Shiur Torah #46 Inspirational Stories, How To FEEL Closer To God

Monday night of last minute we got some uh some people to join us so uh build the crowd you know the more come it attracts other people the um month of is already very far on the way we have Rashana coming up just in the next week it's a very big day it's a judgment day it's a day where we are supposed to feel something special because what happens is when you go to Sho if you go to Sho throughout the whole year then you know that this day is different you know that this day is different because not only do you see a lot more people that you haven't seen all year but even more so you the feeling is different and remember this that uh during uh during R there going to come there's going to be a time where you're going to feel something different you specifically each one of you specifically you have either Goosebumps maybe or you're going to have something uh a deeper feel a deeper connection to the prayer at some point during the day that's the time where your book is your your book your own personal file is being opened that's the time where you have to pray really hard and ask not only for forgiveness from hasem for the sins we've done but also for all the requests all the things that you want but make sure that you're already prepared make sure that you already thought about what you want don't ask for nonsense like I want a motorcycle I want a new car or I want a uh make sure that you're already prepared because this is the time where your prayers are going to be answered a lot of people say in regards to prayer is that oh you know I uh I prayed and I didn't get what I wanted if they wanted a new job if they wanted a car they wanted something I prayed and I didn't get it how can they say how can the sages say that if you pray you open you know the gates are always open hasem answers prayers so the sages also said when someone prays and they didn't get their request it's either because they didn't pray enough or the answer is no people don't like to hear that people don't like that the answer is no but that's the reality cuz sometimes what you want is against your own interest sometimes you want want something but it's not really good for you you don't know that it's not good for you sometimes sometimes it looks like it's good for you so for example money a lot of people want a lot of money and they pray for a lot of money but some people's personalities cannot handle a lot of money if someone loves money they shouldn't pray for a lot of money because that means that they' they already failing the test of money before they even had money the fact that they love money already means you fa to test if you want money because there are certain things you want to do that are useful to the world into your uh to other people's lives not just your own not just because you want toys then uh that's a different story but for the most part people you know people love money a lot of people love money and uh they're in a constant race those types of people generally should not pray for money because trust me when I tell you that uh money is one of the most difficult tests there is uh the sages themselves have said it that money m is uh one of the uh most difficult tests that somebody can endure throughout their whole life lack of money or both but a lot of money is a bigger test than no money having a lot of money is a more difficult test to pass than having no money the reason why is because if someone's [Music] poor what do they do they pray to Hashem please help me they're not going to stop yeah because they have no they have no other choice yeah so generally when you see the most religious people in the world not just Jews but all religions we the most religious people in the world in the poorest places the poorest communities in the world have the most religious people why CU Everyone is always look the only choice they have is hasem sometimes they prayed the wrong way wrong religions but nonetheless as far as connection to God connection to a Creator you will find a lot more of it amongst the poor people if you look for example into the communities in Yemen the Jews that are still living in Yemen today are still keeping Shabbat no one violates Shabbat why because they haven't advaned they haven't advaned with technology they don't have the cell phones they don't have computers you see videos on online they still sit on the floor through you know the same tradition they had for many many years they learn T they pray they do some work with the uh sheep or whatever it is that they do over there they chew their uh I think it's tobacco or some form of tobacco and that's it very very simple live in still know yeah and that's why that's why as far as our [Music] Traditions as much as some people like to dispute it the reality of it is that uh the closest to our core the closest to the um right way of how it was in Mount Si is actually through the ammonites the way they speak their language is more is more correct than the rest of the Hebrew population the rest of the Jews even though a lot of Israelis for example you know sometimes they joke around because the accent that the ammonites have is much deeper you know instead of saying K they say k you know it's a complete it sounds like a different uh [Music] dialect yeah their letters their letter it's the same language but their their accent is very very they listen they are much closer to the tradition the you know most of the letters are different and when you hear a yite person speak speak traditional Hebrew you think he's making mistakes but in reality we're the ones that farther from the core than they are and the reason why is because again the rest of the world Advanced while they stay exactly the same as far as where they were and and again the correct way sometimes it is the correct way but if you are not uh if it's not part of your culture to speak that way speak the normal way that you speak don't change to the other way because then people are going to think that either you're losing your mind or you're trying to show off so if you're already used to speaking your whole life you spoke a certain type of Hebrew you say k you say you say you know your own uh accent continue that way don't uh start using the dialect of the yemenites because uh it look strange and people will think that you're trying to show off they do yeah yeah H is you know they they they uh they pronounce things but also the way that they worship hasem the way that they connect to hem is a much is is a deep level the ones that are really religious not just any yemenites obviously it's a very deep level one of the main reasons is because of poverty you go to different places around the world even outside of Judaism you'll find places that are poor have a much closer connection to God why because people feel like