Rabbi Reuven Lauffer - Basic Judaism: Prayer - Part 18

we we're for some strange reason we're still on page 118 but here we go so we spoke about yesterday we spoke about the idea of of uh of language of using using your mouth properly speaking properly it was interesting with the chu position with the beginning of the Amid and the end of the amid the beginning of the am begins with the same the same kind of a plea right of let me use my mouth properly so that I can speak your praises and at the end guard my tongue from evil so I heard once an interesting idea they say this by the by the that why are we asking God here at the end of the to guard my tongue from evil so I had this interesting idea that very often people make the mistake of of breaking their day up into the like the religious part of the day and then the secular part of the day so a person goes to sha and they pray in the morning that's a religious part of the day and then they go out and they go to work and they do whatever that's a secular part of the day and uh in many people's minds you know the religious and the secular never the twain shall meet which means that when you go to Shaw you can be from and you can do what you need to do but when you go to work that's something else all together and uh I guess you know in the marketplace the idea of selling your products by not you know maybe by not being completely truthful about what it is that you're selling um it's something which is pretty much accepted all over the place you know today it's interesting when I was growing up when people advertising when people try to sell the products they normally try to focus on what was good about their product and what I've noticed is now in this you know nowadays very often what people do is they focus on what's bad in their competitor's products in order to you know convince you to buy their product instead and uh you know that's like NE negative advertising and I think it's an interesting idea that at the end of the amida which sort of symbolizes the end of daving it's true there's a little bit more that we say you know to finish up shakas we we say a little bit more over it but nevertheless it's the idea of coming to the end of D you're coming towards the end of it and you just need to remember that when you walk out of Sha you know I got to hold on to these ideas I got to keep that religious Dimension inside of my life as well mha the the source for uh the source for the P the person saying aain gets more reward than the person who says is just in case anybody was you know don't look at me like that somebody asked yesterday so I I always thought it was better to say amen yeah that's what it says the says God God the person who answers am men has more reward than the person who says the BR and it's it's actually it's also thear at the end of nazer as well but the first the first source isus and uh I know that you probably didn't have any sleep last night because you were you know tossing and turning and wondering where it came from so it's Hashem today you'll be able to make up your lack of sleep um right and those those who curse me let my soul be silent now this is a very strange kind of a prayer no I don't know I'm just I mean it's it's odd right it's odd you would have thought that if somebody's cursing you that maybe you should react I don't you don't have to react in like you don't have to curse them back but so you're saying whoever curses me curses my soul to to be quiet no other way around right it's those who curse me let my soul be silent which means which means don't I don't let me react oh um if I can say something nees is related to the blood so like you know how your blood and oh interesting okay yeah the soul soul split up into five different compartments or five different departments and one of them is a nees and the nefes is a part that that travels around inside of your blood so maybe you know what maybe that I never thought about that that uh maybe that's the idea that your blood represents your emotions right when a person is Hot Blooded so they you know their blood boils right um and maybe the idea maybe that's the idea why it uses the word Nafi as opposed to any other dimension again there are five Dimensions to the soul right nees and uh why this that's an interesting idea because I get I guess you're right because it it relates to the emotional side of who we are um but the cast over here is why why should I be why why would that be something to Aspire towards why why am I aspiring towards not reacting to somebody who curses me it's allowing yourself to remain cool headed in a sense like that I don't react and then like in the negative like because as we say like cost is like idol worship it's vengeful so don't allow me to get towards being like Angry don't good yeah don't be right it's it's I think it's both of these things together it really is it's true that when you first think about it the idea of reacting to somebody who does something bad to you seems to make perfect sense right somebody curses you out so good now now you you have to react somehow but the question over here is what first of all where where is that reaction where's it where's it going to get you all right so the first thing you need to know in general we all of us know this that that the idea of reacting to somebody so that's just going to spark off another reaction which will spark off another reaction from you and and then something will blow into the most enormous you know the most enormous fight the most enormous argument between you even though it really shouldn't have been if you would have just held on to yourself it wouldn't have turned into that right you know it takes two people to argue I always