Iggeres HaGra #4 - The Root of Desire

this torah class is brought to you by torahanytime.com okay good evening everyone welcome to the uh continuation of this year on um igarasagura remember now it's only monday through wednesday thursday is the shimru this past week we did the malacha of bisho this week we begin with the beginning namely with uh zairea if you want to catch the sheer torah anytime podcast or now shots illuminated also if you want to get on to zoom you could just go straight on to the new website rabbidigi.com and just click and you're on you don't have to put anything in i think it just works automatically okay so iguara segura where in my edition we're on the third bottom of the third paragraph the garage just said do not be jealous about empty honor however as we pointed out real covey namely covered of knowing hashem haskell via daya oysi this is halal and the hazmat the times are could be a traitor of ahukumai's nyayam it is like a scales rav goldberg in his perish on the gara sagara it's called igroys hamosur he has in one volume the gara sagrara and the and i believe something else he says he quotes the gemara and saita daf hey that on the possibilities that the crushed one the the the one who is humble is with god god says when you humble yourself then i raise you up to me okay then this world is like drinking salty water it seems to him seminary that it satiates your thirst but with some yoy ser but you become even thirster thirstier anor the damace no one dies the khatsi tavas with half of his desires so here the gra is comparing the um desires and the titus of this world to salt water we know there's an expression water water everywhere but not an ounce to drink that's what they used to say the seafarers used to say when they're out on the sea there's water everywhere but nothing to drink because salt water won't uh won't satiate you won't um satisfy your thirst if anything it makes you thirstier so the gross says that the typhus of this world are like salt water you partake of them and then you just want more and on this note ramiko and this is a very powerful ramban a very frightening ramban and i would like to read it to you with the explanation of our shiva of hanukkah to add to appendage the satiated one with the thirsty one which the ramban says that means to add the satisfied one with the one who desires listen to this ramban the soul of one who is satiated does not desire things that are bad for it in other words status quo of thus of the of the uh animal instinct within a person he doesn't desire things that are harmful to a person however kasha tovo i believe when a little bit of desire comes into a person's heart will you tabas and you fulfill your desire then you increase in yourself more desire that means yesterday you didn't desire more yesterday you desire this amount but when you desire this amount and then you give in to that amount the next day you desire more you're going to be very desirous of that item that you ate isha or the the or the act that you did yo me bury china so in other words somebody wants something and he does it the next time he's going to want to do it even more the tis and now this time yesterday you wanted something healthy now if you give in you're going to desire something not healthy when i say not healthy whether it's eating whether it's any physical act it's not even something you ever wanted for example says the ramban hamas when somebody desires relations with ishayafa kishayiya shot of bizimas and if somebody is immersed in that ultimately will bring a person to desire mishka zakhar living with an animal and the kiyoshi taivas or the like of extrapolate to any other taiva like say about when you satisfy you want more when you curb you're satisfied from this ramban we learn a few very important facts which are completely the opposite of current and contemporary thinking to the extent that if somebody would say this to somebody professionally it is uh it might not even be legal but the ramban says it and that it's a really amazing words first of all we know there's a concept that taiva is something which is developed everybody knows there's certain things that as a child you didn't like foods and you develop a desire for you develop a flavor for it a taste for it and the hazal say when it comes to taivas nashem the more someone indulges the more they want and the more they need but ghazal do not say whether this is the same when it comes to other taiwan from the ramban we learn that it's the same principle by all taivas the more you partake the more you need the more you discipline the less you want but now we come to something which is uh is something which is totally not accepted in the western world but it's tairas ms amitay and will explain to us achuva ramosa there was a commentary of rabbi huda khasi that was found on hamesh and it was brought to a moshe feinstein or moshe says it cannot be published and the reason is because on the pasuk of of the isr the prohibition of zakar it says that the reason why the torah prohibited mishka zakhar is because it does not allow for procreation and it doesn't bring children into the world and rav maisha says you can't publish that because that would indicate that there's a practical reason why this is prohibited and as if it's not inherently despicable disgusting and filthy and against human nature and ramosha says nobody would do it except as a clear rebellion against akades barco now where why would that be after all um what would ramosha say about those who claim that that they have a nature a certain way so from this ramban we learn that it is possible for a person to desire things which were not originally part of their personality and they had no desire want for it and they bring it upon themselves they develop it so for example what the ramban writes clearly that there are individuals they have absolutely no taiva for zoharim or bahamas but if someone is shattuf bazimas nashem it eventually brings on a desire for more deviant taiva and uh there's no question that in our times when um people have experienced being able to look at whatever they wanted to without any discipline without curbing what their what shamira sainayam from the time somebody's young and if a person lives without discipline ultimately it will bring to taiwan so the the ramban is writing a very compelling rationale for certain uh types of behavior which are certainly not not recognized today but we have to understand what our ghazal teach us that this is not something which is uh someone not something that someone is born with it's according to the ramban this is something somebody brings upon themself again without whether it's possible or not then i'm not going to discuss publicly but in terms of the typical uh development this is the this is the argument of the ramban okay so now the growth continues we'll try to read um this paragraph says the grammar is what advantage is there for a person in all of his toil remember the early generations that were before us all of their love desire and happiness all the joys of life that they wanted that's lost you know this guy wanted money this guy wanted honor this guy wanted pleasure okay and now they're not here anymore and everything they wanted and acquired is lost um and for every pleasure that someone indulges in in this world without a hajban that they're partaking of it to help their abilities hashem a person has to give an accounting for uma life what benefit is there really to a person in the pleasures of this world which ultimately revert back to dust rima maggots tailor worms all pleasures of this world in the grave turn to bitterness as the guru writes in the evan shlaima that the concept the punishment of khibo takeve is that a person is judged with for every limb with which a person used to derive pleasure of this world without an accounting just we're not authorized just to derive pleasure person wants to eat to be able to serve hashem even if it's not technically you know exactly the amount of energy needed if somebody wants to partake of a good food to give them a certain simcha to to have uh to be involved in available hashem that's authorized but just to indiscriminately be involved in pleasure seeking that's uh something a person has to give a hajj ban for the s is attached to a person and it's not coincidental now some have the gersa uh the enoy mikade which means the gears of the inaudible death happens to happen to people no that is the inevitable end of all human beings it is perforce in human existence otherwise we couldn't get to the ultimate reward of allah that's according to the girls of the is not a inaudible don't think okay i'll partake of all the pleasures of this world perhaps illicitly and then i'll hide in the grave and uh and i'll be scot-free there's nothing anybody could do to me anymore no the grave is not a refuge the grave is not an arya an heir mikhlot a person does not protect a person from giving a din vacherwine uma what is this world he call yamav kasu in this world is many days of aggravation and difficulty so a person has to realize that there's nothing really inherently in this world that makes this world a destination in and of itself and the grave will not save a person from giving a den denim and even at night it's hard to sleep okay everybody say we'll hold it over here and we'll elaborate on this business jam more tomorrow wishing everyone a great day you've just experienced another torah class brought to you by torahanytime.com