Yom Kippur Women's Class - by Rabbi YY Jacobson

good morning everybody Welcome there's one source sheet on the beima please take it and make yourselves comfortable good morning welcome welcome I want to commence with welcoming everybody those who are here physically and those who are here virtually and uh wishing all each and every one of you a good for you and your loved ones and your families and all of us may it be a year of Abundant Blessings on all fronts and in all aspects materially and spiritually physically and emotionally may hasem this year fulfill all of your heart's desires with revealed and manifested goodness and blessing are a year filled with overflowing and and health and and prosperity and and the ultimate blessing a year of true Gula of true Redemption individually and collectively next week they'll be as well that's a day after Yi that's Tuesday Morning 9:30 it will be a pre sucus class a sukus class and then the next week we'll be taking a break and we will resume the Tuesday after which is two days after so next week we're on then we take a sukus break and then we're on same place same time this shabas afternoon is shabas shua the shabas before yipper so as we have every year a shabas sha here in tent gimmel everybody's invited men and women 5:00 in the afternoon a section for women a section for men with a that's 10 giml here behind the 24 sh this shab is at 5 I received a lot of requests from people so I'm doing a special class mat shabas if somebody fits into this category you could send them to the class it's uh the title is does yipper cause you anxiety a blunt conversation with yours truly and this was upon request of quite a few individuals so if you don't fit into that category then you could just uh enjoy the evening and do kaparis if you do 9:30 mats shabas it's going to be online with questions and answers if you go to the yeshiva.net or our YouTube channel with my name you'll be able to see it live that's 9:30 Ms sh this mat shabas the eve of yipper um at 9:30 p.m. okay today's class is dedicated graciously sponsored by Donna Amir in honor of Gabriel and Selma Amir and Nissim and sulana Amir and Samuel and Dana bar thank you very very much for your friendship and partnership class is also dedicated by the Roth Childs in honor of their dear son-in-law schl rman and tribute to his birthday may continue to inspire us and light up the world Amen happy birthday and a year of tremendous and thank you very much the class is also dedicated in honor of y y and Bri an awood Survivor who passed away the F Friday before Rashana the 22nd day of el and uh she was one of the she was her husband rakov is was uh immortalized by the song of yum you know the song yov that was written about her husband she was in the Death March and her son shared with me Shalom shared with me that uh on the Death March uh leaving aitz you know people were dying like flies and there was an older woman near her marching near her and the frost the cold was so powerful she saw this woman won't survive she had a scarf that was protecting her face so she took off her scarf and she gave it to this woman and the woman survived years later in B Park this woman met her the woman said you know you save you literally saved my life and she said okay I'm happy to hear so he said he asked his mother why did you do it like how did you do it you know every everything you had was so was so Priceless a scarf the price of a scarf wasn't $10 million the price of a scarf there was there was no price for it so like what motivated you to do it wasn't your daughter or so she looked at her son strange and she said the woman needed it I gave it to her the woman needed it so I gave it and he told me that till her last day she suffered from the frostbite on her cheeks and she just passed away in her 90s and L would I'm buried in and may her her light and inspiration continue to be with her family and the Jewish people for eternity until Mish okay if you didn't get a source sheet please take it from the beima as you could see the title of today's class oh look at the title like clay in the hand of the Potter that's what the drill is all about a seven-step program towards finding Serenity and purpose there's an old line an old saying that somebody once said that worrying is like a rocking chair it gives you something to do but it gets you nowhere yet despite the cute quip we worry and even if somebody tells me it's like a rocking chair I sit on a racking chair too but while sitting on a racking chair could be very comfortable worrying induces anxiety somebody once said don't worry that there won't be a tomorrow because it's a it's a ready tomorrow in Australia despite that people worry Jews worry I would say that uh if somebody were to ask me what of the main what when I when I talk to people or hear listen to people or receive letters from people if somebody was to ask me what is the main thing or one of the main things that so many people struggle with I would say anxiety there is a uh Outburst of anxiety and it's a f it's I don't know the word fascinating it's sometimes uh it's it's it's it could be perplexing because if a historian would look at the circumstances of Life compared to 70 years ago 80 years ago 100 years ago 150 years ago the historian would just look at the facts he or she would conclude that everybody was living an absolute Bliss and ecstasy 24/7 and indeed there's so much to be thankful for in terms of the blessings that our generation has experienced something that our grandparents our parents our great-grandparents couldn't even conceive of in their sweetest of dreams and yet there's an internal despite and despite the challenges and setbacks externally which of course exist and pain and tragedy and loss there seems to be also something internal internal that's coming out among many many people including many youths and really of all ages and demographics it's it's it's it's a restlessness it's an anxiety and I don't know that there's one factor there's probably many factors but to ignore it is not really an option because it really challenges uh so many lives and paralyzes unfortunately many lives and that's what we want to address today in the form of one poem that is recited in most or all ashkenazic communities on the night of Yim Kipper I would say that it's one of the most moving and beautiful poems in the vast Treasure of Jewish poetry uh Jewish poetry particular the Hebrew poetry that was written that was written in the middle the in Dark Ages and in the Middle Ages known as the is not so uh study today because uh the the language is extremely eloquent and Rich and profound and although our liturgy our are filled with them especially the Kipper often people just read the words and don't take note to the structure to the depth to the messages in these poems well in this class I want to study with you one of these poems that I assume all of you or most of you will find in your M ofip as I said it's recited I believe in most ashkenazic communities universally we don't know who composed it we don't know the author of this poem it does seem like it dates back to the 12th century or even the 11th century so you're talking about a poem that was written approximately a thousand years ago the 11th century the 10 hundreds or the 1100s and it's recited in many communities with the Ares with the Holy Ark open although not in all places and it's one of certain one of the highlights of the special night of kid the special night of Yim Kipper the poem contains seven verses seven stanzas seven sections it begins with the famous words each verse describes a raw material that's given its precise shape by the craft person by the crafts person who crafts who shapes who designs who sculptures this raw material Hashem is described here as the