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Pasuk Pasuk tells us what it was like for Noah to go out of the teva. How did he know that the waters had receded? So we know that he sent out a dove, and the dove couldn't find a resting place, and it came back to the teva. Listen, how he knew. It says, "Vayachal od shiv asiyonem achirim, vayosef shalach asiyonem nateva. Noach waited another seven days." And then again he sent out the teva, sent out the dove from the teva. Listen to the words Vatavo elav Hayona lees erev And the Yona came back to him in the evening. "Vehine alezayet taraf bepia The Edah Noach kikalo amayem ala aretz, and it had in its mouth alezayet. What does alezayet mean? An olive branch. Very good, an olive leaf. Taraf bepiya, it had been plucked with its mouth. And Noach knew kikalu amayim elaret that the water had subsided from the earth, and then he left.
The question is as follows: There's something very strange in this pasuk. What's strange? What's a strange thing in this pasuk? Something that, if you think about it, just almost doesn't make any sense. The entire world was destroyed. How was there an olive tree? How do we know that there was an olive tree? It doesn't say it found an olive branch. What does it say? It found an olive leaf. It says it found an olive leaf that had been plucked with its mouth. What does that indicate? It had been plucked with its mouth. That it was on a tree, and that what did it do? The Yona went and plucked this leaf off of the tree. So that indicates there was a tree. What's the problem? How was there a tree? A tree could not grow in forty days. There are different answers to this question. There is a lot of different answers to this question, but I'd like to share with you. The Medrash brings two answers to this question, as we'll see. These two answers are very deep answers.
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The first answer is, and this is a very strange answer for the Medrash to give. The first answer is that the tree came from Gan Eden. That the waters had not gone to Gan Eden. Gan Eden is this sort of in between Shamayim and Aretz type of world, and the earth was destroyed. Gan Eden was not. So that means that the Yona flew to Gan Eden and got the olive tree from Gan Eden, got the olive branch from Gan Eden, and then brought it back down to this world. What's the problem with saying that? It's an obvious problem. Meaning if the Yona went all the way to Gan Eden in order to get the olive branch, right? So then, in Gan Eden, the flood didn't touch Gan Eden. So what's that got to do with the waters receding down here on this earth? And also, if the Yona was going to go to Gan Eden, why didn't it go there the first time? Why does it only go to Gan Eden now?
So it goes to Gan Eden. That's one pshat. Right, there's another pshat that the Medrash brings. Also, a very difficult pshat to understand. The Yona flew to Israel. And that the waters of the flood had not destroyed or touched Eretz Yisrael. So the Yona had flown to Eretz Yisrael and got the olive branch from Eretz Yisrael. That's also a very strange pshat. Eretz Yisrael wasn't destroyed in the flood. Have you ever heard that before? As far as I knew, what does the Torah say about this? Well, the Torah says that the entire world was covered with water. Now the medrash comes along and says, except for Eretz Yisrael. What does that mean? Except for Eretz Yisrael And it goes to Eretz Yisrael, which could be near Har Ar, and brings back the branch from Eretz Yisrael. These are the two pshat that the medrash offer.
There's another question that's also bothering us Which is as follows: Why an olive branch? Why an olive branch? Of all the things it could bring back, why did he choose an olive branch? Okay, why was the thing that Yona brought back? And what did that symbolize? What was the significance of that olive branch to Noah? So I want to share with you the following idea. It's a question that I think all of us have And it's a hard question to answer. It's a hard question to ask. The question is like this: I think the user had something going on in their life. There was a deluge outside. There was a flood in my life. And I had no choice but to go into a teva to survive. You hear the emotionality of the question. Whatever was going on in my life, there were a million things going on in my life. I had no choice but to go into the safety and security of the teva.
The question is, and it's a painful question to ask: Can I ever leave the teva? Do you know that there are people who never leave the teva? There are people that. They find safety and security in certain things, and they're never able to let go. And it's understandable. I'm not sitting in judgment of them For people that have gone through massive amounts of trauma, they will not let themselves leave the teva. There are people that have been hurt in relationships, so they just say, "I just won't participate in relationships anymore. I'm just going to stay right here where it's safe." With these friends, I'm never going to put myself out there again. I'm never going to be hurt again. I'm just going to make sure that I'm safe. I'm not going to learn to love again because I know what can happen when you love somebody. Love is giving somebody the keys to your heart and asking them not to crush you.
