Making Torah Cool Again: A Conversation with Nili Salem and Uzi Moses

Welcome, welcome everyone to another episode of the Influencer Mindset podcast, where we explore the timeless wisdom of the Torah and we're trying to extract tools for our daily lives, things that could help us with our growth mindset and just actionable practices in general to make our life better. Today we have with us a very special guest, second time on the podcast, Nili Salem, a Torah teacher from Los Angeles. Let's dive into some insightful questions that will surely add value to our listeners. So first and foremost, how are you, Nili?

Well, thank God, I feel great. I'm focusing on all of the good, wonderful things, so I feel good.

Nice. First of all, it's good to see you. Thank you for accepting the invitation to join us to this podcast. We've been following you and we see that you are very active in the Los Angeles community, providing lots of wisdom and classes, Torah classes to people, and literally enriching the community. And making Torah cool again like this.

Amen.

Okay, so let's just dive into it, because the bottom line is this. A lot of people are saying there is so many different disciplines, so many different approaches and things that you could do to improve your life? Because that's what everybody wants. Everybody wants to have better life, be happier, to feel connected, to be loved, to give love, all the good stuff that we are looking for. Snapping out of our mind and just like living more, being more alive, so to say. Right? So why the Torah? Out of all of those things, out of Everything that's available out there, all those theories, all those, you know, philosophers and different approaches. And now you have, I mean, you open YouTube, crazy amount of podcasts on everything. So now really, so, so, so how do you, like, how can somebody really draw? Inspiration from this ancient book, this ancient wisdom, this ancient narratives of the Torah to their own life for personal development?

Well, it's a, it's a big question. It's a good question, and I don't want to say it's obvious, but Let's just take this week's Bible reading, for example, right? You say Bible reading and you're like, oh no, not my grandfather's Torah, like get me away from the Bible class, right? But we have this, actually this week's portion is perfect because of the following. So this week's portion is dry AF, pardon my language. Yeah, it's like 53 laws of which we have to keep, and it was written about a time where there was explicit human slavery, and you go into all these details, and it's all these rules. And then it's like, wait, what is this? And what does this have to do with my life? I don't own a slave. I don't own an ox. It talks about oxes doing damage. How does this apply to me and personal development? What the heck? So if you take a step back, for example, this is just an example of this week's Torah portion, you realize that really what it's talking about is boundaries. And how important boundaries are for your self-value. It's talking about the rules that God puts in place in the world to create a society that's going to reflect the Creator of the world, which is a world of morals and a world of responsibility. Two examples, for example, about boundaries are like, let's say you own property, and let's say you do damage to someone's property, right? So God says, listen, you have to clean up your act. You have to fix what you damaged. You spilled something on someone's shirt that you borrowed, you have to take it to the dry cleaners. So that sounds like a weird rule, but really what it is is a boundary that says, I took an honor code to borrow this person's shirt, and now I'm gonna take responsibility for it. I'm gonna put a boundary around what belongs to them and what belongs to me and what my responsibilities are. So it's setting up rules, but the rules are so that we create a society where we are accountable for our behavior. And that is serious. Personal development is not about, you know, awwing. Personal development is when I take responsibility for my behaviors and my actions and my thoughts. Or I could give you another example, which I think is even better. In this week's Torah reading, it says that if your enemy has a donkey and the donkey has a load on it— this is your enemy, it's the person you really don't like, it's that person in your community that just annoys the crunk out of you, right? And you see that their donkey falls over, the Torah says you must help them, but not just once, again and again. Meaning to say, personal development, like, you might not like someone in your world, you can set healthy boundaries, But when someone needs a hand, you better show up to help them in their time of need because it's about humanity. So if you really want to develop as a human, right? Again, the holiest person in the room is not the one that is dressed in a really cool yogic outfit. The holiest person in the room, like Uzi Moses PhD PhD PhD, for example, is when there is, let's say I had that class at your house and afterwards you're helping me clean up. The personal development is saying, I'll put myself out there, I'll take responsibility, I'll help the community. This is true personal development. So it's all within, it's all within the simple reading of the text. You just have to kind of have the eyes to see it.

