Rabbi Jonathan Rietti - Staying Religious in a Secular World

Tonight is very special sheer. Being dedicated in loving memory of the Louis Nashman Eliahu Ben Nisanov and Shimon Shimon Eliahu from all the Torah all the all the brachos the Shimon Eliahu amen. We will be having a very special um renowned lecturer tonight all the way from from from Monsey traveled in to give us some his and inspiration and we really appreciate them coming taking the the the travel down to Queens we appreciate it. He was sent by Isaac and Eliahu Ben Nisanov Lisa Bracha Bat Cion Memorial Foundation. Very special topic tonight staying religious in a secular world and it's a very appropriate topic throughout the year as well as we gain some inspiration from that topic tonight. Someone was just asking me on on the way in the first time they're coming to a Khazak event so they were like what's Khazak? So I'll just give a quick little run down what Khazak does. People know Khazak for the sheerum and events in person and people watch online which inspires thousands of people throughout the year. What Khazak is might not be as well known for is the public school outreach they have a Sunday school after school programs in 15 different locations. We have Rabbi Alon Shlita right here from Great Neck we have a Sunday school program in a Sunday school shaping lives program in his shul and we have in 15 different locations which is good gives the youth of the community who are in public school the foundation in Judaism. We have a whole division called public school Yeshiva which in the last 5 years has helped transfer over 1200 children from public school to Yeshiva. So if anyone knows someone who has a friend or relative everyone knows someone who has children in public school and they'd like to give them a Jewish education reach out to Khazak we help them get them a Jewish education and and then talking talking about Jewish education and talking about leaders in the community we have the the Nisanov family we have Baruch we have Yaakov who who you could just tell how special the father and the parents were by by by by by by the by the Ma'aseh Avot Siman L'Banim, the actions of the children, the grandchildren, you could tell what the greatness of the of of the of the parents of the grandparents. Every single year for for I don't even know how I don't maybe you could tell me how many years it's been that every year they work they dedicate Shiurei Torah lectures of Torah people so many people get inspired in person, thousands of people watch online. So, we want to give you a round of applause to the Nissan family for for dedicating tonight's Shiur. I'll give you some quick remarks from from the son, Yaakov Nissan. Hi, Shavuot tov everyone. Um I know it's difficult for people to come out on a Sunday night. Um we really from the family, from everyone, from every one of us, we just want to say thank you. I'm a big fan. I always say, you know, um there is no coincidence. So, you know, I don't know if it whoever knows about what happened with regards to our parents, you know, my mother passed away and then 8 months later my father passed away. So, it was an extremely difficult time for us. And um you know, I was looking when it all happened, you know, it was a very dark time and you know, this week's parsha is something that was very nice that showed up. And it wasn't I mean I I saw it back then, but it gave me a lot of chizuk and it gives me a lot of you know, something that I would like to share. It says that Moshe Rabbeinu, you know, he he had you know, after the chet ha'egel he found chein in Hakadosh Baruch Hu's eyes. So, what did he say? He said, "I want to understand why you do what you do. I want to understand why do you know, good people have bad things happen to them and bad people have great things happen to them?" And Hakadosh Baruch Hu here "You know, I'm going to answer you this question also. And he tells him, you know, I'm going to put you in a rock and I'm going to walk by you. Kilu. And you're going to see the side of me, you're going to see the back of me, but you won't see the front of me. And the question didn't seem to answer, but Moshe seemed very okay with it. He was you know, I can answer the question. I'm asking you, why do you give good people bad outcome or bad people good outcome in this world? And you're telling me you're going to see my back, my front, you're not going to see my face, you can't see my face. So, the answer that I heard was is that I got over here was telling him a very important message. He said, you as a human can only see the present and the past. I see the future, which is my face. I see it all coming together as a whole. When I see the whole, that's why these things happen in the way they do. So, it gave me a lot of comfort saying, look, I was also wondering like why did all these bad things happen? And Moshe Rabbeinu also had that same question. But that answer kind of like, you know, made me a lot more comfortable. You know, um we you know, we migrate we we moved from from Russia. My father worked very hard to make sure that, you know, institutions like Chazak got us to where we are today. You know, I remember we moved into Cincinnati or we were in reformed schools. All of a sudden we came to America, someone plucked us out of the Yeshiva one Yeshiva put us into Mir Yeshiva, and then the rest is history. And how Hashem, you know, the family grew and things like that. So, that's why we always make an effort, you know, make sure that we do things with Chazak, we support Chazak tremendously as much as we can. And you know, we want to give a great Shiko, you know, he tells us that we do something good, but reality Robbie, Rabbi Yaniv, the whole Chazak organization, they do wonderful, wonderful things. You know, with including to our anytime, you know, one of the things we were telling Rabbi Yeredi, we had 9,000 views for the sheer that he did last 5 years ago. So, that means whoever's sitting here, it's one thing, but then that continues continues continues giving. And, you know, Baruch Hashem, you know, we were able to do it. And, um you know, I encourage others to follow that same lead. Um you know, someone called my wife recently and said, you know, I think it's enough, you know, the restaurants are getting wealthy for no reason. You may as well make sure. So, um you know, that's something that we really believe