What to Do When Life Tastes Bitter | Parsha Perspectives | Beshalach 5786

Good morning book and welcome perspectives for today we have the privilege of reading and learning pash bashalak together par's bashalak our story is unfolding the drama is only growing the Jewish people leaving mitim but have they really left parro is in pursuit and even if the people have left Egypt has le egypt left the people first we begin as we always do with our attitude of gratitude thank you to bey katan family for sponsoring the parasir in loving memory of becky's Father David Gman learning this morning. She is sponsored by Carolinsky for the Lea. Thank you for stepping up and sponsoring doing your part to help us grow and promote and share Torah not only throughout this community but also through the gift of technology further beyond. The art stone on page 366, the beginning of paras. It happened when parro sent out the people. Hashem did not lead them by the way of the land of the because it was too close. Hashem said, "Maybe they'll reconsider." When they see the conflict, when they see the tension, maybe they'll reconsider. and they'll want to return. And therefore, he took him a securous route, which it seems has been the journey of the Jewish people ever since. We are on one long circuitous route. We want to get to the destination already of Gula. We want Messiah. We want to arrive at the geographic and the metaphysical promised land. But we continue to be on this long arduous windy journey this route and so on. So let's start with the word v has a connotation. Anyone know what the connotation is of the word? It's not positive. is always a lon of is a lon of this is brought down by the medish medish tells us when we see the word it means something negative something sad something challenging uh is always a lash of so why would we begin this is the story of our freedom so why would it begin with why would it begin What was the when the Jewish people left Egypt? It's a miracle. We're out. We're liberated. We're free. Where is the pain? Where is the discomfort? Where's the tar in this freedom and in this good news? Now, already asked this question and gives the following answer. He quotes it in the footnote that requires the glasses. So, This is a time of rejoicing, a time of celebration, a time of happiness. Maybe the answer is in the second question. What does the Pik describe? Who let us out? Who took us out? Now, was par the one who took us out and let us out? No, >> it was the almighty, the is the one who performed miracles and he's the one who provided our freedom and our redemption. The Torah yet describes nevertheless it was when parro finally let us out. When parro finally gave us freedom when parro sent us out when parro sent us out. So maybe that's the answer. The lon is that it was perceived both by parro and maybe by the world not the divine intervention, not the divine revelation and assistance. Not that Hashem created this whole circumstance and scenario and brought about our freedom. But it appeared the pundits, the newspaper journalists, the headlines all read parro sent the Jewish people out. So even in that freedom that should have been a celebration there was a s there was a negative connotation because inaccurately it depicted and described that parro is the one who sent us out not that Hashem is the one who redeemed us and saved us. This is poignant any year. It's particularly poignant after yesterday. It really struck me. Did you see the headlines including a newspaper I hesitate to say in front of an Aron Kesh out of New York that talks about the times whose headline was kamas sends back the last body. That was the headline. It's mindboggling. You don't know whether to laugh or cry. It's a lashar. On the one hand, for the first time in 10 years, the Jewish people, Israel does not have a hostage in Gaza. for the first time in 10 years because long before October 7th, two bodies that were previously held for the first time in 10 years. So that should be a source of joy and happiness and closure, not a happiness. It also tells you about the Jewish condition in the world that yesterday we were so all we were all so ecstatic because we got back a dead body. That's where we're at. that when we get back a murdered hero who saved countless lives, who was the first one in and the last one out, that's so grateful we are to get back a dead body. We're so overjoyed. How horrible that's our condition. How horrible that that's where we're at. That that's a source of joy. And yet even that joy was tainted and was compromised with a lush of. And why vi where's the tar? Because headlines could still say headlines could still say that kamas sent back the last body. Other headlines, somebody who ostensibly is pro-Israel, a prominent reporter for Fox tweeted and described kamas fulfills its conditions of the ceasefire by sending back the last body. Do you know that in 24 hours 20 dentists, forensic dentists from Israel went and examined 200 bodies in a cemetery were dug up and in 24 hours 20 deaths examined in order to confirm that this was the last body. So even within what could be and should be joy sometimes is a language of is writing about thousands of years ago the miracle of but it's partial perspectives for today because sadly these stories are still true today and maybe now we understand more than ever you know the fourth in benching the was instituted by our rabbis when what precipitated their instituting That fourth braha of the benching hat >> harug betar when the murdered victims of betar whose bodies lay in the field and our enemies did not allow burial or closure when finally the harug betar were able to be buried instituted a braha fourth of benching which is also the brah you say if you have an improved second bottle of wine that's brought to the table the what's the connection the gra tells us the bodies didn't disintegrate. They didn't rot when they were buried. It created a more fertile land and earth than ever before that produced the greatest wine. So therefore, there's a correlation. But now we finally look back and we understand we learn that garra every year we think about tishab after the three weeks the harug bet we're making a bra because we were able to bury bodies. That's braha worthy. That's worth joy and gratitude and a blessing to the almighty. And after yesterday when we finally have closure and there's no hostages held and that final body is back prime minister of Israel made a iness put on the thank God but it's laced with a it's