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In this rich pre-Rosh Hashanah shiur, Rav Dov Ber Cohen explores two fundamental archetypes of avodas Hashem — the way of Leah and the way of Rachel. Leah embodies the grounded, joyful servant who sho
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.
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Mother's thing today. Okay, so we said we were talking about Rachel and Leah. Rachel and Leah. There's Rachel neshamot, there's Leah neshamot. And they have very different avodat Hashem. Two different types of avodat Hashem. The avodah of of Leah we said is of an eved. An eved means a servant, but not a a a tortured servant. It's just like me and my rosh yeshivah. My rosh yeshivah needs someone to walk him to the car and carry his case for him, I'm that kind of eved. I want to do that. I get more out of that than he gets out of that. I want to be around him. So it's that kind of eved. You want to be an eved to an eved Hashem. In fact, in fact, eved, that's okay, you can sit there. In fact, eved is really the highest level you can reach in a way. Moshe Rabbeinu is called eved Hashem. Shalom! I'll tell you why eved is so holy, because it's got nothing to do with you. I'm just here for I'm just here for other people. I'm just here for other people. And we said that's the highest madragah in spirituality. The highest level you can reach is when you are so self-actualized, which means you are so full of love and joy, you are so full of self-worth. You're not a shmate, you're not serving others because you're a shmate and you're just giving to other people to feel good about yourself. You're just so full of self-worth, you're so living in line with your purpose, you're so full of vitality that it's just like, I just want to shine light. I'm just here to give love and light, Eli. Love and light, that's what I'm here for. Eli, love and light. Come and sit here. So, that's a very high madragah. So I'm an I'm an eved Hashem means I'm going to do what Hashem tells me to do because Hashem tells me to do it, so I want to do it. I want to be there at the chuppah last night, an hour and a half chuppah. I just I didn't want to leave the chuppah. And I just started another song and everyone singing amazing. Anyway, so I said, people find the ketubah is the boring bit. You know, you get to the chuppah, and then ketubah everyone's checking their phones, and like some guy is speaking in Aramaic. ketubah is very, like the most important bit. Not that you're going to ever use the ketubah, God forbid. I don't want to use the But what the ketubah is saying is, I'm completely, totally committed to you. Most people, why do they get in relationships? Because they have lackings and they want someone else to fill their physical and emotional needs. I need my physical and emotional needs met and filled, so that's why I get into a relationship, to get my That's what people think relationship is. As I said, when I I was giving the relationship class, I said to my students who were dating, \"Who here wants a wife?\" And they were like, \"Me!\" I said, \"Well, that means you're not ready yet.\" They were like, \"What do you mean? I just said I want a wife.\" Said, \"You're not ready because you shouldn't say, 'I want a wife,' you should say, 'I want to be a husband.' I don't want a wife, I want to be a husband. I want to take care of someone, even the shirt off my back. That's what the ketubah says. I'm just here for you.\" So the ketubah is completely reversing the whole human psychology of relationship, which is, \"What's in it for me?\" to, \"It's all for you. It's all for you.\" I'm just an eved of my wife. My wife is the master, and I'm the servant. I'm just going to serve my wife. And she thinks the same of me. That's called a healthy relationship. She also, I'm called the baal, actually. I'm her baal. I'm her master. I I say, \"You know what? You can just call me master.\" She's like, \"Shut up.\" I'm like, \"Okay.\" Said to the chatan, the chatan is domeh lamelech. A chatan is compared to a king. domeh lamelech. So I said to him, \"How long are you compared to a king? How long is the chatan compared to domeh lamelech? Some people say for just for the wedding night. Some people say for the sheva berachot. Some people say for shanah rishonah.\" I said, \"No. As long as you treat your wife like a queen, then you're compared to a king.\" And I said to him, \"By the way, no one ever take tells the king to take out the garbage, so take it out before she has to tell you, because only a king would do it. The real king, he takes out the garbage.