Living With Emunah (Part 172): Speaking To and About God

welcome back to living with emunah our weekly wednesday morning group to give one another physique to strengthen one another to remind ourselves that which should be obvious and that which we should know by now namely that there is an almighty there's a creator there's a god there's a father in heaven who loves us who has expectations of us and he yearns for our relationship with us and it's so easy to forget we need to remind ourselves 100 times a day we make 100 blessings a day in order to remind ourselves and more than once a week wednesday mornings but we'll start with wednesday mornings want to thank our generous emunah sponsors this morning dr zavi and bella morgan thank you so much for your generous sponsorship in memory of rabbi dr brian gabba whom we still miss desperately and in memory of bella's mother dr ellen shanzer thank you so much for nasham shiva and aliyah also this morning's amuna class is sponsored by carol walt in commemoration of the year side of her beloved father benjamin presner his name aliyah thank you for your generosity thank you for your sponsorship if you'd like to sponsor a future class of living with amuna or any other please email lee at brsonline.org at leedbrsonline.org okay we're jumping right back in by amd the great safer uh teachings of maya morgenstern that we've been studying i don't know that we're worthy or are or qualified to study but we've been studying it's a great platform and it's a framework for us to be able to have discussions about devacus what it means to cling to god to stick with god to glue ourselves to god to attach ourselves to god to know that god has our back i thank those of you who continue to send me your emunah emails i love to hear your stories they inspire me and when you give me permission i share them to be able to help inspire others as well so the last chapter was vegas was the notion of defining the possibility of living a life of such mindfulness living a life of such acute awareness that god is always in the room he's always looking over our shoulder he's always lifting our spirits he's always having expectations of us we're never ever alone he's always with us and he's always around us and to never stop believing the moment we don't believe we're capable of it the moment we think that we're isolated or lost or distanced or on our own is when we're in trouble we have companionship we're never ever alone we're always together even when it feels we are that way so we began last week this second paragraph about darcy kenyon vegas the methodology and the strategy for how to acquired vegas how to acquire a life in which we are clinging to the almighty how do we merit for such a thing are we worthy because some will say you know what i haven't really perfected keeping kosher shabbos i haven't perfected my davening i haven't perfected my blessings i'm not always kind to everybody i struggle with my arrogance and my envy so who am i to think that i could qualify for a life of devacus am i such a holy roller i'm going to walk around preaching and talking god all the time i'm going to invoke god and turn to god and think about god when when i haven't even gotten down the basics who am i and ravichammer encourages us to never ever think that way to recognize that this is our father does any child say who am i to be close with my parents you know after all i forgot to give them a card for a gift for hanukkah after all i uh don't always say good morning i don't always listen to what they asked me to do so i guess i shouldn't even try to be close god forbid every one of us has the capacity every one of us has the capability and every one of us is invited for that opportunity for ourselves and it's what god our father in heaven wants of us so let's get into it the first thing is going to be these are the methodology the strategy for how to acquire a life in which we are attaching ourselves to god in which we feel his presence and it gives us the strength to be able to get through on a regular basis so the first is obvious it's a munna it's to live with emunah which is what our shira is all about living with emunah that is not theoretical it's not conceptual and moon is not in the abstract amuna is not academic and moon is real it's who i am and it's how i live and it's what my life is informed and defined by every jew knows intuitively intrinsically we believe that there is a god we know it we know it we studied together the beautiful mimer the beautiful teaching of wassup and hashem you come to murdered by the nazis in which ravanan said how could a bar mitzvah child a girl turns 12 a boy turns 13 and we expect them one of the commandments is they have to believe in god i don't understand he says aristotle struggle with evidence of god great minds brilliant people struggle with evidence of god and here you got this 12 or 13 year old kid and we say you must believe you could tell the toe of a 13 year old kid shake a lulav you could tell them light a menorah but believe in god when those much older and much greater than them have struggled how could it be how could it be and he says the answer is every child knows from conception from inception when they enter the world every child instinctively and intuitively knows they have that spark inside themselves not just the pentalyid every human being knows that there's a creator there's a god in fact it takes more belief to be an atheist