Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
In this shiur on Nitzavim-Vayelech, Rav Dov Ber Cohen opens with the essential balance the parsha itself encodes: knowing when to stand firm and when to move, when to push with hishtadlut and when to
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.
Nitzavim-Vayelech, this week's Torah portions. Nitzavim-Vayelech. Do you know what that means? Nitzavim means standing, Vayelech means moving. You gotta know when to stand and you gotta know when to move. You gotta know when to push and you gotta know when to let go. You gotta know when to have hishtadlut, your effort, and when to have bitachon, surrender and trust that Hashem knows what he's doing. Very, very important balance. So when you're dating for example and you meet someone you really like and they're like I'm not sure about this, how much do you push? How much do you let go? When you're working and you want to make money, how much do you push and how much do you let go, you know? Hashem's running the show, you know, but you can't just sit back and not do anything because you gotta do mida kineged mida. Hashem responds to you. So you gotta know when to push, when to let go. Nitzavim, it's a very special parsha because Nitzavim which means standing, אתם נצבים כלכם היום. You guys are all standing here today. Atem nitzavim, אתם נצבים היום כלכם לפני Hashem Elokeichem. You are standing in front of Hashem. Now the Zohar says that this is actually referring when it says the word hayom is referring to Rosh Hashanah. You're all standing in front of Hashem. Now you gotta remember that really one of the main goals of our life in terms of enlightenment is to feel literally like we are in the presence of an awesome king. That's what we're trying to do, in the presence of an awesome king who happens to be our father, loves us, isn't out to get us, but you gotta be alive. You gotta just feel awake, full of vitality. Wow. Hashem, God, can't just be an idea that we then debate and discuss, is there a God, isn't there a God, did God write a book, did God not write a book? That's all interesting theological stuff and we need to do that as well. But once you come to the conclusion that there is actually an infinite conscious divine creator of the universe and the whole universe is basically in his mind, he's manifesting the universe at every second including ourselves and that he gave you a piece of himself, so to speak, which is consciousness. So what we have to do is actually try and live that reality. You gotta be standing in front of Hashem, feel that you're standing in front of Hashem. So how I defined it last week, yirah, last week was a great person. It's very, very hard to feel that you're standing in front of Hashem because Hashem's not tangible. You can't see God and you can't feel God and you can't hear God and some people are like, I see God in everything, I'm like shut up, you know? When you're on ayahuasca maybe, but you don't see God in that. So what the Shulchan Aruch, what our sages teach us is that you can use the image of a human that you look up to to arouse the feeling. So for me it's the rosh yeshiva. For me it's the rosh yeshiva or Rav Moshe Weinberger. So I'm not afraid, yirah doesn't mean I'm not afraid of the rosh yeshiva. I'm in awe, I'm in like if he walked in the room now my whole demeanor would change completely. I'd be very excited and also a little nervous. Not because he's gonna get me, he's very kind and sweet, but just, you know, I'd never speak lashon hara when if I knew the rosh yeshiva was there. I just wouldn't. I wouldn't do it. I'd be a little I don't want to say anything silly, I'd check is my shirt tucked in, I'd want to be well presented. But not because I'm afraid and not because he's out to get me but just because I respect this man. I think he's an amazing, awesome man. So if I feel like that for a man of flesh and blood, surely we should feel like that for the infinite creator of the universe who created everything out of nothing is keeping everything, surely. But it's not easy to do that, so the sages say imagine a person that you do feel like that, unfortunately nowadays for most people it's a sports star or a movie star or a music star, you know, that's why it's called American Idols because you idolize these people who aren't necessarily the most moral, healthy, greatest husbands and fathers in the world. But if they walked in the room now you'd freak out, you'd be like oh my goodness. So you have to arouse the spark of the emotion of yirah and then close your eyes and breathe through your nose and feel the fire, let go of the image of the person and now you've got the I've got yirah and now just times it by infinite. Atem nitzavim, you're standing in front of Hashem. Now is Hashem actually here in this room right now? Yeah. Everywhere. swimming in Hashem. You're literally swimming in Hashem and not only, if you went underwater in the sea, you'd be completely surrounded by the sea and you'd feel it when you move your hands, you can like feel the seawater and your... have you ever been scuba diving? Scuba diving's awesome. I love scuba diving. Not really for the fish. I like the fish, but just for the feeling of floating and spinning around and just being in a whole new universe. It's an amazing thing. So you're, when you're scuba diving, you're completely surrounded by the sea. You're permeated by the sea. Everything is sea. With Hashem, it's even more because it's within you as well. Every cell of your body is vibrating with infinite consciousness. Well, a finite expression of infinite consciousness. So some people say, \"You know what, there is no God.