Like, kind of like stepping out of your comfort zone for others. And just like, you know, I think that also it has to do with the idea of the oneness of creation. So like, like once you really understand that we're all one and you don't want to be caught up in this bubble, you got to get out of the bubble of yourself and kind of give a helping hand, especially when needed, especially when there is something in front of you. It makes a lot of sense. There's also the whole idea of meaning and purpose. Because we live in a very turbulent time. It's a time of wars. There's wars in Ukraine, there is war in Israel, unfortunately. It's a crazy time. It's a crazy time. We just got out of a pandemic. I mean, yeah, it's been already 2 years, but it just feels like we just got out of there because it just left so much impact on us. So the thing is, a lot of people are right now kind of sitting down and thinking, why do I need all of this? What do I need all of that? Let me just get a job, make my money, pay my bills, and live my life. What do I need to go to all this meaning, purpose, whatever? So my question to you is, how can somebody really find meaning and purpose through learning the Torah, through connecting to the Torah? I know it's a big question, but again, I'm not asking this for people that are advanced in Torah. I'm asking this for people who are starting out, looking for something that could really help them move ahead in life, not only financially, but in all areas.

So the question is, how does the Torah help people find meaning and purpose in their lives? Or why meaning and purpose in our life? Let me help. Let me understand the question a little better.

Okay, so let's just make it simple for the audience. Let's just say, what will be the meaning and the purpose somebody could extract from learning Torah?

Ah, okay. The meaning and the purpose that someone can extract from learning Torah is that we have a collective goal. A collective goal that every single person is a part of and plays a role in. And without that person, the collective goal cannot be done. And the collective goal is very simple, and that's world peace. So it sounds like a big ideal, but if you wake up in the morning and you say, how can I contribute to world peace? You know, it could just be bringing peace inside of your home. It could be forgiving somebody. It could be making sure that on a day where you are struggling with depression, you realize that in order to bring the world of peace, you're going to have to come to surrender and move forward with, with joy so that you can help the people around you do their purpose. Like, there is I don't actually understand how people live without some form of spiritual goal. Because we're really, you know, as David Sacks says, the story is not over. It might look ugly right now. We might live in a world of wars at the moment, but the story is not over. We have an era of peace to bring for every single man, woman, child, and creature on this planet. And if you wake up in the morning and you're feeling laziness and you can't get out of bed, Okay, I hear you. I accept you. And that just means that you forgot that you are really important and that your contribution to world peace is really important. So it is not just about meaning and purpose. It is about that every person plays a role in it, and every person is extraordinarily significant, necessary, and important towards that goal, or else we would not have been created. So just by nature of the first sentence of the Bible, God created you. Why? Not for nothing. Not for jokes. Not for, you know, you know, I don't want to say nights of Netflix, but honestly, not for Netflix. Time's our most precious commodity, and we have the coolest goal on planet Earth, which is to bring world peace. And every person is needed for that. So that's meaning and purpose. If you wake up every day, you say, okay, how can I bring the world closer to a world of peace, respect, love, and light? Then you have what to do on that day.

Okay. So pretty much the understanding is that each individual is unique in its own way. Each individual is needed, is a part of the puzzle that will bring, so to say, world peace. Right? Okay. So I can elaborate more on, like, why is world peace important? Like, for example, if I live in Los Angeles, La La Land, so to say, who cares what happens in the Ukraine? Right? I live in La La Land. I mean, yeah, there's humans there, there's human suffering in Israel, there's human suffering in Ukraine. It's really something that, but at the end of the day, each person has their own struggles, their own, you know, things that they can't be busy with people overseas going through whatever challenges and now they have to bring, so to say, world peace. So I would say that you know, why would world peace be so important?

Like, I mean, can I jump in?

Yeah.

Okay. So first of all, every spiritualist knows that war on the outside comes from war on the inside. And you don't have to send a check to the Ukraine or go fight in the Holy Land to bring world peace. You got to bring peace within what's called in Hebrew, your Dalit Amot. Because when one of us, you know, there's a beautiful Chinese proverb. Let's see if I could get it right. It's a song. It says, um, uh, I want to get it right. I should look it up. It's about, uh, when there is— when there is harmony in the home, there'll be peace in the soul, and when there's peace in the soul, there'll be peace on Earth, right? It's an issue of vibration because we know Nikola Tesla, and we know at this point in the conscious revolution that everything is vibration. So if I'm vibrating vibrations of peace in my own house, in my own— it starts with my own self, right? If I'm at civil war and the inner critic is going crazy, then I'm in a vibration of war, and that will contribute to a war vibration, right? If me and my partner are having a fight and I realize how important I am in this peacemaking right here, will contribute to peace vibrations and then peace in the world. So then it illustrates that. So again, it's a guiding light and a force. Like, I don't have to actually pretend that I care about any of the wars going on if I'm just an average Joe in la-la land, but I can know deeply that my vibration and my resonance is a contributing factor to the collective consciousness, the collective vibration.

