Toras Avigdor

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We hope you are enjoying and gaining from this holy podcast! Please sponsor a podcast in honor of a loved one or be a monthly supporter. Just click:www.TorasAvigdor.org/Donate See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate

We hope you are enjoying and gaining from this holy podcast! Please sponsor a podcast in honor of a loved one or be a monthly supporter. Just click www.TorasAvigdor.org/Donate See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate

We hope you are enjoying and gaining from this holy podcast! Please sponsor a podcast in honor of a loved one or be a monthly supporter. Just click www.TorasAvigdor.org/Donate See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate

Part I.Life of LaborLOTS OF GOOD THINGS FOR THE LABORERWe will begin with the well-known words of Rashi found in the beginning of ourparsha– but first thepossuk. It says אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ וְאֶת מִצְוֹתַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ… וְנָתַתִּי גִשְׁמֵיכֶם בְּעִתָּם – “If you will walk in My statutes and observe My mitzvos… then I will provide for you your rains at their proper times” (Bechukosai 26:3-4). And not only rain; thepesukimgive a long list of rewards that Hashem promises to those who “walk in My statutes and observe My mitzvos.” וִישַׁבְתֶּם לָבֶטַח בְּאַרְצְכֶם – “You will dwell securely in your land, וְנָתַתִּי שָׁלוֹם בָּאָרֶץ, and I will provide peace in the land.” Take a look inside thechumash; there are a lot of good things that come when you walk in the statutes of Hashem.Only that we have to know, what does it mean towalkin themitzvos, towalkin the decrees of Hashem? And that’s the question that Rashi asks: What do these words, “Walk in My statutes” refer to?Yachol zeh kiyum hamitzvos, “I might have thought that it’s referring to fulfilling the commandments,k’shehu oimer, but it explicitly says: וְאֶת מִצְוֹתַי תִּשְׁמְרוּ – “And you should observe My commandments.”Thosewords are talking about doing themitzvos; so what do the words אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ – “You should walk in My statutes” mean? And so Rashi tells us: It means שֶׁתִּהְיוּ עֲמֵלִים בַּתּוֹרָה – “That you should belaboringin the Torah.”Teileichu– “You should walk; that means you should be moving forward, making progress. You can’t just be ‘keeping’ the Torah – you have to beameilin it. And that means we have our work cut out for us.EVEN AMERICANS MUST LABORIf you want to serve Hashem it takesameilus, labor. Now, I know that for our American ears, it’s something difficult to accept. We don’t want tolabor– maybe to work a little bit, OK, we’ll consider it; but to labor, to beameil, that we’ll leave for others. So the first thing we have to get into our heads is that we came to this world to labor.In Iyov (5:7) it states:Adam l’amal yulad– “Man was born into this world foramal, for toil.” Now, the truth is that all of creation must work in this world – birds, plants, reptiles, mammals; they also have to make a certain effort. But that’s not theirpurpose. They’re notbornfor toil- they’re born for utility. The world needs them; there’s an ecosystem where they fit in and therefore even an ant must toil to maintain himself, to preserve his existence. Animals must labor to find food, to find shelter, to survive; nevertheless that’s not their purpose. But Mankind is different:adam l’amal yulad, his purpose is totoil. It’s a very important principle you’re hearing now. In fact it’s the principle of principles.AMEILUS BATORAH!Now, to labor in Torah includes many subdivisions, but the first thing that comes to mind when we read the words of Rashi: שֶׁתִּהְיוּ עֲמֵלִים בַּתּוֹרָה isameilusinlimud hatorah.Learning Torah is very important! If you have any chance to learn – not just to learn, but to beameilin Torah – there’s nothing better than that. Because even when learning Torah, a person can choose the path of avoidingameilus; he could study easier things. He could bema’aver sedrah, and then he could learnMishlei. And afterMishlei, he sits and saysTehillim. And it’s all important, but if you were born to beameil, then you have to labor in learninggemaratoo.Gemarais never easy, you know; it’s never easy. לֹא כָּרַת הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא בְּרִית אֶת יִשְׂרָאֵל אֶלָּא בִּשְׁבִיל תּוֹרָה שֶׁבַּעֲל פֶּה – Hashem made a covenant with our nation only because of theTorah sh’bal peh(Gittin 60b). And thegemarasays מִשּׁוּם דְּתַקִּיפוּ לְמִיגְמְרִינְהוּ – because it’s hard to learn theTorah sh’bal peh.Especially before they had printedgemaras, everything was done by heart; it’s very difficult to learnb’al peh.CHAZARA IS AMEILUSOf course, to labor means that you have to sit by thegemaraand learn for many hours, no question about that. And it’s not only what you learn but how you learn. To review what you’re learning, that’sameilusba’Torah. You should say the words of thegemaraover and over again. If you learn aperek, and you review it again and again until you know theperek, that’sameilus. And if you labor inTosfos,surely good. But even if you just labor in a plain piece ofgemara, and you can say it likeashrei, you’re a success. And actually there’s nothing sweeter than knowing a wholeperekinside – even thegemaraalone. If you can run through thepereklike you sayashrei, it’s asimcha, a real happiness.We say it every morning: וְהַעֲרֶב נָא הַשֵּׁם אֱלֹקֵינוּ, “Make the words of Your Torah sweet in my mouth.” How does it become sweet? You know when you keep a piece of bread in your mouth longer it becomes sweeter; every time you chomp down, it becomes sweeter and sweeter. Because the bread is starch and the starch turns into sugar through the action of the saliva on the starch. The enzymes mix with the starch and it turns to sugar. The longer the bread is in your mouth the more sweet it becomes. And the Torah is no different – the longer the Torah is in your mouth, the sweeter it becomes. So review and review and review; theameilusofchazarais wonderful.THE MORE DIFFICULT THE BETTERThere’s a world of achievement for you. Every male should have a goal of learningkol hatorah kula.All of it!Talmud Bavli, Talmud Yerushalmi; there’s no end to what you have to accomplish. And you’ll only achieve it by means of hard work; it’s not easy street in this world and therefore you won’t succeed unless youlaborin Torah.And it’s the labor, it’s the hard work, that Hashem wants. That’s the great principle ofl’fum tzara agra,according to the difficulty is the reward. The more difficult it is, the more is the reward. Let’s say it’s a hardsugya;you don’t understand it and you’re discouraged – so you get more reward than when you do understand it. The morekashasyou have and the less you know about thegemara, so you’re struggling more and you’re working on it, so you get more reward.You know,Tosfoshad morekashasthan we have because he wasameilwhen he learned asugya.Tosfoswhen he finished thesugya, he would say, “I don’t understand thegemaraat all!” But we learn for a few minutes and “I got it; I understand everything!” – because we’re not working.Tosfoshas questions on thegemarabecause his mind was laboring, he was always thinking. SoTosfosgets more reward because he suffered more in his learning. Whatever it is, difficulty in doing good things certainly gives you a greater reward.WHAT’S “TO DO” ALREADYIn the beginning of the creation of the world, it says that Hakodosh Boruch Hu blessed the seventh day, כִּי בוֹ שָׁבַת מִכָּל מְלַאכְתּוֹ אֲשֶׁר בָּרָא אֱלֹקִים לַעֲשׂוֹת – because on that day, He stopped all His workthat He created to do(Bereishis 2:3). Now, if you pay attention to thatpossukit seems likela’asosis a superfluous word; He createdla’asos, “to do”. That word “to do” is hanging on like a tail at the end of thepossuk. He created; that’s all! What is “to do”?Now, inpashtusit means that He created the world to function continuously; that means that after Hakodosh Boruch Hu established the entirebriyah, it continues to function. All living things work in tandem and this very complicated world runs on its own,k’viyachol, living, producing, functioning. A cow, for example. Cows are giving us milk and meat and leather, and other good things. There are baby cows, and they eat grass and become big cows and the process starts again. And Hashem made itla’asos, that it should continue to function this way on its own.WE DO MORE THAN COWSNow this explanation is a true explanation, no question about it. However, ourchachomimtell us that there’s something more important than that. Because man after all is the most important creation in the world and hisla’asosis a different kind ofla’asosthan that of the cow – he’s created not just to function; to eat and reproduce. Man is created to do something more than just live.On this word,la’asos, there’s aMedrashthat states as follows. “It’s amashalto a craftsman who is working in his shop and his little son is looking on. After the boy becomes older, so the father says, ‘Now you take over.’” That’s themashalin theMedrash.Now, what’s thenimshal?As follows.Before the creation of the world, man did not exist yet and therefore Hakadosh Baruch Hu was the sole doer; Hashem was the Creator, the only doer. But when He finished and He created man, so He said, “Nowyoutake over; now it’s you turnla’asos; I wantyouto get busy doing.And therefore the words אֲשֶׁר בָּרָא אֱלֹקִים לַעֲשׂוֹת – “He created –to do,”means that from now on, man must do.WELCOME TO THE WORKSHOPAnd so when you enter this world, you’re coming into a workshop.You’re not coming into a vacation place.It’s not a place where you’ll lull on the beach or sit in an easy chair. This is a place for work.That’s the lesson that is being emphasized here, that you were born into a worldla’asos, to do. אָמַר רַבִּי אֶלְעָזָר כָּל אָדָם לְעָמָל נִבְרָא – Every person was created in order to labor (Sanhedrin 98b), and there’s no way to skirt your obligation if you want to fulfill your purpose here.Hakadosh Boruch Hu created the system whereby men must labor. בְּזֵעַת אַפֶּיךָ תֹּאכַל לֶחֶם – “With the sweat of your brow, you’re going to eat bread” (Bereishis 3:19); which means the Creator laid down a law that you mustworkfor your living.There’s no such thing as loafing through life because the loafers are the ones who leave the world quickly. And even if they hang around, it’s usually trouble – for everyone.Work is a fundamental part of our nature.When people don’t work, then something happens to them.First of all, their minds begin to falter.Without being busy, it’s almost impossible to maintain sanity.It’s an interesting aspect of human nature that man cannot tolerate idleness.Even the wealthy who don’t have to work, so they look for something to do as a substitute for work. They travel; some do more mischievous things.Whatever it is, they try to keep themselves busy in one way or the other.THE REAL WORKBut all this, you have to know, is really only a symbol of something that’s much more profound. Because man was not made merely to stand behind a counter or to drive a truck or to be a dentist.All these things are only amashal.They’re only a symbol of our true function. This instinct of the workdrive in human beings was given to men in order to let them know, in order to stimulate them, to labor forshleimus, perfection.Ha’kol tzrichin asiyah; man was not created as a finished product, is what the Medrash says. The wordla’asostells us that the work is not yet done; we’re not perfected yet.Bara Elokim, Hashem created you,la’asos, so that you should do something; you were created to make something out of yourself.That’s your job in life and there’s so muchla’asos, so much to do, that it means we have a big job ahead of us.THE TRUCKER WHO MISSED THE BOATIt’s not enough to refrain fromaveiros; it’s a very good thing to refrain from doing sins, but it’s not enough. You didn’t come into this world to not do sins. You’re here to do something positive, to labor inla’asos.I always tell you this story: You sent your trucker with a truck full of goods to deliver in Los Angeles. So he made the trip and came back and he tells you, “Boss, it was a successful trip. I didn’t get a single traffic ticket, no accidents. It went very well.” “That’s great,” you say. “And how did the drop off go? Did all the goods fit into the warehouse?” “Oh,” he tells you. “I forgot to deliver the goods!” So you’ll come back to Hashem and you’ll say, “Hakodosh Boruch Hu, I did no sins.” “Fine, very good,” says Hashem, “What aboutla’asos? What did you make out of yourself?” “Oh, that I forgot.”Now, I’m going to emphasize this a little more because when people hear they have to do, immediately they think they understand what to do.You have to domitzvos.Andmitzvos, that’s already a stereotype – nothing to talk about.Why waste any more time talking about it? Who doesn’t know you have to domitzvos?And the answer is,mitzvosis not what you think it is.Because whatevermitzvosare, they’re only the beginning, the bare bones of yourshleimus, of making yourself. They are only means that are given to help out.לֹא נִתְּנוּ הַמִּצְווֹת אֶלָּא לְצָרֵף בָּהֶן הַבְּרִיּוֹת, the purpose ofmitzvosis to refine the person doing themitzvos(Bereishis Rabbah 44:1).Which means that people can domitzvos, but many times they lose sight of the purpose; and it’s a pity, it’s a frustration of the plan of Hashem.CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOULFor instance, themitzvahof Shabbos. If it’s done properly, Shabbos can change a man.Week after week, the Shabbos comes and goes and it changes people.Only that you have to know how to utilize Shabbos. That’s why there’s no other work allowed on Shabbos, because you’re expected to get yourmindworking, thinking. You can’t just eat the chicken soup like agolem. Now, you can’t expect to work the whole bowl of soup, but at least the first spoonful, you can beameilin! You think, “This spoonful is to celebratebriyas ha’olam yeish mei’ayin, the creation of the world from nothing.” Ah! Now you accomplished! You changed yourself!Tefillinshould change you. If you put thetefillinon your head with the proper understanding, you become a different person. Of course, it takes effort. You’d rather not have to think – on, off, on, off, every day, that’s it. But if you’ll beameil, if every morning you put some thought into whattefillinmean, so every day becomes a newla’asos. Not only are you putting tefillinonyour head, but you’re changing what’sinyour head; and that’s the realla’asos, to transform your mind into a Torah mind.When you weartzitzisand you utilize them, that’sla’asos. Not to just let them hang there and never consider them. It’s better than nothing but that’s not it.Adam l’amal yulad, you have to beameilin themitzvos! We have to utilize themitzvosforshleimus. You can’t do it all at once, but little by little, you begin to beameilin themitzvos, and that’s your success. You’re moving, you’re progressing every day.WALKING AMONG THE ANGELSThere was a certain Kohen Gadol, who had a vision once, a prophetic vision, and Hakadosh Baruch Hu showed him that there weremalachimwho were standing around.Angels were standing around.So Hashem said to the Kohen Gadol, “If you will go in My ways, then וְנָתַתִּי לְךָ מַהְלְכִים בֵּין הָעֹמְדִים הָאֵלֶּה, I’m going to give you the opportunity to walk among those who are standing here” (Zecharia 3:7).It’s a remarkablepossuk.Hashem isdescribing the angels asstanding, and He says, “You are going towalkamong these standing angels.” Not, “You’ll stand among the angels” or “You’ll walk together with the angels.”No, the angels are standing and you’ll be walking among them.So the commentaries explain as follows. Angels are calledomdimbecause they can only stand, they don’t move. Now, we know that they move from one place to another, whatever it is; they carry out whatever Hashem sends them to do. But still they’reomdimbecause they cannot change. An angel cannot become better; there’s nola’asosfor an angel.An angel will never improve himself.He’s a robot.Whatever he is, that’s what he’s going to be forever.You, however, are amehalech.You are walking.You’re not supposed to stand still!You’re not supposed to be anoimed.You cannot stand still.That’s the contrast,mihalchim bein ha’omdim.A human being is not anoimed; he’s amehalech.אִם בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ – He has to be walking; he has to be toiling.STEP BY STEPNow, walking means he has to journey. And journey means step by step.You don’t make a journey by one great leap. Even if you’re taking a plane, you’ll have to step up the stairs to the plane.You have to make steps and therefore, gradually a man is expected to change himself.And so we must understand that the system that is required of us is a system of gradual progress, gradual achievement. That’s whatbichukosai teilechuis saying. It’s a process, it’s step by step; nobody accomplishes things immediately. But it means that you have to be moving, always laboring and walking forward. There are no two ways about it –adam l’amal yulad,that’s why you were born.Part II.A Program for LifeDON’T YES ME!I’m not going to leave you with just this thought alone because it will have no effect. Because people say “Yes, yes,” and then they go home and forget about it.It’s easy to say, but it’s difficult to do the work. Now, work means you have to have a program.And you have to look for advice on how to work on it. Did you ever ask anybody?Ah nechtige tug.He never even thought of getting busy on it! Why should he? He’s sure he has it already.And that brings us now to a greateitzah, the great recommendation for how a person can change himself.So we’ll talk for a few minutes about a system, a system we can follow forla’asos. This system is exemplified by a certainsefercalled Cheshbon Hanefesh.Now, it’s not the only system there is, but it’s a system that works if you take it seriously. And peopleshouldtake it seriously because this is the most serious business of life – not to be anoimed, not to stand still. There’s a man in this synagogue who’s been here for forty years, almost fifty years already, and he is the same as he was when he walked in. Of course, that’s also an achievement; he could have become much worse – there are people like that too. But not spoiling is not enough. Hakadosh Baruch Hu didn’t create us to remain the same.Thegemaratells a case of tzaddikim who were taken out of this world, not because of anything wrong, but because they stopped improving. Life is only for improving, for changing.THE REMARKABLE SYSTEMSo let’s study this system, and we’ll take it seriously because that’s our business here; we were born to beameil. The author of Cheshbon Hanefesh was Rav Mendel Satanover.He lived in the time of the Gra and he was a man who exercised quality of thought.It’s remarkable what else he says in hisseferbesides what we’re going to say now. You’ll find there remarkable ideas about how to recognize thekochos hanefesh, the psychology of human nature, and how to harness a person’s qualities to do good things.When I was in Slabodka, there was ahistadrus hamussar. It was a gathering of Slabodka talmidim – Roshei yeshiva,kollelpeople andtalmidimwho came together from time to time to work onmussar.And one of the projects they undertook was to reprint some oldsefer.And they were considering – I was present at the meeting – they were considering reprinting Rabbeinu Yonah on Mishlei. And yet, even though Rabeinu Yonah is aRishon, finally they decided in favor of the Cheshbon Hanefesh.Do you know what that means? These people were experts in the subject, old Roshei Yeshiva,talmidei chachomim,and of all themussar seforimto reprint they chose the Cheshbon Hanefesh. You know, that Rav Yisrael Salanter in theseferOhr Yisrael, he says, עַיֵּן בְּחֶשְׁבּוֹן הַנֶּפֶשׁ“See Cheshbon Hanefesh.”It’s a remarkable thing.R’ Yisrael didn’t recommend anyseferand here you have a remark,agav orcha, he says, עַיֵּן בְּחֶשְׁבּוֹן הַנֶּפֶשׁ.That’s a tremendous recommendation.SLOWLY BUT SURELYSo here is the system that thisseferrecommends. There are easy stages; it’s a week by week program, so pay attention to what we say here now. Let’s say this week you decide you want to work on the quality of loving your fellow Jew.Now you can’t suddenly say הִנְנִי מוּכָן וּמְזֻמָּן and I’ll do it.No, you can’t do it; it won’t work. To succeed, you’ll do it by gradual stages. You commit yourself toameilus, to labor in loving your fellow Jew and you get going.You’ll pick just one Jew and you’ll concentrate on him this week.This one Jew, for this week, you’ll try to think as much as you can of his good qualities. Latch onto something! Even if it’s just his appearance, how he dresses.Somethingyou can find! Try to love him. Think of him as if he were your brother, or your son. Better yet think of him as if he were yourself.Now how much time are you going to spend?Naturally, you’re not going to spend much time.Spend two minutes a day thinking about that while you’re walking.For two minutes think about that person.And bemekayeimon him וְאָהַבְתָּ לְרֵעֲךָ כָּמוֹךָ at least two minutes.Of course, you won’t love him.At first it’s just externalities.But by the end of the week – seven times two, that’s fourteen minutes – it’s a lot of time fourteen minutes.I know that the decent people here, they say, “Fourteen minutes a week? That’s all?!” They do more than that.A nechtige tahg!Did they ever spend even one second on the subject?! Now, let’s say by the end of the week you did fourteen minutes on one person. You’re going to getschar, you’ll get a big reward for trying; just for the effort alone – besides for the perfection you achieved.NEW WEEK, NEW PROGRAMNow the next week.Next week, try something else.This week you’ll try themiddahof keeping your mouth closed.Work on that quality for a whole week; it doesn’t mean you’ll do itallweek, but at least during that week you’ll choose one hour a day. “This one hour, I’m going to shut my mouth and only open it for the necessity of saying a kind and helpful word to somebody, like good morning or thank you. Otherwise, I put a padlock on my lips for one hour a day.” That’s this week.Little by little, a person learns to control his tongue, to squelch the wisecrack, to repress some stupid remark.And when this week passes away, he’s finished.He can’t keep it up too long because the energy and ambition peter out. The Cheshbon Hanefesh says that; he says that thegevuras hanefeshpeters out and that’s why you go on to a newmiddahthe following week.But the effect stays with you even after the week ends. With a little bit of work this beautiful quality of keeping your mouth closed will make you a new man. You get home and your wife says something silly to you, you get excited and open your big mouth and it blows up. Learn to practice keeping themiddahof staying quiet. So when you’re taking hold of the doorknob, make up your mind, “No matter what she says I won’t answer back.” Make up your mind – the effect will last for the next five minutes at least. All right, five minutes is also a big achievement. And if you’reameilin it, then after a while it will last for five hours. Or the wife; she knows her husband is coming home from work soon, so she makes up her mind that she’s going to keep quiet today. So he’s quiet and she’s quiet, and it’s a beautiful evening. And not only a beautiful evening but they’re both transforming themselves into beautiful people.THE MEZUZAH PROJECTThe third week, another project. Project number three – as you pass a house where you see amezuzah, especially a bigmezuzah, bless those people.Now, they don’t know that you’re blessing them; even better.Bless the Jewish families who have bigmezuzoson their doors.The truth is you can bless any sizemezuzah.Isn’t that a beautiful thing to beameilin?For one week, as you pass bymezuzosyou pour out thebrachos.That’s living! That’s making progress!You’re traveling, not standing still.A man who does that for one week is fulfilling בְּחֻקֹּתַי תֵּלֵכוּ He’s actually walking through his neighborhood in themitzvosof Hashem.Now if you live in the frum neighborhood, there are so manymezusosyou can’t do it. So choose one block ofmezuzos; one full block. As I pass by, I look at the house and I say, “A blessing on them.”And if you want to be better, be explicit.