Transcript
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Welcome everybody.
Thank you very much for gracing us.
Welcome back and may all of you and all
of us be blessed with a beautiful
healthy spring and summer materially and
spiritually and emotionally with
abundance of blessings for you and your
loved ones.
May we see complete victory and complete
redemption
speedily in our days. Amen.
Today's class is dedicated by Rabbrahim
Ben Miriam and his family who graciously
dedicate the class in memory of his dear
parents
Ben Yakov and Rifka and his mother
Miriam Mari Bat Rab and Bella
Nishamsur.
May their souls be an everlasting source
of inspiration and love and empowerment.
And thank you so very much. Today's
class is also dedicated by Rabbitson
Esther Marowitz. That's Hindi's mother.
Hindi's mother. Famous Hindi's mother
in honor of Hindi's grandmother's yard
site. Rabbit said Marowitz's mother's
yard site which is today.
>> Mrs. Much
>> Mrs. Marowitz. Okay. Hindi, you agree?
>> Yeah.
>> Okay. I'll follow your order.
So Mrs. Marowitz's mother's yard site is
today. Kava Bas Reb Ezreal, whose yard
site is on the fourth day of year. She
was a Holocaust survivor who witnessed
her parents being taken to the gas
chambers as the youngest child. She
couldn't bear to be separated from her
mother. She ran after her and her older
sister struggled to pull her back from
the line of death, but saved her life
and she survived. And after the war, she
and her sister, the only survivors of a
very very large family, immigrated to
Israel. And she built a large beautiful
family of uh generations and generations
of uh dedicated,
beautiful people full of a hashem, a
so we dedicate the class
and tribute of her special soul. May she
be a good beta for the entire family.
And may we experience the gula
immediately when all of us will be
reunited with our loved ones. Amen. And
thank you very much. And we see from her
granddaughter we could see uh right.
Okay. Which yard set is this?
>> 19th yard set. Okay.
So how does one know? People often we
seek advice. Everybody seeks advice. The
says
often people, we all need support.
Everybody needs help. So we go for an we
go for advice. Different forms of
advice. But that's how life works. We
need each other. We support each other.
But how does one know if the advice
they're getting is healthy or maybe
toxic? If it's productive or sometimes
destructive when people especially are
in a vulnerable state,
we fragile and sometimes people can take
advantage or sometimes maybe even
unconsciously not necessarily
maliciously but sometimes unconsciously.
You know, everyone can only give the
advice to the extent that they work
things out within themselves and how
much wisdom they have within their own
lives. How does one be able to make such
a discernment?
There's and how do we do that for
others? If somebody comes to me, if
somebody comes to you for advice,
whether it's a grand thing or a small
thing, how do we make this discernment?
How do we differentiate? There's an
incredible teaching of the BMP that
explores this and it really captures
three parts of the year that we're now
in. It's like a trio. It's the only part
of the Jewish calendar where you have
three separate entities but really
there's one flow and that is pes
culminated by
usually you have three yum we have pes
we have we have
later you have kanek and purim but here
the terra clearly says that we have a
holiday pes which represents the time we
celebrate the exodus of egypt but right
after that the second day already as we
finish the first day of pes in Israel
it's
The second night of PES, we begin a
process called the counting of the in
the time of the Bikar they actually
brought an actual meal offering. They
harvested barley on the second night of
Pesak. They harvested and by the way
even if it was Shabas, Friday night,
even if the second night of Pes was
Shabas because if the first day was
Friday and Friday night was the second
day of Pes and usually harvesting on
Shabas is one of the things that are
prohibited and this wasn't in the B
mikdash. It was in the farms. There was
no farm in the B mikdash. But actually
here the tells us
is the second night of PES. They
harvested the barley even if it was
shabas parathetically fascinatingly. And
they would grind it and sift it 13
times. 13 times through a sieve until
the barley flour was extremely extremely
pure and clean. And then part of that
was offered and burnt on the misbeh.
This is called a carbon. And by the way,
one of the only two offerings of meal
that was from barley usually everything
else was wheat. The carbon is a certain
measurement a volume of flour is which
is the [clears throat] amount for which
you as well till today that was offered
and part of it was burnt and the other
part was baked and eaten by the kanim on
pes. Of course it was baked as matzah
not as so. So it wasn't a problem. It's
just called barley matzah. And the in
fact their matzah was very good. It's
like the Yemenites. It was Lafa. Our
matzah is whatever has other other
elements to it. It reminds us not only
of but also of other parts.
But the Yemenites still know how to make
real matzah. It's a lafa. People don't
realize how delicious the ky sandwich
was. We force ourselves to eat that
sandwich. People can't oill. It's not
exactly because in hill sandwich first
of all it was a lafa. Second of all
there were lamb chops inside. So there
was a carbon pesak and besides that
there was very good barbecue sauce which
they called mr and that combination
between a good lafa and lamb chops and
gishmaka lettuce to make it healthy and
a good bitter herb was a delicious
delicious lafa. So the carbon that they
brought the second day of pes from
barley that's also the signal to start
counting and that's why we call it sphir
is actually a measurement of volume of
flour which they used to harvest grind
and offer on the altar in the bik. Now,
of course, we're left with the counting
without the carbon itself. Which is why
right after we count, we say a special
may you restore this service in the
Bish. Why do we say it right? Then I
mean it's a beautiful prayer because
according to many authorities, our
counting is missing. I mean, according
to everybody, it's missing the the main
ingredient of the carbon. So that's why
right after we say the and we count
whatever it's so whatever it is we say
we'll have also the carbon from there it
goes of course for 7 weeks 49 days and
the 50th day becomes a new holiday which
is and actually the Torah says this is
the one holiday that doesn't have a date
because it depends on the counting of
the 49 days and that's why the garra
says that could sometimes be on the 5th
of on the sixth of and on the seventh of
Son because all other holidays Khan is
always the 25th day of and Yamiper is
always the 10th day of Tish and Pes is
always the 15th day of Niss it's not
going to change but could be different
days in the month because it depend if
you got your 49 days in and not so today
we have a fixed calendar so it's
predictable but in the times of earlier
kesh was not predictable it depended on
witnesses coming and testifying about
the moon so some months could be 29 9
days. Some months could be 30 days and
it wasn't predictable. So if for example
the month of Nissan was 29 days and the
month of year was 29 days, you didn't
get in your 49 days until the sixth day
of Sven. So shuis would be a day later.
If both months were 30 days, you already
got your 49 days. Does this make sense?
Okay. So you got your shuis a day
earlier. Or if one was 29 and one was 30
like we have today, then shuis is on the
sixth day of s. So it's the only holiday
that can actually alternate. In fact,
there's one of the big fascinating
of the was that if somebody crosses the
international date line between PES and
so let's say you travel to Australia. So
you lose a day. If you're traveling on
Sunday, there's no Monday, you arrive on
Tuesday. Nowhere is an individual
mitzvah. It's not the best. Everybody
has to count on their own. So this
persons can't do shv when everybody does
it because they didn't count 49 days. So
they would have to do shoo a day later.
If you come from Australia back to New
York for example so now you gain a day
you have two Mondays. So your has to be
a day earlier because you had your 49
days already. So your day 50 is this is
a fascinating fascinating kesh. But in
any case, the point here is that we see
clearly that there's a trio. From Pesak,
we go into the counting of the for of 49
days. And right after that, we have
Schlis, which is not an independent
holiday. It's rather the culmination of
the count. What do these three things
represent? You could say, well, it's a
beautiful thing. You go out of Egypt,
you start counting, we come to Mount Si.
Historically, we understand the
connection. The says at the end of that
represents the fact that the Jewish
people longed to receive the and they
counted every day like when somebody's
excited about something they count down
the days one day two days three days
four days so here too as they left
mitzim they began a countdown until mat
until they came to mount si and that
represents the counting and then finally
they come to the mountain which was the
culmination and the conclusion and the
completion of leaving Egypt. Hashem told
the first time
when I'm taking the nation out of Egypt,
you're going to come to the mountain.
