Nitzavim - You Don’t Need to Become More Jewish. You Need to Become More Yourself.

2:22 It's Gemara in Shabbos. You got to follow along. If I say there's Gemara in Shabbos, it's going to be on the next page. I'm not going to quote the sources the entire time. It's not that type of shear. It's Gemara in Shabbos. The Gemara in Shabbos says, 'Let's say you're in a room with a Jew, and the Jew passes away.' You are obligated to tear kriya. The Gemara explains why. What is this compared to? The Gemara says, "Lasefer Torah shenisraf." It's compared to a sefer Torah that is burnt. That's why you have to tear kriya. If you take a look in Rashi, Rashi explains, 'Af nishmas Yisrael hanitelas domalo sheein lecharik biYisrael sheein batoro emitzvos.' Rashi explains that this is a very profound Rashi. Remember, every word of Chazal is precious. Every word of Chazal communicates essential ideas about who we are. So Rashi is saying this: When the neshama of a Jew is taken from this world, it is equivalent to the burning of a Sefer Torah. Why? Because there is no such thing as a Jew that is empty from Torah and mitzvos. That's what Rashi says. The simple explanation of this is that every Jew has some knowledge of Torah and mitzvos.

3:44 The problem with that is there are, of course, Jews that don't know any Torah. And so, what does Rashi say? The simple explanation of Rashi is, give me a break. Every single Jew knows about Torah. I want to share with you that I have relatives that. My brother tells me in his work, or he works here in Israel, there are Jews that literally, it's not their fault. We're not Chassid Shalom saying it's their fault. Other of it's our fault that they don't know. But there are Jews that do not know the names of Hamishlachum Shetora. They could not tell you Bereishis Shmos VeYikra Bamidbar Dvarim. They do not know those words Which is a tragedy, and it's a responsibility that we all have. If there's a Jew that's missing something in their Yiddishkeit, that's on us. Still, we have a problem. What does Rashi mean? That there's no such thing as a Jew that's missing Torah and mitzvos. There are Jews that are missing Torah and mitzvos.

4:37 And not only that. If you want to say no, every Jew knows a little bit. What if a Jew literally didn't even know they were Jewish? And so they never learned a word of Torah in their life? It can't be that Rashi's just saying on a simple level every Jew knows something about Torah, and therefore if a Jew dies, it's the equivalent of burning a sefer Torah. By the way, that's a very dramatic way of saying it. The Gemara is not saying that it's the equivalent of losing a sefer Torah. It's the equivalent of burning a sefer Torah. What precisely is Rashi saying? And Rvs. Waig says as follows. This is fundamental. There's a question that all of us have. Some of us have articulated it, like verbally. We've become conscious of this question. Some of us have this question subconsciously, but it's worth bringing this question to light. The question is like this.

5:29 When I'm performing a mitzvah Is that really me? Is that really me? That's a question like every one of us has. Am I really like? And this is the buzzword, right? This like the big buzzword of 2026. Am I being authentic? I don't want to do something that's not authentic. So when I do a mitzvah, is that really authentic? Is it really authentic? Is it really me? So it depends on what you mean when you say the word me. What precisely does it mean to be a self If you look in psychology, how do they describe a self? They say a person in self is courageous, a person in self is calm, a person in self is curious. A person in self has perspective, a person in self is playful. But all of those are descriptions of the self. They don't tell you what the self actually is.

6:22 And depending on what you think the self is, it's going to tell you a lot about what's organic to the self. So Rav Zwiag explains this Rashi in the most powerful way, especially for us, especially in Elul. A Jew is not empty of Torah and mitzvos, not because of how much Torah they know, and not because of how many mitzvos they do. Even if a Jew would know zero Torah, even if a Jew would never have done a mitzvah, the nature of a Jew is that he is Torah. He is mitzvos. That's the nature of what it means to be a Jew. So when we do a mitzvah, it's an organic activity, just like breathing. When we learn Torah, it's the way that we breathe. It's organic. It's natural to who we are. It's what it means to be a self. So when Chazal say, and that's why it's such a powerful imagery, if you see a Jew die, you should know you didn't just see a Jew die.

7:23 You saw a safer Taira being burnt. A yid is a safer taira, and just like you would be horrified. Imagine if you were in shul. That's everybody's nightmare. If a girl would wake up on Shabbos morning and she would go to shul, there are two positive things to do. I came here last year for Shabbos. It was nice to see all of you at three o'clock in the afternoon. Ve'ez Hashem shanabet. Now we wake up, we go to shul. What else are we gonna do? Lunch on Shabbos, beautiful thing to do. So imagine if you went to shul and you saw someone do hagbah. Sfaridim have it right. What is Sfaridim? Anybody see Sfaridim? Anyone here Sfaridim? Nice.

8:01 Well this is an equal opportunity shanabet. Baruch Hashem, we have a lot of DEI here, right? So how do the Sfaridim lift their sefer Torah? It's much easier. They lift it up, they hold it tight, they turn it around, right? The Ashkenazi shuls, right? How do they lift it? You got to get the strongest guy in the shul in yeshivas. You have like the strongest guy in yeshiva who like does like 20 columns and it's like nothing for him especially guys who are 18 years old ripped in the workout room all the time. This is another exercise of their gaiva. Baruch Hashem, we have a sefer Torah that they can show everyone how strong they are. Imagine if Chassid Shalom somebody dropped a sefer Torah. Imagine if you saw a sefer Torah being dropped. Everyone would let out an audible gasp, oh my god, right? Everyone would go crazy, right? Because the Sefer Torah dropped, and for us to drop a Sefer Torah is the craziest thing in the world.

