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Living With Emunah (Part 244) - While Underground Build a Foundation
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Who doesn't need an injection of faith, hope and courage. Join each week as we inspire ourselves to let go and let God, to submit and surrender and thereby to find greater health, happiness and holiness. With insights from Rabbi Yitzchak (Itche) Meir Morgenstern. - Introduction - Remembering R. Dr. Brian Galbut - Powerful Story About Helping Others - We Have Highs and Lows in Life - How to Build a Tall Building - There's Nothing As Whole as a Broken Heart (Kotzker Rebbe) - Looking For God in Hidenness - 5 in 5 Rule - Finding Hashem in Descent - Story About Owner of Dallas Cowboys - Avodas Hashem Takes Work
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Auto-generated transcript. Not time-synced to the video.
good morning bogartov welcome back to
our living with the moon a very special
welcome back some of you who we haven't
seen
in person in a long time i actually have
some
mixed feelings about the fact that we
stream the class because i meet people
all the time who say rabbi thank you so
much for streaming it i stay in my
pajamas i make my coffee i feel like i'm
part of the class on the one hand it's
wonderful that people who geographically
don't live here and can't be here in
person can tune in on the other hand
there's nothing that can compare or
compete with learning in person being
together in person it is uh it is the
best so it's great to see some people
returning it's wonderful to be together
and uh and thank you
as always a big thank you to our
generous series sponsors for the year
doctor zavi and bella morgan in memory
of dr brian galbet in memory of bella's
mother dr ellen chandser this morning
she was also sponsored anonymously as a
thank you to brs for the class of shirum
and programs that we provide so we're
very grateful to that anonymous sponsor
as well i want to remind you
that our merch
now normally merge people are trying to
brand and sell things and make money we
don't make any money off of it and we're
not trying to promote any brand but
we're trying to promote mindfulness and
immuno that's the reason we have it so
right after the sheer if you've not yet
purchased your copy of our new notebook
mod da'ani thank you hashem for a new
day turn the page every page says turn
the page every morning you can wake up
turn the page you have a new opportunity
you can buy a copy someone just bought
17 of them so if you want to buy in bulk
we can make you a special price which is
a really a wonderful thing we also have
our
caffeinate with kavanagh every morning
you wake up you have your cup of coffee
don't just caffeinate but caffeinate
with kavanagh and the other things you
can purchase them afterwards and soon
you'll be able to purchase them online
as well
oh this morning oh i don't know why i
don't have that
thank you barbara lewis is a sponsor in
memory of samli but a very special
member pillar of our community somebody
was here every night learning the daffy
yomi who are really inspiring his new
shamash
thank you so much for that generosity
that sponsorship as well so sorry i
missed that i'm not sure i'm not sure
why okay before we dive back into the
text and pick up where we last left off
i want to uh and some muzzle tubs by the
way mazel tov to the luke's mazel tov
some massive tubs we should have only
only
so i want to share with you two emails
i'd love to share with you the muni
stories one is authored by our sponsor
by our series sponsor the morgan's jeff
morgan sent this in
it was uh before tish above was brian
galbert's third eurotype so he said
please feel free to share this during
the ammunition and this is what he
writes i can't believe it's been three
years since brian passed away
i think about brian frequently and in
particular when i have a decision to
make i ask myself what would brian do
brian meant so much to so many people
his family friends and patients broke a
community of the global jewish community
as you know brian went to the yale
medical school this was in part due to
his brilliant mcat score much higher
than mine i remember brian comforting me
when i didn't get into my top choice for
medical school and assured me that
einstein was the right place for me
brian was later instrumental in my
decision to become a cardiac surgeon
connecting me to his uncle david i
remember once visiting boca within
minutes of catching up with brian he
started recruiting me to move to boca
telling me about all the wonderful
things offering to connect me to
cardiologists hospitals he loves his
book community so much brian you're
missed on a daily basis
by so many people you're a person who
emanated amunah and abbas kinam you give
khizak to so many people and are
fortunate enough to interact with you
may your incredible absolute uniqueness
have an aliyah so big thank you to jeff
morgan for sharing that for his
sponsorship and certainly uh we continue
to draw from brian zamuna daily i also
want to share an email i mentioned
yesterday
yesterday it was the parish class
yesterday in the parish year
i mentioned an incident that happened
last week in our community a young boy
on his bicycle was riding to school as
he does every day crossing palmetto park
