Soul Map: David, Malchut - Humility & Transcendence - Jeremy Gimpel: The Land of Israel Fellowship

what we're going to go into right now which is the final section to this series we've been going over called the soul map and so i want to dive into the last session with the time that we have left and the soul map for those of you that are just catching up now it's been an exploration a commentary an understanding and a reading of the stories of the bible on the level of sod which means the hidden the secret the mystical levels of scripture many you can understand the bible on the basic simple level the shot the story level almost like a biography of the patriarchs and the prophets and the history of the jewish people um you can read the text on the level of remez where the stories of the torah are symbolic they're signs to something else they're hinting at a higher meaning stories could represent psychological truths spiritual realities uh the essences of the struggles of man remembers may also be prophetic understanding that the stories in the bible are actually a template of human behavior are prophetic maps of how history will unfold that's remez that's where it's symbolic and then you can read the text with the level of drosh where you enter into the 4 000 year archive of the understandings of the jewish people and the traditions and the midrashim and the stories and the backstories and the interpretations and the commentaries the midrash the talmud and the sages of israel and they add an entirely new dimension of understanding to the torah the last level is called means secret it's the hidden meaning of the text and the stories of the bible on that level represent our soul it's the map of understanding ourselves and in some ways it's the map to understanding god because god dwells within our hearts within our souls and so in this insane time when i was in and out of consciousness sleeping but not really sleeping and struggling i had a dream because so much of my mind is always around this series that in the morning i'm writing about it in the fellowship i'm teaching about it it occupies a big part of my mind and so when i'm asleep dreams come and i think that they're very much interrelated and i had this wild dream that i want to share with you because i think the dream here um is just a really deep uh teaching and so here's the story and how it goes this is as best as i could give it over so there was a young king who grew up removed from the people he was in the palace the kingdom was his and i'm articulating this as best as i can the dream was a little bit more fragmented and this is sort of me pulling it all together um the kingdom was his and everything was provided for him he was never challenged never in danger he was always protected he was given every luxury in the world every comfort to enjoy and although his people knew the king lived in the palace they never really saw the king and all of his kingdom was run by ministers and bureaucrats that were established before him the kingdom lived in peace no one had known war for centuries and that's just how life just like went on like that inside the palace the king had a lot of servants guards from day to day the king would tell the guards i want you to know i wasn't just born born into royalty but like i am royal in my own status i would i'm telling you i would be a great warrior i would i would have the spirit of the hero i would if i was just given the opportunity you would see i'm not just a spoiled king i could really do something with my life if i only saw that and then day after day would come and you know they would tell him you know okay king of course yes we love you it's okay but he would tell them no i've just given me the chance that my love for my people i would become so brave and courageous in the face of fear if it was only possible i would train and i would practice with the utmost discipline i would become the most skilled swordsman in the kingdom and every night the king was just dreaming about manifesting that idea and he's like oh i would just love to be a soldier on the front line i would sacrifice myself for others if there was like no food i would share the my food with my soldiers i would always put my soldiers needs ahead of my needs i would be the first to volunteer the soldiers would follow me into battle because they would trust me and if there were ever forces of evil that would rise up i would be the first to go out and defend them and you know he would be the most kind the most benevolent the most respected leader um not because of his rank as the king but just because of who he was his spirit if he was just given the chance to go down to his people he would show people his true identity and he was tormented with wanting to be that but being the king and being behind you know the palace doors and being provided everything that he had he couldn't really be those things so the guards and ministers they really loved the king entertained his fantasy paid the king lib service and that was kind of it in their hearts though they like they loved the king and they couldn't really imagine the spoiled pampered king as a courageous warrior living in harsh conditions and let alone sharing morsels of food when people are hungry as he's like dining at like the royal table but you know okay it's like one thing to be courageous and bold when you're protected by the palace guards but when you're out in the battlefield you know who knows what this king would be like um anyway the life just continued eventually the king was just obsessed obsessed with this fantasy every night he would be dreaming about living out this life of this hero every morning he would write his dreams down one evening the guards were asleep the king escaped the palace runs out into the forest he lived in the forest for years and in those years the king gave up all of the royal luxuries he learned to live with the bare necessities figured out how to live off the land surviving in the elements and eventually the king stopped being spoiled and he became tough finally the kingdom came up the search they're like all right our king is gone we'll never find him he's lost and they just assumed that the king was dead when the search team was finally retired the king grew a beard disguised himself was just a common man came back into the kingdom and joined the army he joined the army this now he's a new recruit no one knows who he is