Episode 12 BEYOND THE 7 (Hashem's Oneness) with Rabbi Aaron Dovid Poston

[Music] oh hey good day folks welcome everybody back to beyond the seven live from jerusalem with rabbi aaron david poston i'm still enjoying this class and uh lately he's been doing uh the six constant mitzvahs it's a joy to hear but more than that i gotta put my thinking cap on and keep my ears wide open because he's sharing such beautiful beautiful stuff and last week we even heard a little bit about his own personal life so uh let's just jump right in and see where the rabbi's at today rabbi poston's so good to be with you again and to hear uh torah and the six constant mitzvahs so i'm gonna just turn the microphone over to you rabbi it's your class and so my ears are open thank you very much dan and thank you for all the people that have joined us if they're not live they're watching this afterwards of course um i want to um give a little bit of an introduction once again as some of the people who might be watching wouldn't wouldn't mind the review or for those who are new wouldn't mind a brief introduction we're discussing a concept called the six constant mixes one might ask what does this have to do with the benenoch right so we discussed the idea everybody anybody who's involved with the seven mits has been enoch knows idol worship is a big no-no right it's one of the most serious of all the seven but they all carry with them you should know uh severe um consequences all of them but this one seems to resonate the most because many have maybe been searching and dibbled and dabbled in other religions and come to realize this is a big mistake and to do uh what's called idol worship we say avodah zarah strange worship we're not worshiping worshiping hashem properly so with that in mind right we asked the question early on in the seven series in the beyond the seven series does someone have to actually believe in god right because it doesn't seem that one that any of the seven mitzvahs include that per se but we did discuss the idea that's not really seven there's seven overreaching principles and could be very clearly sub-categories of do not believe in other gods means very clearly i mean i'm going to say clearly that you do have to believe in hashem the question is how does that manifest in your everyday life right like are you going to have the consciousness the awareness that if you steal this goes against god's will obviously if you have um accepted the seven or five laws it should be clear but what about the god factor right about god consciousness so we discussed this idea and i i threw out in the beginning could be someone could be an agnostic not an atheist doesn't make sense that someone who is a card-carrying benenoach i'm talking about a righteous gentile has not accepted the idea that there is one god because actually tonight is going to be the subject of that that's why i'm discussing this as a review and one of the the prime introductions to the idea of the six constant myths is in our shokhan arak in the book of jewish law where verbiage the very first page says i shall place hashem before me always. hashem connect thee tommy this is a word of king david we can find this if i'm not mistaken in psalm 16 verse 8. is that right so if you want to read it it's very pertinent to what we're talking about tonight forgive me rabbi give me one second yeah sure so psalms 16 8 to helium psalm 16 8 i have set the lord always before me surely he is at my right hand i shall not be moved so one of the ideas i brought in the past is that one should always have the the yoon and the hay and the hay the concept it's we're talking about god consciousness and of course we're going to discuss tonight how it actually plays out in your behavior how to behave as a human being on this planet right if you're have god consciousness and you have an awesome fear of god so in that rashi if you look at psalm 16 8 rashi says right away what does it mean when king david says i shall place hashem before me always rashi says in my deeds and all my deeds in everything i do so this should hope hopefully bring bring home bring down the idea what does it mean to be god conscious right i mean there are i and i i get it a lot of uh ex-christians or people that are now um you know adopting the seven laws seven principles into their life how does it affect their everyday life so these constant missiles at least for a jew and i assume this is for all mankind should it will it's guaranteed to alter your behavior right it's how could you not when you have the again we have to go back to the first one the first one is know there's a god and we spoke about that and you're invited to look in the pr uh to review the previous uh series i know tonight is the fourth in the series of six constant mitzvas but tonight we're going to discuss the third that's the first check the fourth episode of this uh series but really if we're talking about the third the first one was introduction okay so the third is to know that god is one okay the yi to make hashem one so we're going to discuss this okay so okay so we discussed uh a little bit of the introduction i want to mention what what it is what exactly the third of the six you know what maybe i should just review all six real quick they're not hard to remember if they're supposed to be on your mind at all times as the shogunate as the mishna brewer brings down in the name of the uh that these six concepts these attitudes are something that you could fulfill and get reward every moment of your waking life of you of you you know how many minutes how many hours are you awake let's just see if someone sleeps let's say i i don't sleep eight hours but if someone slept eight hours a day so what are you left with you're left with what uh 16 is it 16 hours of waking is that is that the right math am i doing it right or more okay so look you can you can create so many you can fulfill this mitzvah so many hours during the day not just this i'm talking about all six um having hashem before you always and these are the six ways so the first one was to know there's a god right the second one is that you shall have no other gods we've discussed this in the previous lectures this is today is the third which is know that hashem is one the the fourth one is to love god the the fifth one is to fear god and the sixth one is not to follow after your eyes of your heart are things of this world okay so we discussed that um those are the six we also discussed the idea that when we make blessings there's a six um a six word uh i'm gonna say in hebrew madabaya there's a aversion a set a set um text that we use which is blessed are you hammer god king of the universe and they match this is from rabbi michael he mentioned i don't know where he got it from but he mentioned that he saw it somewhere and he shared it and i've been it's changed my life every time i make up i actually remind myself of these six constant six constant missions which i make quite a few blessings every day and i hope everyone else does too so how do they do that so baruch means it's hashem he's the source of everything i know that he's the source right and how grateful i am second one is you it's you and no other right and the third one is uk which brings us right into today's discussion [Music] so what does that mean even though we don't say you we don't actually pronounce god's name we the way it's written we say we pronounce it a different way and that is another attribute of hashem so we're going to discuss these two ideas tonight the two different attributes of hashem and then we have eloquenu our god our god implies the love the relationship the the the intimacy that we have with our god and that's love and then the next word is melech king so king is awe fear right and that's the the fifth of the sixth and the word which i'm the reason i'm mentioning all six and i want to talk about is because we mentioned that the first matches up with the third the fourth the second matches up with the fifth and the the third matches up with the six so tonight since we're discussing the third which is uk above k even though we're going to pronounce pronounce it right with a different attribute we'll talk about that a little bit tonight is that it matches up with the word things of this world we are in this world okay so don't follow after your hearts your eyes so we're going to have to somehow discuss how this idea of one god matches up with what we see in this world and how we behave okay with that in mind i want to now just read uh rabbi daniel katz's translation of the third mitzvah the