Which means it's not just leaving exile.
It's also coming and finding who you
really are and embracing your identity
and your mandate. Cuz sometimes people
are liberated from their shackles, their
physical shackles. But now comes a new
struggle. And the new struggle is what
do I do with my freedom? Who am I?
Right? There are uh
[snorts]
I once said about a particular movement
that they had a great leader who gave
his people pes but he didn't give them
in other words sometimes you can give
people a sense of emancipation and
freedom so they go they know what
they're going away from but now what do
you do with that who am I that's a whole
different question and that's a very
very deep question because for this you
have to go very deep inside so that's
historically these three stages
but there's also a deeper component in
these three stages of peskus
which represents represent three aspects
in every person's life on a daily basis
and as the bump says it's every time we
dav every time we learn t every time we
do a mitzvah and in fact it's throughout
a person's life in order to appreciate
all of this and what this means and how
this ties into our first question about
giving advice about getting advice about
the discernment let's learn a very
fascinating instruction that the garra
gives It's your first source in the four
source sheets.
That's
page 15B.
It's also in May. And this is what the
Gmorra says. Maidiv. You have it also in
English, but I I'll read it in Hebrew
and translate. Maidiv. There's a very
famous PK in the prophet Mali. Malaki,
you may know, is the last of the Trey
Oser, the last of the 12 small, shorter
prophecies. In fact, he is the last Nvi
of the Jewish people. The last NVI to be
recorded in the Tanakh is the Nvi Malaki
who lived in the beginning of the second
Bikdash. There was the group of
Mali. They lived in the time of Morai
and Esther, the time of Purim and the
building of the second Bik. And he says
like
which means as follows.
The lips of a cayenne, the lips of a
cayenne of a priest should preserve
knowledge, should preserve das,
they should seek to from his mouth. You
know why? Because he is an angel of
hashem.
Says the goral's
voice. If similar to an angel of hem,
then you should seek from his mouth.
If not
then do not seek from his mouth. So the
is telling us that
you should seek from this and why.
So he says here if your if your is like
a malikashem seek to if not not but
here's the question who's I never saw a
malik what does it mean if my reb is
like a malik hashem and can a person
really can a person really be an angel?
No person is an angel. We're humans.
We're not angels. So this is seems like
a very, you know, very high bar. And if
you're really going to wait for
everybody who you're going to learn
from, I don't know if you'll ever come
back to my class again. If you're really
going to raise this guy is not an angel.
Okay. Yeah. It's like the two women who
were talking, right? Then one says to
the other one, "Ah, my husband is an
angel." Everybody sees things from their
perception. So one woman says, "Ah, my
husband is an angel." The other one
says, "Unfortunately, mine is alive."
But the bottom line is it's just a joke.
Everybody sees things from their
perception, right? He's an angel. Okay?
And if he's not an angel, that's it. So,
who's ever going to learn anything from
anybody? [laughter]
The Mishna says,
right? There's something to learn from
every person. But here, he's talking
about a specific a specific type of
learning.
There is a very famous interpretation by
uh there was a very uh one of the great
sages. He was the rabbi of Frankfurt,
Frankfurt Amine. name was Rev. Pinhas
Horowitz Horowitz. He was a student of
the mag of Misrich. He's known as the
Bal Hafla. He wrote a safer called
Ponafer Hamakna. He was a very great
sage in the 18th century. Rais Horowitz.
He was a rabbi of Frankfurt. And uh he
has a book called safer on kadush and in
the introduction he says a very
beautiful interpretation and he says
that the pik says in that sham are
called mahalim and malim are called
souls are called mahalim they're in
constant motion because in this world
you're capable of complete
transformation and metamorphosis malim
angels are called which means standing
because they follow a particular orbit
just like the sun and the moon they
follow particular cycles they go much
faster than we can ever go. You know,
it's like on a chess game. On the chess
game, the pawn can go very, very slow.
But when the pawn hits the other side of
the board, you remember the game, what
can the pawn become? The pawn can become
a queen. You take the bishop or the
knight or the castle, they can move much
faster. They can fly here and there and
knock pieces, but when they come to the
end of the board, they still remain who
they are. That's the difference between
souls and mal are called because even
though they grow and they grow in
extraordinarily powerful ways because
they're not defined by physical
containers but they still follow a
particular predictable orbit where the
soul that comes down here is called a
mahalik. It could move it could
transform itself. That's the capability
that is unique in this world. It's a
world where transformation is available.
And therefore the says in
the soul is called a mahalik and the
malik is called an so says something
very poant and he says many teachers
they don't want to be malim they want to
be if I taught the same material already
for 10 years I could get bored of it so
I want to be creative I want to do
something new so the problem is I'm not
sensitive necessarily to my students I'm
busy more expressing myself. So he says
if the is like a he's ready to stand in
one place and pause and stop because he
is attentive or she's attentive to the
unique needs of the student then you
could learn from them because there's a
very big difference between a teacher
who's trying to express themselves and
feel good about their class and feel
creative rather a teacher who's actually
tuning in to the unique capacity of the
students. That's one possible one
interpretation that he gives. There's
other interpretations. There's other
interpretations as well. They say
fromush of analy that he once said, what
does it mean if your is like a malik?
You don't know what a malik is. You
don't know. And he says that's exactly
what the gumar is saying. If if if he's
actually challenging you to towards
things that are deeper, that are more
transcendent that you don't know, that's
good. If I if I master everything, if I
have everything, then it's very limited
knowledge. It's actually a vista to to a
portal to the infinite. That's what real
teaching is. The BMP gives a very
powerful interpretation here. What this
means, you could learn from somebody
who's like a malik, an angel. And it's
all in the word malik. All in the world
word angel. To understand his
interpretation,
we go to what's considered the most
mystical certainly one of the most
mystical visions in the whole of Tanakh
known as the
Hanovi. The prophet Ezekiel was there
during the destruction of the first
basikt. He left for Israel and he moved
to Babylonia and he prophesized al-
Nahar and the river of Babylonia. And in
the first chapter of he sees this grand
mystical vision which has become the
basis of much of Kabala. It's very very
hard to understand because it's written
in code language. It's also the ha of
the first day of because during matra
hashem descended on the mountain with
his marova with his chariot and over
there there's some mystical creature
called kashmal
in modern Hebrew kashmal means
electricity but the word kashmal comes
from the from the and this is before
anybody knew about electricity they use
that word to use it as a name for
present electricity because actually
today also nobody ever saw electricity
We just know the symptoms of
electricity. Electricity, you can't
really see electrons with your naked
eye. But the bottom line is that this
wordash appears first in the first
chapter of and if you could look how he
describes it in the first chapter of
verse four
a very powerful wind a tempest a stormy
wind was coming from the north A HUGE
CLOUD
A FLAMING fire
a brightness around it means brightness
and from the midst of this stormy wind,
this powerful large cloud, this blazing
flaming fire and a light around it. From
amidst it,
I see something that looks like
that emerges from the fire.
See something called what's again? Today
we call it electricity, but this is
many, many years before Thomas Edison.
Many years before anybody even knew what
the word electricity means. Electricity
was always there but we had no
relationship to it. So the Gmorra asked
this question
myash. What in the world is
it's a combination of three words.
What isashmal? What is electrum? Rhuda
says it refers to
literally are animals or living beings.
a of fire
means they speak. So is
and isal holy fiery living beings that
speak
the taught usal
sometimes they are silent and sometimes
they speak is a unique combination
in Hebrew means like in cohelis ace what
does that mean there's a time to
Quiet means is to be silent. So that's
what's mull is like the word mil is a
word right
is to speak. Mal is one of the words
used for conversation. So is silence
[snorts] and speaking verbiage. So which
one is it? So he says sometimes you're
silent and sometimes you speak.
Malash is silence and mal is speaking
the word milah which is means a word or
milim are words comes from that word
because a word is something you utter.
