Hi, everyone. Hodesh Tov, Erev Shevachalom. This month that we've just entered is the month of Elul. It's the last month in the Jewish calendar, and it's considered the month of Teshuvah when the king is in the field. It's famous saying the king is in the field, find the king when he's near. And Teshuvah is always accepted, but in this month, it's a divine time for it to be more readily accepted. We know that the famous Pasuk comes down, Ani, Ledodili, is the acronym Elul. So what that Pasuk is telling us, if a person takes one step towards Hashem, Ani, Ledodili, and then Hashem provides the other, the balance. You get a person who comes to purify himself. Oh my gosh, I'll let them fly. Who comes to purify himself? He's assisted. So Ledodili and Hashem will fill in the gap. Hashem is obsessed with his nation. He gets so much in the head from Ani Salel. And another Pasuk, it says, in the Mejilat Purim, Islerehu, Umatanol Evionim, Elul, again. So there's a custom to increase our ex-charity, increase Hesed. So we will be judged favorably when the high holidays come. Another one is, I don't have to book in front of me, Ahub Leemala, Beohed Leemata. The love below cherished above. There's Mishnampi Kavot, when the spirit of one's fellow is pleased. The spirit of Hashem is pleased with that person in person. When other people love you, Hashem loves you. So this is a, and we'll see later, I'm going to mention it, It's a very special time to, you know, work on our interpersonal relationships and just become on good terms with everyone. Any stones left unturned, this is the time. So now the tribe that corresponds to the month is God. And there's a very deep discussion there where it says that, first let me just tell you, God stands for Gomel Dalim, like we just alluded to, increasing acts of kindness. There's no kindness upon the poor, that's what God stands for. And his name literally means Good Mazal. God means Good Mazal. Gimel stands for riches and Dalit, they say stands for poverty. But ultimately, it's future focused. When we say Good Mazal, it's future focused. So there's many arguments I'm not going to go through it and they kept citing sources, is the nation of Israel governed by Mazal? Now, long story short, yes and no. But ultimately, ultimately, no. Why? We were given the Torah. We have Zechud Avot. We know that there's a story, another story in the Torah, Abraham was, she was sure he saw on the stars that he could not have a child. And he was right, Hashem corrected him. He said, I know what the stars say, but I'm telling you that in Mazal Israel, Abraham could not have a child, but Abraham with the hey, it could. And what does the hey stand for? The hey stands for the Hamshahum Shetorah. So that's the allusion to there. And then there's another pasuk in the Yishaya that says do not be like the nations of the world. They're scared of the mazalot. They have reason to be scared. They exist. They're real. But ultimately, we are not governed by them. Now, let's say it seems like we are. Mazal is dealing us harsh blows. The Hazal say that there's five things that can change a person's mazal. There's change of name, there's change in location, change of deeds, charity and crying out Hashem. And then they went on to say, now sometimes the crying out Hashem and charity is not sufficient. And when mazal is dealing a person a harsh blow and these two things don't seem to be working, they're going to say that Tishubah is the only answer. Okay, sorry about that. They're going to say that Tishubah is the only answer. Now, in conclusion, every month of the Jewish calendar, a new book I got, the third volume of the set that I am so obsessed with, every blessing of the middle blessings in Amida correspond to a month. Combining Hashibah, Shoftenu and Lameenim, those considered one, there's 13 middle blessings corresponding to 12 months of the year, but the 13th corresponding to the last month of the year is which one, Shema Kolenu. And it says, here our voice except our prayers and they brought up Hanah when she was praying. Her lips were moving, but her voice could not be heard. Her voice, because why is it using that terminology? Here our voice. So first, a little bit more back information, hopefully I'm able to answer that for you clearly. Here our voice is referring to the collective voice and I went too fast. Shema Kolenu is the most important blessing, they say, of the middle 13. That's the one that gives the effectiveness of the prior 12. Just like when the year concludes, you know that the last of something, Ahub, Ahadunah, Ahadunah, the last is the most beloved. So the month of Elul gives meaning and is the acid test of what our previous 11 months were. Do you want a person once to be judged and be considered, they had a great test year? Work on Elul. Elul is a time where everything is just magnified, doubled. And so when we say here our voice, it's really referring to hearing the collective voice of Amir Sa'el. So as I'll say, so this is very important thing, a person