Born to be a Kiddush Hashem

i haven't done that in a year i'm bringing that back to florida for sure i'm vaccinated i'm covered i'm far out i believe there's nobody in the whole world who doesn't know who you are and i would like the whole world to know how close friends we are so it really is a pleasure and it's close to be with you this morning and i'm honored by the invitation it was worth flying in just for that introduction i only wish it were true and hope one day for a fraction of it to be true but it is a great place to be here together with you rabbi leibowitz is i don't have to tell you there's a reason you're all here and you are like i am because around the world and from teaneck to lakewood and london to south africa rabbi leibowitz has listened to and learned from and it now all emanates from this place from this shul a center of torah that's reverberating not only within these walls but around the world and throughout the globe and what is it is for you for your family for this community for this kahila and now for the bricks and mortar for this building to be the conduit through which so much torah is being broadcast around the world or beliebers thank you for your friendship for your leadership for the countless times you've come to teach torah in our community and in every community around the world i want to acknowledge also dr avisha newman for his leadership in arranging i guess persistence also and arranging this morning so thank you very very much for having me first of all it's a disadvantage to come in on sunday morning you have no idea what was said thursday night over the course of shabbos what you're going back to it's probably safer to go to vayikra but i want to start with vayaka pakude because there's a message of rafam and vayaka pakude that inspires me each and every year when we read them and that i think is really a perfect perfect description a reflection of what's being celebrated here today as you know is essentially a repeat if you like trumatitsava you'll love ayaka pakude it's the same thing over and over again in fact some point out on pakude that because introduces no new mitzvos it tells us no new information it simply repeats all that we had known before so it's a le pekude it's an accounting it's a reflection it's an introspection on what we already know but we have to go back and look at nonetheless but why are vayaka pakude the famous question with countless answers why are they repeated it's redundant the torah's real estate is precious every letter every tag so to take up two full partials now we had a bar mitzvah boy yesterday two partials pasha sachodesh threw a mask to take up two full parachutes with what we already know why are we repeating them undoubtedly you've all heard countless answers but if promised that sal answers a lesson that i find so beautiful he says the lesson of the repetition can be best expressed or captured in two words in truma tatsava it is perspective here's what we're going to build here's the excitement the design here are the plans vyasisa this is what you shall do this is what is to come but vayaka pakude that word has changed we went from the asisa to vayas so they built it went from being prospective a dream of fantasy someday hopefully we'll work towards vyasisa here's what we will do to vayas it was complete it was complete the planning stage the initial vision the original design it was followed through to become reality you shall make became and they made and for that lesson alone for the lesson of persevering with tenacity and following through and bringing something a dream into a reality to go from designs on a page to a building we're sitting inside filled with caduceus-based canesis to go from the asisa to us is worth the torah repeating to full partials because how many of us start something in life and we have the best intention and the most grandiose plans and the deepest passions but life gets in the way we're interrupted we're distracted maybe a pandemic hits other challenges arise projects in our home or a new regiment of diet or exercise commitments that we begin we start out strong but then life gets in the way in january everybody knows there are twice as many sign ups for the gym than in any other month but by the end of january the drop-off is precipitous because all the people with all the great intentions to launch the new year don't follow through and don't finish what they start and the torah wants to communicate and teach us it wants to inspire us as you do us this morning that to finish something that you started is no small feat it's worthy of twofold further partials in the torah and it's worthy of a celebration and so that's first of all what this milestone is i don't have to tell you to be able to complete and to be able to finish what is a dream behind a rav who is a dream is worthy of celebrating is worthy of marking the concept or the quality of alacrity of zeal to pursue a goal to make resolution and figure out and chart the path of how we will get there and what will be the measures and metrics to determine where we are on the way we think of zurich's happening at the beginning of a project to be azariz what are my goals what are my ambitions and to come out of the gate with fire to come out of the gate with fire what am i going to do but in that parakons resource or in that meda several practicum that tells us that there's a second burst of zrezas which is necessary and that is when you're about halfway through because almost any project look around the unfinished