Living With Emunah (Part 186): Chametz and Matzah - Creator and Created

good morning bogartov welcome back to our weekly living with a muna series in which we gather to remind ourselves of the presence of hashem in our lives of his dominion and providence that he didn't just create us and move on but he created us and he continues sorry about that and he continues to interact and to be part of our daily lives i want to thank our generous amount of sponsors of the series for the year dr xavi and bella morgan in memory of rabbi dr brian galbert and in memory of bella's mother dr ellen shanzer thank you so much for your generosity and your sponsorship this mornings sheer is also sponsored for the fush lima speedy recovery of israel in charlotte wishing a complete speedy and painless recovery and liula nishmas in memory of ramosa men of rama holocaust survivor a case study in ammunition thank you all so much for your generosity and for your sponsorship i want to uh take a little bit of a detour we've been studying ravitch meyer morgenstern's wonderful save for beyond concentrating on the media the quality of devacus and we've been talking about what it means to cling to the almighty what it means to stick to him what it means to stick with him and what it means to know that he's by our side and that when a person lives life with devek glue clinging and sticking to hashem then we have nothing to fear nothing to worry about we have nothing to be envious over we have no arrogance to feel because we realize our place where we're making we know our place in this world so we've been learning about vegas but i want to take a detour this morning and i want to take a look also at vichamir morgenstern but not in his and on vegas i just put out a beautiful country's a beautiful pamphlet on pesach and i want to look at a piece that he has and what he says about pesach because whether you're listening to this i know people listen later or catching up on the series at other times so whether you're listening later and it's pesach time is time tish above time hanukkah time the message is relevant all year round but particularly speaks to the issue of pesach as we are counting down and we are getting ready cesaro butcher meyer the following you don't have it in front of you but it's a beautiful new little pamphlet of countries he's put out called without intermediaries with our boundaries in a way that we can understand we recognize we the created recognize the creator because at the beginning what is the core what is foundational what is fundamental to our service of him what it means to be a jew what it means to be alive what it means to be an evidence is the recognition that he exists it's the abcs it's 101 you don't even get started you cannot talk about a life of service of hashem if you don't talk about the presence of hashem yehudah's uniqueness his distinctiveness that hashem is one and one and only and one of a kind there is only one hashem barack and only after this recognition is planted firmly within us only then can the created begin to operate so we are the created he is the creator we the created need to know that we didn't come from nothing that we are not immaculate conception we didn't just come to be we're not the random result of a big bang but there is a boray olam there is a creator the creator of the reborn of the mouth of the king of kings he is here before we even understood what time is about and he will be here eternally he will be here forever god is not bound by time not by space and not in power not in any which way hashem is unlimited and he is all-powerful and only when we recognize that only by the goodness and the graciousness of god go we that we are not here of our own volition and we cannot take responsibility for our own lives or success though we have to take our initiatives within them only when we recognize and acknowledge and affirm our commitment to the beaure the creator then the nivra then we the created now we can begin to live now we can begin to operate but if we don't understand then we don't see that we have a master if we don't know that we have someone to whom to report that someone who has given us a blueprint and a prescription for life someone who holds us accountable if we don't recognize we're here for a reason that he is in charge and he is in control then our whole existence and our whole purpose as the nivra as the created is compromised is undermined yes babri obeys khalakkum in creation there are two parts on the one is zabore this is the creator there's hashem he is the source of everything he is everything the second is there's the creator and there's the created the creator is everything everything is an extension everything emanates everything is an expression and a manifestation of hashem as the creator he is everything but we the created and we the created means we human beings it also means the furniture and it means the animals and it means the plant and it means everything we the created hashem gave us cocos he gave us energy talents powers he created us and he deposited us here in this world and he said go here is your mission here is your charge every blade of grass every tree every chair and have deal every person hashem built and planted within it within us possibility capacity and he said now go i am the source of everything the whole world is me but i've invited you into my world i've created you and now that you are the created go fulfill your mission go pursue your purpose go make a difference in this world sichuan every act and every deed and every day we are trying to create this connection between the boreh and the nivra the creator and the created and a person has to have that mindfulness that consciousness person has to go through life