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Rabbi YY Jacobson - Finding Your Individual Song
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Categories:Torah/Yamim Tovim
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[Music]
okay and this time I'd like to ask rabbi
Jacobsen to please share with us some
words to prepare us for Shabbat and also
maybe share a little bit about your
experience with Emma I often say about
rabbi Jacobsen that I don't believe
there's another speaker who is able to
both have so much knowledge and at the
same time at the same time so much so
much knowledge and such a beautiful
eloquent way of expressing his the
information rabbi Jacobsen you are the
only speaker who I can listen to on the
elliptical machine okay and that says a
lot I'm telling you it says a lot
because that means that thank you about
Cuba thank you I suggest that everyone
go to the yeshiva net and listen to some
beautiful classes probably Jacobsen I
just hope you won't miss going to work
the next day because you'll be so
engrossed in it thank you every Jacobsen
for caring so much about the Jewish
people and please take it away
thank you thank you you can hear me
clearly you guys can hear me I hope
right okay so let's begin first of all
thank you thank you so much to Emmett
thank you so much to my dearest friend
Rabbi Akiva Rotenberg for your
leadership for your charisma for your
dedication and for what you have created
you and your entire team of
extraordinary leaders and teachers and
mentors have done for the Jewish people
for the entire community of Queens and
for literally thousands and thousands
and thousands of youths it's amazing I
had the opportunity to lecture for the
Emmitt organization many times last year
we had an incredible incredible shopper
tone together and with quite a few
lectures and just recently on zoom' we
have had many lectures with Emmet and I
know that Emmet had close to 300 live
lectures during this coronavirus with
hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and
thousands of participants learning
growing challenging each other
stimulating each other invigorating
rejuvenating as in JW and inspiring each
other so I do a shout out for Emmett a
shout out for Rebecca Kiva I shout out
not only for the rebbi akiva of euro so
for the rabbi akiva here a shout out for
the whole staff of Emmett and most
importantly a shout out for all of the
students and all of the young couples
and all of the constituents and all of
the supporters and admirers and
disciples and partners and friends of
Emmett
thank you thank you for your support
thank you for your caring thank you for
your dedication thank you for your
commitment thank you for the fact that
you are standing on the front lines of
the battle for Jewish continuity and not
only Jewish survival but Jewish success
we don't want to survive we want to
thrive and we want to prosper and it's
very easy you know for people to sigh
and kvetch and complain and yawn and
tell us how they would have done a
better job complainers we have enough
but the staff of Emmett have taken their
boots on the ground as we say take an
initiative and spark the revolution a
revolution of Education of learning of
Torah of commitment of celebration of
Jewish life in all of its facets dental
actual the emotional the social the
spiritual and that's incredible
and I am proud to be a friend I am proud
to be part of this special evening and I
am proud to be part of the great
admiring family of Emmett Emmett stands
for truth ms means truth there are some
organizations that speak about Emmett
and then there are some organizations
that it's not only their name is Emmett
and it's not only they speak about
Emmett but there
also Emmett they are they are truthful
there is a great anecdote the pond
overture of Rabbi con man his name was
rabbi yosef Kahneman he was the
rabbi of Pune vichy Lithuania and he was
once invited to speak at a dinner
you
other speak another speaker and finally
the pond overture of was called up to
the podium and he starts off his speech
and he says something very powerful he
says all the speeches till now all the
speakers till now
they spoke about Tyra but you know what
they were thinking about they were
thinking about money
they spoke about Tyra but their
intention was money let me tell you what
I'm gonna do I'm gonna speak about money
but you know what I'm thinking about I'm
thinking about Tyra speaking I'll speak
about money but my intention my
intention is Taylor and I know tonight
Emmitt is talking a lot about money it's
a fundraiser and a fundraiser you talk
about money you're collecting money so
you want to know what they're thinking
about they're thinking not about money
they're thinking about Tyra you need
money to support Toyota that's the way
God made the world
you mean come up in Tyra but what do
what are they thinking of they're
talking about money but what are they
thinking about they're thinking about
Tyra because sometimes it's the other
way around talk about Tyler you're
thinking about money they're talking
