Living With Emunah (Part 152): Grab the Rope and Hold on Tight

good morning and bokor Tova and welcome back to living with a muna our weekly really support group to remind ourselves what matters what's important how the world is run what we can control and much more importantly what we cannot because once a week is not even enough for the support group the truth is the challenge particularly in the time in which we're living that we confront each and every day every hour almost every moment to be able to tap into the piece of us that knows that there's meaning and purpose to the universe that can turn and rely and feel the presence of our best friend Hashem ro e Louis RM is my shepherd Louis R may never be lacking in his shepherding me through life every single day it's so easy to forget to think we're in control we're in charge or to think that we are subject of randomness or that were victims of nature but the truth is that we have a father a father in heaven who loves us and he's watching over us and not every time does it feel pleasant or enjoyable but it always is for a reason and a purpose and to live with that confidence and to live with that that therefore that sense of calmness to know that he's there and that everything is for a reason I want to thank our and monastery sponsors for the year our friends doctors AVI and Bela Morgan who sponsored lazarenn ich muss our dear friend rabbi dr. Brian Gavin coming up on his first year at side it's really hard to believe the world has been a different in a much less bright place since he's left us but he was a model of of Emunah and continues to inspire our Emunah and be tough on on a daily basis it's also sponsored by sound leslie Abadie our dear friends in honor of their children joey and marissa bore extinct lee's gadget of a healthy baby a happy baby a holy baby and to give them a lot a lot of Nahas and this justin also want to thank Fran and Jerry Weinberger we're sponsoring this morning in this course of Arica shaman for David Hanna Kimora had been afraid of simcha should have arecas Yemen continue to inspire and light up the world and I continue to for Schlemmer for Eliyahu Ben shows on thank you all for your generosity and your at sponsorship we are learning we are continuing it seems like a never-ending peace but it is finite it just takes us a long time to get through every line but this beautiful essay by the author of the bill vaviiova Tamar shorts who is describing for us what a life of faith looks like what a life of that muna looks like what it means how when a person has an awareness and a mindfulness and a consciousness that the world is not all about us we can't take credit and we're not only to blame that we are not the victims of of chance but rather there's meaning and purpose and order that when we're able to tap into that best part of ourselves to remember that and to realize that and to calm ourselves down over that then then we can rid ourselves of anger and anxiety and envy and arrogance the worst part of ourselves we can let go we can tap into and reinforce and promote the better part of ourselves I'll tell you the living with I'm gonna show we do now on Wednesday mornings you think it's for you it's a support group for all of us but the truth is it's really for me because it puts the pressure on me the rest of the week when I'm about to lose it I'm about to give in to the worst voice that says panic or fear or be anxious or be angry so what are you doing you give this class you preach to teach this each and every week you can't do that so with all of us with all of us you know thank God we have it and I have the greatest challenge there is in the world and I know many people would kill to have this be their challenge and so we're grateful for it not complaining about it but you know it's hard to make a simpler anytime planning a simplest complicated now try planning a simple with a moving target where the rules are changing each and every day and figuring it out so it's easy to lose your cool easy to grow frustrated it's easy to throw up your hands and say what do you want from me and those are the moments that test us and we have to realize the best part of ourselves and say no it's gonna be okay there's a reason I platform forward I do what I do I do what I know I can do when I leave the rest is up to him so it's just an example each of us are are challenged almost daily with reminding ourselves that to live with it omona is to live with his presence is to live and see the world through harmony as we've been talking about now for months the external voice the external sense of self it's battling it's involved in conflict intention and the external sense of self from the moment we wake up until we fall asleep has to manipulate maneuver calculate conquer but the inner sense of self that selam aleykum the godliness in us the godliness a master sees harmony and peace in the universe says I'm willing to let go and let God I need to take my initiative and I need to do what I need to do and be that it's entirely up to him I shared with you the quote that anxiety is the tension between the now and the then please count they'll be a wedding in August between now and then is anxiety how do we get from now to then but the den is gonna be wonderful it's gonna be beautiful so if you had a crystal ball and you could fast-forward to the then and you can see that then is gonna work out however it's gonna work out ten people a