What Is Your Root System?
Transcript(from the video captions)
So, good morning and Shabbat Shalom to every one of you guys. Great Great to see everyone as usual. Uh and we're we've been having some rains. We've been having a lot of different things and it's been wonderful to see the uh the land that's been finally being filled up again with the rain that we've been desperately needing. So, rains are a blessing. They're great. And we have different seasons throughout our times. And that's exactly what our uh uh our portions are about. Our haftarah as well as our portion that we're talk uh with the Torah portion itself. But what is it that we're rooted in? What are we truly rooted in? That question becomes much easier to answer when life is completely stable. When nothing changes. When things are predictable, it can feel like we're doing just perfectly fine. Like we're steady, secure, but life has a way of changing. There are seasons that happen. Things and uh uh that become an illusion. And they sometimes happen very quickly. A shift in finances, health, relationships, passing of uh of folks, our future plans. They have a way of exposing what it
we're actually depending on all along. This vulnerability was the reality of a prominent psychiatrist. He once enjoyed stability. A thriving career, a marriage. He was a newlywed. He had young kids. And yet his world shattered in Vienna. He was stripped of his home, his family, his career When the Nazis came in, he was dragged over to the death camps. Now, left with nothing, absolutely nothing, but his own breath, and just a hidden scrap of manuscript. He faced a void that would have broken most men. Yet, in the depths of Auschwitz, he discovered that while every physical comfort has been stolen, snatched, taken, the spiritual freedom choosing's one attitude could not be taken from him. He leaned entirely on the belief that Hashem has a specific meaning for every life, even in suffering, and intentionally focused on the little joys, the little jokes, the little funny stories, a glimpse of sunset or a moment of shared humor with some of his fellow inmates. And he emerged from the ashes to reinvent himself as a global voice of hope, proving the truth found in Jeremiah 17, our our haftarah portion,
that the one who trusts in Hashem is like a tree planted by the water, whose leaves stay green even parched in the heat of a wasteland. I don't know if you know this man, but many know the history of Victor Frankl, and that would be the man that I'm referring to. That is the exact tension in this week's haftarah portion that we find in Jeremiah 17. Jeremiah presents two kinds of lives, two kinds of root systems, not based on personality or the effort of the plant, but based on the root system itself. One person, one plant, trusts in a man, in his ability, his strength, his his his capabilities and is compared to a shrub in the desert, dry, disconnected, green for a season, but unstable. The other trusts in Hashem and is compared to a shrub, a tree planted by a water. In that same desert, but next to the stream. Deeply rooted, stable, even when conditions are harsh. The key idea that begins this entire discussion is simple but profound. Stability is not determined by any circumstances. Stability is determined by where a person is rooted. So, Jeremiah describes this person who trusts in Hashem as blessed
and compares them to a tree planted by the water that does not fear when heat comes. Reminds me of En Gedi. If any of you have been there, I highly recommend to take a look, especially if you're there during the summertime. Everything looks dead and then you come into this valley and it's lush, green, and it looks like almost jungle-like, but just in this little crevice. Everything else around there is yellow and dead-looking, but this little crevice. When And it's striking that it does not say if the heat comes, but when the heat comes. And just like in that En Gedi desert, boy, you do not want to be out there in the middle of that heat. That is some harsh heat. And what is it referencing? It's not that difficulties can be avoided, they're expected. Heat will come. The difference is not whether life has pressure, but how a person stands within it or under these pressures. But one other interesting thing that Jerem we noticed as we read through Jeremiah's passage, the verbage. It is almost identical to another passage. Most likely, it seems like it's something that was that Jeremiah's
referring to. Psalm chapter 1. Psalm chapter 1 opens with this same exact parallel image uh Sorry, not opens but further down we read in Psalm chapter 1 that it's the exact same image describing that person who delights in the Torah. But instead of blessed, it uses the word happy. Ashrei. Instead of baruch, uh blessed. They also are compared to a tree planted by streams of water yielding fruit in every season just like Jeremiah. But Jeremiah uses the word baruch. While Tehillim, the Psalms, uses ashrei, happy. On the On the surface, they seem, well, what's the big difference? You know, one tomato, tomato. Exactly the same, right? But there's a deeper distinction. Baruch, blessed, refers to the objective reality that comes from Hashem. It is the divine source of a person's life and standing. Ashrei refers to the lived experience of that blessing, that emotional experience. It is what it feels like to live inside a life that's already rooted in God. The teaching that emerges is that when a person is truly blessed by Hashem, they're able to experience real happiness even in unstable circumstances.
