There is no "NO" | Living with Emunah #373

Good morning, Booker. Welcome back to Living with Amuna here in the Ran Sanctuary in honor of Yeshiva Week and in honor of uh our allowing the men to sneak into our women's amunishure. Why it's only women, I don't know. The men probably need it more even though they don't admit it. So maybe we'll permanently allow it, but we don't want to take away from the women. That's why I'm looking this way because it's a woman's amunachir and we'll let you just sneak in. You could be the yentils of this uh of this ammunition. Is that what it's called? Amunasir is generously sponsored by Dr. Zav and Bella Morgan in memory of Rabbi Dr. Brian Galbin in memory of Bella's mother Dr. Ellen Shanzer. We remain very grateful to the Morgans for their generosity. Our series is also co-sponsored anonymously in memory of the 30 fallen soldiers and the alumni of Ben David Mkhani who fell on October 7th. And since this week we are highlighting Lieutenant Eton Abner Benitzk Hashem Yikcom Damo, tragically 22 years old from Harraha. He served in the Ago special forces unit was a cadet in the IDF infantry officers course. He fell in battle on September 18th, 2025 when he was struck a IED struck his hun and Rafa. The attack killed four soldiers and wounded three others. Etan is survived by his wife Atara and his parents Mikall and Nakshon and his four siblings and we dedicate our Torah learning in his memory with boundless gratitude to him and all of our holy press soldiers. Today she is also sponsored by Andrea Zuker in memory of her father Dr. Martin Leman on what would have been his 93rd birthday whose side is in the 9th of Sha and for complete fua for her nephew Yoshua Benasho she'll please God to hear good news he should have a complete recovery and lastly in loving memory of Friedman Mindle Mariam Bas Ruben on the occasion of her second year at sight she lived each day with deep amuna profound profoundly missed from her children thank you for your generosity okay first psalm 23 sight and we'll get we'll do as we always do I know you feel so far away. This is very disorienting. This is not the way we normally have a mun. But we're going to do our best and then please God, we'll go back to the way it usually is. So our first Psalm 23 sighting came from my wife who's away with our kids for Yeshiva week. But I guess in the absence of being able to talk to me is playing what is this game? Wordle. What do you What is this game? >> Wordle. And and one of the words in Wordle is Psalm. Psalm 23. Citing Psalm. Wordle. You guys aren't excited about it. Okay, I'm excited about it. She was excited about it. So, we continue our streak. That's enough to qualify to continue our Psalm 23 strike season uh uh sightings. We're going to keep going. Rabbi Gerber, thankfully Murashir literally breathes life into me every week. I have a cute anecdote to share. I was doing errands in the car and as I often do, started talking to Hashem and asking him to send us the things we need, help my struggling child and so on. Suddenly, I realized this is not the conversation I really want to have with Hashem. So I started over. Hi Hashem, how are you? Has anyone asked you that today? How are you feeling? Are you are we your creations making you happy and proud today? I hope we are. Immediately after that, I got to a red light. The car in front of me had a sticker on it that said, "I hope something good happens to you today with a smiley face." I knew without a doubt that Hashem's sweet and loving way of continuing our conversation. His messages are there if we are willing to look for them. That email is a great example. As we always talk about, if we just ant extend our antenna, Hashem is signaling messages to us all the time. Through Davin, we talk to him. Through learning Torah, he's talking to us. And through living life and walking around and all the things that may sometimes seem random or chance, but are always by design, when things work out the way they're meant to and supposed to. You know, yesterday I snuck down to Hollywood, took my grandchildren out for a couple hours because they were off from school. I could help my own family's way. I missed them and I found a block of a couple hours. We had fun Chuck-E-Cheese which in Hollywood week has not yet discovered. We were about the only ones there. And afterwards I took them to 7-Eleven and I texted my uh my kids if it was okay and they said, "Well, they each had a stomach ache. Be careful. Ease up. I'm not sure they should." We went to 7-Eleven and the slurpee machine was broken. Kids were disappointed. But I said, "Hashkah. It was a hashkah moment. They weren't meant to h your slippies are where they're meant to be and that's not in your stomach. Now I owe them another trip to 7-Eleven slurpies another time or to the lobby corner at Bocarone Synagogue. But my point is that if you live your life with your antenna extended, if you live your life looking to pick up the signal from Hashem, if you have a high-speed connection with him, he's talking to us all day from when we wake up in the morning till we fall asleep at night. He is showing us, he's closing doors and opening other doors. He's sending us messages, things that work out and don't work out, but they're all from him and they're all from above and we shouldn't neglect. We shouldn't neglect. You know, the Rambam, I'll just tell you for a moment. We'll get back to the letters and then back to our text that we're learning together. But I want to share with you a Torah that my brother-in-law said at my shabas, which was just a few years ago. And he said the following. The Rambam talks about on fast days when we fast, the reason we're fasting is to emphasize our soul, not to neglect our body, but that we are a soul that has a body. We're not a body that has a soul. And when we live with a soul that is more attuned, a soul that's more alive, a soul that is more highly connected, then we're able to recognize and see the signal, pick up the