Do we have free choice? Is It so hard to see the difference between good and bad? - Rabbi Alon Anava

[Music] we had many many thoughts what we're going to talk about tonight we wanted to talk about my story we wanted to talk about masala we wanted to talk about emunah we wanted to talk about the four elements we wanted to talk about plants we'll talk about everything we'll get to it but we decided to talk about the foundation of belief of the foundation of judaism of the topic that if you don't know how to digest and address the right way then you are completely lost in your path when somebody's lost in their path the result will be unhappiness you don't have to raise your hands because they don't want to embarrass anybody but raise your hands in your heart and i'm gonna ask a question who can you say that there are a hundred percent no questions no doubt a hundred percent happy if you wanted to raise your hand you're more than welcome but you don't have to there are many questions the person needs to ask themselves every day one of them is am i really happy i can have a 15 million home are you really happy are you happy with all the metals those metal i'm talking metals cars that are outside are you happy with what you have on your hand are you happy with who you who you live your life with are you really happy the answer is by the way you don't have to answer me i will answer to you most people 99.99999 are miserable not not happy miserable and i'm not saying it to hurt anybody i'm not saying it i need to step on anybody's toes definitely not to sound arrogant or pretentious that's the reality and i see people's faces and i can tell you exactly the inside you know you say face in hebrew panim panim means plim the inside you look at somebody's face if you know how to read the face you know everything about that person so i'm not saying it shalom don't take my words in a negative way that i'm trying to attack somebody or shalom and sell somebody you can be smart and say i'll take these words to be educated and inspired the sad reality is that most people are unhappy now why are you unhappy because you don't have enough money in your bank account no are you not unhappy are you unhappy because your husband shalom sick or can't find your other half or can have children or whatever no it's all scenery the reason why people are unhappy is it because their soul is unhappy end the story if your soul is happy you're going to be happy we can finish this lecture right now exactly a week from today most people in this room and many other jews around the world will be fasting we're going to be commemorating the destruction of the second temple people think we are crying on a piece of real estate that got burnt we don't cry because a piece of real estate in the holiest place of the universe got burned down we are crying because our sanctuary was burned down my mikdash my sanctuary my structure is destroyed my own structure my mikdash dash is a sanctuary a temple why am i saying that because this is a 24 plus hour fast i don't know about you but most people when they start fasting first three hours okay no big deal after six hours a little bit of a headache after nine hours a little bit of a stomachache after 13 hours a little bit of weakness after 15 hours you already can seeing stars already some people know some people can do three days without eating proven if you don't give your body water sleep food what's going to happen the body will react stop giving your soul body your soul water and air and food but some will also bother you so most people are unhappy because their soul is bothered from inside and the soul is complaining why aren't you giving me some toran mitzvot why are you slandering all day long and lying and judging people the wrong way and so tonight i want to touch on one thing why many people are unhappy and don't take it personal to get insulted be smart and take my words to change your life a lot of people are unhappy because they're clueless they're lost they have no guidance they don't know what they're doing they don't know what's the next step and then they're asking everybody for advice and everybody's giving them the worst advice now they're completely confused and on the outside people look calm and centered and they know what you're doing but you so now don't take it personally but they didn't eat you know why because everybody comes to me remember i have a question a small question usually i never i never got anybody saying rabbi rabbi i have a huge question it's going to take two hours it's always a small question two minutes two minutes if i hear two minutes i sit down small question i take something to drink okay call my wife i'll be home tomorrow 15 years i travel around the world and i lecture i never heard one person say rabbi i need you for three hours and salon is going to be long sit down it's always like a minute or two really i don't know where what's your perceptive of time perception of time for me two minutes is 60 seconds plus 60 seconds end of story people are lost confused no direction and they think they'll go to tony robbins and and no not talking about tony robbins i'm just saying people think they can get some people are thirsty for inspiration why are you here tonight you think you're here tonight because you heard there's going to be amazing sushi no most people are unhappy because they're lost with that said we talked about it thursday we had a beautiful lecture in great neck wednesday we had a beautiful lecture in brooklyn we talked about all these different things to understand how not to be lost but tonight we're talking about something completely different we're going to talk about the major question that everybody has is if is there really free choice do you think you have free choice you don't have to answer me you cannot your head if you want you really think you have free choice in this world some people say no i have zero free choice some people say oh this is a this is a topic that we can go for days months years i have a one word answer for this question do you know or don't know if we have or if we don't have free choice you know what's my answer yes there's no answer so tonight i'm just gonna shed some light on it this is something that we need to dissect and talk for many many classes and meetings but tonight i'm going to talk about something very very particular hopefully it will broaden your horizon a little bit and you know what if you're able to jump on the wagon you'll be much more focused on what you need to do you're going to be much more on top of things that will cause you to be much less confused much less distracted and much more on top of your game each and every one of us came to this world with a mission if you want to completely jump out of the scene of the world we are on a stage everybody here is the cast there's a theme there's a story and now we're playing the show here and this is a short show only couple years few years 60 years seven years when the soul comes out of the body it finishes the show now i'm gonna really try to be as focused as possible and to treat as be as clear and as short as possible about this unbelievable topic but first of all where does the question even come from about free choice we only find one time in the torah the word choice one time the whole big million dollar question is one time and this word is uvaharta that's it and you should choose i'm sure you ever heard of it you should choose good you'll choose life you choose bad you choose death. that's what it says that's what it says in the torah now this is something that for us is hard to relate with and to understand there's only one entity that is perfect everything else is not perfect that entity we call it god we don't like using the word god because but for us to understand only hashem is perfect i know sometimes i know sometimes you look in the morning in the mirror and you think you are the perfect one but no no sorry sorry to break the myth we are far from perfect the only one that is perfect is hashem now words in hebrew don't know in english don't always make sense in hebrew it's called shalem shalem is whole complete why is hashem perfect and complete because hashem is not bound to anything and definitely not bound not to pass not the present not the future can you imagine a reality with no time now before i spoke about my near-death experience you know the first thing that so to say hit me when my my my soul jumped out of the body the first