Part 140: Because You Gotta Have Faith

good morning Boer to everyone today is going to be a fantastic day with all the challenges it will present in the ongoing saga of social distancing and of quarantining ourselves nonetheless we have to begin every day with that attitude that today is going to be a great day particularly if you're joining right now through whatever medium you are here and we're learning together if you're healthy and well enough and we have the blessing of technology and the ability to continue to congregate and be a community of people learning and growing what an incredible day it is already by 8:45 this morning so a person has to begin every day with the mentality and attitude that today is going to be a great day to focus on what we have not what we're missing to focus on the blessing and opportunity not on the crisis though this is not an easy time and I don't mean to minimize this time nonetheless as much as it's a challenging time it's also a Time presenting itself with Incredible opportunities for each and every one of us and I hope that we're taking advantage of them I want to thank our sponsors for this year for our Wednesday morning amuna class Dr zi and Bella Morgan who sponsored Leo nishas our dear friend Rabbi Dr Brian gab n who himself was a model I can only imagine how Brian would have been persevering during this time remaining steadfastly loyal to his patience remaining eternally optimistic hopeful saying everything is amazing which was his Mantra through life that no matter what was going on and what's happening and how challenging it is Brian galber would be saying everything is amazing and and in his memory each and every one of us can do so as well that should be our motto everything is amazing unless it's not and even then everything is amazing because it's the way it's meant to be we've been studying together this section this essay do by Schwarz the author of The Bish and he has been developing the following we'll Briefly summarize where we're up to and then we'll continue to study to learn to exercise our amuna muscles and to be able to grow you I was talking to a group the other night and a private conversation and some were panicking some are really overwhelmed by a sense of doubt and fear and uncertainty by what's going on some people are already at their their their edge of being able to have patience with their family intensely living on top of one another in these unusual circumstances and a lot of people say what is and what's going to be what will happen with the economy with my livelihood what will be with my health and the health of the people around me who I cherish and love the most and I said you know if you haven't been working on Amun and and now you're confronted by this crisis you're in trouble because this crisis will empty your entire bank account of faith and if your bank account is already in the red if you haven't been working on a if you haven't been developing that relationship with Hashem who is he and who am I and where is he in my life and how do I rely on him and how do I live a life not of feeling arrogant and independent but how do I live a life in which I realize that he is the one in charge if you haven't been working on it until this point you're in trouble and it occurred to me I think we're up to number sheer 140 something maybe even 150 today the thank God for those of us who've been learning together every Wednesday morning for 150 weeks we have been making deposits and deposits and deposits and when we confront A Moment Like This we can smile and we can have our Serenity and we can live with that sense of calm because we know that we have to take every precaution that we have to socially distance and quarantine and wash our hands and purel our hands we have to do everything everything that we have to do 100% 100% but once we've done that let go and let God 150 weeks we've been working out so that we're in a healthy position to endure the challenge of our time and that's why these moments you can't wait for them to happen in order to be positioned you have to be working on you have to be working on having a positive and a good you have to be working on the attributes the character traits we have to be positioned so that when we confront these moments we have everything we need we have everything that it will take in order to persevere in order to be able to in order to be able to overcome so what the r Schwarz what the bavi has been developing until now is this notion that we live two lives simultaneously there is the external sense of self that we have and the external sense of self is uh the external sense of self looks at the world and sees opposition sees conflict our external superficial self from the moment we wake up in the morning there is inertia there's friction there's tension stay in bed go back to sleep run late eat unhealthy food say that gossip don't D with kavana we're facing conflict from the moment we wake up until the moment we're blessed to fall asleep however the internal sense of self it sees everything as working integrated as one the internal sense of self has no doubt the internal sense of self has no fear the internal sense of self sees no friction or tension or battle or conflict the inner sense of self only sees only sees Hashem and his will in our lives he's been describing that the word comes from that shim entered the city to fight with to fight with um new who took advantage of Dina shim entered the it meant they entered the city with a sense of confidence they knew that the odds were stacked in their favor and as we live our lives if you have relationship with him the almighty the source of all if you know that he's orchestrating and pulling the strings from above then you can have that sense of bet with a of confidence we know that Hashem has our back we know that nothing is by chance or Randomness everything is by Design we can have the calm and the confidence of knowing that he is here and he is with us and the only question that's left for us is with which eye will we see will we look with our glasses through the prism of the internal sense of self will we look with the sense of the Nish who sees everything as from Hashem and therefore there's nothing I can't handle there's nothing I can't