laced like it was then so too now it's laced with a because they could still get it so wrong as if parro sent us parro didn't send us out the reurn from the Almighty took us out and it was Mosher Aenu his faithful servant as we're going to see soon the Mosha it wasn't and it wasn't the parro of our time it's always the so there still is this who has a different interpretation he says the parro was mala us parro didn't just send us out he walked us out and whether it means literally he walked us out or figuratively his value system his culture the attitude of Egypt walked us out we walked out of Egypt but we were still walking like an Egyptian we walked out of Egypt but Egypt was still walking in us and through us he was escorting us and says the that's the sadness in the par was first step was done Jews were taken out of Egypt. But we had a long way to go. Why? Because Egypt was still in the Jews and we needed to be taken out. We weren't done yet. That's the opening of the stars. Then Torah tells us we left quotes to interpretations means only one left. 20%. 80% chose to stay. And you look around today and you say, "What percentage of the Jewish people are on the wrong side of our issues?" They're standing with and protesting with and advocating for and lobbying together with and voting for on the wrong side of the issues of our very survival and our very future. Mushim are they? I'm not saying it as a statement. I'm not big enough person to. I'm asking it as a question. Are they the vakamushim of our time that choose to stay back and choose to identify with and choose to march and protest together even with those who want our own demise? And the other interpretation of aamushim means that we were armed. And we saw several years ago. What is armed? The brisker of brisk one of the rash of brisk not the brisker. He said what were we armed with the next mohe fulfilled a promise back in mim. You remember Yoseph on his deathbed just like his father Yakov said, "Make me a promise. Don't bury me here. Take me up and out and leave me in turned for eternity in the promised land. Don't leave me here." And Moshe now is fulfilling this promise. He goes and he takes these bones and he brings them with him. And it's in the merit of these bones that the sea splits. We've spoken about all this previously. You can listen online to previous years. It's in the merit of Yoseph the sea splits. Moshe fulfills this promise by carrying the bones of Yoseph. And that's what were we armed with? We're armed certainly when we have weapons, but our greatest weapon is knowing our identity. Standing tall and proud as Jews, Jewish practice, Jewish pride, Jewish observance. That's our greatest weapon. With what were we armed? Atmosphones, but atmos, the essence. When we know where we come from and who we are and where we're meant to go, when we have a strong and powerful sense of identity and a pride and a purpose and practice as Jews, then we are armed with what we need to defeat our enemies. And it's in the merit of Yoseph, the sea split. Again, this we've spoken about also Yoseph who overcame his nature. Water is naturally one. Water flows to its lowest point. To divide water and turn it into two is supernatural and miraculous. who overcame his nature if not Yoseph. The nature of a healthy vibrant man certainly in Egypt far from his family with nothing to lose would be to give into the urge to give in to the relentless propositions of the wife of Potifar. That's natural. It's only natural. That was his natural urge. That was his nature. That's would have been natural. But Yoseph taught us we can overcome our nature. And that's what the Jewish people, Moshe turned to Hashem and said, 'Look, in the merit of these bones of this individual who taught us how we can transcend and supersede and overcome our nature, let the water overcome its nature and let it split. And our rabbis derived at the Gar beginning of the s that just as miraculous as the splitting of the sea is actually tell us three comparisons of Adam a person's livelihood is as hard as splitting the sea and ask it's as hard as splitting the sea today are those who dabble formal informal professional and amateur matchmakers will tell you that the joy and satisfaction of getting a couple to go on a first date today is as much as it used to be when you heard they got engaged. Just getting them to agree to that first date >> after their resume and references and forensic investigation, FBI, CIA, Mossad, lab reports, bank statements after they do everything to agree to the first date. The joy of their agreeing to a first date is greater than the joy that used to be when you heard they got engaged. as if we're not compounding our own problems. Topic for another time. It was hard enough before we added all these layers of problems. It was before we made it more complicated. Now I don't know it's it's what's even greater than the splitting of the sea. The maral in a famous comment I quoted almost every year in paral maral says what's the comparison of marriage and the splitting of the sea? And if you think it's not as miraculous, by the way, a healthy and a happy marriage as miraculous as splitting the sea, just look at the statistics of divorce. Look at the statistics of happy and unhappy marriages and you'll see in fact it is as miraculous. If you if you are happy with the person you wake up next to and you walk forward to doing it again and for many years, you're in the minority and you're living a miracle as great as the splitting of the sea. Be happy and thankful and sing a song of aash hem each and every day. says the mar. What's the comparison? Because people are naturally separate, apart, distinct, different. People naturally care about themselves, their needs, their wants. People are two. To bring them together and be one is as miraculous as taking something that naturally is one and taking it apart and making it into two. Water always flows to its lowest point. You can't take a fork and knife and cut a bowl of water in two because the water always flows and gathers together. The water molecules stick together. Water always flows together and water is one. To make it two is a miracle. When God told stand separate and apart as two, it's a miracle. It's as miraculous as taking two people who are naturally two and turning them into one. Okay, a lot more to talk about here at the opening of the para, but let's keep going. So here we are on our way on our journey. They journey from Sukos. God went before them by day in a pillar of