Living With Emunah (Part 216) - Making it Through the Night

good morning boca raton welcome back to living with emunah for those watching online i apologize that we are a minute late we strive to be on time one of the gifts of corona because we pivoted to be online we've been much more on time but we had a little technical difficulty and if hashem wills we will not have technical difficulty and you will be able to watch and join us from a distance from afar i want to thank our generous sponsors on the amunashir for the year years now dr xavier bella morgan respond to the um memory of rabbi dr brian galbert i told ryan's uncle last week when i saw him i said what a privilege it is every wednesday morning i get to use brian's name invoke his memory and think about him and uh to learn emunah from someone who is such a source of strength of amunah is a great privilege so we're grateful to the morgans for all that they do for their generosity also a memory of bella's mother dr ellen chandser as well who was an example of living with amuna somanashira is also sponsored by hannah and abe luth thank you very much on the earth side of her father jack wilder on their wedding wedding anniversary happy anniversary does they even get a piece of jewelry does they need a good i have a good jeweler i know a good jeweler and by anna cohn in memory of her beloved father nathan wasserman is the shamash by the soccer family commemoration of the 50th year at site of yosef ben salim and by abigail oprah for the full slam of her brother ben thank you all for your generosity and for all that good stuff we are back in revolbo we've been learning to say for us the light of and the um ideas of all bizarre the great of yerushalam we last left off when we were discussing hoshanah the shallow shows hoshanah the idea that before a shift will be a period of darkness and even in that darkness we have to see the light we have to believe in the light and here we are again entering another period of darkness and relative to darkness of our ancestors this is mild relative to those who've lived through crusades and inquisition and holocaust relative to those who struggle with terminal illness and crisis financial devastation and crisis and the like i'm going to put a mask on again or distance again or figure out this again is relatively mild and yet for those of us who felt we were past it turned the corner went back to some level of normal life here we are back in the dark we had stepped out into the light and it feels like we're going back into the dark and i don't know about you but i i've been having a lot of conversations with him just wondering what's the plan here what's the game plan what's it all about when corona first struck i i googled about the spanish flu i was curious how long do pandemics last spanish food lasted seven years and i'll never forget i said to you i said to myself ah seven years this thing won't last seven weeks maybe seven days look who we are look how we've advanced look what we can do today you know forget about it right now it's hard to imagine not lasting less than seven years variance and variance the light the dark so this is uh the good news is that we're close to mashiach if we're finding ourselves in that darkness we're getting closer and closer to the period of of mashiach but we have to see hashem's guiding hand even within that darkness to feel that light even within the dark to recognize that even sometimes when playing negative happens as a guiding answer before we delve back into revolver i want to tell you something from the parachute i didn't get to in last year's partial share on schmooze and i didn't get to yesterday in the partial share on your most so i got to get it out one way or another and i'm going to tell it to you and if you're listening to living with the munna and it's not parshasmos you're catching up some other time it's still worth listening to this idea pasik says the high priest of midyan israel i had seven daughters all i think better than six daughters of seven daughters but avon about tiddlanna and these shepherdesses came they were the uh tending to the flock of their father by garcia moshe me too these shepherdesses yesterday's daughters come to the well and they're being bullied they're being abused they're being assaulted by the other shepherds at the wall at the well and jewish people have always stood up even among corrupt societies we of course have our own challenges and we have to confront them but on the whole hashem the torah helps calibrate our camp compass helps hopefully elevate jewish men to live a different way and that began with moshe vayoshian moshe comes to the well and he rescues them he sees these women they're being assaulted they're being abused they're being attacked and moshe stands up and he rescues them they come to their father why are you home so quickly today what's going on the day's not over yet why are you home earlier than usual but tomorrow and they say and hear the key words you ready they call them to rule well and he says what happened why are you home early today so they said ah something happened at work today something happened at the water cooler known as the well that's there was an egyptian what happened is abba tati dad i don't know what you call your father midyan they said we were getting abused we were being assaulted at the well those bullies these low-life