Parashat Lech Lecha - Why is G-od testing us with hard challanges? - Rabbi Alon Anava

every person throughout their life finds themsel in a place that nothing is moving it can be in your spiritual growth that you feel that you're in the same place it feels like you H can't get past a certain point it can be in business it can be in relationships it can be in so many different things that you find yourself standing in the same place nothing is moving no success uh like as if not nothing is moving everything is stuck and it seems that there's no meaning or no results to your efforts and that can happen like I said in many different things and then of course comes a big question so what's the point of what I'm doing or why am I putting any or am I even in the right way is everything that I do worth it and one should not get to a point or a lot of people have that fear that they will get to that point that will come the day at the end of their life and they look back at their life and say uh I didn't do anything or I wasn't successful or I didn't achieve what I wanted and I had goals and aspirations and desires and this question can be asked by most people but I know for a fact that a lot of people find themselves in a part of the middle of their life and could be now that it will be applicable to many people who watch the class that you feel that nothing is moving everything is standing in the same place no movement no success in my efforts no results I don't see anything going on I put a lot of effort if it's in a relationship I put a lot of effort nothing's happening and uh and many people who focus on their spiritual growth find that too that H listen I do chuva I wake up in the morning I pray I eat kosher I learn tah I give charity and nothing is moving it seems like I'm going backwards the point is that many people come to a point that they feel that what is my effort worth I don't see any results and the answer to all this is going to be very clear in today's class [Applause] [Music] in this week's Paras we get to be introduced to abah aino abah aino that you would say the majority of the world is his offsprings he's the not for nothing called ainu our father is the father of ab father of Many Many Nations it's not only the father of the Jewish Nation I would say easily that 2third of the world are the children of abrah aino and abrah aino I think is the most perfect individual to answer all the questions that I asked before he's the perfect candidate and you know in Shalom when a father dies could be a mother too but when a father dies there's a eulogy everybody talks about the kids talk about the father but they only say the great things that he did i' never been to a funeral that somebody said you know he was a horrible father he didn't give us anything oh what a lazy bum never woke up to work even if the person is a complete loser the eulogy is like oh he was amazing and what he did and after people die you think they they were the the best people in the in the world but with all jokes aside when shom a father dies and again can be a mother don't take it personal we're talking now about abrah ainu so I say the word father you mention the great achievements that that person did and abrah ainu exactly like his his name ainu which means our father as I mentioned many times many great people in our past they got a title so we're talking about the first man in in in the world Adam you know you say so got the title ainu there's no other person that has that title there are many who have similar title but a who else do we have aino so if Abraham ainu is our father then what can we take and what can we learn from this figure that the Torah is introducing to us in this week's par and I can tell you we can take a lot abah ainu is a very special individual in the beginning of the Paras the Ranon not myones he asks a question what what is so special about Abino I mean the torat doesn't tell us anything about abrah aino if you noticed in many many other cases before the person is introduced then there's kind of like a background and a resum talked about but abah aino the Torah doesn't say anything about abah aino nothing it says it doesn't say nothing special about Abraham a and then we introduced to him if you noticed in any case in the Torah before the Torah is introducing to us a certain individual it gives us some type of a background about the individual and abah a is the only one that we're not getting any background and just to give you an example now we're talking about AB about it says a lot of Virtues about him he was created in the image of God and talks a lot of good things about him or now we read about no he was no found Grace in the eyes of before we we we in we before we get introduced to the individual the Torah comes and tells us a few things about him or if you go a few weeks forward about Moshe rabenu it tells us before we know anything about Moshe Renu it's giving us description how he grew up in the house of par one day he went out and saw the of Iran and he right away interfered and stopped from the if you remember the whole story with the Egyptian man so the Torah is introducing to us a strong individual a brave individual a hero a leadership so almost any individual that the Tora is introducing to us it will come with some type of a background who's that person why is the Torah talking about what do abah ainu was the only person in the in the history you know how many other great sedim were in different times and the Torah doesn't give too much time look for example now we just learned par no right before Noah there was another great sadik doesn't talk about about him doesn't give him any credit or anything it says saying in other words was obviously much greater than that he got the focus why does the Torah choose to say the story about this man and not about this man so obviously the Torah when he chooses an individual to tell a story that's there's a reason for that and now that we see that Torah is choosing abrah a not only to tell story he becomes the father of all Nations but nevertheless there's no preparation there's no introduction about abah Ain it just says in last week's par that he was born to and that's it and suddenly he's 75 years old and boom and Hashem talks to him usually again like I told you before the Torah introduces to us a certain individual it says to us what did the person do gives us some background and about the personality abrah ainu nothing but nevertheless a he's called abrah ainu he's the father of many nations aim a father of many nations and only that I mean you can argue with abrah ainu with his righteousness and his level so how come the Torah is not giving an introduction to abrah aino so of course in order for us to learn something from the Torah first we have to present some questions the first question if the Torah is not giving