The Shabbat Show- Episode 23: Rosh Hashana Edition

[Music] and hello everybody welcome to the shabbat show new place new location new show it's an honor to be with you right now i apologize for the technical difficulties anytime you do anything that's worth anything there's always a little bit of a a little bit of a challenge you've got to cross as you face it that's how it is there's a concept in hebrew called kasha all beginnings if they're real they're going to throw a little bit so we apologize for being a little bit late today but for those who stuck with us we love you even more and when you go into russia now you'll know you get one more good deed for sticking with the crew honor to be with you right now honor to be at uh an event that's going to be preparing us for the holiest day of the year this is it we're in the great days we're in a period of time that is unbelievable this is the zone this is the time in which we can change who we are one of the great challenges of rosh hashanah is that growing up i don't know about you i always felt like roshan was a little bit like you got to step up otherwise guys can get mad not give you a good year like it's that whole book thing good book bad book we don't really know we're saying there's tons and tons of things to do and there's always this confusion around connecting to rosh hashanah and that's what the show is really about rosh hashanah really that is as its core is really one of the greatest days of the year it's really the day in which we affirm our relationship with god it's when we proclaim him god over the world it's really an inauguration coronation of the king and what we're going to talk about today on the show is my father my king what does it mean how can we best prepare ourselves for this incredible day and i'm pumped to be on it thanks so much for sticking with us hope you like the new background and we want to just first give a shout out to the ormond and big productions for all their work on this they're going to be our new partner on this and we're really excited we've got a great show for you we've got reverends and charlotte freeman on she's from england we've got shipment at the store he's wrote a great book about this he's coming on he's been coming in from jerusalem we got yahoo cohen from chicago we got jamie geller of course we've got kahoot we've got a crash court on russia shawna we've got so just get ready sit back it's thursday night like it's it's chill it's not right before shabbat like we get to like chill over here for those who want to uh i want to give out shana tovaz we're not doing shibashi to do it on my on my facebook just go to my facebook page um and you can just text me there because in this new setup it'll just be easier for me to do it to do it that way a lot going on let's begin a little bit with just a great video to get started from asiatic [Music] john [Music] is that was awesome by the way thank you h dot com for those videos um we're gonna give a special shout out of course to elon cormbloom the foodies group for joining us today as well and we've got mine flights coming up so check out what's happening now uh in the next week we've got uh mine flex and deep dive so i'm not sure if we can get those flyers up just to give you a sense of what's going on in the project inspire world um and of course um one-on-ones oh here we go let's see what we got here uh one-on-one 97 000 and that will give you here it is learn one-on-ones 97 000. um and of course i want to give a special thank you for those that came to the virtual dinner last monday night we had a great dinner and we appreciate everyone who was part of us it was great night we thank those that donated we had people from the show that donated so if you're out there and you really are connected to project inspire in any which way but in particular for those who were just here from the show and you participated it really it really sent a message to the entire project inspired team and so we want to thank you for that because by the way if anybody who still wants to donate it's a good thing to do for rosh hashanah go to raise w-o-r-a-y-z-e dot i-t that uh forward slash project inspire light and then be able to get that okay let's go to our first guest he is an award-winning author of 10 books that have reached that have been read by hundreds of thousands of people around the world he has sherman apostol has this unique ability to extract the essence of classical jewish wisdom and show how it can be relevant to the essential issues facing the mind heart and soul in today's world we had a chance to catch up earlier today and really speak about what rosh hashanah means to him check this out okay shimon thank you so much for joining us on the show um you pleasure thanks for having me charlie you've been writing and speaking and and educating for so many years and and from from all the things that you've been doing there's a there's a book that stands out at least in my mind because i i saw it years ago and i remember when i even saw the cover of this book i'm like he nailed it and i didn't even read a word yet and it's survival kid right a survival guide to our shawnee yom kippur and we'll pull it up uh on the screen so people see what i'm talking about here i think actually i think i see it behind you it's this picture of people like out to lunch looking up how how does the cover and even when you when you titled the book right it wasn't even like the guide to an inspiring it's like the survival kit like what were you getting at and what is happening during this period of time that people are really missing well that was me number one okay that was me and i always tell people any any uh resemblance to family and friends is purely coincidental but that was me that was my experience growing up um and as much as my my uh my parents tried to instill in me a feeling for being jewish which they succeeded but my synagogue experience was let's say less than inspiring and to make a long story short after many years when it became something inspiring for me i made the decision i need to try and share a little bit of this and uh my experience was not surviving get me out of here you ever wonder like this is