Rabbi Moshe Zeldman Four Questions You Must Ask Every Day at 9th Annual Project Inspire Convention

good afternoon it's a pleasure to be here my name is Deborah Zeldin a little hard with the pole I'll try and see everybody I'm a reputation tolerant you sure line they've been there for the last 25 years you shall I'm keep soo young that's other day in the rock good for their summer 7 revenue issue slang for the last 25 years I'm originally from Toronto I'm I was McCarran through Asia tour in Toronto many many years ago and I spend most of my time 99% of my time I am travelling around there all campuses in America doing Q so I want to share an idea with you that goes like this I'll start with a cloudy idea the more I appreciate the cube that I do with the beginners that I teach right what's the struggle I'm taking I'm talking about people who know nothing about Yiddish kite or very little and I'm trying to introduce them to basic tour ideas emunah mitzvahs Torah Olam haba goofin neshama but here I write ideas were familiar with and what's fascinating to me is as a ball true for myself that you know when I teach this stuff I kind of feel like I already know this stuff I covered it 20 I covered it 30 years ago I learned it I understood it I worked through it now I'm just teaching it to people who don't know but you find unbelievably that for every time I struggle to tell beginners basic ideas in Torah it's really like I'm revisiting the same ideas for myself and a lot of Kirov as feels as much as I feel like I'm being Makar of others and being Makar of myself at the same time every time you go back and you revisit the questions how do I know which end is there why do I believe in Africa how does the hero really work era we responsible what's your - um how does it a summer work what happens at all of haba when you revisit basic questions yourself that the sake of others you really get more clarity for yourself so what I want to share with you today is an idea that's actually not so much of a queue of idea it's more just an inning in a vote of ourselves but in the guise of cure you'll see where it's coming from I'll start with the basic basic approach that I'd like to explain when I find myself talking to a beginner and he's someone interested in either sky because he came to a class so he's coming to sit down and meet with me or he or she so I know that I have an opportunity to share something of Torah with them now tour is vast and there's lots to talk about and there's lots of ways of approaching Torah and this might be there one hour that I could really give them something they're gonna think about so like where do you begin what do you present I teach beginners all the time I run seminars they travel around the campuses I see the same students two years later in my shoe room in the basement or - I see the same students four or five years later when they're doing this mica program I'm training them to go out and do cure themselves and I kind of see like the same guys going through the stages I see them beginning see the middle see them towards the end and it's just fascinating to see that no matter you know we all have different personalities we have different ways of looking at life we have different hush guffaws but at the end of the day in each crate everybody more or less in their own speeder in their own way goes through the same basic processes and over the years I found a way of kind of identifying them labeling them that makes it easier to understand the first one I call it's not my own name with no Hawaiian burger sigatoka raka would call this idea a tourist hime I'm standing and talking to somebody who's not from it's their first introduction to Judaism what do we want to teach them that Torah according to result is called it tourists kind what a tourist I mean you know I'm kind means life tourists I'm means this is the tour of life but when has I'll call it tourists Hein we have to stop for a second and ask what is the word Torah if hai means life what does the word Torah itself actually mean anybody translate the word Torah into English anybody now is a Torah hora Maura Maura what's what's Torah teachings when has now described Torah as tourists Haim what they're saying is Torah is teachings instruction guidelines for life it's a blueprint for life you wanna have a good marriage you wanna raise good kids when I'm self-esteem you want to know what the purpose of life is you want to know what happiness is you want to know how to understand yourself you want to know how to build a good Society all the questions we have you know where the answer is it's Torah it's not just the book of rules and that's just a bunch of ancient stories its guidelines and how to get the most I don't like no that's a finish for somebody is anybody who grows up looking at religion or holy books or temples does think to think of a holy book like Torah as instructions for life and what is this book that's written 3,000 years ago we're going to tell me about life it's a hitter's that's a SPECT number one we want to teach people the idea the Torah is there to give you guidelines on how to get more to life there's a second aspect which is that cos I'll also describe Torah as taurus ms it's a tour called truth it's there to teach you about ms about reality now what does that mean it means that as much as Torah is there to teach you about life tor is real when tour gives us the description of who you are and what's really out