So this is a very interesting
interpretation. We have these some
living beings of fire who are sometimes
quiet and sometimes they speak. So this
is theash that sees from amidst the
fire.
The bal comes and says that this word
kashmal that he sees coming out from a
stormy wind a big cloud a blazing fire
and he sees kashmal actually contains
within it a very deep secret in life
let's see what is the secret so you look
in your next source this comes from Ben
py
one of the students of the was these
cats of pulno pul in Ukraine He wrote a
called Ben Pyrus Ysef his name was Ysef
Yak of Ysef. He wrote a lot of told us
Yak of Ysef Ben Pyrus Ysef and others
and this is one of them and in he quotes
his teacher the Balmp. It's also in Shmp
Kibi. Now there's going to be some some
difficult some concepts here that are
new and novel. We're going to read it
because I want you should see the actual
text and then
I'll try to explain the way I understood
it at least to some degree with God's
grace.
I received from my teacher the
secret of three things.
Those are the three words we're going to
be focusing on.
that one requires whenever they immerse
themselves in learning or prayer.
There's something called
that is
the first thing is you have to be quiet.
After that is mull. Now the word maul
has another interpretation besides
speaking. What else does mull mean?
cut milah, right? A brisa. Why is it
called a brisma? Bris is a covenant.
Mila is to cut. Like we just said in
throughout the pes, you remember
I will cut them down
because we cut the foreskin. That's why
it's called mil. That's why it's in parl
this piece of pamper. That's where we
have the mitzvah of mil. So is silent m
is speaking but also m means to cut. So
the says you have three stages silence,
cutting and speaking.
Silence, cutting and speaking.
First thing is quiet silence.
Then you go to mole which is cutting off
the shell the husk
and now open your mouth.
Now you could speak
to sweeten the judgments in their
source.
This is the secret of davening that my
teacher explained in the name of his
rebash.
Therefore, the person ought to separate
from their thought alien thoughts.
So they could separate from the shells.
So the word maul has two different
interpretations. One is speaking and one
is cutting
and one flows from the other.
After silence you cut and then you could
speak the and that's the second two
parts and so he gave us three words here
and
literally the meaning of these words is
means subservience
means
separation or disentanglement.
You disentangle, you separate.
That'sdah.
You remove the inshment.
And means sweetening. Like
is to sweeten
sweet water. M. You're sweet. That's m.
So is to sweet. So you have
subservience,
disentanglement,
and sweetening. Three things. And that
is mal mal silence cutting.
Silence is the subservience. Mal cutting
is the disentanglement. When you cut,
you separate. And then you can speak
which is engaging and elevating and
sweetening. Now let's continue.
If your teacher is like a
what does it mean?
name.
The word Malik is me
al [snorts]
says it's exactly the same letters like
another word in Hebrew.
You know what an elim
is exactly the same letters like the
word.
So he says you could also read it this
way.
If
means if to somebody who is somebody
who's like mute. Now that's a very
strange comment because the reason
you're learning from him is because he
actually has what to say probably
hopefully.
So it's like the the feature of his that
he's actually he's like a mute really
and then you could learn from him. Yeah,
that's what he says. So it means an
angel of course but there's a here
there's a hint here because words that
have the same letters even when they're
configurated differently it's called a
different su are always connected to
each other that's how the Hebrew
language is constructed
it's called a different su it's the same
letters like a different combination you
have the 12 months of the year every
month is connected another aspect of y v
but it's a different configuration
because you can have yud and hey and v
and hey you can have hey and v and yud
and hey And each month is a different
configuration with a different p that
spells out in that configuration. Right?
We once spoke we have the migill
from all the words that's
so that's in the order but then you have
others
would be another example.
You have many different. So you have
here the wordal
four letters exactly the same like four
letters. So says
if you want this teacher you need to see
the
what's the
he knows how to be quiet like a mute.
Then he can come and cut this.
He is so cautious of ulterior motives. A
pnea is when I have a bias. I'm teaching
you but I have a bias in what I'm
saying. I have an agenda and it's
external. External means it's an outside
agenda not connected to what the student
needs.
this person, you could seek from their
mouth
because then it can go into their heart
and actually start blossoming. It can
create children. It can multiply. It can
grow inside the heart of the student of
the one who is receiving.
This is the first instruction that the
creator gives the first Jew in history.
What's the first thing Hashem tells of
I want you to go away from where? three
places your land
your birthplace
your father's home as the say the many
others it seems very redundant you could
just say I want you to leave your
father's home yeah if you're leaving
your father's home maybe you want to say
leave your country if you leave your
country you probably left your
birthplace and you left your father's
home you don't have to tell somebody I
want you to leave the United States of
America I also want you to leave my also
want you to leave Wesley Hills and that
particular address
81 viola. What is this? 81 84 viola. If
you're leaving the United States of
America, you already left 84 viola. It's
just the way it is.
So as the is actually talking about
three different things
you need to be able to remove yourself
from three things. There's there'sdi
which my teacher explained. So the first
thing Hashem was telling the first Jew
is learn about these three things
because you're going to have to deal
with
and then what's the next step
to the land which I will show you and
that begins the journey of the first Jew
of Ramavino.
What does this mean? So here is a
classic example of a teaching of the
BMP.
one can right away feel that there is
something very profound he's saying here
but it's brief it's concise so we need
to be able to decipher it and decode it
so that's what we're going to try to do
now
I ask Hashem to allow me to be a channel
for this wisdom that the divine wisdom
that the was revealing and I want to
thank Ginsburg who I saw wrote about
this and I read some of the things that
somebody sent me so I'm appreciative of
that very
It all begins in the story of the
beginning of creation. If we look at the
story of the beginning of creation, the
starts off everything. In the beginning,
Hashem created heaven and earth.
But what happens right after that?
The earth was engulfed in darkness.
There was a spirit of Hashem hovering
over the water. And what happens right
after that is
Hashem says let there be light amidst
this darkness. Let there be light. But
now comes the step next step.
And now Hashem differentiates between
light and darkness. Say in the beginning
there was no differentiation. Light and
darkness.
They were all mixed up. So Hashem says
let's separate. Now the question is how
can light and darkness be mixed up? How
can that be? I understand how a chalant
works. You put in beans, you put in
potatoes. If you're a good spider, you
put in eggs, and whatever else, you put
in healthy stuff. Got it? What does it
mean? Light and darkness are mixed. If
it's light, it's not dark. If it's dark,
it's not light. If you put on a light in
a room, it's not dark anymore. Light
vanishes that the light expels the
darkness. But Hashem says, "We have to
separate them." And he separates them.
And he sees that the light is good. And
he calls light day and darkness. He
calls night.
There was night, there was evening,
there was morning. And that creates the
first day.
When Hashem is now speaking to the first
Jew, he says,
and then you can go.
So there are three stages here of
the first step is
subservience. Again, this separation and
sweetening.
It's also connected perhaps I once
shared with you something I heard from
my friend Rabb David Guru in the name of
Rabbi Label Lamb that it's all in The
word if you remember I think we did it
last summer the word
that word schma means listening is to
listen but if you notice schma has three
letters so actually is saying something
you remember you want to practice it
okay I'll do it very good very good what
is listening what does it mean to listen
there's three stages and it's all in
schma the first thing is Sh.
That's not so easy because I right away
have what to say. No, no, I got it.
It's not just to others. The biggest sh
is here
after which can take a couple of
decades. Uh hope hopefully not hopefully
not. Once you get the hang of it, it
could take a few seconds or a few
minutes or a few hours. After sh you
have sh and then you have
and then you have ah
so that'sma
ah
each one is a separate avoid but
together that is truly the art of
listening and really the art of
connection. The first stage is
silence sh.
Then there could be the second process
called which is
and then there is the ah ahma
as he said here that the bmp said that
this applies
in his words that this applies
literally
Util it exists in all of learning and in
all of Davening
which really means that it's something
that accompanies a person throughout
their life and that it would make sense
that Hashem gives this instruction to
the first Jew because these three stages
constantly are required in our world
whenever you're dealing with something
internally that may be challenging or
difficult.
or disturbing or bothersome or stressful
or causing anxiety of any form.