tell people you know somebody comes along and they tell you that you know they tell you something so if you tell them you're right it kind of takes a wind out of their sales right so you know somebody comes and he wants to tell you off because you've done something you shouldn't have done so the EM say if it if it's true the simplest way of dealing with the problem is just to say you're right just like David yeah 100% Who who cursing him shimy bener right he comes and he he he curses him out and he says no no it's it's fine it's coming to me right I I deserve whatever it is that's being said I deserve it the interesting the talks about that is a book that was written where it explains the Mitzvah it's actually a very interesting it's a very interesting the word comes from education so it's a very interesting thing there was somebody called R Aon who came from a place called Barcelona right but now for those of you you know Barcelona was not in Los Angeles so you've probably never heard of it but uh it's a a apparently this has yet to be this has yet to be verified but apparently when you step outside of America there are some other continents as well um that comprise the you know the the Lesser part of the world apparent I don't know this this is what I've heard for sure it's just it's just you know like one of these sort of myths that get Haven seen I haven't seen in the news it doesn't matter um but so iron B had a son this is this is the way that the story is told he had a son he he he's an a very early Authority we're going back hundreds of years raona it's actually really cool to learn it along with the oh so how does it how does he break it up he breaks it up according to the pasas right and you can see each Pasha has got not each Pas there are a few Pas don't have any mitvah but as a rule each para's got Mitzvah inside of it and he teaches the Mitzvah that appear inside of that paraa and he explains where the Mitzvah comes from what the function of the Mitzvah is where what was the reason that he wrote the book because he had a son who wasn't doing very well religiously and he wanted to teach him without it being too preachy I guess right so he taught in the M you know the reasons behind the Mitzvah now we've spoken about this in the past but it's worth repeating it because it's kind of neat the reasons for the Mitzvah are called in Hebrew tast the taste of the MIT a is a taste and what's fascinating about the description of mitz is that the taste of something is not that's not the the essence of that thing right the essence of the thing is whatever you know think of food for a minute right so the food that you're eating that's the essence of what you're eating The Taste is a byproduct which makes something nicer right we're drawn towards something because we know the taste is good but for example an orange an orange is a pretty neat thing right it's full of where I come from it's full of vitamins and minerals where you people come from I imagine it's full of actually probably full of heroin and and you know and crack and all other kinds of things because you come from Los Angeles which aren't filled with GMOs I refuse I refuse to incriminate myself but the uh what you call vitamins and I call vitamins and minerals and all kinds of things but the reason to eat the Orange is because it's good for you it's healthy it's full of vitamin C and all kinds of things right um but in his great in his great Mercy what did he do he gave the orange the most incredible taste as well so that not only do we know that we've got to eat oranges but we want to eat oranges too and that's most you know incredible D mention cheesecake huh you explain cheesecake exactly tastes good but it all it's not good for well I mean then it's a f and sugars so there's a question of why that's the first for example the mother's breast m is like a fats and sugars it's like very sweet and it has like a lot of cream and also filled with vitamins and minerals that's you know behind those so the fast and sugars have like an inherent almost like a what a primal trigger that reacts to our tongues and our mind what did you do there for they're from Los Angeles these guys they're Californians now now look what you've done in a moment in a moment he's going to Spring over the table and he's going to start throttling you what because you you mentioned the possibility of eating cheesecake which is an unhealthy thing to do I'm just saying why I'm just trying to answer his question we we're drawn for sure we're drawn towards here fast food right fast food madees we did we made cheesec no trans fats in California okay there's no there's no cheesecake tree anywhere chees cheesecake Bush we love trans fats in California oh yeah yeah no transer what's up how how did Fast Food how did it work it's very simple right never never mind you that's terribly unhealthy right but you get the most unbelievable explosion of taste immediately as you eat it right whereas other Foods espe you speak to you know speak to connoisseurs I'll tell you that Foods need to be savored and they you need to you need to identify the taste the only thing you identify when you're eating fast food is the oil and and the salt and that uh that's a pretty explosive combination it gets you going but uh the the idea the idea is what made oranges are good for us healthy for us but he wants us to enjoy them as well right so the that's how we got on to this right the say everything comes around of fast food somehow but was written to give the which means it's not coming to it's coming to enhance the Mitzvah he's not coming to say that you know that we do the Mitzvah because this is a reason we got to do the Mitzvah anyway right we need those