crafts as the Craftsman as the Yer as the designer the Creator the former the sculpturer and we as the material that is fashioned and [Music] sculptured we learn about the fact that we are the clay in The Potter's hand the stone in the Mason's arms the rudder in the sailor's hand the glass and the glass blowers arm if my day is going to look like a Cho choo train in one of those zoos that goes very slow or a ferris wheel which also goes pretty slow till it gets stuck and it gets scary the Gentiles take pictures and the Jews start writing their their wills and saying is or sometimes a roller coaster or a super duper looper that goes pretty fast whatever the situation is sometimes life takes me from one extreme to another extreme from one location to another location but when when I can imagine myself as clay in the hands of the Potter being formed not just being embraced and held the baby is being embraced but actually being formed so it gives a person doesn't remove my duties or responsibilities but it gives a person an anchor in a place of Serenity and Harmony and Oneness so even though I have on my to-do list 94 things to do today which usually I end up doing only three or four but the main thing is the list not what you do or you don't do and I have to go from this place to this place to this place to this place physically and emotionally sometimes the turmoil and the upheaval that's the child traveling the infant traveling to all these places but there's a place of me there's a part of me that's really in one space in one location because I'm being held by the's arms I'm being held by the mother's arms you know in football you'll ask your children there's a referee and there's a quarterback you know the difference between the two they're both are crucial for the game but they play very different roles the referee is there to intervene when needed there's a crisis there's a problem there's a dilemma there's a fight there's a dispute there's a mat so you have the referee there to intervene the quarterback is the one who makes all the plays happen it's a completely different role in The Game of Life people often tend to think of Hashem as the referee he's the referee stands there on the side he stands at the sidelines and gets involved you know when there's when there's an important thing to get involved in if something goes wrong he has to intervene the truth is as we see in this in this song of he's not the referee he's really the quarterback you know he's the one he's there every single moment of our life making all of the plays happened 247 the pot of forming the clay into a vessel but this poem is saying something much more and even deeper than this there's seven steps here seven stanzas and the reason there's seven is because there's a seven-step program here there's seven steps here so we speak about seven things the Potter who forms the clay the Mason who chisels the stone the blacksmith who forges the iron the Sailor directing the anchor the Weaver designing the Garment the silver smith refining the silver I didn't say that oh and the Glazer thank you what's the significance of these seven why these seven the first is as clay in the hand of the Potter those of you who ever formed clay into a pot into a vessel into a bowl into a cup or you watched it happen as I said it's very it's I don't know I'm calling it inspiring when I saw it was very inspiring it's really an incredible process because with a subtle touch you know those who know how to do it with a subtle Touch of your finger you create the shape you create The Ridges you create the size the design the Nu nuances the cavity the length and the width and the height of the vessel so when it's abstract we don't really appreciate it but if you can visualize the concept Hashem at every moment with the touch of his finger so to speak he forms us literally something from nothing creating the vessel forming this vessel and who is the vessel I that's my brain my heart every limb of my body every cell of the 70 trillion cells think about the number not billion and not a million trillion I don't know if you ever saw a trillion of anything it's impossible for us but look into your body that's where it is with all of the cells literally trillions and trillions and trillions each one functioning it's formed but what is it formed as it's formed as a vessel can I imagine myself as a vessel and the definition of a vessel is it has a cavity it has an opening that's what a vessel is it's used whether it's a cup whether it's a bowl whether it's another type of K there is profound significance in creating this vessel what is it for so that we can allow Hashem to mold us into a vessel in which to hold love into which to hold light into which to hold blessing and positive energy open to the opportunities of life to the celebrations of life to his wisdom Destiny direction to the miracle of relationships and attachment it's easy for me to close up that vessel to to plug it uh to stuff it up especially if there's leaks and I'm afraid of the leaks so we just I just want to shut down the vessel they tell a story that there was a person who wanted to learn cabala so he came to one of the great cabalistic Scholars he wanted to master the ideas of Jewish mysticism and spirituality and he sat down and this great teacher this great Rabbi had a conversation with him and after a few minutes he said would you like a cup of tea he said sure that would be wonderful so he gives him a cup he takes the kettle with the hot water and uh he pours the hot water into this fellow's cup of tea and he Pours and pours and pours and it gets to the top and he continues to pour and it's overflowing and it goes on the table and it makes his notes wet and then it goes down to the floor and this student this potential student says stop stop stop the cup is full you can't get anything more in and he's continuing to pouring he says it's all a waste it's not going anywhere the master looked at him and said right very well said you understand and that's you your cup cup there's cup and there's cup your cup is full it's full of your own stuff it's impossible to get any tea in it's already full question of the gor clay my bottle is full you can't put anything in not because you don't want because it's filled with other stuff how do I open up my vessel if my vessel is already filled with so many patterns of how I think how I react and not by choice necessarily over the years our vessels get filled up to the top there's no room even for another perspective there's no room for another interpretation it's SOS same old spaghetti or same old Sushi okay huh or same old stress that's what you mean okay the point is there's no room for you know there an expression we say in can I can can can I sing a new song There's a fascinating medish inis in Ecclesiastes uses seven times the word he vanity so Med says that we're born from he from breath and there are seven stages in our lives in our breathing and I quote the m so please almost verb him remember seven what are the seventh stages he says when the child is born he's a king or a queen everybody's carrying them and taking pictures how much does she weigh who does she look like nobody asks me how much I weigh but when I was born the way you look like your mother you look like your bb you you look like your sister all the here is this color and it's like a to holdest child can I hold no I want when we get into fights who gets to hold the baby mama like an aristocrat Royal to himself or herself the med says a few years later I quote he turns into a kazer a swine going to all the filthy places if there's a sewage system if there's a leak the baby is there either creating it or certainly immersing himself in it at 10 the med says he's a goat climbing everywhere jumping everywhere at 20 he