Rabbi Yirmiyahu Ullman - Orchot Tzaddikim: Truth - Part 4

okay very good soim now that the Gus has uh extended for such a long time as a result of our transgressions even more too much too long it is incumbent upon the Jewish people to divorce themselves from the unimportant things in this world Shu and to take hold of the walls of God which are those of Truth meaning the steadfast steady reliable walls of hasem and this is already probably 500 years ago when the book was written approximately imagine where we are now and the Jewish people should take the approach of sanctifying themselves even with things that even with things that are permitted with them for them and that's viewed as being kind of um an extra degree of piety of Holiness um imposing limitations on things which are even permitted to us uh for for for people like us who come from the world and the lifestyle that we come from and live in the world that we do live in it's probably uh not so relevant to have this approach for most people but um you know but but it but but the point is at least that you know when you're having your delicious or lunches and um you would like very much because of the delicious Cuisine to have a second and a third portion you should perhaps think about s satisfying yourself with one portion but uh you know the point is this is that um if a person is eat eaten enough toh to satisfy the you know the physical need of his body for fuel and it's just his taste buds which would like him to have more but then he'll get full and be heavy so um a person might consider not taking that third or fourth or fifth portion yeah and just being satisfied with with being satiated or if a person's had a nice good 7 hour hour night of sleep yeah six might not be enough eight might be just right seven uh borderline alarm clock rings get up go doin be on time rather than say oh I really really really could have enjoyed another hour this would be an example of you know even though it's permitted to sleep you're not doing anything wrong but if you can sacrifice a little bit of of of of one's Comfort this is the type of thing that he's discussing here and the truth is it's related to the idea that that the is also in gas as long as the Jewish people are in gas the is also inas and the suffers very much from being exiled and therefore if we not let's say um um abuse ourselves or afflict ourselves but at least refrain from some extra degree of comfort in a way that's kind of showing empathy for the fact that we and the and the are inas so he's encouraging us like I said to separate ourselves from things which are even permitted in order to avoid unnecessary comfort you want to drink what you really need is liquid you don't need uh sugar concentrated caffeine uh rich cocacola or coffee more than five times a day so after your fifth cup of coffee you might decide at this point I'm going to just drink water because that's really what I need water now this this is the type of thing right every person according to his you know particular situation the point is what what is it it that I really need I need the fuel I need the food I need the drink I need sleep to rejuvenate myself and therefore um I'm going to try and be aware of you know perhaps not taking more than I really need or not that much more than I really need and want you do that in the name of subjugating himself to hem dedicating himself to hem empathizing with the that that's the concept of the of you know which means to sanctify yourself regarding the things that have to do with bodily pleasure um even though it's permitted and it has to do of course you know married there are ways in which this applies to married people as well not to lie neither to a Jew or to a non-jew and not to mislead people in any way says the remnant of Israel shall not do transgression not do evil they will not speak falsehood and they will be not found in their mouths duplicitous speech T is like the word r Ros V even furthermore it says in the verse I will plant it for me in the earth perhaps it's referring to truth does a person plant for himself a specific quantity a saw in the Earth with any other with with an intention other than getting many more quantities in return that's clear the intention right when you plant you plant a little with the intention of getting much more so God dispersed and planted Israel among the different nations in order that there should be attached to them added to them gim converts this is a statement in K the one of the reasons why according to this God sent the Jewish people dispersed across the globe is in order to spread the word of Judaism across the globe by way of bringing uh gim converts to Judaism interesting because we don't really proze we're not interested in pushing our religion too strongly on anybody else in fact we discourage people if they want to convert because we're more interested in quality than quantity meaning the convert has to be somebody who's sincere interesting phenomenon celebrities are becoming a little more interested in their Judaism they married the Jewish spouses who are converting they're raising children who they call Sinai or I don't know what they call them what bet yeah but um in any case uh we're interested in sincere conversion it could be the point is also just to Pro to promote the ideas of monotheism across the world as well as long as the Jews I believe he says here as long as the Jews are not acting in a false way they're acting truthfully then they the non-jews will cleave themselves to the Jews as converts using the context here but I was just expanding that beyond the idea of conversion which is not necessary just the Jewish people's being a lighten to the Nations by inspiring them with the true teachings of the one true God which is which are applicable to all of humanity everybody would be inspired by that God is careful and he is particular Pro prohibiting even stealing from the wicked the Earth became full of treachery and theft MIM there was a story about shim a Tana in the gorah he bought a mule from an isite long before the is the isites uh knew anything about Islam they're idolators so the students of they went and they found that there was actually a very precious gem hanging from the neck of this mule that that bought so his students said to him they quoted from a verse through the blessing of God a person becomes wealthy here you've bought a mule from an idolatrous ishmaelite and you end up getting