Part 101: When Is the Last Time You Told Hashem You Love Him?

good morning we're continuing our study of amuna picking up where we left off last week which is Al Al we're doing a piece now in in the first volume we're on the 22nd chapter we've been going through defining understanding The Words that we recite in every BR that we say and of course all of this is predicated on as we've been emphasizing for several weeks or months the idea that we make 100 bras a day 100 bids for connection rather than be alienated or lack communication with God like any relationship for a relationship to be healthy there has to be a healthy communication the way we communicate with God is through making Bros is a 100 times interrupting our day and feeling his presence acknowledging his gifts and the blessing now today's a hard day to do that today's a harder day than usual to do that some of us make a lot of bras on a lot of food throughout the day bras before we eat after weed so a fast day becomes more complicated in order to achieve that uh to achieve that goal so just a word before we get back to Reva what what we're trying to accomplish today today's a very different fast day than every other fast day on our calendar every other fast day on our calendar from Tish and the minor fast days which all revolve around the notion of Destruction Devastation tragedy loss the absence of the B mikdash they all have to do with chuva Yumer of course is not about the absence of the B MDES but yum Kipper is the so to say father of all fast days yum Kipper is the model of all fast days so all fast days the ra WR they correspond with tragedy and the way that we as Jews respond to tragedy is not to look to blame is not to be angry or resentful but to turn inward to try to improve to try to grow it's not to blame ourselves either it's a very important point that when tragedy strikes or when a person is going through a difficult time we're not God we don't understand it nor do we do we are we presumptuous enough to try to explain it or to try to create a direct Association well the the individual did this and that's why that happened or we as a people did this and that's why we suffered it's a horrible horrible thing I think in my opinion it's an act of heresy a person who tries to compete with God and pretend they are God and they can explain why bad things happen to good people is a heretic there's only one God Only God understands how he runs the world and why he does what he does and much or most of it remains a mystery to us and it's very difficult it's very difficult every now and then there are people who present themselves as rabbis and they will bomb ically try to explain this is why these people suffer this is why this happened like this it reflects what they did in a past lifetime or reflects their soul or reflects you know they did this wrong and therefore they suffered that and such rabbis are are in my opinion not really representing the almighty or his vision for this world we're not supposed to relate to Hashem in a way that we compete with him that we pretend we're God we don't know why people struggle we don't know why we suffer but what we do know is that when it happens we're meant to learn from it and to improve to grow we can't necessarily change that reality we do everything we can to we DAV we go to a doctor we do everything we can we can't change the reality but we can change how we react to that reality we can change how we respond responsibility our ability to respond we take responsibility not that we caused it but we take responsibility in that what do we do with it now what do we do with it now where do we go with it now what life do we want to live how do we grow what do we learn from it so all the fast days on our calendar are all about self-reflection introspection Improvement we use the opportunity to pause and to say you know what every other day of the year I indulge in the physical Delicacies and pleasures of this world I pamper my body and I eat indulge in delicious foods and I'm I'm very present in the physical world these fast days come and they interrupt and they say you know what I'm not going to indulge in the physical I'm going to live a spiritual I'm going to live a sole existence I'm going to emphasize my Nish and I'm G to contemplate how I can do more of that how I can be better how I can operate in the physical world but really be have spiritual Ambitions and goals and Pursuits so the ramam characterizes fast days as MOS because of Calamity tragedy that have struck us that have occurred to us in the past and that we continue to confront in the present two tragic funerals happened in Israel this week victims of of murder of Terror a father of 12 a young woman their tragedies that happen still in our time we react and respond to tragedy not God forbid God forbid bid trying to examine what they did wrong what we did wrong but trying to say how will we improve how will we be stimulated motivated by this tragedy to be better so all fast days are with the exception of Tanis Esther today Tanis eser the ra does not right as not he says why is it he says we are commemorating a previous fast day so I don't understand because they deprived themselves of food because they were hungry and dehydrated because they were exhausted and had bad breath I have to you're allowed to brush your teeth but I'm I have to suffer I have to suffer today I have to commemorate if you tell me I'm fasting because I'm improving I'm introspecting it's helping me grow