projects in our homes and in our lives you inevitably and invariably run into a wall start the daf and then you hit some of the hard miscertains then you hit a hard patch on the schedule start the exercise and then a friend came to town and you had to move it to the afternoon maybe you're going to cancel it that week because you'll pick up the week after all kinds of goals and all kinds of ideals we begin but then we hit that proverbial wall and we stop we say you know i came this far it's not bad it's good enough so the ram khao writes zereses is not just at the beginning of a project you need a burst of zeresus to power through to fight through and to make it to the end because that's how important and that's how unfortunately unusual it is to make it all the way to the end there's a woman who set a record for marathon running but it's not a record you would think and not a record others would be proud of she's completed 25 full complete marathons her name is zoe kaplowitz she finished 25 full marathons and the record is in every single marathon in which she competed she came in absolutely last place in 2000 she set a record the new york city marathon took her 33 hours and nine minutes the longest marathon in history she wears braces on her back and knee and walks in crutches she has multiple sclerosis and diabetes but she's determined she was inspired for her first marathon and kept on running them and coming in last place each time didn't deter her as long as each time she finished and she wrote a book it's called the winning spirit life lessons learned in last place and after her last marathon that she finished a day later than everyone else you know if you like are late in david and get everyone books out and you're the last one in the shule how lonely and empty you feel have you imagine running a marathon and everyone's done the day before they've like eaten rested they're celebrating with their family and you're still limping along your marathon so after the last marathon she finished a day later than everyone else so we had this to say quote the marathon is really only a metaphor for life i'm sending a message to everyone that you don't need to win the race to be a winner in life everyone faces marathons each day whether it's looking after kids parents or at work it's about finishing what you started that is her mission and those are her records and that is the only measure she uses to determine success in her life is not what place she comes in but finishing what we started and today the asisa tuvayas of the base canesis of north woodmere of your beautiful and holy community of reaching this magnificent milestone in this day is not only finishing what you started in being in this building but as a model and a lesson an inspiration for all of us to get back on track for that second burst of zurizus as we are immediate hashem seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and coming out of a year that put most of us in a holding pattern and that suspended us and paralyzed us and debilitated us and with good reason and legitimate excuse told us it's okay everything is upside down the world is not the way it was or necessarily will be and we had every excuse in the world but those excuses are falling away and it's time to get back in that second burst of zeresus to run through or over or around that proverbial wall and like zoe kaplan to go from what we dreamt of doing to be able to look back and pause for a moment to celebrate having arrived and what we've done and that was message point number one i want to share point number two this is all before i begin rabbi lee but someone might want to text rabbi finer i'm just joking i'm gonna i'm gonna finish on time point number two point number two alone we read yesterday that at the completion of that great task of the building of the mishkan and the celebration of its inauguration moshe was unable to enter value moshe he couldn't come in because the cloud of glory rested on it and he couldn't penetrate he couldn't enter he couldn't get through that cloud and rasha quotes there's a contradiction among the sukim there was a cloud that hovered that blocked the entrance to the mishkan but this is not the first one on this not the first cloud of glory there was one on matantora kabala satora harsinai and there it says so which is it does moshe have the ability the capacity to enter into the cloud can he break through and chart a path to be able to enter the holy or is he blocked out is he not allowed to enter wonders the gemara numa which is it matan torah moshe he had no problem walking in and yet here with the completion of the mishkan and he was unable to what is the difference and the gemara answers and the gemara says when it came to matantora kabala satora grabbed moshe by the lapels he dragged him and pulled them in the gemara continues maybe the the cloud split there was a shield there was a path that was created for him to be able to walk in so the gemara distinguishes between the two and tells us when it came to matantora moshe had a lane he had an entrance when it came to the mishkan he wasn't able to get in good the gemara leaves it there but mayor dirk shalita and his aishtam it wonders okay you explained the difference but why why did hashem chart elaine why did he make a path for moshe with matantora but why was the path impossible when it came to the mishkan what's the difference between the two white vasa why did he grab motion drag him up to harshinai but the mishkani was satisfied with his being outside and