Are You Rich? Chazaq event with Rabbi Benzion Shafier

[Music] I'd like to ask you a question I don't mean this question to be facetious and I don't need you to answer the question immediately the question is are you rich are you rich but I don't mean rich in terms of friendships and uh and mitzism I mean wealthy materially wealthy are you rich now guys you got to take a wide view because I'm going to walk around a little bit the reason I asked this question is because I've asked this question for 20 years now in unbelievably diverse audiences from different communities young old from the what we call the wealthiest to the least and not one single person ever answers yes and it's incredible because studies show that almost no one considers themselves wealthy wealthy is 50 more money a hundred percent more money and I'd like to share with you this evening a very interesting perspective on that issue he says Imagine The Following imagine a man who had 35 years of age becomes blind loses his sight and he has to learn everything from Anew and he does just that he learns how to walk learns how to navigate learns how to get about this thing called life and he begins again living and he spends 10 years in utter blackness finally after a very very long time he hears about a medical procedure it's experimental it's very dangerous but in theory the doctor explained to him they could reconnect his optic nerve and he might be able to see he discusses it with his family he discusses it with his ROV he agrees to undergo the operation and he shows up at the hospital they put him on the anesthesia if 10 hour operation and he wakes up after 10 hours and he's ready to find out he's ready to know how he's going to live the rest of his life and he's about to open his eyes and nurses stop relax three days you have to wait he has to heal and he waits 72 hours finally after the longest time with his family gathered at the foot of his bed with the doctors and nurses at aside the nurse pulls off one bandage she pulls off a second he opens his eyes and he sees colors Dimensions textures he sees his loved ones who hasn't seen in 10 years he looks out the window and he sees a tree an ocean he sees a meadow he sees grass with tears in his eyes he says doctor doctor what could I ever do to repay you for this gift this gift of sight explains that each morning we are supposed to open our eyes and appreciate the Wonder of sight that Hashem gave us we have a brother we say every day Hashem you give sight to the blind I'm supposed to open my eyes and see the Wonders colors and gradations of color Beauty in front of me I'm supposed to be appreciated and I'm supposed to give us a thank Hashem and it's a very very curious thing the human we could have so many brothers so much wealth and we don't appreciate it if you read through that string of brachas that we say every morning the fact that I have hands with which to feel legs with which to walk and I can stand up with ease and Mobility I could walk around but more than that I live in a world replete with beauty and wonder sites that I see sounds that I hear and a person is supposed to appreciate it and a person is supposed to have such a sense of wow look what Hashem has invested into this world for me to enjoy and unfortunately I don't think we often do it it's only when something happens someone breaks his leg and then Hashem why me quickly the complaints find their home but until that happened there wasn't even a recognition of it being a bracha certainly no recognition of who it came from and I'd like to share with you that this is a fundamental part of the human but it shouldn't be that way and I'd like to share with you a perspective that may be very eye-opening to appreciate that which Hashem does for our enjoyment let me explain to what I mean when one of my daughters was six years old she went to school and they were learning about my separations about creation and she came home and she said Abba I get it before Hashem created the world there were no clouds there were no mountains no trees I I get that but Abba what color was it let me share with you what she was asking if you imagine the moment before creation the moment before Hashem said by he if you close your eyes and imagine that moment what do you see blackness but you see Blackness is a color even vacuum implies physicality before Hashem created the world there were no atoms no quarks no molecules there was absence of physicality from absolute complete absence of anything Hashem said and a hundred billion galaxies each containing a hundred billion stars came into existence but when you take this difficult step of imagining what it was like before Hashem created the world I think you'll start seeing some very very interesting features that Hashem put into the world and you should ask why Hashem created the world there were no models nothing to pattern after everything that Hashem created was for a reason and let's look at some of the features in this world and ask the why behind it the world we live in is replete with color if you drive on the Palisades Parkway on a full day you'll see every shade between red and orange and you look at an ocean and you see so many different variations of color would you like to know how many variations all you got to do is open Microsoft Word the color palette has 16 million variations now I don't want to date myself here folks but when I was a kid growing up I watch TV in black and white and you could tell the full spectrum the full drama within the gray tones Spectrum and Hashem could have created the world that we live in in black and white so here's the question who needs color why create a world with so many different gradations so many different use why create a world so rich in color and would you like to know what the answer is the answer is from a functional standpoint for the world to function you don't need color and if Hashem created the world strictly as a utilitarian functional object Hashem would not need to create color because color serves no purpose other than one so that you and I should