thousand people ten thousand people so then is gonna work out then you don't have to experience the anxiety what do we what do we lose you know the anxiety that fills for the now to the then it costs us mental health emotional health physical health it sabotages our relationships our creativity our sleep our success the anxieties never ever actually generated anything good there's not a positive outcome that comes out of it now I know sometimes when you're a little bit anxious you'll work a little bit harder and you'll think a little bit more strategically but you don't need anxiety in order to do that you just need you the anxiety itself literally depletes us and debilitates us and it and it beats us out what do we give up in that process so anxiety is the tension between getting from the now to the then so just fast forward to then and get a little window and a glimpse and say that then is gonna be good the then is gonna work out and if it doesn't and it's not good that then doesn't always have the positive outcome the person I davon for prayed for or the lab results that I've been waiting for or whatever the the then is that then always doesn't have the outcome that I hope for but you know what there's a day after nonetheless there's a day after there's a recovery there's a putting one foot in front of the other so the anxiety is never positive it's never helpful skip from the now to the vet and with your crystal ball fast forward to the then and then live backwards to the now with a sense of serenity and peace by speaking and listening to the better voice the inner voice the godly voice that's inside each and every one of us so we continue Neos esteem us Italia show me Manon Alana be tough on that's me so lately riff Schwartz is developing the idea that many of us too many of us have an overconfidence where we think that life is about us were self-assured we're self-confident we have too much self-esteem where we think I can control and micromanage and manipulate I'm in charge of everything I could take responsibility and credit for everything no Lisbon average gambit honest bahaminy mario hezonia scam oh and we also have a overconfidence in all types of things around us for example the army the police man Aquino has like a Mikado man they're all kind of scientists doctors medicines all kinds of influences and powers around thus we have confidence in and we should and it's good and we need them and we should fund them but we can't have an overconfidence in them what does he mean but often Maha nefesh me down on the offenses laws in my record show vehicle a Misha Hall is now I get Laham when a person makes a mistake and thinks there's nothing that can oppose them there's no force opposite them there's no tension with them if only I can get them whoever the them is the elected official the police the army the doctor the lawyer the judge whoever the them is if I could get the them on my side then there's no opposing force there's no battling there's no tension it's a mistake sister of Schwartz because whatever level of empowerment that address are those people have and there is a lot of empowerment in this world there is nothing and I repeat there is nothing and there is no one who does not oppose who does not face opposing forces who does not have to battle that does not have mission missed and I gained something opposite did them except for the Almighty except for God God is the only one who wills and wants and it is there is no impediment there's no obstacle there's nothing opposing God is infinite omnipotent divine providence Dominion and for God therefore everything he wills is God is the only being God is the only entity God is the only that doesn't have any history or says nothing opposite or opposing him everything and everyone else for every force there is an equal and opposite force it's a law of science Ledesma for example says of Schwartz ela Denton Ebel can be holy Michel ahem young children the younger you are the more they trust in their parents the Homa or an apostate solid case Akana you should go remote Masuka me ah do rats laaa Oh EEMA who bought two of Shahan Yoshi Otto every child runs into a problem what do they do mommy daddy I brought Tati whatever they call you mommy daddy they come they scream they yell bail me out the little child bailed me out my hands are sticky bailed me out my siblings annoying me bail me out my teachers treating me unfairly bail me out pay my bills bail me out bail me out of what I am that I don't want to be what every age the level goes up but children think that their parents can come and save them their parents can help my copter in and their parents will bail them out literally or figuratively there is a natural innate within a child and that makes sense because from when the child is born who literally who literally nourishes the child if not the parents who protect and nourish and take care and nurture that child so it cultivates and conditions the child as they grow to think and to believe call mommy and daddy call mommy now but mommy and Abba can take care of everything they'll set the teacher straight that set the principal story they'll set the camp straight the rules straight they'll set everything straight mommy and Abba you dose at the Apple Store Street they'll take care of it all gum Kesha princess Rufus bye bye say yellow to miss Shumacher I'll be at Stella so even if God forbid there's a fire in the home the child calls from