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)
Welcome back, my dear friends, to day number 68 of the Orchard of the Saddikim Ways of the Righteous in the Treasure for Life edition. We're on page 403. Tiferet ha-nishamah, the soul's beauty, shetispor, betiferet ha-simcho, asher tismach bo'alohim, the soul's beauty is exalted in the glory of its joy. In Hashem, the radiance of its fear illuminating its grandeur grandeur, the light of its preciousness will then be found pleasing to its creator in the love of its desire for the yearning and passion of loftiness to be crowned with the beauty of clean, pure thoughts. I'll explain this in a minute. So this is talking about mystical and esoteric terms of the soul's closeness to Hashem. Our soul is part of us, by the way. So, stephen, what happens when you're sleeping? What happens when you're sleeping is that part of your soul is taken. Hashem brushes it off, cleans it off, refreshes it and then restores it within you. But what happens if, while you're sleeping, I open up your eyes? With what do you see me, stephen, you see me with your eyes, right? No, you don't see me with your eyes, because if I went over to you while you were sleeping and opened your eyes, you wouldn't see me. Because what's lacking? Your neshama, your soul, a dead person. You walk over to them and you open their eyes. They don't see you. What's missing? Their soul. Talmud tells us that sleep is a 60th of death. So we're convinced that the neshama, the soul, is part of our body. No, no, no, no. It's a resident in our body, a temporary resident. It's locked up in this prison called our physical body. It doesn't really want to be here. It's got to be here to perfect it, to bring it to the highest level of its existence. And this is what the author here is talking about. See, he says when the soul gets to its point of perfection, then you're at a whole new level of happiness. There's another aspect of simcha, another benefit of simcha. There were two people. Someone approached Elijah, the prophet, and they said Elijah, tell me who's an example of someone who's got a seat in the world to come Like, just tell me who. So he says these two guys in the marketplace. You go over to them, ask them what their secret is. But they have a portion in the world to come. Bishvil shehoyu smechim. Their answer was because we are happy and we make people happy when they would see someone who's sad, someone who's depressed, someone who's down, someone who needs an uplifting of their spirit. They would go and wake them up, dance with them, laugh with them, tell them a good joke, brightness spirits. When they would see two people fighting with one another, they would tell them laughing stuff to lighten up, until the people would make peace between one another. And so we find in actual Jewish law maschilim b'milid b'dichusa k'deh liftoch ha'alev l'ilmud b'simcha A good teacher is supposed to start class with a joke, with something that opens up with laughter.

04:51
There's a great sage who was known as the Magid, as the tale teller of Jerusalem. He was known as the Magid of Jerusalem, rav Sholom Shradron. He always started his lectures with a joke. Someone once approached him and said it's unbecoming, it's not fitting. You're such a righteous, holy scholar, you start off with a joke. Someone once approached him and said it's unbecoming, it's not fitting. You're such a righteous, holy scholar, you start off with a joke.

05:26
See, he says did you ever see a child who's taking medicine? No child wants to take medicine. Why? It's disgusting. No child wants to take medicine. What does the mother do? What does the mother do? The mother makes the child laugh or promises them a candy and before they realize, they slip in the medicine. He says what I do is I teach Torah and that's medicine for the soul. But the body is rejecting it and is saying no, no, no, I don't want it. I don't want it. So I make a joke and they laugh and then I slip in the Torah. That's the medicine.

06:06
It's a Talmudic teaching that before you learn Hawacha you should say a little something light-hearted K'del iftoch, ha'leif, so you open up the heart to accepting with joy. So there's a benefit we know we mentioned previously in this series talking about happiness, of the dangers of frivolous laughter comedy, late night comedy, mocking people laughing night comedy, mocking people Laughing at others. But we also see that everywhere in Judaism there's always a favorite word balance. You must have balance in Judaism. There's no extremism. In Judaism. Everything is balance. Extreme one way, not good. Extreme the other way, not either good Balance To become a person of mockery and laughter, a comedian who's laughing things off.

07:09
There's nothing serious, ever no good, that's an extreme. To be all depressed and sad, that's the opposite extreme. There's a proper way to use it. There's a way to use it to help uplift. You see someone sad and down. Give them a good joke. You see someone who's not willing to accept Torah.

07:35
Start your class with a joke. I don't need to, because you're also wanting to learn. You come with such eager desire. It's amazing, I don't need to say any jokes. Ach lo simchas nevola, v'simchas havelem. And now again he warns us that the Talmud says that a person should be very, very careful that it not become frivolous out of control. Laughter. El simcha shel dvar, mitzvah ha-mesameach ha-saleh, but rather something that brings a person to happiness and comfort, so that they can observe, they can fill their heart and observe the mitzvahs properly. The laws, the commandments of Hashem are just. They rejoice the heart when you learn Torah and you see the perfection of Torah, you see the beauty of it. It makes you the happiest person. You can just conquer the world. It's amazing, the joy V'chol zeb is simcha samitzvah, and all of this is the form of simcha, this form of joy that is a mitzvah.

08:41 - Intro (Announcement)
My dear friends, this concludes day number 68. Produced by TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. Please help sponsor an episode so we can continue to produce more quality Jewish content for our listeners around the globe. Please visit torchweb.org to donate and partner with us on this incredible endeavor.