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.

00:11 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Good evening everybody. It's so wonderful to be back here so Mondays, that tonight's class is dedicated in honor of the Rufus Shalemah for our dear friend and classmate Gary. Our hope and prayers are that he returns to our class quickly and with a speedy recovery. Amen.

00:30
Back to Mesirat Yisha'im, to the teachings of Ramchal. So we said last week okay, so we're up to page 29 in the Art Scroll edition of the Mesirat Yisha'im ways of the upright way of the upright, or path of the just. Having explained that man's purpose in this world is to attain closeness to Hashem, ramchal now proceeds to explain that the entire purpose of the world itself is to enable man to attain that closeness. Okay, so the reason, the reason why we're here, is to attain that closeness. We spoke about pleasure, the pursuit of pleasure, and we're not going, we're not backing off that. That's why we're here. We're here for pleasure, but how do we get ourselves to be in a state of closeness with Hashem, which is the ultimate pleasure? So our sages, the Ramchal, tells us the following If you delve into this matter further, you will see that the entire world was created for the use of God, because everything around us created for our use, it was created for us to enjoy from it. Amen and he may, who, oh, med, be, shikur, god, oh. However, the results of this world that we are here for, that is here for us to enjoy from it. We have a big challenge. If the man is left behind the world will be destroyed. If a person is drawn after the physical enticements of this world and, in effect, is distanced from his Creator he may whom it calcels and it calcels how it will be Then he becomes degraded and the entire world around him becomes degraded. So what we have is like this If a person loses focus, loses the direction that he needs to go in using the world as a place for closeness to Hashem, what's the purpose? The purpose of this world again, is to get closer to Hashem. Everything we have is there, placed as an opportunity for us to get closer to Hashem. Now, if we use what we have around us to get closer to Hashem, great, but what's? If we use it and we say you know what, I'm just using it for myself, I want to use it for my own personal pleasure, then you know what happens. Now you've degraded yourself and you've degraded the purpose of all of this physicality that's around you.

03:20
Let's put this into practical terms Food. We all know food. Hopefully, we all love food. Right, chinese food. So we have delicious Chinese food here in Houston that is kosher, and you can go actually, several different locations offered you get your kosher Chinese food. So now there are two ways that you can eat that Chinese food. You can eat that Chinese food.

03:47
Saying this is a tool for me to connect to the Almighty. I am going to use this energy that comes from this food, this delicious food, my favorite food, to serve Hashem with greater joy, to serve Hashem with greater energy, with greater fervor. Or no, it's just about food. I just want to have good dinner, that's it. So one is about serving me and one is using it as a tool to serve the Almighty. It's the same food but very different results. So one, the food is food and we're physical, desiring people who just want that food. And now the food. It sort of diminishes the greatness of what we can accomplish versus we can elevate not only the food but ourselves through that same exact experience. You can do the same thinking about a car. You could use the same fancy car that has four wheels. Imagine a car that has four wheels and it has air conditioning. It has a window that goes up and down. Anybody have a window that turns like this anymore?

05:00
I mean people that my children have never seen it.

05:03
There would probably be in a car that has a what do you call it? A rotary window, rotary phone. Nobody even knows what that is. Of course, I grew up with it. I'm not that young I'm not as young as I look so today the kids would come into the car. They'd be where's the button? Today everything is auto lock, auto open, auto start, auto. It's unbelievable.

05:22
But that's not the point. The point is it's there to serve you, serve Hashem. So we could use it as a tool for elevating the world around us, or we could use it as a tool and it just is what it is, and then we just use it as an object, and then it is degraded and we are degraded with it. He becomes degraded and degrades the world with him. If he controls himself and cleaves to his creator, meaning he's a creator. He's a creator Meaning using those tools, using those gifts that Hashem gives us, but using them to serve Hashem, using them to elevate ourselves, using them as a tool to connect with the Almighty on a higher level, then Umishtameh bin A'ulam Rakliyotul, the CU A'ulavu Datboro, and uses the world only as an aid in the service of his Creator, humitale vah A'ulam atzmomitale imo, he becomes elevated and the world itself becomes elevated with him. So anything that you have has the ability of serving you for your own personal pleasure or serving you for your service of Hashem, and it makes a very big difference in our perspective in life.