What happens to those of us who have been crushed? How many times will I get a phone call from someone and they say, I was dating this guy or I was dating this girl. And I really thought this was it And then out of nowhere, they just like totally wants to tell them that this year still going on. Thanks. The out of nowhere they get like broken up with, and they're like I'm just not going to date anymore. That's it. " You know how many girls will call and say something to the effect of "I just can't put myself out there again. I can't imagine myself going out on a first date. And reintroducing myself to people, that move." So I don't want to be there again. I'm okay. There are people who say I won't get married. I won't get married. I just can't go through that pain again.
I can't I can't bear to go through this trauma again. People have a hard time going back to the place that hurt them. Okay, so the question that Noach was asking was. I saw the entire world, my entire world, be destroyed before my very eyes. I watched the world fall into a moral abyss. I watched people kidnap people, hold them for ransom. I watched people steal from each other. I watched people do the most heinous of crimes. I literally saw them destroy the entire earth And it was raining outside and destroying the world around me. That was what we brought upon ourselves And I got to go into a tefah. I don't want to leave. That was Noach's question. When he sent out the dove, I mean the dove, okay, his question was, 'How do I know that it's okay for me to go out there again?' Hear the question? That's a very powerful question. I think one of that probably all of us on some level can relate to.
And as you think about this question, I would ask you What are your things? What are your tevas? What are the places where you've made yourself very comfortable and very safe? So that you don't need to deal with any of the vulnerabilities of life. Ask yourself that question. Make it personal. As we're giving the shiur, see if you can be willing to go to that place and say, 'Okay, this is where I'm comfortable.' And I don't want to go out of my comfort zone. Growth means going out of your comfort zone, but it makes sense that so many of us won't go out of our comfort zones because of all the things that have happened to us in life. What's our answer to this question? We test the waters, so to speak. We want to know if the waters have subsided. We want to know if the earth has returned to a place of stability.
So we stay inside of our teva, but we put out feelers. We send out a dove, right? And the dove comes back, and sometimes we're just not ready for it. The dove comes back, and we go. It doesn't feel like the waters have subsided yet. You ever have a situation like that where you're trying to say something but it doesn't come out right? Maybe you had a friend who really hurt you. And you wanted to see if you could rebuild the relationship. So you like tried to start a conversation, but it got awkward real quick. So you're like, no, I'm shutting that down. There. It's in life. I think it's a very human thing, a very understandable thing, for us to put ourselves out there and to know that we might not be ready to leave our teva. And there's nothing wrong with that. There's value even in the attempt of opening the window and sending out that dove and saying,"I just want to see.
Okay, and when it comes back, they go, "I'm not yet ready for this." But the dove comes back and tells you it's okay for you to leave. What is that? So the first thing we need to know is that it brought back an olive branch, an olive leaf. What does that mean? So it means as follows: There are three types of liquid in Judaism. There's water, wine, and there's olive oil. Those are the three types of liquids that we spend a lot of time thinking about in Judaism. Water is easy; it's accessible for everyone. You just need to get to the water. If you're in the desert, you just need to drill down to get to the water that's lying beneath the earth. It's there; you don't have to do anything to get it. Then there's wine. Have they taken you here in Israel to see like the old wine presses? You ever see that? Have you ever see they have like these like
I mean they've been doing this since ancient times. They have these like circles, and they're like these like cement concrete type of circles. And they what they would do is they would put grapes there, and they would just load it up with grapes, and then they would move around these big concrete things, and they would crush the grapes. And in these big concrete cylindrical, you know things that they had. All the wine would be there, and then they would take it and they would put it in the barrels and they would turn it into wine. Grapes are not hard; it's not like water. Water you just have to find. Grapes are not hard to get the liquid out of, but you have to actually do something to get the liquid out of it. It's not just finding it; you have to squeeze the grape. But squeezing the grape is very easy. It's a very easy process. You just squeeze it, and then you have to let it ferment and do its thing. The third type of oil, which is the type that I think Jews identify with the most, is olive oil.
