Part 96: Countless Steps Went Into That Apple You Are About to Eat

B good morning thank you to Zan Barry for sponsoring in memory of Bas basman Zite we observing should have an Aliyah okay we're continuing in um the piece that we began last week B of Al 18th chapter just to review quickly what we did last week we are discussing the not the value the impact the influence of reciting a 100 bras a day and having a sense of mindfulness and presence when we say those bras so Torah says not don't read it but may 100 times a day and the consequence the result the promise to us is that if 100 times a day you say wow this is not just an apple this is the hand of Hashem this is not just a cup of coffee or a glass of water this is the hand of hasem if 100 times a day we do that the result the composite result will be that we're living with a greater sense of that was first V on this topic very very simple and he said don't make a pledge to be mindful and present in every word every Everything choose one we're making many many bras a day and obviously ideally we should be conscious and present in every BR but minimally decide what's your BR are you an ASAT Jew are you the Shak Jew what's your BR that when you make a commitment you take on a pledge that's my that I stand still I think about every word I grateful that everything's working properly the Ambiance everything that came to be is from is from Hashem that was all VOD number one VOD number two is what do we say in V number two the notion that everything comes from this world oh R was differentiating between the Yami and the B do we view the notion the origin of the obligation to make if you benefit if you derive pleasure from this world and you haven't said please and thank you to Hashem then you haven't paid for it you're a thief you've stolen the currency we use to pay the rebon to benefit from his world is the currency of bros just like I use money I can't walk out of a store with something without paying I can't leave a restaurant without paying I can't enjoy his beautiful beautiful world and everything in it without paying so the gamar had two metaphors or two comparisons is it that it's compared to as if you violated the sanctity of an object or is it like is it more like uh the caram like a Vineyard and R's analysis was is our attitude that according to the second attitude so making a is like Redeeming the vineyard of the fourth year in order compensating for the pleasure we're getting we recite the and the way we take it from the realm of the Sacred that's inaccessible to us into the realm of the permissible to us we redeem It Is by making a is by making a so the bottom line is this is hashem's world this is hm's world and everything in it we feel so entitled we feel like it belongs to us it's ours who are you to tell me no of course I should breathe air the air is mine to breathe the water is mine to drink and the world's mind to enjoy and if I pay the person who owns it certainly I've acquired it I've transacted it comes mine but we forget that's where R is driving at at the core of bros is the recognition and the mindfulness all this world belongs to Hashem I'm a guest I'm a visitor and I'm a guest and if you're in my home I'm I invited you to stay but you can't just start taking things without asking without saying please without saying thank you if I if I'm a good host if I offer good Hospitality I say please help yourself to anything but you still say thank you and you still say please so he's our Host this is his world and we're guests and and we have to say please and thank you and that's the process of a so that means that making a br is an exercise in being mindful that there's a god making a br is an exercise in remembering that we're not here by chance or coincidence or Randomness that we're not in charge of our own destiny that we don't control our own success and that this world is not ours we are stewards of it we are guests in it and ultimately when we view the entire world through that prism and through that perspective it yields a closer connection with Hashem so the process of eating an apple was not eating an apple process of eating an apple is the texture the sweetness the is it ripe is it is it hard is it soft and so on and so forth the connection when we're done and hashem's you know what went into this apple planting the seed and someone had to plow and plant the seed and grow a tree and the sunlight and the air and the the soil and the Earth everything that was necessary for the tree to produce this apple someone plucked the Apple there was a pesticide sprayed on it ass something it's a not overly priced Organic Apple it's just a regular Apple someone had to spray it in order to protect it and you know what I'm so lucky that this batch this tree was not infested it didn't suffer a plague and there wasn't a hurricane it didn't freeze over and the Apple grew and it was plucked at just the right time and it was put into a barrel or a crate and when it was it wasn't crushed and then it was put in a truck and when it went in the truck there was a truck driver who had to drive the truck what a miracle there's trucks there's truck drivers and there's Gest to fuel the truck and it came across several States and it came to the supermarket and they're in the supermarket all till it came to that display without being crushed or ruined or blemished or bruised and I have the money to be able to take it to the counter and to pay for that apple and I have the ability to run it under the sink and wash it off and I have some mle peanut butter to dip the Apple into to make the Apple even better so when I take that first bite of the Apple again I'm not trying to debilitate our lives that we can't get anything else done cuz it took four hours to make a a b Pria eights but if you think about the Bor PR eight you're not just making a Bor PR eight on the Apple you're making the Bor PR eight on a thousand steps it took till you got to the Apple we just grabbed the Apple while we're on the cell phone and we're looking at and