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Why AI Came to Our Generation · Ayekah: Finding Your True Self with Rav Shlomo Katz

• Good morning everybody. Thank you very much for coming to the shiur. Today the shiur, the month of Cheshvan is sponsored by the Tobins, by Dina Tobin for a רפואה שלימה Malka Aliza bat Mazal, by the Finns for a complete refuah sheleimah for Ayala's mother, Yehudit bat Sarah, anonymously for a zivug hagun for Esther bat Rachel, Nechama Miriam bat Tzina Perl, Yael Aviah bat Chana Devorah, Galia bat Yehudit. The week is sponsored by the Berkow family for the refuah sheleimah of Rachah Bracha bat Penina Ruiz, and by Binyamin and Cheryl Brueger in honor of their daughter Shoshana making aliyah. Today do I have this right? Yeah, today א׳ חשון is sponsored by Shira Talber leilui... Is Shira here? Not yet? Shira's not here. Shira Talber leilui nishmat Adina Miriam bat Yocheved ve-Arieh. I can't tell you, chavurah, I mean, we're such a privilege. Every single shiur there's sponsorships and it keeps it really keeps things rolling. It really keeps things rolling, so I thank everyone for it and encourage everyone that has the opportunity and the ability. I have no idea what sponsorships are, people ask me all the time, ein li musag, you've got to ask Michal. I pashut don't know. Needless to say, we're all very, very, very shattered, very, very, very shattered. מזועזעים, it's like the only word I could find yesterday when I was by the shivah, by by Eddie and the kids, by Dalia's in Dalia's home was the word like you know, shaken up is like a little is is a is an understatement. I still see her, you know, like right there in that seat that's open. It's like I still see her and feel blessed. I feel honestly with all the brokenness, I feel, and I'm sure you all do as well, so so blessed to go through this world, and the people you meet along the way. You know, what a what a what a humbling privilege it was to mamash a humbling privilege to have I met I mean I met Dalia probably around probably like 20 23, 24 years ago when I moved back here, and they were very involved then in Shirat Shlomo. But learning with her on a consistent basis, she was קביעות, תמידין כסדרן, she didn't miss. She if she did it was probably because she was running some some like silent meditation retreat in in the Negev or something, you know what I mean? Like keviut. And each of you have so many different personal stories with her, and she was a tremendous light, so it's very, very, very difficult to move past the the the shock, the brokenness of of approaching of dealing with such a loss. But I want us all to remember something. When Dalia was in this world physically, she chatzi wasn't here when she was perfectly healthy. It's not, you know what I mean? She was not She wasn't really She was one of those neshamot that was very clear about the fact that this is all temporary and we're going to make it as beautiful as possible. She was very clear about it. It wasn't this inyan of like what you know, is this all the reality? This is What we see, is this really everything? It was clear to her. She lived that life. So for us it's very hard. For her, it's she's with Rachel Imeinu. It's like no she'eilah, no she'eilah. She's with all the אמהות הקדושות, she's with all the tzadikim that she clung to, you know? This is a woman that was that really took her her own neshamah's calling very, very seriously, and I bless us all in her memory, but לכבודנו, to honor ourselves, to continue going strong and to have her have her holy neshamah, her consciousness, that that consciousness that she lived with, to escort us through life a little bit stronger now that she's in olam ha-emet, and it should send our our התקשרות to that koach should send a lot of koach and nechamah to Eddie and to the children and to the whole family. ויהי זכרה ברוך, and she'll forever be part of our learning. She always was and she always will be forever לנצח נצחים, but it hurts pashut. It's very, very difficult. So that's why we're going to learn leilui nishmatah for the rest this sefer is going to be fully leilui nishmatah. And this sefer, as I was telling, I was trying to say, I said at the shivah yesterday, that I always like being a kohen, besides at her levayah, because first of all I couldn't be with the chevrah inside, and also because the microphone wasn't working. But I said how that I was looking at my WhatsApp, at my messages with her. You know, that's what we generally do when someone leaves the world. And the last message was Marilyn, it was actually a picture of Ayecha, and she said, "Got it. Thanks," and she sent the payment. You know, that was the last thing that I got. And you'll see that, like I said to the family, I never really understood why she kept on coming to the shiur, or to any of these shiurim. I didn't understand, because I always felt like she probably is looking at me the whole time and saying, "You really think this is as deep as it gets?" Like, you know, she wasn't, chas vechalilah, I'm saying in my in my insecure mind, that's what obviously was was taking place, always feeling like she could have taught everything we've learned until now. Maybe not the Hebrew to English, but the concepts. The concepts, right? The penimiyut of what we're trying to say. I always felt that she she knows what I'm trying to say so much better than what I'm the way it's coming out. But if there had to be one eulogy to say about her is that everyone gets asked, "Ayecha?" Some people dance with the question their whole lives, and some people avoid it. And she danced with that question her whole life. Everything we're learning, everything we're going to be learning, everything we've learned so far, everything that Rav Sasson has brought up until now in this sefer, and we're only doing the hakdamah so far, we're still in the intro, what's fascinating is that the way we've been darshening out this question, Ayecha, it's very clear, you know you wouldn't say this to someone when they're alive, but it's very clear that Dalia she she was living with this with this echoing question her whole life. The more that I'm hearing about her life before any of us knew her, the more it seems ממש like her whole life was this was really living the name of this sefer, Ayecha. So, תהא נשמתה צרורה בצרור החיים, and her dance and her her ruach, her light, her spirit should make us right now it's very sad, but it should in