it's a it's a it's a place where you have you have spiritual accomplishments that are achieved through the soil the Earth the Earth if you grow vegetables in your garden in batone enjoy them there's nothing special about them but if you go to Costco and you buy red peppers and they say made in Israel now you got a whole question if it's aita year and Trum and because you got a whole area of mitz that apply they're only in Israel because Israel belongs to God even while we are entitled to borrow it and to use it and to live there so it's the one place we have that promise of bet you can be confident you can be sure you can be calm if you're doing your part so there's the application of bet in the world of Mak in the world of in the world of place namely in Israel so if you look on the outside you say oh my gosh Israel surrounded by enemies you've got tens of thousands of rockets you've got Iran bent on dest destroying her you've got the UN you've got if you look at Israel you'd say this is the most fragile place on Earth but if you look underneath the surface and you live with a sense of faith and trust in hem then you know that if we do our part this is the safest place on Earth this is the safest place to be this is the place of Jewish Destiny this is the place of Jewish history this is the place of redemption the beginning of the Redemptive era the miraculous times in which we are already living and in which the Redemption will please God continue to unfold this is not Zionist rhetoric or propaganda this is a in the Torah don't be too sure or too confident anywhere else you go on Earth if you want to know the one place I'll tell you a story and I don't want to make anyone feel bad who already has Arrangements after 120 and it's not in Israel but assuming she wants to spend eternity next to me already have our Arrangements after 120 in I went and I visited them nice view nice neighbors BRS has its own section we have our own section we bought in a cemetery in bees so Rabbi bro thinks that we should be having an event everyone who Brock Graves there we should have like an afternoon tea we should get to know we're going to spend eternity together everyone should line up based on who you're going to be next to get to know whoever you're going to be next to and uh make sure you're going to enjoy eternity with them so I'll tell you why I'll tell you why we did that first of all a grave is a piece of real estate and it's only going to go up in value and if you don't want to burden your great grandchildren with having to pay for it at that time I guarantee you it'll be exponentially greater manyfold of what would you if you can pay for it now I promise you it's a piece of real estate it's we're all going to live long lives hopefully and it'll only go up in value then it is real estate get it now it's also they say they say it's not true but they say it's a school of make these Arrangements unburden your children with it know that you have it based on where you want it should be a school why did we do it there when did we do it there several years ago I went to Cuba for a day I'm not going to say anything nice about Fidel Castro or Cuba don't worry but we went to Cuba for a day a humanitarian Mission and we brought all kinds of medical supplies humanitarian supplies it's a disastrous situation there there's nothing kind to say about a Communist Regime of despots who hurt their people there's no Silver Lining there's nothing nice to say so um Rabbi smark was with us on that trip and we went to the Jewish cemetery in Havana in Cuba and we visited Rabbi sark's grandfather why is his grandfather buried there not his grandmother because rabis Mar's grandparents when they escaped the war went to Cuba with many Jews and the Cuban community at that time was thriving there were tens of thousands of Jews yeshivas and girl schools and km and shs and mikas and kasas it was thriving and this Jewish Cemetery has a beautiful tahara room a nice kadisha we saw and's grandfather's gravestone is made out of marble it's beautiful they were prosperous and they thought they'd be there forever and you know shortly after he died a few months later was the regime took over and the Jews who could fled without their things and no one from the smarc family has been able to go back and visit that grave until we went back a couple years ago so it was meaningful for him no one had been back there and as I stood there and I looked at the marble headstone and the Beautiful cemetery and all the people who were buried there and they were sure that their children grandchildren and great- grandchildren would visit them forever I said to myself the only place to be buried the only place V the only place that we can know that our great great great great great great great great grandchildren will be is not Staten Island or deep in Long Island or New Jersey or any Jewish cemetery anywhere in the world we know Poland think about Poland which is entire Jewish cemetery the whole Poland is a Jewish cemetery how many places around the globe have Jews been buried thinking they'll visit me here forever and