Not because circumstances are easy, but because their root system is deeper than those circumstances. It's when a person chooses to be happy despite the circumstances. He looks, he sees the circumstances, but he's able to exemplify that happiness, that joy. Why? Because the blessings, even that same heat can be a blessing to that man. Because it provides sunshine, it provides growth. The rains are a blessing, but too we get a flood. Too much blessing is a problem. Or a blessing for one can be a curse for another. So, it's a matter of how we interpret and how we see those items, how we see those things. And that's why uh Tehillim uh the commentary Sifrei and Tehillim 1:1 says, "Ashrei one of the one whose life is aligned with the will of Hashem. Happiness is not described as an emotional or a personality. It's an alignment. It's a choice. It is the experience of a life that is rooted correctly. Joy flows from that alignment, not from the external stability. It's not just an emotional state that we put ourselves into due to circumstances. It is a choice that we put ourselves into, a choice, a
statehood. Psalm 1 continues by describing the source of the stability. The person delights in the Torah of Hashem and meditates on it day and night. Jeremiah used the same imagery when he describes the tree planted by the water. Both texts are pointing to the same idea. The tree is only healthy as a healthy as the water source itself. The question then becomes well, how do we know that the water source is the Torah? Is it just from the Psalms? Well, the Midrash on the Psalms 1:3 answers this directly. It literally states the waters referred to Torah. In other words, the imagery of water is not just about refreshment or survival. It's about divine instruction. Divine truth. And God's word itself. The soul is not sustained by information, success, or control. It's sustained by the Torah. By the living word of God. This means that a person's inner stability depends entirely on what they are constantly drawing from. When pressure comes, what rises to the surface is whatever's been feeding the inner life. That is what a root system is. This means this is what Shaar Habitasyon in Havot Lavavot talks about and it's it becomes
essential. It's a for those of you that are unfamiliar with the writings of Shaar Habitasyon, it's it's a it's one of the sages that have written about what it means to have bitachon or trust. It's an emunah is faith. Bitachon is that that action of having that faith. It's trusting in God. It defines bitachon, the trust, as a reliance of the heart upon Hashem. Not intellectual not intellectually, but existentially. Trust is not just the belief that God exists or provides. It's an a deep internal reliance that he is the true source behind everything in my life. The good and the bad. The quiet and the crazy. No matter what season we are in. Rambam echoes this Mishna as he was highly influenced by the Shaar Habitachonus, which was written 80 years prior to him. And in his commentary he writes that when a person should that when he he says a person should place their trust in Hashem and not in their own strength. He's not contradicting effort. He's not saying, "Oh, you know, don't do anything." He's He's redefining dependence. Effort is needed. Effort exists. But it's not the source of our security.
Hashem is. He is that source. He's the waters. So practically, the question becomes very real. What do I turn to when pressures rise? Do I crawl into bed and just go into a ball? Or do I reach in for the word of God? Where do I reach for when there's pressure? What shapes my thoughts when life becomes uncertain, crazy, unknown? Because whatever I constantly draw from, especially in those circumstances, becomes my root system. So, now we have come to the Torah portion itself. And this idea becomes practical. This is what the Torah is talking about. It becomes physical and lived out in Leviticus 25. In the midst of of shmita of the seventh year. Every seventh year, the land is not planted. It's not harvested in a proper fashion as it's usually done. They don't go out reaping everything or leaving just the edges. It There's no control in the normal fashion that is being done. The entire agricultural system is in free fall. It's on pause. No one is doing anything. The land does everything on its own. During this year, people would live from the stored produce from the previous years. They would They would also supplement
whatever grew naturally on its own. That tomato plant that just happened to grow on its own. Whatever else. And it's no one's land. Everyone can go in and take it. It's a shared resources from within their community. They share everything during this time. Their time shifts significantly. Now, you have a lot more free time to do instead of going out in the field, now you're spending time with family. Now, you you're you're strengthening your own self in Torah. Life centers on the Torah study, family, the teaching of their children, strengthening the relationships within the community, and depending together in the spiritual life. Shmita is not an agricultural law. It's a lived demonstration. It's not just the law. It's the way we demonstrate our faith. It is God training in the entire nation to experience what it means to depend on him as the true provider. Shaar Habitachon explains that the whole is or trusting is reliance on Hashem for provision and outcomes. As I mentioned, effort still needs to be done. They still had to go into their storehouses to pick that food. They still needed to go and create the flour.
