Rabbi YY Jacobson - Turning Yom Kippur Into A Life Changing Experience

[Music] thank you so so much I'm thrilled to be here with you this evening with all of you during these uniquely auspicious days at this very charged moving and inspiring and loaded time of the year upon which the Gemara the talmud says on the verse do show Hashem be he matzah woohoo be a Tokarev the Prophet you see Isaiah says in chapter 55 seek out God when he is present call out to her son when he is close asks the town would Amos interacted with Shoshanna when when do we say God is always present God is always close God is everything and everywhere and the Talmud answers a Lewis Aris Youngman Shabangu Rosh Hashanah Leo Marquis Purim during the 10 days from her Shoshanna to Yom Kippur that's the time when the Prophet says seek out God when he is present call out to him when he is close meaning there's a special intimacy there's a special love there's a special closeness a very powerful energy during these days Kabbalistic masters would call these days the time of cue of Hama or el haunted suits the time when the great luminary the great flame becomes close to the spark when a spark of a flame when a little flame is close to a large bonfire it becomes subsumed in the large flame every soul is on it suits every soul is a divine spark enclosed in this world that closed in the body but it's a manifestation of God and in these days is kuruvamma are the great failure the great source of energy comes close to the spark so what happens to the spark the spark becomes subsumed the spark gravitates the spark feels its source in a much more powerful way and the closeness becomes much more manifested and I want to thank very much Kazak and Emmett that all of the other the seven or eight organizations I actually remember them all that it for giving me this privilege and the invitation to be with you here this evening a few days before Yom Kippur and exploring the possibility of turning your Kippur into a a deeply transformative inspiring meaningful and life-changing experience they told the anecdote about an American family a non Jewish American family which was very proud of its ancestry because they could trace their genealogy all the way back to their original pilgrims to these shores they had ancestry that arrived here on the Mayflower in the 17th century and they prided themselves with having that unique chain all the way to the Genesis and the origin of these great United States of America before it became the United States of America and they petitioned they once they hired an author to write a history of the family generation after generation but at some point during the research they got stuck they discovered that one of the grandparents a man named Clarence Smith has become a criminal and not just a petty criminal a capital criminal and he was executed on the electric chair as a punishment he actually received the death penalty of the electric chair now how do you put that in the book to admit it from the book to delete his name from the book is dishonest to put in the store would be such a stain on the family so in our community unfortunately what would we do unfortunately some of our biographies have nothing to do with truth nothing to do with accuracy right you put in what you want to put in and you disregard the rest but not everybody has a user Shekhar so they felt compelled to put in the story but how they don't want to embarrass the family they don't want this stain on the family and the writer said listen that's why you pay me the big bucks I'm the expert let me take care of it everything will be depicted with full truth and accuracy no lies no cover-ups no deceptions no exaggerations but it's still going to be the full truth okay with bated breath they wait for the day of publication and when they receive the book they look in the index of names they come to the name clear and Smith they turn to the page and this is what he wrote grandfather clear and Smith occupied an important chair in a central governmental institution he was tied to his position with the strongest of course and despite many attempts he could not tear himself away from this important cheer that he occupied till his last breath he remained deeply connected to that sheer in this great governmental institution his death came as a sudden shock I fear this an adult with you because tonight I want to reflect on that strange opening declaration that every single Jewish community or almost every single Jew that I know in the world makes as we usher in the holiest nights and day of the year Yom Kippur I know the text varies in different max Orem and different prayer books Ashkenazic texts find the text and many other texts but the theme is identical a court is assembled a best-in is established the Torah scrolls are removed from the holy ark we have a best in a court of three people holding the Torah and the declaration is made Aldama coin the AL dasa called be achiever show my love the achiever shall motto anima tearing lead pal Elam Harvey on him with the consent of God and with the consent of the whole congregation in the heavenly yeshiva in the heavenly Academy and in the earthly academy we hereby give permission to everybody to pray with the of our union with another young meanness in your monster to pray with the transgressors what an interesting opening to this prayer we don't do it all yeah we don't do what every shop is here every Monday every Thursday every Wednesday and say wait you see that guy that's clear and Smith it's a criminal he's a transgressor whoever comes to show comes to show Yom Kippur we don't start we give permission for