listen to what he says it's mind-boggling he says because where do you think there was greater kedusha where was there more hashrat where was the divine presence felt more intensely where was the holiness more accessible mata torah kabbalah torah the seminal moment of all of history the transformational moment that changed the entire universe forever or the planks put in the sockets fit with the leather and the mishkan was done i would have said mountain torah for sure but says ravdruk you know matantoro was all top down it was all hashem there was no effort there was no initiative there was no sacrifice people didn't give up they didn't compromise they didn't have to give anything it was top down the ribonus appeared to the jewish people and he told them his magnificent blueprint for our world but the mishkan everyone had to remove the jewelry everyone had to go into their pockets and into their bank account into their savings everyone had to transfer money whether cash check venmo bitcoin cryptocurrency everybody had to give something everybody had to pay and so when it came to matantora there was room for moshe to come in that was a holiness he could penetrate but the hashra sashina the holiness of a building that is the the result of people's generosity and their graciousness a result of people's gifts and their hard work a result of giving something up of dipping into one's own to share and to build with others the holiness that results from that is unparalleled and that was the holiness that moshe couldn't come in at least not while that cloud while that anan was blocking says ravdruk you see this as well in moshe's barakah he sensed this when he said the apostle says we read yesterday moshe saw all of the work all that god had commanded they did they completed they made it to the end of the marathon saw moshe and moshe gave them a bracha and what was the bracha he turned like i'm sure your rav has turned to you and gave a bracha here we are we're done we're complete there's a charity campaign going could still give match everyone should give almost done sort of done you're never done but we're done we're done and he gave a bracha and what was moshe rabbanus it tells you everything about the unique and distinct holiness in that place and at that time from which it is done and you'll sit and you'll learn torahbasmada and there'll be ashrae on you he doesn't say that the brahmosha gives in reflecting on a complete campaign on reflecting on the building of a mishkan that took the sacrifice and the effort and the compromise and the hard work of the people is on aware because whereas the greatest holiness is not what comes upon us easily the greatest holiness is now what comes upon us for free it's not what comes or is gifted to us without hard work the greatest holiness and the most intense ashrae sashrina is that which comes through and this this beautiful magnificent shul is the result of masay decem of your hard work and your selfless sacrifice of giving what you have so today marks a completion or this weekend this week marks the completion but today is also rosh chodesh it's also about new beginnings it's also about a start because in every completion is the commitment to start again to start anew maybe to pause to celebrate but not to rest on laurels and not to be satisfied or complacent or apathetic or indifferent but to double down on who we can become and what we can accomplish and what we can achieve it's time to start planning the expansion and the next phase and to buy the next homes in the block celebrated a few days but it's rosh chodesh it's a new beginning and new beginnings remind us that we're never done we're never complete we're never finished we're just getting started our best is always yet to come frank lloyd wright famous architect was once asked which is your favorite project it's a famous world-class architect frank lloyd wright which is your favorite project and i love his answer he said my next one my next one no matter what age no matter what stage of life no matter what you've finished our attitude has to always be my next one rosh chodesh is rosh it's the beginning of new beginnings of khirish of a new opportunity the shlock code says particularly the month of nisan nissan we were given this gift of controlling time the famous svarno a nation of slaves comes out of egypt where they had no time of their own and what determines real freedom the ability to control our time and what we do with it and how we fill it and what we spend it on that reflects real freedom so the first mitzvah we were given a every day of rashford every day of nisan is like a miniature rosh chodesh it's a month of rosh's it's a month of the spring of blossoming and blooming i'm freezing cold but i'm told this is a warm day believe it or not i came from this area but my blood has thinned and i no longer know how to live here it's a rigid frigid cold day but it says apparently it's the springtime pesach comes in the spring we manipulate the calendar in order to ensure that pesach comes in the spring because it's a time of blossoming of birka sailan to see the little flower that precedes the fruit and to make abraha we see the little flower in us that precedes the next delicious and juicy fruit that we're going to produce and we make a bracha for the opportunity of khadas and of chodesh the opportunity to be committed to continue to build and to grow into the next phase it is this month of nisan is musugil it is dedicated the energy that's in it it's a month of rosh chodesh's it's a