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In this shiur on Parshat Lech Lecha, Rav Dov Ber Cohen unpacks Hashem's call to Avraham not merely as a geographical journey, but as an invitation to every person to move beyond ארציות, טבע, and inher
The Rabbi Dov Ber Cohen Podcast explores Jewish mindfulness, emotional mastery, relationships, and real inner avodah.
In each shiur, Rabbi Dov Ber shares practical Torah wisdom for navigating anxiety, deepening connection, strengthening emunah, and living with greater presence and purpose.
Rooted in Chassidic depth yet grounded in everyday life, these teachings are experiential, honest, and transformative.
If you’re seeking clarity without pressure, growth without guilt, and spirituality that actually changes how you live - this podcast is for you.
לך לך. לך לך מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך אל הארץ אשר אראך. This week's parsha, it's a major parsha, awesome, sweet, powerful parsha. And Hashem basically says to Avraham, the first Jew, \"Go to yourself. Lech Lecha, go and find yourself, you know? Most people don't know who they are anymore. They're just trying to fit into some social media personality that I need to be and very, very disconnected from themselves. And we always teach that yourself is pure spirituality, goodness, love, joy, connection, sweetness, playfulness, it's all positive. You are you are pure and holy, an expression of God.\" And Hashem is saying to all of us, remember, when the Torah says Lech Lecha, he's talking to you, every single one of us. Go and find yourself, go and go and live the life you're meant to live. My son was actually born in Parshat Lech Lecha. Isn't this cool? Although he was meant to be born in Parshat Bo three three months later. He was born three months early in Parshat Lech Lecha, but they say that the angel is teaching the child Torah in the womb. So the angel said Lech Lecha, and the baby was like, \"I'm out of here.\" All right, let's go! Bang, comes out, it's like [laughter]. Yeah, so he came home from the hospital three months later on Parshat Bo. So he left at Lech Lecha and he came at Bo, and it's like there we go. So this is what we're doing and this is what we're trying to achieve in our lives. And we say that there are three different major things: there's ארצך, which is your ארציות, your your material crave your material I'm I'm so caught up with money and and politics and sport and food and like עולם הזה, this type of stuff, and very pulled down heavily into this-world stuff. And ממולדתך means from your birthplace, so that means from your טבע, from your nature. You are born with certain character traits. For example, anger, some people are naturally more prone to anger, some people are naturally more prone to anxiety, whatever it is. So you've been given a nature, get away from that. You don't have to be a victim to that. You can never just say, \"Well, this is how God made me.\" You say that's something that I need to overcome. ומבית אביך, from your father's house, is your education and your values. If you grew up in a in my house, you shouldn't get away from your education and val- [laughter]. But in general, it's saying you should question. Question, just because your society, just because your family told you something, how do I know that's true? How do I know I'm doing it in the real in the right way? And then it says, אל הארץ אשר אראך, and you're going to go to this land that I'm going to show you, I'm going to show you this amazing land. And that's how we're really starting. Another aspect of ארצך is your physical it's all your physical cravings. So we're learning from Netivot Shalom, it's a book of deeper פנימיות התורה, spiritual insights into the parsha, and he's got many different ספרים. And it says this, says Beit Avraham, there's a commentary that says אראך, this word to the land that I show you, בגימטריא שבת, is the same numerical value as the word Shabbat. Now ך סופית is 500, just if you're trying to work out how אראך could possibly add up to Shabbat. ך סופי- כ is 20, ך סופית is 500. You got ת is 400, ך סופית is 500. So Hashem is saying, go leave everything behind and go to this thing called Shabbat. And this is why we're really learning this piece. I was learning it last night, I thought I'd share it because we've been learning a lot about Shabbat. And Shabbat, according to our sages, is really the destination of life. It's תכלית מעשה שמים וארץ. It's really the purpose of life, and we said what does that mean? The purpose of life is to be present in relationship. I'm present. The universe was created for relationship, and I'm very present. מנוחת הנפש, so I don't have my phone, and I don't have I'm not traveling far, I'm just being present and being here. So לך לך מארצך וממולדתך ומבית אביך אל הארץ אשר אראך, go to this land that I'm going to show you. And what's that land? Is Shabbat consciousness. We've also been saying a lot that you want to have Shabbat consciousness during the week. You don't just want to be present one day a week. You want to be a Shabbosdike Yid. You want to be someone who is very, very present, very aware relationship, very aware of Hashem, seeing everything in this world as an opportunity to connect to something higher. It's just a higher spiritual outlook on life. This is what Shabbat is. And we said yesterday that what happened on Shabbat, it says שבת וינפש. And some people say that means he Hashem rested in on Shabbat, but we interpreted it as the word nefesh, which means the soul. So Hashem gave the the spiritual part of the universe on the seventh day. For six days, Hashem was creating the physical universe; on the seventh day, he created the soul of the universe, and Shabbat is the soul of the universe. דבדבר השם הראשון אל אברהם, the very first thing that Hashem says to Avraham in the תורה, הראה לו בו את הדרך להגיע אל הארץ, היינו, הארץ העליונה. So he's teaching him very first that you should have a goal in mind. There's an ארץ אשר אראך. There's a place you want to be. There's a state of mind that you want to be in. There's a purpose to your life. The first thing we understand in Bereishis that Hashem created the universe is there must have been a purpose. Atheists never speak about the purpose of life because if there's no God, there is no purpose to life. It's only if there was a conscious decision to create the universe, then you can say, \"Well, why? Why did God create the universe?\", which means now I I have a purpose to life, which is so very very very empowering, because I think lots of people are walking around with a little bit of depression or a lack of meaning, because it's like, \"What is the What am I doing here? What's the point? I've had lots of pleasure and I've gone clubbing. I've done all my stuff, but what's it Is this really what life is all about? There's got to be more.