I like that answer. I like that idea. Yeah, because it's really true. We are, you know, some— there is kind of like a personal frequency, so to say, and the global frequency. And when we work on our personal frequency, it is affecting the global frequency. And the global frequency right now is war. Unfortunately. So, and it's probably because that people inside of them going through things and, and it's kind of weird that kind of all the wars started right after the pandemic. People kind of thought it's the end of the world or whatnot, you know, and then we getting into an era of fighting and wars and stuff like that. Wow, very interesting. I really like that idea of the, of the frequency. Yeah, you can continue.

Even, even in Star Wars, right? I think it's Yoda who says that fear will turn into hatred. And hatred will lead to war. So if war comes from hatred and hatred comes from fear, then what do we do with fear? Is we have to go back. You asked me, why is the Torah a tool for personal development? Because it tells you that there's a loving God that we can trust. So if I step out of the fear vibration, which is one of the lowest vibrations on the emotional consciousness scale, then I'm already affecting the world in a positive way. I have to move into trust. I have to surrender to love, that there's a greater plan and that I can contribute to that when I step out of fear vibration.

Mhm. Okay, so look, um, let's, let's break it down because we don't want to make this way too long. Um, unfortunately, um, time is kind of of the essence. Okay, so let's talk about, um, let's talk about, uh, what you want to call it, the, um idea of faith. Faith as a tool to build, so to say, resilience and to overcome adversity and to overcome the fears. Why is faith so important in the Torah? And how is the idea of faith could really help people? And what do they need to believe in? Really? You know what I'm saying? Because, yeah, I believe in so many things, but emunah, so to say in Hebrew, it's a big concept. Without that, you got nothing really, right? I mean, you can talk, and if you don't believe, don't believe. But what do you need to believe? For somebody who is not Jewish, somebody who is Jewish and maybe didn't learn Torah ever, or there's a lot of people that hasn't got access to any spirituality or tools that has to do with spirituality. So how can they take the most powerful tool, in my opinion, which is faith, and use it? And what do they need to believe in? I mean, is it like a— I know. Is it like a universal faith, or do I have to be Jewish to believe it? Or it's okay if I'm not Jewish and I can still you know, tap into this wisdom or, or into this power?

Well, God is the God of every single living being in the world, so there's, there's no exclusivity to Judaism, believe it or not. So yes, it's for every person. I'll tell you one anecdote. I was living in the Old City of Jerusalem and there was a terrorist attack and one of my students' boyfriends was killed. His name was Ezra, and I was the— they call it the house mother for about 120 18-year-old girls. And so I had to be there for them on this night where he was murdered. And they were all losing their minds and questioning the God and faith. If something so horrible could happen, how could they even believe in a God? And if they did believe in a God, how could they believe that God is good? And one of the teachers, her name I believe was Rachel, looked at the girl and said, are you good? Are you good? And everybody knows deep inside that they are good. So if you're good and you're a reflection of the Creator, then that must mean that God is good. And if I, if I can hold that belief— by the way, Abraham Hicks says a belief is a thought you just keep thinking— if I can hold the belief in goodness, then I can trust and surrender to the fact that everything will work out in the end. Like, uh, faith is like an anti-anxiety pill. It's, uh, it's a surrender pill. It's a— and, and we know it from the inside out. You know, you don't have to know that God is good, you just have to know that you are good. And the reason we get so angry when people accuse us of things or insult us is because each one of us— this, this is a tool I learned as a therapist— each one of us knows deep inside that we are good. If we didn't, we wouldn't get defensive when someone insulted us because it wouldn't be so hurtful. But each one of us knows inside how good our hearts are. And therefore, if that is necessarily true, which it is, then we're a reflection of the Creator, which is good. And if that's true, then we can chill out. And it might be painful, but we can hold on to hope. And you know what? The other option is no hope and no faith. And that is a really terrible existence that, you know, even if I die and I find out there is no God or God was bad, I'm way happier to live in a world where there's hope and surrender rather than a world of anxiety and mistrust. So even if I'm wrong, which I don't think I am, it still creates a way healthier life, a way happier life.

Yeah, for sure. There is a theory, it's called game theory. Did you hear about that?

I've heard of it, but I don't know it.