they have no choice and they want to connect to him what about the rich guy you would think that the rich rich guy the people that have a lot of money should have even a better connection to God because he gave them so much he gave them money he gave him this he gave him job he gave him Fame he gave him power unfortunately money is the most popular tool that uses uh in order to have people become his soldiers the yet will even give you money will even give you business just to make sure that you don't do a Mitzvah whether it's a job that he's going to give you so you can't keep a Shabbat or he's going to give you a uh new customer just so you can miss the shield and don't go to a lecture or he's going to make you really busy at work so you can't learn to off or all types of things that he's going to give you relating to money because he knows that it it works it works pretty much almost every time unless someone acknowledges that money is a very very common tool the most used tool especially in our generation of the they already lost the battle so the problem is that on one hand we are all looking to havea we want to have a uh good living we want to be successful we want to have a fruitful life but on another end none of us want to have a big test right we don't want to fail the test we want to come to this world and pass the test we want to come to this world and get closer to yeah so the first step is learning enough to to get to a point where it's on a daily Bas where you know that yeah is going to send you money he's going to send you money specifically he's going to send you money specifically what when it has something to do with to okay to try to influence you not to learn to if you have that in your mind you're already ahead of you're already ahead if you think that you're you know once you have money you'll find a way to beat you already lost the battle you're already playing his game [Music] so the way that we have to look at money is that it's a tool it's just like a hammer someone needs to build a house someone needs to fix something someone needs to do anything they use tools a hammer is a tool a screwdriver is a tool a car is a tool everything's a tool I think if we look at money like it's a tool to get us from point A to point B then already you're treating money like what it is but if you look at money as something that's going to make you better than what you are today or is has any importance whatsoever Beyond its usefulness as a tool then you can fall into trouble if I'll give you power if you think money gives you power right that the dollar gives you power you in [Music] trouble so now we have a uh we have a dilemma because our goal is to get closer to Hashem especially now the Judgment Day is coming up and you're going to go to synagogue and you're going to see it especially in the in the sapharic tradition is that they sell off the blessings remember they sell off the blessings they sell off the alot to the Tora which during the holiday the alot alot right so they do a big cell and usually that's when they get to raise the most amount of money during the year is during and Y now you have to ask yourself something if you're planning on donating money you have to ask yourself something am I donating the money because I want to help the Sho or or am I donating the money because I want to help myself become more popular or yourself there's three things you do on on R sh there's three things I can you and what's the third thing CH huh cha CH when I when people give money on R sh they do need one component right but that's not the question question is if let's you plan on giving money you want to do all three things you want to save yourself you want to save yourself so we decided we need to give money yeah next question is obviously we know we need to give money it's good to give money it's important for us to save ourselves right okay am I giving money to really save myself because I think it's going to save me it's going to help me with AEM or am I giving money because I want to people to think that I'm better generous that I'm generous that I'm a nice guy do I want people to become think like me more am I doing it for him or am I doing it for them am I doing it for the right reason or the wrong reason because in the Safari tradition we have every bitet raises the majority of their money during the big Rabbi said that if they didn't raise money during the holidays there wouldn't be anybody why because most of the people that come on the holidays you're going to see the crowd is five six seven 10 times more on the holidays than it is the rest of the year why shabbat is not important why the Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and Friday not important they're also important but people don't think like that people don't learn toah people don't learn to people don't think of how important it is so what ends up happening is that they only come on the special holidays and during the special holidays they want you know it's a almost like a show and tell everybody shows up with their fancy clothes and the fancy car and the jewelry and they tell everybody how great their life is it's like Facebook for example on Facebook it's an illusion everybody puts the pictures of all the good things they don't tell they don't put the pictures of their problems no one you never see a picture of somebody says oh my boss yelled at me today look at him yeah no one took a picture of that they're going to say oh I got a promotion or I got how are you uh no one puts a picture of their problems people put a picture of good things so when you look at Facebook you have an illusion of what life really is so you think everybody else's life is better than yours every also feeds the Y of course cuz you get jealous you see this person's having a great time why am I not having a great time I'm struggling over here I'm doing I'm fighting I'm this yeah exactly that's also part of the reason why a big part of the reason why uh many of the big sages all the all the uh big sages all of the big ganim um you know are very very careful with use of Internet very very careful some of them use it because they have to publish publicize T I mean themselves I don't know if they use it but I know they have people that use the internet to publicize tah because that's the only way you're going to reach people that are not uh you know observant and are not going to on Monday nights but uh at the same token there's a lot of in the internet a lot of marriages have been broken because of the Facebooks a lot of relationships have had problems because of it so people need to understand that when you're using the internet there has to to be some control so now when it comes to back going to this money issue you have you're going to go to besset they're going to have the [Music] auction and one guy's going to say 