everybody to pray with the ovarian in with the transgressors who are these transgressors who are these criminals who are these sinners who show up on Yom Kippur why on yom kippur do we decide to give permission to pray with them and this is no small permission we invoke the name of God Aldama come loud article we're doing this with the consent of God Almighty and with the consent of the whole community everybody has to be in on this with the Shiva in heaven and here on earth and we could pray with these Fr mmm and it's van men that the community commences three times to say the Kol Nidre that unique legal declaration that we say on the opening of Yom Kippur when we nullify the possible vows promises pledges and oaths that we might take upon ourselves from this yom kippur till the next Jim Kippur so that we don't violate our vows and oaths I ask you tonight who are these our very own and who are these transgressors who are they I once told the story at a lecture and somebody said without names who was it so I'm not gonna ask you to give names for these transgressors but I want to understand who would this Saint is referring to how far um there are three transgressors were talking about they existed both in history and they exist today historically these transgressors related to on one level the Muranos the unloosen in Spain as you know in the 13th and then primarily for fifteen century the fifteenth and third and the 14th and 15th century the pressure for influential wealthy successful Jews in Spain to convert to Christianity was enormous an Inquisition was set up to compel the non-believers to convert to Catholicism until at last when Ferdinand and Isabella expelled all the Jews of the kingdom of Spain on tisch above in 1492 that dark day when hundreds of thousands of Jews left the country they lived in for hundreds of years during the golden era of the Jews of Spain and will force to go into exile because they didn't want to convert but not everybody could resist the temptation and many many Jews some put the number very very high in Spain inspired converted to Christianity but many of them remain Jews and secret we call them the unloosen the forced once the Spanish called them the morano's which meant the pigs and many of them practice Judaism and secret or did not practice Judaism and secret and some of them when they got out of Spain and they came to communities where you could practice Judaism in public they joined the synagogue they joined the communities they doing during the shows and the people in shoes look us up they said this is not fair we left Spain because we wouldn't abandon our faith they chose materialism comfort prosperity over Judaism now they're gonna become some the kid now they're gonna become Saints now that they're living in a more open and free society they can misra they're gonna get sleazy they're gonna become the honorees at the dinner they're gonna take out the sofrito around that's not fear in the hard times they abandoned us in the good times they become our friends you know those people right in the difficult times they don't know you suddenly you win the lottery or you sell your building on Madison Avenue and everybody is your best friend you know the story yeah goldstein calls Rosenberg he says my dear buddy Saturday morning we're going to play golf eight o'clock we're going to play golf Rosenberg says I'm not going to play golf Shabbos more Saturday morning is we're going I'm going to synagogue you're going to set it up you you never set your foot at the synagogue your whole life I know you for 60 years you going to synagogue he says I never stepped foot into synagogue till colon came to the synagogue once colon came to synagogue I go every Shabbos this is really why he says well you know this going he came from Europe he didn't have a dollar today he's worth five billion dollars and you know what he attributes it to Saturday morning synagogue occur since Cohen comes to synagogue I go there every shop is I'm not lying for God he says come on come you have been an atheist your whole life you're gonna lie to me and tell me that you go shop this morning to synagogue the book that God you don't even believe in God he says no no no you misunderstood me Cohen goes to synagogue to talk to God I go to synagogue to talk to come I just got it why do you guys go to shill shop this morning so these Jews said I don't understand you abandoned us now suddenly he became our friends and even in Spain itself there were Jews who were good Christians a whole year on Yom Kippur their conscience bothered them in Kippur they would join the secret synagogues and other Jews didn't want them there tonight you're guilty so you come in here leave but the rabbi's believed otherwise the rabbi said tonight we have to make room for these of our unit for these transgressors why because ultimately they were forced to do something against their truest and deepest nature himself tonight is the night to open our hearts to open the doors and say they're also welcome even though a whole year they may have been alienated but tonight their true self emerged tonight their true core emerges a whole year they were playing the game tonight they're not playing a game tonight they came back to their origin al da some all came out - I call on a materialist polymer on him but my dear friends this is not just a story of the 1400s it's not just a story of the 1300s in Spain it's a story that continues also in the 21st century in the United States of America in Europe and in the rest of the world thank God in a different form in a different manifestation but a similar story we have brothers and sisters who are