signal from Hashem here talking to us and recognize and acknowledge and reciprocate that conversation that is ongoing with our creator with the almighty with the rebon. And the Rambam uses a language. The Ram says that a person who doesn't see and feel Hashem talking to us, interacting with us, such a person who rather dismisses that everything that happens is happen stance is chance like a Malik that Malik happened upon us. Rashi quotes several interpretations. One of them is carry. If we walk with Hashem, then he walks with us. Carry carry means happen stance. Kerry means chance. Kerry means randomness. And so if we walk and we absorb and we integrate and we understand that whatever happened that was ch the parking spot, the red light, the diagnosis, winning the lottery, good or bad, it's all chance. It's all random. It's all happenstance. The Ram uses a language of the Ram says such a thing as cruel to me. It's cruelty. To walk with God as if it's chance and randomness is cruel. You can't help but wonder why is it cruel? Of all the words the Ramom could employ and use, why cruel? It's wrong. It's inaccurate. It's ignorant. It's uneducated. It's secular. It's not religious. It's unfaithful. There's so many words, so many descriptions that you could use that when Hashem is communicating to us through our lives and all that happens and we ah we dismiss it. We neglect it. We don't notice it. We fail to acknowledge it or validate it or respond to it. So many words we could use. But why? and suggested my holy brother-in-law Joey Joseph Herstein suggested my brother-in-law. You know why it's called Kerry Mikra? You know why it's cruel? Because what happens if someone's calling your name? Do the opposite. You're calling your child. It's time for supper. It's time to do homework. It's time to leave the house. It's time to help in the kitchen. It's time to put away your backpack. It's time for whatever. And you're calling. You're calling your husband. You're calling your wife. They're in the other room. And you see that they hear you. They're in your sighteline. They're visible, but likely on their phone. They're likely scrolling or texting. They're likely playing their game. And they don't even look up and they don't even respond. They don't even make eye contact and they don't even acknowledge that you're calling their name. You know what that is? It's downright cruel. That's how it feels when you're calling out to someone and they ignore you. They shut you out. They don't look up. They don't respond to your bid for connection. In the words of Dr. John Gottman. Dr. John Gottman talks about in marriage, healthy marriage and healthy relationships. A person makes a bid for connection and there are three possible responses to that bid. You could turn towards which means that someone calls you and you say yes. What is it? Someone walks in a door and you say so happy you're home. How was it where you were? You could turn towards in the bid for connection and you could turn away which is the dava ignore or shut out or you can give or you could turn your back. Turn towards turn away. What's the third? I'm forgetting for a moment. A turn against. Thank you. Turn against. Turn towards, turn away, and turn against. And he talks about the ratio of those three will determine the health and happiness of a marriage. The health and happiness of a marriage. He gives the example. Someone comes in. Let's randomly say the woman comes in from shopping at the mall and she says, "Hi, I'm home." And she's carrying a bunch of bags. So turning towards is how was it? What'd you get? Show me. How did it go? turning against is really more bags. What's the damage? How much did you spend? I can't believe it. Why do you always have to go? Why are you always shopping? We can't afford. You don't need more. That's turning against. Turning towards turning against. And turning away is uh you make some grunt, some sound. You don't even look up. You don't even look over. You don't even acknowledge. You don't say anything. You take no interest in how it went. And the ratio of those three will determine the health and happiness of a marriage. I once tried to suggest that Dr. Gotman's insight into turning how we respond to bids for connection maybe is how we reconcile the gammorra quotes a a um contradiction theukim the kr the cherub childlike figurines that adorn the top of the auron of the holy ark in the mishkan did they turn towards were they facing each other or were they facing away the has its conclusion but maybe that image of facing towards and facing away corresponds to how we respond to the ribon shalom's bid for connection Because that's what the Gimar says. When we're fulfilling God's will and word, when we see him, when we feel him, when we're talking to him, when we hear him, when we're living a life of amuna, when he's an active part, a dynamic, vibrant part, he's we're in a relationship with him, then the image on top of the aon reflects it. Then the figurines are turning towards each other. But when we neglect him, when we don't pick up the signal, when we don't acknowledge him, when he's calling out to us and we're just scrolling, we're just typing, we're just looking down, we're not even looking up, then they're turning away, then they're facing away from one another. So the Ram says it's because we know the experience. Sadly, we know it. We're calling someone, we're shouting their name, we're calling out to them, and they're just ignoring us. You feel your pulse pick up. You feel your breathing quicken. You feel your sweat glands pumping. You feel your anger rising. All because you're calling someone and they don't respond. And it's callous and it's cruel. And that's why the Ram uses that word to describe Kerry and Mikra. If God's calling our name and that's when we fast, what we're saying is that the calamities of our past that our lives, they're not random and chance. Whatever happens, good and bad, it's not happen stance. It was carefully curated, choreographed. It