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)
Good evening everybody. It's so wonderful to be back at Mussel Mondays. We want to welcome all of our friends who are online and don't have the great privilege of being here in our delicious Torch Center. So we're on page 34. So till now we said it doesn't.

00:30
Anybody with a brain, anybody with some logic, would understand that it doesn't make sense for us to be in this world just for here. It doesn't make any sense. We have such an amazing world, such an amazing mind, so incredible. It would not make sense for us to be here just for here. We have to be here for a greater purpose. What is that greater purpose? We're here for attaining the highest level of pleasure, our connection with God. Now we also said that if we're here for here, we should never die, because if our purpose is to be here, then we should stay here. But that's not our purpose. Our purpose is to be here to accomplish. Once we accomplish, we move on.

01:28
Okay, actually, it's funny. So we talk about reincarnation, and if someone doesn't perfect their soul? So I'm on several of these different chats on News Messenger. One of the chats, I didn't see what was being talked about, but all I saw was someone wrote it must be reincarnation number 75. So I was thinking they're talking about themselves and they're having a bad day and they're like you know, just like I messed up again. I messed up again.

02:00
It turns out they were talking about a kosher Chinese restaurant that just got a new ownership and it's like, okay, another one.

02:07
But the truth is that for us, we have to think about it. You know, it's like we're here to really perfect ourselves. We're here to make the best out of our situation. Nobody Nobody in this room, in the entire world has a perfect life, and yet every person that you know has a perfect life. We don't have a perfect life because of our perspective, but the minute we change our perspective to realize this is the life that God gave me so that I can make the best out of it, it's a perfect life. So, yeah, it might not be the way I think about it. I was just talking to someone yesterday. He's telling me you know, when I lived in New York, I always felt inferior because, you know, someone else drove a nicer car than me, someone had a nicer house than me, someone had better clothes than me, someone did someone that says I feel like in Texas. It's a lot, a lot more relaxed, I said because you haven't gotten into boots yet.

03:09
And then you get into boots, oh yes, You're like, yours are just an alligator.

03:16
Yeah, okay, yeah that's for beginners, yeah, right, so either way. But the idea here is that wherever someone is, it really is a matter of perspective. It's a matter of perspective of whether or not we're going to see. This is the opportunity. This is what I'm here for. I'm here to accomplish, notwithstanding the challenges that I have. Okay, so, he says, follows. That was the first reason. The second reason, the second logical argument not only that, but if the purpose of man's creation was for the sake of a situation in this world, then he would not need to have, he would not need to be bestowed with such a distinguished and elevated soul within him.

04:14
How do we need a soul, a soul such a great, lofty, powerful component of who we are? What do we need the soul for? If we're just here for here, then it could just be body. What do we need soul for Shethiye? Not only that, it's so great, but the shethiye g'dola yotem in amalakim atzmam, or soul that is greater than the angels themselves. Koshikin shihi eina mutsa ashum nakhatru apuhulinugze olam. Certainly, since it finds no contentment in all the pleasures of this world. So here we have a world that is physical, and here we're imbued with a spiritual soul that's again embedded into our body.

05:02
What do we need the spiritual soul for? If we're just here for physical? To eat good cereal in the morning, to eat great Chinese food for lunch, to have a great steak dinner everything. What do we need the soul for? If we're just here for body, we should just be here for body. But we're not just here for body. And that's the big battle that we're constantly facing in our lives is who's in control? Is the body in control or is the soul in control? The body wants to fulfill the pleasure, the physical, the spiritual wants to fulfill the soul. Again. The soul wants to fulfill the spiritual, the selfless, the godly. So we have all of this. That, again, our sages are telling us. This is the reason why we are here. You want to know why we're here in this world. We're not here for cruises, we're not here for vacations. We're not here for Now.

06:04
God gave us those opportunities so that we enjoy and we rejuvenate and we get the energy we need so we can continue to do the good things that we're doing, but that's not the reason for it. Our lives shouldn't be circling around those occasions. Our lives shouldn't be circling around the food that we eat. Oh, I can't wait for dinner tonight. Everything's around the dinner. I can't wait for that vacation. Everything is around the vacation. It should be the opposite. Everything should be around the work. It happens to be. I also need a vacation so I can refresh. It's the same exact activity, but it's a different perspective. Who's serving who?

