Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
The Thinking Talmudist Podcast shares select teachings of Talmud in a fresh, insightful and meaningful way. Many claim that they cannot learn Talmud because it is in ancient Aramaic or the concepts are too difficult. Well, no more excuses. In this podcast you will experience the refreshing and eye-opening teachings while gaining an amazing appreciation for the divine wisdom of the Torah and the depths of the Talmud.
Every week a new, deep, and inspiring piece of brilliance will be selected from the Talmud for discussion by Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of TORCH (Houston, Texas).
This Podcast Series is Generously Underwritten by David & Susan Marbin
00:00 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Thinking Talmudist Podcast.
00:14 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back everybody to the Thinking Talmudist Podcast. We are in Kiddushin 38, all the way on the bottom. We just finished talking about some of the great responsibilities that a man has to his children, to his own study of Torah. We talked last week about, you know, the counting of the letters, the words, the verses in each, in the entire Torah, and how they were so meticulous, they understood and they knew and studied the entire Torah so diligently that they knew even how many words and letters and verses. Now the Talmud is going to continue in this conversation and then go off to a completely new area of man's responsibility towards himself, towards his family, towards his children, towards himself, towards his family, towards his children. Ebrahima gives the total number of verses for several books of Scripture Toner Rabbonin, the rabbis, torna, ebrahima Chameshes, alofim V'shmeinim, ois V'shmeinim V'shmeino, psukim Hevi Psukei, sefer HaTerah. 5,888 is the number of verses in a Torah scroll Yesser alov, tehillim shmoina. The book of Psalms has eight more than this. So there's eight more verses in the book of Psalms than in the Torah. Choser mimenu divrei, hayamim shmoina. And the book of Chronicles has eight less than this number.
01:47
The B'Riaseh defines the extent of a man's obligation to become proficient in Torah knowledge. Toner Rabboni and the rabbis taught in the B'Riaseh, and you shall teach them thoroughly. This conveys the responsibility for man. That the words of Torah should be sharply honed in your mouth. That if a man was to ask you something concerning a point of Torah knowledge, don't stammer before answering him, but rather you should be able to answer him immediately, because the verse states and we're now on 30B Say to wisdom, you are my sister. Just as someone knows that his sister, without any doubt, is forbidden to him, so too it's very clear. So too you should know the words of Torah. You should know the laws of Torah as clearly as you know that law. As that is obvious, so too everything in Torah knowledge should be obvious to one.
03:06
And a verse likewise states kosherim aletzboisecho, kosveim aluach libecho. Tie them upon your finger, inscribe them upon the tablet of your heart. And another verse says b'chitzim b'yad gibor ben kain, b'nei ne'urim. Another verse says Like arrows in the hand of a warrior, so are children of youth. Another verse says likewise the sharp arrows of a warrior. And another verse states sharp arrows of a warrior. And another verse states your arrows are sharp. Nations fall beneath you. Another verse says Praiseworthy is the man who fills his quiver with them. They shall not be shamed when they speak with enemies in the gate. So, if we look at these verses, courts of law are traditionally situated in the gates of a city and it was custom of Torah scholars and judges to congregate there as well.
04:28
It's interesting that we know that the Talmud tells us that weddings would typically traditionally take place on Wednesday nights. Wednesday nights, why Wednesday night? Because if the groom at the night of the wedding, after the wedding, he realizes that there's a, they did a switcheroo on him, like we had with Jacob and his wife Leah. The next morning, he realizes one second, this is not the right. This is not the right woman I married. I was supposed to marry Rachel, not Leah. So or if part of the agreements that were made were not fulfilled appropriately, then he would be able to go right back to the court the next day. What's on the next day? The next day is Thursday. The courts would meet every Monday and Thursday. Every Monday and Thursday, the courts would meet. So what's your question? What's your question? So that's why they get married on Wednesday night, because the courts were open on Thursdays. What's the question? So why don't they do weddings on Sunday night. If the court is open on Monday, they should also do weddings on Sunday night.