look at a beautiful scene and say it's magnificent so that we should enjoy it so that we should see it and say wow Hashem created color in this world for one reason for us to enjoy and when you begin studying many many of the things that Hashem put into the world you quickly see that they were created for one purpose only for our enjoyment and no other reason and folks it goes so far that it's hard to imagine the stapler makes a very important point food that we eat serves a very particular function we eat food for its nourishment we eat food because we need the energy to live and by All rights food all food should be brown and taste like cardboard I guarantee we'd still eat you're hungry you need it you'd still eat yet the food we eat isn't just Brown and doesn't just taste like cardboard why did Hashem invest so much wisdom and so much forethought into the different flavors Aromas and textures of food for one reason so that when you sit down to that steak when you sit down to that salad you'll enjoy that activity it wasn't just supposed to be something that you do Hashem needed to give if it could be wanted to give and Hashem wanted us to enjoy us stay in the planet and if you look at the beauty of this world and if you look at the various things that Hashem put into the world you quickly see that many of them didn't have to be there many of them are strictly for our enjoyment and let me share with you an interesting idea when I was in fourth grade I was uh bored most of the year and maybe fifth grade as well and it didn't get much better anyway I remember clearly in fourth grade sitting there with an orange now folks if you did the same you could smile along with me but you haven't noticed that when you peel the orange you have all those wedges and then if you take the single wedge and a little wedge of the orange and you peel back the membrane you'll note that there are hundreds of little juice sacks right all the juice in the Orange is arranging these tiny little sacks now again if you're bored in fourth grade and you eat them one at a time it gets you to recess okay now here's the question why did Hashem design the orange with wedges and each wedge to contain hundreds of little juice sacks would you like to know why if you go to a candy store and you see a candy that says bite in for a burst of flavor you'll understand the orange you see when you bite into that wedge of the orange you get a burst of flavor those juice sacks burst and you have an enhancement to your enjoyment you see it wasn't enough that the citrusy sweet delicious flavor of the orange should be there Hashem wanted to add another little part to it Hashem wanted to add that burst of flavor so that when you bite in it just hits your palate but that's not where it ends you haven't noticed that Foods come in so many different colors the Orange is orange and the apple is no it's not there's 700 varieties of Apple but let's take the Red Apple okay the delicious apple is red why is the apple red ladies anyone know why I'll give you a simple answer go to a supermarket find tied detergent in that neon orange container know that Procter Gamble spent millions of dollars in consumer research to determine that that shade has more eye appeal than any other shade and that's why it's in that color Cheerios is in that same yellow box for 60 years now why because consumers like it better the apple is red on the outside because it looks pretty it's attractive note please that the peel on the inside is white because that's no longer needed Hashem wanted the Apple to look attractive and because Hashem wanted to add to our enhancement but here's the next step when you bite into the orange you get the burst of flavor when you bite into the Apple you get the crunch why did Hashem make the cellular walls of the Apple brittle so that you get the crunch anyone know why okay I'm back to the supermarket 75 feet floor to ceiling of wreck the cereals each one bragging to be crunchier than the next ours is crunchy crunchy crunchiest art is so crunchy we even include earplugs so you don't go down okay here's the question why is General Mills spending so much marketing dollars to convince you that their product is crunching the answer is very simple because when you sit down to the crunch it's enjoyable my kids when they were little if the milk hit the cereal more than 20 seconds ago it's soggy I'm not eating it it's fun to Crunch on food so Hashem designed the Apple to be brittle so you get the Crunch and the orange for the burst of flavor for the life of me I don't get bananas but whatever so the baby maybe I don't know whatever but okay here's the point it wasn't just that Hashem gave various different flavors to every different type of food and it wasn't just that there were enhancements in the arrangement the colors have to be different but here's one more step what about aroma you ever come home Friday night and you're really anxiously awaiting your wife's best soup and you sit down and it doesn't taste right because you have a cold Science Now shares with us that most of our sense of taste comes through our smell and the reason why you can't taste something if you have a cold because you can't smell it and the Aromas doesn't don't work here's the point not only do the foods come in different textures in different colors they have vastly different Aromas and if you'd like to appreciate this point let's go back to that orange when you peel the outside of the orange what happens you ever notice that mist goes up in the air and that mist smells like an orange but if you get some on your finger and then you lick it it tastes bitter why is that I'll explain it to you very simply you see when you break the peel you get that spray the aroma is emitted you smell the orange and you hunger for it therefore when you actually bite into the orange you enjoy it more what that means in plain languages that Hashem micro encapsulated scent into the peel of the orange to be emitted it didn't have to taste sweet that'd be a waste of resources but it had to smell like the orange so that you