Rabbi Yedid Project Inspire Convention 2023 Motzai Shabbos Keynote

thank you Charlie for that warm introduction from one fellow Syrian to another we take care of each other in that Syrian community all the rabbis here will shoot the organizers of this wonderful event leaders of project inspire Pursuits I'm just gonna get straight to the point by sharing with you a story that happened to me few years back I was visiting in Detroit Michigan by a good friend of mine Gary Togo and his family and in one of our meetings he brought in probably about 50 15 or 20. he roof Specialists that are hired in that City and he asked me to share with them words of inspiration I found myself in a room with people whose lives are dedicated dedicated to inspire others I really didn't know what to say but something came out and I'd like to share it with you because it meant a lot to each one of them I never forgot that day we all know the story when he told parao about yourself he told them that in jail there was someone with us who was a Nar avid Avery while he's bringing yourself up to Para he put him down in every way possible he called him a child he called him a slave he called him a an ivory a foreigner doesn't speak our language making sure that this Yosef who he knew was very talented and were very special would never move up in the ranks because it's hard to praise a person even we have a hard time praising a person not only Saddam ask him very often in a competitive atmosphere where we're trying to climb the social ladder you hear something good about somebody that you wanted to hear about yourself and it's very hard to hear that sometimes you hear compliments that are given to people and you say but don't get too carried away you don't know the whole story we also struggle when we hear other people being put on top what's amazing in that story though is that we find Joseph when he won to para oh and after parao meets yourself something magical happens is the example in Tanakh of arrogance is the example of Gava he is the person that puts himself above everybody else he is the example of a person who gives nobody credit nobody's on the level of para so great is para that he's convinced himself and others around him that he is God and listen to these words that para tells Joseph after their short conversation he says to yourself first he says to his servants elohimbo is there anywhere in the world someone who has the spirit of God in him spirit of God is this talking believes in God isn't he the man that wakes up early in the morning with nephesh to convince others that he doesn't go to the bathroom like a regular person he is talking about ruach Elohim the spirit of God and he tells his people is there anyone like this and then turns to yourself in front of all his servants and he says after God has given you all this knowledge hammad there is nobody who is as bright who is as smart as you so not only does he believe in God he also believes that God is involved in our lives something that we struggle to do an average Jew today struggling to build his emuna that when he makes money it's God that gave it to him it wasn't him that's a hard thing to swallow that I accomplished I built I did no no it wasn't new God did it you know who does that now you know who believes in that now himself he doesn't believe that Joseph gave him the information he says after God has given you the information there's no one like you he's now putting yourself on a pedestal no one like you means including me there is nobody as brilliant as as smart and as wise as you and these are not just words and then he continues he's so excited he can't stop talking he tells him you're in charge of my house everybody in my house will turn to you for advice why would they turn to me if you're the smarter one not only my house not only the White House but the entire country will come to you when they need advice and to make it perfectly clear he says I will only hold the title above you tell them again look I put you in charge of all of Egypt he gave him his ring he gave him everything he gave him the clothing the Royal clothing the Royal chariot you ever wonder what happened to this man something that we wouldn't be able to do sometimes in this year where boys are learning and somebody comes up with a beautiful Enzo what a beautiful question sometimes you see the other boys they're struggling with themselves and sometimes the questions to attack are not sincere questions their questions of anger or hurt because how could he ask that question who is he to give the answer that's the tone of the question we struggle with this and we're living in homes of kadusha and para out of all people after a 10-minute meeting or a five-minute meeting with yourself already he believes in the creator of the world already he believes in already he's putting others on top of him how did he do that especially after he heard from Sarah mashkim all the negativity about yourself what happened to this man parole let me tell you something if we find the secret to this if can be changed then there's nobody in the world that can change trade again perhaps it's quite a simple answer the Torah doesn't tell us much about the meeting but it does point out that this was yourselves Last Hope he's in jail for 12 years there's no parole for good behavior in Egypt he's in jail for a lifetime