mommy rambha the community knows there'll be a bit of fire in the home there's a fire in the home and the child screams from mommy Abba saved me rescue me hi yelling miss Shumacher I'm being sued also about calumny of didn't the only of Shane I Ruben Akash I yelling you throw this away from this cause Coco xalapa she clearly to mr. Akash am I so no sure I'll go bananas of him says they're shorts but we know the parent knows that the parent will go to the end of the earth the parent will exert and express every effort every ounce of their being in their strength to try to intervene and save a child in every circumstance to do everything they can to bring happiness to their child but the parent also knows that they're limited and they're finite in the end of the day they could try everything they can try but in the end of the day they have to throw up their hands because they're not in charge they're not in control and in the end of the day they can't do it all they can't necessarily achieve save the child from the fire we can't necessarily have the funds to bail them out of their debt and we can't necessarily repair that relationship and we can't necessarily give them the baby that they so badly want and we can necessarily help them overcome that addiction or their struggle however hard the parent tries the parent knows it's a very I've been there I've been there and tried to counsel and help and support and love and every parent knows about themselves it is a very sobering and humbling moment when you accept and realize that with everything you try and as much as you feel that you've spent your life doing everything you come in to fix it to fix it you're the fix-it man does the fix-it man mommy's the fix-it woman you fix things you fix things this thing isn't working my laptop's not working the lamp isn't working my friendships not working and you've always come in and you fixed it why can't you fix this for me fix this and give me a baby fix this and make him fall in love with me fix this and let me get that job fix this and give me back my house fix this why can't you fix it and every parent has that moment of truth where they realize that no matter how are they trying a matter no matter skills or powers or blessings they have they can't fix everything can't cash in shade so you know didn't play mystic who should be tough on with this you arrange a lot to me coke off shell is not just like human or the humorous tonometer of assam so with children they realize sometimes at some point the children realized my parents can't fix everything and even though I've been conditioned for my youth and my adolescence to think that my Karen can parent can helicopter in and swoop in and fix it I realized my parents are finite and there are things that they confront and they face there are tensions and battles that I have that not my parents and nobody can come in and can fix cough gum eighths of a pogrom okay I'm so sorry Tasha I must meet Colonel Mohammed Igor name of my roughish knows when you'd see those cars Arcos and Matt's me dos so the same way that the child because of a certain level of emotional or or cognitive immaturity the same way that the child makes the mistake of thinking that the parent can always fix it and bail it out that my parent has no conflict or confrontation or battle so - we as adults also make that mistake we have the arrogance or we have the overconfidence to think that we are those we have access to can fix anything and everything woolum sorrowful have in burrower but you need to understand and we need to understand clearly that what Cocola baton osha anima chemistry goes hey no hits on IAM a nami hallelujahs petronas gomorian meets a dad's mom we need to know that just as the child has that moment where they realize as much as i love and admire my parent and as much as i look up to them they can't and they don't have the power to fix and to remove and to overcome every obstacle so - we as adults need to look at our lives and realize that we not the police not the lawyer not the doctor not the scientist not money not power not fame there is nothing in this world there's nothing you can have and there's no-one you could know that can absolutely eliminate the things you will confront and that you will battle i don't care who you are how much money you have coronavirus doesn't discriminate or care how many friends or followers you have online how much money you have in the bank account how popular you are among your friends it doesn't matter and it doesn't make a difference who you have access to or what you have or how beloved you are there is no one and there is nothing that doesn't have his snogged is that doesn't face challenges and obstacles and battles and tensions it's what it means to be alive it's what it means to be in this world it's what this world is filled with it's what this world is all about so just as the immature and unsophisticated and undeveloped child makes the mistake of thinking mommy and abba as long as I have them on my side I'm good to go they can fix it they'll fix everything and anything to fix my teacher and my pin symbol to fix my technology I'll fix my friends and they'll fix whatever trouble I get into and mommy and daddy will always bail me out and the child gets to the stage and they realize no they can't I love my parents I admire my parents but they're human beings and no they can't so - we as adults need to have the same realization we