Bitachon 37 - Strengthening our Resolve

you're listening to the 37th edition of the betofn podcast and today is a beautiful day here in beichamesh windy day beautiful and i've been looking for this spot with the big wheel which was used i believe for as an olive press and you know previously we spoke about the different ways that a person tries to accomplish things tries to provide for his family of course and i was thinking about a slightly different point coming into this podcast which is that the creation of of oil you know they would take something they would place it there's a square in the center and they would place uh there would be a second part of it which actually seen elsewhere which would go around in a circle and it would they would place the olives here on the on the circle and then it would the rock this hard rock item round item would turn around and crush the olives crush out the olive oil and there's a circle here i don't know if this is created by rain but it could be that the oil would collect in the circle here i don't know exactly how it works but uh the idea is i think it's a muscle for working on bitarch and working on our relationship with hashem you know sometimes you got to get crushed but more so each small olive is like another challenge or or meter that we want to work on whatever it is it takes time takes effort one by one day by day we go on through our lives we continue and we squeeze out that oil the oil being all we all know you just came out of hanukkah you know the oil represents the light of torah it represents the purity the pure olive oil it's one of the shivasaminim and so working on bitarchen so many opportunities so many challenges that come up so many olives to be pressed in our lives and each time that we have these opportunities each time that we have these challenges we're moving forward we're creating more olive oil that olive oil of our soul near mitsuba or the mitsus are near a candle or really a an air is really this uh i think of the clay harris the earthenware vessel that has a wick stuck into it and there's oil inside of it and that's the nair the torah ore and the light that shines of the oil that we produce and the challenges that we overcome that is the that's the reason why we're here and uh just want to apologize i'm right near the road the road is very close to me i want you guys to see this particular location and you might hear some cars in the background but it comes with the territory okay so i'd like to begin again from the beginning of the 12th chapter of madrid adam which is the last chapter and says talking about the battle of yaakov avinu with the angel of hafiz he saw that he couldn't win meaning the angel saw that he couldn't succeed against jacob against jacob so he slammed him on his side in the joint of his says a famous thing that the angel was able to strike him in the place which supports the torah yaakov the support is that which holds it up the leg he was able to strike him in the support of the torah lima could not strike or touch yaakov himself the goof the body of torah itself if um was some kind of blemish that was caused which affected yaakov has to do with the means which are necessary in order to keep this torah alive to keep the existence of torah to could for it to continue that there's power there the sahara just listening today to a shiramaru sashima repair gave on hanukkah and he talked about how um in the 60s probably this was a very long time ago 50 60 years ago so there was a total of in the entire united states a total of 50 he said he calculated there was 25 cuddle of in in in lakewood seven in baltimore seven interview das a few others scattered throughout the united states and the wealthy people of america said who's going to support them what an irony they don't appreciate the power of terror the importance of torah they didn't appreciate that there could be thousands as there are today thousands of people sitting and learning with full support because provides for those who are committed to him but this is a place that naturally a person asks a question how are we going to how is it going to be possible for there to be a support for this terror naturally people question its importance you know those who don't understand those who don't appreciate the value of terror and how it's the soul of the jewish people was throwing up dirt dirt and dust darkening the heavens in this battle the evil inclination has the ability to throw up dust to darken this the spiritual importance of the torah even for a moment the proper path for love islam forefathers of our of our nation who obviously represent they they're uh myself obviously they represent all that would come after them to the entire jewish nation right his name is israel with vino jacob will receive the name israel israel which represents the jewish people claudia israel we are him you're talking about the right to be correlated the altar that it makes more sense to say that it wasn't so much in regards to the yakov himself a few days later you know he was still alive he had pain in his thigh but he got better right but it makes more sense to say that the the ramifications of that battle and the wound that he inflicted the malach the angel of asa inflicted on jacob was more in regards to the coming generations she might say obviously as we said that which occurs to the forefathers is a sign of what will occur to his children regards to the very body of the torah those who are sitting and learning those who are committed to terror those who terrorist important to them so it's very difficult to push them off of that commitment because they appreciate the beneti where does he get have a foothold where does the evil inclination have a foothold it's in regards to the means that are necessary in order for the terror to continue for the person to be able to continue to study torah to be able to continue to learn and this is the thicket that surrounds the person you know i don't know if you can really see it completely but you know when you're in a wooded area when you're in a place like this so there's a thicket it's easy to get caught up and stuck and and and trip and fall there are so many questions that hound the person how am i going to survive how am i going to live i'm going to pay my bills and all the worries that that come shout even those people who are interested in striving for higher levels of spirituality are interested in in getting to a state of spiritual slamus spiritual attainment spiritual greatness true spiritual greatness evil incarnation darkens the path for them with all kinds of calculations and it confuses them with worries about tomorrow how am i going to pay my bills tomorrow how am i going to survive you know i have what i need today perhaps maybe i don't even have what i need today is says how are you going to even learn tomorrow if you don't have bread to eat if you can't provide for your family how are you going to survive so puts this idea this question a person's head it's a legitimate question how am