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.

00:12 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back, my dear friends, day number 62. We're on page 378 in the Orchah Tzaddikim Ways of the Righteous and the Gate of Happiness in the Treasure for Life edition, habitach HaNashlishi. We said that in order to have proper happiness and joy, you need to be able to let go. The first thing we said you need to let go of is your own health, meaning, don't put your trust in your doctors. Don't think that doing the exercise is going to be the solution to all of your problems. Do it, eat healthy, eat your to all of your problems. Do it, eat healthy, eat your vitamins and do your exercise. Do those things, but don't put your faith in it. Don't put your trust that, oh, this is going to guarantee any solution, any conclusion. Hashem is the one who decides the success that we have in any area of our lives. The second we said is a person's livelihood. People are running after their career and their livelihood, like this, is a guarantee If I go to this school, if I take this course, if I do this, I do that this is going to guarantee my success, and we know that that's flawed. What's the third trust that a person should be very, very careful of. Be'inyon ishto u'bano v'krovo v'o'avav Im haboteach. Hazeh nochri v'ger. Belo isho u'krovo v'chavir. Yikach elokim l'korov u'lochavir. If the one who trusts in, if the one who trusts in this case is a stranger without a wife, relatives or friends, let him take Hashem as a relative and a friend. As it is written this is my beloved and this is my friend. Zeh dodi v'zeh rei V'yachshav kachen. You should think as follows Kol mi shi yesh l'krov follows. Whoever has relatives after a short time will return to his grave eventually and remain a stranger and alone, and neither relatives, children nor friends will benefit him. Not one of them will befriend him.

02:55
I'm going to translate all of this in a minute and there is no doubt about that. So what is he saying here? He's saying that a person has to measure his time with his wife and his children and his relatives, and what he means is and I need to be very clear about this is that a person needs to have time alone. A person needs to have time to contemplate, to introspect. If a person is always busy with their wife, with their children, with their family, then what happens? What happens is they don't have time to be on their own and to reflect on what's the right direction for me to lead my life. What's the right relationship for me to have with God?

04:22
It says that the Purushim, the dedicated servants of Hashem. What would they do? They would leave their wife and kids every once in a while and they would go to the mountains and forests so that they can free their mind to serve Hashem. Now, what does that mean? You mean that if I'm married and I have children, then I can't serve God? No, that means that you're very busy taking care of your wife and your children and your relatives. It's very important and it's a big responsibility, but you also have to have time for your own service of Hashem in solitude. And if he will protect the angels, the wife of a woman and the children of a child and the lovers, he will protect the angels. That he will be able to give them what they owe them and to do their work and he will protect them. That he will give them their children and he will make good ways in the interest of the Torah and the work of the Sabbath and not for the sake of him. That he will give them a reward. That is so he says.

05:44
A person has to realize to utilize the relationship he has with family, whether it be a spouse, children, relatives to inspire them to the service of Hashem. A person shouldn't say well, I'm not going to be their guide, I'm not here to tell them what to do or how to do. You're right, we're not here to be a dictator in our homes. How to serve God, this is the way we're going to serve God in my house. A person has to do it with pleasantness, with love, with friendship, but to make sure that there's a focus to instill this love in our children, to instill this way of Hashem in our home.

06:31
V'lo yach siktor v'la'atzmo. V'lo yigba libo aleim. A person shouldn't think like I understand the ways of Hashem, I have clarity. And now you guys, my students, my disciples no, no, no, no, no. We're on a journey here together. V'im yitzdoroch l'krov of V'imalu chesrono Yachshov shehem shlucho shalmokom baruchu l'malos chesrono. V'lo yivtach bohem klal. V'im yivakish mehem dover. V'yoshivu ponov reik.

07:11
See, he also says here that a person sometimes relies on their family and their family falls short of providing what you need. You asked your family for a favor, you asked your family for you know something, and they fell short of what you expected. Now you're all down and upset about them. I can't believe it. I thought family, what's family for you know what? You have to remember that God has many messengers to fulfill his needs. Don't put your trust specifically oh, my family, they're going to give me that loan, they're going to take care of me when I? Hashem has many different messengers and you have to realize that. Don't put all of your trust per se in your family. They have their own lives, they have their own children.

08:04
People sometimes put expectations in their children, on their children, to do certain things when they're older. Oh, my children should take care of me like this, my children should do this. A person shouldn't put those expectations on their children. They should put the expectations on the Almighty. The Almighty will take care of me, he may send my children, he may send someone else out and to assist. And I think this is another area that if we want to lack, if we want to not fall into a place of disappointment, then this is another tool to make sure that we have the proper perspective of what our role is with our family. I might want to not post day number 62 yet and learn it again, perhaps, and share it with a little bit more clarity in our next session. My dear friends, this concludes day number 62. Have a great day.

09:01 - Intro (Announcement)
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