the bigger picture make us feel very happy, filled with gratitude that we got to walk the streets of this גלגול knowing a person like that. And let's not wait until someone leaves the world to talk about how special they are to us either. All right? Okay. In the sefer that you have if you have the sefer, I realized that there's no pages on the on the hakdamah, on the hakdamah, cuz we're still on the hakdamah. But we are starting with it's it's the fifth it's the one, two It's the fourth page of the hakdamah that starts with the word בימינו. I'm going to give a little bit of a of a review, a little bit of a recap of what we did last week, week before. What we were speaking about specifically last week was that the question Ayecha alludes to the fact that Hakadosh Baruch Hu has הערכה רבה לאדם. That means God really values us. If He didn't value us, He didn't believe in us, bless you, He would not ask the question אייכה, אז זה לא היה מעניין אותו. He doesn't ask any of the other creations Ayecha, He asks us Ayecha, and the question itself shows that Ribono shel Olam is saying, "I really, really, really value you, but I I value your approach to life. I value what you who you could become if you just keep on listening to the word, to the question Ayecha." In today's in today's shiur, we have a lot to do, hopefully we'll get through it, or it'll get through us. Today, we're going to ask this question in the context of our דור, of our generation, meaning there are a few words, there are a few statements in the Torah we say are asked in every generation. Every generation it looks and it sounds differently, it sounds a little bit different. But the question Ayecha is כפי הדור, is in accordance with the generation itself. And Rav Sasson is very, very much plugged in and in tune to the soundtrack of our דור, of דווקא our דור. This book would be written completely differently 30 years ago, completely differently. Even though he may not be talking so much about current events, the book itself, the way it approaches Ayecha, is very very different. Now, it seems I've said this last week, it seems to me impossible to begin to answer the question, Ayecha, without התבודדות. I don't know how I just don't know how it's possible. Meaning if the question is where are you at? Where Where are you consciously choosing to go right now? What are you consciously choosing to do with your life right now? How can a person even begin to answer that question, especially if you have you know, if you have a big family life, but even if you don't have a big family life, the world is loud enough. The world The world is noisy enough. How can you really ask How could you really deal with that question of where are you going at? While we've never ever seen a generation that is so intrigued to try to find their true I, right? There's no There's never been a generation like this. I'm not sure why it, but but this is this is what it is. Like there was never a generation with so much talk about real spiritual development of awakening of consciousness. There was never like this before. It's like it's weird. I wonder if our kids like understand that like a lot of the worlds of Torah that they grew up hearing or listening to or that they will wasn't here before. But we remember, many of us remember, there was no such thing as shiurim like like the like 90% of the stuff we learn here. It was just didn't it wasn't a thing. Like it wasn't a thing. For religious women going on meditation retreats? A שאנדה. Are you kidding me? חלילה וחס, אפיקורסות, right? Women to go לא נשמע כדבר הזה. And yet now we realize that when it's done in obviously in the kasher way, in the right way, it's not just nice, it's נחוץ, which means it's essential. It's needed. What is this dor really asking? Why is this dor really asking the question who is the real me? Why is this Why is this generation so enwrapped with this question? I just want to say why, because we have, Baruch Hashem, a wide range of ages in the room, this generation is anyone that's here. You understand? Anyone that's here. Anyone that's here. Everyone Huh? You're kind. I'm kind, I know. I have kibbud kibbud kibbud em. Anyone that's here is in this parashah. Okay. So now let's focus and let's try to let's try to really get There's a lot to get from today, a lot, a lot, a lot. Every shiur hopefully, but this one ממש ככה. בימינו, in our days, עם התפתחות העולם, הטכנולוגיה והמדיה, with the development of technology and media, שאלה זו נעשתה רלוונטית עד מאוד. This question is becoming most relevant. הקדמה פתחה רבות את מרחב החיים החיצוני. Look what we could do now in the world. האדם יכול תוך שעות בודדות לעבור בין יבשות. You could cross יבשת, continents, in just a few hours. חדשות ודיווחים מכל העולם מוזרמים בכל שניה. Bless you. News and reports are coming in from all over the world every second. תעשיית המדיה שוטפת את נפש האדם The The media industry שוטפת He דווקא uses the word שוטפת, that which could mean swamps or drowns or Floods. Floods. The soul of a person בשיכרון הצלילים והמראות, being getting intoxicated from sounds and from and from pictures. You know, when I was a kid, they never ever showed an actual murder, right? There was You were in censorship. You didn't allow you. You couldn't show any of these things. איפה, today? Every every single day, right? But that's That That's And you realize that's insane. That's crazy. And he says, like we all know, והסמארטפון ממכר The smartphone makes us addicting, addictive בסיפוק חוויות וריגושים, as if it's giving us experiences and feelings. כמו כן, העולם נעשה תחרותי יותר. The world has become more competitive. הצלחות בדמות תארים, titles, פרסום והכרה חברתית, social recognition, פרסום, פרסום, לפרסם, to become, you know, advertisement. All these things נעשות למדדי הערכה, המשפיעים עמוק על יחס האדם לעצמו. All these things we mentioned right now, they, unfortunately, they tremendously impact in a deep way on what we think about ourselves, והדרכים בהם יבקש למצוא את ערכו, and the ways to find their own value. You know, I never met a satiated, satisfied musician who absolutely loved the music they wrote and truly did not care if anyone ever heard what they wrote. Right? I've never I have met quite often, though, people that have certain chiddushim that come to them that are totally okay, I mean, they shouldn't be, but they're totally okay if no one ever heard what they feel is their chiddush on on something in in Torah. It's not