cloud to lead us on our way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light so they could travel day and night. So the Almighty was the ultimate GPS. whichever system you want, ways, Google maps, whatever you use. But Baru was the OG version of it. He told us go straight, make a turn, keep moving, stay still. He is the one who gave us and sent us on our journey, gave us our direction and on our way. Says the says the Rashi, why did we have this this cloud of glory? It wasn't for its light, what purpose did it serve? If it wasn't illuminating, it wasn't giving us light. It wasn't a spotlight to let us see the road, what did it do? It was the GPS, the OG GPS. It told us where to go and how to get there. Why did you need a GPS? Why do we need a navigation system? Nobody knew Egypt is to the south. You're heading to the north. Okay, we got it. We know where to go. Nobody in this two to three million people had a decent sense of direction. Nobody had an idea where to go. You needed a miracle of a cloud of glory that would reveal and lead the people what direction to go on. Seems like a gratuitous unnecessary miracle. Follow your instinct. Follow your good sense of direction. Follow the map. It's not so complicated. Egypt is to the south of Israel and head up. Why did we need this whole complicated miracle? Says, "Listen carefully." This is a lesson. We learn it every week in our living with you got to love when living with partial perspectives come together because where do we go? What direction should we head? And when we find ourselves, is that where we're meant to be? The answer is always a resounding yes. Yes. Hashem. Hashem is the one who orchestrates the footsteps of men. And later in passage, it's only with the word of Hashem do we go and do we stop. Those words. What do those words mean? To lead them on their way. Hashem is the one who leads us on our way. What about us? We don't have a pillar of a cloud, pillar of fire and a cloud of glory. We don't have these signs. Nevertheless, we have an instinct. We have an intuition. We have a sense of where to go and when and what happens next. But we should never think that we're in charge. We're in control. We're the arbiters of our own destiny. We should never try to m micromanage, never get frustrated, never overpower what's happening. But we should embrace our place and recognize where we are is where we're meant to be. And our journey is on the timeline of Hashem, not ours. And we can't force it. A person, if you think you're in charge and you're in control, then sometimes you'll think, "I lost my way." When you think you're in charge and you're in control, you're the orbiter of your destiny. Then you can feel you lost your way. This is a major breakdown of faith. Because if you know that Hashem is always by your side and Hashem is always carefully curating and choreographing your footsteps where you go and when you get there, then you feel and you know you're never ever ever stuck. You're never stuck. Why didn't Rashi say of the dark? She lost her way. She's in the desert. Abda, how do you know that she went back to her idolatrous ways? The simple meaning of the text is that she got lost. But Rasha comes along and says she got lost means not lost physically, lost metaphysically. Not lost geographically, she got lost ideologically. She got lost. She returned to the ways of her father. She became an idoltor. Why not just translate the puk the simple understanding? She got lost means she got lost. The answer is because whenever you think I'm lost, then you are lost your ideology. You're a form of idolatry. If you think you're lost, you're not just lost physically. You're lost spiritually because a Jew is never lost. A Jew is always where they're meant to be. So maybe you made a wrong turn. Maybe you took a wrong direction. Maybe you got a detour or rerouted. So now you have to ask yourself, why am I here? Why? What am I meant to accomplish here? Because we're always where we're meant to be. And this is a very powerful message. The beginning of our para, the beginning of our para power didn't understand this either. That you're never lost. And every detour was determined from above and all of our footsteps come from Hashem. That aid is never stuck. We're always where we are meant to be. This is a very poignant message maybe for some of you who thought you were going to be back where you were before Yeshiva week and then an enormous amount of snow landed. Now the truth is we're trying to find sympathy for you but it's hard. It's [laughter] a clear blue sky outside. It's a magnificent day. Fully stocked shul with minyanim and shy corner and great shurim. It's hard to find sympathy for you. It's hard, but it can be frustrating. You had work to get back to, school to get back to or sa you wanted to attend, and what can you do? The Almighty decided to drop a foot of snow on half the country except for the free state of Florida. So, and apparently, if you thought that storm was big, apparently this coming weekend there's one that's going to make it look like it was nothing coming. Maybe, but you never know. That's what they're saying. So, maybe you're frustrated. My flight was cancelled. You're lucky if you had a flight back Monday, Tuesday, you were good to go. But if you had a flight back mo Shaba Sunday, you couldn't get a new one until Thursday, Friday, and I know several people flying through many cities and spending endless hours. And now you say, "Woe is me, and why me and I'm lost in endless hours, and how will I get back? And when will I get back?" But like Hagar, that's idolatry. Because you think that you control the schedule, the timetable. You think you control where you're going. We do our best. We take our initiative. We make our plans. We book our flights. And then we let go and let God. We embrace our place because a Jew is never stuck and a Jew is never lost. A Jew is always exactly where we're meant to be when we're meant to be there. Hugger got it wrong because we understood that Hashem is always revealing and leading our way. We got it right. And parro also got it wrong. How do you see parro also got it wrong? Because parro's got he's got satellites in the sky and he's tracking Clyrol's movement and he sees this weird circuitous route they're taking and he says to himself, "Ah, they're coming back. I got them. They made a wrong turn. I can go get them." No, buddy. you missed the boat parro they didn't take a wrong turn and if it looks like it's a securous route they are entirely on