“They should live long.” “They should be rich.” “They should be healthy.” “They should have happiness from their children.”Don’t be lazy; keep on alternating thebrachos.Get accustomed to blessing people who havemezuzoson their doorposts and do it all week. That’s this week; the third week.CHAZERINGFOUR TIMES A YEARNow, you’ll chose thirteen different programs for thirteen weeks because the year has about fifty two weeks. So four times thirteen weeks is fifty-two, so that means four times a year you’ll review these projects.Now, not everybody should work on the same thing.It depends on what you need, more or less.Some people have to refrain from spending too much time at the supper table or too much time on the couch. Here’s a man who sits down with a newspaper and a half hour goes by. Thirty minutes you need?! You have to read everything?! So for this week work on shaving off fifteen minutes. Shave fifteen minutes off that half hour every day – that’s already progress. And those fifteen minutes you can pick up agemaraand learn three lines every day. Three lines a day! You can go and make something out of yourself during those fifteen minutes. That’s alreadyameilus ba’torah. Don’t disdain fifteen minutes ofameilus; three lines every day and you’re already amehalech.This system that was outlined just now is a precious counsel that thisseferhas bequeathed to us; to work gradually on ourselves step-by-step and to be amehalech, to move all our lives, steadily ahead, even though it’s only one step at a time.However, despite everything I’m saying, most people will never do it. Most people will just ignore what we’re saying here. It’s a tragedy, but that’s how people are; they won’t do it.Theywon’tgo home tonight and take a notebook and divide it into thirteen pages and write a heading on each page – “This week I’m working on this, next week on that.” That’s what they ought to do, by the way.If that’s what you’ll do, so tonight was a very valuable night for you.And you keep that notebook with you. Even if you try it for one year or a half a year or a quarter of a year, it’s gold and diamonds.It’s already a life of accomplishment.And when people make a program in life, a program of making progress, of not standing still, that’s the greatness of succeeding in this world. That’s what you came here for! That’s your life!And therefore, do anything to start moving in the right direction!And even though you’re moving slowly, as long as you continue to move, to grow, that’s the fulfillment of the purpose of life and that’s the purpose of the world.The world was createdla’asos–for a man to make something out of himself.RABBI MILLER DISLIKES THE STYLENow, if you’ll put your mind to it, you’ll see that the opportunities forla’asos, forameilusin growth, are available all the time. Nothing is easy, and that’s the joy of life, that’s the success of this world. Let’s say, for example, theameilusof fighting against the modes of the day, the styles of the day. Now, I don’t want to go into details; I don’t want to make some people here feel slighted, but there are certain things that people do today that are a result of styles, of being in style. And I don’t approve of it. There are certain things that are only the product of theyetzer harahand for women especially – men too, but women especially, even frum women – indulge in them to make themselves look prettier. I don’t approve of thatat all.“It’s not easy,” you say. So what?! That’s what you’re here for; to beameil, to labor in the service of Hashem. You must fight back against the fashions of the day. It doesn’t mean you have to be old-fashioned, but the things that are done today in order to attract the eyes of other people, that I don’t like. A woman should never make herself too attractive in public. It’s very important, and that means that every woman, every girl, has to beameilbecause it’s not easy to fight the environment. It’s atza’ar, it’s anamal, but that’s what you came to this world for.THE EREV SHABBOS AMEILUS PROGRAMAnd the truth is that you don’t have to search forameilus– it’s always there. Here’s a woman in her house and Shabbos is coming. Shabbos is coming and she’s going crazy; she has a house full of children and she has to cook and bake and clean. But once she understands what we’re saying here tonight, so she’s not going crazy; it’s hard work, it’sameilusin Torah, absolutely, but she’s not going crazy. She’s full of joy because she knows that she’s accomplishing her purpose in this world.So she’s busy mixing the ingredients and the children are pulling at her dress. Some of them are fighting, and she’s telling them, “Don’t fight; keep quiet. Shabbos is coming,” as she puts the food in the oven. She’s building the Shabbos; it’s not easy to build but she’s doing it! That’s the meaning oflaasos, to accomplish, to live in this world for a purpose.Now here’s ayeshiva bochur; he’s not baking and cooking for Shabbos. His mother lets him stay in thebeis medrashon erev Shabbos to learn. But no matter, he can’t excuse himself from the function ofla’asos, ofamal. So he’s learning a piece ofgemara, and he labors to remember it. He goes over it again and again and again; that’slaasos, that’sameil, he’s accomplishing something. Maybe he’s tired; he’d rather lay on the couch with a magazine or a newspaper, a kosher newspaper. But he says, “No, that’s notameilus; I’m here in this world to labor in accomplishment.”Part III.Laboring in HappinessIS IT SO HARD TO BE HAPPY?And now we come to the one subject with which I want to conclude. I have so much to say to you aboutameilusstill, but I must conclude with this one subject. Because there’s another very important form of labor that is included in שֶׁתִּהְיוּ עֲמֵלִים בַּתּוֹרָה that many people don’t know about – and actually they’re surprised to hear that it requires any work at all. And that is the labor of learning how to enjoy this world.There’s no question about it that this world is full of happiness. But it’s not just something that happens; to some people more, and some less. No, it’s a part of the Torah; the Torah of happiness is a very bigcheilekof the Torah, and like all the subdivisions of Torah it requiresameilusto achieve. LikeRashiexplained, Hashem tells us that we have to beameilin Torah to acquire it. And what that means is that you have to study happiness; you have to labor in thesugyaof happiness if you want to appreciate this world. You hear thatchiddush? You can not become asamei’achb’chelko, you can not enjoy this world, unless you put in work.LAZY PEOPLE GO TO AMUSEMENT PARKSNow, the lazy people who never studied how to enjoy this world, they never labored in it, so they keeptryingto enjoy this world, but they find that this world is a place of disappointments. Even when they set out to go someplace for a good time, when they come back home they see it was a disappointment. You go to the movies, and the lights come back on again and you see it’s nothing but a fake; the story never happened. It’s only a film; there’s nothing to it. Others think that maybe that they’ll find happiness on roller coasters. And if you’re a high roller, you’ll have biggerhasagos, bigger dreams, so you’ll fly to the Bahamas to search for happiness. And trust me, you won’t find it; you won’t find happiness in the Bahamas. Bigger mosquitoes than here in Brooklyn, that you’ll definitely find. Maybe some new disease from the islands you’ll bring back; but happiness, no. Because for happiness you have to labor. And when you try to find happiness the easy way, by going to ball games and amusement parks, so it may be that you can find a thrill, some fun, yes. But happiness, no. Life becomes one big disappointment.Hashem says, “I gave you this world to enjoy itbut like all good things you have to labor for it.”הָעוֹלָם לֹא נִבְרָא אֶלָּא לְהִתְעַנֵּג – the world was only made for happiness (Mesillas Yesharim,Hakdamah). Of course the last word there is important – it says there לְהִתְעַנֵּג עַל הַשֵּׁם – to be grateful to Him, to think about Him, to appreciate what He’s giving you. We’re here to understand the gifts of Hashem and to enjoy them. And when you enjoy life by means of labor, by means of studying the gifts of Hashem, thinking about them, then Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, “You’re fulfilling your purpose.” And therefore you have no option; you have to put in effort. It’s only when people toil, when they labor to see the happiness of life, that’s how they become happy people. By means ofameilusyou can become a person who is actually overflowing withsimcha, with real joy.ENJOYING THIS WORLD WITHOUT A WRISTWATCHOnce a man ran over to me and he said, “Why are you always talking aboutOlam Hazeh?!” It was a kollel man – “You’re talking to them aboutta’anugei Olam Hazeh,” he said. I looked at him. He’s wearing a wristwatch – I don’t wear a wristwatch. He smokes – I don’t smoke. He drives a car – I don’t have a car. But I’m the guilty one who’s enjoyingOlam Hazeh!He doesn’t care forOlam Hazeh!The answer is that כְּסִיל בַּחֹשֶׁךְ הוֹלֵךְ, the fools walk in darkness (Koheles 2:14). He doesn’t know what happiness is. You don’t need wristwatches and cars to be happy; you don’t need anything to be happy exceptseichelandameilus.You must learn to appreciate the fact that you are able to breathe. Did you ever toil inlearninghow to enjoy how to breathe fresh air? Walk out of here tonight on the street and fill your lungs, those two balloons, with air. Breathe deeply; it’s a delight. The air oxygenates your blood and makes it red. The iron in the blood unites with the oxygen; the hemoglobin takes the oxygen in and it begins flowing in a form that’s easily assimilated by the body. Your whole body is delighting in that oxygen. There’s a happiness in breathing! You never thought about that? Practice it! Here’s a person who learned how to breathe deeply, and he enjoys life because of it. But it didn’t just happen that way; he labored in it. You’ll never be happy with breathing unless you work on it.SEEING HAPPINESSLearn how to enjoy the happiness of being able to see. You have two good cameras, camcorders, and as you turn your neck you can see everything around you. Isn’t that a pleasure? Isn’t it beautiful? You see everything; colors and movement and faces. Isn’t that a happiness? Of course it’s not, because you never labored in it. There’s nothing in the world as beautiful as seeing. If you think about that person you saw tapping his way in the street with a stick; he was robbed of this great happiness, and you have it!Boruch Atah Hashem, po’keiach ivrim; Ah! The happiness of seeing. If you labor in the Torah of how to be happy with your eyes so you’ll never be able to be unhappy all your life.Eizehu ashir,who is rich in this world?Hasameiach b’chelko, the one who learns to enjoy his eyes, and his lungs.Learn to enjoy the fact that you could walk.Boruch atah Hashem ha’meichin mitzadei gaver –He establishes my footsteps. What a pleasure it is to get around on my feet. Look at the man sitting in the wheelchair; he can’t walknebach. It’s a pity on him. He lost that great fun of locomotion; walking back and forth using those two Rolls Royces underneath your body! Ah, ah, ah, what a happiness! The simcha of walking, it’s a joy! The person who learns how to enjoy walking will always be full of happiness.THE HAPPINESS OF BREAD AND WATERLearn how good it is to eat a piece of bread. Eating a slice of bread is a very bigsimcha, it’s very great fun. And don’t think that it’s not a mitzvah.Boruch Atah Hashem, hamotzee lechem min ha’aretz.It’s a great fun to eat a piece of bread and to thank Hashem from the bottom of your heart. And you say that the purpose of the bread is בַּעֲבוּר שְׁמוֹ הַגָּדוֹל, for the sake of His great name. “I’ll enjoy the bread and think of His great name.”כִּי הוּא קֵל זָן וּמְפַרְנֵס לְכָל, You give food to the world. What a pleasure it is to chew on the bread. The pleasure of eating a piece of bread! How great is the daily experiences of a man who understands what it means to be able to chew a piece of bread and swallow it. What a benefit it is for the body to eat a piece of bread. It’s a blessing.Now, when you learn to enjoy the piece of bread and with it, a glass of water, that’s theameilusof a happy man. Water is a miracle; water is a combination of two gases. Can you imagine that? it’s two gases. It’s oxygen and hydrogen and neither of them on its own could quench his thirst. And then it comes together by an electric spark and it becomes water. That’s a miracle! Aneis! And thatneisgoes into your body and it lubricates all your joints; it makes your eyes sparkle; it causes your blood to flow so that it shouldn’t congeal. Water is life!Boruch Atah Hashem sh’hakol n’ihiyeh b’dvaro.Practice that; practice enjoying a glass of water. When the children are sitting at the table on Shabbos the first thing they stretch out their hands for is for the soda, for the juice, the colored water, the dirty water they want to drink. Teach them that the plain water is happiness.EVEN TZADIKIM DRINK WATER AND SLEEPEventzadikimeat bread and drink water; and Hakodosh Boruch Hu says, “I’m not going to reward you for not being happy. I don’t like grumpytzadikim. If you’re not happy, it’s your own fault.” Hashem doesn’t want him to be unhappy with the bread or unhappy with the water. They’re supposed to sayBoruch Atah Hashem.I could go on all night – if you don’t work on appreciating sleeping well so you’ll never know what happiness is. You young fellows, you put your head on the pillow and right away you waft off into slumberland.Ah geshmakehsweet sleep. But you’ll never appreciate it if you don’t labor in it. Ah, the pleasure of sleeping well; you wake up and you’re a refreshed, you’re a new person.And so little by little, when a man works to gain the insights that cause happiness, so the world becomes a happy place. So not only can a person succeed by beingameilin the words of the Torah itself, but he can succeed by beingameilin living a Torah life. And don’t think it’ll be deducted from your reward inOlam Hababecause you enjoyed Hashem in this world. Thescharof happiness in Hashem’s gifts cause you to sing to Hashemin this world and you’ll continue singing in happiness to Him in the world to come.THE END OFAMEILUSROADSo if we learned anything tonight, it’s how important this element ofameilusis for succeeding in our function ofla’asos. We’re here in this world “to do,” and doing is not meant to be easy. But once you begin to understand this vital Torah attitude, life becomes the place of the greatest pleasure because it becomes the place of achievement and accomplishments through small but steady steps.And that’s why the Torah says thatim bechukosai teleichu,if you labor in Mymitzvos, you will be rewarded with all good things: rains and produce and peace and long life. What does that mean that Hashem will give us plenty to eat? Does it mean that you’ll have the opportunity to eat more breakfasts and more suppers? Is that what it’s all about? No, it doesn’t mean that. The Rambam explains that all these rewards mean that you’ll have more opportunities to achieve something more while you’re in this world. Because the longer you live, the more produce and peace that you have, the more you can accomplish. Your station inOlam Habahdepends on what you do inOlam Hazeh.And therefore the greatest reward is וְנָתַתִּי שָׁלוֹם בָּאָרֶץ, peace in the land, because you’ll have more years to beameilinla’asos, and to make yourself into a new person. And once you begin walking down this path ofim bechukosai teileichu, of laboring in this world and achieving, so בַּדֶּרֶךְ שֶׁאָדָם רוֹצֶה לָלֶכֶת מוֹלִיכִין אוֹתוֹ – Hakodosh Boruch Hu will help you succeed at walking even more. And not only will you be fulfilling what Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants you to do – but you’re transforming yourself into something much more noble than when you were born – you’re remaking yourself! And so, on that final day, when you have to return yourneshamato Hakodosh Boruch You, you’ll be able to say, “Hashem, I spent my days beingameilinbechukosai teileichu –I fulfilledla’asos, and now I come back to You prepared to receive my eternal reward.” See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate

Part I.We’re TenantsEARTHQUAKE IN ERETZ YISROELAnyone who reads this week’sparshaknows that in ancient times there was a great “earthquake” that shook the land of Eretz Yisroel every fifty years. Now, the land did not actually shake but on the tenth day of the year, soon after Yovel came in, a loud shofar blast was blown in Eretz Yisroel, and it was a sound that reverberated throughout the land causing great turmoil. It was a blast that was the catalyst for such great commotion, such movement and upheaval, that it was as if an earthquake had shaken the land.What did the sound of the shofar mean? It was an announcement, a grand proclamation to all the residents of Eretz Yisroel that: וְהָאָרֶץ לֹא תִמָּכֵר לִצְמִתֻת – “The land shall not be sold forever” (Behar 25:23), and what that meant was that the fields and homes that had been purchased in the last forty-nine years were now returned to their previous owners. That’s how it was in Eretz Yisroel in the times of the first Beis Hamikdash; whenever someone sold a property, it would revert back to the previous owner when Yovel came around. And so, as the Yovel year began, many people who had purchased real estate during the last fifty years had to pack up all their worldly possessions and leave their homes. Many large families with many children were uprooted from their homes.THE REAL ESTATE TUMULTFifty years! That’s a long time! People had become accustomed to living on this property and they invested a lot of money and effort into beautifying their lands and their houses. And now, when that shofar sounded, it was a decree from the King that all the fields that had been purchased in the last fifty years were to be surrendered back to their original owners. And that meant that there was a great flow of people, a tremendous commotion, as people moved from one place to another. Many who had no land of their own for fifty years, people who had wandered like beggars because they had to sell off everything to pay debts, were now restored to their ancestral estates. And on the other hand there were those who had been living in style in big beautiful houses, on spacious grounds – but they had bought them – so now they moved out, back onto the street.Of course, it wasn’t a surprise; they knew it was coming, but as prepared as they could have been, we understand that it was a big disturbance for the nation. It had to be, because when real estate must change hands it’s not a simple matter. You’ll have to set records straight, and there are bound to be arguments to settle; this man says that the implements on the land – his plow or the livestock – belong to him, and the other one disputes that. There was a great deal of arranging to do and it wasn’t simple. The whole land was in a hubbub. The roads were packed with families; mothers and fathers walking, wagons filled with children and belongings, some heading back home, others leaving their homes. Nobody felt settled; the nation was in an uproar.IT’S ALL MINE!Now, such a ceremony, such a national displacement – multitudes of people leaving their homes and traveling the roads – had to have an important purpose! And therefore we should pay attention to what the Torah tells us about this great commotion of Yovel; why is everyone moving? So we take a look at the reason Hakodosh Boruch Hu gives: כִּי לִי הָאָרֶץ – “The land belongs to Me! You can’t sell My land outright!” כִּי גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם עִמָּדִי – “You are merely sojourners, settlers, who are living by Me.” That means, “I am your host, and you are My guests.”And now we learn a reason for this great commotion. It was a message for the nation; all over the country, they were learning the lesson that the land has a landlord. And it’s a lesson that had to be learned. Otherwise, it would be easy to forget. Here’s a man who came in with Yehoshua bin Nun when they conquered the land and he had delighted in a beautiful fertile land that he found spread out before him. So he invested everything he had into it. All of his energies and all of his time, he put into the land, both he and his children. And so, after a while, they forget that this land once was not theirs and they therefore had to be reminded that somebody had given it to them.And so, once in fifty years all the purchased properties returned to their previous owners to show thatnobodyhas a right in the land. Everybody took notice. Even the people who had no minds, people who didn’t think, they became aware. They saw movement, moving off land, moving into the land. “What’s happening here?!” And that was the great drama of the Yovel that Hashem intended. In order to make everyone understand – not just understand, but in order that everyone shouldfeel in their bonesthat they are only visitors on the land.WILL AMERICA TURN SOCIALIST?Now, it’s not only the nation that practices and studies themitzvahofYovel, who are mere visitors in this world. The Germans and the Norwegians and the Eskimos are only visiting as well. The Pole who has been living in Poland way back as far as his history records is also a stranger. And the Hottentot climbing the trees in the same jungle where his forefathers have been running around for hundreds, maybe thousands of years, he’s also only a visitor in this world. They’re all visitors here and nothing is going to change that; when the time comes they’re also going to leave this world – the only question is where they’re going to leave to.But the gentile nations weren’t privileged to have themitzvah, the reminder of Yovel. If agoybuys or sells real estate in America or in England, so as long as the liberals don’t have their way, as long as the government doesn’t turn Socialist, so the gentiles could stay in their land forever. They don’t have to be reminded that the land is not theirs, because they are themishpechos ha’adamah, the families of the earth; that means – their functionis this world. Theirpurposehere isadamahpurposes – to farm the land, to put down roofs, to be firemen and everything else the world needs. But theAm Yisroelwas given the special privilege of being taught by Hashem that they have a different purpose altogether. By means of the special institution of Yovel we’re reminded that our stay here is only temporary and that what we’re aiming for is something much higher than this world.MR. P. NEEDS OXYGENNow, when you don’t get special instruction, or if you don’t listen to instruction, so you begin to think thatthisis your place. Like the man who moved in next door to me years ago; I remember him well because as we walked to shul on Shabbos morning, he would be outside in his garden clipping his bushes. So this man – he was quite elderly already when he moved in – he decided to put up a metal fence, an expensive wrought iron fence. And in the middle of the fence was a big metal circle – like a shield, an escutcheon – and he put his initial, a big P of cast iron in the middle. It was something that would last for the next two hundred years. And I was thinking, that initial is only good forhim, forhisname. But how long will he be there?Well, it wasn’t too long. One night, we heard outside somebody crying out. His son was running out of the house, running down the street, yelling “Oxygen!” He ran around the corner to the fire station and brought back a little oxygen tank, but it was too late; his father was finished already. And so the family eventually moved, and now somebody else bought the home. The colored man living there now has a big P on the gate in front of his house! It’s not his initial, but it’s still there in heavy metal, an insert in the gate memorializing the man who thought he would be around forever.A HUNDRED YEAR VISITNow, I never saw a Yovel in my life, but this message I did see. I saw it with my own eyes and I took it as a lesson from Hakodosh Boruch Hu that that’s what happens when a person becomes attached to one place; he begins to feel that it’s permanent, that this is security. People start thinking after