Hello, this is David Diga Hernandez, and you're watching Spirit Church Year on the Encounter TV Network. I'm continuing now my series on the gifts of the Holy Spirit by exploring the service gifts. But first, Steven Moctezuma is here with me. He's going to lead you in some very anointed worship. And then we're getting right into this lesson. Let's worship now. So before we delve into the content, I want to just go over the various spiritual gifts that I'm covering in this series. So last week I covered the leadership gifts or the office gifts. And those gifts are the evangelist, the pastor, the teacher, the apostle, and the prophet. In this session, I'm going to be covering the service gifts, which are the gift of exhortation, giving, leadership, service, and administration. Now, next week I will be covering the power gifts, which are discernment, faith, healing, word of knowledge, word of wisdom, miracles, tongues, tongues interpretation, and the gift of prophecy. Now, I want to make sure that it's clear that all spiritual gifts are for service. I want to show this to you in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse number seven, where the Bible says, a spiritual gift is given to each of us so we can help each other. So why do I call these gifts that I'm about to teach on these service gifts when all gifts are meant for service? Well, I gave them this name primarily so that we can categorize them and therefore memorize them better. But I do want to emphasize the idea that the church is a structured system. This is how God intended it to be. Now, last week I covered the leadership gifts. These are leaders of the church. The service gifts are gifts to be used within the church. Now, as I said, the church is an organized structure. It's an organized framework. Despite those who are anti-establishment, the scripture does make it clear that the church is a system. You've often heard phrases like, take it outside the four walls of the church, or let's not do church as usual, or we're not about organized religion. And while I understand the sentiments behind such phrases, we also have to be careful to not go to the other extreme, where we just wonder about with no structure, no aim, no purpose. God has given us the structure of the church to fulfill a purpose. Now, you can see the structure of the church at work in various portions of scripture. Acts chapter 6, verses 1 through 7. Ephesians 4, 11 and 12. 1 Timothy 3, 1 through 13. Acts 14, 23. Titus 1, 5. 1 Timothy chapter 5, verse 22. James chapter 3, verse 1. And Hebrews chapter 13, verse 17. So those scriptures make it very clear that the church is organized. Now, in our day, in our generation, we don't like the idea of somebody else telling us what to do. We don't like the idea of being committed to a system or a structure. And I understand that to some degree. And I also understand that that's not every believer. Some of us prefer that structure and that organization. But nonetheless, no matter our preferences, we know that the Word of God teaches that in fact there is a structure and a system. So then these service gifts work within that structure. They work within that system. Together we can do more than we could ever do alone. It is our unity, our togetherness, that gives us our power to be effective in kingdom expansion and evangelism. Acts chapter 6, verses 2 through 4 say this. So the 12 called a meeting of all the believers. They said we apostles should spend our time teaching the Word of God, not running a food program. And so brothers select seven men who are well respected and are full of the spirit and wisdom. We will give them this responsibility. Then we apostles can spend our time in prayer and teaching the Word. Now had these apostles said that in a modern setting, they would be criticized. Some would say, oh, you don't have a servant's heart. Or they would say, oh, that's elitism. Or, oh, that's organized religion. They would criticize them for not wanting to be involved in the food program. Now this is where we as believers make our error. We think that because another believer isn't fulfilling the role that we have been given to fulfill, that they therefore are not genuine. Or they aren't really doing the real work as some might word it. I've watched as people criticize media ministries. They say that's wonderful that you're reaching people through media. That's wonderful that people are getting saved watching through television and the internet. But you need to get out on the streets and do the real work of ministry. And it's precisely that mindset that breaks our unity. Now am I saying that taking it out on the streets is not something we should be doing by no means? I'm simply saying that each one of us have been given an assignment. And every assignment is needed. Every member of the body is needed. Every gift set is needed. Every method is needed. We all preach the same message. We all have the same goal of kingdom expansion. But not all of us have the same role to fulfill in the work of kingdom expansion. I say all that to say this. We must embrace the gifts that God has placed in one another. We must not be critical of those whom God has placed in leadership positions. And we mustn't look down on people who have what we call the service gifts. All of them come together to create the effort of kingdom expansion and global evangelism. So while these are the service gifts, you mustn't look down upon these gifts. These gifts are really foundational to the church. Without the service gifts, those who are called to teach aren't really free to teach. Those who are called to pastor aren't really free to pastor and so on and so forth. Again, I'm not saying that pastoring or teaching isn't a form of service. This is just a term I've used to categorize this gift set. So looking to that selection of scripture in Acts chapter 6 verses 2 through 4, we see that the apostles said we need somebody to fulfill the more practical roles of church ministry so that we can focus on the specialty roles that God has given us to focus on. This is not to say one is better than the other. This is not to say that one is more important than the other. This is not to say that someone is more spiritual just because they have that other job to fulfill. In fact, the Bible says that in selecting people to run the food program, they were to search for people who were well respected, full of the Holy Spirit, and filled with wisdom. This tells me that the anointing of the Holy Spirit doesn't just grace us for those specialty ministries or those ministries that people for some reason deem as more important, but the Holy Spirit also empowers us to do the practical, to do the foundational, to do the seemingly mundane. So if your spiritual gift sets consist of what we call the service gifts, celebrate that fact. Rejoice in that fact. Rejoice in the job that God has given you to do. For we cannot say to each other, I have no need of you. The body is not made up of one part, but many parts, each part being just as important as the next. So I'm going to read you this list. And it's important to keep in mind that these aren't just abilities. They are spirit empowered abilities. So there's the gift of exhortation. You can find this in Romans 12.8. Also in Romans 12.8, you can find the gift of giving, the gift of leadership. In Romans 12.7, you can find the gift of service. In 1 Corinthians 12.28 and 1 Corinthians 9.12, you can find the gift of administration or the gift of helps. These are the five service gifts. Now, when you have the gift of exhortation, this is a really powerful one. You have the spirit empowered grace to be an encouragement to those who need encouragement. Now, any believer can encourage another believer, but not every believer carries that gift of encouragement. Just like any believer should be able to share the Word of God, but not every believer is called to be a teacher as a five-fold ministry gift. Every believer can evangelize, but not every believer is called to fulfill the role of the evangelist, which is eight leadership gifts. So in the same way, all of us can encourage one another. But the one with the gift of exhortation has been given a spirit empowered grace to encourage in a way that those without the gift of encouragement or the gift of exhortation could not encourage. Now, this is a really powerful gift when you think about it. Think about the fact that God can place a spiritual ability in you, that when you go to speak with someone who is weighted down by life's responsibilities, perhaps they're facing some tragedy, perhaps they're wavering in their faith. You can go with the gift of exhortation and just by you being near them, just by you speaking to them, God will add his anointing. God will add his power. God will add his strength to your words and to your presence, and that person will be broken out of that discouragement. That's a powerful gift to have, especially when you see someone wavering in their faith. We can recognize people with this gift of encouragement because there's a magnetism about them. They're easy to talk to. They're easy to share your troubles with. They're willing to listen. They're able to notice when somebody is discouraged and act upon that. That is a powerful gift. And again, these service gifts are foundational. If it weren't for the service gifts, there would be no foundation. There would be no structure. There would be no system. And if it weren't for that structure, that system, that foundation, then those with the other gifts, the leadership gifts or the power gifts, could not function in their gifts. These gifts are key to church growth. The second one, the gift of giving. Again, this may seem like just an average ability, but no, this is a divinely empowered gift to see a need, to have the resource, to have the willingness of heart, and to be able to take that step of faith and generously release that gift, that resource that the gospel might go forward. Those with the gift of giving have a heart for giving. They're moved by projects. They're moved by the needs of others. Not only that, not only are they given that keen insight to be able to spot where there's a need that needs to be filled, but God also blesses them with resources. Resources that they then can use to expand the kingdom. The gift givers are God's resource centers for the kingdom. They are the funders, the backers of kingdom expansion. Then there's the gift of leadership. And again, this may seem like an average ability, because there are some people who don't have the Holy Spirit who make good leaders. But here's how I would characterize the gift of leadership. Whatever qualities make one a good leader. The one with the gift of leadership has those qualities, but backed by the power of the Holy Spirit. Not in their ability, but the Holy Spirit leads through them. The Holy Spirit inspires through them. The Holy Spirit guides through them. They can help people navigate difficult circumstances. They can inspire groups of people to rally together to accomplish a task. These with the gift of leadership are beacons of hope for people in the church. They're pillars that uphold God's work. Then there's the gift of service. And the gift of service is very powerful, because the one with the gift of service finds all of the gaps and fills them. The one with the gift of service has the ability to notice the need, the willingness to fill that need, and the strength and the energy to continue filling that need. These are the people who can be called upon for any task that the church needs done. They're the first ones there. They're the ones to arrive early. When somebody says, we need somebody to help with, they're the first ones to raise their hand. They may say, well, I don't necessarily know if I have some great ability, but I have availability. These truly are gifts to be honored in the church. These truly are gifts to be esteemed, that you can be one to help be