The Journey of Return: Rav Judah Mischel on Hope for Jews & Nations: The Land of Israel Fellowship

Okay. Um, this is really a long time coming. It's a it's an honor for me, a joy. He Rabbi Judah Michelle is one of the greatest influences in my life. I have so much to thank him for personally. So much of the happiness of my life. I mean, it was largely because of him that Shaina and I came together. People don't know that, but it's true. And in a thousand lifetimes, I couldn't thank him enough for that. Um, and you wouldn't know it because of his humility, but whether it's in his capacity of the director of Camp Hask for people with intellectual or physical disabilities, a place of absolute light and love like you've never seen. Um, to uh youth mentorship, writings on the journey of Chuva, he really embodies he really embodies the uh what is deeply human and and processoriented and soul nourishing. And I don't want to go too much into his introduction. I want to just launch in. But we decided to have him on the fellowship today because of the unique moment that we are in right now. The days leading uh into Roshashana from Elul and Ravjuda has a special way of peeling back the layers and helping us see that Chuva isn't about perfection but it's about direction. It's he wrote the book called Bader. Tabitha please share the link in the chats and with everybody about how they can get this book bad. I buy it in bulk. And this year I was actually without the book because when you have things in bulk, you just give them all away. I gave away my last one, you know, but it's really about returning to who we are and reconnecting to the source of life with with joy and honesty and courage. So I can think of no one better to guide us in this way than Rav Judah. Shalom Rav Judah. Are you with us? >> Ah, how are you? Shalom to you. >> Hello. >> Good to have you here. Shalom. Welcome. Okay. So, >> and it is a it is an honor to be here with you. Wow. This is really this is really something. >> This is Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you for having >> Thank you. So, before we get into the the Torah of everything, I want to ask something a little bit personal to start with. You know, you've been such an uh influence in my life and in the life of so many. There's nobody in Judea that doesn't know RV Judah. Um just on a personal level, can you share a little bit about your own journey of chuva and what drew you to dedicate your life to teaching and guiding others largely in chuva? I mean, you teach about so much, but chuva is a little bit your thing. >> Yeah. Well, I I appreciate that question very very much. You know, uh there was once a wise there was once a wise scholar who said that the gangster life I didn't choose the gangster life, but the gangster life chose me. oftentime we're we're we don't deliberately choose what uh what we're interested in but the way our life unfolds kind of forms our interest. I'm a person who has a lot to work on and uh and I often fall short of uh my hopes for myself and my expectations for myself. I I so I became I guess a little bit of an expert in in in realizing how imperfect I am and realizing how much how much and then I guess as you get older and you start to tap into some of the more ancient sources of wisdom um in Torah uh recognize that really that's the way that God designed the world and that the sages tell us that before God created the world he created the opportunity to fix the world and then the world was necessarily created in an imperfect way so that there could be a partnership between human beings and the creator to to make and build and cultivate and sustain this world. And each of us are our own like microcosm of that. Um, it's only because of my own struggles and failings and and I guess frailties that I that I I I realized how much I I needed to tap into the world of Jewish inspiration and wisdom that really supports the thesis that we're not meant to be perfect. We're not there's no divine intention for us to do this uh right all the time, but just to encourage us to try to help tease out our best and uh and to depend on God and to depend on a fellowship. uh we're not meant to do this alone. So uh if if that question I I you know I don't know there was no moment that said studied Shuva, write a book about Shuva. There was just like an entire tapestry of an existence that all the threads of all the moments of of life kind of led to this realization of how badly we as individuals and we as nations and we as human beings and we as an earth and as a cosmic system need to restore our healthy balance and uh starting point with uh with Hashem. So I'm so grateful for the opportunity to be able to be here and and think about this together. >> Thank you. Well, uh, the name of your book is bad. You've almost branded it. There's already a bad hagada for Passover, which is awesome. But the idea of bad, and you've spoken about Chuba that it's not really, it's not an event, right? But it's a process. It's a it's a journey. Um, and that really uh that concept I'm constantly massaging that into my into my soul, you know? But for people out there that don't know what that means, for people who feel overwhelmed at this time of year, how can reframing chuva in this way as a as a journey, as a process really um open up hope and uh possibility? >> It's a it's a beautiful question. I'm thinking about it all day. The It's true that chuba is not a moment. It's not a specific moment in time but Roshashana right the recreation of the world the recreation of the cosmos of the reaffirmation of uh the relationship between God and mankind at the center of