in. And, um hopefully, you know, it's a legacy that we can continue and um provide to Bnei Yisrael. And, without further ado, Rabbi Yeredi. Special thank you to Robbie and Rabbi Yaniv and and to our sponsors tonight, uh Baruch and Yaakov Nisanov. And, uh as as mentioned, all all the inspiration, all the brachos that were already said should be ilui nishmat uh the dear father, Eliyahu ben Yitzchak. Amen. So, tonight's presentation, the title you chosen is staying religious in a secular world. In Hebrew, staying is kiyum. Kiyum means maintenance. You don't stop, persevere, carry on. And the word secular, you look it up in a dictionary, actually means without God. Means minus God. It's the removal of religion and all its precepts from whatever you're calling secular, so a secular society means values minus God. And even though I would say the good news, I would like to start off with the good news, is that um this is not a new phenomena. This is not a new challenge that um we're dealing with, how to stay religious, how to stay strong in our Torah values in a society that is not just secular, but going very fast. I'll translate myself. Going very fast in the direction, so I get paid to speak this way, it's all right. Uh I get uh so the society we're living in is going very quickly in the direction of removing mention of the Kadosh Baruch Hu in uh what is ostensibly an a Christian society. And there are tens of millions, tens of millions of Christians in this country who are in uproar about what's going on, where children have extremely absorbent minds. Children have naturally curious minds. And children by default are wired to trust the adults in their life. And we're being forced into a situation where the education our children are receiving, and I know it's less prominent, even though it's extremely subtly uh penetrating our machaneh, um it's extremely prominent outside of our machaneh. And it's not it's not really a question of uh whether or not we will succeed in stopping the tsunami is more a question of when. It will happen. But it has begun. I don't want to get in into details. I'm working in enough for 38 years now with children and I'm just going to tell you as it is. There are therapists who are dealing with teachers in the public school system from teachers whose jobs are line for the simple reason that they are refusing to cooperate with what they are being forced to teach children. You're not allowed to call children boys and girls because they haven't decided yet. You can call them people. You can call them them, but you can't call them boys and girls. Um I usually send teachers and I'm not going to go into details to a teacher training course that is probably the most conservative version of right-wing values um in this country and internationally. And not this last summer, but the summer before, they were already complaining that in every single course uh teacher trainers are pushing with a very strong agenda you have to allow a child the possibility that they are a different gender. You have to promote. And I'm I'm I kid you not. This is what's This is what's going on and this is what our children Just be honest. Are our children completely insulated that they really don't know what's going on out there? Or have all the barriers come down to the extent that as long as any family has a device, whether it's internet access or or a phone with a screen, I'm not making it right, wrong, good, bad. I'm just making an observation. Children have access. There are not hundreds, there are already in the thousands of good boys and very good girls who when mom and dad are asleep, uh on devices or going to the computer and they know how to uh get around the filters and the passwords. And then they get poisoned. And when I'm talking about poison, I'm not talking about physical poison, I'm talking about much worse, the poison of the mind. I was just working and I don't I can't give details. It's just not fair to any moist it. Uh on my way out, uh just this last week from the school, uh 11 and 12-year-old young ladies who are part of the school are begging to answer question which has to do with what's wrong with premarital relationships. And this is a complete I don't I can't say the name of the school cuz you're dealing you're dealing with children who are confused because they're healthy. Because they're healthy, when they hear at home and in our schools and in our culture what what is called integrity, what's called loyalty to one's spouse, what's called uh not looking where one should not look in order not to fill one's mind with second-guessing and undressing other people in one's in one's mind. In in order to keep our children's minds clean if they are normal and healthy, they've got to be confused. Because society is promoting a totally different agenda. There's not a movie that's been that's coming out of Hollywood that will even be able to to be viewed unless they're promoting mish kav zakhar, same gender marriages. And even even if it would be a movie that's showing an event that took place hundreds of years ago, they're still going to put it in there. And it's make it's try it's trying to make it the new norm such that our children, if they're healthy, which they are, are going to be confused by a world that's not just secular. God is not in the picture. It's actually much worse than that. It's a direct battle, a direct God is the target. This is a This is the final war. These are not my words. And Hazal tell us, it's actually from Esther Rabbah, I think it's in chapter seven, Medrash on on on Megillas Esther, uh tells us that um Paro thought he was very smart when he drowned the boys. And Haman laughed and said, "How ridiculous Paro was. Because if the If there's one Jewish girl surviving, then the whole Jewish nation can be reborn from one Jewish girl." I'll bet a Paro. He was a shoter. He was a fool. I'm going to destroy every man, woman, child, adult, elderly, and even tough, even the even the babies. Haman, baruch Hashem, not only didn't succeed, but we have an entire festival that's going to last even beyond when Mashiach comes, of Purim. We just had it barely a week ago, where we are reminded for the last 2,400 years. Hashem wants us to know we're living in olam hafuch. It's upside down, inside out. And the nehafakhu, the story of Purim, Hashem's name is not mentioned once is all a revelation, Megillah, megaleh, of