embarrassed with their Jewishness they don't want to show off their Jewishness nobody forces them to convert thank God but they forced themselves to disguise themselves you know that old story about dr. torski the psychiatrist traveling on an airplane and he looks like a real Hasidic Jew square white beard round black hat long black coat a lady a Jewish lady sitting near him starts speaking to him in he dish and she says you're causing the anti-semitism in the world if you would dress normally if you would look normally if you would behave normally if you would speak normally they wouldn't hate us but you have to stand out why why can't you just integrate into regular society he looks at her and in a perfect duxford English he says excuse me ma'am I fail to comprehend the dialect of your verbiage what language are you speaking in she says it is he says oh I'm so sorry I am Amish she says oh I thought you were Hasidic he says no no no no I am Amish one coat square white beard black she says oh I love the Amish he says why she says you're such a minority but you maintain your heritage with so much dignity and so much proud kudos to you it was now his turn to respond and he did he says ah oh if it won't give an Amish customers lib yet doesn't mean he doesn't look fine if I would have been Amish you'd love me now that I'm one of yours you're embarrassed by me I want to bless you that you should be able to appreciate in your own people that's what you appreciate another yes in the 14th century in Spain dowry on him converted to Catholicism today saying God we're living in freedom relative freedom and prosperity Jews are free the world over to practice their heritage their faith under skies with pride with dignity but many of us are still ashamed or embarrassed some of us are embarrassed to wear a kippah some of us are embarrassed to speak about the disguise some are embarrassed sometimes to tell our neighbors or our friends we started to keep chavez we started to eat kosher we started to go to shul we put our children into a Jewish school it's difficult for many of us we want to hide we want to be disguised Jackie Mason he's the guy who repeats most of my jokes he says when he does a show more Jackie Mason Shawn Broadway many years he did his comedy routines and he would say the Gentiles and the crowd if you asked him how was it it was unbelievable you'll ask Jews how was it it was too Jewish speaks too much about Jews too many Jewish jokes too many Jewish theatre it was too Jewish many of us are afraid it's gonna be too Jewish it comes sometimes to Israel it's so painful to watch you have Prime Minister's Parliament members professors representatives of Israel and they speak to the press and they're embarrassed to say that the land is ours because God the creator of the world came into the Abraham Isaac and Jacob and their descendants forever as it is stated in the Bible hundreds of times Christians believe in the Bible Muslims believe in the Bible billions of Fela believe in the Bible embarassed we go to hiding and this type of hiding creates confusion and ambivalence the worst pain in the world is when you don't know who you are so on Yom Kippur we open up the prayers and we say comes to shul why he or she sometimes not rationally they know this is my home an interesting experiment if somebody goes Sunday and stands outside of a church and a Christian comes out of the church and you'll tell him were you coming from he says to church you believe in the Lord he says of course why was that screaming hello Luca the three hours if I don't believe in the Lord somebody Friday watches somebody come out of a mosque a coming out of a master you say you believe in Mohammed of course I believe I'm is why they've been fasting Ramadan for a month now not eating for a month I don't believe in Mohammed why have I been kneeling now for six hours on carpets if I don't believe in Mohammed and if you watch a Buddhist coming out of a Buddhist monastery you say you believe in Buddha of course I believe in Buddha's not why have I been fasting 49 years and doing Transcendental Meditation becoming one with everything all at one one and all Nirvana I don't believe in Buddha if we watch her hidden do coming out of a Hindu ashram and you say you believe in karma of course I believe in karma why have I been tending that worm for the last sixteen years that worm in my garden I don't believe in karma and if you watch the Burman more than coming I believe in Joseph Smith of course I believe in Joseph Smith that's what I teach my children every day and now I challenge you going in Kippur at the 5th Avenue or Manhattan stand their temple Emmanuel and a Jew comes out of kipping afternoon and he goes to get a taxi thinks of us keeping u-turn on come to me you say when you're coming from you I'm coming from there you believe in God me this mistaken evolution the Big Bang I'm a Harvard graduates I'm not a fundamentalist ultra-orthodox fanatic nutjob so we're coming someone coming from the temple why were you in the temple jump Kippur I thought you don't believe in God of course not so what are we you in the temple couldn't zip Kippur but you don't believe you'll Kippur a Jew goes to the temple what's so complicated about that he thinks he's rational think about it what is he telling you what he's telling you is that Judaism is not only a religion it's much deeper a religion if Judaism was a religion if you're not religious you're not Jewish a Christian atheist is not a Christian a Muslim atheist is not a Muslim the definition of these religions is that you're religious you have faith but a Jew is a Jew as a Jew is a Jew even the