The Yishai Fleisher Show: Jews Choose Life!!

[Music] Shalom everybody and welcome to the Shai Fleischer show broadcasting live from Brooklyn to the world you're a part of it where ever you are Shalom from beautiful Brooklyn and I am on a five-day tour for cover own with the director-general of the Jewish community of Quran Rory Carson and we have been he was in Chicago beforehand we've been in and everywhere just a little bit so please don't get your feelings hurt I've even thinking maybe I shouldn't even say where we've been because we really were a very very focused and didn't get a chance to schmooze at all not even close with all of our friends around the world but we were in all kinds of places including Colorado in Florida for a little bit San Francisco and now in New York and Brooklyn in on the way home tomorrow night for Rosh Hashanah for the Shabbat right before our session I'm looking forward to coming home but in the meantime a little bit of a little bit of Torah coming out of Brooklyn and bringing us to the Holy Land that's actually there's a few verses in our partial our Torah portion this week which are just exactly perfect for the issue of coming home to the Holy Land from holy Brooklyn so we'll be talking about that in just a second I want to dedicate today's show to lay about Faga my mother-in-law Leah but more to find Vega who passed away now thirteen years ago on today on today's date and today's show is dedicated to Leia or Lori and burneth and she's missed and she is loved and she is remembered we had a beautiful kiddush this year in her honor and we felt her soul just really enjoying that so it's a it's a it's a special thing in our family to remember Leah but Faygo so thank you very much for joining me and let's get to some of the wonderful verses as usual because there's so much to talk about in these Torah portions I've just picked out a few I'm also alone today so I just want to talk about a few verses one of the verses that I want to talk about is where in the Torah portion of neat Sabine which is in the book of devar in Deuteronomy Nitze V means we are all standing today in front of God in the first verse which is with strangely verse number nine a chapter 29 it says Emily to be my own cool them all of you are now standing before God and and and you're gonna enter the covenant one of the big themes in this week's Torah portion is that it's not just you who's standing here today it's also further generations who have not been born yet and you're all standing even if you even you this generation that motion is talking to you may have not stood at Mount Sinai however it's Monnet it's a it's a call to all souls including by the way souls of converts who come into our people hood you're standing today before God and you're coming into a covenant but I want to add also you're standing cool time which is your whole self your whole self you got to serve God with the good and with the bad you take the good you take the bad and then you have the facts of life you got it you got a understand that that's the way to serve God you got to be able to serve God with with your wholeness with also your evil inclination even the bad inclination that doesn't want to serve God that's the one that you have to really channel and make sure that you serve God properly and here-here's properly with both of your inclinations here's what the baal shem tov says he says on the statement within the ethics of our fathers that says that says me Huggy boa Kovacic eats all who is a hero who is heroic heroic one that captures his saw his evil inclination coefficient eat so he captures his inclination to the bar so the baal shem tov says what does it mean it should've said - to destroy your evil inclination he says but in truth destroying your evil inclination is not a big deal everybody understands that the evil inclination is bad and it wants to take you away from the good path says the baal shem tov now the key is not to destroy your evil inclination it's to harness it it's so it's there it's to control it and it's to actually use its gigantic strengths because because the dark side of us also has a lot of power and to channel it in the right direction that's a big that's a big Jewish a piece of info which is that you're not supposed to destroy your even clinician you have to harness it and I'm not sure I know exactly what that means totally but I've read it also in secular books and where it says a person who can overcome his kind of deficiencies and obstacles is strong but a person who can utilize his deficiencies and obstacles is very strong and I and I'd love to hear from you to think about how do we how we harness our inclinations that are negative in the service of God that's a powerful thing and of course you know that the kind of classic explanation of that is if you have a murderous tendency so become a show a show that a slaughter er or a ritual slaughter or a moil you know that kind of thing which is to really channel that kind of inclination so that's one way of thinking about it but there's a lot of power there so attempting to be man coolican the whole the whole package of who you are has to stand in front of God let's keep going show us some of the other verses that I've marked out for you I skipped a little bit in the beginning but then oh this is one of the most famous verses which is honey steroid lash ml okay no the hidden things of this world hidden things of this universe that's for God Veni glut lana Levin a no a dalam but that but the reveal things are for us and for our children for eternity assorted Cody we're taught to do the to fulfill the words of this Torah