the only place that we know and again I don't mean to make sad anybody or regret anyone who already has Arrangements elsewhere but those who don't to me that's the only place that if you want to be confident and sure if you want to have a sense of calm if you want to have a sense of knowledge that is where they will visit let's just start for one moment so that was the area of space confidence calm confidence in the area of space is what about where can you have in the realm of time six days a week we conquer that world we work hard and we have no idea how it's going to work out will the business deal come through will this effort will this task will this to-do list will it work out 6 days a week we work work work work work we toil toil toil toil toil and we have no confidence if you're overly confident it's the end of your success you should have no confidence this effort is not easy all week long we Face obstacles that are trying to to block our parnasa we have competition and we have changing markets and we have a Corona virus and we have all kinds of things all kinds of things in the world are obstacles trying to block our success we have to run through walls climb around them go around over them dig a tunnel under them but nobody wakes up in the morning and says today went easy everything just came to me the money flowed in the relationships were all smooth my health my joints my blood pressure Everything feels great the weather was perfect the food my sleep was uh uninterrupted I have yet to meet that person I've yet to meet that person this is not a coincidence it's by Design Hashem this is the consequence of the fact that K messed it up all right everybody relax everybody relax this is the uh just joking this is the this is the consequence of and messing up and each one getting their their accountability used to have the lifestyle I just described and used to enjoying ganen and they messed it up and God said you're out no more all you could eat schorg no more no more lifestyle that it's all given to you you got to work you have to work hard in order to get your bread so in the realm of this week you got to work hard you got to work hard to find spirituality you got to work hard to earn an income you got to work hard to have healthy relationships you have to work hard to be healthy and shabas comes and there's a there's a flow of bra that comes from above it's an auspicious time some suggest that the reason we give bras to our children Friday night is it's an auspicious time that there's a flow of braa tapping into that the of the every person should not be dismissed for you so since shabas comes and it brings a flow of blessing tap into that blessing channel that blessing be a partner with that blessing and bestow that blessing on your children so these are two different sides the weak is struggle and tension and conflict and effort and obstacles and shab shab there's a that comes like the M that fell from above the double portion on Friday we eat that we eat the two loaves on Friday night and we feel like the m has fallen from Heaven shabas I have what I need I'm complete I'm whole shabas I take all my worries and problems and struggles and I put it up on the shelf and I know it will be there for me after havdala I know it will be there for me whether I'll turn the news on and I'll read more about the Corona virus and the stock market and I ran and the enemies but for 25 hours I had a reprieve or whether I opened my to-do list on my phone and I see all my tasks and TOD do and everything I have it'll be there for me the moment I make abdalah but for 25 hours I have a place of Refuge in ear mlot it is a sanctuary in time I can escape I can experience the blessing of disconnecting and reconnecting to what matters shabas is that great blessing that flows from above like the man that fell from heaven these are the the what is is the place of we work on we've been talking about this in our Friday she 15 minutes if you haven't signed up yet for WhatsApp group turn Friday into a of chabas you wake up every Friday morning by 6:30 a.m. to a short message to inspire you as you get ready for chabas turn Friday into AR of shabas we do it 15 minutes before M each Friday afternoon and then we distribute it to next Friday morning with an idea of how to make Friday into an air of shabas that's what it is we're getting ready the H the preparation to escape into that sanctuary in time to go to that place of Refuge in time learning how to disconnect and put up on the Shelf all those things that's why shabas you're not allowed to talk about those things it's also you're not supposed to speak about the way you speak during the week it's not a Holy Roller thing to not speak about business and chabas it's a gift to us if you never had an escaped if seven days a week I'm the only one who has to work on chabas the rest of you have this great blessing I'm the only one who to speak about my business on chabas the rest of you have that escape you have that place of Refuge you have that gift you have that Chef that falls from above mm will pick up with this all next week