most secular unaffiliated Jew assimilated Jew is still the same drew not even that even a michelada drew converted not only on the direst like in Spain not only under the threat the threat that the church gave the Jewish people the cross of the grave the cross for your head even such a Jew remains a Jew on some level if he betrothed is a woman she needs again she needs a divorce she needs a real get that's a marriage because the Judi and for a Jew Judaism is the color of his or her soul you can't change the color of your eyes you can't change the color of your soul Judaism is embedded in the Jewish essence is the very DNA of a Jew whether he or she says I believe I don't believe I practice I don't practice I may not be expressing who I am I may not be living who I am but this is my very identity and on Yom Kippur that relationship emerges so the rabbi's say we say are no materiality pelham are very on them we open our hearts we open our homes we open our space for these so-called transgressors but my friends there's another category of a very honor another category of transgressors these were the Jews in ancient times who embraced other faiths of a philosophy not other faiths other philosophies outside of Judaism and they became what we would call heretics they were transgressors in the fact that for them the basic principles of Judaism seemed like a myth but on Yom Kippur their souls also felt that they want to reconnect and many in the community might say they don't have a place here they're the ones who were whole years say Judaism doesn't mean anything I don't need it religion is opium for the masses to quote Karl Marx who came from a Jewish family and was baptized as a child it's opium for the masses it's for the weak it's for the frail it's for the stupid it's for the unintelligent we have a new ethos The God Delusion the quote one of the more popular books on atheism of recent years suddenly am Kippur you're coming to show we have no place for you but friends in modern days in modern times we have the same phenomenon with so many of us but it expresses itself in so many different we have people including people are sitting here right now who are played with so many different questions doubts uncertainties some of us who have feared these questions when we were young we never received answers we never even received respect and therefore we concluded that there are no answers some of us who have grown up not with philosophical questions but with emotional questions we have seen hypocrisy we've seen abuse we have seen lies we have seen deception and let's face it when you see that coming from people who are supposed to represent the best and the finest of our culture and our religion it's more destructive than anything else when you see a sinner sinning okay that's what sinners do but suddenly when people see corruption and hypocrisy coming from the top it destroys them at their core it eliminates all trust some of us have seen that and as a result of that we feel disconnected we have so many questions either intellectual or even more emotional what about those of us who have experienced the pain of neglect or alienation and sometimes even abuse and sometimes by people who are supposed to represent Torah represent Judaism they was supposed to be the role models of love and goodness and kindness and the sense of the sphere and detachment from Judaism and everything that it represents becomes so so profound I will never forget what a young man once told me he said I cannot keep Shabbat I would love to but I can't I said what do you have against Shabbat what did shoppers do to you what did Shabbat do to you even if you don't understand everything but you can't you can't deny the simple beauty of a Shabbos table kids sit with the parents nobody's on their phones nobody's texting nobodies what's happening nobody's shopping on Amazon nobody's watching a movie or a rabbi why why clip they're sitting there eating chicken soup they're arguing as good Jews do they're singing they're getting into a fight as good Jews do but how could you deny the beauty of that and he looked at me he said rabbi Jacob said I would love to be able to keep Shabbat dekat I didn't understand why and then he told me it's a painful story to repeat but I want to repeat it because I want us to understand what some people go through right that if you could put yourself on our vipre first of all send her my regards and put yourself on our vibrate please it's important to know what some people call through so that we become a little less judgmental and a little more compassionate and this is what this young man told me and I'm deleting 90% of the details he said every single shoppers every Chavez every Friday night the shoe was empty because people Darvin and they go home and there's nobody in the shoe Friday night much later sometimes people come but everybody goes for Shabbos well if you could put your cell phones on vibrate please I know it's a Jewish crowd and you're expecting your call from Trump but if you could put yourself on our vibrate or on airplane mode we would appreciate it very very much if you could do it now even though you're Jewish if you could do it now not later and so thank you Friday night to shoulders empty and every Friday night as a child he was lured to remain in Sheol after everybody and every Friday night he was physically violated and molested for years and he told me he says robert jacobson for me Shabbos represents the nightmare of self-destruction the endless pain and trauma it was because of Jacques because the show was empty because everybody was home because it was quiet and peaceful he says