Prayer Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

Unlock the secrets of the Yigdal prayer and gain a deeper understanding of its unique place in Jewish liturgy. We'll explore the mysterious origins and authorship, often attributed to Yechiel ben Baruch, and address the intriguing debate over its inclusion in various prayer books. Despite the Arizal's reservations about its Kabbalistic roots, Yigdal remains a cherished part of many traditions, serving as a profound introduction to the Rambam's 13 principles of faith. Join us as we navigate its structure and translation while emphasizing the need to preserve traditional dialects.

Witness the majesty of God's incorporeal and eternal nature as we discuss His unmatched sovereignty over the universe. In this insightful conversation, we highlight the dangers of idolizing physical health or material possessions and the wisdom of maintaining a balanced life rooted in faith. Our exploration includes the divine gift of prophecy, bestowed upon those of great spiritual stature, and underscores the enduring relationship between God and His chosen people.

Finally, we explore the spiritual practice of prayer as a means to deepen our connection with Hashem. Discover the transformative power of prayer in uplifting our spirits and instilling a sense of wholeness and security. By embracing daily prayer, we not only enhance our spiritual journey but also fulfill our mission to spread Hashem's love and glory throughout the world. Let this episode inspire you to be a beacon of light, sharing the goodness and divine purpose bestowed upon us.
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This Podcast Series is Generously Underwritten by Dr. Leonard & June Goldberg
This episode (Ep. #25) of the Prayer Podcast by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH is dedicated to my dearest friends, Dr. Leonard & June Goldberg! May Hashem bless you and always lovingly accept your prayer for good health, success and true happiness!!!

Recorded in the TORCH Centre - Levin Family Studio (B) to a live audience on December 31, 2024, in Houston, Texas.
Released as Podcast on January 5, 2025
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For a full listing of podcasts available by TORCH at https://www.TORCHpodcasts.com
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Please visit www.torchweb.org to see a full listing of our outreach and educational resources available in the Greater Houston area!
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What is Prayer Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe?

The Prayer Podcast is an attempt to make prayer meaningful, elevating and real in our day-to-day lives for every individual regardless of background.
This Podcast Series is Generously Underwritten by Dr. Leonard & June Goldberg

00:00 - Intro/Outro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe from TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. This is the Prayer Podcast.

00:09 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome everybody. Good morning, welcome back to the Parsha Podcast. It is exceptional to be here this morning. We're going to do one of the favorite prayers of almost every person I speak to like Yigdal Wow, yigdal.

00:26
Yigdal is such a magnificent, beautiful prayer. There is a mystery as to who wrote the prayer of Yigdal. I've seen two different names associated with the authorship. The one that is most prominent is Yichiel ben Baruch, and most people when they write a prayer or a song, they hint their name in it. And if you look at the last verse of the Yigdal, it's Mesim Yechaye El and that's Yechiel. And then it says Baruch Adai Ad Shem Teh. It says, and according to the Otzer HaTfilos, one of the books that I've been using to prepare for these classes, he says that the name of the author is some author.

01:19
Now, I want you to know that there are many opinions. There are many opinions. There are many sedurim that don't even have it printed in it. They do not even have Yigdal in it. The Arizal, for example, the great Kabbalist, said not to say it. Now there are many other opinions that say to say it, which is why we're going to learn it, because in the Siddur that I use, which is the Art Scroll Siddur, and if you're using the Wasserman Edition Art Scroll, beautiful Siddur, it's on page 12 and 13 on the bottom, and then continuing on 14, 15 throughout the page, and it is a magnificent prayer with the goal to instill in our hearts emunah, the beginning of every single day, that we should have clarity, have an understanding of the beautiful relationship that we aspire to have with Hashem every single day.

02:18
Now, what is the? These 13 verses are based on the Rambam's 13 principles of faith. 13 verses are based on the Rambam's 13 principles of faith. According to the legend, the author spent many years composing this prayer and he was modifying it, adjusting it, correcting it and enhancing so that it rhymes, so that it fits that the words actually explain what it is that the prayer is trying to say.

