Part 42: Why Zaidy Lived to 99

all right good morning everyone thanks for your flexibility for the brises that have shifted things around so we continue our learning ofuna and as always it's dedicated we're going to continue with shalom in his we're on page me number three page three in our booklet at o the letter Y living a life where you see in your life you feel his presence in your life you lean on him you depend on him is the foundational Stone the foundational brick that supports and holds up everything else in the life of a Jew it's the foundation for all that you do in in fact um is y who writes that the core of all mitzvos is amuna in other words every Mitzvah is an exercise every Mitzvah is a renewed moment or opportunity to remember there AEM so whether it's chauffeur or lul or lighting candles or or but every Mitzvah ties back at its Essence at its core to remembering that there's a God he created the world he gave us a blueprint for how that world should function he has a sense of right and wrong and and so on kashim overcoming thear and surpassing the challenges and tests that come our way specifically regarding amuna are profoundly difficult and challenging the Holier something is the more the harder it is to do right if it's something mundane if it's something insignificant nothing Rises to challenge it it's easy but we have a principle that the Holier something is the more significant something is the more that the yat Sahara Rises and grows to oppose it there's always a Level Playing Field first of all if theara didn't then there wouldn't be free will free will again is always the exercise of making the right choice when there are opportunities and options and Alternatives that present themselves that are not necessarily equal but are near equal right if everyone who did the right thing good H things happened for and everyone who did the wrong thing bad things happen for you wouldn't really have free will to do the right thing or the wrong thing it would just be obvious and easy and natural what makes life meaningful what makes life I'll get it what you looking no here I I'll leave it unlocked it is oh the door thank you what makes life meaningful what makes life significant is that we have opportunities and Alternatives that if not equal or close to equal that that present themselves so because Amun is so foundational because Amun is so significant because Amun is so important that's why thear to not live life of amuna right the Nas the tests which make us conclude you know what there is no God he doesn't really care it doesn't really matter that Yar and those are so are so great theab says particularly in our time and in our day when we are in the days of mhia not the Messiah is here yet we wish he was if he were it would look like a very different world but in the days that precede mashiah and the countdown to mhia in the days that we can anticipate so in these days the core challenge the key challenge is specifically with it's in the Merit of amuna that we were redeemed and it's in the Merit of amuna that we will be redeemed again so this is an important idea to remember is that the fact that it's so challenging to live with auna it's so distracting it's so easy to get caught up in the momentum of life and forget to hasem forget that he has expectations of us forget to lean on him and rely on him and thank him and feel his presence in our lives the fact that it's so challenging and difficult because of the distractions and because some of the hardships we go through that lead us to the opposite conclusion that's not a reason to give up it's not a reason to abandon the course it's not a reason to think that you know what this is just too hard for get it it's a reason to realize how important it is in other words the more challenging something is and the harder it is to overcome is the greater the reminder of how important and sacred and holy it is and that's why it's so challenging the things that come easy don't mean that much so things that come hard with theara and theas with the challenge and the test come SE here The Challenge on the test that's when they that's when they mean the most right for for example for those who are going to exercise right after this i't say who but right that's the principle of no pain no gain right if if you feel no pain there's no gain if you feel pain that's when there's gain so when thear arrive and you have to overcome them that's when there's gain and if it comes easily it's simple now so our generation M who died several years ago didn't even mean this didn't even know that he meant this but I think one of the challenges to amuna in our time is the technological Advance is the technological growth and progress we think we're controlling the world you think we manipulate the world we can fly into space and we can control everything around us picked up your husband last night he's sitting on his phone in the car oh let me put the alarm on on my phone oh let me uh my smart housee let me control every detail oh my whatever let me we we live in this technologically advanced world and we think we're in control and it gives us a greater and greater and greater sense of control and the more that we live in the information or what I like to call the misinformation age where we have access to Google anything and have terabytes of information at our fingertips we think we know everything we think we control everything and as a result it becomes harder and harder and and harder to feel a connection to Hashem so that means that when you live with amuna in that environment and culture where it's harder and harder it's all the more meaningful it's all the more valuable it's all the more special it's all the more holy it's all the more lasting and the rebba here references the kazal particularly in our month we're now on the um third day of Nissan deep into KES Nissan says