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Until now we spoke about the world being a war,
a מלחמה,
it's a battle.
Some things are good,
some things are bad.
Really everything is good because everything is an opportunity to bring you close to
Hashem.
So more accurate:
some things are easy,
some things are hard.
But whichever way it is,
it's an opportunity to come closer to Hashem.
But if you look a little deeper,
אם תעמיק עוד בענין תראה,
כי העולם נברא לשמוש האדם.
Everything in this world was designed and made for our use.
We're the center of creation.
הקדוש ברוך הוא made us in the center,
and the whole world was made for us.
Or the the way that חז״ל make the משל,
they say,
משל למה הדבר דומה,
that there's going to be a wedding,
and there's the חתן and כלה are going to come,
and they can't come without everything being prepared.
So before the חתן and כלה come,
the band comes,
and the meal comes,
and the interior decorator comes,
and everything's ready.
When everything's ready,
everything's ready,
the whole everything is ready for the wedding,
then the חתן and כלה come and they find everything is prepared.
So too הקדוש ברוך הוא made the whole world for man.
And in order for man to use the world effectively,
הקדוש ברוך הוא first made the entire world six days of creation,
and then He said,
"See,
this is the world that I've made for you,
just like a wedding.
I've done this all for you,
it's all ready,
take it." אמנם הנה הוא עומד בשקול גדול,
but Hashem also put us in a great balance.
כי אם האדם נמשך אחר העולם ומתרחק מבוראו הנה הוא מתקלקל ומקלקל העולם עמו.
I just want to be מדייק in one word over here before we move
on,
that it said the word נמשך.
The word נמשך means to be drawn after.
So there are two different parts of man:
there's the actions that a man does,
and there's the desires that a man has.
If a man desires to do a מצוה,
and he didn't do the מצוה because technically he couldn't,
so הקדוש ברוך הוא gives him שכר as if he did the מצוה,
because the man's desire is the core and essence of what he is.
And if a man did an עבירה,
but he didn't want to do the עבירה,
it was אונס,
he's not held accountable.
So you see that when you're looking at a man's actions versus a man's
desire,
the man's actions are secondary and a man's desire is primary.
If you desire to do the will of Hashem,
and technically it's held back from you,
you still were an expression of wanting to do the will of Hashem.
Hashem looks at you and said,
"That's what you wanted,
that's who you are." A man is his רצון.
And if a person does something which is not in line with Hashem,
but he's regretting it and he doesn't want to do it and he was
in a forced circumstance,
so Hashem doesn't hold him accountable.
I mean,
it could be it's שוגג,
he'll have to bring a קרבן חטאת,
but it's not considered like that was the essence of who he was.
It wasn't his will,
it wasn't him doing it.
So you see when we're talking about man,
when we're looking at a man's a a a court in this world,
they also look at a man's desire,
but really they look at the actions.
So,
okay,
but look,
you did it.
This is this is we have evidence!
This is the evidence,
this is what was done.
And you say,
"Yeah,
but my will isn't that." I don't care about your will,
you you did this!
So this world,
you're judged by your actions.
And in a way that's the way this world has to be,
of course,
because let's say,
for example,
if someone goes to medical school,
and they're really good at their studies,
but it was really easy for them,
and they didn't try very hard,
and they don't even want necessarily to be a doctor,
but they're just very,
very,
very skilled,
they do it very well,
and they're an excellent surgeon.
Or you have someone else who really wants to save life!
He really wants to be the best doctor there is,
but he's not very skilled.
But if you're talking about passion,
and desire,
and will,
he is the man!
He is the man!
Who would you rather operate on your child?
The one who like isn't even really interested,
but he's very good!
Or the one who like wants to save life,
so passionate,
so sweet,
so but he doesn't really know what he's doing,
he sometimes cuts the wrong pipe,
but with good intentions!
Like,
he really means well!
So of course this world is the world where actions matter.
This world,
of course,
I want the results to be productive.
This is the world of productivity here in this world.
But in הקדוש ברוך הוא's world,
when you're looking from the higher place,
then the actions don't really matter so much.
אחד המרבה,
אחד הממעיט,
ובלבד שיכוון לבו לשמים.