02:50
Now, so why would the Arizal be opposed to it? So I found that the Arizal was a great Kabbalist and we know that all of our prayers are very, very, very delicate. Our prayers, every single word of our prayer, has clear Kabbalistic divine inspiration and according to the Arizal, this prayer is a beautiful prayer, but not with clear Kabbalistic divine inspiration, and therefore he did not feel that it was appropriate to institute it as part of our prayer. So it's not part of the prayer, it's an introduction to the prayer. It's an introduction to the prayer to those. Now, what is the 13 principles of the Rambam?

03:40
The Rambam in Tractate Sanhedrin, chapter 10, has an entire list of 13 principles. If someone asks you what does it mean to be Jewish? It's these 13 principles, and the author who wrote this beautiful song, this hymn, based the entire 13 phrases on the 13 principles of our faith. So if you want to know what it means to be Jewish, it is this Yigdal song that really clarifies all of our principles of faith. So I'm going to read it first in Hebrew, translate it in English and then we will try to explain. Really, it's self-explanatory, but we'll try to explain each of the details of our beautiful prayer of Yigdal. Now, again, I'm going to be saying it in the Ashkenazic traditional dialect. We also have a Sephardic hopefully that will be published as well and a Hasidic. We'll try to get a Mizrahi dialect as well, because this is, again, like all prayers, very important for everyone to say it in the dialect that they are familiar with or the one that is their traditional way, that their parents or grandparents may have said it in. So again, there's so much background and history to every single word in our prayer. We shouldn't take it lightly. And again, yigdal is a beautiful, pure, holy part of our prayer, not to be diminished whatsoever with whether or not the Arizal did or did not institute it as included as part of prayer. That's not our fight. That's the Arizal and people who are far greater than our understanding that they can deal with this. For us, it's printed in our Siddur, so we're going to include it as part of our regular prayer podcast series.

06:19
Shalom Shepha nevuoso nesano el an shei segulo so v'sifarto Lo kom b'Yisrael kemoshe od novi u mabit. Estimu noso Toras emes nosan le'amo el al yad nevi'o ne'eman be'y so Lo yachol ifo el ve'lo yomir doso le'olamim le'zulo so Sofe v'yodeas esoreinu mabit lesof dovor. There are many, many beautiful songs that are composed to this, many tunes that are composed to these words. Let's read it in English now Exalted is the living God and praised he exists.

07:28
Unbounded by time is his existence. He is one, and there is no unity like his oneness. Inscrutable and infinite is his oneness. He has no semblance of a body, nor is he corporeal, nor has his holiness any comparison. He preceded every being that was created, the first, and nothing precedes his precedence. Behold, he is master of the universe. To every creature he demonstrates his greatness and his sovereignty. He granted his flow of prophecy to his treasured, splendorous people In Israel.

08:09
None like Moses arose again, a prophet who perceived his vision clearly. God gave his people a Torah of truth by means of his prophet, the most trusted in his household. God will never amend nor exchange his law for any other one for all eternity. He scrutinizes and knows our hidden most secrets. He perceives a matter's outcome at its inception. He rewards man with kindness according to his deed. He places evil on the according to his wickedness. By the end of days, he will send our Messiah to redeem those longing for his salvation. God will revive the dead in his abundant kindness. Blessed forever is his praised name. So such a beautiful prayer.

09:11
If you see, on the left side of these sheets you have the 13 principles of Rambam's authorship, and let's start one by one. Number one Yigdal Elohim Chai V'Yishtabach Hashem should bless our way, and we should hopefully be able to clearly explain what this prayer is trying to bring us to Now, just so that we get into the frame of mind. We're starting our day, we're in the morning, we open up our eyes, we wash our hands, we're saying Mo mode'ani, we're just getting into a world that's God's. Hashem put us here and we're trying to infuse our day with this emunah, with this belief system. I believe firmly that it is impossible for a person to pray properly and be depressed. It is impossible for a person to pray with focus and intention and be anxious. It is impossible for a person to pray and to be angry Because you realize, wow, this is the most amazing gift in the world that Hashem has bestowed upon me me as an individual, each person the most magnificent prayer.