fine but I'm fasting just to commemorate what they did then how does that make any sense what does the ran mean so to understand it further the rush rer in his commentary in the gar says how is it that we could fast today normally on the eve of a Jewish holiday you're forbidden to fast we try to extend our holidays so on the eve of the holiday and after the we have the AR of and we have the is we have the eve of before and we have the day after and we say you can't fast and you can't deliver eulogies and you can't be sad the day before or the day after it's not just the day of the holiday itself but in anticipation of the holiday and feeling the Afterglow of the holiday we still continue to be excited and joyous and happy and therefore you can't be sad on those days so how can we be sad today tonight tonight is pum we're going to come together and here in the Milla tonight we're going to be dressed up and we're going to be festive and we're going to have a so how could we be set why we have a fast day today so the rash says again very incredible he says today's not a sad day who told you today is a sad day Thomas says there's not a contradiction to AR of purum it's entirely consistent with ar purum what is what did the r mean that we are commemorating a fast what brought about the miracle so many years ago because we were in we were scattered and spread out across all the nations it doesn't just mean geographically we were scattered we remain scattered across the globe today the Jewish people thank God there's kad's everywhere you turn so there's something to eat and a minion to do in with but we're all over the place we're all over the globe today we're meur ham was not leveraging or taking advantage of a geographic description he understood a spiritual description we were fragmented and divided we were judging and debating and and absolutely uh um condemning and criticizing one another Jews were too busy complaining and seeing what's wrong with the other he saw that we were we were scattered we were divided we weren't getting along we were consumed by our differences not by our commonality we were looking to feel Superior and to judge and to dismiss not to include and admire and identify what we have in common and Haman understood that when Jews are divided that's exactly when we're the most vulnerable and what was the antidote what was the response what did morai understand and instruct Esther go gather all the Jews and fast for three days Esther says two more go fast for for three days from me so we are fasting today it's not out of sadness it's out of joy that just as we restored a sense of unity so many years ago by uniting to fast to Davin and to take control of our own destiny so to today today is truly the day on the calendar of Jewish Unity today is Jewish Unity day it's a day where Jews across the globe are fasting not out of tragedy and not out of self-reflection and not to do repentance and not in sin sadness it's not a sober somber day today a happy day it's the only happy fast day it's a happy fast day hopefully we'll shed a few pounds and launch that diet we've been launch the diet we've been meaning to start although Believe Me by tomorrow you'll be undoing it maybe by tonight so it's a happy fast day and the happiness in the fast day is that we are reliving that that great experience of Jewish Unity of Jewish togetherness just as then it changed our destiny Our Hope and our prayer is that so to now that so to today being united and having a mutual concern for one another can hopefully change our our destiny so this is a very different fast day than all the other fast days the other fast days is you know we we turn it down a notch you don't joke around you don't necessarily entertain yourself you don't indulge in the pleasures of this world we're very focused on what we need to improve and how we can grow but not today there's nothing inconsistent or in congruous with getting dressed up in your costume already this afternoon when you're getting ready for perm tonight today is a happy day it's a happy fast day it's the riv wres it's a it's a fast of it's a happy fast day it's not a contradiction it's a happy fast day because it's through this fast day that we are reliving and reenacting not reenacting like you know the renaissance fair but reenacting like we are experiencing Unity again today it's hard for us we have we have it easier to be Jews than ever easier than ever kosher food is readily accessible to keep chabas is easier than ever it is easier than ever in so many ways to be a Jew and yet the one thing that we need to do in order to really experience a Redemption and a light and to have a bright future just to get along you know it's like a parent who gives their children everything and says you know I understand when we were in poverty and struggling and yet to fight over who got the the piece of bread at the table I could understand why you didn't get along but you have everything the parent says I'm Giving You Everything each you have your own room and each have your own technology and each have your own car and each have your own each have what you need you have what you want so you can't get along when each have everything so can iar the Jewish people today have luxuries and benefits and and and we have incredible BR in our lives that our ancestors could have only dreamt of having including access to ER Israel and the cotel and just getting on a plane and being there and and locally all the kosher options and you know