okay, because they're they're going over לא תגנוב or לא תגזול, because they're stealing from עם ישראל by not sharing it. But, hear what he's saying over here, the question of where who I am and how do I value myself is so much affected from the competitive world. So much of so much of the of the question of, am I really am I really doing what I'm supposed to be doing in the world, gets influenced by outer stuff that have to do with things that you see outside, very rarely inside, very very very rarely inside of us. שפע החומריות, the abundance of materialism, מושך וממכר, it attracts and it becomes addictive, לקנות, לצבור הון, לטעום מכל העולמות ועוד, to buy, to acquire, to have a fortune, to taste from all worlds and more. This is all happening in our generation. So, would you say that this wasn't happening in previous generations? Well, obviously media and stuff like that, technology, no. Competitiveness, was it in previous generations? Not to the extent that it's at right now, because it's a byproduct of all the things we're speaking about. So, all these things are really happening in front of us. They're really coming coming on strong onto people. And without us even really noticing, the question of what do I think about myself is done through the prism of all these outside things that aren't really answering the question, how do I value myself? I'm answering that question based on would this look like would this make me feel like I'm part of the parashah? Would this make me feel that I'm successful? How would it look in the eyes of of others without even noticing that that's really the pshat of the question. Like, we don't even realize these things. So, what is man man or woman, the person, the human of our generation really facing? So, he continues and he says like this, האדם בן דורנו עומד מול הניסיון הגדול הזה, המופיע מצדדים רבים. It's us through a מבול of tests, a mabul of things that we aren't even aware are affecting the most basic answer to the question, אייכה? I'm going to keep on bringing it back to the point of the sefer. The point of the sefer is to know how to answer אייכה, that's the point of this whole sefer. The first question that God ever asked man. And yet, what's in front of us makes it even more difficult to really answer that question, the person that's living in this generation. ניסיון גדול שלא להשאב החוצה, that it's a big test to not be completely sucked out to the outside, שלא לשכוח את האור המיוחד שלו, to not forget your, it's funny, he's saying forget, I would say to not even find out, right? That you don't that you don't go through this world without investing time in figuring out what is your special light all about. Naftali said a good chidush yesterday in shiur. He said we always talk about ייחודים, לשם ייחוד קודשא בריך הוא, ייחודיות. Yichud also means uniqueness, ייחודיות. Like people there are people that don't think that it's that important to discover what's absolutely unique about them, but they don't realize that if you don't deal with that, you really can't answer אייכה. You can answer אייכה about like, okay, I'm joining that group, or I'm part of that flow. Hashem, that's not Hashem, Hashem has so much value for you. He wants to know with all the things that I planted in you, what are you doing with it and how are you approaching life? לא לשכוח את האור המיוחד שלו, שלא לאבד את הערך הפנימי האמיתי שלו, not to lose your inner value, שלא להחליף את החיים הטבעיים והבריאים, שיממשו ויוציאו אל הפועל את תביעת הקודש, שחקוקה בעומק לבבו, this is very Rav Kook-y, don't worry, we're gonna we're gonna translate this, that you don't exchange your natural and healthy life that should become implemented and bring out into the world your real kodesh that is engraved deep in your heart, that you don't exchange all that בחיים זרים with a foreign life, המנוכרים לפנימיותו, a foreign life that is menukar. We spoke about this last week. Menukar comes from the word נוכרי, נכר. What does נכר mean? Foreign. Foreign to who you really are. Okay, so I wanna just take a pause for a second and explain like this. I think, I mean, this is this I think where I would like to take this learning to. Usually we say, okay, we wanna make sure that a person doesn't become engrossed and enveloped with הבלי העולם הזה, with the vanities of the world. And that's עולמות זרים, that's foreign worlds. And that's easy to say, yeah, once you look at life like that, then of course you have this moment of aha moment, I'm like, you know what, I'm done with all that, let me just go with the derech that's gonna bring me more to my own light. But you know, that's not such a big test. You know what the big, big test is? The big test is within the world of Torah and within the world of kedushah, I could be living a completely foreign life. Why? Because that's what everyone else is doing. We're not talking, I mean, I don't think it's that I don't think you have to write a whole book in order to explain to someone, listen, the world has a big effect on you, detach yourself a little bit from social media, and you'll get back to your true self. I don't think you have to write a whole book for that. And I don't think you need anyone to tell you that. We forget it sometimes, but we know that. I think the deeper thing here is that you could be living you could be living in a society that you're proud to be a part of, maybe for the wrong reasons, maybe for the right reasons, but it's one that you're basically proud to be part of. You're in the flow, you're doing what you're doing, but you never really discovered your own light, you just felt like, well, the chevra are that's what seems like is the right thing, so I'm just gonna do that. Doesn't mean chalilah you're doing aveirot, you could be doing a lot of subconscious mitzvot or learning a whole world of Torah that is holy and makes you think that you're very smart, without ever bringing you more to the question of is the Torah that I'm learning bringing me closer to discover all that Hashem put in me and believes in me? That's the real test. And that's the that's the question that many people have. You know, we have a great example of this. Everyone knows, I mean, anyone that used to hang out with me knows that my favorite book in English, especially of Breslov, is Through Fire and Water, which is the book, it was basically the the first book that I that I got when I was a teenager of Rav Chaim Kramer, it just came out, and it's the autobiography