Winning the battle within! Practical advise to apply immediately - Rabbi Alon Anava

[Music] so the war is still going on not only the war in the south of Israel with the Aza our daily war with my struggles is becoming now more stronger I've noticed uh with many many many people including myself that uh you're not battling the war in the battlefield then you're battling a strong war with h to survive your life uh everybody's going through many many different challenges and not only that the internal war that is the the daily battle that I have to to fight every day whatever it is that I have to fight with me you anyone so the biggest problem that most people have is dealing with their fears and fear usually comes from the unknown I don't know what's going to happen if I don't know what's going to happen then usually it will H cause some fear which fear is usually not usually fear is the complete opposite of is that I have trust in Hashem I know everything that Hashem does is good and I know that everything that happens is Hashem that's when I have a lot of when I have a lot of trust in hem I'm not worried I'm not afraid I deal with the challenges that uh life throws in my face but uh with no fear or confusion or or anxiety and so forth the book which I teach from these short classes it's called the duty of the hearts and in the beginning of the Gate of then he says the benefit of beton there has to be a benefit I mean if I'm working towards something I want to benefit from that so what's the benefit of me having and again is trust in hem the benefit from is What's called the you can translate as a peace of mind but L is a heart men is rest so you can translate it as the rest of the heart but that doesn't come off so clear in English I would say peace of mind that you are you have peace I'm not saying life is good I'm saying that you have peace in your heart what does it mean peace in your heart that you don't have any worries now it doesn't mean that you have millions of dollars health is strong and everything is great and therefore you don't have worries no you can have H no money at all no solution to any of the problems that are now on your table and more than that bad Health Shalom and many worries many many problems but you have no worries why because you say okay that's what I have to deal with life right now I have to deal with lack of money ER education of my kids bad relationship with my wife a neighbor that's bothering whatever it is life has to be with a struggle I'm sure you heard me say at least this old cliche 5,000 times that life is like riding a bike if it's hard it means you're going up that's it and if it's easy it means you're going down and if you stand in the same place then you'll fall so life is climbing climbing challenges all the time that should not make me worry and definitely should not affect my live I can only testify on myself so I can tell you that I do deal with a lot of worldly issues on a daily base I'm a father for seven kids that in itself is a occupation from morning tonight especially when half of them are teenagers so I would say my hands are pretty full just in the father department and with a lot of challenges and many other things I also have to pay bills and I also have to feed my family and many other challenges that many go through but it doesn't affect my to live I have no worries and like I mentioned many many times when it's time for me to go to sleep I fall asleep in about 3 seconds maybe 4 and a half seconds if I had an itch it's because I'm not worried about anything that's called and that's the benefit of piece of heart yeah I deal with a lot of things I have a lot on my plate which one might say uh you need strong power to deal with all that but nevertheless I deal with the headaches in my life I don't whine and complain and I accept it from Hashem and that's it that's the benefit of because the opposite of and again the terms in Hebrew are more important don't try to find the the the right translation just follow with the explanation man I said is like a peace of mind but it's the Peace of the rest of the heart now what is the opposite ofat is the complete 180 instead of having peace and and quiet and having a peace of mind then I'm worried I have sadness I'm happy not only that the heart the the nature of the heart is motion if the heart is motionless the person dies and the motion of the heart if you put it on a monitor it's going up and down and up and down one time you're happy one time you're sad you get good news you're happy you get bad news you get sad something happens you're in the best mood something happens you get upset your moods change in seconds that's is called the Motions of the heart cuz I can be on the top of the world world and in a split second one bad news that I get changes everything and I'm from happy I go to sad or upset or angry or I can be excited towards a certain meeting the person doesn't come and from excitement comes disappointment and anger and so this called emotions of the heart we spoke spoke about it in the previous class when I have my heart is in peace then the motion the emotional motions don't really affect me if I don't have live then the Motions of the heart will weaken the person so when a person has a lot too many motions in their heart then eventually it would it would weaken the person so one might ask okay so how do I AC acquire this I'm not asking for a solution to my issues that hasem will give me a solution I'm asking for for peace how would I get that the only way to get that is through your mind it's through your intellect your and why because the intellect your mind is what creates the emotions not the heart and more than that teachings of explains that the mind the is controlling the heart so if I want then I need my mind to do that now the key that we need to remember is the benefit of is live that's the key you need to remember that's the teaching of now when I'm dealing or I'm facing fear or stress or worry or any of these negative feelings it comes from a lack of control lack of control of the situation and lack of control of myself and from another point the fact that I believe in coincidences so if I Fear Experience again