The Shabbat Show - Episode 2

okay welcome everybody welcome to the project inspire pre Shabbat show it's not on a have you back it's not have you back here together with you it's incredible just where we are we are where we are in the world those you who are tuning in from all over welcome happy post Passover for everybody hope everyone's kitchens are back to normal it's amazing how God's taking us from Passover - Shabbos and we're here in an incredible time this is an incredible time to be here shout out to the whole project inspire team Jesse Freeman or AG in a girl or and or a Samson the whole team thanks for doing this again you know we're at a very unique juncture in our lives in the calendar year every holiday that we have contains certain spirituality we don't just commemorate things we're jews we're really busy we don't keep passover because a long long time ago jews got out of egypt we keep passover because from the beginning of creation god created a world that was spiritual it manifests physically but it is in its nature spiritual which is why we would even think to walk into a room and say a few words and think that the prayer is gonna make a difference in the physical world because we know there's a spiritual world going on and from the beginning of time nestled in the spiritual world is this idea of freedom of being able to overcome something it's beyond just physical freedom its freedom that is deeper than that it's spiritual it's emotional and there's a highlight there's a peek of our calendar and there's a peak where we can achieve things where we couldn't achieve it throughout the entire at that same level Passover is the manifestation of a spiritual reality called freedom where we celebrate the ability were in our history was manifested in glorious way but it applies to me and you every single you knows thinkin about this year's Passover and how were many many of us are physically contained were physically quarantined and how does freedom apply to us right now it applies in their truest form because you can be physically contained to one home and be spiritually free you can be in charge of your emotions you can be in charge of your temptations you can say the things you always wanted to say your freedom goes way beyond where your body can move it's so much deeper than that you're free to become the true you you're not being held down by negativity you're not being held down by worry you're not being held down by things that constrain you emotionally mentally and spiritually and as we go into the peak of Passover we can taste it a little bit and as we come out of that peak we're in a very unique period of time this is the period of time in the calendar called the Oh mare it's when we count to Shabo we count to the holiday that is the anniversary of the giving of the Torah and what's happening historically as the Jews have left Egypt now have crossed the sea and are counting so their journey up to Mount Sinai and the rabbi's did just an incredible incredible lesson that growth takes place when you understand that there are times in life where you hit a peak or gough of it even a valley where the norm changes you have a holiday but if you really want to grow in life you can't live on the peak you have to live on the trail it's who you are in between the mountains it's whether you're growing in a direction that's consistent whether you're doing something every day and during this period of time we have this Mitzvah we have this commandment to count you can't count ten in a row you can't skip a step it's one a night because God is teaching us that you can reach a peak called Passover you can have a holiday you can have a moan where everything stops where you get rid of the symbolism of huh mates where you get rid of certain negativity where you try to climb a mountain top but really you become will you become afterwards that's why we did the show here thank you for the feedback that we got but the reason why we specifically went to do a show right now the day after Passover is because this is the moment it's who you become the day after the peak that sets you on a path to who you will be when the next peak comes and in our case on the calendar side when we hit Shavuot but even in life with God's help hopefully I hope that we're turning a corner here on the virus and I hope that there's some light at the end of the tunnel but who we become is not when we hit that light who we become is who we are now it's what we do to our daily rituals to our daily calendars to my life in your life during this period of time if we change things if we see things differently if we relate to our spouses and our children if we get up at this time if we study we can do things now that will make our lives with the trail day-in day-out a little bit each day so that when we go hopefully to the peak of leaving and going back to normal we don't go back to normal we go forward to greatness and our hope is that maybe this becomes one of those times maybe life has been a little bit too busy and Friday has turned into a day of incredible running around and Shabbat it's just too much for us because our lives is so busy but maybe this whole period of time slows us down and gets us to realize that these are the moments that could be the most cherished and this moment each week could be a time that we spend together connecting us from all over the