Yeah, so the game theory is actually, it's exactly what you're saying. It's saying that let's just take all scenarios. Let's just say there is a God and you live the life of faith. And then after 120 years, person passed away and there is no God. So what happened? Not a big deal. You live the life of faith, of commitment, of service, which is beautiful. Nothing bad happened. And then second option is, what if there is no God, right? And you believed, you lived. I mean, what if there is a God? So you lived your whole life faith, and there is a God, you get rewarded, you go to heaven, you live beautiful eternal life, right? So let's just say now you did all of that. And then let's just say you didn't believe in God. And then after 120 years, a person passed away and there is a God. Oh, you are really in trouble, right? In trouble now.

I don't like that.

I don't like that. Yeah, but look at the other. I mean, there's only 4 options here.

Okay.

You lived in faith. There was a God or there wasn't a God. Or you didn't live in faith, and there was a God and there wasn't a God, right? So in the four options that you have, you can see that having faith will always be more beneficial. You will always get better results.

It's not about punishment though, because the punishment of living in a world without faith is not about what's going— the threat of what's going to happen after. God is not a threatening God. It's not about that. It's about the fact that the punishment I live with by living without faith. I'm suffering in the now. Can I give a small example?

Absolutely, please.

Okay. At one point I was married and I was again living in the Old City of Jerusalem, and we had an electricity issue. So I was having like 16, 17, 18 guests, and I had taken— I made a vegetarian orange soup, cholent kind of vibe, but I had to plug it in at the neighbor's house because our electricity was janky. So my dear husband at the time, when I went to go get the vegetarian Thai orange soup from the neighbor's house and all of a sudden I heard boom, boom, boom, right? And it was like the main course for, you know, again, 16 to 18 guests. And I opened the door and this like vegetarian Thai orange soup was all over the walls, all over the floor, all over him. There was just— it looked like barf everywhere. And I had no food to serve my guests. So in that moment, without faith, right? In that moment, without faith, I look at this guy and I'm like, what's wrong with you? And I'm worried. I'm worried that like there won't be food to eat. And, um, and it's all concerning, and I'm in anger, and I'm in fear, and I'm in upset. That's without faith. Because logically, who wants the food they were going to serve to their guests to be gone and have no other food? Because it was Shabbat, I couldn't go buy. And who wants there to be orange barf all over the entire front entrance of their house that now is like— nobody wants that. But with faith, it's like, wow, that was the absolute best thing that could happen in this moment. Okay, well, let me laugh and let me trust that the people will have their food, or if not, they'll go somewhere else and eat again. And let me believe that this is a test for my humility. Think of the human that results on either side of that experience, right? So you choose faith, you cannot choose faith, but at the end of the day, we're all trying to be happy. And the faith will help me again go into surrender and happiness. So it's kind of obvious, really.

Good. So yeah, so definitely people should cultivate more faith, more faith in the Creator, in the oneness of creation. And you don't have to be, you know, anything to have faith. You just have to have that faith that there is something more to life than just us, which means something bigger than us out there.

I don't know if they should have more faith, but if they want greater happiness, contentment, surrender, they might want to ask themselves what life situations might be like with faith. They could see how that affects them. Because if a person is not holding in faith right now, they're not. And then that's a, you know, that's a welcome journey that they're allowed to take. Should they have faith? It's up to them. I'm afraid of— I don't do shoulds.

Exactly. We don't do shoulds. It's good to have— let's just say that it's good to have— it's good to believe in something. It's good to believe. I don't know what I would do. So the question is this. Now, we spoke about faith, but how do we really understand the cultivation of it.

You know, how do you practically increase faith in your life?

Yeah.

Yeah. Again, I think it comes to practically applying it to every situation and asking yourself, well, okay, so let's say you're stuck in traffic, right? So you're, oh my God, traffic, and I'm going to be late. So you ask yourself, what voice is speaking? And this again is from my therapy practice. What voice is speaking? So it's anxiety, fear, upset. Okay, well, when when anxiety and fear and upset are present, I feel tight, I feel constricted, I feel angry, I feel sweaty. Okay, well, that's how I feel when anxiety runs the show. Well, what about faith, right? So you ask yourself, what would the voice of faith say? The face would say, everything happens in the perfect timing. This could be saving me from something. This too is for the best. This is a test, right? And then you see how you feel at the end of those thoughts. Really, it's a question is What voices are speaking in our head and how do we feel at the end of how those voices want us to think and feel?