there and how the world works and what happens when we die and who a Shem is it's reality this isn't just a nice philosophy this is ms we take this seriously we believe in it as ms now when you talk about ms to a beginner it's a bit of a scary work it's a little daunting to tell somebody who's not from the idea that Judaism is real it's true all the other religions out there are wrong we don't believe in the guy in a guide on the cross for your sins we don't believe in the old Buddhist thing we don't believe in the atheists are wrong the evolutionists are wrong a lot of the scientists are wrong we got it right that's a daunting idea what do you mean right isn't everybody right in their own way does everyone have their own reality no there's a thing called right and wrong so when I present a student with a D of Taurus ms what I'm really teaching them is you can actually look at the evidence of why we believe this is true and you can make a decision for yourself we're not going to ask you to take a leap of faith we're not going to tell you have to blindly just accept the Judaism is true and you're Jewish don't ask any questions just follow along the opposite ask questions I asked questions before I was from I meet a rabbi he looks a little funny to me cuz he wearing a black hat and I don't know who this dude is and he's telling me I should believe in what he's saying is it to show me evidence why do you believe in God I don't give me give me a solid reason to believe in God maybe I'll thank you seriously give me a solid reason even if there is a God give me a solid reason to believe he wrote a book the creator of the world wrote a book I went to a mountaintop and gave it to one group of people and called him the chosen people that sounds ludicrous how do you know it's to show me the evidence so I wasn't myself prepared to take anything in the educate seriously until I had evidence that showed me that it's really true has to be convincing it can't contradict what science says it has to be real so these are the two modes one is called Taurus time it's beautiful it's life-giving it's inspiring it's relevant it makes your life so much better and deeper and more fulfilling and it's better for your relationships Taurus guy makes you like better but Taurus Emmis is it's true now for most people those are two different ways that they have to go through to make any decision in life how do I know it's true and how's it gonna fit me how does it feel how do I know it's real these are both aspects that a person has to go through for me I'll take is my own my own personal journey I grew up in Toronto I went to a Jewish day school I hated it I got nothing out of it it completely turned me off the other skite and went to university I started doing my degree in artificial intelligence and philosophy at the time if you'd have asked me I would have said I'm a total atheist I don't believe in any of this stuff none no religious stuff makes sense there's no evidence there's no reason it's a crazy leap of faith I'm not gonna take it seriously and eventually meet a rabbi and he stand with me and starts giving me evidence and I started looking at it it was a very very difficult process because for every time this rabbi gave me a good solid reason to believe in Torah or to believe in God I was so sure they were wrong all you do is go back to university find my professors biology history archaeology physics whatever hear the other side that'll probably make more sense and then I'll know that the rabbi's wrong so every time I heard a good convincing argument on this side I went to the other side you have to say that's a good point professor well then they go back throughout my see what he says go back to the rabbi it's also a good point that let me get back to you hold on a sec what do you say about that oh okay that's a good point what do you say oh that's also a good point I went back and forth for like three years every time I had heard an argument one side I had to hear the argument I cannot make a decision until I feel I'm totally informed on both sides three years later all the arguments all the debates back and forth it makes sense I mean I don't like it I've been happy just live in the free light but hey if it's true it's - I don't have a choice right so from that day I decided I have to take tourist seriously now because I like it now because it looks like fun now cuz nothing not cuz the people I know doing it like doing it either but never I'm Jewish it's true I'm stuck start putting on tefillin every day keeping kosher my parents think I'm crazy they're giving me all kinds of hassles it's are keeping Shabbos I start you know I mean I'm doing it I don't like it I'm not enjoying it but I'm doing I'm definitely three times a day I don't know what I'm saying I don't know why I'm saying it I don't know why God says it's the earth but okay mister call T along darlin I lived that way for a year one year of being pretty much fully observant and not enjoying a minute of it I didn't like Shabbos I didn't like cashiers I didn't like benching I didn't like Broncos I didn't like Fela I didn't like tille and I didn't like shomer negiah I didn't like anything I didn't like a thing it's just okay my my friends who were still secular looked at me like why you driving yourself crazy come on we're party having gone just join us make it easy just relax enjoy life I said you can't but you got to understand like if this is a mess if this