CHAZAQ's Torah Talks #202 Rabbi Nechemiah Gottlieb - Contemporary Challenges, Eternal Values

That is insanity. Insanity. You're texting when you're driving. That's the kind of nefasious. That's life-threatening. You're going to have kids in your car. You're a father. You're a mother. That's just a little little hint how enslaved we are. Even unfortunately, when we use it as a tool, the tool is enslaving. We don't have workplaces anymore. We don't have work hours anymore. We're busy with our emails, with our WhatsApps, with whatever. Forget about the entertainments. Forget about it. Forget about everything else that's going on. It just transformed life. All of a sudden, people like embraced it in a crazy crazy way. Where's your private life? Where are your priorities? Money is important. Believe me, I get it. But what about all the other things which which enrich our lives? I'm not even talking about spirituality. I'm talking about relationships. I'm talking about you have a hobby. You want to do something. You you know, you're you're you're a person. You're you you have so much to yourself. [Music] And welcome to Torah Talks Kazak's program with special guests. We have with us all the way from Lakewood, New Jersey, Rabbi Godly. Welcome, Rabbi. How are you? How are you? It's so good to have the rabbi on Torah Talks and we're going to be speaking about contemporary challenges, eternal values. And uh before we get to the topic, we get a little bit background about the rabbi and the great work you're involved with. Okay. Um we'll start where I think from where it's where it's pertinent to our topic. My background is really in for many years. I was a rebi and a manal inim both in Israel and in America. Uh I spent a major part of my adult adult life in Israel. I came to the United States to open a in Lakewood and uh through that I became interested in the topic of technology not on the uh technical angle but on the angle the spiritual angle initially what it was doing to the youth and then what it's doing to adults um as as well as that became more and more evident I was actually involved before the internet was around it was before that there were already there were videos and computer games and other things which uh which had us uh had us concerned and um so through my work as a manal I became I became interested in this and I was in Lakewood and I had a close connection with Salomon the Zatal when he started to work on the internet challenges he started with he started with uh working with the with the and the children and as a I became involved in that and eventually when I left my and I was actually planning to go back to Israel I was like almost literally with the suitcases packed He said, "You know what? Stay in America and work full-time with me on technology." And that that's what it was. I asked my guil, who was entertainment, who was the one who sent me initially to America. I asked him, he said, "Well, of course, the MK needs you stay here." And that was approximately 15 years ago. And uh I started to do it in a semiformal way. We started with something then called TAD, which nobody had ever heard of, technology awareness group. It was nothing. It was in an office talking to schools to to communities you know about making different guidelines and awareness and that was it and you know today we're in a very very different place but that's that's where we started from. Yeah. I can attest that I know on a personal level the amount that tag has been doing for Israel. A lot of people associate with the big AIA that happened right here where I am in Queens which really brought a lot of awareness about this topic in there's a tag branch and basically every more or less every from uh community uh in the Jewish world every Orthodox Jewish community uh we're proud to say that in Queens we always had a mom and pop situation small matz situation and uh recently there's a storefront and there's actually a campaign uh today we're involved with also I'm encouraging them to get involved with And uh Rabbi, we're going to jump into it. Uh how has technology changed our relationship with God for better or for worse? Okay. Um I'm I'm sure that a lot of our a lot of our viewers can uh list it for better starting from Torah anytime through any number of of of other uh apps or websites which might uh which might help us with doing mitzvah and spirituality and so on and so forth. I'll I'll I'll leave that. Each person has their own narrative to tell about that and I don't think they need my help. Um, I think that that's overshadowed in an incredible way by the for worse and probably the biggest red herring which the Yates, the evil inclination has has planted in this area is the incredible filth which is on the internet. And a lot of people when they think about the problems that they're dealing with the internet, they say, "Oh, there's that terrible stuff that even even, you know, non-Jewish people don't admit in public that they uh that they're busy with it and that's the problem." And then those people either decide that, you know, they don't have an inclination to that or whatever, and that's it's not a problem for them, maybe it's a problem for their kids, it's not a problem for them, or they put on some