more faith to reject god than to accept him because if you just look around this world and you see the complexity if you look around this world and you see how sophisticated you see the details the minutia if you look around this world and you know that every book has an author and every building is an architect and every sculpture has a sculptor then you know that this world also has a creator namely the almighty so call you who the every jew knows we know in our kish because we know in our heart and even those who fight it and even those who claim to reject it they too know there are just layers of life experiences layers of disappointment or hurt layers of people who got in the way for them to be able to fully believe it the first step to achieve a life of clean to god of knowing he's in the room of attaching ourselves to him is to work on a muna is to remind ourselves investigate the evidence of god's existence listen to the voice of god inside us who says hello i'm here you see that magnificent day you see that coincidence of the thing that worked out you see the blessings in your life that's me talking to you says god i'm here i'm here and the gate way the entrance into ammuna is speech is speech what does that mean talk to god get used to talking one of the words we have a lot of synonyms for prayer and one of them is we learn it from out to talk to god in the field so we think about prayer we think about the prayer book and the liturgy and the hassan and the environment and all the pomp and circumstance but the most authentic and the most genuine the most real form of prayer is simply opening your mouth and talking to god pouring out your heart that word that form of prayer which is a conversation the greatest form of prayer with god is just to have a conversation with him all right god here's what's going on in my life i know you know because you're the omnipotent infinite being but let me tell you in my own words what's going on in my life let me tell you about my family my hopes my dreams my disappointments let me tell you my frustrations let me tell you my great pleasures and let me tell you my pain let me tell you everything that's going on in my in my life let me tell you it's a sicha let me tell you what i object to in my protest to let me tell you what i'm grateful for let me talk to you not as if you're right in front of me but you are right in front of me i'm having a conversation with you you know i got away from this for a little while i was preaching hispo to this i was preaching talking to god three minutes a day disconnecting putting your phone on airplane mode just allowing your mind to clear and to calm and talking to god i got away from it but last week i did it again and i can't tell you how amazing it was how invigorating and invigorating it was how nourishing it was to that relationship with hashem because you could learn the daf yumi and make it to minion and from the sitter and do all the mitzvos and like the hanukkah candles later this week you could check check check check check the relationship is stale and like any relationship it needs communication and it needs time you could take out the garbage and cook dinner and pay the bills and you could do everything bring home flowers and chocolates and write in a beautiful card but if you don't spend time and have a conversation with your spouse if you're not spending time with your children if you're not really getting to know and being curious and and and uh and inquisitive about their life if you're not sharing and confiding and making yourself vulnerable then you're not nourishing a relationship and so the relationship with hashem is the same way is the same way so you'll say well what do i have to tell them about my innermost feelings what do i have to tell them about my disappointments or my hurt or my greatest joys am i what do i have to share that he knows he's god he's omnipotent and he's perfect he has access to it all he already knows it all so why do i have to share it and the answer is the experience and the exercise of sharing it is an experience an exercise of confiding of making ourselves vulnerable of drawing a bridge and of making a connection that's what yields the closeness that is the relationship so it says richard meyer the the pathway the sha'ar the gateway into a life of emunah the gateway into a life of of faith is speech the power of speech start to get used to talking to god it's a conversation in the old days people would call you crazy they put you in an institution for that but we say we put you on a pedestal for that because that's what we're all trying to achieve talk to god in the car on the drive in the kitchen while you're cooking in the in the in on the treadmill at the gym at work while going for a walk in whatever context talk to god you know what a beautiful thing about the mask is the mask mandate or wearing the mask nobody knows what you're doing that your lips are moving you know as a religious or observant jew it was complicated sometimes come out of the bathroom you got to make an asha yatzah but you're in a public place how do you make that option outside without looking like an absolute freak how do you dive into our shower talk to him in a moment without looking like an absolute weirdo but now you have a mask and nobody knows that your lips are moving nobody knows who you're talking to it's also one of the gifts of the cell phone you could stand in an airport and dive