road and
a
deranged person an unhealthy person who
was recently released from prison
attacked him pulled him off his bicycle
and started to punch him
and a person driving his truck
who didn't recognize this young boy is
not a member of our community but saw
what was happening pulled over jumped
out of the truck pulled the man off
and until police came and this person
was so
deranged in such an adrenaline rush the
police had to tase him in order to
in order to be able to take him away so
i mentioned in the partial class
yesterday because i talked about what a
hero this man was anonymous man
and would we would we stop our car would
you stop your car would you jump out and
get in harm's way to help another person
i came taking the contact context of the
parsha we were talking about uh you know
would you would you pull over if someone
had a flat tire let alone if someone was
beating the other person anyway by the
way fast forward to this morning
somebody wrote the pressure sheer called
the sheriff's office to get the name of
the man
and contact info so that we could thank
him as a community and i'm going to get
in touch with the man but he also said
what a kid of hashem it was the sheriff
couldn't believe that the community
wanted to call this man on behalf of the
community to thank him for helping this
young boy so hopefully we made it
and we'll be able to offer our gratitude
but the mother of the boy sent me the
following email she said the following
she said i thought i'd share this with
you but you're welcome to use in the
amunisher my son was punched in the head
yesterday as you know by a mentally
unstable criminal near ttv while riding
his bike to school guy got out of jail
two weeks ago for theft and robbery
first thing i thought was use my amuna
bank account that you taught us in the
amuna class
hashem has a plan
and we need to have faith in him when i
heard how a bystander pulled his truck
up between the crazy guy chasing my son
to stop him and told me saw the entire
thing i felt it was his duty to help i
thought hashem planted this man to
assist my son or my son could have been
so hurt in other words her
take on it is not god how could you
where were you why which i'm sure are
legitimate reasonable feelings too but
hashem wow
if that man driving on that road
one different red light or green light
one moment later he left the house one
and he weren't there exactly at that
moment to jump out and help who knows
what could have happened who knows so
she's choosing to put on her ammuna
glasses and goggles and look at the
world that interpret it not where were
you how could you why but wow god thank
you that the man was driving by at that
moment
and it wasn't that he passed a moment
earlier or he was a few minutes behind
at that moment she writes then i noticed
later in the day my son besides me
besides being in shock from the day and
his head hurting a bit he started to
dial him with more passion that day and
benched better no one knows why hashem
does what he does for sure i think my
son feels like hashem helped him and
this gave him a jolt to work on getting
closer to him which he needed thank you
for reading this great class today this
was last week she wrote it after last
week so what a what a beautiful this is
an incredible person an amazing family
what a beautiful
interpretation or attitude
in in it number one and number two even
um her son seeing in her son is getting
closer as a result it's really a
beautiful thing so those are our stories
for today keep them flowing
i i get the privilege of just reading
them and you go oh and oh you cry i cry
but they're not my stories so i depend
on our listeners and those who watch and
come to share your emunah stories with
us okay we're on page of some of these
there were handouts i guess they're all
given out there are a few more if you'd
like to follow inside
of icha meyer morgenstern
morgenstern and we are learning about
the following the notion of the cycle of
life ruts of ashok that we have times
that we feel closer and more distant
highs and lows in avodah's hashem there
are times that we are on fire that we
are well connected that everything makes
sense that everything feels right and
there are times that we feel far away
and where is he and why and this isn't
flowing and this isn't going well and we
have all kinds of names for it we've
seen rats of a show of kadamba akhor
mohan de gadas mohan de katniss we have
all kinds of names for it and then so
the first thing we did was validate the
phenomenon the reality in the bottom
line is that we live with this
phenomenon you're not the only one we
all have it highs and lows in our voters
are ship highs and lows in marriage and
parenting and career and life highs and
lows and diet and exercise highs and
lows and learning and dominating we have
highs and lows in everything life is not
linear you should revolve ashore
right the evidence of the of the ekg if
it flatlines you're dead if it's going
up and down there's highs and lows
that's a sign you're alive so if it
flatlined if our ekg spiritual ekg shows
we're even stephen we're even killed
then it means that you're spiritually
dead if it goes up and down it means
that we are alive we should be grateful
to be alive why did hashem create the
world that way we saw because we are a