fear anxiety worry uh uh stress whatever it is negative then remember two things a it's coming from lack of control if I have control doesn't matter right now I will explain it lack of control that will be the result and the other channel will be the fact that I do believe in coincidences and you can be also an observant individual and still believe in coincidences you have to be in a much higher level to say there is no such a thing as coincidence everything is or is governed by the Kosh no such thing as coincidences I told you already the word in Hebrew for coincidence is mik and mik is you can break it into two words two options either okay the letters of M switch the order cut it in half you can do only from Hashem or Hashem Raam Hashem weaved it no such thing as coincidence so I have to first recognize a what's the emotion that I'm feeling in this case I would say fear anxiety and so forth stress worry then you should know two things at this point a that you have lost control over the matter and B that there is the option that in a very small way you think it's it's somehow not from Hashem now I'm not addressing secular and atheist people that don't believe in Hashem I'm addressing the Believers the ones who believe in Hashem because it's very easy to say it's from Hashem when it doesn't affect you so much when it comes to you in the force of 300 mil an hour you start blaming the entire world and you don't blame Hashem so even a very observant and a big believer in Hashem will still find situation that he' say no it's not 100% from hasem and the proof to that is like I said a few times which caused a storm of reactions is I said that many times on the Holocaust and I said it recently in the last few weeks many times on the war on the attack on Israel if you think for one second that hasem didn't allow it then you are a heretic that's it there's no only words to say that if you think that the nais zakim had control over Hashem to do whatever they want that's heresy there there's no there's no other words to explain it I know it's hard to accept when you see hear and know their atrocities but it says in the clearly a person cannot move his finger down here unless they allow it in the world above which means that if I see terrorists Nazis whatever do all these atrocities yeah they are the messenger they are the animal and they also have free will to choose if to do it or not proof to that just from the attack in the South 3 months ago I heard numerous testimonials of mainly girls in the party that the a terrorist would come point a gun at them look at them okay go and if not in the party in the Kim and everything I heard dozens of stories like that you go there was a woman who was pulled into AA with two kids while she was already in Aza the Arab turns around and tells her go and she's running in ASA with kids and bullets are flying anywhere so what I'm saying is that it's very hard to us to accept that Hashem will allow all these Horrors that we hear see and we are exposed but if you think for a second that Hashem did is not involved here that's heresy cuz you're saying the terrorist did something Beyond hashem's will and there's no such a thing there's no such a thing that's according to according to the according to whatever you want that's heresy I know it's heavy to accept especially when it's close to home but that's the reality the reality is that nothing in this world can go beyond Hashem which means if something horrible happened in this world hasem allowed it to happen knowing that it's the right thing to do it's good thing it's things that we will never understand as human beings don't even try you can read research try pray for it you will never understand says the master of the universe my thoughts are not your thoughts you will never relate with my thoughts if I would look now at a certain H sick hanging by the thread person hanging by the thread for their life extremely sick going through very horrible medical procedure and if I would only see the medical procedure I will call the the the the surgeon uh Butcher and I would call the hospital manager a murderer and the the the assistants and the nurses you are associated with what are you talking about yeah we're cutting him open to save him to save the organ or to save the situation so we just seeing pieces in this reality and of course listen I'm with you it's beyond digestible you can digest these things but nevertheless it's coming from the kadh so a why am I saying that because the fact that we lose control over certain matters you can't argue we lose control over matters the proof to it is that you lose your temper over something that is nothing me too I'm not looking at you and directing the blame at you when I'm saying you I mean we I'm too if I find myself lose my temper over something minor that losing my temper will cause me to do something that is harmful for myself or illegal whatever that's losing control and the reality as doesn't matter how much control you have there is the the place where you will lose control too so a when I'm experiencing extreme fear a lot of worry uh anxieties stress then make a quick calculation where is this coming from the first red light I lost control of the matter that's it what to do with it I'll tell you in a second the second thing which is a more stronger than you think because most people say no I have 100% And I believe that everything is from hasem yeah but like I told you when the test comes with full force the doubts that it came from Hashem start sprouting you can argue with it as much as you want I I told you already the story with Theon they tested the person with $5 $50 when it came to $50,000 it wasn't that great it wasn't from hasem and so forth so now that I have H detected so to say the two places where my fear doubts worries and so forth will come from then how would I control it how can I not lose control in a situation and how can I bring my level of to that I know that 100% it's from hem good or bad and I explained that more in depth two classes ago when I explained the verse from tahim 23 even if I will walk in the in the valley of darkness I will not have fear because you are with me in English you