Rabbi YY Jacobson - Two Paths To Recovery

the yeshiva dotnet welcome everybody good morning to one and all before I begin I just want to make two announcements number one next week there is no shear so if you could please share it with your friends or family or anyone that you know that comes not everybody's on the email so to avoid extra Turki so if you could please tell those who often come or sometimes come that next week there will not be a shear I'm out of town that's number one number two next Thursday that's a week from this Thursday we're going to resume our and munis series here in the tent that's a shear every Thursday night for Telugu Amer excluding of course Yemen tyvan which is going to be focused on various elements in basics of emunah various questions that people live that's every Thursday night 8:30 p.m. it's for men and for women and for teenagers right here with a mosquito and hot food and I told him to put on the women's section salad instead of cholent because last time last time we had an event here I don't want two weeks ago and the guy puts kögel and Charlotte at the women's section like the men's section because a guy did it so I saw at the end of the the end of the event all the men with the women's section and they I was happy for them because they had a lot of leftovers but everybody is invited especially for young people or teenagers that's next beginning not this Thursday but next Thursday February 15th at 8:30 p.m. if a tell an anecdote about a fellow who came into a bar one evening and he ordered a drink and when he finished his drink he took the glass and he threw it at the bartender's face and the man screams what is this and he says I apologize I'm so embarrassed with my behavior but I have this uncontrollable rage in me and I just lose it okay I forgive you this time next night he comes orders another shot finishes the drink whack right at his face what now he says I'm so embarrassed I hate myself I'm ashamed please forgive me I just have all these demons and skeletons and me and I lose it next night same story says what's this he said I'm just I hate myself and I'm so embarrassed please he says listen either you go to therapy or I'm going to call the police promise me you don't come back here for a year you have to go to therapy he says okay I promise she doesn't show up for a year comes back a year later orders a glass drinks it he downs it takes the cup whack right at the bartender's face the poor guy is bleeding he's maimed these bruises says what's this he says I went to therapy and now I'm not embarrassed anymore today we're going to explore a halakhah law which is rooted it originates in purchase miss bottom at the first glance it seems like very physical very technical dealing with issues and questions and dilemmas that would seem to have little relevance to most people's life at least in many people's lives today and yet a deeper glance we will see this law as a reflection of a deeper cosmic and psychological and spiritual truth in human life one of the main issues one of the main laws discussed in Paris miss button is if a person owns an animal and the animal aggressively attacks and damages another person's animal the way the terror illustrates and describes the scenario is Kega sure ich if somebody say has a bull the bull is a domesticated bull and therefore its behavior of attacking another animal is uncharacteristic it's not a wild untamed uncontrolled bull this is a domesticated ox and yet sadly uncharacteristically to the surprise and utter shock and dismay of the owner your bull goes and Gore's and attacks another animal it moot mames it damages it it hurts it or it even kills it the injury is fatal this is not only about a bull somebody has a dog right it's very common today that people have dogs and the dog is a tame dog the dog is a nice dog the dog is a well-behaved dog but it happens the dog suddenly goes and attacks a puppy or another a neighbor's dog or a friend's dog and injures it badly or kills it what's the law remember a few years ago and Connecticut somebody had in their home a chimp you remember you remember that story and the chimp was very well behaved this was a domesticated chimp best friends with the owner and one day the chimpanzee just lost it and the horrific damages it caused the person who was in the house was a well well well known story what does not lock I have to say about this situation that case it was a person which the parshas much bought them also discusses but the question we're addressing here is if your animal damages another animal or kills another animal so the terrarium is spot them and this is the law give us a very interesting verdict and that is the first three times since this behavior is completely uncharacteristic and abnormal for the animal so this type of animal is called a sure tom which means an innocent ox a tom tom is like innocent coming to memo's it's considered to be an innocent ox and therefore the owner is obligated to pay had seen Ezek half the damage in other words the losses are split between the owner and the victim i will say what's the victims fault right then american law doesn't work that way why isn't the victims fault why if his dog was killed or his bull was killed or his cow was killed or whatever animal was killed why is it his or her fault to split the losses the answer is you're right it's not but we also don't blame the owners also not the owners fault he or she is responsible for their animals but this animal for years has never behaved this way so the toy redeems him as innocent as well and therefore they split the losses it's almost like it was so to speak a muzzle that this person lost their animal and they split 50% 50% which literally means he pays for half the damage so if the loss was a thousand dollars say the animal was worth a thousand dollars I mean there's maybe an emotional element but that's a separate issue so he pays five hundred dollars that's the first three times however if this says Gord three times now its status and halakha changes from Asher Tom - Asher Hammoud moods in Hebrew means its it has a proclivity it's prone to Gore you know that this is not a domesticated axe anymore this is a dangerous axe even though monks can go by and nothing happens but if three incidents occurred it changes how logically legally the status of your bull or any other animal say a person has a dog and the dog attacked three times and now with the owner's responsibility to guard this animal excessively and avoid any potential 'ti for such damage and if there is such damage we deem and confer complete responsibility on the owner of that animal and therefore he or she has to pay what's called neza column the complete damage this is the difference between sure Tom and cher Hammoud the innocent ox so to speak and the Ox that is prone to damage after three times there is a discussion among the various a huronian if after three times it's a new status or it just reveals retro actively that this Gore has always been an aggressive undomesticated bull with somehow logic ramifications but this is the general outline and as mentioned it's about three times after three times its status changes once once twice once it's three times you already see that there is a there is a nature here it's not just a fluke not just a one-time incident and therefore you are now responsible to treat this animal differently you can't just let him walk in there other bulls you can't just let him hang out and there are other dogs it's simply too dangerous if you want to take him out of your property and have him contact and have him or rather have her be a cop you want him to be able to socialize and have contact with other animals you're responsible for all the results because he's a dangerous or very aggressive let's put a very aggressive animal there is a very interesting halakha the commissioner and the hosel tell us and there's a whole track date of gomorrah mission and gomorrah