a precious gem along with the deal God has made you rich he said to them what did I buy a mule I didn't buy a gem I bought the mule and not the jewel so the rabbi went and he returned the gem to the isite the isite said about himon Ben blessed is the god the god of Shimon benett that's a that's a so the also says the talks about the wise Jewish sages who bought uh kernels of wheat from non-jews and they found inside the wheat that they bought a bundle of money so they returned the money to the to the non-jewish sellers so the non-jew said blessed is the god of the Jews so you see here the very importance of being honest and truthful and straightforward with everyone Jews and non-jews alike a tremendous Kem can come about by being honest and straightforward many other scenarios where people returned things to non-jews or did other nice things and it caused a kidush Hashem sanctification of God's name therefore we have to be very very careful very very careful very very careful unfortunately you know again whether the news is correct or not or whether it's accurate or not I don't know but it seems that in recent years more and more very unfortunate scenarios are publicized where otherwise seemingly observant individuals are accused of suspected or even accused of doing very Unfaithful incorrect improper things there a tremendous when there is truth below then God will look righteously from above onto the Earth says truth will Sprout from the earth and as a result of that righteousness from heaven will be shown so that the more truthful honest straightforward and humble we are here the more we cause God to look in a favorable way towards the world for the benefit of not only the Jewish people but but entire world and therefore look very seriously to the fact that all of your dealings will be truthful whether they be G bad or good Ian maybe what it means I'm not sure what it means by that maybe what it means is whether you perceive that to be good for you or bad for you be truthful even if it seems that it's going to be at your detriment you must be truthful ah it'll harm you in some way you feel that you lose in some way no you have to be truthful but and and rely upon what it says in the verse God is the one you can rely on show he guards the Covenant the and the loving kindness to those who love him with and those who guard his Commandments now he said there are certains where it's considered to be proper and acceptable to tell a nontruth if they if you have no recourse but to do so in order to prevent somebody from being taken advantage of you're protecting the person from being taken advantage of like we mentioned for example or people are prying into your personal affairs you can right if there's no other way out of it tell tell the non- truth or for example to um try and stir up some feeling of love and uh and Goodwill between a husband and wife so they have shalom Bice and things like that it should be it's what yes sh shom yeah we saw in an earlier section here a person is supposed to praise the the bride oh she's a beautiful bride she's a very righteous bride even if it's not entirely true I different explanations I think you suggested one which is well she she's beautiful to him and I said even if she's not he can still say that uh she's very pleasant you very pleasant so either he don't understand Pleasant looking or Pleasant behaving yeah if you don't know the bride what do you say even if you do the another bride it's better to actually say something like I hear okay cuz what are you doing looking at this guy's bride to say that you know that she's complimenting her on her beauty so it's probably customarily right rather than saying she's a beautiful bride my wife told me or my sister told me I've heard you know understand from my women folk that your wife is a beautiful woman and they're very beautiful in in Deeds which is the main thing and a righteous woman and should what that just wondering what we're supposed to say tomorrow yeah so that yeah that's why I'm saying yeah I you know you know you can say you know I hear I hear you know he that the K is you know an amazing amazing girl you guys should have a great life together whatever you know hear from the re you hear from the rebon you hear from the neighbors yeah what to push the beauty you don't have to because another explanation which is the one that I suggested which is yeah she's Pleasant in her Deeds she's attrative her ways her Deeds are attractive that's another explanation not referring to her her physical Beauty like I said it's it's it's probably not so appropriate for a man to say about another woman yes that that she you know she's attractive but you could say you know if it's appropriate and I hear from my wife that you you know that the Kal is very attractive and very you knowed you should have wonderful life together sh children and so forth and so on yeah but even without that it's just a ma may have a great life together full of Tor Mitzvah amen that's the shest bet I'm just saying do say that you're supposed to say to a person so how do we explain that particularly if she's not so the answer is she probably is to him because otherwise wouldn't marry her and even he had no choice and he knows that that's not true another explanation is that her her ways are her ways are nice what is God's faithfulness that we can rely on him that he guards the Covenant his promised to us if a righteous person made a relatively small transgression God pays him his reward for this misdeed in this world and this is clear that a person at would much rather be punished in even his whole life like job with his bodyi which anyway is is is is is something inferior Bo in this world where a person only has a relatively small Life to Live anyway for the purpose of giving the good reward to the soul which is very elevated in the superal realm which is not finite it doesn't doesn't doesn't terminate ever so it would be much better therefore for a person to endure suffering because of misdeeds here in this world in the in the low body in a limited lifetime in order to get the great reward in the spiritual realm forever and that's better for the righteous person than if God did not kind of reckon with him for his transgressions in this world but rather he would have to judge the soul of the righteous for these misdeeds in that would be much worse or because of his transgression even if it's not something which would require his going to Kum