The Burning Bush and a Beautiful Mind - Women's Shemos Class

the yeshiva dotnet there is a very important and fascinating moment in partial schmoes when Hashem for the first time reveals himself to moistur a banal namely the nature of the revelation throughout safer voracious the reboiler shalt oil on the master of the world has revealed himself and communicated with many an individual he is communicated with Adam the first person first human being first man and the first woman with hava and communicated with the snake with no hush Hashem communicated with Naya communicated with Avraham Yitzhak Yaakov rifka avi Mela in a dream loved one in a dream God has communicated to all of these individuals throughout safer veracious and yet we never hear how he spoke to them and we don't exactly know how we spoke to them I guess if you're a prophet you know what it feels like what it sounds like what experiences some prophet didn't doubt the prophecy when I've Rama vena was told to take his son and offer him as an offering right if I would hear such a commandment what's the first thing I would do is I would go to a psychiatrist and I would say I'm hearing very very interesting voices I mean many parents hear voices to kill their children it happens in the kitchen sometimes every night but thank God you don't think you're a prophet because if every mother and father would think there are prophets woe to our children how do you know how do you distinguish between mentally loosen ations between psychotic episodes and what you perceive as a prophecy you never thought about that right did you you thought about it no what was your answer it's an interesting question no it's not a simple thing because if the Navi was a normal person he had to ask this question people hear voices all the time and they're dangerous and we all hear voices and a lot of these voices are very destructive which is part of the human condition part of the human condition is making choices and distinguishing between voices that build and voices that destroy voices that bring you closer to your values and voices that bring you closer to your room ruin as our UI n voices that empower you voices that bring the best out of you and voices that lead me to a path of chaos and destruction for prophecy to be authentic it means that the Prophet had to be not 90% sure but a hundred a thousand percent sure that this is the divine communicating to him how does that happen safe operations doesn't answer that question how did God speak to Noah what did it look like what did it feel like what did it sound like I don't know Hashem now reveals himself to Moshe I would expect exactly the same story God revealed himself to mush just like it says Hashem spoke to all them he spoke tonight by a rail of a chamois revealed himself to have Romney spoke Tyrell it says about rifka she wondered about her pregnancy by your email our Shem got older how did he tell her what did it sound like what did it feel like but with moisture suddenly the story changes God doesn't just reveal himself to moisture it comes with an entire dramatic backdrop a lot of fan fear a lot of fireworks a lot of excitement a strange image and the way the trailer describes it is moisture was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law and he was in a desert and he came near a place a mountain called Horeb and you would expect right here the terror to say God revealed himself to Moshe and said X Y & Z that's not what happened Marcia observed al-abbas a Schmidt asana he observed a burning bush and many commentators say the snare is a foreign bush meaning from all bushes or shrubs it's a thorn bush and he sees a fire burning amidst this thorn bush and what happens via arena as sniper obeys must maintain or call the bush is on fire but it's not being consumed so moisture says a Suriname let me move away the area Samar regardless a medullary Vajrasana let me gaze at this sight why is the thorn bush not being consumed would this flammable wood should be consumed by fire Hashem sees that Moshe came to see and he calls out from the thorn bush and he says Moesha Moesha Moesha says he Naini I'm here and God tells them don't come close shall know that America can welcome our terminal about McCoy - take your shoes off your feet because the place upon which you tread is sacred soil it's adverse coitus take your shoes off your feet and then a sham continued to speak to him and says I am the God of your father the god of ephraim Yitzhak Yaakov and that's when moisture hides his face he doesn't want to gaze then our sham speaks them about the pain of the Jewish people in Egypt and summons him and says I want you to be my ambassador Marsh Lee Oklahoma ash logical Poirot I want to send you to PI ready to take my people of the bondage of Egypt and then starts a whole conversation yes no yes no yes no moisture is resisting Moishe's finding every reason why he is undeserving why he is unsuitable for the job why this is inappropriate why it's not going to work why he will be unsuccessful and so forth until God persuades him or compels him to embark on this mission what we wonder immediately is why this change in the nature of Revelation what would be missing of the story if it would just say Hashem revealed himself to Moshe and he gave him this message I am God this is the mission this is what I want as he did so many times before by a mirage a mile Avram left look I rubbed in and see a burning bush he didn't see anything he heard the voice of God leave your land and then all of the other prophecies that existed whether it was a from or it's okay Yaakov again or if Cournoyer Hashem tells nayeth I want you to build an ark I'm going to bring a flood there's no burning bush where did it happen where was not at the time was the outdoors was he indoors I don't know Tyrel doesn't give us these details here we're not just learning that God revealed himself to motion but there's a whole way how he revealed himself obviously this story needs to come with this backdrop somehow in this story it's not just God revealed himself to Marcia but it's important to know how he did it what is the explanation why was this medium chosen and even if you want to do it in a much more dramatic way not just reveal yourself to him or speak to him but you want it to happen through some fascinating intriguing miraculous way why was this medium chosen from countless other potential scenarios and episodes that