Navigating Life's Decisions with Rabbi Elephant: Embracing the "And Then What?" Philosophy

0:01 On those rare occasions that you have that perfect moderator, that special rabbinic figure on the podium, the perfect setting and the mood just right, can all come together for an epic question-answer session. They're very popular at all the torah gatherings and special conferences and they're always very entertaining because, while it seems sometimes unfair to put this rabbi on the spot to ask him such a highly charged question, when many times the answer is unique to each person individually, you also haven't given the rabbi enough time to prepare.

0:51 But that is often where I look to for some of the motivation congregations for a hot take, for an unfiltered, raw answer. And recently in one of the conferences there was a chinuch question posed to the great rabbi elephant, who has the knowledge of the tyro on his fingertips to answer these questions, plus the experience in teaching for so long really in the trenches. While chinuch questions aren't always my favorite, I'll look for more of the technology ones, the controversial ones, but this question came with a rule that we can remember when we make decisions in our lives and it's an easy one to remember.

1:38 And Rabbi Elephant, after he received this question, said well, when you want to do chinuch and react the proper way, sometimes I remember. They just think the azma. Remember those words, two words, the azma, and then what, and that will help you to make the right decision. He went on to explain, because sometimes we get stuck and that we make our decisions based on well, what does rabbi want? What's the thing to do? What does the rule book say, but the azma means? And then what Meaning? What are you going to accomplish? What will a child then decide to do next, what the ramifications of the decision will be?

2:22 The father once told me that, yeah, you can merge into the left lane and you can argue with the judge that you were right, you had that right of way. But, god forbid, you can also be dead right. You have to deal with the consequences. God forbid, rachmano Lutzlin. So this is a nice thing to remember the azma, what does your wisdom tell you will come out of this? You can yell at your spouse, you can argue with your coworker and you can prove yourself right by standing up for yourself. But the azma, then what have you gained? The child then continued to succeed, but you lose respect. So ask yourself before you act, the azma, and then what will be?