TBC - Day 1 - 'Holding strong for 40 days' - Rabbi Alon Anava | Atzmut.org

[Music] [Applause] [Music] so being the first day of our journey and we're defining this journey as a 40-day journey then what we want to apply today and each one should do it in their level and what they think they know they know themselves and what's their ability when you do something consecutive for a minimum of 40 days then you kind of like make a statement in the spiritual realm and it affects your soul in a very profound way what i would suggest for each and every one of you and in your level you need you need to know what you can handle but you are going to make yourself a decision today and for the next 40 days you're taking on yourself one two five 20 certain little acts that you're going to do it for 40 days without even missing one time and this is going to be in the most highest priority that these acts that you're going to take you know you're not missing one time so it can be something as short as simple as saying every day because amazon 40 days i'm not breaking it every day not even one day i'm going to miss it even if i'm dead tired i'm not missing it saying every day it doesn't matter you can take one thing if you know you're going to do it consecutively 40 days and if you think you can handle 20 things then you take 20 things but the whole idea is is that whatever you decide to take on yourself this is the highest priority and that's how you look at it is certain sins that the torah tells us you should give your life over but not to fail in those sins by bowing to an idol and many others so this is this is the highest severity some things the torah tells you you can't give your life for that you you do that some things the door tells you no no you give your life for not bowing to an idol doing other things so we're going to take these little decisions that you're going to take on yourself today and you're making from ale fellow till you do 40 days doesn't matter what happens nuclear bombs fall on us along you do not miss that thing that you took on yourself therefore you take something that you know that you can definitely you do don't now do something that is beyond your capability and maybe after three four days you'll crack and and and you didn't do it better to do two three things and you know for sure you're gonna do it then to take that you're not going to do or one big thing don't take on yourself to read the uh uh a page in a in in a in the day if you don't even know how to read our meat you're not going to do it you're not going to be able to to to sustain it say okay i'll do tikkuna clearly every day okay so it takes me 10 minutes but whatever you take on yourself this is called the hazaka that you permeate a certain power in whatever you do and it doesn't really matter right now if it's amazon which are things that anyways you have to do them but most people kind of get away with it most people say i don't need to wash for bread every day of course you have to do every day but many people don't do it and you want to do something that you know that is important that you really don't do and if you can handle five things take five things ten things ten things but making uh taking on yourself a decision or a certain act and you're doing it on rosh chodesh and specifically rosh chodesh that it gives you even more power to do it but you have to be locked in your mind that doesn't matter what happens that has to be done and cannot be missed if you're taking on yourself to read every day do it in the morning that you know that if you you're getting late or something it's still get done don't do don't wait for it to seven o'clock at night you took on yourself to say because amazon every day do it in breakfast not dinner because dinner you might get tired and you might not get be hungry and you're not gonna do it but the point is that you you you know i don't know you know how to say it in english in hebrew when you build a tent you take these little uh daggers how do you call it stakes and you put it in the ground and you bang it into the ground and that holds the entire tent so that's what you need to do today you take a few stakes and you're saying i'm gonna bang it into the ground but that's holding the entire structure now till we take it apart the point of course is never to take it apart you take on yourself and you run with it but specifically you have to be locked on the target doesn't matter what it is and of course make yourself a challenge don't say okay i'm to say charcoal once a day i mean do something with a little bit of effort here so i mean i would recommend to do at least five to ten acts that will require from you half an hour a day of attention and something that will require also some besides discipline a little bit of effort so definitely i would uh recommend things along the line of bicat amazon whatever it is but there's certain texts that you need to read for that that you're saying okay like we started reading today the baal shem tov three a day okay what's three tealim a day i can tell from experience that most people start with it by the time they get to the middle of a rule they already lost count they forgot because it's only three t lim but how long does it take you to read three chapters of thrilling five minutes so you took on yourself we're already the three team of today this is another thing you lock it that's it i'm not missing it because a lot of people say okay if i'll miss today tomorrow do six today you do three and you do it in the morning not in the afternoon or in