Living With Emunah (Part 255) - Life Isn't a Playlist or on Demand

yeah okay good morning poker Tov sorry for the delay fortunately dealing with uh some challenges we should all have only uh simchas and good things want to thank our military sponsors for the year Dr Xavian Bella Morgan in memory over by Dr Brian galbot remember Bella's mother Dr Ellen shanzer very very grateful for that ongoing and consistent uh sponsorship it means the world to us I also want to thank it was supposed to be for the 10 minutes of meeting which unfortunately we weren't able to have this morning so I also want to Dedicated the amunisher for the year outside of beloved father of Jacobs in the shamish and very grateful to them for that too and sorry we weren't able to do it on this is to apply it to our living with our living with emuna okay we continue our study of tibha emuna we have been learning rabinovich his approaching his attitude towards how we can try to repair and fix in our generation it's great to see some faces who normally listen online and comment online it's great to see you in person and I'm going to make an appeal after this year there's tehelum there always is and the people for whom we say to tell them they should have a complete speedier before shlema we should hear good news after the talent if you see a new face say hello welcome make up to stay and have some coffee get to know ask how they're doing this is an opportunity not only to learn about Hashem but to imitate Hashem you could talk about Hashem which is amuna where you could be like Hashem which is to be kind and loving and sensitive and caring and interested in other people we're all children of Hashem and to show an interest in a care and a concern of other people is to show a curiosity about Hashem the god in others the tell malikim of others so it's wonderful to be together it's wonderful to welcome new faces wonderful to welcome in person usually online faces or names so uh please welcome and warm nobody run out it's an opportunity to say tell him it's an opportunity to get to know one another and while we're making announcements also tonight the niche of BRS is hosting an event which is how to check properly for insects considerations in cautious how to inspect properly and come and have some good salad and fruit and vegetables all properly checked as part of this fun what time is this program eight o'clock have some salad leave room for delicious salad it's not a men's club event it's a event I'm saying have some salad eight o'clock tonight and also a reminder that coming up soon is the dedication rededication of our renovated Mikvah you have to register online to attend it's going to be an amazing event celebrate the brand new magnificent five-star state of the art spa-like nikvah which has been redone so please join us for that as well we're on page I in page 70. Pierce left off and we were emphasizing the notion that you can only really live with and practice amuna when you talk about Hashem if you study about Hashem if you study about God God is theoretical and academic and Abstract God is somebody that you analyze and evaluate and you bring evidence and proofs for his existence but you never actually practice talking to him do you talk to him do you surrender to him do you submit to him do you appeal to him do you protest him do you thank him is there gratitude not enough to talk about God we have to talk to God and it's not enough I would say the opposite's also true it's not enough talk to God which many do and do well we have to talk about God some people do a great job of talking to God when do we talk to God only every morning afternoon and evening only every time that we eat something or drink something only if every time that we leave the restroom we talk to God all throughout our day a hundred times a day we talk to God so some do a great job talking about God they never talk to God some do a great job talking to God a hundred times a day but they never talk about God they never talk about Hashem in their home at dinner bedtime on vacation when traveling to talk everything to credit him the rebonation do we thank Hashem let's ask Hashem we don't know what to do let's pray on it let's hope that Hashem will give us Clarity in every moment that a person is stuck in every moment that a person is grateful in every moment of a person per moment of desperation in every moment of reflection to not only talk to Hashem but to talk about how and when will we grow in aramuna when we speak about when we invoke when we involve his name depend depends on speaking about Hashem commercials emphasizes this notion we have to see we have to talk about Hashem in other words an incident that happened two days ago um there was a football game Buffalo Bills and Cincinnati Bengals and we're not going to comment now on the barbaric sport of football and whether human beings should actually be playing it given what we know to be all the medical data of the results of it my mother was ahead of this one when I was a kid she didn't want me playing I had one friend who was very big and very strong and the rule was I was only allowed to play if he was on my team not the other team that was the rule that was the rule so any case but uh we're not commenting in football