Rav Yisrael Salanter once attended a certain shul that sold aliyos. Listening to the gabbai auction off aliyos for “groschen” (the local currency), he suddenly grabbed his beard. “I am grey schoin (in English, “already grey”), and what have I done with my life?” Not a connection you would easily make? That’s because Rav Yisrael had trained himself extensively to process life with da’as. To interpret everything he saw, heard and experienced as a message designed to draw him closer to Hashem. As we’ve discussed​, ​da’as means connection. It can mean connecting to our mitzvos. It can mean connecting to the people around us. But it can also mean connecting with – life. We’re used to simply moving through life. When inspiration or Heavenly messages hit us hard on the head, we take them in. But in general? We see life and the things that fill it simply as what they are. Living with da’as means slowing down this flow. Mentally connecting to our experiences. Opening ourselves up to the insights in them. And then internalizing those insights. Every experience in life offers us two options. Sitting in traffic. Viewing beautiful scenery. Getting yelled at. Enjoying a family simcha. Missing a plane. Big, small, pleasant or unpleasant, we can choose to float through them and move on – or we can choose to truly connect with life. To pause and reflect on the learning opportunity in front of us. Chazal (Eiruvin 100b) remark that even if we hadn’t received the Torah, we could have picked up many of its lessons from the world around us. We could have learned modesty from the cat. Picked up on the evil of stealing from the ant. Discerned the immorality of adultery from the dove. Because when we look at the world through the lens of da’as, everything becomes a life lesson. Citing Chazal’s explanation of the parsha of Nazir’s proximity to the parsha of Sota, the Ba’al Shem Tov teaches that the world around us is a mirror. If we observe someone else’s negative behavior, da’as whispers to us that on some level, we need to work on a similar flaw within ourselves. Yes, we live busy, fast-paced lives. Pausing and connecting to every little experience and occurrence seems highly unnatural to us. So a life of constant da’as, of endless growth-focus, isn’t easy to achieve. But those who live such a life can attest that such a focus fills life with vibrancy. When everything around you merits noticing and thinking about, you’re never bored. Every day is filled with meaning. Usually, we pass da’as-lessly through life because that’s our default setting. ​Sometimes, we even specifically want to rush away from an experience. Like when we miss an opportunity sitting right in front of our nose, and we feel so foolish and frustrated afterwards, we just want to forget about it. Or when we fail in front of others – the Shabbos food we served to guests tasted bad, or the speech we gave in ​Shul fell flat – and all we want to do is move on from the disappointment. Even in those situations, though, approaching them like a bar da’as – pausing and connecting to the meaning behind them – affords us growth. That frustrating missed opportunity? Maybe things happened that way to wake us up to the fact that we’re constantly surrounded by opportunities we aren’t capitalizing on. Even those public failures, which we try instinctively not to dwell on, carry important messages. Perhaps Hashem is whispering to us that it’s ok not to be perfect, that it’s time to be easier and more charitable in our self-judgement. When life doesn’t go our way, we naturally respond with resignation. “It is what it is,” we shrug. Because shrugging it off and focusing elsewhere is our path away from the disappointment. What if we remembered that it’s our job to connect to and learn from our experiences – even disappointing ones? What if “It is what it is” could become “What is, is” – a calm, clear acknowledgement that things are the way they are for the purpose of teaching us something? Growth and connection can flow in abundance from the least likely sources. One of the ba’alei mussar was once observed staring at the construction of a building. People assumed he had nothing better to do with his time than stare – but he wasn’t just staring. He’d perceived a message in the ordinary sight in front of him, and was contemplating it. If we train ourselves to live with da’as, alert to the opportunities around us, we’ll find avodah everywhere. And far from the tiring, burdensome existence we might imagine, we’ll discover a life filled with depth. Meaning. Connection. Let’s try it out. Once a day, when we find ourselves trying to rush away from an experience, let’s pause instead. Let’s face the experience head-on with the attitude of “What is, is.” We might be surprised with the depth of the insights we uncover just by doing that thinking – and with the sense of fulfillment they leave in their wake. And please feel free to reply here with any insights you'd like to share. Good Shabbos and and Good Chodesh! ============================================================ Copyright © 2026 Avodah Alive, all rights reserved. Hope you enjoy! Our mailing address is: Avodah Alive 1555 Stuart St. Denver, CO 80204 ** Add us to your address book (https://ytcdenver.us19.list-manage.com/vcard?u=a1f3548bd8e304669ba35bd91&id=d1d621b261) Enjoyed this email? Forward it to friends and family! Click ** here (https://ytcdenver.us19.list-manage.com/track/click?u=a1f3548bd8e304669ba35bd91&id=f5d8942d12&e=b754bac92f) to sign up for the weekly avodah emails. Click ** here (https://mcusercontent.com/a1f3548bd8e304669ba35bd91/files/451351f4-42a3-2cf4-8db2-10956e8c6b14/Hallel_Guide_Color_.01.pdf) for the color version and ** here (https://mcusercontent.com/a1f3548bd8e304669ba35bd91/files/fdfb9ca0-df12-bcc0-d2ec-929bd0086fba/Hallel_Guide_B_amp_W_.01.pdf) for the black and white version of our brand-new Hallel guide just in time for Rosh Chodesh! This email was sent to *|EMAIL|* (mailto:*|EMAIL|*) why did I get this? (*|ABOUT_LIST|*) unsubscribe from this list (*|UNSUB|*) update subscription preferences (*|UPDATE_PROFILE|*) *|LIST_ADDRESSLINE_TEXT|*