month of rosham not only today the actual rosh chodesh but each and every day of this month to be able to name our next goal our next resolution and to make a plan for how we're going to achieve it okay now i want to begin so rabbi leibowitz told me speak about jewish community claude israel shul you can go a lot of different directions and i will be honest with you as late as last night on the plane here i wasn't sure what i exactly i wanted to share with you but barak hashem thank to some of my other passengers on the jet jew flight from fort lauderdale to jfk it became very clear the message i wanted to impart for ursula and our shul and shul's everywhere and not only for sure for community and for clay israel a reminder to myself and to you and to all of us what our mission is and why we are here and what we are meant to accomplish on my flight last night because who else is taking the 9 55 p.m on mote shabas from fort lauderdale to jfk were many many at least outwardly torah observant jews the overwhelming majority of whom behaved beautifully were kind and courteous and followed the rules and listened carefully but among them were significant and loud outliers some sitting right near me who the way they spoke to fellow passengers the way they responded to the staff their own behavior and inability to follow the rules that everybody was bound by i was cringing for half the flight i was sick to my stomach i wanted to take my yamako off and say i'm not with them we're not don't assume we don't go together and i'm sure this is something that you've experienced and it's not relegated to one segment of the firm community nobody has a monopoly on being obnoxious or rude unfortunately it permeates so much and it's not geographically based and it's not ashgraphically based but it's a challenge that we all face the people who appear outwardly to have embraced torah but don't live torah and therefore misrepresent and therefore bring a bad name to torah it's a setback and a violation to everything about who we are and why we're here and what we're meant to achieve and what we're meant to accomplish and what our lives are all about we're right now it's about to celebrate pesach we're about to celebrate kirshborg forming us into a people a nation took us out of its tribe we're not the first people who suffered persecution and oppression we're not the first two centuries of slavery and servitude and yet he took us out why did he take us out not to become some secular political entity not to become a nation like any other but we had a mission and this is not our topic but pesach and shiva's therefore go together to celebrate one without the other is an incomplete holidays the ramban rights the spheres omers the pesach the first day shiva was the last days when mushroom says here is the sign i'm taking you to that mountain in other words the whole reason i took you out is not just to be free he didn't suspend the rules of nature and 10 miracles and splitting the sea for countless tragic other circumstances of people who were enslaved he took us out for a reason and he took us out with a mission and a charge he took us out as the philosopher eric from said not just freedom from but freedom too we weren't just free from the shackles of the oppression but we became free to become a holy nation and a holy people in order to make a difference in this world and what is that difference we were meant to make why are we here so the ramban earlier in shemos on the words who says i'm going to take them out and then i'm going to hang with them i'm going to take them out and i'm going to dwell among them i'm going to have a deer bathtub i'm going to come live down here on earth together with them my siblings both live in israel they both made aliyah my brother shortly after told me a great story one of the challenges living in israel it's a great opportunity that your children speak hebrew so naturally and so comfortably and casually and have such much greater access to torah because hebrew comes naturally until you're introducing your little children to the concept of hashem having dhira batato nim and when they start to giggle and don't understand exactly what that means not a challenge unfortunately that we have so dear bitterness wants to come to live and dwell and be available and accessible and imminent from down here on earth rashi says on those words that's why i'm taking them out if you're not going to invite me to live with you if i'm not going to dwell among you then i'm going to leave you there that's not part of the deal the whole reason i'm taking you out is so that you are the instrument you are playing the music that is god and godliness that is the divine for the rest of the world to hear and to dance to and if you're not going to then stay there because i'm not taking you out narashi al-manath it is a condition of yitzias mitzrayim it was a condition and a prerequisite to taking clause israel out the ramban gives his own and their says i want to dwell among them i am god who took you out you know my power my providence and i'm going to come live with you and you'll feel it when you feel my presence in your midst then retrospectively retroactively you'll know i'm the one who took you out so if you live today tough shin payal 2021 and something happens in your life that you feel it's not a coincidence it's not random it's not chance it is shalom himself oh just like he's involved in my life i guess it's true what i heard from my great great great great grandparents he took us out of mitzrayim