05:49
Our sages tell us something very interesting. Our sages say that thank you, mark. Our sages tell us that the groom needs time to prepare the wedding. He needs time. He can't prepare before Shabbos for after Shabbos the wedding. He needs a couple of days from Shabbos to prepare, to get to have fresh food and to have everything organized. So therefore, traditionally, weddings would be on Wednesday nights so that if God forbid, there was a fraud taking place at that wedding, he can come back to the court and nullify that marriage retroactively. Okay, so that would be. That's why they would do it on.
06:36
Okay, now what would happen on Mondays and Thursdays? That that was so special. So we know that there is a decree that a Jew should always be learning Torah and not allow himself to go three days without studying Torah. So they would read the Torah, as we do today every Monday, thursday and Shabbos. So you would have Shabbos. We read the Torah on Shabbos. Then you have Sunday, monday. So Monday you would read the Torah, and then you have Tuesday, wednesday and then Thursday. So Thursday you'd read the Torah, and then again you have Friday and then Shabbos Like this. You don't go more than three days ever without reading the Torah. And that's how we continue to conduct with that decree that the Torah is read a minimum within every three days.
07:26
So because they're reading the Torah, everyone would come, especially people who lived in faraway places. They'd come into the cities, they'd do their shopping already for Shabbos Like this. They were preparing for Shabbos already on Thursday. Because we know also from the Talmud we learned previously that from Tuesday night, which is already Wednesday, you can already start greeting people with good Shabbos. We do that after our Tuesday night classes. We greet one another with good Shabbos. Why? Because you're already three days close to Shabbos. You're already in the second half of the week already leading towards Shabbos. You're already in Shabbos mode, right, because you have from Shabbos, you have Sunday, monday, tuesday. So that's the influence of the previous Shabbos. Or say, just say, the influence of the coming Shabbos starts already on Wednesday. When does Wednesday start? Tuesday night at sunset starts already to be Wednesday in the Jewish calendar. So we have Wednesday, thursday, friday leading into Shabbos. So they would already start their shopping. But people would come into town to hear the Torah reading because not every place had a Torah scroll, especially outlying areas, small little villages. They would come in to the main cities on Thursday. They would hear the Torah reading and, like this, they would also have the courts open on those days. Okay, just a little side note.
08:47
The Gemara now analyzes the end of the last verse cited Mai es oyivim beshar. What is implied by the words enemies in the gate? The verse figuratively refers to a man that trains outstanding Torah disciples in his youth. Of such teachers, the verse states they shall not be ashamed when they speak with enemies in the gate, meaning when they're holding court cases at the gate. They shall not be ashamed when they debate points of halacha in the company of other Torah scholars. Debate points of halacha in the company of other Torah scholars. In its present question, the Gemara inquires why the verse characterizes Torah scholars as enemies. Now we know this is very, very important when we're talking about the Jewish people and the qualities of the Jewish people. One of the things that we need to recognize is that we can all get along and disagree vehemently about everything and still love each other, particularly when we study Torah.
09:59
When we study Torah, you go to Yeshiva Hall, you study Torah. We went, we visited at the Mir Yeshiva. It's such a phenomenal, you know. You just think you're in the area of the yeshiva. You're talking about over 10,000 students sitting and learning Torah. You walk into the main study hall and the noise of study it's not like a library, where it's quiet. Use your library voice it's a thundering noise of Torah study. And we also learned in the study hall. You remember we have that picture of us having a little mini class right there in the study hall, right there in the study hall.
10:44
What's so unique is that when two people study Torah, they can see things from a totally different perspective, which, by the way, I didn't want to bring politics in, but because our world is so politicized, I want to share with you a law that I think if it was applied yesterday in the court in New York City, we'd have a different result. Let me tell you something very interesting. The halacha says that if someone was brought to court and all of the judges or all of the jury 100% unanimously vote that the person is guilty, the ruling would be that he's innocent. Because if nobody from the entire court can consider the opposing opinion, if not even one person, it's considered a flawed court, it's considered a flawed court. That is prejudice, and if no one can find favor, then the person is set free To have 34 counts and all 34 counts are unanimous. Is a flawed court, 100%, 100% flawed. So because they're so unanimous, it's flawed. That's the way in Jewish law. It would be applied because someone has to be able to see a way that maybe something over here is a little bit different, maybe something is a little bit tainted, maybe If no one can see that, it's a flawed court. So, either way, we see that with our scholars when they're sitting and learning Torah.
