The Truth About Time Zones: It’s Deeper Than You Think - Rabbi Yisroel Goldstein

Why are there different time zones in the world? If you have traveled globally, you would be fascinated by the change of time. I have a child that lives in Sydney, Australia. I'm always fascinated how when I leave here on Monday, I arrive there on Wednesday. What happened to Tuesday? And when I come back on Thursday, I arrive on Thursday and yet there's 24 hours between. Why are there so many different time zones, not only internationally, intercontinentally, but even in the United States? You drive from California to Arizona certain times of the year, it's an hour difference. You fly from the West Coast to the East Coast, there's a three-hour difference. the amount of hours between Israel and America, between Europe, Asia, China, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, all the different time zones. Why are there so many different time zones? Why couldn't God just created a way they were all living in one time zone? Wouldn't that be incredible? Technically speaking, there's no way that could have worked out. And we know when the pilots that fly, they fly what's referred to as a universal time, Zulu time. There has to be some kind of a universal time that the pilots as they are crossing over continents can connect with each other. You have the Greenwich time zone. So, why are there so many different time zones? Couldn't life be so much more simpler if we all lived in the same time zone at the same time, the same day? Well, God almighty in heaven, the omnipotent, the omnipresent could could do anything. He could have made that happen logistically. How? I don't know. When you have Alaska who for 6 months a year is they don't see a sunrise and the other six months a year they don't see a sunset. How could they be at the same time? How can my son in Australia be at the same time here in America? I don't know how it could happen but God could happen. Well, we're trying to understand why are we at different time zones? What's the purpose? What's the takeaway? Everything that happens in life, there has to be a takeaway. We have to learn a lesson from everything. There is nothing that happens in this world that happens purposeless. Everything happens for a purpose. Everything happens for a lesson. Everything is meaningful. So, let's talk about us. When you and I were born, God said, "The world can no longer exist without us." How do we know? because we were born. What are we doing here? What's our purpose? Why are we here? Who am I? What am I supposed to be? What's my mission? What are my potentials? What are my talents? What's my journey going to be like? We know we're not going to live forever. We're born and then we die. And what happens in between is a journey. How do we make that journey meaningful, purposeful and eventful? And that is where God gave us an operator's manual. When we pick up our new car at the dealership, inevitably you open up the glove compartment, you'd find a manual, an operator's manual. Once in a while we actually open it up and read it when we need to find out where to change the fuse or some other technical detail. But what is the human's operational manual? That is what's known as the Torah, the Bible. When God gave us the Ten Commandments 3,337 years ago, he gave us with that the Torah, which is the operator's manual of humanity, how humans are to live their life, how to bring purpose and meaning into life. We don't just live, eat, and die. That's not what the journey is about. It would have been a total waste of time. But our life is purposeful and meaningful. And that perhaps can help answer the question, why are there different time zones? And I heard this from another speaker, a rabbi. And to put it into context, he was explaining God the omnipotent omnipresent on one hand is very close to us. It's in every single one of us. It's our soul. So it keeps us alive. But yet God seems to be invisible. God seems to be far away. We don't know where he is. We haven't seen him, heard from him. But we have total faith in God and his existence. We believe in only one God, the omnipotent, omnipresent. He was always here. He will be. And we are able to connect with that God. But how do we really get to know the God? How do we really get into God's soul? That is by studying the Torah. That's it. That is our access. That is our portal into getting into God's soul. That's how we connect to God is by studying the Bible, by studying the Torah. Not just periodically, not just sporadically, but as the sages teach us, we must study Torah day and night. That is the vitality of our existence, the vitality of the world. is by studying the Torah, studying the five books of Moses, the scriptures, the prophets, and all the commentary afterwards. That is the lifeline to this world. It is the blueprint of the world. And this is perhaps why there are different time zones. So that when I am sleeping here in San Diego and I'm not studying Torah, I know my son in Australia is studying Torah. When he is sleeping, I am studying Torah. And the same thing around the world. God created these different time zones so that there shouldn't be a second with no one studying the Torah. The Torah should be studied universal 24 hours a day. Someone is drawing down the energy from heaven by studying the Torah. And perhaps that's one of the reasons why we have different time zones. So we can rest assure that not a second of the day ever will there not be somebody somewhere in the world studying Torah. And think of it that could be you. When the people are sleeping in New Zealand in Australia and you are awake think of it they're counting on you to study. They need someone to cover that zone to cover that time zone. And this is why it is imperative that we study Torah as much as possible. Because we're not just studying Torah for oursel, but we're studying Torah for the globe. We're studying Torah for the whole world. As our sages have taught us, the world stands on three pillars. On Torah, studying Torah, prayer, service to God, and charity, benevolence. Those are the pillars that sustain earth. When someone on one side of the world is sleeping, someone on the other side of the world is studying. And that someone is you and I. So when we think about life, we have been programmed to always think about food. the our sages our our scientists has quantified of how often do we as human beings think of food throughout the day. How often do we think about drinking? How often do we think about other things? They put together a whole list of every few minutes what we're actually thinking of. Question is, how often do you think about studying Torah? How often have you thought about cracking open the book of the Bible of the Torah or the Talmud or some other spiritual study? When was the last time you thought about it? How preoccupied is your brain? Is your mind thinking about it? Well, if you could think of Torah as food, then perhaps you've been thinking about it a little more. So, if you haven't been studying Torah until now, perhaps this inspiration will help you to begin studying Torah just a few minutes a day and then add on a few more minutes and let it become habit. Have a set time to study Torah. When you study Torah, God is studying Torah with you. It becomes a partnership. He becomes your study partner. And when you have God as a partner, God will not let you down. He will provide you with all of your provisions in everything that you need. Studying Torah opens up channels and channels of blessing for you, for your family, and your extended family and the whole world. God bless you. God loves you.