that we were redeemed once in niss and we will be redeemed again in Nissan and this is classically meant understood to mean that in Nissan we merited the miracle of The Exodus we were redeemed from the slavery of the servitude of Egypt and in Nissan we will be redeemed from our hardships the end of Hamas and Hezbollah and terrorism and Isis and and BDS and the UN and all of the evil in the world that all that will end in the month of niss there's a new came the andar explains no if you wrot this on the WhatsApp this week the ran in his introduction toos says that sa foros is not about is sa foros the theme ofos is the transition from gas to Gul from exile to Redemption Exile the beginning of shos we all understand you read the beginning of Exodus and it's all about Jewish baby boys are being murdered and children turned into bricks and hard labor and so on that I get where's the G if you think of redemption as being in Israel with a built B mikdash we're not in Israel the end of say we're bringing this this week we're beginning VRA we're not beginning VRA in Israel in ER Canan we're beginning it still on the desert so where's the Gula so the raan explains Gula and Galas are not a geographic description of course that's a component to it we believe Redemption is when Jews come back to Israel where we all belong and should be struggling to go of course we believe there's a geographical component to it but it's not a geographic description you can have Exile in Israel and you can have a level of redemption outside of Israel for the ran what are Exile and Redemption they're whether Hashem is in your life or not so when you are living absent Hashem in your life when you feel distance from him life is a function of random and chance and coincidence and you can't feel his presence you don't believe everything happens for a reason you feel all alone and isolated and abandoned when you don't feel hasem in your life that's Exile it's very dark and when you feel when you feel the divine presence and the more intense you feel it the greater that sense of redemption personally individually or collectively nationally so where is the Redemption at the end of saos what has been built and where has God chosen to dwell in the Mishka the Tabernacle has been built and now exist there's God has come down to earth so Exile and Redemption are not a geographic description alone there is much about which means the presence of the almighty feeling Hashem in your life having a place to go literally or figuratively a place to go emotionally spiritually a place to go where you say you know I don't have doubt I don't have uncertainty I don't have wonder I know with confidence that there's God that he created me that all that's unfolding it's his will and there's a reason and somehow everything is for the good and I'm so thankful to him for everything in my life and I pray to him and I depend on him and I rely on him for everything that will be in my life that's so says if you apply the raan's insight to say to this statement of that we redeemed in Nissan and will be redeemed again in Nissan it's not talking about leaving Egypt and it's not talking about we pray for that too it's talking about when was the hak Mish when was the mishan erected when was it inaugurated in Nissan and when is the third base of mikdash going to begin to function tell us the carbonos of the third Bas of M will begin when Nissan so Nissan we were redeemed and Nissan will be redeemed is not about servitude and oppression it's about the Redemption of feeling Hashem in our lives this is a month of redemption and a month of redemption doesn't mean you know again finally I'll be able to quit my job and win the lottery Redemption doesn't mean finally I'll be able to that's not Redemption Redemption is finally I'm going to feel Hashem in my life this is the month to do ites with p is a holiday in which we cultivate ourselves and condition ourselves and work on ourselves that everything that happens I see Hashem in my life oh wow that was look at what just happened look at that coincidence no that wasn't a coincidence that was thank you oh I have something upcoming that's really important or special or scary I'm going to with all my heart to hasem I need you I rely on you I'm turning to you this is the month to do it by the way the evidence that you could have Exile even in Israel is the holiday of Kaneka the holiday of Kaneka we were living under what was called g yavan g yavan is the Exile of the of uh of the Syrian Greeks and where did it take place in Israel we were living in Israel right what was different though we were exiled from the bdash so Exile is not about whether you're in Israel or not Exile is about whether God's presence fills the bdash whether it fills the world whether it's accessible to us whether we can easily tap into it I never heard of Tash Tash I've never been there I don't think we're going there on our Poland trip that this great rebba apparently said that in the in the latest Generations he saw God-fearing people who are Vigilant and strict with mitzvos do everything right but still struggling with amuna because Amun is the hard part that's the internal part the Mitzvah are the external part you know check the labels on everything you eat clean like an obsessive compulsive person for PES off you know wash the lettuce put on theill light the candles do the give the my Sak all the external actions I don't mean to minimize it but that's the easy part go through the motions check check check check check in your mind is the checklist I'm doing everything right check check check good good good I'm ready to go but the internal living with amuna processing everything in your life through the filter and prism of amuna that's much harder and so he notes this great sadic who said that in the in the in the most recent Generations we will be so careful in observing the