Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

00:00 - Intro (Announcement)
You are listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe of Torch in Houston, Texas. This is the Thinking Talmudist podcast.

00:14 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
All right, welcome back everybody. It's so wonderful to be here at the Thinking Talmudist. Thank you, chef Ed, for your delicious food that you prepared for us. I'm sure it was a long task. All right, we are in Tractate Brachot 5A. We're going to continue where we left off.

00:30
Last week we talked about what happens if someone has affliction in their life. As I mentioned right before we went live, I'm dedicating today's class to the speedy recovery of Meira Bat Zahava. She should have a speedy recovery. She should have a healthy labor, a healthy delivery and a healthy baby, god willing. Okay, so what happens? Amar Rava V'iteyma Rav Chizda. Rava said and some say it was actually Rav Chizda who said Im Ro'eh Adam Sh'isorim Ba'in Alav.

01:02
If a person sees that affliction is befalling him, he should investigate his deeds to determine which sin he may have committed that would cause such suffering. And, as you remember, we talked about the journey of prophecy, how prophecy went, where people had any type of message. They wanted to know what is God telling me? What is God telling me? Why did this happen to me? They would go to the prophet. They would ask the prophet. The prophet would have a vision, a revelation from the Almighty, and that would be the message that they would convey to this individual and they would say you have to correct your way in this, you have to correct your way in that, and particularly when it was illness, any type of affliction.

01:50
But illness is a very potent messenger and it tells a person, by the way, the gift of illness prior to death. You know why we say, or Nazdarovia, when someone sneezes? Because it used to be that someone would sneeze and die. There was no warning. They would sneeze and die, done Till what happened. Someone would sneeze and they would die Till Jacob. Jacob was the first one to get the gift of illness prior to death.

02:26
Why is it a gift? Our sages tell us? Because it prepares a person and his family for their departure Before someone dies. If, oh, we couldn't tie up the loose knots Like this, a person has the gift of illness prior to death so that way they can prepare themselves with repentance. They can prepare themselves with asking forgiveness If they insulted, if they hurt somebody, if they owe someone money, they can pay back, they can close all those loose knots.

02:57
But it used to not be that way. So when we sneeze, we say it should be for good health, it shouldn't be like it used to be, that that was the end sign, but rather it should be for a long life filled with good health and success. Okay, so now someone would be ill, someone would get sick. What would they do? They would go to the prophet. The prophet would tell them listen, God is sending you a message. You know why you bumped your head, you're not using your head. God is telling you you have to be a little bit more careful, et cetera, et cetera. And this was the way it used to work.

03:33
Now we also learned in the Talmud, many, many episodes ago, about that that book of medicine, the book of healing, even prophecy, has been removed from this world. We don't have prophets anymore. As I mentioned last week, torch is a non-prophet right. So what we need to do is instead internalize. A person should look inside, introspect and say what is the message that God is giving me? Why is God giving me this affliction? Why is God giving me this affliction? Why is God giving me this pain? And then a person can rectify that.

04:14
And, by the way, I just want to mention very briefly you know, our nation has been dealt a big blow on October 7th 2023. Simchat Torah was a terrible, devastating attack on our people. Every single person knows somebody who was taken hostage or was murdered on that devastating, terrible day, the worst attack on the Jewish people since the Holocaust. I mean this is a major, major catastrophe. But, as a nation, god also sends us messages, prophecy. Whenever there is pain, there is a message. What was the message? We don't know, but we can internalize something. Maybe there's something that there is a message. What was the message? We don't know, but we can internalize something. Maybe there's something that I need to improve.

05:10
And if you look at what was going on among the Jewish people at that time, it was terrible, terrible separation, terrible infighting. If you remember that Rosh Hashanah, yom Kippur, there were many people who were desecrating the holiness of synagogues, you remember that it was terrible. It was terrible. You had the whole issue with the Supreme Court and everything that was going on, and one tragedy brought the entire nation to unity. One tragedy and which is why I got so angry when I started hearing and I follow Israeli news. I listen to news in Israel all the time Reshet Bet. I'm listening to the news, I watch the TV broadcasts. It's my home. We're only temporarily here, we're here for a job, but our home, our heart, libi Bamizrach, is in Israel. That's where we are. And when they started talking about Shivyon Banetel and all of these things, things, I was so upset. Not because of the draft, that wasn't the problem. Why are you creating another separation, another polarization among our people? This is a time. We need unity, absolute unity. And, by the way, I'm not here to defend anyone.

