Rabbi Yom Tov Glaser: The Top 10 List

gentlemen welcome to Asia Terra practical spirituality course in the old city of Jerusalem overlooking in Temple Mount we have an important question and that is that everyone holds the Ten Commandments are like the most important thing in maybe the world like that welcome ladies table for two right here that Ten Commandments were you know they even show up in the I forget what building they're in in the capital in the US but they're there one of the buildings there like itched in marble you know ten commandments are considered the values that have civilized humanity the Ten Commandments in a way you could say they really just represent values because no one knows what they are unique no one knows what the Ten Commandments are so they just figure it represents values I mean people know you're not supposed to lie steal or commit adultery I think they know those but but they're but I don't think most people know what's really in the Ten Commandments anyone here knows Ten Commandments by heart that was a yes or no he's trying to figure it ahead and he's like so so what we're gonna do is discuss why they made it to the top ten list cuz there were so many there's so many much more obvious ones that should have been in the top ten list and Ten Commandments doesn't include them and yet it includes these others and what are they doing there but again the Ten Commandments more represent values to the world because most people know about the 10 commitments and go walk down the street Manhattan with a video camera and start interviewing people to tell you the 10 commandments like what you know I always supposed to do that and the so so why don't we list them and see what they're doing there Wyatt why are these there where they all have in common with different amongst them so I think we'll do five on this I will do fine outside and we'll start over here I just want to see if you can name them first of all so just for fun just to see if you guys can name them so who wants to name a command okay that's a whole discussion but it seems to be something new with belief in God according the Rambam knowledge of God is this in the camera right now okay am I also okay what do we got for number two idolatry idolatry is number two okay number three excellent how do you spell vain via AI in name you don't do that and number four Sabbath and number five parents okay so so far we've got so far we've got two negatives three positives so we're looking positive so far right okay moving on to number six who is stealing first okay I'll give you a way to remember it is if you go with the roots it goes the opposite so so the word to kill this red stuff that's racial that's the furthest along the alphabet is the ratio okay so that's don't kill and then so that's negative seven is what toll tree which is a new Nielson Newton so that so it's rage known and then kills is is sorry um steal is gonna or gonna which is a gimel so you'll see it's opposite order there okay so this is adultery a strange name for it and then yes and by the way a lot of people don't know this but it means kidnap okay she's really weird like it would do that it means don't kidnap exactly what I would have been thinking up okay number nine okay number nine is we call it a lie but it's not just lie it's really false testimony cuz you're allowed to lie about the right things you know like like the guy about to mug you on a train and he asks you how far you're going you tell him you're getting off the last stop and then you get off the next stop okay so you're certainly allowed to lie so this is a false testimony that's out and then the number 10 10 is to covet don't covet people stop that means don't want other people's stuff okay so there's the 10 commandments she did excellent by the way you didn't look it up online and then interesting the whole right side of border don't deuce les says word the dudes beat that don't dues the right side the board also has to in you and people the left side of art it has to do with you and God until you get to number 5 which has to you and your parents so these are like you and God or you and divinity and then honor your parents okay I'm too far away what do I do then we get back like how's that all right so so I don't think anyone would argue that the first commandment should not be there considering its the purpose of reality the whole purpose the reality is that humanity should have actually I'm not going to answer that what's the purpose of reality what's purpose reality raise your hand tell me the perb mean you've been on you know how old are you lady in nineteen years to figure this out so you get to answer to know God okay certainly I think part of it yeah yeah I like that hype it's twelve steps and out the year all degrade the the but the ultimate purpose of reality is to connect to God now obviously you got to know there's a guy before you can connect to God so knowing there's a God certainly an important commandment that's the first commandment connecting to gods why God did it so I think it definitely fits to know there's a god now just on the subject there's an argument about knowing there's a god is it belief or is it knowing meaning is enough to believe in God or is it or do you have to actually know so according to Rambam you have to know and according to the ROM bond another you know