externals but struggling to translate it internally Thea another tradition that the is quoting that he has from the great sadim is that a lack of amuna or living with is contagious it's a contagious disease meaning you have to be careful who we hang out with we have to be careful who we talk to we love all Jews this is a community that believes in a and diversity and unity and and so on and so forth we believe that we work on that we care about that I'm not saying that we marginalize or judge or isolate ourselves but in terms of who we open ourselves up to for the most meaningful and deep conversations cynicism and sarcasm are contagious when you hang around with people who try to poke a hole in everything meaningful oh that sheer was ah that person's a fake ah that doesn't really mean ah you really believe that Ah that's not oh I read an if you hang out with cynical people who their whole life is to undermine and to poke a hole in and to disprove everything which is holy it's contagious it's very hard to maintain that belief when when you're with people who are cynical and sarcastic and who profane everything which is holy who try to undermine and try to disprove everything that we believe it's contagious on the other hand you hang out with people is going to be good hasm is the best listen what hasm did for me so that's also contagious that's also contagious right everything that's meant to be this is the way it's supposed to so happy Hashem I love Hashem what a great Hashem loves me it then it's all it's all contagious right we we saw a number of times he referenced I have a when do you have auna when you're speaking with when you talk that way when you act that way when you employ that language so when you're around people who speak the language of amuna then you have a culture and an environment of amuna when you're around people who speak the environment of K there no God what are you talking about the rabbis are so ridiculous I read another story about another Orthodox Jew and he's corrupt and he's he's he's and he to stole money and child pornography and so you see the whole religion is fake and it doesn't really mean anything and you can keep Tor when you hang out with that seeps in and it penetrates and it makes you say huh you know what maybe it's true maybe I'm also turned off maybe it's in to be turned off so it's contagious what we're in a period of Darkness it's hard to see Hashem technological advancement makes us believe even more that we're in control cynicism and sarcasm are at their height we're living as the gar says in the generation preceding Mia there'll be a proliferation of in the world so what do we do in a period of night when it's dark you need at night which's true for the darkness of the physical world is all the more true for the darkness of the spirit when a person is living in a dark place physically you get a bad diagnosis you're in chronic pain you're suffering with illness you lack finances to provide the basic needs for yourself when you're suffering the darkness of the physical is a suffering but when you're suffering in the darkness of the spirit which is exactly the language that people with depression use people with depression use a language of being in a very dark dark place the world is dark they feel they're in a dark place so being and I'm not talking about somebody who's who's who has a diagnosis of depression is a very ser all the ammun in the world is not going to necessarily lift a a diagnosed depression a real depression is is needs medication and therapy and so on and so forth but I'm talking about you know our spoil generation who everything is perfect but you know the Wi-Fi is slow so we say I'm so depressed you know whatever I'm talking about our generation that you know we're using the word depression inappropriately so whatever the darkness of the body when you're feeling the darkness of the Soul you feel distant and isolated and apart you feel feel lost you feel depressed it's even more painful and what is the advice how do you overcome how do you break free of that Darkness just return return to the Anchor of amuna that's a reminder you know what I'm not feeling good I'm feeling depressed I'm feeling anxious I'm feeling stressed I'm feeling in a dark place it's when I've got to go back to my amuna place it's when I've got to go back to remember the basics there's Hashem and he loves me and he's in control and I do my best but after I do my best there's nothing more I can do I submit I'm in his hands you know that's the place to go the greatest advice in the darkest place is to strengthen just like is the Merit through which we left Egypt and Amun is the mer in which we'll leave Egypt again so just like our national Collective existence is only because of amuna it's because when we were in the dark place that's when we tapped into the amuna and we are here so too for the individual so to the individual the prophet said that the lives with his amuna how is a sadic alive you're only alive without amuna you couldn't live the stress the anxiety the worry the challenges of the world you'd crumble you'd be paralyzed how does the sadic live from where does the chadic draw strength sad the sh this year is is on this topic actually Shasha the title is next year in Jerusalem the Seder as an exercise in Hope amuna and renewal in honor of the 50th anniversary of the reunification of Y but we're going to talk about how the Seder and the ha itself is partially about the past Redemption but also that the the organizers of the hag and the Seder designed it in a way to give the Jew in Exile strength to remember we were once in a bad place and we got out and we're going to if you feel you're in a bad place again maybe you're reciting the Seder in aitz maybe you're having this hag this ler in wherever whatever oppression I told H to come check it out make sure everything's good