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Give us a little extra time.
We're not going to go till 7:30.
And I'm going to try also and bring in a little bit of הכנה
for the ימים נוראים.
סליחות is difficult,
right?
Yeah.
אלול's a time of figuring ourselves out,
how we fit into the ישיבה schedule.
And just like three weeks in,
you're beginning to figure out how it works,
and how the סדרים work,
and how your חברותות work,
and all the times,
and how much sleep to get,
and when to do exercise,
then boom!
The sleep schedule changes,
and you have to wake up earlier.
But it's very kind of the ישיבה to do it in the morning.
I think it's very kind,
because if you do it in the night,
then you're limited in time.
You can't get more than five and a half hours' sleep,
and you're trying to get up in the day and you're a zombie the
whole day.
And that obviously is not going to be productive.
But when it's in the morning,
then בסדר,
so you get to bed a bit earlier,
you can get to bed by 11:00,
you can get seven hours' sleep.
You'll say,
"I can't get to bed by 11:00." But if it's important to you,
you can.
If it's important to you,
you can.
And then at least,
yeah,
you have a question,
a קשיא.
Yeah,
why is there anything wrong with doing סליחות in the afternoon?
In the afternoon?
Yeah,
like the ספרדים do.
Halachically,
it's fine.
Halachically,
it's fine,
but it's not preferable.
Like there's certain times which are times which are more מסוגל.
They're more opportune times.
And the afternoon is relatively less opportune time.
But if it's going to be at the expense of דאווענען שחרית בזמן with
a מנין,
at the expense of being focused on morning סדר,
then it's a better option.
It's a better option.
Hm?
Why not stay up till then?
You can do night סליחות also,
but for many people,
yeah,
and learn all the way through,
and then sleep all the way through the day.
No,
learn all the way until דאווענען time.
If that works,
that works,
but there's a danger that a person won't be there for שחרית on time.
שחרית on time means that you've said ברכות and put on תפילין before and
before they get and קרבנות before they get to הודו.
So if you can do that and it works,
it works.
For many people,
that's more challenging.
That's more challenging.
Some people say getting to bed earlier is more challenging.
טוב.
כל אחד,
everyone will find out what works best for them.
But I feel like it's an extra נסיון that הקדוש ברוך הוא sent,
that the חכמים sent our way to prove our dedication to Hashem at these
times.
And you want to show הקדוש ברוך הוא that Him throwing you another challenge,
like if you're in the army.
When they're training you in the army,
then they give you another like they make it harder.
You know when you're doing weights?
You don't do weights.
For people who do weights,
then it gets harder and they add more and more and more.
It gets harder and harder,
because they want to show you that show you're a man.
הקדוש ברוך הוא gives us an extra חכמים give us an extra challenge that
makes it a bit harder just before ראש השנה and during עשרת ימי תשובה
to show our dedication.
Okay,
let's go.
We're finishing off with a very quick read the last paragraph of the introduction,
and we're starting the first chapter of מסילת ישרים.
I know it's taken us almost a month,
but it's going to be good.
It's going to be building.
It's going to be inspiring.
הנה כל אלה הכללים צריכים פירוש גדול.
We went through the five qualities that משה רבינו says we need to be
עובדי ה׳.
ומצאנו חז״ל שכללו חלקים אלה בסדר וחילוק אחר.
That's one way of understanding them,
and I want you to have those in mind as we go through.
But we're going to use a different model,
יותר פרטי,
which has got more details,
ומסודר,
and also works as a ladder,
building step by step,
לפי ההדרגה המצטרכת בהם לקנות אותם על נכון.
מסילת ישרים is not like אורחות צדיקים,
which each chapter is an important chapter,
but it's a stand-alone chapter.
מסילת ישרים is a ladder,
using חז״ל,
to show you step by step that you build in order to get to
eventually a high goal.
I know it's going to be beyond us to get to the end of
the goal,
but we're going to start the first few rungs of the ladder.
And that's what it says in the ברייתא,
brought in many places in ש״ס,
one of them is in עבודה זרה דף כ׳,
that רבי פנחס בן יאיר would say that תורה leads to זהירות,
being careful.
זהירות leads to זריזות,
being swift.
זריזות leads to נקיות,
we have to define that,
but being clean.
נקיות מביאה לידי פרישות,
which means to separate oneself from the world.
And that leads to טהרה,
which we already described means that a person has pure intentions.
And that leads to חסידות,
which is going beyond the letter of the law,
doing חסד,
not צדק,
going beyond the letter,
doing more than the expected,
the standard.
And that leads to ענוה.
That leads to humility.
I mean you can't be humble at the beginning.
You have to be someone to be humble.
If you're humble at the beginning,
that's just because you don't have anything.
But if you've already reached the level where you're already great,
and then you're humble,
that's already a מעלה.
And ענוה leads to יראת חטא,
which is amazing,
right?
Because we spoke about three levels of יראה.
And יראת חטא was the lowest one of the three that we said.
Sorry,
the middle one of the three we said.
We said יראת עונש,
יראת חטא,
and יראת הרוממות.
And he's putting יראת חטא at a very,
very high level on the rungs.
יראת חטא מביאה לידי קדושה.
We speak a lot about קדושה,
but when you see it in the levels,
then we're going to see it's something which we can touch,
but it's going to be hard for us to be at that level on
a standard.
But קדושה מביאה לידי רוח הקודש.
And that's,
you know,
anyone has that,
speak to me privately.
רוח הקודש מביאה לידי תחיית המתים.
And if you have that,
then definitely speak to me privately.
Maybe we'll go somewhere else.
