The Role of the Jew: The Link Between Creator and Creation - By Rabbi YY Jacobson

[Music] Oh [Applause] [Music] ah [Music] yeah [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Hey [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so there's a story that one day the outer ever the baha'u'llah called in a younger man a young man probably wasn't that young but then the story the way they're ever repeated it and related at one set of a brain game he called them a younger man a young man and the alter rebbe said I want to do I want to go in with you into business I want to make a deal with you I want to strike a deal with you mark Onaga chefs the person was obviously quite astounded to have such a business partners out there ever but then he explained to him what the deal was you see you have a mitzvah and I have a mitzvah there's a mitzvah I have it says entire and hamish we say it every day more than once machine on Tom liver now you have to teach your child your children Taylor it's a mitzvah sessom in hot air on every single father even in America 2013 to actually teach teach their child Taylor I have a son the middle ear ever had three sons he was referring to the child at the time the mentally rabba rabbi Dave Baer who later would be the second cavada ever I have an obligation to teach them title that's mine insulin you also have a mitzvah there's a pasta commercial fish button che Ragusa y nos Alegre a husband is obligated been a parent to support his wife and the support his children and that also even in America 2030 as I tell sometimes the younger white that I found in Kabbalah a grade schooler for par NASA and that is to get a job it's one of the great great mystical ideas but this is an obligation that a father a husband is obligated to support his family so you have a mitzvah to support the family I have a mitzvah to teach my child Tyler long as the Abidin a mitzvah for a mitzvah let's exchange mitzvahs you do mime in Smith for me and I will do your Mitzvah feel now that rabbit could have said it in very simple words why don't you teach my child and I'll pay you but that's how we would say it now Trevor gave it the context he gave just the way he presented it they gave it the depth there's two mitzvahs you'll do my mitzvah and I will do you miss what the rabbit said the story he said vice noise as the younger man is given a clue again you know sometimes you deal with somebody who may be very knowledgeable a business kinkle gay which means how do I translate it not clever he's not he doesn't get it that's all we say it but this person has given a clue get he understood D and he understood what an opportunity means so he doesn't say yes he tells dr. ever it's an unfair deal why is it an unfair deal because for you to do my mitzvah is very simple it's about money it's about supporting my wife and children you give me the money to support them it's a simple mitzvah but for me to do your mitzvah is a complicated feet you want me to educate your child that would not listen be some of Hamelin designer kids you have to know how to educate a child this you have to teach me so the outer ever responded as usual after at Vegas after a meditation and he would always speak with a melody with a special even regular conversation by the altar ever was done very often with a Mel with a and he said that the Haskalah sahi know the beginning of the way we educate a child is out of base you begin with a low base within a love base itself you begin with what with Aleph the letter Aleph M so the beginning of all Jewish education of all terror education is Aleph versus an hour what is an hour and now I'll say it over verbatim as they're ever senator affa brainian in the of the algebra i think it was you talking to Zion I believed the tempt of schlopp 1956 versus an Aleph up in telephone even up in telephone huntin doses an Aleph our youthful Raven are youthful Newton account for nearest shamayim bands are doses are now F another fish ain't that there is a little yield on the top a little youth on the bottom and in between them there is a line that connects the higher youth to the lower youth and that's the foundation of what educating a child is to teach a child there is a youth from above that is Hashem the source to create there is a youth below that's a heel that's this child this child is our youth below and then there is his mission in life to always have the calf the line of year at remind the relationship with Hashem the war of our sin the love of our show the commitment Asha that connects the two parenthetically I once played the recording of this story to my children in the house one night if anybody ever heard the recording their ever cries very very intensively when he tells over the story and he repeats without their ever set so I asked my children why do you think the Rebbe is crying why what is so melancholy or sad about the story without forever is explaining what education is and what an amethyst so different ones of them came up with different explanation but one of them who's named after the altar ever said that the reason there ever was crying is the fact that you need a calf to connect the to use the fact that there is a need to link the two that is what's so sad so I told him that you remind me of a story that the altar ever was once traveling and he came to a certain city and parents were bringing their children for a blessing and a mother a widow lifted up two children to the wagon and asked LT reputable estin one was a nine year old boy his name was his relic he comes up to the wagon he