of Rav Natan of Breslov. The biography of Rav Natan of Breslov. And you know that Rav Natan, if I ask anyone right now, which chasidut did Rav Natan belong to? Well, so what's the answer? Breslov. Always? No. Rav Natan was a talmid of Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev. To me, this is the most fascinating piece of the story. Rav Natan was a talmid of Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev. Some say that he was the scribe that actually wrote the Kedushat Levi. I haven't found out yet. I have to dig more into it. You've heard of have you heard this before? It's unbelievable. Rav Natan was a talmid, that everyone knows, he was a talmid of Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev. One מוצאי שבת, as one of the chasidim of Rav Levi Yitzchak, the older chasidim told him his job was to go and buy bagels for the melaveh malkah. And it's not that he felt that he was If anyone knows anything about Rav Natan, he didn't think highly of himself at all. Open up any Likutei Tefilot. Get a glimpse of how Rav Natan viewed himself. This is not We're not talking about anyone that had any שייכות to to haughtiness. But he felt, on the walk back to the beit midrash in Berdichev with the bagels in his hand, that he doesn't feel that this is שייך to to him. Do you know what it was back then to leave the חצר of Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berdichev? It's crazy. But he was living in an איכה relationship with Hashem. So what I'm trying to say is that איכה isn't just stop doing שטויות. איכה calls out to you to see even within holiness, within the realm of things we're proud to be part of, ממש הנתיב שלי. What is ממש my highway? What's my highway? What's the path? Remember, the Gemara says, every Every person has to say, כל העולם לא נברא אלא בשבילי. So they say this in a lot of ספרים, חסידישע ספרים, it's not that everyone has to say the whole world was created for me, בשבילי is the words בשביל שלי, in my שביל. The whole world that I the way I perceive it, the way I understand it, was created for me to discover my path, my path. It's like very interesting, to me I I went last week, I was very, very moved, very moved. The חברה from Penimah, ר' ר' Ben di Toledo and ר' Yonatan Atias, so you know, they baruch Hashem, I can't believe this, but they purchased a building in Katamon and they're starting they started demolition last week and they're cuz they it needs it's a whole structure that they're tearing down and building mamash, building an amazing, amazing, amazing, amazing building. It's surreal, it's unbelievable. So I went there for what's called like the הרמת כוסית. Huh? Well, not the cornerstone, just to have a little l'chaim with with some of the baalei batim there, and with two of them, and with Yehuda Solomon the the chazzan there. And someone had asked him, one of the baalei batim said, "Why didn't you make them call this Shirat David Yerushalayim?" He said, "I'm just interested. You probably it would have probably, you know, been able to be more" what was the word he used? "כאילו, it has a back, it has a, you know, what's the right word? It has like a" Like yichus. "Yeah, yeah, more more, yeah, yichus." I said, I said, "No, no, no." I said, "זה זה בכלל לא העניין. The the dream here was always set set some kids on fire and make them do their own thing and continue to love them and and respect them, but let let them be let it be their own light. Let let it be their own light." It's like I'll tell you honestly, when I told Rabbi Weinberger, once the shul went up, I said, "Rabbi, you know what the greatest thing about it," and I said, "You'll understand this, Rabbi, is that it's not Eish Kodesh," which is the name of his shul. It's its own, it's Shirat David. And he was like he it was almost like, "Ah, you guys chapt what the whole עניין of this דור is." It's not about replicas or trying. It doesn't doesn't work. For this דור, everything needs to be its own thing. איכה, איכה, איכה to you, not not to everyone else. It doesn't mean, chevra, it doesn't mean that if people are walking on different paths that they can't hang out together. But it it it means you have to hang out together to encourage each other to keep on going strong on your own path, and to keep on wanting to discover what that is. And it and the דור that we're living in makes it most difficult to discover what your own path is, but he's going to explain why davka in this דור is it is it so difficult. So look at the third paragraph, הקדמה אמנם הביאה הרבה טוב ושפרה את איכות החיים של האדם. It's true. A lot of good has come from the developments of the last generation, not just meshugasn and distractions, but there's like been advancements in many fields. I don't want to get into everything right now, but it's as he says here, it's definitely bettered quality of life or it could better quality of life. I mean I just a basic thing. I I remember that my mother used to record herself on a 60 or 90-minute audiotape telling my grandmother, who was living in Florida, about life here. Then she'd send it in the mail and two weeks later my grandmother would find out for 60 minutes what life is like here. And there's something so beautiful about it. I mean it's so so beautiful. Does anyone else have that experience with aliyah? But it's so distant, right? Today the value of I I value this very much of of face to face, panim b'fanim. Like I have friends that live all over the world that we look at each other every week. That's not a godly revelation? That's a that's a tremendously godly revelation. So he's saying don't bash all the developments that came with all the meshugas. It's an amazing thing. It's an amazing thing. אך עם זאת, but with it, הניסיון הקדמוני התעצם מאוד. But with it, I'm I'm turning it off. I'm sorry. Everyone I I didn't turn it on, I'm just saying. I came in here, it was like this. But with all this, it brought it's it's become very strong. העולם בחוץ מושך בכוח רב. The world outside is pulling us strong. והאדם עלול להישאב בצורה עמוקה עד מאוד, you can get sucked in very fast, ולשכוח את אור חייו, to forget the light of your life, ואף להתנתק מבסיסי החיים הטבעיים והחיוניים ביותר, and to disconnect from the most natural and essential bases of life, which is what? קשרים בין אישיים אמיתיים ועמוקים, deep and meaningful interpersonal relationships and connections. חיים של חדוות יצירה ועשייה ערכית ממש, a life of joy that comes through