the foundation for the work of God. The gift of service comes with the humility, and God rewards that humility. Then there's the gift of administration or helps. This is 1 Corinthians 12-28 and 1 Corinthians 9-12. The gift of administration or helps is the organizer, the one who's able to bring order out of chaos. When others look and see nothing but disarray, the one with the gift of administration can look and see the potential of pulling it together. These people are usually church administrators or handle finance or really organize anything. The gift of administration is the gift of organization. Now, when you look at the gift of organization, think about the fact that everything God does, he does orderly. When God created, he created order. When God moved, he moved in order. When God sent his son Jesus, he did it in order to save that which was lost. Everything God does is meticulously planned. Everything God does is orderly. It may not always appear that way to us because we may deem God's plans as disruptive because they go against ours, but everything God himself didn't plan according to that in the first place. So the person who is an organizer and administrator is acting in the nature of God by looking into the chaos, putting their hands into that chaos and shaping that chaos into orderly creation. These are powerful gifts and I pray that the Lord would inspire you. Today, as I talk about these gifts, is to make sure we understand that these gifts are important. We often look at other gifts like prophecy and healing and while those do address needs and while those are awe-inspiring gifts, we cannot forget that more often than not the foundational is more important than those things that come afterwards. And this is the main point I want to convey to you. If you see that God has gifted you in any of these areas, you need to know that that gift is worthy of honor. That that gift is worthy to be looked at as necessary.  But you must know that God has given you these gifts. To the fullness of the ability He has placed in you, these are the service gifts. So Father, I pray in the name of Jesus that you would touch each one and you would inspire them, Lord, to walk in the gifts you've placed on their lives. Lord, if they recognize any of these gifts in themselves, I pray, Lord, that they would recognize the greatness of your hand working through them. We love you and we honor you. We bless your name. The name of Jesus. I want you to say it because you believe it. Say amen. Well, I want to welcome now the new members of Spirit Church. There you are up on the screen. We love you. We're praying for you. I always say that because I always mean it. If you'd like information on how you can join the Spirit family, simply go to davidhernandezministries.com. Spirit Church to join our online community. And now to your comments. These comments come from the teaching Knowing Your Calling. If you haven't seen that teaching yet, I highly recommend you go and watch it. Just search Knowing Your Calling on EncounterTV. That message dealt with the specific call of God for your life. We know what we're called to do, generally speaking. We know we're called to live holy, to worship, to know the Word, to evangelize, to love one another.  That's the question that that teaching explores, knowing your calling. And while you're watching that and while you're watching this, be sure that you connect to us on all of our social media platforms. When you subscribe to us on YouTube, be sure to click that notification bell so you can be notified when we put out new content. And also, don't forget to leave a comment and I may read your comment on an edition of Spirit Church. The first commenter writes, Thank you so much Pastor David and the team for this message. It was a very powerful and clear reminder for me to focus on my calling. Shalom, thank you. Freedom and Glory writes, I loved this message. This message dove deeper than the surface. It was not just a feel-good message, it really edifies the body of Christ. Teacher Carla writes, I was reminded of my calling, thank you Pastor David, for another powerful teaching to God be the glory. Mary Lou Ramos writes, I feel that God is talking to me through your teachings. I hope someday I can come to find my focus and what God wants me to say to others, to God be all the glory.  And the final comment comes from Johann who writes, this was a timely message for me. I thank you Lord Jesus, God bless you Pastor David and your ministry. Well I want to invite you to be a part of what God is doing in this ministry. I know there's someone watching me right now and you want to help. Your heart is to help, your heart is for the gospel, your heart is for souls and you believe that the gospel needs to be preached. You believe that more people need to hear the word of God. You believe in healing, you believe in deliverance, you believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. So I want to welcome you to be a part of what we're doing as a ministry. In Matthew chapter 6 verse 33 the Bible says, seek the kingdom of God above all else and live righteously and he will give you everything you need. That's my encouragement to you right now. Even in chaotic times, even in uncertain times we can be sure of the promises of God.  Help us continue to create the media, to continue to do live streams, to continue to host the Holy Spirit School online which is a free Bible training program, to continue to do events all around the world. It's all done through donor support and I know that as you step out in faith and as you put the kingdom of God first, God will meet your need.  So help us continue as a ministry. Help us continue to go and grow. Put the kingdom of God first now. Let the Holy Spirit speak to your heart. Give a one-time gift into this ministry right now or become a monthly supporter.  Go and check out, by the way, davidhernandezministries.com slash partner if you're considering monthly partnership. There is a list of all the benefits that you receive by being a monthly partner. And one of those benefits is access to our monthly Zoom call that's exclusive for our monthly partners. But whatever you do, do it today. Do it for Jesus. Do it for souls. Do it for the sake of the kingdom. You believe the gospel should be preached. You believe in the message we declare. You believe in the power of the Holy Spirit. So join with us. Be a part of what we're doing. Give a one-time gift or become a monthly supporter today. Again, one more time. Go to davidhernandezministries.com slash donate or you can sign up to become a monthly supporter by going to davidhernandezministries.com slash partner. Well that is it for this edition of Spirit Church here on the EncounterTV Network. Until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God. We'll see you next time.


Hey everyone, welcome back to New York City. Lisa Martin and John Furrier here with theCUBE, covering AWS Summit NYC. This is a series of summits this year. There's about 15 of them globally. We are excited to be here with a couple of guests. We have an alumni back with us. Couple of guests from Calent, Steven Gardner joins us, the executive chairman, and Valerie Henderson, Chief Revenue Officer. Guys, welcome to the program. Thank you. Thank you for having us. Great to have you, welcome back. Appreciate it. I should say. 2016. It's been a minute. Well, that was before Calent. Talk to us about Calent. What do you guys do? What do you deliver? How are you affiliated with AWS? Sure. So, we were founded in 2015. Initially, it's a container management product. So our roots are very deeply centered around cloud native. We've since evolved and become a cloud native consultancy. We're all in with AWS. We were actually just awarded AWS Premier Partner a couple of weeks ago. So we're pretty pumped about that. But we're about 250 people now across North and South America. Our goal is really to work with customers that are looking to innovate and evolve and use AWS as a catalyst to build new products for their business. As a catalyst, I like that. Valerie, talk about the customer. Obviously, so much tumult in the last couple of years. Still going through it. Yeah, of course. How have customer conversations evolved and changed in the last couple of years from your perspective? Yeah, I think from my perspective it is such a unique time. And it's a time that is constantly changing. And I think change breeds opportunity. And I feel like customers see that and they're leaning in. They want the opportunity to create new revenue streams, do more, more efficiently. And I think that's the key. And the questions are really asking how can we take our data and turn it into something that we can monetize? How can we be smarter with what we have? And I think it's an incredible time to be in the space that we're in. Every conversation I have is really forward thinking and about the business. And I've been in this space for a while and that was not always the case. And I think now people are shifting that IT shop to IP shop. And that's so key from my perspective. Interesting, interesting shift there. Every company has to be a data company these days. To be competitive. You know, the last couple of years it was how do we survive? Pivot, pivot, pivot, pivot. But to be a data company means you have to be able to extract value and insights from that data and act on it to your point, develop new products, new revenue streams, new opportunities. How do you enable companies? And maybe this is a question that you can both answer. It's truly become data companies. The whole model from a services perspective is not a do for model. It is a do with model. And anytime we go into a customer it's like where are they on the curve? From monolith application to microservices where do they sit today? And I think when you dig in, you assess, you deeply understand where they are. You can get them to where they want to be and build a plan. And the way our model works is we're doing it with them. And what that means is we're enabling them, documentation, we're supporting them that if we're not there they're going to be able to carry it forward and continue to do more. So that's so, so important. I love Stephen's take on it. Yeah, I think the other trend that we're seeing in data more recently is that customers need to share their information with other partners, collaborate. And AWS is just the perfect kind of platform to be able to do that, enable that sharing. And you're seeing even businesses like Snowflake build a data cloud on top of AWS. So I think that's a new angle that we're seeing which is really bringing together way more innovation. How about that data clean room trend that's going on? Snowflake's doing a lot of that. But some of them have a little lock-in spec there versus being open, security, privacy, governance. What's the balance between open sharing and kind of the requirements you need to be secure and compliant? Yeah, I mean, I think very simplistically, the information that you're using to deliver your product and service to customers generally safer, kind of more public and available. The information that's confidential to your business behind the scenes, obviously you use the right protocols to lock it out. But it is a very hot topic in today's world, especially with web three and people kind of seeking to get their information back. So you mentioned to you guys around since 2015, if you go back in time, it seems like yesterday, but in cloud time, it's like two generations ago. Why is data now more relevant? Is it because the technology's gotten better and easier or more maturation of the client's understanding or being full with data, having a data problem and hence an opportunity? Or is it open source has evolved? Yep. Or all three, what's your reaction to that? Why are we, why is it exploding now when it's kind of been around for a while? It keeps exponentially growing, right? The more and more data, there was a stat four or five years ago about, hey, we're taking more photographs in a single year now than of all of mankind, leading up to that date. But I think just the sheer quantities and the way people are managing it now and being able to actually capture information points of everything across their entire business just presents a much bigger opportunity to be able to take informed decisions off the back of that. Do you see the customers having more data full problems that they're having more data? So that's, and they now understand the consequences of the not leveraging it? Yeah, is what to do. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. And I think you think about when you wake up in the morning, if you ask Alexa what the weather is, I'm like, you're creating data in every engagement with the world. So I think it's this explosion of it, but then it exists and what do you do in having a strategy? I still think one of the biggest gaps is people and talent and expertise to do the work, frankly, which is the hypothesis of Kailin existing. Yeah. Data concept and the application. Yeah. Because what's the weather to Alexa is an application of what's the weather, it's a request, but it's actually, the data is built into the app. It's built in. So data as code is kind of a new trend. Yes, yeah, yeah. And I think it's funny to answer the question, there's more data points surrounding how to leverage your data. And I'm like, it's crazy. I think you're really seeing that sort. It's like we have an old data warehouse. We can't get the weather data, although it's there somewhere. Exactly. Getting the data in the applications, this is not, wasn't around 10 years ago. No one was talking like that. Now it's more standard. That sounds like DevOps to me, a DevOps problem. Yeah, moving from the monolithic to the microservice as well, and just the way that people are building applications today, the users, their customers are demanding more from the service and AWS is able to deliver that. What are some of your customers doing with you guys? What are some, can you give some examples and scope the scale of your relationship with the customers, Visa, V, AWS, and the cloud? How are they using you guys and the cloud? Yeah, yeah, for sure. A customer of ours, Allergan, which is an incredible organization, really had a large effort to modernize. And they actually have a data lab within their company called Allergan Data Labs, and they leveraged us to truly just modernize this containerization effort, how they can do more with less and that serverless experience. So I think from my perspective, what we're seeing is also a need to be thoughtful about DevOps retooling and tooling because talent wants to work with the best tool set, the hottest stuff on the street, and again, to keep talent is key in any organization's success. How does Kailin help with that from a talent perspective? Obviously there's talent shortage, we're also still in the great resignation. How do you help organizations kind of bridge the gap so that they can glean insights from data and be competitive and win? Yeah, we actually just published a case study with Novus, which was bought by SCI, which is a huge financial firm, where they said, listen, it's human nature to say, I have a gap and I need to fill it, I'm going to hire somebody. That's human nature to say, okay, this is what we're going to do. But the reality is, I think companies are starting to see the advantage of using a partner and say, okay, I could hire one person or I could bring in a partner who's going to have a team of five, works incrementally for a period of time, does with, helps coach my team up, document all of that. And I think that they're seeing value from that. And ultimately it's not that we don't want them to eventually hire, when they do hire, we want that person to come in and have the best experience. And sometimes the people aren't even available. Correct, yeah. So you have a combination of managed services now, a plethora of managed services, that are also involved with the customer. So it's that integration, scale, and partnering and sharing. You mentioned sharing data earlier. How do you guys view that integration piece? Because if you have a modern architecture, you got to have that decomposed, decoupled, but integrated approach. Yeah, we really believe that the whole world of project services and managed services is kind of coming together as one. So we have a single delivery model, which we're really passionate about. And we look at it as kind of an embedded team within our customers, embedded DevOps to support them, basically on anything that could be from modernizing a new application through to addressing kind of a more traditional cloud architecture framework that's in place. But yeah, the trick to it is, as Val said earlier, is the do with approach, not just do for, right? I think customers need to learn about the cloud. They need to understand the technology that they're using. They want to have that understanding. And we found a way of fitting in our services to help them sort of accelerate that path. Valerie, I got to ask you the question. So, you know, in sports, they talk about the modern era of baseball or whatever. We're in the modern era of cloud, kind of going next generation. We call it super cloud. The concept that Dave and I put out at re-invent. If someone asks you, what does the modern era look like? As you're looking at your customer base and the data you guys have, how would you describe this modern era? What is it made up of? Is it outcomes versus solutions? Is it technology that's decentralized? How do you talk about it? Like, what is the modern era, if you were? I, not to oversimplify it, but I'm going to. The idea that somebody could come into work and all they have to think about is business outcomes and the data points that they need to achieve said business outcomes. I'm the biggest fan of measure what matters. I think it is an incredibly powerful methodology. And I think anybody who thinks about running business, they know that it's a scale. The amount of companies that are in that place is very small right now. So I think modern era is really that running an IT company to an IP company. So, Steven, if you unpack that, what's under the covers to make that happen? Automation, what's your assessment of that outcome? Which, by the way, was well said. Beautiful, beautiful comment. It makes that happen. I think it is around automation. It is around kind of do once and then apply many times. That is key. Obviously, it's a fundamental principle of the cloud is that consistency and that repeatability. So, when you can simplify services down to a point, click, deploy, I think you're in a much better position to be able to move quickly and then not have to worry about anything under the hood and just focus, like Val said, on the business outcomes. I understand it's more creative. They're focusing on the problem. Exactly. To not do the rock fetches and the heavy lifting that's not differentiated. I find that what gives people energy generates opportunity. And I think when people hit those roadblocks of these things don't work together, there's all these interdependencies that's really challenging. So, I love what's happening. I think there's never been a better time to be in this business. Not a dull moment. That's for the venture. Not a dull moment. Val, we talk about outcomes. You mentioned a couple of customers that you're working with, some case studies. It is all about outcomes these days. That's the conversations that we have with the entire ecosystem. It's all about business outcomes. What are some of those key transformative business outcomes that Kalin is helping customers to achieve? Yeah, to me, one thing that is key is anytime I'm meeting with a customer, I want to understand who their customers are. I'm like, who is your customer and how can we create a better experience for that customer? Whether it's their end users or their external customers. And I think that is a huge element. What we're seeing is that sassification of how do I make it easier for my customers to procure and engage with my platform? And a lot of what we're doing right now is helping clients with that. And it's not a flip of a switch. It's not a click of a button. It's complicated, but that is what we are here to help. Help simplify, help create that understanding of what's possible. How do you guys talk to your customers? Take a minute to give a plug for the company. What are you looking for? What's the stats? How many employees are you guys hiring? And what's the pitch to customers? Yeah, so I think every organization is on their journey to the cloud now. It's gotten to that point where if you're not working with a public cloud provider, you're part of a very, very small group. We like to say that we'll meet customers where they are and help evolve them as a business, evolve their teams. And that's what we mean when we say do with. So it's a pretty broad spectrum. We're big in healthcare. We're big in fintech. We've worked with a lot of startup customers. We have about 250 customers today, 250 employees, and we're scaling rapidly. We've grown that from about 50 employees a year ago, so. Yes. Oh, wow. Yes, when I started, we were just around 60 people and we're at 260 today. And why are people working with you? What are you guys solving a problem? Are you enabling them? What's the pitch? Without a doubt, I love that. Being in sales my whole career, somebody asking me for a pitch is my favorite. Okay, let's go. The true value prop of what we do is all of the above. We enable, we help customers do more faster. But again, we do not want customers to walk away from an engagement with us saying, oh no, we don't know what to do. We want them to feel empowered. I still think the biggest gap from everything being in that IP business outcome is people. And for us, we're so passionate about that and building a company that really truly believes that. And that's part of who we are as a company and our value system. And the digital transformation, ultimately what they're going through. You get them there faster. They get the outcomes and they're operational. Absolutely. And also to be clear, when a customer has a great experience working with you, they want to tell other people about the experience. And for us, the referrals that we get, the partnership with Amazon is so key. What are some reactions after you go through an engagement? We've been riffing on this concept of super cloud where you're starting to see people build on top of not the AWS, but their partners that work with them. And so the customers are getting their own cloud experience at scale. What are some of the comments you hear from your successful customers? What are some anecdotal feedback? Yeah, yeah. I'm so glad we did this because now I'm selling more, I'm doing this. What are some of the things that they're doing? Yeah, yeah. No, I think ultimately the consistent theme that we get is I'm so glad that I didn't let fear hold me back from engaging a partner because a lack of control scares a lot of customers. It does. And I think customers that are willing to say, okay, I'm going to have a little faith, trust in the process. They thank us. They do. And we've seen that across the board. I think that crossing that chasm is not to be underestimated without a doubt. Great story. Congratulations. There's nothing more powerful and potent than the voice of the customer. Without a doubt. And really, you have to listen. Yes, yes, definitely. Steven, Valerie, thank you so much for joining me on the program today, talking about, Katelyn, what you guys are doing for customers with AWS and powering enabling collaboration. Love it, thank you. Yeah, thank you both. All right, our pleasure. For John Furrier, I'm Lisa Martin. You're watching theCUBE live in New York City. We are at AWS 7 NYC. John and I will be right back with our next guest.