world bringing in speakers and musicians and people from all over the world so that we can spend the time together maybe we can set a ritual now me and you together that Fridays we spend it together that this is what we do on a Friday and whether it's this or something else in your life as we go from the peak of Passover into the trail of the Omer hopefully we can go in a way that enables us to take something on that's consistent that will allow us to actually change our lives so when the next peak comes and it will we're different people we're climbing from a different place and that's how life works you reach something you bring it into your life you reach something you're bringing into your life and one day you wake up and you're normal really is the peak of last year you're walking on what was once your peak step by step growth by growth so it's an RV with you again thank you so much for joining us thanks for tuning in we've got an incredible incredible show for you we've got so much going on we're going all over the country all over the world and we're happy to do it together I want to last less we had the good fortune of starting in my backyard we went to Commack Long Island and then started going south to New Jersey to meet some of our great families we're gonna go further south today go all the way down to the Coker family out in Baltimore Maryland welcome to the show shabbat shalom how are you guys doing how's everything going down in Maryland what do you have in your mind as you come into this Shabbat that it's the fourth Shabbat actually that we're keeping since we've been on course you know actually fixture by on corn seed that were actually doing full Shabbat with the family and it's been absolutely amazing incredible incredible code I know that you were amazing really amazing I know that you're connected to raid which is wonderful can you share with us a message that you you got from pass over for Shabbat what it's done for you and your family something that we can get a little bit of the glimpse as to what you've been what Shabbat has done for you and your family's past few weeks I I think it's just so empowering of how much we learned about our family and about ourselves and what we can do that we didn't even think was possible how close we become and mostly just an area they're going for everyone in the family incredible incredible and mr. Cole go tell us a little bit about something that it has what is it done for you in from your perspective I pray for all my family for from New York we had a lot of people in fact we're very close to it just gives up at least some kind of an idea it should be able to be close to them and to pray for them and to hopefully make a difference in in there before so lame I literally everybody gets well I mean well I got a thank you guys for being the inspiration that you are I know that I'm inspired looking at right now and I know that all the people on the on the call right now that on the zoom are inspired as well shabbat shalom to you and your family healthy happy only good things just want to say thank you on to rage bugs born for giving us this amazing opportunity and to you Charlie for always inspiring us to be better and to achieve more thank you thank you shabbat shalom what an incredible incredible family and this is some of the things that we're seeing from all over the country this is what it means this is a this is what we're supposed to be doing challenge hits we were the Jewish people we're constantly in a world where God throws us curveballs and every time he does we get better we get stronger we get more resilient we become bigger people for it and that wonderful family showed us all about it we're now heading up to Muncy right now to me another wonderful family I want to do su to the classical family that is with us right now rabbi Ben CEO and Klesko is the senior mat senior manager and the director at all on me he's a director of akeeba trips and he's a founder of an incredible organization that I remember when he started it let me tell you honestly personally whereby class go had this incredible idea to use Shabbat as a way to draw people together this table is filled always with people from all over the world and I remember when he first came up with it and I went to a shot I never forget I went to a conference once and his kids were literally handing out postcards to sign up for Shabbat accom to be part of it or bike latsko welcome to the show thank you so much it's amazing to be here pretty much such a production it's amazing to have you on tell us a little bit I mean your home borough hashem is a home in which Shabbat is treated like with the majesty that it deserves you're having guests constantly what's it like for you now that Shabbat has a little bit of a different turn right people can't come over as much how has shabbat changed for you and your family you know anything I've shown gives us we have to take it and make it beautiful and special so when there's a lot of guests that's what I Shem want such the almighty wants and we have those guests and we treat them beautifully but now that we can't with extra time for the children and extra time for the family I'm also extra time to study Torah so no matter what they don't lie to give us just we just make the best of it and it becomes the best amazing amazing now I see you've got a whole crew behind you who are