They still needed to make the bread. They still went into the field to pick whatever was growing. They just weren't cultivating it. Effort is real, but it's just a vessel. Hashem is the source, not the effort itself. Rambam reinforces this idea in his ethical writings, uh, which is in, uh, Eight Chapters of Ethics, where he emphasized that all the actions should be directed towards Hashem. Human effort is not dismissed, but it's refrained. It's no longer the foundation of our security. It's an expression of service towards Hashem. So, the seventh year, Shmita, becomes a livid living question. Can I stop producing and still trust that God will be that I will be provided for by God? It's not intellectual, but real life with real needs in real time. The answer demands is that security belongs to Hashem alone. The same idea is echoed in the Brit Hadasha. It's in the words of Yeshua. John 15, as we read, "Abide in me. Apart from me, you can do nothing. I am the vine, you are the branches." Abiding is not passive. A branch isn't just there by itself. Sap needs to flow. If they are cut off, they die.
It's continuous connection. It's remaining rooted in the source of its life. We see the same idea picked up in Matthew chapter 6 in the uh uh in the Sermon on the Mount. 25 to 30 uh 34, Yeshua expands this idea in a very practical fashion. He tells us not to worry. Not to For tomorrow will take care of itself. Don't worry about tomorrow. It's here and it will come. And it will take care of itself. Don't worry about food, drink, or clothing. For our Father knows what we need. Instead, we are called to seek first the kingdom. Trusting that provision flows from that relationship.
That relationship between these two pages uh passages is important. John 15 describes the source. Abiding in him. Matthew 6 describes the result. Freedom. Freedom from anxiety. Trust in provision. One is rooted and then you'll see the fruit. Yeshua talks about how the lilies of the field are dressed more radiantly than Solomon in all of his array. And what about the sparrows? That same lilies are here today. They They feed the uh the different bees, but tomorrow they die. The sparrows are here today. They don't worry about tomorrow. Hashem will take care of them. Are we not much more loved by Hashem than the sparrows? So, if he cares for them, how much more will he care for us? Together through John and Matthew, we see this unified presentation message. Life is stable when we are rooted in Hashem. When the connection is right, the outcome is peace. You might say, "Well, that's great. That's back in the old days." Well, we we remember the at the beginning with Victor Frankl. That was modern. You might say, "Well, they're giants. I'm not a giant." Uh neither am I. But throughout my life, I can see
time and time again. I'll give you one example. It was right before we came here. It's a little over 2 years. Um my life was forced. It was we were planning on staying at the earlier on in Mexico. We were We had a wonderful life, but something was wrong. Things weren't falling into place, and we felt forced to come back to the states. Married, having a child, and yet seemingly needing to start over. No job, and trying to figure out what's life. I've been up at that point. It's been a number of months. I've been applying and with no success. So, I moved over into my parents' home. Talk about a translation for any young adult, much less a married person to move back into a parent's home with a child. Transition feels painful, humbling. It's a step backwards, for goodness sake, what are you doing? I spent more time applying. Zero success, feeling the weight of the unknown and the need to sustain a family, I figured, "Hey, I've got two good hands. I'll start my own handyman business." It pays the bills in the meantime, I'll start working on other aspects, other ways to get back into the field of my uh
of where I'm interested in, which was marine biology as well as data analytics. I started that handyman business. And it seems and we started looking at homes, looking at uh places we can rent, how we can move forward. And we went off to the uh the winter leadership conference. And just as that stability felt within reach, Hashem placed a new call in my heart to go into ministry. Something that I kept pushing away from and saying, "No, that's not for me." And through speaking through many different people, most notably Dr. Jeffress Zeif, it was shown to me that this is where he wants us. I felt like I was backed into a corner with after having his conversation being, "Why not?" So, Michelle and I began to pray desperately for direction. We took the next month, I continued with my handyman business, work growing it, making it a success and trying to make it grow while at the same time praying. During that month, we reached out to many of my mentors. Many of uh many people that Michelle would talk to. We shared a situation. And in a way, if I'm being honest, we're kind of hoping that especially some of
these people would say, "Hold your horses, buddy. That's great. It's wonderful, but maybe uh slow down a bit. I don't think this is the place for you. Not right now. You're in a great place in your life, and you're you're making waves, but slow down." And yet, the words of Dr. Jeffrey Seif came back to us. As he put it, "All those setbacks in my life in my past, they weren't really a series of setbacks, but a divine preparation for me to be where I'm at." With Michelle being pregnant with Noam at the time, we said, "We need to know an answer before June because she's she might be due early, and we needed to have that answer. We needed that new place. Everything had to fall into place, or we'd have to wait almost a year. 6 months at least before we can move." It was a terrifying choice. Without knowing where we would land, how would we survive, what we walked forward in total bitachon. Having the push from all of these different people, mentors, and friends. And Hashem did miraculously open doors. Every single door. Every single time we said, "What about this?" He didn't slide it open.
