Halftime For Torah 2021: Charlie Harary, Rav Gavriel Friedman, Rabbi YY Jacobson, Rav Yoel Gold

[Music] foreign [Music] it was an incredible sport and when you're watching the game today i want you to realize that sports if you look deep enough can be a muscle for life if you grew up as i did obsessed with sports as a kid you start to realize that it's not about the ball is nothing to do with the ball i guarantee you the coaches on both sides of the line and super bowl they barely even see the ball it's about the strategy it's about the ideas you learn how a game works the inner workings of a game you can become good at it when you're watching the game today and you get to the second half i want you to look for a few things i want you to look for the lessons in life because understand something in the game of athletics the men on the field in super bowl are professional they've achieved a level of status in their lives that is probably one in a hundred thousand to get to where they are to be sitting on a super bowl they do things that are at least conceptually right now for them it's football crusader but remember if you're watching people of excellence it leaves clues for how for me and you could we to be excellent in our lives i want to give you three things to think about during the second half and you'll see that if you see it in front of you maybe we'll take away from the super bowl lessons for life number one the only reason why the super bowl is important is because of its challenge winning a super bowl is only valuable because it took an enormous amount to get there if this game would be in the backyard of somebody's house with the same people it wouldn't be that hush of the khashivas that's being given to the game the importance in the game is because it's after preseason it's after the draft the preseason to the season to the playoffs is after getting hit a million times it's after going to the gym a million times they've had to go into the film room a million times after going and practicing and practicing it's after going against the best possible team on the other side of the conference it's after playing in front of people in front of you and millions of people watching every catch could potentially destroy your life every every miss every catch the reason why this is even important is because of its challenge because the greater the challenge the greater the reward many times in life we shy away from challenge we don't want to have the conversation with somebody it's too hard we don't want to take the higher classes too difficult we don't want to push ourselves in our spirituality because it's weird i don't uncomfortable i think i know hashem i don't want to push myself to new levels our careers our relationships our spirituality our religion we're very comfortable where we are and as soon as we go out of our comfort zone we're like nah you can't hold up a trophy in life if you're not willing to be uncomfortable you can't win the super bowl for your life if you're not willing to do things that are challenging which you could potentially fall and fail every great organization was led by someone with an idea that could have failed and probably did fail a million times each and every one of us has the ability to become professionals in our lives but it will not happen if we're not willing to go through the challenge of loss the challenge of pain the challenge of failure we have to be willing to be uncomfortable to touch greatness watch the players and their ability to stare a challenge and continue on that's why you're a head coach because you can make the tough play call when it's fourth in inches that's why you're the quarterback because you're able to keep your head down the field even though the pocket is collapsing around you and you may get buried under the body of a 300 pound man that's why it's it's great because you because the wide receiver needs to run the route and extend for the ball knowing that there could be a safety driving into his back the only way you can achieve greatness if you're willing to stare down the challenge number one number two i want you to watch the players closely watch the coast close close closely what you will see is that they live one play at a time they never call plays in 20 minutes from now they call one play at a time because they don't know what the play is going to happen they don't know what's going to do you can call a one-yard run and it may the hole may break open for a 25-yard game you may call an easy slam play but the safety reads it perfectly and picks it off now it's a pick six you may call a 35-yard field goal but the wind picks up just the wrong time and it slides and it goes wide left don't know you can't live past one play at the time that's life we think we know the future we don't this is called in psychology the illusion of validity we can't predict the future that's god's business you know we live right now you talk to somebody all you are is in front of that person when you're working when you're in school when you're davening when you're learning whatever you're doing you can't be a pro if you're already playing out five plays in the future god says just be good today changes the world each day if you want to be great one play at a time wherever you are right now be here tonight be there one play at a time last last idea you ever noticed something amazing watch this you're watching the game the quarterback drops back to pass and throws a pick what happens the next set of downs he keeps on throwing do you know why because failure is part of the play it's how life works the minute you make failure being i'm a failure you can't continue the game wide receiver drops an open pass they'll still throw to him because if you allow your failures to define you you're never going to be able to continue playing if you play hard and you play now and you keep on playing even if you fail that's in my humble opinion some some of the ideas for how to exist at a professional level my bracha is that we don't just watch the game we learn