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!
Welcome back, everybody, to way number 21. Just as a side note, this is the last of the limited ways. We spoke about six different things that are maximized in a limited capacity. They need to have bounds. The first was business. Be involved in business. Go out and make a living, but make sure that it doesn't take over your life, that you don't prioritize your business over your family and the things that are truly important. B'Derech Eretz, which is limited intimacy,
having a proper balance. Limited pleasure, limited sleep. Make sure that you're not sleeping through life. Be aware of what's going on. And limited communication, making sure that you use communication to your benefit. Now, the last one is limited laughter. B'Miyu Tzchok, way number 21. The power of laughter. The Gemara teaches that someone asked one of the Tanaim, one of the Tanaic sages, who is a Ben Olam Haba? Who is someone who already merited to the world to come?
Guaranteed, they're going to the world to come. So he says, there are two guys in the marketplace. Go talk to them. They are the future. Their future is destined in the world to come in a great place. So he meets these individuals. He said, I heard that you guys have your path to the world to come. What's your secret? They said, B'dicha Anan. We make people laugh. When we see people down, when we see people depressed,
when we see people who are struggling, we go over to them and we tell them a joke. We tell them something light so that their spirits can be uplifted. Those are the people who get a portion of the world to come. But that's the good laughter. But then you have the negative laughter. And that is things like the late night shows. Those are negative laughter because they're laughing about people. They're laughing about whoever the president is,
whoever they don't like in politics, they laugh at them. Whatever actor does something that's private, embarrassing, or sad, they'll laugh at it on someone else's expense. That's a negative laughter. We have to be very careful and cautious about that. Laughter has the ability to expand one's heart. It doesn't say no laughter. It says limited laughter. There's a good laughter and there's a bad laughter. The risk of too much laughter brings sin, our sages tell us. Someone who's always laughing,
doesn't take anything seriously, will fall into a place of grave sin. And we have a risk also of losing our values because nothing means anything anymore. We can just laugh everything off. The Talmud says that one laughter can wipe away 60 inspirations. You ever hear a lecture and it's really inspiring and you're motivated to change your life? One laughter wipes away 60 of those. One wrong laughter, mockery. But on the other hand, there was a great magid, a great sage from Jerusalem.
His name was Rav Shalom Shradron. Rav Shalom Shradron would always begin his lectures with a joke. So someone asked him and said, it's unbecoming, you know, you're a great rabbi and you're teaching great Torah. Why do you start with a joke? Why do you start with laughter? He says, I'm like a mother who's feeding medicine to her child. The medicine doesn't taste good. So no child wants to take it. So what do you do? You make the child laugh.
You go, goo, goo, goo, goo, goo. The child smiles and you throw the medicine in. He says, what I do is in my lectures, I'm giving medicine to people, spiritual medicine. So what I do is I make them laugh and then I throw the medicine in. Because it's not always pleasant to hear that medicine. So we need to use laughter to control our responsive situations. You have sometimes situations that come up that are really challenging. Sometimes you can lighten the environment.
Say something funny, something, just to lighten things up that can help people cope with challenging situations. Life is a collection of opportunities, not problems. See it as a way to brighten people up. Control it in the proper proportions. There's a right time for everything. Just as a reminder, the Talmud tells us it is better to go to the house of a mourner than to go to the house of a wedding, to a wedding party. Why, what happens at weddings?
People get drunk, people get too happy. They lose balance of borders. They say things they probably shouldn't have said. They do things they probably shouldn't have done. In the house of a mourner, people are brought back to what's important in life. That doesn't mean we should be sad running from shiva house to shiva house. But it does mean that we should realize that there has to be balance. Laughter can desensitize a person. But laughter is also the best medicine.
We know that from the Reader's Digest. I don't know if it still exists. I remember growing up, we'd get the Reader's Digest every month. But also medicine, even though laughter is the best medicine, medicine is something we use to recover from illness. What is medicine used for? It's not used every day. Oh, let me just take medicine. If someone is dealing with a difficult time, okay, so you can watch something funny so that you can lighten up your spirits,
you know, unwind a little bit in a healthier way. Make sure it's appropriate, of course. But it's not something that we just, oh, what am I doing today? I'm gonna watch something funny so that I can, you know, watch something funny. Use laughter to keep your troubles in proportion. Realize they're not as bad as they seem. Life is not problems, like we said earlier, it's opportunities. So what the mission here is telling us is use laughter consciously in a measured amount.
Aggravation and suffering sap our energy. They sap our strength. Laughter brings out cheerful relaxation and gives us new energy. Laughter destroys anything in its path for good and for bad. Laughter taps into the deeper reality of God's interaction with the world. There are things that you can break out of a rut with a good joke, something good, a good laughter can really release you from a lot of tension. People who mock others are among those who don't see the presence of God.
The Talmud tells us there are four categories of people who God doesn't wanna have anything to do with them. One of those are people who mock others. All right, so the question is, who gives the comedians rights to mock human beings? Perhaps because if we don't watch them, they won't do it. If we do watch them, they're encouraged to continue. They're like, wow, look how many views I have. I have 3 million people watching me every night. This is good business.
Laughter is marvelous when used in proportion, but at the wrong time, laughter can obliterate all facets of moral understanding. Folks, laugh away, but use it carefully. I said earlier, my grandfather was a very serious man, but he had a fabulous sense of humor and he loved to laugh and was very funny, but there has to be a balance. And that's what this lesson teaches us. If a person doesn't have a balance in their laughter, it could be very damaging to their world, to their life,
and limiting them from maximizing the ultimate pleasure of this world. My dear friends, that concludes way number 21.