King for a Year - R. Eliyahu Maksumov - TorahAnytime.com

The book of the market says there was a city that had a king that ruled over them and he was very cruel and he would dominate over them and they didn't like him and they tried to get rid of him but whatever they tried to do they couldn't get rid of him. And they had no choice but to tolerate him and they waited for him to die so they could nominate for themselves a new king and finally the day came where the king died. And the people said now we have to find ourselves a new king but what happens if this new king is going to let the power get to his head and he's going to also dominate over us and he's going to be very cruel to us? So they had to come up with a system to make sure the king is not going to get too much power. They said, "We're going to nominate for ourselves a king but he could only rule over or rule over us for for 1 year." But we can't tell him that. It's going to be a secret. So they went out on a mission to find somebody that they feel would be fit for a king. And they go to a different country and they look and they look and they find this one guy walking outside and they investigate a little bit about his life and they say, "You know what? I think he's going to be a good king. He's fitting for the job." And they sneak up from behind him and they take a bottle and they smack him in the head. And he just falls down unconscious and they pick him up and they put him into a horse and buggy and they bring him to their city into their country and they place him on the throne. And now he wakes up and he's all confused and he says, "Excuse me, what am I doing here?" And they said, "What do you mean what are you doing here? You're the king. You came here to to rule over us. You tell us what to do we do it." He's talking about, "I have a family. I have kids. I don't come from How do I get home?" "You are home." So he says, "Yeah, if I'm a king so give me my favorite lambs lambs Give me my favorite lamb chops. Give me my favorite steak." No problem. They go home and they bring him his favorite steak, his favorite lamb chops. These people really take me seriously. And eventually he started forgetting about his family. Slowly he started forgetting about his kids, about his past. He started to enjoy the the treatment. He started feeling like a king. And this is what went on for an entire year. He started building bridges for them, started fighting wars, whatever a king does. After a year was over finally he's sitting on his throne and it's his anniversary from the time he actually became king and two men walk into the throne room and they come in with a bottle. And he says, "Excuse me, guards, take them away. They came here unannounced. They don't belong here." Guards are not budging cuz they know he's not a king anymore, only 1 year. They come, they take the bottle, they hit him in the head. He knocks out, put him back into the horse and buggy, they bring him back home, he wakes up right outside of his house. Now they have to get themselves a second king. They do the same thing. They find some guy, they investigate, they say, "Okay, he's good." They you know, bop him on the head, he falls asleep, knocks out, wakes up on the throne. "You're the king." "What, I'm the king? I don't belong here, I have a family." "No, no, you're the king, you belong here." "Yeah? So give me my favorite sushi. Give me this, give me that." Whatever he asked for, they give it to him. Wow. But he didn't forget about his family. He knows there's something much deeper going on over here. They're lying to him. There's something going on over here. So he says, "If you guys are not going to tell me the truth, I'll have to figure it out one way or another." He starts to make a relationship with the one of the guards. And he starts making private parties with him, invites him to a tea party or whatever. And one day after spending a lot of time with him, he says, "Listen, I know you well, you know me well. Do me a favor. Just tell me, why am I here? You're my friend. I don't think you're going to lie to me. Tell me, why am I here? How did I end up here?" And this guard said, "Well, I'm not allowed to tell you this, but I'll tell you the truth. You're only here for 1 year, they're going to kick you out. They're just using you. They just need you need you to do the dirty work. They're going to use you and then after that you're going to leave and that's it. All you have here is going to be gone." He said, "Yeah, if that's the case, he says, "I'm going to wire everything I have here to my hometown." He's a king, he could do whatever he wants. He starts taking all his riches and he starts sending it home. And he starts building himself a beautiful mansion and he puts a beautiful helicopter on top of his roof, a jet, beautiful water park outside in the backyard, whatever you could imagine. He got himself a nice tennis court, maids, servants, butlers, chefs, everything. And after a whole year of doing this, every single day, he didn't waste a time not even a second, he just kept wiring more and more to to his hometown. He's building himself an empire. Finally a year is over, sitting on his throne, looks at a clock, he sees the day has come. Two men walk into the throne room with a bottle. He says, "Listen, we don't have to do this the hard way. Please, I submit." They look at each other. They said, "Just for the fun of it." Boom. They knock him out. They put him inside the horse and buggy, bring him back home. He wakes up, but this time he was waking up in front of a mansion. And he has everything waiting for him. So as the Vilna Gaon, he said there are two types of people. Those who come to this world and they're lied to. The Alam HaShakar says, "You're a king. You came to this world to enjoy. Run after pleasure. Run after all the ta'avot of this world." And they're running and they're running and they're running and they're running. They think they're the king. I have to get the best. I have to get the best phone, the best this, the best computer, the best house, the best car, the best vacation, the best hotel. I have to get it all. And they're trying to grab as much as they can because they feel like I'm the king. I deserve it. After a whole year, all of a sudden they come and they knock him out and they bring him back to his home, to the next world. And whatever he started off with is that's what he ends off with. This is what he ends up with. While the second guy comes to this world and says another type of person comes to this world, he says, "Hey, what's going on over here?" And they say, "What do you mean? You're the king." He says, "Something How did I end up here? I just flung into this world by accident? Who brought me here? What do they want?" So he goes and he makes a relationship with somebody who's wiser than him. He finds the rabbis, the chachamim. He says, "Please, you have the manual from God. You have the Torah. What does What does this manual say?" And they tell him the truth is you're not going to be here forever. People think they're here forever. You're not here forever. Some people live here 70 years, 80 years, 90 years, 100 years. Some people less, some people more. But not everyone's here. Nobody's here forever. Everyone has to leave at some point. And when you realize this, he says, "In that case, in that case, I'll be smart." And he takes all that he can in this world. And he wires it into the next world. He performs many, many mitzvot and all those mitzvot go to the next world. And he builds himself a beautiful empire. And that's the story of King for a Year. You could be like that person who's going to come to this world and be fooled by Alam HaShakar. That's going to rob you from your relationship with Hashem, rob you from your mission, from your soul mission in this world, and just accomplish nothing. Or you could be like the smart guy who's going to say, "Listen, I know this this world is not forever. In that case, I have to work for the world that is forever, for eternity."