06:44
I'll just go back to something you think of technology today. Technology today is one of the biggest challenges. I think it's like every educator I speak to. They tell me I'm so happy that they were talking about people who are older. They say. They tell me I'm happy I raised my children before they were cell phones, because the challenges today that we, as young parents, are facing with with children, teenagers, with smartphones and being completely consumed by this technology, it's a disaster. It's a disaster.

07:32
It's not any different, though, than the materialism there was back in the 80s and the 90s, and the 60s and the 70s. None of you would know of that because you're all born in the 80s, so 1980s. So right, but it's never changed, because there's always been something to distract a person from focusing on their soul. There's always been a distraction. There was always something to destroy the soul as well. So it's not that this is new, it's just different. But the way we're going to overcome it is going to be the same way. We've overcome it all the other times. Back in the 60s and 70s and 80s and 90s, it was television that people could have put down the remote, and then it became internet and today it's smartphones. So, either way, there was always a distraction.

08:22
The Yetzahara is been busy since day one figuring out how do I distract people, how do I keep people off balance? So it was once fashion. Well, that hasn't changed. It still is fashion. Right, it was houses. It still is houses. It was possessions. It still is possessions. It was whatever it was. It still is. Again. It has a different, a new incarnation, a new variety, but it's still the same Yatahara who's busy, busy, busy, busy, not letting us focus on our soul. Just focus on your body and everything will be fine. And that's not true. We always had distractions, and don't think for a second that just because we use it for good things, that we're not going to be distracted to use it for not good things.

09:17
You know, my grandfather says the moment you open up the Talmud, you open up the Talmud, you know what happens? Suddenly you start oh my goodness, that's right, I forgot to. Did I close the garage door? I have to call my friend to apologize. Like suddenly everything starts flooding your mind. Just open up the Talmud. You want to travel the world? Open up a Talmud, right, you'll be everywhere. You'll suddenly be just the Yatahara will do everything in the world, so that you don't look at the words and study, says Zoram Haal.

09:52
Zoram Haal interrupts his train of thought with two proofs that the soul does not receive pleasure from this world. The soul, the spiritual part of our existence, does not take any pleasure in this world. Vehu ma'a shalim dunu z'chonu l'arachah. Bimidrash k'alaz e'lashonam. This is what the sages of blessed memory meant when they said in the Midrash Ecclesiastes the gam hanefesh l'otimaleh. The verse states Ecclesiastes 6, verse 7, all man's toil is for his mouth, yet the soul is never satisfied. Ma'a shalim adavandomeh, a parable to explain why the soul is unsatisfied with all man's toil. To what is this matter of the body and the soul?

10:50
Comparable l'ironi shinasah batmelaq to a simple villager who married the daughter of a king, im Yavila kal ma'a shema'u lam. Even if he brings her all the things available to him in the world, enam ha'shovim la'a klum, they are worthless to her. She heepatmelaq, because she is the daughter of a king and accustomed to the greatest luxuries of royalty Ka'a hanefesh. So imagine he's a peddler, works hard, a peasant. He's a peasant, he grew up in a farm, so to him it would be a great luxury to have potatoes. He's going to bring his new bride, the queen or the princess. He's going to bring her potatoes. She's like you know, this is a great delicacy potatoes. What do you mean? We put that in our eggs in the morning. We have. What do you mean? Potatoes is not a luxury. Imagining this peasant, thinking of you know, it's like people in first class and people in the cattle class, right, you think?

11:52
Like what do you get all from me From the economy is such a luxurious name for cattle part, but that's what we call it.

12:04
Yes, so you're going to try to come back and say you want to borrow my pillow? Really, look at it. Look at it. You know it doesn't translate. So to kachanefesh, so to is the soul. Ilu hiveta la kolmah adhaneolam, if you in your body bring all the pleasures of the physical world, enam klumlah, it's nothing for the soul. Lamah, why? Why doesn't it do anything for the soul? So you bring it. You bring the soul. Pizza doesn't do anything for the soul. You bring it a movie doesn't do anything for the soul. Right? You bring it a drink, you bring it any type of physical pleasure. It doesn't satiate the soul. Why not she? He min hael yonim? Because the soul is from the upper spiritual realms and is not satisfied by mere physical pleasures. It's the wrong currency. It's not going to help. It's not going to help. It's not going to help anyone.