in general many have a lot of fun many have made a great career we're not coming in football in general but this player Demar Hamlin 24 year old was tackled and went into cardiac arrest and had to be revived CPR twice on the field and is still in a hospital fighting for his life why am I sharing that is why am I sharing that because there was an amazing image an amazing scene maybe you saw a picture or the video of it and it occurred to me this striking contrast between a couple years ago when players in that same very sport many were choosing to go to one knee during the national anthem in protests to America and it was a big controversy and it was a source of enormous division some kneeled on one knee others stood up others sat down and if you looked at an image or a video of the field during that controversial time what you saw was great divisiveness great makalokas great division of people doing different things taking different postures sowing seeds of division in contrast as not only the teammate for some the Buffalo Bills but the opposing player for the Cincinnati Bengals as he was on the field being worked on all of the players all of the players all were on one knee praying and it occurs to me how I don't know I don't know the answer to this and I don't presume to know and I don't mean to stereotype and God forbid I'm not suggesting or implying anything and asking this I have no idea if you would have pulled those players before the game how many would say they believe in God if you'd pull the players before the game how many would say they believe in prayer if you pull the players before the game how many would say they pray regularly and yet in a moment of Crisis and catastrophe instinctively intuitively where do we all go we all collapse to one knee that's not our religion I'm not endorsing that but we all collapse in surrender and submission and in prayer to Hashem to God there's nothing we can do the Medics are here the experts are here they're working on a medical personnel or administering CPR not once but twice we the players there's nothing we can do what's left that we can do all that's left is prayer what um and millions and millions and millions maybe billions of people around the world saw it and we should speak about it that in that moment even if the latest poll the Pew polls in America show that America is at an all-time law of belief in God in that moment on national TV every player every coach everyone in the stadium and probably everyone was watching or surrendered to their knee in prayer to them to the King of Kings there's nothing more we can do we're all Spectators watching but there is something we can all always do and that is pray and that is pray and to me the contrast of the mahalokas and the division and the different posture versus the universal posture that they all took of falling to a knee in prayer should be a lasting iconic image should be etched in our minds and our memories and it shouldn't take a collapse on a field it took sadly took a little while to conclude this but they concluded ultimately they suspended the game which of course there are things much more important than football is after all a game it's a game a game life is much more important than a game prayer is more important than a game than a game so it took him probably too long but they concluded to suspend the rest of that game and what a message what a message but that image of prayer so there has to be an image of an image of prayer I wish in other games when someone's injured and the Medics Rush on the field they treat and then the person stands up and is able to walk away everyone should also collapse to any surrender in prayer of gratitude instead the game goes on we should also remember how to pray with a sense of gratitude I don't remember if I told the story here but the story is written up who had a family member in crisis and they all gathered at the hospital and they were saying to hilum and davening and the surgeon came out and reported surgery done well everything's going to be okay they're going to survive everything's good and everyone from the family now was exchanging hugs and joy and smiles and gratitude still sat there he still open he was still diving so family said like you know what they called them rosh hashiva Rabbi then you hear the surgery went well everything's good it's okay he said I said to him out of desperation and with passion when I was worried everything was going to go bad I shouldn't continue to heal him with an equal level of enthusiasm and passion and gratitude when everything is good I did say it in the amunisher so I remember I got a message from someone afterwards so I said it several months ago but whenever we channel into the the tehilum whatever we channel into the submission surrender the prayer in times of Crisis we should also when everything goes well when we hear good news when there is a when there is a positive result but the bottom line is that Hashem has to enter the vocabulary the vernacular we have to talk more about him we have to bring him into the Casual conversations Yosef I told you last week he was always talking about Hashem always talking about Hashem oh me dream interpreter no that's God he just uses me and power doesn't say get lost you