#12: Iggeres HaRamban (10 Minutes of Meaning) - Balancing Pride & Humility

good morning welcome back to 10 minutes of meeting please help yourself in the lobby to a hot or cold beverage 10 minutes of meeting series Journal respons by mother we are very indebted we are learning ran the letter that ran wrote to his son but really wrote to all of us a formula for living our best selves ran has been helping us conquer anger K and the best way to do it he says is not to address anger head on per se but to accustom to condition ourselves to always speak Bas to speak gently and kindly and sweetly and if we do if we condition ourselves then we'll find that we never in fact get angry the anger is replaced instead with will be filled with humility if we don't ever get angry if we don't me expect or demand that the world react and act according to our wishes then we'll be filled with a we live a modest and a humble life and that's theid that is the most admirable that is the highest that is the best of all the qualities we know that because even though mosh rinu had so many outstanding qualities that was the one singled out by Hashem for being the most and if a person is humble and a person lives life where they realize their place then they make room for Hashem then you can feel awe then you can feel reverence then you can feel and see hashem's hand everywhere then you have then you have all and this is what we're up to if a person places in their heart T not occasionally not every now and then not when it's convenient not When the Thought strikes them but tmid to every day be mindful and intentional to be thoughtful in thinking about where do you come from where do you come from we want to be so proud We want to feel independent and we want to think that we are the orbiters of our destiny we are responsible for our success we're tempted to see ourselves as independent beings so all we have to do is stop and think and be contemplative of May I in basa where do you come from you don't deserve credit for being here you are here because Hashem will you to be because your parents and your grandparents and your great-grandparents before where do we come from and where where are we going and the ran employs a very harsh language that if a person thinks about it no matter how much money fame or Fortune no matter how much influence no matter how much power you can't push off the inevitable which is death and taxes you can't maybe taxes you can't push off the inevitable which is death we're all dying from the day that we are born no one has lived learned to live forever we confront our mortality regularly where are we going that we are we're a worm we're worm food we're warm food we're going to be in the earth we're going to be pushing up daisies when after 120 please God if we Merit to live to live that long if we Merit to live that long I had a rebi in Israel became R Riva when he did he hung on the back of the door of his office if you Clos the door you'd see most time the time the door was open you didn't when he was alone he would close the door and the back of that door were hanging on a hanger burial shrouds when he was alone in that office and the door closed he wanted to see before he'd walk out before he'd open that door before he'd greet whomever would meet before he would receive the COV the honor of being a rash being a there were hanging on the door it's a reminder whatever covet whatever honor whatever Glory whatever you get in this world we're all going to the same place you can't push it off you can't delay you can't stop it it is inevitable and that mindfulness that Consciousness living life through that filter that where we come from our humble beginnings and where we're going to our humble ends will hopefully fill the years in between the dash between those years with a sense of humility as well that's why K said his commentary Garis brings who is a wealthy person I know you're thinking we're gonna get to that that's the Miss but says who's wealthy if you got a bathroom right off the dining room you are a blessed man now there's a lot to say on that particularly if you're of ashkanazi descent but we won't get into that but what does it mean why is that the definition of wealth now remember K authored that statement at a time in Antiquity where there were ouses you didn't have access it wasn't convenient but if you have a what does that mean soel interprets it if you have a dining room table that's filled with delic AES today this is a challenge in CLA is we're living in such prosperous times there's some unhealthy competitiveness and keeping up and people who can't afford and even if they can't afford but whatever shakeri boards and fancy kishes and Tequila Collections and fine wine and scotches a person is merits a dining room table it wasn't enough to have a plate and silverware now the plate has to sit on a charger and the charger has to fill a table that has a tablescape and all kinds of we've just keep upping the game what the table has to look like it's all chabas it's a beautiful thing spare me the emails it's a beautiful thing everyone who loves it enjoy it it's great Amazing Savings also has to stay in business it's beautiful but a person could sit at the dining room table and it can be filled with G as we're reading right now in you look out at the table it's filled with Delicacies you feel wealth you feel success you feel look at my collection know people who have the most outstanding wine collection C someone showed me not locally elsewhere in another Community a basement so you know it's not Florida and they had fancy wine refrigerators with expensive bottles said I didn't know you like fine wine he said I don't I don't drink any of it why do you have it it's a beautiful thing to be able to share with guests or to be able to to have that to be able to have access but the danger is you look at that wine fridge it's filled with the most expensive bottles and you say I earned I afford I have I can share I host I provide I gift so therefore you need something of Ana in order to be able to nullify in order to be able to offset the danger of the arrogance that could come so that's what me you know what the real wealth is when you have a when you realize that right next to your table whatever you could afford whatever you could host whatever you could provide whatever you could gift when you gotta go you gotta go like everybody else it's among the greatest humbling things hasem created the human being doesn't matter who you are and how much money you have when Nature Calls it calls and all the money in the world can't buy you the time to get where you need to go when Nature Calls the gift of of having the human Factory the most intricate delicate Factory Hashem created so what's you know what real wealth is the wealth is not Financial wealth the wealth is the wealth of perspective when you have when you have you have your table that could breed arrogance the B humbles when they're next to each other and offsetting each other and there's a balance between them ran tells his son remember where you come from and remember where you're going and remember that always place in your heart every day you wake up be proud of your accomplishments be proud of your material success enjoy the beauty of this world but pause and think about the beginning of your day and several times throughout where you come from where you're going have the humility as you operate and you live in this world and T to do so regularly means do so not only do so Vis God and do so Vis other people to live with that humility and to live with that modesty the ramban's balance here that he's describing is the balance that a Jew has to live with they see life through those two perspectives those two eyes on the one hand we're just below God this week's we're children of we're royalty we're Prince and princesses we're great God we're filled with greatness but off offsetting that balancing that the other eye so that we can see with perspective is sh simultaneously you're garnished you're a nothing you're pathetic you're a failure and we need to when a person feels pathetic they have to remember when a person feels a little too much I'm I'm a prince I'm a princess practically God okay relax buddy you're nothing you're pathetic you're future warm food and to live life with those two those two messages one in each pocket and knowing when to pull each one out to know B the whole world was created for me wow wow on the other hand to know off AER I'm simply of the Dust of the Earth been aish I am a nothing I am a nothing when a person could live with that t regular then then you'll realize you know what not only am I fure warm food I won't live here forever I confront my mortality where is eternity in the world to come and when I get to that place that world to come and live my eternity there I'm gonna have to give I'll be evaluated and judged by how I lived in this world before the king we'll talk about next week what's the difference between the when enter the next World we'll have to give is that redundant is it repetitive is that a synonym or are different meanings between those words before whom we'll have to give that will imbue our life in this world with greater meaning and greater purpose when we're thinking about the future when we con when we consider our future self it'll Inspire our present self to live it more fully it should be a day please God we hear BOS toos