about money but they're thinking about
Tyra so continue to talk money continue
to think Tyra so that the two could come
together the money can come in God
willing abundantly so that the Tyra can
flow abundantly for at stir llaman of
acade matza fighting of an egg basket
old jacob you should spread out to the
west to the east to the south and to the
north or as the posix says initially a
futsal - Elka's hood so your Wellsprings
MH should spread out far and wide and
near and close that every single Jew in
your vicinity in your community
especially the young women and men our
beautiful youth should be able to
continue to be inspired invigorated and
touched by the miracle of Torah by the
miracle of Judaism by the depth
sophistication
meaning of Yiddish kind mazelTov for
this evening I've send you my love and
my blessings may it be with tremendous
Aloha
Robbie rotten Berg asked me to speak on
the topic of finding your individual
song I love the topic because really to
understand the Jewish people we have to
understand that there are two features
that define our identity what we call
the clown and the prat that sibour and
the Yaga the collective and the
individual it's defined very profoundly
by the words of Hillel and the ethics of
the fathers chapter one he will set a
main a mealy mealy OSHA Neela asked me
Mommy if I am NOT for myself who will be
here for me but if I am only for myself
then what am i and this statement of
Hillel the elder really characterizes
the two central features of Judaism on
one hand we say I am NOT for myself who
will be here for me I have to be here
for me but then we add if I am only for
myself then what am I
I am so small and that combination is
extraordinarily important there's a
tremendous focus on the collective but
also tremendous focus on the individual
and Judaism believes that one must not
contradict the other and there are
contrary they must complement each other
my work as an individual ultimately
enhances the whole community and my
being part of the community does not
undermine my serving God and living life
as an individual on the contrary it adds
flavor and texture and depth to my life
as an individual it's like in a great
marriage are you an individual or you
are collective if you have a good
marriage the marriage doesn't undermine
your uniqueness as an individual on the
contrary a real relationship with
somebody else enhances your
individuality all too often we see
Judaism as one or the other and really
very delicate and powerful combination
between the two and today we want to
focus on tonight do you want to focus on
finding your individual song
within you described the opening of the
10 commandments begins with the words
are noisy hashem la caja a surety system
at Smith's right God says I am your God
who took you out of Egypt the
commentators say why in the singular not
in the plural for example at the end of
Sh'ma Hashem says ani hashem la que en I
am your God in the plural the God of all
of the Jewish people but in the opening
of the ten commandments he says I'm
Nydia shem la casa
I am your individual God and Hebrew
there's a difference between singular
and plural and second person unlike in
English you say you and you you could be
one person you could be a million people
but in Hebrew tis a big difference when
you say you as an individual inertia
melikhaya or when you speak to you as a
collective in the beginning of the Ten
Commandments God speaks to one
individual and the answer to this is
very very important what God is saying
is that Judaism is not just about
Claudius wrong it's not just about the
Jewish collective that's part of it it's
also about you as an individual you as a
distinctive human being with your own
life your own mind your unique DNA your
unique personality Gene's features
characteristics you have your own
texture and your own color every
person's eyes body physique is unique in
every person's mind and soul is unique
no two minds are alike no two faces are
alike and no two souls are alike nor
should they be alike there's an old
expression we are all born originals yet
so many of us died as copies Judaism is
allergic to that notion don't be a copy
of somebody else
you must be true to yourself it's not
easy how do I know who I am and what if
I'm haunted by trauma and what if I'm
haunted by mental illness and what if
I'm haunted by personality disorder what
if I'm haunted by abuse and what if I'm
haunted by fear insecurity anxiety any
of this is familiar to them
skeletons demons ghosts that don't allow
me to find me I don't know who I am
I'm not gonna go through the whole
Jackie Mason routine you know his
routine of him coming to a therapist
cause he's searching for me says I came
to a therapist and I'm searching for me
who am i and the therapist says I'm
gonna help you find yourself
so he says if I'm looking for myself why
am i coming to you and this goes through
this Hulk very funny routine the end he
says the therapist turns to me and he
says now give me $200 he says why should
I give you $200 when I'm not even me I'm