tells us that trip I have a question now here's a question of a nine year old boy I'll saving you dish once we say SH - relish emilich a neurochemical v chemins ugh on behalf disassemble acacia once you say smiley so are similar que tomar semi code which means what Hashem is one which really means the only reality is a sham how can you save our half the use of love who is the you that was who is the you that loves we was you if the whole reality truthfully is only Hashem and everything is in that same whatever half start with you so the our ever says immediately valid mid-teens Achmed Bora ashamed hypothesis I love love cuz in the middle you interrupted Mubarak say now of course if you learned Arthur nebe casitas you know that smile sherrilyn kenyon are samehada's call and you'll all learn this one day you de la the higher unity bar of shame fight Malthus le Lombard is what you who the Tata the Lord in the higher level of unity there's no you there's Nova in the lower level of unity this I who love Hashem once you safe are the same therefore you could save her after which is our doctor never explains what the Gemara says himself in the mission and Demario sake that I'm serious I know you Kurdish penis ma the people of us are used to sandwich smile so one of the explanations in tomorrow is what they eliminated borrow a shame quite Mongoose lol evolved from smart I went to vow after what's the big deal they wanted you who the hell are they didn't want the lower level of unity so you who day in LA he's crying why I have to connect it to why you have to connect the higher you'd and the lower you'd because really on a higher level you don't have to connect them they're absolutely one the fact that you have to connect them this is because there's some type of separation that has to be undone so therefore today as fathers are here with children gathered for Abdallah Tavis the objective is the beginning and the end in the middle is the Aleph now it's 200 years since the passing of a forever and I thought wouldn't it be appropriate to define what we learned over these 200 years but how can one define in 20 minutes what has been taught over 200 years so I quote from you a fabulous paragraph this is a 1962 totient of Bayes for the first time the Tanya was published in English never before has it been published in English dr. Denison Mandel a blessed memory wrote the translation and it was published in 62 who wrote the preface to the book to this time in English the rapper prefaced by the Lubavitcher ever signed logged Boromir 572 to 1962 I want to read to you the first pirate because in one paragraph who better then the Rebbe of cobot the successor of the altar Abba can define what was thought in the past 200 years now I have to caution you every word here contains literally a universe you'll hear every sentence has probably hundreds of discourses and my marrin that elucidated some of the words may be a little complicated to you but I'm going to explain it I quoted at but now the first paragraph of his preface to the English Townley considers in general and it's about trusted us in particular is an all-embracing world outlook and way of life which sees the jews central purpose as the unifying link between creator and creation the jew is a creature of heaven and of earth of a heavenly divine soul which is truly a part of godliness clothed in an earthly vessel constituted of a physical body and animal soul whose purpose is to realize that transcendence see and the unity of his nature and of the world in which he lives within the absolute unity of god so who is the customers cobot sees the Jew as the central purpose essential purpose he is the link the unifying link between creator and creation and the reason it can be that link is because he himself has a soul which is heavenly and he's an earth which is earthly and his purpose is to show the ultimate unity of it all and the link of it all I want to try to illustrate a little bit of this and to try to make it palpable and practical for all of us young people sitting in this room with a very bright and promising future ahead of you here in the club and miss IFTA and a God willing a long and prosperous and happy life ahead of you [Music] I'm going to illustrate it with a story and then with an illustration of two sports the first idea a Jew is a creature of heaven and earth of a heavenly divine soul which is truly a part of godliness what does this mean so they tell the story about a king who went hunting like all the old stories every king went hunting and he's in a forest and of course he's dressed in simple clothes because he wants to have a good time he wants to be a sport and he's having the time of his life but it starts raining and the rain turns into a storm and the storm turns into hail and ice and snow he was not hunting in Miami Beach and it gets dark before the time and he finds himself lost in this huge forest or jungle and before he knows it he hears Hawk feeding Shia gimlet RF lavaca schnell Aslam the onion the undomesticated beasts are searching for their prey and he realizes that sooner or later he's going to end up as a dinner meal in the abdomen of one of the less refined beats to the jungle it's not a very cool way for a monarch to end his life desperately starts searching for refuge and of course as in all the stories he finds the last moment a hut and the Hut has a little Lantern and he knocks down the door in the hut then a peasant opens up the door and takes him in and changes his clothes which are drenched and gives him a hot bowl of soup and a hot