And the difference between olive oil and grapes is as follows: grapes just need to be squeezed But have you ever seen when you're buying in the store they have extra virgin 100% olive oil? What does that mean? I don't know if you've ever been to one of these places. I think I've heard of them. Yeah, they're like... Right, they're like the ones that are like, you know, in Europe. Yeah, they have olive oil stores. You can go to places in America and they exclusively sell olive oil. Because the levels of olive oil when you go to Yesh, or what are they Mayan two thousand over here? Right, I think you know, like, the highest level. When you go to those places, you buy extra virgin olive oil. You are not buying the highest quality olive oils. There are people that are connoisseurs of olive oil, and they'll buy the fanciest olive oils and put it in these things. A meal will be bread with olive oil and salt. You know what I'm saying? People will dip it in. And it's not just because they infused it with garlic or rosemary. It's because the olive oil itself is of a completely different quality. These olive oil connoisseurs will taste an olive oil like from Yeshivah and be like, 'That's disgusting.'
I'll be like, "Why? It's extra virgin, hundred percent olive oil." I'll be like, "There is nothing hundred percent about this olive oil. " To extract the essence of the olive is an art. It means you have to. It's a painstaking process. It means there could be nothing else. For it to be truly extra virgin, hundred percent, it means you've pulled out the purity of the olive itself. You've pulled out the essence of it. And this represents the Jewish soul. There's a concept in Judaism that's so elementary, but often goes unnoticed. It's called Elokei Neshama Shanasate B'Tahorei. The soul that we have is pure And there is no such thing as tainting the text. It's impossible. Now you would think that this is an elementary belief, but from a psychological perspective, this is perhaps the most important idea that we can convey to people. Which is you are good.
That's not a small thing to say. You are good Okay, so Rabbi. How could you say that I'm good? Don't you know the things that I've done? Or if you would know the things that I've done, you would never think that I'm good. You ever have a thought like that? You ever have a thought that? If you actually knew who I really am, you would like You would be So, distant from me. You would recoil in horror as I told you the averas that I've done in my life. It's such a deep feeling for us that we are fundamentally not okay. The essence of the Jew never participated in an avera, not once in its entire life. Every time we did an avera, that was external to the nature of our core self. If you could look at your soul while you're doing an avera, your soul would be like this: fingers in its ears, eyes closed, going, "I am not doing this. I am not involved in this. If you want to do it, by all means, but I am not involved in this."
Because the Jewish soul thinks it's ridiculous to do that. It thinks it's absurd to do anything that could disconnect you from its source. The Jewish soul never participates in an avera, and therefore the Jewish soul is pure. The reason why it's so important every single day that we begin our days by saying 'Elohim, I think you're right.' The problem is as follows: How could you tell me I remain pure when I was in that flood? Hear the problem. You have people who have been through terrible things. They've suffered tremendously. Perhaps they've been the victims of other people's inappropriate behavior And they've had to live through that flood. And it's a tragedy. It's a tragedy. They say you think I'm okay. I know I'm not okay. You think I'm okay. I know I'm not okay. I'm telling you, I'm not okay. I was there in the destruction. I was there in the flood.
And yes, I found a place of refuge, but don't tell me that I'm okay. You understand the problem So you're sitting here and you're telling me I'm okay. I'm not okay. I'm going to stay in this tava, and it's safe in this tava. I know it's safe in this tava. But don't ask me after having gone through what I went through to go participate in a relationship. Relationships are unsafe. That's what this person is saying. Don't tell me I'm okay. I know I'm not okay. To these people, we need to respond by teaching them slowly and with tremendous compassion. It doesn't matter where you've been or what you've done or what you've been through. There's a core self, what we call a soul, that always and forever remains pure. Especially if you're looking at yourself and identifying yourself as impure, whether that was because of your choices or somebody else's choices.
