ChabadLife.TV Street Farbrengen
ChabadLife.TV Street Farbrengen
Street Farbrengen Episode 87 - Launch Rockets
What does it take to go against the grain? How do you defy the gravity of culture of 'this is the way things are' and lift off into your intended orbit?
“Zacharia, I am almost twice your age ", remarks Reuven in this week's episode of Street Farbrengen! "People insist I should slow down and "act my age". Chill out they say! But, I am in a renewal and on a number of new journeys. Today and tomorrow are not yesterday. And, I am just getting going!"
What does it take to go against the stream?
Street Farbrengen unpacks some more on inspiration vs aspiration. One keeps you in place while the other launches rockets.......make your choice!
As I was at the IHEL this week for Yud Beis Tomas, it must have been at least the 40th time I was there for Yud Beis Tomas. And I thought to myself, is this just a repeat? And the answer is no. Because I decided a little while ago, made decisions that all of my life is changing. And the basic change of anyone's life at my age is going against the grain. So what's going to get me to the place that I want to get to, despite the fact that the world, whatever that means, tells me, slow down and chill out, as they like to say. And I'm saying, no, no, no, no, no. Let's move the rocket ship to the pad and let's take off on another journey. What creates the ability to do that?
SPEAKER_01:That's really beautiful, Rubin. What an inspiring experience for me to see somebody who's double my age almost, you know, take life on anew and commit to breaking through to a whole new paradigm with
SPEAKER_02:himself. I should slap you for saying that you're inspired by that, but go ahead. That's the whole point of this discussion, sir.
SPEAKER_01:How come?
SPEAKER_02:What do you mean? Are you seriously asking me that? You forget everything? Oh, okay. We were talking about the difference between inspiration and aspiration. Inspiration doesn't go anywhere. And aspiration does. And we're back to the picture. We left off with the question of Rabbi Akiva. Rabbi Akiva sits by the waterfall, by the water of the babbling brook somewhere in the Adirondacks. And he's watching this water dripping and he asks, why is there a hole? Who made the hole in this rock? And they tell him, it's the water. And he said, if something soft like that can create a hole in something so hard and unmovable, then for sure Torah could drill a hole past my hardness into my heart. So we left with the idea last time we came here together was What's the, we understand the water, we spoke about it, we understand the rock, we spoke about it, but let's now talk about, from our point of view, watching Rabbi Akiva doing all that. Because you passed by many rocks with water falling on it, and you didn't see Chai Kak, and I saw as well as I, and you probably have a thousand things you could have learned from that you didn't. So what makes a Rabbi Akiva hap what's going on with this water and rock. Why does he notice it? Why does he ask a question? And how come he follows through? Because from there he went on at 40 years old to learn for the first time in his life he didn't know anything. Okay. What's the difference between the other guy who came yesterday and didn't have any inspiration from the water drilling a hole in the rock?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. That's a really great question, Ruben. And when I said that I was inspired by what you had said, I was saying it purposely. Oh, so you were back to your bathing? I wasn't bathing. No, I was saying it purposely. Yeah. Meaning that what you had said is a beautiful statement that I am inspired by, but I didn't have anything of where it came from, what led you to that decision. that was able to help you break through that experience of either feeling stuck or wanting to slow down and go into a whole new paradigm for yourself. And in order for me to be aspiring to be like
SPEAKER_02:that, I
SPEAKER_01:needed
SPEAKER_02:more. I'm gonna say to you, wrong, and you're just being in a, you were being honest. You're just basically, Looking for inspiration. That's how you look at things. Because if you're telling me what? You want to know my decision process? Yeah. And what's that going to give you?
SPEAKER_01:That's going to give me something to aspire to for the inspiration of... No, it
SPEAKER_02:won't. It'll just be another good idea that I told you what I aspire, what I decided. I
SPEAKER_01:don't know why
SPEAKER_02:you're saying that. Well, let's go back to the picture of Rabbi Akiva. I'm glad you asked why I'm saying that. Let's go back to the picture of Rabbi Akiva. You're not answering the question. What's the difference between Rabbi Akiva? And let's use not just any stum guy off the street. Another guy who feels like he can't learn and it doesn't inspire him to learn. And his heart is not moved. I'm calling that, I don't know if that's inspiration. And he doesn't see it. What's the difference between between the two. What do you think? I want you to take a snapshot. You've got a camera, and you're running the camera, watching Rabbi Akiva sitting there, because that's part of the picture. What do you think?
