Podcasts about hakodesh

Welcome to our class on Anava . We've been talking a lot about working on humility. Rabbi Chaim Friedlander's sefer Siftei Chaim , on the topic of Middot (page 133) asks a powerful question. He points out that the Mesilat Yesharim bases his sefer on the ladder of levels that are described by Rabbi Pinchas ben Yair, starting with Torah. Learning Torah brings to Zehirut/being careful, which brings one to Zerizut/being fast, which brings to Nekiut/being pure and goes on to Prishut/separating oneself physicality , purity and Hasidut/piousness. All the way at the end is humility . Humility is one of the last of the levels. It brings to one to Ruach , Hakodesh etc, and then we reach perfection. So seemingly, if we go step by step up the ladder, if we haven't yet conquered purity and piousness, how are we even talking about humility, which is so high up? To answer, the Siftei Chaim quotes a mashal he heard from Rav Yerucham Levovitz, the famed Mashgiach of the Mir in Europe, who says: When a person goes to a feast of kings, there are many, many portions and courses. There's the first course, the second course, the third course . I was once told that at the queen's table in England there are four forks and three knives! There are so many different hors d'oeuvres, appetizers, entrees, desserts… But what happens if a poor man walks in during the meal when they're up to the third course? Do they say, " Let's go back to the hor d'oeuvres ." No. He doesn't even ask for that. Whatever they're up to at that time is what they give him, and that's enough for him at that point. He's not worried about courses or etiquette or about the proper way to do things. He's hungry . That's the mashal . The nimshal is that we are poor when it comes to Avodat Hashem. Yes, 'wealthy' people of old such as Rabbi Pinhas ben Yair and others, of course had an order. He's like the chef telling you how you're supposed to serve the meal. Each one is going to lead to the next one. Yes, you want ices after the hors d'oeuvres to cleanse you palate, and yes, you want to have tea at the end. But a person who is spiritually poor has to grab whatever they give him, even if it's out of order, and even if he doesn't understand exactly what he's doing and why he's doing it. He has to take what he can get. The Gemara says, ' This world is like a wedding, Grab and eat. Grab and eat. ' What does that mean? It means sometimes you're not eating in a specific order, with all the rules and regulations. You're just grabbing and eating. That's the way it is with our Ruchaniut/spirituality. I'll grab and eat, I 'll nosh on this and that. This is similar to the story that the Chafetz Chaim witnessed once. A girl was selling apples in the marketplace. Someone came and knocked over her basket of apples and they were rolling all over the street. Ruffians started grabbing the apples. The girl was just standing there crying, until a wise man told her, Grab something for yourself also . When the Chafetz Chaim heard this, he said, That's what's going on in our lives. The Yetzer Hara turned over the apple cart and he's grabbing away everything from us. So grab something back for yourself . We don't have to do everything exactly according to the proper system. We, too, can work on humility. We may not have the full depth and the understanding that we'd have if we did it with the recommended approach, on the regular road. Here's an example of another Middah . He says, hessed - we all know what kindness is. We do kindness, but if you want to really dissect it, true kindness means that I am not an egoistic person. I'm not someone that's focused on myself. I'm giving because the other person needs and all the other niceties- we'll call it the icing on the cake to do a hessed properly . But just because you can't have a cake with icing, that doesn't mean you have can't cake at all. Sometimes you might only have the icing, but if you're hungry, you'll take cake without the icing or icing without the cake. You can't be picky. At the end of the day, it will give you nourishment. It might not give you exactly what you need, but, as the famous saying goes, Perfect is the enemy of good (quoted by Rabbi Frand at the Siyum HaShas, and attributed to French philosopher Voltaire). This means that sometimes people try to do something exactly the way it's supposed to be but end up do nothing. It's like a very perfectionist housewife saying, If I can't have the perfect meal, I'm not going have any guests at all. That's really counterproductive. Just because you can't have all the niceties, with waiters and china and a ten course meal, that doesn't mean you shouldn't have guests at all. It's the same thing when it comes to working on our Middot, says Rav Yerucham Levovitz. We might not have everything perfect, and it might not be the way it's supposed to be, but perfect is the enemy of good. Therefore, when we're working on humility, don't say, how can I work on humility? I'm far, far from it. You can also have a connection to humility. The Chafetz Chaim once met a baker and asked, " How's business? " The baker replied, " It's so hard to be a baker. The housewives are so picky and they're always complaining, 'It's too hard… it's too soft.' "Then a few years later he met the baker again and asked how business was. This time the baker said says, " Business is great!" The Chafetz Chaim asked what had changed, and the baker replied, " Well, it's wartime. There's a shortage of bread. If anyone can get any bread, they're thrilled and happy to take the it. There are never any complaints." The Chafetz Chaim said it's the same thing with Ruchaniut . In the days of old where there was plenty of spirituality, and plenty of people serving Hashem, in a world that was much more pristine, of course in Shamayim, they were picky. The chef in Shamayim's kitchen was very picky and very exacting, Everything had to be organic, everything had to be fresh, everything had to be Whole Foods. But in you're in a time of famine, no one gets picky on what they're going to eat or serve. If they get picky, they die. Like the sad story in Masechet Gittin , of the wealthy woman who sent her aid out to buy fine wheat in the marketplace. There was no fine wheat left but by the time he came back to tell her, and she sent him out to buy a lower grade of wheat, there was none of that left either. She then sent him for barley and the same thing happened, and on and on until eventually there nothing was left to eat at all. So smart people realize, and Hashem's Bet Din up there is quite smart, that w hen there's a famine, we're happy with what we can get . We don't have the perfect meal. We don't have the right silverware, we don't have the right ingredients, nor the right dishes. But it's like making sprinkle cookies with your children on a day off, with all their germs and mess…They're so proud and you're so proud. Well, that's the way Hashem looks at our Avodat Hashem today. So make your little cookies, put some Anava sprinkles on them and be proud.

The Baal Shem Tov offers a brocho to a confident businessman, who turns it down. When the businessman loses his fortune 16 years later, he has a second chance thanks to the Baal Shem Tov's ruach haKodesh.

1 section- allowance/lack therofe to save sifrei tanach that are written in other languages from a fire on Shabbat and ways to dispose of them

1 section- allowance/lack therofe to save sifrei tanach that are written in other languages from a fire on Shabbaos and ways to dispose of them