Parshas BO: How to Overcome Mental Challenges and Rewire Your Brain

Acrophobia is a common phobia across the world that many people suffer from. That makes one fearful of heights. I'm actually kind of afraid of heights, no-so phobia it's a little less common, but scientists describe it as a fear of catching a disease, maybe even not knowing if one does in fact have a disease and his body God forbid that he doesn't know about. There are many different phobias in the world. There's even a phobia called phobophobia. That is a fear of having a phobia. Kind of silly, but it's a real thing. And it seems that the question is fair to ask that when one does have a phobia, what are they supposed to do? They have a life to live, things to do, goals to accomplish, dreams to chase down, but one isn't granted the opportunity to select his brain from the store before he's born. You are given your mental faculties, your mental abilities, your intelligence, and you get what you get and you don't get upset. So it can be hard when one feels that he's tied down based on a certain phobia, a certain netea, a certain disposition. And the ante is upped when the Ram Bam tells us in his Yadah Chazaka and Hilchho's Deus that people do have different mental make-ups and are drawn towards certain meados differently. Some people are more predisposed to getting angry, while others more inclined to fall into chaos anger. Everyone is different, their brains wire differently, it would seem. But the Ram Bam says very clearly that we all have free will, no matter where we are on these meados spectrums, to progress and to even overcome. In fact, in the world of meados and overcoming our predispositions and how our brains are wired is what the Vilna Gown says is the point of life. And his commentary on Mishle the going tells us that if we're not trying to break evil meados, well then, lam alohaim, why do you wake up in the morning? What's the point of life? Because that's everything Trying to progress on the spectrum towards good meados. Every single day, ram Chayim Vitaal tells us that developing our meados is the citizenship, the card, the diploma that gets us into the game. The college of Torah Meados is just first. That's why it's not a mitzvah anywhere to perfect your meados, because of course, you need to have good meados and overcome the struggles of the pre-wired brain and the dispositions towards anger and lust. That's what you're supposed to do as you progress towards Torah and mitzvah and true freedom, so that the ante has truly been raised, been upped because we now have to overcome predispositions in our brain for the sake of meados that get us closer to Torah. And if that wasn't enough, our mental makeup, phobias, worries, fears, struggles in our emotional states, our outlook on life, how our brains are wired, they also seem quite frequently to get in the way of our mitzvah adherence. We're told to learn Torah of a hegeis, a boy on the Lila, but if we struggle to sit still, we don't have such a long Focus capacity it can be hard In the realm of the. A hafta is Hashem, a lokecha loving Hashem to commandment, to love, but just like someone who doesn't understand what they're learning, that it can feel like a monotonous and boring practice. So to via hafta, to love Hashem when you don't feel the love, when your brain Isn't predisposed to it, in fact in these cases may even be wired to not enjoy or engage in the Talmud Torah and via hafta mitzvahs Makes things really hard. So we must find a way to Rewire our brains To spark and ignite our hearts in the avidas, hashem that is commanded. And it's tricky Because the brain, the heart, the soul but we're really trying to Change things doesn't touchable. You could try to open your head and mess around with the brain, but it just looks like some Silly putty. The brain looks like Noodles and play dough, it looks like an organ, but You're not going to change your thoughts and your emotions that way. So we need some sort of mechanism that will act like a bionic arm, reaching into our heads, rewiring our heads and hearts, changing Us emotionally and mentally. So today I Hope to present to you the solution. The solution is not new in fact it's as old as time but it's a timely insight Because it comes from the safer Hachinuch, which is a safer written by a reshown that systematically Goes through all of the 613 mitzvos, parasha by parasha, and this week one of the parseos, the safer, one of the mitzvos in parasha's bow. The safer Hachinuch takes the liberty to explain it and then build upon it, and it gives us the clear answer to this question. And for the sake of brevity, of Giving over the answer in an easy to remember, concise way, I'm going to say the line that is the solution and then we'll explain, according to the safer Hachinuch, what it means. So the panacea To all of these issues aforementioned issues and challenges of Rewiring our brain, of changing where we are on the mental and emotional Spectrum, overcoming the mental challenges. The answer is to not break a bone from the Pesach sacrifice. That is mitzva 16. It is a mitzva given in this week's parasha. That is a safer Hachinuch. This is the answer. That's it. If you don't break bones in your Pesach sacrifice, you're gonna win the gold medal. Why, says a safer