somewhere else go to that guy and get
from him $200 in fact maybe I am you and
you are me so really you you won't meet
$200 because you're me because the real
me is missing in action she says you
know what let's split it I give let's
call it split it IOU entre you or me
honey we'll call it even and that's it
the point of course is it's a funny way
of saying it's not always easy to find
who I am my own unique music my own
unique song but it's extremely important
and here I'm going to share a beautiful
beautiful parable for Judaism that comes
one of the Giants of the Habad world his
name was Rebbe Hillel of Perich AB
Hillel of Parrish once told the
following story I love the story because
it resonates it resonates deeply with me
and I hope it will resonate deeply with
you I say it sometimes in show before
net Allah before knee ill on Yom Kippur
and the story goes as follows there was
a man who was very very deep person he
was struggling heavily with life he had
profound sensitivity and profound
perception
he was also brilliant in music one day
he heard a melody and it changed his
life the ballad was so deep it was so
powerful it literally generated a sense
of ecstasy and the light inside of him
it shre it his deep it his deepest heart
strings sentiments it evoked his
profoundest passion for life he melted
away in the music and for once in his
life he felt at peace you know the
feeling when you hear a song you love it
you sing it again again again and then a
week later you forget it
you tried reminding yourself the song
you asked everybody around you to sing
you the song but they don't know it and
you cannot get yourself to remember the
song and so this fellow who finally
heard the song of his life was desperate
to recall the song which has just left
his brain he travelled the world
wherever he went he met people did you
hear the song which song sing me a song
and they sang songs but it was not that
song some of them sang beautiful songs
some of them sang
exquisite songs but sometimes you forgot
the song but you know that it's not the
song you can't remember which song it is
but you know that it's not that song
it's just not resonating in the same way
and so he went from city to city and
from town to town
and he asked everybody to sing the song
after years of searching he never heard
the melody again that's the story and
Rubino of Paris said it's the story of
life every single soul has once heard a
melody that transformed it each of our
souls
has within it the melody that ultimately
connects us to heaven each one of us has
the song that represents our deepest
harmony oneness tranquility serenity
each one of us is a musician in God's
cosmic symphony and we each have our
unique melody that is very very deep and
very very powerful it's a melody that is
mine or a melody that is yours it's the
melody which brings you face to face
with your own truth with your own purity
with your own joy vigor love confidence
hope invincibility every soul is a
fragment of God every soul basked and
bathed and the oneness of reality every
soul is spiritually infinite every soul
is a fragment of the divine and a
manifestation of God's light in this
world every soul of nachman of breslov
says has a negan has a melody and then
our souls come down to this world we're
born we grow up and our minds are
searching for the melody we travel
everywhere before corona we try
everything we're looking for that
symphony that brought us so much peace
and serenity some of us go to the Far
East to search for the melody we buy
stuff we go shopping we make money we
travel the world we get addicted to all
types of toys or substances we surf the
web we seek all types of entertainment
we seek all types of distractions we
search for information fun excitement
serenity drugs medications therapy
exercises
diets enlightenment stupid things smart
things some of us end up in very
interesting places the more sensitive we
are the more desperate we are to
remember and find our forgotten song and
we have such a deep void and we numb it
with all type of unhealthy substitutes
to distract us from our pain but deep
down with all the people we meet and all
the distractions we introduce into our
life we know it's not the sword a song
it maybe depends on what you're into it
may even be a nice song it may be an
interesting song it may be a horrible
song but it's not the song it's not the
song of your soul it's not the song of
my soul it's not the song of my inner
child it's not the song of my core it's
not the song of my deepest self and then
and then once in a while maybe once a
lifetime once a year once in ten years
you get to hear the song God allows you
to hear the song it can happen on Yom
Kippur
it can happen on your couch on a
Wednesday afternoon
it can happen on a Monday night in your
home it can happen during prayer it can
happen when you learn Torah can happen
when you do a mitzvah
it can happen at certain moment of
enlightenment in your life but suddenly
your soul can hear the melody your
neshama can hear the music once again
and when your Shami hears the music you