06:49
Think of your home. Your home could be used to show your friends look how fancy my house is, look at the chandelier and look at this. Or you can use your home as a place where people can come and enjoy a Shabbat's dinner. You can use it as a place where people who need a place to stay can stay. You can use it as a place to do acts of kindness. You can host events. You can do many things in a home. Or you can use it just for your own personal grandeur. You can use it for your own personal show off.

07:23
Same thing with our car, same thing with our clothes. And I'll tell you where the challenge begins, okay? So imagine someone calls you up and says hey, dave, can I borrow your car? So Dave says you know what my car is a 1990 Toyota Corolla. No problem, take it. But Dave who's driving a 2018 Infiniti, and his friend calls him up and says hey, can I borrow your car? Well, listen, if my car was a 1990 Jalopy, one thing, but my 2018 Jaguar, I don't think so. Why? What does it make a difference? It's a midst with an opportunity. It is coming away. Someone needs it for 10 minutes just to run groceries to do something. Their car broke down. They need to do carpool. Whatever it is, what's so different? This is my. What's the difference? There's no difference. There's no difference, but in our minds there is, because this one brings me pride. This one brings me honor. This one brings me, you know, my neighbors say but the truth is it's not any different.

08:33
This is a tool to serve you and that is a tool to serve you. The idea here is that we need to always be thinking am I serving Hashem or am I serving myself? Is this food really because I want to serve Hashem and be a better person and have energy to do the will of Hashem, or is this just food to fulfill my own personal physical needs? Are these clothes just so that I look better for Shabbos, or are these clothes so that I look better for me? A very small difference in how we, the energy with which we put into the different things around us. Is it for the purpose of Hashem? I'll tell you something very, very amazing. So we mentioned this. I'm not sure if we mentioned it here in the Muster class or in a different class.

09:30
Imagine people were giving lots of money. Let me just ask a different question before we get there, has anybody here ever heard of an organization that said please don't donate anymore, we have enough money. Anybody ever heard such an organization? Never, never, ever. You'll never hear. Imagine a federation. It tells you no more donations accepted because we have too much money. No such thing. They'll take more money and more money. Think of Yale. Yale has a $20 billion endowment fund. $20 billion endowment fund. You think they need more money. You think they close their development office? I don't think so. They're not closing it down anytime in the near future. Never such a thing Accept. Accept in the Holy Temple.

10:24
In the Holy Temple, moses says enough, we have too much, too much. He says no more donations accepted, no more why? Because everybody wanted to be part of building the temple, the house of Hashem. Everyone says I want to be part of this. This is Hashem's house. I want to be part of this. What happened with the people's money? Now, most people, you can imagine, don't want to give their money. They don't want their money to go for the light fixtures right, to change the light bulbs, for maintenance. I want mine to go for the menorah. I want mine to go for the ark. I want mine to go for the altar. I don't want my money right. You know how the money was decided, whose money went to what. The Almighty played it out that by the intention the person gave it, with the purity of mind with which they gave that money, is how special that money was allocated for, how special an item that money was allocated for.

11:32
So imagine, you have this very, very affluent Jew. Lived in Syria. He comes in with his chariots. He's coming in to Jerusalem for the holidays Passover. He comes in with his horse and buggy, comes in with all his riches. He comes to the temple and everyone's like, wow, the wealthy, you know the big wig from Damascus, he came. He came to the holy temple. Okay, he comes. He brings this beautiful chest filled with gold coins and says, here, aaron, this is for the temple, or whoever the coin. Godol was, here you go, here's my donation. Think like, wow, that should go. You know that should go for good things. Then he had this poor Jew who saved up a few pennies. He saved up a few pennies and was able to. You know, he comes to the temple and says, ah, I have the privilege to give to the temple here. Take my one, my one, my one shekel. Right, take the one shekel that I have here. I'm so happy I can give my one shekel.

