Vayikra - Everything Is Ready And Nothing Is Happening

2:33 If Hakadosh Baruch Hu is timing it so that the Mishkan won't be set up until the day that Yitzchak was born, obviously there's an intrinsic connection between Yitzchak and the Mishkan. That's our first question. Second question is a pretty obvious question, but if Hashem wanted to have the construction of the Mishkan coincide with the birthday of Yitzchak, and it's going to take three months to set it up When should Hashem have started having them set up the Mishkan? Three months before the birthday of Yitzchak. So Hakadosh Baruch Hu does in a funny way. On the 11th of Tishrei, right after the Chet Ha'Egel, Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, 'Built for me a Mishkan.' Everybody gets excited. We're going to build for Hashem a Mishkan. And now there's a delay of three months. Why not just give them the mitzvah to build the Mishkan three months later, and then the timing will work out perfectly? Sounds like if we're thinking deeply, and we ought to be thinking deeply in life. That's a profound way of living your life. It is not just to learn on a surface level, but to think deeply. If we're thinking deeply It sounds like Hakadosh Baruch Hu is saying Build the Mishkan, and then it's critical that there be a delay.

3:56 Some reason there needs to be a delay of almost an equal amount of time from the time that the Mishkan was constructed to the time that it was assembled. It's a three-month and then another three-month process. The delay sounds like it's built into the fabric of the building of the Mishkan. Therefore, our second question is: What is the significance of the delay? Two questions: Number one What does the Mishkan have to do with Yitzchak Avinu, that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants it to fall out on the same day? And number two Why delay it? The delay is part of the process. What is the meaning, the value, the significance? Of delaying the construction of the Mishkan, why not just have it right away? In order to understand this, we're going to go way, way, way back to some of the most basic things that we could possibly learn.

4:51 And it goes as follows: the nature of this world The nature of this physical, material reality that we live in Is that the world proclaims its own existence. The world says I exist And there is no God. When you look at a chair, you do not see Hashem. When you look at a table, you do not see Hashem. When you look at a stender, you do not see Hashem. It's almost as if the world is what's called self-referential, meaning it hasn't, it didn't come from anywhere. It just is. And that's what people say. People say the world always was. How did it get here? It always was. Nothing preceded the world. Nothing created the world. The world itself says I exist, like Paro. We're coming up now on Pesach. We should start thinking deeply about Paro. What does Paro say? Li ya'ari va ani asisani. I am the river, and I made the river. And what is the river in Mitzrayim? The river is God. And what is Paro saying about himself? I am my own creator. I am totally self-referential.

5:58 Nothing creates me. In other words, what is Paro? Paro is the ultimate ego. It's the ultimate arrogance, the ultimate expression of 'I exist independent from Hashem.' And the truth is, that's the nature of our material world. When we look at the material world, it says, 'I exist and nothing else.' What is the job of a Jew in this world? The job of a Jew in this world is very simple. The job of a Jew is to see past the material veneer of this world. And to explore the essence of this world, to see that beneath the chair there is godliness, within the table there is godliness. Not to say Chas v'Shalom that Hakadosh Baruch Hu is the table—that's idolatry—but to say that Hakadosh Baruch Hu wills this table into existence at every single moment. That all of creation has an essence. That things are not just things, but that things have an essence to them.

6:55 And that essence is what we're trying to connect to. It's the equivalent of—I'll give you a silly example. It's the equivalent of looking at someone physically and saying they're beautiful, or looking at someone's essence and seeing that they're beautiful. You hear the difference? Sometimes we look at someone and we see, look at that material veneer. That's objectively a very beautiful person. And then they open their mouths and they're gross. You ever meet someone like that? You ever meet an arrogant person that at first— I would never say it about any of you, but let's say you met a guy. I know that girls here in Ber Miryam don't ever talk to guys. They should call this Beis Yaakov Ber Miryam. I'm with you. I think it's very beautiful. I know that none of you have spoken to a young man outside of your own siblings or cousins. But let's say you were walking down the streets of Yerushalayim, and let's say not you, a person. Let's say a person bumps into a guy and they say, "Oh, that guy is." He's. I'm not going to use the words, right, because I don't want to be that cringy, right. But let's say, even though it's cringy, but as you said, it's great cringe, right. What word?

