Why Emunah is your greatest power

The party's over. The guests went home. The music stopped. And now you're standing there thinking — is that it? If you've ever reached a milestone and felt strangely unchanged by it, you're in very good company. Because that's exactly where real growth begins.

When "I'm supposed to feel inspired" isn't enough

In Torah Live's animated video on Emunah, a boy named Josh hits this wall on his Bar Mitzvah night. His mom asks what inspires him now that he's a Bar Mitzvah. His honest answer? "I feel kinda the same as I did before."

That honesty is golden. Because "I'm supposed to say I'm inspired" is not Emunah. It's a script. And scripts don't carry you through life. Emunah does.

Josh's grandfather anticipated this moment. He left Josh an old Siddur with a message: this is your doorway into the world of truth. Not a decoration. Not a keepsake. A doorway.

The question that unlocks everything

Here's the turning point. Josh asks a deceptively simple question: "Why is it so important to do the Mitzvos anyway?" That question — asked sincerely — is more valuable than a hundred rehearsed speeches.

Rabbi Siddur, Josh's animated guide, doesn't hand him a pre-packaged answer. Instead, he redirects: "If you want to understand why the Mitzvos are important, you need to learn a little about Who gave them to us."

Think about that. Knowing where something comes from changes the way you see it entirely. A basketball is just a basketball — until you find out it was stolen from the NBA museum and someone dangerous is coming to get it back. Suddenly you look at it very differently.

The same principle applies to Mitzvos. When you understand their Source, they stop being items on a checklist. They become something extraordinary.

Avraham Avinu asked your question first

Josh isn't the first person in history to wonder what this is all about. His ancestor — our ancestor — Avraham Avinu did the very same thing. He looked at the stars, at the staggering complexity of the world around him, and asked: where did all this come from?

Could it all happen by chance? The famous astronomer Fred Hoyle once put it this way: the odds of complex life emerging by accident are about the same as a tornado sweeping through a junkyard and assembling a Boeing 747. A million parts in the wing alone — all falling into place on their own? Nobody buys that.

Isaac Newton made the point even sharper. He built a mechanical model of the solar system. A friend who didn't believe in Hashem walked in and marveled at it. "Who made this?" Newton replied: "Nobody. It just came together by chance." His friend called that ridiculous. Newton looked at him and said: "You say this simple model couldn't form by chance, but you believe the universe — infinitely more complex — did?"

Avraham devoted his life to finding the truth. And what gave him the strength to stand against the entire world for what he believed? Emunah. That same Emunah is available to you right now.

Emunah is not a feeling — it's a force

Let's get specific about what Emunah actually does. It's not a warm, fuzzy sensation. It's not something you only pull out on Rosh Hashana. Emunah is your power. It gives you the courage to be strong-willed, to stand your ground when everything around you pushes in the opposite direction.

The strength of our Emunah is what has kept Klal Yisrael around for thousands of years while mighty empires rose and crumbled into dust. Think about that during the Three Weeks, as we mourn the Churban. We lost the Beis Hamikdash. We were exiled, scattered, persecuted. And yet — here we are. That's not luck. That's Emunah.

During this period from Shiva Assar B'Tammuz to Tisha B'Av, we feel the darkness of what we lost. But the name of Torah Live's course says it all — From Darkness to Light. Emunah is what carries us from one to the other.

Beyond the physical — and why that matters

Here's where it gets deep. We are physical beings. We have hands, legs, eyes, ears. We exist inside time and space. That means we're limited. You can't be in two places at once. You have to make choices.

Hashem is not limited. He is beyond the physical — infinite, outside of time and space. We can't fully grasp that, because our minds are finite. But here's what follows from it: the Mitzvos don't come from this world. They come from beyond this world.

And when you do a Mitzvah, you move beyond the confines of this world too. You connect to something infinite. That's what it means to be a Jew. So many people get stuck — stuck in the material, unable to see anything else. Every Mitzvah, every moment of Torah learning, every time you open your Siddur with Kavana, you break through that ceiling.

This is what Josh's Bar Mitzvah was really about. Not the party. Not the gifts. The ability — and the responsibility — to connect to what's beyond.

Where your mind goes, you go

Rabbi Siddur shares a teaching from the Ba'al Shem Tov that ties this all together: the place where a person's thoughts are — that's where he is. You can be sitting at the dinner table but mentally a thousand miles away. You can be mid-conversation and completely checked out.

The flip side is powerful. You can be anywhere in the physical world and transport yourself to the deepest places of Kedusha — through focus, through Kavana, through Tefillah.

But it takes practice. First, you notice what's actually on your mind. Then you gently let it go. Then you direct your thoughts where you want them to be. It sounds simple. It's not easy. But it's the skill that makes Emunah come alive in your daily life.

Five ways to strengthen your Emunah today

Ask one honest question. Don't settle for "I'm supposed to believe this." Pick one aspect of Emunah — Hashem's existence, His involvement in your life, the purpose of a specific Mitzvah — and genuinely explore it. Read a sefer, ask a Rav, or discuss it with a friend. Avraham Avinu searched for truth. So can you.

Practice the Ba'al Shem Tov's technique before Davening. Before you open your Siddur, take 30 seconds. Notice what's on your mind — work, sports, dinner, a conversation. Acknowledge it. Then let it go. Enter your Tefillah with your full self present.

Look up at the sky tonight. Not on a screen. Go outside, look at the stars, and sit with Avraham's question for just two minutes: where did all this come from? Let the enormity of creation speak to you.

Choose one Mitzvah this week and think about its Source. Before you do it, pause and remind yourself: this comes from beyond this world. It's not a human invention. It's a direct connection to the Infinite. See if that changes how the Mitzvah feels.

Learn about Emunah with your family. The Three Weeks are the perfect time to focus on what really matters. Watch Torah Live's video on Emunah together and let it spark a real conversation — not a lecture, a conversation — about what you believe and why.

From darkness, always toward light

Josh walked into his Bar Mitzvah night feeling flat. He walked out with a doorway — an old Siddur, a big question, and the beginning of real Emunah. That's how it works. You don't need a dramatic moment of revelation. You need an honest question and the willingness to pursue the answer.

During these Three Weeks, as we sit with the pain of the Churban and long for the rebuilding of the Beis Hamikdash, remember: Emunah is your greatest power. It's what kept our ancestors going. It's what will carry us — from darkness to light.

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