Do you understand what I'm saying? As there are girls that will come to Tzomar Devora and they'll be, they'll become very frum and they'll become very shtark. And then they come, and they're like, they'll come to one of their teachers, and they'll go How am I going to date, given what I did in high school? How am I ever going to participate in a relationship, given what I've been through? What are they really saying if you unpack it? I'm not okay. This is not okay. I'm fundamentally unlovable because of the things that I went through. I'm happy to stay here in Tomer Devora. It's safe. It's nice, actually. I have my teachers. Here I'm a valued person. People don't look at me the way that I was once looked at. How many of us came to Torma Devora and felt, maybe for the first time, or maybe not for the first time, but maybe for the first time I'm allowed to be myself here. Wasn't so easy in high school.
Remember the act that you had to put on to be somebody else in order to be acceptable by others. And then you got to come here and say, 'Oh, cool, I can be myself.' And know that a rakzed or a mechanecha will tell me it's okay for you to be going through what you're going through. And it's understandable, and you have a sense of belonging So maybe you don't want to leave Talmud Torah, even if there's a war outside. Maybe you'll say to yourself, 'I like it here better than I like it anywhere else. I could be a madricha here. I could stay here forever.' And why would I ever want to leave? I don't mean if somebody was just thinking about becoming a madricha and then I threw. I'm not saying that it's not a wonderful thing to do. I'm going to get phone calls from people asking me what I'm doing. You're killing our madricha program. I'm not here to say that. I'm saying that it's very possible for someone to get stuck somewhere and say this is a very safe place for them. I could share with you. I don't think it's a bad thing. I think it's a good thing to do. But I've been in places where I'm like the type of guy that gets really comfortable and stays there forever. Like, I went to one camp.
I went to Simcha Day Camp. My mother, I think my wife said this. My mother was pregnant with me While she was working at the Simcha Day Camp, I was the kid being pushed along by the mother's helper. At one year old, I was a camper there. I was a CIT there. I was a JC there. I was a counselor there. I was a division head there. I was promoted to manager in 2017. I have been with the company for 8 years. The reason I'm not there today is because we moved to Israel. But until I was 26 years old, every single summer of my life, I never missed a summer. I was in Simcha Day Camp. When I went to yeshiva after Mivaseret, I went back to a place called Beis Medrash L'Tamim in Queens. I stayed there for eight years. My wife wanted to come back here to Israel. I get very comfortable. I like safe places. And by the way, where did I go when I came here to when I came here to Eretz Yisrael to get a job? To Mivaseret, the place that I had been for two years when I was eighteen and nineteen years old.
It's okay to get comfortable in places. What's not okay is to get stuck in those places. I remember that I had a chaver And he we grew up in the five towns. He grew up in Farakaway, and he decided he wasn't going to Israel for the year. And the guys who were older were trying to convince him. And if I'm being honest, they were trying to pressure him to go to Israel for the year. And there was one friend. He had this great line. He kept saying it over and over again every day of the summer. He goes, "Have you ever left the Rockaway Peninsula in your life? Like, have you ever traveled outside of the Rockaway Peninsula?" And the guy's like,"Yeah, I've been to the Five Towns. Like, I went to Lawrence." He's like, "Have you ever gone to New York City? Have you ever been to New Jersey? Like, you've never left the Rockaway Peninsula.
" It happens to be for this guy because of what he went through in his life. He really didn't feel comfortable to leave. And you know where he lives today? In Far Rockaway. He literally has never left the Rockaway Peninsula. I'm not saying that's a problem. It could be that for him, that's what works. But imagine a person who's so stuck that they can't, you have people that can't go to camp. Like there are people like I can't go to sleepaway camp. It's too uncomfortable. They don't know how to go out of their comfort zone. The reason is because I'm just, I'm not. I'm not to do an uncomfortable thing. To these people, we have to tell them that no matter what you've been through, you are okay. You don't belong to that moment in time. You belong to something else, so people identify themselves by their worst moments. Don't you know what happened to me? Don't you know what I did? Don't you know what I did?