need to recognize we need to come to the same level of maturity and sophistication that there is nothing and there's no one who can bail us out of everything of everything except for one there is one there is one with whom we can have a relationship and there's one we can turn to when we can rely on and lean on and there is one in our life if we let him if we feel his presence if we embrace his love if we talk to him and confide in him and thank him and even protest him but there is one who faces no obstacle and there is no tension so we can live our external sense of selves and battle battle battle and fear fear fear and envy envy envy or we can express and tap into our inner sense of self that leans on and that talks to and then it feels his presence and that says there's nothing that's too big or too hard for him that he's got it all covered and he's got my back and he's got my back gamma bit Anushka vehicle near my ob2 community let's McCallum kodoku miss Abbott Kenosha darshan a bank in miss Kaoru Kaoru Quebec a circus ba ba ba da da ba ma there's nothing a bank can do to guarantee alone you can have guarantor is cosine I'm alone but you're not necessarily gonna collect that money a bank and Ursula Shabet I said Dirac in Moscow and gamma those be to a high limit crush them out show it Mostafa gonna be totally never the necklace on which Carla maker she Nozick beef rice or ho re then in my friend Zoe's Bechet Macbeth who knows so the bank when you go to the bank and you take out a loan the bank wants to create all kinds of guarantees and one of the guarantees that the bank creates unique co-signers you need collateral I'm taking first position on the apartment so if you default on the loan simply taking back the property the bank takes countless steps but I'm gon call Illya home like a save Shirey we eat this Adam osso bucco so misc FST let me the whole arrests and necklace I guess I'm about in them Luke remembers I'll be talking with Shelly sorry gal so sense of Schwartz but you know there could be a sinkhole and the whole swallows up the whole house the whole apartment falls into the sinkhole got from Bissell and forbid a missile can land coronavirus can come the unexpected a pandemic can wiped out things in ways that you never ever imagined or pictured beyond anyone's imagination so there are no guarantees with everything you do to try to guarantee with everything you do to try to back up there are no guarantees was there Farley share may finally give us a hope ha I'm not sure Lamaze Lane okay a little bit seen before even though these things don't happen they don't happen often claim me touch you call my banker in a main emotion like a fan them so thank God banks lend with credit if we didn't have credit the whole economy would freeze would be at a standstill credit requires faith and thank God banks have faith and they lend with credit and the economy can continue because they know that those wild things don't often happen but yes sir I came I Bank him is not a limit to everybody's bonier him kids he visa questions Chloe yes well Amaro skin color maybe Shane Roy in the office the bank heh no Kasia English Noctis but it'd be foolish and unwise for anyone to lead their finances in a way where I felt I'm invincible I'm immortal I mean I'm untouchable Kiku Lana show me more dimly rush on the fields banking about the dim because we've all heard we've all heard of the people who felt that nothing can bring them down with the unexpected game began limits use shock Risa closed maracas our bankers the point is trying to communicate with the bank as an example as a metaphor is that there's nothing you can do for guarantees in life there is nothing you can do for guarantees in life there are no guarantees for your health your wellness there are no guarantees for your mental stability and well-being there are people who deteriorate it's the saddest thing in the world there's no money that can slow down that can slow down dementia there's no money in the world that can help you recover from illnesses that currently have no cures it doesn't matter how much money it doesn't matter how much popularity it doesn't matter even how righteous you are there is nothing that you can do or what you can have so what are you gonna do keep trying to chase more worry more panic more try harder now there are things that you can do that are wise you should wear a face you should wear a mask and you should practice social distancing I'm not saying or suggesting and I I think that those who do are grossly irresponsible they say listen it's up to God let go and let God and walk around without masks and open everything up and be on top of one another because it's up to God and you can't do anything about it anyway no of course there are things we can do about it there's a way for living healthy you can live healthy physically you can live healthy mentally can live a healthy emotionally and you can live healthy spiritually and that's on us to try to live healthy lives of course there's initiative we have to take there are things we have to do but once we've done them and we've taken those steps and we're living responsibly let go let go because there's nothing you can do to absolutely protect yourself thing you can do to become immortal there's nothing you can do to become a person who faces no obstacles or conflicts you could that's a tiny new to the cache of Markham showed me a bit about me me the event shot for her