Okay. Now, I wanted to— I didn't even write this question here. It just came up to me while we were kind of talking because this is something I've been thinking about recently. And I was wondering also, what do you think about it? It's the idea You know, have you seen the Superman movie ever?

No, but I know you like it.

You know, the Superman movie, I remember I was like 5 or 6 years old and my dad took me to the theater to see Superman 1. Remember, that was like an experience I will never ever ever forget. But one thing I will never forget was the idea of kryptonite. So, so there was this thing, there was this one thing. Superman was a Superman. He could do anything, like the Man of Steel. He could fly, he could this, but there was one thing, one substance that's called kryptonite, that once that thing comes close to Superman, he loses his power. He becomes weak. He doesn't want to move. He can't move really. And he loses his power. And then I was starting to think about this concept. It's like, what is the kryptonite in my life?

Yes.

What is there that I do that takes away my power? And it could be food. It could be You know, alcohol, it could be weed, it could be whatever. You know, there is many kryptonites out there.

There's one. There's one kryptonite. Do you want to know what it is?

Yeah.

So if a person is an advanced learner, I'll say it's amalek. And if a person doesn't know what that means, it means doubt. Doubt in the goodness of God and doubt in the goodness of yourself. That's it.

Can you repeat that? Hold on, I'm just—

Yes, the Jewish people can— the whole world. We are boundless, powerful, beautiful creatures and beings with purpose, and the Creator of the universe believes in each of us deeply, right? Says more— my teacher Leah taught me, it's not about how much you believe in Hashem, it's do you know how much Hashem believes in you? So the only thing that can ever really make us fall into anything, into mistake or sin or anxiety or depression or lazy anything, it's doubt. Doubt that there's a God that is good, and doubt that you are good and that you have a reason to be here. We must eradicate doubt.

Yeah, doubt. Also, um, in the Torah, you know, uh, from what I remember, uh, it's, it's a nation of Amalek, which was a nation that That was their job, to put doubt in the existence of a creator, so to say.

Make us feel that we are weak, make us feel that we can't handle it, make us feel like God isn't on our side. These are all the same thoughts that I was talking about before. It's the voice of Amalek in our head that says, you can't, you're not, you won't. It's like—

So you're saying that the doubt is the kryptonite?

Yeah, doubt in yourself. Yeah, careful of.

But you see, doubt— you see, like, kryptonite was a physical thing. Doubt is more like, you know, it's more like—

but it's self-doubt that makes us eat. It's self-doubt that makes us smoke. It's self-doubt that makes us drink. Or it's doubt in God. It's, it's, it's this— the, you know, the eating and the drinking and the scrolling and the Netflix are all symptoms of a deeper pain. And that pain is that I don't believe that I'm here for a reason. I don't believe that I'm in a process. I don't believe that it's okay that I fall and mess up. I don't believe that everything's going to be okay. It's again, it's the opposite polarity of what you were talking about with faith. There's faith and there's doubt. And when I oversleep or when I scroll too much on my phone, then the voice of Amalek comes in and says, you see, you're a loser, you're this, you're that. And it's like, shh, I'm a radiant, incredible, positive, beautiful being and a force, and I'm needed in this world, and there's a purpose and there's a process. And I'm on the way and I'm on the path. I don't have to doubt myself. I don't have to doubt the goodness of the world or God.

See, I see. That's good. I mean, that's good. Honestly, I see it a little bit different. I mean, to me was— and the reason why this whole concept of kryptonite been going through my head was because there is literally Things, you know, like certain foods that I would eat them, they taste so good. And then I would feel like crap afterwards. That's my kryptonite. I'm not touching that anymore. Same thing with like, you know, tequila. Tequila is wonderful, right? The first shot, second shot, great. I love it. But third, fourth, fifth, oh my gosh, kryptonite, kryptonite. I'm like, can't function. My brain doesn't work. Hangover 2 days afterwards. So then I started to think about it. And then there's also, unfortunately, but there's also some people that are kryptonite. Like some people, you meet them, they just kind of revive your soul. And some people are like, you want to go to sleep when they're around you. So some people are kryptonites as well. So really, I think that, and what I'm trying to say is that people should really, like, think, what is my kryptonite? What is my kryptonite? What am I eating wrong? What am I, what am I, you know, drinking? What am I smoking? What am I, whatever it is that I'm doing that is like taking my powers away. Because the bottom line is you need your powers to influence the world. If you want to be a part of the puzzle and you want to do your part in this world, you can't be numb somewhere on a couch. You have to get up and really understand what is— and fight those things. Fight the desire to eat this amazing cheesecake with caramel things on top of it. Yeah, I want to eat that. But do I really want to eat that? I don't know. I don't know, because how I feel afterwards, how I feel the next day, if I eat this whole big, huge piece, it could mess me up. So that's the idea I've been thinking about. I wanted to kind of share that with you a little bit.

