Part 74: The Antidote to FOMO

okay good morning everyone want to thank our sponsor this morning Asher mener who sponsored in honor of his wife shir's birthday happy birthday sh is today your birthday Shas very happy birthday to you sh should bless you with all the bras in the world good health happiness Shoma and all things good okay I printed out a excerpt we'll learn together when I say learn together I mean literally learn together cuz I haven't really had chance to go through it yet it comes from bman bman is a re in is today he produces phenomenal phenomenal D Torah here has beautiful and puts out a Weekly Newsletter um in Hebrew and in English I think in yish as well um and it's really really excellent very inspiring so here he has on and he begins by talking about Amun so I thought it's really appropo for our group today right sh is all about the it's the holiday just a few days from now I'm on page Al turn turn the book over it's the Staples on the on the top left title so um sh is the day of sh we receive the Torah a new and it's not that we're commemorating this is true about all holidays we've discussed discuss us in the past that the Jewish notion of time is not linear it's not that we're progressing forward as if the past is the past the Jewish view of time is ccal so we're revisiting the same energies the same points in time we experiened the holiday of sh not to commemorate that the Torah was received so many years ago but rather to re-experience kabalas Torah to once again receive the Torah as if it is a new as if we're getting it for the very first time has shown us to know the truth it says with that really every moment of every day is an appropriate time to study to think about to work on our sense of am trust in having auna is not a Time bound Mitzvah meaning you don't think about log in May you don't think about the chauffeur in August maybe you start to think about it if you're the if you're the chauffer blower but you don't think about the Kaneka candles in July each of those is a distinct Mitzvah that is allocated designated a certain amount of time but the Mitzvah to live with and cling to and feel the presence of Hashem in every moment is um is something which is not time bound it's supposed to permeate and inform and Inspire every moment of every day but in this moment in particular as we are preparing and counting down towards receiving the Torah it is an especially appropriate time to emphasize and think about these qualities because what was the moment of if not joining together as a people with a deep sense of unity and purpose and saying Hashem elim Hashem is our God we are here to serve him he informs and inspires and instructs how to live Our Lives who Adon he's the master of all everything that happens it's by him there are no coincidences there's no chance there's no accidents and there's no one as singular as exclusive as special as he I just came back I went to Israel for for one night and uh so I flew on Mo I flew on M shabas I'm not looking for sympathy I'm not a mort but I'll just tell you tell you how this class is helping me so I flew on M shabas and uh you know it's always tough to take a m shabas flight and through the night and to Israel so um I tried to arrange to get a whole row I knew that I knew the L flight wasn't full so I thought maybe I could get a whole row and then I can I can lie down and sleep so um I thought I had it when I checked in I said is the row still empty yeah it's good what are the chances that'll stay that way well you're one of the last people to check in so it's an excellent chance I get on the plane you know you're watching everyone come down the aisles sit next to you and um they Clos the door everyone's seated you I'm in good shape right pull back from the gate I'm golden I'm good I'm gonna get a good schluff on this flight right literally as we're about to like rev the engine and go down the runway the stst brings this couple and says they'd like to sit together these are the only two seats next to each other so we're putting them right here next to you I was like I don't tell you the whole story and again I'm not a martyr I got to go to Israel I have no complaints whatsoever but the guy not only took up his seat he took up half of mine he slept in a coma so while he leaned on me the whole flight I kept elbowing him and he did not budge I was going to take his pulse at one point to see if he was alive the person in front of me moved their chair so far back I couldn't open the tray table so I didn't have I didn't have either meal and all I kept thinking the whole time as like my blood pressure is going up and I'm fuming and I'm so angry at this couple and I'm angry at the stewardess and I'm angry at the world I had this whole plan I was going to lie in these three seats and sleep the whole way I said I'm giving this class on a moon now and we talk about every week it wasn't meant to be Hashem Hashem didn't want it to be this is the way Hashem designed and meant for me to fly and look I survived and it was amazing and whatever so I'm only sharing it because you could be teaching the class and you're still vulnerable to forget what's in the class um and that's why it requires an extra level of mindfulness it's not a grandma every second of every day of every experience we have to interpret through the prism of this is the way it was meant to be so in fact I saw when the St first came over I was like come on really I wanted to sleep and there's nowhere else and and then I realized why these were I didn't pay for three seats I paid for one what am I so I looked at I said you know what this is how Hashem wants it is that say she had a big