a while, that they’re here for the next thousand years. It’s not an exaggeration; that’s exactly what they think! Of course, if you tell him so, he’ll ridicule you: “Don’t be silly; I know that one day I will be gone.” But in his heart of hearts, he still hopes, “Maybe I’ll make it. Maybe I’ll be around for a thousand years.” Everybody is like that; they think they’ll get out of it some way. “I’ll hang around; not like the other fools who get finagled into leaving this world.”The gentile, orchas v’chalila,the Jew who doesn’t learn the lesson ofYovel, so he puts his initial in wrought iron on his fence. But when you know, when you really knowthat you’re only a visitor here you live differently.Now, some people understand this lesson; they take the hint of Hakodosh Boruch Hu and live with the understanding that they are only visitors here. Like the Chofetz Chaim,zichrono livracha. I told you this story already, it’s a story you all know already, but I’ll say it again because it’s the point of our talk tonight. Once a visitor came in to the Chofetz Chaim’s house and he was waiting in what he thought was the anterior room, a waiting room. There was a table there made of a few boards of wood nailed together, and there were a few old benches there too, also just some lumber nailed together. So when the Chofetz Chaim finally came out to greet the visitor, the guest said, “Rebbe, you don’t have to talk to me here; let’s go inside.” So the Chofetz Chaim said, “This is the inside.” “Butrebbe, where is the furniture?” So the Chofetz Chaim said to the visitor, “Where isyourfurniture?” “My furniture?! I’m from America; I can’t take my furniture with me. I’m just traveling through.” So the Chofetz Chaim said, “So am I.”THE LANDLORD WANTS RENT TOO?!On the other hand, I visited a poor man once. He was earning about ninety dollars a week in those days; it was about twenty years ago. I was sitting on the sofa in his house and he told me – maybe he was trying to impress me – he said, “This sofa cost me eight hundred dollars.” Now today, it’s nothing, but in those days when I heard eight hundred dollars, I nearly fell off the sofa. I was sitting on a sofa that cost this man almost ten weeks of his life. Now, I don’t know if that sofa is still around like my neighbor’s P; probably not. But the lesson is still there – it means that the lesson of Yovel hasn’t been learned yet; it means that we don’t yet understand that we’re only visiting here.Number one is to know that you’re not a landlord here, you’re a tenant. Because of habit, people tend to forget that there is a landlord. Let’s say your landlord takes a trip to Eretz Yisroel and he stays away for five months and in the meantime he doesn’t collect rent, so it becomes a habit. If he would come back and ask for rent so you feel like it’s an imposition. In just five months you became accustomed to being the owner of this place. And we’re here for much more than five months! Seventy, eighty years, is a long time and so we begin to think that this is our place, that this is where we’ll be forever.THE VISIT HAS A PURPOSEAnd so, keeping in mind that we’re visitors here becomes a very important function of how we live. It’s not enough to say over a story of the Chofetz Chaim; you have tothinkabout it – it’s a very important subject and we should study it seriously.Olam Haba; that is our place! Here we don’t really belong – we’re just passing through, headed to a better place. And if you’re a person like the Chofetz Chaim let’s say, if you feel like a visitor in this world, so you have higherhasagosthan iron fences and expensive sofas. You consider your success to be in more important things, in things of the spirit.This is expressed in apossukin Tehillim (119:19) when Dovid Hamelech said: גֵּר אָנֹכִי בָאָרֶץ – “I am a stranger in this world, אַל תַּסְתֵּר מִמֶּנִּי מִצְוֹתֶיךָ – Don’t hide from me Your commandments.” What’s the connection between the first part of thepossukand the second? I am a stranger in this world and therefore teach me Your will?! It’s a non-sequitur.And the answer is this: “If I had no other function in this world than just to be here like a forest or a mountain, if I was from themishpechos ha’adamah,so my function would be fulfilled just by living here. I wouldn’t ask You for anything. But that’s not my function.Geir anochi ba’aretz– I realize that I am only a visitor here and I am headed for a different goal. And if that’s the case, I have a lot to accomplish in this world where it’s very easy to get lost in its ‘permanence.’ And that’s why I’m asking You to give me success here.Part II.Tenants with PurposeTHE BOOK OF MEDITATIONSAnd now we come to the subject of what is this success that Dovid was aiming for? What should be the result of this knowledge that we’re only visitors here? So for that we look into theChovos Halevavos, and because his words are always gems we should pay attention to what he says. HisSha’ar Cheshbon Hanefeshis a section in which he talks about subjects which people ought to meditate on; certain mental exercises that we are expected to think about. And he suggests thirty different ideas – thirty forms of contemplation which he recommends for people who want to make progress. Of course there are many things concerning which we should think, and those who are capable can add to the list, but he gives us thirty ideas to fill our mind with.Now, you can be a good Jew even if you don’t strain your mind too much, but if you want to be something better, if you want to be successful in this world, it’s necessary to contemplate certain ideas. There’s no doubt that to be something in this world you must spend some time thinking. And therefore, the list of the Chovos Halevavos is a boon for those people who want to make progress in this world.At the end of his list, he comes tohamashlim hashloshim, his grand finale, what perhaps is the most important attitude upon which he urges us to spend time thinking. And we’ll quote his words and try to understand them:Hamashlim hashloshim hu cheshbonha’adam im nafsho, the thirtieth thing that a man should think with himself is,b’tna’ei hageirus b’olam hazeh, about his circumstances of being a sojourner, a visitor in this world. That means that everybody is expected to set aside time for thinking, for contemplating the fact that he is only passing through this world temporarily and that he doesn’t really belong here. And therefore he should never feel completely settled and secure in life.TAKING MONEY FROM THE CHINESELet’s say a man went to China for business. He didn’t go there to mingle with the Chinese, or even to visit the tourist sites there. He went for business; in order to make some money to bring back to where hereallybelongs. He’s not interested in anything else – their language is alien to him, their customs are strange to him, their customs are queer in his eyes. He doesn’t belong to them at all. And even though he might want to go see the Great Wall of China; he’s curious after all, and it’s easier to look at walls than to close business deals. But he knows that he came for one purpose – to take as much money and goods from China as he can. And while he’s there that’s his sole interest.So he gets into the export business. He gets busy exporting as much as he could out of China. He doesn’t want to leave anything there because he knows that sooner or later he’ll be back home. And that’s us! Our job in this world is to get into the export business. We’re here to take out all that we can. Now, what to export, that’s a lot to talk about, but good deeds surely are valuables that you can take along with you. Thinking about Hashem, that’s definitely something you’ll take with you.Torahu’ma’asim tovim, that’s the cash you’ll take along with you. Ortzeddakahthat you gave. If you give away charity, it’s in your pocket and you’ll take it along with you forever.ALL FOR THE BOSSI once knew a Mr. Hermanzichrono l’vrachafrom the Lower East Side. Now, Mr. Herman was one of the very few devoted frum Jews in the olden days of America.B’leiv v’nefeshhe was devoted to Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And he told me once that when he saw that all his money was going lost, that his business was quickly failing – it was at the time of the Great Depression. So he right away took a thousand dollars – in those days a thousand dollars was a small fortune – and he gave it away totzedakahon the spot. He said, “Why should I lose that too? Why should I lose my chance at exporting more goods into the Next World?” And so Mr. Herman was a smart businessman and he quickly exported another container out of China.Now, what to do forthis worldwhile you’re still here – I’m not going to tell you right now what you should or shouldn’t do. Should you beautify your home? Should you try to make money? The businessman in China has to sleep somewhere! He can’t sleep on the street. He has to eat as well and keep himself healthy if he wants to succeed. And if he’ll be there for a few years so he’ll have his family with him and he’ll have to provide for them as well. And that costs money.YOU’RE ENTITLED TO A GREEN THUMBSo if you buy a beautiful home and you have a big garden around it, OK, I’m not saying you can’t invest into beautifying your place. Why not? If you like garden work, agriculture, if you have a green thumb, why not? If you can paint on your own, or you can hire people to beautify your home, why not? Maybe why yes? You’ll have to think that through. But whatever you decide, there’s a condition that you always must keep before your mind’s eye: That we’re only tenants. Even though you have a deed and it’s registered in City Hall, and even though you’re painting your house, and fixing your garden, you can’t forget that you’re only a tenant here.It’sHashem’shome and you’re visiting for a little bit; you’re a tenant. Certainly you should live a normal life; but it has to be the normal life of a visitor. You should keep in mind always this great principle, that you’re like a man in a railway station. Let’s say you’re in Grand Central and you have a chance to do some business there. You can buy from one person and sell it to somebody else at the station. Why not? No reason why not. But you have to know that soon you’ll be hearing a whistle and the conductor will shout, “All aboard.” And you won’t have a choice, you’ll have to get aboard. And so if you’ll keep that in mind, that the train is coming sooner or later, so there’s no reason why you can’t have a nice home as well. As long as you’ll be able to hop on board with a big amount of paper money or banknotes that you’ll be able to cash in when you get to your destination, so you’ve accomplished!And so, in order to remind theAm Yisroelof their condition in this world it was necessary to have aYovel. It was necessary to have this big commotion every fifty years as a national lesson.Everybodybecame aware. Even the people who had no minds, who didn’t think, became aware. They saw the tumult, the roads jammed with people, families moving out of homes, into homes. What’s happening here?! What’s going on? “It’s no secret,” says Hashem. “I’m telling it to you as open as could be. כִּי לִי הָאָרֶץ – “The land is mine”, כִּי גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם עִמָּדִי – “You are only strangers and sojourners with me.” The land doesn’t belong to anyone, not to the one who bought it and not the original owner. It belongs to Somebody else; the real Landlord.”THE LANDLORD AT THE DOORNow, it’s true that we don’t have theYovelnowadays. We don’t have that privilege of being reminded with such an earth shaking event that turns theAmYisroelupside down. But there are other ways that we remind ourselves. We put the name of our Landlord on every doorpost. Did you know that? וּכְתַבְתָּם עַל מְזוּזוֹת בֵּיתֶךָ (Devarim 11:20). That’s one of the important reasons for themitzvahofmezuzah. Whenever you pass through a doorway, it should remind you who owns the house (RambamHil. Mezuzah6:13). Of course, you saved up for years, and finally you got the deed to the house. For years and years you paid and paid to the bank until finally they mailed to you the deed – you’re free and clear. It’s finally yours!No, you’re not free and clear! Because every time you pass themezuzahyou’re reminded that you still have a Landlord who is the real Owner of the property. And so themezuzahis a remarkable opportunity for learning the lessons ofYovel. If you take advantage of themezuzah, even if it’s only once a day, you can succeed at acquiring the realization that כִּי לִי הָאָרֶץ, that the earth belongs to Hashem and that we’re only passing through; just as our forefathers did inEretz Yisroelwhen they still had the institution ofYovel.Part III.Friends of the LandlordONE HUNDRED MEANINGS OF “ONE”Now, the most important words inside yourmezuzahareShema Yisroel Hashem Elokeinu Hashem Echad– “Hashem is One.” You know that these first words in Shema have a number of meanings. I know onemechaberwho wrote aseferwith a hundred meanings and they’re all valuable, all very important. But we won’t try that much; right now we’ll concentrate on the onepeirushthat we need to better understand our subject.TheChovos Halevavos(ibid.), tells us that thepossukdescribing the Yovel, כִּי גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם עִמָּדִי “You are sojourners with Me in this world,” is actually teaching us apeirushin what it means that Hashem is One. Because actually, Yovel teaches us much more than that we are travelers who don’t own our homes. כִּי גֵרִים וְתוֹשָׁבִים אַתֶּם – עִמָּדִי – “You are sojournerswith Me!” “With Me,” meansonlywith Me.Hashem Echad– as far as you’re concerned there is nobody else in the world except you and Me.And so, theYovelis letting us know that as we live out the years of our lives in this temporary world, we do so as lonely strangers, passing through this world. Nobody else exists in the world, except for Hashem. That’s the idea contained in this important meaning ofHashem Echad,that He’s the only One in our lives.BUT I DON’TFEELLONELY!Now, that’s not easy for a person to accept. He thinks thatb’soch ami anochi yosheves, that he has relatives, a community, friends. He doesn’t feel alone. Hashem? Yes, Hashem is also real, he’ll admit that, he’s a frum man after all. “But the people around me, that’sreallyreal,” he thinks. And what that means is that he’s missing out on the most important point of this entire drama of Yovel that Hashem is making. Yovel is telling you – that you are עִמָּדִי, together with Me, alone, all the days of your life.I want you to listen to the following words of Dovid Hamelech. Dovid appealed to Hakodosh Boruch Hu: תָּעִיתִי כְּשֶׂה אֹבֵד – “I am wandering like a lost sheep, Hashem, בַּקֵּשׁ עַבְדֶּךָ – “Search out Your servant” (Tehillim 119:176). That means, “Please find me Hashem because I’m lost; I’m all alone in this world.” Now, you know that Dovid was a man of very great success and power and we’re told that לִבּוֹ כְּלֵב הָאַרְיֵה – “He had a heart like the heart of a lion.” (Shmuel II 17:10). He was born with a nature of a lion, and fear was alien to him. He was energetic and brave, and that’s besides for hisbitachon, his trust in Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And yet, this great man revealed his soul when he appealed to Hakodosh Boruch Hu: “I am wandering like a lost and lonely sheep; please find me.”WHO IS THE RIGHT CANDIDATE?Now, if anybodywasn’tlost in this world it was Dovid Hamelech. Looking at him, you would say that he’s the last person in the world to be a candidate for the role of the lost sheep. But what we see is that Dovid understood more than other people what is man’s station in this world. He is enunciating here the great principle of our loneliness in Olam Hazeh – the great principle that there is nobody in the world except for you and Hashem.And that’s what Dovid said: הַבֵּיט יָמִין וּרְאֵה וְאֵין לִי מַכִּיר – “I look on my right hand and I see that there’s nobody who knows me” (Tehillim 142:5). “Nobody who knows me”!? Dovid of all people?! He was always surrounded by friends; he always had loyal men with him. And yet, when he looked around he saw that he had no one. He felt he was a stranger to everyone. I look at my right hand side and I see that no one knows me! You think they know you? No, it’s only a dream. That’s the real truth, and that’s what Dovid Hamelech was always telling himself. He would sit in the royal court, and look around at his many friends; his admirers, all the courtiers, and he would whisper to himself, “Ein li makir, there’s nobody with me; there’s nobody in this world except for You Hashem.”WALKING WITH HASHEMNow, some people think that Dovid was just saying words – he was just being poetic, creating prose for hissefer Tehillim. But that’s not who Dovid was at all; Dovid spoke words that came from the heart, words that would spring forth from hisneshamaafter many hours of walking in the fields with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Dovid walked with Hashem making thatcheshbon ha’adam im nafshothat we spoke about. He thought many hoursb’tna’ei hageirus b’olam hazeh, about his condition of being a sojourner, a visitor, in this world. And he realized the truth that as far as a man is concerned there isn’t anybody in this world except for Hashem.There isn’t a soul around and that’s the real truth. It’s only imagination. All the forms around you are just ships that pass in the night that have no permanent connection with you. And the truth is – don’t say this over at home – but even your wife and your children are transitory figures. They’re not really whoyouare. It so happens that Hakodosh Boruch Hu took some protoplasm made from some of His chemicals and He gave you a father and a mother; He gave you brothers and sisters; and friends and neighbors. But it’s only protoplasm after all. It’s only Hashem’s imagination; it’s only temporary. They came out of the earth, and they were put there for you to deal with them according to the ways of the Torah. And that’s how they’ll deal with you as well, because you’re also only the imagination of Hashem.YOUR IMAGINARY ALLIESNow that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get married. It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have friends. Oh no! You have to do everything that’s expected of you while you’re in this world. You can’t ignore everyone else. You can’t say, “My father and my mother are only transitory figures, so I’ll ignore them.” Nothing doing! Nothing doing! You have to discharge your obligations fully – only that you must not lose sight of your Best Friend in this world, Hakadosh Baruch Hu. You have a wife, and you have children, and friends, and neighbors, and teachers, but you can’t be fooled by it all. It’s a big danger, this world, because if you don’t ever make thischeshbon ha’adam im nafsho, if you never make time to think about your condition ofgeirusin this world, so life creates the impression that you’re surrounded with allies; fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, relatives, and friends.When things are settled, when life settles into the humdrum, so a person feels secure – he has his home, his family, his job – and he’s surrounded by people. And it’s among people, when a person feels like he belongs, that’s when it’s so easy to forget about Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Like right now, it seems like we’re together; we’re sitting together in the same room; maybe some of you are sleeping but more or less, it seems like we’re together. But it’s not true; really we are all at sea like ships passing in the night. They pass for a moment and then they’re gone. That’s how people are in this world. It seems that you have friends but the friends disappear in the course of time. And of course you also disappear. And all you have left is Hakodosh Boruch Hu.THE HOLY BACHELORSo even if you’re a loyal husband or a loyal wife, a loyal father or a loyal mother, and you have a house full of children,kein ayin hara, sometimes, when you find yourself alone, make sure to utilize the opportunity to exercise these thoughts. Let’s say the babies are all asleep, and the other ones went out to the yeshiva, and your husband is at work, and you’re alone. Or better yet, if you’re a bachelor. It’s not better to be a bachelor, but if you are, make use of the opportunity.You’re alone. Revel in that opportunity. Just think of how you’d be deprived of the awareness of Hashem if you were surrounded right now by a large family. You would have to exchange your thoughts of Hashem for banter with the children, and for talking with your wife. The telephone is ringing all the time. And here you are alone, nobody bothers you, nobody even knows about you; you’re sitting all alone in your little den, and you’re alone with Hakodosh Boruch Hu. You and Hakodosh Boruch Hu are alone together. That’s an opportunity! And when such opportunities come your way, you should grab them and utilize them.ALL ALONE ON THE CROWDED SUBWAYBut we’re saying here that you don’t have to wait for that quiet moment; for when the special occasion presents itself. Because even when you’re walking on the street, you’re all alone with Hashem. Let’s say you’re on Broadway at the end of the day, and a wave, an ocean of humanity is pouring out of the office buildings. And sometimes it’s so crowded you can’t even walk, you’re being carried along to the subway, with thousands of people. Just then, that’s when you should think, “Hashem Echad! I’m alone with You in this world.”And when you get onto the train, no difference. You’re hanging on to the strap at 5:30 in the subway – if you were lucky enough to get a strap to hang on to. And as you’re hanging on the strap, first of all make sure that your wallet is secure – don’t go off in dreams and forget practical things. And as you’re holding on tightly like this, with one hand on the strap and one hand on your wallet, think that you’re all alone here; it’s just you and Hakodosh Boruch Hu. Close your eyes and feel that the place is empty. All around you is a storm of humanity with all their little interests, their little worries, their conversations, their little minds; and you’re holding onto the strap all alone with your Best Friend.It’s an exercise – and it’s well worth it. And it comes highly recommended by theChovos Halevavos. He says that it’s possible to be in solitude in the midst of a multitude. That’s his expression, הִתְבּוֹדְדוּת בְּתוֹךְ הֲמוֹנִים – “In the midst of a multitude you can be all alone.” Because that’s the real truth; even when you’re in a crowd, you’re hanging on a strap in the subway, you’re all alone because everything else isonly a dream –kachalom ya’uf– like a passing dream. And the more you think, the more you’re exercising the flabby muscles of your soul. And therefore as frequently as possible try to remember that you and Hakodosh Boruch Hu are alone in the world.MOSHE RABEINU’S COMPOSITIONMoshe Rabeinu said that, and he said it in words that everybody knows. Only that most people never stop to think about these words. תְּפִלָּה לְמֹשֶׁה אִישׁ הָאֱלֹקִים – It’s a prayer composed by Moshe, one of the rare things left over from the days of old, a memento of Moshe’s own composition that lets us peer into the mind of theishha’elokim, that great man of G-d. Moshe Rabbeinu, he said a lot of good things, but we don’t have them. One remnant remains from the precious mouth of this great teacher, and it’s a diamond. A prayer by Moshe; isn’t that an opportunity?! We should study that! Moshe’s own composition!And here’s what he said: הַשֵּׁם מָעוֹן אַתָּה הָיִיתָ לָּנוּ – “Hashem, You are our dwelling place” (Tehillim 90:1). It’s a remarkable statement. It means, “Hashem, we don’t have a place to live and so we livein You.” You know when that was? Ideally it was in the wilderness. We had no place to be in the wilderness. We didn’t have any land, no place to settle. Wherever we did settle, it was only temporary. We were surrounded by the Shechina, by the clouds of glory, and You were our dwelling place. We lived in You. And that was the training, the prototype for the rest of our history; because wherever we go we still live in You.That’s why theAm Yisroel,when they talk about Hashem, so they sayHamakom.Hamakom yinacheim,Hamakomthis,Hamakomthat.Makommeans place and Hashem istheplace. We live in Him. You think you live in a house; you think you live in a home with your parents or your spouse and your children. No, you live in Hashem, that’s all. He’s your home.THE ARABS TEACH US ABOUT YOVELWe have to be aware of that. That’s part of our job in this world, to remember that there’s no place in this world; it’s all imagination – there’s only one true place.Hamakom! Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the place. Even the place where we are is only a dream, it’s our imagination. We have no place but you!That’s why a Jew is always hounded in this world; the Jew walks on the street in Europe and thegoyimcast slurs on him; they tell him, “Get out of our country you dirty Jew. Go to Israel!” And if he does, so theArabstell him to get out, the U.N. tells him to get out. And it’s not for no reason – it’s important instruction to let him know that he really has no place in this world. And the purpose of not having any place in this world is to discover that we do have a place. And that place isHamakom Baruch Hu– Hakadosh Baruch Hu is called a place, because wherever we are, it’s only Him whom we live with.So what do we see? That the great ceremony of the Yovel was intended as a lesson for theAm Yisroel. It was a national demonstration of the most important truths – I say most important because it reveals to us the truth of our condition in this world. It’s really one lesson, but we separated it into two for the sake of better understanding it. First of all, theYoveldemonstrated to us that Hakodosh Boruch Hu is the Landlord and that we are only tenants visiting in this world. And in order that we should keep this lesson in our minds at all times the Torah instituted this remarkable practice – a great shuffle up once every fifty years – so that it would make the deepest impression into ourneshamos.OUR OLD FRIENDAnd the second lesson, the more subtle teaching, is that our Landlord is theonlyone we have in this world. We’re strangers, we’re all alone in this world andHakadosh Baruch Hu is our only Friend. And He’s the best Friend you could have. That’s what it says: רֵעֲךָ וְרֵעַ אָבִיךָ אַל תַּעֲזֹב – “Don’t forsake your Friend and the Friend of your father” (Mishlei 27:10). That’s אֱלֹקֵינוּ וֵאֱלֹקֵי אֲבוֹתֵינוּ. That’s our old Friend. He is tried and trusted and He’s the only one we have.And even though today we don’t have theYovel; we don’t hear the shofar blast, and we don’t feel the earthquake that once woke theAm Yisroelfrom its slumber, from the lethargy of not thinking, but we study it and we gain as much as we possibly can from its teachings.And the wise person always makes use of the deed to his home that adorns his doorposts. Every time we pass in and out of our homes we are reminded that our home is not really a home at all; it’s merely the place we’re visiting temporarily. It’s the place where we spend our fleeting lives preparing to enter our permanent home in the next world, where we will meet theHashem Echadwho was our one and only true Friend in this world.HAVE A WONDERFUL SHABBOS See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. 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Counting the DaysPart I.Counting for WisdomWHEN IS SHAVUOS?In this week’sparshawe are introduced to themitzvahofsefiras ha’omer, the counting of forty-nine days between the bringingof theOmerofferingand theyomtovofShavuos:וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם מִמָּחֳרָת הַשַּׁבָּת – “You shall count for yourselves from the morrow of the first day of Pesach, מִיּוֹם הֲבִיאֲכֶם אֶת עֹמֶר הַתְּנוּפָה – from the day that you bring the Omer offering, עַד מִמׇּחֳרַת הַשַּׁבָּת הַשְּׁבִיעִת – until the day after the seventh week when you will celebrateShavuos”(Vayikra 23:15). In the Torah theyomtovofShavuosis not designated by a certain day of the month; instead it depends entirely on the counting of days. “Today is day one,” “Today is day two,” “Today three, and so forth until we say “Today is day forty-nine,” and then we know thatShavuosis tomorrow.That’s how it’s been for all of our history; the whole Jewish nation stands up and countssefira. From the time Yehoshua entered the land until thechurban bayis rishon,the destruction of theBeis Hamikdash, we were counting. And even when we were exiled from our land and couldn’t bring theOmeranymore, they continued to count the days fromPesachuntilShavuos– we’re still counting today. For forty-nine days we become the nation that counts.But there’s a question here. Because if the purpose of this counting was merely to know when to celebrateShavuos– as it appears from thepossuk– so the Torah could have merely said, “And seven weeks after the first day of Pesach you should celebrateShavuos.” What’s the necessity of a special counting, a special ceremony of counting the days? And even more than that, why is it that weallhave to count? Let theBeis Dincount; letthemkeep count and let us know! That’s how it is with counting theshmittayears after all. Themitzvahto count the years forshmittaandyovelfalls exclusively on theBeis Dinand we don’t participate at all.THE NATIONAL COUNTING CEREMONYAnd yet, when it comes tosefiras ha’omerthe Torah goes out of its way to obligate every single one of us to participate in the counting. Thegemara(Menachos 65b) says regarding themitzvahof counting theOmer: וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם – “And you should countlachem, foryourselves; andchazaltell us that the plurallachemis used to teach, שֶׁתְּהֵא סְפִירָה לְכָל אֶחָד וְאֶחָד – that the counting must be done byeveryindividual.”So what’s this national business of counting? A whole nation of millions should stop everything to count days?! What for? Of course, you’ll hear many reasons you’ll hear – we’ve spoken about them here too – ideas that correspond to theOmerandMatan Torahand to the days in between. But we’ll focus now on a more general idea, an important attitude that pertains not only to these forty nine days beforeShavuos,but to the counting of all the days of our lives!613 PANORAMAS OF OPPORTUNITYThe brother of the Vina Gaon in his seferMa’alos Hatorah(Hakdamah) teaches us a very important rule – he says it in the name of the Gra, but it’s found in theRishonimas well – and it’s an idea that opens up for us a panorama of opportunity. He declares that although the six hundred and thirteenmitzvosof the Torah are commandmentson their own, yet they are also intended to be much more than that. He says that they are actually six hundred and thirteenklalim, general principles, that serve as models that should guide us in our everyday lives. And therefore, although we do not add to themitzvos, yet we can always surmise in which direction Hashem wishes that our minds should go by studying these general principles.Now, if themitzvahof counting days is intended as a model for us, we should spend some time trying – at least a little bit – to understand what we’re being taught here. In which direction is Hakodosh Boruch Hu guiding us by commanding us to count these days?DOVID HAMELECH LEARNS TO COUNTInTehillim(90:12) there’s apossukלִמְנוֹת יָמֵינוּ כֵּן הוֹדַע – “Make known to us how to count our days properly.” We say it every Shabbos morning, and we should take it to heart because it is of the utmost consequence to each one of us. Dovid Hamelech is saying here a supplication, atefillato Hakadosh Baruch Hu: “Please Hashem,” he said, “Please teach us how to count our days.”Now, just to count days, Dovid Hamelech wouldn’t need to call out to Hashem. You need Hashem to teach you to count days?! A littleyingelat home, even before he goes out to thecheder, can count days. You count, that’s all! So we look back at ourpossukand we see that it wasn’t that Dovid wanted to know how tocount. “Teach us how to count our days ‘kein’, how to count our daysproperly,” he said.The wordkeinmeans ‘properly’ like we findכֵּןבְּנוֹת צְלָפְחָד דּוֹבְרוֹת – “The daughters ofTzelofchadare speaking correctly, properly” (Bamidbar 27:7). So לִמְנוֹת יָמֵינוּ כֵּן הוֹדַע means, “Make us know how to count our dayscorrectly.” It’s not enough to count; for themitzvahofsefiras ha’omerit might be sufficient, but for counting the days of our lives, Dovid understood that we need more than that. What Dovid wanted from Hashem was help in counting his days ‘kein’, correctly.Now what it means to count successfully, that’s a big subject, but the first thing we make note of is that there’s more to counting than merely ticking off the days; there’s something we’re aiming for here. And that’s what thepossukcontinues: “Teach us to count our days properly, וְנָבִיא לְבַב חָכְמָה – “and help us bring a mind of wisdom.” That means, teach ushow to produce a mind of wisdom.WHAT IS WISDOM?Now, if I would just stop here, we still wouldn’t know how to count. Because wisdom could mean many things. Maybe it’s technical knowledge? So, of course, immediately we would say no. Certainly it’s not a prayer that we should succeed in putting into our heads every day more facts of science, or the wisdom of ways and means of performing crafts or vocational skills. So the best among us would say that it’s referring to thechochmas hatorah; what else ischochma? We pray to Hakodosh Boruch Hu that we should utilize our days in filling our minds with knowledge of Torah. I’m sure everyone here would say, “Certainly! What else?!”And there’s no question that thechochmas hatorahis very important; when you add oneyedias hatorah, one detail of Torah, to your store of knowledge, then you were successful today, you became rich. No question!Chochmacan meanMesichtaBrachosand it can meanShabbosandEiruvinandPesachim. It can meanSukkahandRosh HashanaandYumaandBeitzahandMegillaandTa’anisandMoed KatanandChagigatoo. It could mean all ofShas! There’s no questionlimud hatorahis achochma.Butl’havdilwe must say the same if you gained some more facts about the sciences; if you studied books of biology or chemistry, whatever it may be; that’s also achochma. Of course, by no means on the same scale as Torah, but if you learn it in the right way, you recognize that you’re studying thedarkei Hashem,the ways of Hashem in nature and in history, לָדַעַת בָּאָרֶץ דַּרְכֶּיךָ, there’s no question that it’s also a certain achievement ofchochma. But here, when Dovid was counting his days to “to produce a mind ofchochma,” a different type ofchochmaaltogether is intended. The wisdom Dovid is speaking about here is one that is set far above all the other forms of wisdom in the world – and it’s that wisdom that will be our subject for this talk.THE LONG BEARDEDYAREI SHAMAYIMInIyov(28:28) it states:הֵן יִרְאַת הַשֵּׁם הִיא חָכְמָה – “Behold,yiras Hashem, fear of Hashem,hee, that is called wisdom.” Now, when I sayyiras Hashem, right away people think they know what I’m talking about. But they don’t; it’s not what you think it is. And therefore the wordyirahitself must be defined – otherwise you might imagine all types of wrong ideas. You see what the world thinks it is – people think that it means putting on externalities. Here’s a man who decides to choose the way ofyiras Hashem, so the first thing is he lets his beard grow long. And then, a black hat. Very nice! And then in some cases he puts on a long black coat. Beautiful! And in very many cases, that’s it! He thinks he’s graduated; he thinks he has it.And that’s why it’s important to emphasize thatyiras Hashemis much more than externalities. It’s achochma; a knowledge that must be learned; a science that must be studied and practiced. And it’s not easy. It doesn’t mean merely learning the technicalities of Torah. It’s wonderful to learnBava Kama! It’s great to learnMesichta Shabbos! It’s great to know all the details ofhalacha; it’s a very important wisdom. But it’s notthewisdom.GREEK FOR DUMMIESI’ll explain that. Thechachomim(Shabbos 31b) said on thispossukof“Hein yiras Hashem hee chochma,” that the wordheinin Greek means one. In pig Greek, in pig Latin,ainorunwas a way of saying one. And so we can read thepossukas follows: “Fear of Hashem is wisdom and הִיא חָכְמָה, וְהִיא לְבַדָּהּ חָכְמָה –that alone is called wisdom!”(Mesillas Yesharim, Hakdamah). There’s only one truechochmabecause all the other forms of wisdom pale into insignificance in comparison to thechochmaofyiras Hashem.The question remains though, how to achieve thatchochma? How do we achieve the wisdom ofyiras Hashemthat is more important than allchochmos? So the first step is to know what it is we’re striving for. You’ll recall that I expressly took the trouble to emphasize thatyiras Hashem, the fear of Hashem, is not what people think it is and therefore before we go on, let’s define this term; what is meant byyiras Hashem?Yaro, to be afraid, is actually derived fromra’ohto see. Because when a person doesn’t see, so he’s not afraid. “Ignorance is bliss,” says the world. A man is afraid only when he sees that something is actually coming, or at least he sees in his imagination that something is coming. Soyirah,fear, is a form ofr’iyah,seeing.LOVE, FEAR OR AWARENESS?And now we come to the point of tonight’s talk. When we sayyirah, when we talk about counting our days foryiras Hashem, what we really mean is that we are trying to make every day a day of “seeing Hashem.” Now, while you’re still in this world you’ll never be able to actually see Hashem, but what it means isbecoming aware of Hashem.Yiras Hashemis really ‘being aware of Hashem’ and once you understand that then you’ve grasped the fundamentalyesodof being afrumJew.Now of course,yirahmeans fear too. You have to fear Hashem! Today when a rabbi speaks about fear of Hashem, people think he doesn’t know English, and what he really means is “Love Hashem”.Nothing doing! When we say “fear,” we mean fear in its most literal sense. Only that true fear is founded on Awareness. And so, if we’ll translate it in one word,yiras Hashemis Awareness. Being aware all the time of Hashem! To feel, to actually be convinced, of the immanence of the Presence of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.And that is thereishis chochma, the highest of all forms of wisdom. To gain more and moreemunah chushis, more and more sensory feeling – not onlyemunahsichlis, intelligent understanding – but it should enter into our senses and our nerves until we are as aware of Hakodosh Boruch Hu as we are of anyone else. At least as much as you’re aware of your neighbor or your Uncle Morris in the Bronx, you should be aware of Hashem.QUESTION YOURSELF EVERY DAYAnd so, even if someone isfrum, even if he’s very pious, and he’s careful with every detail of Judaism, but if he never labored to acquire any real awareness of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, then he does not haveyiras Hashem. He’sfrum; certainly he’s devout, and we don’t begrudge that at all, but he doesn’t have anyyiras Hashem. Because specifically,yiras Hashemmeans seeing Hashem, living with an actual feeling that you’re standing in front of Him at all times. And the more you think about Him and the more real He becomes to you, the more you become ayarei shamayim –which is the purpose of our days in this world.That’s why we counted today! And that’s why we’ll count tomorrow, and the day after that. And that’s why we’ll continue counting our days even long afterShavuosends too. Becausesefiras ha’omeris theklal, it’s the rehearsal for the important function of counting the rest of the days of our lives – of making sure that every day of our lives is being used to achieve more and moreyirasshamayim. Every day that ticks off the calendar is important and must be counted; we’re expected to ask ourselves, “Did I bring moreyirahinto my heart today?”Part II.The Purpose of TimeTHE CLOCK HANGING 93,000,000 MILES AWAYNow, in order that we should comprehend the enormity of this function of counting days, the Torah doesn’t wait untilParshas Emorto let us know its importance. Way back in the beginning, when Hashem created this world, He taught us about this.Do you know what the sun and the moon are for? Why did Hashem create the sun and the moon? So we look back into thechumashand we see that there were a few purposes. And one of them is the one we’re speaking about now, the function of counting our days.וַיֹּאמֶר אֱלֹקִים יְהִי מְאֹרֹת בָּרָקִיעַ הַשָּׁמַיִם – “And Hashem said: Let there be luminaries in the firmament, לְיָמִים – for days” (Bereishis 1:14). Now, to separate between day and night, that’s already mentioned earlier in thepossuk, לְהַבְדִּיל בֵּין הַיּוֹם וּבֵין הַלָּיְלָה – “To separate between day and night,” and therefore we must say that the wordl’yomim, “for days,”is telling us something new altogether – that the purpose of the sun is for creating separate days; in order that we should experience the passing of time.Now, if you think about it, this is an astounding idea. The Torah is revealing to us a very surprising fact, something we would never have dreamed of by ourselves. Actually, it’s such a startling statement that even after hearing it, we’ll have to be very pious people to accept it. We, little human beings, on this tiny earth – compared to the sun it’s tiny after all – do we deserve to have a tremendous clock hanging for us way out in space? You know how big the sun is?! You know how far off it is?! And the purpose of that tremendous orb in the sky, that beautiful ball of fire, is merely to serve as a timepiece for us?! Absolutely! Hakodosh Boruch Hu declares it openly: it’s to let you know when a day has passed by.L’yomim. There you have it, black on white.THE LONGEST WASTED DAYIn case you would get caught up in life, in case you wouldn’t notice life passing you by, so the sun rises and sets, rises and sets, and it thereby lets us know that the days are passing. Another day is coming, and then another day, and now another one has passed us by. If not for the sun then life would be this one long stretch of time. We’d be born in the world and we would continue always, one long day or one long night, whatever it is. And time would go by, and before we know it, the time is up.You know, if it weren’t for the sun, so people, when they went out on a spree, it would almost always have a sad ending. Let’s say a man got into a fight with the boss, or a fight with the wife, and he ran out into the street from his home or from his job; he said, “Forget aboutit all! It’s a wasted day anyhow.” That would be the end of him altogether because that wasted day would never come to an end. Like one man from theyeshivatold me, he admitted to me that he was discouraged, and he went to the movies. A kollel man! He was so disgusted; “The day is ruined anyhow,” he said. “Let’s fall down to the bottom.” The moviesisthe bottom by the way. And if not for the sun he would have sat in the movies the whole week.LIFE IS LIKE A WATERMELONAnd so Hakodosh Boruch Hu breaks up life for us into little pieces so that we should appreciate and make use of them. It’s like the woman who has a lot of children, and the father brought home a watermelon. It wasn’t a big watermelon, and for thirteen children it wasn’t much. And she knew that if she would just put the whole thing on the table it would be finished up and forgotten about. So she cut it up into little slices and gave each one a little piece. “Tomorrow,” she said, “is another day. Tomorrow is another opportunity, but I’m reminding you to make sure to enjoy this little piece because that’s all you’ll have today.”Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave us life; life is the biggest watermelon there is. The trouble would be if life would be dished out in one long monotonous string. Hakodosh Boruch Hu could have given us a big watermelon of eighty, ninety or a hundred years, and it would feel like nothing. So what does He do? He dishes it out in portions. He cuts it up first of all into years. Every year you feel, “Oh, another year I’m getting?Boruch Hashem,” you’re so happy; another year of life, an additional opportunity for achieving success!! You’re more able to appreciate the opportunities of life when they’re broken down into the smaller pieces we call years.MORE GREEK FOR DUMMIESBut even that’s too much, it’s too big of a portion, so He chops it up into months. Life is chopped up into small portions, so that we should be encouraged to make the best use of it. And that’s why we say רָאשֵׁי חֳדָשִׁים לְעַמְּךָ נָתַתָּ –nasatameans that it’s a gift. Rosh Chodesh is a gift! What’s the gift of Rosh Chodesh? We sayzman kapara l’chol toldosam, it’s a day of atonement, a mini Yom Kippur. Do you know why it’s a day of atonement? Because all of a sudden we get a jolt – we become aware that a month has passed by!Oy vey, a month! What did I accomplish this past month? In very many cases, nothing at all! A tragedy! And that’s why it’s azman kaparah; you realize what an opportunity time is and you decide to make amends, to begin making use of counting time. And even that’s too big, so He chops it up into days. There’s an old Latin saying,carpe diem, snatch the day. Grab the day! Grab the day before it goes lost.It’s a great gift that time is broken up for us into sections by movement of the sun and the moon, and therefore the greatchesedof the luminaries should be utilized. Don’t throw away the gift that Hashem gives you every day. What a benefit, what a blessing it is to be reminded every twenty four hours. So tomorrow morning when you wake up and you see the sunlight pouring through your window, so keep in mind that’s one of the reasons why you’re going to say בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה הַשֵּׁם יוֹצֵר הַמְּאוֹרוֹת – “I thank You Hashem for the sun that reminds me of the passage of time.” The sun is rising and moving through the sky to keep you on your toes: “Don’t forget to make today count,” says the sun.MEGILLAH ALL YEAR ROUNDAnd once you understand that Hashem put that great ball of fire into the skyl’yomim, so you should be motivated to count your days, so now you’ll make sure to make use of it. Every day becomes a new opportunity, a brand new day for achievement. Like theChovos Halevavossays (Sha’ar Cheshbon Hanefesh – Cheshbon11): כִּי הַיָּמִים מְגִלּוֹת – “The days of your life are notebooks.” Every morning you get a new clean notebook to write in.You remember those days in theyeshiva, when you started with a new notebook, full of ambition. And you were thinking, “This notebook I’m going to keep neat and clean.” Every morning is a brand new notebook, says the Chovos Halevavos, כִּתְבוּ בָּהֶם מַה שֶׁתַּחְפְּצוּ שֶׁיִּזָּכֵר לָכֶם – “Write in those notebooks what you want to be remembered of you.” What are going to do with that notebook already? You’re going to scribble a little bit on the margins?! Is that how you want to be remembered in the Next World, by some doodling?! The thing that you will want most to be remembered by isv’navi l’vav chochma; by how muchyiras Hashem, awareness of Hashem, you produced each day.THANK THE SURGEON!Hakodosh Boruch Hu is מְחַדֵּשׁ בְּטוּבוֹ בְּכָל יוֹם תָּמִיד מַעֲשֵׂה בְּרֵאשִׁית – in His kindliness He renews every day the work of creation. Every day is a new chance given to you by Hashem. So last night you went to bed and you were disgusted. Maybe you were falling off your feet and you felt like a failure; nothing went right yesterday. So you went to bed and Hakadosh Baruch Hu got busy on you. He brought a whole team of physicians who were working on you all night; they were ironing out your wrinkled emotions and they were straightening out your muscles; and they did a good job. In the morning you woke up and you’re a new man now.You get up in the morning, you open your eyes and you’re well rested – not that you get up with a yawn and a headache: “Another day to face, another day to go through the grind.” That’s what happens when you stay up late; you wake up knocked out and disgusted! That man is ameshugener– he doesn’t deserve to get up in the morning because he doesn’t know how important it is to count the days.When Hakodosh Baruch Hu delivers you safe and sound in the morning so you open your eyes and you have to say, “Thank you.” What do you say to the surgeon? You can’t just say, “Nice job doc; thank you.” That’s not enough. You have to write a big fat check; you get sick again when you see the bill! But Hakadosh Boruch Hu doesn’t