Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

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

00:12 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Okay, good evening everybody. It is so wonderful to be back here on Moser Mondays and we are in the middle of the first chapter of Mesih Latisharim. So last week we discussed that Hashem took Adam and showed him all of what was in the Garden of Eden. He says enjoy from it all. Don't destroy any of it. What does it mean? Don't destroy, because there's some parts I'm not supposed to touch. What is that? Don't touch that tree. Everything else you should enjoy. So what is the Ramchal telling us here? He's saying that we have an entire world that we are meant to enjoy from. We are meant to enjoy from this world, but don't ruin it, don't destroy it. And he says that we're just going to be.

01:07
He says the sages of blessed memory informed us about this principle in Midrash Kailah, for they said as follows. The verse states observe God's deeds, for who can straighten what has been twisted? Be sure that the Holy Spirit will be the first person to be blessed. This teaches that when the Holy One, god, blessed is. He created Adam, the first man, natalo, and he took him and led him around all the trees of the Garden of Eden. And he said to Adam see how nice and praiseworthy they are the Kaumah Shabarati, beshvel Ha Barati and all that I created. I created for you Ten Da'at Haa Shalot e Kalkel, v'tachriv et Olami.

02:03
Take care that you do not degrade and destroy my world. So, whatever we have in this world we mention this with regard to other things that there is no pleasure in the world that God did not make possible for a human being. In a kosher way, people say, oh, shellfish, oh pork, oh whatever, it is okay. So there is a parallel to it, which is kosher. The Talmud goes and discusses exactly what fish can taste like pig. If you feel like you are missing out on something, this is actually a verse. This is a verse in Ecclesiastes 7.13 that is teaching us that we have to look into God's world, that all of what God created is for us to enjoy. Our job is to enjoy it, but in the right measure, to enjoy it in the right way, so that we don't ruin it. Because if we enjoy from this world, if we take pleasure from this world and don't use it properly, we are essentially destroying it the world, the pleasure, everything. We have to be very, very careful to use what God gave us properly. Kalo. Shal.

03:14
Dvar, where Amchal summarizes what he has taught so far and cites numerous additional proofs. Kalo Shal Dvar. The general principle is his follows Ha'adam lo nivab b'avur ma'a tzavob al-amazad, man kind was not created for our situation in this world. Wait to what most of the world believes. Most of the world thinks. We're here for here. We're here to enjoy ourselves in this physical world, and that's the purpose of our existence. No, amchal says no. That's not why we're here. We're here for a totally different purpose and that is ha'adam lo nivab b'avur ma'a tzavob al-amazad, but rather for his future situation in the world to come. Ha'adam lo nivab b'avur ma'a tzavob al-amazad, who amt zayil al-amazad. However, man's situation in this world is the means to reach the situation in the world to come, shuhu tachetaw, which is the ultimate goal. So that means like this the ultimate purpose of why we're here is to get our place in the world to come. I'll give you an example.

04:22
Does anybody play football just because they like the game? Or do people play because they want to win the championship, because they want to win the Super Bowl? They don't just play football because it's a nice sport. It pays well. Ultimately, everybody wants that final goal, bringing home the trophy. That's why they play. This is what it's for. It's to bring home that Super Bowl World Series, whatever it is. So now, if you ask a player, the first game of the season. So what's the purpose of this game? What's the purpose of this game? The purpose of this game is not this game. It's the, it's the.

05:03
Get us for the win at the end of the season. But if someone only looks at this game as being the only game that's important, it's right now because it's this game Then they're missing that. They're missing the point. So this world is not about this world. This world is one of. The is that first game that's heading us in the direction of winning the pennant, it's winning the Super Bowl. We raise that Super Bowl. That's the world to come. So all of the challenge that we're going to have in our lives and everyone has challenges Anyone who doesn't have, let me know you're probably dead and we all have challenges All of those challenges are for one reason Prepare us for the world to come. We are here for the world to come.

05:52
You know the story. I've said this numerous times. I'll repeat it again very, very quickly. But this guy was very, very poor and he tells his wife you know, I heard that there's a faraway island when I can get. It's all full of diamonds. Everywhere you walk there's diamonds all over. So he tells his wife should I do this? But only there's one problem it takes three years to travel there and every three years you can, you can get back. So it's gonna be a total of nine years. He's gonna travel there. Three years is to wait three years to come back for another three years of travel back. It's a long time. Nine years, a long time to be away from the kids. She says, listen, we're so broke, we're so poor, just go.