us any background about abrah aino so why is the Torah choosing abah aino okay might one might say Okay obviously there wasn't any other individual in the generation but that's not a sufficient answer first question why abrah aino why hasem chooses abrah aino second question why is the Torah hiding from us information about abrah aino that we're introduced from him in the age of 75 suddenly the Torah is hiding and not revealing information important information about abrah aino why and third question that I'm sure everybody have is why does AEM try Abraham ainu so many times why does he test Abraham ainu to a point that Abram ainu is the symbol of all tests why why the tests and why Abraham Ain I mean we're all challenged all day long you can say it on yourself why am I challenged with tests which is is really what I want to talk about in this class is the introduction that I gave maybe it wasn't clear enough that one should ask the question why am I challenged all the time with all these challenges what what did I do now if you feel that you are not so righteous and if you feel that you're not really following the Torah then you say okay you know I'm not 100% but assuming that you feel feel that you are a good person you're honest you don't steal you don't hurt you don't slander you try to follow the Torah as much as possible and then you face all these challenges I'm sure you asked yourself not once or not twice why why is what does a went for me why am I challenged now with this Challenge and with this and now I have to deal with this individual now I have to deal with this case I don't know about you I ask these questions many times why do I have to deal with this challenge right now what's the purpose did I do something and now I'm getting uh the taste of my own medicine or maybe it's just AEM trying to see my patience or my forgiveness or what what is theem trying to to do here the fact is that almost everything that happens to me I ask myself what does AEM want from me and that's a very healthy question to ask I'm not asking it in a whining way I'm asking myself okay here's the situation what does AEM want me does AEM want me to be now firm strong and to fight back does AEM want me to step back does a want want me to be humble what does theem want me to do here that's what I ask myself in any situation so to understand all this I'm sure many can relate with what I'm saying so we have a few questions that I ask first of all why abah Ain what's a special second of all why is the Tor choosing not to tell me information about abah AO and third of all what is the significance of all the tests what is hasem challenging hasem so much and what is Hashem trying to to get out from these challenges I mean after all really when you see the story about abrah aino he went through so much why need to test him more we're going to review his life soon you after 75 years of his life that he goes against the entire world you still challenge him what is theem trying to derive out of these challenges and of course what is that going to do with me and how is that affecting me so to start we have to understand that the Torah is not telling us any information about AB ainu besides where he lives and and who he married and who he was born to like as if we're from Social Security or and I need to know who cares who you married and who you were born to the Torah reveals to us where he was born and who he married and and and all that that's it and right away that's how the par starts suddenly millions of people in the generation is chosen by God andem talks to him and tells him go out from your land from the place of your birth your birthplace and from your father's house leave okay many people don't pay attention they just read the the lines and continue but you have to stop for a second and to realize two things a like I said before why why are we not getting an introduction abouto Sun get out more than that there's a hint here that there some some hint here and the hint is very simple that this family is not a regular family now I know a lot of people don't necessarily go deep into theim to the commentary but sah was Sister there's different opinions in the in the in the commentary exactly some say that ter had another wife and Sarah is the daughter of that other wife uh this differ opinions but when abrah a told down the road that he's that's his sister he didn't lie he she is his sister not from the same mother but already we see that there's something different in this family abrah ainu takes his step sister half sister to be a wife then we see uh the death of haran a death a young child man before the father we don't see that in the Torah first uh you can maybe if you go really throughout the entire Dynasty under Adam you might find that some son died before the father because if you remember in they all live till like 8900 so if a son died when he was 600 okay but he had a full life here we're talking about a young man haran was a young man so it's the first time we introduced in the Torah to a death of a Young Man died while the father was alive and another thing that we're introducing here that that suddenly the whole family gets up and leaves I mean that's not the Holocaust it's not the Germany in the 1930 that a family just gets up and leave and it's the first time that we reading the Torah so we're getting all these hints that something is unusual with his family and then you can come and say even more interesting uh question here Hashem tells tells abam sorry the translation I will bless those who bless you and those who curse you I will curse right in the beginning after he tells him leave he tells him I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you now who would you say such a blessing to somebody that's being cursed right why would AEM tell abrah Ain oh whoever curses you I will curse him saying in other words somebody's cursing abrah ainu abah ainu is under some type of an attack comes now the question that we need to ask who curses abrah aino and why why is abah AO needs hashem's protection that whoever will curse him will be cursed so what like I said before we have some hints but nothing is revealed we meet an individual who's 75 years old who's married to his step sister or half sister however you want to call it his nephew his brother dies in a very early age they flee from what's going on here well we missed a few chapters before we missed a few episodes and we don't understand and then talks to hem like as if I'm talking to you so in order to understand what's going on here let's go a little bit into the details and see what's going on what you can tag abah ainu with is that he's the first Rebel right you can maybe say that n is the first Rebel that's how he got his name but this individual abah we see that he's the first one who goes against everybody we didn't meet that in