in minecraft in the corner and just hold the phone to your ear while you're talking to god you don't call anybody but it's one of the great gifts that we have you have to see the silver lining in some of the times that we're that we're living in so um so says richard meyer the first the first suggestion the first step in this formula of how to live a life of greater vegas is emunah and the first step of emunah is to talk to god to speak to him tell them everything that's on your heart lefroque unburden yourself make a crack you know how the light gets into your heart when you open it up the same way that you call a friend and you catch up the same way that you have coffee with someone and you confide so with god the ask him for help ask him for help develop the habit that everything you do you involve and invoke god god i'm putting the coco in the oven hashem let the cougar come out well god i'm cooking up a drusha god give me the right words and help me say it in the right way that your words will resonate that i'll be able to get your message across god i'm driving from point a to point b help me get there without incident let me not get in an accident or get a ticket let it all go smoothly and go well there's no activity that we're doing in life that we can't spend a moment a brief moment by introducing it by saying god i know that the determination of the success of this is because of you so let it go well let it go well whatever we have to do i'm doing my taxes god let it go well i have to write a report let it go well i'm applying for a job i'm going on a date whatever it is this is we saw we studied once one of the interpretations of what it means is wouldn't it be amazing if a person prayed the entire day long what does it mean pray the entire day long you gotta get to work you gotta cook dinner you gotta arrive carpool how do you pray the whole day long and the answer is not in shul and not from the sitter but wouldn't it be amazing if all day long with every activity we do we first introduce it with a prayer may the cake come out well may the drive be safe and secure may i not get coronavirus even though i came out from underneath my bed may i wherever you go and whatever you do is there not something worth praying for may the shear go well may the wi-fi not break down may the there's nothing that we do that wouldn't benefit and wouldn't center us and calibrate our compass by first introducing it with and hashem i know i need your help and how about the right afterwards how many of us ask for that help on the way there but do we pause afterwards and say wow joshua went pretty well thank you hashem the hope of speech went well that worked out that journey that trip i had to take i went and i came back and i didn't test positive and i did everything i could but thank you for that how many times after the fact do we pause to say thank you to him so conversation regular conversation is and part of the speaking to god is god please help it become easier to speak to you please let it flow more naturally please let me remember more instinctively to talk to you you can daven it sounds paradoxical you can daven for amuna you can darwin to talk to god so the koa khadiba this power that we have of speech speech creates reality that's why it's the same word led bear is to speak and davar is a thing our speech creates things not just speech recognition speech recognition which we which we know in our generation more than any other because we talk into our phone or we talk to our car or we tell an oven what to do and it does it so we can identify with the notion of speech recognition that hashem spoke 10 times and he created the world no generation before ours understood what that meant god spoke and it created what does that even mean but our generation is beginning to understand it and i'm sure the next generation will understand it even further the idea that right it's not far off that you'll be able to tell your car take me home and the next thing you know you'll sit back and read a book you'll have a schluff and you'll end up in your driveway speech recognition so dboor creates a dove our speech creates things and the same is true in terms of our feelings the same is true in terms of our our attitudes when we speak we create that reality you know you want to feel love for your spouse tell them often that you love them if you're if you're hold back and you're not emotive and you don't share how you feel it's going to be hard to connect that reality but when you say i love you and i'm not saying that you should say things that you don't feel but you don't need to feel it entirely in that moment but you say i love you and the love follows the speech creates the reality confide in someone and you draw a connection with them make yourself vulnerable them or accept their vulnerability to you and you'll feel a connection so says richard meyer the first step is dibor is the power of speech is the more you speak to god the more he will feel palpable the more he'll feel tangible the more that you will see him all over the place if every activity you do you begin to introduce with hashem please help me and hashem thank you afterwards when it went well you'll start to see him everywhere you'll see him in the parking spot you got you'll see him in the light turning green when you needed it you'll see him and feeling healthy when you weren't sure if a cold was coming on you'll see him in the new business deal