those who is this wonderful family do you have behind you introduced us a little bit to them okay this is I'd say here's our oldest oldest I'm here avi and that's Alicia he's gonna be doing drums in the beginning and then afterwards guitar we've got Gabrielle these are both soloists then we have Sippy she's the other piano you know Azaria he'll be on the violin Ahava is gonna start on the piano and then move over to the box drums column these are our soloists a lousy and mayor mayor's going to be doing on the drums as well Wow that's it's unfair you've got a you've got a whole Orchestra and a choir in your house you get to Libby quarantine with them you should let them out it's enjoyable music carries us through difficult times amazing so Dee can you please share with us a few songs maybe as we get into Shabbos get us going with a little bit of the special classical music that you have over there we're actually going to start off with two Pesach songs because today is called Easter USAG it's the end of the holiday and there's one line in the song Diane knew which is really really potent and the line is you know someone who has a Shabbos if your might have given us Shabbat villo care bundle if they are c9 I didn't bring this to Mount Zion or Diana that would have been enough so why would it have been enough - Shabbat and not the rest of the Torah and that's a real thing about because even that is Diane you look around and people see that the sky is cleared and the smog and the pollution is gone and the almighty says Shabbat alone has the ability to heal the world how we see it with our own eyes so we're gonna start with that we're gonna jump to a few stanzas from kaga dia because kaga BIA begins with how God did this this this goat which is actually the Jewish people and the very first thing that attacks the goat is that the cat and the cat represents loss honor represents the evil tongue so now that we are we are sequestered we are alone in our homes we can get on each other's nerves a little bit and what we want to do is we want to make sure not to badmouth each other and family of love and peace harmony and then from there we're gonna jump to a song called called Shabbat it's called Chabon we just produced the song or two they were the soloists on this dongseong xalapa Shabbos kodesh it's cool and then we're gonna end with the traditional shabbat shalom where we're gonna wish you each a sumatran so that we're gonna do that all in about six minutes and if you're ready we'll begin [Music] the holidays thank you very much we're incredibly Muse family thanks so much for your your beautiful musical interlude and bringing us the shop isn't that right way Shabat Shalom to all of you thanks for the time rabbi thank you so much for who you are and what you do for the entire Jewish people I'd like to continue the journey here heading down to Houston Texas we're gonna be a great man over there Eric Davis will join us Eric welcome to the show hey how are you doing thank you so much for having me it's an honor to have you on and a special shout out to your incredible rabbi rabbi will be is an incredible man and torches a great organization tell us a little bit about your Shabbat what you have in mind now going into Shabbat what you have on your heart what you want to share with everybody well again thank you very much for for having me and god bless all of you and shabbat shalom as you know we recently just got through Passover and when Hashem set out the plagues against Pharaoh in Egypt we the Jews were saved and today not just Jews but the whole world we face an invisible threat known as the corona virus and I believe that Hashem is testing us this Shabbos we can give strength and we can strengthen our relationship with Hashem and with our loved ones together and we can make it out of this plague stronger than before even though all of us are separated physically through Shabbos we can be connected spiritually more than ever as Jewish people we undergo hardship just about more than anybody out there and we pray and we believe in Hashem and ultimately we will become stronger people as we are guided by God every single step of the way and as you know more than anybody Israel has a light upon all the nations this Shabbos let's shine a light to all the people who are suffering and in pain and brighten the world during this time of darkness and from the bottom of my heart from Houston Texas and all the way to you and to your loved ones I just want to say Hashem for Charlie Ferrari broken into rabbi Aria will be and Scot camerman and rabbi busco and all the rabbi's across the globe thank God for the torch Center of Houston Texas the best place in the world to study Torah thank God for the relationship that the Jewish people have with the Torah and I believe that we will get through this stronger than ever and God bless you and shabbat shalom so much Shalom to you and I love that message the idea that this is really true we know it but it's so important for you to say it because it's important for us to hear it which is where the Jewish people we've been through a lot and we don't go down and if you look at Israel right now as they get hit they just get stronger and stronger and every single one of us if you really think about it being part of this nation the lessons of Passover the way Eric you said it so beautifully that when we are faced with