becomes a horse grooming himself to impress the opposite gender he gets married finally and he becomes a donkey asle andle andle asle take so the Mish okay from a king he turned into a swine to a goat to a horse to a donkey says at the time he's older and a bunch of kids at this point he's a dog he's barking just looking for money you need a lot ofs but to be able to make ends meat pay tuition and pay the mortgage and cover the bills and three girls are going to semin and is a wedding and Mitzvah let's not forget how you have to make an up sh in 2023 Etc so at this point the poor guy is barking everywhere and then he says finally he gets old he becomes like an ape a chimpanzee a monkey but the me doesn't explain why I understand the other ones what's the ape so people say you start making tricks for the grandchildren you want to entertain them so just like monkeys and apes make tricks and imitate that's what you start doing to entertain the CL the an the gives an incredibly profound interpretation he says yeah when we get older we imitate we start imitating like monkeys like gorillas like apes they're very good imitators he says you know who we start imitating we start imitating ourselves we become copies imitations of ourselves I don't have the courage or the stamina to reinvent myself so why do I do this today because I did it yesterday so basically I'm just following the same neural Pathways the same trajectories the same paths I'm triggered by the same things I'm reacting by the same things there's nothing new and then the med continues by a person who lives with then is not why he says that can I challenge myself that's what an open vessel is an open vessel means I have the courage to empty it out and therefore become a channel for newness there's love everywhere there's light everywhere but my vessel is full it's filled and it's not my fault it's just filled with stereotypes with with uh with perspectives with stress with a on sh and maybe with messages I've told myself for many many years that don't allow me to experience anything new yes rabbits and F very good SOS same old song but better than better than all of my acronyms yeah KES right right a vessel alsoo an open vessel allows me to take things out in and take things out let things go that's also the art of being a vessel because a lot of things go through our system but they can't get stuck in the system that's why every moment of life in order to live we inhale and then we must exhale if you just inhale life can't happen exactly like the we have to Exhale biologically all of the carbon dioxide all of the oxygen that becomes filthy and dirty we need to let it out of our system and then inhale and then we exhale again if somebody only inhales or somebody only exhales they can't function why is that so essential to life and the answer is it's not just a biological phenomenon it's a spiritual phenomenon it's a spir psychological phenomenon every moment of life we inhale I inhale life I inhale messages I inhale energy but at the same moment I also have to be able to Exhale you inhale exhale inhale exhale for that the vessel has to be able to be open from the word breath as we breathe breathe in and then breathe it out we're not going to do breath work at the moment maybe it's a good idea before you ker but but real breath workers you breathe in breathe it out breathe it out sometimes we sit with things and then I analyze it and I dissect it and a week later it's still sitting in my chest sitting in my nervous system and I'm a complete wreck a wretched soul I did not breathe it out sometimes there's things I don't have to understand I don't have to analyze my brain is playing games with me it's coming in I'm getting stressed breathe it out and live in the moment tune in the next breath of life there's a new Breath of Life coming if I hold on to the old breath I deprive myself of the new Breath of Life the B says the world is created every single moment that means the moment I'm not living now I'm not living I'm living with a world that's gone I'm living with a world that's gone that's the power of now so the open vessel allows me to be open to be able to look at something different able to even to challenge myself and say wow Victor Frankle said between stimuli and reaction there's a tiny second and in that tiny space that's where all human Freedom lives you know you say something I'm reacting that's instinctive that's the old vessel can I pause for a moment and create space and say wow maybe I can this time absorb something differently maybe I could respond differently maybe I could look at it differently that's where human Choice comes in so can I allow myself to actually be molded be crafted like the clay in The Potter's hand open to love open to light it's sometimes much easier said and done but that's what it means to be but then he says there's something else does EV says the stone in the hands of the Mason when he wishes retains it and when he wishes chisels it what does this mean Hashem is not just forming clay that's one dimension there's another dimension he's also crafting a stone and a stone represents something that's strong confident proud and Powerful so can I build myself into a sanctuary the B was built of a of stones so can I allow myself to be to be constructed as a sanctuary so that you the Creator May dwell in this structure of stone in this Stone and the metaphor here is precisely aam a stone because of the power that the stone represents the strength that the the stone represents I want to illustrate this through a story it's a story about the passed away in the year 2000 the story was related by a famous activist in barar name was Stein and he heard it from the B who shared with him his first encounter with the American political system the B said to him that it was 1946 his wife and children were murdered in the Holocaust as was his father and mother thean the the B was killed in 1941 he had one surviving son who succeeded him NAA he was in after the war and he says I was alone in America no money no contacts he rented a studio apartment in the Upper West Side of Manhattan and he prayed in a that was at the on the Block the situation of the refugees in Europe was devastating ating because uh they didn't have a home to return to the British were not allowing them to come back to come to what was called Palestine it was very hard to get into other countries they had no loved ones to embrace no money to begin a new life the said I heard about a congressman whose name was Saul Bloom and they said that he was the most powerful Congressman in Washington and he can help I was also told that he follows the law and order to the T there's no deviation of strict procedure and strict law so anything that's not according to the letter of the law don't even bring it up because he'll just expel you from his office now Congressman sa Bloom was the chairman of the Foreign Affairs committee and the committee on immigration for the Department of Justice and he was a member of the U US House of Representatives from New York 19th and 20th uh District now he was a well very well-known opponent of what was known as the bergson group and others who tried to Advocate non-conventional rescue missions of Jews from Europe to America during the Holocaust he was an opponent because it didn't follow the strict law of the United States of America now he would return from Washington to New York every weekend but the B said it was almost impossible to get an appointment with them after six months I got an appointment with Sal Bloom and they said the appointment is going to last for five minutes you could be there five 5 minutes to the second after 5 minutes you're gone he said now I was a nobody I was a greenhorn yeah a greenhorn a new immigrant a few words of English in my