cup of water and he gives him some straw to lie on and he sleeps through the night and he recovers in the morning and before he leaves he tells the peasant you know I am the king of this country and I will reward you handsomely and the peasant says you probably have lost your mind in the process of your fear but God willing you'll go home you'll see a doctor and you will come back to yourself I don't think you're exactly the king okay he says that by shows him the path he gets to the palace a few days later indeed he is summoned to the royal palace he goes into the king and he sees he may who's that this is the guy this is this is his majesty and the man tells them you know I really want to reward you for saving my life but what am I going to give you gold silver gems money for me this is meaningless I'll give that to you as well but that's not a real gift because I have so much of it I want to give you a gift that will entail a sacrifice so therefore I'm going to give you my most cherished item in the world I have a Nightingale Nightingale is a lovely bird that produces and sings beautiful songs not as nice as the labor rich twins but the nightingale seems beautiful beautiful melodies and whenever I'm in a bad mood I listen to the nightingales harmony and voice and my spirit is uplifted I love my nightingale and I'm going to give you my nightingale because that is a real sacrifice for me in tribute to you for saving my life and the simple peasant thanks the king and he takes the nightingale when he goes home two years later the king is hunting again in the same place he sees the hut and he remembers the story he knocks on the door the peasant comes to the door your majesty he tell me how is my nightingale I crave to hear a concerto of my nightingale I want to hear this symphonies I want to hear its ballets come take me yeah let me hear my nightingale and the man says your majesty what are you talking about what nightingale he says don't you remember that lovely bird I've given you two years ago which produces it midst the most splendid music in the world he says I don't recall remind me since that day when you saved my life and I called you to the palace and I gave you the bird I want to hear it he says ah Your Majesty I'll tell you exactly what happened I took the board bird home that night and I cooked it and I try eating it but the meat was so tough it's not really made to be eaten but you know what I'm a good chef so I sit ate it with onions and potatoes and I spiced it up with different vegetables and it turned out into a gourmet dinner ha ha yeah you would be proud of the culinary skills of your servant of course of course the anecdote tells the story about a nightingale which for one person is a piece of meat made to be cooked and for another person could produce the most beautiful music in the world essentially I think this is a metaphor for the first idea major idea of the alter rebbe and Tanya that you have a soul and the soul is godly we often look at ourselves and we don't appreciate what we have inside you young people are going to grow up and you look at yourself what do you see you can see yourself simply as a piece of meat body blood bones sinews and we do have meat in ourselves some of us a little more than others but we do have meat but there's another part of us that is capable of producing and experiencing the most profound ecstatic music in the world so the first step in understanding who you are is that throughout your entire life to recognize not just your physical external superficial self but to recognize the incredible infinite spiritual godly depth that you have in you which you can access point number one point number two because the Jew has this he serves as the link between creator and creation now let's go down seven generations forever one of his perspectives and teachings which he attempted always to convey was to take the deepest ideas of cussedness of tyre in general and apply it in the most tangible practical way to the point that there ever would sometimes employ metaphors to illustrate an idea and once he spoke about a sport and it was what they never called then football because that's what they call it in Europe but here we Americans call it soccer and he used that game talking about children playing soccer when he called football because really it's football it's not soccer right what we call football is just Americans I've missed on submission so what we throw with our hands we call football but but football or soccer football foot so it was Shabbos Nene I think torch in my mouth of 1981 and he explained what the soccer game is or what he called the football game and he said as follows look at the look at the soccer ball or you could look at the basketball I know you guys play probably basketball more than soccer right huh I won't tell don't worry so you could also look at the basketball in your imagination or the soccer ball and he said what is it a symbol of it's a symbol of Kadir Horace the globe the planet Earth the round planet that is a ball we live in a ball and this ball this ball is being kicked around by two teams and every team has an objective and the objective is to kick the ball into the goal and each team wants to get the ball into the other direction and he explained the ball is the world and our two teams always competing over the world one team one team this is the team that represents the role of the Jewish people and of Tyra is to kick the ball as he put it into shy ramela into the goal of the king the quote did ever Neman the condor to take the