Sparks of Alshich: Your Weakness Is Your Greatest Strength - Rabbi Shmuel Wagshal

Okay gentlemen another alikir and today's shir was sponsored by Gabe Gamlar our dear friend Gabe and uh we thank him for that. So today the alik is going to discuss a very basic but very very important question. Hashem had a tremendous tremendous gift he wanted to give to the world, a very special and prized possession, his holy Tyra. And the Ash asked a basic question. If God wanted the Torah to be studied and to be followed in perfection, then he would have been better off giving it to the angels. After all, the angels don't make mistakes. The angels are relatively perfect compared to human beings. Why would he bother giving the Torah to human beings and the Jewish people? Pretty obvious question. If that was the purpose of giving the Torah but the alik asks, you know, what would be the reason for us to receive the Torah if we're not going to follow it in perfection? So he starts off with a very very interesting parable, a mushroom. And he says that a king has a massive kingdom. And he has many many servants. And one group of servants, he says, he says to one group of servants, I want you to stay here in the palace. You are going to serve me. You are going to be with me. You are going to be dedicated to making sure that the palace runs well and smoothly. And the reward for you will be that you are constantly here enjoying the luxuries of the palace, enjoying being in the presence of the king, living a life of bliss, simplicity, no questions, no struggles. You have no reason to have any problems. You have no reason to run away. You're living a life of perfection. But for you the a for you the the first group of uh servants there is no the only reward you are going to get is that you get to live a life with me. Then he turns to a second group of servants and he says for you guys we need people out in the big kingdom running the kingdom making sure it's ran smoothly making sure that the desire and the values of the king king is being upheld. So for you guys, I'm going to send you out to very very far away places. And your job is to make sure that you are loyal and committed to the king's desires. But for you, it's going to be very challenging. Why? Because you're going to be far away from the king. You're going to have a lot of struggles, a lot of issues. You're not going to be living in, you know, the perfection of the king's palace. But for you in the end when you finish your term of work but your term of work is going to be more is going to be limited. I am going to bring you that back to the palace and in that place you're going to have tremendous reward. And what's the reward going to be? You're going to sit with me. I'm going to put upon you royal garbs. You're going to sit and eat with the king. you're going to become part of the royal the royal the royal establishment of the king in his palace. So your job is to go out for a bunch of years make sure to uphold the kingdom and your reward is going to be great. The first group your job is to stay here and your there is no ultimate reward except the fact you've got to be here always. So with this parable, the alik explains the differences between the angels and man. Obviously, Hashem created angels. For him, the angels should be with him in shmayim. There are no questions. There are no struggles. They're constantly in the presence of God. They don't have any desire to run away. They don't have any desire to go anywhere else. They're living in bliss. But for them there is no ultimate reward more than the fact that they get to serve Hashem. The second group of servants of course are the Jewish people. And for them, Hashem says, "I'm going to send you out to a dark world, to a confusing world, to a world full of struggles, to a world where you may even forget about me. You're far away from me. And you're going to have power out there in that world representing me. And you may even forget about the real power. You may start thinking of yourself as a power because you're not in the presence of God. You're not in the presence of the king. And this is going to be your struggle. But for you guys, Hashem says, of course, the Jewish people that in the end of the day, in the end of the day, you will come back. I will take you back and you will have the the opportunity not just to be in heaven but to sit with Hashem to be one with Hashem to enjoy together with Hashem. You're going to have the best retirement possible where you're no longer going to have to work and you're going to sit with the royal garbs at a table with Hashem and enjoy the fruits of your labor. So to explain this, the alik actually says we find the differences between what the say about the end of days for man and the end of days for well not the end of days but the um the ultimate idea of what an angel is for man. The the garra says in the world to come there is no food there's no drinking there is just the righteous sit and there are crowns upon their head. This is what the world to come for man is. Contrasting that to angels, it says that the angels that work for Hashem they don't have joints. And what does that mean? They don't have joints. So the alik explains that what isn't significant about the idea that angels do not have joints is that joints is the in the joints in man is what allows them to bend, is what allows them to sit, is what allows him to jump, is what allows him to run. You need joints. Angels don't have that. What does that represent? That represents that angels are just standing. As the verse says, angels just stand erect and they go. The idea is that they don't have any struggles to sit down, to relax, to run away, to jump up, to fall down. They just stand and serve. That is their purpose. That is and that is who they are. They do not have the joints. They don't have the power to go up and down. But by man, what does it say? It says specifically the righteous in the end of days will finally have a chance to sit. And the ask why does it so important for them they're sitting? Who cares what they're sitting? They're standing and the crowns are on their head. It just say that they are with God and with the crowns on their head. But the idea is specifically because the man had a struggle in this world. He did have joints. He has an ability to go down. He has ability to sit down. He has an ability to turn away. He has an ability to jump. And he used his time in this world properly. Not getting lazy, not turning away from God, but keeping committed to his mission. And not only that, flourishing, running, jumping, pushing, because of that, in the world to come, he's going to have the ultimate reward. In the end, he's finally going to get to specifically sit and relax in the ultimate place of relaxation to have pleasure with Hashem. So whereas the angels live a committed experience of perfection, there is no ups and there is no downs. But because man has struggles and he has up and downs according to the pressure he puts on himself and the effort he puts on himself in this world to connect himself to Hashem and to be loyal servants in the end of days he will ultimately be able to sit and relax and appreciate that experience. And the alik makes another point on this on this saying he says