vocabulary that galana boy B son I took a bus from New York I slept during the night no money for a hotel in 1946 he said I slept in a bench in a Sho nearby so I wouldn't be late to the appointment because if I was late 60 seconds I would have 4 minutes for the appointment I got there early I introduced myself to the secretary secretary say what's your name I said my name is scha Hal where are you from Galia thank you Eastern Poland what are you doing here I have an appointment okay wait he said I see people are going in and out of his office two hours I'm waiting for two hours they said you can go into Bloom's office I walk into Sal Bloom's office the congressman was B busy proofreading letters that were prepared for him to sign and he didn't even bother to look up at me know you know come with to an appointment and the person will not even take the time to look at you he's busy with his papers so what is he supposed to do he stands at the desk and he's waiting finally salul Bloom notices somebody's in the room and with a dismissive tone without looking at him he says who are you and what do you want the bov said I realize that if I'm going to say my name is scham and I come from galitzia the appointment wouldn't even last 5 minutes it last around 9 seconds how do I attract his attention so I said Mr Congressman I am a law breaker he looked up saw Blum looked up when was the last time you introduced yourself to a congressman a very powerful Congressman I'm a law breaker he said explain yourself what do you mean said Mr Congressman I'll explain myself where I come from Galia there was a law and the law was that every Jew had to be transported to aitz and enter into the gas Chambers my wife and children like another six million Jews followed that law they were led into the gas Chambers there was another law and that is as a Jew you weren't allowed to hide in the forests and if you were caught you were shot or sent to an extermination camp there was another law you weren't allow you weren't allowed to help a Jew hide in the forest or in a house and if you did you were murdered there was another law you weren't allowed to smuggle yourself out of Nazi territory you had to remain there and allow yourself to die Mr Congressman I am a law breaker I broke every single one of those laws and that's why I'm here today I ran I hid I broke every law you know why I'm telling this to you I'm telling this to you because everyone who broke the law Jews who survived that back in Europe and there's nobody to help them and rescue them I know you're going to quote me chapters and stanzas and sections and verses of the American law that prevents you from helping I know that but I don't care cuz I'm a law breaker and I'll tell you why if there are laws that allow people who are innocent to be put to death just because they have Jewish blood flowing through their Senus those laws are cruel and those laws are evil and those laws must be broken and he said I broke down in tears I broke down sobbing I couldn't go on and when I looked up I saw that Sal Bloom was also crying the end of the story is this Law and Order tough guy became one of the greatest clandestine law Breakers in Congress he and the B smuggled loads of refugees into the Brooklyn Navy yard on weekends and stamped them with false visas this is what it means to remember that Hashem fashion you as a stone as a stone a stone is powerful what's a strike the rock there's a rock there's a vessel made of very easy to break very easy to break in fact it's so porous if it gets T you can't put it on a Mikvah what do you do you just break it and then you put it back together and it's good that's a clay with an Evan with a rock that's very very different that's clay of and it's not not even susceptible to T because it's completely connected to Nature that's a story from 1946 but I want to tell you another story that I uh came across it happened uh it happened right before is in 2015 in September 2015 the president of Israel at the time was a man named ruvi rivlin Ru rivlin and he went to visit the pope and uh he went into the pope with his chief of staff his chief of staff is a woman named Rifka ravitz Rifka ravitz at the time this is uh what eight years ago was 39 years old a mother of 11 children Kayan Hara and two degrees and finished also her PhD um a degree in computer and political science a degree in public policy and she was the chief of staff of the Israeli president at the time when you meet the pope there's a rule you shake his hand you bow down as a sign of respect Rifka ravitz who's a toyra observant woman had a big problem with that because the pope wears a Salem he wears a cross so she made it very clear that she'll join but there's no way she doesn't want to shake the Pope's hands based on her tradition and also will not bow down to a cross and she explained this and she explained this very clearly you know what happened something incredible I don't know if it happened in 2,000 years and that is the pope covered his cross and he bowed down to her he bowed down to Rifka ravitz it was captured by a photographer you could see the picture a few years later before rivlin left his tenure as Israeli president today the president is heron he went to visit the president of the United States Bo President Biden and he came with Rifka ravit so they started TMO so he said you know are you a mother you have children there she says yeah I have 11 children Biden was so flabber gaster well you know what he did he bowed down to her he literally knelled down on his knee and he huh she has 12 okay okay old news right old news fake news in a person's life there's being an empty vestel but then there's being a person knowing certain moments when you have to be a rock in the most powerful sense and most positive sense of the word not out of stubbornness and obstinacy and the lack of ability to be pable and compromising and and reasonable and flexible then it could become a curse but out of the knowledge that I'm representing the ultimate truth and kindness and if I don't stand up for it with pride and dignity if I am not a law breaker when the law is horrible then being a clay haris is actually being an accomplice an accomplice to the negativity I remember my father was in the hospital it was a few weeks before a few days or a few weeks before he passed away so I went in the middle of the night to visit him was bman Hospital in Manhattan I came 11 or 12 so I went so there was a security guard there so he says you can't go visit a patient that this hour I said listen the man had an amputation he's very ill he's extremely ill I'm his son let me go he says I can't it's not according to the I said what do you care I won't you don't tell I won't tell just let me go into the elevator and go up and I gave him a s St I I wasn't a s story I told him the true story he refused and refused finally he felt bad for me say look at me this is what they always say he says sorry man I'm just doing my job so I told him a line I once read I said calling it your job doesn't make it right or good or logical calling at your job doesn't mean it's the right thing to do if this is your job change jobs not allowing a son to go visit his father in middle of the night he said okay [Laughter] go so there's a time to be a vessel a earth andwar vessel there a time to be an heavan but then he continues and the next line is he speaks about Kon like an iron in the hand of the blacksmith when he wishes places it in Fire and when he wishes removes it from the Flames iron of course was used throughout history Garen an axe iron barel as the primary weapon of War of combat of conflict in life a person sometimes has to be ready to wage battle a battle against those who want to destroy us from without and from within not to be apologetic for our