wants his praise to be accepted. Shema Kolenu, Hashem, answer our prayers. What do we have to do? Prayer has to come. I'm not going to even start with that one. I'll get to that. But before prayer, they say before prayer, if it sits down in the shul, he should have in mind to fulfill his vow that Haq-e-Leh-Haq-e-Moha love your friend like you love yourself so you could connect to the seaboard. Rabbi Mansur talks about this often. If a person prays by himself, he's judged with a harsh lens. You know his prayers listen to, your judge is individual, but when you connect to the minyan, your judge is a collective. And we know that Hashem does not turn down the collective. The collective, the whole of the seaboard is much so super beneficial in having a person's prayers answered. Now I was asked this week, I was just being honest with my friends. I'm like, you've got my best time. I can't even compare. I wish I could be all in the same level, but my shakhit is much better than my minkha. Why? Because the first thing in the morning I'm on the same level as everybody. We all just woke up. And then the day arrives and everyone's on different pages. But in the morning, it's just something fresh, something new. And I really just love my shakhit. So in continuing, they bring up the Ramban's letter. Ramban at the end of his letter of humility. He says, read this letter once a week and your prayers are guaranteed to be answered. Now, what does that mean? Because it's a pretty strong promise by the Ramban. So what it means is many things. But first of all, when a person, you know, what's it called? Person, you know, he negates himself. When he does, you know, like from a place of humility, good and bad are not so different. He could see the good within the perceivably bad. He could see the bad within the perceivably good. So they're almost two and the same. It's just that's on Hashem. And nothing bad stands from Hashem. And when a person has humility, not only will he translate it, you know, optimally from a place of humility, but also Hashem loves a person who, you know, who puts, that's on Hashem for us. That's really what this time is about and crowning the king. That's the time that's coming. And with that, I would like to wish everyone a beautiful month ahead, a month of Yeshua, a month of Teshubah, a month of great interpersonal relationships, Shalom Bayid, peace, health, and only good things as Hashem. Amen.

Hi everyone, Hodesh Tov, Erev Shabbat Shalom. This month that we've just entered is the month of Elul. It's the last month in the Jewish calendar and it's considered the month of Teshuvah when the king is in the field. It's famous saying the king is in the field, find the king when he's near. And Teshuvah is always accepted, but in this month it's a divine time for it to be more readily accepted. We know that the famous Pasuk comes down, Ani, Ledodi, Vedodili is the acronym Elul. So that Pasuk is telling us if a person takes one step towards Hashem, Ani, Ledodi, and then Hashem provides the balance. You get a person who comes to purify himself, who comes to purify himself, he's assisted. So Ledodi and Hashem will fill in the gap. Hashem is obsessed with his nation. He gets so much Nahat from Am Yisrael. And another Pasuk, it says in the Megillah Purim, Um Atanot Levyonim, Elul, again. So there's a custom to increase our ex-charity, increase Hezid. So we will be judged favorably when the high holidays come. Another one is, I don't have to book in front of me, Ahub Le Mala Ve Ohed Le Matah, Beloved Below, Cherished Above. There's Mishnam Peke Avot, when the spirit of one's fellow is pleased, the spirit of Hashem is pleased with that person and the person. When other people love you, Hashem loves you. So this is a, and we'll see later, I'm going to mention it, that it's a very special time to, you know, work on our interpersonal relationships and just become on good terms with everyone. Any stones left unturned, this is the time. So now the tribe that corresponds to the month is God. And there's a, there's a very deep discussion there where it says that, first let me just tell you, God stands for Gomel Dalim, like we just alluded to, increasing acts of kindness, bestowing kindness upon the poor. That's what God stands for. And His name literally means good mazal. God means good mazal. Gimel stands for riches and Dalit, they say stands for poverty, but ultimately it's, it's future focused. When we say good mazal, it's future focused. So there's many arguments. I'm not going to go through it and they kept citing sources. Is the nation of Israel governed by mazal? Now, long story short, yes and no. But ultimately, ultimately no. Why? We were given the Torah. We have Zechut Avot. We know that there's a story that, another story in the Torah, Abraham was, she was sure he saw on the stars that he could not have a child and he was right, but Hashem corrected him. He said, I know what the stars say, but I'm telling you that in mazal Israel, Abraham could not have a child, but