13:06
It's not going to fill your soul.

13:08
Let me explain to you something. Okay, I opened up one of my books recently and I found I'm not kidding you a million, a bill of one million. Okay, I'm not telling you what currency, but it wasn't dollars, right? So I told my son. I said hey, do you want a bill for a million?

13:30
He said a million. I'm like, yeah, it's a million. Now it's the old Kopeck from Ukraine which was worth about 10 cents, okay, so you see, it just doesn't. It doesn't like what is that? It's nothing, it's a million. So what A million? Nothings, right, that's what food, that's what any delicacy is? To the soul, it's a million nothing. Now, to the body, it's pleasurable, but not to the soul. To the soul, it means nothing.

14:02
So the question I always get from people is you know, why are Jews always the extremists in everything? Extremists in wealth, extremists in every area of life, anywhere? The biggest sheets, the biggest bank robbers, the biggest comedians, the biggest actors, the biggest right, do you think of the biggest scientists? All Jews, jews, jews, they're all Jews. Why? I want to share with you my reason, okay, and that is because we have something called an ashamah, and the ashamah is never satiated.

14:42
And my, my, my, my parable to this is a vacuum. What's the greatest pleasurable sound in a vacuum, in a vacuum cleaner? None. When it sucks a pretzel, right, you know that sound. The crackle sound, right, it's just. You know what I'm talking about, right? Pick up all the crumbs and you hear the crackle inside the right. It's like ah, so what a delicious.

15:07
Now what's if you pull it off? You pull off the nozzle. What's going to happen? It'll grab onto your pants, it'll grab onto the tablecloth. It'll grab onto a skirt. Right, why Just relax? No, that vacuum cleaner needs to suck in something. Give me some dirt, give me something, and if you don't, I'm going to grab something.

15:29
So now, what is the soul? The soul is that vacuum cleaner. It needs something. What does it need? What's its intake? That it needs Spirituality. If you take it off and you don't give it spirituality, you know what's going to happen. It's that nozzle that's going to go crazy and it keeps on sucking because it thinks it'll get something from it.

15:52
So he grabs onto science and then just, and it never stops, it never quenches that thirst. So they get to the top because there's nothing stopping them. They need to get everything they can at them because they're going into the wrong currency. Right, you tell this vacuum cleaner, don't you understand? You grab the tablecloth. He says I don't care, I want something. Feed me something. That soul needs to be fed something. What's it going to be fed? Oh, spirituality. The world doesn't know that. The world thinks oh, you know what I'm going to go shopping and shopping is going to fulfill my soul. It doesn't do it Right and people get a spiritual high called dopamine and they get that for about 30 seconds when you buy something new. If you buy a car, maybe two weeks of excitement maybe, and then you're ready looking at the next model. Maybe I should have waited a month, maybe I can trade it in.

16:58
It's not going to do anything and that's the way we run after ourself, trying to fulfill that vacancy in the soul. It's not going to fill it. There's only one thing that can fill the soul, and that is Torah. It's within you. You have it already, but we just have to learn how to properly use it and not to get lost. We're in a world. Anybody here ever. I did this for a long time. I'm planning on reinstituting this and that is going to the store any store, including grocery. You only buy what's on your list. Did anybody ever have that? No, why? Because our eyes feast in imagination and say you know what?

17:50
Maybe oh, this is actually good, so I was thinking about that and before you know, you have a full cardigan and it could be closed as well. It could be Costco's, the worst, and you're just like it. Never. And it's because the soul is trying to get filled and it's not going to get filled through that. It's not going to get filled through that.

18:11
So it's a very fundamental principle here there's only one thing that can fulfill that soul, and that's spirituality. It's Torah, that's Mitzvahs, that's it. It's the only thing, it's the only currency that can fulfill it. So we try. We try through the observance of Mitzvahs, we try through all of these different tools that Hashem has given us 613 different tools to find that perfection. Okay, so they do nothing for it. They do nothing for the soul.

