You Can Find G-d In Every Desire | Women's Class Parsha Terumah

Good morning everybody. Welcome. Thank you so much for joining us. Let's just get a thumbs up on Zoom. Do you hear me and see me? Perfect. Beautiful. Thank you very much. And I'm privileged to be here with all of you today. Thank you for joining us. Just uh to announce the schedule this week of classes. So, tomorrow, Wednesday, 1:00 p.m., we have a special session with the Jewish community of South Africa. It will be aired livereamed on the yeshiva.net. The topic is towards a life of positivity, joy, and serenity. That's Wednesday 100 p.m. right here on the yeshiva.net. Thursday morning we will have our uh morning class 7:30 a.m. we began a mimer of the on purim very fascinating mimer the concept of not knowing between cursed is h and blessed is mardai Friday morning we're going to have a class in Hebrew but that will be announced you could go to the yeshiva.net net and the exact time will be there on the bar on the homepage where the live classes are announced. Last night we had a very uh meaningful and powerful session about single parenting during these times. It was especially for single moms or single dads who are raising families themselves. It was a very uh very intense experience for me. I think for all of them hearing all of the questions if you want to uh educate yourself on what's going on in this field some of the questions were really telling and tragically telling but uh it was a very u it was a meaningful experience to be able to feel what is going on in the lives of so many today and how we can be here for them. be here for ourselves and be here for our loved ones and be here for uh all people who we can be here for. So that was last night. It's also posted on the yeshiva.net. In the meantime, you could go and download the source sheets because we're going to be learning inside. So as usual, you go to the yeshiva.net t-sha.net net and on top you'll see the video for today's class Tuesday women's class and you can view the source sheets or you can download the source sheets today's class is dedicated by my dear friend one of the pillars of our community here in loving memory and tribute to his great father Ben and Ben Esther Yanku whose yard site is today the fourth day of dollar was a Jew whose life was dedicated to aid. In fact, little interesting piece of Jewish history that his son just shared with me this week. I did not know. of Erlik was a unique talent, a special talent with his Yiddish songs and poems. And one of his legendary songs is called Yakov. You remember it's one of his classic. It's it's an extraordinary song. begins in Usuzbekistan about this young Jewish lad who escapes to Usbekistan and he's driving a tractor's a beautiful composer and uh they want to force him to marry out and he he flees. It's a very powerful song of Erl composed it and it's called Yakov. Who was it about? It sounds like an authentic story. So just this week I found out it was written about Pesh and Yum Erl sung sang this song at Yankl Pesh's wedding in Paris after the war he sang this song he composed a song in honor of the wedding of this boy with whom this story happened if you don't know the song you could check it out Jacob Yam it's sung today by Abram and other singers uh very beautiful renditions something ingenious about the song. The lyrics, the music, the tunes, the flux from one extreme to another extreme. So that's that's his his yard site is today. Today's class is also dedicated to the unforgettable Jerry Simon in honor of his yard site of Mosa. And I want to thank his daughter Sirill Goldman and the entire family for dedicating this classy Simon the famous Brooklyn caterer and beloved friend to many Jerry Simon. So let's begin. Let's begin a piece of garhammed alf. Okay, follow with me. We're going to be learning two sources inside and then a commentary of this fasdra. Source number one, you see it. If you didn't open your source sheets, please open your source sheets on the yeshiva.net. You can see the source sheets for this class. The rabbis taught It is forbidden that a person should enjoy food or drinks of this world, anything of this world without a blessing, without expressing gratitude. That's why the sages instructed that before I eat an apple or before I eat a plum or a peach or a grape, before I drink a cup of wine or a glass of orange juice or tea or coffee, I make a blessing. If somebody enjoys this world without a blessing, without expressing a gratitude to the toem, this is a form of ma is a concept in Jewish law which means when I misuse property that belongs to the ba mikdash. If I go to the bame mikdash and I take an animal or I take any property that belongs to the holy temple and I use it for my personal use, I didn't redeem it. This is called ma. It's basically stealing property from the holy temple and misusing it for the wrong thing. So he says if you take something from this world, you take an apple off the tree, pluck an orange and you eat it, this is called mah. Why? Why? It's the property of hashem. As the gumar as says the garra will explain the name of Somebody who enjoys benefits from something of this world without a blessing. It's as though this person benefited from that which is sacred to heaven. Shaya means those things that have been designated for heaven. meaning they are holy objects or holy animals or holy items that belong to the holy temple the bikdesh and you are benefiting from it without permission why it's part of this world I was placed here on this world I have to eat I use the oxygen of the world I drink the water the says chapter 24 we say it every Sunday the whole earth the whole planet and everything inside of it belongs to its creator Hashem. If it belongs to Hashem, it's part of the B mikdash. It's part of God's property. It's like property of the B. The whole world is part of God's property. I'm taking it without a blessing. That's taking from Shayl asked and posed the following contradiction. I have a problem. One verse in Psalms 24 says some light. The whole world belongs to God. But in the same very very same book of scriptures of Tahill Psalms chapter 115 part of the hall we say you remember the heaven belongs to God earth God has bequeathed to humanity. How do you reconcile these two verses? In chapter 24 of Psalms says the whole world including earth and everything that fills the earth belongs to it's not mine. It's his later in says the heaven is God's realm earth he gave people. How do you reconcile this? Who does earth belong to? Says the says there's no contradiction. One verse is referring to pre one verse is referring to post before I make a blessing before I take the peach or the grape and I say it's gods. who gave you permission when I make the now now he gave it to me that's what the says it's difficult to understand we'll soon see if you benefit from this world without a blessing it's like you're stealing from Hashem belongs to him and you stole it from him end of the discussion in the gor Alf now any serious student right away discern is that it's difficult to understand the sages are teaching us here something but what are they teaching us how are we supposed to understand their message if Hashem created the world and he allows me to use it and he does allow me to