dedicated to these laws called Baba kama which is based on the verses and purchase Mishpatim and there is a very interesting law mujer de Lucia bosses ain't no mood Liam a Hoyle if somebody has an ox that gored other oxen three times on Shabbos one Shabbos neck shop is in the third Shabbos this animal is not considered a mood for weekdays only Shabbos not weekdays which is a very fascinating Alaka you wouldn't think that the Ox follows a calendar but that's the halacha on Shabbos yes Shabbos if it Gor is a fourth time you have to pay full damage if the damage is $20,000 he's only responsible to pay however if something happens on Tuesday the owner has to pay half damage why is that this is what our sages our rabbi's teaching the Mishnah what's the logic for this so Rashi says a fascinating idea Rashmi Baba kama page 37 lama Zion says because Jewish animals are forbidden to work on Shabbos and when the Ox has nothing to do it goes crazy shimon simoom boredom monotony brings out the worst in people and in teenagers as well it's it's about it's about a nature it's it's not about the Ox it's about a certain concept when somebody has nothing to do with their life and on Shabbos the animals the Ox they don't work one of the saris addresses Shabbos is not only to be observed by the people but also by the animal which is in itself a fascinating law I'm now allowed to have my animal work on Shabbos the animal is let is allowed to relax and just chill out on Shabbos enjoy its the day a vacation it's great for the animal it shows that dignity one has to have towards an animal that on Shabbos no animal of a Jew was allowed to put to work I can't have my ox plough the field or do any other labor whether it's my horse or my donkey or my camel or any other animal the animal is just let to be and so to speak enjoy life but there are consequences Rashi says the boredom of the animal the fact that it's not being harnessed to work can express itself in wild and aggressive behavior and therefore it doesn't translate into weekday behavior it's not an essential quality sometimes you have to be able to identify this this kid is bored he or she has nothing to look forward to no outlets for their energy all they can do is climb walls or become an intellectual mathematician which they can do both and therefore the results as they start goring whatever is around them if they feel they're capable of goring it toys smus gives a separate second reason that he quotes from Talmud you rachelle me and that is equally fascinating animals are extremely sensitive on Shabbos toys vus says everybody wears different clothes and you have to understand this contrast was very extreme in ancient times people didn't have a lot of clothes and they had a special set of garments that were beautiful clean orphan white for Shabbos so Thomas says the Ox does not recognize its owners its family on Shabbos and it goes crazy because of the change of attire the Ox feels very insecure these are people I know suddenly I don't know them because for six days it was used to another set of garments and therefore in this insecurity and fear the Ox becomes aggressive again it's not about aggression it's about fear it's about anxiety of not knowing what is around me which is again another very profound psychological lesson when it to you man and here's an example they seem like technical wars with animals but they really have a lot of psychological relevance when you have to diagnose a situation a problem even in a child's life or an adult's life there's an interesting Sri parenthetically about the Rockit raw egg on the rocket rover gone was a man named Robin Louisa frozen he was one of the great geniuses not only of his generation but of many generations he passed away kindness Esther 1936 before the war he was a robbed of a city called Vince in Latvia and the rogachev are gone was a man his entire life was Tara and a woman came over to him once as the rabbi of the city and she had an issue she was a young mother and she was nursing her baby and on Shabbos the baby would not nurse on Shabbos the baby would not nurse all week the nursing was fine on Shabbos somehow the baby would not nurse so she comes to there of the Eroica Chava gone for her problem without skipping a heartbeat he tells her it's a toy service in Baba kama page 37 what are you talking about so he tells her over this toy service that when the oxys different set of clothes he doesn't recognize the people and he gets anxious he says this is what's happening with your baby your infant because Shabbos you look completely different so this baby's experiencing anxiety and therefore it's hard for the baby to nurse this is what he told her immediately when she shared with him the problem that she's having on Shabbos with her baby and indeed she altered that and the baby was fine that maybe continued with its behavior babies are so silly sometimes don't realize what infants are aware of them what they're not aware of what they pick up what they don't pick up what they detect what they don't detect but they detect much more than we often can imagine now comes the following question what happens if somebody has such an ox bull or any animal really I say ox because that's the illustration that Toyota gives but it could be any animal as I said it could be a dog it could be a chimp excuse me it could be any other beast or animal that is domesticated what happens if it indeed is transformed from a shirt Amin to assure Hammoud meaning and ops that is now prone to damage and therefore I have to take full responsibility to protect it and if not I am responsible as its owner to pay full damages can an advocate in every revert back to its more innocent domesticated status we're if afterwards it Gore's again I only have to pay half damage or once it becomes a share Hammoud once it changes its category that's it this is what it is for life and whenever it damages you have to pay full damage so our sages tell us the ha'la'tha come and tell us again interacted bava kamma that there is a method what is the method sometimes you can train an animal and train it well a wild animal they do what trainers do it all the time a wild dog can become tamed a wild bull can be cultivated to be more relaxed and more respectful and know of its boundaries as as by using the techniques that are continuously employed by animal trainers and therefore if this shara mood is dealt with in an appropriate way but it's not enough that the trainer says I think he changed rather you look at this animal and it's hanging around children and it's hanging around other animals and it's not displaying any aggressive behavior and this happens continuously so then this animal status changes once it has proven itself to have been trained well and go in to the category of domesticated animals that can be trusted to be around other animals or people without the fear of them aggressively attacking them this animal status now changes but it has to be trained you can't just say oh my animal change based on what if animals was worked with and the training affected a change in behavior that is visible now we could say the animal is not anymore a surer move with its back to its old status as a sure Tom and we repeat the pattern again meaning the next three times if something happens the person is only responsible to pay half damage unless once again we see that it becomes back to its old undomesticated behavior and you have to pay neza column full damage however the halacha teaches that is one more method and this method is what I'm going to focus on today because it seems so bizarre and that is I have an ox or a dog that is prone to damage meaning it has proven itself once twice three times that it has attacked other animals badly or not badly and therefore I have to pay full damage I didn't train the animal what if I sell this ox to somebody else or I give it as a gift to somebody else the halacha is loose marshana the change of