Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.

00:13 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back, my dear friends, welcome back to the Jewish Inspiration Podcast. We are on gate number 15, the gate of eagerness, in the Orchah Tzedikimim Ways of the Righteous in the Treasure for Life edition. We're on page 525 on the topic of eagerness, but I would like to translate it a little bit better as alacrity. Alacrity means I'm not going to procrastinate, I'm not going to delay, I'm not going to push things off till later, which is a very, very important and essential component of our growth, of our Torah, of our study, that we not allow things to get in our way when we are determined to do. For example, our sages talked to us about the mitzvahs that we perform. It's not only what we perform, it's not only how we perform, but it's the eagerness that we have to perform those mitzvahs. So, for example, if a person is going to put on tefillin, so it's not only I'm putting on tefillin I'm going to do it with alacrity. I'm not going to delay. I'm not going to say you know what, I'll have my coffee and then I'll put on my tefillin. I'm going to do it with alacrity. I'm not going to delay. I'm not going to say you know what, I'll have my coffee and then I'll put on my tefillin, I'm going to rush, I have an opportunity to do a mitzvah. I'll give you another example. You're about to sit down to have dinner and someone knocks on your door asking for charity. So you can give that even that one second of like. Oh, it's really not a good time, but you know, okay, I'll do it. No, I have an opportunity to do a mitzvah. Let me run and do that mitzvah. Alacrity be eager to do the mitzvahs, as the Torah tells us and it's going to be the first quote here from the Talmud, izrizin makdim in le mitzvahs, those who are eager advance themselves towards doing more mitzvahs. When you're excited to do something, more opportunities come your way. So let's begin, page 525.

02:08
Ha'zrizus imal agdolo la Torah ve'la mitzvos. The zrizus, the eagerness, the alacrity, is a great virtue for Torah and mitzvos and progress in the world. Begam le'inyent ha'konas ha'olam hazeh, behim idas ha'tzedikim. And this is a trait of the righteous. The righteous people have this trait Ubedar ki ha'zerizus megiyem ha'tzadikim lavod ha'savariz Barach. It's because they have such eagerness to do the right thing and they don't let laziness, procrastination get in their way, that they become such great, devoted, righteous servants of Hashem. And our sages of blessed memory said, those who are eager advance themselves towards the doing of mitzvos. So this is the Talmud in Pesachim, but I want you to know it's a very famous Talmud.

03:03
But it's very important to know that when you bring opportunity, when opportunities come your way and you capitalize on them, more opportunities will come your way. But if opportunities come to you and you're like whatever, I don't know, I'll have another chance to do it. Most likely, another chance will not come. Remember, we spoke a few weeks ago. We spoke about the gate of regret. Well, regret comes when we procrastinate and lose opportunities. Someone who's eager, never loses an opportunity and never has regret because oh yeah, regret I could have had this job, I could have gotten that deal, I could have done this, I could have done that, and I missed those opportunities. Someone who is eager and has alacrity and doesn't procrastinate, doesn't push things off, will always benefit from having opportunities come their way. This can be seen in the case of Avram Avinu V'hinei tireh, avram Avinu b'inin hakedah with regarding the incident of the binding of Isaac, and it says about Abraham that he arose early in the morning and he saddled his donkey, even though it was very difficult for Abraham to slaughter his son, his only son.

04:32
He was so eager to do the will of Hashem. He woke up early. When do you wake up early? When you're excited. You're about to go on a vacation, you're excited. You're going to Disneyland. You're excited. It's your first day of a job, it's the first day of a school year, you're excited. So going to Disneyland. You're excited. It's your first day of a job, it's the first day of a school year, you're excited. So you wake up early. When do you wake up late? When you have no motivation, when you're not excited? I don't want to rush to it right.

04:59
What did Abraham do? He's about to slaughter his one son that he has, his gifted child from the Almighty At the age of 99,. He has this child. His wife is 90 years old, they have a miracle baby and God says sir, it's time for you to slaughter your son for me as an offering. What does he do? Quick, quick, quick.

05:22
He wasn't a sadistic person and he wasn't a cannibal. And he wasn't no, he was a devotee of the Almighty and he was excited to serve Hashem and he was rewarded for it. Even though it was difficult for him to slaughter his only son, he did the will of Hashem with eagerness and rose early in the morning, and one who does his acts with eagerness. This identifies, this demonstrates the love they have for their creator. Someone who loves his master will do anything he can to serve his master. He doesn't need to be told ten times. He'll do it right away. He's eager, he's excited to do the will of his master. Times, he'll do it right away. He's eager, he's excited to do the will of his master.