והנה על פי הברייתא הזו,
so I'm going to use this ברייתא,
הסמך,
הסכמתי לחבר,
I decided to write this book,
ללמד לעצמי,
you can see that he's humble.
It's just to teach myself by way of writing.
By way of writing you learn something and you clarify the matter.
ולהזכיר לאחרים,
for him it's learning,
for other people it's just reminding them.
There's an expression of humility there.
I know you know it already,
but we need to remember these things.
So let's read this book together to remember the ideas.
And what are we trying to remember?
תנאי העבודה השלמה למדרגותיהם.
What are the conditions?
I mean the עבודה you're going to have to do,
that's your motivation that you're putting in.
But what are the conditions?
What's the setting that you need to put yourself in,
in order that when you have motivation,
you know what to do?
There are many good-willed people who have motivation.
They want to work,
they want to be עובדי ה׳,
they just don't know exactly how to do it.
So he can't create motivation for you,
that you're going to have to do yourself.
The תנאים,
the conditions in which you're going to place your motivation,
that we don't know our hands and legs,
we're lost.
He's going to give us direction,
חז״ל are going to give us direction,
he's going to guide us to understand those.
ואבאר בכל אחד מהם ענינו וחלקיו ופרטיו.
We're going to go in to explain what it means in its broader detail,
the vision of what it is,
what its divisions are,
and how to acquire it.
ומה הן מפסידיו,
and also what's going to cause you to lose it,
because it's not enough to acquire it.
The fact you acquired something just means that you have it at that moment.
But like anything that grows,
if you're not constantly watering it and taking care of it,
then it will die as well.
Any level,
spiritual level that you reach is not a guarantee that you keep it forever.
You have to be constantly actively working on yourself in order to ensure that
it retains.
So you have to also be aware what could make me lose it,
הדרך להשמר מהם,
so you can take care of yourself,
protect yourself.
כי אקרא בו אני,
and I wrote this for myself because I need to review this matter.
וכל מי שימצא בו נחת,
and if you find it that gives you pleasure,
you can read it too.
למען נלמד,
and now he's joining us all together.
We're learning together,
we're a חבורה.
We're a חבורה of עובדי ה׳.
And what are we coming to learn here?
ליראה את ה׳
אלוקינו.
He's our God,
we want to fear Him,
we need to work on this as a חבורה.
ולא תשתכח ממנו חובתנו לפניו.
If you're not actively learning this ספר or another ספר,
you're not actively thinking about עבודת ה׳,
the default is that you'll forget your עבודת ה׳.
And it's a painful point,
but I just want to mention it now.
People in ישיבה,
it's not so hard,
even there you could miss it,
but it's not so hard to be actively working on עבודת ה׳
because you're in a very,
very good environment.
There are a lot of people around who are עובדי ה׳.
It's a culture of people who are working on themselves,
they're learning,
they're growing,
there's talks being given,
it's the right culture,
it's the right environment.
What happens when you leave ישיבה?
Maybe for a short period of time you'll still be in such an environment.
You'll have a בית מדרש that you're very much attached to,
or your But then what happens then,
once you're like in the long-term stage of life,
where you've got a job,
and you're married,
and you have kids,
and you're also learning,
but you're not in an environment which is conducive to continued עבודת ה׳?
What often happens there,
unfortunately,
is that whatever level you've reached,
you hopefully contain out of habit.
But it's rare that the default is that you keep growing,
unless you have an active חבורה of עובדי ה׳
that you're working with.
And this is something that you just don't necessarily find unless you create it
or you actively seek it in the world post-ישיבה.
It's few that there are קהילות where the קהילה as a קהילה are עובדי
ה׳.
They're actually learning מוסר ספרים together,
they're actually have חבורות where they talk about growth in עבודת ה׳.
It's rare.
Individuals,
yes.
Individual people in the קהילה,
you have he listens to a שיעור from his רבי and he listens to
a שיעור from his רבי,
or he has a חברותא with his friend,
and But it's not the culture.
The culture is your business,
the culture is your money,
the culture is where are you going on vacation.
That's what a lot of the culture is about.
And the culture could also be Jewish:
what are you making for,
where are you eating,
new restaurant that opened,
who are you eating out for this meal,
who are you eating out for that meal,
how many times did you fall asleep during דף יומי?
There's a discussion around things which are תורה-related,
but it's not the same culture as the culture of actual עובדי ה׳.
And his threat here,
or just reality check here,
is if you're not actively working on this,
תשתכח ממנו חובתנו לפניו,
you'll forget it.
Whatever you learn in ישיבה,
hopefully you'll remember;
whatever הלכה you apply and you take upon in yourself in ישיבה,
hopefully you'll remember;
but it could be few and far between the new הלכות that you learn
post-ישיבה,
unless you're actively involved in working on it.
People learn,
they know what they do,
and they get to a default where,
"I know הלכה basically.
I know how to keep שבת,
I know how to דאווען,
I know I know the basic הלכות.
I'm not learning for סמיכה,
so I don't need to keep learning הלכה again and again and again." And
then you reach a plateau where that's my level of יידישקייט.
Anyone above me,
פרומער.
Anyone above me,
extreme.
Anyone below me,
where are they holding?
I'm doing well.
I'm perfect!
I've reached the perfect level in יראת שמים,
מידות טובות,
keeping הלכה.
I've arrived!
For the rest of my life,
alright,
I go to a שיעור,
the rabbi gives a שיעור.
I'll go to a שיעור.
I listen to him,
I give him a יישר כח after.
When he finishes,
I tell him a ווארט that I once heard which is somehow connected to
what he had to say.
I don't remember exactly what he said,
but it reminded me of what I had to say,
what I wanted to say,
and I'll let him know that I'm still like holding,
and then...