nivra we are the created and that
creates this duality this tension on the
one hand we feel we're independent we're
created we exist we're someone we're
something thanks god i'm here now i'm
good to go move on to the next one i got
this and that makes us feel far from him
and distant and empty and avoid
on the other hand we realize i'm a
creation i'm only here because he wills
it and he wants it i'm only here because
he supports it and enables it and while
that makes me feel close to him makes me
feel his presence makes me feel in
conversation with him so the high and
low is not accidental and the high and
low is not
own something we only suffer from the
highs of those on our bodies hashem is
by design it's the way he created the
world it is a natural result of this
reality that we are a nivra that we are
among those who are those who are
created so we're up to anikudai
160 to the right-hand column
now this is the big question how do you
break out
so when you're on fire and it's all
flowing it's all good and well when
you're feeling it when it can't get any
better when you're singing and you're
dancing and you're davening it's easy
when it's all flowing you see his hand
everywhere and everything makes sense
and you're so grateful
it's great life's great what happens
when it's the opposite what happens when
you're in it's kufa when you're in a
period of your life where you say it's
darkness where are you
where are you talking to you it doesn't
feel like you're listening
it seems like you never answer what i
want
i'm going through emotions but they feel
empty and void
of meaning where are you and how do i
connect that's the question that's the
question
how do you get out of it when we're in a
small place
first of all realize hashem
is now
interacting with me and placing me and
positioning me in a place of cotness
that's okay
it's okay i don't measure measure myself
not only should i not measure myself
against others
but i shouldn't measure myself
against the best of myself in another
time
maybe last week or last month or last
year
maybe
last decade maybe last lifetime in my
year in israel i was once on fire and my
whole life is trying to get back to that
place
so what are we going to do knock
ourselves down despair despondency give
up beat ourselves up feel it will never
happen
the first thing is to realize that if
this is where i am this is how i'm
feeling this is where hashem wants me to
be this is what i'm meant to be i'm now
coming at him from a place of katniss
i'm coming at him from this
narrow smaller place and smaller mindset
meaning it's not we're either all in or
we're all out
some people live life like that
extremes either all in
or all out either on fire and telling
everyone and isn't it amazing or i'm all
out we know people like that i can think
of someone specific like that they were
all in
they talked all the time they had no
tolerance for somebody who wasn't into
dominating and learning animal
industries hashem everywhere and they
talked about it and they demanded that
and they demanded of their children and
they were on fire
and then they didn't feel it and now
they're totally totally disconnected
barely holding on to a life of
observance not engaged in a life of
meaning or purpose or pursuit of
connecting with hashem so life is not
all or nothing not either all in or all
out even the moment we're feeling
distant realize it's not over i'm not
out this is where i'm meant to be i'm
meant to be in a place of struggle i'm
meant to be low but i'm going to climb
up and out when may lahisu his gallows
i'm in a place that there's going to be
revelation i'm in a place where there's
a
certain read the shame aliyah sometimes
we descend in order to be able to go up
you go down in order to be able to go up
i saw beautiful muscle and another safer
just this morning about this when you
build a tall building what's the very
first thing that you have to do if you
want the building to be sturdy and last
and stand
what's the first thing where do you
build the foundation
very first thing you have to do is dig
down
and you go down in order to be able to
go up
if you want to build a tall building
that's going to withstand wind you want
a tall sturdy building that's going to
last the first thing you do is dig a
hole
you go down in that hole and you build a
foundation and now when you're down in
that dark
damp hole
when there's no light and you don't see
him and you feel a big tall building i'm
underground
i'm in a negative i'm in the red what do
you mean big tall building
but when you're down there you realize
and you say to yourself i meant to be
down here because it's only down here
that i could build the foundation that i
could then climb up and out
only down here in this dark damp
only down here in this
in this hole can i build a foundation
that i could build on it to go up so
sometimes when we feel out of it we feel
distance sometimes we spoke last week
life is not just about the whole tablets
it's about the broken pieces it's about
the brokenness the kotzker famously said
famous because i know it the cutscene
famously said
there's nothing as whole as
a broken heart there's nothing as whole
as a broken heart
sometimes when you feel completely whole
is when really you're broken when you
feel everything's amazing and hunky-dory
and smooth sailing and god's amazing
