The Soul of Israel: The Secret to a Life of Renewal

[Music] Shalom everyone this is rabbi Katz and listening to the soul of Israel on the land of Israel that common land of Israel common network another beautiful Tuesday morning here in a frat in the Judean Hills and the privilege of hearing from so many of you this past week has filled me with gratitude and like before of anything I really just want to content to reinforce and encourage you all to share your hearts even if I can't get back to all of you uh during the week it's there and I'll get back to at a certain point it's been a tremendous week of hearing from so many of you from last week so I thank you and hope that we continue to enjoy this ride together Shalom / AHA my dear brother by Arya Brown with how are you my friend how is it feeling out there in the on the hill in this interesting winter not a crazy winter but there's there's moments of real crazy right real crazy like the pergola on top of my that summer blew right off oh no way yeah just rip things apart but most of the winter it's been relatively mild yesterday there was really nice blessing like rain you know what I mean there's sometimes it's blessing me and sometimes there's rain that feels like Hashem is saying I want to give you brother but I'm not super super happy with you so it's gonna be a little bit harsh but it's still rain right yesterday was very like even ok buchen tin you and even more than that I mean is that the shame so you know we're in the we're on the brink of redemption right now in the Torah portions that we're reading but the illustrates something that happens to us right before we truly become free people I got to share with you about a beautiful kiddush that happens in our neighborhood there's a dear friend of ours name is Benjamin Benjamin Simon you know Benjamin Simon he came at this to the Ukraine in Yemen does a really sweet shelled out kaduche in his house right after Shabbos after Sabbath services every Saturday morning excellent herring are you been there yeah yeah I just went there a couple of weeks ago it's rain excellent herring fine wine but more than anything just really good as ever the company and I I knew about the kiddush for a while for whatever the reason was it didn't happen I wasn't able to and and then I said you know I'm gonna put everything aside I'll even come home a few minutes later I'm a sure my wife will understand I'm gonna go once loved it and then I went the following week and it was it was awesome and when I went the following when I went that second week so my friend said to me um one more time and you got to stay here no I actually hasn't happened yet that I went again but what's that whole thing about when someone says that by Osaka right right what does that mean that's a good question it's a word we say if you've done something three consecutive times that means that it's now part of you and if you were to stop doing it you have to some people know rema know you're a vowel right but I never thought really beyond that right how's that cut I never thought about it but it really does it binds you to something with strength with strength with with strength so I want to read for you a pursuit that has a Kazakh in our parsha you tell me what the word is that's three times Ajo - gizelle ephemera Shea rush Hoda she may be shown who loved him with hot che Hashanah whoa - ah - the word okay of new shows up in three different forms in one puzzle ah ho - ah c'est la femme rosh chodesh a myrational ahem the Kochiyama the word month in Hebrew also means it comes the language of new to renew yourself renewal it's very interesting that means that there must be some kind of hint here that Amit and this is basically the first Mitzvah that we're told to keep as a people and that's the sanctification of the new month the new moon it's called kedusha Hodesh sanctifying the month but what it really really points us to is a key ingredient in the procedure of becoming free and what's that renewal without the act of heat cut root of becoming Kadosh you could take the boy out of Egypt but Egypt never leaves the boy ever to renew yourself it's one of the most difficult things in the world but this is how the Hasidic masters understand the first Mitzvah in the Torah about sanctifying the new moon the new month really comes from the language of sanctifying renewal but there must be central and primary first and even more so is that it's one of the few Mitzvahed that our sages teach us that Masha Rubino had a hard time understanding how to do it there are a few mitzvahs like this the other one has to do with golem with with the with money there are a few myths was also with the menorah the blue the construction of the menorah of the candelabra Moshe did not really understand it doesn't need the Kshama Sharabi no he wasn't certain if he understood the instructions clearly so specifically when it comes to the new moon this new month one should have been has a hard time understanding now the sages teach us that moshe rabbeinu then was shown by god one ray of light and said casas ever Kadesh see this this is what I'm talking about you see this one ray of light this means that you have to sanctify the new month now let's use our morrow cups what is so hard for most Rubino to understand how is it possible for a person to renew himself how is that possible we are so finite on one level where yesterday is usually our greatest slave driver and the baal shem tov said those words exactly you said we usually we live in a realm