And that's where a person חס ושלום ends up.
That's very sad.
So,
I'm giving a call here in the name of the רמח״ל that it shouldn't
stop when you leave yeshivah.
To be involved on an individual level or ideally in a חבורה in a
lifetime pursuit of growing in עבודת השם.
If you don't have anyone to do it with,
then listen to a שיעור and do your own learning,
and then keep growing,
but it should not stop.
And unfortunately,
it's few and far between.
I'm sure everyone knows people like this,
but I'm sure you know more people who are not like this.
More people who are just בסדר,
they've reached a good level where they're at,
but that's where they're at.
They know the הלכה that they know.
They continue learning,
but it's not they're not growing in their learning.
Meaning they're just keeping up the learning just to be connected and and that's
a a sad state,
a sorry state if that's what we arrive at post-yeshivah.
Yeshivah should be just the beginning,
propelling us for a lifetime of עבודת השם.
So you should always have the ספר that you're learning and the way that
you're growing,
otherwise תשכח ממנו חובתנו לפניו.
And the רמח״ל,
I don't think it was when he was in שנה א׳,
you know?
I don't think he wrote it for בחורים in yeshivah.
He wrote it for עם ישראל at all times.
At every stage in your life you constantly need to be working,
otherwise you'll forget your חוב towards Hashem.
ואשר חומריות הטבע משתדל להסיר מלבנו.
And the nature of the world just by being involved and eating and in
earning money and in getting married and in all things which are good things,
but it's the nature of those things is that they distract you,
and they get your mind focused on other things.
It takes away your heart from קריאה,
from reading,
והסתכלות,
הסתכלות,
and contemplating.
יעלה על זכרוננו ויורנו על המצוה הזאת.
But by us reading this book and by contemplating the ideas,
it's going to bring back to our memory that which we already know,
this מצוה that we have to fulfill.
והשם יהיה בכסלנו וישמור רגלנו מלכד.
And Hashem's going to help us,
and He's going to protect our legs that we shouldn't trip up.
We should continue in our path.
ותתקיים בנו בקשת המשורר האהוב לאלוהיו:
הורני ה׳
דרכך אהלך באמתך יחד לבבי ליראה שמך.
אמן כן יהי רצון.
We have a ברכה of the רמח״ל,
that's going to stand us in good stead before the יום הדין.
Just want to say before we start the first paragraph,
the first chapter,
just in light of what he just gave us a ברכה,
I want to talk about giving a ברכה.
You know חז״ל the Torah says ואברכה מברכיך.
Help me out.
What's that?
By אברהם.
So הקדוש ברוך הוא promises that He's going to give a ברכה to those
who give a ברכה,
which means that it's part of our national mission to be giving ברכות and
then receiving ברכות in return.
When we reach when we're approaching ראש השנה,
what are we asking for on ראש השנה?
We're asking for מלכות שמים.
We're asking for the world to be fixed according to Hashem's ways.
We're asking for הקדוש ברוך הוא to send His ברכה to the world,
that the world will come to recognize a more spiritually oriented world and a
physically elevated world.
That's part of our ברכה that we're our דאווענען,
our main purpose of דאווענען on ראש השנה is a ברכה that the world
will get to the next level of מלכות שמים in the world.
The way that Hashem's world works is מידה כנגד מידה.
He relates to us the way that we relate to other people.
He sees how are you relating to others,
that's how I'm going to relate to you.
If you want ראש השנה to be successful,
the way you do that is by giving ברכות to other people.
And when Hashem sees that you're blessing others,
then He will bless you.
And when כלל ישראל are blessing one another,
then הקדוש ברוך הוא sends His blessing down.
That's what you know the first מנהג that we do when we finish דאווענען
on the night of ראש השנה,
what's the first מנהג we do?
We give a ברכה to another Jew.
It's it's it's מנהג עם ישראל,
the first thing you do.
You've דאווענד to הקדוש ברוך הוא,
now you've shown you want to put into action,
first thing you do,
give a ברכה to another Jew.
Because that's הקדוש ברוך הוא's way.
He sees that we're blessing other Jews,
He will bless us in return.
And therefore we're going to speak about it more,
but the idea of taking on a קבלה,
taking on a commitment to עבודת השם,
there's going to be two different types of קבלות.
There's going to be a קבלה that we can speak about for the whole
year and for the for life.
There's also a קבלה that one can take on just for these days.
The days now leading up to ראש השנה and especially especially עשרת ימי תשובה.
So there's many different קבלות that one can take,
but these are קבלות these ones now,
these days,
aren't ones that you're planning to take on forever.
They might be a bit above your level.
The example the שולחן ערוך brings is something which you're he's not expecting you
to do long term.
He's saying for these 10 days take on an extra חומרא,
and then you go back to the way you was.
What do you mean?
If I can do it,
I should do it.
the whole time.
Act above your level for this time.
So I'm giving one suggestion,
and this isn't a hard one,
it doesn't take any money,
it hardly takes any time,
and it adds a lot of positivity both between friends and between הקדוש ברוך
הוא's שפע to give a ברכה to another Jew.
When you compliment another person,
and you bless another person,
you say,
"You're doing really well,
כל הכבוד,
keep it up.
I see you're שטייגינג,
keep up your שטייגינג.
I noticed you did a good thing," you mention it,
and you give a person a ברכה that they should continue.
That,
in itself,
not only does it cause good feelings between people,
it brings ברכת השם.
It brings Hashem's ברכה down.
And if ראש השנה's main purpose is to bring ברכה to the world,
then you can activate that by giving ברכות to another person.
So we receive the ברכה of the מסילת ישרים.