I just heard an amazing Torah from Rabbi Moshe Chaim Eid in Jerusalem who said that teshuvah, returning to self, like basically self-growth, is stopping to do the things that make me disrespect myself. So he's basically saying, is, is, is moving away from my kryptonites. Yeah, stopping to do the things that make me disrespect myself. So we know that when we do those behaviors, we don't feel good about ourselves afterwards. So it's like, it's sort of the same thing you're saying with the kryptonite.

Oh, that's amazing. So pretty much the antidote to the kryptonite, so to say, is the teshuva. Teshuva really is the answer. But let's just kind of put it in more practical terms. Teshuva, it really means to come back, to come back to the true you, so to say, because you kind of lost yourself a little bit. You forgot who you are. Now you're coming back, and you're coming back to— can you explain more about what does that mean on a practical level?

Yeah, for the average Joe, teshuva means repentance, right? But for the deep inner meaning of teshuva, you just break the word into two. You have teshuv, hey. Teshuv means to return. Hey indicates Hashem or the Godliness. Not return to God, you wayward sons. Return to the Godliness in you. Remember you are incredibly important. Remember you are a beautiful soul. Remember that it is okay to be in process. Remember you have a reason and a meaning and a purpose to be here. When you remember your inner Godliness, how precious and incredible you are, Then you question how much longer you want to scroll. Then you question if you want to eat that thing because you remember you're returning to your own inner godliness. You're remembering your Superman-ness. And from that place, you can go forward with more strength.

Amazing. Amazing. This is really one of those things that people, I think, should really take to heart because Um, you know, the world is, is, is, I think, built in a way that things will not just happen to you. You know, you got to earn them, which means you got to put the effort in. If you don't put the effort, you're not going to get the results.

You know, you don't put effort unless you know that you are important, which is the crux and the essence.

Exactly. Unless you really know that you are needed, that you— this is, this is why you are created.

We need you people. We need every single person here. Everyone is important. Everyone is relevant. Doesn't matter how many times we mess up or how many scrolls or how many tequilas. It does— we're needed and we're important because like we were saying in the beginning about that collective vibration is made up of each of our own vibrations. And what you were saying, take accountability, take ownership of what? Your vibration, because it's going to have an impact on the collective vibration. And we need you. We need each person's vibration to be epic and wonderful and glorious and at ease.

So true. You know what? Like, I was thinking today, I was, I was at the line to my physical therapy because I fractured my elbow like a couple months ago. I know it's so painful. But anyways, I'm going through it. It's, it's part of, you know, life. Just to kind of remind, remind me how fractured humans are. You know, we think we like this, but, you know, one little tiny fall from a scooter and your whole life changes. But anyways, I was thinking today, what will be the ultimate situation? Like, what are we striving for? We're striving for a world where there's going to be peace, right?

Peace.

This means it's not going to be anybody who wants to fight anybody. It's only going to be people wanting to actually be out there for one another, be out there to help each other. How? Every person with his own unique skills, with his own unique gifts and talents and use those to benefit humanity, right? Because I think one of the things that kind of don't make sense to me, like when I look at the world and I look, I'm like, why? Why are people fighting? Like, what's the reason for wars? There is enough land, there is enough food, there is enough money, there's enough wealth, there's enough of everything. There's no reason to fight. You can just share and be happy. Why does people have to like say, I want more than they, you know, and then all those things start, you know, and this is what we kind of like thinking about. Like people say, okay, it's the ego. It's the shadow. It's the selfish desire to receive for the self alone, whatever you want to call it.

You answered your question within your question.

Okay, so, so hold on.

Yeah, I'm holding.

Okay, so, so, so, um, some, some— so I was thinking like, just, you know, we wanting to bring peace, we wanted to bring the Messiah. The Messiah is like a consciousness, right? It's a consciousness where, you know, people are just so in love with one another, helping one another. Nobody wants fight with anybody. Everybody is out there to make sure the other one is doing okay. And I'm like, why can't this be now? And the answer that I got within myself was, it can be now for some people. When you really put your ego to the side and not let it interfere, dim your light, and you are actually putting yourself out there for one another. For, for, and you're using the gifts that you have, you're using the talents that are embedded within your DNA that the creator created you, and you're doing it for others, then you're already living in that world, in that flawless universe. So all we have to do is just make more people do the same with love and happiness. And that's the challenge. How do we do that?