could have unfolded in order to get this message over to motion so I want to address today this question from three different perspectives one is a perspective that is conveyed in the Madras in Madras raba that's the first perspective and the Madras conveys the following message this was intentional this was purposeful and it was essential to the very narrative it wasn't only what he said it was how the revelation took place because what moisture Abay knew observed at that moment was not just a physical thorn bush on fire all previous revelations and safe operations were addressed to people as individuals even if they were to father a nation but at that point they were still individuals this communication to Moshe was not as an individual for him to take some personal journey like lake lacar or for him to go here or for him to go there or for him to do this or do that this was a journey to assume the position of a leader this is the first time you have such a communication he is assuming the position of a man egg of a shepherd Maharaja he is going to be the one who's going to address the Pharaoh and ultimately staged a mutiny a revolt against the superpower of the time he's going to take slaves and mold them into a nation he's going to become their first and greatest leader he's going to take them out of their Egypt he's going to make them a nation going to give them terror going to lead them ultimately what would be for four decades afterwards through the desert so here the nature of the revelation was different and what does he observe he doesn't only observe a burning bush as the Madras puts it he observes much of Jewish history in his first moment as a leader he and by extension every Jew through reading through learning observes a phenomenon and the phenomenon is a people who often would sadly tragically and horrific aliy burn moisture was not just observing an individual Bush in a desert that was on fire he can see that a manifestation of a long journey of a people that would be subjected sometimes in horrific ways to flames of hatred to flames of animosity to flames and passions of envy that would generate violence discrimination persecution and often genocide motion abena would also see this on an individual level not only in a collective level he would see this in his people he would see this in humanity that much of life orphaned comes with challenge with difficulties people are not always given the luxury of living the most tranquil and serene life where they could just sit in the Sun and enjoy a tranquil life without any worry or anxiety I don't know maybe such lives exist but it's not something so common Moshe Rabbeinu would observe the fact that sometimes people have a fire burning and what that means is there's something that threatens to destroy to obliterate to consume I if we would go through this room and everybody would speak and the question would be asked is there anything in life that bothers you what do you think the answer would be nothing nah I remember I had a non-jewish friend his name was Tony he was a therapist in Long Island and I once met him and I said Tony how his life and he said he called me Joseph he said Joseph life is perfect and he saw that I was startled he said why you startled Joseph and I said you know I asked people all the time how is life the first time the first time I asked Jews all the time I asked my brothers how is life how you doing the first time I ever heard somebody say perfect usually it's like stomach and my stomach ache of a backache I think I'm having a stroke I might have had a heart attack yesterday my wife thinks I'm about to die I'm overweight I eat too much I eat too little I'm stressed I'm anxious this that the best you'll get is not too bad and that probably means the guy made ten million dollars yesterday not too bad I said perfect perfect Wow so what makes your life perfect then he told me that he finished building his his kayak on Sunday I said how long have you been building it he told me for four years and he said he finished it and he took it out to the river on Sunday in the island long island and he said it was a moment of paradise and I said this ain't gonna work with my brethren I'm gonna tell Jews you want a recipe to happiness build a kayak for four years every free moment just go to the garage and build and build and build and after four years take it into the river really that's what I should do I can hire somebody and when Moshe seized it could get very discouraging and therefore the story comes with another dimension and that is vas na a nano Oh call the bush is not being destroyed it's not being consumed what is moisture being told here Marsh is being told I want you to know that at the core of your people and at the core of Endor every individual there is a sense of invincibility there is something that is indestructible and never ever look at any situation in life and say that's it I'm a destroyed person this has gotten me I am spent I am done I am depleted and lift up your hands in the spear and a sense of melancholy and hopelessness as strong as the fire may be as strong as the danger may be as powerful as the adverse adversity and difficulty and headaches and sometimes situations that seem non resolvable what am I supposed to do with this and ongoing I want you to know that vas 9 and we'll call the first thing you have to know as a leader is to be able to believe and to be able to empower yourself and other people to know that nothing nothing is here to ultimately destroy you even though many of these fires may be mysterious and one may not understand the reason and the rationale and the benefit one may understand what may not understand one may understand a little bit one may understand nothing of it the most important thing to know is that here other mates are sudde this people will never ever be destroyed how it's going to work out you may know you may not know you may wrap your brain around it you may not wrap your brain about round it one search from a girl she's not here anymore she died from cows illness a few years ago I once heard from her she said at the end it's going to be okay and if it's not okay is because it's not the end in other words I may not always be able to wrap my brain around the meaning and how it unfolds and to lecture Willy I may be completely in the dark but life is not lived on an intellectual level alone the intellect serves its purpose life has