shepherds they keep coming they have a big kiddish club at the well they're intoxicated then they lose their sense of appropriateness and boundaries they're abusing us but listen to what happened dad is there was an egyptian man he'd see lana he saved us wasn't enough that he saved us but then he helped draw the water from the well he fed our flock we're more efficient than ever and here we are we're home unbelievable what do you want what's up or what do you want for dinner unbelievable this hero where is he you didn't invite him for supper do you know how hard it is to get shidduchon these days girls you just let him walk away you had a winner he's a hero he's strong he confronted the bully and he and he drew you the water and he spoke to you nicely what are you out of your minds you let him get away where is he so the big question what should jump out at you in this whole story this sukkam i just read you what jumps out at you how did yester's daughters introduce who moshe was to their father an egyptian man saved us so what's the simple understanding of an egyptian man saved us he's from egypt he spoke egyptian he had an egyptian accent he was wearing egyptian clothing he walked like an egyptian so they said so they said an egyptian man so the majesty really did moshe walk like in it did he look like did he talk like an egyptian this is moshe rabbenu true he grew up in the palace of para the king ali ismith rather the major says something amazing the women were not talking about moshe you know who saved them do you know who saved them in ishmitri who's the ishmitsu save them rewind the story back up the truck in why is moshe in mid-june to begin with how does he make his way to mid yen because he leaves the palace to go check in on his brothers and he sees an egyptian man who is smite and nobody uses that word to smite other than when you're translating partial schmos but he sees an egyptian man who is assaulting someone else and moshe can't bear to watch this corrupt behavior so he steps in he intervenes he saves the jew and the egyptian he kills the egyptian and now because of that he has to run so these girls these women around the well when they come home and report to their father what happened they say not moshe saved us you know who saved us the egyptian man was buried in the sand in egypt but who was assaulting the other person that led moshe to intervene that moshe then killed him that moshe then ran this whole chain of events only launched only began why because it's unbelievable ishmael amazing amazing idea sorry thank you for saving us so moshe says how did these women know about it how did they know to go home and report to their father about it how would they have known what precipitated what led to the chain of events that brought moshe to midyan the answer is moshe himself when they're thanking moshe moshe says what are you thinking me the only reason i was in the right place at the right time the only reason i was here in this moment to help save you is because of this egyptian man this wicked terrible ill-intent wicked man in egypt but he's the reason you were saved because of what he did it got me involved which led me to run here which led me to be there which led me to save you unbelievable so therefore when they go home and report quoting moshe they say ish mitzri there was an egyptian man it's an amazing idea and then the magic goes on quotes there's a mashallah think of it as a parable so what happened a uh a snake some kind of animal bit by erathlas says so the man whose leg was bit goes to run to put his leg into the water of a nickname when the man runs down to the river to soak his leg because he was bit by a snake what does he find in the water a baby a child is drowning so he sticks his hand in and he saves the child next to the child says if you weren't here i would have died i was drowning i wasn't able to stay afloat salman the man says what are you talking about i didn't save you you know who saved you the snake the snake israel emotion that was the same thing the daughters of israel say thank you and moshe says don't thank me thank the snake this egyptian man that's the only reason i was in the right place at the right time positioned to be able to to be able to save you it's an amazing amazing thing first of all it's the humility of moshe moshe could have said you're welcome you have any dinner at least offer me something you know i saved your lives but he doesn't such humility and such faith his whole life is centered around not me not i not my ego but i shouldn't put me in this position hashem enabled me hashem allowed me hashem took care of everything everything about this everything about this shihar goes because he killed the egyptian that led everything no reason to be grateful to me i didn't do anything it was all the egyptian man now you have a great contrast para parasha begins with paro asher lawyers para who should have been so indebted to yosef for saving the economy for saving egypt for saving the world lozar is the opposite moshe doesn't see himself and he orchestrates he sees the whole thing the way it began and paro who should have seen yosemite is the one saving him thinks he's the one who's in control he's the one who's in charge and we have that choice about how we live our lives and what we and what we see it's amazing amazing so yesterday we had a funeral for one of our