18:47
All of the physical pleasures of the world, all the money in the world, all of the, all of the luxuries, all of the whining and dining, they do nothing for the soul. Why? Because it is of the upper spiritual realms and is not satisfied with mere physical pleasures. The chain of the soul is the same as the other. Similarly, our sages of Western memory said Al karchoch atan o tsar. Against your will you were formed, al karchoch atan o lad, and against your will you were born. Ki ein hanishama o hebes haolama zekvav. The soul must be compelled to enter the body, because the soul does not like this world at all. You know why. We've said this numerous times. You know why a baby cries when it's born. He doesn't want to be here. Here you took the soul that is whining and dining with God, so to speak, in holiness, in spirituality, in Torah, and the minute the second it's born, it's, it's, it's imagine like, it has no limitation. The soul is, it can see from one side of the world to the other. The soul is learning with the angels, and now we're taking that soul and slapping it into the body of this poor little baby. Baby's now born and it's crying. I don't want to be here. Take me back home, take me to where I belong. I don't want to be here. Baby's crying. So what do we do? Give the baby a pacifier. We give the baby toys, we give the baby balloons, we give the baby paw patrol. If you have grandchildren or children, you know that that's very, very important. This is very, very important. Why is it important to our children? Because it's the only thing that will distract them. Just just quiet, quiet, relax that soul. It's fine over here. It's fine Really. The soul doesn't want to be here. Soul hates being here.

20:59
Now Abkhaz teaches us Ki'en hanashama, ho'ohevet, ho'olam hazeh clow. The soul must be compelled to enter the body, because the soul does not like this world at all. El adrab mo'esetbo to the contrary, it despises this world. The soul hates this world. There's nothing that we can do in this world that will help our soul feel comfortable, unless it is Torah study, unless it is doing mitzvahs, unless it is connecting our body and soul to its real essence. Which is why I say going to classes is a great thing. Really, I really do.

21:47
I believe that going to classes is a great thing, but learning one-on-one with someone is even better. Learning one-on-one, whether it's with a rabbi, whether it's with a friend, whether it's with someone in the community, is so crucially important for someone to grow spiritually. If you come to class, look, I spend a lot of time preparing class and hopefully it's on a silver platter. Maybe if I really really prepare a lot, a lot, a lot, it's a gold platter, but that's it. It's sort of ready. When you have to work through it in your own mind, then you have to really chew on a line in ethics of our fathers and internalize the idea and connect to it. So you transform. And I'll tell you that many times what I teach is things that I feel I need to grow in. So I force myself to talk about it so that I can learn and grow from the experience of preparing, of connecting to what I'm learning on a higher level. Okay, so the body doesn't want to be here, the soul doesn't want to be here. It's forced to be here, it's compelled to be here, but it despises this world. The soul does not want to be here.

23:10
It's interesting that the source of all souls we've mentioned this, I think, last week why people get so emotional at the hotel or in Jerusalem or the land of Israel. You ask someone what are you crying? What's the big deal? So, first is there's no other place in the world almost almost probably none that people cry because they're like wow, anybody here? Go to the Kremlin and say like, oh, my goodness, I'm going to cry. You cry from fear, maybe, but you're not going to cry of connection. Yet we come to Israel, people get emotional. People come to the Western Wall and it's like the kids are off the faucets. People are crying people are connecting. It's such a powerful place. Why? Because we're getting to the place which is the source of our soul, that is the connecting point between heaven and earth.

24:09
Where are we praying towards? Over here, we pray east, towards Israel. When you're in Israel, you pray towards Jerusalem. When you're in Jerusalem, you pray towards the Temple Mount. Why? Because that's the center of the universe. Our prayers are to say travel all the way there and then from there to heaven. It says that if you don't know what direction, some people have a built-in GPS, some people don't some people can be praying that direction, thinking they're praying towards Jerusalem. Maybe, if you go that way around the globe, you'll get there, but it's a longer way. There's a shorter route. What you have to do is, if you don't know what direction is, is towards Jerusalem. So have in mind that your prayers should be facing there, so to speak. Have in mind that your intention is to pray towards Jerusalem. We're connecting with the essence, with the soul.