classical commentary of over a thousand years ago is is that it's enough to believe in God and then there's some who say you need both you need both you need to know and believe which is explained a bit but you've noticed in a lot of our prayers that we'll see our God in the god of our forefathers so our God is the no part meaning you have to figure it out you have to get the evidence you have to figure is there a god god of our forefathers of the belief that you're given and when you're a little kid and your parents tell you about God it's not a proof oriented thing it's just your parents are telling you there's a god and that's your belief your belief is built from growing up with it the ROM hull of moshe haim Rosato says that you have to believe in no and that's the first line of derek Ashim you have to believe and know he put some bolt together other rabbis say that gentiles have to believe and jews have to know meaning if for gentiles enough to believe you know we're not expecting them to like figure this out jews have to figure it out and it's an interesting subject altogether because if people can connect to believe and look at Christians they're all connected to total belief system know knowing whatsoever you know they nobody knows nothing about God or you know that God had a son named Jesus you know it's like you know any knowing they're all believed and they're quite connected to it so yeah I mean the deeper knowing does but not the intellectual knowing intellectual knowing only comes when you've gathered evidence and that evidence has reached a threshold that you call knowing something which you might call you might have a higher threshold than the gentleman next year you may have a lower threshold but till until you gather that evidence and call it knowledge you're not acknowledged and so it's an interesting subject this whole thing in but here's the funniest part about it is is what are you supposed to know exactly I mean what do you have to what do you have to have lightning strike you know god of lightning strikes over here then I know you exist like okay now I got now I can fulfill that commandment the rest of my life we knew what exactly is it even asking us for when the Rambam says you have to know what kind of knowledge is he talking about you have to become a prophet like prophets no I get that for sure a prophet notice there's a gun so what it what does it mean so I'll just answer that quickly what it means is not absolute knowledge with the lightning rather it means deductive knowledge yeah yeah you have to have gathered I said it before but yeah deductive knowledge means you've got enough evidence that it hits your threshold of calling things true which is the same way you get on a flight you don't know what's gonna make it but in the plane guy it got to this airport O'Brien get to the next one you know eventually it might not get to an airport but hopefully not on my watch you know like not while I'm on it and so yeah that's the speaking of airplanes and getting there I had a nice idea of of creating a goal in your life let's say for every 300 people sitting on an airplane what percentage would you say are like really scared they're nervous you can see them in your cabin I mean there's always people are nervous about flying you know they're the ones telling you to turn your cell phone off while it's nice well it starts taxing you know the planes taxing and they're like please shut yourself enough this is very dangerous you notice they like stop bothering us altogether about it and some some areas have changed the laws already that you don't have to even bother with it anymore so anyway so I mean there's just a side note for fun but you want to be the kind of person you want to become the kind of person that when you step on a plane everyone relaxes you know me a minute why do they relax oh no I didn't mean like that the person sitting in the plane sees what's your name yeah so in layout I'm not gonna ask your last name live feed but let's just say your last name is Goldstein so what is it really is there gold in there are esteem hey what do we got magnesium I'll be the magnesium can pass out water I'm gonna take some magnesium after mountain biking your muscles are a little depleted it's really good for post muscle stuff having this weird phenomenon where I'm getting muscle cramps in my leg which is nasty especially when you're surfing and and especially when you're surfing in front of rocks I mean you can't get anything if you want to there's only a couple like ways back to shore you have to get to them and you've got forbid you get a leg cramp out there yeah you're gonna be saying hi to the rocks cuz you're not doing much yeah I'm gonna be able to move around much you guys know I'm talking about getting that golf ball in the calf or something so but I don't know what the answer is because magnesium hasn't really done much for me at all I don't know what's going on I eat once in a while so I think I have enough nutrition but maybe I don't know last time I got terrible cramps surfing I was flopping around the beach for 20 minutes like a fish out of water people were like people random people were coming up and massaging my legs like people run like romantic walks with her you know a spouse and they were like coming over to me going like what in the world man check on an ambulance that I'm