son is essentially in universe because that's me so look inside yourself and realize that ultimately you're leaning and relying on him look inside yourself and grab onto its hi Mila my physique and but the Tories are it's time to those who hold on to a grab onto it grab on to it I don't remember if I said it in this year or others couple weeks ago partial sloth we had the midst of cities and the majors likens the Mitzvah its is the strings that we wear which correspond to our Mitzvah so if you add up the strings and the knots and the twists they add up that 613 and the reason that we wear those strings is to remind us like a person ties a string around their finger to remind us of what matters and what our priorities are in a world in which it's so easily if you get swept up and to forget so the measure says it's like a person is on board a boat you're on a cruise and you fall overboard and now you're in the water and you're paddling like a mad man a mad woman you're trying to survive you're trying to struggle to stay alive and you're sinking you're falling and the captain throws a rope and says grab the rope and you'll live if you let go of the rope you'll be swept away and you'll be swept under and you'll have no future grab the rope and you can live and that's that's it's just grab the rope grab the target Mitzvahs grab on to hashem it's climbing lamar fancy kimba he is our life preserver are we not living in stormy waters are there not category 5 hurricanes happening metaphorically all around us each and every day pandemic pandemonium every day we wake up we don't know which world were going to find a couple weeks ago on a Friday we had tornado type weather 55 mile an hour winds trees and tree limbs down everywhere how much warning did we have how much preparation could we do zero bupkis came out of nowhere every day you have no idea what's going to be grab on to that rope there stormy winds they are around us they're trying to knock us down and they're trying to drag us under and they're trying to bring us to our end to our needs grab onto the rope and climb up grab onto the rope and it gives balance and stability to stand firm and that rope is Hashem each and every day talked him and turned him and thank him and protest him tell him what you wish you were doing differently and what do you think he's gone wrong and why you want him to change the Edict of the verdict or the way he's treating the people you love or you because that's who was an expression of faith faith is not just being a yes person faith is not just going along with whatever God sends our way did Avram go along with whatever God sent stone he stood up and he said I protest how could you do this what if there are 50 righteous 45 40 and so on did motion look the other way when he thought there was evil he said horrendous good ethic God show me your way why do bad things happen to good people I want to understand I protest bad things happening to good people help me understand we have a rich tradition I'm not only saying God I'll go with your plan whatever it is but also sometimes saying God I'd like you to rethink your plan here's why I think it's wrong or unfair here's where I'd like you to reconsider I'm protesting I'm objecting and you know why that's an incredible expression of faith because you don't protest or object to people you don't think exists you don't protest an objective figments of imagination the fact that you're protesting or objecting or giving your displeasure with what he is doing or what he's done means you believe he's there and how happy is he to hear from you even if you're not happy with what he's going to say in the end and if he doesn't say what we and if our protest doesn't turn him around it's not an excuse to be able to walk away it's part of the relationship to stick with him nonetheless but he is the constant in a world of variables we are living a world of variables six months if I would describe to anyone on earth what we're living through now not one of you would believe me no one would believe me nobody we are living a life of variables every day that we wake up there are an endless list of variables about our health our stability our well-being our relationships about the world about the economy about politics about natural disasters about the weather about do we not get phone calls or turn on the news and we say I can't what is their normal day a neighbor's house burns down by fire a tornado like storm comes in out of nowhere a pandemic strikes and debilitates and how can you plan for the young no rhyme this coming year so our life is filled with variables there's nothing that we can predict it's a moving target our life now it's it to the extreme we're living that under a magnifying glass but is it ever really different any other time is it not really like this every day that we wake up and don't know what that day will bring last week and behind the Bema our Wednesday night podcast which everyone is invited to tonight 9:00 p.m. we have a great guest the father of Jewish radio Nahum Segal very excited to have him on and last week we were talking about this and her by mass coats so you know give a great example it's it's his to share not mine but he shared it last week that five years ago he woke up one day with a pain and it changed his life forever because he learned that day that he had cancer and thank god he's recovered he's healthy and he's well and all is good thank God it