06:29
So he goes and, indeed, it's true, after three years, everyone's talking the whole Boat ride over to this island. They're talking about all the riches and what they're gonna come back with. And finally they get there. He comes with these two big duffel bags and he gets there, loads them up with diamonds and now he's just waiting. See, he checks into a hotel and they say what are you here for? It says some, I'm here. What do you mean? I'm just waiting for another three years to go back. Okay, no problem, we'll get you a hotel room for three years. It's not a problem.

07:00
How you gonna pay for this? This is what you mean. I've got tons of diamonds. Pay with diamonds, I'm sorry, diamonds. This isn't worth anything in this island. This is what is worth anything here over here in this island. It's only coconuts. Hey, coconuts. So you open up is what I had. We get coconuts, is you start working and you get you open up a coconut account and you Eventually pay with coconuts when you look like an honest person will trust you. He checks into the hotel and he starts working, starts bagging groceries and the local supermarket and they pay him every month. They pay him with coconuts and he's so good. He becomes the manager, eventually becomes the owner. He's opens up other businesses. Before he knows it. It's only one year and he's doing so well, and the second year he's even doing he's like a multi-million. He's got so many coconuts in his account. It's really incredible. He eventually doesn't even know how he's going to get all those coconuts back home. It's like so he's so wealthy.

07:57
So at the end of three years he's, you know, packs as many coconuts into his bag as possible and he travels all the way back home, gets back home and he's so excited to see his wife and children and they're all so excited to see. He sees his little child, who was three years old, is now 12 years old, about to have his bar mitzvah, his older kids and it's just there's a grown, it's just so beautiful and they're so excited to see all of the riches he got. He opens up these big duffel bags and all the coconuts come and come out. Look what's going on where the diamonds, he says, what are you talking about? Diamonds is worth anything. It's all coconuts. You see, the problem is is that we come into this world and God Tells us you're going to this world to get real diamonds, to get mitzvahs, to do as many good deeds as possible. But everyone says, yeah, not in this world. In this world, it's just don't count that much. It's really money. So these green things is green people, paper things, that's what really counts, right? So people run their whole lives after this green thing and when they're actually coming back To heaven, they're coming with all this green dollars. That's not the real currency, the real currency of the diamonds, the gems of our mitzvahs that we, that we perform. It's a frightening thought that we can invest our entire lives in something which isn't even valuable. We've asked it. In cars, we invested in in fashion. People are investing so much in External things, things that are not going to be worth anything in the world to come. They aren't worth anything. They come and they go.

09:31
What the Torah tells us and what we see here through the teaching of Ramchal, is that a person must stay focused. What am I here for? And you know what? It's not going to make you the popular kid in class. It's not going to make you the popular person in your neighborhood, in your community. We are here. We should be laser focused on the world to come. We have to be Conscious of that on a daily basis. We're not here for here, we're here for the world to come. What do I do to get my place in the world to come? We have a Torah to learn, a Torah to observe, a Torah to keep a proper way to act, all these teachings that are in our Torah.

10:11
She says like this, I'll gain team some. Amarecha humain is a carol of a car, coolan be signal on a hat. Therefore, you will find many statements of our sages of blessed memory, all in the same style Meda, mima Olam, a zeal in a common man, a Hana, comparing the world, this world, to the place and time for preparation. Well, I'm a bar, the common man who have a he let them open car and the world to come as a place of rest from labor and a place of consumption, of enjoyment of what was already prepared in this world. So think of it like this the world that we're in right now, this is the world of preparation. The world to come, that's the world of Whatever you prepared, you'll have. Whatever you didn't prepare, you won't have Anybody here.

11:04
Try to not prepare dinner and have it ready doesn't work. If you want to have dinner, you have to prepare. If they remember to defrost whatever you need to write and you know you're the chef, right, you have to know that if you want to eat dinner, you're gonna have to prepare. And it's the same with every other meal. Guess what? If we want to enjoy the world to come, we have to prepare. What are we doing to prepare Every mitzvah that we do?