\" It's like a fish in the sea saying, \"I don't believe in the sea.\" There's a fish, there's two fish swimming around. And one fish is like, \"Isn't it amazing being in the sea?\" And the other one says, \"What, what are you talking about the sea? I just don't believe in the sea.\" Because that's just become... it's so used to the sea. But the one, the other one's like, \"Dude, can't you see? Can't you see? Everything's, we're in the sea, we're in the sea!\" Not only does the sea exist somewhere far away, but we're mamish in the sea. And the fish can't say this, but we can. The sea is within us as well. Hashem, we're in Hashem. You are in Hashem. One of the names of Hashem is HaMakom, the Place. Because you're in, we're in Hashem. It doesn't only mean that every place you go Hashem is there. That is also true. But it means we're literally surrounded by and fulfilled with Hashem. Now, if you could really get that, you'd be living a completely different existence. You'd be living with immense vitality, love, and joy. You'd just be like, \"This is so good.\" And when someone scratches your car, you'd be like, \"Whoa, that's cool. Boruch Hashem that I have a car.\" Someone scratches your car, what does that mean? Means you have a car. Boruch Hashem. It still works. But you're like, if you really were surrounded in Hashem, then no one could insult you ever. Someone says something not nice to you, you'd just be like, \"Dude. Dude.\" Now some people need to take drugs in order to enter that state of, \"You know, I'm just okay.\" I'm just okay, because very few people are just okay nowadays. Everyone's so uptight and overthinking and analyzing, and \"What do people think of me?\" and growing. Atem Nitzavim hayom kulchem lifnei Hashem Elokeichem. You are here, Hashem's mamish here. It's a very, very important thing to keep remembering. Hashem is here, Hashem is here. So there's a famous song, it's a children's song: Hashem is here, Hashem is here, Hashem is truly everywhere. Up, up, down, down, right, left, and all around. Have you heard that song? Some religious kids sing that song. I changed it, I did a remix. I used to be a DJ. I did a remix. Hashem is here, Hashem is here, Hashem is really truly here. Here, here, mamish here, really, actually, really here. Because people don't get that. You don't get that, you don't believe it. You do believe it, you're like, \"Of course Hashem's here.\" But are you living with the palpable, tangible experience that you are swimming through Hashem? And you understand that everything in the whole of Judaism is just to bring you back to that consciousness. What's the first thing you say in the morning? Modeh ani lefanecha. Modeh ani means either \"I feel grateful\" or on a deeper level, \"I acknowledge myself.\" Modeh means to acknowledge, ani means myself. Modeh ani, I acknowledge that I am in front of you. Chofetz Chaim went to davening 45 minutes late one day and they asked him why and he said, \"I woke up and I said Modeh ani lefanecha and I couldn't move for 45 minutes.\" Modeh ani lefanecha. Imagine you could be on that level where you were like, \"Actually, whoa, Hashem.\" Mezuzah is meant to do that. Is meant to snap you back into that world. Shofar definitely, that's the whole point of the shofar. Every brucha you make. Rosh Hashanah is called Yom HaZikaron. Yom HaZikaron, and some people say it's because God remembers all your sins and... not happening. Not happening. Not on Rosh Hashanah. Yom HaZikaron is for you to remember who you are and where you are and what God is. That's it. Just wake up. Wake up. Everyone's walking around like a zombie. This is why the Rambam says the shofar is to tell you to עורו עורו ישנים משנתכם. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. You're all asleep. You're a zombie. You're literally a zombie walking around and you might be a nice zombie. You're a very nice lovely zombie. And you're going to work and you're trying to raise a family, but you're not alive. You're not awake. As we say Atem deveikim baHashem Elokeichem chayim kulchem hayom, those of you who have a consciousness of Hashem are called alive. And when you forget Hashem, you're not called alive. I think we said this last week that the books of life and death are open on Rosh Hashanah. What does life and death mean? It means connection to God or not connection to God. It doesn't mean physical life and death. It means are you connected? Are you living with vitality, love and joy? Are you putting other people down? Are you uplifting other people? Are you being godly? We really said the ultimate level we said last week Halachta bidrachav. You should go in his ways. Halachta bidrachav has many meanings. The first thing is just do what he tells you to do. Go in his ways. The Torah says do that, do that because it's good for you. But Halachta bidrachav on a higher level means go in his ways means become godly. Imitatio Dei, something like that. You gotta emulate God. You gotta become godly. Now God doesn't put other people down and smoke weed and play games on his phone. God