a time of of inspiration like where's where's the breakdown in your mind between how we engage in this holiday and what the holiday is supposed to be well um at the risk of offending anybody i will say this by and large nobody has a clue what's going on in rosh hashanah and well you don't have a clue what's going on of course it can't mean anything to you my parents many many years ago after the revolution in iran adopted two iranian uh brothers and i we took them to a cleveland browns football game they were bored out of their minds they had no idea what was going on if it was a soccer match they would have loved it yeah right now imagine you're working in a lab and you're doing research right and you're and you're getting close to a vaccine for corona but the work is so tedious and you're comparing you're comparing results from tests and you're going over the data again and again and again day after day night after night is it boring no because you're on the verge of something great a breakthrough making a difference for the world that's what rosh hashanah is about it's about making a difference for the world could that be possibly be more boring you've got to understand what it's about that's powerful and that's a i even as you're saying it i'm like i'm getting the chills that's a really a powerful concept to to see it in that light so so take us take us deeper now tell us you know what are some of the misconceptions maybe what what should we be thinking about how can we get better at understanding the mixing of the compound if you love that that example it's so so powerful what can we do practically to sort of get a little bit more of this information as we walk into this so important day number one forget about the day of judgment okay that and we can just we don't have time now forget about coming to rosh hashanah as the day of judgment it's the day in which human beings were created after every single day of creation god looked at the day and said keto was good he looked the way he did he said not bad i did a good job when it got to the sixth day creating of the human beings creating the first man and woman he said tov that was a really good job what was so good about it what was good about it was that he created something that had virtually the same kind of force in the universe that god himself has created in the image of god and that force is a force which our sage is called shut off we are full active partners in creation in making a difference in completing and fixing and fulfilling creation that responsibility is what we focus on in rosh hashanah rising to that responsibility to that invitation to be partners with god inc in creating fulfilling what creation is all about um so so i'm i'm looking at the day and it has a very basic structure and how does a person approach the actual day with what you're saying in mind i want to answer that today i don't want to answer that generally i want to answer that right now we're living in the context of a global pandemic here in israel tomorrow two in the afternoon we're in lockdown for at least the next three weeks all of the holidays rosh hashanah yum kippur sukkot we have been god is putting us in time out jerusalem is the heart of the world it's the heart of mankind it's the heart of the jewish people seems to me god is telling us time out you know what you're going to go to synagogue or you may not go to synagogue personally i'm not going this year i'm staying at home god has closed the doors to the synagogues he's telling us that there is one door i've locked you out of many many doors schools yeshivas synagogues the doors are closed but there's one door that can never be closed that's this door the door to your heart this year i believe we need to spend a lot of time alone with ourselves with our hearts with our souls with those who are closest to us our loved ones and really try and ask ourselves one question who am i who am i so we could talk about this year i don't think the discussion is the prayer book synagogue it's here and our hearts are open mm-hmm yeah it's a question of going inside yeah and and i love what you're saying because it doesn't just apply to those who are not going to show applies to those that are going to shula and saying every word it's just the practice needs to go deeper it's the lessons that we're getting is don't go back to business as usual deep deepen deep and open borrow a hole from your heart it's such an incredible lesson thank you so much for being on our show thank you my pleasure and your inspiration and thank you for even just jumping into a subject that for so many years has sort of been like off on the side like people have just like not even like whatever it'll work out in the synagogue but you jump i don't know everyone stop it ain't gonna be this way this is the most important day so we appreciate what you do continue shining your light in the world and and shinatova and it should be and this should be the best year yet and every year should just get better i may amen thank you you're welcome now shimon apistore really check out his book the survival guides the high holidays really speaking about where we need to go this is the time we got to go deeper speaking about this tomorrow for those who get my timeless lessons the weekly uh the weekly video this is the subject of tomorrow's video and it really is about taking the opportunity this year to make this a very more meaningful a deeper rosh hashanah we have a chance now to capitalize on the time that we are in to go further in our lives to to leverage the meaning uh we got a great video coming up right now sometimes you get that feeling that feeling if you want more that feeling of uh that feeling of you want to get closer so you just can't stop that feeling check out this video information.com [Music] i got this feeling i've [Music] just be a body you already [Music] all my potential to [Music] everything a new goes when god is so close making choices and so far the floor so just imagine [Music] everybody [Music] how awesome was that how awesome was that i bet you by the way i bet you you're thinking i didn't know jews could dance so well you didn't know that about us that's what i mean come