Pesach, Gambling, & The 4 Questions - A Pathway to Personal Freedom

The story begins. We dive in to Pesak. Pesak has a lot of mitzvah, a lot of diverse mitzvah. We have a mitzvah to participate in the corban pesak, the Passover offering, which as of this particular moment while this video is being recorded and this class is being given live, we're unable to do so because we are not yet in Jerusalem with the temple, but that might change by the time Pes comes. We have a mitzvah to eat matzah. We have a mitzvah to eat mur. We have a mitzvah to have the four cups of wine. We have a mitzvah to refrain from eating and even owning kits. We also have a mitzvah to discuss the Passover story. A lot of these mitzvah are incorporated together in the seder and are done in a particular order. But I'd like to hone in tonight on the mitzvah of discussing the pes or discussing this Passover story which is one of the commandments remembering our exodus in elaborate detail. And the way we traditionally do it is with questions and then an answer. We start with four questions the manishana and that warms us up to discussion. It's interesting to note that everybody's asking the same four questions every single year. You'd think that we'd we'd get it by now, right? But commentaries explain that when it comes to when it comes to truth, there actually is a one-sizefits-all. And what we're trying to achieve on the night of Pesak is a certain level of truth. the four questions that we ask that open our minds to exploring in depth what real freedom means in real time not just in historical time. So the four questions the the truth is there's a debate as to what the order of the four questions should be. There's a debate between the Babylonian Talmud versus the Jerusalem Talmud. And to this day, the debate goes on depending on which Hagada you use. If you use a I mean there's many different versions of Hagadas, but I'm just giving an example. Were you to use an Ashkanaz Hagada Hagada like let's say an art scroll or whatever it is. The order will be why on this night we have why in all other nights we have matzah. Tonight we just have matzah. But were you and that's the Babylonian tradition. Were you to use a hagada that is of saf I assume of sphartic tradition but I'm not 100% sure but of the tradition from the Arizal. He would follow the tradition from the Jerusalem Talmud. And the first of the four questions is going to be why on all other nights we don't dip at all and tonight we dip twice. Then question number two, the matzah. On all other nights we have kt or matzah. Tonight we just have matzah. Then question number three, why tonight we have the bitter herbs. Question number four, why tonight we lean? And the truth is it is kind of unusual to start with the question of why do we dip? Because the logical place to start is matzah. That is the number one thing that is of biblical priority. The fact that we dip is a tradition, not a mitzvah. Not a requirement. It's a requirement because it's a tradition that we're required to do. But it's not like a mitzvah that was established by the rabbis and we say a blessing of dipping like we would on the m. It's not there's no blessing. We say as we would on the matzah, the logical place is to actually start with the matzah. And were you to examine various commentaries, you'll understand that there's different explanations and reasons for the order of the questions. The order is quite significant. In the what's known as the kisaal the teachings of the Arizal there are deep explanations and perspective that he offers as to the order of uh the four questions. The way the Arizal saw things, Gloria, the cabalist was that everything in the Hagada and and the truth is everything in Judaism, this is not just true with the Hagada, everything in Judaism, everything in the Torah, everything in front of our eyes in existence is the front end version of a backend reality. And what Cabala does is describes the backend coding of the front-end reality. If you open up to a website or even just watching this video, you're just seeing the front end output. But the coding behind it, the backing behind it is much more complex than the clean clear simplicity that is being um I'm talking your language that that the clean clear simplicity that is being presented in front of you and that backend complexity is complex. I mean that's what it is. So whenever we're trying to understand something in the Torah, whether it be what is the reason this particular word is used, what is the reason this the order is taught in this way or whatever it is, there's layers of explanation and one of the deeper layers is going to be the cabalistic layer. And the Arizal explains that the four questions correspond to what's known as the four worlds. There's four worlds that Kabala describes. And when we say four worlds, we don't mean four planets, not necessarily four geographical spaces, but imagine, you know, I'm I'm no good at math. I'm not like a math guy. Imagine you were really into math. Imagine you were an expert in trigonometry. So I would have no idea what you're talking about and you would have a hard time explaining it to me because my mind just is not ready to accept that. So from the perspective of mathematics, you could say we're in different worlds. We can be in the same room. We could be in the same geographical space and exist at the same time. But when it comes to math, we're in different worlds. Similarly, spiritually there's different worlds. And what these worlds mean, they don't mean different levels of uh uh different places, but levels of essentially levels of clarity. The reality is, and this is not a reality we might be explicitly aware of, but the reality is that God is the creator and that anything that exists emanates from God, which means everything is essentially one with God because everything is dependent on God. Hashem, God is one. Not just that there's one God. that reality is going to be better perceived in fact more obvious in a higher world than it would be in a lower world and the manishana the four questions are addressing four different worlds with this background explains contains the concluding question which many commentaries address. The concluding question is on all other nights we eat while we're sitting or you can eat while you're leaning. You can do do whatever you want at this night. We're all leaning and commentaries try to figure out what that means. And the reason why they try to figure out what that means is because that question, the fourth