06:45
My father served four years in the IDF. I went and enlisted to the IDF. They didn't take me because I already had two children. I wasn't even an Israeli. I mean, I was born there, but I didn't have a citizenship. I made a citizenship, went to the IDF to serve and they said sorry, you're too old, we don't want you right, which is also unfortunate, because I really wanted to go, I wanted to serve, but and my children? I told them, go to the army. You want to go to yeshiva? Fine, but don't think that it's a pass, it's not. You have a responsibility as a jewish person, as a person who is in israel as tourists, but they're, they're, they're in israel. You have to do something for your people. Now this is a whole separate argument. We can talk about this in a different episode, whether or not yeshiva students should serve. They should not serve. This is a whole separate argument, but I think that everybody needs to serve the nation, whether it be with army uniform, whether it be with doing all of the incredible acts of kindness which are being done.

08:01
A guy, a very secular Israeli, he has a show that he does and he one of his segments. He said and this was during the heat of the whole debate of whether or not yeshiva students, whether the religious, should be quote draft dodgers, should they be exempt from the army? And he said look, I want to stop here for a second. He says I believe that everybody has to serve and there has to be equality. He says but let me stop a second and tell you a story.

08:28
He says I was driving my car tonight to go to the studio here where I'm running this program now and it was pouring rain and I got a flat tire and I have no one to call. It's late at night. Who am I going to call to come help me? You're going to call AAA, the Israeli version of AAA. It'll take you 17 hours until someone comes out there. And he says I'm in the middle of a no place.

08:55
He says someone tells me call Yiddidim. Yiddidim is a religious, a volunteer, non-medical emergency organization. Any type of emergency you have. You have a flat tire, they'll take care of it. You have a broken window in your house and there's water coming, they'll seal it. They have, he says. Who comes? Three religious Jews with their payers hanging down. Right. They come in the rain. I said here's an umbrella. They're like we don't need an umbrella. We want to get you back on the road because you're rushing someplace, you're going someplace. We want to help you. He says that's not service. That's not. Why don't we count that as service? This is a secular guy who's always been pushing that they should be in the draft. Now there's a different type of draft.

09:40
Maybe, and perhaps as a nation that believes in Torah, that believes in God, that believes, maybe service of the nation is sitting and studying Torah too. That's not an argument that should be thrown out. Maybe sitting and learning Torah is the highest level. Perhaps we don't know. Again, that's an argument that should be made by those who make the laws and by those who are much more spiritual and holy than me. But just understand that as a people, we all experienced a terrible tragedy on October 7th, and perhaps there was a big lesson to be learned that unity is the most important thing we need as a nation.

10:23
Very interestingly, when the Jewish people received the Torah in Exodus, chapter 20, what does it say? It says the Jewish people encamped there, opposite the mountain of Mount Sinai. What do our sages tell us? What does that mean? That they camped there? Rashi explains ki ish echad, belev echad. One nation, one soul. They were unified. It was absolute unity. The only way we can succeed as a people is when we have unity. If we don't have unity, we have nothing.

11:03
Unity is the key to our success and I think since October 7th and since this thing started going awry with the whole draft, and now it's like there's no status for those who are studying Torah. So anybody who doesn't go and serve in the army, or at least enlist to the army, is considered a draft dodger, which becomes now a criminal. And that's another issue. And I was thinking to myself why does the almighty? Everything goes by the hand of the almighty. Why does the almighty allow this to happen? Those who are sitting and studying in yeshivas, what? What's their? What's their fault here?

11:45
And I think, perhaps, internalizing this myself, perhaps we've become a little bit too numb. Perhaps we've allowed our habits to take over again and we're not in shock anymore about the tragedy. We're not in awe and worried and concerned and crying for our hostages the way we once used to. We're too comfortable. We've gotten back to routine and perhaps this is why Hashem is saying no, no, no, no.

12:19
You're supposed to be on the top studying Torah. Feel the pain of those who are hostages, feel the pain of those who are in the battlefield, feel that same sense of responsibility. No time to sleep, there's no time to vacation, there's no time to rest, sit. If your job is to study Torah on behalf of the Jewish people, it should be no less of a dedication and a commitment than the soldiers who are up in the battlefield at 3 am in Hanunis. It should be no less of a commitment and a dedication than those soldiers who are in Rafah. And it should be no different than the IDF commanders, those strategists who are sitting to the wee hours of the morning strategizing Military plans. That's the wee hours of the morning, strategizing Military plans.