500 another guy's going to say 1,000 then 2,000 and 5,000 and so on and so forth the is going to do because they need they never going to have unfortunately all of these people show up during the week so they're only chance of raising enough money to survive the whole year is during this holiday that's why they do that's why they sell the alot during the holiday at the same token we're not at that uh point we have already established that we're going to Beed more often than once a year but we want we still want to give so what do we do what's the best way to give what's the best way to give Nissan knows what's the best way to give what's the best way to give yeah if you want to give what's the best way anonymously the highest level of mitvah is when you do it anonymously when no one knows you did it you want to give $1,000 do you put it in an envelope drop it off at the office that's it I give I'm going to help that's the best way to do it why why because that means you did it purely for Hashem not for popularity not because you people are going to like you not because people going to do business with you because now you gave $10,000 so they think oh he's so successful let me do business with [Music] him if you do it purely forem sh you get 100% of the mitvah you get 100% of the in sh and you get a huge reward if you give but in reality there's a big reason reason why you're doing it is because you're publicizing it what happens you get 99% of the reward right there and then and that moment why because as soon as you say okay 10,000 they said okay Z meaning he won the uh Aliyah everybody's like wow he gave $10,000 oh he must this this everybody all of a sudden gives this guy cavod give you so Hashem says okay you got so much Cav that's what you wanted that's what you got so you're still going to get a little bit in is still worth something but you got most of the reward here and if you compare the reward here versus the reward in sham there's not enough tears that you're going to have of how sorry you're going to be when you get to Sham and you realize I only got 1% of this that's it 99% I already wasted that 1% that 1% that you still get is more good than anything anything in the world that we have today so my suggestion the Torah suggestion is that plan on giving because giving is good giving could be the one main thing that's going to push over the Judgment your favor but if you wanted to really push it in a big shove do it anonymously do it quietly make this you could do it before the holiday you could do it right after you could do it do it when there's a break in the come to the rabbi Rabbi marked me down I'm going to give x amount of [Music] money or if you really really want to get to a high level and go to theet envelope don't even put your name on it with the money whatever it is don't worry he knows where it came from like pure Anonymous no one even knows that it's you at all that's the highest level but again the key is to do it as discreetly as possible there's no point there's no not not uh it's not worth it to publicize it yeah oh she have a nice big for the everybody also put the suggest bring you suggested it there sh you implement it you'll be in control [Music] what else can we have to think about during this time when we have only a week left before Judgment Day there was one time a guy was really angry hot head always angry you know that uh Israeli mentality that uh angry at the world you wake up angry I used to have that when I would wake up first first word out of my mouth was not not a good word I always thought I was late I don't know what I was late to but always Under Pressure so imagine a guy that's always Under Pressure imagine a guy that's always angry and he one day decides he wants to buy it's hot like here in Florida and he wants to buy a fan buys a fan puts it in his room and he tells all his wife and his kids no one touches the fan don't touch this fan anybody touches this fan M you m no good so obviously in is this guy's family everybody's shaking so one day he using his fan he's using his fan he decides you know what I'm going to step go outside to get myself something before he leaves he tells his wife don't touch the fan he leaves as soon as he leaves his wife it's very interesed what what's so special about this fan he doesn't want me to touch it she goes you know she's very innocent and she looks one button on the fan on top there's three on the bottom what if I do if I press this one button what can happen she presses the button all of a sudden she starts seeing the fan move from side to side she got so scared she hid in the closet oh oh he's going to kill me so the guy comes back from the store now he sees his fan moving he starts yelling screaming who touch the fan how long can she hide for she comes on in the closet goes who touched the fan she goes no no one touched the fan but the fan missed you so much that as soon as you left start looking for [Laughter] you [Music] bad the lesson we learned from this joke this is exactly our situation right now with hem during the month of Al with only a week left before Judgment Day with only a week left before huh hasem is looking for us he's looking for us what are you doing what kind of mitv are you doing how are you preparing for Judgment Day if you had a real case with a judge that's flesh and blood or a king that's Flesh and Blood you have a case he says listen on this day I'm going to decide whether you going to be rich or poor on this day I'm going to decide you going to be have uh kids or not on this day I'm going to decide whether you're gonna live or not I'm this I'm G to decide everything what are you gonna do you gonna try to defend yourself you say listen I uh I know all of the king's rules I respect the king I even dress nicely to see the king I uh compliment the king I do this I do this you're going to prepare so what's going to happen before Judgment day you're going to study everything that the King has all the history the king was born and 75 years ago and the King does this and the King likes flowers and the King has three wives and the King has this you're going to think you're going to learn everything you can about this King why because when you show up you want to make it seem like he's your buddy oh no I know the king even though the king doesn't know me I know the king I know the king likes this and I know the king likes that so the king hears you say this oh wow I don't know this this guy but he knows so much about me obviously he loves me he cares about me I don't know enough about him so maybe maybe I should get to know him a little more maybe I should treat him better maybe I should give move him to a better place maybe I should give him a better job this is king of Flesh and Blood a million of theot big difference between the king of all Kings [Music] hem is looking for us