Rabbi YY Jacobson: My Greatest Speech, Ever! Follow BJX for more classes and inspiration.

i once read a beautiful beautiful quote in the name of professor albert einstein the great jewish scientist and physicist who revolutionized our understanding of the physical universe and when time magazine had to choose the man of the century in y2k in the year 2000 in other words the person who perhaps had the greatest or one of the greatest impacts on human civilization between 1900 and 2000 the question is who to choose and i saw that they had a dilemma between two people adolf hitler and albert einstein and it was fascinating for me because it was basically a dilemma between two people one person who was the greatest jew hater in history and whose life was obsessed obsessed with jews and trying to eliminate the jewish people god forbid and the other choice was a jew himself both came from the same country vienna a jew himself albert einstein i'm thankful that they chose einstein somebody who brought healing to the world awareness to the world so much scientific discovery to the world rather than the other one who brought so much blood and pain and violence to the world so einstein died in 1954 but his ideas as you know have impacted and have tremendous profound impacts i saw this quote in his name and i wanted to begin with this quote when something vibrates the electrons of the entire universe resonate with it everything is connected the greatest tragedy of human existence is the illusion of separateness the greatest tragedy of human existence is the illusion of separateness i love this line so deeply because what he was stating from a scientific perspective is one of the core messages of judaism for thousands of years a human being experiences himself his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest a kind of optical delusion of consciousness this delusion is a kind of prison for us reflect restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty our separation from each other is an optical illusion and this is i think the first point that is so important to address especially today it begins with ourselves it spreads to our families our communities our friends ultimately to our people and ultimately to all of humanity and the entire world we have a term for it it's called ahavas israel loving your fellow jew the unity of the jewish people it begins inside of myself it begins with the ability of discovering the harmony inside of my own psyche the harmony between my brain and my heart between my mind my body and my soul the harmony between my drives my impulses my dispositions my characteristics my cravings my impulses my sensations my emotions the harmony between the different parts of my brain we all know we don't have one part we have so many different parts and they often have so many different messages and paradoxical messages today we have the god-given opportunity to be able to cast light on all of our parts and thus to bring them into very profound harmony not to live dichotomized lives and to allow the paradoxes in our psyche not to scatter us and not to fragment us and to shatter us into a million pieces but rather to serve as a catalyst to be able to bring in a far deeper sense of oneness in which all of them can be seen as playing an indispensable part in the progressiveness of human life to achieve the true wholeness and unity that we crave when we can begin to do that in ourselves we can do that in our families in our communities with our friends unity is the true reality of who we are i once quoted a teaching from one of the great hasidic masters known as was the third rebbe the third laboratory he was born in the year 1789 and he passed away in the year 18 and he has a line in one of his discourses i'm paraphrasing it but the idea is his he asks what's the difference between children and adults why is it that children don't keep grudges you know how many times does your child say to you you're not my mommy anymore i don't like you tati i'm not giving you a part of my birthday cake how many times do children get into a fight with each other but 10 minutes later 20 minutes later it's all over adults keep crutches we keep grudges for months sometimes for years sometimes for decades you tell somebody i'm never talking to you again and 15 years later you still won't invite him to your daughter's wedding you will still want sacred shabbos to him in the synagogue we would think that adults are supposed to be more mature than children we should let go of grudges but it doesn't work that way but it says the difference is as follows adults often choose being right over being happy children choose being happy over being right as children we want to be happy more than we want to be right as adults it's sometimes more important for us to be right and to be happy sometimes i tell myself i'd rather be miserable but i'm gonna be right for me to say i'm sorry for me to pick up a phone and apologize for me to meet you face to face and try to create reconciliation might result in you thinking that you were right and i was wrong oh no no no no no i will maintain the strife i will maintain the fight but the main thing is i should be right even if that means that i am miserable in life we all have to answer the question do you want to be right or do you want to be happy are you ready to go back to your innocent child-like playful part and say you know what i don't need to be right i want to be happy and from this consciousness extends to all of our people we live in a time where we cannot afford anymore to be a fragmented