What was Abraham Looking for on his Inner Journey to Israel?-J. Gimpel:The Land of Israel Fellowship

ari has left me the opportunity to uh just start off today to start off our week in a little prayer i um i asked his permission if i could do such a thing today he gladly granted it to me but um one of my rabbis when i was really really young told me that every person has a certain character in the bible that is their mentor that is their template that is their example that there's something about a specific character in the bible that most speaks to them in their own life and it could be that that character changes actually throughout life it doesn't necessarily need to be well when i was 18 it was abraham and when i was 25 it was king david it could change throughout their life but for whatever reason the character that i most identify with more than any other character is avraham i just feel like the stories of avraham the message of avraham to be a father of many nations to go on the journey everything about avraham's life just speaks so dearly to me and i just wanted to lead our fellowship with a prayer in the name of avraham avinu in the name of avraham our father and so just with everyone that are from around the world just to kind of take a moment and unite our hearts and unite our minds um through this land and direct it towards heaven and so hashem thank you so much for this fellowship thank you for today thank you for ari and thank you for the torah where would we be without the torah thank you for avraham avinu to give us the way to be a blessing to all nations that he wasn't able to see in his own life and here we see 3 000 some odd years later literally a blessing to the entire world thank you for allowing us to hear our own calling help us hear it help us tune in to our destiny to our mission and thank you for allowing all of our missions to somehow intertwine with each other and thank you for bringing us all together in these days as an example of what avraham would have wanted to see in the world so many people from so many nations and so many backgrounds under one tent under his tent under his covenant under his promise and all of us connected to the land that was promised to him what a marvelous thing to be alive to see and to experience so may we bring that light into the rest of our week and may we keep the promises of abraham close to our heart amen okay so i have a little tour that i want to share today and it's obviously all interconnected to what ari also said as the introduction and so what i want to do first is i would like to um talk about a little bit what we spoke about last week and we talked about the law of reflection last week how that's almost the first lesson that's taught to us through the story of noah that our outside world is a mirror of our inside world and our inside world will be reflected on our outside world when we're overwhelmed and we're confused and life is chaotic most likely our house and our surroundings will be very chaotic because that's just what's happening to us and noah was told listen there's about to be a flood the flood is represented represents the chaos the touhou of the world and god says all right in times of chaos build an ark make order and so can we get the the thing up on the screen the the oh perfect and so here the word panim in hebrew ari just mentioned that means face and pnim also means interior and so that is the basis for this upcoming torah that you know we're told that avraham's told to go on a journey to the outside into the world but ultimately the outward journeys wherever they might take us are really inward journeys towards discovering ourselves that panini that exterior experience is just an internal journey and the fundamental claim of the bible is that we're not just stumbling around this world but that we have the ability to tune in and receive guidance to receive direction intuition that somehow aligns us with the master plan and allows us to play our part in the ultimate design of the creator that somehow we're able to tune into ourselves and find our specific mission our own journey and in that outward journey somehow our own inner destiny is also revealed and so yes well just the camera needs to be adjusted oh the camera needs to be adjusted i can't see that's what i usually have a camera of me so i could just see what that looks like oh sorry you don't know how to set it i guess you're taller than me oh you're bigger than me all right uh he's bigger than me but i'm a higher ranking officer in the army than he is so i have the ranks all right here we are all right so let's get back to what we were talking about okay the outward journey the entire story of the unfolding story of avraham is really lecha it's to yourself the grammar is like unclear it's go to yourself to the land that i will show you that's what it's teaching us that outward journey that panim is really to go to yourself that's just what it's saying go to the land but as you're going to the land on your outward journey that's what's happening all the challenges the obstacles the tests they just allow us to discover what we're really made of and the word discover a friend of mine just told me last week means dis remove cover we're just removing the cover to find out what was always on the inside that's what the word discover means and also that's what the word discovery in hebrew means just to unveil what was already there so this whole world is just a world of discovery and there's no other way to discover who we are and what we're made of until we're really on our own journeys out into the into the wilderness of our lives into the unknown and so um it's like the outward journey is just a tool for us to develop our own rich inner world a deeper world a more meaningful world and avraham never sees his destiny in his lifetime he's told he's going to impact the entire world he's going to be a father of many nations he never became a king he only had one son he spent his life on a journey even when he arrives in the land of israel he just goes from place to place he's he's he never gets to see the promise that was promised to him and that's the whole point that the blessings of abraham the promise to avraham it was never about the exterior journey that journey toward the land of israel the journey inside the land of israel was just to reveal his inner world that continues to bless us until today and that's why rashi the midrash says what does that language mean it's for your good it's for your pleasure if you go out on this journey it may be hard it may be challenging but ultimately it will bring you the ultimate good and in the end of your life it'll be the ultimate pleasure because you finally are tapped in to your true desire your true will if you embark on the journey you're going to have to go inside now means something even more deep than that all of us we want approval we want acceptance we want to make sure that what we're doing is the right thing i'll give you an example i was 22 years old 21 years old when i met tehila tequila was 19 and i really thought that i wanted to marry her and i'm like well i'm just not going to make this decision on my own i did just too much for my shoulders to carry tehila here's the number of my parents i'd like you to give them a call maybe invite them out to dinner and if my parents don't like you sorry i'm not going to marry you that is just not going to happen because i needed the approval i needed the acceptance i was only 22 she was 19. i needed shoulders that were bigger than my shoulders to sort of carry the responsibility of making a lifelong commitment that was just it was just out of my pay grade and of course tequila called my parents my parents adored her