that you closed you'll see him in the food that turned out to be delicious you'll see him everywhere because you're looking for him because you're talking to him because you're asking him and because you're thanking him and our studying this dhaka this partial precious variation could not come at a better time because the parasha tells us the parasite tells us that who was the paradigm who was the role model for this none other than yosef joseph said hashem god was with yosef and he was a successful person now what does it mean to be successful a nice car a big house a lot of friends and followers online how do you define success so in this context we say you know what success is when you cling to god and when it brings you the calm and the serenity and the emotional spiritual physical balance well-being and health then you're living a successful balanced life so it describes how did yousef achieve that success what does it mean he achieved that success why he hashem us yosef because god was with yosef why was god with the yosef listen to rashi rashi and the pastor says you know what it means kashmito that god was with him shame shamayim yosef was always talking about god yosef was an annoying seminary girl who just got back from her year in israel hashem every word out of his mouth hashem hashem hashem hashem that was yosef yosef was shamed shamayim sugar please god with god's help thank god if it's god's will every way that you can involve and invoke god in a sentence that was yosef now you'll say okay you do that but you're not going to do that in a business meeting because how do you know that potential business partner or the one that you want to negotiate with how do you know they believe in god maybe they'll be offended what are you imposing your god on them no yo safe did it if was at the doctor joseph was meeting with a stock broker if yosef was saying hello to the pilot if yosef was talking to a potential new boss in an interview he never hesitated and he wasn't worried including paro the greatest strongest person in the world leading the empire of the world yosef never hesitated or resisted yosef shame shamayim shagger bef he was always talking about god with god's help please god thank god with god's help he was always always talking about god and you know what that did for him i'll tell you an amazing vote from ravi kha's call of shin of the shin of arabia you know what that did for him later in our parsha when the wife of potiphar propositions yosef one of the most salacious stories in torah you may not know it because your teachers all skipped it but now it wakes you up every week every year when we hear this parasha vayishev we know the story of the wife of potiphar a beautiful woman and yosef is a very handsome and capable and charismatic young man and the wife of potiphar doesn't just try to seduce or or make an advance to yosef she propositions him she all but essentially hashtag me too violates him and jose finds the wherewithal to resist in a hostile environment a foreign land with no access or communication with his father with his brothers he's all alone in this world and somehow he finds the the capacity to resist where does he find it from so in the pasture it says vayimaen vayomer he resisted and he said to her get lost i'm not sleeping with you i'm not going to sleep with you it's very explicit even somewhat graphic he says to her thank you i'm complimented wow i appreciate that but i can't do it you're a married woman and your husband is my boss he's trusted me with his household he certainly trusts me not to violate you and therefore while i'm flattered thank you but no thank you vayimain he rejects he resists vayomer and he says that word vayim has the cantillation the trump of a shall shellus on top it looks like three triangles yesterday in the partial class sorry i had to put you through that yesterday in the partial class we shared one insight of rabbi's salvation but the shin of rabbit gives another one the word vayima'in which means to reject or resist also comes from the root of emuna you know how yose found the wherewithal do you know where he found the strength the kawak the courage the resolve the tenacity to resist her advance do you know what gave him the energy and the strength to do the right thing in that right moment when all the odds were against him and when his natural instinct and his flaming desire was to give in how did he have the mindfulness how did he have the presence how did he have the willpower to say no because of he tapped into emunah you see he had created this wellspring of ammuna because shame shamayim shogur bef when you talk about something it becomes a reality when you speak about something you create a reality so when you become that annoying seminary girl or you shiva flip out and you say barakah you say please god and thank god and if it's god's will and everywhere you go everyone knows that you're going to invoke god and let's pray on it let's spend a moment let's think about it what does god want us to do what would god want and let's thank god for what just happened and you invoke god constantly and regularly when you speak about god then you create a reality so vayima'in says the shinovar he found the courage the energy to resist to reject because shall shell us he three times tapped into he sat there and meditated he meditated he said over and over again amuna and muna you know earlier in the parsha it occurred to me i