8:08 I know. He's that guy, and you see him, and he's got his certain look. And then he opens his mouth and he starts talking. How sometimes they become a little gross. That was a little quick on the uptake. I know that guy. Shimin. You know the. Shimmy, sorry. But the opposite is also true. Sometimes you meet someone and at first blush they may not be the most physically attractive person, but then you get to know them and something changes. All of a sudden they become Ross. If you get the reference, right? You get the reference. Good. We have a couple people, Four or five people enter. Six, seven. Good. Six, seven. My grandson does that, by the way. My two-year-old grandson walks around going six, seven. He's a little Israeli boy. It's beautiful. The why is it that sometimes when you meet someone physically It could start to shift. When you meet someone's essence, the physicality, the material nature starts to shift.

9:12 What was originally unpleasant becomes pleasant, or the opposite: what was originally pleasant becomes unpleasant. Because what a Jew wants to do is see beneath the surface. We want our relationships to be real. Real means to connect to the essence. I'm connecting to the soulfulness of something. I don't just want to relate to this stender as a piece of wood. I want to relate to it as a stender. I don't want to just relate to this as a chair. I want to use this chair to sit at a Shabbos table. I want to use my food to serve a kaddish baruch. The job of a Jew is to see past the material surface level veneer of this world to connect to the essence. So far so good. Great. Let's think about the Chetah Egel, because when does Hakadosh Baruch Hu give the mitzvah for Hakamah HaMishkan? When does He give the mitzvah to build the Mishkan?

9:58 Right after the Chetah Egel. So let's think about what the Chetah Egel actually is. We're going to think about this on a couple of levels right now. The first dimension of the Chetah Egel is: I don't want to live with a God that I can't visibly and tangibly experience. Moshe Rabbeinu goes up. Remember, they thought Moshe Rabbeinu died. He was supposed to come back after forty days, forty nights. They miscalculated, and now what are they feeling? Hashem is very distant from us. Distance in what sense? Meaning by Har Sinai, what was their experience of Hashem? It was a visceral experience. It was a tangible experience. Lightning, thunder. This was a profoundly physical experience. What was their reaction when they said Moshe Rabbeinu died? They said, wait a second. As long as Moshe Rabbeinu was alive, how will we connect to Hashem? Because I can't touch Hashem.

10:53 I can't see Hashem. Haven't you ever had this thought before? How am I supposed to relate to a God that I can't see? I think how am I supposed to relate to a God that I can't hear? So many of us have had this type of experience. As long as Moshe Rabbeinu was alive, Chaliyosah was like we might not be able to relate to Hashem, but we can relate to Moshe. But once Moshe Rabbeinu was gone They had a frightening thought. How will we relate to Hashem now? In other words, what were they trying to do with Hashem? They were trying to reduce God down into something material, to something that they could touch, to something that they could understand, to something that they could grasp. So what did they do? They made a physical agel, and that is of course a terrible thing to do. To reduce something that's essential to something physical is a tragedy. The fact that something essential can express itself in the physical material world is beautiful. That's like maybe a good way of thinking about it: music is essence.

11:57 Sound is the actual tangible experience of music. You can't point to music, you can't measure music, but how do I know when music is alive, when music represents itself in these particular sounds, in these particular harmonies, in these particular melodies. Essence will always express itself in the physical world. But to take the essence and to say I'm going to conflate the essence for the material, that's tragedy. To reduce the essence down to its physical parts. To think that music is sound, as opposed to music expressing itself through sound, that's a terrible thing to do. Just because something is hidden doesn't mean it's not real. In fact, it's just the opposite. The more real something is, the less you can touch it. The less you can measure it, like for example, love is not measurable. You can measure chemicals, you can't measure love. You can measure sound, but you can't measure music. You can measure color, but you can't measure art.

