This transcript is auto-generated and may contain errors.
0:00 welcome to this week's virtual drasha this week we have the incredible privilege to read parshas akev and they give continues along with the theme of the rest of khomashtavaram of moshirabenu engaging in the most meaningful personal and heartfelt conversations with 0:14 claude israel and so the beginning of the fifth aliyah paraguay base chapter 10 verse 12 moshe who says israel and now jewish people what does god ask of you how much does god ask god asks so little what does he 0:31 ask of you kim the euras hashem to revere hashem to walk in all of his ways so to love him to serve hashem with all of your heart and all of your soul and we look at this passage and moshe 0:50 abbey now understand what motivation is saying on a basic level if you look at what hashem gives to us versus what hashem asks of us so what does hashem give to us and the answer of course is everything everything i 1:03 have in this world everything i am in this world everything i acquire in this world everything i accomplish in this world is because of the ribando in fact you know the mission of it says if you learned a lot of 1:16 torah attacks don't go ahead and give yourself such praise don't look at it as such a great accomplishment why why this initiative says for that's why you were created but the morale of prague explains so beautifully when you're able to 1:32 learn torah why is a person able to learn because barak hashem my functioning eyes because my brain is able to process the information meaning even the act of learning torah it's true i make the choice to do it but i 1:45 can only execute on that decision because the emotion is giving me the faculties to do so so we think about everything that hashem has given us what does god give me and the answer is everything there is nothing i have 1:56 or nothing i possess or nothing i am in this world that is independent of the ribanus album so moshe and says look when you think about everything that hashem gives you what does he ask for in return all he asks 2:06 for you is to revere him to walk in his ways and to love him with all of your heart and all of your soul so it's true when you put these things on the two sides of the scale there's no 2:15 question we get the better end of the deal considering all that is us he asks for so little in return but nevertheless moshe rabbenu seems to be minimizing a herculean spiritual task and endeavor right what mosh revenue is describing over 2:33 here is the totality of yiddish kite liras hashem to revere hashem to walk in his ways to love him with all of our hearts also that's the entirety of yiddish kite and moshua who seems to be making light of it 2:44 you know he seems to be taking it oh it's not such a big deal it's easy all god asks you to do is act now remember had most of you said who gives you so much and he asks for so 2:57 little in return i hear that but to minimize the very mission of yiddish kite and to make it sound so easy to make it sound so minimal seems to be a little bit disingenuous and in fact even the gemara asks 3:11 us is the reverence of akaddish paraguay revering god fearing god walking in his ways loving him with all of your heart and all of your soul is that a small thing is that a small thing that moshe who makes it 3:27 seem like such a simple and easy digestible task saving minimization of what is truly a herculean spiritual undertaking and endeavor but the gestalt says something so incredibly beautiful rabbit says no you have to understand what mosh rabbinu is really saying 3:49 look at the opening phrase of that passage so we translate that as ata means israel what does god ask of you but to and then the rest of the passage says that's not how you have to read it says do 4:11 you know what the greatest challenge of the human condition is that we spend so much time focusing and perseverating over the things that we have no control over and over the things we cannot change how much time do we spend 4:26 lamenting over the mistakes of the past i should have done this i should have made this decision i should have taken that career opportunity i should have married this person i shouldn't have married this person all the things in our 4:36 past that we spend so much time and you can't change the past i can do chuva right i can engage in the process of repentance and thereby rehabilitate my past but the decisions of the past are the decisions of the 4:49 past and yet we spend so much time rehashing reliving lamenting getting upset beating myself up over the decisions of the past when i can't even do anything about it and how often do we become paralyzed with fear for the future 5:08 what's going to happen what's going to be i'd love to take this opportunity but what about this i'd love to go here but what about this i'd love to embark upon this life initiative but what about this and we think 5:20 about all the things that could go wrong and we think about all the things that could unravel and all of the ways that things could fall apart and often it leads us to an action so something amazing happens we beat 5:30 ourselves up over the past that we cannot change and we allow ourselves to become paralyzed uh because of an unknown future we obsess over the future we're scared over the future and we're filled with such remorse and anger over the 5:46 past you can't change the past and you don't know what's going to happen in the future and this says rabbi nachman is what ramos rabbin was telling to cloud israel the rabbit says here's he have to read the passage means 6:00 now now the present ma hashem eloquent do you know what god asks of you god doesn't ask you to change the past and god doesn't ask you to try to figure out what's going to be in the future the only 6:16 thing what to maximize your presence to maximize the now that is the only thing that ebono shall olam asks of me maximize the present moment maximize the present opportunities live life to the fullest now don't spend your energies beating yourself 6:45 up over the past and don't become paralyzed because of an unknown future one word right now right now and the truth is the rabbi's words are so profound because at the end of the day if we think about it the 7:04 only thing i control in this world and the only thing i control in my life is right now like i said i can't go back and change the past and i have no possible way to script the future and so 7:19 the only thing that is really in my control is is the present moment is maximizing the moment the present moments of life and so on a very simple level shalom does not ask me to control things that are beyond my 7:36 control and he doesn't ask me to engage in processes that are simply impossible he doesn't ask me to rewrite the past because i can't and he doesn't ask me to predict the future because i can't spar who says i only 7:49 hold you accountable for the things that are within your control and the only thing in this world that is in my control is va'ata what i do in the present how i maximize the present how i become the best version 8:06 of myself in the present that is the only thing i control the rebbe's words are so profound because we use up so much mental emotional and spiritual energy lamenting the past being scared over the future and neither of those directions 8:24 actually get us anywhere they don't move the needle of life and moshe tells us moshe benu being the the voice of the rebel no shall olam stop trying to beat stop trying to rewrite and beat yourself up over the past 8:36 and stop trying to wrap your head around an unknown future but instead focus your co-hosts on what you do control the va'ata maximize your present make the most of your present and imagine if we lived life like this you know 8:52 i often think and i include myself in this that it's so hard to live life in the presence right because we're so often planning for the future what's the next thing what do i want to accomplish and those are great 9:04 things those are all great things to be a forward thinker is necessary and the truth is to live a little bit in the past and to reflect on the mistakes of the past and to learn from the mistakes of the 9:14 past is also incredibly important but you have to spend a little bit of time in the past and a little bit of time in the future you know the the the bear power she gives it beautiful it gives a beautiful 9:24 marshall he says you know in the car you have a rear view mirror or a backup camera today you know anyone who drives the entire time looking in the rearview mirror is going to get into an accident why because in 9:36 life you can't just look in the rearview mirror you have to look at the road ahead of you on the other hand if you're backing up and you don't go ahead and look back even if you're not backing up but 9:44 you're driving straight but you don't look in the rearview mirror all you do is look in front of you you may miss what's going on behind you life is this incredible balance every once in a while you have to look 9:55 in the rear view mirror because i have to learn from my past and i have to look ahead because if i don't look ahead i only look at the road right in front of me i'm going to miss the exits 10:05 of life i have to spend a little bit of time looking back and a little bit of time looking forward but the most important thing the bulk of my energies need to be devoted to the atta to stop focusing on 10:16 the past stop focusing on the on the present excuse me on the future and really making a concerted effort to maximize my presence that was the message of moshe rabino to our ancestors thousands of years ago and it's his message to 10:30 us on this very day as well wishing everyone the guten er of shabbos and a beautiful shabbos kodesh
Expand transcript 1,868 words