life's amazing everything maybe you're
faking it maybe you're imitating maybe
you're an imposter
maybe you're faking it maybe you're
superficial
so you make it look like everything's
all together you got it all together
everything's going so smoothly
you're completely broken inside and it's
the person who leans into their
brokenness who's really whole a person
is going through a tough time a person
is wondering how they're going to fight
through it or break out of it how
they're going to endure to persevere
through it it's only when you lean into
the brokenness sometimes that you
realize now i'm whole because i'm
comfortable being broken
because i found him even in the
brokenness because i'm building a
foundation in being while being
underground
in that brokenness in the chevrolet
lujas
that is that makes me whole leaning into
the brokenness is what makes me is what
makes me whole is what makes me whole so
don't deny it don't be in denial of it
lean into it and realize this is where i
meant to be in this moment this is how
i'm connecting to hashem at this time
this is my struggle it's not over i'm
not disconnected
sometimes hashem is everywhere you're
walking around and you literally see him
everywhere his guiding hand everywhere
his love everywhere his support
everywhere our accountability to him
everywhere
sometimes we have periods of life
of revelation he's everywhere and
there's other times of quel mistate he's
hidden he's nowhere where is he i can't
find him i'm looking and i'm searching
but i can't find him but even those
moments of katniss of smallness of
brokenness of hiddenness
he's there even those moments that we
feel that we're underground we are
building the foundation enable in order
to be able to come out
and and we have to realize there are
highs and lows and there's a cycle when
you're in a high it's almost worse
because you're waiting for when's the
other shoe going to drop where i go into
the low how long is this going to last
how long can i maintain this level mia
mia
who can climb on the mountain but who
could stay there so when you're in that
high in that great place you say to
yourself how long is this going to last
how long is my daughter going to be this
great happening how long am i going to
have to say moon and fill in this place
with him when you're in a low
in a kind of
paradoxical way
it can be almost better because you say
i'm in a low but you know what because
life is cycles i know i'm going to
experience a high i'm about to break out
i'm about to break out with some
revelation i'm about to use this as my
springboard to find him i'm down
underground but i'm building the
foundation i'm about to build a
skyscraper of the moon
i'm about to build a tall sturdy
skyscraper of a muna that will come out
from the ground sprout and blossom out
from this foundation i'm building while
i feel i'm in this dark and damp
underground hole i'm in this place so
sometimes it's even better because i
know that there's a cycle i have
confidence and i've experienced that
cycle in life i know i'm going to break
out.
and what about you'll say but i'm dark
and it's damp and it's
underground and i don't experience and i
don't feel anything i'm going through
emotions i'm just going through motions
i just had this conversation with
someone recently who said how about i
come to schulich i said i'm doing the
davening i haven't given up on it but
i'm not getting anything out of it
there's nothing there i'm just turning
pages i'm just saying words i'm in a
place of katniss we've had periods of
david and where
we're surrendering and submitting and
we're losing ourselves in him we're
focused on every word there's meditation
is breathing this connection to our
source it's recharging our battery and
then you have uh
turning pages i'm saying words i'm
putting a check on the checklist
we have to remember and understand s
this is part of the way he conducts
himself and it's part of his revealing
himself
he's revealing himself in hiddenness
you're playing hide and seek
know that you're in the middle of a game
and you've got to go tag you're it go
find him
it's a hide and seek this is a
revelation within the hiddenness now go
find him now go find him
then you realize that smallness or
narrowness or distance
or being
disconnected
is not in fact mean it's over
game over you're out
it's the opposite
so he's the one hiding sometimes hashem
is right there you have a cup of coffee
with them
wow what a cup of coffee you ever get
together with a friend you haven't seen
in a long time and that cup of coffee
they're supposed to be half an hour it's
like three hours later and you walk away
and you give that hug like this was
amazing we need to do this more often we
caught up and i forgot how amazing it is
and we're so comfortable together and
you bring out the best in me and i can
trust you and confide in me and that's
amazing we got to do that more often so
sometimes that's your daughter with
hashem hashem give me a hug let's hug it
out this was amazing i forgot how great
that could be i spoke to you i confided
in you i thanked you i felt your
presence this was amazing this was
amazing and other times your friend says
let's play hide and seek
your friend doesn't say that because
we're adults and we don't do that but
stick with me in my hypothetical example
