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Welcome to Daily Bitachon. We are now getting back to the 'meat and potatoes' of regular topic Bitachon, after our hiatus for lessons from the Hagada Shel Pesach . Rabbenu Yonah, on Mishleh chapter 3, tells us that an important facet of Bitachon is knowing that a human being has no impact on you. . No human being can help you, and no human being can harm you, Zulati yigzor Hashem / unless Hashem makes that decree . He explains that this is what Arur hagever asher yivtach ba'adam / Cursed is the one that relies on a person means ; he thinks that people can do things for him . Another pasuk in Yirmiyah says chidlu lachem min ha'adam / Refrain from people" . This means refrain from relying on people . One has to know that in truth, a human being lacks any ability to harm him . He quotes many familiar pesukim, such as one from Hallel, which says Hashem li lo ira ma ya'aseh li adam , David Hamelech is saying, " Hashem is with me, I'm not afraid what people are going to do" . When a problem comes, a person should realize that everything is in the hands of Hashem . Pnei levavo muadot el Hashem / The face of his heart should be focused on God. Whenever there's a problem, one should focus on God; not on the one that's hitting him, but on the One that is ultimately in charge . He cites a pasuk in Tehillim which has an important lesson, not just for our daily bitachon, but also for one of the most pivotal times of the year . . He quotes the pasuk , Hinei k'einei avadim el yad Adonehem / Our eyes are to You, God like a slave is to his master," and he uses this pasuk as a description of bitachon . The eyes of the slave are towards his master b ecause, as the Hovot Halevavot says in Shaar HaBitachon, a baal bitachon must feel like a servant who is controlled by his master; that no one can impact him but his master . Rabbenu Yonah explains that David Hamelech is saying, " Our eyes are on You God, like a servant is on his master. In a similar vein, the Hovot Halevavot explains why Shaar HaBitachon/Gate of Reliance on Hashem comes after Shaar Avodat Elohim/ Gate of Serving Hashem) . This is because serving Hashem is connected to bitachon, a servant has an obligation to rely on his master because only his master can take care of him . . This is the pasuk of Hinei k'einei avadim el yad Adonehem . As we've said many times, the Anshei Knesset HaGedolah, who wrote our tefillot , based the text of the tefilot on pesukim . Rav Wolbe used to say that the siddur is the Torah Sheba'al Peh/ the Oral Law. And Oral Law is always based on the Written Law. . After we blow the shofar, we say Hayom harat olam / Today is the birth of the world, Hayom ya'amid bamishpat/ Today is the day that God judges kol yetzurei olam/all the creations, And He treats them, Im kevanim im ka'avadim / either like children or like servants Im kevanim / if we're children, then, rachameinu k'rachem av al banim / have mercy, like a father on a child. - There is a level of Jewish people called, Banim atem l'Hashem Elokeichem / We act like children, He treats us like children- But what about Im ka'avadim ? What if we're like servants , which means we don't have that father-son relationship in a way that we're deserving of the mercy of God? What do we do then? The answer is, Enenu lecha teluyot / Our eyes are towards You, Ad shetechoneinu / Until You have chen on us, matnat chinam, v'totzi la'or mishpateinu / and we're going to have a judgment that is a shining judgment" And this, Im ka'avadim eineinu lecha teluyot / Our eyes are on You, comes from this pasuk in Tehillim: k'eneh avadim el yad adoneihem / Like servants are looking to their master " . This means that one of the techniques that we have to be successful in Rosh Hashanah judgment, or any judgment for that matter, is to have bitachon and realize that no matter what happens, ultimately, no one can harm us and no one can help us. We have to rely on Hashem . That is supposed to be our attitude in any trying situation . k'eneh avadim el Yad adoneihem / Like servants have their eyes on their master .

Welcome to Daily Bitachon . We continue to learn lessons from the pesukim of Yetziat Mitzrayim . The next pasuk says that Hashem took us out of Mitzrayim " B'yad chazaka ubzroa netuya/With a strong hand and an outstretched arm." The Baal Haggadah explains that " Yad chazaka," refers to dever , the plague that killed the animals, and " Zroa netuya/the outstretched arm," refers to the sword , which Rishonim say refers to the plague of Makat Bechorot , when all the firstborns died. But why are we singling out the fifth and the tenth plagues? The Vilna Gaon and others explain that a hand has five fingers, the right hand has five fingers, and the left hand has five fingers. So, kal v'yachol , if we say Hashem is using both His hand and His outstretched arm, that includes all 10 plagues. The first hand, the " yad chazaka ," refers to dever , including all four previous plagues, and culminating with dever , the plague that killed the animals. And Zroa netuya/ with the sword means the four plagues prior to that and culminates with the fifth one being the sword . What exactly is the common denominator between the two? Interestingly, the pasuk brought down by dever is " Hineh yad Hashem hoyah b'miknecha/ The hand of Hashem was on your cattle." This term, "the hand of Hashem," is not found in other plagues. There are five different cattle mentioned— susim (horses), chamorim (donkeys), gamalim (camels), bakar (cattle), and tzon (sheep) and some commentaries say the hand, with five fingers, refers to the five different species of animals that were killed. But for our purposes today, we will study the common denominator between the " yad chazaka" of the plague and the " zroa netuya" of the sword- which is that both refer to the taking of life. Dever took the life out of the animals through the plague, and Makat Bechorot took out the lives of the firstborns. This is the ultimate Hashgacha Pratit , that Hashem is the One who is memit u'mechayeh /Hashem is the One that gives life and gives death. The ultimate hashgacha pratit is that Hashem is keeping us alive at every single second. This supersedes the Hashgacha of crossing the street safely or getting the food you needed in time, etc. The ultimate Hashgacha pratit is that Hashem is giving life to our souls every single moment. As we say in Modim , "Al chayenu hamesurim b'yadecha/ Our lives are literally in Your hand . And as we just said, " yad chazaka , and " Chayeinu hamesurim b'yadecha ." Our life is in God's hand. This is not said figuratively. Of course, Hashem doesn't have a hand, but just as a person has a hand and holds on, so too, Hashem is holding on to us. The Bet HaLevi , in his commentary on Bereshit 2,2, says that when a person has complete faith that at every second Hashem Yitbarach is pumping energy into the world, and every moment it's literally, he says , yesh mei'ayin/something from nothing , If Hashem would not be doing it this second, everything would cease to exist. If a person thought like that, he says, " tipol alav Yirat v'pachad" – he would be in a sudden state of fear. Rav Wolbe once suggested going over to your little child, putting your ear to his chest, and listening to his heart beat. Thump, thump, thump . Who is responsible for that thump? Who makes it happen? And if it stops for a second, who knows what would be! The Bet HaLevi compares this to a person who falls into the ocean. Someone grabs onto his hand so that he doesn't drown. If the man lets go for a second, it's all over. He says the feeling for the man saving him is love and fear at the same time. " I love him because he's holding on to me. And I'm afraid because he might let go" . He says that's why we say, every single day in Amidah , " Al chayeinu hamesurim b'yadecha/Our life is in Your hand. Hashem is holding on to us. That's the " yad Hashem " of the dever , because God does that to animals as well. And that's the outstretched arm of Makat Bechorot . This was the realization they got through the makot , especially these last two of each unit. (There were two units of five. In the first five, Pharaoh still had freedom of choice. In the last five he didn't.) In each these plagues, we see that important lesson of " chayeinu hamesurim b'yadecha. Every one of the words of Anshei Knesset HaGedolah is sourced in pesukim . And the Avudraham says, " chayeinu hamesurim b'yadecha" comes from a pasuk in Tehillim 31:16, " b'yadcha itotai/My moments are in Your hand" Furthermore, in Modim we say " Nishmatenu Hapekudot lach/our souls have been deposited by You. This is also sourced in a pasuk- " b'yadcha afkid ruchi" – "in Your hands I deposit my soul, (Tehillim 31:6), Because every night I give God my soul as a deposit. But both of them are in God's hands . My life, " b'yadcha itotai," my moments are in Your hand. My soul, " b'yadcha afkid ruchi". Regarding these pesukim in Tehillim, " b'yadcha itotai," my moments are in your hand," and "Hatzileni miyad oyvai u'mirdofai/save me from the hands of my enemies," the Radak says that David HaMelech is saying, " I'm in Your hands, and therefore the hands of my enemies can't get me. I'm not in their hands, I'm in Your hands.

Welcome to Daily Bitachon . We continue with Bitachon lessons from the Haggadah shel Pesach . The next phrase is וַֽיְהִי־שָׁ֕ם לְג֥וֹי גָּד֖וֹל Vayehi sham l'goy /they were there for a nation ( or some texts have) l'goy gadol / to a great nation. Melamed / This teaches us she'hayu Yisrael Metzuyanim sham/The Jewish people were outstanding there. Metzuyan means different. On a test sometimes you get the mark of Metzuyan . Metzuyan doesn't mean excellent , it means outstanding . Different . It could be outstandingly good or outstandingly bad. So the Jewish people were outstanding . We see this either from the word Goy , that they were a nation , which means that they had their own culture and their own ways, or the words Goy Gadol . On the words, Shnei meorot hagdolim / The two great luminaries . Maor hagadol , Maor hakaton/the large and the small. The sun is called large and the moon is called small because the sun is Gadol . Gadol means a source of light. And the moon, the Katan , is a receiver . So an Adam Gadol , as Rav Wolbe quotes from Rav Yerucham Levovitz, is someone that's able to give to Ketanim , to people that are smaller. The Jewish people are going to be a Goy Gadol . They're not influenced by the outside, they're their own source of their way of life, an independent source, not influenced by the outside world. The opposite is va'yitarvu bagoyim v'yilmdu ma'aseihem / They mixed with the other nations and learned from their ways. But Goy or a Goy Gadol means, No, we're not mixing, we're not being influenced. This is a phenomena. In Bereishit 46:3, Hashem tells Yaakov , וַיֹּ֕אמֶר אָנֹכִ֥י הָאֵ֖ל אֱלֹהֵ֣י אָבִ֑יךָ אַל־תִּירָא֙ מֵרְדָ֣ה מִצְרַ֔יְמָה כִּֽי־לְג֥וֹי גָּד֖וֹל אֲשִֽׂימְךָ֥ שָֽׁם׃ I am Hashem the God of your fathers. Don't be afraid to go down to Mitzr ayim . Ki l'goy gadol asimcha sham/For I will make you a Goy Gadol there. When you say someone's not supposed to be afraid, that means he was afraid. He was afraid. How in the world are my children going to down there to Mitzrayim? How in the world? And Hashem said, 'Don't worry. There is where they're going to become the Goy Gadol". Somehow, in the most contaminated nations, they're going to develop their status of a Goy and a Goy Gadol at that. This history repeats itself. One of the main themes of these pesukim is that it's not just about them. We're still in Galut Mitzrayim , we're still waiting for the ultimate Geulah . A famous story is told that Rav Chaim Volozhin was once praying Shacharit , and he burst out crying bitterly, but he did explain why. One of his closest students, Rav David Tevel , the author of Nachlat David , pressed him and said, " What happened? Why were you crying so bitterly during these prayers?" Rav Chaim said, " We're currently in Europe, but the time will come (this was about 150 years before the Holocaust) when European Jewry will be uprooted and will go into another exile. We have 10 exiles. From Bavel to North Africa, to Egypt, to Italy, to Spain, to France, to Germany, to Poland, to Lithuania." "And the final exile, " he said, "is the exile of America. It's going to be a very difficult exile. Who knows how we will survive that exile? "And that's what he was crying for- the last stop. Just like Yaakov Avinu was nervous, Rav Chaim Volozhin , who saw the future, was nervous as well. What's going to be? And just like Yaakov Avinu would have been surprised when he saw the Jewish people coming out, Yotzim b'yad rama / A nation on such a high level, that such a tremendous revelation, that came out specifically from that land of contamination, Rav Chaim Volozhin, when Mashiach comes, will look and say, Wow, look what America looks like. Look at the amount of Yeshivot, look at the amount of Kollelim, look at the amount of Bais Yaakov, Look what's going on! How many Sefarim were written in America? What a overturn! After the Holocaust , Rav Mottel Katz went into a bookstore on Lower East Side looking for a Ketzot Hachoshen , a book that is learned in Yeshivot. The proprietor said, " Let me look, I think I have one left." The store owner found the book, blew off the dust, gave it to him and said, " Be careful with this book, because this is the last Ketzot Hachoshen in America. " Rav Mottel Katz told him, " More Ketzot Hachoshens will be printed or used in America than have been printed since the Ketzos Hachoshen came out." And he was right. That's the unbelievable concept of Vayehi sham l'goy / Vayehi sham l'goy gadol . There, in Mitzrayim , we will turn into a nation that's Metzuyanim / outstanding . That's what we see today. B'ezrat Hashem , there is nothing better to strengthen our Bitachon than to watch these prophecies come true.

Welcome to our daily Bitachon series. We're talking about living Yetziat Mitzrayim every day of our lives. As we say in Haggadah shel Pesach , Kol Yemei chayecha / All the days of your life. There was a great Ba'al Musar named Rav Yechezkel Levenstein. He was the Mashgiach of the Mirrer Yeshiva in Europe, and later of the Mirrer Yeshiva in America, and finally of the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Eretz Yisrael . He was one of the greatest Baalei Emunah of his generation, one of the greatest believers of his generation. And he based it all on constantly strengthening his belief in Yetziat Mitzrayim and living with it in a very, very real way every single day. So much so, that at his funeral, Rav Wolbe eulogized him saying, " We just lost the last person to leave Egypt." That sounds strange. We left Egypt in the year 2448. Rav Levenstein passed away in the year 5734. That's thousands of years. He wasn't a thousand years old! What Rav Wolbe meant to say is, in every generation you have to feel like you left. And Rav Levenstein was from the last of the people that really felt that way. He lived like he himself left. So at least during this time of the year, as we just marched out of Egypt and we're on our way to Har Sinai , we should still be in that state of mind. An example of this mindset is revealed in a story told about Chacham Avraham Ades, the grandfather of Chacham Yehuda Ades Shlita , Rosh Yeshiva of Kol Yaakov. He lived in Aleppo in the days when you didn't get a taxi ride, you got a donkey or camel ride through the desert. Rav Avraham was once waiting for a donkey to hire. He ended up hiring a Jewish donkey rider. But certain mafia- like Muslim donkey riders felt they owned that turf and were upset that a Jewish donkey rider was giving the rabbi a ride rather than one of them, not unlike today in different industries where people control the industry. One of these Muslim ruffians threatened the Rabbi, saying, " Wait until you get to the desert where no one's looking. Then you'll see what I'll do to you! " And what was Rabbi Ades's response Although this didn't necessarily happen during Pesach season, he replied, " God that took our forefathers through Egypt will protect me and watch over me. His outstretched hand is larger than your hand." He was full of courage and did not feel at all threatened. Sure enough, in the middle of the desert, when the Muslim driver bent down to pick something up, his donkey kicked him in the side and broke his ribs. He cried the rest of the way home, begging the rabbi for forgiveness. The lesson of the story is Rabbi Ades's immediate answer… God that took me out of Egypt. That was his feeling. Ke'ilu hu yatza / Like you got out. It's an event that happened to me . That's what's supposed to be on our minds. Who is Hashem? Hashem that took me out of Egypt. The biggest proof to this understanding is how Hashem introduced Himself to us the first time He spoke to us as a nation: " Anochi Hashem Elokecha Asher Hotzeticha Me'eretz Mitzrayim / I am Hashem your God that took you out of Egypt ." All the Rishonim ask, Why doesn't it say, "I am Hashem that created the world? Isn't that a seemingly greater feat?" We see from here that, no, creation is not enough to give us the Emunah and the understanding of Hashem. We have to have Yetziat Mitzrayim lenses on. We have to have the lens of getting out of Egypt. According to Rambam's list, Mitzvah number one, is to believe in the existence of God as is stated, Anochi Hashem Elokecha asher hotzeticha me'eretz Mitzraim / I am Hashem your God that took you out of Egypt . The more that I understand Hashem that took me out of Egypt, the more faith I have in Hashem, in His ability, in His power, in His control, in His supervision. That all came from Yetziat Mitzrayim . We have to live with that every single day of our lives. As the Rosh says in the Sefer Orchot Chaim , If you don't believe in, Asher Hotzeticha Me'eretz Mitzrayim, if you don't believe in the concept that God took us out of Egypt, with all those lessons, you don't believe in God. Because without that piece, it's not the God of the Jewish people. The Muslims believe in God, the Christians believe in God. But belief in the God of the Jews , is predicated on understanding Yetziat Mitzrayim . And as we've mentioned before, the Rabbis set it up in our daily prayers. Every Shahachrit prayer is full of Yetziat Mitzrayim . Keriat Yam Suf , Ga'al Yisrael . And as Rashi in Berachot quotes from the Yerushalmi , the way we prepare to pray every day is by bringing God down, by knocking on the door through talking about Yetziat Mitzrayim . I can't pray to God without wearing the lens of Yetziat Mitzrayim. Because Who am I asking? Who is this God? What can He do? How has He proven Himself? The credentials of God are Yetziat Mitzrayim . We read His diploma, so to say, every single day, before we ask Him. It's like when you walk into the doctor's office, and want to check out the diplomas on his wall before you ask him his opinion on a condition. That's what we do every single day. We read the diploma of Yetziat Mitzrayim, to have the proper lens and understanding of our Creator.

En quoi est-il si important d'accepter avec Émouna (foi en Hachem) tout ce qui nous arrive ? Lorsqu'on vit une difficulté, en quoi est-il bien plus bénéfique de se tourner vers Hachem, que de s'énerver contre la personne qui semble nous l'avoir causée ? Qu'est-ce que la Hitbodédout ? En quoi engendre-t-elle du bien être ? Réponse à travers des propos de Rav Wolbe, de Rav Pinto et du Rabbi de Loubavitch.

Welcome to our daily Bitachon series. We are now on the last lesson of Chol Hamoed. The pasuk in Bereshit 15,14 tells us וְאַחֲרֵי כֵן יֵצְאוּ בִּרְכֻשׁ גָּדוֹל / After that (referring to the 10 plagues ), we will leave with a great wealth which Rashi explains - בממון גדול with a lot of money, as it says in Shemot 12 וינצלו את מצרים/They emptied out Mitzrayim Of course, Rashi is giving the simple explanation. Rechush Gadol means a lot of money . But the Chida in his sefer Nachal Kedumim on Bereshit 15,14 quotes the Arizal that says it means they sifted out and took out the sparks of holiness that were in Mitzrayim. What does that mean exactly? So the Sefer Pri Etz Chaim Shaar Keriat Shema perek asks, why is it that every day, we have to remember Yetziat Mitzrayim more than any other of the Geulot . He says that whenever the Jewish people go to a certain place, their job is to take out the Kedusha from that place. I once heard from Rav Wolbe, that every nation has in it good qualities. When Adam HaRishon sinned, he caused the good and bad to be mixed. So there are good qualities in every nation. The Germans are very meticulous and exacting. That's nice when it comes to being perfect with Mitzvot and having the right shiurim and sizes, but it could go a little haywire when it comes to creating extermination camps and gas chambers and use it that way. The French are very romantic. That might be good for developing Ahavat Hashem but it could go in the wrong way if you misuse it, and so on. So there are sparks of holiness in every nation, and throughout our years of exile, our job is integrate the holiness of each of the nations into our ways and lift it up and take out that Kedushah. In general, it doesn't happen that we take everything out. Only when Mashiach comes will we be able to fully integrate all of those qualities into the Jewish people. But the spot of Kedusha of Mitzrayim , he says, was totally taken out. That's what it means Vayinatzlu Et Mitzrayim , the same pasuk that Rashi says they emptied out Egypt monetarily also means they spiritually emptied it out and took everything out with it. With the other Geulot , we did not have that full cleansing. And he says with that, we can understand a unbelievable concept. Why is it that it specifically says we're never allowed to go back to Egypt again? Why are we stricter about going back to Egypt than other any place? Because there's no need to go back to Egypt. We took everything out of it. So why go back? The sefer HaKatav V'HaKabbalah was written by Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi from Kallenberg, who lived from 1785 to 1865. One of the great rabbis of Germany, he was very famous for his sefer, and was one of the original fighters against the Reform. movement. He quotes his Yedidi, Marash Chen Tov in Bereshit 15,14 and concurs that when talking about leaving Egypt and taking everything out, it means taking out the spiritual wealth. He points out that when we use the word Rechush for general wealth, it says Rechush Rav, like in perek 13 of Bereshit , which means they had a lot of wealth. The term Rav usually indicates a quantitative concept and it's used for money, generally speaking. Here however, we see a strange terminology. It says Rechush Gadol , not a lot, but great . The word great is usually qualitative. Li Gadol Hashem, Ish Moshe Gadol… Adam Gadol doesn't mean he's large in weight , it means he's qualitatively great. So the great wealth , is not a lot of wealth, but qualitatively great, which is a spiritual wealth. So continuing with this theme of going from place to place and sucking out the Kedusha, the sefer Shem Gedolim also from the Chida, in the section on Sefarim in an appendix on the topic of Talmud , says, an unbelievable concept. He says in the city where there were many great Amoraim who set up the Talmud, there was a pillar of fire there twice a year. They were great Geonim. But in his times (the Chida lived about 300 years ago), the Torah had dwindled so much in that place that they didn't even know how to pray-not by heart and not from a siddur. Most of them only know how to say Ashrei Yoshveh Betecha and Shema Yisrael. They go to the Mikveh before they pray. They're quiet throughout the prayers. And when they get up to Ashrei, they all say Ashrei together. They say Keriat Shema until V'Ahavtah and that's it. He says, What's going on over here? He says, this is not a coincidence, because there was such a strong, powerful force of Torah in that place through the Limud HaTorah (which is one of the main ways we suck out Kedusha) that the Kedusha was taken out and therefore there's not that much left. Then he says, they went to Spain, and Torah moved to Spain, and then again the Torah was developing until they were sent out to a new spot. Because we didn't need it anymore. So as we leave a city, it rarely comes back to its greatness. The great Spanish golden era is no longer. Then they went to Turkey, then it went to France, Germany and it went to different places.. Every time we go from place to place, it's for one goal for us to be there and integrate into ourselves, into our ways, the qualities of that nation. Certain Jews might be very hospitable. They were more hospitable towns, and they took that Kedusha out. And he says דכל עניני ישראל הם בכלל ופרט וגם כשהאדם הולך מעיר לעיר הכל היא סיבה לברר ניצוצי הקדושה , . Every concept of the Jewish people, whether it's in general or specific, when a person goes from city to city, it's all because there's some holiness there. There's something you have to integrate into yourself. Jews are traveling all over the world and there's a reason for it. He says this is all from the wonders of the God Who's perfect in His ways. We don't know why we move from place to place but it's not a coincidence. Suddenly all the Sephardic Jews left the Muslim countries, the Ashkenazi Jews leave Europe. And we go basically to America and Eretz Yisrael. No Jew lived in America. It was new country and it introduced a new concept. There's a some Kedusha that's here and we have to take out. What is that Kedusha? I suggest ( it's my own humble opinion, I have no backing for this) that America is a melting pot. America is all about tolerance and being open-minded and so on. There are people from China with people from Argentina, Mexico and New Zealand all living together; possibly we have to integrate that (what I'll call) tolerance because when Mashiach comes, we're going to have all different kinds of Jews together. We never had Sephardim, Ashkenazim, Hasidim, all praying in the same shtiebl or Bet Knesset. We have get to know each other and reconcile with each other. That American trait might be what's necessary for us to integrate into our ways. The Or HaChaim HaKadosh, in Shemot 19,5 says the same concept. He says that if we would have been learning Torah more intensely in Eretz Yisrael, we'd have no need to search the globe to bring back the kedusha.Rather, it would be like a magnetic force that would suck everything out without even going there. Additionally, the Chida says in sefer Chomat Anach in Melachim 1, chapter 11, Pasuk 1, that that's why Shlomo Hamelech married all of those wives- they were princesses from countries all over the world, because he thought that way he would be able to avoid the Galut by taking out the Kedusha from each nation. The Bitachon lesson for us is that sometimes we get stuck in situations and we don't know why. Why did the plane divert to a certain place and land on a certain runway and sit there for an hour? Because there's some Kedusha on the runway in Virginia, and you had to say Birkat HaMazon there at that spot. Everything is planned. Everything has a reason. Everything is an opportunity for us to gain and grow from. The Ramchal in his commentary to Nevi'im on Micha on the pasuk אל תשמחי אויבתי לי כי נפלתי קמתי כי אשב בחושך ה ' אור לי / Enemy don't be happy that I fell, because I got up, I'm in the darkness. Hashem is my light, he says, we go down to Galut in order to take out the Kedusha . And he says, when the negative forces see that the Jewish people are going to Galut , they say, Wow, we're controlling the Jewish people. That's it. They think we're going to sink down further. But the evil forces don't know that we're coming down here for a Tikkun and that's why it says Don't be happy, my enemies, when I fell in Galut, I'll get up and come out stronger and get even more. . And that's an important rule. Sometimes we see people fall and drop, but they bounce back. Sheva yipol Sadik v'kam A Sadik falls seven times and gets up.