8:52 A couple years ago, in Hurricane Sandy, I guess it's more than a couple years ago. Do you girls know what Hurricane Sandy is? Were you alive during Hurricane Sandy? You girls were not alive for 9/11, right? Crazy, right? So I have to date myself. Hurricane Sandy, there was a picture. And it happens to be the guy's an old friend of mine in Bayswater. Anyone here from Bayswater? We have Sfarim, but we have no Bayswater people. So in Bayswater, it's right near the bay. The water was very high, and there was a sefer Torah floating down the street. And there was a guy who jumped into the street to rescue the sefer Torah. He swam and rescued the sefer Torah. How crazy is that? And there's a picture of it. It's my old friend from elementary school. I got expelled from elementary school and I came to this new school. He was expelled a year later, but for a year we were really good friends. And there's a picture of him swimming with a sefer Torah, and it's a heart-wrenching picture.

9:46 To see a sefer Torah saturated in water When we see a yid die, we did not just see a person pass away. We saw a sefer Torah being burned. A yid is a walking, living sefer Torah. And it doesn't matter how much Torah you know. That's not what's critical. Written into the DNA of every single Jew is that you are a walking sefer Torah, and this is actually what the Meshech Chochma writes. If you take a look at the Meshech Chochma, it automatically went back to source three. If you take a look at the second line of the Meshech Chochma, listen to the words of the Meshech Chochma. Stunning words. I'm going to read it inside. It says, "Vehain b'muskalos umidos asherim atzmi yosuros adam." When it comes to the intellectual truth. And it comes to the midos, the character traits that a Jew has, which make up the essence of a person. He says, "B'tsuras haNefesh, nechak ahabas haMeisharim." The nature of a Jew is that it's engraved on our soul.

10:50 You realize it's a big thing the Meshech Chaim is saying. When you learn something in Torah, whenever you learn a shtickel Torah, you're not learning something foreign to you. These words are engraved in your soul. These midos are engraved in your soul. What's this is what's called coming back into alignment. This coming back into alignment. It's spiritual chiropractics. This is the holiest side of a person. We come into this world. We are spiritual beings on a human journey in this world. We're all down here in this world. In this world, we might forget who we really are. But just because you forgot who you are doesn't mean that you've moved away from your essential being. On your soul is engraved the words of Torah. On your soul is engraved the proper midos. And he says more. He says the chain has a chalukila hasid the lede sheish bori umamsi linen son he knew chokk b'seichel ayashar af pashut built him uvas. What happens to a person is that you ask a kid, do you believe in Hashem?

11:47 You know what the answer is. They all believe in Hashem. Some of them are kicking and screaming that they don't believe in Hashem. That's only because their intellect has become distorted. That's what he writes here. He says, "In the seichel a yasher and a pasul, builtim uvas. If your seichel wouldn't be distorted, every single Jew naturally believes in Hakadosh Baruch Hu. Anachnu maaminim b'nei maaminim. The truth is engraved upon our soul, and you cannot run away from it. You can't run away from it. It's not possible. Take a look in the Maral and Derech Hayim." Avos 1: 2. The Maral says it befeirish. The Maral says avoda, Torah, avoda, gemilas chasadim. Those are the three things that the world rests on. The Maral writes, avoda is designed to perfect our relationship with Hashem, gemilas chasadim is designed to perfect our relationship with other people. What's the nature of taira?

12:38 Taira is designed to perfect your relationship with yourself. This is why we're obsessed with learning taira. We don't learn Torah because it's an intellectual exercise. We learn Torah the way somebody learns about themselves. It's a spiritual therapy. When you want to know who you are, open up a chumash and read the words of the chumash through the lens of learning about yourself. What is the question you ask yourself? What does that teach me about myself? Lach lucham e'artz chomilach lach be'savicha. What does that teach me about myself? Yosef Atadik went down to Mitzrayim. What does that teach me about myself? The nature of Torah is that it's designed to get us in touch with ourselves. This is why we're obsessed with it. You need the user's manual. You need to know what the object is. You're a person. What is a person? The whole world is struggling right now with what is the nature of a human being. What are we? It was obvious to us up until like recent history what a human being was.

13:39 You know what we thought a human being was? We thought a human being was the most intelligent animal in the field. In fact, that's what the word Homo sapien means. Do you know that? What does Homo mean? Hominoid, like an ape, like a chimpanzee is a hominoid. And sapien means intelligent. In biology, a human being is an intelligent chimpanzee. And we are the most intelligent chimpanzees. The problem is? We're no longer the most intelligent animal in the field. The most intelligent animal in the field is now artificial intelligence. Elon Musk said that in five years from now, the relationship between a human being and a chimpanzee will be the relationship between AI and a human being. Crazy, right? By the way, thank you for those people who just raised their eyebrows. I know that you communicate like this. How about half of you just don't like this?

14:34 So I appreciate that. Thank you for playing the game with me and giving me that feedback that you're actually present. I appreciate it. You're no longer the most intelligent animal in the field. It's a crazy thing. I know everyone is nervous and anxious about this. We don't even know what jobs to train you for anymore. All the people that went for certain jobs, their jobs disappeared overnight. Because AI can do those jobs cheaper and faster and better. What makes you? It's an exciting time to be alive because the world now is asking the question that Judaism has been answering since Abraham Avinu walked the face of the earth. The question is, who are you? Because Yiddishkeit has said you're not your intelligence. Your intelligence is one of the features of who you are. Your emotions are one of the features of who you are. But who is the you that thinks? Who is the you that feels? Who is the you that acts? You are a neshama. What's a neshama? How do I know what's inside of my neshama? There's a very simple answer to this question. The you that is inside of you is written in the Torah, and the Torah is written inside of you. So if you want to perfect your relationship with yourself.