and he's looking to see how we prepare for Judgment day are we doing any extra MIT are we doing any anything beyond our normal if we're used to giving $1 every day to the uh local box or the homeless guy are we giving a little bit more right now if we learn 5 minutes a day or a half hour a day or an hour a day are we pushing ourselves to learn another 5 minutes another half hour if we are trying to get more close to Hashem on a weekly basis by praying is our prayer right now a little bit with more kavana or is the same thing what are we doing to prepare about this skin what do we know about this skin have we learned his Torah have we learned his rules are we following the rules do we complement them do we thank him every day actually had started doing something good idea the cola that they had at the uh DRS uh I studied with this uh with this guy a couple of times and had a good suggestion even though you're supposed to thank Hashem all day every day sometimes you forget sometimes you forget you get so busy with work you get so busy with the wife you get so busy with the world the light life even if you pray every day sometimes you don't have the cavana you're supposed to have let's admit we're not all mosenu 515 prayers that shook up the Heavens when MOS raenu was in you know was asking hem to let him go into Israel he prayed 515 times he begged begged theem 515 times all the way to the point where the Angels begged theem to make him stop either let him go into Israel or tell him to stop because he's his prayer was so strong with so much kavana he was destroying worlds shaking up all the worlds our prayers are not shaking up any worlds maybe we were shaking up our we were shaking up our a little behinds but we're not shaking up any worlds yet not every one of our prayers not 515 prayers likeu so sometimes we have kavana sometimes not so much sometimes we're praying the best of our abilities sometimes not so much sometimes of course all of us sometimes we have real kavana sometimes we even cry during our prayer it's not every day so right now when Hashem is looking for us trying to find out what about now sometimes yes sometimes what about now judgment is next week if you're not going to wake up now when are you going to wake up not for another year how do we know we have another year how do we know that's the problem that people don't understand no one ever wants to think about Y no one ever wants to think about that at some point or another we complete our mission in this world no one wants to think about that but it's actually important to think about it not because want to be morbid and get into a depression but because in order for us to develop fear of Hashem we have to think about that one day we're going to meet [Music] him one day we're going to meet him meet him not like in uh theoretical meet them meet them how you going to show up when you meet them you know you don't have your clothes when you go up there you don't have your car you don't have your nice $30,000 watch you don't have a $5 million the bank you don't have all your friends you don't have women you don't have men no socks no socks nothing reminds me of a story there was one time a [Music] guy very very wealthy guy sucks and he asked his uh you know on his will oh yeah he asked his uh kids make sure you bury me with my socks on okay so the kid he died the kids go toad listen I want to we want to bury our father Jewish cemetery but he asked specifically to be buried with a socks he said no no I'm sorry we can't do that what do you mean you can't do that no no no I want to bury he asked specifically my father donated a lot of money millions of dollars he has a business Empire donates $10 million a year how dare you go against my father's Last Wish no socks it's against Judaism no socks burying him with no socks ro [Music] ro there's nothing they can do they go to the big they go to the they go to they ask this one they ask that one no one gives can't bury him with the socks finally they bury him they have the uh Alva and everybody goes to the lawyer of course lawyer says oh your father left another letter to uh do you read after he's buried okay so everybody's excited maybe this is the one that he's going to divide up the money a special message everyone thinks that they're going to get everything all of a sudden the lawyer opens this letter he says I know you did not succeed in burying me only with my socks [Music] on and I did it to remind you that in all the money that I made all the cars that I had all the buildings that I had all the stocks that I had all the companies I had everything I had in the next World I can't even take my socks worthless all of that's worthless all the real estate all the women all the parties all of that stuff worth nothing the world of the truth all you can take is your and your your Mitzvah and your sins those come with you wherever you go so the one day we're going to go [Music] meet the king of all Kings Blessed Be he how we going to show up now in the next World we don't have clothes we have a this skin and bones that we have is clothing I don't mean clothes like my Su I mean clothing like our skin our flesh our blood our bones we don't have that in the next World we're purely but in the next world it's not like this world where you look at somebody and he has a beard he looks like a sadik someone doesn't have a beard he looks like a rash yeah you know you think oh this guy yeah doesn't have a beard he's not dressed black and white a doesn't look really Jewish he has a small little keeper doesn't look really Jewish the other guy oh this guy black and white wow look he has there he has P he has this he has that wow this guy's probably one of in reality what could be the exact opposite in reality the guy that's not wearing any anything special Jewish but he's not uh the traditional like we have today could be a giant sadik the guy that's black and white could be a giant rash in the next World in the next world no clothes next World all of the sins and the are little stains on your someone has sins comes to hem with a dirty that stains everything we missing pieces so he can't lie and say no no Hashem I didn't do it because for every one of the sins that he made he created a demon demons coming with him demon says to hem oh has this rash over here ate pork on this this day another demon says no no he not only ate pork he ate it on a Shabbat another one says yeah he didn't even do another one says oh he ate some milk with it do another one all of these all if he make cha they still REM if he did Chu turns if depends there two types of CH out of love CH out of fear in reality well first let's explain the two [Music] difference out of love means that you found out about hem you're amazed at how amazing he is you saw his to you learning his to you're doing and you start realizing that your