Well, hello and welcome to Jonathan from the heart. I'm Jonathan as they have Jonathan as they comment I'm so excited to be shooting the short video for you today our topic. We're going to talk about bread crumbing Why do men bread crumb? What does bread crumbing look like probably like this? Really quickly if you're new to my YouTube channel, please hit the subscribe button hit the bell So you can be notified of new videos and also if you like this content Please hit the like button as well and these are my weekend videos that I shoot on my balcony very similar to the Videos I shoot my private group called midlife love mastery check out the link below This is a group where you can ask you can be connected to me on a regular basis where you can ask me questions and depending on the questions You ask I shoot personalized videos in the group just for you So check out the link below to my VIP group called midlife love mastery All right, let's talk about bread crumbing and I've been thinking about this a lot lately because women Talked about this and you know the idea of bread crumbing comes from the you know From the idea that When you're eating crumbs fall out or Hansel and Gretel, where does bread crumbing come from? But the idea is basically you're just giving a small little morsel to a person you're in relationship In other words, basically what the implication is is that when you're dating a man That he doesn't reach out frequently. He might act passive. He might act slow his his He doesn't seem like he's progressing the relationship forward. He's not really Seeming invested. He's in the state of maybe. Okay, maybe Maybe let's think about maybe for a second and basically what I've noticed in a lot of Relationships are a couple different variations of why bread coming Had bread crumbing happens and one of them is because of what I call being a maybe and what being a maybe is is someone that has a connection with you and Appreciates the companionship with you and yet there's a doubt going on inside of him The doubt might be he doesn't feel like you're the one but he appreciates your company and appreciates and what I mean by appreciates Actually, let's reframe the word appreciate. He's taking your energy He's taking your energy and what I mean is he he he's taking the female energy not feminine energy But female energy to fill a void in his life to fill a void in his life And this happens a lot with men who put you in what's called the maybe category and by the way This is subconscious this maybe is a subconscious because they're not aware They're not fully in and fully present in the relationship And so what's happening in this maybe is like maybe I like or maybe I don't maybe I like or maybe I don't maybe I like Or there's an inner battle going on inside And of his subconscious that and how it shows up is showing up very slow passive bread crumbing type of behavior Right again, but bread coming is simply not frequent communication not frequent activity in the relationships It's very sparse. Okay. Now. I've observed that's one reason why by the way my chair is rocking I need to I think it's off balance right now. I Really quickly if you can tell my shirt says black Sabbath I saw them in concert a long time ago back in the late 70s early 80s and so So that's my shirt. Have you ever seen them in concert?  By the way, this is my Tony Stark look With from iron from the event shirts. Okay By the way, my cup says got Jonathan got Jonathan This was a gift from a client It's a metal cup. So when it gets too hot, it's too hot to hold All right Let's go back to the other things that happen when a man is bread crumbing And I think this is the more predominant reason why this happens is when two people meet and They share a connection with one another They share chemistry with one another and they and it feels like this feels right for them Okay, it feels right for them. It feels right for you So you start pursuing a relationship and then after you've gone past that short-lived honeymoon period and let's be real today The honeymoon period is so short. I mean it barely lasts a couple months at best Not to suggest it doesn't happen longer for other people But I'm just saying when the chemicals start to wear off you're left with what's really what is the status of your Relationship and this is where it can get very tricky because if you're not Spending regular time together if you're not seeing each other on average of two to four days per week It's gonna be very difficult to build the roots to trust the roots to trust and if the roots of trust aren't built Excuse me. It's like a tree in a hurricane wind that doesn't have roots It's gonna blow over and one of the primary reasons why these roots aren't being developed is that you either don't share You don't share the same values you learn that you don't share the same values you don't have lifestyles that are really blendable and You're not with somebody who's emotionally mature in other words being able to be in a healthy happy relationship from an emotional mature place And what I mean by emotional maturity is their actions match their words They take personal responsibility for their choices. They're in victor consciousness and not victim consciousness They know how to do what I call fighting fair and what I mean to say is when there's disagreements in the relationship When there's disagreements, it's not about being right. It's about finding solutions. That's really fighting fair is learning How do we devolve? How do we come up with solutions instead of I'm right and you're wrong and you're wrong and I'm right kind of thing Number four is empathy and not just I care. I can feel your feelings It means not only I care about your feelings, but I also have empathy for myself Most people are suffering on the inside in some way shape or form of not feeling good enough feeling unlikable feeling unlovable and Lastly is transparency and so why okay, so now coming back to this thing You've gotten past that initial lust and limerence phase and limerence means infatuation and now you're left with the meat of the relationship and if there's The values aren't the same your lifestyles aren't very blendable and there's some issues with your emotional maturity people Approach the process very passively very slow very bread crummy like and again because today it feels like you know with this It's interesting. We have a sea of Available people and yet it feels like there's nobody. Isn't that amazing?   Wouldn't that be great? Fact if you'd like that, please post a comment below. I'd like to hear your thoughts on that But I'm being quite serious.  It doesn't work out You go out with someone else. It has it lasts for three weeks. It doesn't work out You go out with someone else it lasts for six months. It doesn't work out that eventually Awares on our heart on our heart and it makes it very difficult to be open and receptive to the next person In fact, I was talking to a man who's follows me on my youtube channel And I'm so grateful for those men who are who support my youtube channel not with the trolling bullying that some men do But those that actually provide really good input and we got on the phone yesterday He lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He was watching one of my live streams and I said would you like to talk? I wanted to pick his brain and One of the things he said to me and he's 60 years old He said Jonathan I am it's so hard to date these days because I find most women are bitter Jaded and angry at men and it makes it very difficult to date women of my own age In fact, I'm starting to look for women 10 to 20 years younger those that have less that are less hurt less wounded And so and it's not surprising if we have all these Experiences that don't go anywhere. It's gonna wear on emotional self-esteem This is why I'm a big proponent of trying to date with what I call beginner's mind Beginner's mind and trying to be open and receptive to that person and try to eliminate that are our Voice in our head of our past experiences and that's not easy to do But I'm gonna say I don't like but and I want to say it's imperative that we approach it from a beginner's mind Because if not carrying that baggage forward is going to I mean is that any anger animosity bitterness jadedness? limiting beliefs around men or women is Not going to be healthy in the dating process because and I want to bring it back to bread crumbing right now It's not uncommon for people to go slow because they feel that maybe or which really is uncertainty Let me come back to what maybe really means is Uncertainty because the fantasy way people fall in love is that strong attraction and chemistry equals relationship success And the problem is as many people are suckling on the nipple of I need you to love me so I can feel good about myself This is why I'm such a big proponent of reading my book. Here's here's a copy of my book I didn't bring it out today.  It's a journey of personal development self-help and spiritual work By the way check out the link below to get my book or all the recommended books I have Because until we shore up our inner Being it's gonna be difficult to truly open up to another human being And take them and this is why we're experiencing So many men and women that are operating from this maybe uncertainty category Because they're not really being intentional in the dating process and it requires being intentional this passive way of dating Which is just have fun. Just sit back in your feminine energy and just have fun It's all gonna work out if you're just sitting back having fun sitting in there have feminine energy I say crock to that I say better start asking questions To see if they're compatible with you and then ask deeper questions to get to know one another instead of the surface level questions Most people are dating like an iceberg. They cover the surface level and they're not going to the deeper level By really getting to know another human being at a deeper level and most women are afraid to do this because you're afraid of scaring a guy away I'm here to say you want to scare the wrong guy away as soon as possible and a man who actually might be attracted to you And Phil will smitten by you is going to appreciate the deeper questions I get email after email after email from women telling me Jonathan I've introduced the book eight dates you talk about the book eight dates all the time I introduced the book the eight dates the man. I'm dating and he loves it It's a roadmap to help you define your relationship It should be on your nightstand you buy two copies and before you ever get intimate with a guy start introducing this work Look at nine out of ten men will reject it But let me tell you something those nine out of ten men aren't necessarily good to be in relationship with if they don't have Emotional maturity if your lifestyles aren't blendable and if your values aren't the same because Compatibility is the key to relationship success and not chemistry chemistry is the bonus and yes I want us all to feel chemistry along with shared values of blendable lifestyles and emotional maturity It's like a chair the four legs of a chair Okay, and yes, we do need chemistry, but chemistry alone is not the indicator of relationship success Okay, look, I'm babbling now, so I think it's a good time to wrap up I'd like to hear your thoughts on this video about bread crumbing. Please post it below If you that if you I'm really tongue-tied today if you value the content, please share it with it Please hit that like button and I'm gonna wrap up this video as I always do first off In myself a big gigantic John the bear hug of self love I'm gonna reach into the camera and give you a hug of love if that's okay I'm gonna ask you to turn to someone a pet a teddy bear pillow and give it or them a hug of love Because hugs are a great source of love and we can all use more love in our lives. Thanks a bunch. Bye. Bye now


