Sefiras HaOmer - What is a Stradivarius? {Torah Illuminated Series}

foreign [Music] what is a Stradivarius a Stradivarius is an instrument made by Antonio stradivari an Italian born in 1644 who died in 1737. stradivari was a luthier a maker of stringed instrument guitar cello violin during his lifetime he crafted more than 1100 instruments and of those 540 violins 50 cellos and 12 violas are still in existence a Stradivarius produces magical tones unequaled by other instruments many luthiers have attempted to reproduce the sound of the Stradivarius but none have been able to exceed and over the years historians researchers have analyzed what exactly is responsible for the production of these magical tones and they've come up with various theories some claim it was the wood that stradivari used others say it was the varnish and still others believe it was the Waters of cremona which was the key ingredient in producing the Stradivarius one of the most renowned musicians violinist today Joshua Bell who would play Stradivarius and about 15 years ago The Washington Post arranged an intriguing little experiment to test how people react to unexpected out-of-context art so they commissioned Joshua Bell to play in a Washington DC subway station to bring his Stradivarius with him now ordinarily Joshua Bell earns one thousand dollars a minute Bell played for 45 minutes during which time more than a thousand people passed by but in the 45 minutes that Bell played in the subway station only 27 out of the 1075 passerbys threw a donation in his violin case netting a grand total of 32 dollars and this experiment created a tremendous sensation scores of Articles were written to try to explain what what happened here can people not recognize Quality Art on their own why would people shell out more than a hundred dollars to hear Joshua Bell play and not even stop and listen when he plays for free does cost add value to something or is it all part of our herd mentality but I believe there's a very important facet of human nature at play over here and that is no matter how inspiring how breathtaking how powerful an experience may be it is very difficult for the human mind for the soul for the heart for the emotions to derive any benefit from it to be moved by it to appreciate it without without preparation the benefits reaped from any meaningful experience in life is usually commensurate with the preparation that was put in to getting ready for that experience otherwise the most majestic meaningful experience in this world could be completely lost even the music of the greatest musician is lost to one who is not prepared to listen to it and if this is true in the physical world it is all the more true in the spiritual world we all know how difficult it is to have cavana baidavening and there are many reasons for it but one of the important reasons for it is we sort of allow ourselves to fall into it maybe we'll come slightly late or even if we come on time or early but if it's just a function of punctuality and personality and we don't mentally prepare ourselves to get ready for the experience one can Daven for 15 minutes or an entire chakras and derive very little spiritual benefit from it and one of the important reasons is because we are not properly prepared to experience the mitzvah but if a person would reflect even momentarily what they're about to do what they're about to Embark upon just to mentally prepare one's oneself I'm about to Daven chakras I'm standing before the creator of the world I'm offering the Fila that was enacted by avraham avino I am humbling myself elevating my Creator I'm about to thank him for all the benefits of life that would drastically transform our entire service writes in the perak yazayan without one's mind settled with the ability to contemplate what one is doing rather one must prepare oneself for the manner and prepare one's heart the muscle and patiently to enter the performance of the Mitzvah with contemplation classes then one will contemplate what they're about to do Philippine classes and before whom he's performing the ACT no there's an interesting you xiaomi kadushan the usami makes an astounding comment the xiaomi says what is considered the easiest Mitzvah the smallest Mitzvah on the totem pole of Mitzvahs the you xiaomi says [Music] where you encounter young chicks or an egg and you send away the mother and you take the eggs this is considered the most cow the smallest of all the Mitzvahs why is this Mitzvah considered the easiest of all the Mitzvahs the least significant how could we say such a thing nowadays people would pay a lot of money for the opportunity to fulfill the midst of how is it the smallest of all the mitzvahs and the spasmus explains that the reason is because there's one ingredient that is never present in the midst of and that is there is no it's only when you encounter it by chance but there's never preparation and without preparation the Mitzvah is dramatically lowered and mitigated now let's think for a moment what is the most momentous occasion the most Monumental event in the history of the Jewish people certainly it was the giving of the satira it's the most important event in the history of the whole world divine revelation to an entire people and therefore the um which commemorates the giving of the Torah is in a way the grandest opportunity we have the whole year to connect with and if that is the case and if the more important something is the more preparation it needs then if the antif of sukis let's say we only have a few days to prepare and if the umptive of pesach we have 30 days we start to prepare for pesach already for him then for the umptive of which is the most momentous occasion of the year a few days will not suffice 30 days will not suffice now it becomes clear why the period of sphere is needed to adequately prepare for the antifa because what we're able to gain from any spiritual experience in life is commensurate with the preparation we put into it let us take advantage of this period of to prepare ourselves to elevate our dedication to learning our focus on learning not to allow ourselves to be distracted to give it the Primacy of our attention to learn with the proper sanctity to to acquire the Midas mentioned in perkiyavas which are the ways to acquire Tyra the more preparation we put in for the greatest day of the year the more we will achieve on the of us this period of will help us adequately take advantage of the great day of matantaira wishing everyone a wonderful week and our quest to prepare for Kabbalah [Music] foreign [Music]