\" So once you understand that there's a purpose, that I'm here for a reason, if I have something I need to achieve, then it makes life full of vitality. Now I got something to get out get out of bed for every day. I know why I'm getting out of bed. In general, we said that the your purpose of life on the highest level is to stop living just for yourself, to understand you're here to spread goodness in the world. You are a mashpia, you are a giver. So your soul is an aspect of Godliness, and Godliness gives. Ego, your ארץ and your מולדתך and your בית אביך, your physicality and your values and your טבע are generally quite selfish. \"What can I get? I just want to eat that, I want to have that.\" Very selfish. So Hashem is saying to Avraham, \"Get beyond your physical, ego, selfish desire, animalistic nature, and go to your true spiritual self, and that's where you'll find true happiness. Because why is everyone chasing stuff in the world, in the external world? Because they erroneously believe that it's going to make them a happy person, but it doesn't. The car of your dreams, no amount of food will ever make you a happy person. I know some of you are looking at me like, \"That's not true, rabbi. You don't understand women.\" But no amount of food will make you an actual happy person. So what will make you an actual happy person is to be living with purpose and being spiritually connected. And Judaism's cool because it then says you can have nice food. Why not? Have that as well. Have nice food, have a nice house, have a nice car, have nice clothes, have You can have all that, but don't chase it, don't be stuck in it, don't need it, don't be yearning for it, don't be obsessed with it, don't be held down by it. So get away from it. Once you get away from it, i.e., I'm above it and beyond it and I don't need it, then you can engage in it. We're okay with that. We're okay with you being very rich and giving me money. הראה לו בו את הדרך להגיע אל הארץ, היינו, הארץ העליונה, we're going to go to a higher place, אשר אראך, that I'm going to show you, Shabbat, Shabbat consciousness. It's a place where what does אראך mean? \"I will show you.\" פירוש שבו יגיע לשיא מדרגות לראות מראות אלוקים. There is a word that is maybe the most important word in the whole of the Torah. And the word is yirah. Why is it maybe the most important word in the whole of the Torah? Because the Torah says that the whole of purpose of life is yirah. So the word yirah has been awfully and sadly translated as fear, and has messed up many people's lives, because it would seem to say that the Torah is saying you have to be afraid of God, which is not true. That's not called a relationship. If you're afraid of someone, you don't have a good relationship with them. I do not want my children to be afraid of me. So yirah comes from the word רואה, which means to see. I see God. I see God in everything. I see God in all the good in my life. I see God in myself. I see God in all the bad in my life. I see God in all my challenges in life. I see God in all my students. I see God. I'm just seeing God. I'm seeing I'm seeing the world through God. eyes as well. I'm seeing through love and joy and presence and giving. I just see the world differently. I see myself differently. So yirah really means God consciousness, which really means a tangible relationship with God, not that God is a concept. I think many people, even religious people, Hashem is a concept. He's my father, my king. He's got rules. He wrote the Torah as a concept, but it's not an actual relationship, because an actual relationship is some sort of emotional intimacy. We said yesterday, אהבה, יראה, שמחה, אמונה, and דביקות, which means love, reverence—yirah means reverence to see Hashem—joy, trust, and a feeling of intrinsic connection. So that's what we're going for. So a very, very, very high level of spirituality is when you're experiencing your soul. It's a very important thing. Have you experienced your soul recently? Most people haven't, unfortunately. Most people, and because there's only one real, real way to experience, to actually, directly experience your soul, and that's through meditation. Some people use drugs, and it's maybe a taste of what it might mean, but the key to your soul is your neshimah, your breath, and to be sitting in, in a meditative state. So I lived in Asia for six years, being a Buddhist, basically, and I sat on top of mountains, I was in the Himalayas and in temples, and just breathing, spending 10 days in silence and breathing, and really getting beyond the body. People come up to me and say, \"Oh, rabbi, how'd you have an out-of-body experience?\" I'm like, \"Why? You know, just put on your tefillin and love every Jew.\" But there is something very special about loosening your identity with your body. Loosening that identity a little bit, and say, \"No, I'm much more than my body. I'm much higher than my body.\" So those were an amazing six years, and then you come to you daven מנחה, it doesn't feel like that. It's like, you know, I was sitting in the Himalayas, mamash feeling Hashem, and then I come to yeshiva, and it's like, where's Hashem gone? You know? I gave up everything for this, and now suddenly, where's Hashem gone? So Judaism says no, the whole of Judaism is a mindfulness tool. Tefillin done consciously takes you to very high levels of consciousness, and eating matzah consciously, which is very difficult by the way, is taking you to higher levels of consciousness. So there is this space where we say you're physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual. You're physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual, so you have your body that you have to keep strong and healthy, and you have your heart, your emotions, you have to be an emotionally balanced person, and you got to be mentally clear and strong and focused and motivated, but then you also have to be spiritually aware. So the word for soul we said is neshama, and the word for breath is neshimah. So it's really by focusing on your breath and clearing your mind that you go above mental and you go into spiritual. You got physical, emotional, and mental. Now, we speak a lot about having a healthy emotional and mental world. That's very important, to be very emotionally and mentally healthy. There's a higher world called spirituality, which is beyond mind and emotions. It's just pure connection to Hashem. So it's very, very difficult to have an actual, tangible relationship with Hashem, because Hashem's not tangible. You can't, you can't see, smell, touch, hear, or taste Hashem. Those are your five senses. So because Hashem isn't tangible, how do you actually have a relationship with Hashem? The only way to have an actual relationship with Hashem, apart from doing what Hashem says and speaking to Hashem, and there are ways, there are ways, is to go into your soul, which is intimately related to Hashem, because it's an expression of Hashem. So your soul is constantly full of love and joy and and reverence and God. Your soul is sitting with Hashem. Very, very important to remember that Judaism says that's not the goal. The goal isn't to be in some crazy meditative, spiritual state wearing your tefillin on top of a mountain. The goal is to help other people, to spread that, to give that to other people. Hashem would be much happier with you if you set up an orphanage than if you sat in a temple meditating, just basically. But it's not a choice. You can do both. You can do both. So you should spend 10% of your time meditating, and 90% of your time setting up an orphanage. And that's why we have Shacharit, Minchah, and Ma'ariv, is we've got times during the day, which is let's just seclude ourself with God, but then for the rest of the day, where How am I impacting the world? What am I doing? Am I a good husband and father? A good If you're sitting meditating all day, and not a good husband and father, like, \"Where's dad? He's like meditating.