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0:00 Dear friends, welcome to this week's virtual. 0:02 This week we have the incredible privilege of paras. 0:05 And in this para like so many other paras is trying to give his beloved flock as much guidance, insight, wisdom as he can knowing that he will not accompany them in this next stage of their national journey. 0:18 Because once they cross the Jordan River, Moshabinu stays behind. 0:22 as they cross the dread river to embrace to embrace national destiny will not be able to whisper in their ear these pearls of wisdom that they've been za to over the last 40 years so he tries to frontload it it's whatever 0:34 I could give them now before they crossing whatever I can give them now before they embrace this destiny and the reason this is important is because whenever you look at the messages or even the mitzvah of I think there's always 0:47 like two levels there's the stated meaning and then there's the deeper metaphorical ical message meaning as well. 0:54 Let me share with you an example of this. 0:55 In parl verse 2, the Torah speaks about the fascinating discussion of the false prophet. 1:03 And here's how the Torah introduces it. 1:08 If let's say again a prophet or a dreamer will arise in your midst and he'll give you a sign, he'll give you a miracle. 1:15 In other words, he's going to he's going to kind of give his his his prophetic credentials. 1:19 And I tell you, some miracle is going to occur. 1:21 sign is going to occur and it comes to pass and what happens and the miracle comes to pass. 1:28 The sign comes to pass and then after he's established his prophetic credentials he says let's go follow another god and ultimately again worship them. 1:40 So Torah tells us who says don't listen to that prophet don't listen to that dreamer. 1:47 Why? It's a test. 1:56 It's a test. Who is testing your result? 1:59 Who's testing your commitment? 2:00 The gave this prophet or this dreamer, this false prophet, this false dreamer, this power to test your result, to test your commitment to says always follow after God. 2:14 Revere him. Listen to his mitzvah. 2:19 listen to his voice. 2:22 Serve him and cling to Amazing. 2:27 Amazing. So again, false prophet, even if he proves his prophetic credentials with some type of sign, some type of miracle, still do not listen to him. 2:36 It's a test. You know, I was looking at these pukim late last night and I don't know, maybe it was the late latess of the hour, but something really stirred in my about these and perhaps Moshu was teaching us an 2:48 additional lesson in here as well. 2:55 So, it's interesting that of which translate means as in your midst. 3:02 But perhaps as Mosh was saying is you know sometimes there's a feeling that stirs inside of you as well all of us are looking for deeper meaning in life right some you know I I've come to find that that what 3:15 often happens is we're very busy so because we're very busy we often don't have the time to think about like what as says what's what's my what's my obligation in this world what am I supposed to accomplish what what's my 3:31 mark? What's the metric of success? 3:34 I'm not here simply to just go through the activities of daily living like what's my purpose? 3:39 So often when we're busy, we don't think about these things as much cuz we're busy. 3:43 But sometimes in those moments of quiet solitude, we begin to think about this and it gnaws at us. 3:49 It knows at us. 3:50 And so we tried to find ways in which we could be purposeful. 3:54 We tried to find ways in which we could feel happy. 3:57 We tried to find ways in which we could feel feel fulfilled. 4:01 But there's a danger. 4:02 What's the danger? So sometimes again there'll be this inner voice inside of me. 4:12 This so to speak prophetic voice. 4:14 This dreamer voice. And it's the voice that's going to say you need to lead a more meaningful life. 4:18 You need to find happiness. 4:20 You need to find contentment. 4:21 You need to find fulfillment. 4:23 And this inner voice sometimes will seek to lead me astray. 4:28 And this inner voice will say, "Oh, I'm going to give you I'm going to give you a sign." 4:31 And the inner voice is going to say, right, the inner voice is going to say, the inner voice is going to say, "You want to be happy, you want to be content, you want to feel fulfilled, this is the way 4:46 to do it." But that inner voice is going to try to point me in a way that's not Yiddishite. 4:53 It's going to try to point me in a way that's not to It's going to try to point me in a way that is not our it's not the right and I know it's not the right but the inner voice 5:04 is going to give me a sign. 5:06 The inner voice is going to show me, but look, look at this one. 5:09 This one's so happy. 5:10 And look at that one. 5:12 That one's so fulfilled. 5:13 And look at this one. 5:14 They're so successful. And look at the deref that they chose. 5:18 And look at the path that they chose. 5:19 And it's convincing because a lot of times you look around in the world and you see this person and they look so happy and they look so successful and they have so much and they've accomplished so much. 5:31 That's the oath. That's the mace. 5:33 That's the miracle that this inner voice inner voice says, "Come on. 5:37 Don't you want that? 5:38 Don't you want that? 5:40 Aren't you tired of struggling? 5:42 Aren't you tired of fighting? 5:44 Aren't you tired of always going against the tide? 5:48 Look at this when they look so happy. 5:49 Look at this when they look so fulfilled. 5:51 Look at this when they feel so content. 5:53 Look at this when they have so much." 5:56 There is that voice inside of me. 6:00 That navididic voice, that prophetic voice, that dreamer voice that says, "Don't you want to finally be happy, fulfilled? 6:08 You're always living your life in this state of existential anxiety? 6:11 Don't you want to finally find sim? 6:14 Don't you want to finally find contentment and fulfillment? 6:17 Look, look, this one is happy. 6:19 That one's happy. That one's fulfilled. 