type of a tag filter and they say, "Okay, we took care of the problem." And that is a red herring because yes it's a big problem and if god forbid somebody falls into their you know it's very very bad for their nishama and sometimes it's you know if they fall very far in then it can be very bad for the for their life for their marriage and for and for everything else but that is easily identifiable and it's and it's easily rectifiable to the largest extent. Now, I'm not saying that a person's not going to get his hands on another device, but if you want to have there are today there are very good filters. You know, in the past filters maybe slowed down devices and they ate up your battery and there's all types of uh all types of legends about the terrible things that filters have done. Baram the filters today are are are are very very very upto-date and as you mentioned before many communities, 65 communities around the world have active tag offices. The most recent community to join just uh recently was Las Vegas. um so and so forth. They're not Atlantic City yet, but Las Vegas is there and um Blei and uh and you know, so we're talking about hundreds of thousands of people around the world who are, you know, who are fully involved with the digital world and they have and they have wonderful wonderful filters. But in order, you know, it's it's a long talk to get to the bottom. we have a short uh we have a short schmoo together today and to really understand the topic um you know it's it's it's hours and hours and hours and hours of of of discussion so I'm going to try to give just you know a little a little uh you know a little uh blick as they say just to take a little a little peek at it and I want to I want to come at it more from a uh from a hashkafa angle if we had to summarize what is our job in galut what is our job in exile What do we need to do? The answer is that the main thing we need to do is to protect ourselves from the influences of that's the job. If we want to get out, we have to be we have to be as much as we can isolate ourselves. Now, at certain periods during the during the exile, the lam they did the job for us. They put us in ghettos. They locked us out of professions. They persecuted us. And it was it was relatively speaking easier. was a lot of a lot of physical suffering. But once those walls come down, it becomes very very difficult. And we know that for example in Germany, Ramshalh had to do a lot a lot a lot of work to take people who were integrated into the German society and give them that inner inner core of Yiddishkite that no we are very very fundamentally different and we you know our our purpose in this world is different. It's not just mitzvot. It's not just we have 613 commandments. our our internal makeup. For example, we are we have a we have a certain type of of softness inside of us that's that's that's Jewish in in in in nature and many many other things that go go into that and our job is to protect it. So now let's think I'm going to quote the great Rosha Reveli who said once if the internet is a global village as we know that that's what it's called. So he says here you have a global village where all the elements of umam are there. What is a Jewish person doing in that global village? How did you become a resident of a global village? You're trying to protect yourself. Everything shrinks. Everything is in the palm of your hand. So I think that is that is what we have to what we have to recognize over here. If if I wake up in the morning and I say look I live in America. I speak English. The people are friendly. Trump is bombing the reactors. You know everything is so so I I need erect walls. I need to remind myself how fundamentally different I I am. Digital technology is an incredible challenge to that. And if we lose sight if we lose sight of that then I'm going to use the word I'm going to say we're toast. So that's what we have to that's the ball that we have to keep our eye on. 100% rabutly. Very very very very true. Um so where does one draw the line between using technology as a tool? you know there there there's tools that you could use technology whether for business whatever wherever it may be versus becoming enslaved to it which we've known and heard of many stories right well you said in your in your question you said where does one draw the line and I like that word because maybe there is one person in the world who mastered that but that is not you know so many people say yeah I use it responsibly and whatever I want to tell you something a uh a statistic which I totally made up but I'm going to use it anyway and I'm going to say that 93% of Froom adults text when they drive. Now, I might be off by a few percents here and there. That is insanity. Insanity. You're texting when you're driving. That's kind of necessious. That's life-threatening. You're going to have kids in your car. You're a father. You're a mother. That's just a little little, you know, a little little hint of how how enslaved how enslaved we are. And the answer is that even unfortunately when we use it as a tool, the tool is enslaving. We don't have workplaces anymore. We don't have work hours anymore. We're busy with our emails, with our WhatsApps, with whatever. Forget