Part 35: A Unified, Singular Existence

all right good morning everyone our learning this morning as always is dedicated and we are always grateful to our Anonymous sponsor continue our study of we're on page me shom we're really finishing here the introductory chapter of theb perspective on amuna WE and last time we discussed really the theme that repeats itself over and over again I mean essentially we say the same thing every week just with different words because the goal of talking about this is to maintain a sense of mindfulness and consciousness of the presence of the almighty of the ribon sh in our lives to feel his presence and to feel his presence not only in the good times and the happy times and the high times but to feel his presence even in the difficult times to feel his presence even when things are not going all that well which is really what this week's par is all about before we even get into the As We Begin the seos seos begins we know it's the we're beginning to feel the opening the start of the Redemption but we yet learn about the servitude the oppression the persecution and we're so far removed that we don't think of it in this way but it was a 210 year Holocaust it was a holocaust that didn't last for a couple of years or a few years or less than a decade it was a holocaust that lasted for more than two centuries babies murdered people dying from backbreaking labor deprived of food it was an astoundingly painful experience and it was only when the Jews called out to AEM their prayers the Redemption was waiting all had to do is press go but the appointed time had not yet come until the people had hit a deep and dark enough place that they really were calling out to him we mentioned yesterday in the para class that sh taka says there are four languages Saka zaka sha and uh anaka where four different descriptions of the people's groan moan CS sigh longing cry to that they had reached the Rock Bottom they had gone to such a dark place and the son says shos he says you know sometimes we Davin with words but the words are a distraction the words are there to make sure we doav the truth is kazal instituted the sitter not because the sitter is the most authentic form of the most authentic form of is what we do from our hearts it's the personal need it's the personal longing it's the personal desperation it's the personal gratitude and high and appreciation it's when we personalized Fila that it's the most meaningful so why they Institute the template of the sitter who needs this obligation three times a day this text it gets it gets burdensome it gets old it gets repetitive why' they give it to us and there's a number of answers to that question but I think the most significant is because without it there'd be days that you wouldn't DAV if you always waited to Davin to be inspired there might be days or weeks or months that would go by without your daving so therefore it's legislated that you have to DAV and here's the script here's the template here's what to say now go fill in in between because that's most important but at least keep the channel of communication open by having it legislated to have to to have to speak to K it also does other things it unites Jews we transcend time and space by sharing the same sitter when we open the sitter and Davin we're saying the same words as our ancestors hundreds and thousands of years ago you want a beautiful image when you open the sitter you're saying the same words that your great great great great grandchildren are going to say as well you will have very little in common with them you know they say that children born this year I love you too buddy they they say that children born right now in 2017 will never learn to drive a car babies being born this year and forward will never have a driver we'll never learn to drive a car there'll be automated cars there'll be flying cars they'll be so your great grandchildren your great great grandchildren will have very little in common with your lifestyle right now but you know what they'll have in common no matter what the words of the sitter they might be saying them on some device they might be you know superimposed in the sky and 3D image and using technology who knows how they're going to see the words but the words of the sitter of doming your great great great grandchildren and you may not be living in America will all be living in Israel but wherever you're going to be living in the world anywhere on the globe on the planet we call Earth We're All saying the same words so by instituting the same words by instituting the same rules of it unites the Jewish people it gives us the capacity to transcend time to transcend space but I think much more fundamental it keeps the channel open so that when we need to communicate we can you know we used to have dial up internet sometimes it would work sometimes it wouldn't work we laugh at the sh we remember back to the early days brander had his office I had my office Josh Brody had his office Josh F his office there was one dialup connection so you'd have to on the intercom say who's on the internet I need you to get off I need to get on that's how the internet you remember that's how you have to get off cuz I need to get on there was only one way to dialog you know you made that sound you dial in so if you weren't connected when you needed to be when you needed to download that thing or see or have that access or send that message if you weren't connected you couldn't send the message I was in um I went with a small group on a humanitarian trip to Cuba on Monday we went in the morning we came back that evening and it was a f fascinating trip for another time but we were disconnected from the world from when we took off till I returned we don't remember the last time we went that long without any communication we're walking around Cuba the small group I said you know a meteor could have