EMETTalk - Rabbi Akiva Rutenberg

Please help me welcome our final presenter, Rabbi Rudenberg. [music] [applause] My title is elevation through selfreflection. Rabi Salanter, the founder of the Muser movement, very famously said that when I was younger, I tried to change the world. As I got older, I realized that wasn't possible. So I tried to change my country. Then when I got older I said let me just try to change my city. And finally let me change my family. And ultimately I realized that the only person I can really change is myself. And if I had changed myself earlier I would have been [music] able to impact the whole world. And of course we're hearing this from Salan who did change the world. But he realized that the real growth has to happen inside of oursel. And this is an idea we hear from the BMTO. Bashento said is not just to go outside but to go inside. [music] As much as we reach higher, we have to reach inside as well. And a a wise a wise rabbi said over an idea that I I heard that if you see something in your kids or it could be other people around you [music] that you don't like that you find upsetting instead of working so hard to change that about them work on yourself on that mida and you'll usually see a very big change in your ch children or other people around you. [music] The Gmorrah tells us whoever anyone who invalidates or criticizes another is usually reveal revealing his own flaw. The Balmto says the world is a mirror. The faults you see in others are really reflections of your own flaws. Hashem sends you a mirror so you can grow. My father said over an idea I think it's from the fas that what is what is prayer? You heard different people today speak about prayer. What is prayer? And he said prayer is the concept of pal which is externally directed introspection. You got that? Externally directed externally [music] directed introspection. David Amela says in ani I am prayer. David is not just saying a prayer he's living a prayer. His entire existence becomes a prayer. This teaches us that real prayer isn't just for words. It's a state [music] of being. And I think this idea of externally ex externally directed introspection is really what our mission in life is and that's what tila is about. Is not just something we do. We have to strive to be like David I need to [music] I am prayer. My existence is prayer. My existence is a state is a state of externally directed introspection. That's what I need to be doing. I have to be going outside. I have to get up in the morning. I have to say shah. I have to get up and I have to do mitzvot and I think it's taka and I have to live my life. But it has to be externally directed introspection. It's a constant process of going into yourself, going out of yourself, growing from within and then going out and and making a difference outside of ourselves as well. So when we go with this theme of reaching higher, the goal is reach higher, reach deeper. Look at the relationships that trigger us the most and go into yourself and say what about this is triggering me so much. Maybe I can [music] I can work I can work on myself to on this character trait. I can work on this mida. I can work on on on this. And with this in mind, with this in mind, [music] we can become literally different people through our life. Like like Rabbi Yan said and like so many others said, we [music] can take the challenges of our life. We can take the and and we don't have to be afraid of them. [music] This is one of the questions that came up in the question and answer. We don't have to be afraid of of of going out [music] of expanding oursel of of whatever it is in our life. But have this mindset of externally directed introspection that as we grow and as we live and as we take on [music] new things keep looking into oursel keep keep growing inside [music] as we grow outside I will give everybody a bra that this should be a great year of growth like I said in the beginning we should we should have next year's retreat in the shahim [applause] that was