beloved members marcus whitston marcus wisdom of blessed memory a big character and a wonderful person and sad sad loss and his son nathan said at the funeral the following amazing story marcus was about shuva marcus's father died when he was eight years old he grew up in in ireland he was named after his uncle marcus whitston who had a factory in ireland during the holocaust and who because of his factory his uncle marcus woodson was a polish jew moved to ireland and during the holocaust he had a factory and he was able to a great personal expense secure visas to bring polish jews to ireland claiming he needed their expertise in his factory and he was dubbed the irish oscar schindler he saved dozens and dozens of jews that was his uncle's uncle marcus woodstock for whom he was named and at eight years old his father died he went to london he was in an orphanage a boarding school his story was fascinating he became about you know how he became about shuva nathan told the following story if you'd asked marcus why are you observant where are you from the answer is a broken tooth a broken tooth the answer is when he was in this boarding school in england a young boy a young man he broke a tooth and he had a cousin who was a dentist and the cousin was observant so the cousin said i'll take care of your tooth on one condition you have to spend shabbos with me you have to come to me i want you to experience shabbos come to my house for shabbos no problem meet me at the office i'll take care of your broken tooth yeah marcus thought it was a small price to pay a good meal a hot shower a nice bed family for a weekend why not and that shabbos led to his becoming observant learning in yeshiva and having a beautiful family and uh and and the rest of the story but what led to his becoming observant a broken tooth it's the same thing moshe bainer says don't thank me thank the mitzry the baby says you saved me from drowning don't thank me thank the snake that bit me so marcus how did you become observant not my cousin thank the broken tooth had he not had the broken tooth and not called the cousin the dentist and not spent the shabbos and who knows what might have been why am i sharing all that with you because hoshi and shalom that in this period of darkness we don't know what feels like darkness in that moment what feels like a snake bite what feels like a broken tooth what feels like for most having to run away from egypt from his home and fleeing to midian what feels like darkness and what feels like difficulty and what feels like a challenging time in the moment we don't know what chain of events it launches we don't know sometimes we get to understand retroactively sometimes we get to look back at life and try to dissect and analyze and evaluate how did we get here and what had to happen and isn't it incredible and thank god that worked out that way sometimes we never know we just had a broken tooth we just had a snake bite we just had to run from our home but what it means to live with faith what it means to be living with ammuna what it means to be living with hashem centric life is also when you break the tooth not to get angry not to get resentful not to panic but to realize this broken tooth is a good thing i don't know why right now i don't know what it's going to lead to who it will introduce me to or how it will transform my life but hashem doesn't make me break my tooth unless it's for a good reason hopefully we'll discover why marcus looked back at life and understood why and passed that on to his son so that his son spoke at his funeral and said my father attributed his becoming observant to a broken tooth he looked back and said the best thing that ever happened to him was breaking that tooth so it means that when we break our tooth stay calm and carry on and realize hashem broke our tooth because who knows why when we get bit by a snake who knows why when the flight is delayed when we get stuck at the red light when we burn the kugel when we much more significant consequential things who knows why who knows why the family mask is that's my second cup of coffee but still bracha still have to be good so revolver says something i find so reassuring the vulva he says you know sometimes i begin to feel khali sometimes i begin to feel weak in my service of hashem i'm not so passionate i'm not so on fire i'm not so plugged in i'm not so connected i think then to myself i think this is my period of darkness just like the day cycles between light and dark why did i design the world that way why not just be light all the time people like me would never go to sleep would be a disaster die khalilah very young you needed to get dark so you know there's nights so you go to sleep but why didn't you just make it light all the time we can be more productive more efficient why not make it light all the time there are places never for a fast they find yourself in those places right where it's like light for like 22 and a half hours of the day your whole sleep cycle fast days shabbos antarctica yeah so it's a it's a long long day why did i create a world with light and dark because the significance the symbolism of like light and dark is also part of the cycle of life not just environmentally not just naturally do we go through light and dark day and night but in our lives we go through those cycles we go through periods of light it's great joy and