on what was oh jews dancing in israel doesn't get better than that i can't stop this feeling what an honor to be with you i want to say something to those that are watching right now we're getting so many comments you know we're trying to take the show to the next level and along the way we hit a couple of bumps and we're getting so many comments that are you know we got you we love you we're with you so it means the world house you guys are awesome we're a family we're a family we go into rosh hashanah together we're going to shabbat together never leave us because we're one family and i'm trying to figure a way to get you to lost everybody here if you want uh you can go to my facebook page um at charlie harare just go to facebook or instagram and i will see it there otherwise we're doing work on the zoom soon the next uh interview is with a really wonderful powerful woman i met her i spoke to her earlier today as well her name is charlie friedman she grew up in johannesburg south africa she received her bsc in math and finance from the university of south africa she studied jewish thought and textual analysis at the nishmas seminary in jerusalem she has taught at high schools in johannesburg as well as many seminaries in israel both both for newly observed students as well as those with more traditional backgrounds she's currently the educational director for the asuk we had a chance to catch up and get her perspective on what it's like to coordinate the game check this out so thank you so much for being with us today i know that it's such a busy time for you but thanks we really appreciate being on the show thank you for having me it's awesome to be here so it's always challenging to connect to god right and perhaps connecting to him as a king is even further away than i think what we're capable of so why is it so hard for us to connect to to a god like this well i think you really put it together so so beautifully and that there's two separate issues here the one is god and the second one is really understanding the concept of a king and we talk about our father our king most of us have had some sort of parental feature in our lives someone who we built a relationship with built trust with that's something we're familiar with kingship is incredibly far from us look i live in the uk and um we have a queen but the queen is very much as much as people feel affiliated with the queen and loyal to the queen the queen is somebody who is on our banknotes not somebody who makes the rules and who makes the laws the concept of a of a king of a master who's over everybody who makes a decree and the people keep it is very strange and very foreign i heard a story i don't know if it's true about um when when the last tsar died that the chabad they cried and even though he was a murderer and he was a wicked wicked man they said now we will never ever understand what it's like to have real respect and fear for a king ever again so so that's the case then so how do you connect right god is the king and i grew completely i mean today i think you know the power rests even more in like you know ceos of big companies than in actual politicians like the world has changed so how does one now go about it if rosh hashanah really is the story of god's kingship how does one make that connection if we don't really have the the prism of a king in our minds it's fascinating that the king can be seen as one of two things the king can be seen from the top down or from the bottom up in other words the king is either the one who makes the laws and you will tremble and you will keep his laws or the king is really just an accumulation of his people in other words through getting to know the kingdom i can come to understand the king if i want to understand what the queen of england is like i go sit with english people and i see their manners and i see how they behave and how they talk and they have the same stuff up and and as i as i get to know the kingdom i can gain an insight in what that king is really is and i think that that applies sorry you know please i think what you're saying is fascinating because i don't think people would think of it like that i think people would only look at it from a you know sort of like an up way sort of like an upwards way of seeing the world versus what i think what you're saying which is very powerful and innovative which is no no there's a there's a horizontal approach as well right get a sense of the kingdom the people the laws the physical structure of the kingdom and when you do that you begin to appreciate and connect the king absolutely and in kabbalistic terms there's the crown that which is well beyond comprehension it's beyond the head even it can't be understood it can't be fathomed and then there is the kingship which is the people who stand together shoulder to shoulder and kind of form this this unity of vision of what the king wants to achieve you feel this deep sense of connectedness interconnectedness and a responsibility for your neighbors it's how people started whatsapp groups with their neighbors and really connected to each other because you had the sense of common purpose and common goal and for me this year the shofar absolutely represents that as we stand in shore and we're going to be standing in police god on sunday and listening to the sound of the shofar and i'm so acutely aware of the fact that there are thousands and thousands of people across the globe who are isolating who are in quarantine who can't hear the shofar and so there are literally lists of thousands of jewish people who have signed up to go from door to door blowing the shofar for jews it's it's humbling it's absolutely moving how as i'm standing in my synagogue i'm going to be in bushy in the in the uk and as i'm standing and listening to the sound of the shofar there are jews in russia and in south america and in north america and in south africa and we're all hearing that same cheer that same clap which unites us in this deep sense of oh my god we're part of the same team this is our anthem and if this is our anthem then this is an incredible thing that we're cheering together we're uniting together in the same anthem to me that's kingship