what you say the word Shabbos I traumatized when you say the work show I'm traumatized I can't walk into a show and I can't celebrate Chavez I wish I could but I can't I don't know why people go through the journeys that they have to go through but I do know that such a person ask questions not from a rational mathematical point of view but from the core of his being and in his existence and then there are people who experienced a lot of pain in life they've experienced grief they experienced deep mental psychological and emotional challenges as a result of which they feel alienated from God they have so many questions they have so many complaints they have so much anger there's so much pain of so much trauma but on Yom Kippur Yom Kippur the day when God's love emerges and every Jewish soul consciously or unconsciously more or less feels the intimate indestructible connection between a Jewish soul and the divine because every single soul is forever and never and never connected with Hashem and nothing in the world can completely sever the relationship or connection just like a mother and a child even if a mother and a child have a complex relationship there's nothing you can do to divorce your child or to divorce your mother and a healthy functional mother never stops loving a child even if that child feels alienated from the mother the relationship may be a powerful one the relationship may be a subconscious one but there's always a relationship song in Kippur these souls stroll into Shu physically or emotionally and sometimes people in the community say what what are you doing you don't belong here but the rabbi said otherwise the rabbi said before we start your Kippur although some are coy the algaas I call on all my teen in this tunnel in haryana God's bosom is large enough and deep enough to contain every aching heart every aching soul every pain human being Judaism and God are not small that they have to exclude people who have questions and people who have pain the heart of you describe the bosom of God the bosom of Torah is big enough to embrace every person in their totality God says come in come in with your anger with your frustrations with your uncertainties with your difficulties with your questions with your tears come in with your totality I want you you don't have to amputate a part of yourself to realize that you're part of me I want you with your entire being your entire soul your entire consciousness all no material is paola narayana in my heart there's place for all of you for the totality of you I don't have to cut off any part of you you don't have to cut off any part of you come in here in your fullness because only then can one actually transcend those challenging components and shoes their deepest meaning and their deepest values but my dear friends there's another type of of our name another type of transgressor we spoke of the morano's that loosen who disguise their Judaism we spoke of the heretics the philosophers in mind or those alienated by emotional questions by emotional pain but there are other transgresses other every on them you know who those are those are the regular day-to-day people like me I don't want to say like you because I see you're a bunch of dick maybe the men's section the regular day-to-day people who cut corners you know the people who when they call from the doctor's office or from the lawyer's office you have an appointment three o'clock where are you and you say Oh FDR traffic bumper-to-bumper I'm already stuck an hour in traffic didn't leave my house yet hey what's the big deal everybody lies it's the day I come up stressed from work and I hurl an insult on my innocent children what do you want I worked so hard but my kids don't have to be a punching bag for my stress just because I'm hungry it's those days I'm busy and I'm occupied or I'm angry about something I'm overwhelmed and my wife calls me in the afternoon just to say hello you know one o'clock you get the call any wife says what are you doing and then go crazy and I heard a man one say what am i doing I'm lying on a habit drinking a pina colada reading The Wall Street Journal and having somebody scratch my back that's what I'm doing when I'm working like a dog to pay for your credit-card bills that's what I'm doing you tell them what oh yeah yeah yeah your wife just wanted to connect she just wanted to tell you that she cares about you she just wanted to tell you that she can't bear the thought of being lonely without you but if she doesn't always know how to say it that way so she's like when are you coming home really what you mean is I can't wait till I see a beautiful face when you get home doesn't always speak that way am i right no okay so you're her lout you're hurt you hurl up insults on your wife there's the little lies that some of us say the moral corners that we cut the people we embarrass the texts that don't always say the truth they don't look like big stuff every person in their own way a little sin here a little sin there some immorality here's some immorality there this is the third category of a very Onam of transgressors and on Yom Kippur of course we show up to show but we tell ourselves I don't belong here Oh suddenly or some new bag of new will cow head I'll get bail couple they've come on come on we tell ourselves what am i joking what am i lying I'm becoming a new person I'm becoming a new person I Know Who I am why why are you staying why why an ankle is staying ankle and medalist anguish medal the holy Rip simcha bring him up logistical once set he said a strange thing you finished Neal on Yom Kippur finish the last prayer and some people are hungry