11:33
Not only that, it says that there's no reward for the mitzvahs we get, we do in this world. Any mitzvah you do in this world is no reward for it. You know why? Because this world can't possibly Encompass enough reward for one mitzvah. This world isn't enough reward for one mitzvah.

11:55
All of the pleasures. It says that one moment in the world to come, one single solitary moment of the world to come, is more pleasurable than all of the accumulative pleasure of the entire world combined. So think about this okay, anybody here experience pleasure ever. Yeah, everyone raise your hand. Yes, okay, so we'll go around. You don't have to say, okay, tell me food. What was the greatest food you've tasted in the past week? It's like, ah, you open it up, it's delicious, right? So think of that pleasure. Then we have vacation pleasure. Then we have other types of physical pleasure. We have music pleasure. We have people like to. Anybody like dancing, I don't. So whoever likes to dance, it's also a pleasure, right? Think of all of those pleasures accumulated together from your own experience, plus all of the pleasurable experiences of every other person in the entire world. It doesn't equal even one single moment of pleasure in the world to come. That's how much pleasure it is.

13:03
This world can't embody the type of pleasure you get from a perfect mitzvah. So that's why I say just tell us there's no reward that's appropriate enough for a mitzvah in this world. You can't, this world can't, because we're so physical. There's no way for a pleasure of a mitzvah, reward for a mitzvah, to be given in this world. It's not possible, you know. It says that the righteous are receiving reward in the world to come. It says they have crowns on their head and there are these beautiful scenic views around them and the birds are chirping and it's like, and they're sitting in the presence of the Almighty without any interruption and they're enjoying and basking in the closeness with Hashem. No greater pleasure in the world.

14:01
Amazing Ramchal continues here and this is what the sages meant when they said this world is similar to a vestibule. Before the world to come, you know, there's a little hallway before you enter into the big ballroom. This world is the hallway. The world to come is that ballroom. That's where all the action is happening. As I've written above earlier, today we do the work, tomorrow we get the reward. Today, in this world, is the time when we do them, the mitzvahs, and tomorrow, in the world to come, is the time when we receive reward for fulfilling them.

14:44
Mishit Tahrach, be'erav Shabbos, yohob Shabbos. The Talmud in Avodah Zara 3a says Whoever toils before Shabbos will have what to eat on Shabbos. We can't cook on Shabbos, so whatever we cook till Shabbos is what we'll have for Shabbos. You forgot to turn the light on, sorry, now I can't have a light. We have routines. I have a routine.

15:15
My children, if you remember my daughter, produced a video of preparing for Shabbos. Part of it is cooking for Shabbos. One of my children has a job of going around the house and turning on and off all the lights that need to be on for Shabbos or off for Shabbos. One of my children was in charge of those automatic thermostats that we have. His job is to turn the settings so that it doesn't turn on when you pass by. Because they have motion sensors, you turn that setting off. And another child has turned off all the devices. All the devices turn off. The phones are off, not just plugged in and turned upside down Power off.

15:59
Shabbos were disconnecting, but again, you have to be preparing for that, because the minute Shabbos is in, it's it. There's no more preparation, you're locked in. That status quo kicks in. This is the way it's going to be. What's set is set, what's not set is not set.

16:18
But whoever did not toil on the eve of Shabbos? If you didn't prepare for Shabbos for more, will you eat on Shabbos? Once Shabbos kicks in, how are we going to eat if we didn't prepare? How can we enjoy pleasure as a reward for what we've done in this world? If we didn't do enough on this world, it's a big problem. So this world is a place where we need to invest as much time as we can on the world to come. Imagine if you spent 10 minutes a day. Now, next 10 minutes, I'm just investing in the world to come.

16:55
How I'm going to do selfless things. I'm going to help people. I'm going to call someone, make them, encourage them, visit the sick, whatever it is. Find something you can do for someone else. Yes, I would like to consider myself a hoarder of Midzos. When I, when I someone gives me an opportunity to do a mitzvah, I'll say yes, even if it doesn't make sense, even if it doesn't fit my schedule, because I want a mitzvah. I want opportunity to something else. Right to do another. So so, yes, you're right, it's sometimes gonna be uncomfortable. Sometimes it's not gonna fit into your schedule, sometimes not gonna be, but you do it. You're being God.