like just massage it I wind up limping for 10 days I mean it completely pulled my muscle it was so bad so anyway if you send me a message if you have the answer and please don't make a random guess okay I'm a little busy right now to get random comments about my leg cramps so yeah you're gonna say when Leia Goldstein gets on the plane God's not taking this plane down so that was the idea has become the person becomes so great that when you walk on a plane people are like he's like this plane ain't going down I've sat on planes where I was a little nervous about it because it was stormy and I knew there was like some major storms on the way a little nervous about the flight and then on walks I like one time mayor Schuster walked on the on board so I just immediately relax I'm like there's no way this planes going down so ever since I had that feeling I said to myself I want to become the kind of person that everyone relaxes when he gets on the plane okay that was a sign for God's not expect you know with absolute knowledge he's expecting you to deduce it just like you know the same amount you'd risk your life on in the company to get on an airplane okay next is idolatry that I think that makes sense I don't think we need to spend time in there because it completely denies God's power for you to believe in the powers that gun ascribe power to me God ascribed power to other things obviously the whole this whole creation is only coming from it's a projection from a metaphysical world filled with entities and so so God did ascribe God did give power to them he invested power into the Sun into the moon into this the zodiac you know those constellations are our powerful influencers and the and so they're they have invested power in them but we're commanded not to short-circuit the relationship with God meaning meaning don't overly thank your waiter find the kitchen in the restaurant and go think the people actually made the food so that you understand like go to the source don't don't just thank them then medium intermediary yeah anyone got an answer the question what you got the question like if you got the first one we don't need the second one okay that's one answer is that right you can walk around full believing gut and suddenly bow down to something maybe the person could just get pulled into it you know it's it was pretty powerful in there were times where they say that more powerful than a man rubbernecking a girl walking by is was the power of idolatry meaning more powerful men and you all see that that's like nearly impossible to withstand rubbernecking might not be a term in Australia rubber necking means staring at a woman walking by but your neck your head just goes like it's called rubber necking you never heard that term must be American or something so anyway they but they say more powerful than that was idolatry so then it wouldn't make sense cuz here you believe in God it's just that there's a tremendous connection available right there you know and with that group of people who are all serving this particular thing you hear that I just got a whatsapp by the way from a woman who went to a yoga class the teacher Jewish observant woman and you know when Jews go to non Jerusalem yoga classes because in Jerusalem the yoga class are real clean and straight and clearly not idolatrous but all the Jews who are observant who are stuck in their cities and towns where they want to do yoga and they have to just they just kind of overlook it overlook this the all the meditations and the names they're using it and and they you know they considered just advanced stretching but anyway so she just told she was only going to read half you're listening I only got to read half your what's up that's how busy I've been but I did see that the teacher had brought in a god and so we're dedicating the today's session to this God I didn't get to read the rest of the message I don't know if you got up and left I don't know what she did exactly but the answer is you get the answers you get up and leave because you can't be part of such a group you know I don't know if you can never be part of such a good but it's certainly not that day so anyway the any of this stuff was powerful on you you know these these aren't a joke even when the Christians sorry to use word even but even Christians getting into their frames of mind that they get into when they're doing ecstatic prayer I'm not sure which groups do this but imagine some of them do it when they're doing they're ecstatic prayer I bet you they're feeling more than you are when you're praying as a Jew you're probably feeling more in you art when you're praying isn't you because they're tapping into they're tapping into certain I don't know her transiting Hebert's it's called cohost what forces excellent excellent WordPerfect what's your name all right I met you before I think you're in class be fine so anyway they're connecting in a certain forces now why wouldn't God feel that way and the answer is is because well I don't to go too into it cuz we're doing 10 commandments but God so that gods like the CEO of the entire company here you know you know you know you don't get to like you don't get to like go to 7-eleven and meet the CEO you get to enjoy your Slurpee that's what you get you know you know that so so and if you were to somehow I have a communication with the CEO