of yesterday for instance if i ask you are you right now how are you feeling most of what you're feeling is not based on what transpired in your life since this morning right now it's 10:00 a.m. you're gonna answer you're not gonna answer me based on you know you woke up at 5:00 for them right to chop wood for a widow and then you prayed for it right okay whatever it is you woke up a few hours you're not gonna answer me based on what happened to you now in isolation today you're gonna you're more or less going to identify what you're going through based on what yesterday was now I'm not trying to point you out on this it's me it's everyone that's slave mentality he thought shoots renewal really means that I believe that Who I am today and the person that woke up into today's world has nothing to do on a binding level - whatever happened to me yesterday and before we left Egypt God had to give us this Mitzvah and saying listen about take you on a crazy trip crazy trip but understand something if you don't turn into car hate hot shot you're not gonna figure out how to maintain this freedom and freedom won't mean anything to you so let's look back in the pursuit now haha - as ill ahem this month for you is Rosh Chodesh shame is the beginning of months we shown Houlihan Nicosia Hashanah it's the first month of the year from you and I'm the shot the simple way of understanding the puzzle what month is that referring to Nissan Nissan is the first of the months it was referring to the first day of the month of Nisan but we way we're learning it right now is yet in the power to renew that's something I'm giving to you that's how you begin to leave Egypt that's how you continue to leave Egypt and that's what will bring you to the Holy Land renewal says the mayor Sheila the Rebbe of issue it's one of our favorite favorite teachers he says when it says haha - as Ella him that this new month the newness is for you he means I'm giving you the car not just to renew yourself but even to be able to lock adesh devrait torah just very very deep how do you understand that re what hits ultimate power of creation correct right the Torah is the blueprint of creation so it's not just ourselves it's reality correct fabric from which all is created they right that's exactly it which you think you have no access to right you're the reciprocally you're not a participant of the creation and your God is saying if you know how to master yourself and level of renewal what else can you renew you can renew you can go inside the inside of the inside it was ribbon upon a breslav who taught that the greatest thing or the one who most important things about a Vedanta Shem is to constantly renew yourself and he once said that he had to renew himself a few times a day now what does that mean because not only are yesterday's our greatest slave masters the concept of the past is a slave master so if you have a bad morning you're you're doomed to probably have a bad afternoon not because the afternoon is bad but it's because your experience of what you just went through dictates to you that this is how to how it has to be so what is this really telling us we it says Makeda she swallows my name you sanctify Israel and the times something about us is capable of ascending above the concept of time time is dictating time should be free you have more time to do something you have more time to discover generally time is what basically puts us in more of a prison we have more time to the right word wallow in our that the right way yeah wallow in our shortcomings of what happened yesterday two minutes ago two hours ago Bakula Vaseline it won't work like that that's not the way that this thing is gonna work the initiation of yiddish kite is the concept of sanctifying time and becoming new becoming renewed again now let's go back to Moshe I been having a hard time understanding what this is all about once you're been recurrence to God and he says really is it possible to feel no well the way we look alludes to the fact that we're old we don't look noon we look usually we look older we look on a time level it's like our bodies and our time clocks are aligned right we don't look new we look the same just a little bit older we don't look new and different so Marsha says to God how is it possible to do this God says to him cos I ever thought the Kadesh moshe rabbeinu i'm showing you one ray of light the old you says that life is only worth celebrating when you have a full picture of full moon full light it's not the way Jews sanctified time all you need is one ray of light all you need is one moment of feeling different you need one aspect of your life that you could say about that yeah field of opportunities right there feel them was the Kevin Costner movie called feel the dreams thank you whose fields of opportunity I think that's maybe a sting song anyway I'm diverting but with that with teaching there is that God is saying to must remain are usually an old person says unless the full me the whole package has changed nothing's new that's what we really say that's a perversion of the concept of renewal the Jewish concept of renewal is based on one ray of light and when you focus on one ray of light coming out of you of possibility of known then suddenly you realize oh there's another ray that's also available to renew there's another area in my life there's another aspect in my life what did we have in Egypt while we were slaves no possible renewal aspect what does this slave do what he's commanded to do on his own does