but it would lower his spiritual stature in the world to come that would also be much much worse than a whole lifetime of suffering here and because doing so would limit him from cleaving to the elevation on high excuse me the amination of God on high this light there can be nothing compared but for theim who have mostly bad Deeds they only have just a few good deeds they God gives them their reward here have a great time while it lasts CU it's only 120 years after that you'll be sorry that all happens for the wicked but their transgressions they are preserved for the person in the in the long world and in the great tragic Agony that they will experience in gam in order to reckon with the great misdeeds that they've done here and that Agony is incomparable you can't right it's tough of course a very good question why is it that that the righteous get the punishment here and the reward there and the wicked have the other way around the reward here and the punishment there make up your mind if the world for punishment is here everybody should be punished here and the world for reward there so everybody should be rewarded there as a result the wicked will be punished greatly here and the righteous only a little bit and the world to come the the righteous will be rewarded greatly and the wicked only very little bit should be consistent why do we go the other way around it's like a different system for each one right right the righteous reckon with their transgressions here but they get the Mitzvah there the wicked reckon with their trans there Mitzvah here and their transgressions there it's like a double standard so one one one I think very um very good explanation is as follows is that God doesn't punish anybody just for the sake of punishing right the purpose of punishment and reward is for a person's own good but that's all a function of our Free Will so God says I'm going to go with you I'm going to reward you in a way which you decide for yourself how does a person decide God says the reward is very good I want to give you the reward in the world that you consider to be the most important world for you so let's take a look the wicked person thinks about this world or the next this world okay so you make your decision that this world is your main world so this is where you're going to get your reward right it's only fair right you should get your reward in the in the world which is the most important for you so they're rewarded here but the transgressions aren't wiped away he's going to have to reckon with those he's made his choice by default the transgressions be reckoned with there the righteous person God Strokes his beard and he says H let's see what's this person's main world this or the next the next ah the next so I'm going to give you a reward which is the most in the place which is most important to you the world to come ah there are transgressions that everybody has even the righteous that have to be reckoned with so where they be reckoned with here so therefore he says I I'm going to go with you whatever you choose it's your decision whatever you decide is your main plane of existence that's where I want to give you the reward that you're deserving it's your decision and that's why you have a different it's like a Converse yeah how long is the world to come he says you're Everlasting on the other hand uh we know know that according to Jewish teachings there will be a time when there will be a resurrection in which case the Jewish Soul not just the Jewish but the souls of the righteous will be reintroduced into bodies into this world in which case the world to come is a soul world alone would be something that doesn't seem to be Everlasting there's going to be some time when those souls are reintroduced into bodies into Resurrection but it could be that in so far as the time of Resurrection according to most opinions will be Everlasting state so it's really the same thing it's just a Continuum and the author is not going into world come part one which I think we might have learned together or world to come part two it's all the world to come and that's what he means to say the world to come is Everlasting it starts in the soul World it continues afterwards in the world of Resurrection but it's all part of the world to come world to come part one the soul world world to come part two the world of Resurrection but it's forever why would the riches want to be resurrected why not I mean it's a it's a higher state it's a higher state yeah it is yeah to be reconnected to the phol yeah yeah I know it's kind of uh counterintuitive but uh without going into too much detail now since we don't have time but um you know basically the idea is that it's true that in the world as we know it the physical udes the spiritual the physical weighs down like an anchor on the spiritual impeding the spiritual from realizing its full potential but um when the world has become perfected and uh part of that process will be through Resurrection so then the bodies will be much so all of physicality including bodies will be spiritualized so that they will not weigh down and olude the Soul on the contrary they will Aid the soul and the soul will will will will Elevate and be elevated by them and it's considered to be a much more spiritually harmonious uh State when the body and soul can coexist together and and not in a state of negation so it's going to be like a period which is more akin to what we were talking about yesterday where this world is called the world of sheer and it's an O it's a place which hides God but there will be a time when God's presence is introduced into the world at such an extent that it's going to be glowing from all of reality and when that seeming contradiction between physical and spiritual is reconciled so that we see that everything absolutely is god that actually is a higher degree of of spirituality than spiritual without physical yeah seeing the spiritual in the physical is a higher degree than seeing the spiritual as separate from the physical that's what it boils down to so let's just try and finish off this chapter here with one sentence May the merciful one guide us in his ways of Truth and bring us to his Chambers to reach the upper light where we'll find the I guess the glory the glory of his strength and the desire of his Splendor beautiful wording okay so that ends uh this chapter on Truth we'll continue bem next time on the next chapter which is going to be flattery