Welcome to our Daily Bitachon series. We are now in the Haggadah shel Pesach, in the unit of: מתחילה עובדי עבודה זרה היו אבותינו. Originally, our forefathers were idol worshippers. This part of the Haggadah is extremely important. One of the fundamentals of the night of the seder is מתחילין בגנות ומסיימין בשבח. You have to start with a negative and end with a positive. There's an argument in the Gemara in Masechet Pesachim 116a about What exactly is the negative and what's the positive? Rav says the negative is that originally we were idol worshippers. Shemuel says the negative is originally we were slaves to Paroah. According to most opinions, they both agree. That's why we mention both. The question is, what is the main point and what do we start with? Is the main point the physical subjugation or is it the spiritual subjugation? To explain in a very simple way that they both agree, the Rambam says that the most fundamental way to explain the story is to say, See the housekeeper or slave working in the kitchen We could have been like that. But that's for the simple child that doesn't understand any real depth. The deeper concept, that we were idol worshippers and Hashem took us out of because we became idol worshippers once again in Mitzrayim, is something that's a little more complex. That's not something that the average child might understand. So they're both true. And I'll add, with the poetic license, that the more advanced student is still awake and participating at the point of Mitechila .. The child who asked Ma Nishtana and got his Avadim Hayinu answer may not still be with us at this point in the Seder, at the time to start getting a little deeper. The Rambam describes the seder in the laws of Chametz and Matzah chapter 7, Halacha 4, and says so beautifully, Children, originally we were Kofrim, we were deniers. We were mistakenly after hot air and nonsense,, chasing after idol worship. That's the beginning. And we end with Discussing the true religion, that God brought us close to that, and separated us from those that strayed, and brought us close to the understanding of His Oneness. That's the piece we are discussing now. We have to understand that there is more to the story than just physical slavery and physical redemption. There is a spiritual component as well. So here we go: מתחילה עובדי עבודה זרה היו אבותינ We were strayers, we were lost. And now, says Rav Wolbe is a powerful word. ועכשיו קרבנו המקום ברוך הוא לעבודתו And now , here, right now at the Seder, God brings us closer, every single year, to Avodat Hashem. Now is the time to pause and talk about the word that's used to describe Hashem, especially at the seder: Makom מקום . Why this term of Makom ? The Nefesh HaChaim, in Shaar 3, perek 1, tells us that the concept of Makom is a place, something that holds and enables something to stand. A table is a place for a glass. If you take away the table, the glass comes crashing down. So too, Hashem is the true Place for everything. He's holding everything. If Hashem takes away His energy for even for a moment, then there's no longer a space for anything and everything will just disintegrate. As it says, You, God give life to everything. The Rambam says in the beginning of his sefer, that this is the foundation of our Emunah. If, for a moment, Hashem would stop energizing the world, the world would cease to exist. The same Nefesh HaChaim in Shaar 1, perek 16 says If the whole world, from one end to the other, would be empty for one second from people toiling in Torah, the entire world, all the world, would turn back into nothingness. He says it again in Shaar 4, perek 10, and he adds the word, Mamash / literally, I'm not exaggerating. And in Shaar 4 perek 25, he says It's enough if just one Jew is learning Torah, the world will continue. That's the power of Torah. In other words, Hashem connected us to this concept of Makom . God is the Makom of the world, but He entrusted us, and empowered us to keep that energy going. That happened with Yetziat Mitzrayim, and with Matan Torah. We became the chosen nation and we were empowered. That's ועכשיו קרבנו המקום ברוך הוא לעבודתו God connected us in this aspect of Makom . We are now empowered with keeping the world going. It's not a simple task. No wonder Hashem is constantly making sure that we're in proper shape, and doing what we're supposed to be doing-Because we are necessary! As it says (and this is a hard concept to say) תנו עז לאלהים/Give strength to God. Kal v'yachol , Hashem set up the world after He gave us to Torah, that we are giving energy and power, so to say, to God, through our Torah learning.

To reflect on what we've spoken about, we have a problem. We are bothered by the dog singing a song, and yet not by the snake singing a song. In truth, both the dog and the snake represent Amalek. So why is the dog a bigger question for Rav Yeshaya than the snake? We see that the snake represents Amalek from a pasuk in Yeshaya that says, מִשֹּׁ֤רֶשׁ נָחָשׁ֙ יֵ֣צֵא צֶ֔פַע/ From the roots of the snake came out a viper. The Mekubalim say that the / צפע viper , is has same numerical value as עמלק /Amalek , which means that Amalek is a continuation, or manifestation of the snake. Thus, Haman, who came from Amalek, is also rooted in the snake. And Haman המן / is Rasheh Tevot/ an acronym for ה וא מ שרש נ חש / He is from the root of the snake . So we have an Amalek/Haman source in the snake . We also have a source that Amalek is represented by the dog , as we said, that God puts the Jewish people down, and the dog, who's Amalek, comes to bite. Furthermore, when Esther Hamalka is praying to be saved, she says (Tehilim 22) מִיַּד־כֶּ֝֗לֶב יְחִידָתִֽי׃ /from the clutches of the dog. And we said, the dog is Haman, and the dog is Amalek. So is the Amalek the dog, or is it the snake? And why are we okay with a song from the snake but we're not okay with the song of the dog? And we have another question. As we said in our lesson on the snake, the snake says, Somech Hashem L'Kol Noflim/God will pick up those that fall down, which refers to the snake, whose legs were cut off. We were bothered by this. Isn't there no hope for the snake? The snake is Amalek, and it says that eventually he's going to be totally wiped out. The answer we said was that there were two punishments that happened to the snake. One of them was that his legs were cut off, and he's now flat on his face, because he refused to bow to God, and recognize His Hashgacha Pratit, which is the opposite of Modim. The other punishment was that he eats the dust of the earth, which was because of his sin of speaking Lashon Hara against God. One of these sins will be fixed in the future, and he will no longer be bent over. The sin of not recognizing God's Hashgacha will be fixed, and he will stand up straight. He will bow and recognize God. That's the snake-like aspect of Amalek. The dog-like aspect of Amalek is the fact that Amalek barks and speaks Lashon Hara. And that is where Rabi Yeshaya had the question. We can understand that the aspect of Amalek, that he doesn't believe in Hashgacha Pratit was fixed. But the fact of his Lashon Hara, barking like the dog, the brazenness, the עזות דטומאה, Azut D'Tumah/the brazenness of contamination that Amalek had, שמעו עמים ירגזון, when the whole world was petrified, and Amalek just jumped into the boiling bath and cooled it off, that is called an Azut of Tumah/, brazenness of Tumah , that he doesn't bend and doesn't give in. That Azut can't be fixed. That ttrait of Azut is unfixable. That's why it says say, עז פנים לגיהנום. The Brazen- faced goes to Gehinom. So there was an aspect of Amalek that could be fixed. We could fix the fact that he denies God's presence. That's fixable. The kofer/the heretic , we can fix him. That is the snake-like aspect of Amalek. But the dog-like, the barking, there's no hope for that. And that's what Rabi Yeshaya was questioning. How could it be that the brazenness was being fixed? Interestingly, as we have said, the Germans represent Amalek, as it says in the Gemara , in Masechet Megillah, that Yaakov Avinu prayed, Hold back the desires of Esav , referring to a part of Esav called Garmamiah , which Rabbi Yaakov Emden says is is Germania ,. The Germans were from Amalek. The Germans were that aspect that wanted out to wipe out the Jewish people. And part of the German sadism was using barking dogs. That brazenness will never be fixed. It's interesting that Guard your tongue is the end of that Rav Yeshaya piece, where he says, Now that you asked, go back and don't ask about it again. Don't ask any more about the dogs or Amalek . As it says, One who guards his mouth and tongue, protects himself from any evil. So we see that this final discussion of the dog connects back to Lashon Hara That is the trait of the snake that can't be fixed. He spoke Lashon Hara against God. He told us that God doesn't want to do good for you. God doesn't want you to enjoy this world. God doesn't want you to eat from the tree, because He ate from the tree. That's the Lashon Hara of the snake. And we also have Lashon Hara from Haman. It says, in Masechet Megila, No one knew how to speak Lashon Hara better than Haman, He claimed, " The Jews are not worth keeping. Every day is a holiday by them..." That's the trait of Haman. As we said, the dog's song is, בֹּאוּ נִשְׁתַּחֲוֶה וְנִכְרָעָה נִבְרְכָה לִפְנֵי יְיָ עֹשֵׂנוּ: (תהילים צה ו) The dog song is all about bowing , which means Amalek says, OK, I'm bowing, I'm good. And we tell him, You're bowing? That's not enough. Yes, you fixed the fact that you realize God's in charge of the world. That's fine. But your brazenness, the עזות הטומאה, the brazenness that you don't want to change, that, we can't fix. That's why Yeshaya was so bothered. And it's only due to once in their history, when the dogs didn't bark as Bnei Yisrael left Mitzrayim, that dogs have the zechut to do even a little bit of praising. So what exactly is this concept of Azut D'Tumah/ brazenness that can't be fixed? Rav Wolbe discusses the concept of Azut D'Kedusha- Jewish people are brazen in a positive way . We don't give up, we keep on doing the right thing. But Amalek is Azut D'Tumah. They're brazen in the fact that they won't give up on Tumah/impurity So even though there might be a momentary blip, where the dog doesn't bark, as happened at Yetziat Mitzrayim, they always come back to their regular trait of Azut/brazenness . That is the negativity of Amalek. That's why it says when we come to fight against Amalek, it's מחר , Machar/ tomorrow . Why tomorrow ? Because we know that maybe for a second they're going to be good, but by tomorrow it's gone. It says that similarly about Izevel, when she fought against Eliyahu, Eliyahu HaNavi had this great revelation and surge, but she said, let's wait until tomorrow and see what's going to happen tomorrow . Amalek has an Azut . They might be momentarily impacted, but they keep their Azut going, and that can't be fixed.

Today's Perek Shira is the Song of the Snail. It's a pasuk in Tehillim 59,9 , where David HaMelech is cursing the wicked, and he says כְּמוֹ שַׁבְּלוּל תֶּמֶס יַהֲלֹךְ נֵפֶל אֵשֶׁת בַּל חָזוּ שָׁמֶשׁ: / Like the snail that melts and slithers away. the stillborn of a mole, that never saw the sun. So, the mole (which we're not going to talk about) and the snail have in common that the sun is not good for them. And , now lets explain the pasuk : What does it mean that the snail that melts and slithers away ? Simply, it means that it dies when it leaves its shell, so it slithers away. But the Seforno says that a snail has a certain mucus, and it creates a slimy trail that makes it appear like it's melting away. So David HaMelech is saying that the wicked should continually melt away and disappear in a similar fashion. The Midrash adds a point that just like the snail disappears but leaves behind a visible trail, so too with evil slander, long after the actual sound of the words vanish, the damage they cause remains. So, that's the pasuk. What is the snail's message about not seeing the sun? The sefer Kanaf Rananim explains that the wicked are compared to the snail, because just like the snail is always in his shell, hiding himself from the sun, so too, the wicked don't want to see the sun and light of the Torah. They avoid the light and stay in their shells. That's one explanation. The sefer Yismach Yehuda explains beautifully that the Gemara in Nidarim 8b tells us that there's no difference between Gehinom and Olam HaBa . The sun is really not at full force presently, but when Hashem takes the sun out of its sheath, the righteous are healed and the wicked are judged. And not only the righteous are healed , but they enjoy it. They're dancing and the wicked are melting away. That's why the wicked are like the snail, that can't come in contact with the sun. This is an important lesson- the snail symbolizes the inability to deal with the Torah. So the Resha'im avoid the sun, the light of Torah and Godliness in this world, and therefore, they can't handle it in the next world. Basically, this world is, like the Mesilat Yesharim tells us, A place to delight in God. Not just the next world, but this world. And with that enjoyment and delight that we develop in this world for spirituality, we'll continue in the world to come. That's an important concept. Just like when it comes to drinking scotch, you have to develop a taste, you have to develop a taste for spirituality. Somebody that has no appreciation for spirituality will not enjoy it at all. In fact, it's the opposite-it will be painful for them.So, the wicked, snail-like people who avoid the sun, will not be able to ever enjoy the sun. Our job in this world is to develop that taste. A certain rabbi once said jokingly (although there's more than a grain of truth in this humorous remark), that Gan Eden and Gehinom are really the same thing. It's a huge Bet Midrash with bookshelves lining the walls from one end to the other, and people have nowhere else to go- forever. For the righteous person, this is Gan Eden . What more could you ask for? But for the person with no connection to Torah, this is Gehinom - like sitting through a boring speech for eternity. Rav Wolbe said that the time in our lives that we're supposed to develop this taste for spirituality is Shabbat. That's the litmus test. How much do you appreciate Shabbat? Shabbat is Me'en Olam Haba/ a microcosm of Olam Haba. Shabbat is created for Oneg , Oneg Shabbat . Like the Pele Yoetz writes on the topic of Rosh Hashanah, that there are many levels of Oneg . Enjoying your piece of chicken is not the ultimate . That's where it starts. You might say, Oh wow, this is what chicken tastes like, so imagine what Olam Haba tastes like! But the ultimate goal is to get to a spiritual flavor and appreciation. Rav Shach once commented that Gan Eden is the experience of a long Friday night in the winter, learning Gemara by candlelight. You have a long candle, and you sit there with the Gemara and you're great. And you know what Gehinom is? It's the feeling one experiences when the candle is suddenly extinguished and one can no longer study! A more modern example that has happened to me more than once is when you have a 45- minute free Zoom account, and you're in the middle of an exciting shiur . Then suddenly, bing, the 45 minute mark comes and that's it. That's Gehinom if you're in the middle of the class. The experience of Gan Eden and Gehinom depends on one's connection to Torah learning- something that we develop here. And that's the message of the snail: Do not be of those creatures that avoid the sun. Develop a taste for the sun and you will enjoy Olam HaBa.

We continue with our series on humility. Rav Wolbe, his sefer Aleh Shor (vol 1 page 134) talks about the concept of ladders of self-improvement. We find this, he says, in sefer Mesilat Yesharim , where Rav Moshe Chaim Luzzato cites a Gemara in Avoda Zara 20B that says, Torah brings to one being careful and being careful brings you to alacrity and so on. The Hovot Halevavot has ten gates which are also a ladder of sorts. Another of the ladders Rav Wolbe cites is the letter of the Ramban, the famous Igeret HaRamban , which is also a ladder. He tells us that the ladder starts with talking softly. Talking softly brings you to staying away from anger, staying away from anger brings you to humility, humility brings you to fear of God. And Fear of God brings you to be happy in your lot. From there, you come to the Shechina dwelling on a person. Wonderful ladder of the Igeret HaRamban. Many might not appreciate Rav Wolbe's outlook of this as ladder of the Ramban. As we said, the ladder really starts from humility. So this is a beautiful concept, how humility is the first step. And of course, you can't jump right into humility, so we'll go through it more in depth. The first thing the Ramban says, in beautiful words, is to תִּתְנַהֵג תָּמִיד לְדַבֵּר כָּל דְּבָרֶיךָ בְּנַחַת, לְכָל אָדָם וּבְכָל עֵת Accustom yourself to speak gently. All your words, to all people, and at all times. There are lot of alls in there. I once learned that the Ramban is trying to tell us, There are no exceptions here. All your words means every single word you say, to all people, even that nudgy guy, at all times. So even if I'm on my way to my daughter's wedding and I'm a little hassled, or I'm on the way to the airplane, slow it down. All people, all time, all your words. What is that going to do for you? וּבַזֶּה תִּנָּצֵל מִן הַכַּעַס, And this will protect you from anger, which is a most serious character flaw, which causes one to sin. Ok so let's say you got there. You spoke softly. Then, if you speak softly, you don't get angry. Rabbi Ades says, We see from here that your outside impacts your inside. Look how simple this. You're not angry yet, and you got yourself to use that low tone, which in itself is soothing and will protect you from getting angry. And once we are protected from getting angry, what happens next ? He uses beautiful words: Once you've distanced yourself from anger, תַּעֲלֶה עַל לִבְּךָ מִדַּת הָעֲנָוָה, The quality of humility will enter your heart. He says, humility is the best possible trait there is. The Ramban is telling us something very, very powerful: Anger, which stems from arrogance ( you only get angry because things don't go your way) is the antithesis of humility. Anger and humility can not coexist. It's like fire and water. When you take away the water, the fire will burn. When you take away the fire, the water will move. It's interesting that anger is compared to fire . The Zohar says, don't burn any fire in any of your dwellings on Shabbat - and the first fire is the fire of anger. And Humility is compared to water. It says, just like water travels downwards, humility is about going down. Fascinating! Fire and Water, anger and humility. Another interesting point is that the numerical value of מקוה Mikveh is one more than כעס /anger, because going to the mikveh absolves one of the trait of anger; it purifies. That means it's almost a natural reaction. He doesn't say, Remove the anger and then work on you're anava. His words are, וְכַאֲשֶׁר תִּנָּצֵל מִן הַכַּעַס, תַּעֲלֶה עַל לִבְּךָ מִדַּת הָעֲנָוָה When you distance (or save ) yourself from anger, humility will go up on your heart. Naturally , humility will into your heart. And now that you're humble, תַּעֲלֶה עַל לִבְּךָ מִדַּת הַיִּרְאָה, The Middah of Fear of Hashem will come into your heart. What was stopping you from fearing Hashem was Ga'ava ( Hey I'm in charge) which is the opposite of Yirat Hashem. Taaleh , you are elevated . This is not a regular ladder. This is an escalator . You put your foot on one step, and it moves you up to the next one. So your humility will cause your fear to go up. Why? Because now that you're no longer arrogant, you start paying attention. Where'd I come from? Where am I going? I am רִמָּה וְתוֹלֵעָה as frail as a maggot or a worm when alive, even more so in death. He continues, And who's going to judge you? When you start thinking about all these things, you'll be afraid of your Creator. You'll protect yourself from sin, and you'll be always happy with your lot because somebody who is arrogant always wants more. And then he says, When you continue to act with this trait of Anava, and you stand meekly in front of men and you're fearful from Hashem and from sin, אָז תִּשְׁרֶה עָלֶיךָ רוּחַ הַשְּׁכִינָה, וְזִיו כְּבוֹדָהּ, וְחַיֵּי עוֹלָם הַבָּא. The spirit of Hashem's presence will rest upon you and you'll live the life of the World to Come (I'll add in this world ) Unbelievable. The man that has humility is living in Gan Eden on earth. It's fascinating that the Ramban ends with the words, Read this letter once a week and neglect none of it. He says , Every day that you read this letter, Hashem will answer your heart's desires . People think this is some kind of magical segula : Read the letter of the Ramban and Hashem will answer your prayers. No. It says, as we've mentioned many times, that when a person is humble, Hashem answers his prayers. When a person is arrogant, Hashem doesn't answer his prayers. More than that, when the Shechina is in front of you, your prayers are answered easily. When you go to the Kotel, Hashem's Shechina is there. One that becomes humble, says the Ramban, the Shechina is on top of him, so of course his prayers are answered. This is not some kind of magical segula . This is the reality of becoming humble. That's the beautiful ladder of the Ramban, that starts from humility and ends with God's Shechina dwelling on you. What a powerful, powerful concept, to understand and appreciate what we're doing in our work on Anava .