Abraham with the hay-ed it could. And what does the hay stand for? So, and what does the hay stand for? The hay stands for the Hamshahum Shetorah. So that's the allusion to there. And then there's another pasuk in the Yishaya that it says, do not be like the nations of the world. They're scared of the mazalot. They have reason to be scared. They exist. They're real. But ultimately we are not governed by them. And now let's say it seems like we are. Mazal is dealing us harsh blows. The Hazal say that there's five things that can change a person's mazal. There's change of name, there's change in location, change of deeds, charity, and crying out to Hashem. And then they went on to say, now sometimes the crying out to Hashem and charity is not sufficient. And when mazal is dealing a person a harsh blow and these two things don't seem to be working, they're going to say that Teshubah is the only answer. Okay, sorry about that. They're going to say that Teshubah is the only answer. Now, in conclusion, every month of the Jewish calendar, new book I got, the third volume of the set that I am so obsessed with, every blessing of the middle blessings in Amidah correspond to a month. Combining Hashibah Shoftenu and Laminim, those considered one, there's 13 middle blessings corresponding to the 12 months of the year, about the 13th, really corresponding to the last month of the year, is which one, Shema Kolenu. And it says here our voice except our prayers and they brought up Hanah when she was praying, her lips were moving but her voice could not be heard. So why was I saying here our voice? Because why is it using that terminology, here our voice? So first a little bit more back information, hopefully I'm able to answer that for you clearly. Here our voice is referring to the collective voice and I went too fast. Shema Kolenu is the most important blessing, they say, of the middle 13. That's the one that gives the, you know, effectiveness of the prior 12, just like when the year concludes that, you know that the last of something Ahub, Aharon Aharon Ha'vi, the last is the most beloved. So the month of Elul gives meaning and is the acid test of what our previous 11 months were. Do you want to, a person wants to be judged and be considered, they had a great past year, work on Elul. Elul is a time where everything is just magnified, doubled. And so what does it say here our voice? It's really referring to hearing the collective voice of Amir Sa'el. So the Hazal say, so this is a very important thing, a person wants his prayers to be accepted, Shema Kolenu has to answer our prayers. So what do we have to do? Prayer has to come, I'm not going to even start with that one yet, I'll get to that, before prayer, they say, before a person even sits down in the shul, he should have in mind to fulfill the mizvah, the Ha'at-e-lerah Ha'amoha, love your friend like you love yourself. So you could connect to the Sibur, Rabbi Mansur talks about this often. If a person prays by himself, he's judged with a harsh lens. You know his prayers listen too, but your judge is individual, but when you connect to the Minyan, your judge is a collective and you know, we know that Hashem does not turn down the collective. The collective, the whole of the Sibur is much super beneficial in having a person's prayers answered. Now I was asked this week, I was just being honest with my friends, I'm like, you know my best time, I can't even compare, I wish I could, I wish I could be all in the same level, but my shachrit is much better than my mincha, why? Because the first thing in the morning, I'm on the same level as everybody, we all just woke up, and then the day arrives and everyone's on different pages, but in the morning, it's just something fresh, something new, and I really just love my shachrit. My shachrit is beloved to me. So, and in continuing, they bring up the Ramban's letter. Ramban at the end of his letter of humility, he says, read this letter once a week and your prayers are guaranteed to be answered. Now, what does that mean? Because it's a pretty strong promise by the Ramban. So what it means is, many things, but first of all, when a person, you know, what's it called? A person, you know, he negates himself, bitul, when he does, you know, like from a place of humility, good and bad are not so different. He could see the good within the perceivably bad, he could see the bad within the perceivably good. So they're almost two and the same, it's just rachon hashem, and nothing bad stands from hashem, and when a person has humility, not only will he translate it, you know, optimally, from a place of humility, but also hashem loves a person who, you know, who puts, that's on hashem first. That's really what this time is about and crowning the king, that's the time that's coming. And with that, I would like to wish everyone a beautiful month ahead, a month of Yeshua, a month of Teshuba, a month of great interpersonal relationships, Shalom bayit, peace, health, and only good things. God bless you. Amen.

