The Soul of Israel: The Final Count Up

[Music] Shalem everyone this is cats and listening to the soul of Israel on the Land of Israel common land of Israel Network happy post ss a good full ammo aid solenoid that's right ideas brothers and sisters this period that we're in right now between Pesach and Sheva there's like one long holla mode it's this intermediate Allah day filled with a lot of very very important dates dates on the Jewish calendar which makes our heart and soul feel more alive than ever which is what we're gonna be discussing today together with my precious brothers mama two of the closest people in my heart rabbis Jeremy Gimpel Inari Abramowitz Sean Malaysian guys Shalom rush Lola good morning good house Pesach powerful it was an intent to pay SAP what about you Jeremy it was pay Seth that will never be forgotten never so I just want to put it out there that we're dedicating today's words for this please God the speedy recovery very precious soul of a little little boy yeah here Efraim Ben Rocco Devorah so this period that we're in right now for me on a personal level is a very very special and since I get to put the guitar down for a while and it's downtime it's less there's not a lot a lot the concerts or weddings going on because it's the period of the Omer which has a lot of different explanations and and manifestations through other things as well but today we wanted to focus on is one very specific thing and that is the beauty and the gift to count our time which is what we're busy doing every day today is the tenth day correct boys yep which is a week in three days from the time that we left Egypt towards were marching towards our scene I and the question that everyone has is what is the point of discounting these days you should count your days every day of your life every day is a gift but something very very important took place on pacer and it's enabling us to now understand what exactly happened on Pesach Pesach night richlum acaba is the same god gave us a glimpse of who he was on the last day of Pesach when we crossed the Red Sea and we jumped into water God gave us a glimpse of who we are and what we're trying to do now during the oh man it's to build the vessel for the revelation of who God was to us on Seder night and we're also trying to build a vessel of who we really are which is a glimpse of what we got on the seventh day of Pesach when we jumped into the water as we said last year I remember maybe it was three years ago fish la Mercado used to say that freedom without direction is just another form of slavery and those words ring is so deep and so true in my heart when ever I hear those words because we always think that we'll be happy when we stop having a problem or when I rid myself of a certain habit and then were freaked out and shocked esta how come things aren't really so good right now I just wanted that bad thing you know I thought that if only I can snap out of that bad habit and stop suffering now things would be good and God says to us look you guys all thought that the whole point is to stop being slaves that was Slav Aleph that was the first phase but a much bigger phase is gaining a direction and working towards it I know that one of the greatest gifts and curses of living in today's day and age is that everyone's freelancing all the time none of us really have bosses anymore that are sitting over a thing you have to do this you have to do that on the one hand it gives us the ability to have more of a choice as to what we want to do but I'm reminded of a visit I had of a friend of mine who was just about to be finishing his army service after three years of intense army service where someone stands above you and tells you exactly what to do what not to do it was very hard especially for someone that's so independent and he came to me I was living here in Efrat already and he said to me Ashley I'm so nervous about next week I'm like what are you so nervous about he's like the day that no one is gonna tell me what I'm supposed to be doing that day I said what what are you nervous for that that's freedom he's like I guess I'm still a slave because I really want someone that next morning the morning after I'm done with the army they still tell me what I have to do today because not knowing what I'm supposed to do terrifies me we see that when certain people were freed from slavery they went crazy because they had no idea what to do with freedom freedom without direction is another form of slavery God is giving us right now the ability to stay focused I know the purpose of why we left Egypt in the first place why did we stop being slaves in the first place so here we are we left me trying and now what God is saying to us every single day counter your day was today another day where you looked for someone to tell you what to do or was today a day that you use to figure out what you want to do and who you want to be I want free people to show up when I give them the Torah in seven weeks from now as we're counting down this concept this time of Swat the omen I don't know about you guys but to me not having someone telling me what to do really has played with my mind I mean you're are you you're you're basically bosses to employers correct on a certain level without laughing too much about it on some level that is true so would you want someone above you a point I would love someone above why because I spend the majority of my trying time trying to really understand what I want I sometimes wish there was like you know I'm rough Kahana you know I would say tell me what to do and I'll do it just send me in the right direction tell me what the mission is tell me what the calling of the generation the fact that there isn't and in fact there isn't what's that do to you it's tormenting it's difficult it's painful it's I walk around sometimes feeling like a total waste most of our meetings are okay so what are we supposed to do now yeah montage of all the time saying what now what are we supposed to do now what is the mission right now what does Hashem want of us right now it's constantly changing and it's constantly demanding us to really I guess tune in not only to the freedom but to like what are we supposed to do but when you if you were under someone you wouldn't even have I would say the freedom to think like that or to ask like that and that is exactly what this is for becoming we're becoming people again that that that have to start thinking a slave doesn't even entertain these thoughts of what now what now what now what now is what was yesterday and what's going to be tomorrow so that's why this period of Spirit omen I believe with the modern-day calendar that we have now together with a few very crucial dates on the Jewish calendar from years years before provide for us the direction what am I talking about in these seven weeks are some of the most powerful days that for my our identity tomorrow night you oh my