The Rebbe's Teachings: 10 Ideas That Changed Our Thinking

I think we should start with Jewish pride the emphasis on Jewish pride going Yankee that the damage of goals after years and years of of being oppressed the Jewish pride was severely damaged and coming out of goals demanded the return of Jewish bride that's F that's funny famous story about two Jews who are about to be executed and one of them said she might as well and the other one said shy you'll get us in trouble we were so afraid to show our Jewishness there was such a lack of pride and in the bad terrible days it was a it was a survival technique you had to be under the radar you have to hide you have to downplay everything because it was it was literally dangerous but to come out of goes or to take the goals out of ourselves that ever emphasized very strongly the the improvement or the increase in Jewish pride and I think that I've actually said that once that anyone who does the myth cilium and encourages Jewish pride adds pride in in Jewish minds and thinking he is my horses that's that's what I'm all about so the thing the first point that that ever turned around is that Jews should stop apologizing for being Jewish and to become a little more proud but this doesn't mean to be proud of the fact that we have a baseball player who is the best pitcher in history or that we have a singer who's the best singer in history or we have a politician who runs around the world what we need is to be proud of our Jewishness not of some other thing not even of our great army so the Six Day War was a great step in the healing and the return of Jewish pride but that was only a step in the right direction it is not yet the true Jewish pride so Jewish pride would mean proud of our Torah proud of our history proud of our ancestors proud of our customs and men hug him and everything that makes us Jewish that would be number one number two that ever introduced the idea in subtle ways there was no dramatics by the debbye they never introduced the idea that a human being has very few limitations there is nothing a human being can't do and he refused to accept the natural restrictions and the short short comings the inability so when somebody said to him I'm I'm busy all day long that I be given more work to do stretch your capacity there's no limit you can do more the superhuman in general that have insisted that we be bigger than ourselves that we go beyond our limits beyond our natural inclinations and that's when we start to live that's the beginning of our humanity not the crowning glory because until you go beyond yourself you're not really human you're content with how you were created that means you haven't contributed anything you're simply living out the the program that you were born with so unless you go beyond yourself and push yourself where where your nature wouldn't take you where your natural capacities and talents don't go but you go there out of determination and out of loyalty that's when you start being a human being so I think the second point would be that the rebel refused to accept limitations the third thing would be that in our generation in our time it's not the philosophy and it's not the faith and it's not the inner workings of the of the heart that are essential although they are important but the essential thing is the action so whatever philosophy you have whatever feelings you have whatever experiences you have they're interesting they're intense they're exciting but what action will come of it because the main thing is the action and there are a number of reasons for this as they'd ever explained many times but primarily since it is our job to change the world the effect on the world is strongest when you act when you do something with the world not so much when you have good intentions high intentions great understanding and appreciation of what's right and wrong but the actual doing is what effects the physical world and that's where we need to have the effect so the crucial thing is the action somebody set to they'd ever set to somebody when you get back to campus get your friends to put on thrillin and this guy said but today I don't put on film and they ever said that's not their fault why should they suffer now you could say if a guy doesn't put on Phil himself but tells others to do it that that's the height of hypocrisy totally unacceptable put on Phil yourself first before you preach to others they never didn't see it that way because hypocrisy is an internal condition which may or may not be healthy the internal condition hypocrisy is not healthy but what's happening on the inside is not as crucial as what is happening on the outside so if your friends will put on tefillin because you encouraged them that is far more significant than whether you are or are not hypocritical so we don't even go into the question of it is it hypocritical or not even if it is if your friends will put on - that will be a great accomplishment worth everything from there we go naturally to another point that that have been made and that is that our generation is the one that will succeed in bringing godliness down to earth we've been doing this for 3,000 years since the giving of the Torah God came down to hearts in night gave us the Torah and we are supposed to bring godliness the rest of the way down right off the mountain down to earth so for 3,000 years that's what we've been doing but our generation that ever said is the one that's going to finally bring it down to earth because between heaven and earth there are many many layers levels it's come down quite a quite a distance but not completely it's like after the giving of the Torah when God came down to Mount Sinai and actually wrote the commandments on a physical stone and so on we still needed to build a michigan in order to have god really be present in in the physical so making the michigan was the beginning one place one location one one geographical spot became godly our job is that every place should be godly and we are the generation that is meant to do that another concept that they did that popularized which may not may not be completely original but it certainly was given a lot of exposure by the devil and that is that a single mitzvah even if it is not followed by another mitzvah is infinitely valuable somebody called it the philosophy of the partial mitzvah if for example you light Shabbos candles in honor of Shabbos but then you don't really keep Shabbos properly the lighting of the candles is infinitely valuable if you don't mix meat milk but you don't really keep kosher infinitely valuable and the the thought behind that the reasoning behind it is if you do me a favor you do for me something that I really enjoy appreciate need