Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:01 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome everybody to the first of, hopefully, many daily inspirations. We're starting a new book, the book of Orchis Tzaddikim, the Ways of the Righteous, and this book we don't know the author, but it dates back to over 500 years ago when this book was first revealed to the world. It's a book that goes through many of the traits that mankind possesses and hopefully, in the journey of our learning, we'll be able to grow, connect and improve our character, improve the way in which we conduct our lives. We're beginning with the introduction, the Hagdama, where the author says this is a verse from Koheles, from Ecclesiastes Fear God and keep his mitzvos, for this is the whole of man. You want to know what it all boils down to, our entire existence.

01:18
King Solomon tells us it all boils down to fear of Hashem. Who says this? It all boils down to fear of Hashem. Ze hapasuk amro shlom hamelech V'hu ha'yachacha mikol adam. Who says this? King Solomon. And King Solomon says this he was the wisest of all men. V'hoi hamelech ha'l yonim, he was such a powerful king. It says that he was a king of the upper realms, v'ha'l ha'tachtonim, and on king. It says that he was a king of the upper realms and on the lower realms. He had understanding of all the secrets. He had an understanding of the greatest secrets of this world. And after King Solomon saw everything, experienced everything, he revealed a few pieces of wisdom to the world Chosam kol dovar avomer. At the end of everything, his final statement is sof shel kol dovar hu yiras Hashem, at the end of the day, without having fear of God, you have nothing. V'chein, hitchil b'mishlein.

02:26
So too, when he starts the beginning of Proverbs, yiras Hashem reishiz das. Fear of God is the bottom line of all wisdom, of all intellect, of all knowledge, v'siyim. And how does he conclude? Yisha yiras Hashem hitis alal. At the end of Proverbs, which ends with the last chapter being the Esh Yisrael that we sing every Friday night. How does he conclude? There, he says a God-fearing woman. That's praiseworthy.

03:08
I mean, if anybody else would have warned that, saying that fear of God is the most important thing, it wouldn't be accepted by everybody, because everyone would say poor guy, he doesn't have money, he doesn't have success Probably a single guy anyway. What does he say if he has fear of God? Nah, but look who it's coming from. It's coming from King Solomon, who had it all. No one was wealthier than him, no one had more wives than all. No one was wealthier than him. No one had more wives than him. No one had more wisdom than him. I mean, he had it all. And yet what does he say? Shalom HaMelech, he was wealthier than anyone. Where did we know that? It says in Kings 1, chapter 10, verse 27. In Kings 1, chapter 10, verse 27.

04:06
D'chsiv v'yiten ha-meleches ha-keseth b'Yerushalayim ka-avanim, that King Solomon had money. It was like rocks, like stones, pebbles, everywhere, millions and millions. You can imagine how many coins he had. V'hayechacha mikol v'melech, he was the wisest of all and he was also king. He was smarter than everyone.

04:33
For him, he can say. He can say futility of futilities, all is futile. Only King Solomon can say this. He says that the only thing a person should be occupied with is fear of God. So said Moses of blessed memory, who was the highest of all of the prophets. What did Moses say in Deuteronomy 10, 12?

05:09
Chapter 10, verse 12. Ve'ati Yisrael. And now hear, o Israel, ma Hashem alokecha sho me'imach. What does Hashem already ask from you? What does Hashem really want from you already? The only thing Hashem wants is ki im lirah es Hashem alokecha Fear. Hashem really want from you already. The only thing Hashem wants is fear Hashem, your God.

05:30
So said King David, omer reish is chokhmah, yores Hashem Reish is chokhmah. The beginning of all wisdom is fear of Hashem. And now that we see mankind, who is the choicest of Hashem's creation, in this world, where we have the image of God within ourselves, we have the image of God within ourselves, we have the image of God and the things that we do with our hands, with our capabilities, is the finest of all creations. We have the most loftiest soul. There are levels in our relationship with God, but the loftiest soul there are levels in our relationship with God, but the loftiest of all is the neshama that's imbued within every human being, hamisbonen, esod el yonim which is able to contemplate all the deep realms of Hashem's existence Ve'atachtonim, mizeh yivoda and the lower levels. Why did Hashem give it to us? Why did Hashem give us such a lofty soul, such abilities in mankind? Just to serve Him, to serve Hashem. And why did we get this great Torah? So that we can serve Hashem. That's why God gave us the Torah to give us a guideline of how to live a life, to how to maximize every moment of our existence. Ki ha'adam hu chaviv me'od ufnei Hashem, because mankind, again, the choicest of Hashem's creation. Hashem loves us. Ki anu ro'im sheham alochim, mishamshim litzor che ha'adam ha'tzadik.