your friend says hide and seek we're
playing hide and seek
go look for me
look i just wanna have coffee with you i
think that's amazing his friend says but
i'm hiding right now i'm playing i'm
playing hard to get we do play hide and
seek in friendship we just don't do it
as a game like children we do it
ridiculously to create drama as adults
we play hide and seek i always call you
let's see if she'll call me to have
coffee
you know i always reach out to him let's
see if he'll call me we play hide and
seek as adults with each other all the
time
only it's not a game it's damaging
destructive and stupid and foolish but
sometimes the relationship is hugging it
out coffee three hours this was amazing
and sometimes we're in the middle of a
game of hide and seek and hashem we have
both relationships with him as well but
know that when you're in the
hide-and-seek when the friend's playing
hide-and-seek what they're saying is i
miss you
i long for you i want that relationship
they just don't know how to say it they
don't know how to say it
or maybe they've said it ineffectively
in the past so instead they're hiding
they're hiding what they're really
saying is
i miss you and i want to get together
with you and i long to have this
relationship with you so when the
ribosome is hiding from us
it's like that friend
he's not hiding because he doesn't want
a relationship he's hiding because he
wants us to seek he wants us to look
so when we're going through a period of
life where it feels like he's hidden
where is he why isn't he answering why
are things happening the way they are
why does it feel so dark down here
that's him calling out come look for me
i'm hiding i'm hiding it's that kind of
a takufa that kind of a of a
conversation
it sounds again contradictory or
paradoxical within the hiddenness hashem
is revealing i want you to look for me
when everything's hanky dory smooth
sailing going well it's going well he's
right there fine
when he's hiding he's almost more
explicitly saying
i want you to look for me so he's
revealing himself
through his hiddenness
in darkness there's a little crack of
light a breakthrough a little glimmer of
light just come find me use the light
find me light at the end of the tunnel
that little crack the light's coming
through find it find me and then make it
open instead of it being a sliver or a
crack
break it wide open let the light in
so it's a whole different paradigm and
way that we could look at the dark
moments of our life instead of looking
at it with with sadness or frustration
or as an excuse to cop out or to leave
to look at it as well i don't see him
and i don't feel him he really wants me
to come search for him
wow he's really revealing himself in his
hiddenness to me in this moment it's
very different than the way that we've
always we've always thought about it so
how do we do that how do we do that
see in one second
he's always there
he could be hidden or revealed but he's
always there
may love and we are
sometimes he acts in a revealed way and
sometimes it's a more hidden way okay
i'm with him even when i don't feel it
so the way out
is to lean in
the way out
is to lean in
the way out is to realize
that
he's revealing himself in his hiddenness
so don't stay in the hiddenness
don't stay with where is he why is he
why don't i feel anything why am i going
through motions why is there nothing
here realize if i feel nothing and
there's nothing here and he feels hidden
from me right now
that's his invitation and my opportunity
to go look for him
this is my invitation opportunity to go
look for him
so what's the way i have to see
the answer is talk to him
talk to him
the answer is talk to him
you can find him if you talk to him
i don't know if it was john gottman or
where i read this
a marriage therapist who made the
following suggestion
you know if you have a generally healthy
and happy and functional and wonderful
marriage but every marriage like any
relationship has ups and downs
there are frustrations there are fights
there are tensions there are differences
designs part of the nature of marriage
we don't marry our carbon copy the whole
beauty of marriage is that we marry
people who compliment us but we have
different backgrounds and upbringings
personalities and genetics
different approaches to things when we
navigate them smoothly we complement one
another it's wonderful
but
by design there's also going to be
friction and differences different
expectations and the like so sometimes
there's a fight
so sometimes there's again it's love and
hunky-dory and romance and electric and
amazing and everything you can't get
enough of spending time together it's
wonderful
and sometimes i don't even know who this
person is and i don't even recognize
them and so angry and frustrated this
behavior it's got to be worked through
so what do you do you know you call up a
fluke and schedule to get because you
have to fight
you get a difference of opinion about
how to spend yanta or where to go on
vacation or something with the children
or something about the credit card bill
so that's it that's it you give the get
because
you realize we have a marriage it's
healthy has a strong foundation we're
going through a moment of hiddenness of
katniss
of a of a distance
so how do you get it back how do you
break out how do you break out so i once