from the game and we realized that hashem put us in our own personal super bowls and he given us the tools that it takes for us to raise the lombardi trophy and if we use some of the insights of the great athletes maybe we ourselves can live greater better more fulfilling lives with hashem and in our lives may come may we do it until one day we get to see the ultimate super bowl which is the ghoulish may come soon in our days i'm here with me i heard a really great line once from a person whose name almost sounds like truth itself emmett emmett smith played for the dallas cowboys was quite a successful football player and he said the following all men are created equal just some work harder in the pre-season do you understand what that means the ability and the talents there's some people that are born with pretty amazing talents and abilities but there are others that work like crazy to make sure they're going to accomplish the hob deal billion of dollars i once heard what's the difference between us nothing to talk about but ultimately if you break it down to the essence to the core what's the difference the answer is nothing we're both in the shama we're both we both have endless potential to be able to get closer and closer to the reborn of shalom the difference is that maybe rakhim sat down and did something with it maybe i didn't yet do that unbelievable we can get so high we can accomplish so much there's so far we can go we have to learn you take a look at these players look up how much work they put into it it's not just oh yeah maybe they they have a certain uh edge maybe they're they're they're a certain height or their certain strength but you know what they work like crazy putting ridiculous amounts of time and effort they really really try they really try to succeed anointment hashem we're also on maylam only wrote sim at least we see from this they're definitely rats him they're running we see they're being uml are we being amel are we being amalan are we ruxin are we running the same one that they're running do we put in the amount of work that we that do we put it even close the amount of work that they're putting into in terms of our vote that's hashem getting closer and closer to a bonus loan my friends it's taking the opportunities every moment that they have they go ahead and they take to make sure that they're strengthening themselves conditioning themselves to be able to overcome to be able to beat whatever challenge steps in front of them whatever they whatever nothing can stop them nothing can stop them are we living a life where nothing can stop us that's the question so i want to share with you an idea a really powerful idea which is exactly along these lines that we're speaking about right now and if we really want it then we can really get it i'm going to quote you from the safer known as taurus bias safe is written by the prophet saws so many beautiful sparring the secretary of bias is the following idea it's found in the seventh chapter in perek zion and he says i i'm wondering it's really we're all wondering how come we find that i could just borrow how hello we find that the early generations have so much knowledge and so much wisdom hashem like the possibility he gives so much wisdom why is it almost completely and totally been been weakened and and we have so much less information hashem you can't give it today what's going on why are we not on the levels of the doors we've shown them as we continue down urea sedaris why they have so much and we have so little chuva la dover he says have found listen so carefully this is life changing i'm going to tell you right now hashem gives wisdom to people as much as they prepare to receive it you see all are created equal some just try harder you understand how much do we prepare ourselves to receive the code who wants to give us hashem wants to give it to us are we preparing ourselves i am the lord your god open your mouth wide in your mouth open make it wide the amaleu and i'll fill it up havana i'll fill your mouth from honeycombs with the most delicious stuff that's going to come into your mouth i heard they explained that as much as we open our mouth that's how matakoto's parkour will fill it up and what does that mean how badly do you want it how much are we preparing and opening ourselves to it and the safer brings in the bottom of here the abar banel on the passage and shamos who believe he's going to give to us open your mouth you want wisdom your bonus room is waiting to give it to us just open wide hi you know i heard about rasmus almost they asked him how is it that you that you got to a point that you got to a level where you got to that you were you're a reminding of claudius so that you you reach such high levels of of lima torah was one thing fridays fridays you see when most people learn even if they learn the whole weekend yes and you're learning friday becomes like a mace mitzvah it's like this dead day that people are busy getting ready for who knows what we have hours that we could be sitting and learning we have moments during our day that are open to grab do we grab those moments do we prepare ourselves for those moments that when they're there we're going to grab them as i've recorded many at times we know that one of the questions we're going to be asked when we get upstairs did you set aside times for the study of torah but like the navi explains the word cover can not only mean kavatha meaning did you set up but kavatha means did you steal did you grab every moment that you have did you grab times for the study of torah i don't know when you're watching this whoever's watching this right now but this is put during the super bowl and if you right now are in the middle of the super bowl and you stop to grab this right now kolkavod that means we're well on our way of kavata itamathora stealing the times and opening our mouth why to be able to go ahead and grab all the all the wisdom all the that wants to give to us we wonder what's going on why don't we have it the answer is the opportunity is there