carefully came from above. Hashem decided and determined this is what's right and this is what's meant for us. And whatever we're going through and wherever we are and whatever we have to navigate, whatever we have to overcome, it is all designed and meant specifically. It is tapered individually for us. When we say, "I hear you. I'm picking up your signal. I got it. I got your message. First of all, thank you. Thank you for the slurp machine being broken. Thank you for the parking spot working out. Thank you for the bumper sticker on the car in front of me at the red light that lets me feel that I was behind that car. Davka in that moment to Davka. Read that bumper sticker to Davka at a red light because I know that you're answering my conversation with you. When we do that, it's the opposite of cruelty. It's love. It's kindness. It's connection. It's what life is all about. Rabbi Goldberg, I recently started listening to your shirim. I've had struggles internalizing amuna due to some difficult childhood experiences. listening to the shar to work on my immuna muscle. And two recent stories I want to share. This past Thursday night, I was driving home when I was switching lanes and got into a car accident. No one was hurt, but there was substantial amount of damage to the other car. I've been driving for many years and had never been in an accident before. In the past, I don't know how I would have handled it. But in the moment, while still somewhat anxious, I started thinking about seeing yashem. And in the moment, it hit me. So, in other words, someone's in a car accident. The two reactions you could have. Woe is me and why me? And where are you, Hashem? and I can't believe this. There's no God. I'm giving up religion. 20 years I haven't been in an accident. Now I had a fender bender. I'm out. That's one. And that's one that many have. Why? Because their expectation is that my life is meant to be smooth sailing and perfect. And the way I drew it up and anytime anything goes wrong, it's your fault. And where were you and I'm a victim and woe is me and now I'm done with you. That's one reaction that way too many people have. But he because he's listening to the shirum and he's part of our support group and are living with amuna movement. He instead decided to stop and think was there a yahashem where is the yadashem even in this? I've been driving my grandmother's car for a couple years as she no longer able to drive it and been left largely unused. During the time I had never gotten around to transferring the car to my name. Couple of weeks before insurance was expiring my mother reached out to me and said we need to transfer it. She was leaving for Israel needed to be done that day. At the time it was an annoyance but we ended up getting it done. two weeks later, car under my name, my insurance when the accident happened. I don't know how things would have proceeded, but I imagine the situation would have been far more complicated and worse if the insurance were not under my name, the car were not in my name and hadn't been driven in over a year. So, in that moment, he was capable of identifying and seeing a hand of Hashem that you know what, as unfortunate, as miserable, as frustrating as this is, even in it here, I see your hand and I'm picking up your signal and there's something here. There is a reason. And he shares the second story as well. McGover, we flew we flew for yeshiva week and we had a pretty crazy flight with intense turbulence. Said schma a few times, but that's not even the story. By the way, I just saw an article. I don't know why, but there's a lot more intensity in turbulence on flights these days. So much so that the article talked about how to sit and how to brace yourself so you won't get hurt because people are finding themselves getting hurt because if you don't have a strong core and you don't know how to steady yourself when there's the turbulence, you could literally get injured. I was on a flight like this recently. Someone was screaming out, shouting, and that never helps anyone else. So, I screamed out, "Live with amuna." No, I didn't. I said, "We are where we're meant to be." No, I did not do that. I did not do that. And I do not suggest you try that either. But anyway, that's not the story. We landed, went to baggage, claim our bags. Well, there we headed to the hotel, checked and got to started unpacking when I opened one of the suitcases and realized the content weren't ours. But I remain calm. Now I want to tell you if you think that there aren't wonders of the world today in tough pav 2026, this is a wonder of the world. How is it that on the conveyor belt so many of the suitcases look alike and particularly if you're on a Jewish flight which means from Israel or between Florida and New York and the soft duffles from Amazing Savings are about 50% of the pieces of luggage. They all look the same. And how is it that more people don't go home with the wrong bags? But I'll tell you even further. If you're looking for a miracle in our time, and I'm not trying to suggest this to any thieves who may be listening, how is it that people don't pull in front of a airport baggage claim, go inside, nonchalantly and casually, take luggage off the conveyor like it's theirs, walk out with it. If they're stopped, they'll just say, "Oh, I was confused. I thought this was mine. Looks just like mine." And if not, they go, "How is it that our luggage is not all stolen on a more regular basis? I don't get it. I'm not giving you one more thing to be anxious or worried about because after all, if you go to the Amunachir, we are a group of we work to be warriors, not worriers. I bought a big pillow. I have a throw pillow now on the couch in my office. You could order it online. Be a warrior, not a warrior. So when you come in, I see it on the couch. Someone's coming to meet with me, they first see it. That's the message. I got two pillows. I bought myself a little gift. One says, "Let go, let God." And the