smile so you realize what you could only not only affect yourself but you could affect other people too that if you're able to interpret life through the prism of that this is the way it's meant to be for whatever reason this this again this is a minor insignificant inconsequential stupid irrelevant there are people going through enormously hard unimaginable challenges but if we're able to get to that level ourselves and then exude that energy we can influence others too so that's St smiled maybe she went home and she told a story about this guy I messed up his whole flight I put people next to him and he said it was from Hashem you you never know you absolutely never know in life and that's what today is I posted on the WhatsApp group earli this morning today on the Jewish calendar is y we didn't say this morning yesterday wases tomorrow Begins the the three days of counting towards sh what is special about today why is it called y anyone know what's special about today really in a certain sense is nothing yes we make textual connection but the Y the specialness of the is that it has before it and after it and by being surrounded by positive energy by being surrounded with spiritual elevation Transcendence it lifts today too we use that word to describe lineage or or Heritage or our background if you're worrying about res you're filling out your and you know who can you mention from five centuries ago that you related to tell me what's your brother up to and your sister up to and who was your great great great great great great great great grandfather because that's going to you know that's what we talk about but the word Yus really means a connection or a bond today the special quality of Yas is only that it's connected to yesterday and tomorrow and by surrounding it of yesterday and tomorrow which are significant days yesterday and the three days of preparation that begin tomorrow it lifts today so you see the idea of with whom we surround ourselves the energy of how we surround ourselves and who we're with has an enormous impact on us the kind of neighbor the kind of neighbor that we make in fact in this parb you have the beginning of the um designations for the camping assignments and they were great consequences to those camping assignments because the greatest casualties from korak's Rebellion did not come from the tribe of Ley which is where Kor was from but came from the tribe of you got it Ruan ruvan was camped right next to Ley so if Nal asks if you're Ru and you get upstairs and you say to Hashem why did I suffer so many casualties from My Tribe you're the one who assigned the camping you told me to buy the apartment right next door to korak and now korak brought down my whole family in his Rebellion where were you to protect me is an incredible Insight he says the power of a neighbor the power of your friends of your circle the power of of influence is so strong even when you feel that God placed you where you are you can never let your guard down even if you say Hashem put me in this job Hashem put me in this neighborhood Hashem put me in this house Hashem put me in this chair next to that person at work or in SHO even if you feel that you've been designedly assigned that seat you can't therefore relax and say so everything that will come out of it will be good you have to realize that that the power the impact of our neighbors is so strong that it can have this influence that's why the Miss says it says what does it say I forget exactly the but it talks about it doesn't say something from a Russia thank you when it comes to a Russia it just says don't attach yourself to the Russia but when it comes to the Bad Neighbor it says get away I would have thought the Russia the wicked evil nefarious low life ice our person is more dangerous I would think that that's the person I that I should run away from and just don't attach to the Bad Neighbor so n says no you know why a bad neighbor is more dangerous than a wicked person because the Bad Neighbor is not a bad person they're a good person they just like to speak a lot of lashara they're good person they're just envious and jealous they're a good person they're just ostentatious and always competing about material possessions and goods they're not a bad person they could be a good person but a really bad neighbor in that they're not making you the best version of yourself so that's why the mishna says when it comes to the Russia just don't don't attach yourself but when it comes to the Bad Neighbor run away get away so the is the neighbor to and because it's surrounded by such good neighbors then it's elevated whereas when people are surrounded ruin was surrounded by a bad neighbor and ruvin suffered the most casualties as a result so you see that we have the ability to not only lift ourselves but lift others and we have the ability to if we're surrounded with the wrong people to be brought by down by them as well it's such an important message because we are we have neighbors and we're surrounded by people in in Greater ways than ever thanks to social media and the internet we're not just connected to the people that we're physically present with but we're connected with every text and Facebook and and WhatsApp and and email every every group that we're part of every chain that we're part of every every connection that we have is essentially a neighbor that could either be lifting us or could be bringing us down and I think it's a very simple measure or metric to evaluate the real question is is this person helping me become the best version of myself or a worse version of myself am I better when I'm around them or am I worse do I like myself more or