The Hidden Code for Living a Guided Life - Jeremy Gimpel: The Land of Israel Fellowship

foreign thank you um I so you know she mentioned Tyrone which is Judea the tomb of Joseph which is Samaria and the Temple Mount which is in Jerusalem those are the three places that the Bible records that we purchase that's ours it's like no one could say that that's not ours and those are exactly the places that are on the chopping block exactly the places that the world wants to kick us out of and what do we do with that and so I wanted to dedicate the rest of this Fellowship to two ideas one is this whole fight for the land of Israel everything is about the land of Israel but then I wanted to also play off of what tahila was saying like if we feel connected Guided by God then we would feel more comfortable to say like we were sent here by God and that would be true in everything in our life like why are we married I didn't choose to heal I feel like Hashem chose to heal up for me at my children I didn't choose my children Hashem chose my children for me if everything in our life that we really want to infuse with meaning and value we kind of bring a god-consciousness to it everything in our life kind of like Elevate it's it it transcends the regular conversation how do we then live a guided life where we feel comfortable living that way and in this week's Torah portion it actually gives us the code the code of how to live a guided life in and that is the story of how Isaac finds his wife it's the only story in the Torah that is told Twice first it happens and then the servant of Abraham retells the story to Rebecca's father saying exactly what had just happened it's like the whole story is like so long because it's actually told twice if a story in the Torah is being told twice pay attention because in that story is actually the key and who is it it's not a prophet it's not Abraham it's Abraham's servant it's true for him it's true for all of us that's why the story is given over as an unassuming person who's not a spiritual giant he's just the servant of Abraham and he though is living a guided life in the map that the Torah gives us is teaching us how we are meant to live a guided life and then if we start living in that rhythm in that frequency then the obviously the posture that we'll kind of stand toward the world toward ourselves toward our wives towards our children toward everyone toward the Nations will be a god-guided life and so if you have your fellowship journals I would absolutely encourage you to write these points down because it's literally steps that are taken the first step is commitment and we see that in Genesis chapter 24 verse 2 how does the servant of avraham start off his journey he starts off with a vow please put your hand under my thigh and make you swear by the Lord the god of Heaven and the god of Earth that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I dwell but you shall go to my country and to my family and take a wife for my son Isaac okay now words have lost a lot of their power in modern secular worlds but in ancient days a vowel I mean the word testament actually comes tahila taught me this from the word testicles from what's Happening Here they're making a testimony they are making a covenant they're making a vow I am committed to doing this no matter what and when you make a commitment when you make a vow and your word creates your reality but you stick by your commitment the reality changes around you meaning usually you're kind of living your life and then reality changes you because something hits you and you've got to go off course but if you live by your vow and you live by your commitment instead of reality changing you you are committed and then reality changes for you and that's a whole other story I remember we were in the United States in my children this is years ago my children saw I don't know some really horrific candy it wasn't like a normal chocolate it was like sour patch kids or something like that with like chemicals and sugar and like the worst like and then it's like guaranteed you're gonna get like holes in your teeth to Sugar Rush to addiction chemicals and they're like oh can we have sour patches can we have Sour Patch Kids and we're like no no but we're waiting in line in some store oh come on can we have sour patches can we please have sour patches and I'm like no you cannot have Sour Patches no you cannot have sound come on well please please even smelled looking give us Sour Patch Kids please give us Sour Patch Kids I'm like no no you cannot have Sour Patch Kids and I'm like I'm about to flip a lid and then I'm like oh children it's not kosher okay Abba sorry end of conversation and I remember one of the non-jewish women next to me was like wow I need to learn that trick I remember that being really funny but she's like watching me talk to my children and that's what did it I'd say it's not Kosher well that's the end of the conversation not Kosher if it's sour not it's not healthy it's a chemical that's sugar I'm trying to give all the arguments it's not Kosher done the reality is going to change now because my children are committed to eating kosher and that's just like a cute story but that's really powerful if you live firstly committed which is no one wants to commit to their job no one wants to commit to their partner no one is actually living by commitment but the commitment is what actually Powers your life so the first step of living a god-powered life is the commitment to live a guided life then the second part is to ask so you want something you're in a challenging spot there's something that you need ask for it and that's what the servant of Abraham did look at Genesis chapter 24 verses 12 to 14. he asks he opens up his heart he says O Lord God of my master Abraham please give me success this day and show kindness to my master Abraham behold here I stand by The Well of water and the daughters of the men of the city are coming out to draw water now may it happen that the young woman whom I say please let down your picture that I may drink and she says drink and I will also