track for where Hashem wants them to be they're not is never we're never lost we're never off track yes sometimes we're rerouted but not because we're off track it's because Hashem wants us on a different route to our destination to our destination so par made that mistake made that mistake but we're told not to make that mistake. Says the says, "I in all of our journeys through life, physically, metaphysically, in all of our journeys, we're never lost. We're never lost." And you see this also in as says I alluded to earlier 40 days 40 days before conception. A heavenly voice goes out and declares so and so will marry so and sob already determined and declared who was meant for whom. Even before you came into existence, even yet before we were born, the destination was set. The journey there is determined by him. And all those dates, all of those efforts that weren't the right one were stops on the journey to the promised land. And they too were determined from above. They too were part of the journey. They too were from Hashem says now stop and check out this one. And then he says, "Nope. Time to put that one away and to move on and to be patient until you'll find the one that's yours." But it's all part of the plan from above. Wherever we are and whatever we're going through, Hashem is by our side. He's on that date. He's on that phone call. He's in that difficult decision about whether to continue or whether to stop. He is with us. And all those are moments and learning opportunities. They are stops on the journey. They're all part of the curriculum. They're all part of what will get us to where we're meant to go. You could resist it and you could fight it. You could resent it. And you can be bitter about it. Or you could lean in and you can embrace it and you can enjoy the journey and recognize it's not only about the destination. It's about who you meet and what you learn and who else maybe you know they could be good for. It's about the experience of what you'll gain and how you'll grow from it. And if you resent it and you're bitter about it and you resist it, then you won't be transformed or changed by it. In fact, if you are, it'll only be for the bad, not the good. But if you lean into it, all the stops on the journey, if we lean into all the stops on this journey that all come from above and from Hashem, then we can grow and learn and expand. And that's true on any journey, whether it's towards a basher or the journey towards a business or the journey towards a breakthrough or the journey towards whatever it is we're working on. We have to see that it all comes from above and from Hashem. Don't resist and don't fight it. embrace it and recognize that we need to embrace our place and let go, let God and aid is never stuck and all the other bumper stickers and magnets and stickers for the back of the phone that we produced and everywhere else. Okay, hey, next perish of heart. It's pretty wild. How many times have we read that Hashem hardened Pyro's heart and this was the last time until it wasn't the last time and even that last time was not the real last time. No matter how much of a wallup makurus was, no matter how much we thought that was really the last time, it wasn't the last time because parro has a change of heart and he starts to head out to the Jewish people yet again. But was told to that the people fled. He had a change of heart. What did we do? What did we do that we sent the Jewish people out? Why did I give in? Why did I agree to the ceasefire to this deal? Why did I let them take the leverage and have the upper hand? What did I do? H has an entire change of heart and says Rashi. What was his change of heart? What made parro have the change of heart? Because he lost his workforce. Who's going to pick the lettuce in the field? Who's going to wash the dishes in the restaurants? Change of heart. We deported all the people. Now what? No, that wasn't it. What gave him the change of heart? Says Rashi, what did the Jewish people do on our way out? We fulfilled the promise Hashem had made to Aram. Hashem told Ara that when we leave Egypt, we're going to go. We're going to go with great wealth. So, Hashem orchestrated things that before we left, we went to our neighbors, our Egyptian oppressors, and we said, "By the way, can I borrow this? Can I borrow that?" We use the term borrow the way a person says, "Can I borrow a tissue?" no intent to return it. How can we say such a thing? Isn't it disingenuous? Aren't we stealing? So Kazal explain. We're not the first to ask this. Years later, the descendants of our oppressors in Egypt tried to sue us for all that money. By the way, it happened again in the Egyptian university, maybe 15 years ago, tried to initiate a lawsuit against the Jewish people with interest and inflation. How much we took and stole on the way out. To which the simple response is, let's make a calculation. 210 years of slavery of 2 to three million people. Figure out the hourly rate of what we should have been paid and why don't we call it Ethan because Egypt got a better end of the deal. So here we took these things on our way out. Right? After it was such a wallup, such a whack, so devastating that parro pursued Mosha in the middle of the night and he said, "Whatever it takes, end this. Just go. Good riddens get lost." Because he said, "We're all dying." He sees what's happening. People are dropping dead all around him. Everyone's going to die. It wasn't just the firstborn who were dying. It seemed that others were dying as well and power was afraid for his life. So how could the same par who feared for his life and saw this as the end have this change of heart that now he's pursuing chasing the people yet again yet again says and says everybody knows hold up if a thief comes to your store and holds you up and says give me your money what's the intelligent thing to give your money because he's going to kill you and you'd rather give your money than your life. What good is it for power to try to recover this money the Jewish people took if Hashem is willing to kill him? If he almost died, if almost wiped everyone out says that question, your money or your life? Who's the old famous comedian? >> Jackenn. >> Jack Benny. Your money or your life? No, I'm thinking your money or your life. Some people, your money or your life, they're thinking parro and his people said we'd rather our money even if it means risking our life. So connected, so attached were worthy to their money. So unable to give it or forfeit it even for the right