12:41
Hashem was able to discern who gave it for the sake of heaven versus who gave it for the sake of themselves, and perhaps 100% of that one shekel went for the most incredible elements of the temple, while all those gold coins could have gone for the less important things, depending on what? The intention. What is the intention? It all hides behind the intention. You know what our sages tell us Rahman al-Liba boyi. The Almighty wants liba. What's liba? The heart. The Almighty wants the heart. That's what the Almighty wants. It's with prayer, it's with our actions, it's with everything that we do. Hashem wants our heart. That's the most important thing. So if a person yeah, you know what God bless them with great wealth, god bless them with great success, god bless them with fine food, it's great.

13:51
But now are you using it for yourself or are you going to use it to glorify the name of Hashem? Are you going to use it so that you have energy, so that you can focus in the next Torah class, come back to torch to learn another class and come back to torch to learn another class? Are you going to use it to glorify the name of Hashem? Are you going to do it? You know what this is just for me, for my own self-satisfaction.

14:17
So the Ramchal is telling us this is a very, very delicate balance, because if you use it to elevate the elevate, then it gets elevated and you get elevated with it, and if you use it for personal self-aggrandizement, for selfish purposes, then you go down and it goes down with you. It's a very important balance that we need to be very cautious of. It is a great elevation for all things in creation when they are used to serve a spiritually perfected man. When I remember, when I was a little child, my mother bought us a record. I actually still have that record. I was a record player and I've actually played that record not long ago, but it was called the Mitzvotri and the vinyl, not the rap music one.

15:19
The real vinyls. I remember one of the stories was someone went to the supermarket, to the grocery store probably was 1980s, before that supermarket, so it was grocery stores. So you went down to the little fruit store down the block, the fruits and vegetables store, and what they were saying on this recording was that all of the apples were fighting oh, pick me, pick me, because you're gonna say the special blessing before you eat me. All the apples were fighting Pick me, pick me. And it's true. The apples in the spiritual realms are saying I want you to make the blessing on me, look at me, make the blessing on me.

16:04
The apples in a spiritual sense are fighting to be chosen by you. What's the big deal If I pick him? They want to be a tool through which we connect with Hashem. You understand Now? It fulfilled its purpose. Listen to this final words here, for indeed it is a great elevation for all things in creation when they are used to serve a spiritually perfected man who is sanctified with the ultimate sanctity of Hashem. Blessed be he. So it's two people eating an apple Could be two very different people. One used that apple to fulfill their own desires. One used the apple to serve Hashem. How they made a blessing through it. The apple was used as a tool to connect Hashem.

17:00
You ever wonder why people make a kiddish. Why do people make a kiddish? Someone has a baby. They make a kiddish Should have a bris for a boy, and they have food and they have a whole meal. What's the whole deal with this food Choose, always busy with food. You go to Shul Shabbat. It's a kiddish.

17:19
In honor of someone, in memory of someone. What's the honor? Because now everyone's going to get together, everyone's going to say a blessing bringing God into this world. In whose honor? In honor of this person's healing, in honor of this person's memory, in honor of this person's birthday. It brings merit to that person that people made a blessing because of them. Now there's a kiddish In honor of that person. People are saying blessings, and now that brings merit to that individual, because the food is not just food. The food is used as a tool to bring God into this world. It's such a fundamental principle. Food is not just food. Food is a tool to bring us closer to Hashem, not only through the blessings, but also through the energy that comes from it. You know what they say. They say that there are some people who eat because they want to fill their stomachs. They say no.

18:24
I only eat because I want to make a blessing. That's it you have to do?

