Part 18

okay good morning Boer to perfect time Penny we are going to continue we're going to continue where we left off from last week these are the same sheets and we're continuing the same theme within um rev pinkis pus and his saer on P and last week we spoke about I have to tell you actually that our conversation last week helped shape and mold my thinking for the so some of that conversation may seem familiar to you but um but we spoke about the idea spoke about the idea that in the month of el and as we prepare for the high holidays we are looking to repair and transform and improve our external behaviors and actions so we try to stop talking lashar and D with more kavana and make a before and after we eat and be more honest and careful in our business dealings El is a time where we examine how we're behaving and how we can improve it Nissan which is the cor are or Nissan which is the other half of the Year 6 months later is the time in which we're not examining our external appearance Behavior lifestyle conduct but we are examining with an effort to improve our internal who we are as a Jew how we think how we feel how we approach the world our perspective our judgment um our opinions are they shaped by Torah are they shaped by being a member of this Jewish people or are they shaped by the world around us and that's that's the aod that's the effort I think I said last week that you survive pum pum was the um pum was the decree to exterminate the Jewish people and you we survived that decree then we ask ourselves now that we survived a life-threatening situation clearly we have more to do clearly our time has not yet come clearly we have more to achieve what do we want to do with our new lease in life right that just like the individual who undergo the serious operation recovers from a serious illness survives a horrible crash that person who never should have made it says to themselves wow I never should have made it clearly I have more to achieve what do I do with my new le Sun Life who do I want to be what do I want to accomplish that's what Nissan and pesak are for us that we made it through pum pesak is our asking ourselves who are we what do we want to achieve so we are I believe on uh page three yeah page three every time every holiday in Judaism has a theme has an energy that we're trying to tap into that these historical events occurred thousands of years ago but we are not seeking to Simply commemorate events of Years Gone by we spoke about this KHAK time I think we are trying the historical events revealed to us what was special about that time so that we too can tap into the energy that's present in that time so the 15th of Nissan we don't observe pesak even though I know we say we you know we commemorate or we talk about the Exodus what happened but really we're only talking about those ideas because we too want to experience Liberty and freedom we too want to experience Redemption how do we identify with Redemption freedom and liberty through the pesak story so the 15th of Nissan is a day that is imbued with possibility with potential it is a day that is filled and characterized by the energy of Freedom Liberty and Redemption how did we know that that happened on that day because pesak happened on that day it's not that pesak happened on the 15th so we observe pesak on the 15th the 15th is a time of freedom and liberty which allowed for pesak and which will allow for us to achieve our own freedom and liberty from that which enslaves us as well it's a very different Paradigm the Jewish notion of time is very different you don't observe July 4th because July 4th inherently has a notion of Independence and I want to be independent on July 4th so I make a barbecue and I watch a baseball game and I go to a sale because somehow I can exert my Independence that is inherent no July 4th is purely commemorative it commemorates uh Independence and therefore I observe a commemoration ceremony Judaism we're not looking to commemorate it's B and B that day is inherent with that value which allowed for the event in history to occur and allows me to re-experience it each and every year and so understanding the essence the theme the energy of a holiday is not just so that oh while I'm observing what happened thousands of years ago I should know better what it was no it's that what happened thousands of years ago was all done just so I would know the potential in that day the richness of that day so I too can tap into it it's a fundamentally different way of understanding the Jewish notion of time and it's a critical way of understanding Jewish holidays if you don't understand this you're not understanding Jewish holidays which again explains and we spoke about this last week why PES is manipulated it's it's the holiday of Springtime it's not just that PES happened in spring so the most authentic way to commemorate it is to do it in Spring that's not why it's that spring allowed pesak to happen and spring brings with it for us too the platform of really the trampoline to propel us too to the notion of what spring represents even though there's I think record low temperatures coming to the Northeast today by m showed me a picture of his mother's home covered in snow yesterday but Springtime Springtime is that the snow melts and you see the blossoming flowers and the smell of spring is in the air and renewal and rebuilding and refreshing and new opportunity so it's not PES happened