Jewish Inspiration Podcast · Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe

00:03 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.

00:12 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
My dear friends. And now we conclude this chapter of the Gate of Generosity with day number 98 in the Treasure for Life edition of the Orchis Tzaddikim, the Ways of the Righteous. We're on page 578. V'o dien adav nadiv b'mimono liknos ha-Mitzvos. A person should, furthermore, be generous with his wealth to acquire mitzvos. Acquire mitzvos. Kagon Rabban, gamlil Shekona. Esrog Be'elev Zuz. He bought an Esrog An Esrog is a citron that we shake with the lulav for a thousand gold coins. He wasn't cheap on. Oh, I'll spend that on my house, I'll spend that on my car, but on a mitzvah that expires after seven days. Yes, you know why? Because the mitzvah represents my commitment to Hashem. You think Hashem won't repay it when you show that devotion and love. I'll give you an example.

01:09
You know, I remember one of my rabbis. He said that every married couple during the first year of marriage you hear this Carlos Getting married soon, god willing During the first year of marriage and I've heard this from rabbis, that it's not only the first year, it's the first three years, maybe even the first seven years never come home empty-handed. You come home with flowers, you come home with a card, you come home with her favorite chocolate. You come home with something. Never come home empty-handed. One of the guys said to the rabbi he says but rabbi, what's if I can't afford it? You can't afford it, because if you can't afford it, you won't be able to afford it. Okay, you can't afford not to. You can't afford not to. He says you have to invest in your relationship. I would recommend, by the way, for every person who's been married 10 years, 20 years, 30 years, 40 years, do it for the next month, do it for the next week. Don't come home empty-handed. You know why You'll refresh your relationship. You're investing, you're doing a mitzvah with your relationship. It's a mitzvah. To cherish your spouse is a mitzvah. It's a mitzvah in the Torah. Try it. Let me know next week if it worked. It worked in making peace and harmony in your relationship, in making your spouse feel enriched, feel loved.

02:49
So you say well, what's if she's going to be upset that I spent the money on her? No woman ever said that ever, ever, literally ever. Why did you buy me flowers? You're wasting money? No woman ever said that. Right, you think? Hashem says why did you waste a thousand gold coins on my Esrog? I don't think so. Hashem says wow, he loves me, he's willing to part with a thousand gold coins to show his love for me. Cut him a check, send him a check. Send him back his thousand dollars. I love this man Right, that's the way it only grows the relationship when someone is able to do such a mitzvah.

03:31
So here the author here is telling us don't think that it's only use your money, you know, for good deeds, yes, but also for mitzvahs. By the way, I've had this. People tell me you know, rabbi, I really want to buy mezuzahs for all the doors in my house, which is appropriate. The halacha says that, not only the front door, all the doors in the house. I said, no problem, I send them to the scribe here in Houston who writes the mezuzahs. And then they're like Rabbi, you didn't tell me it was 100 bucks a pop. You know, you didn't. You know you can tell me that it was each one, one second. We're ready to spend an extra $1,000 for the chrome tires on our new Tesla and we're ready to spend another $1,000 for the white interior and we're ready to spend another $8,000 for the self-driving feature, but $100 for a mezuzah Rabbi? This is outrageous. Oh yes, shem, we love you, we want to spend money being close to you. All right, so, and one must be generous with his wealth.

04:31
To beautify mitzvahs, yes, you know what. You can light a menorah with your little tin foil menorah. You fulfill the mitzvah. But tell me what represents the love to Yashem? When you write light with the tinfoil or you buy a beautiful menorah, you say Hashem, I'm going all out for you.

04:54
By the way, the same thing goes with food for Shabbos. I'm going to buy the nicest cut of meat for Shabbos. I'm going to get the most delicious bread for Shabbos. I'm saying that because today is this fashion. Since COVID, people started doing this sourdough bread. You can buy sourdough bread it's like I'm talking about for Shabbos. People are spending like $20, $30 on these breads. It's like it's a luxury item. Baruch, hashem, people can afford it. That's great. People want to. It's a special Shabbos and people want to treat their family. That's great. People want to. It's a special Shabbos and people want to treat their family. That's great.

05:32
But one is being generous with a mitzvah that's beautiful. For the beautification of a mitzvah, one should pay up to a third more than the regular price. The beautification of the mitzvah, the hidur mitzvah at shlish. A person should also be generous with his wealth and write and acquire books, like we have here in the magnificent Torch Library, and lend them to those who do not have them.