End of Shabbat Shalom, this week's Parashah is Parashah Bereshit and it's the first Parashah of the entire Torah And we know that the first of anything is something where you should milk for as much as you can take as much as you can from it Because it's very important. It's loaded with principles for life. The first of anything is a recipe for what's to come So so let's grab in the beginning Hashem created the world from nothing from not even from from merit Because man was not born the purpose for his creation was for man's benefit and it had no prior merit So strictly from kindness of Hashem. So we see from here Hashem's desires only to benefit man Hashem created the world without prior merit Another point we'll give out on day two Hashem's not used the words Kitov. Why? Because the day in day two Rift was created Machloket was created the upper and lower waters were separated and the idea of two two opinions Two, you know is created and whenever there's two there's Machloket There's not unity and whenever there's not unity, there's no berkha. So there Hashem could not attach the words Kitov And let's get to the beginning. Hashem creates Adam and Zachar and the kebab men men and women as one from the dust of the earth and he creates men Now he decides it's not good for men to be alone Let me separate the two so the woman will do her tests to allow the husband to do his his his tests And they should be opposite as I can ignore it was not for the purpose of a procreation They were able to do that conjoined But every animal had a male and female counterpart and Adam needed one as well So while Adam is doing his duties Hava is wandering and the snake finds her and we all know the story Adam actually did not relay the story the words of Hashem perfectly to Hava So that's why he's culpable as well for the sin of Hava who gave him the fruit The Torah says that he didn't know where it was from but nonetheless He's culpable because he did not relay it word for word Hashem said you shall not eat from the tree You should you will surely die Okay, he he added words where Hava found it appropriate to stay away and not even touch the tree So she added those words to the snake. What does the snake do snake pushes her? Oh, just like you touched it and you didn't die you will you can eat it And you also will not die Hashem doesn't want you eat from it because you'll be like him knowing good and evil You'll be like a God and and basically this one tactic of the et cetera Which we learned from the snake would have the snake do have a he wanted to make all the permitted trees look like diminish her desire for all those permitted trees and the one forbidden one make it look like it's the one Everything is meaningless Calls in a new shovel Lee, so this is what the Haman said when more high wouldn't bow every every person bow without me It's worth nothing as long as that more hi doesn't so the snake gets a lot in everyday life looks to make a person's permitted pleasures You know minor and the forbidden major. I can't live without it. So let's let's learn from that So what else can we do once they ate from the tree? We see that man was not it was not no longer a world of true of true and false You know a perfect world good and evil was introduced subjectivity was introduced and now we see that Hashem created everything creation a thing in its opposite true false good evil and We have two two yet sirs the et cetera tov and the et cetera Hashem called the et cetera tov may want very good Why because as our behavior said in his classes recently that when we're being confronted by et cetera Oh insurmountable challenge. We think we're garbage and nothing is going right No, this is the perfect opportunity to you for you to utilize your potential Hashem created man He said let us make man Hashem invites us to maximize our potential I just created you know body and soul flesh and blood But the potential is all up to us based off our choices and and that's Hashem put that totally not control So that's why he writes let us make man. What one of the many Kiddushy also He's inviting the angels, you know as a sign of humility Hashem is also shown humility is one of the most important foundations of Torah Because Hashem is speaking not let me make man Every word is jam-packed. So what happens Adam and Hava eat from the tree Good and evils introduced they become embarrassed that they're naked. They so fig leaves onto themselves Hashem approaches them. Where are you? I get you know, you know, did you eat from that? He says he says, where are you Hashem says? Oh, I heard Adam says. Oh, I heard you so and I was naked So I was embarrassed. I wanted to hide from you. Who told you that you're naked? Did you eat from the tree Hashem was rebuking him in these words who told you you're naked, you know And and the response was just how could I have done such a thing? The woman did it for you know, the woman did not have done such a thing. He deflected it to the woman This is a deflecting responsibility. It's another thing. We must learn responsibility for our choices is there is no pleading ignorance There is no making excuses