Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

00:01 - Intro (Announcement)
You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.

00:13 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
And now, my dear friends, we resume with day number 89, on page 531 in the Gate of Eagerness of Al-Akhredi in the Orchis Hadikim in the Treasure for Life edition, omar Rabbi Pinchas ben Yoyer. Rabbi Pinchas ben Yoyer, the great Tanayic sage, said Zrizus meviel l'dei nikius, that alacrity, eagerness, leads to cleanliness. Nikius meviel l'dei prishus, cleanliness brings to abstention. Prishus mevila de tahara, abstention brings us to purity, and then purity, tahara mevila de kedusha brings us to holiness, and kedusha mevila de anova, and holiness brings us to humility. Anova, mevila de yiraschet, and then humility brings us to fear of sin, and fear of sin to piety, and piety to Holy Spirit, meaning the highest level of connection to God, and then the higher than that. The Holy Spirit brings us to the revival of the dead, and the revival of the dead to Elijah, the prophet Unbelievable. This is the Talmud in the Jerusalem. Talmud Bo'orei kamakodol ko'ach hazerizos, come and see the power of this alacrity of eagerness. It's the foundation of everything. Shemeviyo l'dei midos tovos halol. All of those incredible virtues and qualities come as a result of a person having alacrity. L'chein yehe'odam zohir v'zoriz l'kol ha come as a result of a person having alacrity. Therefore, a person should be watchful and eager to do all the mitzvahs and to run to learn and study Torah, whether it be early in the morning, late at night. To always be involved. Be early in the morning, late at night, to always be involved. Midas hazirizus hitachshit likolamidos vihi mitakenes kulan.

02:11
The trait of eagerness is an ornament to all the other traits and it perfects all of them. You want to know how you reach perfection in any trait. Use alacrity Good. You know what You're going to learn. To give charity properly, we're going to give with a smile. We're going to see someone who's poor and we're going to feel their pain. We're going to be there with them. But you know what the prerequisite to all of that is going to be. How eager are you to do that mitzvah? If you're not eager to do that mitzvah, all of the intention you have is put aside. A person can have the greatest intention in the world but without the excitement, without the energy, the eagerness to fulfill that mitzvah, it's all put aside and it's important to remember. Aside and it's important to remember.

03:10
There are certain things that we all know about but we're also very lazy about. It's very interesting that the introduction to the path of the just or the ways of the upright in this magnificent book, the introduction to this book, the introduction written about 200 years ago. He says I'm not here to tell you anything that you don't know. You know it all. We're all smart people. Let me tell you Is there anybody here in the room online?

03:43
Anybody here, give me a thumbs up or a thumbs down? Is there anybody here who thinks room online? Anybody here, give me a thumbs up or a thumbs down? Anybody here who thinks anger is a good thing? Everybody, anybody. Anybody think it's good? No, we all know it's a terrible trait. Anybody think arrogance is a good trait? No, everybody knows arrogance is terrible. How about mercy? Is mercy a good trait or a bad trait? Everyone knows it's a great trait. It's a great trait. So why don't we act that way? Why do people act with arrogance and anger? And why do people act with jealousy? They know it's a terrible, we know it's a great trait. We all want mercy, we all want kindness. Why don't we act with that? Because it's not enough for it to be a concept. We have to make it part of our existence.

04:43
And the Messiasi Sharma? In the introduction he writes. He writes I'm not here to tell you something you don't know I'm coming to remind you of the things you forgot. We all know these things. I'm now going to bring it at the forefront of your mind. So now it's not going to be just a concept or an idea. We're going to work on this to become as perfect as we can in these traits.

05:08
Tehei zariz l'havi so when you go learn, be quick to do it when you v'gam. Tehei zariz l' so when you go learn, be quick to do it. So you know what we open up the book. My grandfather writes this in his first chapter in his magnum opus, his Alei Shur, and he writes the first chapters about studying Talmud. He says the second you open up, and this is particularly in the yeshivas.