\" So Leah's awesome. I love Leah. Leah's just like, I don't But and Leah isn't necessarily in it for the experience, the light, the understanding, the grasp. She doesn't and she doesn't need it. She's just like, \"I'll do it. And I I'll get my joy, and I'll get my vitality from doing it, whether I feel it or not.\" Feeling is nice, I'll take it if it comes. But I don't need it. I'm just going to show up every day. I'm just showing up, stable, earth, Leah's very earth, and then you got Rachel, Rachel Imenu. Rachel's the opposite. Rachel's all about light, experience, understanding, she's just emotional, she's just all about the relationship. \"I'll do the stuff if I need to do it, but it's not about the stuff.\" And if I'm actually not feeling it, this is Rachel's maybe issue, if she's not feeling it, she might not do it. \"You know, I'm not feeling minchah, so I'm not going to go to minchah.\" So Rachel's got that, and Leah's got the maybe she's doing the right thing, but not necessarily has the experience. Rachel's all about the experience. So we said there's a word spiritual, spiritual, spiritual is made up of two words: spirit and ritual. So Rachel is all about the spirit, but maybe a little bit weaker on the ritual. Leah is all about the ritual, but a little bit weak on the spirit. So you have to have both. To be spiritual, you have to you have to do the thing. Just show up. The stuff that needs to get done, do what needs to get done. Stand up, like a mentsh! And there's an experience that's meant to be had from the stuff that's meant to be. Yes, child. Two parts, you know, so even for guys, it's called Rachel and Leah. So you have more leah neshama-type guys and more rachel neshama. It's just two different types of avodah. One is ol malchut shamayim, \"I'm just doing what I have to do,\" and one is is, and that's compared to the ben. The eved is the servant, and the ben is the child. So the child of the king is like, \"I just want to sit on my dad's lap. I just want him to throw me in the air.\" Nice. So you're both. You've got to be a a servant and a child. Like my children, my children, they're my servants. They do what I tell them to do. \"Hey, I think I left my Crocs upstairs. Can someone go and get them?\" And they actually race. Thank God, I've trained my children. They want to. But it's good, it's easy with FFB kids, frum kids. It's like, \"Who wants a mitzvah?\" Actually, it's not. They're like, \"No, I don't, but I'll get your shoes for you.\" Did you have a question? Why do we have the opposites? Because the the whole of the universe is opposites. Creation, by definition, is the beginning of opposites, because before there's time and space, there's just Hashem. As soon as you get time and space, you have up and down, left and right, forward and back, before and after. As expressed in the Eastern world as yin and yang, the Tao, there used to be only the Tao, and then the Tao You should. That's what we said. Now what we said last time, that you're you're naturally inclined to one, and you have to integrate the other. Maybe you're just in the middle. No, you're not. You're totally Rachel. You're the biggest Rachel I've ever met. Okay, so good. Maybe there are many layers to this. Yeah. In general in terms of halacha, there are some people, \"I just I want to sit down. I want to learn halacha and Mishnah. That gives me I just want to know what to do.\" And there are other people are like, \"I'll learn the halacha because I now have to know what to do, but give me the chassidut and the penimiyut and the kabbalah. That's that's what gets me alive.\" Some people literally come alive from learning what other people will call dry halacha. Some people. Now, I'm quite balanced. I love learning halacha because I'm like, \"Now I know what to do. I love knowing what to do.\" I love every single new halacha. I'm like, \"Brilliant! Now I know.\" And I see halacha as mindfulness tools. I see halacha this is what I need to do. So I love halacha in that way, but I also love pnimiyut, so there's a balance. But we're all, you're born naturally, we said, is really rooted even further back in the four elements, arba yesodot: earth, wind, fire, and water. So Rachel is very very wind. She's very ruach. And Leah's very earth. So we have to get the balance. They have to work together. So what we're doing is we're applying this to the shofar, applying it to the avodah of the shofar, the avodah of the shofar. What are we really doing with the shofar? Which is it's really the avodah of the day, which we're going to be doing on Sunday. Remember, don't worry about no shofar on Shabbat. No shofar on Shabbat is higher than shofar. That was yesterday's class. We don't need to get into it again, but we're very we're very lucky this year that we get to have a we we get to have zikhron teru'ah as well as teru'ah. We get everything. All right, here we go. az. So Rachel was more of ruchaniyut and Leah was more of ma'aseh? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I like that, that's fair enough. And we have to be both. Okay, so we got these two madregot of our relationship with Hashem: רחל, לאה, בן, עבד. So this is the first level. hamadregah harishonah, we're learning from Bam Darkecha. המדרגה הראשונה שהנברא מקבל על עצמו עול מלכות שמים ויתנהג כרצונו יתברך. The first level in your spiritual journey and in your relationship with Hashem is to accept upon yourself Hashem as the king, i.e., he makes the rules, it's not up to you. He makes the rules. It's not about me, it's not about what I want, it's just not about me. It's awesome. This is why it's so actually beautiful, because it's just not about you. Hashem says do it, do it. It's actually my favorite gemara. It says, \"Why do we blow the shofar on Rosh Hashanah?\" That's the question of the gemara. Why? lamah tok'in? Why are we blowing the shofar? And you think, well, because of this kabbalistic reason and the מוחין דקטנות, מוחין דגדלות, and to remember the akedah. It does say some things like that, but the first answer is Rachmana amar tik'u. Hashem told you to. Worst answer to give to a kid who asks the question why we do stuff. \"Hashem said to.\" \"Ah, but why are we wearing tzitzit?\" \"Hashem said so.\" Okay, so they'll have religious trauma growing up. But when you grow up, it's the best answer. Hashem said so, why? \"Why do I have to take that medicine?\" \"The doctor said so, the doctor knows what's good for you.\" \"But why?\" \"No, the doctor said.\" My mom's a doctor. So mummy said, okay, I'll do it. Sometimes my children say why, and I say, \"Because I told you to.\" I think that's a very fair answer. And you know, I can only say that to my children and get away with it, do you know why? Because they know that I love them so much. I just tell them all the time, \"I love you, I love you, I love...\" So when they say why, and I say, \"Because I told you to,\" they can actually, they like get that. They're like, huh, all right. I actually get that. Why? My son, my seven-year-old, everything, everything, he's like, \"How do you know?\" It's really annoying. It's like, \"How do you know?\" I saw someone the other day, I got a rental car to go, I got a rental car for the wedding yesterday, and we went outside and he loves the cars. I said, \"Which is our car?\" And I'd just taken it from the rental shop and I parked outside, I said, \"That one.\" He said to me, \"How do you know?\" Literally, I was like, \"I just got it from the shop.\" And he was like, \"Oh.\" He seemed happy with that. But I then respect that. He was like, \"I want to know how you know that,\" even if it's the most obvious thing in the world. But they're mostly obvious, like, \"How do you know?\" ima told me, ima told me to make your sandwich today for school. \"How do you know?\" Cuz she just told me to. He's so weird. It's like, so I started doing it to him now. He says, \"You know what, my teacher told us that we have to bring this to school tomorrow.\" \"How do you know?\" And he looks very confused. But I think he's questioning himself. He's like, \"I don't know, how do I know that?\" shalom, how do you know? How do you know anything? Hashem. How do you know? Hashem said so. So mekabel, and we do this when we say the shema everyday. shema everyday, we're just like מקבל עול מלכות שמים. I am doing it because I was told to do it. And the sages say, greater is the person who is told to do something and does it than who isn't told, which I've always struggled with, to be fair. Someone who is told, I say to my children, \"Tidy your room,\" and they tidy their room, that's greater than if they just tidied their room on their own. So there's always two sides to everything. It's greater because it's harder for your ego to do something you're told to do, so they overcome their ego and they did it, so it is greater. But it's not really greater, because if they chose to tidy their room, that is greater. So you have both sides. It's both sides. But it's often harder to do it. Like when my wife says to me, \"Tell me you love me,\" it's very hard to say it then. It's like weird, cuz it's like, no, I tell her a lot, you know, but it's, or say, I don't know, it's hard. When you're told to do something, it's hard to do it. Anyway, thanks. I love this therapy. 