is a really she gotta think it's like you know I said it's like you think you're feeling fine and you go to the doctor for routine tests and he tells you that you're sick he said but doctor I feel fine too bad you're sick no more cholesterol no more salt or sugar no more there's no more that take a bunch of pills I don't care if they taste good it's true you're sick you got to take the bills so I took this pill called Judaism and it was a pretty bitter pill but hey I don't wanna be sick gotta take it seriously I lived that way for a year at that point finally one day I go to a rabbis house for Shabbos he looks at me I say to him you know I you know I've been from for about a year now this is really hard I don't know how long I can last it's like so hard every Fela and every Brooklyn so much to do and it's such a hassle and I don't yes he says I don't ask you one question Moshe one question why do you think God wants you to do all these mitzvahs what's in it for him why does he care if you bench he's gone he's impotent he's all-powerful he's beyond everything does he need you to thank him does he need you to keep kosher does he need your tefillin why is he making you do all this I said I don't know whatever he's God he's the boss I don't ask these questions he doesn't he's talking about he says do what you do it he says he got asked this question Moshe if Hashem is infinite if Hashem is all-powerful and Michelle needs nothing and as I'm created you and gave you a book of instructions what's he giving them to you for what are they there for I said I don't know he says they're not there for him they're there for you the whole talk lists of Hashem giving you a Torah is to make your life deeper make your life better make you more fulfilled more connected more in touch more aware more inspired more of an understanding of who you are what the world is all about how to get along with people better the whole tour is there to make your life better I said well I certainly don't see that I'm not getting that I'm not feeling that so at that point I realized I had to relearn all the views cade again it's not just do it because it's true there is a way to keep Shabbos in a way that you actually enjoy the feeling that you're having a main hola mama there's a way to bench in a way that you feel like you're actually thinking Hashem because you're grateful that he gave you a table full of food there's a way to learn Torah in a way that you feel I'm not just reading a bunch of rules like this is there to make me understand the life that's what it's all there it's not first shams egg it's for my sake so at that point I went through a complete turnaround IBK I'm be given ball shuva basically in two stages stage number one it's true I'm stuck I gotta do it never and then stage two is it's amazing like this is this opens up all the right that's what I've been looking for my whole life I had no idea but I got I understand how to keep Shabbos how did Duff how did he what's Phil mean how did they with Talmud Torah how did they work I said how to deal with mitzvahs in a way that makes it meaningful was a whole new li mood for me when I teach Torah to people now beginners at age or wherever I travel I realize it's the same two-step process it's like we said at the beginning there's Taurus time it's beautiful and there's Taurus Emmis it's true and I used to always teach people first the side of Taurus MS and then the side of Taurus time first let me show you that it's true first let me show you all the evidence let me prove to you that this is the way you're supposed to live because I call to really exist and here's all the proofs and Hashem really gave a tour and here's that we know and here's all the evidence let me show you that it's true and then let me show you how good it is for you but you know what most people don't care people aren't interested in truth people are interested in just having a nicer life and that's really the struggle so I'll give you just one story that happened to me and this will sort of be introduced where I'm really going with this class number of years ago I'm sitting with a bucker in the yeshiva who came in sort of as a skeptic had a lot of questions I answered his questions took a long time he says to me says you know Moshe he says rabbi I have a friend who's visiting Israel now who was like a total atheist this guy doesn't believe in anything he's Jewish but he doesn't believe in anything could you meet with him give him all your evidence and all you proved somewhat I said yeah for sure tell him to come in I'll meet with him so the next day says you know when I asked him he doesn't want to come in he says it's a cult something they're gonna brainwash me I'm not interested in coming into a Torah I don't want to go to yeshiva I'm not interested it's a no problem tell him to come meet me for coffee I'll meet him in town for a coffee we'll sit down we'll smooth for an hour now the guys that enters that doesn't want to talk about anything but a week later I'm sitting in the basement and some guy comes in no keep up you ring in his ear tattoos comes in caps me on the shoulder he says are you rabbis Elfman I said yeah he says my name is Josh so my name my name is Scott I'm a friend of Josh's I said oh you're Josh was in my class you're Scott the one who I thought I thought you didn't want to come to me with me this is where I'll they changed my mind I wanted me with you I said okay fine let's make it that