vitamins anyway we don't eat them through oranges so the doctor will tell you that we'll have to we'll have to take vitamin supplements instead right so basically like the spice of yeah yeah very much so it's coming coming to give it a a taste and a spice that you're going to enjoy and if you enjoy the reason then hopefully you enjoy doing it as well right huh it's called in in English it's it's simply called and it's you can get it that there are English translations around huh very creative I yeah well I mean the is like this means that the book of education but it's not that doesn't UC yeah talking about the rambam the ramban I mean a I mean you knowel had quite a lot of yeah yeah it was it was a hub at the time it was a hub of Jewish learning it was a it was a a tremend tremendous source of Jewish scholarship over there yes the whole of Spain you had you had Benjamin of Toledo who made the a long trip through the whole of palestin one one of the one one of the one of the most important historians Jewish historians for sure he went around places that no one had ever been to and documented everything it's fascinating that whole era was fascinating somebody called Benjamin too um but there's a again I mean you know the Golden Ages Spanish jury was was a a fascinating age um historically the minute the Jews were expelled from France not the minute but as a you know the after after the Jews were expelled from France from Spain Spain lost it it was at one point in that era it was a very very important very powerful uh Empire and after the Jews were sent out they lost their power bit by bit until it was finally you know destroyed by the English in the Amada and uh it was gone there's a a fascinating little story I don't know if it's true or not that the mo most of the Jews when they were expelled from Spain moved into the Ottoman Empire and the good to Turkey right so turkey at the time of course was the was the center of the Ottoman Empire and uh and uh the the um the sultan sulaman this all this is this is the way they tell the story he sent a letter to Queen Isabella of Spain thanking her for having sent the most important commodity in Spain down to him because the financial Empire of the Spanish Empire was was underwritten by the Jews so they she said that the commodity was the Jews he said he said yeah yeah he said that was like the the mo the most precious commodity in Spain was the Jews they'd been expelled they came down to him so he just he was very obviously very well brought up so he sent a letter thanking Queen Isabella of Spain for having sent the Jews down to him and after that interestingly enough the Ottoman Empire began to flourish and it became at that point in history in contradistinction to today uh the uh you know that the Empire that Ottoman Empire became something of great great scholarship um full of philosophy and mathematicians and Science and all kinds of things um and all of that of course again it's it's all it's all centered around the uh you know Jewish the you know the the Jewish brains that were being poured into the area um afterwards when they moved up into the into you know European countries so the same thing happened all over again I mean it's it's a it's it's an interesting interesting idea uh how did we get on to this I don't remember but that that was that was the era that he lived in at the time it was an era of great great scholarship and he wrote this fantastic book it's absolutely beautiful and it's a book that it's well worth having a look at well worth studying um he has the most beautiful insights but he says says I'm just now remembering how we got there right says like this that there really is no point taking Revenge if you believe that everything comes from God which means that and he uses he uses that as the example that you gave he uses the example of shimy Bena who curses out King David how is King David is running away he's in the mid midst of a rebellion and he's not doing very well right now and he he's running away and shimy benera the way the way that the story unfolds in the prophet in the in the book of Samuel is he's up on the top of a hill and he's cursing you know the top of his voice he cursing out um King David and calling him all kinds of you know very very not very not nice names and uh and one of King David's generals says here let me I'll I'll go take care of him right and King David says no leave leave him be right he's only doing whatever God sent him to do that's what he's doing and from there the teach is there's a Mitzvah right one of the negative Commandments not to take revenge a comma you're not allowed to take revenge and that's how he explains he explains that the function of Revenge is what you imagining that you are in control of your destiny and therefore if somebody does something to you you should do something back to them because that's as if it's as if your right to be able to do that and he explains and if you believe that everything comes from God so if this person's done this thing to you so what it what exactly are you taking revenge over but as we all know because it's an emotional response emotional responses are things which normally are very arrogant arrogant but they're also very immediate spontaneous that was the word I was looking for thank you why didn't you said a moment before why did you wait and let me struggle like that kind of tired sorry but didn't they create the sanctuary cities to deal with this uh uh problem of uh blood oh absolutely right the the Cities of Refuge right which were established in the land of Israel were there so there somebody killed somebody manslaughter right inadvertently they could go to that place and the gamarra that the sages