and with every act and every deed and with every pursuit to remember with clarity that i am a shliyak i'm a messenger i'm an agent and really the boss to whom i report the one who is responsible for all of its success the source of all and me is hashemis barack is the almighty is the abstract so i live we are meant to live with the recognition and the mindfulness regularly of the contrast of the bore and the nivra of the creator and of the created of our responsibility and our duty to him even as we enjoy and draw the pleasure of living a life of service and even though it feels good and is meant to feel good but to recognize that he's in charge and he's in control and we report to him but what happens as ravichammer we run into a wall we run into resistance we run into a problem ah thank you hashem delicious cold drink what happens it draws us moshe sandukola's man all the time inevitably invariably we run into this proverbial wall and the sahara works in one of these ways resistance resistance resistance holds us back resistance blocks our way resistance manipulates and distorts our thinking and resistance compromises and sabotages our own success and how does resistance express itself it can be in many many different ways so one of them is it fata it seduces us it fools us into thinking that we are the ones who are responsible there were the ones creating where the ones doing where the words accomplishing and it makes us think that we are independent it makes us think that we alone are responsible um and it therefore entices us and it fools us into a place of arrogance it creates all kinds of problems so that voice of resistance that voice of self-sabotage that voice that says i'm not so sure who says there's a creator there's doubt there's uncertainty maybe it's all you maybe you're here randomly and whatever you're making of your life you can take pride it's all you that's the voice of the itsahara ushu mafatta lakshav that there is nothing for a person to do they know yahoo life over gorim so the way of the eight sahara is very powerful it's a heart is very conniving the asahara works in one of two ways it either makes us believe that we're everything or it makes us believe that we're nothing it either tells us there is no god there is no hymn there's only you you should take credit you take responsibility you be filled with pride it's all you or it works in the exact opposite direction there's him so you're a garnished you're nothing and therefore you have accomplished nothing and you can accomplish nothing and you have no capacity to accomplish anything so the atahara convinces us it fools us and seduces us to mistakenly thinking that either we're everything or that we're nothing but both are equally untrue for embassy what is the truth as a victor mayer person has to think and a person has to balance and a person has to be contemplative that whatever happens to me and with me i have to first think about hashem i have to first think about hashem what is he telling me what is he communicating to me what does he want me to do how does he want me to react how does he want me to think what does he want me to believe what will give nacha what will give him it's in fact this week's parasha vayikra the karbanos that are offered they bring got a reach a pleasant aroma and rashi says what's the pleasant aroma that hashem says i see my children are doing what i've asked of them they're giving me a knach and therefore the nachas rock is the most pleasant aroma there is we mentioned the parshashir earlier this week the carbon that sacrifice is the greatest barbecue who doesn't love a great barbecue who doesn't love the wonderful aroma produced from a great barbecue you know who doesn't love it hashem he doesn't need it he doesn't love it hashem is not excited by the amazing smell of a good barbecue he's the infinite omnipotent one of course he enjoys a good barbecue who doesn't but he doesn't need the smell of the good barbecue that's not the reaction of the reaction he says please bring carbanos and when we do and when we do carefully and vigilantly and scrupulously and when we do at a personal expense we have to take off work and make our way to usually we have to buy an enormously expensive carbon we have to identify the cohen is going to bring it on our behalf there's an enormous amount that goes into a carbon and when we do and when we're willing and when we exert the effort and when we make the sacrifices there's a reach there is a pleasant aroma and what for god is the most pleasant aroma that we're doing his will we don't identify with this as parents when a child meets our needs when a child shows they value what we care about when a child runs to do what we want you don't have a nach when the child says something or does something and you go ah that's a nachos note that's a naka's moment that's the greatest the most pleasant aroma the most pleasant experience that a person can imbibe that a person can go through is the nachas from their children and the same is true with hashem and that's what we're meant to contemplate it's what we're meant to think about it's how we're meant to approach everything in our life difficult decisions that we have to make we have to say what is the halacha what is what does it say in skin say and if it's not clear cut then i have to ask ashila i have to ask a question from an adam goddard i'm a great person i have to seek das torah what does torah tell me but it's more than just seeking the daas torah by asking arov we should go through life saying does this give nachas to hashem what's the right thing what's the rats on hashem will this give nachas to hashem does this make hashem happy does this put a smile on his face and sometimes even though it appears from the