13:05 You can measure words, but you can't measure poetry. You can measure the physical world, but you can't measure Hashem. The fact that something is hidden is what makes it real. The fact that it's real is what makes it, in a certain way, beyond this world. To try to reduce it down to being in this world is a tragedy. That's a very deep concept. I want to make sure you all get this. So it goes something like this: Klal Yisrael by the Chet Egal. I'm going to repeat it now in one sentence. Try to make sure you get it. Klal Yisrael, the Chet HaEgal When there was a sense of absence. Now Hashem is beyond the world. No longer taking on the form of lightning and thunder. Moshe Rabenu is not here. What were they not okay with? They were not okay with the gap. They weren't okay with the fact that there was nothing tangible for them to hold on to. They couldn't relate to the essence without materialism. And so what they did is they tried to reduce that which is real.

14:09 Into physical finite form, that's the nature of the chet ha'egel, and it's not just something that we did once upon a time. I think most of us, including myself, do this all the time. That rather than relating to the essence of something, we often get caught up in the material appearance of something. And we become obsessed with it needs to be tangible. I need to be able to touch it in order for it to be real. What does Yitzchak Avinu What does Yitzchak Avinu represent? So we know that Yitzchak isn't someone who brings a karban. What is Yitzchak? Yitzchak is the karban As opposed to everyone else, who brings karbanos, Yitzchak is brought as a karban. Chazal describe him as an ola tamima. He is a complete karban himself. What does that mean? The key word we're going to hone in on right now is called surrender.

15:06 Now I know surrender sounds like a very bad word. Surrender sounds weak. But the truth is, surrender is a very powerful word. When you surrender to the right thing, that's the most powerful thing you could possibly do. Surrender when someone overpowers you—that's weak. But in truth It takes a lot of power to surrender yourself to something higher than yourself. It takes a big person to surrender themselves to someone they love. For example, to be a surrendered wife or a surrendered husband, what does that mean? It means I'm open for business. I've surrendered. I've opened my boundaries. I've surrendered myself, and now I exist in the service of something higher than myself. That's a very powerful thing to be. To be surrendered, it takes a great amount of self esteem to know that I can open myself up to a relationship. So the word surrender, we think of it as very weak. Iran is going to surrender to America and Israel. That's what's going to happen. You girls know that. Iran is going to surrender to America and Israel unless they're really foolish, because they're all dying. Every single day, if you watch the news, the head of the intelligence was killed, the head of this was killed, the head of that, one by one, they're all dropping like flies. That's weak surrender. Strong surrender is recognizing that there's a truth that's higher than me.

16:39 I'm surrendering myself to that truth. That's what it means to be a carbon. To be a carbon means that Yitzchak embodies a form of existence, a form of matter, of tangible reality. And he says I'm totally surrendered to the essence. In other words, in Yitzchak Avinu, who do we find? Material matter But his soul was completely transparent. The material nature of his person was totally surrendered to its essence. This is how Adama Rishon is described before the Chet of the Eitz Hadass. Adama Rishon's entire body was made of fingernails. You've heard that. What does that mean? I don't know if it means it physically or not, but a fingernail is translucent. You can see through the fingernail; it's transparent. You could see what's going on underneath. Avraham Rishon, his material person, was totally translucent. So that his essence shined through, like a light bulb, shining through this thin veneer of the shade. So that's what Avraham Rishon's body was like.

17:52 Yitzchak, because he was an Ola Tamima, because he was a Karbon. His material nature was surrendered to his essence. That wasn't something he lived; it was something he was. There's a big difference between that. Just because we do the action doesn't mean that that's what we embody. For Yitzchak, once Yitzchak Avinu was brought as a karban, his entire nature changed, and that's why Chazal say, 'Do you know that he actually died at Akedah Yitzchak?' It doesn't. Avram didn't kill him, but his soul did ascend to Shamayim, and then it came back down. And so Yitzchak experienced like a mini tchias amesim. You said his material nature did what? It surrendered essence to his soul. They say that he died for two years and then. Then there's exactly. How long and what does it mean? Those are very deep ideas. I'm just saying a simple thing. His material nature was completely surrendered to his essence. That's why he died, because his essence exploded out of his body. There was no body that could contain him. That's why there had to be a tchias hamesim. Yitzchak always embodies the world of olam haba. That's why Yitzchak is the laughter that will one day be. Ozim alei shok pino. That one day in the world of olam haba, there will be great laughter, and Yitzchak's named after that laughter that will one day be in olam haba.