ball on a side I invited in at Silla Sarah to take the world and kick it into our zilla's which means to elevate it back to its source show that the world is one with Hashem but there's another team and the other team is trying to throw the same world and plunge it into a very opposite reality show that the world is ungodly is not good as not holy is not sacred it's not pure and there's a fierce battle and the battle continues throughout history but the main limb man organ which you use to play soccer is not your head although you could kick the ball with your head especially if you know what you're doing and not with your heart and certainly not with your arms or hands the primary limb to play the game is with your legs and with your feet with your akin which means in life to the primary way of changing the world and changing yourself and elevating it is through action how my so I you have to understand you have to feel you need a mind you need a heart but ultimately you need boots on the ground you need your feet then your legs on my so a kicker to kick the ball and what's important is you have to run and sweat and work hard but then you can take the ball and plugs it in and throw it into the shower hemella in the process you have to pass you can't just do things on your own we have to pass we have to work together we have to love each other we have to tolerate each other appreciate each other respect each other cherish each other you pass the ball and with defeat you throw the ball to the Sara MELAS so the true who has a soul always knows he is the link that links the ball with its creator but there's another side to it as he continues we don't only have heaven in us we also have clothes in an earthly vessel constituted of a physical body and an animal so we're not just nightingales we also have a different side to us we have an animal soul we have a in Sahara we have a body here we come to another game but they're never ones discussed to illustrate another point probably not called a sport more a game but it's the game of chess one of the chess champions in America u.s. chess champion was a Jew named Sam reshef see small Reshevsky he used to live in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn he was an observant Jew and he played international tournaments especially between the Soviet Union and America in the 1950s and became a great chess champion and he was also a religious Jew and in the 40s he used to davon and a little Stiebel it was then a little steeple called 770 Eastern Parkway and one year in 1948 ocean cast Shabbos move Arkin at the kiddush after Domini it was a very small kiddush their ever noticed that samba chef ski state for the kiddush so this is the talk that sabes was about chess and What did he say about chess you should not figure it out from the soccer because there's a snit there's a board and you have two teams one is black and one is white one is dark and one is more luminescent bright and each team you have the same pieces so you have the King you have the Queen you have you have to help me out here you have the bishop and the rope and the night and of course you have the pawns the great points and there's a war and everyone is trying to do the same thing checkmate the King so it's plain the king represents half shell team represents a shell whatever you have in one team you have in another team why do you have it in another team because if not they can't be free choices every piece on this side they also have at the other side and they compete with each other everybody wants to checkmate their King so he said as follows the King represents Hashem who is the Queen the Queen represents so to speak what we call the Tsarina Hashem Queen Hashem spouse matter Aneesa mouthfuls ruffled Nessa sees through the source of all the souls which is so to speak Mary touch them like Hashem can buy Yahoo Hashem spouse Tichina the Queen and then you have the rook the knight and the bishop they fly around the board who are those so every morning and dominating you talk about three types of angels my lawful roughen nice and by funny hot fighters in hostages they are associated with Bria in Serie and I see yeah she said those are the rooks the Knights and the bishops and they fly around angels are free to go when they want they fly this way and that way they're not obstructed and then you have the pawns who are the pawns who do you think us us pawns walk very slowly one step at a time we get knocked right left and center you can don't go diagonally you can jump you can't go in any other direction you go very slow you're also very short you're very short and you're sent out to be killed and knocked all the time and you progress but something happens when the poor gets to the other side of the board it can turn into a queen when the bishop or the castle the rook or the knife gets to the other side of the board what happens nothing they remain what they are they said this is life the pawns come down into this world into a body into an animal soul and we walk very slowly which means we struggle we get not we fail we stumble because we don't only have a divine soul we also have a piece of earth which is why we are the ones who can leave hashem and the world which is why we are the ones who are in the center of the struggle to connect truth with falsehood depth with superficiality ruthless with - Gnaeus heaven and earth came Valtor at man talks don't think that your path as a Jewish teenager and I'm not talking to the teenagers on this top dysfunctional interstate don't think that what does it mean