was looking at the partial this morning that i don't have the pasta in front of me but when they bring yaakov the bad news i know this isn't the parachute class they bring not yakov the bad news that yosef they bring the coat that was dipped in blood and they say that yosef was killed by an animal the puzzle tells us that yaakov his father was inconsolable he absolutely refused to grieve he was inconsolable he refused so what is the passage all of his children came in order to comfort him to console him and what does the pastor say that same word vayim he refused to be consoled so you know where yosef got that capacity of that same word which means to refuse to reject in yosef's case he rejected the advance the proposition of the wife of potiphar in yaakov's case he resisted he rejected any words or offer of consolation where do you ever get the courage of vayim in yaakov's case what was he rejecting when he was inconsolable he was rejecting you as he said i'll never give up hope i'll never give up hope it's never hopeless i absolutely refuse to be consoled because i refuse to believe that he's gone i refuse to accept it one always holds out hope the impossible is possible and what gives us the courage of the energy for that amuna says the shinovar the same root of the word emunah and so therefore says ichameyer what's the first step to a life of today because we all want it we all want it we want to be calm and serene and happy and satisfied and fulfilled we want our health to be better spiritual emotional mental physical we want to go through life with a smile on our face and ready to take on and absorb whatever comes our way as difficult as hard as it is you know what does it when you live a life of a muna dibor the gateway is to speak to god and speak about god we've shared many many times because i speak about god we learn that from yosef attack the more you talk about something the more you create a reality when you tell alexa what to do she listens you tell siri what to do it listens when my son was like four or five years old was my proudest moments little boy such a yiddish cup he says to me abba are siri and alexa best friends was that a great line that made a lot of sense right siri and alexa should be best friends they're both inside devices you tell them what to do they never answer you back they do so he said to me are syrian alexa best friends it's like a yiddish cop was a great a great hap so hey monty kia bear we can speak and create reality if i can talk to alexa and she plays music i talk to siri and it gives me directions then i can talk about god and i'll feel connected and close to him i create reality by my speech when yosef spoke with a muna he had the courage to resist the wife of potiphar when yaakov tapped into ezamuna he had the courage to reject that feeling of hopelessness and to remain hopeful and optimistic and positive and to believe and to see the goodness and i'll tell you one more thing from the partial we'll get back to ravichammer because in our parish it also tells us that when yosef has been sold down and a caravan of ishmael come to be able to take him down to egypt so he's um they are spice merchants and normally spiced merchants trade in very mulderous spices things that smell really terrible so could you imagine it'd be stuffed in the back of a van with all of their materials and goods and it would smell horrible but instead it happened to be that this group of spice agents were spelling selling something transporting inventory which smelled good and rashi quotes hazard tell us that yosef was very grateful he felt very blessed and you look at that you say hold on one second yosef is being sold into slavery he's being transported in the cattle car but something smells good so he pauses and says thank you god that smells amazing and you know what the commentators say yeah that's yosef yosef's able to even in the midst of hardship not yosef felt the hardship when he ends up being falsely accused by that wife of potiphar he should have been the victim hashtag me too but she screams that she was violated in the world came to her defense without of course investigating properly falsely accusing yosef he ends up in prison falsely accused jose wasn't happy he asked saramashkin for help yosef understood he was in a difficult predicament nobody's asking you to be happy about that which is hard there are people who have difficult years right now there are people dealing with illness or financial crisis there are people very very very lonely from this horrific pandemic and and nobody's telling them lean in embrace it be happy put a skip in your step it's the best thing that ever happened to you that you've spent the last nine months utterly and absolutely alone in essential solitary confinement no one is telling you that but you know what yosef tells us that even being transported in the caravan to loneliness you can smell roses you can stop and smell the roses even within the hardship when you believe in god when you feel the entire world is against you and destiny is against you then you never see anything good but when you believe there's a god and you don't understand why he's in making you endure that hard moment it's difficult to see his hand in those moments it's difficult to feel connected or to feel grateful but nevertheless even within that you're able to stop and say wow that's amazing thank you and i think it's a big suggestion for all of us those who