One of our greatest traps in life is to
right away come to conclusions that have
served us in our minds well in the past.
meaning as follows. I don't want to get
super scientific and psychological here
but very very briefly
our nervous system was designed by the
shal by the creator of the world to
focus on one agenda which is survival
it needs to keep you alive as much as
possible it will do an amazing job an
incredible job in Tanya this is called
that's actually from it's called the
nephesh abahamus the animal conscious
which every single animal has and it has
one agenda and that is stay alive,
survive and do what you have to do in
order to survive. For that it needs to
figure out two things.
It needs to figure out what is dangerous
for survival and it needs to figure out
what is beneficial for survival. And
both are equally important because I can
do all the right things that will
contribute to my survival. But if I did
not protect myself from the predators,
it's not going to work. If you go to a
if if anybody ever went to a safari or a
jungle or Kr Krueger's National Park in
South Africa or you watch documentaries,
you know that sometimes you have these
innocent gazels or antelopes that are
thirsty. So they go to the water and
they're innocently drinking the water
and they don't realize that there's a
lioness waiting behind the tree for her
prey. And that's the day that the
gazelle learns very very fast that you
can't just focus on what you need to
survive. You also need to focus on what
you need to stay away from in order to
survive. And that's why you may have to
remain thirsty for a day or two days.
And if you're a camel, you can do it for
a few weeks because you can always go to
the water because going to the water may
be a very nice drink and a beautiful,
beautiful, refreshing experience, but at
the expense of what? At the expense of
becoming food for the predator. This
nephew Bahamas doesn't only exist in
gazels and elephants and even ants and
insects and mammals and fish and birds
all embedded with an incredible
incredible
keen insight of what they need for
survival. And if you like animals, I'm
sure some of you do, or you like birds
and you study them a little bit, you
could see how fascinatingly brilliant
their genetic makeup is. the wisdom that
every living organism has to be able to
do exactly what it needs in order to
protect itself, to survive, to protect
its progeny, which is going to be the
future. And it's really, really
powerful. It's really incredible. It's
like a brilliant, brilliant wisdom. It's
all focused on this reality. This is
true, of course, also in the human
being. When does this process begin? The
moment we begin forming already in the
womb of our mothers, we detect
everything
right at that moment. Nobody is yet
diagnosed as ADHD in the womb. Maybe
today already, yes, I don't know. But at
least when I was in the womb, I don't
think they had that diagnosis yet on
every single baby. So actually then
nobody told you that you're not
brilliant and capable of learning a lot.
A few years later, they're going to ruin
it. But there nobody yet said anything.
SO YOU PICK UP EVERYTHING. EVERYTHING
24/7. You absorb everything and you're
so sensitive. You absorb every little
detail. And the nervous system as it
develops begins detecting danger, good,
productive, destructive. I will survive.
I won't survive. This is comfortable.
This is uncomfortable. This may be
comfortable, but it could cost me my
identity. It could cost me my life. So,
we don't go there.
in the world is
>> of course
where do you think you got it today from
nowhere? You think it just start You
think it starts at age 16. You think it
starts at age 16. Yeah. But it's not
verbal. It's preverbal. It's much it's
preverbal. That's why you can't argue
through words. Words will never be able
to convince it otherwise because this is
preverbal.
>> Subconscious or something like that.
>> Both. Yeah. That could be a foreshore in
the subconscious and a few little things
come out of the conscious. How does it
decide what remains subconscious and
what comes out of THE CONSCIOUS? THAT
ITSELF is a survival method. What it
knows you can handle and you're fine
with and won't endanger you, it's going
to let you know. But things that may
disturb the equilibrium
and again cause me something that will
contribute less to my survival, it will
hide from me.
This awareness is so important because
my entire life I could be living based
on this template of the Nepha Bahamas
and not knowing any other part of
myself.
So all of my instincts and cravings were
built and designed based on detecting
danger versus the lack of danger in my
own mind. Could be real danger, could be
perceived danger. Danger doesn't only
mean physical danger. the lionist
attacking the antelope and literally
killing it. But danger could mean so
many other things.
If I feel that something is going to
exclude me from the group, from the
family, from the community, from the
school, in other words, I'm going to be
seen as unnecessary, as superfluous, as
a problem. That's danger for a child.
That's danger for a fetus. That's danger
for everybody. So I will make sure to
develop all the emotions and instincts
that will keep everybody liking me.
That's very very important
and sometimes my entire life is built on
this.
So we need to understand that the
nervous system this is its focus. The
nephaham is the nervous system which is
translated the nervous system. The
nervous system is the bridge between the
mind and the body. So nephesheri
this is the soul that animates our
physical existence.
It doesn't naturally think in terms of
morality. It doesn't think if it's right
or if it's wrong. It thinks more in
terms of what is going to contribute or
take away from my survival. Now,
sometimes morality becomes another thing
it uses for survival. In other words, if
me feeling good about myself is probably
going to make me more popular and going
to make me more popular with myself,
that's very good for survival. And if in
this place they like this moral
standard, I may become very very moral
because this becomes a major part of
survival. So here is where I'm using
morality, God, religion for survival.
Now this becomes obviously very nuanced
and complex. As a person develops and
grows up,
we are constantly responding to this.
constantly when somebody says something
to me that triggers
that fear that I may even had as a I may
have had as a fetus or as a one-year-old
as a 2-year-old. The response is
immediate.
If I can sit with that in silence
without opinions, without judgments,
I may be able to start seeing the
patterns. However, a major part of our
survival is I don't want to sit in
silence cuz that's dangerous. I right
away have formed a response to any of
this because this response is what kept
me safe in my own presence. So the
responses I have formed are immediate.
THEY'RE EX RIGHT RIGHT WHEN YOU HEAR
SOMETHING JUST LIKE our body responds or
something dangerous and you run. if
you're going to sit and say silence. If
a tiger comes flying into this room and
everybody starts screaming and running
and looking for the door and I'm like,
"Women,
let's breathe. Let's meditate. Close
your eyes. Fill your seat. Be
comfortable. Go into yourself. Let go of
all your issues. Let's breathe. Okay?
We'll do vu. We'll open the vagus nerve,
etc." You look at me said, "Rabbi Wa,
you could breathe. You can meditate. You
can make yourself comfortable. you could
take any of the chairs. We're out of
here. And actually, that would be pretty
sane and normal because there's moments
that call for silence and there's
moments that call for hollering and
screaming and escaping.
When you're in a dangerous zone, it's
not a time for silence. Now, we have to
understand that that tiger doesn't
necessarily look like a physical tiger.
My wife, my husband could say something
to me. My child could say something to
me. Anybody could say something to me.
situation comes up and it's triggering
something in my nervous system which
tells me you need to respond this way or
that way and it's not even in words in
order to be able to stay safe. That
includes anger, that includes judgment,
that includes jealousy, that includes
negativity, that includes anxiety, that
includes stress, that includes whatever
it may be. But this is an immediate
immediate response. And the response
comes with a story behind it to justify
it. Because the brilliance of the
nervous system is that everything
actually makes sense in its own internal
makeup for you to survive. And the the
fact is in the pudding, you're here.
You're here to tell the story.
But then I always remain stuck in that
template. So the first step is
subservience. What does that look like?
It means can you remain silent without
the need to control, to interpret, to
impose, to mix in, to define it. Can I
actually surrender to the fact is really
surrender that this is the truth. This
is what's happening right now in my
system.
You may have at over Pesak a feeling
that suddenly came into you that was not
something you were proud of. Maybe about
somebody even very close in your family.
Okay, some of you may relate to this.
Yeah, I have a video. I have a video
from the house. They sent me the videos.
I have a video. Yeah. And a bug in case
the video didn't work. I also have a bug
in the house to record it. And Google
helped me.