Esther, what's hiding, what's hidden, that he is the one who is actually orchestrating all the events, and like you pointed out, seeming coincidences. There are no coincidences. All coincidences happen on purpose. And it's all for one invitation. Olam hafuch, where the story is venahafechu. Nahafechu in this context means Hashem wants to reveal to us a reminder every single year on Purim, and we're still in Adar. So, it's still a time of of marbim b'simcha. The further you go into Adar, marbim b'simcha, it should actually get stronger, more intense. And what's that based on? How much money I made this month? How much weight I lost? Um what I what I managed to buy for my wardrobe? A new car? Get my school into that partic- my kid into that particular school? What what's what's it going to be based on? Is it going to be based on anything outside of me? In which case, if my success or my happiness is based on something outside of me, well, what happens if that's not permanent? Then where where's my happiness? Or do I have to find a definition for being strong in my Yiddishkeit that's inside out? Because if it's outside in, talui b'davar, if it's hanging on something, it's suspended, it relies on something, and you remove that something, botel hadavar, oh, botel ha'avah, oh, then my love for Hashem has v'shalom will go out the window. So, how do we stay strong? So, Hashem in his kindness gave us all the clarity we need. He gave us a history where we've been through the Egyptian exile. A A reminder that's coming soon in a shul near you in uh approximately 3 weeks' time. We've been through the Babylonian exile. 70 years, and we came right back into Eretz Yisrael. Unfortunately, not all of us. Um, and that's why Ahashverosh, um, celebrated the party. That first perek in Megillas Esther is how how many day party was it? 180. Uh, ladies, how many of you can handle 3 days Yom Tov? A 180-DAY YOM TOV? AHASHVEROSH, what are you so excited about? What are you celebrating? Oh, he's celebrating his Emunah in our own a full. Our own a full. But once he saw the 70-year expiry date was up, according to his miscalculation, he was so excited that Hashem's out of the picture, has v'shalom, that he made a mishteh for 180 days, and in his arrogance, his certainty of his poor math, he ended up wearing the the Kohen Gadol's clothing and serving us with Keilim from the Beis Hamikdash. But he believed, and we survived Bavel, we survived Pras and Haman, we survived Yavan. Yavan was not a normal type of a Galus. The other ones were geographically located. Mitzrayim, Bavel, Pras. But Galus Yavan, that's a really strange terminology. Cuz Galus you translate as exile, and usually the association is I've been exiled from my home, Eretz Yisrael. And yet, where was Galus Edom? Where was the exile of us I Galus Yavan? Where was the Greek exile? In Israel. We were all in Israel. AND IT'S STILL CALLED GALUS cuz Galus is not primarily a physical dislocation. It's primarily a mental dislocation where I'm not including God in my mind. That is secular. So, even though we've been through Yavan, we've been through Edom, we're still in Edom, and we've been through a lot of Edom. The Crusades and the Inquisition and the Cossacks and Tach v'Tach, 1648-1649, 1/3 of the Jewish people was wiped out. It's only because we've had a World War I which decimated the communities and caused tremendous poverty, but we never talk about the suffering and starvation and alienation and rebuilding of communities after World War II because World War II pales it all. With the destruction of over 50 million people of humanity and 1/3 of the Jewish people decimated, gassed, burnt. It's not a new subject. The good news is not only have we been here before, but how many people listening to this went to school or yeshiva with a Roman? Babylonian? Ancient Greek? THEY'RE ALL GONE. WHO'S STILL HERE? OH, you're still here. Oh, so the good news is Hakadosh Baruch Hu has already promised us up front. Which most most authors don't do this. You know, Agatha Christie loved those. She She doesn't give you the the first chapter. She's not going to start telling you headlines of how the story's going to end. It would like kill the You know, what? You want to keep the suspense and cliffhanger chapters so that by the time you get to the end, you can't believe, "Oh my gosh, all the clues come together and it was the most the most unlikely person that I suspected was the one who did it, who had done it." But God has a sparkle who gives us the headlines up front. He wants us to know we'll be in God less not once but twice, 70 years in between. Eretz Yisrael will wait for us. It will remain dormant. It will remain desolate. It will the soil will not provide for any alien empire, civilization, country to sustain an economy because Eretz Yisrael is umbilically related to us. And of all the mitzvahs, it only requires one mitzvah, the mitzvah of bris milah, brit milah, in order for us to resettle the land. So, comes along looking at the pattern, you see that we've had we've been here before. It's not the first time. And not only is it something that's in our history that should give us some courage, but it's also a nevu'ah. Hashem has told us up front that I'm going to bring you back to your land and then Eliyahu Hanavi is going to herald coming of Mashiach and the building of the Beit Shlishi and Kibbutz Galuyot and gathering of all the exiles and finally techiyat hametim. And just like I kept true to all my previous promises, that's how you know I never abandoned you and I will not abandon you. And just like I kept all my promises till now, you will be hated by all the nations. You'll remain few in number. You'll be spread throughout the whole world. Your land will wait till you return till it begins to flourish again. And at the end of time, all these items will have found you. But but I mean all of these items will have found you by the end of days. You'll be a great nation. In fact, you'll be so great that all the nations will be blessed through you. That's one of the first promises. Chapter 12 verse 2 and 3 to Abraham Avinu. The new mishpachot Adamah. Every family, all the nations of the entire world will be blessed through you, Abraham Avinu. You through the children you and Sarah Imenu will father and mother this nation. They will be a light unto nations. And yet we're also promised we'll be few in number. Have we