authority the change of domain changes the legal status of this animal it is now automatically considered a sure Tom an innocent domesticated bull and the new owner is not responsible to pay full damage until it proves itself to be a share how move it after three times in his or her domain which the commentators struggle with I understand if I train the animal and I worked with it and I disciplined it with the tools that are used to train animals consequences rewards punishments etc and all of the various tools that are used and the animal has proven to grow up or to alter its behavior I got it there's no need to constantly assume that it's a damaging animal when it's not anymore the animal is now well behaved and domesticated if something will happen in 3 years ok they may be a fluke but you can't hold him responsible but just to say I took my ox I sold it to you I gave it to you as a gift it's now in a different home under a different owner nothing was done with the animal nonetheless Liholiho the Halasz even the a few opinions and the Rambam gives this verdict and he'll curse this came um and I think chapter six in the laws that deal with your property your animals damaging other animals and chapter six this is the law that if I sell my animal or give it as a gift its status is altered its metamorphosized legally and now the new owner has again that freedom to relax and the first three times this ox Gore's another animal he only has to pay half until he's warned after three terms and then he takes full responsibility as were the first owner and then the first shim that i commentated that's why this doesn't seem to make sense it's not fear why should the second owner not hold on just like you changed the title you changed the title of ownership the deed was transferred from one owner to another owner the responsibility should be transferred I'm selling you a wild walk you want to buy the wild or great it's great for security great to guard you at night but you have to take responsibility why is he over the hook again we're not talking about a bull or a dog that were that are by not naturally undomesticated we're talking about a dog in a bull that were once domesticated in other words by nature you have animals that are not domesticated so then they're not a shirt top for example a lion or a tiger you don't say the first three times you have to pay half the damage it doesn't work even if you train a tiger good luck even those in the zoos they know that you can't expect from a tiger once in a while there's always these stories these are animals that are prone they just they don't allow themselves to be confined it's just what they are just who they are the concept of Tom doesn't exist with many of these animals because a cheetah leopard the omission to discuss is the animals that they're not domesticated we're not talking about that we're talking about animals that are domesticated and therefore the first three times the owner was not fully responsible but then these animals learnt to deviate from their natural behavior and nature and now you can either retrain them or sell them when you retrain them they go back to their no status and even when you sell them or give them as a gift they go back to the original status which doesn't seem to make sense so one of the explanations rob a new Hama Erie I been a Menachem I marry one of the great community commentators says something surprising he says that the app is going out from your domain to another domain from your authority to another authority changes its muzzle and its tether it changes its muzzle that those are his words and its nature which again requires explanation what is the meaning of this is this a spiritual thing is this a physical thing the most common and probably logical explanation is that it has to do again with the sensitivity of an animal if an animal can distinguish between the clothes you wear on Shabbos and the clothes you wear in the week days the animal becomes immediately and is acutely aware of the fact that it's now been transferred to a new owner both practically geographically it's not in the same home it's not in the same barn it's not in the same field it's not in the same Carell it's not in the same pen it's not at the same courtyard as well as socially and emotionally there's a new owner giving orders to somebody else feeding it is somebody else nurturing it is somebody else taking care of it so right when the animal is transferred either by a gift I'm not a gift I give to somebody or sale immediately the animal knows oh there's a new system I don't know if I should compare but those of us in school who were mischievous it's always the first day of a new year you you you put your behavior on hold in order to see and check out the new teacher especially there's a new principal you remember those days now usually after a few minutes you see that the new teacher you'll also be able to wrap around your finger and it's fine you just go on with your old behavior but there's that 510 minute pause of even the most mischievous rebellious aggressive children the nightmare of every teacher and principal in the school that the first day for physics which we call five minutes of grace that they give teachers in your Treves not a hundred days but 5-10 minutes of race and the boys and the girls are very smart and intuitive check out the quality of the new one and neither you know they wink to each other with the eyes here we go here's another one here's another one you know that we're going to enjoy for the year and once in a while if the teacher is a real pedagogue he or she seizes the moment and the five minutes of grace and does something a little different our teacher once told me that he came in the first day and he was given he was told he was given a pretty challenging class and particularly one child who was known to terrorize every teacher this was a yeshiva in Brooklyn where people are generally more aggressive and more uptight I guess because of lack of space or it's New York or whatever the situation is somebody asked me why people in New York are up or uptight and in a bad mood I said you would also be of the light at the end of your tunnel was New Jersey but I love New Jersey actually so this was a tough class so the teacher gets up and he was given three minutes of grace and he looks at his students and he said I just want to tell you how I'm gonna run this class it's going to be almost impossible for you to do anything that will cause me not to love you children it's gonna be very very hard to convince me that you're evil kids it's almost impossible you're gonna have to work so hard to persuade me that you're really bad because it runs contrary to my entire faith so just know in this class you're going to be loved and cherished and it's not going to be easy to prove to me that you don't deserve it and he had one of the greatest years particularly with that child so back to our discussion halakha says animals know and are acute to every alteration especially a new owner the person is your - sure kena Jochen a overcomer Evo's but all of the Ox knows you Shia ANOVA is an amazing that acts knows its owner and the donkey knows - ruff of its master you're - surely nail the Ox knows its owner and the comer knows the trough of its of its master and you're shy honorable immense and yet my people don't the oxen the donkey dunno and yet my people don't because sometimes as we know animals are far more aware of reality than sometimes people who are in their sophistication can really deviate from reality so when the animal is transferred to another domain everything is on hold if by nature it's not domesticated it's a innately aggressive genetically then there's no difference it is what it is you can't change the color of your eye you can't change you Jesus because you're going to another owner but if it's learned behavior if it's a quired behavior because really this animal was domesticated halakhah says the