he's just some guy and the king began to train as a swordsman every day he rose before everyone else training long after everyone else had already retired day after day he became better and better and stronger and stronger and more skilled slowly it became known that this new recruit was the hardest working most disciplined soldier in the whole kingdom and with time he became the most skilled and revered swordsman when the neighboring king heard that the king had disappeared the king was left without a proper king he ordered his army to wage war against the kingdom plunder them and steal all their treasures now after centuries of peace the kingdom is under attack the swordsman was the first to volunteer he says i'm going out to the front lines so many people were inspired by him they followed him they volunteered to go as well the swordsman was called to lead the men now because he just showed his own natural leadership to the front lines and finally the king was actually living out what he wanted to be in the world and he's outside the borders of the kingdom and now the fighting for days the swordsman kept on waking up before everyone else kept on going to sleep after everyone else he took care of all of his soldiers just as he always dreamed about he participated in all the strategy sessions preparing for the next day of battle on the battlefield it was unmatched skill courage unseen by anyone for generations the supplies were running low just as he always wanted he always wanted to give when no one else had and when supplies were low he gave the food to the soldiers that were weaker than him that were more in need of him and he gave of himself to help the others the war lasted more than a year and by the end of the year the swordsman was so respected he had been promoted to become the general of the entire army everyone respected and loved the swordsman the war ended in the kingdom was saved from destruction the armies returned massive parades and celebration and the swordsman was given the ultimate honor he was lifted above all the other soldiers paraded through the kingdom the whole palace the entourage arrived the palace the swordsman stood at the podium to receive the honor he was like the general of the army that defended the kingdom and saved the day the ministers all of his people were around them and the swords and raised his hand quieted the crowd and he only said a few words said i am your king i left the palace and joined you my brothers and sisters because i wanted you to know who i am i wanted you to see that i was just a soldier in the kingdom i was a brother among brothers and today you know me as your king you can be a king too you can achieve greatness as well and the kingdom erupted in a plot and that's the end of the dream something like that i mean that was like embellished after i put it all together for you guys but that was the idea i mean five days of just tormenting in my own mind and so what is that story there's an ancient jewish question that ari brought up he said why did god create the world what is our purpose here because he wanted a dwelling place in the lower worlds in the physical world in this lower world at the rabbit and that story is the parable to understand god's purpose in creating man in jewish thought there are attributes of good divine virtues that cannot be manifest without this physical world without man how can there be courage in the world how could god express perseverance and discipline selflessness giving can only exist when there's scarcity and temptation for self-interest it's like for good to be fully revealed there has to be at least a possibility for evil and if there was only good and evil wasn't an option it just didn't exist i mean is it really a good act if you're acting good it's just it's what made it good what just if there's there's nothing virtuous there it's like well you would be doing what you do because that's what you do like an animal it's like no one says that a cheetah or a zebra or a raccoon or a snake is good they're just doing what raccoons do they're just acting within their range of instincts there's no choice there for them to choose between right or wrong and so according to the ancient biblical tradition the lower physical world when we're building that mishkan when we're building that tabernacle it was created in our hearts in order to manifest the highest divine virtues to be expressed and known and in that way when we express them we know ourselves but we also know god we know what those virtues are it's as if the light of our soul that we bring into the world through these divine virtues as you manifest those virtues you bring the light of your soul into world you bring the light of god into the world you become a person who lives by those virtues if you really live in that way your soul is fully revealed you become a reflection of godliness in the world and you probably become the most admirable human being and so i saw this video when i was sick it was very short but it really really spoke to me it's a video from the olympics a race and the olympics are an amazing thing it's like an amazing the best of the best to seeing the most dedicated talented people who've trained their whole lives to then be the best in the entire world like that's just a cool thing even if sports aren't that important that such a thing exists to really be the best at anything in the whole world i mean that's amazing really what could be better in a race than being the best at the race like you you're the best in the world and so there's an answer to that there is something that's better than even being the best and i want you guys to see this video because it really touched my heart [Music] you and everything you do yeah they were all yellow i came along i wrote a song [Music] and all the things and it was called yellow [Music] so then i took my time [Music] and it was all yellow [Music] i love that video i love that video i felt like i'm being knocked down now with this sickness and it's just so hard and then she gets up and she's behind everyone else i mean it's one thing to be the best in the world and that's like okay that's as good as you can be but no there's an even better way and that's making the greatest comeback falling down failing and then rising up again and then winning that's even better than being the best human on earth and that could only manifest itself that perseverance that rising and