CHAZAQ HALFTIME FOR TORAH 2023 (Charlie Harary Rabbi Paysach Krohn Rav Gav Friedman Rabbi Yoel Gold)

[Music] hope everyone's enjoying the Super Bowl remember that the game will last only for a few minutes but the lessons you can draw from the game could last you much longer and impact your life much more so I want to share with you one lesson that I I take away from the Super Bowl the quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles is a guy named Jalen hurts those who don't know Jalen hurts has had a very interesting roller coaster ride to get here can you imagine what it must have been like for Jalen hurts he was a starter for one of the greatest college teams of all time Alabama under the coach Nick Saban they're playing in the championship against Georgia in 2017. team is down 13-0 going into halftime you're the starting quarterback you're incredible you've worked your way to get there the team's on your shoulders and you're down 13 points you're not down 100 points and in that half time Nick Saban does the unthinkable he turns to his freshman to a taglio OVA and he places him as the starter over jalenhurst now I want you to imagine what it must have been like for Jalen hearts this is a championship game that means if everyone you know and a million more people are watching it you come back from the half and the freshman is now starting and he leads the team back and they ultimately win in overtime 26-23 and at that moment Jalen hurts life which was a steady starter Alabama high draft pick Life Changes and Tua this freshman gets the starting role and now all of a sudden Jalen hurts who is an upperclassman it's now sitting on the bench and as you can imagine it was devastating so much so that in his senior year he had to leave to go to a different College Oklahoma when Oklahoma played Alabama that year in the Orange Bowl he lost tatua so you can imagine Jalen hearts down one game gets replaced leaves meets his old team and then loses again and his whole life if he will changed well to a left and became the NBA the NFL draft he was the number five pick he was he was touted he was loved he was considered to be superstar Jalen hurts didn't even get picked in the first round I think he was picked like 50 something Jalen hurts was two was picked to be a starter from when he first walked in Jalen hurts was was the guy standing behind it uh Philadelphia's starting quarterback Carson Wentz who was supposed to be a superstar but Jalen hurts never gave up and he never got down I'm sure he had bad days but he never threw in the towel kept on working working and working and as life has it Carson blows out they start jailing on a whim at the end of the season he does well and now two is watching the game from his couch Jalen hurts is the starting quarterback for an NFL Championship Super Bowl team whether they would or not we don't know to me this lesson is so clear life throws you challenges and the people that succeed are those are those that don't avoid challenges you want to avoid getting replaced in front of a million people don't play football but if you're going to play football in front of millions of people you're going to hit embarrassed sometimes but who let don't give up but never give up let's stick with it when it's hard when you don't get the assignment when you can't learn the gemara when the marriage is shaky when the kids are driving you insane when it's hard at work when it's hard to find Hashem if you don't give up things change and opportunities present themselves and one day you feel like I can't believe that I'm being replaced by a freshman and the next day you're walking into the Super Bowl because that's how life works when you do what's right when you stick with it opportunities open up for those that don't give up in Allah have deal alif Alpha abdullahs it speaks Parsha or last week's partial was Israel we just finished reading about Mountain Torah we just finished reading about how Israel the father-in-law of Moshe who is the pasture was named so to speak it's given the name of comes to greet Moshe and you can imagine the honor and the covet that this great man received now what's interesting about ISRO is that the way Moshe even got to Israel was that he went to the well if you remember when you left when he ran out of Egypt he ended up in mid-yard at the well where these Shepherds harassing female Shepherds they were the daughters of Israel but why were the daughters of Israel at a time where all the Shepherds were men why were they there the answer was because Israel who was the kohen vidyan who was the chief of idol worshiper found Hashem or at least found that the idol worship wasn't real and he made a change and he rejected it he did the right then you know what happened to him he got embarrassed and he got shot they got ostracized and his kids were thrown to the side and his daughters he couldn't get anyone else to work for him so his daughters had to do it and when his daughters did it they got harassed they didn't give up he didn't give in he didn't go back the kids didn't give up I'm stuck with him day after day week after week month after month until one day a man named Moshe shows up who they don't know who that is and sees the doors being harassed and feels for them and goes back to that home isro's decision to reject idol worship and his sticking with it led him to becoming the father-in-law of arguably the greatest human to ever walk the face of this Earth and when the greatest moment ever took place Hashem revealing himself it's under the Parish of Israel and the honor that is received was unparalleled [Music] because that's