05:37
We study Talmud at a young age already, but it's the primary studies. You study Talmud, you learn how to think, how to ask, how to inquire, how to develop your mind, the way of thinking you think like God. That's what the Talmud is. My grandfather says as soon as you open up a page of Talmud, suddenly the Yetzirah has a field day. He starts sending you ideas into your mind of a new business idea. He tells you oh, I have to remember to call mom. Oh, it's Aunt Shelley's birthday. All of these thoughts start coming into your mind as soon as you open up. You start.

06:18
You know what Rabbi has talked about in the Parsha Review podcast. He's talked about, you know, reading through the Parsha. I'm going to take my chumash and I'm going to study. I'm just going to read through it. As soon as you open it up, suddenly a friend calls you. Hey, how are you? I've been meaning to ask you.

06:35
And they start before you know it, you're forgotten. You know what you need to do, eager to do something. You're not going to let anything stop you. I'll pick up the phone call later. I'll take care of that later. I can jot down so I don't forget. I'll deal with it later.

06:50
Everybody's in competition for your now. Again, the most important time of your life is right now. Everybody's in competition for your now, not for your later. It's amazing in all of these hostage deals, I'm a big fan of get as many people as you can right now, because right now is the only moment that exists. What happens later could never happen, it'd never come about. Oh, but they promised. We see how many times that falls awry. It's the same thing in business it's better to have a dollar now than to have a promise for 20 later, because that 20 usually doesn't show up.

07:47
If a poor person comes to your house to ask for bread, don't say you know what? My bread is in the bread box and it's in the second floor and I have to. You know I'm really tired. Run, get it. Don't waste time.

08:23
If there's a something which is stopping you from washing your hands for the bread properly before you eat, for example, you don't have a proper vessel, from washing your hands for the bread properly before you eat, for example, you don't have a proper vessel You're supposed to wash from a vessel. Don't say you know what, I'm so hungry, I'm just going to skip it. I'm just going to not do what Hashem has asked us to do. Additionally, when someone needs the restroom, you're not allowed to hold it in. It's a biblical prohibition, right it's? Do not make yourselves abominable. That's when we don't do what we need to do in the proper time. That's when we don't do what we need to do in the proper time. Also, when you don't allow your body to function the way it tells you what happens is is that it causes terrible, terrible illnesses, and a person needs tremendous alacrity to keep themselves properly maintained with a clean body.

09:48
He's saying the general things that we know that after we use the bathroom, you know, after you cut your nails, you're supposed to wash your hands. This we talked about in our Everyday Judaism podcast. In the second episode we talk about when we wash our hands. When do we? You know how we keep our bodies clean. Don't push it off till later.

10:10
A person has to recite the grace after meals. Allah says don't even get out of your seat till you say thank you. You know what happens you get out of your seat and then you get a phone call and then you have to finish and you have to send them an email. Before you know it, three hours later, you say oh, I forgot to sit down and thank Hashem for the food that he gave me. Don't let the now disappear. Don't let the now disappear. Your hands are dirty and you need to drink something. You can't drink with dirty hands. Wash your hands properly and go drink water. Okay, these are basic things. We all know that we have to be clean. Sometimes, like you know, it's not a big deal right, by the way, they're not germaphobes. In the Torah, the halakh is not germaphobic, but the halakh is very practical, and we saw this even more so by COVID. There are people like oh, you have to be so careful.

11:15
Wash your hands, wash your hands. Anybody who follows halacha does that every day. The halacha tells you exactly how you wash your hands. This is something that we don't need you know the Department of Health to tell us how to wash our hands, do you? Now, if you follow halacha, you washed your hands 15 times, 20 times a day. You wash your hands when you wake up. You wash your hands after you go to the bathroom. You wash your hands before you touch food. You wash your hands after you touch food. You wash your hands at every stage of your day. You're washing your hands halachically.

12:01
So what happens? When you see lightning and thundering? There's a special blessing you recite oh, I'm tired, I'll get to it later. No, no, no, no. Right now you have that opportunity. You're in bed. Get up, jump. You saw a lightning and a thundering. Get up, do it. Recite the blessing to wake up in the morning, to go pray, to go study Torah. We need alacrity. We need to jump out of bed.

12:33
A person also needs eagerness to get out of your bad thoughts. Get out of your bad thoughts. Get out of your bad your things that come into your mind. You got to remove them quickly. Kigon hakinu, you're jealous of somebody? Uh-oh, you got to remove that, thought, deh asinah. Oh, you hate somebody.