15:45 You have to learn Torah, but how do we learn Torah? We don't learn Torah as an intellectual exercise. How do we learn Torah? It's the story of you. And every halacha, every single story, every agadah, every maimer chazal. Thank you so much. That was exceptionally kind. But gemilas chasadim, the maran says, only repairs our relationship with each other. You still have to learn Torah to learn who you are. I appreciate it though. I'm gonna make a bracha. Everyone say amen. Baruch ato Adam No'ei lohinem elchlam shakolni avro. This is who we are. We're a shtickel Torah in this world. When you say when your father says or your mother says or your sister says a dvar Torah at the Shabbos table, they're not saying over an idea. When I was a little kid, I was part of a yeshiva that they would say, "I want to share with you an idea," and it was very cerebral. It was very intellectual. A shtickel Torah is not intellectual. It's not an idea. It's who we are. It's embedded in the nature of our soul. And by the way, that's why sometimes when you hear a shtickel Torah, it's not just like intellectually true. You ever have a feeling like it's intuitively true?

16:51 You ever hear like a shnitzel taira and you're like I know that, like I know it deeply. How do you know that? Why does it have such a? When you learn math, does it have that? Do you have that feeling? I don't know a lot of math. I know as little math as possible. Baruch Hashem, I married my wife. My wife is an actuary. She taught herself actuary mathematics. She was a national merit finalist. It's someone who knows math really well. I failed math three times. I married my wife as an overcompensation so that my kids should be able to do math. How'd we do? It worked. My daughter's like, I'm not an idiot. Thanks, Dad. You're welcome. You got all your funny genes from me though. There's a concept here, right? Like I could learn, and this is about as much as I know. You could learn Pythagoras's theorem. And it's not going to resonate as truthful in the same way as when you hear Shulchan Aruch. Why? Because it's organic, it's natural.

17:54 The question now becomes: if the Meshech Chacham is right, and he certainly is, and if Rezwig is right, and he's explaining that Rashi and Chumash, a sefer Torah is nisraf every single time a Jew dies. Why is it so hard? This is a good question. Why is it so hard? How many of you don't raise your hand? I'm assuming the answer is everybody. How many of us? I know for sure it's 100% true about me. I know the right thing to do. I even want to do the right thing. On my side, I don't. You ever have this experience? Thanks for coming along with me. About the 50% of you that are honest, the rest of you liars. But every one of us, it's not organic. It doesn't feel natural. Why is it a struggle? Why do I have to fight to wake up in the morning? Why do I have to fight? Remember those cold Yerushalayim winters?

18:40 Where the stone floor is freezing and your bed is so warm, and you have to get out. And Baruch Hashem, now shana bet, no more pajamas. You come to class dressed like a human being. Show up. You don't have to show up like you're on a date, but show up dressed for success. What's the pshat? Why is it so hard to get out of bed? Why is it so hard to focus during davening? When's the first time we focus during davening? Anybody know? When's the first time we actually have kavana? The Shir Shal Yom, because you have to think about what day it is. At the very end of the davening, it's like I gotta think about what day it is. What bracha should we actually make when we're davening Shmona Esrei? We should make a Tefillah Saderach because we're thousands of miles away. We're on a journey all the way back in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles. Where are we? Not in Yerushalayim Yerakodosh. How come it's so hard to focus during the davening if it's so organic?

19:32 So I want to share with you the following idea. When we use the word natural and organic, there's two ways of thinking about that word. One is natural, means easy and familiar. And two is natural means essential. Natural could mean that something is easy and familiar, or natural could mean something that's essential. The secret is that just because something is natural and familiar, it does not mean that it is necessarily aligned with the truth of who you are. For example, imagine a person has a coping mechanism called anxiety. And they slip into anxiety so easily And it's familiar. If anyone here struggles with anxiety, I struggle with anxiety. If anybody here struggles with anxiety, you know how familiar anxiety feels. It's like old pajamas. Something happens and I immediately go into anxious mode. It's easy to slip into, and it's a familiar feeling. But it's not essential. It's not who you really are. The addict who's using, right? It's easy to behave in that way. It's familiar to behave in that way. But it's not aligned with their deepest truth. It's not essential.

20:57 So even though addiction feels more natural than sobriety, it's not the type of natural that we're talking about. The way I heard this many years ago from Rabbi David Ayer, and he had a very clever marshal. He said, "If you can eat a tray of brownies" Which you're in seminary, so you can. I know, girls, nine by thirteen is not a serving size. Even if you eat half a brownie at a time It's the same amount of calories, right? I'm a seminarian, nine by thirteen. If you can eat a tray of brownies and not feel sick What does that mean? That means something's unhealthy. But if you and this is like when I was growing up, salad wasn't a thing. If you look at a salad and you think to yourself, vile weeds That's unhealthy. Even though it's easier to eat the tray of brownies, it's not healthy.

22:00 And sometimes that which is not healthy becomes easy and familiar. Yiddishkeit. When we say that you are a lebedekasefer Torah, when we say that you are literally a walking sefer Torah, and the words of Torah are engraved in your soul, and the middos that a yid is supposed to have are engraved in their soul. When we say that, we don't mean it's natural in the sense that it's easy and familiar. We mean aligning yourself with Torah is essential. It's hard. We'll soon see why, but it doesn't mean that it's not who you really are. And in fact, this is halacha. Take a look in the Rambam in Hilchos Gerushin, chapter two Twenty. Listen what the Rambam says. The Rambam gives the following case, a very famous case. Girls, what's the halacha? Are you allowed to coerce somebody into giving a get? No. Correct. You are not allowed to coerce somebody into giving a get. The Rambam brings a case. Let's say somebody beats someone up until they say, "I want to give a get."

23:04 What's the halach? Is it a good get or not? The Rambam says it's a good get. You're not allowed to coerce somebody to giving a get. Listen what the Rambam says. He says, "Lafikach misha ino rotsel garish me'achar sheu rotsel lios me'Israel." It's true. This guy doesn't want to give a get, but he wants to be a yid. That's the natural posture of what a Jew is. A Jew deeply wants to be Jewish. So rotsu lasekol haMitzvos lishrachik minav averos. That means naturally he wants to do Mitzvos and he doesn't want to do averos. I right now he's not doing the right thing. That's for a different reason, which we'll soon see. But in his heart he wants to be connected. The yitzrahu shatavu. It happens to be. His yitzhar is getting the best of him. But when you see a Jew who's doing the wrong thing, you could chas v'shalom make a mistake and think to yourself, he doesn't care. It's not true. A Yid cares in their bones.