been a light unto nations? Have we produced millions millions of sadikim sadikot tzit kaniyot? Righteous individuals who've been role models of kibbutz avot teaching the world what it means to take care care of our elderly. Teaching the world what it means to put a dugash and a huge emphasis on Jewish education. We've taught the world take care of the almanah. Take care of the widow. The yatom, yetomah, and orphans. We've taught the world that the underdogs have to be protected. You look at the hilchot eved ivri. Not not very kindly translated as Jewish slave. Uh it's not it's not slave with all the wrong connotations that that word uh carries. An eved is is a disciplined person. Avodah is discipline. It's someone who has accepted that this person is my authority and I'm not my own authority. I I I live completely under that person's jurisdiction. Slavery is a very bad translation. In Jewish law, if you have a an eved Ivri and you only have one pillow in the house, who gets it? The eved. You got only got one one piece of steak and you got a family meal of five members, mommy and daddy and three kids, who gets the steak? The eved. So, Chazal tell us we are so sensitive in not crushing someone who is under other people's authority that we that we even promote them amongst ourselves in such a way that the world would be in awe when they see how an eved is treated. It's told in the book of Melachim, I think round about chapter five, when Hamelech was king. He gave classes every morning. Hundreds and thousands of people would sit and listen to the wisdom and in question and answers he had a Q&A, he was able to answer any question on any area of anything in the creation. It was so wondrous that when non-Jewish merchants would arrive on the shores to do business with Zevulun and Yissachar, they were so impressed by the financial integrity of all the business dealings and the derech eretz, the extraordinary well put together people they were exposed to, they said, "Look, we've landed in in this land, why don't we go to Jerusalem, Yerushalayim, and and check how you know this God that they are serving and what would inevitably happen is these thousands of merchants who would come from other countries during the year, they would visit Yerushalayim and then they were so blown away by our simcha Torah chaim, how happy we were, and how gracious, kind, thoughtful, even to strangers, that they converted and they would go back to their countries and convert their families. Have we we may not have fulfilled our 100% but we are still here and we are still holding on so tight to taryag mitzvot, the ones that apply to us, we're holding on as tight as we possibly can almost in a leaderless generation. Has v'shalom, I don't mean we don't have leaders but of the caliber that we used to have, we used to have a Reb Moshe Feinstein, there are people in this room who who interfaced with Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky, the Steipler. The Manchester Rosh Yeshiva, I it's not right for me to go into a list because I'm going to has v'shalom uh by default leave out other personalities who deserve to be counted as great giants. And these were giants in Torah, these were giants in their ben adam l'chavero, absolute giants. And then we had Reb Chaim Kanievsky, the son son of the Steipler, and we we know we're not an orphan generation, we'll never be an orphan generation, but look how far we've reached so close to the end. The ArtScroll has to give you footnotes, not just translation to the oral law, footnotes on almost every single text that it translates. We've reached a point in our our history that we're almost at the lowest in terms of having to access Torah in a way that uh the language has become a huge barrier to us and it's and it's it's translated and explained and elucidated in multiple languages. So, the good news is we're getting really close. And it's very interesting that Hashem lahavdil does not does not follow Agatha Christie's protocol. He actually gives us up front that I want you to pay attention that you've been exiled once, twice, 70 years in between. Please look back on your history and count the events exactly as I foretold them so that you would be able to arrive near the end and say, "I'm not letting go. I know where I come from. I know who I'm part of." And the other good news is that we have extraordinary resilience. Is there any other nation people who have been as persecuted hated exiled burned, gassed, every imaginable form of killing and and what becomes our typical response to the persecution that we've been through? Revenge? Get back at them? Hate all the non-Jewish nations? Or have we started again? And even in the new host nation did we completely set ourselves apart or in every area that we entered, we contributed, enriched that civilization brought new leadership? V'nivrako uvarcha kol mishpachot ha'adama. And Hashem wants you and I to know, please pay attention to my promises, my nevuot, because when we look at the Torah and Nach and read the promises Hashem's making to us, the further you are in history, the more promises you can check off and the more encouraged you can be that Hashem is with us to the finishing line. But we still have to answer and address, as much as we can, what about our children? So I'm going to share with you the ultimate filter. We're surrounded by arayos. We're surrounded by promiscuity, um unmatched since the mabul, and it's going it's going very fast to even supersede. Um and our it's very hard to hide our children from what the world is exposing us to for the simple reason that it's already penetrated our machaneh, um and we have within our own families and extended families members who have made choices that's not part of our value system. And I'm not making that as a a a right wrong, I'm just making as an observation why it is our children cannot be insulated because it's it's it's literally in the air. So I'm going to really share with you the following. Hamelech, chacham mikol adam, the wisest man of all. If you had to identify of all the different things you should guard yourself, guard yourself on your health. Would you say that's important? On a zero to 10 scale, zero is the least important, 10 is the most. What would taking care of one's health score? Little louder? A 10. Okay. You at least you got to hit a 10. Uh financial responsibility, what what would that's