am I embarrassed am I ashamed when I take leave of them and that's the measure to determine whether we should be around them anyway that's so there's no there's no when to talk about we talk about it all the time sorry we just read that the says you have been shown to know that God is our God we spoke it many times the scho from the that when you're in a bed moment if you've been assigned a bad seat literally figuratively in life just keep saying the brisker and the Holocaust credited his survival with repeating over and over again if you're waiting God forbid for a result of a test or you're having a challenging time or you have to overcome an enormous hurdle there is nothing but him got that beautiful artwork to remind us in our house a a but notice this says when take out the what does the not say when it talks about our connection our relationship our awareness of Hashem what does it say Das what does the word das mean to know to know what does it not say you have been shown to believe it doesn't say you've been shown to believe it says you've been shown to know what's the the difference between knowledge and belief when you acquire yourself the belief belief requires or faith requires we describe it as taking AAP a leap of faith faith is a logical faith is IR rational faith is not backed up with evidence that supports it faith is a leap why do you why do you believe that because I wish it because I want it because I want to believe it I have faith I have faith do you have any evidence to support it no but I want to believe the best in that person I want to believe they're not capable of that or I want to believe that it was them who did that I have faith Jeffrey D's mother sat I'm sure in the in the in the pews of the courtroom or Charles Manson or whatever other horrifically heinous person and said I have faith he's innocent my son what faith based on what you have evidence no I'm his mother and so I want to have faith faith requires a leap what is knowledge knowledge is exactly the opposite knowledge is a preponderance of evidence knowledge is I've tested the hypothesis I've tested the theory I've gathered evidence and I have a preponderance of overwhelming evidence to have reached a conclusion to produce this thesis to have this knowledge why do I believe it equals mc squared or why do I believe in gravity or why do I believe in not believe in those are the wrong words why do I know that there's a thing called gravity why do I know chemistry physics biology why do I know the conclusions we've come to because we've had a theory hypothesis it was tested there was evidence to support it and therefore we have knowledge of it so when the Torah now comes and says your awareness of Hashem is that the result of Faith or is that the result of knowledge the Torah says you've been shown and doesn't say you've been shown so that you could take a leap of faith you could you've been shown so you can believe it says you've been shown so that you can know we also say it in every day via when Torah talks about God the Torah never asks us to take a leap of faith never asks to take a leap of faith the Torah believes the Torah asserts and we're not going to do it now but the Torah asserts that if you examine the evidence objectively then you will see there's a preponderance of evidence that supports the notion that God exists and that he runs the world and that God is not asking you to take a leap of faith to believe that all he's asking you to do is examine the evidence and it's the conclusion you will come to there are several pieces of evidence which we're not going to go through now but I want to share with you that the biggest obstacle to people examining the evidence because they'll say if that's so if that's so true why don't people just examine why aren't there more people who have knowledge of God scientists especially who excel at examining evidence and drawing conclusions and the answer is because the process of the Journey of examining the evidence has to begin with objectivity it has to begin with honestly examining the evidence if if you've reached your conclusion before you do the testing then you're not the testing is only going to support the conclusion you already reached in advance in order to arrive at an honest and objective conclusion you have to be able to be objective with a clean slate before you examine the evidence so remind me another time we could talk about some of those pieces of evidence but I want to draw your attention because I think it's really important because there's a lot of people who don't believe in God because they say there's no evidence or I can't take that leap of faith or why should I take that leap of faith and it's critical to know that God and His Torah are not asking us to take a leap of Faith all they're asking us to do is and that's why in Judaism studying Torah is so important because studying Torah is a process of essentially examining and reexamining the evidence I think I was ambitious that I printed how many eight pages GNA be gave us the Torah he opened seven heavens he opened up the Heavens he gave us access to see him and that's how we can know he didn't rip them open for no reason but to teach us why did he take such Extraordinary Measures why did he suspend The Rules of Nature at God spoke to us directly at least the first two dibros and how do I know that there's a God how do I know that SI took place how do I know it took place I once asked the great um Dr sarna Who was in our community great biblical scholar I said were there any contemporaneous societies to the Jews of harai who said we know the Jews are asserting that they experienced this moment of