cause. So defined by it that they were really lit literally willing to give up their life for their money. If they lost their money, they lost their whole life. If they lost all their money, it's like they lost their life. Because if you define success by money, if success is defined by net worth, [snorts] if your net worth goes down or you lose your money, you lost your life. But if you know there's much more to life, if you know that money is only a tool, money is a means, never an ends. Money is a resource to use to give to the BRS global campaign and express gratitude for how much you benefit to build a campus to be able to share and teach and inspire and enrich and empower more Torah if you understand that money is a resource. It's a resource to have your Shabas table filled with guests. It's a resource to enjoy the beauty of this world and life and thank Hashem for it. But never confuse it with life. Then even if one, God forbid, lost money, they would still have so much of a life. So if you mistakenly define money for life or money for success, if you lose your money, you lost your life and you're willing to risk your life. And that's exactly what power is willing to do. And you see this with lot as well. Lo recognized that saw these men. He knew they were angels and he risked his life by welcoming them and hosting them. But when they say lo, come evacuate. You got to get out because we're destroying the entire city. Pardon me. Lo said one second. If I leave, if I evacuate, I saved my life, but I I can't take things with me. Can I first just sell my house and cash out? Can I first just call Schlami the mover and gather my things? Like, what do you mean that to save my life, I have to leave all my things behind? This mamea lo said I'm going to need a couple minutes to think about that you crazy you going to die and go down with your stuff you could live and survive if it means leaving your stuff but if your things defined you if you're defined by your things if you're defined by your portfolio if you're defined by your net worth then you have to stop and think I guess that's where Jack Benny got it from visma said I'm thinking about it that's what load actually says I'm thinking about it I'm thinking about That's why the Torah comes and tells us in great contradiction and we say it every day just said it this morning meanso with all of our resources and all of our things dedicate them to the service and the mission of Hashem and never confuse our identity or our worth with your net worth. Your worth is not your net worth. Never confuse making a living with living. Never confuse your net worth with your worth. And when you do, then you'll give up your life for them. When you don't, you know there's so much more to life. And you still have a life even without them. And that's what parro didn't get. That's why parro had a change of heart. That's why parro pursues the people. All of this the next turn the page. Jewish people panic. They raise their eyes and they see is running after them. They're very afraid and they cry out. They call out to Hashem. Pik says, "Who and what is chasing them? What's chasing them?" Not a trick question. You can look inside. Open book test. What is the word? Egypt. They raised their eyes and who and what is chasing them. What should it say? The mit are chasing not mit. So one answer is we saw this previously from Salvik. There are two things that were being liberated from mitim and mitim. They're the Egyptians who are our oppressors. But then there's Egypt. Egypt is a culture. Egypt is an attitude. Egypt is a philosophy. Egypt is a perspective. To a degree, it was easier to save the Jewish people from the Egyptians than it was to take them out of Egypt. There's Mitim and there's Mitsim. When they looked up and they saw what was behind them, they felt not only were the Egyptians chasing them, but Egypt. They're trying to get out of Egypt. They're trying to change their whole identity and worldview and perspective. And it's Egypt that's chasing them. But Rashi says something else. Why is it in the singular rather than the plural says one heart, one man? Now that's a familiar phrase. Certainly if you're part of BRS, if you're watching it online right now, you see the logo in the overlay in our YouTube stream. And our logo is valuing diversity, celebrating unity. I could darling the slogan another time, but Those words are familiar. Why are they familiar? Where did the Torah tell us that? It's another where when we all encamped opposite the mountain and what should the word be new? Why does it say rather than new? We were so united at Hari. There wasn't this many and that Yamaka and the other Yamaka. They go to this school versus they go to that school. They go to this way versus they vote that way. There was one people. And frankly, since we walked away from that mountain, we've been trying to get back to trying to get back. Notes the me of Yatskin. What happened? Did we get this lexic? We got it backwards all wrong. previously was that's but now even earlier we're leaving and in the singular rather than why so why do we have two different orders because it's a so here's the You could be united in one of two ways. You could be united because you're united. And now you take your unity to pursue common interests, common values, or you could be united only by a common enemy. United by a common enemy. When it came to the Jewish people, we had a true unity, a true integration and synergy. We were truly united. And then that unity was the values of Torah, the sense of mission, building a people. We took that sense of unity and we pursued with it. But here the Egyptians, their unity didn't come from anything intrinsic or inherent. Their unit wasn't their unity wasn't real or authentic. Their unity was p purely pragmatic and functional. They were united by a common enemy, namely the Jewish people. And you see this to today. It's also as a partial perspective for today because there are countries around the world who are bitter enemies and arch rivals. And the only thing they have in common is hating the Jewish people in Israel. They are they have one heart in wanting to destroy the Jewish people. So they act. We in great distinction were We're one people and because we're one people now we act with with when we see ourselves as the children of the progeny of our forefathers of our matriarchs and patriarchs we're willing to die for one another we're have one heartbeat one heartbeat one heartbeat when the three boys went missing I