to be a good Jew to be a huset it means that you become a piece of heaven you're an angel you're at Sonic your own mala no no no no the more we don't want that the moment you become that you're not anymore a link between heaven and earth between creator and creation now you became a bishop you became a knight you became a horse well not a horse but a yeah maybe but you became very holy you flying around but we're paws we have a combination of the highest the high and of the lowest of the low and we experienced both and sometimes every single day and that's natural it's normal that was supposed to be that way you can't expect differently and you don't have to be different what you do have to realize is that serving our Sema's de-spawn slowly progressing step by step while you get knocking you come to the end of the board and what happens you're transformed into a queen which becomes completely one with Hashem Malaka are called Mountain they always remain in the same position in a some astounding I called Mahal him in a puss again sorry of an acai Aloha Mahalo him the soul the person you can transform yourself and become something extraordinary by climbing and marching through that boards with all of its struggles but keep your eyes on the goalie on the destination and then you reach the end and when you reach the end you become so to speak their wife the spouse the Sheena that's one with Hashem but as he said you can't become the king while amela is not in there because the king is only one but you become one you throw the coach a little call Akkad you become one with the king and here dear children we have the three points you have a soul which is godly you are the link that connects creator to creation as in the soccer game and the reason you can do that is because you also have a piece of Earth which is a real part of you the animal in you the body in you as in the chess game and here I finally leave you with this story about Valtor Depa that samehada was orphaned as a very young boy his mother passed away rabbits is verily and Valtor ever raised him the t'market ever was treated by the altar ever as his own son and he was always in the rebel of the altar ever without rebel with Davin he was three years old he made for himself a peer of tefillin how there's a three year old make from self appear villain he took potatoes the potatoes became the bottom that went on his head and I'm as muscle on his arm and then the potato he tied strings or shoelaces to the potato and that became their it suus with which he wrapped it full and around his body and this is how he would play without rabbit would take off his fillin some athletic would take off the potatoes now here I put on hisses villain and after never wasn't filling for a very long time so service ethic spent much of his day wearing potatoes which were filled in and this is as a three-year-old one day the outer epicenter my mare which began with the words all Schleich at Valhalla my mate Allah tire of olive oil about maliska sudden the world stands on three pillars terra service and charity and our tribus says this minor and it's very deep and the Hasidim do not comprehend it so they asked him permission of they can go into his room and have him review the Mimer a second time and our ever says Sunday morning after Silas we're now Sunday morning after chakras will review the minor who the elder Hassidim there was a constant who was young although he was a genius his name was revised ik hemella the beautiful Isaac Hal AV Epstein the rabbi of the city of Hama or gummel and your beautiful eyes of la vie Epstein was a goner long in fact we used to make us see him on the hole shots Erev Pesach the hole shots and when he became a custard Epstein was a very famous Lithuanian family opponents to Hassidim his father rent his garments and sat Shiva on his son the Isaac humble when he became a custom and only the next era of pacer when he saw that he made a see him on the holeshot even after he became a Hassan he relaxed and he accepted his child as a legitimate you even though he went to the altar ever but he was still a young man so he didn't think that he could go into Hazara to the altar never because it was only for elder Kassadin who are much more developed and have been there for more years it came Sunday and they all went what was called gonnigan attacked in the room before the altar Eva's room they used to call the lower level of Canadian I guess corresponding to the lower level of unity and then his room itself dr. Deb assume they used to Koganei Denali in the higher level of Canadian because there's two levels of Canadian aid not fasting in 89 and they're standing I need an attack and you know what Hasidim do they peek through the the key are they they peek through or whatever the opening was to see what's happening inside the visor come over told the story he peeks through and he sees that it's an aesthetics potato peels got stuck at the table and he couldn't go when he was an Amish 3 years old so doctor never stopped his governing and removed removed the shoelaces he untied it and it's an aesthetic was so happy they continued to run around the room dr. Abbott took off his robe a new Thomas tefillin and he opened the door for the custom to come in revise the Carmel estate behind in Grenada not act well forever sits on his chair they're all standing out there ever says somebody is left outside so ghibli B'nai Mitzvah so one of the elder Hassidim said Saqib Lubin a younger man a young man is left outside so doctor ever said his vows for a younger man can the