and then the deal the seal was deal but of the deal was sealed but as we grow in life um so the midrash teaches us listen you're gonna have to go inside you're going to have to leave your family you're going to have to leave your parents you're going to have to leave your grandparents you're going to have to leave your culture you're going to have to leave your friends you're going to have to leave any kind of approval confirmation acceptance that you're looking from the outside and you're gonna have to learn to trust yourself you're gonna have to have that inner intuition and have the inner power to act on it even when everyone is telling you not to avraham is called an eve bree and that's what it means he was so strong on the inside that he was able to be on the ever on the other side with everyone on one side of the world and he was on the other side of the world and he said the entire world is wrong there's not multiple gods there's not multiple idols there's only one god i know it on the inside and i'm going to act based on my own inner intuition even though the entire world around me is telling me otherwise and that is a fundamental part of the process of us going on our own spiritual journeys in our faith journeys in our own lives we have to be able to trust our inner intuitions and be able to act upon them and so people might tell you you're nuts people might say you're weird they want they won't understand you they're not supposed to understand you because your journey is unique to you and your family you have a different destiny a unique destiny that only you could ever really understand because your circumstances your background your family your upbringing your education you have a certain special reality that no one else will ever really be able to know other than you and your creator and so what then is at the core of this inner journey outward what is that what are we actually looking for it's like you know go on the inside it just sounds too new-agey to me discover yourself discover your inside what's the talk list here like what does that actually mean and so what this inner journey is all about the torah calls it it's our journey to eretz israel it's our journey to the land of israel that's at least the map that's given to us in the story of avraham it's all the way to the land that i will show you and so the land that i will show you in the mystical writings of judaism it says that the land represents our will our desire and we can see that not only in the mystical writings but we can actually see that revealed in the hebrew language itself can we get the slide up on the land artsa literally means to the land where was abraham going he is going to the land erze which is the same exact words is i will desire i will want the hebrew language here is teaching us uh you want to go on the inside on your inner journey what you're really looking for on that journey is what do you really want what is your real desire and we've talked about this before because man is is complicated we're made of earth we're made of the material but we have this consciousness and we have this soul we have this weakness we have this aliveness we have this thing that's beyond the physical and they're somehow interwoven with each other and most of the world today is focused on the physical well i want a pretty wife i want a lot of money i want a nice car i want a big house all of that is on the outside but you know what on the inside our soul is not really interested in any of that and the truth is none of that stuff brought anyone happiness ever the soul isn't thriving because of the stuff on the outside the soul has another desire it wants something totally different and it could be that each person in their own individual journey is going to discover you know what my soul wants my soul wants to bring love into the world my soul wants to bring knowledge into the world it's something that's like higher than the physical it's something that's more ethereal it's something that's more spiritual it's something that's more enlightened in the inner journey on this derek on this way is to discover what is my actual desire what does my soul really want and then what is avraham told he's told us the greatest secret in the end it seems like god is like kind of doing a deal with avraham he says listen go on this journey go to the land of israel discover yourself and discover your inner desires who you're meant to be in the world and each one of the patriarchs by the way has a different inner dimension that they meant to reveal into the world and that's what next week fellowship is going to be about because abraham and isaac and jacob there are three paradigms three totally different destinies three soul journeys that needed to be manifest three virtues that needed to be brought into the world that are totally separate but at the end god says to abraham i'll make you a great nation all families of the earth will be blessed through you i'll make your name great the whole world will know who abraham is and at the very very end he says to abraham if you go on this journey and you will be a blessing and right there is the key to torah living right there when abraham hears that he's like i'm in i get to be a blessing i don't just get to bless others i am a blessing everywhere that i go i'm going to meet someone in the street i'm going to meet someone in the supermarket i'm going to have someone in my house i'm gonna meet someone i'm gonna teach them i'm gonna i am gonna be a blessing i'm in and ever since that moment every believer has been given a mandate a mission in the world how can they become a blessing how are they a blessing how do they manifest their soul in the world in their own unique way that when they encounter this universe whether it be through people whether it be through the environment whether it be through animals whether it be through their bosses or their employees or their families or their children or their neighbors what are they they are a blessing that is the ultimate inner journey that we figure out how to turn our lives not into something that will only bless others but that we're just a blessing already and that was the greatest teaching of avraham that on his journey to the land of israel in all the tests that he passed and all the obstacles he had to overcome ultimately his greatest gift was that he became a blessing that continues to bless millions of people throughout the generations and so i want to bless all of us that we have the courage and we have the strength to not care what the outside world says and that we tune inside and have enough confidence on the inside to then go to the outside to follow our destiny and to become a blessing to bring as much light as we can to as many people as we can and that way i know that happiness will manifest blessing will manifest light will be brought into this dark world and our fellowship has a very important mission here we are beacons of light and we have ambassadors in 50 countries around the world lighting it up all over and if we can all really take it upon ourselves that our mission is to do exactly what was promised to abraham we want to be a blessing and bless everyone in our surroundings then who knows how far that might take us so i'll let it over to ari here again it's wonderful to see all your beautiful faces the panim and then but he said it's just it's like the beef name you just see the insides and all of you are such beautiful souls so i will see you again next week 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 there 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 tehela 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 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 you