Finding Your Path - Mesilas Yesharim PT 47 (Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair) (Jewish Understanding)

Okay, good evening everybody and welcome to another episode of our path finding our path towards to serving hashem to fulfilling our purpose in this world we're in path of the just by we're starting tonight chapter 14 beric yalud we're in the section of the book the second half of the book which talks about precious precious literally means separation It's a section of the book that deals with those things that somebody who is capable of rising above the norm should be doing or at least trying to aspire to be doing those things. We spoke last week and the week before about um a couple of points. One point was there's a precious which is desirable and expected a separation a uh level of um making things forbidden for yourself which the general populace general Jewish population are allowed to do. Um what is a good form of this separation a bad form? We said last week, anything which endangers your health which is extreme in any way is is certainly not what we're talking about here. The second question we dealt with was why if precious is something which is separation is something which is so desirable and brings us much closer to Hashem makes us less physical makes us more spiritual. So why did mazal make it mandatory on all of Israel? And the general principle is that kazal were dealing with what people what everybody can do not what some people should do. And to make something mandatory in a situation where not everybody will be able to achieve that is counterproductive because what happens is that people will just throw up their hands and go the rabbis the Torah expects too much of me. I can't do any of this and just give up completely. There was I think I mentioned last week where Feinstein refused to prohibit smoking cigarettes even after there was conclusive proof that it led to lung cancer, heart disease and a host of other nasty things. And they came to him and he said, "No, I'm not going to make it off." So why? Because you know there are people who are addicted and they won't be able to give it up. And so what have I done? I've just broken the power. I've lessened the power of uh the reon the rabbon. So I'm not going to do that. Anyway, last week we spoke spoke about these ideas. is we're going to move on now to chapter 14 which really talks in uh specific more specifically about the three divisions theim the precious there the Je is going to divide up the concept of precious separation into three specific areas they are um as follows Hanoi pleasures precious ious separating oneself from physical pleasure. Um again precious the idea is to drawing back within what which is that which is permitted to make things on a personal level for yourself things that you don't do. uh precious when it comes to dinim which really means being more strict and we'll come to that in terms of hala drawing back within that which is permitted to make things which are permitted to everybody uh not permitted for you and minimog means really basically conduct one's the way one behaves the one one acts and comports himself so specifically um arcious bano We spoke in the previous chapters about taking from the world and this is the really idea of preachers that which is strictly necessary for him. Strictly speaking, excuse the pun. Hazal did not offer anything which is not for example a person theoretically could eat as much steak tatar as he wanted to. If he likes tata, he could dine in the finest restaurants provided they're all glacosha. The idea is though that the nature of physicality tends to make a person more physical and more prone to eventually coming to transgress the Torah. And so the idea is that a person should really the physical world is um is really like a resource or it's bit like an atom. An atom can light a city. Atomic power is cheap and uh it's clean and I'm not going to say it's the best available energy, but it certainly beats fossil fuel by a long way. It's extremely powerful, but an atom can light a city and it can burn a city. Anything which has a lot of power in it can go one way or the other. And so even though physical pleasure and in some circumstances going to say is is mandated shabas shabas is a mitzvah to have shabas on shabas. But the nature of somebody who is poorish somebody who wants to be on that higher level will be careful to take from the world only those things which he strictly needs. Now of course it's very difficult when it comes to yourself to decide what you strictly need. It's very easy, as we said last week, to confuse wants with needs. Rabbi, I need this. So again, as we said last week, the old dictim, the basic dictim that teaches is make yourself find yourself a rabbi and acquire for yourself a friend because other people don't have your problem, your uh negas, your biases when it comes to you. So they can be objective. And it's a very good idea to speak to somebody who knows you well and who has das Torah to say you know should I do this particular area of being more abstinent than normal than other people if if you want to do that is this something which is fit for me is this something I can do is this something I should be doing and uh so that's very important that is as we said he says That when we're talking about hano that's anything which provides pleasure to any one of the senses whether the pleasure is through food through relations through clo clothing clothing through a tim going for traveling holidays conversation or anything like this any similar means where there is an idea of hano of course conversation is a more abstract hano but again how much he's going to be speaking about this later on how much do you need to talk. How much do you need to be involved in um the company of other people is also speaking about which of course is pleasurable. So this these are the areas again the areas where where a person should examine the pleasure of food, the pleasure of cohabitation. Of course we're talking about married people. Clothing um wearing nice clothes to what extent do you need to of course a person always has to be clean. He has to dress in a respectable fashion. I'm not sure he has to buy Armani suits or was that one of these people. Uh I'm not sure that he has to go for lengthy tim all over the world. Um I'm not sure he has to spend a lot of time smoozing. Schmoozing in itself is very dangerous because it often leads to sometimes ner or questionable jokes or loan horror speaking ill about somebody. That's the first area of precious hano