overcome there's nothing that I can't absorb with whatever life will throw my way I know it by Design and from above so with a sense of Cal and confidence I'm able to take it on or we live with our superficial external sense of self who only sees conflict and tension who only feels we're battling through the day battling is exhausting physically emotionally spiritually battling is defeating battling is overwhelming and calm and confidence are enriching they strengthen us they lift us they take us where we need to go so we are and none of you have the text so you can't follow but you'll listen to me in the text of Schwarz we're reading together these two attitudes these two approaches are included in the language of of our rabbis that everything we know this from the song which is Benny fredman's great song um about amuna about amuna that came out in the Gaza War the soldiers dancing as they sang this which means that everything is expected about we are given the Power of Choice the notion of what is the word we would normally translate it as free will Free Will was given to us we have the opportunity to wake up and to look out at life and in the end of the day we have free will we can blame our circumstances or we can make the most of our circumstances we're in our homes we're living on top of one another our children are not compliant or obedient our spouse may not be compliant or obedient the world is not compliant and obedient the economy is not compliant and obedient nothing is falling in line with what I want in the way I want it and therefore I can blame the world for my bad attitude I can blame the world for losing my cool my rage and my anchor I can blame the world for my frustration and for my Envy or I can take extreme ownership I can take and I can realize that I have the power of free will it's up to me how to respond I can't necessarily shape the circumstances in which I live I can't necessarily change the world I can't change what's happening but I can change how I react I can change how I respond I can change who I am never relinquish that blessing never blame circumstances and blame the world around us because it's very difficult it's a challenging time it's a crisis but it's up to each and every one of us to control ourselves and to make the right choices to choose calmness and serenity and Tranquility to choose to see the good and give the benefit of the doubt to choose to let things go and move on to choose to be extreme to take extreme ownership and our contribution to the atmosphere and environment to the energy that is Flowing throughout our home right now as we are confined there we are given that I quote all the time and I may write the article about it this week I love this is not my own but and I've said it many times in living with Amun so thank you for bearing with me again but it's just the the image and the metaphor speak so strongly to me that life can be lived as a thermometer or a thermostat one of the indications the symptoms of this horrific virus is a low-grade fever which God forbid escalates to a real fever so people need to have a thermometer right now a thermometer tells you your temperature a theter tells you where are you holding and a thermometer can tell you your temperature in life I'm angry I'm jealous I'm arrogant I'm whatever the feeling is but you know you don't have to be a thermometer you can be a thermostat the difference between a thermometer and a thermostat is that a thermostat controls the temperature a thermostat and sh please God we'll get back there the men and women wrestle over the thermostat it's too cold it's too hot I want it hotter I want it colder who controls the thermostat I once gave a whole sheer about what is the Hal of who controls the thermostat is it the people who are predisposed to be too cold the people predisposed to be too hot the men wearing a suit in the Talis the women who are coming and more vulnerable who controls the thermostat believe it or not there's halic literature and halic attitudes to everything that was a Shear that we gave the thermostat as opposed to the thermometer lets you control your temperature so this notion means it means that you have free will don't concede or forfeit and say listen I'm a thermometer I can tell you right now I'm about to blow my lid I'm at the end of my rope I'm so frustrated I can't be around people I need personal space I'm going crazy that's a thermometer be a thermostat and say you know I know how I'm feeling so what do I need to do to self-regulate what do I need to do to calm myself down I have to go for a walk I need to be in a room alone for a few minutes I need to take a few deep breaths I control myself don't let other people control you don't let family don't let in-laws don't let the stock market don't let the government don't let the news don't let other things determine your happiness your mentality your soul your well-being don't be a thermometer be a thermostat we have we have the capacity to control ourselves it's interesting when the r quotes this notion of he also uses that word not what does the word mean means um choice but in Israel they've had a lot of them lately and they may be on their way to having their fourth in a year are an election we're on our way to having one an election although nobody even remembers that there's an election going on uh an election isn't it amazing how the things that 3 weeks ago four weeks ago thought the most important Earth shattering this is what everyone's going to be talking about nobody even remembers or is even focused on whatsoever right now but the elections are an election why doesn't the raham call about call it that we have Choice why is he use the term and why here do Kaz use the term har R means opportunity as opposed to to choice so salich explained because choices come from a limited menu they come from a set list you go to the restaurant Hali we can go sit in a restaurant the little things that we took for granted in our lives coming to Sho going out to eat you go sit in a restaurant and they hand you the menu you can't say I want this other dish that's nice it's not on our menu we don't offer it's not provided here so an election is from a a group of a unit of set choices Rus is something so much higher it means the guy's the