even though it appears from the from the approach of strict talaqah that something is permissible if it doesn't give hashem don't do it if you ask ourselves yourself does this put a smile or a frown on hashem's proverbial face then don't do it unless it puts a smile so i need sarcastic or i always have to remember the beginning the start before it all begins is to remember that gracious and to feel that he is the driver he is the engine he is the one powering whatever's happening here i'm flying through the sky it looks like there's an airplane with an engine and a pilot hashem is the one allowing it to happen i'm driving in a car it feels like there's a car it's a driver hashem is the one who allows the car to drive i'm breathing i have a pulse my legs are working there's a bull ray in the world i am investment it's giving me a return i planted it's growing out of the ground whatever activity and whatever we're engaged in that there is a beaure there is a creator and he is responsible and only after this is a recognition only after there's an acknowledgement of the bore of the creator now lahavan is now i can say to myself there's a creator what does he want me to do i'm ish he's the he's the sender he is the mishalayak and i'm the he has sent me and i am the agent um and through this perspective so we need to have shivisi hashem the negative hashem is opposite me always i'm about to listen watch speak go do i have to remember there's a beauray there's a creator and he's with me and he's in this room he's watching me his arm is around me and he's the one responsible for my existence he's responsible for my success he has expectations of me and will this meet those expectations does this give nah what i'm about to choose to listen to to watch to say to go to do is it is it compliant and is it something that hashem wants from me first i remember the moray and now i can go pursue my interest as the nivra first i remember the creator and now i can go live as the created continues richard meyer this was the mahalik this was the perspective the pursuit when it came to leaving egypt first hashem extended his outstretched mighty arm as shlita so his rule is dominance with providence egypt and he suspended the rules of nature and he revealed himself in unprecedented ways he showed that he is the most powerful and there is no comparison the jewish people almost didn't have to do anything just watch be spectators watch this you ain't seen nothing yet watch what hashem is about to do just watch as a spectator and marvel at the beaure revealing himself he's a kill mistater hashem generally remains hidden he wants us to search and to find him that was the holiday of purim that we just experienced and talked about but he doesn't encourage or invite us to go find him he reveals himself he says here i am his yatsu stand and watch yeshua's hashem take in and watch the show you ain't seen nothing yet only beginning this is the beginning pesach night spoke last night to a group about seder messages and to me this is the message of the seder we have a bank account of faith of emunah and there are times in the year we have to make withdrawals there are times that we run into challenge and conflict and struggle and pain and we're not sure where is hashem does he love me and why isn't he stepping in and you know that's a withdrawal so our bank account of the moon of faith better be full enough to be able to not go into overdraft so when is the big deposit when does there a cash influx into our bank account of faith of emunah it's satyr night when we sit and we tell that story and when we dwell on our history and when we tell our personal narrative then we have planted the hashrish we are planting emunah in ourselves and our children and grandchildren everyone is assembled so hashem says first sit back and watch me and then hashem says i'm going to sit back and watch you you sit back and watch me that's it's my time that's passage the most i'm going to ask you to do is put the blood on the door i'm going to ask you to bring the carbon pass we're going to talk about the shabbos i go to the motel shabbos 9 p.m here on our youtube channel subscribe and you will be notified when we go live but you watch me in pesach you be a spectator you watch the magic but then comes matantora i'm going to give you my torah says hashem i'm going to be a spectator i'm going to watch the way that you live with it and what you do with it first we begin with the boreh and then the creator then the created on this night hashem influences us with the light of ammuna he reveals and exposes he shines a flashlight in our face we were poor nothing oppressed persecuted and then we went free there were ten plagues he showed us love he put his arm around us he embraced us he took care of us he lifted us and he made us a charge he gave us a mission so then begins the count where we go from the spectator and then we get our ourselves into the game and we count swedish omer she have others i never looked in those as those who lift up we the nivra begin that avodah of looking for the boray and now vichamir moves us over to this is exactly and stay with me so important so important to understand this is exactly the idea of chametz and matza comets and matzo we are obsessed with carbs with gluten with food what is the deal wonders of achievement the mitzvah to get rid of to obliterate search and destroy hamitz is unique we have nothing like it i'm not allowed to eat meat and milk but i don't have to go burn it and destroy it i'm not allowed to eat pig or pork products but i don't have to go find them and destroy them and i also don't find that i have a mitzvah a food where part of the year is permissible and part of the year is forbidden doesn't exist it's