moment he comes to a new owner everything is on hold he is sensitive or she is sensitive the animal is sensitive to the fact that there's a whole new system there's a different personality there's a different energy there's a different presence there was once a horse his name was hands hands they named the horse it was owned by somebody in Germany in the early 1900s the early 20th century and hands got a reputation of being uniquely clever smart and wise to the point of having the ability to follow mathematical equations and actually be able to study math and figure out mathematics which was unheard of in the animal kingdom and for a horse and this became a spectacle for all of Europe and the owner of the horse made an enormous amount enormous amount of money people would come and he would look at the horse and say hands you gotta tell me how much is 90 86 and the horse would begin lifting one of its feet up and down and count and you know he would start counting he would start counting the numbers and when he would reach the right number the horse would give a clop this was the number and first it was simple stuff ten plus ten thirty minus whatever it is and then it started to get more complicated and this was a phenomenon no one ever heard of such a horse fascinating people became suspicious researchers and scientists psychologists became suspicious they thought it people saw there was a reality this horse had the ability to calculate difficult mathematical equations it was absolutely unheard of so they came and they started to look and it was real it was not fake there was nobody whispering to the horse the right number not that that would help but rather he would mama SH too as long as he was on the wrong number the horse did not display anything he came to the right number and the horse said this was the one or to the point that the horse itself was picking up its foot going through the numbers instead of speaking the numbers and then reaching the right numbers say the right number would be a hundred and seventy two and then stopping this is it a hundred and seventy two or whatever the number was and they're looking and looking and they're trying they feel that this is something is off and they're searching what is it and they can't figure it out it's all legit there's no lies no deception it's very hard to deceive it here because horses are you know you there's no whispering and there's no secrets video that's or secret mp3 that's playing and it's here and then they decided whatever they would separate the owner from the horse they would put a curtain in between them and they did they put a curtain in between them and they saw that the horse was now not always accurate yes and no sometimes yes sometimes no sometimes a little off why the horse heard the question the owner was there but the horse couldn't see the owner they decided to take the owner completely away and do this with the horse on its own and it was all over there was not one question that the horse got right and they couldn't figure it out another guy is standing there how much is nine plus nine the horse couldn't figure it out how much is nine times nine the horse couldn't know they know he didn't even begin to know like any other animal this is not what animals are for knew and they searched and searched and then they figured it out and in a way in a way it diminished of course the mathematical genius of this horse but it elevated this sensitivity an emotional sense of closeness of the source what they realized was as follows if this guy is standing in front of hands the owner and he says hands you got to tell us how much is nine times nine the horse is feeling the anxiety of his owner as long as he didn't get to the right number so as though he's going one two three four five six seven the horse feels anxiety as the horse is going and pedaling with its foot and it's already holding by 39 and 40 and 41 and 50 60 70 etc it's feeling the anxiousness of the owner who is scared that the horse won't get the right answer and when the horse reaches the right number the horse senses the relaxation of the owner and the horse knows that's it we're in paradise time to stop it had nothing to do with math nothing do with numbers it had all to do with relationships and it all to do with the emotional acuteness of an animal and those who deal with animals and are sensitive time were aware of animals know how true this is and the same is true in many ways in relationships as well we often make algorithms and we define life based on algorithms and there's of course a lot of value to that but it had this had nothing to do with my the medical algorithms this had all to do with the commotion elected miss to its owner when there was somebody else there it was completely irrelevant that I couldn't care less about your numbers but I could care about you and in education that itself is very very powerful idea so when this owner halakha says this owner is by an this axis by a new owner yesterday he was goring everybody in town everyone in town was gored by this bahama but there's a new owner everything has changed we say innocence domesticated you know why because the sensitivity to the new owner gives the new owner and opportunity to look this ox in the eye and say we're safe we're good whether it's a horse or an ox or a dog or really any animal again an animal that is naturally domesticated important to emphasize not about changing genes miraculously this is about going back to its original nature I you didn't train the animal you don't need to train the animal by changing the domain and the authority of the animal how law says its status changes because it's sensitive to the fact that there's a new order and now it's really up to the owner and therefore the first three times we assume it to be innocent then he pays half damage after three times goes back to NASA Schuller most of us sitting in this room probably don't own axon or Bulls even if you do even if you do hopefully you don't have to deal with you own an ox of course of course which makes it if you didn't tell the new owner it's not a question that he's not responsible the poor guy didn't know but we're talking about a real transaction you gave him all the information which would make him responsible you want to buy this dog no problem it's a wild dog and yet without going through training that Walker says changing domains is sufficient to bring it back to its old nature yet every single Mitzvah every single halakha in judaism could be understood and studied on two levels the concrete physical level dealing with civil relationships dealing with monetary transactions or in this case dealing with civil damages between animals and animals and who is responsible and how much do they carry responsibility but every single law in Judaism is also a mirror a reflection of an emotional psychological and spiritual idea in fact each halakha can be understood completely not only on a concrete physical level but as a metaphor for dynamics and patterns and issues and situations and dilemmas that play themselves out within the human psyche within the human animal and all of the laws that deal with relationships between animals and a mature responsible and are sure tammana share Hammoud could be our mirrored and reflected in the inner life of a person which makes the study of these laws not only studying halakhah and legalities but also your studying your own soul your own patterns your own life and we're going to use this Aloka as an example each of us has a little bull inside of us or a little animal it's called a nephesh hih bahamas an animal consciousness or an animal soul that exists within every single human being we operate not on one level of consciousness we operate on two levels of consciousness one level of consciousness is called a nephesh a Bahamas the animal or beastly consciousness and one level of consciousness is called an effort shell to kiss the divine or the