i going to survive spiritually physically so this is the place that dates around evil inclination found for all generations to be able to weaken the person who's a banter someone who appreciates the importance of torah wants to live his life committed to learning torah he doesn't have you know a person who sits and learns so today hashem we live in omatsu that's very different than 100 years ago and he wrote this but even today there's not there's not the you know the general populist does not appreciate doesn't support the importance of learning of those who are sitting and studying their entire their entire lives they don't support us in our physical or spiritual endeavors a person who wants to be completely committed to torah a person who wants to live without any compromises in his torah learning it's not something that the general jewish population appreciates having an extreme view having an extreme way of living being committed to turret in an extreme fashion is that something that people readily accept it's very hard to have the power to have the strength within oneself to be able to stand against those who come and say that you're wrong what are you spending all of your time studying taro what are you spending all your time with the books for go out and get a job and a person who's in such a circumstance the world surrounding him telling him that he's doing something that's incorrect so slowly slowly as goddess comes down and he ends up living a life of compromise until he loses all his strength and his firmness in his mind and he decides better to live a life of compromise i find some in between which ends up being that the person ends up without the tire at all haven't forbid so what's the obvious solution to this problem the solution is having an ironclad faith in god that he's going to be provided with what for what with what he needs we can we can line up two statements that our sages said um one opinion is that he appeared to him like a non-jew like an idol worshiper one says no he appeared to him like a torah scholar you can say that there's not really a difference of opinion when it comes to the way that the eight sahara approaches the benalia somebody wants to stay someone wants to grow no one wants to be a tired person so there are two paths that he takes in order to try to convince him that what he's doing is not the way to go the first is that he comes to him as an idol worshiper with a secular approach to life you have to put in your efforts you have to you have to do something you have to make a parliament can't just sit around and do nothing click away together you have to put in your you have to do it yourself you love it the second one is that he comes to him as a tourist scholar he comes to him a very important principle that the alternative uses often in the safer the pesach kosher means is a a kosher way out a kosher excuse and many different kinds of calculations really says the eights are really the torah will also agree that you have to compromise look people people need to accept you have to you have to be amongst the people you can't be someone who does something so extreme that people will reject you but nigerian and when it comes to the path of bitakon which means fun stinting faith instincting knowledge and awareness assuredness that god will take care of me the bomb is zuyun so the the yetzera comes with all of his battle with all of his battle wear he comes with his knives and his guns and his machetes he's got all of the explanations look our sages say it's good to learn torah alongside the earning apparent so you have to earn a livelihood the mission says and if you just learn you know also you don't also work you're going to end up it's going to be nullified the the free the ledger says on the verse it says that god would will bless you in all that you're going to do it's just a free in in davarim in deuteronomy partially the verse says you got to do something you want god to bless you if you want blessings to come upon you you got to do something you can't sit around and learn that's that's the atari says that's what the people around a person often say that is when it comes to the obligation a person has an obligation to work on our meetings to work on our character traits to become a greater person a more humble person a more sensitive person a nicer person not just in a superficial way but in a real way it's an obligation so when it comes to ticonamidas when it comes to rectifying our character flaws should start with the tree of the office because often a person needs to go to the opposite extreme when it comes to these kinds of things all your days a year of shame doctor and a friend of mine is so what is the it's hard to say look if you act an extreme way let's see a person is working on the media of [Music] of uh doing kindness so everywhere he goes he's looking for opportunities for kindness so that's not something that people are so upset about but if that's all he does all day long and say he works on it for a week that's all he does all day long people say are you nuts what are you doing why don't you take care of yourself while you take care of your family a person is working on something in an extreme way which was of the author of the verdict people say you're not you have to be a normal person right now he says we'll come and say look what you're doing is not correct according to the the the torah i'm called people say to him look who who do we know is somebody who is appreciated by people that's the person who's appreciated by god a person who's not appreciated by people a person who is looked at strangely my people god is also not happy with that person they'll prove and bring all kinds of different calculations why the most important thing is that everyone should like you you should be somebody who everyone appreciates shazam you get a cutesy mime why i'll tell you why because this is an obligation you're you're a bent torah you have to people look at you and they you represent god you want to you want to sanctify god's name you can't do it if you're acting in weird ways and this is true by the way but the person sometimes has to be extremist person especially and be tough one person has to be extreme i'm called to and the acer revolve say look our sages tell us a torah scholar has a stain on his garments so he's liable for for the death penalty see that you're obligated because of hashem saying you find god's name everyone should like you should do things that people appreciate not things that people don't appreciate so that's the tamrin right that's where the malach the the malachi vase of the angel slapped him in his side so that if we want to be a true benalia we want to be somebody who's truly growing in our spirituality growing in our be talking on our faith in god growing in our in our working on our medias which requires a certain um being being a certain to a certain extent extreme so sahara has all of his reasons why we shouldn't do this he says the altar of the verdict if a person is truly looking