He דאוונט that הקדוש ברוך הוא should be with us,
and He should help us fulfill that which we're asking in the name of
דוד המלך,
"Hashem,
show me Your ways,
I want to walk in a path with truth.
Unite my heart,
that all of the aspects of my heart,
both the desire for the good and the desire for the bad,
it should all be channeled for doing Your will,
Hashem,
and fearing Your name that I should all be in עבודת השם." That was
his ברכה to us,
and I'm encouraging that we should also make that a project that we do,
ideally for life,
but at least between now and ראש השנה.
Give a ברכה to your siblings,
give a ברכה to your parents,
give a ברכה to your Recently,
my father came for for for my father comes once every three weeks,
four weeks for שבת.
And we were at the שבת table,
and I just was I was I was in this mindset of ברכה,
and I just gave my father a ברכה,
and it was like out of context.
Like it wasn't anything to do with anything.
I just gave my father a ברכה,
and I gave all my kids a ברכה,
and then my kids started giving me a ברכה,
and and it was this beautiful,
beautiful setting,
with no context at all,
but,
you know,
we'd we'd we'd spoken about what was going on,
and we'd we'd spoken,
and it was like before dessert,
and just like a moment of silence,
just like,
you know,
it was quiet for a second,
and I just כאפט the moment,
I just כאפט the opportunity,
and I gave my father,
and it was a beautiful moment.
Like it was a very special moment of like everyone giving everyone's ברכות.
We'll do it again,
בעזרת השם,
when it comes to ראש השנה.
But just to have that time,
that opportunity to give ברכה,
to some people feels a bit awkward,
but everyone appreciates it.
To do it in an appropriate,
not extreme and over-the-top way,
you do it in an appropriate way,
it's bringing goodness to the world,
bringing הקדוש ברוך הוא's ברכות to it,
and we're ready.
We're starting the first chapter,
הקדוש ברוך הוא should be מזכה us that we should not only read the
words,
but we should imbue the words to our hearts,
and it should make a difference in our lives.
יסוד החסידות ושרש העבודה התמימה הוא שיתברר ויתאמת אצל האדם מה חובתו בעולמו ולמה
צריך שישים מבטו ומגמתו בכל אשר הוא עמל כל ימי חייו.
There's a lot in this.
I'm just going to show you that I'm using an edition of מסילת ישרים
written by Rav Eliyahu Roth,
זצ״ל.
And he he brings two different sections:
he has one section where he has translations of words,
or explanations of words;
and one where he brings other ספרים that quoted the מסילת ישרים and had
a הערה on them,
he brings those as well.
Usually,
on a regular page,
it's like mostly מסילת ישרים and a bit of commentary at the bottom.
On this page,
it's all commentary!
Like one line at the top.
There's so much to say.
So I don't know if I'm going to say what he's saying,
but I'm going to say something else,
or maybe the same thing,
but I just want to share this idea.
Before we even start,
you have to know what your vision is.
You can't start with the details.
You have to have a vision.
You're coming towards ראש השנה.
There's going to be ראש השנה,
and afterwards there's going to be יום כיפור.
And the מפרשים ask,
what's the reason why ראש השנה is before יום כיפור?
It really should be the other way around.
It really should be יום כיפור first,
where you're saying to Hashem,
"Hashem,
I've done all these things that are not appropriate,
help me cleanse myself,
and then I'm clean,
and then in a clean state I can come before You and declare Your
מלכות,
Hashem." משל למה הדבר דומה,
if you're coming to a very,
very important meeting,
and you don't know what the meeting is about,
you have no idea.
You don't know what you're supposed to say,
what you're not supposed to say,
and there's a certain etiquette that you're supposed to have of how you greet
the person and how you speak to them,
and you don't know what it's all about,
you haven't learned it,
you haven't done your research,
and you're in the middle of a sports game,
and you say,
"Don't worry,
I'm going to wing it.
I'll just go in." And you come in sweaty,
in your shorts,
not having any idea about what it's all about,
and you go in,
and you say,
"Okay,
what's this meeting supposed to be?
Like what's going on here?" You failed,
you know?
You failed just there and then.
You weren't prepared.
You weren't in the right setting.
And that's almost what we do ראש השנה,
יום כיפור.
We're still carrying all the sins.
We haven't done תשובה yet.
It's עשרת ימי תשובה to do תשובה.
We haven't done תשובה yet.
We haven't had כפרה for our sins,
so we're carrying all the filth and all the dirt,
we're not prepared,
we don't even know what we need to fix,
and we stand before Hashem on ראש השנה,
and we say,
"You're the King!" Like,
how can that doesn't make any sense.
The order is wrong.
It would make way more sense the other way around.
We start with יום כיפור.
No,
you know what,
we start with עשרת ימי תשובה.
There's days of identifying who we are,
what we need to fix,
then we have יום כיפור,
that we're cleansed from all our sins,
which we know what they are because we've done research into what we need
to we've done a חשבון נפש,
and then הקדוש ברוך הוא gives us a יום of כפרה,
and now we're in the perfect state.
We know what we need to speak about,
we've cleansed ourselves,
we're in a fitting state,
ready,
we come in,
we declare מלכות השם.
That order would make sense.
But הקדוש ברוך הוא put ראש השנה before יום כיפור.
In the Torah,
why did He do it that way round?
Doesn't make any sense.
But now it does make sense.
You can't even think about what you need to fix if you don't have
a vision of who הקדוש ברוך הוא is.
If it's not clear to you who you're working towards,
then what will you say?
You'll say,
"Hashem,
I need to fix myself.
I don't really care to fix myself.
Everything's fine.
I'm okay as I am.
