Like a Lion | Rabbi Eytan Feiner

Shalom u’Vracha, the incredibly amazing Vayimaen listeners. Let's open up a Shulchan Aruch at the beginning of Orach Chaim. The very first statement, the opening remarks of R’ Yosef Karo, We have to strengthen ourselves like the lion, to get up in the morning and to do the Ratzon Hashem. Now, the Beis Yosef, the Mechaber, he’s based on the Tur. Now, when the Tur states the same idea, he's quoting directly from Yehuda ben Teima, at the end of the fifth Perek of Pirkei Avos. And Yehuda ben Teima doesn't just tell us that we should be a גיבור כארי. He has a process. at the end of the fifth Perek of Pirkei Avos, So it's a four-step process. The last one is גיבור כארי. And yet, the Mechaber, how does he open up the Shulchan Aruch? Get up in the morning like the ארי, like the lion, the king of the jungle. So מוריי ורבותיי, just to share with you a small הארה. I was in a science museum in Baltimore, years ago, and it was there that I saw that phenomenon for the first time in my life. And astounded and surprised I was, indeed. And that is that the lion, yes, the king of the jungle, sleeps between 20 and 22 hours a day. It’s the female lion, the lioness, she's the one raising the cubs, she's the one preparing dinner, catching the prey. Comes the Mechaber, R’ Yosef Karo, and he tells us, Okay, everybody. Get up in the morning like the lion. What do you mean? The lion is shluffen away. The lion is sleeping 20 to 22 hours a day. But the answer, perhaps, is as follows. In that same science museum, a few minutes later, I came across that, yes, the lion might be shluffen away. But when a geshmake-smelling, -looking deer, gazelle, antelope or zebra comes by and he's hungry, he snaps out of that in a second. And that's unbelievable Gevura. No matter how tempting it is that he wants to stay shluffing, he wants to continue sleeping, but if he has reason enough to get up, then the lion’s up and it's up in an instant. It doesn't hesitate one iota. That's גיבור כארי. The Mechaber is telling us it's great to be עז כנמר. Great, fantastic. Be bold and brazen like the leopard. Go ahead and be light like the eagle, like the vulture. And go on and run like the deer. But you know, the עיקר, the primary one, the עיקר one is to be a גיבור כארי. Because if you want something badly enough, then what? No matter how tired, no matter how difficult the Nisayon, the lion can be in the middle of its most intense slumber and the most incredible, geshmake, enjoyable sleep, but if the lion has a reason to get up, that's גיבור כארי. Let's go back to Avos, Perek 4 Mishna 1. It's there that Ben Zoma tells us, Rabosai, the first lesson in life when we get up in the morning, we open up a Shulchan Aruch: יתגבר כארי. The ultimate Gevura is איזהו גיבור? הכובש את יצרו. That means no matter how tempted we are, no matter how lured we are by our Yetzer Hara, by our evil inclination, first message we got to get across every single day, so many other מעלות, so many things to glean from all the creatures of the world, but number one is, Be a גיבור כארי. When there's reason enough to fight that battle, I'm going to emerge the victor, I'm going to be the Gibor in the army of HaKadosh Baruch Hu. The Gibor is הכובש את יצרו. The Gibor is, no matter how tempting, if I have reason enough to fight this battle and you bet, every single time, we could give Nachas Ruach to HaKadosh Baruch Hu. That's איזהו גיבור? הכובש את יצרו. That's how we start our day. יתגבר כארי. Wishing you all Bracha and Hatzlacha and Siyata D’Shmaya in overcoming the Yetzer Hara, day in and day out. Hatzlacha v’Kol Tuv.