I do know what happened to you, or I do know what you did. And I'm telling you that, despite that, there's a core self underneath that remains pure. It's the single most important lesson we have to begin our day with every single day. You are. You remain pure. I, but I feel not pure. There's no feeling in the world. The word "pure." You know, the word "pure" really means it means innocent. How many people don't feel innocent? How many people feel a little gross? That they that in maybe even nobody knows, but in their own mind, in their own heart of hearts, they think things or say things or do things that make them feel like I'm no long I've lost my innocence. I've lost my youthful innocence. To those people, we have to say, you remain pure. Your youthful innocence is not gone. It's it's. It may be deep inside of you, but it's inside of you, and it's there.
That's the Aleph. When the branch comes back to Noah, and he sees that it brought back his essence, Noah says,"The waters have now subsided." How did he know the waters have subsided? Maybe in that place that he flew to, the waters have subsided. Maybe here, the waters didn't subside. Noah knows it doesn't matter if the waters are outside now. I know that I can navigate the waters. See what gives us the ability to navigate the terrain of life is knowing that I'm, no matter what happens to me outside of this place. That let's say I will stumble and fall, and let's say people will hurt me again, or I'll hurt others. Not because I want to, but just naturally. That's the way it is. If I know that I'm tapped into my essence, then I can navigate anything. It's when we're not tapped into our essence that we start to become afraid of the fall.
To be afraid of the fall is the way that you fall. Because our fear becomes the reality. You girls ever realize that exactly what we're afraid of is exactly what happens. It happens because we attract it because of our fears. Does that make sense? So once the dove comes back, once you put out that feeler and the feeler comes back and says you're Okay, that's a tremendous lesson. Now, the question is, where did it come from? There are two possibilities. Possibility number one is a place that's beyond time and space. Possibility number two is a place that's within time and space And I want to explain to you what that means. There are two ways of looking at our okeness. The first way is our okeness comes from Gan Eden. What does that mean? Our okeness comes from Gan Eden. Gan Eden is a place that's not within our world, but it's not beyond our reach. It's there, but it's being guarded by those angels with fiery swords.
And in a certain sense, what we're trying to do in this world is connect back to the Ganeden that we originally came from But it's sort of beyond our grasp. So the first thing that tells a person they're okay is that there is a God. There is a God that's above time and space. The connection that you have to the transcendent is what gives you your sense of okeness. What that means is as follows: your soul. If you think about what is a soul really? What do we know about a soul? It's a chelak elokam imal mamish. The Alter Rebbe says. What does it mean? A chelak elokam imal mamish. Think about the sun. A sun has rays that are coming off of the sun. So, if I say every soul is like a ray of light from the sun. Wait, no, that's not right. Let me rephrase that. Every soul is like a ray of the sun. So can the infinite be considered tainted?
Is there any action that could taint an infinite soul? It doesn't even make any sense. If the soul is infinite, can it be corrupted? If it's infinite, can something infinite become corrupted? If it's infinite and it's perfect, it can never be corrupted. So the first thing to think about is: there something that transcends time and space, but yet somehow is sort of within time and space, and that's called our soul. That's Ganeden. Ganed then is the part of us that's here with us, but somehow always remains beyond us, so that there's nothing that could ever taint us, and that's the part of you that's good. And so you'll say to yourself,"I did this avera, right?" and I don't know if I'm ever going to be lovable. How am I ever going to tell the guy that I'm dating? How many girls have said this to me, and guys, I think I'm going to tell this girl or this guy after we get engaged.
What Because I don't want them to break up with me. Let me understand this. You're gonna get engaged to somebody and say spend the rest of your life with me. But I don't know if you'll be willing to hold my stuff along with me. That sounds like a good idea. And they go, because by then it'll be too late for them to break up with me. I'm like, that's a terrible idea, right? What are you really saying? You're really saying I'm not. I'm not because that thing defined me. But you know what the antidote to that is? One antidote is that thing doesn't define me because the true me was beyond time and space. This soul inhabits my body, but it's not—it's not limited to my body. Does that make sense? So the act that I participated in, this soul, it remained above and beyond. That's one way of being.