23:58 And by the way, this is not only for the way that we judge others; it's really for the way that we judge ourselves. You ever have a thought like this? Since I did this aveira, I guess I'm a faker. You ever thought like, since I did this thing that I promised myself I wouldn't do? You ever go to a really low place and then decide I'm really a faker? You're not a faker. For the moment, your yitzhahara got the best of you, but really, every single one of us wants to do the right thing. And the Rambam says, "Vekiven shahuka achatoshes yitzro." What happened? This guy got beat until his yitzhahara finally gave out. V'omerot zani, and now he says, "Yes, I want to give the get." So he says, "Kfargeresh le'etzonu." That's called giving his wife a get. And he wants to. But he was screaming, "I don't want to give a get. I don't want to give a get." And then he punched him until he said, "I want to give the get. Once he said that."

24:46 It wasn't fake. That was aligned with the deepest ratzon. It's organic. It's natural. It doesn't mean it's easy, and it doesn't mean it's familiar. This is exactly what the Alter Rebbe says in Tanya. The pasuk says, 'Ner Hashem nishmas Adam.' What does 'Ner Hashem nishmas Adam' mean? The soul of a human being is considered like the candle of God. Very good. I saw you mount it. Don't worry. You get credit. The Alter Rebbe's words are very powerful. He says, 'This is the Alter Rebbe in chapter 19 of Tanya. He says, "Sheyisrael hakriim adam nishmasam hila marshul kaor haner shem esnaneiat tamed lamaylo betevol."' A Jew is called Adam. Ner Hashem nishmas Adam. It's referring to the soul of a Jew. It's like a flickering candle that's always trying to rise up. Kach nishmas Adam. So too, the soul of a person. Every single Jew is like a candle of God. Every single Jew is flickering and wants connection.

25:43 And if you see a Jew, or you see yourself. Because remember that the way we see others is really through the lens of our own self. If you see somebody and they're not behaving appropriately, it just means they're misaligned. It doesn't mean they don't want it. Every one of us wants infinitely to connect to Hakadosh Baruch Hu, the same way a flame yearns for oxygen, and which is why it's constantly flickering to go upwards. The Alter Rebbe in Lekutei Torah explains next Mar Mekom. The Alter Rebbe explains why this is. Why is it that a soul wants so deeply to connect to our Kadosh Baruch Hu? You know why? It's because what is a soul? A soul is a spark of Hashem. More than intellect, and this is very important. If you try to cerebrally convince somebody that there's a God, it won't work. Which doesn't mean it's not important. It's important. You can read all the books. Do they have them on the shelves over here?

26:49 I can't see, but I'm sure that somewhere on the shelves over here, there's a book called Permission to Believe from Lawrence Kellerman. You ever see that book? It's like a thin little red book. There's another thin little blue book, Permission to Receive. It proves God intellectually. I've been around a long time. These proofs are beautiful and they're meaningful. And Rabbi Kellerman does an amazing job of articulating it. In my life, I have never seen a guy read a book that proves that God exists and then he's like, 'Okay, so now I'll daven.' How come? And you should know. You should know all the proofs. It's a beautiful thing to know. The reason why a Jew wants to connect to Hashem is not intellectual. It's because we are a piece of Hashem. And just like fire yearns for oxygen to keep it alive, Hashem is the soul of all souls. He is the light of life.

27:37 So our neshama naturally yearns to connect to Hashem, just like a child naturally yearns to connect to a parent. It's who we are. Says the Alter Rebbe in Tanya. This is what the pasuk Kikarov Elecha Adavar Maod means. He says. Let's say you have a Jew. Most of my cousins are not religious Jews. Most of my cousins have had zero Jewish education. I'm talking about eating cheeseburgers on Yom Kippur. Mamish. Most of my cousins are marrying gayim. I'm telling you, as both of my parents are balei tshuva, the most amazing people in the world, they gave up so much to become observant. And it's unbelievable what they did. I have unbelievable akarz to talk to my parents. I look at my cousins. We live in different universes. They know very little, maybe even nothing about Yiddishkeit. Afal pikein, karov elav hadaver maod. You should know, Torah is natural to them. It's so close. Shei avim esu Torah shebelev kolus yisrael sheyer shalom avosenu. You know why a Yid wants to be close to Hashem? Because it's the DNA of a Jew. We inherit from Avram Avinu. We inherit from our avos. Every single year, you know nothing. It doesn't matter. It's close to you because it's who you are.

28:59 This is the greatest gift in the world. You're not seeking something that's outside of yourself. You're looking inwards. The whole Yeshayahu of Yiddishkeit. My wife and I were discussing this morning. If you try to find God outside of yourself, you will not succeed. God, to think about how I'm going to connect to a transcendent God that's beyond this universe. How are you going to succeed? You can't even talk about it. The Rambam says, do you know that the Rambam says you can't even articulate who God is? There's nothing we could say about Hashem. There's no language that could contain Hashem. How am I supposed to find Hashem? Kikarov eilecha hadaver meod. It's you. The secret of all of Judaism is to stop looking outside. Hafoch ba dekulaba. Turn yourself over. Where is your relationship with Hashem? It's right here. It's inside of yourself.