we're talking to someone else and we're reading the magazine and we're so we grab it when we bought it we we didn't think about one of these things we didn't think about one of these steps it made its way into our cart the conveyor belt paid the fridge our mouth and not once in all those steps of our buying it and eating it did we stop to think about what it took have access to it all by the way we didn't sit in the sun baking plowing and planting and growing that tree we weren't in the sun we weren't climbing the ladder we weren't shvitzing we weren't risking climbing up to be able to to harvest the Apple we didn't drive the truck we didn't shlep the crates the barrels we didn't set up the display our big task was we got it from the display to the counter so we paid for it we got it home and we ate it so each of these Bros is an exercise in gratitude of these bras is an exercise in the mindfulness of the graciousness and goodness of Hashem that he created a world and put us in it that we have such access with such ease now it's not so easy to earn the money to go pay for the Apple I don't mean to minimize what we have to put in to get the apple and that's all an apple if I described you know a minute roast or a corn beef even you have to it's a lot more sacrifice corn beef so it takes a lot more to afford the uh the piece of corn beef but what it took there also this animal was born brought this animal into existence and it grew and it ate and it was healthy and someone Sheed it and it turned out to be kosher not TR and then it was packaged and it was sent and it was distributed in the truck driver and the store and we live in a community that has options of where to shop and buy and compet there's a million bras in the in the delicious slice of steak that you put in your mouth but we can't even be present for 3 seconds it takes to make a shahak a how long does it take to actually think about those words everything hasem you are the source of all it all comes from you you I'm so comfortable I talk to God so directly hasem masteron you're the master of everything you were you are and you will be that everything came to be with your word you said there should be a world and it should have corn beef and steak and onions in it and lo and behold I'm eating a delicious uh piece of fles with some grilled onions unbelievable you said it and the world has it and I'm eating it and I did all that without breaking a sweat all that I'm enjoying this meal I didn't break a sweat and I can't say shahak that takes me how long if you say the most intense sh how long would it take you 4 seconds 5 Seconds 6 seconds we're not talking about do you designate five minutes for a shahak benching is another story benching is a little bit longer but a shahak so M that's what we're up to the second full paragraph page this obligates us to think about a when we think about theas that we make the most kind of senior BR that we recite is the BR of is benching why because benching is the only that we say maybe according to others is also but according to some only the that we sayl so think about the and you know what how many in this room and how many all over the world have a fear of benching right I'll do anything to avoid having to eat bread and wash is itos is it have to wash B who wants it right forget the whole carb free glutenfree whatever the latest fat is and that's healthy definitely to avoid all those things it is good to only make AOS or or ham chabas if you're not making an Al or a benching all week you're going to lose weight you're gon to do well granted but R saying from a spiritual perspective right now if you know and if you think about these words what they mean and what they are you would want to bench as many times a day you'd wash in bench at breakfast at lunch and at dinner when you think about what it means and the gratitude that it expresses Mr Sanders just walked by I don't know if you noticed Mr Sanders always says and I believe it because if you've ever been there while he's benched or you ever overhear him daving but Mr Sanders we bench because we ate bread he eats bread so that he could bench you think he wants to eat the bread for the very same reason we're avoiding it cuz who wants the bench and take the time and worry and find a bencher so the very same reason we avoided he da eats bread every day cuz he says how could I go through a day where I didn't bench listen to says listen to says in the words we're saying think about the words these are not simple things you are you nourish the entire world every day you give us your goodness your your kindness your compassion can you understand these words so simply are they so simple why am I describing Hashem you're so good to me you fill the world with goodness you bestow you give you give all what did I win the lottery my benching the once in a lifetime I buy a new house am I benching every 3 years when I get a new lease on a new car no I what's the benching on when all said and done says Raa that you schmeared a little butter on a piece of bread a stickle bread you had a little lman a little Bagel a little piece of bread a slice of Kala and what you're looking in that piece of Kala you're saying you know in this kala in this little piece of Kala in The Bagel in the pizza two slices three slices one slice whatever you wash on and bench on but in the in the in the pizza or the matah or the kala or the roll or The Bagel in that little piece of bread is hashem's all of it because bread is the staple of man it satisfies it nourishes it gives us our life force it sustains us and and not I said milk MAV if you're not lactose intolerant then it makes you healthy you need calcium and you need to have minimal intake you know what is he make cows and they have UTS and we pull on them and this thing with calcium comes out and it's delicious in a bowl of Fruity Pebbles and it goes well in our coffee and it's great know if you want to make uh mac and cheese or cheesecake on sh whatever I'm not a milk guy so I struggle to even have to give these