survival to be firm and fearless and motivated the says somebody comes to kill you kill them first but there's also something else there's Having the courage to combat that inside of me which I have to combat like the stanza finishes each time gaze at the Covenant and not at the toxic impulse who is it talking to it's talking to hem but it's also talking to the [Music] person I myself should gaze at my own bris at my own Covenant with my God rather than my own impulses this is where a person has to be able to have the discipline and the iron the of the iron the to be able not to surrender and full prey to destructive forces outside or within that tend to undermine or even destroy a person and as he says about the Garen when he wishes he places it in fire when he wishes he removes it from the Flames placing it in fire molds it crafts it designs it consolidates it sometimes a person feels like that they're in a PR press difficult maybe even treacherous God forbid situation or sometimes it's like a fire there like this this it's difficult but this is not to destroy the iron it's to mold it and it's to consolidate it and it's to make it ultimately design it in the shape that it needs to be in order for the G and for the axe to be able to do its job which is basically faing those things that it has to fa is that the word felling huh yeah yeah yeah faing the things that it has to fa that's the that's the gon the anchor in the hand of the Sailor when he wishes holds it and when he wishes leaves it alone what is the meaning of this what is the idea of this they tell a story about a US naval ship that was confronting a Canadian one the Americans see the Canadian one and they send out a message please divert your course 15° to the north to avoid a collision so the Canadian responds and says we recommend that you divert your ship 15° to the South to avoid a collision the American responds and says this is the captain of a US Navy ship I say again divert your course 15° to the north the Canadian says no I will say it again you divert your course the American is quite uh frustrated and he says listen this is the aircraft carrier USS Lincoln legendary the second largest ship in the United States Atlantic Fleet we are a comp comped by three destroyers three Cruisers and numerous support vessels I demand that you divert 15° to the north and let me tell you let me tell you something if not counter measures will be undertaken to ensure the safety of the ship the Canadian responds this is a lighthouse your call in life this happen so often I decide I'm going to become powerful and firm and stubborn and I'm not going to divert 15 degrees cuz I'm a rock or I'm iron you're dealing with a lighthouse USS Lincoln carrier with all of your War measures you're dealing with a lighthouse what is it like the anchor in the hand of the Sailor knowing when to hold on knowing when to let go life is a tumultuous sea Hashem says I'm the director of your boat can you assist me in steering the ship to safety we are the anchors of the boat of Humanity on a voyage on a long and compl Lex Journey from Hari to the Gul from Sinai to Redemption Hashem holds the anchor at every single moment giving us the ability to remain on course focused directed and safe what does the lighthouse the lighthouse is something that that doesn't budge it doesn't move it gives Direction it gives perspective in each person's life what is that anchor an anchor is that somebody is anchored and rooted in something that you know allows for a stability for a consistency that's why people's Mourns are so important because if I allow if I wake up in the morning and before M right after M I'm already checking my emails an hour later everybody else defined me I'm not anchored when a person knows these are the morning hours I'm disciplined I'm anchored I'm rooted in something that's solid so then the waves the tumultuous waves of the sea don't just allow my boat like in y's case to fly here and there when a person right away starts responding to other people's request they may be fine things but then there's a clip and then there's an email and there's a text message and then there's another clip and then there's this and then there's that and two hours later I already lost my anchor now I'm defined by other people's Expectations by other people's needs so a ship must have an anchor and the anchor for a Jew is that I'm rooted in something that that's solid that's powerful the B said that the first thought of a person during the day defines the whole day because it's like the beginning it's what sets the tone you'll know it you're sitting at a speech if somebody wake gets up a speech and says you know I want to tell you something that I saw in a book uh oh by the way my name is oh we know what your name is that's why we came here my name is don't start that way or I saw something nice in this week's h because the way I started you people's attention spent today is 12 seconds not this class if you sit by me you have to expand your attention span as they always say double speed was created for my sh but generally people's attention span 5 years ago was 12 seconds today people's attention span is 7 Seconds the way it's going is going to be two seconds after a few years you don't say a thing their attention span is going to be a you start talking I'm done silence meditation so the way you start off is critical but the says the way I start of my day sets the tone why that's the anchor of the what am I anchored in person wakes up and they're anchored in their they connected each person in their own way with daving or meditating or your exercise whatever it is each person physically spiritually we need a combination mentally physically spiritually but you're rooted and you're connected you're anchored that allows the ship to be steered and directed in a powerful sense and very po often people give up that anchor and they just let themselves be led by the waves and every day there's another wave and there's another piece of news and there's another issue and there's another this now these are things I have to deal with but I want to be able to Define it I don't want let them to Define it for me he continues like the glass in the hand of the Glazier when he wishes he shapes it when he wishes he melts it like glass we have to be conscious of how fragile life is how fragile our souls are our bodies are our identity is and that's why it's so important to be appreciative of every breath of every hug of every gesture of Love of every opportunity it's important to celebrate every heartbeat every moment of connection every moment of attachment because it's easy it's easy to ruin things what they say about gush it took them 25 years 30 years to build it and 6 hours to destroy it how long does it take to build a friendship a real friendship it can take years and year how long does it take to destroy it sometimes a conversation it's important to notice I'm a rock and I'm also glass glass is fragile you have to protect it people sometimes don't give the dignity to themselves like they give to a class that's one of the reasons why under a we break the glass we could break different things we break a glass what's the reason for this one of the reasons is we're trying to tell the young couple something and that is you have to know how fragile and delicate a relationship is sometimes it's hard for people to say I'm not fragile I'm a tough I'm a tough woman I'm a tough man it's not true it's not true and if you're really so tough you're covering up something we're tough and we're also very soft you know when people say women are emotional men are not emotional really really which men have you been spending time with men living on Mars they're sometimes much more emotional maybe they're taught that they have to be manly and