you'd be lucky if it was anything more than an email no it's not that God isn't very connective he is very connective I mean think about he's crazy about you he's been arranging her whole life I mean he's orchestrated your entire day so he's definitely crazy about yet he's definitely very involved but for you to think that you connecting with God's gonna give you some overwhelming you know kind of orgasmic experience it's compared to connecting the forces that that week that not we as Jews but the Gentiles have gotten really good at how to link into them so it's it's a different type of thing it's there's an immediacy to it I mean think about just the immediacy of having an icon on the wall which you know Jews have no icon so it's forbidden it's one of the part of the ten commandments it doesn't just say no idolatry ago there's like another five six seven lines there of like creating icons no icons allow whatsoever and by the way Jewish stars are not icons and nor are menorahs or anything like that the Jews love to have around everywhere those are not called icons okay icons means that that it is a symbol of God and we have no symbols of God any visual symbols of God whatsoever so we already know built-in there's that you don't get that kind of immediacy in in the connection now this is the importance of meditation this is the importance of meditation that if you're doing your prayers I'm not going to ask you to do every prayer meditatively but if you're if you're between perhaps or have to probe to pray meaning three times a day praying as many Jews do without any meditation beforehand to get yourself into that place of immediacy into that place of connectivity so then you're just a joker and you're not a serious Jew your very committed to praying every day but you're not really serious you're not serious servant of God because because you know you're not gonna be feeling much if you're not getting into a state of meditation first and you must get into that and become a disciplined thinker at least for some of the prayers by the way the word meditation in case you're wondering just to qualify what I said that meditation means to think about one thing at a time one thing at a time I supposed to wandering and so and so the human brains great at wandering as you may have noticed it loves wandering and so you must get yourself into that disciplined state away from the wandering what includes breathing and in a limitation of stimulation and and various other techniques but you've got to use those techniques which are available on YouTube for the most part I mean you don't need to like oh where am I gonna learn that you know you're gonna learn that where you learn everything else online so you go online and you and you watching YouTube meditation thing and practice it until you get your mind under control I mean my own watch I forgot to put my watch on today that's the problem with the smart watches you plug it in as oh my all my life I've had my watching my pocket while I sleep so later in the day I figure out where my watches there's his watch if I leave the house I don't ever watch any of it it's got a button on it literally on the face when you look at the watch you can press this button and it's a minute of breathing with a visual showing the lungs coming in and out like it's just a it's just a graphics not lungs it's like a picture comes in and out and it and you stop I've done it a few times actually it was quite interesting I I was in a different state of mind every single time I pressed that after the minute minute of focus breathing staring at this graphic opening and closing it works literally changed your state of mind which is really important if you're gonna be praying you don't have to do it every prayer sometimes you're in a hurry sometimes you know you're just not you're my your your your heart's not in it but you're obligated to the prayers so you mean you you're committed to your committed prayer prayer but at least some other time some of the time otherwise you're just not a spiritual Jew and it shows no offense okay yeah right perfect I think you're sleeping that yeah okay great anyway that's another reason why this should be here but I want to go a little bit deeper into idolatry and that I mean this is not deeper necessarily and it may not even be that true but revenue of Weinberg would be happy I said what I'm about to say and that is that the biggest Idol today's you know offense yeah and what say yeah the biggest Idol today is you cuz you actually think you're accomplishing things you're accomplishing you forget the fact that God lets you pretend you actually do anything so that what's Shabbat Shabbat when God says let's stop pretending just give me one day give me one day away we're gonna stop pretending you did anything and just be present for an entire day to the fact that I'm running running the show right and what are we doing they kiddush saying God created them you know and God completed the creation and he rested and you know we're saying he made this place he's running the show that's how we start the whole day with saying that God runs the show so but we feel we run the show the other days my and my just to give a little honor to my my my teacher well Sean Friedman the great Merlin he he says he says that I you know I don't know where he got there then cuvee I got it from his Rebbe