Trust me, we're all in the same boat.
Trust me. Okay.
No superiority complex there. Yeah.
What's the first thing so many of us do?
We start arguing with ourselves. NAH,
COME ON. I'M SUCH AN AMAZING. NO, FOR
SURE NOT. First of all, I convince
myself that I'm not feeling it. Then I
see that I am feeling it. So then I
convince myself I'm not allowed to feel
it. And if I'm not allowed to, THEN I
SAY, "GOD doesn't want me to feel it."
SO NOW FOR SURE I don't feel it anymore.
BUT THEN I STILL FEEL it and I'm going
on in this loop and loop and loop and
loop and I'm stuck. The first thing is
can I surrender to the fact that this is
what I feel.
This is exactly what I feel. This is
exactly what's going on. I am a wreck. I
am a mess. I am overwhelmed. WOW. NO,
I'M [screaming] NOT OVERWHELMED. AND MY
GRANDMOTHER, YOU KNOW WHAT SHE DEALT
WITH? MY GRANDMOTHER. YOU KNOW WHAT PES
USED TO LOOK LIKE IN THE AL TIME? YOU
KNOW WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE.
It was worse than Mry. Just joking.
[laughter]
So now I'm guilting myself and I stopped
for 10 seconds to sit on a couch and
drink an iced coffee. Like really
garnish Satan? There's nothing you have
to do in your life but sit on a couch.
All all of all of these messages
are here to avoid
what my nervous system is detecting as
something that's very very not good to
experience, very not good to feel.
I can right away judge myself and I can
right away judge others, but the bash
says don't do that because then you're
going to stay stuck there forever and
you're not even going to know about it.
The first thing is, can I surrender to
the fact that right now I feel like a
mess? [laughter]
I may be a wreck. Those emotions are
really, really overwhelming. And you
know what? One of the hardest things for
us to do is this because we think that
means I'm an evil person. I'm a ghost.
I'm a devil. I'm a monster. But you're
not. It just means that my animal
consciousness has developed very
skillfully
to survive in many different situations
and to respond in ways that it feels it
needs for me to be protected and that
could sometimes be very very aggressive.
It can sometimes be very very intense.
Okay. Can I surrender to that and
realize this is exactly what Hashem
wants at this moment? How do I know?
because this is the moment. This is it.
I can argue. I could deny. I could go
into this loop and figure it out and
intellectually be brilliant.
But that's all part of the part of the
loop. Hakna is actually surrender. And
this is always with silence. And you'll
see it's not easy because this emotion
is coming up and say, "Scream at them.
Scream, scream at yourself." And it just
watch it. I'm like, "Wow."
Because only when I'm sh can I actually
listen. If I'm talking back, I can't
listen. Sometimes we have conversations,
we're not really listening. We're just
waiting for you to finish. I'm waiting
for you to finish. I could prove you
wrong. That's not called listening. So,
the first thing is it's a real real
attentiveness to everything that's
inside without the need to amputate,
without the need to control, without the
need to judge. Don't worry about it. I'm
not afraid that you're going to break
windows and put the houses on fire and
walk around start killing. We're done.
We're good. Hindi, I'm not afraid. Don't
worry. I'm not afraid. I know you. We're
good.
In fact,
you could contain it with silence. Now,
it's hard. I want to give it a
narrative. I want to put it into a
story. I want to put you into a story. I
want to put me into a story. This is sh.
It's called It's called because I'm
actually surrendering to something I
don't have control over.
This is not such an easy process because
the brain does not like this. We want
absolutes. We want predictability. I
want to be able to frame it, categorize
it, and move on. And sometimes it's
worth it for me to be miserable, but I'm
in control.
I'm miserable, but I'm in control. I GOT
IT. YOU'RE THE ENEMY. YOU'RE THE
PROBLEM. I KNOW WHAT'S HAPPENING. HERE
SHE GOES AGAIN. HERE HE GOES AGAIN. AND
I have my book. I have my story. Let's
move on now being miserable. But I'm
here.
But if I have the courage for this stage
of of surrender,
slowly something else happens. This is
slowly. This is called
Havdala is I can begin disentangling.
I can begin moving away from inshment.
I could start seeing the difference
between the light and the darkness.
Remember in the beginning of creation,
the light and darkness are all mixed
into each other. There's light and
there's dark. I tell myself, I'm crazy,
but I'm also normal. I'm kind, BUT I'M
SELFISH. I'M NARCISSISTIC. NO, I'M NOT.
I'M THE MOST SELFLESS PERSON IN THE
WORLD. NO, I'M THIS. I'M WHOA.
[laughter]
The answer is I don't know who I am.
It's complicated.
After hnoah
there's a stage of havdah havdah is you
actually can begin distinguishing
you can begin separating between the
light and the darkness. This is not an
active act of taking a knife and cutting
it. But emotionally
there starts being a differentiation
between very different parts in
ourselves because we don't only have an
animal consciousness that is only busy
with survival. We have a divine
consciousness that is actually full of
love, full of authenticity,
full of compassion, full of curiosity,
full of creativity just like its
creator,
full of
earnestness,
sincerity,
deep empathy, and deep awareness and
knowing. You'll realize that in the
first stage when all those messages are
coming to you, you don't recognize any
of this in your side of you. All I know
is I'm a wreck. I'm a mess. I never get
it together. WHY CAN PESAK IN MY HOUSE
BE like Pesak in their house?
Since you know exactly what's happening
in their kitchen,
everybody's smiling, huh?
>> It actually is the same.
>> It's the same.
>> That lady,
>> she wants to be here, right? But in I
could say yeah I have these stuff in me
but there's so much beauty also this is
we make
this is the second stage I will never
get to stage two without stage one if I
get to stage two without stage one it's
usually not authentic it's not real it's
another
pressure that I put on me to say this or
to believe this internally
comes after hno and in this face I can
simply recognize so many different parts
in me that have huh
>> yeah literally today they call it
unblending that is what means to
separate unblend
I'm not amputating I'm not denying but
there's a lot of unblending and you
could I could start feeling different
voices in me in the Tanya in chapter 13
the balatanya says something very
powerful he says that life is like a
jury if you ever did jury duty and they
accepted you in jury duty. You didn't
have a good excuse.
So, you know what it looks like. You
have a plaintiff, you have a defendant,
and you can have a jury of 18 people.
And as the jury convenes to decide, 18
people can have different opinions.
There could be two opinions, three
opinions, 10 opinions. And then the
judge has to listen to the opinions and
choose the verdict. Take the hammer,
bang it on the table and say, "This is
the verdict." And this is exactly what
happens in the human psyche. There's an
entire jury. Everybody has a different
opinion, a different perspective, a
different feeling. This one says, "My
mother was always right about him. My
mother knew him. I should have listened
to him." That's one voice. I'm not going
to get into details. You could talk to
your mother about it.
And the other one has an opposite voice.
And then there's argument and screaming
all inside of me. And this is true about
yourself and about others. And it's a
constant constant constant debate. And
that's the jury. And I could start
looking and seeing there's literally
different voices coming from different
parts who are trying their best to keep
me safe in their own mind and their own
perception.
And when that happens, something else
can happen. And that is you can tune in
to an inner voice which is very very
innocent. It's usually a coiled mama.
It's a silent still voice that is very
peaceful.
It's extremely not confrontational and
it's also not weak. In survival, we
don't know the difference. If I'm not
going to be confrontational, I'm going
to be weak. Sometimes I need to be weak
because it's more dangerous to be
confrontational than to be weak. But in
that inner divine soul, the two don't
compete with each other. It's extremely
not weak, but it's not confrontational
because its strength doesn't come from
confrontation. Its strength comes from
inner knowing.
Its strength comes from channeling the
source. So in this havdala I start
recognizing
the need to be a the ability to be able
to disentangle.
What did your word used
>> to unblend and the inshment is not
powerful because it's the inshment with
something that doesn't allow me to see
clearly.