use it he told Adam and Kava right after he created them multiply fill the world conquer the world you can rule over the animals and the beasts and the fish, etc. You're the steward of the world. You have to take care of it, but it's here for you to enjoy and for you to work with it and sublimate it. So then I'm not a thief. So he says, "No, before the blessing, it belongs to God. And once you make a blessing, suddenly it belongs to you. If there's property that really belongs to the B mikdash and I come into the B mikdash and I make a blessing, I'm allowed to use it." He calls it theft from Hashem. So now let me ask you a question. If I come into your vineyard and there's a beautiful, beautiful cluster of grapes and I'm really hungry and I would love to take one of those clusters but it's theft. It belongs to you. You didn't give me permission. I have a great idea. I can stand up and I say I want to thank Yenko Finkelstein who created this vine and who nurtured this vine and who developed this vine. I am so grateful to him and I eat the grapes. It's still theft. Just because you said thank you and you acknowledge that I'm the owner. It's still theft. You know, there's an old it's an old great Jewish joke about this fellow who's visiting Israel pre-corona and he sees this uh wonderful orchard, exquisite fruits and he comes in and he starts eating the grapes and the owner comes out to the portion. He sees a guy who's just standing at his at his vine and just eating one grape after another grape and and extolling its virtues and its exquisite taste. And he starts saying, "Who gave you permission? This is geneva. This is theft." He's ignoring him. He's just eating more grapes. He says, "I don't understand you. Haven't you learned tra? One of the ten commandments is you're not let steal. How are you not afraid to violate this commandment? Even if you're going to tell me is talking about kidnapping people, but there's another verse that says you're not let to steal person's money. This is this is in front of me. It's gaza. And this Jew is eating the grapes and he smiles and he says, "Ah, there's no country like Israel in the world. You get to stand in Israel, eat delicious grapes and in the meantime, you even hear adv you hear somebody giving you a speech in while you enjoying the grapes." Talk about somebody not getting it. What is the exact mechanism? If God gives me permission to eat from his world so I can eat. If he doesn't give me permission and it's considered theft and it's his own property, what happens when I thank him? What's the exact mechanism? And what do mean that before the bra the world belongs to God and after the braha the world belongs to me. What happened? I thanked God. So now suddenly he says, "Oh, you said thank you. Now the world is yours." What what what's the meaning here? What is the deeper meaning? We're changing the subject completely, but not really. The Gmorra says infitt 78. If somebody tells a woman, if it's a couple who's about to get divorced, unfortunately, and he says her to her there on the floor, there's your get your contract of divorce, go take it. Go take it and obtain it. It's meaningless. And if she takes it, she's still not divorced. What is the meaning of this? So let's see how the Rambam our great teacher Mymanades 11th century Spain 12th century Spain and then of course Morocco and then Israel and then Egypt where he passed away. Rambamish Rambam laws of divorce chapter 1 section 12. We have it in the original Hebrew the language of the Rambam but I also put in here an English translation so you could follow either. There was a get, a contract of divorce that was placed on the ground. It was a kosher get. It was written well, everything according to the laws of the Torah. And the husband tells his wife, "Pick your g up from the ground." And that's what she did. She went and she lifted up the get and now she's holding it. Or another scenario, It was tied to his hand. Maybe it was tied to his thigh. And then she takes it from him. She takes it from his hand. She takes it from his thigh. Even though after she took it, he says, "This is your get." Ain't a get. This is not a kosher get. It does not work. It's void. They're still legally married. Why? Why? He wrote a get. He put it on the ground. He told her, "Take it." So, this was with full consent, with full permission. He wants her to take it. He told her, "Here, take it. It's on the ground. It's not a get." Why? Because let's study the words of the when it comes to a divorce. This is Deuteronomy chapter 24. The says, He writes to her a safer. A safer is a book of a divorce. A book that will separate them. That will sever the connection. Viny means he will place it in her hand. Venosan means he will give it. He will bequeeave it. He will impart it. He will place it. Venosa to give. He gives it to her in her hand. What does this imply? Implying that she could not take it on her own accord. He gives it to her. And in these instances, neither the husband nor his agent gave it to her. He doesn't have to give it himself to her physically. He could. There's like many Jewish laws we learn out from the T. He could create a to give it. She can create a to receive it. an agent to give it or to receive it because the agent is considered an extension of the one who sent the agent. That's fine. That's like a longer hand. His hand stretches out through an agent. But he has to give it to her. I the get is on the ground. It's a kosher get. They were witness everything was done fine. The document is perfect and she gets it. So the end result is the same. He wanted to give her the divorce. She wants to take the divorce. He pick he puts it on the ground. She picks it up from the ground. It was with his consent. It's not good. It's not void. Well, one one detail was missing. He has to give it to her. Now you're wondering where is Rabbi Y going with this? We started off with making blessings. We we continue discussing vines in Israel and now we're discussing giving a get. This is one small paragraph in theidic work of written by Rabbi Hudari alter the second reba of theidic dynasty of geru passed away in 1905 and in par this is a teaching that he taught in the year which would be 1871 says this says he's now going to quote very briefly the gmorra that we learned together from As usual, he is very concise and brief and cryptic. What's bothering him, it seems to me, is what exactly happens as a result of you making a blessing. So he begins the truth is in every single thing in the world there's kadusha there is holiness it's not just there is holiness it's like you know it's hiding somewhere it's much deeper than that the kadusha is the kayak is a lovely term that's found often inidic writings. You have it in you have it in many other works primarily in this. It's it's brought frequently and this is sometimes used as this phraseiology means the energizing power that gives everything its energy, its chemistry and its substance. So he says it's not just there is in everything. There's holiness in everything. That is the the divine power that activates it, that brings it into existence every single moment that sustains it, that maintains it in all of its complexities. We all know today that the tiniest piece of matter is alive. And that's why these ideas