should just continue for him and for all those who are struggling chef speedy and completely full Emma but he described you know the night before he went to sleep did he know he'd wake up the next day it would change his life forever our life is filled with variables and differences and changes there's nothing that's predictable or reliable there's nothing that we can see coming there's only one constant in our whole life and that is God there's only one constant in the world of variables and that is God the people in our lives tragically can come and go and the financial stability can come and go and so much of what we've come to rely on or look forward to can come and go easily the one can constant in a life of variables is the almighty as I am as the rabona shalom is the master of the universe so like the rope that the captain throws overboard grab on he's the captain and we sometimes feel we fallen overboard in stormy waters and he's throwing us a rope and his rope is called Torah and mitzvot his rope is called a moon and be tough on his rope is called Vegas he says stick with me I've got your back stick with me and you'll be able to climb out stick with me and you'll be able to survive the stormy waters stick with me cause part of the throws is that rope the question is do we grab on and do we hold on because that will determine and predict our very future our very future Adam Thomas was at my authority Tony why do we make the mistake we make the mistake of thinking we're in control we make the mistake of thinking we can be confident we make the mistake of thinking that we are in a good position because we have overconfidence we have overconfidence not only in ourselves we have overconfidence in the people and things around us and that we have access to let go let go of that false belief that counterfeit view of life and grab on to the rope the only real truth the only constant with it which is in common if I chose to continue with the next section the fascist company autumn recovers McKee Mia's defeat Sonia's the soul of everybody is a mixture is the balance of this external and the internal it's a balance of the external sense of self which is battling and struggling in tension and fighting and the internal sense of self which is clinging and holding on to the rope and the two voices the struggle that goes on this is not unique to Munna and be talked on this is true for every time we were tempted to eat the wrong thing and say the wrong thing and go the wrong place we are made up of an animal and we're made up of a godly spirit and they're both true they're both part of who we are neither is false or fake they're both MS and true our body the material part the physical part of who we are has every parallel to an animal we eat and we eliminate what we ate and we we we eliminate what we ate and we reproduce the Chimera says these three things gives us everything in common with an animal anatomically we have commonalities with animals there's an animal impulse and an animal instinct in an animal Drive an animal desire in our lives just say the Trader Joe's corn chips made their way back into my house this week the Kryptonite came back it came back there's that animal impulse that animal desire that animal draw and the animal now says what do you want you want it when you want and how you want it where you want it whatever you want it whether it's yours or not whether it's good for you or not there is that hoist it just says go and don't go and joy it's the impulse to act like an animal and live like a pig and eat like a pig and that's the animal in us and we need to name it and we need to call it out the nefesh behind me the animal in us we are animals some people are much more animalistic than others others have conquered their animal impulse and their animal instinct but every one of us have that animal instinct impulse that undisciplined side of ourselves but we also have a godly soul on the godly spirit he breathed into our Nationals he put it in our being he put it in our being and we have the ability to recognize and realize the godly soul and the godly soul is the epitome of discipline of self-control of self sovereignty it's the ability to say that I'm not relinquish ngering my conditions and I'm not blaming my DNA I'm not blaming my background but I'm going to take it I'm going to conquer and I'm going to mold and I'm going to shape Who I am and who I'm gonna become I was talking to someone last night and they're talking about the anxiety and the worry throughout this time and the lack of sleep and the thoughts come to his head and he can't there's nothing he can do when he has negative thoughts or scary thoughts or and anxiety rhythm thoughts there's nothing he can do but they take him over can't fall back to sleep can't stop thinking about them can't move on and I'm not talking about somebody who's been diagnosed with anxiety clinical anxiety which needs legitimate treatment and so on I'm not talking about that I'm talking about our collective everyday oh now really on steroids sense of anxiety of what is what will be what's happening who can't feel anxiety by the lack of certainty we can have in anything today and I said to him I said you realize every sentence you say to me begins with I can't I can't I won't I don't I said I know one thing if you don't believe that you can control the thoughts then you won't control the thoughts that's why I know how to start controlling