18:28
They say, listen, I'm going to take one of each on the menu because I want to make a blessing on everything. So I'll tell you an amazing story. I remember saying this someplace in one of the classes, I'm sorry. There was a very, very fine young girl not young, but she was in her later 20s and she really wanted to get married. Maybe early 30s, maybe late 30s. She really, really, really wanted to get married and she'd go out and nothing worked out. Nothing, nothing worked out. So she went to her family, went to the rabbi, went to the grand rabbi in Bnei Brak, rabbi Chaim Kaniyewski, and they asked them. They said what do we do? Our daughter keeps going out and nothing's working out. What do we do? So the rabbi asked he says when this girl was born, did you make a kid-ish in shul? So they stay thinking and they say no, we forgot to make a kid-ish. With whatever reason, we didn't make a kid-ish. She said go make a kid-ish and then it'll open up the doors. So you think to yourself right, what would it make a difference? It turns out they made a kid-ish and she got engaged very shortly after and married. So you think to yourself what does it make a difference if you have a kid-ish? Because guess what happens when people make a kid-ish, people make up, say blessings. It brings merit to that individual. It brings merit to that individual even right Other people saying a blessing. That's why when people come into one's house, when people go and come into your house, we give them something to drink, we give them something to eat. Say a blessing in my house, because by making a blessing in the house now, you're bringing the blessing of Hashem into your home. It's a very different experience. It's not just, you know, coming and saying, hi, now you've brought a blessing into the home as well. It's a very, very powerful thing. You know who we learn this from? We learn this from Abraham and we learn this from Jacob and we learn this from from many, many others. We're gonna talk about them right here.

20:32
Two examples to prove this last point. This is similar to what the sages of blessed memory said Be'innan ha'or sh'igna zoha kodosh bar chulatz edikim. Regarding the light that the Holy One blessed, be he stored for the righteous one, Zellishonam. And these are their words Kevan sh'ura'a'or sh'igna zoha kodosh bar chulatz edikim. Once the light saw that the Holy One blessed is, he had stored it for the righteous Samach, the light was gladdened. He was delighted Sh'enemar, because it states in the verse in Proverbs, or tzadikim yismach, the light of the righteous is gladdened we be'innan abneamakom. The second thing, meaning the light belongs to those who are righteous. Again, there's light. We see light, right, we have light here, but there's a totally different light that the righteous experience, a totally different light. The light is on an elevated plane. For those who are the righteous. Now, it's interesting that the light we have today is not the same light that they had in the Garden of Eden. That light was put away For when, for the right time. God hit it away for the right time and in the right time. That light will be shown only to the righteous. Be'innan abneamakom sh'ura'a'akom. The second thing meaning. The second thing meaning the story of Jacob.

22:11
Jacob gets tired. Suddenly he gets night falls and he decides he's going to go take a little nap. So what does he do? He gathers together some stones or say to say he put those stones there to protect himself from the wild animals, to be all around them so they don't eat them up. And what happens? He wakes up and the stones became into a single stone, referring to the twelve tribes that were separate, that became unified into one. They had love between one another. They became close with one another. Eventually. Later they remained separate. They became one.

22:52
Similarly, regarding the stones of the place that Jacob took and sat under his head, amru, our Savior, said Amru ab'yitzchok. Ab'yitzchok said melamech'initzkap tzuqulam lemakom echod. This teaches that all the stones that Jacob placed around his head gathered to one place Woheh s'akol achas olmeras, olayan niach, sadik roshav. And each one was saying upon me the righteous one should lay his head. What does a stone know from a righteous person? It's a stone. It's not a stone, it's a tool. It's a tool that God brought into this world to serve the righteous, to serve us, to help us serve Hashem. So, in essence, if now we use that stone appropriately, now the stone fulfilled its purpose, think about that the stone has a sort of a spirit connected to it as well. When you use that stone to help you elevate your own self in becoming closer to God, now it fulfilled its purpose, got it. Everything has a spiritual. You know, think of this. You know. I'll give you an example. It leads us a little bit to the idea of Haqqaratatov having the recognition for the good from the benefit that you've enjoyed, of something my mother went to pay a shiva call.

24:33
There was a great rabbi who lived in Muncie, where we grew up in upstate New York. His name was Rabbi Mordechai Shuaab. He was a very short man, very big tzadik, and he had a smile the size of the universe. His light, the light that would shine from him. I remember I would see my mother, sometimes in the middle of the day, because our school was on a pretty main road. My mother would stop by at school. My mother would stop by just to say hi and she would say, ah, I saw Rabbi Shuaab. I saw Rabbi Shuaab. He said her day was a different day. She saw the great tzadik. He didn't have to say anything, she just saw him. So when he passed away, my mother went to pay a shiva call to his Reviton and the Reviton said an amazing story I've shared this before that when he had a pair of pants that were all worn out, he would fold it up beautifully as if it was brand new and every night he would stroke it nicely, saying thank you for keeping me warm, thank you for dressing me so I could look good for my service of Hashan, thank you for taking care of me.