saw a marriage therapist who said the
following
assuming it's appropriate
logically and it's something that can be
done he said
with the consent of the other person in
the middle of the fight just give a hug
to the other person
in the middle of the fight
right the temperature's high the decibel
level's high the emotions are running
high but just put your hand on the other
person's hand
just give a hug and then you go back to
the fight
touch their hand then go back to the
fight give a hug and then go back to the
fight
the advice was
what the hug or what touching the hand
does is
it's an affirmation it's a reminder that
there's really a loving relationship a
connection
a shared history shared destiny a shared
soul
we'll figure this out we'll work this
out we'll have this conversation we'll
reconcile this issue but let's just
remember
that
this fight can be an opportunity
to actually
figure something out gottman does say
that every fight was a conversation that
needed to happen that didn't happen
in every fight there was a conversation
that needed to happen
that the fight happened instead
but if you can pivot the fight into the
conversation
then the fight was a good thing
if there was a difference that had to be
reconciled there were feelings that had
to be dealt with
then the fight could be a good thing if
it becomes a conversation instead of a
fight so it's a very interesting
strategy
that you interrupt the fight to have a
hug
interrupt the fight
to touch your hand
and that energy that's exchanged and
that affection
deflects an enormous amount of what was
driving that fight enables a person to
say
you know the five or five rule
shared it in joshua before
if it won't matter
in five years then don't spend more than
five minutes on it
if it won't matter in five years don't
spend more than five minutes
spend five minutes something frustrated
you annoyed you
about the shul the school the community
the airline the department store the
traffic
your spouse
you could spend five minutes
but if it won't matter in five years
don't spend more than five minutes it's
a philosophy an approach to life it's
not my own i forgot who said it so
what the what the affection does is
it reconnects you and reminds you
that the fight won't matter in five
minutes we'll figure it out
but the marriage is strong and there's
affection underneath it why am i telling
you this because it's a good strategy
first of all
[Music]
but also
because i think we could do the same
thing
we could do the same thing with hashem
we have a relationship with hashem we
know he's a creator we know he's our
source we know he's in charge of
everything we know he created the world
we know we're accountable to him we know
he loves us we love him we know all of
that
sometimes there's some tension sometimes
we don't feel it sometimes we don't feel
him sometimes we feel he's hiding
sometimes there's no affection
sometimes we're in a period of cotness
of smallness sometimes we're feeling
brokenness
so you got to reach out and give him a
hug
reach out and touch his hand
interrupt that tension that distance
interrupt that brokenness with oh yeah
you love me and i love you and we're
connected and you are the source of
everything in my life
and and i'm going to come out of this
life is a cycle there's highs and lows
there's ups and downs and i'm going to
come out of this so how do you reach out
and touch hashem how do you give him
that hug how do you hold that hand how
do you show that affection how do you
break out
attempt to stop here because we're
almost out of time we'll do two more
minutes
i don't want to leave you with a
cliffhanger
without
you have to be willing to be mostly
nephesh relationship takes
effort sacrifice compromise courage
you have to find him from the brokenness
and the smallness commercial
um
you will search
a searcher and a seeker and you'll look
for him from that place will be cashed
in from where
mesham
what sham
what's up
in the descent
in the fall in the dungeon in the dark
damp
underground hole
from sham
um
you'll find him
you'll find him you'll seek him and
you'll see him and you'll find him in
that place
you break out by talking to him you
break out by looking for him
the fact that he feels far away and
hidden
is not an excuse to stop looking
it means you have to look harder it
means you have to search harder
it means you have to search harder
i heard a story i don't know if it's
true who's the owner of the cowboys
i'm talking to the wrong crowd
offense no offense they don't here
anyone want to impress me right now the
dallas cowboys i forgot his name who
owns the dallas cowboys he made his
money off of discovering oil
texas i got i heard this story i don't
know if it's true
so um
so
how did he discover oil
so he didn't drill in places that hadn't
been drilled
his secret strategy his business
approach
was companies that were digging for oil
and they dug and they didn't find oil
and they gave up and they moved down to
a new location
he would buy the rights to dig in that
place
that doesn't sound like a winning
strategy to me companies who specialize
who dug and didn't find why would you
buy the right stafka specifically to
those places
and he dug and he found and he said
because those companies
they had a certain formula if they
invest x amount of money x amount of
