Parshat Vayeishev: What is Life? - Rabbi Yaakov Asher Sinclair

[Music] the great philosopher lay on his deathbed his disciples crowded around in a reverent hush the room was packed from the foot of his bed to the door and the silence of the devout and the devoted filled the chamber then his leading disciple bent forward with great veneration and whispered in the great masters ear Master before you depart this world share with us please the secret of life with great difficulty that philosophy heaved a few shallow breaths and barely audibly he said life life is a river with great or the masters cherished utterance was passed from disciple to disciple from the bed to the back of the room life is a river life is a river life is a river at the back of the chamber this profound message reached the least of the disciples he thought for a few seconds and said life is a river what does that mean the second least initiated disciple didn't know nor did the third so the question was passed hardly back to the front of the room life is a river what does that mean life is a river what does that mean life is that mean until the question was whispered into the ears of the master himself with the final threads of his life unweaving the philosopher breathed his last words okay so it's not a river studying philosophy doesn't teach you the secret of life the secret of life is to be found in something much closer to home most of the time we slide from one wish fulfillment to another we're hungry so we pop a morsel of food into our mouths without thinking about why we're eating it we're bored so we make a joke or we play a video game much if not most of our time we allow our instincts to drive us with nary a second thought one of the great torah sages the previous generations Rabbi Yaakov Lovitz once wrote I found that I'm not in control of my actions rather I'm ruled by a foreign body namely my physical drives and therefore taking upon myself to go against my demands the demands of my instincts five times a day we may not be on the level of review often but even once a day we would think about why we eaten we would discover the secret of life small but oft repeated actions battle our lower instincts and make us more spiritual less captive to our physical desires we start to think about why we're doing things what are we here for ultimately to become more aware of God in this week's Torah portion by a chef Tama is led out to be executed after falsely being accused of adultery as she passes Yehuda the father of the unborn child she says identify a few please Rashi explains that she was not just asking him to identify to recognize the pledges that made him the child's father but also to recognize his creator and not let three innocent lives be lost hers and that of the unborn twins inside Tamar's plea was to Hooters moral core let the truth overcome the devastating embarrassment of admitting that you're the father to be real awareness of our Creator comes only through a great test can we sacrifice our own vested interests for a higher principle and being able to pass that test takes years of work but it all starts with being able to pass a test as small as turning down chocolate cookie this is the true path to God consciousness and that's no mere philosophy [Music] you [Applause]