may be the same muscle you don't become an NFL quarterback because you give up well you don't become the father of emotion because you give up either in fact the truth is you don't accomplish anything of value if you give up everyone faces challenges it's not whether you face challenge it's how you deal with challenge my blessing to all you that are watching you watch the game it's just a game but let me tell you something when you suck out the lessons of that game and change your life all of us have within us towns to become bigger than an NFL starting quarterback if we're just willing to fight the challenges stick with it I'm deeply grateful to the offices of hazak and to the offices of Torani time for inviting me to present to you this thought during the halftime show I really believe that the lesson that I'm about to share with all of you is a full-time lesson in life all of you who know anything about football know that to get into the Super Bowl there are a number of teams that are involved in the playoffs numerous teams compete against each other and then eventually the winners are the two teams in the Super Bowl this year there were quite a few teams in the playoffs and something happened in one of the games and it's interesting because that thing that happened I think is such a life lesson even though both of those teams eventually were eliminated and I'm talking about the Baltimore Ravens and the Cincinnati Bengals now in their game it was almost the last moment of the game the game was tied 17-17 and Baltimore was about on the two yard line they were going to score a touchdown and that could be the end of the game but what happened was as they were on the two yard line the quarterback decided to do something very unusual instead of passing the ball or handing it off he decided he was going to jump over the players with their football held in his hand and tried to get the touchdown but unfortunately for Baltimore what happened was somebody knocked out the ball as he was sort of flying in the air and a felon by the name of Sam Hubbard a huge defensive end now these defensive ends are so big this guy weighed 265 pounds he was six foot five and he got the ball now defensive ends usually sack quarterbacks or block up pass or stop the run but they don't run with the ball but now he had the ball and he had 98 yards ahead of him to run to make a touchdown for Cincinnati now it's hard to believe but he was running as fast as he could nobody could believe that a guy 265 pounds could outrun all the other players and sure enough he scored that touchdown now 98 yards just so that you know it was 294 feet imagine running full speed the guy needed Oxygen by the time he got back to the bench but the point is that won the game for Cincinnati and afterwards when they interviewed him he said an amazing thing they asked him how in the world could you do that and he said that in the summer he had a trainer and the trainer would make him run 110 yard Sprints 15 times a week and that's how he did it he was prepared and that's what this topic about is all about being prepared in the summer when nobody was watching and this guy was running these Sprints over and over and over he must have thought this is ridiculous I'll never need this but he was prepared for that moment and that's what we have to learn in life we must always be prepared for all eventualities for things that we know are going to happen and even things that we don't realize now for example I'll give you an idea let's say a child a teenager is about to graduate high school they're a senior whether it's a boy or a girl now the boy's gonna have to make a decision does he continue in Yeshiva does he go to work the girl's gonna decide is she gonna go to work is she going to go to Seminary but she can't be thinking about it in the senior year you got to be prepared a year in advance got to think about it because if you make the minute the last minute decision you're going to make the wrong decision you've got to be prepared in advance about chuva told me he became a balchuva later in life and he was having children and because he realized his kids are going to go to Yeshiva and he's not going to know the how long has that all of us that were born from no so he started a savior Mission abbreva he's been learning mishna Buddha for 22 years every single day because he was prepared for when his kids come home from Yeshiva and they say Dad or Abba that's not how we do things he would never have to be embarrassed because he knows Mission Board of backwards and forwards he prepared himself for that eventuality when his kids come home from school now I go away almost every Shabbos my wife and I we I speak in different places and I have a list I have a list that I keep on my phone of things that I have to take with if I'm not prepared I'm going to about to forget things now I'll give you some of the things that you would normally might forget but like this if I have it on the list I'm prepared for example you go to a convention hall or you go to a hotel and you know they bring home motion but not every homeless has targum so I have written down how much would attack him because I say another thing that I have is to close the front porch light you might forget that bring an extra pair of cufflinks I always wear cufflinks when I speak and so therefore you prepared in advance for the eventualities and those people that are prepared they are the ones that are successful and that's what a Chillum tells us in mishly voice the thoughts and the plans of somebody who's diligent that's always beneficial however whole lot somebody's got a rush