12:47
They argued vehemently when we study Talmud we do this all the time, every week we study Talmud and what do we see? Arguments, disagreements. Oh, you bring a verse for this, I bring a verse for that. Back and forth, back and forth. We don't need to agree on everything and we can argue, and we can even consider each other as enemies. We can consider each other as enemies but love each other nonetheless Enemies in the sense that we have opposing views. What does it mean to have peace? What does it mean to have peace? What does it mean that means that we just take on the other person's side. No, I still have my side, you have your side, but in the name of being one, we're ready to give up on that.
13:36
It's like they say that children and adults what's the difference? A child fights on the playground. What happens a minute later? They continue playing. An adult fights. They don't talk for 20 years. What's the difference? Because a child is more invested in being happy than being right. The child wants to be happy, so he's going to continue playing now with you, because he wants to play with his friend. So I happen to be right. So what? It doesn't make a difference that I'm right or wrong. The most important is that we be happy. Adults don't think like that. They're like no, no, this is wrong. And because it's wrong, I don't care, I'm going to hold the grudge forever Instead of being happy. And it's such a tragedy that people are focusing more on being right than being happy In the study hall. We can fight to death Not actually fight to death but we can fight and argue and yell and scream at one another and yet love each other to our core. And perhaps this is why the verse says that sages, scholars, when they argue with one another, are like enemies, but then they love each other. You can hold your opinion, I hold my opinion. Just by the way, it's very interesting.
15:06
The Talmud, in Tractate Gittin, discusses what happens when we have arguments in the Talmud. So we have arguments. Every page it's filled with arguments, filled with disagreements, filled with debates. So what happens with those debates? Who's right? You know what the Talmud says You're both right. It says Both of you are saying God's word, but what the halacha follows? Only one of you. You can both be right. See, we think that it's a zero-sum game. If you're right, I'm wrong, and if I'm right, you're wrong. That's not true. We can both be right. We can both have a perfect argument. It doesn't mean that we rule like both of us. We rule like one of us. It doesn't mean that the other guy is wrong. It's just this is the way the Torah tells us to follow, and there are rules, there are principles for this in the structure of how halacha works. So it's an amazing thing, because we always think, oh, one side is right, one side is wrong. Which helps us, by the way.
16:15
The Talmud says the Mishnah says that those who stand in front of you in court should both be guilty in your eyes. They're both guilty, but once they leave your court, they're both innocent, and that's the way we rule a halacha. In halacha, that's the way we rule. Two defendants come, two people come to you arguing over money, arguing over a contract. You know what. They're both guilty when they're standing in front of you, but once they leave, it doesn't make a difference. The fact that the ruling was like one of the sides, they're both innocent in your eyes. They both need to be innocent in your eyes, which is, again, it's something that in our culture it doesn't work like that. It doesn't work like that anyplace. Oh, what are you talking about? He's right, he's right. If he's wrong, he's wrong. No, he can be wrong and also be right. Or he can be wrong and also be right, or he can be right and also be wrong. Okay, let's continue. I'm confusing you All, right? So now the Gemara says what does this mean? That they are considered like enemies. So he says as follows Rabbi Chia Bar-Rabba said Rabbi Chia Bar-Rabba said that even a father and a son, or a teacher and a student who are studying Torah together in one gate, at first they become enemies to one another.
17:59
They become enemies to one another. They become enemies to one another, but they do not move from there until they become devoted friends of one another, shemem, as the scripture states. Therefore, it will be told in the book of God's war, v'hev b'sufa, of that which God gave on the Red Sea al tikri b'sufa, ele b'sofa. Don't read it b'sufa, as in the Red Sea, but rather read it b'sofa in the end. In the end, they will make peace between one another, and that is the way, the tradition.