06:28
Eagerness depends on a man's heart. A man's heart. When a person desires something, when they're excited about something, they're motivated about something, they don't let time get between them and the action. When a person frees his heart from all thoughts and all distractions and all doubts and focuses on what's important to him, then he doesn't, he rushes and he's eager. He hurries up to not lose the opportunity.

07:13
So too was Abraham, our patriarch. He removed his own personal love for his son for a moment and was overcome by the love that he had for his creator, and the love that he had for God overwhelmed him over his love that he had for his own personal child, and that's why he was eager. He woke up. He couldn't sleep. I'm so excited to do the will of Hashem? Are you nuts? The will of Hashem? You're going to slaughter your own child. Yes, I was created by Hashem. Hashem is the master of the universe. He knows exactly what he's doing. He told me to slaughter my son. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. Don't worry about it. How do they say in New York? Forget about it. Ki hoiso nafshoy vidato kishura b'chei shegadol. His love for God was so deep, it was such an incredible passion that he had for Hashem that that overrode everything. Therefore, hashem, when Hashem saw the love and the commitment that Abraham had to God, he says in that case, in that case, you know what I'm going to do. My love and my commitment to Abraham is going to be tenfold. My love and my commitment to Abraham is going to be tenfold and I'm going to remember for his children, for his grandchildren, his great, great, great great grandchildren.

08:51
Do you know what Rosh Hashanah is? Rosh Hashanah, we have Malchios, we King Hashem, shofros and Zichronos. We blow the shofar, we declare Hashem as king and then we pull the heartstrings of Hashem. We say Hashem. You remember Ato zochar? You remember the actions of our patriarchs? You remember the dedication that Abraham, isaac and Jacob had for your service. Be gentle on us, be kind to us, be merciful, forgive us for your service. Be gentle on us, be kind to us, be merciful, forgive us for our sins. We're not worthy of that forgiveness. But Abraham was and he's your favorite kid. Remember he was ready to slaughter his son for you. And we bring up those details you remember, in the reading of the Rosh Hashanah, yom Kippur, we read the Akedah. We read how Sarah had a child and first she was barren and then they were promised a child and finally, at the age of 90 for Sarah and 99 for Abraham, they had a child.

10:00
Imagine what a pressure. It's unbelievable. That love. If God says, bring it as an offering. Who would do that? Only someone whose love for Hashem is greater than the love for themselves. And Abraham demonstrated that. That's why we are called Bnei Avraham, yitzhak Yaakov. That's why we're named as the children of Abraham, isaac and Jacob. An unbelievable thing. Therefore, hashem swore to Abraham I will remember your children forever and ever because of your selfless act. By the binding of Isaac. By the binding of Isaac, ki yesh odam hooseh avur ohavo dover koshel lo ma'od aval libo nok falasos.

10:49
There are some people who can do something it's very difficult for them to do and they'll do it for their friend. It's very difficult to me, but I'll do it for you. But their hearts are reluctant to do so. Aval, avrom, v'yitzchak. But our patriarchs? They served Hashem. They dedicated their life to Hashem.

11:15
Out of a desire, out of an excitement, an eagerness, I want to serve Hashem. My love for Hashem is greater than my love for myself. And because the love for Hashem is greater than my love for myself, and because the love for Hashem is greater than my love for myself, when I have a challenge and I say, oh, I'm so tired, you know, but I got to go pray and thank Hashem, but I'm so tired, but Hashem is waiting for me. But I want to eat, but Hashem is waiting for the blessing, for the food, but I, I, I, I, it's all me. Or is it for Hashem first?

11:54
This is where Abraham excelled and is an example for each and every one of us, what it meant to be eager and to be selfless and to be God first. Ki madrega sa'avos hosok dolam od. The level, the extreme greatness of our patriarchs and matriarchs was so incredible. U'shneim nizd cleave to Hashem with their knowledge. It wasn't just the knowledge. Oh, intellectually, I understand. I'm committed and dedicated to the Almighty. They became so close to God. It was such an unbelievable bond that was created between them and the Almighty.

12:54
You know what their goal was in life? Their only goal? Number one spread the name of Hashem, get the word out there, let everybody know. And number two that everybody should understand the love that Hashem has for them. If everybody understood how much Hashem loved them, the world would be a different place. If everybody understood that every single detail of our lives is handcrafted by the Almighty for us, because he's obsessed with us, he loves us, he cares about us. So then what happens? We're overwhelmed with a feeling of closeness. That was the goal of our patriarchs.

13:50
Now, when our patriarchs did the commands of Hashem, it wasn't intellectual love for Hashem. You know, deep down I feel a closeness to God. No, no, no. They made it so real in their heart the heart is the seat of our actions that all of their actions were fed with that love. Someone who's in love. All their thoughts are about the person they love, all of their thoughts. Everything they do is like oh, a book, oh, maybe I'll buy a book for the person I love, flowers. Maybe I'll buy flowers, maybe you know what can I do because they're completely immersed in that love for that person. The love we have for Hashem would be far greater than that.

