This Simple Shift Will Make You Unstoppable

And we begin the book of Dvarim of Deuteronomy. Very exciting book. Deuteronomy stands out from the rest of the four books of the Torah, four books of Moshe in that I mean one of the things is it's there's a different vibe here. You know why it's called Deuteronomy? You know what Deuteronomy means? In in Hebrew we call what were you going to say? What is I mean it's what is it? Latin or something. >> Yeah, it's from the word from do like do or duo of >> of like originally like a Greek word but yeah probably means like >> repetition. >> It's some sort of repetition. In Hebrew we call it the Mishna Torah which means a repeat or recap of the Torah. Moshe is recapping the Torah to the Jewish people and he's kind of giving him his parting words, his last words, his uh it's like a By the way, rabbis love the book of Deuteronomy because it's like a built-in sermon. It's all it's all right there. This is what Mosha is leaving the Jewish people with as they're about to enter the promised land and he remains behind. And I mean, one of the things, by the way, we see in Deuteronomy, Rashi tells us this right away, the very first Rashi, that what Moshe is doing is actually covertly rebuking the Jewish people because he's going through all the different places that we had gone to, kind of alluding, but subtly alluding to things that we probably shouldn't have done there. And we derive a lot of lessons from here in how to rebuke people. Number one, it should be private. Number two, wait. Don't do it right away. Wait till they're about to get to their promised land. Wait till there's hope. Wait till there's excitement. Wait till they're open to listening. Um but beyond the rebuke, the subtle rebuke we see in this para, there's something much bigger here that stands out. And the the truth is I've never really given this much thought until uh until I recently till recently which is where is this taking place geographically speaking? Where is this taking place? Somewhere in the desert, right? Somewhere not in Israel because we hadn't yet gotten into the land of Israel. But I'm going but here's what the the verse says. These are the words or the things that Moshe had spoken to the whole of Israel where in which means this area that was across the Jordan. So they're in the desert. There's the Jordan River. Uh they're in the desert on the east, the Jordan River, and then Israel on the west. This is where they are. The Torah makes a point of telling us the exact or not the exact but the general location of the Jewish people. Why is that important? Um but let's make the question a little stronger. You ready? Last week's para which was the end of the book of Numbers, the end of the four books of Moshe as a whole. And it recapped the 42 journeys from when they had exited Egypt until they finally got until this uh till the threshold of of entering the promised land. And it identifies the exact space and it ends off with the sentence right before we said. It ends off with the sentence, these are the mitzvah that God had commanded in Arvos Moab, in the plains of Moab, in the Moabitete plains upon the Jordan River by Jericho. Okay. Then the very next sentence, which happens to be the next book, Deuteronomy, says, "The Jewish people are across the Jordan. They didn't move yet." Like like if you're just if you were watching this in a movie, if you were watching this in real time, from the end of the book of Numbers till the beginning of the book of Deuteronomy, the end of Midbar to the beginning of they haven't moved an inch. They're in the same exact spot. Yet, we're identifying or focusing on different spaces. At the end of the book of numbers, we identify the specific location, the plains of Moab. And in the book of Deuteronomy, Moshe is talking to them right across the Jordan, but it's the same spot. Why'd you change the name? It It's like saying, "Last week we had class in," let's say you're in Pleasanton right now, right? "Last week we had class in Pleasanton." And then I say, "Guys, today class is in California." Well, great. Pleasanton's in California. We haven't actually switched locations. Why are we just changing the name? You know what it reminds me of? >> Okay, I don't want to get political here, but it's too late. But there was a time in history where there was a place called uh Okay, hold on. I'm now I'm forgetting the story. But there was a place called East LA. East LA had horrible, horrible crime, really bad crime. And the government of uh the Los Angeles mayor came up with a brilliant idea to get rid of crime in East LA and they changed the name. Do you remember what they changed the name to? They changed the name to like >> I thought that was South Central change to South LA. >> Okay, that's what it was. You're right. I got it backwards. Okay, I just butchered this whole story. There was South Central. South Central was a very bad area. very dangerous area. And the way they solved crime, they got crime from 100% to zero. No more crime in South Central LA by calling it South LA. Problem solved. It's the same people. It's the same location. Um they are going to have to figure out the crime in South LA somehow, but that's a separate issue. We'll do we'll cross that bridge when we get there, you know. But the reason why I thought of that is because we're talking to the Jewish people in the plains of Moab in Arvas Moab. >> And now Mosha says, "And now I talk to you and I address you while