lived in the experiential experience of the now of the moment and a person ought to know this is what moisture debatin was learning the first experience you have of God is what does it mean that there is a God in the burning bush what does it mean God exists it means that you're never ever lost it means that you're never ever alone it means that you're never ever abandoned it means that you're never ever in a situation where you look at your life and you see only bleakness darkness pessimism and destruction there may be pain the fires may be strong there may be challenge the challenge may be profound but never ever allow that to translate into the next sentence which is I surrender to the spear I resigned to dissolve into nothingness I lose the core truth that ultimately there is something indestructible here and even these challenges are here for growth not for destruction or epidemic Obinna Mariska once said when a person loses his money he lost nothing money comes and money goes when a person some of their health they lost something significant not all over themselves their bodies maybe not their souls but he said I'll say in Yiddish and translate above an immense Fallot the Moot the courage you know what crushes when I mentally the mood or two outs phalloidin when a person loses his or her courage courage and he dishes courage when a person loses his or her resolve umph gusto passion drive mutts the courage then a person lost everything so I may look at my life you may look at your life you may look at a situation you may look at many situations and you may read the map you may speak to people and you may come back with the conclusion of the conclusion is this foreign Bush is finished it's gone let it just decay and God tells moisture Rubino if this is the case you have not gotten you have not gotten the message of the essence and the beginning of all of Judaism and of all religious experience and of all the relationship with God that you're never ever ever a victim in absolute terms you're never never in a situation where you look at life and you say I'm lost you may cry you may feel the pain Moisture I'm a new himself feels it he cries he screams he protests but never ever gives up and never loses the courage and the resolve to find light and to find meaning and to find purpose and to grow from the experience message number one message number two goes from the historical to the psychological this is a commentary based on the commentary of the Degel Malkin Ephram who was a grandson of the Baal Shem tifford moshe haim a frame of Sedley cove in his book Degel machina fry my parish mice based on a teaching he heard from his grandfather the Baal Shem Tov and he shows us like every story entire it exists on a historical level it exists on an individual level on the outer level on an inner level outer layer inner layer and the deccan american f ryan teaches the following he says moshe observes a bush it's on fire but it's not being consumed and he gives a completely different perspective in this case the fire represents passion warmth creativity and I'm using the Degel mark enough I'm gonna elaborate a little bit of my own words the way I understood it for a life to be full you need to have fire so they're stuck in fire for person is cold and dull and lifeless it's very difficult to live it's a fire passion H Tommy took her doll on his belly Sitapur it was a mitzvah that a fire should always burn on the altar to be a live means that is a fire burning quite physically physiologically there's a warmth in the body there's a fire in the body the symptom of death is coldness there was once a rapper when he was a young child he turned to his brother and his brother he asked his brother voice as I eat I'm sorry his brother asked him us as I yield what's a Jew he said I you this fire Jew is fire so he said really I eat this fire for husband a clear dinner it really don't very finish for Brent if a Jew is fire why when I taught you don't I get burnt he says well do bestow fire because you're also fire when fire you touches fire doesn't get burned you're also fiber sniper fire to live means to be on fire baal shem tov was once walking with the students they were walking by a river in the ukraine and the river during the winter months if you ever visited Russia Ukraine gets pretty cold in certain regions and many rivers and lakes turn into ice and for months often people sled and they travel on top over it then of course the ice melts you got to be very careful and they were walking by this river and there was a Christian fellow there and he took the ice and he carved it into a Salem he carved the ice into a cross and the students saw this with the Baal Shem Tov and they were very disheartened because they learned from their teacher many times that everything you see and you hear is part of your journey everything you see in your her here is a lesson in life and their walking with the holy master with the Baal Shem Tov and this is what they have to observe during their stroll this fellow carving out this Ison takraw I don't know if it was December 25th or some other day but whatever the occasion was they were very demoralized and the Baal Shem Tov said you just got one of the most important lessons in life in Yiddish guide there's nothing as sacred as water when a person wants to cleanse themselves they go into the mikveh the mikveh the pool of natural water that God gives us from heaven is the great cleansing power in Judaism there's something in water that is very powerful a child a fetus develops an amniotic sac in water throughout life other men however the genesis of life happens by the river that came out of Eden to irrigate the garden are yolks ma the lash missus I got fitter rock the alayhim I am Tahiry muta hearten and throughout all of history the mikveh is that pool of water where one immerses themselves and emerges so to speak as a new person pure five cleansed that's water and this is the water you're observing and yet when the water turns into ice when the water turns into ice then you can carve out from this very same water across representing idolatry he says sometimes when a person even a very holy person turns into ice person becomes cold then they're vulnerable they're vulnerable to a type of emotional distance Pyrrha chool disintegration because when somebody is called they become detached to be a person to be a Jewess to always be on fire there's a passion