about the entertainments. Forget about it. Forget about everything else that's going on that's going on on the thing. Forget about all the diversions. It just transformed life. Something which was a curse. It's called and we got kicked out of the garden of Eden and we unfortunately have to work is something which all of a sudden people like embraced it in a crazy crazy way. Where's your private life? Where are your priorities? Money is important. Believe me, I get it. But what about all the other things which which enrich our lives? I'm not even talking about spirituality. I'm talking about relationships. I'm talking about you have a hobby. You want to do something. You you know you're you're you're a person. You're you you have so much to yourself. So I think that this is that this is uh you know in the final analysis it's an almost insurmountable challenge for real. Um you know it's as soon as a person has a smartphone it's really really hard. By the way you you you're not a master of yourself unless you're a very very principled person because you have other contacts you have people who are who are pinging you and so on and so forth and you have notifications and you have updates and you have all types of stuff going on which are which are which are which are which are pulling at you. uh a very handy example for our dealing with digital technology for many many things. Every one of uh every one of the uh of the viewers here can try to figure out how to apply this is food. You know the way the way most people in our generation struggle with their weight and struggle with their struggle with eating. You can be very principled about your diet but that lasts until about 10 o'clock at night and then then everything goes haywire. So it's the same thing. you have a device which you are connected to it you know 246 um 20 246 to to to tell yourself a story I'm always going to be in control of this it's it's it's it's very very it's very very difficult and I think that um I think that that that we have to we have to be brutally honest with ourselves and some things we can't change and maybe my work does necessitate doing certain things whatever but you know I believe that every prison should sit down and make a list what are the things which are unchangeable what are the things which are changeable What are the things that I really want? What are the things that I don't want? What are the things that I don't want, but I'm not strong enough to deal with them right now? Give yourself a list. Have yourself some type of a some type of a map which tells you like a heat map. Where am I being drawn to? Where am I being sucked to? And get some awareness of what's going on. That's a first step, I think, in the right direction. 100%. You should have some sort of uh uh you should have some sort of accountability of where you're holding. Rabbi, what's the biggest spiritual danger of smartphones that people overlook? Okay, that's a that's a great question. So again, I the biggest, you know, in absolute terms spiritual danger is of course the intense aot that a person can that a person can can can can do with their with their smartphone. And we said that most people don't overlook that. I'm not saying that nobody overlooks it, but most people don't. And if any one of our viewers has not yet uh has has not yet tried out having a filter, I recommend it. Do it. Go tonight or tomorrow to your local tax center. Try it out. Promise yourself you're going to try it for a week. You're going to try it for two weeks at least. You know, you know, God forbid somebody feels sick some way, whatever. He goes to the doctor, he says, I think, I don't know, I'm having a heart attack. Maybe I'm getting cancer. The doctor says, you know what? Let's rule it out. Let's rule it out. It's probably not. So, rule it out. At least you can come to you could say I tried. It didn't work for me. It's you know this was impossible but at least you'll be able to say I tried. Don't leave yourself without trying something which works for hundreds and thousands of people. By the way the filters are very very flexible. The idea of the filter is to allow you to have what you want and to empower you not to have what you don't want. Nobody's going to dictate to you what the level of the filter is. Whatever you want to have, you can have. But there's for sure things which every single person who's with us together today doesn't want to be tempted with. So rule that out. Just use the technology to fight the technology. But I think that the the to me the the the biggest um the biggest spiritual danger which we over which we overlook is that we're on a down escalator. We don't recognize enough number one that Hashem runs the world. There's nothing neutral in the world. That is a fiction. If this thing is here, it has a God-given reason. And summing it all up, and this might not make me popular if I say this, but I'm going to say it anyway because my job is to say the truth. Summing it all up, the God-given reason is not to increase spirituality because that's not overwhelmingly what it's doing. Summing it all up, the God-given reason for this thing is to present a test to am Israel and to see how we deal with the test. Because tests are what make us