afternoon we sat down I said that I want them a couple hours I say so what changed your mind how can be decided to come in he says I'll tell you the truth rabbi I really wasn't interested in coming here but my friend Josh bet me $20 that I'd be too scared to come and meet with you for an hour so here I am tornado like that I said this will be interesting so what do you wanna talk about he says listen I'm an atheist I don't believe in God I think it's a bunch of nonsense I want to hear you see I've heard you're an intelligent guy I want to hear why you believe in God let me hear some reasons I said no problem but let me ask you something have you ever missed my opening line as always have you thought about it before have you considered it have you looked at any evidence have you read anything about it now are you are you coming in as an educated consumer he says yeah I just finished doing my degree last summer at Cambridge in theology I spent four years studying the question of God's existence I've heard all the philosophers the medieval philosophers the classic philosophers the Jewish philosophers the Krishna philosophers I heard all the driven philosophers I'm convinced is no God I thought well I'm in trouble now this guy's like a professional atheist he spent four years studying every book there is like what am I going to tell the guy he doesn't already know so I said you know let me ask you a question Scott in the years that you were there studying this whole question of God's existence did you ever stop and ask yourself the question how do you feel about the idea of there's a God or not he says how do I feel about who cares how you feel this is philosophy this is intellectual this is a debate you look at the evidence you make it is important how you feel about it I said it makes a big difference because how you feel sometimes has a big effect on what you believe right so we call that yes you have to know we're coming into it do I want to believe do I not want to believe I'm here to convince myself I'm being honest we know what that means I said how do you feel about God he said I don't know I never thought about it I said you're making a big mistake people make wrong decisions in life all the time not for intellectual reasons but for emotional reasons I said I'll give you an example Scott I said I just happened to have finished reading a few months ago the biography of Albert Einstein okay famous scientist story goes like this Einstein in the early 1900's was one of the scientists dealing with a very very difficult question in science the big debate in science the early 1900's was the question it went like this the universe that we are living in this whole universe is it an expanding universe is it a contracting universe or is it a static universe not gonna get no smaller is it a static unit most scientists in the world believed there was a static universe it's just it is what it is it's not getting bigger or not getting smaller static universe 1920s comes along a famous scientist by the name of Hubble couple of advanced telescope he looks around the world measures all these galaxies makes all these calculations Hubble figures out that they were all wrong how all comes together and brings evidence that the universe is actually expanding he flies to Europe goes to this big conference of physicists he announces his findings they give him a standing ovation they were blown away wow we were all wrong the universe is actually expanding whole new reality everyone is fascinated I'm Stein wasn't there he was in Berlin this conference was somewhere else so a friend of his a friend of Einstein sent him a letter with the report saying you know professor Einstein look there's this new evidence the universe is expanding it's amazing it's a whole new reality Hubble invented the telescope the whole thing so Einstein looks at the results aren't thing writes a letter back to his friend and here's what he says he says regarding the report of the expanding universe he says I find the idea of an expanding universe irritating Einstein says he's irritated to hear that the universe is expanding are any of you irritated that the universal expanding doesn't bother anybody here doesn't bother me when Einstein said I asked Scott I said Scott when Einstein says he's irritated that the universe is expanding is that an intellectual reaction or that an emotional reaction what would you say clearly emotional right he's like bothered for some reason that it's expanding because it means he was wrong he has to change the theories now it means maybe it started somewhere once upon a time maybe there is a God after all Einstein just didn't like the idea he so didn't like the idea he said it's gotta be truck not true there's a mistake somewhere I just don't believe it so they fly Einstein to California to look through the telescope and see for himself sighs the California looks loo telescope makes this all calculations turns out that it's true the universe is expanding he still didn't like it he says you know there's something wrong with the telescope there's got to be something wrong so they take apart this massive telescope it takes a week they take it apart the polish on all the lenses they put it back together then you recalibrated they set it all up again Einstein looked through it again he makes the calculations again it's still expanding so Einstein says there's a problem in the formula let's redo the formulas they were measure