time to dig x amount of depth and they
don't find they move on
he said but i knew
that there was a reason they chose that
spot
and all i needed to do was do what
dig a little deeper and if you dig a
little deeper
you walk away with tremendous wealth
in life sometimes you just need to dig a
little deeper you have to be willing to
dig a little deeper
so are we willing to dig a little deeper
if we want religion and spirituality to
come to us
it's going to be hard it's going to be
hard i was interviewed for the headlines
podcast this week about fila
and
i think the first question that was
asked you know what could we be doing
differently or better to get more
connected to daviding and the first
thing i said was taking achara's taking
responsibility
you know we come as spectators
as religious spectators to religion i'm
here in shul
wow me
turn me on excite me
elevate me inspire me
rabbi hazen choir people sitting near me
come on and then we leave and we say you
know i wasn't inspired shul doesn't do
it this minion doesn't do it this rabbi
doesn't do it nothing does it
but what a harass do we take
if we are committed and invested and we
take responsibility for our own
spirituality
you could be in the most uninspiring
environment and you will be
elevated
and if you
and if you are turned off and
disconnected
you can be in the most inspiring
environment you'll feel nothing
so of course it all contributes and we
spend all of our life trying to make it
an inspiring environment
but it begins with taking acrys
you could hire the nutritionist and the
exercise coach and the trainer
and uh
but if you don't take achara's
it's not going to help taking
responsibility we have to be willing to
dig deeper we have to be seekers and
searchers we have to be on a mission
that we're looking for god
are we looking for him are we talking to
him are we in conversation with him do
we feel him
sometimes he's readily right in front of
our face we don't have to look very far
other times he's playing hide and seek
and those are the moments of truth how
much are we willing to look
but we don't take achara's i mean this
is a general problem and phenomena 21st
century that everything comes to us so
conveniently comfortably and smoothly
and easily it's about disposable i don't
like my car i get a new one i upgrade my
phone i upgrade my technology i google
and i get my answers i don't like
something i turn it in or i go to
somewhere else or something else
people can change anything they want
today
even the world is telling them they can
change their core identity in certain
ways everyone just wants to be able to
transfer and transform and change and
get whatever they want easily
you can't pay for spiritual surgery
spiritually it doesn't work that way
spiritually you can't pay
to get you know
whatever surgery to change your
spiritual identity i want to be an
inspired person where can i pay someone
where can i pay someone to change my
spiritual identity
my spiritual orientation so i can just
be that person
got to dig deeper you got to take a
christmas we got to take ownership over
it
are we searching are we seeking are we
looking what are we doing how are we
invested
what are we willing to give up how are
we willing to inconvenience ourselves
how are we willing to leave our comfort
zone
if we believe it's worthwhile
if you believe it's not worthwhile and
you don't believe it's expected of you
then don't do it but if we believe it's
worthwhile if we believe it's meaningful
and purposeful if we believe it's what
life is all about if we believe it's
what's good for our spiritual emotional
physical health
good you say that
so what are we willing to do for it
do we want to want it or do we want it
do we want it what are we willing to put
into it to get something out of dominic
to have a relationship with the shepherd
to be in conversation with him what are
we willing to put in do we allocate the
time the energy the resources the
attention the focus
or do we want it to come to us we want
to be passive spectators
just wake up and all of a sudden we're
plugged in
and everything is amazing
it doesn't work that way
it takes work and it takes effort
you know what it's called
avodah's hashem
what is the word avodah mean
work it's called avodah
the word avodah for a reason
no pain no gain
takes work
it's like i want to wake up at the gym
like why aren't my muscles bigger why
haven't i lost weight why isn't my heart
healthier
you haven't touched a machine you're
sitting in the corner watching as a
spectator
everyone else work out the train is
barking orders at you
but you're sitting on a chair watching
the workout and you're wondering why
aren't i healthier why aren't i bigger
and stronger and better hey buddy hey
lady get on a treadmill touch a weight
break a sweat
no pain no gains you don't take achara's
nothing's going to change
so do we lean in are we willing to lean
in the pace to search and to seek to mix
it up and i'll end by telling you some
of you were there thank you for coming
some of you were there i have no idea
because it was pitch black
but last thursday night we met at the
beach for us both of us at the beach to
talk about mixing it up
it was fantastic one of you i won't say
you had one embarrassed changed your
life
it's incredibly rewarding for me to hear
