Sefiras HaOmer: What is a Stradivarius?

this Torah class is brought to you by Torah anytime.com what is a stradavarius a Stratovarius is a instrument made by an Italian Antonio Strater who was born in Italy in 1644 and died in 1737 stav was a luier which means he was a maker of string instruments such as violin cello guitar during his lifetime he crafted more than 1100 100 instruments and of those we still have today 540 violins 50 cellos and 12 violas aarius produces magical tones unequaled by other instruments many luers have attempted to reproduce the exact sound but none have succeeded over the years many historians and researchers have come up with various theories as to why the Strat of various producers is such exceptional sound some claim it was the wood stav used others say it was the varnish and still others believe it was the Waters of Crona the city that Strat lived one of the world-renowned violinists today is Joshua Bell who plays the Stratovarius and about 80 years ago the Washington Post arranged an intriguing little experiment to see how people react to unexpected outof context art so they commissioned Joshua Bell to stand in Washington DC at a subway station and play classical music ordinarily when Belle gives a recital he earns about $1,000 a minute Belle played for 45 minutes during which time more than 1,000 people passed by but in those 45 minutes that he played only 27 out of the 1,075 passer by only 27 of them threw a donation into his violin case netting him a grand total grand total of $32 now this experiment experiment created a tremendous sensation scores of Articles were written about the experiment can people not recognize the quality of Fine Art on their own why would people shell out upward of $1,000 a ticket to hear Joshua B play but not stop and listen to the music when it was free does cost add to value does charging more money add to value is it all part of our herd mentality but I believe that we see a very important facet of human nature from this experiment and that is no matter how inspiring how breathtaking how powerful an experience may be no matter how magnificent it is very difficult for a human being to derive any benefit from it to be moved by it to appreciate it without preparation the benefits that are reaped from any meaningful experience in life is usually commensurate with the preparation that was put into getting ready for that experience otherwise the most majestic and meaningful opportunities are completely lost even the music of the greatest musician is is lost on those who listen to it unprepared and if this is true in the physical world then this is even more true in the spiritual world we all know how difficult it is to have kavana by daving we all would admit that we would like daving to be a more meaningful and significant experience for us our leaves what to be desired and one of the important reasons why is we sort of fall into it maybe not being timely but even if we are timely when that for comes we sort of just begin without the proper preparation but if someone would come a minute early a moment early with the mental attitude of preparation for what one is about to do it will transform the entire character of the and the truth is if a person would reflect momentarily before any Mitzvah and just mentally prepare for what one is about to do I'm about to Beal it would be completely different Mitzvah tells us in in advises us do not enter a suddenly where your mind has not settled yet with the opportunity to think about what you're doing if a person just falls into a Mitzvah and quickly puts on t f in it is not possible for the human mind to absorb what they're doing one should prepare themselves and prepare one's heart with patience until one is able to reflect with the opportunity to think what you're doing and before whom you're doing [Music] it makes an astounding statement thei says what is considered the easiest Mitzvah the Mitzvah that on the totem pole is the smallest of all the Mitzvah says the mitvah that is smallest of all the 613 is sending the mother away and then taking the eggs that's considered the most C of all the mitz why is this Mitzvah the easiest why would this Mitzvah be the least significant today nowadays people would pay a lot of money for the opportunity to I just saw in the Chinese auction booklet one of the grand prizes that they're giving out is the opportunity to fulfill sh with your very own photographer why would sh be the easiest of all the Mitzvah says the is the one Mitzvah you can't prepare for it's K if you chance upon it you can't set up the situation it's only if you happen to see it and in life and certainly from by mitz the main benefit one gets is only with preparation and therefore of all the Mitzvah in the the Mitzvah which is the lightest the the most Cal is the one Mitzvah you can prepare for T tells us in this week should take on the first day obviously referring to the first day of suus but the the medish is bothered everywhere in the toy and it talks about the it gives you the date of the month it says the first day of the 10th day of the 15 of why would it say about it's the first day it's not the first day it's the 15th day says the med you know what it means by it's the first opportunity to sin Su the first day of sukus is the first opportunity to sin you see