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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.
00:00 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back everybody to page 229. We're on day 40 of the Orchos Tzaddikim in the journey of the ways of the righteous Ava Tzatanugim the love of pleasures. So we said that this is one of the ways that a person falls out of love when he's constantly desiring more and more pleasure. Kigon, such as Achila V'shti v'sheno, a person who always loves to eat and to drink and to sleep, da'a she-tzoruch odom she-chav en liba b'chol ma'asev kulam le'i da'as Hashem baruch hu bilvad that in every action that a person does, he has to have focus. In every action, have focus to do it for the will of Hashem. Yes, you're going to sleep. Why are you going to sleep? So you have strength to serve Hashem tomorrow. So now, sleep is not a desire, sleep is a mitzvah Eat. Why do we eat? We eat so that we can satiate our hunger, to give us strength, to give us the nutrients we need. So we can satiate our hunger, to give us strength, to give us the nutrients we need, so we can continue to serve Hashem. But if we're eating just because we're gluttonous, desirous people who just, oh God, look at that food, oh, I want that dessert and I want that meat and I want that, and it's just because I want to fill myself up, not because I'm hungry, not because I need the food, but I just want it for my own, my own taste buds. That's not a proper way to eat or to drink. We eat and drink so that we can serve Hashem.
01:34
I want to share with you a quick story. This is more a story of really knowing yourself, but it tells you so much about what great people are. My rabbi, someone in middle of class, heard that his voice was a little bit sore, so they brought him a glass of water and the rabbi didn't drink it. So after class, the student came over to my rabbi, rabbi Yitzhak Berkowitz, and said to him I don't understand. I brought you a glass of water. Why didn't you drink? It Is something wrong. Is it tainted? Is it not holy water? What's the problem? Why didn't you drink the water?
02:10
Listen to what he said. He said my day is so calculated that I have it down to the minute or the second of how much time I have to eat, how much time I have to drink and how much time I have to relieve myself. He says, and I know that if I take that glass of water I'm going to have to relieve myself, and I don't have that time in my day. He just doesn't have that time in his day. Imagine, to be calculated to the second, that he only eats what he needs to eat and drinks what he needs to drink, and he knows exactly how much and how little, exactly what he needs. Imagine to be at that level and he's a person we've mentioned many times previously who only sleeps two and a half hours a night. He knows exactly what his body needs.
03:03
I once asked him. I said Rebbe, when are you going to sleep? He said when I die. I'll have plenty of time to sleep then, but in this world I got work to do.
03:10
I said so he goes to sleep at 11 o'clock every night and he wakes up at 1.30. I said 1.30? He says yeah, that's the only time I can learn without people disturbing me. So from 1.30 till 6.30 in the morning, or 7, depending on what time the sun rises he sits and learns without interruption, and that's why he's such a great Torah scholar and why he's such a great sage and an unbelievable person. Either way, a person, when he sits and he gets up and he talks, should be always with that thought of how am I serving Hashem with this, keitzad? If you're doing business? It shouldn't be. I'm in business so that I can make money. El yaseh dvorim elu kadei. Sheyimtze dvorim sheh guv tzoroch lem. It shouldn't be. I'm in business so that I can make money. Why do you do all these things?
04:13
You know the story of the guy who had this big, big yacht. He goes on the water and he sees this guy in a little, teeny little boat and he's catching a fish, catches a fish, reels it in and puts it in a pail, throws out the rod again, throws out the spool and catches another fish, one at a time, catching another fish, one after another. This guy has big yacht seas. He says this guy's a great fisherman. He says I don't know. He pulls up his yacht next to this teeny little rowboat and he says explain to me, I've been sitting here watching you catch one fish after another fish. He says I don't understand. Why don't you get a bigger boat? I said I don't know. And like this, you can catch more fish and you can make all this money. He says, wow, and what am I going to do with that money? He says what do you mean? You will have to buy a bigger boat. He says and then what? And you'll catch more fish and you'll make more money. He says, and then what? It keeps on growing and keeps on growing. He says, and then what he says and then you'll be able to sell it. And then what? You'll be able to sit in a small boat and fish. Right, I'm doing that now. I'm doing that now.
05:32
But the problem is people don't realize I'm going to go and become a big hedge fund manager. I'm going to trade stocks. I'm going to go in the stock market and make all this money. I'm going to be. For what? People get my career for what? For what? How many people I've met who have told me that they're?
05:52
If you, if I would have met you 40, 50 years ago, my life would have been different. Why? Because I forgot to have children, I forgot to have a family, I forgot to focus on the things that were really important, and it's such a tragedy that someone would live their life in such a way. Why do we get married? So that we can serve Hashem. Why do we eat and drink? So that we can serve Hashem?
06:25
Anything that a person is doing in the realm of pleasure shouldn't just be for my physical pleasure, for me to enjoy, but rather el yosim el libo, sheyokhal k'de lehavros gufo, ve'evor of bilvad, doing this for the goodness of my body, so that I can serve Hashem further. A person shouldn't eat everything that his palate desires, like a dog or a donkey, they just continue to eat and eat and eat. Only eat things that are good for your body, whether they be bitter or whether they be sweet. Do not eat things that are damaging to the body. Even though they're sweet to your palate, it doesn't mean they're good for your body.