great blessing and great symphonies there's great success and great accomplishment there's good health there's happiness there's nachas and then there are dark periods there are dark periods you know there are people who can tell you 1972 1986 2021 what that year was some people can talk about a year they made three simchas three weddings in one year and a bat mitzvah and a bris and a what a year it was what a year it was the light was unbelievable got sunburned from the light was unbelievable and people will talk about a year in which they suffered devastating losses they lost people and they had a financial collapse and they got divorced and a cha it's a dark so we have to know though the same way that if you make it through the night the sun will come up tomorrow the sun will come up you have to know that the sun will come up it will be light again it's just like the day cycles so too our lives we have this cycle so says revolt but when i feel like i'm entering a period of darkness i strengthen myself and i have to prepare i have to be able to secure i have to double down i have to be resilient to be able to ride this wave of darkness to get through this night in order to wait for the sun to come up again a gemara marist the gemara the gemara says that when mashiach is coming there'll be an explosion of khutsbaa the yokur yamiro malchus it's a very depressing gemara gemara says that just prior to moshiach's arrival the world will be upside down the world will be inside out everything's going to be backwards instead of it being that honor and dignity are what define the day i just wrote an article for this week wall street journal had an article a couple days ago that the pandemic has brought a proliferation of profanity they measure online the use of curse words and profanity and people just don't have what it takes to even speak with dignity and with class and the level of profanity the level of cursing and the article quotes all the different reasons why because we're tired and we're spent and we have a casual thing and we're in each other's living rooms because of zoom and all of these is the comfort and casual and whatever the reasons are and malchus royalty will turn into heresy and um base vadielas nus and and homes that were honorable places will be filled with promiscuity and um there'll be a dissolving of of wisdom and truth will be hidden and the young will challenge and embarrass the older and the older will be standing up zucchini will be afraid of and fearing the younger all these things may sound familiar they're all it's an accurate description of what's happening which is depressing but it's also very hopeful maybe we're uh maybe we're right there maybe he's coming so it says the gemara soto memphis so what do we rely on what do we rest on what do we lean on all we can have left we look around and we say this world is inside out and backwards and upside down we don't even know who anyone is what they are we're living in a crazy world the professors fired us to apologize because he talked about when a woman has a baby and so apologize because he said when a woman has a baby he should have never have said that he should have said when a person has a baby and you say this is this gemara what what world are we living in we're back in the dark ages we don't know anymore upside down right from wrong who are canceling and who we're promoting and who we has millions of followers online and who we say is we're living in an upside down inside out backwards world and tonight younger people have no respect for authority older accomplished people are bowing down are submitting and surrendering are afraid of the younger people gemara's abomination unbelievably accurate description of what's going on almeishain so what do we rely on what's left three bonus borough says revolver it is as clear as day in time it's as clear as day says revolt but revolve was writing he passed away already many years ago but he's writing in his time it's clear as day we're living in the period of ikv we are on the verge we are at ut we're in that last time period dvaram rabbi masha anishimara there's such an assault on religion there's assault on religious values there's assault on religious personalities there's a result on religious ideology when we arrive in this position where the whole world is inside out we're living in such a world of [Music] you say how can i live like this how can i live in this world the political correctness i don't know which words i could use i don't know who i could talk to i don't know what's right i don't know what's the law how do i live like this the answer is dip in and double down and remember there's a read bonus and unapologetically stand for his values his ideals sensitively we're not insensitive and we don't rub it in anyone's face and we don't use religion as a weapon we should be sensitive we're living in complicated times there's a lot of people in pain because there's a lot of confusion and the world is contributing to that confusion so we have to have enormous sensitivity when we're dealing with many of these issues i'm not advocating or suggesting that we use religion as a club to bang people in the head tremendous sensitivity but also unapologetically standing up for what we know is true for what we believe on without compromise without watering it down and without adding to the confusion of allah in a