for the honest path the true path will yahshua left all of these cannot have any effect on him all of these cannot have any effect on him all of these false proofs that i want to do is to get to a path of compromise it's it's only going to be in the way that our sages say of course there's an idea of compromise within the torah there's a compromise within the mahalaka of the altar in the verdict as well but it has to be in the way that the torah prescribes not in the way that the people around me who don't understand the importance of torah say i should do it when i do this i can't because i want to listen to my asar or the people around me it's because this is what our sages say to do is so call over for this i'm going to throw away my past i'm going to give up all of that all that i've accomplished until now the powerful commitments that i've made to toyota to in order to work on and overcome my negative character traits hashem so this is what it's going to this is how a person is going to think about things it's going to take away all of these things am i going to take away all of the spirituality that i've gained and all my commitment to god me um who even says that i am a tourist scholar if i think i am the torah scholar i need to see if i indeed have all of these advantages or all these character traits which define the it's a person who is able to respond they know everything they know all shas they know down to the the most perhaps least learned and we already find that protein says in your day brings here that there's no such thing as atomic today because we don't know we the ordinary person maybe there is qualify for but the average banter today does not qualify for this issue to the point we have to be concerned if there's a stain on my shirt and when it comes to this statement that we have to be accepted and loved by everybody so the response of entire needs to be that it's better to be considered our sages say it's a mission an atheist para k mishna it's it's better to be considered a fool in the eyes of people all of a person's life that would be considered wicked in the eyes of hashem for one moment so don't prove anything from the fact that people have to like me i can't act in an extreme way when it's called for in order to do what's right in order to work at my meetups in order to have you talking person needs to strengthen himself against all of these kinds of things if you're in a place where the people around you are wicked if everyone around you has these kumashkas wrong ways of thinking you have to go to a place where the people are studying you have to go to a place move towards israel move to roman peace and if the entire world is acting in a way which is inappropriate which is wrong which is wicked sit by yourself go live by yourself although novarti did this for a year a year and a half locked himself in a room he would pass some food through a hole in the door of course this was an extreme action and he came out he didn't continue it but there's an idea that a person sometimes needs to be alone that's what we're doing here out here in the fields and here in the forest in the in the places sometimes a person needs to sit alone and be quiet okay so we got here from the altar i know this is gone a little bit longer than i usually usually do this podcast but what we get here from the altar is a very powerful concept which is the importance of sticking to our guns working on it being a balbi talking it means doing things that sometimes people around us will say to us you're crazy working on me this being in banter being a ben aliya being somebody who wants to rise in service of god that's that's what's required what's required is a certain staunch so much approach and i want to just finish off with one more story i share with you the story of rav tapirovich last time which was one story that i heard from his son-in-law i want to share with you a second story just marking off where we stopped over here second story which i heard from him on that same occasion that he saw with his own eyes so this is i heard this firsthand the idea of tapirovich so he had started yeshiva called the banaya levin sorry i'm getting the name wrong yeshiva's i lost the name it's livium in haifa and it was his responsibility to to get the money you get the money for the yeshiva certain amount of money you have to pay each month the first of the month so they remain to the to the rabbis to lose over there and came the first of the month and the rav who was telling the story i believe his name was robert franco came into to his father-in-law's house and he saw he was sitting and learning he was very calm he said to him do you have the money that you need no i don't have the money that i need yet you worried no i'm not worried it was just a few hours until it was pay day time time to pay the money so i said to him how much money do you need went through it made a whole judgment of the amount it was a sizable sum think of a number you know in those times this is probably a story from this is when this rav who is definitely in his 70s he was a newlywed so it was 50 years ago 1970s and uh he's i'm not worried no he wasn't he was a real in the vargas he worked on dutchman we saw in the story of la last week with the with the bread and the butter and the cocoa and he uh he said i'm not worried within a short amount of time there was a knock on the door and they opened the door and the man was standing there a man was standing there and he had an envelope and and said to the rav he said i would like you to watch this money for me give them as a because that would be cotton because that's money has been given to watch it's permitted for the paul picada shinrapikan the person who's watching that money is allowed to use it as long as he returns by the appointed day which is usually 30 days full amount it's permitted to borrow that money so the man gave him the money and he placed it he the man left and rav taparovic opens up the envelope and he counts out the money obviously he needs to know how much he needs to return to him he counts it out and it's the exact amount down to the sheckle he needed that day for the paychecks and this for franco who watched this mice was telling me the story he was there he said he had such a calmness about he was so calm it's an amazing thing that we see this is a real vertical he had practiced this he had worked on this it's an amazing thing that it's possible within bittoflin to get a calmness to know that it's going to be fine you're going to have everything that you need because provided for you provides for you hashem will provide for you you'll always have everything you need and it doesn't have to be in a grabby way it doesn't have to be in a way that that's me doing it it could be i do something it could be even that i don't do anything it could be a position who will send it to me without any efforts on my part as we see in this story with rav taparov so that's the idea for today i thank you for joining me again and we'll see you again next time