beautiful that's such a great perspective i'm sure those that hear it will be moved by it and i think it's such a great like i said innovative way of looking at it this year and specifically because this is the year we need more than anything in the world to feel like we're one because like you're saying we are isolated thank you so much for being with us continue your incredible work continue shining your light into the world hope we get to see a time where the whole world gets to hear the show before we get to see each other and not use shalom soon oh may thank you so much thank you for having me now shall we freeman i thought what an incredible idea to be able to see the kingdom as a way to understand the king so critical this is a period of time right now where we as a nation need to come together and recognize that every one of us is really a manifestation of the king when we see each other as the kingdom it begins for us to understand greater what the king has in mind it's a great approach as we walk in person i want to give a couple of shout outs i'm going to work on getting the zoom shout out to those who want to i want to wish you shana if you want just go to my facebook and on this show it's live on my facebook page uh to judy hertzfeld shannon tavat to you to michael weingartz about uh debbie rosalinski to you and to your awesome son elliott goldstein emily howard and the entire howard family in tallahassee florida again if you want go on my facebook facebook page we're gonna try to work on the zoom over here as well so hopefully we'll get some of the comments and stuff as well we'd love to wish you should not have because we're one family that's what we do okay the next guest incredible rabbi his name is rabbi avraham goldhart and goldhart is incredible he has amazed audiences he has including me around the world his ability to break down and simplify complex concepts he's the founder of the gold heart school the home of the fastest jewish education on earth doesn't that sound awesome he trains students teachers and professionals in his breakthrough models on how to achieve greater academic success you can check it out at goldharvschool.com and he has actually a crash course on rosh hashanah you want to learn about rosh hashanah in a crash course guess what you got it right now check this out welcome to the crash course on rosh hashanah the holiday that celebrates the jewish new year but rosh hashanah is more than just a beginning tradition teaches that rosh hashanah determines the quality of our lives for the entire upcoming year life and death health and illness war and peace happiness and sadness are all impacted by the way we approach this awesome holiday what is the nature of rosh hashanah's power and what can we do to impact its outcome rosh hashanah is different from other jewish holidays because it doesn't mark some great jewish occasion like the liberation from egypt or the revelation of mount sinai instead rosh hashanah goes much further back in time it's the very anniversary of the creation of adam the first man who was brought into existence on the sixth day of creation on that day adam as a mature being was brought into the garden of eden and was given his mandate to work the garden and protect it and it was the day the universe now had the opportunity to achieve its full potential and every year since on that day god decides whether to recreate the world anew and determines how much potential to grant each individual that's why rosh hashanah is also known as the day of judgment tradition teaches that three books are opened on rosh hashanah the book of life the book of death and the book for the middle people in the book of life are written the righteous those people who lead a life of moral excellence who seek to understand what god wants in them who strive for greatness the book of death is reserved for those people who merely live in the here and now whose moral compass is based on their desires and disregard the needs of others but what about those individuals whose choices land them somewhere in the middle most people fluctuate they rise and fall they focus and get distracted they love and they hurt they are written in a temporary book called the book for the middle people for them rosh hashanah is only the beginning of the judgment process they have entered an intense period of spiritual reflection and activity called the ten days of repentance it begins with rosh hashanah and culminates with yom kippur the goal during this period is to tip the balance in favor of being inscribed in the book of life the books of life and death are only sealed on your kipper the fate of the people still in the middle is decided on that day which book will they enter it depends on how they conduct themselves during these days during the rosh hashanah services we all proclaim together that repentance prayer and charity can affect the decree these days are ideal for addressing mistakes in the past and for changing bad patterns of living for strengthening your relationship with the almighty by spending more time speaking to them directly and for using your resources to help others in need and to aid institutions that need your partnership to help the greater community but it's what happens specifically in rosh hashanah that matters most surprisingly we don't do any personal repentance we don't discuss mistakes or express regrets instead we focus on three things that have the greatest impact on the judgment we receive first as the day of our recreation we proclaim we want the almighty as our king because to us the meaning to life is that we fulfill our personal mission in the kingdom of god we tell god we share his vision of an uplifted humanity and accept our role as faithful servants the more committed we are the more committed the almighty is to granting us our potential this is the part of the service called kingship then we enter the second part of the service called remembrance we acknowledge that god is our true king as sovereign of the universe he's completely aware of our lives and our actions and he responds to many being scrutinized down to the moral fiber of every moment is overwhelming and oppressive to us it's thrilling as