07:29
In this custom, in this way, a person should conduct his life and constantly put in his heart that his body should be strong, and it should be complete that a person should always and it should be complete that a person should always be focused on the will of Hashem, because it is impossible for a person to serve Hashem properly if he's hungry, if he's thirsty or his limb is not functioning properly. Lefikoch ein tov le'odam le'his anos tamet. Therefore, it's not either good for a person to go to the opposite extreme and stay away from all pleasures, like someone who fasts Pen y'cholesh kocho v'yismayit sikhlo. Because what happens when someone's fasting? Your brain doesn't function as well, you're not able to think properly. Therefore, a person should do everything for the will of Hashem. What happens if a person eats too much and becomes fat Now? He can't move as well. Now he can't serve Hashem properly. If he eats too much and becomes fat now, he can't move as well. Now he can't serve Hashem properly. If he eats too little, he'll be too weak. And this is what you should know. Al tamit b'mine alifton v'sismoch alifton echod be'od shetuchal. Therefore, he's guiding us how to eat.
09:06
It is advisable, in this respect, to use only one type of seasoning, if you can, and to eat as little of it as you can, with the intent that the food reaches the stomach and not in order to derive pleasure and accustom yourself to eat, sometimes without seasoning, to accustom your nature, until it will be easy for you to do it without it. My mother, one day I was talking to my mom as I was preparing my coffee. My mother's, like do you put sugar in your coffee? And at that time this is probably 15 years ago I said, yeah, I put a little like a half a tablespoon, half a teaspoon of sugar. And my mother's, like try drinking your coffee without it. And that was the last time that I ever had sugar in my coffee, didn't? It didn't? It didn't change anything. And then I tried without milk black coffee and that was it's like one at a time just taking off these things. That.
10:08
Not that this is anything great, but the idea is is that we should lessen the amount of seasonings that we have to train yourself to do with less. Try to let off of all the seasoning. Why? Because it demands much labor and toil to prepare the food and to process the food. And if you're a customer, it's to eat twice a day. If you're a customer, eat twice a day. If you're a customer, eat twice a day. If you're a customer, eat twice a day.
11:04
So he says very interesting. He says this is an amazing thing here. He says that a person should accustom himself to drinking water and wine if it helps you get rid of anxiety. See that, okay, that's from several hundred years ago. All right, this was a very good tool. You have a little stress. Take a little wine will help relieve that anxiety. Don't drink too much wine, even though there's a benefit to it, not too much. It's got to be balanced, because that's going to be a terrible disruption to your study of Torah, it will be a big deterrent. This following rule should always be a rule in your hands A person should not eat and drink as much as he desires.
12:19
Rather, when one eats, they should only eat as much as necessary to ensure the well-being of their body, and no more, no more. V'yimshuch yodam min ha-mosah V'al yo'hav odam es ha-olam k'dei she-yohav v'yishde v'yeneh. A person shouldn't love life and love this world so that he can eat and drink and derive more pleasures. V'chein omar echad min ha-chachamim. So one of the great sages said Ma'amar ha-chacham oichal l'man echyeh great sages said the wise man says I eat so that I can live. The silly man says I live so that I can eat. And so King Solomon says the righteous man eats to satiate his soul, and the stomach of the wicked is always lacking. They're always wanting more. They're always wanting more. They're always wanting more and they never satiate it.
13:32
One who gets married should do so for the sake of heaven. I have a mitzvah to fulfill To be fruitful and to multiply. You know why we get married. Not only for companionship, Not only for love, not only because we have desires no, that's not the only reason so that we can have children to conserve Hashem Keday sh'lo yis'av el enoshim acheros, and to control our desires and temptations and not desire other women. O keday livkoi desa ishtoi kishuhu yoidea sh'hi mes'av Eloi. And to fulfill your obligations to your wife appropriately or for the health of one's body. And the proper emission of semen is healthy for the body as well, but it has to be done properly. But someone who does things of marriage excessively, that will only bring illness. So someone who overindulges in cohabitation will also fall prey to many illnesses.
14:59
Someone who goes with this principle his whole life, to serve Hashem, to always serve Hashem, even in your business, because his only desire is not to fulfill desires but rather to serve Hashem. Even when someone is sleeping, if he's doing it so that he can relax and that he can rest his body because he doesn't want to get sick and he doesn't want to not be able to serve God, so he has to sleep, then you're going to be sick. If you don't sleep properly to serve God, so he has to sleep, then you're going to be sick. If you don't sleep properly, then your sleep is actually the service of Hashem. How can sleep be the service of Hashem? Because I'm sleeping so that I can serve God. On such our sages said all of your deeds should be for the sake of heaven. And on such our sages said and King Solomon says and all of your ways, you shall know. God and Hashem will strengthen your path. My dear friends, this concludes day number 40. And I look forward to continuing tomorrow with day 41.