\" But you do want to teach your children how to meditate, because I don't think anyone can be fully emotionally, mentally and spiritually healthy and connected if you're not having some form of clearing your mind. So he says this is highest level of personal spirituality is experiencing God. But then we learn in Parashat Vayera that he was meditating in his tent and Hashem came to visit him. And it's the only place in the Torah that Hashem doesn't say anything when he visited someone. Just says Hashem came Hashem appeared with this word ra'ah as well, Vayera. He appeared, but he didn't say anything. So the sages say he was in a very, very high state of meditative consciousness that there wasn't words happening, they were just sitting together. And then Avraham says to Hashem, \"Wait here, I'm going to go and serve the travelers.\" These three travelers came along. So you might a spiritual person might think, \"What are you doing? You're in the highest level. You're sitting with Hashem, not even speaking. Why are you breaking that off?\" So Judaism says that the purpose of life isn't to be with Hashem, it's to be like Hashem. It's more important to go and serve people than to be in your own spiritual thing. However, the more you're with Hashem, the more you could be like Hashem. In the next world you'll be with Hashem. But you want to get the balance, so you want to have sometimes when you're sitting in meditation, but most of the time when you're using that. So we call it two levels. The first level is self-actualization, becoming the highest you can become physically, emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. But the real purpose of life is self-transcendence, which is to then you can go beyond yourself. It's not about me. It's not about my spiritual levels. It's if if every single Jew isn't connecting as well, then I'm lacking in myself, because we're all one soul. There's one big Jewish soul, so so I want to make sure everyone's coming along with me. I feel like we need a leaderboard. They're all together. What? A leaderboard? A leaderboard of who's who's accomplished the most sections: self-actualization and self-transcendence. I don't I don't know how you'd know that. Reb Berkowitz and Morgenstern. They've done both. Yeah. Be'ezrat Hashem. When you speak about these two things, do you speak about them in terms of our everyday life or certain times of our life? We definitely have times where Shabbat is a full day to experience that, but it's your everyday life, every moment of life. Meaning like the certain תקופות of someone's life or like Oh, yes. younger and older, where they focus more on themselves so they can help other people, like what's the balance between that? The balance is if you don't have anything to give, then you don't have anything to give. So whilst you don't have anything to give, build yourself until you do, and then give it. But for example, the Lubavitcher Rebbe said, \"If you know אלף, teach אלף.\" So you don't have to wait till I know everything to start giving. Get and then give what you get and get, but you it never it never comes to a stage where you're not investing in yourself. You always have to invest in yourself with the purpose of going beyond. But my students, in the first year of yeshiva, I tell them, \"You have to be selfish. This isn't your year This is your year to build yourself. Go, build yourself. You're going to go to the army, you got to build yourself to be a good soldier, but the soldier isn't living for himself. Soldier is living and dying for something much higher than him, a much higher ideal. But the better he trains himself, the more he's going to be able to live for the ideal. So I want you to be the the best soldier you could become.\" So it's always going to be that flow. Invest in yourself. The more you invest in yourself, the more you'll be able to give to others. So then the parsha continues, it says, ויעבור אברם בארץ, ה׳ came into the the land. וירא ה׳ אל אברם, and and this is this week's parsha still, and ה׳ appears to אברם. ויבן שם מזבח לה׳ הנראה אליו, הנראה אליו. So this is really our highest spiritual state, when I'm actually palpably, tangibly feeling the presence of Hashem. For example, when you say a bracha, do you feel like you're speaking to someone who's actually there? In for most people, not so much. It's very difficult to feel that because we're not present. We're always our minds aren't focused. If you can start focusing and before every bracha I make, I take a few deep breaths. Before I put on my tefillin, I take a few deep breaths. Before I step into Shemoneh Esrei, all the all the way through Shemoneh Esrei, I'm taking a few deep breaths, because your breath is connecting you to your present moment and to your neshama, and therefore from your neshama you start actually feeling Hashem. The other way we said to do it is האמנתי כי אדבר, is what are you thinking, what are you thinking and saying to yourself? So for example, my Rebbe says, say to yourself over and over again, \"Hashem, I know you're here.\" Very simple. \"Hashem, I know you're here. Hashem, I know you're here. Hashem, I know you're here. Hashem, I know you're here. Hashem, I know you're here.\" Because you do mentally, logically know that Hashem is here, I hope. If you don't yet, we'll talk. come to אש, but let's say you know that Hashem's here, but you don't feel it, you don't feel it. So how do you get what you know in your head into your heart? Just repetition, cuz your heart's not logical, your heart just needs to be taught. And we see this, even in modern psychology they have affirmations. I believe in myself. So your affirmations, what you keep repeating to yourself, that becomes part of your psyche. That's why many people with low self-esteem, they've been saying to themselves their whole life, \"I'm not good enough, I'm not good enough, what an idiot, why did I do that?\" So what message are you sending into your system over and over and over again? So you want to be sending the right message. So breath and how you speak to yourself takes what you know in your head and brings it into your experience, into your heart. 