Part 68: Stephen Hawking Lived in Exile, But We Can Redeem Ourselves

okay good morning ladies want to thank our sponsors for this morning Al and loving memory of her daughter raim and car Zimmerman and Susan Baker in memory of their beloved mother sidel Sher thank you so much for your sponsorship okay we continue actually we are concluding today the Shalom T his M which is onus the concept of how to cling to God how to feel hashem's presence in our Liv all the time and we're on Z on page Z and we'll finish up today regarding everything that we've established right we we've spent several weeks maybe months on this that the has been developing many different means of connecting to clinging to Hashem whether it's by emulating Hashem imitation is the greatest form of flattery you connect yourself to someone else when you imitate them whether it is by coming close to the was closest to right we talked about clinging to those who are great that when you cling to those who are close to Hashem then you too by extension feel connected um we talked about chabas shabas is a day ofus we talked about provided all of these different suggestions of how one can work on growing their sense of and he concludes this section by reminding us the way he began that really this is the T this is the goal of all of life the goal of all of life is to cling to to feel the connection with to feel the presence of the almighty in our lives that's the purpose of it all to be in a relationship to be in a close and meaningful relationship with and if you were looking for one unifying theme we have we have 613 mitzvos we have rules and regulations that guide our day from when we wake up to we fall asleep and if you're looking for one uniting theme to all of Torah and mitzvos it is to propel and to support a life of right every single Mitzvah is to be mindful to be conscientious to feel connected with to rely on to depend on Hashem in and in gmas whether it is realizing the roof over our home and the car in our driveway and the food in our mouth and the health and the capacity to see and to hear and to walk whether to recognize you to feel sense of through our physical being or or spiritually ining and learning and is not inaccessible it's not something that's so far away and distant you say that aad and and the people I read books about they're the ones who live with that level ofas but I'm just an average lowly what do you want from me no it's something that's accessible and attainable by every single human being if simply we have the will and we have the courage and we exert the effort to care enough to be mindful as we're going through the motions of doing everything we're doing to not just do it in a way that we're going through emotions but to do it in a way which we're connecting and a person has to constantly engage in all of the advice and suggestions and mechanisms in order to achieve this in other words if somebody says here are five things you can do and it'll get the desired result and you claim to want that desired result but you neglect all the five things you're supposed to be doing then you can't really be claiming to want that desired result there's something inauthentic something counterfeit about your statement you want the desired result because if you want the desired result then you would do it if you want to lose weight but you're still eating ridiculous portions and ridiculously unhealthy food and you sit still and never move and don't go for a walk then stop claiming you want to lose weight you want to want to lose weight you don't want to lose weight right we've talked about that in the past also the difference between wanting to want something and wanting we confuse the two often we claim that which we only want to want we claim to want but we don't want we want to want how do you know if you want how do you know what somebody wants to be doing do look at look at what they're doing we do what we want to be doing so if we're not doing it then stop claiming we want to be we want to want to be we hope hope to one day want to be we look forward to wanting to maybe one day consider to sometime be moved to do the thing that we claim to want to do so similar here he says withus we have Asus we have advice we have guide how you grow in a sense ofus how can you be more mindful how could be more conscientious how could be more intentional with everything that we do so if we're neglecting all of those things clinging to righteous people reading listening studying daving tapping into the energy and the magic of shabas all the suggestions he's taken us through and you're ignoring and neglecting them then don't say you really want to feel as says one of the ways to live a life of how do you remain mindful the introduction to begins his Book Like No Other author ever began a book by saying I'm saying nothing new in this book nothing new nothing new so why should you buy the book book cuz I'm saying what we all know but tend to forget and so if you plan on buying the book and reading it once and retiring it to your shelf where it what gather dust don't bother buying the book because the whole efficacy of the book is to read it and reread it and reread it again it's a notion of being mindful so that's aod the atic portions of the T mus one can argue that's what daving is I mean why do we come back to ding three times a day because in between it doesn't take long just just from to in half a day you forget this you forget he gives you your health you know so you D in your heart out in the morning and then you go through the whole day as if you're in charge you're in control you know you're you're worried you're stressed you're anxious as if there's no order and purpose to the universe and then you have to come back to in order to remember at and then you have