The 13 Principles of Jewish Faith - Principle #6: Communication with G-d - Rabbi Akiva Fox

[Music] when I was growing up back in the 1500s when everybody was either wearing black or white there was no color in those days there was no such thing as color there was no purple blue everything was just black and white and everybody moved very fast so in those days there was a classic called the The Music Man it was a story about a a con artist who would go from town to town trying to make money off of people and one of the schemes that he came up with was that he would get all the kids to want to become part of a marching band which he was going to lead and they would order all the parts and all the musical instruments and all the uniforms and he would get everybody all hyped about this and how they were gonna change the town with this musical band that give the kids something to do and purpose and meaning etc and of course he had no idea how to play music he had no idea how to make music or how to run a band but all the orders would come in and then it was his plan to bounce at the last second so when all these children are ordering their musical instruments this one a trombone this one a saxophone this one a drum this one a flute and all the other symbols so they finally come from the FedEx or the Pony Express or whatever it was that delivered in those days and they come to the music man and they say okay so teach us how to play we need to learn how to play music and of course he has no idea so he says ok you just you figure this out yourself and it's how you want to do it and you guys you work on it and of course he would quickly get somebody to take his place and he would run away meaning he had absolutely no idea how to play music he had not absolutely no idea how to conduct the band or the orchestra so he just told him do it on your own so I was thinking about this when we talk about prophecy in general the essence of prophecy the rhumba Memon and he says that we have to believe or this is the fundamental of belief Hashem Minerva Bonet autumn which means that Hashem talks to people in essence putting that in a nutshell what that tells us is that God did not leave the world saying you guys figure it out on your own I'm putting you in the world I'm placing you here and I don't know do whatever you want or figure it out on your own here's the trombone here's the here's the flute here's the cymbal and figure it out cuz I don't know how to play God did not put us in this world and abandon us God did not put us in this world without purpose without meaning there was a very very obvious reason that he did create the world and he wants us to be in this world there's something he wishes to accomplish there's something he hopes for us to accomplish this is what he wants so if we are here if we exist and if we have existed for thousands of years there must be a higher will a divine will of what we are supposed to do how do we figure it out are we like that band that I don't know you guys figure it out I have no idea no says the Rambam that's what neva is neva tells us that God never let people mankind on their own he never said figure out what you're supposed to do I'm not involved you guys make it up no God talked to people God sends messages to people God gave a guidebook a blueprint of the world which is called the Torah God also continuously throughout the generations gave prophecy that guided the people to know what it was that they were supposed to do what it was that they were supposed to accomplish and what it was that God hoped for the world at large this is the essence of prophecy in general in general God sends naveen God sent prophets to guide the people to fulfill his will this includes teshuva how to repent how to fix the way the things that we have done we have done wrong and rectify the things that we need to improve that's number one and number two is to lead us towards the gula to lead us towards mashiac when the Messiah will come that is the goal of a prophet meaning a prophet is here to help the world and the Jewish people achieve what it is that a Shem wants us to achieve valid see enjoy yo the guy of the Redeemer will come to sit see on to Zion will achieve a Pecha be archived and to those who are returning from their sins they are doing chuva they are repenting no mushroom this is the word of a Shem meaning and in camp you encapsulate sin that small sentence what it is that we are here to do excuse me what is that a prophet is here to do and that is to help us do Tuva to rectify our ways and to go and accomplish that that which we are supposed to accomplish and also to lead us and guide us towards the fulfillment of the ultimate desire of a Shem which is Messiah and greeting mashiac meaning when the world will become the place that Hashem wants it to be so these are two things fundamentals that we have to understand about prophecy Hashem does not leave us abandon us stay figure it out on your own self-service gas pumps you guys do it I got no idea Shems not a con-artist Hashem created the world he guides the world and he continues to send guides throughout the generations unfortunately prophecy was something that was taken away while the generations degraded and that was something that happened but in every generation there is something called the AAA ha ADA the eyes of the congregation are the eyes of the people and that is the leaders of the generation the good eylem of every generation that have been given a certain vision that they can connect to the will of a sham they can connect and understand with much more clarity than me and you or the typical people and they know what it is that God once and how to help people achieve that goal this is something that in every generation thank God there have been leaders that have been able to connect to that and been able to guide the people with the word a Russian now there are levels of prophecy that the rum caramel shahi muchachos speaks about in dara hashem there's something called actual neva which is the ultimate prophecy as the as the dara Hashem and something we spoken about before which is complete connection to Asha that is something when a person in essence attaches himself to the higher divine intelligence that is one level of prophecy there's another level of prophecy called ruach ha'qodesh that is when a person is given a certain amount of clarity in certain things or certain concepts with absolutely he has no question no doubt in his mind he understands it completely even though it's something he may never have studied he may never have seen that is something in a certain sense like a gift it's like excuse the the the terminology that's so mundane and so shallow for such a divine concept but it's like uploaded or downloaded into his mind that he has he's given complete clarity that's called in a sense Ruach Hakodesh then there's something called a Bosco which is a heavenly voice that is also something that comes from God to give people guidance or an inclination into what they're supposed to do now just on a practical aspect there's a very powerful message that I feel is important to share although we don't have prophets anymore and although in a certain sense ruach ha'qodesh the second level seems to be something that is not easily connected to and of course there are and have always been leaders the a me how a the leaders of the generation who have given us clarity and guidance in the things that we've needed but as we spoke before since God does not want anyone to ever feel that they are abandoned or they are left on their own there is always a connect there is always that guiding light that Ashim sends to people even to the lowest of the low the sivaram tell us that there's a bosco there's a heavenly voice that goes out every day from her Sina her Horus and it says the people to the Jewish people shew viburnum return to me those who have abandoned me God says in this heavenly voice return to me so the question is wait a minute we don't hear the heavenly voice so then what is the heavenly voice for and if it's there then why don't we hear it and thus far and tell us something fascinating we do hear it we don't know we hear it but we hear it and you know when you hear it the best when a person has a hear her chuhwa when a person has a thought to do chuhwa an inspiring instant in his life where he feels you know i could do better i can rectify the ways that i've done maybe I should come closer to God those moments it could be a second of inspiration those moments those instances where he feels just a desire to do more to do better to connect or to repent that is when he hears the voice of heaven the voice of Hashem speaking to him in essence you and I and anyone are given a great gift that Hashem speaks to us in our own minds that God speaks to you and says come back when we feel that we're hearing the voice of Hashem talking to us so a person could be at the lowest level he could be the lowest of the low he's done so much wrong he's gone so far and when he's sitting in the haze in the Bahamas on a lawn chair perhaps he's doing the worst things and for one second he just thinks maybe I could be better maybe I should do Chuba maybe I should repent at that second to hear the voice of God that's a bicycle that's the bicycle that goes out every day and if we're safer if we merit the we hear it don't play down the seconds of inspiration or the moments that a person has that he thinks like that never play that down never underestimated because it's a Shem calling to you if a person has ever thought I'm abandoned I'm alone I have no connection whatever you have those thoughts whenever you have those feelings that there's a way for me to be better whenever a person feels shame for what he's done Shane say this farm is the greatest gift of all it's the reminder from uh Shem that I believe that you could do better and a person feels that in himself the essence of shame is when I say to myself that's not me I'm better than that I'm ashamed of what I do I've done because that's not who I am when you feel that when you hear that when you relate to that and connect to it that is the voice of God talking to you [Music]