in the spring it's a spring enabled PES to happen and spring enables our own Redemption as well so page three p at times when we're struggling to understand a difficult uh concept and the the matter is not easily attained the answer the solution is to start from the beginning so you're trying to understand something you go back to the roots where's the where's the where's the how by following that Pro process and then you can arrive at the more complicated sophisticated analysis and Things become clear by going back to the beginning right let's start from the top so we two to understand what's about let's go back to the beginning the r when he begins the area his category called this is a quote from the r the foundation of Foundations and the pillar of wisdom is to know that there is a first cause and the first cause is responsible for all that came after and all that exists this table this mug you and me this room this house this world all that exists is only at the will of that first cause ramam is invoking a classic argument for evidence for God's existence it's not his own it could even preed him the r was not shy often to quote from Aristotle but this is while very simple and certainly even sounds oversimplified it is a very compelling piece of evidence for God's existence way a conversation with our kids at the showers table a few weeks ago our kids say you know I do all I'm how do you know Hashem exists how do you know every one of our kids when they h a certain age you could see cognitively they're thinking in a certain way how do you know you can't see a why are we really talking to him how do we know he exists and then they go through the stage of saying and how do we know we're right maybe the Christians are right maybe the Muslims are right each one thinks they're right so we went through this conversation I said you know where did you come from Mommy and ABA where did momy and ABA come from sa and SAA and BBY and Zi where did Sab and sa and B and Zi come from they came from their parents okay let's keep going where did they come from where did they come from when we get back to the very beginning where did they come from that's when your head starts to explode you get all dizzy and you say you know what I'm better off not thinking about this but where did that first where' the first come from and the answer is that's where Hashem is what does that mean we don't know the r writes elsewhere that we can't identify with Hashem because we're not him he's infinite and we're finite he's omnipotent and we're limited so by definition we can't connect connect or identify with Hashem we only speak the RAB we only speak about hasem in the negative he's not bound by time he's not bound by space he's not doesn't have human characteristics he's not this he's not that he doesn't have emotion we can only talk about what he's not he's not what we are he categorically different what is he I can't describe it it's like trying to describe to you a coffee tastes like if you never tasted coffee trying to describe to you what chocolate tastes like if you never had chocolate well it's not spicy it's not this it's not that it's very hard so we can't say what hasem is but what we know he is is the first cause we know that if you trace everything back it all gets traced back whether to the Big Bang scientifically you know who's the cause or source of the Big Bang or if you don't believe in the Big Bang but the origin of the universe the origin of all that exists is Hashem notice the rambam's word first of all he calls it the pillar of pillars and the sorry the foundation of Foundations and the pillar of all wisdom is laid what does he not say he does not say that the pillar of all wisdom is to believe you got to be a believer take the leap of faith join me friends believe he does not say he does not say the obligation the pillar of wisdom is to believe he says it's Le what does the word Lea mean know to know the ramban feels and in fact Judaism asserts that we can know God exists not believe not have faith but you can know you have been shown to know know today and place it on your heart that there is a God it's not I want to get through this section so we're not going to do it today but what I think Judaism is saying is that there is the same compelling pieces of evidence to support God's existence as there is anything else in your life we talked about this too in the past right how do you know the coffee you're drinking from Dunkin Donuts this morning is not filled with poison carcinogens contaminations now all of a sudden how do how do you know how do you know do you have proof no you don't have proof what do you have you have evidence the Dunkin Donuts wouldn't risk its entire franchise the store and the whole thing would be shut down people there's you know there's Health codes you have a lot of evidence a lot of reasons to believe that you could buy a box of joe from Dunkin Donuts and drink it without dying unless you're like an neotic person who you know you have a lot of reason to believe a healthy person who lives off of an abundance of evidence would drink a cup of coffee from Dunkin Donuts and not fear they're going to die do they have proof no and nothing you do you have proof for you go to CVS and you pick up your prescription medicine you know you're going to take that medicine you're not going to drop dead how do you know it's not laced with cyanide how do you know how do you