Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:00 - Speaker 1
Welcome back everybody to the Orchos Sadiqim. We are beginning on chapter 8, the 8th gate, the gate of cruelty. We're on page 289 and today is day 48. Ha'achzarius hi hefech ha'rachmanos. Previously we discussed mercy, rachmanos having pity, but now we're going to talk about the opposite of it, which is cruelty. Cruelty is the opposite of mercy. Kedichsev achzori hemo lo yirachemo, those who are cruel will have no mercy. Ve'ein amida, azos, nimtseis betzadikim. But the righteous, the pious, do not have this trait of cruelty. It's only in the souls of the wicked. The wicked are the ones who have cruelty. Now let me give you an understanding in current events.

00:59
Okay, we saw what happened October 7th. You see, I've got the lapel pin right. I see you have the tag. There you go. What really happened? What we saw was the brutality of humanity. I don't know if you can call them humans. Someone told me I was calling them dogs. He's like don't insult my dog. My dog is good. My dog has values, has morals, has ethics. They don't even have that. What we saw was cruelty.

01:28
The Talmud tells us and we'll see this soon that those who have mercy on the cruel will end up being cruel on the merciful. Just so that we know what's going on in our world. When you see all these protesters in university campuses, they're having mercy on the cruel. You know what the end will be They'll be cruel on the merciful. That's the result. Just get ready for it. But there's something else. Do you know we have in Judaism, embedded in our consciousness or subconsciousness? We have mercy. Let me give you an example. You'll hear this example and you'll be like what? Totally didn't realize this.

02:10
Okay, we know that before we make kiddush Friday night, we cover the challah. The challah's covered. Why do we cover the challah? You ask anybody, you ask a school child. They'll tell you oh, so you don't embarrass the bread. Why? Because every meal you begin with bread and now you're starting with wine. So it's going to feel insulted, it's going to feel hurt. So we cover the challah to not hurt its feelings.

02:36
Now let me ask you a question, my dear friends. Challah has feelings. Challah knows the difference. No, chala has feelings. Chala knows the difference. No, chala doesn't care if you made the blessing on the wine before you made blessing on it.

02:50
But we are training ourselves to be merciful. We are training ourselves that even to a loaf of bread, we feel compassion. Even to a loaf of bread. We feel merciful Even to a loaf of bread. We feel merciful Even to a loaf of bread. We feel sensitivity to not be cruel. So now tell me someone who's sensitive to a loaf of bread. You think they can go and hurt somebody. You think they can say something nasty to somebody else. Because you learn sensitivity. This is embedded into our existence as Jews. That's a loaf of bread. Forget about what the Talmud says about not speaking negatively. You know it's a so beautiful idea.

03:35
I'll share with you a quick idea on this week's Parsha. This week's Parsha is Parsha Shlach. I don't know when this episode will be put out there, but just the thought. Okay, shlach, they send the spies. Spies, what did they do? So what does it say? It says that they were all.

03:57
I'll read you the verse. It's amazing. It's amazing. The verse is just like how the Torah is so incredibly cautious with its words. Every word, okay.

04:07
So the beginning of the portion. It says you should send, and they're going to investigate the land of Canaan, that I'm going to give to the Jewish people One man each per tribe. You send the leaders of each of those tribes and then it says listen to this verse If I yishlach osam Moshe, and Moshe sent them from the wilderness of Paran al pi Hashem. According to the word of Hashem kulam anashim, they were all distinguished men Roshay v'nei, yisroel, hama, heads of the children of Israel. Were they? Later on, it doesn't refer to them as distinguished people. But now, because they were distinguished, the Torah goes out of its way to say the nice thing about these spies who later on rebelled against the Almighty and said negative things about the land of Israel. God wanted to show a positive side to them. Right now they're distinguished people. Later on, they're not referred to as anything. They're referred to as the spies. They're not referred to as distinguished people because we don't talk derogatorily about other people. We don't talk like that about other people.

05:39
You see such sensitivity in the Torah and you see this on every line in the Torah. You see mercy and compassion. We don't see cruelty in the Torah and you see this on every line in the Torah. You see mercy and compassion. We don't see cruelty in the Torah. You don't see cruelty in the Torah. So this is not a Jewish trait.

05:56
Kedah Siv V'rachamei, rishoyim Achzori and the mercies of the wicked are cruel. That's the way they're merciful, in a way V'gam Amidazos, Nim Tzeispa, azei Ponim. This trait is also found among the brazen. You remember we mentioned earlier about those who have chutzpah and those who are brazen. Kedahsev, as the verse says, a brazen nation that does not respect the old and is not merciful to the young. This is in Deuteronomy, chapter 28, verse 50. We know, we all know, the terrible evil of the trade of cruelty. Go and investigate for yourself how terrible this trade is. Because we terrible, this trade is Ki li'in, yin, tashlumeh, ishra ha-morayd ve-hamamre.