The גמרא says in מנחות,
it doesn't really matter how much you do,
as long as your intention was for the sake of Hashem.
So in this world it's true,
when I say this world I mean like עולם הזה.
As far as being practical and technical in this world,
then we we judge by results.
That's true,
that's how this world works.
And it's not false,
that's true!
I want the doctor to be the best doctor he is,
I don't care how much he desires,
but I actually want someone,
I want someone who's the most skilled.
In this world,
I want people who are productive.
That's what I want,
irrespective of their desires.
But from a spiritual perspective,
from הקדוש ברוך הוא's perspective,
I want the desires.
I want the heart,
I want the לב.
So when we're talking about a person being close to Hashem or far from
Hashem,
we're not even talking about what he does technically,
more מצות,
less מצות,
we're talking about what he's נמשך,
what he's drawn to,
where his desires are.
It could be at the end of the day he doesn't even do those
things,
but he says,
"But I wish I could.
I wish I could." So there's some fear factor that's going to hold him
back,
there's some society factor that's going to make him not do what his desires
are.
So he's not doing it,
but he says,
"But I wish I could.
If I could just be a גוי for two days,
just two days,
that that would be the best.
Like just..." Okay,
I won't,
I won't,
בסדר,
but if I could.
So there's there's a concept of נמשך,
where that's the essence of what a man is,
what he's drawn.
Now,
just to be careful,
I have to make a disclaimer,
otherwise it could be a disaster.
We're not talking here חס ושלום about a person that has a desire that
he doesn't want.
Let's say a person is walking down the street and there's a beautiful woman
who walks past,
and he he finds himself being attracted,
but he's strong and he looks away.
So that was fine,
totally fine.
He didn't desire something inappropriate,
he didn't allow his mind to wander,
he didn't say,
"I want this desire,
let me continue thinking about it even after it's passed." No,
he said,
"I saw something,
I'm human,
I'm normal,
I'm a man,
that's a normal human response to have.
I didn't activate it and I didn't continue contemplating it afterwards,
I didn't ruminate about it afterwards,
but בסדר,
the desire came,
because that's normal." So that we're not talking about,
that's normal,
that's healthy,
that's appropriate,
and בעזרת השם will be channeled channeled in the right way when a person
gets married.
What we're talking about is where a person allows himself to take pleasure in
the desire even afterwards,
and he says,
"That's what I really want." Clear question?
"How do we explain that we're like,
I'm pretty sure there's a concept that you're supposed to have,
with regards to non-kosher food you're supposed to like want to eat it,
but because because of the מצוה to not eat non-kosher food..." I don't know
if there's a מצוה to want to eat it,
but you're not supposed to say it's disgusting,
and the reason I'm eating is because it's it's distasteful to me.
You're supposed to say,
"If I could eat it,
I would eat it.
Not that I desire,
and not that I'm drawn after it.
You shouldn't be saying,
'I wish I could eat pork,
I wish,
I wish.'
You're not supposed to go in that direction,
either.
You're not supposed to say the reason I'm not eating is because it's disgusting.
You're supposed to say it may or may not be disgusting,
it might be delicious,
I have no idea.
But the reason I'm not doing it is because of the will of Hashem.
And that's in areas which are don't make sense to us.
In areas that make sense to us like not killing your parents,
there,
please,
please,
please don't say,
'I wish I could kill my parents,
but what can I do,
Hashem...'" Those those are supposed to be like basic,
innate morals that we have.
The things that don't make sense in.
Okay.
There's the concept of נמשך.
האדם נמשך אחר העולם,
מתרחק מבוראו.
If a person allows himself to be drawn after,
"I want more food,
I want more of desires fulfilled,
I want more money,
I want more," and his mind is again and again and again just going
to having desires fulfilled,
having desires fulfilled,
then I'm saying even if technically he doesn't do it,
but that then that defines who he is,
who he is really in the עולם האמת,
that's who he really is.
משל למה הדבר דומה.
That's twice already today now.
I never counted it until now,
but since you pointed it out,
now I'm noticing it.
So,
there was two people who used to pass each other every day.
There was the one guy who was a car mechanic,
and he worked on his cars in a in a public area on the
on the high street.
And there was the guy going to כולל.