third of the six to unify hashem this is um i believe he's taking it from the mission of brewer which is quoting the um [Music] to unify hashem what does it mean to unify hashem isn't god one okay we'll discuss that as the torah says we have to say it now the jews say it twice a day something you know most of most of us say three times a day before we go to sleep which we'll talk about tonight as well but you know what any time he ate sahara and it's going to play key into what we're talking about tonight whenever the yeats of overcomes you or is trying to entice you to do something that goes against god's will one of the i call it a solution or one of the remedies or one of the suggestions is to say these words what's what are the words hear of israel the lord is our god the lord is one okay you could say in english saying hebrew israel and you can find that in deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4. this is like our mantra right what does it mean that is to hear know and be conscious of the fact that hashem who is constantly generating all existence into being as an expression of his will he alone is our god and guides and directs all the worlds he is one and the single force guiding every detail of reality there is no other force at play period okay we're going to go deep into this because you know how does it that a non-jew he wants to be righteous i'm assuming at this point they believe in the torah and they believe in the mission of the jewish people that was received at mount sinai even the laws we discussed they're only bound on the world because of what happened actually mount sinai not because god told adam and god told noah and god warned all the different generations in between adam and abraham right the 20th generation but because it was reiterated when at the 26th generation the 26th generation what's the number 26 okay maybe you can uh anybody wants to put into the comments what is the number 26 26 is the gematria of the yud and the hay and the and that sorry so moses was the 26th generation from the creation of the world meaning moses generation the generation that received the torah which is really accepting the the hashem as we know him being one okay keeping that in mind i want to just mention what rashi says on deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4 because this is quite let me just back up a second if we're saying this is a constant missile so why are the jews only saying it twice a day or three times a day shouldn't be saying it all the time so i mentioned already one of the remedies against the aids of hara is to actually say the shema but rashi says on deuteronomy chapter 6 verse 4 which he said you know that's the shema rashford says hashem is our god presently what does it mean that present i mean like in the now but not and this is not my words nobody should stone me okay no i don't want anybody getting upset with me hashem is our god presently but not the god of the gentiles what does that mean how can that be there's only one god so who are they worshiping who are they talking to who are they in a relationship with he is destined to be one god now that's really weird because i thought he is one god from before creation until this present day he always is he always was so what does it mean he's destined to be one guy so in safanya is that how you pronounce it in english chapter 3 verse 9. we'll also look at zachariah 14 9 but let's start start with zephaniah 3 9. for then i will change the peoples to speak a pure language that they may all call upon the name of hashem so this is a future prophecy it hasn't happened yet okay so if it hasn't happened yet perhaps that's what exactly rashi is referring to destined to be and it's talking about all the nations the other nations obviously what does it mean a pure language i will say obviously but maybe it's not so obvious we're talking about the hebrew language when everybody will have clarity about hashem through the hebrew people through the language and then why does it say destined to be perhaps that's answered in zechariah 14 9. on that day hashem will be one and his name one so that is also very awkward because how can that be isn't hashem now one what does that have to do with us again one of the things we speak about many times is the torah is written in the language of man right god doesn't change there's no change there's no time but we're living in this world where there's a new i'm not gonna use the word evolution in the sense of uh i guess the way it's used and across the board but there's an evolving of humanity okay we are you know from the time that of adam's fall again there's a journey each and every one of us individually is on a journey but this sounds collectively on that day hashem will be one his name and his name one so the question is what does that mean is it isn't he one now so we're gonna have to deal with all these questions wow rabbi can i just can i just read that zephaniah out of the the version i'm using a mekong mom ray three nine of zephaniah it says for then will i turn the people's a pure langu turn to the peoples of pure language that they may call upon the name of the lord to serve him with one consent okay so that that obviously has not happened yet correct we're all aware of that it's happening though it's happening yeah i'm not going to deny that definitely things are happening things are happening i want to talk about the shema itself for a second before we go deep in the sheman i'm going to put this paper up maybe you can see it now i don't know higher okay in the shema you notice that the word shema has a large iron okay where my finger is there's a large iron and then in the word echad the last word the dollar is very large you notice that everyone noticed that okay so what is that all about first of all there's a few explanations and whenever i give an x-men doesn't mean it's the only explanation okay so first of all if if it had an aleph an elephant an iron are let's just say for most ashkenazim anyway sounds very much similar but it's obviously not every one of the 22 letters have a different sound so ion is a guttural and it's ma right so if it had an aleph it would have a different meaning so if you pronounce it differently it actually means maybe maybe maybe maybe uh maybe the jew should listen maybe the world should listen that there's one god no listen listen carefully truly understand get this into your noggin into your consciousness listen listen means to contemplate okay and the word echad it has to look like a dollar and not like a rash i know that those two letters look extremely similar there's only a small i don't know from the right side a little thing jutting out to make the difference between an al a dalit and a race can you imagine if it was a race i mean the sound obviously dalit is doesn't sound like a race but if it was written wrong it sounds like the word or it looks like the word means another right hashem is just another god perhaps god this uk buffet is just another god right so we're not in tidal worship we're into knowing there's a god right having no other gods and unifying hashem and using this concept this verse to get us to that point however there's also a much more popular explanation and that is that the word ayan the the letter iron with the letter dalit spells a word and that word one one of the pronunciations for that word would be aid aid means witness okay we'll talk about that in a second also the word odd ade means for eternity so this god is is first of all he's eternal but we are his eternal witnesses so in in other words even though it's one word we're using i don't know if it's called a double entendre i don't know the exact phraseology but the same word has more than one meaning okay so i want you to go to isaiah chapter 43 10. so not as not only is he one but he's also eternal and not only is that but we are his witnesses so you want to read isaiah 43 10 43 10 says you are my witnesses saith the lord and my servant whom i have chosen that you may know and believe me and understand that i am he before me there was no god formed neither shall any be after me so this this verse should be very popular amongst the who are ex-christians and this uh i don't know exactly how and what it'll you know each person has to feel it for himself the words are alive you know and when people have never seen this verse no sudden it's like a light goes off in their mind wow how was i duped how come i didn't see this verse before so hopefully this verse should play a large role in how they behave from now on right in terms of