Part 17

okay we'll try that again good morning everyone Thanks for braving the elements to be here for our weekly Amir um the sh this morning again is dedicated for a for SAR Saran as well as the other particularly the members of our community who are still very much in need of a they should all have speedy and painless recoveries I don't want to put anyone uh give anyone a heart palpitations but we're going to start to study a little bit about PES listen if there's any man who's in the category of you and PES Shas and all the you know rabbis can relate to women when it comes to the the PES preparations okay so this comes from a safer of pinkis shim DAV pinkis was an American Born Rabbi who moved to Israel he was a Rakim Israel he was tragically killed in a car accident with his wife I believe with his wife and a few children he was a an amazing amazing individual very inspiring individual a prolific speaker and author um in sh on Wednesday mornings after the 745 minion for the last year two years we've been studying sh which is one of only the few the one of the few books that he actually wrote himself most of the books that we have from him came out after he died and uh come from his lectures which were recorded and later transcribed or kind of published Rewritten the themes from his lectures so this is one of those far that uh he didn't write himself but comes from his lectures on PES that his family and students rework to be able to publish as a safer so it is and the name of this chapter is he begins by referencing a p having to do with when we left Egypt where God himself gives us the reason you know in case you wonder why did God do so much pump in circumstance what's with the Thunder and the lightning and the plagues and the splitting of the sea did God crave attention did God seek honor and Glory why couldn't God have taken us out of Egypt in a more subtle more quiet kind of way what did it need all the Fanfare and instead of wondering the himself tells us so that you know so there's no doubt today and there'll never be doubt in the future that I am God and I'm not the God who created the world and moved on I am the god who is beare of heart some religions believe in a God but they believe that God is so omnipotent so infinite so powerful that he's utterly unrelatable to us and utterly disinterested in our lives how could the infinite care about the finite why would the omnipotent take an interest in the mere mortal the frail individual the frail human being but our religion is the opposite has a number of places where he communicates that we believe the opposite God in fact is so great that he's capable of being a part and part of at the same time he's capable of being distant he's the god of sham he's the god of Heavens meaning he's categorically different than anything that we know or can imagine he's God he's the almighty he's the rebon he's the he's the king of kings and at the same time because he's so great he's able to know everything about our lives be involved in everything about our lives and be interested and love us so the ban tells us his reason he interfered with nature he suspended the rules of nature in order to bring about everything that happened for us to leave Egypt because it was the ultimate educational experience for the world and in fact I'm saying so much we haven't even read the opening sentence but in fact this is how uh you know when we come to the Seder and we review all the Macos right we call the kids back to the table we call the mom back from the kitchen and we say come on we're up to the makos everybody dip your finger and makos and Darda and that whole thing so right afterwards Ruda gave acronym Ruda divided the 10 plagues into three groupings and he gave an acronym and we wonder like what's so special about that so Ruda could figure out the first letter of each plague he gave it an acon acronym what is what is the big deal about that it's not so uh impressive but the answer is that there is an educational component where abuda was trying to do was communicate three goals that Hashem had in performing the makos there were three distinct goals that hasem had in educating par when mosha first comes to parro par says M I don't know any God Moses High knocks on the palace door I am here to represent God he said let my people go and Par looks at him and he says God who I never met your God I don't know your God who is this God you're talking about to which God through mosha says you don't know me you never heard of me let me introduce myself you worship nature you worship the Jordan River you think The Rules of Nature are autonomous I'm the one driving nature and to prove it to you the best way to prove to you that I'm the one behind nature is to suspend nature is to interfere with nature is to transform nature so let me introduce myself to you my name is God and in these three groupings of the plagues are three lessons that Hashem communicates to par so the essence of the reason that it had so much fanfair that we still draw from until today is to know in our lives that the moment that we d well how do I know there is a God how do I know he's involved in my life how do I know he cares about me that's why the theme of The Exodus of is so pervasive throughout our rituals and our practices it's literally in in our daving it's in the Kish that we make it's in it's a theme that's pervasive why because every moment I have a doubt does God know what's going on in my life is God responsible does God care can God really control my destiny so I invoke MIT and I remember the just as he was involved there he's not a god who's distant and withdrawn