Like what's the big deal?
Who is Hashem that I know Him,
that I have to answer up to Him?" משל למה הדבר דומה,
I'll give a משל for this.
There was a kid sitting with his friends in a room on the second
floor of his house,
and it was a big day in his town,
a very big day.
People have been waiting this day for months.
The king was coming to town.
There was a big procession taking place.
There was the main street,
the king was going to be walking with his procession,
and this kid's house,
second-floor window,
was overlooking the procession.
So all his friends gather together.
They're sitting by the window,
front-row seats when the king goes past.
The king's coming closer,
and his friend says to him,
"I dare you." "What,
dare you?" "I dare you.
Come on,
let's see what you're made of,
chicken.
Take a egg and throw it at the king." "No!" "Ah,
chicken.
You're not going to do it?
You don't have the guts.
You don't have the nerves.
You know you don't.
אתה לא שווה,
אתה לא שווה,
you're worthless." So trying to build up that,
"You know what?
For my friends,
I'll show them.
I'm a גברא." Takes the egg,
bullseye,
hits the king on the nose!
Everything stops!
The army comes in.
Where do they come from?
They break down the door.
"Who threw it?
This one!
Grab him!
Take him!" Where do they take him to?
Take him to the king's palace.
"The king's dungeon?" "No,
no,
no,
the king's palace." "The king's palace?" "The king's palace." "They don't put him in
a dungeon?" "No,
they take him to a nice fancy room,
much fancier than he had until now." They give him royal clothing,
pshh!
All his friends are jealous now.
"I wish I would have thrown the egg." They're giving him the best food.
He's sitting with the king and the queen every day in the meal.
He doesn't know what's going on or why it happened,
but he's enjoying it.
Don't ask too many questions.
Have a good time.
Day in,
day out,
he's having a good time.
Everything's going well.
He forgot about his previous life,
enjoying the high life.
One day,
the king says,
"We're making a special meal in your honor." "In my honor?
יפה!" "Wear your best clothing.
Come to the meal." Comes to the meal,
everything is exciting,
he gets ready.
He's about to go up,
and the king says,
"You know this meal is for your honor,
yes?
Do you remember what you did to me a year ago when you threw
an egg in my face?
The shame!
The בושה!" He's so embarrassed.
He runs back to his room and he starts crying.
He's crying in his room,
and the king goes after him and says,
"Why are you crying?" He says,
"I can't believe I did that!" Says,
"What do you mean?
I was just reminding you." "I can't believe I did it!" Says,
"Well,
why are you so upset?
Why are you so embarrassed?" "Because I didn't know who you were!
If I would have known who you were and how much you care for
me,
and how much you invested in me,
and how good you are to me,
in a million years I wouldn't have done that!" And he's crying,
and crying,
and crying,
and crying,
and the king says,
"I forgive you with a full heart." And the boy says,
"Well,
why didn't you forgive me a year ago?" Says,
"I couldn't hold you accountable a year ago.
You had no idea what you did.
You had no idea who the king was.
Of course you're going to throw an egg at the king if the king
is just a meaningless name to you.
But once you came into the home and you saw who the king is,
and you sat with the king and all the judgments they were making throughout
the year about how he's ruling the country,
and you saw the kindness of the king,
you saw the caring of the king,
and you identified who the king really is,
then you felt a deep,
deep shame." If we would have יום כיפור before ראש השנה,
then we would come,
"I'm sorry for this.
I'm sorry for that.
I'm not really sorry,
but when the day's over,
I can move on with my life." That's where we would be on יום
כיפור.
But if we first have a vision of who the מלך is,
we identify מלכות השם,
it's clear to us what our mission and our role is in the bigger
picture of הקדוש ברוך הוא appointing us to be His ambassador,
which is what the purpose of ראש השנה is,
in that context,
we can come to יום כיפור and really do תשובה.
Because now,
understanding who הקדוש ברוך הוא is,
I feel a deep,
honest,
authentic sense of regret.
It's genuine now because I know who Hashem is.
And every year we do it again and again.
People ask,
"How can I do יום כיפור again and again?
How can I do יום כיפור again and again?
I did it last year.
I'm saying the same things again." But you can,
because you do ראש השנה every year again,
and every year you deepen your appreciation of who הקדוש ברוך הוא is.
You deepen your awareness of how much Hashem is benefiting this world,
and loves this world,
and is doing good in this world.
Your deepness of awareness of Hashem grows,
then your ability to apologize for not being and fulfilling your mission as an
ambassador of הקדוש ברוך הוא,
that grows as well.
So the order is very clear:
it's first מלכות השם.
And afterwards,
we can ask for כפרה.
It has to go in that order.
Wonderful story about רב סעדיה גאון.
רב סעדיה גאון was traveling.
Now nowadays,
they have all these גדולים chats,
you know,
where they take pictures of גדולים and they put it on the chats.
Now,
you know,
they run the גדולים chat.
Right?
Got to get on the גדולים chat.
Like every day,
everyone in their ישיבה takes a picture of their רבי,
sends it on the chat,
and all the גדולים are there.
But in those days,
there weren't גדולים chats.
So people heard of רב סעדיה גאון,
but no one knew what he looked like.
And he was traveling and teaching תורה in different places.
And one day,
he came to a particular Jewish inn where he was staying.
And he came and he says,
"Oh,
I want to stay in this inn." They say,
"Yeah,
please,
you can stay here." And the owner of the inn,
the innkeeper,
treated him very nicely.
Treated him very nicely.
Everything was good,
wasn't rude to him,
didn't throw eggs in his nose,
everything was fine.
And that was good.
Gave him,
showed him to his room.
Everyone was happy.
