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This Jewish Inspiration Podcast is dedicated to learning, understanding and enhancing our relationship with Hashem by working on improving our G-d given soul traits and aspiring to reflect His holy name each and every day. The goal is for each listener to hear something inspirational with each episode that will enhance their life.
00:00 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody. We're at day 15 in Orchos Tzaddikim in Ways of the Righteous, and we are in the Treasure for Life edition. We're on page 71. Tchilas tachbulosov, shel yitzer, at the beginning of the evil inclination's trickery hu mak she'libo, shel odom u magbih. The first thing he does is he makes a person's heart, strengthens his heart and elevates him, makes him feel a little bit puffed up and he makes it sweet to him so that it should look like it's a good thing that he is arrogant. You remember we spoke previously about the challenges of arrogance. Arrogance is that you're feeling elevated above other people. You're feeling like you are dominant over other people. Terrible, terrible trait. Only Hashem is above others and even though a person knows that it's not a good trait, arrogance is a terrible trait. Haughtiness, terrible. Even so he's still, because it makes him feel good, because there's this yetzahara, there's this evil inclination that's pushing him to do so, and he becomes arrogant over others. Ki ha-yetzah, ma-vir es-liboh, achar ha-kavod. Because the yetzah has an amazing, amazing way of getting people to desire honor Ad shaloyachush al-aver. Until the desire for that honor, the desire for that acknowledgement, for that control, for that elevation is so strong that they already don't even pay attention to their arrogance. But a person who is clean in his deeds, a person who's pure in his deeds, will not intentionally be arrogant. V'lo yis'hal be'atzmo kish yode'a sh'yeish aver badavar. And he won't praise himself when he knows that there is a sin in doing so. Oz yavo hayetzahara. V'yarim aremos. V'yarich melchama ad maves lahapil v'lalakto berishto. Then what happens when a person realizes that the Yetzahara is really there to get him and he tries to stay away, and he tries to keep himself humble. Then comes the Yetzahara and until our death, the Yetzahara tries to fight and pound us to be arrogant. No, you should tell them right, you should you. They they need to know. And he puts all of these ideas in our mind of we have to stand up. Oh, you're gonna let other people just trample all over you. The yetzahara is very, very smart and he says till our, the Yetzirah is trying to trap us into the sin of arrogance.
03:09
V'yorah heter u'mazbil o'sivoros sh'yeshlo mitzvah. V'sachar amashem eshalom ispar. He says it's okay, it's not such a big deal. It's a mitzvah so that people will praise you, so that they know all the good things you've done. And he draws this image. The Yetzahara, or evil inclination draws these images that are fake and fraudulent.
03:34
V'kach yomer la'yetzah and the Yetzahara will tell a person as follows K'var igata l'mala, l'malas chochma v'chassidus, you are so righteous, you're so pious, you're so wise, he says. You're already so high, you're so elevated. People should know about your greatness, people should admire the greatness, the lofty levels that you've attained. Everyone should know how wise you are and how righteous you are, so that they love you, so that they come to adore you and to praise you. And he's going to come. The Yetzirah is going to come armed with a proof from our sages.
04:34
One of the most beautiful Mishnahs in Ethics of Our Father says that whoever the creations of Hashem love him, they love him or her then the creator loves him or her, means, if Hashem's creations love you, then Hashem himself definitely loves you. So here the Yetzer HaRaz telling him look, the Mishnah says that everybody should love you. If nobody knows all the great things that you do, all the acts of kindness and all of the selflessness, if nobody knows all of your righteousness, then no one's going to be able to appreciate. And if they don't appreciate, then the Almighty won't appreciate. V'chol zeh rayos shekeh, he says. And all of this is falsehood. Don't fall into the trap of the yetzahara to take pride and arrogance in the work that you do. Ki osa hazbara hu anaf min hagava. That in itself is a wing of arrogance. Aval ha'inion hazehu k'mosha amar ha'kasuv. And this is what our sages said Bir t'sos Hashem dar ke'ish gam oyavav yashlim ito.
05:46
When Hashem desires a man's ways, his enemies too make peace with him. When Hashem likes a man's ways, his enemies too make peace with him. When Hashem likes what you're doing, people will come along to your side. And this is the explanation to what that verse of King Solomon in Proverbs tells us.