19:12 That's why he exists both before and after tchias hamesim. You said to surrender. To recognize there is a truth that's higher than us. Correct. To be able to know that what. To be, we're not less than. We're actually a part of, right? I can surrender myself as existing independently from this truth. So let's say Hashem is truth, right? There's this separation that I believe I exist independently from Hashem. And when I surrender that, I align myself with the truth. It takes a lot of power to do. That takes a lot of courage to do. It's not an easy thing to do. Now this is where it's going to go. If it hasn't been deep enough, now we're going to get super deep. Ready? Goes like this. Yitzchak Avinu is the midah of gevura. Gevura means strength. Strength means boundaries. When someone has strong, like when they live in a city and that city is fortified with walls. That's what Yitzchak is. He's the midah of gevura.

20:17 Which means That when a person has boundaries, I'm going to use the board for a second. When a person has boundaries I hope the I hope this is. They don't collapse outwardly. Into self-expression. Boundaries. I know this sounds funny Because self-expression is very beautiful. But when a person has boundaries, that's represented by that square, they don't collapse outward into self-expression alone. Meaning When you have strong boundaries, this is what happens: you become capable of carrying a presence in your life that's greater than yourself. Sounds like a funny thing. I'm gonna say it again. When we have strong boundaries. So generally, if we don't have strong boundaries, what happens? We collapse outwardly. It's like imagine if you didn't have this would be a good example. Can I borrow your water bottle? This water bottle has boundaries, right? What's the boundaries of this water bottle? Is the plastic. What does the plastic do?

21:43 It enables the water to be contained within the plastic. So without the boundaries, what would happen? Without the boundaries, the water would just spill everywhere. And so when we have strong boundaries, there's a level of self-expression, and I don't mean self-expression here as like a positive thing. I mean self-expression like I am independent of Hashem. I say whatever I want, I do whatever I want, I live however I want. You're right. Al tiftach pele satan Girls. If there is a siren, then we'll stop. Wow, this is like a symphony of hatred. If what we are witnessing here is trauma in the form of sound If there is a siren, obviously we'll pause. We'll go downstairs to the mamad, and when we're ready, we'll return to the sheir. It's appropriate to stop because there's a mitzvah of ruchmar t'maod that's not shosechem. So if we are in an unsafe situation, we'll stop, and then we will, like the Rambam writes, the choser l'limudo. When we are done doing one mitzvah, we will return to our learning. Let's continue until the siren bezat Hashem will not sound. But if it does We will go downstairs. So if you don't have boundaries, you collapse outwards.

23:15 I do whatever I want. I say whatever I want. I live however I want. I'm not saying what I want to say out loud, but you could probably. I'll speak around it a little bit, and you could fill in the gaps yourself. We live in a society that can think whatever it wants, even if it's ridiculous, even if it's like the opposite of true, and just like, oh well, let's just say this now and see if that sticks to the wall. Let's just do that now and see. And it's boundaryless. And it thinks. That it's like this very healthy, positive self-expression. It's not, right? Because true self-expression comes from having strong boundaries. Because here's the thing: when you have these strong boundaries, when you have a strong water bottle, what do you get to hold? Something greater than yourself. The nature of the water bottle is that it's designed to hold water. What is the nature of having the boundaries of Yitzchak? We'll call this Gvurat Yitzchak, gvuras Yitzchak. These boundaries are called the strength of Yitzchak.

24:18 What it does is it allows you to express a presence greater than yourself from within yourself. Because Yitzchak teaches us to have strong boundaries, our inwards don't collapse outwards. What happens? Our inwards explodes upwards. Do you hear the difference? Strong boundaries allow you to carry a presence that's greater than yourself. So rather than myself just spilling out everywhere, because it's now channeled, because it's held. Rather than exploding outwards, I explode upwards. And I have now my connections become deep. I'll give you an example of this. The nature of intimacy is exclusivity. That's what it means to be one. Intimacy means to be one. The nature of intimacy is exclusivity. Imagine a husband who says to his wife Let's be married Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Thursday, Friday, Shabbos, Sunday. Let's take off. We'll be married Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. Doesn't that sound great? You would say no because you're being sloppy about your intimacy. Intimacy means exclusivity. It means having strong boundaries. By the way, I had a client like this once. He said to the girl he was dating, "I want to be married."