25:48
Think about it. Here you have. What an inanimate object a pair of pants. But what was that pants created for? It was created to serve Him. It was created to serve Him and here it fulfilled its purpose. It served Him and he's showing His gratitude for it. You don't just take it, throw it out. It served you, it fulfilled its purpose and he would move it a little bit down on the bed and the next day he would do the same thing and move it a little bit further, and the next day, you know, he kept on doing it until it got to the edge of the bed and then he wrapped it respectfully, nicely in a bag and disposed of it.

26:33
But you know, it's a sensitivity to understand that everything in this world is here to serve us in our service of Hashem. There's nothing wrong with enjoying good things, but the question that needs to be asked is not whether or not we could enjoy it, but is it really serving us to serve Hashem, or is it serving us to serve us For my self-aggrandizement, for my self gratification? Is it for myself to feel good about myself, to be able to show off, or is it really here to help me become a better person, to for me to fulfill my role in this world. That's the question that we each need to answer for ourselves. Is that, you know, is that exercise, exercise is a great thing, but is the exercise there so that I look good, or is the exercise there so that I be healthy, so that I can serve Hashem? It's the same exercise. What does it make a difference? No, huge difference. One is me, so I can have, I can look fit, I can, I can have the body I want, versus so that I can be healthy, so I can serve Hashem, so I can do everything I need to do more effectively and for longer. This is a responsibility to take care of your body.

28:06
Working out we have to working out is, I think, a classic example of how we can convince ourselves that it's it's to serve Hashem, but really it's so that we can fit into our clothes, the dream clothes that we have. You know, we want to get fitted, we want to look good, we want to be attractive. For, you know, for for dating, whatever it is, it's great. But is that for me, or is that for Hashem? No, it's one or the other. It could be for me if I indeed are serving Hashem. Well, again, it is either, or Unless you are committed to serving Hashem, and then that's fine. Okay, so again, we can trick the whole world. We can't trick Hashem and we surely cannot trick ourselves. Okay, so we have to internalize this idea.

28:59
Our purpose in life is to serve Hashem. Everything we have is to serve Hashem. So if we have an opportunity to you know give me any example for anything your computer. You have a computer. You know what your computer is for To serve Hashem. That's what it's there for. In what way am I using it to serve Hashem If I'm only using it for my own self? So it depends If I'm using it for whatever purpose, so that I can just, you know, rejuvenate and refresh myself, so that I can go to work the next day with inspiration. You're watching TED Talks so you can be inspired, and so you can grow. Okay, so it's being used for a good purpose. But if it's only being used, you know, for my own personal things and not for the purpose of serving Hashem, then it could be problematic. Again, this is not to say that you can't enjoy this world.

30:02
We gave the first four classes was telling us how our obligation is to enjoy this world, and we're going to be held accountable if we don't enjoy from this world. I'll tell you the challenge. I'll tell you, david. I'll tell you the challenge with two purposes. We could convince ourselves certain things because we want to believe certain things. We want to believe that it's for the purpose of our sin, we want to believe that this is to help us get closer, but ultimately, at the end of the day, turn it around, okay.

30:36
So now let's give the example your car. Right, go back to your car example. Yeah, it could be also for yourself to have a nice car. That's fine. There's nothing wrong with having a nice car, but is it also? Would you be okay lending it out? Yeah, you would be okay. Well, not everyone would be okay. They'll say listen, not my Bentley. My Bentley is just for me, right, that's not for anybody else. Now I understand.