either in the category of mutter of kosher or it's not kosher usually all year long it's permissible and at times even a mitzvah to eat it the carbon toda and then pesach comes and all of a sudden it's arch enemy number one and then it's a villain search and destroy us all the forbidden foods which are poison they contaminate the soul and jana move on i understand why they're forbidden because there is a contamination there is a poison inherent within and if i swallow if i imbibe if i absorb those non-kosher foods and tastes then i am absorbing that poison that spiritually will will threaten me um so therefore i can't eat them i have to stay away from them they are forbidden what's the deal imura whom islam so if it represents the inflated ego what is hamid the yeast allows it to rise if khamens represents the ego it is inflated it's arrogant and every rabbi every everybody who's studying about pesach is reading and learning about muhammad says the devil come it says evil comment says it says arrogance comments as ego comments yet zahara okay so what about the other 51 weeks of the year if it's so terrible that one week we search destroy and don't go near it so then why is it permissible the other 51 weeks of the year the main aura and if the other 51 weeks of the year it's okay then what is the problem with it on pesach what is the deal hamitz are you evil comments are you okay who are you what is the deal so listen to the insight of ravichar meyer and it will change and transform your passach if you're listening in time for this year or in future years represents man's capacity to maneuver and manipulate the world how do you produce hummus a lot of work a lot of effort a lot of direct intervention to produce comets to produce hummus you gotta plow then you gotta plant harvest sow winnow thresh uh separate grind need you gotta add ingredients you got to add spice you got to get flavor you got to allow it to rise you got to ask to eat a yeast agent and then you've created bread don't just think of regular bread think of sourdough bread my wife makes the most amazing khala on the planet my daughters help and also make their own incredible versions of that khala but i say make some sourdough i'd love to eat sourdough sourdough is in they say do you know what goes into sourdough are you crazy do you know how much effort and time how many steps and stages there are to making a good sourdough by the way hint after pesach if you want to drop off a sourdough feel free so sourdough do you know what goes into sourdough so maya represents man's intervention man's relationship manipulation working such a beautiful beautiful idea the idea muhammad represents hamas is good the whole rest of the year cometh is good how we understand and we accept that we are god's agents that we are empowered with the tools that we empowered with the talents to make a difference in this world to maneuver to manipulate to control to conquer hashem's world to repair and to transform his world that's a good thing the comments in us to know that we have the power to create and the power to make a difference that's a good thing so 51 weeks a year we embrace it we eat it it's good it's symbolism it's message they're powerful they're not a problem but what is the problem the problem is when we start to think you know what i'm the one who produced the bread it's my brilliance my talent my skill set it's me i'm the one who creates it and we forget that we're agents of his that were shlike that we are messengers we forget we forget we have violated we've missed the point of the whole goal sheila gallows the whole mission the goal is to reveal the boreh within the nivra to reveal the creator within the created hashem is the creator he is invisible he is inaccessible how does he manifest himself through the created through who we are through nature and through the beautiful world and through history and through our good deeds that's how the body is revealed is through the nivra so hamitz is an example of the boreh being mega being being neglect for being revealed through the nivra when you eat but the comets itself becomes the problem when does comets become the problem when instead of realizing that he is being revealed through it through us that we are alone and there is no hymn when we have arrogance and gaiva and yeshus we think that it's ego and we are it and we are everything that's when it's a problem so one week a year we reset and recalibrate 51 weeks a year comments is good we remember we're revealing the body within the nivera we're revealing the creator within the created 51 weeks a year we remember we have the power we have the talent we have the capacity and we should go use it and run with it and make a difference with it but one week a year we have to go back to simplicity one week a year we go back to the fundamentals one week a year we remind ourselves and we reset that in fact there's only the boreh hamatsa matzah is the bread of faith whether literally we eat the matzah when remembering that he took us out sha azhara shames barclays god showed us that anod melvada there is no one there is nothing but him so the matzah is a prop the matzah is a reminder the matzah imitates and mimics what they ate when they went out and therefore we are reminded of that experience an experience which cannot help but engender a sense of faith of ammuna so that's the shout or being benemius in its deeper you know what matza represents flour and water mixed and then no one manipulated them there is no yeast there is no rising it's not a sourdough there are no other ingredients there is no spice there is no everything uh spices that you put on top there is no cinnamon there is no chocolate there is the babkka there is no this is not a manipulated