Welcome to our class on humility. When it comes to working on and thinking about a specific Middah , there is always a possible danger that something could ruin the Middah or ruin the effort. In the third gate of the Hovot Halevavot, the Gate of Serving Hashem (fourth chapter), he talks about the ten levels of service of Hashem. The ninth level (which is pretty close to the top) is people who serve Hashem for the right reasons, yet lack an important piece of information. שלא נשמרו ממפסידי העבודות, They aren't careful from guarding themselves from the things that could cause their service Hashem to be lacking. He quotes a pasuk from Kohelet (10:1) זבובי מות יבאיש יביע שמן רוקח /The flies of death can ruin the best of oils and quotes one of the pious men telling the students, " I'm afraid for you, for the greatest of sins ." They asked, What is the greatest of sins? And he said, הגבהות (החונף) והגאוה, כמו שאמר הכתוב Feeling exalted, being a flatterer, and having Ga'ava/ arrogance, as it says תועבת ה' כל גבה לב:‏ ,/ An abomination to God is anybody arrogant. This is scary. A person can do everything right and it can backfire, specifically when a person is working on humility. He might say, " Wow, look who I am. I'm working on humility." He ends up becoming arrogant from that! Rav Wolbe, in his letters, (vol 2, page 129), hints to this Hovot Halevavot and says, When a person works on Middot, every step of the way, he feels that his actions are coming from arrogance that's born from the Flatterer, which are almost the exact words of this Hovot Halevavot. And he says, I have a tradition from my rabbis that we should never think we're doing anything. Whatever we do is only to train ourselves. We're apprenticing, we're interning. When I'm trying to be Mechaven in my prayers, I'm just training myself in how to do it. Whatever I'm working on, it's just a training session. He says, Hitlamdut / an internship or training doesn't drag arrogance . In Aleh Shor (vol two, page 194) he says something similar: When it comes to apprenticing, it's impossible to become arrogant. If I'm doing something good, I can become arrogant. But if I'm just training, I haven't really done anything because I'm only in training. When I'm in training mode, I'm always looking to see what I can fix. My critical eye is going over me every step of the way. A therapist, a doctor, whoever's in training, they know they're in training. Like the nine interns following the big professor through the hospital. They're not arrogant. They know that they're interns. He stresses that we must understand this, and that the only success a person will have in working on themselves is if they have this attitude. Otherwise it's just going to backfire. You might say, " Look at me! Not only am I working on Bitachon, not only do I work on Hessed, I'm even working on Anava! Do you know how great I am?!" He says, If a person does not understand this concept that you're in the internship stage , you're just training, you're in the minor leagues, then you're better off not doing this. You'll be a good Jew without it. It's not for you. It's too dangerous. Furthermore, in Aleh Shor (vol 1, page 65) Rav Wolbe says we are supposed to think, "I just want to get a little bit better, or a little bit more truthful in my approach," One should not think, " I made it ," or " I got it ." Like the example of the poor man who knocks on the door and comes in in the middle of the meal. He is served whatever they're up to. He's not going to say, " Ooh, look who I am!" You're just an intern. You're apprenticing. It shouldn't get to your head. Mesilat Yesharim , in chapter 11, talks about different manifestations of Ga'ava . He says there's a certain type of arrogant person who says in his heart that he's so great and so honorable that honor can never separate from him, and therefore he doesn't even need it. To show that, he'll go to the extreme in humility. But in his heart, he lifts himself up and says, I'm so high up and so respected that I don't even need respect . I'm so great, I don't need someone to tell me how great I am . I have so much of it. I don't need anyone else to pat me on the back. A slightly different type of arrogant person says, "I want to be clearly designated as a person with many great qualities. It's not enough that people say for example, that I'm wise, or I'm kind. He want them to add to the list of his great qualities that I'm very humble. He becomes arrogant in his humility! He wants honor for showing that he's running away from honor! He sits in the back of the shul, and he acts in a very humble way to show that he's the ultimate Anav . Don't call me Rabbi, it's okay, he says. But in his heart he thinks, There's no one wiser and more humble than me . אֵין חָכָם וְעָנָו כָּמוֹנִי בְּכָל הָאָרֶץ" So both the Mesilat Yesharim and Hovot Halevavot are warning us that working on oneself and working on humility can backfire. That's why we go back to Rav Wolbe who tells us an important rule: One must always put on his training cap. He's an intern. He doesn't know anything. He's a humble person in training. The sefer Or Yisrael by Rabbi Yitzhak of Peterberg, in the section Kochvei Or ( (אות י brings down a pasuk from the Gemara in Berachot 61 that says that Yetzer Hara is compared to a fly. And they quote our pasuk זבובי מות יבאיש יביע שמן רוקח / The flies of death can ruin the best of oils. Why is the Yetzer Hara compared to a fly? The Or Yisrael answers, Because as many times as you yell at him, swat at him or blow on him, he doesn't go away. You have to keep sending away. He keeps coming back. That's the Yetzer Hara. He doesn't give up. And that's why even when we're working on something good, and we're trying to send him away, he comes right back. You have to be always aware of him. That's the only way to fight him- to take your fly swatter and keep swatting away. He gives a nice hint- the Gemara in Berachot 10A says that the Isha Shunamit , when describing Elisha, said, I know he's holy. How did she know? One of the reasons is that she never saw a fly on his table. There were never flies around him. He says this is a mashal - There were never flies meant he was able to keep chasing away the Yetzer Hara.

Welcome to our Anava series. A while back we said that the goal of Yetziat Mitzrayim was to make us humble. Somebody recently shared with me a sefer Tiferet Shlomo , on Parashat Beshalach , that says, Anytime a person wants to merit any level of greatness, he has to start off with the understanding that, 'I am not fit for this.' It's not my merit, but rather than merit of my forefathers that opened the path for me, and set me on the road. The Gemara in Berachot 10B says, כל התולה בזכות עצמו תולין לו בזכות אבותיו כו' ע"ש. If you think that you're worthy on your own, God will reciprocate and say, "I gave this to you because of your forefathers. " The very fact that you take credit makes you less worthy so you need the merit of others. But when someone says, I don't have merit, that in itself is the merit, because humility is the merit! As the pasuk in Devarim 7,7 says לֹ֣א מֵֽרֻבְּכֶ֞ם מִכׇּל־הָֽעַמִּ֗ים חָשַׁ֧ק יְהֹוָ֛ה בָּכֶ֖ם / God likes you because you are not great, but you humble yourselves. That's why we always say Elohenu V'Elohei Avotenu / Our God and the God of our forefathers, which means the whole Elohut / the whole connection to God comes because we realize it's Elohenu avotenu . It's not enough to simply understand, I got it from my father. No, the fact that you make the statement and realize it's from your father, is how you create your connection. Conversely, somebody who lifts themself up and thinks I'm worthy on my own, is going to go down, as we see in many cases in history The Tiferet Shlomo points out that Az Yashir starts with, כִּֽי־גָאֹ֣ה גָּאָ֔ה ס֥וּס וְרֹכְב֖וֹ רָמָ֥ה בַיָּֽם׃ He threw the horse in the rider. Why do we say that? Because Paroah was the one that said, I am a god. So Hashem is showing us what happens to those that think they're gods. The Jewish people were saved specifically because they were humble. He then goes through the Nusach HaTefila that we say every morning. ממצרים גאלתנו כו' וים סוף להם בקעת כו' על זאת שבחו אהובים כו' שירות ותשבחות ברכות והודאות למלך אל חי וקים . God took us out of Egypt… He split the sea….Those beloved ones sing songs Wonderful! We are talking about Keriat Yam Suf and we are going to say Hashem Yimloch L'Olam Vaed- that's our daily introduction to our prayers. You have to have Keriat Yam Suf on your mind, so that you are ready to pray. You're supposed to make Keriat Yam Suf alive every day of your life. In middle of that discussion, we say רם ונשא כו' משפיל גאים ומגביה שפלים . Ram V'Nisah God is great. He brings down the arrogant What does that have to do with anything? Then we go back to תהלות לאל עליו ן Why, in the middle of my discussion about God saving us from Mitzrayim , do I have this little Mussar on Anava ? He explains, That's the point. Without the Anava, they never would've gotten out of Mitzrayim . And without the Anava you can't connect to Hashem. So every single day, I'm not just Zecher LYetziat Mitzrayim as a philosophical concept. Rather, with that Zecher LYetziat Mitzrayim comes my daily dose of Anava , and then I'm ready to pray. And he says, we see this built in to the famous Rashi on Zeh Eli V'Anvehu, Rashi15B, which says שראתה שפחה על הים מה שלא ראו / So the Jewish people saw tremendous things and yet they remained humble. That's what we want to say. מוציא אסירים ופודה ענוים / God took those out of jail and He redeems the humble. Why did He take them out of jail? Why did He redeem them? Because they were Anavim . And he says, an unbelievable thing ועונ"ה לעמו הוא אותיות ענו"ה /We say God answers ועונה Onah which has the same letters as the word Anava humility ענוה indicating that what caused Hashem to answer us is our Anava . In Arbit, we say the same. בוקע ים לפני משה זה אלי ענו ואמרו. God split the sea for all the Jewish people . He says, Moshe is the symbol of humility. משה עניו מכל אדם. ( Bamidbar 12,3) The sea was split in the merit of Moshe Rabbenu, in the merit of Anava . It says זה אלי ענו ואמרו Answer ענו has the same letters as ענו Anav humble They saw these great, great revelations and they still remained anav . That's one explanation. Annu/ Anav, they remained anav . The other explanation is because they were Anav they were able to say is Zeh Eli, which is Kabalat Ohl Malchut Shamayim. You can't accept the yoke of God's kingdom unless you're humble. Another unbelievable explanation- It says in the war with Amalek, Shemot 17, וּמֹשֶׁה֙ אַהֲרֹ֣ן וְח֔וּר עָל֖וּ רֹ֥אשׁ הַגִּבְעָֽה׃ Moshe and Aharon went to top of the mountain. And in Bamidbar 23, 9 it says, Bilam says וּמִגְּבָע֖וֹת אֲשׁוּרֶ֑נּוּ / I see them from the mountains, Rashi says that refers to the Avot , who are considered the mountains. So says Moshe and Aharon went to top of the mountain, when going to fight Amalek. Amalek is all about Ga'ava , and we fight him with humility, by realizing we'll go on top of the mountain. There is a phrase from the Rishonim, the Kananas al gavei Anak/The Jewish people are like dwarfs on top of giants. So before we go to fight against Amalek, we can't stand on regular ground. We're going up on the mountain, as if to say I'm a dwarf and I'm standing on top of a giant. That humility is what caused us to win against Amalek. And that's why at Keriat Yam Suf, we aroused Zechut Avot. As it says in Shemot 14,30 וירא ישראל . /And Yisrael saw. But Tiferet Shlomo says we can read it as, they saw Yisrael, their grandfather referring to Yaakov Avinu. I'd like to add that Rav Wolbe says Shema Yisrael also means Listen Yaakov . When the tribes were standing around Yaakov Avinu's bed and they said, Shema Yisrael/ Listen, our father Yisrael. And that's what we're saying every single day. When I say Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad , it's not because of me , it's because of Shema Yisrael, because of my grandparents , and that in itself is a statement of humility. It's not just Zechut Avot. It's the expression of humility, that I need to come on to them. This is a fascinating thesis by the Tiferet Shlomo. It says in Devarim 26,7 ונצעק אל ה' אלהי אבותינו We cried out to the God of our fathers, וישמע ה' את קולנו . and He heard our voice. And I was always bothered that it starts our our fathers and then our voices. But based on what we said before from the Gemara, that if you are humble and you say, I need my parents zechut, then Hashem says, well then I could do it on your zechut alone. As it says in Shemot 2,24 (שמות ב, כד) וישמע אלהים את נאקתם ויזכור אלהים את בריתו את אברהם את יצחק ואת יעקב. He heard their groans and He remembered the Brit with Avraham Yitzhak and Yaakov. When he wanted to hear their cries, Hashem said, Oh, they're arousing zechut Avot. They're not doing in their own merit, then I'll answer them. Shemot 2,25 וירא אלהים את בנ"י Hashem saw Benei Yisrael. This is an unbelievable explanation. He saw that there were Bnei Yisrael, He saw that they realized they needed zechut Avot, and וידע אלהים God knew. The simple explanation is, that this refers to the interference with intimacy. because that's something that only God could know. But he adds, Only God knows when you are praying, if you're praying because you think you're worthy, or you're not. Every single day before we say Az Yashir, we quote from Nechemia 9,9 ותרא את עני אבותינו / You saw the poverty, you saw the humility. And again, quite clear, the only way God heard our prayers at Yam Suf was because he saw the עוני , he saw the humility. As Rashi says at Zeh Eli , לא אני תחלת הקדושה / I'm not the beginning of Kedusha מימי אבותי it's my forefathers. He offers an unbelievable explanation of why Keriat Yam Suf needed Anava . Because when it came to time for Keriat Yam Suf Moshe wanted to pray but Hashem said it's not about praying. And he uses the term that's a Zohar that says, בעתיקא תליא מילטא / it's dependent on the Atika /the ancient One (on God). There are different explanations of what that means (Zohar volume two, page 52B.) The Nefesh HaChaim, Rav Chaim Volozhin says, Atikah means you need bitachon , it's not about prayer, it's about relying . But the Tiferet Shlomo explains it's about humility . Keriat Yam Suf needed humility. What does humility have to do with, with Hashem being called the Atikah/ the ancient One? In creation, Hashem hides Himself. The word Olam is from the Lashon of He'Elam/hidden . God is referred to as Sanua . He is hidden . We don't know where He is. And in Keriat Yam Suf, we know the wind's blew as the sea split. Why not let the sea split in a very open way? Because all miracles are done in a way that the nature is also involved. Noah had to get on an Ark. Why? An ark can't hold the whole creation. The answer is Because God is humble in His miracles. So if we want miracles to happen, we have to emulate God and also be humble. That's what it means by בעתיקא תליא מילטא The whole KeriatYam Suf was dependent the on humility of the Jewish people, to emulate the humility of God*. And that's why it says in in Tehilim (113,6) המשפילי לראות בשמים ובארץ . God humbles Himself every time He comes down and looks at the heavens and earth. Through the Anava , Hashem brings down the miracles. Again, if we want to arouse the humble God's miracles, we too have to be humble. I once heard an unbelievable explanation from Hacham Yeuda Moalem, one of the Roshei Yeshiva of Porat Yosef (there is a sefer written on him called Gaon HaAnava) He was humble, beyond humble. He says that when the sea split, it split at different times for different peoples. He asks, Why did it split for one person at one point, and for another person later? He says that it says that when the water hit Nachshon's nose, it split. And everyone is different. Someone who walks with his head down low, who's humble, the water hits his nose earlier, so the sea split earlier. Someone who walks with the head high in the air, is arrogant (Of course this is being said in a a figurative, joking way) and if the person is arrogant, his head is high up in the air, so it took longer for the water to reach his nose, and longer for the sea to split. He says the same is true in our lives. If we want our symbolic sea to split our problems, we have to lower our noses a little bit. We know there are two things that are as difficult as Keriat Yam Suf- Parnasa and Shidduchim , and both of those things are humbling. When does our sea split? When we're humbled? Oh, you have a business? You you know what you're doing? Not so simple. Oh, Everyone's going to want want my family. Everyone will want my son or daughter. Let's see.. The shidduch process is humbling. Why is it humbling? Because we need you to put your nose down for the sea to split. That's the way we arouse Hashem's mercy. If you want to see the miracles of the humble God, we too have to reciprocate with humility. * For a source that Hashem is considered humble, a pasuk in Mishleh 8,30says, וָאֶהְיֶ֥ה אֶצְל֗וֹ אָ֫מ֥וֹן I will be by Him an Amon Amon can mean different things, and one of which is craftsman. The Midrash in Bereshit Rabba 1,1 uses the term Amon M'Tsuna/ humble craftsman. Rav Wolbe used to quote this on this concept that God is called a Humble Craftsman.

Welcome to our series on humility. Yesterday we spoke about the concept of Rommemut HaNefesh/ an exalted uplifted soul . Today we'll continue with that topic, starting with a quote from Rabbenu Yonah in Shaare HaAvoda. It's worthwhile to read every word. He says, " The first opening of serving Hashem is that the person who's serving Hashem should know his value and realize his qualities, and the qualities of his forefathers; how great they were, how important they were, how dear they were to Hashem. And they should try and strengthen themselves constantly to keep themselves on that high level and to act on it constantly. And every day, continue to add strength to get even more qualities to connect to their Creator. It'll be slow at the beginning, but he will get even greater as time goes on." And then he says, " This will cause him that when he has a desire to do something negative or he becomes arrogant and wants to do something improper, he'll be embarrassed of himself and of his forefathers and he'll tell himself, 'Somebody great and important like me, with is so many wonderful qualities…I'm the children of the greats of kings of old, how can I do such a thing like this?'" And he quotes a term used by Yosef HaSadik, " איך אעשה הרעה הגדולה הזאת וחטאתי לאלקים /How could I do a sin like this and sin to God?" hinting to that's what saved Yosef. And the word that he uses in Hebrew is, I have qualities that are exalted… And he says the opposite: If heaven forbid, you don't realize your qualities and qualities of forefathers, very easily you're going to go in the ways of the Pritzim/people that breach the proper ways. He says The one that wants to serve Hashem has to constantly try to realize his qualities and the qualities of the Sadikim and Hasidim and how important and endearing they are to Hashem. He has to realize that he too can reach those levels of importance and endearment, as long as he serves Hashem the way they did and uses his time and abilities according to his strengths and talents . As the pasuk says in Devarim 30,14, כִּֽי־קָר֥וֹב אֵלֶ֛יךָ הַדָּבָ֖ר מְאֹ֑ד בְּפִ֥יךָ וּבִֽלְבָבְךָ֖ לַעֲשֹׂתֽוֹ / It's extremely close to you, in your mouth and your heart to do it which means Hashem is not asking you more than you can do. And our great forefathers Avraham Yitzhak and Yaakov served Him according to their abilities." Unbelievable words of hizuk from Rabbenu Yonah, That the first step towards serving Hashem is realizing your hashivut / importance . And again, that's not a contradiction to being humble. On the other hand, Rav Chaim Vital in his sefer Shaare. Kedusha , section 2 gate 4 says almost the same words in contrast, that being down on yourself is the gate of the beginning of the seduction of the Yetzer Harah. Even if you're a sadik, the Yetzer Hara will come to you as a pious man and say, 'How could you even entertain coming close to the Holy King of the world, you piece of dust, worms and maggots?' These attitudes come from the original snake that interacted with Adam and Chava. Last class we spoke about Amalek. Amalek is the evil force that tries to tell us, Rak Rah Kol HaYom/ You're only evil, all day . The pasuk in Yeshaya 14,29 says ךְ כִּֽי־מִשֹּׁ֤רֶשׁ נָחָשׁ֙ יֵ֣צֵא צֶ֔פַע וּפִרְי֖וֹ שָׂרָ֥ף מְעוֹפֵֽף׃ / From the root of the Nachash/snake will emerge a Sefa/viper. These are 2 different types of snakes. And our rabbis tell us that from the root of the snake (referring to the original snake, the sin of Adam HaRishon) will come out a viper- referring to Amalek. The Chida says in Nachal Eshkol , his commentary on Kohelet 10,11, that the numerical value of צפע is 90 + 80 + 70 = 240, the same numerical value as עמלק Amalek. Amalek is that continuation, the embodiment of the snake. And that's why just like in the future it says the snake will be wiped out, so too, Amalek will be wiped out. As we mentioned previously, the epitome of Amalek was Haman . And that's why the sefer Kehilat Yaakov, written by Rav Yaakov Tzvi Yalish (1777- 1825), one of the students of the Chozeh of Lublin tells us that Haman is Rasheh Tevot for ה וא מ שרש נ חש . He comes from the root of the snake. The opposite is Mordechai HaSadik. Haman was there to bring down the exaltedness of the Jewish people and Mordechai brought it up by not bowing. The snake is told, in Bereshit 3:15 וְאֵיבָ֣ה ׀ אָשִׁ֗ית בֵּֽינְךָ֙ וּבֵ֣ין הָֽאִשָּׁ֔ה I will put hatred between you and the woman. The word איבה spells is א יש י הודי ה יה ב שושן. Wonder of wonders, that we have this concept clearly brought out that it goes back to the snake who started all our problems. The snake tried to introduce the false Rommemut/ arrogance into man and he continues his mission with Amalek, and with Haman. Let us again go a little deeper into our story: As the Jewish people are leaving Mitzrayim, they're going out ביד רמה with an uplifted hand, with Rommemut. Amalek can't stand that. Amalek can't swallow the fact that we're coming out with Rommemut . Amelek's numerical value 240 is רם as well. Every concept has a negative and positive. The Jewish people are the Rommemeut of Kedusha/ the holy aspect of exaltedness, whereas Amalek is the opposite. He's the contaminated aspect of exaltedness. He misuses this concept of Rommemeut . He's a fraud. He's Haman who makes it look like he's רם Ram/exalted , important. But it's fake, because he is dependent on the world to give him that importance. It's not inherent. He goes wild when he doesn't get his importance because he's not really internally great. He doesn't have internal qualities of greatness. The Elder of Kelm in Shemot , essay 253 tells us that true honor cannot be taken by anybody else. As it says in Mishleh 3,35 כָּ֭בוֹד חֲכָמִ֣ים יִנְחָ֑לוּ l The wise inherit honor. Because they have wisdom, they have inherent greatness. If a person is always complaining and in pain because they don't get outside recognition and constantly feel chased by others, that is a sign that other people own his honor and they can give it or take it away from him. But not the Chachamim . They have inherent honor and no one can take it away from them. Look what Haman ended up saying. When one person, Mordechai, doesn't bow down to him, he says, " כל זה איננו שוה לי This is all worthless to me ." Of course, he can't show it, as it says, VeYitapek Haman. Haman holds himself back. He controls himself, but he knows, inside of him, how much it hurt. The rabbis tell us, based on Gemara in Masechet Megila that Yaakov Avinu requested from Hashem, " Don't let Esav HaRasha get his will. " And that refers, it says to גרממיא של אדם If Hashem would not have held them back, they would have destroyed the whole world. Rav Yaakov Emden, hundreds of years before the Holocaust, says there's a mistake in the text- It shouldn't say גרממיא , it should say גרמניה , Germany . So the Gemara clearly says that Germany is this force that comes from Esav (as does Amelek) that could wipe out the world. The Germans mimic the fake concept of Rommemut as well. As we know, Hitler professed the Aryan race, his pseudoscientific superior race concept. Now that we have DNA and RNA, there's nothing to support this claim. It's what we called pseudoscience. But they believed that they were some special, superior specimen of humankind. They thought they were a master race and they believed that non-Aryans were racially inferior. The term that Hitler used was Untermentsch/subhuman, and he claimed they were an existential threat that had to be exterminated. That was the state ideology that led to the Holocaust. Blonde hair, blue eyes- a made-up, fake Rommemeut . There's nothing there. It's Pseudoscientific. Rav Wolbe writes in his sefer at the end of Parashat Beshalach where it talks about Amalek's attack, that the Jewish people have quality . That we have what's called Azut D'Kedusha. We have a strength of brazenness, of holiness. We don't give up. Like Mordechai, we aren't impacted by outside world opinion. That's why we're still here today. We're called Azin Sh'bUmot the most brazen of nations , and we wouldn't survive without that. But Amalek has the Azut of Tum'ah. As it says, Every nation is in trembling, they were all impacted by the event of Keriat Yam Suf. And who was the one that said, I'm going to be brazen I don't care… That was Amalek. He's not impacted. He doesn't change from anything around him, from anything outside of him. He continues to do what he wants to do. That's the ultimate evil. As long as Amalek is around, Hashem's throne is not complete. He is the antithesis of a Hashem. Shaul Hamelech was the first king to take on Amalek but he didn't do it. Why not? In Shmuel 1, perek 15:24, Shaul excuses himself and says חָטָ֔אתִי כִּֽי־עָבַ֥רְתִּי אֶת־פִּֽי־יְהֹוָ֖ה וְאֶת־דְּבָרֶ֑יךָ כִּ֤י יָרֵ֙אתִי֙ אֶת־הָעָ֔ם וָאֶשְׁמַ֖ע בְּקוֹלָֽם׃ I sinned. I didn't listen to Hashem and to you. Because I was afraid of the people. You were afraid of the people? That's a lack of Azut D'Kedusha. You can't take on Amalek, the Azut of Tum'ah unless you possess Azut D'Kedusha. Lastly, we said there's difference between Ga'ava , which means you think you're great because you're above somebody, and Rommemut , which is inherent exaltedness. We say Romemtanu Mikol Leshonot/God lift us up/exalted us, above all other tongues. But why do we have to be above all other tongues? It should be inherent, shouldn't it? And the answer is, it is inherent. We are greater than all other tongues doesn't mean that we're just greater than all the nations. It means our language is greater, not by comparison, but it's inherently greater. The building blocks of creation were the 22 letters of the Alef Bet. Just like we have a periodical table elements, we have the 22 letters. They call water H2O, two hydrogen and one oxygen. But if you could look with spiritual glasses, you would see water is מים . Mem Yud Mem. That's the spiritual makeup of water, and that's why it's called the Mayim . When you call it water or agua or any other name, it's just a made up word to refer to it. It's not the inherent essence of the word. So the only language that is inherently exalted, because it's talking about the thing itself, is Lashon Hakodesh . That's why we're not just being arrogant about our language, like, " My language is more poetic than yours ." Or, " My language is richer than yours." No, it's inherently exalted. It's Rommamtanu M'kol Leshonot. This concludes our lesson on the contrast between exaltedness and arrogance.