29:54 And everybody, this is like people are traveling across the world. They're looking for God. I'm looking for God. It's right here. It doesn't matter where you are. You could be in the Midbar. You could find the Kadosh Baruch Hu. You could be in Eretz Yisrael. You could find the Kadosh Baruch Hu in your Shalayim Eretz Kodesh. Obviously, best place to find the Kadosh Baruch Hu. But at the end of the day, God lives inside of every single one of us. Mi b'sari echsa elo kadeh. The pasuk says. From your own flesh is where you develop a relationship with Hashem. You want to make your davening meaningful? You could learn the siddur, and it's an awesome thing to learn. Look inside. You want to make your learning meaningful this year? We're here for four months. How am I going to make it meaningful? You could hear the she'er, but if you hear the she'er cerebrally, if your notes, which are beautiful and amazing, I hope you take amazing notes. I hope you fill up this entire notebook. But if afterwards, when you're reading it over, you're not asking yourself the question, what did I just learn about myself? Hashem is found right inside. If you look for him out on the streets, you won't find him. If you find him inside, you'll find him everywhere. That's the secret of Judaism, and it doesn't matter if you're an affiliated Jew or you're an unaffiliated Jew.

30:55 It doesn't matter if you're part of the Jewish community or not part of the Jewish community. Every single Jew is a walking piece of Hashem. That's what the Alter Rebbe writes, and that's why he says. Most people throughout history, if you put a gun to their head, people who wouldn't live for Hashem, they were willing to die for Hashem. And even if they were the bigger sinners in Kali Yisrael. We're talking about people that literally know nothing about Hashem. They can't tell you the Rambam. They don't know about the infinite nature of God. But if you put a gun to their head and you say, 'Spit on this Sefer Torah or die,' these people were willing to die. Why is that? Why is that? I want to share with you. This summer, I met a hero. I was working in mechelat. So you know what do you do in the beginning of class? You're meeting the girls for the first time. What do you do? What's your name? Where you're from? I know in seminary they have all sorts of cute games like get to know yours. I don't do any of that stuff. Just tell me what's your name? Where you're from? And why do Jews ask what's your name? Where you're from? Because what do we want to do?

32:02 Jewish geography Which is the greatest game in the world? A yid loves nothing more than to be able to say. Do you know? And then when they say yes, what do we say? That's so funny. Send your regards. That's the big payoff when you play Jewish geography. If you cared about that person, you'd call them yourself. Send your regards is the laziest thing in the entire world because you don't obviously care about them. You're from Chicago, you know this person. Send my regards. You know nobody ever sends regards in the history of the world. Every Jew who's played Jewish geography doesn't then go. Let me call them and send your regards. It doesn't work, but it's a gishmak game to play. I'm going around the room. This one's from Teneck. This one's from Los Angeles. This one's from Five Towns. One girl, she looks at me, she goes,"Don't even bother trying to play Jewish geography with me." I said, "Give me a shot.

32:53 She said, "Where are you from? Michigan. "Do you know Rav Zali Friedman, who's the head of NCSY Central East from Detroit?" She says, "I have no idea who that is." She says, "In my town in Michigan, there's only three Jews." My parents and me. She can't play Jewish geography because she doesn't know other Jews. How'd you end up on Mechelale? Because that's pretty crazy. She said October seventh. She said, "After October seventh, I just woke up." She said, "This is bezaloshen." She said, "In my public school, they know not to mess with me." They know not to mess with me. She's my new rebbe. Her Jewish soul. It was kikarov elachad davar moch. She knows nothing. In fact, she said to me, "I'm going to get her into Torah davar." She said to me, "She's like, I don't know if I'm going to get into seminary." I said, "I promise you're going to get into seminary."

33:44 She's more Jewish than all of us. She's so conscious of her Jewish soul. She knows so little about Yiddishkeit, and she's so much closer, because in a moment where she had that clarity, they're coming after Jews. I'm a Jew. She stands up. She's walking through the halls of her public school. She's vinegar samra mechlelet. Unbelievable, mamish, unbelievable, and it wasn't just her. It woke so many people up. We heard all the stories of all the different hostages that were in the tunnels that were so far from observance. But the second they were in the tunnel, what they wanted? They only wanted to connect to Hashem. They only wanted to daven to Hashem. Why? Put a gun to a Jew's head, and you'll find out who they really are. That's the truth. If you want to know who you really are, put a gun to your head, then you'll find out who you are. The Alter Rebbe says, "Kikaro velecha hadavar maod." The most important thing in the world is we should know this is who we are. A mitzvah is organic. Learning Torah is organic. It's hard. Bez Hashem, we'll see why. But just because it's not easy and just because it's not familiar doesn't mean it's not you. Finding Hashem is right there. It's right there. You just have to look inside of yourself.

34:49 And that's what the pasuk in Mishlei says. Do you realize if you actually ever paid attention to that pasuk, it makes very little sense at first glance. Pay attention in first grade. Even when you get older, I want you to hold on to your first grade math. I don't want you to hold on to your first grade math. If I taught you math in first grade, it's because I want you to get to second grade math. And by the time you're in twelfth grade, I want you to be able to know. You girls not know Sokotoa? Shameful. Even learn trigonometry? There we go. Sign, opposite, hypotenuse. Very good. Let's see how little you know. The mitochondria is the powerhouses. So the last time you had an education was sixth grade. I don't want if I'm teaching my first grader math. I don't want them to hold on to first grade math. I want them to grow.

35:50 Listen with the words, Chanoch l'naral pidako, educate a child according to his ways. Why? Because even when he gets older I want him to still hold on to that. What do you mean? When I want him to get older, I want him to let go of his childish Yiddishkeit. I want him to be advanced. I want him to be 80, 90 years old. I want him to be an unbelievable tamu chacham. I want him to know so much. I don't want him to be a first grader. What do the words mean? So listen to Gemara on Shabbos 119b. The Gemara on Shabbos says. The entire world is sustained because of the mouths of little children when they're learning. You see that first grader outside those first grade little yingelach from the cheder next door. The whole world is being m'kayim. The whole world is sustained. Why? Because of those little cheder children, what's the pshat?