anyone else not in not in even not in no no just built an ark he didn't go against the generation abrahamu goes against the entire generation how all the generations were idolators everybody in the generation were were were Idol worshippers in a way that it was there's no other way of exp there there was everybody worshiping idols and abah aino some the Hebrew but the commentary explains means that he was standing everybody was standing on one side of the river and he was standing in front of everybody imagine now one individual going against the entire world right now with no fear with toll determination now if you looking at the force of the entire Generation all idolators let's look at their Idols what was so significant about the idols of the entire generation because every person made his himself his own Idol it wasn't like that there was one individual one diety and everybody went to that diety you would choose whatever Idol you want that was what was popular you go into the target of Idols or whatever Walgreens or whatever store you have and Best Buy and you go and you choose an idol so one was so significant about all the idols that these Idols you could see with your own eyes it wasn't like a spiritual things kind of like what abrah ainu believed in in something that you can't see all the idols you would be able to see this Idol is for futility this Idol is for sustenance this Idol is for this and that and I know I'm sure you know the story that the father of Abraham he had a whole chain of idol stores he was in the Idol idol business and and he had a a huge store in the main city inim three stores three floors the midash says it was three floors first floor was Idols made out of metals second floor all the idols were wood third floor all the Idols are from Stone you would go there would be like a mall of Idols whatever Idol you want I want this one I this that one that one what is this Idol for oh this Idol is good for this thing this Idol is good for that thing that was the theme of the entire generation and I'm sure you know but I will tell you again the story Abraham ainu goes and works for his father in his idol store and one day his father ter goes he goes on business trip and he goes to buy new Idols he needs to he needs new inventory and the story is that a woman goes comes into the idol store she sees abrah ainu she comes with a few fruits and vegetables and she says I want to give this offering to this Idol so Abraham AO takes a metal rod he starts Breaking All the idols in the store and then he take goes to the biggest Idol made out of stone and he puts the rod the metal rod in his hand ter comes back and he sees the entire store all broken into pieces all the Idols are smashed from small to everything he smashed the entire store tells AB what was going on here I told you to take care of the star says you know what happened this woman came in with an offering to give to this Idol and as she gave this Idol this one started hitting this Idol this Idol started hitting him they all was fighting and there killing each other so says are you joking with me this is Stones they can't move they can't do anything you're telling me that was hitting they were hitting each other so AB tells you and this is what you believe in you're believing in stones that can't do anything so abrah ainu was very rebellious and of course the rumor went very very fast around the town that abah ainu the son of ter who was very very close to Nimrod some even say he was one of his Generals in his army but nevertheless he's like one of the biggest manufacturers of idols and his son is going out it's almost like now you'll say a big the rabbi of the generation his daughter is walking around half naked I don't know what the son is doing this and that so the news came to Nim very very fast listen we have a problem here there's one guy here he's a very bad influence on all the youth he's going and telling everybody the Idols are nothing and he's making a whole campaign so of course Nim summons Abraham aino what are you doing so Abu started challenging nahu is an older man it's not like a 12y old and started challenges Nim and Nim says I believe in the god of fire so tells him why water is much stronger than fire water takes out fire why don't you believe in the the idol of water so says you know what you're right so says so if this is the case then you need to worship the clouds because the clouds is what bring water is they're stronger than the fire and he almost convinced and then he says but if this is what you want to worship you should worship the wind because the wind is what moves the clouds so n is like oh you know what it makes sense what you're saying he says okay so if this is the case then you should worship the sun this is what makes the the clouds The Vape and the water comes down and starts playing with him at some point the is like stop it already with your nonsense what are you trying to do so he tells abah I believe in the fire and that's it so and he tells to Abu let's see I'll throw you in the fire and we'll see what happens so of course accepts the test n throws him in the fire and what do you know nothing happens AB walks out of the fire now don't imagine like a little furnace or like a little bonfire he thrown him into aanan is like a massive structure with with unbelievable heat of fire AB walks out of the fire now the story says that haran abah's brother was standing there too so Nim looks at haran and says you with him haran is like of course he sees his brother going out of the fire of course I'm with him the problem was that didn't have the same like AB he still said maybe n is the the right one so of course he didn't go into the fire with the same of threw him in the fire and he didn't come out he died in there because AEM he he made a deal with aeman made a deal if AB is right then fine but if n is Right making deals you either believe or you don't so withan was thrown into the fire and it didn't work he didn't come out of the fire so needless to say you can understand now a why does the man die in an early age he thought he's in the level of abah ainu he wasn't he didn't have the samea the same belief and now you can understand why the family had to just get up and leave can you imagine now the word goes out on the street that abrah ainu is going and challenging him it's like now you'll go to challenge the the ruler of the world now can challenge now Trump let's you go challenge him him now Biden there's nothing to challenge you saw the jokes that now there's a picture of Biden holding his head he says oh no I think I I voted for Trump so that's not a world leader that you can then that might son can challenge him but at least Trump somebody to challenge can you imagine now haran coming to Nim so the whole family had to flee the whole family first of all after the death of of haran