11:00 every day is called Dov Ber's group therapy. Thanks for joining. It is awesome. היינו על ידי התבוננות הנ״ל תתעורר ממילא תהיה הדבקות בו, כי הוא המלך ומנהיג. Why? Because he's the king. Just do it. I love this. Rabbi Nachman says, just do it. Just be very simple, have emunah, and do mitzvot. Why is life so complicated? Have emunah, do mitzvot. Let go. I don't understand, I'll just do it then. I don't need to understand. I'll just do it. It's very Leah, though. Rachel needs to understand. She's like, how do you know? Rachel is like Shimshon, how do you know? So Leah says, 'cause Hashem says so, that's a good answer for Leah. Hashem says so, that's good enough for Leah. Rachel's like, no, no, no. What's the pnimiyut? Why did Hashem say so? How does that light up my soul? Rachel needs to know how it's lighting up my soul, she's not okay with 'cause Hashem said so. Leah loves 'cause Hashem said so. She loves, that's the best answer for her. I'll do it. Hashem said it, I'll do it. I want to do it. ובמדרגה שניה הנברא מתבטל לגמרי לפני הבורא ונכלל בו באהבה. But the second level is, I'm not even serving the king, I'm just a channel. I'm just going to let Hashem use me. I'm just like I don't exist anymore, I'm just a puppet now. And I'm just letting Hashem's light flow through me. It's not like there's Hashem, there's me, I'm going to serve the king. It's just like no, there's not Hashem and me, I'm just going to be a גילוי אור, אור ה׳. I'm just going to reveal Hashem's light. I'm going to get rid of me, there is no me anymore. Now, it's a very high level, very, very high level, but we can tap into moments of that. I think often when people learn torah like this, it's like who is really living on a complete level of no ego, a completely mevutal, I have no ego? So we know that Avraham, Avraham, Avraham and Yitzchak, definitely, the akedah, that's what the akedah was. The akedah was it wasn't Avraham sacrificing Yitzchak, it was Avraham sacrificing himself and Yitzchak. He had to sacrifice himself, everything he believed, everything he wanted, he just had to completely I don't exist anymore, there's no ratzon, I have no ratzon separate from Hashem, I am just a gilui of Hashem ba'olam hazeh. So I can't I don't believe I'll ever fully embrace that level, but I have moments. rosh hashana davenen. There are moments just to and to be able to tap into that that complete bitul, it's called bitul, complete self-nullification, complete self-nullification. How can you do that on rosh hashana if that shofar. if the yetzer hara always works in self-nullification as well? Even better. That's the best way to beat the yetzer hara, just like let go. Don't fight the This is a separate point: never fight the yetzer hara. There you go, you heard it first. Don't fight the yetzer hara. But don't listen to it. So when I say don't fight the yetzer hara, that doesn't mean do everything it says. No. But don't fight it. Firstly, it's stronger than you. Secondly, by fighting it, it gets excited. It's like it's getting you annoyed. You're making it very, very significant. When a bully bullies you and then you get all upset, that's actually giving the bully more power. He's like, \"Yeah, I feel\" That's why you say to your kids when one kid is annoying the other kid, \"Just ignore them.\" As soon as you get As soon as they see you're triggered, that gets their That's what they're trying to do. So as soon as your yetzer hara sees that it has got you a little bit, triggers you, then it gets you more. It's like, \"Ah, I got you,\" and then you feel bad about yourself, and then So you get Don't get into a discussion with your yetzer hara. Don't even talk to it. That's Chavah's first mistake in the Garden of Eden. It wasn't eating the tree. Why are you speaking to a snake? That's the whole question. Why are you even talking The snake comes up and say, \"Hey, Chavah, do you know why Hashem\" She should be like, talk to the hand. I don't speak to snakes, I just don't do that. So when it says the first thing in the morning you've got to get up like a lion, the Mishnah Berurah immediately says the the the the yetzer hara is going to come in and say, \"Come on, you need a little bit more sleep.\" Or, \"It's a bit cold.