12:51
Hate, hate is a terrible thing. You know what it says in the Torah about someone who hates. It's an amazing, amazing command in the Torah. It says in the Torah about someone who hates. It's an amazing, amazing command in the Torah. It says In the Torah it does not tell you not to hate. It tells you not to hate in your heart. It's an amazing command, an amazing commandment. It doesn't say don't hate. It says don't leave it bottled up.

13:24
Because you know what happens nine out of ten times, not ten out of ten times, let's say A hates B because B didn't invite him to his daughter's wedding. Disgusting. I invited you to my son's wedding. You didn't invite me to your daughter's wedding. I don't want to talk to you. I know you're my neighbor, but you're not my friend. Okay, you know what the Torah tells you. It doesn't say don't hate him. It says don't hate him in your heart. You walk over to him and say you know something, I hate you. I hate you because you didn't invite me to your daughter's wedding after I invited you to my son's wedding. I thought we were friends and this is the way I'm embarrassed. You invited all the other neighbors. You didn't invite me. Nine out of ten times. Nine out of 10 times. Nine out of 10 times, if not 10 out of 10 times.

14:24
You may have gotten lost in the mail. I was wondering why you didn't show up. I thought you received it. I personally put it in your mailbox. I can tell you dozens of stories like this that I've heard, where the person later says, three weeks after that confrontation, he says I'm sorry, I actually did get the invitation. It was lost. It got put into a drawer. I didn't realize it.

14:56
We make so many judgments. The Torah says don't keep it bottled up inside. Don't love your brother, don't hate your brother in your heart. Let it out, because nine out of ten times the result will be love. Additionally, he says all of these things, you have thoughts, thoughts that are impure thoughts. You need alacrity. Quickly get those thoughts out of your mind. Pull them towards the Almighty and it'll change. It'll remove those thoughts from your mind, right?

15:46
So you say the jealousy? Why is jealousy? If you pull them to Hashem, will it remove those thoughts? Very simple, very simple.

15:54
Why am I jealous? Because I want it One second. Who gives me everything I have? Hashem gives me everything I have. If Hashem wanted me to have that gold watch, I would have it, but Hashem doesn't want me to have it. That's why I don't have it. So why am I jealous? Why am I trying to contradict the will of Hashem? Hashem, if he would have willed it, I would have had it. I'm jealous of their dress. I'm jealous of their car. I'm jealous of their house. Why, if Hashem would have wanted it, I would have had it. The minute we connect it with Hashem, suddenly it changes the whole playing field here.

16:46
Any pain comes to a person due to loss of money, or by the passing, the death of a loved one, or for other afflictions and pains, or for other afflictions and pains. We have to increase our connection with the Almighty, quickly, rapidly, and that will remove the pain from your heart. When you know that it's the will of the Almighty, hashem takes the ones he loves, your heart will become pure to see that there is justice in the ways of Hashem, in his decrees and in his judgments, and you start accepting it out of love. What will happen? Start accepting it out of love. Lehi dabek be-torah be-mitzvot of masim tovim be-lizchazek, be-kavanoso le'el el-yom. What will happen is that you will accept it with love and you'll cleave to Hashem's Torah, to prayer, to good deeds and to strengthen himself in his devotion to Hashem.

17:54
This is what happens when we say there's no daylight between us and God when we're facing a challenge. I'm not going to let that challenge take me over. I'm immediately pulling God into the picture, and the minute I pull God into the picture, it's Hashem. Oh, I get it. I get it. I may not understand everything, but I do understand everything is the hand of Hashem. And you know what? It's not always easy. It's not always easy for a person who lost a loved one, whether the person be a baby child, a sibling, a parent, a spouse. It's never a good time for someone to leave this world. It's never for someone to be taken away from us, for someone that we love to disappear. That's a tragedy, of course it's a tragedy. But when we understand that Hashem has a big world, he has a big, big, loving, kind, forgiving, merciful heart, we know that Hashem is doing what's right for that soul. My dear friends, this concludes Day 89.

19:11 - Intro (Announcement)
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