them how to overcome them how to be able to honor the anxiety and then move on from it what are the strategies we could talk about the rest of the night but it's not worth even beginning that conversation if you feel that you can't control them then every thought that comes you have to allow in because if that's your if that's your assumption if that's how the conversation begins then you've already lost I said why are you giving up control why are you giving that control to someone else to these thoughts to the panic to the worst part of who you are it begins with I can and I will and em that's what it starts with why should you concede or I should you give in why should you forfeit the control that you're capable of having and that you in fact have you can you do you will stop saying I can't and I won't we can we can realize the godly part of who we are that's the entire Jewish life all of Judaism in Altona and mitzvahs are a platform for advancing our godly spirit over our animal impulse that's what it all is what are the laws of kashrut if not saying don't eat whatever you want whenever you want only what's kosher and make a profit beforehand the laws of schmira saying I am what you look at schmear solution how you speak honesty in business awareness of time don't be lazy and sleep and you've got to get up you have to dive in chakras by a certain time every aspect of tarik mitzvahs are a platform for helping our godly soul advance and win triumph over our animal impulse an animal instinct every aspect of Torah and mitzvot so if you start as a Jew by saying I can't I'm an animal who I am it's what I do I can't overcome it so then you're right that's who you will be but if you start by saying aye roar like a lion the very should the shuffle north begins it opens up with a roar like a lion it's Gabriel a Madonna Boca that's how it started I roar like a lion to wake up like a lion roar like a lion hiss Gaborik re la mode la bocca lava does burrow I wake up like a lion like a lion by the way I'll tell you an amazing for it you get this I didn't get to this in the partial class yesterday because I ran out of time but thank God we got the unknown class today so tell you something from the pressure the end of our precious potluck we'd be two parts just this week waiting to catch up I can sync with our brothers and sisters in Israel please God so we read too far she owes cookus and bark and bark of course has the story of bilam being recruited to curse the Jewish people and in his curses his attempted curses which were transformed into blessings he says saying uncle of the yakumo yukari isness amish govern your hotel we're gonna get up like a lion in uncle avea come bukhari is nice although you're covered Yoho tariffs so the shotgun art begins at the words yes caprica re la mode la boca wake up like a lion to greet the day la overdose burro to serve god and on these words there are my rights / chef Ramesh Cavalli the left knee me who show faith when you go to sleep no before whom you're sleeping and wake up and roar like a lion and the passuk here essentially describes that you're waking up and roaring like a lion but Kyrie is the logic about your hotel you're also sleeping like a lion that's how thorough understands it so why if the passive describes that we're gonna wake up and roar like a lion do we offer reference reference the notion of sleeping like a lion so that side liquor of Mayor kranish lon explains he says you know what the schooler is two three through the night how can you wake up like a lion if you sleep like a lion and you're not asleep like a lion by realizing calathea come low your scalp idaho tariff to realize there's a rabona shel olam and there's almighty sleep like a pea because you know that I could borrow who's in charge don't wake up every five minutes listen if you wake up to go to the bathroom I can't help you there but if you're waking up every five minutes because you're anxious and you're worried and you're fearful and what will be and then you can't fall back to sleep let go and let God the answer of your sleep problems is Emunah and be tough on and Vegas the answer your sleep problems is to say I can control what I think about I can control those thoughts I can control those fears I'm in control I can do it I can do it and just because they knock doesn't mean I have to let them in let them knock all they want they're not welcome here they can't come in so a person is the blend and the balance between the external sense of self or the animal part of ourselves the animal instinct the animal in the animal desire the animal impetuousness but there's also a godly soul in a godly spirit and it says you're in control and you're in charge and you can conquer and you can do it you can do it and the question is which one we're going to live with which one we're going to listen to which one we're going to promote which one and which part of ourselves we're going to believe in which one is calling the shots are we the passenger are we the pilot of one of the metaphors I've given I'll tell you one of them one of the last thing in the parsha and then I let you go because again I didn't get to this either in the pressure shear yesterday double parsha it's gonna overflow into it living with them you know what can I tell you have to forgive me at the end of at the end of precious we have the reference to the most bizarre thing you've ever heard in your life the idolatry that they