יצירה. יצירה, creativity. ועשייה ערכית ממש, and literally doing things, like because things can be done so fast, and this is really true in the studio with music right now. AI has completely completely controlled the I'm just talking right now about music. AI has completely changed over the whole industry. All all musicians and all producers or studio managers are busy doing now יומם וליל, day and night, they're going through course after course after course after course with AI because it's already shifted everything over. But what is getting lost in that? חדוות I love what he said here, חדוות יצירה. That means sorry? The joy, חדוה, the joy of creativity. The joy of creativity gets lost, because at a certain point you're not even sure anymore, was this you that created this, or was this artificial intelligence? You don't you don't know, and that doubt takes away from you the natural joy that comes out through יצירה. I mean, Nechama Dina, I hope it's okay I'm giving you as an example, can you imagine if you started to now take the easel, go to places, but you figured out a program that you just drew like basic outline of what you're looking at, and then it somehow this תוכנה, this software, then actually grabbed your hand and guided you for the rest, what חדוות יצירה would there be there? That's one example, but this this can happen in any any field, almost any field of creativity, but the place that it can't touch is if what remains vital to me is interpersonal relationships and connections, unless you're like unless your whole thing is just talking to someone on the phone and anytime they ask you a question or you want to sound deep you have ChatGPT right there next to you and you and you really and you're really fast with it like, make this sound deep, and then you type in a, you know. Yeah. I thought about this a lot, wondering like, what's it going to do to the creative process? And I actually think that b'ezrat Hashem it's going to do what Rav Sasson is saying in a good way, because I think it's going to make us value ourselves and other people's I think it's going to point to the fact that we have a neshama. Because I think at a certain point AI is going to get so good that it probably will make, you know, more intricate art, more complex music, whatever it is, but it's it's meaning it doesn't have the same value because it's not coming from a neshama. And I think that that's hopefully going to like make the switch for people of like, why is it special to have art from a human being, to have music from a human being? It's because there's something inside that it's godly that is coming from a real person and not something generated. And so it's It's I think like people, I mean b'ezrat Hashem, I think that's like the only logical way of going, cuz like meaning AI stuff will be much more available, much cheaper. Like if people just want the product, so then it's available, but if people are like I think it's going to force people to try to figure out like why why is an original from a human being, music, art, dance, whatever it is, like because there's something to a person that AI can't replicate. Halevai. Amen. Maybe it will create hunger for the spark, for the godly spark? I think that's what she's saying. I mean, that's what you're saying, right? Yeah. Lehavdil, Neil Young said a few weeks ago that he realized that the greatest blessing he ever had in life is that he wasn't an emerging artist in now, but he was an emerging artist in in a time where none of this was even talk, you know, it wasn't part of anything. That's how he viewed it. וזה נכון, נכון. You know, we're talking about AI, I mean, I just married my daughter two that two nights ago. Mazal tov. Mazal tov. Mazal tov. גם כן to you. And I just want to say like we were doing a countdown. And so we're doing a countdown, but like I was the like day one, of course, I'm I'm her אמא, and but I had to take elements which I don't know how to use. This this technology that someone taught me of me and her, her being a nurse or whatever. But it still was my creativity, but it came out like what AI put it, but I had to like alter it because I was like, no, that like there was a baby in my arms, not Yeah. you know what I'm saying. But like it was funny how AI, they put in whatever that you want, you have to know use your Right. Yeah, but we're saying soon you won't have to. Be'emet, soon soon even that you won't have to do. נכון. Okay, let's go on that bottom paragraph. אולם עלינו לדעת. Now this is what we have to remember. You think it just happened to be that in our generation there's this explosion of technology? כפי שמבואר בספרים שהאתגרים הבאים לכל דור, the challenges that show up in every generation, סובבו מהשגחה עליונה. This is all part of hashgacha. This came down exactly because it's supposed to come down now. כדי להצמיח אור גדול שטמון בדור. In order to sprout forth a tremendous light that's in the generation. I love this line. This next line, I love. הקדוש ברוך הוא לא מניח לעולמו להישאר סטטי. God does not allow, He doesn't let His world remain static. והוא דוחק במציאות להתקדם תמיד and it's He's always chugging reality forward, vayter. מכה ואומר גדל. He hits and he says, "Grow." He says, "Grow." ולעתים And sometimes when He gives that push, it feels like a patch. But sometimes you realize it's not a patch, it's that I've just been sitting completely full gas on neutral, like Avi Miller said about the extent of how much diaspora Jewry can really do anything. You're sitting and it's static and God so Hashem says, "Go!" And you're like, "Ay!" in the beginning. And then later, when you look back, you're like, that wasn't Ay. That was mamash the greatest gift in the world. So some but Rav Sasson's not he's very sympathetic to empathetic to to the person that does feel that that that yalla, grow hurts. ולעתים המכות המגדילות באות בצורה קשה ומטלטלת. כל אתגר מכוון מאת השם Every challenge is directed from השם במטרה לשמש מנוף לחץ. You know what מנוף is? Crane and crane. מנוף לחץ? How would you say מנוף לחץ? A pressured crane? I don't know what that means, a pressure crane, but it's basically there to serve as something that's Huh? It's to push you. It's to push you. מנוף is also תנופה. נכון. That that's what it means. Yeah, to go into movement כדי להוליד אור to give birth to light ולדחוק לצמיחתו והתקדמות הופעתו. It's just it's this push. It's this push for you to to grow. כל חושך נועד לחדד את האור ההופכי לו. Every darkness