Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:01 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back, my dear friends, to the second day of Chach Zeich. We are in the introduction of the Orchis Tzaddikim Ways of the Righteous, and we're going to continue now on page 12 of the Treasure of Life, hamisha koichois yesh ba'adam. There are five senses that mankind possesses Ha'echod hu koich ha'shmiya. One is the ability to hear. The second is the ability to see. The third is the ability to smell, to take in a scent, an aroma. Then we have the ability to taste Ha'chamish hu koyach ha'mishush. And the fifth sense is the ability to touch and to feel. She'odom margish shuhu memash meish dover. When you feel like you're touching something, you touch something, you feel it. Chameish es koyach es ha'ele. He'im koyelim kol ma'ase adam. Everything that a person does, every experience that we have, include one of these five senses Ve'ein pu'ul, anases, b'lo'e echad me'chameishes ha'keches. And the author here is telling us that none of our pleasures, none of our activities that we do in our world are possible without one of these five senses. And the heart operates by way of these five senses. It gets its energy, it gets its intake from these five senses, because only through these five senses do we act. Now let's just understand what's going on over here. Our heart functions because of these five senses, meaning, if a person doesn't smell something and desire its flavor, the heart doesn't desire eating it.

02:10
We'll see soon a couple of examples. For example, if you think about music, music has the ability because you hear something, it has the ability to connect an emotion with that music. There's certain music that you listen to and it reminds you of a certain place that you were at or a certain time that you were hearing this music, because music is a connector of emotions and it locks in that emotion and that feeling that you had when you heard it the first time and then every time that you continue to hear that music, it can bring back that memory. The same thing is with food, the same thing is with each of these five senses. But if a person doesn't see something, he doesn't desire it. If a person doesn't see a certain fashion item, a suit, anything that you can imagine, then a person doesn't desire it because the heart doesn't desire something that one of the senses don't see. So a blind person, for example like you will bring an example in a minute isn't able to be arrogant because it's just not one of the things that he has been able to see and therefore that sense not operating doesn't attract the heart to desire it and the desire of the heart gets pulled by these senses.

03:41
The heart has many desires and many wants Arrogance and humility, the ability to remember things and forgetfulness. Sadness and happiness. Sadness and happiness. Sorrow and happiness, the shame in the end. The heart has many, many different functions, many desires and many things that operate within us. Now we have inborn traits, but many of our traits get stronger or weaker based on our senses. Someone who's blind can't have the arrogance like someone who sees, same with any person who has a heart.

04:36
Yishtada b'chokayche should make every effort. La'agia la'tachlis ashe yucha la'agia ve'lahasig min ha'malos. Every person should strive and utilize every opportunity in their lifetime to advance themselves and to grow to the greatest level they can with these five senses. Ve'al yis, to the greatest level they can with these five senses. A person has to be very, very careful because these five senses are so powerful. It can lead a person astray and a person could do terrible things with these five senses. As we can see in the world, there are people who use the same wisdom that they could be building, they use to destroy the same.

05:22
You know, like Mr Nobel, the Nobel Peace Prize. He invented the nitrogen bomb, the atom bomb, and he felt that what he created was now being used for war. So therefore he created the Nobel Peace Prize because he felt his keichas were used in a negative way. He wants to use it for something positive and therefore he made a special award given for those who bring peace to the world instead of war to the world. But that's an example of someone who has strengths and abilities and can use it for the negative or could use it for the positive.

05:59
And here our author of the Yeruch HaSaddikim is telling us how important it is to make sure that we use each and every one of our strengths and our weaknesses specifically for doing good things. V'zeh tachles ha'toivan this is the essence of all good, and if someone is fortunate to have a good virtue, a good quality, he should always desire and want for it to grow to the greatest level possible, until it becomes perfect. Then you will get to the world level possible. עצי יגיל לתחלס הטוב. Until he becomes perfect, ובזה יגיל עולם הגמול, and then you will get to the world of reward.

06:39
What's the world of reward? We know that this world is the world of struggle. It's the world of action. It's the world of challenge. What is the world to come? The world to come is the world עולם שקול הטוב. It's the world of all good, the world where we get rewarded for all of the challenges that we were able to overcome in our lifetime, for all of the goodness that we have attained through our life on this earth, with all the challenges, with all the struggles, with all the turmoil, with all of the tests that the Almighty places before us. When we're able to overcome all of these challenges and to elevate ourselves to the greatest level possible, that's when we get the world to come, a world filled with goodness, which is the world to come.

07:40
What is all that good that you have prepared for your beloved, for your loved ones? Who is Hashem's loved ones? Those who do the will of Hashem, those who aspire and use every opportunity in their lifetime to elevate and to grow step by step. They will enjoy the fatness of your house, referring to the house of Hashem, and you will have them drink of the river of your pleasures, from the river of your pleasures, which is referring to all of the amazing things that HaKadosh Baruch Hu, that the Almighty will bestow upon those who are righteous and do the will of Hashem. Ve'amala zoz le'yegia eleha elo haro ila. Not everyone gets this reward in the world to come, only those who are righteous, those who are following the guidelines of the author of this book and toil throughout their lifetime for this goodness. Who will attain this greatness? Those who walk in innocence and act with righteousness. And you can look over there for more verses in Psalms 31 that talk about this greatness.

09:11
And now that we've mentioned the superior state of man, man who accomplishes greatness, one who goes step by step in growing, in using, utilizing every challenge for the good, now that we understand this concept, that we need to utilize every opportunity we have to grow and to overcome the challenges that we have. So, if a person has the ability to do good, to do kindness, to do kindness in the right way, to do kindness in a way that elevates, not to have kindness to those. For example, the Talmud says that one who is merciful on the cruel will end up being cruel to the merciful meaning. There's a way to be kind in the wrong way and that kindness, even though it's kindness, but it's in the wrong way, it's the wrong channel of those opportunities. There can be terrible repercussions for using the good in a negative way, and we're going to talk about how to take the good and leave the bad.

10:42
We know that in everything you know you eat some food. There's some parts of the food that is good, some parts of the food that is not so good. For example, a person eats a chicken. The chicken has a desirable part of it and the chicken has a less desirable part of it. But every mida, every trait that a person has, has a virtuous part and has a negative, not so admirable part of it, and that's what we're going to look into further in the future episodes we're going to hopefully elaborate throughout the book about, for example, happiness. There's a right time for happiness. We know there's a time where the halacha tells us we should increase in happiness and then there's a time where the halacha tells us that we minimize in happiness. There's a time, a right time, for everything. My dear friends, have an amazing Shabbos and looking forward to continue day number three on Sunday.