The Secret Hidden within the Shema | The Land of Israel Fellowship

You know, when I put my kids to bed at night, um, I tell them stories and I try to be very intentional and I often ask myself, if I were to leave the world tonight, God forbid, but if I were, what Torah truths would I most want etched into their beautiful little souls, what truth would I want to bequeath to them? What ideas have helped me stay positive and loving and resilient, at least during the the moments when I managed to be those things? I'm not always that, but I I have been blessed to be able to be that during adverse times. And uh for those of you who know me well, you already know what I'm going to say. Three words. Three words from Deuteronomy 4:39. Let's look look together at the whole verse from which these three pivotal words are taken. Know therefore this day and keep in mind that Hashem alone is God in heaven above and in the earth below. There is no other. know this day and keep in mind there is no other. There is there is nothing else. And so I try to live with these words constantly. I have them engraved on Jerusalem stone in my living room. I actually have one right here. Amil vado in Gamu Tova. Right. There is no other. There's nothing else in in my living room. It's a bumper sticker. The only bumper sticker on my car. And I know that's kitschy. Like what a bumper sticker. The re the real is it's not about the sticker or the stone. The real goal is having it infused into my essence to carve this truth into my inner world. And so many Jews here in Judea and the land. It's just on cars, it's on walls, it's on buildings. It's like we're all seeking to remember and hold this truth dear, right? Because for me and many others, a Odmil Vado is the key that allows me to peer through the powerful illusion of duality and multiplicity of this world. And remember that beneath everything, every event, every force, every experience, it's all him. All of it. And that leads naturally to the second, I guess, mantra based off the words of Rabbi Aka that has carried me through life. Gamu letova. This too is for the good. Right? But you don't need to actually you don't need to turn to Rabbi Akiva or even Nakum is Gamu for this truth because Yseph teaches it first in this week's Torah portion. Right? That's one of the reasons that this para is so precious to me. Right? Yseph doesn't just believe this idea. He lives it. And he articulates for the first time in the Torah that I know of and I'm open to being corrected on this but it's the first time in the Torah that I know of. He articulates what the journey of a human life truly is in connection with this truth. Right? When Yseph finally reveals himself to his brothers, they're paralyzed, right? They accept they expect uh vengeance or death or retribution, right? And instead, he comforts them. It's it's like so novel. Let's look inside Genesis 45:4. Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me if you please." And they came close. And he said, "I am Joseph, your brother that you sold into Egypt." All right. Now, slow down. This is one of those verses where without the Hebrew, most of the beauty is completely inaccessible. Sra Beerman points out something stunning. I think I'm positive I shared this in the past, but it's just so beautiful and so pertinent to our to our the world right now that we need it, right? The word aare in that verse doesn't only mean that. It can just as legitimately mean because meaningfold me into Egypt. You guys remember this idea? Did you catch that? Let's put on our 3D glasses for a moment because the Torah, right, is it's written with infinite wisdom and divine intelligence. Much wiser than Chad GBT and perplexity put together, right? The Torah is written with this infinite divine intelligence and it it can you can hold multiple truths on different dimensions simultaneously. So on the surface, Yseph is saying, "I'm Yseph, the vice roy of Egypt, because you sold me into slavery. Right? That's what he's saying. He's telling them the Yseph you see standing before you, the one with the emotional depth, the spiritual clarity, and the strength to forgive so fully, right? And so quickly, the one who can see Hashem orchestrating everything. This Ysef only exists because of what you did. without the sail and without the pit and without the prison, without the years of suffering, I would not have become this Yseph. Right? In a shocking way, Yseph is crediting his brothers. He's not excusing them or justifying them, but he's recognizing that Hashem used their actions to save him and to shape him and to save them. Right? He's conveying here that the suffering didn't just create the circumstances that would save Israel from the famine. The suffering created him. The suffering refined him and expanded his soul and gave him the capacity to fulfill his mission. This is not this is not Gamula to in theory. This is a man standing inside the full truth of his life and declaring that even the pain was purposeful. And now here comes the right here comes the new thought that I think is going to change my life. It's just too new and fresh for me to know for sure. But I'm pretty sure right I even ran this by Shaina. I ran it by Jeremy and Tahila. I even asked our guest for Shabbat, Professor Eugene Kurovich and his family. I genuinely I genuinely thought that this must be obvious and that I was just I was just late to the party. It just sort of skipped me. But they all said the same thing. They're like, "No, we never thought of it that way." And and this matters because it reframes perhaps the most important verse in the entire Torah. The verse we say when we wake up, the verse we say before we sleep, the verse whispered into the ear of a newborn, at least my newborns and most God-fearing Jews do this, right? And the verse we aspire to be the last words leaving our lips before we depart this world, right? What verse am I talking? Jewish tradition teaches that when Yakov and Yseph finally reunited, father and son, they embraced and wept. And in that moment, when they were weeping on each other's soul shoulders, Yakov recited the Shama, right? Shama, Shama, Israel, Adonoi, Elohu, Adonai. Here, O Israel, Hashem, meaning Y Vave, the tetragamaton is our God. Elo Hashem Y vave is one. Right? This tradition is so