an expression of love to be cared for and to realize it's because we matter so much that the almighty grants us his divine providence the more we want the almighty to know and remember us the more he wants to grant us a fulfilled and meaningful life and finally the third and most dramatic part of the service is the blowing of the shofar the shofar is a ram's horn and at the time of the boeing that's when the judgment is occurring on us and all of living existence is passing before the almighty in single file like sheep passing before a shepherd what does the boiling of the chauffeur signify and what should we be thinking first the alarming sound of the chauffeur is a wake-up call our lives are passing before us like a fleeting dream and many people have threw much of it in the slumber wake up your life is not a dress rehearsal this is your only shot wake up and make choices that are consequential not only for you but that can impact the world at large when you hear the sound of the shofar remind yourself that you're a living descendant of our founding father abraham who is willing to bring up his son isaac as an offering at god's command and that you took the potential to hear and respond to a call for action in fact the shofar reminds us of the ram that abraham offered in place of his son isaac and that serves as a merit for us on roshana day and finally let the sounds of the shofar help you envision the future when the chauffeur blasts will trumpet in a new era for mankind when peace and harmony will be secured amongst the nations and people collectively will realize that life is beautiful when you're living with god shana tova have a sweet new year and most importantly may we all be inscribed in the book of life so how does this work i mean one of the one of the questions that everyone asks is how do i work through judgment day how does judgment work whereas where is the feeling so to speak of the connection with regards to judgment i want to share with you just a quick idea that really has has changed me so i started my life as you know as working at a big law firm when you work in a big law firm there's a lot thousands of associates and they work you like crazy for those who are watching that are big law for those who are on the daily boost with me every morning you've heard this before i remember once being a mid-level associate and i watched a senior level associate working for years years and then one day a partner of this group basically walked in and said you know thanks for your service like here's a button like it's been a pleasure we're hiring someone instead like we're just gonna hire above you he was devastated and i was shocked like here is a person who had worked for literally eight years of his life you know three thousand hour just an incredible amount of time and ultimately didn't make what he wanted which was which was to be a partner and i remember going to a mentor of mine who was a partner in the law firm and i asked him i said well then how do i know if they're grooming me to be partner or not like how do i know if they're going to stop working and they're going to get rid of me he said something so fascinating he said see if they review you if they're not grooming you then they're just gonna like let you be they're not gonna waste the time they're not gonna be uncomfortable giving you feedback they're not gonna expect you to hear their feedback because it's an uncomfortable conversation they're just going to like nod you through it give you a basic review at the end of the year off you go if they really care about you if they really want to see the best in you they're going to put you through a review process they're going to critique your papers they're going to critique your style they're going to take your your documents because they're trying to grow you one of the most important ways that we try to see rosh hashanah and this constitution of judgment which is so beyond us it's not like we're going to school and said there's something that god sees in us that he values there's something about me that god is so to speak taking the time to push me to expect of me to want of me it's not to push it's the pull when you stand before god we don't know how the judgment works just to get involved and that's going to be too complicated what we do know is that god is asking of me to be bigger to be kinder to be nobler because he can because he sees something in me that i may not have seen in myself the creator of humanity so to speak is taking his time to think about my life does he even know me it's an incredible incredible opportunity an incredible gift for us to think about that to grow from that all right we've got uh a great uh we're well it's kahutan what am i talking about first we're gonna we're gonna do a couple of shauna togas over here so we got soon going it's our first week stick with us i'm going to see how much i can get done just a couple of here right now to the hess family to you uh i am in baltimore to jose guzman to you to aviva gold and patriots rock patriots rock is here shabbat shalom to you oh that's such much longer it's all happening at the same time this year uh najib cheva basinga from brooklyn should watch home to you i hope everybody's well and the mervis family from silver springs much along to you okay it's time for kahoot i hope my mom is on every week we go through this so i usually delay getting kahoot going so my mom could log on mommy i hope that you're wrong lisa 772-3269-772-3269 betting's just chatted on hi lisa black miller um from passaic if you want to facebook me you're welcome to as well i'm looking at those messages as the show continues or you can get it on um on zoom whatever you'd rather would just love to hear from you uh got kahoot going right now this is the really the last kahoot of the new of the year or whatever it's like the first in the new world um 77232 if you haven't yet claimed your prizes projectinspire.com just email info and we'll be able to get you there you can play from wherever it is that you're going you have if you if you haven't downloaded the app go to the kahoot app and you'll be able to see it there otherwise you could do it on zoom you could do it on live