 Wait, hold on one second. We'll sing it in a higher key so everybody can sing along. Alright everyone, thank you so much for coming. Can I get a round of applause? Nice, very nice. Thank you for returning my enthusiasm. I really appreciate it. This is great. This is going to help us sing together with one another. We'll sing some simple songs. We'll sing some songs that might evoke some interesting spiritual connections with the rebona shalom with a friend. But I want to tell you something very important and there are two important messages when we daven. And also this was in last week's parasha as well. When we say the shema right before we go to sleep, one of the things that we sing and we say is The angel that redeems me from evil. We ask that Hashem protect us and in a sense he sends his agents. He sends the angels that surround us and protect us and in a way we walk at night with a sense of dignity. It now is night time. The nights are getting longer and we could tell our children or we could tell people who might be afraid of the dark that when you invoke a relationship with God you can sometimes feel the presence of the malachim, the presence of the angels around us. We'll sing the next song, which was one of the blessings that Yaakov gave to Ephraim and Menasha. And one of the blessings that we sing with our children before we put them to sleep. And we even sing ourselves because we dare to believe and we dare to know that when we serve Hashem, when we have a relationship with the master of masters, with the Lord of hosts, we walk amongst angels. The angel that redeems me from evil. The angel that redeems me from evil. It's nice that everybody can learn the words. Vishay, Jacob, but they will also be called in the name of Abraham. They'll also be called in the name of Isaac. And they will multiply like the fish in the waters. And this is a prayer that parents pray for their children and God should protect them and that they should multiply and they should be successful and fruitful, not just materially, but spiritually as well. What we ultimately end up going back to are the memories that we have from our childhood. And when I would walk home with my father every Friday night, me and all my other siblings, when we came home and this table was set for Shabbos, the lights, the candles were lit, we would all line up for my father to put his hands on top of our heads and to bless us. Yisim Chalikim Ke Frayim Mkhim Naseh. And those moments, those moments have stayed with me all my life. And I in turn do that with my children every Friday night. I bless my children and I can tell you as a parent, I don't think I am more sincere and more heartfelt in any prayer that I make than the prayer that I make for my children. And so it's possible here tonight, as we're singing these songs, to offer a silent prayer to God, asking God to watch over all of our children, all of our families, that Hashem should watch them and should guide them and lead them down the path of our forefathers. This song is a song about giving thanks to Hashem. One of the greatest things, Judy is the concept of gratitude and thanking Hashem. And the more you thank Hashem, the greater the joy you find in your life, because you start to remember all the things there are to be happy about. And that's what this song is all about. God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you, God bless you. Speaking to Hashem can be very complicated. It's not like speaking to an individual face to face. It's not like speaking to our friends or our husbands or wives or girlfriends or boyfriends. It's difficult sometimes to open our hearts and talk to Hashem. And so what Jewish law teaches us is that something that's difficult and takes time to work on requires repetition. We need to go over and over again until we internalize the message. Let me just give you a brief example, something that we can understand. When I was under the chuppah no longer than two and a half years ago, I told Lauren, my wife, that I loved her. And then I said, now Lauren, darling, since I told you I loved you under the chuppah in this most intense moment of matrimony of marriage, I obviously don't need to tell you that I love you ever again. I didn't really say that. I didn't really say that. But if you laugh then maybe it kind of gives us an idea of how even with one another we need to tell each other that I love you or you're valuable. You were created in the image of God. You have an infinite amount of self-worth and we need to hear it over and over again. And so too we need to tell one another that we love each other, that we value one another over and over and over again. This is not a performance for you. This is not. We might be singing in very good harmony and we might be getting into it but it's not going to be as great as it can be without your participation. The words are, repeat after me, Hero Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. This is the clarion call of the Jewish people. It is the supreme declaration of faith of the Jewish people. And what a beautiful time for all of us to come together here to sing it with one another, to not be ashamed, to sing out to Hashem because to Hashem it doesn't matter if your voice is a bit dry like mine is tonight, maybe it was the coffee, it doesn't matter if you feel like you can carry a tune. If you want to sing and you feel the language of the soul, which is music, move you, I invite you to sing. If you again insist on not singing, then I invite you to clap. To clap in the rhythm, okay? Let's start again. Hashem elokai, Hashem elokai, Hashem shema. I felt that. Thank you. Really, I was able to draw from it. Thank you so much. I just want to pick up on what Rabbi Shorro was saying, about saying I love you. So I got a call as a rabbi. I get calls from all kinds of people and this person calls me up and he says, Rabbi, Rabbi, I've decided to stop praying. I said, well, why would you do something like that? And so he says, Rabbi, I'll be honest with you. I get up in the morning, I eat, and then I give God a list of things that I'm asking him for. I don't feel like it. I