Revelation in the wilderness we challenge it never happened they made it up they were high they were drunk they were lost impossible right because wouldn't you think that if someone today would print the report that we were in the we were in the desert my whole family and all of a sudden the sky open there was thunder and lightning and God spoke to us you'd think someone would write an oped an article somewhere something saying these people are out of their minds so two to three million people all gathered right I'm not going to I don't want to spend the time right now but one of the pieces of evidence is how history is made how do you know the French Revolution took place there's no one alive today who was so as a witness to the French Revolution how do you know the Civil War took place how do you know the Inquisition The Crusade go back to Antiquity how do you know that it happen because you read it in a book well today I have the ability to write any book and write anything in it and print it with a beautiful hard copy and beautiful approbations in the beginning and and so because it appears in a book how do you know about anything in history that it's true how you know the veracity of your truth about anything you read in history ever think about that how is history made how do we validate how do we know the truth of any history well just to put it then succinctly the same way that we know the truth of any history that same burden of proof to know that history in fact happened that way we have to tell us that herai happened the way it happened two to three million people who each kill their children and we have direct transmission to where we are today my parent I don't believe the rambam writes this explicitly I don't believe that God spoke to us at Hari because it says so in the Torah that's not why I believe it you could print the book that says anything today why do I believe it cuz my parents told me and they heard it from their parents who heard it from their parents from their parents who were there not that my parents are so old saving some time going all the way back right so I believe it because I had the incredible privilege to be at the embassy opening so I tell my children about it they're going to tell their children about it they tell their children about it and they'll the story that they'll tell that let's say he wasn't on the camera and you couldn't see and it's just something I'm telling them conversation I had or something I noticed an observation I had they'll believe it not because I wrote it in my blog not because they heard it for me and that will be true for my great great grandchildren too that story will carry on that's how we know the stories we have in our family about the family and the what happened in the Holocaust it's not because we necessarily heard it maybe we didn't overlap with that member of our family but it's in our family and the same is true with beginning exactly this ma says which is the first Mitzvah we have a tradition of 613 mitzvas in the Torah the Cod on every Jewish piece of luggage how do we know what is the very first Mitzvah of the 613 that's the first Mitzvah the way it appears chronologically given to us the Torah what's the first Mitzvah the way that they present the laws the 613 the smack the first Mitzvah he counts is to believe in to know that the one who created the heavens and the Earth he alone rules the Heaven and the Earth as it says is our God in the heaven above and on the earth so on the bus on the way to the Embassy somebody told me the following beautiful D Torah wasn't one of the evangelicals they had the most Beau this was actually a Jew so he said it comes from why does the P say we say it every day sing it he's our God in the heavens above and on the earth below isn't it redundant obviously the Heaven's above and the Earth is below we we know we get it we walk on the earth below us the heaven look up it's above us I got it so why does the p need to say both soin said such a beautiful idea he said when it comes to sh when it comes to issues of when it comes to spirituality you should always be aspired to go higher than the person next to you to grow more to advance to progress to reach says that's why the human being walks on two legs and the animal walks on four the animal is connected to the earth and the human being stretches and reach towards heaven we are aspiring for more to be better to be more but when it comes to issues of the the material world I can have less than my neighbor and be happy I don't need to have more than my neighbor I'm I'm willing to be below so when it comes to I always want more more more but when it comes to the when it comes to the material physical world I'm happy having whatever I have it's less than what every else has it's less than what I want to have okay but I'm happy to have what I want to have I just so also I forgot where the human being walks upright the head is above the rest of the body cuz the head is what rules the body the head is what's most important the animal walks on four the head is exactly on the same level as the rest of the body because the body is controlling the head the body is which on the animal what it instinctively and impulsively wants in that moment runs the entire world he gives us the seating assignments not B at all I love so nothing happens to us below nothing happens to us you don't stub your toe without it being the will of hasem nothing happens it's also amazing because how did again how did I this is minor insignificant inconsequential nothing but for 11 and a half hours I I couldn't barely breathe let alone sleep the chair in front of me the guy leaning next to me