they all to pack their bags and and flee because everybody would go against them so now we see we're getting a few answers first we understand why haran died when he was young now we understand why abah had to pick up his family and get up and leave because they weren't so popular inas and now we can also understand why abah ainu was chosen by hasem not for for nothing Abraham is a gibor he's a hero you know what it is to go against him R to go against everybody so Abraham ainu is strong he's heroic his strong characteristics a man of Faith self sacrifice mes look what a what an individual abrah aino so now we're going back to the same question so why isn't the Torah saying that why couldn't the Torah dedicate three verses to say Abraham ainu was a very strong individual a man of Faith a man of strong characteristics a man that self sacrifice great why can the Tora give him some credits and besides that now we can even ask again even stronger so what's the whole point of all the challenges in the test that goes through goes in front of nim in front of the entire world gets thrown into the fire what more do you need to test him didn't he prove that he's with you Hashem isn't the test should be over I mean who else in the history of mankind did what abah ainu did up until that point so why do you need more challenges tell abah ainu you did amazing go and retire go and sit and enjoy your wealth now you starting a whole series of challenges 10 tests now the question is even more stronger why does Hashem doing that abah is already old leave him alone he already proved to you Hashem that he has full faith in you that he's willing to go against the entire world going against imod who was the king of the world I don't know I think abah AO proved himself enough let him retire why are you challenging him more and then we have the to ask why are we challenged all the time so let's H talk a little bit about the concept of the 10 challenges that Abraham ainu had I'm using the word challenge but the word the Tor uses n not tests 10 tests so let's see what hasem told aaham and then did because the idea behind these 10 challenges is to take to abrah a what has promised that's mean it's almost like me coming to my kid and telling him oh I'll give you here here's the lollipop I'll give you the lollipop or here's the toy that you really when he wanted and as the child comes to take it or he takes it for a day or two I take it back what so why does theem promises abah a things and then he takes it away that's the idea of the challenges if you want me to summarize the entire thing in two sentences the the concept of the 10 tests is forem to take what he promised so if you if you go through the promises let's go quickly from the promises the first thing that hasem he promises the land right he tells him he tells see this land I'm going to give it to you that's the first promise second promise he promises him honor respect blessings whoever you will bless will be blessed and the third thing that is promis to you're you're going to have kids the half the the land will be your kids right he tells him your Offspring your I mean the translation will be your sperm but your kids like like multiple like the sand of the of the earth you're going to have kids as they say m from wall to wall so he promises him the land of Israel he promises him honor respect blessings and he promises his kids these are the promises now if you go by the history the first thing that he promises the land of Israel abah goes inan how long was he there right away we read there was a famine right away he didn't even he didn't even put his tent down down he goes into the land of Israel boom famine like there was never was something like that what does he have to do he goes to MIT so what kind of Promise is that I'm you tell me I'm going to give you this land and then I have to go down to MIT then he promises honor him and Cav honor respect he comes to MIT he's a prisoner they stop him in the border the immigration they take Sarah and they're like who are you and if he would dare to say he's the husband they would kill him he has to like go like this and hide on the brother and they throw him to jail that's the honor that you promised what honor the Torah doesn't say he was in MIT for a very long time no honor no blessings no nothing and then you promise abah a kids till the age of 86 no kids what kids what kids did he have and who does he take care of as a kid his son-in-law lot and then lot gets kid kidnapped Abraham has to go out to save him and wage war and to put his life in Risk what from the promises that hasem told abrah ainu actually happened nothing nothing happened just problems and literally till the age of and you have no kids then starts a whole chain reaction of challenge after challenge after challenge so comes from here uh a big question what's this trait this this attribute that Abraham ainu has that is so unique to Abraham aino obviously abrah Ain has some type of attribute some type of trait that is unique to Abraham aino and again let me remind you the the the question we asked before why why is the Torah hiding it why is the Torah not just telling us you know on on every individual that we read up until now he was a even on everybody gets like some explanation why is the Torah not revealing to us what is so unique about abah aino and not only that how does hem refine this quality this attribute that abrah have through the challenges so the question is what is the significant of the challenges and what does AEM do with these challenges to refine or to reveal this unique attribute that abru has that obviously the Tor is not willing to tell us about it now we can understand from all this what gives us the that is called after all most people are faced with challenges every day every day I mean I don't know about you I talk with people every day and like I said it not once and not twice I get hundreds and thousands of emails and whatsapps and messages every day and rarely once a few years ago I used to say I never get any good emails so now some people started sending me emails everything's okay thank you for the ones who do it it's only like four or five that did it 99.9% of the messages that I get is disasters nobody emails me and tells me Rabbi don't ask I got married and I found a wonderful wife and my kids are amazing and unbelievable and not just wanted to report life is great I don't get emails like that maybe other rabbis get them I get the emails that I open the email it's like four pages of a sobbing story that it takes me first of all two hours just to read the email with with stories what people are going through these are the messages that I get one time I was I take some some calls people call to ask questions or to cons a consultation or whatever and again it's on the same level one time one day I was taking one