grow. God tests us in order to make us greater. And that's what it is. And that's why it's a down escalator because we know that the doesn't come to a person on day one and say, "Do terrible things." He comes little by little. Initiata salami. Like when you're slicing a salami, each slice is taper thin, but you know, it goes across the machine again and again and again. That's what he that's what he does to us. So, it's a down escalator because once we have it, the is busy overtime. You need another app. You need another update. You need to get join another group. You need to do this. You need to do that. Number one. And number two, because technology, as we know, in and of itself develops and it becomes more and more necessary. So if I lose sight of that, if a guy's on the down escalator and he thinks that he's on firm ground, he's going to end up at the bottom. So that is to me the biggest spiritual danger. Losing sight of what the spiritual essence of this thing is that it was given to make us greater people by overcoming this thing and not recognizing that it is it is bringing us slowly down. And most people, you know, some people just dive full they're all in on it and whatever. And you know, okay, that's a different philosophy. But the people who are with were and were thoughtful about this and they came in with this concept of like you said before, I want it to be a tool and so on and so forth. Just go back, replay, where were you five years ago? Where were you 10 years ago? What did you tell yourself before you got the device? Where are you now? And you will see that we are as individuals and as a society collectively collectively going down. And if we if we if we can recognize this, we can do something about it. very very very true and very very powerful. It's definitely an ision a challenge. The work that we do over here at Khazak, we're always uh getting individuals uh young and old, all backgrounds uh saying that they have difficulties and challenges whether it's young or old. So we encourage everyone to please make sure to get a filter. Rabbi Gotautle enjoying every single moment. Uh one may ask what does it mean to protect your nishama your soul in the digital world? H how does one do that? Okay. So I think uh it to a large extent you know it's it's it's the sum total of we of what we discussed recognizing that we are in Galut and we have a job here which is to protect ourselves and the down escalator and the the other things that we that we mentioned. But here's a practical tip. This is what I think and and and I want to say one of the things which makes this conversation so challenging for our community is that there's no oneizefits all. Now in other areas maybe not everybody wants to be in the box and that's fine but there are boxes we could find out if a person wants to know the absolute laws the what is appropriate and what is not you could know now maybe the different customs of this community and that community in the end you can ask a rabbi now maybe I'm not holding there and maybe I'm doing my own thing and that's you know that's that's the way we are we're not but but there are boxes kashut yes you could there are objective things if you are it's bet that's what you need to be If you're Ashkanazi, you don't have that restriction. Whatever it is, these are here. It's very individual. It depends on my, you know, on on on where I live. It depends what I do for a living. It depends on my family situation. Depends on so many different things. So, it really it's really an area in which we each have to look at where where where I'm holding and where I want to get to. And I think that is the most important practical tip besides for again encouraging everybody to run and try out the filter is to make technology into a growth area. Technology is something which nobody should be complacent with where they're holding. Again, we're on the down escalator. What do I need to do if I'm on the down escalator? I need to be going up. And it's something which I encourage people, and I'm going to say this in a very formal way, and you can feel free to disregard it. I just want to give some way to conceptualize it. So I'm going to give something very precise but everybody should do what works for them once a month maybe you know we're now you know it's a day of introspection is a day when traditionally people you know should be thinking about about their actions and doing so every or whatever day or once in two months or once in three weeks or whatever you you deem appropriate for yourself we sit down and we say how can I take another little step back what is something that I can Is it an app which I might want to delete from my phone? Is it not using the phone at the dinner table? Is it when you know when I'm in the car giving my undivided attention to the kids? I'm not talking about texting now, but just one time a teenager expressed himself expressed himself to me. He said he said, "Am I so boring that my parents can't talk to me in the car? They're always on the phone. They're always busy with somebody else. They have nothing significant to talk about with me. It was just so much hurt, so much pain." I want to give another another idea which I know is beyond revolutionary but I think to me