falling this is the deal here is the claim of the bible it's not what you get and it's not even what you achieve but who you become that's eternal and we can only become who we need to become by being in this world and fighting through it all and struggling through it all nothing in this world comes with us to the grave we got that right not our money not our companies not our stuff not our grades not our awards not our achievements who we become throughout our lives is what remains eternally and can never be taken away from us and that path it's hard and it's on that arduous path toward understanding that embodying that ideal that your soul is revealed it's like the latent potential inside us to be who we need to be is revealed and then you begin to manifest the best version of who you are in the world it's like to reveal your soul that's the ultimate divine service in this world that's what the torah is all about like training us to build like how we would have a physical trainer to build our physical bodies the torah is a spiritual trainer to build our spiritual bodies and it's an almost forgotten path but that is the spiritual path to discovering our destiny it's like the heart of the torah tradition that the purpose of the commandments is to forge us into the most upright the most moral the most honorable of beings the rambam says um the jewish sage and philosopher the aim of the torah is twofold it's here to perfect our souls and to perfect our bodies it's telling us that a person's issue this is that's his word a person's personality their character is their greatest creation and the calling is to venture on the path toward becoming the unadulterated you like you've brought it fully to the table now that's what means when abraham is told go to yourself on the journey that i'm going to send you that was the path that abraham paved it's go to yourself in those first two words judaism was born zionism was born the people of israel were born the path for every believer in the world was paved in those two words our first calling was a journey toward our true self and abraham's outward journey to the land he was teaching us that all of us have external journeys in life and the internal journey toward ourself is expressed as we're on our outward journey in life and his life remains a calling and a question to all of us today go to yourself where are you right now who are you right now who could you be in five years from now in 20 years from now that's the journey of who you are now and who you could be and the journey is to go to yourself and really manifest that it's like a life journey on that path will manifest your best life always no matter what the outcome because it's not about the outcome because it's all about an inward journey in so many people they stumble through lives wandering aimlessly pushed pulled in all these different directions and a life without aim directed towards a purpose our desire becomes weak without a clear direction like a strong will it's impossible to manifest the potential of our life and so at every stage in life that question is going to determine our faith what are we aiming toward are we aiming toward who we can be it's like the modern world is so goal-oriented outcome-oriented it's like how much money do you want to make what college do you want to go to what kind of person do you want to marry what would you like to be an expert in what art it's it's like listen life is filled with challenges and suffering and i understand that most people are focused on let's avoid the pain get that let's try to maximize comfort and pleasure so naturally you know people are gonna take the aspect of life they're like success in that field and success and finance and let's just try to get those things in order but the outside of career oriented or specific areas of expertise it's like that's all we're taught no one is being taught that well what about like the overarching purpose in life the education system just doesn't really teach that most people have far clearer strategies for how to achieve career success than how to develop a profound character and the people of israel have developed a 4 000 year old wisdom tradition about how to live holistically in the world how to approach life and how to persevere how to flourish regardless of your circumstances and the focus isn't on what you achieve that's important but the aim which has almost been forgotten in this generation is who we become that's the root of the tree of life and henry david thoreau once said there are a thousand hacking at the branches of evil to one who's striking at the root and the soul map is the manual a guide and the reminder for the people that want to strike at the root it's like our inner world our inner world is so much greater more complex more interesting than any entertainment the physical world has to offer but instead of exploring what's there it's like you know we drown ourselves with distractions and entertainment and here is the promise of the torah if you choose to travel down the path toward becoming your greatest self on that path you're going to find happiness untapped strength fulfillment the journey inward focuses on the core of our being and whether you're kind whether you're courageous or faithful that's where real happiness is going to lie and as your inner world develops you're going to be blessed so will your relationships and if you miss the mark on focusing on your inner world and you choose the wrong direction or you have no direction at all you're going to find yourself lost and your life is going to feel cursed regardless of your career success and when you don't have a strategy for building your inner world your external world will eventually fall to pieces because the flood is gonna come and so what's the mission here the mission here is really simple build it up the inner world reveal your soul in the world and that's the soul map it's teaching us how do we reveal our soul in the world because our soul is nothing less than an aspect of hashem in the world a small piece of god resides within us if god is the sun all of us are rays of its light our soul is like a spark of the divine essence it's embedded in us and when we choose good over evil right over wrong we bring our soul into the world we serve the purpose that we were created for we become an image of god in the world and this idea it's not like a one-time uh catholic christian declaration