25:37 He said, "I just don't want to be married from 11 o'clock to 6 o'clock on Sunday afternoons." They lived in the West Coast. I said, and his and this girl he was dating said no And he said, "I don't understand why. I just don't want to be married from 11 o'clock to 6 o'clock. I'm not going to cheat on you. I just want to watch football." She said to him, "Go watch football then, but we're still married." He goes, "No, because I know what girls do." You're gonna say to me at three o'clock on a Sunday afternoon We have to go shopping now. You're gonna say things are important, things come up. He's saying no, nothing can come up from eleven to six because from eleven to six I'm married to football, not to you. So I was okay. It's an interesting situation. They came to see me, and the guy couldn't understand what he was doing wrong. He said legitimately that he happens to be a wealthy guy.

26:30 And he said, "I'm going to give her the best life." He said, "First of all, I don't have to work, right? So the other days of the week, we're going to be exclusively with each other." He said, "The entire year is not football season. I'm talking about preseason, the season, playoffs, and the Super Bowl." If you think about it, preseason, there's a lot of games. The season, there's a lot of games. But once it comes to the playoffs, there's not that many games. And the Super Bowl is only one game. And then there's the off season. I'll be with her every single Sunday. I just don't want her to mess with me. And the entire time, the woman is sitting there like this And he's like, "I don't understand what her problem is." I said, "The problem is that intimacy means exclusivity, and once you have any boundary violation, because this is what he wanted." He wanted. Let's take a break, and bezeirat Hashem, we will come upstairs to continue in a moment.

27:22 So where were we before we were so rudely interrupted by Iranian missiles coming to kill us? And Baruch Hashem, we continue to learn Torah. So we are saying as follows: we are saying that without strong boundaries, this type of self-expression is inappropriate because it's not expression of something that's higher than ourselves. It's not expression of our deepest self. It's just being sloppy about who we are. But when we have these strong boundaries, these gevuras yitzchak, the boundaries of Yitzchak. Then we become capable of expressing something not outward but upwards. And what that looks like is, I've been given the power of speech, but what do I do with that speech? So without boundaries, I'll speak about other people. With boundaries, I'll speak to Hashem. You hear the difference? Without boundaries, I'll sing inappropriate music. With boundaries, I sing to Hashem. So everything becomes the greatest expression of my essence.

28:21 Does that make sense? Why is it called the Gvura Yitzchak? Did Yitzchak have boundaries? So this who Yitzchak was. Yitzchak is known for his Gvura. He's known for his boundaries. He embodies a carbon, which means as follows: There's different types of revelation. You can reveal Hashem from beyond this world. Yitzchak teaches us to reveal Hashem not beyond this world, but within this world by creating strong boundaries. He allows the world to express its true nature, and now we can understand. This is only the first dimension. Now we can understand the beginning of how Yitzchak is connected to the Mishkan. Because the Mishkan is the place where the world says, "I am not for myself; I am an expression of Hashem." That's where, if you walked into the Mishkan, if you walked into the Beis Hamikdash Hashem is an experience that you have because of the material world. It has become transparent, and you can literally experience Hashem in that place. In other words, why is it that the Mishkan has such specific finite measurements? Everything in the Mishkan is measured precisely. We know all the measurements of everything. Why?

29:32 Because the Mishkan is the possibility that the infinite can dwell within the finite boundaries of this world. That's what the Mishkan represents—the possibility that something that's infinite, beyond all measure, beyond all possible expression in this world, can somehow be contained within this world and expressed through this world. And so the Mishkan, like Yitzchak, has these very specific measurements, these very specific boundaries, in order that the material world should be able to express its true nature, because that's what the world wants to do. The truth of the world is that gold wants to become a menorah. That wood wants to become the beams of the beis hamikdash of the mishkan, that the oil wants to be lit. The true nature of our material world is that it wants to express its essence. What do we need to do to this material world in order for it to express its essence?