community yes the jewish people are not a people that agree with each other about everything we have many disagreements what do they say three jews 19 opinions we don't have the same mindset people come from different backgrounds and different affiliations and different persuasions each of us has his or her own disposition and nature and we disagree with each other but you know what that's not a problem just like in a marriage what destroys a marriage is not that a husband and wife have different opinions have different perspectives on the contrary the fact that you have a different opinion allows me to expand my horizons allows me to think about things in a different way gives me an experience of a different person disagreements don't have to impoverish us and turn us into enemies the whole culture of jewish scholarship anyone who's ever studied even one page of talmud or mishnah knows that it's literally saturated every page of the thousand pages of talmud is filled with debates and disputes and arguments and different opinions the greatest of the sages for hundreds of years argued about everything almost everything but you know what the argument did not create hatred and suspicion and negative energy on the contrary everyone was striving to find the truth and that's why the talmud has a beautiful statement in a reverend page 13. both opinions even though they're opposing both are the words of the living god because when your arguments are for the sake of heaven for the sake of truth so then every one of us is conveying a perspective that may have a spark of truth what destroys us as a people is when we can't communicate any longer when we can't support each other when we're not here for each other when i undermine you or you undermine me when you don't feel that i got your back a thousand percent when i don't feel you got my back a thousand percent you know one of the oldest trees in history my friends if you go to san francisco area you'll find there the sequoias the redwoods those trees have been around for 3 000 some of them 3 500 and some of them close to 4 millennia it's amazing you're looking at a tree that has been around during the times of moses and aaron you're looking at trees that have been around when joseph came down to egypt maybe trees that have been around during the time of our patriarchs abraham or isaac or jacob or his children you look at these trees and scientists wonder what is the secret of the longevity of these trees how did they manage not only to survive but to thrive with all of the possible hazards that exist in nature the forest fires in california i think actually are good for the sequoia trees but with all of the infections and the fungus and the bacterias and the weeds and the animals and storms how does a tree weather all the storms and still growing strong three and a half thousand years later what is the secret they naturally thought that the roots of the sequoias must run very very deep and it's through deep roots that ensure the longevity of these trees how astounded they were a number of years ago when they developed the technology to look at the subterranean secrets of these trees and they realized that the roots of the sequoias are often very shallow sometimes only four or five feet deep what is going on how can roots that are only a few feet deep be so powerful to be able to ensure the eternity for these trees over thousands of years and then they discover the secret what these trees lack in depth they make up in width let me explain this to you as the roots of the sequoia start extending under the earth to find their nutrients to be able to find their sources of water to be able to give all the energy and vitality for the tree to grow and to live these roots encounter roots of other sequoia trees and when they encounter the roots of the other sequoia trees you know what they do it's a magnificent magnificent and splendid brilliant move in nature in the world that god designed the roots interlock with each other and they do this with all of the sequoias that they encounter under the earth you can have sometimes dozens maybe a hundred sequoia trees above the earth each one is distinct each tree has its own personality its own design its own shape its own flavor its own taste its own unique composition and its genetic makeup under the earth you can have 50 or 100 trees interlocked and laced interconnected with each other all the storms in the world can maybe destroy one tree or two trees or three trees but will you have so many trees interlocked with each other like one under the earth nobody could destroy them and when i read this the first time i'm like we are the sequoias of history the bible says the human being is compared to the tree in the field prophet isaiah says you may have himayami the days of my people are like the days of the tree now we understand which tree the redwood what the trees represent in the world of botany the jewish people represent in the world of humanity and the question is what allowed us to survive almost 4 000 years through thick and thin through the best of times and the worst of times there's not a century where somebody or many empires did not rise up with the ambition to heaven forbid annihilate the seed of israel i don't know if you know this but in terms of archaeology if i'm not mistaking the oldest reference that we have to the jewish people in the world of archaeology outside of course of the torah is from a tablet in egypt where it was engraved the seed of israel is dead you understand that the first mention of the jewish people in archaeology