31:03
The question a person needs to ask is how is this helping me serve Hashem? Every single thing we do, we should be asking ourselves how is this helping me serve Hashem? How is this helping me serve Hashem? Well, it's very easy. If you're going to, or you want to go to a, to a, to eat, right, okay. So you have energy. So now you can have more strength to serve Hashem. To sleep, even vacation, could be the service of Hashem. Why? So you can rejuvenate your energies and serve Hashem. But we have to be very careful whether or not that's always the case. Is that always the case? Is it really because we're trying to serve Hashem and nobody's going to answer that for you? Only you can answer that for yourself. It's not like, oh, we're going to judge other people, but for ourselves, to really gain a clarity as to what is the motive behind what we do. Is the motive for just for myself to have extra pleasure, to have extra enjoyment, or is my motive here to serve Hashem?

32:16
Enjoy the flavor of the food you have it? Of course you should enjoy the flavor of the food, but you know what? I'll give you an example. Okay, my grandfather brings this down. What's if the food isn't good? Oh, that's the test. Is the food really there to serve Hashem, or it's for me to feel good? Well, if the food is good, then I'm fine, I'll serve Hashem, hashem. This one's for you. Right, the food is not good? Right, I'm not touching this right.

32:45
No, no, no. If the food is really there for you to serve Hashem, then even when it's not good, it's nourishment. It's an added benefit that it tastes good it's an added benefit. You're obligated to get the enjoyment from it.

33:01
However, again if the food is not good, it doesn't taste exactly to your style, to your right, and you know what? Still, you have to eat it because it's for the nourishment, so that I can serve Hashem. And here, by the way, we see the same we saw. Did we bring this down already? Regarding Abraham, right, we brought this example that Abraham when he bought the field.

33:35
I gave this example but I don't see it here in the Messiah Tishareem. But it said that when Abraham bought the plot of land, it says that the field was elevated via a calm starefront. The field of effron got elevated why? Because everything Abraham did was for the service of Hashem. So now the field, instead of being for the service of man, the field, by having the ownership of that field be owned by Abraham, now the whole field got elevated to a whole new purpose. Its purpose was no longer to serve man, it was to serve Hashem. Vehinei Alaikar ezeh hirun ezuhoirun levachah be mideshkohele Ramchal now cites proof to the principle that because the world was created for man's use, it stands in bounds based on man's actions and, like we mentioned, obviously intentions right. The intentions make all the difference. Vehinei right. The sages of blessed memory informed us about this principle in Ecclesiastes, shammuz el-Shonam 4. They said as follows Re'e et ma'aseha e-lokim. The verse states Observe God's deeds, for who can straighten what he has twisted? B'isha shabarah kadosh baruchu et adama rishon. This teaches that when the Holy One, blessed be, he, created Adam, the first man, netalo vehechziroa kol ilanay gan edin. He took him and led him around all the trees of the garden. God showed him everything. Ve'amar al-Wani said to them Re'e ma'aseha e-lokim. The verse states See my deeds, see my creation, how nice and praiseworthy they are. Ve'ko'ol ma'aseh barati, b'ishv'ilchah barati and everything that I created. You know why. I created it For you to enjoy. T'en d'athcha sh'elot, te kalkel, ve tachri, ve tolami. Take here, take extra precaution that you do not degrade and destroy my world. Anybody know the first command ever given to Adam, first command don't eat from the forbidden tree. Wrong, the first command was enjoy from everything. Enjoy from everything. You have a Homs right there, the blue Homs right there, sitting perfect. Please pass it. Here.

36:13
We go to Genesis and we're in chapter 2, verse 15. Ve'ikah ha'ashem e-lokim et'a adam. And God took Adam, ve'in i'ichayu, began e'idim and placed him in the Garden of Eden, le'avda u'l shomra to work it and to guard it. Ve'itzav ha'ashem e-lokim et'a adam and Hashem, god commanded the man Adam, saying Le'more M'ekol e'itzagan achol tochel, of every tree of the Garden you may eat freely. That's the first command. You see it, you can eat it, but of the tree of knowledge, of good and bad, you must not eat dear of, for on the day you eat of it, you shall surely die. What's the first command again Eat from everything, enjoy from everything. There are a few restrictions. There are a few restrictions.