don't feel like just asking and asking. You know what? I just don't feel it. I don't feel this is proper. So my mother came to the rescue because when I got married, my mother told me, she said, Ellie, you need to know that you have to tell your wife you love her 20 times a day. I said, what? And that's what she said. Yes, you have to tell her I love you 20 times a day. I said, why? She said, not because you need to hear it, because she needs to hear it. And what that taught me is that in relationships, it's not always about what you're feeling, but that there's another person on the other side of the relationship that needs to hear. And the same thing I told this person is true with our relationship with God. Sometimes we're not in the mood of talking to God. But if we're in a relationship with him, he's waiting. He's waiting to hear from us. And we have to talk to him because he wants to hear from us. And so I think Rabbi Shloss is 100% correct. If we want to have this true, vibrant, joyous, meaningful relationship, we've got to repeat over and over again. Hashem, I love you. Hashem, you mean so much to me. Sometimes I feel it, sometimes I don't. But we're in a two-way relationship over here. And so therefore, I'm always going to be talking to you. Would you like to introduce yourself? Okay, go ahead. So, it's really special that we're all here tonight together. And I'm standing. As Jews, there are many things that we do together. We come together for classes, for lectures. We come together for prayer services and our synagogue. And one of the things that we come together to do with Jews is we come together to sing. My wife and I got back last night after spending a month in England. And this morning, we were sharing with each other what was the highlight of the trip. My wife shared with me that for her, just about the highest, most special moment was last Friday night. We spent Shabbat with the Chabad in Bournemouth. And there was very beautiful singing going on together, very informally. The people that came together for the Shabbat meal just came together to sing. And we all probably remember growing up, I remember myself being in a campfire. And sitting around the campfire and singing was a very, very powerful moment. Because it brings people together. And we need that. There's a story about a very devout person who was a member of a congregation. And he would never miss a service. And then he stopped coming. Suddenly did not show up anymore. And the preacher was concerned and asked around, maybe this person is ill. And he was told, no, he's not ill, he's fine. He just doesn't feel he needs to come anymore. A little while later, the preacher went to pay this person a visit. And he goes to his home. And this man is sitting in his library in front of a roaring fire in front of the fireplace. And the preacher sits down opposite this man. And not a word is spoken. The preacher reaches for a tongs. And he takes one burning hot coal out of the fire. And he places it to the side. And without saying a word, they watch as the fire continues to burn brightly and strongly. But this one coal that was put to the side all by itself, starts to get dimmer and dimmer and dimmer until it goes out. The preacher did not say a word. He got up. He put on his coat. And he says to his parishioner, so will I see you at services next week? And the man looks at him and says, I'll be there. Here are the good and the bad, friends are also together. Here are the good and the bad, friends are also together. My grandmother's house. And we were watching the news. And my mother, she was just crying and crying. I couldn't understand why is she crying. And she was telling me there were Jews on the plane, there were Jews on the plane on that blockaby, on that fateful Pan Am flight. And she was crying because of their pain. And I think that memory really ingrained within me. What it means to feel somebody's pain without ever knowing them. And that's what we're singing about. He ne matavu manayim. How beautiful it is. When we as brothers can sit together, when we're there for each other, we're part of one whole. We're not fragmented, but rather we're here as one corporate entity. We're one people, one nation. And that's what this song is all about. So I think it deserves another round. Everybody just close your eyes and really get into this song. Matavu manayim. Sherevedahim gamya. Sherevedahim gamya. Sherevedahim gamya. Free bird? Let's see what other... We have all these great songs here. It's hard to sing it in a higher key. You have to start low, otherwise you won't be able to go high. Right. Hold on, let's try this. This is a story about the Baal Shem Tov. Baal Shem Tov was the founder of the Hasidic movement. And there are many legends about the Baal Shem Tov. Many people that he's met, many people he's interacted with, lives that he had changed. This story will illustrate why. And the story will disappoint you, because it doesn't have a satisfying ending. But it might help us to better understand the power that the Baal Shem Tov harnessed. The story goes like this. Are you listening? Right. One time Baal Shem Tov was traveling in his horse and buggy. Now the Baal Shem Tov had a driver who would control the horses to tell them where to go. Every time the Baal Shem Tov got on his horse and buggy, the driver would ask him where to go, he'd say, Mr. Baal Shem Tov, where do I go? Baal Shem Tov had a very, very interesting answer. Every time the Baal Shem Tov got on his horse and buggy, his driver would say, Mr. Baal Shem Tov, where do I go? Baal Shem Tov would say the following lines. This is what he would say, listen. He would say, let the horses run. He would say, let the horses run. The horses, they may let the horses. Can you guys sing this with me? Let the horses run. That would be it. That was the only instructions that he would give his driver. Which sounds so strange, because he would just tell the driver, let the horses run. And so the driver would oblige. It was the Baal Shem Tov after all. And the horses would just gallop. He would whip the horses once, the horses would winny, and they would