18:38
I remember seeing my first argument between two massive Torah scholars Arguing, arguing the way we should think in a Talmud. Remember two of the rabbis in the yeshiva? In the entire yeshiva, all the students were crowded around listening to two mighty scholars arguing with one another, screaming on top of their lungs, and who loved each other with the greatest depths of love. It doesn't mean, if you don't agree with me, that you reject me. I don't have to agree with you, I still love you. I don't have to agree with you, I still love you. I don't have to agree with your philosophy. I don't have to agree with your ideology. I don't have to agree with your politics. I don't have to agree with anything, I can still love you. It's an oddity in this world. It's like I hear people tell me that their family members don't want to talk to them because they don't vote like them. It's a tragedy, it's a terrible thing Either way.
19:46
A Bryce elaborates upon the relationship of Torah to the human condition. Taner Rabbonin, the rabbi, is taught in a Bryce of when it says you should place the Torah Alev Avchem on your hearts. In reference to the Torah, the verse states V'samtem you shall place. Homiletically, you may divide the word of V'samtem into two words and read it Samtam, a perfect elixir. The word thus hints to the idea that nim shul ha-toir, kasam ha-chaim, the Torah is compared to a life-giving elixir.
20:31
Moshol adam shehika zb'noimak agdelo. An analogy can be drawn to a man that dealt his son a great blow and he placed a compress upon his wound. He said to his son B'ni kol zman, sheh reti, yazo Al makoscha, my son, as long as the compress remains on your wound, echol ma shanaoscha u'shetei ma shana oscho u'ruchoyitz. Bein bechamen, bein mitzoynin, ve'ein atom isyore. He says you can eat what you desire, you can drink what you desire, you can bathe in either hot or cold water and you need not fear that any harm will come to you by these actions. Ve'im atom avira, but to you by these actions. But once you remove the compress, be careful, because you'll surely have boils as a result of removing this compress.
21:38
So too the Holy One, our God, creator of Heaven and Earth, said to the Jewish people B'ni, my son, I created the evil inclination, I created the Torah to be its antidote. Meaning Hashem doesn't create just an illness and not create a cure. What's the illness? The illness is the Yetzhara, our evil inclination that tries to entice us to do away with the way of Hashem. What does the Torah say? The Torah is the antidote that protects us from that.
22:21
V'yim atem oskim atorah. If you involve yourselves in Torah, ein atem nimsorim biyodo, you will not be delivered into the Yetzirah's hands. Shenema, as it says, halohim teitiv se'es. Certainly, if you correct yourself, you will prevail. V'yim ein atem oskim atorah. But if God, certainly, if you correct yourself, you will prevail. But if God forbid, you do not involve yourself in Torah, you will be delivered into its hand. But if you do not act properly, sin rests at the door.
23:01
ולא עוד אלה. שכל מסור הוא מתנו כך, מתנו bach. And even more so that all the pursuits of the evil inclination concern you. That means he's busy with you all day, as the verse states, and you are its desire, meaning the Yetzhahara has one mission, one mission and one mission only to get you to turn away from God. That's it. That's what the Yetzhahara wants from us. Just reject your relationship with God. What does the Torah do? The Torah brings us close to God. It removes the Yetzhahara's power, the Yetzirah's force on us, its ability to attack us. Ve'im ato, rotze, atamoshobo, and if you wish, you can involve yourself in Torah study. You will master the evil inclination and you will own him. She'nemar, as it states, fe'ato tim shalbo, you will conquer it.
24:03
So this the Talmud says a very, very important little piece here that we just discussed is the key to why we study Torah. You see, we as human beings. By the way, just look at the world that we're in today. Today is May 30th 2024. Look at the world we're living in today.
24:28
Look at all of the intelligentsia, look at all the smartest schools of thought. Look at them. What's become of them? What's become of them? Thought, look at them. What's become of them? What's become of them? You talk about Harvard, you talk about Yale, you talk about Princeton, you name the place and I will show you the inconsistency of their intelligence. Higher schools of thought and what and what Kill the Jews? That's what we learned.
