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BA'AL TESHUVA: Challenges of a Past Life
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When someone becomes observant in Judaism, when someone goes frrom secular to religious, it's a big jump. At the beginning it feels great, you discovered TRUTH and you're flying high. But often flashbacks of your previous lifestyle can bring you to various challenges... Rabbi Genish talks about this.
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Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
Chua the one who decided to change his
world take 180 degrees and switch the
direction that he grew up he finally
decided that the world is that the
Western world has gone bankrupt it's not
worth it for me to be able to stay just
because I was raised per se by in a
certain way doesn't necessarily mean
that that is the EMT that's the truth
and it decided to run and go a different
direction to try to be make himself firm
as firm as possible to be able to be OEM
to be able to do as much as possible but
then sometimes after you know could be a
half a year year sometimes 2 years
suddenly he starts having quivering
feets you know what happens he hears one
of those old songs from the past that he
was also familiar with his favorite song
the one that he also connected of course
AA song or he sees a certain player or a
certain actor that he was Al so
connected to that he used to enjoy
watching or suddenly he hears about a
certain sports team that they won the
pennant and suddenly he's so excited he
he feels feeling of of excitement about
the uh about the event that happens or
some other type of events that happened
in the past or old friends from the from
the blast from the past etc etc etc
something that I assume of us that many
of us can feel and suddenly it brings
them back back to those old memories it
brings him out to a place that he wasn't
there for a number of years it brings
him back to a place of of something that
he didn't know and suddenly starts going
into as they
say starts simmering inside of his mind
that maybe I'm something's wrong with me
maybe I really am not a b chuba maybe
there's something wrong with me maybe
I'm really not the person that I make up
maybe I'm just a faker maybe I'm just
pretending maybe I'm just playing a part
I'm just dressing a role maybe I'm just
acting in a certain way but he can't
pull out of him what we call the gear
yuk that old past of that old past that
came gear yta means it happened from his
from his youth because we all know that
experiences that we have from our youth
are oh so connected to us they're so
dear to us there are things that are
very hard to remove from us so to
speak and suddenly we feel that maybe
that's just who I am and there's no
change so I want to quote to you
something in
the that he spoke to RI a number of
times about this subject and R used to
say these
words don't ever think that you're going
to erase the past completely you can't
erase the past it's a part of your
kishkas it's part of yourself things
that are memories from our past are
there with us forever you remember those
commercials much better than you
remember the shabas mirrors than you're
learning about right now it's something
that's just something that's part of a
normal of being a CH it's okay there's
nothing to feel guilty about you don't
have to start feeling confused unsure
with quivering feet to think maybe
there's something wrong with me maybe
I'm Different maybe I'm just not cut out
for this it's a mistake that's not the
action that's not the
truth it's a normal Mahal that is meant
to happen it happens to everyone it's
supposed to happen it might not be so
easy we had experiences in the past
there were experiences that weren't just
external experiences they're ones that
we lived we all know when we were
teenagers that life seemed like that was
it I just remember recently walking I
was uh up north and you know it was you
see a bunch of teenagers up walking down
a boardwalk and they're all laughing
with each other and all having a good
time and just asking my wife and going
you remember when we were that age like
you just think like the whole world is
you is no other world except for me
those friends are that's it that that's
everything there is in life the you know
the fight that you got with that person
or the The Fallout that you had with him
or the good pal that you have over a
year or the groups and the and the
clicks that you have one with the other
this is it this is the whole entire
universe everything boils down to who
you are and all about myself and all our
experiences and then suddenly something
funny happens you grow up and it's not
very long it's a few years and suddenly
those four five six years seem like they
were a lifetime but suddenly you that
world and you realize you know what it's
just something that everybody goes
through but it's something that we call
a it's a personal experience it's an
experience what you live through it's
something that's real it's a mish in P
which we're reading during this time
period
says this is the only one statement that
we have from himself is the one who went
off the and it's not coincidental that
he's the one who said what a person
learns is
it is similar to something that's
written on a brand new paper as the
writes over there it lasts
forever your remembrances your memories
from the past are there forever it's not
just a naked memory it's not just an
abstract it's not something external
it's something that you live by it's
something that's there in your head and
it comes from there so yes it comes and
it's not a coincidence that a was the
one who said the statement because this