37:14
The first command given to mankind is if there is a pleasure in this world, go enjoy. Go enjoy. There are some restrictions. God says listen, this is a fake pleasure, that is a counterfeit pleasure that one don't waste your time on. There are real pleasures. Go after the real pleasures. Food is a great pleasure, but what happens when you eat too much? You feel sick to your stomach, even if it's your favorite food too much, you get sick from it. My father doesn't like chocolate. You know why? Because when he was bar mitzvah, his great aunt bought him a box, an enormous box of chocolate, and he ate all of that chocolate. He never wants to see chocolate again. It's an incredible thing. God gave us this world for pleasure. He wants us to enjoy. But that's the challenge Sometimes and we look at the world around us most of the times when people have all of that pleasure, they have all of that luxury, they have all of that ability.

38:27
They don't use it to serve a shem, they use it to serve themselves. It reminds me of the story that I've shared here before with the students I had around my table. We asked what would they do if they won that big lottery of $600 million. Everyone suddenly became so altruistic and they became so holy oh, I'd give half the charity. You know, I'll give half this and I'll support it. They'll never be poverty again. And look, there are more millionaires and billionaires today than there ever was in the history of the world. And, for whatever reason, those problems still haven't been solved and it doesn't look like they're giving away half their wealth. I know you have a few who signed that giveaway half their wealth pledge, but still it doesn't make it easier.

39:17
You'll say, oh, I try to explain to people. When people say you know, this person has a lot of money, but they're cheap. You don't understand. For us it's like okay, so we have, we don't have, we have, we don't have. But when people have such an incredible amount of money, they don't want to crack the next million. So they only have $8 left because it's, you know, it could be $2 million, and $8, right. They can't spend $9, because then they're. You understand, it's like you don't want to break that $100, right, but who's it there to serve? Is it there to serve us or is it to serve the Creator? And it's a question we have to ask ourselves every single thing we do. How is this helping me serve Hashem? Review it again and again, and again how is this helping me serve Hashem? And if the answer is I don't know, then we need to work on it In order for you to be able to come to so many Torah classes.

40:15
That's the way you feed your Yatesahara. A little bit, you feed your Yatesahara, you see. You see I'm not coming to the Torah class Sunday night. I'm watching the Patriots rams game. So you're feeding your Yatesahara, telling him. You know what, relaxed when I go to Monday night and Tuesday night and Wednesday night and Thursday night and Friday night, and every single day of the week I'm coming to another Torah class. I'm still watching my Patriots game. Relax, relax, don't, don't, because here's another thing we have to always be considerate of our Yatesahara.

40:44
If you try to battle them head-to-head, you know, cops, police officers, they're not looking for the guys who are going three miles over the speed limit. They're not looking for the guys are going six miles over the speed limit. They're looking at the guy who's going 20 miles over the speed limit. That's what they're looking for. You know who that 20 mile an hour over the speed limit is the person who says I'm never watching another game. That, my sugar. No right, that's what the? It's a harawa. Yeah, it's our all once, right, he wants.

41:12
The guy who says you know what, I'm cutting it because you're taking too big of a jump. Take, take it one step at a time. One step at a time if someone, even Observing a Shavas, we have to be careful Not to jump too fast. We jump too fast, we're bound to fall. We're going to fall. Take it one step at a time. We have to be constantly focused of getting closer and closer to Tasha.

41:42
So, yes, so that could be a way for you to just relax, so that you can have energy and that you can go with enthusiasm to your next Torah class and, boom, like magic You're here tonight. But again, there has to be a balance and you are the only one who can determine that balance. I, with honesty, for yourself, for your own, your own personal spiritual growth. But we all have things that are, that are distractions. We all have things that are that are capable of getting us off our target and it's dangerous because we don't want to be losing to our Yatsahara. Youtube is a fantastic tool to listen to Torah classes. It's also a fantastic tool to waste hours and hours watching videos of cats flushing toilets. The same exact tool could be used for positive, for uplifting purposes. Could be used for negative purposes.

42:44
You're supposed to enjoy it, but here's the danger what are you gonna do when it's not so enjoyable? When it's not so enjoyable, what are you gonna do? And that's the. That's the very big challenge that people have today is that we're in a world that we only do things we enjoy. Okay, what's about the things we don't enjoy?