give you a bill in the morning. He only wants that you should open your eyes and say: מוֹדֶה אֲנִי לְפָנֶיךָ מֶלֶךְ חַי וְקַיָּם – “I give thanks to You, O’ Living and Enduring King, שֶׁהֶחֱזַרְתָּ בִּי נִשְׁמָתִי בְּחֶמְלָה – that You returned to me my life in pity, רַבָּה אֱמוּנָתֶךָ – how great is Your steadfastness. What did I do to deserve another chance, another day to count, another opportunity to make use of?!Rabah emunasecha,how great is Your steadfastness.”MAKING MORNINGS GREAT AGAINAnd therefore, the morning is the best time, because you have new energies in the morning and the day starts all over again. The sun rises again in the morning and the birds are singing and everything is cool in the morning. It’s a new opportunity and life starts all over again. When you view the counting of time through the eyes of the Torah that’s when you can begin to understand the glorious achievement that every day of life is. “And now that You have given me another chance to achieveyiras Hashem, I’m going to make it a day that counts.”And so in the notebook of tomorrow morning – even before you get out of bed, you should begin writing down your achievements inyiras Hashem. You saymodeh aniand you’re already accomplishing inyiras Hashem. Now, if you just mumble it by rote, maybe not so much, but if you practice up that you’re actually saying thank you to Someone, so that’s already a big achievement inyirasHashem. Don’t think it’s nothing; with a little thought, with some awareness of Whom you’re speaking to,modeh anican make you great – it’s the first page in your notebook of today.A SIXTY SECOND EXERCISEIt’s a glorious experience – to wake up into this worldand to make use of it.Even to utilize a day for just one minute is an achievement. One minute of life is an opportunity for greatness! Imagine we were here for just one more minute; sixty seconds from now we’d have to say goodbye to this wonderful world of opportunity. If we had only sixty seconds left to count, you know what you could still accomplish?!We’ll try it together, an exercise – let’s utilize these sixty seconds and think together: “There’s aBoreiwho created the universe out of nothing and that means that there’s nothing that has any intrinsic existence except for Hashem. And He created me as well.Hashem Echad!He’s the only thing that matters to me. And He gave me this great kindness that for the following fifty seconds I can think about Him and achieve the prime purpose of my being here, the purpose of recognizing theBorei. So for the next forty seconds, I am going to become more and more aware of You and fulfill my purpose here. I’m looking outside at the setting sun and I know what You’re saying to me Hashem; time is passing by. So I express now my gratitude to You Hakadosh Baruch Hu for everything You’ve given me. I love You Hashem, and I speak to You, my King, my Creator and I express my gratitude to You for the beautiful world You made for me. Thank You for my eyes and my kidneys and my feet and I especially thank You for making me part of Your chosen people.” And now we have ten seconds left. And you say, “I thank You, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, who has given me this great opportunity to count the seconds in this world and achieve my purpose in this world of thinking about You.” And then time is up; you go out of this world having achieved your purpose. יֵשׁ קוֹנֶה עוֹלָמוֹ בְּשָׁעָה אַחַת – “A person can become great in only one minute,” only that you have to know how to make that minute count.Now the fact that we’re still here, that we’re still breathingboruch Hashem,doesn’t mean that you can relax now and waste the minutes. No, our one minute exercise was just that – an exercise for the rest of our lives. Likesefiras ha’omer,it was a rehearsal for the many more opportunities we’ll still have! So now you can go out into the world for many more minutes and live successfully.Part III.Making Time CountWILL YOU THROW AWAY DIAMONDS?Now, you have to realize that there’s adin v’cheshbon;the gift of more time from Hashem is a tremendous opportunity, but it’s also a tremendous responsibility: בְּיָדְךָ עִתֹּתָי – “In Your hand, Hashem, are all my times” (Tehillim 31:16). That means, all my hours are in Your hands; all my minutes are in Your hand. It’s not mine, it’s Yours. And if I take out of Your hand another minute, another diamond, and I take it and throw out of the window, so Hakodosh Boruch Hu says “Oh, that’schutzpah! I’m handing you every minute, such a precious gift! It’sb’yadai, it’s in My hands, and you’re taking it from Me and wasting it?”Here’s a man, he decides to make a trip someplace. For what purpose? For enjoyment, for pleasure. A trip for pleasure? You’re going to waste part of your life on nothing?! You’re arotzei’ach, no question about it; you’re killing yourself when you waste time. I’m not saying that you can never go anywhere, but to just go withoutcheshbon, without remembering how precious time is, it’s acheit, a sin, because it means that you don’t recognize your purpose in this world.TWO QUEER STORIESNow this, I’m careful about telling it to you, but I’ll tell it anyhow. The Chofetz Chaim’s son wrote about his father, he said that his father was not such a bigmachnis oreich; he didn’t spend too much time with guests. You hear that? The Chofetz Chaim wasn’t a bigmachnis oreich! When a guest came, he made the bed for him; he brought in the big straw mattress and showed him where to lie down, but he didn’t spend time with him. He gave theoreicheverything he needed – if he needed to talk, he gave him his time as well – but he didn’t spend extra time because he was counting his days.The following is also a very queer story, but I have to tell it to you anyhow. The Gra had a sister whom he hadn’t seen for thirteen years. Thirteen years! And now his sister came to Vilna to see him, “Oh, my brother!” she called out, “It’s been so many years.” So the Vilna Gaon spoke a few words with her and then he went back to hissefer. So she was somewhat discouraged. He saw a tear in her eye. He said, “In the next world, we’ll sit and talk”. That’s what he told her: “In the next world, we’ll have time to sit and talk.” Now, don’t tell this to other people; it’s only for you to hear. You have to understand that it was the Gra who lived for a purpose.But even if you’re not the Gra, and you’re not the Chofetz Chaim either, still your time has to be precious in your eyes. Let’s say you and your wife go visit somebody else. So you sit down in the dining room, you and your wife, and he and his wife, and you talk and talk and talk. You’re a murderer. You’re killing yourself for nothing. You have to make excuses, “I can’t go tonight; I have to get some work done at home. And when somebody comes to waste your time, anudnik; let’s say, your next door neighbor wants to talk a little bit, he’s visiting you, so be friendly to him and then say, “I have to go to the bathroom” – something you have tell him so you can escape from him. Find someteretz! Save your life! Because he’s a holdup man; he’s a robber! It’s worse than stealing your money! Now, we don’t look at it that way because we are accustomed to following the footsteps of the unthinking multitudes who don’t care if they waste their time, but that’s the truth.YOUR TIME AT WORK IS AN OPPORTUNITYNow some people will say, “What are you talking to me about wasting time?! What do you want from me? It’s a pity, but I must remain in the office all day. I’d like to take off and go someplace to study Torah; I’d like to go to thebeis medrash, but I’m wasting my day in the office anyhow.” That’s a big error! Working in your office or in the shop, that’s your job right now, that’s where you belong, and even there you can make your days count. You know, being in the office, you can serve Hakadosh Baruch Hu in many ways. In many ways!I’ll give one little example. In today’s offices, there are a lot of things that you’re not supposed to see. And if you’ll make it a principle as much as possible to look only at kosher things and guard your eyes, so you have to know אַף לֹא פָעֲלוּ עַוְלָה בִּדְרָכָיו הָלָכוּ – “Also those who did not do any wrong are walking in His ways” (Tehillim 119:3). By restraining yourself from doing wrong, you’re also walking in the ways of Hakadosh Baruch Hu. You’re reminded of Hakadosh Baruch Hu; that’syiras shamayim. When your eyes encounter something that you’re not supposed to look at, well, it’s natural that your eyes have to move, but immediately you remove your eyes and remember that you’re a Jew. You’reoveid Hashemand you’re becoming a biggeryarei shamayimin the office.There are better ways than that too. You can think of Hakadosh Boruch Hu while you’re doing work. אַשְׁרֵי אִישׁ שֶׁלֹּא יִשְׁכָּחֶךָ – “Happy is the man that won’t forget You.” You can always be thinking about Hakadosh Boruch Hu. You don’t have to forget Him while you’re doing work; even complicated work. You can think that you’re punching the keys of a typewriter because you’re serving Hakadosh Boruch Hu; you want to support a kosher Jewish home where there are going to be kosher Jewish children who will be brought upb’derech haTorah; it costs money to maintain a Jewish home. It costs a bunch of money to pay tuition and that’s what you’re working for.THE GLORIOUS CAREER WOMENAnd the ladies and the girls have a glorious opportunity as well. While they’re stirring the pot in the kitchen, while they’re sweeping the floor or sewing, whatever they’re doing, they’re thinking of Hakadosh Boruch Hu. A glorious career! And I’m serious about that; it’s a glorious career! Instead of taking these minutes, these diamonds, and throwing them away, they’re cashing them in. They’re the most precious achievement.You counted a few seconds while washing the dishes?! You thought about Hashem while standing in the shop?! You’re a great person already! Try it; try thinking for one minute that you’re standing in front of Hashem. Even one minute of thinking during the day is so precious that you can already count that day as a success! Even if you don’t think all the time, even though you waste a lot of time, if you’ll spend one minute of thinking, it’s a tremendous achievement. You’re one out of ten thousand, you’re a head taller than everyone just because of that one minute.COUNTINGSEFIRAAT SUNSETNow, although there’s no end to the wisdom ofyiras Hashemyou can bring into your mind, but תָּפַסְתָּ מְרוּבָּה לֹא תָּפַסְתָּ – to undertake too much at once, so you won’t do anything. So we always go back to our lesson fromsefiras ha’omer; once a day – at least once a day to remember Hashem. At least when the sun is about to go down, remind yourself: “Did I count today? What did I accomplish today? Is there anything to count?” Is it just another day passing away, maybe wasted away, that won’t ever come back?It’s the end of one opportunity and we don’t have too many of them in our lives. And so when the sun goes down, that’s the time for a person to start thinking. Every day, from now on for the rest of your life, don’t be in a hectic pursuit of the business of life to such an extent that you cannot stop every day for a moment. You’re sitting in your office; it’s wintertime and it’s close to 4:30 and the sun has dipped beneath the horizon of the skyscrapers. Stop for a moment and think that the day is almost over and count that day.Ha’yom yom echadto counting the days of my life.Hayom yom sheiniof fulfillingv’navi l’vav chochma.Hayom yom shlishifor achieving Awareness of Hashem.Now, in case the day hasn’t been utilized, make use of the remaining moments before the sun goes down and the day is gone forever. In all eternity, it will never return again. Not once more in history will you be able to relive this day. There’ll be other days, yes. Hopefully you’ll wake up tomorrow morning and you’ll have another day, butthisday is lost forever. And therefore, before it’s gone irretrievably, stop for a moment, andcarpe diem,grab what you can.THE HOUSEWIFE AND THE BAKERHow do you grab? I’ll tell you. You know, a woman can bake muffins, she can cook chicken, and she can become heroic in the kitchen. Imagine a housewife standing in her kitchen as she is kneading the dough, she is thinking, “My hands are the hands of Hakadosh Baruch Hu; like it says, נֹתֵן לֶחֶם לְכָל בָּשָׂר כִּי לְעוֹלָם חַסְדּוֹ – “Hakodosh Boruch Hu in His endless kindness gives food to all the living” (Tehillim 136:25). How does He give bread? Does He stretch his hands from the sky and hand us something? Thepshatis that it’s through the woman who’s making thechallah.So if you’re bakingchallahor if you’re selling bread over the counter, it’s a glorious opportunity for thereishis chochma, the most valuable of all wisdom. All the bakers should be here tonight because otherwise their lives are being wasted. Think what a baker could accomplish every time he hands a loaf across the counter, and he’s thinking: נֹתֵן לֶחֶם לְכָל בָּשָׂר – “I’m giving bread to all the living and I’m doing it as ashaliachof Hakadosh Baruch Hu.” The fact that he’s being paid for it, that doesn’t detract from the greatness of this accomplishment.And so, at the end of the day, the mother is standing in the kitchen, or maybe the baker or the grocer is standing behind the counter, and they look through the window and see the sun is going down; they should remember why Hashem made that great ball of fire. “Don’t miss even one day!” You remind yourself that once on Shabbos, you had prayed לִמְנוֹת יָמֵינוּ כֵּן הוֹדַע – “Teach me to count my days properly,” and so, in the last moment, as you put the muffins into the oven or as you hand the last loaf of bread across the counter to the boy who went on an errand for his mother, you do it with the thought that “My hands are the hands of Hakadosh Baruch Hu Who gives bread to all the living.”HASHEM SENDS PEOPLE TO DENTAL SCHOOLAnd suppose a dentist, a weary dentist who’s been standing on his feet all day in the office. There was a long line today in the dentist’s office and he’s been grinding one tooth after the other. And as he picks up the drill he looks through his window; he wants to see how many more hours does he have to work today. And when he sees the sun going down he catches himself for that last moment of the day. “What am I living for? Just to put more checks into my drawer? Is that it? Is that what the days of my life are worth? Just some more checks?” And he thinks,לִמְנוֹת יָמֵינוּ כֵּן הוֹדַע– “Hashem, help me to count my days.”So what does he think now as he drills into another tooth. “Pay attention to your work” – that’s the first thing he has to think. But if he can add the thought, “You, Hakodosh Boruch Hu, are רוֹפֵא חוֹלֵי עַמּוֹ יִשְׂרָאֵל. You’re the one who heals Your people; and I’m just Yoursh’liach, Your messenger, doing Your work in this world. And therefore for the rest of the time that’s allotted to me today, I’m going to think this thought; I’m working for You Hashem, curing people of the ails of the teeth.” How does Hakadosh Boruch Hu heal after all? That’s one of His ways; by sending people to dental school. And so as the sun sets behind the building, the dentist says to himself, “I’m going to make people happy by giving them healthy teeth and I’m doing it because I’m Yourshaliach.”YOU’RE LOADED WITH WEALTHThe greatest wealth that a person has is a wealth of years and months and days and hours. That’s the real wealth! A young man is loaded down with capital. Hakodosh Boruch Hu sends him out into this world with a great wealth – he has many years ahead of him to benavi l’vav chochma. A young man of two, a young man of twenty, a young man of forty, a young man of sixty, a young man of eighty – he has wealth. As much as he has, it’s a wealth.The wealth of life is only for a few moments. Relatively, life is only a fleeting pause in eternity. And therefore is it any wonder that we pray to Hakodosh Boruch Hu, we beseech Him, we beg Him:limnos yameinu kein hoda– teach us how to count our days so that we shouldn’t spend our days being bemused! You know how many people spend theiryomimwith their minds preoccupied with nothing at all. Here’s a man who’s walking around thinking about ways and means of fighting with his boss; he’s spending his days thinking of ways and means how to get even with him.There are people going around, and they’re tense and they’re worried, thinking that they’re being persecuted by their neighbors and their mothers-in-law. They spend time bemused about the injustice that is being done to them. And their lives are being wasted away by silly and foolish imaginations. Not lunatics! I’m talking about sane people. And what about the people who waste their lives pursuing after imaginary wealth, instead of the true wealth ofyiras Hashem; people who waste their lives pursuing imaginary pleasures?!THE TALL GENTLEMAN’S VISITAnd then before they know it, themalach hamavess,a tall dark gentleman comes into the hospital room. And he’s lying in bed, this old fellow, and themalachhamavess taps him on the shoulder. So the old fellow says, “Can’t you just give me a few more days?NowI understand how precious days are. I want to count a few more days,please. And I’ll count them this time for the purpose ofnavi l’vav chochma.” So themalach hamavessturns to him, “Sorry, that’s what they all say, ‘Now I understand.’ I’ve heard that millions of times already. Come on, time to go now.” And your opportunity to belimnoshas come to an end.And because our counting will one day come to an end we were given the commandment in the Torah of וּסְפַרְתֶּם לָכֶם, “And you have to count for yourselves,” so that we should be reminded of this very important function. Themitzvahofsefiras ha’omeris a rehearsal for the counting of the days of our lives; it’s a model for the wise nation to countall of their days. And that’s why the whole Jewish nation was sure to be counting because we are expected to keep a record of our days. Every individual is expected to be able to count his days and to be able to answer the question, “What did I accomplish today?” Every day is a precious bauble. Whether it’s raining or snowing, hot or cold, whatever is doing in the world, it doesn’t matter – today is a once in a lifetime opportunity.And the fact that you came here tonight is already a step in the right direction; it’s asiyata dishmayato help you learn how to count the days. And therefore as much as possible we try to remind ourselves of the very great principle,לִמְנוֹת יָמֵינוּ כֵּן הוֹדַע – “Please, Hakadosh Boruch Hu, let us know how to count our days properly.” It’s a big study; it’s not simple at all. What you heard tonight is kindergarten talk. Of course, it’s useful kindergarten talk. And if you’ve never heard it before, then this is the kindergarten where you have to come! Becausereishis chochma,the most important of all wisdom you can achieve,yirasHashem, is Awareness of Hakodosh Boruch Hu. And it’s only if we count our dayskein, successfully, that we’ll benavi l’vav chochma, and acquire the wisdom for which we came into this world. 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Part I.You’re a JudgeTHE WEALTHY MAN AND THE PAUPERIn this week’sparshathere’s amitzvahof בְּצֶדֶק תִּשְׁפֹּט עֲמִיתֶךָ – “You should judge your fellowman withtzedek, with righteousness” (Kedoshim 19:15). Now, in its most simplepshatwhat that means is that if you’re a judge, if you’re adayanin thebeis din, so you must always be on guard that your first inclination, your emotions, shouldn’t be the reason for your decision. Don’t allow any superficial thoughts to lead you to conclusions; instead you must be careful to follow thedinof the Torah in all its details.Let’s say you’re a judge and now there’s a poor man standing before you; he’s one of the two litigants who came to thebeis din. Now, you’re a compassionate man after all – so you might say, “This poor fellow has a tough life – and I should go now and make him guilty and make it even worse?! Let me give him a break!” “No,” says Hashem, “Don’t do that”: לֹא תִשָּׂא פְנֵי דָל – “Don’t follow your superficial emotions in the courtroom and try to give an edge to the poor man” (ibid.).On the other hand, sometimes it might be a wealthy man, somebody important, and so your inclination might be to judgehimmore favorably. After all, he’s much more impressive, this well-heeled fellow, and just seeing him in his four hundred dollar suit makes his arguments seem stronger. “Nothing doing!” says Hashem: וְלֹא תֶהְדַּר פְּנֵי גָדוֹל – “Don’t show any preferable honor to an important person” (ibid.) If you’re a judge, it has to beb’tzedek. You have to follow the strict letter of the law; whatever Hakadosh Baruch Hu prescribes in the Torah. That’s the job of adayan– he has to subjugate his feelings, his emotions, to what Hashem expects him to think, and topasken b’tzedek.AN ADDITIONAL LAYERNow all of this appears to be irrelevant to us here. It’s an admonition todayanimwho sit in a court, but for us ordinary people, it doesn’t seem to apply at all. Where does thismitzvahofb’tzedek tishpot amisechacome into our lives? It could be that one or two of you will one day study the intricate details ofChoshen Mishpat, all thedinei mamonos, and you’ll get a certainsemicha, ‘yadin yadin’.And once you receive that permission to judgedinei mamonosso besides for all thedinimyou’ll have to know, you’ll also have to always remember these words of the Torah: בְּצֶדֶק תִּשְׁפֹּט עֲמִיתֶךָ – “Don’t let your emotions get the best of you when you’re sitting in judgement in thebeis din.” But for most of us it’s not applicable at all.However, that’s not the full meaning of thepossuk. There’s an additional layer of meaning in those words that we’re going to study tonight, and it’s amitzvahthat applies to all of us,all the time.InMesichta Shevuos(30a) the sages tell us that בְּצֶדֶק תִּשְׁפֹּט עֲמִיתֶךָ is also teaching us as follows: עַם שֶׁאִתְּךָ בַּתּוֹרָה וּבְמִצְוֹת הִשְׁתַּדֵּל לְדוּנוֹ יָפֶה יָפֶה – A person who is with you in Torah and mitzvos, bemishtadeil, put effort into judging him favorably” (Shevuos 30a). It’s what we learned in Mesichta Avos: הֱוֵי דָּן אֶת כָּל הָאָדָם לְכַף זְכוּת – “You, every single one of you,should make sure to judge your fellow Jew with righteousness.”L’kafzechusmeans that you have to ignore thekaf chov, the side of guilt,and instead go out of your way to judge your fellow manl’kaf zechus, to the side of merit.DON’T BE A COW OR A LIBERALAnd what that means is thatevery personis a judge – it can’t be helped. As soon as you see somebody, you’re forming opinions. You can’t avoid it! If you were a cow,chas v’shalom, so you’d be able to go through life without thinking, without judging; but if you’re anadamthen you’re already adayan.Don’t be a liberal and say “Oh no, I don’t judge anyone; I would never do that!” It’s not true! You’realwayspassing judgement on people; don’t think otherwise. You’re judging your wife or your husband all the time! Why did he do this? Why didn’t she do that? Why did he say this or that? You’re judging your neighbors all the time! Why did he block my driveway? Why does he let his son ride his bike on my lawn? You’re judging your children all the time! And your co-workers, and yourchavrusa, and the people in shul, and the Rav of your shul. You’re even making judgements about strangers who pass you by on the street! You’rea full timedayan.And even though you’re not publicizing your decision, you’re not telling anybody what you’re thinking, nevertheless, Hashem isyireh l’leivav, He sees what’s going on in your thoughts. And so in the eyes of Hakodosh Boruch Hu, you’re acting as adayan. And so, if you want to succeed in your “career ofdayanus”, you had better get busy purifying your thoughts as much as possible, and doing whatever you can to make sure that you’re judging those around you favorably all the time.WE’RE OBLIGATED TO DRILLNow, if you’re paying attention you’ll note that themitzvahבְּצֶדֶק תִּשְׁפֹּט עֲמִיתֶךָ is a source for two seemingly contradictoryhalachos. On the one hand, the Torah is obligating a judge to issue his verdict on the basis of absolute justice, in strict accordance with the law. And yet, these same words are teaching us that outside thebeis dinwe are obligated in themitzvahהֱוֵי דָּן אֶת כָּל הָאָדָם לְכַף זְכוּת -“Judge your neighborfavorably,” which means