and it's the only thing you do for me is that valuable is that significant is that meaningful of course it is you did something for me I would like you to do more and hopefully you will and if you enjoy doing this favor for me maybe you will do a favor but how can you dismiss somebody doing you a favor going out of their way for you just because they don't do it often enough so does God appreciate a mitzvah from someone who is not committed full-time to performing mitzvahs if you think of a mitzvah as doing for God what God asks or what God enjoys or what God needs well look it's infinitely valuable even if you do one Mitzvah your whole life so getting a Jew to put on fillin without asking him to commit to all 613 mitzvot is infinitely meaningful that ever had to make that argument because not everybody sees it that way but it's certainly one of the strong points that they have been made along the same lines in terms of understanding the Torah itself the study of Torah we know that there are different aspects of Torah there's the hallo ha the do's and the don'ts thou shalt or thou shalt not there's the discussion the debate around the halacha under what circumstances do you do the mitzvot who is obligated to do the mitzvot that what if you forgot to do the mitzvot how do you make up for it that's basically the the oral war the Talmud the mission or the Gemara of course there's also the written Torah the five books then there are commentaries so there are so many aspects of the revealed part of Torah and then we get to the mystical parts of Torah to the Kabbalah and the Zohar and their result for many many years the different aspects of Torah were studied in very limited compartmentalized fashion those who studied Kabbalah treated it like a special subject there was different distinct from anything else those who specialized in Halawa didn't really study Kabbalah much they were there were divided parts of Torah that ever made Torah a single unit everything in the Kabbalah is reflected in the in the Gemara and everything in gomorrah has a Kabbalistic origin the Debbi united all the aspects of Torah into one comprehensive teaching what the Gomera doesn't explain is explained in the in the Kabbalah in the Tsar but the Zohar doesn't give you the Gemara gives you and so on so that taken together as as a single unit the Torah is complete and that ebiz slogan was one Torah one God one nation which leads us to another point the appreciation and and the respect and the and the love and devotion to every individual Jew you hear people who are activists who do very good things very good projects but they're always speaking about Claudius row we have to do this for Klaus row for the for the Jewish people you hardly ever hear about the individual mr. gyro or mrs. Israel it's always cloudy Israel so any project that doesn't affect the entire people doesn't seem to be worth the effort by the debin the individual was as significant as the collective as the total and the total was as significant as the individual again a rejection of division separation distinctions because in ms all things are true if you're talking about the truth of what it drew is it is true of an individual Jew just as it is of the people you may see it more in the people then it than in the individual but if it's not in the individual then how do the people get it if you have ten bad people how can you have a good minion you have a minion of bad people you got you got a bad minion so how can you say the minion is great the individuals are not so if the Jewish people is great then you're willing to work for the Jewish people and and and worry about the survival of the Jewish people and continuity of the Jewish people you have to appreciate the infinite value of each individual that makes up the Jewish people let's see what else we have on our list here if we really want to fulfill God's purpose and creation shockingly it is not enough that every Jew become a saint if every Jew in the world became a perfect view fulfilling all 613 mitzvot stew perfection the world would not be what God needs it to be because there are other people in the world seven billion people and until all seven billion people recognize God the world is not the way God wants it to be and we were actually given a responsibility to be a light to the nation's not only by modeling our faith in God devotion to God and His commandments we actually have an obligation to influence convince and bring all people to serving God collectively and that's why the the description of the ultimate the world in its perfection after Messiah comes the description that we have in the olena at the end of every Sula the end of every prayer and every Dominic of every day of the year the description is all the people of the world will serve you and there and recognize you meaning God so we actually have an obligation to influence the rest of the world as well obviously it's an impossible task there are only 15 or 16 million Jews and there are seven billion people so it's not a project that you can actually undertake in terms of individuals we can't teach individuals but wherever we have the opportunity to influence non Jewish leaders non Jewish thinkers non Jewish writers the people who create the the culture and the values we should we should use those opportunities to introduce Torah concepts that are universal that are meant for all people I had the occasion once to be on BBC they have this five-minute message that goes out to 800 million people still not seven billion but 800 million is quite a number and this was back then maybe it's more greater now and the technician there was mumbling to himself about how people come and think that they can say something in five minutes that's going to be relevant relevant to 800 million people of different cultures different languages different places and that it was it was preposterous now just that week the debe had mentioned that it would be a great idea that every school every company every factory every group of workers at the end of the week when they get paid the company or the school or the factory should give its workers a symbolic dollar an additional dollar to be given to charity and encouraged to add some of their own money as well so the idea being you just got your paycheck now you have what to eat think of someone else think of those who don't have what to eat so that's what I mentioned I quoted that on this on this and this technician I don't know about the other 800 million people but this one guy said wow I think you did it that's relevant that's meaningful that is that is significant to whoever is going to hear this don't have to limit it 800 million can be everybody so that Eva's responsibility taking