friends this is actually quite important for the ones amongst us who are more existentially inclined people who are so inclined sometimes get depressed and ask questions that are unanswerable because we really will not know the deepest truth about what God is and sometimes children do these things and it's very important to I always try to stress that it's very good to ask a question but it's also good to know that you may not get the answer it's hidden it's a there are certain things that are hidden from us friends and God says to us the Torah sisters and Mosher Boehner says to us sir things are not going to be revealed to you have to accept that that not everything is going to be revealed to you and that's part of the game we are his creations he is not our creation and that's by the way my interpretation on the phrase that that that God tells us that he created us in His image what does that mean I'm not exactly sure but I know that that it to me it means he created me in His image I don't create him in my image he's basically saying look in one way or another I've created you with a soul or in other ways you are like me but just so you know I'm not like you you cannot try to box me in or limit me in your image mankind that's a very important thing to understand the difference between him making us in His image which is is the service of God we are created in His image we have to come closer to him as opposed to we create him in our image which is idolatry which is that he looks like us which he thinks like us that we can understand him that we can contain him as though you can do you know learn psychology of another human you could also learn psychology of God and somehow contain him or understand you know what he's up to it's not the way it works and that's what this verse is really about it's telling you something that's actually there's a lot of depth to this phrase and it's got these special dots over the words that that everybody kind of knows that it's a special kind of phrase in the Bible the Bible signals to you that it's a special phrase but there's also a very simple way to understand that which is the secrets they belong to God and by the way you can study the secrets you could study the couple'a or you could study science and learn about the secrets of how God created the world you're allowed to study the secrets but you're not gonna penetrate God to the end you're not gonna contain him he contains you but you don't contain him and that's that's a very important thing and to me it's it's a it's a kind of basic fundamental I will called meta thoughts but you have to understand you existed in God's world he does not exist in your world he does not bend to your you know to your inclinations you try to bend to his on the other hand that does tell us that if you try to contort your will to fit his will he will make his well like your will but really what that probably means probably what that really means is that your will will really become more like his will in any case a great phrase to certainly consider the next a set of there's like a paragraph here that is just like so fundamental and it's really so good to read it in Brooklyn it's so good to read it in Brooklyn I was just in synagogue right now and I said Kaddish for my mother-in-law Aliyah Shalom and then we you know it's great to be here in Brooklyn but still God says I'm gonna in gather you and he says that in the Torah he says when you do chuhwa when you return to me I'm gonna return you to the Land of Israel and not only am I gonna return you I myself I'm going to return right and says Vishakha shamrock FH boot ah the mecca of ash Africa so far maybe keep Vikki Baja Mokelumne Michele fits gosh I'm ok Hashem Hashem is going to return your remnant and he's going to be merciful to you he's going to return and he's going to in gather your exiles from all the nations which he has spread you out there and guess what it doesn't say it doesn't say the achieve that he will return it says save a shout it says the shop and Rashi explains he too shall return he is with us in exile and he will come home with us to the land of Israel that's where he wants to be that's where his home is and so the return of the Jewish people the land of Israel something that I heard Robert Mike Feuer say and his show which i think is very true which is it's of biblical proportions the coming of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel it's of biblical proportions right so not only are we coming back but it is God Himself who is coming back to the Land of Israel think about that think about that God himself as has been with us in the Exile and he's coming back home and then I was on an airplane a small airplane this week and I was exactly thinking about doing some repentance about some stuff that I had in my heart about me and then I read this verse in Ithaca because Hashem I'm even if you're remnant or you're you're kind of throw the the the part of the nation that is kind of thrown away that is cast away it's gonna be even if the cast away is going to be at the edge of the skies the edge of the heavens me Shamika bets Hashem okay foams shameeka FIFA from there assemble and gather you and from there a Shem your God will take you I thought to myself your your this could be understood literally which is a Shem is gonna and gather the people but also if you have a sin you have a sin out there that's your knee doc that's your kind of something negative that has been spread out there that has been put out there you kind of want to in gather that you want to get that shameful thing and bring it in kind of wash that clothes that's