are so much um are so relevant today and they could really be illustrated today even from a secular scientific perspective because there's no such a thing as a dead piece of matter. You know inorganic matter is dead. It in Hebrew it's called dum. D means silent not dead. It's silent. The life is not visible but it's certainly there. When somebody is silent doesn't mean they they don't have what to say. When somebody's silent doesn't mean they don't have an inner world of emotions. When Aaron loses his children says Aaron was silent. There was a lot going on in him but he was silent. Sometimes the pain is too deep to express it in words. So which is considered the lowest category of creation. Dim is the silent realities meaning where you do not visibly see growth and life. Like in the world of vegetation which is called se and the animal kingdom which is called kai the human race which is called mab is alive but it's silent it's quiet unless you have microscopic eyes or tools you don't see the dynamism the vitality that is there but it's full of vitality it's full of movement and everything in the world for any category in the world is full of kadusha it's full of holiness because it's not just it has holiness that is the kayak That is the energy that brings it into existence that gives it vitality, substance that creates its spiritual and thus physical chemistry every single moment and through the through making a blessing. What is a blessing? A is awareness. It's directing my consciousness. It's expanding my consciousness to the inner world of matter. Making a bra is to live a conscientious life to live an attentive life to live in an alert fashion to be sensitive to reality not to take reality for granted. You're eating a peach. Do you recognize what is inside this peach? What are the forces that had to come together to create this peach? We take it for granted. We take every tree for granted, every bush for granted. I take the squirrels outside for granted, the birds for granted, and the snow for granted. What did it take to create that flake of snow? From a pure scientific perspective, what did it take to create this droplet of water or this coffee bean that I'm enjoying now or you're enjoying now? What What did it take? So, I can study it from a scientific point of view. I could study chemistry and discover its chemical compounds which is fascinating and amazing. If you go deeper and deeper, you discover the the divine inner electricity life force that is responsible for the ecosystem and that is responsible for every individual never every individual being and existence. What is a braha? A brah is attuning myself to this. take any you're drinking a cup of coffee or a cup of water when you're thirsty. You say, "Blessed are you, Hashem, our God, the energy of the universe, the king of the universe. For everything came into existence through his word, through his energy." In other words, you're revealing that the true reality of this water or this coffee or this apple juice or this mango juice or just to be fair this celery juice or kale juice for those who are juicing this morning it's a good morning to juice is it says and the same is true if I'm eating something with the blessing of I may be eating a potato or a tomato or a cucumber or a banana I'm eating something with a blessing something with a blessing or any other blessing. A piece of bread or a cup of wine. So is becoming aware of the exists here. This is divine. It's a manifestation of divine energy. That awareness allows the kadusha to actually be exposed, be revealed. It's always there. Whether I make the blessing or I don't make the blessing. That's it true reality. But the question is how much it's manifested, how much it's revealed, how much it impacts me, and how much I'm aware of it. What does it mean that the is revealed? that even though the person is enjoying this is a delicious piece of food there's enjoyment but the person should remain should remain connected to the in it not to take the food away from what it really is or in simple words not to abuse the food not to negate and deny the true reality of the matter that I am consuming now to remain connected to remain dvok with the true reality of this physical item and what is is true reality. True reality is the holiness that is animating it and vivifying it and vitalizing it and giving it sustenance and existence at every single moment. as I wrote earlier in a previous piece the same year which he probably said at the same shabas this is the deeper meaning it says in the beginning of para and that's how it comes into this parashem says you should make for me a mikdash you should build for me a sanctuary and I will dwell among them so literally it means take all of those physical items the gold and the copper copper and the silver and the various wools and other materials and fabrics. And together we're going to sculpture vessels and create pieces of furniture and build a mishkan, build a tabernacle, build a mikt, a sanctuary, a holy abode for the divine presence. On a deeper level, this explains mikt is an eternal and timeless commandment in terms of how you contact how you come in contact with everything in the world. Mikd from everything you should make for me a mikdash. You should reveal the mikdash the kadusha in everything. In every encounter, in every experience, in every piece of food that I take a bite, in every hike, every walk, every interaction, every aspect of life is filled with kadusha. Turn this experience into a mikdash, into a place that it manifests my holiness. Reveal to be able to allow this thing to be aligned with its higher power and inner power that gives it its vigor and its existence. You don't want to live a life of dissonance, a life of split personality, a life of of of a dichotomy, a life of which is dichomized not with inside of you and not within inside anything of the world. What does it mean to live a world that's not dichotomized? A world of unity. A world of harmony is to be able to see the harmony in everything. To be able to align everything you come in contact with with its own inner substance and calling and destiny and function and design which is its divine purpose, its divine energy which gives it which gives it life every moment. And what's the what are the next words in the I will dwell among you. This holiness will actually fill your life and fill your home and fill your body and then it's given to the person and then God says it's yours. What's the meaning? The Gmorra tells us in here we'll see everything coming together if the husband tells the wife take the divorce document from the ground it's void the says it has to go from hand to hand the husband gives it to the wife from his hand to her hand either from his physical hand or through his agent's hand or to her physical hand or to her agent's physical hand. But it goes through a blessing where the person becomes aware that this is all him. This is all his. It's his energy and he doesn't just take it himself. Now the says the earth he gave to people. If he just takes it without the bra then he's taking it on his own and that's a whole very different experience. He is he is using this in giten which seems like a very technical law about a divorce a sad situation but it reveals to us a thought