100% it works, even though you don't believe it. To give you an example, if you if you said the the invisible green elephant in the room loves me, if you said that 50 times a day for 10 years, you would feel the love of the invisible green elephant. You'd just be completely delusional, and you should be locked up, because there's no evidence that there's an invisible green elephant. There is elephant There is elephant There is evidence that there is an infinite divine conscious Creator of the universe who wants relationship with you and gave you the Torah in order to have that relationship, so I know it's true. But you could literally create an experience of something that is not true. That's what many people do, completely delusional. \"This person loves me, he's in my heart\"—just not true. So, that's why the evidence is very important. Our faith isn't blind faith. I believe what I believe cuz I have evidence for it. What's the word for evidence in Hebrew? Re'iyah, to see. To see. I saw it, I want I want to see it, show me, show me. כשבנה, he built a מזבח, השיג מדרגה של אראך. The mizbeach, when we have this relationship with Hashem, we get to this very high level of אראך. I will appear to you, I will show you, I will see you. David HaMelech says, \"טעמו וראו כי טוב השם,\" you should taste and see how good Hashem is, which means have a direct experience. You want to be directly experiencing Hashem, which is the highest level, שזכה עליה בכניסתו, and he he merited this level when he got into the Eretz Yisrael. והדרך להגיע למדרגה עליונה זו היא על ידי ג' העניינים בעולם, שנה ונפש. So in order to reach this, we have one sec here, in order to reach this, we we we have these three foundations of creation called עולם, שנה ונפש. עולם means place, שנה means time. So what happened? בראשית ברא אלקים את השמים ואת הארץ, 13.8 billion years ago or 5,787 years ago, whichever one you choose to believe, Hashem created the universe, בראשית. But what what does that mean? He created time and space, because before the universe there was no time and space. All of time and space is within the universe. So you've got עולם, שנה is time and space. Then you've got נפש is us, cuz the whole universe is just a playground for us. There's no point having a universe if you don't have us. Why not? Because the purpose of of the universe, of life, of creation is relationship, God consciousness, and trees and animals can't be God conscious. So so the human, which is has a neshama, has a soul, can fulfill the purpose of the relationship. So you have עולם, שנה, נפש. Very famous story, the Chasidic Rebbe said to his students, what's the holiest place, the holiest time, and the holiest person? So they said the holiest place is the temple, the קדש הקדשים, the holiest time is Yom Kippur, and the holiest person is the כהן גדול, the high priest. The the temple, on Yom Kippur, high priest, and he said, \"No, you're wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. The holiest place is here, and the holiest time is now, and the holiest person is you when you are in the here and the now.\" So we've got these three aspects of our lives, do you, are you, are you being present, are you being who you are, are you connected to that? עולם, שנה, נפש. בעולם, היא על ידי ארץ ישראל. So there are holier places in the world. Eretz Yisrael, when it when it comes to kedusha, which means sanctified and uplifted, then Eretz Yisrael is the holiest place, and within in Eretz Yisrael we have Yerushalayim, within Yerushalayim you have my house cuz of my wife, you have the בית המקדש, and within the בית המקדש you have the קדש הקדשים in it. So there's different palpable manifestation of Is Hashem equally everywhere in the world, actually? Yes. Hashem is everywhere, but the the Shechinah, which is the palpable representation of Hashem in this world, is more powerful here. This is the power, this is the vortex, this is the spiritual center of the world. So in in עולם, in space, it's Eretz Yisrael, שיהא ארץ אשר אראך. That's the place I'm going to show you, I'm going to appear to you, and it says that Hashem's eyes are always on Israel. The Gemara says something very very extreme. It says that someone who lives outside of Israel, כאילו אין לו אלוקא. It's as if he doesn't have a God. Now, it's a very extreme thing to say because Rashi lived outside of Israel, and so did the Rambam, and so did Rav Moshe Feinstein, and the Baal Shem Tov, and the But it's saying in terms of palpable God-consciousness, this is the place. There are lots of mitzvot you can only do in the land of Israel. The land of Israel is where we're going, that's אשר אראך, לך לך. We're going to the land of Israel. They say that weekday in Chutz La'aretz is on the spiritual level of Shabbat in Israel. Other way around. They say that Shabbat in Chutz La'aretz is on the spiritual level of weekday Israel, and then Shabbat in Israel is the highest level. ובשנה, and in time, הוא יום שבת קודש. When it comes to time, Shabbat Kodesh is clearly the holiest time of the week. It's the holiest time, holiest day of the year, Shabbat Kodesh. That's why it's called Kadosh. Kadosh means holier. It means uplifted, it means sanctified, it means more present. And this is where we get this from this, because אראך is בגימטריא שבת. I will appear to you. When does appear to you? The land I will appear to you. Shabbat I I will appear to you, בגימטריא שבת. So imagine having Shabbat in Yerushalayim. There's nothing greater than that, and you can feel it. If you're spiritually sensitive, you can feel it. It does help that the shops stop closing down and the whole atmosphere, that helps a lot. I feel Shabbat palpably coming in. And in Tzfat as well, another one of the holy cities, you can feel Shabbat on a very high level. שעל ידי השבת זוכה יהודי להגיע לבחינת ראה במראות אלוקים, because on Shabbat is the ultimate time that you can really tap into God-consciousness, just practically, nowadays, because you don't have your phone, you got nothing distracting you. I don't have my phone, and I don't have work, and I can't do anything, and I'm just I've just got to be present, so it's an amazing day to connect with Shabbat. ובנפש, and on that level of a human, הוא על ידי טהרת הנפש. So how do we merit this, is by purifying our nefesh. And when we say purifying our nefesh, what it mainly mainly means is our thoughts. In nefesh, you have a נפש, רוח, נשמה, and purifying It definitely means your body as well. You have to be pure. Don't be watching stuff that you shouldn't be watching, or the more impure input you're getting into your system, the less you're able to pick up Hashem. That's it. Hashem is always shining His light on you, but if you've muddied your spiritual self, then you don't get to experience that so much. So that's why it says לך לך מארצך, היינו מארציות, that get away from your physical craving and your desire in this world, and and even just general things. For example, I'm just going to say it because it's topical, the election. How much do you need to talk about the election? So I think it's important It is important, to some extent, but is that why Why are you so Why