36:45 Ein od dome hevel sheish bochet lehevel sheein bochet. Because they're innocent, these kids. They've never sinned. They don't know anything. They're pure. They're very pure. And the Alter Rebbe in Torah R fourteen a says the reason why a child's learning is so powerful is because it's natural. It's natural. It's organic. They haven't been sullied yet by sin. They're tapped into their essential self. That's why it's a beautiful thing to hang out with babies. They're just so real. They haven't yet started to fake it in life. Isn't that a tragedy when you see third graders, fourth graders already giving up their identity because they want to fit in? It's a tragedy, no? A five-year-old comes home from school and they're like, "Mommy, look what I made. Look at my project. Look what I learned today." They're proud to show off what they learned because they have it. Nobody told them that school is terrible.

37:46 Learning is the most amazing thing in the world. When you learn, your eyes light up. But somewhere along the line, your eyes got dull because they told you learning is not a fun thing to do. Learning is the most kishmak thing to do. It's natural. The entire world is sustained because of children that are living in alignment with their deepest truth. And that's why even when you get older and you become sophisticated and intellectual and now you know all this fancy razzle dazzle Torah We want Gam kiyasgin. You got old lo yasr mimena. We don't want you to let go of the childlike innocence that you have when you're learning. I heard. I never saw this with my own eyes. I did have the opportunity in my life to meet Rav Yashiv Zechar Zadik Levracha. Rav Yashiv was the poys hakadar of the last generation. I heard from somebody who knows Rav Yishev well that Rav Yishev, when he was davening from a sitter and when he was learning chumash, would point inside. When you were little, they said, 'Keep your finger on the place.'

38:43 He would point inside and say the words lovingly, very, very precious. It's a beautiful thing. Imagine just like. It's just like an innocent child. B'raishis Rav Alakim is a Shamayim v'sar. And his eyes would light up, and he read it like a child. Rav Yisrael was the paisek ador. You should know when he was older. He was in a wheelchair. They used to wheel him out of his beis medrash. The they would wheel him out of the beis medrash, and rabbanim chasuvim from all over the world would be lined up. Outside of his beis medrash, to ask him the craziest shaylas, people would fly from all over the world. He had a big shayla. Who did you ask? You asked Rav Yishev. They would fly. They would stand outside of his beis medrash. Rav Yishev would come out in a wheelchair. They would wheel him out of the beis medrash, and these rabbanim would jump in front of him and say, "Rebbe, how do we pasquin this shayla?" And Rav Yishev would just pasquin.

39:38 Just like psakalov, flowing out of him like water. And that same person was the poisek hadar when he read chumash, he read it like a child. Rivayashar probably knew Chumash on a level that we can't imagine. But when he learned chumash, he learned it like a child. Gam kiyaz gan lo yasr imano. It was natural to him because it was organic. He was tapped in to the deepest dimensions of his soul. So why is it so hard? If it's so easy, why is it so hard? Take a look at the Gemara in Brachos 17a. The Gemara says, "Riban ha'ilamin" Master of the worlds. You know Hashem. Listen to what the Gemara is saying. Hashem, you know that we want to do Your will. Every single Jew wants to do the will of Hashem. So what's stopping us? It's the chametz. So arsha beisa. It's the leaven in the dough. And it's the fact that we're exiled and that we're under foreign governments. Hashem, we daven

40:45 Please save us from the Yitzhahara, please save us from these exiled places that we are, that we're living under these governments. All we want is to be returned to you so that we can do your will. The struggle that we have to do the right thing in Yiddishkeit is not because Torah is inorganic. It's because we, and with no blame, Hakadosh Baruch Hu creates us with the yitzhara. And the reality is we're in galus, and in galus we don't get to live the way we want. We want to live under the malchus of daven malchus of mashiach. That's what we want. We daven because we daven to Hakadosh Baruch Hu for a geula. Hashem, we want to connect with you. Get rid of these foolish governments. We want Malchus Hashem. That's what we want. We want to have David HaMelech with his total bittul. Literally, that Hashem's light is shining through him into this world, and that every one of us will be sitting beneath the light of David Malchus of Mashiach, absorbing his light. That's what we want. So if we want it so badly, how come we're not doing it?

41:47 Because the circumstances within ourselves and outside of ourselves don't lend themselves to being the natural self that we are. But don't for one second think that just because I'm not doing it doesn't mean it's what I don't want to do. There's a famous story with the Lubavitcher Rebbe that a Jew came to the Lubavitcher Rebbe and said, "It's Yom Kippur, but I'm not going to shul this year." So the Rebbe said, 'Why aren't you going to shul?' He goes, 'I'm tired of being a faker. 364 days a year, I don't go to shul. I should go to shul on Yom Kippur' So I'm not going to be a faker. The Rebbe smiled and looked at him and said, 'I agree. You should stop being a faker. You should start going to shul the other 364 days a year. One day a year, you're authentic. That's who you actually are. A yid wants to go to shul on Yom Kippur. And by the way, how do you know that this yid really wanted to go to shul? Because otherwise, why is he talking to the Lubavitcher Rebbe about it?'

42:37 If you come to the Lubavitcher Rebbe and you say, "I'm not going to shul," what does that really mean? I want to go to shul. Rebbe, show me why I should go to shul. And what the Rebbe say? Because it's time for you to start recognizing that this is who you are. And the only reason you're not that way, it's not your fault. Your Yitzhakara is real, and the fact that you're in an exiled world and that you don't have—listen—it you get caught up in the exile, so it's hard to remember what's real. And this is what the Gemara in Sota says: Ain Adam Chotei Aleim Kei Nchnas Bo Ruchstos. Every time we do an avera, it's because you're insane. You went a little bit insane. It's—I know this is going to sound crazy—doing an avera is the equivalent of amputating a part of yourself. Nobody would amputate unless there was a medical reason. Nobody would ever amputate a limb. It has to be insane. If you saw somebody, Chassv Shalom came back to the dorms. Are the dorms still like a hike? You have a tool to get to the dorms.