religious fanatic he says oh God cool tell me more about your God and then he tells someone this guy he was amazed he interpreted the dreams you know why because God helps him interpret the dreams mama is putting on filling all because yo saved casually he didn't say power down and say I'd like to go through the Bible codes with you I'd like to examine six pieces of evidence of God's existence you don't transform people by proselytizing and coercing you know how you do it when you casually mention God when you talk about when you casually mention God hemantica daber we have to talk about Hashem person has to always be doing a gut check and evaluating and asking ourselves where am I holding it in my yamuna where am I holding in my emuna because and if a person is not constantly analyzing evaluating trying to have a sense of self-awareness of where am I at where am I holding how am I in my in my relationship with Hashem we can easily fall to a place of meanness and happy courses of heresy and of denial of being a Cofer now you'll say what me what are you talking about chakras I learned me a heretic a non-believer what are you talking about who are you kidding I do everything right there's a check mark next to every box in every box what do you mean what do you mean me so that's what he said earlier that's what we mentioned a few times ago said yeah there are people going through all the Motions doing everything right and then someone says where's your paycheck from and they say my paychecks from broker it's on synagogue you're not because your heretic your heretic oh you recovered you told me you weren't feeling well yeah it was amazing I took zinc and I took uh vitamin C and I took one of the other concoction everybody tells you have to take echinacea thank you very much Mom recognition yeah everybody's mom Echinacea and I drank chicken soup you're not because you got better because Hashem helped you come better now it's true you took initiative you made effort all those things might be great tools and vitamins and all the things that you did you know you drink incredibly so that you can get rid of the illness through whatever the latest uh advice is on how to overcome whatever it is that's going around but that's his point you could live all the right ways go through all the right motions externally superficially look like the most observant practicing Jew but what is your instinct when someone says where does your paycheck come from what is your instinct when someone says oh I know you had the flu of the virus or some combination of it all you're better that's great what do you say yes thank God I talked to Hashem throughout the whole thing and finally he helped me turn the corner Hashem I'm feeling better he had me use vitamin C and Echinacea and whatever else but Hashem is the one who helped me become better so you can do all the right things and still be not because you can do all the things that might be not because he says this is what it means is only going to come when heresy enters this world which we're seeing again other than this football game the statistics and the data about how few believe in God credit God attribute to God talk to God pray to God submit to God surrender to God we're seeing this just means hopefully we're closer and closer to mashiach well Allah if we would really believe simply that while we're diving we're standing in an audience in front of the king of kings Borough answers and hears every word we're saying when we walk into David do we take a few deep breaths do we restore our nashama with the nishima do we realize where we are and before whom we stand do we understand the audience we have with the King of Kings Hashem sent this fly some Gilgo someone something so do we understand before whom we stand are all of our words measured are we careful are we thoughtful are we are we practicing every word we're saying moving in on my coffee okay maybe he's reminding you let's make a bracha together we spent months on brochos blessed all the chef of bracha the source of all blessing the flow of all blessing it should take you 20 minutes just to say the word Baruch or the chef all the blessing in my life my health I had to run out of an earlier I missed the earlier sure and I ran out in the middle of dominance this morning because unfortunately someone didn't wake up this morning not a member of the shul not directly connected to the shul but needed to be identified and it's tragic to get in touch with his ex-wife his children it's tragic so if I'm flustered and we ran late and it's because there's a tragedy still unfolding right now I I share that because whatever you have to face today whatever you have to confront whatever's on your whatever today maybe there's a difficult conversation you have to have maybe there's a bill you're not sure how you're going to pay if there's a doctor's appointment you're really not interested in going to maybe I don't know what's on your agenda for today but I know that you woke up this morning we're sitting here right now and right now there's breath in our lungs there's a heart beating in our chest and there is a today there is a today and as long as there is a today the source of Miracles we don't know what today will bring what we thought would be a