stream you could do with each other however you want to do it as long as you're playing i in my house just so you know as people log on in my house there's like i love it i come home from the show and i got like who did what so even in my house there they're they're getting competitive which i love from from steve from boca raton i see okay let's get rolling we get the hoot rolling project inspired team let's get good on here we go three in which tower passage is the shofar alluded to where is the shofar alluded to when god remembers sarah and she becomes pregnant with isaac the binding of isaac when isaac meets rebecca or when isaac's two sons are born jacob and asap where do we get the shofar from answer quickly don't hesitate don't hesitate and the people that are chatting there for those who are going to be on the chat there's some extra help coming from from those but just quickly answer here we go binding of isaac excellent binding of isaac excellent lots of people got that one right here we go let's see how we did ozzie's first patriot rocks curse mommy silver family patriots rock no back family okay we got some some regular is making the board early here goes the second question let's get that rolling roshana rosh hashanah translates as new year day of judgment open the gates of heaven and let me in because i'm trying really hard head of the year this is a read this carefully new year day of judgment open the gates of heaven and let me in that's a song or head of the year which one is it shabbat shalom and shanata helene from boca raton thanks for tapping in here goes head of the year excellent head of the here excellent here we go here comes next silver on top putney winner hannah novak and aviva okay here we go number three multi-select on a typical year how many chauffeur bless are blown during the service each day 10 30 40 100. how many people how many blasts on a typical day 10 30 40 or 100. there it is 10 30 40 or 100 on a typical year this year will be different wherever you are jen from georgia shabbat shalom and shenandoah nervous family chantal 3 700 very good we got a serious crowd over here you guys are not messing around let's see how we do putney novak rachel hillary and gibbs this is it the final this is the final question let's see how we do for the first really opposite is the first one person's yearly allowance is fixed on rosh hashanah except for three expenses which of these are three events that are accepted out of your annual allotment vacations presents for your spouses and hanukkah gifts travel to israel donations to central membership hair loss weight and popularity or expenses for shabbat yomtov and children's torah education which of these three things is is accepted out from the annual allocation that you get on rosh hashanah which of these things here is very good expenses for shabbat yomtov and education although i think we should somehow figure out a way to petition god for the presence for one spouse i think that would be really helpful uh okay awesome and here it goes to replace the novak family congratulations second place rachel first place goes to putney party has been on top of that board once before honey if you're watching identify yourself congratulations to rm and hillary identify yourself on the chat so i can wish you a shinatova excellent work everybody on the show by the way i gotta tell you i'm always i always get hungry when i see jamie geller and all of her awesome food for those of you who were at the live stream for monday night she just totally killed it she always kills it she's awesome if she's on i didn't hear from her yet but if she's on i want a special special shout out about the jamie's mom who's always here um and check out the latest from the one and only jay miguel charlie thank you hello everybody what an incredible year this has been let's end things off with a sweet note these are baked apple roses they're absolutely exquisite but they take no time and really no skill to prepare that's why they're one of my famous and most popular and favorite recipes i think you're going to love it for rosh hashanah just a great sweet ending to the meal something that looks special for the holidays but you're going to work it into your repertoire year-round i'm absolutely sure of that now i just want to take a few moments to give you blessings i want to wish you all a happy healthy sweet new year a year filled with safety security sustenance and incredible spiritual growth it has been an honor to be speaking to you and to be on this incredible bringing in shabbat journey together with you this year and i can't wait for it to continue into the year to come my mother always says in yiddish and parnessa that's what she blesses me always with which translates to health and wealth i think it's a great blessing always but especially in these challenging times just know that we are all in this together i hope you have a meaningful rosh hashanah an amazing shabbat and i cannot wait to see you on the other side i love you all so much shabbat shalom [Music] so [Music] so [Music] okay that was jb geller for more great videos make sure you go to jamiegallow.com facebook instagram pinterest youtube twitter tick tock jamie geller and jules by jamie our next guest i grew up in new york and earned his bachelor's in psychology rabbinic ordination and doctoral education wolfe from michigan university he now lives in chicago he serves as the director of ncsy as indicate as an educational consultant robert cohen is a passionate educator and inspiring speaker who has traveled around the country speaking for organizations schools synagogues and universities he is a community leader and actively involved in several local organizations synagogues run by cohen welcome to the show hey charlie thank you so much for having me i thrilled to be a part of the show it's it's great to have you on share with us a little bit about what you're thinking now as we are preparing ourselves for this really important day yeah absolutely um you know rosh hashanah obviously this is in line with so many so many of the comments some of the ideas that have been shared by your guests and by you but rosh hashanah of course the focus of