hit bokeh and wiped it off the face we would have no clue we would have no clue so there was something very um traumatic about it and there was something incredibly cathartic and liberating about it it was it was a beautiful thing to be disconnected but if you don't have internet access and you have an important message to share you can't share it you don't have the connection so by instituting daving the same words three times a day instead of dial up we all have a great direct line and then when we need to fill in other things the line is open to be able to communicate the open line is open to be able to communicate further so but the most authentic form of is not the words of the sitter that's there to make sure that we continue to communicate but what most authentic form of is what we fill in in between when we personalize when we make it our own so what's the highest level of says the the highest form of is not with words when you think about it the words are a distraction the words restrict you and confine you and limit you to those words so the words are a great template but it's Thea that you do without the words which are the holiest with Jewish music as well when you sing a song and you sing words that's great but higher than the words is a Nigam because when you just sing a tune without words now you're not held back by having to articulate those words now you're not distracted or limited by those words the tune lifts you and Carries you and opens your heart and opens your soul to think and to say and to and to meditate to reflect on whatever you want so a tune without words is higher than than a song with words a prayer without words is higher than a prayer with words what's a prayer without words s z sha a groan a c a cry a longing what was the Catalyst what stimulated the Ron sh to recognize our suffering and intervene on our behalf was not the prayers with words it's finally with the and the moan says the there are four leonos of groaning that in in was reciprocated with the four languages of gula which we commemorate with the four cups of wine so there was a process when you hit that Rock Bottom when you call out to hasem Sal saw the chauffer is the same thing the chauffer is a form of it's without words you produce this sound this call the chauffer is not oh I Daven and then I interrupt the davening for the chauffeur right where you blow chauffeur in the middle of grew up going on Minion she describes the first she spent when she went for her year in Israel in a non minion she was saying her not the silence she was Ding herid and then she waited and waited and waited she's like wow long why aren't they up to the chauffer blowing it and you know she got lapped a few times until she realized that that you know you don't blow the chauffeur in the silent so how could you interrupt your silent amid for chauffeur blowing were you doing a Mitzvah in the middle you don't you don't interrupt your am to take the L of an as you don't interrupt your amid to sit in the Suka you don't interrupt your amid to half siick how could you do it with the chauffeur the r said the chauffeur is not an interruption it is a form of prayer it's a higher form of prayer because it's without words when you hear that chauffer you get to close your eyes and look up from the sitter you're not struggling to remember what the words mean and did I pronounce them correctly and what are they supposed to be about you close your eyes you hear the sound of the chauffer and it carries up your higher and more authentic form of so this week's para is about being in a very dark deep place and you know sometimes it's in the darkest place that you can reach the highest Heights the Kut said I paraphrase I don't remember the exact quote but the katar once famously said there is no one so whole as a broken person a broken heart nothing so whole nothing as whole as a broken heart I said I was paraphrasing nothing as whole as a broken heart so CLA and MIT were a broken heart they were a broken people and only in that state of Brokenness did they become whole only from that sense of desperation a sense of dependence a sense of needing a sense of Reliance you know it should be the opposite it should be that when you're successful and there's a flow of BR then you say oh Hashem is in my life Wow house and a car and a happy marriage and with children and good health and dinner to eat and it's unbel everything's great I just can't thank hashm enough but tragically too many people have all that that's when they forget Hashem it's only when you're in the bad place that you that you remember Hashem but can you attain it with happiness too sometimes you're overwhelmed with something that really you your grandchildren or whatever it is isn't that absolutely you can attain it you can attain it yeah there's nothing as whole as a whole heart so you can attain it you can attain it I think that what the the K that he was giving us was don't think that Brokenness is antithetical to feeling whole don't think that Brokenness is heading in the wrong direction that you have no chance that it's hopelessness that it's helplessness it's when you're broken that you can feel whole and that's the M that we have from this week's para Rashi tells us that Hashem spoke from the SN this lowly thorn bush why do he picked the thorn bush he couldn't pick a beautiful palm tree he couldn't pick magnificent landscape the lowely thorn bush that's what he had to speak to Moshe from says rash I want you to know that with whatever you're going through I'm there with you don't think in that state of Brokenness in the state of loneliness in the state of hopelessness I'm not there I'm davka there I'm there with you I why am I there with you can't I be in a happy place with you for whatever reason you need to be there because I love you you need to be there you know it picture the imagery of a parent who who a child