And that's where and how we came to be here at Shaare. This is the same choice faced by giants of our faith who came before us. Whether it be a Rambam, as I've mentioned previously in previous drashas, who lost everything, initially losing just his needing to flee and then losing his entire wealth, family wealth, and his beloved brother in a shipwreck. Or Victor Frankl standing in the freezing mud of a concentration camp. His These stories are not just stories. It's not just history. It's a blueprint for the soul itself. Frankl realized that even when every physical comfort is stripped away, everything is gone, the unattended harvest can happen. It's re- These un- unintended harvest of the spirit remains. Here reminds us, are we living in that year of Jubilee? Are we living in that seventh year? Or are we living in our own efforts? In that seventh year, the land rested. The people were forbidden from planting or harvesting. They had to rely entirely in unattended harvest. The fruit that grew simply because Hashem allowed and commanded the plants to grow. So, are we, like Israel, or are we trying to force the ground to
produce through our own anxiety, effort, and so forth? Or are we resting in the harvest that Hashem has already prepared for us? Frankl found that harvest in the little joys of a sunset, a shared joke, even in the middle of that wasteland. He proved that Hashem meticulously cares for that sparrow, being us, providing its unintended daily meal. And yet, we are much more precious than that sparrow. We are the nation of Israel, we being those that are believers, we are having a relationship with him. Now, again, please do not do not take it wrongly. I'm not suggesting a blind, maniac, crazy, lunatic kind of a place of happiness and where we're joke where we're just going crazy off top of our heads and laughing all the time. That's not what I'm talking about. That kind of happiness, it denies the struggles. I'm not talking about denial. We must acknowledge the pain, the difficulties of the desert. We have pain, we have loss, we have struggles. But, like Frankl, we must find our strength by choosing to see the blessings that grow even when we haven't planted them ourselves. We must heed the wisdom of Psalm 103,
"Bless the Lord, oh my soul, and forget not all his benefits." We are called to count every blessing, our many blessings, and do so on a daily basis, shifting our gaze from the drought that might be around us to the source of the rain. Are we counting what has happened? Whether it be the good, because today's bad might actually be for the good, or whether it be what where are we rooted then? So, that's where I return back. It's exactly where we started off with the question. What is the root system that we're in? Because there really is only one two options. We are rooted in our circumstances. And then therefore you will always always be unstable. You'll be bo- uh given to your emotions and to the circumstances of your life whether it to be joyful, happy, sad, angry. You're not in control. And control in those life uh if that's what your root system that control that you might think you have is an illusion. After all, conditions change rapidly. Today the stock is up, tomorrow it the entire Wall Street crashes. What happens? But if we're rooted in Hashem, we remain steady no matter what is going on around us. We
know he will take care of us even when the ground beneath us disappears. When you are rooted in His word, you experience what Tehillim the Psalms call ashrei, true happiness. Not because life is going to become easy, but because life is anchored in the happiness, anchored in Hashem, the source of it all. We must realize that happiness is not a reaction to our environment, it's an emotional state we choose for our experiences. Blessing is the source, happiness is the experience of that source. Bitachon, that trust, is the root that connects the both of them together and makes it one. A life rooted in God does not depend on favorable conditions. It depends on the source itself, the faithful source. So, as we recap, carry these three anchors in your heart. The promise, Jeremiah 17:7, "Blessed is the man who trusts in Hashem, whose hope is Hashem." This is our security. The experience, Psalm 1:1, "Happy is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, but his delight, his joy, is in the Torah." This is our joy. And the provisions, they'll come. They'll come in time. As I mentioned in Matthew,
"If the Father feeds the birds, he will surely sustain you." That is our shalom. This is our bitachon, our trust. That bitachon is that glue that that helps us to be rooted, that rootedness of our source of blessing and our happiness. When we are rooted in him, we are blessed. And therefore, we choose to be truly happy. So, with that, let's pray. Abba, we thank you that you are a faithful source who does not change when the seasons do. We ask for strength to move our roots from our circumstances to you, sinking them deep into your word. Give us your Give us the eyes to see the unintended harvest in our lives. The blessings The blessings that we didn't plant but you have provided. Let us live with the quiet rest of the Shabbat home. Knowing that if you care of the sparrow, you shall care for us. We choose today to be anchored in your blessing and walk in the happiness that comes only from you in your holy name. And with that, amen.