is that a topic of conversation? Maybe a little bit, but what's that helping? What's it Are you changing the world? Maybe if you're a politician, I get it, because I'm actually doing something about it, but just to sit around being like, \"Oh, Bibi says this, and he said that,\" and just for why? And Trump says this and Why? Why? What's it giving you? What's it doing? Unless you're going to be an influencer, if you're going to be mashpia and helping people, that does make sense, I get it. But just to sit around, talk about sports and politics, I don't think you're a bad person, but it's really bringing you into עולם הזה, into this world. That's why you're not allowed to really speak about sports and politics on Shabbat, literally. It's halachos. That's not That's weekday stuff. That's what There's no place for that on Shabbat. On Shabbat we're speaking about connection and joy and sweetness and relationship, and and spirituality and meditation and beautiful ideas about personal growth and nice stuff. So we don't have that stuff. Did you have a question? Not anymore. If you have another one at some point, raise your hand and I'll tell you put it down until you don't have it anymore. וממילא דדרך חייו, your nature, we said, ומבית אביך is your values. Do you have the right Do you have the right values? Do you? What What are you really valuing in your life? And remember, we often say that there's a big difference between what you're valuing and what you value, what you're valuing and what you value. What do you really value? You value health, you value physical, emotional, and mental health, you value relationships, you value true happiness, you value being a good person, you value doing good in the world. That's what you value. What do you spend your time and money on? So, if you spend your spare money on food, and drugs, and makeup, which I used to a lot, but no, I don't wear makeup anymore, then it means you're not valuing The things that you're valuing aren't taking you towards your values. What's wrong with a girl putting on makeup? No, no, I love I'm just making a general thing. If If they If you value looking good more than being good, that's a problem. But if you value being a good person and then you put on makeup, then that better. That's all. I'm just I like makeup. Not too much, though. When a girl puts on too much makeup, it's like, what I can't even see your face. Like who I don't know who you who is in there. It's a real problem. A little bit of bit of mascara, bit of maybe lip a little bit, but how do you want your daughter to walk out? That's That should be how much I don't want my daughter to walk out with Why? Why? She's very pretty. She doesn't need that much makeup. If you need too much makeup, it's nonsense. Whatever. Why are we Why are we talking about makeup? But you get the idea. People say, \"I value Where is the conversation going? People say People say, \"I value being good more than looking good.\" What What do you value more, being good or looking good? Being good. What's more of a guarantee of you being a happy person with good relationships, being good or looking good? Being good. Not that you can't look good. So, what are you actually spending more time investing in, working on your character traits and feeding orphans, or your body, and your Instagram, and your car, and your stuff? That's what I'm saying. Most people aren't living up to the values that are actually going to take them to where they want to go. What do you value more, doing good, doing good in the world, or feeling good? Just eating whatever I want to eat, having a having a massage, whatever, physical relationship. So, hopefully you value doing good more than just feeling good in the moment. And usually, when you're chasing feeling good in the moment, you don't feel good after you did it, so it doesn't even work. Do I want you to feel good? Yeah, I want you to feel good, but do you know how I want you to feel good? By doing good. I feel good by I look good by doing good, I feel good by being good, and then you can also have some makeup, and nice food, and a nice car. Judaism's very cool cuz it says you can drive a nice car, and have a big house, and a jacuzzi, and a private jet. Why not? Throw it You can have it all, but just don't chase it, because it it doesn't create good relationship, doesn't create spirituality. Good, was that a question? Yes. How can I teach myself to not chase it, to value doing good more than having whatever? I'd like to give you a whole class on it now, but I'm not going to, but just the one answer is: why do you want everything you want? Pleasure. You want everything I'll just rush my class. You want everything you want, pleasure. When you go to a restaurant, you order that dish cuz it gives you pleasure. When you whatever, every You came to my class instead of going to wherever cuz you thought, \"I'll get more pleasure in this class.\" You make all of your decisions based on what will give you more pleasure, and your your God made you like that, cuz it's called oneg, it's a very high thing. The problem is there's two fundamentally different types of pleasure. One is effortless, immediate, intense, superficial, and temporary, and the other is transformational, but it takes effort. So, ask yourself, in the moment, what will give me more pleasure? Definitely the temporary stuff. You set the alarm to go for a run in the morning, early in the morning it's a bit cold outside. The alarm goes and then you're like, \"What's going to give me more pleasure? Pressing the snooze button, and cuddly, snuggly, nice, warm, yummy, or getting out of bed and going for a run?\" The answer is, in the moment, definitely snuggly is going to give you more pleasure, but when you wake up at 10:00 again and be like, \"Oh, an idiot. Why did I do that again?\" But if you take the pain, the temporary pain, i.e., effort, of getting out of bed, and you start running through the park, and you got the mist coming out, and you just feel awesome, you feel the pleasure of self-respect, and you feel the pleasure of growth, and you feel the pleasure of health. The The problem is that true pleasure has a price, and what is the price? Effort. So, I'd rather just take the temporary It's easier to smoke some weed than to meditate, so I'll just take the temporary weed high. But then you've damaged your consciousness, it didn't help you in the long run. So you just to, it's called hisbonenus, to contemplate what will give me real pleasure. Should one live his life with temporary pain so that his soul can grow? No, no, no, in this world, forget that, I'm not even talking about עולם הבא. The temporary pain of getting out of bed in the cold is going to give you transformative pleasure in this world. You'll just feel better about yourself. The temporary pain of not eating that chocolate cake because you want to lose weight will give you the pleasure of feeling good about yourself and losing weight and being healthy. Whereas eating the chocolate cake will give you three