And every day they would pass.
The guy going to כולל would pass the car mechanic,
and they would say,
"שלום שלום." And he would go to his כולל,
and he would carry on working on his car.
Years later,
they died on the same day.
They go up to שמים.
And the the person who learned in כולל his whole life,
he's expecting the red carpet,
you know,
"I've arrived,
I've arrived!" And they say to him,
"אה,
שלח,
a bit okay there,
we found you a room in the back." And the guy,
the car mechanic,
who never learned Torah,
he never learned Torah,
they say,
"Oh!
The גדול הדור has arrived!
Welcome,
come in!" And they're like,
"This is strange.
What's going on?" So the כולל said,
"No,
no,
no,
you made a mistake!
I know we came in at the same time,
but you made a mistake!" So he says,
"No,
we didn't make a mistake." Says,
"No,
you made a mistake.
I learned all the time." Says,
"Yeah,
but there was an interaction that happened every day.
When you walked past,
you said,
'I wish I could do that.
Why do I have to learn all the time?
Learning is so tedious,
so difficult,
so annoying.
Like,
what does God want from me?
I want to be a man of the world.
Look at him,
he's got a good life!
He's productive,
he's fixing things,
he's in the world.'" I wish I could be there.
And the car mechanic saw the כולל person walking past,
and he said,
"A person has to work for the פרנסה,
has to work for פרנסה,
but if I could only be learning,
if I could only be a תלמיד חכם,
if that's where I could be,
wow,
that would be my dream would be fulfilled." Now technically he learned and he
was fixing cars.
No one went to גיהנם in this story.
Everyone went to גן עדן.
They were all doing good,
productive things.
But which room are you in?
It depends on your desires,
not on your actions.
Depends on what your desire is.
So the person who desired learning,
learning,
learning,
it was hard for him.
He didn't have the mind for it.
He wasn't able to do it.
Technically he wasn't able to do it because of פרנסה.
It didn't work out.
That wasn't his life's lot.
But he showed השם,
this is where I want to be,
then they consider him to be a person who dedicated his whole life to
תורה learning.
ברוך הבא!
חז״ל say that if you try and learn something,
even if you didn't understand,
but you tried to learn,
when you go to שמים,
you'll understand it,
even if you didn't understand it in this world,
because you were limited in this world,
but in שמים there's no limitations,
you'll be able to understand.
He tried.
At least he tried.
He didn't understand,
but he put in his effort,
he showed what his desire was.
So a key word over here is the word נמשך.
It's not so much about what you do,
of course,
you can't use that as an excuse,
you have to do the right thing,
right?
But the essence of what a person is,
is where,
like in the story we just told,
where you're נמשך.
If you're not able to learn,
but you're נמשך to learning,
you wish you could learn,
you express the desire that you want to learn,
then that's who you are in your essence.
And if a person is נמשך אחר העולם ומתרחק מבוראו,
הנה הוא מתקלקל,
and this is the main point that he's coming to say,
not only does he ruin himself,
but you are tied to the entire world,
and there's an effect that you have that affects the entire world.
Have you heard that idea of the butterfly effect?
Everyone knows it,
right?
Like a butterfly flaps its wing somewhere in South Mexico,
whatever,
that's the example they give,
in South Mexico,
and then it sets off a whole chain reaction of there's a bit of
extra wind over there and there's a whole storm in another country.
I remember when I learned years and years and years ago,
I remember learning economics,
and I remember there was two areas of economics:
there was macroeconomics and microeconomics.
And microeconomics,
then it affects the mini things that you're doing in your little world.
Macroeconomics,
if you're changing the exchange rate,
if you're changing the interest rates,
then you're not just changing the interest rates.
That's going to affect the banks,
that's going to affect lending,
that's going to affect purchasing,
that's going to affect then the exchange rate to other countries.
Woo!
It's a whole thing that's going to take place.
People look at their עבודת השם as their way of relating to הקדוש ברוך
הוא,
it's like my private thing.
Live and let live.
I want to be פרום,
I want to learn תורה,
I want to keep מצות,
that's my thing.
You want to be who you are,
בסדר,
you do your thing.
It's a live and live,
that's a good live and die,
live and live world.