Farley Weiss was on my flight he is my witness mostly cuz he was giggling the time looking at me but the the um cuz for 11 and a half hours I just kept saying okay this is hashem's Will in other words it's not just that it's not like a cop out it actually gives you the strength whatever silly insignificant inconsequential stupid thing big things little things sometimes little things are even harder to go through than little big things but you just have to take that deep breath and realize I don't know why I'm not sure I'll ever learn why but this is the way I was meant to be for this moment and all of a sudden you find the will and the ability to therefore endure whatever it is that you're being asked to endure to be soil whatever it is you're being asked to be soil because you understand you see if I didn't believe in God or if I believed in a God who created the world but didn't involve himself in silly things like where you're sitting on the plane then I'd be miserable because I'd say I can't believe that chance and happen stance landed me this miserable flight here I orchestrated things so perfectly and I would have left well enough alone and taken my first seat which had an empty seat next to it in the end even though it didn't have two empty seats I would have had an empty seat I so chance and happen stance and nature so miserable but no you say you know what this is the way it was meant to be it's the way it was meant to be it brought you that's also true hopefully sometimes it doesn't bring you that I I needed to be near the airport to get out Saturday night and I was doing shabas off that I hadn't taken so we went away last shabas so we stayed in a modest hotel room and we bought our food and we ate there now I tried to find out is there a place in Miami Beach do any of these restaurants or hotels still that you could pay and eat there at night you know that's they still have going on Miami beach but I wasn't able to find out then I went to godava in the tower 41 Friday night and afterwards I see the beautiful restaurant people are sitting down to eat and my whole way walking back to the hotel I'm like so annoyed it been so nice dressed up no kids go have a beautiful shab's dinner and then again I said to myself you're an idiot you give the shiran amuna every week and you talk about that everything happens for a reason so I came back I told you I said okay we were meant to eat the food in the room and you know it was beautiful it was fine was amazing it was great it was perfect it was by definition perfect you have to understand that it makes your whole life you don't live with fomo everything is by definition perfect everything is by definition perfect because that's the way it was meant to be because if it was meant to be differently it would have happened differently and if it happened that way it's because that's the way it was meant to be so stop having fomo I wonder what the food was like in the restaurant what was the Ambiance like who would we have met what would have been like I wish we were there you drop it and you move on and what gives you the ability to drop it and move on because you say it wasn't meant to be and how do you so confident it wasn't meant to be because you have a because if you live life and you realize that whatever is happening is by Design and the way it was meant I can give you 10 more ridiculously stupid silly examples over the last over the last two days right you put your listen it wasn't meant to be and it wasn't meant to be look at Foote and this is according to the rush his Kari writes the same thing this is the rer that that's why when God introduces himself to us in the first of the he says I am the Lord your God who took you out of Egypt why didn't you start with the bigger miracle I am the Lord your God so I give me one more copy who created the Heaven and Earth right which is more impressive creating Heaven and Earth which is more impressive creating Heaven and Earth grab a few more creating Heaven and Earth or taking us out of Egypt which is more impressive which is more impressive creating Heaven and Earth creating Heaven and Earth is X Neo creating something from nothing we can't even relate to it because we can't even conceive of it taking us out of Egypt was impressive the way he took us out was super impressive but not as impressive as creating Heaven and Earth so why didn't God introduce himself with the more impressive thing because hm wanted to instill within us the fact that God created the Heaven and Earth that's nice were any of us there no so it's nice God created the world but how do I know he didn't create a world and then move on he created a world and then he went to the next place I don't know the author of every book I read I've never met the painter of every painting I've seen I can enjoy its beauty without having a relationship so maybe God will say you'll enjoy the beauty of the world but you'll have no relationship if he would have said I am the god who created the world instead he says I The God Who took you out of Egypt remember that story you've heard passed down in your family about your great great great great grandparents yeah that was was me that was me and now your relationship you're going to believe wow you had a relationship with them then you're going to have a relationship with me this is what the says to believe and trust it's not believe is not believe because remember we just said we can know we don't believe so what does mean what does mean to trust be in Israel we just had it in last week's para trust trust what is trust you go up on that plane you're trusting the pilot knows what he's doing when you do something there's