generation where we know we don't have truth anymore what's true things that we always knew were true from the beginning of time zach abraham things that we knew were true from the beginning of time are no longer true how do you live in this world that we don't know what's true anymore simple facts simple biological anatomical fact things that we knew again i i say with sensitivity we have to have sensitivity when we discuss and specifically we talk to people who are struggling or not struggling i don't know they're struggling with these issues but while the same time that we have sensitivity we also have to have truth who's left as the ambassadors of truth in this world we hope the pendulum will swing back in the other direction there are signs that it is beginning to but even if it doesn't what's left aka we answer to him we work for him we report to him and he is what informs and inspires our sense of truth the i love nishain and we lean on willing on him only by connecting and grabbing on to him can we get to all the high levels you know there's a panic there's an earthquake children go to find their parent you're on the boat and it's rock they go grab on to their parent there's a blackout the lights go out they go grab on to the parent so the darker it gets the stronger you have to hold on to the tati the stronger you have to hold on to the mommy stronger you have to hold on to adventure it's not that it's darker so therefore it's harder to find him so therefore figure it out without him a person might be tempted to say we're living in such a dark confused inside out backwards world it's harder to find him than ever so i'll figure it out on my own it's the opposite the darker the scarier it gets the bigger the threat the higher the earthquake is on the richter scale the greater the category of a hurricane the greater the danger of the threat the darker the blackout is the more you have to hold on to the parent avenue hey grab on have you ever had a scary moment could walk off a roller coaster with your child and your arm is black and blue your mouth is black and blue afterwards the scary part of the roller coaster they grabbed you they held you so tight they dug the fingernails into your skin and your black and blue because they held so tight they all so tight take a child to the doctor and they're gonna get their shot and you say squeeze my finger you're screaming louder than the kid getting the shot the scarier something is the harder the the tighter you hold on so that says revolve as the message for us scarier the world is around us omnicron sounds like a transformer omnicron it's coming to get us so whatever the later variants gonna be you've got tornadoes and kansas you've got just the world every day you wake up and you say well there'll be a deal with iran as iran or they're going to bomb every day you say what am i going to find today what am i going to find today can i come home from a vacation there was a fire in the air what am i going to find you wake up you say you have no idea what today is going to bring who's going to test positive how is it going to change the quarantine it's going to change my whole schedule my plans my that's the best case scenario because everyone's healthy and well just inconvenienced how am i going to change my life and my schedule the darker it gets the tighter you have to hold on don't be distracted and don't give up don't have despair the darker it gets the tighter the tighter we hold on the tighter we hold on how is it the more you know i haven't seen people write about this it'd be a fascinating study i wish people it's not a safe space for anyone to actually talk about this we're living in an unprecedented time of progress in some ways we measure the progress in some ways we have automated cars and they're getting only better and better there'll be a point where you take a nap in the back seat and your car gets you from point a to point b and wakes you up when you get there it's gonna happen in our lifetime it's getting closer and closer to it and people can now not astronauts some people who want to take a ride to the moon can hop a ride to the moon and and i've told you this that if you don't know this feature you should because if you have children who live in new york and in israel and elsewhere and you're all in a family what's app group you could press one button a little video camera it says group chat and now multiple screens and everybody pops up and you're having a big conversation with everybody who lives everywhere this is george jetson stuff this is incredible crazy stuff this is disney wheel of progress stuff that's now outdated and uh you know this is we're living in a time of insane progress omnicron came so in the lab they're like don't worry we'll have a new antibody infusion treatment out within a few weeks we know how to tweak it to the latest it's unbelievable mind-boggling stuff it's mind-boggling stuff mind-boggling stuff the progress in our time is mind-boggling and yet when it comes to morality and ethics we're going backwards to the dark ages we're going backwards to to greece we're going backwards to egypt ancient egypt we're going backwards in promiscuity and moral decadence and moral decay and moral confusion we're going backwards i haven't seen anyone talk or write about this i don't even mean from a torah perspective i mean from a general perspective that