shrah next week yamazaki run yama smollett's following that we have days like Pesach Sheni very underrated holiday Lag Ba'Omer the Dave Robuchon bar Yohai young yerushalaim that's all is sandwiched in this coupon of sphere at the omen I think that if we took each one of these dates obviously Yama show either the Holocaust Memorial Day and your mozzie car on these days who if you're not in Israel you just can't taste them but they really form who we are they sense they give us a sense of direction oh yeah why am I still alive why am I in Israel what am I trying to do here why do we have independence here or hopefully we will have real independence here one day why do we have that why do we have you shall I'm God why are you giving me a second chance God what are you whispering to me through the secrets of the more esoteric Oh places in the Torah being in constant conversation with God of why for what purpose are you giving me all these gifts and when I ask those questions of why you're giving me all these gifts please a Shem I don't want to be a zombie here life's intense life can get very very freaky at times I don't want to just go through them being a survivor I want to be someone that's thriving I want to have an identity I don't want to just be a free person free from having an Egyptian slave master over me I want to be a servant of yours I'm free to become a servant I'm free from slavery to become a servant that's the period that we're in the sphere at the owner of counting every single day I mean usually we have countdowns and here we have count ups if you notice that right the final countdown here we don't know it's 49 days left till we get the Torah 48 days till we get the Torah now it's I'm one day out of Egypt I'm two days out of Egypt I'm three days out of Egypt kind of like when you're in 12-step program you always say how many days you're sober you're counting each day that you've chosen freedom you don't say okay if I'm clean if I'm clean for ten years I'll have a drink in ten years and now we're up to nine years that we're gu when you grow towards something you don't do it countdown you count up so in our barrel that we're carrying with us of life what a hard question it is to look into our barrel of life and say how many days that were filled with meaning and longing and freedom can i really say I put into this barrel of meaning how much can I really look at my life and say I counted my days I was my days are leading up to somewhere and not just thank God I got through it that's the difference between a slave and a servant a slave is just thankful that he got through another day a servant is excited that tomorrow will be even more of an opportunity to get closer and there's a famous story one of my favorite stories about the clock of the seer of Lublin the seer of Lublin Rabbi Yaakov easlick Horowitz who was a tremendous juice acidic master we're talking about the 19th century the early 19th century the Xhosa of Lublin he had a certain clock that was known that because they had his own time for everything one day many years after a few years after he passed away one of his students was passing through a town and he had to stop in a crate Ram that's an inn broken down in in Poland in the early 19th century these are one of these broken-down shacks that you hear every beep every Bob whatever it is and what happened was is that the cause of Lublin student the or his name was Rebs EV wolf he was known as the or ham a year the shining light he asked if he could stay in this Inn they gave him a certain room but everyone in the hotel mothers Motel knew that he was up all night because like I said before these the kind of motels that you walk a little bit to the right the whole motel kind of goes to the right with you so everyone knew that this this rabbi was up all night no one knew why but when he came out for the next morning for a checkout and the person behind the desk said to him rabbi we could tell you didn't really have a you couldn't sleepless knows everything okay and he looked very excited you said let me ask you a question by any chance in the world whose clock was on the wall in the room that I stayed in so the person behind my death said well actually that clock belongs to the seer of lublin did you know him did I know him he was my master my soul master my Rebbe but how did you know that that was the clock of this how do you know there's nothing special about that clock this press me on the desk asked this observe wolf he says my friend let me tell you most clocks most wait most way people tell time in this world he said with every tick in every talk they say we made it through another day it made it through another day that slaves with the Serie of luleen's clock every single tick and tock I could hear it telling me we're one step closer to the redemption we're one day closer to getting closer to bed tomorrow's gonna be even sweeter than today how could you sleep with such a tick in the talk in your ear so our dear friends all over the world I gave us a Braja to twin anticipate out the omen in accordance with the clock of the seer of Lublin not only are we thankful that we're not slaves anymore but our heart should be open to understanding and believing that what God wants to give us is only greater and bigger and more exalted than whatever we were at today but the vessel through which I can accept the good of hashem is what we're working on widening and refining the more we stay away from egypt today is one day that i left Egypt now I'm already 10 days that I let that slave mentality beyond me and today is another day that my vessel for redemption is getting bigger and bigger friends I want you to know I'm under no illusion that my words right now are easy or simple they're the hardest they make or break us and quite often they break us but when we you add prayer into faith you come out with a fine vessel of Steel of a rock that can't be touched and this is the period of time after remembering that six million Jews were killed thousands and thousands of soldiers have been killed so we could be here now is the time to look at the world and say what a time to be alive that I still believe in God and I still believe that he wants to do so much more good than I could ever imagine in my life I bless us all to not be shocked by living miracles Amane [Music] Israel's a thriving democracy in the Jewish state - and those concepts usually work beautifully together but sometimes it creates tension hello this is Gil Hoffmann host of inside Israel today here on the land of Israel network on the land of israel calm we here at inside israel today go into what's going on behind the scenes in israel giving you an insider's look of all the excitement in israeli politics and why that should give you hope for the future rather than make you depressed yes it can be done so tune in and find out how here on the land of israel network on the land of israel calm