know that this music is yours and yours
alone
the first gary riba that they do share
in by the way his last name was also
Rotenberg Mitch Mae
year Rotenberg he was the first guy
Rebbe passed away in the 1860s and he
has a beautiful beautiful teaching I
love sharing it
he says the verse says King Solomon says
Sh'ma beanie Musa Ravi Cavalli touched
Irasema my son listen to the rebuke of
your father and don't abandon the
teachings of your mother
there's a beautiful song Sh'ma knee
Moo Saira viho ah hey Rossi
listen my son to the rebuke of your
father and don't abandon the tire of
your mother the fiduciary I read the
first Gary I've asked a great question
what's this distinction the verse makes
listen to the rebuke of your father but
don't abandon the teachings of your
mother
number one by your father it's called
Musa rebuked by your mother it's called
Tyrel teachings lessons number two for
your father it says listen to his
teachings to his rebuke and don't
abandon the teachings of your mother why
doesn't it say and listen to the
teachings of your mother just like you
should listen to the teachings of your
father
good questions so the first Gary
reverence and open your hearts when he
said and I want you to hear the words he
said you know there are two forms of
Judaism that are communicated to people
there's the Judaism that we teach you
know the Musa that we teach do this
don't do this this is right this is
wrong this is good for you this is bad
for you this is healthy this is
unhealthy
this is constructive this is destructive
this is gonna bring reward this is gonna
bring punishment all good the muster of
your father but there's something much
deeper and it's not the muster of your
father it's not the review
of your father it's the lessons of your
mother when do you get the lessons of
your mother the Geary rebus says open
your hearts the Gemara says and need the
page 30 teen item am I'm a lambda nice a
cometary kula when an infant a fetus an
embryo isn't the womb of its mother they
teach the fetus the whole tire the
Gemara says in track they need that
there's no days as beautiful as the days
when you're in the womb of your mommy
because there's a candle a flame burning
on top of your head so to speak you eat
what your mommy eats you drink with your
mommy drinks you live off mommy's oxygen
and nutrients and they teach the child a
whole tire the halter and then when the
child leaves the womb they give the
child that commits a commit and he
forgets the halter if it gets thought
asks the Bella Tania if you're
forgetting the whole Turner why do you
have to learn it and if you're learning
it why do they make you forget it like
what was a joke if you want them to know
the old terror don't make them forget
and if you want him to forget it so
don't teach you tonight teach it you
that you forget it the ideas as follows
life is not a game of free lunch you
really have to work on life you have to
find yourself you have to find your song
you have to get rid of your toxicity you
got to confront your demons
you got a subdued Sahara your evil
inclination life is work we don't
believe in free lunch anomalously tzuf
it's called bread of shame in the words
of the Talmud bread of shade there I'm
Cara being a merchant I'm with SATA
always talks about this concept we don't
believe in bread of shame
we believe in earned meals earned meals
means you got to work for your life but
how do you know when something is part
of your song how do you know when
something is real real tire when I'm
sitting out of class or at a lecture at
a seminar at a workshop we're in a
conversation how do I know that what
you're teaching me is real real tired
how do I know you know people have a lot
of biases
people have a lot of agendas people got
a lot of stuff inside of them conscious
and even more unconscious how do I know
to differentiate between toxic
information and healthy information how
do I know how to differentiate between
information the coming from humans
filled with bias and insecurities and
information in which the person is just
a conduit for divine revelation how do
you know the difference the answer is
mabini Musa Ravi huh listen to the
rebuke of your father but then comes the
main statement and don't let go of the
tire of your mother you know the turn of
your motherís tell you of your mother's
the terror that you learnt in your
mother's womb
that tire is that's my song that's the
song I heard of my mother's womb
throughout my life when I hear realtor
it's gonna resonate you know why because
I know it already how do you know
something is real Tyra if when you hear
it you know that you didn't hear
anything new you heard something that
you always know your whole life
that's tire Tyra is something that when
you hear it deep down you know that it's
not know you always knew this of course
the information may be new the facts may
be new the formulation may be new the
ideas may be novel revolutionary
engaging interesting fascinating
transformative it may be new in so many
ways but in one very deep way it's not