17:31
Like God visited Abraham, your job is to go visit the sick. Abraham was sick. You go visit sick people whether or not the they're able to communicate with you. I've had numerous times where I came to visit a sick person or sick people and they were either sleeping or they were getting tests in a different little different place and they said, oh, it's gonna be a two-hour test, it's gonna be out. So I left the car just telling me I love you. I was here, you know, let me know where I can come back.

18:00
Say, just say, don't worry about it, you can do it for a reward, it's not a problem. You don't have to do everything altruistically, because not everyone can do things altruistically. But here's the thing the Talmud says do it Shalom ish, ma do it not for non altruistic reasons, because it will lead to eventually do it for altruistic purposes. Yes, yeah, you know what sometimes people do charity.

18:23
People give charity because I Feel bad. It or makes me feel good. See, oh, sit because it, because it bothers you, or because you, because it makes you feel good. Is that because you care about them? No, because you have a pain in your heart seeing someone like that, so you want to comfort yourself. So you give them something, so they're just your, your pawn. You just don't know you should be doing it for the right purpose. What's the right purpose? I care that this person is hungry. I care for them. Forget how I feel. That's true altruism. But you know what went out all there.

18:59
I'll tell you an amazing story. There is a great rabbi in Israel I'm not gonna say his name but because I'm not 1000% sure that this true story is true, but I heard it from a secondhand source. So he opened up about a hundred yeshivas, a hundred yeshivas and and colos, colos for married men where they give a stipend, and he raises enormous sums of money, enormous sums of money, and it's like he's like one of the biggest institutions in Israel, right opening up more and more yeshivas. He went to a great rabbi, one of the big, big rabbis, and he said to the rabbi the rabbi asked him he says how much of what you're doing is Is altruistic and how much is it just for your own honor? She said 95% is for my own honor, 5% is altruistic. He says it's a pity, you should do a hundred percent for your own honor, and then you'd open up more yeshivas.

19:59
You know what sometimes that's the motivator is it feels good. Okay, you don't not do good deeds because you're gonna get some own, your own personal pleasure. Don't regret the good deeds you do because it makes you feel good that you're doing good, good eat. On the contrary, on the contrary, he says harm, it's the mitzvah. The reward of a mitzvah is doing a mitzvah. Sometimes there's a benefit to it, hopefully, always is a benefit to it, but not always is it seen. It's not always seen. Sometimes you have to wait till after 120 to see how great your deeds were. And most of us don't appreciate the good deeds we do. You think, oh, I'm not that righteous, I'm not that good, I'm not. You know, I did it for myself, I did.

20:43
Hashem sees the, the reasons. Hashem sees the, the intention. Hashem sees the real, real Person in there. That why, why we do the things we do. The Ramchal continues here. The whole, a whole, a ma zed, omelea Bashar, the allama balayam. This world is, is analogous of the dry land and the world to come is like the ocean. Right, you ever go on a cruise and as you get on the cruise, they move the boat, they get off the off, they, they, they call D D Doc. I don't know what they write. They stay, they start moving, and then, you like, you hear the, the loud horn of the, of the, of the ship. You like, oh, I forgot my sunglasses in the car right. Guess what? It's too late.

21:36
Can we just go back for one minute? I forgot my ice bag in the trunk too bad right, sorry. Once our life ends, in this world we can't say I forgot to do a good deed, it doesn't make a difference, what you forgot it doesn't make a difference, it's over, finished We've, we've moved on, and that's what we have to constantly remember. This world is very limited. I heard a tragic story on Sunday that someone was An older woman, was was gets merging onto the highway. She was a little bit early and she another car hit her instant. She passed away.

22:19
We don't know when our last day is gonna be. So every day, the Mishnah tells us, every day, consider it your last day. Every day, it says. Because the Mishnah says Repent one day before you die. It's a great, very, very poetic right Repent one day before you die because we don't know when that day is going to be. So always be in a state of repentance, always be in a state of clearing up the accounts, because we don't know when it's going to be. If one does not prepare on dry land, what will he eat at sea? If you don't prepare your bags, it's going to be too late.

