Spreading G-d's Name in the World - Rebbetzin Raquel Kirszenbaum

OKAY, GREAT. SO, YESTERDAY WE WERE TALKING about why are we the chosen people? What did Abraham do that was different, right? What does it mean that we choose? Why Abraham was thrown into a flat fire for his belief, but not everyone else was thrown into a fire for his beliefs, right? So, we commented, we said we're going to learn what it means to be Jewish from the person that knows us so well in the opposite way. So, we said Hitler, right? May his name be erased. He made a very interesting quote about Jewish people. Why do you have to erase Jewish people? Why do you have to get rid of them? Cuz Jewish people have made two injuries in humanity. An injury in the body called circumcision, an injury in the brain called a conscience. The conscience, that's an injury? That's really good. It allows you to be a human being, right? To think about what you do, to choose good things, right? When you saw the cartoon, right? The conscience is the good voice. The other voice is the animal voice. Maybe that's exactly what everyone wants. Everyone just wants to be an animal, right? So, we started speaking about bris milah just very quickly cuz Lilach just got here, so so she's on step. And you people review, right? We said, what is the bris milah? How come men do it, women don't do it? The bris milah is a sign that you're not born perfect, you need to perfect yourself. Where is it made? In the place of male ego, right? This is everything. So, God says, no, you're not born perfect, you need to perfect yourself. But not only that, whenever you think about God, God is spirituality, right? Therefore, the more physical you are, the more you should be opposite of God, right? Isn't it interesting that God puts the sign to seal the pact about what Judaism is specifically in there, the lowest part of your physical body? We said, why? Because Judaism is not that we don't believe that in order to be spiritual you cannot have physicality. We believe that's not holy. Holy is not being spiritual and not talking lashon hara cuz you don't talk. Holy is not, you know, eating kosher cuz you don't eat. Holy is being walked in physicality, have temptation and withhold yourself, right? Use it in a way that it's a utensil to serve God. This is why we said the whole thing, right? The greatest mitzvah in the Torah is having relations. How could it be? It looks so physical. What are you doing, right? But we said because that's exactly a point where you're being so physical where you could just lend yourself to be an animal cuz it is all about physical pleasure, God says, no, make it holy. And what comes out of that? A human being. There's no action you could ever do in life that would make you more similar to God than having a human being. That's the opposite of what the world thinks, right? What does the world think? You want me, baby. We're nothing but mammals, so let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel. You're just a monkey. Why not? No, we're not a monkey, right? Until here, everyone with me? Okay, now you could start, okay? Great. So, moving on. So, now, why did God choose to seal his pact with Abraham to bris milah? What What is it that specifically Abraham did, right? So, now everyone thinks that Abraham was the first Jew cuz he was the first one to believe in God. We said that's not true. In this week's parashah, we have Noah. He got saved on an ark cuz he was righteous. That means he believed in God. So, what is it that Abraham did or extra or different? So, we know that Abraham was known for opening up the four tents of his house. Now, there's lots of ideas about this. I'll teach some of them to you later. But what was one of the main ideas? Abraham wanted to get everyone to recognize God, right? People would come into his house, they would eat, and then they would say, how much do I owe you? And Abraham would say, you don't owe me, you owe God. And they would be like, God? Who's this God guy? This, that, whatever. What are you talking about? Now, Abraham had one specific mitzvah he introduced into the world. The mitzvah of birkat hamazon, right? Anyone ever heard of this mitzvah? When you eat, after you eat, you say this blessing called birkat hamazon. This is when you specifically eat bread, but we still have after blessing for when you eat other things, right? So, now, what's up with birkat hamazon? What's up with the whole blessing business, right? Now, if you ever say a blessing, you're going to see that the language of a blessing is a little interesting. Because pretty much every blessing starts with the following words. Baruch atah Hashem. Right? Elokeinu melech ha'olam. Translate. What does it mean baruch atah Hashem? Blessed are you, God. Stop. What? You ever notice what you're saying? You're blessing God? Can you bless God? What What does it mean you're blessing God? We usually think it's the opposite way. God blesses us, right? But every time you say a blessing, you're blessing God. You're saying you're giving God something. Now, what does it mean to bless God? Am I giving something to God that he doesn't have, right? Now, whenever you will use the concept of blessing, blessing means to expand, right? To give, to cause an positive influence. That's the idea of a blessing, right? I'm expanding what you have, I'm making you have more of it. This is why in Hebrew, which I'm not going to give you a whole class about blessing right now, but the word blessing in Hebrew, the root is berech. Yes? Berech. Yeah? Everyone heard this? Berachah. This is the root of the word. Or I'm just going to keep it like this so you see it. Berech. Berech, this is numerical value 2, 20, 200. A blessing is expanding, you're multiplying. This is why, by the way, the same word is also the root of the word brecha. Who's Israeli here? Lilach. What is brecha? I'm putting her on the spot. Forget it. What is a brecha? Brecha. Brecha. A pool. A pool. Cuz what is a pool? It's a deposit of water, right? You have a lot. You're giving out. A blessing is you're opening up the deposit of water of God, if you want to call it that way, and you're bringing of it into this world. You're like opening the key so all the water, all of the good things could come down, right? But now, how am I opening up a door for God? Right? Now, our rabbis say that a blessing is an influence