it's a very valuable idea. A person should say mod ani in the morning before they look at their phone. Say hello to your creator before you look at your statuses and all everything else that you have to share with your friends. You woke up in the morning. Thank you. It takes less than 30 seconds. And I know that that means that you will have to invest $7 in an alarm clock. I know. And by the way, this is the genius, the intense genius of the yeter when it comes to smartphones. Not just that he paused talk and text, which as you remember, you know, you remember the history, we had an iPod touch. It didn't have a phone on it. Nobody nobody predicted that Steve Jobs was going to get into the into the smartphone business. That wasn't where he was. Now talk and text or maybe for some people WhatsApp, but talk and text is today people consider it indispensable. I cannot be without my talk and text even for a second. I need to get older people. People need to get a hold of me. A lot of the other things on the smartphone maybe I could do without. Once we wrap it into one bundle, then I can't leave the bundle even for even for even for a second. A clock, an alarm clock ensures that your first conscious second in the day will be given over to your phone and everything that you missed in the few short hours that you allowed yourself to part from it in the night. And I think that a statement toad and a statement to myself about my I my autonomy from this device, my religious priorities, my human priorities. I woke up in the morning, I'm thankful to Hashem. Thank you, Hashem. You woke me back up. I have another day in front of me. I think that that's another incredible step that people can take. So there are many, many different types of steps which I outlined over here. The bottom line is people have to do things which are meaningful for them. Things, you know, which set them on this path. It doesn't have to be big things. You know, it's really interesting. people talk me very often about uh curbing their smartphone addiction or some people you know totally get rid of their smartphone they have a flip phone and a tablet or whatever it is and there's really two philosophies one philosophy says if I want to curb the addiction let me take something really tough like Candy Crush which I'm busy with you know for hours and hours and hours I have to tell you you know Rabbi Yaniva I have to tell you I fly a lot I'm back and forth from Israel and I fly a lot and I'm like it's mindboggling you go on the plane you see people who are obviously successful like this guy's a lawyer this guy's talk to this guy's who knows what he is. You see, they could be hours and hours and hours in infantile games or just empty things like I'm talking about sura whatever I'm talking about like where to where have we you know to where have we descended but leaving that on the side. Some people say, "Let me get a big thing which is going to be very very meaningful if I get rid of it." And other people, and that might be right for you, but other people say, "You know what? Let's start from a meaningless app. First month, I'm going to look for an app which I never used in my life, and I'm going to take it off." And that's fine. Don't worry because you're on a path. The next month, you take off another app. Then you got some momentum. You're moving forward. It's not so hard. You're feeling good about yourself. You're on a self-improvement program. That's fine. And I want to tell you something really deep. You know the har is tricky. He tricks us. Theash was the nash was very very the the snake in the garden of Eden was very very very tricky and we have to employ tricky with that. So we tell the don't worry I'm never taking off the big apps. I'm just playing a little game with myself. I'm taking off little things. It's fine. We'll get the last laugh. So I I I believe that this is the thing we have to look at technology as a growth area. It's an area in which I'm constantly looking for ways to grow. Not too much, not too intense, but if I'm moving that direction, then you know I'm I'm heading in the right direction. So so powerful practical tips that every single one of us, no matter who you are, where you are, where you live with the situation, everyone could take something small upon themselves. I'll give you a small example on a personal level. A while ago, when I got a phone, I told myself, no such thing as games. Never ever play any games. Waste of time, this and that. At the end of the day, I love that advice of also removing one app at a time. Little by little, remove yourself. Very very very very powerful. Uh before I ask for the final message, one more comment. This pud and flatbush and I have this to meet with Rabbi Yseph. How are you a fool? And got a lot of from the and how he started and how he built the beautiful empire of Torah that he has territori and told me about how one day the Rav decided no more smartphones in the Ka and everyone turned to flip phones. It was a switch like that. That's how I think one of the phones figure something started and uh and and there's two shittas there's two solutions like Rabi Gali is saying slowly but surely but there is also those that just like that definitely definitely and uh you know