there's a warmth there's a depth there's a huse there's a vitality coldness when the trainer wants to describe our malik it says officers little homily with their position limits sir i am i share car huh bad air so the man returned home and says car if it comes from the word collier he cooled you off he made you frozen sometimes people camouflage their coldness as intellectualism I'm a cerebral person I don't get excited I'm not a warm emotional fuzzy roly-poly emotional basket case I'm cerebral I'm aloof I'm detached but very often that's a cover-up because I have I'm afraid of touching life I'm afraid of touching the texture of life life is too is too tumultuous it's too real so I stay away it's like I don't want to go into the water because I don't want to get wet so I stay away from the water and then I philosophize I really build a philosophy around my fears to have fears is not such a problem problem is when you build philosophies out of your fears we all have fears we all have insecurities but if I can identify it as a fear and insecurity I'm already halfway through the remedy because I can identify then I could choose when I camouflage my fears with philosophical truths suddenly I'm not afraid there's a there's a point behind it there's a philosophy by now I'm stuck because now it's justified now what is really dysfunctional appears as something very important and very vital all it's doing is causing me to remain stuck never ever cover up fears and insecurities by developing philosophical ideas around them so sometimes my fear of attachment is so deep that my cerebral quality takes over because it's a very comfortable place to be in you sit in an ivory tower of intellectualism and you analyze the world from outside somebody once came to me your Shiva was in yeshiva there was this kid he was a funny guy and he came out to me he says tell me as an outsider what's your perspective of the human race so I told them judging from you horrible so sometimes you know it's just easier to to to assume this veneer of cerebral detachment but really what I'm looking for is not intellectual truth I'm looking to remain detached from life I don't want to touch the texture I don't want to get my hands wet or dirty or clean I just don't want to touch it it's too loaded it's too intense I'm afraid of intensity and life is intense because all of life is constant movement even what looks lifeless is filled with millions and billions and trillions and zillions and sacct ilion's of atoms that are in constant flow and movement between all of the between all of the components protons and the neutrons and the electrons and then the atoms forming as molecules all of life is full of movement full of passion even if I don't always see it so our mole occurs I shall call her by their moisture Rubino who is the teacher of the Jewish people forever sees the bush being ignited and yet the fire cannot penetrate it thus there a new coal and moisture says Madhu Allah give us now why the dug of Macan Ephraim gives the following interesting interpretation he says sometimes your soul is on fire your heart is on fire it seems so promising and yet somehow stubbornly your bush your thorns will not give in to the fire there's a part that the fire will not consume you would think the bush is on fire the bush should be consumed by the fire no it will not the fire will stop it will burn and yet there's a part of the bush that will stubbornly resist the flames and not allow the passion to go through them and penetrate them what does this mean in a person's life and a person's life as he puts it this a person is neither nink the enema henna from the person is darvany he or she thinks they're on fire and suddenly out of the blue some toxic thoughts enter into your brain showing you in your mind that it's all futile and vain that the fire was fake and merely a religious celestial illusion that has no real footing because look at what just went through your mind sometimes a person looks at their own marriage they always dreamt that it would be full with fire full of passion full of affection full of love full of creative emotions and bonding and sometimes a person may feel this fire and yet has slain and arukou there's still so many thorns that remain in this marriage sometimes there are all types of interesting thoughts and these thoughts seem to undermine the flame to undermine the passion and one asks my jeweler llevarse now why will the fire not penetrate the bush why will the fire not consume my bush why is there a part of me that will never allow itself to become part of this flame a person thinks they're living a healthy life a functional life a fiery life and then one day you wake up or one night you come home and you're overtaken by all types of thoughts and emotions and feelings that seemed so negative so depressing so taxing so toxic and taxing thoughts and feelings and emotions that are demoralizing sometimes they're quite immoral or even promiscuous sometimes they really bring you back to a place that you don't want to be in and they invite you there and you ask yourself will I ever get rid of all of these thoughts and feelings will there ever be absolute peace and absolute serenity can I ever really live with that fire on so many levels in so many different situations and cases a person says I've worked so hard to get rid of my anxiety I've worked so hard to develop faith to develop trust to develop serenity I've worked so hard to be a good mother a good grandmother a good wife I have worked so hard to be a good person to be a good Jew I thought I have achieved so much and then suddenly out of the blue all of these thoughts come into my mind all of these feelings all of these emotions and I'm Amish a basket case what happened to my five years ten years twenty years thirty years of work that's like almost the devil as somebody once told me the devil standing in front of me and laughing in my face ha ha ha you achieved nothing and it's that moment that God tells moisture dabei know something very powerful stop Lt curve don't get any closer take your shoes off your feet because you're standing on sacred soil the greatest mistake you're making is thinking that you have to get closer to touch holiness but what I want to explain to you is that the place upon which you stand is sacred to live a sacred life to live a fiery passionate life does not mean that you always get rid of all of your thorns it does not