Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:00 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back, everybody, to day number 58. We're on page 361 in the Ways of the Righteous in the Treasure for Life edition. We're in the middle of the Gate of Happiness and we're on page 361. And this sixth consideration in our pursuit of total emunah and bitachon, knowledge and trust in Hashem so that we can have the ultimate happiness, is to fulfill Hashem's commands the positive, do the negative. Don't do Just like you desire that Hashem do for you the things that you trust Him to do, as our sages tell us Do His will, haseh ritzoncho k'ritzoncho. Do His will. Make it your will, k'dei sheya, haseh ritzoncho ritzoncho, so that he should make your will His will, meaning it's got to start from us. When we say, hashem, I want to emulate you, I want to be closer to you, I want to be dedicated to you. I want to get closer in every way possible. The tools are right there. It's in the Torah. Every positive commandment is a performative commandment that we do proactively to get closer to God. When we put on tefillin, when we observe the Shabbos light, the Shabbos candles, any mitzvah that we do, we're proactively becoming closer to the Almighty. When we avoid doing a sin, we're also getting closer to Hashem by not creating buffers between us and the Almighty. See, what happens is when a person sins with a negative commandment for example, god says don't eat certain food, and we eat those certain foods what we're doing is we're creating barriers.

02:08
I'll give you an example. You know that you need pipes. The pipes. What's the key to the pipe, to any pipe? You're in the water district, right? What's the key to every pipe? It's got to be clean, otherwise it's not a pipe, right? If the pipes are clogged, they're not pipes, they're a big problem. When we sin, we're clogging our pipes and we're not allowing the flow of spirituality and connection with the Almighty. In fact, the Talmud says that what is the effect of non-kosher food?

02:43
Timtum Halef, the craziness of the mind, that's what it does. Then people say I learned Torah, but it doesn't mean anything to me because I don't connect to it. Why not? Craziness of the mind? Batel ritzon, chal mipnei ritzono, negate your will before your will, complete trust in Hashem, and he does not fulfill what Hashem has commanded him. Such a person is such a sinner and such a fool. For what is the hope of the evildoer? If he steals, hashem will cut off his spirit. Will God hear his cry. So verse in Jeremiah says Will you steal, murder, act immorally and swear falsely, burn incense to Baal and walk after other gods whom you have not known, and then come and stand before me in this house upon which my name is called? It means you go out, you do all the things against Hashem's will and then you're coming to me and asking me for favors. It doesn't work like that. So that's another consideration that the author here in the Orchah Siddiquim is telling us. You want Hashem to be close to you, so do the will of Hashem, and then you'll be close to Him. You want Hashem to be distant, so go against Him, and then He'll be distant, meaning it reflects our connection to Hashem, hamachshav HaShvis.

05:05
The seventh consideration Sheyeda Ki Abore Hu Yetzir Esa Odam Mucha Numulachos Rabos. Hashem created us for many, many, many tasks, prepared to perform many tasks. Hashem has given us many talents and skills Uvarlo Mizono, alidei, torach, godo va'avoda. And Hashem has created His food, which must be earned with great toil and labor. You know, bread is an 11 step process to creating bread, from the plowing all the way to the harvesting. Of course, the planting, the harvesting, of course, the planting, the harvesting, the pruning, and then you have the entire process of the winnowing, et cetera, et cetera. So it's a long process to make bread, the imo. You call it yin yonah v'amazonas v'abgadim uchanim la'adim b'lo torah.

06:03
And if everything the food, the clothes, everything. And if everything the food, the clothes, everything was ready on a tree for you, you'd walk on the tree, pick your loaf of bread. You'd go past the tree, like, ooh, I like that dress and just take the dress off the tree because it's all ready for you. Then many of the mitzvahs of the Torah wouldn't be in effect. We wouldn't be able to give charity because everyone can just go to a tree and eat. We know that's not the case. It's a lot of work. That means people are going to be needy for your support. So now God made it in a way that you can assist others.

06:46
Oh, and then there's theft, there's robbery, there's coveting, which distances one. And if a person had all of his needs without any type of toil or labor, then why would he ever? If everything was ready on a tree, you would never need to steal because you have it all right there. You just go and pick your suit and you're good to go. Pick your Tesla off the tree and you're good to go.

07:26
And when a person works hard and he distances himself from coveting other belongings, he shows his trust in Hashem. She'enu chomed es she'enu shalom oz hu boteach be'alokim, then he's showing I trust in Hashem Means I'm working hard, doing what I need to do and I don't desire what anybody else has, because I know Hashem's going to give me everything I need. Ve'ol ha'vakos avomer, and to him the verse in Psalm says One who has trust in Hashem will be surrounded by loving kindness always.

08:12
And the Talmud in Tractate Brachos, page 10, folio 10b, states that Chizkiyot, the king of Judah, buried the book of healing. Imagine the entire medical center here wouldn't be needed if he didn't bury that book. You're like what's the illness? Open up the book. Here you go. That's what you got to do. But he buried it. Why did he bury the book of cures? So that the sick man would trust in Hashem and not in the medicine.

08:48
Keday she yivtah hachole belokim yis'ale v'lo b'rifuos Gam im hoyo odon batim mimolocha lo hoyo torah achar mizon osaf. And if someone didn't have any labor, didn't have any work to do, and he wouldn't work for his food, then what would happen If a person just had food off the tree without any labor. If a person had all of his clothes and all of his needs, just go pick him off a tree, ready to go without any labor. If a person had all of his clothes and all of his needs, just go pick him off a tree, ready to go without any labor, what would happen? He would rebel against the Almighty, as the verse states, and Yishurun, which is the Jewish people. They grew fat and they kicked, and they rebelled Jewish people. They grew fat and they kicked, and they rebelled.

09:44
Rabbi Sina, our sages, said how beautiful, how ideal is Torah study combined with the pursuit of livelihood, because the toil of both of them requires us to forget about sin. So when we are busy, our sages tell us, being bored is the worst thing in the world. You know where sin comes from People being bored. When people are busy, they don't have time to sin. My dear friends, this concludes day 58.