know the pharmacist is not some total psycho and he's lacing the medicine with Cyanide and you're going to drop down so it's better to live with the gout or better to live with the pain or better to live with the whatever you're taking the medicine for better than dropping dead of cide how how are you taking the medicine the answer again is you have an abundance of evidence and that same unit of evidence for every choice we make in life exists to choose to know that God exists that same amount of evidence that same critical mass of evidence that rules every choice we make from believing when you look in your rear vew mirror you could change lanes and there wasn't an optical illusion and there isn't a hidden spot you're not going to die to taking the medicine to drinking the coffee to every choice you make the same amount of evidence exists to know that there is hasem that's judaism's assertion now you have to examine all of that evidence if you're examining it objectively by the way and that's the key I might add that is the key too many people in life are not examining the evidence objectively we come in and we have preconceived notions I didn't like my third grade rebi and therefore I hate my a parent an authority figure somebody in my life who represented religion or God failed me and therefore I have no respect for authority and I will never submit to a higher authority or I did business once with an observant Jew who messed me over and wasn't honest I was once almost knocked over at a buffet by a from looking person who chuckled and Shool but almost I went to a high life F dinner the other night you think I goty in a scooter like a little Rus twice at the sushi bar I was literally almost knocked off my off my my scooter you know listen priorities people have so I trust me I was tempted to give up religion but I but I'm but I'm sticking with it nonetheless so but not the food but I'm sticking with it nonetheless so they didn't even notice they just that Wasabi was so important anyway so the same amount of evidence exists but you have to look at it objectively if you come in with hurt with anger with resentment with preconceived notions if you already came in with your answer and your conclusion then no evidence in the world no proof in the world will be enough for you but if you come in objectively and just ask yourself the question to the point that I don't think it was Einstein I forgot who said it that it takes more faith to be an atheist than it does to be a believer takes more faith once you examine the evidence it takes more faith to be an atheist than it does to be a believer it's a lot harder for the atheist to work on continuing to justify that it's all random and it's all chance and it's all big bang it's all science and it's all it's hard takes more faith to be an atheist than to be a believer so this is the rambam's core what does it mean to be a human being what does it mean to living in this universe is to know that there is a first cause to all and that everything that exists exists only at his will we're continuing third paragraph if you want to understand every wisdom at the core and at the source of all wisdom the r was a person who was not shy to understand wisdom Ra was a physician who's familiar with the sciences and at the source of all wisdom is says normally when you get into a debate about God's existence so the arguments always about you believe in Torah with or about um the conscription of Yesa students to the Army Pinkus is an American Born Rabbi who is a raim I told you last week tragically killed in a car accident many of these arguments could have been avoided if you didn't pick up in the middle of the issue but you started From the Source there is a Creator who is dominion over the world and what does he want not what is the New York Times say not what are the blogs or what are the polls or what are the candidates or what is the whatever say Do you believe that there's a creator of the universe do you believe he has expectations of us do you believe he has designs for his world do you believe there's a reason that he created us you in particular do you believe that you can try to identify what he wants from you that you have to start the conversation now I I will I don't know if Pinkus is going to admit but I will concede that that doesn't mean that there's no longer room for diversity and arguments and Sh T there are 70 faces to Torah and there are many shades within Torah Judaism that are equally valid legitimate beautiful consistent with Torah you know ranging from a lot of different worlds and to see the beauty in each of them so I don't mean to suggest that if you start with the question is there a god did he create the world does he have a design and plan does he have expectations did he communicate what he wants from us then all of a sudden we'll have uniformity everybody will arrive at the exact same answer and we've avoided all the conversations and debates there'll still be lots of debates and still be lots of conversations but the tone and tenor of them will be different if we all are under that one rubric and then we get to these fundamental questions who is that Creator how is he great do you believe that the Torah is from him do you believe it's a living vibrant Torah that continues to dictate and legislate Our Lives was it given just for 80 years was it given just for the 40 years in the desert or is this something which is