30:26 We need to create those strong boundaries. When we do, the essence shines through. So just like Yitzchak within himself. Total boundaries and therefore his essence shines through. The Mishkan literally parallels Yitzchak. Strong boundaries, exact measurements, and that's how the infinite expresses itself within the finite. This is the exact opposite of the Chet Ha'egel. Because what was the Chet Ha'egel really all about? The Chet Ha'egel says, "Let's say that this material world is the ultimate" And what does the Mishkan say? The Mishkan says, 'This.' The physical material world is a vessel to express the essence. You hear the difference. The Mishkan is humility. The agel is narcissism. The agel says, "Look at me, I exist." The mishkan says, 'Look at this material world and what exists beneath it.' It's the humility to pull back the outward expression of the materialism and to reveal the inner essence of Hashem.

31:28 That's all. Step one. One question. But how are we able to do that? You're talking about Yitzchok. Because when we live with boundaries, even though we are material and our material body has desires. But when we give ourselves strong boundaries and we say this what we are obligated to do, this what we can do, and this what we can't do. When we live within those boundaries, our neshama has the ability to express itself. To explode upwards. But that is limited, not like there. That's not limited. That's like saying a husband who marries his wife, or a wife who's married a husband, is limited to their spouse. You're not limited to your spouse. Your greatest expression is through that spouse. So it's like a laser. When the laser is focused everywhere, it's not really focused anywhere. So the greatest expression of self is not limiting. I would say it's in order for me to be able to express myself on the greatest possible level. I have to have strong boundaries, otherwise I'm just going to fall into sloppy self-expression.

32:28 And so, by the way, this is a very important point that you're making because sometimes we feel limited by our Judaism. We feel like Judaism doesn't allow me to say whatever I want. And what's the answer to that question? Because if you say whatever you want, then what are you doing? You're being very sloppy about your self-expression. How can we use our words to bring the world to become a better place? If I'm sloppy about my self-expression, I'm willing to say lashon hara. That's terrible. But if I have a power called words and I limit my words, that doesn't limit me. It actually gives me the greatest possible way to express myself. Let me cook for a couple more minutes, just because I want to. I want to cook. I want to be able to just finish this here. Does that make sense? Yeah. Let's take this now to a deeper level.

33:21 We spoke about the cheita egel as the obsession with the material. Now let's take it even a little bit deeper. When did they make the cheita egel? When Moshe Rabbeinu went up to Hakadosh Baruch Hu And he came down a little bit late. Or they perceived him to be coming down a little bit late. What could they not tolerate? They couldn't tolerate the in-between time. They couldn't tolerate the wait. They couldn't tolerate the delay. What's the depth of this? What does it mean that they couldn't tolerate the in-between time, the wait, the delay? It goes as follows. Remember what we said about the Mishkan That all the parts of the Mishkan were done, but then there was a three-month delay. What was that three-month delay? That three-month delay was the rectification, the tikkun. For the fact that Klal Yisrael couldn't delay, they couldn't hold off. They needed to make the Chet Ha'Egel right away. In fact, what was Aaron Cohen doing when Aaron Cohen helped them build the Chet Ha? He helped them build the Egel Azov. What was he doing? He obviously didn't want to participate in idolatry. What was he saying? If I can only teach them to stall, if I can only teach them to wait, if I can only teach them how to be patient in the in between time, then Moshe Rabbeinu will come down and everything will be solved. So Aaron wasn't just using delaying tactics.

34:49 What was he actually trying to do to them? He was trying to teach them the secret of patience when you're in an in between time. What is that secret? What is the secret of waiting when you're in the in between time? So it goes as follows. Just because you're ready and prepared doesn't mean it's the right time. Just because you're ready and prepared. Doesn't mean it's the right time. There are times in our lives where we need to be proactive, and we need to move, and we need to make things happen. That's much more the modality of Avram Avinu. Avram Avinu goes out into the world, and he goes down to Mitzrayim. Avram Avinu was out and about. Yitzchak never leaves Eretz Yisrael. Why does Yitzchak never leave Eretz Yisrael? Because there are two different ways of relating to time. Avram Avinu says, 'Time is of the essence. Let's go grab it.' What does Yitzchak say?