mean that the fire penetrates every nook and cranny of your being that's not what it means there are sometimes thorns that remain inside my brain inside my psyche and they may forever remain there that is not what will undermine your holiness and it will not undermine your fire all that is is a reflection of the fact that the human condition is fraught with tension fraught with choices fraught with contradictions that we were chosen to create a fire to create warmth in a place of coldness in a place of resistance all that means is that I'm given different opportunities for awareness and for growth not for the spear and resignation so when a person suddenly experiences all types of thoughts and emotions and feelings the worst thing you can do is allow that to undermine your entire being your entire existence by worshipping them identify them see them for what they are they are thorns kept main it with the present present - perhaps stimulate challenge make you humble make you grow use as a catalyst and a springboard for deeper awareness or whatever the purpose may be maybe they're there for you to subdue maybe they're there for you to transform maybe they're there for you to go deeper into yourself but hamachi mashallah a model of admah sky - oh you have to realize that the place upon which you're standing is sacred life never begins tomorrow life never begins after you graduate life never begins after the kids get married life never begins after you make money life never begins after you finish therapy life never begins after the kids are out of the house life never begins at any stage life is as they say what happens when you're busy preparing for other things life always happens right here right now the place where you stand now in the present is ad mastitis take off your feet take off your shoes take your shoes off your feet that was almost like take your feet off your shoes but I think better to take your chute take your shoes off your feet respect the space why do we take off our shoes we take off our shoes and sacred spaces we wear shoes to protect us from the crust of the earth there's snow outside there's ice outside there is dirt outside this filth there's mud there's rubber it's cold it's hard so we you we you we use shoes to protect us to create a hot seat sir to create a Mesquite's in the base hamikdash the kyon m were forbidden to wear shoes they walked around all day barefoot on a marble floor and in the Michigan I wasn't even marble in that Michigan was earth as discussed in the previous classes with Joseph and Yehuda but in the base M leaders it was marble and it was cold especially the winter months before radiators with electricity I mean there were fires all over the place but it was still cold and they weren't a lot of we're even sucks they walked barefoot all day and the reason is because we wear shoe so that our feet don't feel the earth but sometimes your feet have to feel the earth sometimes your feet have to feel the ground if you detach your feet from the ground even with a sock or a shoe you're creating an unnecessary and undesirable partition whenever it's Adam i scoid it's the only way you could be in a place of holiness is if you feel everything you have to be able to feel what you're standing on and that's why and that is why they stand without shoes without sucks in the base I made it and Mercia was told also to take off his shoes it's how the malbim explains the concept of colitas oh the concept of college is an interesting concept somebody dies childless and the Mitzvah is that his wife marries his brother it's called Yee boom Leverett marriages but they don't have to if they want to if they both agree the alternative processes kaliesha which is a very interesting Mitzvah in parshas key states a and the highlight is when she takes off the shoe of her brother-in-law and says he doesn't want to marry me and perpetuate the life his deceased brother who died childless why does she take off his shoe what is the significance of this one of the explanations is the shoe represents the journey of a soul down into earth where you need the separation between the body and the earth in order to protect yourself this brother doesn't want to bring down the soul of the brother back down to earth to continue with through a family he removes the shoe so you remain aloof but when you're touching sacred soil add my Scottish take off your shoes so honest on a personal spiritual psychological level Hashem is telling my sharavino just because the fire is not penetrated you fully do not allow that to deal ejido my's the fullness of your emotional experience the fullness of fire people often few Thalia wait that day where romance will saturate every nook and cranny of my heart brain mind and soul where love lights affection and closeness will permeate and penetrate and overwhelm my body and my soul my entire organism every one of my 40 trillion cells will wax poetically about my beautiful relationships with myself and my spouse and my parents and my siblings and of course my children and my friends and my grandchildren and you're coming to the bar mitzvah it's a day you waited for 13 years you're coming to your daughter's wedding you waited for this day 20 years 17 years 18 years I don't mean 25 years I mean to discriminate and against any K a layer I don't know if it's 17 years you're waiting or 18 years or 19 years or 20 years or 25 years or some people wait longer you've been waiting for this day it's supposed to be the happiest day of your life you're gonna lead your own child and daughter to the hope and yet if people have told me that sometimes their most obnoxious depressing anxiety and anxious thoughts come out at those moments and they puts them into the spear you're making the Lahani making of art you're making a pigeon a bang you're making a bridge you making a simile isn't it all about simcha and yet the truth for some of the greatest basket cases at simcoe's are the ones who are supposed to celebrate it the most the only ones who enjoy it are the guests who are not paying for anything we come we go to the sushi bar we don't stop eating sushi we fight with others over the sushi we are the right sushi we attack like cheetahs in the jungle and we're all very happy it's a nice free dinner especially if you prepared something with so much ambience and you spent $20,000 on flowers etc it said we have a great time the only ones who are monkish overwhelmed