being able to buy prepackaged pre-made Everything Jewish that exists we have it easier than ever and the technology of doing the dishes and doing the wash and doing the this doing and yet we just still can't seem to get along so today is the day that we pledge to get along we're not fasting out of sadness we're fasting out of togetherness we're fasting out of camaraderie and connection and uniting to be able to change our to change our Destiny anyway so it's hard to get to 100 brus today because we're skipping all the food part maybe we'll make it up tonight quickly but when the fast is over but back to the idea of the mayos the 100 Bros that we're sting every day and the idea of why we're making a br the blessing we quoted from the quoted from the that the way to attain the way to attain the highest level of humanity to be Angelic even while we're a human is to say 100 bras a day is to a 100 times in our day say wow thank you God I don't take anything for granted not the air conditioning not the lights not my car to get here not the fact that finally it stopped raining I don't take anything for granted what a br that word BR that word BR as we've said many times it's a resir of blessing or a a flow of blessing that any blessing I have in my life it all flows it all originates it all comes from you Hashem that a br brings about a flow of divine blessing to the world Rak writes that according to cabala is not only to help a person or a way to express thanks and recognition but it actually increases the flow meaning when you have a fet there's an entire reservoir of water behind that spigot waiting to come out but you can't access it till you turn the faucet so if you're thirsty or you want to make a bath or you want to fill a pot to cook you can't have the water till you turn the faucet the BR is the way we turn that faucet to release that flow that's why the word flow so says the theak it's not that BR is just saying please or just saying thank you br is how we increase the flow of blessing in our lives it is the spigot it's it's how we do it or the other example that we've given many times recently I can't give it anymore cuz just last week the winner of that billion doll lottery ticket finally turned in the ticket and collected the money but that's that story has been progressing over the last several months I keep saying you know there's a person who has a billion dollars their entire life their entire family is set for eternity if they don't mess it up like most lottery winners but a billion dollars is hard to mess up even but every generation for the next however many generations is set a billion dollars but they don't have a penny till their name until they what turn in the ticket they've got the a winning ticket and the winning ticket earns them a billion dollars they've got their family set forever and yet they don't actually have the billion dollars in their account till they turn the ticket so the winner of the lottery could have said why I have to turn the ticket I got the winning numbers just transfer the money so what does the lottery say that's nice but you need to turn in the ticket in order for us to transfer the money Abra is the ticket we've got the ticket Hashem has so much blessing in store for us there's such a bright future there's such NAS from our children there's such there's so much in store for us but but how we turn in the ticket is the BR that we recite is the prayer that we offer it's how we open the spigot so that the blessing can begin to can begin to flow okay so we explain what the word means that we have this casual comfortable relationship that we could say to ASM you we could say you we could feel so close to Hashem that we can say that we can say you it's an amazing thing that level I found myself talking to Hashem a lot lately coming out of a difficult meeting or a difficult visit with someone or sometimes it's the protest and say what's your plan why why why are you doing this can't you change your mind what could we do to get you to change your mind sometimes to say thank you I went into a big talk and I asked you for help and the talk worked out and I remembered afterwards to say thank you thank you so much for that working out it's unbelievable it's unbelievable so I'll tell you something personal very personal which I hope W regret saying or sharing but recently I was having a conversation with hasm and I found myself for the first time at my Advanced age for the first time in my life in the conversation telling Hashem how much I love him it felt really weird at first like I said the word I don't know if you remember the first time you said I love you to someone it was new to say I love you to so it felt a little awkward and you had to grow in Comfort with it but with all the relationship with Hashem to say the words I love you thank you for everything whatever it is gratitude and I love you it it took the relationship to a whole new level I have a whole new level I should change my Facebook status I'm in love with Hashem I have a whole new a whole new level of a relationship I'm just sharing that with you because I it felt it it was so incredible again I'm I'm divulging this not not to overshare nor to try to impress I'm just giving my own experience because hopefully you can relate it to yours but that word at the fact that we have an audience with the King of Kings we have a relationship with where could say I love you I feel you I'm so not I feel you like I feel you brother I feel your presence I feel