deeply embedded that we've seen it replayed again and again during this war. Soldiers returning home, hostages reunited with their family. It's the same experience as Jacob and Joseph. who's able to just cry in five seconds. You know, a hostage being reunited with his father and that's the first words he says. We saw it again and again. So, you know, Rdererman brings a teaching from Rav Schlommo of Bab. Yakov was not merely performing the mitzvah of Creatma, right? He wasn't just fulfilling the commandment that this was the time he was supposed to say the shama. He was teaching a lifedefining truth. Right? For 22 years, Yakov mourned Yseph. He believed tragedy had struck. But now seeing [snorts] Ysef not only alive but powerful and vibrant and sustaining the entire family. Well, suddenly Yakopen himself understands that he was wrong to see those years as pure loss and to suffer perhaps to suffer as extremely as he did. Right? Everything everything had been for the good. And Yseph himself says, "Hashem sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival." And so that moment of ultimate clarity clarity Jacob declares declares. But Jacob is not merely reciting words. He's proclaiming a truth. Israel, this is what he's saying. Here's what he's saying. Shm is children of Israel, listen carefully. Pay attention to what I'm about to teach you. Hashem, the ineffable four-letter name, the name that represents Hashem's highest manifestation of pure mercy and infinite compassion as the loving father behind all of reality. Elou, right? The name associated with judgment and concealment and strictness. The name associated with moments when Hashem appears distant or harsh or painful, right? in Yakov's message is this Hashemad they are one and the same right even when Hashem appears to be acting with Dean through suffering and confusion or heartbreak it is still the very same compassionate Hashem there is no other force at work no contradiction no randomness I hope I explained that well if not reach out to me and I'll explain it to you again right the the tears of the past 22 years were not wasted Yakov realized they were rooted in a limited perspective. And now Yakov sees that deeper truth. What looks like darkness is often mercy in disguise. And what feels like loss may be the very path to salvation. And ultimately the Hashem of judgment is never separate from the Hashem in love. They're they're one and the same. That is the shama. Yakov teaches his children in all of Israel for all generations. Do you know how many times I've recited that verse? Never have I thought of it like that. Never have I seen it as a unifying expression of both and that that the shama itself is not only a declaration of faith but a declaration of interpretation that it's not merely saying who God is but how to read our lives. Because if a odmil vado is true, if there's no other force, no other source, no competing power, then gamulatva is not a coping mechanism. It is it's not optimism or spiritual gymnastics. It's simply the truth, the logical conclusion. If there is only one, then even this is him. And if it's him, then it must be for the good. And suddenly the shama becomes the great unifier. Not just between heaven and earth, not just past, present, and future, but love and judgment, mercy and pain, blessing and breakdown, right? Hashem and elocu are not two modes fighting with one another. God forbid. No. There's one story, one author, and one loving hand. Even e even when it feels clenched, it's still a hand of absolute uncompromising compassion and love. And so that, my friends, is that's the breakthrough that changed everything for me. Yakov was not saying the schma despite the suffering of the past 22 years. He was saying it because of the suffering. Only now, after the tears, after the confusion, after the years of unanswered questions, could he finally say the shama in its fullest truth. Because only now could he see that the pain was not a detour from the story. It was the story. Only now could he see that Yseph didn't merely survive the suffering, he was forged by it. And only now could YaKob understand that his own grief, his own broken heart, his own long nights of anguish were not mistakes. They were the womb from which redemption was born. And that is why the shama is whispered to a child as they enter the world and whispered again as we prepared to leave it. Because the deepest truth a human being can live with and die with is this. There's nothing outside of him. And everything he gives us, meaning everything that happens to us is ultimately for us as an expression of his fierce, unwavering, burning love, shaping us and refining us and drawing us closer to who we are meant to become. And yes, ultimately for our joy, for our happiness, not shallow happiness, but the deep unshakable peace of knowing that the hardest chapters of our lives are not betrayals, but they are preparation for something great. And so I want to end my little message to you with a blessing for us, for our whole fellowship. May we be given the eyes of Yseph to recognize Hashem's hand even while the story is still unfolding. May we be given the heart of Yakov to look back on tears and see God's loving hand. And may we be given the faith to say Shama Israel not only in moments of comfort but in moments of confusion knowing that Hashemad that Hashem is one even now. May the pain of these days be revealed as preparation. May the fractures become openings for light. And may we merit to see our personal journeys and the journeys of Israel and the world resolve into clarity and healing and complete redemption speedily in our days. Amen. My name is Ari and I live here on the edge of the Judeian frontier. And just as the prophets foretold, the mountains of Judah are coming to life. The in gathering of the exiles is taking place right before our eyes. And the final prophecy is manifesting as the righteous of the nations are coming together with humble hearts here in the land of Israel fellowship. And now I'm inviting you to join us along with hundreds of Jewish and Christian families from all around the world to experience the beauty and the holiness and the magnificence of our fellowship. So click below so you can taste the beauty and the holiness that is happening on this mountain. [music]