masculine you can't show it you got to repress it as sensitive and as emotional trust me any of you living with a man and you know him you know what I'm talking about and if not find out and if he's m is not emotional I want to know what trauma he's dealing with okay still looking for the man who's not emotional you're emotional I'm not emotional really what are you made of so we're tell huh not man emotional right you have to be manly to be emotional you have to have confidence to be emotional sure there's a moment that I'm a rock a moment you have to know your glass so tell the you see this glass was a beautiful cup suddenly it's broken sometimes what I just made a comment about you at the shabas table you're so sensitive you're so sensitive so what I said this I did this grow up grow up don't be a baby that work is important for people to grow up but it must come from a very very deep place of authenticity not from a place of repression and when I tell somebody oh the comment is meaningless it's often not because I'm such a mature and confident person but because I'm choosing disassociation or Detachment or not being attentive to the other person we are our hearts are fragile because our souls are fragile and the reason is expensive things are fragile beautiful things are fragile fragility is not a weakness it's not a weakness it's actually a strength it means yes it's sensitive it's not a shata yes how you treat it is important because it's precious it's divine it's important it has an impact it leaves an imprint it lives a mark my soul is not a piece of garbage it's not a shata if I lie if I gossip it hurts my soul it's fragile it breaks if I do something that breaks my n it breaks my body if I eat something that's not good I can work on that the body is fragile it senstive the body is going to say bad choice why you so I I try talking to my body why are you so fragile another piece of cake what's going to happen Okay dream on the body is fragile somebody's are more somebody's are less but a healthy person is somebody that responds my food affects me my behavior affect me my words affect me my relationships affect my comments affect me when we talk about chuva people often see it as a form of anxiety what I need to apologize for this for this chuva is the glorifying idea that I'm fragile I'm sensitive things have an impact things have an imprint I'm not a piece of garbage you're not a piece of garbage my thoughts my words my behaviors they matter they leave an indelible imprint and if there's filth if there's toxicity I want to extricate myself from it that's why we break the glass under the So when you say I'm being formed as a in the hands of the Glazier a person a person must not take for granted words that come out of our mouth relationships that are destroyed something that I did or did not do that is is is morally challenging or inappropriate like when you break glass I could sometimes break my spiritual flow there's a spiritual flow Hashem is forming le as a GL as hem is forming me as a Glazer forming glass allowing it to melt allowing it to be designed and formed I want to be able to be open to that flow to that sensitivity to that fragility to give an example I just talk about a little personal experience that took me years to understand this but recently I stood it I grew up in a place called Brooklyn there used to be a couple of Jews there you remember before the mass migration to Florida and Muny for everybody who wanted to breathe and wanted a three three car garage and a garden in the front and 3/4 of an acre or better two acres in the back so I grew up at the feet of the LA and I always wondered the rebba was a gentleman was very uh he was extremely extremely uh kind but extremely his behavior was extremely controlled like there was no such a thing he'll be in he'll socialize if you came to see him and you asked him he answered but as a child I always I was there always and I would say goodus to him and I always crave like you know why don't you smoo a little bit with the people it was like everything was measured every moment and every act and every move when I was a little child Friday night re would come out of sh so i d in the front and I would go near his room and he would say good chabas to everybody chabas I stood always in one place right near his room before he went into his room the corridor before his room and I would say good chabas and he would always turn to me and say good chabas one week there was somebody on the other side so he said so the Reb turned to him and he skipped me because he turned to that side and he went into his room so I was upset so I went into the corridor right before his room was a private place and he was about to go and I said good chabas so he turned around and he looked at me and said good Chas his secretary wanted to kill me his name was re Groner he got very very upset cuz I like you know I I broke the laws as a child it was hard for me little to understand you know how measured every move of the Rebel was I got older much older relatively speaking and then I understood and I'll give you an example imagine imagine you have a plug and the plug goes into the wall and this plug is responsible for transmitting electricity to the house but what if it's a plug that's responsible for transmitting the electricity that comes from the Niagara Falls and has to go to the entire United States of America and from there it further gets allocated to every state to every city to every region to every neighborhood to every block and then to every house and that plug is responsible for transmitting that electricity to a continent to a state to a city to a region to a neighborhood to a zipco to a block to your house and then somebody comes and plays with that plug you know plays and just pulls it out a little bit says no no no that plug has to stay in because if that plug gets gets weak and pulled out there's a blackout in the entire United States of America and what if there a blackout in the whole world a soul is a plug it's plugged into the source it's a transmitter of energy when I'm careful with that plug it's not because I'm selfish it's because I'm selfless because you know what is being transmitted through this plug and if you're a person and you know that you're a every is a transmitter of energy to the world every person has say when you're very well aware of what is coming through you at this very moment I allow my plug to be pulled out it's not it's not Sal cuz I just want to chill I'm causing a blackout in the world a real soul is aware of this I'll just have a little conversation you know I'll talk for three minutes I'll just lose myself I'll I'll do what I not supposed it depends how I see myself if I see myself as a gardener who cares I saw a clip somebody said don't go to the gym because you hate your body go to the gym CU you love your your body so this is the idea of the person understanding that a thought a word an action it's not about avoiding relaxation oh you're so fragile it's about embracing the truth of who you really are and what's coming through you it's a much deeper form of Serenity it's not Serenity that comes from being lightheaded and denying the truth that I was just broken into pieces shatter I remember I was once talking to a campus University student a girl and I asked her about her schedule she came from a secular home and she says Thursday night the custom is they go to the clubs all night I said till what time she says till 4 in the morning she was very spiritual I said when you come home what do you feel like she says I feel like a piece of dirt I feel empty it's pussed on vist it's it's there's nothing it's all everybody impressing somebody it's empty so I said so why do you do why do you do it every Thursday night she said cuz I don't want