Later on that day,
throngs of people surrounded the inn.
"רב סעדיה גאון is staying here!
We want to learn תורה from him!" And suddenly the innkeeper realized what a
jewel he has in his own house!
He didn't realize!
And he comes to רב סעדיה גאון,
and he says to him,
"Please,
רבי,
forgive me for my sins!" רב סעדיה גאון says,
"Why?
What did you do wrong?" Says,
"I didn't treat you with the respect!" Said,
"You treated me very nicely!" "But I didn't know you were רב סעדיה גאון!"
"You treated me very nicely!" "But if I would have known you were רב
סעדיה גאון,
I would have treated you much better!" רב סעדיה גאון says,
"Says,
I forgive you.
You treated me perfectly well for who you know,
for who you thought I was." "Yeah,
but now I know who you are,
I feel bad about the way that I treated you until now.
Please forgive me!" "Of course I forgive you.
From now on,
treat the רבי on that level." Every year we come around to ראש השנה
and יום כיפור,
year after year,
again and again.
And as far as we're concerned,
we did a good job.
We did a good job!
I'm learning in ישיבה,
I'm learning תורה,
I'm דאווענען,
I'm doing a good job!
You're doing a good job according to the level of awareness of השם that
you have right now.
You're doing a good job!
But as you learn more השגחה פרטית,
יד השם,
as you learn more of הקדוש ברוך הוא's ways,
as you see more in your life the יד השם,
you appreciate השם on a deeper level.
And you have this sense of:
I can't believe that I was serving השם on the level that I was
until now,
it's not enough!
I have to raise the bar!
Because my awareness of הקדוש ברוך הוא has risen.
So I need to raise the bar of my עבודת השם to parallel that.
And you feel a sense of regret.
Now,
you don't feel a regret in that you did the wrong thing,
because you did the best you could at that stage,
but you're looking back,
you say,
"I can't believe that's what I was doing until now,
and I thought I was the best!
I thought I was going to be the משיח!
I thought I was like on the highest level!
And suddenly I realize הקדוש ברוך הוא on a deeper level,
I need to say sorry for what I did!" We have יום כיפור We
have ראש השנה first,
to come to an awareness of מלכות השם in the world.
And then we have יום כיפור again and again every year,
because now that you've come to a deeper awareness of who הקדוש ברוך הוא
is,
you can have a deeper awareness of who you need to be to serve
הקדוש ברוך הוא,
and then you feel regret of what you've done until now.
So the מסילת ישרים is starting off by saying that the primary,
primary goal is for you to identify your חוב.
And now I'm still on the first words.
That was just an הקדמה.
יסוד Now I just want to be מדייק in something which רב וואלבע writes,
and it's a beautiful insight in עבודת השם.
יסוד החסידות ושרש העבודה.
In English,
what's the difference between the word יסוד and the word שרש?
יסוד is foundation.
שרש?
Root.
When do you use the word יסוד?
In a building.
And you lay down a foundation of a building.
When do you use the word שרש?
In a plant,
in a tree.
When something's growing,
it's natural.
They're two different words that the מסילת ישרים is using here,
and they're very מדויק.
There are two forms of עבודת השם.
If you go to either extreme,
it's going to be unhealthy.
If you have the balance of the two,
it's going to be very healthy.
We're going to speak a lot,
a lot,
a lot this year about balance,
having a balanced life.
We're going to speak a lot about different values that if you take one
extreme,
it's unhealthy,
and the other extreme is also unhealthy.
Here's the first one:
יסוד is a person whose עבודת השם is not natural,
it's built.
He's not in tune with himself,
he just reads in the books,
"This is what you need to do." When he comes to think about how
to fix himself,
or to work on himself,
or to build himself,
or to connect to הקדוש ברוך הוא,
he goes to the רבי:
"רבי,
you tell me,
what do I need to do?" He's someone who's using the יסוד of יסוד.
He's being built.
It's not natural.
He's not in tune with himself,
but he is looking to the רביים and to גדולים to understand what's the
path.
So one aspect of what he's doing is very healthy:
he's trying to build a structure in his path in עבודת השם.
That's very healthy.
You don't have to create it the wheel yourself.
There's a building that comes before you:
אברהם אבינו,
תנאים,
אמוראים,
ראשונים,
אחרונים,
your רביים,
you.
There's a building that's been built.
Follow it!
A building!
But on the other hand,
if you're only working with the building,
and you're only looking at The structure and the fixed structure of how עבודת
השם is supposed to be built,
it's not genuine,
it's not authentic,
and it's not you.
So let's go for שורש.
What's a שורש?
When you plant a seed in the ground,
you have no control over how it's going to grow,
other than the conditions that you give it.
You give it water,
you give it sunlight.
Is it going to be a successful tree or an unsuccessful tree?
It's not up to me,
it's up to the seed.
How do I know?
You can't determine it,
it's going to grow by itself.
How's it going to work out?
I don't know.
It's the most amazing thing to watch children growing up in a family and
turning out totally different.
It's unbelievable.
You raise each kid the same way,
and each kid is their own personality,
their own person,
independent of what the will of the parents is.
The parents try and educate their kids their way,
and the kid says,
"I'm doing it my own way." They take a lot from the parents,
but they also say,
"I'm my own person,
I have to do it my own way." So שורש is where a person
is in tune with himself,
sensitive to his values,
identifying what's genuine and authentic for him.
אין אדם לומד אלא במקום שליבו חפץ,
you learn תורה the way that resounds with you.
On the other hand,
when you're five years old,
learn תנך.
When you're 10 years old,
learn משנה.
When you're 15 years old,
learn גמרא.