what uh I'm not talking about just financially wealthy, I'm talking about being responsible. For example, spending money that one actually has, as opposed to on a credit card, um, for things I can't afford, um, with money I don't have to impress people I don't necessarily like. So, here I'm using credit cards, but it's not it's not money that I have in the bank to pay off in full. Oh. So, on a zero to 10 scale, what do you think is the stress that can be caused from financial irresponsibility? It's a 10. You break the scale. You can You can look in any area of life. We already know what's most important. And here I'm going to share with you what HaMelech tells us of all the things we should guard, all the things we should be very, very careful of. MiKol Mishmar, from everything that needs to be guarded, whether it's my wealth, whether it's my health, whether it's what goes into the minds of my children, what we what we allow to be heard and seen in our home, what we what we will permit and what we won't permit to be listened to in the car, etc. Of all the things that I should guard, what should I guard the most? The most. MiKol Mishmar Netzor Libecha. Of every imaginable type of guarding, whether it's your property, your business, insurance, whether it's your home, physical home, the lives of your children, lives of your spouse, your own physical life, of every imaginable thing that one has to guard because it's valuable, it's precious, I can't live without it. Netzor Libecha. Netzor is a loshon of guarding, but it's a different type of guarding to shmira because if it weren't, then you wouldn't need two different words for the same thing. What's the difference? So, you can have one shomer, one guard standing outside the shul, who is a security guard, um, and to some extent people might feel secure. But what would it look like if you had a security guard not just at every entrance, but surrounding the entire building? Now, it might bring a lot of attention wondering what's going on in there that needs such guarding. But netzur is a lashon of metzur. Metzur is when you besiege a city, surround it. No one's allowed to come in or out. Oh, netzur libecha, of all imaginable type of guardings, guard your mind. Lev has three possible meanings. Always have to find which one applies here. Is it your physical heart? Well, you might want to argue it's referring to your physical heart if you want to talk about diet and nutrition and exercise um and how to detox so that my bloodstream um is providing the best nutrients uh to my cells to renew my energy. You could go there, but it's very unlikely that's and I didn't find one mefarash that says it's referring to the physical heart. Then there's another meaning of the word lev, which means a metaphor, like lev hayam. Um and it's obviously not metaphorical here. It's referring to the third meaning, which is the vast majority meaning. Lev means mind. Levav when doubled over means thoughts. It's plural. Lev means mind. Rabot machshavot ba lev ish. There are many thoughts in the mind of a person. Now, I'm not going into this now. We've done We've actually covered it in other presentations, but the reason why Hakadosh Baruchu gave the word lev to mean both your physical heart and actually your mind is very simple. And because it's simple, it might go right over my head, but it's extremely simple. There's no word for emotion in lashon hakodesh for the simple reason that whatever you're thinking, that's what you're then going to feel. You're always feeling your thinking. You can't separate the two. I'm not going into it right now, but there's fascinating um investigative science in the last three decades of interviewing patients who've had transplants of their heart and describing completely new desires or ways of looking at life that they never had before. And the more they look into it, the more it's becoming obvious, even though Melech knew this a long, long time ago, is that your heart, your physical heart, actually contains cells that hold onto the memories of what you're thinking. Because the moment you think something, you feel it. Now, I'm not going into detail. If you want to look more about into the subject, there's a a fascinating book, I think it's called The Heart Code. H E A R T, The Heart Code, is a fascinating work by a number of different doctors and uh researchers. But the piece I'm bringing out is that every cell in your body listens to what you say. I I will never forget. I hadn't played soccer, it's my favorite sport, it's British football. I hadn't played it in about 20 years, and I'm talking about about 17 years ago. I played it for the first time in about 20 years, and it blew my mind because my my legs were moving in the same coordination that I had a memory of, the exact way I would dribble the ball, it's an expression in English. Um it doesn't mean you put your nose on it, it means you're you're dribble the ball with your feet, and uh you pass and you uh you uh felt uh you get around uh the player in front of you, and it was astonishing to me that somehow or other my my legs seem to have had a memory in the nervous system of the same movements that I had, I don't think I'd played in about 20 years. But But this is very typical of the the human body. We are It's not a body and a soul and a mind. They're not three sep- Those are three different names we give it, but they're not separate entities. Our emotions are not separate entities to our bodies. Our bodies actually experience our emotions, and our emotions are what we're thinking. And the greatest filter we need, more than anything else, is our minds. And that's why in the mitzvah of the Aharai Levavchem, don't follow your thoughts, the Eineichem, or your eyes, it's the thoughts that you see with, not your eyes. Ask any scientist, any eye doctor, do I see with my eyes or do I see with my mind? What will he tell you? Your eyes are the Your eyes are the instrument which takes in light, but it's your retina, your mind, is going to take the light and actually interpret its meaning. So you actually see with your mind. You don't hear with your ears, you hear with your mind. How many times have you seen a kid on a device, and you call them for supper, and it's the FOURTH TIME. WHAT'S THE MATTER? CAN'T YOU HEAR I'M CALLING YOU? YOU NEVER CALLED ME, MOM. I know, you could record the decibels, and you could even video it, but the