you're having this uh you're having this Seder in whichever dark Exile place you may be but uh just like you know the Seder is a reminder that you're sitting there feeling free and Royal and Regal you got out of it once you're going to get out of it again and look at how from the Holocaust to such a short time later 67 a UniFi theel Haru if we didn't live with this amuna that in the darker the place the greater the amuna where would we be where would we be I just got back from APAC there were many highlights of APAC which I'm not going to tell you now but I'll tell you one that you have to go online and watch and and I've said this now like a thousand times and I can't seem to say it without getting choked up but this is going to be the time so there there's somebody who's who's taken on a project of recovering the violins from the concentration camps that the Jews were forced by the Nazis to play violin as they LED their brothers and sisters to the gas Chambers to their death so somebody has taken those violins and restored them so at APAC they had a video of the person and the violins and how they get them how they restore them a very moving video and this music playing violin music and all of a sudden the video ends and the spotlights on the stage and the guy this virtuoso is playing haika on a violin that was used in aitz outside the gas chamber to lead Jews to their death that's if you told the Jew being led to their death and I'm not telling you with some miraculous Story of Survival that you know the the the cyclon didn't work and they got out I'm telling you they died they died but still you told them on their way to their death many of whom were saying shma if you said you hear that violin the violin as you're scratching the walls of the of the gas chamber as you're as you're holding your child High gasping for air you hear those violin sounds do you know that in just a few decades from now they're going to play the sounds of hatikva as your great grandchildren are going to be serving in the IDF and returning to the land of Israel they they wouldn't believe it it's impossible it's impossible to believe that's story yeah yeah you could tell the story tell where ra is on the story um ra is my oldest daughter is actually in Poland right now with her school and yesterday was my Z his yard site his ninth yard site and he is a survivor of aitz they were in asit yesterday she was able to light a yard side candle for him and they had asked her to give a speech at knowing that she had relatives who went through it but they didn't know that it was his yard site that say it was very powerful no coincidences total it's really I mean she's standing in asit on my's yard site telling a story about him in that place that's just it's it's crazy she told a story about my grandfather who um on on Tish he was they found an empty Barrack they were I don't they were working I think and they found like an empty area to sit and just say kenos by heart or whatever you know trying to commemorate Tish of and they were discovered and they were beaten terribly and my grandfather was beaten so badly he lost his eyesight on one eye he was I mean it was awful comes back to the you know his Barrack that night and he uh is just beside himself he's like I can't live he he just wanted to end his life he was not he just couldn't handle it anymore he was so broken so broken and there's there was a rabbi who was in a Barrack with him he was a who knew my grandfather knew him from his hometown and uh he sat with him all night and he gave him such comfort and he said to him I know you're suffering and I know it seems like you're never going to get out of this but I'm telling you that you will have children grandchilden you keep going cuz those Nazis will be in the past but you will have Generations who come from you and my grandfather now has generations of of all from and all you know it's it's really amazing and my and said you know my grandfather was Victorious at the end you know that he really did win because he amazing part was you know when we heard the story is he he died in 99 but in his '90s we asked him Z why why do you think you had this to live into your into your 90s you know what was your marit to live into the 90s and that's when he told us that story so the gave him a if you make it through tonight if you persevere I give you a for you're going to live a long life if you can make it through tonight and then and you will live that the Nazis will be a distant memory and your children and grandchildren will will will be y was his great granddaughter telling the story she knew him I mean knew she so she was telling that story in in aitz where that story happened on aite at that time he was in his 20 he was in his maybe uh probably his high 20s he married he lost child both my grandparents were married with a child each and then they lost their spouse and child they were first cousins they got married after the war to each other they each married to someone else and had a child but they were first cousins to each other they first cousins to each other they got married after the war they met they were they were they were like hardcore they grew up kidish and they liked each other as kids but it was pish for cousins to marry MH so their parents wouldn't allow it so they each got married they each had a child and they each lost their spouse and child in aitz and after the war whoever survived went back to this Hometown cuz they were looking for they were looking for family whoever was there and when they got back they found each other and their parents had been killed they no one was around to tell them they couldn't so they got married at that point at that point they got married and they had one child father your mom they had one dad's side they had one child her father so it's an amazing story I know very light a very light Amon CLA that okay