themselves say no one's being killed without divine intervention right which means that that God is you know this person over here is deserving of some kind of a death punishment but not through the courts it's a it's a Divine go when goes oh so that's that's a different concept it's interesting right over there for sure the gam you've got the Avenger of the blood right and over there that really is something which is absolutely astonishing because the Torah teaches that you're not allowed to have revenge and yet the Torah tells you that when you've got somebody who killed somebody else inadvertently and he runs off to the City of Refuge the Basin nominates somebody called it's called a go Adam which mean he's going to avenge the blood of the person who was killed and if the person who committed manslaughter leaves the City of Refuge for whatever the reason then this person has the rights to be able to try to kill him yeah the worst game of time what's fascinating about the gadam is that the gamorra says that if there was no family member then the Basin will will a point I don't What's happen this 40 the Bas would appoint somebody who's got no family connection whatsoever to be the gadam right to be the Avenger of this person mercenaries huh like a mercenary what like you know what like a bounty hunter maybe yeah kind B yeah yeah right just without without having to bring them back it's not dead or alive just dead or dead right um the choice the choice is his dead or dead um which is fascinating right which means what what we learn from over there that the again the commentaries explain that it it's clear from the various Halas that revolve around the gadam that this Avenger it's not that's not n that's not Revenge Avenger and Revenger are two different things and it's got some kind of a Divine Dimension to it which is different from the simple concept of Revenge the simple concept of Revenge is you did something to me which I don't like so I'm going to pay you back I'm going to I'm going to give it back to you right and it's the idea over here now what's the problem the problem is like this we know that emotional responses are things which are very difficult to control and that's why we say to God that you you've got to help me do this because the idea of not taking revenge is something which is very difficult for people to overcome right we all know that um and that my soul should be like the dust to everybody so I want an inter interesting idea get psychological insight very often people can be split up into two different kinds of people there are users and there are abusers right people who are used and people who are abused again I'm talking in general terms don't don't don't make faces like that but with within with inside of many many relationships you've got people who will utilize the relationship to get people to do things for them I'm not talking necessarily in an a obviously negative way over here right again maybe that was a problem we talk about abuse in general you know abuse is something which is bad and it's something which is got to huh even being used even being even being used right but inside of relationships most relationships are based on give and take right and most relationships are based normally on when you've got a you know if you think of a husband and a wife relationship so very often you've got a relationship of one one side is more dominant than the other personality wise and they normally balance each other it's normally good that's that's fine right and it's not always the husband that's the dominant no no it's not no don't don't be so chauvinistic right it's it's it's not not always the woman but you know when somebody's more dominant that creates balance when you've got a when you've got somebody who's less and somebody who's more so it creates a balance between them right when you've got oh right but when you've got two people who are both dominant so that is a recipe for a difficult relationship doesn't doesn't mean that it doesn't have to work right but it's just it's more difficult that's all because you know they're going to that are both passive so if you've got two passive people again the relationship is tends to be passive as well there's like L communication it'll be it'll be it it could be a fine relationship but it will be a not a very proactive relationship which is fine again you know each to their own I'm I'm not you know you know it's not a manom thing it really isn't it's it's a personality thing very often I I think this is a general General psychological thing that that people are attracted when they say people are attracted to the Opposites right I think it I I think very often that's very true right and we we are attracted to opposites because subconsciously we're looking for something which is going to complement us right and we're going to be able to complement them and that that's where you get a that you can get a very beautiful balance over there that's for sure together huh but also there's like I I know I was just thinking birds of a feather FL birds of a feather flocking together is to do more with a communal thing right just right so right in terms of like who your chosen family yeah for sure which means like this a birds of a feather means that you join a community which is likeminded you know it doesn't mean that every personality inside of it is the same it just means you've got goals and ideals that yeah yeah 100% 100% whereas in inside of your personal relationship then you need a balance between you need you need something which is going to help you compliment and act as a fo exactly sure I'm sorry we from Los Angeles beere same huh has the same so you need the top and the bottom and the above