13:08
That's the way we need to say. You know what? We, as those who are studying Torah, need to up our game and we cannot be comfortable just relying on oh, I'm dedicated to learning Torah and that's enough. No, no, no. It has to be on overdrive and not just say no, no, it has to be on overdrive and not just say I'm comfortable. And I think that's why Hashem is making the Torah community a little bit uncomfortable with this, so that we can up our game. And I believe that there's a message here. Again, I'm not no super rabbi who understands the big picture of the entire Jewish people, me as a small person here in Houston Texas, just giving my own two cents here of what I think, perhaps one little step we need to improve in. Okay, it's all about internalizing the message. Internalizing the message. If you have any type of pain or affliction, there is a message. There is a message, something that every person needs to internalize.

14:08
Sh'nemar Nach besad derachinu v'nach korah v'nashuvah ad Hashem. Let us search and examine our ways and return to Hashem. Pish pesh v'lo matza. If a person examined his deeds and did not find anything yitle, bebitul Torah he should attribute his afflictions to neglect of Torah study. You know why you're having this challenge. Perhaps you're not studying as much as you could. Maybe it's only when it's convenient. Maybe it's not as dedicated as it should be.

14:42
Shanaima, as the verse states asherah ageveh asheti yasrenu ya u'mi toratcha telamdenu. Fortunate is the man whom God afflicts and whom you teach from your Torah V'yim tala v'lo matza. And if he attempted to attribute his afflictions to neglect in Torah study but did not find anything meaning, he wasn't able to identify the flaw. It is assumed that these are what's called afflictions of love, as it is stated, for Hashem rebukes those that he loves. So it's a very, very important lesson here that the Talmud is telling us.

15:29
Every person needs to internalize the message. You have pain, you have suffering. It's something Hashem is telling you, a message. If you can't identify the message meaning, it's not clear to you and every person. By the way, don't think this is an interesting?

15:47
The Gaon of Vilna says in Mishle, in King Solomon's Proverbs, he says that don't let someone come over to you and tell you this, and this is the reason why this happened to you. They don't really know what's going on inside your internal workings and your relationship with God. We only know what we see. We only know what's on the outside. What's really going on inside, that only you can determine. So if a person goes and internalizes and tries to figure out what's really going on. What's the message that the Almighty is giving me? And he can't figure it out. Perhaps it's because he's not studying Torah appropriately. And if you investigated that and that's not the reason, then maybe it is just yisurim shalah hava. It's affliction of love. What's affliction of love? So let's just understand what this means. So we know that we're living on two different realms. We're living in a physical world and then we have a spiritual world that parallels it. Let's give a simple example.

17:02
A person does a mitzvah. Where's that reward for that mitzvah? You do a mitzvah, you do a good deed, you go out of your way and you help someone out. I'll tell you, I don't know if this was a very big mitzvah, but I want to also dedicate this class to a dear friend of mine who had a quadruple bypass here at the hospital. He called me up. He says I'm going in, they're going to be giving me a zipper. Anybody who knows a zipper is that cut, that they cut. It's not pleasant.

17:37
Hashem should protect us all and keep us healthy and help my dear friend recover quickly and smoothly. So I go to the hospital to visit him and this is in the evening and you know, sometimes you don't know what to expect. So I come there and it turns out that they actually needed me there, not because I'm a friend or a rabbi. They needed me because they needed muscle to get this guy back into his bed. So, exactly so it turns out that the mitzvah went from just visiting my friend to actually physically lifting him and putting him into his bed and helping him out. So sometimes Hashem throws extra mitzvahs to you.

18:25
But imagine someone is doing a mitzvah. You know you go help a friend. You know someone needs a visit, you know someone who needs some financial assistance, whatever it may be. Where's that reward? Where's that reward? You know what we say, very interestingly, we say every morning these are the things that have that. You do them in this world and the reward is here. And then there are things that you do them in this world and the reward is in the world to come. These are the things that you do their labor, you do their task, you do their task, you enjoy them in this world, meaning you produce them in this world, and the reward is in the world to come. And this is what this is those mitzvahs.

19:19
Honor your father and mother. Where's the recompense, where's the payment for that? I go out of my way to honor my parents. I go out of my way to assist my parents. I go out of my way to assist my parents. How come I don't get rewarded for that? Oh, that reward is waiting for you in the world to come. By the way, there's a reward also in this world, as the second portion in the Shema says L'man yirbu yimeichem v'imei v'neichem. Our sages tell us. That's referring to the reward that comes to a person for the observance of kibbutz hava'em. You honor your father and mother. It's a long life. You're guaranteed. Proper honor of father and mother gives you a long life, but that's the reward in this world. There's another reward in the world to come. That's for kibbut aveim.