22:59
But Keelorab Maldarach says there are many more statements by the sages along this line. The Ramchal continues as follows having cited ample proof to this principle from the words of the sages, ramchal proceeds to show that it is not even logically possible to think otherwise, that we're just here for here. The Tireb Emet and you should truly realize that there is no person with half intelligence can believe that the purpose of man's creation is for a situation in this world for here, and have to be very compromised in your mind to think that we're here in this world for here. For what is life's person? A life of a person worth in this world, who is genuinely happy and tranquil in this world? Anyone here meet anyone who's like perfect life? Nobody. Some people have illnesses, some people have ailments, some people have tragedy, some people have pain, some people have suffering, some people have poverty. Everyone's got something, everybody. If we're here for here, then nobody should have any problems. So why do we have problems? Why do we have pain? Why do we have suffering? Why do we have illnesses? Each one is a message from the Almighty guiding us on the track we need to get to reach our perfection.

24:46
She says Yumeish Nottanu. He brings a verse from Psalms Yumeish Nottanu Behem Shivim. Shana Vim Bighurotshmonim Shana Virabham Amal Veaven, he says. The verse states the days of our years. Among them are 70 years and if, with strength, 80 years they are proud of. Success is but toil and pain. We kamamine itzar vechalayim veachovim vetradot. Our days are filled with so many types of pain, sicknesses, aches and problems, veachakkolzot. And after all of this pain and all of this suffering, what happens? We die.

25:29
Perfect Ramchal says is it possible for anyone to think with the right mind that we're here for here, for all of this challenge? That's why we're here. He says. Echadmine eleflo yimatzei, even one person in a thousand will not be found.

25:45
Shiar beha olam lohanu otvishalvam itith, who can say that this world gave him abundant pleasures and true tranquility? Not even one in a thousand can say, yeah, this world was just perfect. Ah, what a great life. Nope, not even one in a thousand. Ve gamhu. And even that person, that one in a thousand, iluia gyalimashana kvar avar vibatel minawala, should he live to the ripe old age of 100, it is as if he has already passed and departed from this world. It is thus now possible to think that man was created for the objective of enjoying this world. This world, yeah, there are some pleasurable things. There are some aspects of it that are great. There are some that are extremely you know are high points, but as a general rule, a general principle it's hard work. It's hard work Even if you're on the right path. You're on the right track to go and do the will of Hashem. Constantly, it still has plenty of challenges.

27:00
A lot of let down, I'm thinking my grandfather. My grandfather, okay, I would say it was like perfect, perfect, perfect. Jew worked hard his whole life becoming the best possible servant of Hashem. Was he always happy? Did he always feel his life was pleasurable? Was he never sick? Talk about a person who spent his whole life focusing on the world to come, focusing on perfecting his ways here so that he can get all the reward in the world to come. It still had challenges.

27:36
So we have to be careful from falling into a potential trap. Some people think, oh well, if you kept jobless, you wouldn't have any issues. I'm telling you people keep jobless and have issues. What is nothing to do with the other Means. How much are we willing to invest in Hashem's world versus our own world?

28:00
Hashem gives us a manual. It tells us if you want to maximize that pleasure in the world to come, this is the book. We can try to figure it out on our own not likely, not likely. So we're constantly going to be facing challenges.

28:16
There are those who decide to take the other pill and they prefer just forgetting about everything, living in oblivion. Let me just enjoy the pleasures I can get, and that's it what I get. I get what I don't. They don't, that's it, I'll just live with it. Versus someone who says, no, I want to maximize my relationship with Hashem. I want to do the best I can do to get as much reward as I can in the world to come. That is the purpose of every Jew. That's what should be. Our purpose is to invest every ounce of strength we have in seeking the greatest pleasure possible in the world to come. How, that's all. We have a Torah, for the Torah gives us all of the guidelines, of everything we need in order to get our place in the world to come. This is a Midrash that says that God has a crown and every Neshama is a gem from that crown. Now, my father worked in diamonds for many years. Anybody heard of an enhanced diamond. Yeah.

29:28
Anybody knows what an enhanced diamond is. So does anybody know that diamonds have imperfections? Yeah, I know Most girls who get engaged don't want to hear that. They think that their diamonds are perfect and there's no imperfection. But if you look really carefully with a loop you'll see there are many imperfections. There are little spots, there are little clouds.

