Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:00 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
We're now day 14 in the gate of haughtiness in the Archa Sadikim in the Treasure for Life edition, and we're on page 68. We're in the middle of talking about arrogance and how we need to have balance, and a person should be very, very careful about praising themselves. We were warned yesterday, on day 13, to be very careful about not praising ourselves. And what's about someone who is arrogant or taking pride or taking honor in wisdom and actions that he really doesn't have? That's the worst Is that you're not even there. That's the worst is that you're not even there and you're taking praise. You're taking credit for things that you've not accomplished and not done, and such did our sages tell us. If people are praising you that you know two tractates of Talmud, but you really only know one. I only know one. Don't say yeah, I'm just going to let them go with that mistake. Let them think. Definitely, a person should not lead on people to think that he has certain qualities that indeed he does not have. We have to be very, very careful that our actions be for the sake of heaven, in what's out there in the world and also what's hidden when we're inside in the room of rooms, in our own homes. The actions we do should be for the sake of heaven. Whatever we do should always be to fulfill the will of Hashem Person. Externally, you can do what people think is good, but what's inside? Oh, hashem knows what's inside your heart. Hashem knows what's the intention. When you're giving that donation and you say, like you know, just to Don't tell anybody, tell everybody, don't tell everybody that you know, I'm just going to do it, hashem knows what the real intention is. Hashem knows what's really going on. And this is what the verse states. And, by the way, you can fool everyone. You cannot fool Hashem, because Hashem knows. Hashem knows what's in our heart. Hashem knows what's in our thoughts. Hashem knows what's in our thoughts. Hashem knows what our intentions are, if they're pure or not, as the verse says In Jeremiah. We see, the verse tells us the hidden things are known to Hashem, our God. Hashem knows. Hashem examines the innards. Everything is revealed in front of Hashem, even the things we think are hidden from everybody else. Hashem examines the innards, the Omer. Everything is revealed in front of Hashem, even the things we think are hidden from everybody else. Hashem knows.

03:20
Therefore, the person who's arrogant just know if he's not very, very meticulous to use his wisdom to protect himself from arrogance, and quickly. Even if he had learned a lot of Torah and he does a lot of nice deeds for the community he does good deeds At the end he will inherit Gehenna purgatory Because you have to know the yetz ha-harah, the evil inclination is there to attack him. Umei vi ta'anos verayus lo-havi ha-adam l'dei ga'eva. And he gives you excuses to be arrogant. Oh, I'm just doing it.

04:10
You know, you've heard of people who put their names on buildings. They like to put their names everywhere, which is fine. Some people do it. I know someone who did it so that he was afraid that some of his children or grandchildren would go away from the way of the Torah. So he said I want that when they walk the streets of Jerusalem they'll see that every building was dedicated. Oh, what did my grandparents give money to? What they gave it to the study of Torah, and then they'll return to the ways of Torah.

04:38
That's a very righteous way, and only Hashem knows if that was really righteous. Only Hashem knows. But then there are those who say you know, I'm giving it anonymously, but I really want people to know so that they will give. Do you really want people to give, or you want them to know, right. Well, that, do you really want people to give? Or you want them to know, right? That's? You know what? We will never know, and it's not our place to judge others, but it really is. Hashem sees it in two dimensions. It's very clear. Hashem sees what's going on behind the surface, hashem knows what we're thinking and Hashem knows what we're planning.

05:12
And the Yetzirah is very, very tricky when he tries to like come up with a plan so everybody finds out of your good deeds, right, kidei, litardo min ha'olam? He's always looking for ways to get us to get the least possible reward for our good deeds. Therefore, don't be lazy to overcome your Yetzahara, yom, yom, every single day. This is the great war, the great battle, the great struggle with our Yetzahara to do things for the right purpose, as we've seen in the story of one of the pious men encountering men returning from the war with great spoils. He said to them you have returned from the small war. The great war yet awaits you. They said to him what are you talking about? What is the big war? It is the, the evil inclination and his army. That's the big war.

06:30
Ki kol oyev, because every enemy. Sheyesh l'cho shetenatzeh achos so pam achas, so shtayim oz yoniachos cho Any enemy that you have, you overcome him. You beat him once, you beat him twice, you beat him three times. Eventually he says okay, I'm not going to start with you again. Not the Yetzir Hara, but the Yetzir ain't a posik mimcha af imyeh notsuach mehapamim. Even if you beat the evil inclination a hundred times, still he's going to keep coming back and keep coming back and keep coming back.

07:06
As our sages told us, as the Mishnah tells us in Ethics of Our Fathers don't believe in yourself and your capabilities. Till the day you die, he's going to be sitting there saying, maybe he's going to forget about me. Now Attack. That's the Yetzirah. He wants to get us when we're down. He wants to get us Every're down. He wants to get it.

07:29
Every single day is a struggle and if he wins you and if he defeats you in the slightest of the slight, in the end he will defeat you in the severest of the severe. And since the arrogance is the foundation for many, many other negative traits, all he's trying to do is corrupt the truth and make the falsehood look truthful Basically media right and he teaches the person to be arrogant, and he brings him proofs of why you should be arrogant in a tricky way to be arrogant, and he brings him proofs of why you should be arrogant in a tricky way. Therefore, the author tells us we have to be very, very tricky to overcome the Yetzirah. Hashem should bless us all that we should have the strength to understand the tricks of the Yetzirah.