cannot explain what I have explained because in HEB in Hebrew when you say G even if I walk in the valley of darkness I will not experience any fear thank you in Hebrew you can also read it as I won't see that the valley of darkness is RA is is evil that's the path I need to go on that's it almost anything in this world that you want to achieve that has a positive outcome the path will come through struggles and many other challenges you want a a beautiful H slim Bon you the diet will take a lot of out you or the working out you want to have a degree an academic degree you need to spend a few years working hard learning not going out not going on vacation missing things why cuz you want to get the test why cuz you want the degree anything you want to achieve in this world you need to put a lot of hard work and a lot of sacrifices same thing here nothing comes so easy so it's important to recognize and by the way what I'm telling you it's the same practice that I do to myself if I doesn't happen so often but if I feel stress or I worry about a certain thing or fear or whatever then I make the same analogy to myself and I'm looking if I lost control if yes where and what after all we're all human and I'm also looking if there's Shalom uh spark a speck of one little spark of doubt that's it if you have that 0.00001% of that little doubt I'm talking doubt in AEM that's it it's not going to work it is not going to work therefore there is a medicine for our problems and the medicine is called prayer why because prayer is the only Power in the world that can change the reality nothing else that you will do will change the reality prayer has the ability to change the reality I'll tell you quickly a story and then I'll and then we can conclude there was once uh this story goes back before World War II there was a Yeshiva in in Europe and there was a student there that first of all lived far away from home it's not like today that everything is closed by lived far away from home and there wasn't the communication that we have now and unfortunately the student became very sick and he was loved by the Yesa and the rabis there and they tried to do whatever they could to save him they brought doctor took him to doctors treatments at the end unfortunately the young man died so with no no no other option they have to call the mother they call the mother and they tell her the bad news your son died so the mom got upset not because he died because she told him why didn't you call me why didn't you tell me that he's sick he says to her ma'am we did anything and everything to save your kid I didn't even see the reason to call you and make you worry because we took matters into our own hands and we gave him the best medical treatment we can find with money we did anything in our power and it didn't work so she told him you should have called me because I have something one thing that you don't have a mother's prayer the rabbi after hanging up the phone with the mother turned to his students and said and this is the distinguished Rabbi said this is the first time a woman won me in an argument and she's 100% right you can't replace a mother's prayer you know the most famous prayer ER that is called a mother's prayer is the prayer of KH didn't have kids and not only that she was able to change the reality with her prayer look what son she got I mean that our sages explained that he was bigger than Moshe and Aron together that's Mother's Prayer mother's prayer they they they tear all the all the all the the the the barriers now what is the The Secret of that specific prayer because we read three times a day hasem is close to the ones who call for him to all the ones who call him be with truth now if you're reading the verse in Hebrew then it sounds like Hashem sounds like it can be understood as Hashem is close to all the ones who really call him but the truth is that they call him be with truth which means if a person lies then there's not going to be any any closeness to hasem that's why I keep saying over and over lying is one of the worst sins one can do Shem doesn't like liars now when a person really calls AEM like with real truth then a very specific closeness what's called a k becomes between that person's souls and the master of the universe when a person prayers be now what is be I mean I I don't lie I didn't lie that's be that's how I'm approaching to hem with truth with so our sages explain that the world stands on three pillars we know you need to learn of kindness charitable acts and aod it's not you going to work avoda means labor or work it's not not you going to work six days you should work and do your your labor your job your profession that's not what it's referring to a is what's called a the work of my heart what is the work of my heart prayer so the pillars that are supporting the world is Torah we need the Tor we need the acts of kindness and we need the is in the middle a if I now go and pray and as I and I'm late so I start saying the preparation for the prayer in the street and then somebody comes in the street hey how are you I lost track where I am oh I I I I don't remember where I stopped I go back then when I come into the synagogue the phone rings I pray I'm thinking of my wife my kids my business the debts I have the problems that I have by the end of the prayer during kadish I check my messages by the end of the prayer I didn't pray nothing I didn't do nothing I said words I said blessings I said amen but I really didn't do nothing because I didn't pray be now when you have a lifethreatening situation or or a situation that you know that if you are not going to do something that's the end of it that's when you pray be you pray from your Kish and you know why cuz you lost all other options and that's your only option that's when you pray bit that's a mother's praying when a mother prays for the health of her son it's not some motive or some it's a real prayer that's why be I will take now to the translation that I told you of really be really now you ask yourself when was the last time that you really prayed so I can tell you that when I was facing severe situations the prayer was bit there was no distractions there was no mind going