all against one measure like that will put this factor over here we'll put the equation over here we'll try with the x over here and the Y over there and this and that he spends weeks and weeks and weeks on and he plays around with the formulas and he ends up concluding see I made the universe not expand anymore and he didn't believe it he just didn't believe it it was expanding over the next few years every scientist in the world came to the conclusion that the universe is expanding he was one of the only ones that didn't accept it at the end of his life the evidence was so strong and so obvious Einstein finally conceded I was wrong I should have admitted years ago I mean Einsteins final quote on the subject was he says the fact that I didn't accept the evidence fifteen years ago was the biggest mistake of my scientific career I was just being denial for fifteen years I just didn't want to believe it some telling I'm sitting with Scott in the base better say Scott are you fine an idiot he's a smart guy he's just he so doesn't want to see it he's just not gonna see it you really want to convince yourself or something you couldn't convince yourself of anything you want to so I say so Scott you got to think about it when you say you don't believe in God because you heard all this evidence you went through all these debates and all these classes and all these books how do you know it's an emotion in an election reaction is not an emotional reaction so I'm talking to Scott back and forth he looks at his watch he says rabbi it's been nice talking to you I got a run by the hour was up and he gets up but he leaves and I thought oh man like I never even got around to giving the evidence we're just talking about Einstein in psychology and the gears and how we make decisions I never even got a chance to share my ideas with him anyway he got off me left I come to the gym in the next day 10 o'clock in the morning I walk into the base managers there Scott sitting there waiting talk to me again I see Scott what are you doing back in the Shiva you know under $20 badly what are you doing here he's his rabbi I'll tell you something last night when I left you left me with the question how do I feel about God he's I went back to the hotel where I'm staying and you know what I couldn't sleep the whole night I was tossing and turning I was wrong I was reviewing in my mind all those lectures and all the debates in class and all the research and all the dialogues and all the sides and all the opinions you know what I realized he says I realized I really don't like the idea that there's some big guy up in the sky looking down at me it's kind of scary Sam thing there's somebody up in the sky watching me taking notes he has expectations of me he's gonna get me one day if I don't listen to him that's scary he says the more I realized how much I don't like the idea that there's a god the more I realized that I spent my four years at Cambridge just trying to convince myself that he's not really there and when I really sit back and I think about it he says that's been all night thinking about it the end of the night you and I realized I really think God exists I don't like it but I really think God is this Scott goes overnight from being an atheist to being a believer not cuz I gave him evidence because I proved anything to him I said listen you got to listen to yourself where are you coming from why are you deciding this where's it is this intellectual is it emotional were you really coming from he stood a sitting and learning in coal oil five years later married his whole life turned around in one night not cuz they gave him evidence not cuz I proved anything because I said you got to go inside yourself and that's where you're gonna find me in you give all the evidence and all the proofs and all the debates and all you got to go inside yourself to start to find answers now with no qualms Berg that Sal used this principle of going inside yourself as the basis of all of kube I'll tell you why because one of her of no Oxford stories is a Gomorrah the very familiar Gomorrah in Leda that says before we're born when we are conceived in our mother's wombs as we're growing therefore those nine months Hashem sends a mullah Shem sends an angel down into the room and for nine months the Moloch is teaching us Torah the ordinance teaching his Torah teaching us everything we need to know about life who we are who Hashem is what life is about what the purpose of for nine months you learn everything you know everything but I'm you're born you come out you know everything in it about yourself your potential your purpose what's good what's bad what world's all about what a Shem is really all about you know everything you need to know you come out the mall hits you on the mouth you forget it all and now life is the process of going back to recall the information it's in you you forgot it but it was there consciously you don't remember it anymore it's kind of blank you don't really but it's in there you can find it so finding ms is not about looking on a book shelf as much as it is starting to look inside yourself right when you hear an idea of any kind somebody presents an idea you might not know about what you're really doing is you're going inside yourself and saying does that feel right does that seem true does that resonate with me and what it's really doing is it's registering the idea that came from the outside and seeing if it sounds familiar