seconds of sugar on your tongue pleasure, and then you feel bad afterwards. It's not worth it, apart from on Shabbat. That's that. But it's a whole class, it's a whole world. But I want to try and get back to this. Yes. Go on. Is there even like a step above of being able to reach the point where you're so like tapped in that like that that pain that would have existed isn't even painful because you're so excited for the long term? Yes, 100%, but there there are two levels. There's two levels where, for example, when you start going to the gym, it's painful, but you enjoy the pain of going to the gym because you know where it's taking you. So you So it means I didn't get rid of the pain, but I I embraced the pain because I know it's making me a greater person. But yes, there is a level where in general, you just find life pleasurable and the process pleasurable and Like you don't feel any part of it. Any. Fine. Let's get back to this. What is the time? 1:47. Okay, you guys not leaving till like 8:00. So here we go. Fine. וזה היא דבר השם עליו. This is what Hashem says: לך לך. And Rashi says, להנאתך ולטובתך. Hashem says to Avraham, \"Go, go to yourself.\" And Rashi says, \"For your pleasure and for your good.\" It's for you. It's good for you. It's good for you to be a better person. It's good for you to be kinder. You'll benefit. It's all for you. Everything Hashem is ever telling you is for you. It's good for you to dress a certain way, even if you don't feel comfortable with it. It's good for you to eat matzah on on the 15th of Nisan, even though your body doesn't want to. It's actually good for you. Everything the Torah says is says for you to do, it says you should do because it's good for you. And everything the Torah says don't do it, you shouldn't do it because it's not good for you. That's it! Not olam haba, forget olam haba and all that. No, in this world. I'm I'm giving you the guidelines to life. The Torah is, here are your guidelines: I created the universe, and here's the instruction manual how to get the most out of the universe in olam hazeh, and yes, olam haba, but I I'm not thinking about olam haba. I have to do what I need in this world. So he's got a שתמוה! This is crazy! It's a crazy... שהרי לאברהם אבינו עליו השלום היה די בעצם ציווי השם, ולשם מה היה צריך את הבטחת השכר? Avraham would have done it anyway. Why do you have to say, \"Because it's good for you\"? Avraham was on the level of, Hashem says it, I'm going to do it. It's not like, \"Here Avraham, and I'll give you some cookies if you do it.\" That's his question. Why does He say, \"Because it's good for you\"? I'll do it even if it's not good for me. If Hashem tells me to do it, I'll do it even if it's not good for me. It's not about me. It's about bringing Hashem into the world. It's a very high level. No one goes into Gaza because it's good for them. \"I'm going to go into Gaza and risk my life,\" not because it's good for me, not because I'll get pleasure from it, because it's the right thing to do and I care about the Jewish people and the land of Israel, so I'm I'll give up my life for something I believe in. So why do we need to like tempt Avraham with this stuff? אלא כמו שביארנו, as we said before, שהקדוש ברוך הוא אמר לו, שאם ברצונו להגיע אל ההנאה והטוב האמיתיים, as it says in Mesilat Yesharim. I'm just He's just saying, it's not about the reward, I'm just explaining to you that there is no higher state, there is no higher pleasure, the whole purpose of everything you're doing, בפתח ספרו, at the beginning of Mesilat Yesharim, שתכלית הבריאה הוא להגיע להתענג על השם. What are we even doing here? That I'm saying to you that the purpose of your life is actually pleasure. That's why I created you. It's not like, \"Oh, pleasure's bad.\" I created you to have pleasure, but true pleasure. There's something called spiritual pleasure. But not only for yourself. If your purpose of life is only to get spiritual pleasure for yourself, you miss the actual purpose of life, which is for everyone. I'm here to tap into my true spiritual pleasure in order to give that to everyone. And a real neshama doesn't get pleasure by only their own pleasure. He just doesn't. There you see Noach Weinberg, you see Rav Berko-, like people are like, I need to get- it's not good, just sitting here learning for myself. I want to give. I want everyone, if if everyone else isn't with me, you know what true simchah is? When you want other people to be b'simchah. There's some people in a club and they look like they're having fun, but if they don't care about other people, it's not true. Someone who's actually happy, I want you to be happy. I want you to I want everyone to be happy. Someone who's overconfident and egotistical kind of doesn't care about other people, and just like, I'm the man. But a truly happy person is, let's give it, let's give let's give everyone. Like yeah, שהוא תענוג אמיתי אשר כל התענוגים שבעולם הם כאפס. So that's the real pleasure. We said in the other class, it really your your neshama is yearning for the pleasure of Hashem, and it gets translated as it's filtered down into your psyche and body into I need pleasure. So you're taking all these pleasures, the pleasures of the dopamine, quick vape here, pleasure, but it's never fulfills you. Pizza, and weed, and clothes, and thing will never be fulfilling. It will be temporarily nice, once again you can do it, I'm not saying you can't do it, but it will never be fulfilling. You won't live a fulfilling, awesome life just taking these little pleasures. Why? Because that's not the pleasure you're really yearning for. It's a it's a corrupted expression of the true pleasure that you're yearning for, which is the pleasure of connection, deep deep deep spiritual connection. So you'll notice, and once again, a Buddhist monk, in general, he doesn't want a lot anymore. Why? Because I've got something better. I got something better. Like Shabbat is better than a blue Corvette, even though I did drive one in in New York, my student had one. But Shabbat is better than that. I'm just not so inter- tefillin is much more interesting now and pleasurable than pizza. So once I'm getting You need pleasure. You need pleasure in your life. But if you're getting your pleasure from superficial little stuff, it's like you're going to have to keep doing it. You've got a 100% pleasure cup, so you fill 10% of it with with sport, and you put this 10% of it with food, and so you've only got a little bit left. Once you fill your cup with the true, real pleasure of helping people, then I don't need that stuff, but I'm still going to play sport because it's healthy for me, and I enjoy it, and I take my kids to the park, and I play I love playing tennis and football with my kids. But why am I playing tennis and football with my kids? Two main reasons. Firstly, it's great for my relationship with my kids, and secondly, it's healthy. I need to be physically healthy. But I don't put people down on the football pitch, I'm not getting into fights on the football