There's another way of being And this is the deeper way of being. And it's called Eretz Yisrael. Eretz Yisrael is a place in this world. You understand? It's literal. It's here. This is the big secret. You ready for this? This is the whole point of today's shir. The part of you that is not okay That participated in that action you're not proud of. That part of you, that physical part of you that's down here in this world, that's real. That part of you also has a part of you that's Eretz Yisraelic. Okay, I'll say it again. I want to make sure everybody gets this. Let's say you have a guy or a girl that participates in an inappropriate relationship because of what they think it's going to give them, because of some psychological need they had when they were fifteen or sixteen years old. And it made them feel good to participate in the relationship.
That part, when they get a little bit older, they become perhaps deeply ashamed of, and they say, 'It wasn't okay what I did. I'm not okay because of that.' That part, not this, not the ganedun part. For a second, not the soul. That part, the hurt part Has a beauty that is not yet fully understood. A part of that thing that you're not happy with, that led you to do something that you're not proud of. Embedded within that part, there's a place called Eretz Yisrael that retains its beauty and its kedusha and is untainted by the flood. What I'll give you an example of what this looks like to help you understand. Let's say you have a girl who felt undervalued. That's a hard thing to feel. To really like to feel unappreciated. Anyone ever here like feel really un like not just underappreciated but unappreciated? Feel like they don't have like a sense of belonging. You ever have something like that Where like. You're just nowhere. Like you're out of your friend group, and you're you're not feeling safe at home, and you're not particularly good at school, and you just feel like I'm a zero. You ever have something like that?
And imagine somebody came along. Let's say one of these inappropriate relationships. Let's say some guy came along and said to you, "I can make you feel appreciated." Is it understandable that you might jump into that relationship with two feet? Did you really want to jump into that relationship? No But it was a place to go when you were drowning. But let's look at the beauty of that thing for a second. I know we spend a lot of time talking about the mess. Let's talk about the beauty for a second. What what's the beauty of that part that jumped into that relationship with two feet? Can anyone see the beauty in it? If you don't mind, just get the door. Thanks. The want to get better. The want to get better. What else? Desire to connect. The desire to connect, what else? The feeling of worthiness The feeling of being special to someone.
All of a sudden, that part becomes understandable, and not only understandable, doesn't it become a little bit beautiful? I'm not saying that it did the right thing But there's a certain kind of purity to what it's trying to communicate to us. There's a space within that hurt part. It's actually a really beautiful part. Now it was a mistake. It's like, I'm not Chas v'Shalom suggesting that what it did was okay and appropriate. But embedded within that part, isn't there a part of that part that's really okay That wanted something good and genuine and understandable? So we can learn to find the beauty within our imperfections. We can learn to find a place called Eretz Israel within this crazy world. There's a land of Israel that remains sanctified, even if the entire world is destroyed by the flood. So there's two ways of learning to be okay.
When you put out that feeler and you say, "I want to know if I'm okay. Can I handle the terrain of life?" The first answer is, "Of course you can." Ganeiden. Your soul is not involved in these things. It remains above and above time and space. And yet somehow within time and space. When you were doing the average, your soul remains pure. That's for sure, a very, very beautiful part. But there's another part. It's learning to appreciate that within all of the destruction of your world, there was a place called Eretz Israel that was never destroyed. The Medrash is not speaking physically. It's not speaking literally. It's speaking metaphorically. It's saying, how do you know? That you're capable of going out and doing it differently this time because you've accessed the inner Nakuda of that part. Imagine if you said to yourself, let's say a person said, and this would be terrible. Let's say a person said, I want to divorce this part from myself. I want to Like, just completely excoriate that part of myself that participated in that inappropriate relationship. What would you be losing out on if you retired that jersey? If you just said to this part, get out of the car. I'm no longer interested in you.
You would be losing out on the beauty of that part. What would an adult say? What would an adult say to their part that behaved inappropriately as a teenager? An adult would say something like I really appreciate what you are attempting to do. It had a negative impact, and it's really beneath the dignity of the way that I want to behave. But I want you to know that I value what you're really trying to communicate. You are trying to say. I'm in pain, and I don't want to have that sense of no belonging anymore. I want to have a deep sense of belonging, a deep sense of worthiness. I want to know that I'm free to be me and okay, no matter what circumstances I'm in. So now that you learn to appreciate that part, would anyone want to kick it out? Like, I think we should keep it in. Chas v'shalom.