as much as you open your mouth that's as much as your bonus was going to give us so therefore my friends let's quickly review this quick scrimmage quick quick scrimmage we got over here so we stopped for the beginning right so we put all men are created equal just some work harder in the off season in the in the pre-season we're trying really hard we're building ourselves and putting ourselves out there what's in us we have the potential and the ability to be so high to get so close to your bonus room to understand to learn this story to understand it to get us together why don't we have it the answer is the doors we show them were making us they prepared themselves they got themselves earned that barbados says get ourselves ready to be making you open your mouth and i'm going to fill up because would take the fridays those dead times that no one else was taking he grabbed the ball and he ran with it understand my friends this opportunity to be covered and steal the moments prepare ourselves hashem will be able to get that all we need to do is prepare and open wide since 2006 hazak has inspired thousands of people via its numerous life-changing programs from little 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 [Music] one of the fantastic things about super bowl is noticing how every single move every breath every motion of every player throughout the game is observed noted examined scrutinized explored discussed analyzed sometimes for hours days weeks and you all know there were certain moves that are still analyzed and discussed decades later and when i think of that during the super bowl it reminds me of that fantastic madrish in rus speaking about three personalities in jewish history ruvain aaron and boyas says the madrish if rauven only knew that the taylor would take note and transcribe the fact that when his brothers all wanted to murder joseph he said no let's throw him into one of the pits vaishna let's not kill him let's throw him into one of the cisterns and his intention was he's going to go retrieve him and bring him back to his father if he only would have known that the turtle would have recorded those thoughts those words of his says the medrish he would have taken yes if placed him on his shoulders and walked back with him to severan to return him to his father had aaron only known that the turtle would take note of the fact that he came to greet maeshirabeno when maesha came to egypt as a leader of the jewish people and instead of being jealous and envious and resentful he rejoiced in maisha's new position he kissed him he embraced him if he would have only known that the terror makes note of the story he wouldn't have just come out to greet moishe he would have come out the topmo with tambourines and drums he would have had a whole symphony a whole concerto coming out to welcome his brother if bayas would have only known that the tanakh the savior of russ would record vayitz butler kelly that he saw an impoverished homeless moabite convert and he gave her grain if he would know that the tanakh would record that act for immortality he wouldn't have given her grain a golem footama he would have given her the greatest delicacies the most exquisite food but none of them knew that their gestures would be recorded in the torah now friends when you read this madrish superficially it seems like the medrash was saying everybody needs pr oscar wilde said the greatest feeling in the world is to do something anonymously but then somebody finds out if rooven and iron and boaz would have known that you and i would know what they did ah they would have done it much better is that really what the medrush was saying they simply were craving for attention and publicity like if i know i'm doing a favor to somebody but it's going to be recorded on video and it's going to be analyzed and scrutinized like the super bowl and it's going to be on all the websites and all the whatsapps then i'll do it with much more passion said the hidushi harim the first gary rebbe he said no it's an erroneous understanding of the matter the matrix is saying something much deeper and much more sophisticated had these three persons only know that god took note of their gestures and decided to record them into his eternal and timeless blueprint for life that god noted and internalized their actions and decided to enshrine them for all of eternity into the terror as a roadmap for the jewish people and for the word for and for the world for all times had they only known the significance the magnitude the extraordinary power and potency of their acts they would have done it with a different passion with a different zest with so much more oomph and custom if raven would have only known that god was watching and would put it into the torah reuben thought he's just being a nice guy he's saving his brother from death aaron thought he's being a good brother and boyas thought he's being a good nice man feeding a hungry convert that's all they saw in their actions had they known that the master of the world the source of infinity the one who created everything and transcends everything takes note of this little action absorbs it speaks about it and decides to transcribe it as a guide for all of humanity for eternity they would have seen themselves and their actions in a different light they would have done it in a different way they could have not known but we do know we living thousands of years later we do know that you think every move of the players and super bowl is recorded it's recorded by the video cameras it's recorded by the news networks it's recorded by the fans but every single one of your acts and words and thoughts is noted observed celebrated by the author of reality tanya says in 41 vihine hashem nitzavalav umalu stands over each and every one of us waiting for our next move cheering us on saying yes i can't wait to see your next thought your next word your next action i know how powerful it is when we realize that every gesture every thought word and action is noted by hashem and and is internalized for