eternal is it Timeless and when you get to the root of the matter many of the small and Petty debates and arguments take on a different context if they're within another words are you debating what you believe or are you debating what you think Hashem wants from the universe how many debates do you think people are saying this is what I think Hashem wants from us I think Hashem would be disappointed with that this is what I think Hashem desires no they're usually more all about you know ego personal this is my perspective this is what would fulfill my needs this is how I see the world so the context in which to have our discussions the context in which to live that diversity is to start from the beginning is there a god what does he look like is see the same as is he different is his Torah authentic and genuine you think it was written by man is it Timeless or were it's lessons only for a certain period of time are they archaic and outdated you know I feel this way when you know there there people somebody I'm I'm close with who who's recently been walking away from religion has walked away from religion and and I have not yet had the conversation that I want to desperately have which is are you walking away because you have struggle so let's have a conversation are you struggling to know whether God really exists and whether his to his genuine and whether the Torah is written by man or by Hashem and how real and how binding and how important are you struggling to make it compatible with other aspects of your life which are challenging to make compatible if you're in a struggle have the struggle but you're just walking away and and what I'm desperate to ask this person is this is a person who came to religion proudly and joyously and and excitedly is to say was that all a joke was that not real if it was real so what happened let's let's talk about it let's continue to be in the struggle if if it wasn't real what what what drug were you on then what did you get swept up in you know what happens in life I think they quote this in the name of salich bris brisker um that uh someone once came to him with a list of questions about Hashem you know hash questions questions about amuna so famously said to him are these kasas or are theyum if they're kasas I give you answers if the there's no for a Kasha is a question a ter is an answer so said to him are your questions questions or are your questions answers if your questions are questions we can have a conversation if your questions are answers there's nothing to talk about so we have a generation that are posing questions they're posing answers in the form of questions Judaism is difficult it requires sacrifice and submission and struggle it's not always easy and so what do we do we manufacture questions we manufacture questions because then we find our way out it's our exit strategy we manufacture answers in the form of questions because that's our exit that doesn't mean to suggest there aren't legitimate questions and there aren't real people struggling with real questions I'm not making a sweety statement one of the top guys I was in Yeshiva with in Israel for two years and then in Yeshiva University who we all admired he was a mmid and he helped me start a publication in yu that we worked on that was all about growing religiously and he was he led mus vadam studying Al Shore and we all admired him like crazy and circumstances in life which I won't get into um really disappointing circumstances in life led him ultimately he's not from whatsoever today I it literally took me years I was devastated religiously devastated personally devastated like somebody who was somebody you looked up to who helped you on your own journey and your own path who you so admired to to leave it all and and and in in there wasn't much conversation because it was clear there wasn't a desire for one but in the limited conversation you know there all these questions really you know all I believed was fake you know it's not so simple that God wrote the Torah that God exist and it was so clear those wereas life had thrown a religious life had thrown a number of serious disappointments his way serious disappointments and that doesn't mean those questions aren't good questions and worthy of reflection and examination and and and study but are they questions or are we posing answers in the form of questions to cop out so that's kind of the conversation that we have with ourselves this time of year I share all this with you not to judge others everybody's in their own shoes and we don't judge anyone until we've experienced what they've experienced and we can never experience exactly what someone else's experienced which is why K say never judge others in other words the mission says don't judge someone till you're in the shoots you can never be in their shoes so that's their way of saying never judge anyone so I'm not judging anyone but what I'm saying is this is what we should ask ourselves examine in our own life with whatever doubts and uncertainties we have Nissan and getting up to PES the holiday of faith and Liberty and Redemption and freedom is to say where are my doubts and uncertainties do I have answers that I've been posing as questions do I need to be more honest with myself and ask myself these things is there a God and if there is a God does he have expectations of us what does he want from us and and so on This was um this was I I spoke to the high