phone call after the other and it happens to be I I don't hold the phone like this it's on speaker so my wife happened to be walking in the room out of the room into the room out of the room have the few hour she was like how do you listen to all this all day long how do you don't become yourself depressed just from listening to people what people tell you why am I saying that because the average individual deals with Unbelievable pain Unbelievable traumas challenges that you can't even imagine but they still find the K the the the the power the energy the motivation to continue to continue going very easy to give up and say that's it I can't take it anymore but somehow we have some type of power that allows us to do the command that got is so from this we can understand where we getting it so in order to understand what's so special with Abraham ainu we have to understand that the power of Abraham ainu or the greatness of abah ainu is not in what he did rather in what he didn't do I'll explain abrah ainu did some amazing things he went against the entire generation went against n went with true IMA Into the Fire and many other great things but that's not what what makes him so great what makes him great is from the things that he didn't do Abraham ainu and this is where you need to focus on Abraham ainu was the first one who obeys and that's it he's been told and he does that's it no questions asked and not only that he's the the first one he's one of the only ones who just gets a commandment and he does that's it so when I'm saying that abah what made him so great is not his great great actions rather the things that he didn't do that's what makes him great from the things he didn't do the real power is not when a person goes with his truth all the way to the end because we looking out Abino and we can say okay he go he goes with his truth all the way right I can now myself take my truth and go with it all the way right you know where it's going to get me two bullets in the head that's it oh maybe another form of death if I take my truth and go straight with it I take half of my truth and go straight with it and you'll see what happens I'll have my videos get off and many other things that happen along the way that most people don't even know so the real power is not to take your amuna and to go with it all the way you're going to get yourself killed in most cases the real power is whoever and I'm now saying something extreme let's now take it to the level of a regular individual so to say not a person that can go now and fight the entire world many times you can be in a relationship and the relationship can be with your spouse can be with your boss even and in many of the cases I know people that will take their truth so to say and Go full force with it okay so we'll get you fired or maybe you'll achieve something with it or maybe you'll make a point but the real power is not to take what you really believe in and go full force with it that's not going to get you much the real power is to take is to is whoever's able to to leave to just that's the name of the how many times you are in the middle of an argument or a debate or a fight a big lawsuit or whatever it is it makes a much bigger person to say I stay back mainly you see that in fights between a husband and wife everybody goes head tohe and then of course in any other type of fight that people go head-to-head it takes a much bigger person to step back than to go full force we think we perceive oh I'm going to go and RAM whatever is in front of me you think that is the force no the real Force the real power is the person who's able to turn around and to go and you know why cuz it's against our nature our nature is to I'm not going to you know take the short end of the stick or what we say in Hebrew and fr I'm not a frier I don't even know how you translate frier in English I mean if you yeah if I don't want to say that word but if you translate the word frier is a sucker and many people say I'm not going to take the short end of to stick in this argument oh no I'm putting my foot down okay it's not going to get you far in most cases you going straight ahead face to face head to head that's not going to get you far it's against our nature to just say I'm sorry I I apologize I'm out that's why the real power the real strength is for a person who knows just to go that's the name of the par just you know me in how many arguments I could have probably won but it would mean taking a lot of effort a lot of a lot of problems on the way and I would win but that wouldn't get me anything it in many cases it makes you a much greater person to just step back and say okay fine I'm not going to get into this argument and like I said it's very very hard because it's against our nature to step down what you want to strive to and this is the power that abrah ainu gave us is to be able to reach to a level to say I was created to serve my master not for myself everything is for Hashem we usually tend to do things for my benefit I everything that I do is to satisfy my own needs whether it's to go and eat something make money buy something most of the people what drives them it was what's benefiting them what is it what good is it to me what does it do good for me that's why charity is so hard because charity is about somebody else not about you although a lot of people know how to twist it that even when they give charity is for themselves to greaten their own name to get a greater tax deductible receipt or whatever it is or to to come out as the hero I did it but the true true charity it's about you not about me that's why it's very very hard to do certain acts of kindness to write a check sometimes it's easy especially if you have a lot of money but to invite somebody to live in your home when you have a one-bedroom apartment and they live in your room and you're on the couch and so forth and you do that's not about you about the other person right now and that's just one one example out of many the point is that it takes a much greater person to be able to think of another person and not themselves and to be able to say I I can back off here it's not about me and then of course to reach to a level that you can clearly say I was created only for one thing I was created to serve my master not to serve my needs not to serve my desires not to serve my my own lusts and and things that I want that's what drives most people by the way most people what drives them is their their own needs very few people what drives them and what they're focus on is I'm here to serve my master I'm here forem and that's really abrah aino he didn't ask anything for himself he was the first one who knows how to anfy himself and to just do what he's been told therefore the Torah doesn't tell us the entire story about abrah aino all the great things that he did are this big compared