process a paradigm that explains to us the whole concept of braus and the whole we have to realize that all of is interconnected. So a discussion in braus about making a blessing and the consequences of making a blessing is intricately connected with a discussion in about the laws of divorce but we have to understand the inner thought process and then we could see the combinations. So what was the issue there by the get it says venos I give it to her you have he has to give it into her hand if he says take it from the ground it's a problem it's not so now the gar says is a contradiction between two one says the whole world belongs to another heaven belongs to god and earth he gives to people is the Earth mine or is the earth his? So said depends if you made a what do you mean depends I made a I made a bra suddenly it belongs to me he says yeah just like by the get means he gives it to me if the woman takes the get even though the husband gave her permission he said go take it it's not a good get because there has to be vasi means he gives it to her if she takes it on her own it's not a good get when it says Hashem gives the bay. What does it mean? He gives the bay. It's his and he gives it to me. That's very different than me taking on my own. And that's what a bra does. A braha makes me realize and makes me aware of the fact that every single moment God is giving me the world. Hashem is bequeathing to me this very item that that's filled with his presence that's filled with his energy. It's all his energy, all all his reality. And Hashem is giving it to me. That's what the braha accomplishes. So that's why before the blessing we say it's theft. It belongs to God. You're just taking it. What happens after the what happens after the is by becoming aware that there's a divine here there's a divine energy here there's a here by becoming aware of that that kadusha becomes revealed so this says now what happens is there's a what does mean vosan means that Hashem is giving it to me. So there's two different models. One is I go and I take the world. What does it mean I take the world? Oh, I see a world. Oh, it's here for grabs. What happens now? I'm detaching it from its true reality. I'm detaching me from my true reality. The what does the bra say? The braha says no. There's a seamless. I know this is divine. This is godliness and Hashem is giving godliness to me. And the same is true with me. We make a also on our own existence. Who am I? My essence is also divine. So God is sharing that with me. That's the that's in heaven. It's obvious that it's he gives it over to the person. What does it mean? He gives it over to the person. Not that I grab it on my own. That I'm aware of the fact that God is involved in every single experience. He's giving me the energy. He's giving me the light. He's giving me the stamina. He's giving me the vigor. The very energy that I have every moment, this is a gift from Hashem. And the very food that I'm eating is his gift to me. And the very water that I'm drinking is his gift to me. And whatever I'm interacting with is a divine flow of energy God is giving me. God is giving me. He's giving me his light, his presence, his love. I'm receiving it from him. It's that's what a is all about. That's why he says is after. If it's before then it's before I person it's true it's still God still divine energy but in my consciousness I'm not in touch with that. Let's go to the next piece. The next piece opens up a conversation on the second of the parish base. Hashem speaks to and he says speak to the children of Israel. They should take from me a contribution from each person whose heart is generous. You should take my contribution. This is from 1874, three years later. Is the famous question of the commentators. The grammar seems to be erroneous. He should have said they should give me a contribution not they should take from me a contribution they should give me a contribution if I want to ask if I get up to and I want to ask people to give charity to the poor for purim for pes I don't say go and take charity go give charity to the poor person you say take charity to the person who's giving you say give charity so why does this hashem should say He wasn't asking the Jews to take. He was asking them to give they should give contribution to me to Hashem for to build a mishk. It's not they're not taking, they're giving. On the contrary, it's the opposite of taking. Rash so this is an obvious question. So Rashi himself is perturbed by this. Rashi the 11th century great biblical commentator, Talmuda commentator from France. Rashi Rabbi says they should separate from their money a contribution from me. That's why it says of course the objective is to give it to me. But before you give it, you first have to take it. So if you have money in your bank account, you have to go and retrieve take out money that you're get then going to give for charity. So Jews had a lot of money. They had a lot of assets. He said let them go and take from their assets from their money a portion that will then be given to the Bd. So there's two stages in giving. First you have to take you have to take part of your money. You have to take out a few you have to take out a check from your checkbook. You have to take out money from your wallet. You have to retrieve money from your bank account or assets from your home and then you give it to the poor person because you're not giving everything. If you're giving everything then you don't have to take but you're giving part and you're leaving part. The Jews didn't give everything away. So says they should be maf they should separate from their money they should take from their money apart a nava a contribution and then they will give it to me. This is how Rashi explains it which answers the question but it still leaves us wanting somewhat because we all understand that in order to give charity you have to take the money out of your pocket. Right? If a poor person comes to me and asks me if I can give him a contribute, if I can give him a donation, give him a gift, I can't just give it, I first have to take it. So I have to go to my house. I have to open the drawer. I have to take out the checkbook and then I can give it to him. We all understand that in order to give, you first have to take it. You have to retrieve it. But why is that the focus in the PK? The objective is to give, not to take. And yes, in order to give a donation, you have to take the money out of your wallet. I got that. But why does Hashem focus on the taking more than on the giving when the objective is the giving? It seems it seems that this ability for a person to separate to take something that belongs to him and segregated and identify that this is for Hashem is more significant to God than the actual giving. Because as the PK says, all money is mine. The silver belongs to me. Gold belongs to me. So what can you really give Hashem? What can I give him? Famous, it's all mine. So if it's all mine, what are you going to give me? You're going to give me something that's mine. So that's why this says, you know what's much more significant than the giving is the taking. The fact that you went into your bank account, the fact that you went into your home, the fact that you went into your money and your assets and you