and anxious they don't know what hit them it looks like their mom mission this are sometimes the people are supposed to be celebrating was there's so much stress that's involved now part of the stress is because people are always thinking about other people what's this one gonna say what's this one gonna think that's part of the stress but part of it is also because at very sensitive moments a lot of things come up at the moments of truth deep things come up things that you pushed away for many years and this is the danger that when these things come up I say where's the fire what happened to the fire and God says relax you're standing and sacred soil a full passionate life does not mean a life where there are no thorns it does not mean a life where there are no thoughts that can undermine everything it does not mean a life where you sometimes have experiences that are so demoralizing and alien to everything you believe in rather it's exactly the opposite it's the courage to be able to choose at such moments which thoughts I'm going to follow which experience is I'm going to invest in am I going to follow my instincts or my values am I going to pursue my ultimate dreams am I going to pursue all of my insecurities and my voyage which may exist and may exist for a very long time that's the choice in which the human splendor emerges it's a choice that angels don't make they don't deal with thorns they deal with clarity the beauty and splendor of the human being is that I choose I choose I choose what I'm going to allow to control the experience and I always have that choice to make every person has that choice to make there was a woman who lived in Israel she was a poet and she wrote a letter to the lubavitcher rebbe in 1960 and in the letter people wrote him very personal things in the letter she wrote how miserable her life is and she enumerated all of the agony in her life she was a smart intelligent lady I've read I've read her poem I read her poetry brilliant person deep and she basically wrote to this person in Brooklyn about how miserable her life was and he wrote her back a letter a long letter 1960 or I saw it years ago but I want to tell you one thing that I remained with me and he wrote her as follows other Mauritian was in Ghana Denis was in paradise he had everything he had health he had money he had a marriage which was made in heaven and he had a house he had food and the food was nutritious no carbs gluten-free was all vegetables and fruits I mean it was unbelievable he was supposed to live forever so there were no health issues he wasn't dealing with any systems he didn't have to worry about shidduchim no mortgage she was in the Garden of Eden he was a guest in paradise I mean everything we catch about day and night he basically was worry free and then God asked him one question why do you eat from this tree and he answered her Issa Hashanah sata Ahmadi he must know lemonades welcomed that woman that you have given me she has been the curse of my life she is the one who gave me from this tree and that's why I ate it and by the way this is something that men still say told today they blame what they eat on their wife's which is why most Jewish women who replicate hava see part of their role as security guards very often don't need it so he goes to the kitchen when you're not looking and he eats it when you give that the dessert of the Shabbos table 8 this is not for you you eat grapes or even grapes are too sweet this is not for you this brownie with ice cream is not for you of course he waits till you go back to the kitchen or he sneaks out to the kitchen before benching and he makes sure that he's not discriminated against so this comes from Adam who said it's my wife so rashly says con Corbett Aviva as the Gomorrah says he was a calf whatever God said I didn't want you to be alone I gave you a spouse and now what you tell me is my life is cursed because I have the spouse and she ruined it for me if not for her life would have been paradise so Adam in gun Adan if you asked him that moment how was life and he would say it's miserable why my marriage and then the Lubavitcher ever wrote to this lady there were Jews that we both know who were this is what he wrote in the concentration camps of the Germans the letter of 1960 shortly after the war they used to wake up in the morning in the barracks the first thing they did at dawn before they went to work call it work before they went to be tortured for another day they used to say burkas a chakra they used to say Broca's what do you say in the Broca's mode our nila for NASA thank you for giving me my soul all the kindness Summerson assad to me thank you for my soul but caregiver my hope thank you for allowing me to open my eyes matt irres serum thank you for allowing me to move my body so he could quote from I could stand Marlborough room and have something to put on my body as though they had something Roy Carr it Salameh him and his earth makes him it's how they govern I can walk they had nothing they were skeletons they found something to be thankful for they found something in life that they could say I'm grateful for this I lost so much but I'm alive I could see I could think I could still feel I can hope I can dream and he wrote to this lady he says you can be in gun Aidan and be miserable and a person could be in the worst situations and find something to be grateful for and if you're familiar Viktor Frankl Viktor Frankl in his book man in search of meaning we developed his whole system of logotherapy a major part of this system is based on this idea he was in Auschwitz for years and he said that he found that there was only one thing the Germans couldn't take away and that is some meaning that you held on to whatever that meaning was for him it was that he has a wife waiting for him and freedom that he wants to write a book that he wants to change the world of psychology which he did in some ways in many ways so he wrote to this lady he says and most of us are not in gun aidan but we're also not in the camps we're somewhere in between and therefore happiness or misery is not about circumstances it's usually about a choice how you're going to perceive your life how are you going to look at your life I could look at the thorns and I could look at the passion they're both there moisture-laden who says but why is the fire not penetrating and God says stop you don't have to get any closer where you're