between a better way of looking at it that's beautiful I have a question the question only is who's going to be the top dud and who's going to be the bottom D that's that's the question my soul be like dust what what is dust e I've often wondered okay what is what is dust res I don't know but what what is D come on come on thect of whatever deceased whatever desate degate dust is also can just be dust on dust dust is you people are you know you people are far too deep really just just like you know shallow yourselves up a little bit into my level what is d d is like the tiny little particles that get every were taken by the wind good right dust dust is completely help me out manipulated no no no nothing it's it's nothing but it what's so give me give me a proper word for that it's it's it's completely completely it's under foood it's completely unimportant irrelevant you can you can swish it and it's in the wind right which me this what's what's the chat it's saying we're saying that should should make where where does Gaa Gaa Pride where does it come from where is what Pride GA right idea that you imagine that you're something special and you imagine that people need to relate to you in the way that you you know that you that you imagine is the correct way right dust is the opposite of that right the concept of dust inside of Torah inside of inside of f inside of prayer is that dust is something which has got no it's nothing and when I say that my my neish is it's nothing right I have to relate to myself as being nothing there's a very beautiful idea over here just before you get going you know psychologically but if you're nothing then you know how can you ever achieve anything but if you look at yourself as being nothing then you can build yourself into something is being humble humble right which means that the what is humbleness let's work this one out make me humble what what is humbleness humbleness is not a mistaken idea you know you go to the best brain surgeon in the world right and he says to you oh why have you come to me like little old me like what do I know you know well I don't know they said you were the breast bin so oh yeah that's right you know what oh I don't know anything what do you mean that's not yeah yeah you're not going to touch my brain that's right but that uh I mean if you come from Los Angeles maybe he won't anyway but it's not whatever but but it's a uh humble means that you know exactly how great you are but you recognize that your greatness has been given to you by by Kish that's all Moses is the greatest man who ever lived in history and yet the Torah Des describes it as being the most humble of men I would I would say like this the only person who truly understood how great mosha rabenu was was mosha himself I don't think any other human being had the ability to be able to Plum the depths of just how great he really was he spoke to God right he brought the Torah into the world he led the Jewish people I mean we're talking about things that are unfathomable right and mosu knows exactly how great he is and yet the Torah describes him as being a humble person because the greater you are and we should all Aspire for greatness right but the greater you are the greater you have to understand that is the one that's allowing you to do this so you hear right allows you to do something so what am I being proud about see that's why says it personal prayer right exactly right 100% what do you mean I need Clum how can you say I'm nothing I'm nothing where where you know in in in modern psychological pance you know if you walk around saying that you're nothing they'll put you away you know you'll get put into a lunatic asylum or something because you need help right but the EMS is not like that the EMS is what the EMS is that you really compared to God you're nothing and if you remember that then you can become something but if you don't remember that you won't the first words in the in the Cod of Jewish law areem that I put God in front of me always that's the first word the first word words I don't know the is a code of Jewish law where's the law over here this is not a it's like it's like a heading right it's like one of these one of these cutesy things you see them up in in shes they're written up in the you on the front on top of the AR codish in many shs right it's a cutie little thing right no the is what that you will only keep the mitv if you put a in front of you first otherwise why would you do it always got to be first hashem's in front of me he's more important than I am and if hashem's more important than I am then I can start building myself up I can become who I need to become so there a very beautiful little idea but one of theic rebes from which is one of those places in Poland that sounds like you just sneezed I come from bless you uh he says like this he says that a person should walk around with two different notes written on two different pieces of paper one in each pocket on one side it should say the world was created just for me it's a saying in the gar gar in Sanhedrin right that's pretty egocentric right the world was created just for me on the other piece of paper it should say a verse that Abraham told God I am dust and Ashes says he says like this that a person's task in this world is to know when to take out which piece of paper but there are times when you've got to look at yourself as being Bish the whole world was created for me and there are times when a person's got to look at himself and he's got to say I'm nothing but dust and Ashes and you got to learn how to do it you got to learn when to apply which one to which one and all of a sudden then you can become or you need to become which me is interesting