\" Or, says, \"Don't get into a discussion.\" Like even with a kid, so I don't so I don't get into a discussion with the kid sometimes. It's like this is what we're doing. I want to get I I need to get in the car, we're going to a wedding. I'm not getting into a discussion about this and that and who's sitting next to, get in the car. Same with your own mind. Just be like, dude, you're all right. But it means you have to be very, very, very, very aware of the voice of the yetzer hara. You have to be so aware of it that when it comes you're just like, I see you. And give it a name. We said this: call your yetzer hara Sneaky, because that's what it is. You say, hey Sneaky, I love you. In fact, do the opposite of fighting your yetzer hara, completely embrace and love it. Give it so much love that it just can't do anything, it's like Imagine a bully comes up and bullies you, and they start bullying you and you're just like, I mamash love you. And you just give them a hug and you just kiss them and say, I love you so much, because that's all they needed. They were never given love. Why are they a bully in the first place? No one ever loved them. So, now you just give them love. So, when your yetzer hara comes to you on on rosh hashana, just bring it with you. Say, come, come on, come on yetzer hara, let's go, let's hear the shofar together. Oy, I love my yetzer hara, he's so sneaky and clever. Like, hey dude, I see you. I know you're there. I know you're there. Yeah. Well, not ignoring, because you can't really ignore it. Ignoring it, trying repressing it is So, I'm not ignoring it. I'm like I'm like, go on. I can't I Someone was asking me about ego and sometimes I have an ego. People say to me, \"Oh, Rabbi Cohen this,\" and my ego comes and I'm like, \"I see you, ego. I'm just not going to play into you.\" But I'm not on the madregah where I've completely mevatel my ego where I'm just like deeply humble. But I'm going to get there eventually, but how? By noticing my ego. If I got upset about myself for my ego, then that builds my ego. So, I don't. I just notice I'm human, humans have egos. So, when it comes, I deal with it. I'm like I just don't play into it. I don't do what it tells me to do, and I don't try to feed it. I'm not feeding my ego. It's getting fed enough. Yes, please. No, no, no, but it's good, cuz when your when your No, but that means you have an opportunity to go up to a much higher level. You get the yetzer hara that you need. If if your yetzer hara is on a higher level, that means you're on a higher level now because you get the yetzer hara you need. So the stronger and better your yetzer hara is, the better you should feel about it because you get the yetzer hara that you need, so you must be on a much higher level cuz you got such a strong yetzer hara. So, you'd be like, \"Wow, it's unbelievable how strong my yetzer hara is.\" No, but it's the opposite! I just told you it's the opposite. Hashem doesn't give you a yetzer hara that's too high for you. So, if Hashem's now giving you like the most disgusting, horrible, worst yetzer hara, you should stop and be like, \"Wow, I am on such a high level.\" This is a mamash chidush that Hashem just gave me now at this second, which is the bigger and stronger your yetzer hara, you should stop and say, \"Wow, I must be on an incredibly high level. I'm about to break through to kedusha mamash. I'm going to the greatest place.\" That's how you deal with the yetzer hara. The bigger it is, the better you should feel about yourself. But don't do what it says. And don't listen to it. The yetzer hara is just there to make you feel bad and sad. So, don't feel bad and sad when it comes, and then it messed up its job. And we said the other day that you can actually use your yetzer hara to improve yourself. So, if you feel jealous, then realize that that means I need to work on my appreciation. So, every time you feel jealous, then work on then you should focus on all the good things in your life. And it means you're using your jealousy to arouse and create appreciation, so after a while the jealousy yetzer hara gives up, because it's like, \"Oh, no. He's using me to create that.