let's finish this up we on page four a Jew who merits for their am to be clear and to be uh to shine bright if you could Merit to live this way where you you you integrate and absorb everything into your life through the prism of amuna everything's for a reason everything's amazing and everything's going to work out and everything is is is right so it doesn't just your amuna check the amuna box you're like good but then that amuna animates everything else you do every other Mitzvah becomes special all of your MOS become special everything becomes special all your observance of mitz all your thoughts all of your speech all your attitudes towards everything going on in life everything is different everything has changed if you can live with this you'll see your worry and your angst go away you'll see your jealousy and envy go away you'll see your anger go away everything in life improves mes why are you jealous and envy envious because you think you deserve something and you want it and it's not right but if you live with amuna and you realize that you have what you need and you have what you deserve and if you want more work harder But ultimately Hashem gives you what you need you won't feel jealous at amuna why do you get angry because you feel that's not how I anticipated it it's not my expectation that's not what I wanted but when you realize that you're not in control there's a Hashem then you won't get angry all your health improves your psychological well-being improves your relationship improves the more you work on amuna it it trickles down it improves everything in your life positive person also much more positive makes you a happier person oh yesterday's New York Times I hate to mention that name but yesterday's New York Times had an article yesterday's New York Times had an article um that was called you could look it up because it's very interesting appose y just said a positive outlook may be good for your health it's a whole story about how yeah the the people who live more positive outlook literally blood pressure diabetes cardiac everything is better because you just you realize you could let go let go and let God best health advice you're not going to be afraid of anybody you're not going to have to have to praise anybody falsely nobody can do anything to you that hem didn't determine is for you you're not afraid of anything even if I walk through the shadow of the Valley of Death I fear no evil because you are with me no bad can come from heaven and everything is from Our Father who does good and only wants good bad can't come down from him Heaven a father never does bad to a child they do those are very evil Wicked people but a good father a decent human being is incapable of doing bad to their child they'll they'll do to the child what the child perceives as bitter take away the phone put them in timeout you uh you know um the door what lock the door whatever yeah lock the door lock the door my my little four-year-old is having trouble going to sleep at night he just won't go to sleep he comes out of the bed and the more the more upset and frustrated you get the more he giggles and laughs so yesterday I had to hold the door closed and lock the door and I said that's it that's it you're not getting out of this room that's what happens when you's not home and I'm in charge of bedtime a lock is installed a lock is installed on the door anyway so he started crying hysterically he said but how am I going to go to school tomorrow so I you know I said don't worry I'm going to unlock it as soon as you fall asleep so then we made peace and I unlocked the door and I went inside and he GRE to stay in his bed and I was gently putting him to sleep and he looked up at me like still trying to catch his breath you know that sad little boy cry little child cry and he goes but ABA why would you want to make me cry it was a great it was actually very it was a very profound comment for a four-year-old why would you want to make me cry so that's what theb is saying is that sometimes we look up at ASM we say okay look I'm sure everything you're doing is for my best but why would you want to make me cry why why would you want me to be in pain why I I'm sure it it can't be bad cuz you're my father you'd never do anything to hurt me so it must somehow be good for me but it hurts it hurts why Hashem why would you make me cry why would you want me to cry ABA the amazing thing about children is if you did that to me I wouldn't talk to you for three weeks but but with a child sometimes the more you discipline them the more that they want to feel that you love them they love you the more they want to cuddle they Crave Your it's an amazing amazing child it's really very actually insightful into how much children want boundaries and want discipline because they love you more when there's discipline they know you love them it's very it's very counterintuitive it's very paradoxical adults is the opposite we're done you lock me in forget it they want want to come back yeah when you know in your heart that is with you through that you're not missing anything in your life in the palace nothing is missing I heard am according to your level of is your level in life in other words the measure of a person is the that's the measure of a person fortunate blessed is the person who is able to strengthen their amuna at all times and live with hem in their life so amuna is not just another thing that we have to get done Amun is not just another Mitzvah on the list but amuna is the core it's at the essence of all that we do and ultimately it's even the measure of a person if you live with amuna it has an impact on our MOS our health our relationships it's it's the whole status and the level that we're on and to not live with amuna to lack amuna really undermines and means that something significant is missing in all of our lives have a fantas P day