that we are obligatednotto be strict and instead to do our utmost to justify the actions and behavior of our fellow Jews.And it’s the resolution to this apparent contradiction that will provide us with the tools we need to be successful at beingdan l’kaf zchus.Because whatb’tzedek tishpotreally means is that we expect from adayanin the courtroom not to be fooled by superficialities. So what of it if he’s a poor man dressed in rags?! Who cares if he’s mumbling or stuttering when presenting his claim?! And if he’s a wealthy man, if he’s dressed in a tailored suit and he’s so impressive looking – so what?! Are you going to pass judgement on the basis of such a shallow thing?! With half-baked ideas you’llpaskenon aYisroel?!Chas v’shalom! Thedayanis expected to ignore the veneer of superficialities and drill down to the core of justice – he’s expected to bedan din emes la’amito.It’s not easy for adayanto see past the superficialities in the courtroom. It’s not easy to ignore what’s right in front of his eyes – it’s there; it’s so real and concrete. What he sees in the poor man is real! What he sees in the wealthy man is obvious; it’s so tangible! And so, it’s very hard to push it all away, to ignore it completely, and come to the right decision. And yet, as difficult as it might be, that’s the obligation ofb’tzedek tishpot amisecha.WE HAVE A BIG JOB!And outside of the courtroomwe’reexpected to do the same! We have that same obligation outside thebeis din; absolutely. In all of your contacts withamisecha, with your fellow Jews – the ones you like as well as the ones you don’t like as much – you’re expected to ignore the superficial things that bother you and instead you’re obligated to drill down to the core of the person and judge him favorably. And that means that we all have a big job ahead of us! Because it means thatyou have to think!So don’t be lazy about it! Nobody said it’s easy; you might have to take a minute or two to think, but you have to do it. You’remichuyavto think, to search your mind for the answer that satisfies you, until you can give your fellow man the benefit of the doubt and walk away without anyhakpadahin your heart.WHO WILL CRITICIZE THE GREAT MAN?Let’s say your wife says a sharp word to you – it happens sometimes. So instead of getting upset, instead of being hurt, you’re obligated – it’s amitzvah d’oraisah– to search for reasons to give her the benefit of the doubt. First of all, maybe you deserved it – it could very well be you deserved to hear some criticism. Absolutely! When a wife criticizes a husband, you should know that she is doing a very great thing. Nobody will criticize this great man. Who’s going to tell him the truth outside the house? And after a while he begins to think, “Maybe I really am great.” So he comes home and right away his wife deflates him. She puts a pin in his balloon and it bursts. That’s a tremendous achievement. It’s a perfection to be cut down to size once in a while. And so, you can forget about being upset at her; you should thank her.And let’s say she was wrong – you didn’t deserve to be told off at all. So you’ll be a failure and judge your spouse because of something superficial; she criticized you; so what?! In two minutes she’ll forget what she said. You’re going to judge her because of that?! Maybe she was up all night with a crying baby while you were sleeping soundly. Maybe she had an impossible day with the children. Whatever it might be, you’re obligated to seek to justify what your fellow Jew does or says by giving him or her the benefit of the doubt.MEASURE FOR MEASURENow inMesichta Shabbos(127b) there is a statement which has to be examined by us if we want to understand this subject more thoroughly. Thegemarathere states as follows: הַדָּן אֶת חֲבֵרוֹ לְכַף זְכוּת הַמָּקוֹם יְדִינֵהוּ לְכַף זְכוּת – “If you judge your fellow man on the side of merit, somiddah k’neged middah, Hakodosh Boruch will judge you favorably.”Now, those words are somewhat difficult for us to understand. Because up until now we learnedpshatin beingdan l’kaf zechuslike this:if a person did something, and you’re in doubt – it’s possible that he meant well, it could be; but it also could be that he did it for a wrong reason, that’s also a possibility. It’s asafek, a doubt, so it’s amitzvahto judge him favorably. You should be charitable and give him the benefit of the doubt.But if judgingl’kaf zechusonly means that you’re obligated to give others the benefit of the doubt, then when thegemarasays that Hashem will pay you back in turn, it means that when Hashem is in doubt about you, He will judge you favorably. But how could we say such a thing? What sense does it make to say that Hashem isdan l’kaf zechuswhen He’s in doubt,chas v’shalom? Doubt?! He’s never in doubt about you! Hakadosh Baruch Hu knowsexactlywho you are. You can’t give the benefit of the doubt when there’s no doubt at all.LEARNING A NEW ATTITUDEAnd so we’re forced to learn another layer in thepshatof what it means to fulfill themitzvahofb’tzedek tishpot amisecha, and we’ll say as follows: To bedan l’kaf zchusis actually much more than learning how to clarify a doubt – it’slearning an attitudein dealing with other peoplethat leaves no room for doubt altogether! What that means is that we’re expected to acquire themiddahof seeking out the positive in people; to be a חָפֵץ בְּטוֹבָתוֹ שֶׁל חֲבֵרוֹ, to want only good things for the people around us, and thereby train ourselves to see only good.When you appreciate people by focusing on theirma’alos, so you begin to actually like them and want them to be azaka’im –you want them to be free of all faults, to always be good. If youwanta person to be azakai– if youactually desireto look at people favorably – so you’ll find ways to explain his actions in a way that it should be az’chus. And even when you can’t do that, you’ll appreciate his otherma’alosso much, that it will weigh down the scale to thekaf z’chusand you’ll overlook the negative. “Who cares about that?! It’s only anarishkeit,” you’ll think. “I love that man!”“Oh,” Hashem says, “You want him to be azakai? So I want you to be azakaitoo.” And when Hakadosh Baruch Hu wants things to be good for you, you can be sure He has ways of accomplishing that; He has His ways. And so when you train yourself to look at the good, to overlook the superficial things that may bother you, somiddah k’neged middah, Hashem treats you the same way.THEY ONLY WANT DIRT ON THE PRESIDENTNow, in order to judge somebodyl’kaf zechus, if you want to succeed in seeing people aszaka’im, so you’re going to need training in becoming anoheivtzedek;you have to love to see people in a good light. You know, when people love to see trouble in the world, so they pick up the newspaper to see what crimes were done. No one is interested to see if somebody did a good thing; if somebody kept the law let’s say, or if somebody helped his fellow man. That doesn’t matter – they wouldn’t put that in a newspaper. “Who was caught doing something embarrassing?” “What new faults did they dig up in the President today?” That’s news! That’s what people want to hear.To say that here we have a President who is a decent man, who minded his own business – I’m talking about Reagan now – that he didn’t want to put big taxes on you and that he wanted to protect the country from the Soviet Union, that they won’t speak about. They won’t tell you that President Reagan didn’t mix into other people’s business. To say that he didn’t try to push theMedinas Yisroelinto making agreements with Arabs, no, that they won’t talk about.He wasn’t pressing anybody; he just wanted to keep Americans safe and wealthy. He was a quiet man and he was good natured and smiled to everybody. But that wasn’t good enough for the journalists, for themeshuganehliberals. No, that’s no good at all, nothing doing. “Reagan, no good!” “Reaganomics, no good!” “The Reagan years were the worst years! He’s no good at all.” Always looking for faults.A PRACTICAL PROGRAMAnd therefore the program for success is to rise above all the faults that you have the tendency to see in people, and to see thetzad zchus, the other side of the scale. Now, I know it’s not easy to think, to always be using your mind – it’s a burden – it’s much easier to make judgments on what you see superficially. But Hakodosh Boruch Hu says that you have to make up your mind to get along with anymeshugas, anything that you think is an idiosyncrasy, that you think is unreasonable. And so you have to, as much as possible, ignore all the faults you imagine you see because that’s what the Torah requires of you; to judge a person by hiskaf zchus,and to overlook thekaf chov.It’s so important to develop an appreciation of the good qualities of the people around you. I’ll give you a practicaleitzahfor accomplishing this – aneitzahthat’s been tried and tested. One of the most practical programs for success in this endeavor is to attach a goodmiddah, ama’aleh, to all the people you know. Your friends, your neighbors, your coworkers, everyone hassomethingthat makes them special. I had a rebbe once, a great rebbe, and he once told us that a person is not one thing, he’s a bundle of things. It was sixty years ago that I heard him say that and I remember it like yesterday. “A person is not onemiddah,” he said, “He’s a bundle ofmiddos.” So one thing might be not good, but something else is good in him.YOU’LL BE SURPRISED AT WHAT’S IN THE BUNDLEAnd so when we see the man in shul who is a nuisance, the one who gets on people’s nerves, wedon’tsee that. Instead we look for thema’alos, for thekaf zchus. He pays the electric bill for the shul. Quietly, without anybody knowing, he pays the bills for the shul. Now, when I see this man, I see the man who pays for the air conditioner; the man who pays for the lights.That’swhat I see and I don’t see anything else! Because our job in this world is to ignore the more difficult parts of the bundle and focus on only the good parts. And once you begin to look at people and see them only with theirma’alos, that’s your ticket to overlooking the superficialities of the things that would bother you, and fulfilling the mitzvah of beingdan l’kaf zchus.Now, if you’ll try to think about a person’smiddos tovos,you’ll be surprised there isn’t a person who doesn’t have good in him.Among theshomrei Toraheverybody has good qualities. In thismiddahhe could be excellent, whereas somebody else is excellent in a differentmiddah.So in case you can’t love the person entirely, love at least one aspect of his personality.Let’s say hedavens well.Love him for that. It says that Hashem is “oihevtzadikim.” Why does Hashem lovetzaddikim?Because they give Himkavod?!They pay him money?!No; He loves thembecause they’retzaddikim; they daven, they learn, they dress withtzniyus. So you can love them too! You see atzaddikthatdavens well. Love that man just because of that! In your eyes, from now onthat’swhat you see when you see him. Another person learns well.Another person givestzedakah.Another person is quiet and well behaved.Find what you can in each person and you’ll be surprised.You’ll be very surprised; people are full of good things. And that’s the only thing you should be looking at.PLANT THE SEEDSTheshomrei Torah,no question that they’re full of good things. They’re raising up families of children who will beovdei Hashem. They’re upholding theshulsand theyeshivoswith their money, with their participation.They themselves aremekayeim mitzvosevery day.There are many reasons why you should love these people. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu loves them for that, so with a little bit of thought you could do the same.Try to like him because of hisma’alos– whatever they are – and little by little it will enter into your heart and you’ll gain a certain warmth towards that person.And that warmth as little as it is, it’s a tremendous achievement.That’s why we came to this world.To learn to be happy with, to see favorably all kinds of people – even theba’alei ga’avah,andthe ka’asanim,and the nuisances; everybody!We’re learning now that themitzvahofb’tzedek tishpot amisechais really a program for life; and it requires planting the seeds of loving your fellow Jew in your mind, of seeing thema’alos– of seeingonlythe positive- of the people around you. It’s not easy; I understand that. But even if you’ll achieve only ama’shehu, a small fraction of this avodah, it’s a tremendous perfection of your character. And the more you plant and nurture the proper thoughts in your mind, the more you’re won over, and the more you’ll be able to fulfill thismitzvahin all of your encounters throughout your life.Part II.How to JudgeTHE JEWS YOU BARELY NOTICENow, thepossukdoesn’t sayb’tzedek tishpot es ‘your wife’ or ‘your neighbor’ or ‘the nuisance in shul’; it saysamisecha, ‘your nation’. “B’tzedek tishpot amisecha”means that “you should judge your fellow Jews– all of them –favorably.” עַם שֶׁאִתְּךָ בַּתּוֹרָה וּבְמִצְוֹת הִשְׁתַּדֵּל לְדוּנוֹ יָפֶה יָפֶה – “A person who is with you in Torah andmitzvos, bemishtadeil, put effort into judging him favorably” (Shevuos 30a). If he’s a loyal Torah Jew, then you have to judge himb’tzedek. Thereshaimwe leave out; it’s not our business now. Beingmilameid z’chuson wicked people, that I’ll leave to somebody else, somebody bigger than I am. But the great mass of frum Jews, we’re obligated to look at them all with favor.So what do we do now with the wholeAm Yisroel– people you pass on the street that you’ve never even thought about, frum Jews that you barely notice? All thosefrumJews are your brothers and Hakadosh Baruch Hu expects you to have a certain attitude of beingdan l’kaf zchuswhen you see them.It’s amitzvahmin hatorah. Amisechadoesn’t mean this man right here who is a good friend of yours; it means all of all the frum Jews. And that means that even the people we don’t know; the strangers we pass on the street, the unfamiliar people we see in shul, everyone from theAm Yisroel, we’re obligated to see them in a good light. If he’s a loyal Torah Jew, if he’samisecha, then you have to judge himb’tzedek.But we’ll say here that the wordamisechais doing much more than including all of thefrummeh; what it does is give an impetus, a dynamo, forhowto fulfill the mitzvah. Because if you train yourself to look at all of your fellow Jews as the עַם שֶׁאִתְּךָ בַּתּוֹרָה וּבְמִצְוֹת, as your comrade in arms – you’re on the same team after all – so you begin to develop a favorable attitude towards all of theAm Yisroel.TAKE A TRIP TO BORO PARKThis is a remarkable opportunity for success in this world. It’s something you can practice all the time in the street. You see a fellow Jew, so what should you think? “He’s my brother, this man. He puts ontefillinafter all. That’s enough!” When you see a Jew in the street with a covered head, whether it’s a black hat or a yarmulke, or a woman with a sheitel, you’re already sold out to that person. “He covers his head like me! He’s ours. He’s wearing a yarmulke, a cap, whatever he has, if he covers his head, he belongs to us.”I don’t care what kind ofyarmulkehe wears, he’s still my brother. And even though he follows a different Rebbi, or a different set of political objectives, nevertheless, don’t lose sight of the fact that, fundamentally,hebelongs to your peopleand that therefore you’remichuyav, you’re obligated, to think well of him. This alone that he isamisecha, that he is on your team, that should be enough for you to always look at him with favor,l’kaf zchus.Let’s say you’re walking in a far-off neighborhood, in Bedford Stuyvesant let’s say, where there are no Jews. And suddenly you see from a distance a man with ayarmulke. Ayarmulke! It’s exciting! So you feel a warmth towards him; it’s abrother, achaver. And it’s true; heisyour brother.But it’s a mistake to think that it’s a thought you only have when you’re in an Italian neighborhood or a colored neighborhood. In a strange neighborhood maybe you’re happy to see a fellow Jew because you feel safer that way. But that’s how you should think when you walk in Boro Park. Boro Park! Bigmezuzos,and everybody has beards andpayos. It’s a neighborhood ofamisechaso you should practice feeling warmth towards everyone on the street. I told you once before – if you have some time, I think it’s worth it to go to Boro Park and just stand there for a half hour appreciating the frum Jews. You watch as they walk back and forth, back and forth, and you’re thinking, “These are my people, and I love them all.” It’s worth every second.THE WORLD IS GOING CRAZYNow all this is work, but Hakadosh Baruch Hu expects that work. Otherwise, you’ll remain a person who sees only faults all of his life. Because when people have that attitude, when they’re looking for faults, so Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, “You’ll succeed,” and that’s what they find. Not only do they find faults in people, but they find trouble too. That’s what happens in this world. The natural tendency is to see the imperfections in people, and all the good, thekaf z’chus,is ignored.Constantly today people can’t get along with each other because they aredaneach otherl’kaf chova.If you’re a rabbi, you’ll sit at the telephone and it’s always ringing. Husbands and wives are fighting all the time today. And in some places – a man told me he was in a certain community; I don’t want to say where it was – and he said that there are divorces, and divorces and divorces. Among Jews! What’s doing here? The world is going crazy; everybody’s fighting.THE HUSBAND WHO IS ONLY TROUBLENow when you speak to them, you see right away that nobody has ahavahaminaof beingdan l’kaf zchus.Nothing doing! Onlythemselvesthey judge favorably. I spoke to a couple of women today. They called me up to tell me that their husbands are no good at all.I said, “Is he working?” “He works.” “Does he bum around?” “He doesn’t bum around.” “Is heshomer mitzvos?” “He’sshomer mitzvos.” “Does he give you money?” “He gives me money.”“So what’s the trouble?” I said. “Oh, he’sonlytrouble,” she says. He does this wrong, he says this wrong, he acts like this and like that – a whole laundry list she’s reading off to me. “He’s so mean to me; he’s inhuman,” she said. Now, if I askhimI’m sure he’ll give me a report about his wife. She doesn’t do her work. She’s nagging me; this and that. And I’m sure that everybody’s right. A little bit everybody is right. Butthey’re all wrongbecause they’re all sinning against this great quality which Hashem said you should try to gain – to judge your fellow manl’kaf zechus– to ignore the faults of people and train yourself to focus only on their good qualities.FORGET THAT HE FORGOT YOUR BIRTHDAY!When she thinks about her husband, she should think that he goes to work every day. He’d like to sit home instead. He’d like to go thebeis medrashto learn and instead he’s wasting his life in the shop where he’s working. It’s a great pity on him, but he’s doing it out of loyalty to his family. And she should think, “Look, my husband is anish ne’eman.” He works hard by day and then he comes home at night. There are so many loafers today in the world, unfortunately. Some people loaf around in Brooklyn and then they take a vacation from loafing to go to Atlantic City to loaf some more. The frum loafers, they go toshtiblachto loaf; they sit inshtiblachand open agemaraand get busy loafing – he doesn’t learn a word. You ask him, “Why don’t you get a job?” he says, “תּוֹרָתוֹ אֻמָּנוּתוֹ”, he says, “Myumnessis learning.” What he means is that “Loafing is myumness.”Butyourhusband is a decent man. He’s working, supporting his family; he’s giving away his life. His life! And the wise woman appreciates that. When she sees her husband walking up the steps to the door, that’s what she sees – the man who comes home and he gives her money she needs and she appreciates that. She should think, “I love that man! He’s working all day long to support my children.” “I admire my husband thetalmid chochom.”She doesn’t see that he opened his big mouth last night and said something stupid. She doesn’t see the man who forgot it was her birthday. She’s overlooking thekaf chovand she’s beingdanhiml’kaf zchus.CHOLENT FOR THE MINDThat’s your job in this world – to look for the good in each person. You’re going to say that you can’t find good in your wife?! You can’t find good in your husband?! Come on; come on!That’s nothing but wickedness!And Hakadosh Baruch Hu pays the wickedness with wickedness; they seeonlyfaults and they suffer as a result.Every man has a tendency to have complaints against his wife – it’s only natural; you’re living together and your tendency is to see the faults of a person. But theavodahwe’re learning now is to train yourself to always see thekaf zchusand to let the good side of the scale outweigh thekaf chov. Awise man understands that his wife is important; that she’s raising the children, and feeding the family. Not only does she fulfill her duties in the home; sheisthe home! But it’s not enough to know that in general terms – he has to study the details of that so that whenever he sees his wife,that’s what he sees!Let’s say your wife made for you acholent. Don’t say, “It’s nothing; it’s just food.” For the wise man, for the one who wants to bedan l’kaf zchus, even acholentis enough to win him over. If you think about it, your wife gave you cooked potatoes; but not only potatoes, she knows how to make it brown and tasty. She added in onions for you, and barley and beans too. It’s a whole meal that she prepared for you. And if while you’re sitting there and enjoying it, you think about that wonderful thing that she did for you, so it will become part of your personality. Not only does it go into your body – it becomes your hair and your bones and your eyes –but it goes into your mind.Your wife should be a different person in your mind after a goodcholent. And after every supper she becomes even more and more precious in your eyes.DON’T STOP THE DRILLINGThat’s how you should think about these things; the appreciation for the food she made for you should fill your mind at the same time it’s filling your stomach. Now, I’m just giving one little example. There’s no end to the appreciation you should be feeling for your wife; itsmamishendless. And once a person begins to think in these terms, he’ll find ways and means of assessing the importance of his wife in his life, the happiness that she’s giving him by taking care of the children and the house, and for what she creates in the kitchen. It’s an endless happiness that she brings to your life.And so you have to train yourself – it won’t happen by itself. So you see your wife you should say to yourself, “I love that woman over there.” You see her on the street from far away, she goes shopping, and now you see her coming back carrying shopping bags, so you say, “I love that woman over there, carrying home the food for my children.”Only that what happens? The husband ignores all the good that his wife does and he sees only the superficialities – she nagged him, she complained, she wasted money – he never drills down past the superficial things to the core of what his wife really is, and what she means to his life. And same thing with the wife – to be adan l’kaf zchusshe has to be adayanwho ignores all the superficialities of theba’alei din, and focuses only on the truth to fulfill themitzvahofb’tzedek tishpot amisecha.CANCEL THE THORNNow, I only mention a husband and wife because it is the most common interaction and the home is a great opportunity for perfection – but that’s how you should train yourself to look ateveryone, by focusing only on the good; even small things. You must look for good things. No question, everyone has good things. And even if one thing might not be the best, something elseisgood. And your job in this world is to ignore the more difficult parts of the bundle and focus on only the good parts.Here’s a man isroidef achar hakavod, he loveskavod. He’s aba’al ga’avah,he thinks much of himself. Naturally, that’s what sticks out at you – it’s a thorn in your eyes. And it will remain that way forever unless you cancel out thekaf chovby focusing on thekaf zchus. And if you’ll look you’ll find a lot of good! But if you’re busy looking only for what’s wrong, you’ll find that too and that’s how you’ll remain a failure.And the truth is that once you start looking, you’ll discover, you’ll find all types of good qualities. And that’s themishpat tzedek,the righteous judging that Hashem wants from you.