should enjoy the orange that you eat to a greater extent and if you study the foods that we eat the sites that we see you'll see incredible wonders I once opened my eyes on schwas and I couldn't stop laughing we try to stay up she was night learning and I often make it especially like three o'clock I'm giving sheer and I'm starting to get punched drunk anyway by Shoppers it was about 7 30 and I did something I never did before I actually fell asleep standing and suddenly I kind of opened my eyes and I saw the bema I don't know why but I was looking at the bema and I started laughing why because on the bema was a large bouquet of flowers and I saw the irises the daffodils the colors and the different textures of the flowers and I started laughing why because do you understand that the flower has no functional purpose in terms of its color the B is largely colorblind the B is attracted by the sense of smell the reason why there's so many delicious luscious colors in flowers is so that you and I should look at it and say that's beautiful from a utilitarian functional standpoint it didn't have to be and when you study so many of the features that Hashem put into the world for one reason for us to enjoy you should stop and say wow that is interesting why did Hashem do it and there is only one reason because Hashem wants us to enjoy our stay in this world it's not the reason why Shem created us but Hashem is a native Hashem is a giver and Hashem wants us to enjoy our stay on the planet I have one more step that I find very very compelling my grandmother Shalom lived to be 93. and she was born in Europe before World War one and she described to me life as she lived it as a little girl she explained to me that her family were well to do they owned a two-room house but a two-room house meant two rooms one room where the parents slept and the other room with the whole family ate and worked and did their chores and did everything else they were considered wealthy because the floor was made of wood unlike her friends who had floors made of dirt let me explain to what I'm saying in the barest shack with holes in the walls that let the cold air in without air conditioning without running water and people lived my grandparents your grandparents maybe your great-grandparents a hundred years ago in this country much of the Farmland didn't have electricity and if you study life a hundred years ago 150 years ago and compare it to now you'll find it's so different that it's hard to imagine my father had a friend who went to Yeshiva in Europe also actually between the first war and the second world war and he went to Yeshiva in Poland there was a room that he slept in and he had a handy way to tell whether it was a cold morning or not many people put the negov to put the water for until she dying right by the bed so they could wash right away as soon as they get up he would put the water right by his bed and in the morning he would take the covers off of his head and look at the water if the water was frozen over it was a cold morning if the water wasn't frozen over it was a regular morning but that was a room he slept in folks if it hits 55 degrees in your house I guarantee you're sleeping by your sister your mother your brother you're not sleeping there but regular people lived in houses that were the barest imaginable without any connection to our world and if you compare the life that we lead now and the luxuries that we enjoy to people who lived a hundred years ago 200 years ago there is no basis of comparison and if you're not sure I'm right I'll give you a little example if you are a student of American History you'll know this answer if not you won't who was the king of England during the Revolutionary War period anyone know the king of England during the Revolutionary War period 1776 or so okay so the answer is King George King George now happened to be a famous portrait of King George sitting on the throne a big man I mean he actually wasn't that big but as he sat on that Throne he had this very big fur coat on on top of fur coat was a pelt until now top of that pet was another Pelt and there he sits there on the throne of England very very big because of all of the clothing that he was wearing so here's the question why is the king of England sitting there with us fur coat and the Pelt and the Pelt on top of that why is he sitting that way the answer is because Buckingham perilous was freezing cold how do you heat the palace so way over Yonder there was a fireplace radiant heat now radiant heat is real good because it radiates out and it warms this part of your body well very nice but this body's cold what do you do turn around not very nice now this part of the body is warm and this part's called the king of England with the crown jewels could not heat his own home he walked cold smelly dank hallways at night got into a bed of 36 inches of down feather you don't have to see your back when you do that and no chiropractor around in the morning so you know kind of put you back in into place the king of England when he was invited to the Earl of France's wedding got into his carriage pulled by 12 white steeds that sounds wondrous doesn't it 12 white horses pulling a carriage only one little problem the wheels were made of wood riding on pothole filled roads and the King of England was his robes because in the carriage it was quite cold sat there going for seven days seven days with the Royal steeds pulling the carriage folks I am not a wealthy person I get into my Toyota Camry air cushioned ride I have surround sound stereos six speakers I have control the sound the treble the bass I have my own mixers I have solved 50 of Shalom bias problems what's the second biggest cause of divorce in America anyone know it's what temperature we set the thermostat to 69.71 We're Gonna Roll by 60 I got it solved you know why dual controls my wife wants it warmer make her slide warmer I want it cooler myself no problem listen to what I'm saying to you I drive at 60 plus miles an hour in an air-conditioned car air conditioned you know what that is