10:41
So let's start with the first phrase Yigdal Elohim chay v'yishtabach, exalted is the living God. Chay Elohim chay, god is living. God didn't create this world and disappear. God didn't create this world and give it over to another being, which we're going to see in the next one. God is one, nim tsov e'en e'el mitziyot. So God doesn't have time. God doesn't have a moment. God is unbound by time. God's existence doesn't work on our clock. God is forever. God was, god is, god, will be, as we spoke about in Adon Olam Huayav Huovev Huyeh B'tifarah.

11:42
What we're trying to do is make Hashem great in our world, in our existence, in our consciousness. It's greatness for us to feel that closeness, that Hashem is great and that we are. You know, god doesn't need our praise, god loves our praise, and only one who is able to be humble, one who is able to realize Hashem's greatness, nim tsa v'eines el mitzi yusa. What is nim tsa? He exists. He's found Always, always. Hashem is always found.

12:32
Nim tsa, god is always there. When can I find God? When is he available? Can I catch God between meetings, between hurricanes, between tornadoes? When can I catch God? When is God available for me to talk? Nim Tzah, he's always there. There ain't ace. There's no beginning, there's no end, always. That's very powerful for us to recognize and understand that Hashem is always there. He's always there. Nim Tzah, there ain't ace El Mitzvah, there's always there. There's no moment that you can say oh, this is a good time to catch God. Right after his coffee, he's excited. No, no, no, no. God is always there, awaiting the relationship that we come to Hashem with. The amount that we open ourselves is the amount that Hashem will be open to us. Nimtah, he's always there.

13:34
Echad phrase number two. So number one is the existence of Hashem, existence of Hashem. Hashem exists from the before beginning of time. After the end of time, which we are limited in time. God has no time. God is forever Infinite. Hashem is one and there is no unity like His oneness, inscrutable and infinite in his oneness. God is one. One cannot be divided into two. One is only one. That means that there is no second, there is no ability.

14:23
You were mentioning earlier that, perhaps number nine. There are religions that will have issues with concept number nine. I think every single one of these, every religion, will have issues with that. God is inscrutable and infinite in his oneness. That means there's no trinity, because that's not oneness. There's no Father, son, holy Ghost, there's no prophet that takes over the place of God. There's God and only God. This, I think, is a comforting thing for each and every one of us.

15:08
You know, sometimes people say you can't trust anyone. Can't trust anyone. I kind of agree you can only trust God, a human, we're all fallible, we're all capable of being coerced, bribed, motivated to do something one way or another. We're human. You know, it's an amazing thing. Look in Deuteronomy it says Ki hakesef ya'aver einei hachamim.

15:42
The money will blind, meaning the bribery will blind the wise. It means there's a certain amount of money that they'll sell out, for we don't know what that money is. Maybe I can't afford it, but if I could afford it, can I buy them for a million dollars, ten million dollars? Buy them for a million dollars, ten million dollars? There's a price, unless someone is recognizing Hashem Echad, echad ve'ein yachid ki yichuda, when we try to be Hashem, you know it's amazing.

16:22
In our Shema, what do we say? Shema Yisrael, hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad. Hashem is one. Know it's amazing. In our Shema, what do we say? Shema Yisrael, hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad. Hashem is one, only one One. That means that Hashem doesn't give over. You know what? I need a break. Someone else manage the ship while I take a nap.

16:40
No, hashem is there. Hashem is our constant. Hashem is there. Hashem is our constant. Hashem is there from beginning to end of us. There's no end to Hashem. There's no beginning to Hashem, the beginning and end of us. We refer to everything with an element of time. There's no time with Hashem. It's always the oneness of Hashem. By the way, what does Hashem love most in His people? Oneness. Truth is oneness.