Like I do my thing,
you do your thing.
And that's not that's not the תורה's perspective.
It's not my personal preference that I want to serve השם because it's going
to give me a good life,
or it's not going to give me a good life,
but I know that ultimately it's the right thing to do and therefore I'm
going to do it.
That's not how we view it.
If a person is נמשך אחר העולם,
he's not just מתקלקל,
he's not just saying,
okay,
I messed up my own life,
my loss,
מקלקל העולם עמו.
It has an effect on the entire world,
and this goes obviously in both ways.
You have an easier way of saying an easier way of saying it is
like imagine if you're a parent.
There are stories of people who they grew up in a פרום home,
left the path of תורה,
got married,
had a kid,
and then when their kid starts going to school,
they start becoming פרום again.
And you say,
like,
what happened?
Like,
why now did you make a change?
And they say,
because I saw my kids and I saw them looking at me,
and they're looking at me as an example,
like,
I have to do the right thing.
I have to do the right thing for the sake of the kids.
For them they themselves,
they would say,
I'm happy to carry on being מקלקל.
For me personally,
I don't mind so much.
But when I see that it's מקלקל מישהו אחר,
once I see that it's negatively affecting my child,
I know I know it's the wrong thing to do,
for myself בסדר,
but I'm not going to ruin my kids.
I don't want to mess up my kids.
So they start a process of תשובה.
They start coming close to הקדוש ברוך הוא because for the sake of the
kids,
for the sake of...
Now,
that's true not only on the level of your kids who you are immediately
having influence of,
but from a spiritual perspective we believe that when you're doing a מצוה,
this is what רב Salanter used to say,
the example that he gave was when you're doing a מצוה in one place
in Europe,
he gave an example of an area where everyone was already פרום,
in ליטא,
and everyone's learning,
and there's a בית מדרש and you're learning,
and he gave his example there,
you decide,
the example he gave,
you decide that you were going to leave the בית מדרש to get a
drink when you didn't really need it,
you weren't really thirsty,
it was an excuse for you not to,
and you held strong.
You say,
no,
I'm going to I'm going to finish the סדר.
It's just an excuse to get a drink now,
it's not really.
I know.
I'm going to finish the סדר.
You do that,
there was someone,
this is the example he gave,
in Paris who was about to do an עבירה of אשת איש.
They were about to do it,
and what's going to give them the strength the inner courage,
to be able to say,
"Hold back!" What's gonna give them that power to hold back?
Well,
all the Jews' נשמות are all connected.
All of עם ישראל is connected.
On on a high level,
the whole world is connected,
but עם ישראל are more connected.
And when,
ah,
it's called it's called a נשמה כללית.
It's a universal נשמה,
the Jewish נשמה.
And when you,
who are one aspect of the Jewish נשמה,
when you are stronger,
you don't only raise yourself up,
you raise the Can I borrow your pencil for one second?
When When When I lift up the pencil from over here,
I don't only lift up this part of the pencil,
the whole pencil goes up.
We have a נשמה כללית.
And when I pick myself up,
I'm not only picking myself up,
the whole the נשמה of עם ישראל is going up altogether.
Or down.
So your responsibility that you have is not only for yourself to say,
"It's my growth,
I'll do my own thing,
it's my loss,
I don't mind messing myself up." You have to view yourself as responsible for
כלל ישראל in both directions.
You could take that as like,
"Oh,
it's too much for me,
it's overwhelming," or you take that as,
if הקדוש ברוך הוא believes in me,
and He's empowering me,
I'm gonna do my best,
because I know that so much depends on this.
And this is true in an הלכה'דיק sense too,
right?
Everyone knows this הלכה,
that if you have already made קידוש on Friday night,
you've already fulfilled your obligation of קידוש,
and then someone new comes in,
and he hasn't heard קידוש yet,
you are allowed to make קידוש for him again.
Why are you allowed to make קידוש?
Isn't it a ברכה לבטלה?
You've already made קידוש.
Because there's some aspect of you that hasn't made קידוש yet.
Because until all of Now,
you're not,
you know,
you can't fulfill everyone else's obligations.
You don't have to be out there and go make קידוש for the whole
world.