air conditioning look at pictures from 1910 in the United States of America and you'll see the apartment buildings in the summer you never notice on the fire escapes if you look at those pictures you'll see sleeping bags not sleeping bags or blankets and people always were out there in the summer sleeping on a fire escape why was it so common to sleep on the fire escapes and the apartment buildings in New York City air conditioning the building was baking all day in the 95 degree heat and it absorbed it and absorbed it and it was no way you could cool off your apartment the only choice was to go onto the fire escape and that's how many people spent the night in the 1950s something called air Cooling and was introduced in the movie theaters and people would flock there because wow an unheard of unprecedented luxury folks I've seen pictures of the grand Rothschild's house Lord Rothschild one of the wealthiest financiers Bankers in Europe my house is larger my house is fancier I also happen to have indoor plumbing and electricity that runs through the walls and I have luxuries that Rothschild couldn't imagine in the 1800s and if you compare our life to people who lived a hundred years ago 200 years ago you see we are wealthy beyond belief if you take the richest kings living 300 years ago and compare their life to ours there is no comparison if you don't get this point yet I'll make it a little bit more clear it was a known medical fact in England in the medieval times and even later than that that to bathe in the winter time was dangerous to your health so that means the average person did not bathe from about October till about March oh that sounds very comfortable I mean the average person the average man by the time he hit 30 had lost most of his teeth and there were no dentists to kind of you know give you a bridge and kind of Take Ah there was no lotion to put on your hands your fingers would open up in the cold brittle cracks and people live the most austere difficult life you could imagine if you were to take an average person from 200 years ago and bring him to our world they'd be astonished they'd fall on their face and one more step if you'd like a religious experience try me on this one go to Walmart 000 square feet of material Goods rows and rows aisles and aisles of everything imaginable and by and large you and I have enough discretionary income to buy what we want there and if you begin to study the wealth the opulence the tremendous ashiras that we have you begin to realize something very very astonishing are you rich me Rich I'm barely pay my mortgage I got my kids tuition feel rich you know why we don't realize that we're rich because we get so caught up in the world we get so busy and that we stop and we no longer even realize the tremendous wealth that we have we don't look at sight and appreciate them we don't smell Aromas and appreciate them and we don't appreciate the tremendous brother that we have living in our time folks in the course of history mankind never had it this good we in this country here enjoy Freedom opportunity of unprecedented ever in history you could be what you want and become what you want go to school for what you want what did Jews do in Middle Medieval Times anyone what did Jews do by and large money lenders why would you use money lenders why why because there were guilds you couldn't become a carpenter you couldn't become a jeweler there were guilds kind of like trade unions that wouldn't allow Jews in you could do what you want in this country go to school you'll become a lawyer a doctor an Indian chief go take a course in it open your own tribe you could do it go online create your you could do whatever you want so here's the question there's a world that we live in that's so magnificent and we don't appreciate the magnificence of it and we live in a time of such luxuries and opulence and we don't appreciate it what's shots why not and I'd like to share with you what I think the answer to this question is and it's not a small question Victor Frankl was a Venus psychiatrist Victor Frankl discovered that he was Jewish and when the Nazis put him on a train Bound for Auschwitz and he interestingly survived the war after the war he landed in the Deep pea camps then he landed on the on the upper east side of Manhattan and he ended up writing a book his book is called man in search of meaning and there are two parts to the book the first part of the book is where he describes being in Auschwitz in the concentration camp and trying to be dispassionate to sort of step back to play psychiatrist to kind of analyze what was going on in the psyche in the minds of people and that part of the book is a fascinating read a towering but a fascinating read and then there's a second part of the book the second part of the book describes that when he landed on these Shores upper east side and he very shortly put out his shingle he had been a world famous psychiatrist and he explains that very shortly after he began his practice here his practice was filled but he describes that the patience that he was seeing and the symptoms that they were reporting were things that he had never seen before in decades of practice in Europe he describes a woman would come in for the intake interview and he would say madam what could I do for you well I'm depressed doc I'm sorry to hear that is it is it your marriage now your kids no what is it I don't know that's why I'm here a middle-aged man would come in 45 years of age what could I do for you I'm depressed I'm sorry to hear that is it is he a marriage no is he kids no is it your job no is it your golf game no why are you depressed I don't know doc that's why I'm here patient after patient would come in without an attributable cause an attributable cause is a reason why a person should be depressed if you were married for 35 years and you lost your husband and that's a very powerful life-shaking moment and that requires a lot of pulling yourself up and we certainly would understand why a woman would have to really be going through something and that's an