To Change or Not To Change? - Ari Abramowitz: The Land of Israel Fellowship

so this past week was a big one a lot of things happened at the farm in Israel and the world but I want to start talking about what you just mentioned at the very beginning these very special guests that we are blessed to be visited by here at the farm like you said her name was Pastor Paula White who's the spiritual advisor of President Trump and she came with her husband a guy named Jonathan Kane have you guys heard of this have you heard of this guy Jonathan Kane he was uh he's in a band called journey and he composed and performed many songs the most famous of which is Don't Stop Believing is that it Jeremy I'm not going to sing because then the glass breaks and the birds flying overhead die and it's a whole thing so I'm not going to sing but it's a special song and I actually heard the story of how it was written and it was inspired by his father who was a man of true faith that told him Don't Stop Believing keep it on and he wrote the song that became an international hit so actually this is uh him a picture of him pulling out the guitar and playing some music for us but anyways they came out to the farm and uh Jeremy and I took them around together and I'll tell you that when it comes to high profile people sometimes you get the feeling that they you know have their own agenda that they're not particularly open and receptive maybe I'm projecting here but sometimes it feels like they are in so many words full of themselves that they're seeking to find the facts that fit their you know priors and reinforce what they already believe and uh but that's not how I felt about these special guests this past week they were humble and they were sweet and they were filled with questions and they were just so eager to learn and I've come to believe that there's something about our Mountain out here that's like it attracts people with these qualities like a magnet I don't know you feel that Jeremy I know teal is shaping her head yes violently she she agrees with that so much anyways we took her yeah it's like a a self-evident reality that the most wonderful important people have all been drawn to this Fellowship have been drawn to the arugot farm and it's like you know some people have very big positions of power and some people are just simple Farmers but you know God doesn't see the outside he sees the inside and I really do feel like the inside of the people that connect to our farm are the cream of the crop of the people on planet Earth today anyways yeah so so we took them around the farm and uh they learned about us and we learned about them and we shared our vision for what we're trying to accomplish in the world really without ulterior motives without agendas it's not like oh we're trying to accomplish this that and the other thing and it's important for me to say that because I think that the you know the agendas to change each other can often go both ways you know yes Christians are often suspect of seeking to evangelize Jews and convert them to Christianity and justifiably so right because from what I understand for many Christians that is a fundamental tenet of Christianity and many have told me that in so many words Christianity without missionizing impulse is not really Christianity at all but it's important to also say that Jews are not immune from this impulse either to try to change the other you know many Jews are on their own quest to either you know sort of get Christians to keep the noahide laws or even just get Christians to stop seeking to convert Jews to Christianity and you know I do I should say I do empathize with that perspective having spent many years of my life with a mixture of those two desires if I'm going to be honest but you know the longer we're out here I've started to feel more and more that if I go into an encounter with someone with a goal of changing that person to absolutely anything rather than just accepting them for who they are at that very moment well then in many ways I'm cut from the very same cloth as the very missionary that's trying to convert me does that make any sense yeah I'm just I realize I'm dancing in a Minefield here which I feel like I've been doing a lot lately on the fellowship unfortunately it's all of us together and you guys forgive me if I'm you know going off here but but just let me be clear it is against the law in Israel to missionize Jews and uh and I understand that law and I think it should be enforced because after thousands of years at the mercy of missionaries who often sought our conversion on pain of death we shouldn't have to endure the same predations in our own land but I do believe that the most effective way for people to change is not through coercive legislation right because you know as they say whatever you resist persists I've come to believe that the best way to change people is not by seeking to change them at all rather by simply being ourselves and letting hashem's truth speak to the heart we just let's be ourselves let's not go at it and you know I know that uh it may sound confusing what I'm really saying here but it's really quite simple if they're trying to change me and I'm trying to change them into people that are no longer trying to change me then in the end of the day we're entering into this relationship this encounter each of us trying to change the other and if that's the case then I really don't think we have a chance of really building a true friendship based on love and respect because the person on the crosshairs of being changed isn't being loved or valued for who they are you know but