rash the says the are fasting people are doing then you have rash who's going to sit on rash then you have people are busy like after y everyone's running to get their L to put up the Su during the four days between yum and Su people are busy in the preparations for the yff and finally you get home the first night of sukus the first day of sukus you sit back ah now I could kick back and sin [Music] it's the first opportunity to S the says about the he's the greatest of all the one time the in the 17th century the Taza city was surrounded by pki and the Taz is leading the tior in prayer he's and he faints and he has a dream and shows him in a dream the I will protect the city in the Merit of my servant of it referring to the Tas there's something very suspicious over here if Jews are not going to sin during the four days between Y and suus because they're preparing for the MIT of and Suka if preparation for the Mitzvah is going to protect from sinning then the more so the actual performance of the Mitzvah over suus will will prevent the Jew from sinning why would the first day of be if you're not going to sin before you're not going to sin on the why would the preparations of the mitah be greater the day itself comes along the sh page 176 says it is not farfetched it is quite reasonable preparing for azv is more powerful more potent more of a Salvation from sin than the Mitzvah itself and therefore just because preparing for a MIT May prevent the Jew from sinning that doesn't necessarily indicate that the actual performance of the Mitzvah could prepare could prevent the Jew from sinning preparation is the maximum benefit that's the best way to benefit from a Mitzvah there's a famous comment that R Sal once made in one of his Chas an observation he had that he used to say in America we have what is known as the phenomenon of shab we have Sabbath observant Jews but say Sal it is not for the Sabbath that my heart aches it is for the Forgotten Arab shabas yes there are many sh shabas in America but there are no Arab shabas Jews who go out to greet the chabas with beating hearts and pulsating Souls what do we do on Arab chabas we're running even as the days are getting longer but we just stuff more into our day and inevitably we're scrambling until the last moment so yes we make it to we observe the shabus but we're lacking in the preparation we're lacking in the anticipation and the yearning and the waiting and the greeting of the shabas and the maximum benefit that will be derived from shabas is in preparing for shabas another example on the day that constructed the the Mish says says the what's says the medish give you an example the medish says it's like a husband who doesn't get along with his wife so he gives her tasks to do to keep her occupied so they don't fight but as soon as she's done with it the husband says o what am I going to do now so too says the medish Hashem saw what did with the AEL he was angry at us so he gave us something to be busy with the making of the mishan but now that the mishan was over the says wait a second if preparing for the Mish is going to protect us from sin all the more so the actual service of the M if the H is powerful enough won't the performance of the MIT in in the Mish protect us says preparing for something has more of an impact has more of an influence has more of a protection than the Mitzvah itself just like we say when it comes to Su the first day of suus is because what the preparation could do to a the performance of a Mitzvah won't necessarily do and therefore when we think what is the most momentous occasion the most monumental event in the history of the Jewish people it was certainly the giving of the T the most important event in the history of the world and therefore the of which commemorates the giving of the Tyra is one of our greatest opportunities that we have the entire year to connect with thean Islam this then should give us a completely new appreciation for the importance of because the more you put into something the more you reap you know why the k shabas lasts until Tuesday you know why you could continue to make hav until the end of Tuesday because we prepare for shabas from the beginning on Wednesday Wednesday already in the we say you put three days into shabas you could reap three days out of shabas and if you want to maximize the benefit that you will reap from the what we know to prepare for a suus you need four days we know to prepare for a 30 days but four days and 30 days is not enough for because we're trying to maximize the experience of our Rand with re and therefore 4 days is not enough 30 days is not enough we need almost two months seven weeks here we are we're already two weeks before the of it's our last opportunity to try to prepare and enhance our connection to Tyra perhaps add more learning to our schedule perhaps to try to take advantage more of our learning opportunities maybe to take notes maybe to think about it during the day maybe to takeen more serious theam has already set up the system of the 49 days of preparation but it is our responsibility to take advantage of these days in order to maximize the spiritual benefit in order to maximize the spiritual energy that a is able to reap and we will be able to reap you've just experienced another Torah class brought to you by Torah anytime.com