20:08
Gbilut chasadim acts of loving kindness. V'ashkamat bet ha-midrash, someone who wakes up early to go to prayers. Shacharit v'arvit. V'achnasat olchim welcoming guests into your home. The guests don't pay you for it. The guests don't pay you back. They don't reciprocate invitations. You get nothing back. Don't worry, that reward is in the world to come. Ubikur cholim visiting the sick. V'achnasat kala and assisting a bride in marriage. Someone's making a wedding. They can't afford the wedding and you give them money to help them with that wedding Incredible reward for that. Escorting the dead Can they pay you back? They can't pay you back. And bringing peace between mankind, between a man and his wife.

21:03
This is a Mishnah, the study of Torah, the reward for it. You don't get the reward in this world. You can get the joy and the pleasure of learning Torah and even the intellectual stimuli, the clarity. That's all great. That's a side benefit of learning Torah. And even the intellectual stimuli, the clarity, that's all great. That's a side benefit. The real reward is in the world to come. So we see there's two different planes that we're living on. We're like sort of here, you know, it's like Mario Brothers. You're like when he goes and he gets the coins, the coins go up. That's us. When we do good deeds, the coins go up. The heavenly reward goes up. It goes up to the heavens and every mitzvah we do, the coins are just flying up to heaven. It's our spiritual IRA. It's our spiritual IRA. The rewards when are you going to get it? When you retire, when you retire from this world? That's when you get those rewards. You keep on investing, keep on investing. So the Mishnah here, by the way.

22:07
I'll just share with you a beautiful story I love to say from my great uncle, reb Chaim Kreisworth, who was the chief rabbi of Antwerp. He was a brilliant, brilliant man. I'm talking like brilliance that you can't. Every time I met him he asked me so what are you learning? And I would share with him what I'm learning, and it was like as if he was learning it with me. He would ask me questions. He knew all of the commentaries.

22:32
When I came after he passed away, I came to his house he had already moved to Harnov in Jerusalem and I saw he had a wall full of books, but they looked like they were never opened. So I was there, you know, paying a shiva call to his family, and I asked his son-in-law. I said these books look like they were never touched. He says they were never touched. I said what do you mean? So what do you have the books for? He said he knew it all by heart. He didn't need it. He knew it all by heart.

23:04
And when he was on his deathbed he started crying and his family didn't know that he was about to die, but he knew it. He said I think I forgot a Talmud in Shabbat, I need you to bring me the Talmud. It's the first time since he's 23 years old that he forgot a Talmud. He said I know that it's over, but when he was much younger he got very ill and he went to a very great rabbi and he said I need a blessing. What should I do? What should I do? I'm very sick. Doctors say there's no chance.

23:36
So the rabbi said something amazing. He said in this Mishnah that we just read listen to the order that's mentioned at the end of the Mishnah V'achnasat orchim welcoming in guests. V'bikur cholim visiting the sick. V'achnasat kalah assisting the bride. V'levayat hamet and escorting the dead. So the rabbi says something's out of order here. Okay, you welcome in guests, visit the sick, help the bride and then the dead. Shouldn't the sick and the dead be next to each other? You visit the sick and then they die.

24:15
What's this marrying off the bride doing in middle? So the rabbi tells him if you assist brides in getting to marriage, it'll distance the illness from the death. He said you have illness, you want to distance that from your death? Dedicate yourself to marrying off the bride. And he did that his entire life.

24:44
I think he passed away when he was 97 years old and he married off thousands and thousands of girls, people who called him and said my daughter just got engaged. I don't know what I'm going to do, I don't have money, I don't know how I'm going to pay for the wedding. He would raise the money and he traveled around the world raising money to marry off brides so he can live longer. But it's a mitzvah. It's a mitzvah. Is that unbelievable? Unbelievable.

25:14
He separated the illness from the death. That's why the Mishnah hints it in that order. There's no mistakes in the Mishnah. There's no mistakes in the Mishnah. There's a reason. It's in that order. It's to hint to you something. There's a message here. It's unbelievable the gifts that we have in our Torah.

