Part 139: Making KavanahVirus Go Viral

okay good morning and we are back with our living with amuna series arguably needed now more than ever as we're all uh feeling somewhat isolated from one another and yet never more together uh and connected connected through many things our shared Destiny our shared potential exposure God forbid our shared need to cooperate and collaborate in order to ensure our well-being but also our shared sense of faith of literally living with amuna you know Amun is the type of thing that you can't draw upon it when you need it it's not going to be there necessarily because you entered a crisis you need to have a Wellspring you need a bank account that you can tap into if all of a sudden you have a uh a leaky roof or your air conditioning goes and you haven't saved some money to be able to pay for it it's hard to come up with it in that moment of Crisis but if you've been saying for that rainy day if you've been responsible putting money away then it'll be there when you need it and amuna works similarly that it's in moments like this if you would asked me a month ago on our Wednesday morning am year would we all be sort of voluntarily quarantined or truly quarantined or socially distancing from one another I would have told you you're out of your mind you're living on another planet and yet here we are at this time and that's why we've been working for these years every Wednesday morning we have I think 140 shum up on Yuta and Rabbi efen goldberg. org every Wednesday morning our support group our workout room where we have been collectively working out on our amuna to get us to this day so that in these moments and this should be the worst of the moments that we need to draw from that amuna is there for us to draw from I want to thank our sponsors for the amuna series for the entire year doctors Ai and Bella Morgan who sponsored the memory of somebody who was a walking embodiment and role model of amuna our dear friend Rabbi Dr Brian galit who lived a life filled with Torah and andun no matter what life threw his way and I also want to thank our particular sponsor just because we're doing this virtually doesn't mean that there's not always an opportunity for sponsorship so I want to thank our particular sponsor this morning David and Joyce Mueller in commemoration of the year at site of uh Joyce's mother FAS Mor whose Nish should have an Aliyah through their wonderful work the Legacy she leaves through them and and through others you'll excuse me if I'm looking back and forth but working multiple screens here and trying to share our Torah and create our Learning Community as broadly and widely as possible so I'm very excited to continue learning what we're doing now because I couldn't of a more perfect text to be studying as we are all confronted by and going through what we're going through we've been learning a piece by R Schwarz the author of The know your that we should understand what is and where it comes from of how we can tap into it how we can harness it and how it can be there for us in this time that we so desperately need it so to those who are joining us for the first time today again I invite you to learn with us regularly on Wednesday mornings and to uh and to catch up with our 140 or so shum that we've done on living with Amun but let me tell you what we've studied together so far in this essay of Schwarz of the he's talked about the definition of and he says the definition of we can find from the first time the word is used and it's in the Torah when shim and Le are going to rescue their sister Dina and they enter the city after they have uh turned things in their favor they have um shim and Ley sort of trick the people of that they need to have a bris and it's the third day when they're the most vulnerable that's when they're going to go in uh and be able to attack and they know that they've turned the odds in their favor they come they come to the city with a sense of confidence they come to a city with a sense of shorty with a sense of absolute knowledge they know they're going to succeed they're going to Triumph why because they've turned the odds in their favor if you know because behind the scenes and under the table you've orchestrated things to be in your favor then you have a confidence a Serenity a peace then you know how it's going to turn out they entered the city with a bet with an absolute confidence and says of Schwarz that is the root that is the core of for us as well we enter every situation in our lives with a sense of bet with a sense of confidence and shorty with a sense of calm and peace and serenity because we know we have our responsibility we have to take our initiative we have to take the actions that we need to take but beyond them we need to let go and let go God to borrow a phrase from the recovery community at some point we need to let go of that anxiety and that uncertainty and that doubt and that worry because we realize we're part of a greater Universe there is a being who is omnipotent and infinite he is the Creator and the source of all he's the he's the king of the universe Theon he is the master of the universe he is in charge he is in control and he is the one who has designed everything the way it is and therefore at some point sorry this keeps falling hope nobody got whiplash at some point we have to relinquish