to reorient yourself again at Mar that's how that's how fickle we are that's how easily we can lose our anchor of remembering what's important so rather saying that we fulfill the Mitzvah of when we engage in activities that reinforced so you say okay it's one of the repeated numerous times in the Torah it's one of the I have an obligation of how do I fulfill that am I going to go for a walk by myself in the forest and sit and hum with my legs crossed and cling to and connect to Hashem that's one way you can try that there's no Forest around here but you could try that but but the SLB is saying no you know how you try that when you're in the car instead of listening to Nar put on a Shear when you're sitting down getting into bed instead of reading some narish kite some stupid magazine or trashy novel read something which is going to move you read a biography of a great person right again we've talked about that also when you read biographies of great people it inspires you it opens your heart it moves you it it paints a picture it creates a vision it makes you want to be like that so and that's a fulfillment ofus when you lie in bed reading the biography of of of of hen M or retin kki or or whatever great leader bab or who whomever so you're fulfilling the Mitzvah it's not just a feeling Mitzvah it's not just some because what if you say I'm an intellectual I'm a Rasha I'm not a feeling person it's a constant Mitzvah to continually search out all the advice which will yield at the end of the day a sense of closeness Reliance feeling of connection with hem this is the anchor this is the centerpiece the compass of a Jewish life is that wherever life is taking you the direction the compasses to know you come back to Deus whatever challenge has come your way whatever hardship whatever you have on on on tap that day you look through your to-do list you look through the obstacles you have to overcome that day be it some Financial thing you just don't know how you're going to climb out of be at a relationship that seems to be imploding or collapsing being at Health which is a crisis and you're waiting to to hear back from the doctor being just a to-do list that makes you feel overwhelmed and you can't breathe so the what brings you back the anchor the compass of life isus so to take the deep breaths that RAB RAB Goldberg spoke about I missed a seminar I was away but I understand it was absolutely incredible the breathe something seminar breathe break seminar so is to is to to do that breathing which I assume he said while you're doing the breathing you're centering yourself also to remind yourself with mindfulness of what of what matters there's a God he created the world he's in charge he's running things there's order there's meaning to the Universe Steven Hawking passed away yeah he was the great theoretical physicist one the greatest physicist that ever lived he was also a great atheist and anti-semite right so you will not be hearing a hpit from me right he's the fact that someone so brilliant could come to such a mistaken conclusion so you'll say well maybe I should reconsider if there's a God because he was so brilliant and so admired and so acknowledged and yet he was an atheist Maybe I'm Wrong so here's the reassuring part he also called for boycotting Israel so he's clearly wrong so if he's wrong about that he's wrong about God didn't he wear a gadget yeah he was only his life was he was only kept alive because of Israeli technology while yet he called for right so however smart you are that to me is one of the stupidest things I ever heard so again has the world lost a great physicist yes but a physicist who came to to horribly wrong conclusion about Israel about the Jewish people and about God and about God Einstein came to the opposite conclusion Einstein who was GLE came to the opposite conclusion how could you understand these Mysteries of the universe and not conclude how could you see the detail the intricacies all that has to go right sun has to be exactly that distance from Earth if we're a little bit closer we'd all burn up if we're fraction further we'd freeze over and die just everything about everything about the universe everything about the world so is this physicist step Hawking no no that's difference no between him and it could be although there's many non-jews who are God-fearing and there are many Jews unfortunately who are atheist so not not necessarily so so whatever one's going through in life we have to remember to come back to that the challenge is and it should be simple but it's so hard to remember to it's like we have a pill We Carry in our pocket and as the anxiety level rises and the breathing gets more shallow and the blood pressure is exploding and our heart is beating through our chest and the sweat glands are and we're and we're so nervous and anxious and stressed we forget to take the pill pill is cold vacas so remember stick with Hashem he's got your back does that mean it'll all turn out the way you want no does that mean it will all turn out in a way that's pleasurable not necessarily does that mean it will all turn out well by definition by definition even when we don't understand it and we learn Torah because Torah is hashem's Diary how do we connect with him how do we feel close to him how do we tap into him how do we feel his presence in our lives you you know when when you when you read that biography you'll find yourself whatever biography you're reading in life you'll find yourself going around telling people did you know about uh so and so that they did so and so did you know that at age this this and age that I was just reading something on Chavis did you know Theodore hsel died he was 44 years old Psalm 43 it's feeling it pretty yeah so look look what a person accomplishes at such