17:23
Falsehood. There are millions of stories of falsehood. There's only one truth and this concept that everyone has their truth right is yeah, okay, so that's baloney. Right? There's one truth and the truth is the truth. You can't have different opinions about the truth and the truth is the truth. You can't have different opinions about the truth. You can have opinions about it, but you can't have different facts of the truth.

17:52
Okay, number three God is uncorporeal. He has no semblance of a body, nor is he corporeal, nor has his holiness any comparison. In Lod-Dumus Aguf, god doesn't have a feature of man. Does any religion have an issue with that? I think so. Okay, god has no form. We can't say when I pray, I'm imagining that God is there, standing in front of me in the sense of having two hands, two legs, two eyes, a nose, ears. No, no, no, god doesn't have a form. God does not have a form, no semblance of a body. Lo naruch alav kedush ha-so. Nor has his holiness any comparison. What is holiness?

18:51
You know, there was a recent article that a friend of mine shared with me that talked about the success that people have in business, how much of it can be attributed to luck. So the truth is that, more than not. Now, what does luck really mean Luck doesn't mean luck. It means the hand of Hashem, meaning it's not one plus one equals two, because someone else tried that same thing and it didn't work for them. So what was the magic sauce that you had that brought your success? It was the hand of Hashem that succeeded your way. People call that luck. He said if you took all of the companies that invested in the stock market, would you not say that 10% of them succeeded only because of the strike of luck Again hand of Hashem? Probably much more than that if they were honest. So why don't people say that? Because that's out of my control, that means that there's another. Because that's out of my control, that means that there's another power here that's not me, and that makes people very uncomfortable when we realize that Hashem has the power to do anything in the world. Yes, even the stupidest idea can be successful, and even the greatest idea can be successful. And even the greatest idea can be unsuccessful. It has nothing to do with the idea being good or not. Hashem is the one who brings about success, not luck, not fate. It's the hand of Hashem. His holiness has no comparison Hashem's ability to do things that are beyond the ordinary, that are beyond the norm, that are beyond the typical. There's no comparison to that. I just want to give a little plug here, and this plug is not for me, but this is for all of us to learn and to be inspired. My dear brother, rabbi Yaakov Wolbe, has dedicated, I think, over 50 podcast episodes explaining and going through the 13 principles of faith based on the Rambam. So, god willing, I'm going to share a link for it in the description so that all of our listeners online and on the podcast can click and find those episodes so you can listen to them in much, much greater depth.

21:41
Kadmon l'chol davar, phrase number four Again. So God is uncorporeal. God doesn't have a physical form. God cannot be a tangible, touchy, feely, materialistic thing. Neither can the results. When God wants blessing to go to a person, it doesn't make a difference if it makes sense or doesn't make sense. We like for everything to make sense Right. So every business deal that was ever done made sense on paper, and those were successful. Some yes, some not. What do you mean? It made sense, everything was there. Because we sometimes like to attribute everything to one plus one equals two, but in God's world, one plus one equals whatever Hashem wants it to be. Okay, number four Kadmon l'chol davar.

22:32
Hashem ivra, rishon ve'ein reshis l'reshi. So he preceded every being that was created, the first, and nothing precedes His precedence. Hashem wasn't appointed by someone, by some being. If Hashem isn't first, then we have a problem. If Hashem isn't last, then we have a problem. Then who's taking over? Well, god is eternal. There is no beginning and end. So to get ourselves into understanding the concept of godliness, we have to realize that Hashem doesn't have a beginning and an end. He's always there. He's always going to be there for us. He's always going to take care of every worry that we have.

23:21
He know, adon Olam, l'chol No'otzer, yireh Gedul Oso Malchusor, is that God alone must be worshipped. He is master of the universe To every creature. Oh, for me, god is there. But for that person who's homeless, who's his God, that person who is successful, the person who's less successful, the person who has livelihood and the person who doesn't have livelihood, the little little worm, the ant, the fly, the bee, the mosquito, the blade of grass, the rhinoceros, the elephant, the giraffe, every single creation. Hashem is there for every single creature. He is the master of the universe to every creature.