trust there's trust so to trust God if I say to you stick with me I have your back just trust me but why and I don't understand and where are we going and why are you insisting on doing that way just trust me I'm not saying have faith in me I'm I'm not saying take a leap of faith in me who says you should risk your life by taking a leap of faith in me I would not want when I'm walking by the cockpit for the pilot to say nice to meet you I'd like everyone to take a leap of faith in me I get you there I want to say here's my pilot's license this is flight number six gazillion trust me just close your eyes look outside watch the mood just trust me so Hashem says I got it I got your Backus cling to me stick with me and trust me to trust with all your heart and to believe or to to affirm belief again is a bad word is to affirm a comes from comes froms to affirm and then you'll be able to carry in your heart everywhere you go so you won't have fomo you won't have the fear of missing out when you realize that God's eyes his vision his surveillance is on the whole world at the same time we can understand this more than maybe any other generation because we have cameras everywhere you've got Google Earth and you've got the FBI and you've got the NSC and you've got you got the whole surveillance you're on cameras the whole Sho you're on cameras everywhere everything everything you're doing all the time our cameras go Skin Deep right so human C cameras we have surveillance in The Old City there's a police station the guy who runs it's a friend of shom legi I don't think he can anymore he used to did the hill trip this year go they went okay so ory can describe that police station it's like a zillion screens and it reflects the cameras that are all over the old city and if the guy who's given the tour is in a good mood and he wants to show you he'll he'll like pick a guy out who's who's on his cell phone first of all he'll show you how that camera can follow him or if a guy on harab an Arab guy is on his cell phone he can zoom in the camera and you could be like reading the text message that he send to his friend or his wife or his girlfriend or [Music] so like facial recognition and then fa follow exactly where he went yeah it's absolutely incredible so the the camera system is incredible and therefore if you're in the Old City or anywhere on Earth if you don't want anyone to ever see that text don't send it if you don't want if you don't want to see the picture don't you have to be there's no place that's not under camera under watch under surveillance but here's the thing those cameras and that surveillance only go Skin Deep because as good as those cameras are in the Old City they can't tell you what the person's thinking and they can't tell you what the person's feeling in their heart but hasem surveilance system is deeper he's he can see what's in your heart and in your in your feelings if you don't believe then you don't believe that's the rush what he says is that in the first of the decalog of the the belie to know that God exists if you don't as a conclusion of knowing his exists also accept or affirm that he's involved in your life then you don't really believe he exists because the two go together we is it is it like would you say it's half a Mitzvah let's say someone said to you yeah I know there's God I don't believe he's involved in my life I know there's God he's guy he's too big he's got too important thing he's he's I I don't believe in a God who cares about my stub my toe what seed I got on the plane I don't believe it I don't believe it is that at least like a is a half is it a half a Mitzvah is it a partial Mitzvah says the rush it's zero Mitzvah because that's not believing in God that's not our God that's not our God who's the story with I forgot who the story is with it's a great story that he was talking to one of the masculin about they don't believe in God bad things happen to good people and this and this and a God who does this and a God who does that and a God who does that and he said to him the god you don't you you don't believe in I don't believe in him either was it who tell us about num I'm sure the good stories are so whoever the story is true about he says the god you don't believe in I don't believe in him either so if you don't believe that God is involved in in intricately intimately in our lives then you're not believing in God it's like saying I believe you're my father but I don't believe you're doing this cuz you love me well if you don't believe that everything I'm doing is because I love you then you you might as well say I'm not your father because I'm telling you that the two go together there are parents who are capable of being a biological parent but not loving properly but God is not but God is not and that's the Russia's Insight is that the two absolutely go together okay I I really thought we were going to cover so much ground here let's just do a little bit more let's skip because his point is that sh is the holiday of celebrating the this is the first one and this is the one upon which everything else is based right that's what he writes here he quotes from the the ofin the the is introduced it says God spoke all these things saying everything God has to say is included within the knowledge that he's God the whole Torah is contingent on believing in Ani how many sadly tragically how many Jews are going and living Torah every day but they're not really there on they're not really there on feeling God's presence being invested in a relationship feeling close with the almighty feeling his presence feeling his love reciprocating that love a no n so they are even daving