how we could simultaneously be warp speed going forward in one direction and warp speed going backwards simultaneously when it comes to others so you feel like hopeless despair if you're not concerned about your children and grandchildren you're crazy who knows who can get caught up in what and who will end up where and who will get smitten by what idea and value so hazal our rabbis knew the answer our sacred torah knew the answer double down and hold tighter ta'abba to your father grab onto that life vest grab onto that anchor the winds are blowing like unprecedented speeds hold on hold on years ago and two thousand years ago they described exactly what we're going through now and they told us the problem and they told us the solution and what's the solution i'm not advocating withdrawing necessarily from the world around us as confused as complicated as it is it's a beautiful world and hashem wants us to engage it and he wants us to extract the beauty from it and he wants us to contribute to it society is still filled with a lot of beauty and a lot which enriches i'm not advocating withdrawal but we have to be more vigilant than ever as we confront that world and as we try to draw the best from the world and we have to feel avinash basham i'm looking over our shoulder he's with us he's with us ko i'm gonna get in trouble now by ending with this maybe i should quit while i'm ahead i got a voice note from a woman in israel i never met her i don't know her yesterday she had a group of seminary girls at her shabbos table i won't say the two seminaries but from two uh typical classic non-rhodac seminaries and at the shabbos meal they told her how angry they are and why are they angry because as they've had this growth spurt in israel in seminary and they've discovered values and ideals and lifestyle choices and what is important they are registered to go to universities in which it will be almost impossible to live those values and ideals and they are very angry how come nobody told them when they were applying to colleges how come no one warned them or cautioned them how come no one told them who they are who they're meant to be and made sure they'd be in an environment which would protect and help them be that and how are they registered and might end up in a place where they can't be true to what they've discovered is the most authentic version of who they are so this woman called me and said this was the conversation that my shabbos table in israel i don't know why she ended up on my whatsapp group thinking i could make a difference with this but said how could be at the end of the 12 year of education a parent spending hundreds of thousands of dollars that were equally celebrating considering and getting into and attending places that in the world today i don't know that we sufficiently understand what's happening on these campuses they're not neutral it's not just that there's not like a gemara shire going on it's not that there's not necessarily a great minion or a shabbos meal or a musser schmooze it's not that it's a power of place you can't imagine the the assault and the values and the pressures when it comes to modesty morality when it comes to israel when it comes to anti-semitism and again this is not a wholesale it's also to go and you can't go and there are exceptions and i'm not i'm that's not what this is that's not what this is but it's it's having an honest evaluation of who we are and when we're sending and how are we preparing them and are they ready and and what does it look like and what are the results are we doing the research to understand the data that our kids we spend the 12 years and hundreds of thousands of dollars and what do they look like on the other side in four years they undo 12 years or 13 or 14 years do they undo 20 generations what's happening again this is not a wholesale rejection there are people who should go and who thrive and do better in that environment because they have to stand out i understand every situation is different and i'm a big advocate of nuance in life i don't believe that anyone should just stand up and say anything is entirely wrong or entirely right there's nuance with it but but are we really are we being mindful are we being aware so this woman left me this long voice note there was nothing wrong with it but one of the great gifts hashem has given me in the last year is that on whatsapp you could listen in multiple speeds i feel like hashem did that for me there's nothing wrong with the long voice note hashem was beautiful i just couldn't be more efficient in listening to it and i hope and pray she's not listening to this it was i'm glad that she left a long voice note because it's raising this awareness and it woke me up to that and she wasn't you know shrinking a vec like i moved to israel and i from doubt and now i'm yelling at you rabbis in america she was repeating a conversation from her shabbos table of seminary girls who who are sharing that frustration that disappointment so so they're saying two thousand years of the rabbis in sotas saw that we're going to live in a time in which the winds are blowing in which up and down and down is up and inside is out and and and we need to double down on our jewish identity and our jewish pride and our total learning and our total living because it's the only way we're going to come out on the other side the only way we're