As you all know, Judaism places a tremendous emphasis on the peoplehood of Israel, the nation, the community. Abraham, for example, who got the bowl rolling was told by God that he'd be the father of a great nation. And before receiving the Torah and Mount Sinai, God told us that we would become a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. And the Bible is basically, when you read it straight through, the story of Am Yisra'el, the nation, the people of Israel. But what is the place of the individual in this grand story? Are we each just reduced to being a cog in the community? We know that the spiritual path of Judaism is based upon following the instructions of the Torah. And this path of the Torah seems to be a uniform one for everyone. So is the goal to produce a community of clones, each person a carbon copy of everyone else? And if Judaism expects conformity to these rules, in what way can we be different from each other? Is there room for people to express their unique individuality? Early on in the book of Genesis, we're told the story of a massive project to build a huge tower. And this project was very upsetting to the Almighty. And he quickly put a stop to their plans. Although the text itself, when you read the story, doesn't really spell out what was wrong about what they were doing. Rabbi Naftali Tzfi Yehuda Berlin, who was the head of the Isheva in Valudin in Russia at the end of the 19th century, pointed out in his commentary to Genesis that the whole story of the Tower of Bovel begins by telling us the following. The whole earth was of one language and of one common purpose. And then it suggests that what they were trying to do was to establish a monolithic totalitarian society where all people were homogenized. Everyone was expected to think alike and to tow the party line. Just like the famous novel Fahrenheit 451, they didn't tolerate any expression of individuality. They wanted to all live in the same place and in lockstep uniformity. So what did God do? He confounded their languages and he scattered them all over the earth. Too much unity, too much conformity, than it seems suggests is not a good thing. Now our society has a way of imposing its will upon us as well, but in much subtler ways than the social planners of Bovel. Democracy promises equality. But if everyone is equal, then how can anyone be unique or special? Our cultural trendsetters direct us how to dress, how a hair should look, what to aspire to, what entertainment to consume. What is cool, what is in, and peer pressure drives us to conform or risk being rejected and ostracized because we're different. This dynamic also permeates our educational institutions which play to the common denominator of the group and doesn't really focus on the individual differences among the students. The Chazonish, the leading Torah sage in Israel in the early 20th century once remarked that the Ishevot in Israel, the religious schools in Israel, saved the Jewish community but have often sacrificed and stifled individuals along the way.  It's a blessing that we recite when we see a huge crowd of people. Blessed is he, obviously referring to the Almighty, who is able to discern secrets. The Talmud goes on to explain here in Brachot 58a that just as the face of each person is different from the other, so too our minds are different from each other. When you see a huge mob of people, a huge group of people, it may look just like that. It may look like all you're seeing is a huge sea of people, just like a huge sea of fish. And you may have thought that what the blessing should emphasize is the size of the group. Look at the size of this group.  But the blessing actually stresses the exact opposite. Only God is able to penetrate the mind of each person and understand the thoughts of each person and appreciate how each one in this crowd is unique and different with their own distinctive thoughts and desires and hopes and aspirations. And so we praise God. We bless God who is able to understand that even in a crowd of hundreds of thousands of people, we don't have a mob of people. We have hundreds of thousands of individuals. The Mishnah Intractate Sanhedrin, Chapter 4, discusses the procedure for what they did to brief witnesses in any case that could involve capital punishment. And to remind the witnesses of the enormous responsibility that they faced, the court would refer them to the creation narrative in Genesis. And the missionist says that in that story of Genesis, a single man was first created. God didn't create human beings at first. Adam was created, a single, solitary being. And the Mishnah there says that a single person was created to teach, that if anyone causes a single person to perish. Scripture considered as if they had caused the entire world to perish. And if anyone saves the life of a single individual, Scripture considers it as if they had saved an entire world. The Mishnah goes on to say that a single person was originally created to proclaim the greatness of the Holy One, blessed is he. For when a man stamps many coins with the same seal, each of the coins is alike. Each of the coins is exactly the same. But the Holy One, blessed is he, has stamped every human being with the seal of Adam, with the seal of the first person. Yet no two human beings are exactly alike. And therefore the Mishnah concludes, everyone is required to say, for my sake, the world was created. For my sake, the world was created. Because each individual is an entire world. The Mishnah here is teaching us that no two people are exactly alike. Not only are our fingerprints different. We each have unique personalities, talents, and capabilities. Each one of us has a special mission to fulfill in the world and something unique that only we can contribute. According to the 16th century Kabbalistic master known as the Arizal, no one has ever or will ever come into this world with the exact same mission as yours. No one else can replace you, and therefore the entire world was created for you. One of the names that's used in our literature for the human soul is called Yahida. And Yahida has the meaning of unique, special, and unique. And that's because the real difference between us and others is not primarily how we look, but our internal world, our inner world, not our external form. The Torah commands us to emulate God. In the 28th chapter of Deuteronomy verse 9, the Torah tells us, Tehalachda bedrachav, you shall walk, you shall go in His ways, you shall go in the ways of God. And according to Rabbi Yosef Dovah Levy Salavachek, since God is Yahid Umayuchad, unique and different from everything else in the world, each one of us as well must uncover and manifest what is unique and potential about our qualities. If we have an obligation to walk in the ways of God, one of the ways in which we can resemble God is by getting in touch with what makes us unique and what makes us special. The story is told of Revsholam Shachna, who was the father of the Rebbe of Rizhin, one of the most illustrious Hasidic dynasties. And Revsholam had married a granddaughter of Revnachem of Chernobyl. But even though he married into the Chernobler dynasty, he didn't really follow their practices, at least not consistently. And the fact that he wasn't following the Chernobler way got the other Hasidim very upset and so they complained to the Rebbe. Revnachem asked his grandson why he wasn't conforming. And Revsholam explained with a story. He said that the egg of a duck once got mixed up with the eggs of a hen. And after the eggs hatched, the mother took them all for a walk. They passed by a stream and the duck jumped in. The mother panicked and started screaming, get out of there, you're going to drown. But the duckling responded, don't be afraid, mother, I know how to swim. After this story of Nachem told the other Hasidim, don't worry, leave Revsholam alone, he knows what he's doing. And from Revsholam emerged the dynasty of Rizin, which was known for its originality, its uniqueness, and its individuality. Now as we said, the world that we live in and our societies have a tendency to want to impose their way upon us, they have a tendency to expect that we will blend in and conform. For how do we develop the strength to stay on our individual path? Revtsadikha Cohen of Lublin in his famous Titkasa Tzadik taught that ultimately we have not only to believe in the Almighty, we have to believe in ourselves as well, he taught. Meaning we have to appreciate the importance of our own unique qualities and self-worth. And the more we get in touch with what is unique about us, what is special about us, what no one else in the world could contribute, we'll be much less likely to relinquish that and just simply blend in with everyone else. Of course what is critical is that we recognize who we are and what makes us unique and what our special role in the world is. The previous slalom of Rebbe, Revsholam Brzovsky wrote in his Nisiva Shalom, that before anything else a person is obligated to reflect and search out what is his unique mission for the sake of which he descended into this world. You have to think about it. When a Jew wakes up in the morning, the first thing that we say is, Mode ani lefanecha, I am thankful to you, God, who returned my soul to me after being asleep all night long. We express our gratitude to God. So when we say these words, Mode ani, I am thankful, lefanecha, before you, we have to reflect on not only who are we speaking to, not only to understand who am I thanking, who is God. We have to really think about who is the ani, when we say I am thankful, who is the person that's expressing that thanks and that appreciation. You know that the first thing that God commanded Abraham to do was to leave the home of his family, the land where he was born, the land where he was raised, and to go on a journey for the purpose of discovering his true self. The Hebrew was lech lecha, lech lecha, literally go to yourself. And the biblical commentary, the Cliukar explains that this was a directive to Abraham to go for the purpose of discovering his true self, his authentic self, his true authentic self, and all of us by extension are supposed to be on this journey. The Torah teaches in Leviticus chapter 25 verse 17 that we're not supposed to cheat our friends. A person should not cheat his friend. The Cutscarebe explained that a person needs to be their own friend and not cheat themselves. And he says we have to devote time to contemplating and developing an awareness of who we are. Unless we do that, we're cheating ourselves.  They don't spend serious time trying to understand who they are and what their purpose in life is. Now, in order to discover this, it's certainly important and worth praying to God to ask for his help in discernment when seeking to understand ourselves. A good place to begin if we're trying to get a grip, a handle on who we are is to make a list of all those activities that we are good at, that you have a talent for. For example, I'm a good listener. So make a list of all those things that you have some kind of talent for that you're good at. As well, it's important to compile a list of all those things that you really love to do and bring you a sense of fulfillment. That's one way of homing in on what is special about me. On the other hand, we're taught that if you are drawn strongly to something the Torah prohibits or you have significant difficulty in fulfilling a certain commandment, it might be that these are areas that you were specifically sent into this world to work on. Of course, it's always useful to have a close friend or spiritual guide to be an objective sounding board in your self-assessment. Sometimes what happens is we limit our recognition of who we are and we may need someone to help us get past these self-imposed limitations. The famous story told of Rabbi Nachman of Brestlov about a prince, the son of a great great king. And unfortunately this prince lost his mind and he began to see himself as a turkey. And he spent his days and nights underneath the king's table on all fours with no clothing, just sitting there naked and running after little scraps of food and pecking at it with his mouth. And the king was brokenhearted and the king called in every possible advisor and helper and doctor and therapist they may have had back then to try and help his son and nothing was working. No one was able to help. And finally a wise man shows up and says, I think I may have a way of helping your son. And the king says, please. So this wise man takes off all of his clothing and he gets under the table and he sits there with this prince also jumping after little pieces of food and scraps and pulling at it and eating it with his mouth. And the prince is looking at this person and saying, what in the world are you doing here? And he says, what am I doing here?  