new at all it resonates it's like of
course when somebody is articulating
Tyra the people who are listening can
say I always knew this it was there in
my bones it was in my DNA I was carrying
it in my body I was carrying it in my
amino acids and my genetic coding it was
there its tyrosine out the teachings of
my mother it's from my mother's womb I
may have forgotten the Tyra but when I
hear the melody like
it's the air and this is never muscle
it's Tyra
Mooser is rebuked it's something you
don't know that I'm teaching you
I'm rebuking you don't do this do this
Tyra are the lessons that are ingrained
in you what you learned by your mother
and your mother's womb nobody has to
teach you again it's part of you they
just have to show it to you and when you
hear this song you're like my god I just
know it's true and that's the big
difference between Musa and terror
Wooster is something I have to teach you
and Tara is just opening you up to what
you already know
opening your up to your innermost truth
that's the Judaism of Tyra see man
he doesn't say listen to it he says just
don't let go of it you know why you
shouldn't let go of it you have it
already it's who you are it's part of
you it's your essence it's your nature
it's innate its intrinsic Toyota is part
of every single jewel when you speak
real Tyra you're not teaching to do
anything he doesn't know his or her soul
is formed in Tyra
it was taught tighter for the first nine
months of their existence
Toyota is the melody of their neshama
you're not giving them a new melody
you're teaching them the melody that
they know so so well they may have
forgotten it they may have relegated it
to their subconscious they may not be in
touch with it they may not be living it
breathing it experiencing it but it's so
much part of them so much part of them
we never give anybody new Tyra we just
give them back what was always theirs
that's why I love Emmitt so much that's
their approach their approach is not Oh
we're gonna teach all these students
these spoiled American students a new
religion now we're gonna give them what
belongs to them
it belongs to every Jew the verse says
tyrunt's evylyn oh my chamois rush
Achilles Yaakov God commanded us Masha
obey no Moses commanded us the Torah
it's an inheritance to the community of
Jacob what's my Russia
what does it inheritance me there's a
fascinating law on the laws of
inheritance if a father is worth three
hundred million dollars and he passes
away and his ear is an infant who's one
day old legally that one day old infant
now is the full owner of the three
hundred million dollars no questions
asked
it's not like if he's thirty years old
or 50 years old he inherits the money if
he's one day old or one week old he's
not an inheritor that's not the case
I Irish an inheritor and heir according
to Jewish law even if he's one day old
or she's one day old they inherit the
entire estate of the father there is a
big difference though when somebody's
one day old they may not know what they
inherited they may not appreciate it
they may not be conscious of it they may
not understand what it means until they
reach an older age but it doesn't change
the fact that they are the full complete
owners of this possession that's what
the Bible says the Tanakh the Torah says
about Tara Tara is my Russia keyless yak
toy is an inheritance of every single
towards the minutes inheritance of every
single Jew no difference if you're one
day old no difference of your 10 day old
no difference of your 20 years no
difference if the greatest scholar in
the world you're the most ignorant
person in the world there may be a
difference in how much you appreciate
the inheritance and how much you're
cognizant of the magnitude and the value
of the inheritance but in the fact that
you own the entire inheritance this
absolutely not distinction every single
Drewe was given the whole tour and that
Torah belongs to him or to her we have
the privilege those of us who are
privileged to be raised with Torah we
have the privileged to help those who
are the ears of Torah to understand what
they inherited but we are not the ones
who give it in that God has given at
every Jew we are the ones who are
privileged to open their hearts to that
song which is a red
vibrating in the soul of every Jew from
before his or her birth they don't have
to hear it for LT tush they just don't
have to let go of it that's how you know
it's real Tyra resonates resonates
doesn't mean it doesn't challenge you
real Tyra challenges you but it
resonates and you know the difference
sometimes information challenges you but
it doesn't resonate so the information
challenges you it takes you out of your
comfort zone it wants to transform you
want you to become a new person but
resonates resonates means I know that
the person I'm striving to become is not
a person who's going to substitute my
real me it's the real me actualizing
itself it's me becoming who I'm supposed
to become who I am destined to become so
when life were all searching for that
melody we're all searching for that