Okay, so you answered it within your own question, meaning to say, you're saying put the ego aside. So how does one put their ego aside? Ego is actually just the other side of the coin of insecurity. Means I don't know that I'm enough, right? What you said is we don't think there's enough this, we don't think— why do we not think there's enough of anything when there is? Because we don't think we're enough. It's literally a reflection of God's love. And that's why it's important to realize God is good. And that's why it's important to have faith, because I have to realize that I am enough. And when I am enough and I'm good enough, then I don't need ego. And when I don't need ego, I don't need to fight. And then I can pursue peace, and then I can live in bliss and happiness. So putting ego aside is not just saying, okay, okay, it's not about me. It's saying, no, I am— it's, it's the opposite. Ego is just a reflection of insecurity. So then I have to recall, I have to have the bravery to believe that I am enough. It's a very brave thing to believe I'm enough, because that means whatever I have achieved until this moment, like, okay, it's enough. And then it's the humility to say, yeah, again, we're all in process. But I cannot, I cannot say like I'm enough if I think that what I've done is not good enough for the moment. That's about me and ego, and then we're back to the ego, we're back to fighting. So how do we get more people to do that? We have to help people remember they're again needed, important, valued. And the way to do that is to do it ourselves so that when people stand next to us, like Marianne Williamson, that famous Marianne Williamson quote, when we know that we're enough, when we give ourselves permission to shine our light, it naturally gives permission to other people to shine theirs too. You getting up and doing a podcast lets someone else believe, hey, maybe I can do this too. You've given them permission by standing in your light By standing in pursuing your dreams and goals, you give another person permission to do that. So I have to know that I'm worthy and I'm needed and I'm important. I have to shine my light, those talents that you were talking about. Then we all give each other permission to do that, that we're in happiness, then we don't need to fight. Happy people don't fight. Scared people fight.

That is so true. That is so, so true. You know, the last, uh, podcast episode I've done was with a guy from Israel. His name is Rui Ben Yosef. It was a very— unfortunately, his English is not good. We had to do it in Hebrew, so not a lot of people understand. And I'm working on right now translating the episode. But the idea is that what he was saying, and he started a whole organization about it, and it's called To Earn From Who? I am, which means earning from your authentic self, which means take your personality and turn it into, like, literally a product that people can pay for it. So, for example, let's just say somebody who has a fear of public speaking, right, will go and, you know, talk about that and then maybe help other people with that issue. And every, you know, Something like that. So, but, but, but the main idea is, is the concept of we got gifts. We got gifts. God gave us gifts and we are here to give those gifts back because we're here for limited, so to say, time. This is the, this is our gift. Everybody with their own, uh, gift. And, and it's a mission. It's a mission that we each and every human being has to do. Is ask yourself, what is my gift? What am I good at? What do I love? And how can I share that with the world in a way that's not going to only benefit— that's going to benefit everybody? Win-win situation, like they say in business, you know. So, um, so it's very similar to what you said, to really understand how we are important, how we are enough. And, uh, what can I tell you? Always inspiring to have a conversation with you about spiritual stuff, Nili. And, uh, I just wanted to ask you one last question. Are you ready for it?

I'm ready.

Okay, so for our listeners who are eager to embark on a journey of spiritual growth using the Torah as a guide, right, what practical tools or practices Can you recommend from the Torah, from this actual scriptures, that can help them develop a deeper connection with their faith and enhance their overall well-being? So, so now we're just going to go into like maybe one or two tips, tools that people could like listen to you right now and says, you know what, that's what Nili says, I'm going to do it. Okay, I'm gonna start my journey today.