transcendental consciousness the animal soul is not inherently evil it's a mistake when somebody looks at their animal soul and says you're evil you're bad Judaism does not believe in original sin meaning that every person is inherently evil and therefore you're in need of salvation like an animal some animals are actually very cute you can have a little cute puppy it's adorable it's cute but it's still an animal and do we have that animal soul in us the animal soul focuses on its quest for self-preservation and for self gratification the animal is aware of its needs deeply aware of its needs sometimes better than people and the animal dedicates all of its energies and resources to be able to feel comfortable and to be able to feel good and to be able to live and what the animal is not sophisticated the animal never sees the sky the animal doesn't know about cosmology or astronomy or even a Sun or a moon the animal knows what feels good if this feels good I'm in if it doesn't feel good I'm out and you can't blame an animal it doesn't make sophisticated choices it's mostly programmed it's genetically programmed that's in the real animal world when we say that a human being has an animal soul an animal consciousness that title is an accurate title it's a profound title because it means we also have that dimension within us or dimension within us that is extremely in in neuroscience today we know that there are different regions of the brain there's the amygdala which is basically our ability to respond to what seems like instant danger and to do the right thing to protect ourselves completely instinctive like an animal like even an insect a tiny little insect it becomes acutely aware of danger and it does what it does fight or flight in order to be able to protect itself it doesn't have all the alternatives open to it whatever it is a weir whatever I can do to myself I will do that's a real region of my brain we have another region of the brain called the limbic brain which is sometimes called the social brain which is social it feels it's it's the emotional part of the brain that is very sensitive to relationships good relationships are dangerous relationships then there's the other part of the brain that is reflective it can actually be almost dispassionate and detached and look at different situations and make decisions from a dispassionate point of view of what is right what is wrong the first two are very deeply associated with the nefesh a Bahamas that migdal and the limbic brain are very deeply connected to the animal instinct in the human soul now it's important to emphasize that neuroscience is now cutting edge and each day they're discovering astounding truths about the brain its capabilities its complexities it's astonishing depth at present neuroscientists are distinguishing between the amygdala which as we said is the most primitive part of the brain which is conditioned to sensitize us to potential danger to detect potential danger to respond to potential danger you have the limbic system called the social brain which is responsible for most much of our emotional life our emotional connections our emotional feelings and relationships and then you have the third region that analytical dimension of the brain which is often known as the prefrontal cortex this is analytical and it's capable of weighing the consequences of alternative choices and to do it in a dispassionate way they sometimes refer to the prefrontal cortex as the executive function the functions carried out by the proof from fight where the prefrontal cortex are sometimes called the executive function executive function relates the abilities to differentiate among conflicting thoughts determine good and bad better and best same and different future consequences of current activities the ability to work towards a a goal of the find goal make predictions of various outcomes expectations based on actions and social control the ability to to suppress or hold up urges that if they're not suppressed they can lead to unacceptable outcomes this is another dimension of the brain and the first two are very much I think they're very good models to explain something of what we call in Yiddish guide and Tyra in in Kabbalah and in Musa and Amash oven and see this the nefesh a Bahamas the animal consciousness and then there is the human consciousness that selam aleykum the divine image and then within the jewelled we call the nefesh a shame these beasts all the Fila killer coming out yeah no you're right the amygdala is part of the limbic system I know the limbic system includes many aspects of the brain including the amygdala right right I was just distinguishing between the part of the brain that conditions us to potential danger and the emotional and the emotional aspect the part that's responsible for emotional connections the social brain right but that may be the last part of the limbic system right now this animal is not bad at all but if it's not trained if it's not educated if it's not disciplined especially if it suffers trauma or abuse or it experiences a lot of negativity and dysfunctionality from a little cute puppy it can turn into a dangerous German Shepherd from a little cute calf it can turn into a bull that you don't want to start up with is the bully sensually evil no the bull is trying to protect itself that's what it knows to do it's trying to protect itself and it's trying to feel good and this is what it knows about feeling good so this bull is not bad and the bull can actually the bull is actually responsible for our life the nefesh our bahamas is associated with a lot of our biological life force just like every animal has a soul we also have an animal soul nefesh a busser badami it's the natural life force of a person the electricity of the human body giving us our biological functionality and giving us that various dimensions of human consciousness we also have another soul which is a skewed uniquely human what's called its Alamelu Kim the divine image and the Jewish soul that's called the nefesh al the kiss which is a helical economy mile a divine soul which is a piece of God that animals don't have now what happens with these animals you can have an animal that's a sure Tom it's innocent it's still an animal it protects itself it focuses on itself it wants to be comfortable happy self-preservation self gratification in fact it can even become a complete Ally with the divine soul it can become a complete partner with the godly soul even if not and there is a tremendous struggle between them which is the common reality in people's lives but nonetheless very often this show in people's lives is a sure Tom it's innocent and yet even an innocent bull can one day wake up and start goring that bull starts glory and the Anna the owner says I didn't expect this this is abnormal behavior and therefore you're only responsible for half the damage meaning we know you're not even taking full responsibility because it's almost like you couldn't do anything you didn't know about us but after three times the status changes from a sure Tom to a sure Hammoud what does this mean in people's lives even the most innocent animal has a bad day an innocent animal has a bad day the animal and it takes over and it loses it and it can go crazy and cause a lot of damage but nonetheless the first three times it's still cold ha what does this mean in people's lives we lose it even the best father or the best husband once in a while can lose it even the most amazing woman wife and mother with all due respect could once in a while lose it and yet it's not the end of the world because in life perfection is not demanded accountability is demanded people who demand perfection are living in la-la land people who demand accountability are living in a real world I could make mistakes I could sometimes say something obnoxious self-centered and hurtful but I can apologize and I could say this sh rigored very deep pain in me it