thing that hit me that i didn't hear anything there was no sound there was unbelievable silence be quiet now for 20 seconds maybe 10 seconds do you hear the engine of the air conditioning right right you hear a lot of noise now be quiet now for 30 seconds two minutes you'll hear a lot of noise some noise from the back a car whatever even if you are in a in a silence booth you still hear some type of noise in your ear that noise i don't know i don't know how it's not driving people nuts that's how white people are i don't want to say nuts but but because there's something buzzing in the ear all the time and that's only in this world in the world above there's no sound silence first thing that i felt in my nearest experience is unbelievable silence the next thing that i failed is i didn't have a body and the third thing that i felt is that there was no time can you imagine no time no watch no schedule i don't have to be anywhere i don't have to go anywhere no pressure no being late our life is so pressured with time seconds hours minutes days we can't imagine that when god wanted to create a world he had to create two things time and space mcconvis man place space where to put the world and the world i'm not talking about planet earth i'm talking about galaxies that nasa can't even imagine yet we call it space this is a dot when it comes to hashem somebody sent me not too long ago a video that you see our planet and then it goes bigger so you see the solar system then it goes bigger you see you know a greater part of the solar system and it goes bigger and bigger in some points it shows you different different suns different galaxies and earth is like a little dot and that's like it goes more and more the space where the kaloshva who created to put the world is nothing compared to the world above and the next thing of course is time god is not bound to time i'm sure you all know one of the major names of hashem you kevke we don't pronounce the name but if you break the letters of the name was is will be past present future i'm going to give you a little trick tonight to bring some some calmness to your neshama some peace into your soul get a picture or find it in a sidoo oh it doesn't matter where look at the name youtube for a couple minutes has to be in my face if you know how to meditate on these letters this will calm down the entire system most people put on their walls pictures of junk smart people put pictures of names of hashem some people put it on their on their body in a necklace avoi somebody does tattoos of the names of hashem by the way that's what they used to do many many years ago they would tattoo on their body names of the kalosh bahu to be able to perform miraculous acts but nevertheless meditating on names of hashem especially youth if you can look at that at that name shivatiya shema negadita mean look at it five minutes a day i guarantee you and focus on the letters guaranteed to you shh system comes down now with that said that hashem has no bound boundaries of time the letters of hashem is youth and and then hey so take the the two letters hey and one of you that's hayah right means right now presence takes through letters of hashem hey and that's the shame of hashem's name with the order different order past present future so if hashem is above time then we learn from that that hashem knows everything that i'm going to do right he's above the time so if hashem knows everything that i'm about to do i'm right now living in the present but in the world above the future already exists which means that when hashem is looking at everything he sees the past that's not a big deal he sees the present but he also sees the future because in the world above the future exists as we speak can you imagine this is a little bit of a mind game what do you mean if the future already exists so do i have rejoice if the script is already written who asked me here before if you can change the he can change something in your life i don't see her if you can change something okay can you really change something if it's already written no no i'm not asking for i'm not looking for questions for answers i'm just asking questions to i'm joking don't don't get hurt from my comments so let's go back to two sentences ago if hashem sees the future as we speak which means that he knows what i'm going to do so do i really have free choice the script is written already our sages say hakol safui everything is predicted but what does that continue but you get permission so if everything is predicted how are you giving me permission so we'll try to shed some light on this tonight imagine our car driving on the highway in the car is you you started from point a and you're going to point b right now there's a satellite somewhere in space tracking you driving why is the satellite tracking you because you put in the gps i need to go to this destination so the gps already knew where you started the gps know where you're going the gps is seeing the highway from above so it able to see your starting point what's going on on the road if there's traffic or not what's your destination calculate destination and traffic and tell you okay you'll be there in 13 minutes so the gps also knows the future right he knows when i'm gonna get there especially you go to waze or one of these sophisticated gps they can calculate they see the traffic how many times you go in the gps it tells you you're there in 13 minutes suddenly jumps to 23 minutes why because something stopped and the whole traffic stopped so you see on the gps a red line but the gps already saw it's predicting your arrival so much more so when the master of the universe is looking from above he's looking at a panoramic view of the beginning the middle and the end because he's from above not physically by the way which kind of goes together to when my near-death experience i always say i mean you really have to hear the whole thing i'm sure a lot of you already heard it i say that i also saw a panoramic picture of the entire world from the beginning till the end everything in between and sometimes i saw somebody like avraham walking in the desert with a stick i just saw the entire panoramic view of everything condensed into one point also to see how the end looks we're very close to the end we'll talk about it later because hashem but the canon has an overview of everything so with that said hashem knows what i'm about to do and if this is the case then do i really have free choice the answer is yes you have free choice the answer is very very simple you have free choice you have a hundred percent free choice not ninety percent or your hands is bent you have a hundred percent free choice even though the kadosh book knows what you're going to do he already thought three steps ahead but he but he says no no i'll give you you'll choose exactly like the famish famous mishna says akol safui everything is predicted but you have a rishu information so you have a hundred percent what do you need to choose you don't choose if you wear a white shirt or a blue shirt by the way that's not the free choice over heart about right either you choose good which means life will explain why good is life you choose bad means bad means death that's your choice not which color car you're gonna get not where you're gonna live and not if you're eating tonight italian or sushi now why do we have free choice and by the way and what i'm talking about tonight is very very on the surface we're just trying to shed some light about the topic and give you a few tools to leave this door with something some souvenir and later on there's a lot of what to talk about the reason why we have free choice because the whole world is built on one system that rambam is addressing and it's called a reward and a punishment just remember the ownership is a reward punishment is a ownish excuse me if the world is built on sahara monash must be free choice because then how am i going to get a reward if i tell you choose this or choose that if you choose good i'll reward you if you choose bad i'll punish you and has to be free choice but so we're going by the foundation of the belief of the torah that you do good you'll get rewarded you do bad you'll get punished that's how it is don't sugarcoat it don't distort it that is it i didn't say that many great sadiq said that but rambam elaborates on that rambam is maimonides and he says the world is built on uh punishment and reward sahaba rewards why for the ones of you who don't know