and Abstract but he's an intimate involved God just like it was with MIM I continue to draw from that strength to know that he's involved in my life as well okay that's enough of an introduction let's get into it so Cesar pink niss the month of Nissan which we're about to [Applause] begin it's the time of new beginnings for man Humanity he begins by quoting a verse in we know this is the very first Mitzvah that's given in the Torah in fact the very first Mitzvah in the Torah is this month is yours the beginning of all months for the months of the year that the rest of the world operates on a solar calendar the Jewish people operate on a on a lunar calendar we uh we function according to the moon and this is the very first Mitzvah why is this the first Mitzvah this for says expanded that coming out of Egypt I mean you'd think God takes us out of slavery 210 Years of Slavery slave mentality you'd think the first M would be like shabus get some rest or you Kipper Elevate yourself with Holiness or kous discipline yourself in your diet your eating habits instead the very first MIT he gives us is look up in the sky when you see the new moon reported to a basen when the bason declares the new month you control the new month that's the mitah unlike the solar calendar which is automatic the lunar calendar was a function of testimony Witnesses had to see the new moon they came to the court in Yim they testified and only when the retical court determined it to be the new month was it the new month which is an amazing amazing thing shabus is every seventh day whether we like it or not we can't control it but who determined when yum Kipper fell the holiest day of the Jewish calendar the 10th of Tish who determined when it fell not God the rabbis the tended when they determined was rashes depending on when they said was rash going to be Wednesday or Thursday they got to decide a the rabbis got to decide even if they made an accident the even if they miscalculated nevertheless it stood and even if they intentionally manipulated the calendar they said you know what we have the dinner Wednesday night won't work well fores we'll move it to Thursday even if they manipulate the calendar they have the power to manipulate the calendar and to push off and to determine when the holidays fall including you k for the holiest day of the year so why is it the first mits for the get coming out of Egypt wouldn't you give something else so thiso says because the number one thing that distinguishes between being a slave and being free is our ability to control time when you're a slave your time is owned by somebody else when you're a slave your master tells you be here do this do that the the symbol of freedom is the capacity to control our own time right which I'm not going to wax into a whole mus M about those of us who feel controlled by we're in this Rat Race and on this hamster wheel and we have no control of our own time we're really enslaved to whatever it is that that is controlling our time so this is the very first Mitzvah in the Torah and also in the month of there is hidden a very special quality of renewal everybody loves new beginnings new beginnings fresh opportunity a new start it's special right you feel great after you k you wipe the Sleep clean you get a fresh start after you did your spring cleaning not your pesak cleaning we'll talk about that in a few weeks the difference between the two PES cleaning should take a fraction of the time that you all spend on spring cleaning but after you finish the spring cleaning and you reorganize the cabinets and the dresser and the kids rooms and that it's like a fresh start ah feels great A New Beginning there's always a a fresh start new beginnings are are amazing so Y is one time that's a period of new beginnings it's a fresh start and Nissan 6 months later we have halfway through the year we also have the opportunity of a fresh start the the main energy of the high holidays the new beginning or the sense of renewal that comes with the high holidays results from a sense of um turning over the actions of man what does he mean a person naturally is a function of their habits we are creatures of habit I think there are all kinds of research that have showed that uh I can make up a number now I don't know if you'll believe me or not whatever the number is 67 the 80% of our daily lives we are creatures of habit all kinds of high level research that shows that are you going to relate or you going to be on time are you going to talk a lot or are you going to be quiet are you going to be disciplined in your eating or are you going to let yourself go are you going to have a short fuse or are you going to be patient are you going to raise your voice with your kids or are you going to be calm are you going to right so much of our Lives is pre-programmed when we're creatures of the habits that we've formed literally some incredibly high level and that's a person naturally as as people we function as creatures of habit the and it's really really really difficult to change a habit it takes super human strength I think once said that all of life is to change one habit the task of your entire life is to be able to change one habit you quickly lose your fuse and you find yourself screaming at your kids the capacity to all of a sudden transform yourself to be that person that your kids say I never heard my mother raise her voice that takes super human strength takes unbelievable strength to change a habit and nevertheless the month of the period of these are days which are predisposed to being able to work on bad habits okay whether that's naturally in the days or