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.

00:12 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
Welcome back, my dear friends, to day number 63. We're on page 380 in the Orchah Tzaddikim in the Treasure for Life edition, and we're in the middle of the Gate of Happiness. If you remember, we spoke spoke about the seven different types of bitachon, the seven different types of trust that one must have in order to maximize joy in life. Because when we're able to rely, it's actually eight, eight trusts, and we went through the first three and now we're up to trust number four, ha-bitachon ha-revi'i, the fourth trust, be'inion chiyuv ha-lev sha'odom mi-yached li-be'u betanis u-be-tefila u-be-shar ha-mitzvos, kulon ve-nimna min-averos.

01:00
It is the obligation, the person who devotes his heart to fasting and prayer and does all the mitzvahs and abstains from transgression. So we all know that when someone is busy, they don't sin. When someone is busy doing good things, they definitely don't sin. The halacha says that a person should never be bored, because when you're bored you sin. That's the reality. So when someone is busy doing good things, like praying and doing mitzvahs, they definitely stay away from sin. V'etzorach sheyeylech b'chol kolchol lekayim ha-mitzvahs. And a person has to put all of his efforts forward to do mitzvahs, to perform mitz. A person should pray with a heart filled with trust and thought that is clean and with tremendous dedication and devotion to the great name of Hashem. And with this, a person needs to put his trust on Hashem, knowing that when we pray, hashem hears our every word and Hashem answers our every word. Hashem wants to help us. Hashem will help us. God will guide us in the proper way, just as King David said HaBlessed Memory. Guide me in the path of your mitzvot Sorry, it's the previous word. Guide me in your truth and teach me. Guide me in your path of your mitzvos. I have chosen the path of faith. Derech emunah bacharti, I chose the path of emunah. What are we trying to say here in our prayer? What we're trying to say, and we're bringing this from Psalms Hashem, I'm so committed to my relationship with you, I need your assistance.

03:05
V'chol zer'aya, all of this is proof, v'yispa'al al al shnei d'vorem, that a person who is dedicating himself to the service of Hashem, to the divine service, needs to commit to two things. What are the two things? Ha'echad l'chazek, libo b'yichudo l'elokim, that a person must dedicate his service to the oneness of Hashem and to remove from his life all worldly distractions. And the second, to strengthen his physical body and organs, to be strong, to eat properly so that you can do the will of Hashem. You see, the problem is, if a person doesn't take care of themselves physically, they can't do anything spiritually, because if you're dead physically, you're dead spiritually. And if a person eats properly which is an obligation for us to make sure that we're healthy, our obligation is to be healthy. That means don't put yourself in a place of danger, don't eat things that are bad for you. That will limit your ability to connect to Hashem, because if you're busy going from doctor to doctor, being sick, you're not going to be able to serve Hashem properly. V'zeh ma sh'amar ha'dricheni, b'nesiv, mitzvosecha, where we pray, king David says guide me in the path of your mitzvot, sa'odeni vi'ivashaya. And later it says in Psalms support me and I will be saved. V'harbe kamoihon, and many more verses as this, that a person should put his full trust in Hashem. That, indeed, if a person takes those steps that he will merit to be healthy physically so that he can serve Hashem and his oneness in this world.

05:08
Now, what does that mean? Oneness of Hashem? You see, hashem is indivisible. There's no two, in fact, something that I love to say.

05:18
Under the chuppah day one of creation, it says every single one of the seven days of creation it says and God saw what he created and it was good. The only day that it does not say that is the second day. The first day it says it the third day, it says it twice the fourth day, the fifth day, the sixth day, the seventh day, all the days of the week it says and God saw his creation, it was good, except for the second day. Why? Because two means divisiveness, two means once you, you know, I can live in my house alone. I'm never going to get angry at myself. But if I bring in a roommate or a spouse, what happens? Suddenly? We have disagreements, we have different opinions, we have she wants it like this and I want it like that, and it's like it becomes a conflict. Two is always a conflict. So you'll say to yourself uh-oh, rabbi, you're going to say this under the chuppah. What are you talking about? They're getting married. Now. He was now a single, he's getting married and now it's going to be two. And you're saying it's a problem. That's correct If they stay two. If they stay, that's Ketov. That is, god sees it, and it is great. We don't stay individuals, two separate individuals, in our marriage, but rather we become one, intertwined, and that's what we're trying to do.