25:37
Okay, the Talmud now continues. What is afflictions of love? We started asking that. What is afflictions of love? So imagine this. Imagine we said that we're living in two worlds. Right, we're living in this world, the world of action, and we have those coins shooting up, our Mario brother coins, right, that are shooting up to heavens. For all our good deeds, for all the Torah we study, for all the acts of kindness, for all the charity, for all visiting the sick, for all the brides that we assist, for all of the funerals that we attend and we escort the dead. We're getting all these rewards. The rewards are in the world to come. So why would someone have affliction? Affliction of love, we call it. It's an affliction of love. Yisurim me'ahava, it's called it's affliction of love. I say just tell us such an amazing thing. You know what affliction of love is? Let's say okay.

26:39
So first is we have to understand A person. Till we are 13 years old, we're not responsible. A boy, 13, a girl, 12 years old. Girls are more mature. They take on responsibility earlier, 12 years old. After that age, they're now accountable Till that age. It's just training ground. They still have their training wheels. After 12 for a girl, 13 for a boy. Now they're responsible, but their punishment is not in the world to come. They're not punishable by heaven yet Till they're 20 years old.

27:14
At 20, that's when the real deal is. Now you open up your account. It's like you have a junior banking account for kids who are teenagers. Teach them how to you know. It's like they make sure they have protection so that you don't overdraft your account. But once you turn 18, now you're a big boy, now you're a big girl. Now you have your own responsibility. Now you're a big girl, now you have your own responsibility. Same thing with our responsibility in heaven. Our heavenly account starts when we're 20 years old. Now your mitzvahs get rewarded up there from day one, but the penalties don't account there until you're 20. So let's say there's a little bit of an accounting there. There's a little bit of an accounting there. There's a little bit of an accounting there.

28:04
I don't want to go up to heaven after doing so many years of dedication, of doing good things, and then they say they pull my file from when I was 21 years old, young and dumb, did some things. I have a big file. They open up that box like yeah, before we give you your reward, got to cleanse a little here. So there's something called Yisurim Shalahava. Sometimes God gives us affliction because he loves us. He says over there I want you to have a clean slate. I want you to come and have no impediments to your reward. I want you to have no blockade from receiving what you deserve. I'm going to give you a little bit of pain here so you don't get any pain there. So when you come, they roll out the red carpet with no asterisks, saying uh, uh, uh, before we grant you this, uh, this reward, we got to send you that way. You see, that black room with all that. You got to go there first. No, no, no, no. Shem says I'll give you a little pain here in this world and that will cover and remove that account. Now, if we think of it like that, then sometimes a person may say you know what, I don't mind a little bit of affliction. If that's the idea that I get all the reward in heaven, that's the okay. That means, if my goal is, let's step back a little bit more now.

29:32
What is the ultimate goal of our life? What is the ultimate goal of our life? What does everybody want in the entire world? What is every? There's no human being who doesn't have this desire. What is that desire? Pleasure, very good. Everybody, every single human being, wants pleasure. The person who does good things wants pleasure. The person who does bad things wants pleasure. Person who does bad things wants pleasure. He feels that that'll make him feel good. If he steals that watch, it'll make him feel good. So everybody's running after pleasure, everybody. What is the ultimate pleasure? The ultimate pleasure? Closeness with Hashem.

30:14
Very good, and that's symbolized by the way as well, with the baby and their mother. Where does a baby want to be? In their mother's arms? That's it To that baby, to that baby. She's God. She feeds him, she changes him, she cleans him, she bathes him. She takes care of everything.

30:38
The Almighty does the same for us. He feeds us, he cleans us, he bathes us. He gives us endlessly everything we have, but somehow, just like a child. First they're helpless, but then they start walking, they run away from the mother, then they start talking, they talk away from the mother and then, slowly but slowly, they are on their own lives and they don't even call to say good Shabbos, right. It's a replica of how, perhaps, a person can live in this world in their relationship with God. One second you needed me. I gave you everything. I continue to give you everything, because everything we have, every breath of air that we breathe, is a gift from Hashem. And yet we forget about Hashem. We forget to recognize he's right here and what we really want to do, what we want to accomplish in our lives. The ultimate pleasure is closeness with Hashem, because what happens when we're close with Hashem?

31:39
We have no fear, we have no worry, we have no anxiety. We have no pain Because I know that I'm. It's that baby with her mother. I know that mom's going to take care of everything. I have nothing to worry about. Is a baby afraid of where their next meal is going to come from? They're like sitting there on their little high chair and they're strategizing. Uh-oh, I only have four more Cheerios. Uh-oh, I have to strategize. What am I going to do for lunch? What am I going to do for lunch? I'm not going to have any more Cheerios left. They know the mother is going to take out the box of cereal and drop some more Cheerios on there. Right, they know that the mother is going to take care of it. They don't have to think. They know my mom is going to take care of it.