trying to understand the you the oneness the uniqueness of god i'll just read a few comments from this book i'll just show it to everybody it's called the six constant mitzvahs um just understand that there is one god right let me just go back why are we saying it why are we actually commanded we're actually commanded in the torah to read it when we get up and when we lie down to go to sleep it actually says it in the shema itself right that you when you lie down and when you rise up so and then we say that okay these are really times okay when you rise up meaning the first few hours in the morning and when you go to sleep meaning the time to go to sleep you should also say and then we also say it upon our beds before we we shut our eyes and hopefully we'll we'll get to that point tonight so obviously even though this is a constant mitzvah it's it's something to be embedded into our consciousness and perhaps reading it several times a day as a command will bring it because it's even though these are times time frames in the morning and in the evening it's somehow even though it's true that it's telling you you must do it at these times it's it's really telling you that you should have god on your mind at all times um that we should know that there's only one god what does that mean one right we just got done saying that i believe in god and there should be no others so doesn't that mean that there's only one god it must mean something much deeper than that okay it can't just mean one it has to be something deeper hashem is one meaning he's not composed of different parts even though he is one i know there are other religions that somehow and maybe i don't know exactly how to phrase this in a polite way but they're um they're dividing him up now this is what we're going to deal with tonight because yes he is one and he has different attributes okay and those attributes many of us even even moses when he asked god let me see your glory i want to i want to i want to know you i want to see your glory the the talmud explains that what moses was i'm not gonna say bothered by he was he was contemplating couldn't understand why good things happen to bad people or why bad people prosper right and even in our own lives a lot of us feel guilt for i'll use the word either filthy thoughts or criminal thoughts or you know we're not thinking about god we're thinking about other things and we think that perhaps this is unusual i'm i'm teaming up with the other side and there's no hope for me well this is a battle this is why this is constant mitzvah okay so we're going to discuss this tonight as well uh there is no other infinite bill being i mean this is another idea that we have to understand and this is very difficult because we're finite beings how can we understand an infinite being okay so we're going to discuss that a little bit and this is going to be the main point tonight that hashem is all that exists so let me actually read his words and then we'll go deep deeper into it this is a difficult point to describe in philosophical terms meaning that hashem is all that exists if hashem is all that truly exists then what about everything around us we see houses cars tables flowers i mean are they god right where perhaps these are just figments of imagination in reality what it means is that all finite existence is a manifestation of hashem's will that everything that exists is actually hashem's will which is now going to get into the very deep philosophical idea even those bad things that occur even those bad thoughts even those negative energies they're all what we're gonna have to ask ourselves what that is because this is one of the things that i know that christians or ex-christians have had to deal with uh i know i shouldn't say i know because this is what i've heard that within certain aspects of christianity they some of them believe that the satan this evil whatever evil forces that exist is a fallen angel or rebellious angel or some other force outside of god this is a very dangerous place to be to think and to contemplate and we all probably that's the nature that perhaps perhaps we all fall into that trap and hopefully to by the end of tonight we'll have a better answer and how to deal with that fake news how to deal with the this trap that is set for us and who set the trap hashem okay so we'll talk about that and in reality what it means is that all finite existence is the manifestation of shem's will everything that we interact or count or contend with whether tangible or conceptual must come from hashem this part of what we call yihur hashem unifying god knowing he's one may sound as as technical as the others meaning the other mitzvahs and when dealt with in this philosophical realm it just may be but in the practical day-to-day application which i hope we will get into the level at which it is classified as a constant mitzvah it can be easily understood what does it mean easily understood yet hopefully but extremely difficult to implement so that's where we will now begin um he's basically i'm not i'm not going to read any more but i'm he's basically going to speak about the yetzer hara so those who are unfamiliar or not yet familiar with this concept is that when god created man he created man with two hearts he created us this way where we have an inclination leaning it's easy to say to the left or to the right but let's just say towards the good and then towards the not so good right towards what we call evil the other side now why did he create us like this first of all this is going to help us really unhopefully understand why it's one god right that even though we have these inclinations this inclination that we're going to call the evil inclination is a gift from god now why do i say that this is like crazy right one of the mishnayots one of the um the teachings in perkia vote in the ethics of our fathers says that god created us in his image the question is what does that mean god has no image so rav north weinberg right the roshi of isha he taught us then it's not just him he got it from previous sources that the image that god gave us is the ability to choose for having a mind to this right god actually says i place before you right good and evil life and death choose life so this this concept of choice is so integral in our experience on this planet as human beings okay the this god is only a giver that's what he is and he wants to give us the greatest good so how can he i mean i'm not true i'm not i'm not telling you what god did i mean i am to a certain extent so god wants to give us the greatest good how could he accomplish that so if we everything was so obvious that we didn't really have a choice we just chose good all the time so what would our reward be it wouldn't be that much so since he wants to give us the greatest good which means the the the reward for our actions for our abilities to choose then i think there's a concept called i think spoiled rotten i remember growing up that we use that term so basically if someone is born with a silver spoon in their mouth and i know that privilege is being discussed a lot lately but i don't mean i don't mean like that i i don't know if you know what that means honestly um but let's just say maybe that is a term that could be um could be understood so somebody who never had to work a day in their life right what when their parents give them on their 16th birthday a brand new car and i don't mean like a subaru i mean a porch right a maserati i don't even know the names of these cars but lamborghini uh a bentley whatever porsche let's say a porsche okay what are the chances of this kid not really understanding the value of this porsche if he never had to work a day in his life and he really had everything handed to him on a silver platter so he he or she probably doesn't have a real understanding of value uh because they didn't work for something right when you when you have to work for something and i you have a better sense anyway what it's worth because you i'm not going to say sacrifice whatever it is you you gave your time you said time is money you gave something of yourself maybe sweat and blood whatever it is you sacrifice for it so the more effort you put into something the more you would probably feel the value of it you know so this is basic trying to bring this down a very basic level where hashem wants to give us the greatest good the greatest good is going to be the reward that can actually be felt can be like tangibly felt so therefore that there has to be the effort so god gave us this yet believe it or not so we can earn i know