pitch, I don't care if I win or lose on the football pitch, I just enjoy playing football. So that's that's the balance, yeah. So at the age where guys and girls are either in seminary or yeshivah, and they're young mid or young 20s, how do they find the balance between helping people and being selfish and investing in themselves? No, so I said, girls and girls and boys, they should be investing in themselves at that point. Only in themselves? Basically, mostly. Mostly themselves, because they don't have anything to give. I want to give, but why am I investing in myself? In order to be able to give. So if you're investing in yourself in order to be able to give, even the investing in yourself is a form of giving. But some people are the other way around. They're giving in order to feel good about themselves. So you're active- it looks like you're giving, but you're not. You're giving in order to people to respect you and So definitely, in my yeshivah, which hasn't been set up yet, but if anyone has $10 million, and obviously we're going to be getting up at 4:00 in the morning, ice bath, kickboxing training, organic vegetables, davent like a mentsh, learn mostly for the first few years, mostly just emunah, tefillah, an hour of Gemara a day, but no most yeshivot you're learning Gemara all day, I think an hour of Gemara, but every single Thursday is going to be a whole chesed day. Just projects. What's your project? There are widows and orphans in Israel, there are people with trauma, go out and do something. But it's still going to be five days of me, one day of chesed, but a whole day of chesed, and also how am I going to support my family? But once they leave the yeshivah, it's going to be seven days of chesed, chesed chesed chesed, but with moments during the day, before sunrise when you're meditating and you're in the ice bath, where is you can never stop investing in yourself, but it's just when does the measure how does the balance tip. So when you're younger, it's about yourself. At some point it's got to be I'm living mostly for other people, and still but I'm still investing in myself. Fine, so how do we do that? With these three things: Eretz Yisrael, Shabbat Kodesh, טהרת הנפש. Eretz Yisrael, Shabbat Kodesh, טהרת הנפש. That's why my Rebbe, Rav Moshe Weinberger, he has a kehillah in America, so he lives in America, but he comes to Israel all the time, because he knows I need to, like, fill myself up with kedusha of ארץ ישראל, קדושת ארץ ישראל, and then I can go back to my קהילה. But we know that this is the place. When I wanted to study Taekwondo, I lived in a small island off the coast of Korea for a year and a half. And when I wanted to do Aikido, I lived in Japan for a year. And when I wanted to do yoga, I lived in India for a year. So, when I want to be Jew, I'm going to live in Israel. It just makes sense, go like where it's meant to be. What am I doing in London if I want to Also, we have all this evidence, like you shouldn't A Jew is not meant to live in London. How do you know that? Cuz you can't sleep in a sukkah on Sukkos, cuz it's raining. A Jew is not meant to live in South Africa, because you can't have Chanukah in the middle of the summer. Crazy. The whole point of Chanukah is bringing light into the darkness, and it's in the middle of Cape Town beach, and what are you doing with a חנוכיה? So, we see the whole of the universe is set up, and the whole Torah and mitzvot is set up for Eretz Yisrael. You see that very, very clearly. Once again, I'm not like some crazy every Jew has to be in Israel right now. I think there are good reasons to be in חוץ לארץ: you have sick parents, God forbid, or you can get better education there, or there are reasons. But still, you should all be thinking, but the goal is there. I've got friends who they're raising their kids in America, cuz she does this educate It's much better for them there. But they're telling their kids and they're teaching their kids Hebrew and saying, \"This isn't where we are This is where we are for now, but we're moving, we're going.\" So, even if you're not practically coming to live in Eretz Yisrael, there should be a part of every Jew, and your נשמה at least, well your נשמה definitely. So, part of a Jew is like I want to be That's where I want to be. And I don't think many Jews are like that. So, I'm not everyone get here now, but we should be moved especially now. This end of days, the ingathering of the exiles. You got I got Sri Lankan people coming like, \"I want to come and part be part of the Jewish people.\" Like, it's amazing. Loads of people are starting to come back. It's a big it's a big movement, it's happening. All the prophecies are coming true now. People keep saying to me, \"I'll come when Mashiach comes.\" I'm like, \"Mashiach is waiting for you, dude. When you come, then that will bring Mashiach. Get over here.\" וכמו שהיהודי יהיה יותר טהור כן יזכה להרגיש קדושת ארץ ישראל וקדושת שבת. So the the purer you are in your thought, speech, and action, the more you will merit to feel kedusha. I'm just pure, I'm clean. So we give the example of the Torah is pure, but what vessel are you pouring it into? So if you have the perfect mineral water, עין גדי mineral water—they sponsored this class, they have to give me ten million dollars for my ישיבה—עין גדי mineral water, but you pour it into a muddy glass, then it's going to get muddy. So it's not the Torah's fault, it's the muddy vessel that the Torah is poured into. So you've got to make sure I have a vessel to be able to receive what Hashem wants to give me. As it says in Toras Avos, it says we say שבת davenen, it says, \"ולא נתתו השם אלוקינו לגויי הארצות.\" And Hashem, you didn't give Shabbat to the nations of the earth. But what does that mean really mean? It means the ארציות, היינו לאלו ששקועים בארציות. You didn't give People who are caught up in their material desires just can't get Shabbat. They just can't receive Shabbat because I'm on Shabbat and I'm thinking about my business and that email I have to write. So if you're so caught up in that, or the score, I got to know the score. What's the score? Did Did Liverpool beat? I need to know. So how can you be in Shabbat if you're so שקוע בארציות? \"ולא הנחלתו מלכנו לעובדי פסילים.\" And you didn't give Shabbat to the ones who literally serve idols, but what that means is your looks, your pouty photo. Don't get me on the rant again. No pouty photos. Don't do it. Anything else, idol worship, break Shabbat, do anything you like, do not post a photo of you with pouty, fish face, lippy, kissy, don't do it. That's so far from your soul. Your soul is like, \"Please, please, please don't do it.