07:01
Because we see that the punishment of the wicked, the rebellious man, is stated as follows who's the right? We see this in the Torah. The wicked man seeks only rebellion, but a cruel messenger will be sent against him. Anyone who's wicked like this, who's cruel, has no such thing as kindness. There's no kindness, as the verse states. As the verse states, the man of kindness is good to his soul, but the cruel one despises his flesh. He who is cruel is very far from good traits, from positive traits. He won't have mercy on the poor. He won't have mercy on the poor. He won't loan them money when they're in need. He won't give to others at any point. Why, as the verse states, he who is gracious to the poor lends to Hashem, and we see that this is a trait that doesn't apply to the Almighty. God doesn't have cruelty, and therefore someone who has cruelty is distanced from God.

08:28
ונאמר טוב איש חונן ומלווה יחלק אל דבר ובמישבט. Good is the man who is gracious and lends. He will conduct his affairs with justice, and this is from Psalms. Praiseworthy is he who is wise to the poor. On the day of evil, hashem will rescue him, meaning when you do good, you do good, you do good. You build up this goodwill from the Almighty, so to speak. Where the Almighty says when you're in need, I won't forget you, I'll be there for you, I'll take care of you. All of these that we mentioned, those who are kind to others, those who give, they're the opposite of cruelty.

09:18
The cruel man will also not be distressed by the anguish of his friends, like we see, by King David, who was righteous. What did he say in Psalms, as it states in the verse and I will not wear a sack. When they, my foes, were sick, I wore sackcloth. I afflicted my soul with fasting, and may my prayer for them return to my own bosom. Okay, it should come back to me, but what did King David do? He felt sorrow for his enemies, he felt bad for his enemies. He felt bad for his enemies, meaning there's a special level of sensitivity that even though, okay, we're on opposite sides of the field, but you should even pray for your enemies. Pray for your enemies, they don't. Just because someone disagrees with you and someone is your competition, doesn't mean you shouldn't pray for them. They're not evil, they're selling the same product as you, so that doesn't make them evil. So, and by Job, it says did I not weep for the unlucky one? My soul grieved for the poor man.

10:50
And all of these people, like we see Job and we see King David, are so distant from being cruel. They're the opposite of cruelty. The people who have this trait of cruelty, the people who have this trait of cruelty, are people who have the nature of a lion. They viciously tear and ravage, their attack, their kill. He says when the spirit of anger strengthens itself over man, the trait of mercy flees and cruelty takes over.

11:39
To destroy and to shatter V'achzorios v'achzorios, v'achzorios, v'achzorios, v'achzorios, v'achzorios, v'achzorios, v'achzorios, v'achzorios, v'achzorios, v'achzorios v'achzorios, to completely shatter it. V'achzorios v'achzorios, v'achzorios, v'achzorios, v'achzorios V' there is no wrath comparable to that of cruelty, but with respect to the attribute of the Almighty, what do we say In wrath? You remember? Mercy. That's the way God acts, that even when God is upset and God has to mete out punishment with a cruelty, so to speak, it's with mercy. God does it with mercy. Avol zeh rachok b'ne'odom l'rachem b'esakas. However, it is very far removed from our comprehension that a human being is capable of being merciful at a time of wrath. When you're in a moment of anger, it's very difficult to be merciful, but this is a trait that we need to learn from our sages. And if we go all the way up through Tanakh, we're able to see that mercy. We're able to see the ability for our sages to stay away from anything that was cruel.

13:08
Moshe let's just look at this for a second Moshe Moshe couldn't hit the water for the plague of blood. The Egyptians are the most evil people. Look at what they've done to the Jewish people for 210 years. They go to Pharaoh. They say let my people go. He says no. People for 210 years. They go to Pharaoh. They say let my people go. He says no. God says let my people no. So he does the miracle with the stick. He does all these different miracles and now God says okay, it's time to put the plague of blood into action.

13:37
Moshe, strike the Nile. Moshe says I can't. Why can't you? He says because I benefited. I benefited from the Nile when I was placed in the basket. The Nile saved me. I can't hit the. That's the epitome of mercy. I can't hit something that I benefited from. Cruelty is when you have no moral compass. You're angry and you just want to let it all out, and that's not something that we, as Jewish people, are familiar with. Hopefully, we should never, ever, exercise this trait. We're going to continue tomorrow, day number 49, on page 296.