25:11
Okay, ramchal now resumes his logical argument. If so, vadai lo haye, boree ha, boree it barach vriya, the Creator would certainly not create a being letachlit shahun eget chukah ve nimas bimena for a goal that is against its nature and from which it is repulsed. So again, so we're talking here. God would not create a being for a goal that is against its nature. People wonder it's an amazing thing that every animal has its protection. Every animal has its protection. You know a cat if it feels attacked, you know what happens it pulls out its claws. A dog dog bites or barks. Every animal has its mechanism of defense. It also has its place where it's natural for it to be. And the problem is is when they have. You know, the lions are hanging out with the hippos are hanging out. That's a problem. So that becomes a territory thing. You're taking our water, you're taking our, you know whatever it is. So that's when they attack each other. But everyone has a way in which they can attack and they also have a vulnerability from which they can get attacked.

26:38
So we created a perfect world. What's about us? What's about us? What's about our natural state? What should be our perfect state? If we're created and we're placed into this world, where our soul is repulsed by this world, it's not happy being here. It's not happy Ella Brihato.

27:03
Shalha Adamlum Atzabobu Alamabai. Rather, the creation of man with his soul was for his future situation in the world to come, al-qaynit Nabonishamazbhu Azot. And that is why he was given this elevated soul Kila Ra'uilavod, because it is fitting for the soul rejoined with the body to serve Hashem in this world. Uba Yuhal Ha'adam Likabel As-Sachar Bim Komor Uzmano. And with the soul, man will be able to receive this reward for his service in its place and in its time in the world to come. So we have like this. We have a body that loves this world, we have a soul that hates this world.

27:51
Hashem brings them together and says here you guys are going to be partners, you guys are going to work together to schlep yourself out of bed to go to shul in the morning and to schlep yourself out of your chair to go do a mitzvah and to schlep yourself out of your house to go volunteer someplace and to schlep yourself on a cold night like tonight. For those of you who don't know, it's right now 35 degrees here in Houston, frigid, of course, it's burning hot here at the torch center, but it's frigid weather. And everyone came out and said Bar Hashem, a packed room here, call, come up to you, because that was a battle between your body and your soul. Your body was saying you know what, dave, it's cold. It's cold, maybe we just stay home tonight. But your soul is saying but I want to learn Torah. So there's that battle between the body and the soul. The soul says I want it, but the body is like I'm sorry, I got, I got this territory, I'm tired. Right, I don't want to move, I just want to stay here. We'll see.

28:56
In further chapters We'll see that the Celestial Shalom tells us the nature of mankind is heavy. Anybody here not lazy? No, you're all lazy, we're all lazy, every single one of us will. You know why? That's our nature. It's our nature. Hashem created us like that. We are like this Okay, what happens when I leave? Go Falls. You know why it falls? Because it's lazy, it's heavy. Guess what that's us To get out of my chair. And you know why.

29:27
We have some things that we love to do and we jump out of our seats. That's to battle our Yatsuhara. One second, when it's something I like, I can jump out of my seat, no problem. When it's something my Yatsuhara, my Yatsutov, likes, my good inclination likes like studying Torah, so I'm so tired I can't do it, I don't know. That's why you have those things you're excited about, but someone tells you guess what? I have two tickets to the rodeo. Now, I'm not crazy about the rodeo, but if you are crazy about the rodeo, we go to a Rockets game or to an Astros game or to a to Chilli Cook-off, right? Well, we didn't have a team this year, so you don't want to go anyway, or to a Texans game or to whatever it is right.

30:13 - Intro (Announcement)
So some people might be motivated to see an order, really, or to a ballet.

30:17 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Now you're a cultured Symphony, right, so that I'll go to, of course. Yeah, I'm not tired, I can do that Torah class, right, I'm tired Because that's the battle. That is the battle. It's the battle of the soul and the body. The body says you know what? I'm tired, I'm not excited about this, but you are excited about something else. If I told you about the food, you would jump, and if it's free food, you jump even faster Because you're Jewish, right? Okay.

30:50
So possessions, property, rulership, it is all ego, it's power. Yes, you think Russia is lacking anything. Right now it's the biggest country in land, then almost half the world. I mean, it's enormous. So what do they need from Ukraine? What do they need from Ukraine? Some of them have plenty of southern port, they have plenty of ways to get their stuff there. But it's power.