that causes success. So, whenever you're saying a blessing, you're causing God to be successful. You're the man, right? Now, God needs me to be successful? What does it mean? So, now I'm going to tell you one of the most important ideas you'll hear in your life, okay? So, pay attention. In what way can I make God successful, right? We know that the greatest mitzvah in the Torah is called kiddush Hashem, sanctifying the world of God. What does it mean to sanctify the world of God? Even though God is everywhere, godliness is not. You heard that? Cuz this is huge. Even though God is everywhere because he's everything, godliness is not. Let me give you a definition for godliness. Godliness means how much of God you feel in life. How much of God is expressed in this world? Now, even though God is everywhere, you have lots of places that there's no godliness being felt. By the way, why is there no godliness? Cuz we're not bringing it. You understand? If you we have no awareness and no knowledge of God, and we don't invite God into his world, then you could have a place that is devoided of God because you're pushing him away. The mitzvah of kiddush Hashem, you're going to see this later, means you're inviting God into his world, right? Now, what is it that Abraham did? Abraham taught people how to say birkat hamazon. Wait, recognize God. Recognize the source of goodness. When you're blessing God, you're ultimately recognizing the source of goodness. Now, listen to this. By doing this, you're making God successful cuz you're making God popular. God is everywhere, but we lack knowledge of him. We lack understanding of what God is, right? And therefore, how are we making God successful? Pretty much, we're making him the popular kid. We're allowing him to be felt in this world. This is why the Torah says that if you don't say a blessing, it's as if you're stealing from God. Why? You're stealing the apple cuz it belongs to God? No, God made the apple for you. You're stealing from God the ability to express himself in this world because he needs you in order to So, now, let me phrase this in better words, right? Abraham was not the first one to believe in God, okay? Lots of people believed in God. But Abraham was the pioneer. He was the first one in expressing the idea of bringing God into the flesh, of bringing God into our world. The idea that there is godliness, that everything has potential, that everything has purpose. This is how he lived his life. The Torah says, right? I told you yesterday, how come Noah wasn't the first Jew and Abraham was? Now, there's lots of ideas, which I won't be able to teach them all cuz this is not my topic. But the Torah, when it describes Noah, it says, et Elohim hitalech Noah. And Noah walked with God. But by Abraham, it says, it alachta lefanai, you went in front of me. Says the Torah, Noah walked with God. Wherever God would go, Noah would go, you know? But now, what's the problem with that? What if God is not going somewhere, you're not taking him, right? You're only being from when you have the ability, when it's easy, when it's comfortable. This is why, if you ever think about this, how did Noah get saved from an ark? From the flood in an ark that was secluded. Because in a certain sense, that's how he lived. He lived secluded. He wasn't just going out there and advertisement advertising for God, which by the way was the job of building the ark. God made him build an ark for 120 years. You know, people think it was like the ark. Yeah? This is what people think. The ark was 300 amot long. 300 amot means 600 m. That is a 1,800 ft. Is that long? Not that much, right? 80 You're all American. You know what feet are? No, you know meters? You know centimeters? No, I'm joking. Okay, right? 1,800 ft. You know what? You have to fit in this ark two animals of each kind and seven animals of each kosher kind. Yeah? Is 1,800 ft long enough for this? By the time you put seven cows, two elephants, two dinosaurs, two hippopotamuses, and two rhinoceroses, okay, rhinoceroses, or whatever you call this, you have no space for anyone else. Maybe insects. This is why we have so many insects cuz that was the only extra thing that fit in. Right? So, why did he go make him 120 years? Not even the Empire State Building took 120 years. Not even it took 15 years. Right? Why? Cuz the whole idea was go get everyone to recognize me. I don't want to destroy the world. This is your job. But Noah said that Torah, he walked with God. He said Rashi, he needed a cane to walk. He needed like support. Not by Abraham. By Abraham it said you walked in front of me. You know what Abraham did? If this is true, I need to express this idea. Suddenly I need to express this idea. Truth This truth everywhere. God exists. How is the world devoided of this knowledge? He didn't walk with God. He took God. He was walking in front and God was following him because he was making God popular wherever he would go. That's what it means to be the chosen people. We're responsible of making God popular. We're responsible of bringing knowledge of God into our world. Right? Therefore, where did God seal his fact with Abraham? In the Brit Milah. Cuz Abraham had the ability to see that there's no space or place in the world that could be devoided of God. God could be everywhere. God could be in anything. Any action that you do and when we're going to talk about mitzvot, you're going to see this. Any action that you do could be holy. And you know where I'm going to put that sign? In the part that you would think would be the most unholy. Because it is holy. Right? Not only it is holy, the more potential something has to be used in the wrong way, the more potential it has to be used in the right way. Right? Isn't that the way it works? Right? The more you could use something in order to evolve, the more you could use it in order to do good. And at the end of the day, that's your choice. This is why Hitler did not like Brit Milah. Because the Brit Milah represents that you could have conscience of everything that you do and that you could use that thing, the physical, whatever you want, for great things. But who wants to live like that? You don't want to have to be thinking about meaning and purpose in everything that you're doing. You just want to chill out. You just want to have a break. Right? You just want to do whatever you want.