But if someone's right here in front of you,
and you have the opportunity to help them do their חיוב,
then in a way,
you have the חיוב too.
Because a part of you hasn't made קידוש כביכול.
You can only ever do the most you can do,
so you do your best.
But when someone else is here and you can do your obligation on a
higher level because they need it too,
and now you can do it for them too,
so we're united,
our נשמות are united,
so there's a part of me doing the מצוה which hasn't done it yet,
because they in me haven't done it yet.
I once heard from Rabbi Tatz,
a a משל for this,
that apparently,
anyone who who learned biology can help me with this idea,
but apparently,
we have we have that we have genes,
and within our genes,
then there's every aspect of the whole development of man in every single gene.
That means that like,
even though one part is going to be my eyes,
and my eye color is going to be determined,
that part will,
in my eye,
be active,
and that same part will be in my cell in my toes.
But in my toes,
that part will be dormant,
because it's not relevant to the eye,
but it still exists there.
But it's still there.
So so he said,
Rabbi Tatz said,
"So why didn't הקדוש ברוך הוא do it in a more effective way,
and just make the cells of the toe go to the toe,
and the cells of the eye go to the eye?
Why did each cell have to contain the information for every single part,
and just it's active in the part where it's active,
and it's not active in the part where it's not active?
Why does that have to?" So he said,
to give us this משל.
To give to give us this משל,
that everyone contains everything,
and you have to do your role.
So if you're the eye,
then that's the active part in you,
but you also contain an element of every other כח that exists.
ואם הוא שולט בעצמו,
and if you're about to say לשון הרע,
and you you have a really great line,
it's a really good line,
it's humorous,
and it's going to win you the admiration of all of your friends.
It's a really good line,
and you've already started saying it,
you're in the middle,
and everyone is looking at you,
"Yeah,
go on,
go on!
Yeah,
go on,
finish it,
say the sentence!" And you catch yourself,
and you remember the הספד of Rav Rubinstein,
that whenever someone was to speak לשון הרע around him,
and he he would just like wave his hand and would say,
"נו בוא נתקדם בוא נתקדם,
next thing,
next thing." Even if someone was in the middle of saying a great line,
but you just And it's embarrassing now because the whole חברה,
they're like,
"You know,
go on,
say it." But you have that strength.
You're a hero.
You You deserve an award in שמים.
Maybe in this world they're they're ridiculing you and they're saying,
"No no,
go on.
Ah,
פרומער,
like just come and say it already!" But in שמים you're getting an award.
The angels are cheering and cheering and cheering you!
"You did it!
You held strong!" שולט בעצמו ונדבק בבוראו.
You're with Hashem.
You're with Hashem.
Ah,
so you maybe you lost a bit of the admiration of your friends,
but you gained the admiration and the נחת רוח of הקדוש ברוך הוא.
What could be greater than that?
ואם הוא שולט בעצמו ונדבק בבוראו ומשתמש מן העולם רק להיות לו לסיוע לעבוד
בוראו.
So let's give the example of food for a second.
So there's Food is a is a basic necessity.
You need it to have strength.
If you take food in a way that's going to build you and encourage
you,
you're doing a tremendous מצוה.
If you eat eating extra amounts of food not because you need it,
it's not going to give you strength.
In fact,
at this point it's going to make you weaker,
because you've eaten enough to be strong and now the extra eating is just
going to make you feel heavy.
So this extra eating that you're doing now is is not bringing you closer
to Hashem,
it's just נמשך אחר העולם הזה.
It's just being drawn after this world.
So this extra eating now is pushing you away.
That's not productive.
It's not an עבירה.
It's not an עבירה,
but it's not bringing you closer to Hashem.
It's not קדושים תהיו.
It's not bringing you closer to Hashem.
It's taking you further away from Hashem.
Now,
I don't know exactly how much,
you know,
exactly how much,
we can't be so pedantic,
you know?
You can't be so like,
"Oh,
this extra ounce," like We You don't have to be משוגע about it.
But there's definitely an amount which is too little,
because you feel weak.
There's definitely an amount which is too much,
because you know that that's just going to make you feel heavy and like
afterwards is just It's not productive.
There's an area in the middle.