a at such a young age so so I must have told that to 15 people since I read it on right I'm struggling with my own age I guess and what he accomplished and and one's own feeling of inadequacy but you you you read a biography and you can't help but want to share that with others want to talk about it so how do you read the biography ofm Torah when you study hashem's Torah that's his diary I don't know if it's his biography it's his diary the balat describes it it's the description of elus the Torah is the description of godliness you see we just read about take part Kisa a couple weeks ago where explicitly Hashem says you want to know who I am and what makes me tick and you want to win favor with me then foll these footsteps and here they are this is who I am this is you want a description of elus you want access to my diary you want to know what makes me tick and who I am and what I care about you want to know what makes me angry nothing makes God angry he's not a human being but within our own terms and how we can relate Shem says you want to know what makes me lose my cool this is what does it you want to know what wins favor what wins me back this is how to behave so you read hashem's diar you can't help but talk about it everyone hears or reads a great V Tor and can't help but share it listen to this great V Tor I heard listen to this great V listen to this great Insight so one of the ways that we keep ourselves grounded and and and and centered is studying Torah what we're reading what we're listening to what occupies our our time doing mitz are all there to Center us so all throughout the day you know you just ran out of the bathroom everybody else runs out of the bathroom and they're worried about the sign employees must wash their hands right we should have a sign people of Faith must remember to thank Hashem everything just went smoothly right until it until it doesn't so whether it's having just gone to the bathroom whether it's before you eat or after you eat whether it's reminded of DAV or whether it's special Mitzvah of the time the dad meim or the chauffer the manora or or cleaning the house for PES you know take that example one can go through the exercise of cleaning the house with PES with misery and and uh frustration and resentment and anger and bitterness I once wrote an article supposed to have bitter herbs not bitter people about how we Over clean and and and we're doing too much but one can go through it that way or you can go through it and the search for within your home is a search for the within your heart yes and as you're cleaning out your children's rooms instead of being Furious about all the wrappers you found under the bed of the food and the drawer and the candies and the pockets you're you're you're thinking about your own children and their Nish and the in their lives and in their heart and what you're cleaning out and what you hope and you wish and you dream and you Aspire for them and how you want them to do it with you because they have to take personal responsibility for the physical and for the spiritual in their lives and that's the search for is a search for represents theara and represents arrogance and it represents Temptation it represents a million and one different things so it's all the attitude that we bring right we talked about a couple weeks ago that we imbue the potato C and the kala with either the energy of misery or the energy of K of shab and the same is true with everything soz every mitvah is a pathway to feel with you could have Jewish music or a Shear playing while you're cleaning for cleaning for PES and you're cleaning with a joy because you're you're imagining your home becoming pure you're purging all of the negative influence and negative energy you're trying to reset and restore each member of your family and yourself to to be on the path of being the best version of ourselves there's such positive thinking that and again I don't I don't do the cleaning for so this easy for me to say although I do plenty I do plenty of PES preparation too um more than most men in in my own way um but again it's it's a notion of intentionality to everything that we're doing you could shake the lul vaness I just want to avoid hitting the guy in front of me in the back of the head you could shake the lul vaness and be thinking about the deeper meaning of what it represents every Mitzvah is an invitation toas it's an opportunity to connect just like laav in human relationships every request that one party makes of the other is an invitation to feel closer and if you don't do it then you feel distanced or if you do do it but you do it begrudgingly then what was the point of doing it so if I say to you could you pick this up or could you take out the garbage do you mind helping me with this thing or can I talk to you right now or can you make me time if you say no for sure it yields a greater sense of distance if you say yes which took sacrifice we talked about yesterday in the para class the root of the word Corban is kov that the way you feel close to people is a willingness to offer a sacrifice to compromise to give up your time your energy your resources to give up what you want to be doing right then when you offer coronos when you're willing to sacrifice and compromise the result is you feel kov the result is that you feel close so but if you're going to do it already do it with so so you know I gave the example yesterday in the par class you're both in bed it's late at night everyone forgot to take out the garbage next morning is garbage day your spouse says to you could you take out the garbage you finally just exhaled your day now you got to put something on make your way to the front SHP the garbage out so you could do it with misery you could do it with you know that you jumped