eternity and has an impact on the past present and future then we will never look at ourselves and our lives as mediocre we will understand the potency and the passion with which we should invest every word thought and action because it can change the world in a split second i'm wondering is this really happening [Music] one of my all-time favorite quotes is who you are speaks so loudly i can't hear what you're saying how we live our lives how we conduct ourselves every day how we treat other people is what inspires everybody else to emulate us it's not what we say it's not what we sing slimy dax's story reminds me of that quote in 1996 slimy was getting ready to release his debut album one day at a time one day i find in my mailbox a cassette tape with twenty-five songs from a composer yesterday i begin listening to the songs suddenly hamalach hagoel comes up in middle of the cassette [Music] and instantly i say this is my song i was drawn to it immediately so i began to listen to it several times and then went to my mentor shia menlowitz big producer in the jewish music business and said shia i need you to hear this song i'm working on a debut album i need to know your opinion he listens to it with me i'm so excited and then he says slimy i don't think you should use these words abe already has the classic hamalachi it's going to get lost the tune is beautiful let's come up with other lyrics find another passage and i was so torn she is telling me to do it i feel the song and at the end i went with it i recorded the song with the words and the rest is history that became chlamydax's signature song he was invited to weddings to bar mitzvahs to concerts and they always asked him could you sing a few months later after the album was released he's invited to sing at this ncsy shabbaton matashaba's concert there are hundreds of teenagers at that concert shlemi dax walks in the ruach the energy the excitement the enthusiasm was electrifying i began singing the concert one song after the other and then came my signature song hamalach is pouring every bit of his being into it and he's singing it with all of his heart and there's one yahad child in the front of the stage trying to get my attention and i see he wants to come up on stage they bring up the boy and on stage as he's about to transition into the high part he hands the microphone to this boy and asks him to sing the high part horror of horrors he began to sing the classic a b rottenburg this was dax's moment this was the highlight this was the climax this was the grand finale and he ruined it all i started to remember what she meant louis had told me when i bought the song don't use those words the classic hamalach is too famous is too good and here i am on a big stage at the huge ncsy shabbaton concert and lo and behold he went into aby's hamala immediately i motioned to the band they switched the song and this child went on to sing the rest of the song the abi hamalach it almost looked like this was planned because the beat is pretty much the same and they ended up finishing off the night with a.b rattenberg's hamala three months later out of the blue i get a call from rabbi kai mielges legendary mechanic says schleimme i have an incredible story to tell you just yesterday i was at the sphere that ncsy put up for all the teenagers and i was looking around at the different boys running from right to ride and i noticed that one of the teenagers had long hair looked completely secular no yarmulke but he had sitsis that was flying out of his t-shirt and as he was running the tits were in the air you know flopping back and forth and i couldn't believe how could a boy without a yamaka long hair not religious completely unaffiliated why would he be wearing tits so i approached rabbi jesse horn who is one of the russian masefta today at yeshiva hotel but back then he was working for ncsy and i said to him tell me a little bit about that boy sarah jesse orton said you know a couple of months ago we were at the slimy dax concert it turns out that this boy was getting turned on to jewish music and was so excited about the concert and asked rabbi horn if he could go backstage and watch the concert from the back as robbie horn said sure this voice saw me switch the two songs and how seamlessly i went from one into the other without embarrassing this boy after the concert was over he immediately ran to rabbi horn his advisor and said robby horn robbie horn did you see what happened no tell me what happened slimy dax was singing his and this boy sang the other one and in an instant he changed the song and this boy did not even realize this boy was not embarrassed this boy did not have to feel uncomfortable i am blown away i want to do something special for what i just saw and rabbi horn came up with the idea why don't you weird sitzes it's an easy mitzvah you can wear it under your shirt it's not expensive and you could take on that mitzvah because of what you saw and how you were amazed david miller in de hillem simply understood i will sing to hashem throughout my life i believe it has a much deeper meaning bashir lashem he doesn't say i'll sing to hashem bukholi with my voice he doesn't say i'll sing bikinori with my harp or violin he says i'll sing to god with my life with the way i live my life with the choices i make because those choices are the musical notes the ups and downs of my life those are the highs and lows of that song and the way we treat other people that's the harmony of the song the truth is we are all on the stage of life and all of us are performing we have an audience our family members our neighbors our community they're all watching us the way we conduct ourselves they're watching how we treat other people and they're watching in the moments when we think nobody is watching that's ultimately what inspires others to want to emulate us and to want to sing along once we internalize that that we'll be able to sing the visham nashir shir khadash a song that the world has never heard before a brand new song amen [Music] uh [Music] you