I don't know how murky you could be that area in the middle,
exactly where it is.
I don't think you need to be.
But there's an area where you know it's too much.
And that's the area which we're talking about right now.
Once you know you're like,
"This is just unnecessary.
It's totally unnecessary.
This This extra is unnecessary." Someone who is an עבד השם,
he's שולט בעצמו.
He says,
"I worked out roughly how much I need to be strong,
that's how much I eat.
That's how much I eat." You know,
people who take Ozempic,
so what happens?
So their body feels satiated,
and then they eat less,
and they have strength.
In fact,
they have more strength.
So the people who are not taking it and are overeating,
then they're eating more food and they're weaker.
So all you have to do is just like eat the right amount.
Some people,
it's hard.
It's hard.
Like the desire is so strong that it's hard,
so they need an extra help,
a little boost.
But what's the goal to get to?
To eat the right amount.
That's that's the goal.
That that right amount where you you feel if you don't feel satiated because
you had an injection,
then you have to feel satiated because you know that like this is what's
going to give me strength to serve Hashem well.
But that takes strength.
It takes inner strength.
האדם שולט בעצמו ומשתמש מן העולם רק להיות לו לסיוע לעבוד בוראו.
So the question used to be:
what's the tastiest food?
Give me a second portion.
And and that it changed.
And the question is now:
what do I need to serve Hashem well?
I'll eat it.
That's That's what That's what I'm looking for.
And if it's שבת,
I'll eat more delicious food,
because that's also part of serving Hashem well.
And if my mother or my grandmother made it,
and it's important to her that I eat it,
so I'll eat it!
Because that's what right now is serving Hashem well.
But if it's not כשר,
I won't!
Because,
"Ah,
but she's going to be upset with me." Okay,
but it's not כשר,
so I won't.
What can I do?
The question is only one question:
what's going to bring נחת רוח to Hashem?
That's the question.
So all the calculations are going to be part of that.
Sometimes it's eating more because it's שלום בית.
Sometimes it's eating less,
because you know that eating less is going to give you more strength.
But the question is always:
להיות לסיוע לעבוד בוראו.
What's going to give me the strength to serve Hashem?
Life is so simple when you have one clear direction of what everything you
do is based on.
People who don't have one clear direction,
they're pulled this way,
pulled this way,
I have this desire,
this desire,
all different things.
Like gods,
people in the olden world,
the Greek world,
they had many different gods.
Each god was a different desire.
For every desire they had,
they made up a new god.
And then they had the wars of the gods:
this god is fighting this god,
and which god is going to win?
Because each desire they have is pushing the other desires.
But for us,
it's so simple.
השם אחד!
It's so straightforward.
What's going to give הקדוש ברוך הוא a נחת רוח?
That's the one question!
Always,
always!
What's going to give הקדוש ברוך הוא נחת רוח?
You want to know?
Learn הלכה,
and you'll know.
You want to know?
Be in tune with yourself to know what's going to help you,
like how much food to eat,
and you'll know.
הוא מתעלה,
and then you grow.
But not only you,
העולם עצמו מתעלה עמו.
You're responsible for the entire world.
You're able to uplift the entire world.
There's uplifting the entire world by going out there and doing קירוב.
That's one way.
And there's another way,
not mutually exclusive,
you can do both,
but there's another way,
which is you working on your inner strength.
אתה שולט בעצמך,
that gives strength to the entire world.
That gives strength to people who want to be more פרום,
they don't have that inner will,
but because you had the inner will to not take an extra portion,
that gives them the extra the inner will not to eat טרף.
So there's the there's the out קירוב,
where you go out there and you teach someone תורה,
and there's the inner קירוב,
where you build yourself and automatically,
it's all one system,
it's all one part,
one נשמה כללית,
that you build yourself,
והעולם עצמו מתעלה עמו.
I said we're going to finish at 7:12 so we have enough time for
מעריב.
But let these words take you into מעריב,
because when you're gonna say ברכו and when you're gonna say שמע ישראל,
you're not just you're connecting to הקדוש ברוך הוא and deepening your own personal
אמונה,
but in some way,
it's deepening the אמונה of all of כלל ישראל by you strengthening your own
אמונה at that moment.
יישר כח.