24:28
L'chol no tzar, yoreh gedul oso, malch oso. He demonstrates his greatness and his sovereignty. Hashem decides who will be uplifted and who will be put down, who will live and who will die. This is something that we say every Yom Kippur, every Rosh Hashanah, in the Sanatok of the very, very powerful prayer Mi Yechyeu Mi Yomus. God is the one who judges who will live and who will die, not the doctors, not the medicines. God decides Mi Yechyeu, mi Yomus, who will die like this and who will live like that. God decides mi-yich-yau mi-yomus, who will die like this and who will live like that. He demonstrates his greatness and his sovereignty. God alone must be worshipped.

25:17
Principle number five God alone we don't worship our health, which is why I've had people ask me why don't religious Jews get more involved in fitness? Well, they should be healthy, they should eat well, they shouldn't be overweight. So why don't they go to the gym? Because there's another aspect of this. There are people who work out and then idolize their bodies. Their bodies becomes the feature of their life. The body becomes the essence, their God, so to speak, their be-all and end-all.

25:56
Well, that's an extreme, but there's a risk there, because you see that most people who do end up idolizing their bodies, their physical form. This is a danger. But, yes, a person has to be healthy. Yes, a person has to invest in protecting their body. The Torah tells us this. Because that safe keeps your soul. Without a body, you have no soul, because that safe keeps your soul. Without a body, you have no soul.

26:31
So it's very important to not worship anything other than Hashem. We don't worship another human, we don't worship a food, we don't worship a star, we don't worship a sun or a moon, even though we have a Sunday and a Monday, and each one of these are serving different gods. The days of the different gods. No, in Hebrew we have Yom Echad or Yom Rishon, yom Sheini, yom Shlishi, yom Revi. Every day is the day counting towards Shabbos, the oneness of Hashem. Okay.

27:05
So principle number five God alone must be worshipped, nothing else. We don't worship idolatry. Everyone would understand that that doesn't make sense. To serve an idol Me, yeah, you Serving a. You know, I always say that the greatest, one of the great mistakes of religions is Harley Davidson. You never see somebody who's just a little bit into Harley Davidson. Yeah, I'm a little bit into it. No, no, no, no. It's a total and complete obsession. They get the tattoos, they get the bumper stickers, they make sure that everything they get the leather jackets they get everything is Harley-Davidson. It becomes, it's a religion. There are other religions out there. It could be their favorite actor or actress or singer or show or car or show or car or public figure. Unfortunately, there's a plethora of idolatry out there. Our job as Jews is to recognize that only Hashem is to be worshipped, only Hashem. Nothing else, not our money, not our success, not our bodies. Okay, number six Truth of divine prophecy.

28:39
How do we know that the Torah we have is real? Shefa nevu ha-so nesano. He granted his flow of prophecy, el anche segula so v'tifarto, to his treasured, splendorous people. You had to be a very special person to have prophecy. He didn't go to the lowlifes, he didn't go to the simpletons. He went to people who were very, very special, lofty, gifted, holy people. So the prophecy that we have we have books of prophets here, prophets. We have the writings. We have the 24 books of the prophets and writings and the Torah, and every word that's written in there was written by a prophet who had divine prophecy.

29:31
Moshe was a prophet, as we'll see in the next one. What do we call the Torah, torah of Moshe, and that's number seven. Moses was the greatest of all the prophets In Israel. None like Moshe arose again, a prophet who perceived his vision clearly, who perceived his meaning, capital, h Hashem's vision clearly. He saw the vision clearly. He wrote the vision clearly, imparted it to us in our five books of the Torah clearly.

30:11
There's not a word in the Torah that's allowed to be changed. There's not a letter in the Torah that's allowed to be changed. So how do we know that the document that we have is the true document? Okay, we have prophets and we have Moshe. That is the greatest prophet. One second we're going to get to. How do we know that? The Torah? Because if you're telling me that we have prophets that God has given the ability to man to decipher, to understand, to impart the greater wisdom that we have a difficult time connecting with, how do we trust? We'll see in a second Number eight, divine revelation of the Torah, torahs, emes, nosan, la'amoel.