the first mention is an obituary for the jewish people a tombstone the seat of israel is dead and yet millennia later the question is where are the pharaohs where is the egyptian empire where is that syrian empire where's the greek empire babylonian empire persian empire the roman empire byzantine where are they they're in the dustbin of history they're in wikipedia you can edit them on wikipedia we're the jewish people we created wikipedia and google and facebook and instagram and telegram and whatsapp and twitter and even ways we didn't only survive we thrived what's the secret to the sequoias of humanity and the answer is look at the sequoias of nature above the earth each tree is distinct below the earth all the trees are one when we are one when we remain connected when we remain loyal to each other supportive of each other this does not mean we obliterate all of our differences and all of our personalities distinctions and our distinctiveness above the earth you are you and i am i he is he and she is she but under the earth meaning on a deeper soul level we must remember that our separateness is an illusion it's an illusion of an external way of looking at the world which is just a way to cope because of our brokenness but we can do much better we're more powerful than that what i mean in a very practical level is we need to approve from our psyches from our communities from our cultures every last vestige of hate and negativity and strife and quarreling with each other and undermining with either undermining each other back to marriage the worst thing that a couple could do to each other is undermine each other when there's a lack of trust when there's a lack of loyalty when i feel that you disagreeing with me is an act of betrayal you don't like me you hate me if the disagreements could be with respect if our arguments can be with respect and with love and with support everything changes if you look at the book of genesis in the hebrew bible you'll see it's essentially a book about sibling rivalry but it progresses the first two brothers kill each other cain and abel are the children of adam and eva what's the end of the story they don't get along so cayenne murders heaven that's the beginning of civilization the first family is also the first story of murder and hate the first family they just had two children and one is dead and kind says those three frame is worth hashem am i my brothers keeper am i responsible my brother god says where's your brother a heaven not my problem what do i know about my brother the stories continue becomes a little better but not there yet noah has three sons shame khamiyathas one of them ends up degrading his father defaming his father and being cursed by his father it continues abraham has two sons isaac and ishmael one of them ends up being expelled from the home of abraham and sarah we can't respect his brother isaac god tells abraham whatever sarah says listen to her it's time for ishmael to leave the next generation isaac has two sons jacob and esau jacob buys the birthright from esau he takes the blessings that isaac wanted to give esau and he takes them esa wants to kill him jacob runs away more than two decades later the brothers meet they kiss each other they cry on each other's necks but then they separate and in the next generation you have joseph on his brothers the brothers are jealous of joseph they try to kill him they throw him into a sister they sell him into slavery 22 years later they meet again joseph reveals his identity he embraces them he comforts them he tells them you didn't sell me god sent me he ultimately brings them to egypt and he allows them to live in comfort and prosperity even after his father passes away joseph is the prime minister of egypt his brothers live in goshen in the jewish district of egypt that he designated for them he dies and they pass away and there is reconciliation in the family so look how genesis begins it begins with one brother not getting along with another brother and killing him but it progresses and then each generation becomes a little better and at the end joseph and his brothers reconcile and then you can come to the book of exodus where moses and aaron are two brothers not only do they get along with each other not only they love each other but they actually work together they both become the ambassadors of god to liberate the jewish slaves to make them an emancipated people god's people to change the world and light of the world so it's almost like the story of genesis is the prelude if you want to become a people and you want to change the world you have to learn how to get along with each other and look at the difference cayenne the first brother in jew in history says am i my brother's keeper joseph with whom genesis concludes his story the last verse the second half of genesis about joseph he's the hero of the second half of genesis and the last verse of genesis is about joseph's death at the 800 age of 110 and he's placed in a casket in egypt and he's looking for his brothers and he's lost and a man meets him and says what are you searching for matavakesh and he says four words i'm searching for my brothers you see the difference friends cain said am i my brother's keeper joseph said i'm searching for my brothers and that's all the difference can we go from a place of am i my brother's keeper i got my own problems do i worry about my brother to joseph's statement searching for my brothers i want to be close to my brothers i want to be a support for my brothers i want to be here for my brother and for my sisters friends