The Power of the Pause: Emeka Learning Center Jerusalem

It's a great honor to be here in the Amech Learning Center. I want to thank Rabbi Meyers for inviting me. Uh this is not my first time here. I was a few years ago. Also uh thank you Rabbi Dorfman. I know Rabbi Meyers for many years since uh my first visit here. And it's been remarkable to see the the contribution that the Amech Learning Center has made not only for this immediate neighborhood but really nationally and for Cli. So many of the alumni and graduates have gone on to really accomplish great things to make an impact on ami and all of the contributions of this center whether it's here as a community kal or what they do for the kayim in um the loan so the the soldiers learning programs uh learn soldier >> learn soldier >> learn soldier so So it's really uh a center of spiritual nuclear energy that reverberates really throughout the Jewish world. And my humble braha to Rabbi Meyers and to the Dorfman is that Hashem should give them that from this the light of shouldine forth literally to the whole world. You have to in just a few short moments if I could share with you an idea that's really based on a simple comment of Rashi in this week's para but we don't always take notice of you know when I was a bakar I grew up in a planet called New York flatbush and when I came back from studying in Israel one of the things I really got from learning in I had a particular rebi who would always emphasize the importance of making connections with rabim and Rabonim that you could learn from and could serve as mentors. So when I came back to America, I was thinking aside from the Raim and my own yeshiva, which gamm could I connect with? Many of them did not speak English, but I knew Raba Vikdar Miller spoke English. So I said, I'm going to give it a shot. I'm going to try to connect with a Rava Victor Miller. And I grew up about a 40-minute walk from his house. But I used to walk on Shabbosim from my house on in Flatbush. I don't know if you ever heard of Flatbush as a neighborhood in Brooklyn. uh from MN31st to Ocean Park about a 45m minute walk and for three years I had the great privilege of going to hear Dra Kim Kaim from Harav A Viker Miller. So he used to talk about the way his Rabim spoke in Slabka and he would say that the Mashk and Slabka was Rab Grazinski and Rab Gresinski would give a schmoo in the style of the altar of Slabka. The Sabbak is like the father of all the yes is yeshivas and his methodology was as follows. This is methodology of Gresinski. He would say three words and he would pause and then he would say another three words and he would pause again. And there is something very powerful about the pause. You know, we live in a generation sometimes the most popular speakers, they speak slow so fast and they say so much and they get out so much content and in 30 minutes they can really pack in so much information and you're like your head is spinning, your head is whizzing and by the time 30 minutes are over, wow, that was an amazing ship. But what did the person say? I'm not sure. I don't know. I couldn't even process it. There's a certain value and pause. Even public speakers know in a certain sense the best way to make an impact on a listener is to give them time to digest what's being said. The power of the pause actually was just the arts of Mosha Shapiro [snorts] and his style of giving shar was very similar. He would pause between points and he would say the pause is also part of the shear. The pause is also part of the share. You know, we live in a generation of AI, artificial intelligence. And I think the Almighty is sending us a very big message with the concept of artificial intelligence. You see, we don't learn Tory just for data. Data is not that meaningful for us data because data is just information you know in your mind, but it doesn't impact your heart. It's all artificial. I would say that one of the lessons of artificial intelligence is we have to ask ourselves, yes, we spend time learning Tory, but is it part of us? Is it coursing through our veins? Is it part of our reality or is it just in our is it just data in the head? And that's the power of the pause. Rashi starts off this week's para. Why is this para sealed shut? Lama says Rashi because from the time that Yakovino passed away, the eyes and the hearts of the Jewish people were sealed shut. And if they're sealed shut, they can't absorb what's taking place. They can't contemplate. They can't feel it. They can't live with it. And therefore the bondage of the Jewish people is symbolized by the lack of time to contemplate by the lack of the pause where life just becomes one thing after the other after the other after the other where you're going through it but you're not processing it. So there's an amazing observation [snorts] of this that when Hashem redeems the Jewish people and we and he splits the Yamsu and we sing Shira take a look at the safer Tory. You know I remember I once went on a trip. So on the trip we brought along with us a tiny safer Tory and the Bal couldn't determine when did Vay begin and when did Vayash end because it was such a tiny safer Tyra and there's no space between the end of Agash and the beginning of so the two parishes just sort of speak linked into each other they couldn't even they didn't even know where the parish begins but when Hashem redeemed the Jewish people and the Yamsuf was split we have oashir take a look at the sra you [snorts] have these big openings. There's time to process. There's time to absorb. And I think one of the most important [clears throat] dimensions of being in a kyel and preparing ourselves to share our learning with others is taking the time to make sure that we're really absorbing the Torah we're learning. We're absorbing the lessons that the Torah is becoming part of our life that it's coursing through our veins so when the day comes that we're going to share it with others we're not just going to say hey you take the USB I'm going to stick it into no we're giving over to them we're not giving over data we're giving over that has become a reality to us and this week's para is in gulos they didn't have that opportunity and in a few weeks in bashalak You see these wide open spaces and sometimes especially during these years we need to create wide open spaces to ask ourselves okay I'm learning this maka but is the maka going through me is it coursing through my veins is it changing me am I breathing it can I give it over to someone else in a meaningful way and thea under the renowned leadership Rabbi Meyers Rabbi Dorfman in you're in a wonderful place in a renowned place and Hashem Hashem should help all of you maximize your potential and be able to utilize your learning. Thank you very much. Was that