he he he is he is an inspiration but more than he is an inspiration his people are an inspiration you're talking about hundreds and hundreds of family who follow their rav their Torah leader unquestioningly and uh you know It's it's it's it's a big braha when somebody has such a such a such a leader and it's very inspiring to see hundred it's not you know I'll tell you something that I say I say that almost across the board nobody has real misut nephesh for technology why because let's take people likewood people like like myself um I you know as as the case may be I don't have a smartphone thank god I don't have internet in my home maybe some of for some of our viewers it's hard to imagine life that way but believe me we're living just fine I don't consider that a big misty with nefes. Yes. Is it a hassle if I have to go out to my car to check something or go to my office? It's a hassle. Is I'm very very very happy with my lifestyle. I couldn't be more happy. Then there's a large I don't want to be I don't want to say something not okay about but there's the large majority of people who are basically they're in now maybe they have filters but they're not really being mos nephesh. They're doing it. They're living the digital life. You know they're doing you know they're bound to their devices. The people who were Moser nephesh who I take my hat off who off to are the people who got rid of their smartphones. That's murder. That is really really difficult. And anybody who did that is a sadik and a a gibbar. I have no I have no doubt that there's a special place in them in gal. as as one person told me, he said he said uh uh uh you know he said that you know a very he had a smartphone and he got and he got and he got he got he got rid of it and he said you know maybe he he spoke to me a short while afterwards he said maybe a smartphone is maybe it's life-threatening he said but a flip phone is suicide so a person who went from a smartphone to a flip phone I them all the all the respect in the world amazing Amazing Rabbi Gaut. So we have a minag a custom of a final message for our broad audience uh with all this beautiful insights that the rabbi gave us contemporary challenges eternal values. The final message is this. As we know, we have been told by the kafetim and other other uh great leaders from previous generations that at the end there's going to be a massive spiritual war. And we know that everything we have from the from there's been an investment in the spirituality of Israel. Some of that happened in beautiful times with the beta mikdash and the mhammed hari and so on and so forth. And some of that happened in the darkest of times. We had crusades. We had the Spanish Inquisition, the Inquisition. We had the Holocaust. We had we we had everything else. All of that investment, the incredible investment of spirituality, the incredible investment of suffering is waiting for the final link in the chain. It's waiting for that last generation to make good on the investment. It's all there. We just have to cash in. And this is our ticket. Digital technology. These are not my words. Many delays shall express themselves on this. This is it. We have to grab this opportunity. We can't get look at it. We're not allowed to. It's too significant a thing to look at it just like the and say, "Yeah, it's a phone. It's an upgrade. It's a it's an app. It's a this and I also have to make sure that I'm not doing a road." That's missing the boat. This was put in this world for a spiritual reason. Let's focus on that reason. And you know, we're all very very simple people. We're not massive sadikim. We can't make huge changes maybe overnight you know mo most of us but we can all commit ourselves to focusing on the recognizing this as a feature of the galut but we're not in the middle of the galut we're at the end it's the like said that doesn't mean mashia is coming tomorrow but it means that everything that's happening in the world now is preparatory to be at the mashiach every single one of us with our device can either step up at the end and be proud Mashiah is going to say you know what you worked on yourself you controlled yourself. You had spiritual priorities. You had family priorities. You had social priorities. You made the right priorities. I came a millisecond faster because of you. Or I'm not going to say the other the other because I I give a bra to every single one of your viewers that they're going to be the ones who are going to make Mashiach proud and they will be proud. Amen. Very very very true and very powerful words. uh the challenges of technology. Uh everyone is encouraged and we conci mentioned this uh to go to the tag centers wherever you may be and if you don't have one for whatever reason make sure to reach out to rabi reach out to we'll put you together and they'll get something started one thing all the various different platforms that host Kazak Torah talks and help us spread the the light and to over 202 behind the camera and the entire staff we should all be we want to remind Torah talks Tuesday nights 8:30 :30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Join us and spread the word to everyone and anyone you know said. Amen. Thank you so much for the opportunity. [Music]