29:51
The cleaner, the better color, the better clarity a diamond has, the more expensive it is and the larger the character. What they can do is they can infuse into a diamond a certain chemical and then enhance it. It removes some of that impurities that are in that gem. You have a diamond, yeah. So now you can either buy fake. You can buy a CZ and you can buy a fake diamond and then it just looks like it's just, but it's fake. But then you want to have a real diamond. You want it to be authentic. You want it to be, but guess what? You just can't afford it. You can't afford a beautiful, perfect diamond. So you know what you're going to do. You can bring it into the diamond dealer and tell them I want you to enhance the stone and they'll infuse it with whatever chemical necessary and it'll look nicer.

30:44
We all are a diamond. Diamonds aren't perfect. Diamonds are not perfect. We have blemishes, we have certain, you know we can have a little arrogance, we can have a little jealousy, we can have a little bit of you know selfishness, we can have a little bit of you know many different, different imperfections. So you know what we need to do throughout our lifetime, throughout our lifetime, we need to infuse with the chemical. What's that chemical? The mitzvah is to change those traits, to not be jealous. That's what we're learning. Musser is the chemical to perfect those imperfections, so that by the time we're done, we can take that gem it could be perfect and sparkly so that God can bring it back to His, put it back in His crown. God sends us with that gem and says I want you, I'm going to give you all of the tools you need to cleanse that stone, to perfect it, so that I can put it back in my crown. That's why we're here. We're here to perfect that stone.

31:55
The problem is we get caught up in the dollars, we get caught up in all the other things, in becoming famous, in becoming you know, becoming actor's career, whatever it is, and we don't realize that our real job is to cleanse and perfect that stone that soul that we have. And in perfecting our soul, what we're doing is we're finding a way to become capable of going right back into God's crown and sparkling the way we should. You know, now there are some people who have the merit or the privilege that they can do shock treatment on that diamond, because we know the story in the Talmud where someone did repentance, he repented and in one second right, so he had shock treatment. Most of us need to sit and scrub and work hard on overcoming our negative traits so that we can perfect it. We have to remember something God gives you the tools you need to perfect your soul and God gives you a different set of tools to perfect your soul, and every person has their own set of tools.

33:13
Anybody ever call a plumber. You call a plumber, right? So what the way is the plumber comes? It comes with the plumber tools. Imagine the plumber comes with dentistry tools. Is he going to be able to fix your leak? Is he going to be able to? No, he does not have the right set of tools. How about if your electrician comes with the scalpel and the tools you need in an operating room? Is he going to be able to fix your electricity. No, everyone has their own tools that are needed for them to accomplish their purpose, their mission. Each one of us.

33:52
We can't think oh, it's so easy for me to overcome my jealousy or my arrogance. You should find a way to do it, it should be pretty easy for you. Well, guess what? They have a different set of tools. They have a different set of challenges.

34:06
So it's why the Gaurna Vilna says to be very, very careful before we just freely listen to someone's criticism. He says be careful when you listen to criticism about yourself, not because you shouldn't learn. On the contrary, it says also in Proverbs that you reprimand the wise man and he'll thank you. He'll love you for it. Why? Why will he love you for it? Because you're helping him become a better person. But guess what? Not everyone likes to hear it, notwithstanding what King Solomon tells us in Proverbs that we love the criticism. This is be cautious. Does that person really know you? Does that person really know your capabilities, your tools, your strengths, your weaknesses? Do they really know you? Because it would be a terrible thing if someone says you know you really need to work on your jealousy. You're really not a jealous person.

35:05
Spend 10 years overcoming a trait that you don't need to work on. Now, everyone has a need to work on all of our traits and refresh them. My grandfather had a cycle that he would talk about in his lectures Probably, I don't know, I never kept track of it, but he would get back to certain topics. You know, in some form of cycle, because he was talking about his own traits, about what he needed to work on. So whatever he needed to work on was the topic he was going to talk about. Solomon tells us that ko ha po sel, be mu mu po sel. If you reprimand someone, it's your own self that you see that flowing. We don't realize sometimes the reason why we get upset about when someone does something else is because it's a flaw that we have in ourselves. It's our own flaw that we're seeing, but we're just able to point it at them. You shouldn't be doing that. You really shouldn't, because you're really your own flaw.