and giving and lighting candles and observing chabas and eating kosher and doing the mitz but really doing the motions and the Motions are not all sourced in but that's the root if you're doing it all but it doesn't begin with is not the center of that wheel then then what is it that you're doing says he says the entire purpose of Torah is to reinforce our putting our trust in Hashem so how I tie my shoes in the morning to how I fall asleep at night and everything I do in between the BR when I go to the bathroom and the BR that I can walk and the BR that I can see and the BR that I have delicious food to eat and the BR that I thank Hashem afterwards for the food I ate everything I do is all there to reinforce the notion all day long every day that I trust Hashem I trust I put my trust in him and is that so that we're sacrificing or conceeding or or giving up no it's not taking away from our lives it's adding to our lives I'm so grateful I have I would have had a miserable flight I would have had a miserable Friday night because I'd be thinking about what's that meal like in the restaurant I'd be miserable about much bigger things enhances Our Lives Keeps Us calm it helps us avoid anger it gives us patience it eliminates the fomo it D drives a positive energy can be a that inspires makes us a good neighbor so that people around us have good connection to us and it can Elevate and lift and so on and so forth okay there's a lot of amazing things here but skip two skip two um skip to page hey page five on the right column where it says see that in our para it says I'll take a census of the Jewish people quotes the med that why is God counting us does God need to count God can arrive at the conclusion without doing the count he's God he's omnipotent he's infinite he's perfect he knows everything at all times so why does God have to go through the exercise of counting why does he count soash you know why he counts because he loves us and people count the things they love some people count their baseball cards some people some people count their money some people count their children some people count their wardrobe or their pairs of shoes or their watches or their homes or their stock portfolio some people count how many they finished or how many times they've said to hel or how much they've done you want to know what you love check what you count what you keep count of because that will tell you what you love so God loves the Jewish people and that's why even though he doesn't need to he counts us constantly and it says in name why did God count us to make us feel that we count that's why he counted us he didn't need to count us he knows exactly how many we are without counting us why did he count us so that we could feel counted that if something Falls in at a ratio of 1 to 60 it's nullified if a drop of milk falls into your CH it's 160 the 60 nullify the one but it's a if it's something that normally is purchased in a unit so let's say you buy a dozen eggs what if an egg falls in and the Egg was a non- kosher egg you could have a thousand opposite the egg your whole mixture is not Kosher why if it's something that's sold specifically as being part of a a number a unit it can never be nullified why because the fact that it's sold as part of the unit means it has significance it's never nullified it's never insignificant so by by counting us Hashem made us a minion he made us something which is counted and therefore a no none of us are invisible none of us are inconsequential every one of us matter every one of us is relevant the name the rabbis did not call this fourth book of the Torah they called the fourth book of the Torah that were beginning this this week which means the book of the counting those counted even though it only says twice the notion of the number of the Jewish people because underlying a life of ambition a meaningful life is to believe that your life counts if you believe your life doesn't count is when you're in trouble this enormous growth of mental health issues that we're seeing I've written about this I've spoken about it at Noam but so much of it has been analyzed by psychologist and sociologists who are seeing that the mental health spike is the result of feeling invisible inconsequential that you don't matter that your life doesn't count that nothing would be different if you disappeared and the people who feel that way fall into depression and despondency substance abuse self hurt suicidal ideation all of this is on the rise enormously it's affecting All Families there's a child a relative a friend a neighbor and it sources itself in that feeling of my life doesn't count I don't count which of course is highly correlated with the internet the more you're connected online and the more you're living the caricature of other people's lives and you think their lives look so perfect the less you are happy with your own life or you feel that you I don't have as many friends or followers or likes and I don't I'm not as popular I'm not as viral so therefore my life doesn't matter and I might as well harm myself and disappear so could says the opposite because he understands that you know where it all begins if I want you to live a meaningful life a happy happy life a pleasurable life a a ambitious life you know where it all begins with knowing that your life counts with knowing that you matter that God counts us theak says what does the word mean to lift means to calculate to count why did God use the word lift to say count he should have said count because we are not subject to some collective Providence each person receives a direct personal Providence from hasem the says it's not that just