6:21 Just do whatever they're doing." 6:23 And tells us sometimes you can't listen to that inner voice as compelling as it is, as tempting as it is. 6:38 Why? Because there is only one path to fulfillment, contentment, and happiness. 6:50 There's only one path. 6:52 There's only one path that ultimately gives us what we want. 6:57 And it may not give us all the money we want. 6:59 And it may not give us all the riches we want, but it'll give us all the contentment we want. 7:06 Contentment, happiness, a feeling of purpose is only found in one place. 7:14 There are other things in life that could give you pleasure and there are other things in life that could give you joy. 7:19 But at the end of the day, there's only one thing in this entire universe that can give you a sense of contentment, a sense of wholeness, a sense of completion, a sense of purpose. 7:36 It's only if you follow the path of stop listening to sometimes that inner voice which is really the voice of a false prophet which is really the voice of a false dreamer which is trying to lead you astray by making 7:53 you think that happiness can be found in a lot of stuff in a lot of possessions and a lot of acquisitions or that happiness can be found by cutting corners in spirituality by offloading religious requirements and obligations. 8:06 Don't listen to that voice. 8:08 It's going to mislead you. 8:09 There's only one voice you need to listen to in this universe and it is listen to stop listening to the voice of the false prophet to the voice of the false dreamer. 8:22 Be willing to put in the effort. 8:24 Be willing to put in the effort because if you're willing to put in the effort to your yiddishkite, that's when you will find a sense of contentment, a sense of fulfillment, a sense of purpose, and a sense of wholeness. 8:35 So tough. It's not easy. 8:38 It's not easy. Yidesh is not easy. 8:41 A meaningful life is not easy. 8:43 Our relationship with is not easy. 8:46 None of it is easy. 8:48 But nothing that is meaningful in life is easy. 8:54 Cling to him. If you're able to cling to and again Rashi points out again which means means divine emulation. 9:03 see the traits that make aes and emulate those very traits. 9:11 That's the only place in which you'll find a sense of contentment, fulfillment, wholeness, and true happiness in life. 9:20 Joy could come from a lot of different places. 9:23 Pleasure could come from a lot of different places. 9:26 But if you're looking for contentment, fulfillment, purpose, that only comes from a relationship with that. 9:33 So amazingly enough in these which talk about the false dream or the false prophet Mosha is not only talking about an external person who arises within the midst of but is talking to each of us because no I think all 9:48 of us have those moments of we all have those moments where that that voice of the false prophet that voice of the false dreamer comes up inside of me because More than anything, I want to be happy. 10:05 And more than anything, I want to feel fulfilled. 10:08 And more than anything, I need to address that nagging voice, that nagging existential voice that gnaws away at me every day. 10:17 What am I doing in this world? 10:18 What is my purpose? 10:20 What is my tas? 10:22 And it is so tempting to listen to the inner voice of the false prophet or the false dreamer because they're going to give you quick fixes. 10:28 If you only had more money, you'd feel more fulfilled. 10:31 If you only had more stuff, you'd feel more. 10:34 We should all have more money and we should all be to more stuff. 10:38 And we should all enjoy the material world to the fullest as long as you do it responsibly. 10:43 But as long as we know that that's not going to make us happy and it's not going to make us fulfilled, that's what the false void, that's the false prophet voice, the false dreamer voice inside of me tries to say 10:53 and Mosha tells us have the courage to squash that voice. 10:58 say voice. No, those things will give me joy and those things will even give me episodic happiness. 11:03 And there's no question that materialism could absolutely make life much easier and much more enjoyable. 11:09 I could have a lot of fun with it and a lot of joy with it, but it's not going to give me purpose. 11:14 It's not going to give me contentment. 11:16 It's not going to go ahead and make me feel like a whole person. 11:20 There's only one way to feel complete. 11:24 There's only one way to feel purposeful. 11:27 There is only one way to feel whole in this world. 11:33 Make the choice to follow. 11:36 Make the choice to stop listening to the voice of the inner false prophet and start listening to the voice of make the choice to do the hard work to become a good Jew. 11:48 It is hard work but it's worth it and make the leap to finally cling to the if we could do these things and Mosha says you'll squash the voice of the inner false prophet and I'll find true happiness in life 12:07 and as we enter into this shabas shabas par shabesh this month of which begins shabis Sunday Monday, two days as we begin this last month of this year. 12:23 And again, it's the last month of 5785, but it's also kind of the runway. 12:28 It's the launch pad for 5786. 12:31 It's an opportunity to kind of get the things done that we haven't done this year. 12:36 There's still time. There's a whole month to finish up the work we pledged to do in this year, but it's also an opportunity to put ourselves on the right footing for the year to come. 12:45 We're all looking for happiness. 12:46 We're all looking for fulfillment. 12:48 We're all looking for contentment. 12:51 But we have to decide if we want to listen to the inner voice of the false prophet or we want to listen to the inner voice of the sham. 12:59 Mosheru urges us listen wisely because if we have the courage to follow if we have the knowledge to listen to to serve him to cling to him to do the right work then we will be to find happiness fulfillment and 13:18 contentment wishing everyone a good shabas a beautiful shabases and a
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