Welcome to our class on humility. We continue with the topic of accepting suffering with humility. David Hamelech, in chapter 23 of Tehilim says the famous pasuk גַּ֤ם כִּֽי־אֵלֵ֨ךְ בְּגֵ֪יא צַלְמָ֡וֶת לֹא־אִ֘ירָ֤א רָ֗ע כִּי־אַתָּ֥ה עִמָּדִ֑י שִׁבְטְךָ֥ וּ֝מִשְׁעַנְתֶּ֗ךָ הֵ֣מָּה יְנַֽחֲמֻֽנִי׃ / Even though I go in the valley of death, I do not fear evil, for You are with me. Your rod and Your staff, they will give me comfort. The word shevet / rod is something to hit with. Like the pasuk says, וּפָקַדְתִּ֣י בְשֵׁ֣בֶט פִּשְׁעָ֑ם / I will remember them with a staff for their sins וּ֝מִשְׁעַנְתֶּ֗ךָ is something you lean on, something you get support from. Like we say, Mishan U'Mivtach L'Sadikim The word Mishan is like a cane that you lean on. Hema Ynahamuni/They give me comfort. Rashi says, Shivtecha refers to the suffering , and Mishan means I feel guaranteed in your kindness. Right now I'm going through Din/justice but with that din and justice, I am relying on You that it will turn around. I know that the suffering will cause my sins to be forgiven and therefore I am Batuach/guaranteed that I will go back to my kingdom. David Hamelech said this when he was on the run. So yes, there's a shevet / rod. David Hamelech realizes that he just got whacked, but he knows that ultimately this whack will bring him the good. The Tomar Devorah adds another point, when discussing Nachum Ish Gamzu , who famously said, Gam Zu L'Tova / This is also for the good This also , that looks like it's coming from the bad and looks like justice, is good . He would try to take the bad and say it's going to turn around to the good. Gam zu L'Tova. Rav Shlomo Kluger, in his commentary on the siddur says, It says Hodu L'Olam Ki Tov, we thank Hashem that it's good. Ki L'Olam Hasdo/ His kindness is forever. The Jewish people have to say, Ki L'Olam Hasdo. And if you say it and work on realizing that this difficult situation is for the good, that will turn it into the good. But it starts by accepting that it's difficult, acknowledging that It's hard but I'm going to accept it, although it's difficult. That Emunah, and working through it will turn it around. There's a sefer Rav Yeveh Al HaTorah , by Rav Yaakov Yosef ben Yehuda (1738- 1790) one of the students of the Maggid of Mezrich (who sent his students to hear from Rav Zusha how to make a blessing on the bad and good in the same way). He says because Nahum Ish Gamzu believed (he didn't feel it, but he believed) that everything is Hessed and Rachamim , he was able to take the din , which was justice and turn around. That's what happened when he bought gold and jewels to give to the king as a present. But an innkeeper stole the gold and precious items and replaced them with dust. When Nachum Ish Gamzu got to the king, he discovered that the chest was full of dust and said Gam Zu LTova, and Hashem made a miracle that the dust turned into miraculous dust like the dust of Abraham Avinu. When they threw it at the enemy, it turned into arrows and spears. That it turned into dirt was calamity, and I don't know what Nachum was thinking, but he turned it around. It was justice, he says, but it turned out to good. He offers a nice explanation of the pasuk , " VaYomer Elokim Vayehi Or/God (of justice) says, let there be light." What does that mean? When a person is in a situation of Elokim/ Middat HaDin and he says ' Yehi Or/let this judgment that's happening to me turn into a light ,' then yehi Or/ it will turn into light . I once saw a beautiful quote by Rabbi Moshe Wilson z'l via email ( I don't have the source in a book) when he was still alive. It quoted him as saying that the Mekubalim teach that המתקת הדינים בשקדים which means justice/din is sweetened at its source . What does that mean? He explains that justice emanates from a spiritual world that demands that no spark be left behind, no soul will be lost and that we all must do teshuva. Similarly, Rav Wolbe used to always say that Middat HaDin is Tovea Shelemut/God's justice is demanding perfection. It's not this big mean, angry Middat HaDin . No Middat HaDin is the teacher that says, " Come on Abie, you can do better. I think you could get a higher mark. Take the test again. Study harder, you'll do better. I want more than an 83. I want a 90." That's Middat HaDin It's demanding perfection. In Shemuel 2, 14:14 it says, לְבִלְתִּ֛י יִדַּ֥ח מִמֶּ֖נּוּ נִדָּֽח׃ / So that nobody is pushed away, which is a kabbalistic concept that Hashem works the world that the end everyone will come back. So now the verdict says " Such and such person has to return." They want this soul back. Being way up there in Shamayim , can there anything be sweeter than that? But then when the justice goes out from its root and enters our world, it might be implemented harshly, maybe has v'shalom with an illness, a financial loss or other calamity to pull this Neshama out of its bond with evil and bad character traits etc.. the court decided that's what he needs and the verdict goes forth. But what happens if instead of the judgment coming out of its source and reaching us, we go back to the source of the justice on our own? What if we ourselves realize that since we will anyways be forced to return to our source through suffering, we'll do the work of teshuva and avoid all the pain. Once you take that attitude, everything turns around. That's why it says, If one sees suffering is coming his way. Why doesn't it say When he's suffering ? The Ben Ish Chai in his sefer Ben Yoyada on that Gemara says that Hashem, in His mercy, doesn't bring things on a person immediately. First there are little telltale signs. The financial climate is not good. You get a little scare and you have to go take a test… He sees it coming, but it hasn't come yet. And then he says, " Oh no! I'm humbled. I realize, I have things to fix," and he returns to Hashem- and that's it! It goes away because we fulfilled the purpose and then the justice becomes sweet, because even if the Teshuva demands that we break our ego (that's what it's all about. That's why we're talking about humility) when we do so on our own, even if the process isn't easy, it's very sweet . That's why we say Shana Tova U'Metuka, a sweet new year . The Chafetz Chaim once said , Everything is good, but some things are sweet and some things are bitter. When we say something is evil, it's because it's bitter. Of course it's ultimately good, Gam Zu L'Tova . But I don't want it just to be L'Tova . I don't want to have the bitter that's going to get sweet. I want to have the sweet . And it's sweet when you go back to the source and you say, Hashem, I know why it's happening. I know you want me back. I'm gonna come back on my own. I once an explanation of why we read Maftir Yona on Yom Kippur Mincha. It's because Yona tried to run away from God. Hashem brought a whale. He went under and he came up and he was spit out and the whole story until eventually he goes and does what he has to do. And the lesson is, You're going to get there anyway. Do it willingly . Hashem wants what's best for us. He's trying to get us there. And everything that happens around us is to humble us, accept His will and go further. That's the Jewish outlook on when things are challenging and why it's happening- ultimately, for humility.

Welcome to our class on humility. One aspect of humility is that when things don't go right, we see it as coming from Hashem, Who is in charge. We accept it with humility, without demands or complaints. We humbly accept the will of God. There is a Mishna that says, A person has a responsibility to say a blessing on the evil, the same as he says a blessing on the good. The Gemara in Berachot 60B, comments on that and says, Does that mean you say the exact same blessing? That's not true. When something good happens, there's a blessing HaTov V'HaMetiv/God is good and bequeaths good and Has V'shalom when something bad happens, we say a blessing of Dayan HaEmet God is the true Judge. So it's not the same text. So how could you say that you have to make the blessing in the same way? The Gemara answers that it means you have to accept them the same way. Just like when something good happens you accept it with happiness without any complaints, so too, has v'shalom , you accept when something doesn't go right b'simcha . Does that mean that in your mind it's exactly the same? That you don't flinch when a bad thing happens because Hey , it's good? Well, obviously not because we make two different blessings. There is a famous line in the Gemara in Pesachim 50A, In the future. Hashem will be king on the land and on that day, יהיה ה' אחד ושמו אחד /He will be one and His name will be One The Gemara asks, Does that mean today His name is not One? To which the Gemara answers that this world is a little different than the next world. In this world we make two different blessings. On good things, we say HaTov VHaMetiv. On bad things, has v'shalom, we say, Dayan Emet. But in the World to Come, everything is HaTov HaMetiv. That means that in this current world, we don't perceive difficult things as good. When they're difficult, they're difficult and we have to be aware that they're difficult. We can't delude ourselves into saying it's good. It's obviously not good. You want to change it, it's not so good. Rav Avraham Grodzinski the great Mashgiach of Slobodka, in his sefer Torat Avraham, has a whole unit that discusses accepting Yissurim . He quotes a very interesting Tosafot in Sotah 31A, which quotes from the Yerushalmi in the 9 th perek of Berachot , a slightly different version of a story that we all know. The story is of Rabbi Akiva who was one of the 10 martyrs and died Al Kiddush Hashem. As he was tortured, he said Shema . His students were standing there, and we know what they asked him, but lthe wicked king Turnus Rufus, the one who ordered this horrible execution was also there. He saw Rabbi Akiva saying Shema , and not only was he saying it, but he was smiling. So this wicked man said, " Saba, saba/Old man, old man. You're either a fool or you're a Meva'et B'Yissurim, you're someone that's kicking at Yissurim. You're being defiant. It's like if you hit a kid and the kid says, " Ha ha, you can't hurt me ." Rabbi Akiva responded, "I am not a fool and I'm not defiant. My whole life I waited to say this pasuk with all my heart, and now I'm saying it. I'm going to say it with a smile. On that Rav Grodzenski says, We see from here it's possible when someone is suffering, that there are two ways to interpret his happiness. It could be a happiness of accepting suffering with love or it could be defiance. ( His understanding is that the defiance isn't directed toward the torturer, like someone being tortured by a Nazi won't give him the pleasure of screaming). This defiance is to God. How so? He quotes the Gemara that we just mentioned, that one does not make the same blessing on good and bad. And therefore he says, " The person has to feel the bad, that this is Dayan HaEmet." God is invoking truth; God is not invoking kindness now. This is judgment, not mercy. That's what the Dayan Emet blessing is. With all that being said, he has to accept it b'simcha , that he's happy on the justice. He feels the suffering, but at the same time he accepts the suffering. That's what it means to accept Yissurim B'Ahava. Accepting Yissurim B'Ahava doesn't mean that the person is apathetic. It's not like he took Novocaine and doesn't feel anything. No, something is hurting, and I accept the pain, but I accept it happily. Just like someone getting a root canal doesn't punch the dentist. He doesn't like the root canal. It's painful. But he accepts it with happiness. He's not delusional, he doesn't say " It's great, it's terrific that this is happening. It's the best thing!" It is painful, it is hard. It takes processing to get there. Rav Avraham Grodzinski practiced what he preached. He was a Baal Yissurim . He was the father-in-law of Rav Wolbe and he died in the Warsaw ghetto. When he first became Mashgiach of Slobodka, his wife passed away. He was taking care of eight children, the youngest of them one and two years old. It was a terrible tragedy. Halacha says to say, Dayan HaEmet - has v'shalom, mourners have to make a beracha. But he did not want make this beracha out of habit (This is brought down the introduction to one of his Sefarim, written by his sons) You have to accept it b'simcha . It took him two days until he said Dayan HaEmet, until he was ready to say it. He didn't just say it, he wanted to be ready to say it. I heard this from Rav Wolbe besides it being in the book. What greatness. He wasn't trying to fool people by saying immediately that it was great. He was being honest. No, it's not great. He lost his wife. He had eight orphans. He was not instantly ready to say it. A Gadol B'Yisrael, a giant of people once came to our house in Monsey to visit my father. He had recently lost a child, lo alenu, and he said something that, to this day, hits me to the core. He said, " I don't understand. There are three partners, man, his wife, and God. How could Hashem take something away without asking the other two partners permission?" I was like, Whoa. How can he say that? But the answer is he was dealing with it. It's a process. There are internal struggles that we have. You can't just take a shot Novocaine and ignore everything that's going on. The definition of the word רע is evil , but the root of the word רע comes from a pasuk in Tehilim 2,9 תְּ֭רֹעֵם בְּשֵׁ֣בֶט בַּרְזֶ֑ל כִּכְלִ֖י יוֹצֵ֣ר תְּנַפְּצֵֽם׃ Break them with the iron staff. And Rav Moshe Shapiro says the root of the word תרעם is רע / broken , because רע is a just piece of the picture. On its own, it's evil, but in the larger picture, it is something that is good. The root canal is not great, but now you can eat without pain. So in the larger picture, it's good. Some might ask, about the Maggid of Mezritch, who was asked by his students, how it could be humanly possible for anyone to reach the level that the Gemara describes, where a person is required to bless Hashem for the bad, just as he blesses Hashem for the good. Great question. The Maggid of Mezritch told them, " Go and ask my student the holy Reb Zusha." So they went to Rev Zusha's home, which was a shambles. His clothes were torn and faded, he seemed to be in physical pain and his family situation wasn't great. They asked him the question, How could it be that a person makes a beracha on the bad the same as he does on the good. They told him the Maggid of Mezritch sent them to him for the answer to the question. Rav Zusha answered, " You've come to the wrong place. I never experienced anything bad in my life, so how could I answer you?" When they heard his answer, they understood. That story makes it seem like Rav Zusha didn't have any feelings, and just thought everything was great. But that's a rare exception. This is an important rule. There's the rule and there is the exception. Rav Ades said, " We don't live our lives on stories." You have to go and learn the topic. The Leshem, Rav Elyashiv's grandfather, in is sefer HaDe'ah (vol 2, derush 5, chapter 30), asks the famous question. " How could it be that if you rely on Hashem, He comes through, if He didn't come through for many great people? His answer is that some of them were on the level of Mekablei Yissurim B'Ahava. They wanted to accept suffering with love like Rabbi Akiva, and the rare example of the 10 martyrs. And yes, of course Rabbi Akiva could have gotten out of it with his bitachon, but he didn't want to, he wanted to be Mekabel Yissurim B'Ahava.. And further, he didn't want to bother his Creator. He didn't want to bother his Creator?? Rav Bloch, in his sefer Igeret Al HaBitachon page 72 says, asks, What do you mean you don't want to bother your Creator? There is a mitzvah of Bitachon. How can it be a bother? He answers based on the Gemara in Pesachim 50A that we quoted above, that Olam Haba is only HaTov HaMetiv. In the future, we will recognize that everything is good; that everything that happened to us is Tov Mamash- not just for the good, but good . There are some people that can reach that level in this world. It's like I have vanilla ice cream with sprinkles, but I say, " Could you give me that vanilla ice cream with sprinkles," even though I have the same thing. It was all the same for them, and therefore it was a bother to ask God to change it. There are people that reach that level. Rav Zusha was one of those people. But that doesn't mean that we are on that level or that we should now suddenly bypass the situation and say, " It's all good ." It's not all good, it's all for the good . Ehen something happens to us, we have to feel it. Then we have to humble ourselves and accept it, even though it's difficult and we don't like it. We have to humble ourselves to will of God. There are two ways to do it. If you say, " Nothing happened, it's great," you're not humbling yourself to will of God. You're reframing that this is good when you don't really feel it's good, but you're trying to make yourself feel that it's good. But even the greatest of greats aren't necessarily there, and for us to even think that we're there is almost presumptuous.

Welcome to our series on Anava . Chacham Bentzion Abba Shaul, in his sefer Or LeTzion Chochma UMussar (page 242) brings up the following point: On one hand, our rabbis tell us in Sanhedrin 37A, that everyone has an obligation to say, " The world was created for me. " That means you're supposed to look at the sun, the moon, the stars and know that everything in the world is there for me . That might sound like arrogance. But Chacham Bentzion says we see from here that humility does not mean that a person feels lowly and he is in a state of Ye'ush and despair thinking he has no value. It doesn't mean you think, "There's no benefit in what I am and in what I do." That's not the definition of humility. That's Shiflut/lowliness and negativity .. What is humility? Humility means that I believe that whatever I accomplish is a gift from Hashem. I'm a somebody. I may have a beautiful car or a beautiful watch, but someone gave me the car and someone gave me the watch. I'm not saying, This car is a piece of junk. No, it's a beautiful car, but it was given to me by somebody else . He further expounds on this by explaining a seeming contradiction: On one hand, the pasuk in Divrei Hayamim II 17:6 tells us, " וַיִּגְבַּ֥הּ לִבּ֖וֹ בְּדַרְכֵ֣י יְהֹוָ֑ה And his heart was uplifted in the ways of Hashem." VaYigba Libo almost means arrogance . But on the other hand, Mishleh tells us in pasuk 16:5, תּוֹעֲבַ֣ת יְ֭הֹוָה כׇּל־גְּבַהּ־לֵ֑ב יָ֥ד / it's an abomination to be arrogance. He explains that one refers to the past and the other one refers to the future. What you did in the past, you're supposed to be humble about. You're supposed to look back and say it was with Hashem's help. I'm supposed to look back and say, Baruch Hashem, thank you Hashem, for giving me those opportunities. Like the famous story that the Chafetz Chaim was once overheard in a moment of contemplation and meditation, discussing his life with Hashem, " Hashem, I owe You so much. You gave me the Mishna Berurah, you gave me the Chafetz Chaim, you gave me all these things." That's all in the past . But when you go in the future , you have to have strength. You can't despair. You should say, I'm gonna do it. I can do it. Conversely, I heard from Rav Wolbe that when the Chafetz Chaim was in the middle of his Mishna Berurah , there were certain tragedies and challenges that were going on in his personal life. One day he opened the window, shook his fist and said, " You're not going to stop me!" He was talking to the Yetzer Hara. Look at that courage! Look at the energy, look at the almost arrogance. I'm going do it! That's fine. I'm going to do it is beautiful. I did a little bit. I'm going to do more. I'll keep on doing more. I have talents that Hashem gave me. I'm going to keep growing . That attitude gives the person the drive to move further in his Avodat Hashem . He used the rule, One that has aspirations will be successful even though it looks like naturally it won't happen. His example is the tremendous drive that the Americans had to put a man on the moon. If you have a drive and you have a dream, you'll get there. But many people are broken because they flip the pipes. Instead of saying, Forget about what I did in the past, let's look at the future , they make the past the main thing. They focus on the past and forget about the future. This is the dichotomy between humility (or arrogance) and lowness in the wrong way. Rav Eliyahu of Izmir (1640 -1729) was a leading Rav of Izmir, Turkey. He authored over 30 different tremendous sefarim including Shevet Mussar, that are learned all over. In his sefer Chut shel Hessed on Parashat HaAzinu, he discusses the Piyut that we mentioned previously, that we say on Rosh Hashanah. The last stanza says, " Piyut הִשְׁתּוֹנֵן, וְהִכּוֹנֵן, וְהִתְבּוֹנֵן בְּסוֹדֶךָ. וְהִבַּטְתָּ, מָה אַתָּה, וּמֵאַיִן יְסוֹדֶךָ. וּמִי הֱכִינְךָ, וּמִי הֱבִינְךָ, / Sharpen yourself and prepare yourself. Look into your secrets. What does it mean to Look into your secrets? He says, the secret refers to the fact of my humble beginnings- What am I made of ? Dust. Further, after we say, וְהִתְבּוֹנֵן בְּסוֹדֶךָ we also say, What are you Ma Atah /What are you? Like Moshe and Aharon said to Korach (Shemot 16,7) Where are your roots? So it starts off, I'm humble and I'm nothing. Well, if that's the case, if I'm humble and I'm nothing, then what is the purpose of my Mitzvot? Can a mosquito impact the king? Then we say, no, slow down מי הכינך Who set you up for this? Hashem set you up for greatness. מי הבינך Who gave you understanding ? And מי ינידך , what's making you move ? You have a soul inside of you, a Neshama, a spirituality inside of you. Realize where you came from. He quotes the sefer Bet HaElohim that says that there's a danger in thinking of yourself as the lowest of low, because you'll end up saying Hashem doesn't supervise me, He doesn't look at me . But then you can go to the other extreme and say, I'm arrogant. Mi Hashem Who is God? It's a constant balance on this tightrope, not to get stuck with being broken because I'm a nobody, and not to be arrogant. It's like the Shfeel Hazahav/ the golden path. Rav Wolbe, in Alei Shur vol 2 page 160 quotes the Hovot Halevavot in Shaar Hakniah, which is dedicated to humility. In the second chapter, he says, הכניעה היא אשר תהיה אחר רוממות הנפש והתנשאה מהשתתף עם הבהמות במידותן המגונות, וגבהותה מהידמות במידות / Humilty comes after you realize the exaltedness of your soul and that it's being uplifted. I'm not a partners with an animal in their low Middot. It comes when you realize how wise you are and how dear is your soul. You know about all the good Middot. כאשר תהיה סמוך לזה כניעת הנפש ושפלותה, אז תהיה מידה משובחת , And then then when I add a little spice of humility in there, then the humility is a good Middah. אבל זולת זה איננה נכנסת במידות המשובחות ומעלות הנפש, אך במגונות שבהן, כי ענינה בזה כענין הבהמות But if it's humility that's not coming from that, it's not considered good quality. It's just despair. It's not, humility. That's just the animal that doesn't have any recognition of what it is at all. As Chacham Bentzion said, You can feel great in who you are, and then you add that little flavor of, All those qualities I have, I got from Hashem . Like we stated at the beginning- Look at this beautiful car that I have. I have a stretch Rolls Royce. Wow, what a car. But you know what? My father gave it to me. So I'll now humble myself to my father for all that he gave me. It's not a contradiction. As long as you have that right attitude of, What I have is great, but it was given to me. And more than that, I have a responsibility to use it properly, that is the proper hashkafa / attitude , not to be brought down with this work on our humility. Further in that same discussion, Rav Wolbe quotes Rabbenu Yonah in Shaare Avodah where he says the first step to serving Hashem is that man knows his value, realizes his level, realizes who his parents and his grandparents are, how hashuv they were and where he came from- And say to yourself , Adam Gadol V'Chashuv Kamoni , something that's important like me today, with all the great qualities I have, I am the children of the greats, of the kings of old, how can I sin? So Rav Wolbe is teaching is that learning your good qualities is not a contradiction to humility. We have to make sure we have that proper outlook when we're working on humility.