43:03
It's a problem today with our generation, young generation, with employment. They come to a job and they tell me hey, buddy, you hear nine o'clock, you have a job. You hear nine o'five. Get out, this is well, I don't enjoy coming at nine o'clock. The our generation, our young generation, is only accustomed to doing things they like to do. Well, I don't want to do that part of their job. It's not fun. I only do the fun parts, don't I'm telling you? I've had employers call me and tell me what do I do? It's a big problem. I only want to do the fun parts. So what's the what's? What's gonna happen if our service of Hashem is only gonna be the fun parts? Oh, oh, prayer I like. So prayer I'll go to because I get to socialize it, get to talk, talk, yeah, I can get to seeing it Can do. What's about the parts we don't like? Oh, that will write off. To pick and choose Judaism, that's dangerous.

43:58 - Intro (Announcement)
Right.

43:58 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
That's a very, very dangerous thing. The thing is is that if a person is really focused on serving Hashem, if the person is really focused on serving Hashem, then they'll find a way to appreciate and enjoy every single midst what they do, not only the fun ones. They'll find a way to enjoy everything that they do. So it all becomes thank you, it all becomes part of their joy, part of their, their energy, their excitement in their life. But the idea here is, again, it has to do with our actions and it has to do with the intentions of those actions. And if the intention of those actions right, I I have had personal experiences where you know the the laws of nature, I felt didn't apply, because sometimes you do something for purely altruistic purposes and the laws of nature don't apply to it. Yeah, like you know, you know when your car gets to, the gas tank gets to empty, so usually you have a little bit to go till till you've got to fill it up. So I was at that point where it was like below that point, below that marker of like okay, it's gonna, it's gonna die in a second, I said you know what? But I didn't have time to do it earlier and I'm rushing to a Torah class, I Said it's not gonna stop. It's not gonna stop, the car is gonna roll. You know why? Because we're gonna do it. Laws of nature don't apply, and we made it there and we made it to a gas station. So take care that you do not degrade and destroy my world. All right, so Ramchal summarizes what he has taught us so far and cites numerous additional proofs to it. Coloal should have are the general principles as follows how long lonely rabah of or matzavob. Oh, I'm a man, ha damn Lonny Vrab a vor matzavob. I was a man was not created for a situation situation in this world, elab a vor matzavob or Lamaba but rather for his situation in the world to come Elash a matzavob or Lamaze who emtzei limatzavob or Lamaba. However, man's situation in this world is the means to reach his situation in the world to come, she who touch little, for that is his ultimate goal and purpose, our goal, the reason why we're here is not for here. The reason why we're here Is for the world to come. So again, if we ask ourselves so why am I doing this? Am I doing this to bring it to get closer to Hashem? Yes or no? Is it? Is this helping me get closer to Hashem? It's, whether it's the exercise, whether it's the food, whether it's the sleep, whether it's the the, whatever it is, of the vacation. Is this helping me get closer to Hashem? Yes, why is it important to get closer to Hashem? You know why? Because we are not here for here. We're here for the world to come, and the only way to get to the proper place, to our proper destination of the world to come, is to connect to Hashem in this world, over here. All right, we're good. Have a magnificent, amazing, terrific, stupendous, awesome rest of your week and Drive safely.

47:30
If the action is pure but the intention is impure, so what does that help? Means you're giving charity, but so that you get your name on a plaque. You know, there's a great, great cartoon. There's a great cartoon they have in Israel. It's not a cartoon, it's like this quick, it's like a 30-second comedy Routine and they have all these funny things. So this guy, the scene starts and the cameras are are, it's a, it's a hospital room and the guy just got his kidney, he got a donation. So he says so, they, they wake him up. He's just waking up. He says everything. Okay. They said, yes, everything is perfect, everything is absolutely perfect. We got the kidney and the kidney was put into you and everything is perfect. But there was one thing that the donor requested and they pill, pull up his, his, his sheet, and there's a plaque Donated by my friends. Have a good night.

48:35 - Intro (Announcement)
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