\" And every time you get angry, you should have emunah. So, you're using your anger to create emunah, and then you've like messed up the yetzer hara. You've used the yetzer hara to be great. We're going to get there one day. Maybe next rosh hashana we'll actually finish what we're actually doing with the shofar, which is starts in this pair, but we're not going anywhere near it. וצריך להדגיש שאף שעיקר היא מדרגה שניה. We've got to make it very clear that the real purpose is the second level where I'm mevatel. I'm just mevatel, I'm just I'm just in the flow. I'm just shining in the light of Hashem. מכל מקום גם המדרגה הראשונה נצרכת. But you have to have the first madrega. Not only do you have to have the first madrega to get to the second madrega, but most people most of the time are living more in the first madrega. It would be even good if we were on the first madrega. That I'm just doing it joyfully. I'm joyfully doing what I have to do. There's a level where I'll do what I have to do because I have to do it, but a higher level is I'm joyfully doing it. So, I have to take out the garbage and wash the dishes. So, there's a level where I take out the garbage and wash the dishes because that's what I told my wife I'd do in my ketubah, whatever. But there's another level where it's I mamash love washing because I have to do it. Most people don't like doing what they have to do. It feels like a burden. I have to do this. It's an obligation, and people don't like obligations. That's what it means, it's great to the person who's told to do it and does it, because we don't like obligations, but a very high level is I love my obligations. I love doing what That's what I want to do. Now how do you get there? To understand that all of your obligations to Hashem are good for you. They're helping you. They're making you a more spiritually connected person. And all of my obligations to my wife are making my relationship with my wife better. So I start loving the obligations. It's through the obligations that I'm getting a better relationship with my wife, so I like the obligations, especially the ones that I don't really want to do, because that really shows that I'm only doing it for her. Things that I wanted to My wife says, \"Hey, can you take the boys to the park?\" Friday, getting ready for shabbat, she's like, \"I just need space. Give me space in the kitchen, can you please take the boys to the park?\" Now, I'm obligated to take the boys to the park, but there's nothing more I want to do than take the boys to the park. So that's a good level, when I'm obligated to do something I want to do, but the other way around is even better. When I'm obligated to do something that I don't want to do, but then I love doing it because you get the point. I'm very late. I'm very late for mincha, for everything. Let's go. וכל יהודי צריך לאחוז בשניהם. And we all we've got to have both of them, we got to do both. We got to get both these levels. Once again, I think the second level, which is just complete presence, nochachut nochachut, I'm just I'm sitting in presence, is more of a we taste it and then come back to day-to-day that and then tasting it, tasting. So we want to be able to do this on rosh hashana. ועבודה ראשונה הוא שיגיע בראש השנה שהאדם נברא מחדש, וצריך לקבל על עצמו עול מלכות שמים. So everything's being created new on rosh hashana. The whole universe is created new. We do say that it's created new every day, but it's literally there's a whole new reality. The first of tishri is not one day after the 30th of elul. Is there a 30th? It's not, it's just not. It's a different zone. We're literally in a different zone. That Friday to this Friday night, you're in a different, completely different reality. It's not the day after yesterday. In fact, there's no even yesterday and today. Yesterday doesn't exist, we're in a new It's just like the the creation Before the creation of the universe, there's בראשית ברא אלקים את השמים ואת הארץ, there was nothing, and then there was yom rishon. The same thing is happening! Friday night, we're going from There's a whole new King, there's a whole new everything, a whole new reality. And it's שבת, שבת ראש השנה, שבע ברכות as well. shabbat rosh hashana Right, so But the first thing you do is like now I'm created, so now I'm going to do what I'm meant to do. I'm here to I've got a purpose, I'm going to do what You tell me what to do, I'll do it. Put me in the team, coach. Put me in the team, I'm going to do it. I want to be in the team. אבל ש עבד את כל מציאות שלו הנבראה לעשות כתר רק כבוד שמים אה, לעבוד! So So all I'm going to do is all I'm here for is to make kavod shamayim. It's all about Rabbi Nachman speaks about this really at the very beginning of Likutei Moharan. What's it? Is it about your kavod or Hashem's kavod? Are you here for your honor, or are you here for Hashem's honor? And Hashem says, \"I created