he's never getting out his family probably thinks he's dead his father for sure thinks he's dead there's nobody fighting for him and here's his chance he has a job interview by the most powerful man on the planet and he gets rushed out of the bar to go meet with this man who needs his help and is going to interview him to see if he has anything good to say you see if he's really a capable person because all the other people around have not helped them he didn't like anything they said the purse says that para tells Yosef I I had a dream there's nobody to help me interpret that dream but I heard about you I heard about you I heard you were a genius you can interpret dreams like nobody can and he's going to start telling him his dream and right away says he interrupts him that's not something you do to a King you shouldn't be doing it to anybody but you don't interrupt the king when a king is talking you speak when you're asked and the person says that yourself interrupted Para and he told them I'm sorry you were wrong you heard wrong you don't do that at a job interview when they tell you I heard how great of a Salesman you are could you imagine going to a job interview and they say I heard you're really awesome in this field and you say no you're wrong that's not a smart thing to do you don't interrupt the king you don't argue with him you certainly don't argue about your credentials this is your moment in life this is it you messed this one up you're done if I was on the at that interview I would say parole you don't even know the half of it you have no idea what did you hear about me tell me what'd you hear where'd you get it from let me hear why do you want to know I just want to know maybe you're missing something that's what I would have done whatever knew about me I would give him another hundred pieces of information I would make things up this is it and I would say this is part of my history I'm sitting here in jail for 12 years for no reason anything is okay anything goes at this point and then you do something even worse than that you're talking to a man who's preaching he's the god of the world or at least the god of Egypt and he says has nothing to do with me Elohim there is a God to this world there's a Creator to this world and it's not you and if he wants to answer you through me then so be it that's all yourself said you know what that did the battle do you know what a man who was living in Muna whose courage to live his life through and through in that situation do you know what that change in parao's heart without any kind of books to give out to him without any kind of speeches to tell him without proving God to him without telling him about harshini to him without giving him children without going to project Inspire without going on a nothing none of that he was a real Jew who lived with his emuna without fear he didn't talk the talk he lived it didn't Inspire others he lived inspired his inspiration was all over him and when you live that kind of life it has to be that the people around you are going to be inspired and if the people around you are not inspired the people around you can't be less than Para they can't be worse than parallel so if the people in your life are not inspired the people that see you every day the people that you're talking to the people that you're meeting with if they're not inspired they could only be one reason because we're not living the emuna the way yourself lived because if you're living with Hashem and it's a part of your movements and your words it's contagious would have changed if you would live that way is nothing that changes a person than the person himself there's no need but anything else and to really live with the creator of the world and it's clear to anyone who's watching or listening and we just had we had two see my time is up by the way that's the wrong thing let's keep going that's what I do my show too another Syrian item we just celebrated about the trees the Torah says foreign is like the tree I think that would be pretty offensive if you would call someone a tree maybe some people here have been called a hamor I don't think anybody like that hamor is an upgrade from a tree to be called a tree what does that mean I'm a tree but if the Torah says it that means there's a lot about trees that we need to learn you see the creator of the world has a way of teaching us he has many ways of teaching us there's experiences there are people in our lives and then there are trees and trees are like a sephratona if you just study them you will learn a lot about what makes a human great and successful I would need a lot of time to go through all the things and I don't know all of them but I just like to point out one simple beautiful characteristic of a tree that I wish we would all hang on to you know a tree is so beautiful in the way it deals with its leaves and its fruits as you know a tree holds on to its fruits very tight when there's Wind and Rain it holds on tight they don't fall off the tree and when they're ready to go when they're ripe the tree loosens its grip that lets them go that's a great lesson by the way in parentheses for parents you gotta hold on tight When Your Children Are Young but you got to keep letting go especially when they get married you let them go you don't hold on tight wasn't that funny I don't think my son who spoke