The prince was stunned, another turkey here. So that's what happened. The two of them are under the table naked, running after little scraps of food and pecking at it, pulling at it. Until finally one day the wise man signaled that they should throw two shirts down under the table. And the wise man puts on one of the shirts and the prince is looking at him saying, what in the world are you doing? And the wise man says, who says a turkey can't wear a shirt? So the prince puts on a shirt and then a few weeks later the wise man says, you know what? I'm not going to be under the table anymore. I'm going to go up and sit on a chair at the table itself. That's where I'm going to eat. And the prince says, what? Turkeys can't do that. And the wise man said, why not? There's no reason why a turkey can't sit at the table. And so the wise man goes and sits at the table and the young prince follows suit. And with this kind of approach, the wise man was able to completely turn this young prince around. The truth is that to uncover our unique individuality requires that we be authentic. In a famous teaching from Pirkei Avot, Ethics of the Fathers, chapter one, mission of 14, Hillel teaches, If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for myself, who will be for me? And Rabbi Dr. Abraham Twersky's take on this teaching is that the only meaningful self-identity is the one we give ourselves. Any identity given to us by others or that we construct in response to others is like a chameleon who becomes all things to all people and it's not a genuine identity. The Kutsker Rebbe famously quipped, if I am I because you are you and you are you because I am I, then I am not I and you are not you.  Understood? Okay. Rabbi Pinchas of Koretz observed that there are certain things that you have to learn for yourself. He says a tightrope walker has to balance their body perfectly. Otherwise they'll fall to the ground. They might gyrate and twist to maintain their equilibrium. If someone else tried to learn how to walk the tightrope by watching them and imitating them and says, oh, he just moved to the right. I'm going to move to the right. He just moved to the left. I'm going to move to the left. He'll definitely plunge to the ground. The same applies to serving God. You can't pray just like others pray. You can't copy them. You have to find the approach that works best for you. Rabbi Shlomo Freifeld, who was the founder of the Sharyosh of Yeshiva in Farakoe, once read about the Cloyzenberger Rebbe that he wouldn't begin praying in the morning until he had a novel insight or fresh approach to the words of the morning prayers. And so Rabbi Freifeld decided that he would implement this in his life as well. So what did he do? He sat down early in the morning. He studied the words of the prayer book. And he started waiting for inspiration to come and strike. And he sat there for quite a while, but with no success. And it grew later and later and later. And he grew hungrier and hungrier and hungrier. But still no, no ideas came to him. So in the end, he prayed much, much later than normally and with a far lower level of concentration than he normally prayed with. And he later said, what I learned that day is that I'm not the Cloyzenberger Rebbe. I tell a wonderful story about the Satma Rebbe, that he was a very, very holy person that prayed with incredible intensity. And one year on Purim, Purim, you know, people tend to joke around a bit. And in his synagogue there was a badchan, a jester, a joker, a person that entertained the group. And this badchan began imitating the way the Satma Rebbe would pray. And he probably looked very, very intense when he prayed. Maybe he was shaking, maybe he was grimacing. He might have moved in a very dramatic way. And this person imitated the Satma Rebbe. And while it was happening, the Satma Rebbe looked at him and began to shake and turn red and then cry. He was very, very upset. So the badchan felt terrible. He thought he was insulting the Rebbe. He was, maybe he was not treating the Rebbe with proper respect. And he went over to the Rebbe to apologize. And the Rebbe says, you don't have to apologize. I wasn't insulted by what you were doing. You actually were amazing. It was incredible how well you imitated me. But I was thinking to myself as I saw how well you imitated me, I was wondering, maybe I imitate myself when I'm praying. Maybe I prayed once very deeply and very powerfully. But maybe every time subsequently to that, it wasn't real. Maybe I was just imitating myself. We all know the story of Ravzisha of Anipol, that it was the greatest righteous person of his generation. And on his deathbed, his chassidim gathered around him and they saw that he was very upset. He was shaking and he was crying. And they couldn't imagine why is the Rebbe so upset? Why is he frightened? If anyone doesn't have to be frightened before they face their maker, it would be Ravzisha. So they began wondering, well, maybe he's upset and he's worried that when he goes upstairs they're going to ask him, Ravzisha, why weren't you as great as Moses? And you know what? Maybe he's upset that when he goes upstairs they're going to ask him, why weren't you as great as the Rambam, as Armanides?  He says, when I go into the next world and if they asked me, Zisha, why weren't you as great as Moses? I'm not afraid of that question. I've got a very simple answer to that question. I'll say, God, I wasn't given the capabilities. I wasn't given the unique qualities of Moses. I'm not afraid they're going to ask me that question. And the same if they ask me, how come you weren't as great as Armanides? I've got a very simple answer. I'll say, you didn't give me the talents and the intellect and the qualities of Armanides. But there's one question that they're going to ask me that I'm terrified of because I have no good answer to that question. They're going to say, Zisha, why weren't you Zisha? That's what scares me. We know that our individuality is not something that is static. It's not something that's just there and static. Ultimately, developing our unique self is something that is meant to engage us our entire life. When Adam was created, the Torah has a very unusual expression. Everything else that was created, it said, God said, let there be trees, let there be horses, let there be stars. When it came to creating the human being, God says, let us make man. And the $64,000 question is, who is God speaking to? Let us make man. And the commentary suggests that he was speaking to the angels or possibly the Bibles using the royal we, the majestic plurality where the king speaks in the first person plural. But the Baal Shem Tov said that God here is speaking to every human being who will ever live. And God is saying to each one of us, every single person in history, God is saying, let us make man. Because God ultimately cannot make a human being. God can create a tree and God can create a cat and God can create a moon. Just by unilaterally saying, let there be. But God cannot create who you are. God can give you the raw ingredients. God can give you a body and a soul. But what you become is a function of what you do with those raw ingredients. And that's why, according to Joseph Albow, the author of the Saifari Korim, after each thing that was created in the six days of creation, the Torah says, and God saw that it was good. But after the creation of man, it doesn't say, and God saw that it was good. Why? Because the declaration and God saw that it was good is not a statement of quality. That God looked at it and said, oh, that's pretty good. No, it could be better. I could have done a better job. Obviously, that's not what God is saying. Obviously, everything God makes is good. When it says that God saw that it was good, what it means is it was created fully formed. It was perfect. It was complete. But the human being was not created complete. And that's why it doesn't say, and God saw that it was good, because we have to complete ourselves. We have to make ourselves. And that's why the Torah says we're called Adam. Adam. Because it says in the Torah, we were taken from the Adamah. The Adamah is the earth. And that's why we're called Adam. And the Maharal from Prabh explains that just like the earth, when you look at a piece of land, what you have is pure potential. You can have a field, and what's going to happen with that field? What is it going to produce? The answer is it depends. If you don't take care of it, and you don't plow it, and you don't harvest seeded properly and you water the plants and take care of it and prune and fertilize and do all the things that are needed to take care of a field, nothing's going to happen there. But if you take care of the earth properly and you work it properly, then it's going to produce.  All God gives us is potential. But what happens with that potential is up to us. And that's why it's very interesting that in the famous book that was written either 2,000 or 3,000 years ago called the Perakshira, which lists 84 different things that God created. Basically everything that's in the world, practically speaking, you can have books today that show you pictures of all these creatures and all these things, the creations that God put out. Perakshira gives you the song for each creature, each creation in the world. There's a song of the scorpion. There's a song of the sun. There's a song of the dog, etc. But there's conspicuously absent from this book, Perakshira, the chapters of song, the human being. There's no man in the Perakshira. And the reason is because there cannot be a song for humanity. There can't be a one-sized fits-all song for human beings. Each one of us is in this world to write our own song. And that's why the Talmud tells us in Tractate Brachot, 17A, that when the sages departed from each other, when they said goodbye, they would say, olamecha, tirer becha yecha. May you see your world during your lifetime. May you see your world during your lifetime. What does this mean?  We know the world is called olam. The world we're living in is called olam because in Hebrew, olam means concealed or hidden because the Almighty is concealed in the world that He created. So the sages would say to each other, may your world be seen in your days, according to Rabbi Schwab, what they're saying is, may that which is concealed of you, in you, be seen during your lifetime. What is concealed within you? It's your potential. So their blessing to each other when they departed was, may you realize your potential during your lifetime. That was the blessing of the sages. Now the book of B'amidbar, numbers which are going to be reading this coming Shabbat, we're going to begin the fourth book of the five books of Moses, this Shabbat. According to our sages, we read this chapter every year before the holiday of Shavuot. So the book of numbers begins with a description of the setup of the Israelite camp in the desert, including a mention of the various tribal banners or flags that each tribe and each group of tribes had as they encamped around the tabernacle in the center. And there's a fascinating passage in the Midrash relating to these flags. Rabbi Yohanan said, at the time that God revealed himself to Israel at Mount Sinai, 22,000 chariots of ministering angels descended with God and each of them had a banner, a flag. When Israel saw them, they immediately yearned to have flags like them. As it is written in the book Song of Songs, chapter 2 verse 4, he brought me to the house of wine and his banner of love was over me.  