challenge what it does is it draws us together it brings out the best in us and once we get our minds right and realize who we are we realize that nothing's gonna take down on eternal people and only it only flames not only it only brightens our flaming even more I do thank you for who you are Eric and thank you for joining us and thanks for for your love all the way down from Texas we can use a little bit of that southern love up here we thank you for one people one nation where we are god bless you god bless you Eric and thanks so much about Shalom to you god bless you we're about to go to a video now and thank you again Eric and to everyone going around we'd go to the video we noticed a short video interlude here so I'm going to turn it over to the inspired team to turn to a video we'll be back in just a few minutes welcome to halle-loo gas station what can we do for you fill er up sir we got a long ride you got it [Music] look over me [Music] okay thank you very much we've got some incredible shout outs there but I just wanted to say some quick shouts from around the country here we've got Ken from Skokie over here ken want to wish you shabbat shalom thanks for joining us here on this thing here shabbat shalom wonderful good Shabbos out for yet still doing Shabbos casual here okay wonderful well thank you and shabbat shalom to you i want to head up north to toronto to laser is he on here his laser on for shabbat shalom' to you welcome hi how are you okay that's you Eliezer welcome to our show thank you very much thanks so much for being on this is my son my youngest I shared this event alone thank you for doing this and I also wanted to say I taught my class code his family we yeah we had the pleasure of having him at her house a couple of a couple of years ago for the Shabbat project he spoke at Hershel and he was great so it was two years ago that I met really classically I should have Pesach program so Roma class go thank you for everything that you do and Charlie you as well and may you a few times thanks to a Michael and Tara bloom when you get up here in Toronto thank you very much and thanks for you are Eleazar and thanks for joining us on the show I'd like to go down to Boca Raton and say shabbat shalom to Jannah Boca at Boca Raton Janice shabbat shalom to you welcome to the show great to have you on thank you so much and then I'd like to go out to Mountain View California wishes shabbat shalom - Sheree Sheree shabbat shalom wait wait I mean let me unmute yourself you're on you're good sorry I was on mute shabbat shalom I just had to see this thank you so much charlie and all the people involved so beautiful thank you and enjoy Shabbat thank you very much see healthy I Maine thank you so much and shabbat shalom - shabbat shalom to everybody who's joining us from around the world we've got over 200 people that are joining us right now from all over the world now we're gonna head down to Florida again to meet at a wonderful incredible person the co-founder and director of a great organization called yahoodi and asked mrs. Adina Stiller man to say a few words to prepare us for candle lighting hello everybody out there it's so great to be able to to join in on this I have to say that it's been really challenging with coronavirus we have such beautiful neighbors and we kind of have to be on this somewhat lockdown gives a new meaning to me casa su casa because if like me casa as new su casa right now um we miss all of our new yorkers that used to come down last year and we hope to see you again next year for Passover so do you remember the iconic scene in Fiddler on the Roof that's scene where they're bringing in Shabbat I think it's called the Shabbos prayer and there's this kerfuffle and busyness of trying to prepare the house and the family for Shabbat and everybody's flying from one direction to the next and sites all setting the table and someone sets the candles down the middle at the table and towards the end of the scene Golda comes in front of the candles and she springs in the Shabbos and you see that there's this tranquility that goes throughout the entire screen and what what filler honor did to the world was a kind of gave a little bit of a window into what Shabbat can be in terms of transition transitioning from busyness to that that peace and that calm and a lot of us are really familiar with this candle lighting experience either through the movie or yet you know you might be lighting candles why because your mother let her candles and your mother candles because her mother lit her candles and grandmother litter candles because her mother little candles tradition right the thing is when we look at mitts votes if we look at the reasoning behind why we do something when we look at it from a Jewish lens it demands of us to always look deeper in the experience to search as deep as we possibly can to always continue learning why we do things where things come from and that's where you'll see that there are various reasons and different lenses through which one can look almost like a prism and each time you learn about a mitzvah you can see so much more about it almost like if I asked my three children where does an apple come from one will say it comes from public which is public's which is our local supermarket and that's her understanding of where an apple comes from because she's three and then the next child