examples but but Z is you eat a delicious slice of bread bread you had a bagel as I said you have a steak in that little morsel of food that you're putting in your mouth something we feel entitled to and something we take for granted and something we say I paid for it's mine who said the world should produce something so delicious that's T you sustain the entire world you designed a world that if we don't mess it up and destroy it and we figure out a way to distribute it manufacturers and produces the world itself you created an earth and ecosystem that manufactures produces and distributes H the food to sustain the whole world again assuming we don't mess it up which is a big assumption so in every morsel of food we're eating is not just sraa it's not the $2.16 I have to pay at Publix to get the apple or the whatever I'm eating it's more than that it's in this apple in this bread in this steak in this whatever I'm eating is and ra I'm in a world that has oxygen there's the Ambiance of what I'm eating and there's all the many many steps someone plowed and planted and a grew and there was sunshine and there was no plague and there was no insects and it was plucked and harvested and it was distributed and it was slept and it was transported and it was set up and it's accessible to me you know when you appreciate the the having food you ever travel it's almost impossible today thank God you talk about being observant Jew in in test in but you travel anywhere in any of the 50 United States and if there's a supermarket it's got endless products with on it okay so it may not have a kosher chicken and kosher meat and kosher cheese section but go there's not one aisle in that whole Supermarket that doesn't have countless products that are Kosher from bread and baked goods and pasta and and and salad dressings and and you can make meals endlessly in yville that has a zero Jewish population that's not but sometimes you find yourself in a place and you're hungry you don't have a lot of food and you say wow the fact that that we as Jews today have so much and the variety and the accessibility and the availability and even with the prices the affordability even with the prices the affordability that's so I can't set aside three seconds to say when I bench I have to run away from benching I have to minimize the amount of times I ever bench rather than stand there or sit rather and say wow think about our shabas meals the benching at the end of a shabas meal normally you're like kids you're begging them to bench use a bencher you started three times again from the beginning one guy's benching so out loud it confused everybody else you have to start 14 times CU you're too lazy to get up and get a bencher for everybody else everyone has their own bencher and you know at the bench and you're tired you've already gone through three bottles of wine or four LS and you've got you know over eating sitting on the bottom of your stomach and you're exhausted it's Friday night you're passing out so your benching is like the most you don't even remember if you benched when you benched how you benched you got to the end of benching it's a pathetic benching and that's the end of the meal that we ate what goes into a shabas meal we're not talking about yesterday year where you had a piece of Kala and you got one spoon of soup and then you nibbled on some chicken and benching was what do they call it um no what you grandparents make uh like boiled fruit or whatever they call that compat I'm not knocking compat if you like compat not for me so that was your whole meal that was your whole meal was a a bite of bread a spoon of soup a little chicken and some comput and now bench I understand that benching you didn't feel such but think about our meals there were 14 appetizers and three types of meat two types of chicken seven side dishes four desserts that you made and the guest brought another three you had 14 varieties soda and three world class award-winning wines and and that meal that meal that you eat more on that Friday night then you did the dinner the rest of the week combined you can't say if you apply each of those adjectives to one thing you ate you still have a million more adjectives you have to say in benching if you were going to say that just covered the tricolored gilter fish with the salmon with the sushi salad that didn't even get you up to the soup course let alone the main with the appeti side dishes and you can't find the wherewithal to concentrate open a bench or what's the rush Friday night where you're going once a week to say wow you know what else you're including in I have a dining room table I have a tablecloth I have China and I have Crystal I have people I'm eating with I'm a guest or I'm a host I was able to go I was able to drive a car and make my way to the supermarket who could take that for granted today could find parking at the supermarket who could take that for granted today if you find parking during your Shiva week first of all you bench G but second of all you it's unbelievable what a braa so again think about all the other components that go into whatever we're making the braa on I have a car and I'm healthy enough to drive and I did the shopping myself and I was able to cook it and I have all the variety of it and I'm surrounded by friend and I have Crystal and I have silver and I have China and I wow I should bench for 4 hours I should s the E every Friday night it's unbelievable the Gratitude I should feel and all that's included in all it's there you get the orange you get the melon the cantaloupe and you say I got to peel the fruit I got to peel the cantaloupe I got to cut up the fruit it's miserable no says R you look at that peel and you say wow is so brilliant he created fruit with a peel because if the cantaloup didn't have a peel it'd be disgusting in other words when I peel it now I have the most Pure Clean sterile fruit I could eat all the washing under the water in the world can't make it as clean as when you remove the peel what you find so K built a case he put