triggered very deep hurt in me it triggered an old issue within me it's triggered very deep fears in me and the way to deal with it my amic my amygdala the way to deal with it was I had to protect myself so I started to holler I started to scream and I apologize I said things that I should have not said okay you have an animal in you on the contrary this is the grace of a human being that he or she is not perfect but they're accountable and I'm accountable for my behavior 24 hours a day and I could make mistakes and who does not make such types of errors and mistakes she can have the most cute and delicious and adorable patty who sometimes starts going especially if he's hungry they say with men you have to know two things they have to be fed and watered but fed and watered could mean on different levels so sometime then the most delicious and wonderful and graceful and selfless mommy can also lose it you're stressed you're exhausted you're overwhelmed you're deeply hurt you're deeply worried you're full of xiety present company excluded I know they say there was enough what was the nature of a Jewish telegram the nature of a Jewish telegram was start worrying details to follow there's always what to worry about I heard yesterday a conversation between two people a woman and a man he has two children and she has 12 children and they were talking they were smoothing I happened to be him I was walking out and when this man heard that this woman has 12 children he was like overwhelmed he was like you know I don't know how you live I don't know how you breathe I don't know how you exist I don't know how you function I have two children and it's hard enough how do you deal with it so she told them I want to tell you something each child takes out all of your cases no difference if you have 12 or you have one each child takes all of you all of you has to be present in order to give this child what they need physically and even more socially and psychologically and emotionally and spiritually you have two children it's all of you and you have one child that's all of you and you have telephone that's all of you so a person is overwhelmed and when I'm overwhelmed I could respond and if I'm not feeling well and if I'm having other issues I'm not always in full control so even the cutest most wonderful little calf as it grows up and it has horns it loses it and it starts going and then you have to look at the damage and pick up the pieces and make mends and although the person is responsible but we appreciate the fact that we don't hold them fully responsible in other words it's almost intrinsic to human behavior and human nature as long as you don't run from it you don't deny it you don't repress it not perfection but accountability and then I pay what I have to pay half the damage we move on that's a sure tom but then you have a shirt huh Moo it sure I mooood is a bull that is prone to damage this is already not I had a hard day you set something that really really triggered old stuff you know when I was six years old well you didn't do I really needed something and it just I didn't have it and I was just drained fine what happens is the person now acquires a whole new set of behaviors this is the little animal who in trying to be comfortable doesn't once in a while binge develops an addiction because this animal is so yearning to have a comfortable life to be happy all because of its quest for self-preservation and so gratification so this little animal or this lebesgue bull becomes what we would call an addict this is not a shirt Tom this is a sure Hammoud it's continuous behavior that becomes now almost like second nature the extreme of it is an addiction somebody has an addiction to alcohol or to gambling or to certain websites or to nicotine or to food or any other addiction there's a big list I'm not going to go through the whole list what is this this is not just my animal has a void and I took that extra piece of cake that I know I didn't need then I get into a depression for 35 minutes or for three hours and I get out of it and I say you know what it was a weak moment and I take responsibility and I learned my lesson though it's on I'm not controlled in him I can't control myself anymore this is what happens every night that's what happens every morning that's what happens every other day what happens every weekend this person now is prone to damaging behavior to themselves and to others you have a father who can never control himself every day is yelling and hollering at his wife he's yelling and hollering at his children hitting and cursing and screaming and abusing this is not a shirt top does it happen to the best of the best of course it happens and you can apologize and everybody understands that we make mistakes we have Yeats of Horrors we have nefesh obamas but asher remove it means this is already my pattern after three times it becomes a pattern and a pattern means that it's now almost it's not innate but it's almost innate and here it's a completely different situation here now the person cannot claim innocence anymore this is a serious problem you have to take full responsibility responsible for all the damage because right now the person has allowed their life to go out of control and the people who are hurt in the process could be hurt very badly there's no accountability right now I am just in a destructive path and it continues and continues this is called a share Hammoud it's not always so aggressive sometimes it's more refined but the point in every person's life is where there's certain components that I'm not anymore I cannot anymore say it happened it didn't just happen it's constantly happening this is a part of my life that I lost I'm simply don't have control anymore the third region of the brain is out for lunch and for breakfast and for dinner and remember when the terrorist says about Peres Hashem keeps on telling power Hashem keeps on telling Moshe I'm going too hard and power his heart and he will not send the Jewish people out of Egypt and all of the commentators say so why are you punishing him if you harden his heart then you turn them into a stubborn mule so don't expect anything from them so pairi was really a what fine guy so blame yourself you take Peres and you say I'm not gonna let him surrender and let the Jewish people go I'm gonna make sure that he stubbornly refuses so what do you want from them you could do this to anybody one big big big deal so you turn power into a monster and then you punish him for being him a monster being amongst not nice it's a big question good question oh he keeps on telling Moshe I need a fasiq his life pirate asked me this late part I'm gonna make his heart stubborn you will not be able to botch him so was most of paddy himself was a little mushy piece of wax in a frying pan you put on the fire the frogs come in yeah go go go but everybody's limb said no we're gonna make him tough so there's a lot of different interpretation of the famous answer from the RAM bum and a ram bong and other is showing him huh in the beginning yeah the Rambam says in the beginning he wasn't and the punishment for him doing it in the beginning was that later it became it became so to speak impossible if we want to explain this from from maybe a neurological or a psychological point of view and this is a very profound idea in life freedom is a muscle use it or lose it a muscle has to be exercised if you don't exercise a muscle you can lose it the more I use freedom the more I'm free the less I use freedom the less I'm free go back to the regions of the brain the more I detach myself from the region of the brain that can actually look at a situation survey it and ask what is the right thing to do what is the wrong thing to do not my limbic brain not my amygdala but my medulla but rather the part of the brain that can be reflective I don't use it all I follow is the instinct of what feels good at the moment what is gonna protect me