doesn't do that, so you shouldn't do that either. You gotta become godly and then the Lubavitcher Rebbe says about Halachta bidrachav, Halachta, which means to walk, means you gotta be progressing. Are you a nicer person this year than you were last year? This time last year and now are you a nicer person? Are you kinder? Are you a better person? Are you more present than you were this time last year? Are you happier than you were this time last year? Did you improve? Did you progress? Did you grow? That's all. But in order to grow, you have to be conscious when you're doing your things. Everything. When you're doing mitzvahs, mitzvahs are meant to make you feel connected to Hashem. But they'll only make you feel connected to Hashem if you're doing them with the intention I'm doing this in order to feel connected to Hashem. So before you put on your tefillin you have to stop and you have to say I'm putting on my tefillin A, because Hashem told me to. Very good level. B, because it's good for my soul, pumps up my soul. C, because it's good for my relationship with Hashem. D, because I want to give something back to Hashem because I know it makes Hashem happy and gives him nachas when I put on my tefillin. And then you put on your tefillin. When you say a bracha before you say a bracha you should really say I'm saying a bracha to connect to Hashem. And to have a moment of gratitude and a moment of mindfulness and a moment of self-control and a moment of humility and a moment of uplifting the food. So don't just say Baruch atah Hashem Elokeinu Melech Haolam shehakol nihiyeh bidvaro because you're doing the right things but you're not getting what you're meant to be getting from doing the right things. It's like giving your wife a bunch of flowers like throwing them at her. There are your flowers. You go and I put on your black boxes. Now I've got better things to do. I did the black box thing, got that out of the way. Now I've got better things to do. I'm developing an app. Okay, is that app making the world a better place? Is that app you're developing a mindfulness app? kavana, K-A-V-A-N-A-H, the kavana app. Life-changing app. I got it. You got it? You got it? kavana's game-change. Sorry, did you have a question? Yes, please. So you said, if I understand you correctly, you said that life and death means... Life and death means how connected you are to Hashem. How do we know that? Because the Gemara says that Tzaddikim, fully righteous people, are immediately written in the book of life on Rosh Hashanah. Although we see that they die during the year. So it couldn't have meant physical life. And it says Rasha'im, evil people, are immediately written in the book of death on Rosh Hashanah. But we see the evil people live. So when it's saying the book of life and death are open, we also believe that Hashem decides that kind of stuff as well, but that can always be overturned. Separate class, but anything that's decided on Rosh Hashanah can be overturned during the year. It's not signed and sealed and you're done. So for just very quickly, you're given an allotted amount of money on Rosh Hashanah how much you're gonna have for the year. But how it's going to be spent, maybe your washing machine's gonna break down and then your car's gonna break down and then you're gonna have to spend all your money on this, so you don't actually get to enjoy it, but there's a... or because you gave tzedakah you get to enjoy your money and your washing machine doesn't break. Or the rain, there's a certain... amount of rain, but is it going to fall in the sea or is it going to fall on the field? So if you deserve the rain is set, but do you deserve where are you going to get it? So all throughout the year we're being judged, so to speak, but based on how close we are to Hashem. The question is, that's the definition of life and death, so on Rosh Hashanah he's writing you in the book of life and death. Who's writing you in the book of life and death? Hashem is writing. Why do you say that? This week's parsha Nitzavim. Atem nitzavim. Do you want to? I'll just read a pasuk from this week's parsha. And this is why the Zohar says that this was written, that this is happening on Rosh Hashanah. Please Hashem, help me find the pasuk that I need to find now. Re'eh, thank you Hashem. ראה נתתי לפניך היום את החיים ואת הטוב. See, this is this week's parsha. See, I have put before you life and good. Life is good. Life is meant to be good. Good, by the way, doesn't just mean good, it means serving its purpose, taking you to where you want to go. ואת המות ואת הרע. I have also put before you death and evil. I.e. I have given you free will. I gave you free will. I have put before you life and good, death and evil. Two things: you can choose either life and good because life is good, or death is evil. אשר אנכי מצוך היום le'ahava et Hashem Elokeicha lalechet bidrachav. I have told you today that you should love Hashem. You should have an intimate relationship with Hashem. And lalechet bidrachav, and you should go in his ways, which we just said means A: do what he tells you to do. Why? Why should we do what Hashem tells us to do? Because it's good for us. Because the guidebook is telling you what's good for you and what's not good for you. It's like, I'm giving you really good advice, listen to my advice, because I created the universe, I