this goes against a lot of things in christianity listen god loves us there's a lot of grace okay there's a lot a lot more than you can imagine in judaism we talk about it a lot okay um because really hashem loves us and he does overlook a lot of our mistakes okay we're not going to try to sweep everything under the rug tonight we have to live in this reality the reality that god gave us and since he wants to give us the greatest good which is that reward it has to be i'm going to use the word earned okay there has to be an effort and that's where that's why there is this evil inclination now that means that god created it i want to go to let me find the verse because this will freak a lot of people out who are not familiar with this idea it is in isaiah chapter 45 verse 7. i would like you to read it if you don't mind isaiah 45 and verse 7 for i formed the light and create darkness i make peace and create evil i am the lord that does all these things so what does it say in hebrew well it says he makes um he forms light creates darkness makes peace and creates evil fine he makes peace is oh and the next two words in hebrew is he creates evil sorry to disappoint you all but uh this this is um now we we say this every day in our prayers and um if we're talking about one god as opposed to either in primitive religions or idol worshipping religions that believe in two forces that there is a good god and there is a i'm not going to say bad guy i don't know exactly what they think i don't know i'm not sure let's do some kind of toolism that there's some kind of power struggle between two powers and that they're equal so this is why we we spoke about this before i think it was in last week's uh um edition episode that when you when somebody is worshiping or giving power to those subservient um agents of god so yes we create evil so i guess satan worship is just worshiping that um that agent he's an agent he's an ancient agent of god but from a jewish point of view is he rebellious is he going against no he's doing exactly what god told him in fact he's the angel of death you think anybody dies who doesn't have i think they have a statement like uh every bullet has a name on it or an address you know there's there's the the the angel the angel of death doesn't make mistakes okay there's a story in the gamora about one particular mistake he made whatever but it's a very unusual thing right it's mistake as opposed to doing his own will it's a big difference okay took the wrong mary uh anyway i'm not gonna go into that right now well rabbi all i can say is that this concept that uh he creates the light in the darkness he makes peace and creates evil for me coming out of christianity this is one statement cr i and i create the evil and it's even mentioned i believe is it in deuteronomy as well um exactly these two phrases there is no room in christianity for those statements they're just it just is not rectifiable in their theology and i remember bringing it up to a pastor friend of mine i was like an associate pastor i'm going back a dozen years ago or so and and i had this conversation and i showed him and i actually went and took the man flew several thousand kilometers and we went to a dead sea scroll exhibit i wanted to show it to him in hebrew and there it is you can't get away from it it's pre-christianity but this concept that it started to you know just grow and grow and grow and of course i had heard it from uh uh rabbinical literature in my studies and it's like it began to work and weave that the you should that you're talking about of hashem is so profound and i just pray that we get to that understanding okay so justin keep in mind we spoke about this idea that hashem said this is my name forever olam and this idea that the word missing the verb means hidden this is my name that's hidden so we're not saying we're not using the name you'd know we're not saying it we're actually saying another word we're saying now in the middle of that word is the word don don is the you know there's mercy and then there's right uk love k represents mercy and love on the other hand we're using a different name a different attribute so we're using if you take that word it starts with an olive and ends with a good okay so you're talking about the idea that in the middle of just drop the olive for a second and drop the youth for a second you have done you're talking about it's not negative but it's um it's judgment it's harshness it seems like the opposite of mercy because this is how we understand hashem has many attributes he's not changing he is what you know he's like he's infinite and our job is to always try to understand how big and infinite he is and how small and finite we are right we talked about in last week's class how you shouldn't have any other foreign god within you it's the ego it's the eye that causes so many of our problems in our life anyway so dawn is the root it seems to be the root of adonai and the aleph we always says represents it remember it represents actually god himself because the gematria i shouldn't say gamache but when you take an olive and there's a there's a uh i called above and there's two goods right an olive looks like this with two goods so two years that's 10 each that's 20 and the above is 6. the olive always represents the uk above k so even within ado nai you have the aleph which represents this merciful part then you have the don in the middle and then you have a good at the end which is again part of the uk above k part of the gods uk above k name so even though we're pronouncing yet we have in mind in our mind other aspects of hashem you know what i mean the so this is a it sounds a little complicated but we have to know that hashem is one that he created within us both of these inclinations and that is what we're about to get into how i'm going to give you you know through knowing that god is one how to battle and i'm using the word battle not like the christians use but battle yetzer okay so i'm going to go to a gemara in brahat into the very bottom of page 4b the beginning of 5a says robert yeshua been lazy so what happens is even though a person said the shema he said this in his prayers at night so let's say you know we went to synagogue tonight it's in the summer what what is it this is in july and we set it around we said to shema around 8 20 8 30 let's say at night and then you're going to go to sleep at 10 10 30 who knows 12 o'clock 2 o'clock in the morning he says it's still a mitzvah to recite it upon your bed in order to fulfill the verse because it says when you lie down and when you rise up so when you lie down that's usually meaning the time frame meaning at night but we also take it literally you don't take it out of its context it also means when you're actually lying down to go to bed so robiosi said what is the verse what verse alludes how do we know my craw what is the source for this that we should read the the shema in the evening when you're on your bed in addition to what you do in the synagogue so i want you to go to psalms chapter 4 verse 5. and this is verse we're going to talk about chapter 4 verse tremble and sin not commune with your own heart upon your bed and be still okay i have another word it says selah but okay in hebrew it's rexu that means to tremble it also has a smidgen it means anger be angry okay we have to talk about that and do not sin so we're going to talk about this anger anger's never really justified but here we're talking about king david if god is telling us to be angry towards what towards or against your evil inclination improved it's the only purpose that it has for existing right they should say in your heart this is something you should say in your heart where do you say this upon your bed on your bed the domu what does it mean the domu silence seller now cell is not always translatable but we can understand this to mean forever okay so it basically means and afterwards you will be asleep still and asleep the work continues in regards to the statement that was just made by rabbi yeshua bin lady rabbi nachman says what does he say that if you're a torah scholar now what's a torah scholar someone who's learning torah all day long he at least is thinking about it he's reviewing things in his mind so he doesn't have to say the shaman is bad because he's always engaged into our study and when he falls asleep he the last thing he thought about was torah so abaya comes and he says no even a torah scholar must recite at least one verse of prayer and he gives an example now when he says it gives an example some say this is what he should