present company excluded but some Jews where I'm from get hungry at the end of Yom Kippur yeah so the Maurya after Yom Kippur is a fast Mary it's pretty fast Italy Express what's the first thing you saying you finished nila finish him Kippur lashonna Bobby Russia a lion they glow the chauffeur day of atonement that came to an end and we started the hoorah you compare a phone God forgive sins and then we get this one is Rea this last la no Avenue key sottano McCullen I'm okay no key fresh a new boy Sammy binder shall I um I didn't say how many sins can you do between me Allah and my earth if people wouldn't be a Niraj you can have a little gossip maybe but everyone is so anxious they go familiy jump at the miner no gossip no slander you let's pray what's love it okay send yet with such pessimists who would hope you'd have bear of honor and if simcha beam them up sister says you know what the sin of those moments are you know what the sinners the sin of people who don't believe that God's really forgave them Yom Kippur finishes I look in the mirror and I say I'm still the same idiot I'm still the same bum I still have the same filth that's a sin the sin that I don't believe that God forgives the sin that I believe like clearance myths that I'm stuck to the chair with the strongest of chords and I can't get out of it you know they tell a story there was a fellow who was accused of murder and the jury sat and it was very obvious that the jury's verdict is going to be guilty so it seems it was just you just had that feel that the judge the jury everybody just felt this guy is a criminal prison for life or death penalty for murder or whatever the penalty is horrible penalty for a horrible capital crime the lawyer of the defendant gets up and he says let's settle this once and for all in 30 seconds the door is going to open you know who's gonna walk in the victim because everything you produced all the evidence nobody showed a corpse the corpse never showed up they didn't find the corpse you know who's gonna walk in the man you said he killed the man you said my client murdered he's gonna walk in and you will see how you accused an innocent man of a horrible crime he never committed and everybody turned to the door with bated breath there was anticipation in the courtroom there was electricity in the room you could cut the tension with a knife everybody every member of the juries and everyone sitting in the courtroom turned to the door and they mouths open they waited 30 seconds they waited a minute they waited three minutes hi Ella they man no nobody coming through that door the lawyer got up and said don't worry nobody's coming this was a trick but let me show you something every one of the jury turned around to the door you know why you're not convinced that he murdered anybody you see you're not convinced you're ready to deem him guilty and you're not even convinced and you're ready to kill him you all turn to the door Wow people were impressed find a trick he's learned Gomorrah in his life he went through sanhedrin and Baba Basra and Marcus came verdict I'm the judge comes order in the court takes the hammer gives that clap guilty well he says your honor your honor didn't I just make an extraordinary point he said almost you see whenever you want to look to the door I looked around the courtroom everybody looked to the door besides one person you're a defendant he didn't look to the door because he knew nobody's coming through that door that's the same says Robson tripping him after the illa you went through all your kipper but you say I I'm stuck this is who I am my marriage has to be lousy my relationship with my children has to be lousy my relationship with God has to be lousy I will forever remain lazy miserable envious bitter resentful I can't live a powerful deep meaningful inspiring Jewish life filled with love filled with or filled with other such that alpha cetera sister how about yourself I'm part of the chair just for that you have to ask forgiveness ask forgiveness for the fact that you don't believe you were forgiven one of those Psalms we say throughout these days including him Kippur of course is Psalm 130 she got my alerts me mama Kim curtisha I didn't know there was a vine there King David says Kim crossly ha l'm on t VAR a which means you forgive so that you should be feared God forgives Lamont Eve RF in the would year he wants to be feared ask the commentators doesn't make sense you don't forgive in order to be feared you forgive in order to be loved when you forgive you're not feared when you don't forgive your fear for example let's say you take a job in somebody's office and somebody says you know this boss he doesn't forgive so watch out watch out be careful but if somebody tells you this boss or he forgives everybody for everything you could come as late as you want you could miss as many days as you want he forgives you're not gonna fear him you may like him but you're not gonna fear him remember the teacher in school who was just a mushy lovey-dovey teddy bear forgave everybody and everything you didn't do homework okay you failed okay he's so cute you don't fear him you like him you don't fear him and then you have the disciplinarian the militant teacher you remember everybody is scared but he doesn't forgive what does King David mean km shots Lisa you forgive the monteverde she used to be feared by forgiving you not fear so the ball of Tanya who say yoga and Elena the Bella Tanya gives the following explanation with a parable and I'm gonna lie it's his parable developed ideas probably apply at the contemporary times it's 2006 some of you remember some of you don't is 