06:46
The idea of godliness, god is one and only one. There's no second. There's no second. You know the name of Hashem starts with the letter Aleph, which is one. The Torah begins with two, because, god, if you want to find the oneness of Hashem, you're not going to find him right on the front cover. You want to find Hashem, you're going to have to look deep into the Torah, all the way 16 portions in, or 18 portions in, to the portion of Yisro, to see the Ten Commandments. And in the Ten Commandments you'll see that Aleph. The first letter of the Ten Commandments is Anochi Hashem HaBokecha. I am Hashem, your God. There's the Aleph. It's not in the beginning of the Torah, because everyone can open up the beginning of the book, but who's going to get to the middle? Oh, you want to find God, you got to search, you got to look deep into it. Then you'll find Hashem, and he's there. Hashem is never going to be on the front cover of the book. Habitach on ha-chamishi.

07:44
What is the fifth form of trust in Hashem that we are obligated in order to have the proper level of joy? Huchovos ha-ivarim. It is the duty of one's limbs in doing good for others, such as giving charity, teaching wisdom to students, instructing to do good and exhorting against evil, returning the wicked to Hashem and bearing their insults when exhorted for the divine service. So what is that in Hebrew? He says so when a person is doing the will of Hashem and he's serving Hashem, you may come to a place where people are going to scorn. People will mock you, people will ridicule you. You know what you got to stand strong. In fact, the first halacha in all of halacha in the Shulchan Aruch is pay no attention to those who scorn you. There are people who are going to mock you. You hear this, stephen Courtney, lauren.

09:07
What's going to happen is you will have people say oh, you're doing the religious stuff, oh, you're turning to God. Oh, you're turning to God, oh, you're one of those. Like. I've had people come to me like you know, rabbi, my son is really struggling. I think he could use some God in his life. I think you can use some God in your life too.

09:23
You know it's like not only people with problems turn to God. You know God is the greatest place to be is to be in a relationship with Hashem. But not everyone is going to appreciate that, because it could be intimidating for someone who doesn't have a relationship with God. It's going to be intimidating. Oh, my goodness. You mean God's suddenly going to know my secrets, god's going to know what's going on in my life. Well, god knows what's going on in your life.

09:47
Anyway, v'yiftach be'alohim shi'azurehu v'yashlim chefzo, and you have to have trust in Hashem that he will give you the assistance that you need to fulfill the desires that come to you to get you closer to God. Why do we want to serve Hashem? To get close to God. Not to get fame, not to get glory, not for people to recognize us. Ooh, righteous, oh, oh, you're so holy, right? No, no, no, no, no. I'm doing it because I want to connect with the one and only Hashem.

10:29
And a person has to do everything he can to hide your righteousness. You don't have to put it out there for everyone to see how righteous you are. Now again, the Torah commands us, for example that doesn't mean we hide our yarmulke. We walk around with pride with our yarmulke. But when you do an act of kindness, not everyone needs to see it. For example, you do a kindness of charity.

10:53
Give charity, give charity. There's ways to give charity that are very, very humble, very modest, nobody needs to know, give it quietly. But then there's a way of giving charity where the entire synagogue needs to hear, everybody needs to know, and then I'll announce to the oh, and, by the way, nobody needs to know. It's anonymous, like oh, now we want to show that we're humble too, right, you know? No, no, no, no. There's a proper way to do things. The best you can hide it from people. People don't need to see If you can't hide it.