school recently uh they have these Jed talks on Friday mornings you're supposed to tell your life story a little bit something inspirational in your life they bring in different speakers so I told them uh this story when I was in 11th grade we um took a class trip to Boston and on the way back from the class trip to Boston the bus pulled over in a rest stop and there was very poor chaperoning on that trip I don't understand exactly why and at the rest stop a number of kids that got back on the bus let me give you the short version of this because I want to get back to R Pinkus but a number of kids who got back on the bus got back on the bus french fries from the Burger King and with all kinds of non kosher food now um I went to a wonderful school and I continue to have hakar satov to it for what it taught me and how I learned but it had a very diverse student population um and um you know kids there were a lot of kids who were not entirely living the lives of what we were learning and uh I was not entirely I I was not a rabbi then there are people who constantly go back to T and meet people who know me from my youth who say that they were surprised said with that I became that I became a rabbi one week you have to come man anyway so um you know so so you know what I'm not going to get into the ways that I was picking and choosing but they had crossed a line that that I or we Myra had not crossed a Burger King like that's that's a serious line so um I guess I wasn't shy then as I'm not now and I began a conversation with them kind of like guys like what are you doing like we don't we don't do that you know what's going on and they looked at me and they said you're a hypocrite you're picking and choosing who are you to judge how we're picking and choosing once you're picking and choosing you're picking and choosing so either you're doing it or you're not doing it if you're going to pick and choose so you're picking and choosing in a way it's comfortable for you we're going to pick it and choose where it's comfortable for us and when I say like a conversation there wasn't the one guy next to me with his french fries it was the whole back of the bus against me we were having this conversation like a whole a whole whatever and that conversation if I could pinpoint One Moment in my life that changed the trajectory of my life it was that moment I have amazing parents and they've raised me in an amazing way and they've taught me everything and they inspired me but that conversation changed why cuz I went back and I took what they said seriously and I said you know they're right is this real or is it not real is there Hashem does he have expectations is the TOA binding are there consequences for not observing it I started to read Ma you remember you gave me a lot of different books to read I read the questions people ask about Judaism who wrote that Prager I read why bad things happen to good PE people I read I read all these books and there wasn't nearly the literature there is today not that I'm a thousand years old but there wasn't nearly the great literature there is today I read all of these books I ended up writing my Yu essay about this story I remember but but that question they posed to me changed my life and that changed the trajectory of my life and there more of the story about my senior year in high school and after high school and it's actually very fascinating what happened socially to me in my senior year of high school and afterwards but many of these same kids who were from the same background as me but were picking and choosing the goalposts of where they were picking and choosing were much broader than mine and to me at crossed lines I wouldn't so these same people ended up after we spent our year in Israel towards the end of that first year in Israel got together and basically said we gave you a hard time but like we now where you were whatever anyway it was very interesting why am I sharing that story with you cuz that's what Nan is p is looking in the mirror and asking ourselves that question is it real or is it not real are you taking it seriously or not are you going to be genuine and real is it real or is it not real do you believe it do you not is there Hashem what's your relationship like with him are you grateful to him do you ask from him are you humble before him do you depend on him do you feel his hand on your shoulder is he involved in your life is he real or not do you have a relationship with him yes or no not externally like there are people who've been going to for 40 years three times a day they've yet to talk to Hashem in their life people been going to for 80 years three times a day saying every word in that sitter they have yet to have a rendevu with the almighty they have yet to feel a connection and intimacy with him they have yet to have a conversation where they feel his presence is he real is he not real are his expectations of us real or not as I'm saying all this I'm realizing it wouldn't be good for sh so if you hear it again if you hear it again W remember it if you hear it again you'll forgive me let's keep going do we let's keep keep going top yes top of page four so if it's about going back to the beginning of the Su the key Su for the holiday of p is hidden is found in this why did God take us out with all the pp and Circumstance why did God take us out in the manner that he did so that we would know that he is God in the midst of all