Thought for the Week Parshas Shoftim Confidence Rabbi Yaakov Winner - 5785

First of all, how are you? I hope everyone is I hope everyone is healthy, strong and happy physically and spiritually. Today we're going to talk about something which encompasses our entire as usual we'll start with since the war started we added Msiah should come now we're going to say for our prayer this week a which we started saying from which is also going to be in a word the central of what we're going to speak about today. the central point and that is which literally translated is that my heart says in your behalf my heart says seek my countenance your countenance Hashem I seek so pa means the face hashem's face but I think as we've spoken about this For pa means also pinemia is go for what's deep go for what's inside not for what's superficial not for what's surface etc and that's also going to be related to the mitzvah that we're going to speak about today connected to so what we're going to speak about today is everyone knows I am to my beloved of it referring to Hashem and I as an individual cry out declare to Hashem. But the question is who are you? Where do you come from? Who are you? Before we speak about details about my intellect and my emotions, there might be something which is a very strong key to functionality and to success that encomp encompasses my entire personality and my entire identity and everything that's all about me. And that will make the when I say and I make this proclamation of pledging allegiance as we said once before that should be successful. So I'm always trying to listen to the messages for Hashem to think about what we should focus on. So in this week's para I saw a certain message twice and what was that? the message the idea of trees and in a very interesting way it made me thinking in the beginning of this week's par which is and it speaks about authority it speaks about kings it speaks about uh the judicial system it speaks about judges it speaks about authority many different forms of authority so the Torah starts off and then right after that later it says I'm going to read you the translation from the you have been told not to worship idols and moreover to uproot all deified trees you encounter in the land of Israel. In addition, you must not even plant for yourself such a deified tree. for even merely planting such a tree is a punishable offense whether or not you worship it. Furthermore, you must not plant any type of tree or build a house near the altar of Hashem, your Hashem that will make for yourself on the temple mountain. So here straight away it's talking about idolatry. And in particular, you think there's many many details encompassing all the idolatries of the world. But still the says collates. What's this particular focus on the idea of not following in the ways of the idolatrous by planting a tree next to the altar? So what comes out is that first of all what is the meaning over here? There's two general meanings prohibitions connected to this verse. Number one, you shouldn't make a tree with the intention to serve that tree which means the tree is the idol. Number two, you shouldn't plant a tree next to the misbeh which means that we'll soon see from the that by the ways of the the idolattors they would have an altar also and next to the altar they would want to make some spectacles some grand landscape and beautiful gardens to make it more attractive. So in our serving hashem we do we shouldn't do something which is like which is doing something which is that when they serve their idol they they they have certain practices that go together with it and that is to try to make something surrounding them beautiful shrubbery etc etc that's the also an isa okay So we're soon going to get to the meaning over here for a second. But first I want to say what I said that it was a double message at the end of the para it speaks about if you're going to conquer a foreign land from a different country and the p says that you should not cut down a fruit tree because man is compared to a tree. We won't spoke about this. So here we see a contrast that in the beginning of the param of everything and all the different practices and rituals that the Gentiles did when it came to serving idols we picked out this idea of not planting a tree and over here in the end it says don't destroy a tree a fruitbearing tree and in general we have to understand the justification over here default in the beginning and then it says you shouldn't make them like what's the connection if it would say right after we're talking about fine but when it comes to this over here with these and we're talking about judges why over here now did the decide to put in these talking when afterwards it goes continues with with kings and different ideas of authority etc. Anyways, to understand all this maybe we could say and the source of what I'm going to say now really was from a letter from the Reb which I'm going to translate in English. Just read some of the translation. But what triggered this was that I saw two stories of the Reba this week about confidence. Let's start with the concept of confidence. You could say what does a tree represent? The tree represents standing tall and straight. The reference of a tree is especially if you think about the redwood trees of California things that are grand glorious and that's part of the reasons why the would plant them next to where they were doing their idolatry was because it makes a huge impression. It's beautiful. It's grand. It's epic. So the idea of a tree could represent man's ego. We'll call it ego in the negative sense. We'll soon get to the positive as we said before. Confidence. What's a tree? A tree grows tall and strong. But how? When it's connected to its roots properly. That's the positive point. So let's first talk about the end of the par with the two and primarily this point where the Reb talks about the idea of a tree represents these four categories of creation there's inanimate vegetation the animal kingdom and humans one of the aspects unique traits of the plant kingdom is that they're attached to their source and they have to be com always attached to the source. Only when they're attached to the source, connected to the source, do they continue growing, do they continue being vegetation and as we mentioned once before this saying which I love very much, the deeper the roots, the stronger the tree. So what does the idea represent? If you want to know who you are, it's a know where you come from and then you'll be a strong tree. So the the the the the conviction of your personality of your identity is in direct relation and proportion to your connecting to your source. And just to read you in the words of English