Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:00 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back, my dear friends, to day number 52. We're on page 313, the gate of cruelty, and this is the final segment on this chapter. The gate of cruelty. We're in the book of Orchos Tzaddikim, ways of the Righteous, in the Treasure for Life edition. Now, my dear friend, examine yourself and remove yourself from cruelty, but make sure that you're merciful to the poor and the needy, as the Mishnah says, let the poor be as members of your household, and our sages of blessed memory said, and our sages and the Torah says and he will give mercy to you and be merciful to you and he will multiply you. Anyone who has mercy on the creations of Hashem, hashem will give mercy from heaven. L'chein al tesalek, me'alecha harachamim. Therefore, be careful not to remove mercy from your midst. Ach hishomer, mimidas achzoris, and be very careful. Protect yourself from cruelty. Ve'amer shlomo Pentitayn, la'acherim hodecha, perhaps you will give. King Solomon says lest you give your glory to others and your years to the cruel one. Be very careful.

01:35
From what we said about revenge, which is a derivative of as a result of cruelty, if you want to take revenge from your enemy, add to your virtues and walk in the ways of the just because that is the greatest form of revenge. Revenge doesn't have to be that you beat them the way they beat you. You beat them differently. How Become a better person, become a happier person. That's the greatest form of revenge you can possibly take on your enemy. Your enemy will be in pain by hearing and seeing your good traits. He'll be in pain by hearing people praise you and how good you are. And he will be in pain when he hears good things about you. But if you go into the gutter with them and you act with them ugly and deal with them in a cruel fashion, then your enemy will rejoice in your disgrace, your dishonor and shame and he will be taking revenge on you. And if you want to take to have mercy on your children, honor on your relatives, to give them great honor, you know what you need to do. Occupy yourself with Torah, study with good deeds and loving kindness. That's the greatest form of honor and mercy you can give to your children. It's a great honor for the children of scholars and it is also very good for them that they will take great honor because of your study, because of your scholarliness.

03:49
My daughter said to me I'm not a scholar. You know I'm not and I'm just a simple Jew trying to learn and to grow together with everyone here. My daughter said she's like I don't know why all my friends, they're always telling me like you know, your father's a rabbi. Can you ask him this? Can you ask him this? Can you ask him this? Like, is nobody else's father a rabbi? Does nobody else know anything? I mean, it's like she was like just saying this like last night, so it was funny. But she feels good that her father's a rabbi. She feels good that her father teaches Torah, and then when she goes on to YouTube and to Instagram not Instagram what's the other thing Spotify or any of these things that she sees that her father just uploaded? Another class, another class. It gives them pride. It gives them something they feel very, very proud about.

04:34
There is no greater shame, though, than having parents and relatives who are wicked. If one's father is a thief or a robber or is guilty of a blatant transgression that is despised in the eyes of the world, all of his children are condemned after him for generations to follow, being branded as the descendant of the wicked man. Imagine the mercy we need to have, and I know that this person did an act of cruelty. But you think of Bernie Madoff. You think of Bernie Madoff. You think of Bernie Madoff. Is there anybody who'll ever want to marry into that family? Is there anybody? Oh, you're Madoff. Uh, grandfather was the criminal, your great-grandfather was the criminal. It's like it's such an embarrassment. It's such an embarrassment, right, it's a terrible, terrible, terrible things. And it's now again. It's someone who did a lot of cruelty to a lot of people. So you have to know how much mercy, but still it's our fellow Jew. We have to have an element of mercy, or at least the mercy that we need to ask Hashem to be merciful upon him.

05:42
I've said this story before how my grandfather, his rabbi, rabbi Yerucham Levavitz, in the mirror in Poland, one Shabbos, every Shabbos, he would glow like the sun. One Shabbos he looked like he was dead. They asked him what's going on. He said there was a very, very nasty Jew who lived in Germany, who did terrible things to the Jewish people. A Jew and he things to the jewish people a jew. And he just died.

06:10
This afternoon I just heard that he died. So what's the problem? He should be happy. He was a wicked jew. He says no, he's my brother, not his biological brother, but as jewish people, he's my brother and therefore I'm worried. What is he going to tell the Almighty in the heavenly courts? They're going to ask him why did you do these terrible things? And he's not going to have what to answer.

06:28
Some people would say, oh, he should rot in hell. No, that's not what the righteous do. The righteous have mercy, and that's what we want to become. Also, as a result of parents' sins, their children die. Hashem takes revenge of the children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren of those who are evil. Look and see for yourself that this is indeed the case. Hayesh yosha achzor v'mi sheban avmeisim b'shvil chato. Is it something more cruel than children who are dying because of the sins of their father? The father is a cruel man. Ve'ein l'cho mirachim alban avyosev v'na tzaddik. There's no one who's more merciful on his children than someone who's righteous and pious, because his righteousness lasts for a thousand generations.