give your camels a drink let her be the one you have appointed for your servant Isaac and by this I will know that you have shown kindness to my master now it's not just to ask but the language there is now may it happen in Hebrews let it just happen I'm open God I don't know how it's going to happen I don't know when it's gonna happen but I'm I'm asking and I'm as I'm asking I'm opening myself up to also receiving meaning there's a difference between going outside and complaining to God complaining to God is like I want this and this is so hard and this is so bad you're closed up when you're complaining and I'm not saying you shouldn't pour your heart out before God it's okay but the idea here is to ask in an openness not in a closed complaining it's a difference Hashem may it happen may it happen before me and then look at what happens if you're open to it look at what happens it's interesting because in this Parsha both happen he's not even yet done praying and he's answered that happens to the servant of Abraham and also Isaac is out in the fields he's not even done praying and his wife has already come to him and then what does it say in Genesis chapter 24 verse 15. and it happened before he had finished speaking that behold Rebecca who was born to betuel son of milkah the wife of nahur avraham's brother came out with a picture on her shoulder and it did exactly what he asked for said the God I'm looking for a sign show me I'm open to it I want to live by that and he didn't even finish speaking and it was already manifesting God had already started to answer his prayers before he even opened his mouth and the same thing happens with Isaac Isaac is out talking to God in the fields and as he's out there his wife is already coming and of course there he's praying please God send me a good wife Send Me Someone righteous send me someone that I can build the nation of Israel with and then the next stage so commitment ask be open and the last one the second to last one be amazed look at what happens this is Genesis chapter 24 verse 21 1 and the man stunned or Amazed by her remains silent to know if the Lord had made his journey prosperous or not in Hebrew the word is mishita and it's it's such a beautiful word it means like he's stunned he's like deer in a headlights he's like oh I just I'm amazed it's like a mixture between stunned amazed stopping just oh my goodness that part of living is so important if you are not living in amazement if you're just taking things for granted taking things for granted is closing up living in amazement in awe is being open open to Communication open to blessing being amazed look what happens and you see the same message as Isaac is out in the field praying Rebecca comes and that's literally my favorite part in the Torah I think it's so funny Rebecca is coming and she's on a camel and she just sees Isaac and is so madly in love taken stunned amazed she falls off her camel if that's what the Torah says she is so stunned and amazed and taken at this the sight of Isaac that the Torah like goes out of its way to make it kind of a joke she falls off her camel camels are a tall animal it's like falling off a horse it's like falling off a horse on top of a horse she's just like so blown away literally Blown Away falls off her camel that's actually a way of living and if you lived where everything is a cliche everything is cynical everything has been said everything has been done everything is just inroad everything is a habit then that doesn't allow you that feeling of warming that opens your life that opens you up that's why in Jewish prayer the amida starts off first with Chevron it first starts off with praise that praise is not to praise God God doesn't need our praise it's allowing us to experience that wow God you are so big you are so good you are so great you are so beyond that feeling is the praise that we're expressing isn't to give God anything he doesn't need that it's for us to live in amazement it's for us to live in awe it's for us to live in Wonder at the mystery of it all and when we live in that we're then open open to receive Communication open to receive blessings our eyes are open to see that we are being guided and then the last step the last code for living a guided life is Genesis chapter 24 verse 26. then the man bowed down his head and worshiped the Lord grenitude thank you thank you those two emotions feeling amazed in awe and in wonder that's the beginning of a relationship with God and the second one that sustains our relationship is gratitude those five Keys first commitment but really be committed commit ask at not complain ass ask and open to receive in amazement and be grateful those five keys are given as marks in this story as Abraham leaves us the man with no religion the man that had no law the man that just lived in a connection in prayer with God this last story before Abraham dies is giving us the code of how to walk in Abraham's ways to live in a dynamic relationship with God and so all of that then culminates ultimately in the purchase in the land of Israel and what is that about why is all of this all of this all of the Torah is Revolt around the story of the land of Israel is like the First Command given to Abraham before anything is go to the land that I will show you it's like to make Aliyah to be connected to the land of Israel is a prerequisite for all of Judaism it's like a prerequisite for all of the Torah Hashem in Genesis chapter 12 verse 7. look at what it says Hashem appeared to avrahman said to your descendants I will give this land he built it there an altar to the Lord who appeared to him and Rashi points out outside of the land Abraham was just able to hear or Intuit what God wanted inside the land God was able to appear to him and Hashem appeared to avraham and then everyone was like I'm building an altar here the level and connection that we experience when we're inside the land of Israel when we're plugged to what's happening in the land of Israel is an entire different level of interaction and then look at what happens avraham continues Genesis chapter 15 