SPEAKER_01:I think it was, well, first of all, we know that it was his wife or soon-to-be wife-to-be that was encouraging him to do so beforehand. I'm serious.
SPEAKER_02:No, I know you're serious. So you're telling me that the difference between the two guys is his wife?
SPEAKER_01:No, what I'm saying is an already established desire that was predicating the experience that he had that he drew a lesson from.
SPEAKER_02:Exactly. Exactly. So let's go straight to a... Totally different arena, but we'll connect it. When you're feeling stuck, you feel stuck ever? Besides being a stick in the mud. I mean, do you ever feel stuck? You ever feel stuck?
SPEAKER_01:I've experienced
SPEAKER_02:it before. Oh, you've experienced that before. Okay, good. You're another human. You are human after all. Okay. Or you're literally imprisoned by what is going on inside of you. Right? I'm talking about not just stuck. I mean, you're really bothered. Your life ain't happening the way you want it to happen. Okay.
UNKNOWN:Okay.
SPEAKER_02:So what are the things you're going to do? Where's your mind going to go? Where's your heart going to go? Because we're asked before we broke last for bringing, we asked where's aspiration, where's inspiration? So I want to know what goes on. Picture in your mind the last time you were stuck and bothered What was in the, I like to think about cameras, what was in your camera, the camera of your mind?
SPEAKER_01:Well, yes. Good question. I know it wasn't a yes or no question, but I was actually thinking about this today and yesterday for your face, Thomas, because I heard you say over a beautiful vort. I know you hate that phrase, but you said over at V'Bringen that I was at recently about the idea of why the Friedrich Ereba thinking about Hishkach HaPratis when he was sitting in the hallway in the Sperlino prison and that that's effectively what he said later on is what saved him. what Hishkacha Prathis...
SPEAKER_02:He didn't say it saved him. He said that it gave him the ability to withstand the pain and suffering of the prison.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, yeah. Thank you for clarifying. So I was thinking about that experience, about what is it about Hishkacha Prathis where I can't obviously say the Friedeke rebel was feeling stuck, but in a place where I'm feeling stuck, or I want my life to be different, how I could utilize thinking about Ishgacha practice and bringing that into the forefront and a picture to...
SPEAKER_02:And I'm going to tell you it ain't going to work.
SPEAKER_01:What does that mean? Why not?
SPEAKER_02:I'm going to explain to you. It's funny you're saying it because our listeners don't, who are eavesdropping here, don't know what we're talking about yet, but you'll see. Okay, tell me how, now that you're stuck.
SPEAKER_01:You're baiting me. Tell me how.
SPEAKER_02:Tell me how, when you're stuck, how Hishkaka Pratis helps
SPEAKER_01:you. Well, no, no, I would rather you first. No, no, no, let's go. Come
SPEAKER_02:on. Tell me how it helps you.
SPEAKER_01:So, how it helps me is either the idea itself of Hishkaka Pratis, Hashem ruling the world and controlling every single detail of the world, and so therefore every detail of your life. is being dictated by Hashem, and so therefore you have nothing to fear, worry, stress about, because everything is being controlled, which is a
SPEAKER_02:narrative. Oh, wait a second. It's being controlled, and you're stuck in somewhere. And therefore what?
SPEAKER_01:I'm saying it's a narrative
SPEAKER_02:that
SPEAKER_01:I'm using. First of all, it's a narrative that I'm stuck, and it's also a narrative... that I'm using kishkaf kapratas to take me out of my stuck-in.
SPEAKER_02:How does it take you out of your stuck-in-ness?
SPEAKER_01:Because what I see it as is that this is being presented to me in my life and in my experience, not to make me stuck, but for me to break through. And I have that ability to break through because Hashem is putting it in front of me for that purpose and that reason.