other says, "Be a warrior, not a worrier." We could use our furniture to give us messages. I'm being serious. Use your furniture not to flash where you bought it from some brand name. Instead of flashing a brand name, use your furniture. Maybe we should like line the inside of our suit jacket with a message. Then you see someone in Chula. There's turbulence on the plane and you just open your jacket. You know, you are where you're meant to be. Be a warrior, not a warrior. Let go. Let God. I don't know. These are all great ideas for our future swag. So, you know, or the future sweatshirts on the back, not, you know, mother of the bride, but the future sweatshirt on the back. Be a warrior, not a warrior. Let go, let God. You are where you're meant to be. So, I tell you that about the luggage, not so you have yet one more thing to worry about, but the opposite. When you leave with your own luggage, each and every time you have one more thing to be thankful for. And whereas usually you're scrambling. Did you order the Uber? Are you in touch with whoever's supposed to pick us up? If this is JFK, I can't believe we have to travel five miles to go wherever we're going. on some tram, it's miserable. Instead of doing all that, when you pull your own luggage off a conveyor belt and you in fact double check and triple check and it's yours, stop and offer a prayer. Thank you, Hashem. The luggage made it. It's my luggage. It doesn't have a rip in it. It came off. I have it in its hole. It's not soaking wet or covered in snow. Thank you. Even the little things that we think we're entitled to, we have the expectation that they should happen. We should pause and our day is filled with these invitations and opportunities to press pause and say, "Thank you. Thank you. They got off to carpole or on the bus smoothly today. Thank you. I got where I was meant to go and everything was safe. There was no car accident. Thank you. I got a seat at the amunishi. I found a parking spot. I didn't have to circle several times. Thank you. Whatever it is that we do, thank you." Just then my phone rang. It was the woman whose suitcase we had. Back to our story. We had ours since the bags looked identical. I asked she had hours since the bag looked identical. I asked if by chance she was staying at the same hotel. That would have made a great story. Unfortunately, she wasn't. So, we had to send her luggage to her in a taxi across town. The same time, friends were traveling with had been delayed on their flight. They were supposed to land before us. We called them. They had just landed and still had to go through customs. I asked if they were able to get our luggage, but they had a long line of customs to get through. We got a little nervous that our bag might be moved. So, I called the airline, asked them to set our bag aside so it'd be easy for them to locate. Again, you could be miserable. How annoying. What a terrible start to a vacation. We mixed up our bags. Or thank you, Hashem. That settled itself and worked itself out fairly easily. Could have been a lot more complicated. Little opportunities and moments to offer a thank you, Hashem. Here's another one. I was sorry to miss this morning, so I'm going to share. This was last week. Do you remember last week we spoke two weeks ago? Two weeks ago, we spoke about someone who saw the idea of putting a note under the muzza. say I love you and they weren't sure if they should do it or not last week and then they were going through a box in the pin in Gushion and they found a box of notes that say I love you Hashem. Wow, that was an affirmation. So someone writes, "I was sorry to miss this morning's I'm going to share in person because I was up in Brooklyn at my mother's house. We were able to finish earlier than expected since we had extra time before going to the airport. We stopped at my daughter's house. Since she has internet and I had the time, I listened to today's podcast podcast. As we were leaving, I went to kiss the mazuza and was rewarded with a beautiful hug from Hashem. Posted over her mazuza was the sign you spoke about. I love you, Hashem. Thank you for the constant encouragement. So, she missed it in person, listened online. Just as she listened there, leaving her daughter's house was a sign next to the muzza. Say, "I love you, Hashem." Should remind us we say I love you, Hashem. Rabbi Goldberg, I've been having difficult few weeks with a lot of uncertainty. The concept you taught a while back. Do you remember a while back we learned about the concept of hay? Don't worry about tomorrow. You'll get to tomorrow tomorrow. I know I gave a dras that the difference between us and them is that we think about tomorrow, they think about today. But every dasha I give that's the dra for that chabas. Just know that for that there's an equal and opposite dra. So that was the Joshua's the difference the distinction between us and the Egyptians was parro and the Egyptians live for the here and now immediate pleasure immediate gratification they want same day delivery on demand instant gratification and we the Jewish people are born the gula happen because we live we're able to live for the future we're able to see the future plan for the future we have an awareness of our future self. He's not a stranger. She's not a stranger to us. But we live for our future self. We're able to be ro that was the last week. But the this morning is that we also live for that. Don't worry about is tomorrow. Who lives? Also the difference between and tomorrow. tomorrow is people who are anxious and worried but what's going to be and how is it going to work out and what's going to happen and what that's anxiety that that debilitates instead hay today just get to the end of today I was taught and I share every crisis I intervene every person or couple or people I counsel I say and I try to practice this myself just get to the end of today sometimes someone loses someone so special someone sometimes gets a diagnosis that they can't help but