truth and Torres the melody of the Jew
every Jew must find entire their
individual melody and no two Jews find
the same melody every soul has its own
melody the reason says that every verse
and Amish has six hundred thousand
possible ways of interpretation because
there are six hundred thousand souls
every soul has its way of interpreting
it this means every soul has its Nigam
its melody every soul has its
contribution it's light the music you
bring to the world nobody can bring to
the world the music I bring to the world
nobody can bring to the world it's your
own music and you have to be able to
appreciate this music sometimes we think
that people are afraid of their darkness
people are afraid of their toxicity and
that's I have so true we are afraid of
our negative emotions
we're afraid of uncomfortable emotions
we're afraid of unresolved tension and
you don't have to be afraid of it if
people would not be afraid of any
emotion inside of them the world would
be a better place you're bigger than
every emotion you can handle it
but there is even a deeper fearing
people
people are also afraid of their light
people are afraid of shining people are
afraid of singing their melody people
often ask the question Who am I to be
successful what my to be happy what my
to be powerful Who am I to be the most
powerful person in the world
Who am I to be a leader who I might
exchange the planet Who am I to have an
amazing marriage Who am I to have an
incredible relationship with my children
Who am I to be a happy person Who am I
to be gorgeous successful wealthy Who am
I I mean nobody Amish Matt I'm a
helpless loser and that's a great
mistake that we make who are you
you are God's light in this world you're
a manifestation of our Shem in this
world you are a ray of infinity you are
invincible just like the one who sent
you into this world you are a messenger
of the divine you are an ambassador you
are a divine ambassador of love light
hope healing redemption what do you mean
who are you who are you you're a
powerhouse not because you're a pompous
arrogant but because you're a
conduit for the divine creator who has
sent your soul down to this world
and the day you're born is the day when
God said the world is an incomplete
place without you birth is God saying
you matter there is something that you
need to bring to the universe that
nobody before you and nobody after you
will ever be able to bring to the world
this is your unique song that only your
inner Shama guess and it's your soul
that can inspire the world with this
music Lewis is the art set of Donna Mela
vovinam ella was the great composer of
the Jewish people the talmud says and
brothers page 3 there was a heart that
was suspended it was hanging on top of
David's bed and midnight the northern
wind would come and they would send a
brief breeze that would affect the
chords of David's harp which would star
playing music he would get out of bed
and he would learn Torah and connect
with his own melodies which he composed
and transcribed in that immortal book of
the hilum of Psalms someone else's yard
site is on schmooze the holy baal shem
tov yerba saw baal shem tov burton was
one of the greatest teachers in the
history of Judaism the founder of the
Hasidic movement that one of his
profoundest and most beautiful teachings
was that every single Jewish soul is a
divine song about something once said
when somebody passes away there are
three responses silence
tears and music we cry because we grieve
we're silent because there are no words
to capture pain but we also sing because
every soul is a melody every person's
life is essentially a song a she roll a
Shem bit high E and just like a song it
has exhilarating moments and then has
moments that are stressful we go up then
we go down the vicissitudes of life are
very similar to a powerful symphony a
she relish em bit higher my whole life
is a sheer as a song every day is just
part of this melody look at your life as
one continuous symphony it goes through
so many different motions and movements
and emotions and experiences you go up
and you go down you have moments of
jubilation joy and ecstasy the moments
of deep introspection and sometimes
melancholy but it's a melody that would
stop singing don't stop singing and then
when a person passes away the baal shem
tov sir their melody gets interrupted so
we sing in order to make sure that their
melody continues
every one of our children has their own
melody and that's where the meddler says
that God said that if even one drew was
lacking was not there at Mount Sinai he
wouldn't give the Torah who the Torah
was not just given to the Jewish people
as a whole it was given also to every
individual Jew as an individual if one
person was missing even a child a woman
a man a senior citizen or a youth the
Torah could not be given to anybody
every soul is indispensable to the
living organism called Knesset Esau
called the Jewish people it's why the
meddra says God told the Jewish people
every year on Savalas when you read the
Ten Commandments the first day of shavoo