SPEAKER_02:Let me see if I understand what you're saying. You're sitting in a crummy position. Forget about the freedom. You're sitting in a very blocked, bothersome situation. You're frustrated. You're mad. You're angry at the world because that's what most people, what happens eventually. And when I say stuck, I'm saying you're feeling like pinched. You're feeling pressed up against the wall. Okay? Right? Okay, good. And now you say to yourself, what? Everything's a shkako pratis. And more than that, if it's a shkako pratis, it must be that, you said, I have the power to break through all this.
SPEAKER_01:It's my job to... Oh, your
SPEAKER_02:job to break through.
SPEAKER_01:Not only to break through, but to... first of all, encounter it and deal with it.
SPEAKER_02:Well, that's called breaking through. Well, breaking through is the... Okay, so let me ask you a question. Since you used to be not religious, let's talk about the not religious guy who doesn't know straw from steak when it comes to hashkacha pratis. So he also knows, doesn't he? Let me ask you a different way. So what does he think he's supposed to do in this situation? What's your thought? Can I use your English name? No. Okay. What's your thought, once upon a time, a guy with an English name, that you did before you knew about hashgacha pratis, about that situation? What did you say to yourself?
SPEAKER_01:I don't have to use me, but...
SPEAKER_02:Well, who should we use? A fictitious
SPEAKER_01:guy? I want to use you. I don't know how I would have thought about it. I have to think
SPEAKER_02:about
SPEAKER_01:it. I mean, I would have thought about it in terms of how to process what I have the ability to control and what I don't have the ability to control and worked with that.
SPEAKER_02:And Shkarcha Pratas does what?
SPEAKER_01:Shkarcha Pratas... You can
SPEAKER_02:control everything?
SPEAKER_01:No. No. that everything is being presented in front of you for you to deal with.
SPEAKER_02:Well, the other guy's going to deal with it. The pre-you religious is also going
SPEAKER_01:to deal with it. Everybody has to still live life.
SPEAKER_02:Okay, so I'm asking you, so what's the difference?
SPEAKER_01:That's what I'm saying. One is a more face-forward, this is being presented to you by the divine that's literally tailored, made for you to deal with. And the other is, this happens... and you're a victim of circumstance, and you have to deal with it because this is what's being presented to
SPEAKER_02:you. So I'm going to ask you, what's my benayu? What's
SPEAKER_01:the difference? I just said it.
SPEAKER_02:No, my benayu to the guy, not what's the difference of... You end up saying both deal with it.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah.
SPEAKER_02:So I'm asking you, so what's the difference that you now know of skakopratis?
SPEAKER_01:Well, first of all, you can have a little pep in your step when having to deal with it. There's a certain... intrinsic power of understanding that if Hashem wants to be involved in your life, which we believe he does in every single detail, then there's an extra power that you already feel when having to face that challenge.
SPEAKER_02:What's the power? He put me into this place.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, but you feel more powerful that this is being put in front of me, not by accident, not in circumstance, but because this is my pickle to deal with.
SPEAKER_02:So you're saying a person who doesn't believe in Ashkacha Pratis or doesn't know about it is feeling...
SPEAKER_01:There's a victim
SPEAKER_02:mentality. And Ashkacha Pratis is not a victim mentality?
SPEAKER_01:No, it's an empowering. This is Hashem. What are you
SPEAKER_02:saying? It's empowered. Yeah. And what's the empowerment?
SPEAKER_01:The empowerment is that Hashem put this in front of you because you can't handle it.
SPEAKER_02:That's another concept. That's not Hishkaka Prathis. That's a concept of whatever happens to you, you have the ability to handle it.
SPEAKER_01:Okay, but I'm saying Hishkaka Prathis plays a role in that you're involving yourself in something that now you're understanding is your test, is your challenge, is your stuckedness. Okay.
