What Can We Learn From Our Past?

0:06Hashem melech, Hashem malach, Hashem yimloch. Le'olam va'ed. past, present, future. Hashem Malach, Hashem Melech, Hashem Yimloch. But it doesn't say that. It says Hashem Melech, now. Hashem is the king now. And then it says Hashem was the king and Hashem will be the king. Anybody have any idea why it says so? Why we're present, then past, then future? No? Because that's all that counts. All that counts, meaning? Meaning?

1:37So, it's like you're saying you have to have an understanding of what's going on now, but that still doesn't change the fact that you should consider your past. Did you consider your past? Some people say, "Ah, let the past be the past. What can I do about the past? Let the past be the past." This is the wrong attitude. Why? You need to know where you've been in order to know where you're going. You need to learn from your past. Learn what worked. Learn what failed. For you individually, for your family, and for your people. We have a Torah that tells us things that happened in the past because we need to learn from them in order to know how to change our present. Why? Because the only thing that is in our hand is the present, like you said. But if you don't look at the past, then the present will never change, and your future is a disaster waiting to happen. Now, some people don't really think too much about it.

2:38how we could change our present. Why? Because the only thing that is in our hands is the present, like you said. But if you don't look at the past, then the present will never change, and your future is a disaster waiting to happen. Now, some people don't really think too much about it. They just do whatever it is. Whatever goes, goes. They don't think about what happened in the past, what failed in the past, or what worked in the past. They don't really want to learn from their parents, and how they failed and succeeded. They don't want to learn from their teachers, and how they failed and succeeded. They don't want to learn from the Torah, and how they failed and succeeded. They don't want to learn from the past. They want to do everything based on their own time, based on their own intuition. The problem is, that's a very foolish approach. Because you could learn... A very painful lesson for free by simply looking at how it worked for somebody else. But sometimes people will say, okay, the past is the past, but maybe for me, it's going to work. I'll just worry about it when I get there. What is that like? One time, a guy comes back from the king worried. He sees his friend and says, "What happened?" His friend goes, "I don't know, the king lost his mind." He asks, "What happened? What did he say to you?"

4:02He said to me that if I don't train this dog to pray, he's going to kill me and my whole family. He goes, okay, good. So, did you bring the dog? He goes, no. What do you mean bring the dog? I don't know. I can't train this dog to pray. So his friend says, okay, don't worry. I'll take care of it. The friend goes to the king and comes back with the dog. He goes, what did you do? How did you do it? He said he gave me a deal. What's the deal? Train the dog to pray. He goes, you're going to train the dog to pray? He goes, yes. Listen, I told the king, what do you want? He says, I want my dog to learn how to pray. I said, no problem. Two things. Number one, I need 15 gold coins for each year I'm going to train him. The king says, no problem. I'll pay you two years in advance. Here you go. Your second requirement is that it's going to take me 15 years to teach him how to really pray. Teach him how to really pray. It's going to be 15 years. The king says, no problem. You've got it. Money is going to be given to you right now. I'm looking forward to seeing my dog pray. So his friend says to him, "So what are you going to do once 15 years pass and the dog doesn't know how to pray?" He says, "Listen, in 15 years, either the king's going to die, the dog's going to die, or I'm going to die. Somebody has to die in 15 years. So I'll worry about it when I get there."

5:30Most likely the dog's going to die in 15 years. But even if he doesn't die, maybe the king's going to die. If he doesn't die, then I have to die. I'll worry about it when I get there. Some people act like this. Some people make very big moves today thinking that they're not going to have to worry about it and they'll deal with it once they get down the road. And that's why it says, "Hashem Melech" as the first one. If you start dealing with today as if it's the most important thing... By looking at the past and making sure you make the corrections that you need to make first, then your future will look much better. Your future will be something to look forward to. However, if you simply ignore the past, then there is nothing to look forward to as far as the future is concerned. If you're harping on the past, then you're living in the past, and you're not living in the future. You're not living in the present, and you won't have a future either. You know, in the business world, a lot of kids will come to me, and they say, "Listen, you know, last month..."

6:45made a deal for a hundred thousand dollars. You know, last month I made a deal for half a million dollars. Six months ago, I made a deal for a million dollars, and three years ago, I made a deal for two million dollars. You know, my response was: every single time they told me that, who cares what you did yesterday? It paid the bills yesterday. I need to pay the bills today. Today, I need to pay the bills. The only thing that's going to pay the bills today is a deal today, not a deal from six months ago. Six months ago is not going to pay today's bills, as I already spent that money. I need money today. Go make another million-dollar deal or go find another job. Why? That's all that matters. That's all that matters in the world. If you're going to constantly think about what I did when I was 7 years old, and what I did when I was 18 years old, and what I did when I was 28 years old, and what I did when I was 38 years old, you're going to constantly live in the past, and guess what? Not only is your present going to be a disaster, but your future is nothing to look forward to. Why? You're not going to be able to pay the bills.

8:00You're not going to be able to pay the bills. You have to understand that the past is only something to use for learning purposes, meaning look at the past, take the pieces that are valuable, and use them for the present in order to change the future. But if you're going to harp on the past, you're going to count the money, you're going to count the chickens that you already ate, guess what? You're going to die starving. to look at our past and live in our past and think that if we could have done something, if I would have done something different, then this would have been different and that would have been different. This is like the lotto, the lotto joke. You guys ever heard the lotto joke? A guy and his father go to the lotto store or the deli and they buy a lotto ticket. Jackpot, I don't know, a zillion dollars. To look at our past and live in our past and think that if we could have done something, if I would have done something different, then this would have been different and that would have been different. This is like the lotto, the lotto joke. You guys ever heard the lotto joke? A guy and his father go to the lottery store or the deli and they buy a lottery ticket. Jackpot, I don't know, a zillion dollars.

9:27And they go back in the car, and the kid says to the father, he's like, "Dad, what are you going to do if we win the jackpot?" He said, "First thing, I'm buying a Ferrari. I've always wanted a Ferrari. You know, one of those fancy-schmancy cars, half a million dollars." He's like, "All right, Dad, well, listen. I think it's a good purchase. Just make sure you buy this specific model. But I get to drive next." He goes, "Hey." We'll see. Well, at least I'm going to sit in the front with you. He says, no, you're not going to sit in the front with me. Your mom is going to sit next to me in the front. I'm not going to let you sit in the front with me. Your mom, my wife whom I married 20 years ago, she has to sit in the front. He goes, no, Abba, come on. It's not possible. How? I went and bought the ticket with you. I bought the ticket with you. How is she going to sit in the front if I bought the ticket with you? And they go back and forth and they start arguing. He says, son, you know what? Get out of the car. Get out of the car. They got into some imagination as if they owned the car. So the father says, get out of the car. The Satan tries to convince us to live in the past and to dwell in an imagination, as if we would have done something differently, then everything would have changed. This is the Satan fooling us into spending our time and efforts on things that we cannot change. You cannot change the past; therefore, the past is only there for you to learn from.

10:56take the few pieces that are valuable and relevant to you today in order to change today, in order to influence tomorrow and make tomorrow better than yesterday. But if you harp on the past and count all of the mistakes you have made and start crying about them without learning from them, but just commiserating and telling everybody all the mistakes that you've made in the last 20, 30 years, then guess what? You're never going to be able to move forward. You're going to be manic-depressive, and your future is going to be even worse than your past.