when it says that your soul here in the filler it says your soul should be like dust this is not a negative thing at all this is coming in front of a Kish and saying listen God I'm nothing I'm really nothing I really I really believe I'm nothing hold on one second the foremost h of the Von used to say like this you're like you're like a zero right don't take this wrong way you're like a zero God is like a God is God is one when you take a zero and you put it after the one what have you got 10 you've turned yourself into a 10 a 10 is like a a y a ten is CLO being being like God down here in this physical world but when you imagine you're more important than God and you put yourself in front of god what have you just done you just negated yourself because a Z1 spells out a one remains come what me right but when you put yourself in front of Hashem you just became you know a zero remains a zero it's when the zero comes after that it takes on a some kind of some kind of an importance right and that's what the recognizing that your AAR recognizing that your dust is the beginning of the way of being able to build yourself up and becoming who you need to become so somebody over here mentioned right God the uh the uh sages say the tong says that when God created the world and he created Adam what how did he create Adam before before right before he breathed in him he he created a manlike figure by bringing dust from all different parts of the world and creating the figure afterwards he blew life into it so it's interesting though that the afar that dust is something which was the beginning of of the creation of human mankind and that's what we're saying that's us right and if if I can recognize that then I can become or I need to become yeah I'm sorry you wanted to say something I would just want just I was just thinking that it says that means like to have a antagonistic response to them like to have a some type of a like a uh some type of a constructive response to them like I don't know like could be that that's a like a mix yeah you know what good yeah don't get involved in in confrontations right when some somebody says to you something so you you know what's the simplest way to just deflect I'm sorry you feel the way that you do they just said something nasty about you you know I don't know they just said you came from California or something you it's like that's about as low as it gets right you sorry I'm sorry you know I'm sorry you feel the way that you do finished what are you saying you're not agreeing with them right it's clear that you're not agree did where makes people more Angry that's the whole point you know what when you've got somebody when you've got somebody who's intent on on I karate chopped to the throat maybe you know J a lot of people want to get you know they always you know they're always sharing so there's a friend of mine that I learned something from him that you know he says one of his friends was got very angry and he he says no says watch the next guy he comes over says to him and he keeps on says I'm not getting angry I'm just telling you for me you can says but they got they they like you know one work can do the whole if you apologize I'm sorry you feel that way you know somebody curses you I'm like right well that's how you feel finished okay you know you're right I mean you got somebody who's absolutely intent on having a fight with you then uh I'm sorry feel that way what' you say give me your money Sor feel that way no that that's some that's something yeah you just tell them that you're in education you don't have any that's all right that's the simplest thing and then it says like this open up my heart to your to to your Torah so again the language over here it's very poetic and the language is very very revealing it really is so wait before you move on for so so what do you mean before we move on no no I'm saying so we we just moved on meaning to everybody to everybody not just to to all human beings yeah which means like this I for that the the the more afar you make yourself the bigger you're going to be in the eyes of it's not saying that you're making yourself e in the eyes of hasem right it's making yourself to everyone else I saw once that uh it says like this that the P says that a person is Anam Katan what is anaman a small world each person is a microcosm of the world so by the they say like this that if you look at yourself as being an shal you look at yourself as being a whole world then you're really very small but if you look at yourself as being small then you can be an then you can be a whole world right where are you where are you putting your emphasis right so if you look at yourself as you don't put too much emphasis upon yourself then you can really turn into something special I read I read a a very a very beautiful little story not very long ago the IM EMS of the great hdic rbes from Gore um he was once after a very very long day he was on his way back to his apartment he was walking up the stairs to get back to his apartment and one of one of theim came over to him and asked for a br for his daughter and the rabi says I really don't have a moment to spare right now and theid said to rebi he says I've been worrying and praying for my daughter's health for the last 20 years and you don't even have a minute the rebbi stopped and he gave him as much time as he needed and he gave him bras and the Reb said afterwards he he learned a great lesson over there you make yourself that that you know I don't know maybe maybe the chall is that the smaller you make yourself over here in this world the the bigger you're going to be in the eyes of it's going to be okay here one of my alltime favorite stories we heard