limit there is no there are no limited options the sky is the limit for what you want and whatever you want there is no limit so our ability to be that thermometer not to be that thermostat not that thermometer our ability and capacity to choose our reality to shape the energy that we are putting out and to influence our surrounding and Circumstance it's Limitless it's not from a set choices well our house can either be on a scale of 1 to 10 in terms of the level of about to blow its lid an eight or a nine not it's R it's Limitless it could be a zero it could be a negative 10 of calmness and peace and serenity and happiness and joy and fun it's Limitless not just who lived in Morocco and died in Israel where he had moved to and the has a following fascinating comment it's a controversial comment and I'll tell you it's such a fascinating comment that some actually reject it and say that he never really said it but he says the following while we are meant to believe while we subscribe to the philosophy that everything in our lives is from Hashem the gamar says you reach in your pocket for a nickel you pulled out a dime everything is from Hashem everything is ordained and orchestrated from above but the says that's all in the world between us and God so what nature does and what God does everything is ordained but what about what other people do what about the impact other people have in our lives so the in his commentary when the brothers throw Ys in the pit the says there the brothers say let's take him and let's kill him we'll throw him into one of the pits and we'll take him down when it comes to the animal world when it comes to the natural world nothing can stand in our way nothing can be OPP oppos or oppose us K orchestrates and ordains everything we have to do our part and earn our Merit and then the rest is up to God let go and let God but when it comes to other human beings says other people can be a force of opposition they can create a tension we can have to battle them somebody gossips about us somebody hurts us in business someone hurts us in life someone stands opposite and tries to block us in life the brothers try to throw Yosef in the pit was that the act of God or was that the act of the brothers can a kill B even if God doesn't determine that b deserves to Die the says yes it can happen other human beings have free will and they express their free will it can have an impact on us even if it's not part of the grand or master plan nade says R Schwarz that comment of the that Insight that says that other human beings and their Free Will can create a tension a friction and opposition we can have to battle them even not part of the grand scheme of the almighty that's only true with our external selves The Superficial external self who looks at life and sees only what's on the surface I see people I'm battling I see viruses I'm battling I see a stock market economy I'm battling I see people within my home who I feel like I'm battling in these unusual times and circumstances that's the external sense of self but if we live with that calm if I take that breath and I rejuvenate and renew and reactivate my Nish if I calm my inner sense of self and my look through the glasses called the Nish and I see that everything everything is synergized everything is cooperating Everything is collaborating Everything is the will of Hashem everything is the way it's meant to be and that's why I do what I have to do I do what I meant to do I do what's upon me to do and after that I let go and I let God after that I realized this is the way it was meant to be by Design and the choice is up to us when we talked about our Free Will and the choice we can't control the circumstances we can't control the health and the economy and the people around us but we can control ourselves and how we react we can regulate our own temperature we can be that thermostat not just that thermometer when we listen to that in her voice if you were watching if the brothers in y were a movie a reality show and you were watching as a spectator to it you'd see and you'd say oh my goodness these brothers they're going to kill yoseph how could it be brothers Flesh and Blood they're conspiring to take their brother and throw them in a pit they're going to kill ysf if you're watching with the external eye if you're a spectator as if it's some TV show or movie you'd say how could these brothers do this how could anyone do this this is going to be a disaster for Yosef they're going to leave him for dead look what they're doing to him however you know what's amazing if we were a spectator to the episode of the sale of ysf we'd be screaming help stop which we should scream no matter what but if we're watching with our external eye we'd say how could the brothers do this this is going to be the worst thing in the world for Yosef but you know who didn't see it that way you know whose Faith was unwavering and uncompromised you know who said I'm not happy to be in a pit with snakes and scorpions I'm going to do everything to fight for my life but if this is where I am it's where I meant to be this is all by Design and somehow is going to work out for the best you know who felt that and who thought that the protagonist the the one who was actually going through it Yosef himself and how do we know that because later when the brothers come to MIM and ysf reveals himself to them he says to them in his to them you conspired to do something bad but God the almighty he is the big planner in the sky he is the Puppeteer he's the choreographer he's orchestrating everything and he put me in the pit he put me in the Caravan he brought me to MIT so that I would be positioned here for when you needed me in order for the Jewish people to survive for a continuity of our family so you may have intended the worst but God had a plan for the best he's the one who brought me here he's why I'm here it's all a question of which eye we're looking at which filter we're filtering things through this is a very very important point that of Schwarz makes next and he says these two perspectives the external sense of self The Superficial self that looks at the circumstances that panics that fears that has doubt and uncertainty that worries with anguish and the internal sense of self that