life and a direction you've taken your whole life is wrong and you're going to do the purely based out of love purely based out of the love of T and that turns all of the sins you've made in your life into imagine so you're already starting day one with zillions because all of us make SS that's very very high level very few people in the world are doing it purely out of love in this generation very few people the other way is cha out of fear you're scared of being punished you're scared of Y you're scared that one day you're going to meet and you're going to show off naked with a lot of stains and a lot of stains lead to a lot of suffering you're scared of suffering you don't want to suffer you don't want to lose your money in this world you don't want to lose your n in the next World you're scared so you say okay I don't really like it but I'm going to do it I going to do what I have to do sometimes you like it sometimes no but overall you're going to do it because you're scared a lot of people do chuva because of fear but if it's purely based out of fear very few stay strong a lot of times they break a lot of times they say they get to a point where they're so scared they're always scared they're always scared they always hear these bad things they don't know about the good parts they don't know about the AA they don't know about the love of hem so what happens is they break they say you know what I'm in such a bad situation already let me at least enjoy this world they let go of everything they break they [Music] become unfortunately it happens so what does that mean most of the people that CH do a combination of both you have to have fear and you have to have love when the nation of Israel crossed the Dead the uh sea of reeds yeah when we left Egypt andem gave Moshe the power split the sea thank you [Music] when Hashem gave Moshe the power to split the sea split the ocean after they split the sea the verse States and the nation of Israel feared AEM and they believed in him and in his servant M how come did didn't say the nation of Israel believed in hasem and Moshe how come first before believe it says they feared a him maybe it should be the opposite they believed in him and then they feared him why does Fear have to come first because as soon as you get to know Hashem as soon as you get to know a little bit about him as soon as you get to know about how he's in control of everything as soon as you get to know how he's responsible for everything in this world and next world and everything in between how could you not be scared you're scared of the cop that's going to pull you over at 2:00 in the morning cuz you're speeding you're scared of your boss that uh May notice that you showed up at 8:05 instead of 8:00 he's going to dock you a day pay you're scared of the customer doesn't like uh what you look like what you smell like what traditions you keep what you don't maybe you're going to lose business you're scared of the customer you're scared of the cop you're scared scared of the boss you're scared of the people what are they going to think maybe they going to think I'm too religious because I'm too modest all of a sudden I start a wearing k r maybe they're going to make fun of me but nobody scared you're scared you're scared of what they're going to think about you oh what if I wear K Ro maybe people going to make fun of me oh what if I wear a keepa maybe they're going to make fun of me oh what if I go to synagogue instead of going to the movies they're going to make fun of me Everybody's scared of everybody else what about hasem when do we get to be scared of hem when do we get to be scared of hem so we already have a verse in the Tor we crossed the sea we saw the Miracles in Egypt we saw the Miracles after Egypt saw the we saw the plagues we saw everything we saw the voice of God we saw the voice have not heard the voice of God we saw the voice of God letters and sounds were imprinted into the sky were coming out right when they were so scared Angels were coming down exactly when we heard the voice of God the came out during the first two Commandments first two Commandments Hashem said it and all of the nation of Israel heard and saw it saw the words and heard his voice it was so significant so beyond their level of n that they all died everyone died you with me you with me look at me you everyone died everyone heard the name of God everyone heard what is that the words of God please let's let's the food is fine but let's try to pay attention because you God's voice and live and everyone died you have to die everyone died strong for theas now okay so now we cross this we cross the sea yeah and it says and the nation of Israel feared AEM and they believed in him and his servant Moshe what is it mean that in order to truly believe in hem you must fear Him first because if you don't fear him there's no way you're going to believe in him if you don't fear hem that means you don't know what he is you know nothing about him cuz if you know even a little bit about hasem of course you're going to fear him he's everything you're scared of your the cop you're scared of your boss you're scared of the customer how could you not be scared of God so fear of hem is important in life it's the most important thing that's why tells us the first symbol of wisdom is fear fear of someone doesn't have is not is considered to have no wisdom a fool a fool has no because if you know the truth how could you not be scared of it so that's important is important to keep you strong because sometimes you need to connect to it not just from Fear why because if you're just scared maybe you're going to pray but you're not going to have full kav you're not going to really be thanking Hashem so this guy that I was learning with had a very very good suggestion said yeah of course we're all supposed to have we're learning some Ram together he says of course we're all supposed to have fear of hem and love of hem and kav during but sometimes it doesn't work that way sometimes the Beats us sometimes the during prayer makes us think about something we shouldn't be thinking about at all sometimes the especially during prayer we're thinking about the customer we're thinking about money we're thinking about this one we're thinking about that one we're thinking about the pizza we're thinking about the potatoes thinking about everything else except theem yeah so he says let's do this every day give yourself an alarm every day pick a time 12:00 in the afternoon 1:00 anytime alarm on your phone every day except Shabbat because you can't answer it can't look at it alarm reminder thank Hashem don't ask for anything just thank Hashem just thank AEM that's it alarm every day in the morning when you get up like I said sometimes you're in a hurry with prayer that you're not really thinking of hm you're thinking about how quickly can