you're in the Jordan River." It's like, "Dude, we're still here. We haven't moved." I know it may sound like a very technical question, but this is going to reveal a fundamental perspective in how Moshe used to view us and how Moshe views us now as we're about to enter redemption, as we're about to enter the promised land. This is relevant for us as well because we've been going through our desert, the Jewish people, for 2,000 years plus. Tishab is coming up and will be marking the destruction of the besamed, the destruction of the temple, the exile and us as Jewish people have been wandering this desert and it's been much more than 40 years and it's been much more than 42 journeys. It's been a long time. And now we're at a time where the signs of redemption, the signs that Msiah is coming closer, the signs that the world is getting ready to experience something awesome, experience something real in a way where it's not even shocking. It just feels normal. God just feels normal. It feels good. We're getting to that point that Isaiah had described the world be filled with filled with the knowledge of God like the sea covers the earth. We're getting close to that point. >> And how Moshe addresses us as we're about to get into the promised land and how he views us, it's very different. Very different. And all of this is um emblematic of the locations. Let me put it this way. the book of the four the first four books of the Torah describe the past of the Jewish people, the history of the Jewish people. And although the Torah is not a history book, um I don't mean that it's not historically accurate. God forbid, um it's not there to teach us history. That's not it's a goal. It's an instruction book, but it does tell us instruction through storytelling, starting with the story of creation until our our our descent into Egypt, our exodus from Egypt, our journey in the desert, and then the four books of Moses end. And it's telling us this uh instruction the mitzvah but by means of storytelling which means by means of looking back in hindsight because that's what the Torah is doing. It's essentially just if you read the simple text describing the past. The book of Dvarim is Moshe looking at us and getting us ready for the future. That's literally what he's doing throughout Deuteronomy. He's telling us, "You guys are going to enter this land." And he's trying to empower us because Moshe knows we're not He's not going to be with us anymore. He knows we're going to have independence. He knows that it's going to be hard and that we're going to have to roll up our sleeves and get our hands dirty. We're not going to have the clouds of glory and we're going to we're going to have, you know, real life is going to hit. We're going to have to actually really build a temple and welcome God in our own life, in our own way, and not rely on Moshe, not rely on inspiration. We're going to have to create inspiration and it's going to be in this sacred space, Israel, but it's going to be work. And Moshe is getting us ready in the book of Deuteronomy. He's talking to us about what we should take with us to the future as we cross that Jordan River. He's looking at us very differently at this point. What is different in the names the plains of Moav versus the across the Jordan River? Even though the plains of Moab is the specific local across the Jordan River is the general area area if you were to look on a map, right? It's the city versus the the general region. But what is the difference? The plains of Moab where we were was our association with the desert. It was our association with exile. We were identified as being in a space of exile. We are in exile. That's that's how we felt. We're in this desert. We have this temporary tabernacle and it's constantly needing to be packed up and moved because there's enemies, because we got to move around, because there's challenges, because there's difficulties. That's exile mode. Exile mode means you're in this desert and not just desert uh um not just a literal desert but uh figuratively speaking there's this space that is spiritually dry and because it's spiritually dry if you want to find water if you want to find truth if you want to find meaning you got to move around that's the plains of Moab it's just another stop in our journey of exile Moshe then changes the name and says, "You're no longer just in the plains of Moab. You're across the Jordan." Across the Jordan identifies where we are in relation to where we're going. across the Jordan in relation to the land of Israel. Our identity is now shifted because our identity is not just focused on where we are now, the circumstances that currently bind us, but our new identity is centered around the circumstances we're going to adopt. the redemption mindset, the freedom mindset, the being in the land of Israel mindset. Our relationship with God now, our relationship with each other, our relationship with Judaism, our relationship with simply just existing is no longer associated with trying to battle challenges and light up darkness. It's literally just focused on the light itself. In other words, to to give a more stark contrast, exile lenses, the exile reality is the reality that there is challenges in life and challenges on on many levels, spiritual challenges, so social challenges. um financial, economic, like literally on every level. Life is full of challenges and we either have to fight through the challenges or somehow elevate those challenges, right? We