of faith and it's not a one-time symbolic act of jewish circumcision and it's not like a life-changing decision to convert to islam or any religion it's a day-to-day moment-to-moment choice to manifest your best self in the world it's a commitment to develop that rich inner life and it's the heart of the spiritual tradition that started with abraham and has been transmitted throughout 4 000 years of prophets and sages it's not really a religion it's a lifestyle it's a lifestyle of how we want to be in the world connected to our soul and connected to god and here's the real challenge how do you um aim at something that's inside like you know i get how to make an outward goal i want to build a company has 100 employees i want to make this much money i want to build this home i want it to be this big i want this many rooms i want to get married i want to build a family i want to have four children that's like i can deal with that it makes a lot of sense but when we're working on the inside of our life like where do we even begin with that and so how do you make a map you got to make a vision how are you going to achieve it and that's where the prophetic wisdom of the people of israel comes in the prophets of israel were men and women of spirit they weren't interested in making money or building companies their life's mission was fully dedicated to god dedicated to morality to truth to spirit to the good in their wisdom they transmitted this code a map for people to be able to chart a path toward developing their own inner world and revealing their soul manifesting their full potential and just becoming the best people possible and so that's what the soul map is all about and today we've gone through six we're in the seventh and last stage now and so what i want to do is i just want to take a minute and look at the soul map and do a quick review can we get it up on the screen please so here's what it says the ultimate divine service why we are here in the world is to reveal our soul in life to manifest the best version of yourself in service of the world now what we're going to learn today is in service of the world i wish i would write there in service of the kingdom of god but that i felt sounded too heavy for too many people but that's really what malhot is about to teach us is that it's in service of the world and that's really important we're going to get to that in just a little bit but what is this map saying the first on it's like step on the map is abraham i said love giving and compassion that's the basics it's like the paradigm through which we're gonna live through this world it's gonna be a base of love that's how everything starts that's the first step you know if you're operating out of resentment hatred revenge anger darkness up wrong no the first light that's going to come in is going to be love and compassion that's the basics and then from that we go to isaac self sacrifice restraint and discipline you can just be like a hippie and love people but if you really want to start building it into the world you're going to need to be able to control yourself hold back have discipline in your life i mean a life without discipline is not a life of freedom at all there's actually a beautiful book called discipline equals freedom that is like an amazing book written by a navy seal in the united states the next is jacob truth and if you see truth as the center hub it's the center of the entire map if that's up on the screen there because every single virtue is connected to truth because if you don't have truth you don't have anything how could you know if you're being compassionate how could you know if you're being disciplined how could you know anything because you're not being truthful to yourself you're not being truthful to the people around you you're not being truthful to anything if you don't have truth that is the center of a rich inner world is to be honest it's the most important center stage of all of these virtues then we have moses the one who stood up against the empire heroic courage leadership and victory to linda then we have the next one which is aaron which is represents the mishkan in the heart of the mishkan is gratitude the heart of the mishkan is accepting god's presence in the world hoping whatever the existence is as we are right now is the way it's meant to be and gratitude then we had joseph we learned that he is the structure the foundation of that structure can't be moved we've taken all of those virtues there compassion discipline truth courage gratitude and then we're unmoving equanimity self-mastery nothing can shake him joseph never complains he's always happy he never moves he's a master of his self he's unshakeable foundation and so now we've arrived at the last sphere of light which means in hebrew it's translated as kingdom so how do we read this map the ancient writings say that this light this virtue has nothing of its own lately that's like the language of the ancient writings it literally has nothing of its own it's empty it receives all of the light from the above spheres and channels it into the world into the kingdom so first that means it functions as humility it's not about itself it's nothing it's totally clear and humble we can take the map off the screen for just a little bit now um this virtue is so important for you because it's not about you it transcends the self that's why malhot is defined as humility and transcendence but what does humility mean in the bible so this is a beautiful quote from an essay that rabbi jonathan sachs wrote and i think he just explains what humility is in the torah view because it's not about saying i'm not worthy i am bad i am wrong that's not really humble you can think you're an amazing human being but you just have to do it in the right way so here's what jonathan sachs writes humility is not what it is sometimes taken to be a low estimate of oneself that is false or counterfeit humility true humility is mindlessness of self um a biblical word used in the chapter an is one who never thinks about himself because he has more important things to think about i once heard someone say about a religious leader he took god so seriously he didn't need to take himself seriously at all that is biblical humility humility is not self-abasement it's not self-anything it's the ability to stand in silent awe in the presence of otherness humility is the silence of the self in the presence of that