Hachinuch? Well, he answers because he has his own question. Safer Hachinuch, in addressing this mitzva of not breaking the bone of the carbon Pesach when you eat it, as you can't understand why Hashem gave so many mitzvos regarding the carbon Pesach, we are commanded to eat it at a certain time. There's a mitzva to eat it a certain way. There's mitzvos about the bones. There's mitzvos about its disposal. Why is it that so many mitzvos, so many z'chronos were given to us? The Lama y'git'zava, usanu asem y'sparach, lasos kol elalizikar, an osamanes. We're trying to recall the Exodus. We're trying to slaughter the God of the Egyptians, make a statement that we're free, that we serve not animals, not any other God other than HaKadosh Baruchu, the one creator and master of the universe. So the Savior HaKinnuch is bothered. Vehalo bezikar an echad ya'alahadavar be machh'avotaynu, with one mitzva, with one remembrance. Well, remember, asem tol us to do it. Daddy said so and that'd be enough. Eloyishkah me pizareanu. That it won't be forgotten From our minds or our children's minds. It's a fair question. To address this question, the Savior HaKinnuch begins very strongly da that you should know. Kilo mechachma tispe seanu alza. You have not asked this question because of wisdom or with wisdom. You have ashanar yishachal adabrkin and you are thinking very naively, very youthfully. In the words that you speak it doesn't make any sense what you are asking, that there should only be one mitzva, because Ve'atobinni Le'hoyil b'atayro mitzvos. Incline your ear and listen to my son, listen to my child and let the Torah and its mitzvos educate you and da and no Kih'a-odom nif'al kefi pe'u lasav, for a man is nach-slept, is acted upon according to his actions. Ve'libay and his heart. The kholmachshev a'isav and all of his thoughts. Tommid acher, mysev, they follow after his actions. Shahu a'isak, bohem and what he is acting as. What is he involved in? Imtov, ve'imra, whether the actions are good or the actions are poor or evil, the heart and the mind, they follow the actions. Sesa, seyfraachinach and in des mitzvah, the depth behind it. To not break a bone, it's a hint, it's an action that the Torah wants us to act in a monarchic, regal manner. The Seyfraachinach says that it is pauperish. It is the lower ends of society that suck out all of the bone marrow, trying to get every last drop and conserve every piece of nutrition that they can get their hands on. But the wealthy, but the upper class, the kings, it isn't the way to break bones. So, in order to impress this king-like mindset on the Jewish people, because the salvation and redemption is in full swing and we are transforming ourselves from a nation of slaves to a nation that is a kingdom of priests and a holy nation, well then we must begin by acting that way. So don't break the bones. And that's one of the very many mitzvahs given to impress these thoughtful actions upon our thoughts and our hearts. Adhamnifal Kefi Pulaasav A brand new reality. Words that really make no sense, although we may have heard them before, but the more you think about it, the more it doesn't add up. But the truth is that a person's mind and heart, who he is, what he identifies as his eye it goes after very dry actions. By acting like a king, you change yourself into a king to begin to penetrate the mind. Scientists actually have gotten very excited. I love when they discover a reality that one man with his Gemara a thousand years ago already spread through the entire Jewish nation. But the scientists have recently discovered the idea of neuroplasticity, which is basically the newfound understanding that the brain is not a non-renewable organ but you can, through different actions, connect and create new brain waves, brain channels and patterns to create a new, rewired, reinvigorated, refreshed brain. You can change your brain through actions to rid yourself of certain dysregulated mental brain waves and fix phobias. And a lot of the modern-day contemporary psychology is built upon this idea of neuroplasticity and neurofeedback that because we cannot touch the brain it doesn't mean that we cannot affect the brain. It's very exciting that the scientists discovered mitzvotess Zion that, yeah, don't break a bone of the carbon-pesach, because all the nifalkafi pu'ulosov, that when you act a certain way you can literally rewire your brain. It's a fascinating piece and he weaves this piece through many of the different mitzvotess surrounding the carbon-pesach the idea of acting like a king and how we dispose of the carbon-pesach and the time that we eat it, how we prepare it, who we do it with all of it to impress certain actions and try to nuch-slep the brain and the heart. After the mitzvotess and towards Zion. And if this was the idea just for carbon-pesach and for this mitzvot alone, dayenu, it would have been enough from the Seferachina. But he says closing in this piece seems very unassuming, but I believe it's very telling and enlightening. He says that, citing a gemara in menachis that you may have heard many times before. It's an often quoted gemara, before or after somebody finishes learning, when they want somebody to say kadesh, they'll cite this teaching to gemara in makkas I apologize, it's Makkas 23b that rotsahakodesh