your blessing I feel your goodness I feel your kindness and and you know what I I there's a reason it was the first time I said it I don't know if I've said it since but there are moments in our lives where we're overwhelmed with that feeling and that's the blessing of at it's the blessing of feeling at wow you're not just some abstract God you're not distant you're not theoretical you're not conceptual you're not academic it's not just how philosophers debate evidence of your existence it's not just that books have fine print about arguing who are you and how you relate to the world but you're at you're you you're right here you're right next to me you've been with me you support me you're connected to me I lean on you you're there for me at you you that casual that comfortable that incredible connection that amazing relationship with with Hashem so we are blessed at then we have that comfortable casual relationship with Hashem and then the word Hashem which is Al we explained this last week which is adus Mastery God was he is and he will be he is he is absolutely forever and now we're up to the word elen so we're on the first side we didn't get too far last time God is the master of all energies of all strengths of all of everything doesn't mean he he you know checks the lettuce for bugs in the the world Mas means he is means providence means that um the person is not supervising they're in charge they are controlling so God controls everything he does with them as he wishes as he Wills everything that happens gar tells us you reach into Paka for your quarter and you pull out a nickel you reached for a nickel you pull that the nickel that's Hashem too there's no coincidence there's no chance this what we're trying to obliterate this week we're on the eve of puram tonight today the the whole battle with amalik is not just a battle with a gen people it's not an enemy true and are also aik but aik is that power the energy that force in us that says Ah coincidence M MRA chance coincidence it's random oh you you reached in for a nickel and you pulled out the nickel oh isn't that random that's so cute you know you needed this to work out and it worked out oh could you believe randomly who I ran into could you believe randomly what happened with X Y or Z that's a voice of a Malik and the obligation the mandate to erase a Malik is a mandate to erase that voice in our own heads the voice of cynicism and skepticism the voice that dismisses everything is just coincidence and Randomness the voice that says nothing is real and nothing is Meaningful and nothing is by Design it's all just as by accident that's the voice of amalik and we all have an amalik in us and that's why this time of year we're commanded remember amalik means remember that there is that voice in you and then erase it normally it's a contradiction we spoke yesterday in the para class if you remember why would you erase and if you're erasing then you're not going to succeed in Remembering and yet it says both remember and erase the answer is remember we are vulnerable to that voice of cynicism sarcasm skepticism and now go go excuse me and confront that voice and erase it don't allow it to have a place when it's going to bring you down and put out your fire and tell you everything's just chance and it's going to make you hopeless and helpless and it's going to have you give up on humanity and give up on God erase that voice of a Malik and remember no there is Aon shom nothing that happens is by coincidence nothing is random everything is for a reason now it's easy to the person who just turned the ticket and got a billion dollars in their account it's really easy to remember that I didn't choose these numbers randomly God wanted me to be a billionaire that's easy what about when you lose the lottery meaning you won the lottery to get a rare genetic disease you won the lottery to be diagnosed with a horrible circumstance you won the bad Lottery of losing all your money you won the bad Lottery of finding yourself in a relationship stuck in a circumstance what about then how do you feel then that it's up to Hashem so I always say I I don't think it's more comfortable to think it's is it more comforting to think it's random it's more comforting to think that there's no reason that you're just a victim of statistics and data and it just happened to be that's more comforting to think that we have a father in Heaven who orchestrates everything and we don't see it and we can't understand it as it unfolds maybe some days we can understand it backwards and maybe we'll never understand it until we get to the world to come but the notion that I have faith and I believe and I submit that there is a plan that there is Mastery he's the ruler and he's the judge we the Jewish people have merited not just not just a general Providence we have specific Providence we have carnated God our King we said this morning on a fast day we recite ainuu he's our father and he's our King he's our father and he's our King so we as parents everything we do for our children is for their best they don't understand it they don't understand why they have to suffer through it you know I was I don't want to be guilty of doing the same thing again but last week I told a story in the Yuna class about how my son had a tooth infection and we daved and he said I don't hear him and then he got better well he ended up going to the hospital for a couple days he didn't get better the infection spread and there was a whole issue he had