Pesach: Pedaling out of Egypt - Rabbi Yitzchak Botton

[Music] there is in the Kish we talk about the journeys of the Jewish people and uh what is the idea of our journey so the concept that we are still on our journey we haven't reached the Final Destination so there are two parts to our journey if we look at the at the traveling in the desert so God would tell us when to travel and where to travel really God initiated our traveling but there's another type of Journey that we must make a journey that we initiate and this concept of of of God initiating our journey and US initiating our own Journey point at the idea that that we talk about spiritually that there are two tracks to Divine service one where we are empowered from above and the other where we initiate from Below and it's these two channels these two types of energy that we have to work with which give us the the whole the whole uh Encompass our all of our aod why is it important to appreciate these two because this is exactly what going out of Egypt is all about God originally took us out of Egypt he initiated he came from above we were not even worthy and we certainly were not ready and he showered us shower showered us he showed us great mirac mirales and he took us out of Egypt and it was all him the great love that he showed us but then afterwards he said okay now it's your turn let's see what you're made of we can appreciate this concept of being taken out of Egypt but then it's our job to now follow up and work hard to spiritually climb very nice mush with a child and a father and of course you know learning how to ride a bicycle take a young child five or six years old so what does the father want let's say with my son I want him to ride a bike but he's not ready to ride a bike yet so if I sit and wait until he's ready to ride a bike all on his own I'll be waiting forever till he can pick up a bike and get on a ride he needs to become acquainted with riding a bike so what do I do I have a very nice plan I take a bike and I put him on the bike and I hold him in the bike and of course I I you know hopefully I don't fall because if I fall he falls but I take him and I and I'm doing everything for him and he's like all excited you know and smiling I have some video of it I'll maybe Afters I'll show it to you and we're going and I'm tripping and almost tripping and and he's excited he's riding the bike and his I don't even know if he's like you know when he's really when they're really young they don't even know how to even use the pedals yet so it's like wow great you know when they little they use the pedals now who's riding that bike my son isn't I'm the one doing it for him but you know what it's once he gets used to being on the bike and he gets comfortable moving on the bike so at some point he also gets get involved in in riding the bike so a little bit further along in the training you know getting ready for the bike Olympics you know the the uh pre-adolescent whatever you know the prear Mitzvah bike Olympics so at some point I'm pushing him along with the bike and he's pedaling and he's excited and I let go for a few seconds but I I don't want him to fall so I let go but only I know I let go and I'm I'm still running with him and I'm you know I mean actually I should teach my next you know hopefully God will send me another son I'll teach him how to ride a bike because I can use the exercise to be honest with you you know we it was good exercise back then anyway he starts riding the bike himself and he's doing it so now I know he could do it he and he doesn't know yet so what do I obviously I let him go and he's riding and as soon as he realizes he's riding he looks back and gets nervous and Falls but you know he gets back up and we do it again and he's before you know it he's able to ride but he can't pick up the bike and ride on his own so can he really ride yes no maybe so he can only ride if I put him on the bike and I get him started and once we're going I let go and he can ride that's what we're talking about that's what God did for us in Egypt he took us out of Egypt because we would never been able to get out on our own we could not start this on our own it's was too hard but once we are rolling then we can continue and that's the idea of of God empowering us from above but at some point you ready for your child to go on the bike on his own so he has to now pick up the bike and start on his own and ride and he will eventually do that and but what got him to that point where he could run on his own of course if if I didn't start with him in the beginning he would never be able to pick up the bike and ride on his own obviously he's much much older so even when he picks up the bike and rides on his own it's also because I helped him and that's what we have to understand now that God hides himself from us in a Time of Exile and it's like he doesn't he's not there and we have to pick up the bike oursel and we have to get on and climb and and it's hard and we're fortunately lazy at least I'm lazy sometimes you know it's not really my fault I have bad metabolism but basically it's it's tough there are days we don't want to get up and there's no voice from Hashem you know my son I love you so much now get up no we don't have that we have to push ourselves but even though that pushing of ourselves it's borrowing off of the original help we got in the beginning so we're always dependent on Hashem for what we do but God specifically wants to see what we're made of we have to get up on our own and we have to fight forward and the accomplish that the accomplishments that we ultimately make in this time of Exile when God is not here not revealed we don't see Miracles that is the true accomplishment that that becomes our own accomplishment as much as we can accomplish on our own and that's what ultimately will bring the Messiah it's the darkest darkest right before the dawn and we are in that period of time right now we are in the darkest part of the night and it's our it's when the truth