Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:00 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back to day number 39. My dear friends, we're on page 223. The second line in the Orchos Tzaddikim why are we alive in this world and why does everybody desire a long life? Oh, he who is righteous will love life. You know why? Because how much we have to accomplish in this world. We have so much work to do, and that's what we love. We want a long life so that we can accomplish more, so that we can be dedicated not to eating and drinking and sleeping and pleasures and things like that. No, that's not why we want to live. We want to live because we know we have so much to accomplish. And even if we lived double or triple our lifetime, we still wouldn't be able to fully fulfill the requirements of what Hashem wants us to do, of learning Torah and attaining all the great qualities.

01:19
ועל דרך זה יאוהב ימי חיוב. And like this, a person, a person who has this attitude, will love every day of his life. What you do is because you're going to focus like this every single day of your life and you realize, oh, I want to be close to god, I want to be godlike, I want to be godly in everything that I do. Then what's going to happen. He's going to make sure that all of his days are filled with fear and love of hashem and they will be filled with purity and like this, you're going to acquire food for your travel, meaning you're going to fill yourself up with all that you need to attain the greatest level in this world for the next world. You know what you're going to acquire in the process of focusing on what's real in life the greatest pleasure in the world. It's funny because what draws people away in this world from focusing properly is pleasure, but it's short-lived pleasure, it's short-term pleasure, but really what they need to do is focus on the right things and they get real pleasure in this world and real pleasure for all eternity in the world to come.

02:57
The Yosef Taharot preaches, and a person should increase his level of purity and abstinence from worldly pleasures every single day, Because maybe it'll inspire you to reach the levels that you may not have reached yet in your desire to get close to Hashem. And every day you should increase his love and his fear of heaven. But a life that does not have fear of heaven is not considered life, and a person should be disgusted and detest and despise those lives who are against the will of Hashem, as it says by Rebecca. I despise my life because of the daughters of Ches. If Yaakov takes a wife from the daughters of Ches, such as these, from the daughters of the land, what is these from the daughters of the land? What is life for me Meaning? We shouldn't just say you know what these immoral people it's like. You know, let them do, let them be no. Personally, if it bothers me enough because of the disgrace that it brings to the Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and Earth, then it'll be apparent on us. Therefore, wherever there is a situation, a desecration of the name of Hashem, don't care about your own life, but stand up for the pride of the Almighty and aetamid.

04:47
Ye'li bo'nokhin, limsar atzma' akidash Hashem v'chol mitzvahs, and a person should be ready to give up his life for the sake of heaven, for any mitzvah, b'kalos v'chomoros, whether it be of the serious or of the less serious, mitzvahs V'aavas ha'kavod b'chol yichol tov. Therefore, this is all. Again, we're talking about the chapter of the gate of love. You want to become a beloved person as a human being. This is the tool. Stop running after honor with all of your might. V'yim od ha'misrachek mishnei dvorim v'heim kavod. Stop running after honor with all of your might. Number one run away from honor. Number two from Stop benefiting from others. Stop benefiting from others. This will lead you to all of the benefits of this world, to all of the greatest levels and greatest virtues of this world.

05:59
Honor disrupts all of our actions Because, in everything it does, someone who desires honor disrupts all of our actions Ki b'chol ha'masim she'yaseh yachshav lehiskabet. Because in everything he does, someone who desires honor, in everything that they do, they want more honor. So they always have in mind oh, I'm going to do this act of kindness, oh, because I'll get honor. I'm going to give that charity because I'm going to get honor. You know why I'm going to go to synagogue? Because I'm going to get honor. Everything I'm going to do is because of honor, and that taints their good deeds, even though they're doing great deeds, but it's tainting it because of their desire for honor.

06:33
V'afilu lo yachshav li'iskabit, even if he's not going to think about getting honor imu rodav lehonos me'acherim oz kol ma'asim kol kolim but instead he's trying to benefit from others. So then again, his actions are going to be tainted Because he's always going to think how can I find favor in other people through my actions and that's going to taint his actions. Therefore, a person should do everything he can to remove the desire of honor from his heart and to remove the desire to benefit from others. But again, we know that there's a balance. In every midah, in every trait that we talk about, there's always a balance. We know that there's a balance in every midah, in every trait that we talk about, there's always a balance With the desire for honor. There's also a good side to it, a mitzvah side to it.

07:33
K'go'n im hu ish tzadik v'chacham, like someone who's righteous, someone who's very wise, a scholar, V'olam izalzalim bo v'sochikin, olav avur ma'as, and people mock him because of his good deeds and because of his. The laughter, the mockery that people expose him to and people push upon him. Now, no one's going to accept his words. But now, if people would actually honor me, then they would listen to me. So then, it is proper for him to desire honor so that he can use it as a tool and a weapon to have people accept his words of wisdom and his words of inspiration In order to inspire others. But if people embarrass him in public and he's a righteous, righteous person he's not allowed to forgive them until they appease him, he says. But a person needs to be. In most cases, he should remove himself from honor and run from it, Because our sages told us already that envy, desire and honor remove a person from this world.

09:10
I've seen people, we've all seen people, who have gone completely crazy because of their endless desire for honor Nothing right or jealousy, their envy for others, their jealousy Nothing right or jealousy, their envy for others, their jealousy or their never-ending desire for something, whatever it may be, and that gives them no peace in their life. And that's why it's Motsinas Adomina Olam. It removes a person from this world because they have no pleasure, they have no joy, they have no calmness in their life. V'lo yilmad, v'lo yaseh shumaseh tov k'deli iska' no pleasure, they have no joy, they have no calmness in their life. V'lo yilmad, v'lo yaseh shum ma'aseh tov k'deili is God, but a person shouldn't learn or do actions good actions for the sake of honor. Don't do it for the sake of honor. Ach yaseh ma'aseh tov l'shem ha'bori. Yisborach v'sof ha'koved levo. Do it for the right reason, Do it because this is the will of Hashem, and Hashem will reward you in due course. This concludes day number 39,. My dear friends, I look forward to continuing on day 40.