are struggling the most in this pandemic but everybody who's been affected by this pandemic is like yosef shame shania i'm suggestive never stop talking about god hamati ka dab speak about him speak to him protest object cry out be angry at him which is also a form of faith and belief in him but even within that difficulty in those moments smell the roses see the positive fragrance see the blessings and be able to thank him before you go back to being upset or frustrated by some of the challenge and the misery that's also part of the story of yosef that when you speak about god then you have the capacity to see him even from within the hardship which is something that gives us a lot of a lot of faith gives us a lot of faith i'll get back to my for a little bit more because i'm saying the more you speak to god and about god the more you invoke god the more you see him everywhere around you and the more you see him and feel them the stronger you'll be so the foundation stone to a whole life of vacus of glowing of clinging of sticking to god the foundation stone the cornerstone of being able to do that is emunah is knowing there's someone bigger and greater than us that we are not the end all and be all and the world is much more than what we just see in front of us but that somebody's pulling the strings that there's a creator there's an omnipotent infinite being and that he loves us because he's also our father the more we think and reflect and meditate the more awareness we have of that the more we'll see him and the stronger we'll feel his very very important to habituate ourselves to speak about and to think about emuna and the more that we talk and confide and think and collaborate with others the more we subscribe to the emunah lists and we listen to the yamuna not this one others as well the more that we're thinking and talking about amuna than vayumra called the we can rise above we can elevate we can position ourselves that we don't feel like victims and we don't have to feel like we are random statistics and we don't have to feel like we are simply the victims of chance but there's a god and as difficult as some things that are happening are it's all for a reason and it's all somehow for our benefit and even if we're not enjoying or appreciating that moment like yosef we can still find the benefit and the pleasure we can smell those roman roses we can pause for a moment within the hardship it's all from above and the more we surround ourselves with people who see that way it's contagious the more that we are involved in those conversations the more that we approach it with that attitude the more it will strengthen us and i ask you as i have several times before in our emunah shiurim because you'll say to me rabbi you'll say that's very difficult it's going through a hardship people have experienced terrible loss or a diagnosis of an illness or a financial hardship or an issue with their children of which there are fewer painful things than seeing a child struggle and stumble so how do i believe that's from god why would a good kind god do that and how am i supposed to take that leap of faith to believe that it's from him and this and there is a reason for it so i ask you i ask you as difficult as that is is it easier to believe that it's random and chance is it easier to believe that it's a coincidence is it easier to just believe you're a victim of nature in the natural order that's easier i find it and i believe that it's so much easier to understand to say i don't understand the reason why but i submit and i surrender to a higher being it gives me strength to know that the struggle and the suffering is not for naught it's not empty and it's not random there is a reason i don't have access to know what it is i long to one day find out but until then comforted to know that it's not for no reason there is a reason and there's a way to grow from it and we can all be enriched by it um the more that a person makes the effort to speak about a moon fake it till you make it fake it till you make it with emunah so you don't believe you're struggling you're not sure you're investigating you're studying you're thinking you're reflecting so what in the meantime with god's help please god thank god even while you're struggling fake it till you make it talk about it till you get there yo because that doesn't make you a faker it makes you somebody who's trying it makes you somebody who's making an effort it makes you somebody who has ambition and an aspiration to be that person to live that way a that the more that a person speaks about the ammuna the more you're going to get there so fake it till you make it talk that way and don't be hesitant don't be hesitant how come that when you meet with an evangelical christian how come when you meet with a religious non-jew they don't hesitate to talk about god please god or with god's help or let's pray on it or let's pause and thank god and we the jew even with the yarmulke of the beard or walking around a man or woman who's identifiable as an observant jew still we put our hand over our mouth while we mumble abraca so nobody will see that we're making a blessing we don't talk about god because we don't want to introduce that into the world no that's why we're here it's our mission judaism was not meant for the jews we're here to transform the world like yosef who by the way succeeded yosef wasn't just shameful yosef didn't just talk about invoke god all the