32:23
We worry. Why do we worry? Because we're arrogant. We're so full of ourselves. We think that we are the only suppliers of our needs. It's only me, only I can. It's only me, me, me, me, me. We're self-centered. We don't realize that everything is the hand of Hashem and this is a tragedy. The more we realize that everything is the hand of Hashem and we let go, we're happier, we're calmer, we have no anxiety, no stress, no worries, because we realize we're in the hands of Hashem. He's going to carry us, he's going to take us, he's going to feed us, he's going to sink to us. He will take care of all the things we need. Does that mean that we're not responsible? No, we go out and we have a job and we go out and we try to provide for our family. But, by the way, it's a mitzvah to go provide for your family because it's really it's not a job. It's a testing ground of emunah. When someone goes out into the workforce, what God is doing? He's constantly testing your relationship with him. I have to close that deal. No, hashem, I need your help. I need your help. I don't know how that deal is going to close.

33:50
I've spoken to many people who are in the service industry. I ask them do you know where your next job is coming from? Like you come there in the morning. You come to your office Like what's waiting for you, like you know you're doing. You're fixing air conditioners, you're plumbing, fixing people's sinks, whatever it is. A friend of mine told me he says I have no idea where my next job is coming from. I come into the office in the morning and Hashem has a few orders waiting for me, and that's the true perspective that one needs to have.

34:26
Let Hashem worry about it. Why do I need to lose? Why should two people's? You know they say that men should forget their mistakes Because there's no use for two people to remember the same thing, right? Also, the wife, also the husband. Forget your mistakes. Your wife will remember it for you. She'll remember your mistakes, I guarantee it.

34:45
There is no need for two powers. We're not a power. We think we are. But for the Almighty to worry for us, so to speak, and for us to worry for us, just leave it to Hashem. He has. We think we are. But for the Almighty to worry for us, so to speak, and for us to worry for us, just leave it to Hashem. He has broader shoulders than we do. He can handle it probably better than we can. He has more resources to His disposal. He can take care of things, I guarantee it.

35:08
So when we talk about affliction of love, what is it really? What is affliction of love? Aff. Affliction of love, what is it really? What is affliction of love? Affliction of love is Hashem saying I got you. I understand the big picture and the reason why our sages call it affliction of love. It's for us to feel the love and closeness with Hashem. But it's affliction. No, it's love. I'll give you an example.

35:33
A child needs to get a, a shot, a flu shot. The nurse comes into the room and pulls out this big needle. Today they made the needles a little smaller. I remember, back when I was a child, I was terrified, terrified. They'd come in and you know my mother would put me on her, you know, sit on her lap, and she would. I would face the other way and then, ah, screaming, right, and they'd give me a band-aid that had some Snoopy or whatever. You know they didn't have Paw Patrol back in my days, right, and we'd be crying. You'd look at your mother and say how can you do this to me? You're the one who's supposed to love me. How can you do this to me? How can you let me get a shot? How can you let them hurt me? What would she say? I love you and I want you to be healthy, and that's why Children don't like medicine.

36:34
But why do we give them medicine? Because they're sick. They're sick, they have strep, they have this, they have that. So it's not pleasant sometimes Today, they make the medicines taste a little bit better Great flavor. It used to not taste like that. It used to taste so bitter and so terrible.

36:54
The idea of pain and affliction is perspective. With the change of perspective, everything changes. Suddenly, you see, it's the hand of Hashem that loves, that cares, that nurtures, that takes care of everything. Yeah, and this is not to say this, is not to say that this is the answer for everybody who's suffering. When someone's in pain, they need empathy, they need you to be there with them. Don't start saying, well, you know, everything's the hand of Hashem, you should not worry about this. Okay, that's not the right response. And when someone is sitting shiva, when someone you come to a house of a morning, you say you know everything's for the best, you know Hashem knows what he's doing. That's not the right answer. There's a time and place for everything. But again, when we're not in pain, when we're not, we can think about this in a rational way and hopefully instill this impression, this love, this connection with Hashem, in a way that's hopefully going to assist us if there is a situation in which we do feel pain.