been hung to dry for everybody to see so even if your sin is way out in the heavens far away and kind of for all to see and you're embarrassed about it or maybe it's hard for you to to reel it back in and to fix it and come down off the tree and all these metaphors Hashem Kenny when you do chuvash em will take that thing which seems unattainable to you and you can fix that and then it says Velvia Hashem okay pirates I'll show you of a toughie which I'm gonna bring you to the land Hashem your God is gonna bring you to the land which your forefathers inherited it the earth stopped and you will inherit it vay t5v Obama Volterra and he's going to good do good for you and he's gonna make you large more even he's gonna grow you even more than your forefathers and then it has the famous verse whom Allah shaiiaja at level of debt Lavazza Shem is going to circumcise your heart but within that there's the acronym of Elul right at level 5 at Lavrov which is the acronym of Elul and the lululu is the month that were in now the month of tissue ba the month of repentance we're in that moment right now and I was in the skies thinking about repentance and in this first came to me you know even if your sin is at the edge of the sky even if you're a sinner that you're at the edge of the sky and I just like laughs because I was like I'm in the sky okay can you can you bring me down safely from this and let me come back and serve you in purity and cleanliness and in you really renewed a renewed sense that's what Rosh Hashanah is that's the gift of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur its renewal its cleansing it cleanses your spirit and it's it's something that is the greatest gift in the world Chava is the greatest gift in the world the the erasure of the past even even more than erasure the turning of the past the past mistakes inter actually something that led you to to repent and to turn those sins even to plusses because that's what led you towards the path of chuhwa Thank You chef actua that is one of the greatest gifts and really that's the way our rabbis understand that is that it is itself a gift the path of true Weiser gift having Shuba having the ability to do Chuba is a gift and later on they'll also say in in verse 12 of chapter 30 lo b'shem I'm he is not the the Torah and the ability to get close to God is not in the heavens li mo saying that somebody might say me I let Lana Jemima who's gonna go up to heavens and bring it to us Vica felon and bring it down to us fish man or tavern a sinner and he'll he'll make it hurt for us and we'll do it it's it's not it's not in heaven it's not it's not just haven't right that's the secrets that we talked about before no God has given us a Torah he's given us a way to live it a way to live it and that's that's the book saying it I'm really I'm really not even I'm just kind of explaining what the book is telling it's like remember it's not in heaven I'm telling I'm God I'm telling it's not just in heaven it's it's it's on this earth it's it's living it it's doable there is a holy land you know how many people do I meet saying I've never been to the Land of Israel I really wanna go and they talk about it as though it's some kind of like and I really want Messiah I really want mashiac I'm just like hey just get on get on the bus Gus it's like not don't make it into a big deal don't make it into an impossibility it's something that you could just just just break out of constraints and pay the money and get on that plane and you can do it you could come to the real Holy Land only all I mean to say is it's not some kind of mystical or mythical object it's attainable the Torah is also tambul how many people have I seen throughout the years who have gotten closer to Torah and have learned so so much and have become so proficient so learned and so so deep in their connections got through the connection of the Torah the Torah is a gift of knowledge and of real-life action by the way I do want to mention that Ori Carson who was with me on this trip you know what an amazing Jew but really what was awesome on this trip is that out of nowhere he said to me we one day we have to pray kind of in our hotel rooms it says to me did you hear show for today I said no he takes out a chauffer and just that the the Jew from the Land of Israel that brings with him a shofar and blows it throughout the the Exile I think is really about to then gathering up the exiles and about chuhwa notice by the way chuva there's a shofar blowing in gathering of the exiles shofar blowing destroying our enemies and beating them in a godly war shofar blowing receiving the Torah shofar blowing okay because these are all these are all concepts that are absolutely related the about getting to the big stuff and dropping behind shopping dropping off all the little stuff and getting to the big stuff of what this world is really really about let's just get to one more verse the last verses in our torah portion are about choosing life as in like Trainspotting I remember Trainspotting the movie choose life so Reina telefónica Yamato Fame that amount of it excuse me not a telephone Akiyama the same at the table at the Moffitt Vitara I've given before Cedars I've given before you today life and good and death and bad I've given it before you it is a matter of choice which is also a philosophical concept there is choice you can choose it you can choose it if you wish there is a choice before you and I've given you that choice choose life choose the Torah she was the Land of Israel she was to defeat bad guys it's used to choose to live it intensely excitedly with a lot of love with a lot