So you have examples in חזל of בנין,
building,
יסוד,
fixed ages where you have to learn fixed things,
and you have examples of חזל where learn whatever your heart desires,
אין אדם לומד תורה אלא במקום שליבו חפץ.
So which is correct?
The בנין,
the building,
the יסוד,
or the natural טבע,
the development of the שורש?
You need them both.
You have to be authentic.
If you're only going with this one,
it's going to be inauthentic.
You're going to be trying to copy other people,
and you won't be fulfilling your unique mission that you were brought to this
world for,
and it won't last.
And if you go with this one,
where you do what's authentic to you,
it may last,
you're being genuine,
you're being real,
you're being yourself,
but it might not be the will of Hashem.
It might not be in line with הקדוש ברוך הוא's will.
Whatever feels right to me at every stage of my life,
that's what I do.
Okay,
it's going to feel good to you,
but it might not be Hashem's will.
You need the balance of the two.
So the opening line of מסילת ישרים in the first chapter is he speaks
about יסוד,
and he speaks about שורש.
In order to be an עבד השם,
you need both of those ideas:
יסוד החסידות ושורש העבודה תמימה.
And he used the word חסידות in the context of יסוד,
because we're already looking for the long-term vision of what we're trying to aim
towards is a great building.
I'm in it for the long haul.
I want to build something very great,
and I know that I'm going to be here for a long time,
so I have to have a solid foundation.
The greater the foundation is,
the greater the structure will be eventually.
If it's חסידות that I'm aiming for,
right?
We're not talking about חסידות right now.
חסידות is a level that we're going to talk about much later on in
the book.
But if we're already mentioning חסידות right now,
then you should know that what you're already doing now is laying down the
foundation,
you're building the structure to be able to reach a level of חסידות eventually.
But what we're looking for right now is עבודה תמימה,
a wholesome תמימה,
wholesome,
a wholesome עבודת השם.
It's only going to be wholesome if you have both of these elements,
יסוד and שורש.
And what do you need to do?
שיתבאר ויתאמת.
What does שיתבאר and ויתאמת mean?
So the word יתבאר means to clarify.
ויתאמת means it has to be true.
So isn't that also like clarify?
What's the difference between the two things?
This goes back to the first two things that we mentioned at the beginning.
יתבאר is external.
How do you clarify something?
You ask other people.
You look into it,
you read books,
you ask רביים,
you're clarifying,
what am I supposed to be doing?
But that's not enough.
יתאמת,
does it resound with me?
This is the most essential principle in עבודת השם.
Don't fake other people's עבודת השם.
You have to tune into what resounds with you.
When you're doing עבודת השם,
that means that you start off by looking at other people,
because you don't know how to do things otherwise.
You start off by reading books of other people,
because how,
what else are you supposed to do?
How else are you supposed to know it?
Identity by yourself,
how do you know?
So you look at your רביים,
you learn books of גדולים,
you start off with a בירור,
clarifying,
what's the right path,
how do I fix myself,
how do I go up?
You start with a בירור.
But then how do you know what's right after that?
יתאמת.
It has to resound with you,
it has to make sense.
You go on שידוכים.
The first stage is בירור.
That's the first stage.
That you check that she's Jewish.
It's very important,
first stage,
check that she's Jewish.
You check that your values are somewhat aligned.
You check that you have big principles in life that are you're going to
be on the same page.
Not that you only want to live in one country,
she only wants to live in another country,
that's not going to work.
So you have to do the בירור,
and you do the בירור,
don't be too pedantic about it,
but general,
that you're on the same page,
you know,
you do the בירור.
You finish the בירור,
on paper it works,
לחיים,
invite each other for the ווארט,
see each other for 20 minutes,
and that's it,
it's enough,
no?
No!
No!
The בירור is not enough.
יתאמת!
You have to meet for at least 35 minutes,
and to see that it resounds with you,
that you connect,
that you can speak to each other and you're speaking the same language,
that you can identify with each other,
that you're aligned with one another.
יתבאר ויתאמת.
עבודת השם has two stages:
you first do the more investigation stage,
learning books,
speaking to people,
understanding,
does it make sense in theory,
but it's all external,
on paper.
Then you get to the second stage:
does it resound with me?
If it doesn't resound with you,
are you a כופר?
You're not a כופר,
it's just that's not the right path.
I would even go as far as saying that one of my kids recently
said to me—the same kid,
it's always the same kid,
I talk about one of my kids,
it's always the same kid,
the one who asks all sorts of questions—they said to me,
like,
"אבא,
how do you know that דתי לאומי is the right path?" I said,
"I don't know.
I don't know,
there's many paths in עבודת השם." "And what,
אבא,
what would you say if I would want to be חב״ד?" I would say,
"If you want to be חב״ד,
and you see that that's a path through which you are going to come
close to הקדוש ברוך הוא,
well then,
go for it!
I will be very supportive." "Ah,
really,
you wouldn't be upset with me?" I said,
"חס ושלום.
You have to find your path in עבודת השם that is going to bring
you closer to הקדוש ברוך הוא." I think it's pretty safe to say that
no קהילה has the monopoly.
There's no קהילה that has the monopoly!
To me,
this קהילה makes the most sense,
and it works well for me,
and I find this is the most genuine and authentic עבודת השם path for
me,
as a me,
as an individual.
But if one of my kids would say that they would choose a different
path within עבודת השם,
because they feel that it brings them closer to הקדוש ברוך הוא,
and the same underlying goal that we both have of being a true and
pure עבד השם is being fulfilled in a different community,
that's more important to me than which כיפה you wear.
That's external,
it's irrelevant.
יתברר,
clarify.
ויתאמת,
has to resound with you.