he's the one of the greatest sages we have in our history one of the greatest name the dominating student of akiva another one of the giants he's the author of the book of the tsar he says in the song if you eat a free meal i now invite you to a free meal eat whatever you want then most people will be embarrassed that they got a free meal when you pull out that gold or that platinum american express i told me when you're eating like this most people are embarrassed why do i need to be now in the in the mercy of this person as well calls it bread of shame neha dexa that when i come and i feel um depending on the kindness of another person i'm embarrassed i didn't do it myself how good do you feel when you achieved something when you achieved something when you worked hard for it you better you you you are much more happy you're much more satisfied when you did it when you just get it okay some people say no just give it to me i i don't want to work hard let's shake it that's a lie when you toiled and worked hard then you get it so the dog says the reason why we have a sahabi orange because before the world was created all the souls were marveling the beauty of hashem receiving unbelievable abundance godly wisdom shafa pleasure that we can't even imagine but at some point the souls felt very uncomfortable very embarrassed in front of hashem saying to hashem you constantly give and give and give we want to give something back we want to earn it hashem says no problem i will create a world where you have a system that you work and you're going to reward the harder you work the more reward you get and that's it it's not about fair or not fair you work hard that's what you get and this is this world so in order for us to receive a reward has to be has to be a choice that i have to choose you choose what you want to do you choose good then the reward will be better you choose bad then the shalom now this concept in the teachings of the tsar is called nehamed sufa the translation of muhammad xufa is bread of shame but the the that's the title but really what it means it means that i get something for not doing anything and most people and again i'm talking very general most people feel much more accomplished if they actually did something and they earned it than just receiving it that's how it is now what is hashem really giving us hashem is not giving me a house hashem is not giving me health hashem is not giving me money this is nonsense this is the materialism of this world hashem is giving me what all of you want is a if you translate the word it's a blessing but really comes from the world word in hebrew means for the ones of you who are a little bit aware of agriculture what they used to do in the olden days and maybe they'd do it even today they would take a tree and then they would bring down one of the branches cover the branch and i know it would be the result another tree grows from here this is called that you put pull something down and from that there's growth so really is that you pull down something into this world we'll call it now for the sake of the class energy or in our terminology bracha i pull it down into the world and what's the result some type of growth can you imagine investing in a business and nothing comes out of it why do you need to invest in the business i don't know anybody who starts a business and says i want this business to go down to the toilet i want to lose money here i'm investing here only to lose if i boy if i make a dollar here you know any businessman like that i don't now how do you feel if you invest invest in a business and nothing comes out a year two or three nothing grows what kind of investment is that how do you feel when you invest in a relationship and nothing comes out how would you feel you invest in your spiritual growth and nothing comes out your physical growth you go to the gym you want to grow you want to get in shape you invest in something only because you want some type of growth same thing here what is the braha that i pull some type of shepherd shepherd means an abundance a blessing an energy into the world so it will grow something here you know why you want to grow in everything that you do because we are always pulled to our source for example later on i know that uh sean wants to talk a little bit about planets the source of fire everything has a source by the way everything has a root the source of fire is in the moon take now any take now a candle take now a candle and the flame is going up turn the candle upside down the candle will go right up why is the fire always going right up you ever tried i'm sure you tried it once at home how come any direction you put the torch on the flame the fire will always go up why because the source of fire is underneath the moon on the other hand taking our water now you saw everybody got water now right like as if we're in the desert everybody here we're getting water here it's like in an airline here drink something if you now take water pour it on the ground what's going to happen to the water not talking on this floor because this floor has lakka how do you say it in english i don't know how you say in english laca okay so it's on it take now this water pour it outside what's gonna happen to the water it's gonna go down and down and down and down it's not gonna stop by the way it's gonna go down you think it's only going down a foot it's gonna go down to the depth to the depth of what's called tehom abyss because that's the source of water the source of water is in the depth of the planet so water was always going to go down so we are always drawn to the roots fire is drawn up water will be drawn down so why do you aspire to succeed because our soul is going up towards my source so i constantly want to go up very few people they're in such a low level that they let go and they're depressed and sad and i don't want to do anything that's because there's a disconnection to the world above that's why people become depressed and sad there's a there's no connection to that so they don't aspire to go up but most people aspire if it's in business relationships and anything else so i constantly want to go to my source so that's where i will want to go so you want to invest in something why so there will be growth this is not a blessing the words in english if you translate them they don't work well when you you know ask now any person how would you translate the word mitzvah everybody in this room will probably say it's a commandment that's not correct by the way don't go to google translate or to some oxford dictionary commandment means mitzvah comes from the roots and the word in hebrew that is called sabta sauta is a connection unity when i do a mitzvah something i'm fulfilling a commandment i'm becoming united with god that's a mitzvah you want to be connected to hashem put filing on say amazon where is it observe shabbat there's 613 meters i don't have to give you ideas most people are sad depressed unhappy empty and so forth because they're not connected to hashem the right way maybe one or two strings is connecting them so it's affecting them connect yourself 100 to hashem you'll be happy healthy everything so mitzvah is not necessarily a commandment rather a connection to a ship same thing here same thing here that is not a blessing means to pull something down from the world above why do we say before we make any mitzvah what do we say means you pull down atta what am i pulling you at means so i pulled down god into the world now i'm able to connect right this is a short version of what it means abraha now i when i ask hashem for something shane please send me palmasa healthy kids wife whatever you think that when hashem gives me something in shaman i get a check in order for you to receive something in this world it means you have to receive it in the world above in the world above you receive it in a form that we call in the teachings of kabbalah or light now it's not a light like that by the way that's some misconception all comes from the word in hebrew to in light an illumination so in order for me to get up in this world a blessing that has to first be received in the world above then it will manifest into the world materialize into the world and either it will come into money it will come into health it will come into success it will come into happiness and so forth but first has to be received in the world above so what really am i receiving from hashem i'm not receiving money from hashem money