the day is incarnating god as our king you know crowning him as our king the royalty of hashem the royalty of god so what does that really mean to us how do we connect to that personally and that's you know something that we've all been trying to grapple with tonight and figure out because if that's the focus of the day that's the focus of the great you know the new year the yoma din the day of judgment so if we want to succeed and celebrate this day how do we achieve that how do we connect to this idea of crowning god as our king so just a quick story quick story and this is one of the most incredible stories i've ever heard and it's possible that other other people who are on this right now i've heard it before it was told originally by a man named beryl gartner and it's his personal story and it was told on june 26 2013 it was told on when he was being interviewed on bbc radio and really i could imagine that this is one of the most remarkable stories that bbc radio has ever heard before so beryl grew up in germany and before world war ii was beginning as it was beginning as things were getting very terrifying beryl along with ten thousand other jewish children were brought out of germany on the kinder transport and were saved and so beryl was brought to england and he was brought to an orphanage and the caregivers at the orphanage sweetest people in the world they couldn't comfort him he was crying literally every single day and he missed his parents and they tried to comfort and they tried to console him nothing worked this went on for days then weeks weeks turned into months until one day one day beryl's caregivers they came to him and they told him that king george vi the king of england was going to be passing by their village the following week and they noticed it was the first time in months since he arrived that he stopped crying beryl had an idea secret they don't want to share with anyone so the week came the final day came that the king would be passing to the village and beryl and the other jewish children were brought to the town square where the king would be passing by and as the king's carriage his royal carriage was passing by and beryl and the other jewish children were standing behind this barricade barrel jumped over the barricade and ran towards the royal carriage and he continued running until the guards the royal guards stopped him they held on to him and they started bringing him back to the barricade and the king noticed this commotion and he said what's going on and they explained to him this young boy just ran towards the royal carriage we're bringing him back and the king said bring him closer and as barrel came closer to the royal carriage the king leaned in and he said why did you run towards my carriage is there something that you want to tell me and beryl said he began crying subtly and he said yes there's something that i want to ask you i miss my parents so much they're stuck in germany can you please try to help bring them here to me and the king smiled at barrel i wasn't going to laugh at him but he smiled he says we're at war with germany it's impossible for me to help you it's impossible for me to help your family i'm sorry and then beryl started crying uncontrollably and he said but you're the king of england you can do anything please please bring my parents to me the king looked at him with compassion and he said please stop crying i can't promise that i'm going to be able to succeed but i promise you that i will be able to try i promise i'm gonna try to do whatever i can to bring your parents here so beryl gave the king his parents names and he didn't know what to expect what was going to come of it he walked away walked back to the barricade where his his orphanage the people from his orphanage were standing a month later there was a knock at the door of the orphanage beryl's parents had arrived somehow they were brought out of germany and they were brought to be reunited with their son and as inspiring as that story is the message is even more powerful and that is that we're taught on rosh hashanah that god leaves his palace so to speak and he roams throughout the villages and fields to be closer to his subjects to be closer to us and it's our opportunity to jump the barricade like beryl did and connect to god to connect to the king to come closer to him to ask him for whatever we want to ask him to invest in us a year of tremendous blessings and joy and that's that is really what rosh hashanah is all about that's what carnating god is our king crowning him is not just sitting in the background as we're watching him be crowned it's being an active participant it's us being able to crown a me you i can crown god i can connect to him personally and that i think is the first step at least of what royalty truly is i love him yaakov thank you so much for your those words i mean just the image of being able to jump the barricades for a human king so much so for us to have the opportunity as these are complex concepts of the master of the world coming in and just the idea that our job really is to jump the barricade to go beyond ourselves the king is so inspiring thank you so much for who you are thank you so much for shining your light on the jewish people thank you so much thank you you too oh that was jacob cohen what a great concept right i mean like think about what he said and just like let's just digest that for a second before we go to the next video i want to make sure i get to see the comments so i'll ask the project inspire team to make sure that i can see the the uh the shinato boss but think about that concept it's so incredible the idea that each and every one of us has the ability to jump the barricade so to speak to to be more to push for a different relationship you know so much of our lives changes when we can feel the presence of god in our lives i mean think about life with god meaning and purpose and and that feeling of warmth that you're you're being taken care of and myself and so many others sometimes feel like i'm not good enough not this enough bad enough i'm not a holy rapper in this background we all have those feelings and there are moments where the king comes out of his palace