did something that they deserve to be ground so everyone else is going out that Saturday night their friends are having the greatest time ever but you had to ground the child for whatever reason but then you sit that Saturday night and your child's room with them spending time laughing trying to distract them doing something fun with them because the right thing always for you to be grounded right ah if you love me you're having so much fun with me why am I home why can't you let me go out with my friends why do you hate me why do you hurt me let me go out no because I love you you're grounded because I love you the best thing in the world for you is to learn consequences to learn accountability the best thing in the world for you is you need to be grounded but I also love you and I'm also your parent and I can't stand to see your pain so on the night that you're grounded I'm sitting with you and we're laughing and playing and having fun and I'm trying to distract you and lift your spirits and give you because whatever reason we needed to be in says I'm with you and that's the feeling that we should have Hashem is not only accessible to us and present in our life when everything's going well in some ways he's most accessible and most present to a degree the reason we go through the hardship is is his reminder that hey call me hey I'm here I want to be with you I want to be with you and understanding this whole background that Hashem is with us that hasem is suffering with us that Hashem thinks that this is in our best interest but it doesn't mean that he's callous or insensitive and that he doesn't want us to comfort us even within going through whatever we need to go through so with that we understand the that we say every day Hashem is one he is singular he is unique he is the source he is the cause of all that exists and it all exists in a unified way in the heavens above in the seven levels of the heavens and on the earth below it's a mistake of philosophers who believe oh hashem's greatness means that he's in the heavens he is distance he's in the cosmos he's managing multiple universes at the same time he's balancing galaxies at the same time me here on Earth whether I trip on the curb or not he's not involved in that God whether I get stuck in traffic or I made the turn or I just made the light God's not involved in that there are philosophers who believe that Hashem is so great that his greatness his greatness makes him inaccessible to us but we say that's a form of because if you really believe Hashem is so great there's nothing he's incapable of in other words you think Hashem is so great that it's a pagam it's a it's a insult to suggest that he's down here on Earth too we say no Hashem is so great there's nothing too hard for him he's in the heavens and down below it's what we sing in he lowers himself to see in the heavens and on the earth below he's down here he's accessible he's even in the disgusting streets of Cuba I'm not sure but it's disgusting he alone unifies everything he sustains he animates everything there is no other force in the universe but him none there is nothing right we say this every time we get together the the Mantra if you need to meditate if you feel stressed anxious nervous worried angry vengeful whatever you're feeling which is an unhealthy thought just keep repeating a there is no one but him whatever this is is meant to be there is a plan a mil a mil a mil the whole existence is Unified by this one secret and from the vegetable world the animal world the the the natural world the human world every component every aspect every participant Every Creature every creation of life our mere existence is only with the consent and the will of the almighty in other words we see many many many many different things we see so much there's so much being managed at the same time there's billions of people on Earth there's places there's every blade of glass there's every there's every gust of wind there's every wave in the ocean and to us these all appear separate and independent but toes it's unified it all comes from the same place I heard there was a magnificent rainbow the other day over Montoya Circle it's a separate thing but we're not we're not really supposed to point out the rainbow ques that based on the gar that the rainbow is not a positive image it might be a beautiful sign but it's not a positive image it's a it's a positive image that Hashem loves us but it's that Hashem loves us despite what he's tempted to want to do it's the reminder he's invoking that that feeling but anyway what's rers says why did hasem choose the rainbow what what is the image of the rainbow first has the most beautiful idea about the rainbow first of all he says he destroyed the world and then he made a promise not to do it how does the rainbow capture that promise so first says it's an inverted bow the rainbow looks like a bow but instead of the bow facing Earth as if Hashem is going to take out his his uh take out his punishment on Earth the bow is facing excuse me away from Earth he's going to detonate the missile in the sky and will be able to survive that's the image but he says moreover what's a rainbow how many rays of light do you see in a rainbow how many colors are in a rainbow I don't remember either I was hoping one of you would answer that question I think it's I think it's seven seven I think it's seven the spectrum of the rainbow but here's the question how many how many rays of light go into the rainbow in other words what we see is seven colors but if you hold up a prism into the light you'll see seven colors seven Hues the spectrum of the rainbow but how many colors go into the prism there's one one ray of light goes in and it's refracted it's refracted to appear as seven multiple colors so ref first says that's the imagery of the rainbow that we see the manifestation the tapestry the color of the