at the end it's only gonna be for a loss because it's not for prepared and that's what the gamara tells us in hanazaken and Gideon ashrae order Tommy that's Apothic and richly worthy praise words is that person who fears what the future might be and what the results could be of actions or inactions somebody who's hard-hearted he's gonna fall and he's gonna fail he's going to fall into Misfortune and we'll have Allah Benjamin Franklin said once by failing to prepare you are preparing to fail we've got to be prepared for every aspect in life and I'll tell you a great story a great story you know there was a color wife that I happen to know she doesn't want I should mention her name she came back from Arizona with her husband they had been there for a long time and what happened was that she had to get her license because the license expired and now they had moved out of town he was going to give a share someplace and in this place out of town was very Suburban even to get to the grocery you had to have a car so she called the um place where you get the license the Licensing Bureau and they said they'll give her an appointment for two months she said two months that's ridiculous I got to get food for my children every day I need a car so they said okay come down one o'clock the inspector will be there now listen to this one o'clock she comes down the inspector's there he gets into the car she gets into the car and she drives beautifully because of course she knew how to drive now at the end when she got out of the car and he got out of the car she knew that he was gonna try to shake her hand just to say congratulations if she passed which she did as he walked towards her and she was prepared for this because she thought about it in advance he put out her hand and she said I'm sorry I can't shake your hand and he said why is that she said Jewish people the connection the physical connection between man and wife by Jewish people is reserved only for a man and his wife or a parent and their child he stepped back he looked at her she thought positive she was going to get failed and you know what he said that is the most beautiful thing I've ever heard in my life could you imagine because she was prepared she thought he might want to shake her hand and she prepared what to say besides the Kiddush Hashem but look how she saved the situation and I'll just tell you one more thing we all want to prepare for Michelle you know what the Posse tells us how are we going to get mishiach if we return by giving stalker let us take this opportunity and think about the Meister that we give and that stalker that we give make your husband I'm telling you you think that you're giving my sir but you have to go to a rob you have to go to a rabbinic Authority let him see what you're making and tell you what you are more of to give and if we do that we give the prophet let's be prepared for all eventualities especially coming up thank you since 2006 hazak has inspired thousands of people via its numerous life-changing programs children to teenagers from men to women from Yeshiva students to Young rabbis and everyone in between hazak touches them all educating inspiring and guiding thousands throughout the year people are often looking trying to figure out how can I lose weight so I have an idea become a professional football player do you know that in one game a running back will lose five pounds five pounds in one game that's like two kilo or something like that we're talking about a third of a stone if you're from England but you're probably not watching a football American football you're from England but the point is nonetheless is that five pounds in one game that's unbelievable and that's just a running back a linemen those big heavy guys that are trying to protect the quarterback and trying to kill the quarterback those guys losing upwards of nine to ten pounds per game that's amazing how they lose so much weight you know why because they're exerting a tremendous amount of energy every time we finish them a sector we make a CM we actually say the words him we're running and they're running we're running tell them above we're running to get closer to Hashem ultimately the him rots him where are they running to and they're running the bear chakras they're running towards something which is now where we're running to both of us are running and you see what they do they run in the game they put in so much energy because they have a goal in mind they have a goal which is pretty amazing imagine you go and you ask a football player to play a game they could play an hour two hours three hours but ask them to play that very same game with no ball pretend like there's a ball go run and back and forth back and forth and see how long they're going to do it for even though they can normally do this for like an hour or two hours or three hours but when you take the ball away for some reason they're only able to do it for like a couple of minutes how come or if Noah Weinberg used to discuss this idea you know why a guy can play a football game for hours on end or a basketball game or a soccer game or whatever it is maybe they're playing and we take away the ball they're not able to the answer is because they keep their eye on the ball they're focused they're focused on something they have something they're focusing on and you have something you're focusing on even though it may be difficult it may be hard you may have to exert a lot of energy at the end of the day you're able to get there you're able to get there because I have something that I'm heading towards I have a goal I'm focused on that goal yes