a story very similar just in German last week and we heard that there was a like that got they got a position that was a little higher oh and then he um he just he didn't want he said his job was to take out the trash in his home and once he started to get that high position he felt like he didn't have to take out the trash anymore so he told his wife you know I don't have to and then she I guess she had some kind of thing with it and he went to his Reby to tell him about it and he said oh okay you're right you don't have to take out the trash so when the time came around to take out the trash on the door the Reby comes he says I'll take the trash for you remember that one we very very good yeah I thought you're going to tell over there's a different story they tell about a rabbi in Germany who was he he was elevated to the position of Chief Rabbi of Frankfurt which was a very very prestigious position and uh when they brought him they brought him to uh you know he stayed by one of the wealthy members of the community and they were going to bring him in a horsedrawn carriage to the shol and in the shol they were going to have a great big ceremony where they were going to you know coronate him as the king sorry coronate him as as the rabbi that was a Freudian slip a rabbi of the uh of the Hall of Frankfurt and uh the rabbi asked for a few moments and he went into a room and he closed the door and the host was intrigued like what's going on so he sticks his ear against the door and he's looking through the keyhole and he he hears the rabbi saying oh you're the most incredible you are the smartest guy around your your Torah are the sharpest and the smartest that I've ever heard and you cut such an incredible figure and I can't think of anybody who's more worthy to be the rabbi of Frankfurt than you and it's such a it's our pride and honor to have you and you know praise the the wealthy the wealthy man he barges into the room and he says to the rabbi he says what are you doing so he says no he says you don't understand he says when I get taken in that Carriage to the shaw he says that's what I'm going to be hearing that's what everyone is going to be saying says you know a person could begin to believe this stuff they really could he says but when you're in an empty room and you say it about yourself you sound like an idiot he says I just wanted to keep things in perspective that's all it's an inion right but but there's times where you need to say it to yourself oh there are times when you need to say to yourself I'll tell you something else even more interesting maybe there are times when you need to behave like that as well there are times when you need to behave you you need to take on a Persona of being somebody who isn't in position of responsibility maybe there is a time when it's not correct I don't know to take out the garbage because that that's schlom B it but you know there are times when a rabbi needs to behave right in a way where he's he's laying down his authority because at the end of the day he is a rabbi but that's that's a chart with the two two different notes right that you've got to know when when you're supposed to when you're supposed to and when you're not supposed to what one of my all-time favorite stories R mosha Feinstein was the the greatest Rabbi in the previous generation he was the accepted alic Authority amongst the whole of the religious jury he was absolutely astonishing man and he wasn't he wasn't a very tall man he was only 5 foot tall and uh they tell over a story true story about a father who came with his son to ra mosha to get a blessing because his son wasn't physically growing but we're not going to discuss over here the the crash insensitivity of the father of going to a 5 foot tall man to get a bro that his son should physically grow we talk about that but ra mosha rmha Feinstein's reaction was it was priceless he gave this kid a a pinch on his cheek and he told the father he says don't you worry he says I know some small people that became big the most the most beautiful thing because rosha I'm telling you ra mosha Fon was the most humble of people he was the most modest man you could possibly imagine and yet he knew exactly who he was he was under no Illusions whatsoever he knew exactly who he was right in the Jewish world bigness is not measured in feet and inches in the Jewish world bigness is measured according to midot right David King David he was small he was very small and look what he did yeah physical you know you want to become great you want to become big it's it's a it's a it's a it's traits right what called M that we should we should be good and we should be kind and we should be gentle and we should be thoughtful all of those things that sound you know the kind of things that we would like to be but doesn't always work out quite the way that we would want it it's an right so we ask to be like AA right and then we say open my heart to your Torah most beautiful words over here you know why why why are we asking God to open our hearts to Tor you want to know the reason it's very very simple it really is you know why because learning Torah is hard just in case anyone here was under any under any Illusions right learning Torah is a hard thing to do it's intellectually difficult it is physically difficult to do it for you know for for for concerted amounts of time it's emotionally difficult to do so we ask God that you should open up my heart that I should want to be able to learn your Torah it's the most beautiful idea it really is we make the idea you know we make we make the mistake of imagining that that you know all of these phenomenally brilliant people that are around you know that we look up to as