Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe Podcast Collection

You're listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe, Director of TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. This is the Jewish Inspiration Podcast.

Welcome back, my dear friends, to Day 117 in the Treasure for Life edition of the Orchos Tzaddikim, the Ways of the Righteous. We're on the top of page 672. We previously mentioned that there are four categories of people that do not merit to be in the presence of G-d. They don't merit to be, to have the divine presence near them.
The first was kas ha-leitzim, those who make mockery. They laugh at other people. So what is their thing? He says, ha-leitzanus nechlekes l'chamish ha-chalokim. He says there are five categories that we can break down mockery into. He says, number one, ha-echod, ha-ish ha-lashon, ha-nos and dofi b'vnei adam. He says, this is a person, the man of the tongue, who slanders others. He mocks others, what I would call the late night shows, who just mock people, laugh about other people on their expense.
Kemoshenem ha-teshev ba-achicha, te-daber b'ven imcha ti-ten dofi. He brings a verse here from Psalms, u'mi she'oseh kein, nikro leit. Someone who mocks other people is called a mocker. He's called a mocker. And then he continues here that this kind of latzon, yesh po shtey midos ros. He says there are two components of this that are really, really evil. He says, ha-achas shuhu zeyd ve'oseh ha-aver b'zodon, shuhu meyzid al-chaver b'daber she'eyn lo bo revach, oseh nezek ve'hefsed godel al-chavero. He says, the mocker possesses two evil traits.
The first is that he is willful and transgresses out of malice, sinning against his friend when he stands to gain nothing, causing his friend great damage and loss. So you, on the expense of your friend, you make all of these jokes, you laugh and make other people laugh. But he has great damage and great loss. He says, for when he slanders him and lowers him in the eyes of others, and he causes him to be hated.
So now everybody's pointing, you see that guy, that guy is so terrible. Did you hear that story about them? This is the height of malice, more than robbing and stealing. What do you really do? You steal their dignity. They have no value anymore. It's a terrible thing. For when one steals and robs, he does so not out of malice, but for his own gain, to increase his own wealth. When someone steals, I want to make money, okay, he happens to be the victim.
But when one slanders, gaining nothing, it is crookedness of heart. It's unbelievable. But someone who speaks slander about another person, you get no benefit. This is the real, a real crookedness of the heart. He says, okay, someone who mocks other people is a person who is arrogant, he is, you know, in his own eyes, I am so great, so I can mock others. I can laugh about others because I'm so great, that's why he mocks other people, but someone
who is humble recognizes his own imperfections and therefore says, who am I to laugh at other people? Why should I laugh at other people? I'm not so great myself. To make other people now disrespect, dishonor that person. What do they do? They point fingers at the other person, they say, look at him, look at him, they're mocking other people. Who am I? I'm not perfect myself, till I don't perfect myself, who am I to talk about others?
And then when you do get to that point of perfection, you know, even more so that it's not your place. What's the second? Second type of mockery and that is, someone who makes fun of others, someone who mocks others who aren't as successful as you are. Whether it be financially, with honor, oh, I get invited to these events, you don't. I have this kind of money, I can go on these vacations, I can buy this kind of jewelry and these clothes, but you can't.
Or someone who outright mocks those who are poor and despises them. Not that he calls out any of their blemishes, but he just looks down at them. This comes from haughtiness and arrogance. It's because you're so abundant in pleasure and you have such a tranquil life that you just look down at others. This is a verse in Psalms. He says this is an indication that those who are tranquil are those who mock. Because they're so comfortable in their lifestyle, they'll mock those who are righteous, they'll
mock the prophets, they'll mock the scholars. And he brings the verse from Jeremiah, they all mock me. He who mocks the poor blasphemes his maker. He says that what happens, a person mocks the poor because they're poor and considers him poor because he's not smart like me, he's not as educated as me, he's not as brilliant as me, and he attributes his being successful financially, his rich success financially because I'm so bright, because I'm so intelligent, I know how to invest.
This is falling into the trap of what we say in Deuteronomy, my power and my might have gained me this wealth. And this is a terrible thing. He says such a person who laughs at others, such a person is laughing at the Almighty. Because everything is really from Hashem. It says Hashem makes all of them, the rich and the poor have met, Hashem has made them all. What you're doing is you're mocking the handiwork of Hashem. Okay, this concludes day number 117.
And my dear friends, we are going to stop here. You know what, we have one more here. One more day we're going to do this. Okay, here we go.

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