barachulazakos es-yisrael lafikachirbalahem taira'u mitzvotess that Hashem wanted to give merits to Israel. So therefore he increased Torah and mitzvotess from them, more mitzvotess, 613 of them, because he wanted us to get more reward, more merits. That's how we normally understand it to be mezakkas. But the Seferachina adds a line here. He says why did chazal? What did they mean in this line defining why Hashem gave us so many mitzvotess? It's kideh lahat pis bohen kol machshava isenu. Valiyahus bohen kol askeinu lahit devlonu biachir isenu. That our entire daily schedule, every corner, nook and cranny of our lives should be fully lit up with mitzvotess that will impress upon us all of the different realities that we must internalize. That will benefit us in the long run. Every action, every mitzvah is some neuroplasticity, some rewiring of the brain to love and to fear Hashem. It's renewing your relationship with Hashem. It's sticking a bionic arm through your ear, into the brain, and tickling it to act a different way. You can just think about some of the most common Orekha'i mitzvotess in a very practical way, how they and their philosophies are present, in the way that they rewire our brains. Think about what making a bracha is before you enjoy anything of the world, and the recognition that it impresses upon your mind to think about Hashem and to recognize Hashem's existence. Think about the fifth commandment and how it is supposed to show us that people that are older have more experience. We must honor them and it should lead us to honor people, things, entities that are larger and greater than we are. Think about the Sukkah and the Matzah, all of these different mitzvahs that carry with them not just truths that we are to recognize, but actions that we are to perform to have their messages impress deeply in the hearts and the minds of their people, that execute them. Every mitzvah, not just not breaking bones of the Karbon Pesach, but everyone of the 613, is there to rewire our brains to love and to fear Hashem and to connect with the Almighty. I then remembered that, really, the safer Masil Asiyash Ramav Ramchal discussed this point at length when the second step after one has started to learn Torah, which has then led him to the next level in his climb to total prophecy, and basking in the vibrant sun, the bright light of the Shechina at the very top but right after Tyra. It leaves a person towards thinking about life, zihirus, taking things to heart and looking at your life and comparing notes with what you're doing and what the Torah says, using your brain, coming into your wits. But the next step is Alakrati, zerizos. It seems to be kind of out of place, while running to things is important and being on time and moving briskly and swiftly towards the commandment seems to be very important. But that is the very thing. The second step, or third step, if you will, in our climb to greatness. Is that paramount, that constitutional being Alakratis? But the Masil Asiyash Ram tells us the same idea that Al-Dum, nifal, kap'i, p'u-losov and the Chitzenius is Ma'uriris as apnimius that our outsides. They inspire and they affect change in our insides that cannot be touched and can't so readily and easily be changed. So running towards Mitzvahs, engaging in them with a pretend, even at times source of excitement. Yeah, that's the way. That's how you change your insides to elevate yourself towards the next step of Nikios. You work with what you have to work with the dry actions and the moving of your feet and that somehow gets involved in ill-ass neuro ill-ass to publicity or whatever that word is. It rewires your brain to love, fear and serve Hashem. Shomal Gansfried makes use of this Yusaid and teaching one how to have a proper morning routine, where the Kittr Shochinach tells us how to get up in the morning and rewire your head and your disposition, moving yourself up on the spectrum of how easy or how tedious and cumbersome it is to wake up in the morning. He says just get up in the morning three times. Do it even though it's excruciatingly painful, and that will change how you feel about the action and make it easy. The Khrish is there Just how quickly the change and the rewiring of our brains really happens and less than a week the dysregulations and the port connections in our brain that create laziness and the Nityos towards Ra and Kas and Taiva can begin to be flipped. It's almost a form of exposure treatment of the way that we began this talk of all the different phobias, and this seems to be a way that one if he could use it to treat his phobia or his kind of uninspired mitzvah adherence but by acting in a certain way he can change how he thinks about them. Well then, maybe he could also and it does, science has proven this by exposing oneself and acting a certain way, he can overcome a phobia. I've heard of people that were afraid of heights, the acrophobia that he was healed when, although it was excruciatingly painful, his therapist strapped him into the roller coaster, kicking and screaming, and sent him on the roller coaster ten times every single day for a month until eventually became a really uneventful ride. Because when one acts a certain way, even for any reason, even if he's forcing himself to, it ends up