going to have a jewish continuity look what's going on 70 intermarriage rate look what's going on with assimilation and when i talk about assimilation i'm not talking about assimilation among the unaffiliated i'm talking about assimilation among orthodox jews show merchables from jews assimilation in our values flip through i'm equally going to offend everybody with this now i should have had a third cup of coffee but flip through the fromist torah magazines right now and assimilation is on every other page what's being advertised in terms of the ostentatiousness and in terms of the the materialism and consumerism and is these aren't jewish values we're assimilated torah jews the pressure to keep up and the emphasis on the consumerism materialism in the in the from us so to say those are not jewish values we're assimilated in all these directions and this is what ghazal warned us they said the closer and closer and closer you come to mashiach the the stronger the winds are going to blow the higher on the richter scale the earthquake is going to rock you there's only one thing that's going to keep you stable and safe and secure and that is hold on tighter and tighter give hashem a black and blue mark let your fingernails pierce the skin hold on tighter and tighter and tighter it's not a time to let go it's not a time to hold on loose it's not a time to explore let them discover for themselves another conversation with a parent choosing certain school options for their child i want my child to choose religion i said that's beautiful and if they do choose it'll be a it'll be a richer life but are you ready if they make the other choice are you prepared for what that means if they make the other choice by the way did you give them the choice whether to brush their teeth or not when they were three years old did you say i want them to choose let all their teeth fall out and be filled with cavities because i want them to choose the beauty of brushing your teeth did you let them cut school i want them to go to school because they chose to go to school or did you strap them in the car seat and get them to school and drop them off and hand them off so where's our responsibility where's our vigilance and where's our role that the stronger the wind is blowing and the the harder the the earth is being rocked to hold on tighter and tighter and to grab the people we love to hold on tighter and tighter corey adoras is we need a greater providence we need hashem's greater intervention so however friends as we're going through this period of darkness omnicron and corona and uh assimilation and assault and challenge we have more prosperity than ever before it's easier to live as a jew than ever before it's easier to live as a jew than ever before and we are a more prosperous jewish people than ever before in fact this is a very big challenge that we have we have two thousand years of practice of how to live with nothing two thousand years of practice we have a misora we have a tradition of how to live with persecution and oppression and taxation how to live with expulsion two thousand years of practice we don't have a lot of practice of how to live with prosperity and it's killing us it's killing us how to live with prosperity how to live with jewish wealth how to live with jewish safety and security we don't have a lot of practice when the host nation says shalom alaikum welcome be just like us join us integrate no problem enjoy we don't have a lot of practice so these are very very challenging and very dark times in many ways and if we want to make it through the night to get to the sun rising in the morning we got to hold on tighter and tighter and tighter tighter in mitzvos and tighter with torah learning and tighter with ammuna and tighter and talking about hashem talking about hashem and if our child is going to that place because it's right for them for some it is correct but every day do we talk to them how's your neshama tell me hashem on the campus are you taking classes that promote and increase your relationship with hashem how is your jewish identity and your jewish pride and your jewish lifestyle and your jewish practice are you making a kid is hashem are you lighting the world are you transforming the world are you bringing hashem there to that campus jose found himself in mitzrayim going back to the last week but if yose finds himself in mitzrayim but what does he do while he's there shame shaman before he can't stop talking about god and he makes para into about suva before the para we meet in our parsha but para shame shamash because yosef where is his yamaka to work and around the campus and to classes and he stands up and he confronts a professor who's assaulting israel or attacking the jew and he stands up for he says these are our values that's what we stand for and this is who we are and i'm going to protect it and i'm going to stand for it so these are the conversations i think that we have to be having we have to model holding on tighter and then we have to encourage and strengthen our children and our families to hold on tighter and when we do it hashem we'll come out the other side to the light tonight nine o'clock behind the with my childhood friend joe gitler joseph giller founder of lekket israel amazing organization doing great things and he has a great story and uh hope to see you then stay happy stay healthy stay holy