All we want to do is tend to that part and have Eretz Yisrael. Spread out to take over the rest of the world, which is what happens in the times of Mashiach. Chazal tell us that in the times of Mashiach, the entire world will be considered Eretz Yisrael. All of Eretz Yisrael will be considered Yerushalayim. All of Yerushalayim will be considered Beis Hamikdash. All of Beis Hamikdash will be considered the Kodesh Hakodashim. In other words, there's an expansive quality to Eretz Yisrael. It's meant to overtake the entire world. So when you find the beauty within your imperfection, when you find the Eretz Yisrael within the world at large, what starts to happen now? Now that Eretz Yisrael has a spreading out quality, where it starts to see the beauty of it. So now this part learns to engage the world in a more beautiful way. This is the first part of the text. Okay, so I think that's how Noach felt about it. Yeah, I mean, I think he knew it was over and that he was capable of going back into the world. Whereas Noach said, "I was in that destruction. I saw what happened in that destruction. I was a part of it. The entire world was destroyed. I may not have misbehaved, but it definitely happened to me, and I'm a victim of that. I don't want to leave the teva."
The greatness of Noach was number one. He leaned into the vulnerability. He said, "I'm willing to test the waters to leave the teva. I don't have to be stuck. Number two, when he leaned into the vulnerability, he found the essence. Number three, the essence told him,"You're." How are you? Either because there was something Ganeiden about your life that even in your worst moments, remember the real you wasn't participating in it, or even if you were participating in it, but the truth of this moment is that there was beauty in your lowest moment And that means once you know the beauty of your lowest moment, you can go back out there knowing that this time you could do it differently, and even if you don't do it differently, you know that you could be okay. There's this question that's asked at the end of the year. I hate this question. You've heard me say this before. I hate this question. How do you take it with you?
I'll tell you why I hate that question. Because it implies that the Torah we've been teaching you the entire year wasn't mobile. It's like it wasn't transferable. It wasn't meant to be transferred. It's like now we have to teach you at the very end of the year in like a one-day seminar, like a what they call it a yom yon, like a one-day yom yon on how to take it with you, as if the entire year we haven't been teaching you things that are designed to come with you. You're here in Eretz Yisrael. What's next? Are you going to be able to go back home? What will it be like to go back home with old friends, with old relationships, with parents, with new challenges? Back to school, finding a parnasa, going into shidduchim. How do I know that this time I'm going to do it differently in that relationship? When the last time I was in a relationship, it wasn't an appropriate relationship. It wasn't a healthy relationship. It wasn't a healthy relationship. What's the part of me that knows that it's all going to be okay?
So there's a vulnerability. There's a question: Will I leave the teva? But if you're willing to lean out the window, so to speak, and to discover your essence, then you can discover the inner strength that you need in order to confront life's challenges. This is a tyra of what comes next. How do I leave the teva? What comes next? A person who's in touch with their essence is not afraid to leave the teva. They might be cautious. It might take time to leave the teva, but they're not afraid to leave the teva. And that's that's my bracha for you. My bracha for you is that you should appreciate your inner beauty Your inner infinitude, whether it's the part of you that never participated in the avera or the part of you that did participate in the avera. Both parts are beautiful. Both parts tell you that you're still tahir. Both parts tell you that you're still capable.
And we should be zeicher in this vein to let go of that sense of shame that we have, the sense that I'm not and I'm not enough. We are. We are enough. And we are capable of confronting life's challenges. Remember that our Kadosh Baruch Hu doesn't want us to stay in the teva. He commands Noach after he leaves the teva: go out and build the world again. Be fruitful and multiply. Go out and build the world again. How could Noach have built the world again? He saw the world be destroyed. Precisely because he saw the world be destroyed, he knew exactly what it would take to rebuild the world. It takes courage and conviction. But we are all capable.
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