out of bed and said no problem honey I got this you I want you to stay so then that act itself can be ued with with a contribution to a relationship it's all the intention it's the mindfulness we live in a Mindless world and a Mindless generation because our technology and the noise and the there's just so much filling our head social media the news cycle the worry the anxiety the space to have the clarity to bring intention to everything that we do it's it's it's literally killing us I me if you look at the the studies and you see the health impact of a lack of mindfulness is literally killing us the whole Rhythm of the Jewish calendar the rhythm of the Jewish calendar is invitations to cling to Hashem that's what it is so shabas shabas is are every single chabas chabas is the Jewish answer renewable energy disconnect in order to connect what was it last week who sent me Penny sent me an article was uh what was it last Friday yeah was designated as disconnection day or something I don't remember National whatever day but the world is learning that if we don't disconnect then we're going to die so every chabas we disconnect in order to reconnect reconnect and reorient to that which matters and to that which is important so shabas is a rhythm right just six days just battle through for six days and the seventh day you get to reconnect re-energize every called shalal it means a leg legs to stand on it supports us the fact that we look forward to the next reg we're supposed to look forward to the next Rego is because that Rego friends family experience the Seder the the the Y the p as much as we love to complain about the matah but the change in the home and and the feel of of of of resetting and renewing but the word regel also comes from the word hergel which means a habit pattern thean says says that the shum are how we break the Hagel right we start to inera starts to carry us through the year the momentum carries us through the year I can't tell you the difference between March or February or January December it's all one big blur all I know is every day I woke up try to earn a living get the kids to school keep everyone healthy pay the bills make it to the end of the day start again the next day right that's for some others it's wake up get to all my doctor's appointments get to the end of the day be able to walk across the room walk across the room on my own two feet fill my prescriptions whatever so everyone depending on where you are in life but we have different sets of momentum and inertia and schedules and they all blend together I can't tell the difference between the beginning of the week and the end of the week this week from the last week this month from the last month and next thing I know 10 years have gone by and I don't even remember a difference in those 10 years that's miserable life there's a great quote I forgot who the author was but don't live the same year 70 times and call it a life right that it's just so for us it just these years blend together you know what changes is what we see in the mirror but everything else seems to seems to blend together so the shalum he says are to break that sense of hagale Break The Habit break the Rope break the ritual and get a fresh start new I forgot what GLE I recently read about who every year would buy himself a new sitter a new sitter not a new sitter of the same you know the same art scr RCA sitter just a new one but meaning a new sitter because the topog the the the type on the page and the and the font size and the layout and the cover it just would feel different and that brings a new okay I'm reading something new I'm turning different pages it's a different size it's a different it's it's new it's new it's new we do that sometimes when we're miserable we have a new look a new haircut new hair color not neither apply to me but a new uh whatever new clothing a new shopping a new look right right why cuz we're trying to break out we break out of feeling depressed or down or and break out it's new so some do that with a new sitter some do it with a new shael some do it with a new uh face new car some do it with a new relationship some do it with new whatever one of my friends from Israel said don't Dri from the same sitter every day doesn't necessarily have to be a new sitter but that keep different and mix it up and it does it gives you different perspective because it shakes you up it just it feels different so that's the shalum or to break the the Hagel the shalum are are points Milestones devoted in our calendar to stop the r the momentum to break it up and to re-evaluate say stop am I living an intentional life am I using the time the way I want to be using my time this week is time our ability to control in time is the definition of freedom a slave is no control of the time a free person does am I using my time the way I want to use my time are my relationships where I want my relationships how is my health we talked about the mar the three spheres of relationships between me and God between me and man between me and myself the most neglected is the one between me and myself how is my relationship between me and myself how's my emotional health my physical health my spiritual health how am I doing not in an egocentric narcissistic how am I and the world that's about of me but how am I because if I want to be better for the world then I have to be better for the world I have to be better for myself right the greatest asset you have to contribute to the world is yourself and if you don't take care of it doesn't matter what other contributions you're making you can't give to the world the way you want they're all part of one schedule one one theme one rhythm there they're dedicated times each one brings its own theme but all of them have in common reconnecting so