child's mind was somewhere else. Aha! Some people know husbands like that, too. My mind is everything. Mikol Mishma, perek dalet, pasuk kaf gimmel, in Mishlei. Mikol Mishma, from every imaginable type of guarding, the most valuable asset we have is our mind. Net sole becha. Do you know why? Ki mimenu totza'ot chayim. Because from your mind will come out lives. It's plural. This world, life in this world, and life in the next. You can have two people, both Holocaust survivors, with almost the same range of degree of persecution, suffering, and seeing death on a daily basis. And one can come out a fully fledged apikoros, rachmana litzlan, someone who says God was not there for me. I can't have anything to do with him. And then the second person comes out and says, "That's interesting that you would take that position because the biggest proof that God existed in my life is I'm still here and I survived. And I went through so many times when I I should be dead, and I'm still here." I dove him with a gentleman whose father was 14 when he entered Buchenwald. His brother took care of him. His brother was 17, and he pretended they wrote that he was 17. He was a tall boy for his age, and he didn't grow after the war from malnutrition. So he actually ended up being very short. He lost his brother and his parents and his whole family. He was a sole survivor, and it was only the last week on the last week of the war in the death march that um his brother faltered, and a Nazi officer shot him in the head, and then shot Mr. Friedman in the head in the head, too. Mr. Friedman woke up hours later in the freezing cold and realized what had happened. The bullet had grazed the top of his head and caused bleeding, so it looked like he was dead, and he fell back from the impact and shock, and he was unconscious, and when he felt the cold waking up, he realized how can I be dead? And then he realized, because it was cold, the blood had congealed, and he survived because of that. It's a fascinating story what went on after that, but the point being is that as soon as he was physically able, he went straight to Yeshiva. He went to Korean in in uh near Montreux in in Switzerland. He went back to Yeshiva. Also, we all have choices, and he was a sole survivor. Today, Baruch Hashem, dozens and dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren. So, the question begs, what what gives us the power to endure? We have the most resilience, and the resilience is up here. You're always one thought away from saying, "I'm going to turn this off now. I'm not going to look anymore." Or I'm not going to look. I'm not going to give a second look. We're always one thought away from making a new decision. It's not my eyes. Yes, shmiras enayim huge, but it's my it's what I'm thinking that controls my eyes and actually tells me what I'm looking at. And that is our greatest, if you want to call it, asset. Chazal tell us, it's uh mishna in in Pirkei Avos, mishna gimmel, Avraham Avinu nisah Avraham Avinu, Hashem tested him ba'asara nisyonos. 10 times. V'amad b'chulam. He stood up to all of them. And the obvious question is what what what did he have internally that enabled him to stand up to all those tests, especially after telling everybody God loves you so much, he doesn't need you to sacrifice your children to prove your love for him. And so God tests Avraham Avinu the Amad Bekulam. How did he do that? Rashi, Rabbeinu Yonah, perek hey, mishna gimmel on pirkei avos. If you can find me another p'shat I would pay you money for it. And I'm looking in the shul and I can't I mean in the cream there's all sorts of raid but I'm looking for a rishon where in their loaded words they reveal what was going on in the mind of Avraham Avinu when he was Amad Bekulam. He stood up to all his tests. And Rashi says three words, shelo hirher acharav. He didn't think about it afterwards. Or in the lashon hakodesh of Rabbeinu Yonah, shelo hirher acharei midosav shel Hakadosh Baruchu me roiv ahavaso mimenu. He didn't think, second guess, what's God doing over here? And why not? Because of his deep love for Hashem. And many of us I hope have had the experience that we our love for our child or children is so great that even chas v'shalom when they are not always respectful or much much worse than that, chas v'shalom, we stop we don't stop loving them. And how much would it take if they came and apologized and asked us sincerely, "Please Mommy, please Daddy, I'm really sorry I hurt you. I said what I said." How if if you felt that it was sincere, how much would it take for you to be able to say, "I forgive you." Less than a second. How long? Less than a second. Less than a second. Even if there's been nights and nights and nights of crying tears of pain of how far that child has fallen, but if they truly come back and they haven't come back all the way yet but they want to, what's our immediate response? It'll take a split second and we're back I I love you, always did I'll I always will. And that's really what Hashem is telling us. It's famously in the words of Yeshayahu Hanavi where he says, "Dirshu Hashem b'himatz'o." Chapter 55 verse 6 through 12. Very famous words. They deserve They deserve much more attention than I'm going to give tonight, but I'm going to touch on them as as we we close. Dirshu Hashem b'himatz'o, search for Hashem when he can be found. There's never been a time in history where technology is allowing us access to powers that are invisible. You and I cannot see microwaves. Um you don't see sound waves when you're talking to someone on a cell phone 6,000 mi away and you're not screaming. You don't see the the frequency of that particular number that got you to this phone and you're speaking to that person. Hashem has created a way in which in this generation it's a lot harder to be born into because of the the nisyana, the terror the very very terrifying tyvus and addictions and misrepresentation of who a human being really is. A human being is tzelem Elokim. But he's also telling us, "I'm giving you the same same way you can look at technology as the carrier of evil, see how it's revealing that there are hidden powers in the briah so that you can have emunah chushis. You can experientially know that I'm going to come true on everything I've told you thousands of years ago." Because you can see there are forces in the air that I put there and that you can harness, you