Now Rabbi Abraham Isaac Hakohan Cook, the first chief rabbi of the modern state of Israel, explained the meaning of this Midrashic teaching. He said a flag is a statement of identity and purpose. To identify with a flag, to put yourself under a flag means that you are part of a group with a specific goal. The Hebrew word for angel, malach means messenger as well. And the only identity that an angel has is the purpose or the task that it was assigned by God to do. This is the flag, this is the banner of the angel. What is its purpose, its goal, its mission? We say in our prayers, in our prayers, in our prayer book, we say kulam ahuvim, they, the angels are all beloved. The angels are all beloved. Why? Because we say right after that kulam berurim, because each of them are clear. What are they clear about? They're clear about their mission and their purpose. And so when Israel received the Torah at Mount Sinai where Cook explains, they understood that the purpose of the Torah was for the perfection of the world through the fulfillment of it. While each individual Jew received the same Torah at Mount Sinai, they realized that in order to actualize the ultimate purpose of the Torah, they would each have to use their own unique particular strengths and talents to fulfill their unique role in the unfolding of the goals of the Torah. So by seeking to have their own flag, each Jew was expressing their desire to know, what is my particular role or purpose in the Torah? And Rev Cook explained that the Mijras uses the verse from the Song of Songs to compare Mount Sinai to a house of wine. Because wine brings out the true essence of people. As it says in the Talmud in Erevin, nichnas yayin yotsesod that when wine enters, the secrets come out. If you want to know how someone really feels about any particular issue, go to a bar and listen to people when they've drunk a little bit. They'll tell you exactly how they feel. Nothing is concealed. And so each Jew wanted the revelation of the Torah. They wanted the revelation of Torah at Sinai to reveal their inner essence and personal role in the fulfillment of the goals of the Torah. The revelation at Sinai emphasized the importance of both the group and the individual. Torah does not emphasize only one and not the other. They're both important. And our sages teach us that in order to receive the Torah we had to be united as a nation. The text says when we arrived at Mount Sinai the people encamped at the foot of the mountain. It says in the Hebrew verb here for encamped is in the singular. Literally he encamped. Here you had 3 million people and the Torah says he encamped. It should say they encamped. And Rashi notes that they came as one person with one heart. They were totally unified. The 1st of the Ten Commandments says Anohi Hashem Elokecha Anohi I Am Hashem the Lord Elokecha your God. And that's the singular form like I'm speaking to one person. It doesn't say Elokechem plural your God is speaking to a group of people. The 1st of the Ten Commandments is in the singular. So this might be expressing the total unity of the Jewish nation. It's as if God was speaking to a single unit. However on the other hand it could be that what the Torah here is indicating is that God was speaking to each person individually. And this is what the Midrash teaches. The Midrash in Exodus Rabbah quotes the verse in Psalm 29.4 which says the voice of the Lord is with power. Then when it describes in the Midrash how God spoke at Mount Sinai the Midrash quotes the verse in Psalm saying that the voice of the Lord was with power. And the Midrash teaches it was according to the power and capacity of each person to receive it. Not just that God spoke with power but that God speaking with power was according to the power and capacity of each person to receive it. And Rabbi Yossi Ben Hanina says if you are doubtful about this think of the manna that descended with tastes varying according to the taste of each individual Israelite. We're told that when that miraculous food fell in the desert every day it tasted like whatever you were thinking. It didn't have a one taste to it. Now Rabbi Yossi says if the manna which was all of one kind became converted into so many different tastes to suit the capacity of each individual was it not even more possible for the voice of God which had power to vary according to the capacity of each individual. Now the content the words that came down at Monsignai were the same for each person. Everyone heard the same words but the flavor of that experience the impact the nature of that experience was different for each person. In the beginning of the book of Numbers doesn't only tell about how the Israelites encamped around the tabernacle in the desert according to their tribal formations to break their tribal banners we're also told that Moses was commanded to take a census of the people to count the people. Now normally what is a census for normally a census is to know how many people there are in each tribe and how many people there are in the nation as a whole but the language that's used here in the beginning of the book of Numbers is significant. There are two things I want to point out. Number one there seems to be a bit of redundancy in the language of the Torah where Moses is told first to take a census and then he's told to count the people duh if he's taking a census of course he's going to count the people so why the redundancy? Secondly we know that in Hebrew there are many different words that can be used to describe counting or numbering. One expression that's used in this chapter is an unusual one for counting the Torah says Se'u et Roche for counting Se'u et Roche literally means lift up the head lift up the head now counting usually devalues people you're just a number and we know that's what happened too when the Nazis wanted to destroy people's individual identities they took away their names they gave them Numbers but Moses is called upon not just to count but to lift up each head Moses was told to call upon each person each person is special Ritsutaka Koin of Lubin explains that's why it refers to as a head each person is a head is special has unique powers and potentials another expression used here in this chapter for counting is tifgedu otam count them or number them but again the word lift code in Hebrew in the Tanakh has many other meanings it can mean to visit to remember to take note or to inquire after someone else's welfare and so Moses is told not just to count the people but to ask their name to ask how they're doing to demonstrate that they count to see that they matter to see that he cares they're not just another brick in the wall now as unique individuals we're each called upon to seek out and develop our own spiritual path within the Torah for example in our prayers three times a day we begin by talking about the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob but we don't say it that way we don't address our prayers to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob we say the God of Abraham the God of Isaac the God of Jacob take their red pen and cross that out and say that's not how you write it you just say the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob but we're being told here that each one of our patriarchs our forefathers had their own personal different special relationship with God the relationship that Abraham had with God is not just inherited by Isaac and Isaac has the same relationship to develop their own personal unique relationship with God based upon their own unique personalities now when the construction of the Tabernacle was completed about a year after they left Egypt the leaders of each tribe brought special offerings for the dedication of the Tabernacle and each of the 12 tribal leaders brought exactly the same offering each of the 12 tribal leaders brought one silver bowl of 130 shekels in weight a silver basin of 70 shekels in weight both were filled with fine flour mixed with oil for a meal offering they brought a golden ladle of 10 shekels filled with incense they brought a young bull a ram, a sheep in its first year for an elevation offering one he goat for a sin offering and for a feast offering they brought two cattle, five rams five he goats and five sheep in their first year it's a lot of things that were brought by each of the princes of each of the tribes but rather than just say that each of the tribal leaders brought these gifts the Torah spends 62 verses even though the Torah is normally very terse and very economical in the way it writes things the Torah has a huge chapter where it repeats every single one of the princes by name and then lists all the things that were brought although it was the exact same thing that was brought by every single other prince and Nachmanides explains that even though their offerings were identical each leader had their own special and personal intention and reason behind each of the things that were offered so the sacrifices look the same but the intention that went into each one was very different Rashi explains something interesting if you look at Rashi's commentary here he explains the meaning and symbolism of the tribal leader Nisanal Ben Suwar from the tribe of Yisachar who was the second of the princes in skips Nachshon Ben Aminadov the prince of the tribe of Judah doesn't explain the meaning of his gifts and then when it gets to the second prince Rashi explains the meaning of his gifts and the first Gararebi said that this was the way Rashi expressed it to teach us that Nisanal wasn't just imitating Nachshon he did offer the same gifts but he had his own Kavanot his own intention for what he was bringing so each leader put their own soul an individual approach an individual approach of spirituality into their gifts Maimonides in his Mishnatora at the end of the laws of Meila insists that each one of us has to try to discover our own understanding of the reasons behind the commandments that we do the Torah doesn't give us the reasons for the commandments Maimonides says that what each of us has to do is not just do the commandments mechanically we have to think about and reflect on and maybe study and contemplate what is this midst for me at least what does it mean to me Maimonides says it's an obligation we know that in the Tfilon that are worn the black leather bakkas on the head and on the arm the Tfilon that are on the arm have one compartment there's one compartment that has four chapters from the Bible but on the head Tfilon up here there isn't one compartment it's not one solid box it's four compartments you can actually spread them apart and it's explained to me in the following that when it comes to what we do our actions Judaism is more or less monolithic there's one set of laws of Kashrut there's one set of laws of the Sabbath in terms of how we do things there's one box one compartment but in terms of how we understand the Torah our mind there are different compartments different boxes because each one of us will understand the Torah differently now listen carefully when the Torah was about to be given we're told that the people twice said all together they said God everything that you're going to tell us Na'aseh we will do it they gave their consent to observing the Torah and they all said it together in unison but later the Torah says that they said to God everything that you're going to teach us we will do and we will understand Na'aseh vnishma they scream out Na'aseh vnishma the Torah doesn't