whether it's superimposed because we send out an L brochure and we have L classes and everybody knows it's l and you start saying SOS so whether it's manufactured or whether it's intrinsic in the days but the result is that those are days where we're very mindful we're very highly aware and cognizant we're trying to break habits and trying to form new ones I once read it wasn't by a Jewish author an article it said if so much of our lives were the function of habits whatever that number is 70% of Our Lives be on time or late how we'll eat our patients if so much are alive with habits you might as well form good habits because if you form good are you going to eat after 11:00 at night or do you never eat after 8:00 at night form the good habit and once you form and have the good habit now that's pre-program that's your life know let's transform it so that instead of it being negative that we're the result of habits make it positive that you have good habits and that we're the function of of good habits how you change a habit takes 30 days or maybe 60 days or how you change a habit but the our time predisposed to changing habits what come I think put a something in the toaster now this notion that yes is a time of trying to break habits but the notion of renewal the notion of a fresh start of a new beginning of the gracious of man is a hidden energy that's accessible only specifically in the time of P you know it's not for nothing that the Torah begins with the story of the first man if the story T is the story of the Jewish people as a people why do we have all saes why do we begin with the first family and they have their children ultimately man fails god with the FL and the Tower of B and and so on and he and then we have and why do we have the whole saes which is the story of the first family why don't we skip right toos the story of our people if the Torah is the book of our people this is the first rash in all Torah he asked this if the Torah is a book of mitzvos it should have begun with the very first Mitzvah which is declaring as we spoke about so what do I care about the whole story of the creation of man and Genesis and the first family and sibling rivalry and all the stories of vishous why don't we start if the Torah is the book of the Jewish people not the book of humanity so why don't we start from the birth of our nation I'm on the 1 two 3 fourth paragraph it's a beautiful Insight of a Pinkus the story of The Exodus is a direct linear continuation of the story of the creation of man you see we got a glimpse into the ganen what life was like forish before the sin a world of paradise a world of perfection that's what ganeden the Garden of Eden was before Adam and K and the snake and we won't playing the blame game right now but whoever's fault it was you know it was K's fault but whoever's fault it was so we um when they were expelled from the garden but before they were expelled from the garden they were living in Paradise they had nothing in the world to worry about they had promised immortality and and by beginning the Torah with braus we get a glimpse into ghen they lived a life where God was accessible and tangible and palpable there was no uncertainty doubt they knew thaton was a literally a part of their lives with whom they communicated on a regular basis if you remember one of the very first amuno classes we studied a piece by RI and Al who says that whoever answers AO is Promised a glimpse into ganen and asked Al normally the promise is you promised a portion of the world to come why if you answer aain with all of your energy or you promised a glimpse a window into the Gard and he answered the idea is when you answer a it means that you are affirming your Amun to scream a to answer aain is to say aain is the root of amuna I have faith that there is a God he is the creator of the universe he is intimately involved in my life I believe in him I turn to him I'm grateful to him I plead with him I long for him all of that is implicit all of that is contained in the three letters of aain and when you answer a when you direct all of your energy not some aain flippantly you're not thinking listening but when you say aain you're saying amain I believe I feel I connect with all your energy you've returned to ganen because that's what life was like for Adam Adam and ganen had a life that lacked doubt or uncertainty it was a life where he knew absolutely that God existed and controlled his life so when we answer AO we get a window a glimpse it's as if we travel back to ganen that world where you don't have doubt where you don't have uncertainty but that world where you know know that God exists so over here he's saying the Torah could have begun should have begun Theory from where we start as a nation say foros or if it's a book of Mitzvah it should have started with the first Mitzvah why does it start with Genesis to describe what life was like in a world of certainty what life was like in a world of paradise imp Perfection What is the real building what are the real building blocks what is the real structure what is it really a man's a person's life should look like and the rest of the book of braus is kind of like spiraling down ganed was the Pinnacle it was the world of perfection and Paradise and then all of braus is somewhat are disintegrating from there where we fail God and Cen kills heo and we seek honor and glory and then we pursue TAA and we have we pursue um Temptation and we have the destru the flood of the world and yes a rediscovers God and puts us back on the same track but now he does father and then we have the Cil ring ring of Yakov and asov and