gallop. The horses would stop to graze on grass. The Baal Shem Tov would say, ah, here is where I need to be. He would jump off his horse and buggy, and he would run into the nearest town. And it just so happens that there was someone in distress. And the Baal Shem Tov was there right in time to be the hero of the story. I'm not going to go into any details about these stories. The structure of how these Hasidic stories take place. Right? What would the Baal Shem Tov say? He'd say, let the horses run. Let the horses run. Where they may let the horses. He'd say. This would repeat itself. Every time the driver would ask, Mr. Baal Shem Tov, where are we going today? And the Baal Shem Tov would say, well, let the horses run where they may. Again, and again, and again. So let me ask you, was there need for a driver? Did the Baal Shem Tov really need a driver? Right. And how about this? Were the horses magical horses? Were the Baal Shem Tov horses imbued with some kind of mystical wisdom that we don't have? And the horses knew exactly where to go. I'm asking you, what do you think? Yes, they were. They were? That's one interpretation of the story indeed. I'd like to offer a second interpretation. They might have been. But the other interpretation is, no, a horse is a horse of course, of course. Right? They didn't necessarily know where they were going. But the Baal Shem Tov, he also didn't know where he was going, but he knew that wherever he would end up, there he was. And God was calling him wherever he would find himself. And this was the secret, the source of the Baal Shem Tov's greatness. It was the source of the Baal Shem Tov's power in that he knew that anywhere he walked, he walked with God. And wherever he was, there was a special calling that only he could answer. He'd say, anytime the driver would ask him, he needed the driver to ask him this question. The driver is asking us this question. Every single day, the driver is asking, where to? Where are we gonna go? Where to? Where are we gonna go? We'd say, let the horses run. And we'd say, let the horses run. Where they met the horses. Where they met the horses. I wanna see if you guys got the tune. It goes like this. Let the horses run. Repeat after me. Let the horses run. We'd say, let the horses run. Where they met the horses run. We'd say, let the horses run. Where they let the horses run. Where they met the horses. That tells us that no matter where we go, no matter what we do, we're always, we're always accompanied. We're always, always, always walking with protective angels, guardian angels that come along and protect us. They tell a story about a rabbi who was driving on the highway. He was driving on the 95. And he pulled over. He pulls over in one of these stop-offs over there where they sell coffee and they sell all these donkoshes' sandwiches. He walks in and he asks them if you have any orange juice or something. You know, I'm falling asleep at the wheel. I need some help. He sees an Israeli boy, an Israeli boy standing on the other side of the counter. He says to the Israeli boy, Shalom alechem. We all know when two Jews meet, we say, shalom alechem. The Israeli, knowing a little bit of diktuk, knowing a little bit of grammar, he says, rabbi, that's not how you should greet me. You should say, shalom alechem. Peace unto you, not peace unto you, plural alechem. It should be peace unto you. Singular, shalom alechem. The rabbi without skipping a beat says, what are you talking about? He says, kim alechem, yitzav e'lach, le shvarcha bechol derechecha. Hashem commands that his guardian angels should walk with you everywhere you go. And so when I say shalom alechem, I'm not just saying peace unto you. I'm saying peace unto you and all the angels that are with you. The rabbi gets back into his car and only many, many, many, many, many years later does he bump into this guy again. And this guy says rabbi, ever since that encounter I could never rest. I wanted to eat a ham sandwich. What about the angels? They're right here with me. And that brought me back. And today I'm a fully-observing Jew. And we always need to remember that there are always angels accompanying us wherever we go. We're never alone. And open my hands. There is actually a special... Angels have a specific tafki. They have a specific job to carry out. And the names of these archangels have a very specific connotation of their job. And we can see by just examining what the names mean. So let's go for the first one. We say it this. Oh God's name, the God of Israel. Michael and Gabriel. We want to our right to be Michael. Michael is like Mi Ka'el. Who is like God? So Mi Ka'el represents God's awe. And we want this at our right side. Because we tend to associate our right side with a sense of power and might, right? A sense of awe. I'm a lefty, so it's not a problem for me. Because we ask for another angel to be on our left side. We say Mi Mi Mi Mi Ka'el and Mi Smoli Gabriel. The smaller side, the left side, usually is the weaker side. But we want that side to be protected. We want that side to be uplifted by God's might. Might in Hebrew is Givura. Gabriel is who is mighty like God. So on one side we have God's awe. The expression of God's awe as an angel flying on our right side and helping our weaker side. Helping our weaker attributes is Gabriel. God's might supporting us when we feel weak. Which means, and before me, may Uriel be present. Who's Uriel? What does Uriel sound like? Bore. Bore, lights. We want God's light to shine in front of us. To show us the way in the darkness, in the dark times, as God showed the way with a fiery cloud through the desert. When we were traveling in the desert. Umea Chorai Refael. Afterwards we want Refael. Refael is the angel of Refua, which means healing. So when we fall back and when we feel damaged, we have the angel of healing to make us feel better, to protect us and to heal us. We have everything we need surrounding us. The Al Roshi. The Al Roshi. Shachih. And above my head, and above my head, I want your divine presence. May your divine presence rest over my head. The Shane. The Shane. L-O-K-E-G-O-V-E.