question, does not appear in the Talmud. You know why it doesn't appear in the Talmud? Something else appears in its instead. It's been replaced. On all other nights, we eat meat, whether boiled or roasted. Tonight only roasted, referencing the Pes offering, the Corban Pes. At some point we realize we have to stop asking that question because that's just cutting the wound even deeper. That's not representing freedom anymore because we don't have a corbin pes. So it was later replaced with leaning. And what does leaning represent? So the Arizal explains in cababalistic fashion and I will do my best just to present the idea um stripped from the cabalistic technical cabalistic jargon. Leaning represents freedom. There's times where you stand at attention and you're not very free. You're not free to be you. There's times where you sit and there's times where you can just lean. You could just be you. You could be comfortable with who you're supposed to be. You could be comfortable with the ultimate reality with which you were born. And the Arizal says that what that actually references is the world of Atsilus, the highest of the spiritual worlds. Because in the world of the reality of Hashem, God is one is the reality that's taken for granted, not the reality that is to be discovered through faith or through intellectual uh pursuit or investigation. It's obvious to us in our paradigm. There was certain realities like social realities. Let's say I'm giving an example. There's certain social realities that go without saying, right? There's certain the I'll give you an example. Let's say Cen kills Heel, right? The first murder in the Torah. Ken killed Abel. Hashem gets angry at Cayenne. How dare you do that? And commentaries ask, well, the seven no wide laws weren't given yet. Didn't say don't murder in the Bible. So, how is he supposed to know? And the answer is despite the world existing for only however long it existed at this point, not very long, it's obvious. There's a human innate obvious understanding you don't kill. And if somebody and and the societies where killing is acceptable, murder is accept killing. Murder is acceptable. That's a brainwashed society according to the Torah. That's an abnormal human thing. It should be obvious. The Torah says it anyways, right? Certain things go without saying and have to be said, but technically it should be obvious. I'm bringing that as an example because there's certain realities to in our world that are just obvious. In the world of atilos, God is obvious. You don't have to prove God in that world. You don't even have to believe God in that world. Believe in God in that world. It's just the truth. I I'll give you uh another example just to contrast our world with the world of this is one of my favorite examples. Imagine, imagine you had a piano and you are a musician. You're into music. You like music. Let's say I'm not into music. Let's say I was tonedeaf, right? And then let's say you had a woodpecker. I'm giving three characters here. The musician, the tonedeaf guy, the woodpecker. All three of them are facing this piano. And they all see different things. The musician sees what this item was intended for. He's not looking at strings and pipes and wood and and keys from tusks. No, I'm kidding. Um, he's looking at the potential for a spiritual masterpiece that you can't literally see. You have to be sensitive to enough to appreciate. For me, I see furniture. I see strings. The woodpecker sees lunch. It's the same piano. Which persp all three perspectives are have some level of reality to them. But which is the most intended and true reality? Musicians. The most sophisticated and spiritual of them. In the paradigm or world head space of Atsilos, there's a certain obviousness about God. It's just obvious. There's no questions. You know what they say? Those those who have no those who have faith have no questions and those who don't have faith have no answers. I mean that that in some ways is the world of where it's just the truth of God. And when you have that truth, you're very comfortable with yourself. You don't need to turn to other things. You don't need to start f filling that void with unhealthy things. And you're not even at a place where you could finally just sit down. You could literally lean You could just you could literally lean down and just just be present. You literally just get to just this is who I am. Um th this is Pesal explains this night. All of us are leaning. All of us have that freedom. Usually that space of atilos, that space of deep obvious connection with God, with truth, knowing what your purpose is in such a confident way where you could just lean that is usually reserved for few for specific people usually for the sadic. And we can get inspired by the sadic who is living that reality. But for the rest of us, we're either sitting, we're standing. What are we doing? But on this night, the night of Pesak, we're all leaning. We all have the ability to tap into that reality. We all have the ability to experience incredible deep freedom. Just a couple hours before our discussion tonight, I was listening to a podcast and apparently I guess I'm a little out of the loop on on multiple fronts here, but apparently there is a gambling epidemic plaguing I guess the world at large, but particularly the Jewish world because watching sports I've been like out of sports in such a while, but watching sports used to be an innocent thing. And during the sports games, they try to get you by flashing Coca-Cola in your face, right, to advertise to you. But now, what's being advertised is gambling. And people have found themselves in predicaments that are enslaving them in financial uh in ways where there are incredible social, financial, spiritual consequences and everybody's trying to figure out why. Why are people getting lured into this? That's true. For, by the way, that for for me, the Coca-Cola uh ad probably did a lot. Why are people getting lured into this? And there's different explanations and and whatever it is, and it's it's the internet's fault, and it's these people's fault, and parents need to be on top of their kids, and it these are all true, but there's another perspective here. I know I'm going on a bit of a tent, but there's another perspective here. Doing something as harmful as gambling is a strategy. Usually mo most harmful behaviors, by the way, are strategies. Think of a harmful behavior that you're doing if you are. If not, think about what somebody else is doing. That's always much