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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.
Welcome back everybody. Way number 43. Way number 43 is Umit Yashev Libo B'tal Mudo. Let your heart sink into what it is that you're learning. We know that Lev, the heart, is the source of our action. We can have a lot of intellect in our mind and not live by that intellect. We can have wisdom and knowledge and great ideas and great philosophy
like Aristotle, but live a very different life than what we know to be the elevated proper way of life. So what does the Torah teach us? The Torah says it's not enough for you to learn and learn and learn and learn. You sit in yeshiva all day and learn and now what? Does that mean that you're going to actually practice what it is that you preach? Does that mean that you're going to live in an uplifted way of life?
Well, not necessarily, which is why the Mishnah reminds us you're learning Torah. Great. Before you're done, make sure that you have a way to make it practical. Sink your teeth into what it is that you're learning and absorb it. Make it part of who you are. I mentioned this previously. A dear friend of mine, a very, very talented speaker. He speaks on all the speaking circuits in the Jewish community and he's traveling all around every week and every month. He's invited to another lecture to speak at some big shindig.
And he said that one time a great rabbi was listening to one of his lectures and the rabbi asked him, he says, do you actually believe a word you say? So he said that he had to stop speaking for a while to really make what he says part of him. It's not enough. You see people who write books and people who prepare all these presentations. Many times what happens is, you know, they take a break to do research. They write a book and then they publish the book.
I always say about my grandfather, my grandfather's books, the Alei Shur, are not a piece of research that he did. This is his autobiography. This is him. You want to know who he is? Read his book. You'll see every single struggle he had. It is an unbelievable work of his own personal growth, his own experience, his own challenges. And it's absolutely remarkable. It's brilliant. But it's not enough to just have good concepts, good ideas.
You have to be able to have experienced and put yourself to the test in it and made it part of your life. Live what you learn. We say, L'ilmod u'lamed, learn and teach. And then l'shmor, keep it, observe it. And then la'asot is the way in which you act, the way in which you act. We say judge people favorably, actually to judge them favorably. We say to give someone the benefit of the doubt, actually give them the benefit of the doubt.
We say to pursue peace and love peace. Well, in what way am I actually putting that into action? So we can have a lot of great ideas in our mind, but are we putting them into action, into fruition? And that's what way 43 is about. Sink your mind into it, not only to understand it, but to see how it plays out in action. When we're fascinated and absorbed, we do a better job. You're doing something, get your mind, your heart and soul into it.
I was just talking to a friend of mine a couple of days ago and I said to him, he asked me, he says, you know, you're really into this, whatever it was that we were talking about. I said, look, I'm a all in guy. I'm an all in guy. If I'm into something, I'm all in. If I'm not into it, I'm all out. I'm not, I can't do things half measure. And it was an interesting conversation I had because I am a little bit of an extremist.
Like I don't like a little, you know, sometimes you see these chefs and we're going to put a little bit of flavor, right? Then we drop a little bit. No, no, no. I'm not a little bit of flavor. I pack that whole thing with flavor and I'm like, I will OD on the experience because I can't just have like a little, little, you know, just a little, no, no, no, no. Pack it in. So I'm all in.
But in the things that I'm interested in doing, the things that I'm motivated to do, how about the things that I'm not motivated to do? And it is perhaps a mitzvah for us to do. I'll give you an example. What, you know, if a person loves Shabbos, it's easy to be all in for Shabbos. If a person loves the Yom Tov, the holidays, Hanukkah, Purim, Pesach, Shavuot, Sukkot, and you can be all into it. It's exciting because you love it. What's if you don't love it so much?
I don't connect with it. I don't connect with that mitzvah. Oh, says the Mishnah here. Absorb yourself into it. Learn about it. Get excited. Make it part of who you are so that there isn't a part of your life that is like, this I'm not connected with. Become connected with it. We have to know our limitations. When it comes to mitzvahs, there are no limitations and we have to do everything we can. So I'll give you an example.
I had a difficulty with one of the holidays. It was one of those holidays I just didn't connect with. I just, I didn't feel it. I didn't feel it. So what I did was I decided that I was going to start giving a class on it so that I can learn more. And definitely the more I learn about it, the more I'll be excited by it. And it really did help transform and change the entire perspective on that holiday.
And now it's very beloved because I invested into it. I invested. I now understand it better than, you see, as children. We learn certain things just by osmosis. You know, this is what we do in our home. So that's what we do. But we don't necessarily, you know, someone can observe Shabbos their entire life and not feel Shabbos. Someone can observe, you know, not to compare between holy and unholy, Thanksgiving.