43:31 It's good. It's good. A little bit of shvitz for taira. So imagine you came back to the dorms and you saw Chassv Shalom, one of your friends here in Talmud Ivora, amputating herself. You would say she's mentally ill. She's gone insane. Why is she doing that to herself? This is what Chazal say: to do an avera is to live out of alignment with your deepest truth. The same way it's obvious to us that we shouldn't amputate our hands, it should be obvious to us not to do an avera. I, why do we do an avera? Because a ruach stos came in. We all want to do the right thing. We have a little bit of a temporary insanity. And this is what Ratzadik Hakohen says. Look at the words, beautiful words, pretzadik and pesach. If you haven't yet started learning Rv Tzadok in your life, Rv Tzadok Hakoyn Meleublin is an unbelievable hashkafa sefer. If you really want to see the world through the lens of Rv Tzadok, he says. The truth is, every single Jew, his heart is just for Hashem. And the Yitzhahara, it's got nothing to do with you. It's not part of you.

44:40 It's an idolatrous thing, but it's not you. Don't think that you are your yitzhara. And that's why, what does Elo Rashi Tevus Umala Hashem es levavcha vees levav zarecha? What does Hashem do? He circumcises. What does it mean? He circumcises. He takes the foreskin off of our heart. Hashem in this time in El, he's a melech basad. He's coming into the field and he's saying, "Chevra, I'm taking off." This is the gift. El Hashem comes to us and he says, "I'm removing from you all of the barriers. I want you to show me who you really are." The Gemara goes so far; it's a crazy Gemara. The Gemara goes so far to say that even the sinners of Klal Yisrael are different than the sinners of the Goyim. The Gemara says that Uncle Esagir. You know who Uncle Esagir was? Uncle Esagir, who was his relative? Anybody know?

45:29 Titus was his relative. Uncle Esagir was the son of Titus's sister. He was a nephew. So he went to Titus. He says, "Who are the most important people in the world?" Titus was already dead. The Gemara talks about how he raised them up from the dead so he could talk to them. The whole crazy thing. So he raised up Titus from the dead and he said, "Now that you're in Eilam Ames, who are the most important people in the world?" So Titus said, "The Jews." So he said, "Okay, so what should I do with the Jews?" So Titus said "Go fight against the Jews." And Uncle is said to Titus, he goes, "And if I fight against the Jews, what's going to be my punishment in the next world?" So Titus said, if you fight against the Jews every single day, your ashes are going to be gathered up. They're going to judge you again. They're going to burn your ashes again, and they're going to scatter you all over the seven seas. Then Uncles raised up Bilam Harasha, Bilam the prophet of the time. Uncles raised up Bilam, and he said, "Who is the most important people in the world?" He said, "Klal Yisrael." He said, "What should I do?

46:30 So Bilam said "Try to make life difficult for the Jews." I'm not going to describe the punishment. That's because it's not appropriate for Shira, but suffice it to say, he asked Bilaam, and what's the punishment if I try to hurt the Jews? And Bilaam said, a bad punishment, not for polite company. And then the Gemara says that he went to a man whose name was Yeshu Hanotzri Jesus of Nazareth. Now it's not clear if this meant that Jesus or a different Jesus. But you should know that in the Gemara for many years, they took the word Yeshu Hanotzri out because they didn't want the Gaon to see it and see how we were describing Jesus. So maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. It doesn't matter. The point is, this guy Yeshu Hanotzri, he was Jewish and he was a big sinner and he had died. And Uncles went to this Jewish sinner who had died. He raised him up from the dead and he said, 'Who's the most important people in the world?'

47:26 And this sinner said, 'It's the Jewish people.' He said, 'So what should I do?' Anyone who touches a Jew, it's like you're touching the apple of Hashem's eye. It's like you're touching the apple of Hashem's eye. They're beloved and precious. So Uncle is said, and what if I don't? What if I don't see Klal Yisrael in a beautiful way? He said the punishment is that in Shamayim you live in boiling excrement. That was the punishment. And then Uncle became a ger. What does the Gemara say? Look at the difference. They were all sinners. Titus was a big rasha. Bilam was a big rasha, and Yeshua Noetri was a big rasha. But you know what the difference is? In Shamayim, Titus and Bilam said, 'You got to persecute the Jewish people.' And what did Yeshua Noetri say? He said, "Kol Yisrael is lasson." You should try your best to be close to them.

48:19 I, but he was a sinner his entire life. You could be a sinner your entire life. It doesn't chas v'shalom mean that you really want to be a sinner. And in the oil of Ma'asim You should go. You should be as close to you can as Klal Yisrael. And this is what the Maral in Nesach Yisrael says. He says, "Keep poshe Yisrael, nashan Hashem is baruch v'hem, neshama tohira." You should know a sinner. Girls, listen carefully. You see a girl. Maybe I don't know. Everyone is sparksh on a bed, perfect. Now you're perfect. Six months ago, not perfect. Baruch Hashem, you walked in last Wednesday into Torma Dvorah, and now you're perfect. No more averes, no more yitzhar. Lo alenu, you have these shalosh girls that you have to be makariv. Because you're on such a high level and they're on such a low level.

49:00 Chas v'shem. Obviously, I'm joking. I'm giving you mussar. Please don't look down at Chanalab girls that are struggling just the same as you are. We're all still struggling. So if I see a girl and she's doing the wrong thing, or if I see any Jew and they're doing the wrong thing, how should I read that? Listen to the words of the Maral. He poyshe Yisrael nasa Hashem isparchah b'mishneshama t'heira. A Jew, even if he's a sinner, has a pure soul inside of him. It happens to be because he's in this world, he's doing the wrong thing. So it happens to be; it's a davar mikra. It's not his atzmios. It's a davar mikra. It's a happenstance. He's in this circumstance. That's why he's sinning. But you should know. You look at a sinner. What should you see? Neshama tahira. We have to scream this moral. We should write this moral on the walls of every single shul and in every single school in our entire community Because you have lo alenu again. Today, I'm not saying it's not important. Sometimes a yid has to say this behavior is inappropriate. But saying this behavior is inappropriate is very different than saying this person is not a Jew. I'm not going to get into it right now. But there was a famous Jewish political voice. He spoke about a certain Jew and he said this guy is as Jewish as a ham sandwich.