our sense of control we have to let go you see the thing that robs us of our happiness the thing that robs us of our Serenity the thing that robs us of our calm and our confidence is that feeling that we are in control and yet we can't control this has there been a situation or a circumstance where collectively we felt that more than now there's an invisible virus it's an arch enemy there's a war which is being waged it's on our Surf and it's toil soil and it's on our turf and it's in our country and none of us know is it in our homes and therefore we feel so impotent to be able to control it yes we're called to quarantine and to socially distance and to take the steps we need to to wash our hands and never sing Happy Birthday more in our lives yet yet as much as we think we are in control as much as we think if we do it we're protected we're not and that's so hard to accept it's so hard to accept that we can only do what we can do we can get to that line and once we get to that line it's time to let go and let God it's time to take that deep breath and release that feeling of micromanaging that feeling of being able to control we're not in control of this we're not in control of the stock market we're not going to be in control of our income we're not in control of the people around us we're not in control of the trajectory of this virus we take the steps we need to we do what we must but beyond that we let go and therefore if one really trusts in Hashem if one really believes that there's nothing that's random or chance that's the voice of a Malik in our ear we're still coming off of the holiday of pum that notion that things are random and chance and happen stance and it's just the natural order and we're just going to be a statistic and a piece of data whether this affects us or not that attitude that mentality is the voice of a Malik but we extinguish that voice we quiet and silence it we raise the volume on the voice of being a is a a Jew and the voice of a Jew says I put my trust inm I cling to and I stick to Hashem like de Like Glue I know he has my back once I've done what I can and need to do beyond that I'm happy and I'm peaceful and I'm calm because I'm not going to let an invisible virus that I don't know if it's even around me once I've taken the steps I have Rob me of my serenity my peace and my happiness and I'll tell you something even more if you've read about this you know the doctors will tell you that even if you're in the uh among the population the demographic in the age or the health condition who do not meet the criteria of needing to work worry you'll put yourself into that demographic by worrying one of the biggest things that lowers the immune system that makes you most vulnerable fragile and susceptible is worry and fear worry and fear are antithetical to belief and Faith the more one trusts and leans in with a sense of faith in Hashem the more one never has anything to fear what is to Hill him if not DAV pouring out his heart through the Poetry of saying whatever he faced and he faced obstacles rebellious children and a father-in-law wanted to murder him and people Insurrection he faced horrific threatening circumstances but DAV understood that you know what it's bad enough to have to fight the enemy from without I'm not going to let that enemy rob me from within of my happiness my peace my Serenity and my trust put your faith in Hashem take the steps you need to and then you have come so this this concept this notion of faith and trust you know it's not it's not ignorance is bliss it's actually being educated pre creates come the more we know Hashem the more we talk to Hashem the more we feel his presence in our life the more we feel his guiding loving supporting hand on our shoulder the more we lean into him and the more we look at our history and we reveal his presence throughout the fact that we've not only survived but we've thrived and here we are the more we're able to like Shimon and Ley walked into Shem knowing the odds are in their favor in every Circumstance the odds ultimately are in our favor because we are never victims of Randomness or chance we are always the subjects and the objects of hashem's love and of hashem's Providence we live this way he says in three Realms R Schwarz in the world of the world of and the world of nees every meaningful concept expresses itself in these three Realms these three V venues space time and soul Holiness in space is the Tabernacle of the mishkan the Bas the sh Holiness in time is shabas and Holiness in the soul is what we create it's what we feel it feel it is the sanctuary that we build within our very Souls then R Schwarz led us to this concept and we'll begin today that there is an inner life and an outer life there's the external life that we live from the moment we wake up in the morning we're battling we're struggling from what to wear and what to drink and are we running on time and are we running late and on an ordinary day and ordinary circumstances within 5 minutes of having woken up we've battled a 100 things there's decisions we have to make there are obstacles and frictions we have to overcome and yet internally our soul which is Unified and which is whole and which has a direct high-speed connection to above the soul has the ability to amalgamate everything going on externally on the outside