you know what I'm I'm too envious I've been pursuing honor I really need to reinvent myself why why am I trying to get away from Envy honor and desire first of all they ruin my relationships but they also ruin my relationship with Hashem if I'm pursuing honor I'm not giving honor to God if I'm giving in my Temptations I'm not prioritizing my life by what Hashem wants me to be doing and if I'm living a life of Envy of others I don't believe Hashem is really given me what I need any sense of self the that I exist that I am independent that I the ego the ego is the biggest obstacle to any relationship with others and with hasem the reason that you should be able to overcome your TAA is not because you have fear of the consequence it's not worry that lightning is going to strike or bad things are going to happen that shouldn't be why I was going to share the juicy lashara but I really don't want to miss the flight next week and blah blah blah I was going to do acts but I'm so afraid that Hashem is going to make me sick that's what that's not a relationship a relationship is the reason I'm not doing that wrong thing is I don't want to be distant from Hashem I want to feel close to him and that would be a great disappointment to him we want our children not to sneak out and do a b or c not because they say oh if I get caught I'm going to be grounded I'm going to lose my phone we want them to not do that cuz they say if I did that and my mother found out my father found out they would be devastated I can never hurt them like that I would never want to upset them even if I don't I want to sneak out I want to do what all my friends are doing I see nothing wrong with it that's really where I want to be but I know that that's not what the expectation of my parents and they would be devastated that is as a parent is that not our hope for our children is that even if you don't see it even if you don't want it and even if you don't care about it but for me it would devastate me don't do it that's my expectation of you so says the same thing about us and to try to sanctify ourselves even with that which is permissible because every physical Indulgence which is not there to reinforce or elevate a spiritual goal dist us distances us from as it says so if we use all these so we are concentrating on being spiritual people not only defining ourselves as physical right we're living a life that we remember that we are a soul who has a body not a body that has a soul and we are studying Torah and we are tapping into the different energy of the holidays shabas and the rhythm of the holidays and breaking the rope and the habit and we are purifying our MOS so that we have no Envy why because we realize Hashem has given us what we need and we don't seek honor why because hasem is the one who deserves all the honor what am I I would be nothing without him and if we're doing all these things what's the result we feel close to when I sit in the darkness hem is the light for me even when I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil why you're right there with me no matter what's going on in my life no matter what I'm facing no matter what hardship no matter what challenge you are right there with me so believing inem a life of does not mean you'll never find yourself in Gates Us in the Valley of the shadow of death it doesn't mean that you don't suffer any challenges or hardship of course we all do that's part of the worlds the way the world operates and works but it means that but what determines if Hashem is with you not him we all wait for that Hashem Show Me A Sign you're here Hashem why can't I feel your presence in my life that you are with me is up to us when we live with that mindfulness that intention when we live with that feeling and even in the moments where this is not an actual feeling a tangible feeling that hm is in the room is with me because you're not always going to be on that spiritual High you won't always have that intent that in intense feeling and here he's ending our section with an incredibly important Insight it's actually the way we began today even when you don't feel Hashem there want to want to feel Hashem there even when you're struggling with your even when you're struggling with your you're going through something where it's hard to feel his presence you you something has occurred in your life or just stom you're in a rut and it's hard to feel on fire if you if you want to hope to be back then maintain the want to want when you give up the want to even want when you don't even aspire to a life of a life of then you're in trouble a great is a great video of the Reb singing this on online said my soul it thirsts for you you know when you're really thirsty you just need that glass of water so hot outside you just came in from an activity and you're so thirsty s you have this tremendous thirst described that his had a thirst for my B my goof My Body Longs for you in a land that's Barren at tired with no water was describing I was in the spiritual desert Barren no energy of connecting to you there was no moisture of Holiness he said at least there I didn't have water to drink I was in a spiritual desert Barren with no way to connect to you but what at least did I have I had I had The Thirst I had the want to want at least I retained my thirst my desire even when we don't feel connected at least we should want to feel connected you know in a relationship there are times that the relationship goes through a rut a husband and wife can go through a rut they don't feel close there's not a there's not a connection there's not a warmth there's not a drive there's not a longing they're in a rut they're in a rut the question is do each of them still though want to get back to the good times even if they're in the Rut and even if