say but it doesn't matter he should say something like this so let's see what a torah scholar who always thinks about torah all day long should think about before he goes to sleep look at uh psalms 31 verse 6. i'm sorry rabbi i'm just dealing with a question online um maybe i could have you out i'm sorry what was the verse sir psalms 31 verse 6 31 6 into thy hand i commit my spirit thou hast redeemed me o lord thou god of truth look you're about to go to sleep what do you suppose you're talking to god you're you have god consciousness you realize you're a spirit and um okay i'm not going to go too much into kabbalah but part of the highest levels of our soul it detaches if it could be said such if i could describe it that way it's basically the rest of our parts of our soul and loosen a grip so to speak on the highest level our soul and the highest lower soul which actually always connected with hashem has a greater connection but if you want to say that somehow there's a departure of that soul because there is an aspect of death while we sleep this is one of the reasons we wash our hands in the morning to get rid of the ruach ra the tatuma that entered as a result of the lack of this the the high level of spirituality we have while we're alive okay i don't want to go too much into that and get distracted um but if you're going to say into your hand i deposit is that the word how does how does he i trust i think into your hand i deposit i'm actually saying to god i'm depositing my soul pidita oti hashem that you have redeemed me you're my redeemer kale right god who's the god of truth okay i do want to go a little bit further because now we're going to get into the holy sahara i think and i want to talk about some of the comments um from the sages on this gemara so incidental to this verse tremble and do not sin the gomorrah mentions that rabbi lady barcama said in the name of ben lakesh one should always incite his good intention against his evil inclination so this word in sight is really the hebrew word yagi's and he says for always always a man should get angry or incite his good inclination over his negative inclination so the gamora continues that if you succeed i should let me just say that's why it says tremble and do not sin that's why it said in the original verse um psalms 4 5 do this whatever we call in trembling or inciting or anger and you will not sin so what does that mean so if you succeed and subdue your inclination great excellent dope but if you don't succeed then you should study torah as the verse implies when it says say on your heart just like in the shema cell it's the shema itself tells you to place these words upon your heart so this idea of saying your heart is a a hint to the shema itself but basically it's talking about torah in other words you should place these words upon your heart it's talking about the torah now if you're able to subdue your evil inclination through the torah and great but if not the talmud tells us you should you should say the shema by saying the shema which contains the acceptance of the yoke of god meaning the um the yoke you know what yolk is and um oh the i wouldn't call burn that's not the word i'm looking for but you're talking about the discipline let's say the the discipline of heaven on your shoulders so then that's great and um within the shema itself it also talks about reward and punishment so in the shema cell says upon your bed which implies it even in the shema itself right when you lie down and when you rise up now if you're able to if this works for you great and if it doesn't what should you do now you at this point you should remind yourself of the day of your death how in the verse itself because of the last two words was the dull muslim be silent forever when are you silent forever when are you finished with this world where you have no more mitzvoth no more abilities to work on your character no more abilities to come closer in relationship with hashem it's finished whatever you accomplish this is like the most important jewish lesson whatever you accomplish in this world this is worth it's worth more than anything right one moment in this world is worth more than all of the world to come because once you're in that world to come it's finished everything you accomplished here even to the last breath is worth something and it's the only way you can do anything after that there's nothing to be done there's no more mitzvoth in fact it's very interesting the word in hebrew for someone who has passed away is niftar right when someone even a secular jew says yeah he's an iftar it means he's dead no that's not what it means it means that he's no longer obligated in the midst of the word but means he's exempt he's exempt once someone passively has no more breath has no more brain function no more ability to do anything he is exempt from all the misses so while we're here this is our opportunity to take advantage of that challenge that god gave us with everyone has one right everyone has a yates of hara and we're going to talk about this now what beauty it sounds i one of the more i think about this i i've affirmative those anti-semites that say you know we are uh worshiping the devil we love the devil are you kidding me god created everything that god created we love and he created love i don't know if that's the right word let's say we can appreciate um it says in the gomorrah that when a when the evil people die they're gonna have the pain of seeing that the the evil inclination was like pulling a hair out of a cup of milk it was it was so easy but they didn't they didn't do it they didn't accomplish it and that's why they're truly evil and what about the righteous people they're gonna see wow did i say that right yet they're going to see this mountain and say what i accomplished that that that evil inclination was this mountain wow that's what i did and that brings us back to the idea of the effort involved right the person who's evil he didn't even make the effort that's why he's evil see if you make the effort that's all that hashem wants to see that you really go whatever steps you can possibly take right god will never give you a challenge you cannot handle and yet this evil person said ah i'm not gonna do it it's just not worth it for whatever reason and that's why he's evil and the righteous person he didn't realize wow i just once i just kept whatever you walking up the mount if you're doing everest or doing whatever it is let's say a five kilometer run right what you say is it's the next step all i'm going to do is take the next step all i'm going to do is challenge myself to the next hill when i get to the next hill the top of the next hill i'll worry about the next one i'm just concentrating on that little step right now and that's the way that you make it but what happens the righteous person says to them wow that was a mountain i couldn't believe it because all he was doing was these increments constant increments and not even looking up to see wow i'll never do it no he was looking down to see you know the next step yeah little by little look there's a tremendous amount of commentary on this gemara i'm wondering if i should try to use a summary now no i'll go to the summary of this mitzvah at the end uh where is it here it is so we'll go at the end so hopefully i will remember to do that i want to talk about some of the comments because some beautiful ideas here how to battle this yetzer haram and what does it mean the the comments i'm just focusing on is the word leiolam we saw in the gamora where it said that who said it here said robbie always a man should be angry or yargis on his using his yates or tove over his yetzer hara and we went through the different stages first he should learn um torah right to to overcome it if that doesn't work then say the shema to overcome it if that doesn't work to think about the david's death so why does the word lay allah lyolam implies always right we're in the six constant mitzvahs right and that's why i thought this is a good commentary to discuss the word they love is about four perhaps more different ideas about the word lay olam here so we said that a person should always so the word they alam sounds ridiculous why say maybe you should just say a man needs to just say and you know you have your yazara comes upon you so only when it happens you should be angry at it but it doesn't say that it says always always very strange so we have a few different answers so let's go through it so some explain that the word leilam comes to teach us comes to make us understand that this war