being the the rabbis of Our Generation and the leaders of Our Generation and our spiritual mentors and we imagine that these people you know they must have been born like that and it's not true they strived and they toiled in order to understand Torah but the most important toil was to make themselves want to have it put the Torah in your heart put the Torah in your heart right that's a that's a that that's something that we three times a day right we say the same thing over and over again three times a day to God that he should help us do that so listen to this the gar says like this if somebody tells you I understood Torah and I never toiled I just understood it just I'll come in don't don't believe him and if somebody says I toiled and I didn't understand the Torah don't believe him but if somebody says I toiled and I understood him you can believe so as the katar one of the great rebes from almost 200 years ago from the the town of cot very sharp question he says like this he says what is wrong with saying that I toiled and I didn't understand we all of us have done that right everybody here in this room it doesn't matter what stage of Torah scholarship you're at right now we all of us at one stage or another have struggled to understand something and not not understood it so what's wrong with saying so say the most incredible thing he says wants us to toil in Torah it's a verse at the very very beginning of the Book of Joshua it says that we should toil in Torah day and night and wants us to toil in Torah if we understand the Torah that's a bonus that's been given to us by Hashem but wants us involved in Torah all day long somebody says said he didn't understand what he was learning Torah for to begin with he thought he was learning Torah to become intellectual more knowledgeable than he was the moment before and says the K that's not that's not that's not the is what the is wants us to toil in Torah how does a person reach a level where they want to do that we turn to God God should allow us to want to toil in his Torah and let my soul pursue your Commandments teared off Leed off to run after something to pursue is that a strange isn't it strange strange language to use shalom ro Shalom you have to pursue peace right same way like as we said the same word for um for so again we have that are that are blood that are Ence in terms of like our physical body interesting so you're saying le le is like a is like a sort of like an emotional response right you got to you got to run after something pursue something ask for H how can you be aace depends it depends what your depends what you're chasing like for example if you're chasing after not an internal yeah so what what but why why why using that word Chase why why why is the L why is the language over here being used L do why why is something perhaps use something a little a little uh Karma maybe huh you can't go to the store to theore Andy something that you're continuously going after I mean even oh so why why why are you continuously going after it because it's uh it's constant like so for example like I could have done a mitsu yesterday but the mits is still in comment on me today I put on to filling yesterday it doesn't take away from my having okay good so maybe maybe maybe the language should have been that the mitvah should be consistent what what's this know because we run after the Mitzvah also oh so says like this why are you running after the Mitzvah was the the foremost student of the vagon he says why are you running after MIT because we are a body and we are an A and the physical dimension of who we are is not overly interested in doing MIT right the physical dimension of who we are wants to do physical things your physical body enjoys physicality your spiritual body can enjoy spirituality as much as you want but why is my physical body getting involved over here right so says we have to force ourselves to want to do the Mitzvah over that we're we're pursuing we're forcing ourselves to be involved that our spiritual Dimension should be able to enjoy here in the physical world through the physicality we're going to do the mitzah right so maybe that explains something the uh the the maral the maral says that there's no Mitzvah that we do that doesn't have a physical Dimension to it Mar lived in Prague about 400 years ago all Mitzvah have to have a physical Dimension why is that because our bodies are physical and they've got to be they've got to be together with they've got to be a part of the process that the that the soul is experienced that the the body has to be a part of that as well right which means that mitzah have to have a physical Dimension so that my body can be a partner with my soul and we can both enjoy together the experience of doing that mitah if you have to run after something it implies that it's going away from so I don't know it imply but it implies that you want it maybe maybe it's have to run after if it's not moving back what if you what if you're far away from it yeah that's what I was going to say maybe the maybe the it is not moving away maybe you're just far away from it and you've got to run to get to it the the running I think the thing over here is that the running the running is an indication of my of my uh excitement right and not an indication of the things moving away from me so we're asking for our spiritual to break through our physical we ask asking we're yeah we're asking that our bodies should want to right that the physical dimensions of who we are should want to be connected to what it is that we're doing it should be it should be as much in a desire to do the Mitzvah as your soul is yeah I got it okay we we we're GNA stop over here m hasem to be continued