a few weeks ago because he had a baby we had a little get-together it was not such as little it was pretty big and he got up to speak and he was praising his mother actually let me tell you how it's like in my house he said my mother tells me that you and your family are always invited but you never have to come I thought that was a beautiful thing to say hold on tight watch over your children but slowly you gotta let go that's not what I came to tell you tonight one of the things that tree does is if it has a dry leaf it lets it go you'll never see a dry leaf on the tree it doesn't hold on to Dead Leaves I wish we could do the same how many Dead Leaves are you holding on to in your life comment that somebody made the person who didn't invite you the person who embarrassed you the person who spoke about you all the enemies of Life the enemies of Peace of Mind all the Dead Leaves that we experience every day if you're human you have Dead Leaves but what do we do instead of letting them go we hold on to them we hold on to them wherever we go not only do we hold on to them but we do Hazara on them if you have khazara is a great thing when you're learning when you learn something you have it in your bones a few weeks ago I was in a shabbaton for the Yeshiva and the person who's supposed to read was maybe not coming they tell me last minute we need someone to read I said If you're looking at me I don't usually read so you better find somebody else and then I realized no it was I could read that because 37 years ago at bible I read the whole passion and even though I haven't read it in 37 years I could still read it today because when you review something so many times you have it clear you know what we do instead of doing learning we do hazaran all the problems that we have did she really say that let me think again let me see oh she did wow and you do it again did that really happen to me whether it's a complaint on people or complaint on the Creator or the complaint on situations we hold on to those leaves and sometimes we ever get a harusa to discuss them and you say you believe what she said to me you believe what he did he did that you know he did it once to me too really and then it gets really hazak We Hold On Tight to them you know there's a once there was a person who was had a beautiful home and he's sitting in his living room and it just smelled so badly he didn't know what it was he had to get out of there and he's looking around and he sees there's a bag and he looks on and said it looks inside the bag oh that's horrible whatever was in there smelled terrible so I gotta get out of this room he carries the bag with him and he goes to the kitchen and in the kitchen after a couple of minutes he sees ah it's so terrible I can't believe it carries the bag and goes into the dining room and two minutes later I can't take this anymore and he goes into the den you look you'll forgive me if I'm insulting your intelligence you'll forgive me if you say come on people don't do that little kind of story is that but that's what we do all day long that's what we do instead of leaving the problem where it is we take it everywhere with us someone upsets us we take it all day it ruins our day it ruins our week we don't drop the Dead Leaves We Hold On Tight to them and it makes our life miserable is there any secret is there any question why a person wouldn't want to be close to me or want to be like me if they see that I have all kinds of dead leaves in my life the Dead Leaves that we have on us are felt by the people around us they see that we have things that we're carrying that we're upset about certain things that we complain about certain things they don't see the simcha of Life they don't see the tremendous love for life and the greatness of every moment they don't see us flying they don't see the excitement because we're weighed down by so many dead leaves in our lives let them go you can't make out of anybody with dead leaves on you you can't be a miserable person with all kinds of issues in your life and you're going to bring people closer closer to what why would anyone want to get closer to what you're experiencing and if you sit there and tell me okay here's this man coming to tell me such an obvious thing to let go of my leaves there again he's insulting me again you probably say anything I want to hold on to them you think I want you think I want to suffer is that what you think of course I'd love to get rid of all the dead leaves all kinds of enemies that I have maybe I didn't like the house I grew up in maybe I like the friends that I have maybe I like my rebby in school maybe I have all kinds of time not I wish I was taller I wish I was shorter I wish I was smarter I wish I was more successful in business I wish I I have a lot of dead leaves in my brain oh I wish I could let go of them because they don't give me peace of mind peace of mind is the most beautiful gift that a person needs to live with allows you to enjoy your life and allows you to make great decisions it allows you to infect people but how can I have peace of mind of all these enemies are all over me of course I want to let them go so what are you saying what are you what are you coming to say at this convention let go of the Dead Leaves wow what a genius this man is he came all the way from charity on to tell us that but I do want to