which is greater than the self the vast majority of saintly or generous acts are done quietly with no desire for public recognition c.s lewis the christian biblical philosopher said it once beautifully humility is not thinking less of yourself it is thinking less of yourself is thinking of yourself less for genuinely humble people it is god and other people and principle that matter not me and so humility is saying there's a challenge with the soul map like everything in life it can be misrepresented misused and even cause damage i mean if you look at the map and you get totally fixated on it am i loving am i disciplined am i being courageous am i being honest and it goes on and on and on and this is like in its eye i i it could be totally self-centered like this i'm just obsessed with me and myself and how i'm being and that's the downfall of western culture in my opinion it's like the iphone and the selfie it's all about the eye and the self and it's totally self-centered and it's destroying itself from within and so income is the last virtue and teaches us it's not about you yes we have this entire map of your soul and it's all about fixing it and bringing the your best self forward but your best self is only manifest when you're living for something that's beyond yourself it shouldn't be about you at all lately you should have nothing to do with it you have to remain humble and what does that mean it means that your life can't be dedicated to you you must be in service of a cause that transcends you and now members of this fellowship it's like i know like dedicate my life to the kingdom of god like okay jeremy that's like a lot i just can't relate to that okay fine don't dedicate it to the kingdom of god um i i mean i said it's in service of the world dedicated to be in service of the world you know what be in service of your family be in service of your children be in service of your country be in service of the poor the weak your community it doesn't have to be the kingdom of god although when the prophets are writing they're just saying the ultimate it's like what is the ultimate service so they're saying that's the language that we're going to use there could be nothing better than building the kingdom of the malhot in this world and so whatever you're serving is the engine that's going to drive your life when you're motivated what does motivation mean motivation comes from the word motive that's your why why are you doing what you're doing tehillah misquoted nietzsche this is what nietzsche actually says he who has a why can live to bear almost any how it's like a person that's found their purpose they found their why in life they can overcome any obstacle on their path and here is what i understand the torah makes the most incredible claim and please write this down this is really this is this is a gem the more noble the cause you dedicate your life to the better your life will be so live for the ultimate the prophets are saying live for god whatever that means live toward the ultimate good king david mashiach the kingdom live for something that is so great and so big because the more noble the cause you dedicate your life to the better your life will be that's the final mark on the map to revealing our souls and you have to live for an ideal that's beyond your soul for your soul to be fully revealed and so that is humility transcendence and service and so we've now kind of crack the code here hopefully very soon we'll have it all written down and put together and it'll be like a manual for everyone for every believer in the world that we could just look at a code one picture and just have a daily reminder who we want to be in the world hi my name is jeremy gimpel a lot of people want to know exactly what the land of israel fellowship is and what members receive when they join so let me explain the land of israel fellowship is a global online community with hundreds of members from over 40 countries around the world are live sessions and gatherings that create a direct personal connection to the land of israel and the lovers of israel from around the world there's no online gathering that i'm familiar with that is connected to the land of israel that unites and brings together such a diverse group of people backgrounds and nationalities it feels like prophecy it feels like something we need in these times a window in to a better future on the horizon there's a divine unity we experience every week in our fellowship broadcast we heard these amazing teachings from an authentic hebrew and israel perspective and our jaws drop not only because they ring so true and are such a blessing because they are so consistent with what we believe these sunday morning gatherings are nothing less than a house of prayer for all nations cindy lo the united states of america the land of israel fellowship is an amazing resource for learning torah the bible and the prophets unfiltered and uncensored directly from the land of israel we've been studying torah for almost 20 years but we feel we are stepping into it more than ever and seeing new depth and dimensions to scripture we're encouraged more and more every week calen ardell usa members receive access to all the archives in the library of teachings on every portion of the torah the biblical feast hebrew prayer prophecy sessions on the ancient wisdom of the prophets of israel to help us navigate through these turbulent times these sessions are so rich i re-listen to each and truly each session is the best one yet tehila is a tremendous asset and the teachings ari shares are so rich i've read the bible so many times and i've known the things you are teaching the hebrew understanding is what christians have missed for centuries sister georgian from germany the land of israel fellowship is truly unique because it's built upon personal relationships with the teachers of the fellowship myself rabbi arya bramwitz in tehillah gimpel every member has direct access to the staff 24 6 via email or direct whatsapp to ask questions to comment to connect directly to all the teachers and over the last years we've connected to some of the most beautiful people on the planet so if you want to find out more and join the land of israel fellowship you can click on the link below and if you want to try it out for just a month you can email fellowship at the land of israel.com and we'll hook you up i hope to see you shalom from the mountains of judea