So it's, it's— I've got it, and it's two sentences that a person should repeat to themselves. I actually got this from the wisdom of Abraham Hicks, but it's completely in line with the Torah. Because you asked me, how do I apply faith? Well, she has these two sentences, and one is you say to yourself every single day, multiple times a day, everything is always working out for me. Okay, what does that mean? Meaning it's Actually true. Like, while there are some bumps in the road of the day, like maybe it took you an extra minute to find parking, you still found parking. Maybe you burned your food, but you still ate. Everything is actually always working out for us, right? So then once we start to realize logically that 98% of everything that's always happening to us is working out for us, we realize logically that most of the time, most of our lives, everything is always working out for us. It's actually a logical tool. But then you say, but Neely, I haven't found my soulmate. But Neely, I am broke. But Neely, I have a fractured elbow. There is real lack in my life. So then Abraham Hicks says the second sentence, which is so amazing. She says, okay, there's a lack. Well, can you have fun along the way? So the next sentence to say to yourself is, I have fun along the way. Meaning, okay, so your elbow's fractured. It's going to take a process to heal. Okay, so you don't have your soulmate yet. It might be a year, God forbid, who knows? But can I have fun along the way? Because again, both of these are a reflection of trust. So practical tools to increase your faith are to literally say to yourself, everything is always working out for me. Multiple times a day, I say this multiple times a day. Oh, everything's always working out for me, right? I sit in front of a meal, everything's working out for me. I drop my phone and it doesn't shatter. Everything's always working out for me. And then when there's a lack that I feel in my heart, like, wow, and it would just be really nice to have kids and I don't yet. Well, I'm going to have fun along the way because again, if God is our Father, what does a father want for his kids more than anything? Just to be happy. So everything's always working out for me, and when I feel a lack, I'm going to have fun along the way until I get to that thing, because there's always going to be an until. So yeah, wake up and realize logically almost everything is always working out for us, even when it doesn't feel like it is. But that's advanced level of faith. But for the most part, everything has always and is working out for us. And when it doesn't, oh, fun along the way. And these two sentences can uplift a person's entire mood and restore their faith.

So let me repeat those sentences. Everything is always working out for me. It's one sentence.

Yeah, everything is always working out for me.

So it's a one-sentence thing.

Nope, that's sentence number one.

Okay, so it's sentence number one.

Always working out for me. But then it's like across the day, you got dressed, wow, you had a shower, wow, there's water, you got in your car, wow, you got a car, everything's always working out for me, this is wild, right? But then what about when you're really feeling the pain of whatever lack you're experiencing, because we all have something. Okay, well, yeah, I don't have my soulmate yet. Yeah, I don't have, you know, all the money in the bank, but I'm going to have fun along the way. And I have fun along the way. So everything is always working out for me, which is like 99% true, which I think we can call always. And when that's not— when you really feel the pain in your heart, I'm not saying to deny it or to whitewash or, you know, spiritual bypass. I'm saying, okay, well, I don't have that thing. I'm gonna have fun along the way. So everything is always working out for me, and I have fun along the way. If you oscillate between those two, you're in faith and joy and honoring your true feelings. So let's do it, Uzi.

Everything is always working out for me, and I have fun along the way. Amazing. You know, I read somewhere that fun is a very important part of self-care.

Absolutely.

So don't look at it as, you know, a lot of people like, oh, I'm having too much fun. There's not too much fun, you know, it's self-care. You're doing the right thing.

Um, fun is trust, fun is surrender. It goes back to trusting God. You can't have fun if you're worried, right?

It's like throwing, you know, like Rabbi Nachman says, throwing your brains, you're throwing your, not your brains, but your mind. Just put it to the side for a minute and just enjoy.

Children can have fun because they trust their parents are going to take care of everything. So we can return to that childlike state. We can have fun because we can trust our parent is taking care of everything.

I like that. Wow. Amazing. Amazing, Nili. Amazing. I'm so happy that we had that conversation. I mean, I can continue here, but we already a little bit past an hour, which is not bad, actually. But did you want to add anything before we end the podcast?

Yes, a prayer. Hi, Hashem. Thank you so much that we're in a world that is opening up to opening up, a world that is ready to hear that each one of us is so important. Thank you, Hashem, for helping us get there and vibe high so that we create a collective conscious vibe of high vibes, trust, fun, and peace. Thank you, Hashem. Thank you, Uzi Moses PhD PhD PhD. Thank you, me. Thank you, listeners. And please, God, help us get there. That's what I want to add, just that prayer.

Amazing. Thank you so much, Nili Salem. How can people get in touch with you if they want to use you as their therapist or come to attend your classes? What do they need to do?

All the socials, it's just Neely Salem. And if anyone has a personal question, or for women— I only work with women— but my email is neelysalem@gmail.com. N-I-L-I-S-A-L-E-M@gmail.com. So either those socials or email.

Fantastic. Thank you so much for joining us.