difficult meeting turned into an incredible opportunity what we thought was going to be that or even that hardship or the challenge whatever we went through we became stronger we became bigger we became better something came out of it maybe we found the resilience and a tenacity we didn't know we'd have we overcame we become where we're meant to be we don't know so Baruch I woke up this morning your faith in me is great Moda Ani when is the last time you actually thought about the words modani when's the last time you remembered to say the words modani modem not I don't wake up with a sense of I I woke up with a sense of mode of gratitude and attitude of gratitude woke up this morning the rest of the day I told you about an extraordinary person in our community who has several children with significant challenges huge issues who says to me any day that she goes to bed she has the same head count in her home as the way she woke up is a good day I asked her how do you do it how do you overcome it multiple children with multiple significant ongoing chronic will never be solved issues how do you do it so what do you mean how do I do it any day that I go to sleep that I had the same head count as the day where I woke up that's a good day that's unbelievable what an attitude what an attitude look up today doesn't mean there aren't hard things that have to be navigated there aren't challenges that have to be overcome that we don't have to dig deep and find strength to get through what we need to do not minimizing not minimizing we need strength but Baruch I get to call you you I'm on a direct first person you you you're not some abstract idea I read about in a book you're not somebody I talked about at a conference a convention you you're someone I'm you're right here in front of me someone I have a relationship with Hashem but you're not just some God who's the creator the source of all Hashem you're my God how long is the King of the whole universe everything in it shackle that everything charcoal everything it all came to be because you said it and just like you said it and it came to be you could say anything anything come to be in my life and charcoal charcoal imagine what I just say like I say mizonos N8 and Adama and agathan and why Shah call this catch-all so my daughter Leora Senator baskets and heard about Torah and I think about it all the time since her beautiful daughter charcoal is not just about the specific food Chaco means the atmosphere the environment you know again she gave the muscle and we've said it here before I'm just you keep showing up I'm keep repeating it's just the way it goes until it gets through till it till it said until it seeps in why is it why is it that the same uh I don't know what food you want to come up as a muscle the same Snapple or Diet Coke that when you buy in a supermarket is 50 Cents Once Upon a Time was 50 cents it's a dollar it's a dollar and then you go to the restaurant you'd like a Diet Coke and all of a sudden it's uh seven dollars and 22 cents I said yeah you're not just buying the diet coke you're buying the ambiance the Ambiance and we say a shahakal I'm not just saying Sharko on the coffee first of all I'm thanking the farmer and I'm thanking the one who harvested The Coffee Bean I'm thanking the one who packaged it and shipped it you want to grind it ground whatever properly to the Coffee Bean and the one who made the and the people at Dunkin the world runs on Duncan I'm thinking them all it's a charcoal everything that went into it's going to be cold by the time I make this but everything that went into everything that went into this cup of coffee charcoal and the Ambiance I'm in a room packed with people who want to grow with their emuna and we woke up this morning what a miracle and this air conditioning blowing not heat and this is like endless if we actually just stop and pause it should take four and a half hours to say a shock on a cup of coffee because I'm thinking about the Ambiance and the atmosphere all the people and all the things that went into it and what had to go right for me to be able to drink it and digest it for it to have its impact on me for the emotional connection I have with coffee and what it means to me and if you forgot about that emotional connection what it means to you if today's shock on your cup of coffee this morning was done absent-mindedly mindlessly then you didn't properly fast yesterday because if you fasted Yesterday by today you meant what you knew what a cup of coffee was if you missed out on your cup of coffee yesterday by four o'clock in the afternoon the migraine headache you had spinning your dizzy I don't care it's the shortest fast of the year if you didn't get that cup of coffee to start your day yesterday morning you're still paying the price today you still haven't come back yet from it you still haven't recovered so today's cup of coffee oh this isn't the first one today's cup of coffee we're here we're live what a day whatever it is we have to face today we started it please God we'll have the same head count in our house at the end of it and that alone whatever came in between it we got we could figure it out we'll figure it out if we have the same head count today the end of the day that we do when we start then