separated something and you said this belongs to God even before you gave it. That in a way is more significant than the actual giving. That's why he says the focus is on the what is the what is the what does it mean to take this generosity that a person takes some of his items some of his object some of his some of his assets and he places it he puts it down he designates it for Hashem that act of taking this is more significant than the giving. Through this act of taking it actually becomes uplifted and sublimated back to Hashem and this is called as the PK says in Mish who goes up to heaven. How exactly am I giving something to God? I'm climbing up to heaven. However, through the generosity of a person that I decide and I designate this to Hashem. So this becomes now uplifted. Truma is from the word laarim to uplift, to elevate, to sublimate. You say lifting something up is to lift it up. So he says this is called truma. You lift it up to heaven. How do you lift it up to heaven? You're going up to heaven. But the idea is that the person's consciousness, the person's generosity that this belongs to the I'm giving away this elevates this thing to Hashem. The sages tell us the Gmorra says in could be taken through thought could be segregated through thought. Meaning the Gmorra says there let's say you have a uh a pile of fruits a pile of oranges and you want to eat but the problem is the tithing the tuma was not separated when the farmer harvested his fruit or his grain or his vegetables. So some percent of it we'll soon see how much but usually around 2% you had to give to the kayen. This was called truma. So says you could do it even with your thought. You could look at the oranges and say you know what those few oranges are for truma and then you could already eat the rest of it. Even though if you eat something before you gave tuma from it it's called tel. You're not allowed to eat it. It's not kosher to eat. But just the very thought the thought of it allows it to become truma. So this says what is the idea here? It doesn't just mean a technical law that you could think that this is true. means that's what makes it's all about it's through your thought your goodwill that's what makes it heavenly that's what lifts it up in other words everything belongs to Hashem so if it belongs to Hashem it's already divine so why do I have to uplift it the answer is like we learned before because we live in a world where that's concealed so how do I reveal its connection to Hashem It's all about my consciousness. It's all about my So he says the act that you gave it to God. Okay, it's already his. You gave it back to him. The biggest is the that consciousness, that notion that I'm aware that this is divine, that this belongs to God. That goodwill. It's a state of consciousness that when I align my mind with the true reality of this world, of this physical item, that is what lifts it back up to heaven. That is what aligns it with its spiritual source. This mitzvah applies to everything in the world. To be able to identify the part that belongs to God to be able to accentuate and make sure that everything in the world I have to ask myself what part of this is being given to Hashem the commandment to build for me is not one commandment that the Jewish people had to take materials and put up a building. No. In every action, thought, word of a human being throughout his or her entire life, there is this empowering idea of how am I going to turn this action into a bik. What does it mean? How we going to turn this action into mikdash? I want to reveal and identify that which is divine here and align it with the divine. Utilize it in a way that it serves its divine purpose. The Mishna says in trumas there were three types of people giving trauma. He says there's a good eye, there's an intermediary eye and there's a stingy eye. How much do you give Truma? The Tory doesn't say how much. So let's say I have 100 oranges. How much do I give? So he says eye inva if you have a good eye you give one of 40. If you have an eye in bananess you give one of 50. So if you have 100 how many oranges did you give? Two. You give one of 50. 50 oranges you give one. 100 oranges you give two which means 2%. That's intermediate. If you're a little more stingy one of 60. Not one of 50. Not one of 40. One of 60. That's what the say. So the minimum is one of 60. Why one of 60? Why not one of 70? Why not one of 100? No, that's already too little. One of 60. You may. You passed it. You passed the bar. So he says in we have a concept flavor of when you have a ratio of 1 to 60. So the one gets nullified in the 60. So if you have 60 plus one classic example would be a drop of milk falls into the cholant pot and the cholant is made of deli fleshik right are you allowed to eat the cholant or not or the whole chant is not kosher so there's a concept called bbashish bbish of course if you could see the drop of milk you have to get rid of it but what about the flavor sobbish means that we assume that if it's a ratio from 1 to 60 the quantity of the meat was 60 to the quantity of the milk 60 to one, then it's nullified in the rest of the food. And because it's nullified, so there's no way that this milk is going to be manifested and tasted and therefore you can eat a ch. Of course, you don't do this initially, but if you do it, it's called. So this says, now we'll understand why can't be less than one from 60. If you have 60 and you take one, so now there's 59 left. That's fine. But if you have more than that is good. Why? Because what he's saying is you don't want that the part of trauma should be less than a 60th which means symbolically that it gets nullified in the external desires. If it's one of 60 now it's not nullified. So therefore the name of God can dwell on all of it. Ma koi. So the person's whole misa whole action can be elevated and sublimated. This is a very subtle idea. If the truma is let's say one of 70, one of 61, one of 80, one of 90, one of 100. So then not just the majority of it is not truma but more than 60. Right? If I take one of 100, so 99 of it is not truma. So the truma got nullified bash. If it's already more than 60, it nullifies the trauma. If I took one of 40, so then it's not nullified the trauma because one in 40 doesn't get nullified. One of 50, it's not nullified. One in 50 doesn't get nullified. One in 60 also is not nullified because there's only 59 left for nullification. You need 60. One in 61 gets nullified. What does this mean spiritually? When you take Truma to God, it's not to be Yait. Okay, I did a mitz with the money. Now I can go uh detach myself. No, the idea of the Truma is that it redefineses your relationship with all your money. Truma is just revealing how you view life. Do you view life? Do you view yourself as a detached, small, external, brute, coarse person? Or do you see yourself and everything that you come in contact with for what it really is, which is a flow of divine energy? It's all part of God's oneness. So is a commandment about every single thing. If I'm eating breakfast or I'm eating dinner, if I'm going out with a friend or I'm involved in a business interaction, if I'm going on a hike or if I'm taking the telephone, I'm answering the telephone or I'm going to the bank or I'm taking a trip. If I'm stuck in