the brothers want to kill yose and it it seems to fall apart from that first picture of perfection of what life was like in Paradise in G and after we then found ourselves continuing down on this spiral what brought us to Egypt to begin with by the way what brought us to Egypt we're going to celebrate leaving Egypt and we left with Miracles but we're going to eat the M too and it was bitter 210 years of bitterness that rivaled the worst atrocities of our history the shim the servitude in Egypt the oppression we faced in Egypt was not less than the Inquisition and the Crusades and the Holocaust babies being drowned and heads being smashed and children being killed and back breaking labor camp and it was horrific horrific and what led to it all how did we find ourselves in Egypt to begin with it was it was the sale of yoseph it was the brothers who can't couldn't stand another brother and rather than communicate rather than resolve it rather than work it out it was enity and animosity and jealousy and hatred and it was baseless and it led there I mentioned yesterday in the para class I've mentioned a million times but I'll mention more you you'll come to learn as my wife has I have my favorite D Tor and I don't feel bad apologize for it so at the Seder because you'll appreciate it cuz you'll say this at the Seder at the uh at the Seder one of the first things we do is dip the carpass what is carpass where is it from why are we dipping carpass so the gamar tells us it's so that the children ask and that's why we use pars used potatoes by tits and Elizabeth used bananas you use the most bizarre thing you could use that will make a kid say what in the world are you doing we usually go right to the meal why are you dipping a banana in salt water what kind of first course is this so we dip the car but where does the word kpass come from is a commentary in the ramb and he says the word carpass comes fromon what does dipping have to do with anything orak expands upon this in his a what led us to Egypt how do we start the Seder by remembering how we got to Egypt to begin with and how did we get to Egypt to begin with when the brothers plotted to kill Yosef and they took his multicolored coat his konis Pim his colored coat and they dipped it in the BL in the blood of a goat and they brought it to their father and they said we found the coat he must have been killed we emulate that act we dip carasim reminiscent of the multicolored coat in saltwater tears to remember that it was sin that brought us down there to begin with so you could dip anything there are Customs concept there are Customs I would continue with whatever your custom is and you can add something else that you're dipping to so that you can elicit the the questions the Curiosity the Curiosity yeah yeah it should be a vegetable should be a d there's a whole complicated thing you shouldn't eat enough that would make you have to make a because maybe aama is supposed to cover tomorrow later is a whole covered this in the afternoon C this year anyway so how we get on to this oh so it All Began in Paradise with perfection ofar of Adam of man and it spiraled downward through simp rivalry and all the fighting of Braes and it brought us into Egypt and in Egypt we went through in order to purge all the negative qualities and the hatred and the bad habits that we as a people had formed in our Inception how did we purge it what purges something you're got to caser your you're going to caser your silverware how do you caser it for PESA heat when you apply heat that's how you purge it so we went through the heat of Egypt we were purified we were purified of the contaminants in our Collective Soul by going through the experience of Egypt and it purified the soul of the Jewish people as it we were described as coming from the fiery furnace of the uh of Egypt and only then when we came out from Egypt where we had all these negative qualities and we were purged of them only then will we were we restored to our original manufacturer settings only then will we restored to the Purity with which we were to be born and now we now we merited to come to and then we merited to reach the level of we reach the level of of going back to of going back to zo and it's this notion that we're trying to relive every year in the experience of P to sh coming out of the negative bad habits purifying purging restoring renewing until we can Merit to come to Shu where we'll stand at the base of the mountain and receive the Torah all over all over again you know um there's a we like to think of having sh p and they're all three distinct and commemorate different historical events PES commemorates leaving Egypt shus commemorates Hara and suus commemorates our travels to the desert whether it's theod literally the clouds that protected us or whether it means the the gods count countenance but it's it's three distinct holidays but it's not accurate because PES and Sh really are two parts of one holiday without shu pesak is not a meaningful holiday God didn't take us out of Egypt to be some secular Nation there have been enslaved persecuted peoples throughout history around the world and God did not suspend and transform the rules of nature in order to in order to save them but he did for us why for the distinct purpose of bringing us to of being in amula of giving us a mandate and a mission to be a light onto the Nations and to observe the Torah and to teach the world we have a responsibility with our freedom the freedom was not to be some secular political entity it was to come out and be the Jewish people with our mission to the world that we have to serve and where