is there to sharpen the light that contradicts the darkness. ודווקא בגלל שהאור הזה צריך להיולד it's that this light in us has to be born, לכן זומן החושך הספציפי הזה. That's why this specific In every generation, the specific darkness that comes about every generation was זומן. It was Huh? Summoned. Summoned, called, invited, כדי לדחוק באור להופיע to push that light to show up in the world that's needed for that generation. So none of this is like, oh my God, what do we do now? It's first we look at it and say you could look at It's amazing. You could get a sense You can get a sense of what's what light is waiting to be born, sometimes by just looking darkness straight in the eye. And just you figure, ah, that's what we're that's what we're dealing with? Oh, my God, that means that the amount of light that's going to happen over here It's going to be amazing. I'll tell you a great story. Many years ago, I went to a con- I did a concert in a Reform temple in in Irvine, California on a Motzaei Shabbos, and I I said to the crowd, "Would you like to participate in a chasidishe exercise right now?" They said, "Sure." But they were wary about it. That's pretty weird. And I said, "I want everyone to stand up right now." I said like this, "Okay, let's see. Everyone don't bend your knees, and jump." So they tried. I said, "Now I want ever-" I'll never forget this, cuz Gidon's father was the chazan. I went with him to do a concert there. And then I said, "I want everyone right now bend your knees and jump." So they all bent their knees and they and they jumped. I said, "Thank you so much. Does anyone here have the need for me to share with you what Rabbi Nachman says about life?" I said, "Cuz you just experienced it, right?" Meaning, and it was very clear, you don't have to say anything after doing an exercise like that. Ein mah la'asot, we won't get anywhere if we don't bend our knees. So the same thing with the choshech that's in every generation. If there wasn't this choshech, how far would we be able to get in this generation? I don't know. לא יודע. But everyone's always under the assumption, if only that thing wasn't in my life right now, gevald, would I be learning so much more Torah? Would I have so much more shalom bayit? Would I be able to be so much better in this world if only that thing wasn't right there right now? Rav Sasson says, you have to understand, those are kefirah statements, because that thing that's in front of you right now, זומן, summoned from Hashem, כנגד the exact light that's about to burst forth. This is emunah. Yeah. Having a little bit of a problem with this, because I feel like it's only if you're able to see the light and get past the darkness. I know too many people, myself included, that you get stuck in the dark and you get stuck in your own personal hell stories, and you can't push forward. And you know that you're supposed to take that next step. You had once taught, it was either you or Leah Golomb, I don't remember. That's an amazing chavrutah, by the way. of learning, and if you're not going going down like an escalator, and sometimes the escalator gets stuck. I feel like If you're not able to go up, just push the panic button. Nachon. Then you're stuck in that darkness. You're right. Yofi. I'm done. It's true. But But But, so the איך? Oh, איך what? To get out. איך to get איך to get out of Sorry? How do you get from the from the knee bend? Right. So he's off- So the one thing that we're taking up until now, is he's saying, עזוב the light for a second. Sometimes, just look straight into the darkness, right? I'm being very cautious here, cuz for some certain certain people maybe they shouldn't look at it, but generally speaking, is that if you're stuck in there, the inside of you there's a place that knows that כנגד the choshech that I see in front of me, oh boy, what's gonna what's waiting what kind of light is waiting on the other side? That doesn't work for everybody, then you need different tactics. I mean, your question's very very basic. It's a very basic essential question, everyone everyone in here has been in, being swamped, swamped by by a world that removes me from my own light, and then I feel like any light I don't have a candle, I don't even have a candle inside of me. It starts from a place of emunah that lo meshaneh mah, lo meshaneh mah, nothing can nothing can fully consume me. I'm a I'm a I'm a I'm a child of Hashem, nothing can fully consume me. Even though it may feel like it, even though it actually feels like it, but there's a da'at beneath it that knows nothing can fully consume me. Ein davar kazeh. You know, it's amazing. Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim, and everything is זכר ליציאת מצרים, why? Because once Hashem gave freedom to Am Yisrael, not there's nothing in the world that could ever put us back in Mitzrayim. Even though it may feel like it, but emunah is she'ein ein, it's impossible. It's simple, right? It's a simple statement, but it's it's a life's work. It's a life's work. Okay, let's go let's let's let's let's go more, just a little bit more. לאור זאת, לאור זאת נבין. So in light of everything we said right now, שהעובדה שהדור שלנו, we're in the second paragraph, שהעובדה שהדור שלנו מאותגר כל כך בסוגיה זו של החיבור האמיתי של האדם לעצמיותו, the fact that our generation on the one hand is obsessed with finding out the real me and also has every single machsom in the world to prevent me from discovering the real me, what does it show? מצביעה על כך שהגיעה השעה לגלות את האור העצום שגנוז בעומק הנשמות. What is our dor, the dor of geulah, what's the time for it? What's the time for right now? The time is to reveal the tremendous light that's tucked away deep, deeply in our souls. אור עצמי ומיוחד, a very specific, personal, genuine light שתמון בכל נשמה ונשמה. No one is patur from self-discovery anymore. No one. There's no such thing. There's no such thing of getting away with life, of I'm sorry if I say something a little bit charif, but like no, I'm just I do נ״ך יומי, that's all my that's all my learning that I'm doing. No. That that that it's not that's not enough for this generation. It's not enough for your children. Ein mah la'asot. You have to learn Torah that's going to drive you to believe, to believe in the light that you have within you. It's as simple as it is. You have to be plugged into teachings, into teachers that are driving you towards discovering your own light. Not