35:43 Wherever I am, right here, right now, however life unfolds, I'm patiently waiting to see how this plays out. You hear the difference? That's the difference between Avram v'nu. That's that outward expansive self versus Yitzchak is that inward express itself. And what is the nature of Yitzchak? The nature of Yitzchak is that he's able to wait patiently. Which means that when we wait patiently. Think of a girl who's ready to get married. And now she's just waiting. She's done all the work on herself. She's come in to sell. She's learned about her parts. She understands what makes her work. She knows what she's looking for. She has her value system clear. She's ready to start shaduchim. She's ready to be in the parsha. And she gets up there and she says, Here I am. And then what happens? Nothing. It could be that sometimes nothing happens. Sometimes the phone doesn't ring. Sometimes people don't yet have suggestions. Sometimes things have to unfold. What do we do in that time? Are we just supposed to sit there and wait? That sounds very pathetic.

36:50 So what is the avoda of waiting? The avoda of waiting is that I am someone who stands ready for when it's the right time. I'm not living with that anxiety of like it needs to happen. I'm becoming someone that can hold. Whatever it is, whenever it happens, that's the avodah of patience. That's why people go. They go, just have some patience, man. Just like, calm down, relax. That's not what patience is. Patience isn't just calming down. What is patience? Things are unfolding exactly as they need to. I do not need things to happen before they're meant to happen. I'm okay in this moment to wait as life unfolds. Now it's a balance. Sometimes there's an avram avinu time. Sometimes there's a yitzchak time. What was the problem with the cheita eagle? In that moment of fear, in that in-between time, right where Moshe Rabbeinu had not yet come down, what did their anxiety tell them?

37:46 We need to make something happen in this moment. What were Aaron and Cohen saying? Can we just stall? What does it mean, stall? Stall doesn't mean just push off. What does it mean? Can we be okay in this liminal moment where Moshe Rabbeinu will come down from the mountain? When he comes down, it'll be exactly the right time. They didn't have the avodah of patience. They didn't know how to allow that moment to unfold exactly as it is, present and waiting patiently. That's what they didn't know. Where do we see this very often? We see this very often after we make a mistake. I want to describe to you a scenario. Tell me if you've ever had this in your life. You'll tell me with your eyes. You don't have to raise your hand. I'll know just from looking who's ever had something like this. You ever make a mistake and you do something wrong. You make a mistake. Maybe you're working for somebody and you make a mistake, or you hurt someone and you made a mistake. And you're like, okay, I have to fix this.

38:41 Like, like just tell me what I need to do to make this better. Do you ever tell that? Do you ever like say that to? Thank you. A couple of you. You ever like go to like a friend and go like, like I'm I'm so sorry. What can I do to fix this? What can I do to fix this? Why are we so anxious in that moment It's because after we fail. What are we looking for? We're looking for immediate reassurance. That's what we want. Now I hurt you, and now what do I need you to do? Make me feel better. Isn't that what we're doing when we say to somebody, "How do I fix this?" It's like I hurt you. I did the wrong thing, and now I'm coming to you and saying, 'Just tell me what I can do for you.' If you tell them, what are you really giving them? You're giving them the gift of reassurance. It's like, 'now I can just do this thing for her, and everything is going to be okay.' And what happens if everything is okay? Now I don't have to sit with uncertainty.

39:32 I don't have to sit with shame. I don't have to sit with a sense of incompleteness. I can just go do and make this better. But real healing comes when you're able to live in the uncertainty. Real healing comes when you're able to sit in the brokenness of I did something that I'm not proud of And I can sit there and it's okay. It's okay for those feelings to wash over me. If you hurt someone, you can apologize, and then because you don't need to make things happen immediately, you can allow them to experience their pain because you did hurt them. And when they're ready, you the invitation is extended. I'm here when you're ready, but if you need time to recover, I understand. I hurt you, and you're entitled to your feelings. After the cheetah eagle, where there was such a rush, we Moshe Rabbeinu was not here. We have to make something happen right away.

40:29 So what does our Kadosh Baruch Hu say? I'm going to give you the rectification. What's the rectification? You're going to have to wait. You're going to have to learn to sit patiently, and you're going to have to learn that the Mishkan is only going to be erected when the time is right. You're going to allow this moment to unfold. And you can sit with the uncertainty of yes, Hakadosh Baruch Hu said we're going to have a mishkan. Whenever it's appropriate. Now we can understand what these latezanim, these scoffers, were doing. These scoffers, they're surface level people. They're material people. That's what a latez is. Someone who only looks at the material world and doesn't see any deeper. So the material person comes, this latez comes, and he goes, it's all ready. Why aren't we just building it? This is so ridiculous. When something is here, then it's here.