Hashem is the old knowing and we'll see it again I got up here with kind and heavily as a matter of fact, let's go to kind and heavily now so after 130 years of performing tissue va Adam gets with his wife is with his wife again and they birth to sons kind and heavily and She acquired a son kind Kenyan. This is the introduction of the two the D2 worldviews There's the spiritual worldview of how cold have a limb everything all that matters is my spiritual pursuits and everything material is unimportant Or there's kind Kenyan. I have I need to acquire. I must acquire it all because you know, this is my only life So have I had the proper perspective the proper world view that the Torah prescribes and now believe it or not Kain wants to give an offering to Hashem, but what does he do? He chooses it from his from his from his roots, you know, nothing nothing major and then have I'll follow suit He goes after watching his brother's lead and he gives his choices Hashem accepts Hevel's and have a fight favor in his eyes and kind space balls and he's angered Excuse me. He's angered and then his baseballs. Why is he angered anger is coming from a place of hoardiness I did this I wasn't prompted to and you took his and I might something was directed towards Hevel because due to the contrast Hevel's great one That's what made mine look bad similar to the tree when there's when there's Contrast when there's differences you could compare and by comparison one will fall short usually So and his face fell because you know, you lost the favor of Hashem. That's like when you find favorite Hashem's eyes That's all you live for you want to know that you're approved by Hashem and when Hashem doesn't prove to you It's very depressing. So and he knew right away and that was evident in How should I accept in his brothers? So when you know for certain that you lost favor That's a reason for your face to fall by Hashem approaches him He says don't worry correct yourself do better and you'll surely be forgiven, but he's unable to so this is what the Internet does You fell stay down your garbage and he was unable to to recover. What does he do? He gets jealous of his brother. He so they want to now divide the land. It's you versus me now There's my look at there's twos. There's two is introduced again They are cayenne wants to take all earthly possessions land and everything. Excuse me. He wants to take land He wants everything they make a deal. Yeah, sure. Take the land. I need the land I want movable objects. Heville goes I want things that I could do Toramics bought with and and the heaven's been very easy going until they get to the spot of separating One piece of land where their father would perform the core by not and over there heaven wanted that piece So one commentary says this is where

Hi everyone, Erev Shepat Shalom, this week's Parashaz, Parashaz L'Echecha. In the opening pasuk Hashem tells Abraham commands him to leave your land, the home of your parents, your birthplace. And Robert Torsky states, the reason Hashem mentioned these three things and not just saying get up and go, is because Hashem wanted to endear his place of origin to Abraham in his heart. Because according to the difficulty is the reward. Hashem wanted to earn Abraham greater reward from leaving a place that he holds dear, is a lot harder than leaving a place that he has no pull towards. So that's a nice one and also we see the same happen at Akedah. Hashem says to Abraham, take your son, your only son, the one that you love, Isaac, same idea. He wanted to increase the endearment he had for his son, make it even harder to increase the reward. And now another place, Robert Simon Jacobson says, that these three refer to the three forms of subjectivity that we are subject to on a daily basis that we should be aware of. Your land refers to the influence of society, the community, peer pressures, and they can deeply affect us and we may not even know it. Secondly, the home of your parents. This refers to parental influence. It's subtle, but they deeply permeate our own thoughts and behaviors and opinions. So it's a big part of us and we know it was a big part of Abraham, but he went the other way. His father was an idol worshiper. Your birthplace is the subjectivity of inherent self-love. This would refer to our personal interests, we're blinded by personal interests. And he says further that we should become aware of these influences and how they affect our behavior. These three influences, they're not a crime, but they become a crime when we don't acknowledge it and we allow them to distort our vision. Okay, now let's move on to our saintly forefather Abraham. Hashem told him, lech lecha, meaning he has to detach from the places that are holding him back. Because staying would not be conducive toward his spiritual growth. And he says to the land that I will show you. And this is referring to obviously Eris Kanaan, but also the deeper meaning is the land that you're going to earn from separating from these base places that aren't conducive to his growth. The land of the living, the eternal living, olam haba. Man was created not for his