as well but then our quotes i took them out to dwell and to live in them he took us out not in order to indulge in the pleasures of life he took us out of midsize not just to be free he took us out of mitzrayim in order to fulfill a charge and a mission not just the freedom from but a freedom too and the freedom too is a freedom to change the world through kirish hashem to be mekadish that is the mission of any kahila of any shul of any community it is the fulfillment and the realization of our charge and a mission as a people and the entire torah and torah mitzvos are a platform and a framework for us to be makadeshimo to sanctify his name in the world in order to teach the world what it means to relate to time and food and intimacy and pleasure what it means to relate to relationships and to teach the world what it means to travel on an airplane and to follow rules and to say please and thank you and to not stand up and get your luggage out until they tell you it's your turn the whole torah and mitzvos are a platform to makadish's name and if you sit and learn and if you dive in the kavanah and you make it is unforgivable and i'm not the one failing to grant the forgiveness is unforgivable because it is a gross violation and a setback to everything we are here to accomplish to why we are here and to what it is all supposed to be about to what it's all supposed to be about about tanya writes in the 18th parikh affilo kalsha because hashem even a simple jew is willing to give their life to die if challenged we hope we're never challenged we pray we should ever be in a position to have to find out but even the simplest jew the greatest ignoramus the least pious if put in the position of dying hashem would give their life to die but you know what's even harder than dying hashem sometimes wearing your mask over your nose the whole flight and making a kiddush hashem it's even harder sometimes to live hashem than it is to die i'll kill hashem yeah i'm hung up on it really uh a little ptsd i haven't traveled a lot in the last year and i forgot that experience of cringing from the behavior of other people who will be associated with you and as we'll see we have to overcompensate rabbaneonus says the only antidote the only response is to overcompensate with kiddush hashem to be super kind and uber courteous to your uber driver and to do all that you can to over compensate for the whole the gap the chasm that was created a hillel the word means an emptiness a vacuum a whole ribosome is molecular arts kuvoda he fills the entire universe with his divinity with his sanctity with the kurdish barakuma is everywhere and when a person makes they made a vacuum they created a space that's empty of godliness that's why it's so inexcusable and unforgivable and our mission as a kehillah as a community as a claudius role it's why he took us out of mitzrayim and it's what should inform and animate everything we do every day we just said it twice already this morning that's what that we say that's what we say our kedusha adavasha bakdusha we need a minion we remember this past year how much we craved and missed and the torture this time last year of not having a minion we couldn't say those words they become so wrote saying those words we forget what they even mean when you dabble with a minion you start your day and interrupt the middle of your day and there's no kedush at marav but beginning day in the middle of the day we remind ourselves that we affirm that charge the kadesh i'm committed my whole life is going to be a kid of hashem and if you think a kid is hashem is just when i get into manhattan and i'm among the non-jews when it's among the flight attendants on the airline or the driver that's the kit of hashem that's not the pasuk posix says hashem first and foremost primarily and centrally is not among non-jews where of course it matters and means something but it's among claudius among the jewish people among the irreligious or anti-religious or not yet religious who we are meant to draw to and to attract and to inspire and to say wow that's what it means that's what it means to be an observant total jew i want more of that i want to learn that i want that for my family i want that i want that for my life one sort of the case of a of a guilloris of a convert who grew up with a very rough childhood was abused by her father had a very difficult circumstance and was driving through bergen county was driving through teaneck new jersey my hometown and um and was hungry and saw a pizza store and stopped for pizza not knowing her realizing or caring that it was a kosher pizza store but she saw something inside that pizza store it must have been a sunday probably was heir of pesach but she saw a pizza store filled with fathers doting on their children and said to herself what is going on here given her childhood and her circumstance and this is not a generalization and fathers there's a lot of work we have to do we're far from perfect and i'm not saying we deserve the compliments but this was her impression on a sunday it was probably pesach time and that was the little the fathers were doing we're getting the kids out of the house to the pizza store but she saw that and she said to herself wow this is the family structure in the family unit this is the presence of a father figure i want that where do i find that where do i get that and she converted she joined our jewish people she became a gert zadek aguilas it's a beautiful magnificent thing and it's our mission it's our responsibility it's our job