to go to the hospital he was in the hospital for a couple he's fine B I probably shouldn't be telling this story now but he he's anyway totally fine so so you know we have to take him to the hospital he had to get an iv put in CU he needed an IV antibiotic the the infection had spread so the first nurse came and she tried to put an IV didn't take he's crying screaming he doesn't understand why would his parents who love him be holding pinning him down to have some person trying to put a sharp needle in them right How Could my parents who love me hold me down and let some enemy Pierce me with a stab me with a knife could we ever imagine that our parent would hold us down while someone stabs us with a knife and they're doing it because they claim to love us but we understand as parents that that we were doing that because we love him thank God he's back in school he's healthy he's happy and don't forget that he ever had this episode maybe not but hopefully he'll forget he ever had this this episode so the first nurse came and she tried the first time and it didn't work and she tried the second time and it didn't work so we got a Band-Aid over here and a Band-Aid over here then they brought in the great the expert nurse for the little kids with no veins and he tried the first time and number three it didn't work so now we got a Band-Aid on the hand and by this point and he he's a smart kid and he you said it's going to take one second you said it'll hurt a little bit be go why are we still doing this and here his parents are still literally pinning him down and they're still doing it so I did a very risky thing I did a very risky thing I'm very grateful to Hashem that it worked out I said sh you know why the first three didn't work you know what we need to do now that we didn't do the first three we didn't ask Hashem to help so Peter the name of the nurse was Peter in West bokeh thank you Peter Peter get looked up at me like are you out of your mind what are you doing but I said Peter we're going to pray to God right now with Shai Shai's going to ask his God Hashem to help guide your hand it's going to work this time right Peter Peter looked okay right fine Peter put it in boom right away the blood came out it worked said so Peter asked me afterwards what would you have done if it didn't work I said then that would have been the teachable moment to say that we ask Hashem and sometimes he says no he happened to said yes that's really convenient for a six-year-old who are trying to teach that lesson so it was amazing so even now we talk about sh remember the fourth time it worked cuz we asked Hashem and Hashem guided Peter sometimes Hashem says no but we asked Hashem and he helped us it was yes I'm giving this example not to elicit your sympathy he's fine hasem his mother suffered more than he did he's fine but I'm tell it to you as the example just we understand as parents that we need to sometimes pin our children down and hold them and let someone stab them because we're really doing it for their good and what the ronam says says I want you to know that sometimes when you feel like you're being pinned down and I'm letting someone stab you I want you to believe that I'm doing it because it's for your good now Shai Goldberg won't understand how that was for his good for several years and if we ever Mis bring it up in the future and tell him about that time maybe or maybe he won't understand why his parents had to hold him down so he can get stabbed with an IV all all we thought about that whole time is it was a tiny little nothing episode NE there people who have chronically ill children who are in and out of hospitals and going through suffering and for parents to have to do that it's it's unimaginable Hashem should give them and should give their parents great strength I'm giving it to you as an example it's a mush when we feel pinned down when we feel we're being stabbed and we wonder you're my father where are you what are you pinning me down for get the person away from me don't let them stab me don't let them urse me not only are you not blocking them you're holding me down while they do it and looks and he says don't forget a I'm your father I wouldn't do it if it weren't for your good and maybe it'll take several years for you to look back and understand why it was for your good maybe it'll take a whole lifetime maybe it'll take an after lifetime but it's for your own good that's what hashm wants us to believe that's the notion of we coronated him King over us we appointed him he's our God he's our God he's our God not just the abstract hasem Hashem is here hasem is there is everywhere he's the Hashem who Hashem I need your help make this time work I don't want to go through it again he creates he Wills everything and he controls everything he didn't give it over he didn't designate it to anyone else he didn't delegate it to others elim Hashem is the god he didn't disappear he didn't create a universe and move on to his next project and now he just put the world in the hands of nature he put the world in the hands of angels He himself continues to directly involve himself in our lives we didn't drop our son at the hospital and say to the nurses and the doctors make him better we're moving on we got other children to care about we stayed every moment and the Reon stays he didn't create a universe and move on hasem this Hashem the Creator the master who has Providence of all who's infinite omnipotent omnicient he is our God all this is in every