Parashat Yitro describes a situation that is quite common – a father-in-law giving his son-in-law unsolicited advice. Yitro – the father of Moshe Rabbenu's wife, Tzippora – observed how Moshe sat all day as the people lined up to consult with him, specifically, to resolve their disputes. This worried Yitro, who warned Moshe that such an arrangement could be harmful to Moshe. He therefore advised Moshe to appoint judges who would help him shoulder this burden of responsibility. They – not him – would advise the people, and only the more difficult questions would come to Moshe for him to decide. Notably, Moshe accepted Yitro's advice, and appointed a network of judges. Seeking advice is critically important. Somebody who doesn't seek advice, who always acts upon his own thoughts and decisions, is living in an island in his own head. If a person thinks he's smarter and knows better than everyone else is, in all likelihood, a fool. However, we must be very careful when seeking advice. For one thing, we need to exercise discretion, and not allow ourselves to take advice from everybody and anybody. Too many people offer "drive-thru" advice, just blurting out recommendations and suggestions without knowing anything about us, or about the situation. Telling someone to get married at a young age because "the finances will work out, don't worry," without knowing anything about the person's situation, is not necessarily great advice. The same goes for advice about what career to pursue, what schools to enroll one's children in, and so on. "Off-the-cuff" advice given by somebody who doesn't have much knowledge about the person he or she is advising should be taken with a healthy dose of skepticism. But there is also a more fundamental concern when it comes to advice, one which is developed by Rav Shlomo Wolbe, in a fascinating passage in Aleh Shur . Rav Wolbe laments the practice that many people have to immediately turn to a friend whenever they encounter any sort of question, whenever they are uncertain about how to proceed. This habit, Rav Wolbe writes, prevents a person from becoming wise. The proper approach is to first analyze both sides of the question, weigh the pros and cons of each option, and then reach a decision. Afterward, one should bring his question, and his decision, to his fellow to receive his advice. If a person never develops the skill of decision-making, of reaching his own conclusions, then he will never live an authentic life. He will instead be living the life that other people tell him to live, without actualizing his unique potential and being the unique person that he's supposed to be. Significantly, Yitro began his advice to Moshe by telling him the following: והזהרתה אתהם את החוקים ואת התורות, והודעת להם את הדרך ילכו בה, ואת המעשה אשר יעשון. You shall warn them of the statutes and the laws, and you shall inform them of the path they should follow, and the actions that they should perform. (18:20) Yitro was concerned not only about Moshe's wellbeing, but also about the nation asking him for too much advice. He was worried about Moshe working too hard – but also that the people were coming to him right away with their problems, without first trying to work it out themselves. Therefore, his advice to Moshe was not only to appoint others to assist him – but also to instruct the people, to impart to them knowledge and wisdom, to explain to them how Hashem wants us to live our lives. This will encourage them to first look for the answers themselves before seeking advice. As we mentioned earlier, it is vitally important to get advice, to be open-minded, to recognize that we don't have all the answers, and that we can often benefit from other people's experience and perspectives. At the same time, however, we need to be careful not to outsource our lives, not to leave all our decisions in the hands of people who don't really know us and what we're going through. In a famous pasuk in the Book of Mishleh (19:21), King Shlomo teaches, רבות מחשבות בלב איש, ועצת ה' היא תקום – "There are many thoughts in a man's heart, but it is the counsel of G-d that will prevail." The common understanding of this pasuk is that as much as we plan and strive to do certain things, ultimately, it is the will of Hashem that materializes. Rav Wolbe, however, offers a deeper explanation of this pasuk. He explains that we have many "thoughts," many different ideas, questions about whether we should do X or Y. But more often than not, we know what עצת ה' is, what it is that Hashem wants of us. When we sort through the various מחשבות , the many different thoughts and ideas, it is not difficult to determine עצת ה' , the right decision to make, the right thing to do. Very often, when we face some uncertainty, we actually know the answer. It's just a matter of being honest with ourselves and recognizing what Hashem wants of us. As important as it is to be open to advice – it is no less important to know when we don't need advice, and when we need instead to listen to the עצת ה' , to have the strength and conviction to do what we know we should do.

Rav Wolbe notes that Rashi introduces us to a novel approach to the concept of Kedusha.

Welcome to our series on humility . Some people like practical advice. They say, What can I actually do to work on myself to become humble? It's nice to have the thoughts that we mentioned, but is there anything I can do? Rav Wolbe in his sefer Aleh Shor ( vol 2, page 310) says, " In a person's day-to-day life, there are two fundamental areas that help us work on our arrogance. One of them is prayer, and the second one is learning." We'll talk about prayer first. Prayer in its essence is humbling oneself to the Creator, just by praying to Hashem from the depths of your heart. While you're praying, don't just pray, but train yourself, so to say, that I'm humbling myself in front of my Creator. This is good advice to make what he calls an Esek Rav/ a big deal out of prayer. Of course, prayer is not that easy. As we mentioned, one of the fundamental impediments to prayer is arrogance. Arrogance interferes with prayer, but conversely, prayer helps your arrogance. To quote Mesilat Yeshayim (chapter 19, Artscroll edition): " There are three things that a person must look at and contemplate well in order to arrive at the necessary fear of Hashem that is a prerequisite to prayer. -The first is that while praying, he's actually standing before the Creator and communicating with Him, even though man's eye does not see Him. Now, he realizes that this is a most difficult thing to visualize in one's heart without an accurate picture- being that the physical senses do not assist him in this endeavor at all. Nevertheless, despite the difficulty, one who is of sound intellect, with a little bit of contemplation and focus can etch into his heart the truth of this matter. That is how when he prays, he comes before Hashem and literally communicates with Him, blessed be He. And before Him he beseeches. And from Him he implores, and He, blessed be His name, in turn, listens to him and pays attention to his words in the same way that a person speaks to his friend and his friend pays attention and listens to him. After a person has etched his truth in his mind, he must meditate upon Hashem's exaltedness, namely that He's exalted and lofty beyond all blessings and praise. And additionally, one must meditate upon the lowliness of man and his inferiority on account of his innate physicality and coarseness and certainly on account of all the sins he has committed since has come into existence. So this is the definition of prayer: -I'm standing in front of Hashem and I'm talking to Him. -He's all powerful, -and I'm a little creature. That's the 1, 2, 3 punch of prayer. The Mesilat Yesharim applies this approach to fear of Hashem, but we're applying it to humility. (We mentioned previously that humility brings about fear of Hashem-they're one and the same) The Mesilat Yesharim cites sources for the fear of Hashem that was upon great people- and two of them are in connection to Tefila . One is a pasuk in Tehilim 5,8 וַאֲנִ֗י בְּרֹ֣ב חַ֭סְדְּךָ אָב֣וֹא בֵיתֶ֑ך (I, through your abundant kindness will enter your house)- that is the first part of the pasuk, And the quote is: אֶשְׁתַּחֲוֶ֥ה אֶל־הֵֽיכַל־קׇ֝דְשְׁךָ֗ בְּיִרְאָתֶֽךָ׃ I will bow myself towards Your holy sanctuary, in Your fear. The Arizal says we are supposed to say this pasuk as we walk into a shul. He says, ideally one is supposed to be wearing Talet and Tefilin , and bow down towards the Aron Hakodesh with fear. So the Alef Bet of prayer is humility . It starts even before you beginpraying. As you walk into the shul, you bow your head down. Additionally, a pasuk in Malachi 2:5 is quoted in the Gemara in Berachot 12A as a source that you have to bow during the Amida , וּמִפְּנֵ֥י שְׁמִ֖י נִחַ֥ת הֽוּא׃ / he was humbled before My name, Which means you bow before you mention Hashem's name in the Amida . The Mesilat Yesharim cites this when he discusses the fundamentals of prayer. The fundamentals of prayer surround humility. We mentioned this in previous classes. If the essence of prayer is humility, one can't pray without humility, and prayer brings one to humility, as Rav Wolbe said. So that's our first practical advice -to put some work into praying, not just the words of the prayers, but the humbling experience of prayer. That is the introduction to prayer. You can't even start praying if you don't have this in mind. Rav Chaim Brisker, in his first piece in his Sefer when he talks about Tefilah , says, there are two kinds of kavana . One kavana is what the words are saying, and that is only essential in the first blessing of the Amida . The second kavana is that I'm standing in front of Hashem and that is a necessary intention. He says without that, we don't have the essence of prayer. He uses the term mitasek which means busy with something else, not focused . For example, if a person turns on a light by mistake on Shabbat (either he forgot it was Shabbat, or he forgot that you're not allowed turn on lights), he has to bring a korban chatat/a sin offering because he made a mistake. But if he was yawning and he touched the light switch and he turned it off, he doesn't bring any korban because he was mitasek / he was busy with something else, it's like he wasn't present in the action. Rav Chaim Brisker says, If, when you're praying you don't realize you're standing in front of God, that's not even defined as prayer. At that moment, you're not praying. The essence of prayer is I'm standing in front of God. That's number one. I'm standing and talking to God. And we have to add the other nuances- in front of God Who's great and exalted and , I am this humble little being. That is the story of prayer. And as we said, the most difficult step is just realizing that Hashem is there for you to talk to. One of the reasons why it's so hard for us to realize that Hashem there for us to talk to, is because we think, " Little me? I'm gonna talk to Him-Big Hashem? He's here to listen to me?" But this train of thought was the source for idol worship! The ancient people said, " I'm going to talk to God? I'm going to serve God? I'm going to deal with God? He's too high, and lofty. Ram Al kol Goyim/Hashem is high and above all the goyim. But we say, Hamashpili Lirot B'Shamayim Ub'Aaretz Hashem humbles Himself. He comes down and looks at us. So originally the nations said, God is too high and lofty, and therefore they didn't feel they could deal with Him. They didn't understand Hashem's humility. They didn't understand how where you find His greatness, you find His humility and therefore they couldn't pray to Him. So what really stops us from praying (which we said is the realization that Hashem is standing here), is that we don't fathom His humility . We don't fathom Hashem's humility because we're far from humility. We can't perceive humility. So the first step is to realize that Hashem is so humble that He comes down to listen to little me , but I have to realize it's little me and big Him. If we don't have that realization, we can't start the relationship. And that's why working on Tefilah , and making an issue out of Tefilah , making a big deal about prayer, is one of the ways to bring ourselves to humility.

People sometimes think, " Do I really have to work on humility? Is that an obligation? I've heard of Yirat Shamayim, But where is humility on the list of things that I have to work on?" At the beginning of the Bet Halevi's essay on arrogance and humility, he points out that arrogance is a sin. So of course you have to work on it. But there are a lot of things that are sins. Is this something that has to be at the top of my radar? Is it a priority? We hear about movements of Ahavat Yisrael/love your fellow man , and we have movements about that. There's a movement to guard your eyes, as well. But I haven't yet seen a Ga'avah movement where people say, Make Klal Yisrael Humble Again. We don't find such initiatives out there. So let's quote a pasuk in Mishleh from the wisest of men, Shlomo Hamelech, טו ( כח) לֵב צַדִּיק יֶהְגֶּה לַעֲנוֹת: /The heart of a righteous person will considers what to answer. Simply speaking, Rashi and other commentaries understand the word לענות means to answer . Rabbenu Yonah, in his commentary on Mishleh, has a different explanation.. He says the root of the word לענות is the same as ענו / humble or עני /poor Rabbenu Bachye, in his introduction, Parashat Bahar Vayikra 25:1 brings down this pasuk (as in his introduction to many, parshiot, he brings down a pasuk in Mishleh) and he says that the word laanot is the same as the term used when Hashem spoke to Paroah So said God, the God of the Hebrews, עד מתי מאנת לענות מפני / Until when do you refuse to humble yourself in front of Me . Rashi says on that word, לענות follow the Targum. The Targum says, להתכנעא which means to be to be humble . And the root of the word he says is Ani/poor . Base on this Rabbenu Yonah explains the pasuk. He says, the Sadik is always thinking of ways to humble himself. Rabbenu Bachye in that same spot says that's the defining aspect of a sadik. The sadik is someone who humbles himself. And now for Rabbenu Yona's powerful words, יש צורך למערכי לב להתמדת הצעות במחשבות להגיע אל הענוה ולאהוב את השפלות, A person must create compositions in his heart to constant ideas and thoughts to reach humility into being lowly. So Rabbenu Yonah doesn't just say it's a fleeting thought. Rather, there is a need to create compositions constantly, with new ideas on how to become humble. Rav Wolbe used to quote another Rabbenu Yonah in Shaare teshuva (Shaar ג letter 15 ( , where he's talking about the requirement to have Yirat Shamayim . And he says people that are not constantly creating compositions and thinking and understanding, the prophet says strong words about them, Rav Wolbe used to say the term, Orchim Maracha is used by Rav Akiva Eiger, one of the great giants of yesteryear, who wrote a 20-30 piece essay on a topic and called a Maracha . It's like a composition. He says, that's what you have to do for Yirat Shamayim. And I'll add that Rabbenu Yona uses the same word of Orchim Machshevot on humility . These are similar words- where in Shaare Teshuva he says, Letitbonen Tamid, here he says, hatmada/ consistent thoughts. So it may seem like it's a contradiction, to have Anava and Yirah at the same time but we can answer based on another pasuk in Mishleh 22:4. עֵ֣קֶב עֲ֭נָוָה יִרְאַ֣ת יְהֹוָ֑ה עֹ֖שֶׁר וְכָב֣וֹד וְחַיִּֽים׃ / The result of humility is fear of Hashem. The Artscroll commentary on Mishleh quotes from Siftei Chaim, that says, " Arrogance is the primary obstacle to recognizing Hashem. Such a person finds it hard to acknowledge that his abilities are gifts of Hashem for such an awareness would impinge upon his sense of self-importance. A humble person, however, knows he is a minute creature controlled by Hashem, so he automatically develops the fear of Hashem. So we no longer have a contradiction. Rabbenu Yonah is saying both are true. You need to constantly think of ways to have Yirat Shamayim and you have to constantly think it's about being humble because it's one and the same. Rav Wolbe, in his sefer Alei Shor (vol 2 Page 141) on the topic of the learning Mussar in the unit Marechet Limud Mussar/Composition on Learning Mussar, mentions sources and discusses how Mussar is not a new creation. Everything we have is tradition. He quotes from different Amoraim from the Gemara that use the technique of mussar , which is repeating to yourself important principles to penetrate your heart. He quotes from Sanhedrin7A, that when Rav, an Amora, would see a crowd of scholars following him, (fearing that he might get arrogant) he would say the following verse from Iyov 20:7 to himself: כְּֽ֭גֶלְלוֹ לָנֶ֣צַח יֹאבֵ֑ד רֹ֝אָ֗יו יֹאמְר֥וּ אַיּֽוֹ׃ If his stature rises to the heavens, he shall perish forever like his waste Rav quoted this pasuk to avoid getting haughty from all the people are following him . He reminded himself, Calm down. As high as you get, you're not going to be here forever. In a similar practice by Mar Zutra Hasida/the pious, his students would carry him on their shoulders during the Shabbat of the festival discourse when everyone would gather together He would say the pasuk from Mishleh 27:24 כִּ֤י לֹ֣א לְעוֹלָ֣ם חֹ֑סֶן וְאִם־נֵ֝֗זֶר לְד֣וֹר (דור) [וָדֽוֹר]׃ / For riches are not forever And does the crown endure for all generations? So these greatest of the greats were giving themselves Mussar, lest they fall prey to the challenge of arrogance. For a more modern story on the same topic, there is a story is in the Maggid Speaks , the original book by Rabbi Pesach Krohn, which are stories and parables of Rav Shlomo Schwadron z'l the Maggid of Yerushalayim (see page 154). Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer the great Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Etz Chaim (1870 to 1953) was always careful not to write on Chol Hamoed. (People are careful not to write unless it's an emergency, or some kind of a loss or damage would be incurred if you don't write.) but he asked his nephew for a pen and ink to write something. The nephew wanted to know what the emergency is. Under pressure, Rav Isser Zalman revealed that, " On Chol Hamoed, a lot of people come to visit me. I have the ability to look into people. When I'm talking to them, I'm immediately aware of a person's virtues and faults. It hurts me to know the faults of people who come to visit me. Additionally, knowing another's faults can lead me to become arrogant. So I devised a plan: Shlomo Hamelech in Mishleh 4:25 writes, עֵ֭ינֶיךָ לְנֹ֣כַח יַבִּ֑יטוּ וְ֝עַפְעַפֶּ֗יךָ יַיְשִׁ֥רוּ נֶגְדֶּֽךָ׃ / Let your eyes seek honesty and your brows search straightforwardly before you. Now the word lenochach which here is used for honesty , is usually translated towards yourself . So now there's a new meaning. Let your eyes seek yourself. In other words, look at yourself. See your own faults instead of the fault of others. I always keep this pasuk in front of me on a small piece of paper as people are talking to me. It helps me avoid Gaava. But now I can't find that slip of paper. It's an emergency. I have to write this down now, lest I fall into arrogance." Many years after Rav Isser Zalman passed away, Rav Shlomo Schwadron was sitting in the Succah of Rav Isser Zalman's son-in-law on Chol Hamoed and he told over the story. Rav Isser Zalman's daughter, who was listening to the story as well, left the Succah and came back with a smile on her face and a sugar bowl in her hand. She said, " This is the sugar bowl my father kept on his table and on the sugar bowl was etched this pasuk עֵ֭ינֶיךָ לְנֹ֣כַח יַבִּ֑יטוּ וְ֝עַפְעַפֶּ֗יךָ יַיְשִׁ֥רוּ נֶגְדֶּֽךָ׃ He kept it in front of him, but in a hidden way, to give himself this message. This is how the Greats became great, by constantly looking for ideas to humble themselves.

Today's class is about what we'll call the cat and mouse game . It's a back and forth between the songs of the mouse and cat during a chase. עַכְבָּר אוֹמֵר The mouse says, אֲרוֹמִמְךָ יְיָ כִּי דִלִּיתָנִי וְלֹא־שִׂמַּחְתָּ אֹיְבַי לִי׃ (תהלים ל ב) I uplift You Hashem because you lifted me up, and my enemies were not happy. Simply, the cat chases the mouse and the mouse sings before he is attacked. Hashem, my enemy won't get me. You'll protect me, you'll get me out of this. And the cat responds, חָתוּל אוֹמֵר. אִם־תַּגְבִּיהַּ כַּנֶּשֶׁר וְאִם־בֵּין כּֽוֹכָבִים שִׂים קִנֶּךָ מִשָּׁם אוֹרִֽידְךָ נְאֻם־יְיָ׃ (עובדיה א ד) If you lift yourself up like an eagle, and you place your nest among the stars, from there, we'll take you down, says Hashem. So, the cat responds, Don't think you can get away from me. Then, when he gets a little closer to the mouse, the cat says, אֶרְדּוֹף אוֹיְבַי וְאַשִּׂיגֵם וְלֹא־אָשׁוּב עַד־כַּלּוֹתָם׃ (תהלים יח לח) / I will chase my enemy and I'll catch him. I will not turn back until I destroy them. And finally, when the mouse is caught, the mouse says, וְאַתָּה צַדִּיק עַל כׇּל־הַבָּא עָלַי כִּי־אֱמֶת עָשִׂיתָ וַאֲנִי הִרְשָֽׁעְתִּי׃ (ע"פ נחמיה ט לג) God, You are righteous in everything that comes upon me, You did correctly and I have sinned. This is a beautiful give and take, although of course they're not singing as this is happening- it's their ministering angels. But it is not a simple cat and mouse chase. There is a deeper give and take going on. The sefer Shirat Chaim tells us that in the word for mouse / עכבר , the outer letters are ר and ע , which is / רע , meaning the mouse is evil because he's attacking and eating our food. Baruch Hashem, we have cats to eat the mice. That is the way Hashem made the world. *Fun fact: Why are there so many cats in Eretz Yisrael ? Because when the British came, there were a lot of mice so they brought cats in from England to fight the mice. But Hashem created an ecosystem where there's a right amount of everything, and if you mess with the equilibrium, It doesn't work. We're supposed to have mice and we're supposed to have cats. Now I understand that we are supposed to have cats to eat the mice, but what are the mice doing there? Here we go: עכבר like we said , the outer letters are רע evil- which indicates the evil mouse, but the inner letters are כב which is 22, the 22 letters of the Hebrew alphabet. So, are the mice good or bad? There is a story in the Yerushalmi Demai perek א Halacha ג , that tells us there was a certain town that had an attack of mice. When Rav Pinchas ben Yair came to the town he said, what's going on? The mice were making sounds that Rav Pinchas was able to understand and he told the people, " They're saying you're not taking your Ma'aser, you're not taking your 10%. Fix it and take Ma'aser . When they did, the mice went away. There are similar stories about Rav Chaim Kanievsky- where people had mice, and he said the only way to fix the mice is to take Ma'aser . When you don't take Ma'aser , your food rots; your assets rot. That's the job of the mice. Therefore, externally , the mouse is bad. But he is really good because he's following the 22 letters of the Torah. He's sent on a mission. His job is, If you're not taking Ma'aser out, I'm going to eat it. That's why mouse's song is וְאַתָּה צַדִּיק עַל כׇּל־הַבָּא עָלַי I accept everything that happened. Not only does he mean to say that he accepts that the cat is chasing him, but also that the person now accepted and did teshuva , and so the mouse goes away. He is expressing the important lesson of Hashem is righteous in what He did. And the person says, The reason the mouse attacked my food was because I wasn't taking the Ma'aser properly. I'll fix that and the problem will go away. So not only does the mouse say Hashem is righteous , but the person says Hashem is righteous, and that's why the mouse goes away. Additionally, the mouse says, Hashem, you are good and I'm a sinner, because at the beginning of the story, the mouse says, I'm going to lift You up because You protected me, and my enemy's not happy with me. But at the end of the day, the mouse got caught. He was hopeful, but what happened? The answer is, the mouse admits, Hashem, it's not Your fault. You gave me the ability to run away. You gave me the ability to hide, but I messed up. I didn't run fast enough, I didn't do enough hishtadlut. It's my fault. And therefore, the mouse takes responsibility for getting caught. That's a nice lesson for us. There is a pasuk in Mishleh , אִוֶּ֣לֶת אָ֭דָם תְּסַלֵּ֣ף דַּרְכּ֑וֹ וְעַל־יְ֝הֹוָ֗ה יִזְעַ֥ף לִבּֽוֹ׃ / Man's foolishness causes his path to become crooked, and he gets upset at Hashem. He says , Hashem, why did You do this? And Hashem says, I didn't do it. You did it. It was your foolishness. Rav Wolbe used to quote the Gaon of Vilna on this pasuk, where it says on one hand, When someone wants to become pure, Hashem helps him. Sometimes the person starts learning Torah and keeping mitzvot, but it doesn't work. It's very hard. He doesn't feel like he is getting helped. So he complains to Hashem, Why didn't You help me? But the truth is, it's his own fault. Says the Gaon of Vilna, You have to go according to your level and not jump . The person blames Hashem for his lack of success, but in truth, it was the person's lack of understanding and lack of proper guidance properly that possibly caused him to take the wrong track. So when things don't work, don't say, "I tried really hard and it didn't work. I'm giving up- it's Hashem's fault." No, take some responsibility. That's the lesson of the mouse. He went in positive, and he messed up, but he's not going to blame Hashem.

Today we study the song of the Camel. It's a partial quote from a pasuk in Yirmiyah 25,30 גַּמַּל אוֹמֵר. יי מִמָּרוֹם יִשְׁאָג וּמִמְּעוֹן קָדְשׁוֹ יִתֵּן קוֹלוֹ שָׁאֹג יִשְׁאַג עַל נָוֵהוּ: (ירמיה כה ל) Hashem cries from above, from His holy abode. He gives a voice, He roars, on His dwelling place, He's crying over the destruction of the Bet Hamikdash. What does this have to do with the camel? The Chida, in his commentary on Perek Shira, says something fascinating. He quotes, "the angelic and holy Mahari Semah," who was a great Kabbalist. In his sefer Meshivat Nefesh, he writes that Yishmael is connected to the camel, which seems obvious, as the camel is predominantly found in Arab lands. But he goes deeper and says it's called HaGamal הגמל the camel because it's Heh Gimmel Mal " - and Mal is Brit Milah. What does that mean? The Zohar, in vol 2, page 86 says that Eretz was given to the Arabs when it's in state of destruction. That is what is delaying the Geula - the fact that the Arabs have control of Eretz Yisrael. This was written 400 years ago. He adds that , "the camel is roaring," means that Yishmael wants the Bet Hamikdash to be built when he is in control Eretz Yisrael (which doesn't really make sense because when the Bet Hamikdash is rebuilt, he won't be here). But the point is that Yishmael has a connection to Eretz Yisrael, albeit not a full connection. He has a connection only in its destruction. Rav Wolbe beautifully connects this Zohar to the words of Rav Akiva Eiger, in order to help us understand it on a simple level. In Aleh Shor vol 2, he quotes the Zohar that cites Rebbe Shimon that it says says about Yishmael in Bereshit 16, that he's a Perah Adam, which is like a wild donkey of a man.. He's not called a man . He's called a Perah Adam. Why? The Adam aspect is because he had a Brit Milah , which is the completion of a person. but he didn't finish it off because he never received the Torah. So he has the beginnings of man, but it was never finished off. The Jewish people finished it off with Kabbalat HaTorah so they're called Adam Mamash / true man . Rav Wolbe quotes Rabbi Akiva Eiger in Nedarim 31A, where it discusses the connection between the Brit Milah and Torah. He says that the Brit Milah removes the foreskin of the body, and also the foreskin of the heart, and allows the person to understand Torah. He goes on to add a very big, hiddush- that the father makes the Beracha that he's putting his son into the covenant of the Jewish people - but the father does not do the Milah- the Mohel does. So, why is the father making that beracha ? Because the Brit Milah allows the father to his fulfill mitzvah to teach his son Torah. He couldn't teach his son Torah without the prerequisite of the Brit Milah . Therefore, he makes the beracha, " I'm now able to do what I need to do with my son, because of the Brit Milah," which allows this child to learn Torah. Therefore, he makes a practical application that just like the Halacha that if a father is not teaching his son Torah, it's the grandfather's responsibility. (The pasuk says, "Tell your children and your grandchildren," and this is quoted by the Rambam in Hilchot Talmud Torah, where he says that the grandfather has responsibility to teach his child grandchild Torah.) Similarly, says Rav Akiva Eiger, if the father is not available, and the grandfather is at the Milah , the grandfather would make the Beracha , because he has that same responsibility to teach the child Torah. The Brit Milah opens up the gates of Torah for the young child. That's why Rav Chaim Palaggi says that in Birkat Hamazon, we say Brit V'Torah, because the Brit is what gets the person ready for Torah . The Arabs have a connection to Eretz Yisrael. That's why they're there and that's why they're interfering. The one up that we have over them is the fact that we received the Torah. That's why the greatest protection, and what will bring the Mashiach, is Limud Torah , which is the antithesis of Yishmael, who fell short. Coming full circle, that's why the Camel sings that song, because that's the song of the Yishmaelim . They're singing the song that somehow, they still want to stay connected to Eretz Yisrael, even when there is a Bet Hamikdash. But, as we know, that will not happen. Have a wonderful day.