writes in Giga the reason why he ended
up going to what he was is the famous M
with the Brit at his Brit where the
father said I'm he's going to let him go
learn T because he realizes you can do
fancy things with it like they were
burning fires and he realized W can do
interesting things there was no there
and it ended up going into the kid and
he was raised in a certain way that was
sh and that stayed with him and he ended
up not being able to
alter yes that is what we experience the
advertisements the old cliches The
Melodies the successes the trophies all
these types of things that we had in the
past it's still a part of us and I'm not
I'm going to explain how to get rid of
it him it's still a part of us and
there's nothing to worry when we feel
that it was there everybody knows the
famous M with r shinberg very famous M
that when he was in a cab and the he was
in a taxi
cab and as he was going the radio was on
and he heard that the Dodgers won the
Penance and he actually said he got a
breath of H now R shinberg was an
unbelievable Masid he was y literally
lived 102 years old and he learned 20
hours a day he was a Kai as they said
for for for for for being a mass the
incredible Feats that he reached in his
learning Torah also in even and also
Mikus is is unbeknown to many to many
people and here it is because he grew up
until the age of 13 in a modern Orthodox
type of world so he knew about the
Dodgers of course he's the fake Dodgers
I'm from Los Angeles that's the real
Dodgers he was talking about the
Brooklyn Dodgers but Al him that's uh
that's that's what he experienced at the
time and it says that R shinberg
actually had a breath of enjoyment when
he heard when he heard that happen
that's a b r also he one time reported
and I heard him say this that he was one
time on a plane and in the olden days
you had no option but to see a screen in
front of you when there was a certain
movie that was running now rora's
greatness until the age of 40 years old
mamash like Reb AKA was his power of
theater he played in theaters he
directed movies and he and he wrote them
his power was the power of the cinema
and when he would see sort of speak he
would kind of give a passing glance or
look at the movie that was ahead of him
that was in front of him he would be so
annoyed about it he said stop the scene
cut cut cut it's too long it had he had
it in his kishka this is a man who was
already learning 30 40 years he was
completely submersed in his learning and
he still had somehow connection to the
cinema to the power of the movie it
still was in his it was in his it was in
his it was in his Vibes it was still
within it was in it was in his nervous
system it was still within there to be
able to have it that's right so like we
said it's okay when these types of
things pass through the Bal Chua when it
comes in it's not something to be
worried about it's not a reason to put
it in the past to drop out to be able to
say that I'm a failure because
difficulties challenges all happen to
all of us and that's the way it's
supposed to supposed to happen and the
answer is why and the question is why
and this is what we have to ask right
now why does it happen in such a
phenomenon and here it is a person he
made the 180 Dee he knows intelligently
emotionally he knows 100% this is the
right decision he knows
that he realizes that the modern world
the Western world is completely bankrupt
it's going nowhere besides the
anti-Semitism but the actual everything
with the LGBT and I always run out of
all the letters that are they keep being
madesh all the time everything that's
happening is completely getting lost and
he has no problem with running away from
the empty entertainment that is being
surrounded by them as opposed to the
great gulla of godl of of intelligence
that we're surrounded by so why is it
that he comes back to that yal to that
place where he was before the answer is
that we are not robots we're not
machines okay we might be a little bit
artificial intelligence some of us we're
already getting close to artificial AI
to to people are getting close and close
but we're not things that happen with
just one push and we program push of a
button and voila we're reprogramming
myself and that's the way it is it
doesn't work like that you can work that
way on a a computer but it doesn't work
that way on a person a person is built
up of many traits of many emotions of
many n of many different types of
natures he has different types of of
intrinsic capabilities and mid that we
have within us and therefore when we
make a change it might work through the
brain with a knowledge but it also has
to seep in in inside of us now Naturally
Speaking when a person does something we
have to know we have automatically to
resistance to what we do any type of
change that anybody ever wants to do
requires a automatic resistance that
happens to the person it's something
that's intrinsic within us your body
when it puts in when they do an
operation and they want to do some type
of a kidney transplant if a person needs
it or blood transfusion so we know that
the body might spit it out it might
refuse it because the body has its
immune system that is trying to keep
away so too in the emotional world the
psychological world that even though a
person is trying to do a certain thing
he's trying to make a change the body
has an action reaction and it will spit
out against it it'll make it go in an
opposite direction any person who ever
had an addiction of course knows this
you can't just go up stop cold turkey
and say no more it doesn't it doesn't
work a person who had a drinking problem
a smoking problem you can't just stop
and say all of a sudden okay it's all
over I'm not going to do it anymore the