will see what comes from a tree and the next child will say well it comes from God and all three of them are correct so if you ask why we like candles yes we like candles because it was brought down that there are two candles or one of the reasons one of them is for the wife and one of them is for the husband and it's meant to represent that there is a peace that descends onto the home and Shabbat a peace within the family structure so hard to be able to attain this all the time but can we go a little bit deeper so I'd like to invite you into my candle lighting experience there's one part of the tradition of lighting candles that is in my opinion the most eye-opening but it is also the most overlooked why because we talk about the lighting of the candles all the time and the blessing also has a major part of it but there's one part of it that I think is most meaningful to me and maybe after the next few minutes it will also be the most meaningful to you and it's the part of the Mitzvah that doesn't get that much limelight no pun intended so what we do is we light the candles first and then we make the blessing unlike many mitzvot where we make the blessing and then the action and the reason why this is given is because when we light the candles we already are bringing in Shabbat or when we say the blessing or bringing in Shabbat and then it would be forbidden to light the candles so therefore we switch it and we light the candles and then we say the blessing and here's my favorite part we cover our eyes it's such a strange thing to do we cover on and with the reason why we haven't looked at this from a different lens is because we are so steeped in our tradition we're so used to the concepts of covering our eyes that we don't even ask ourselves why and the basic reason that is given is because the third part of the Mitzvah is that we should enjoy the candles look at them that's what's given and if we light our candles and then we say the blessing with our eyes open we might do the third part already and we're supposed to concentrate on the brothel that we're saying and therefore we cover our eyes there's another time that we cover our hot our eyes in tradition and that's when we say the Shema the shmatte was always something very deep in our family and we were always very connected to it because I'm a grandchild of four Holocaust survivors and it's remarkable that the Shema was something that was well it I guess it's unfortunate it was on the lips of people almost every single day because they feared for their lives in fact a close friend of ours and a Holocaust survivor from London who we once went on a trip to to Auschwitz with she was working in Canada right next to where the gas chambers were and she heard schmeyer oh all the time when people were screaming for their lives Sh'ma is said it's like the jewish anthem why do we cover our eyes only say Sheila the answer is that when we say the Shema were meant to be focusing on the unity of God's presence in the world that everything comes from God and it's so hard to focus on this when we have a really irritating co-worker or our boss hasn't paid us in a few months or if some of our family members are challenging us or are struggling with our health or we're dealing with something as Kaddish as coronavirus it's really challenging to remember that everything even bad things are also intentional from God and therefore we have to shut the world out in order to see in our wisest eyes we in order to see with wisdom we must cover that world and therefore we close our eyes and we cover them so we can focus on the unity of God so we can focus on the truth when I cover my eyes I think about that I cover my eyes before I open up to look at the candles because I do not want to see those candles for just their physical representation I don't want to only see the physical light I want to see the light of a healthy perspective which is essentially what we need when it comes to that peace in the home it's so easy to say that you want to have a peaceful home but the longest distance in the world is the distance between your head and your heart what you know to be true what you really want intellectually but emotionally when we're charged with some of our really difficult relationships in the home it's really hard to connect to our highest values and therefore when we cover our eyes we can think of the truth in our relationships and not what is presenting to us in it in the physical form what we see at face value for example if we have a husband that ran a little bit late before Shabbat or it comes home a little bit late first our first glance would be here and late again yet we can cover eyes and think of the truth we can say he was late because he's working hard for this family and when we have a child who's making messes all over the house and we first see the mess and we say why can't my children clean up after themselves we can close our eyes and we could think that the true story is that my child is healthy enough to be able to play around this house and he's free enough to be able to explore the world around us and there are so many different ways that we can shut out the negative thoughts in our minds and attach ourselves to higher thoughts higher values and therefore higher quality of relationship if we can really focus on what really matters and what's really true and therefore it from me