can turn electricity into water. That's astonishing. You you in the with the use of wind you can actually put a couple of hundred people into a a metal cylinder and take off and and fly 30,000 ft high and land hours later on the other side of the world, completely exhausted. Well, not if you're in business class, but you could you you're you're almost ready to to start your new day. Maybe there's a bit of jet lag. That's astonishing. So, Hashem wants me to know that in the same way that dishu Hashem bimatsu, I'm I'm always able to be found. I can be found everywhere all the time. Kima uhu behilto karov, call out to him while he's still close. That's referring to Elul and and the 10 days of repentance. Ya'azov rasha, if a child has vashalom chooses to be wicked ya'azov rasha darko, and then he turns around. I'm going to be I'm going to change. V'ish aven machshavotav, and a person lets go of his foolish thinking. V'yashuv el Hashem, and he comes back to Hashem what will Hashem's answer be? About time? No, it's too late. V'yerachamehu, Hashem will have rachamim on him. V'el Eloheinu ki ya'ir be'el yishlo'ach, cuz Hashem is abundant in his forgiveness. Abundant means there's plenty of it. Ki lo machshavotai, and this is the key one, the key words. My thoughts lo machshavotai hem are not the way you think. V'lo darkeichem darachai, your ways are not my ways. Ne'um Hashem, declares Hashem, ki gavhu shamayim, just like the heavens, and thanks to Hubble telescope, we now know there's about a trillion galaxies spread out throughout much, much more empty space than the galaxies actually occupy. If you could go the billions of light-years to reach the furthest parts of the shamayim ma'aretz from planet Earth, that distance That distance is similar to how different my ways are to yours. And the way I think and the way you think. Cuz you think, says Hakadosh Baruch Hu, that small doesn't count. But I'm telling you one herehur, one thought of teshuvah, for me is enough to wipe out the entire record. That's what Rashi says there on that on that perek, perek nun hey, pasuk vuv through yud bet. Just like rain and snow comes down from the heavens, the shamayim lo yashuv, and it doesn't go back up. Well, it does, but you don't see it. It's invisible when it goes back up as vapor. Ki im hirvat aretz, only after the land has been fully, abundantly watered, the holidah, and now it gives birth from the nutrition in the rainfall. The ground those seeds with divine intelligence. Does it make sense? You put a seed in the ground and it knows to absorb the moisture in the topsoil and grow roots downwards and a trunk upwards and grows into a tree with branches, twigs, leaves that facilitate osmosis and photosynthesis, actually takes in sunlight and the nutrition from that converts it so that it becomes a fruit-bearing tree. And the fruit itself has seeds, which have the same divine intelligence of what to do. Astonishing. And it will convert carbon dioxide into oxygen for us to breathe, and provide shade, and provide fruit and vegetables. The same says, "Just like all that comes down to the the earth, and brings food for the person to eat." That's how my word should be looked at. Once they go out of my mouth, lo yashuvu li rekam, they won't come back empty. If a person does what I want, v'itsliach, he'll be successful, asher shlachtiv, cuz that's why I sent him into this world for. I've been thrown into this world, almost literally, where I'm invited with constant invitations to be vulnerable. Constant reminders I'm not in control. Here you have government promoting, behind the scenes, abortion, destruction of life, redefining it up to, including after birth, up to some 24 hours, and other other states are now voting on 24 months. So, killing a child before the age of two is under the title of abortion, and therefore not defined as killing. What's hap- What That's not an attack just on the human race, that's an attack on the sanctity of human life. Oh, so this is not just an attack on on people, it's an attack on the creator. And who is this chosen nation nation that should be calling out the most? And I'm not talking about in the political realm, but calling out where Hashem wants me to call out. Oh. Promotion of same-gender relationships, marriages, transgender operations, hormones with out consent of the parents, without their knowledge. And you start putting together assisted suicide, euthanasia, cremation under the guise that it's we have to go green. And cremation cremation is the way to go because bodies decomposing in the earth is first of all, it's waste of real estate, and it's not healthy for the soil. And with all that camouflage of their rationale to save the planet, it's all about an attack on the sanctity of human life, which is indirectly saying they don't believe in the creator of the human being. Our children need our clarity more than ever before. They need our smile of Simchas Chaim than never before because that says, "Oh, I'm happy because God's in my world." Modeh im anachnu lach she'atah Hu shem Elokeinu v'Elokei avoseinu. You're not only our power, you've been our the power of our forefathers. L'OLAM VA'ED. NOT JUST IN the past, but going into the future. That's our biggest modeh. Our biggest happiness, our biggest gratitude is that you are our power forever. You've always been. Our children need us to be the role models as best as we can of Simchas Chaim despite whatever else the secular world, so to speak, does or penetrates. Look at our Jewish magazines, please be mochel me, and count how many pages are promoting words of Chazal. How many pages are promoting yiras Shamayim? How many pages are promoting ahavas Hashem, ahavas Yisrael? You'll find a few. And then ask the painful question, how many pages are promoting clothing, vacations, cars, jewelry, and glorifying food and olam hazeh? Which world are we Which world are we serving? And Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, "Don't use your mouth for anything else other than talk to me, cuz you can change my mind. That's the purpose of tefillah. The purpose of tefillah is to help Hashem change His mind." And I'm going to share it from you in closing, from the possibly the greatest human being who ever lived. Moshe Rabbeinu. We just read yesterday in Parshas Ki Sisa, that Moshe Rabbeinu throws back at Hashem, when Hashem says, "I want to destroy the entire nation." Cuz