portion in this world, but for his portion in the world to come. And the path we tread here leads directly to our eternal path in olam haba. Lech lecha has the numerical value. We know 50 plus 50 is 100. There's Mishnah Naavot 521 that says when a person reaches the age of 100, he's considered perfect. And as if he's dead and already gone. He reached a lofty spiritual level. He's no longer considered residing in this physical world. And later in the parasha Hashem says, walk before me and be perfect. This is referring to the Mitzvah of the Belief Mila. We know that Avraham Avino kept all the 612 Mitzvah to perfection. Why did he wait till the age of 9900 to complete the Mitzvah of Mila? First we have to recognize, I guess before we even go there, let's consider the debate that Yitzhak and Yishma El had. Yishma El says, I'm greater than you. I did the Mitzvah of Brip Mila when I was 13 years old when I had free will and the ability to say no. And Yitzhak is saying, no, mine's better because I did it at 8 when I didn't have any free will. So obviously Yishma El is bringing up a great case here. He could have protested and not done it. But Yishhak represents the Jews when they receive the Torah. First I'm going to do then I'm going to understand. And it's a very lofty level. And now to the point we were going to make, we need to recognize that cutting off a piece of useless skin is no cause for celebration. For our saintly forefathers. It's whatever Ham did. He spent a lifetime of circumcising his heart. A lifetime's worth before reaching perfection by cutting off the piece of the Mila. It was after a life of labor. And so basically what the argument was saying is if Hashem told Yishma El to cut off his arms, maybe he would have protested. But Yitzhak, it wasn't up for debate. Anything Hashem asked, he would have done. Because he had the Mida that his father, Abraham, introduced into the world. Mesirut Nefesh. He said whatever Hashem says, full complete emunat. Abraham was a trailblazer. He is our father. We are all sons of Abraham. And Hashem's love for us is unconditional because of that. And my Rabbi and I brought up this week. Why was the fire, Abraham, being thrown into the fire not considered one of the ten tests? And first I said that he was thrown in. He wasn't given the option, but he was given the option. He was said to bow down to the idol or be thrown in. And he elected to be thrown in. So he did have an option. It should have been one of the ten tests. But it's not because to show that he's a complete emunat, complete faith. That's what you must show to be nominated to be a part of Hashem's army. This initial test was his nomination, his initiation, process. So that's why it's not included. You have to show that you're even a contestant. And this was his display that he was in Hashem's team. So that's why it's not considered one of the ten. So in conclusion, Abraham spent his entire life eliminating the Orlah, the forces of evil, via his own efforts. And only at the end, once he achieved perfection, did he do the cutting of the foreskin symbolic of perfection. And the Milah at the end was just testimony. And we know the Gamatria of Brith is 612. And this is telling us that all the Mitzvot and Torah are contingent and find their root in the Mitzvah of the Milah. And this was a loaded parashat and there's so much to learn from it. And I want to wish you all a beautiful Shabbat Shalom. Only good things, health, happiness, peace, success, prosperity. And may we all find the love of Ahabat Hashem, realize that Hashem loves us no matter what. And we do our parts in serving Hashem the best we can like our saintly forefather Abraham. Wishing you all Shabbat Shalom.

Hi everyone, Erev Shabbat Shalom. This week's parashat is parashat by Erah. This one's extremely powerful one, so stay with me. I'm gonna begin with posing a question. At one point, the Dabbaraham become fit to host the Divine Charity, to become a leg on the Merkava. We know that Abulham was in extreme pain. In the beginning of this parashat, the third day enters Mila. During this time, he was speaking to Hashem himself, the only person in the world that has the ability, not person, entity, that has the ability to take his pain away. And then, during this time, he sees three men walking, and in other words, he says to Hashem, I'll talk to you later. He ditches Hashem to go perform Hesed for these three travelers. They were dressed up as a sailor, a lowly Arab, and a farmer. What person in their right mind would walk away from a benefit, not only a benefit, he needed a Yeshua, he needed salvation. He was in extreme pain. Okay, something to keep in mind. Okay, we know that these men, these angels, came for a specific purpose. One was to make Abraham feel better, to heal his wound. Another was to inform them about the good news that they would marry a child next year. And the third one was to inform Abraham that Hashem is going to destroy Sedom. What did Sedom represent? Sedom was the complete opposite of what Abraham represented, right? Abraham devoted his life to Hesed, feeding strangers, welcoming them, and teaching them about