everything for My honor,\" which sounds a bit egotistical. But what it really means is for My presence. Honor, kavod, means kaved, heaviness, My presence. I created everything for My presence in this world, but who who creates Hashem's presence in this world? It's us. Hashem created the world for us. He created the world for us, and now we got to create Hashem in the world. We bring Hashem. So we are the shechinah. So I say, right, you know what I'm here for? I'm here to bring God-consciousness to the world. That's what I'm here. So I'll do whatever it takes to bring God-consciousness to the world. It's You know what? Life's so much easier when you're not so self-centered. Life's really hard when you're so self-centered. Where's my stuff? Me and my relationships and my It's really, really tiring after a while. And and working on yourself, this is my new big thing, people work on themselves far too much. \"I'm I'm working on myself, rabbi. What What do you think my avodah should be?\" I like, your avodah should be like stop working on yourself, you're kind of okay. You're all right. You're all right. Just enjoy your God, so I think I But I think there's something very real with that. People are overly uptight about working on themselves, and the greatest work they could do for themselves would just be to relax a little bit. I'm okay. I'm doing okay. I'll be all right. We're going to be okay. Everything's going It's going to be okay. Yeah. I'm saying, but what are we here for? kavod Hashem. No, I'm not saying just sit on your couch and then smoke weed and say everything's going to be okay. I'm just saying do amazing things, but not so with weird, intense pressure, guilt, shame, fear stuff. Do amazing things. I'm saying, from what I was thinking like, that's the whole point we're here to work on ourselves. Yes, but I think part of working on yourself Like someone said to me, could I say, try and meditate for three minutes today? And they say, well, you know, that takes away from my avodah, because they think their avodah is to say more Tehillim and learn more torah. And I said, no, the the the presence itself is You're working on presence. That is So, it's still an avodah. I'm going to give you the avodah of being present. Because you know what, all the other avodah that you might You know what you're working You're getting rid of your bad character traits, that's avodah. And you're getting up earlier and going to the gym and living a healthier lifestyle, that's avodah. What's it all for? What's all the avodah for in the first place? Presence with Hashem. So, what are you working towards? So, I'm also working on my character traits, but there's times Yeah, I'm also climbing the mountain, but there's a time to actually just sit and appreciate the view. I'm not waiting to get to the top of the mountain to appreciate the view. Halfway up the mountain, I'm also going to sit and say, look, I've come pretty far. I'm doing okay. I'm all right. But that doesn't mean I'll now sit there, I still want to keep going, but I've got to have the balance. It's slow. We've got to do this. Fine. So, it's all about let's bring Hashem's a nachat ruach labore. That's why before every mitzvah we do, we say I'm doing this to give nachat ruach to Hashem. And nachat ruach we said, make Hashem proud. But lanuach means to rest, and ruach is spirit, so I'm bringing Hashem's spirit into this world. ועיקר זמן הכוונה בעבודה זו היא What's the main time for this on Rosh Hashanah? be'amirat zachrenu lechaim. There is an insert we say in the prayers on Rosh Hashanah. זכרנו לחיים מלך חפץ בחיים וכתבנו בספר החיים למענך אלוקים חיים. chayim chayim. You know what? I'm not going to do it this year, but every single year, I forget to say it on the on the maariv. Every year I do it, and then I I finish mine and like, I did it again. And I'm like, cuz I like to do things right, I'm very into I want to do it right. And I I'm so into the The last minchah of the year, minchah of erev Rosh Hashanah, I'm like, this is the biggest I love that one. I love it. You know what I love about the most about it is birkat hashanim. We ask for a good year, but there's only like two minutes left of the year. But we're still asking for a good year, because it's still that two minutes. I love that, birkat hashanim the last one of the year. Just make this last two seconds of the year. But then I get into We get into like As soon as I hear that Well, it's actually me, I lead the davening. But as soon as I hear that, I'm just like, it is so good. It's