traffic or I'm answering email certainly I'm having learning doing a mitzvah everything turn it into a mikdash reveal the kadusha here reveal there's divinity here there's a here there's a divine purpose here there's oneness align your posture with its true self which is infinity this is what is and it's about the you'll give it to God of course but But it's your consciousness, your awareness that this has to be sublimated. If it's one of 60, you pass the bar because then there's 59 left. So the Truma is not nullified in everything else. But if it's more than 60, he says then the Truma is nullified. What's means external desires. External desires means desires that come from your external self and relate to the externalities of the world. I need attention. I need honor. I need glory. I need validation. I want this piece of uh this drink. I want this piece of food. These are external desires of mine. They're all covering up much deeper deeper desires. They're not my real real priorities and they relate to the externalities of the world. Himi is your real internal desires and it relates to the internal aspect of the world. We all have different desires. He says but make sure that your inner desire doesn't get nullified in your outer desire. There's no Bish. There it could be the other way around. The outer desires you need to align with the inner desires. So therefore truma could be one of 40 then it's not nullified. One of 50 and even one of 60 it's not nullified. Rather they're not being nullified. If the milk is in the cholant and there's a very little cholen there then the milk changes the cholant. It affects it. Now there it's not a good thing. Here it is a good thing. When the tuma is less than 60. So the truma doesn't get nullified in the rest of your money. It redefes the rest of your money. and impact the rest of your money that your whole life is part of kadusha. once heard from the labba of art and he said is in sed in in in Mishnay the tractate called which means the mundane which deals with the mundane animals that a person eats is also part of the section called which is dedicated to carbonus while is inch because by is also part of Everything is sometimes expressed as sometimes it's expressed as but there's only oneness in the world is in. And now this throws his last bomb. He says take a look at the end of the p. I chose this these these two last lines is something something very special says read the again it says speak to the children of Israel they should take from each and then it's a little bit of a of a difficult sentence may from any person whose heart will be generous should you take my contribution What's this saying? The what is the Tyrus saying means this from every type of desire from every type of longing from every type of yearning and aspiration in the heart of the person. Find the trauma. separate from it's not the literal interpretation literally means you think the telephone ringing is going to stop okay doesn't only mean from every person whose heart will be generated No means from every longing in the heart of every person from the entire person. Not just from every person, from the entire from everything that is hard desires. You find the trauma there. This is a remarkable insight. In every desire that you have, there's trauma. You have to find it. In every longing, in every angst, in every aspiration, in everything you miss, in every craving, in every in every feeling that causes you to gravitate towards somebody or towards something, callish from the entire person. Whatever his heart longs for, find the truma there. There's a truma there. There's a part of it that belongs to God. There's a part of it that's divine. Now, you're thinking, Rabbi Wa, you don't know me. There are longings that are not divine. No, he says [Music] it's impossible. You are kadusha. Kadusha is the essence of everything. That's the first kadusha is the kayak. Sometimes the kadusha is distorted. It's misconstrued. It's concealed. It's violated. It's misplaced. You have no access to it consciously, but it's there. In every one of your longings, you'll be able to find trauma. You'll be able to find the divine dimension of it. You say, "Yeah, but I'm feeling fear and anxiety and I want to run away from my kids and I want to run away from my spouse and I want to run away from my family and I want to run away from myself and I want to run away from God." And even there's trauma. If you can peel away the layers and you can open yourself up to the full truth of your heart, you'll find that there's there's a divine there's God is there. There is a there's an innocence. There is a spirituality. I heard from Rabbi Tski, Rabbi Dr. Abraham Tourski, Rabbi Yeshua Hashelki of who just passed away two weeks ago. We were once together at a Shabbaton in Bokeh for the Jewish recovery center. Hundreds and hundreds of people in recovery came together for Shabas with their families. And I heard from Rabbi Dr. Abraham Turski as he was known as Rshia Turski who was a psychiatrist who was a doctor who began the famous centers for addiction in Pittsburgh and many other places. And he said, I don't remember if he said this to me privately or he said this or he said this at a lecture, but he said that the 60 years of his experience with addiction has taught him that addicts are usually the most spiritual people in society. And because they're so spiritual, so the void and the pain that exists in their hearts, they can't just dismiss as meaningless and nothing. He said, "All of us see hypocrisy. All of us find ourselves not being worthy or not fitting in. We all see corruption. We all have moments that we feel let down. But we know how to gloss over those moments. You eat a piece of cougishmak a piece of herring. You go on a nicer vacation. You get yourself a new phone. You watch a cute whatever it is and you numb it. You move on." And he says they also try to numb it but their spirituality is too authentic and too deep and therefore their longing and yearning for truth is too powerful that the regular numbers that we all employ don't work for them and therefore they have to go to extremes in order to forget their pain to forget their anxiety. The extremism of their addiction is commendurate with their deep longings for spirituality. That's profound and it's true. So he says it would be like it would say from from a person from every person from whatever his heart wants there is the mishk inside of it. There is the true inside of it. Find it accentuate it retrieve it. It begins with yourself. You're feeling alienated. You're feeling depressed. You're feeling angry. You're feeling jealous. You're filled with hate. You're filled with disappointment. You're filled with stress. You're alienated. And you look at yourself and you feel guilty for feeling all these feelings. And this is saying relax. There is truma inside of there. There is kaducha there. There is a part that belongs to God. God is inside of those feelings. What do you mean he's inside of those feelings? There are those feelings are about God and they're negative. Even those feelings God is inside of them. You have to find it. It's not even about giving it up as much as it's finding it. It's identifying it. It's taking it. It's the ability to really be able to say that in every