SPEAKER_02:I mean, it sounds a lot of fun. I don't believe... It could be that what you're saying, that the difference of hashgachar pratis and not hashgachar pratis will be whether you, how much you feel you're in control or not in control. You know, we spoke about this, the song that they're singing in Israel, O Yotetov, it was a big pushback by Yotetov certain groups of rabbis, because the song says, God is going to do good for me, and he loves me, and he's going to give me parnasah, and he's going to do all these things. They say, how do you know? How do you know? They also believe God runs the world. And they say, how do you know? Maybe not. And not only that, they say it's part of the mitzvah of betachet, part of the mitzvah of emunah. But let's go back to No, one second. We haven't gotten there yet. Let's go back to you. So you're saying that when you confront, when you're, okay, first of all, it's interesting how you, I like to think in geometry, how you set up We'll call it like a baseball diamond. There's a pitcher and there's a batter and there's a first baseman, right? So what's the geometry in your situation where you're stuck? There's God. Let's call him the pitcher. Is that okay? He's going to throw the ball. The situation is the ball. Good? Okay. You're the batter. Right? Okay. And you're going to swing at the ball.
SPEAKER_01:Well,
SPEAKER_02:I work with my audience, you know. And by the way, we had a baseball team in Montreal. Okay. So, the geometry is that you're saying hashkacha pratis is I have the ability to to hit the ball that was thrown at me because God is the one who pitched it. That's what you're saying. You're not saying that? What do you mean okay? Yeah? Okay. Okay, good. Why I say it's interesting is because your focus is on having to deal with the ball. And because that's your problem, you come in and you say, God runs everything, because I know the shita of the Baal Shem Tov, Ashkacha Pratis, and now I have the ability to take care of hitting the ball. And I'm going to suggest to you that that is life In the lane of inspiration, not aspiration. You're not taking and living with the idea of a shkacha pratis as an aspiration, which I don't even know what that would mean, actually. But you're living it as an idea that inspires you. It's like there's a third base coachman telling you how to swing. He knows that the guy is going to pitch a fastball. So he tells you to get ready for a fastball. So you say that, oh, wow, the terrorist says everything's a skakopratis, therefore A, B, and C, therefore I'm going to be able to hit that ball. Now let me ask you a question, just to follow through with the muscle. When Babe Ruth gets up at bat, I don't know anyone, When Babe Ruth gets up at bat, is he thinking, I want to hit the ball?
SPEAKER_01:No.
SPEAKER_02:Really? So what is he thinking about?
SPEAKER_01:I'm going to hit the ball.
SPEAKER_02:Fine. Is he thinking I'm going to...
SPEAKER_01:You would love that distinction any other time. I just called you out on it, but fine, go on.
SPEAKER_02:Are you thinking... You're going down the wrong track. Are you thinking that? Fine. So you're saying to me, he knows he's going to hit the ball. And I'm saying to you, no, that's not what he's thinking about. He's thinking about, I'm going to round the bases. I'm going to get to home plate. That's the difference between Now let's go back to about inspiration and aspiration. The geometry that I'm mentioning to you is that you put your challenge, your focus, is I'm stuck, but there must be a good reason why I'm stuck, and there must be an ability for me to shatter this stuckness. Right? Okay, let's bring in Rabbi Akiva again. So he was walking in the forest thinking, oh Lord, I wish I could learn Torah. Is that what he was doing? And then he saw this water and the rock. Or let's make it even spicier. I'd love to be able to please, what was his wife's name? Do you remember the wife's name? I'd love to be able to please my soon-to-be wife and learn Torah. And that's why he saw the water hitting the rock, telling him what it was all about, that idea with the hole in the rock. In other words, what I'm trying to say to you is, inspiration is the outside coming in. It could be the outside coming in, in this situation, as you put it, It's a challenge. And God threw the ball, as I'm saying. Inspiration could be the idea there's me, whatever