time yosek did outreach very uh implicitly in a nuanced passive way yosef didn't share the bible codes he didn't do the discovery program yoshida didn't try to provide evidence for god's existence all he did was talk about god and we'll see you next week's parasha that yosef when para calls him and says i hear i don't want to spoil it for anybody spoiler alert when when paul says i hear you interpret dreams he says no no not me it's not me i have no skill set it's from god god speaks through my mouth he enables me and gives me that skill set it's on loan it's not part of my permanent collection i'm grateful to god and he does those several times to paro and by the end when para says i love this interpretation and i'm installing you in my cabinet he says because god has given you such great all of a sudden power is a believer power goes from this pagan or atheist lowlife but because yosef talked a lot about god paro ends up talking about god he ends up being a believer it's incredible yosef does outreach joseph inspires not by again explicitly trying to proselytize but rather yosef does it in a very nuanced way casually just by invoking god that's our mission that's why we're here don't be embarrassed don't be ashamed don't hesitate or pause but rather speak about and speak to god halaway shays follow them does anyone here listening live or later not have countless things to daven for today may this go well may that go well help me with this help me with that and i'm not talking about some monumental thing help me solve world peace help me cure corona or cancer i'm talking about help me get from point a to point b safely help me make it into my bed tonight without contracting coronavirus help the speech come out well help the kuggle come out well help the conversation a difficult conversation i have come out well help me with anything hashem i'm restarting my computer help the wi-fi come out well finally whatever it is do we not have a million things a day that we can invoke a conversation with him do we not have opportunities throughout the day when talking to others at work at the gym at home to be able to say how are you thank god you know it's difficult as it's been i'm so grateful to god for x y and z thank god talk about god thank god invoke god we have countless opportunities let's just finish is to learn books that talk about amuno and say because you know you're going to already get nauseous by how many times i've said this but our family's hashtag practice what's app group the other day i had a tremendous craving i'm going to give you you all know my list of favorite foods and what i struggle with my kryptonites so corn muffins at the grove out of this world corn muffin with a hot coffee particularly on a cold florida day hit the 40s in florida today i want all the northeasterners to be have some sympathy for us it was in the 40s so corn muffin so i ran into kosher mark i ran into the grove to get a corn muffin it was packed and there were long lines there were people who wanted to talk to me and i was like you know what forget it i don't want to wait i'm not going to get out of here and lo and behold who was at the checkout already online my mother i said mom pay for this corn muffin i'm running out of here gave my mother a kiss i hope nobody in the grove thought it was suspicious why the rabbi was giving this woman older than her kiss and i was wearing a mask don't worry and uh and ran out of the grove with the muffin protest recorded and put it in the group hashem is not amazing it wasn't a coincidence i had the craving i wanted it right then she was right there she was checking out she was kind and generous enough to cover the corn muffin for me and i was able to get out of there no harm no foul practice so you could run out and say wow what a coincidence my mother was in the grove at the same moment you cannot even think about it as a coincidence and just run out of there or you could stop and say thank you hashem thank you that too was you in that moment insignificant inconsequential not only would i not have suffered if i didn't get the corn muffin i'd be a little bit thinner so it wouldn't have been the worst tragedy in the world yet even then hashem thank you thank you thank you look for the protest moments record them share them large and small mode and he ends this section and really we should unpack it maybe we'll start with it next time he says read things that promote that god has involved in our lives and stop reading and watching and exposing yourself to the things which are trying to detract from that idea which say there is no god and everything is nature and everything is human initiative and endeavor stop living in that world that's actually a fraudulent world and start living and surrounding and reading and being supported by the world which is telling us the truth which is that hashem is involved in everything so vayima'in whatever challenge you're going through whether you're like yaakov who rejected the hopelessness or yosef who rejected the wife of potiphar va'ima'in you'll find the strength by it by living in ammuna and become that seminary girl become that flip that yeshiva guy don't be shameful don't be hesitant talk about god talk to god talk to him every day we continue nine o'clock tonight we're going behind the beam with eli pelli the founder and owner of mishbaka magazine and until next time have a wonderful hanukkah stay happy stay healthy and stay holy