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The Medicine the World is Waiting For - Jeremy Gimpel: The Land of Israel Fellowship
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This highlight was taken from The Land of Israel Fellowship - Inviting the World to Learn Torah from Judea - A New Cycle. A New World, session #19, recorded on Sunday, 11 October 2020. To join the Land of Israel Fellowship go to: https://secured.israelgives.org/donate/Fellowship
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Transcript
Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
and
you know you know the path of the
prophets is the path of individuals
it's like one life you know we're not
trying to change social structures
or political realities it's like one
person at a time one
family at a time one family lifted up
one family inspired one family
encouraged
and then another and then another and
that's the way we're gonna redeem the
whole world
it's not gonna happen with religion or
politics
the kingdom is going to be built one
soul at a time
and so how are we going to bring world
peace isaiah the prophet has a beautiful
verse in chapter 32
it says the effect of righteousness will
be peace
and the result of righteousness
quietness
and security forever it's like if we're
able to actually open up people's hearts
to the torah
and they want to live just in
righteousness just
live a good life that's where peace lies
just each family in their own way making
the world a little bit better
you know the torah guides us to live a
certain way and it's a life that's
dedicated committed that's different
than the modern world now
no one wants to live dedicated today i
mean i think biblically we would call it
like covenantal living
it's like today secular man we've lost
the power of covenant
they don't want to get married they
don't want to have children
they don't want to buy a house they
don't want to build a career they jump
from job to job
they want flexibility it's in their
quest for happiness because that's their
goal
um they've lost the idea that love
relationships that anything of real
value is built
upon commitment and that's what the
torah represents
it's a committed way of life and if you
don't live committed the temptations and
the tragedies
of this world are just going to knock
you off your feet
and the torah is called a brit it's
called a covenant
and when we learn its ways the goal is
to learn how to live
in a dynamic living relationship
with god just like what ari said that's
the goal here
the goal here is not to like add more
rituals and to add more rules and
regulations
no it's a guide for us to walk in the
light in his light
that we're walking in the light with him
together in our lives
and transforms our lives from a life of
cosmic chaos and despair
and pointless suffering the torah is
a life guiding us toward a life of
harmony
and dialogue with the world around us a
dialogue
god is speaking to us all the time
spice cards intuitions the people around
us our
challenges our prayers that are answered
our prayers that are not answered
we are in a constant dialogue and when
we learn the torah
something else happens it's a dialogue
of a higher order because we're actually
getting the word of god in
today's context it's there's a higher
spiritual power to the parsha of the
week more than anything else
i mean imagine there's one word coming
down to every believer in the world at
the same time
all over the world it's a direct line to
us
if we just pick up the phone it's like
the power of that idea is
just like mind-blowing for centuries
upon
centuries and generations upon
generations every jew
and every place in the world until this
very day
gets the same message every week
helping them find themselves helping
them understand world events
nothing has changed except the
invitation is going out to everyone now
finally the world is awakening that the
bible is not
just a book it's a living guide and so
you want to tune into god's channel
you want to know what god's message is
to his people every week
and now you know there's a place to go
there's a message that's been delivered
to every one of his people
and his people are those that carry his
name they're the people that believe in
him and that walk in his light
that message is for every single
believer
and if you look at the foundational
stories of the torah so it's
like a bird's bird's-eye view it's not
about the clashes between nations
or between religions i mean there's a
little bit of a clash between religions
um there's idolaters but really the
foundational stories
are sibling rivalry
cain and abel abraham and isaac isaac
and ishmael
you know that's what they jacob and esau
and leia and rachel
and the brothers that sell joseph i mean
there's a key there
it's teaching us all the people that are
ultimately connected to
the torah all believers in god are
really brothers and sisters
and can we spend all of genesis trying
to kill each other
but the final vision is not only one of
world peace
but it's to create a fellowship a
brotherhood of man
under the fatherhood of god that is real
brothers and sisters in spirit
to see each other as brothers and
sisters to unconditionally
love to be a relentless united force
that
is dedicated to bringing light to
darkness and what's going to bring the
world together
isaiah chapter 2 the messianic vision
here's what it says
many peoples will go and say come let us
go to the mountain of hashem
to the temple of the god of jacob and he
will teach us of his ways
and we will walk in his paths for the
torah shall go forth from
zion and the word of god from jerusalem
what's going to bring all the nations
together how are we going to learn the
ways of god
how are we going to walk in his path how
do we walk in his light it's the torah
is going to go forth from zion
in the context of that prophecy it's not
going out to jews it's going out to the
nations it's going out to the world
the torah from zion is the medicine it's
the way it's the guidance for us
in this generation not the torah from
brooklyn
not the torah from los angeles the torah
from the land of israel
from the place where his word becomes
real
where his prophecy is becoming reality
and now it's time to take the torah to
the world
it's like god's spirit resides in the
ancient words of the torah
and we're given an ability to release
his spirit in every generation
it's like learning torah through the