world but there's one ray of light that goes in K it doesn't matter what you look like where you come from what life what how you think which team you root for who you voted for many many many colors come out but there's one ray of light that goes in and that's this imagery of it is an absolute Unity the heavens and above the heavens the Earth and everything on it sees and all of the everything the something it's like not yeah wow impressive it's similar to a person who has 200 48 Limbs and 600 sorry um uh G veins Senus or a hand that has five fingers if you look at every finger individually if you look at the hands you'll see five separate fingers you could Bend each finger separately each finger is its own unit but if you look in a unified way you see one hand not five separate fingers if you see a person walking towards you you don't say oh look there are 248 organs and 365 limbs what do you say there's one person somebody puts out their hands you don't say oh thank you for extending your five fingers you say thank you for extending your hand yes the five fingers all come are all nourished by the one wrist similar a Jew who lives with they don't see separate things to the universe there is a interdependence there is an intersection there's a matrix and what drives the entire Matrix is Theon and even the source of of the negative influences and energies in the world so says that even the negative actions and negative influences also emanate from that same one place how why would the source of all goodness allow negative influence and negative Spirit to influence it's a separate conversation but everything we are to live life with the perspective and the attitude and the approach that everything is integrated and organized and functions as one unit it's not disparate it's not competing it's not divided it's not separate it's all unified it's all organized it's all the great chess master in the sky who's moving the pieces and the pawns but he's playing the game and there's a strategy to the game and you may not understand right now why he moved that piece over there but he was setting up a move five moves from now if you're the lower level chess player you are the easier someone watching you play can understand every move you're making the higher the better level chest player you are the less somebody watching understands because you're not making the next move you're never making the move you're always eight 10 moves ahead you play tennis the low-level tennis player is just trying to get that ball back all they're doing is trying to stay alive the baller it they're trying to get the ball back the higher level chess player I would say something nice about Farley Weiss right now but it'll get back to him so I'm not going to say it and then he'll enjoy it too much you play with Farley wi tennis so he's not just hitting the ball back he's six shots ahead he hits you in the corner three shots to open up the other side cuz he knows you go to the other side back to a he's not hitting that ball he's already six balls ahead so chess tennis life so we need we live life thinking we're just hitting the ball back and then we look at that one ball and say why would Hashem hit the ball to me here you don't realize Hashem is setting things up he's moving things around you don't understand why things are unfold the way they do and where Hashem is six moves ahead we don't understand we don't understand who knows we don't understand we forfeit we concede you know the core of amuna is to concede your understanding of the universe at the core of amuna is to be willing to give up to let go thinking you will understand it is the most deeply offensive thing to us and to us on behalf of the Hashem himself that anyone pretends to know why Hashem runs the world the way he does right I was part of a group of 16 rabbis who wrote a letter about such a rabbi recently and then suffered his wrath who continues to give classes calling us every name under the sun right we're insignificant and we don't really matter we've never accomplished anything and nobody cares about us but he keeps talking about us I don't know why I was asked to be in that group I'm honored and flattered to have been in that group but there there are such people call themselves rabbis and they try to do Outreach by saying this is why this one has autism this is why this one has cancer this is why these people died in the Holocaust this is why this one's blind this is why they sit there every class and it's shocking how many followers they attract but um it's it's shocking but this is not the way of of of the world someone who's going through something is entitled to try to figure out why they're going through it someone who's experiencing a struggle a hard time suffering they're entitled SL encouraged to ask themselves why maybe what do I need to improve what do I need to correct what should I be working on how can I improve but for us to suggest it about others to make categorical statements about historical events or even other people it's kir it's heresy because only the almighty knows why six moves ahead only the almighty moves why someone was putting time out only the almighty knows why somebody was was uh had to stay home Saturday night where their friends went out we don't pretend to know it's a form of it's a form of heresy it's a form of it's insulting to Theon the highest is when you say I don't understand your ways I can't comprehend you you are so categorically different than I I throw up my hands and I submit myself to you at the core of religious experience is submission Sal has a famous footnote and his wor man it's not in the body of the text it's in a footnote footnote four I think it's a famous footnote where the r talks about the core of religious experience is submission it's not it's not popular today 2017 religious experience is supposed to be fluffy and warm and enriching and