41:18 And that's not true. Just because something is here doesn't mean it's fully ready. Just because you think something is meant to happen doesn't mean it's supposed to happen right now. What's the perspective, not of the scoffers? What's the perspective of Yitzchak? Yitzchak is the perspective of the essence. Remember, what's Yitzchak the perspective of? The essence. What does Yitzchak say? We have to give something strong boundaries. We have to allow its essence to shine through. And what do we need? Because we're seeing through the essence. What is the other gift of Yitzchak? Nothing is missing. Everything is waiting until the appropriate time. Now this gives us an insight into the laughter of Yitzchak, into the joy of Yitzchak. Because what is the joy of Yitzchak? The joy of Yitzchak is very similar to the joy of the Mishkan, and that's why Hashem says we have to make them on the same exact day. Thematically, they're the same exact thing.

42:18 Yitzchak is not surface-level laughter because that would be material laughter. Yitzchak is essential laughter. Yitzchak is the laughter that comes when the impossible becomes possible. That's the nature of Yitzchak's laughter. That's why it was impossible for Sarah Imenu to give birth. It was impossible. She literally did not have a womb. She didn't have the capacity to have a child. But when the impossible becomes possible, what's our response to that? That's laughter. That's why. That's what a joke really is. You never see it coming, right? A good joke, you never see it coming. It's like I didn't think that was going to be the punchline, and then boom, that's the punchline, and it knocks you off your feet, and you're dying of laughter. Why? Because the point I didn't even see it. Like I could follow the math, but then you said something that was way outside of the math, and that's what gives it that punch.

43:10 Yitzchak is the laughter that comes when the impossible becomes possible Even when things seem absolutely absurd. Which means there is joy that comes on the far side of contraction. Meaning Yitzchak lives within these very strong boundaries that we described. And then what happens? Not only do those boundaries not diminish yourself. What's the great secret? The great secret is that the self explodes upwards. That's the great secret of Yitzchak. That's the laughter of Yitzchak. What you think is contraction is actually revelation. You think I'm going to build a finite place and God won't be able to express Himself within it. It's just the opposite. From within that finite place is exactly how Hashem expresses Himself. So the laughter of Yitzchak, which is the joy that comes from the impossible. There's certain boundaries that exist in the world. If you don't have a womb You can't have children.

44:12 And what happens? Yitzchak is born anyway. It's the impossible. It's the possible that comes from the impossible. And it's the same thing that the Mishkan is. The Mishkan is that space where it's impossible. God exists within the realm of the finite. God is infinite. What's Yitzchak's answer to that? Exactly. It's not limiting. The finite doesn't limit the infinite. The finite can be a vessel for the infinite. So just like Yitzchak is born from impossibility The Mishkan has to be born from catastrophe. What was the catastrophe that precedes the Mishkan? What is the Mishkan, the rectification of the Chet Aigel? Only in Judaism do we know the following secret And this is the secret. This is the thing that everybody, every one of us needs to know, and we need to live. The greatest secret of Judaism is that catastrophe is the beginning of possibility. That's where every one of us sees brokenness. Naturally, the scoffers of the world look at the material world and go, 'Look, you broke it.'

45:14 "What does the Yid say?" I didn't break it. It's exploding into being. Like you know that broken heart emoji. So A very special woman. Unfortunately She passed away. And I don't think I ever met her. I don't think I had the privilege of ever meeting her. But I know her son well. And her son told me a story. He said She posted the broken heart emoji. On some chat, and it was a positive thing. It was a positive thing in the chat, and she posted the broken heart emoji, and somebody said That's the wrong emoji. That's a broken heart emoji. And she responded to her son. She said, "It's so funny. They saw a broken heart. I saw a heart exploding with love." Some people see a broken heart. Other people see a heart exploding with love. Some people see a broken nation. They see a cheta egel. Everything is broken. Other people say cheta egel. That's just the beginning of a mishkan. That's the great cosmic joke of Klal Yisrael. The cosmic joke of Klal Yisrael is beneath all the brokenness of this world. There is an essence that's exploding into being. Girls have a beautiful Shabbos.