but how are you thinking about the world being on fire and how you show up in that?

It's a perfect question about October 7th.

Nothing changed.

after October 7th in my feeling and knowledge and expectation of Am Yisrael and the world and of our enemies.

I know what happened in Tarpat in 1929 in Hebron.

I know about it.

I know what jihadism is.

Nobel Peace Prize.

So my question to you that I want to talk about is how do you remain an optimist? about where Klal Yisrael and the Jewish people are headed when it seems in this moment, our visions and our, what some of you call hashkafa, our worldviews seem to be so mutually exclusive.

Wow.

The first thing's first.

There's a Tzfila, Kodim HaTzfila, there's a prayer that's published in some Siddurim called The Prayer for the Prayer of Reb Eli Melech of Lezhensk, the Rebbe of Melech, who was the third generation after the Baal Shem Tov, responsible for the spread of Hasidus to Poland, probably the most you know, one of the more transformational figures in the development of the Hasidic movement.

And Reb Eli Melech's prayer, most famously, the most often quoted part of his prayer as the prayer before the prayer, tefillah, kodam ha-tefillah, is actually asking, is verbalizing this and saying, please Hashem, ask Hashem, let allow me the ability to see good to find the good points in the others you said there's a lot of frustration with this community with that community of course this meaning that's part of life frustration and people falling short and not necessarily being aligned with everything that everyone else thinks and but he could also say it the other way, is that if we're able to open ourselves up and to daven t'eskeshan, help me see good in those places, then also see frustration, but the dialectic as well is also incredible values and kudos tovos and endearing qualities.

I think that As you were talking, I was in Lakewood last night, you know, and I was looking around the wedding.

I was at a simcha and then at a febreng and a gathering there.

All the time.

Tell me why that's not true.

I don't know.

Inspiration.

I don't, I don't, I don't want to, I don't know.

Let's not say the book inspiration.

I just want to, what happened was we were, we were landing back from a trip to the United States, coming back to Eretz Israel.

And the voice of this, of the pilot, this very heavy, intense kind of, you know, Israel, like deep Israeli voice, you know, we're, We know that we'll see better days for Medinat Yisrael.

But

What do you feel is the greatest obstacle and opportunity, um, to living a more spiritual life in the world today?

Well, let, let's, uh, focus on a, let's say, let's a more global, right? Like zooming out.

Um, Am Yisrael has a role to play, the Jewish nation, and our relationship with God, um, is a relationship that's compared to a, a king and subject, also as a, uh, a parent and a child, a ben and a av, avinu, av harachaman, our compassionate father.

But there's also this, there's also this element or this dimension called the kodesh brichu shcinte, that there's this shchina, that there's some feminine divine, that we're also in love with Ribono Shel Olam.

There's some relationship here like a husband and a wife, like lo- like lovers.

And all these different dimension have expression in different parts of our life and different parts of our national story.

The restoration of the Jewish, of Jewish sovereignty and of independence and of our presence in Eretz Yisrael is like a child returning to its motherland.

What's one that resonates right now or profound teaching that you think would be good for us to hear or to learn from?

How do we do this?

It's happening, right? It's g- it, it's what's happening.

If you, if you, if you're paying attention, if anyone's paying attention the last couple of years, and by a couple of years, I mean the last, you know, 75 years.

History is moving very fast, and a very new old model of Yid is being reborn here in Eretz Israel.

Um, takes a long time to turn a long truck.

It's a lot of turns on the wheel.

But, um, they say that the, there was a, the Mashgiach Ruchani of the Chevrei Yeshiva, one of the spiritual advisors of that, uh, institution of Jewish learning, Rav Meir Chadash was his name, um, once was speaking to a young man who was going through a, a difficult time, a personal struggle, and he just felt like he was weighed down.

Yeah