actually actually used the word milkhamma the war is meshes it's not it's not the six day war it's not uh a two-day war this is a lifetime war as if to say you have to always be prepared and ready and do action to do war with your evil inclinations aloha there's never any break there's no you know there's a concept in spirituality and this is actually a very jewish concept but in the 12-step programs of recovery they talk about it that there's no you can't take a break there's no recess you can't take a break from your spiritual growth there's no rest for the weary no if you want to live a spiritual life be prepared you're going to have to constantly fight against this gift that god gave you okay you're going to have to constantly harness it try to harness it and this goes along with the explanation of the villenegon and that what there is no the war with against you yet is not like a regular war with a human being when you're in a war with a regular human being so basically when you win the other person says uncle i give up i surrender here's the white flag whatever it is and you don't expect that person if you won the war and you know it's ever start up with you again right it's finished that's how it works in a regular war and you don't expect another fight to develop but when you're fighting the yates of hara it's not like that even if you're victorious and you subdue it you subdued it entirely nevertheless you you're not allowed to give up the idea that he's going to come back again he is going to constantly be fighting with you and remember this is the unity of hashem we're talking about the unity of hashem when you realize all those you know either negative forces in this world or negative consequences that happen to you on a daily basis can you accept this as a challenge it's not a problem it's i mean oh my god it's a problem first of all yeah this is actually a challenge this is a gift that god gave you for your growth the question is how are you going to deal with it how would so now you how do you understand that god is one god is the attribute of mercy and attribute of judgment and it's working hand in hand for your growth okay so when you accept it's gonna change your i hope your your not just your emotional reaction your intellectual reaction to when challenges are are coming to you you know so that everything is from hashem you know you miss the bus okay what am i gonna do i don't you know i have to tell my boss but what can i do what can i catch a cab can i uh hitchhike a rye can i you know call in and explain with this whatever it is as opposed to getting angry or taking it out on someone else there's so many negative possibilities but there's also as many positive possibilities and let the cards fall where they may right you're going to be judged on how you react okay the second explanation is the word leolam is coming to teach you it's actually coming to include all times meaning to meaning to say even when your yetzer hara is not so strong like when you're an older person okay they're talking about let's say a man for example where he no longer has the you know the the drives yeah they did thank you right or god forbid when you're when you're in mourning where you're really cognizant of you know very sober happenings right where your yazar is not that strong in general so nevertheless you're not allowed to you're not allowed to let go and from being from being angry about your yates having your yates or tov overcoming but in other words the word leo is telling you this is a constant struggle even when you're close to your the end of your life where you think you have uh everything under control no don't uh don't say that don't act like that wow so he he brings an example even when most of your days have already passed you you shouldn't believe in yourself this is also a per capita you shouldn't believe in yourself until the day of your death and not rely on whatever this is a rabbi yokonan says in gwaryuma he mentions that when someone is past a certain age they're likely not to sin don't don't don't rely on that statement but rather continue to be angry and make sure your yetzer tov overcomes your yates or and one more statement that he says when and when you begin to fight with your yetzer you should always you should already be starting when you're young and that is what happens right in judaism we don't we don't believe that the yeats are told that good inclination comes to us until we have um until we're mature so for a boy it's when he's 13 for a girl when he's when she's 12 there's a whole discussion about benin when are they held responsible there's two major opinions similar to the jews at 12 and 13 for boys and girls respectively and and there's another opinion when they come of maturity so it could be the age 9 10 11 could be a little bit earlier i'm more lenient i would say also similar to to the jews but okay there is a difference of opinion another explanation it comes it comes to teach us it's coming to inform us that these these these things require a war mama's a war and and not just in things that are forbidden to you right we know right something's forbidden it's like clear as day but you know what even things that are permissible to you so we like let's say it's very easy to talk about food for example right so okay so it's kosher or i didn't steal it i paid for it but i'm gonna eat the whole cake that can also be uh a problem so you have a yates of hurrah right even in those things that are permissible for you this is a great idea that's brought down in parshas kidoshim you shall be holy the ramban for example and many others explain you should be holy means separate the word kadosh means to separate the jewish people are kadosh they're separate from the other nations but the idea of qadosh holy holiness means to separate yourself even from that which is permissible right i think we discussed this also in earlier sessions that's what holiness is even though it's permissible but it might not be the best thing for you so he discussed this idea i'll just try to sum this last it's not the last point but second to last point that um you know what i better read it because i love his words better than mine and i'll anyway i'll translate and explain it and like this you should sanctify yourself even with things that are permissible for you fine so there's actually a way to explain this even in the opposite way that even if someone's even if he says the yetzer hara says to you to add mitzvahs to admits and to be let's say separate more than what the torah says in other words someone wants to be extremely righteous so they hold themselves back from doing that which is totally formidable i'm not talking i'm talking about not eating any cake okay in this case not having any wine not having anything at all that could give you pleasure nevertheless you should actually strengthen your yates or tove over your yanks or hurrah and fight with it why because perhaps the intent here is actually not good for you that what you're doing is adding all these stringencies then you can't stand you're not able to fulfill so it's like almost like taking oaths that i'm going to separate myself from this and i'm going to separate for myself from that and then what's going to happen you're going to be very um i think you're already missed you're going to get more mixed up between what the tar actually says and what you ended up adding to yourself so you'll end up being light you'll take not so seriously some of the very strict torah laws and then you'll transgress the actual misses themselves now the hida explains that it's actually coming to inform us that it's not only if you say if the yetzer hara says to transgress a specific uh transgression that you come to fight with it but even in ideas that you actually need to do to fulfill your own life you need to fulfill your own body let's say like eating and drinking and sleeping and anything similar you also have to fight with it constantly and make sure your yates are told overcomes it what should your yeah what should you say to yourself and one second so let's say an object that you eat so you say okay i'm only eating it because i desire the food or maybe it's only because my body needs it and it'll become strong that way but this is what you should say it might be true you know you're gonna eat this because it's better for you but you should say i'm not only eating it for that purpose but i want to serve hashem i'm going to use those the energy that i'm going to derive in order to serve hashem and that's what you should do in other words even if it's