The Best Way to Help Yourself? Help Someone Else - Rabbi Mosha Borger

Welcome to today's burst of emunah from Rabbi Lugassy. Today we're going to learn a message which is hopefully going to be life-changing for us and all the Jewish people. We say in the prophet Isaiah, Shiyahu Hanavi said, Ish et re'ehu ya'azoru, a man should help his friend, and to his brother he should say "Chazak, be strong." So important to go and give encouragement, to go and give strength to your fellow Jew, to your friend, to help them to get through their difficult times. And this is what Yeshayahu Hanavi, who's really the one who prophesied about the coming of Mashiach, tells us. If you want to know how to get through the difficulties in your life, you do it by giving strength to other people, by thinking about others. As we know, this time, which is just before Tisha B'Av, the Beit Hamikdash was destroyed because of rifts between people, rifts between families, communities. And that led eventually to the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash. And we want to rebuild the Beit Hamikdash. So, the question is, how are we going to do it? So, Moshe Rabbeinu tells us, literally in the parashah, just before Tisha B'Av happens, an amazing, amazing message. It says Rabbi Lugassy, there's an amazing Baal Haturim, where he says, he starts parashah, this week of Va'etchanan, and he might writes that Moshe Rabbeinu begged Hashem, he begged Hashem to come into land of Israel. There was a decree against him. And he prayed 515 prayers. Please, I beg of you Hashem, allow me to come in. I may have struck the rock instead of speaking to it, but I beg of you Hashem, let me in. And then got to a point where Hashem said, "If you pray one more time, I'm going to have to let you in. But it's not going to be good for you, and it's not going to be good for the Jewish people." That is the power of prayer. But the Baal HaTurim says something very powerful, a little different. Says, "Moshe Rabbeinu was begging Hashem." And really, he makes a connection to the end of last week's parashah of Devarim, which is the parashah of rebuke. When Moshe Rabbeinu was rebuking and chastising the Jewish people before he died. And he was telling us all different kinds of messages about how we can be better, and what we need to improve. And we listened to him. Because you listen to a person before they pass away, because they're telling you the truth. And they have no ulterior motive. But Moshe Rabbeinu told us something amazing at the end of parashah Devarim. He told us, "Don't be afraid of them, of your enemies, because Hashem your God is going to fight for you." He was giving us advice. Don't be afraid. And Moshe Rabbeinu said to Hashem, "I gave strength to the Jewish people. I told them, 'Have no fear. You You be facing your enemies on all different fronts. But don't worry. Don't be afraid because there's hope. Because maybe Hashem will help you. And in that may and in that merits, perhaps Hashem will help me. Perhaps Hashem will listen to my prayer and he'll also allow me to come into the land of Israel. Let's take a step back. Let's think Moshe Rabbeinu had so many mitzvahs, so much Torah, so many good deeds. And yet, despite all of this, what gave him the strength to beg Hakadosh Baruch Hu to let him come into the land? What was he depending his hope on? He was depending it on the fact that he gave strength to the Jewish people. Every single one of us heard Moshe Rabbeinu's message, "Al tira'un. Don't be afraid of them." And we have literal fights, battles. Speaking to one of my talmidim yesterday who told me he was in Gaza. He's telling me about the PTSD, the terrible effects it's been having on people. Hashem yerachem. Now, in Israel, the suicide rate is at least one person a day. It's a terrible, terrible thing, terrible statistics here in Israel. Terrible, terrible thing. So, just imagine you could be saving somebody's life. You give them encouragement. You tell them that they're great. I had somebody who was calling and called me up the other day. He was on his way on his way to getting a divorce. I called him up. And I was very, very labidick, very lively with him. And he said, "Why are you being so lively?" I said, "Cuz I'm talking to you. If you were talking to you, you'd also be lively. If you're talking to me, maybe you'd be depressed. But I'm talking to you." And it totally changed his mood. And who knows? He just sent me a message earlier who was planning maybe to do a suicide. So, Shalom. Baruch Hashem, he's still alive. So, you never know. You give somebody a little bit of encouragement. You could be saving their life. And Moshe Rabbeinu teaches us that message. He told us all, "Don't be afraid." We have so many fears today. Inner fears, outer fears. And that's what Moshe Rabbeinu said, "Maybe because I gave a little bit of extra encouragement to the Jewish people, perhaps because of that, that's one what's going to give them the strength. And because of that, that's going to give me the merit that I'm going to be able to come into the land." Amazing, amazing words, says Rav Lau Gassy. To see you how much Hakadosh Baruchu loves the Jewish people. How much does he love us? He loves us so much that if we help our fellow brothers and sisters, Hashem is going to help us. Hashem values that. And the truth is that is the real reason for the destruction of the Beit Hamikdash was sinat chinam, baseless hatred. And even after Tisha B'Av, if you're looking at this after Tisha B'Av, it's something which still applies every single day. We have to love our fellow Jew, and we have to encourage them, and we have to see the good in them. And if we do