standing is sacred at this moment you could find the full connection of course you should grow of course you should challenge yourself there's no Mitzvah to have thorns but it means in every situation when there are those things that come into your brain suddenly and threaten to undermine everything you could choose the fire rather than the thorns even if the fire have not consumed and obliterated completely the forints there is there is that moment that stays with me I think I shared with you sometime ago in one of our earlier classes earliest classes there was a fellow who won the Nobel Prize for economics his name was John Nash John Nash was a brilliant brilliant man brilliant professor in Princeton University economics physics he suffered from schizophrenia his wife suffered equally as his spouse and she divorced them because she couldn't live with his schizophrenia his schizophrenia was so serious that his psychotic episodes basically told him that there are communists this is in the days of the serious this this is during the Cold War and the Communists are here to kidnap him abduct him and he really felt it and it just drove him mad it made him do things that were completely irrational and insane and she suffered terribly and she divorced him but she loved him so she remarried him what we call by Jews master gu shah say she remarried him and she took care of him and when he was on medication he was fine the problem is people who suffer from mental challenges because of the pain of it and it's completely not their fault always wanted often want to go off the medication and he ultimately was disciplined to stand the medication she got him back into Princeton because he was fired you just he was a responsive he's fired and he made it to the top and he did amazingly well and he received the Nobel Prize for his extraordinary contributions to economics mathematics economics and it was an incredible moment because a person who has suffered so much due to an illness that was completely not his fault mental illness is usually completely not the fault of the person it's a challenge that God has given him or her and it's a very very serious challenge and in many ways it's one of the most serious challenges because Pete don't know about it and it's not easily observable it's not like a physical illness that Rex wreaks havoc in the body doesn't wreak havoc in the body it wreaks havoc in the mind so it's very very painful it's very deep and our community still has a lot of stigma around it which is part of the healing that is necessary for all of us in this area as well because it's completely not the person's fault at all it's mama should challenge that God has given him for some mysterious reason among other fires that consumed people that we spoke about in our first interpretation and he wins the Nobel Prize and they wrote a book about his life that puts a book and there's a film very famous famous story a beautiful mind and he goes to Sweden to get the Nobel Prize and he gets the Nobel Prize and in the story the way they depicted he gives the speech after receiving the Nobel Prize and in the speech he asks that he says I have always wondered what is the ultimate equation of mathematics after all of the equations what is the we would call the psychical the Tumnus what is the ultimate summation of all mathematical equations and he says and today I know the answer where do they all come from and where do they all lead to and today I know the answer and the answer is love and I want to thank my wife he says because without her love and dedication I would not be here today I wouldn't even be alive today and the whole audience stands up and gives a standing ovation to his wife who was endured let's say purgatory for his sake and he gets the trophy and the kingdom rewards him with the Nobel Prize and they walk out of the hall and it's a moment that is very emotional because it's a triumph of the human spirit no question a person who was endured hell quite literally and figuratively the hell of schizophrenia mental illness and emerged emerged on some level triumphant and then of course call it Murphy's Law call it Mazel at that moment the schizophrenia strikes and as they're walking out of the hall in his imagination the communists have come from the Soviet Union and they're standing right there about the kidnapping and it's such a tragedy because after everything said and Dawn was him through right give him a moment of nacos know the devil is right there he never goes on vacation he never goes on vacation ever they say a Brian Brisco was resisting waking up for slickest when he was a kid so his father the bass lav says learn from the eight surah the eight Sahara's up early in the morning making sure you don't get up out of bed learn from the ate Sahara he says that Dino the eight hundred doesn't have agates ahora keeping him in bed it huh by eights autumn I ate so Hamish creates are not a bad not a bad response and he went back to sleep I can't learn form I ate Sahara it's hard as always they're always there always there to bring in the right thoughts at the right time and the devil is there and the Communists up there and his wife she knows her husband she sees that she lost him everything looks the same but she knows he drifted away she doesn't know where cuz she can't see his mind but she knows and she looks at her husband she says John is everything all right we know that nothing is a right absolutely nothing he's gone he is in a psychotics place he's not here he's not normal he's insane he's living in an alternate reality that is non-existent only in his mind it's tragic but it's real in his mind and his wife says John are you all right and he looks at her and he says I'm perfect I'm perfect what he does at that moment is he does not get rid of the psychotic thoughts but he knows enough about his life to choose and say these are thoughts that are destroying me they're here they're real they feel as real as anything else probably more real than the Nobel Prize and the country of Sweden but I'm going to choose to be in the world that I value which is the world of my marriage the world of my spouse and he says I'm perfect and it comes with deep sacrifice he was not perfect but in many ways he was because human perfection does not mean I do not have thoughts that undermine my sanity human perfection means that in every moment I can choose what to follow I'm driving a car and