people to say that I'm a nerd and I'm not popular and nobody wants to be with me so what happens in people's lives is you know in the name of being you know Ledic and and integrated and social I allow my glass to be shattered into a million pieces and each one in their own way whatever that is in their culture that's he says cloth in the hand of the Weaver when he wishes heink drapes it when he wishes he twists it what does this mean Hashem is weaving me as a piece of cloth we went from clay to a stone to iron to an anchor to Glass and suddenly now I'm a garment I'm cloth I'm being woven a whole different metaphor than glass or a stone or pot a or or or a pot or or Pottery a vessel this this is basically where I realize that a major part of my mission is to be able to be a garment to be able to be a begar to be able to be a UA cloak that brings warmth to myself or to others Hashem weaves every garment differently with its own shape and design and color to be able to deliver the warmth that you or I have to deliver in your own inimitable way you know one of the most frustrating things in Camp was when they gave you a blanket that didn't go from the top of your head till the end of your feet remember that and all night and it was a chilly night you know in the cat skulls in July and all night your feet in your head like yakov's fight with the Rocks you know thank God today you're ready your mother you ready pack up your son's blanket you have to pack up three because they got lost the first day butth so they have now big blank but then we used to use the mattresses of camp and the blankets of Camp you remember those blankets very hard to find a blanket that goes all over but every blanket is unique depend depends on the size depends on the shape they say there was a Jew in London he was a very very secular Jew and he was not he was not very uh fond of religion but one thing anyone who had a Yeshiva he would give generously to Yeshiva and they wondered why so one of the fundraisers asked him and he said that he was a boy and he came to raden raden in Poland was the Yesa of the and uh he came there and the first night he was there before he was tested and decided if he should be admitted to the was the right place for him asked him if he has a bed in the dormatory they didn't have he said you'll come to my house and he came to my house his house and he fed him and then he gave him a bed and he said it was freezing at night it was freezing and the like many TRS didn't have a lot of money so the blanket was a very blanket in the middle of the night he couldn't fall asleep middle he hears the come into his room and he heard of the so he wanted to respectful he made himself as though he was sleeping then he hears the talking to himself and saying O this boy is probably so cold and he's going to get a cold had a pelts he had a you say a pelts a thick fur coat so he says he took off his pelts and he put it on the B's body and then he's probably still cold and he went and he found another blanket in his house probably his own blanket and he put it over his bed and he tucked him in and he made sure he was warm and said ah now he's warm he'll be able to sleep better and he walked out he said listen I didn't stay in Yeshiva wasn't for me Judaism wasn't for me the Yeshiva wasn't but I just want you to know that that blanket of the still warms me up today whenever I'm cold that blanket of the warms me up so if it's a Yesa that give such blankets then I support it and I sometimes tell Educators you know what you teach is extremely important but make sure you give every boy a blanket physically and concep make sure they're feeling your blanket they're feeling they're feeling your warmth Shane de plater told me a story a few days ago that she uh she got a text a few days ago from a girl a girl a young woman who grew up in one of our communities a very fine community and she said that her life was very very difficult and miserable and uh unfortunately she decided to end it and she was in her car and doing what people do in cars in order to terminate their existence and uh that's what she was about that's what she was about to engage in and her phone rang her phone uh she pressed it or somebody called and the phone went on and it played one of her songs that were're not Al I don't know the song but the the the theme of the song is one of the songs she wrote that we're not alone we're never alone in life and she said I listened to the whole song and it revived me and as I finished a leaf a leaf fell down on my car on the dashboard and it was the shape of love and I said to myself with this song playing and this Leaf it was a sign that I'm not alone and she said I want you to know that this song saved my life and she told me also that in the Summer she did a concert with Ura for a th girls it was a female concert Shane platka was singing and she was chanting how I don't know the chant but this chant is basically of the theme that uh whatever happens in a person's life is from Hashem so there were a thousand girls at this concert a thousand girls so randomly or she thought so she just pointed she said you mind coming up on stage from all the girls just pointed so one girl came up and uh she says you know many of us went through hard things in life can we imagine that every one of those hard things wasn't there to destroy us but really to help us fulfill our mission because it's all from the Creator and then she turns to the girl and said did you ever go through anything you know seriously hard in your life so the girl started to laugh and a bunch of people started to laugh she didn't understand why but the girl was laughing and then she had this girl do the chant and do the song and the thousand and girls were it was it was like galic it was explosive she very powerful F she finished performing with her and the girl went back after the concert the head staff were talking to her and I see she sees they're all sobbing how did you know how did you know how did you know she says what what did I know how did you know to call on that girl and ask her if she had anything hard in her life girl's name is RI by the way ra she said I don't know what you're talking about I just won't like this and I say would you like to come up on stage well a thousand girls why you choose her I didn't choose her God chose her what's the story this girl RI just a few years ago during Corona her father passed away during Corona and then her mother died during Corona both parents so her grandparents took her in her mother's parents took her in and both of the grandparents died from Corona so she lost four people so the second set of grandparents took her her father's parents and they both passed away from Corona would take so uh six people the closest people both her parents and both sets of grandparents so an aunt was Raising her this is the girl so when you asked her did you ever go through anything hard in your life she started to giggle it's like you know it's like oh no life has been just you know the most Blissful the delightful experience and they said I want you to know this girl we convinced her to they convinced her to come to camp but she's been closed the whole summer she didn't participate in anything closed off just cynical bitter surviving from day to day making fun of everything there's so much pain she didn't cry she just laughed off everything and would not participate in anything no activities no trips no singing no daving no none of the plays none of the exciting things in Camp garnish he was just closed and if you wanted to be cynical you can go to her to be cynical she said and this it opened her up something you did just opened her up and they said it it just transformed her life so sheni was telling me that that that you know a person doesn't realize the