it's like I'm coming down at side side
I'm coming down to Mount Sinai and
giving you once again the Torah which is
why if health officials if it's
according to the health standards it is
so special when every Jew could go the
first day of Shavuos in here the Ten
Commandments we have not returned to
show yet but by me there's a mini close
to Mars as a minion outside we follow of
course all of the guidelines of the
health officials in terms of physical
distancing and that's where I'm gonna go
the first day of shoes with my family to
hear the Ten Commandments if you can try
to make an effort again if it's
completely subjected to the guidelines
of the health officials to be able to
hear the reading of the Ten Commandments
on the first day of school is when they
read the Torah in the synagogue or
outdoors why because it's a reenactment
of the first Sinai and every single Jew
is there even infants babies men women
children because without one Jew the
Torah cannot be given to anybody because
every person has their unique incredible
contribution to make to Jewish life to
make to the world to make the life don't
live a life of quiet desperation don't
surrender to mediocrity flex your
muscles and maximize your potentials
tune into your song because the whole
world needs your song everybody wants to
hear your song
the first person who has to be able to
hear your song is yourself and what does
it mean to tune in to your song it means
to be able to identify the part of you
that is in melody
there's so many different parts within
us there's parts of me that question
myself that D legitimize myself that
tell me that I'm a schemata that taught
me that I'm a losing as parts of me that
create all types of anxiety that's fine
you can respect those parts in you but
don't let them define who you are you
always have to be able to tune in to the
part within yourself that identifies
yourself as a living vibrating
resonating song that brings and can
bring to others
someone joy so much meaning so much
depth in many ways the mission statement
of Emmett is to help everybody find
their melody find their song because
when you do the world changes and
remember for a violin to play its
melodies or for a harp or a cello or a
guitar the strings have to be tied down
if I untie all the strings music can't
come out I have to tie down the strings
this is what we call discipline what we
call halakha Jewish law people say why
does Jewish law restrict this behavior
that behavior it's never to limit your
life it's to help you play your melody
when my strings are tied down my music
can resonate far and wide when my
springs are untied no music will come
out when I live a life of just complete
frivolousness there's no discipline
there's no structure it may seem
tempting but my music will be stifled
when I have the courage to tie down my
springs when I have the courage to be
able to follow the guidelines and the
blueprint of Torah as I do this I don't
do this person I can get married to this
person I can get married to this
situation is for me the situation is not
for me these are places I go to these
are places I don't go to these are the
ways I dress these other
these are the relationships that are
good to me these are relationships that
are toxic this is food that shouldn't
come into my mouth as a Jew this is an
environment that I don't belong in not
always easy decisions sometimes I have
to turn down those Springs the springs
are not loose when you tie down the
strings of the violin
you're not repressing the violin you're
not damaging the violin
you're not trying to turn the violin
into an archaic narrow-minded small
repressed crushed individual you're
trying to allow your Stradivarius to
play the most exquisite music so my
dearest friends I love you so much I
send you all my love and my blessings to
all of you to Emmett
jeribai Akiva the founder of Emmett to
all of the staff of M at the teachers to
students the constituents the donors the
contributors all of you and I send you
my blessings to go from strength to
strength to continue to share your
special song with the world for each and
every one of us to be able to really
really discover our own song not to be
afraid of it to be able to hear not only
the rebuke of our father but also the
tire of our mother to be able to see God
not only as a rebuking father but as a
loving mother and as a loving father to
be able to know that Judaism is not just
a message communicated to me but it's
also a message communicated inside of me
from within me to me tyrosine maja to be
able to discover my melody your melody
the melody that your soul knows is true
the melody that I went everywhere to
look for it but I couldn't find it and
all materialistic pleasures cannot bring
me that melody they may be great than
fun but they can't bring me that melody
that's a melody that the soul recognizes
I hope you can recognize yours because I
want to hear it we all want to hear it
but Yom Tov Huk Sameach stay well
goodnight from strength to strength
I met as a Kazak finish a sake thank you
very very much