בְּצֶדֶק תִּשְׁפֹּט עֲמִיתֶךָ – You should judge your fellow man withtzedek, by focusing only on thetzedek. You’re a judge all the time, and if you’re anoheiv tzedek, so you love to find good things in people, and that’s how you follow the program of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.THE MOST INTERESTING THINGNow, you have to know how to look at your fellow Jews – it’s anavodah! First of all, look at his face, and remind yourself that it’stzelem Elokim. Isn’t that reason enough to honor him and to think well of him?Hakadosh Baruch Hu gave that reason! He said, “The face of a man resembles Mine” (Bereishis 9:6).It’s not an accident. Every person you look at is atzelem Elokim.It’s a beautiful sight, the human face. Look at a person’s face. Eyes! Eyes are so expressive, so beautiful. You can see theneshama,you can see intelligence shining out of the eyes. Even the cheeks, the way the cheeks move, a smile or sadness; it’s expressing emotions.The nobility of the human countenance is unequal.In the entire universe, there’s nothing like it – if you’ll travel, let’s say, to the far off countries; if you’ll climb mountains and search the vast wilderness, you’ll never see anything in the universe as interesting as a human face.Now how to explain that, that’s a different subject. It’ll take us a lot of time to understand that. But we have to at least practice it up – it’s in the Torah after all.So when you look at the face of a fellow Jew, the very first obligation is to think that you’re seeing something very very impressive.Only that we’re very far away from theruach haTorah.The spirit of the Torah declares that when you look at the face of a fellow Jew, you should be very much impressed. Now don’t tell me, “Oh, it’s exaggerated.You’re blowing up, making a whole story out of nothing.” It’s in the Chumash! כִּדְמוּתוֹ – that’s the resemblance of Hashem. And Hakadosh Baruch Hu insists that we should learn the Torah and get into our heads, that when you’re looking at the face of a person, you should think that you’re seeing thetzelem Elokim.Men look in a men’s faces, and women look in women’s faces.And when you look, the first thing is to think, “Tzelem Elokim.”And no matter how much you’ll think, you should know, you’re not thinking enough.Don’t say, “I’m maybe overdoing it.”You’re alwaysunderdoing it! And even if you spend years of this effort, you should know, you haven’t reached the standards that Hakadosh Baruch Hu expects in appreciating what it meanstzelem Elokim.THE GREATNESS OF TALL SKINNY JEWSSo now you have what to be busy with.Instead of thinking what faults you can find in people – he has a comical face; he talks too much; he’s tall and skinny; he’s short and fat – instead of looking for things to ridicule, you have to get busy now looking at thetzelem Elokimin his face. If you can’t do it with all the people around, then start one at a time. You’re standing on the street and looking at your fellow Jews walk by and you’re thinking, “Tzelem Elokim, tzelem Elokim, tzelem Elokim.”Now I understand that these words don’t find an echo in your mind immediately. But you must understand that Torah must be learned; it’s Torah after all. There’s a lot of work to be done and don’t think you can shirk it. It’s expected of us that we should plant this seed in our minds and as the years go by it will take root and it will grow branches and fruit.Of course it’s artificial; in the beginning you’ll be a hypocrite, but הַחִיצוֹנִיּוּת מְעוֹרֶרֶת אֶת הַפְּנִימִיּוֹת.We make an attempt, and after a while, the spark will be kindled in your heart.הַבָּא לְטַהֵר מְסַיְּעִין לוֹ – Hakadosh Baruch Hu will give you assistance and you’ll gain a certain appreciation ofamisecha, the Am Yisroel.Now once you understand the greatness oftzelem Elokim– you don’t yet, it’s a tremendous idea; a skyscraper – but there’s another skyscraper that’s even greater than that one. ThemishnainAvossays (3:14)that while it’s true that all of humanity is blessed withtzelem Elokim,but there’s one nation in the world that is praised with an even greater title. It says חֲבִיבִין יִשְׂרָאֵל שֶׁנִּקְרְאוּ בָּנִים לַמָּקוֹם – “How beloved areYisroelwho are called the children of Hashem.” A child of Hashem! Now, that’s something!The first skyscraper oftzelem Elokimgoes up to the skies, but this skyscraper goes all the way up to Hashem. “How beloved areYisroelwho are called children of Hakodosh Boruch Hu.”TORAH OR GARBAGE?We’re accustomed to saying, “We’re all children.” Let’s say the reform Jews get together on a stage with the NAACP, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, and they say, “We stand in solidarity with our African American brothers because we’re all children of the same G-d.” That’s not Torah – it’sgarbage. Nobody is the children of Hashem except for theAm Yisroel.בָּנִיםאַתֶּםלַהַשֵּׁם אֱלֹקֵיכֶם –Youare children of Hashem and nobody else, and make no mistake about it.Now, we don’t care what the world says – they’ll say it’s chauvinism; maybe so, but we stick by the Torah, and the Torah says thatonly weare the children of Hashem.Suppose a man comes to see you. “I noticed that you married my cousin.”So you ask him, “Who are you?” “I’m the son of therosh yeshivaof Ponovezh,” he says. “Oooh-wha!I didn’t know I got such amechutan!Therosh yeshivaof Ponovezh became mymechutanby marriage.” You’re excited over him; he’s the child of somebody great! But you can tell him, “I’m the son of somebody greater.I’m the son of Hakadosh Baruch Hu.”He jumps up!“You’re the son of Hakadosh Baruch Hu?!”“Yes, I am”, you say.“It’s in the Chumash, בָּנִים אַתֶּם לַהַשֵּׁם אֱלֹקֵיכֶם.”THE VERY HEAVY JEWWe’reexpectedto think that way.It’s not written inPirkei Avosfor nothing.Chavivin Yisrael! We are the beloved ones! Now when it says we’re beloved, it doesn’t mean that Hashem likes us like we let’s say, like a second cousin or a nephew. It’s much more than that; it means He loves every single one of us more than anything else in the entire world.And we’re told this for an important purpose. And that is because we’re expected to think that way about every single Jew.Not in general, in a way that’s abstract. Yes, that you’re willing to say: “In general, on all Jews, I can saychavivin. I can love theAm Yisroelin general. But when it comes to this Jew, not this one. And that one? No, not him either.” And that’s a terrible mistake.Chavivin Yisroel,meanseveryone of them! Allshomrei Torah; even though he’s not from yourshtiebel, not from your community.A differentshtiebel, so you might think, he’s not in your neighborhood, maybe not yournusach; maybe he’s aSefardior aTaimani.Maybe he’s a Russian Jew or a Polish Jew, so you think, “Not him, not him.” No, when you see any fellow Jew, anyshomer Torah u’mitzvos, you’re looking at a person who is most beloved by Hashem.If you have a big scale, and you put on one side of the scale the sun, and also the millions of stars and all the planets too; and also all the nations – all the Englishmen, all the Americans, all the French, every other people on the face of the earth, all on one side of the scale. And on the other side is this oneYisroel, this one Jew that passes by you on the street, so he ismachri’a es kulan– he outweighs all of them. That’s whatchavivinmeans, and that’s how you have to think.DON’T BE LAZY!Now, I’m very sorry to say that all of this will not happen, nothing good will grow in your head, if you’re a lazy man. עַל שְׂדֵה אִישׁ עָצֵל עָבַרְתִּי – “I passed the field of a lazy man,” said Shlomo Hamelech. And what is growing there? הִנֵּה כָּסָה פָּנָיו חֲרוּלִים thorns and brambles; all types of weeds grow in the head of a lazy man. Maybe he was too lazy to come to these lectures altogether. Or maybe he came, but it was entertainment, to get out of the house a little, that’s all. That’s good too, it’s also good – but if you never work on these ideas, so what grows in your mind instead of delicious fruit? רֹאשׁ וְלַעֲנָה – “Poison growths.”Sinas chinam, miskabeid b’klon chaveiro, other thorns. But notb’tzedek tishpot amisecha; no, no, that won’t grow on its own.And so you have to always be on guard – you’re busy always weeding out your field, pulling up thorns that creep up in your mind. Let’s say a thought comes into your mind when you see this person, “Why is he wearingthat?” “Why did he do such a thing?” “Why did she say that?” You can’t let a poison weed like that fester in your mind! You can’t be anish atzeil,a lazy person, and allow that thought to grow. You have to do something about it! And so you get busy right away thinking the thoughts we spoke about tonight.Now, don’t think that it’s merely a thought. No, you’re actually planting seeds in your mind. And these seeds, once they take root, they grow into beautiful flowers ofdan es chaveiro l’kaf zchus. Try to judge a fellow man with a meritorious balance, to think well of him. And the more you do it, the more you’ll succeed at this program. And the more you succeed, then Hakodosh Boruch Huy’dineihu l’kaf zchus, the more you’ll succeed at gaining the goodwill of Hashem for yourself. Because that’s the purpose why Hashem brought you into this world, to give you one opportunity to plant a garden of delicious fruits and flowers in your mind, a garden that will last forever.HAKADOSH BARUCH HU WILL LOVE YOUNow how much can you do?! You’ll say, “I should love my neighbor? I should love mychavrusaand my boss? I should love the man who sits next to me in shul? That’s too much!” So Hashem says, “At least plant the seeds; as much as you can always look at that person with a favorable eye. Bedan l’kaf zchus; go out of your way to judge him favorably, to find a reason to make him azakaiin everything he does.” And הַבָּא לְטַהֵר מְסַיְּעִין לוֹ, if you try to be good, then Hashem will help you be good.And one of the ways He’ll help you is by giving you more and more opportunities to perfect yourself – He’ll send you all types of people, He’ll put you in contact with all types of frum Jews. And כָּל עִנְיָנֵי הָעוֹלָם נִסְיוֹנוֹת הֵם לְאָדָם, everything in this world is an opportunity; every person that you meet is a test for you to see if you’ll rise to the occasion and use the opportunity to plant the seeds ofb’tzedek tishpot amisechain your mind.And you’ll live a happier life because of it – you’ll be happy with your spouse, and with your neighbor and your boss, and with all your fellow Jews – the world becomes a happier place. And it’s a good investment as well, this business of thinking well of your fellowman, becauseHamakomyidineihu l’kaf zchus,Hashem will look at yourma’alosand He’ll be happy with you. Hakadosh Baruch Hu is going to love you too; despite the fact that sometimes you can be a nuisance too. Hakadosh Baruch Hu will overlook that and see that you have good things in you. בְּמִדָּהּ שֶׁאָדָם מוֹדֵד מוֹדְדִין לוֹ – “The way you treat others is how you’ll be treated.” And when Hakadosh Baruch Hu does that, He does it with a full hand, a heaping hand of reward in this world and also in the World to Come.HAVE A WONDERFUL SHABBOSGo Back See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate

See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate

Part I.Recognizing the GiftsTZARA’AS IS A GIFT?!כִּי תָבֹאוּ אֶל אֶרֶץ כְּנַעַן אֲשֶׁר אֲנִי נֹתֵן לָכֶם לַאֲחֻזָּה “When you shall come to the land which I give you as a possession, וְנָתַתִּי נֶגַע צָרַעַת בְּבֵית אֶרֶץ אֲחֻזַּתְכֶם and I shall give a plague of leprosy upon a house of the land of your possession” (Metzora 14:34). In studying thispossukthechachomimtook note of the wordnosati, “I shall give to you.” “I will give” a plague instead of the more common, וְשַׂמְתִּי “I will place” implies a gift of sorts,and remarkably, that’s howchazalunderstood these words. “These are good tidings to them that plagues would come upon them”, thechachomimsay.Now, what good tidings could there be in a home that is contaminated withtzara’as, a home that has to be knocked down? Sochazaltell us that upon hearing that the Am Yisroel was advancing towards them, theCanaanimhad concealed their wealth; all of their gold and silver, in the walls of their houses (Vayikra Rabbah 17:6). And when the loyal Jew obeyed the law ofnig’ei battim, and eventually he knocked down the walls as commanded in this week’sparsha, he discovered the wealth that had been hidden there all along.And so, it was thetzara’asthat Hashem had “given” to the owner of this house that became the bearer of good tidings. Because this family had possessed a great store of wealth in the walls of their home, only that they weren’t aware of what they possessed. And it was only when thetzara’ascame that they realized what a treasure they had in the home all along. The family might have lost a wall, and sometimes even the house in its entirety had to be demolished, but what they found in the process was a treasure that more than made up for the loss.THE CASE OF THE MISSING GOLDBut you have to know that gold and silver were not always found. Not everyCanaanitehad treasures – there were middle classCanaanitestoo – and even the wealthyCanaanite, maybe his wife was a spendthrift, a high roller who squandered her husband’s money and didn’t leave anything to hide away. And even the ones who had extra gold and silver, not every one of them hid his treasure between the stones of his wall – some found better hiding places than that.Now that’s a question, because Hashem saysnosati, “I am giving you a treasure when I sendtzara’ason your home.” And for many people, there were no treasures of gold and silver hiding in their walls. So what was the treasure for the family standing outside in the cold and rain, watching the walls of their house being demolished?And so we’ll say as follows: Even when no gold was found, the family gained an even greater wealth, becausethey discovered the treasure of the home itself.When a person discovers that there were opportunities available to him, that’s when he has found the greatest treasure; the opportunities for greatness that he will now make use of for the rest of his life. And that’s why Rabbi Yehuda, when explaining what gift was meant bynosati,“I will give you “a present” oftzara’as,” didn’t mention anything about a hidden treasure;he merely said: “These are good tidings that plagues will come upon them” (Sifra ibid). He didn’t consider it necessary to add that they might discover hidden gold and silver because the treasure they discovered was even more important than that.WHERE ARE WE SLEEPING TONIGHT?The first and most obvious treasure that this family discovered was thathaving a house is fun. Did you ever think about that? Forced to stand outside of their home as thekohenwent inside to inspect the walls, the father and mother huddled together with their children, and they looked back to consider that maybe they had not been grateful enough to Hashem for the blessings of a home, blessings that were now slipping out of their hands. And it was cold outside; it would rain too. “It was so much fun to have walls; why didn’t we appreciate it when we had it?! Where are we going to sleep tonight?” And so the forlorn family standing there were now discovering the treasure that they had always had hidden “in their walls”; the treasure ofhaving walls! Of having a roof over their heads –the treasure of having a home.And this lesson alone, to unearth that treasure of appreciating the walls of your home, that’s already enough of a reason fortzara’asto come onto a person’s walls. And that’s the lesson that we’re all expected to learn as we read theparsha– that we have to get busy appreciating the four walls of our homes and not wait for the lesson to be taught to us in the way it was taught to this family.REMAINING A CHILD FOREVERYou know that a little child doesn’t appreciate a home.He thinks of the street as wonderful, the sidewalk is wonderful – outside, that’s where the fun is. Try to bring a little boy back from the sidewalk into the house; you have to pull him with horses into the house. And most people never grow out of those childish ideas; they remain children all their lives unless they begin the work of thinking, of dilating on each benefit, and discovering the great treasure that the home is.Walls are really fun! What would life be without walls?! You know that if not for the walls, the winds would be blowing all the time, and the rains would come pouring in as well! It would be very cold in the winter if all you had was a roof! You know that in this place we like the rain and the winds; we appreciate them to no end. But we appreciate them most happily from the window, standing on this side of the wall and looking out.I was walking this week with a friend of mine and the snow was coming down. I was carrying an umbrella but he wasn’t prepared, he didn’t have an umbrella. So he said to me; he’s one of my people, so he said, “Snow is like ice cream.”I said, “You are correct, that’s a wonderful idea but ice cream in your ears is not comfortable.” We appreciate the snow, but we appreciate umbrellas too! So we’ll stand on this side of the wall and we’ll enjoy the rain and snow and cold.Of course, we enjoy it; but we don’t have to dive into it.SLEEPING ON OCEAN PARKWAYAnd so you have to learn how to be happy that you have a roof over your head.Here’s a poor woman, a homeless lady, a little bit demented; I see her pushing a shopping wagon on Ocean Parkway. All her possessions are in that shopping wagon; she has nothing. She doesn’t have a bathroom, she doesn’t have a kitchen, she doesn’t have a bed to sleep in. Where does she go when it’s raining? A pity on her. You see, she’s bedraggled, it’smamisha heartbreak to look at her.If she could only have a place to sleep. But she sits down on a bench, it’s freezing weather, she’s trying to get a nap on a bench; on a park bench she’s trying to fall asleep. It’s freezing and she can’t warm up. And you, you have a house with a roof over your head! How lucky she would be if she could have a little place, a shack with a roof over her head; she’d be the happiest person right now. Even without any heat, she could lie down on the floor, at least, and sleep. She doesn’t have even that. So first learn to enjoy a roof over your head. It takes a long time. A roof over your head, what a happiness that is!FALLING OUT OF MY HOUSEAnd privacy! Ah, the pleasure of privacy that walls afford us! Life would be no fun at all if your neighbor would always be peeking over from his dining room into yours; it would be a miserable home. And I’ll tell you something else, and don’t laugh: Without walls it would be so easy to fall out from the house into the street. Life in the home would always be full of danger; you’d be living precariously all the time. I think about that all the time when I see the walls in my house. And I don’t live on the first floor; I live high up, so I enjoy my walls to no end.Now when you begin to think like that, so you realize that walls are not just walls. There’s a lot going on behind those walls. Plumbing pipes! Ah, asimcha! You have to tell your children the benefits of having running water in the house. When I went to Europe to learn in the yeshiva, the first thing that I noticed was that there was no running water in the house. You went out into the backyard, or a block away, where there was a well and you had to carry back a bucket of water with a yoke. It sat across my shoulders, one bucket hanging here and one bucket hanging there.It was a hard job to bring water to the house. And then you poured it into some kind of contraption that was nailed to a wall; and when you wanted to wash your hands you had to bang underneath on the nail, a big nail, and if banged hard enough some water dripped down along the nail. And you had to keep on banging to get your hands wet. You banged and banged as you washed your hands, so little by little the water came out. Each time the nail went up, a little water came out.TEA KETTLES AND BOOTS FOR THE BATHROOMAnd hot water in the home?! Hot water too?! Who could have imagined such a luxury?! In Europe when you wanted to take a bath, there was no bath in the house. So either you went to theschvitz baad, the public bathhouse, or they brought in a tin tub. Somebalabatimhad a big tin tub, and they boiled up water in a tea kettle; one after the other they poured it in, until the tub was half full. Then you bathed in that water, in a room someplace, in a bedroom. So you bathed in a tin tub in water which was boiled in tea kettles. When you got through with it, if you had a little brother, he bathed after you in the same water because they couldn’t afford to fill it up twice. I saw it happen that way.Nobody had a bathroom in the house! In the dead of winter, if you were unfortunate enough to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, so you had to put on your boots. We had to put on our woolen boots and stomp through the deep snow to go to the so called bathroom, there was no fancy toilet seat. And whatever was there remained there, until finally in the summertime when it already had a big aroma. That’s when a man with a horse and wagon came with a long wooden spade and he took it all out. And for miles around everybody knew what was going on that day, because of the fragrance that was wafted on the summer breeze.THOMAS EDISON AT HAVDALAHAnd you have lights in your home too, don’t you? I remember when there were no electric lights; we had gas lights. And fires used to take place because of them. I once was in a house and there was a fire; the ceiling caught fire from the gas flame. I was watching the firemen trying to put out the fire. And in the streets I remember the lamp lighters used to go around with ladders and light the gas lamps in the street. Of course, today if you speak about electric lights to most Jewish children they’ll laugh at you for appreciating such a thing; but that’s because they’re not being brought up as authentic Jews. An authentic Jew thanks Hashem for artificial light.Actually we do it every week; people don’t know that every week we thank Hashem for artificial light. Every day we thank Hashem for the natural light of the sun,Yotzer Ha’meoros, but for artificial light we thank once a week, on motzei Shabbos.Borei me’orei ha’aish. What’s that? Did you ever think about that? We’re thanking Hashem for artificial lights. Every week. Some people think it’s just a ceremony, afrumkeit. No! We’remakir tovfor fire, electric lights, and all other forms of artificial illumination. After all, in the olden days when it was night time, what could you do? You could sit down and learnba’al pehif you remembered. But if you didn’t remember you couldn’t learn. And now,boruch Hashem, Hakodosh Boruch Hu gave us lights.In 1879 Edison called together a company of scientists and he promised to show them a remarkable thing; for the first time in history an electric bulb was turned on, and they were amazed! They described it as if sunlight filled the room. There never had been such a light before! It’s important to explain that to children; It’s important to explain it to ourselves! To enjoy the light.And therefore you should constantly be telling your children, “Look how lucky we are to have a nice home to live in! It’s so much fun to have walls that keep us warm and dry and safe. Now the child might say, “What do you mean ‘a nice home’? This place is tiny! My friend Sarah down the street has a better house than we do. They have such a big kitchen and a better this and better that.” But you have to drown that out by constantly reiterating to your family all the benefits they are enjoying. They’ll keep complaining and you keep talking about thechasdei Hashem. And it sinks in; trust me it goes into their heads. And that’s the biggesthatzalahfor the family, because it’s the family that doesn’t appreciate thechesedof a home, that’s the home that thenega tzara’asis bound to come upon, in order to teach them about the great treasure that a house is.Part II.The True TreasureAN OPPORTUNITY FOR REPENTANCEHowever, everything we’ve been speaking about is only scratching the surface of what the happiness of a home truly is; and it’s only the first lesson that Hashem intended