Today's class is donated by the Shalom family Liluy Nishmat Chanita Chana Bat Simcha Simi. Today is the song of Behama Gasa Teme'ah the large unkosher animal, for example, the horse and the like. It says, . יְגִיעַ כַּפֶּיךָ כִּי תֹאכֵל אַשְׁרֶיךָ וְטוֹב לָךְ: (תהילים קכח ב) You're going to eat from your hard work, fortunate you are and it's good for you. What's the message? First, the simple explanation: The Sefer Birket Hashir says that the wild animals and the wild birds attack. For example, lions, tigers, and bears are wild animals. They live outside in the field or the forest and they have some way to survive. Yet comes the winter time, it says, the lions are impoverished and they are hungry. The bears are lucky. They hibernate. But the docile, non-attacking unkosher animals work hard for a living and their owners feed them. The lesson for us is Baruch Hagever Asher YivtachB'Hashem /Fortunate is the one that trusts in Hashem. That means these animals, so to say, trust their owners. Like our owner is Hashem. Yada Shor Konehu… the cow knows its owner, the donkey knows the source of its food . It goes on to say that the Jewish people don't know Hashem , as the complaint of the Navi. But the Behema Gasa teaches us the lesson: work hard, rely on your boss and it'll be taken care of . Rav Chaim Kanievsky quotes a Midrash (he says that he was not able to locate it st that moment, which is a little odd, as Rav Chaim knew everything). But he says the unkosher domesticated animals came to Adam HaRishon and said, " Who's giving us food? You'll feed the kosher animals, and the wild animals take care of themselves. But who's taking care of us?" So they made a deal. Adam HaRishon told them You work hard and we'll support you. And that's our pasuk . יְגִיעַ כַּפֶּיךָ כִּי תֹאכֵל אַשְׁרֶיךָ וְטוֹב לָךְ: (תהילים קכח ב) / You'll work hard, it's good for you. The Sefer Yeshua V'Rachamim by Rav Yehoshua Sofer offers a beautiful thought: The kosher animal says, "I'm good, because eventually they'll slaughter me and eat me. But it's an uplift an animal to be eaten. Contrary to the belief of the vegetarians, We're doing the animal a favor, w hen we eat the animal because the animal will go from the stage of an animal to becoming a human being. But now should the horse do? We're not eating him. What's his opportunity for greatness? The answer is, he's pulling our carriages. He's allowing us to ride on him and that's his part in the picture . And, he helps us get food and whatever else it may be. So, Hashem has a plan for everybody. That's another important mussar point here. This is an important lesson, that in general, Hashem made all kind of creatures and they all have to do what they have to do. When they do what they're supposed to do, and they do it properly, that's their perfection. There is a beautiful story about Rav Wolbe and a student, Rav Wolbe was once sitting with one of his students by the ocean and where beautiful birds were landing in a very elegant way. The student commented, " Look how graceful these birds are. Look how they're landing so gracefully on the beach." Rav Wolbe said, "Do you know why they're graceful? Because it does what it's supposed to do." Rav Wolbe continued, " If you do what you're supposed to do, you'll also be graceful." That's important. There is a similar story, that is obviously fictitious, about two cows. They were a discussion and they looked in the sky and they saw an eagle flying. One said, " Wow! Look how that eagle's flying! It looks like it's floating… I can't fly at all! You know what? I'm going to try!" His friend said, "Oxen don't fly- You're silly." So the first cow went up the mountain and said, " Let me see what I can do!" Of course, this would not end very well. The other cow thought to himself, " I may never be able to fly and be graceful like an eagle, but I can do other things. An eagle cannot. I can plow the earth, I can run, I can pull wagons." It would be silly for me to try and be something that I'm not. I'll continue what I was created to do. And that's the message of the horse. Other commentaries add that not only is the cow is able to be eaten by Jewish people, but the cow goes on the mizbe'ach . Poor horse. He never got anything this bad. But the horse sings the song. This is his song. This is our song. Sometimes you're not the famous one and sometimes you're not the glamorous one, but you know what? . יְגִיעַ כַּפֶּיךָ כִּי תֹאכֵל אַשְׁרֶיךָ וְטוֹב לָךְ: You work hard and you eat. Your fortune is good to you. The Gemara in Masechet Berachot 8A says on this, it's good for you in this world . Good for you in the next world. That's the important lesson of the domesticated unkosher animal.

What if the key to a fulfilling marriage resides within the ancient wisdom of the Torah? This exploration aims to elucidate the divine framework for fostering harmonious relationships, beginning with the notable narrative of Adam and Eve. Despite their flaws, this story provides significant insights into the commandment of marriage. Guided by the esteemed Rav Wolbe, we will examine three foundational principles for cultivating a satisfying partnership. We will also offer practical advice for individuals seeking love or aiming to strengthen their existing relationships.Consider perceiving one's spouse as one singularly significant individual, akin to the perspective that Adam and Eve may have held of one another. We will delve into the stories of esteemed biblical figures such as Abraham and Sarah, emphasizing the significance of the Shana Rishona, or the first year of marriage. This critical period is vital for establishing a deep and exclusive connection. We will also address the risks associated with comparison in relationships, highlighting the biblical principle of genuinely 'knowing' one's 'partner 'as a bond that can endure time.we discuss excellent character traits, or "middos," as a successful marriage's "foundational" element. By examining Yitzchak and Rivka, we will discuss the importance of recognizing and appreciating the commendable qualities of a partner. Marriage is a transformative environment for overcoming negative traits and embracing positive behaviors. Additionally, we will explore strategies for couples to engage in gamified approaches to this journey, nurturing a culture of generosity and mutual development. By prioritizing cultivating good character, we aspire to inspire the formation of a harmonious and spiritually enriched home rooted in Torah principles.Support the showJoin The Motivation Congregation WhatsApp community for daily motivational Torah content!Elevate your impact by becoming a TMC Emerald Donor! Your much-needed backing is crucial for our mission of disseminating the wisdom of the Torah. Join today for just $18.00 per month. (Use your maaser money!) https://buy.stripe.com/00g8xl5IT8dFcKc5ky------------------Check out our other Torah Podcasts and content! SUBSCRIBE to The Motivation Congregation Podcast for daily motivational Mussar! Listen on Spotify or 24six! Find all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our website, themotivationcongregation.org Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

Today's song is from the Agur , not a well-known word. We're working with the explanation that it's a crane , which is a type of bird, and he says הוֹדוּ לַיי בְּכִנּוֹר בְּנֵבֶל עָשׂוֹר זַמְּרוּ לוֹ: ( Tehilim 33,2) / Thank Hashem with a kinor/harp, with the nevel-asor (an instrument with 10 strings), sing to him. The pasuk that follows this one in tehilim, continues, שִֽׁירוּ־ל֭וֹ שִׁ֣יר חָדָ֑שׁ הֵיטִ֥יבוּ נַ֝גֵּ֗ן בִּתְרוּעָֽה׃ / Sing a new song to Him, play well with a trumpet. Why exactly does the crane sing this? The Mabit tells us something very interesting about the crane. The crane has a tremendous power of tsifsuf / chirping or noises, and is able to sing in a very powerful way. There is a pasuk in Yeshaya 38,14 where Hizkiyah Hamelech says, כְּס֤וּס עָגוּר֙ כֵּ֣ן אֲצַפְצֵ֔ף I'm going to make noise like a crane. The crane was created in a certain way to, to communicate. It has a very long trachea and its mouth is different than other type of birds. It's able to make a call that can be heard for several miles. So, the crane is known as a very powerful, loud bird and therefore, says the Mabit, the crane tells us, ' You might not have my abilities, but you have your own abilities. You can use your kenor/harp . Why does he say Hodu L'Hashem b'kinor/ Thank Hashem with the harp? He answers that a harp is something that is quite simple to play. This Hodu/ Thanks to Hashem is directed to the four people that have to say Gomel . The word Hodu is the term used in the prayer of HaGomel , which is said after surviving a situation of danger, whether crossing the ocean or desert, being released from captivity or recovering from an illness. And since these are common events, the crane says, I can't ask you to do something complicated . It needs to be a common thing. Everyone has their kinor/harp, the standard way of saying thank you. And the people that are on a higher level, whom he calls the Benei Aliya , won't simply do a Hodu they'll do Zamru/ a song , and they will use this Nevel-asor , which is a more complex instrument. The commentaries discuss about the Asor and ask, why a 10 string harp? The Gemara in Masechet Arechim 13B quotes a pasuk and tells us that the harp of the Bet Hamikdash had seven strings When a Mashiach comes, it's going to have eight strings, and LaAtid Lavo when it comes to Olam Haba , the highest level, it's going to have 10 strings. And that's actually our pasuk, where it says a 10 -stringed Nevel, and then the next pasuk says, a new song-which is the song of Olam Haba. What exactly does that mean? The Ramban explains in Shaar Hagemul letter 144 that this symbolizes the forces and energies that we have. The is the world of seven, and there are seven different Middot that are revealed to us, which are the seven Ushpizin . So we can sing to God with the harp of seven . But that's for the common folk. Then we go on to a higher level of eight, which is Olam Haba , and then finally we go on to 10. This means different people have different energies and different abilities, but whatever your ability is, you have to use it to praise, to sing, and to give over what you can and sing your song. So the crane is saying to everyone, You don't have to be like me. Rav Wolbe was once sitting with a student by the beach when they saw a beautiful bird landing in the most elegant and graceful way. The student commented, " Wow. Look how elegant and beautiful that bird is as it lands." Rav Wolbe replied, " You too can be elegant and graceful if you use your talents to do what you have to do." That's really the message of the crane. He's saying, ' You might not have my voice, but Hodu LHashem b'kinor-You can use your kinor or your nevel or whatever your instrument is.' The bottom line is this beautiful message, the song of the agur הוֹדוּ לַיי בְּכִנּוֹר בְּנֵבֶל עָשׂוֹר זַמְּרוּ לוֹ:

Comment fait-on pour se connaître de mieux en mieux et grandir ? Les scènes auxquelles on assiste, celles que Hachem donne à voir, sont en fait le miroir de ce que l'on est. Un mélange à la fois d'obscurité et de lumière... Il faut donc parvenir à identifier et à gérer toutes ces contradictions inhérentes à soi-même, se travailler, et d'année en année, évoluer. Réfléchir sur ses actions : qu'a-t-on fait dans sa vie ? Qu'a-t-on fait de sa vie ? La veillée de la nuit de Hocha'ana Rabba offre cette opportunité unique qui peut changer une vie. Qu'est-ce qu'un Ich Navouv ? D'après un enseignement du Rav Wolbe au nom du Ba'al Chem Tov, un Passouk dans Iyov et un Midrach du rav Bergman rapporté dans son Séfer Cha'aré Ora.

À travers des propos de Rav Wolbe, ce cours montre l'importance de la joie, en particulier dans l'accomplissement des Mitsvot, et explique comment arriver à la ressentir même lorsqu'on aurait des raisons de s'attrister. La joie est-elle innée ou est-ce un défi à relever qui se travaille tout au long de l'année ? Dans quelle mesure la volonté d'un homme et sa faculté à se réjouir - ou plus précisément ce qui le réjouit -, en disent long sur lui ? Quelle est la clé qui permet d'atteindre la Sim'ha ?

Baruch Hashem we are up to the tenth pasuk of the Shofarot. Over the month of Elul we've gone through 30 pesukim, and anyone who has participated in all of them should pat themselves on the back. Great job. Bli Neder, we will post the complete transcript for those that want to print it out to read over the holiday. And now, our final pasuk- וּבְי֨וֹם שִׂמְחַתְכֶ֥ם וּֽבְמוֹעֲדֵיכֶם֮ וּבְרָאשֵׁ֣י חׇדְשֵׁיכֶם֒ וּתְקַעְתֶּ֣ם בַּחֲצֹֽצְרֹ֗ת עַ֚ל עֹלֹ֣תֵיכֶ֔ם וְעַ֖ל זִבְחֵ֣י שַׁלְמֵיכֶ֑ם וְהָי֨וּ לָכֶ֤ם לְזִכָּרוֹן֙ לִפְנֵ֣י אֱלֹֽהֵיכֶ֔ם אֲנִ֖י יְהֹוָ֥ה אֱלֹהֵיכֶֽם And on the day of your happiness, on your holidays, and your Rosh Chodesh's.. Blow with trumpets on your Olahs, and on your peace offerings, it will be for you a remembrance. in front of Hashem, your God. I am Hashem, your God. The Gemara in Rosh Hashanah, as well as the Sifri on Bahalotecha, explains that this is the source for Malchuyot, Zichronot and Shofarot. We've spent a month on 30 pesukim based on the Gemara where God says, If you want to have a good judgment on Rosh Hashanah, say pesukim to discuss Hashem's Kingdom, say pesukim that discuss Hashem remembering us, and say pesukim that talk about the Shofarot, the revelations of Har Sinai, of our shofar, and of the shofar of the future, which, as we explained, was really all one shofar of revelation. All of that comes from our pasuk. Toward the end of the pasuk it says, says, Utkatem/Blow. That's the shofar. Vehayu Lachem Lezikaron/God will remember you- that is Zichronot. Ani hashem Elokechem/ I am Hashem, your God. That's Malchuyot. There we have it, Malchuyot, Zichronot and Shofarot all come from this pasuk. The Sifri points out that it's out of order. The first thing we mentioned is Shofarot. But, he says we put Malchuyot/Hashem's kingdom first, because first you have to accept God as King. After He's King, then you ask Him to remember you. And what's going to arouse Him to remember you? The shofar of freedom, says the Sifri. We don't only want the shofar of today, we want the Shofar Gadol. Who's going to blow that shofar? Hashem Elokim- God is going to blow it. This final pasuk is all inclusive and that's why it's number 30, because everything we've been doing until now is from this pasuk. This is our source. One of the Gerrer Rebbis, known as the Lev Simcha offers a beautiful way to read the pasuk. He says it doesn't fit with the Gemara and Rishonim on the pasuk, but it's a way to read it to bring out a lesson- Really, we know this pasuk is talking about Rosh Hashanah, and possibly many other things, but let's take it at face value. It's only talking about Rosh Hashanah, Malchuyot, Zichronot and Shofarot. So let's start from the beginning of the pasuk. Firstly, וּבְי֨וֹם שִׂמְחַתְכֶ֥םIt's a day of happiness. As we've been stressing throughout, Rosh Hashanah is a day of happiness. It's called Yom Haggenu. The prophet, when he saw them crying in the times of Ezra and Nechemyah, said, Don't cry. It's not a time for crying. Secondly, וּֽבְמוֹעֲדֵיכֶם֮It's a holiday. Rosh Hashanah is called a Yom Tov. And thirdly, וּבְרָאשֵׁ֣י חׇדְשֵׁיכֶם It comes out on Rosh Chodesh. All three of these forces are in our Rosh Hashanah, and according to the way he reads it, all three descriptions are about the same day. It's a happy day, it's a holiday and it's Rosh Chodesh. Aside from Rosh Hashana, we never have a happy day that's a Rosh Chodesh and a holiday. Rosh Chodesh usually is just Rosh Chodesh. It's not a holiday, it's not a Moed. And when we have a Moed, it's not usually Rosh Chodesh. It might be a happy day. Sukkot and Pesach are happy days, and they are holidays. But they aren't on Rosh Chodesh. When do we have all three come together? Only on Rosh Hashanah. That's why this is the last pasuk that we read, that has, incapsulated in it, this important lesson. Yes, it's a Day of Judgment, and yes, it is a Day of Kingdom, but it's also a day of happiness. Why is it a day of happiness? Rav Wolbe says- What is the meaning of the word Moed? We say holiday but that's not the real meaning. Based on a pasuk in Amos 3,3 where it says, הֲיֵלְכ֥וּ שְׁנַ֖יִם יַחְדָּ֑ו בִּלְתִּ֖י אִם־נוֹעָֽדוּ׃ Can two people walk together? Unless there were Noadu. Rashi says, they set a time to meet. So Moed means a time that you set to meet. Rav Wolbe points out that Tisha B'Av is called a Moed. How could Tisha B'Av be called a holiday? The answer is, holiday doesn't mean celebration. Holiday means we're meeting. We can have a time to meet to discuss our differences. We can have a time to meet to discuss the problems that we're having in our relationship. And yes, it is a relationship. We're not divorced. It's a meeting. It's a meeting of minds. There are different types of meetings. So there's no question that Rosh Hashanah is a Moed. It is a time to meet. But we're adding that if you look at it properly, it's not just a time of meeting. It's a time of meeting that has in it a happiness, and a celebration, if we use it properly. That's our whole story. Rosh Hashanah is a time to meet. Who am I meeting? I'm meeting my Father. I'm meeting my King. And if I have the right attitude towards our relationship all year, says Rav Wolbe, it's going to be especially meaningful at the time of the shofar. It's like I haven't seen that special relative in a year, and now he's coming close. On Rosh Hashanah, we say, Ki ba. God is coming. God is coming into our hearts. Let's see how we accept Him. I wish everybody Tizku L'Shanim Rabot, a special year. And with help, Hashem sees how much time and effort we are putting into His pesukim. It's all taken into consideration. And Hashem will bring us all a special happy, and sweet, good new year.

We are now on our 6th pasuk of the pesukim of Shofarot . And it's talking about the shofar that we blow. It's from Tehilim 81,4 תִּקְע֣וּ בַחֹ֣דֶשׁ שׁוֹפָ֑ר בַּ֝כֵּ֗סֶה לְי֣וֹם חַגֵּֽנוּ׃ Blow in the month the Shofar, on the covering of the holiday. The midrash explains that this is one of the hints to blowing the shofar on Rosh Hashanah. It's called the month ( where there's a holiday) when the moon is covered . On other holidays, like Sukkot and Pesach (that are on the 15 th of the month) the moon is very open; and on Shavuot, you see some of the moon. But on first day of the month, you don't see a moon at all. So bakeseh , when the moon is covered, b'chodesh refers to when the new moon is covered , that's when we blow the shofar. The midrash says on this pasuk that on Rosh Hashanah, it doesn't say Tiku shofar b'chodesh/blow the shofar in the month, but rather it says Tiku B'chodesh shofar. The words chodesh and shofar need to be explained in a midrashic approach. Chodesh means chiddush , and shofar means le'sha'per is to beautify. Shifra was the name of the midwife Yocheved because she was mishaperet / she beautified , she cleaned up. So there are two things that we need to do on Rosh Hashanah, Shifru and chidshu . What's the difference? Chidshu means there's certain things that you have to totally renew. This is teshuva . We have to totally renew our acts. We have to stop the bad things we're doing and renew our acts. Rav Wolbe says that's the segula of Rosh Hashanah. At the beginning of a new year, you have the chance to renew yourself and renew your deeds. That's one aspect of Rosh Hashanah. I'm a new person, I'm born again. Adam HaRishon was created,I'm created. And I could start fresh and new. The other aspect is the good things that I'm doing already, that I don't need to do new, but that I can make better . I can smooth them out. I can shine them up. What do these two activities of Chidshu and Shifru do? The midrash continues and says, if you do that, then shofar Teku bachodesh shofar, What does that mean? Just like the shofar is a tube that you blow into on one side and it comes out the other, So too, I am going to have all the complaints against the Jewish people go in through one side and out the other, like the famous saying, In one ear and out the other. The power of the shofar is that we do both these things, we renew and we beautify . That's why we're supposed to be thinking about Teshuva at the time when the shofar blows. This is an important lesson within our shofar pesukim . Rashi, in the sefer Pardes HaGadol, chapter 170 quotes from the Geonim that cite this pasuk as a source that we can't fast on Rosh Hashana, which is called Yom Chaggenu . It's our holiday. Why is it a holiday? We talked about this before, but we'll quote a Seforno in Vayikra 23, 24 that explains that it's a holiday because we're celebrating that He's our king, and when we celebrate that He is our king, He will tilt towards kindness and we will have a good judgment. And he quotes a pasuk in Yeshaya 33, 22 Ki Hashem Shoftenu/God is our judge/Hashem Mechokekenu/He gives us our rules . Hashem Malkenu/Hashem is our King, Hu Yoshienu/He will save us. And that is the holiday. It's a holiday because we're celebrating Hashem's Kingdom and therefore we're going to get a good judgment. He's going to save us. I once saw that there's a custom to sing, especially on Rosh Hashanah after Musaf, En Kelokenu , because on Rosh Hashanah, En Kadonenu/ There's no one like our boss, En Kamalkenu/ There's nobody like our King . En Kemoshi'eno/There's no one like our Savior. And that goes back to this pasuk Hashem Malkeno/ God is my king, Hu Yoshieno/He will save me. On Rosh Hashanah, God is saving us. We don't realize what's going on. On Rosh Hashanah. Its like you just got pulled out of a fiery furnace. You were saved from Gaza. It's feeling of those hostages. That's the feeling of Hu Yoshienu. God is saving us on Rosh Hashanah. We have to celebrate that. It's a great day. Miracles are happening on Rosh Hashanah. And that's a holiday. תִּקְע֣וּ בַחֹ֣דֶשׁ שׁוֹפָ֑ר בַּ֝כֵּ֗סֶה לְי֣וֹם חַגֵּֽנוּ But what makes this holiday happen? What empowers the shofar? Chidshu Shifru - Renew our deeds, beautify our deeds, and celebrate Hashem as our kingdom.