do that sometimes. Sometimes we sometimes we have to swim uphill up the stream and sometimes we get our pl ourselves to a space where we can kind of change the direction of the stream in certain areas. Um I'll give you I'll give you a simple example. Think about a mitzvah that used to be difficult for you but you now enjoy. Think about a mitzvah that used to be difficult for you and you thought that was never going to be me, but you now enjoy or you now do it with ease. So, you started off with resistance, fighting darkness, and now whatever that is, you like it. It propels you. It keeps you going. That's a beautiful thing. It's beautiful to resist against the darkness. It's beautiful to allow that darkness to power light. It's a beautiful thing. It's not the ultimate goal. It's still a galos mindset. I know this is almost nuanced or subtle, but the exile mind, that's the exile mindset, but the the redemption mindset, the gula mindset, the being the land of Israel in our own habitat mindset is I'm not fighting darkness. I'm not even using the darkness to propel me. I'm focused on light and that's all I care about. That's all that really matters. That is the only that is the purpose. I mean fighting darkness is a there's a purpose there. Like if I were to succeed in fighting that darkness, what would I have? Light. Okay. Let me focus on that. This is the redemption mindset. uh I I'll give you an example from the Tanya the ch toward the end of chapter one of Tanya the alter the author introduces something called kipa and he tells us that the animal soul stems from kipa he tells us that the divine soul stems from what we call kaduca holiness and he tells us in depth what kaduca means kadusha means something that is what does it mean to be holy to be transparent with your source to know where you really come from to not think that you're independently great but your greatness is because your creator is great that's a holy thing what is the definition of kipa if you learn kabala you'll learn the definition of kipa. If you learn the Tanya, he tells you about the kipa, but he doesn't really get into what it is. He doesn't really explore it. Why? Because we're not trying to become experts in kipa. We're trying to become experts in getting away from kipa, in becoming holy, in connection, in relationships. It's like when people ask me, "Do you uh specialize in couples fighting?" No. I'm trying to get you away from that. Do Do you specialize in in depression and anxiety or trauma? Why would I want to specialize in that? I know this sounds a little ridiculous almost or or facicious on my end, but I I specialize in helping you become who you really want to be instead of that. That's the redemption mindset. And Moshe is no longer looking at us as just you're another stop in the desert, you're almost there. He's identifying us as by being in the Jordan River as if your only existence, your relationship of where you are right now is only in relation to where you're going to be in this sacred space. There are what I see are two very important outcomes from this from this paradigm shift. Number one, the you know for thousands of years, 2,000 plus years, Jewish people have been waiting for redemption, waiting for Messiah, waiting for this time. And one of the things that the Labavatbad introduced to us and it sounds radical but I think the more we we learn about it we learn the para and these lenses it actually makes a lot of sense which is we're no longer here to wait for Msiah. We're no longer here to wait for the messianic era to come where God is going to finally become more available and accessible in this world. And we have to start living it. Which means and this is the second lesson and more practical practical I I think this translates directly into how we view people. When Messiah comes, imagine Messiah were to come, like envision this, and as a community, as a Jewish people, we'd head over to the land of Israel. There'd be unity. There'd be unity in our leadership because it wouldn't be political leadership. It would be messianic leadership. There'd be unity because we'd be more divine inspired. We'd be more aware of the divinity within. We'd be more aware of our souls. we'd be more aware of the connection and relationship that we have to God. We're automatically going to be more aware of the relationship we have to each other. We're going to be together in the Ba Mikdash, it's going to be even more beautiful, by the way, than the first Ba Miklash because the first Ba Mikdash, I don't think there was that much diversity among the Jewish people. I mean, we we came from Egypt together. We came to the land of Israel together. Okay, people moved throughout Israel. So there might be subcultures, but now after 2,000 years of exile, there's a lot of color to Judaism, a lot of flavor to Judaism. There's Sephardic, there's Ashkanazic, there'sidic, there there's there's a lot of flavor. And I mean cultural flavor, and yet we're still going to enshite. And maybe we'll even see things differently. yet somehow be able to appreciate each other's perspectives genuinely. Not just respect your perspective or tolerate your perspective, but really appreciate it because it's coming from you and I appreciate you. The relationships are going to be so deep when Msiah comes. What if I were to feel that now or start trying to feel that now or start trying to believe that within you now? I think I would approach people very differently. I read