25:06
So the schools out there are not where we should be investing our energies in our connection with Hashem. It is not where we should be spending our time. Why? Because they've shown their true colors. They've shown their flaw. They've shown their weakness in guiding moral standards, guiding ethics. Oh, engineering, they probably do a great job. Business, they probably do a very good job. Medicine, they probably do a great job. Business, they probably do a very good job. Medicine, they probably do a good job.
25:43
But teaching you values, that's where we get our values from. Look at their corruption, look how they're bankrupt of values, because that is something that the Torah gives us. Who's the Torah to tell us? Torah is the creator of the world. God himself gave us the Torah. He tells you what's right and wrong, what's just and what's unjust, what's proper, what's improper.
26:12
You want to know the moral code. Look at the Torah. Torah tells you. Torah tells you how to treat an animal. The Torah tells you how to treat an animal. The Torah tells you how to treat a servant. The Torah tells you how to treat a spouse. The Torah tells you how to treat your children, how to treat the nations of the world. The Torah tells you how to treat the environment. It's all in the Torah and, by the way, the Torah also tells you about medicine. And the Torah tells you about science. And the Torah tells you about anything that you want to know about this world is in the Torah.
26:49
We brought an example of this when I don't have the book right here on my desk. I usually have it right here. I don't have the book right here on my desk, I usually have it right here when the sages were asked about the moon and how frequently the moon is circled by the earth. Right, and the Talmud gives an exact millisecond 29.5. All the way to the millionth of a second. Today, with all of our telescopes and with all of our technology, we're off by one millionth of a second from what the Talmud says 2,000 years ago.
27:34
Oh, and where did the rabbi get it from? He says, oh, this is where I got this from, from Moses. From Moses at Mount Sinai. Why? Because where did Moses get it from? From the creator of the world. Okay, that's pretty solid, right there, you think. Maybe God knows why. Because where did Moses get it from from the creator of the world. Okay, that's pretty solid right there. You think maybe, god knows, maybe, but the world doesn't understand this.
27:57
And we need to instill this within ourselves, that we constantly reaffirm our commitment to Torah. Because what does Torah do? Torah gives us a path for how to conduct our lives. Not only conduct our lives day to day, but with the morals and the ethics that the world is bankrupt from. Look at those conversations. Open up the newspaper, open up any website that has news and you'll see oh, there's no problem with infanticide, there's no problem with abortions, there's no problem. And we can get into the halachic discussion. We can talk about how the Torah sees this and we can talk about it and talk about it, and talk about it, and talk about it, but the world is way behind I'm talking about thousands of years behind what the Torah tells us. So I'm happy to continue this conversation, by the way, with anyone offline, but this is, I, I think, something for us to think about. How can it be that all of these schools of thought, these higher schools we're talking about Ivy League, right, the Ivy League schools have just gone bankrupt when it comes to morals and values, bankrupt when it comes to morals and values, how they don't have any spine to stand up for what's right.
29:32
And look at the Israeli army. Look at the Israeli army. Find me one military that is more ethical. One One, find me one. Find me one war in which they drop leaflets over a neighborhood and say we're going now to kill the terrorists in your neighborhood Leave. That's very strategic. Really, what army does this? Our army does you know why? Because, as the people of God, as the people who have the Torah, we're obligated to be on the highest level of morals, of values, of ethics. It's a responsibility that each and every one of us carry. It's a responsibility that we carry to ensure that the way in which we conduct our lives is not just to be like everyone else. It's to make sure that we do more than the letter of the law demands, so that nobody have any doubts, nobody have any questions in our morality. I think it's such an incredible responsibility that we all carry.