to be the offspring to be the progeny of avraham avinu is not just ethical monotheism it's not just that ahmed introduced the entire world to the ribbon shalom he introduced the entire world to the concept of bringing others close to the ribonus shalolum the raman famously writes there were many who came before avraham who knew that there was one god avram did not introduce the world to monotheism the torah in fact is replete with the stories preceding avraham that tell us about the conversations and the corbonas that they brought so it's a misnomer it's a misconception that avraham introduces the world to monotheism he doesn't derambam writes in a departure from his normal halachic writing the rambam tells the narrative and the story and the rambam writes do you know what avraham introduced the world to he used to social media in order to talk about and bring others closer to hashem he stood in a soapbox in the corner of the park and he told everybody you got to hear about hashem you got to hear about the god that created the universe you have to develop a relationship with your creator everyone else knew but kept it to themselves avram was the first to share it with others and for us to be his progeny to us to be his children doesn't only mean to believe in the ribonucleon for ourselves and our own lives it means to be committed to share it with others to teach it to others to bring it to others it is mamish why he created the jewish people rabbenu yonah writes this explicitly the whole reason he created us the whole reason he created us stand up and contemplate just think about it for a moment these from lives that we've formed and crafted they're beautiful they're wonderful but we're doing them too much by rote and we make the mistake of thinking they're too much for ourselves i go to my minion and my daf i volunteer for my resurrection i went to my many sim cause i paid my tuition i sat at my shabbos table i prepared for my yantef and i do it all over again but why why what are we meant to be doing and accomplishing how are we meant to be transforming or changing the world to repair the world and to bring a light to the world to make the world a better place ammo vis-boning stand up interrupt your habit and your ritual and your routine and hispanic think about contemplate for a moment why did he take us out of mitsrayam any chodish nissan any observance of pesach that doesn't include a reminder to oneself into one's family that the whole reason he did all of this and the whole reason we are free and we are here is not just to have it for ourselves but to share it with the world the kandichas hashem hashem he's born to the cultural era the reason he separated us and the reason he sanctified us and the reason he's empowered us with his torah and his fila and these mitzvos which are the blueprint and the manual for the most meaningful life the reason he did it all is to bring his name more into this world and into this universe for people to see and to know it's what he told us he was taking us out for why to be a mamlakha's khan and the guy kadosh has caught in the game what does that mean a nation of priests and a holy people rav of ramban rambam what is the role of a priest among any people the role of the religious leader a priest among any people is to be the guide the path to be that role model to show the way and to chart the course and so what the individual clergy priest a religious leader is to a particular people we the jewish people are the priests of the whole world so you understand that you're all rabbis and rebeccans you're all learning in colo you're all we all have the religious responsibility on our way to work or the gym or the supermarket or going to get the mail down the block in every activity and in every moment and every time we're engaged we are a mamlekhas kawanim you don't have the luxury of saying there's a reason i didn't go into the rabinet you know the luxury of saying there's a reason that i don't want to seem so from because i want no one has that luxury we are maybe lagaba you're parnassa when it comes to your livelihood people learn it different ways but when it comes to your existence when it comes to our mission when it comes to why we're here no one has that luxury every one of us is a member of the school on him every one of us plays that role in regard and clapey the entire world we are the clergy of the entire world and by the way empirically whether we like it or not that is the reality i don't know the professions of the people on my flight if they're in rabbanus or what they do for a living but they're clergy in the way they appear to others through behavior and through the lesson that they leave swarno teaches attempting that our mission is to inspire the entire world this is what it means to be school of mekolha i hope i won't lose any friends but i'll tell you what will change your life and expand your portion of the world to come is not the red string around your wrist and it's not even how many challahs that you're making there's the mitzvah of taking khala it's a beautiful mitzvah i'm all for it as much as anyone else but the silly school is that we've introduced i don't care if you mumble pittmaktoras from a cloth on your way to the train where you're going to make you think that's a school for anything in the world the biggest school that we have is to be a mensch the biggest school we have is to make a kid of hashem the biggest schoola is our reputation and name because our name is an extension of the name of the ribonus shalom