14:40
But, plot twist, hashem created the relationship between a man and his wife to be a reflection of the relationship between man and God. That means that's a very good playground to perfect our selflessness to our spouse, because that can be translated and moved over to the relationship between us and our spouse and Hashem. When our patriarchs did the service of Hashem and fulfilled His commands, they gave up for themselves it's not for me and they became they cleaved to Hashem. That means they were so close to Hashem, yotzer HaOlam, the creator of the world. Therefore, they did their actions with alacrity, with an excitement, without wasting time, with an eagerness. They did it immediately. They didn't wait. We see this by Abraham. We see this by Abraham. We see this by Abraham Again, he took the donkey early in the morning.

16:04
Why? What are you getting up so early? Because I'm so excited to do something which is absolutely against my will, but it's the will of Hashem. I'm doing it. How many times on a real, practical level here? How many times do we have a challenge giving of our own self-wish for the sake of Hashem.

16:27
Imagine how many times we've had here in this room, conversations before class, after class, after we're recorded, and we talk about someone having forgiveness, giving forgiveness to someone else. They know it's the right thing, but they just can't get themselves to do it. They just can't. Why what's standing in the way? You are putting yourself bigger than what you know is right, but if what you know is right, meaning the will of Hashem is so much greater than you, not a problem, you're right. I forgive. I'm done. I'm nothing. I am just the dirt, the dust. I'm nothing. I come from the dust, I return to the dust. Hashem, I'm nothing. I come from the dust, I return to the dust. Hashem, hayehovah V'yeh. Hashem was, he is, he will be. Hashem is the creator of everything. There's no beginning, there's no end. Unbelievable. When we connect on such a level, in a real way, then what happens? We have nothing that stands in our way, not our own barriers, not other people's barriers. We just plow right through to do the will of Hashem.

17:52
You have to know this same trait of eagerness of alacrity, all traits that you want to attend. This same trait of eagerness of alacrity, all traits that you want to attain, that you want to accomplish. You cannot succeed without this trait of eagerness. This is the key, whether it's the trait of overcoming anger, whether it's the trait of overcoming arrogance, whether it's the trait of overcoming arrogance, whether it's the trait of being kind, whatever the trait is. So, her person is a very studious person. Someone is learning and learning and learning. You know what else you have to do aside from learn. You can't learn all day Like imagine there have been stories of teenagers who died playing games on their Xbox.

18:55
They were so immersed in their Xbox. They were so immersed in that Xbox that they neglected the needs of their bodies to go to the restroom. They neglected the needs of their body to eat and to drink. They neglected the needs of their body to sleep and for days and days they were playing those stupid games. And there have been stories. You can search this up online. I'm not making this up.

19:27
Imagine we had such an obsession with the Almighty. Even then, you need to be healthy. You can't be all God 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year. You have to eat and you have to drink and you have to sleep and we have to do our bodily functions. L'chein tzarech z'rizo, sumihir z'lach z'lisifro l'lilmot. So you got to do those properly and then you can return to your studies. Then you can return to your tasks, whatever they are, to your career, to your job. You need to have a focus. And I'll read it again in Hebrew Until today and the great year. Because of this, rabbi Sina Zohar, I'll say, because of this, I'll say I'll say, I'll say I.

20:20
Now we hear the author tells us the very gruesome truth of what happens with someone who procrastinates, someone who says why should I rush now to do what I need to do? I'll get to it later. I'll get to it tomorrow. Tomorrow, there's another day. You know what? The year is young. We just started the new year. It's already February. Right, it's like it's unbelievable. But sometimes people get overconfident. Guess what? It's okay, there's plenty of time, we'll get it done eventually. And then, unfortunately, that day never comes. Shema Lotipane, the Mishnah and Ethics of Our Fathers, tells us there is a possibility that you're not going to have it tomorrow, and then that opportunity is gone.

21:07
I'll tell you an amazing story, rabbi Aaron Cutler, who's the founder of the Lakewood Yeshiva, which is the largest yeshiva in the United States. It's the largest yeshiva outside of Israel, founded in the 50s and maybe in the 40s even In Lakewood New Jersey. He went to a donor way back then and he solicited this donor for a massive gift of $100,000 to the yeshiva. And, believe it or not, the donor said yes, checks his. Says oh, I usually have my checkbook. I don't have my checkbook with me. Yeah, $100,000 then was about $10 million. Today I don't have my checkbook with me. Tomorrow I'll give you the check.