say they said it together in unison why? because again when they give their consent to observing the commandments Na'aseh will do it they say it all together because they're all going to be doing the same things but when it comes to their understanding and the way they relate to the commandments each person is different and that's why the Torah doesn't tell us when it came to saying nishma we'll understand they said it all together in unison the na'aseh who we quoted earlier tonight teaches that each one of us will ultimately focus our service of God and spiritual path based upon our own personal strengths and proclivities one of us might focus on Torah study another might focus on prayer another might focus their main effort in Judaism on acts of loving kindness helping other people the truth is we're supposed to be a jack of all trades every one of us is supposed to observe the entire Torah and yet we're supposed to be a master of one we should at least specialize in one at least one commandment and we know that in the history of the Jewish people many of our sages actually did that they would specialize in a certain area and even within a particular area there are ways of specializing so among people who focus their lives on Torah study there are many ways of approaching Torah study some people will focus on halacha on studying Torah law others on philosophy of the Torah others on the mysticism of the Torah others on the agadata the allegorical teachings of the Torah some on the musar of the Torah the ethical lessons of the Torah etc in the book of Proverbs chapter 3 verse 9 honor God with your wealth with ho-necha in the book of Kings chapter 21 says don't read this as wealth ho-necha but read it as ho-necha which means with what God graced to you and the Midrash Der tells a story who told his nephew who had a beautiful voice that he must use this gift to serve God because he said na-vot in the Torah who had a special voice was punished because he once didn't pray with his voice during the festivals in Jerusalem in Judaism the law is regimented and uniform there is one Torah but the Torah encourages personal creativity personal initiative and expression for example there is a set service in the prayer book we have a liturgy that is set for the morning afternoon and evening prayers however that's just a minimum and we're encouraged to pray in our own language all day long if you're going to a doctor for an appointment you should pray that the appointment should go well if you see a car broken down you can pray that they get help very quickly Rav Nachman of Brestlov encouraged people to spend at least a half hour a day just speaking to God in their own words we're told in the Talmud above Messiah page 30 that Jerusalem was destroyed because the Jewish people observed the Torah and that seems strange we would think that observing Torah was a good thing why was Jerusalem destroyed because they just observed the Torah and the Talmud says they did observe the Torah they kept the law but they didn't go beyond the letter of the law they kept the law but they didn't go beyond the letter of the law and what does the Talmud say when you think about it if a person gets married and says to their spouse look dear I love you very much I want to drop more that's not a great recipe for a successful marriage and if a person gets a new job and shows up the first day of work and says to their boss look sir I'm willing to do everything in my job description I'm willing to come here at nine o'clock in the morning but don't expect me to get here a minute earlier and I'm willing to stay until five o'clock don't even think about asking me to stay a minute later don't even dream about asking me to do anything I'm not exactly spelled out in my job description that's not a recipe for a good employee-employer relationship and so when the Jewish people just observed the Torah they were simply fulfilling the rules they were playing by the rules God whatever you say I'll do but I'm not interested in going beyond the minimum I'm not interested in taking any initiative I'm not interested in going beyond the letter of the law and for that reason Jerusalem was destroyed Rabbi Uri of Strzelesk taught that every single Jew is represented by a letter in the Torah we know that in the Torah if any letter is missing or damaged the Torah cannot be used it has to be put away and has to be repaired the nation as well is not complete if one person is missing and their unique song is missing and the law as well tells us that in a Torah scroll if two letters are touching each other they must be separated you cannot read that Torah if two letters happen to be touching you need to take a razor blade and scrape away where the contact is they cannot be touching each letter has to have its distinct identity so even though togetherness is important among Jews we speak about the important of national unity and being together and being on the same page and being close to each other it cannot be at the expense of losing our individuality each person needs to both find and maintain their own distinct identity I want to wrap up by sharing with you two stories one is a famous story about Rabbi Isaac from Krakow he was someone that was not very well off he struggled to support his family and he began having a strange dream and his dream he saw in Vienna a large bridge and he was told in his dream that under this bridge in Vienna there was buried a huge treasure and he woke up from the dream and he thought it was nonsense I'm just going to disregard the dream he told his wife about it she said forget about the dream and he had the same dream the next night and he told his wife you know I had the same dream again she says okay maybe it was something that you ate but then he has a dream a third night and he says to himself I can't disregard this dream something is going on here so he resolves in his mind he's going to schlep all the way from Krakow to Vienna he can't afford a train ticket he can only afford to hitchhike and maybe once in a while get a ride on someone's wagon and just the rest of the way go on foot so he's schlepping for many many many weeks until he finally gets to Vienna he doesn't know where the bridge is he doesn't even know if there is a bridge in Vienna but he has to find it and he finally finds a bridge in Vienna and he figures this must be it because it looks exactly like the bridge in my dream he's got one problem in his dream the bridge was in a very abandoned area no one was nearby here the bridge was right next to a huge army camp it's full of soldiers walking all over the place and now he says to himself what am I going to do I can't start digging under the bridge they're going to catch me so he just stands there watching the bridge hoping that maybe the soldiers will go away someday and it's one day and two day and three days he's standing there and they notice him and finally someone comes over and says we see that you're standing here watching the bridge what's going on and he's a very simple person you know he can't tell a lie so he says look I'll tell you what happened I had a dream several times that under this bridge there's a huge treasure and this guard is laughing his head off says what are you crazy you came all the way here because you had this crazy dream you believe in dreams then not sense the dreams he says you know what I'll tell you something I've myself had a dream many many times about some old Jewish guy in Krakow that under the stove in his house is a huge treasure so if Isaac goes back to his own home and he digs up under his own stove and there's where he finds the treasure the truth is that the treasure that we're seeking in life the understanding of who we really are is very close to home the last story I'm going to read to you because I probably can never tell it as well as it was written in a great oak forest where the trees grew tall and majestic there was a little apple tree it was the only apple tree in the forest and so it stood very much alone wintertime came and as the snow fell to the forest floor it covered the branches of the little apple tree the forest became quiet and very peaceful one night the little apple tree looked up at the sky and saw a wonderful sight between the branches of all the trees don't forget this is a very little apple tree and the other trees are these huge trees so between the branches of the other trees the little apple tree saw the stars in the sky which appeared to be hanging on the branches of the huge oak trees oh god oh god whispered the little apple tree how lucky those oak trees are to have such beautiful stars hanging on their branches I want more than anything else in the world to have stars on my branches just like the oak trees have then I would feel really and truly special so god looked down at the little apple tree and said gently have patience have patience little apple tree time passed the snows melted and spring came to the land tiny white and pink apple blossoms appeared on the branches of the little apple tree birds came to rest on its branches people walked by the little apple tree and admired its beautiful blossoms all summer long the apple tree continued to grow the branches of the trees formed a canopy overhead as they filled with leaves and blossoms but night after night the little apple tree looked up at the sky with the millions and millions and millions and millions of stars and cried out oh god I want more than anything in the world to have stars in my tree and on my branches and in my leaves just like those big oak trees and god looked down at the little apple tree and said you already have gifts isn't it enough to have shade to offer people and fragrant blossoms and branches for birds to nest on so they can sing your song so they can sing you their song the apple tree sighed and answered simply dear god I don't mean to sound ungrateful but that's not special enough I do appreciate how much pleasure I give to others but what I really want more than anything in the world is to have stars not blossoms on my branches then I would feel truly special god smiled and answered be patient be patient little apple tree the seasons changed again and soon the apple tree was filled with many beautiful apples people walked in the forest and whoever saw the apple tree would reach up to pick an apple and eat it and still when night came to the forest the apple tree looked at the stars and the oak trees and cried out oh god I want more than anything in the world to have stars on my branches then I would feel truly special and god asked but apple tree isn't it enough that you now have such wonderful apples to offer people doesn't that satisfy you doesn't that give you enough pleasure to make you feel special without saying a word the apple tree answered by shaking its branches from side to side at that moment god caused a wind to blow the great oak trees began to sway and the apple tree began to shake from the top of the apple tree an apple fell when it hit the ground it split open look commanded god look inside what do you see what do you see in that apple the little apple tree looked down and saw that right in the middle of the apple was a star the little seeds formed the shape of a star and the apple tree answered a star I have a star and god laughed a gentle laugh and added so you do have stars on your branches they've been there all along you just didn't know it and so each of us as the Torah compares us to stars the Midrash often says that the Jewish people are compared to stars when god first told Abraham about his having descendants god said they'll be like the stars each one of us is compared to a star that god counts lovingly and the task of each of us is to come to understand the star that we are the greatness that we have buried inside of us and to develop that potential during the course of our lives so that ultimately we'll fulfill the mission and the purpose for which we have put into this world