you cannot afford strife and separation and i'm only talking about malicious strife negative strife where i'm harming you and you're harming me i'm talking about even the cold wars that often exist in our people in our culture the lack of warmth the lack of love the lack of appreciation lack of respect the lack of my or our ability to celebrate each other to forgive each other to enjoy each other to really really deeply go into that space of largeness of oneness of godless of greatness where we are all connected and no it does not mean that we're not allowed to have disagreements and it does not mean that we have different paths and we have different tastes and we have different flavors but it does mean we got to get rid of the hatred and the negativity and the jealousy and the undermining and the lack of trust and the feeling that i will win when you lose and you will win when i lose the truth is for me to win you need a win and for you to win i need a win imagine a husband who thinks you know if i can get my wife to lose the argument every time that i'll finally feel good with myself if your spouse loses you also lost for you to win your spouse needs to win so what happens in our personal lives and in our family lives in our communities ultimately spreads to all of our people and ultimately spreads to all of humanity all of humanity receives so much from the state of the jewish people when we are truly one we teach the world how to be one we become ambassadors of love ambassadors of oneness there is a second message today there's a mishna a beautiful teaching in the ethics of the father's chapter 2. one of the greatest sages in jewish history was a man named and the mishna says he had five students he had five students and who are you he would count their praises the first one was eliezer known as rabeliezer the son of hercules known as rebelies of the great and him he said about him he's like a cistern a plastered sister that doesn't lose a trap everything that goes into him he retains and he goes through the other four students he is and the question is there were hundreds of sages hundreds of sages in the time of the second temple and post a second temple they authored the mission and they authored the talmud we never find this behavior of a teacher counting the praises of his students why him why only him i mean it's a beautiful thing to compliment people and count their praises but it's only recorded about him i'm sure other teachers complimented their students as well that's what teachers good teachers do but the mission says it about him and one of the explanations friends is this he was a unique individual stationed at a unique moment in history you see he was the leader of the jewish people during the roman destruction of the second temple on the ninth day of the roman oppression of the jewish people during the end of the second temple era is well documented and then came the revolt of 66 rubio and zaka himself opposed the jews revolting against rome he felt that this was not a battle that they would be able to win and they had to work things out with rome but the revolt happened and full war ensued and in the year 68 after the common era some say 69 some say 70. rome finally breached the walls of jerusalem defeated the jewish people decimated our nation destroyed the holy temple it went up in flames on the ninth day of tish above which we mourn and grieve every single year since so many jews were murdered many were sold into slavery in rome and other countries and cities in europe the jewish sovereignty and independence came to an end jerusalem ultimately would be leveled the temple mount the harabayat would also be leveled and i think a generation later or two would be lowered a thousand feet that's why it doesn't even look like a mountain today more like a elevated platform with damascus above the western wall and who was the leader of the jewish people the spiritual leader the head of the sanhedrin that nasi was revived so he was really the bridge between the temple era and the post-temple era that's not a simple task he was the bridge between a time when the jewish people had their spiritual epicenter in jerusalem and the basa mitras with the holy temple when they had at least some level of political and military political independence at least to some degree even though at that point already in the end israel was under rome it's not like before that when the hashmanayam took away and liberated jerusalem from the greeks from the greek syrian empire but at this point it was under rome but now they were not anymore in their own native homeland they were exiled so many of them were lost some of the greatest sages 10 of the greatest sages were brutally sadistically murdered by the romans and rabbi benzaka was the man who felt responsible to make sure that jewish continuity continues and the jewish people continue to thrive and one of the ways he did that was by counting the praises of his students because he understood that in such a generation you cannot afford to lose any talent you cannot afford to squander any soul you cannot afford to lose any light and any potential of any of the students he didn't just count their praises to flatter them or to write a nice resume about them for a fundraiser or to get them a good job in a good position somewhere this was something much deeper he counted their praises so that they should be able to count on praises by counting their praises he let them see what he sees in them so that they should be able to see it in themselves he believed in them so that they could believe