31:07
God gave his people a Torah of truth. What we try to do in these classes, every single class, we try to impart the truth of the Torah, the truth of the Torah. We ask questions because we are obsessed with the truth of the Torah. The Torah does not fall apart because we ask questions. The Torah does not get minimized because we ask questions. The Torah gets strengthened because we ask questions. The Torah does not get minimized because we ask questions. The Torah gets strengthened because we ask questions. We sharpen our understanding because of the questions. Now, it is true that sometimes people ask questions but they're not really questions. Sometimes the questions are answers. This is why I don't do this. This is why I don't do this. This is why I don't do that, because my question that I have is not really a question. I'm putting it in front of me. I'm not interested in an answer. That's not a question, that's a statement.

32:03
Torahs, emes, nosan la'amoel God gave his people a Torah of truth. Al-yad neviyo ne'eman beso, by means of his prophet, moshe, the most trusted in his household, which is in the Torah. It says that in my entire house, meaning in Moshe's entire existence, he was trusted. You see that the eulogy for Moshe was Eved Hashem, a servant of Hashem. A servant means that every single thing he did was for his master. Everything that a servant owns is for his master, everything that he does is for his master. He's committed 100% to his master. That's Moshe. Now that's number eight the divine revelation of the Torah.

32:56
The Torah was given to us at Mount Sinai in front of a multitude, 600,000 men between the age of 20 and 60. Why does that have to be in front of so many people? You multiply that with the women, that's 1.2 million. You add the children that are under the age of 20. You add the seniors that were over the age of 60. You're talking about millions of people.

33:21
Why does Hashem need to give and reveal the Torah in public? You see, all other religions do it in private. Muhammad had a dream, you know? Did you know? Did you witness that dream? No, others in other religions had a vision, their own independent vision.

33:41
God told me this, or someone told me that no, no, no, no, no. The Jewish people don't have any of that. There's no hearsay, there's no. Someone said there's no hearsay, there's no. Someone said there's no. Individual said every single person saw and heard the revelation at Mount Sinai. It was a public revelation. A public revelation cannot be refuted. A public revelation is for all to see. No one can deny it. Yeah, we all saw that. We saw it together. We all saw it. There's no denying it.

34:19
That's why it's important for us to understand that someone who doesn't believe that the Torah was given to the Jewish people at Mount Sinai is missing in the fundamental principle of our faith, our fundamental principles, that the Torah was given at Mount Sinai in front of our grandparents, our great-grandparents. Midrash tells us that every soul, the future souls of the Jewish people that are going to be born and they're going to convert, was all there at Mount Sinai. And if we dig deep, our sages tell us, dig deep into your soul, you'll be able to hear the reverberations of the Anokhi Hashem Olkecha. I am Hashem, your God. Okay, so number eight is the divine revelation of the Torah.

35:08
Fundamental Number nine Torah is immutable Lo yachaleh fa'el ve'layam yad'oso. God will never amend nor exchange his law, his Torah Le'olamim le'zuloso For any other one, for all eternity. This is the Torah If we believe that God is eternal, if we believe that God is eternal, if we believe that God is one and we believe that God is perfect and we believe that God is, was, will be. The Torah that God imparts to us needs to be perfect because it represents God, but that also means that God, if God, sees everything to all understand the fundamentals of this.

35:56
If we say that the Torah is outdated, what are we saying? That God is not eternal? That God doesn't see from the beginning of the world to the end of it. That God doesn't understand with perfection the creation that he created? Oh, modernity, things changed. A different world we're living in. Moses didn't know about technology. Oh, so the Torah doesn't relate to anything. Give me a break.

36:25
The Torah is as relevant today as the day it was given 3,330 years ago. The Torah is as relevant today as the day it was given 3,330 years ago. The Torah is as relevant today as ever before. The Torah tells us exactly how to act. The Torah tells us exactly what is and what is not acceptable with regard to Shabbos, with regard to kosher oh, people try to make justifications.