pleasure. The second area of precious these three divisions is when it comes to um dinim for example in the Gmorrah very often in there'll be a we a how do you say in English a dispute a dispute as to what the hak is and we have a a system where we huskin we make aic decision but that doesn't mean that the other opinion doesn't exist a person who wants to be stringent with himself um could and say okay you know I know it's and um I you know this is the but I want to take upon myself to go a little bit more makm a little bit more stringent A good example um of this is things like um ribbis. Um the laws of ribbis are very complicated and this and I don't want to get myself into deep water here but there's a lot of opinions that would say that the way the current banking system is set up in Eritus Royal especially could be problematic. I'm not saying what a person the idea of credit cards could be problematic. I'm not saying don't use credit cards. Certainly a person wherever possible if he has a an account should never let it go into the red in this country. Should always make sure it's in the green. But okay, I'm not I don't want to go into too many details because these are complicated and hakic matters. But there are opinions. There are certain areas where let's say the the leniency or the the pak is is not as strong let's say as in other areas. Um that's that's that's another area I was I was I was just going through my another area where of leniency for example if you've ever learned through the Gumari in Araven and really gone into that in some detail a lot of what we accept as again I don't want to get myself into problems here a lot of auven are by some opinions things which are I don't want to say borderline but put it this way if you learn through Aravven deeply. I know many people who have learned through Araven and and come to not rely on many of the Aravven that exist and again I'm not naming names I'm not saying where I'm talking about or where but there are of obviously there are very good Aravven but there are certain areas where Araven are maybe I don't want to say again I'm just saying that there are areas where for sure a person who wants to make a an effort to be careful to um fulfill every opinion or let's say maybe probably only two opinions or could be more opinions. That's the idea of precious. The idea is to make sure that you're observing both sides of aic dispute. Um when obviously that usually makes life more difficult for you. Now already explained for [Music] us. Interesting. He said, "My soul was not polluted." meaning I did not eat from an animal about a a rabbi had to make a judgment call. Very often when it comes to shita, you know, you have a a large animal. Uh requires a lot of expertise. Um a a large animal I'm guessing now could probably worth5 $10,000 a cow prize cow good steak. So there's a lot writing on it and you know sometimes there are questions. Now of course we have competent hakic authorities who will pass in this is okay even in a situation without going into details where there may be an opinion a more stringent opinion to say that it's not okay. So this is what is talking about my soul was not polluted. Obviously he didn't eat something was tra meaning I never ate from an animal about which there was a shila and even if the shila the question the answer returned it's okay it's kosha but I never ate from such an animal and he also said I did not eat from the flesh of an animal that had to behed quickly and though the the essence of the law it's permitted but he was he was stringent with himself So as we said he says here is somebody who wants to practice precious isn't guided by something what's permitted to all of Israel all of the Jewish people but he has to withdraw himself from what is repulsive from what is similar to it and for what is similar to what is similar to it that's the point person separates himself Not just from the is as all of Israel have to do. He being a parish means separating yourself from something which is similar to that and something which is similar to that thing which is similar as says in honor [Music] mils. He said with this regard I was as vinegar is to wine compared to my father for he would if he ate meat on one day of course we know there's an isa to eat meat and milk together um and the raonan it's it's osa to eat milk for a certain period of time after eating meat could be six hours is the most stringent um that We most people observe nowadays. There's a shittita that holds opinion that holds one hour. There's another opinion less well understood which is three hours. Different minhogen different customs. Now ma's father would not he ate meat on one day. He didn't eat cheese until 24 hours later. Whereas I though I would not eat cheese at the next meal which is basically what we do would do so would would would eat at the following the meal after that. Now of course you have to say that ma for sure was not observing the the uh the the the the law itself the baseline of the law the line between permitted and and forbidden. That cannot possibly be because if that would be true then it means that his son by doing less than that would be transgressing a mitzvah elomite rather you have to say that maruka was pushing the line very very far in front of him and his son said that you know I'm like vinegar um when it comes derived from wine I'm like a venom my father was wine and I'm like vinegar Again, we're on whatever level we're on, we have to try and within that level to move up. Was he what was he trying to accomplish with that? What was the concern? He was he was being he was being a parish. He was he wanted to make absolutely sure that there was no the meat and the milk didn't come anywhere close together. He didn't they didn't I don't know exactly this is not this is not a cheetah that we hold nowadays at all. I don't know anybody who does this. I mean you know a certain uh there are humras when it comes come to waiting but I don't know anybody who does that. why he did this. I don't even know. I don't know if we're talking about he says in the matter of dimin and it seems I understand your question because we're basically saying what what was he for? What was he concerned about? There was no to the best of my knowledge an opinion that says you have to wait 24 hours. Now it could be there is I don't know the gammor well enough. I don't remember when learning of such a 24 hours. I don't know. Could be there was an opinion like that. I don't know. It's a good question. I have an idea that it could be there's an opinion or there's a