I'm finding myself in. Let's say where I want to get to, or let's say what I'd rather be at. And I'm looking for inspiration to get out of it. That's how most people function. To the degree... Well, let's go back. If you're following the bouncing ball, I'm not sure we are. Let's go back to the Friedrich Rebbe's statement. Friedrich Rebbe says that he had this koyach from the Meimer that he actually didn't even write it, by the way. He took it out, but he put it in originally. Ashkacha Pratis from the Baal Shem Tov's teachings gave him the wherewithal to go through the challenge of being imprisoned. He said the Yiddish word that he uses is he could, like we'll call it in English, walk through it. Go through it. You know, not to be broken by it. He could carry the weight of the situation. Okay. What do you think that referred to?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. What do you think he was thinking of
SPEAKER_02:then? You tell me. No, I'm... I'm not testing you. You don't know? Okay, fine. So the Rebbe says, the Rebbe says, you think that it means the pain and the suffering of someone beating him up? He doesn't say the word beating up. That's what he's referring to. He had a death sentence on his head. This is bad news bears, man. And he's being beat up and he's putting him into a prison hall. Not easy for a man of his age and who he was and so on and so forth. So he says, I can go through the challenge. That's the way you would say it. So Rebbe says, no. Why? He says, because it would be more accurate to say, No evil comes from above. This is not a bad situation. It's not evil. And Makabal, see he brings the Gemara, Makabal Yisroim Ba'ava, accept the difficulties in life with love. God threw the pitch. There's another way of saying that, right? And the Rebbe says, no. No. So since he said Ashkacha Pratas, that's not what it means. Ashkacha Pratas didn't mean that he feels better about his situation. And when I read that, I was like flabbergasted. Because that's what everybody thinks Ashkacha Pratas means. It's kind of what you just said. The Ebbish, the putting me in a challenge, means that I have the ability to go through it. So it becomes a thought that that is inspiring me to not give up or to do whatever I have to do to try to get out of this situation. Okay, but the Rebbe discounts that. Okay, so wait. Forget about for now what the Rebbe answers is that we're not here right away to discuss the Friedrich Rebbe's pain and suffering. We're going to get what it was in a second. But that's not even the point here. So, the... Again, the idea of Hashkacha Pratis wasn't to make him feel better, says the Rebbe, because it would have been more accurate to say it's not bad. Okay. Let's unpack that for a second. What that really means is, Hashkacha Pratis says, right now as we're sitting here in your living room, doing this podcast, is Hashkacha Pratis. It's here, right now, in the room, with the books on the shelf, with whatever's on, with the pictures on the wall. The whole entire picture is sculpted into Hashkacha Pratis. Is there a good about that? A bad about that? Is that what it's saying? All Ashkaka Pratis is saying, I don't mean to diminish it, but all Ashkaka Pratis is saying is, this is a camera shot. It's a picture of what's taking place. And like you said, God is making it happen. You want to talk about, is it good, bad, or indifferent? You want to talk about whether or not this is a challenge, whether you have the ability to go through your challenge, and on and on and on. That's a separate story. And that is a story. But first know this is the reality, this is a snapshot of a shkacha pratis. It's not doing it to you. The whole it. It's not to you. To you would have been like the Rebbe said, but why isn't that the pshat by the Friedrich Rebbe? That no evil comes from above and that I should be in a couple difficulties with... Love is dealing with to me. Why are you doing it to me? The books are here. You don't say on your shelf. You don't say, why are the books being put on the shelf at the moment? Why is the shelf underneath them being done to them? Same thing with Hishkaka Pratis and you and me. We're just looking at the picture. Like a camera. The camera doesn't evaluate. Okay, now.
SPEAKER_01:I don't see how that is corresponding to the Nimshal that you were saying that he, Babe Ruth, pictured running the bases.