50:20 And the labavachers on social media, they all went crazy. I said, "What do you mean? He's as Jewish as a ham sandwich. A yid is a yid." Maybe he's misguided. Maybe he's doing the wrong thing. He is a neshama tahara. It's a davar mikra that he's behaving in the wrong way. But it's not chas v'shalom who he is. And that's what the Gemara in Sanhedrin says, 44a, af al pishahatay Yisraelu. You should know a Jew never loses his status as a Jew. One of my closest friends, my daughter's here. She could testify to this. One of my closest friends, who I love dearly, his name is Mike. He lives in the Czech Republic with his German girl, his German wife. Now he married her. He poshut married a guy. Af al pi shechata yisrael. I believe with perfect faith that right now, even though Mike would never admit this in a million years, I believe that right now Mike has a neshama tahira and he's yearning to come back to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. It happens because of whatever happened in his life, because of the saar shab'isa, because of the shiva malchios. It happens because he's in this world. He was led astray, but I don't think for one second that his neshama doesn't yearn to come close to Hakadosh Baruch Hu. And I'll tell you a story. A couple years ago, his mother

51:33 His father passed away, and he was sitting. He wasn't sitting shiva, but he was sitting shiva with his brother here in Eretz Yisrael. His brother lives in Matzdorf. His brother's like a charedi guy. He lives in the Czech Republic with his German wife. So he came to sit shiva, quote unquote, with his brother. I walked into shiva. Just to be a shiva call. He says, "You want to go out and get a burger?" So I felt bad because he shouldn't be going out and getting a burger in the middle of shiva. And then I realized he's probably not sitting shiva anyway. So we went out for a burger. And when we sat down to the burger, as a joke, I said to him, "Know you're gonna wash? Let's go wash." He's like, "I'm not washing." Fine, but stay there. I went up, washed, and sat down. We're eating our burgers. And we're talking about losing his dad. It was a crazy thing. He says to me, 'You ready for this?' He goes, out of nowhere, out of the blue. He goes, 'It wouldn't be so hard for me to do tshuva.'

52:22 Out of nowhere I was shocked. I said, "What do you mean?" "All of my averas were ben adam l'makom. They weren't ben adam l'machaverah. I didn't hurt people. Wouldn't be that hard for me to come back." I saw it. I saw the flash. It didn't take. He got married to this German girl afterwards. It didn't take yet. Yet. But I believe with perfect faith, neshama tahira. He's a neshama tahira, and he yearns to come close to Hashem. It's covered up. You see someone who's sinning. Understand? We can say we're intelligent enough to be able to say they're doing the wrong thing, but they're still a Jew. There are certain halachas. Maybe they're not considered amcha. But it doesn't mean they're not a Jew. Chas v'shalom to say that. And this is where Rav Tzadok Hakohen explains. What we say to the Rasha by the Pesach Seder, remember the Rasha by the Pesach Seder, we hit him in the mouth and we say, 'You should know, if you were in Mitzrayim, you wouldn't be redeemed.' Rav Sadok says, 'We hit him in the mouth. We say, 'Stop speaking this way about yourself. If you were in Mitzrayim, you wouldn't be redeemed.' But after Matan Torah, every single Jew will have a Geula. There is no such thing in the ultimate redemption, in the ultimate Geula, there is no such thing as a Yid that will not be redeemed.

53:37 Every single Jew will be redeemed. And Ruzadik Hakohen explains in his piece on Eriv Yom Kippur and Pretzadik. Ruzadik Hakohen says, 'How come the halachas of the destruction of the Beis Hamikdash were in Maseches Gittin? It sounds like it's in Maseches Gittin because it's like we got divorced Chas v'Shalom from Hashem.' And Ruzadik Hakohen says, 'But what parak is it in? It's in the parak called Hanizakin. It's in the parak of damages, which means to say it appears like a divorce. It's just damaged. Beis Hamikdash is damaged.' Our relationship with Hashem is not where it should be. Chas v'shalom to think that it's divorced. Beis Hashem You came here this year to learn one very simple truth. Last piece. I'm reading it inside because the words of Rav Kook's Zeichat Adik Lebracha are gorgeous. Rav Kook was a Talmud of the Chafetz Chaim. He was an unbelievable Talmud Chacham. Listen what Rav Kook writes in Oras Atshuva, fifteen ten.

54:30 Keshe eshoichchem es ma'husan es shama atzmes haatzmes. When a person forgets the essence of his soul And he stops looking into his inner life, that's when things get confusing. Life becomes unbelievably confusing when you start looking outside of yourself and you stop looking inside of yourself. What's the initial tshuva that a yid needs to do? She meir as a machash to miad that will immediately illuminate the darkness in your life. Hishayashuva adam al axtmo. Return to yourself. El shairish nismaso to the root of your soul. Umiad yashuva lo kim. If you return to yourself, you are returning to Hashem. El mishma is kol neshamos because you're returning to the soul of all souls. We come to Eretz Yisrael to do tshuva, and that's why there's two pshatim. There's the remban that says kikar velecha adaver maod. Vefichu vevolchal asoso is tshuva and Rashi says it's taira. It's all the same thing.

55:32 Taira is organic. It's who we are. Tshuva is a return to our organic state. It's easy to do tshuva, not in the sense that it's familiar, not in the sense that there aren't hurdles to overcome. It's organic to who you are. Stop looking for Hashem outside of yourself. If you want to come close, turn inwards and Beez Hashem will be zeicha to build an authentic relationship with our Kadosh Baruch Hu. Girls have a beautiful Shabbos.