The Medicine the World is Waiting For - Jeremy Gimpel: The Land of Israel Fellowship

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