project what's going to happen what's going to be will I be there will it work out will I be healthy will I survive sometimes the person goes through a financial crisis a relationship crisis and they can't help but fast forward and try to predict and anticipate and they want to crystal ball to know everything that's going to be and they can't we don't have a crystal ball and we don't get an insight into the future because all we can live is today. That's all. So, we spoke about that a while back and the person who wrote the short email says, "The concept you taught of Hayom, focusing on making it through each day as opposed to getting overwhelmed by the unknown has really been what I'm holding on to and getting me through. Thank you for the fuel to get me through everything that life throwing my way. Hope all is well with you and your family." I love that email because it allows me to remind you the at the end of this week's pa's bow. But whenever you're listening to this, it's relevant, especially if you're close to PES. You could say it at your seder table. The end of this week's para we quote at the seder. Tell your child on this day saying and then the Torah says what do you tell him? Tell the story of the Exodus. Tell the story. Share it. The good, the bad, and the ugly. The highs and the lows. The oscillating narrative of our people. Don't just say everything was amazing. And don't just say it was miserable. Say there were highs and lows. There were good and bad. It was challenging. We all have ch. We all we don't all those who are late waiting and longing or who don't. But children not everything is always smooth sailing. Sometimes one calls you. They're having a hard time socially, academically. And when you tell them, you know, just bounce back or stick with it or what's your problem or ignore it, you have to tell them, you know, I once went through. Let me tell you about my life, my childhood. Let me tell you what I struggled. Let me tell you about some of the grades on my report card that Saba still has filed in his file cabinet in his home. Let me tell you about sometimes socially where I struggled that summer at camp or that year in school or that time even now as an adult where I was upset. I wasn't invited. I saw a picture online of a bunch of friends. They went out, they celebrated a milestone and I didn't even know it and I wasn't even invited. Let me tell you, when we share our own oscillating narrative, our own oscillating the highs and the lows, then we give we give encouragement. We talk about how we endured and how we got through it and how we connected. And part of the way to do that is to say it says the holy vision. What is it you should tell your child? Get through today. Live now. Live in the present. Live the moment. If you start to project the future, but what's going to be what's going to be who am I going to room with in college? What's going to be with shukim? Where am I going to live? Will I have friends? When am I get married? What? You can't wake up. You can't get out of bed if you start living that way. The only way we can live is that's when we spoke about it last. Hashem says, "I put the concept of before you use as a today. today. What is it that we have to teach and tell and model our children, our nephews and nieces, our neighbors hau live today? You get to tomorrow, but today live today and get to the end of today. One more Psalm 23 setting. I know we have to get to our text. I was listening to the podcast while driving around town running errands. I have a lot on my plate lately and was really looking for inspiration and clarity. I was listening with fascination to the discussion about 23 sightings and realized I'd never really noticed them before. I wondered whether I'd ever be able to see a 23 now that I was sensitized to the whole concept. Right? So now not only do we have our amuna, everyone's looking for messages. Now we've got everybody looking for Psalm 23. I paused the share at that exact moment and ran into Staples to drop off a package. On a bit of a whim, I then stopped at No Frills, a Canadian grocery store to grab some granola bars for my daughter's lunches. I picked up a few really random items. As I was checking out, the cashier looked at me and said, "I bet that doesn't happen often." I was kind of spacey. I had no idea what she was referring to. She said, "Look at your total. Look at your total. It's a perfect 23. No sense, just a nice round number, $23." I asked her to repeat herself. She told me, "Your total is an even 23." I started laughing. And I asked her, this is the cashier in the Canadian grocery store. I asked her if she ever read Psalms. She said yes. I told her I'd just been listening to a podcast about Psalm 23. She was amazed and said I was spooking her out. I was definitely not spooky, but I was it was surreal and it was a much needed message from Hashem on a day I truly needed it. Attach the receipt so you can see it for yourself. It all happened just an hour ago. There it is for those who don't believe. Highlighter, debit card. You could have earned optimum points if you had been a member of No frrills. Yeah. $23 on the dot. No sense. Just as a person says, "Hashem, I could use a little message. I could use a little wink. I could use a little hug. I'd love to see the number 23. I want to join the the uh the train, the Psalm 23 train." And then they go into a grocery store and there it is. The cashier who didn't have to notice it, who didn't have to look up, who didn't have to point it out, who didn't have to say anything, said, "Huh? Have you ever seen that before? No sense. Just even dollars 23. Okay, last one. I started having an eye twitch about a year ago and it didn't go away. I eventually went to a neurologist who said it's nothing serious, just a hemi facial spasms and yet I've been struggling to accept the new reality. Since then, other parts have subtly twitched. I don't love the idea of the twitches getting pronounced. I imagine it will make me