I finish this prayer oh you say an addition separate time anytime during the day you have an alarm on your phone or on your watch it buzzes You Take 5 minute break from the world say hold on a second hold on hold on hold on Mr customer Mr Boss Mr cop Mr Everything hold on one second take one minute 5 minutes whatever you need just think about how much you have to be grateful for and it's not too hard why is it not too hard because if you pay attention to the details he gives you nonstop your P your family your eyes your body your health your wealth your experiences your mind everything so it shouldn't be too difficult to thank him for everything you you have and purely thanking him not asking for don't ask him oh Hashem help me with this deal don't ask him Hashem help me with this uh customer you do that all day anyway just take a time just to thank him that's it pure thanks and I bet you after you do it for a month it changes your relationship with hm it changes the way you view your relationship with hem why because right now unfortunately we treat AEM sometimes like a genie like we uh take the little thing we rub it three times and we get three wishes people always ask Hashem for stuff okay you're you're supposed to ask Hashem for everything I understand but what about thanking him we forget to thank him we start getting to a point that we're asking for so much stuff that we forget to thank them and it even gets worse we start asking for so much that we start expecting him to give it to us so when he doesn't give it to us we're like get mad at Hashem maybe some some people say oh maybe Hashem is not there maybe there is no Hashem I didn't get this job that I wanted hasem wasn't there for me when I needed him where was hem when I needed him where was hem when I needed this job where was hem when I needed money where was AEM when I needed this or I needed that where was he where was he we never get to a point of thinking maybe just maybe not only Hashem was there but he was telling you no this is not good for you I will not give it to you I will not give you money I will not give you real estate I will not give you this woman I will not give you whatever you're asking for because I already know the full picture I already know the end you think this woman is perfect for you I know that this woman really is is a liar a cheater a this a that or this man or you're praying to have a lot of money I know that right now you're praying to me every day you're getting closer you're doing you're starting to keep Shabbat I know if I give you what you're asking for I give you million dollars you're going to forget about me after a week no relationship nothing I'm not going to give you I want I love you hasem is telling you I love you that's why I don't give it to you that's why I don't give it to [Music] we don't think about it that way why because we're so used to asking him for stuff if we start thanking him purely thanking him what does that do number one we start viewing Hashem in a different way we already have a different relationship we ask and we think now we already have two parts of AEM and obviously we fear but we ask and we think two different things the second thing imagine this imagine you have a little boy your son or your daughter and she says ABA imma can I have uh $5 to buy ice cream I when I was a kid it was only $1 I think today it's $5 can I have $5 to buy ice cream and you say yes you give it to her and she takes the $5 she runs buy ice cream no thank you no nothing the next day ABA can I have $5 yes you give it $5 no thank you no nothing by the third day it's [Music] ABA okay you give it the $5 you're used to it already she trained you you know the procure two weeks no ABA just a hand 5 years down the road there's no more ABA and there's no more hand he said Moshe no she's calling you by your first name no Moshe I need to pay my bills like you owe us something that's what's happening in this generation that's what's happening in this generation how can we change our kids how can we change our kids by changing ourselves [Music] first by changing our relationship with and stop asking so much start thinking thank you Hashem for giving me food thank you Hashem for making the food taste so good I can be like the snake where everything tastes the same a the snake is a what's a everything he's cursed everything he has anything to do with he's cursed which means Hashem said to him I don't even want to hear your prayers I don't even want to hear your pray I'm going to give you all the p in the world I'm everything you eat you can eat everything but everything is going to taste the same but you I'm going to give you all all this food you can eat everything you eat a rat it tastes alive or dead it tastes the same you eat a piece of rubber tastes the same you eat a can tastes the same you eat a book taste the same you eat a rabbit tastes the same a chicken with ketchup on it taste the same Pizza tastes everything tastes the same what does it mean it means Hashem says I'm going to give you everything everything can be upona why it seems like it's a blessing no he's saying I want you to have so much pad that I don't even want you to pray to me and ask for more that's what a means that's what we learned in last week's par is the worst curse in the Tor one of the things that was part of that curse that everything tastes the same so when when we are not when things taste differently this pizza tastes different nice kosher pizza pizza it's delicious it could taste like sand but Hashem made it special where it tastes beautiful the tea tastes different the steak tastes different not in this restaurant because no steak but out the place the can of sprite tastes different than the coke hasem beautified this world for our own interest technically could have given us all all the same thing how would we know how would we know that everything tastes the same if we're always used to everything tasting the same we wouldn't complain about we wouldn't even know what to complain in order for us to complain about something we need to know about the other side that's why a poor man only knows he's poor after he sees the rich guy cuz if you had a poor guy in an island he's a poor guy in an island and somehow he got it a car you got a car this car is 1976 Toyota or something something completely broken down but according to everybody else on the island this guy is the richest guy in the world wow he has a car look at this car Toyota 1976 it's only 40 years old 50 years old wow he feels like he's the king of the world what happens when another guy comes into this island and he comes in with a Toyota all of a sudden he becomes a Misan he's like what a poor man I am what a poor man I am look at my junk look what kind of junk hasem gave me look how he's punishing me look how he's punishing me look look how Hashem