THE ART OF LIVING WITH AUTHENTICITY
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THE ART OF LIVING WITH AUTHENTICITY
The word of the year 2023 for the Miriam Webster dictionary is “authentic”. People are searching for the truth on the internet, in the news, trying to see behind all the fake news. People are done with Artificial Intelligence, artificially made pictures in the news… People are living and posting artificial lives, and portray their best artificial self. The more we look for authenticity, and challenge the fake, the more we appreciate the real thing. And this brings us to the real question: When we say to G-d, three times a day, כי בך בטחנו ועל חסדך הגדול באמת נשעננו, in You we trust, and we really rely and depend on Your great kindness! – do we really mean it? Are we authentic?
In the prayer of Amidah, we are not allowed to lean on anything, that, if taken away, we would fall. The same is true with our Bitachon: We are not allowed to rely on IDF, Biden, Bibi, police, FDA, our doctors, our parnassa, the people we love and trust or the justice of non-Jews of the world, acknowledging and knowing with complete clarity that if those elements would be removed, we would fall! The highest level of the ten levels of Bitachon, is to be a Ksil, a fool (see end of Shaar Habitachon in H’ Halevovot). The Ksil is the one, who is relying on G-d, without anything that makes sense to rely on, because G-d is not limited to our lexicon of things that we rely on. When we take all of our intelligence and throw it away, as if we were an animal, then G-d saves us. אָ֤דָֽם־וּבְהֵמָ֖ה תוֹשִׁ֣יעַ יְקֹוָֽק: (Tehillim 36;7, see Hullin 5b) This is what the month of Kislev is about: to be that Ksil, that fool.
So, who is really מתיר אסורים? Who is freeing the hostages? G-d is fighting this war, because He is בעל מלחמות! Only He runs the wars! These are words that we say every day, and our heart doesn’t even skip a beat when mentioning these words! We care about Musk’s opinion, we held our breath until he sided with Israel, because his Twitter/X can change the perspective of the news. But are we holding our breath before we say עושה חדשות, that G-d is the One who Makes the actual news each morning??!
One of the signs of the generation before Mashiach is האמת נעדרת, the truth is concealed, hard to find, hard to know. Everyone wants to know the truth, the authentic news, what is really going on! Living in Israel, in my apartment in Bayit Vegan, I will tell you that these are the most unique times Israel ever had! We have never before had “no politics”! No one in the government is disagreeing now! They have all just proved to the entire country that they are powerless, and that as a nation, we can only rely on G-d! That is the authentic news! That פוליטיקה , Politics, is the same numerical value as עמלק, Amalek! The way the politicians explain the news, with their personal versions on what’s happening, only confuses us. Since the beginning of the war, no politicians are expressing their opinions, because no one cares what they think anymore! They are all just a bunch of clowns! Their wall at the border was the world’s biggest joke! אִם־יְקֹוָ֥ק לֹֽא־יִשְׁמָר־עִ֝֗יר שָׁ֤וְא׀ שָׁקַ֬ד שׁוֹמֵֽר If YKVK does not watch over a city, the watchman who is working so hard to watch it is wasting his time! (Tehillim 127;1) G-d blinded the strongest Cybercountry in the world, when Hamas was plotting this for a looonnnggg time, just a kilometer away! It is not that they are responsible or irresponsible; it is that no one can be responsible! Allow me to explain!
A fundamental axiom of authentic faith is that nothing bad can happen to you, if G-d does not let it. As Yosef told his brothers, who threw him into a pit of snakes and scorpions, who sold him naked as a slave for the price of shoes, who took him away from learning Shas with his father. (“זקנים – זרעים קדשים נשים ישועות (נזיקין) מועד”. Baal Haturim. He had not yet learned Taharot, for it was not appropriate to learn the laws of family purity, as he was not yet of marriageable age.) The brothers lied to their father while they actually sold him to Egypt, to a place of immorality, where he was going to either fail the test with the wife of Potiphar or go to jail for 12 years… But at the end of the story, when the brothers were afraid that Yosef, as ruler of Egypt, would kill them… Yosef said something that is UNBELIEVABLE! YOU DID NOT DO ANYTHING TO ME! וְאַתֶּ֕ם חֲשַׁבְתֶּ֥ם עָלַ֖י רָעָ֑ה אֱלֹהִים֙ חֲשָׁבָ֣הּ לְטֹבָ֔ה (Bereshit 50;20) You did not mess up my life, because G-d did not allow you to hurt me, in the slightest!