think it was Frankle who said that the Jewish people the way that we responded and there were rallies left and in TIA gatherings over and over. And she said, "Two Jews, three opinions, one heart. Two Jews, three opinions, but one heart." And we felt that again yesterday and today when that final body came home. So many different opinions. And since October 7th, unfortunately, so much division has been sewed again in our people. But for one moment, there's a breakthrough. for one moment when we all got that news alert when that came across that for the first time in 10 years there's not one hostage that there's finally closure for that family and for our people and please God we can turn a healthy corner so again a little bit two Jews three opinions but one heart because we're is we have as opposed to others they have they're of one heart united only by a common enemy so they act. They find a way to pretend and cooperate as one people for a little while. We're skipping. We're on our way now. They find themselves between the proverbial rock and the hard place and Hashem has split the sea for them. And yes, we're flying right through that because we've studied it in the past and we now get to what we say every day. We covered it in sitter snippets. If you want to, you can hear old previous param or you can find it in sitter snippets. We're on page 374 of chapter 14 verse 30. God saved the Jewish people on that day from Egypt. When did we finally have closure? When we saw they died on the banks of the sea. Jewish people saw the great hand of Hashem on Egypt and the people saw God of Mosha and we believed in God and in Moshe his loyal servant. Now this I'll just pose to you as a question for you to think about. This Pik should in some ways be very troubling to us. We just equated faith in God and faith in Moshe. That bother anybody else? Mosha. So the simple answer is we had faith in Hashem and equally had faith that Moshe was his loyal servant. It's not that we had the same faith in Mosha that we had in Hashem. Of course, it meant we had faith in Hashem or equally had faith that Moshe was a loyal servant. Although that may not be entirely what it says. So I want to share with you from the holy he asked a different question. Now, now when Moshe first approaches the people and they're suffering in the servitude of Egypt and he says, "Great news. Got good news for you. I'm here to take you out." And all the signs around them show otherwise. All the, you know, people gamble. It's an unfortunate, horrific pandemic today. Too many people are addicted. So, there are oddsmakers for everything. Everything. Every day, every hour, they're oddsmakers for when or if America is going to attack Iran. oddsmakers for everything. So the oddsmakers in Egypt, what would they have said about the Jewish people getting out? Odds were significantly severely against. So if the Jewish people nevertheless said despite what the odd makers are saying, we have faith. We believe Moshe, you're taking us out. We all would have been very impressed. But now they just lived through and they witnessed 10 plagues. 10 times God interveneed with nature to perform the supernatural. 10 times that God in intervened with the ordinary in order to bring the extraordinary and then the splitting of the sea to top it all off and they come out of the splitting of the sea and they say, "Oh, now we're believers." And we say, "Wow, amazing. They have such faith. Wow, look at them living with amuna." After everything they witnessed and observed, after everything they lived and they saw, after everything they experienced firsthand, what more amuna is there that now we're impressed? Now we admire now they had some growth spurt and amuna tellsi the average lowly made on the sea saw with greater clarity and confidence than the ni the prophet. So says the amuna was with everything we just witnessed and with everything we just saw and with as much as we still believe, we know there's still higher levels of amuna. We know if our amuna is only based on what we empirically just experienced, we know there's still a higher level of amuna vashm. The amuna was that there's a higher level of amuna and somewhat paradoxically what's the higher level of amuna amuna simple amuna. It's not a big deal to have amuna after you experience a miracle. But to have amuna when the miracle's not yet come to have amuna when there's not a happy ending. To have amuna when things seem like they're going wrong. To have amuna an amuna that's an amuna. A simple straightforward non-complicated amuna. I don't need some proof or evidence, some highulutin philosophy. Just simple and straight. There's a God. He talks to me. I talk to him. He loves me and I love him. Period. Plain and simple. I don't need miracles. I don't need more. That is the higher level of amuna. And that's the Bashem that even with all they saw and experienced. And even if their amuna was based on so much, they knew there was a higher level. And then he quotes the so he says the son of the learned something from here. The word tense is in future. Why does the Torah tell us that most of the Jewish people sang in a future tense that the Jewish people will sing a song again? It should say they sang not they will sing. Why not? Their amuna was so unimpressive at that moment because the amuna was based on everything they saw. But they desperately wanted a higher level of amuna. So how could they manufacture a higher level of amuna than the amuna they had from everything they saw? So what was something they hadn't yet seen? The resurrection of the dead. It took complete faith to believe. When we look around in our empirical experience, nobody who's dead comes back to life. Once somebody's been declared, they're done. We bury them. We say goodbye. So to believe in a faith that will be reunited, to believe and a faith that those who are gone will come back to life. To believe that there's an eternity and immortality of the soul and a world to come, that is something outside the realm of anyone's experience. So what did they believe in that exact moment? If they had achieved such a high level of belief because they had experienced such a high level of revelation, then what was left to be a leap of faith? They didn't a leap anywhere. They didn't need any leap at all. So what was yet left for there to be a leap of faith? And that's how our rabbis knew the rapture says something else. The order is out of order. Should it first bee? Do you first have faith and then you see him? Or do you see him