judean tradition it's like we're
communing with the spirit of israel
throughout the centuries
in their life struggles and their
lessons they're here to inform us
to direct us to strengthen us to
encourage us
to give us meaning and to give us
courage you know to encourage
us as a means to give us to give us
courage
it's like when we learn torah our quest
isn't for like theoretical knowledge
it's like man being created in the
likeness of god it's like
that's what's the knowledge we're like
how should we live that's the question
and that's why teshuva literally means
repentance
it also means to return as we've
discussed but if you pick up the slide
on the screen right there
you'll also see that chuva means answer
that's why repentance is the word answer
and the world will almost always focus
on what we're going to be almost all of
our children's education is geared
towards employment
instead of what you want to be the torah
focuses
on who you want to be and you know you
might want to be a lawyer an electrician
how do you want to live who do you want
to be what kind of husband do you want
to be what kind of wife what kind of
father what kind of mother your
character
just bringing those questions to the
forefront of our minds already changes
us
that is the guidance that is the torah
and when we learn the torah the right
way we are doing chuva
our torah becomes our prayer and our
answer
our teshuva is our answer to the
ultimate questions
and the questions we ask ourselves guide
our lives the torah is training learning
torah is
training the mind and empowering the
spirit it's like the natural tendency of
our mind is to ask
stupid questions bad questions like why
does this always happen to me
it's like well you ask the question your
brain is going to answer it's like
because you're an idiot
it's like when we're doing teshuva when
we're answering we're asking the right
questions
asking the right questions is realigning
ourselves with
the best life that we can live and it's
it's not
to be or not to be is not the question
it's like how
how to be and how not to be that's the
question i once
heard abraham joshua shall say the torah
is a guide for how to live a life that
would deserve
and evoke an eternal amen
that's a life worth living that's the
questions we need to be asking ourselves
but it's more than that it's you know
you it's it's you know you learning
torah means that you're open to change
it's learning that the purpose is
transformation
the highest level of learning is what
you're learning becomes your prayer
and your learning draws you closer to
god closer to yourself refining yourself
amplifying the higher side in you you
know in life there's almost always two
roads to take there's the high road and
the low road
if you take the low road you make it
stronger that's neurologically a fact
you create a neural pathway every time
you stand at the crossroads and you
choose the low road
it's like darwin in your brain it
becomes stronger
and it becomes more of a habit and more
ingrained and that's a good lesson
do not practice what you do not want to
become
what you do builds itself into your
neural architecture
very really but here's the thing to flip
that around
to start choosing a higher road a more
noble road more giving
more loving more selfless you become
more great
more godly more light shines in your
life more light shines through you and
you begin to reflect that light to the
people around you
the torah teaches us act and as you
act you become practice into faith
that's the heart of the secret of na
seven ishmael when the children of
israel before receiving the torah
they said we will do and then we will
understand somehow they knew that
through doing
through the experience they would come
to incite king david said it
taste and see that the lord is good
that's the only way to taste it
to see it emunah is an experience we are
never going to taste the goodness of god
if we keep him boxed in a theory or
speculation
or religion or theology it's like the
way to faith
is the way of faith the way to god
is in the way of god as we practice in
faith we become stronger
more courageous more confident more at
peace
knowing that his plan is unfolding and
aligning our lives with his plan is the
greatest
strategy for living and the torah is the
blueprint for living it's the code
in my lifetime i don't think we've ever
needed a guide for living as much as we
do right now
i mean perhaps that's one of the reasons
the world is going through such chaos
now
to remind us how to live
to learn torah as our prayer is an
invitation to god
to intervene in our lives it's not only
about granting us our wishes giving us
our healing and helping our business
transactions
abraham joshua heschel has a beautiful
quote
he says like this to pray is to invite
god in to let his will prevail in our
lives
it is opening a window to him in our
will it is an effort to make him lord of
our soul
submitting our interests to his concern
we seek to be aligned with that
is ultimately right if we live a life
aligned with what is ultimately right
our lives will be blessed
the prophets of israel are the greatest
commentators on the torah
and they make sure we never miss the big
picture humans have an incredible
ability
to get lost in the details make so many
fences so many denominations so many
barriers
that we've barricaded god from entering
into our lives we've distanced ourselves
from each other
and we've missed the entire heart of the
matter and micah chapter 6 verse 8
says like this it has been told to you o
man
what is good and what does the lord
require only do justly love mercy
and walk humbly with god when we learn
the torah this coming year the entire
torah has to be viewed
in that light if somehow the torah is
making you
more exclusive more arrogant less loving
you're not doing it right
if you see this it's in the structure of
the torah itself
the law doesn't come into the picture
until the middle of the book of exodus
the founding fathers and mothers didn't
have a written law
they first established the spirit
through which the law should be lived
trying to make sure we would never keep
the letter of the law while missing the
spirit of the law
and in these days man we have got to
start living right
with practical guidance and with the
spirit of our life
and i feel like we don't have much
wiggle room anymore i mean the world is
getting crazy
and so we need to start living right
fast