loves this guy gives him a Mercedes he's punishing me so it's all about perspective so now Hashem wants us to pay attention to the details he wants us to fear him he wants us to love him you have to have a combination of both the key right now is to add something different few of you that were in last week's sh took something on yourself is a very special gift that get in the coming weeks from uh Rabbi in Jerusalem bigal everybody took onot to become stronger but this is something that I I think is a very good suggestion to add to your day not just for this holiday permanently add thanking Hashem once a day at at the end of this you put an alarm on your phone or whatever or whatever is an alarm for you at some point during a day 5 minutes 2 minutes 1 minute think about Hashem and thank him don't ask for anything it'll change your relationship with him and when Hashem is looking for you like the wife was telling the guy with the fan then you could say to him Hashem I know I wasn't 100% righteous I know I made some sins I know just like we saying every day we're not going to say what right before that you say we're not going to say because we're not we Mak sense so show up to honest yes I sin I'm sorry but to show you that I'm sorry look I have few things that I added to my life I did this I did this I you have something to show off you prepared for the trial just like we prepared to a court today you prepare you read the case you find out what's going on who's this King you show up to hm and say listen I didn't wait for today to find out who you are Judgment Day I already prepared a week ago I started thinking about you I started learning a little bit of Tor I started doing I started keeping Shabbat I started thanking you every day we have a dialogue maybe I'm not at my full potential but you see him improving then you change your relationship with him Al together and this goes back to the example I was telling you about the little daughter when she's just going like this ABA ABA no thank you eventually what happens the ABA doesn't want to give her anything when the little girl says ABA give me no thank you and after a little while progresses and eventually she start calling him by the first name eventually the ABA is like who it's like a stranger this daughter it's not even my daughter but what would the ABA do if every time he says ABA can I have $5 he gives her the $5 she says ABA thank you so much I love you so much she gives the ABA a nice hug and kiss like it's all the money in the world like it's it's more than the money thank you ABA I love you ABA I know it's hard for you to make money so I appreciate it so much that you work part of your day just to make sure I have the money so I could buy my ice cream and I could be happy for five minutes imagine the next day imagine the next day she says $5 he takes out a briefcase of money here's my retirement [Music] account why cuz he want so it's so so pleas so pleasing to hear this thank you of course he's going to want to give her more of course he's going to want to give her more cuz she said thank you simple thank you appreciation so what do you think of ABA B Our Father in heaven when you say thank you every day for one minute for two minutes just maybe that's the one thing you're missing from having your prayers answered again sometimes it's because we didn't pray enough so saying thank you could be the thing that P is it over but sometimes just like mosu after 515 prayers the answer is no it's not no because hasm wants to punish you it's no because he wants to help you because it's for your best interest you want somebody you shouldn't have you want something you shouldn't have he already knows the end of the picture you don't so you think it's a punishment that you're not getting it but in reality by the time you advance in the picture you start realizing that this is indeed for your best interest there was one time I told this story a little while ago a few months ago some you guys heard it some not there was one time a uh righteous guy and he had a daughter and uh the his wife La lenu passed away and uh he was always busy would work he was a very big businessman never had enough time to develop a relationship with his daughter like he wanted to but he was also a righteous person keeps so after the mom died times were a little tough you know there wasn't a solid relationship between him and the daughter one day the daughter comes and she says ABA can I have uh $10,000 for what a big request okay we have a lot of money doesn't mean that I'm just going to hand out $10,000 every day I'm going to India I'm going to India with my friends I need $10,000 are you going to help me he says to her what is a nice Jewish religious girl like you going to do in India go and she says ABA I have breaking news for you I haven't been a nice Jewish religious girl in a long time I just look like it to you but as soon as I leave the house I change my clothes and I have nothing to do with the religion but that's why I'm going to India I want to find myself the ABA obviously had a big shock the true story of this WOW ABA had a big shot observant huh very observant it's very religious W very this maybe happened maybe 15 20 years ago so now ABA is in shock he's trying to figure out where where what could he do his wife was the one that usually dealt with her now he's he's new says ABA listen I need this $10,000 I'm going to the trip one way or another you going help me or what he says no but please no he doesn't know what to do [Music] he gets such a panic he says listen if you take I'm going to give you $10,000 here's a check but if you take this check don't come back home wow don't come back this is the life you're going to live no religion no Hashem in your life go and don't come back she started crying took the check and left she went to India found a Israeli boyfriend over there somehow hasem started started uh selling different chachis obviously $10,000 was finished after a little while but she couldn't call home because she thought that her father doesn't want to talk to her and uh she said okay I got to make it out here in India so she started selling different uh jewels and things like jewelry and stuff like that she would started surviving one day she's at her little you know shop and she sees a friend from [Music] America it's different [Music] shield on the [Music] phone yeah so she SE her friend from America yo how are you so our friend says to her I'm really sorry about your father I know he was a nice guy she was wait what's sorry about my father what father what are you talking about sorry what do you mean I'm sorry you died what what do you mean he died d died 4 months ago she started hysterical crying a she hasn't spoken to her father in a year and she just found out from her friend months he died four months [Music] ago she didn't know what