Their crown, their crown, their crown is on their head. What does it mean their crown? What is it specifically about their crown? Crowns are on their head. What is significant about their crown on their head? And he says obviously that the crown that the man at the end of days is going to sit with Hashem is going to specifically be the deeds, the good things that he did in this world. Those are going to be the jewels of the crowns that he's going to enjoy life enjoy the world to come with. So, it's not just going to be any crown. The crown that you ultimately get in the world to come, the reward you get in the world to come is going to specifically be the jewels of the good deeds and the struggles that you overcame in this world. And with that crown, you're going to come before God and enjoy your ultimate reward. So in explaining the that we have in this week's parades he says in this verse we see exactly why Hashem chose the Jewish people over even the angels because he says you shall be for me. What does it mean? A kingdom of ministers is how it translates. What does it mean a kingdom of ministers? So what that means according to the alik is that you are going to be a kingdom outside of the palace but you are going to represent what my kingdom you are going to be ministers for my kingdom. And in this way you are going to have a lot of struggles. You're going to be outside of the outside of the direct influence of Hashem, the presence of Hashem. You're going to be in a world and the world is going to be full of darkness and full of struggle and full of addictions and full of problems and full of lack of cl plenty of lack of clarity. However, says the alik you have one very special tool and that is the nishama that I put inside of you. What is the power that the man has to overcome all the darkness? Says the alik. What is the power that the man has to overcome all the struggle that this world brings? all the confusion. It's that inside of you, you are a servant of Hashem. And inside of you is the the portion of God within you that is going to give you the power to overcome all the darkness of this world. And if you tap into that, you're going to have tremendous clarity. So, Hashem didn't just throw us down in this world with no weapons. He says you have to understand that you are a kingdom of people that are here to minister to be servants and agents for Hashem and you have to represent that properly. So that is your first job in this world to understand that you don't get to stay up in the higher heavens. you have to come down here to represent me and that's very very important and I need that more important than the angels up high because you guys are ultimately sanctifying God's name in the lower depths as opposed to the angels who are only sanctifying God's name in the higher realms where God is much more apparent. So I need you, Hashem says the Jewish people to represent me amidst the darkness, amidst the struggle specifically. I know it's hard. I know it's not easy. I know there's struggle, but that's specifically why I'm sending you because I gave you the tools to overcome and your job is to do what you can to represent me. And the second thing he says, the second part of the verse, the says something amazing. What does the guy mean? A guy means the nations. I understand that you are being born and you are people and you are a nation. You're human beings after all. And with with living as a human being, you're going to have uh you're going to have uh struggles, you're going to have restrictions, you're not going to be able to be 100% 100% of the time. You're human beings after all. It's not going to be easy for you. Um you're you're you're you're a nation, but there's one difference. You're a good kadesh. You have the capacity even within even within your humanity, even within your needs, even within your lusts, even within your desires to sanctify it and to overcome it and to say that I am dedicating everything I possibly can to Hashem. And because of that, Hashem says specifically, I want to give you the Torah because I understand, of course, that the purpose of everything is to sanctify my name and to live in this world with all the confusion and darkness and questions and to still show yourself in the entire world and Hashem that we are committed to you. And the reward that you get for that is much greater than even the reward than the angels. And the job you're doing is much more important than even the job of the angels. And the joy that I have in you is much more than the joy I have in the angels. And it's for that reason that in the end, the reward you're going to get is that you are going to be able to enjoy the fruits of your labor and to sit uh as it says to have pleasure with Hashem. something that even the angels are not going to have. And how are you going to do this? With the rules that I give you, the Torah, by understanding and tapping into your nishama, tapping into your portion of God from above and doing your job loyally and being committed. And even though I know it's not easy and even though I know it's very very hard and believe me Hashem understands that it's not easy but he says it's specifically because it's not easy and it's specifically because it is far away from my palace and it's specifically because you are representing me in a place that I am not as clear. It's because of that that you are going to have the great reward in the end. So the basic takeaway is that people think of themselves. They think about how how how how bad they must be. They have desires that are not good. They have struggles that are not good. They question Hashem. They doubt what they're doing in their commitment to Hashem. And the is saying don't look at that as a negative. Look at that and understand that that is the greatest opportunity that you have. This is the merit that you have. The merit that you have is the fact that you could overcome your struggles and you could do good deeds and that will buy you that will be you will be kinder through that. You will acquire through that the greatest reward possible. And even though you of course in this world have joints, you have a desire to just enjoy this world and to just sit and to relax and to enjoy the pleasures of this world. Understand that in the right time, in the right place, the pleasures you will enjoy will be a billion times more. And not only that, it will be forever. Because this world, like in the parable, is only for a short while. The king only sends everyone out for a short while. But he when he brings them back, it's forever. It's lit. And the last thing a person should do is think of himself, what a shame that I have these issues, I have struggles, I have problems. Let me just give up and enjoy this world. No, it's because of the struggles and because of the issues and because of the darkness and the ability for you to use your joints to overcome it and push yourself up that will give you the greatest award in the world to come. So as it's Hashem, everyone will have the ability to accept the Torah and understand that everything that we have and that we need is right here. And that our job is to utilize everything we have and the Torah to be our pathway to ultimately have the and the merit to where it will Amber a sham.