Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection is the one-stop shop for the Torah inspiration shared by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe in one simple feed. The Jewish Inspiration Podcast, Parsha Review Podcast, Thinking Talmudist Podcast, Living Jewishly Podcast and Unboxing Judaism Podcast all in one convenient place. Enjoy!
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center
of Houston. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.
I met a man who was 70 years old and he was lamenting to me that we hadn't met 30, 40,
50 years earlier.
And he was telling me, you know, had we met earlier, I would have prioritized my life
differently and I would have changed my course of life.
I would have focused on having children.
He never ended up having children.
And I would have focused on many other priorities instead of building up wealth and building
up a career.
I would have probably focused on building a Jewish family.
Regret is such a painful thing.
And we need to ensure that we don't ever look back at our lives with regret.
How do we do that?
How do we ensure that we never look back at life with regret?
Well, I did this, I did that.
We have to understand that Hashem puts us exactly where we need to be to reach our perfection
in life.
No one grew up like Moses and no one grew up like our ancestors and no one grew up like
their neighbors.
Each one of us have our own story.
Each one of us have our own package, our own challenges, our own health, our own constitution
of who we are.
No two people are the same.
And we should never ever look, well, if I had their spouse and if I had their money
and if I had their health and if I had their...
Then you wouldn't be you.
Hashem created each and every one of us with those challenges, with that history, with
those mistakes that we may have done previously to make us right now reflect and become a
better person right now.
And if we utilize and take all of those 70 years that we had, don't look back at it with
regret.
Look forward with it, how can I utilize this to become the greatest person I can become?
A person should only use regret to spring ourselves forward on a better trajectory.
If we just look back to lament and to cry about how this, I should have done that, I
should have done this, I should have done that, there's nothing useful that comes out
of that.
We can end up sad, depressed, demoralized.
God doesn't want any of those.
God wants us to be upbeat and to be inspired and to be motivated.
And that only happens when we have a positive outlook.
These are the tools that God gave me.
How can I maximize these tools?
God doesn't expect us to be like anyone else.
He gave you the special package that you have.
And that's the constitution of your parents, your siblings, your intelligence, your good
looks, your personality, your spouse, your children.
Hashem gives you everything you need to make your perfection, not to make someone else's
perfection.
That's for them.
You take for you what's yours.
And we have to be very, very cautious when we're looking at Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur,
a time of repentance, to look back and see, you know what, I made mistakes.
But not just sit and cry about our mistakes.
How is that going to help me in the future?
And part of the process of teshuva is having regret, but the next quick step is accepting
for the future, a change, a transformation.
Don't only look backwards.
We're not about looking backwards.
I once heard quoted from one of our generals in the United States, where he said, when
you're looking outside the window of a car, the window looking forward, the windshield
is very big, but the mirror that shows you backwards is very small.
You have to look at the bright future ahead.
Look forward.
You have a little mirror, a rear view mirror, which is very small to look backwards.
To reflect on our past, to reflect on our mistakes, and to make a resolution going forward
of how we're going to change who we are.
So we should never ever say and be in despair, oh, well, I wasted my 30s, I wasted my 40s,
my 50s.
Look at me, I'm an old man now, and nothing can happen with me.
That's not true.
You have today.
Today's the day that we can announce that change.
As we mentioned previously, in a play of words from our prayer,
Zeh Hayom T'chilat Maasecha
This is the day, the beginning of your creation, referring to God's creation, where God created
Adam and Eve on the day of Rosh Hashanah.
But we can also learn it differently.
Zeh Hayom T'chilat Maasecha
This is the day that we, humanity, begin to change our ways.
T'chilat Maasecha
Put it into action.
Transform who you are, one small change at a time.
My dear friends, have a magnificent Rosh Hashanah, a magnificent new year.
Amen.
You've been listening to the Jewish Inspiration Podcast, a Torch production. Become a supporter at Torchweb.org because your assistance enables more Torah learning around the globe. To find more lessons offered by Torch, please visit Torchpodcast.com