self-conscious. Here's where you come in. I'm an aid listener of living with Amuna. I've been trying to feel more at ease with accepting the situation. Again, you can go through it. What was me? Why me? I'm miserable. I'm embarrassed. I stay home. I'm so angry. Or you could say, let me stop and analyze and think, how can I interpret and experience this in a way where can I see Hashem? I find myself thinking, I love this. WWRGS. I find myself thinking WWRGS. What would Rabbi Goldberg say? Embrace your place wasn't working as a mantra, so I revised it. I tell myself, embrace your face. which others have to do too. Sometimes our facial features aren't exactly what we'd want. Sometimes age, signs of age begin to show. So, not only embrace your place, also embrace your face. What's put that on the makeup bag? Embrace your face on the mirror. Put that on the mirror in the bedroom. Embrace your face. Okay, we're expanding our swag repertoire. I'm not totally there yet. At a place of no, completely letting go, letting go, but I'm taking baby steps. The dose of Amuna from the weekly podcast definitely helping. Thank you so much for all that you do and I thank for embrace your face. That is a good one. I like that. Okay, really the last one. As long as you say the last one, you can keep reading more. This is not another email. This is the Torah to take us back to what we're learning. Psalm 23. We'll launch this long string. Anyone know what week we're up to of Psalm 23 sightings? It's exciting to see how long we can go. But we go thinking about the This is how it all started. The Lord is my shepherd. Usually translated the ta as I shall not lack. We learned that here in safer just had the hila of the babasali from whom comes last night otherwise known as smartigra. It was amazing last night. So it was fantastic. So said doesn't mean Hashem is my shepherd and therefore I'm not missing anything in my life. It's a tom let me live a life that I'm never lacking that you're my shepherd. Whatever I'm going through, whatever I go, whatever is happening, let me remember, let me be aware, let me feel you are my shepherd. I'm not missing anything. So that was another interpretation. But listen to what listen to what Ethan suggests. I'm saying his name because it's such a great shot. Hashem, he has a new reading. Hashem now low in quotes. The only thing lacking is no. Hashem only says yes. When things don't work out, he's saying yes. This is even better. Hashem, when Hashem is my shepherd, then I can live a life that lowar. I'll have no low no in my life. Whatever is happening is a yes. It may not be the yes of what I asked for. It's a yes to something else. It may not be the yes of walking through this door. He closed that door. But he made a yes to opening another. It may not be the yes to what I hoped, what I dreamt, what I do, and what I asked. But everything if it comes from Hashem is by definition a yes. So therefore he suggests oh what a beautiful that hashem if indeed I can live my life that he's my shepherd then low the word low noar I'll be missing the word low in my life everything is from hashem imagine if someone orders a steak well done gross hashem says yes of course you can get a steak but try it black and blue it's much better okay he listens to Tanya too because last week we spoke about the talked about how we and eat out of elocus versus eating out of ego. And he said one of the examples he gave, for example, you sit down to great marbled meat. That was his example. So I said, "How do you cook the meat? How do you make the meat?" So my in-laws are here, they'll tell you when I first got married, I admit I used to like meat well done. But they taught me, they opened my eyes to so many things, including that it's meant to be eaten rare. But I miss the old days of the char and the well done. So, the proper way to eat a steak, you thought you came for amuna, but I'll just tell you the proper way to eat a steak is what's called black and blue. Black and blue means char on the outside and nice and rare on the inside. And if you go to a fine dining establishment and you say, "I'll take it black and blue." And they say, "Excuse me." Then you're in the wrong place. If they don't know what that is, that's the proper way. So, he knows. He writes it in the email. Hashem always says yes. Hashem always says yes. It's just a matter of when that yes comes and how it manifests itself. Hashem is the ultimate yes man beautiful insight back to our holy safer. So there are copies. There are some more up here if you want to look and read and follow along. They're on the front table. We're in the page page 131 the right hand column on the bottom. In this peric, in this chapter, the great has been teaching us how we dav not only for the gashmas. We daven not only for the material and physical in our lives, but we d for the and while what we daven for physically and materially may or may not be a yes for what we asked because do we deserve? Do we merit? Is it what's right? Is it what's best? But when we dive in fornas, when we dive in for spiritual breakthrough, that's always a yes. That's always a yes. Hashem can't say no to that. That's what everything is in God's hand. Will he give us a yes or no? It's all a yes. Will he respond positively for the way we ask? That's all. But the one thing that when we ask, he has to automatically give is when we for you hear that interpretation. Wow. What a different way of taching. You see where we are at the bottom of the right hand column page when a person dabs to Hashem and their mission and their purpose is they want to repair the world in God's image. We want to repair the world's olam. You know, you ever hear the I say there's a joke about the Federation mission to Israel where one of the participants asked the tour guard, "How do you say tikkun olam in Hebrew? Because tikkun olam has become such a catchphrase. Everything is tikun." Why do we believe in this recycling and we believe in environmentalism and we believe