we call it a kiddish hashem is his name or shame what is a name a name is the manifestation expression in this world we can't see or smell or feel or touch baroque the only way we know him is through his name and we are the ambassadors of that name and when we live in a world that brings people close and that leaves a positive impression we have done well with his name we've sanctified his name and when we make that vacuum and that hole then his name is a little smaller in this world says the sforno arjab the school of mikulam the biggest school to be that's the passage what makes you a school of nikola mim is not how many red bundles and the school of micholamim is not whatever fed whatever is in fashion as a school of this week or this month the school of mikhol hamim is to be mekadish everybody to cry out and to call and to recognize and to see to feel and to proclaim hashem's godliness and why he's here mamlakh's khan and the guy kadosh what it means to be the guy kadosh is to be a guy who are committed to kids hashem it's why we're here and it's what our life is all about it is the difference that we are meant to make in fact the smog the safer mitsubishi mosha banyakov kuchi tells us the 13th century among counting the mitzvahs the midst of kirish hashem says the smog maybe the reason we are dispersed around the world is in order to make a kiddush hashem and to transform the entire world which hosts us to not cower or shy away and to never make the mistake of thinking that judaism was meant just for jews judaism and torah were never intended just for the jews that's not why he took us out of mitzrayim he took us out of mitzrayim and he gave us his sacred torah in order for us to transform the world and to bring it to the entire humankind now of course we have systems and parameters and boundaries in order to ensure our own continuity and our own sanctity and to not compromise our values and who we are we're very careful in how we interact and relate with the world but ultimately suggests posits the smog may be we've been dispersed around the world to leave our impact not just as good money lenders or bankers in the host the countries that have hosted us but to leave our impact in transforming the world towards a belief and a recognition that there's one ribonus shalom and he didn't create a world and move on but he continues to be involved in our lives every single day and he has expectations and we are held accountable and there are consequences and it's why we're here it's what our lives are all about if destro writes in mr melio that in fact means to create a kirish hashem that this mitzvah's kolalasakol kirish hashem it's everything it's why we're learning it's why we're diving it's why we're doing it it's why we're bound by mitzvos from the way we wake up in the morning in the order in which we put on our shoes until the last words of shema on our lips our entire life is about making a kid of sha-shem to ourselves to other jews basokba israel and then to the rest of the world says that all of torah and all of mitzvos are a platform to promote kiddish hashem you're about to engage social media are you going to do it in a way whether you are a consumer of social media or a contributor are you going to do it in a way that's going to make a kiddish hashem or no matter what your belief or no matter how fired up you are on the issue of the day are you going to contribute to the conversation in a way which will make a kiddish hashem or hashem it's everything that we do it's all of mitzvos and all of our hashem is even our own ability to conquer our inclination even our own effort to improve our own medos is because when we are the best version of ourselves we are realizing that selamat elokim in us that's a kirish hashem it's a kirish hashem we are his ambassadors the telemalo kim we are the godliness that is inside each and every one of us like this one but we are but kufa we're in a period now we are that animated dynamic traveling mishkan and when the world interacts and sees and observes us that's their perception of are we expressing art selemelo kim to its fullest and its finest are we the best version of ourselves as husbands or wives or mothers or fathers or children as siblings community members community leaders are we fulfilling the mission and purpose for which we are here which is not to take from this world but to give not about rights and entitlements but about duties and obligations because we have a telemelo kim and we have a mission for the world to know it to see it and to want to get closer to because of it because of it the whole world will see that hashem is called on us the gamer says hey tulane shabba rosh these are the film that we wear on our head this fascemas and the gemara makes a beautiful comment it doesn't say elut phil and shel rosh it's not talking about the tifila the actual filling of the head it's filling shebarosh the gemara says when we have the ideas and ideals of phil and shabbirosh in our head when that informs and inspires how we conduct ourselves and all that we do roh kalama arts and the nations of the world will see that hashem appears through us and they will want to be drawn closer they will want to see more they will want more that's our mission that's our mandate it's why we're here in kadesh period plain and simple so yes more talmud torah and there isn't a shul that has more talmud torah there isn't a rav who is putting talmatorah more accessible for more people to listen to you mentioned what you say you made up that nice story