36:47
You know why pork was prohibited? Because there was trichinosis. They didn't know how to clean the animal. But today we know that's saying I don't believe in God. That's what it's saying. That's saying that I believe that everything can be adjusted. So God made a mistake. God forbid. No, we can't say that.

37:04
Torah is immutable. God is not going to change his Torah. He's not going to change his Torah. He's not going to exchange it. He's not going to replace it for all eternity. The Torah is Torah's emes nosan La'amoel, aliyad neviyon, imam beisom. Okay, so what is now? Lo yachal ifael, v'lo yarmid doso. Lo olamim lezuloso, god will never amend nor exchange his law for any other one For all eternity, forever. God will never amend nor exchange his law for any other one for all eternity, forever and ever and ever. This Torah is the Torah that God gave the Jewish people at Mount Sinai. You see this Torah right here. Maybe not in this binding, this magnificent art scroll, schottenstein edition, interlinear Chumash, but the words of this Torah are the exact words that were given to Moses at Mount Sinai and the Torah that we have today to study. And if we have the opportunity to come into this magnificent Levitt Family Library here at the Torch Center and are able to take out the books, what we're doing is we're connecting with God.

38:11
You know, there's a very, an incredible prohibition to talking in shul, particularly when the Torah is out, when the Torah is out during the Torah reading. Well, usually in Torah reading, okay, everyone pulls out their chumash and sits back and like now we're not praying, so we can just. You know how you doing, how are things going, this and that we can schmooze. You know what happens when we're reading the Torah Hashem is talking to us. Hashem is talking to each and every one of us through the words of His Torah. Not a time to talk. That's why there's an extra stringency, extra caution that needs to be taken specifically when the Torah is out. Use caution. Okay, Number 10.

39:03
God knows everything, actions and thoughts Very important. So he scrutinizes. So, feviyodiyas soreinu Ma'abit l'sayf davar b'kadmosay, he scrutinizes and knows our hidden most secrets. God knows everything that's going on in your life. You know, even if you're in a room that's locked in another room that's locked in another room. You're inside that inner, inner, innermost sanctum, that innermost private place. God knows what's happening. He perceives a matter's outcome at its inception Because, again, god doesn't have time, god doesn't have a clock ticking, god was, is and will be.

39:53
The fact that God knows the results, the outcome, doesn't take away our right to free will, but it's important for us to re-instill in ourselves every single morning that God is Tsofev Yodeas Asareinu. God knows every single thing that's plaguing us. God knows our hopes and God knows our thoughts and God knows our wishes and God knows our intentions, the deep ones, everything that's hidden. Imagine what's the deepest place a person has within themselves, their heart. It's all the way deep inside. Nobody knows what's the deepest place a person has within themselves, their heart. It's all the way deep inside. Nobody knows what's really inside my heart. Hashem does. Hashem knows our thoughts and he knows our actions.

40:41
The actions that may seem evil to the eyes of the world, god knows the intention. If it was good, what may seem in the eyes of mankind as being a good deed, god knows the intention. Perhaps it was good. Then, what may seem in the eyes of mankind as being a good deed? God knows the intention. Perhaps it was evil, maybe it was with a bad intention. Divine providence, divine knowledge of everything, actions and thoughts. Gomele ish chesed kime falo no sen l'rash hara k'erish aso. Divine reward and punishment.

41:16
There is accountability. God knows what we're thinking and what we do, and what we say, and the way we act and what we think. We're held accountable for. We're held accountable for. We are responsible for our actions. The Talmud says Adam mu'ad li'olam, a man is always responsible for their actions. A moment of insanity. You're still responsible. There's a price to pay for it. This concept of people not taking responsibility for their actions is a devastating thing for us. We have to learn to take responsibility, to be held accountable for our actions. Hashem will hold us accountable for our actions. We will be held accountable for every action and inaction that we've done. You do good deeds, you'll get good. You do evil, you do wicked, you'll get wicked.

42:23
What's with the end of days? By the end of days, he will send our Messiah to redeem those longing for his salvation Very interesting terminology here For those longing for his salvation. For who will the Messiah be sent? For those longing for it. This is one of the important principles of the Rambam.