2006 the real estate market is booming and you decide you want to make money you it's time to make a couple of bucks and you take out a loan from a bank not a small loan you think it alone for 50 million dollars you're building condominiums in Manhattan you're renovating them or building them and you're selling them you're gonna make a profit of 70 million bucks not bad for a Jewish kid like you a dropout and an a DD not so bad maybe that's why comes 2008 he's got all these kadosh boom the market crashes nobody's buying your condominiums you're stuck with a crazy loan with crazy interests you have to start paying next month it's an insane catastrophe for your whole financial future the manager of the bank schedules an appointment with you for Wednesday and you walk into the manager's office and he looks at you and he says I don't care about what happened we have to be paid every cent with interest your first payment is due next Tuesday we're expecting five point four million dollars for the first payment and so every single month you look at him and you're like it call your wife you say the man is i'ma shoot in then he's nuts you don't even begin to worry you know why there's nothing you can do you put your private house on your wife's name right they summon you to court and you push over the court case ultimately you hope the hearing is gonna happen at the year 2033 and by then either you'll die the bank will die the manager will die the bank whatever will happen but you know how it is do you worry about it you don't even worry about it it's so beyond it's so beyond there's nothing you can do but what happens if you walk into the bank manager bank manager looks at you and he says I'm so sorry we all have to bite the bullet I know you were wiped out we will also wiped out I'm so sorry let's make this work first let's cut out all the interest interests second I'm cutting down 30% of the loan now tell me what you can do let's make this work we're all biting the bullet we're all taking the bullet we're all losing but let's make this work ah says the ballot on you now you got to be afraid now you call your wife and you say I have to pay now I have to pay he's a man he's working with me I gotta show up I can't just run away in costly Charlemont avere if God would come to the Jew and say listen I want everything with interest bye-bye have a good day you know if you're never good enough you just give up you know those parents who make you feel you're never good enough those fathers or mothers you get a 95 on the test what can you get on drugs you get a hundred why did you get a hundred and ten you made a million dollars why did he make two million dollars I make two million dollars you just give up it's impossible I could never be enough if God wants everything it's fine what do you want am you men in class Lisa the reborn a shallow Lama converse who comes to a Jew and says I love you I care for you I cherish you I want you to be successful I want you to be happy I want you to have the best year possible physically emotionally psychologically spiritually in this for the next world let's make this work I want this should work a Lamont Eve RA now I feel accountable now I feel responsible there is forgiveness there's a lot of forgiveness it's a whole other experience a whole other reality so there are three types of Avari on em that walk into salon Yom Kippur and let's face it I look at myself I have all three and me some of us have all three there are those of us who suffer from shame and Bivins uncertainty the first category I'm ashamed of Who I am there's the other a very honor those of us who feel alienated because of anger because of pain of because of grief or because of trauma or because of questions are because of doubt or because of abuse or because of hypocrisy and then there are those of us who are very on them because we're week because we're weak we cut corners here we cut corners there we make mistakes we sin we transgress and on Yom Kippur the first thing the rabbi said this create space in your heart for yourself create space in your heart for all these parts of yourself for the shame in you and for the uncertainty in you and for the mistakes in you and create that same space for other people al da samokhin Val - Shaka Hal but you see Michele miles will be she will show motto on the material is Palomar very young and who are these that were yelling were these transgresses transgressors each person in their own way but God says my heart is big enough to contain this that the containers would love and with affection and with sensitivity I think of this and I remember a story of a Jew such an inspiring legacy his name Ludwig dr. Ludwig Guttmann Ludwig Guttmann was a German Jew he grew up in an orthodox traditional Torah observant German family in Berlin he became one of the leading brain surgeons in Germany a brilliant doctor and an exceptional brain surgeon in 1933 Hitler yamaja my becomes the Chancellor of Germany in 1938 is crystal my November 30 in 1939 Ludovic Kaufmann flees his homeland he flees he runs from Germany escapes Germany and he goes he moves to Great Britain to London due to his brilliant medical skills and prowess he is invited to open up the first Centre for people with major spinal injuries dr. Guttman opens up the centre in 1943 in the midst of the Second World War and he begins working with patients what we call today paraplegics paraplegics those who are usually paralyzed from the waist and below and dr. Guttman sees there's a pattern in those days in the medical community in hospitals and medical homes and centres paraplegics were seeing as hopeless victims they