The Last Covenant the last gift the last statement to avram is this and God said to him avraham I am the Lord who brought you out of UR castim to give you this land to inherit I didn't give it to you to be a beautiful thing to make a Torah to make a religion I gave it to you for you to inherit the land that's what this is all about just so you know but there's something about that that's really remarkable that the base Covenant with God is the land the promise is the land and then look at what happens centuries later with Moses in chapter 3 in the book of Exodus verses 7 and 18. God says to Moses at the burning bush for I have known its suffering I shall descend to rescue it from the hand of Egypt and to bring it up from that land to a good and spacious land to a land flowing with milk and honey why is God taking the Israelites out of Egypt not to give them the Torah he's taking them out of that land to bring them to the land of Israel to bring them to the land flowing with milk and honey and the whole Torah is like the story of Abraham going to the land The Story of Us leaving the land our story walking through the desert back to the land It's All Surrounded through the land of Israel and then you can see it also played out in the story of rivka what happens there avram's like no no no don't take a wife from these Canaanite women uh-uh I want you to go back to the land of my father and take a woman there now most commentators say listen to Canaanites they were like Isis on heroin Isis on steroids they were like the most evil they were like horrible horrible horrible people of course you're not going to take a wife from the Isis like child sacrificing horrible people that were the Canaanites of old go back to my father's house there you'll find some good upright people and that's how most of the commentators put it but I think something deeper is Happening Here Rebecca is going to be a matriarch in the land of Israel Abraham and sorrow what did they have to do they had to listen to God they had to live a guided life and where did that guided life lead them it led them to the land of Israel and here in this incredible story of a vow an opening a sign here Rebecca is now given a choice look what's happening spice carts are falling in before your eyes God is literally showing you the way guiding you but you have a choice now you have the choice that avraham and Sarah had what is the choice the choice is will you make aliyata the land of Israel and Rebecca herself had to feel that left liquor had to walk that lachlava and to actually go out into the unknown and walk to the land of Israel all of the stories of the Torah are all surrounded about the land of Israel why and we also know that the land of Israel is a challenging Place actually the sages of Israel say that the land of Israel is only acquired through hardships and suffering it's like Abraham was promised to land why did you need to buy it and he had to buy it like an outrageous price to the point where teal is like maybe I ever made a mistake there but the sages of Israel say that was actually a test and although they say that was a test God promised him to land and AIDS end up having to even buy it at an outrageous price is God not fulfilling his promise and Abraham said no this is all a part of the process the land of Israel is a challenging land because every challenge is set for us to overcome that is a part of living a guided life the problems in our life are not happening to us the problems in our life are happening for us every challenge that we have is exactly tailored for us the prophets in sages promise that every every individual has a challenge that you have the ability you have the power to overcome it God will not set you up on a test that you cannot pass and when you overcome them you become more blessed Abraham after all of his tests after Sarah finally passes after he purchases the land then it says and Abraham was blessed with everything and so what is all of this about it's about living a committed life to the Torah and when you commit to living a committed life a guided life the land of Israel is the arena where the spiritual workout will force us to become who we need to become and if you're outside the land of Israel but your heart is in the land of Israel believe me your heart being in the land of Israel is doing a particular workout for you that you need to connect other people to the land of Israel you need to stand up for Israel when other people are defaming the land of Israel every person the land of Israel is the light the land of Israel is the direction that we all need to be walking and each one have our own path and each one have our own destiny but the theater of redemption God's plan for all of humanity is that by living that committed life connected to the land of Israel that life that life is going to bring us to a higher place to a better place to a more truthful place will become more honest we'll have more Integrity will become more courageous we'll become more grateful we'll become more humble we'll become more loving stronger and better all along the way we'll be guided we just need to open our eyes to see it to live committed to ask to be open to receive to live in amazement in all and to be grateful and you'll see the guidance will guide us all of us all the way to yerushalayim all the way to the temple that will be built and that's the place where all of humanity is being called to and every believer has a pulling in a yearning and that pulling and yearning is going to guide them toward their destiny so ask God for guidance ask God for blessing be open to receiving it live in Wonder in amazement and don't forget our patriarch's name is laughter it's that's what comes after Abraham you have to remember to live and be happy and enjoy this ride never take anything for granted every day is a gift every day is a blessing we didn't earn this life we were given this life enjoy it Bless the people around you hug them love them throw surprise birthdays for them celebrate every year that you have with your loved ones together and be grateful for another week