38:01
So now the Talmud's going to continue talking about afflictions of love, amar Rava, amar Rav Schora, amar Rav Huna. Rava said in the name of Rav Schora, who said in the name of Rav Huna, kol Sha'a, kodesh, baruch Hu, chafetz Boim, whomever, the Holy One, the Almighty, hashem desires, hashem loves you, mid'ak'o B'Yisurim. Hashem crushes them with affliction. Sh'nemar, as it states, v'hashem Chafetz, dak' Emar, as it states, and the one whom Hashem desires, he crushes with sickness. Now one might have thought that this applies even if one does not accept the afflictions with love, talmud lomar. Therefore, the verse continues and says if his soul acknowledges guilt, he realizes his own shortcomings, he realizes his faults, which can be interpreted as linking afflictions to an Hashem offering, thereby teaching that, just as an Hashem offering, someone who brings a guilt offering, is accepted only if it was brought with consent, so two afflictions to this nature are visited upon a person only if they are accepted with consent, meaning if you take the time, meaning the afflictions only serve their purpose if a person connects with it. If a person stops and says you know what I realize? This is a payment for something I fell short some way. But if a person did not connect to it, then it was just suffering. He didn't take it in. He didn't take it in, he didn't get the message. He didn't receive the message.

40:00
Well, let's understand what this means. What's the karban asham, the guilt offering? What is that? Someone did something wrong. He would come and bring an offering to the temple. Why? Because he's acknowledging I did something wrong, I'm guilty, I did something wrong. I need to bring an offering. But what's if he doesn't say that? He says no, I'm not guilty, I'm innocent, Right Until I decide that I'm not. So what's the offering? What do you bring an offering If you don't think you're guilty? Why are you bringing the guilt offering? So it's invalid. It's an invalid offering. You bring an animal as a guilt offering to the temple. Invalid why? Because you don't think you're guilty.

40:52
Meaning only when you come to terms with the reality is when it actualizes that atonement. So, too, a person who's receiving afflictions from heaven. It's only when they're able to internalize it. And again, only the person has the ability to connect with the truth of the message. Person themselves to stop and think. Hashem is giving me a pain in my ear. Why? Maybe I heard something I shouldn't have listened to. Maybe I acknowledged someone's Lashon Hara? I listened to it, I accepted it and now encourage them to talk more again.

41:38
Every person for themselves. No one has the right to start walking around saying, oh, you know why you have this, I'll tell you why. You know why you have that. Let me tell you why, to everybody else's pain and sorrow. But only a person to themselves can really answer that question. Yes, right.

41:56
So the idea is like this is that we don't want suffering, because what happens when we suffer? We can't function. When we suffer, we can't do mitzvot when we suffer if we're sitting in a hospital bed. It's very difficult for me to run to be on time for synagogue when I'm sitting in a hospital, but I can't do acts of loving, kindness. Well, we can in a different way. But you understand, I'm limited and, hashem, I'm asking you not to limit my ability to do good things, because I need more, more gems in my account. I need more coins, more gold coins to fly up to my heavenly account. So the idea here is that we don't want to limit it.

42:35
But the Talmud continues expanding on this verse. He says If someone accepted the affliction, someone accepted the pain with love. Oh, hashem, I realize you're sending me a message. I thank you for it. I love you for it. Thank you for cleansing my slate. So what's his reward? Yireh zera, yarich yamim, he will see his offspring and live long days, b'la'od, and not only that, eleh shetamudu mitkayem b'yado. But he retains his studies, meaning the things that he learns. He will remember the things that he observes. He will continue to merit, to observe them and to benefit from them.

43:19
Sh'nei Amar is the verse states V'chafetz Hashem, biyado yatsliach and the desire of Hashem will succeed in his hand. V'chafetz Hashem, the desire of Hashem, as implied by Proverbs, chapter 3, verse 15. So the ultimate will of Hashem, the ultimate desire of Hashem, is for us to connect on the highest level possible, to cleave to Hashem, to connect to Hashem, to be one with Hashem, so to speak. That's the goal. What's the best way to get there? The express train to get to that closeness with Hashem, so to speak. That's the goal. What's the best way to get there? The express train to get to that closeness with Hashem?

44:00
Torah, study of Torah and mitzvot, and doing Hashem's commands. That's the way we get to a point of closeness with Hashem. But what's the problem with that? What's the problem with that? There's a big problem. The problem is is that we get into something called habit, or as our sages call it, mitzvot anashim milumada.

44:27
We do things out of habit. I learned how to do this when I I told you, I gave you this example. My daughter is two years old, my youngest daughter, and every night, when she goes to sleep, we recite the Shema, and every morning when she goes to school, they recite the Shema. By the time she turns 12 and is obligated to recite the Shema that's when she again, that's when we have the obligations to do things she will have said it thousands and thousands of times.