31:24
I want to show that I'm bigger, so I want to show that I'm stronger. It's funny because in this generation it seems like things have changed when you don't see as much territory battle, you see industrial battle, you see technology battle, because the way in which people define their own strength is different. Today it's not only by land, but either way, without getting into that, it's, generally speaking, the reason why we have this impulse, like you're saying, to take over someone else's land, Because it's a self-image thing that I will be bigger, I will have more, I will be more powerful. So our soul doesn't want to be here. The only way we can keep our soul calm is by feeding it. How do we feed it? Feed it to our soul, we feed it to our soul, we feed it to the connection with Hashem, okay, which will not be something repulsive to his soul, as this world is, but to the contrary, that world, the world to come, where we get the reward, will be loved and coveted by the soul, and this is obvious. So the soul is not here for here. It has to go through here to reach its perfection. What's the vessel that carries that soul? The body. We get carried away with the body and then we're losing connection to our soul. It's here. The purpose of the body is here to get our soul to reach its perfection. That's the only reason. It's here. The soul itself, the soul in the world of souls, in the world of souls, can't put on to fill in, it can't wear tzitzit, it can't keep kosher. When you bring it into a physical world, then the spiritual can, the soul can observe those mitzvot. That's the purpose of the body. The body is here in a world of distraction being tested that we don't divert our interests, we don't divert our desires and our urges to the physical things that draw us away, but stay focused on target for the soul. And according to Ramchal, here he says it's an obvious thing, completely obvious. Any questions so far? No, no, no. Look at that.

34:09
Pure doesn't mean perfect. I actually had this argument. It's an ongoing argument between me and my esteemed brother, rabbi Yaakov, and he says no, what it means is that the soul is perfect. The soul is not perfect. The soul comes with blemishes, which is why we're here. The soul is pure. It's different. It's not perfect, it's pure, and we can discuss at a different time what's the difference between pure and perfect. You don't say olive oil is perfect, you say it's pure. Perfect means it's perfect in its purpose, it's perfect for what it is given for, and the soul is not necessarily perfect because we have to make that perfection. It's pure that it doesn't have other. The soul that God gives us is pure. Now we have the opportunity I'm saying this in a negative way throughout our lifetime to make that very impure, that soul. God gives it to us pure, but the question is what do we do with it? Do we keep it pure or, god forbid, sell it out to impurity? Okay, top of page 37.

35:28
Having explained at length the purpose of man's creation, ramchal deepens our understanding of man's obligation and goals in this world. And here, after we know this, we know this, we understand the significance of the sins that are incumbent upon us and the value of the divine service that is in our hands, because these are the means that we have been given For the service of God, like we explained just a few minutes ago, are the means that bring us to true perfection, which is our goal in life, as explained above and I share below, adam, you sag, clow which cannot be attained at all without them. So if we were in a world just of souls, we wouldn't have any midst this. You see, we have to have these two opposite forces One is being the physical, one being the spiritual, combined together, put into one human, one person. Someone asks you so, david, what are you?

36:42
So many people would say I'm a body, I'm a person, I'm a man, I'm a human. The truth is, we're a soul. That's the correct answer. The truth is, I am a soul. I have clothes that make me look like a human. Your soul is your essence. That's who you are. Right, your body, your body is the cover for it. It's the clothes, right? You don't ask someone in a success or what are you? And he says I'm a bow tie. No, the bow ties, the clothes. I'm a person. We have to understand who we are. We are a soul. The body we have is the clothes for that soul. So someone who's all immersed in the physical is missing that connection of who they really are.

37:33
I'll tell you, remember, many years ago it's funny, because I was just talking about this recently with someone I Remember my grandfather came and we visited. He visited someplace and when we were left and my father grandfather asked a certain question about that, about the person's situation, and we're like what do you mean? That's, that's the way they are, you like. And he asked the question again and we said because that's just who they are. What he, my grandfather, was asking is why is that who they are? What got them to the point where they were that way? So a person can always be asking themselves that question why am I the way I am. What makes me the way I am? Perhaps I got carried away, perhaps I was supposed to be something else and I let my body get the best of me.

38:28
Think for a second if we're discussing this tattoos what is tattoos? You're making the body, the essence, you're glorifying the body. Does that make any sense? To glorify the body? That's not what we're here. You're missing the boat. When the Torah tells us that one shouldn't draw on their body via tattoo, it's because the Torah is telling us you are off, you're off target. That's not why you're here. You're not here to color on yourself to make yourself pretty. You're here To work on your soul. You're not gonna get that done by coloring on your hand or by calling on your legs, or by coloring in the back of your neck and, by the way, if I may say, coloring many times really terrible, stupid things.