single thing there's a spark. And even anxiety is an alarm clock. It's waking you up. You're looking for something and you're looking for something genuine. Most anger in the world is a secondary emotion which is covering up loneliness and pain. So if you go deeper, if you unravel the emotion, if you excavate the emotion, if you take away the external layers, you're going to find the truma, you're going to find the part that belongs to God. But make sure it's one in 60, better one in 50, better one in 40, which means don't let it get nullified. Let it stand out so that it could redefine all of your emotions. And then your entire life becomes aligned with your true self. And what is your true self? Your true self is of course that you are an ambassador of infinity in this world. An ambassador of love, light, hope, healing, authenticity and redemption. Thank you very much. I prepared a third as you know I always have good intentions, right? Makava, but uh you'll have to do that on your own. But there's another incredible piece. We'll take some questions. Let's go to the question section. Question number one, how can I make peace with myself when I have had so many expectations of myself and I never had the ability to fulfill them? You have to take trauma from that too. That too you have to take trauma from. In other words, where is the God piece there and where is the ego piece over there? You've had so many expectations of yourself. Where what what are those expectations coming from? Are those expectations coming from because this is what God wants from you? Or are those expectations coming from because you may feel insecure or you need somebody's validation or you're having expectations about your life that you're not realistic. In other words, can you go deep into yourself and ask yourself why? Why am I not at peace with myself because I had all of these expectations? What is it that's bothering me? What is it that I'm expecting? And when it's not happening, I'm disappointed. And then ask yourself, where is that expectation coming from? I'll give an example. In Tanya chapter 27, the alterba, the author of the Tanya writes that sometimes a person feels guilty because they have all these negative thoughts and feelings inside of them. Now they feel that that guilt is very holy. And he says actually the guilt is coming from arrogance. It's coming from insecurity expressed in arrogance because the person somehow has this expectation that my life is too perfect to be able to stoop down to these types of thoughts. Excuse ammo like what you're an immortal. Why not? Yeah. Part of your life is that you deal with some ugly stuff. Your expectation is based on a on an egotistical experience that Tanya says that is forcing you into a trap and making you miserable for no reason. If you can embrace the fact that you have these emotions and you could say this is part of my trauma. I serve God with these emotions. I have an emotion that may be very troubling but instead of acting on it, I choose a different path. Wow, that's trauma. You just took a very, very negative emotion and you gave it to Hashem. You didn't give all of it to Hashem in the sense it's still negative, but you used it as a tool to serve God by telling this emotion. Okay, I get you. I feel bad for you, but I'm not going to do what you want me to do because I know that's not the truth. It's not even the truth of my emotion. So, I think that's a much more wholesome approach because it's real. You don't have to amputate what you're going through. If a if a blessing makes me focus on the history and the development of the food and instills gratitude in me, why don't we make a blessing for new clothes? Why don't I make a blessing for my new car? Why don't I make a blessing when I go skiing? Why don't I make a blessing every time I walk into my house and so forth? That's a wonderful question. So the truth is when you buy a new house or you build a new house, you do make a blessing, right? When we purchase a new garment, we make aim, right? And as long as you're wearing the same garment, you ta don't make another blessing because it's the same garment. If you eat the same peach, you also don't make another blessing. Tomorrow you're going to eat another peach. You make a new blessing. So really blessings is not only on food. The reason why we don't make blessings when let's say we hear music or we uh or we go skiing is because a blessing is something that you take into your body. In other words, the ongoing blessings of enjoyments is a generic blessing for a new experience in life. But a blessing right, is something that you actually consume and it goes inside of you. In other words, it becomes part of you. So that energy becomes part of you. You want to make sure that you're in touch with the divine energy because that really makes you who you are. We are what we eat. When I put on my clothes, it also belongs to Hashem. I don't make a Okay. Yeah, that's what we just discussed. Just because you made a bra, it gives you permission to steal. I don't understand. There's a price. You have to pay money for it. I make a on something from the bish and steal it. Of course not. So maybe Hashem's price is acknowledgment and gratitude by way of a blessing so that you properly obtain the food by paying the price. In other words, that the braha is actually the way we pay for the item. Yes, that's true. That's very nice. In other words, it's like paying for the item. It's like redeeming it. But what the here is telling us is something even one step deeper. And that is when I'm making a blessing, I'm becoming aware that God is giving it to me right now because it's divine energy. It's not a peach. It's divine. And the fact that I can take this peach, Hashem is giving it to me. That's what a does pri is in the present. He's creating it right now. So he's giving it to me right now. That's the idea. So the brah is the acknowledgment that there is a flow right now of a relationship. I'm in a relationship with Hashem. I'm not separate. It's not. He says, "Oh, go take the fruit off the ground. Go take the fruit off the tree." That's not venosan. Vosan is he's giving it to me from hand to hand. And that's what a says is you're the creator of the world and you you are not bor. There's an argument. Do you say he created it or he creates it? Do you say creates or so discuss it? We say he creates it. Creation is an ongoing event. So God creates it and he's giving it to me right now in order to eat. That's giving. There's no separateness. If there's no separateness, now you can now you can eat it. It could be he's also saying one one it could be it's even one step deeper. The fact that he's giving it to me and I'm just a channel to receive it. It means that it's not really leaving his property unlike a divorce which it leaves him. It goes into her and here it's not leaving his property. In other words, I'm still in his property because the bra acknowledges that I am part of the kusha. So therefore, there's no real separation. So I didn't steal it from the bases. I'm part of the bases. I think that's what this really means. That's why he says that through you reveal the inside of you and inside the food. So then you didn't leave the bas you're part of the bikdash. It's like, so to speak, God eating it