First Class Ticket | Rabbi Joey Haber

Doesn't it feel like sometimes the world's having a blast? You hear about these different cities, they have different party times of the year. Kids on college campus, looks like they're having so much fun. And sometimes you feel like, One second, maybe I want a piece. The Gemara says in Sanhedrin, Chananya, Mishael and Azarya lived in the time of Nevuchadnetzar, and Nevuchadnetzar wanted them to bow down to idols. They refused. And he threw them into a blazing hot furnace, and they lived. Says Rabbi Tanchum ben Chanilai, When they came out of the fire alive, the nations of the world came and they tapped the Jewish people on their head, the rest of the Jewish people that had bowed down to the idols, the Goyim said to them, You have a God like this, that could save you from the fire, and you bow down to an idol? What are they saying? They mean to tell the Jewish people a message that needs to resonate to this day. I'll share with you the message from something I heard from R’ Uren Reich at the Adirei Torah event, a little while ago. There's a famous Mashal from the Chofetz Chaim. There was a man, who his uncle all of a sudden became very, very wealthy, and this man was a man who lived simple life in a village. And his uncle told him: It's time for you to come and join me. And his uncle sent him a ticket to go on the train, First Class ticket on the train. Anyhow, he goes on the train and he sees the First Class cabin and there’s beautiful seats that go all the way back, and they give you food and drinks. He's like: No, no, no, I'm not used to it. It’s not for me. He goes to the Second Class cabin. The seats don't go all the way back, only partly back, gives him some food. He says: Nah, it's not for me. Finally, he goes to the back of the train where there's just benches, and he goes to one of the benches, and he's just sitting on this hard bench. And finally the person on the train says, Okay, everyone. Tickets out. And he hides under the bench, because he doesn't have a ticket for the bench. And finally, the man, the conductor, or whatever the man's name is, walks through the train, comes up to him and says: You're under the seat. Where's your ticket? He says: I'm so scared, I'm so scared. I don't have a ticket. He says: You don’t have a ticket, then what do you have? He says: I have this. And the conductor looks at the ticket. He says: What? You have a ticket for First Class. What are you doing sitting under a bench? I'll tell you the truth. The nations of the world, society looks like they're having a blast. That's because that's the best they got. They were never offered a seat in First Class. They were never offered a life of Torah and Mitzvos. They were never offered a life to have Shabbos the way we do, to have marriages the way we do, to daven the way we do, to have the happiness we have, to have the fulfillment we have, the satisfaction we have, the meaning we have. The nations of the world came to the Jewish people and said, I understand why we bow down to the idol. We have no options. You have a God like this, that just saved Chananya, Mishael and Azarya from the blazing furnace, you have an incredible First Class ticket, and you didn't take it? What's wrong with you? I know this country, that time of year, there's different parties that they're having. You might even be curious, What are those parties like? I’ll tell you what. Those parties are for people in the back of the train. The life that we were offered is so much better. The life of turning away, the life of conviction, the life of focus and discipline and strength, that is a ticket in the First Class cabin. Don't find yourself quivering under a bench in the back.