did we receive the mission statement where did we get the mission that was communicated at har so the ramban writes the ran writes in par that it's not a coincidence the Eighth Day of sukus is called sukus is really seven days and there's another extra holiday that's one day at the end two days for us and that's what is sh called atas why because says the ran just like sukus has first days and last days are the last days of the holiday so to P has first days and last days the first days are the whole eight days of p and the last days of P are and what's the between Bridges they're the first days and last days of one organic holiday is the that binds them we count in between and that's the connection between the two so to observe as much of the unfortunately unaffiliated Jewish World does to observe PES and not even be familiar that there's a Shu on the calendar is to miss the point of pesak pesak is not just about you know some secular notion of freedom and liberty it's about the freedom and liberty to serve the freedom and liberty to have a mission the freedom and liberty to realize the potential of who you are and who you're meant to be otherwise you just go from one form of Slavery to another you you become enslaved to pop culture and enslaved to the latest fashion and fads and enslaved to whatever the ethics and and and morals of the time are you've just traded one TR Taskmaster for another the only time you're truly free is when you go from the sh to standing at Hari where God tells us our mission our purpose the omnipotent infinite God tells us our our our reason to be in in the world so that's what we are to experience to be able to P to is working in ourselves is the process of every single day H once gave me the greatest book which every day of you remember this yeah every day you know we count a day the 23rd day the which is 3 weeks and two days but if you look there's a cabalistic connection each week is one of the spheros and then each day within the week is another spher connected with the weekly sphere and the combination of the two are telling us in energy implicit in that day there 49 days of and each day has a particular energy of something we can be working on a new start something way to grow I don't remember the name of the book or if you have more of them I have SIM Jacob rcob Sim jaob and it was just it was short it literally would take a 3 seconds to read 20 seconds to read it was a paragraph that said this is the essence the theme the energy of this day go do it what a great thing and the idea is that in om you're not just counting but you're transforming s om you're growing and that's what we're doing the goal from P to is to get back to was the Pinnacle of perfection he was living in Paradise he knew with certainty that there was a God he had no doubt and we have fallen since then and God is invisible and we are man in search of God and so from P to sh we rebuild and we renew and we get that Fresh Start so that we can Purge the negative bad habits and get back to who we were and who we were meant to be to we worthy of receiving the Torah a new so this is that time of the Year this is it this is when we get ready to do it Rous we're on the next page [Applause] P so it starts to begin with say we have to establish a very important point in our Jewish philosophy says I once spoke with a Jew about the great blessing we have in our generation of the concept of a BAL Chua in earlier Generations they didn't really have concept of B Chua why everybody because in earlier Generations they didn't have the rate of people being unaffiliated and ignorant and unobservant and having strayed so far Jews lived in small ghettos where from more or I'm not talking about the 1800s already by the Enlightenment and and certainly Germany and and but earlier earlier Generations centuries and centuries ago um Jews lived in small ghettos we were persecuted and oppressed and we lived insular Jewish lives in which people didn't have the courage or freedom in other words if you try to break free of a religious life and assimilate into society Society threw you back into the ghetto and said you're not one of us who do you think you are we're either going to kill you or get back with your people so you couldn't it's only when the World opened up and said sure join us no problem drop who you are and join us we're just humans we're all just humans that's when we started to take advantage so the idea of this notion of AAL chuba who knew nothing and returned fully is is a relatively new one say what a gift that we're called someone who returns you know this notion it's a big mistake we make the notion of saying that Abal cha is somebody who was unaffiliated or who went off the D and came back you know you're not just about if you first left or if you were never there you could be a fully observant person who strives to be a b there a story that um this the G was once in in and he met a b a young man and he asked him where he learned and the young man said he learned in a certain B Yesa but he said but I'm not abouta looked at him and he said and why not why aren't you about as if there's some badge some label that he didn't want to associate with it's not a bad Edge that's negative it's every observant person should strive to have the sense of excitement and enthusiasm commitment and devotion and should find in our own lives the area that we need to do CH so this Jew who repus was having the conversation with said to him what do you mean the idea of being a b Chua is to turn over and change aspect of your life if you're already religious where is there to change over your life right or