creation is a moment and that's taking place in another you know just week and another day. Um what we are doing to prepare for that and what happens in its wake um is really a process. There's no other way to describe it. You know, it it's this is not just like some type of formula, some type of um you know, some type of checklist that we can kind of go through and technically like we're going to get our car inspected and there's a 15 different things that have to happen in order for us to get our our license uh renewed. Um, and this is not just about um, you know, going through a to-do list, but it's about a a a re-evaluation about um about what our our purpose is in the world and what the purpose of the world is. Um, it's so much more broad than uh than what we've perhaps been accustomed to and been trained to to think about ourselves and about each other. there's a gravitational pull and that uh that gravitational pull is is is away from the expanse of the infinite. It's away from the universe. It's away from the infinite expanse of the soul and the potential of mankind. when we talk about uh you know often I know on your fellowship you address sweeping ideas and and prophecies and um and and and it's a platform for thinking big tshoua which means literally means return what are we looking to return to well we could focus on you know I used to weigh uh you know 160 and be able to bench 410 I want to return to that point when I was 19 years old and I played college football. I want to return to when it was back in the day when I was able to dance the night away or I was able to read a novel a week or I was I want to go back to to the time where uh the market was up and I had lots of extra money laying around so that I could not just give a tithe but I can give 20 and 30% of my income to those who need it more. There's that technical personal kind of narrow specific way of looking at return. But then there's what we're invited to see tshoua as which is as a return to the intention in creation and return to the to the infinite potential for uh for who we can be and what we can be. Um as opposed to the the gravitational pull downward to a narrow sense of self. You know there's a there's something redemptive in shouba. It's returning the world to God's plan. It's kind of trying to realign ourselves with Hashem's will and realign our our our actions and our choices, the way that we speak and the way that we conduct ourselves, the way that we the way that we eat and the way that we treat others, the way that we spend our free time and spend our money to kind of realign that with the baseline of the holy potential that uh we are created with um as individuals, as as couples, as families, as communities, and as and as a globe, as as a as a as as a human family. Um, so the more we're able to zoom out, the more light we're able to allow in and the less kind of desperate and and frantic and worried and and fearful we become of falling short of potential because we've just expanded the vessel. >> Wow. Thank you so much for that. What tell you fellowship? Is he incredible or what? It's so exciting for me to share him with you guys. Um, you know, the one of the incredible things I've told you of Judah over the past the time I when I have like a really rabbitical question, you're one of the main people that I call. What's so unique about our fellowship is that it's a uniqueness of our times. It's that there's really the nations of the world have come together and they're seeking Hashem. They're seeking their they have their eyes to Judea, to Jerusalem, to Erit Israel, to the Jewish people. And so there's new questions that are around how how you know how does the journey of chuva of returning apply to the nations of the world? Is it different than it applies to Israel? Could you share a little bit about that? >> A wonderful question. Uh chu chuva is a universal gift. God that the sages say the Jewish sages explained us in the Talmud that before God created the world he created the shuva. That means well before the Abrahamic covenant and well before the revelation at Sinai, well before the the first temple and the and the temple area era and the revelation of of prophecy, there was this notion that the world will be able to be restored to its baseline. We'll be able to hit that button and restore factory settings. There's a universal element to all of this. You know, there's there's there's of course there's a personal covenantal specific relationship between every individual and God. And then there's Hashem's way of uh and expectations for the Jewish nation. And there's Hashem's expectations for the nations of the world. And those all work in tandem. They're not in conflict. They're they're absolutely complimentary. Um there's an element of all of us returning to our obligations. All of us returning to our mitzvot to that which we are commanded to do. uh women in their way, men in their way, adults in their way, children in their way, um Jews and Gentiles and everyone in their own with their own template and with their own level of uh of obligation. That that's specific. But there is a there's an insistence of God saying live your potential reveal and uncover the potential of the world. The world is a beautiful place. Chuva means restoring. It means returning the world. I mean, the world was created and there was this paradise where things were in rhythm in in in balance and and the fall from grace and the original sin of Adam and Eve brought us out of that that that that experience or that environment of of Eden and of paradise and into a fallen state which since that moment we've been yearning to