my personal highlight of lightening candles' is the few precious moments that I have as my children are tugging at my skirt with my eyes covered with my hands to remind myself that I'm transitioning into a different reality that I can focus on what really matters shut my eyes off from the world and the distractions of what surrounds me and really be able to connect to not only my children not only my husband not only to God but to connect a higher version of myself of myself as a mother as a wife and as a God for need you so on behalf of all of the community down here in Florida I would like to wish you a shabbat shalom and a truly wise and peaceful shabbat experience thanks for having me on today thanks for joining us mrs. stolen that what a beautiful beautiful words to go into Shabbos with I want to just end really just by taking her words I thought was so powerful the idea of covering our eyes and connecting not just to those around us but connecting the deepest part of ourselves and thank you for who you are and what you've done for us the people I want to before I close just give us a few more shot outs to those that have been texting in we'd love to hear from you too evey at Albuquerque New Mexico to Linda it's Kash Saskatchewan Canada to the Kaplan family in Scottsdale in the future feel free please to text us and let us chat to us and let us be able to see you and wish you shabbat shalom so that we can really show at each other just how far apart we are geographically but how close we are in being one nation one family entering into the same thing together let me just end by just really just speaking as to what mrs. Stiller min just said there really the goal right now and for us in Shabbat and for us what's going on with this virus is to not lose the opportunity hopefully everybody's healthy and well and if you're grappling with health may God give you fool quickly if you're thinking about family members that are going through it may he heal them as quickly as possible if for whatever reason we're blessed that we are in this period of time and the health of ourselves or loved ones are not our first priority we have to really capitalize on this opportunity it's an opportunity to slow down and to not just do less but it's to be more many times in life doing gets in the way of being we see people and we judge them by what they do we judge ourselves or what we've accomplished and who we are sort of gets lost in the world of doing doing going going doing doing going and that little soul inside us that saw that it's attached that comes from the creative universe gets gets drowned out of the noise of doing and when God slows us down when he's telling us is I want you to be know who you are and who you are should inform what you do not the other way around try over Shabbat to look at your loved ones and just look at them a little bit longer than you typically would usually our we scan rest your eyes a little bit and see them for who they really are a little bit more than you thought of earlier and in a quiet moment as we go into the quarantine if you will of our lives but if you go into the Shabbat now which is the the holiest part then we can spend a little bit more time trying to understand who we are the depths of our souls the things we want to contribute to the world the things we've done wrong that we really should be apologizing for things that we didn't write they're really sure doing more of the quiet moments the conversations that we can have with people that we love and maybe even the creator of the universe a heavenly father sometimes for the first time in our own language in a quiet moment and when we start to learn the lessons of Shabbos the lessons of shutting out the world like mr. Lerman said what happens is sometimes in life when you shut out the world your vision doesn't become darker it actually becomes brighter because the candle burns from within and many times the reason why it's not guiding our lives because there's just too much light coming from every single place around us the the lights the bright lights of the world dimmed the true fire from within but maybe especially now as we come down from the peak of Passover as we look out into the trails of the next few weeks God gives us a gift and says before you leave me before you try to figure out this new world that I've put you in stay with me another day just stay with me another day block out the world look at the people you love most look inside yourself because inside me and you is a fire it's a flame that is waiting to get brighter and bigger to guide our lives to inspire the person next to us to inspire the people around us and sometimes in these dark moments that we have the ability to turn up the flame for mine to yours wishing all of you shabbat shalom may it be healthy may be peaceful may it be deep may it be spiritual and we connect to those that we need to connect to we become the people that were meant to be and we enter into this incredible period of time as one type of person and we exited as a bigger stronger deeper more resilient type of person as we heard earlier so beautifully from a friend from Houston Texas from Eric he said we're eternal may we be that eternal life that we deep down though shabbat shalom looking forward to seeing you in the future from all of us here inspire incredible Shabbos and an incredible shabbat shalom [Music]