he said you know the B Chua has to go 180 steps so if you're already observant where are the 180 steps going to take you you've already arrived you've already arrived that reminds me theab never call we call it Outreach we call it kiru and laabi hated the term kir he hated the term Outreach he never used it cuz what does outreach imply that I've arrived I'm where you need to be and I'm reaching out to bring you to me cuz I'm arrived I'm at the destination I'm perfect I where everyone should be and I'm doing Outreach to you to bring you to me babby said who's to say that you're in the right place and he's in the wrong place everyone to their right place bless you so even though the the is responsible for an inordinate amount of Outreach in the world he didn't call it Outreach cuz it's arrogant it's Hy to suggest and it's it's negative for the people doing the Outreach it suggests that they've arrived we have our own chuba to do we have our own effort to be Bal chuba what did he call it what did he call it I don't know what you call it called the army of soldiers who would I think it was more just loving Jews I think for him it right send them out right exactly it's the opposite sense right not bring them in but send them out where they're at correct share right he began a campaign called duara which is to spread out across the four corners of the globe and he had this amazing philosophy I read a few biographies of the rebba a couple summers ago on his 20th year right and um and he had this amazing philosophy that wherever there's a Jew and when people would say to him are you crazy like those are your resources that you're sending like my buddy rabhan who's in Spokane Washington there's there's more Jews that are hash than there are in all spok in Washington and he's out there raising his kids with tremendous myish so I asked him when when he got the assignment when he met with me that he was going he was so excited so I said like you know what do you mean you found it and you told him you're going he's like no I've been on a waiting list forever and finally I got like my assignment they determined they're going to set up aabad there and you know kabad they buy oneway tickets they don't come back there's no changing once you're there he's like super excited and uh it's unbelievable the Mish so I said to him you have so many talents and you have so many you're doing amazing things don't you ever feel like it could accomplish more with a bigger Jewish population is this really worth your energies and the resources there's so few Jews there even if you got every Jew involved it's so few and he said to's approach was if you're a father and you have some children and one of your children is in a far-flung place in the world and they're lost and they're on their own and they're struggling would you not go to them even if there was one of them over there you'd find them wherever they were just that one child of yours so these are all the children of Hashem and if they're lost these are the children of hasem we have to go bring them back so 100% right the's attitude was not Outreach we find Jews and we bring them to us it's that we're we are agents who go out who are on a mission to go find them wherever they are so it's the it's actually the inverse of of a notion of outage so this attitude with Pinkus that the the person he was communicating with had is fundamentally flawed [Music] now the idea of CH which is equally relevant to an observant person as to an unaffiliated person is the idea of correcting it's repair it's improving what needs to be improved now the magnitude of what you have to fix or how drastic the change in the lifestyle will be different depending if you're an Affiliated or you're already observant right so if you're if an observant person who's uh learning an hour a day and you really feel you should learn two hours a day it's less drastic a lifestyle change than it is to go from not being kosher to being kosher and so on so the the level the magnitude of how drastic it is might be different but the idea is fundamentally the same which is transforming something about ourselves in other words to be so more more mindful that every time you say you're thinking about you're thinking about what it means you have a glass of water delicious Dunkin Donuts coffee or the amazing lunch you're going to have today making a or the effort it takes to get angry less when you're about to raise your voice you're about to respond the self-control it takes to repair a little bit here and a little there know to have the world that's not a minor change it's major what's the root of the word Chua return to return it's to return to where you were it's to have renewal it's to have a fresh [Music] start to identify what area of my life am I not living the richly Torah spiritual Godly life I am meant to live where am I lacking God in my life am I eating food and taking it for granted and not saying thank you to to hasm every time I try to remind our children to make a I always say to them you're stealing if you don't make AA if you'd walk out of Publix would you take to put the food in your car and not pay for it that's stealing got to pay for it hopefully we've raised you hopefully we ourselves would never ever walk out of a supermarket with food and not pay for it well if we put it in our mouths and we don't say we stolen it from hem says person who um makes a who enjoys this world without a it's it's you you violated the sanctity of the of of the of the world that God created so we've erased God from our mindfulness if you're willing to eat and not make a br or thank hasem 2 seconds