worshiped in that time was called Baal peor the Jewish people I ate some men Israel about or the Jewish people clung to a form of idolatry called buy or downpour what's about poor so we don't really understand that dilatory in general we understand people who worship celebrities and athletes they worship the mighty dollar they worship social media that form of an idolatry we see all around us you know what the biggest Idol that people worship is the biggest form of idolatry that's going on all around us that people worship almost every one of us it's difficult not to we all struggle with it the number one I know that we all worship is ourselves ourselves we worship ourselves that over confidence that over belief that over taking credit that's idolatry what is idolatry it's ascribing power to something other than God it's believing in something other than in God it's giving it to our desire our instinct our one our need instead of prioritizing his so anyway the Torah tells us there is a form of idolatry it's called Palpa or the Jewish people clung to Balfour the worship of Baal peor though is very baffling because Rashi and our parsha and I hope you already ate breakfast or you're not eating it right now but Rashi and our parsha tells us do you know what the worship of Baal peor is again you'll excuse me but it's taller I'm just teaching you what it tells us this is what was happening the times of the of the Commish Jewish people are wandering through the desert and this is what's going on in antiquity Rashi says that Baba or is that the people would come before an idol a stone figure and they would expose themselves and defecate before the idol and then they would pull their pants up and walk away I have a lot of temptations in my life I struggle with a lot of yeat Sahara's I can tell you that that ain't one of them never in my 45 years of life have I been tempted to say you know there's a lot of things going on with statues right now statues are in the news I haven't seen anyone say go to the statue pull down your pants and defecate and that's a form of worshiping the idol and there's a million questions where does that temptation come from what is that all about how is that worshiping the idol I could see somebody who wants to defecate on an idol that they think shouldn't exist they want to take down that idol so they're defecating and that's the worship of an idol is to defecate on it how does that make sense what was this desire this drive about porn so a foot near the great Russia Shiva refrain Berlin the POC idea to look the great repeats but couldn't explains that this ideology of Bal poor is a manifestation it's an expression of a philosophy of pessimism it was the worshippers way of declaring that actions have no real purpose at the end of the day everything is worthless that whether one eats a succulent steak or a gorgeous red apple the end result is it all turns into excrement that's the statement that was being made the worship of Baal peor was there's no meaning there's no purpose there's no order there's no sense to the universe whatever you're enjoying on the way in it all comes out and it's all a pile of excrement that's this world and there are people with that philosophy and ideology if they - who are not tempted to think God demonstrate this but there are people who may not demonstrate this on the Idol but they demonstrate it in their lives and their lifestyle there's nothing meaningful there's no purpose there's no order to the world it's all just random and fake and in the end of the day whatever comes in it all comes out as a big pile of excrement and such an outlook is exactly the opposites the might diametrically opposed to the philosophy and the approach of Torah the Torah teaches us that every action has the ability to build and nothing goes to waste that even excrement is fertilizer it has a central life-giving nutrients that can develop that which will nourish you tomorrow even the excrement is not garbage it is the fertilizer to grow what you will eat and what will nourish you tomorrow that everything in this world has a purpose and nothing is wasted and nothing is lost and everything has meaning and can be transformed and elevate and enriched I love this insight because it takes the most bizarre the most peculiar practice and it helps us understand that a little bit more and apply it within our own lives and so there's that there's that piece of ourselves that defecates on life and says nothing is meaningful nothing has order it's all a waste what's the point where is he and there's a piece of ourself who says no everything is meaning if I grab on to the rope and I hold on to him I can sleep through the night and then I can rise like a lion you can't wake up like a lion if you slept like you know they say I slept like a baby up every hour right if you sleep like a baby up every hour you're not gonna wake up and roar like a lion but if you wake up you know you wake up and roar like a lion because you sleep through the night because when you fell asleep you controlled your thoughts you let go and you let him in you knew it's up to him and yet control grab on to the rope and you'll sleep like a baby wishing everyone a happy healthy and a holy day see everyone nine o'clock tonight if you're watching on YouTube please subscribe to our You Tube channel even if you're not feel free to go there 9 o'clock tonight behind the Bema happy fantastic and a healthy day everyone