then we can get through whatever's in the middle of it we'll get through it so if we really believed you come to Daven you'd open your city you'd say in front of the king of kings do you know who I'm talking to do you know the audience I have do you know the access I have to the most powerful do you know who I'm with today everybody loves to it's like the new uh the new hobby it's the post pictures with famous people somehow your worth and value go up because in an airport you ran into and you bothered and you muttered and you got a picture and you put it on your status you put on your thing hopefully it's in the Jewish world I have mixed feelings about it even in the Jewish world but in the Jewish World to better that are beautiful that you matured and you took a picture with a rabbi or Jewish music stars at least better it be that that's what we're excited to meet or be with or have a picture with or make the wallpaper on our phone instead of our children and our grandchildren it's this famous person I met that's what I'm so excited to be with whatever okay there's worse things in the world but we think our stock goes up because I ran into and I have a picture with right so every other that dies the internet lights up with everyone posting their picture with that other it's a beautiful thing that's you want to associate with that's a beautiful thing I'm not knocking that that's great you could put a picture every day any time of day you want of you and Hashem look look who's my best friend you know my best friend is only the creator of the universe the King of Kings the master of everything he's my he's my best friend by the way it happens to be that when your best friends you don't put the picture up because it doesn't look cool when you put the picture up you're like I got a picture I posed for it look who I was with you know when you're actually good friends you play cool I don't need a picture we're actually tight so we don't put the picture up with Hashem because he's our best friend tight I can't what do you mean I have his number it's on speed dial it's on my favorites I can call him whenever I want he always picks up ah he's meeting with he's talking to someone else he can meet and talk to everyone at the same time that's my best friend he's the source the king whatever's going on whatever I need help with whatever I'm overcoming I have access I talk to the King of Kings if we really you can measure I've always felt that Maya Muna this is the metric the measure the thermometer you want to know how your ramuna is how's your dominant it's a very simple measure how's your diving it's rushed if you forget if you don't care if you're mindlessly plowing through it if you're reciting it while you're walking around the house and getting other things done you're not really plugged in but if you really take a few moments and you really think about before whom I stand what I owe him what I'm grateful for what I'm angry what I want to share with him in protest what I want to object to if you really think about is the source of everything he's the creator of everything me I'm a lowly insignificant future worm food I'm nothing I'm nothing and I turned to him and I need him and I rely on him and I want him I take a few moments and I actually that the early Pious righteous ones they would take a few breaths they would spend an hour it says they would spend an hour meditating before they would actually start talking to God that's how long it takes by the way they didn't have technology they didn't have media and social media and it still took an hour and what they have to clear their mind of they just milked the cow in the barn they hadn't seen another human on a farm yet all day there were no Billboards there were no messages there were no texts on WhatsApp there was no streaming there was no still took them an hour it should take us how many hours to clear our mind to pave way to let him through to connect with him what do we do yeah I gotta dive in just give me a couple of minutes to open a sitter while I'm still finishing talking to you then while I'm in the minting I'm sign language Jews are all excellent at sign language while they dive in while they bench we could have entire conversations or we're going to have a moti we could tell over our entire story we're unbelievable at sign language that's davening that's a Muna that's who you're talking to you ever talk to someone on the phone you could tell they're preoccupied with something else they said what was that again or you asked a question there was dead silence you could tell they're multitasking and they're bad at it not good at it they're good at it respect but if they're bad in it they're multitasking they're bad at it and all of a sudden you realize you know what why don't you call me later when you have a few minutes you don't get angry you don't start a fight you just say you sound busy why don't you call me later when you have a few minutes you don't think hashems on the other end saying to us every now and then too often you look a little busy why don't you call me when you actually have a few minutes to talk to me I really I want nothing more than to talk to you right people in the room who are parents or those who want to be parents should be blessed to