return to Gan Miked to that paradise that was now that exists inside of every single and every single woman and child man in in in the human race. Every single one of us and every religion in every continent has a little bit of that exile from paradise that we are yearning to restore. That's called chuva. It it begins from there. It's our yearning to go back to the way it was before we lost faith in ourselves and each other before we we turned our back on God's instructions. So when we every one of us in our own way and everyone in our own home in our own community when we when we recommmit ourselves to our obligations, to our responsibilities, to our to our covenant, uh to our community, to our values, when we recommmit ourselves to our chores at home or to our exercise regimen, when we commit ourselves to, you know, keeping our front yard clean and tidy and and when we commit ourselves to calling our parents and grandparents, and and tithing our income for those who are needy and being in service of others. So then we've we've done chuva. Then we're doing chuva. We are restoring God's plan to the world. And that's universal and that's for every single child and woman and man on planet earth. That's for every single one of us. Um it's different for Jews and it's different for Gentiles, different for adults and different for the elderly and different for the young. But it's universal and the algorithm, the back end is all the same. It's not just about restoring and returning. It's about uncovering that a light which is already there. It's present in our lives. The godliness and the baseline is is there and it's good. And the more we're able to to believe in that and the more we're able to activate that with our choices, with our speech, with our actions, then the the more that we are fulfilling the invitation or kind of like arriving and uh fulfilling the opportunity and the promise and the invitation of Chua. Wow, I love that idea of just bringing it all the way back to Ghana Eden, bringing it back to the Garden of Eden. It's like a cosmic restoration that all of us have a chance to participate in. Ravjuda, thank you so much. I want to ask you a question that makes it a little bit more personal, a little bit more like individuals. Someone feels far away, feels distant from Hashem, doubting how intimately he's involved or cares about their life. They just don't feel his closeness. They don't feel his presence like they used to for whatever reason. And in that way, Chuva is an attempt to return to the closeness to Hashem that they once felt because for whatever reason this year they just feel like they've slipped away. What would you say to people that feel distant that want to return and do chuva to draw closer to Hashem to feel his presence in their life? That's a wonderful question. It's a painful question, but it's it's the it's that that's it. That's the that that's we're all trying to figure out over here, right? I guess the question is where is God and and where am I? What is this distance that's perceived? Um if if God's presence fills the world and all worlds and our every breath is his spirit and the beating of our heart is is the is the data point is the proof of God's existence flowing through me and through you and through all of us and our conversations create presence and create God's awareness then where where is Hashem? If Hashem is if if I'm an expression and you're an expression of God and every one of us is in God's image and every time we open our mouth and breathe and through our nostrils we are re being recreated, right? As as God created Adam and Eve, then God is not distant. It's only matter of of our consciousness. It's a matter of our of our of our of our thoughts. God is present wherever we allow him in. So returning to a closeness with God is really just a question of of of consciousness. Um say that um that it's it's a feeling that uh that we all have. The eb and flow of closeness and distance and that sense of alienation is the reality of our yearning to kind of restore Ghana. Ghana paradise is not a physical place. You won't find it on Google maps. You won't you won't we won't you won't find it on ways. If you put it in, you know, no matter where you no matter how much you search, you can search. It's not it's not there. It's it's paradise exists within every single one of us. It exists in our hearts. It exists within our consciousness. Um I I I I I believe that that the that that a piece of advice that I heard from very wise a very wise teacher of mine once said was was uh was just to that the distance between you know between someone who was far and close as as far as east to west right meaning east to west now here I'm I'm facing eastward but now I'm facing westward like all it requires is just a simple turn. It could seem like it's on opposite ends of the world. I'm here and God's there. There's this there's this sense of like this chasm, but it's not. It's just a question of turning this way or turning that way. And now I'm far away, but now I'm close. It it it doesn't have to be complicated. It's an awareness and it's a belief in our ability to repair to fix um anything that we perceive as as as having blemished and uh and to recognize that God's love is something which is constant for us. Now in our different traditions there's different uh there's different emphasis on on on what the baseline of that relationship whether it's God's love and forgiveness and God's kindness or if there's a sense of of obligation and responsibility that we have um and God demanding of us both of those have in common uh a sense of need that God needs us and depends on