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Rosh Hashana - Choose Life! - Jeremy Gimpel: The Land of Israel Fellowship
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This highlight was taken from the 16th session of the Land of Israel Fellowship - The Shofar of Rosh Hashana - A Call from Within or A Call from Above? on Sunday 13th September 2020. To join the Land of Israel Fellowship go to: https://secured.israelgives.org/donate/Fellowship
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Transcript
Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
and there's another side of rosh
hashanah
and it's a very very important side it
is in some ways like
it's like it's like the heart of it all
on rosh hashanah
we confront our death it's a day of
reckoning
it's a judgment day of sorts it's like
who's going to live this year and who's
going to die this year will we live this
year am i going to make it through this
whole year
will we make it through till the next do
we deserve to live
have i justified my existence no one
wants to think about death it's not fun
it's a little bit scary
but ever so often it is very
useful and even healing look at what
king solomon says in the book of
ecclesiastes
it is better to go to a house of
mourning
than to go to a house of feasting for
death is the destiny of everyone in the
living
should take this to heart king solomon
says it's
better to go to a house of mourning to
go to a house where
someone had died and just recognize that
be in that for a little bit because
listen folks this life is going to kill
us
we need to confront it every once in a
while and one of the meditations on rosh
hashanah
is to think what it would mean for me
if i wasn't going to make it through
this year what would i do
if i only had a few months to live
who do i want to meet who do i want to
make men's with
who do i want to spend time with who do
i not want to spend time with
what matters to me most if i only have
one month to live
what am i waiting for the shofar is a
wake-up call
don't take life for granted i want to
take in
every sunrise if i only have a few
months to live i want to hug every
one of my children every single day i
want to spend
as much time with tehila as i possibly
can
i want to spend time with my brothers i
want to spend time with my parents
i want to spend time with my dearest
friends i don't want to waste another
second
worrying about the things that are
constantly eating at me
i want to seize every day once a year
remembering that our time is limited
we're given a gift
a reminder a chauffeur blast a wake-up
call
what are we waiting for like make the
phone call you need to make
hug who you need to hug right now why
are you waiting
when you are confronted with the limited
time you have you realize you don't want
us
you need to set your life in order right
now and fix things now
rosh hashanah is the time that i ask
what am i waiting for our past has
brought us to this point
now there's no reason in the world that
our past needs to dictate
anything about my future when we do
chuva in
a deep way we are taking responsibility
for our lives by
choosing our future and that of course
brings us right to the parsha of this
week
this parsha is so special and for the
last thousands of years the jewish
people
read this these verses right before rosh
hashanah
it's a part of the code it's a part of
the process and for those who are living
with the rhythm of the bible
this epic moment in time lives on
through us
every year right before rosh hashanah
deuteronomy chapter 30 verse 19 and 20.
i call heaven and earth to bear witness
against you i have placed life
and death before you blessing and curse
and you shall
choose life so that you will live you
and your offspring
to love hashem your god to listen to his
voice
and to cleave to him for he is your life
in the length of your days
to dwell upon the land that hashem swore
to your forefathers
abraham to isaac to jacob to give them
rosh hashanah is the time to choose
the direction we want to go to choose
life right now
we release the arrow from the bow this
year
the dominoes stop from last year and we
get a chance to start a new
chain reaction we read this parsha and
the message
is crystal clear it's not in heaven
it's not across the ocean it's in my
mouth and it's in my heart to do it
no matter what happened last year we can
choose to direct our life
in a better direction this year we have
been given the power
to offer our life into being and be
inspired by the greatest
author who created all of this and the
torah is telling us before the new year
use your god-given gift think
pray and then choose it most people read
the verse and say okay god puts us there
blessing and curse and i better choose
the blessing
that's not what it says it says choose
life
so that you will live choose life and
the blessing will come don't just stay
neutral
choose life love life listen to his
voice
listen to his voice walk in his light
that is the blessing the shofar of rosh
hashanah on one hand is our call to god
from like the depths of our soul and at
the same time
it's god's call to us wake
up you don't know how much time you have
left on this planet
you have a calling live it out
this is the call of the shofar living
that calling you are most alive choose
life think beyond your current self
transcend yourself
onward and forward in that journey you
will find your meaning
in that sincere quest toward the good
you'll be guided from above
stay straight speak your being forward
you have no
idea how far it will take you and what
love you will attract into your life
do we understand we don't know how much
time we have here
none of us know there are forest fires
there's corona viruses
as if we don't know this i mean like
wake up what are you waiting for
i just like what are we waiting for call
the person
that needs to be called to sets things
straight
love who you need to love and let them
know how much you love them
don't wait another day this is
a message that is going forth directly
from zion
directly from the torah exactly in this
time
directly to you choose life
the new year is upon us what are we
waiting for
this is the time there has never been a
greater time in the world
to make things right than right
now and so dear fellowship we have been
brought together
from around the world in the most
mysterious
prophetic way for this coming year
and brothers and sisters with one father
in heaven
and as this move continues to grow and
our message continues to spread
from the mountains of king david we are
shining
a new light into this year into this new
day
and that light needs to shine from zion
into the hearts of everyone around the
world but that light can't just stay
with you
you gotta spread the light to the people
around you and if there's right now
someone in your life
that there's like darkness there there's
like a bad story there
it's just a phone call we have to fix
our lives with the people around us
before we can really enter into yom
kippur
that's the truth we can't be good with
god if we're not good with our fellow
man
that's like a law of yom kippur and this
is the time now there's like an excuse
it's a new year we can pick up the phone
we can make that phone call we can write
a letter we can send an email
any way that you want to communicate but
now
is the time to set our life straight
what are we waiting for breathe it in
enjoy the sunrise every day look at the
stars
if you can if they're not like in the
smoky area of the west coast
enjoy the stars when you can enjoy your
loved ones as much as you can
seize the day and choose life
when you choose life in that way
blessing will manifest and so may you
all be blessed with the most
beautiful year with a good year and a
sweet year
and you should be blessed from the heart
of israel