because you reveal that you're part of Hashem. I think that's that's it's even a deeper step in what he's saying. It's not just that he's giving it to me. I'm an open channel. I'm receiving it. I'm not just taking it, right? I reveal the kadusha, but it's that I didn't leave the kadusha. I didn't leave the bas a rock is a diamond. It's quiet but it's alive microscopically. Can this be said also of the dry bones? All physical matter. All physical matter. Is this something that we can attain practically to be aware every minute all day long of this connection? It takes continuous concentration, continuously reminding yourself of the connection, something to strive for. The P says it actually it's a much calmer way of living. This is not about uh suppressing yourself. It's a much calmer way of living. It's basically being aware that you're larger than your small petty self, that you're a divine ambassador. So it's actually a very peaceful way of living. What about the blessing that we say after the food? Yeah, there's the blessing before the blessing after. Blessing after bread is instituted by the Tyra. Blessings before food that's from the rabbitic sages is making a bik the ultimate integration of a person with Hashem. Yeah, it's exactly that integration mikdash means that I take myself and everything I come in contact with and I utilize it and I look at it and I behave with it in a way that turns it into a basikt. It turns it into a dwelling place that is a conduit for the divine reality. That's exactly what it means. What's the difference between the true man in everything and the spark in everything that waits to be elevated? Are they synonymous terms? Yeah, pretty synonymous. Can you give a more practical way, an example for us to take truma? What does it mean practically when you have depression, loneliness, anger, etc.? How do you take trauma from depression, loneliness, anger? Good question. The first thing you do is you don't get angry with yourself for having those emotions and you don't feel the need to deny them, crush them, suppress them, hide hide them because when you do that actually they can't be released. They become more entrenched in your subconscious and they take root in the subconscious sellers of your psyche and they become entrenched in the deeper layers of your identity and then they leak out in all types of undesirable and toxic ways. So the first thing you do when it comes to depression, anger, envy, jealousy, hate, lonelinesses, don't right away start criticizing yourself for having those emotions or proving to yourself that you really don't have those emotions because you're too holy and therefore forcing them into hiding, which basically means that they remain there for good, but only in a way that you don't have a handle over them because they're hidden. So that's step one. Create a space for them. Just create a space for them. Yes, they're here. They're here. And you know what? They're bothersome. They're not fun to have. And and and brea brea brea breathe that in. You can breathe that in. You can you can feel feel those experiences. And you'll feel it in your body somewhere. You'll feel those sensations and and and create space for it. Okay, number one. But that's not enough. Number two, tell yourself that they don't constitute your essence. They're inside of you. They're part of your story, but they're not your whole story. They're just a little fragment of your identity. They don't define your true self. They don't capture your true self. You are larger than them. They are contained inside of you. So they are telling one story of your life. But your life has much more than their story. Your posture as we often talk about extends infinitely from the highest levels to the lowest levels. So they are just revealing one small tiny dimension of your life. They may feel overwhelming. They may tell you that they are everything, but they're not. And you could say to them, you know, you could say, "I'm here for you. This is something to look into. I want to become aware of what is going on, but I'm not going to define my entire identity based on this feeling." That's number two. And number three, if you allow yourself to get into it at the right time, you'll see that all of these emotions are usually covering up deeper yearnings and longings. And some of them are very pure and innocent and holy, but they're becoming distorted and eclipsed by these feelings which are kipa, their shells, their husks. Like I said about anger. When I'm angry about when I'm angry at somebody, what is that? I'm usually in pain, but it's very vulnerable to feel pain. I have to say, "I'm in pain." It's much easier to say, "Oh, you're an idiot. You're a bad person. You're horrible. I'm angry at you. I hate you. I don't want to have to do with you." It's much harder to go inside and say, "Wow, I'm feeling a lot of pain." But that's the place of healing. So these are different processes that will help you bring these emotions back to their source and find the true in these experiences. The class helped me see the importance of saying a braha and doing it in a new light. It will be harder to forget the way to say a braha after this knowledge. Yeah, abra is very very powerful moment. It's very very special moment. There's a from the chart of he says the garra says as we learn today in that He enjoys without the it's kilum. It's mis misusing God's properties. He said homalytically In other words, when I'm eating a piece of chicken or when I'm eating a salad or whatever you're eating, you're eating a piece of cake. I don't know if you should be eating that or I should be eating that. You're eating an egg, I can enjoy the amhaza of it and I can enjoy the braha of it. The lumaza of it means I'm somewhat in a gluttonous space and I'm not in touch with the real food. Enjoying the of it means I'm enjoying the opportunity to reveal God's presence in the world through the is you're enjoying like it would say he's enjoying the he's not enjoying the of it. He says so he's taking it away from God because it's really God's it's really God's energy. In other words, food is divine energy. So what's the what's the real enjoyment of food? The real enjoyment of food is that it's a relationship with God. It's a relationship with the divine energy that I'm now absorbing to give me strength to be able to do what I have to do in life. So he says don't detach the food from its true source. That's what this is is saying here that the real essence of the food is the of it and that's the when I acknowledge that so then it's really an opportunity to get something from Hashem that's what a is but if I'm enjoying not the of it I'm just enjoying the physical externalities of it and I'm not duk I'm not connected to the gad so then he says it's kilum it's like taking it away from from from God's property it's really God's property and remains God's property. He's giving it to you. It's still God's property. When I take it out of that, I detached myself and the food from from the hectish because it's really hectish. That's what the chart says. I wish everybody a wonderful day and a meaningful day and inspiring a day and a day full of braha full of blessing. Thank you very much for joining us. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Fore! [Music]