so to speak where he comes into the fields and it's those moments where you can just jump to barricades to see the king barricades now are our comfort zones and praying and talking to him and being good to each other and trying to take time these next few days and be honest with ourselves be honest with him what we can accomplish in these next few days are our our levels that we couldn't get maybe throughout the entire year what a great concept thank you for sharing that a couple more shout outs to us we go to our next video uh we've we've uncovered the putney victory and the victor it is shashana putney from scottsdale arizona excellent excellent work um to recent brian wolfe from oak park michigan to you um shout out to debbie weiss from muncie and your kind words thank you chantal and have an incredible youtube as well guzman family in san antonio texas this is ridiculous we just went from texas to muncie to michigan and to scottsdale arizona you know why because we're one family we want people this is what it's all about right here this was what it's all about and the novak family from toronto just in case we have enough places we'll go all the way up to canada i love you guys thanks so much for being a part of the show one big awesome family check out this next video from h dot com this is an h.com video session over here they've been just totally killing it with these great high holidays videos go to h.com for more stuff but check out this video from a letter from god [Music] um a letter from god h.com that's really what this is all about that's what the show really is all about um you know these are the moments hillary block from norfolk virginia bought to you these are the moments these are the moments oh one more time before we close this out special shout out to rachel s she's the second place winner from providence rhode island these are the moments that we're in right now these are the moments where our people have to come together when you think about having a king it means that you're part of something you're part of something really big wherever you are watching this i want you to know that as far or as close as you think you are you're part of something you're part of god's kingdom and on rosh hashanah we stare up to the heavens so to speak we begin rosh hashanah by just thanking him for the opportunity i can't describe to how it feels when i look down the chat and i look on the facebook and i am across the country in a second no matter where you are and by the way this is just one country or two countries if we had this going and people from all over the world would chat in we realize that we're all connected we're all going into the same thing together we're all one people and we're one people because we have one father he made us one people he gave us this incredible nation he gave us this incredible book that guides our lives and he gave us the greatest gift of all time which is him we shouldn't take for granted that the basics of jewish understanding and thought is that the creator of humanity wants a relationship with us that's insane like if we just for a minute pulled back and said the creator of humanity wants a relationship with me it's incredible rosh hashanah is the day that we just digested not a day where we get lost in just the usual stuff it's not just a regular shot even though even though there's no such thing as regular shabbat shabbat is also an incredible day it's not like any other day of the year it's not like yom kippur it's its own special unique blend of celebration and holiday but of seriousness of contemplation and introspection but also of the joy and enjoyment because in many ways it is this party for god this coronation and we're a part of it we were invited to the ball and to do it correctly we have to live in both worlds we have to have times when we're happy and we start to infuse happiness into our lives and our families around the table as much as we can during this period of time more than ever we also have to give the right amount of time to rush hashanah to thinking about our relationship with god to praying with our hearts to speaking to him in our own language or in the language given to us but to allow ourselves to spend the time so that when we leave rosh hashanah it wasn't just a longer version of shabbat it wasn't just another day and no matter what we take on no matter what this means for us doesn't mean that everyone's going to sit for seven hours in synagogue but wherever you are wherever you are jump the boundary to see the king push a little bit more take a deep breath and jump off the cliff but drop and have that conversation read that book and open that or take wherever you are the next level because i am sure that the kings especially now when you take that jump you'll be met with open arms from our father our king and for me and mine to you and yours i want to wish you a year that is the greatest year of your life may you have clarity and wisdom may you have health and happiness may you get pride from your family and you get the connection to god may you achieve your goals in the physical world the material world in the spiritual world may you realize greatness and relationship with god with your family with your nation and make all of us realize that the greatest gift we've ever gotten is that we get to be part of this kingdom we get to have him as our king you may us together this year be able to do this show together because you are all coming i'm telling you right now you watch the show you better be booking the ticket we have the opportunity to do this show live from jerusalem when the king of the world reveals himself and the whole world knows that he was that he was is and will always be the king the greatest year of our lives and man every year afterwards [Music] i've gone so far so far from home i'll take and bring me back to you back into your lovin art [Music] i don't know where i am i don't know where i've been all i know is i'm standing here begging you bring me back bring me back into your loving know so take me back take me back take me back into your lovely nose i can't do it bring me alone into your loving home [Music] oh [Music] is [Music] bring me back into