really changing his insights. The Savior Echanuch even says that this is hinted at in a major exposing of a secret of the Tyra. He just told us that anyone who has to fill in on his head and a mezuzah on his doorpost sits on his corners of his garment garment. He's promised that he will not sin Because these actions, these dry, very plain actions, they're told me, they're constantly impressing upon his heart new realities that literally change how he thinks. And what does heart wants to do With this? Adam Nifal Kaffee, pa'ulo Saff, the not breaking of carbon-pesach bones, this idea from the Seferah Chinuch. It answers how we can move ourselves up a rung in our meadah struggles, in our sometimes emotional and social health struggles and definitely in our mitzvah and Torah desires, our rutsun. For in mitos, if you want to be more alacritus, you just run to shul, you force yourself to be on time, you pretend that the Shimonah Astray means something to you and you force yourself to go through the motions. And these actions, following the way that Hazal told us to daven, word by word, saying psukedezimra, like you're counting dollar bills, it makes a change on the heart. The next way to solve the next mitah problem of being too self-centered, egotistical, the actions that one can perform to overcome this is actually given to us in the Ramban's Igaris Ramban, a letter that he wrote, and proper actions and how to have success in one's Torah life. He says if you would like to be an un-of, well then head down and heart up, look up and yell at people, act bashfully, but all of the ways to change the mental attitude of how you feel about yourself and how self-centered you are. The eitza from the Ramban is to act a certain way, the way that you move your head, where you point your eyes and how you try to turn your heart certain directions, towards God that changes your mitos and towards our emotional health and the social health. If one feels a bit depressed, melancholic and sad, you force those cheeks to smile, you flash your teeth towards your friends, no matter how impervious your face may be to the very infrequent smile. If you force yourself to smile over time it will impress upon your heart. Simcha, if you are afraid to give droshos in public to speak up in class, to take the bimah to daven from the omid to lead the congregation, well then you guessed it. You do exactly that. You force yourself to give the drosha to act as the shliach tzivur, to lane from the Torah Because Ha'adam nifal kifip ulosav. One's actions act very powerfully on a person's mind and heart and then definitely the realms of Torah. We don't even have to make up the ways, we don't need any neuroelasticity. You just do the mitzvos with your head screwed on straight. You are present when you do the mitzvos and internalize what's going on, what they mean and why you are doing them and that is the secret drug, the solution to how one will be pulled towards doing more mitzvos, more Torah, just like a magnet, is pulling you towards it. When you treat Hashem like a father, you envision Hashem and very real his mitzvos, touchable. You begin to develop a love for Ha'adash Baruch, who, like a father, because when you act that way it takes real effect in the heart. And the funny thing about all this is that it's advice that's as old as time and often the advice that is as old as time and hasn't been rethought and been someone of a Baikh Svara are the ones that actually work. So, whatever it is that you fear, in a very healthy and proper way, you force yourself to do it. If it's love of Hashem and fear of Hashem that you would like to impress upon yourself, well then you just force yourself. Go through the motions as prescribed as the medication for love of Hashem and fear of Hashem in the Torah. You do the mitzvos, you dive in with fear, you learn like it matters In Talmud Torah. You pretend to care. You pretend like, if I don't understand one of these little parts of the Gemara, then like a great Torah sage, it matters. What is this? How does it make sense, even though you're pretending, but it feels like that old adage of you fake it until you make it really does work out well here, because Adam Neph'al, kephi P'ulosav, and when you don't break the paschal lamb bones, it helps to impress upon the heart and the mind the idea of that we are a nation of priests, a nation of kings. It can be awkward at the beginning to engage in heartless, mindless ma'asim actions. It can even be excruciating to expose oneself to the actual things that he fears. But the hope and the appeal for action is that very quickly, remarkably rapidly, the brain is rewired, restored and refreshed, ready for action. So, even though we didn't get to choose our brains, our dispositions may have been hardwired, but we can open up the motherboard and rewire the brain, grow in our emotional and social health, have a more energetic and positive outlook on life. We can perfect the meados that are prohibited. We can protect ourselves from anger and lustful emotions. We can rewire, hotwire our brains to love, learning Torah and to love Hashem and fear Him by acting as such, by going through the motions, by doing the mitzvos, because Ha'adam and Nifal, Kifi, pa'ulo Sav, actions take great action upon one's heart and one's mind.