and to realize that nothing is chance or random when we put our trust in Hashem it's all by Design and therefore to live a life of Peace a life of Serenity a life of Happiness a life of Joy on the outside it looks like there's everything is Chaos on the outside it looks like we're hustle and bustle and trying simply to paddle to survive and yet we have the ability based on the inside to live with a sense of calm and the choice is ours that's what we're going to begin with this week say the choice is ours never ever relinquish Your Capacity to choose you could be frazzled you could be anxious you could be filled with doubt and uncertainty you can be worried you can drive yourself and everyone else around you crazy you can forfeit your Serenity your peace and your happiness or you can tap into that inner chamber of amuna you could tap into your best self the deepest part of yourself your soul and let that Soul Express itself through a continuous and a constant calm that no matter what's happening around you you have confidence there's a Hashem it's for a reason it will work out and even when it doesn't that too is a form of it working out working out the way it was meant to from above and if you walk into every situation and every scenario knowing that it's been pre-programmed and it's been designed and nothing is random that everything is what's best even when we can't see or appreciate that then there's no reason to ever freak out there's no reason to lose your cool there's no reason to forfeit your calm there's no reason to give up on your happiness you can even through this circumstance of socially distancing voluntary or obligatory quarantine there's no reason that we can't still be happy and hopeful there's no reason that we can't still look at the world with a sense of optimism and Faith there's no reason that we can't make the best of our circumstances and live our best selves yet so we are for those who have the copy which is I think probably absolutely none of you because I realized I collected all the copies after the last time that we met in the future if we have to do this I will try to share them in advance so I'll read and you'll listen say Schwarz once a person grasps this and understands this once a person acknowledges this and accepts this if we're willing to accept the fact that we're not in control and therefore there is the external set of circumstances of our life there are the to-do list and the tasks they are the action items that I have to do they represent the external battles I have to make do I wake up in the morning do I hit snooze do I get out of bed am I going to shower or am I going to be lazy will I exercise or will I Cop Out will I be on time or will I run all of the battles that we face within the first few moments of waking up in the morning there's the external sense of self which is characterized by battle and by struggle and by the sense of tension and sense of friction but we also have to admit and acknowledge we have to find and tap into that inner sense of self that despite all of those things happening on the outside it comes together and consolidates in an inner soul an inner soul which is at peace an inner soul which is connected to above in inner soul which with faith and trust know nothing is random it begins with acknowledging it and this stands opposite these concepts of knowledge and Free Will of effort and of trust these are external manifestations this idea that we all have to make choices that we have free will isn't external manifestation it's true we have free will choose life says I've placed before you today choices Free Will is what gives our lives meaning if we were automated pre-programmed robots if we were obedient we could get rid of this virus a lot quicker if people actually listened and followed through but if we were obedient pre-programmed robots no relationships in our lives would have meaning or value What is marriage if not the result of the choices we make to either feel closer to one another or to create distance between one another what are friendships what are relationships what is family and what is our relationship with the Reon if not the result of the series of choices we face every day if we make the right choices meet the needs the requests of the other we feel close intimate connected with them if we ignore or neglect if we violate or dismiss what they've asked of us then we're distanced then we're further driven apart so relationships are the sum uh composite the sum total of the choices that we have made so the external us the external life feels empowered and enriched by the choices we make this external life tells me that I have I have choices this external sense of self which is filled and characterized by the choices I make e each of those choices has a um impediment an object in its way the choices I'm making I have to choose between this and this there are pros and there are cons there are benefits and there are liabilities there are forces with me and there are forces against me so any world in which there are forces operating against me including the world in which I express my free will to overcome those forces operating against me that's an external world that's a world of Illusion this is part of our reality of a world of hiddenness of a world of Exile of a world where the sitra this opposite opposing