if you're a Jewish driver there is a backseat driver maybe your husband maybe your wife I don't know who does it in your family but there's somebody who says you don't know how to drive I wish I would drive I feel like God we got to do I feel like confessing I should call the heifer Kadisha with you by the wheel I mean I know what my wife says when I'm by the steering wheel and on how it works in your family your husbands may be a perfect drivers I'm also but only in my perspective right so you buy the steering wheel and you have this backseat drivers make a right make her take the light take the light it's not a real stop sign they really do supposed to remove it a few years ago it's here by mistake you're allowed to take a right on red it's mum see it's not Brooklyn take a ride take a ride there's no please Way says there's no I see a police car way says there's no police are you gonna believe your arse or waze waze knows much better to israeli jews they know much better of this police on this street are you right what do you do three options option number one you open the door you throw them out of the car only one problem it's your spouse that's one issue so and the problem with that is your shrink is gonna be on your head for the rest of your life that's problem number one with choice number one choice number two is you say okay here's the steering wheel the problem is if we give him the steering wheel you go to the Hudson River so then this choice number three choice number three is I am holding on to the steering wheel thank God I have the steering wheel and you're welcome to share all your thoughts about my driving take a right take a left you know a lot of men have a problem with ways because it's often a woman's voice giving them instruction so it's one issue for some people that's an issue of sneers they can't listen and for other people it's an issue of it's enough yes to listen to his wife all day and I was gonna listen which is why I told ways to have a man's voice because men get allergic with control they do borrow kasha okay and Arabic okay very good so you hear that Matt's if the point is not that there's no backseat driver well here's the deal in life the backseat driver is in yourself and he or she has a lot to say about everything I told you you don't know how to drive make a right make a left take a red take a stop go here go there drive to Miami drive to California you may not be able to shut down these thoughts what you could however do is hold on to that steering wheel and choose the road that you're going to embark and that makes all the difference so the Degel mark and ephraim teaches this profound idea that when moisture our Bain who first spoke to God the first thing Hashem revealed himself to him was he gave him a path in a Vedas Hashem a path that will prove critical in terms of you describe in terms of all emotional growth and that is never ever wait for tomorrow to enjoy the holiness of today forever decide or define holiness by some type of utopian euphoric cleansing process where suddenly you're free from every beastly challenge from every traumatic memory from every toxic thoughts from every negative emotion from every difficult feeling if I wait for that to experience the fire of life I have to do one of two things either wait forever or worse deny a major part of me I may have to amputate the backseat driver in my life and what that happens is I become a person who is not living in reality in my reality because I was forced to destroy a certain part of me in order to justify the quality of my life and whenever I'm forced ladies you understand what I'm saying because I was speaking to men I would have to talk about this for two hours till they understand what I'm saying it's as important stuff I think if I have to cut off a certain part of my brain or my heart in order to be able to give myself the the the image the experience of a life well-lived it means basically it's a horrible life lived because it's based on superficiality I am forced to live in a delusion I'm forced to live in self-deception and any life that forces me to live in self-deception basically means it's not a life because it's not in reality because if I was living with realness I wouldn't be able to tolerate this and that's why it's so painful when people sometimes feel that they have to deny themselves to themselves in order to be fully alive because look what's going on what's the alternative not to deny myself to myself you know what you're gonna find over there you're now many skeletons and demons so God tells Moses the first time you have to fear nothing you have to fear no part of yourself yes part of the bush is not consumed and yet I tell you you're standing on sacred soil you're standing on sacred soil because right now and right here you can suck the marrow out of life and extract the full meaning and the full potential and the full godliness of every single moment hamako him a shadow a middle of admah scale issue the soil upon which you stand right now is sacred you could take off your shoes embrace it respect it give it credence because right here right now I am here with you speaking to you you only have to make one choice to look this way or to turn around have a wonderful week what did you understand listen if you can get rid of these thoughts you try to get rid of it sometimes there are thoughts that I I'm not going to get rid of so I don't wait amputate it unnaturally is not going to work it's going to come back to haunt somebody so suppress it also there's no need to suppress so that's not suppressing if a person could so you can ignore sometimes you can ignore some sometimes you could yell but either way you can't deny that the person is speaking if you could persuade if you can educate them to be quiet that's awesome you're welcome if you can educate them to be quiet that's awesome okay maybe you'll take a few months so you can educate them of course I want to try to educate and come to a place of clarity of course you acknowledge that they're there we have to worship them enough to give them the steering wheel yeah yes yes you understand and very often we grow and we mature and and they could fall away they can these thoughts can fall away even be transformed they pop in they pop in this class is brought to you by the achieve Annette please help us continue the classes make even a small contribution at triple w dot they ueshiba net / donate