comes out because in this period of time in America it's there's so many bright lights but it's so dark it's so dark in America so much garbage excuse I don't want to insult to all you Americans I'm also American there's so much negativity it's so easy to give up it's so easy like that guy said in that movie The Matrix it's so easy to just have a stake and relax and enjoy actually these days you can go to all you can eat steakhous and just never stop eating the steak but and it's funny with the freedom we have in America that's the ultimate test because if everyone has the freedom to give up on on religion on spirituality and it's specifically now with all that freedom that people are not willing to let go did you ever see a a people that the children are more are more traditional than the than the grandparents that's what we see today because the soul doesn't die soul will not die it might fall asleep it might become even unfortunately there are people out there they like spiritually crippled but they never die and we seeing now one by one people are waking up people are coming back to the religion and we're coming on this is it this is the darkest moment right before the dawn this is also part of the idea the the idea of doing chuva is also where where do you think a person all of a sudden snap can do chuva the idea of doing chuva of of of waking up to a reality that you've been asleep to all your life is something that's really Beyond you now when we say that a person is is trapped in Egypt so that's true oh but not completely there's an aspect within a person there's the essence of every Jew we're talking about the literal the essence of his Soul it's called a part of of the Divine that aspect of a person never gets trapped in Egypt that part of a person is always free uh the balov says a beautiful idea he says that based on a mishna in per every day there's a Heavenly voice that calls out to us to wake us up to bring us to bring us back on the right path anybody here heard it if anyone says yes I'm going to be worried but anybody heard it you know I I ever tell you one time I was late at night I was out on the street and I saw a bright light I thought it was a sign from Heaven it was a police guy FL saying hey you wake up just kidding that essence of our soul that's that's part of us is always awake and that's what will that that's what brings the person back to chuva in many cases it's that part of his soul that wakes him up and that part never never goes to sleep the essence of the Soul within so it's only externally that we become uh you know alienated from Judaism but inside our can never never be separated from Hashem and that's the secret to the idea of doing chuva which we see today I like to compare it to interesting you know if you imagine one of these the fancy highways you have eight seven eight nine 10 lanes of cars just flying in One Direction would if we were driving would you decide to take your car stop it and turn it around and go the other way with thousands of cars all going in One Direction anybody would do such a thing so then let me ask you how did you get here how did you get here we were all racing racing somewhere else nobody none of us five years ago three years ago eight years ago 10 years ago were racing to the Bas medish the synagogue none of us were racing to the you know the bookstore to buy the next uh the newest Jewish book on prayer or on or on on the Milla no we were racing everywhere else so how do we get here somehow we did in a about faith and where did the power where did the energy come from that to get to that about face so that's beyond us because again a child is not more traditional than his Grand grandparents that's from the the essence of our being inside God wakes us up the PK says I am asleep but although I'm asleep my heart is still awake the in the heart of hearts of a person we're awake and it's from there that we can be brought back and and that's really where we get all of our K to continue in this dark dark times you know you know the greatest rabbis that ever ever lived the earlier Generations in the Z I think RAB Shimon even it they they looked at our generation and said we don't want to be there in such a time of Darkness corruption we don't we don't want to be in the in the end of days but look look who was chosen to be here in the end of days they're filling up the the the the the shivas we're all coming from you know it's the the return of the Exiles we're coming from all over the place and we're filling up the yeshivas people that up on everything but Torah and we're here that's what it means that every person must see himself as if he went out of Egypt because that's what we're here to do we're here to wake up from this false reality in front of us and turn to the truth and the truth is really within many of us we we can feel it inside that's the Nish inside anyway I don't want to drag on to Too Much with that point but that's essentially all what I think is connected with uh especially this day and age we're going we're going to come to do the Seder in another couple of weeks and we have to appreciate that it's not just we're not just a rehe it's a rehearsal or a play stage it's real we really are commemorating what happened 3,000 years ago and it's really happening and it will be happening that night and it's an opportunity to to resolve to be better to go forward and to help your fellow because there are many people that are still not really awake yet they're still stuck in the sleep you know and we have to help our fellow that's still a little bit sleeping still a little bit lost we have to help bring them back you know there's a famous idea from the laich rebi you know there's the four four children the four questions they're Wicked they're wise the one that's not so doesn't know how to ask so he says as a fifth a fifth child I'm sure you've heard this before where's this fifth child he's not even at the Seder so we have to try to find even him and bring him back everybody [Music]