of juice she was life and the Torah really says that too and that that's that's what she was really about it's about I want to choose life I don't want to go down this path anymore that I've been on before I want to choose life I want to choose being connected to you I want to choose living a life of meaning I want to choose passing it to my children I want to choose life and I know that every single one of you who's listening to the show is a life chooser if you've listened to to this part of the show all I'm asking for you to do I'm asking for you to do one tiny little thing please send me a hashtag choose life or here ubukata became just send me a little tag somewhere that says choose life okay I don't want to hear any choose Brooklyn I want to hear choose life but even in Brooklyn choose life if this does there's manana mentor and kosher food here you know but she was choose life and Jews choose life maybe that's the name of the show should I call Jews choose life and then and again at the very end of the Torah portion he says got Mosher businesses hey dirty bottom hye-young at the shimon via targets I claimed him where I'm of it hey I'm at the dot let's start again hey dirty bottom I have I have made witness upon you hi Yom today and that's another thing which was today is a big concept today what can you do today how can you come closer today what does the step you took today so today I have made a witness of this covenant at the shaman via targets the heavens and the earth have claimed I'm up at the life and the death natal excuse me - I made the same mistake again at the shaman Vitalis that's the witnesses I am I'm a vet not a telefónica I've given put before you the choice of life and death I've put that choice before you how about a fabric law the blessing and the curse obokata but I am choose life Lamont is yeah so that you can live at a visa you and your seed is that you know it's so complex and then yet so simple choose life this is the real life this is the real life and then finally a giant catch-all phrase to do what lavish M la caja to love Hashem your God leash Mahalo to hear his voice the doctor who led of Cabo to cleave to him Eureka volodia Mecca for he is your life and the meaning of your left the purpose of your of your days the Sheva and then he says and guess what Torah yes where lehavot a la dama to sit on the earth I sure AM la Fatiha which a shame your God swore to your forefathers Lavenham it's hokule'a Cove to Abraham Isaac and Jacob latet lehem to give to them so you'll choose life you live with Torah you live in the land will fulfill the blessings when I say will fulfill the the excuse me will fulfill the promises when I say we I mean to say God is gonna fulfill his promise but you're also gonna fulfill the promise of being that all the nation on that holy nation all right folks that's our torah portion of Nitze beam i am in beautiful Brooklyn I got one more day here in New York and then off to the Holy Land bit is rathp is ripe is rather shame to rejoin my family and to have Rosh Hashanah this year on the Mount of Olives overlooking the Temple Mount I'm quite excited back to my old stomping grounds and I want to hear from you first thing send me a hashtag choose life exclamation point and write me an email you shine at the Land of Israel calm also I want to say that this is the time to give a little sadaqa or a lot of sadaqa and you and I know you're giving to so many other things please help me continue to do my show my show which is a big scoot shun me and gives me the cost to do it if you can help out we really appreciate it and we do a lot of other little secret projects so whatever you can give really helps a lot and it's that easy at you--she Fleischer comm - to give our network is doing great things that's called the Land of Israel Network the Land of Israel comm the Jewish community of heparin is doing great things by beautifying the tombs of the mothers and fathers and by helping you visit the tombs of the mothers and fathers and being a strong community in the face of many ordeals and challenges please visit us heparin fund orgy I do urge you to give a little bit of sadaqa before Shoshanna sadaqa teshuva to fellow sadaqa repentance prayer and charity of your image garage sarah help help you overcome any decrees that that are set against us any of us the nation as a whole in austin dividuals / in particular and finally i want to bless you with really a great new year and a healthy new year in a close new year and a loving new year and a family new year and i pronounce a new year and really a health and gesund I need to I don't even speak yet but I would love to slip into some Yiddish looking and just offering you like a real Yiddish oh brother that's luck isn't the Mosel of nach Hause Brut and all the good things from heaven God is God has given us the greatest blessing which is to live in this magical time of Revelation and we just got to keep the door open for more blessings he's ready to dole them out all we have to do is receive God bless you folks wherever you are stay tuned stay strong stay connected lots of love from Brooklyn on the way to the Holy Land Shanah Tovah [Music] all men dream but not equally says T Lawrence those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity but the dreamers of the day are a dangerous man they may enact their dream with open eyes to make it possible now I'm trying to keep my eyes open and watch as my dream on the bowls around me because I'm not my coif and this is the Jewish story join Ralph Mike foyer for the best Jewish history podcast the Jewish story on the land of his whole network at the