afterwards thank you somebody made you a home meal would you get up and walk away and not say thank you thank you it was delicious thank you so much you say to the waiter who served the meal he didn't even cook it thank you so much it was delicious so God without whom you wouldn't have that food you don't say thank you is a delicious meal a with a sense of mindfulness and if we're not saying it at all or we're saying it but we're basically running through it not thinking about it while we're carrying the dish to the sink we're saying it so then we have to do a uh we have to change our mindset as much as the unaffiliated Jew has to change their lifestyle we have to change our lifestyle to be somebody who concentrates when they make a somebody who sees AEM in their life somebody who's grateful for the blessings that they have so there's no difference we're all B in whatever we need to fix and repair we're all Bal Chua who are trying to transform something and to improve and to change our world outwork and the this is all a preface this is all a background to what he wants to say about the holidays and in particular the amazing holiday of p is the resurrection of the Dead not because you drank too much God had decreed through the end of the Jewish people our lives our existence stood in the balance God had decreed he was going to wipe us out however afterwards when we merited and we experienced a miracle so what happened with when we faced possible Extinction and we were saved from it it was a renewal it was a rebirth it's as if we were as if we were um resurrection of the Dead is the continuation of so we faced a decree for our extermination and we survived it P is now what are you going to do with that new le on life what are you going to do with that new leas on life you ever meet somebody who survived a terminal illness what should have been a terminal illness somebody who had a life-threatening incident they walked away from a life-threatening car accident or they recovered from a life-threatening illness you'll talk to them they'll say every day is a miracle it's a new lease on life I have to figure out what I'm meant to do because clearly I have an obligation in this world here I am when I shouldn't be here that's how we are collectively supposed to feel in getting ready for PES purum was our threat of extermination ham wanted to kill the Jews we survived now our new Lis on life getting ready for PES Springtime renewal fresh opportunity to Blossom to begin again to say what do we do with thatan life who are we and what are we meant to achieve what are we supposed to what are we supposed to accomplish how I'll prove it to you by the way I don't think he does but I'll prove it to you that p and p go together this year we had two adars and the wonders when you have two months of Adar in which one does PM appear the first one or the second one on the one hand usually we don't pass up a Mitzvah so maybe perm should be in the first month thear ends up concluding that perm is in the second month why so that Pam and PES are next to each other could you imagine you'd have Pam last Adar you'd have an entire extra month in between doesn't sound so bad to you but it would be it'd be a very long break puram and pesak go together puram is we survived p is what are you going to do now what are you going to do now with that new leas on life who are you going to be is not just about a few improvements on who we were but it's about transforming ourselves to be new again in the the we change our habits the externals and we change who we are so meaning on the I try to speak Les time take upon myself from 10 to 11:00 at night I won't speak so call me before 10 or after 11 but I can't talk from 10 to 11: right so I'm working I'm going to talk less and I'm going to try harder to make a before I eat I'm going to work on the habits p is not just is working on the external habits it's working on the internal world view that I haven't been living with God in my life I have been living with God absent from my life I've been thinking that I'm in control I've been taking pride in my accomplishments I have been worried and anxious as if everything is not in my best interest well you know what with PES I'm going to change not just my external habits and behaviors but my internal world view my internal Outlook my internal hash I'm going to work harder on amuna to see Hashem in every aspect aspect of my life so there are two bookends of the year they're not bookends they're halfway points of the year every 6 months and 6 months later P I have the opport this year seven months later but halfway through the year there are two opportunities during the year of renewal one is a renewal where I examine my habits and my behaviors and the other is the renewal where I examine my attitudes and My Philosophy p is the one where I I I evaluate my attitude and my philosophy it's a different way of looking at chabas chabas is not a burden shabas is a gift Torah is not oppressive and restrictive Torah is a blessing that Hashem is not somebody absent from my life who I live with doubt whether he's there or not I know with certainty that there is Hashem you know we have yesterday was conversion day um I'm the manal of our bason of of Gus so once a month our bason gets together we have back to back to back to back to back to back meetings interviews so we have a candidate right now from Puerto Rico which we generally won't deal with people outside of South Florida that's our that's our geographical area but there are exceptions where there's no based in locally and we try to help so I'm going to have to take a trip to Puerto Rico