39:23
So we had this with this this young nurse who was taking care of my wife, which she was in delivery for one of our children, and my wife notices that the nurse has some Hebrew letters on her hand. So my wife says oh, your, your, I see you have a Hebrew tattoo. She says, yeah, um, it means strength. So my wife looks at it and it says, instead of co-op, which is cough, vav head, it says more, which is mem Vav head, which is brain. So we're right, mark, which means on the mind, right, well, the brain. Obviously someone wasn't using their brain. She's walking around thinking. It says strength and you know, it says brain. Just one letter different. The irony, I mean, generally speaking, those artists aren't scholars. Okay, it looks the same. I guess it's the same. You know, just one letter off.

40:22
God gives us such a lofty soul and what do we come out with? I got no, what, what? Or brains on our hands, right, it's. It's really sad, it's really really sad. So he says, like this, with, which cannot be attained at all without them. So you need the body, you need the soul, you need the body to help the soul perform those mitzvahs, to help it fulfill its purpose.

40:48
Irramification we're almost done here Irramification of this understanding rule on ya do a key in a tachlit magia, el Mikwach, kibbutz kolam. See, now it is known that a goal can be reached only through the proper integration of all means Asher nintzu, vashya shimsul a hagi or that are available and they can be used to reach it. Who could be, car Mts Moshiam, to the extent of the strength invested in those means and their implementation, can you a tachlit anulat mahem? So will be the result that is produced from that. We call her fresh hatan. She meets a BM Same, and if any small deviation is found in the implementation of the means, tiba hand to la the toe, be verour vada a. Its result will certainly be clearly apparent. We're born a soul Placed into a body.

41:47
Now, what so? Now we just do what? Now we just go surah Hashem, right wrong. Now we're gonna aim to Go surah Hashem. And now we're gonna start fielding pitches. And Hashem is gonna pitch us a curveball, he's gonna pitch us a fastball, he's gonna pitch us a slider, he's gonna pitch us a knuckleball. Right, we are going to get balls coming our way that are coming from all directions and we don't know what to do.

42:23
Those are the challenges, for God says you're gonna need to use all of your resources. You're need to get, you're gonna need to use your mind, you can need to use your character, you can need to use your you know every facet of your being To accomplish your role in this world. I'm not like oh, I'm here now, I'm just fulfilled myself for my purpose, because I stayed away from bed. No, it's not gonna do anything. What we need to do is utilize all of these opportunities that come our way, all of these challenges that we will incur throughout our lifetime, to help us Reach our perfection.

43:07
Baguioz man, hatahlit, when the time of the outcome is reached, hanulad Mikibut's call Kukulam, kamosha, katapati, vizebaru. As a result only from the integration of all of those means, as I wrote, vizebaru, and it is clear. So we're gonna have all of these challenges that are gonna come to us. We're gonna have to use every single one of our abilities, our resources, to reach that perfection. It's not gonna just be like easy, I Show up and I'm good. No, it's gonna be a lot of hard work to get there.

43:41
May I tell what I who? It is thus obvious she had a dick, she do dock a linear, and it's both to our order that the precision Precision that should be employed in the performance of the mid-souls and the service of a shem Mokhra she, he, a betahlit had a dick do must be ultimate precision. So people say, rabbi, does it really make a difference if it's one minute more, one minute less? Does it have to really be clot kosher. Does it really have to be? I mean, it's just okay that it's in the spirit of the law. Should that be fine? I would, it's like, is it okay? I just don't eat bacon and let's call it a day, right.

44:18 - Intro (Announcement)
Is that okay? Does it?