at the moment what do I need socially at the moment to live and be comfortable the more and more neural pathways are created that ignore that part of the brain and now after a few years I have no choice the more I engage the other part of the brain my brain creates physically neural pathways that now turn me into a free person so the next time I'm drawn to the pantry to go eat because I'm feeling anxiety there's another part of the brain and says let's think about this for a moment you know why because I thought about it yesterday because I thought about it the day before it's a muscle you use it you lose its power as a result of not thinking about what's right actually loses his freedom like the Attic the addict at this point is not in control anymore but what made a man in control what made a man in control were days weeks months years when he or she pursued a completely destructive path eliminating that ignoring that component of the brain creating neural pathways that don't include that dimension of the brain and therefore it actually becomes a situation where I'm not free so are we free or are we not free that's your choice the more I choose to be free the more I am free the less I choose to be free I'm packing not free it's that kid not my fault this is what the rambling explains about Parra I mean in language and like in language of the Rumba he chose not to be free and therefore I'm really not free I'm not I'm completely a slave do we have free choice don't we have free choice that's your choice it's hug Bashevis singer said we have to believe in free choice we have no choice but I would say it a little differently do we have free choice it's your choice I may not have free choice do you really have free choice what you're gonna do today it's really your choice if I choose to have freedom I have freedom if I choose not to be free every day I have less and less and less freedom and at some point I have absolutely no freedom if I choose today to be free today it's gonna be harder because my brains have to learn path with new pathways but in a month in a year you're a much more free person freedom is not a gift only freedom is a muscle people who exercise muscles the muscles function on an optimal level people who exercise once a year they function on some level people who never they say okay it's not gonna work in this body so therefore when this person now goes from sure Tom Teixeira mu it it's a completely different lifestyle I am now have to be protected I can't even trust myself wherever I go i Gor bust Hoodman what do you do so the halacha says these two answers first answer is you got to start training the animal you got to retrain the animal you got to take the animal you got to take the bull by its horns pun intended and you have to retrain it and this training takes time you have to learn with this animal what is going on maybe you have to psychoanalyze its behaviors you have to explain to it its background you have to explain to it what its decision process is like you have to explain to it what it's looking for what its nature is and ultimately barish em you can retrain the bull and suddenly the bull walks around and its domesticated and once again it reverts to its old status comes the Halak and says there's another path and the other path is you transfer its domain I give it as a gift I sell it to you it has a new owner and it's a different animal what does this mean in a person's life in the spiritual life of a person it means you take your animal and you give it over to God you transfer its rucious its authority from yourself Tasha you surrender your ownership over your animal and you give it away to the reborn assha Lila what does this mean in a person's life what it means is I can't always afford to wait until I can retrain my animal that can take a very long time and that retraining is also at sometimes a very complex process it's necessary and sometimes it's crucial and vital and it's the first natural path that the halacha gives to change the status of an animal and bring it back to its natural innate and intrinsic innocent nature but there's another dimension and that is if I could speak to my animal and speak to my animal genuinely and seriously and tell my animal you belong to God you belong to Hashem I surrender control over it and I give it up to God what happens now is if you're serious your animal is going to respond and it's expressed in different ways one dimension of it is the meddra says and the baal shem tov teaches it a lot that our shem recreates the world every single moment the world is a new world every moment we don't live always in that prism for us it's the sesame people say same old space OS same old spaghetti or whatever the acronym in Muncie is same old sushi Shabbos same old sushi the fasteners same old sushi and the Kabbalah Spana whatever there s is same old same old same old here we go again routine the baal shem tov says you're not in touch with the rhythm of the world there's a beat and you have to dance with the beats you can't dance or beat because then you lose synchronization with the world with the balance and dance with the beat means the world is always being created every moment a new which means the dance is always happening right now if i'm dancing to the beat of a moment to go an hour ago a day ago a week ago I'm completely out I'm detached from the to tune into life right now means tuning into the power to the present moment the power of now the presence the present not the past not the future which is why it's called a present because it is a present a gift a Madonna and thus in the world being created right now there's something called right now when I give my animal over to the domain of God who recreates the world every single moment so the animal could experience itself as a fresh and new being you don't have to respond to any toxicity to any acquired habits learned behavior that turned your brain into a particular type of creature that only knows this type of behavior you could see yourself completely new without any strings attached because from God's perspective you are new and new doesn't mean you never lived before it doesn't mean you don't have parents doesn't mean you don't have a home it doesn't mean you don't have a marriage it doesn't mean you're gonna go to the top of the Himalayas and Mount Everest even though you would like to do that sometimes no means that wherever I am in life I could look at the same reality but with freshness with complete freshness but this is like who you're talking to I have to transfer domains as long as I'm have the animal so all we're doing is we're trying to protect ourselves from the story that happened a moment and go on with continuing that story when I take the animal and says come we're going over to a new domain you belong to God the animal also belongs to a shop because the mistake would be to detach that animal from its source from God and reduce it to ashes or dismiss it as evil and destructive it's not it's a divine creature it's a divine creature that is an animal and it's a divine creature that lost its path and it became a shadow move but it's still a divine creature I want to bring you to your owner we're going to transfer authority now when you're in a new authority you're in a new domain the animal is sensitive to the fact that in God's domain the world is new every moment and as a result of that the halacha looks at this show and says I'm not too sure how move it anymore I'm a sure Tom and when the animal really embraces this it becomes a reality if the animal doesn't embrace animals and now of course I'm a sick crazy horrible animal that's what you'll be if the animal embraces its new owner and the animal could see itself being under this new owner everything starts anew it also has another ramification and that is changing the domain of my animal often means I sometimes don't have to deal with every issue of the animal but I have to take my