is irrelevant to the nexama and to the world above then shema doesn't care about money that shema doesn't care about a mercedes it doesn't care about gucci and pucci doesn't care about all this nonsense you give your soul all this junk the soul is rejecting it the soul wants only the connection to the kalosh so what really am i gay getting from the canon is this spiritual light now is definitely not the time to elaborate what it means like but take this title that oh light means oh all means an illumination imagine now you're sitting here and you're dying to know some type of sickness about secret about a certain business and i have the one i have this information what a certain business you want to invest in you come to me you pay me a lot of money as an advisor so i will tell you what i know right you're going to be sitting like this writing every little detail this is i am giving you now something that i possess and i know and you want and you're willing to do a lot for it this is a godly revelation i want to hear from the some air try to go one minute without air can you go i don't know anyone that can go more than two three minutes without three minutes that's already exaggerating you can go a few hours without water a few days without water you know a few days without eating or sleeping you can't go more than two minutes without air you'll die why do we need air because the manifestation of this godly light this baja that i'm getting from is coming through air that's why i say many times in my lectures the motion of life is up down up down go to hospital look at a person that is attached to a monitor this is the motion of life up down up down enhancement alone there's no motion flat line no life same thing with the system that i enlivens me breathing inhale exhale inhale exhale you know how many times you inhale a day can you imagine one time skipping don't for now don't skip a few inhales you can't you can't go just inhale or just exhale you can go you have to that's the motion of life up down up down so when i inhale i pull something down so to say how did the kalos who put in a shama so when i need to summarize the idea of abraham what am i really trying to get from hashem we call it the bacha everybody wants a bacha you saw the line before when i was standing by give me a bracha give me this everyone says like as if i came with israel with suitcases here who wants a baja two for what's interesting me to me is a lot of people asking me for some people think that rabbis when they graduate rabbinical school the rabbi that gives them the ordination says listen don't tell anybody but here is the source of the baha'is when people ask you for the behold he will take one from here why asking me for her any person can give you a bracha can give a bag to yourself needless to say that of course you want a person that usually will be a little bit more refined than the average individual a little bit more holy and so forth but nevertheless you can give yourself but to summarize the point of the what i really want hashem to give me i want this illumination this enlightenment the term of kabbalah means oh i want to receive oh how do i receive it only if i work hard this is called yet you work hard you get it end the story no shortcuts when i grew up hashem my father was a very successful businessman he had a lot of money we lived in a very wealthy neighborhood all my friends got motorbikes when they were 16 i wanted a motorbike my father told me go to work go and work you can buy me five of them no go and work since i was 11 years old my father everything i wanted go to work and now as a child i was a very unhappy child i resented that why aren't you buying me you can buy me any car you want or any car i want no you go and work when i look back at it he did the biggest favor to my life because when i see people they grew up with me they're spoiled they're unsuccessful they have no backbone they can't do anything for themselves they call every two months to their father send me a check i was making money when i was 15. when i was 16 when i was 70 i'm told i was 27 when i was in america i knew how to make money out of air why because i was taught you want something you go and work you put effort you'll be successful if you don't put effort and you're successful it's check here it's a lie it will explode at some point it will sustain for a minute a year that's it two years then whatever it will go so what really do i want to receive from hashem is this illumination this enlightenment this all how by hard work why do the system operates like that because that cancels the embarrassment you know i started telling you a little bit about my nearest experience some of you who heard it you'll remember the part that i told you that i was thrown into a huge room dark room it looked like a stadium huge room i was standing there naked no clothes now i wasn't naked from clothes because i was in a body but my soul was completely empty naked the talmud calls it a naked soul because the same way that we are covered with garments our soul is covered with garments how do you acquire garments to your soul you do mitzvot in this world you do it you cover your shama with garments shalom you do sins you put stains on the garment can you imagine going to your own wedding with a 5 000 tuxedo or a beautiful wedding gown and the whole gown is full of ketchup and hummus and timeline it's embarrassing same thing in the world of love you do sins your souls full stains you know how embarrassing it is in the world above in that particular part of my near-death experience the shame was unbearable not pain no torture no no shame shame this is the worst thing that a person can feel in this world and in the world above allah so much more so what it means to feel can you imagine being embarrassed in front of a whole crowd of people you don't know what to do with yourself so why do we want to acquire the baha'i from hashem to unknow and to cancel any type of humiliation or we call bitul habusha cancel busha i don't have any bushy i don't want to walk into shaman and say i earned it i'm going to tell you a private story many years past so i can talk freely when i was 14 i was a very adventurous and mischievous teenager and young adult okay one day i'll share with you some real stories but nevertheless when i was 14 years old shemi rahel i used to at night wait till like two o'clock in the morning open the garage quietly not with the remotes i would dismantle it and push it up put my mother's sports car in neutral push it out all the way out of the driveway and run away okay 14 years old i used to drive all night flying on highways just imagine a 14 year old buffalo as they say and i would go pick up my friends we would drive we had a lot of fun she had a beautiful sports car and and of course the world works in a way that one point i got caught of course the police picked up on me they saw a car flying on 150 kilometers an hour and uh so i started to pursue i was able to get to lose them and then i went into some alley and whoop i i turned everything down and i slide myself you know all the way like this now so i won't be spotted and i see the police car going and coming back and going they're looking for me and i'm with the mirror like that and then they stop and they go into the alley and i'm like okay long story short come knock on the door drivers and registration please i say i don't have give me id i don't have long story short i get arrested and i get pulled i take him to the police you know how they found me because i wasn't as smart as i thought my leg was still on the brakes so the brake lights were on anyways anyways my father is being called to the police station for the hundredth time and of course i get amishabera and i'm sitting like this and being screamed at and anyways long story short a good friend came to the rescue spoke to the chief of the police there whatever somehow pulling some strings i was out because i was about to get in real trouble because the way it worked is that if my father would say i gave him the car he goes to jail and if he says i didn't give him the car then i stole the car anyways long story short pull some strings and i'm out okay when i reach 17 that's the age in israel where you can get a driver's license my older sisters their 17th birthday prison was to get a driver's license and israel costs a lot of money it's not like here that your parent teaches you you have to go through 40 hours of driving whatever