22:04
This person sadly did not have a tomorrow. He passed away that night and Rabar and Cutler went to his family. After they finished the shiva he went to sit with them. He says listen, the halacha says that you are not obligated to fulfill your father's pledges. But the night before he passed away he pledged this major gift to the yeshiva and the children said and they're not obligated to fulfill it. The children said we're gonna hold on to that. We're not gonna fulfill his. Fulfill it. The children said we're going to hold on to that. We're not going to fulfill his pledge. This is now our money, it's our inheritance and we're not going to do that.

22:49
So, as Aaron said, you see from here, number one. You see from here the power of doing something immediately. Don't push it off to tomorrow. There may not be a tomorrow. I know it's a morbid thought, Like who wants to think that tomorrow may not be for us, but that's a reality for every single human being. We're not talking about that. We're jumping off a cliff into a lake and can hit our head. We're not talking about we're doing skydiving, doing something which potentially is dangerous.

23:21
Person sleeping peacefully in bed Hashem could just say I want that precious Lashama back. That means that body will not have another opportunity to do a mitzvah. That body will not have an opportunity to do tzedakah again. That body will not have another opportunity to do a mitzvah. That body will not have an opportunity to do tzedakah again. That body will not have the opportunity to say I'm sorry. That's it. It's a departure from the soul and the body. They're no longer working together. The body gets put back into the earth and the soul is hopefully dancing in heaven with the reward for its good actions. But if God forbid, we didn't fulfill all of those great actions that we wanted to do. That's a tragedy. It's a tragedy.

24:02
So Rebaron told his students not the ones that were sitting. He says you see from here that not everyone has the merit to support Torah. It's a tremendous privilege to support Torah. The highest level of charity ask the Rambam. The highest level of charity is an organization like Torch. It's pure Torah, that's it. We do Torah, just the study of Torah. For someone to give, to have the merit to give to Torah study the highest level. He says, sadly, this individual didn't have that merit. But you see what a tragic incident. This guy just didn't. Who knows why, he didn't have that checkbook with him.

24:48
But someone who realizes I don't have a tomorrow, I got to do it today. This is the attitude that our sages lived with. Our sages lived with an attitude I cannot push off something to tomorrow. I was just today in an office, a big CEO of a big company, and he had on his wall a printed sign from his printer, not like one of these fancy motivational signs. It said if it's something worth doing, it's worth doing right away. If it's worth it to do it, it's worth doing it right away. So this is specifically regarding someone who goes to study Torah. He says you know what? I'm not going to sit down to learn now because soon is going to be prayer time, then I'm going to have dinner time, then I'm going to be tired, I'm going to go to sleep, so it's just like I'll get to it tomorrow. And what happens? We don't get to it tomorrow, I'll get to it later. You're not going to get to it later.

26:00
Now is the best time in the world for anything, in fact, the best moment of your life that you will ever have. Ever listen carefully, the greatest moment you will ever have in your life is right now, this moment, because this is the only moment you live. It's now, and that's now, and now and now. Every moment of now, this is the moment you're alive. What happened earlier is done, finished, it's over. What's going to be doesn't exist. Only right now exists. So if I have something I need to do, when am I going to do it? When it doesn't exist yet? When it existed already? Now? Now is the moment to do it.

26:44
V'al zeh ne'mar me. Sir ozno mishma Torah gam tfiloso to'eva. Our sages teach us that he who prevents his ear from hearing Torah, his prayer too, is an abomination Meaning. If you're turning off all of your vessels of connection to God, your prayer is not going to be anywhere either, if we're disconnecting ourselves here, we're disconnecting ourselves there. Disconnecting ourselves here, we're disconnecting ourselves there. V'chein, kosuv as well it says.

27:15
King David says in Psalms Tov li, torah spicham alfe zovachesev, better to me is the Torah of your mouth than thousands of coins of gold and silver. You know, more than a billion dollars is one word of Torah. One word of Torah is worth more than all of that. Amar HaKadosh, baruch Hu, the Almighty, said you know what God told King David. It's the most amazing statement. It's brought in the Talmud. God said to David the one day that you sit and study Torah is more valuable to me, god says, than all of the thousands of offerings that your son, king Solomon, is going to bring to me. God says, than all of the thousands of offerings that your son, king Solomon, is going to bring to me. You think, wow, offerings, the atonement, the holiness, the connection, the presence of God. We see the fire that goes up to the heavens. It's amazing Studying Torah.

28:28
Why? Why is studying Torah so powerful? Why? Why is studying Torah so powerful? Because studying Torah brings consciousness of God into our lives. When we study Torah, you know what happens the entire world comes to a stop, comes to a halt. Oh, my children are learning my Torah. They're talking my language. This is Hashem's communication with us. When we study Torah, hashem is having a conversation with us. We are learning to talk in God, speak in God language. Such an amazing gift, my dear friends. This concludes day number 88.

29:11 - Intro (Announcement)
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