responsibility for the whole world and expecting that of us as well this is something this is something original it's been a long time since Jewish leaders had the the vision to be able to think of the rest of the world not only of Jewish survival when it comes to Jewish survival like peace in Israel that ebiz demand was that we treat the subject from a traditional Jewish value perspective and not from a political perspective because politics as we all know is false Tory is true and so that Eben's approach was appeasement playing politics with Jewish lives is unacceptable our commitment our responsibility the government's responsibility in Israel primarily first and foremost is the safety of its citizens not peace in the region when you've assured the safety of your citizens then you can talk peace but peace at the expense of a single Jewish life not acceptable now you can call that Jewish pride you can call that loyalty to Jewish values and Torah you can call that a traditional approach whatever whatever you want to call it the rebels demand and insistence that every time you compromise every time you you you cheat on your own values thinking that that's going to make everybody else happy has proven to be a failure every time so the Deborah's attitude is to take a Jewish stance we have our obligations we have our Torah we have our instructions from our sages from God from the Torah and that's how we behave and if we said that to the world the world would respect it much more than insisting that we are a democracy and we're the only democracy in the Middle East the Middle East is not impressed the Middle East will be impressed if we speak in the name of God and act in a godly fashion and put value and truth above politics one more subject people would write to their ever that physical health ailments problems and that ever would say often check your mezuzah make sure the mezuzah on your door is kosher make sure that every door has a mezuzah except for the bathroom in other words every door that needs a mezuzah illogically should have a mezuzah and the mezuzah should be kosher writing a mezuzah is a very exact and precise art and if you don't do it right then it's not a mezuzah and it doesn't have the holiness of the mezuzah and it doesn't have the effect of the mezuzah now the obvious question is the person wrote to the debe that his leg hurts he's got back ache he's got he's got problems with his vision though with his with his heart and that ever says check your me check your mezuzah what what is how we supposed to understand that one of the rebus themes is that the spiritual and the physical are not separate they're not two different truths they're a continuum everything begins spiritually everything starts in God for example and then it devolves until it takes on physical form if something is incomplete unhealthy or unwholesome in the physical you got to trace it back to its origins and that is in a less physical in the more metaphysical as for example how many ailments are what doctors call stress-related your back hurts there's nothing wrong with your back you have too much stress you're getting headaches migraines we checked your head there is nothing wrong there but you have too much stress so stress as a metaphysical thing and yet it's affecting the body it's the psychosomatic effect but the psychosomatic is only part of the story it's not just your thinking it's also your soul it's also what's going on deeper than your conscious thoughts all of these things have an effect so their ever being holistic went to the source of the problem and insisted that we understand and that we appreciate that body and soul may be very different than their natures but they are interdependent and one effects the other an unhealthy body disturbs the soul and a soul that is not interested in the body will not will not provide the body with what it needs a body that refuses to accept its soul is going to have elements so the healthy relationship between body and soul is a necessary part of life and health but that's that's true on all levels not only body and soul how you make a living how your business functions it also has a soul and a body in order for the body to be successful the soul has to be healthy so your business has to be moral and honest and the way God the way God wants and then God will give you the blessings that he wants to give you no matter how hard you work or how much overtime you put in if you run a decent business you've created the vehicle for which God can provide for you and God will provide a lot or a little depending on what you actually need to fulfill your purpose in life so here's the Debbie's message how you make a living and why you live at all in the first place cannot be separated they shouldn't be separated so you see that in many of these things there's a common thread a common theme no separation no separation between Jew and Jew no separation between one part of Turin and other no separation between body and soul no separation between creator and creation the ultimate point of everything is the oneness a universe not a chaotic world let's see what else we have here the emphasis on mafia we already mentioned that we are the generation that is supposed to bring godliness down to earth finally after all these years bringing godliness down to earth obviously would make the world and humanity godly not only not only good but godly what is Messiah Messiah is the descendent of King David who is the royal which is the royal family and in Jewish history Messiah will as our King guide us teach us and inspire us in the new way of living once evil has disappeared so what we're saying when we talk about Messiah is that we're looking for a time we're impatient for a time when God's world will be a godly world as he intended so when we talk about mushiya we're simply saying the world as it is is not acceptable it's got to get better than this much better and we are actually promised that there will be a time when Messiah will come and the world will be what it is meant to be we're just impatient for it to happen and we know who is going to guide us in that transformation so it's not a matter of believing in Messiah it's a matter of preparing the world so that the world can be under messiahs leadership the world as it was intended to be when God created

Channel: Chassidus with Rabbi Manis Friedman

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Keywords: Rabbi Manis Friedman, Manis Friedman, 11213.org, 11213org, Chabad Chassidus, Chabad, Chassidus, Tanya, Kabbalah, Torah, Daily Study, Judaism, Jewish Thought, Jewish, The Rebbe

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Length: 29min 55sec (1795 seconds)

Published: Mon Nov 07 2016