sells let go let God I do what I have to do and beyond that why would I worry for what's out of my control we're often tempted to think the external sense of self is a world of sheer that perspective is filled with lies and distortions that it's not true but says R Schwarz that's a mistake the external perspective that view of the world is also true these two perspectives are both true there is a truth to an attitude and a view of the world that sees battle and confrontation tension and friction it's all true those are realities I'm battling what I'm going to eat and will I wake up and what I'm going to say and how I can be patient all that's true it's not that the external sense of self is a wrong sense of self is a lie and fake and the internal one is true no says Schwarz they're both true Everything is a combination of the external and internal if you're a spectator to Y and his brothers or if you're a spectator to your own life what you're seeing as a spectator what you're observing and noting is also true they're both true the question is which one you want to watch with you know I'm watching on zoom we're on Facebook live we're on zoom we're recording the audio we're overflowing with technology over here God bless K created all this technology he created the rafu before the Mak I'll just pause to say in recognizing the hash in our lives and trying every single day to keep that journal where we say thank God for the Divine Providence and intervention we are living in extraordinary times an extraordinary crisis but you know we have a tradition that Hashem sends theu before the Maka he sends the healing before he sends the before he inflicts the the illness he gave us this technology what would this have been 10 years ago 20 years ago 5 years ago we'd be so isolated from one another we wouldn't be able to learn and study together we wouldn't be able to see together if I would have told you 15 years ago there'll be a technology that anyone from around the world can press a button and we'll all be video conferenced together studying learning able to communicate you'd say what does that cost each person every time they do it $5,000 10,000 20,000 how much is it to install that technology in your home how much is it to download that application $100,000 to set up video technology that around the world a million people can simultaneously have their faces on it's free you download it you press the button you're LinkedIn here we are the rafu before the Maka among the many things we're so thankful to you for Hashem thank you for sending us this technology which enables us to learn together in this way so here on the zoom feature I could press a button where all I see is myself I could press a button where I see a grid of all of you I could position a camera for this angle you could press a button to see it from this angle which is the true one which is the true one you know producers who sit in a studio have several cameras on the person that's being interviewed and the greatness of their camera is that they can push a button that it's coming from this angle they can push a button that's coming from this angle which is the true view which is the true perspective is one of them distorting the subject that they're broadcasting no they're both true and they're both accurately portraying the subject that they're broadcasting on I want some of those eggs they're both broadcasting accurately the the subject they're both true they're just offering two different perspectives it's two different perspectives so that's what R Schwarz is saying the external sense of self that sees tension and battle and conflict the internal voice that sees Harmony in the universe it's not that one is true and one is false they're both accurately depicting a reality the question is which camera do you want to broadcast which view do you want to live with do you want to look around out at the world through the prism through the view that sees battle conflict tension fear doubt uncertainty anxiety or do you say no turn that camera off I want to look through the camera and through the view through the lens that sees only Harmony and peace that says there's something blessing underlying this that says somehow this will make sense and I'm not minimizing there are people going through horrific times my wife's first cousin has been on a ventilator since Friday he's 34 years old and otherwise in great health and who was in a very precarious situation where DAV from the bottom of our hearts thinking about him all day every day Michael Goldsmith he should have please God he'll now get the medicine he needs that we've been fighting for this is not to be minimized the people going through the Health crisis are going through an extraordinary Health crisis but I want to say something which may not be popular if you're not going through a Health crisis if please God you have not been diagnosed with a confirmed case and even if you have you have only mild symptoms your problems you're going through right now are likely first world problems meaning I'm not talking about you may risk losing your home you have no income you don't how you're putting food on your table next week that's also a significant crisis we're here for you let us know but if I hear that your biggest crisis is I have to make pesak I've never made pesak and I have to make PES God bless you it's not aitz it's not a DP Camp you're not an intensive care unit and if your crisis is you have to make PES you should thank Hashem every moment of your day people have been reaching out with all kinds of questions yesterday are we allowed to eat kitos this year why would we be allowed to eat kitos well maybe there'll be less product and variety on the shelves maybe we should be allowed to eat kitos first of all I know from Distributors you'll have all the product that you need you won't have a problem a but B and if you had less maybe if we Consolidated and minimized and we were able to be satisfied with less this year there wouldn't be a blessing in that my point is I'm not minimizing it's challenging believe me I know the worst of these challenging times but if your health is not failing and if your and if your uh economy your finances aren't failing then likely your problems right now are first world