be parents healthy parents healthy children so is there any Greater Joy in the world than talking to your children you want you know what's even better when your children call you you know what's even better when they call you and it turns out they didn't need anything they just called you often not my children my neighbor's children often you wait and you're talking and you're waiting for like to ask what's to ask you need to book tickets your debit card ran out of money like what's to ask what do you need someone's got to go over your paper for school what do you need so you get towards the end you say what do you need they say nothing I just missed you I just haven't spoken in a while ah is there anything better in the world I was in the middle of something the other day and I got a FaceTime one of my children and it was my grandson he said zaida I slept without my passy last night I said everything else Kuwait in the world ever I was supposed to give a sheer I'll be there in a minute everything else in the world could wait he didn't need anything from me just wanted to tell Jose they slept without his passing I give you all a brook there's nothing better in the momish it's the greatest high in the world the greatest the greatest we should all be so good to know that high your child calls you what happens when your child calls you or you call them and they're doing 17 other things and they're distracted and they're answering email and they're looking at the thing and you can tell they're not really with you he said I'll tell you what I love talking to you there's nothing better in the entire world nothing sweeter nothing greater nothing higher you know what you know why don't you call me back when you when you can focus because spark was up there he says in my children I love you I want to hear from you I don't care if I'm hearing from you because you want to yell at me I'm still hearing from you you could call me and yell at me I just want to hear from you but you know what I don't want that you're ostensibly called me and now you're doing 10 other things you're not really here with me you're not with me you're somewhere else while you think you're with me your absent presence you're really somewhere else you're not really here with me so the measure the metric the barometer I use for myself sort of do that check-in is how's the davening is it a chore is it tedious is it a burden do you hate it do you not want to do it or can you not wait till the next one oh chakras is over I can't wait till mid I have to wait all the way to chakras I love it I love getting lost in those words I love disconnecting from the world and feeling in his presence I love submitting and surrendering to him I love thanking him I love going through the amida and reflecting these 19 brachos of these 19 Universal needs of the Jewish people of all people and I love recalibrating my compass my priorities remembering what's important I love davening what an exercise and connection and humility loved Fila that's the measure if you really believe in Hashem you're not multitasking I don't know that anyone's ever been in again forget which president the martial of the Oval Office and being like I'm just just one second I'm just scrolling through Instagram Tick Tock just want to see if I missed anything Mr President yeah yeah yeah I'm never doing that you're there you're there Outside The Situation Room of the White House is a box you have to deposit and leave your phone you cannot bring it into the Situation Room I took a tour I asked the president the president nobody brings the phone in the Situation Room davening is our situation room that's your situation room whatever your situation in life you need something or you're grateful for something whatever is our situation when we Daven we're taking three steps into our situation room and we leave our phone outside of it leave the phone outside of it and be fully present and mindful and that's how we know how we're doing we make a bracha did you Mumble the bracha do you forget if you even made the bracha did you remember to make the bracha afterwards also not only before once you're full that's how we that's how we know how we're doing you know people they know they know why they're doing health-wise the pants closed they don't close so well scale I lost a lot of weight I gained a lot of weight so we're measuring our weight we're measuring other aspects of ourselves we're measuring our amuna are we living with a regular evaluation and knowledge are we measuring our emuna how are we doing do we ask each other that we ask how you doing what's new do we ask each other how's yourself yeah I'm not suggesting you meet a stranger at the kiddish nice to meet you good job it's not the open question but if there are people you really care and love and you're catching up and you're getting coffee and you confide and your friends or family in a way that's deeply meaningful it's a great question how's your Muna how's your connection with us how you doing how's your health how you feeling how's your mental health how you how are you getting through whatever's going on and how's your amuna how's your Muna how you doing come okay when a person thinks that their paycheck is coming from the menial or their parents