06:05
If a person does not go and take pride in front of other people and he doesn't want their acknowledgement, he doesn't need them to attribute. Oh wow, we saw such a righteous person. We saw all his good deeds. And without that, without knowing all of his good deeds, they love him because he's a nice guy. Then, even with them not knowing all of his good deeds, even them not knowing all of his kind traits and his great righteousness, still they love him because he's a nice guy, he's a good person. So then you have nothing to worry about. Hashem loves you too. He earned himself a good name. He earned himself the love that they attribute to him and therefore he has nothing to worry about, because the Almighty loves him as well. And indeed it is true.
07:15
There are people that everybody loves them. Mankind loves them and God dislikes them, like people who don't observe the Torah, people who don't observe the Torah, people who don't observe the mitzvahs. Hashem loves those who observe the Torah and those who fulfill the Torah. We see this, by the way, in the Torah. We see in the Torah who does Hashem focus on? Abraham Isaac, jacob, the tribes. Who are they? They were observing the laws of the Torah. Who does Hashem focus on Abraham Isaac, jacob, the tribes. Who are they? They were observing the laws of the Torah. Moses, aaron.
07:55
God doesn't spend much time on Korach. God doesn't spend much time on Balak. God doesn't spend much time on the. You know those spies who went into the land of Israel. God doesn't spend time on Esau. God doesn't spend time on.
08:10
Think of all the wicked people, right, those who committed themselves to the ways of Hashem. You're in my world, communicating. What does Torah study mean? What does observance of Torah mean? That means I'm in a world of consciousness with the Almighty. That's what it means. A mitzvah doesn't mean I'm a puppet. A mitzvah doesn't mean a mitzvah observer doesn't mean that I am distancing myself from mankind I'm an extremist. No, on the contrary. Someone who observed the laws of Hashem is immersed in God's world. So of course God loves someone like that. And now, if they're loved by others, that's even greater After this.
09:00
You're a righteous, you're a good person, you do good things. You don't have to publicize your own doings. As we said previously, king Solomon in Proverbs says that others should praise you. You don't praise yourself. You don't need to go praise yourself. Let other people this is in Proverbs 27, verse 2, let a stranger praise you and not your own mouth. That's what we need to aspire.
09:30
Nobody needs to know the good deeds that we do. You helped someone. You lent someone money. You lent someone your time, you gave someone advice and then they became so successful. People like to like you know who gave them their advice. You know. Nobody needs to know. You don't need to tell everybody. You don't need to insert so that everybody knows oh, look, look, I'm the great one here, I'm the one who did this, who succeeded with this. Then he's going to try to persuade you to let everybody know about your good deeds, he brings another proof. You can't keep your good deeds to yourself, because then no one's going to follow you. You have to leave a legacy for your descendants so that they know all the great things that their ancestor did.
10:25
Oh, it's the ploy of the Yetzirah trying to get you to again publicize the things that you do and take credit for it. It makes sense, by the way. Think of it for a second. It makes sense that the Yetzirah is pushing us to this. Why? Why? Because that is rebellion against the Almighty. That is rebellion when I take credit for things. I'm rebelling against the Almighty who gave me the ability to do it Right. And all of this ability to do it Right, וגם זה נמשך מן הגבוס. And all of this also comes from being arrogant.
11:04
אף על פי שמצינו כמה גדולים שנשתבכו, even though we do see that there are those among our people who were praised הם לא עשו אלא לפני תלמידיהם וחבריהם כדי שימושו אחריהם.
11:22
Among our people who were praised, he says the only ones who and we see this in the Talmud that sheared the good things that they were doing were only to their children directly, or to their students directly, so that they learn, and they only students directly so that they learn K'de, lechaveh valeh ma'aseb tovim.
11:41
And they only did it so that they can endear the doing of good deeds upon them, so that they know oh, my dad goes and helps poor people, I'm going to go help poor people too. My dad goes and helps, you know, people on the side of the road and stops to change their attire. I should do that too. So what it does is it inspires the children to learn to do good deeds. That is not self-adulation, that's not self-proclaiming all the good deeds that I do, he says again with your students, with your children, that's a different story. But in front of the world, nobody needs to know your good deeds, nobody needs to see all of the great things that you do. That's something you keep between you and the Almighty. This concludes day number 15.