that we say you're the source of all blessing wow I have a casual comfortable relationship you're so accessible to me I love you we we're having a loving relationship Hashem you were you are you always will be your eloh you're not just the Hashem who is this Creator you're also elu you're not just out there you're my God you're local you're I connect with you you're involved in my life you know everything going on you're the king of the whole universe Mel you're the king you're the king unbelievable you're the King this is what we're doing tonight when you come to sh and you're going to hear the Milla you're going to listen for the word King the villon says every time the word King appears in the Milla it's not talking about a it's talking about God God's name doesn't appear in the Milla and our job tonight and tomorrow is even though his name doesn't appear on the Black Ink his name is all over the white parchment in between the lines God's name is everywhere and our job is to read in between the lines not only to listen to the lines and that's exactly purm is that idea that as we live life you don't see God in the background but our mission is to see Hashem there anyway and as I've said a gazillion times that's that's why it's called millas Esther which means migala the nister Milla means to reveal Esther nister is the hidden listening to the Milla is an exercise in revealing that which is hidden don't just listen to the story you could listen to the story and go home tonight and say huh what a remarkable string of coincidences morai happened to be outside the palace and he happened to speak 70 languages so he was able to turn in the two conspirers who were trying to kill the king and it just happened to be the Vash happened to be in there and then this happened that wow what a string of random chance coincidences isn't that amazing but that would be a Malik that would be the voice of a Malik in your head instead you're supposed to come out of listening to the Milla and say not only did I listen to the words I read in between the lines and every time that the word h the king appeared I understood the real king who was pulling the strings the real king of kings is Hashem a um Milla said ha Milla has the word h as the first word of every column you could write the Miga so that the column the layout is different so a Milla at the beginning of every column LS out of one of these millas his Mill is that the first word of every column is H the king because Hashem you the king there's a song like that with that rapper n black Hashem you're the king Hashem you are the king you're the king there's all kinds of dignitaries you know some of us are going to go to APAC next week and we are going to spend uh 13 14,000 strong trying to Lobby the people that we think make the decisions and in the Inc in the revealed part of the world they make the decisions legislators who the executive branch and they will determine the US Israel relationship and policy Visa Israel and how much money we'll be given to Israel and 14,000 strong we're going to go clap and applaud and support them and then go to Capitol Hill and Lobby them because on the Inc part of the Milla meaning the revealed part of the Milla they're the ones who make the rules but the truth is the truth is the hearts of kings are in the hands of God God is the one the Hashem you are the king they're the Kings down here on Earth but you're the King on the white part of the Milla right so at APAC it's the minum at APAC which have the biggest impact the greatest lobbying we do at APAC is not when we go to Capitol Hill it's the has been an incredible growth in the amount of minum based on who been attending APAC but it's the minum it's the doing that happens to happen at APAC which is the most important lobbying that we do 14,000 strong we're lobbying not the king down here the Kings down here but we're lobbying the King of Kings we're lobbying the almighty so you're the king of the world so there's a world there's a world it's interesting what's the word for World in Hebrew and the the root of the word is means hidden hidden the same root the same word for world is hidden because in this world God is hidden and the more we study the world the more hidden he is or the more revealed he is but the more you understand biology chemistry physics the more you understand the world either you see hashem's hand or you can believe that there's Rules of Nature operating and God is hidden so the word world is from the word means he's hidden he's hidden but he's in the background he's in the background of this world so the the world in which you're hidden you're the M you're the king of the place that's hidden you're the Mel you're the king of the of the place in which it feels like you are hidden the Jewish people have the status of hm's children and a king among his children his kingdom is not perceived if you grow up in the palace and the king is your father you don't have context to understand his Dominion so this world it's really all Hashem he's planning he's behind he's pulling the strings he's he's choreographing everything B now the next word we have it could be BOS or it could be B but the next word in most of the is the word b b God you are the now it doesn't say bar you created in the past tense wow all blessing comes from you you my comfortable casual God whom I love Hashem the master of all but not just in the abstract also my God I feel your presence in my life in this world we're operating in in which you feel