recipe this is the most simple so matzah represents what god gives us and comments represents when man intervenes the most basis the most fundamental is what gives us life and when we eat the matzah we receive a muna pratt in misponenbe while eating the matzah when thinking about and talking about and lifting and looking at the matzah we think about emunah um and that gives us an amazing pleasure and an amazing joy not necessarily the taste or the consistency or what it does to our gi system but what gives us the joy is to remember this little matzah not my amazing sourdough not my chocolate cinnamon challah which really should be a dessert not a challah which i am so proud that i see the bori within the niver but i made it i baked it i created it i designed it look at a simple piece of matzah it is the simplicity of the boreh um and it therefore plants and roots itself within our thoughts and within who we are that's what it's all about when we look at when we lift when we eat the matzah we are to think about the ammuna it is the bread of a moon not just the bread of a moon in the sense that it is the bread we ate when he revealed himself to us which is the source of aramuna but it is the bread of the moon that is the symbol the whole way it's made and manufactured is only with the intervention of the boreh without the nivra and we go back to that one week a year across because through it we recognize this truth i'm a garnished i can't do anything on my own i can't accomplish anything by myself huani i'm a poor impoverished indigent pathetic nothing um in every step at every stage i need his help for everything to work out for this year to be able to go over this technology he has to will the wi-fi to work for me to breathe for me to walk for me to act for my car to drive it is all him at every step and in every act and every thought i have to remember there's aboriolum there is a creator i am forever and in perpetuity dependent and reliant on the good will of hashem and a person who lives this margis atma you can live with peace and serenity and sweetness you live with that knowledge you live with that confidence you live with that comfort that there is a body and he's got my back that's the vacus there's a creator and he's got my back so 51 weeks a year i eat hummus but one week a year i have to reset one week a year i have to go back to the simple not me manipulating i'm not thinking about me as the nivra as the agent of the beaure but i go back to just the boreh and all there is is the borei matza is anode 51 weeks a year i focus and live i am one week a year i reset and recalibrate to go back and to remember that i am there all there is is him ain't ode milvado ain't no vado surfer so what's the process first we search and destroy the comments we get out of our own arrogance we get out of our own ego we go out of our own misconception that we're in charge that we're in control that it's all lost me stop thinking that you are something realize yes on the one hand i'm a somebody i'm a prince a princess basma the progeny of the king but realize i only am anything because of the king he is everything so first i destroy the humidity and then i can eat the matzah in order to acquire and in order to see a recognition and an acknowledgement of the existence of hashem the whole week that i eat matzah i am further engaging and endowing myself with the amuna we gave a shirt earlier this week in the afternoon call on whether there's a mitzvah mata all week long the perspective of the ebenezer the balamore of the gra of the yeshua that it's not just that you're allowed to eat matzah the whole week there's a mitzvah you're not obligated each time you do you get ma mitzvah mata what's the mitzvah you are further encountering and engaging you are further planting a muna within you we look at and we eat that matza and we think about the boray all there is sourdough is the nivra matzah is the boray i live 51 weeks realizing i'm a nivra i'm a slick i'm an agent one week a year i go back to the basics and he goes on but we're out of time wherever meyer in this beautiful countries and pesach and he talks about bir khamenes srifa says burning the comets is burning the ego the eye and i'll leave you with this challenge for today which is something we've adopted in our home the last several years when we put out the ten pieces of bread for badika's comments we try to identify each piece of bread with the quality that we want to work on with another part of the eight sahara the ego that we need to get rid of and then when we take it to birch hummus and we throw it in the fire i'm throwing my procrastination i'm throwing in my laziness i'm throwing in my envy i'm throwing in my arrogance each of our children each of us we think about what do i want to work on what is the eight sahara that this year i'm going to find and destroy within me that is what represents and then i can eat the matzah of a moonah of anode malvado of all there is but him and then i can attach myself to him all of this relies on our kavanagh we're so busy with the shailas do i have to clean this does this does this need to be kosher pasta how does this work and when is the bitter comments and what exactly is the last time and they're all very very very important not minimizing them in the least however we have to remember the panemias the depth the kavana the intent we have to grow through the experience it's supposed to something that's meant to be able to transform us wishing everyone a wonderful day join us tonight behind the bhima with srili besser the prolific author just came out with the haggadah sofa and looking very much forward to enjoying bringing him on 9 pm behind the bema tonight until next time stay happy stay healthy and stay holy