God says today I'm gonna make a good day for the Jewish people tomorrow I'll make a bad day for the Jewish people every one of us is our own world every one of us is our own universe and God makes each one of us count individually by ourselves by counting you elevate you make someone count think about it in the form of a name I mean he's going to get to this we don't have time so I'll tell it to you outside I'll tell it to you outside but he says this in the form of of of a name means to lift when you count someone you lift them when they pass before you and you identify them as an individual you lift their Spirits you lift them by counting them this is the strength of using someone's name using a name is intimate it's personal it lifts someone try it next time you're on public a checkout don't just be talking on your phone or texting and ignoring the person who's checking you out say uh Stacy thank you so much have a car have a great day Bob have thank you for begging my groceries read their name and use it and you will see their face light up because they're invisible the whole day they have no name they're invisible they're just the checkout the bag person the whatever they have no name you will transform their lives if you use their name so Hashem lifts us when we know that he's counting us that our lives count that our lives matter that we're here for a reason he says in in he quotes from mosha Feinstein that's why we always read parid right before sh this year literally hours before sh why because when a person says I don't count I don't matter why am I here what's the difference what's the purpose why accept the Torah why love life of Torah to know that you're among the counted that your life counts that it matters that you can make a difference the world is waiting for the difference that you and only you can make at the embassy opening I don't know if you all watched it but Pastor hegy controversial person but someone who's his his kufi Christians United for Israel I was talking to him at a reception you know how many members it has 4.1 million members right so our the Jews are busy writing headlines about how evil Israeli Army is in Gaza thank God for the Christians and the evangelicals so before you worry about what their real goal is or what their motivation is I could care less their friendship we need right now if the fire is if the building is burning down and there's a fire and someone offers to rescue you do you say well what's your motivation are you trying to pull me out so that you can convert me or do you say gladly I'll grab your hand and be rescued so you know there were're not the embassy moving you know and and so much else positive and good that goes on that Evangel local community deserves a lot of credit Pastor he has this Knight of Israel in Houston where he lives it's attended by thousands he raises gazillions of dollars for Israel and you may not know but there's a committee of three who determine every penny where it goes you know the committee of three is the head of the Jewish Federation Orthodox Rabbi in Houston and a third Jew I forgot who it is his evangelicals don't determine some of that money goes to Kum and yeshivas in Israel millions and millions and millions and millions of dollars millions of dollars I spoke to is a a very influential Evangelical Pastor who lives down here that we have worked closely with and I'm friends with so I actually was inspired after after talking a hegi that I want to rent out the what's it called the BBT Arena I want to once a year we should fill it with 25,000 between evangelicals and Jews South Florida a night for Israel of celebrating Israel and I get and I get to decide where the money goes so uh that's not that's not really the uh that's not really the motivation but so why am I telling you all this a 4.1 million it's unbelievable anyway he gave the closing benediction at the embassy opening and he was appropriate referencing only the god that we all share he was very appropriate and he was also great and I love the evangelicals around me yelling hallelujah and amen and totally into it we're missing that in our shs like the druss having a little energy and back and forth to it but anyway I don't know if anyone was watching it you may not have noticed it but when he began with God of this and the God and God of our forefathers and our father he said God who gives each one of us a name I don't if you in his list of how he recognized God he said maybe God who gave every Star a name it's a p we say in h after Ash every day God you count all the stars yeah gives them a name you give he gives a name to everyone he he understood he referenced right if I had gave that benediction and I worked on it for a million hours I never would have thought to talk about God who gives each star a name but that's our para that's our para and that's our holiday and that's our tradition it's our religion It's Our Truth the only truth that God who gives each star a name and who counts every Star and who counts us and who makes our lives count and gives us that faith and that confidence and this holiday of sh is not just about maybe not at all about milk and cheesecake and dairy but the holiday what it's all about is coming out the other side knowing even more not believing not having faith but coming out the other side of this holiday knowing with more conviction and with greater strength and more certainty not only that there is a God but that he's involved in my life that he counts me that he knows my name and that he has given me the capacity to make my life count and to make a difference in the world as well have a great week and a great shabas and a great