Hashem, teaching them Hesed, caring for one another. This is the height of Hesed, to teach them about Hashem, and that he rules the world. And Sedom, they built an entire society on the opposite. They did, you know, refused to help others. They made a law that if you help others, you're going to be brutally executed, okay? Now, I read somewhere the logic behind their rules. They said Hashem is the all-powerful, and if he made the world this way, this is the way he wants it. So if we help people, we're contradicting Hashem's will. They base an entire legal system on this warped, distorted foundation, alright? And we know the opposite holds true because Hashem says the world was created for loving kindness. Olam Hesed Ibaneh, right? So they lived their life with this warped perception. So now, picture this. Imagine you spend your whole life. You build an organization that helps the needy, supports the poor, and then there's another place that's trying to just destroy your organization. What would you do? You'd be thrilled. You can't wait for their demise, right? But Abraham's response was not to, okay, finally let's get rid of them. It was to plead Hashem to spare them. He understood their wickedness, but he kept searching for a merit that could save them. Their opposition to his life's work did not erase his concern for their lives. This was the extraordinary test Abraham had always been kind, but here his kindness reached even beyond his natural generosity. If he could show compassion, he could show compassion toward the people who despise compassion himself, itself. The pastor explains that this defeated Saddam on a deeper level, destroying a city, could remove its inhabitants, but the evil they represented can resurface elsewhere. This is now we're getting to the point that Rabbi Akofi Hillel brings down in his book. Destroying a city can remove its inhabitants, but the evil they represent can resurface elsewhere. But when Abraham responded to this anti-opposite of what he stood for, this extreme cruelty with such extraordinary Hesed, he overcame the spiritual force behind our philosophy. His prayer did not save Saddam, but it brought his own Hesed to the highest level. So what does divine chariot mean? The chariot carries its rider wherever the rider directs it. Applied to Abraham. His character became so devoted to Hashem's will that he could serve as a vehicle through which Hashem's kindness entered the world. His Hesed was no longer fit to carry divine Hesed when he pleaded for the lives of those who determined to destroy Hesed. This is when he became fit to carry the merhaba. When he prayed for the opposite entity's survival, it was just a battle of forces, something that can't be imagined. And this is when he reached a height height of perfection in Medav Hesed. And now we saw, in smaller, in the beginning, the only person who could help me, I'm talking to him, I'm in extreme pain from Emila, and I leave him, I leave Hashem to go help these strangers walking in the desert. It's incomprehensible, and this is where we know that Abraham emulated Hashem's Medav Hesed in the world. He was the embodiment, that's the word we're looking for. He was the embodiment of perfect Hesed and really, to give it to you from the words of the book, they began it with the question, why do we find that Hashem hesitated, should I inform Abraham about what I'm about to do to Hesedom? Why did Hashem have to bring it to Abraham's attention? Because there was only one way to rid the world of the clippah of Hesedom, this poisonous entity that resided in Hesedom. And that was through Abraham's prayers on their behalf. Hashem revealed his plans to Abraham, and Abraham's Hesed prevailed over all. He repeatedly begged Hashem to spare them. The place for Hesedom, the nation whose very existence was diametrically opposed to everything he lived for, was the epitome of Hesed. By beseeching Hashem to spare them, he brought Hesed to his ultimate peak. Hesedom deserved destruction. Because of his great merits, especially in the realm of Hesed, it could only be Abraham who could destroy them. His incomparable Hesed in praying for his own impure counter force proved absolutely that Hesedom had no justification for existence. In other words, Abraham was the only one who was able to put the decree on their destruction. It was his very prayer on their behalf that destroyed the power of this Clippah, the anti-Hesed, obliterating them forever, not only physically, but the spiritual force as well. Hesed will always prevail, Hesed will always win. And to answer the question that we brought down at the beginning, for Abraham this was the turning point. He had overcome his inherent nature and elevated the trait of Hesed to its loftiest heights for ever destroying the Clippah. In his great merit, Abraham the each Hesed became an extension of the divine chariot, the conduit which Hashem, which brings Hesed down to our world for all time. I'd like to wish everyone a beautiful Shabbat Shalom. Shabbat of peace, happiness, Hesed. Health, happiness, success, and only good things. Bezzat Hashem. I'd like to wish you all Shabbat Shalom.