gaavah, not not in a haughty way, right? To discover your own light. What's your own light? It's a joke, it's not your own light. What is your own light? What's another word for your own light? Yes, nefesh Elokit, but the way that it's programmed and designed that works through you. So it's not your light, we keep on saying your light, it's really exactly what Marilyn said. וכדי שהעצמיות האמיתית שלנו, in order for our real I, העצמיות האמיתית שלנו, תיוולד, will be born, ותופיע לעולם, and will appear in the world, so הקדוש ברוך הוא מזמן מלחציים. What's מלחציים? It's the, you know what you like with with the clamps. Yeah. שילחצו ויאתגרו את בני הדור to come and push and pressure this generation, להילחם בחיים חיצוניים ריקניים, to finally wage war against an outer and empty world, an empty life, ולבקש, and to ask Hashem for חיי אמת וקודש, for a life of truth and holiness, עשירים ומלאים, a life that's so rich and so full. If you look at what's happening, this keeps on happening in the shiur because it's it's obviously going to keep on coming up, but if you keep on if you keep on if you look at what's happening in the in the music scene here, you see a dor that doesn't go to shows in order to see how is the guitarist going to play that solo, or what's the band, and and I hope Yakir Chayman and my chevrah don't listen to this part of the shiur, but like the jam band stuff, right? Meaning it's never a I'm I'm going to rephrase it. The the the the scene of going to shows just to see how someone rips a solo or how tight the band is, it's not part of the music scene here in Eretz Yisrael at all. I know, because I'm there. I see it. What's it all about? לבקש חיי אמת וקודש. It's people that are asking for a real life, a life of holiness. Across the board. For anyone to succeed right now in the music scene, they have to write emunah songs. They maybe haven't been in shul, haven't kept a Shabbos, and the The only way to make it today is writing an emunah song. Because that's what this dor, this is what this dor is calling. And Harav Kook prophesied about this. He said this would happen. He said this, if you learn Orot HaTeshuvah, Harav Kook says in the beginning over there that teshuvah is destined to appear through the sifrut, through literature, and through omanut, and through the arts. There is no other way. It has to appear there. Why? Because what is literature and the arts, what are they tugging upon a person? Their their their their neshamot. Harav Kook says you want teshuvah to sweep the world, just here? Forget it, it won't work. It's gotta go through those worlds. We're seeing it right now. He's saying over here, a world that push if you feel pushed, but the pushing is bringing you לבקש חיי אמת, then it stops feeling like a push and you're able to look back and say, "Wow, רבונו של עולם, that was the healthiest nudge I ever received in my life. And I'm so thankful for it." "Yes." "Can I please disagree with that? The idea of the מלחציים, I mean, what the music is doing..." "In a second you're going to take that back." "is opening us up, okay? That's the beauty of of music, because it without pressure. I mean, the musicians might have their own pressure, but the minute Hashem squeezes me, I'm like I'm I'm where you are. You know, like, enough already! And there were days where I just said, 'Please, Hashem, leave me alone.' I know I don't mean to say that, but I really... Sometimes it's like, enough already. It's like, get in the car. Please leave me alone." "No, it's not that you don't mean to say it. It's not that you don't mean to say it, it's that you don't really mean that, those words." "On some level I do." "I don't buy that." "I know." "Yeah. At all. It's not true." "Isn't there another way? In other words..." "I think your question, tell me if it's like this: is there another way to wake a person up without waking them up?" "Without the darkness every day, being stressed out." "נכון. Is there another way?" "It depends on, you know, חנוך לנער על פי על פי דרכו. Right. If you give me חושך, you're going to get it right back. I that I will reflect the חושך." "Or..." "Or" "or you push through." "No pun intended." "Thank you." "I don't know what. And and, you know, אייכה, I'm like stuck there." "Mindy, anyone that knows a little bit of you and your life doesn't buy a word you just said right now. I don't buy a letter of what you just said right now." "What I was going to ask you before is is the answer to אייכה a place, like a point, or is it the path? Am I a dot or am I a line?" "That's a that's a great that's a great question. I mean, some people would say that אייכה is what it's an easy answer, it's like a very easy yeshivishe answer. What's the answer to אייכה? הנני. It's a little bit of a cop-out answer. Like what does that actually mean? But but הנני..." "הנני is also I'm I'm down here in the boat, so you want to send me a little חבל הצלה?" "הנני, I'm I'm I'm with You no matter what. הנני, I'm whatever it is, I'm here. הנני, I'm just here. Like this says in the Zohar: אנא זמין למהוי. Right? I'm I'm just ready, I'm summoned to be, whatever that means. You know it sounds deep, one of these memes. I'm summoned to be. I don't know what that means, but..." "The first time you said that, I actually printed it out. It was on my desk for like..." "Oh, it's the deepest... I remember. I remember. נכון. It's both. It's it's it's a dot, and it's a and it's like a you know, a כיוון. Listen, it's like people send you send current location. Right? Send current location. You leave it on for 15 minutes, an hour. Like you do that, right? You can do that on Waze? WhatsApp, uh? WhatsApp, yeah. Yeah, it's it's So it's both. It's like I'm here and this is where I'm going." "The point of learning this sefer is maybe to answer your questions, Mindy, to help you and all of us with our thoughts on that." "100%. What what what's so special about this sefer is that he Rav Kook gave us all the answers. The thing is he he did it in such a hidden way, in in such a deep way that we we waited... Rav Kook passed away in 1935. Rav Kook passed away many years ago, and for years, for years I feel like, you know, Avraham Fried has this song about how happy Rashi was with the Rebbe. Do you know about this song? That like Rashi waited for came out a thousand years till the Rebbe came to the world, and brought us what Rashi was really trying to teach us, right, because the Rebbe is always with