06:02
It used to be that people had one Talmud in a city, one book of Talmud. You didn't have a printing press like you have today. You can go on Art School. You can buy all these books, right, david. You can buy all these books, right, david, you can buy all the books you can imagine. It's amazing what we have at our fingertips. It's an incredible thing. A person should spend their money on that as well. Wealth and riches are in his house and his charity endures forever.

06:29
The verse states V'yeh vatron b'zeh sh'lo yohu sh'm yiskal kolu asforam al yideh shalom dem bohem. A person who's doing a mitzvah with his money, like lending out his books or, by the way, lending out his possessions. You know what To forego. Whether or not it comes back damaged, it comes back used. I know I've been a victim of this myself. Not a victim, it's been a privilege. I'll tell you.

07:01
We have a bunch of different gemachs. Everybody knows what a gemach is. A gemach is gemilut chasadim. It's the acronym of gemilut chasadim loving kindness, and it's like a free loan society that we have in the Jewish communities, for example. Anybody right now might cheers. I've 20, I had 30, now it's 26. I don't know. Four disappeared. You'll understand why in a minute. But people buy, borrow them every single week. This one had a baby. They're having a party in their house. They'll borrow the chairs. They'll borrow tables, they'll borrow chairs, borrow tables, borrow chairs, borrow tables. And that's the gemach we have in our home and we consider it an absolute privilege. One time one of my children said he says Abba, do you realize? We have these chairs? We bought these chairs. We lend them out to people and they come back all dirty. They come back. Sometimes, you know, it's a little torn here, a little torn there, it's like you know. Or he says you should demand that people return it. Clean and people return it. Taken care of, and people return it. And here we learn, don't?

08:04 - Intro (Announcement)
be particular about it.

08:05 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
That's part of your kindness, that's part of your generosity.

08:09
I used to have a little bit of. I used to get a kick out of this. Every time I lend out my car, I get it back with something hanging off it okay, something. Sometimes it's the bumper hanging off it. I remember I had someone visiting town and they were leaving early, early in the morning. They were taking an Uber early in the morning. They were out late at night with my car and I come back the next morning in my car and I'm missing a bumper. The bumper's like gone, it's off, okay so, but that's. You know what.

08:41
That's part of the mitzvah, part of lending out, is that it's not going to come back exactly the way you gave it. You want it to come back exactly. Then what are you letting go of? What are you letting go of? They're not going to bring it back with a full tank of gas. That's part of your mitzvah. But you know, what's really funny about this Is that you know, $10, sometimes, like we'd be hard for someone to, I'm going to give a total stranger on the street $10. I mean, I'm going to give a total stranger on the street $10. When we think about it. If that person asked us for food, we'd give them $10 worth of food. There's something that we have with a dollar bill that makes it difficult and that's what our sages are teaching us here to get over that. None of it is ours, it's all Hashem's. And if they return the cheer a little bit torn, okay. And if it's a little bit bent out of shape, okay. And if the table comes dirty and sticky, it's okay. So fine, so you'll clean it. No, we have to. No, it's okay. He says.

09:42
Arsagius tells us I'll read it to you, the words this is particularly about Sepharim. They tear books. They borrow your book and they return it. It's ripped, the binding is ripped off, pages are ripped out. I'm not going to lend it out anymore. He says forego on this regard, not to be particular about the books being damaged through use, and he must be generous with all of his household utensils to lend them to his neighbors and acquaintances. He must be generous in lending his money to the poor and, if he is able, also to the rich. What does that mean to the rich? Why am I lending money to the rich, investing Right now? It's holiday season, he's got to buy merchandise, he's out of cash. He's strapped for cash. He's going to miss the season if he doesn't borrow money. Loan him the money. Loan him the money he says. And also, he should be generous in his business dealings with all, and not in particular with his friends about small things. I'll tell you what that means.

11:02
I remember I was talking to somebody and I said you know, I realized that there are two different types of business partners. I'm not a business guy, I'm a Torah guy, right, but I talk to a lot of people. People come to me. They're upset about you know, I did a business deal with this guy and he didn't pay me outright and he didn't this and that and those excuses and never got.

11:28
I realized there are two different types of people who do business. There's some people who, when they close the deal, they go this is mine, that's yours. Well, sorry, that's what's left for you, okay. Then you have the other people who say I want to do you right. You invested.

11:43
Look, this is what we came up with. Tell me what I can do to make you happy. And even if it takes a little loss, it's. You know, I don't want, I'm not going to, okay. So it's an extra few hundred dollars, a few thousand dollars. I want you to be happy.