44:59
How do you say something thousands of times and have intention every time you say it? It's like someone who is a docent at the Holocaust Museum. Right, thank you for your service. And they say the story of the train and they say the story of this. By the time they say it their hundredth time, they don't even remember what they're saying. They're saying it out of habit. It's possible to say it without even an emotion, because they've said it so many times. Imagine saying it 10,000 times. You're still going to have the same emotion as the first time you said it, or the first time you said it or the first time you heard it. It loses its fire, it loses its passion.

45:42
And this is the danger the danger of things just becoming habit, where I just study Torah and I don't realize that the ultimate goal of that study of Torah is connecting with the Almighty. I remember I was once studying with my study partner in Yeshiva and we were learning the Talmud. And I said so how do we connect with this, how do we connect to the Almighty from what we're learning? He said what are you talking about? We're here to study Talmud. What are you talking about connecting? Yeah, the whole goal, the whole purpose is to take that study and become closer to God, not to be intellectual stimuli, not for it to become. Oh, this is an interesting idea. Great, great thought. I don't know what do we do? Take it to the next level. That's the goal.

46:36
So, my dear friends, it's almost Shabbos. Let's take the opportunity. Anything that happens to us, we suffer a little stubbing of the toe. It's a message from Hashem. You get a splinter. It's a message from Hashem, even if we don't understand how.

47:03
Let's connect with stage one Recognize Hashem. I don't understand, oh, maybe I do. I don't understand how and why, but I know this is a message I'm asking for you to just reveal to me so that I have clarity and, by the way, you may share that message with somebody else. They're like that sounds ridiculous. What are you crazy? You smoked or something, right? No, that's the message Hashem gave me. It's an independent message, like we mentioned, from the Gona Vilna. Other people may not understand, may not connect with what your message is, but Hashem sends every person on a journey. Hashem sends every person on a journey. I'll tell you something you know, houston is home to the largest medical center in the world and there are, sadly, many people who come to Houston for treatment for many different ailments and illnesses and I've had the opportunity to speak to many of these people and what's interesting is that the people usually who are sick usually are the calmest.

48:12
They're the calmest with any illness. The people who are sick with the ailments, and they're sitting in MDN, they're sitting in whatever other hospital that they're sitting in they're usually the calmest. It's the family that's having a difficult time dealing with it, because somehow they had that prophecy, that clarity. They know exactly what Hashem wants from them and they're using this as an opportunity to either accept the affliction of love or to connect with the Almighty on a higher level and it's very painful for those around them because they're terrified and they're dealing with so much. It's more difficult for them sometimes than for the person who's actually the patient.

48:56
But that's our prayer. Our prayer is that we shouldn't be brought to any place of challenge, not to a place of worry, not to a place of affliction, and not to be in a place where we don't have clarity. Hashem should bless each and every one of us that we have the clarity, that we have the clarity that we have unbelievable health, so that we can invest every minute of our lives to cleave, to be close to Hashem in every area of our beautiful lives. Have an amazing Shabbos, my dear friends. Thank you so much.

49:31
All right, this is an excellent, excellent question our guest from Israel asked. So we mentioned that illness. A person needs to internalize the message and the question is what is a person who's a child, who's ill? What are they supposed to internalize? It's such an amazing question. What are they supposed to internalize? They're a child. They don't understand, even sometimes, if it's a baby, right, what's that? So it's an excellent question.

50:05
I want to tell you what the Talmud says. The Talmud says that the affliction of children is an atonement for the generation. Okay, the affliction of children is an atonement for the generation. Okay, the affliction of children is an atonement for the generation. So every person around them is to be impacted. And, by the way, anybody who has seen a sick child gets a certain feeling. You get like a little choked up and you get this knot in your chest of like, oh, poor child, and we want to be kinder, we want to do better. Because of that, because we're like poor kid.

50:44
There's something spiritual that overtakes us when we see that, because that child is a message for us. That child is dealing with what they're dealing with for us to learn, for us to grow, for us to attain atonement. And it's such a powerful thing for us to recognize that it's not a game, it's not a joke, it's a serious thing. And if a child is suffering the entire generation, every person who sees them is supposed to take that message. What is God trying to tell me here? I need to learn something and that's important. So thank you for bringing that Very, very important question. Any other questions? Any other questions? It applies to all children. It applies to all children. Any affliction that we have in our lives is a message for us. Any affliction, any pain, all right. My dear friends have a magnificent, terrific, delicious Shabbos.

52:15 - Intro (Announcement)
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