us as his partners in creation as his representatives here on planet earth to be to be beacons of light and love to to fulfill the needs of of of of others is kind of being God's extension in the world. So if I feel far from Hashem uh often it helps to just stop ruminating. Someone once asked a sage, Rabbi, a great sage in Jerusalem, um, Rabbi Nassen Spiefin, one of the great um, one of the greatmies of of Torah study in Jerusalem, asked him like, "During these days of awe, there's so much to think about. There's there's hunger and there's poverty and there's terrorism and there's there's like there's there's there's tension in between religions and races. There's there's politics and there's a need for money. There's so much for us to be thinking about in our prayers. And then there's all the mistakes. There's lists and lists and lists of ways that I've fallen short that I want to repent for and change and better myself or like I I just, you know, we start to ruminate like I already said, you know, that that dreadful feeling like, "Oh my god, there's eight days till I have a new chance at a new start and put God back at the center of my life. How what should I be thinking about?" And Rabbi Rabbi Finkel just said, "Think about someone else. Think about others. Be there for another person. do for others. Just get out of our heads and and and like bring it out of our heads and out of our hearts and into our hands. Be actionoriented people. Be charitable. Be kind. Stand at the door and just open it for people. Smile at them and wish them good morning. You know, go help somebody with their packages out of the trunk of their car. Um wipe down somebody else's windshield. You know, pay it forward. Be charitable. Be kind. Be generous. And that gets us into the modality of of of thinking about something someone other than ourselves. It gets us out of our smallalness and out of our rumination and spinning wheels because when we when we're stuck in the mud and we spin wheels, we just get dirtier. But when we help lift up someone else, we lift ourselves as well. So when we're thinking about chuva, restore someone else to the center of of the universe, to the center of God's universe, and that in a way will also elevate us and bring us out of our smallalness. That's one way to declare God as king by uh by elevating the the sons and daughters of the king which is every human being. >> Well, okay. So, we're running a little bit short on time, but we're going to go over because we have you right now and that's not an opportunity that we can squander. So, I'm going to try to make my question quick to give you as much time to answer it, but you know this about me. Our fellowship people know about this. I'm obsessively consumed with gula, with redemption. I'm constantly, you know, prophesizing. It's about to be this is about to happen. It's going to happen and it doesn't and I'm wrong. But then I'm I'm not not going to fall into it again and again. But but the fact is we all can sense I think that we are on the cusp of redemption. We're within redemption right now. These are times of redemption. Things are changing. We're finally opening our eyes to the fact that really Rosh Shana is about all of humanity. How do you think that universality should inspire us as Jews in our mission? Is there something that AmI is needs to do chuva for let's say regarding our relationship with the world on a national level? >> Absolutely. Absolutely. And and this is why I I I am so grateful to be a part of your fellowship today. Um you Ari and Shaina and Tahila and Jeremy and on on literally are creating a beacon of light on your hill in Judea and uh and are sharing this message with the world. the Jewish nation needs to do tshoua for the last 2,000 years of being in an exilic narrow reactionary uh shadow of ourselves. We've begun that process by returning to the land of Israel, restoring Jewish presence and God's presence in the land of Israel. But there's so much more that we need to do to turn it outward. We have a plan for humanity. We have a plan for the world. Prophecy that addresses all of mankind. We've been so focused on survival in such a reactionary way. What's called the in in Aramaic and in in the language of the Talmud and in that ancient language the the four cubits of Jewish law only specifically every individual focused on their own personal practice at the expense of thinking about the big picture. The words of Isaiah and Zakaria and and and and of of Mikah. We we've traded that in for a very narrow and specific particular personal experience of rabbitic Judaism. Now that's what kept us going for so long. But now that we have been restored to our land, sovereignty is the first step. Making aliyah, ascending to the land of Israel is the first step. But now we have to continue to make aliyah and to amplify the light from Zion will will come forth Torah. It's not just for the institutions and for the for the for the homes and the communities that that exist within the Jewish tradition. It's a light which belongs to the entire world. Chuva means uncovering that light which is already there and allowing that light to shine forth and guide all of humanity in a respectful and humble way because that's God's intention for the world. A fellowship like this is is is is is is itself an act of tshoua preparing us for the day which God created the world and said I want all of humanity to sing together to to to be a chorus to sing my praise together. If that hasn't happened it's because of 2,000 years of suspicion and challenge and pain and suffering and trauma which takes a lot of turns on a very long truck to kind of