SPEAKER_02:I'm going to tell you why. I'm not talking, we're going to go back to the to Rabbi Akiva, I'm not gonna talk about Ashkacha Pratis. I'm gonna say why did he see what he saw? Now you touched on it, but you kinda interesting geometry on it. He wanted to be able to learn Torah. That was coming from where? We left with the question last time we met. Where is the seat of aspiration? Where, why was Rabbi Akiva wanting to learn
SPEAKER_00:Torah? Exactly,
SPEAKER_02:it was him, not in him, it was him. And therefore, since that is the, I don't even call it attitude, that is his space, that is his reality, So if there's going to be a message in a water with rock, he's going to see it. It's not going to inspire him because he's walking down the road and all of a sudden something happens and he says, wow, that's inspirational. I'm going to go do X, Y, and Z. Probably will not happen or it'll happen in a weak way. If you're coming from inside of yourself, and you get a strategy or a... It's not an inspiration. You get a direction message. It's interesting. It says you can learn from everything. It doesn't say you can be inspired by everything. Then it's coming from the outside, from the inside out. Inspiration is the outside in. Now, I'm going to bring it right back to what you said about your problem. The idea that Hashem is going to put this into shkacha pratis, and he made it happen, is going to give me the ability for what? To get out of my problem. Your relationship with your problem remains outside in. I'm not switching around and saying, you caused the problem so it's inside out. What I'm saying is, is the focus on I got to get out of my stuckness in a certain, in a weird way I'm saying, the stuckness is inspiring you to make a move. That's how you're looking at it. You don't have a pre-existing ratzah like Rabbi Akiva. And if you do, and something is going to unstick you, it's going to be because of that Ratzon. And if something's going to come and hold you back, you're not going to lay down and take it, because you're motivated from within that you want to get to a certain aspiration that you're aspiring to, and this thing is blocking me? It's not I have to get rid of it. even though you're going to, it's coming from the inside out, the other way around. We've spoken about it many times, right? What's the approach of the Rebbe of Mashiach? Because things are bad? So we need Mashiach to get out of the bad? Again, that's a situation that we're in. is causing me to want Mashiach. And I'm suggesting you're not going to see Mashiach, just like you won't see the water and the rock, if you're not looking and already have a strong desire from within to learn Torah. So if you're focused on, it's not only you're just focused on the galas, you're not, in essence, it's not your game. You just got put in it. Because there's a Gala story around you. So you want to get out of it. I never heard the Rebbe say, since I was three years old, the world was so bad, which we all know it is, and therefore I wanted Moshiach. We never heard that kind of language from the Rebbe. So that's what I meant that in a certain sense, it's not that I don't care what the world says about me. And the reason why I mention it is because I get it all the time from my family. What do you mean you're starting over? You're not acting your age. Well, who says what age is to act what, right? Well, there's a certain societal norm. Now, I'm not saying I'm going to start, you know... I don't even know what they call it. I was going to say like a clothing thing or something like a teenager bopper. Or I'm going to go back to wearing tie-dye shirts or something because I want to be young again. It's not what I'm saying. So...
SPEAKER_01:You looked really good in your
SPEAKER_02:perm costume, by the way. Yeah, that was... Anyways. So... If... So now the real big question really is, how do you get to your self, with a capital S, so that when you are stuck, you're coming from inside out? Where does that take place? How does that happen?
SPEAKER_01:Probably a lot of preparation. Right. Before you, before you step up at the plate, you're already ready.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah. And, but that preparation already is preceded by your desire. Right. So how do you feel that desire? One of the things that I find frustrating is you hear all of these like big success story people, whether it's an art, music, business, And even the Rebbe, when he said about Moshiach, they were dreaming about it at a young age. I was just listening to a podcast with a film producer and writer and director. I wanted to produce films at the age of 12, since the age of 12. Now he's almost up to 70. It seems to be that's a trend amongst very driven, successful people, right? that they were like that from so young. And I don't have that, at least not consciously, as far as I can remember, which means I don't have it. So how do you dig deep enough to feel that what's in your own self, rather than I'm just reacting... to everything that's taking place on the outside and affecting me on the inside. I mean, isn't that the whole of Veda? You know, so it's something, we're coming to the three weeks, you know, and the... I mean, today we don't look at it as a chidish, but when the Rebbe said to learn Hilchot's base of a chira, the chidish, the reasoning was based on a whole thing with the Yirmiyahu and the explanation of, it was in Yehezkel, the explanation of the size of the third base of Migdash and all its dimensions. And he said, what for? You're making us depressed. You're telling me all about this building that we don't have. And the answer is, You're learning it as if you're building it. Right? Think about that. Okay, the statement itself holds its own meaning. But could we explain it to mean do you see yourself as a builder? can you feel yourself as the builder and therefore you're going to learn because the idea is understood in rational thought but it doesn't mean you're going to go do it. It doesn't come from me. It's not my identity. It's a nice idea. No. The Torah is telling you you are a builder. I don't feel it. I hear that. But is it enough that the Torah is telling you that that's who you are?
SPEAKER_01:I guess that's the first step.
SPEAKER_02:Yeah, 100%. So, B'Shem, we'll build it together. You've been listening to A Street for Brain, a production of HubBudLife.tv and Studio 260.