36:11
Something to note we're not here for a free ride. We're here to accomplish. We're here to do the things that we need to do. We're here to change the great Musa Yeshiva's. Back in Europe they used to have a saying we don't want you to become better. We want you to change. That was the goal of the Yeshiva. Don't try to become some sadic, some righteous person. Don't try to become a holy change.

36:48
You know how difficult it is to change one trait. Someone who has anger and is able to overcome anger and never be angry again. You know how difficult that is. I'll tell you how difficult it is. It's so difficult that Rabbi Shol Salantar, the founder of the Muslim movement, said that it's easier to finish and complete the entire Talmud than to change one trait. If you learn one folio a day, it would take you seven and a half years. It's easier to study the entire Talmud than to change one trait. It's a very, very difficult challenge. Every person has negative traits. Every person has traits that need to be repaired and to be modified. It's a lot of work. That's our job here to become as godlike as possible. Let's continue.

37:44
The second logical argument the law of and not only that elashi'im tahlit briyata adam hayal atzorcha olam hazeh. But if the purpose of man's creation was for the sake of his situation in this world lo hayat sarikh me prizeh shetunufach boh nishamaa kol kach k'ashuvah ve'el yuna then there would be no need for such a distinguished and elevated soul to be blown into him. If we're just here for here, what do we need such a lofty soul for? That soul is so great, shet'yeg dolaa yotter min amalachim atzmam, a soul that would be greater than even the angels themselves. Kol shekein shehi eina mozet shumna hathruach behol inugay zeh-haulam.

38:42
Certainly, since it finds no contentment in all the pleasures of this world, why would we put a soul the soul it works on spiritual currency? Why would something that only is fulfilled with spiritual currency be put into a world which is all physical currency? Does it make any sense? Why would you have a lofty soul that is so holy be put into you if the only currency it deals with is spiritual currency? Because we're here to fulfill a mission, not only in this world, but for the world to come, so that soul will get its actual reward in the world to come. It's actually interesting the reason why cremation is a terrible thing.

39:37
Because our sages tell us that when we have the time of resurrection, this body and the soul are reunited. And if the body was burnt to a crisp in cremation, there's no body and soul to be reunited, it's just a soul, and the soul is devastated. It doesn't have a body now. So why is it important for the body and soul to reunite? I'll tell you why. Because we're standing in front of the heavenly court and we say you know, I did 55 pounds of good deeds, okay, so God says no problem, let's take that nishamal, let's take that soul, and let's give that soul its reward. The body says whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Why don't I get any reward? That's not fair. I slept you out of bed. It's not like the soul did all everything itself. The body did good, right, the body worked hard to earn that money, to give the charity, and you're taking all the credit as if you, the soul, did everything yourself. That's why the body and soul get reunited, because they're partners. So it's not just our body needs to be subservient to the soul. The soul wants to do these good deeds. The body needs to help. If the body is too indulgent in the physical pleasures of this world, it's not going to listen to the soul.

41:08
What's if someone passed away at a young age, passed away at 35 years old God forbid, left over little children. Those children end up out living their father by double, triple his age, right? So the child passes away 95 years old. So the child passed away 95, the father 35. Comes the time of resurrection, the father is 35. The son is 95. So what's going to happen? It's going to be very, very funny.

41:35
So my Rabbi said that's what we say in the Shih-Hamal lot, in the verses from Psalms that we say right before we say the Bikathem was on the grace. After he says azim al-es-chokpinu, ushoneinu rina. He says then, when the time of resurrection, our mouths will be filled with laughter. It's going to be so funny, it's going to be hysterical. You're the father, I'm the son. What's that going to mean? I'm the grandfather, you're the right. It's going to be all craziness. That's going to go on over there. It's going to be so funny. People are going to be sitting laughing. It's going to be the father who was the young kid and the son who's the. It's going to be either way, but we don't. I don't know, at least all the details of that.

42:17
But again, I would say address these esoteric questions to Rabbi Kohn, our in-house coverless. Look, it's not a game, it's a real, serious thing. Life is a responsibility, it's a privilege and we have to do the best we can do. God doesn't expect us to do what we can't. He expects us to do what we can't, so let's make the best of it. My friends, it's been a real honor and a pleasure. It brings me so much joy to be back here. I look forward next week to another Moser Monday.