only way to do it is what we call
a it takes a step by-step process the
reason why is cuz when a person does one
step and another step and another step
so then the resistance the immune system
doesn't resist as strongly because
you're doing a very small process it
doesn't go at a complete 180 against the
the system and therefore it's okay and
therefore you're able to actually make
the change until it becomes a part of
your kishkas a part of yourself it
becomes a part of the intrinsic part of
the person himself that he's able to
actually make that change so this is the
way it works a person has and BEC comes
Chua hears an inspiring speech goes to a
seminar or he finally realizes what's
going on in the world outside and he
makes a Whopper change a 180 he has a
Full Burst of inspiration but that is
somewhat external it's somewhat not real
it's a burst of energy which lasts
temporarily until you start going
through the harder part of it the
process that takes a stepbystep process
where you have to go and slowly take it
a little bit step by step Yad by Yad a
little bit until you finally get to the
destination that you want to get to
that's how it works a person who's
caught up a storm sometimes you see a
burst of lightning this is the words of
R in theim a person sees a burst of
lightning and he uses that lightning
that ball of Light which he saw in the
beginning to be able to steer himself in
the dark of the storm to be able to get
through those Hard Times which he's
aiming to get to and yes that's why we
find many balas that fall to the Wayside
because they start feeling as we spoke
out in the beginning of this year this
problem that maybe I'm just a facade
maybe I'm a faker maybe I'm just really
just connected to my past and just leave
it alone they might might start making
excuses about is there really God or not
a god it doesn't come from a place of
reality because a person didn't put it
as part of himself a person has to put
it into his kishkas okay you have to
know and be able to able to know it
until it becomes a part of yourself and
that's the way to be able to produce it
and of course that's the way it happens
this in the cabalistic writings is known
as and of courseid is a ball and a burst
of energy incredible burst of energy
B the world was created and I shouldn't
use a slushing but the big
bang a burst of unlimited amount of
energy which came from a and it would
have just kept spreading
forever but if something keeps spreading
infant tally there's no room for for
producing something you can't keep doing
something forever you have to stop you
have to put a g in it you have to put a
limitation and that's the MAA of G of
stopping hasm put a stop to the world so
now there's room for us to live
put a stop to it so you have a burst of
energy of but then of course you have to
have every man has to have a woman
because if not he's just a burst of
energy they'll just keep doing things
but they won't have any any to it
any uh sustenance it won't sustain he
needs the woman to be able to take that
and produce a baby from it she's the one
who's able to produce his capabilities
and and give it some power to be able to
put it somewhere because you give
perspective to all that that being
produced and then you finally reach tiat
you're able to reach the power of tiit
and this connects with this I conclude
to the idea of course of the on P we had
a burst of energy it's the as the T
writes p
is and
is a person wants to start with that
burst of energy that we have of p and
that happened on the first night the
saided their night saided is the same
letters of Paris without theat right
it's the highest of the levels we do 15
Steps in a boom in one big bang it
happens in one big spank and it happens
in a way that's fantastic it's an
Aaliyah it's a beautiful night it's
something that we have special the only
time we're ever able to read Hal at
night time but eventually you have to
have that slow process of SPH om day
after day after painstaking day where
you make those counts one after the
other what's the month in the year which
has the most holidays you would have
never guessed ER e is the one that has
this month is the most holidays every
day is a holiday SP you count the day
you count every day it's a it's a month
that is jam-packed with every day of
doing a spere to om because you're
giving sustenance to each day you're
building it slowly until you finally get
toat the name shat means weeks because
it was built by our counting process of
producing the weeks to finally to be
able to get there we're the ones who got
there we started with a boom of energy
and then we go through a difficult 49
days of counting changing one me to
another meter the 48 ways of course that
we accomplish of learning of being able
to change who we are and by that we
finally get to the final destination of
course that we
call the month of Nissan is the it's a
sheep which is one that follows the
shepherd he's the one that follows
that's the idea of the month of is the
shore he's an intrinsic power G he's the
one of strength the one is that and the
month of s is the is the twins because
we finally get to T after you have after
you have it doesn't ever get away
nothing comes with one inspiring speech
and you have to have followup you have
to be able to continue to be able to be
able to get finally to those 50 levels
of to those 50 levels of of tar it's
called le le is a good heart Le in which
we just
read is the best being a Le to what's Le
to 32 is Le that's the first till is the
first 32 days Le to and is the last 17
days which add up to the 49 Le to is 49
with two breaks with with the l in the
middle the Le and then you have the to