30:43
The Gemara now elaborates a little bit more upon the subject of the evil inclination, the Yetzir Hara. The evil inclination is so terrible that even his creator, god, calls him evil. His creator, god, calls him evil Because the verse states and this verse is in Genesis 4-7, because the inclination of man's heart is evil from his youth we have in our hearts. That's why I think the picture of the two hearts like this is a good picture, even though that's not the way the heart looks. But what it identifies is that there are two parts of it. There are two parts. There's the part of the Yetzir Hara, the evil inclination, and the Yetzir Tov, the positive inclination, which each battle with one another. You want to do an act of kindness? Yetzirah says no, do it later. You don't have to rush, it's a big deal. Maybe you're doing it for the wrong intentions. You don't need to. They don't need your help. Who do you think you are? These are all thoughts that the Yetzirah, and this struggle that we constantly have is the struggle between our Yetzir Tov and our Yetzirah, our good inclination and our evil inclination.
32:14
The Gemara explains two aspects of the difficulty in opposing the evil inclination Omer, rabbi, yitzchok. Rabbi Yitzchok said Y person's evil inclination renews itself against him every day, because the verse says only evil the entire day. So what happens if you overcame your Yitzhara today? You beat him. Beat him to a pulp. You beat him. That's it a pulp, you beat him. That's it. What happens? Tomorrow he's back again. It means a person can never say, well, I beat my Yetzirah, I'm good to go now. No, no, no, no, you have a new Yetzirah tomorrow. He comes back tomorrow renewed vigor. He's there to get you and to knock you down, so that every time we do good, it's a decision to do good. We don't just naturally slip into the way of being good. We have to. It's a work. It's a work.
33:23
A person's evil inclination threatens to overpower him every day and seek to kill him. That's what the Yetzirah wants. Dead what does it mean? Dead? It doesn't mean physically dead Maybe it means that too but definitely spiritually dead, morally dead, ethically dead. Ethically dead. The wicked one, referring to the Yetzhara, watches for the righteous and seeks to slay him. And if not for Hashem, for the Holy One blessed, is he aiding a person? He would not be able to withstand the force of the evil inclination. The verse states Hashem will not leave him in his hand. Hashem will not leave us into the hand of the Yetzahara. So what's really going on over here is that we have a Yetzirah. We have a Yetzirah. We have to know that we have an evil inclination. You know what? Everybody has an evil inclination and everyone needs to be trained and everyone needs to learn to overcome the Yetzirah, to overcome that evil inclination.
34:45
It's a challenge, two forces One is pushing us to do positive and one is pushing us to do negative. And this is a struggle. This is a constant struggle throughout our lives and it doesn't change just because you're older. It doesn't change just because you've defeated the Yetzirah multiple times. He still comes back, comes back again and comes back again, and comes back again. It's like saying to somebody you know, you overcame your alcoholism, you're fine, you can drink now. No, we all know that's a struggle every day. Every day it's going to be a struggle. But what do you mean? I'm clean for 20 years, I'm good. No, no, no, yetzirah is always there. He's always coming after you again. He's always going to try to entice you again. Once you start, you might fail, because if you failed in the past, you will likely fail again in the future.
35:39
Unless a person works on himself and changes who he is, still you have to be very cautious. A person cannot let up from the enemy within, which is the evil inclination. But let me ask you a question. So let's say I'm overcome by my evil inclination. What do I do now? I have temptation. What am I going to do? So what am I going to do? What do you say? Oh, the Talmud talks about this.
36:01
The Gemara suggests a strategy to combat the evil inclination. Ton Addebay, rabbi Yishmael, the Breisa of the Academy of Rabbi Yishmael, taught the following advice B'ni im poh gaboch minu volzeh, my son, if the repulsive one, meaning the evil inclination, engages you, moshcheyu leves ha-medrash, pull him to the study hall, drag him into the study hall. Im even hu nimoich. If he is like stone, he will dissolve. V'im barzul hu mitpotsetz, and if he is iron, he will shatter. The Brises cites the source to the latter symbolism Halor koid devarai ke'eshn um Hashem kepatish ye'poit seitzela Are not my words like fire, says Hashem, and like a hammer that shatters from a rock. Right, so we see that Hashem's words are able to shatter the evil inclination if he's like a rock or if he's like iron. The Bridescest cites the source of the first symbolism, that he's like a stone and if he's like stone he will dissolve. Because the verse states all those who are thirsty go to the water. It says over there in the continuation of that verse and water dissolves stone. As it says, the water weirs down stones. So we see that the water will wash away the stone not wash away, but it will make it dissolve and therefore Torah, being compared to water, will dissolve the stone of the Yetzahara.