to the fact that he obeys AEM so all his great achievements if you go to the midash you'll see his great achievements what do you think that till the age of 75 inim he didn't do nothing he already left Rich he already had you know centers all over the world to convert people spreading Tor he was a businessman he had hotels he was a big individual big big businessman very successful and did huge achievements and one of the biggest one is to stand in front of nimod and to make a joke out of him the Torah doesn't tell anything of the all of his great achievements because in the eyes of the Torah the greatest achievement of all is that hasem tells him and he doesn't ask question he grabs his wife and his belongings and he gets up and leaves and the Tora says that's his greatest achievement that he obeyed that he was able just to go imagine put yourself in that situation put yourself in your own situation can you imagine hasem reveals to himself to you and tells you to do things which he does all day long in many different forms most people are stubborn why should I do that that person will benefit more than than me why should after I invested so much I'm going to do this and that after I did this Built My Own Empire now I'm going to leave everything behind you can take one example out of many I've been telling for the last decade to people in America get get up and leave the place is a is uh the land is boiling there very few people which I have high respect for them they just leave everything behind and they leave that's what you need to do that's what people did in before the Holocaust most of the attitude of Jewish Americans is what goodes it to me you know what's the most opposition I get how am I going to make money in Israel first of all 90% of the ones who tell me that don't seem to make so much money in America that's start with that second of all what kind of a heretic comment is that how am I going to make money in Israel literally just after the class from two days ago somebody sent me a message how do you expect me to make money in Israel I'm your accountant I need to expect anything besides will you think Hashem has an issue writing a check in Israel just because of that type of comment Hashem won't make it available for you to leave what do you mean how am I going to make money in Israel what do we think we we eating dried potatoes from the floor here 8 and a half million people in Israel what are they're eating there's more wealth in Israel than anywhere that I saw well maybe not in this little town go to the center of Israel I was there last week you can't even imagine the wealth there besides the fact hasem has a problem giving you money Shem can give you money on the moon if he wants that's the opposition that I can't even stand man they say ah my parents are old I have to take care of them my kids are in SCH schools to tell me how am I going to make a living in Israel you limiting aem's option but why am I saying this example because a lot of American Jewish Jews they understand that it's time for them to do aah but it's not serving for their own needs because you know they they're cushioned in amer in America you can drive a very nice car for very little money and you can live in a very big house for very little money and uh once it was easier to say you can live much better I was there now you can't live so better there everything is expensive everything's disgusted the food is disgusting there it's unbelievable I don't know what they're eating there and they they think it's good everywhere that I went to I was like this is disgusting food so the argument is becoming less and less but what am I saying when it doesn't serve to your benefit then it's very easy to say I don't want to do that that's human nature what is it good for me what Abu signifies is not what's good for me it's what hasm wants me to do that's the message abah gives you nobody's asking you what's good for you or what's comfortable for you or what you want to do Abraham ainu is so great that the Torah decides not to reveal to us how great he is but the fact that he obeyed theem when he told him that's it that's the summary of everything Hashem comes and tells him leave abrah gets up and leaves he doesn't say how am I going to make money in is and what am I going to do with the education of my kids I I have an empire in he asks AEM for starts debating and arguing he says okay where are we going he didn't even ask where am I going you normally a person will say tell me where am I going do I need warm clothes do I need cold clothes should I pack my coat should I pack the air conditioning where am I going he didn't even ask where he's going a basic question God tells him go he goes and the Tora summarized by saying that's his greatest act not everything that he achieved I have to say something a little bit personal well we know that I'm going to choose not to but I'll give I'll say the same thing in a different way recently I met somebody who whatever uh is uh old in age and the person wanted to make sure that certain things happen after they they leave leave the world of course which I told the person if you want this and this and this to happen you have to put it in writing nobody's going to listen to you after you died so why am I saying that CU one of the things the person wanted a certain thing to be written on the mat on the stone so sometimes you go to a cemetery and you look at at the stone a great father is a man of kindness achieved this achieved that so like I told you before when somebody dies you know it's very easy to say all the good achievements here the Torah comes to teach us a very strong lesson he doesn't say anything about's achievements it just says that's it that's his achievement that's his greatness that he knows how to Humble himself and obeys therefore the Torah is not telling us anything what abrah a did rather by the greatest thing that he is is obeying the Commandment of that's it if you want to understand more clear because in Israel in English I looked at different translation you can't translate the right way in English because means to go means for you same word same way to write it but to whole different meaning what is really means go and to yourself the meaning is not the geographic place of go because then hasem will tell him where to go he just says to the land that I will show you that's not a a a place to go means go away from your desires leave your desires what drives us is our desires I'm hungry right now then I'm going to go and make food if you wouldn't be hungry you wouldn't go now to buy food you're tired you go to sleep you are motivated by your desires people go and make a lot of money because they want to buy nice things I just remember I told you once I met a guy and happens to be that he's a lawyer very successful lawyer and I told him tell me uh cuz he was