with what the neshamah with what the mother taught you is in a Shama before you're born that's a principle so I know when I'm doing here oof and how to convince people and trying to show people are trying to present ideas to people I'm not talking to their brains I mean I am talking to them I'm talking to them in a Shamas kirov is not a sales job of let me convince you to buy these pair of shoes that you really don't need or want cuba's not let me gate a sign up to this club because i want to make money on sales and i know you don't even need it but I'm gonna convince you to do it anyway I'm talking to a persons in the shaba Jews are mom meaning banana I mean if they know it's true deep down and that's why they're fighting so much that's why they're still rebellious because they know it's right they know they should take it and that's why they don't want it cuz they're scared of it but they know it's true when I know I'm talking to a room full of neshama 'he's that are skeptical rather than a room full of intellects that are skeptical it's a whole different ballgame that's a principal okay that applies to everything I teach everything I learned from of Noah I want to take that principle now okay that we have the information inside of us and I want to apply it to a very specific area okay this is not so much in cube this is just a Nevada in a vote oh I'll say I would start it have a harbor of guys I learned with an H I'm a daily base it's going back a few years now Cobra of guys I learned it we were we have Worcester Kapoor and a vote that we work on things we challenge each other so I had to go to town for a week and I wanted to give the guys some homework we have a daily classroom 45 minutes I was gonna be away says the guys I'm gonna give you some homework to do learn it for the week I'll come back we'll do Hazara and we'll will go right there so that night I was trying to think of a good piece in reading a good exit ever a nice piece of literature to look at something in causal something in muster for them to look at I come across mama by has gotta I come across a beautiful beautiful piece of Torah from the Roma ha moshe haim Lizotte o as a small safer called Derrick eights Haim I just I came across that almost my accent it was not much Akaka a small sleeper called Derek hates Haim it's a Gotama to his books on Kabbalah it's actually little deep I don't think I understood the whole thing but anyway in the middle of their hates crime he presents this idea he says you know as I'll teach us that before were born the Mahler comes down teachers is everything in the world we need to know it's all inside of us right we just said that so the room call goes on to say he says because everything is really in you because you deep inside of you have the answers to everything you need to know about life all you have to do is figure out how to get to that inner voice you have a goof that's telling you all day what your goof wants I'm hungry I'm tired I'm cold I'm hot right and we're gonna Shama that's talking to us all day also your neshama is talking to you all the time if you're wasting time right now that's not really fair you're not being honest you're being lazy you can do better than that that's not really proper we vanish number that's always talking to us somehow for all of us it's a little easier to hear the goof than to hear the neshamah the roma call says it goes back to its anion to the f - da da da sand got Nate and we got connected to physicality and spirit whatever it's all you the whole the whole thing in Kabbalah why came out this way but basically he says you could look at yourself and say I have an aroma that's talking to me all the time telling you who I am where I have to go what I are gonna do I have a goof that's all they telling me how I should feel what I should do where I should pursue physically our job is to learn how to tune into the Schama so here's what the Roma howl says he says here's what you need to do ready gives a very practical exercise he says every person every one of us okay exactly is Russian should sit down for an hour every day pannu in McCole Mashav assalam take everything in your mind about the hotel and the showers and the swimming and the buffet and the and we have to be date o'clock tonight it was gonna be tomorrow what's gonna be next - weekend amount of my shopping and I got check my emails get everything out of your head everything just forget about it all for one hour and just ask yourself these four questions ask yourself these four questions question number one many Who am I I'm a teacher I'm a father I'm a yeah okay that's all my labels that's all the stuff I do that's my role that's my response but Who am I beautiful question to answer Who am I and we all kind of like I don't know I what do you mean Who am I Who am I that's question number one I mean we're gonna come back to them in a second question number two he says Lama battle-ax olam why am I here in this world for what's my job what am I suppose I get up every morning I have a bunch of stuff to do but like where am I going with it all what am I trying to accomplish what's the goal of life am i getting there well what's there like where am I trying to get to what am I trying to achieve like I wanted my job and my coven and my house and my kids and we have stuff but like where where's the ball go and why do I want most um what's the thing I want what am I after what am i a year in the world for question