not affecting your your actual behavior right because you're going to eat it anyway because it's permissible and it's going to be healthy but it's more of the attitude that the yates and hara is saying oh you know don't eat it or you're going to eat it just your beats or you ate your tofu saying eat it just because it's it's healthy in addition to that make sure you understand that you're doing it to serve hashem properly and the last thing he says about that i thought it was interesting when i prepared but so rather say i'm going to do it on account that will give me power to serve the creator of the universe and not only to serve my healthy my body in a healthy way and within this you automatically will come to a certain level it's called histopkut you'll be able to survive you're able to supply yourself with little and and you'll run away from luxury this is a very important idea in judaism i know that a lot of people trip up in this but i leave that for another time okay the last comment here is by the chariz explains that it's coming to teach us that even though they're that the biyata adam kama etzos is the brother in the bottom of even though that we have so many ideas and counsel that will help us overcome our yetzer hara and maybe even entirely don't do it don't totally slaughter yates or hurrah remember it says remember it said lay olam you have to fight it constantly so you might think well i'll get to the point where i'll just i don't know even think about the craziness castrate yourself i'll just totally wipe it out no that's not the way to go ella layola you have to constantly struggle meaning you fight with it constantly that's what it means that through this there's so much reward we're in this world lay along that's why when i mentioned the beginning that the third command matches with sixth command remember what was the sixth command don't follow after your heart or your eyes right don't think this world is just an illusion and it's well it's all just here for my pleasure right but really again back to that idea everything i'm going to use is going to help me serve hashem better if i need to take a break to take a vacation i'm going to spend three days at a hotel it's to recharge your batteries it's not just what my body needs what about your soul right so god gave us everything he's won this is a long trek in trying to come to the full understanding i have a few more comments how much time we have oh we went over an hour and an hour already but okay we got as much as you need rabbi i have a very interesting comment from the ben yoda i mentioned at the end we will sum up how we're going to put these and make this applicable in our life so before we get to that the last thing i want to talk about this this gemara is in the ben yoda you know what okay let's try it so remember it said leon you should always get this anger going okay this is a very interesting and it leads a little bit to what rabbi heim kaufman spoke about in the last uh class it's written in the gomorrah that a person should see his own life as if his own life is in the balance that half the whole world a person should see as if the whole world half of it's to the merit and half of it's to the debit right the whole world is standing in like on scales 50 50. if he does just does one mitzvah one kind act one righteous act so then the scales will balance them out the other way that he'll balance for himself as well as the entire world on the side of merits right just by doing one thing and what if he does the opposite if he does one sin god forbid he'll me he'll tip the scales for himself in the entire world in the opposite direction which means what that the yetzer is it actually causes people to make a mistake by thinking well he sees himself let's say and we justify i'm such a i'm okay i do most mitzvahs during the day so i'm already good therefore if i have like a sin in my hand that's going to entice me to do it you know what i'm going to say so i'll do it you know i still have so many more mitzvahs and there's no damage nothing's going to happen now the same thing could happen if the mitzvah comes to my hand i'll release it and say what's the big deal i already have so many positive mitzvahs what is this myth we're going to add but if a man truly sees himself and this is where when we understand that god is one and god created us in his image that we are also one with all of the universe i think right we just talked about this idea that we're going to see ourselves and the whole world hanging in balance and we're going to make all these excuses and make the wrong decisions no what should a man do he should see himself as a mushu in he's actually seeing himself and the whole world won and he's not able he's no longer able to think that the whole world is on the side of merit he knows himself he's looking at himself as in the middle so how would he know what other people are doing he only knows about himself his topic even if he's able to prove that he himself maybe himself in doubt right this topic to say you know what maybe the whole world is exactly equal right in between merits and debits and if i do one sin it's going to come out the whole world is going to go to the negative and if i do one mitzvah the whole world will go to the positive and with this thought in mind he's able to anger to use that trembling for his yes or talk over his yetzera for his good inclination to overcome his negative inclination and then he won't allow his yetzer harad to have that power because we're talking about the seriousness when i think there was a there was a movie i saw once it was i remember the name of it but at the very end it's it was where the guy it's a i'm i'm so embarrassed actually i guess i'm glad i'm embarrassed i don't know the name a little bit about it i'm not quite a movie buff it's where yeah it's where the guy um goes into this machine or whatever and he they i don't know that duplicates him it's not the matrix but it's like a matrix movie where you have i'm i'm so bad because it should be a name that should be so uh nobody's writing it because i didn't give enough information yet at the very end of the movie they see that the trees roots all are connected the whole world's connected oh avatar avatar that's it avatar so when we think about how really we are connected and this is another idea and i want to i want to share it that rabbi yochanan explained that as a non-jew and i'm not talking about a righteous gentile i'm talking about non-jew hasn't really understood the mission of the torah and the jewish people that he could never understand the oneness of god and i i thought about that and i never really understood it and i tried and i tried and i came to a certain conclusion that because i work with non-jews all the time and many of them many of these righteous gentiles do have a very good idea of what it means the oneness of god he says until the person converts now converting could mean converting to actually being a true 100 percent jew or i'll use the word conversion lightly converting to be gentile okay like not that you need a conversion of any sort but a conversion of of sorts right where you you basically have adopted your this lifestyle because you understand the jewish mission so what does it mean until you convert because it's the jewish people who are one when you understand the jewish people are one and i'm talking about as a jew a convert i'm not a convert but say someone goes from not being jewish to jewish all of a sudden you realize that everything you do is going to make a difference right if i do one sin it affects everyone else if i do one mix that affects everyone else so having this mind if every human being realizes what we just said that we're all connected and if you just do one mitzvah wow swing the entire scale to the merit not bid if you do a negative it's going to swing the entire because you are connected you are really connected with the world now what makes the difference between the as the rabbi mentioned when you convert it's because all of a sudden now you're part of something where you can really feel the oneness and hopefully that's what we are giving to the world that sharing that oneness that if we can understand that oneness of the jewish people it gives us a little bit of an idea of the oneness of god okay let me just finish the last statement because he says that's why it says when a man connects himself with the entire world the then through this then he's able to really get angry with his yetzer over his yeah in other words he's able to use the power of his good nature