Rashi, giving over דרשות. So I feel the same about like Rav Sasson and Rav Kook, that Rav Kook said a bunch of things, and like for years, I mean, I shouldn't say it because obviously Rav Weinberger has has but only but Rav Weinberger, I think, would say the same thing I'm saying. Rav Sasson has taken what the point of what Rav Kook was preparing the world for and give this an answer, because Rav Rav Kook also saw where the world is heading and he understood there's going to be the most incredible developments of technology that we're going to think that if only we have those things, our life would be so much better, but there're going to be so many people that get swamped up by life even with all the advances that are around us. And we're going to have to give a a לשון to the language" is to understand the swamp, the suffocation, the drowning, the floods feel like פאטשעס, they feel like hits, but they're not. And we have to learn a language to identify them as לדחוף אותנו קדימה to our light, and not things that are, you know, choking us. It doesn't mean we're not going to wake up in the morning with bad days. Doesn't mean that. But it just means that the this is important, that the טעם הכללי, the general taste of experiencing life through this question of איכה is going to become much more meaningful. And לא להיבהל. And I think this what we learned today basically is don't get so freaked out from the challenges. Hashem it's all with hashgachah, that it that it's so overwhelming. It's so overwhelming, especially now with AI and these wacky videos that they're putting together now with the things that look so real. It's it mamash messes with your mind. So what does that mean if something looks so real, and while you're looking at it you know it's fake, so what is that what is that calling you to do? If you're looking at something you know it's fake, but it looks so real, what is that calling you to develop? Discernment. Discernment. Havdalah. Exactly. Now, why is it that when I watch an AI clip, for instance, like I saw one yesterday of Bibi, Ben Gvir, Bennett, and Sarah Netanyahu going nuts or something, I couldn't even fig- it was amazing. I didn't have my glasses on, I'm like this looks insane. Then I put I'm like, "Oh my God!" and then I'm like, "Oh, oh my God, no, it's AI, right?" But it looks so real, right? So why is it when we we we look at these things that feel so real, but we know they're not, why don't we do the same thing with all those moments in life that feel so real and yet we don't let ourselves just say, "Oh, but I know it's not"? So this is pushing man to develop consciousness like never before, cuz with in a heightened holy, awakened state of awareness and consciousness, אני יכול להצביע על כל הדברים שנראים לי כמו שקר גמור, כמו כמו אמת. I can I can look at all those things that feel like this is the truth, I'm a failure, and I'm destined to suffer in this world, and I can actually look at that like an AI clip and realize this may feel completely real, but it's not, because I'm have Hashem's light in me. I have Hashem's light in me. Sorry, you your hand was up? Okay, yeah. I feel like it's like this whole איכה is it's a question, right, that is pushing us to be responsible. Because being responsible is you taking responsibility over your your own life, you knowing who you are, you being true to yourself, and not letting, yeah, you know, 100%. 100%. Legamrei. You have to trust the responsibility that's within you. Yeah, Lillian. So I feel- I'm just so happy you're here right now. Thank you so much. All of us are. Baruch Hashem, that's so nice. So I ever since AI was created, I've been thinking a lot cuz we have a lot of machloket in our house about AI. So like my kids are anti anti, I can see that there's some benefit, but I've really had to think about it and then I started really looking at why like why it's come to this point. And so I think from the beginning we've all been called to ask like, "What is really real?" So we have this veil over us because we're human and we and we have to have this veil in order to function as humans in this world. So the first, I think one of the first times that we see that something is real or not real was like when the phone was invented, because before you used to have to get into a carriage and ride, you know, you know, four days to go talk to somebody and then all of a sudden the phone came. And now this illusion of time and space is there's like holes being poked into that illusion. And then came video camera, right? And then became this like whole wave of information. So now it's like even there's even the illusion that knowledge means anything, because now we can just open ChatGPT and get knowledge. So how valuable is knowledge even right now? And now that we're looking and we're saying, "Is this real or is this not real?" it's just poking more holes into to this veil of what is real. And even like kids today nobody knows if music is real. I think more kids are going to hear live music more than ever before, because if you can see it happening live, you know it's real. Well, even that. Oh, that, yeah. What? Like you listen to the 90s music, Green Day, Blink-182, Violent Femmes. Yeah, yeah, yeah. My kids don't listen to any music from today. Baruch Hashem. Yeah, they have them now, but like no, they have no interest in music. Yeah. Yeah, Baruch Hashem. But I think the point is that I think it's we're being more exposed to the that that there's an illusion and then there's what's the real thing. And the real thing is is our neshamah, which is a feeling energetic being, and that is, you know, that is the real experience of life. And I think that what he's saying is that the conclusion that you came to at the end could not have come about unless all the משוגעת was right in front, it just wouldn't be in in in in in any generation, but it happens to be that it's this generation. Right, because we need to be stripped of, you know, betach. And so, is that a It's a wild ride, but but is that That's That's amazing, cuz look look what's look what's waiting for us. Look what's waiting for us. We're all moving so quickly, to be able to do this work you have to slow down. נכון. Mamash. Mamash. Okay, Be'ezrat Hashem we'll pick this up next week and Baruch Hashem the ספרים are on their way. We got them, they're on their way, hopefully they'll be here by next week, Be'ezrat Hashem. Gut Shabbos, Gut Shabbos, Gut Shabbos.