attributable cause if you have a genetic predisposition a gift from your parents that's also an attributable cause but he describes that patient after patient would come in without a reason to be depressed and his conclusion as a secular psychiatrist is that these people were depressed because they had no meaning in life they had no purpose in life and made a lot of money I became famous I became world renowned and I wake up at 40 or 45 and I say I don't get it there's something missing and his theory from again a secular vantage point is that these people are depressed because they lack meaning in life now folks let me share with you that he got it right 100 right in the United States of America the wealthiest country in the world the wealthiest country ever in history there are tens of millions of cases of depression reported every year of those tens of millions Science Now shares with us that only 16 percent have an attributable cause the other vast majority have no reason why they shouldn't be happy having the reason why they shouldn't have energy in the morning but can't get out of bed because something's missing would you like to know what that's something that is missing is Hashem took you from under the keysia covered from hashem's Throne up above put you into a body say this is the ideal life for you lead your life accomplish do change yourself change the people around you grow you put here for a Grand Mission and if you lead your life that way then you and you are in sync you and you are in Harmony and is an inner peace there's an inner Joy there's a happiness but if you lead your life for any other purpose whether to be to make money you have to become famous then become whatever you're going to feel a tremendous void inside you know why and because there's a voice inside you that says so what you made 10 million dollars so what you made it to the cover of Time Magazine so what what are you doing what are you accomplishing and there's an inner voice within you that will not let you rest I remember as a young boy reading a novel about a black kid who grew up in the south in the 1920s and this kid described poverty he said he was hungry from morning to night he never knew what it meant to be not hungry until one day he was walking to school and he discovered that a neighbor had let the garden hose left it out so he went over to the garden hose put on the spigot and began drinking and drinking and he filled his belly and he filled his stomach filled with water and the hunger pains subsided until 20 minutes later when the water left and the hunger pangs came back worse than before if you'd like to understand our generation you see people running and doing and running and doing and they wake up at 30 or 40 and there's a sense of emptiness inside do you know why because when you're hungry and you try to fill your stomach with water it doesn't work Hashem created us to grow to accomplish to reach Stellar Heights and if you live your life for any other purpose you'll make money you'll become famous come well known and you're going to wake up with a sense of emptiness inside if you study this world you see so many things that Hashem put here for us to enjoy Hashem is a native God wants us to enjoy this world it's not the purpose of creation but even this temporary World Hashem wants us to enjoy and if you want to enjoy this world you have to know how to use it you have to know how to use your life because if you use your life for any purpose other than what Hashem intended well guess what it's kind of like using a surgical tool to pry open a window it does a lousy job and it dulls the blade if you live your life with any other intentions any other Focus you're going to be empty you're not going to enjoy this life and you're certainly not going to accomplish much Hashem give us a Torah a very exact directions very exact formula follow these steps and follow these guidelines you'll accomplish you'll grow and as a side benefit by the way you'll enjoy this world to a much greater extent one reason is quite simply because you'll be happy you'll be fulfilled you'll be satisfied I'll be happy when I'll be happy if I make a million dollars I'll be happy if I get married I'll be happy when I have a kid I'll be happy when I have 10 grandkids everyone has an answer to that line you ever notice everyone's going to be happy when I'll be happy when and guess what the win happens and they're not happy and you live in a generation with so many intelligent cultured sophisticated people are miserable and you gotta say to yourself what's going on and would you like to know what's going on it's very simple if you lead your life not as your creator made you you're not going to be very satisfied with life Hashem wants us to enjoy this world understand put many many things in this world for us to enjoy and Hashem wants us to be happy in this world and when you leave your life properly when you lead your life as you're supposed to there's an inner Joy there's an inner happiness you wake up in the morning with a sense of wow you look at the stars and look at the ocean you look at the pictures you look at what you see and it's beautiful us especially the Jewish Nation we're given a mission and we're given a very exact way to accomplish that mission each person individually and as a nation the Torah is replete with directives with warnings examples do this you'll accomplish you'll grow you'll be happy in this world obviously happy in the world to come and when you live in a world that we live in with so much wealth and people don't feel rich and you live in a world that's so beautiful and people don't even see it what you're looking at at a certain point you have to say wow what a shame look what Hashem did look how Hashem wants us to benefit but to do that you have to stop you have to ask yourself what am I doing here I have to look in the mirror and ask yourself what does Hashem want for me and when you do that you grow you accomplish you accomplish your mission in this world and you feel it in a sense of joy we all have tremendous [Applause]