even though it was only 3,000 converts who uh uh made a terrible mistake, but we we stood there and didn't do anything about it, and we were considered therefore accomplices. And Moshe Rabbeinu throws it back at Hakadosh Baruch Hu with the with the wording, Perek Lamed Beis, Pasuk Lamed Aleph. Vayashav Moshe El Hashem. Hashem Moshe Rabbeinu replies to Hashem, Vayomer, "Anah chata am zeh chata gedolah." It's really true, we've done a te- Our the people has done a terrible terrible chet. Chet. "Vaya'asu lahem Elohei zahav." And Moshe Beinu was insinuating, look at Rashi's quoting Chazal. You know why I said they made gods of gold? Look at Rashi. Astonishing. Moshe Beinu, we need you. We need you to to say this to feel it for us. You caused this problem. You know how? You poured on the gold. They emptied out Mitzrayim of all their jewelry and expensive clothing, their gold and their silver. You're giving them this freedom and now what are they supposed to do in order not to make a mistake? And Chazal give us the following metaphor. A king he feeds and he gives to drink his prince son and he gives him an American Express card. He gives him a pouch of money, hangs it around his neck. So now Umi Kashta and he he dresses him expensively. He's eating well, drinking well, he dresses well, he's got a unlimited credit line and then what does the father do? The Petach Bet Zolot. And then he stands his son outside the house of Bet Zolot in front of a screen. So Moshe Beinu says, "Rebono shel Olam, what is the child supposed to do? You put him in a world where you can't turn your face. You can't go on an airplane and pull out the tax-free uh uh what um is it called tax-free? Duty-free, thank you. The duty-free magazine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, when you go through the mall inside the terminal, you have to go through like this or you just have to be paying attention to the ground. And somehow rather look up at the screen to figure out where my flight's going, which gate it's going from, because Hashem, you've put me in a makom sakana. What do you expect from me if you're putting me in this generation? So, there's a tremendous a haf sehood over here that Moshe Rabbeinu was giving us, but the reason why I'm sharing this is because none of us, I include myself working with kids for 38 years, none of us can really appreciate the nisayon, the incredible test that our children are being raised with in this in today's society. But, we have every reason to feel strong that just like Avraham Avinu knew the secret, you're always one thought Oh, it is empty. Oh, my wife was right. Okay, I'll I'll deal with that later. I'm always one thought away from a new thought, always. And what could that thought be? Says Hakadosh Baruchu, "My thoughts are not like your thoughts. Do you know why? Look at Russia over there." A a a Russia who attempts to megadef, curse the king, the king has no choice, he has to cut his head off. He has to prove who's who's who's in charge. Comes along Hakadosh Baruchu and says, "If a Jew has v'shalom is megadef, curses Hashem, his entire life, and in the last moment, he comes back to me, I'll give him I'll give him Olam Haba. Look, he might get the smoking section, but he's going to he's going to get eternity. Oh, every thought counts. There's much more to be said on this important subject. I'll close the chaim. Baruch atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha'olam shehakol nihyeh bidvaro. I'll close. Mesillat Yesharim says a person should not say, "Who am I that the Geulah could come through me?" He's actually quoting a Medrash Hagadol in Parshas Beshalach in Parshas Yitro. But he says there, "What difference is my prayer going to make to save the world? There's so much so much terrible stuff going on. How could it be that my one prayer would make a difference and bring the Geulah and bring the the the Bait Bait Shelishi?" It's the lashon of Mesillat Yesharim. It's near the end I think of chapter 11, if I'm not mistaken. Um and you'll find the Medrash Hagadol. And says the Mesillat Yesharim, "Don't ask that question. Don't Don't ever think that my one prayer doesn't make a difference because even if I don't see the difference, Hakadosh Baruch Hu holds it in escrow. And when we're living in a difficult time, when it's so much harder to call out and beg Hashem cuz we're so busy, so busy, sorry, so distracted that for me to pay attention, the Ribono shel Olam, YOU ARE BEING ATTACKED BY GOVERNMENTS all around THE WORLD WHO ARE promoting the worst aveiros that we as an am kadosh, separate, different, holy, we don't prescribe to those lifestyles. And we don't want them in our machaneh. And we can't prevail on the governments. They're too powerful. But you're more powerful cuz you're powering them. And you're really sending them to check check on me. Where do I stand? Am I on God's side or do I just keep quiet? And I don't mean keep quiet by not the opposite being going out publicly. I'm talking about being quiet in realizing I have a say. Cuz Ribono shel Olam, you want me to pray for mankind. You want me to pray for the Geulah. And my filler counts. And that was that's what essentially the the Ramchal is offering. Never say, "No matter what I do or say or think is not going to make a difference." Cuz Hashem says even one hero makes a difference. And the Ramchal's telling us one filler makes a difference. And Moshe Rabbeinu saved us by turning it around and saying, "Ribono shel Olam, what do you want from us? You put us here. How can we not make mistakes? Please forgive us and help us arrive when Mashiach comes with our families intact and smiling and saying, "Ribono shel Olam, I held out. I covered my hair. I went to mikveh. I put on tefillin. I prayed three times a day. I learned I went to a shiur. I gave tzedakah to Chazak, which you heard so eloquently described earlier. It's all about identifying Ribono shel Olam, who are your children that don't have the opportunity to know the difference? Cuz public school is more more dangerous than it ever has been in in history. And for that reason, every single child that we're pulling out of out of these public schools is a olam maleh. And in the zechut of whatever we're doing in these last moments before the the expiry date of 6,000. We're in 5783. We should all be so happy to make something in our families to come and share with me and you. Amen.