44:19 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
have to be that it was slaughtered properly. Well, it depends how much you want to connect us up now. Just as a side note, this is not why we slaughter our animals and it's not why we have them checked by professional Rabbis who know exactly what they're doing. And just by the way, so that you know, when they say food is kosher does not mean that your food was blessed by a rabbi. Okay, that's not what it means and many people think oh, just a rabbit need to bless it, right? No, the rabbit doesn't need to bless anything. You need to make a blessing before you eat. But as long as you do that, the idea is that we need to make sure that the food is indeed kosher. A lot of things need to go and make sure that the chicken is kosher. After every chicken is slaughtered, they're checked. After every cow is slaughtered, it's checked to make sure that internally, they weren't any blemishes. It has a broken leg not kosher. If it had any of its limbs not functioning, internal or external, it's not kosher. That has to be checked. It's hard work Aside for the proper soaking and salting and rinsing that is required for meat to be kosher and to extract all the salt, etc. Etc. It's not just that. Well, the chicken, the chickens are kosher. So it doesn't make a difference if I buy Purdue, tyson or Nealmore. It makes a huge difference, a very huge difference.

45:48
So we have a life that is filled with challenges, and the more precision we pay and more attention we pay to performing the myths of us perfectly, the closer we're allowing ourselves to get with Hashem, the more we're getting into God's way of thinking, into God's, you see, aligning ourselves closer to Hashem. We don't want to be the people who say you know, it's enough, I showed up, it's enough, I showed up. Or do we want to be the people who say, you know what, it's not enough for me to show up, I want to get my hands in it, I want to get this perfect, I want to be along with Hashem on his path. And that's what. The more we invest in the accuracy and the precision of our performance of myths, the greater our connection with Hashem is. Ka shere yudak dekush shoklas avab dinim lorov yakram.

46:47
You know, I used to go with my father to work as frequently as I could because I did not want to be in school. I'm serious, I didn't want to. So I'll tell you, my father was a diamond dealer for many years. Now you know that they deal. You know they say that shoemakers walk around without shoes. Right, why they're selling them? They don't have a value for them. Because it's like, this is my, this is my livelihood. I don't need shoes. You know it's like I step on shoes all day. It was like, you know, it's a. So it was very interesting because I went once went under my father's desk and I saw that there were these hundreds of little diamonds all over the floor. I'm not kidding you. Now you think like, wow, diamonds is probably the million dollars on the floor. No, okay, talk about really, really small ones. And it's fine, because when you're a diamond dealer, diamonds don't don't necessarily mean so much.

47:43
So I went to my father you should get a vacuum, vacuum it up and then pull out the bag and you'll have all your diamonds right there.

47:50
You know, so they eventually, I think they did it. But the idea is that the truth is, when you deal with bigger diamonds, not the teeny, teeny, teeny, wincey ones, every diamond is precious. They have a parcel of 20 diamonds, right? You have to make sure every single one is counted, or counted for. Every single one. You know where it is. You weigh them carefully. Each one goes on that scale.

48:13
You make sure that they that it's accurate, the exact weight, the precision that we have with those gems, precision employed by those who weigh gold and jewels due to their great value, kitsuladatam naledat pishlimutam iti, for precise performance of the mitzvahs and service of Hashem, results in attainment of the true perfection. So imagine this, you know, by the way, this week's parasha Pekude Moshe lists all of the, all the donations that were donated to the Tabernacle, Exactly how many kikars, which is a measurement of gold, and the exact measurement of silver, and the exact measurement of copper, and all of the parchment and other cloths that they donated. Every single thing was enumerated. That's called transparency, just like our federal government, right? But imagine, every single thing that was donated was clearly numbered out.

49:28
One, two, three, four. So too, when we deal with mitzvahs, everyone should be precise. Do a mitzvah in perfection, to do a mitzvah which is complete and the eternal esteem which is so precious that there is nothing more valuable than it. So what the Ramchalists teaching us here is that we are in a world we don't want to be in. Who are you? What are you? What are you? There you go.

50:05
You're a soul that occupies a body, and that soul does not want to be here. The body wants to be here. The soul does want to be here. The soul wants to be in a spiritual place that's all spiritual, without the distractions, without the other limitations of the physical, unless we give it spirituality. Then the soul says, ah, I'm fulfilling my purpose. Filling my purpose, this is what I want. This is why God brought me to this world. Okay, but what happens if we don't? But either way, hashem should bless us all that we should know our purpose here and connect and overcome those challenges so that we don't need any second, third, fourth or fifth recycling opportunities. We should get it right the first time. My dear friends, have a lovely evening. Drive safely.

51:01 - Intro (Announcement)
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