From this you can ultimately come to the
third step called hamtaka.
Hamtaka means sweetening.
And this is a very very profound step in
human growth. When
the very very forces that have confused
us so much suddenly
become
catalysts and springboards for your
greatest growth and awareness. It's
where my prison became my opportunity.
Where my downfalls, mistakes,
challenges, and struggles have
contributed to the unique authentic
power and light that you have to bring
to this world. But I could never get to
stage three if I don't go stage one and
two. In other words, if I right away
begin, everything is perfect. Everything
is sweet. IT'S EXACTLY THE WAY GOD
WANTED IT. MY LIFE IS UNBELIEVABLE.
It's beautiful and it's true. But very
often I have amputated or repressed or
suppressed. I'm simply not acknowledging
deep parts in myself and they will come
back with a vengeance because my
survival will make sure to tell me
you're a dangerous girl and you're going
to dangerous places and therefore
suddenly tomorrow I find myself either
nervous or angry or overwhelmed. Now
these things I can't fake because I can
maybe fake it to somebody else usually
for four or five minutes. But internally
this is a very very deep internal
experience that comes with an internal
knowing and it's not intellectual. It
feels it fills the body. The nervous
system experiences the different
frequencies of anddalah
and ham.
Now
>> we're answering light and dark. Yeah.
Yeah.
Now,
if somebody's coming to me for advice,
some of you are therapists
or some of everyone everyone is, you
know, you're you're you're whatever
capacity you are, we all are you're
Jewish mothers, so you're all in the
business of giving advice. Either you
say it or you think it. But if you're a
good Yiddish imam, even if you're not
saying it, they know what you think
because the facial features and the
disappointment. Very very few of us are
such experts in repression of everything
to the point and even and then they see
even more what you really really feel.
So everybody is in that business in one
way or another. You'll forgive me. I
don't mean it in a negative way. It's
just it's part of it's part of our job.
And some of us actually do it for a
living and some of us do it actively.
>> [snorts]
>> These three steps are essential when
somebody comes to me because there is so
much in meshment. Your child comes to
you, there's a problem. Your spouse
comes to you, somebody else comes to
you. I can respond like this
and there's no awareness of how in much
in meshment there is.
I know sometimes
you know I get some feedback or emails
or people share relationships that they
started to form in the offices of
therapists
or sometimes spiritual leaders, rabbis,
rebbitson, teachers, educators
and the people working with them are not
worked out people. They never dealt with
their own demons. They never dealt with
it and they don't even realize they may
be actually nice people. But the levels
of inshment become sometimes poisonous
because they didn't go through these
three stages.
When somebody comes, the first thing is
silence. What is coming up? Wow. Cuz if
this person is triggering me in any way,
suddenly I'm loving them excessively or
I'm not liking them excessively. Both of
these relationships. Okay, I'm human.
But what just happened? Can I be silent
before I get into stories? Because
that's my story. That's not their story.
And if I don't deal with that and
confront that, my story becomes their
story. And because they're so
vulnerable, they're going to accept my
story as their story. Do you know what
type of destruction that can create in
people's lives?
When my story becomes their story
because it's completely inshed. And this
happens consciously and happens
unconsciously. And not necessarily
because people are sinister. You have
those people too. They're sick in their
head and they're sinister. But you have
people, they're not sinister, they're
still sick in their head. And you have
people who are not sick in their head,
but we're unevolved. And it's not a
blame on anybody. But it's discernment.
This is the discernment. The first thing
is, can I surrender to the fact that I
am not a impeccable, flawless mentor,
teacher, mother, father, therapist,
rabbi, rebbitson, mashia. I'm actually a
mute. I got nothing to say. K lame. K
lame. That's the first thing. I have
nothing to say. This is like way above
my pay grade. I am dumbfounded. Pun
intended. Dumbfounded.
You just came to a dumb person who got
nothing to say. Ela, I'm actually a
mute. Why did you even come to a mute? I
don't even know how to answer you. This
is actually the first sign
that there's somebody to come to.
[snorts]
The silence that ability and that
silence is
[snorts]
internal. NO, I KNOW EXACTLY. AND WHOA.
Can we sit with that? Can I make space
for that? Can I hold on to it? And I
don't know what the conclusion is going
to be. It says inma is
the first faculty of cognition before
what's
the ability to say ma what
the first question is
BEFORE YOU GET INTO THE four questions
what's the first question what
says about himself self and iron ma what
are we what he was really saying is we
are always in a state of asking ma
what is ma ma is openness inquisitive
curiosity a real real ma NOW MY SURVIVAL
DOESN'T LIKE THAT there's no CURIOSITY
WE KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TO SAY WE KNOW
EXACTLY WHAT TO DO I KNOW EXACTLY how to
position myself I know exactly what to
think of you I KNOW WHO YOU ARE I EVEN
KNOW YOUR MOTHER I know your grandmother
I googled you. I don't even need Google.
I have a filing cabinet on your family.
I heard stories from my Bubba before the
war where you come from. Shine. Boom.
Next.
Woo. And really, it's all a reflection.
When people say an opinion about anybody
else, the only person they're talking
about is themselves.
Remember this rule in life. When people
share opinions about other people, the
only person they're talking about is
themselves.
>> True.
>> Yeah. Wow. You see, now you can trust
what I said. Now you can trust what I
said.
It's so true because it's so subtle.
That's how you know it's true. And not
only that, the thing that they choose to
speak about in the other person is the
thing that they're most scared will be
exposed inside of them because it will
compromise their survival. They're
actually latching on to the quality that
is so scary if people see that in them
and therefore they make right away sure
to disassociate. Oh, she is so
opinionated.
I don't have any opinions.
That's why I'm safe. That's why
everybody likes me. I agree with
everybody.
She's so tough. Of course, I'm a
people's pleaser. Everybody loves me. I
learned that very very young. I am Miss
People's Pleaser. Amdit Sadakus of
Rockland County and New Jersey
etc etc etc. I don't know I'm doing this
but of course I have to right away make
sure this is not a threat to me because
this is Miss America
primadana miss America that's not me.
So in every person's life that ability
to be able to be silent
that's the first thing.
So Hashem now so now this is true when
somebody comes to me this is true when
I'm giving advice to somebody. And
that's what the says.
Remember the are the
that are quiet then they can cut and
then they can speak. Before I speak
first the silence then I can begin to
disentangle. I can begin to
differentiate. I can begin to remove the
inshment.
I could begin
>> exactly from blending becomes unblending
and then I could still give advice but I
could say you know what this is
happening to me. Yeah, there is
something very annoying to me. Yes,
indeed.
>> It's called objective versus subjective.
>> Very good. Objective versus subjective.
And I'm going to add one thing. I don't
know if anybody in the world can ever be
fully objective. But I do know that the
more I do this work, I can recognize the
parts where my subjectivity can hijack
the conversation.
I once asked a therapist, a good friend
of mine, and he's a very worked out
person, and I asked him a question. I
don't mean to make anybody
uncomfortable, but I was very impressed
with his answer. I said, you know, a lot
of people come to you and uh you see
men, you see women, and what happens
when a woman comes to you and you start
experiencing a positive emotion that is
very intense. What do you do? I mean,
you're a human being. Well, how do you
deal with that? And he said something
very profound to me. He says, "That's a
serious issue. And the only thing I can
do is acknowledge that this is what's
happening to me. And after I acknowledge
that this is happening to me, then I
have to make a deep decision. Can I
differentiate? Can I unblend
and be here for this person according to
their needs? Then I will continue to see
them. And if I see that it's just very
intense, there's no unblending. I have
to say to myself, this will be a
disaster. This is immoral. I'm taking
somebody's money and literally using
them even if that was not my intention.
And it's not necessarily I will be using
them consciously, but unconsciously I
may be giving them advice for two years
that will make sure that they stay in
the office for another eight years
because I'm enjoying the session and I'm
getting paid for it. What's better?