the packaging in when there's an orange and there's a cantaloupe so it's a pain it's a pain to peel the avocado eating a mango o it's it's an avod so there's an avod but you know what the result is I have a stero fruit I didn't it's unbelievable the packaging created it looks beautiful it looks beautiful and it smells beautiful it's unbelievable Z by the way what hasem did is so much better than what you buy in the store chemically produced The Packaging is not so great it spoils pretty quickly doesn't smell so great it doesn't look so fantastic loow in the dark K beats any day of the week over the manufactured industrialized glow-in-the-dark spoiling smelly food that we buy that's what we're eating is cloaked in the qualities of hem we've received it from a holy place and inside of it is deep deep spirituality deep deep spirituality this is RO H Berger spoke the other night for those of you who are there at what I thought was an incredible Tish a beautiful beautiful evening the Jews and the sh juice the is we could give sh every Wednesday morning from now till the end of time on the intricacies and Mina and details of some of the most complicated areas of what do you make on crispix what do you make most complicated areas of Al Ezekiel bread I come up with all the complicated ones right now there's a million how much pizza do you eat on a calone is there such a thing as a MOS roll how much do you eat of this and what order do you make bras in if there's food dos in front of you and you have a of food what what do you make first there's a million in one things you could learn that's the and it's important you should learn and we should have and we should be we should be strict and Vigilant to know the right to make the right BR to say it within the right amount of time and on the right quantity and in the right food and a very very very very very important that's the but there's the there's the the passion the romance the love and the relationship so that we can't just be so focused on the Mina and the details and the intricacies of the Bros but then when it comes time to say this so right so I sit in the Bas Med or I go to the she I spend a year going to a she an hour a week on I've got notebooks and notebooks and notebooks filled with notes on and then I go make a and I out a sh and I belt out a I swallow Theus even I have to make a on the that I swallowed even before I ate the food where's that's that's the other component the whole purpose the essence of why I'm making the so to come back to the analogy I always give so you buy the card and you write something nice to your spouse but you throw it at them here there's your birthday here's your anniversary card what do you mean I'm running out the door to go with my friends out to play poker out to the game out to the whatever here's your card happy anniversary say whoa whoa thank you you did the rules you bought a card and you underlined and even double on some of the words and you wrote a personal message you did the rules but then you delivered it in such so so casually so caustically you delivered it so so callously you throw it at me happy anniversary you can't take the moment to hand it to me happy anniversary love romance so that's says you learn all is beautiful you got to learn bras the opposite is also true you can't say oh I tell God all the time how much I love him I don't need to learn bras I don't need to make BR knows I love him I meditate on the top of a mountain and tell God how much I love him and that exempts me from no we're this our we believe that you have the details matter the details matter but the details matter and so does the concentration the kavana the relationship the romance component of it that matters when we say takes care of the whole world you think we're the only ones he makes food for what do the animals live off of what does the what does the plant kingdom live off of he nourishes everything in this world the little ant the worm the duck the lizard the crocodile the alligator the fish the bear the lion it all has what to eat some of them eat each other some of them eat vegetation but K created a world where everyone has its menu some good things eat the bad things to avoid the bad things eating our good things that we need to eat this is an incredible intricate magnificent system of Harmony that's beautiful that too when I make a saying Hashem thank you so much that you make this animal eat that animal to protect my food there's a million things to think about and that's and the world's never run out of food people may scare us it's going to if we don't treat the world properly maybe be true maybe not true but right now the world's never yet run out of food the earth and the sunlight and the oxygen it's not yet run out of food it's there so again very consistent with what he said last We R B is saying don't make a pledge right now that you're going to have you're going to concentrate on benching from beginning to end the way you do El on Kipper it's not going to last it can't happen you're taking on too much start and say you know what my bra is H the first bra of benching I'm going to try to concentrate on the whole benching I'm gonna do my best I'm GNA be there I'm gonna say it from the bencher I'm going to try I'm not conceding anything I'm going to try my best but minim the first benching that's my I think about my children my grandchildren their homes their a million think about those words how much to how much how much how much went into the meal that we just ate the people we ate it with what went into producing it to affording it to getting it to cooking it to serving it it's unbelievable so that's your homework for next week I got to run because I don't want to miss my flight but when you bench between now and next Wednesday to come back and Report we at least has on the first BR of benching were we able to think about not just the sliver of bread I ate but all the good that's going on on the Ambiance in which I experienced it to thank Hashem from the core of my being have a great