but I all at least quote up to quote him that that idolaters are much better than our generation because idolaters they at least believed power came from something else than themselves so he understands that he actually praises idolaters compared to our integration because our generation believes worthy worthy you know we ourselves are you know the the determinants of reality we determine things when in fact God determines things and not that we don't have free will but but ultimately God's running the show now just on that subject so you can be a deep believer in God but you could easily forget and think you're you're actually doing stuff okay using God's name in vain why that ain't the top ten list what's the big deal and what is it what does it even mean what does it mean to use God's name in vain mMmmm oh swear in the name of God oh sorry yeah no swearing in the name of God okay is that true you can't swear in the name of got it yeah you can do that so what does it mean what's this commandment mmm I think that's probably a good idea but I don't think that's what this commandment is you ever thought about is like what exactly are we commanded yeah so there's different examples given by the rabbi's and none of them seem like a big deal but one of them I'll just give you one example is not to not to swear in the name of God that this is a cup that's in vain right maybe prayer in vain might be a problem to meaning if you're following up if you're following a a fire truck up the street up your street and you're you're not allowed to pray in the name of God that the that it's not your house why yeah it's either is your house or not your house you know there's a house on fire it's yeah you can pray for other things you're getting pray it's not your house over your house cuz now you're using God's name in vain your that you're not allowed to pray after the 40th day in the name of God for the gender of your baby male or female cuz after the 40th day it's locked in until the 40th day it's not logged in so you're allowed to pray for gender if you've had like you know five boys in a row you're allowed to pray for a grown up to a day 14 okay what's doing the top 10 list what's the big deal no stop shouldn't love her neighbor have made it above this one love her neighbor didn't even make it what do you say his name is Scott you know it's kind of a symbol of his essence we use that you know basically it was almost making the existence of okay could be and it's also a level of honoring or just it's a dishonor to dishonor to God okay I mean God obviously means business so I think maybe any of these having to do with God are legit just because this is it seems a lot less important in these two because these are the basis of reality this one's not necessarily the basis of reality but made the top 10 list so it must have something to do with the base in reality because the whole point of the Ten Commandments is these are the basics the basic values of reality in this world do you think God's name ain't know once gave us to have another stab at it not give a stamp you wanna give it like as a beam you're not like Ben you're not mean say it's making a broad category like don't mess with holy stuff hey that might be why I made the top 10 so you don't like desecrate things that are holy and so we're gonna make one big one like gods names not desecrated and therefore keep your eyes out of dis creating things okay that's nice well shame strong straw what do you got name in vain gonna show the lack of respect for him it's like you're on the same playing field you're on the same level I'm just gonna treat him like he's like my friend and uses name whatever just throw his neighborhood haven't been you know out of there okay all right right if you're already not allowed to say things in God's name that are vain so then all the more so you're not gonna start using them for forces of evil if you can't use it for the little stuff then you're certainly not gonna use it for the big stuff the I mean even force of good who are you to be using them you know the Kohanim in the temple were the ones who are in charge of the names meaning they were the ones who are allowed to use them and they were very careful with how they use them they did not give him out you know you know you ever heard the story about the first pope with the names of God never heard that story yeah this story's not very appreciated behind it today's modern blackhat world but uh but somehow miss buckle magazine I think it was had the courage to print it which I was very proud of them for printing it even though it was if I got hell for it what happened was there early Christians were the early Christians were hassling the Jews badly I meaning they were a nightmare and this is during Roman times early Christians were just regular observant Jews they just you know it had gone you know rebellious against it was like a rebellious sect they weren't the Christians we know it's not Christianity they're called early Christians so this was fully observant Jews who had rebelled against the mainstream Jewish world and they kind of held you know their their the leader rebel was Jesus who was you know who got stoned you know that I know they everyone says he got crucified but that's not the way the history the contemporary history unit does not mention any crucifixion whatsoever only