The Greatest Blessing | Parashat V'Zot HaBeracha

[music] and all of Israel. Well, I have to tell you guys I'm here in my suka here in Al. And it's um truly unbelievable place. Uh cuz it makes you realize a lot of things. makes you realize that uh you know you know really where you stand first and foremost when you first come here to uh to yushim I don't know about other places uh but when you come here to yushim and doesn't matter what sh you go to uh immediately you realize that you're nothing why you realize nothing because you're surrounded by you're surrounded by sadikim you're surrounded by very very holy people and I know that some of you thinking oh yeah probably everybody's a do everybody body is the biggest rabbi in the world. No, no, no. Just regular simple people. Some people are big, big rabbi, and some people are uh just uh regular average people that are doing their best to serve a kadoo. And I can tell you that there's one particular person that's been on my mind uh pretty much since day one that I've been here in the last few weeks. Uh, and he's a uh I don't know his name, but I know that when uh I saw him pray a couple of times, I was so shocked by the way that he prays uh that number one, I I I I became jealous at how he prays uh and uh wish that I get to that point of praying like him. And uh number two, you realize that there's just a uh the words of the Ramban and he get the Ramban where he tells you uh no matter where you are, there's always somebody that's better than you in something else. And uh I saw this guy pray and I just couldn't I couldn't continue praying the same. And I I saw a few times and uh he was a guy that if you saw him in the street, you probably think uh you know nothing of him. Why? because he uh he's looks different. Certainly doesn't necessarily act the uh the same way that other people always do. I guess we would say that. At least the way we used to. He has a uh um uh what is it called? Uh a uh uh Down syndrome. Uh and um he uh is fully active. He's And when he says amen, when he says, and he never misses a beat. foreign velocity. Okay. [clears throat] Come on. And he puts us his and he uh he prays. I'm thinking about it right now. Literally I want to start crying crying about myself. Uh when I see this guy pray, I couldn't believe it. I've never seen anything like it. And of course I the prayers and the the the teachings and everything else by other people uh that boem were able to be next to over these last few weeks uh are also one is better than the other. But u the thing is was the first look uh you know gave me a lot of perspective as far as like you have a lot to work on. You have a lot to work on. you have a lot to do because there's a uh there's people that uh are working hard to serve a kadesh to the best of their abilities and they're not necessarily always going to come from uh the same background as you, the same uh tools as you, but you could see how each person could reach their full potential. And uh we are surrounded by a lot of that are part of our kal. Our kal is uh as impressive as it gets. It's of and uh you know got to spend some more time with our own very dear Roshit. He's keshim. He's an extraordinary genius that every time I talk to him uh literally it's like I um just makes me realize how much a person could uh could know and can sacrifice for the sake of Tawah. you know, toiling and toiling over decades of Tawa has a world of difference uh in uh in the outcome that has on a person much more than you could imagine because most people think, you know, you start getting into the Torah, you work, you know, you learn for a few years, you're already okay, you already know, you know, the the stories of the Torah, but in reality, you still know nothing. And then you work on more and you learn more for another 5 years and you're already in it for 10 years. And you figure, okay, by now already I finished this and I finished that and now I know what I'm doing. And then you realize, you know, still know nothing. And you go in it 15 years and you figure, okay, I finished this and I did this and I learned this and I learned that and now I know. And then you realize you still know nothing. Because the more you learn, the more you number one realize how much more there is to know. Uh and number two, the more you get uh connected to more people that are uh are just a different world. A different world. Now, right now, the reason why I was I've been, you know, was inspired to to do a shure was for a couple of reasons. number one to give you guys a little bit of update to what's going on here in Alis is number two really to address a very very serious problem that we have uh in the world not just you know in in one place or the other but in the world which is simply people do not know how to be happy and uh you know now that we have you know the this week's par starts off with the fact that you know we got a blessing what blessing do we This is the blessing that the man of God bestowed upon the children of Israel before his death. And what does it say? The Torah that Moshe commanded us is the heritage of the congregation of Yakov. So here we see that ultimately the the biggest blessing in the world is the Torah. But what most people don't uh realize is that the Torah in itself is not a blessing unless you make it your priority in life. And I don't just mean a priority like it's important to you, a priority like it's good, a priority like it's interesting when you get a chance, but rather the Torah becomes the manual of how you live your life, how you function, how you think, how you make your decisions. Uh and unless a person starts making the Torah their priority number one and literally one and only and lives their life in accordance to it, they're never going to get to that sweetness of Torah where they're on a uh uh constant rise to to get to a better place. Even if you don't necessarily feel the rise uh all the time, you know that you're going better. You're getting better. you're growing because you're doing more, you're praying better, you're learning more information, you're doing more things, and really the the the blessing that uh Moshe Rabenu really gave us is that he gave us the Torah in our hands to be able to utilize it. Now, at the same token, you see that the world around us is uh as miserable as it ever gets. >> Rabuven AI speaking [music] here. The main lesson from Sukkot is complete happiness and joy in serving Hashem. [music] The Torah commands us specifically for this holiday. [music] You shall be completely joyous. But this is one of the hardest mitzvah to fulfill because you're outside for a week dealing with weather, bugs, guests, family dynamics, and all types of challenges. Yet, this is exactly [music] the point to serve Hashem with joy regardless of your circumstances.