And it'd be a dreadful day for them because they have to meet Aunt Sally again or that uncle. But if a person doesn't realize what it is, that when the whole family gets together and how special that is, if we don't take it all in, then it could be missing the potential that it should have. What I was saying about knowing our limitations. So I, in a way, I try not to hide behind this, but I've said this numerous times.
I have a lot of talents, but I also have a lot of limitations. One of my limitations is cooking. I don't know how to cook for the life of mine. Okay. I can make a wicked barbecue. I can make a chalant, and I can, on a good day, make eggs. My wife said to me today, she says, you know, my wife, unfortunately, is not feeling well. So I try to do everything I can to try to say, what can I do for you?
She says, I'm really in a mood of a certain food. It's like rice noodles type of thing. And she has a special dressing for it, which is delicious. And she really wanted me to say, I said, look, I have a lot of skills. I have a lot of talents, but cooking, you know, is not, she says, you have to be brain dead not to know how to just boil it up. Like you boil a pasta. I'm like, I don't know how to do pasta.
She says, boil up the water. You put it in and follow the instructions that's on the bag, which was pretty simple and straightforward. So I was like, you know what? I'm going to do it. I'm not going to be lazy. And I'm not going to say, ah, this is just not my set of tools. I'm going to do it. So I do it and I'm really proud of myself. And I prepare it on a plate nicely for my wife.
And I prepare with the topping and with the, you know, with the, with the dressing and with what she wants on the side. And I bring it to the room and she takes one bite. She's like, this isn't cooked. This is raw. I'm like, I'm sorry, but so, so, but I, but I tried. I tried. You know, we have to know what we're capable of and we have to know where our strengths and weaknesses are. Now that doesn't mean that we don't try.
We should try and we should put our effort forward, but know your limitations. Okay. When we're fascinated, it's energizing rather than energy draining. And we, like we mentioned previously, invest in a holiday, invest in a mitzvah and it'll become yours. You'll be very connected to it and you'll love it. So if we can do that about every area of life, then it'll become special to us. Hopefully we'll be successful in that. Connect your intellectual realization with your emotional hot button.
So if we are able to, you know, there are things that get us worked up. We mentioned this yesterday in class. We mentioned, you know, current events. People are really worked up about current events, about the Supreme courts and rulings and everything else. If we're able to invest our mind and connect it with those emotions, we'll be able to go far places. We'll be able to do tremendous things.
Problem is, is that usually, and you can see by the reaction that many people are having, sadly, is that their emotions are not connected with their intellect anymore. And they say silly things and they act in silly ways that are demeaning of their own human element. A real person is more fascinated than any TV character you will ever see. There are people who are fascinated, fascinated by movie stars and athletes and they're enamored by them. And they're like, oh my goodness, I wish I can.
It was like, oh, I, I just saw yesterday, someone showed me a clip of, of, of, of an actress. She was asked who's her favorite actor. She says who her favorite actor. They said, oh, would you like me to introduce that? I can't, I can't. I won't be able to breathe. I won't be able to breathe. I won't be able to, right. It's just relax. Take it easy. Take it easy. You know what?
You know, who's more fascinating than, than that actor or actress, any one of us. Any single one of us are more fascinating than any actor you can, you can imagine. A real person is more fascinating than any TV star you will ever meet. Set goals for living and pursue them with relentless, relentless fascination. Any goal that you have, set a goal, make it a real goal, and then just go for it. Go for it.
Um, I have a few examples to give you, but I've seen people who've set a goal to learn Mishnah. Not the Talmud. To learn Mishnah. And with a relentless pursuit, every moment they had available, I had a Mishnah and they opened it up and learned it with the translation, with the English. It's not difficult. We have many of them here at the Torch Center. And to just relentlessly pursue it, to relentlessly pursue our goals, to become fascinated with truth and wisdom.
Remember that you're a soul, not a body. If you ask someone, so what are you? I'll say me, I'm me. I'm me, right? What, but what is that me? Our body is the garment for our soul, which is why when someone passes away, what do we do? We tear the garments. Why do we tear the garment? To recognize that the body that is departed is just the garment to the soul.
And we can tear a garment and that, you know, we don't want to tear a garment. We don't want to destroy a suit or a jacket. But we realize it's just something external. The body is just external to what we really are. You know what we really are? A soul, a very lofty, holy soul. And when we set goals, it's important to be healthy, but not to make them physical, external, materialistic goals, but to rather identify who we are and set soul goals.
Goals that enrich our soul, elevate us and put us on a whole new plane. So way number 43 is don't let life pass you by without being fascinated by the things that are going on around you, without using your excitement for life to grow with it. Use that fascination to grow every single day relentlessly.