elsewhere there was no answering the phone there was nothing in that respect the prayer was be when you scream that's when you change the reality not making anything up looking our Tor everything was achieved with prayer right the Exile in what a holocaust they went there and they cried to the K that's prank B they they didn't say oh you know it's heard their suffering in the voice in the tone that's spring bit when these people were hiding in the bomb shelters or under trees and under rocks their prayers were beit okay you can hear on some of the testimonials from the cell phones the is recently I saw video actually was a very powerful video cuz somebody took I think 180 phones that he was able to collect from survivors of the party and they made a a video on a timeline so you see Friday night 11: you see all these videos of people getting ready for the party Friday night 11:52 you know H 2: a.m. 4 they made it like a running film with timeline needless to say the horrors but half the times what you hear in the background cuz the videos are not clear cuz people are running with their phone and half half the time all you hear is is AB Hashem help me ABA get me out you hear and you know the people that they were there were not L's you know so observant let's ER say say like that when you are in extreme stress or when you are in a place that there's no other situation then you pray bit okay so we have to understand that a lot of people ER pray pray pray complain I prayed nothing worked so the prayer was not done the right way RAB nakan says if you're lacking something in your life either you didn't pray for it or you didn't pray enough for it yes the prophet chapter says before you even call me I will answer the translation when they have not yet called that I will respond when they are still speaking that I will hear them hear in I mean the says all you need to do is just to start I already heard your prayer before you even started I can tell you that most of us our prayers are very weak because we don't pray that's it comes close to the one who calls him if you call him be so and again I'm not pointing a finger that you don't know how to to pray I'm just saying if you are experiencing what we're talking about then turn to the Department of prayer and look that you're doing it not the right way now when do you pray the most is when you have a problem when time of distress or a problem if everything goes well you don't really pray much I mean you might pray the regular prayers whatever it is but it's not like you really need some something when you really need something is when you're under stress when there's a stressful situation so for that the prophet says it's a time of distress for Jacob through which he shall be saved so when do you pray the time of distress but that's where the Salvation comes from that's where the the answer comes from the problem is is that we are a nation that was born into troubles we are not Sweden we are not Swiss Switzerland the nation of Israel was born into problems our entire reality is problems so we have to understand that our nation grows when we are under stress the galut of MIT the Exile of Egypt the the the the even punishment of walking in the desert for 40 years that's where the growth came from in so many situations so I have to understand that it's not the only solution because I told you the world is standing on three pillars you have to participate in the Torah and it's not only when it says T it's not only learning the Tor I know a person I don't know him personally thankfully but I know a person that learns gar only to ridicule it and if you don't believe me go to YouTube You'll Find all his videos that's what he does he learns and then he ridicules the point first of all taking it out of context first of all 99.9% of the accusation against the talmud is taking it out of context just read three lines before you'll get your answer it's exactly like missionary are coming and twisting the tanak they will quote a verse and tell you that's our proof and the answer is okay so read the 10 verses preceding it so that's the same thing here the exact same thing we have to understand that prayer is one of the most important important and Powerful pillars the world stands on on one side is the act of kindness there's not much to explain here you have to be involved in acts of kindness all day long with your time with your money with your excuse me expertise and Torah Tor is not enough just learning it you have to apply the Torah in your life if you want to hold the third the first pillar is not just learning the Torah the talmud the learning becomes great when you know how to to practice it to bring it into action so that's a very strong pillar in our life is not just learning the Torah is applying it like I told you there are many people who learn it to ridicule it or to prove wrong or to go against the Torah because it says here and it says that there are many smart wise people that know how to manipulate details and to show the Torah in a completely different way but in the middle P the pillar the prayer that's a big part of our life and it's not limited to a Jew or non-jew by the way non-jews have to pray too and non-jews prayers are answered just as they're answered to us it's not that they are excluded and the department of prayers is Jews every person can pray and has to pray now if you're not observing you pray from your words you don't know how to read pray from your words pray from your heart but prayer has to be done and the thing is that you don't need to be greater than me or him or her to pray when it comes to Torah you need levels of knowledge you you cannot be a Riva if you don't have 20 30 40 Years of knowledge in the Torah to guide other when it comes to learning and teaching levels make a huge difference I cannot sit in in a table of students when they're not in my level it's higher than me or lower than me it's not going to work but prayer your prayer can be better than moso's prayer who says that your prayer is less than anybody else so anyone can prayer you don't know how to read the text pray from your heart you don't know how to read Hebrew pray from English you don't know the