so good being a Jew. It's so good. Imagine you didn't have Rosh Hashanah, and Shabbat, and Sukkot, and mitzvot, and berachot, and rosh chodesh, and everything. What is it? Life's so What is it without that? Our whole year is just like a meditation retreat, personal growth seminar with nice food on the chagim. It's so good. How'd you do it? How'd you be in this world without the guidebook? The torah is just saying, look, here's how you create immense light and meaning in everything you do all the time. Everything's meaningful. Everything's full of light, and joy, and and connection. So, when it we tap into that, and then I'm like I'm so into the I'm so mamash standing in front of the King, and then I finish davening, and I'm like, I forgot to say zachrenu lachaim! I'm like, I'm such an idiot. I'm so I'm so like so uber spiritual that I didn't do what I was meant to do again. But then I smile to myself So, I feel bad, but then I smile to myself, and I said, okay, I can start again. You know what, this year I'm going to do it. I'm going to put like highlighters on my machzor. Anyway, when you say זכרנו לחיים, מלך חפץ בחיים, וכתבנו בספר החיים, למענך אלוקים חיים, four times you're saying the word chayim. That's when you're saying what is life? What is life? Life isn't I got to get a job and get married, that's not life! Life is kavod Hashem. Life is bringing God consciousness into the world. That's the whole purpose of the creation. God created created the world, it just says, for one reason, that Hashem should be revealed in the world. Nothing else. Not for sport, not for politics, not for fashion, not for, He didn't create the world for that. And we're getting so caught up in all this stuff, it's so weird. So, that's what your kavana should be, chayim. אתם הדבקים בהשם אלוקיכם חיים כולכם היום. Someone who's actually got a relationship with Hashem, and feels I just want to bring Hashem into the world, and I want to serve Hashem, you're really called alive. You're called alive. That you're really alive. When you're in the king's palace, you're really alive. So, you're going to remember to do that. And then you're going to, afterwards, remember that you didn't do it, and then you're going to smile and say, don't worry, I got 10 days to that. Oh, my goodness, sukkot is coming! Can't wait for sukkot. We're going to be sitting in a hut with leaves. It's so weird. You got all these grown-up human beings, I love yerushalayim because it just turns into the You got literally grown-up, quite serious grown-ups. But because this ancient book says that for seven days you have to sit in a hut, they actually do it! Because we actually believe it's true. Not because it's a nice cultural thing and we got it we got it in the garden, and maybe we'll go and eat there. It's not! I don't think it's a nice cultural ritualistic thing. I think it's the truth of existence, that the shechinah is it's a shechinah compression chamber. And we're just sitting in this like But we got to get through rosh hashana first. We got to not get chas veshalom, we're not getting through rosh hashana. We got to embrace rosh hashana. שצריך לכוון שאנו מקבלים עליהם עול מלכות שמים, באמת. So when you say these words, זכרנו לחיים מלך חפץ בחיים, you should be thinking, I am taking upon myself ol malchut shamayim. I am here to serve the Lord. להחליט להשתמש בכל הכוחות שהשם יתברך נותן לנו, and now I'm decided to use all of the powers that Hashem gave me. You're good at music? You're a good Anyone here a good musician? Use that for Hashem. People say, I want to be a famous musician, and like, why? That's all ego. Unless you're saying, I want to be a famous musician so I can spread Hashem's music in the world. Gospel! We got to make some Jewish gospel, but like trance Jewish gospel, Jewish trance gospel. Let's do it. Talk to Nissim Black. I love Nissim. Maybe I'll talk to him. Let's make some Jewish trance gospel. Jewish gospel trance it would be. JGT. JGT. Jewish gospel trance. I'm going to do that. לעשות בהם את רצון המלכות. So you're thinking you're saying זכרנו לחיים מלך חפץ בחיים, you're just thinking about that, every power you got. I'm good at music, I'm going to use that for Hashem. I'm strong, I'm going to use that for Hashem. I'm this, everything I've got, I'm going to use השם, השם, השם, השם, השם, השם. That's what you're thinking about. melech chafetz bachayim. Tomorrow we might possibly talk about what I was going to talk about, but given my track record, it's very unlikely. Whatever you need to hear, you'll hear. shabbat.