energy has a influence in the world and in our lives what is he talking about here of Schwarz what he's talking about is the following you see in the world the way it was meant to be in a ganeden type lifestyle before Adam and K were expelled hashem's presence was revealed hashem's presence was not debatable there was a certainty there was a connection there was an access there was a visibility and when that happens there's no obstacle there's nothing in your way there's no illusion that your free will is what creates your reality when you see Hashem when you feel his presence when you know that certainty is there then even though you know your to-do list and your action items but you never confuse them with actually influencing the future you realize ultimately that that is up to Hashem but in our world of hiddenness and Exile in our world of exposure to a sitra we are fooled and we are tricked to the world of Illusion to think that the choices we make actually have that have that difference that's Revol but we learned this before previously the gar says that a person who answers someone makes a and you answer aain with all of your being with all of your energy with all of your everything then it says the gates to ganen are open to you and Rola asked what A peculiar gamarra normally when we talk about you're doing a virtuous righteous meritorious Behavior we say your promised a portion in where the world to comea so why here is the promise that the gates to ganen are open why it's an unusual promise moreover why don't you get to go to ganeden all you get is that the gates to ganeden are open so explained exactly similar to what Schwarz is saying here you see Ganan was a place of certainty Ganan was a place where irrefutably you knew God existed he controlled things he influenced your life so when we answer aain aain is the root of the word amuna when we affirm our faith that we live in the here and now we make the choices we take our initiative but ultimately it's success ultimately it's conclusion ultimately the result is up to Hashem he is the Puppeteer pulling the strings he is the one who orchestrates and corres all choreographs all that happens when a person answers aain when we tap into that reservoir of amuna with everything we've got you've opened the gate to Gan you've gotten a glimpse of what it could be like and what it will be like again and so this world in which we live in which we think you know if I just quarantine and I wash my hands every 15 seconds and I bathe in purel every 20 minutes then I'm guaranteed not to have or you know I'm fatalistic I'm going to get I might as well go out the person who thinks that whether this virus will impact them is the result only and only of their behavior is a fool is a person who's given into the sitra that opposing voice is a person who's living in Exile mentality we are people of faith we are T we live with the knowledge that Hashem is next to me even when I'm in quarantine especially when I'm in quarantine we're never quarantined from Hashem from above no matter how isolated one has to be God forbidden in the hospital with a positive diagnosis you may be isolated from all other human beings they may have to wear a hazmat suit Hashem never wears a hazmat suit Hashem never holds back from hugging you Hashem never is quarantined from being present in the here and now right next to each and every one of us so as we take our initiative as we engage our Behavior as we do what not only we can but have to and must do simultaneously we must realize that this world is an illusion and ultimately it's consequence and what happens is up to Hashem that shouldn't cause us to compromise or hold back or hesitate to do what we have to this is not a conflict we do what we have to but while we do it we do it with the knowledge that ultimately it's not up to us the whole root of the mistakes of the indiscretions of the violations we make the whole root is this illusion this misnomer this misconception that in fact we can control our reality give it up Let It Go yes our mission part of the way we show faith is with words we show Faith with feeling and we show Faith with action because Hashem says to us don't just as he said to our ancestors when they stood between the Sea and the Egyptians and he said stop stop daving and start walking and he's telling us stop celebrating and start quarantining stop congregating and start socially distancing K says stop thinking that you're going to get together ignore the medical experts lean in on your faith in me and it's going to all be okay no says Hashem I gave you those medical experts and I gave you this knowledge and I gave you this um awareness so that you can follow through I can't emphasize enough we must take the steps we have to express our B we have to execute our free will to do what we have to but once we've done it let go and let God realize we're not in control there's no reason to give up the Peace of Mind the serenity the happiness The Joy the hope the optimism we can either live our external selves which is riddled with conflict and battling which is confused by the illusion that we can control things or we can live our internal selves our our nees which knows that it is the subject of K's will that once we've done what we have to let go and let God lean in on God we're never quarantined from him he