number three he says I'm gonna review them again so you'll get them down question number three says my yet soft cold in Y enough what's gonna be with me in the end what's gonna be with me yet if I continue my life the way it's going now last year uh Shoshanna this d-rush on that next year Russia on that yeah for that if I keep going on the track I'm going right now what's gonna be with what what am I gonna end up you're gonna be happy and will have reach my goals I made the right decisions I'm proud of myself I call this or like what or I'll just end up kind of maybe because they never really got my act together I never really pushed through and you've really made those changes that I dreamed of making if I keep going on the trajectory I'm going now where will I end up that's question number three these are heavy questions question number four he says this is a heavy hit hit the hardest question before he says is why don't I have the same kind of a relationship of the courage of all who then Avril miss Kakaako Vince are reek of rock alone Maya had how come her shine will love them so deeply and they were so close to him I'm also one of his kids he loves me just as much how come I don't feel that how come I'm not living the godless of the avos how come I'm not a dummy Tamela how come I'm not a motion of a no how come I'm not a sorry may no I don't have a potential to do that I can't be an amazing person I can't reach unbelievable greatness in life they could I Shannon's telling me no you're supposed to be mediocre your life doesn't really count you're okay being small no way man and one of us kids we all are why are we small why aren't we amazing people he says you have to ask yourself these four questions okay so I told me tell me team I say you know what here's the essay here's the page of it I photocopied it for you read it learn it do it sit down ask yourself these questions they'll come back in a week I go to town I call the head I'll hit the club or the next day I say so how'd it go the guys read the guys he said them well the guys read it but it was kind of confusing so they decided that rather than sit and ask the questions they wanted to read the entire essay it'll take two or three days then we'll come back to house I said no like just read that one page just ask these four questions that's simple that's right there you don't eat anything else here's the questions here it is I put in English for you just read it I come back guys I called him two days later how's it going well the guys found it kind of difficult they didn't quite understand the question it's like there's simple questions they're right there for questions ABCD the whole week went by they just didn't get around to it so I come back the next week I'm away I say guys come on you got all we could work through yeah the 45 minutes a day you had no excuses why didn't you do well we got kind of distracted we didn't quite understand and it was a little difficult and so guys you know what we're doing today today I'm gonna make you do it write down the four questions you got 45 minutes for a time right now but the next 45 minutes leave the table find a rooftop find a corner find a table somewhere just sit and ask yourself these four questions Who am I where am I really going in life why am I in this world why am I not reaching greatness in life how come a model rebbi akiva yet just ask yourself those four questions I go and check on the guys 20 minutes later this guy's in a corner on his phone this guy fell asleep this guy is having a long coffee break this guy decided all of a sudden yet to call his mom like guys what's the problem what's your problem you know our problem is there are really scary questions there are the most important questions of life and even when I have 45 minutes just sit and think there's nothing else to distract me I don't want to think about that we think about anything else by that it's scary it's it's gonna confront me maybe I'm wrong maybe I'm making mistakes maybe I'm not reaching my potential maybe I'm not really I don't want to hear that I mean you see but it's not good enough I put on tefillin every morning isn't that enough I'm a nice guy isn't that good enough why do I have to push through and figure out how to become great it's uncomfortable so I read back with him in the room aha and here's the words I discovered that turned it around and made it much more real the lustre thrown colors then it's so interesting he says this I had to really sit down he says sha i'll cos call you up an hour every day pondering the culture how much others take everything else out of your mind and here's the key words he says via vaca meal libo ask your heart the answer to these four questions these are not intellectual academic book questions when you are faced with the question Who am I really where am I really going in life what's holding me back from being great you know the answer to every one of these questions the Rome cult doesn't answer them in the back of the book there's no like page of questions never could give Q&A at the end because you know the Angels do you package me libo he doesn't ask a Rob he doesn't say go to a therapist he doesn't they intellectually analyzed five different sheet shows and figure out no just ask your heart the answer to the questions because you're in a shaman was taught every one of these already the mullah taught you for nine months everything you need to know and what we need to