share with you a solution foreign a man who had plenty of dead leaves in his life there's nobody here probably that I can imagine that lived with all the issues that he had and in a pursue can tell him he says listen to these words Hashem simply the pasuk means that hashem's enemies will be lost they will be destroyed but the pasok seems to be saying the words too many times would be enough some explain beautifully it's not a simple shot but it's a beautiful shot that the oyevim the enemies are not talking about the enemies of God it's talking about our enemies we have so many enemies disturbing our simcha taking away our happiness taking away our Clarity taking away our ability to infect all the people around us we're not contagious enough because of all the oyavim says I also had oyevim you and I can destroy the oi of him we can get rid of them so fast ow that's what the beginning of the pursuit says [Music] when you turn your enemies into Hashem you will destroy your enemies no it's not that person that said that comment it's not them Hashem said it it's not that person that took your job Hashem did it's not that person that is spreading rumors about you Hashem is so what does that do Hashem all your enemies all your dry leaves will be gone how does replacing the enemy with Hashem help what does that do it's very simple actually you know when a person is running and they hit a wall and they need so badly to get somewhere but they hit a wall That's blocking them they're so frustrated because the wall is an obstacle but an Olympic runner who has a hurdle in his way he's not upset he's excited to jump over when other people are the problem then it's a wall when Hashem is the problem then it's an obstacle it's there to raise me it's there to make me greater when I realize that Hashem is the one behind everything then I will jump higher I will use it to grow in fact the Dead Leaves believe it or not when the tree releases them they become the fertilizer they become the new purpose of the tree they help the tree grow more beautiful leaves that's what happens when the tree lets go of its leaves Hashem this is how we inspire people we inspire people by living a life of satisfaction and a life of simcha when a person is no complaints and he has no leaves on them the people are attracted to them they want to be like them they want to understand where's that happiness coming from they want to know why does this person never complain why does this person always have an excitement on them that's what they feel and that's what they want to be like and they will recognize it this is something we need to build ourselves and build our families there's nothing in this world that's bad sometimes it's bitter but it's not bad that's why the night of pesach when we sit down to eat the matzah the bread of emuna we lean to show freedom to show that we're great but when we eat the mayor the bitterness we don't lean but yet when we put them together we lean again like heal as I can would take them and he would lean but why is he leaning if there's inside and the answer is that when you eat the bitterness with emunah it's no longer bitter when you have a Muna the Maro starts to taste sweet and this is the same Hillel and with this I end the same Hillel the gemara says that one time it was coming back into his City and he was with people and they heard screaming coming from a certain House of some tragedy that took place maybe there's a fire there was some catastrophe says that's not coming from my house I live with bitahan it's for sure not coming from my house and of course the obvious question is that's not really betahon doesn't predict what happens you don't tell what Hashem should do because means you live and you know Hashem is doing it what does that mean I know it's not from my house how does he know that because he has been how does that help but some explain beautifully that Hillel was not saying that I know it was in my house because I have betahon Hillel says the way I lived in my house my family would never react like that my wife my children would never scream like that if those people are screaming it's not my house that's not the way the people around me live and that's something that all of us can achieve he will can do it to the people around him and so can we make a difference in the lives of the people in our office in the people that we work with and the people that we pray with in every single interaction if Yosef could change life we certainly could change the lives of all of our neighbors but we need the true that emanates from dropping the leaves that are making us very heavy with issues and one day we will realize that dropping those leaves only made us grow taller and higher and we will find that people are attracted to us in every way because we've become attractive we've become close to Hashem Hashem should bless you all are living a life that wants to inspire you're here because you want to do for others that in itself is so beautiful to see and there is that Hashem all of us together we will have a hand in inspiring ourselves and through that contagiously inspiring all the people in our lives let that be the measurement of our own inspiration the people around me must change how could they not change and they're not changing well there's maybe something in me that needs to get taller and higher thank you