never needs a hazmat suit he never stops hugging with us he's with us all the time the other day my son who's absolutely fine my seven-year-old was lying on the couch and my wife asked him what's the matter he said I don't feel well she said what's the matter he said I have the cavana virus she said what he said I have the cavana virus and to you my friends I said say Hali we should all get the cavana virus it should spread contagiously it should take over everybody the kavana virus we should all be struck with the sense of being able to connect to Hashem to feel his presence to have a mindfulness and a acute awareness of his role in our lives not only through this episode but always when returns from and yob has and yov becomes aware he's informed that as and 400 men are coming that was afraid he was AG grieved already anticipated he was worried about this reunion this conflict with his brother even before he left he prayed may I Merit to return peacefully to the house of my father and God had already made him the promise you're going to return and you're going to be at peace and you're going to not only survive you're going to thrive he was nevertheless afraid he was trembling and fearful what was the source of his fear our rabbis tell us yov the yov was the Pinnacle of our Patriarchs who embodied the best of AR and within himself within yov and this is Yakov here I am telling you through multiple mediums all at once here I am saying nobody fear what are you afraid of take the steps we need to and then it's in God's hands we're capable of letting go of our fear and yakob ainu was afraid how do you understand that so our rabbis tell us yakob wasn't afraid that God wouldn't do what he needed to do yakob was afraid that he wouldn't perform yob was worried maybe he didn't have the merits maybe he didn't earn clar yov understood that an asov could never threaten him yov wasn't worried about an asov asov couldn't ever risk asov was not a formidable threat who was asov yakob wasn't worried or fearful of asov what was yakob worried about he was worried that Hashem Hashem had placed ASA as his agent as his ambass maybe Yakov himself was unworthy and the one who would pay him for that unworthiness was an ASV see Yakov didn't learn that the external sense of Yakov confronted an external fellow human being orbe it a hostile adversary one ASV but the internal Yakov didn't think through in the form of an adversary in the Physical Realm the internal voice of Yakov the Nish of Yakov made him understand that this wasn't about a mighty human being and an adversary or Foe this was about the spiritual energies of influences of this world and here R Schwarz makes such an important point he says to live with this level of whether it's Corona virus whether it's a family conflict whether it's a financial crisis whether it's a health scare whether it's global warming whether it's travel that's cancelled whether it's whatever it is and please God will return to those other fears and not this one Whatever It Is we're facing we can overcome it we can quiet it we can find a Serenity a peace a calm and a confidence in it if we live with our B but here's how B Works he says don't make the mistake of thinking I'm working on my B I'm going to try to have B In This Moment B is not something that you work on he says and is not something you Embrace for the moment is a mindset is a way of being is a perspective B is a place that you enter it's a a way that you live it's the glasses that you put on you could wear no glasses and the world is blurry and you know what the biggest danger of a blurry world is that you think you see clearly and if you think you see it clearly but really everything is blurry it's very dangerous to you but when you put on those glasses of and you say ah now I see clearly there are no external threats my life is not characterized by battling and by tension and by struggle and by conflict I put on the glasses and now I see I've taken away the Matrix the illusion and I see what's operating behind it is godliness is Hashem that there is a method to the madness that there is Reason Not Randomness and then I have calm and then I have peace but it takes you can't be like hey Rabbi send me a mess of you know I'm stressed out over this Corona virus you know I'm really freaking out over being isolated or socially distanced or quarantine so do me a favor would you text me something to make me feel better it doesn't work that way a person has to enter that space person has to put on those glasses a person has to live that lifestyle that we engage and we filter that we absorb the world through this prism that tells me it's not what it appears on the surface it's not an external fragmented C otic struggle World filled with impediments and obstacles but rather it's a world of confidence it's a world of Peace it's a world of Serenity it's a place that I enter a person like that lives that internal world that internal peace and confidence and knowledge that in internal hope and optimism and faith and you know sometimes you leave that world when there's something to do I've got to get something done I have a to-do list an action item I have my initiative that I have to express or I have to show so I leave my internal World in order to get that done but as soon as it's done as soon as I have fulfilled my external act