that happens afterwards that's why these
are called the days of MIM of jewels
meim 49 counting mon means to count and
me is 49 we count the
49 this is the jewels this is the time
to take advantage of a beautiful time of
being able to slowly rebuild ourself
just like that b Chua was able to get
himself out of the the difficult times
and he was finally able to get himself
to a place where he wanted to be I'll
end with the story that in that they
actually they had a person whenever they
do their with their speeches they always
do a followup and the follow-up that
they do they actually have a Shear with
a gamar class of a certain you know of
being able to to get to a certain place
they do followup CU it's not enough just
to go to a seminar like we said so they
were having one of these gar and there
was a person that was sitting in the
class of this uh person he was sitting
in the class of this gumar class they
were learning B they tried to take an
easy gumar people just starting out and
he looked like he just fell from India
out of the middle of nowhere in his
parachute pants he said that he had he
had the tattoos from top to bottom from
every type of animal Under the Sun M was
like an Indian and he had a hair that
made him have trouble walking in through
the doorway it had the size of an afro
which was so large that he barely
couldn't believe that you know what was
hiding inside of there
the the Mount of ha that was there and
he was sitting there and in the middle
of the sh so he started asking questions
the rabbi asked a question and the
person answered it and then he himself
asked the question and that was tsw's
question the guy himself the guy
couldn't believe it he so wow very
impressive you know very impressive and
then he noticed in the middle of the
shear that the person stuck his thumb
and went like this in the middle of one
of the she in the middle of the shear he
went like this he goes ah I got you you
used to be used to be religious I know
you were no one just does this with the
thumb obviously you have some type of
background that came from from from
there and he goes okay I admit it yes he
did come from a from family and he went
off the D he came from a from family he
ran away to India and he went over there
to learn every type of aara every type
of idolatry and everything else
underneath the Sun but slowly he came
back to Jud now he's coming back and he
saw theim and he started coming he
started coming back so he said after
knowing everything you know what do you
want to start working on Shabbat he
spoke to him he goes no Shabbat I can't
keep he said why can't you keep Shabbat
he told him because listen I smoke like
a chimney I smoke like at least two
packs a day it's not happening I'm not
stopping on Shabbat it's not happening
so the person was stuck came another one
who works in the Mad who works over
there also and he told them listen to me
you could smoke on Shabbat it's fine
just you need to smoke but you don't
need to extinguish the cigarette just
every time you want to extinguish a
cigarette don't just put it down and
don't don't don't pull it out don't
extinguish it and type of the as just
put it down and let it extinguish itself
that much you can call the guy goes what
am I a frier what do you think I'm an
idiot I know that every time I smoke a
puff it's another iser every time I
light the flame it's another chabbat and
that's not true so oh so what big deal
just because I extinguish it so I'm
avoiding the answer of extinguishing is
it's such a big deal that was the of
this uh of this
person he said they they tried to argue
with him they said if you tell me an if
you tell me someone big that tells me
this P that I'm willing to do it they
went to no other than kki they went to
kki and they were able to get a special
protexia to get him in and they got this
guy into kkii who tells people to take
off their watches this guy walked into
the into kki anyways he was standing
there and they told him the story they
gave him a paper before it to give him a
background about the whole story over
there and they told him that we feel
that this is what he should do about the
cigarettes Kanki said yes that
definitely should be what he should do
he should go ahead and every time he
does it and he said just have in mind
that one day I'll be able to do a little
bit more Shabbat but right now this is
sufficient for me and he ended up not
not to do that thing kki said okay
that's definitely what has he was
willing to come and cabel he said he was
about to walk out and kki also told him
and by the way get a haircut you look
like a tumtum that's what he said he
told him said you go get a haircut said
okay he was M the words of the he knew
was it was a great connection to be able
to get there and he said he kept smoking
but he put it out and he said eventually
he ended up keeping Shabbat just because
of that he said why cuz every time he
didn't
extinguish the cigarette he remembered
today Shabbat it reminded him today is
Shabbat that's all it did even though he
wasn't necessarily K Shabbat he was
still smoking cigarettes but just the
actual reminder slowly infiltrated into
his body he slowly learned to reminded
himself that yes this is something
that's part of me and there is a Shabbat
and there's something that I'm connected
to and that itself was able to get into
a much more deeper research and that's
the way it has to be we have to
eventually get to it in a slow process
never give up and yes we all have that
blast from the past those memories that
we cannot remove and of course they're
part of us but even with that we we mix
it together with the positive memories
that we have of our Tor of our learning
with that we will be able to be