fuzzy and Kumbaya and inspirational and spiritual and amazing and meaningful and right that's what religious experience is supposed to it makes you feel good what does religious experience have to do with feeling good religious experience isn't about feeling good okay so today we use that terminology because we're competing with uh what's his name deepack Chopra or whoever I don't know we're competing with so we have to use the language of it makes you feel good and spiritual and and it's it's beautiful and it's uplifting and it's meaningful and it's beneficial and it's health benefits emotional benefits this benefits those benefits all of it's true there's nothing wrong with our saying it and it's all true Sal will tell you as all of our ancestors would they weren't religious in the ghetto they weren't religious when being persecuted they weren't religious when being deprived because it brought all those benefits why were they religious because there Aon and this is expectation of us and at the core of religious experience is submission I don't understand I can't understand I can't necessarily always make sense of it I have to Forfeit and submit myself to you now I try to understand I try to learn I try to research I try to gain Insight I study and so on but at the end of the day I submit has a beautiful um idea I'm getting to you J has a beautiful idea he says you know we do mitzvos we do mitzvos whether we understand the reason or not but we seek to understand the reason what's how do you say reason in Hebrew what do we study what else does the word mean taste why does the same word both mean taste and reason he asks it's in his book insights and outlooks or outlooks and insights forget which so he he says the following beautiful idea he says you know why do you eat you eat because you need to eat to live eating gives us the nutrients it nourishes us it gives us what we need in order to stay alive so if you ate bread and water would you stay alive absolutely is it delicious is it yummy do you have an appetite for it no but would it keep you alive yes we eat in order to stay alive we add spice and flavor because it makes it more delicious to eat so the same thing is true with mitzvos we do mitzvos because we need them to spiritually stay alive when we understand the reason it gives it a flavor it gives it a taste it makes it more delicious but even if it lacks taste or flavor or spice you got to do it or you're going to die so the same way you can't starve physically you can't starve spiritually you will die you will wither up if you if you don't don't nourish yourself spiritually so once you're nourishing yourself spiritually it's more delicious when it has a flavor so the same word means both reason and flavor because having a reason for something flavors the experience and makes it more appetizing it makes it more delicious but we have to do it either way so at the core of the Mitzvah is doing it either way that's the submission hasem you say JUMP I say how high I also ask you why did you ask me to jump because if I'm jumping understanding why I'm jumping it's more enjoyable to jump but even if I don't understand or can't understand or you refuse to explain it I'm going to jump either way because when you say JUMP I say how high so we do seek to understand the r is not saying submission at the expense of understanding but we need to emphasize and you know we live in a world last shabas we had a guest speaker RAB Ru BR from Chicago he gave an afternoon class about Holocaust in the Holocaust he didn't use the terminology but it's essentially the idea of spiritual resistance in the Holocaust turned to me after the class and she said how can anyone learn about and read about and hear about the sacrifices and the compromises and the questions that people were making their Fidelity their loyalty their Devotion to in these circumstances and they still and they not be from today we for whom it's so easy never been easier keep kosher keep shabas everything's prepackaged pre-sold done e convenient the shabas light the shabas lamp the everything is so easy the easier it is and the less we're keeping it the harder it was and the truer they stayed to it because they understood something which is being lost on the Next Generation that at the core of religious experience is submission you know you didn't ask these shilas in the ghetto and in the concentration camp because it enriched your life and made it beautiful and meaningful you did it because you understand it's what it means to be a Jew and EV AEM a creation of this world to submit to the king even at incredible sacrifice and personal expense and hardship because in the end they were a soul who had a body so they they as starving as they were physically they wanted to be nourished spiritually to whatever minimal degree they could be they could be you know Victor Frankle search for meaning that they can take your body and they can take a lot but the real meaning is when you nourish your soul when I went on one of the march of the livings by the way we're going to be announcing this week an adult trip to Poland the BRS trip to Poland in the third week of June and I are leading a trip to Poland for anyone who wants to come but one of the march of livings I went I remember a teenager made what I thought was a very profound point which was the more that Hitler yamak shimo and the Nazis starved the Jewish people the more emaciated the less of a physical being they had the more of a soul they turned them into we who are fattened and we who are tempted and we who are immersed in the material physical world so we struggle we think we are a body that has a soul we struggle to remember that we are a soul that has a body but the more deprived and the less you have and the more malnourished all you are left is a soul so it's not something obviously that we welcomed but Hitler paradoxically did not