mentions stony crucifixion stories come like 300 years later so the anyway but these are the Christians were really a thorn in the Jewish people's side because they would like they would they had these Romans at their fingers as Romans were just happy to listen to any early Christian you know reporting on the Jews you know and and what happened was it was so bad that the rabbi's gathered one particular big rabbi whose name was how do you say Peter in Hebrew I just say Peter in Hebrew someone have Google on their phone just right Peter in Hebrew so anyway I forget his name no in Hebrew oh it is Polti oh no that's Paul yeah that's probably okay whatever so maybe his name was I pretty sure it's Peter and he was a fisherman in Jaffa he was one of the sages of the of the Gemara sorry of that one of the sage of the Mishnah he was a time and he anyway he was he had an idea and the idea was he gathered this agent told me idea he said that I'm going to go to the Kohanim with your permission meaning with your with a note from a doctor's note or a parent tone load from all the rabbi's giving me permission to use the names of God to do magic for the early crew for the Christians and if I do magic for them they will make me their leader and then I'm gonna get a prophecy immediate fake prophecy but I'll get a prophecy that the Christians are to move to Rome and the rabbits are like are you kidding I mean that's so out of the box to do that and he said I'm willing to do it meaning he's sacrificing life he's wife and kids are in Java he's not taking them you know he's got a wife and kids family probably a congregation who knows who what he had he was one of the sages he had to let go of everything to do this and he said but the punishment of using those names of God which are only for the Kohanim in the temple the punishment for that and I refused to bear it by myself we all have to bear it evenly meaning we're gonna spread the punishment for using the names of God like this we're gonna spread it evenly amongst the sages and the sages agreed and he went he went to the core name he got the met it got the names did the acts the Kabbalistic works of wonder and and the Christians bought it and said this is our leader you know and he got his prophesy we all have to moved to Rome and they moved to Rome he moved to Rome and led them and he was the first pope in rome and today ever since then every Pope wears a ring with a fisherman on it and that's I think has to do with the fish you'll see on cars sometimes and maybe that's something else I know but every pump has a ring that gets passed down Pope to Pope that ring of fishermen on it who was the first pope who was actually one of the sages he lived the last rest of his life in solitude and in pain and just been prayer and just the rest of his life was lousy but he meaning lousy compared to living obviously in the holy land of being a regular father and family Mammon and member of the sages but but he did send two prayers and what's interesting about these two prayers and their heart-wrenching prayers but these two prayers are everyone's favorite two prayers in the city meaning if you ask anyone who spent years and years and years praying you know they'll always tell you that there two favorite prayers are these two prayers I wonder if anyone knows what the two prayers are gonna have to spend you have to be like a very dedicated prayer person you know the two prayers already man why oh no I don't mean from from not enough they're not part of the Amidah there but we but our sages putted the men of the great assembly put it in our prayer book he sent the prayers from Rome like hidden in packages didn't sent these to prayers and they got put in our prayer prayer book I don't think you guys are getting it the answer is a Behrami I have a robber that's right before we system on definitely one of the most beautiful prayers we have and you thought the other one is people love it even more than other Abba historic it's it's knishmas nish math coke I hear up Nismo and he sent those to Israel and those were put in the prayer book and those are the ones like if you're gonna pray I say pray if you're gonna cry at any point of prayer it's likely gonna be have arrived ax or knishmas those are like if you're the kind of person cries in prayer and you're into prayer like that's where you open the tears are gonna start pouring out stirring those and you can feel his heart when you're praying him like he was just so connected to God even though he had you know the the Deaf his downfall which was living in exile all those years as he sent these heart-wrenching prayers to the Jewish people and they were put in our prayer book now what I just said is not necessarily controversial but because it really offends a lot of people who can't believe that the first Pope wrote those two prayers they refused to believe that so they so they they argue that it can't be the case but it's well documented with that story I wouldn't have told it too if it wasn't well documented but you can look it up online and read the different opinions and and angry rebuttal about it I'm not saying the story to be provocative I just it's just an incredible story why shouldn't it be told you know and okay we didn't get that far so and it's also probably after 4:00 if I see Riley Ellis in the back so we're gonna we're gonna call it a day