Welcome to the pesukim of Musaf, Rosh Hashanah. We're on our fifth pasuk of shofarot , which refers to the shofar of our Rosh Hashanah. The pasuk is from Tehilim 98,6 בַּ֭חֲצֹ֣צְרוֹת וְק֣וֹל שׁוֹפָ֑ר הָ֝רִ֗יעוּ לִפְנֵ֤י ׀ הַמֶּ֬לֶךְ יְהֹוָֽה׃ With trumpets of the shofar, the voice of the shofar, we will blow in front of Hashem, our God, which refers to the shofar of Rosh Hashanah. The Meiri, in his sefer on Teshuva, says, let's look at this full chapter. It starts off with Let the whole land trumpet, with all types of terms of songs. play with a harp, etc Then it says, וְק֣וֹל שׁוֹפָ֑ר הָ֝רִ֗יעוּ לִפְנֵ֤י ׀ הַמֶּ֬לֶךְ יְהֹוָֽה Which, as we said, is talking about Rosh Hashanah. And then it says a few pesukim later , Lifneh Hashem , Because Hashem is coming to judge the land. So that pasuk of Ki Ba Lishpot Haaretz is clearly talking about Rosh Hashanah. And yet we mention happiness and song. What's going on? The Meiri explains that the fear of Rosh Hashanah is a path to get us to Simcha, to get us to happiness. He says that's why it's not accepted to fast on Rosh Hashanah, because Rosh Hashanah is a Yom Tov, and we can't pass on that simcha of Yom Tov. What are we happy about? We're happy about the messages that we got from the shofar . He adds that even though Hashem is holding on to the chair of justice , it's befitting to be happy, because of what the person received from that arousal, from that understanding the he got. Rav Wolbe used to always say that the pesukim that we say right after the shofar is blown, are pesukim of happiness. We quote from Tehilim 89,16. We say, Asher HaAm Yodeah Tiruah/ Fortunate are the people that know the secret of the tiruah, which is to arouse yourself in Teshuva. Hashem yaor panekha yalech, we're going to go in the light of Your face, which is, again, a positive concept. Bshimcha yagolun Kol Hayom/In Your name we're going to be be delighted and elated all day. These are clearly pesukim of happiness. It's said that the Gaon of Vilna's face was fiery with happiness as the shofar was blowing. What are we happy about? Says the Meiri, We realize that Hashem controls the world and we understand that as nation we are being supervised by Him, and we pray to Him and we have our supplications. And then he says, we walk out with reliance on the promises of the prophets. On Rosh Hashanah, when we start talking about Hashem revealing Himself, we are looking forward and hoping to Mashiach. That's a lot of the talk on Rosh Hashanah. And he says, Lo she'yipol Ye'ush Bilvavenu/We should not despair in our hearts or give up hope because the exile has been so long. No. We walk out of Rosh Hashanah enthused. We walk out of Rosh Hashanah inspired. We walk out of Rosh Hashanah motivated- and this means when walk out of the Tekiyat shofar . When we hear the shofar blowing, and we get the lessons of the shofar… Malchuyot/Hashem is King Zichronot/He remembers us. He's watching over us. Shofarot/the shofar of Har Sinai. Although we know we're being judged (and the reason why we're taking this so seriously is because we're being judged), we are still excited about the lessons that we got due to the judgment. It's like a person that's going for a physical therapy session. He's being stretched and twisted and whatever it may be, and he walks out charley-horse. But he knows that that's going to make him feel better in another day or two because he's now more flexible and more mobile. So too, when we walk out, we know that the fear of Rosh Hashanah is what got us to where we are. If not for Elul and Rosh Hashanah, and our preparation, taking this seriously, because we know it's judgment Day, we wouldn't get here. We need the backdrop of Judgment Day to get ourselves here. But the goal, says the Meiri, after all that, is to be happy with that, There is an unbelievable Rabbenu Yona in his commentary on the Rif in Berachot , where he says that normally for human beings, fear and happiness are a contradiction. If you're standing in front of someone in fear, you're moved back by worry. But with Hashem, it doesn't work that way. It's the opposite. When you start delving into His greatness and become afraid of Him, you become happy with that fear. Why? Because that fear is going to get you to fulfill mitzvot. That fear aroused you, and now you're thrilled. He says, that's the concept, that you could serve Hashem with fear and be happy with that fear. That's what it means that the curses come because you didn't serve Hashem out of happiness . It means you should have gotten to a fear and the fear doesn't leave you in fear. The fear brings you to happiness. The great Rav Yehezkiel Levenstein was known for his tremendous fear on Rosh Hashanah, crying during the prayers. But his student Rav Dan Segal said he once heard him during the break in his room, singing songs. What was going on? You're crying and you're singing? Yes, that's the power of Rosh Hashanah.

Welcome to our special Rosh Hashanah Musaf Pesukim series. We're up to the third pasuk of Shofarot- Shemot 20,15: וְכׇל־הָעָם֩ רֹאִ֨ים אֶת־הַקּוֹלֹ֜ת וְאֶת־הַלַּפִּידִ֗ם וְאֵת֙ ק֣וֹל הַשֹּׁפָ֔ר וְאֶת־הָהָ֖ר עָשֵׁ֑ן וַיַּ֤רְא הָעָם֙ וַיָּנֻ֔עוּ וַיַּֽעַמְד֖וּ מֵֽרָחֹֽק׃ Everyone saw the sounds and the lightning and the sound of the Shofar. And the mountain was smoky. And they saw, and they were moved . They shook and stood from afar. Rashi says firstly that Everyone saw means that no one was blind, and everyone was healed. Additionally, Rashi says they were able to see the sound, which is seemingly impossible. You hear sound and you see sights. You don't see sound. But kolot , says Rashi, was the word of God . So what exactly does that mean, that they saw the word of God? Rav Chaim Volozhin, in his sefer Nefesh HaChaim 3,11 explains that when Hashem created the world, He said, Yehi Or/ Let there be light, and those words , that emanated from God's mouth (God and His word are one of the same) continue to pump energy into the sun, to make there be light. For example, we say, L'Olam Devarecha Nitzav B'Shamayim/Forever Your word is in the heavens. What does that mean? Hashem said, Yehi Rakia / Let there be a firmament…Let there be a sky. We might think the sky was just created once, but that's wrong. God is the force and energy behind creation. If Hashem stops pumping energy into creation, it ceases to exist. The example I like to use is a bounce house or moonwalk that kids jump around in. A moonwalk constantly has air pumped in and the kids jump and bounce on it. But if that air stops pumping in, everything collapses. So too with the world. It doesn't have its own independent existence. But, he explains, we can't see that. When we look at an apple, we only see an apple. We don't see the word of God that's making the apple exist. Like it says through the mann , they realize, ki lo al lechem levado yechia Adam/Man does not live on bread alone... He lives from what emanates from the mouth of God. It's the energy of God in the food that keeps us alive. And in the future, Yeshaya says, we're going to see it. Everyone will see, Ki PI Hashem Di'ber / They'll see that Hashem spoke. It will be so clear to us that we'll be able to see, with our physical eyes, the emanation of God that's in every existence. That is what happened at Har Sinai. We saw the voice, which means we had the clarity, that God is the Source of all existence. Har Sinai is the biggest revelation. The shofar, Rav Wolbe says, is the concept of a Gilui / revelation of God. And that revelation happened when we saw the true existence behind everything. That is our first point on this pasuk. They saw . When say these Pesukim we are supposed to be conceptualizing this. Additionally, the Sror U'Mor asks why Everybody moved ? Many commentaries say that these words are the source, that when Jews learn, they move back and forth. They don't just sit stationery. And the Sror U'Mor in Shemot on this pasuk cites a Zohar that a heretic once asked Rabbi Shimon some questions. One of them was, Why do Jewish people move back and forth when they learn, more than other nations? He didn't answer the man, but they continued to discuss that they were already asked above (whatever that means) and the answer was, it shows the quality of the Jewish people that our soul comes from fire. Ner Elokim Nishmat Adam/The soul is like the fire of God. That's why we light a candle when someone passes away, and fire always flickers back and forth and upward. And since the Jewish people's souls come from that fire, when we learn Torah, we're reconnecting with that fire. Mishnah/ Nishama . When one learns Mishnayot , it's connected to their Neshama . We still have this from Matan Torah. Matan Torah wasn't a one time episode. The Haamek Davar , on this pasuk, is bothered. It starts off saying everyone saw the voices, they saw the sounds of Hashem, and then it says, Vayar HaAm / and they saw Vayanu / and they began to shake. Why does it say they saw twice? The Haamek Davar gives a beautiful answer. He says that when somebody lifts a weight that's heavier than he can handle, his hands start to shake because his muscles can't handle it. So too, when Hashem revealed the revelation, and they saw it, they were holding something that was above their grasp, so to speak. It was above their abilities to really comprehend, so they started to shake. That's why the second time, it says they couldn't hold on to this tremendous load of Kedusha . It was above their abilities. And that's why they shook at Har Sinai.

We continue in our mini series on the pesukim of Musaf Rosh Hashanah and we are up to our 10th pasuk of Malchuyot, which is the culmination, Shema Yisrael Hashem Elokenu Hashem Echad. It's interesting that our 10th Pasuk does not have the word melech in it because this is actually what we call Kabbalat Ohl Malchut Shamayim/accepting the yoke of God's kingdom by saying Hashem is Elokenu , Hashem is Echad . Obviously, if He is the God and He is the Boss and He is the only One, then He is the King. Rav Wolbe, in his sefer Aleh Shur, goes to the first pasuk of Keriat Shema and says it's a wonder that we could spend years to perfect saying this. He first explains the words Shema Yisrael based on the Gemara in Hulin 91B that says the Jewish people are dear, more dear than the angels. The angels, before they say Hashem's name, have to say three words, kadosh, kadosh, kadosh, whereas the Jewish people only say two words, Shema Yisrael . Obviously, it's not about the number of words said, but the amount of preparation or what you need to do to mention Hashem's name. The angel's three kadoshes, mean 1- in the heavens, 2- on the earth, and 3- for eternity . So God is Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, in heaven, on earth and for eternity. And then they can say Hashem's name. Whereas the Jewish people say Shema Yisrael, which means listen . Listen to the fact that you are a Yisrael . Listen well to what it means to be a Jew because that's all you need to connect to God. The Jewish people are naturally connected to God. When we say Keriat Shema , God, so to say, dwells on the person. Why? He says, because Hashem Elokenu is what the Gaon of Vilna calls a Shem Maleh/ God's complete name . That's the totality. Hashem Elokenu means Hashem brought everything into existence, He is, was, and will be, and He is supervising and controlling the world. That Shem Maleh can only dwell on an Olam Maleh/ a full world, like at creation the word Elokenu wasn't said until the world was complete. He says, the Jewish people in and of themselves are a complete world. In other words, we are a complete world . And therefore, in the Jewish people is hidden all the secrets that we need to be ready and prepared. So the first thing we have to do is connect ourselves to the Jewish people. Hashem Elokenu means He's not just the God of the world, but as we said, He's Elokeh Yisrael. He's the God of the Jewish people . He, of course, controls the whole world, but there's a special supervision on us. Hashem Echad, as we mentioned in the past, means Hashem, who currently is revealed as Elokenu, will, in the future, be known to the world as Hashem Echad. There's another explanation of Echad , which is the deep concept En Od Milevado, which means there's nothing else but God . This is a hard concept to fully appreciate, but there's nothing else but God in the world. Everything is His existence. He quotes the Gemara that says a concept called we gained from Him or we're living in Him. An additional point within Kriyat Shema , which is especially important for Rosh Hashanah, when we are accepting the yoke of God's kingdom on us for the whole year, is that you have to say it to the point of Mesirut Nefesh. You have to be ready to give up your life for the cause. Bechol Nafshecha/with all your life. It says you're supposed to imagine that you are being told to either bow to an idol or jump in the fiery furnace, and you have to imagine you did it. But Rav Wolbe explains that we can, so to say, fool ourselves. You may be ready to die Al Kiddush Hashem, he says, but when someone asks you something and you can't control yourself and you share some Lashon Hara, what happens? You are ready to die Al Kiddush Hashem , but you can't control yourself from whatever it may be? It could be anything-Eating what you shouldn't, looking where you shouldn't…What happened to dying for the cause if you can't even do this? Therefore, he says that the real, true Kabbalat Ohl Malchut Shamayim is to take something real, on your level instead. The example that he gave was, I can't sit for 4 hours and learn straight?! What happened to my dying for the cause? Can I do a half an hour? And for the first half hour, I'll learn without interfering. That's my Mesirut Nefesh. That is my giving up . So you have to find where you're holding, and that is the commitment. And then if you see you can do more, you add more. Your Kabbalat Ohl Malchut Shamayim on Rosh Hashana is not, " I'm never going to xyz." That's fake. Of course, you're dreaming for that. You hope for that. But your commitment has to be something that's real and attainable . There's a cute story they tell about a man that was accepting upon himself to join the communist party. They asked them questions: If you have two planes, what do you do? " One for me, one for Mother Russia." If you have two cars, what do you do? One for me, one for Mother Russia. If you have two cows, what do you do? One for me, one for mother Russia. If you have two shirts what do you do? He doesn't answer. Why aren't you answering? Because I actually have two shirts. Similarly , in theory , I'd jump into a fiery furnace. Why not? But it's not on the table right now. The real stuff, I'm not ready to talk about. That is what Kabbalat Ohl Malchut Shamayim is. Rav Wolbe says we have to use the month of Elul to prepare, so eventually we do it right when we get to this 10th pasuk on Rosh Hashanah. ​

We are now in a special miniseries of the 30 pesukim of our Musaf prayers. I went out of order yesterday. ש ְא֤וּ שְׁעָרִ֨ים is actually pasuk #6 Pasuk number five is יְהֹוָ֣ה מָלָךְ֮ גֵּא֢וּת לָ֫בֵ֥שׁ לָבֵ֣שׁ יְ֭הֹוָה עֹ֣ז הִתְאַזָּ֑ר אַף־תִּכּ֥וֹן תֵּ֝בֵ֗ל בַּל־תִּמּֽוֹט׃ (Tehilim 93,1) Hashem Malach Ga'ut Lavesh Hashem will have reigned,He donned or cloaked Himself in ge'ut/ grandeur (or literally arrogance ). Lavesh Hashem Oz Hitazar. Hashem will have girded Himself with might Af Tikon Tevel Bal Timot/He made the world firm that it should not falter. This is obviously a pasuk of Malchuyot (every pasuk of malchuyot / kingdom has the word melech in it except for the 10 th - Shema Israel). So, Hashem Malach/Hashem is King. We say this in our Shir shel Yom . There is a different song for each of the seven days of the week, and we say this song on Fridays because it was first said on a Friday, when Adam HaRishon opened his eyes and said, Hashem Malach. He opened his eyes on the first day and saw, Here I am, a creation in a world that was created by God, Who is the King. Rav Wolbe says, similarly on Rosh Hashanah, when we open our eyes, we should imagine that we just landed here for the first time. And when we look around, we should say, " What is this growing out of the ground? What's this hard, wood-like material? How is it growing? What is going on here ?" We should look at the world in that curious fashion, as if we just got here. And like Adam Harishon, we say, Hashem Malach Ge'ut Lavesh, God the King is wearing a coat of ge'ut , which sounds like arrogance - not a very good. Middah. Why are we calling God arrogant? The truth is, we say in Az Yashir, Ki Ga'oh Ga'ah /God was arrogant over the arrogant, and the explanation is that Arrogance means taking credit for what you did. The Mesilat Yesharim says, Machshiv et Atzmo/You are giving yourself importance, credibility, recognition for what you did. The only problem is you didn't do it. No one can take credit. It's arrogant to take credit for what you didn't do. Only God can take credit. The example that I like to give is a young child learning how to play baseball for the first time. His father lobs him these very easy pitches, and his brother stands behind the plate with the boy, holding the boy's hands around the bat. He gets this easy pitch lobbed to him by his father, and his brother swings the bat with the boy, and hits a line drive. The boy is thrilled. He hit a ball ! He bangs his chest with pride. Any bystander would say, Doesn't this kid get it? They lobbed him the ball. It was such an easy pitch to hit, and he didn't even hit it! His brother was holding his hands over the bat and the brother was the one that swung! That's really what goes on in our lives. I'm talking to myself. We have to constantly remind ourselves that we can't say, Kochi V'Otzem Yadi/My strength and My power caused me to be successful at war or anything else. No. It has nothing to do with you. God gives you the strength. And we know the famous Targum, God gives you the ideas. He gives you the ideas to amass wealth. So it's far, far from us doing anything. And therefore, only God has the right to take credit and, so to say, be arrogant because it's okay for God to be arrogant. There's nothing wrong with that. He is the One and the only one that can truly take credit for anything that happens. Hashem Oz Hitazar/ God girds Himself with Oz/strength Af Tikon Tevel Bal Timot/He made the world firm that it should not falter. This means that even when Hashem is using His power and His strength, at the same time He's making sure that the world continues to exist and run in a proper fashion. There's a beautiful Chida that quotes the Arizal that says the words Ge'ut lavesh גאות לבש rescrambled is go'el Shabbat גואל שבת God will redeem us in the merit of Shabbat. It's known that when Rosh Hashanah comes out on a Shabbat, it's either a great year or a very difficult year. This year was a year that Rosh Hashana came out on Shabbat. What is it about Shabbat that brings the Ge'ulah ? The Chida explains, in this pasuk, that when we keep Shabbat, we are being Modeh/admitting that Hashem created the world. He's king of the world, there's nothing else but Him and the world is all His. Well, if that's the case, and I really believe that, He can forgive any sin. That's why the merit of Shabbat, which is stating all those things, will bring the Geula . Shabbat strengthens that belief and all those beliefs in Hashem's Kingdom- and that causes our sins to be forgiven and that brings the Ge'ulah . The truth is, that's what every Rosh Hashanah is all about, and every Rosh Hashanah we proclaim, God is King, He's in charge , and He can do whatever He's like, and therefore we will be forgiven.

We are now in our special miniseries of pesukim of the Musaf prayers. We are up to pasuk number five, Tehilim 24 ,7-10. שְׂא֤וּ שְׁעָרִ֨ים ׀ רָֽאשֵׁיכֶ֗ם וְֽ֭הִנָּשְׂאוּ פִּתְחֵ֣י עוֹלָ֑ם וְ֝יָב֗וֹא מֶ֣לֶךְ הַכָּבֽוֹד Lift up your heads (open the gates) and let there be open the portals of the world (As if were asking the gates to) allow the Melech Hakavod to come in מִ֥י זֶה֮ מֶ֤לֶךְ הַכָּ֫ב֥וֹד יְ֭הֹוָה עִזּ֣וּז וְגִבּ֑וֹר יְ֝הֹוָ֗ה גִּבּ֥וֹר מִלְחָמָֽה Who is that King, who is mighty and powerful? Hashem is the mighty at war.. and the gates don't open.. שְׂא֤וּ שְׁעָרִ֨ים ׀ רָֽאשֵׁיכֶ֗ם וּ֭שְׂאוּ פִּתְחֵ֣י עוֹלָ֑ם וְ֝יָבֹ֗א מֶ֣לֶךְ הַכָּבֽוֹד Open up the portals… And again we have the same question… מִ֤י ה֣וּא זֶה֮ מֶ֤לֶךְ הַכָּ֫ב֥וֹד Who is the King? The answer is, יְהֹוָ֥ה צְבָא֑וֹת ה֤וּא מֶ֖לֶךְ הַכָּב֣וֹד סֶֽלָה God of the hosts is the King, and with that, the gates open. What is this referring to? Rashi tells us in the times of Shlomo Hamelech, when he came to bring the Aron into the Holy of Holies, the gates locked themselves, until he mentioned David Hamelech. The Midrash adds that the gates didn't want to open. Shlomo Hamelech said Hashem is mighty and powerful, but it didn't work. It says that the gates were ready to crush Shlomo. They would have crashed down on him, and when he said Melech Hakavod, referring to God, that God is the King and the God of the hosts, then they opened up. And since he gave respect to Hashem, God said, Although I'm going to one day to destroy My house, these gates will never be destroyed , And that's why it says, in Eicha 2,8 The gates swallowed up . The Rabbis explain that part of the messaging of this pasuk is that when one accepts upon himself to glorify the Melech Hakavod, he will have a guaranteed existence. Of course, Rosh Hashanah is when we're trying to evoke our lasting survival, so therefore we want to invoke this concept. But what is this difference between first saying Gibbor Milchama, and then Hashem Seva'ot? The Chatam Sofer says that Hashem Sevaot refers to how God calls the Jewish people His army . When we realize that we are just privates in the army of Hashem, and that it's not about our own self-aggrandizement, we're not coming for our own glory, or our own fame, we're just soldiers in God's Army, and the honor is for Him, like a foot soldier who goes out there and is fighting for his country- that is what God wants. And that's what opens up the gates says, the Chatam Sofer. Furthermore, he says that in the beginning, it says Vehinasu/they should be open from the outside- when you finally realize this higher-level, the gates open up themselves. Rav Wolbe says the gates here also refer to the gates of our hearts. The gates of our hearts need to be open to allow God in. Just like there are gates of the Bet Hamikdash, there are gates of our hearts, because our heart is like a Bet Hamikdash. We have to give the magical password, the open sesame, if you may, to open up our heart and allow God in. The sefer Masat Hamelech has a very interesting explanation as to what this back-and-forth was. He says, of course, Shlomo Hamelech said to let in the Melech Hakavod, he didn't mean himself, or he would've said, "Let me, the king in." But God of the war could mean that God was showing, " through my success, I was successful at war. I was successful and therefore, that's the respect of God," but that's not clear enough. We want the glory of God to be exclusive to God. We don't want God's honor to come through people. God's honor is solely Gods honor, with no reflection of anybody's involvement. This is similar to the famous midrash that says each king ask for a different thing. One king said Let me catch and kill my enemy. Another king said, Let me chase my enemy. Another king said, Let me sing a song , and another king said, I'm just going to go to sleep. What does that mean? I'm just going to go to sleep m eans I'm not able to realize God's glory when I have any involvement in it. I want to make it clear that it's only God and that's what the sefer Masat Hamelech says; that we need to realize that everything that happens really, is without any human input at all. It's only God, all the glory goes to God. And when we realize that, it opens up our hearts. Our hearts are clogged with our own self, our own ego, that we've believe that we're doing something. Therefore, we have to open up the gates, remove all of those external barriers, and realize that God is the true God of Glory. This is all on the message of God's Kingdom as we going through the Musaf prayers

Welcome to our miniseries on the pesukim of our Musaf prayers. We're in the 4th Pasuk of Malchuyot , Tehilim 22,29. כִּ֣י לַ֭יהֹוָה הַמְּלוּכָ֑ה / To Hashem is the Kingdom וּ֝מֹשֵׁ֗ל בַּגּוֹיִֽם׃ Moshel/Dictator over the nations. The Gaon of Vilna, in Bereshit 37, 8, says there's a difference between a Melech and a Moshel . A melech is chosen willingly by the people. The root of the word melech is hamlacha , which means to advise with . There's a Rashi that says that Yitro tells Moshe Rabbenu, Himalech Bigvurah. Go and advise with Hashem. So melech means hamlachah -people advise with themselves and with their committees and they choose the king. Conversely, a Moshel is someone who rules with an iron hand; a despot, regardless of the people's opinion. Recently in Venezuela there was an election. Maduro lost, but he's still in power, because he doesn't care. He is a Moshel . He's not a Melech . Our modern day presidents are more like Melechs . They are chosen by the people. That's what it means, כִּ֣י לַ֭יהֹוָה הַמְּלוּכָ֑ה - the Jewish people accept Hashem's kingdom willingly . That's why we use the term God's kingdom . Because willingly , we accept it upon ourselves. That's the key point, it's not forced. The whole concept of Rosh Hashanah is that we willingly accept God as King. Rabbi Yaakov Kamenetsky famously asked, Why doesn't the Torah tell us that Rosh Hashana is the Day of Judgment? It's called Yom Teruah , which is the day that you blow the shofar. The shofar is the way you coronate the king and accept the king willingly. Why not call it the Day of Judgement ? It's like if you tell someone, " I'm putting a gun to your head, and if you don't accept me as king I'm going to kill you." That's not accepting the King willingly. That's under duress. But Hashem did not want the driving force of His coronation to be fear. We say B'Simcha Raba…who is like You? It has to be with happiness , not with fear or with a gun to your head. But regarding the goyim , it says, U'Moshel goyim, God is their ruler- even against their will. In Zechariah 14:9 it says, " In the future, Hashem will be King over the whole world," because then, everyone willingly accept God's kingdom. But today, Baruch Hashem, we Jewish people accept Him. The Avat Yonatan in the Haftara of Behar Bechukotai tells us the famous line that En melech v'lo Am/You can't be a king without a nation. Hashem created the world in order that the Jewish people should accept Him as King, because God is not a King without a nation. But does that mean God is not in control? I heard a very interesting explanation from Rav Wolbe, based on the famous prayer of Adon Olam- Adon Olam Asher Malach/God was the king. Beterem Kol Yetzir Nivrach/He was the King, the controller, before everything was created (which seems like a bit of a problem, if we say there's no king without a nation). L'Et Nasah Behefso kol / when He decided to create everything, Azai Melech Shemo Nikra / then He's called a king. That means God is inherently a King, because there's nothing about God that's dependent on the outside world. But to be called a King, He needs to have a people to be King over. Like we just said ,El Melech B'Olam. You need constituents . You cannot be the president of the shul with no congregants. You can't be a rabbi of a congregation without congregants. But, Acharei kichlot Hakol /when everything's wiped out, Levado Yimloch Nora/He still will alone be the king . We don't add or detract to God's kingdom, but rather, for Him to be called and recognized as a king, people are needed. That's what we do on Rosh Hashana, when we recognize God as King, and that is this pasuk of Ki L'Hashem HaMelucha. Over us now, God is the Melech, and on the goyim only a Moshel.