You're enjoying a session and you're
getting paid for it. When people don't
have this level, I'm saying this because
this is the level where you have to
surrender. You have to say, "Yeah, I'm a
human being." And this is true not just
a this is true with all genders and this
is true with women towards women and men
towards men. It's not just one
particular aspect. This is the work, the
inner work of real authentic awareness.
That can be very cruel from some
perspective because I'm going to have to
look at everything and contain it. And
only then only then can I begin the
unblending and say, of course, I'm a
man. I may experiencing this, but you
know what? I have a deeper soul. I have
a divine soul. And my divine soul knows
exactly what respect is. It knows
exactly that this person came here for a
particular need and they're coming to me
and let me ask my divine soul what she
feels about it. And your divine soul
will say
be here for this person the way you can
be with the absolute boundaries that you
need in order to protect your integrity
and your divinity and your shamaya. The
divine soul knows it because divine soul
actually doesn't need anything else.
Divine soul is very happy in that space.
It's other types of relationships.
That's what a marriage is for. But this
is very very subtle and sensitive stuff
and nobody's going to know it. This is
not something that anybody is going to
know. But people have to be sensitive to
this on all levels. And then only in
that unblending
ultimately can there be even further
growth. So now when speaks to he says
three things
says these are the three things
is your earth. My is your birth
is the home of your father. What's the
difference? Your earth, your birth, and
the home of your father.
So let's see inside. It's literally
these three things all coming together.
What are these three things? So take a
look in your last source. And this is
the last piece here, the second line of
the last source.
So he says,
is earthiness. Eariness represents
density, brutess, crashness. It's called
aus. Akirus is the murkiness of
physicality. Eritsus is earthliness.
That's where there's a shell. It's like
the crust of the earth that eclipses.
And there's gas.
means the arrogance that comes with
thinking that I know I control. The
first thing you're going to have to
leave is
that thick dense shell that doesn't want
me to be humble and doesn't want me to
remain a student. Surrender. That's the
first thing you have to leave.
Surrender. Surrender. Surrender. Step
two.
Who is his birth?
He comes from the genetics of
at least half. The Y chromosomes COME
FROM WAS AN IDOL WORSHIPPER. The
father's genes are in the child.
the contractor's
capacity you will see everywhere in the
building. When you look at a home, you
say, "Ah, I KNOW WHO THE CONTRACTOR
WAS." HE ALWAYS PUTS THE wires in the
wrong place. Always puts the bathroom
where you didn't ask him. Always put the
sink in the wrong bedroom. the
in the building. You can see the one who
built it, the the the the the one who
drew the bl the architect, the
contractor says, "A father and mother
built a child." You could see imprints
of mommy in the child.
Can you unblend from your parents?
Can I say this may be a shell that I
inherited and I need to be able to
unblend.
This is hundreds of years before
epigenetics and all this understanding.
He's actually saying a major part of
unblending is there's things that sit in
me that actually are not essentially for
me but they may be very very powerful.
Can you go away? Can you actually
unblend? You are not obligated to
continue the narrative and the cycle
that has maybe gone on for generations.
You can actually interrupt it. You could
say, "We're going to change the story.
We're going to react differently." It's
hard sometimes. I've seen situations of
families that are not perfectly
functional. I mean, no family is
perfectly functional. And then there's
that one person who stands up to the
truth and they're demonized. they become
the crazy ones because they're actually
articulating a truth that nobody ever
wanted to deal with.
>> Now, we have to be careful not to get
into a superiority complex because then
you become part of the problem, not part
of the solution. But there's a very very
inner knowing that comes when you
unblend. That's the second thing. You're
not but you have inside of you. He built
a house. Abrain has to look at himself
and say this is a piece. His mother's
name was this is an amasy piece.
These are their pieces and I'm carrying
them and I can have compassion for it
but I have to know that I'm not going to
go down that rabbit hole. And then comes
the home of your father. What's the home
of your father? Where was home?
moved to say
and he left the home of his father
comes from the word anger.
Go away from the anger from the and
elevate it and sublimate it in your
kindness and
sweeten the den in its source.
and then you will come to the land that
I will show you. Understand this. So
here you have the three stages.
Go away from arrogance. Go away from
control. Go into a place of surrender.
That will not make you weaker. It'll
actually make you much more powerful
because you're going to be open to
truth. Nothing is as powerful as the
truth. The second thing is
I have to be able to unblend.
No, I am not just an insecure people's
pleasing, self-hating, self-loathing,
anxious, depressed, lazy, narcissistic,
selfish, overwhelmed, betrayer of
everything and everybody. Even though
there are such voices, can I unblend?
I'm not ter Yes, there are voices of
Tarak inside of me. That's true. I'm his
child. I come from Tarak. I'm carrying a
lot of things but I can begin to unblend
and then I can come to the third one and
that is this wasn't all a mistake.
Everything I ever dealt with everything
I developed
ultimately is part of my journey to be
able to allow me to fulfill my mission
in the world and therefore it can all be
sweetened. That's me. Go away from the
anger
and now you could finally enter into the
land that I will show you. What's the
land that I will show you? Hashem will
show you this is the land, the promised
land, the land, the inheritance that I
will show you, the divine inside of you,
the infinity inside of you will show you
this is your landscape. This is where
you can live.
Not by denying the other parts, but by
having that courage of
so is saying this is not a one-time
event. This is constantly in davening
happening. This is in learning because
this is in all relationships. This
happens throughout the day. In the
middle of the day, something happens. I
get a text. I get a WhatsApp. Somebody
sends me a message. I'm giving myself a
message. There's a confrontation.
There's a misunderstanding. There's a
pressure. There's an anxiety.
Big stuff. Small stuff. Very small
stuff. Constantly the text that you just
got 5 minutes ago. I don't even want to
read it.
And and right away, boom, ho. Surrender.
It's exactly what's supposed to be. This
is exactly what Hashem wants at this
moment. I don't need interpretation. I
don't have to figure IT ALL OUT. NO, I
KNOW. [screaming] I KNOW. AND BOOM, YOU
WRITE A SCATHING text like you know how
to write with all your professional
English and your pros and your eloquence
and you really know how to cut them down
so that they never start up and then you
regret it of course an hour later and
you call a friend. Was I too harsh? Can
I just surrender and be quiet? And then
slowly there's havd and I'm talking and
none can be forced because if I force
one stage or the other stage I'm jumping
at that's the schma
there's there's actually hearing. Oh,
you could see there's different parts of
the jury. I'm not just all dark or all
evil or all mishuga or all overwhelmed.
I'm not all broken. That's not true.
There's different parts. Let's make
and then ah.
So in the calendar we have these three
times of the year
and now you could see perfectly how it
works. The first step of going out of
mitz is nozz
and matzah is the ultimate hakn
because inflated dough that's matzah is
deflated literally deflated and not only
you don't allow it to rise and ferment
but actually if you ever watched how
they do in the matzah bakery they pour
matzah mahactus of mahactus of mahactus
with the sticks they're rolling that
matzah and they're pounding on it and
pounding on it so if he wants to get
inflated for a and it gets a punch in
the nose and fine, the matzah is happy
because it's going to become matzah.
It's very happy. But really what it
feels like is I'm getting punched and
getting punched and I want to I want to
protect myself when I am aggressively
responding internally with shame or
self-contempt or blame. It's really I'm
trying to protect myself and somebody's
punching me. There is no judgment and no
negative feeling. Listen to me if you
are not feeling punched. But it doesn't
necessarily mean a physical punch. An
emotional punch could be far more
severe. And when my daughter or my son
or my husband or my wife or my sibling
or my sister-in-law, MY BROTHER-IN-LAW,
MY parent or my neighbor, my friend made
that comment,
I felt a punch
and maybe a punch in my gut. And maybe
he was not even conscious. Of course, I
have to go into this mode. I'M TRYING TO
DEFEND MYSELF. And surrender is can you
sit with the punch? because you're going
to find out what's really hurting. And
then you'll actually be able to build up
real defenses, not from a place of
defensiveness and weakness, but from a
place of inner power and knowing. It's a
whole different experience. I'm not a
victim anymore. I'm a mentor. I'm a
leader. I can respond
or not respond, but come from a place of
deep strength. So the first step of
mitim of pes is I'm stuck in mitim
as we spoke before pes is mim
constraints confinements m literally I'm
stuck in my survival templates and I
can't get out of it my life is
predictable this is who I am I have this
nature you have this nature why did we
develop different dispositions
why did your husband have to
disassociate emotionally why did
somebody's wife have to disassociate
emotionally
Why are the people who stopped feeling?