anyways long story short my father says i'm not giving you nothing i'm not suppo i'm not financing your drive right driver's license anyway but of course when i turned 17 i was very upset but what did i do was summer i went to work where all my friends went surfing and partying i went to work and i worked my tours and then of course i had my own money nobody knew about it i paid for my own driver's license which took a long time and a lot of money it's not like here in america in israel it's not easy until you get a driver's license you have to drive a certain amount of hours it costs you every every driving every hour costs a lot of money long story short i get my own license i call my mother mom how are you good do you need the car tonight again i have a license really i call my father dad can you add me to the insurance of the car excuse me i tell them i have a driver's license i just showed up with a driver's license forget about the pro my parents were so happy proud wow i was so i did it i didn't need assistance i didn't need money i did it myself i worked hard to earn the money to do it quietly and i don't know anybody anything can you imagine the feeling it's not a feeling of disgusting pride it's a good pride i felt so i don't even know the words worthy whatever you can say now any word you want i felt wow i did it and you know what i was even more happy because i was able to prove to anybody especially my parents i don't need you not in a not nice way by the way my father was so proud he's like i see you're not even depending on me you're 17 you're able to do it by yourself but why am i saying that because if i had to get it like this this is embarrassing i have an unbeliev unbelievable throughout i live in ireland's fat one of the most holiest places in the world we had the school to build the yeshiva a woman's serenary one thing that we started doing we have these big shabbat meals where we host dozens dozens of people sometimes hundreds of people so we started having a lot of leftovers so we started by giving over the leftovers and then as it everything grew so the leftovers became meals and bokeh and we have a food bank we feed hundreds of people hundreds of people come to us to get either money either coupons either food whatever it is two weeks ago before i left one guy in his 80s a holocaust survivor he comes every thursday and i give him money to buy food money he's getting money some people just give coupons so i want to make sure they're actually getting food he might give money i told him listen i'm going for two weeks to america for a tour i'm not gonna see you he grabbed my hand an 80 something year old man crying what are you crying why are you going to miss me i'm coming man in two weeks he's like i'm not of course i'm gonna miss you how am i gonna eat how am i gonna eat he said don't worry what are you worrying i'm gonna give you money what do you pray don't worry my wife is here my son is here why am i saying that because i see people come to us and i see this is who to feel people but you know it's very easy to fall into the trap that like oh i'm the one who's feeding everybody and i see people coming in sometimes they're like this they're embarrassed you know they come late at night shabbat we have huge meals so i always tell people come on say shabbat take the food it's fresh it's good food homemade some of them come at 11 o'clock at night quietly i don't want anybody to see it's embarrassing to some people you know who is embarrassing to the ones who had money or had some type of a status and my and my wife's effort is no no if nothing we're not judging they feel comfortable the same exact thing why do we work hard in this world you don't want to be embarrassed in front of hashem you do not want to be embarrassed in front of the rest of the souls so we work hard in this world i'm not working hard to make money working hard in my refinement in my spiritual growth in relationships and challenges that i go through so i'm not going to be embarrassed in the world about this is called bitul habusha a nullification of any type of embarrassment now i have said before that when the torah says it says you should choose life do you know anybody that would not choose to live i'm not talking about construction on somebody now in the worst place in their life and shalom they don't live anymore for whatever problem they have or talk about a normal individual a regular forget forgive me for saying normal a regular individual that doesn't go through some who doesn't want to live any person you'll put him in a situation they'll do whatever they can to live so i need to choose to live what does it mean to choose to live i don't know anybody who goes to the doctor and says doctor just finish it well if a person is in severe pain or whatever but most people their natural their natural disposition is to fight for life who wants to choose death so why is it choose life you know i need to be told to be choosing life i don't need to to be told that what it means life what does it mean it's not life i don't need to choose to live or not means that i will have this connection with hashem that i will receive this godly revelation from hashem in a form of connection not in any other way that's claim that i want to be connected to hashem so when i say you choose that what you receive from hashem will connect you to hashem not disconnect you now why do you want to be connected to hashem because that's your source of happiness that's your source of anything anything that you're lacking in this world is because you're not connected to hashem the right way and of course many people say but i don't want to be like you i don't want to be fanatic you don't have to be like me you don't have to be fanatic i choose to do that because i know the value you need to follow the torah that's it there's no difference between me and you by the way whatever i have to do you have to do this no difference between us doesn't matter where where you were born yes fardy ashkenazi you're 40 you're 60. if you want to add on that go ahead and but nevertheless we all have to do the same thing if i don't don't complain that life is a full of problems sadness depression anxiety fear sickness no parnassar no bracha you're not connected take your phone now disconnected from the data from the internet or wi-fi now you can complain to the phone but you disconnected it well of course you you're not going to get any internet connection you disconnected it same thing with hashem so what does it mean bacharach choose life is that i choose that what i get from hashem is coming in a form of connection that i'm connected to the kaloshma and like i told you and i'll repeat again you don't have to look like this to be connected to hashem but don't distort what i'm saying by saying i'm religious in my heart and i'm not making fun of anybody but by the way but some people say i'm connected to a shame in a way you're not going to understand maybe i look like a fool but there's only one way to connect to hashem that's through to ramit's vote there's no any other way by the way and that's also for the non-jews by the way non-jews also have to connect to hashem through torah mitzvot we have 613 mitzvot they have seven and it's not really seven it's more like 70 they just might not know it that's our problem because we are obligated to be the like to the nations but nevertheless any other way you think you're connecting to hashem wrong so i'm not making fun of people but some people say i am religious in my heart don't be religious in your heart be religious in your actions and that's it that's how you connect to the kaloshvo end of story now what is marvit i said choose life so life i understand that's me being connected to that that's how i receive this abundance so what is marvit do you know anybody that choose to die i don't know anybody that choose to die even when you go 150 miles an hour in a fast car you don't say tonight i'm going to crash you might doing it from a little bit of irresponsibility to stupidity but you don't think that you're going to die you don't aim to die i mean i did some foolish things in my life but it was just some type of a rush jumping out of an airplane or whatever it is all sorts of nonsense i had a motorbike fast motorbikes that would go 230 kilometers an hour on highways like i'm like a nut case well it was a rash but i think i ever thought oh tonight i'm going to do it no so what does it mean you choose bad means what