in themselves he was the true pedagogue the true master the true mentor to be able to help accentuate every virtue and every powerful quality in his students that they would be able to rise to their historical mandate and maximize their opportunity to continue to light up the jewish world these are vulnerable times these are times of transition when the world familiar to the jewish people was completely shattered when everyone was taken out of their comfort zone and so many lost their lives when everything that was so familiar and was the stabilizing factor in their lives was now eliminated and that's when people lose their footing they lose their grounding and you meet powerful people who will be able to inspire and enlighten and empower and motivate and at such a time you cannot afford to allow any one of your students and disciples any one of their talents to be squandered to be wasted i set an example of what has to be done at such a moment and i think today this is such a powerful message we live in a time where there is so much creativity and so much light in each one of our children's souls and each one of our young men and in each one of our young women every one of them is a gem of gems is an infinite manifestation of god's light but our task our role is count their praises let them see who they are put up a mirror to their faces to their soul so that when they look at you you should be able to show them who they are the greatest form of leadership and pedagogy and mentorship and parenting is when i can become a mirror for my students souls when i can become a mirror for my child souls that when my student is talking to me essentially he gets or she gets to know who they are says make sure they understand their strength believe in their strength see their strength don't only love them be proud of them help them be proud of themselves help them appreciate their infinite value help them see their pricelessness help each and every one of them understand that they are an indispensable note in the cosmic divine symphony or as the mishnah says in sanhedrin 38 every person is obligated to say the world was created for me friends isn't that a symptom of real narcissistic personality disorder i'll come home and tell my wife the world was created for me and then she'll say that all the world was created for me it's a great way of having a relationship right tell it to your partner in business you and the whole world was created for me really you need help narcissism is a real condition and it's a serious condition and the narcissist needs a lot of help the problem is he usually doesn't realize how narcissistic and broken he is the truth is this is a valuable insight it's one of the cornerstone jewels in judaism it's one of the crown jewels of judaism there is something at stake in your existence that the whole world needs yes for you the world was created in other words there's something that only you can complete in the world that nobody ever living before you and nobody ever living after you will be able to complete you constitute that unique note in the music that complements and completes our universe in an unprecedented way the day you were born is the day that god said the world is incomplete without you and i need you to cast your unique light on the world your music because your music is yours alone this is a calling to true responsibility and true leadership and this is not true about the great sages and the great rabbis and the great mentors and the great celebrities and the greatest talents they too but the mishna says it's about every person every single person every child every man every woman no matter your background no matter your age no matter the circumstances of your life no matter where you grew up and how you grow and no matter even if you endured serious challenges the truth of the matter is that if you can see yourself from a deeper place you will appreciate the truth there's something at stake in your existence that the whole world needs the greatest crime is when you underestimate your power when you stifle your personality when you snuff out your soul and you suppress your creativity when you engage in self-loathing and self-shame and instead of humility opening you up to the infinite gift of reality and of god's light and of your light my humility becomes a fake humility that just keeps me imprisoned and in shackles and deprives me from the ability to show up to life with my full splendor with my full joy with my full energy of my full love with my full enthusiasm friends we can't afford that anymore and every one of us is indispensable and if you don't see it this way you need to rediscover who you are take a better look in the minds it's true about every single one of our people and it's true about every single person in the world i have called them every person is an ambassador of god every human being has something to give to our world to give to themselves and to give to our world and there's another very important truth that we have to open ourselves up to today it's the truth of a world that's looking for ultimate healing and ultimate redemption and ultimate oneness you know when i look around and i meet people colleagues friends children students disciples and people from all traditions and all backgrounds and so many cultures jews and non-jews around the world and i see a common denominator humanity that is looking for oneness humanity that is looking for oneness with itself with god and with each other we have a word for this in judaism it's called redemptiveness we could live in a state of