07:35
We know that Abraham bound his son Isaac, son Isaac, and until this day we recite in our high holiday prayers Hashem, you remember what Abraham did for you? He was ready to slaughter his son. God says I'm going to remember this for a thousand generations, thousands of generations. The door to the door is forever. You know why we get forgiven of our sins? Because of our ancestor, abraham. He was completely dedicated. We get of his merits and we're forgiven.

08:18
And when the Jewish people sinned by the golden calf, moshe Rabbeinu, said Remember Abraham, isaac and Jacob, your servants. And King Solomon said Remember the kindness of David, your servant. And what happened to all of these? They were answered by the Almighty. Why? Because the Almighty continues to distribute the mercy, the kindness, on the descendants of Abraham, isaac and Jacob, which is why in our Amidah, we have, in the beginning of our Amidah, every single prayer three times a day, four times on Shabbos and Rosh Chodesh.

09:16
When we say Moshefen five times on Yom Kippur, we begin the prayer Elokeinu ve'lokei v'senu, our God and the God of our forefathers. Elokei Avram, the God of Abraham. Elokei Yitzchak, the God of Isaac. Elokei Yaakov, the God of Jacob. Why do we need to bring that up? Because in their mercy, in their good deeds that they've done, we have credits.

09:40
We're saying Hashem, you know why you give us this goodness. You know why you give us this success. You know why you protect us, why you heal us. You know why all of these things that we're asking. You know in what merit. We may not have any merits, but our ancestors do. And Abraham Isaac and Jacob, sarah, rebecca, rachel and Leah. Oh, what an incredible bounty of merits that are there for us, for each and every one of us. Bounty of merits that are there for us for each and every one of us.

10:05
Ki ba'avon sinas chinom sorry. V'chein anu maskeerim b'chol yom zchus avos. Therefore, every single day, we remember the merits of our ancestors, of Abraham Isaac and Jacob L'chein teida therefore, know she'ein achzorim kebali averos. There's no one more cruel than those who perform sins. Ki b'avon sinas chinam necherav b'yesheni. Because of the sin of pointless hatred, baseless hatred, the second temple was destroyed. V'chol puraniyos ba'os la'olam b'shvil averos and only the.

10:42
Listen to this. You want to know why calamities happen in this world. Listen to this statement in the Talmud All calamities come to the world because of our transgressions. As our sages said, because of the sin of failure to separate challah there was no blessing in the storehouses Ba'avon Chala yin bracha b'michunas.

11:07
U'ba'avon bitul terumos u'masros shomayim ne'etzarim and because of the sin of neglecting the teruma and the maser, the tithes and right. So what would happen? The rains are withheld. U'ba'avon inui hadin. So what would happen? The reins are withheld. The reins are withheld Because of the delay of pronouncing judgment, perversion of judgment, abuse of judgment, abolishment of Torah study, war, great plunder, plague and drought came, and many others in the same vein.

11:54
And here the author concludes the chapter as follows In truth, those who cause these calamities are cruel to themselves, to their children and to the people of their generation, whereas the righteous are merciful to themselves, to their children and their generation, as we find in the instance of Rav Hanina Ben Dosa. What does it say about Rav Hanina ben Dosa, in whose merit the entire world was sustained? V'gam zeh truva la'anim. This also provides an answer to those poor people who ask V'amen asa tova?

12:33
With what can we do good? I don't have money to give. I'm a poor person, I can't give charity. What am I going to do good? We don't have money to give poor money to poor people. We're poor ourselves. These are words of nonsense.

12:54
You can give charity with your generous acts of loving, kindness and with the fulfillment of mitzvot, where you're careful in the service of the divine, with all of your abilities and in the merit of those who are good and those who are righteous. The Almighty brings success to this world. Is there any charity that is greater than that. Someone who does good deeds and because of that God gives to the world Unbelievable, even the poor person should give tzedakah. Even if he receives charity from the community, you still have an obligation to give tzedakah.

13:52
So give a penny, give a dime, give a dollar. The reward will be doubled and quadrupled. Ki hame'at mi shaloh choshiv, k'mo harbe shalosher. So you tell me what's worth more, the penny of the poor person or the million dollars of the billionaire? The penny of the poor person is, with all the heart, it's worth considerably more than the million dollars of the billionaire, as the talmud teaches us that whether one gives more or less, it's irrelevant, so long as he gives it for the sake of heaven, meaning it doesn't need to be a lot, but it needs to be with heart. And this concludes day number 52 and the chapter of cruelty. I look forward to continuing tomorrow with the new chapter, the chapter of joy, of happiness, the gate of happiness. My dear friends, have a terrific day.