to do with herself she ran over to our boyfriend she said take me to a holy place that's right take me to a holy place place he goes I don't know any holy place he in the same Bo as are he goes I don't know holy place you were the one that used to be religious goes I don't know need you to take me to a holy place right now my father died I need to go be around holy people he says the only holy place I know is the cotel the you know the Western Wall in go take me there right now they went got their savings they bought the tickets went to the girl can't stop crying she thought maybe at one point they're going to make up you know she didn't plan on not talking to her father forever she goes to the Cel and she is crying like you wouldn't believe now if you went to the cotel you know remember there's a there's a separation between the men and the women like it's supposed to be men pray on one side women pray on the other side especially because you know when you pray sometimes especially the women you become very emotional it's not exactly something you want to show just any stranger this woman is crying pouring her heart out she's trying you know she's wrote a little note she's trying to put it in the wall but if you remember you know you went through the Wailing Wall and it's a uh there's notes everywhere you can't fit it in so this uh one woman sees her crying she feels bad she goes listen if you want right above the right above the separation over there usually nobody puts the notes over there usually there's some space once you uh take a chair climb on the chair you know and right above the M you can put the note okay thank you she goes to she takes a little chair a little boost she puts it there but I she puts it there the note that was in there falls out so she feels bad she goes down she picks up the the notes the notes and she wants to put it back it's not fair but what does every person do when they pick up a note they read it they read it she read she opens the note she's very curious what is someone else that comes to the same place as me I'm crying for my father that died four months ago that haven't talked to him in a year what is somebody else cry for she says she reads the note she tells the story dear God I made a very big mistake and disowned my daughter one year ago and I gave her money so she would be in be okay in India but I really was hoping that she would call me after she ran out of the money and we could make up cuz I didn't have have her phone number I had no way to to to reach her hem you know what I meant you know how much I love my daughter you know that she's the only thing that I have as I'm getting sicker and sicker now I know that I'm coming to see you soon please AEM make sure that she knows that I love her and make sure that she knows that all the money that I ever had I left it for her because none of it ever meant anything to me I always wanted it for her signed a father's name wow and this is a true story first time I heard it I started crying true story she tells the story herself her father signs the letter yes obviously she goes to America she goes to the lawyer lawyer has been waiting for her and says yeah your father prepared a whole world for you she does a complete true with that boyfriend they get married the Kosh away they build a Jewish home because she thinks to herself listen I went looking for myself like a lot of fools do in India when myself the truth was at home and it took a trip to India to remind me that I need to go to yam and talk to Hashem because if you look at the wall it's millions of notes chances of her father's notes falling out her picking it up zero zero negative not even zero z% so sometimes we ask for things and since hasem knows the picture he says I don't want to give it to you she's the Pres the she asked her father for money so she can go to India her father said no I don't want to give it to you because India is not a good place for Jewish people that want to be kosher right home being religious at home going to synagogue getting married doing mitv what are you going to India what are you doing over there t that's in India there's an article that came out Idol idol worship you know non-stop idol worship and it's so bad there was an article that came out recently RAB Mahi published it on his Facebook there's a company you know they worship the cow in India so there's a company that developed a soft drink from the urine of the cow beautiful so this shows you okay we have Torah holy Torah you have to even think about making a blessing before you eat something even after it's purified even after it's cleaned even after it's everything is perfect even the slaughtering of the animal had to go to a process where it wouldn't suffer even after that you have to double check everything whereas they the go no prayer No Nonsense what is they're eating the the urine the urine of the cow that's why I'm so proud this is this is the difference about Judaism and the rest of the world so to sum it up we have to understand that right now during sh is a time for us to connect to hem right now is a time where we can ask for things but first remember thank him first it's a much better way to start the conversation especially if you started thanking him a week before second thing is continue whatever you're doing now after don't be a faker don't be the guy that has a nice resume gets hired and as soon as he's hiring becomes a uh loser shows up late doesn't do his job doesn't match the resume I used to have one of these employees the guy had a better resume than me I hired the guy the first day I wanted to fire him worst I had to actually I fired him after 29 days and he ended up collecting unemployment for me for 2 years wow wow this the demented system that we have called the government but either way don't be that guy don't be a loser be a winner whatever you're doing now continue doing it get stronger Jews either get stronger or they get weaker Jew either gets closer to Hashem or further from Hashem you're either getting more religious or less religious there's nothing to same there's no flat so you're thanking hm every day for two minutes for one minute for a half hour whatever it is continue you taking on a Mitzvah continue why because hem knows what you're going to continue doing so if your intention is to continue it gives him more of a reason to give you even before you asked even before you asked ask and that's the thing so maybe just maybe like Nissan says you're getting to such a point where you don't even have to ask Hashem already knows what you want believe me he knows what you want believe me he knows what you want so the key is to take advantage of this time we have not much time before sh take advantage of it learn about hem develop a fear of hem develop a love of hem and don't ever forget to thank AEM any questions [Music]