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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 my dear friends. Way number 42 is Ma'amido al HaShalom. So we just mentioned peace. We just previously learned the trait or the way, way number 41 previously was Ma'amido al HaShalom, to put things with truth. Now we're talking about peace. Peace and truth don't always get along. Sometimes you have to forego truth to have peace. A guy betrays his relationship with his
significant other. You know what, to make peace you're gonna have to move the truth aside sometimes. Every human being has virtues. Every human being has flaws. Every human being. Yet, we see that there are people who are completely in love with one another. How's that possible? If you know that the person you're with, that you're in love with, has flaws, how can you be in love with them? You know why? Because you choose their virtues over their flaws. We all choose
to love people who have flaws, notwithstanding that these are significant flaws at times. But we choose. There you go. But that's the thing, that's the amazing thing, is that if we realize that every human being has qualities, has virtues, and every human being has flaws, has negative aspects of their character, it's only a choice of what we're going to focus on. Are we gonna focus on their good? Are we gonna focus on their kind? Or are we going to focus only on their negative?
We can determine who we have peace with. We have to find favor. We have to find goodness in them. Every human being has goodness. Every human being has virtue. That's what we need to look for. What is their virtue? And decide to emphasize that. If someone doesn't know what they're living for, they're at war with themselves. It's a constant struggle to push aside what it is that you're here for.
An interesting thing, Shalom comes from the word, is the word peace. It comes from the word Shalem, which means complete, wholeness, completeness. Shalom doesn't mean that everything is going to be truthful. But it means that you're willing to be at peace with you know, they say the most complete heart is a broken heart. Someone once came to the Rebbe and they said, Rebbe, it's the high holidays. I want to connect. I want to be, he says, the most whole heart is a broken heart.
If you desire it enough, you'll have it. So, what does God say as a blessing for the Jewish people when they do good? I will place peace on the land. The highest form of reward is peace. So everyone just gets along. Now, everyone getting along doesn't mean that everyone is good. It doesn't mean that everyone is right. But it means that you're willing to overlook their flaws. Right? The priestly blessings was the same L'cha Shalom. God should place peace upon you. The Shabbos candles.
Right? We say the same blessing. We bless our children with that blessing. We say, what do we call Shabbat? Shabbat Shalom. Shabbat should be a time of peace. It should be a time of serenity. It should be a time where we just, it's time to overlook all of the craziness of our week. It's time to overlook all of the battles and the struggles. It's a time where we see the positive in the world. We say in our prayer on Shabbat, Mincha time, we say Shalom V'Shalva.
We look for peace. We look for what type of peace? Pleasant peace. One which is with everyone we can have peace in this world. What do we need for peace? Number one, we need will for peace. We need to really will it. We need to desire that peace. To make peace we have to be Makdim Shalom. One of the things the Mishna teaches us is to advance hello to one another. So when you're in the elevator and
everyone's in their little corner with their briefcase going running up to their office, be the one to say hello everyone. Good morning. You know what you'll do to everyone? You put everyone at ease. Everyone will be, suddenly that tension is taken out. Suddenly everyone will smile. A person needs to be careful not to be so high and mighty with themselves. You could be pleasant with others. You can be kind. You can bestow kindness on other people. By bringing that peace to them. You cannot have peace while being mediocre.
You've got to go all the way. See the positive in other people. You know what they say, if you think big, you become big. You think small, you become small. Look around the world and see how much you can accomplish. You know who's really, I think, an example of someone who doesn't give in to mediocrity. Think of a very good example in our modern-day world. Elon Musk. He upended the entire automobile industry. How many people tried to make their own cars?
Thousands of people. But yet he is the the pride, so to speak, of innovation. He has the most advanced technology in his cars. He has artificial intelligence driving his cars. He's producing an unbelievable volume of cars and they're extremely sought-after. Whoa, that's only one project. He has the SpaceX, which is the envy of the world. You know, it's an amazing thing. He did it with a couple million dollars, put together his own space enterprise. Do you realize that the budget of
NASA is in the tens of billions of dollars? And now they're asking him for a ride. They want to hitch a ride to space with him, with his little company, SpaceX. It's not because he's brilliant. It's because he thinks big. I don't know if he's a good father. I don't know if he's a good parent. I don't know if he is a good spouse. I don't know if he's a good boss. I'm not judging his personality. I'm judging his ambition. He thinks big and
therefore he is big. Again, not judging his character. I don't know his character. But that's the way we need to think. And to be a person of peace, you need to think big as well. We're stuck in our little, little corner of my little problems. And like, I can't believe you didn't invite me to your daughter's graduation and therefore I don't want to talk to you ever again. And you didn't invite me to your son's bar mitzvah and therefore think big.
We have a postal service that, you know, a high percentage of the things that are mailed to your house don't make it to your house. Maybe that's the problem. No, no, I know that. Think big. People are greater than that. So my dear friends, let's conclude way number 42. Let's go and not only want peace, pursue peace like Aaron. Aaron Hakohen. It says, Aaron Hakohen, it says, ohef shalom, virodef shalom. He didn't just love peace. He pursued peace. He went after peace.
Everyone loves peace, but are you willing to go out and become uncomfortable to make peace? Aaron would go to two people who were fighting. He would say, you know, I spoke to him. He says he's, he regrets what he did. Really? Yeah, he's just embarrassed to apologize. He'd go to the other one and say, I spoke to him yesterday and he's so embarrassed by what he did. So what happens? They make peace. And what happens if ten years later they find out that they were duped?
Who cares? They already made peace because they look bigger than it. Aaron didn't just love peace. He pursued peace. Everything that we do, God's name is peace. God says I'm willing, God's name is also truth, by the way. But God says I'm willing to put aside truth so that you make peace. Ha'mivarech yisamo Yisrael bashalom. God blesses his people with shalom. I'm putting my own name on you. That's why you're not allowed to say the word shalom in the bathroom. Peace.
God says you want completion? Well, I have to give up sometimes on the truth for it. So my dear friends, let's pursue peace. By loving peace and getting uncomfortable to make peace. Get uncomfortable. Be willing to be uncomfortable to make that peace in this world.