\" They they wouldn't They're not even They're not These are holy women. Exactly. I've got low selfie-esteem. Fine, so we're not I said to my daughter, there's nothing you can ever do, you could God forbid you go off the derech, anything you do, you're still my daughter, you have a place in my home, apart from pouty photo, you're banned. That if I ever see on WhatsApp, anything that you have put your lips like that, no fish lip, you're banned. You're out of here. Why? Because that's called עובדי פסילין. You are worshipping idol, it's idol worship. To post a, it's worse, you know what, it's worse than idol worship. But you get the idea. So, what are you saying if you're doing that? What message? What are you saying? That I am spiritually, I'm a spiritually connected person? I'm an intelligent person? I know they don't, I know they don't. I know, but You should I know, I know. But I'm trying to bring consciousness to the Jewish people. You're right, you're exactly. That's what I'm saying. No, I you are right, you are right. I don't think that anyone's thinking that, it's just that's what that's what we do. But people also that I my class is about making people conscious. I want you to be conscious. So, what are you saying about your value? I'm I very kind. I have self-respect, maybe? No, what you're saying is look at my cheekbones. Why? Your cheekbones I know, I know. But No, no, it was a joke. It was a joke. It was a joke. I just It's my little rant. I've had it a lot recently. Sorry anyone listening to this who've heard it before. But it's it's a your soul's not your soul doesn't like it. Your soul's like, \"Dude!\" I'll tell you why, just now we're on the subject. Your body is literally your vehicle for your soul, and it's meant to be shining your soul into the world. That's what the body's for. You can't do mitzvot without a body. You can't eat matzah without a mouth and a stomach. You can't put on tefillin, you can't give tzedakah without a hand. Your body is literally representing your soul! So, when you're fishy pout it the soul's like, \"Dude, you are so deeply misrepresenting me!\" And that's כרת basically. Your soul's gone. It's out of here. So, the people who are just thinking about their body the whole time. וגם במנוחתה לא ישכנו ערלים. And also in the rest, in the menuchah, מנוחת הנפש, the ערלים can't benefit from from peace of mind on Shabbat. What is the ערלים? הנמשכים אחר תאוותם. The people who are just chasing their physical desires all the time. I need more, I need more, more. Physical desires, emotional I need more followers, I need more respect, I need more food, I need more clothes, I need more, more, more. Anyone who is more, more, more, it's not a punishment, by the way, it's that that person doesn't have peace of mind. Hashem is not saying I'm punishing you for doing that, you're punishing yourself, because you just need more the whole time, so you're not having any presence, you're not peace. So, those people can't have Shabbat. The first people are the גויי הארצות, the people who are so caught up in the physicality and the politics and this. And the second people are those who are worshipping their bodies and that. And the third people are the people who are just my physical and emotional needing. So, the people who can't receive Shabbat. Not because they're being punished, just I just can't receive it, because I'm not there, I'm not Shabbat is the day a spiritual day. So, if your whole if you're being drawn towards physicality so much, then you just don't have the peace of mind that you need. That's why Buddhism says leave the world, get away, go and sit in a cave, so you don't have any comparing yourself to your neighbor who's got a nicer car than you, or just get away. And it does work, but it's not the purpose, because you're meant to be in the world, so you're meant to get the balance. בהם לא תשכון קדושת, so for those people the kedusha of Shabbat just can't rest in them, they're not there's no space for the kedusha of Shabbat. What's the time? 2:04. We haven't even started! ולכן ישראל עמך נתת תשמור זה אהבה שבת זה כולו קידוש קדש. Shabbat is the day of ahavah. It's a day of It's true ba'ahavah, but when you have so much love for sports stars, and love for money, and love you're misusing your love. You're misusing your attachment and your yearning. Your attachment and your yearning is meant to be for Hashem, and your family, and the Jewish people, and something higher, but we're misusing our pleasure, and we're misusing our love. And the best thing on on Yom Tov, you have the Yom Tov davenen דאווענען, and then when it's Shabbat Yom Tov, there's extra little bits you have to say. What's the main word that comes extra? Ahavah. Ba'ahavah. You gave it Shabbat. Ahavah is a whole level of Shabbat. Why? Because on שבת you're in the יחוד room with Hashem. It's a time where it's just you and Hashem, with no distractions. No newspaper. השם! So, no newspaper. You don't have Why do you not read the newspaper on שבת? It's got nothing to do with שבת. It's got to do with the world, but it's like imagine you just got married and you're in the ייחוד room, and he suddenly pulls out his newspaper, \"Sorry, I just got to check the business, the stock market.\" What are you doing? Why are you checking the stock? Now, the wife wants him to check the stock market, because he's got to make money to pay for everything, fine, but not in the ייחוד room. In the ייחוד room I just want to be with you, look into your eyes, me and you, with no newspaper. And that's what שבת is, להרגיש קדושת השבת, בחינת כנסת ישראל הוא בן זוגה, that that Shabbat and us are soulmates. Eishes Chayil. Eishes Chayil. I'm going to give a whole class about Eishes Chayil soon. So this is what it means when it says, \"לך לך מארצך,\" get away from all of these things, להכין את עצמו לשבת קודש בשמחה עילאה, ולכן לך לך מארצך. If you really want to receive the full Shabbat, you have to get away from your ארצך and your מולדתך and your בית אביך. Strip away all your external values and your cravings and stuff, and then you can get to the land אשר אראך. Now you can go to the land where I will appear to you, i.e., you can have true spirituality, and what is that? אראך גימטריא שבת. That's why you have a Shabbat. Be'ezrat Hashem. לך אל הארץ אשר... There's lots here, but we've run out of time, but that's our basic idea. If you want to be zocheh, if you want to merit to receive true spirituality, you have to peel away all the external things that are grabbing your attention and be able to sit with menuchah, with presence, יישוב הדעת, and consciousness, and really receive the real, true pleasure of a spiritual connection. And then, don't be selfish, spread it. Give it to everyone else. Let's give Shabbat to everyone. You know when you see an amazing movie, and then you want to tell everyone, \"You got to have to see this movie.\" You know, \"I just saw this movie, Mufasa. I love Mufasa.\" I saw an amazing movie, Mufasa. I want you to see I really want If I love you and I see Mufasa, I want you to watch Mufasa. I love Mufasa, I want you... So once you taste Shabbat, I just want everyone to have Shabbat. I wish you could have Shabbat. You're missing out on everything. If you don't have Shabbat, what do you have? There's nothing. So I want to give everyone Shabbat, but you have to be able to taste it for yourself. Be'ezrat Hashem. Shabbat! It's a Zohar.