it's difficult and challenging and hard there's no question about it but you ask a guy in the middle of a football game aren't you tired don't you want to rest a little they go tired we gotta go get that ball right they're so focused on something that they're able to go ahead and overcome incredible challenges incredible pain incredible exhaustion watch when the game ends take the ball out boom they are tired they fall to the floor I can't do this anymore I'm so exhausted my friends when we make a scene when we say we see with our own eyes that it's true what they're saying they're running they're certainly running are we running can we say the same thing really anurad Sim are we running do we run to the basementers do we go the fervor do we go past him we say oh I'm exhausted I'm tired it's difficult but you know what if you keep your eye on the ball if you keep your eye on the ball and you have your goal in mind and we're focusing on that that even though maybe we're tired maybe we're hungry maybe we're exhausted but at the end of the day I got my eye on the prize therefore anuratzim were also running we have to be making sure we're doing at least what they're doing at the very least it's a muscle we know the angel who's a wise person someone who learns from every person we have to learn from something we have to learn from the whole world when we see people dedicating their lives and pushing themselves to be the best that they're able to be by focusing on the end game on a prize and going towards it we have to learn from them to do the same thing we as well we have to understand our end game our end game is Kira Salo Kim getting close to the bonus what's the ball so to speak what's the what's the what do we focus on to get there that's Torin mitzvos making sure that we are ratsim we're running it's hard it's challenging we're exhausted but we don't notice any of that you know why because I got my eye on the prize like I'm on the ball it'll become iron the ball then we can actually make sure that we're part of that as we make a c and we go we finish him a second we can look back and say Anu ratsun we are running it's not only them that Iran but it's us also that ran and you know what we're running to something which is really valuable which is really worthy we got to make sure we keep that in our Mind's Eye we got to make sure we have an end game we got to be heading towards that and keeping our Focus keep your eye on the ball when you keep your eye on the ball you'll be able to overcome any exhaustion and who knows maybe you'll even lose some weight along the way foreign over the past few decades there have been certain tragedies that happened and I'm Israel that are so etched into the hearts and minds of our people that we can never forget the dates the places and the innocent lives that were lost it's hard to single out a certain event that was more painful than others because every year dying is is a horrible thing but there was one story that hit Ami Israel like a ton of bricks and that was of course the story of Dr Applebaum and his daughter Nava a Palestinian terrorist walked into a cafe cafe in the center of Jerusalem detonated himself killing seven people injuring dozens more and what makes it all the more tragic is that in that Cafe was a father and a daughter Dr David and Nava Applebaum well they sat at a cafe a father-daughter talked the night before the wedding a bomber tore apart the restaurant they both they both died the wedding gown that she was supposed to wear the next night was made into a parojas if you visit Kevin Rockell you can see that beautiful white parokas that covering that was made out of her gown [Music] at the time Aton cats was learning in yeshiva's Sharia van Far Rockaway and when he heard the news like the rest of Amy Israel he was devastated he was so broken he was shattered it was such a painful thing to stomach it was just it was unbearable and I remember the night after it happened I was sitting in in Yeshiva sitting in the basement dish and I was looking around and I was just like having these moments of just tremendous pain and wondering what Hashem wants from us and I started crying from the emotion and you know that feeling when you become so overwhelmed with what's going on and I I put my head down on the standard and I fell asleep and I I had this dream very short dream and like their Applebaum and his daughter and Nava were walking down the hopa but it wasn't the Hassan by the hopa it was that was the scene and in the background you know how I hope there's music playing there's a certain type of and there was a certain playing in the in the background industry foreign [Music] do I claim that this is what was happening in Sherman what do I know I have no idea but this is the pain that I felt this is the way my nashama interpreted what was going on in the world and he ran to grab a recorder he recorded that song and he eventually put it to the words the Timeless words of David malach we all know gum kills we get some of us later with all the pain with all the suffering especially when something happens of such a father and daughter the night before the wedding it was just such a painful thing no matter what and I sing the niggan a little bit with a certain sense of pain but also a certain sense of joy [Music] either we begin [Music] some others even if I walk in the Valley of the shadow of death I feel like life is so Bleak it's so dark it's so hopeless I still draw strength from the fact that I know that you are with me what Ethan Katz has given us with that song is that hope that strength to forge forward morning [Music]