and then you have faith? Do you ever think about that? You say it every day. What do you do? First see God and then believe in him or first believe in him and then see him. It should be you first have faith. What do you mean? They saw him and then they had faith. When you have faith then you see. There are two types, two categories of the first is our parents told us they heard from their parents who heard from their parents who heard from their parents that there's a God. He created a world and he's involved and invested in every one of our relationships. He knows each of us intimately. That's and that's what we receive from those who came before. And so we live with a healthy dose of all of heaven. But there's another level of amuna. Yes, we hopefully from the cradle we were singing Hashem is here. Hashem is there. Yes, we were believing in Hashem and we were loving Hashem and we're singing thank you Hashem even from when we were three years old that we received from our parents. But there's another level to explore and experience and to find and to carve our own relationship with Hashem to talk to him and to hear him talking to us. To lean on him and to feel him loving us. It started with the of what I got from my parents and grandparents. Yeah, I have amuna. I keep shabas. I keep kosher. I davin. I have amuna. I believe. My parents taught me. I'm still singing. Hashem is here. Hashem is there. I'm still singing. Thank you, Hashem. But then we go through things in life. We have moments. We have experience. We have breakthrough or we have disappointment where we say this is not coincidence and this isn't chance. And I feel the presence of Hashem. A wink, a hug, a nod. The emails that I begin the living with share with each week. And those moments, our amuna gets to another level. Our on steroids. Our amuna is superersized. Our amuna is real. The amuna from our parents lets us see the world in black and white. But the amuna from our own personal journey and personal experience that transforms our amuna to seeing the world in livid in living color and vivid color. That's they saw they saw because their parents told them this is how we see the world. But then is this enormous growth spurt. It's next level. days. Now we sing the song page 380 after now the women sing and the women have their own instruments. You see the women danced and sang separately. Kisha sneas of course the women side by side their own journey and experience in a hashem sing their own song but of course doing it in an appropriate way and the women play their instruments and every year we also mention this among my favorite where they have instruments from. There is no kiosk in the desert conveniently selling tambourines. There is no mak in the desert which you can pick up a flute. So where did they get these instruments? Where did they find these instruments to be able to drum in the desert? Elm, they brought it with them out of Egypt. Why? Of all the things that you can go and save, of all the things you could take, you're going to go grab your drum. You're going to go grab your harmonica. If you're nush, that's exactly what you're going to get. You know why? Because while everyone else says, "I don't know where we're going or if we're going to get there or what's going to happen and wo is me and why me and why do we have to go through this?" The women say, "Do you have the streamers and the party hats and do you have the drums?" And why would we need that? Because it's going to be good. Hashem has a plan and he always has a plan and this is going to be amazing and there's going to be a reason that we're going to sing and dance and we better have the instruments ready for when it happens because that's what the namanos do. They live through life. They travel and journey through life always with their drums. Always with their flute. Always with their harmonica. Always with the drums. I happen to be privileged. I married a woman who knows the drums. She played at our wedding a few years ago. She played the drums. Surprised me at the end of the wedding. But women are always playing the drums, always ready, always ready to march for that beat of amuna, optimism, of faith that it will turn out great. That began back in Mitim because when the men were like, "This is hopeless and helpless. There is no future. Let's not bring any more children into this horrific world. We're done. Let's withdraw from women. We're done." And who is the one who said, "No, no, no. What's the matter with you? Hashem's got a plan. This is all going to work out. There will be a brighter and a better day. There is a day after the darkness where there is a breakthrough of great light. Who is the one who said that? It was Miriam who went to her own parents and said, "What's going on over here?" And it's in her and her merit the nash. So full circle, the same women who had the faith and optimism to get us out are the women who lead the dancing and who came out holding the instruments because all along they never doubted for a moment and they were ready to go. Moshe takes the Jewish people from Yamsu. We come right away from this miracle of a splitting of a sea. We walk for three days and we can't find water. What in the world is going on over here? We walk for three days and we can't find water. And all of a sudden now, as high as we were, quickly do we descend and it spirals down. Three days we can't find water. So we come to a place called Mara and we couldn't drink the water from Mara because it was bitter and therefore we called the name place Mara. We complained what are we going to drink? We just experienced a miracle and we're like that's nice but there's nothing to drink. It's nice but I'm thirsty. Hashem and he cried out to Hashem. Hashem showed him a tree. He threw in a stick. It sweetened the water. Taught all kinds of of the mitzvah that we already got there. What is this luim? And what is this? What is this? The water. What is this water? [snorts] Anyone have the ability to stop time? Anybody? No. So Rashi Rashi tells us here that Rashi tells us here sorry these three days that we didn't get water don't read it water what is it we didn't have three days tora water is a euphemism water is a metaphor for Torah we went three days without Torah and when we went three days without Torah. That was it. We became an encouragable group of complainers. We became miserable and negative. We lost our filter to see and interpret the world around us. We became lost without our navigation tool. So what happened? So the