prayer or you don't hold by a certain faith pray from your mouth some might say listen I'm not Jewish I don't hold by the Torah or it doesn't matter and why because when we pray 8 three times a day one of the prayers is called now there are different types [Music] of so I don't know all the I know in as they don't say that but they do say in the blessing the before the ceiling of the prayer in most of the specifically I know in the he doesn't say the word and excuse me if I'm mistaking in other the and and it says every mouth not excluding your race your height your level of knowledge even the level of your belief so my suggestion is very simple our holy sages say if you pray for your friend you will get answered first that's it so what's the solution gather a few names of people you know or don't know a few names of the hostages a few names of soldiers you can find all these lists everywhere people you know loved ones friends and just pray for other people and find the time of day with no distractions that you pray for other people you don't have to pray for yourself I don't want to sound like a a real P or some arrogant something many times people take my words and they hear it coming from a different place but I'm telling you I'm just telling you as a guide not as showing off I don't pray for things for myself almost ever I say three four words that's it Hashem knows my my marital status I don't need to ask for a wife or not hasem knows he has access to my bank accounts he knows exactly how much money I don't have and he has access to everything to know what I need what I don't I rather do efforts do things that I show you know what I want you know what I need whatever you give me I'm happy with very very little I say AEM I need B I need I and this is going back a long time ago even when I needed to find my other half I didn't tell Hashem I I'm looking to find my other half I did my minimum and you know what I did I stopped dating and I went to learn in Yesa that's it I stopped the dating because I was going on and then I was like you know that's not working I stopped it I went to learn in Isa and two weeks later I met my wife because the didn't want me to learn in Yesa so he said okay go be busy now with with a wife and marriage and and a wedding and kids and so actions speak louder than words but our mouth is powerful you need to start praying for what you need really and for us it's I don't know I find it a little bit hard to pray for myself then I find what I need in other people and I just pray for them now when I pray for my wife that's not praying for myself I pray for my kids that's not praying for myself the bottom line what I'm saying is two things when you're looking to find the peace in your heart and when you are centered that you are focused on theh on what you need to do removing all worries stress and and and anything negative in my life then it comes with with with work it comes with with a lot of concentration on what I need to do so today's H home H workor is that you have to take your prayer to a completely different level you do whatever is in your level if your level is this then you pray with your heart at the time at the right time that you can pray in the right appropriate way and you'll start growing and growing and if you are already a pro then come to me I'll point out all the things to show you how you're not a pro and what to do and start with with not going with your phone to the synagogue that will take your prayer to a different level and many other things but just remember you call Isaiah I told you says before you even opened your mouth and I turn around like a mother that hears the sound of a child turns around right away father is a little bit less that's how it is you cannot overpower such a prayer I call it a mother's prayer it can be a Father's prayer and it can be a husband's prayer it doesn't matter but the title is a mother's prayer because it's a scream it's a it's not a prayer even it's beyond the prayer you scream from the bottom of your heart so I will quote again rabman that says that if something is lacking in your life something's going on that is not to your liking either you didn't pray on it at all or you didn't pray enough and the practice that I will add now to make it more efficient then H take a few names go there's so many one websites and WhatsApp groups and where you can find names of the hostages names of soldiers you know my daughter the other day I picked her out from school and and I don't even know how the conversation went and she overheard a name of a soldier I was playing a video she overheard a name of a soldier that they were announcing that the soldier died and the and the my daughter said I don't remember the exact words oh I know him she's 10 years old and I'm like what what do mean you know him she was like that's one of the names that we pray every morning and in my heart I said well you're not going to be praying for that name tomorrow unfortunately but I was like they let they give you names and they you pray for them she's like yeah she's a 10 year old girl she's in fifth grade and she told me yeah they give us name we pray we say certain prayers to or whatever and they give us names and we just say the names unbelievable that she heard the name from the video and recognized the name I think she told me something how do you know him or something like you also pray for him and I'm like what so take a few names of people you don't know that you know what's their situation and take 10 minutes a day five minutes a day and you pray for other people and you if you want I have lists I can give you lists of thousands of people who need to get married who need salvation who need immediate not like uh uh something small people are hanging by like like the last thread of Life all day long I'm getting bombarded with emails and whatsapps and pray for this and pray for that once I got a little bit irritated that everybody's sending me names CU I was like I have a life I can't all day long pray I mean I'm happy to pray but but then I I switched the attitude and I was like if somebody's asking me to pray for Moshe Ben ra maybe what I'm going to pray for him I [Music] need