problems and thank your lucky stars for that so we can look with the external sense of self that sees friction tension crisis anxiety worry uncertainty what will be or we can look and listen with that internal voice we can look through the prism that sees Harmony and that sees the blessing and opportunity you know I've spent more time with my children and with my family than I have and I don't literally know how long combined if that's not a a hidden blessing within this I I don't know what is and I think the same is true some of the time I've wanted to kill them but while I've wanted to allow them to live it's been amazing it's been fantastic not them they're perfect children it's I'm talking on behalf of my neighbor let's just read the next paragraph says of shorts I want to say something very important very critically important that this is not talking about the the character trait of he says I want to clarify and I want to carefully Define what is this character trait of the mid of I want to say our learning is also Bailey sister who's also been a confirmed case should have quickly and speedily and fully says of Schwarz let's define it let's narrow in and fine tune what is this quality of people make a mistake and they think you know what is is my confidence my sense of confidence that everything's going to work out that hashem's going to make this happen the way I want I have that I'll stay safe and not be sick I have the stock market will come back I have that the world will comply and fall in line and behave exactly the way I wanted to that's not B that's not worshiping God that's worshiping yourself that's worshiping your hopes and dreams that's worshiping your Your Capacity to micromanage and control the universe and among the people and things you want to control and micromanage is the almighty himself you're telling God here here's the way I'm drawing it up here's how I want the entire world to work here's how I want everything to happen fall in line God I have faith in you that you'll do exactly what I want could you imagine that doesn't work in our relationships in this world and it doesn't work in our relationship with God you get married and you tell your spouse I want to tell you the most romantic thing dear I love you so much and I want to tell you how much faith I have in you I have so much faith in you and I love you so much and I'm so confident in you my faith in you is so great that I believe you'll do everything exactly the way I want you to that's my faith in you you know where spous you do if they weren't quarantine they'll say here's the door go find someone's couch to sleep on get lost your faith in me is that I'll do exactly what you want your faith in me is that I'll behave exactly the way you want it to be that's not faith in me that's trying to micromanage that's trying to Simply Use Me Faith in someone else is I believe that even when you disagree or want to do it differently that you're entitled that you also have a perspective and an opinion that you also are independent or autonomous and I defer to you I have faith in you and Hashem the almighty says the same thing faith in him doesn't mean Hashem I want you to fall in line and act exactly the way I demand the way I determine faith in Hashem is I believe that however it does work out that that is the master plan told us all of these things the notion of having faith in God are they are extensions of but that's not the core of what is is not a choice it's not like I put on the filter oh let me hold on let me just change the channel let me adjust the volume let me put on you know people can post things on social media and you could put a button push a button to have a filter and then the filter changes the image oh let me just put on my filter called I look at the world through b no it's not a filter you put on it's not a choice that you make in a moment it is something very core to who you are in your essence it happens it happens internally in the deepest depths of your soul in a place where there is no tension and there are no obstacles and there is nothing that stands in your way this is so important and I'm gonna leave it here we'll pick up with it please God next time but Schwarz is saying is where real B on lies is in your inner sense of self and your inner soul but you can't tap into that unless you've ever accessed your inner soul before if you are a body that has a soul not a soul that has a body if you never had a conversation with your own Nish if you've never experienced this bodus which is not only the comfort of being alone but actually the enrichment of being alone then you're never going to tap truly into the sense of b b is housed and it is expressed it is fanned and it it flames in the inner recesses of our soul you have to know your soul you have to find your soul you have to communicate with your soul you have to be comfortable with your own soul you have to nourish your soul and protect your soul you have to have the ability to listen to your soul and what it's telling you because if you have no relationship with your own soul then you're not going to fully tap into the sense of living life with a healthy sense of you Mah expresses often there are three Realms with which we live there are three dimensions we have we know two of them we focus on between us and God between us and other people and between us and ourselves our relationship with ourselves we fail often and we neglect that Third Realm a relationship in life the relationship we have with ourselves we have to know ourselves we have to sense of comfort with ourselves we have to be honest with ourselves we have to be willing to confront ourselves we have to learn to listen to ourselves and only in that place and in that space which we'll talk more about beginning next time can a person truly live with a sense of and so I give us all a blessing that we should have the strength to be a thermostat not a thermometer to not only take our temperature physically and emotionally during these difficult times but to be able to regulate that temperature to be in control of ourselves and of the energy we put out to make our home still filled with happiness and joy with confidence and with faith with hope and with love even during these trying times have a fantastic day