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.

00:11 - Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe (Host)
My dear friends, now we resume with day number 86. Kol ra'ois, kamarois, tzluyois, bekinah, how many evils emerge from envy? Nocha shakad, moini, miskaneh, be'odom, ha-rishon, ve'gar, misal olam, how many evils emerge from envy? The original sin of the world, which was the serpent, was jealous of Adam and Eve and brought death to the world. There was no death until that time. You know that they were going to live for all eternity. That brought death to the world. And about the snake, what does it say? You shall walk upon your stomach and you shall eat dust.

01:10
Look at all of these people in our history, whether it be Cain who killed, abel, korach, bilam, doeg, achitophel, gehazi, adonia, all of these stories in Malachim, in Shmuel, in Kings, in Samuel 2. Story after story after story. Who desired what was not theirs? Not only that, what they desired, they did not attain. What they had in their hand, they lost as well. Mikol eil yilmad odem shi yifrash min hakinom, min hachemda. From this a person should learn to distance himself from envy and desire. B'yach shov ki afilu ma shi bi yodo eino sholoh. And just know that even what's in your hand right now is not even yours. It's a gift from Hashem. Tomorrow, you know what can happen tomorrow, it can all be taken away from you. What will benefit you when it's not yours? A person says in King Salman teaches us in Proverbs for you do not know what the day will bring. You don't know what tomorrow will bring. We're so confident in today. I know be careful, the great reward that awaits for a person who is careful of envy, desire and temptation.

03:04
In most cases, in most sins, if a person is embarrassed, he'll avoid. For in most transgressions, a man stands to suffer shame if he transgresses and he restrains himself because of this. For example, he restrains himself from robbery and theft out of fear that he will be revealed, exposed and publicized and that he will be put to shame and suffer a great loss. His picture will be on the most wanted list. He'll have the perp walk on the FBI on CNN early in the morning. He's Ba'ish foryafsid harbe. Be very embarrassed. Aval hakinu v'achemdo hein b'leiv.

03:53
But the jealousy, the desire of what someone else has, is inside our heart. Ein oda makir bo'im yachmod o yekane. It's difficult for a person to identify what that trait is. This is inside the heart. Have fear from your God, from Hashem.

04:23
Even though jealousy is a very terrible trait, there is a place for a jealousy that is good. This is what we mentioned earlier. There is a place for jealousy, which is good. What is that? What's that jealousy that's good? That a person should be jealous of that which is extremely good and noble the fear of Hashem. Fear of Hashem, as it is written. Let your heart not envy, says King Solomon in Proverbs. Rather be in awe of Hashem all the day. Ve'al derech zo'om rabbi seinu z'chana levrocha. And this is what our sages of blessed memory said Kinas sofrim tar b'chochma. The jealousy of the sages, of the rabbis, of the scholars, only of the scribages, of the rabbis, of the scholars, only of the scribes, only increases wisdom. Imagine that, har B'Chachma. It only adds wisdom.

05:37
Two schools that are one across from the other are going to compete, right, you know who benefits the children? The children, because now they have a better. They're going to go for better teachers. They're going to try to hire the best teachers. They're going to try to have the best sports teams, the best coaches. Who's going to benefit Children With Torah study? The rabbi is the Rabbi, he's the coach, he's the spiritual coach. Ki yireh odam sholomed yitfos kino belibo v'yomar lomed zekol ayom gamaniyeh seken.

06:19
You'll see somebody learning Torah and he says I'm so jealous, this guy is sitting and learning Torah. Seriously, I want to sit and learn Torah too. Be'chein le'inyan kol ha'mitzvahs, v'amidus ha'tovos Same with all of the mitzvahs and the good deeds, all the mitzvahs. You see what I'm doing. Yikane kol echot. B'chavere v'yitfos ma'asei chavere.

06:40
You see, your friend is doing something good. How can I duplicate that and bring that into my life? If he sees a terrible person? But he has one good trait, one good trait he's someone who's you know, very, very, very lives, a very large life. Not a very good person per se, but he does great acts of kindness. Learn, learn how to do the great acts of kindness. Learn what you can from the person who is kind doing, even if it's only one thing.

07:55
He says if what you're jealous of is not that someone is studying Torah, you're jealous that people honor him for it. You're not jealous of and saying I want to be a great Torah scholar too. It just bothers you that they're getting honored for it, but then you're going to be tempted to pull them down, to distract them from the study, to drive them crazy, so that now they're not going to be at their status that they could be. He says this type of jealousy is sick. He says not only you're a sinner, but you're also sinning, causing others to sin. This is a companion of. Such a person has no portion in the world to come.

08:55
He says now as follows person should always honor those who are studying Torah, those who are fearful of God and are observing his mitzvahs. Do everything you can give them a hand to assist them, to support them with your physical abilities, with your financial abilities. Let other people be jealous of the goodness that you're doing, of the good deeds. If this person is being recognized for his good deeds, we'll do the same and hopefully we'll be recognized when we talk shalol, ishma balishma. That's fine, because when you do something not for the right reason, at the end you'll come to do it for the right reason. So if, let's say, you see someone gets their name on a building, they donated all this money and have their name on a building. They donated all this money and have their name on the building, wow, it's very special. I want my name on a building too. You know what I'm going to do. I'm going to donate money just to get my name on the building. That good Not great, that's for sure Say to say it's a good thing to give charity, even if it's for a bad cause internally.

10:35
I'm doing it for the honor, not doing it for the right reason. They just say because it's a good deed, do it Because what's going to happen is, eventually you'll give charity for the right intention. Imagine what happens the next day. Did I have to give it to have my name on the building? You should just give it. To give it because it's the right thing to do, because I'm a good person, because I have what to give, so let me give people sometimes don't maximize their potential in the beginning, but because it's a good deed. One good deed leads to another good deed, which leads to another good deed, and that's how we build this world and make it a great place. This concludes day number 86.

11:30 - Intro (Announcement)
You've been listening to Rabbi Aryeh Wolbe on a podcast produced by TORCH, the Torah Outreach Resource Center of Houston. Please help sponsor an episode so we can continue to produce more quality Jewish content for our listeners around the globe. Please visit torchweb.org to donate and partner with us on this incredible endeavor.