prophets, so to ensure that we'd never go again go three days without Torah, we read the Torah Monday, Thursday in Shabas. Monday, Thursday, Shabas, we'll never again go three days without Torah. We saw what happened, how far we descended when we went three days without Torah. We make sure that'll never happen again. One does. What was wrong with the simple understanding of the Pik? Why do we have to concoct this whole further lay layer of interpretation? No, water doesn't mean water. Water means Torah. Three days without water means we have three days without Torah. That can never happen again. So therefore, we instituted reading Torah Monday, Thursday, and Shabas. What was wrong with just reading the simple understanding? There was no water. They complained. So, Hashem got them water says it's impossible. It can't be that a people who experienced everything they had seen. The people who had reached the level of Mosha now because they got a little thirsty, they were ready to throw it all away. It cannot be. The only way that can happen is what? If you don't have Torah in your life. If a Jew is so distanced from Torah, if you go three days without learning or listening, without embibing and absorbing, without picking up the signal of Torah, if you lose your navigation tool, you're going to get lost. So, Kazal understood it can't just be water because after everything they experienced, that would not be enough of a reason for them to complain the way they did. What happened here? Not just water, they lost Torah. And this is a lesson for each and every one of us. We cannot go three days. is you can't go one day without Torah. One day without Torah, this world is so complicated and this world is so enticing and this world is so chaotic and this world is so corrupt that if the Torah is not keeping us on the straight and narrow. The Torah is not helping us regulate our own behavior and be disciplined. If the Torah is not helping us be who we're meant to be, we will be lost. We will be lost. So Kazal said you can't go three days without Torah, but we say you can't go one day without Torah. Torah has to be like food. It nourishes us. It stains us. It is our air that we breathe. It's the food that we eat. And the same way at the end of a long day, a long long day, maybe a day that you were traveling or a day you were stuck and you had no access to food and nothing to eat, but before you went to bed at 2 am, you stopped in the kitchen just to nosh on something small. Because even though you don't need it and you'll survive without it, but you can't go to bed without eating something because you didn't need all day. So Torah, too, you can't go to bed without noshing on a little Torah. Torah has to be like the food that we eat, like the water that we drink. And even if you didn't get a chance all day because legitimately you were busy and occupied and preoccupied and running for a million and one things, you can't go to bed. You have to collapse with a little nosh, a little taste of Torah. A little something because a Jew can't go a day without Torah or we'll totally and utterly be lost. Also on this P, we'll end even though I had so many great amazing fantastic awesome more things to share. But good news is we're going to read Pious Pash again next year. The go also on these words. Why would we compare water to Torah if these were bitter water? Because water at first is bitter. Because the physical body is resist the soul and everything spiritual. Torah is the source of all holiness and spirituality. The body wasn't able to absorb the water. It tasted bitter because the body says I don't want the message of Torah. Torah tells me what I have to give up and what I have to change and I have to improve. I don't want the message of Torah. The body says indulge in the body. Pursue the pleasures of the body. So the body resists the measure of Torah. To the body Torah, the water tastes bitter. What was bitter? Who was bitter? Not the water. Means the people. If you're resisting, if you don't want it, if you're not in the mood for it, it's going to taste bitter. Water. A lot of people don't enjoy drinking water. Okay. Okay, so you spend your father's money on some fancy mug because they came out with a name that weighs like 20 pounds to Stanley. None of you know what I'm talking about because I have to drink so much water. But people don't like water. Water tastes bitter. Water tastes plain. Water tastes simple. I don't want water. The Torah is the same way. Unless you know you want it. You know when water You know when water is delicious? When you just came back from a run. When you just finished exercising. When you walk to shul in bokeh in August, water is delicious because water doesn't have taste. How delicious it is depends entirely on how thirsty you are for it. And the same is true with Torah. When you're thirsty for it, it's super delicious. But if you're not in the mood, if you resist it, it tastes bitter. It tastes bitter. Moshe threw an eight into it and the water was sweet. What's the eight that he threw into it? Torah is sweet to those who are thirsty for it. What Moshe did is he turned to a generation of people. This is what we try to do at Bas and that's why the upcoming Bas global campaign, if you support us, enables us to be able to do it. We can end this right now. By the way, if everyone just matches or increases what they did last year, if everyone just does the mensh and right thing and helps us, then you don't have to hear about it anymore. But really, our mission and what we try to do is say the following. There's a whole world of people who don't even know that they're dehydrated. They don't even know they're malnourished. How many Jews unaffiliated and affiliated? How many Jews non-observant and even observant, but they don't taste the sweetness of Torah? They're not in a dynamic, real livid, vivid relationship with Hashem. Like Moshe, we're trying to throw the eights of the into the water to transform it from being bitter and plain and tasteless into something so sweet that you can't get enough of it. That's our mission. That's our purpose. That's what we're trying to do. That's why I thank you for coming. A lot more to say on this para, even on that p. But until next time, on your way out, please stop and do your part. Buy raffle tickets for the upcoming global campaign. Tremendous raffle tonight 7:15. Lo al Sharif. Come celebrate and elevate moderate and amazing voices within the Muslim world tonight at 7:15. Stay happy, stay healthy, stay holy.