energy she she said there a thousand girls how did I know to choose this girl I did not know to choose this girl but that's the idea of AA I'm a vessel and I'm Stone I'm glass I'm iron Etc but then there is the concept that everyone is a garment a cloak a CUA a blanket to be able to protect to be able to bring warmth to be able to bring light heat passion love to another person can I alow myself to be that flexible blanket and a blanket can't be a stone if a blanket is a stone or a blanket is glass you don't cover yourself at night with glass glass is beautiful we love glass but everything has its function a glan is not a rock you don't cover yourself with a rock it's not going to be very comfortable a blanket by definition takes on different shapes and different sizes and the point is the softness and the tenderness the TLC but it's true in every person's life not everybody has that ability in this area but people have B different but that's sometimes I'm draped sometimes I'm folded sometimes I'm twisted I feel Twisted but when you're twisting the threads you're not destroying the threads you're creating a powerful garment in the Mish it was every thread had to be intertwined and then we have the last one what's the last one silver in the hands of the smth it's not enough that I'm CL not enough that I'm a rock and I'm iron and I'm an anchor and I'm glass and I'm a garment no silver in the hands of the silver smith in order to appreciate what the poet is saying I think it'll help to tell the an the the Epic the story there was a child who wanted to learn about the work of a silver smith so he called up a silver smith he made an appointment to watch him at work there's nothing like watching we call it chimos to see the action he's watching the silver smith work I don't know if you ever saw a silver smith so the silver smith is holding a piece of silver over the fire and he's letting it heat up it has to get very hot and he explains to the child that when you want to refine silver and remove what's called here mitar if you want to refine the silver remove all the Dr right the all the all the Dr you have to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flame is the hottest so that it will burn away all of the impurities embedded and existing in the silver the silver myth the silver smith explained to the child that he had to sit there in front of the fire the entire time that silver was being refined he couldn't leave for a single moment can't go take a coffee break can't go go on your phone can go take a stroll or a walk not only did he have to sit there holding the silver he had to keep his eyes on it the entire time can't start texting people and listening to people why because if the silver was left one moment too long in the Flames it would be destroyed but if the silver was not left long long enough in the Flames it would still have all of its impurities so you have to hold it keep an eye on it and know exactly the impurities are gone and the silver is pure but it's not being destroyed and then you take it out so the boy turns to the silver smth and says how do you know when the silver is fully refined you're telling me you can't leave it short enough so that it doesn't get refined but if you leave it too long it gets destroyed how do you know what the shear is how do you know that the sediment the dirt the dro the impurities in the silver have been removed anybody knows the answer for that for this you have to be a sver Smith so he smiled and he looked at the boy and he said that's easy when I see my image in it when I see my image in it I know it's done that's what he's saying we are the silver in the hands of the Smith he Alloys it and he refines it and we are the silver and what does it mean it's refined when the silver smith sees his image in the silver you know it's exactly the way the silver has to be sometimes a person is feeling the heat as they say in English or feeling whatever they're feeling but in whose hands am I I'm in hashem's hands and he doesn't turn away for a second like is every detail every moment every second it's not like I'm going away for an hour I'll be back just stick around in the fire he's holding it in the fire holding it literally holding holding it and looking at it and paying attention to it too long it get destroyed and His Eye Is on you and he holds on to you and then he sees his image in you and that's when my ego opens up and I become a reflection I become a mirror of the in the world literally you look I look at a person and who do I see I see hashem's image in the person you see theim in the person and when I could see it in myself then I could see it in other people what you see in yourself you could see to other people so therefore in this poem we go on this seven-step journey towards a life of Serenity of Oneness of purpose of realizing number one that with everything that I went through with everything that I'm going through everything every single detail there's no such a thing random mistake I was neglected I was abandoned I have bad mule I was born to this place I ended up in this place this mistake but rather there's a story of intimate love and Providence orchestrating every single journey and every single detail of My Universe imagine Hashem turning that wheel I can be an open vessel to experience love and light and I should be able to Exhale and expel from the vessel that which has to be expelled the stone which has the confidence and the strength it needs the iron that has the ability to be able to wage combat against the toxic forces outside or inside the anchor that allows a ship in a turbulent sea to remain connected and rooted in ultimate truth and ultimate values in Ultimate and inter that connects you to the core of your soul so that the waves of the sea don't overwhelm me there's a lighthouse that doesn't change with all of the volatile forces that can seem very threatening there's the fragility allowing myself to appreciate the fragility of the soul the fact that I'm a plug connected to the source of energy that's transmitting through me I don't want to interrupt the flow in me I don't want to break that flow because it causes Darkness not only to me it causes Darkness to the region that I'm responsible for and everyone ultimately is connected to the whole world I want to protect my plug I want to I want to protect my glass and if my glass was shattered I want to be able to pick it up with sensitivity and to be able to put it together which is why at the end of the K we break that glass for the couple to be able to explain to be able to demonstrate in a very Vivid way I want to be able to experience myself as the cloak as the Garment that can warm myself and warm others and finally as The Silver that the refiner holds in his hand and looks at every single moment until we become the perfect reflection of Hashem in this world have a wonderful day a beautiful week an amazing year and a good to everybody please remember please remember uh next week There's a class suus class next Tuesday 9 30 a.m. okay let the men build the Suka let them cook and you come to the class they could cook and build the Suka number two sh shabas sha we have a shabas sha for men and women T gimmel 5:00 p.m. shabas afternoon everybody is invited with a M for men women and children shabas shoua 5:00 p.m 10 giml number three this is for people who need it if you don't need that's good we have a special Class M shabas 9:30 p.m. online called if yipper causes you anxiety a blunt conversation with yours truly with questions and answers this is going to be on the yeshiva.net with questions and answers M shabas 9:30 p.m. for those that Yer causes anxiety you could send them to the Class M shabas I want to wish you all an amazing incredible blessed beautiful astounding Divine and blessed than