does it mean that everything that i receive is for my own good this is what's called in the kabbalistic turn harazon le cabel everything is for me whatever you're doing it for me for my own gratification for my own satisfaction this is bakarta bamavit you choose death it's not real life why are you doing this act because i want to get satisfaction because i want to be pleasured because i want to fulfill my needs and my desires this is called mavid in hebrew death not talking about the the end of the body functioning this is a misconception by the way because people think death is that you get buried in the ground and lights out and you're done when you're being buried in the ground it's not lights out that's when everything starts death is really an elevation in your spiritual level you finish here you get upgraded promoted to another different place if you think your life ends there then do a recheck to to your entire system when somebody dies they just start so real death when the torah is talking about mavid it means that the direction of my projection of the energy is not out is in i want why are you doing that for my own satisfaction this is called egoism if a person has egoism just for me me me that's marvin that's that the person will never ever ever be happy successful satisfied fulfilled nothing sadness depression anger everything anxieties why because the emotion is i want i want i want so bahar the baha'im that i want my connection to hashem to be my my how i receive from hashem is that a connection selfless marvit death is when i want it for myself again egoism now again like i said i told you death marvel is not the body existing ceasing to exist and the translation to marvel is death is momentarily pleasure right now i want a good steak do you have any memory from the steak no it got digested and that's it i want a nice vacation and again don't get me wrong there's nothing wrong with having a good meal or to have a vacation but when i wanted for my own self-satisfaction and most people they're going after this what's called hana otrigi ayotte little satisfaction moments of satisfaction either it's a second a minute an hour a week that's it some people save the whole year to go to a week vacation and if they fall in the wrong hotel their whole vacation is messed up now what do you do how many times you go to a restaurant you're starving you have in your mind i'm gonna have an amazing dinner your phone it was disgusting restaurant you want to throw up and you're sick for three days so all these momentarily pleasures this is called in lashon kodesh mavit you after like a moment of pleasure don't you want an eternal pleasure don't you want the pleasures that you get there's nothing wrong with pleasures don't don't take my words wrong there's nothing wrong with god created us to have pleasure we are a being that wants to be pleasured and there's nothing wrong with that that's how bro created us but the question is what type of pleasure do you want do you want an internal pleasure eternal sorry that's momentarily pleasure just right now that's called mavid you choose and that's where you get the here that's where you start choosing what do you want how do you want the pleasure to come momentarily or eternal now excuse me can you have both not really because i'm not talking about it again i don't want you to chance the shalom get me wrong there's nothing wrong with going to a good restaurant nothing wrong with that there's nothing wrong with going to a nice vacation there's nothing wrong with having a beautiful home and a nice car but that shouldn't be the highest priority and if i'm already having a good meal say because amazon say if it's for the kalosh bajo i want to now fulfill the mitzvah of the health of the cervantes and i want to do what's called onyx if you do it for your own gratification thumbs down you're doing for the kalosh bajo thumbs up you think facebook invented the thumbs up and thumbs down kalashnikov so all depends also what you do so we're going to elaborate on that a little bit more but i don't want you to hustle think that i'm telling you live a life of of poverty and don't go out anymore and don't go to vacations i'm not saying that nothing wrong with enjoying things in this world but it has to be in the right intention and needless to say that it's not to pleasure myself to do some kind of hashem we'll elaborate on that now the way it works is either you connect yourself to light or either you connect yourself to darkness you choose who you connect yourself to you choose good in life you connect yourself to light you choose bad you choose mavic death you connect yourself to darkness that's how it works light and darkness i don't know anybody that wants to be left in darkness now what does it mean what's the terminology of i'm not talking about the translation because translation of ra is mean or evil or bad means my desire for myself why are you doing that for myself not to hurt anybody's feelings i should have put the calmer comma then and then not to hurt anybody's feelings that was now on shabbat in a certain show and you know some shows they sell the aliyot the opening of the arc some people when they donate they don't donate because they want to support the show they donate because they want everybody to see that he said or whatever a thousand now what the hand goes up the same what are you doing it you're doing it because the real intention is to support the cause or you want everybody shafuni on us look at me i have a lot of money same thing you did the same act now where do you get more more of the mitzvah why nobody needs to know what you have what you don't have quietly so same thing here it means that it's i want i want i want and again i'm repeating myself over and over don't distort my words there's nothing wrong with having a nice car a nice house beautiful clothes nothing wrong with that by the way don't i don't want you to think that i'm telling you to live a life of no not telling you that but what's the intention what do i want evil mean doesn't mean mean and evil means that the razon the desire is for me now what is all the complete opposite the top of the the good and the life abundance unbelievable abundance abundance can be in health can be in happiness can be in money you know that some people have a lot of money money is pouring out of their eye their ears but there's no shepherd there why either they're holding it either it's not it's being misused either they're being sued now for that matter whatever it is it's not there's no shepherd in the money you wonder when you get an abundance that you feel that it's an abundance so bahar tabatov good is shepard now the way it works is the kadosh boho wants me to resemble him there's a famous book it's called tomer dvorah written by the ramakrabimoshiko devo code a great kabbalist that lived about 500 years ago in the city of tzfat wrote many many books of kabbalah one of the books that is famous that he wrote is not even a book of kabbalah but it's called tomirdvora in that book which i highly suggest to anybody to read i'm not so sure which is a good english translation but torah you learn in hebrew not in english anyways in my seminary learn it in english you can find the videos online but nevertheless he opens the book by saying that we have to resemble to our creator that's it a person has to resemble his creator he's merciful you'll be merciful he's full of christ you should be full of christ he forgives you forgive if you live by this code you are untouchable in this world successful beyond belief that's why one of the greatest name of all times what is is is what you hate when somebody does you don't do what will you hate when somebody does to you don't do it to another person this was actually said by by rabhil bethil when a certain gentile came to convert he came first to bechama he kicked him out of the window he told him teach me the whole torah on one leg what you hate that people do you don't to another person in the book thomas i told you i highly recommend to read it it's not a big book it's this thick but it's the foundation of success and he says just always resemble hashem whatever hashem is doing you do so what does hashem do he's a mashipiya mashpir means a giver did you ever get a bill from the kenosha you get a bill from con edison you get bill from atnd you get a bill from whatever you definitely get a bill from the city of new york with thousands of dollars of property taxes that i