11:31
Yizkor remember, she called it to Ellis Van Nezek the only thing you need to worry about is embarrassment from Hashem, not embarrassment from people, not ridicule from people. If people mock you for what you've done oh, you're volunteering for Meals on Wheels. Oh, what do you ignore what people say? The only kind of embarrassment we should have is embarrassment from the Almighty if we're not doing His will. Otherwise, have no fear and you should put your trust in Hashem.

12:22
Listen to this beautiful, beautiful statement here. He says now, what's if a special opportunity comes my way? I have a special opportunity to do a mitzvah. Something knocks on my door for me to do a mitzvah. Special privilege, right, special privilege. Know that it's a sign, for it's a kiss from Hashem, that you got selected to do a mitzvah. We think like, oh, my goodness, this guy is coming to ask me for charity. Oh my, how much is this going to cost me? Oh my. And we think like, oh, how do I get out of this? No, no, no, no, no. You have to think it's the wrong approach, that's the wrong attitude. The real attitude is Hashem chose me for this special mitzvah. Hashem chose me for this special mitzvah. Hashem chose me. And, by the way, when you have to do an act of kindness for I want to give you an example I want to be modest about this, but I want to give you an example.

13:20
I recently got a phone call. Someone called me up. He said there's someone here for medical treatments in Houston. They came from Israel for their child and they need to borrow a car. He says I heard that your daughter has a car. It's your third car in the household. Maybe it's available for them to borrow it. So I said sure, I just need to confirm with my wife and daughter so that you know, because if my daughter doesn't have her car, she'll be using my wife's car. So I just want to check and get back to me in an hour and I'll let you know.

13:49
I came home and I was amazed because the joy and excitement and the willingness that my daughter and my wife said, of course, of course, what do you mean? Hashem brought this opportunity to us. What do you mean? You're going to say no so that somebody else? Because you can always say, well, if I don't help, somebody else will, betcha right, someone else will. Because Hashem is going to take care of His people 100% of the time. Hashem will always take care of His creations. Nobody in this world goes hungry, but it's your privilege if you're able to help them. It's your privilege. We have to understand that a mitzvah comes our way. It's not like, oh, how do I get out of this? No, it's just the opposite. Hashem selected you to do this special mitzvah. It's your privilege that you can do such a special mitzvah and that's the attitude a person needs to have. So if the opportunity comes your way, don't be like pounding your chest. Look at me, I'm so great. Because that, no, no, no, recognize. Hashem chose you, hashem loves you. It's your special opportunity and don't be proud of the praise that people give you. Be proud of the opportunity that people give you, be proud of the opportunity that Hashem has given you.

15:10
Quietly, I remember once, when I was about 19 years old, I was doing a lot of work in the former Soviet Union. I was running a summer camp there every summer and I went back for Pesach and I went back for Sukkot and I was there about 10 times in about three years and every time I'd meet people and they would say, oh, wow, I heard about all the amazing work you're doing and it's like wow, wow, it's so special, it's so amazing. So I once asked my grandfather. I said you know, when people say that it kind of makes me feel good, it makes me feel good Like people are praising me, people are that. It kind of makes me feel good. It makes me feel good like people are praising me, people are acknowledging the work I've done, and it makes me feel good.

15:51
Is that arrogance? Is that something which is inappropriate? So he says are you going out and announcing everything that you're doing? I said no. So he says so hashem is giving you a free gift. Hashem is giving you a free tap on the back telling you keep it up. You said people. People see what you're doing and they're acknowledging the good that you're doing, he says, but you're not going out there announcing. And then people say, oh wow, amazing, no, no, no, you're keeping it quiet. People see and people acknowledge, take it and enjoy it. That's not being arrogant, on the contrary, that's our obligation is to appreciate the privilege that we have, that the Almighty gives us, that we can assist. Okay, so that's a very, very special thing, my dear friends, this concludes day number 63.

16:45 - Intro (Announcement)
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