complaining to me how horrible how bad his job is and I said did you when you were a little kid did you dream of being a lawyer you don't seem like such a man of Justice to me it's not that you had a dream when you were a kid to pursue Justice and to help the the misfortunate people that the system is treating them in an injustice way he says no I have when I was a kid I didn't even think of being a lawyer I said okay so what caused you to become a lawyer I mean after all you went and learned for four years in University plus the time that you had to be a how do you call it a ster when you're doing your the internship and now you end up working for 30 years in a job you don't like I don't understand it why would you do this to yourself so I said let's start reverse engineering what's going on here do you want to be a lawyer no so he say I told him so why are you a lawyer so he says I make a lot of money ah so you're willing to work in a job you can't stand cuz you make a lot of money so it's the money that you want not the justice that you're pursuing now why do you want a lot of money he says well I have a beautiful car oh so you want a beautiful car so you need to find a job that gets you a lot of money so you can buy your beautiful car now why you want a beautiful car today there's police everywhere you can't even drive fast yeah but you know you got you have a beautiful car I can pick up the ladies oh so you want the ladies therefore you need a beautiful car so you need a miserable job that makes a lot of money to get you to buy the car so you can get the lady now why you want the ladies at the end of the day with all due respect it's a headache and you can only marry one it's not that you marry 20 women and even if you Shalom get to a point you think you can handle 20 women and I never met one man that after 10 years of marriage says oh I'm still so in love it's usually like oh W very few will say I love my wife dearly all the rest will say so why really do you want the ladies cuz physically you want the physical satisfaction a I get it so you want to satisfy yourself you want to satisfy your needs with a beautiful lady so you need a beautiful C you need a little money money so you need to be living a miserable job so if you're reverse engineer every your entire life you want to pleasure yourself right that's it what drives us is what we want our our our desires is what drives us now I gave now an example that is very extreme but the fact is if you put it to your desires reverse engineer it you'll see that what drives you is your needs is your desires is your wishes that's it so is getting a commandment Shem is telling him leave all your desires I told you already Abraham ainu reached to the point that he can say I was created to serve my master can you say that can you look in the mirror and say I was created to serve my master that's a very high level that you're saying I I don't need anything from this world I don't care if my bed is comfortable if I have a nice car if my wife is attractive if I have money now we just commemorated now the death of or recently was also ra kaneski did you ever went to see their homes you know how wealthy both of them were no they were wealthy everybody donates to their organizations and then they could they could probably afford anything they want people will just go and throw money at them kki lived in a stinky apartment I don't think they painted that apartment for 40 years on like a squeaking bed and the chair he sat on is is like a half wobbling not that I'm Shalom putting any Rabbi on the spot but there's many rabbis who are very very wealthy and they indulge on their wealth and I'm not saying anything is wrong with that you have money go do whatever you want I know a few rabbis who good for them you're wealthy but in many of the cases it doesn't come across the right way but nevertheless look at a pi individual how we s HEB from the mouth from the hand to the mouth because his entire disposition I was created to serve my master not my needs not my indulg so if you want to analyze it the right way says translation and explanation that's your land what does that mean your desires your dreams your Ambitions your aspirations your everything that you want that's your land next from the your birthplace that's your emotions and your feelings total different thing sometimes again you are driven by your emotions you want r Revenge you want to see that person suffering or the complete opposite you're in love you weak Whatever May May birthplace that's all your feelings and your emotions the house of your father that's the basic habits that you that you took from where you where you grew up in that's leave all these things leave all your desires leave your dreams leave your Ambitions leave your emotions leave all your habits you know what what a level that is that's to be able to obey AEM and to be able to raise your hand and say I was created to serve my master not to serve my needs not to serve my desires not to serve my and so forth so now that we understand the greatness of abrah a we are back to the big question that I asked before what's the core concept about the not about the challenges that AB had to go through we understood why the Tor is not telling us anything about Abram aino right we clarified that because the Torah comes and tells me everything that he's achieved is this compared to the fact that he just got up and left therefore AB is tagged with okay check we understood that now answer me or maybe I will answer you what's the idea behind the not abrah is 75 years old he already achieved whatever you want he proved to hem that he's with him as they say in Fire and in water what more do you want he jumped into the fire to prove to the entire world that you exist he went through the against the entire world to show his emuna his belief in you now you start challenging him the answer is very simple my R says all these that had to go through is not for abah it's for us that's why he's called Abraham aino he's our father the father sets the rules and the standards kids usually follow what the father does most people they go in the path of the father that's most people I mean every now and then you'll have some uh person who goes a little bit astray but even a person that has their own opinion you take a lot from what how the father is you take a lot from the mother but in regards to your standards you look at the father so Abraham is our father why do you think he got the name ainu he could have got the name also hanavi he was a prophet he spoke to to Hashem also face to face why didn't he get the title ABI he got a CU abah ainu is the father of everybody and the father is the one who sets everything so all the test that he went through is for us for us to understand that even when I'm tested so what you keep on going and even if Hashem promises