yeah sorry so um over Skype we met with this couple with the rabbi but when we first asked the man you know uh it's our first meeting like what makes you want to be Jewish most of GIS work is detective work there's of of conversion and you have to make sure a person is conforming to the to the uh rules and regulations but it's a lot of detective work you're trying to figure out I mean you talk about changing your lifestyle and your life there's no bigger transformation than becoming a convert to go from a nonu Jew is a enormous enormous enormous transformation so why in the world would someone want it in a world where everyone's running away from it why would someone want it and that's detective work to figure out so I as this couple basically what attracts Judaism so he I never saw such passion he's like he said he was lost someone gave him a book from he found Hashem and he just loves Hashem and his whole life is Hashem is in his life and every decision every action his mindfulness feeling connected to Hashem and appreciative of Hashem and it was like listening toir amuna his answer to the question of why do you want to be Jewish was unbelievable that's so many of us many of us it's it's a real challenge in our time we are externally observant Jews shabas and we look at the labels of kosher and we're going to go crazy cleaning for pesak momentarily and we are externally doing everything on the outside but are we Jews on the inside are we Jews in our world view in feeling Hashem in our life in in our attitude you know what what dictates our attitude to whatever are the ethical dilemmas of our time is it the opad in the New York Times in the Wall Street Journal or do we turn to our Torah and say what does Hashem say is the moral thing where is it coming from is it is it so we are we are excellent at being external Jews we are great atas at stringencies and we have the ease of keeping kosher like no generation before us had and it's easy now you press the self clean and you do this and you can buy the stickers for da me and you can it's take kosher it's easier than ever it's easier than ever to be an external Jew it's harder than ever to be an internal Jew and that's the aod of PES as we're getting close to PES and as we're beginning Nan is to say it's not enough to be doing the external manifestations how do I transform my Nish to be a Jewish Nish how do I transform my maybe I'll talk about this in I'm looking for a topic but how do I transform myself internally let's just do one more paragraph and we'll stop it's so important to take advantage of these days who is a fool somebody who loses the gift that they were given I give you a free iPad and I see two months later that was the door and and I say I your iPad and you say I lost it and a person who doesn't have the intelligence to safeguard their precious things you shouldn't have compassion for them no in the days of P we were given incredible utensils capacities for growth [Music] mat the whole seder is a platform to launch personal growth the whole seder is a platform to have a conversation about amuna that's what the Seder is right we were slaves God took us out we were idolators God revealed himself to us the whole seder is a big you know Wednesday morning cup of coffee and conversation about amuna and the mat the mar and the is all there to reinforce a conversation about am how could we lose that opportunity how could we forfeit that instead by saying little gatri no offense to the teachers in schools but little grias and little projects and cute little Tor and there was never a conversation about Amun you have a whole p with gatas and props and cute Haas and artwork and that and you never actually had the conversation about what it means to be a Jew what it means to have person realizes how sick they are when they see all of the instruments and medicines and pills that they have to take to get better so we realize when we come to the Seder all the props you realize wow it takes a lot I need a lot I'm on life support to become a Jew again I'm on life support to become a Jew again to remember I have a we have the opportunity for Renewal and through them this platform these conversation the Sor table is an opportunity to come out new and it's not a coincidence I'll end by telling you it's not a coincidence that PES always occurs in the springtime we in fact why did we have the extra month of Adar this year because we operate in a Luna calendar and we have shorter days than a solar calendar over the course of years the the seasons get manipul get distorted from the calendar and if we didn't add the extra month to push it off you'd be observing PES in the snow' be observing kanaka in the summer and eventually everything would be out of whack and to us the holidays aren't just arbitrary days on a calendar the holidays are consistent with the season in which they fall and what's the consistency of PES with Springtime it's that what is Springtime you know we don't appreciate it down here we had the most bizarre winter if you live up north you appreciate that the springtime you start to see the blossoms you're digging out in Chicago from under the snow you dig out from under the cold you dig out from under the darkness the days are longer there's greater Sun you have more daylight hours the snow disappears and melts and what you see is the blossoming of flowers and The beautiful landscape and it's renewal the smell of Springtime it's renewal PES has to be in the spring cu the essence of space is renewal it's our capacity for a fresh start and for a new beginning and for Renewal so will continue next week should should be for