Day 6 - Fostering Inner Greatness (Orchos Tzadikim)
00:01 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back to day number six in Orch HaSaddikim. We're continuing on page 31. And now the author says L'chein yish lehodi alakol. We have to inform everybody Ki kol yish harot zalahavi, nafshu l'dey midas tovos, to anybody who wants to attain a perfection of their positive traits tzarech lo'orev yira shamayim im kol mido mido.
00:22
He must instill yerushalayim, he has to infuse every single trait with Yerushalayim, with fear of heaven, because Yerushalayim, fear of heaven, is the glue that holds it all together. It's like the clasp of a pearl necklace. The pearls are all beautiful, but if you don't have that clasp that holds all of them together with the string, it's not going to hold them all together. Going to hold them all together ain't suffix. Kibbehi, nosika, kesher, yiplu kala margolios. If you release that clasp, all of the pearls are going to, all the precious gems, they're all going to disappear, they're going to fall on the floor and and not be a beautiful, a beautiful piece of jewelry. So, to his fear of heaven, it holds it all together. It holds all of our traits together, it strengthens all of our traits. And if we release that band of fear of heaven, all of the positive traits are going to disappear from you. And when you don't have the positive traits are going to disappear from you. And when you don't have the positive traits, then you don't have any Torah, any mitzvos and you don't have mitzvos, you don't have the study of Torah properly and you don't have the observance of mitzvos properly. Because all of our acquiring of Torah is dependent on our perfection of our traits.
02:05
Kol Hamidos Tovos V'Ros, all of our traits, positive and negative traits. Hachokham, yochol Lasos, haros. The Tovos, the wise person, can flip the negative traits into positive traits. The Aksil and the silly person, yasimidos Tovos L'Ros, can flip the positive traits into negative traits.
02:29
Someone who goes in the darkness meaning darkness of life, not darkness in that it's evening but rather doesn't understand that he needs to perfect his traits, he can have one negative trait that ruins all of his positive traits. One trait takes him down. For example, someone who is arrogant. He's arrogant about his accomplishments, he's arrogant about his talents and his skills and he takes pride in his accomplishments, not realizing that everything, with the proper Yerushalayim, with the proper fear of heaven, that everything comes from Hashem, his whole purpose. I am so great, I am so talented, I can be elevated above other people, not so that I should realize I have a responsibility from heaven, where the Almighty has tasked me to accomplish certain greatness. But, and not only that, he always talks down about others and he feels elevated by knocking others down.
03:45
It's like someone who fills up his big vat, this big vessel of fine, fine, expensive wine, and he has, on the bottom, a little hole on the bottom of the barrel. אין סופק שיעבד כל היעין המשובח בנקב הקוטון. Although it's a very, very small hole on the bottom of the barrel, but all of his fine wine is going to get wasted and lost from that little hole. אם לא יישתום עושה, and lost from that little hole. Im lo yistom osah nekev, if he does not close that little, he doesn't plug that little hole, he's going to lose all of his valuable wine.
04:19
Kach ha-mizgayezeh, this arrogant person, doesn't realize that, although it's a very small hole, he has on such a great, valuable character. All of his wonderful traits are so magnificent. But that little hole at the bottom of his wonderful traits are so magnificent. But that little hole at the bottom of his vessel is going to allow for all of the positive to get wasted, even though this vessel, this person, is filled with Torah. He will lose everything. This negative trait will cause him to lose all of his virtues, all of his qualities, if he's not cautious and not careful to correct it.
05:05
There are very few, sadly, in this world who know this truth. There are those who aren't wise enough to understand, there are those who aren't wise enough to understand, some are not wise enough to recognize. But just as one whose legs are amputated cannot climb a ladder, he can't climb a ladder. Someone who doesn't have proper wisdom will never be able to climb the ladder of perfection of traits. They're those who are wise and they have great wisdom and they have great intellect and understanding.
05:52
But sadly, he gets drowned in the desires and temptations and the urges of this world. Instead of putting his brilliance to accomplishing greatness in his personal character, he puts his brilliance into accomplishing and attaining physical, materialistic pleasures and desires and he just goes after his negative temptations and negative desires, his negative inclinations, and falls to it completely. And he just keeps on running after his desires and his urges, just like he did when he was a child. He got into the habit of running after his impulse from childhood and now he just continues doing it. V'koshol, lo'im o'odli, himolet, mipach, yokush, resha ha'avonos, and it's very hard for him to suddenly stop. You know, suddenly his neighbors are going to say oh, you became all righteous, you became religious, you became. Oh, now you started becoming a God-fearing person. Come on, we know, we remember what you did from your childhood. We remember what you were about back then. Now, suddenly, you think you're holier than us and this can cause a person to not focus properly on what's really important, to not focus properly on what's really important.
07:26
ויש שיש בו חוכם להקר וגם חווי צלילך בדרכם טוב. There are others who understand the right way. They even want to attain the proper path. אך לא היו עצך החכמים לשמוע מהם החוכם והדרכם הישור. But he left out being involved with the righteous, with the wise, and didn't get their guidance, and instead he goes in darkness, he goes on his own and doesn't understand that there's a path, there's a method to getting our attaining our greatness and reaching our closeness with the Almighty through our perfection of traits. It's like someone who has a treasure, a gem, a very precious gem in their home, but they don't even realize that they have this gem. So they sell the house without taking that gem, that precious gem that could have been worth more than all of the house without taking that gem, that precious gem that could have been worth more than all of the house itself.
08:26
We are such incredible creations of Hashem. We represent the Almighty in this world. We have unbelievable power, unbelievable abilities. We can do it. We can really be great representatives of the Almighty in this world. We have to understand our greatness. We have to understand our capabilities and not sell ourselves short. Our greatness is compared to the greatest gems on earth. We shouldn't just sell ourselves to the quickest impulse, to the quickest materialistic desire and urge that comes our way. We should understand that we have greatness within us and nurture that greatness, invest in our fear of heaven, invest in having a proper master, a teacher, a Rebbe that can guide us in the right path and, god willing, with that we'll be able to attain our greatness. Thank you so much for joining us.