about smitha but i'll tell you a true story which is i speak to my rabbinic colleagues all the time and they say i can't put up in my entire career where rabbi leibowitz puts up a week on y u torah i can't put up in a year where rabbi leibowitz puts up in a day on yutorah talmud torah absolutely doubled down on shiori tamatora these are the cornerstones and these are the foundation of a base canesses of a shul it's what it means but never ever forget that the reason we're doing all of that is for the kid of hashem that comes through these windows and comes through the window of our heart to all that we make contact with it's why we're doing what we're doing kumara famously talks about the windows of the bayside mikdash how they were shaped and the light come in or did what light from within go out and the answer is both and the same is true for the miktash mahat that is our shules and the vishakhanti bisakam that is our lives there's so much we have to absorb so much light we take in that torah and mizzou zenyatus offer but it's also that we turn it around and project it out and if i had more time which i don't i would share with you the countless sources that talk about the consequences if we fail how high the stakes are and why failure is not an option how it's unforgivable even what yom kippur can forgive forgive and be and s many other sources that talk about the significance and the uniqueness the place of hashem in contrast to kirish hashem because of how far back it sets our mission it doesn't matter it doesn't matter if you made it intentionally or by accident whether you're mindful or mindless either way we're accountable and why is that mara writes because khil hashem is a din like nizikin it's in daracha in paris writes because hashem is like the laws of naziken i don't care if it's show gig benezeke and if you banged into my car you're responsible to fix my bumper i don't care if you were distracted on answering a text and that's why you didn't notice and it's not really your fault that's super your fault but i don't really care it doesn't matter sho gig shoghi is not a tour and nazikan so if a person makes akhil hashem there are magic to the ribonus shalolum and therefore there's no petura hashem it's the hardest aveda to atone for it gets the most severe punishment in hulking and so on we all struggle because not every day you're on the train or the carpool line not every day you go to the gym or walking through the supermarket did you get the best night's sleep before not every day are you in the best mood is everything going right in your life and so we can fail we can fail to acknowledge or see the other person or treat them kindly or with courtesy it's hard so hard in fact one of the al haits and half a year from now that will say it's not if i did it because unfortunately it's an enormous enormous challenge we have but we need to place a greater emphasis and that's why it was the message that i thanked my fellow passengers last night for reminding me i wanted to share with you mamish true story rav viruham the great masjid of the mere bemoaned that the emphasis we place on avraham avinu is his extraordinary hased but we talked too little about yaakov avinu's honesty the rambam calls him yaakov we refer to yosef as a tadak but the ram called yakov because what's up sadiq is to be honest a person of your word to have integrity to be straight to be a yashar so if your rokham said khasid is beautiful and the khasid in this community and all over claudius are all it's extraordinary it's a wonderful legacy we have that we talk about little honesty in business a little integrity a little kid of hashem in the tiny small gestures like the gemara tells us of ravioli zakah who has always greeted the other before himself i'll tell you a little homework assignment i try to do it the checkout line supermarket they wear a name tag when you say thank you use their name you will distinguish yourself from everybody else who was on the phone in their earpiece on their airpod who they were entirely invisible and inconsequential to and we're dehumanized and when you stop and you say thank you and you use their name to use a name like hakuras baruch's name kirish when you use someone's name you give them existence you want to make a kid of hashem and you want to be distinguished from all the others then use someone's name thank them directly small tiny little gestures that make the biggest difference in the entire world and that transform the world who once commented that every generation has its mitzvah every generation has its mitzvah and the mitzvah for our day is let the name of hashem be beloved through us that is the mitzvah for our door it's the mitzvah of our generation it is a challenge and so i thank you for inviting me to share in the celebration and to pay tribute and cover to your magnificent rav and i remind you as i remind myself and our kihillah that the reason he took us out as we approached matias mitzrayim as we sit down to celebrate that seder and we sip and savor those wonderful four cups of wine is that he didn't take us out in order to indulge in the delicacies he took us out to make a difference and to transform his world and that ultimately that is the primary purpose of a shul of a community and of claw israel that all the activity that happens in here is to make us better and prepare us to do more out there who in fact places divine countenance and the outstanding hard work of your hands and our hands and maybe zoha to make a kitty shame thank you so much you