or in-laws you walk around they say where do you get your paycheck from oh Booker it's on synagogue you're not because you're a heretic you're a denier you know a denier how dare you I dominant because you don't live such a life that you instinctively answer where's your paycheck from Hashem you're not because you're a risk you're an Obed Zara you know what you're worshiping your boss your employer your board of directors your clients your customers your stock price your worshiping about Azar is attributing Success attributing something influence to something other than Hashem person walks around sadness that another metric or measure of your amuna is your mood is your mood your disposition one thing is how's your davening that's a great question to ask people you love children your spouse your sibling people you love your closest friends how's your diving flowing how's it going you're connecting what's working what's not when's the last time it did work why did it work why is it not working now these are meaningful great conversations not just what recipe did you make what are you serving the Shabbos also great conversations did you inspect little vegetables for bugs also great conversations how's your morning how's your diving is it flowing how are you getting through do you feel Hashem in your life what's working why now what imagine friendships and neighbors and a community where the conversations were but Hashem feeling Hashem talking about Hashem asking for Hashem help and whatever we're getting through imagine let's not imagine let's make it a reality but another measure is not only if our davening is Flowing smoothly but how is our disposition are we cheerful are we happy are we do we realize I'm not anxious I'm not worried I'm not angry I'm not resentful I'm not bitter I'm not arrogant I'm not envious why because I have Hashem in my life so whatever I have is what I'm meant to have and whatever I meant to be going through I'll give you a little preview tonight behind the bema conversation we just recorded it yesterday you know mind the beam is always live we're live streaming the conversation we had yesterday but the part was right by Brody and I that's that's live but the interview with Veronica Bocelli the wife of Andrea Bocelli the great maestro so I asked her in the conversation your husband if he had a chance you know he's blind he was born with a uh eye disease but he was hit by a soccer ball 12 years old that made him go blind so if he had the choice to trade in his voice I said this to you last week after hearing him sing so I got to ask I got to ask you have to listen tonight to hear the answer okay I'll tell you a little bit the answer only because you keep asking you won't leave me alone she said Andrea's attitude is that God gave him the whole package he gave him This Magnificent voice and he also took away his eyesight so that's the package he's meant to have and he wouldn't trade one for the other because if this is the package he was given this is what he's meant to live with so he wouldn't trade he wouldn't trade not because one's worth more than the other not because the fame the fortune the voice is worth more than being able to see it's not that one's worth more he wouldn't trade because he's a man of great faith and he prays we talk all about that Israel the Holocaust the Jewish people it's a conversation worth listening to really really powerful but she said his attitude his feeling is he would have said it himself but I don't speak Italian and he doesn't speak English his attitude is this is the whole package he was given you don't get to tell God I'd like to pick from the menu this is what you gave me in my life I'd like to keep this this and this if you don't mind taking back this that and the other we don't get to do that we each have a Petco we each have a package it all comes together and each of us are pickle if we knew the other people's pickle if we live with their life we would choose our own again we would choose our own again if we knew what the other was going through what they had to endure what they were facing we would take our own back each of us have our own it's a whole package we don't get the luxury our life is not a playlist you know the world changed as soon as music went to playlists when we were kids yeah tapes records that's as far back as I go eight tracks before my time but records I still remember records tapes I grew up on tapes cassettes and you know if you had a certain artist a musician you liked you bought the tape you had to listen to the whole tape it was only two songs on the tape worth listening to one on each side but you had to listen to the whole thing to get to the two songs that were really good and you lived with the mediocre on the bed unless you had you know the double tape and you made a mix where you had to time exactly placing play record and play I should tell a story I want to tell a story I'll get in trouble I tell the story one point you Kevin and I when we were dating broke up and we got back together one of the Great Expressions of affection that she made to show she was serious about this relationship I was going on a trip to Israel and she made me a mixtape how many hours it took with a double tape anyone know what I'm talking about