know you ever get a bill from the cashback for breathing no billy means you owe me this whoever sent you a bill i gave you life you owe me something i gave you air i give you air every day do you ever get a bill for that i'm sure at some point in this world they stop billing you for air but nevertheless hashem doesn't bill you he gives and gives and gives and he gives not to the righteous gives to the shame he gives to hashem how would hashem give to rashad means a wicked person but hashem is giving and giving no tent sheifer ugly died without any stop so you'll be a giver you'll be a spear you think that if you'll take you'll receive no the more you give you receive the more you give out and it's not necessarily writing checks by the way giving out can be your attention your time your personality your speciality your gift giving is not checks by the way there's nothing wrong with checks by the way but giving is where are you giving you're giving patience to somebody you're giving room to somebody you're giving somebody else a little bit more honor and respect whatever it is hashem is a giver in hebrew will call it mashbiya you will be a spear you'll be a giver you'll be very very successful now when we're saying you have you have to choose life it's not to choose to live rather to choose the good the good in everything now what does that really mean it boils down to something very very simple each and every one of us don't deny each and every one of us are subject and controlled by our vote our desires and the story don't deny it if you deny it you'll you'll go the completely wrong way in your life i am controlled by my desires if i want eat right now this amazing piece of steak i will be controlled by it i will move everything just to jump on the cookie on the steak and this is a small desire some people have big desires you use your own imagination what are your desire desire meaning there's nothing wrong to desire things you should desire your wife not somebody else's wife by the way means that i want something and i will kill everything i will move everything to get it now some of the desires are forbidden things it's called tavasura and some of the desires is permitted you can do it you can you can and should desire your wife or your husband i don't desire something that doesn't belong to you that's already prohibited but constantly what motivates me every day is my own desire i want this cookie because i want to feel this yummy taste in my mouth if you would know really what's in this cookie you wouldn't want to eat it because there's white flour in there there's sugar it could be something melchizedes or preservatives or some other junk in there you might feel a little bit tasty on your taste buds but then you have a stomachache or a headache or all sorts of other health problems if you really know what's in that cookie you might not want to eat it by the way you might say pass that it smells good but i don't want it so tava can be anything that i desire good or bad and all day long we have tavot now you don't have to tell me you don't have to to to now admit in public but constantly what's going on in our thoughts all these devote be true to yourself if you're not going to be true to yourself you'll never grow spiritually and you'll never be fully happy i asked you in the beginning if you're really happy it's because i'm controlled by tavot this this all day long i see i see how people behave what's going on in their thoughts relax relax a little bit take a deep breath sit down you don't have to jump on everything that moves how does what does it really mean overheard you should choose good control your desires control your desires you know i love love coffee i don't want to say the word addiction but i'm because i'm not addicted you know yesterday after the whole show you know when i had my first cup of coffee 10 30 at night i'll show this when i'm having coffee most people they want something jump on it most people wake up in the morning right away coffee right i teach at six o'clock in the morning we have a group of men that we're learning the yeshiva if you watch the videos of the classes in the morning you know what you see in the screen vapor all the coffee is coming up in the screen now we have a beautiful coffee bar in the yeshiva all the tastes on here i smell the african blend aroma on this side the turkish blend aroma ah you know when i have my first cup of coffee four o'clock in the afternoon this is controlling your tava don't jump on the cup of coffee right now you don't really need it it's a misconception the copy doesn't wake you up nonsense nonsense caffeine doesn't wake you up it will give you a boost and then it will go down twice the size have a good orange it will give you energy so caffeine doesn't wake you up it's because you like the coffee i live this is where i live my yeshiva is right over here the milky way is over there and in between the shiva in the midwest there's a bakery four o'clock in the morning they bake all the goods i see people in the morning going like that the croissant the ogela you don't have to go to the mikro to the bakery what a scent ah now what happens so the students come at six o'clock in the morning with their coffee and the whole table is full of hot glass you know so these chocolate yummy things and the cinnamon ones oh in the morning how do you say in america to die for can i have one of them and they're all i'm sitting like that but hashem i don't have a camera on the on the students did you come to eat or did you come to learn you know what happens when your jaw goes like this by the way the ear is closed you don't hear nothing sometimes people invite me to speak and they serving dinner no no no let the people finish eating then i will talk because the jar goes like this the ear doesn't work but don't you think i also have the desire to have that beautiful doughnut i mean we don't have donuts it's croissani men but you know what i look at that and i say what's in it sugar flour and all sorts of other junk it's not even healthy it doesn't even give any nutrition it gives you a stomachache tooth problems high cholesterol high blood pressure you hyper a little bit because you had too much sugar so then you get upset and angry and anxiety what good is that moment of pleasure and then the whole day i messed up so i had three seconds of pleasure from this unbelievable cinnamon whatever it is but then a stomach ache and i might not have a stomachache but the body is full of sugar i'm agitated the whole day i don't understand why i'm aggravated because you had two spoons of sugar you make a calculation if you're on the immediate gratification or not now why am i saying all that because i also have 10 vote i also want to have the coke the cookie and the coffee and i put my tail on a leash no coffee four in the afternoon and sometimes if i see the tava is a little bit crazy six o'clock in the evening or if you're gonna not behave you're not getting coffee today you control your tava now you do it with small things like a cookie and coffee you'll see that you control your big tailbone and i'm not going to now now kasper shalom give examples you know exactly which type what i'm talking about i think there's some kids in the crowd we don't want to make it rated r now you think what what's your mind thinking of all day long this is a tava put it under a leash let's see you control it now when you control your heart you chose life you chose good that's what it's all about you know what causes human suffering that you don't control your vote and the story put your tava again desire a lust put it under control you're not gonna suffer why do you suffer because you want something and you can get it so a two dollar cookie you can get but a hundred thirty thousand 000 mercedes that your neighbor has you can't get i wish you to have three mercedes by the way but if you can get it inside because you can't get it and you might never get it by the way so if you desire something that doesn't belong to you for sure if it's forbidden you're going to be miserable because you will never get it and you cannot get it this but a is i am going to take it to the rated r how many times a person is desiring another person it's not yours not your wife not your husband don't even go to that direction you are going to break any foundation you have in your life if you go to that department everything will shatter in your life for years even if you did it 40 years ago people don't