know what's good for you. So go in my ways, but on a higher level we said become Godly. Become Godly, think kind, positive, uplifting, beautiful, sweet thoughts. Just what percentage of your thoughts are very lovely, lovely thoughts? Think lovely thoughts. לשמר מצותיו וחקתיו ומשפטיו. And you should do the mitzvot. Natati lifneicha, here we go. Very quickly. נתתי לפניך החיים והמות ונתתי לפניך ברכה וקללה. I've given to you choices, either life and death or blessing or curse. You can choose, it's up to you. And what does it say? One of the two of the most famous words in the whole Torah: uvacharta bachayim. Have you ever heard these two words before? They're the two most important words you'll ever hear. Uvacharta bachayim: you should choose life. I've put before you, I've opened up the book of life and the book of death, and I've now said: who's choosing? You're choosing, uvacharta bachayim. The Torah says who's writing in the book of life, you are. And then you say to me, who would ever write themselves in the book of death? And I say you, and every time you choose selfishness over kindness, and every time you choose jealousy over gratitude, and every time you put someone down instead of uplift people, you're choosing death all the time. You're choosing to, obviously most people aren't consciously choosing that. It's just because of your childhood and your society and whatever. But now the whole of Judaism is saying wake up! Start being a free-willed, a choosing individual. That's all. Yeah. What is this book? It's not a real physical book. It's always an idea. Is it about like your judgment? Your intention. Olam hazeh, olam haba, because life and death is in this world. If you're kind and loving and full of love and joy, you're alive in this world. If you're full of anger and hatred and anxiety, you're called dead. You're walking around, you physically exist, but that's not called life. Life is bracha. Life is good. Life is Hashem. That's what being alive really is in Yiddishkeit. You should be walking around with immense vitality. You shouldn't be sleeping that much. Really. If you're truly connected to Hashem, you're not sleeping that much. The Rosh Yeshiva was sleeping two, three hours maybe. The Vilna Gaon slept 29 minutes three times a day. And you can't say they're dysfunctional and they'll die young. They died when they were 100 and they wrote thousands of books. So it's not true. So what are you being judged on on Rosh Hashanah? What are you being... You're being judged on how much you want the relationship, that's all. Not judged on how good or bad your year was. Yom Kippur will start doing that stuff. On Rosh Hashanah it's all just Hashem, I want you to be the King. I want you to rule over me, I want to have a relationship with you. I found a beautiful piece and I just lost it. You're showing up on Rosh Hashanah not perfect, just saying I want to. I want to have this relationship. I heard a beautiful idea from my friend Nechemia Buchner who set up the kavana App actually. He said usually we feel, we often feel bad about ourselves leading up to Rosh Hashanah because we had all these desires last year. We went into Rosh Hashanah last year saying I really want to stop being so jealous, I really want to work on this character trait, I really want to learn how to daven more, understand why the Siddur is actually good for me, were all the things. And then you come around to Elul and you realize I really didn't do that much. And then you feel bad that you had all these desires but you didn't actually succeed. So your sense of self is based on your success. But he says really what Rosh Hashanah is about is the desire. Nothing to do with whether you fulfill it or not. It's before success or not, the fact that I want the right thing. That's already beautiful. That's what Hashem's checking. I really want to be a better person. But then you didn't become so much of a better person so you judge yourself. Hold on, isn't that beautiful that you wanted to be a better person? How many people on the face of this planet are thinking to themselves, I want to be a better person? Few people. People are thinking I want to be a richer person, I want to have more stuff. The fact that you're sitting in yeshiva says that you're in the top one percent of people on the face of planet. Whether you stay, you leave, the fact that you even entered here and are sitting down shows you have a desire to connect or a desire to work it out. So Hashem says I'm judging you on your desire not on if you accomplished or not. That's not what we're here for just the fact that you want it. You want the right things. You're thinking about the right things. So it's not about success and failure on Rosh Hashanah. It's about wanting the right thing. You succeeded if you show up wanting the right thing. And the shofar is just a scream of Hashem I don't know if I'll be able to do it or not, I messed up but I want it! Ah, oh gosh, I want this. I want to be a conscious human being. I want to be a conscious human being. I'm sick of all the stuff that I'm still chasing and the phone and the drugs and the stuff, I'm just sick of it. I don't want it anymore. I don't want it. It's not serving me. And then you'll still go and do all that stuff because we're robots. That's why the shofar is saying wake up, mezuzah wake up, brachos wake up, everything wake