they don't know how but is the longing is the the ambition to want to connect because if they' disconnected to the point that the relationship is just now indifferent you know psychologist will tell you that indifference in a relationship is the kiss of death if there's if there's fighting at least there's passion if if there's if there's indifference it's the kiss of death so that even when I I'm in the midar I'm place that's that's Barren but I have that I have that thirst I have that desire I long to reconnect the uh this week ises Friday night shabas says the month of Nissan we were redeemed and in the month of Nissan we will be redeemed once again and the understanding usually is that how are we redeemed in the month of Nissan out of Exodus Liberation from Egypt 210 years of Oppression and persecution and it ended hem miraculously took us out so just like he took us out of that misery then in the month of Nissan we should experience G Redemption personal individual and Collective National again but said that's not the that's not what were referring to what were they referring to so we know the beginning of Nissan we're going to celebrate by not saying for those first days but the fact that this was within a brought carbos this was the inauguration of the mishan the mishkan was complete and these dates correspond with when the mishkan when the Tabernacle was inaugurated when it began to function what does that have to do with G how is that b so the r pointed to the ran in his introduction to We Begin this week but the ran in his introduction toos says saos is the safer of gas to G that's the safer it's the story of our transition from gas to G SO gas I understand saos Begins by a new king arose and we were persecuted and killed and turned into bricks and slave labor exterminated I got it gas where's the GAA at the end of seos where are we we're in the desert so where's the G how could the raan suggest that seos is the is the journey from Galas to Gula where's the g at the end of seos we're not in Israel soan says that's not g g is a geographic thing right we long to return to our homeland G the modern Miracle of the state of Israel and so on and so forth there's a component of gula which is geographic but Gula ultimately is not about location you know what G is about thean says it's the divine presence resting here on Earth it's when we bring God down to earth when we give him a place and when we feel him intensely in our lives says the ran Galas and GAA are not physical descriptions even of bondage to Freedom or of diaspora exile to Israel that's not Gus to Gula gas is Steven Hawking gas is being lost gas is being so wrong Gus is when you think that there is no God there's no Creator there's no meaning order purpose to the universe when you worship the big bang and you worship physics when you think that we're here as the result of Randomness and chance and there's no greater purpose to life that's living a life of gulus that's living a life of Exile and what's G Gula is feeling hashem's presence Gul is submission Gul is concession Gula is recognition there's a Creator wow this incredible world has someone operating it and the things that happen to me the good and the bad and even the ugly it may be painful but it's all from Hashem and it's all for a reason and when a person can feel Hashem you've experienced G now the G is you could be you could be in the Valley of the shadow of death but the is as long ASM is with me I have redeemed myself at APAC Nan sharansky spoke with his daughter he was interviewed by his daughter was amazing he's one of all of our heroes or recently uh um y Mich who spoke here at the SCH these individuals in the worst Gates Al but they had the G of feeling hasem IM how many do we know Holocaust Survivors who in aitz and in the worst circumstance they were in the depths of gates but they felt and the Nazis might have put them in a physical gas but they were in a spiritual G even before they were ever liberated so ran says gos toos is the story The Journey from being in Egypt and worshiping like the Egyptians and being in the 49th level of Tuma and forgetting that there's a God to by the end having a mishan having carbonos having a place where you come so says the in the month of Nissan we were redeemed having nothing to do with the physical Liberation from Egypt but having everything to do with we found Hashem we felt his presence in our life we redeemed we stopped worshiping ourselves you know when you think that you're in control and you put the pressure on yourself to think that you can solve everything you can control everything you can manipulate and influence everything that is a a pressure and a burden that makes you collapse it's unattainable and and it just it it puts you into depression and when you let go you know in AA they have an expression let go let God when you let go and let God that's a gazillion dollar weight off a gazillion pound weight off your shoulder when you let go and let God that's that's you've LED hem into your life the the whole 12-step therapy which is so successful is predicated on submitting to a higher power believing in a higher power because when you let God into your life you've experienced Gula you've let go you submit to a higher power and now you've you've let go and you've let God and now you've unburdened yourself now you could live your life does that mean everything's going to be smooth sailing and easy and pleasant and pleasurable not at all but it means now you don't have to turn into drugs or alcohol or or or Town Center mall or whatever your Vice is you don't have to turn to it because if we can live a life ofas and welcome hasem into our lives then we can experience g once again are we on for next week yeah yeah of course can okay we'll be on for next week