in fighting all forms of why and all Judaism reduced to those two words tun. Now that is a very Jewish concept. In fact, you say it every day. When do you say it every day? Alenu in Alen we say every day. But many years ago Rabbi Pelov the great pelitz spoke here in Arul and he pointed out I'll never forget. He said or is a Torah concept but it's always followed by the following two words. the shak to repair and redeem the world in God's image according to God's word. It's not about what I feel my humanism, my universalism, how I think the world should be. It's all about open the Torah, open the and open the open and understand Hashem's blueprint for his world. So tikun is a very Torah concept. It's why we're here. It's what our mission is. It's what it's all about. It's a great Torah concept, but how not just the sake based on how I see, how I dream, how I feel, but it's the So when we dive in, Hashem, I'm on a mission. I accept the mission. I accept what you've sent me to do. I accept what you've sent me to do. But I can't do it if I don't have my health. I can't do it if I don't have wealth. I can't do it if I don't have peace of mind. serenity. So give it to me, not for me, but help me so I can help serve you. Hashem, without it, I can't help or serve you. I can't fulfill my mission and purpose. It's a totally different paradigm of it means when I stand up and get up to dab, I'm not domining out of ego. I'm domining out of elus. This is the book. Did you read my new book? You have it. Where can you get it right now? Only in my head, but I hope to get it out of my head. Really, this is my new book. I have a lot of books. You don't have any of them because so far they're all only in my head. But this one is ego versus elocus. It is an entire paradigm and platform for how to live life. Everything we do, everywhere we go, everything we say, everything we think, our whole approach, our whole perspective, our whole paradigm for life is either elocus or ego. There's only two ways. And that defines everything about our lives, our relationships, our career is ego or eloqu. Every aspect of our life is indulging, is feeding, is nourishing. Either ego or elocus. Elocus means godliness. It means God's world. It means my mission for God. It means a life of connection to God. That's why we're here. We're not in this world to take. We're in this world to give. We're not in this world because of our rights and entitlements. We're in this world filled with duty and obligation. But begins by says, "Not okay. Hey, Hashem, you put me in this world. What do I get? What do I get with it? What do I get with membership in this world? What do I get with this membership called life? No, we say, "Hashem, you put me in this world. Wow, what a privilege. What a blessing. I'm so grateful. What's my mission? Why am I here? What do you need me to do next? What's my next assignment? Why?" And when a person lives that second life, now everything I ask for, my whole dominating is different. I don't get up and ask Hashem whether for or even more authentically in my own words. I don't ask Hashem, "Hashem, help my investments do well. Help my career take off. Help me get that raise and promotion because me, I want a nicer vacation. I'm following where everyone is in yeshiva week and I want to go too. I'm not asking for a bigger house and a nicer car from me." Say, "Hashem, help me because more resources." True, I could live a nicer and more pleasurable life. Nothing wrong with that. Like we learned in Tanya alterba says there's nothing wrong with saying if I have better things I'll have greater on shabas and more beautiful and I can offer I can offer hospitality and give people greatest delicacies and how gishmach that will be I'm asking for it for elocus and hashem help me my knee hurts my hip hurts my back hurts I've had a cold or the flu going back and forth for the last six months Hashem what's with the weather changed already help me not for me because it's interfering with my mahan and my tennis and my plans. Hashem, help me because I can't I can't check in on others and I can't do and make it to the and I can't concentrate when I dab into you when I have this horrific head cold and sinus infection. It's a different paradigm of dabing of it's entirely indifferent when I stand up and talk to him. When I look at and interpret everything happening in this world, am I doing it out of ego? How could it be I was in this fender bender car accident? How could it be? I switched up this suitcase. All that if I swell with anger is ego. But if I live my elocus, I say, "What's my mission? What's my assignment? Why do I have the wrong suitcase? I'm in the fender bender. I'm on the side of the road." And I say, "Hashem, where can I see your hand even in this moment?" Ah, I switched the insurance. I switched the title. That made it easier. Hashem, you put the raffle before the Makkah. Thank you. My mission right now is to stay calm. My mission is to see your hand. My mission is to live by mahu. to live today and not worry and fear and get anxious for tomorrow. Maybe my mission is to be a warrior, not a worrier. To embrace my place. That's my mission. Or maybe my mission is bigger. Maybe I'm here in this moment. Maybe the person who got my suitcase is meant to be invited for a Shabbaz dinner. Maybe the person in the supermarket who said, "Did you notice the receipt? Nobody noticed her name the entire day." And now when I say yes, isn't it amazing? Tracy, whatever name is on her, do you say Psalms? Listen to this class I've been I've been listening to. Maybe that was your mission. Maybe it came out to a round number. Not so you got your 23 sighting, but so the cashier had someone who actually saw and said her name. Wasn't invisible as she was the whole day. All day long, Hashem is giving us missions and assignments. He's putting us where we are. Both that which is pleasurable, that which is painful, that which is going smoothly, and that which feels like friction. And each time