me things and you don't get it keep on going and even if I want something so much and I prayed for it and I did Som assaults and they didn't get it you keep on going Hashem is testing Abraham a so we would learn how much we need to continue going that we would look at our father as an example and say doesn't matter what we keep on going interestingly if you look at the at the mishna tra in the ethics of the father it's talking about how there was 10 Generations between and and then 10 Generations that's what he says 10 Generations from right period and then it says 10 challenges was abrah was tested for the ones who actually pay attention to what they read how come in the first part of the mishna it says there are 10 Generations between no to Abraham no and the second paragraph of the M 10 challenges abah was tested why a second ago he was only Abraham between 10 Generations from no to Abraham but 10 challenges AB a why did the mishna add a word you know that every word every letter in the mishna in the talud in any type of scripts every letter makes a huge difference that's why I said that most people when they read when they learn T they don't really learn T they just zoom through the through the text that's something that should raise a red flag to you or a question at least how come go to the ethics of the father and you'll see and then how come a paragraph later what made him AO in in in in in one sentence sentence before he was only Abraham next is abah a what changed his status to ainu in one sentence the fact that he went through the 10 challenges not only that he went through the 10 challenges Amad the translation is stood but means that he was able to survive he didn't win and that's the big difference a lot of people think that you need to win the challenge or to be successful in the challenge the success here is if you are able to sustain the the the challenge to keep your head up that's it and not to give up 90% of your challenges you will never win you will never be successful you will never have the upper hand in that challenge most of the challenges you will be pushed down but we don't measure the success if you were able to pull through the successes you were able to survive that's why it says he was able to stand and not to move not to give up abah Ain was the man who he went from one challenge to another and another challenge to another and never lost his drive and never lost his hope a successful person is measured only by his willingness to continue doing what he's supposed to do somebody asked me the other day I didn't even get the chance to answer I'm sure the person ER would listen to this video too so you're getting your answer and the person ask something as simple if cuz I was saying in the previous class that you know a lot of people won't make it to their Redemption they sin they chat talk a lot of they they do a lot of sins so that person says if if he says I'm I'm I'm not some Pious individual so if I'm already so bad and I'm not going to make it why try then you have Hashem will challenge you all day long Hashem will test you all day long and will throw to you challenges and will throw to you situations your success is not measured if you were able to do it your success is measured if you were able to sustain Hashem doesn't look at the result Hashem looks at the effort you can Challen be challenged with a certain with a certain last all your life and all your life you fight it and you fight it and you get up and you fall and you get up and you fall and you get up and you fall and in your mind what good is my effort what good is my prayers what good is what I'm doing I'm failing miserably every time and my answer to you it's not your success you might never be successful in this challenge what matters to Hashem is the effort that you put in this challenge what matters to Hashem is to see if you're still standing strong and not losing your hope and not losing youra and not losing your belief and it doesn't mean that you'll ever be successful in that challenge it doesn't say anywhere that you have to be successful in the challenge that hasem gives you I'm telling you any that in most of the challenges that hasm gives you you won't be successful you won't be able to reach to that level of success that you want because you want to succeed in the challenge and that is translated to your desire I want to stop doing this sin I want to be successful here I'm talking here now about spiritual growth not making money and hasem might come and tell you you will never be successful you will have this you will have this last all your life but what I'm challenging you is not if you can overcome the Thea the desire I'm testing you if you're going to lose your hope or not I'm testing if you're going to wake up in the morning and say today is another day I'm going to try again I will not lose my hope I will not lose my effort and when you're asking yourself how I started the question what good is my effort that's the that's what has wants the effort what good is what I'm doing I don't see any results that's exactly what has wants I'm not looking for results I'm looking for effort I'm looking to see your willingness to continue fighting that desire and when you ask yourself I don't see any result in what I'm doing I don't feel I'm going forward I don't see success in anything Hashem will answer you you're not supposed to be successful you won't be successful your challenge here is just to continue fighting every day till the last day of your life and that is what's going to make you successful and that's where the Torah comes and tell us with I don't need to tell you the greatest achievements of him because the greatest achievement of all of abrah ainu that he just obeyed that he just said to Hashem you are my Creator I was created to serve you that's it my desires are worthless are meaningless what I want doesn't mean anything what you one means and Hashem tells each and every one of us through Abraham ainu Our Father the example that we have to have I tested abam over and over and over and over and everything that I promised him I took and Abraham ainu was the first and probably the only one who never complained he never whined oh I'll never do it I'll never be successful why isem doing this to me what is my effort worth and Hashem answers him I'm not looking for success I am looking for effort I am looking for willingness I am looking for you being diligent and saying I will not give up I will not stop because that's what I was created for that's what Hashem wants me to do and in the challenges that we are facing it's not if you're going to be successful or not is how much effort you're going to put into it and how much you are not going to give up and how much fight you're going to put towards this challenge [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] oh [Music]