do is sit down and just go into and say okay maybe I've never quite done this and I know for myself that was hard to sit down and say basically to say to ask you to hurt the question like what's my problem why am I not great what do I really want am I happy could I be happier am I taking myself seriously do we know what I'm living for like these are heavy any questions but you have all the answers inside of you and what happens is I only know this from experience and it's a heavy experience you know throw McCall says do it for an hour I can't do it for more than 15 minutes at a time my brain starts to explode I'm just I'm not that big yet to do more than 15 minutes at a time but I can nail do for 15 minutes sitting down you know what happens you mask yourself any one of these questions where am I going in life what are my goals I mean reaching them am I happy am i really happy am I fooling myself that I'm happy do I know what I want do I know why I wanted well how come I'm not great yet what's holding me back from greatness when you ask your heart the questions and you listen really carefully you start to hear answers you start to hear answers coming from within you and sometimes those answers start to sound a little familiar like yeah I know him I know I'm blowing it I know I'm not taking things seriously enough I know I could do so much more I know I'm not happy because I'm not doing X or Y or Z I know I'm holding my own self back from being an amazing parent or an amazing Talmud or an amazing R of or an amazing whatever just an amazing evidence yet I know there's things holding me back but I just don't want to hear it we spend so much of our time out there news media email stuff kids family finances stuff you know schedules an appointment and stuff when do we ever take time just go inside ourselves see what's in there what's up with her what's the matter but my heart telling me what's inside of me what do I need to know and then ROM how it ends the piece by saying this he says if you do this exercise this is he these are his words he says if you do this every day it becomes very very easy to become its otic very very easy and if you don't do this if you're never really in touch with yourself no matter how much tour you know no matter how much the best thing you do never know how many mitzvahs you've accomplished it's all just kind of external it's goodit's card ball the mob that's a relation with the Sham it's beautiful but it could be so much deeper is if you do it for everyday for an hour I can't I can't handle an hour a bit of a baby I can handle the 15 minutes you do this every day it becomes very very easy he says to reach slay moose to be at attic you don't do this it becomes very very hard to reach flameless and to be its attic so all we need to do is find a way to take that time and ask ourselves I'm gonna review the questions for you now okay tell you the four questions again think about them or write them down if you want or they'll be available on or anytime review these four questions and I'm back we're gonna end class early and I'm gonna ask you to do me a favor before going back and running for the next muffin or whatever stuff you have out there if you've never done this before you're gonna find it scary I'm warning you but actually take five minutes on your own find a corner somewhere or to stay in the room or go down the hallway or whatever lock yourself in an elevator take five minutes with yourself with yourself just be with yourself be with your nashumba that has all the answers the ER nurse um is the biggest therapist the biggest glue the biggest rub the biggest post that you know because it's you it's not the books it's you it's your life it's your potential it's your habits it's your AIT's a harvest your eats or topics you only you can know it nobody else can know or the way you can know it so take the four questions ask them take five minutes for yourself and see what it does for you ready for the four questions again okay question number one and they're hard questions don't go to your head go to your heart number one Who am I who the heck am i how do i define myself Who am I really question number two what am i doing in this world what am i living for what do I want where am I going it's question number two question number three what's gonna be with me in the end if I just keep doing what I'm doing now am I gonna get there or not am I really on a path or am I just treading water where am I going to end up the question number four what's holding me back from greatness again the Rome call solution was why don't I have that same here volition that the avos and the Phenom in the Omar I'm in Davao to Milliken motivate their disarm balloon to him I can't I'm not also one of his favorite kids you only like some Jews and not others doesn't care about some of us we're not gonna cover Spock who he has infinite love for every one of us how come I'm not Barry he's not holding it back we are it's a question number four what's holding me back from greatness in life spiritual greatness in life greatness in life what's holding me back from having godless in life it has the four questions if you have any if any one of the questions struck you as a good question just sit on that one for five minutes okay so I wonder if y'all look at Travis don't smooth that don't check your phones don't eat take five minutes and actually be with your neshama and see what starts to happen thank you very much