what the Reb wrote to a certain person who was very felt very shaky about life and the future. The Reb wrote true security is through connecting with your source which is above and beyond you. A person should be aware of his family's history and traditions including his ancestors which means even of etc. which his ancestors are present hidden in their souls hidden in our souls. Then you realize you are not alone and that the control you have in life over your destiny is limited and primarily the matter is in is dependent on Hashem. So you're connected to your source. The power of your source is infinity. Connect more to that infinity and through that power you'll be able to overcome whatever comes your way. When you connect with your roots, it brings you tranquility and enables you to persevere through all challenges and carry out whatever your mission in life is. So here we see clearly how the Reb says that the person's confidence in direct proportion to the measure of his being connected to his roots to his source that gives him greater confidence. And over here we're going to say your roots of the Jewish nation, Jewish history and etc. Now there's a vert that I once saw from Rabbi Tski the famous Rabbi Turski which and that really is what I'm going to say right now about in said the following the a person should look at his at his eye at his ego and realize could be a blessing. It could be the greatest gift that God gave man. Independence, individuality, or cla could be the worst thing. It could bring him down when you're full of vanity, when you're full of arrogance. The question is, will your ego, let's put it that way, we're calling it ego even though ego usually means only negative, but right now we're using it as neutral. Will your ego be something which is constructive or destructive? What is the meaning of that? And this is the point. The point is you know when you speak about a person we spoke we started saying today about who is the so you have to realize in this we talk about that's your personality your IQ and your emotions and then we say there's your actions thoughts means what thought is occupying your brain space right now speech what you're speaking and then my say your actions so says says that obviously that your actions don't necessarily reflect who the person is. Then we go deeper even though your personality your IQ and your and your emotions and your character traits do reflect who the person is much more but then there are certain things that affect everything. Like for example we say and as we mentioned many times we say through joy everything could be accomplished but through depression nothing could be accomplished. So that's why this emphasized and stresses so much the importance of joy because joy is not a particular emotion. You know what joy is? Joy is like the power on power off switch. It doesn't affect details. It doesn't affect specifics. It's whether the entire machine is functioning. Now the same thing is true over here when we talk about confidence. If the person has self-confidence, self-esteem, then I the same thing. But for today's lesson, we're going to put them together. If a person has confidence and he has self-esteem, positive self-esteem, then he can accomplish everything. But if he doesn't have it or if what he has is called ego, if he has arrogance, then even if he may accomplish something, it's not going to be positive at all. Sooner or later, it's going to come crashing down. And this is the difference between the beginning of the para and the end of the para. the the the balatur brings down the gart and then we might connect to time is running out. The Balotin brings down a gimra. He says the gimatria. You look up the Baluru, but I'm just going to quote you straight from the gum. The says, "Whoever whoever appoints a judge over a community, but the judge is not a proper judge. He's unfit judge. Israel. It's as if he planted Israel. So says this statement and then added to that. But in a community with other more appropriate judges, it's then like he planted this next to the So what is the connection? Now I'll answer the question we started off today's lesson. Maybe you could say what why does the right away put this next to because the position the institution judicial system represents a tree. It's grand. It's tall. It's powerful. So the question is do we corrupt it or not? When you put in put in place a judge itself is a problem. It's like you took the most powerful tool like we say religion is a powerful tool justice is the most powerful tool. Could you imagine when the justice department or justice itself is corrupted? That means you took a glorious tree which could use it which could be used as a tool to say or like independence and individuality which is the most powerful tool given to mankind. It could be channeled in the right direction. It could be channeled the wrong direction. So that's why that's the connection between right away after he brings you shouldn't be why. So that's what the PK says and the bal remembers brings down this to explain the connection between and you want to know what the connection is already brought out the connection but the bal doesn't explain the why he just brings the quote from the that says that and maybe we could Because it shows on the corruption, the greater the power, the greater the force, the greater the institution, the more terrible and disastrous is when that itself is corrupted or going in the wrong direction like a tree. And then says that when you do that's the second is involved in making the not only the idea of itself but you now want to put it next to the which is another as we mentioned in the beginning because then it's a distraction and over here I want to read you what says because this is going to be connecting also how we spoke in the beginning of this year about listen to the words of the of the of the of the he said you shouldn't plant trees in the mikdash and the reason for this prohibition wrote the people that served adultery they used to do this they at We'll call it churches. I don't know. They would plant beautiful trees. In order to distance ourselves to anything that even compares or resembles the thoughts of of of people, people should know that the ones that are going to serve the So therefore, we're not allowed to plant any trees next to the to the place of the mikdash because that would give the person the wrong impression that by us our relation to Hashem is connected to spectacle is connected to theatrics is connected to a beautiful garden. That's not what it's about. It's about pisu. It's about sacrifice. It's about us getting close and intimate with Hashem. It's not about seeking audience approval by trying to draw them in through