Has to be that it works for you.
So I would even say,
I'm not I don't think it's so critical that a person stays in the
same קהילה they were in previously.
If a person was in one community and they're raised a certain way,
and that way works for them,
then of course stay in the same way,
you don't have to make waves.
But if you find,
and it resounds with you,
there's another type of community,
that that community you sense for yourself that the עבודת השם there,
the יראת שמים that you get there,
the being a better Jew there,
is a more authentic way,
by all means!
We have the same underlying goal of all עם ישראל,
serving Hashem.
Each קהילה does it in a way that makes the most sense to them.
No קהילה is perfect.
Every קהילה works better for different people.
Find the one that makes the most sense to you,
and then push forward.
יתברר,
clarify,
ויתאמת,
and then see that it resounds.
It has to resound.
You can't long-term lead your life in a way that doesn't resound with you,
and it's not expected from you.
There are חוקים,
I'm not going to deny that.
There are חוקים.
There are certain elements within עבודת השם that they don't make sense,
but they're specific חוקים.
But the concept of עבודת השם,
that's not supposed to be a חוק!
That's supposed to resound!
It's supposed to be that you feel a connection with הקדוש ברוך הוא when
you're working towards a path of עבודת השם.
The חוקים stand alone,
but the path of עבודת השם?
And what are you clarifying?
What has to resound with you?
מה חובתו בעולמו.
And here,
the Western world and the Jewish world cannot be further apart.
What is the purpose of our life?
Is it a זכות,
or is it a חוב?
The Western world,
the modern world,
it's all about my rights.
I'm the center of the world,
and I demand that my voice is heard.
There's a bill of rights,
that I get what I,
me,
deserve,
and I'm going to get.
And if I don't get it,
I'm going to sue you,
because I'm the center of the world.
And that creates a very unhealthy dynamic of people at the expense of other
people.
I'm the center,
you're getting in my way,
I'm going to fight to get what I deserve.
Torah is the exact opposite of that.
And just to be clear,
in the secular in the non-Jewish world and in the Jewish world,
everyone agrees that an employer has to pay,
that a parent has to take care,
that a king is responsible for the people,
everyone agrees on the dynamics.
But what's the focus?
Is the focus from the employee saying,
"You have to pay me!" Or is the focus on the employer saying,
"I'm obligated to pay you"?
It's the same thing at the end of the day.
He's going to pay him,
it's the same thing!
What's the dynamic between them?
Is the dynamic of,
"I'm the center of the world,
and you owe me,
because I'm the center"?
Nowhere in the Torah do we see that.
In the Torah,
all the discussion is you have the obligation to give צדקה,
you have the obligation to give לקט,
שכחה and פאה,
you have the obligation towards your kids,
you have the obligation towards your wife.
These are the obligations that a father has to his child,
these are the obligations that a husband has to his wife—obligations.
Same thing at the end of the day.
It could've written it the other way around:
these are the זכויות that the wife has from her husband,
these are the זכויות that the child has from It doesn't say that the
other way around,
because that's an unhealthy dynamic.
We're in this world to fulfill our obligations.
He doesn't say,
שיתברר ויתאמת אצל האדם מה זכויותיו,
what are his rights?
Doesn't say that.
It says,
יתברר ויתאמת אצל האדם מה חובתו בעולמו.
It's the same thing at the end of the day,
but it's transformative as far as the mindset is concerned.
I'm here to serve others.
My entire life is dedicated to others.
It's dedicated to עבודת השם,
it's dedicated to making other people happy.
At the end of the day,
a person who's about rights He's not happier.
He's less satisfied with his life.
I needed to get this,
and this,
and this,
and this,
and this,
and this,
and this.
I didn't get everything I was supposed to get!
The כלה has a list of all the things that the חתן is supposed
to buy for her.
And it's the diamond ring,
and it's the Uggs,
and it's the the long list of things that she has to get.
And he bought her 29 out of the 30 things.
He forgot the Uggs!
He forgot the Uggs!
He doesn't love me,
we're calling it off!
Was this in this week's משפחה magazine?
Because if you're looking at the world as rights,
then you're not satisfied with your life.
You're not satisfied,
because,
I didn't get everything I was supposed to get.
But if you look at this world as obligations,
so it it's פונקט פארקערט for what you would think.
You would think you'd be more sad,
you'd be more upset,
and like,
I'm an עבד my whole life.
It's the opposite.
You have that satisfaction of helping others throughout your life.
You do the best you can,
but you help this person,
and you help that person,
and you help that person,
and you help that person.
You feel a deep sense of satisfaction.
I'm worthwhile in this world.
I'm I'm making a contribution to this world.
I'm benefiting other people in this world.
So never mind,
never mind what's objectively right.
Even just for your satisfaction in your life,
the mindset of the חובת of the of the מסילת ישרים,
of מה חובתו בעולמו,
it's true,
and it's better.
יתברר ויתאמת אצל האדם מה חובתו בעולמו ולמה צריך שישים מבטו ומגמתו.
The final thing that he's saying in this one very critical sentence is,
you have to pay attention למה צריך שישים מבטו ומגמתו.
What's the difference between the word מבט and מגמה?
And the final thing that we need to see is,
what does it mean אשר הוא עמל כל ימי חייו?
Is life a life of עמילות?
That's what we're here for?
We've reached 7:00.
Those two points,
בעזרת השם,
we'll pick up from this time tomorrow.
יישר כח.
Grateful thank you to רב Milston for giving us that extra 15 minutes,
it makes all the difference,
no?
So סדר,
regular סדר now,
from now until מעריב at 7:30.
All you need's the ring.
What's funny?
What's funny?