accomplish his goal his goal was to by destroying the humanity of the people making them a number in the depriving them of food was to take away their Humanity but he gave them even greater godliness by leaving them a soul so to nourish our soul like we nourish the body at the core of the amuna is to submit and to understand that we don't understand everything we can't comprehend everything we don't pretend to understand everything yes so you were talking earlier about um Oneness and that we're all supposed to feel like we're all part of one Community one hasem is one everything is one so why are people created who really feel that more than others I'm still reading the book about hen Maas and her life and how she she really looked at every single Jewish person whatever they were were all a part of the Jewish people that's how she felt some people feel that connection much more than others why is it that way right so I I think there there are a a incredible list of character traits where some people are predisposed in some ways and others in other ways and what Hashem does to us is he creates us with different predispositions then he puts up a list of about the best way to be and we all have different aspects of oursel that we have to work on so some people are not tempted by chocolate cake and they naturally are inclined to eat healthy be healthy they're done eating when they're full they don't over what and you look at those people and you say it's not fair like we're living in two different planets how come I struggle every day and you don't some people are patient and easygoing and calm and nothing rattles them and other people live on edge they get frazzled by everything some people lose their cool yell and scream and and Carry On and other we all there's a million character traits and we all have different predispositions what comes easy to me is your struggle what comes natural to you is nothing is an enormous struggle and battle for me so we have predispositions we have to work on them we have to figure out our weakness you know the destination is similar to all of us there's a list the the the image of what we are all trying to look like in terms of virtue and nobility and the character traits we all it's similar but how we get there we each have and that's what makes us unique that's what makes that's what personalizes each of our lives so H Maas you know to hug a smelly disgusting Jew because that's your sister and you love them and you don't even notice their odor that came naturally for her but who knows if whatever other thing was really hard for her even her kid said that like how did Mom do this yeah it's not so simple her own children it's it's not so simple so I think it's a matter of we should never be jealous or envious of what comes natural for another person cuz we have no idea what comes difficult for for them you never know what someone else is battling you don't have a clue what someone else is battling so it's easy to look at someone for whom something comes so easy and be jealous but we have no idea what comes easy for us that the other person is battling what we all do know is the path where we're trying to head what we're trying to work on that we all need to try to do together I think the reason I mentioned was because if we really took this heart we felt we were all one and when things happen in the community we would just right step in you know understand people about different dispositions but if it was really there if we really take it to heart you'd be more unified yeah look it's complicated you're right about that but it's complicated because it's not just the community it's the total Jewish community and it's not just the Jewish Community it's the community of humanity so if if we really froze every time you read in the news about an earthquake a tsunami a death a plague you know the deprivation in in in the starvation in Africa you wouldn't get out of bed in the morning if you felt everyone's pain so we're supposed to see the whole world has integrated one big chessboard K is moving the pieces we don't understand his ways but we do know how we're supposed to try to play the game to the best of our ability and so on so on the one hand we should see the whole world as one Matrix as one integrated system that the source of the entire thing is Theon and we could be inspired by those people around that right and when we see we read those books and we we try to you know we're also assuming that hen Maas was always hen Maas and I don't know that she was always Henny Maas she became right she became you know the wasn't always the rautner has a letter to a student in his OSS and rautner writes to a student who's ready to give up because they can't conquer their their demons and rautner says you know we have this disservice that you read about the and you read about this one and that one and you assume they were born that way and writes you think the never spoke as a child he worked on himself to become the and that's why we talk about him today so it's a matter of working on ourselves to become those people that's why we have stories right that's why we have imperfections of our of our right we have the imperfections of ouros look it's it's a whole other topic of this genre of literature that's called heliography whereas not biography geography which is a fancy way of saying you write about a person as if they were perfect from the moment they came from the womb and when you read those books you can draw some inspiration but you draw the most inspiration when you read and you say wow I didn't realize that really they were quick to anger but they conquered it really they they didn't love learning but they learned how to love learning oh really they whatever but they learn the more honest and the more real the more relatable and the more inspirational okay I'm going to try to catch the end of this bris so wishing