exile but we can open ourselves up to a new era we can already sense an energy of redemptive consciousness in the world what does this mean what it means is we have a unique opportunity today each and every single one of us to be able to bring in a new energy of love and oneness into the world our sages say the world for exile and the word for redemption are identical the word for exile is gola in hebrew the word for redemption is the same word with one difference aleph aleph is oneness the difference between exile and redemption is not only in the it's not always in the circumstances it's in the sense of oneness when i'm living in a state of exile i don't see the oneness that pervades everything and pervades my life when i'm living in a state of redemption i suddenly realize i am one we are one the world is one all my brokenness and fragmentation is only my perception even though it's real and it's powerful and it's been debilitating but the truth is you are absolutely one you're one with yourself you're one with the world you're one with god that is cool out today everyone is looking for us to be the ambassadors of redemption to teach the teachings of redemption to bring in the consciousness of oneness one is with ourselves one is with others one is with the world one is with god i love the line of max planck the father of uh one of the fathers of quantum physics nobel prize laureate who once said i paraphrase we used to think that consciousness is a derivative of matter today we know that matter is a derivative of consciousness in other words at the core of reality is consciousness we are all part of one justice we're all part of divine consciousness i saw another line somebody sent me from einstein concerning matter we have all been wrong what we have called matter is energy whose vibration has been so lowered as to be perceptible to the senses matter is spirit reduced to the point of visibility in other words all matter is really spiritual energy reduced condensed filtered to the point that we can perceive it with our eyes of flesh which is also spiritual energy i love these quotes because there's a quote that was written 250 years ago by one of the great masters of jewish spirituality rabbi schneiderman of lyadi the author of the tanya and he says and i quote almost verbatim in the gate of unity and faith he writes if our eyes were microscopic should lie in there as if our eyes would be given the permission to expand their ability to perceive reality if they had that spiritual microscopic ability we would see the truth all of matter is a manifestation of divine energy all of matter is a manifestation of divine energy that means to perceive the oneness in the entire universe the oneness in the world the oneness of the planet the oneness of the cosmos the oneness in my brain and my psyche the one is in my home the one is in my reality friends this is the age of healing this is the age of oneness the pain the anxiety the trauma the stress the dysfunction the mental anguish that so many of us are experiencing is a gift an invitation of our creator to cleanse ourselves to the best of our ability from toxicity i can't do it on my own i need a support system we need a support system we need to get rid of judgment we only need to become empathetic witnesses for ourselves and for each other we need to understand that this is the age of healing so that we should be able to experience intimacy the greatest obstacle to intimacy is when i'm imprisoned in my own cocoon in my own shell when i confuse my coping mechanisms with my essential self this is a time of redemption come out of your emotional and spiritual and psychological exile our coping mechanisms are like somebody once said it's like the shell of an egg an eggshell is very important to protect the chick but if it doesn't allow the chick to emerge it will suffocate it to death so we all have protective mechanisms coping mechanisms it's like the shell of an egg but there comes a time where i have to be able to allow my eggshell to crack if not i'll never be able to see the light of the sun it's in the poems of friday night of rabbi cup it's from safar in the 15th century he says arouse aroused rise up let your light shine utter a song the glory of god is revealed on you but for that i have to be able to with compassion crack open my shell and see the light of the sun the light of hashem the light of divine one is shining on me shining on you shining on us this is the time that we can welcome this energy in ourselves and in the world and here i come to my last point last point is we're all connected as i said earlier and we have today a unique responsibility we are a nation of 15 million 60 million year 6.6 or 6.7 million jews live in the holy land and the rest in the diaspora every one of us is connected to other people this is the time to inspire each other three and a half thousand years ago we stood at the feet of sinai and god gave us that priceless gift called torah and mitzvos we're called the people of the book we have lived by the book we have been inspired by the book that book has never let us down and we are here today because of that book that book that torah that guaranteed our survival and gave us a blueprint to live and the greatest blueprint was to stay together unity to be a sequoia that book never let us down our my your responsibility and privilege today is to share that torah with every single jew you can because it belongs to every one of us in an identical fashion that gift of torah and that gift to celebrate mitzvahs in our daily life which has kept us