you walked away from that maybe first
authentic conversation with hashem in
such a deep and profound way
one of you who spent
several years i won't say many several
years dominating and learning and
talking to hashem said it changed your
life
one of you is sitting here naturally it
changed your life it's unbelievable
darwining's not always from that same
sitter it's not always in that same seat
and shul it's not within that same space
in our home mix it up
close the sitter just talked it we went
to the beach last thursday night i
thought it was going to be me myself and
i i thought it was going to be hispotus
but there were over 50 people who showed
up
and we sat in a big circle in the sand
in the suit and tie in the sand
i thought no one was gonna show up
i was just gonna turn around and go home
but in the sand and we sang
and then we did some very cheesy
breathing deep breathing we restored on
the shama shima
and then we listened to the waves and
the chirps and we tried to feel but
there was no breeze because it's bokeh
in
august of them
and then we learned the piece by rab
nachman about his bow to this what it
means to have a conversation with hashem
and then we scattered along the beach
and we sat there
we just looked out into the endless
ocean
and listened and watched the waves crash
at our feet
and close their eyes or left them open
but had a conversation with hashem out
loud talk to him
what we object what we protest
what we need what we ask what we're
grateful for what we thank him for
it was amazing it was amazing
i was done and i'm like okay i think i'm
good
and then i looked around everyone was
still there so i was like i i can't
leave yet
i suppose the leader
okay a couple more minutes of this and
i'm like okay i'm good i looked around
and everyone was still there
and it was just a beautiful sight to see
people spread out privately
and some leaning against poles sang
there to hillam and some finding their
feet in the ocean and some that was just
amazing now if we do that every single
night will it grow old and sale
absolutely some people were like let's
do this once a month i'm that might even
that might be too often and we don't
have to do it all together the idea is
to suppose this separate do it apart
we got to have real conversations we got
to search and seek we got to look for
him he's hiding and he's inviting us
so
the upshot is that even in those moments
sometimes we feel down and out in
despair in the dark dungeon sometimes we
feel we're in that whole underground
build a foundation
while you're down there build a
foundation that you can build a huge
spiritual skyscraper to sprout from the
sky
get off the chair in the corner of the
spiritual gym and get on a machine
get on a machine
lift some weights do some cardio
put on the spiritual workout clothing
that tells you
i'm going to break a sweat i'm going to
get in the game i'm going to look i'm
going to search i'm going to take a
christ responsibility for my own
spirituality i'm not going to wait to be
inspired i'm going to find it and seek
it and search it
know jerry jones thank you bailey smith
online jerry jones owns the dallas
campus dig a little deeper dig a little
deeper thank you dig a little deeper
because you strike spiritual oil if you
dig a little bit deeper everyone else is
going to give up at the surface everyone
else only dug a little bit
dig a little bit deeper a little dig a
little bit deeper and the mitsubishi
to strike spiritual oil and wealth and
riches that we should spend more time in
the period of godless than katniss more
time in the highs than the lows
and be able to meet hashem hashem each
and every day in our life
stay happy stay healthy stay holy
tonight
is a very big milestone i hope your
calendars are all marked i'm sure they
are
tonight's a huge celebration of the
jewish people you know what tonight is
in the calendar
tonight is the 100th episode of behind
the bema
good count thank you very much thank you
thank you
anyway we're going to celebrate tonight
with the great eitan cats by the way
this is you talk about wanting to be
inspired we will talk to him about
the soul of his songs and being
connected
one of the questions i ask him
is when he plays at a concert at a
simcha is he just playing the music
because he's hired to perform or does he
really feel the manha every time he
plays it does he feel barache every time
he plays it how do you not make it be
wrote how do you stay connected to the
music
what is the role of music and stirring
our soul talk about music
i don't know what nacho would say about
listening to music while you sit alone
on the beach trying to talk to hashem
but music for me
sometimes music can move you to tears
music makes you move your feet clap your
hands
music changes the whole attitude
environment and energy
music can wake up a sleeping soul
it's the power of music tonight
9 p.m behind the bema you can share we
have an email and a phone number
but
i think behind the beam gmail.com if you
have a favorite episode or favorite
guest or a favorite moment we're gonna
share everybody's favorite moments
tonight so we'll read it with your name
or without if you'd like to share it
tonight behind the beam until next time
stay happy stay healthy stay holy you
can go get your
ammuna stuff
in the lobby
have a fantastic day everyone
thank you