that, you can literally, you can be saved from all different things. You can save them. And Rav Gifter was writing this, it was during the time Corona. But right now we have no idea what's going on. There's a war going on in the world. Yeah, between America, Iran, right now. And Israel's not involved. Baruch Hashem. Israel's not involved. But we don't know from day to day what's going to be. We're literally living on the edge every single day. So it's time for all for you and I to internalize this message. To strengthen each other. To see the good in each other. Trust in Hakadosh Baruchu doesn't depend on a person's merits. It doesn't depend on his lineage or his righteousness. Just simply trusting in Hashem is in itself is the end goal. David Hamelech tells us in Tehillim "Avotai Hashem chesed yesovevenu." Somebody who trusts in Hashem will be surrounded with chesed. Even somebody who's a so-called rasha, an evil person who trusts in Hashem, Hashem will save him. Just the fact just the fact that somebody cries out to Hashem and he says, "Master of the universe, you are my refuge. I have nothing, no one else to rely on except for you alone." It doesn't matter who you are. It doesn't matter who the person is. Just the fact that you allowed those words to come out of your mouth. And I presume that you believed it in your heart as well. And you're giving that trust in Hashem. And you know that Hashem is going to help you. That in itself is enough. It's enough to help to change, to save you. And if you give that to other people, if you give that to other people, you can save them. Cuz through doing that, you're taking refuge in Hashem's shadow. You're being guarded under his wings. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu feels, so to speak, an obligation to guard you. He feels a responsibility to put you under his trust because you expressed to him that you know that only he can help you. This is what we need to realize. But it goes even deeper than that. Because not only do we need to encourage people, we also have to make sure that we're not hurting people. It's the story of the Baba Rebbe, of Chaim Halberstam. It's actually written in Hamodia. The Rabbi Lazer Rabbi Lazer Obstfeld, who was one of his drivers, once had to take the Rebbe to take him quickly to the airport. He was going to be straight after Shacharis. And he knew they had to rush. But the custom is that when the Rebbe leaves, you say goodbye. And he gives you bracha. A small bracha. But this was taking a long time. And when they eventually got in the car, many, many, many minutes later, they were in a rush. Rabbi Lazer Obstfeld never dared to question the Rebbe. But the Rebbe, as if he was reading his mind, said to him, "So, let me tell you why I took so long coming out. So the first person came to me. I was going to be missing his wedding this week when I'm away. So I came and I gave him a bracha and I told him over an idea about getting married that I tell all of the chasanim all the all the new grooms. Took a couple of minutes. Then I saw bar mitzvah boy I was going to miss his bar mitzvah this week while I'm away. So I gave him a special bracha and I told him a special word about being a bar mitzvah and becoming into the mitzvahs and what that means a very very beautiful deep idea. Then I met another father his son's getting married and I'm not going to be here for the wedding. And I could see he's upset. So I gave him a bracha and I gave told him a story and I gave him some chizuk. And then the fourth person came along. How would he feel seeing me speaking to the other three people before that I now didn't address him and give him a special blessing? So I gave him a special bracha and the same with the fifth and the sixth and the 10th and the 15th and the 80th person. How could I Who could I Who do I have permission to hurt? Who do I have permission to make him feel second rate? Nobody. That's why I was late. That's what we need to realize. We need to put special special effort to not hurting other people. Not hurting other people with our behavior. Not hurting other people with our words. We need to work on our thoughts as well. Moshe Rabbeinu said and he was revealing a secret to the Jewish people that when he said those words lo tirau um ki Hashem Elokecha Harris. Don't be afraid of your enemies. Could be your inner enemy, the answer the evil incarnation. Could be external enemies. Could be enemies that are out there to try and destroy the Jewish people as the moisture of pain and told us when I said those words, of course of course I meant it. I meant to give the strength that please Hashem maybe in the merits. I beg of you Hashem maybe in the merits that I gave even to a single person a little bit of encouragement, a little bit of motivation to feel a little bit more loved. Perhaps perhaps that is what will save them. Hashem is the one that gives us strength. As we say who I know call Hashem is the one that gives you strength to succeed, to grow. He's the one that gives you the ideas just not just the success. That depends on and this is really the greatest message that I can share with you at this time. And this is what my show of pain and told us. Everything depends on Hashem. Whether it's war whether it's victory in the end, it all comes from him. I shall be in a suit the strength that he gave to the Jewish people and he said maybe because of that I'll merit to get something for myself. That's what we have to think of. Have a wonderful day. >> I think it'd be that second again. You got like you have like 30 seconds left. I want I was trying to tell you like you have like 41 minutes. You still have one. >> Yeah. >> So