The only thing that can really hurt you are the angels that you have created from the sins you’ve done, that you did not do Teshuva for. That is the authentic truth. What happens, for real, is that we all have bad angels we created from sin, surrounding us. יִפֹּ֤ל מִצִּדְּךָ֨׀ אֶ֗לֶף וּרְבָבָ֥ה מִימִינֶ֑ךָ (Psalms 91;7) You have on your right side, 10,000 bad angels, and 1,000 bad angels on your left side! The transgressions for negative commandments are 1/10th the amount of positive commandments that we did not keep, or did not do with our whole hearts! (The left side, is represented by Gevurah, which is Negative Commandments, and the right side, is represented by Hessed, which is Positive Commandments!) King David prayed that all these bad angels would have no impact on us, because an authentic Jew knows that G-d won’t let something happen to me, that is not supposed to happen!
Yaakov told Esav, I am not afraid of you! עִם־לָבָ֣ן גַּ֔רְתִּי I lived with Lavan, and I kept the Taryag, the 613 Commandments! You can’t touch me! The passuk that says וַיִּירָ֧א יַעֲקֹ֛ב מְאֹ֖ד וַיֵּ֣צֶר ל֑וֹ , that expresses the fears of Yaakov, the commentators explain that fear, on a different level: Yaakov was afraid not that Esav had the power to hurt him, but that maybe he was susceptible to getting hurt, because, 1. He did not respect his parents for 20 years 2. He might hurt Esav, and then Yitzhak would be upset with him, or he might hurt Esav’s people 3. His children might get hurt 4. He might have been out of line by flattering Esav, calling him his master, and calling himself, Yaakov, “Your servant”.
But then, Esav said to Yaakov, “If so, if you are not afraid, let us fight it out!” To that, Yaakov answered, וָאֵחַ֖ר עַד־עָֽתָּה And I delay to fight you, until “Attah”. (Baal Haturim) The Baal Haturim explains that this word Attah, means its acronym: Yaakov said, I will fight you in the End of Time, after the ע- 70 years of Babylon, after the ת- 400 years of Egypt, and after the ה – at the end of the 5,000 years. In the days of Mashiach, Yaakov will fight Esav and win. Until then, we don’t fight. All we do is three things. Prayer, Gifts, and Defense (which meant to Yaakov to run away and cut your losses).
The second meaning of the word Attah, is that עתה , also, is always a reference to Teshuva.(B’ Rabba 21; 65) When the Jewish people will do teshuva at the end of days, only this will bring the Mashiach, and only then, Yaakov will be willing to fight Esav. (Rambam Teshuva 7;8) The pesukim are clear, that there will be two levels of the Redemption. First, the Jews will begin to have an awakening. בַּצַּ֣ר לְךָ֔ וּמְצָא֕וּךָ כֹּ֖ל הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֑לֶּה בְּאַחֲרִית֙ הַיָּמִ֔ים וְשַׁבְתָּ֙ עַד־יְקֹוָ֣ק אֱלֹהֶ֔יךָ וְשָׁמַעְתָּ֖ בְּקֹלֽוֹ: (Devarim 4;30) And וְשַׁבְתָּ֞ עַד־יְקֹוָ֤ק אֱלֹהֶ֙יךָ֙ וְשָׁמַעְתָּ֣ בְקֹל֔וֹ כְּכֹ֛ל אֲשֶׁר־אָנֹכִ֥י מְצַוְּךָ֖ הַיּ֑וֹם אַתָּ֣ה וּבָנֶ֔יךָ בְּכָל־ לְבָבְךָ֖ וּבְכָל־נַפְשֶֽׁךָ. (Devarim 30; 2) And only then, G-d will bring us all together: (ג) וְשָׁ֨ב יְקֹוָ֧ק אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ אֶת־שְׁבוּתְךָ֖ וְרִחֲמֶ֑ךָ וְשָׁ֗ב וְקִבֶּצְךָ֙ מִכָּל־הָ֣עַמִּ֔ים אֲשֶׁ֧ר הֱפִֽיצְךָ֛ יְקֹוָ֥ק אֱלֹהֶ֖יךָ שָֽׁמָּה: And then finally, in the times of Mashiach, G-d will bring us to an entirely different level of Teshuva:(ו) וּמָ֨ל יְקֹוָ֧ק אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ אֶת־לְבָבְךָ֖ וְאֶת־לְבַ֣ב זַרְעֶ֑ךָ לְאַהֲבָ֞ה אֶת־יְקֹוָ֧ק אֱלֹהֶ֛יךָ בְּכָל־לְבָבְךָ֥ וּבְכָל־נַפְשְׁךָ֖ לְמַ֥עַן חַיֶּֽיךָ:
One of the signs of Mashiach is exactly that: he will make the whole world do Teshuva. ואם יעמוד מלך מבית דוד הוגה בתורה ועוסק במצוות כדוד אביו, כפי תורה שבכתב ושבעל פה, ויכוף כל ישראל לילך בה ולחזק בדקה, וילחם מלחמות ה’, הרי זה בחזקת שהוא משיח, אם עשה והצליח ונצח כל האומות שסביביו ובנה מקדש במקומו וקבץ נדחי ישראל הרי זה משיח בודאי. ואם לא הצליח עד כה או נהרג בידוע שאינו זה שהבטיחה עליו תורה והרי הוא ככל מלכי בית דוד השלמים הכשרים שמתו (Rambam Melachim 11;4) Because the way we fight our enemies, is through Teshuva. This is a spiritual war, not a physical one.
Hamas first wanted this attack to be on the night of the Seder. When they saw that IDF was ready for them, they pushed it off till Simhat Torah. Both times, Nissan and Tishrei, are times of Redemption. (Rosh Hashana 11b) Everything that happened, on Oct. 7 was predetermined from way before, Oct. 7. The Shibolei Haleket writes, why, on Minha, of Shabbat we say וַאֲנִ֤י תְפִלָּתִֽי־לְךָ֨׀ יְקֹוָ֡ק עֵ֤ת רָצ֗וֹן אֱלֹק֥ים בְּרָב־חַסְדֶּ֑ךָ עֲ֝נֵ֗נִי בֶּאֱמֶ֥ת יִשְׁעֶֽךָ: And I, my prayer, to You YKVK, of a time of Will, Elokim, in Your great kindness, answer me, with Your genuine salvation!” וכתב בשיבולי הלקט (ס’ קכו’) בשם רבי נתן ב”ר מכיר, למה אומרים במנחה של שבת “ואני תפילתי” בשביל שצרה אחרונה שלא נהייתה מעולם כמוה, תהיה בעקבי הקץ תשעה חדשים, שנאמר “לכן יתנם עד עת יולדה ילדה”. והיום האחרון תכבד הצרה, מכל שלפניה, ויום שבת יהיה וכל יום תהיה הצרה. עד עת מנחה ואז יהיו ישראל נענין במנחה ומיד יבא משיח ויושיענו, הדא הוא דכתיב “בעת רצון עניתיך וביום ישועה עזרתיך” והיינו דכתיב “בשובה ונחת תוושעון” כלומר ביום נחת ( שבת) תגאלו ותפילת מנחה קורא עת רצון (שהרי אליהו לא נענה אלא בתפילת מנחה שנאמר “ויהי בעלות המנחה”). The beginning of the times of Mashiach, there will be a great attack on the Jews on Shabbat, one like there had never been before! This will be in the end of days, nine months before the end. The whole Shabbat day will be a day of sorrow, until Minha, and then at Minha, G-d will answer us! And after that, Mashiah will come! This also explains, why after Shabbat we are to sing, Eliyahu Hanavi, that he will come and give us the good tidings that Mashiach is coming tomorrow! And this is also the reason why we say ובא לציון גואל, that the redeemer will come to Zion, on Minha of Shabbat. Because, since the Rabbis teach the laymen, in the class before Minha on Shabbat, and the Rabbis are supposed to infuse them with faith that Mashiach will come, at the end of their Shabbat pre-Minha class, each week! (Abudraham)
The more we talk about Mashiach, the faster he will come! The only reason why he is not here yet is because not enough people are asking, “Why isn’t he here yet?!?
