Your Thoughts Matter - Rabbi Shlomo Horwitz

[laughter] >> You would not believe what I learned about parshas kisavo. The possuk says tachas asher lo avadeta Hashem Elokecha besimcha. Because you did not serve Hashem your God with joy. Rav Yosef Chaim Chief Rabbi of Baghdad, otherwise known as the Ben Ish Chai says You should know my friend, da yedidi, that the quality of sadness does not just affect your mental state, but it also harms your body very much. And many sicknesses, bad sicknesses, come from sadness. And he continues to say, "The truth is, it's manufactured by people." Meaning, a person can get an illness. God forbid somebody gets cancer. That's decreed by God. But if somebody becomes sad, that is something that he triggers himself. Obviously, I'm adding, we are not talking about clinical depression where people really need professional help. But the Ben Ish Chai is referring to the idea that our thoughts are really critical, and we can be the source of some bad thoughts and bad outcomes. Listen to what he says about this possuk in Hallel. Atzabeihem kesef vezahav maaseh yedei adam. Normally that means that the idols of idolaters are made of silver and gold, the product of human hands. And he's criticizing them. How could you worship something that you made yourself? The Ben Ish Chai has a beautiful homiletical interpretation. He says it's also telling us what is wrong with sadness. Atzabeihem is spelled with the same letters as sadness, itzavon. Etza. And he's saying, "Their sadness comes from kesef v'zahav. People are obsessed with money and they become very sad and depressed when they think about all the money that they don't have." You know what? It's maseh yedei Adam. You are causing your own stress. That's not part of God's plan that you should be stressed. God can plan to challenge somebody and he always does. But don't think that the sadness over your situation is part of the challenge. That is up to you to overcome and avert the sadness, whether through prayer, increased faith in God, discussing with other people. Again, I'm not talking about clinical depression here. The Ben Ish Hai continues to say that we should be inspired by stories of people who have been through other challenges and have overcome them to know that it is in God's power to reverse anything. But I really thought it was fascinating to learn that not every form of suffering is caused by God. Some of it we bring on ourselves. I was once heading to learn with my Rosh Yeshiva, my Rebbi, Rabbi Yaakov Weinberg, zt"l. And I was late, so I ran to the car, I banged my head when I was going there, and when I got there, I had a big welt on my head, and I said, "Rebbi, here's what happened. I was running late, I banged my head. Was that ordained by Hashem?" And he said, "No, it was not. You did it to yourself." That's a pshia. You ran into the car like a madman, you banged your head. Hashem did not say "Shlomo has to bang his head that day." So certain things we bring on ourselves, whether it's foolishness like me running into the car like a madman, or obsessing about things in an unhealthy [clears throat] way that causes us more stress. That is not decreed by Hashem. That is something in our power to change, and that is something hinted to in this parsha about serving God with simcha. The Ben Ish Hai encourages us to take a look at our attitudes and try to break some of those deeply held attitudes that get us all stressed out and achieve a sense of calm because that is really what Hashem wants. Have a wonderful Shabbos.