you have to press play record play and then stop it and then flip the tape and get it to the right spot and make that nobody remembers the effort it took to make up mixtape anyway and then Apple came out and they said mixtape play record records listening to a whole album no you just get to choose a playlist you only have to listen to the things you like and you want the world changed and I think for the worse because now we live in a life in a world of on-demand you only listen to what you want to listen when you I have multiple playlists a good mood my happy mood my sad mood my Hanukkah Moon my Shabbos mood my fast my slow mood my we have lists you haven't got the best you want to get on our Apple Jewish music list many people listen all over to her link it's a great list great playlist on demand we forgot how to endure the mediocre and the bad and it was worth it to get to the best and the good we forgot because now we want everything on demand so we tell our spouse I'd like how can I control the playlist I only want you to say the things I want to hear I want to skip how do I forward the parts the things I don't want to hear you say how can I where's the playlist for my spouse for my parent for my child my boss my friend how can I do on Demand with them I only want to hear you say these things to me I'd like to skip the things that I want to hear from you it's it's totally entered our penetrated our psyche the whole notion of On Demand on a playlist so in life we don't have that luxury we don't get to say to Hashem I'll do this that and the other on demand that's my playlist you take the rest back it's a whole package you get a beautiful voice but you go blind it's a whole package and you take one you got to take it all it all comes together our package the blessings and the challenges in our life it all comes together do I look at the whole package of my life and say I'm happy with my lot it's all from him so I'm not bitter resentful I'm not angry or envious of anyone else because it's all from him I'm positive and I'm happy and I'm cheerful and don't say well it's easiest if you're Andrea Bocelli it's easy to be happy even though you're blind you have all the money okay true it's all that but I know a lot of people who have nothing and next to nothing who choose to be happy I know people whose health is failing and who have no money to pay the bills you have nothing but I know people have a lot of problems and they choose happiness nonetheless it is in our ability we can don't wait for the emotion of happiness because happiness is not an emotion happiness is not an adjective it's a verb it's a choice that we make do we choose when Hashem is in your life you will be happy and if you're unhappy you have to ask yourself is Hashem in my life do I really believe what's happening is for a reason is meaning order and purpose to the universe do I submit and surrender to him do I recognize that this is my package my pack of what I meant to go through do I have the ability to be happy nonetheless we're just finished with this last sentence so if you live with what you see so you only trust as doctors as lawyers there's judges there's employers there's paychecks there's companies there's organizations there's institutions there's customers there's clients all I ever talk about all I ever believe in all I ever trust is what I can see with my eyes you're a practicing epicurus you're a super religious opticus you're an observant total observant epic Paris we know people like that how many people you know like that who are Stark from and money hungry greedy all they talk about is materialism and ostentatiousness and keeping up and competing that's a super Stark Torah from epicyrus happy because if you knock out and you eliminate Hashem from your vocabulary vernacular your conversations instinctively intuitively you don't answer it from Hashem you're not satisfied with what you have surgery we have to use every immuno metaphor I can come up with rock both served within even in the moment of darkness even on a tough tough morning he's there he's present even in that car even in that moment he gives us strength to endure to go from so have our friends we woke up today Moda Ani be grateful if we have the same head count tonight we had this morning how grateful we should be charcoal everything is from him this world the whole package how cool it all comes with his word it all came to be the good the bad the ugly the pleasurable the painful it's all from him it's all one package we take it all it's what we're meant to have and when we do we could be the symbol we can choose happiness and we'll find our davening is on fire we're talking to him so please stay for a few minutes for the Dominic to be on fire with the hillem and please stay beyond that there's new faces here I'm not going to embarrass anyone and say raise your hand right now if it's the first time you've been here in a long time but raise your hand if it's the first time you've been here in a long time and everyone go up say hello be welcoming form new friendships that's what it means also to be living with emuna until next time stay happy stay healthy stay holy tonight check vegetables and then watch behind the bhima and then uh be grateful and thankful to Hashem yes