turn the corner. But with you and everyone here who was gathered here today to together here today on the hea as we call it in Israel on you know turning that that big wheel together that big wheel turning down here and and and in the upper worlds we are really preparing ourselves each other and the all of humanity for redemption which just means opening ourselves up to the being a part of the big picture but also not just being a part but being participants by by being those who are leading um and that and that itself is an act of tou and I'm So grateful that you invited me here today to to enjoy to bask in the light that uh you've created and to share a little bit together. Thank you, >> RJ. I have one last question. Is that okay? >> This is the last one. >> I'm here. I'm Guys, I'm I'm I'm I'm here. I'm not going anywhere. I got no great I just have we just have one more question. >> It's not getting better after this. After we get off this call, like my day is not getting better. I mean, it's gonna have dinner with my family, which is going to be wonderful, but I'm not You know, this is this is awesome. >> This is the highlight. >> No, this is amazing. All right. So, I wanted to talk to you now. This is a deep question. It's the last one. So, it counts. You know, we talk about Rosha Sha being judgment day. So, in that spirit, um if you had to come to terms that all of the Torah that you've taught, all of your teachings, all of your books, all of your posts, everything would be deleted. But you had one Torah. You had one idea. You had one teaching that you would leave this world. What would the one Torah idea you would want to leave the world be? >> No pressure. >> I mean, not no pressure at all. There is a uh there's a wonderful statement, the most empowering statement by King Solomon, the wisest of all men, um that God created us with a with purity of heart. Our starting point, our baseline is uh purity of heart that God created us with a the pure heart. I I I feel like everything I think about and write about and speak to my family about and speak to friends about and everything I'm reading is all kind of working toward and directing me toward believing in that more and living with that reality more to know that I've got it in me and we have it in us. There's not there's nowhere that we have to go and there's no nothing that we have to achieve and acquire and kind of adapt and tailor make to us that we don't already have. All of those treasures the infinite treasures of the divine all that potential the divine breath the potential to be great to accomplish to to be resilient to be fair to be just to be generous lived were created with with that purity of heart with that good intention. Chuva means uncovering that. It means digging. Sometimes we have to go through lots of layers and peel away lots of layers and go through lots of debris and lots of rubble and lots of pain or lots of mistakes or lots of confusion and and distraction that we've kind of, you know, or lots of layers that we've kind of layered on to protect ourselves and defend ourselves perhaps because we feel we're unworthy perhaps because we feel that we are not going to be able to live up to this great challenge and promise that God has empowered us with. But uh There is a there's a there's a spirit which is right, which is true, which is just, which is fair, which is honest and real and authentic that will be renewed within me. That's a promise from the prophet. That's that that's a that's a divine promise. Now, all that's required of us is to do the work. We have the tools. We just have to follow the instructions and kind of open it up within us. So, I feel like if there's one message in in Jewish wisdom and consciousness in Torah that I pray that I and and the people that I love and all the good people of the world are able to live with and manifest, it's that we are good and that we have within us the divine promise and potential to be partners with Hashem in creating the most beautiful world. a world where everyone belongs and everyone is respected and where there's where there's where there's goodness, where there's where there's the amplification of righteousness and positivity and goodness. We have to fight evil along the way. We have to we have to drive away darkness with light, but to believe in that light and to believe that that that ultimately we've we've brought children into the world and that we're passing on values uh to a gener to the next generation to fulfill this promise and that we're worthy and deserving of it. >> Amen. from Judah. Thank you so so much. >> Thank you so much. >> So powerful. I really recommend everybody please please buy his book. >> Um the link is there. We'll send it out in the email also. Um there's a reason I buy it in bulk because it's wonderful. >> Can I just you mind if I just share a blessing of a blessing here from the land of Israel. >> I want to just bless bless all of us together for a happy and healthy sweet new year. It should be happy healthy and good and redemptive. It should be a year of redemption and it should be sweet. We should taste the we've we've had the sting and may we taste the sweetness of the redemption this year alto together. >> Amen. >> Amen. Amen. You know, it just reminds me of Judah saying, you know, we always wish for a a good and a sweet year. Why do we say good and sweet? Because everything is good. We know everything is good, but not everything is sweet. And so that's the blessing we have for each other that it should be good and sweet. It should be revealed goodness. >> Revealed sweetness. Yes. Thank you, Revja. Thank you so much. [Music]