the evening to say you'll say oh i forgot i'll do it the next day and don't be easy on yourself by saying okay i'll miss it today tomorrow i'll do twice you have to be very disciplined that's why i'm saying don't take too much that it's not going to become a burden and you're not going to be able to handle it but sit with yourself it has to be today so you have it in the 40 days in aleppo sit with yourself negotiate a little bit think what is something that you can handle uh that will be a little bit of a more of a regular effort definitely put some discipline into it and that will be a goal that you're saying okay 40 days that thing i'm not doing now if you can take on yourself some serious things that would be a much better thing to do that's what i'm saying every person in their level some people they have a certain desire or a certain inclination or a certain weakness and you want to put that to the say okay 40 days now i'm not doing that thing whatever it is we talked about different options yesterday can be a different addiction to something yesterday the examples we gave would be gambling or pornography or whatever it is you're saying no no this is 40 days like cement after 40 days we'll renegotiate we'll open the case but 40 days doesn't matter what happens i'm not doing it for 40 days now you have to test your willpower and this is where the the battle starts the reason why you want to do that because you need to start working the battle muscle because we're like old people when it comes to battling my desires and my inclination i need to get in shape you need to know how to use the fighting muscle the spiritual fighting muscle to fight the yetzera because it says oh he knows to come from here from here from here he knows how to give you three four days of quiet then he's gonna come full power so it's like you take now a 60 year old man that is in bad shape put him in a in a gym he can't move anything he needs two or three months to get in shape we need to get in shape how to fight the yetzera he comes from here you need to have an answer from here he comes from here with some tricky way you need to have uh some kind of a comeback and the way to do it is to exercise the muscle of the fighting back one of the ways of doing it is when you take three four five ten things and you're doing it like it's your vitamin i don't want to say your pills because i don't take pills and i don't support taking any type of pills but nevertheless some people unfortunately they seek whatever they take their pills every day they're not going to miss the pill why because it's depending on their health already so same thing here that should be your spiritual pill your spiritual medicine that you're saying i can't miss it it's going to be a disaster if i don't take my medicine today but when you do that and you do 5 10 20 things like this in your day you're starting to work the muscle the spiritual muscle of you doing something consecutive and when the yes is going to come and tell you you're tired you don't have to no no i it's already psychologically you know how to fight the small battle once the once you get to the big battle you already have some type of tools therefore you want to do 10 15 acts these acts per day and you'll see that it will become more of a routine and when the yetzera knows that you have a strong routine he doesn't come and bothers you because he knows he's not going to be able to now if you do it for the small things by reading five chapters of the limo you're taking yourself to do tikkun clearly every day okay so it takes you 10 minutes 15 minutes 10 chapters of tilling but you're doing it consecutive the it's a lie at some point knows that you can't be bought you can't be bargained you can't be pushed now when you're doing it with small things by default when it comes to big things you know how to handle big things and eventually we would need to have the right tools how to fight the big challenges that we have because most people in their chuva fail because they don't know how to deal with the big challenges small challenges no problem but there's no tools to deal with the big challenges the way to deal with the big challenges is first to get it under your skin into your system how to deal with small things and yes to read everyday tikkuna khali consecutive every day that's a challenge you'll run with it a week or two but then something will take off and you'll be busy and you get distracted and you miss one day the second that you miss one day that's it the chain is broken it's kind of like inspiration most people don't finish this firatome a fraction of people finish spiratomil why because they had segan you had to push them off the track for one day that's it you missed it so it's the same thing here so we need to start working the muscle of doing something and many things consecutive you don't miss it it's your daily thing and yeah right this is the most important thing and you make sure you do it first thing you can first thing in the morning get rid of it don't keep it to the evening that the sli is going to come and tell you you did enough today start working on the small things eventually you'll see that the big things are easier to deal with needless to say that you are taking these stakes and you banging them into the ground so strong that it's going to be almost impossible at some point to take them out then your structure is strong it's much easier to grow higher and higher when your foundation is nailed down to the ground [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] you