strict opinion out there, but we don't understand it reasoning and you're trying to be a parish. Do you need to try to hold like that opinion before you understand it? That's I mean the the the if there if there is an opinion about something then it obviously the opinion is based on something which is learned in the garra which either could be a could be something logical or it could be a way of learning a pos zeros without getting into details we don't know but let's say that there's a aic opinion which is more strict so somebody who wants to be a parish will will take notice, will take account, will follow that stricter opinion even though it's not the hala. That's what he's talking about here. Now, you're asking me a good question because the best of my knowledge, I don't know anybody who says it's 24-hour period, you have to wait. But it could be just I forgot the Gmorrah. So, uh that could be the case. And and let's let's say let's leave it at that because I I don't know. I don't know. Okay. Now there's another idea here which is um we talked about before which is precious bimin hogen. So we talked about precious when it comes to hano separation when it comes to pleasure physical pleasures of the world eating relations etc etc uh clothing tulim going for walks going for uh holidays then we talked about precious in denim we just spoke about that the idea for example of of kashas or aven gave two examples now there's a third area he spoke about which is precish bin hogim what he means by this is something it's a concept that we've we've spoken about earlier in which is the idea of setting aside time to analyze one's actions to spend time with oneself and with the with hashem the concept is one which is called his bodhadus. Very often when a person's in society uh he loses or he can lose his own voice. He can lose his own track. And so the idea of precishes in Minhogim is that of course a person has to be involved with other people. And there's a there's a uh which says a person should always be um associated in the company mixed in more revis. So not with imabrios with with other people. And it also there says in Tusadimal a sword upon those who scheme are and are undone. And the Gmorra explains in Tus what is this mean? Excuse me. uh it's very strong thing. It's there's a sword should be on those who are and there's a euphemism here says the enemies of but of course it really means who isolate themselves and occupy occupy themselves with Torah and don't learn or they don't give vadim or their so there's an issa on the one hand to cut yourself off to be antisocial in situations where that's required Torah learning or in business for example um you have to earn a living, you have to be to a certain extent in society and to not do that we saw is considered an issue. However, but when that area of life has been satisfied, it's preferable to seek your own company because by doing that you are protected from um unnecessary chatter schmoozing gazing not and also not gazing outside your dalmos. This is a this is an interesting concept. A person shouldn't if possible look sight outside his four L's they call it in English. Daladamos is about what 6 to8 ft shouldn't look outside his immediate area. Why is that? In fact, I think they tell a story about Risel Salanta that his children could always uh I think it was maybe I'm wrong, but it was his children could always when they were walking with him, they could always play around and and be naughty provided they they did it to the the left and right of him. And uh and the reason why because he never looked outside his damos. Now I think when when we're talking about someone like Riv Salanta the idea is that if a person is complete in himself if he has internal schlamos he has no need to look outside. The reason why a person wants to gaze outside his daladamus is in some way there is a lacking in him which he needs to fill from the outside. I think we're in a generation now where this has absolutely reached a an extreme level where people are are so feel so empty that they they they they grasp at anything outside themselves all kinds of entertainment all kinds of uh all kinds of nonsense all kinds of Instagrams and and and YouTubetubes and and and uh whatever it is to fill the void to fill that empty space. A person after he's fulfilled these needs as we said should be able to feel complete and satisfied by being by doing his bodus because he feels because he finds himself not alone. He finds himself alone with Hashem. And that's the greatest pleasure there can be. Now of course this is not for everybody but I think all of us and especially in the generation in which we live this is something which is of tremendous value. And you see certain kinds of types of stress this idea of his podus. And as an antidote I think against the the clamor the shout as the go says the coal harmony roy the sound of the multitudes of Rome. Mora talks about this enormous sound of Rome that time of Rome when Rome was an empire the enormous noise of of the tech and we can transfer that to our own generation now the tremendous noise of technology not just the noise of wheels grinding but the the the the self presentation of the culture that we live in it's its desire to fill up our minds with this noise basically cultural noise. So, a person, I think more now, more today than ever, really has to find a way to quite literally turn it off and be with himself, be with Hashem. So, he sums up by saying, These three divisions have been we we really it's a very short chapter. We're coming to the end. We boiled it down to three short principles. And that's really the take in man's activities. And really within those three divisions, he says it's impossible to set forth all of the particulars within those three categories. But all he's done is basically divided up precious into three categories. Within those three categories, apart from what he described terms of pleasures, there are many more pleasures than the pleasures he listed, there are many more ways in terms of dinim um that a person could think about in terms of precious and in terms of his hoga, his relationship to the outside world. These have to be he finishes off by saying these have to be derived by individual judgment. Each one of us is very very different in terms of the precious that is required from us and is advisable for us. But the underlying truths are universal and it requires individual judgment to be able to apply those in each of our lives. Okay, we'll leave it here as we'll carry on next week. Chapter 15. How to acquire precious