Why are the people who control
everything? They're intellectual
geniuses, but they're terrified of
relationships. They need a monitor.
They're hypervigilant. You know, people
who make lists all day
all day. They don't you don't even have
to do what it says in the list. The main
thing is that you have a list. I
sometimes get into that craze. I sit
down in the morning and I make a list of
everything I have to do. It's like 99
things. Trust me, I don't get to do even
three of them. But after I made the
list, I ALREADY FEEL LIKE A MENCH
ALREADY. LIFE IS UNDER CONTROL. WHY?
BECAUSE I HAVE A FAKA LIST OF EVERYTHING
I HAVE TO DO. IT'S GOING TO TAKE ME NINE
YEARS. But the main thing is I have a
list, right? You relate to that. You
know what I mean? The the list is more
important than anything cuz the list is
LIKE NOBODY IS NOBODY is going to
CONTROL MY LIFE. I HAVE MY DAY DOWN PAT.
SURE. UNTIL THE next WhatsApp and then
everything is shine. The list goes to
the garbage. you could burn it WITH YOUR
THAT'S ONE THING this hypervigilance and
then there's a person who will not let
you get too close to them it's
tremendous reason I will not let anybody
get too close there's a person who on
the contrary they're Mrs. kind for
everybody. THEY'RE THE BEST FRIEND OF
EVERYBODY. Always smiling to everybody.
All these things. Why do people develop
these different natures? Everybody has I
could live in my mitzay my entire life.
This is my template of how I learn to
respond. But I'm not living with the
full power of my soul. I'm not living
with the full power of my creativity.
I'm not filling living with the full
power of my love. I don't even know what
it is. My entire life is a response is a
reaction. The first thing is that can
only happen with a lot of silence.
Compassionate silence.
That's now comes
unblending. You see, I got it. Took me
some time. I had to unblend. Unblending.
That's exactly
matzah is not let it be.
Barley, the only carbon of barley
besides a why barley in the ancient
times wheat is Adam and barley was
animal f today everything changed if
you're a person you're not allowed to
eat wheat anymore wheat is horrible it's
the angel of death you're only allowed
to eat barley I mean it's better if
you're a vegan but only barley right so
is it a reason because we became
behemoths or as the behemoths became
people that you'll ask uh that you'll
ask other people I'm not that's above my
pay grade but in the B mikdash the only
carbon of animal f was the barley sphere
interesting why and the answer is yeah
you know why
>> okay
Spirit is
what are we?
>> Beautiful. Beautiful. So the says
there's a count. The word the balatanya
says comes from the word sapphire. Evan
sapper a sapphire stone. It's not just
you're counting. You're shining. You're
creating a glow.
Why do we go through 7 weeks, 49 days?
Each day is another attribute because
I'm literally unblending and watching
the response of the animal consciousness
versus the divine consciousness.
>> Literally, you get it.
>> Yeah.
>> Exactly. Exactly. Yeah.
Today
you're literally polishing and you're
differentiating between the response
that comes from the sapphire stone in
you, the light in you and the response
that comes from survival. Now survival
is not evil. Survival is a mitzvah. The
challenge is when my survival becomes a
substitute for everything. Of course, I
have to survive. Of course, there's
moments when that is the priority. But
when that becomes my go-to place, I
don't have any other place. I don't know
about anything else. I just know about
my survival. So literally most of my
energy is eclipsed under kipo under
shells. That's why we say every night
you remember
that's unblending.
This is the art of unblending.
These are all the templates we develop.
Is I connect is I withdraw.
Animal consciousness is people's
pleasing. Everybody needs to like me.
Please tell me that my class was the
best class you ever heard in your life
and it changed your life forever and
ever and ever and ever
>> and I outdid myself even more. Please.
Okay. Thank you. One student was
listening. [laughter]
I have to tell you I'm rebir Shapiro the
founder of Dafoy. He had the yeshiva of
Lublin. He came to America to raise
money and it was the 1920s.
He passed away in 33. Reme Shapiro. So
he was once he was giving a lecture in
New York and it was a 2hour shar big
shear two hours. So uh and then there
was no double speed. So it was hard two
hours two hours. It was like a lot. A
Jew comes over to him afterwards and
says,
"I'm a simple Jew.
Unfortunately, I didn't understand one
word, but you know what? You probably
could use money for your yeshiva." So,
here's a check. I want to participate.
And he gives him this big check.
>> [laughter]
[laughter]
>> Yeah, you were the only one who
understood. A HUGE CROWD. NOBODY
UNDERSTOOD A WORD. YOU WERE THE ONLY ONE
WHO UNDERSTOOD. YEAH. The Rav Kman once
said at a dinner, he said, "All the
speakers before me,
all the speakers before me spoke about.
what they meant was money. I'm going to
talk about money. What I mean is yeah.
So that honesty, that authenticity is
critical. So is one type of response.
The people's pleasing and the need for
validation. I need everybody to love me.
Gur is I disassociate. I disconnect.
Very strong boundaries. Very judgmental.
Right? Teres could be very manipulative
because it's empathy, but it's unhealthy
empathy. It's when I go into your
kishkas, I know exactly what you need to
hear. Netak is ambition, victory. That
can be very anim animalistic. I'm going
to win every argument. I will be right.
I will be right. H is the opposite. I
surrender spinelessness. Each one of
them literally is bonding, connection.
There's bonding that can be very very
toxic when I have crushes on people. And
then there's malus. Malus is kingship.
Kingship can be divine and it could be
very very anim animalistic. So each one
of these can be expressed in different
ways. This is where the unblending
happens and it's very very deep work.
That's why it's
doesn't mean I don't have it. It means I
could begin to see.
So suddenly I could polish my templates.
I can polish my responses. Then we come
to
here's the fascinating thing. Shvis was
the only time of the year they brought a
carbon from Kamutz. The meal offering on
Shvis was wheat.
All the other meal OFFERINGS THE WHOLE
YEAR WAS ONLY MATZAH INCLUDING THE
barley offering on the second day of pes
the only CARBON FROM THE ONLY ONE.
INTERESTING ON PESAK IS THE WORST and on
it's a mitzvah
because what happened the third stage
ham ham is the elevation the sweetening
the transformation suddenly everything I
was beating up everything I was beating
up myself for everything I was pounding
away crushing it which can sometimes be
very good surrender and sometimes just
self-contempt and suddenly the kit
itself becomes sweet because everything
gets elevated. How does it get elevated?
Not because I make believe nothing
happened. There is the grief but then
from the grief and the unblending comes
transformation. And in that
transformation I can look and say
literally every stumbling block, every
failure, every setback, all those things
I learned, they weren't mistakes. Sure,
I could blame myself. People sit and
they blame. If I would have only known
this and some people say why didn't I
hear this 25 years ago I once gave a
lecture somebody said where were you 35
years ago to say this I said I was
eating cotton candy [laughter] what what
you know we we can all look back
everybody made mistakes every we make
mistakes right that perfect mother that
we're looking for it doesn't exist that
perfect father we're looking for I'm not
that father we doesn't exist it does not
exist. There's a time where you take
responsibility
acknowledging the pain but taking
responsibility from myself. And then I
could say ultimately this wasn't a
mistake. It wasn't random. It's part of
every soul's journey that all of these
rabbit holes I went by be made me and
make me the person I become to fulfill
my mission in this I