something in a talk recently from the Labavata which I thought was so wild as we find ourselves in this 3-w weekek period of mourning the destruction of the basikdash. One of the common themes we talk about is love your fellow Jew. And one of the reasons is because the basikdash the second one was destroyed because of a lack of love, a lack of connection, a disconnect. That disconnect was caused by baseless hatred. And the way we reconnect is with baseless love. And we often talk about how that baseless love is a means of rectifying the baseless hatred in the past. And one of the things the Reba had said, and this is an extreme statement, we've done the rectification. We've fixed the past already. It's been 2,000 years of exile of Jews trying to connect with each other. And of course, we messed up. And of course, we're not perfect. We've done what we can. We've re we we've we've done that already. The past is fixed. So then why do I need to have extra love toward your fellow? Because we need to start looking toward the future. That's what we're going to experience soon when Msiah comes. We have to start living that reality now by putting on those lenses, by seeing ourselves not as just another stop in the desert in the plains of Moab, but we are right across the Jordan. Our location is where in relation to where we're headed, not where we were stuck. In other words, we're not even in the land of Israel yet, but we've taken on a redemption identity of knowing where we're going to be, focusing on a better, preferred future. When we start adapting that mindset, a shift will happen. And that shift is you start noticing moments of redemption of soul of God of truth in spite of leaving circumstances in spite in spite of being in circumstances that seem to to hide that. I I'll give you an example. I'm going to give you two examples. The reason why I'm like pausing and hesitating is because I want to leave out as much identifying information as possible. But there was a time once I was working with a couple and they were they were trying to figure things out. They had things to figure out. And I I got to the bottom of what they really wanted. They wanted to feel a heightened sense of connection and which to me is beautiful. Somebody's coming to counseling which there there's usually a reason. It's usually not a positive reason, but they were able to have this awareness of despite the disconnect, despite what might uh despite there being potentially distrust or betrayal or whatever it might be, hurt, negative feelings, they want a heightened sense of connection. So I said, "Well, when did you have a heightened sense of connection?" And they described where they were on a trip together and they were in detailed about feeling connected in that trip. And I said to them, if that same feeling, that moment showed up tomorrow, but you weren't on a trip. You were just at home after a long aggravating day of work and you're exhausted and the toilet seat is left up and you're and this and this and this and the circumstances your ducks aren't lined up in a row, right? Things are not perfect, but somehow you notice that heightened level of connection that you notice on vacation. When would you be most likely to notice it? probably during and they had proceeded to describe when they might notice it. And as they're describing when they might notice it, they're kind of building their own future, their own reality. And realizing that the heightened level of connection is so real that it's not even dependent on the vacation that they were on together. It can show up any time when they want it to because it's real. The future, the messianic era, the real sense of heightened level of connection we have with God can show up any moment whenever we're just ready to notice it, even before we're ready to cross that Jordan because it's just so real. I'll give you another example. I was once talking with a teacher, an educator who was describing that the felt that the teacher felt that his students were going through a difficult time spiritually speaking. The students had come from traditional upbringings, had been educated with a Jewish background all along, and they're kind of complacent. This is how the teacher had felt, and they don't they didn't really buy in, at least from the teacher's perspective, didn't really buy into the degree that the parents had did. And I said, "Well, when would you have noticed the most heightened level of buyin from these students?" Like if you were to we were to like examine the past year, where was the highest level of buyin? Because it's no two days are alike, right? We're humans. We fluctuate. We change. This was a it was a very quick conversation. And I didn't have a lot of time to to push and to press, but it's something I really hoped that teacher would think about deeply that that heightened level of connection was there at least for a moment at some time. And if the teacher can't identify it, the teacher has to notice it because that's the teacher's job to not just give information and have expectations of being spiritually bought in, but to show the students you are bought in. You have this soul. You have this level of connection. And we're about to cross the threshold of exile. Enter the land of Israel. Enter redemption. Experience it. Start living with it. Now, this is the lesson of the para. We no longer need to wait for redemption. We live with it. Okay, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.