veteran I now demand so when I'm hanging from a young man one day can be a no can become an old man let him comment let him come in so they opened the door they slide up isaac becomes completely confused he's lost he's lost and he can't get it together so they slept him in and it takes him a few minutes till he regains his his his consciousness his composure and he listens to the mind meant to his Mazel right then that semi said that gets stuck with his potatoes in between his legs looking for toys and running around and he's thinking to himself and I finally made it and hid it somewhere and something is pushing trying to get closer to the altar ever and Isaac is you know he's he's having these feelings of some aesthetic really wants to get close he wants to hear the mind mayor or he's looking for his toy and as he's thinking about this in our trip is already a middle of the minor valerevna suddenly in the middle of the minor says in anagen these words and had and had to VistaVision as I heard he hears he hears one day you will be aware that he hears 45 years later then the Tomas ethic was three without ever passed away in 1812 tough confining gimlets I'm ecstatic was 2345 years later after that MIT tiller ever passes away test Kissel of tough hoof pay yes the 9th of Kislev 1827 and it's a Masonic does not want to accept in asius especially that he has an uncle who's alive now forever still has a son of hi I'm Avram who looks most like now forever and he's alive which is one of the ways they knew that the picture about today is an authentic picture because people sort of climb my room and they knew he was the splitting image of the altar ever so meta doesn't want to accept the leadership and finally he succumbs he succumbs he finally accepts it and her bicycle that comes for the first voice and that semi said that starts the Mimer and which my mare is it I'll slice at the bar in Harlem I am in the lottery of Allah by giacomo discuss Sodom and he's repeating the words that have Isaac heard 45 years ago that some extent occurred when he was playing with the potato peels 45 years ago a three-year-old child so devised ik is standing there and again he can't help himself you're not always in control of you know thoughts that fall into you as it says in Tanya so demise it thinks to himself this is this is pretty you know this is pretty cool as we would say it's called bicones he's showing a cuts it's like a trick you know I mean pretty pretty interesting tricks but it's like a spiritual trick Chabad this is this didn't like tricks even spiritual tricks they weren't into tricks enemies everything has to be internal lost so he's thinking some athletic stops the mind and he says was Allah come glade madad is a this data when a haste myth hazard in the mind mind what do you want from me my grandfather is here and he's telling me to review the - I'm reviewing in the mind mind but now now the 12th of Thomas youth based Thomas Thompson cover of 1966 their ever the grandson of the son of Southwark and alter ever asks what did alter ever mean he's a young man so he can become an old man what is this a joke it's an anecdote of course every young man can become an old man in fact I hate to tell it to you but every young man I was an old man this is now a levers genius saying a young man can become an old man and of Isaac rabbis ik is completely flabbergasted what did he hear that's so overwhelmed him it was a very long and elaborate discussion but I'll share one point of it in one minute they're ever said then that our ever introduced the hidden enigma in Halawa in the siddhis and an avoider and he explained what the shittest was enigma in a locker but I bring out to you now literally briefly one point and that is when he said that from a young man couldn't become an old man he was redefining how we look at potential you know I'm sure some of you especially the fathers heard many years in yeshiva you have potential right and whenever you said about somebody he has potential right if you call somebody for a that reference and you say he has potential usually you stay away you know he has potential right everyone has potential of course we believe in basic Hiller right we believe in the pie-o-my pacaya potential but that's he could a young man can become an old man sure sure potential what the alter rebbe who was saying then and this is what astonished reviser Camilleri is that you could live your life in a way in which your potential for the future can become part of your present reality in other words don't look at yourself only the way you see yourself now look at yourself today the way you have the ability to be in the future and you could begin living that way today even though you don't feel that you're not that person but because you know this is your potential this can be part of your reality today that's what he was saying and the bicycle Muller was overwhelmed because this was a transformation in his very character and as a result he can go in and hear the Mimer as though he was an elder man if there's one thing now after ever taught its what it means when you talk about the potential of a person the potential of a Jew the link between heaven and earth but I could live with my potential frustrated or you have to be able to look at yourself and see what you contain inside how much power you have how much potential you have and then start living it start actualizing it take your soccer ball and throw it into the goalie thank you very much [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] nah [Music] Oh ah [Music]