were given as much medication as possible to relieve them from pain and they were mostly left to die there was no agenda there was no vision there was no long-term treatment for them this was the common denominator with most of them due to the intensity and the power of the injuries which left them paralyzed the most of their body dr. Ludwig Guttmann could not tolerate this approach and he completely revolutionised the field he began instructing the nurses the doctors under his care to take personal interests every patient to remove lower the medications and the sedation so they could be more conscious to ask them about their lives about their dreams about their hopes about their stories he also realized the power of athleticism of sports he had the nurses physicians and doctors caretakers do small physical activities with them they were all bedridden with lay in bed till they died he forced them out of bed those tiny movements that they could make this caused tremendous pain to the patient but now the medications were lowered as a result they felt their pain more acutely they were also slightly which caused them tremendous agony that was crying who was screaming and the greatest thing it was the criticism of the entire staff they called him the murderer of the paraplegics tormenting them torturing them but he saw something else he saw a spark in them coming back to life people their minds were fully functioning they would be asked questions they were being asked to tell stories he put nurses in wheelchairs to do competitive realizing the redeeming power of competitive sports and athletics for many of these patients there was a book and a film written written about him and his work it's called the best of men it depicted to see doctors in the hospital looks at him and says dr. Goodman who [Music] what are you doing with them and he says who do I think they are I think they are the best of men I think they are the best of men slowly we triumphed over the tremendous opposition as the result started to be noticeable and a few years later he introduced sports for the paraplegics he turned it into a national competition and then an international competition and in 1960 he introduced what came to be known today as Terra Olympics with paraplegic patients and victims compete in athletics sports and competitions similar to the regular Olympics and in the most recent one 4200 paraplegic patients joined from 16 different countries you could see the smile on their faces the vitality in their souls the vibrancy in their hearts and minds as so much of them comes back to life in the last few decades we transformed completely the perspective of the medical community the scientific community and the rest of humanity on these people and to see that type of transformation all for one reason because he saw them as the best of men and the best of women why and how did he have the courage to stand up single-handedly for the entire scientific community of his day perhaps he saw how Jews were treated in Nazi Germany for the six years he lived under Hitler's Jews were treated like paraplegic patients no dignity no humanity no hope perhaps he grew up in a traditional Jewish family a torah saturated an observant family and he knew the secret of Yiddish kind and the secret of Yom Kippur and that is there's no such a thing that a person is hopeless there is no such a thing that a person is just left to die physically emotionally psychologically or spiritually the essence of Yom Kippur is oh das samokhin BL - I call on a material witness la cama does been a mystery but you're a mirage Shem silastic is very calm but a solitary transformation renewal rejuvenation but renewal and transformation does not mean that if somebody is a paraplegic releasing suddenly tomorrow they're running the marathon that is not their mission what it means is that you grow according to your capacity that you advance according to your prowess that you make movements according to your capabilities that growth is possible wherever you are and whoever you are according to where you are today not judging yourself according to the standards and dimensions and missions and journeys of other souls of other people perhaps it was that great institution of Yom Kippur and so many other ideas in Judaism that inspired looked forgotten to be able to look at these people with a completely different perspective with the perspective of castilla-la mancha for a stirring these days and during this time of the year on Yom Kippur when I and you could look deeply into ourselves and realize that you are the best of men and you are the best of woman and that the potential is great enormous and infinite and don't be afraid of the transgressor within you because God's love and God's bosom is big enough steep enough deep enough and pathetic enough to brace you in your totality if only you can embrace yourself in your totality and realize you need not fear any part of you you need not cut off any part of you you need not become the solution than alienated because there's certain experiences and you certain voices and you certain thoughts in you on this day God tells you I love you and I love you unconditionally and I love you infinitely I want you to be able to love yourself as much as I love you and I want you to be able to experience yourself the way I experience you and realize that wherever you are in life take one step to advance yourself in your soul towards your truest destiny you truest death you choose meaning you truest purpose till we could be clear at the end of Yom Kippur together with Shaun ahahaha be ruch a lion thank you very very much [Applause] [Music] you