he have any say it's nothing how does a slave look at this morning when he wakes up today's like yesterday and tomorrow will be like today so he even loses the concept of dreaming or of paying attention to new rays of light that shows up in his life so my question to you rabbi Abramowitz and I'm putting you on the spot is have we mastered the art of renewal well I clearly have a room to master further because when I'm thinking of this very often I would say two to three times a week I go to the mikveh the mikveh to me when I immerse in that body of like rainwater that according to Jewish law is like the mikvah I feel like that's a renewal because it's a total immersion every my head is under water my feet are off the ground I'm totally immersed like a baby immersed in amniotic fluid within the womb and these are visualizations that I do and I actually emerge feeling renewed right but this is a very different it's the opposite it's the opposite side of the spectrum it's saying you don't need to be totally immersed just find that one ray right and you can swim all the way to the other side why is it so hard for us to believe that it's hard to believe yeah why is that that's really what I wanted to get to today I think is the illusion of this world is so compelling and because we're human beings with the physiology for example last night I went to a friend's birthday party and I hate not so great which caused me to sleep not so great which when you're saying how are you feeling you as it has totally nice to do not even so much with yesterday what you did from like the evening on totally dictates the next day and it's hard to say okay new guy so I think that's the reason we're people so how would we be able to be able to really feel that we could justifiably say okay new guy because I'm set in my ways I'm thinking mikvah okay but that's an element meaning that's we have these essays we have these aids that help us to get there but if I know that tomorrow will be very much affected by today I could prepare today to be that tomorrow be free instead of looking backwards correct you turn this Aviva forward yeah now they were never able to do that in Egypt there was no forward there was only backwards the power of renewal is changing the angle and direction to how you look and experience life that's a game changer and then everything about your day becomes a preparation for the possibilities and opportunities not just of tomorrow but really about of right now and from that perspective this Wednesday night it's a little bit like a Rosh Hashanah we can use the the new month as an opportunity for a real hard reboot correct correct urban ask - that was very much he says that these heads of months these rush kodesh that were given because it's he refers to it's always as man of chuhwa time of truven when doesn't a person do true ver when he doesn't think that it'll work why wouldn't a person the middle will work won't work because of yesterday the damage is done however we have the new month the new ray the new light the cause of heat cut shoot that says there's mmm if God is God and God set up the way that the world works with Anton a time level the way he did there's never ever ever an experience in life that can't be felt as new if it's a very at a pagan it's a very pagan concept to say that what is is or to not understand Shalom America where he says ain't I - toccata shemesh I think you brought this up last week that there's nothing new beneath the Sun it's true beneath the Sun there's nothing new shuva goes above in the Sun it's true that beneath the Sun within the confines of time and space there's nothing new but a soul a soul ascends to that place that's higher than that and over there is chakra - it's only new in Egypt and Hadassah had a Shemesh it's true Gillan different ballgame and that's why as we're leaving Egypt God puts a hosaka on us ha ha - izella camera shake or the Shem Rochon Houlihan watch a Hashanah the power of renewal must be something that's engraved within us it's not the power of death it doesn't mean that God made us into the perfect beings when we left Egypt but he's saying this and you're gonna need to keep on revamping rebooting restarting that's the way that anything in this world goes but I'm gonna give you that kaya to do that through the first mitzvah of that may you're gonna receive as a people the car of kids or Shia Vanna of sanctifying the new moon I'm sure a lot of people that are listening to us and they're saying the following thing I I wish that could be me I wish I was that person but whatever the excuse is as legitimate as it may be as legitimate maybe I have no magic formula for any of you friends I can only say I'm ahem I'm a hybrid Sarah I feel that pain with you I could identify with it to a great extent fortunately or unfortunately all my friend Ari and I can do from here from the heart of the world from the center of renewal which really is Jerusalem we're sending broca's and love blessings and love and strength and encouragement to tap into that place of your soul which is above the concept of time that place in your soul that does not allow yesterday to be your greatest slave master and that place in your soul that knows that that first Mitzvah with which I left Egypt remains most crucial Mitzvahed man cost truth power to renew yourself please reach out to us la motte land of Israel calm re at Land of Israel calm with continue the conversation in between sessions and maybe a fruitful peaceful and glorious best of your week you