understand i'm suffering well 40 years ago by the way you did something start doing chuva because if you did it 40 years ago i'll tell you 40 years to fix it so when i control my desire no no human suffering now don't take it the wrong way and thinking that you're going to stop having challenges challenges you'll have till the last day of your life but you're not going to be suffering you're not going to have fear and anxieties and worries and diseases and also you'll have a challenge nothing wrong with the challenge whether you know what's the challenge in your life it's the resistance you want to work out you need resistance that's how you develop where do we learn how to do that is from our forefather avraham avino avramovino in our terms was a billionaire he was the billionaire he was the jeff pesos of the generation avraham avinu have everything valve he had everything you can think of wealth he was a prophet he was deep everybody came to avraham avinu what did he do come eat tents everywhere all the desert full of tents come what do you want to eat veal what do you want lamb barbecue whatever you want here wine in the middle of the desert under one condition say thank you to shem i don't want to okay here's a 20 000 bill say thank you to hashem avraham avinu started introducing to the world that you get something you thank you appreciate and you also you work for it you know one of the mitzvot that is hardest for most people to do is to say thank you to hashem most people will drive half an hour to the other side of town to buy the pizza that is mesonot just not to eat the pizza there is a mochi and then has vegetarian i have to save your cut amazon you're willing to drive half an hour why don't you want to do the biggest mitzvah in the torah well not the biggest but one of the biggest ones avraham arena wanted to teach the world that you have to thank thanking me means appreciating appreciating means that you worked hard and you acquired it you didn't get it for free you didn't get it for nothing so when we want to conclude such a broad topic yes we have free choice the free choice is not if you're going to wear a blue shirt or a white shirt hashem already knows what you're going to wear this is irrelevant hashem doesn't care what shirt you wear your choice is not if you're going to eat today's sushi or falafel it doesn't matter this i called safui everything is already protesting what is the rashut what is the permission you choose how when in what way in what matter are you gonna do it with anger or you're gonna do it with happiness are you gonna do it calm or you're gonna do it angry you're still gonna go through what you're gonna go through by the way are you gonna lose your temper are you going to be calm the challenge the test will be there regardless you choose how you are going to drive to the same path you're going to be sitting two hours in traffic you just choose if you put a nice shoe torah and listen and he's sitting like that's hashem hashem gave me two hours to learn autorah or you're gonna sitting like this and go from one lane to another lane to another lane and you choose you're still gonna get there at the same time either you're going there relaxed and you enjoy every moment of the way or not or you uptight and pressured and angry and impatient you still it's still going to take you two hours to get there you choose how you choose in what form in what way but when we want to take it a little bit over the next level you choose what you do with your with this life hashem already decided who are you going to get married before you were born you choose if you're gonna appreciate this woman or the man you choose if you're gonna respect that spouse you choose if you're gonna be compassionate patient loving or not you don't want okay so you don't have a bad marriage very simple i'm not saying that marriage is simple and uneasy but you choose you have a difficult child shalom you choose how you do it he's going to be difficult regardless but you choose if you are loving him you choose patient you choose to angry to be judgmental you choose to fight you choose how you're going to relate with the situation you can sit back and relax and say listen it's going to take a day it will take a day i can change something can i change something oh you can't you choose how you're going to do it you choose to be happy you can look at something and say i'm miserable you can choose you can look at it and say i know i choose to be happy why something good is going to come out of it so your choice is not again points in your life you can't change your life your life is really predestined but you choose the good you choose to connect to the kalosh boho now when you follow everything that i told you tonight if you want i will sign to you i guarantee to you life will be much better you'll be happier you'll be more successful you'll be more content you'll have better relationships everything is going to go exactly but you do it in a nice way i guarantee to you i didn't say it's easy but you choose how to i can give you now so many different examples how to relate to a certain situation you can complain and whine and but that's the situation are you gonna change it no so you choose how you're going to do it either good or bad so when we want to conclude yes there is free choice and free choice is not to choose necessarily like i told you a blue shirt or a white shirt you choose how you look at the situation how you relate to the situation but when you do the right choices life is becoming much less of a problem now i know you're looking at me and thinking that i'm going to tell you to become religious i'm not telling you that i i am telling you that we all as jews have to do the same thing that's what i'm telling you you choose what to do this is another one of your choices but nevertheless i am telling you choose to be happy choose to be successful choose to connect to hashem in the right way choose to you're already here i have a kind of a motto i'm already stuck in a bad situation make the best out of it i'm already here must be that i was predestined to come here you know how many times i got in situations in my life that i couldn't understand why we just talked about it before two years ago i got stuck in florida in hurricane irma what a disaster but i'm already here i'm already here let's do something good about it hashem want me to be will it work if i now get upset and uptight is it going to help me no so why you shoot yourself in the leg sit back relax see everything is good hashem specifically brought you here and you make a quick choice in your life you want to choose good or bad you're already here i will never be satisfied like i told you i want you to leave this door tonight with a change in your heart a change in your mind that you can call me tomorrow in a week or in a month and tell me you know what i'm a much happier person thank you you're able to do one little adjustment in my perception that i'm a little bit of a happier person i don't see things so bad i'm not so judgmental i don't get so angry so fast i guarantee to you i will repeat it as many times as you as you want life will become much better you'll be more happy more self self-worth you'll see more behind your life see things are moving the right most people their life is stuck why because i am directing the energy here instead of there and what is the key like i told you you become a giver you give the more you give the more you're going to get the more you're going to give out give some patience to your wife 20 minutes relax ask her how she is you'll see you're going to get much more as they say the famous cliche make your wife a queen you'll be a king but all these cliches are built on something don't think you're gonna lose something if you give you're never gonna lose if you really give but give genuinely if it's giving for the sake of yourself fake give genuinely i guarantee it to you hashem will give you three times as much hashem has no limits in anything not in money not in health not in panasonic not in nothing people think that if i hold it tight no the more you give but give genuinely hashem will give you assert money so i'm going to give you abraham i know we talked about the baha but i'm going to give you a bacha because you're already here hashem should bless you with great happiness great success peace in your heart peace in your soul and hashem should give you the gift that you will be able to choose only good [Music]