easier. No, I'm kidding. Um, think of a harmful behavior and ask yourself, if I did this, what would be different about me? What would be better about me? What would I hope to gain? If I gambled and won, what would be different? I'd feel confident. I'd feel free. I'd feel rich. I'd feel successful. These are strategies. And to at the night of Pesak, we can attain the most true raw deep level of freedom. And I'll tell you soon how we'll get there without the negative strategies, without the unhealthy harmful strategies. Because like the Arisal explains, Allay this night, we're all leaning. We're all just totally free and comfortable with ourselves. We're all in this paradigm of sealless where we can just lean and relax and be whenever I speak with clients with couples. So many I I this is anecdotal but everybody really wants the same thing. They want to just be able to be themselves without having to edit themselves. Some people find unhealthy strategies by which they do that. But we all have the ability within ourel with within to be ourselves and just to be free to feel connected to feel connected to God. I'll give you a a biblical example of where we see this play out. Ysef Joseph and his brothers did not get along, right? The brothers tried killing him then they ended up selling him. He goes down to Egypt and this is the start of the story of Pesak. This is ironically the start of the story of our freedom. Ysef is uh gets him through his ability with God-given ability to interpret dreams. By the way, it's not only his ability to interpret dreams, it's his sensitivity to see that people need their dreams interpreted. That's a part of it. But through his immense sensitivity, he works his way toward being the viceroy of Egypt, second in command. The brothers come and Yseph starts pulling their leg. You guys are spies, right? Because they didn't recognize him. He recognized them. The simple interpretation is that he was a young boy of 17 when they had sold him and now it's decades later. He looks different, but they look pretty much the same. Rashi says, "Prior to this, Yseph didn't have a beard. Now he does." They didn't recognize him. The way the cabalists explain it, though, is that there was a quality that Ysef was representing that was foreign to the brothers. You mean to say that you could retain your identity as a Jew? as a as a as a child of Jacob. Retain your identity as a Hebrew, as the people of God, as somebody so different. You could retain that identity without being a farmer in the middle of the land of Cananan. You could do that in Egypt as the viceroy. That was foreign. I understand retaining your spiritual identity and freedom away from distraction. But you're in the heart of it. And you still have the ability to retain who you truly are, to be comfortable with who you truly are, and to feel free about it and feel good about it. That was completely foreign to Yseph's brothers. They didn't recognize him. Like, who are you, man? And that's what we're celebrating on PES because on PES that is not an anomaly. That is the reality we all tap into. We are all experiencing this reality on PES. This incredible deep freedom where we lean. We just relax and be ourselves in front of God because we're so connected to God. We are all in this paradigm of atilus where connection is not something that seems like an anomaly but true connection and identity it's like a this is who I am. What is the pathway to that like that? That is the reality taking place on Pes. We might not always be aware of it. How do we be aware of it? How do we align ourselves with that? How do we experience that? And the answer is actually in the opening line to the mid portion of the Hagada where we start getting into the story. The opening line is this is the bread of affliction that our fathers had eaten in Egypt. All those who are needy, who need a place for the seder or all those who are hungry, come and join us. And we make an invitation. But we start off proclaiming that this matzah that we're about to eat as the bread of affliction that our fathers had eaten in Egypt. And what we're actually doing is setting the tone. What we're actually doing is proclaiming how the pathway toward freedom. What is the pathway toward freedom? The matzah. The matzah is the the it's the poor man's bread. There's a beautiful teaching from the Maharal. He says, "What's poor man's bread?" Well, contrast that to wealthy man's bread. In in times when money was very tight and the economy was super uh on a down low, bread meant flour, water. That's a poor person's bread. Now, we make sourdough and it's all fancy and you upcharge it. But but it's in a time where somebody's doing well economically, you can afford to put other things in that bread. You can add oil, eggs, sugar, salt, yeast. You can put other things in it. That's the wealthy man's bread. So the Maharal of Prague explains what's the poor man's bread? The bread of simplicity. That's the bread that gives us freedom. The simplicity. Sometimes we try to be so complex, intellectually complex, emotionally complex, we overthink, we overanalyze. And in the process of doing so, we forget our identity. We forget who we who we are. And tonight we have the poor man's bread. We have just matzah. There's no particular outstanding flavor to it because our service to God is approached with simplicity. Not simplicity because we're afraid to ask the big questions. But on the contrary, when we start from a place of simplicity, even in Egypt, where I'm just going to connect simply because that's who I am deep down inside, where I understand and I know and I believe that there is a larger reality that my own two eyes can appreciate. There's so much more to reality than my two eyes can appreciate. There's so much more to God's plan, master plan, than my own two eyes can appreciate. And I'm going to have this simple faith. That's what the matzah represents. Even in Egypt, even in that constriction, that is the place from which we're asking the four questions. This is the prerequisite to asking the four questions. It's coming from a place of simplicity. And when doing so, we can truly say, "I'm comfortable with myself because I'm not overthinking it. Not because I'm afraid to think, God forbid, not because I'm afraid to challenge or answer or ask the big questions." But on the contrary, big questions actually have simple answers when because it's the simplicity that takes us to a space of confidence of this is the obvious truth. Okay, that's my story. And I'm sticking to