animal and put it into a divine place when a person fills their life with good things with godly things with godly behaviors they saturate their lives with productivity with positive energy with light all around them that in itself has a tremendous impact does the behavior even if I didn't get to the nitty-gritty of everything in the animal that's resuce mashallah there was once a Jew who was imprisoned by a pirate by an overlord and this was in the 1600s and this Jew had a life sentence it was a whole long story and this drew was given a life sentence because of suppose it's criminal behavior by this part is by this overlord and this overlord tells him one day that I'm going to be kind to you and I'm going to let you free one day a year and from prison he writes a letter he writes a letter - a great rabbi and sage which day shitty truths a person imagine imagine the dilemma person is going to be in prison for life they have one day a year to be free which day he asked should he come out on Rosh Hashanah so he could be Richard Shana with his family with his community his chauffeur should come out on Yom Kippur him Kippur is the holiest day of the year he could fast in prison but it seemed Kip he wants to be Winchell she come on important she come out for the Seder she'd come out on his birthday should he come out on his wedding anniversary should he come out for us when should he come out one day a year which day should it be so this letter came to there at bars and their advice so the question and the answered that the day you should come out is today the first possible opportunity the first possible day you can come out come out don't wait Rosh Hashanah don't wait and keep it on wait bases no make anniversary don't wait your birthday you could come out today come out today I know tomorrow may be different but today come out as he puts it he says you could have a minister today with a min you could have a mind it with him you could do a mitzvah today and freedom do it today don't wait till tomorrow this question thank God doesn't apply to us sitting here in this room but it applies to each one of us on a different level because sometimes people think I'm gonna come out that day I'm gonna come out this day I'm looking for the right day to come out he said no freedom always happens right now right in this very present moment don't push off your freedom till the next month you today you have an opportunity to come out of prison to come out of prison today when the animal Lord soul understands this energy this power what happens is something is shaken up at its consciousness so yes there is the first process which is powerful and very deep and long-term and profound and you really get into the animal and it has tremendous tremendous benefits if you're sitting with somebody who knows what he's doing or she knows what she's doing which is also a grocer Mazal and aggressiveness Manoj Amaya because not everybody knows what they're doing even if they say they do sometimes they just take the animal and they Hawk it even more they make it even more complicated more wounded and more destructive but if you have talked to somebody who knows what they're doing really knows what they're doing they can help unravel stuff the point of healing and a therapy and of mentorship of people is not to add more layers of Texas city and problems you came in a happy person and I'll show you that you're miserable you came in thought that you love your husband I'll show you that you hate your husband you came in thinking they have a good relationship with your kids and I'll show you that they mama despise you Wow Barra Hashem and now you have self-awareness and your life is miserable that's not the tacklers of healing healing for a person to unravel the knots and the wines to take off burdens to remove to ultimately become more emancipated it may take some time but that's the way it goes people should never become addicted to the need of feeling that they're always sick and they need somebody to give them healing they become addicted to that itself so that's one process coupled with that sometimes it's coupled with it sometimes it's in addition to that sometimes it's exclusively one or the other but the halacha sets forth another very powerful they mention and that is that at every moment of my life this is not an easy thing it seems like a short path but it's a very very profound path because it's a real metamorphosis in thinking and mindset if I could speak to that component in me there's the godly soul in me which is never addicted it's always wholesome and sacred and a piece of the divine but even the animal in me the beast which responds to life and as a result of that could some time has become a monster and a monster on different levels but in other Mahavira they know them lahmacun towards myself a monster towards others both whatever the situation is if I could really have the courage and say that's it we'll go into a new owner I'm going to surrender you to a new owner if you're serious the animal will listen and it becomes from Ashur Hammoud it becomes a sure Tom or let me put it in different words there's two paths to recovery and a Laval divarella Kim Hyon both are her logic both are authentic both are terrific you know why we usually need both in our life they don't they're not mutually exclusive sometimes you need more than one of them you need more when you need one more than the other sometimes one is more effective than the other but both are very real roads and usually we need both the first is a rigorous process of self refinement in which you d beast your Beast if you know what I mean you learn to confront and challenge the deepest fears and urges of your an animal it's painstaking and you have to de Beast it's abusive character it's a process of slow transformation and metamorphosis and it's powerful but you know what there's another process sometimes even before I managed to work through all the dark chambers of my wild untamed animal trailer presents me with another alternative and you know what that other alternative is change the jurisdiction of your animal transfer its domain take your animal take your beast take your ox your bull by its horns and submit it to your higher power submit it to the property of God even before complete transformation and metamorphosis surrender it toss them take your rage your addictions your depression your fear your trauma your insecurities all your pain and everything that's going on turn to God and say this is yours please this is yours I'm giving it to you as a gift submitted Taschen let him share responsibility with you let him become your co partner tell them I need you to take this and when you do that extraordinary results happen and no this is not passive this is not about passive surrender okay god I can't take care of my life I'm over I'm just going to bed I'm in a depression you just run my life because I have no hope no this is proactive this takes courage this is actively taking your life and giving it over Tasha this is not a passive this is not a passive type of life this is very active the act of surrender is really really active it's really allowing God to become the owner of your animal and it also means don't take it all personal you're not responsible to analyze and understand everything don't start judging everything realize this is God's animal that happened to end up in your psyche and part of your mission is to deal with it to refine it to transcendent to let it be and not let it control your behavior realize that this is God's and it was given to you and it allows you therefore to look at it from a much more meaningful and wholesome perspective and in that process you know what happens from a wild crazy aggressive bull you end up with a nice and holy cow have a wonderful week this class is brought to you by the achieve Annette please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at triple w dot a yeshiva net slash donate