42:48
We have to desire the coming of Messiah. What does it mean, the coming of Messiah? It doesn't mean that we get blank checks, get that mark. It doesn't mean that our bills will be paid by Messiah. Much, much greater than that. We get caught up in that. We're primed from childhood. Everything is about money and everything is about status and everything is about wealth and everything is about status and everything is about wealth and everything is nonsense.

43:13
It's clarity that we're looking for, what Moshiach will bring. He will bring clarity to the world. He will bring clarity to each and every one of us where we will know Hashem Elokeinu, hashem Echad. The entire world will know that and if you look at our prayers, you'll see it time and again and again and again. Where that is? That the whole world should know that Hashem is God, that Hashem is the creator. That's what will come in the coming of Messiah. There will be such abundant clarity by the end of days. He will send our Messiah to redeem those longing for his salvation. And finally, the resurrection of the dead, number 13. God will revive the dead in his abundant kindness. Blessed forever is his praised name. You know it's very important for every single person to be buried after we die, not to be cremated.

44:22
I know there have been movements trying to persuade people that it's better for the environment, it's better for the ozone. It happens to be that that's not true, patently false. It's a lie. But also it's not good for your soul. You see, at the end of time, when there is the time of resurrection, who's going to get the reward for all the good things that we've done?

44:55
Me, who's the me? Who are you? What's the you? Well, there's two components to the you. There's the you, which is the physical that we connect to. When you say, point at yourself. People point at themselves here. But what is that self? It's just the body. What's the engine? What's the battery pack that makes that body? It's just the body. What's the engine? What's the battery pack that makes that body function? That's the soul, soul.

45:19
Ah, so who's going to get the reward for your action? The body or the soul? The soul does, but the body comes to a complaint and says it's not fair. Who schlepped you out of bed to go do that mitzvah, to go pray with a minion? Go be the tenth man to go carry something for someone else to help organize the library. Right, who did that? It wasn't the soul, it was the body, it was the physical body that did it. Why should the soul get the reward? And it says you're right, let's take that beautiful body from the grave, reunite it with its soul, and they both get the reward. If one burns that body, incinerates that body, cremates that body, incinerates that body, cremates that body.

46:12
A big challenge. I know there are two very, very big questions that come from this. Number one is what do you do with the Holocaust, those who were burnt in the ovens of Nazis, in the crematoriums? They didn't do that willingly. Someone does it willingly, intentionally. That's issue number one. The second question that people feel uncomfortable with is the resurrection. We know that a soul can be reincarnated, meaning before the resurrection. If I come back to fix up something, I had an error, a blemish that's not repairable. Unless I come back to this earth and refix this in my body, my soul is reincarnated into a new body. So the resurrection will be. With which body? That's a question that people ask. Good question. I say it's always in the more handsome body, the better version, whichever that was, but the truth is it doesn't really make a difference.

47:32
So it's important for us to realize that the goal of all of this is our closeness with Hashem. The purpose of this prayer is to bring us closer to Hashem. My prayer is that we all merit to connect with this prayer every single day. We just did a brief, very short it's 52 minutes in, but there is hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and hours and days and nights to discuss more and more and more about this prayer and every single prayer, to invest in our closeness with Hashem. That every day when we pray we should feel uplifted, we should feel wholesome, we should feel secure that we know we're always in the hands of Hashem.

48:19
Hashem is here to do good for us. Hashem put us in this world because he wants to do good for us. Leheti v'im briyosev. God put us here for only one reason he loves us and he wants to do good to us. We should all merit the benefit from that good, as we do already every single day, and to bring that good forward so that more people can benefit from that goodness. We should be a light unto the nations, we should be a light unto the world and we should bring Hashem's glory to its greatness, as it should be, in front of the entire, and we should bring Hashem's glory to its greatness, as it should be, in front of the entire world. Thank you, my dear friends. Have a great, magnificent rest of your day.

48:58 - Intro/Outro (Announcement)
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