On a parfois tendance à associer directement le 9 Av à une grande tristesse. Pourtant, comme l'explique ce cours à travers des propos de Rav Wolbe, ce jour nous permet de nous rapprocher d'Hachem, et on ne peut pas grandir dans la tristesse.

We are studying the Pesukim of Perek Shira and we are now on the song of the rivers (Tehilim 98.8) נַהֲרוֹת אוֹמְרִים. נְהָרוֹת יִמְחֲאוּ כָף יַחַד הָרִים יְרַנֵּנוּ (תהילים צח ח) The rivers clap hands, together mountains rejoice. What is the message of this pasuk ? Clapping symbolizes happiness . Why are rivers happy ? Many explain based on the following theme, including Rav Chaim Kanievsky in his commentary to Perek Shira called Taama Dekra . He cites a Gemara in Mesechet Cholin , where it says that Rav Pinchas ben Yair was on his way to do Pidyon Shvuim/ redeem someone in captivity and needed to cross the river Gana'i , so he told the river to stop because he needed to cross. The river said, I am going to do the will of my Creator, and I know that I am going to be successful. I know what I am doing, but you don't know if you're going be successful. " We see from this that the flowing of the river symbolizes the constant fulfillment of the will of the Creator. Rivers don't stop. Rivers just keep on going. They come from the source and they go, and they come from the source and they go. That is the simcha of somebody who is serving his Creator consistently. That's the message of the river. While researching this pasuk, I noticed that the word har / mountain is the root of the word nahar / river , because the river gets its waters from the melting of the snow on the mountains. So, the river is constantly connected to its source, and that's why it keeps coming. The Source , in this case could be God. And the river is constantly connected to its Source and constantly flowing. Rav David Falk writes in one of his sefarim that he once approached Rav Chaim to add a point to this concept, based on a Gemara in Horayot 12A, where it says that Rav Masharshiya, one of the Amoraim , told his son, When you learn, learn by a river, because that way your learning will continue and flow, just like the river flows. We see from here that the river symbolizes consistency, and it can arouse you to learn consistently as well. Rav Chaim Kanievsky agreed to this explanation. So, another message of the song of the river is that of consistency . And with consistency comes happiness. But consistency is not enough. In the sefer Yismach Yehuda , Yehuda Jacobowitz writes that in order to be consistent, you can't be affected or moved by obstacles. There are things that get in your way and interfere. But a person has the ability to, so to say, ignore the obstacles, and that's what the song of the river symbolizes. Furthermore, in Mishnat Rav Aharon (vol 1, page 200), Rav Aaron Kotler quotes the pesukim in Tehilim , וּֽלְיִשְׁרֵי־לֵ֥ב שִׂמְחָֽה׃ (97,11) To those that are straight of heart there is happiness And ׃ פִּקּ֘וּדֵ֤י יְהֹוָ֣ה יְ֭שָׁרִים מְשַׂמְּחֵי־לֵ֑ב The commands of Hashem are straight (Tehilim 19,9) He adds that part of being consistent is not making extra cheshbonot and all kinds of calculations and trying to figure things out. As the pasuk in Kohelet 7,29 says, אֲשֶׁ֨ר עָשָׂ֧ה הָאֱלֹהִ֛ים אֶת־הָאָדָ֖ם יָשָׁ֑ר God made man straight. וְהֵ֥מָּה בִקְשׁ֖וּ חִשְּׁבֹנ֥וֹת רַבִּֽים׃ And they're looking for all kind of cheshbonot, They're trying all kinds of shenanigans and tactics But there's a trait of Yashrut / straightness . The river just goes straight . Yashrut is straight, with no nonsense. I do what I have to do. I don't get caught up in things that I don't have to do. As we say, Tamim Tihyeh/I'm complete. I'm simple with Hashem. I just keep doing my thing. That brings simcha. I remember during the Gulf War that most people were busy talking about the war, how to react, and all the things that go along with that. But one day Rav Wolbe came in and just gave a regular class on speaking the truth or some other topic. He explained that he noticed one day that there were workers out paving the roads. He asked himself, They're paving the roads? We're in the middle of a war! Why are they paving the road? Then he said, because government workers have their jobs and despite whatever is going on, 'I gotta pave my road .' He said, it's the same with Avodat Hashem. Yes, there are sometimes bumps in the road and sometimes there are interferences, but you have to stick to your job. You gotta pave the road. That's the message of the river? The river is Yashar . It's straight, it's consistent, and therefore it's constantly clapping.

We are now in the first pasuk of Perek Shira, Shamayim Omrim / What do the Heavens say? They say a pasuk in Tehilim , 19,2: הַשָּׁמַיִם מְסַפְּרִים כְּבוֹד אֵל וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדָיו מַגִּיד הָרָקִיעַ: (תהילים יט ב) / The Heavens tell of the glory of God and the rest of God's handiwork is said over by the Rakia Rashi says that David Hamelech explains in a following pasuk , אֵֽין־אֹ֭מֶר וְאֵ֣ין דְּבָרִ֑ים / There are no words , meaning that when we say Hashamayim Misaprim/The Heavens tell -it's speaking without words. This means that when we, the creation, see what's going on in the Heavens, we will speak about it. הַשָּׁמַיִם מְסַפְּר ִים כְּבוֹד /The wonders of the heavens will cause us, down here, to speak about the heavens. Rashi says every day we make the Beracha of Yotzer Hameorot/ God Who creates the luminaries. Rav Wolbe says that Rav Yerucham Levovitz once asked his students, If the sun is so great, why don't we make a Baracha on the sun ? Good question! And he explained that we do! Yotzer Hameorot- every morning, we make a blessing on the sun . That is the Shamayim Misaprim Kavod El / The heavens tell of the glory of God And וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדָיו מַגִּיד הָרָקִיעַ /the stars and the mazalot which are the handiwork of God are also going to speak and praise God. So, according to this simple approach, we, down here are praising God, and the song of the heavens is our song due to the heavens. But others explain based on a pasuk in Yehoshua 10,12, where it says, אָ֣ז יְדַבֵּ֤ר יְהוֹשֻׁעַ֙ לַֽיהֹוָ֔ה /Yehoshua spoke on that day when he won the war… שֶׁ֚ מֶשׁ ב ְּגִבְע֣וֹן דּ֔וֹם לה׳ / Let the sun in Givon ( be) Dom to Hashem ” Rashi says dom ,' means simply to wait for Hashem. So basically, the sun stopped , but the word dom also means to be quiet like Vayidom Aharon - so it can also mean that Yehoshua told the sun to stop singing . And once the sun stopped singing, that caused it to stop moving. The Chida says on our pasuk that the sun and all the celestial beings can only move through the song that they sing, and the proof is from Yehoshua. This is actually a Midrash Tanhuma , quoted by the Reshit Chochma, which says, מִמִּזְרַח־שֶׁ֥מֶשׁ עַד־מְבוֹא֑וֹ מְ֝הֻלָּ֗ל שֵׁ֣ם יְהֹוָֽה׃ / from the East, where the sun rises as it goes. God's name is praised . The Midrash explains that from the time the sun rises, until the sun sets, the sun is singing songs. T hat is what it means that Yehoshua told the sun to be silent , because what charges the sun is its Shira . That's a mussar for us. The human being also is like the sun. The Midrash says, when it talks about man being an Olam Katan/A miniature world, that our two eyes are referred to as the sun, the light of our eyes. That means a person's ability to shine comes from the songs that he sings, like the sun. There are two important lessons from this pasuk, based on the two ways to read it. One is that we, down here, must appreciate the songs of the sky. We have to look up into the heavens. It says in the pasuk, “ שְׂ אוּ־ מָ ר֨וֹם עֵ ינֵיכֶ֤ם / lift up to the heavens, your eyes…. and see Who created this .” The first letter of each word spells out Shema שמע And it says, when you say Shema you're supposed to first look into creation. Most people don't realize this, but every single morning, in our praise of Shaharit , we first talk about the sun and moon and the celestial beings, and then we say, Shema Yisrael. We have to make God King over all the heavens. But in order to do that, we first have to appreciate that there are heavens, that there is a sun, there is a moon, there are stars, and they are singing the songs of God, the precision of all those celestial beings. That's the הַשָּׁמַיִם מְסַפְּרִים כְּבוֹד אֵל וּמַעֲשֵׂה יָדָיו מַגִּיד הָרָקִיעַ: This is the first of our daily dose of Perek Shira , and we have just fulfilled the concept of, Whoever involves themself in Perek Shira/ every day is zoche…to all kinds of wonderful things.

La Émouna est-elle simplement de la foi ? Pourquoi ? Qu'est-ce que le Ma'amad Har Sinaï ? En quoi est-il important d'en parler souvent aux enfants ? En quoi l'imagination peut-elle nous rapprocher d'Hachem ou, au contraire, nous en éloigner ? En quoi est-il indispensable, dans l'éducation, de donner beaucoup de joie et d'amour ? Réponse à travers des propos du Rambam, de Rav Wolbe et du Maharal.

À travers des propos de Rav Wolbe, rapportés dans le deuxième volume de son livre 'Alé Chour, ce cours explique que la vie, même lorsqu'elle n'est pas facile, est vraiment un cadeau. Puis, à travers des propos du Zohar, il montre que la vie est indissociable du mouvement, et ne peut pas se limiter à une simple existence physique.

In this shiur, the final shiur delivered to the Shana Bet of Tomer Devorah, Rav Burg explains (based on a piece from Rav Wolbe zt"l) why Yosef HaTzaddik is singled out as having lived in Mitzrayim. The same Yosef HaTzaddik who was a shepherd for his father, is the same Yosef HaTzaddik who is a king in Mitzrayim. How do we stay authentic irrespective of our environment? In this shiur Rav Burg speaks about how Yaakov lived a broad life while Eisav lived a dual life. Yosef, through his Middah of Seder, was the foil for Eisav and stayed true to himself even in the depths of depravity in Mitzrayim.

Discover the profound spiritual insights from the final moments of Yaakov of Avinu's life as our esteemed guest unravels the significance behind his last blessings. This episode takes you on a journey through the narrative, examining why Yaakov positioned himself towards the head of the bed as he prepared to part from this world. Our guest, an acclaimed scholar well-versed in the writings of Rav Wolbe and the Maharal, offers a unique perspective on how this act symbolizes the presence of the divine Shechina with those who humbly accept their reliance on the Almighty.As we explore the intricacies of these timeless lessons, we are reminded of the importance of humility and the recognition of our dependence on Hashem, even outside of life's most challenging moments. Our conversation invites you to consider how one's stance on self-sufficiency can influence one's spiritual connection, emphasizing the power of embracing our vulnerabilities. This episode is not just a story of the past but a call to cultivate a life filled with the constant companionship of the Shechina by acknowledging the support we perpetually need from the divine. Join us for an enlightening discussion that will deepen your understanding and appreciation of these enduring teachings.Support the showJoin the WhatsApp community for daily motivational Torah content! JOIN HERE ---------------- SUBSCRIBE to The Weekly Parsha for an insightful weekly shiur on the Parsha of the week. Listen on Spotify or the new Jewish music and Podcast streaming platform 24six! Access all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our new website, themotivationcongregation.org ---------------- Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

Have you ever considered the sheer power of unyielding human will? There's a famous saying by Rav Wolbe suggests if one genuinely desires something, nothing can stand in the way. In this thrilling discussion, we delve into this concept, exploring how a robust will can propel us to overcome even the most insurmountable obstacles. We discuss why we often fall short in our spiritual pursuits and how nurturing a resolute will could be the magic element we're missing in our quest for spiritual fulfillment.Building on the teachings of Ramchal and Ibrahim al-Lajnar, we draw upon the example of Shchem from our parashah to demonstrate the unstoppable force a person becomes when they genuinely desire something. We then challenge you to channel that unrelenting spirit towards your spiritual aspirations. We'll guide you in garnering a deeper understanding of the value of a God-fearing life and the beauty of Torah study. Together, we'll explore how mindfulness of the splendor of Torah study, Hashem's Mitzvot, and the privilege of being a God-fearing Jew can ignite an unquenchable desire to fulfill Hashem's will. As we journey along this path, we become unstoppable in our spiritual pursuits.Support the showJoin the WhatsApp community for daily motivational Torah content! JOIN HERE ---------------- SUBSCRIBE to The Weekly Parsha for an insightful weekly shiur on the Parsha of the week. Listen on Spotify or the new Jewish music and Podcast streaming platform 24six! Access all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our new website, themotivationcongregation.org ---------------- Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com

What if the key to life's richness lay not in the mere act of existing, but in the choices we make? This episode unravels the profound concept of Bechira- the unique human capacity for free will. Life and death are not just biological states, but determined by the decisions we make, with blessing and curse on the balance scale. Your prosperity, your legacy, and indeed your very aliveness are in your hands, waiting for you to make the choice for life, to earn your pulse. Yet, we find that this fundamental Jewish faith appears to be slipping away. Drawing from the writings of Rav Wolbe in Alei Shor, we dive into the troubling rise of fatalistic thinking and a culture of evading personal responsibility, especially when it comes to transgressions. We challenge the excuses such as pleading insanity in criminal cases - a reflection of a larger problem. Remember, you always have the power to change, to choose, to control your actions. Whether you ascend to greatness or plunge into ignominy, it's up to you. So, choose life, choose righteousness, and truly live. Join us as we explore this thought-provoking topic.Support the showJoin the WhatsApp community for daily motivational Torah content! JOIN HERE ---------------- SUBSCRIBE to The Weekly Parsha for an insightful weekly shiur on the Parsha of the week. Listen on Spotify or the new Jewish music and Podcast streaming platform 24six! Access all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our new website, themotivationcongregation.org ---------------- Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com#parsha #shortdvartorah #thetorahpodcast #motivationalmussar

Imagine a world where falsehoods disguise themselves as truth, feeding off a small percentage of genuine facts to gain credibility. This episode dives into the concept of Shekher, the illusion of falsehood, and how it permeates various aspects of our lives. We start with the story of the Maraglim spies who returned from a recon mission with a report meant to shatter any hopes of conquering the land of Canaan. Rashi's insights reveal how these wicked individuals knew Shekher had no legs and needed a foundation of truth to be believed.Join us as Rabbi Yeruchom offers an intriguing explanation of a puzzling Gamorah, which states that Moshiach will only come when the generation is either wholly righteous or wicked. We'll also hear from Rav Wolbe, who shares insights on how various governments and campaigns throughout history have been built on a foundation of supposed goodness, yet are ultimately rooted in falsehood and Shekher. Together, we'll uncover the importance of searching for the true meaning and living authentically in a world often clouded by illusions. So, are you ready to expose the truth behind the lies? Tune in and prepare to have your perspective transformed!Support the showJoin the WhatsApp community for daily motivational Torah content! JOIN HERE ---------------- SUBSCRIBE to The Weekly Parsha for an insightful weekly shiur on the Parsha of the week. Listen on Spotify or the new Jewish music and Podcast streaming platform 24six! Access all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our new website, themotivationcongregation.org ---------------- Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com#parsha #shortdvartorah #thetorahpodcast #motivationalmussar

Wow, these three Torah scholars were incredibly knowledgeable and deeply devoted to their faith. Their teachings hold such a valuable lesson that we can all learn from!Support the show SUBSCRIBE to The Weekly Parsha for an insightful weekly shiur on the Parsha of the week. Listen on Spotify or the new Jewish music and Podcast streaming platform 24six! Access all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our new website themotivationcongregation.org ----------------Consider sponsoring a podcast or donating to help fund our Torah outreach and distribution. You can also join our Partnership Program and help us keep creating Torah content! Click the "Support the Show" link to donate. Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com#parsha #shortdvartorah #thetorahpodcast #motivationalmussar

The Wisdom and Legacy of Chazon Ish and Rav Shlomo WolbeJudaism has produced many great leaders and scholars throughout history, and two of the most influential figures in the past century include Chazon Ish and Rav Shlomo Wolbe. Both men were renowned for their wisdom, teachings, and guidance in the Jewish community.Chazon Ish, whose real name was Rav Avraham Yeshayahu Karelitz, was a prominent rabbi and scholar in Israel during the 20th century. He was a leading authority on Jewish law, and his works continue to influence Jewish communities today. Chazon Ish was known for his exceptional intellect and ability to delve deeply into Jewish legal and ethical issues. In addition to his legal scholarship, he was a spiritual leader who inspired countless followers with his teachings and insights.Rav Shlomo Wolbe was Israel's leading rabbi and educator during the late 20th century. He was known for his teachings on mussar (ethical conduct) and his personal growth and self-improvement guidance. Rav Wolbe studied under Chazon Ish and other great rabbis and developed a deep understanding of Jewish law and ethics. He became an influential teacher and author, with books and teachings that continue to be a source of inspiration to many. Rav Wolbe believed that every person has the potential for personal growth and self-improvement, and he encouraged his students to focus on character development as a critical aspect of their Jewish practice. His teachings continue to be relevant and influential to this day.The Legacy of Chazon Ish and Rav Shlomo WolbeBoth Chazon Ish and Rav Shlomo Wolbe dedicated their lives to preserving and transmitting the wisdom and knowledge of Judaism to future generations. Their teachings continue to inspire and influence Jews worldwide, and their legacy lives on through their writings and the work of their followers.Support the show SUBSCRIBE to The Weekly Parsha for an insightful weekly shiur on the Parsha of the week. Listen on Spotify or the new Jewish music and Podcast streaming platform 24six! Access all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our new website themotivationcongregation.org ----------------Consider sponsoring a podcast or donating to help fund our Torah outreach and distribution. You can also join our Partnership Program and help us keep creating Torah content! Click the "Support the Show" link to donate. Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com#parsha #shortdvartorah #thetorahpodcast #motivationalmussar

In today's short Torah talk we discuss the proper post-Pesach mindset. Rav Wolbe teaches us one essential idea to help us turn our inspiration into action. As we count the days of Sefiras Ha'Omer up until the holiday of Shavuos, it's essential to reflect on the feelings of inspiration we experienced over Pesach and implement it into our lives. Support the showJoin the WhatsApp community for daily motivational Torah content! JOIN HERE ---------------- SUBSCRIBE to The Weekly Parsha for an insightful weekly shiur on the Parsha of the week. Listen on Spotify or the new Jewish music and Podcast streaming platform 24six! Access all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our new website, themotivationcongregation.org ---------------- Questions or Comments? Please email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com#parsha #shortdvartorah #thetorahpodcast #motivationalmussar

In this week's Torah Podcast: Shemini, which is the Torah reading of the week and third in the Book of Leviticus. Parshas Shemini tells of the consecration of the Tabernacle, the deaths of Nadab and Abihu, and the dietary laws of kashrut (כַּשְׁרוּת‎). In this week's Torah podcast, we focus on an idea from Rav Shlomo Wolbe z"l about Moshe Rabbeinus's response to his brother when Aharon was hesitant to assume the leadership role of Kohen Gadol. This teaches us to recognize false humility and take leadership positions when needed. Plus, we explore a fascinating explanation of  Ramban about Aharon's first experience inside the Mishkan. In this fundamental Torah lesson from the Mashgiach, we are taught where our service of Hashem begins and the words that should come to mind when we are hesitant to take the leap of faith.Summary:First, we summarize Parshas Shemini. Then we explain Rav Wolbe's Insight on the Parsha. Lastly, we finish with actionable advice and a new mindset on a misunderstood character trait. My Favorite Podcasts Right Now:1. The Parsha Podcast - With Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe http://rabbiwolbe.com/the-parsha-podcast-with-rabbi-yaakov-wolbe2. Jewish History Soundbites - With Yehuda Gebererhttps://jsoundbites.podbean.com3. Rabbi Gershon Ribner                          https://rebgershonribner.com                                       4. Rabbi Aaron Lopiansky                                    https://shiurim.eshelpublications.com/podcasts   5. Seforim Chatter Podcast                https://seforimchatter.comSupport the show-------------------The Torah Podcast is a weekly online Torah class about the week's Parsha. A focused and thought-provoking Dvar Torah about this week's Torah portion: stop asking, "What is this week's Parsha" and start telling your friends Divrei Torah on this week's Parsha. NEW! Watch our Torah WhatsApp status! WhatsApp the word "greatness" to (757)-679-4497 to watch the Status. ------------------Check out our other Torah Podcasts and content! Follow our Apple Podcast Channel! TMC Torah Podcast Network SUBSCRIBE to The Motivation Congregation Podcast for daily motivational mussar! Listen to The Motivation Congregation Podcast and The Torah Podcast on Spotify or the new Jewish music and podcast streaming platform 24six! Find all Torah talks and listen to featured episodes on our new website themotivationcongregation.org #weeklydvartorah#parsha#torah#mussar

Welcome to the this weeks Torah Podcast. Starting with an eye-opening insight from Rav Wolbe on the topic of child rearing, before moving onto the famous question of the  Beis Halevi on our Parsha, join us for a lesson filled, thought provoking  Dvar Torah on this weeks Parsha. Good Shabbas!A Torah Podcast based on the weekly Torah portion. One original Dvar Torah based on the Parsha of the week.Check out our other Torah Podcasts and content!SUBSCRIBE to The Motivation Congregation Podcast for daily motivational mussar.Follow us on WhatsApp to watch the Motivation Congregation Broadcast every morning!  Text "Subscribe" to (757)-679-4497 to join.Consider sponsoring a podcast or making a donation to help fund our Torah outreach and distribution. Click here to donate. Your partnership makes it possible.Question or Comments? Email me @ michaelbrooke97@gmail.com