Super Bowl Sunday | Rabbi Joey Haber

It's Super Bowl Sunday. Super Bowl LVIII. 49ers and the Chiefs. All eyes are on Las Vegas. Now, think about that, as a Torah Jew. All eyes on Las Vegas? I want to send a message. I'll give you an idea and a thought that I think every one of us needs to have in our mind. There are some people that live a life of holiness and don't even know the Super Bowl is being played today. And then there are other people that follow the Super Bowl but don't watch. And then there are those that watch. I want to send a message that all of us need to hear. There once was a beautiful story of a bird, an eagle who laid an egg on top of a mountain and the egg, all of a sudden, started rolling down the mountain and fell into a chicken coop. And this egg is amongst a bunch of little eggs within the chicken coop, and all of a sudden, all the eggs start to hatch. And out of one egg comes a chick and a chick and a chick, and all of a sudden, out of this egg comes a little eagle. And the little eagle looks at the other chicks and says: What am I? They say: You're a chicken, just like us. She's like: But what do you mean? I have a different color. Nah, you’re a chicken just like us. Why do I have these things, these wings? Nah, you're a chicken, just like us. And she says: Okay. So she starts bopping around like a chicken, eating little kernels like a chicken. Three weeks later, the mother eagle comes soaring down to the chicken coop, and tells the little baby eagle: Get on my back. And the baby says: Why am I going anywhere? She says: Because you're an eagle. She says: What do you mean? She says: Get on my back. And the mother eagle starts flying in the sky, soaring in the air, and the baby is holding on for dear life. And then the mother goes to the top of the mountain and lets the baby off and leaves the baby up there on the mountain, and the baby says: What do I do now, Mom? And the mother says: You do what eagles do. You spread your wings and you fly. Every one of us, every Jew needs to know we live in a society of chickens, but we were born to fly. We were given ideas that are different than the ones that are being sold today. We were given mentalities that are different. And sometimes there are so many images that are thrown at you. Oh wow, that avocado is going to make you happy. That beer is going to give you eternal joy. If you do your taxes that way, life is going to be peaceful. If you buy that car, everyone's going to love you. And the whole thing is a fraud. That's for chickens. We’re eagles. We fly. So don't allow the imagery of today to get into your brain. There are things you shouldn't see. Have the courage and the discipline not to see it. But if there are things that you believe are okay to see, don't get pulled by it. Don't think that what society is selling and what they're into and what they're following and all the storylines that they weave into the Super Bowl, don't get pulled in. Because at the end of the day, you were born with wings. You're an eagle. You were created to fly.