the land to start from the beginning and the beginning is to know that there's a God in this universe in the language of our early authorities the Sater Knight can be divided into two parts carpus is about our um being small and mat is being great is about our limited capacity to understand and mat is about our great capacity listen is our God God now what do it that I can understand I don't need a big brain I don't need a great intellect to understand there is one there is a God but the notion of the unity of God's existence that everything comes from him that's greatness so let me explain say God in his world perform many miracles but the greatest Miracle you know the biggest miracle that God created is the capacity to deny that he exists the biggest Miracle God did is to make human beings who could live in his world who could not believe that he exists isn't that an interesting spin it's like saying it takes more faith to be an atheist than it does a Believer the biggest Miracle God did is to create a world where humans could deny that he exists microphone if you look at a microphone you know that it didn't come to be on its own Al know that it wasn't done by 5-year-olds in the garage that they invented electricity they invented the microphone they invented touch screen you look at something sophisticated and you know it took somebody sophisticated in order to create it that's clear to anybody that's clear to any that's like the ABCs of life there's not a human being alive who I could convince I don't care how unintelligent how shallow I don't care how gullible there's not a human being alive that I could convince that what we're studying right now these words on this paper came about because somebody knocked over a bottle of ink and lo and behold here we go because a monkey sat at a typewriter in lo and behold here we go there's not a human being who's gullible enough to believe that in all of history and for all of time there's not a human being gullible enough to believe that you know there was a pile of material delivered from Home Depot and then there was a tornado and it resulted look at that home look how it came to be there's not a human being who would look at a piece of art there's a lot of pieces of art that you believe somebody and I don't get why their art are worth any money whatsoever but it's a I'm because I'm unsophisticated so I don't understand it but a piece of art which is clear to me depicts something that you can see so nobody's going to tell you that somebody knocked over or threw buckets of paint against the wall and lo and behold that's what that's what they exactly have some no and I I correct and I think if a monkey could do it or a three-year-old it shouldn't be worth a million dollars but that's my that's my humble opinion but anyway so whether it's art or architecture or whether it's um whether it's uh authorship or whether it's whatever it is a beautiful piece of silver which has been crafted it is a basic 101 there is not a human being alive or who has ever lived who would be gullible enough to say it came to be by chance came to be through a tornado or wind or by accident we're knocking something over we know that if something is sophisticated it was crafted by someone sophisticated and then you come to the world right if you look at something electric you know somebody put the electricity there you look at a building somebody built it how come why do we not have that same level of clarity who put the trees to the beautiful pink flowers in my backyard where' they come from where' they come from all of a sudden it comes to the complexity of the human body of the animal kingdom of the Plant World of the and all of a sudden of the weather everything has to be just right you know if it was off a tiny bit the ecological system system and how it works if it was off a bit we couldn't exist everything has to be just right but when it comes to that we're all gullible The Whole World's all of a sudden gullible yeah I'm not so sure random chance Big Bang accident all of a sudden the whole universe is gullible you know going through this torn Achilles I have such an appreciation of the human body how is it that your foot which is so small can hold up and balance your whole body which weighs so much more and it's so big the tendons and the ligaments and the everything has to be just right and a micro tear mine wasn't a micro tear but if you have a micro tear everything's off so walking which we take for granted walking running doing all of a sudden you can't even put on your pants with dignity all of a sudden because you have a micro tear and a little thing and it's an accident who developed the human body you put food in and the body knows how to take away what it needs and eliminate what it doesn't need and you've got a Factory going on inside you when it's all working and it's working right there's an entire plant an entire Factory operating that your heart is operating Around the Clock 24/7 it doesn't get a break it doesn't get a breather it's pumping just right and if one of the valves close got it's just the complexity and the sophistication but no that that all of a sudden we're gullible all of a sudden that's an accident I don't know if there's a Creator I don't know if anyone made that that maybe just came about by chance all of a sudden we all become so gullible so the painting had to have a painter the building had to have an architect and a