so hidden you're the m in fact you're the king bore not bar you created in the past but Bor you create in the present because all of creation is constantly being renewed Hashem you are renewing your goodness you're renewing creation over and over and over and over again and you built a world that self-renews the Brilliance the intricacy the detail when you eat an apple it's not just the Apple its texture its moistness its juiciness its sweetness and the peel and the Flesh of the Apple what's at the core of every apple seeds millions of more apples are inside that Apple because if you plant those seeds and they grow trees grow apples that have seeds that grow trees that grow apples God didn't just create the apple and now you ate it up you consumed it it's disposable one time you're on your own he created the Apple which has the capacity for renewal of creation he didn't just create human beings and there were two they enjoyed the world they died we moved on he literally put seed inside inside them inside him and the capacity to receive and to and to uh fertilize to be fertilized inside her and there's the capacity for Renewal and continuity that's bore you're not bar God didn't just create the world it's not that he set created the world set it in motion and now apples breed apples and people breed people and as each apple that has seeds and the seeds in fact take root and the tree grows and it's healthy and it produce good apples that also have seeds he's B he's not bah he didn't create in the past he continues to create in the present creation and Recreation are happening over and over and over again and says God's creation is something from nothing this is the ultimate creation you see our creation is all something from something we are kind of counterfeit creators we do create we go to Home Depot we go to Lowe's we buy materials we build things we take paints we paint things we take human components and we put them together to create a new human being we create but we have the benefit of starting out with some ingredients with some materials the closest that we can come to imitating god with creation is to bring a human being into the world it's the closest it's the greatest act of imitating God is the capacity to bring a human being but even that we start out with materials and it requires the blessing of Hashem for it to happen we're not in control of it he's B not bar it's not that he put it in us and therefore the potential continues he's bore he continues to will to recreate I said in Sitter Snippets the other day because we say this in we're up to Bar in s Snippets if you haven't joined we have what we have WhatsApp groups six minute insights into the sitter every day so we're up to bar andar is all about by the way this Shar the word appears 1 times the word appears 13 times corresponding to the that there are 13 ways in which we have a relationship with hem is such a blessing for us that's what is all about the many ways in which we relate to God that having that relationship with him is such a blessing to us he spoke in the world came to be he's not he's continuing to recreate all the so he mentioned in there that creates something from nothing so they tell the joke they tell a story of the scientist who comes to God and he says God we've caught up with you we can now clone and now we can do IVF and now we can Master we can send Rockets to the moon and we've caught up with you we can control everything so God says yeah you think you're the same as me let's have a little competition so scientist says okay bring it on we're ready God says okay I created man let's see how you do you create man scientist says no problem genetic engineering and cloning and transplants we can do it so the scientist says Okay God says okay let's get started so the scientist bends down he picks up a scoop of Earth in order to Fashion a man and God says whoa whoa whoa get your own earth right so the whole idea is however much we progress and whatever we accomplish whatever we learn whatever we do we are relying and depending on the ingredients that exist the materials that exist God had no materials we don't even know what that means there's nothing that we create which is something from nothing so we can't even identify with or understand what it means to create something from nothing that's God B he created in the past but he is recreating in the present over and over and over again the process of the renewal of creation is happening over and over and over again so we'll stop here we'll pick up with this again next week but this is the idea in every BR imagine you spent we 37 minutes so 37 minutes of kavana for every shahak you say for every ASAT you say that would not be a very productive day I'm not suggesting that such a level of kavana is demanded of us but we say 100 bras a day with the hope that one of the bras will actually think about these things if we say it a 100 times a day maybe we'll get lucky that one of the times we'll actually think about what we we'll actually think about what we said we are so incredibly blessed the the what a so I want to wish everyone first of all a very happy fast very happy fast we should feel happy with our sense of unity and togetherness and Jewish Unity day to change our destiny and tonight and tomorrow we should be we should Merit to read the Milla of Esther and to read the Milla of the story of our lives and to read between the lines and to see and to feel hashem's presence to feel his Blessing over and over again