I go back into my internal world of confidence and of peace and of faith of an absolute knowledge and calm that comes with it you see when we say is it lip service are they just words is it a nice song that we sing to put our kids to bed or do we mean it shma is to whom are we talking we sayma the quarantined individual who's by themselves proclaiming at the top of their voices is who's the is so when I'm in a pack Sho and I'm yelling and I'm competing with everyone around me to outshout them and say is I understand listen oh Israel listen Jewish people listen you oars there's a God buy into him believe in him start living with him but what about when you're quarantined what about when you're alone to whom are you talking listen Jew listen y listen pin Jew who are you talking to talking to yourself you are talking to that world of Illusion you're talking to the you're talking to the voice of aik you're talking to the attitude of Exile within you and you're saying listen and listen care listen up understand pay attention Hashem yov who was who is and who will be elu he's our God he didn't just create a world and move on he didn't take us out of Egypt and retire just as he previously and in the past escorted every human being through their lives he's not only aware of he's intimately involved in every one of our lives every moment of Life he's not just Hashem it wasn't just was is and will be he's El new he's my God he's our God he knows exactly what's going on and that Hashem who was is and will be he's one he's singular he's exclusive he's unique he's distinguished he's different than everything and everyone else and the whole world conforms to him there's a Synergy there's a collaboration there's it's all working together as an expression of him and when I live with that perspective of the Hashem there's a Oneness a Unity to existence that it's all coordin ated and cooperating it's all organized as an expression of his will then I know I need to do my part in that world I have to take my actions I have to take my steps I have to take my initiative and once I've done I have to let go and let God once I've done that I take my step back and I re-enter my inner world and so it's really quite simple during this extraordinary time in which we are living it's really quite simple if you want to live in your external sense of self if you want to live with your external sense of perspective then it's a very scary frightening time if you turn on the news and you're following the statistics and you're watching your Corona virus dashboard that tell you exactly how many cases where and you're waiting for the next shoe to drop and you're concerned that you need to be tested then you will need to be tested because you're you will become immunosuppressed by the Stress and Anxiety that you've self-imposed upon yourself it's really quite simple if we look with our external lenses if we're living our external superficial lives we see a world that's falling apart that makes no sense a world that's filled with dangerous invisible contagious threats a world that should cause us to have anxiety worry fear doubt uncertainty and to Rob us of our happiness but we have the choice my friends don't relinquish it don't abandon it don't forit it don't concede it don't give it up you have the choice to channel that inner voice of Peace the inner voice of confidence the inner voice of faith that says with all that's going on around me I'll do what I need to and then I'll let go and let God I'll do what I need to but I know I'm listening up little faithful Soul inside you listen and listen carefully Hashem is our God Hashem is all that's happening all that's operating it's by Design it's choreographed from above there is a greater reason and therefore like shim and Le walked into they they came in with a sense of with a sense of confidence and shorty we too can have that confidence and that we too can have that calm we too can spread not the Corona virus but the cavana virus to be able to with great intent and concentration know there's a Hashem in our lives nothing is random or chance everything is for a purpose to silence the external amalik and to turn the volume up of the inner Nish of faith and when we do even through this unfortunate and difficult time we can find the happiness it doesn't have to Rob us because you know even if you don't even if you don't come down with Corona virus but if you're unhappy and on edge if you're filled with doubt if you're not sleeping at night and you're anxious then you two are a victim then you two are a number we can protect ourselves not through quarantining but this we protect ourselves in the opposite you see from the Corona virus physically you protect yourself by distancing but from the impact of the Corona virus spiritually you overcome it not by distancing but by coming closer and closer to Hashem the more you see him the more you feel him the more you connect with him the more you rely on him the more you lean into him the more that you will be able to feel a sense of calm and you'll overcome the threat that this poses I pray together that Hashem should protect us all they should disappear as quickly as it came that we can return to our sense of community and our sense of connection with one another and ultimately most importantly with Hashem above have a healthy and a safe day