rather they're being compared and contrasted to who I think they should be and who I'm trying to mold them and craft them into being and what do I know about anything you know what what do any of us know about who is supposed to be what because in my heart I really think that it wasn't a coincidence that an encounter of such significance played out during the Torah portion of korach right because that was korov's argument right he was saying to Moshe who are you Moshe to elevate yourself and to elevate Aaron over us we are all holy we should all be essentially the same right but that is not what Hashem wants if Hashem wanted us to all be identical then we wouldn't have been made of so many different pieces and so many different ingredients he wouldn't have divided the nation of Israel into tribes each with our own strengths and our own contributions to the greater holy wouldn't have created different nations each with their own unique characteristics and talents he wouldn't have created mankind as you know as different as we all are around the world we would have been identical clones of each other with no differences and no distortions and no variations in many ways I think that is the greatest tragedy of the human story throughout history you know the never-ending quest to make everybody else into a projection of ourselves from Cain and Abel who couldn't appreciate each other's differences to Korra to the world we're living in today right mankind just suffers from this miserable and lethal disorder of not respecting the differences that make us unique I've had Christians tell me that they're just if they're going to be honest that their intent on just removing the scales from my eyes that are blinding me to the truth and to them I respond that that is exactly my goal as well you know but if they're dedicating their lives to removing the skills from my eyes and I'm dedicating my life to removing the skills from my own eyes then who's left to remove the scales from their eyes you know one of the greatest joys of life is seeking Hashem in truth right as King David said in Psalm 35 of verse three I'm happy is the heart that is seeking seeking God happy is the heart who is relentlessly and courageously seeking Hashem in truth to to abandon our Illusions and our falsehoods you know even ones that we may hold dear a lot of our Illusions and falses I know for me personally I've held dear for my entire life and it's hard and it takes courage to let those things go sometimes I still haven't let a lot of mine go I know it I don't necessarily know what they are but I know that they're there and you know that's such a beautiful way to draw close and to cleave to our creator but if we're always dedicated to showing everybody else where they're wrong then we will remain spiritually stagnant our entire lives and that is just a tragedy of the highest order and so we welcomed these sweet people to our farm and my personal goal was like Abraham bringing guests into my home with the purpose of making them feel loved and valued and welcomed for who they are not who I think in my Divine wisdom that they should be but who they are right now at this very moment and so we welcome them with love and with no ulterior motives and we sing and we hiked and we ate and we shared our hearts and our families and then the very next day we saw this historic headline in the Jerusalem Post in which Pastor White made a very courageous announcement a very for a Christian leader with the following and a lot on the line it's a courageous announcement that Christians should be learning from Jews not trying to convert them and to me it felt like a fixing it felt like a deep historic rectification that you know rather than continue in the path of Korah which man has been doing since the expulsion from the Garden of Eden which has only led us to sink to greater and greater depths and being swallowed up by the Earth in one way or another again and again rather than continuing falling into that Abyss we are now rising to Greater Heights together not despite our differences but because of that and we see the prophets talk exactly about this you know with unbelievable Clarity here's uh zaharia he says oh Lord my strength and my Fortress and my refuge in the day of Affliction Nations shall come to you from the end of the Earth and shall say surely our fathers have inherited lies worthless idols and things in which there is no prophet and we see that happening right before our eyes right now I'm sorry that was actually Jeremiah forgive me and and uh Zachariah Zachariah he says and many people uh and strong Nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem to pray before the Lord thus says Hashem Lord of hosts in those days it shall come to pass the ten men from the nations of every language shall take hold of the robe of a Jew of the seat seat of a Jew saying we will go with you for we have heard that God is with you and this is all happening just real time at our Pharmacy I want to bless us my friends that we continue in the mission of this Fellowship right by coming together with hearts of humility and love and recognize that Hashem made us different because he wants us to be different and the only way to bring about the change the world needs for Redemption is by looking deep within ourselves and changing ourselves and may the love and humility of all of you the holy people in this Fellowship who I so love and admire and respect who I owe so much to may you all continue to be a spark that ignites the flames in the hearts of all of mankind bringing about the Redemption for which we have all been yearning foreign