external things that seem attractive. Now based on this what the says so comes tell us another thing about the what happens when it's when it's when the scholars is because that means there's other scholars in the city in the town and you didn't go for the scholars that had the real traits and requirements to be a RV. They know a lot of Tyra. They have good midas. They have obvious. What did you fall for? You fell for the facade. You fell for the fancy tie. You fell for the chup. You fell for the rabbi that speaks in eloquent English. Every single box that you thought was important for the rabbi was like the ara. It looked glorious on the outside, but what's really important is Is that how you choose as the judge? Is that how you chose as the judge? No. Even though it was a community and the reason is why obviously the reason why he chose that person because externally for the for the poster for the advertisements to look good etc etc. Okay. So I want to finish with two stories that I mentioned before that these two stories were what made me start thinking about this is there was a story with a a couple one story with a couple they went to the Reb and they told the Reb that they're moving from a Hebrew day school they're putting the child from from who previous in a Hebrew day school into a regular yeshiva obvious Obviously, the difficulty in the Hebrew studies of a Hebrew day school is very minimal, but once you go to yeshiva, it's much more hard, you know, real learning Tory. So, the kid was was in third grade and the mother is talking to the Reb and the mother's telling the Reb that she's very worried. She doesn't know if the kid is really up to it yet and she would like to have his blessing that she should succeed because this is a very very big leap for him. Um he's not really on their level of that grade but she wants it because it's a better environment to be a to be an observant uh living Jew etc. and he's going to be going there without friends. So the Reb tells her, number one, try to get a tutor to bring him up to par to the level of that class. Speak to him very, you know, positive. Tell him he's older and therefore he's wiser and therefore we have to go to the next level. We're taking this next level in in in learning Tyra. And then the Reb says finishes off to develop and foster his self-confidence to be able to accomplish all the above. So in other words, you know, there's a famous expression is the key to all the character traits. To paraphrase that saying, we could say confidence is that in a certain sense, confidence is the key to your entire identity to be able to maximize your potential. And that's why and it's especially appropriate now in the beginning of the new year. We have to realize connect to the source, connect to and you'll be able to carry through everything because you'll have the confidence to be able to do it. The other story um I saw this week it could bring me to tears when you think about it and you have to think about put yourself into the shoes of the person. There's a son who says a story that happened with his father in 1956 in Montreal. His father had a uh business in a three-story building. He was a tailor. He sold clothes. He had two tenants that were living in this building. In 1956, he was notified by the the insurance company that they're not taking anymore. They're cancelling the insurance on the whole building. It was an 80 year old building and he didn't know what to do. The son went with the father to as we'll see. He's telling the story. My father didn't know what to do. No one else was going to take the insurance and he didn't have the money to tear down the whole building to build a new building. The problem was the building wasn't insur insurable because of many many factors and he didn't have the money to build a new building and he didn't know what he could do. Anyways, he couldn't handle it. This is the son saying my father couldn't handle it. He didn't know how to deal with it and someone advised him to go see the Reb. He traveled to the Reb from Montreal to New York with his son and he walked into with the Reb and he stood right at the desk of the Reb with his hands flat on the desk with his back bent over. And that's how he'd been for a couple of months, bent over and depressed and despondent. As he had his hand on the desk and his back bent over, the Reb said, "Rebn," that was the name of the father. "Rebn stand up straight." Father listened immediately. He took his he took his hands off the table, off the desk, and he stood up straight. The told him you have to be like a soldier who's going out to battle. He goes, he goes with a joy and that he's going to win and that's why he wins and that's the only way you win. You have to go back to Montreal. But with the that is on your side and you're going to win, you need to go into the bank and go into the bank manager and to the mortgage company and to the insurance and speak to them in such a way full of confidence with the etc. As we mentioned before, the son says, "My father heard these words. He was a changed man. He went back to Montreal. He spoke to the bank, the bank manager, etc., etc. And in the end, he was able to raise the money and get the loans and the mortgages to be able to, I don't know exactly what rebuild the building and his business flourished, etc. So here we see again how important it is to have the confidence and how we get the confidence like in the story with this father because the is on your side you have to have that and it's etc. So this is the message and why it's so important in the month of How are you going to be able to get from there to with everything with all your possessions with all your talents with all your character traits with all your faculties with your entire personality? You're could be a if it's going to be the confidence in a positive way but based on the fact that this is you matter because Hashem decides you matter then it's not a problem then it's positive self-esteem but then you filled you're full you're filled with duty and responsibility but if it's vanity When you say and you think about you think you're special because you decided you're special then you're full of entitlement and expectations etc. Anyways should help we have the right attitude. We have to know mish mish be connected to your roots be full of confidence and self-esteem and that when you set yourself in such a way you'll be and through our we did our same and because we have same therefore For this is the irony of Yiddish because we proclaim me. So then we get the confidence because we have the power of the king together behind us and through our this will cause the to bring the guru means taking posting from my home. You're a man in Melbourne.