37:56
Okay, so now we're going to stop here, but I want to just point out the important thing is that we said previously that Torah is the elixir for great things. Great things you want to have a good life. It's a guarantee. The Torah doesn't make it a wealthy life. The Torah doesn't make it a materialistic life. It makes it a fulfilled, enriched life.
38:26
Which one are we willing to invest in? And that's a real question which one do we want to invest in? Do we want to invest our lives in a life that's filled with materialism, in objects, in houses, in wealth, or do we want to invest our lives in something which is superseding all of the material in the world, and that is the word of Torah, the word of Hashem, connecting with God, who's creator? Because one is expiring, materialism expires. You know, even your iPhone, by the way, has an expiration date. Okay, they created it with an expiration date, which is a lawsuit that happened with Apple, that people were buying Apple phones and after a certain amount of time it would just die on them. It would just like it would stop working and they built it into it so that they'll have to buy a new phone. That's not with Torah. That's not with Torah.
39:29
I think they're doing a little bit of construction next door, which is the noise that they're fixing. There was a ramming, they rammed into one of the stores and they robbed. So then again, the evil inclination has many ways to overcome a person. So people wanted some of the things there, so they robbed the store, and then they put these blockades, they put these ballards, and so the noise you're hearing is all of the metal that they're putting there to secure the location. But either way, the Yetzirah can be beat. The fastest way to beat them and there's another Talmud that discusses this as well the number one way to beat the Yetzirah is pull him into the study hall. Once you pull him into the study hall, start studying Torah. You study Torah. Everything flies away, all the thoughts. Now it happens to be that it's not so simple, because the Yetzirah can attack a person and tell him oh, you should maybe consider cheating over here. You should maybe consider doing this. You should maybe consider doing that.
40:38
Yetzirah is constantly trying to entice a person, finding their weakness and trying to entice a person to do the negative, to do the bad. A person needs to have a place where they can ground themselves to protect themselves. Noah had that. What was Noah's solution? He had an ark. The ark the whole world was evil In. His ark was safety.
41:04
We have to provide that for our children in our homes. That the world out there is chaos but we have to have a safe place for our children, that they know they can come into their own home and be safe, that they can feel secure, that their parents love them and the parents appreciate them and the parents appreciate them and the parents acknowledge their goodness. Children should feel that confidence. Our friends should feel comfortable in our environment. We should make people feel welcome. But we all have a place in the house of Hashem.
41:43
What did King David say? Where do I want to be? I want to sit in the house of Hashem. What did King David say? Shiv ti beveis Hashem kol yimei chayai. Where do I want to be? I want to sit in the house of Hashem. Why? Because out there is fighting, out there is war. Out there is chaos.
41:57
Inside is where we have peace and serenity, and I think it's also within ourselves. We have to find a way to have peace and serenity within ourselves, that we should feel comfortable in our own skin. That, yeah, you know what. There might be jealousy out there. There might be, you know, people who are trying to put you down.
42:20
Within we should feel a self-confidence. We should feel a value. We should feel a self-confidence. We should feel a value, we should feel a self-worth and hopefully, with this, hashem will guide us, mentor us, to always be enriched with Torah. We should feel the joy of Torah. We ask for this every single morning. Hashem, make the words of your Torah sweet in our mouth. We ask for this, so we should always find the sweetness in the Torah, because the Torah is the elixir for life. My dear friends, have an amazing Shabbos. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for listening. Those of you who are listening on the podcast, those of you who are watching on the video. I'm deeply grateful. It's an honor. Have a great Shabbos!
43:25 - Intro (Announcement)
You've been listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe on a podcast produced by TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. We need you, we need partners. Please help sponsor an episode so we can continue to produce more quality Jewish content for our listeners around the globe. Please visit torchweb.org to donate and partner with us on this incredible endeavor.