Ten Minutes of Meaning (Part 118): Not For Everyone - Mesillas Yesharim

good morning i'm boker tova and welcome back to our weekly 10 minutes of a meeting in only 10 minutes we are trying to cover the entire messiest yashan the path of the joshua lutzatto is giving us the formula the prescription for how to live a meaningful life a mindful life how to become the better or the best version of ourselves in just 10 minutes i want to thank our generous sponsors for this series for the year lenny and connie grinstein in memory of mr iron tambour aron ben yitzhak hani's beloved father thank you so much for your generosity and for your sponsorship to sponsor an episode of minutes of meeting please email lee at brsonline.org leadpiersonline.org we are still doing our brs online global campaign join the movement if you enjoy our classes our programs our writings uh our panels please go to brsonline.org global and join our movement support our efforts and lastly if you're enjoying or watching on youtube take a moment to press subscribe and be notified in real time every time we go live with the next class or learning opportunity we are in the media of precious we are learning about the quality of asceticism transcendence how to live a life where we are not defined by what we have we are not defined by our material possessions but we've proven to ourselves to hashem to those around us that we can live without them that's why we are entitled to live with them that we eat to live we don't live to eat and similarly the car takes us from point a to point b it doesn't define who we are it doesn't represent our status it doesn't impact or our happiness and it shouldn't then tish of atomic so if these things are bad for us if a person we talked about not over indulging in eating even if it's kosher food and even if you make a bracha not to over indulge in the act of eating but if the eating is permissible then what's the problem why do we have to withdraw why do we have to abstain if the torah defines it as something which is permissible to us then what's the problem we're similarly vacationing strolling spending leisure time recreation time recreation activities following sports for example all these other things if in fact there's nothing wrong with it then or if there's something rather wrong with it and the toro is endorsing living without then why didn't it prohibit it says the answer is clear explicit navies only enacted prohibitions or boundaries if they anticipated most people could observe them but if they recognized in advance that most people would struggle they'd be unable ain't robots the truth is this is all an extra layer this is an obligated the torah clearly delineates this is permissible and this is forbidden and therefore protect yourself and behave in a way that you are avoiding that which is forbidden and you are living a righteous life don't look back don't feel bad but this next level of hasidus this next level of living a life of transcendence of abstinence of living a life of of a holiness because one is not indulging or overindulging even in that which is permissible but that which further connects us to our physicality and to our material selves that is a level of hasidis the level of piety it's not obligated it's not expected and therefore since most people are incapable it won't be able to consistently stick with it that's why our rabbis did not officially did not officially enact it and so again to be very clear on this media of preachers the media preachers is not telling us that we can't enjoy the beautiful benefits of life the torah is the ultimate document that teaches us how to navigate our way through this world that's filled with pleasures food is delicious i'm a foodie i love food it's pleasurable the sights the sounds the flavors delicious however it cannot be what drives us and therefore only when we proven that we don't need it that we can live without it can we engage it and the same is true with every physical pleasure there is because the single individuals among the nation who desire to attain that closeness to hashem the person who's trying to live that level on that plane that yes they're a body and yes they're operating in the physical world that's how we were created that's where we were placed and we have no choice but you know what to the best degree possible i'm going to define myself by my soul not by my body it's a level to aspire to it's an ambition that we can have but it's not an expectation or a demand of us it's for the school it's for the righteous individuals it's for the few that we turn to and that we look at and that we therefore know that that is a possibility hey man cedric i appreciate it not everybody's equal and not everybody could live the same way quiet but madrigos madre goes people are on different levels and we're climbing that ladder we're not running up a ramp and we're not competing because as we climb that ladder it's not a question of what rung we're on but it's a question of where we started and where are we now there are people on a ring on a ladder of 100 rungs they started on the 90th rung the parents they were born into the family the capability and capacity that they have they were born on the 90th rung with all the opportunity in the world but you know what in their life they've gone down to the 80th or the 70th and there are people who are born on the 20th rung and they've made their way all up to the 30th of the 40th and so if you looked objectively and you measured if you did a side by side comparison you'd say one is clearly lower than the other but that's not how we're judged in shaman it's not the way the almighty looks at us less concerned with what which wrong we're on much more concerned with which direction we're heading is so again it's not a level that we're with that's demanded or expected so why are we studying it why are we learning it why are we reading it because just to know it's a possibility inspires it motivates us to dig a little deeper and to try a little harder and to improve just a little bit more lahavdil lahavdil if you've ever read a book about a navy seal the biography about a commando or a navy seal the israeli army the american army it doesn't mean that you're ready to drop what you're doing and join a sealed unit it doesn't mean that you could even survive the seal training but simply reading their story motivates inspires and uplifts us kenyan should darshan love the way our rabbis taught us there are four types of species in the four minim that we take on sukkas the lulu of the estra kadasama are ravos and they represent the fourth type of jew and we put them together and why do we put them together about why are they taken in one unit because one complements the other and the same is truth with people and with jews we complement one another so again all that we're studying striving for this level of piety where i don't over indulge in this world and i say yes it's permissible but just because it's permissible doesn't mean i have to have it i don't want it to define me we talk about this in the world of righteousness and piety based on torah but it doesn't have to be torah it doesn't only have to be torah there are incredibly wealthy individuals in the non-jewish world who live without who there are stories done about them that they're still living in that same home and they're still driving that old car with a hundred thousand miles on it warren buffett warren buffett famously lives a very modest life he is a billionaire he could indulge in over-indulge in every luxury that he known to man without making a dent in his net worth or impacting the lives of a great-great-great grandchildren so why doesn't he why is he living modestly in the same ranch home why is he driving the same car because he's proving to himself that while he is successful and strives for greater success those resources can be used towards achieving a greater good and it doesn't have to be the over indulgence that won't define the money doesn't define him it's just a peace and a part of who he is harmful abstinence resembles the way of fools there's a very fine line between the healthy abstinence it's a very fine line between abstaining from the things that we don't need and that can corrupt and can cloud our thinking and can corrupt our priorities and an unhealthy absence from the things that are our very life source that we desperately need that keep us stable stable and provide our equilibrium our rabbis have taught us that you're not allowed to mortify yourself in other words don't starve yourself don't fast to the point that you are malnourished dangerous similarly with sleep don't get so little sleep even if you're staying awake for noble reasons to the point that you are endangering your well-being in stockholm don't live such a frugal life don't give away all your money to the point that you need to rely on charity yourself with our lives protect and preserve our health don't compromise our health vulnerable yoshi bitterness if you are perpetually fasting even if it's because you're trying to prove that you don't need food if you are you