11:59
This is the attitude that our author here, nur HaSiddiqim, tells us To be generous. You know what? I can tell you that when people have that latter attitude of I want to make it right for you, tell me what's required, I'll do it, I'll do business with you again and it'll bring more and more and more blessing your way. I've seen people who are this type this is mine and that's yours. Take it and this is you know. People don't want to do business with them again. So short term they win, long term they lose, and this is really what our sages are teaching us here. Generosity is a long term perspective. It's a long term perspective for our lives Because we get paid back way more for our generosity.

12:50
Yim hu modet yain o shemen o ezer dover. Sheyeh lo yitzamtzem v'yeinodiv b'gufu l'itroach avur kol odom lisbol ulam u masom. He says to be generous. When you're measuring out wine, oil or the like, he must not be over-exact, but give a little more Throw, a little bit extra, and he must be generous with his person, to exert himself physically for others to bear the yoke and their burden, to grieve in their afflictions, to pray for them to rejoice in their joys, to visit the sick and to do kindness with the dead. Le'ispalobadom v'lesmach b'sibchos m'luvakerchol imblasos chesedim ha'mesim U'biyoser tsorech li'os nadev b'choch mas toroso. Oh, you hear this, my dear friends, the best type of generosity. Be generous with your Torah wisdom. Be generous.

13:54
Rabbi Noah Weinberg of Blessed Memory, the Rosh Hashiva of Eish Hatorah, used to say if you know Aleph, teach Aleph. You know Beis, teach Beis. Whatever you know, teach. Be generous. Don't say you know, I'm not a scholar, I'm not a rabbi, I'm not ordained, I'm not qualified, I'm not skilled. You know something, teach it To teach all people knowledge and draw their hearts to heaven. This is the greatest form of all generosities Someone who is generous with others to bring them to the life of the world to come. You know it's interesting.

14:45
The Talmud says if your father and your rabbi are in prison or hostages, who should you release? You only have money for one hostage. Who do you release? Your father or your rabbi? Talmud says the rabbi. You know why? Because one brings you physically to this world, but one brings you spiritually to the next world. Our investment is always the next world. Figure out a way to get your father out too, by the way. Right, but it's just telling us where our priorities are. Someone who's giving you eternity eternity through the Torah that you study. If I'm ever a hostage, please let me out. Okay, af al pi shemida senedivus hitovos, and now he's going to give.

15:34
This is the last paragraph in this chapter. He says although the trait of generosity, as we've mentioned, is an excellent trait, one must be careful not to scatter his wealth to attain his heart's desires in varieties of foods and drinks. Use it for good things. Not to fill our bellies with more food and more drink or to scatter his money to things that are not going to bring him or lead him to be God-fearing Heaven forbid. And to be very, very careful not to waste money. People who have money, it's okay, it's just a fee, it's not a big deal Money is like. Be very careful. Be very careful not to run after your temptations and your desires and your urges, which bring evil to a person, but rather he must take care to be generous to good poor people, to clothe them, to feed them with the best poor people to clothe and to feed them with the best. Be fat for Hashem. Save all the fat for Hashem, meaning the best of what you have for Hashem. What does that mean for Hashem, for Hashem's children, to take care of His poor people? Hashem loves the poor. Hashem loves when we are generous with them and his reward will be an abundance of that treasured good which no eye has seen. No eye has seen which Hashem alone will do to those who await Him, those who are generous. My dear friends, this concludes the gate of generosity. What an absolute privilege, what an absolute honor to learn with all of you to really share this wisdom of the Yoch HaSaddikim, of the ways of the righteous.

18:01
Next week, god willing, we are going to talk about the gate of miserliness. None of you, it's not relevant to you, because none of you are misers. I'm going to share a story about Yassala the holy miser. We mentioned this previously. Fabulous, fabulous story. We'll talk about that next week, but till then, my dear friends, givetorchnet is where we're doing our campaign, but I know 100% that Hashem is making, sending delicious, beautiful messengers to ensure that we can continue to teach Torah throughout the globe, not only locally but globally, so that every Jew can be inspired to learn, to grow, to connect and to become, hopefully, me, me become a better Jew and hopefully by my learning and sharing what I'm learning, because I only know, maybe an Aleph trying to teach that Aleph. My dear friends, I love you all. Thank you so much for being here tonight and have a magnificent week ahead. My dear friends, have a good night!

19:16 - Intro (Announcement)
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