he's saying you have a mission, you have an assignment. Embrace this place. Embrace this moment and find your mission. And when you do, you'll daven so differently. Hashem, help me fulfill and complete it. And I can't do it. I need good health. And I need resources. And I need serenity and happiness. I need good relationships. I need and this is your tomorrow night, Friday. The quotes in the name of his grandfather the first Hashem is close to all who call him says God is close to all. So I might think all not all. So the way to read that p is two parts. God is close to all who call him. Really? All no. We qualify. Not all. If we're qualifying it, then why do we say to begin with? Why say he's close to all if we never really meant all? He's not close to all. To whom is he close? only to those who call him in truth. So why do we say all you hear the question? Answers the answer is it's true. It's true. If [clears throat] our feel is not authentic and sincere, if we're struggling, if we're buffering, let's go back to the metaphor, the example we gave a couple of years ago. Sometimes in life, we're buffering. Our internet is slow. Our Wi-Fi connection is not working. And therefore, we can't pick up the signal, can't download our emails, we're not able to connect to the website. We can't ask AI our question because we can't connect. So, what do we do? We find someone who has a hotspot. Sometimes when I drive, we drive our family, so our children might have a device that has no independent connection. So when they're near Wi-Fi, they have it. But in the car, they don't. So what do they always do? Aba, can you can I use your hotspot? Can you make your phone a hot spot? What does the hotspot do? Someone else can connect. Someone else can link hook up with your connection. And now they have high speed. So we spoke about sometimes when we struggle, I don't see Hashem. I don't feel Hashem. I don't feel like feeling Hashem. Sometimes we're struggling. We're buffering. We don't have that great connection. Find a hot spot. Find a survivor. Find a person of deep and profound amuna. We all have friends. We're all exposed to people. We all know people who are extraordinary and remarkable. Go watch an interview with a hostage who got out and found Hashem in the tunnels. We had Bar Cooperstein. And please God, soon we're having Sappir Cohen and Sasha and Amit Hashem. It's not entirely confirmed, but the second week of March, Alicia Rabi. Why are we continuing to bring hostages? Because their lessons are so powerful. They're heroes of our people. They deserve to be honored and celebrated, but they're also hot spots for all of us to connect to. Hotspots connect through and to them. So that's what said that's how he answered the Hashem is close to all who calls not all you have to call. So which is it to everyone or qualified? No. Only those who call them MS. The answer is when you use someone who's calling in BMS as your hot spot, even if your prayers are imperfect, they can go up to connect and attach your prayer to those whose prayers are high and holy. Davul and go to a minion and surrounded by people whose prayers are going straight up. Find those people. Find the person in your life who you know who is enduring, who's overcoming, who's overcome, who is struggling, who nevertheless has a profound faith in Hashem, who hasn't given up. Find that friend who always says, And they mean it and make them your hot spot because when you do your can ride on their coattails can ride on their coattails. You know the story of the jumping over the canyon jumping over that huge gap and the person who's behind him it's the great but how did you get across because I grabbed on to you. So we can grab on to those rebes men or women those people of deep and profound faith no matter what they've gone through. and our feelers can ascend with theirs. We can connect and attach oursel to them. We can get a high-speed connection to Hashem through our connection with him. We see we find similarly we'll end with this and then we'll go to questions and answers so that our visitors and guests who are here for yeshiva week have an opportunity to ask not those who are streaming we turn the recording off but only those who are here in person. So any as we finish up think of a question any topic controversial whatever you want another we continue you do the will of those who fear you and their prayers they're called you hear and you save them is in the singular it's addressing the individual in the singular You hear the will of the individual and then it ends in the plural their prayers. So this is in congruous inconsistent. It begins in the singular and ends in the plural. Which is it? the singular or the plural. Answers sometimes the Jewish people need and it's in the merit of the of the individual. Our collective prayers ride the coattails of the holy saddic. We use them and turn to them as a hot spot. We connect high speed through them and that's how the prayers ascend. That's one of the ways. So first of all when you d for rather than gashm they're guaranteed to be answered. Second of all when we couch all even of our gashmas hashem I'm turning and domining to you not out of ego but out of elus all that I need is not for myself so I can fulfill my mission and better serve you. Now he'll be more predisposed to answer favorably. But remember, every answer is a yes because hashem low. I'll never have or at lows anymore. So, thank you for coming. Next week also we're going to open to women and men and we'll be back here. Now, we turn the recording of the stream off for a few minutes of question and answer our upcoming upcoming not yet. In a couple weeks, BRS global campaign. Don't leave today without doing your part. If you're a member, you've done your part. If you're not a member, how could you live with yourself and enjoy the coffee, the pastry, the shear, the parking, the security, and not do your part to make it happen? Until next week, stay happy, stay healthy, and stay holy.