by the gift oftzara’asthat a family finds on the walls of its home. Because when a family found themselves homeless, they were expected to understand that it was an opportunity for repentance. They were expected to understand that the tribulation of losing their home was intended as a punishment for not using their home properly.Actually, a Jewish home is much more than the physical benefits of walls and a roof, much more than the blessings of privacy, shelter, plumbing, electricity and being protected from falling into the street. All of that is important, and it was the first and most obvious lesson that they learned. But it’s still only part of the treasure that a home is. The aristocratic home of theAmHashemis something much greater than four physical walls. And now when these walls are broken down, after such a drastic warning, this family was expected to exert themselves to begin to utilize the house as a place foravodas Hashem. What makes the Jewish home a true treasure is that it is the place where theAmYisroelis built.BUILDING THE BEIS YISROEL IN FLATBUSHThat’s what ourAvosandImahosdid – their career took place primarily in their tents. The Rambam says that: He writes that the sole intention of our Avos in everything that they did was לְהַעֲמִיד אֻמָּה הָעוֹבֶדֶת אֶת הַשֵּׁם – in order to establish a nation that would be servants of Hashem (Moreh Nevuchim 3:51). And therefore that’s the job of theAvosandImahostoday as well; we walk in the footsteps of our forefathers and we continue to build theAm Yisroelin our homes.And that is the greatest treasure, the greatest privilege, that could be afforded to anyone – the privilege of using the home foravodas Hashem.And it is that opportunity that was the great treasure that the family discovered when they were forced to leave their home. They were learning now that they had treated their home as just a place to live instead of a place of aristocracy, the palace that it really was meant to be. And that was the real treasure that they discovered by means of thetzara’as; and so when the family returned to their home again, theylived there with the knowledge of that treasure they had unearthed, and they were now ready to make use of it as intended by Hashem.DON’T KICK OFF YOUR SHOES JUST YETYou know, when we think of a home so we might consider it possibly as a place of relaxation; the place you come back to after a day of toil in the workplace, where you had to act towards people in an unnatural and artificial manner. And now you can come home and you can kick off your shoes, relax and behave naturally. Because your true career is in the home; it’s in the home that you should be acting your best.They tell about the old Telzer Rav, Rav Yosef Leib, that even in the hottest days of July and August – in those days they didn’t have air conditioners and not even electric fans – and yet he never took off hiskapotehin his house. All summer he wore his long coat, because in his house, he behaved like a prince in a palace. Now, everybody knew that in the house that Telzer Rav sometimes had to take off his coat. He wasn’t amalach;they knew he was a human being who couldn’t be a Rav in his long coat twenty four hours a day. But no matter; he didn’t want them to see him like that. Even for his wife and children he was always the Telzer Rav. He behaved like a prince in the home because he understood, and he wanted his family to understand, that the home is a palace, the place where the most important part of history was taking place – the building of theumah ovedes es Hashem.Yisroelis a name that puts the Jew far above all of mankind; and that means that the home where theBeis Yisroelis being built is a place where there should always be an aura of aristocracy, a feeling that this home is a place of nobility, a place set aside for accomplishing the most important of all endeavors. And when aYisroeltries to live up to this ideal of nobility so his behavior in the home is transformed. You know, it makes a big difference whether a man is a nobleman in his own esteem or whether he considers himself a commoner, a nothing. The things that a commoner will do, a noble man will not even consider. He can’t be be busy with novels and magazines – even Jewish magazines – that are filled with emptiness. He has more important things than that to accomplish, and so his mannerisms, his attitudes, and his aspirations are entirely different than the non aristocrat. The entire personality of a person is transformed when he realizes that he is a prince.EMULATING THE ROYAL FAMILYAnd when we live in a house where only princes live, so that house becomes something remarkable. Imagine there were princes who lived in a palace but because of some adversity they had to leave the palace. And now the princes, the royals, are living in a hut. But it’s not an ordinary farmer’s hut, it’s not a shepherd’s hut. It’s a hut of princes now. Their manners are of princes, they spend their time in the way of princes. Even their speech is that of princes.And therefore in a Jewish home it is of utmost importance to live up to the idea that we arebnei melachim.Before every move made in the home, they consult in their minds the model supplied by the awareness of their royalty; what they think royalty would do in such a case. A man and woman in the home should always be thinking: “What are the royal manners and the aristocratic ideals that should reign in the Jewish home?” Of course, we are all human beings and we can’t imagine that we will succeed in one fell swoop, but we have to always be aware of the perfection we are striving for. And it is those homes where this is kept in mind always that will never have to be plagued by the warning and lessons oftzara’as.THE JEWISH POLITICIANNow, in order to create an atmosphere of an aristocrat home, an institution where theAm Yisroelis being created, so a father and mother must appear before their children like actors on the stage. You can never be natural; no matter how you feel you must be to your children a hero. A politician,l’havdil, never appears in public acting like he really feels. He’s knocked out; he’s been traveling all night to get here after speaking someplace else. Now he’s over here and he has to get up on the stage; sometimes he even has to speak at the train station as soon as he gets off the train. You can be sure that he’s feeling grouchy and tired; all he wants to do is crawl into bed. Could be he’s just been told by his campaign manager that he’s trailing badly in the polls and that he’s headed for defeat. No matter, he’s waving and he’s wreathed in smiles as if all is wonderful. He displays cheer and confidence; he needs votes, what could he do?Now, a parent needs the votes of his children; he needs their votes to build the happy and successful home together and therefore he should always appear to them as confident; he always knows what to do. He’s never desperate or worried. “Never mind,” he tells his children with a smile, “Everything is under control; it’s going to be just fine.” He’s always happy. What he’s thinking inside, that’s not their business.You know thegemarasays that a person should betocho k’baro,his inside should be like his outside. Why doesn’t the gemara say that his outside should be like his inside?Chas v’shalom, that his outside should be like his inside! “Be genuine,” people say. No, if his outside would be like his inside, the home might become an Italian home, an Irish home. The ideal is that it should betochok’baro, his inside should be like his outside. The outside must always be good, only that the inside should attempt to follow the outside. But the outside always must be good!MUSSAR FROM PRESIDENT REAGANYou are the leader and leaders cannot be sad. A leader who shows sadness, who shows lack of confidence, is a failure. Evenl’havdilPresident Reagan, no matter how much he was insulted, he kept his bearings. Even when he was shot in the assassination attempt, as they were taking him to the hospital, he made a wisecrack to show he was cheerful. That’s because he knew how to act; President Reagan was a good president because he was a good actor. He didn’t concede, he wouldn’t admit that he had a setback.A good leader, a good mother and father, won’t show discouragement – they always maintain a good cheer. I’m not saying that you have to walk around with a big grin on your face, that’s nothing; but an underlying appearance, a facade of confidence and cheer, are essential in the home of aristocracy. It doesn’t pay for a leader to show discouragement; people don’t want discouraged leaders. A prince is a man of confidence. And even when he doesn’t have the confidence, he displays it in his demeanor and his countenance and in the way he talks, because the palace is too important for failure.ON STAGE: QUEEN MOMMYA mother should always appear like a queen before the children. Now, that’s not easy, particularly when the children are in the house all day long. But it’s not easy to be an actor; you have to go to one performance and then to another and then another. An actor would like to go home and kick off her shoes; to relax and lie down on the couch. But for glory you do it; or for money. So she appears on the stage each time like a shining queen. And that’s how a mother should view herself in the home, like an actor on the great stage, putting on the most important performance of her life.And therefore the ideal of aristocracy should be paramount when a couple builds a Jewish home. Not only should he consider his wife a queen and she should consider him a king, But they should considerthemselvesas kings and queens. And the children are princes and princesses. Always cheerful and confident and aware of their importance in building the Am Yisroel.THE FIVE MINUTEMESIBAHAnd it is that atmosphere that becomes the foundation for all the accomplishments ofavodas Hashemin the Jewish home – the home becomes the place, not only of happiness, but of accomplishment. The “mundane” days of the week become days of accomplishing; Shabbos becomes a day of achieving greatness;Yomtivis transformed intoavodas Hashem. How important it is for parents to train their children insimchas yomtiv!Now some parents think thatsimchas yomtivmeans taking out the children oncholhamo’edfor a ride to go to the park or the zoo. Nothing wrong, but that’ssimcha, notsimchas yomtiv.To train children, even little children, that today isyomtiv, today ischol hamo’ed, is so important for building the home. Sit down and make a littlemesibah, even a five minutemesibahl’kavod yomtiv; a little gathering. Wednesday afternoon, Thursday, Friday afternoon. A littlemesibahis more important than two hours in the Bronx Zoo or who knows where. Agoyalso has the Bronx Zoo, but we want to have an aristocratic home of princes and princesses. Sit down and talk for a couple of minutes aboutyomtiv; tell the children, “Let’s sing the songAtah Bichartanu,or a different niggun.” And then say, suggest to them, “Kids, aren’t we having a good time,kinderlach?” And they all chime in, “Yes. Now let’s go to the zoo!” But that’s excellent – you accomplished your mission! Because those few minutes have laid a foundation.He made a special effort to create excitement for Shabbos and yamim tovim. He would do a little dance exclaim with gusto, “We’re having such a good time!” “It’s so much fun to have Yom Tov!” and “Shabbos is so much fun!” Grandchildren recall that when they came to visit on Yom Tov, he made a circle and danced a little jig, singing: “L’kavod Yom Tov, choo, choo, choo!”When his children were young, he took them on Chol Hamo’ed trips, such as to the zoo, but first he would remind them that it was Yom Tov and that Yom Tov was so much fun. Then, with genuine enthusiasm, he pointed out the wonders of Hashem’s creations.He made his children a melaveh malkah filled with exciting antics and then served ice-cream which was a real treat in those days. He made a whole production out of it, especially when dividing up the portions, to make them excited. When putting out the pieces of chametz for bedikas chometz, he put a piece of chocolate in with each piece to make it exciting.With his grandchildren as well he tried to make motzaei Shabbos fun. He had the grandchildren make a recording of themselves singing and then he played it back for them. He allotted fifteen minutes for this, and when the time was up he simply said, “Ah guteh voch,” and went back to his learning. In his later years, on motzaei Shabbos, all the young children who lived nearby would go upstairs to his apartment, where he would give them each a dollar and prizes.-Rav Avigdor Miller: His Life and His Revolutionp. 240-241Part III.The Wise WomanWOMEN IN THE CONSTRUCTION BUSINESSNow, when we talk about building a home, about creating a home that finds favor in the eyes of Hashem, we are reminded of thepossukin Mishlei (14:1): חַכְמוֹת נָשִׁים בָּנְתָה בֵיתָהּ – “The wise woman builds up her house”. You know, Dovid Hamelech said: אֲנִי עַבְדְּךָ בֶּן אֲמָתֶךָ – “I am Your servant Hashem, the son of your maidservant” (Tehillim 116:16). He didn’t mention his father; his father was a great man, but Dovid said “I am your servant,becausemy mother was your maidservant.” You hear that?!That’s why one of the sages, Rabbi Yosi always called his wife: בֵּיתִי – “My home,” because she’s the one who really creates the home (Shabbos 118b); to a very great extent the success of a home depends on the atmosphere that is created by the mother in that home. Without her, the home is just a hollow shell, and she is the one who breathes the most success into the building of theBeis Yisroel.HOME OF PRAYERThe home should be a place oftefillahand it is the mother who must present herself as the symbol of prayer, the model oftefilahfor the Am Yisroel. Now, she can’t stand and pray long prayers; she’s busy with a lot of things in the house. But the mother must be a mother of prayer. Our mothers always prayed a great deal; a Jewish mother should pray even more than a man prays. Men have certain circumscribed duties and because of that, some of them, in order to discharge their duties, gallop through thedavenen. It’s just something that has to be done, so they do it. They gallop through a bigdavening. But Jewish mothers don’t do that. A Jewish mother in the home should be turning to Hashem all day long. The old-time Jewish women had a handbook of prayers – prayers for everything, for every kind of eventuality. She would be praying for help in the home, that her supper should come out tasting delicious. Or for a child who is not well and for a child who is not going exactly on the straight path. Today too, a mother prays constantly that the washing machine shouldn’t break down, that her husband should earn a livelihood, that he should find favor in the eyes of his boss and get a raise.So besides the fact that immediately, the first thing in the morning when the children wake up, they hear “Abba is davening inshul; Abba’s learning.” The children are always asking, “Did Totty come back fromshulyet?” and the mother tells them, “Totty is in shul talking to Hashem; he’ll be home soon.” That’s how the Jewish home starts out every day, but besides for that, the mother spends the rest of the day absorbed in speaking to Hashem about everything. In the olden days the Jewish mother actually was a symbol of prayer even more than the husband; it’s something that’s forgotten today but that is one of the greatest achievements in a Jewish home. A Jewish mother should always be praying and the children who grow up with that know that their house is a home where Hashem resides. The aristocratic Jewish home actually became a Beis Hamikdash.THE BRACHOS MASHGIACHThe Jewish home should be a place of sayingbrachos; all thebrachosshould be said out loud. Not long ago, it was the practice that when the family was about to eat, so they all washed, and the mother stood over them like amashgiachin ayeshivaand she paid attention as each child made thebrachaaloud, “Al netilas yadayim”; you could hear every word. And the mother said, “Amen.” And she had a watchful eye to see that nobody was cheating. And then they came to the table and each one had to makehamotziand the words resounded on all sides; every child thanked Hashem for the little piece of bread in front of him. And they sat around the table likekohanimaround themizbei’ach.When they live this way in the home, the children are raised with the understanding that they are living in something that’s more than four walls and a roof – they’re living in a palace and they begin to follow these principles.THE FOOLISH WOMANAnd now we turn to the end of thepossuk, חַכְמוֹת נָשִׁים בָּנְתָה בֵיתָהּ, “The wise woman spends her days building – וְאִוֶּלֶת, but the foolish woman, בְּיָדֶיהָ תֶהֶרְסֶנּוּ, with her own hands she overthrows the house.” No matter what ailment she is suffering, she must keep it to herself. Some people, usually women, but men too, think that if they constantly speak about what is bothering them it relieves them, they find relief. And it could be true, could be. But one thing is certain, it’s not relieving the home. The atmosphere of nobility, the atmosphere of aristocratic cheer and confidence is undermined by sadness and complaining in the home; the husband shuns his complaining wife’s company, and vica-versa when he complains, and the atmosphere of a place for achieving perfection is lost.Never pessimism, never complaining. Complaining is one of the forms of breaking down a home. Even if there is no quarrel between husband and wife and even if the children are behaving and are loyal, if there is a complaining person in the house – if the mother or father complain frequently – then the morale in the house is broken. You cannot have a successful home, even a non-Jewish home, if there is complaining.Nobody likes a complainer! And even though you feel you want sympathy, and you think that you deserve that they should lend their ears to your sighs and groans – and most probably you do deserve it – but you’re not making your home successful.THE JINGLE THAT RUINS THENESHAMASuppose you wake up one morning and it’s raining, sheets of rain are coming down from the sky, so the foolish mother complains “Oy, it’s raining outside. It’s terrible; I wanted to go out and now the rain spoiled all of our fun today.” So little Chanaleh, whenever she sees a rain come down, she’ll remember – without even thinking, she’ll forget where it came from, but her instincts hark back to that pattern that was first molded on her young plasticneshama, and she knows that rain is a disappointment, it spoils everything. Here you have a mother standing by the window with her children, looking out at the rain. And the children are waiting for the rain to stop; they want to go out and play already. “Rain rain go away.” They’re singing that foolish jingle. There are so many rainy days in life; isn’t it a pity for the child to be molded in the wrong way?If a mother could instill in her child the proper way to think; she says “Look Chanaleh, it’s raining outside. Isn’t that fun?” Chanaleh has no sense; she hasn’t developed an attitude towards rain yet. So Chanaleh says, “Yes it’s fun.” Her mother is still the fountain of all wisdom and so she agrees with her mother. And now for the rest of her life rain is going to be fun!This mother has the most wonderful opportunity. “Kinderlach,look at the beautiful rain coming down. Isn’t it beautiful?! Isn’t rain fun?! Hashem is sending us down all the food that we eat. It’s apples and cherries and danishes coming down from the sky. Rain brings down all good things for us. Let’s say together, ‘Thank You Hashem for the rain.’” Now the children might look at their mother with blank faces; Rain? Wonderful? But it sinks into their little heads that rain is beautiful; that Hashem is beautiful!YOUR NEVER-ENDING ROLEAnd so, no matter what the circumstances are, if a father and mother, a husband and wife, make it a principle always to display to each other and to the children a face of good cheer and confidence, then first of all they affect each other – they create in each other similar attitudes, and secondly they themselves become transformed.What you’re hearing now is of utmost importance. Always in the Jewish home there must reign an atmosphere of confidence and happiness. It’s very important to always remember that you have the role of an actor; you can’t be natural – being natural is not achochma, and you need chochma to build up the house. It’s easy to be sad, to be downcast. It’s easy to let your feelings go and ruin the atmosphere. It’s easy to be a failure.Don’t think that it doesn’t have any effect! When you speak of Hashem in the home, when you constantly talk about Torah ideals, you’re planting those ideals in their minds. Little by little you’re changing your children. You’re planting seeds in their minds and as they grow older, they will water those seeds with their own wisdom. And when they’re grown up, and they’re tending a beautiful garden in their mind, a garden of Torah attitudes permeated with thoughts of Hashem, that’s the garden that you planted so many years before with the words of your mouth.But to be a success, needs planning. And don’t think it’s not going to repay you. The happiness, the satisfaction of a successful day in the house is a reward without end. It’s a reward in this world and it’s a reward forever and ever in Olam Haba.THE TREASURE OF OPPORTUNITYAnd so, the misfortune of a home that was afflicted withtzara’ason its walls actually became the great gift of knowledge, the understanding of what a treasure a Jewish home is for a family. וְנָתַץ אֶת הַבַּיִת – “And he shall break down the house, אֶת אֲבָנָיו וְאֶת עֵצָיו, וְאֵת, כָּל עֲפַר הַבָּיִת – its stones and its timber and all the mortar of the house; וְהוֹצִיא אֶל מִחוּץ לָעִיר, אֶל מָקוֹם טָמֵא and he shall carry them out of the town into an unclean place” (Metzora 14:45). Athough a family might discover a treasure trove that was hidden between the stones of the wall, that was only symbolic of the true treasure that he was expected to discover as they watched the walls of the house being torn down.And that treasure is the awareness of what an opportunity a house is. The breaking down of the walls of a house is a tragedy of great proportions, but the greater tragedy is the breakdown of the Torah Home that had taken place there long before thenega tzaraasset in. The missed opportunities of לְהַעֲמִיד אֻמָּה הָעוֹבֶדֶת אֶת הַשֵּׁם in that home are what really tore down the walls of that home.And as the homeowner and his family watch the physical destruction of the home, the lesson they are learning is the greatest treasure of all. Now they look back at the great happiness that the walls of the home afforded them, and which they failed to appreciate while they still possessed it. And you can be sure that it wasn’t only this family that learned this lesson. When the house is being torn down, and while the family stands outside watching and then begin to carry out of the city all the stone and wood that had once made up their home, all the neighbors watched in sadness and empathy, and if they were wise they also took the lesson to heart.And certainly the lesson wasn’t intended only for them, but even we today are expected to learn the eternal lessons ofnigei batim.And the least that we can do is to remind ourselves constantly, day in and day out, of gratitude for the walls of our own home as well as for the superb institution of the home, the place where the Am Yisroel is being built. And the use of the home foravodas Hashemin countless ways is indeed the duty of gratitude which Hashem expects most; the home where parents and children understand its purpose becomes a place where the child learns optimism, confidence and happiness. And that’s how he goes out to view the world for the rest of his life. And that’s going to make him anovedHashem m’toch simchaand he’ll bema’arich yomim in happiness.Go Back See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information. This podcast has been graciously sponsored by JewishPodcasts.fm. There is much overhead to maintain this service so please help us continue our goal of helping Jewish lecturers become podcasters and support us with a donation: https://thechesedfund.com/jewishpodcasts/donate