builder and the book had to have an author and a publisher but the world all of a sudden we Gable not so sure that's the biggest Miracle of all that God can make us who think one way in terms of everything else that when it comes to God we become go that's a miracle that we could live in a world of such Clarity that he exists such undeniability that he exists and still deny that's the biggest Miracle of all articulated put it that Hashem lives in the darkness cloaked in darkness that he was able to create a world where we should have absolute Clarity that he exists and nevertheless he's cloaked in darkness and when mhia will come that wall that darkness that cloud will lift and we will see clearly absolutely clearly undeniably that's what we miss with the B mikdash the whole world was clouded cloaked in darkness there was one place that you had light you had a breakthrough window you got to see with Clarity and that was the Holy B the temple in M says 10 Miracles happened every day in the bikash and list to all the Miracles so any moment that you had doubt or uncertainty or you felt distant or with Wonder You major way to you went not to the kotel but to the B mikdash and you saw with Clarity there was Darkness everywhere else and there was that one ray of light that came in through there and that's what we miss that's the tragedy of the loss that's what we mourn that bases we mourn the capacity to recalibrate our Clarity to come back to our renew our sense of certainty that hasm exist right it's like if your glasses get dirty and you finally clean them you go oh I could see again I didn't realize you know I used to wear glasses so often your glasses get so dirty and days weeks go by without cleaning them you don't even realize how poorly you're seeing you don't even realize how much more clearly you could see until you clean them and you say Ah that's what every looks like wow I didn't I was looking through all the Schmutz and all this dirt and all this everything so our glasses are covered in Schmutz in this world when mashia comes our glasses will get a good cleaning the B of mikash you got an instant rinse on your glasses when you walk through the her is let's just do a drop more this Clarity is called this what you call there is a very simple level of faith that even a child should be capable of knowing and that is before the darkness covers your glasses you can see with Clarity of course there's a Hashem if I have parents and my parents have parents and they have parents of course there's original parents and that's Hashem of course what do you mean when they call this is the goal the essence of every Jew to get to a level of like what am I getting into all these philosophical debates and discussions and arguments it's obvious let's go back to the beginning it's obvious there's a God it's obvious it's obvious we don't have to make it more complicated it's obvious in fact I'll end by telling you this asks killed by the Nazis a student of the the great so he asks I don't understand a child becomes B Mitzvah or bar mitzvah all of a sudden they're obligated in amuna they have to believe that God exists how's that possible they're 12 they 13 years old what do they know what can they do he writes Aristotle the great philosopher spent his life trying to find out whether God exists and here the 12-year-old and 13-year-old little kid you say you have to have a How Could You demand of them how could we demand of them something so many adults much older still struggle with listen to what he answers it's brilliant he says you know it's not that children are neutral and now they turn 12 or 13 we have to teach them to believe it's that children innately and inherently believe and we have to avoid exposing them to all the things that make you stop believing so 12 or 13 it's not a big deal to believe because you've believing since you're one and your parents have been talking to you about Hashem thank Hashem ask Hashem do you see Hashem look how amazing hasm is that this worked out it's so clear there hasem and just protect them protect them from exposure to all the things in the world that make a person start saying with sarcasm and CIS ah who knows ah not so impressed ah I'm not sure he exists so the goal is not that you have to teach them amuna in 12 or 13 that they've had since their War too the goal is to protect them from the things that remove or that compromise that sense of amuna such a brilliant answer and that's what he's saying here too let's go back to being children let's go back to being children so the world thinks that they're greater they're more Superior you're inferior if you have Amun let's go back to Nissan PES is the aod is going back to Amun there's a God it's obvious he took us out of Egypt he continues to be involved in my life I need him I'm grateful to him let's go back to the basics let's go back to that which is obvious and not make it more complicated than it needs to be so these are some of the aod we're getting ready the shabas ises Nissan and we begin the process we're heading towards PES but the goal is not just on Wednesday mornings with the cup of coffee the goal is every day to be working on this things go on in your life that you know you got to try to see through the prism of Hashem what does Hashem want from me I need to ask hasm I need to be grateful to hashm I need to recognize this is hasem to feel hasem in every aspect of our lives have a great day