together and has kept us alive four thousand years it's the one thing that has accompanied the jewish people from the day we were accepted as a nation till today you always have to ask yourself what's the secret of our survival scientifically what's the secret and you have to look for something that has been with us throughout what is it it's not our country we love our country we have an eternal homeland but for most of our history we've been exiled sadly it's not a language it's not a culture it's not an army it's not a fortress what is it what is it that has been with us from day one till today and the answer is one thing the torah and the mitzvahs yiddish judaism jewish life jewish learning jewish observance celebration of jewish life in our day-to-day conduct in our homes in our communities in our schools give that to your children and help inspire every single jew with that gift because it belongs to everybody our nation was given this ingredient not only to survive to thrive and to change the world this is the time that every one of us needs to go out of our own cocoon and ask not what everybody what and ask not what the jewish people can do for you also ask what you can do for the jewish people what you can do for god what you can do for israel every one of us has influence in one way or another way on one person or ten people or in a thousand people or a hundred thousand people every one of us has influence bring in another jew bring him or her closer to his father in heaven give them the gift of yiddish god give them the gift of torah matrix be creative be resourceful you don't have to copy other people we have so much talent but get out there and do the job and you know what today we have also another mission maimonides says that the jewish people were given a mandate not just to influence each other but to influence the whole world to give all of humanity the gift of the seven noah hide laws those seven laws that god gave the children of noah to secure and ensure a good civilization you know what those seven dollar height laws is number one the first principle is that everyone should know that they have a relationship with god they were conceived in love they were conceived with a purpose god wants us to be good people nice to each other god wants us to build a compassionate and kind and good and moral universe that conviction you're not a mistake you're part of a purpose and you're responsible for your behavior that's principle number one of the seven o high laws principle number two is don't curse don't defame the god inside of you or the god inside of anybody else or the god of the universe which means respect the the beauty of each person because every person has created an image of god respect the creation and respect of the creator which means respect yourself respect your divine self number three never ever murder number four don't steal number five don't destroy the integrity of a marriage this is the sin against adultery marriages family life is sacred it needs to be respected number six respect for animals it's the particular prohibition against taking an animal eating a part of an animal when it's alive and number seven to create systems of justice in each and every community where these principles are educated and mentored are enforced this maimonides said every jew received from moses a commandment to influence all citizens of the world to live by these principles we the jewish people shouldn't only be in an isolated cocoon we have today the ability which we didn't have in thousands of years to become part of the moral conversation of mankind to become a voice for truth a voice for sinai a voice for morality a voice for integrity a voice for normalcy a voice for civilization for morality for goodness for kindness for truth let's seize the opportunity those are the points i want to share with you my dear friends number one this is the time for love and unity within yourself within your family your community within all of our people this is the time to really become one number two this is a time to empower yourself and empower others don't let your life be stifled you have something to contribute shine shine my brother shine my sister shine my child iris rise let your light shine and cast its glory out of the world number three this is the time that god is allowing us to feel the consciousness of redemptive oneness let's embrace it within ourselves and share it with others and number four this is the time when each and every one of us ought to become leaders and inspire our fellow brothers and sisters and ourselves to embrace the gift of torah and mitzvos in a deeper way in an ever increasing way and ultimately to influence all of humanity to be able to rise up to their historic mandate and embrace the seven of hide laws and as we say in the lane of prayer to repair the world real tikkun under the kingdom of god for the great moment when the true oneness of the universe and of humanity and of the jewish people the oneness of infinite oneness the oneness of divinity will be fully manifested in each of our lives and in the entire cosmos as the prophet isaiah says in chapter 11 that maimonides quotes it at the end of his magnum opus of jewish law the world shall be filled with divine awareness as the water covers the sea speedily in our days amen thank you i sincerely hope that you enjoyed this presentation i would like to ask all of you please if you haven't done so already please make a very gracious donation to bjx it is a wonderful organization that inspires jews our brothers and sisters throughout the world