07:35
Who do the angels serve the righteous? The angels, you know what they do. They're there to serve the righteous. Who is the righteous? Abraham, isaac, jacob. You see who the Torah focuses on.

07:52
Hashem focuses on those who are righteous, those who weren't righteous. They get a little comment at the end of the portion. And Asaph had these generations. And you see, like it's just a little side note, hashem focuses on those who are righteous. What does it say? By Yaakov the angel, the angel that redeemed me from all evil shall bless these youth. Who's this angel? Jacob, who was righteous. He had a private angel, private security, who protected him, who redeemed him, who took care of him in all of his issues? V'uchsiv v'yoshar es malach v'yuchal V'daniel says Elohi shlach maloche usgar pum aryevoso v'lo chabluni. My God, send an angel and lock up the mouth of the lion. V'od motzino sheba malach la'ezos ha-tzadikim.

08:57
And we see that more and more angels came to protect mankind. Time and again, we see that the angels were there to protect and defend the righteous. And we've seen. We see that the angels were there to protect and defend the righteous. And we've seen, we know this, there's some who have a little bit more over others, more closeness to Hashem, more aloft your level and aloft your soul to Hashem, more a loftier level and a loftier soul. Ad she'odom echot shevem min yon rav mim b'nei odom.

09:40
We see sometimes that some people are valued equivalent to many other people because of their greatness. Af al pi sheheim b'dmus achas vi yisod echot la'im, even though it looks like one human being, but their value is counted like many. Elo she'nafshos shel zeh ol being, but their value is counted like many. Some people take that soul and elevate it to unbelievable heights and some people just keep it at a simple level. One was able to elevate his soul above his physical trappings, his physical urges, and others sadly allow their temptation and desires, their physical materialistic drives, to overtake their spiritual level, and then such a person sadly goes his whole life in darkness V'mimashesh ki'iver b'afela, and then is like a blind person trying to figure out where he's going.

10:51
So I want to share with you two points before we sign off here. Number one what does it mean? Fear of God? What does it mean? What does it mean? What does it mean? We talk about fear of God. Does it mean I'm supposed to be trembling under the table with fear, intrepidation from the Almighty? So we know we mentioned this many times that fear means the word Yira, which means fear. Is translated to fear also means Yira'eh, to see.

11:22
Our job in this world is to have clarity in our relationship with Hashem. When you have clarity, when you have that clear vision that you understand Hashem is the creator and I am the subject that Hashem created and gave me a purpose and gave me a task to fulfill in this world. Putting things into perspective is very important. If you don't have the right perspective, you can waste your entire life going down the wrong path. When a person has the perspective, the clarity, that they understand I am here as a servant of the Almighty, I'm the servant of the Creator and Hashem has given me an opportunity to serve Him. Ah, now I can focus, I can accomplish, I can do what's necessary. So that's fear.

12:09
When we talk about fear of Hashem, it's not only trembling. It's trembling from the awesomeness of this responsibility, but feeling proud that we were gifted with this task. So that's point number one. Point number two is that we see over here this is a term that's used like a blind man in the dark. It's a term that's also used in Messiah by the Ramchal.

12:37
I don't understand. If you're blind, what does it need to be in the dark Just like a blind man? What does it have to be A blind man in the dark? Sages tell us that a blind person can be helped by others, but a blind person in the dark, the others can't either see. Meaning that it's up to each and every one of us to accomplish, to secure the light that's in the world, to see clearly, because you can't rely on anybody else to be the one to put you back on the path. Because if a person strays and goes away from the way of Hashem, it's a big challenge for someone else to now bring you back, because it's dark for them too. If you're blind and it's dark, it's up to you and it's a lofty responsibility that each one of us are capable of connecting with Hashem on such a high level. My dear friends, I look forward to the next episode of this introduction and thank you to Hachzek, the organization we're partnering with, who's bringing about a revolution of Musser study to the world. Thank you so much.