over his negative nature not to allow the yitzhara to entice him to do to do evil okay so i know this was really about the third myths of the second of the six consequences to know that hashem is one this is just a little bit of an insight how it could you can use this to change your behaviors know that everything is really from hashem that you are totally connected to the whole world and i just want to mention the different practical applications of the unity of hashem in this book and we'll read it there's how many here there's six concepts so let's just go through them identified the yetzer hara as a messenger from hashem that challenges you and helps you grow when you hear the sahara say sin interpreted to mean don't sin overcome my temptation so you can become great this is how i imagined the yates when i first became religious was introduced to judaism that i was explained like this that the yetzara is an angel of god he's not a rebellious he's doing exactly what god tells him to do you're running a relay race right or you're an obstacle course you're running an obstacle course a gauntlet notching up you know those hurdles see sitting on the sidelines saying i'm going to make it higher for you i'm gonna make it harder for you but guess what i know you can do it god knows you can do it he wouldn't have sent me okay so this is he's he's rooting for you to overcome his obstacle this is jewish concept of the satan okay number two when you feel the urge to sin procrastinate this is going to be something that when you have a mitzvah don't procrastinate but when you have an urge just hold off count to 10 as they say right because the urge that now seems impossible to withstand will greatly subside with time number three hashem wants us to enjoy this world within the correct parameters right we we spoke about the number three which is unity of god connecting with number six don't follow after your heart or your eyes so there are parameters be careful however to determine which pleasures will help you grow and perfect yourself and which are temporary temporal and which will leave you feeling empty number four view all the people and obligations in your life as part of your service to hashem not as obstacles to it right oh my god this person is evil i don't want anything to do with him but guess what he's your co-worker he's your family member whatever it is you got to figure out a way to either trick your yates or work with it realize number five realize that all circumstances in life even those that seem to obstruct your growth are orchestrated by hashem to enable you to perfect yourself consider circumstances that prevent you from studying torah or observing mitzvahs as opportunities to perfect yourself in other areas not as obstacles obstructions to growth for example you're studying and then you get a call someone has an emergency they need your physical help guess what that's your vote it's hashem don't think that oh my god this is the sutton this is the you know putting up this is part of your service don't be paranoid yeah then every moment of life can be part of your quest for spiritual perfection and the last thing is using the citations of the shema as mile markers and realizing the unity of purpose in your life's mission before reciting the shema pause for a few minutes uh moments and pinpoint areas in which the yetzera has duped you into believing that there's some other force controlling your life then recite the shema with the intention of erasing that mistaken philosophy from your mind okay so i think that that was just my uh condensed version of how this idea of unifying hashem knowing hashem is one we talked about in the future what does it mean that god is he's not one now so there is another idea i want to share we have an obligation when we have good tidings someone says oh my god you just won and autumn will be on the lottery or uh you just won the lottery anything very good so we make abraham wow thank hashem who is good and does good we use god's name and we make this blessing on the other hand when we hear god forbid negative news someone had passed away someone got in the car accident total lost everything he had so we say barak dayan i meant god is a truthful judge now the gemura tells us that when we say this this barakah on god being a truthful judge a faithful judge a truthful judge we actually have to have we have to say it just like we say the positive so the good more of course what do you mean yeah it's a different words what do you mean say it like the same with the same emotion i know when you're when you hear good news you're happy and when you hear bad news you're sad what does that mean to say the same we already know it can't mean the same words how do you say when you hear horrible news with joy so one of the ideas brought down in the tanya and other kabbalistic ideas we have to know this is ultimately for our good that we may not see it now but we can actually live in them now you can actually live with the idea that you know that this is ultimately fear good listen this is a journey okay but there are practical steps that one can and should do to understand god is one everything he does is ultimately for your benefit you may not see it now in fact the time you discuss is the word evil we said god creates evil how can that be nothing evil emanates from god so maybe that's not the term to use evil and then we use the word ra is evil but the time he discusses it is like this you have revealed good it's so obvious and we call that good and then there's good that's hidden meaning we don't see it we cannot perceive it as good we call that evil but really it's all it is is hidden good so if it's hidden good if we can realize in our heart that really is for my benefit really i can't see it now but i know that it will be i hope this understands part of this idea um we discussed in safarya and zakaria and hopefully the whole world will come to this understanding as well hopefully the jews understand it and it's a journey so we're all on this journey we're all working towards this goal of unifying hashem that's part of what do you mean his name is not one now that's when we truly understand the uk above k which we don't pronounce now but we do pronounce the admut the judgment that's what we're pronouncing now but we have in mind the mercy we have in mind that the true long uh long what do you call it the you know you have the the short-term goal the long-term goal the long-term goal is knowing that everything in the end will be revealed as good so that's why we don't pronounce god's name yet but we all will the whole world will and hopefully that day soon so that's part of unifying hashem and that helps tie in those prophecies okay rabbi that is just profound there's some beautiful beautiful stuff in there that i i hope people will continue even review uh share share the post on social media folks on facebook and youtube and twitter and wherever you share uh i just love that verse out of zephaniah for then will i turn to the peoples a pure language that they may call upon the name of the lord to serve him with one consent i want to thank you rabbi for pulling a lot of this out here today there's stuff that uh i still need to digest i know you've got some great answers in there out of torah for me and uh it's something i can begin to appropriate there's there's there's just need to need to just understand a couple of things and adjust a couple of things it's just beautiful but i can feel the working of hashem and the torah even even the way you just explained about the the the person doing jumping over the uh in a race um and then raising the bar just a little bit but not enough to you know because if those that come out of christianity are so used to this bad beat mentality i'm gonna say bad beat mentality to the point where it's it's just like a ravenous you know lion's gonna devour you and yeah you know and you're nothing but but a sheep in in the hands if you don't have yeah and all i can say is that hashem's doing a pure work this is just phenomenal and i thank you so much for sharing today's lesson so um tentatively are we on for next week still hashem willing of course the love of god yes love us well thank you rabbi for staying up so late i know it's it's near 1am there in jerusalem and it just means so much to myself on the other side of the planet and i know many people in the in the world that listen to it and so thank you for uh continuing with this course so till next week hashem willing we're going to see you then folks have a wonderful wonderful week [Music] yes [Music]