Ten Minutes of Meaning (Part 141): A Chassid Must Practice Chessed - Mesillas Yesharim

good morning boca tov welcome back to our ten minutes of meaning weekly mesilas susharam the great ramhal ramosha khaim lutzatta has provided for us a magnificent and meaningful formula for how to be our best selves how to live our best lives i want to thank our generous serious sponsors for the year jeffrey gelb in memory of michigan avenue cohen thank you for your generosity also this morning my dear friends meera jeffrey gograb and family leadership was jeffrey's grandfather and framingham on his 34th year at site thank you to the go grabs for all that they do and for their friendship we continue chapter 19 we're on perik udtess of music the path for the just and as i said remo nutsato has been reminding us how we can live our best selves the formula for how to achieve the most in our lives how to live first with zahiris i know i repeat it each and every week but it's a reminder of what we're meant to be working on we don't skip right to the middle step we start from the beginning and we try to accumulate we try to add zeros mindfulness how to live a life of cautiousness how to be present in all of our thoughts all of our decisions all of our actions resist alacrity and zeal and enthusiasm and energy how to set goals and how to pursue them and how to make resolutions then we have the media of nikias how to recognize and identify the character traits and the qualities that are holding us back and that are weighing us down and the key is to purify ourselves to purge them to not even struggle with them to move them from the battlefield to the area of conquered territory precious how to live a life of discipline how we can prove that we can live with when we know that we've been able to live without that what we have the objects the items our material possessions do not define us and then tahara how to live a life of purity not only doing the right things but doing them for the right reasons and now this we have been studying about hasidis and as we've been saying facilities is not about a mode of dress a culture food way of speaking hasidis is an attitude and mentality the righteous individual goes above and beyond doesn't settle for good enough wants great the khasid like cares about others is selflessly devoted in the relationship with the people around him or her and with their creator and has been bringing evidence he's been bringing source after source to give examples of our great rabbis of our great righteous people who did not get away with the bare minimum who it wasn't good enough but always were striving to do more to do their best last week who wants to be a khasid how does one achieve how do you earn that title that appellation how is one determined to be a khasid so the first opinion like emily de brajos the first is master the world of making blessings you know when you eat food you might have worked hard you earned the money the income in order to go buy that food you purchased in the supermarket you bought at a restaurant yet delivered to your home but when you make a bracha you realize and recognize that you are the junior partner that in order to access that food in order to enjoy that sustenance the very life force that is going to keep us alive and sustain us we make a blessing we make abraham when we make a bracha we take what is an otherwise animal act of eating we take what is an otherwise material appetite and we turn it into something spiritual we turn it into something holy the hustle you want to be a khasid master the world of brachus brachos comes from the word of flow the chef abraham we reconnect everything to its source so that i don't just enjoy my my food i don't just enjoy my life as if it's divorced from god but rather i connect it i recognize through making a bracha when i say a blessing i am it's a bid for connection when i say abraham when i say a blessing i am remembering that hashem is the anchor he is the source he is the root of it all illah the second opinion is like mila de niziken master learn and study the rules of damages never injure another person don't injure or harm them in business don't injure or harm them socially don't speak gossip or slander don't forget to reciprocate an invitation don't ignore a text message or a voicemail zelema de venjero if we want to master being a khasid you want to be a righteous person you want to be selflessly devoted you want to go above and beyond interpersonally then understand and pledge promise and commit to never injure to never harm another person vomiting allah the third opinion is the third opinion is master pierce ethics of our fathers ethics of our fathers what does that have to do with me and god what does it have to do with me and others the answer is ethics of our fathers pirkei avos are it's a lesson plan parque elvis is a curriculum of medos how we can be our best selves how we can break through in our character growth how we can live the lives we're meant to live make the difference we're meant to make shashank and that is the world between us and ourselves so three opinions in that gemara how do you become a hasid what should one study what should one master in order to become a hasid the first opinion is miles de bras learn about blessings make a blessing see the world as a blessing recognize the blessings connect and attach to god selflessly said recognize and realize the source of it all and say thank you second opinion is milo de niziken interpersonally never hurt never damage never injure another party live a life of virtue interpersonally and the last is being and master ourselves the relationship we have with ourselves be kind to ourselves and grow in our medos and our character traits says being a person who volunteers a person who shows up a person who's loving and kind to others is a core it is central to what it means to be a khasid the word khasid and khasiddha's comes from the word so to be a hasid and to retreat to the corner of the basement of the shul to be a hussain and to be narcissistic egocentric to be to care only about yourself it's a contradiction you're not a hasid culturally you could be a khasid you can in wardrobe be a hasid but in personality and in character you cannot be a hasid if you don't practice it so when you hear someone else is in pain do you try to relieve them of that pain someone is struggling do you try to make their life a little bit better better when someone needs a pick-me-up are you the one who makes the phone call someone needs a meal do you drop it off do we have an inclination and an intuition to hesit because you can only really be a hasid if tells us that the world exists on three things and one of the three pillars that holds the whole world up is acts of love and kindness and this is what the mission in pay accounts the mission and pay we say every morning in our davening a fruit a person enjoys in this world but the capital endures for him in the world to come meaning the kickback the joy the benefit of doing for others we feel it in this world but the core of the principle of the investment we've made by being kind to others that is reserved for us the principle remains intact for the world to come vulnerable furthermore i said in the mission begins and act ends with acts of it is book book ended in with acts of khasid so that is so critically important we have to be righteous in our shuffling and davening we have to be vigilant in our observant of jewish law critically important non-negotiable they should be agenda and they should be goals for all of us but to be a hasid you want to be labeled righteous you want to meet that expectation you have to practice qasid we in our lives have to ask ourselves where is the chasse you know all of this by the way is contained in the acronym elul we are in the final days of the month of ello we are counting down and preparing to come before our maker on rosh hashanah and to make the argument hopefully compellingly and persuasively why he needs to bring us back another year elo is an acronym there's the relationship with god i'm to my beloved he is to me but there's also the inter-person who does ish do i practice kindness am i generous to others eloh stands for so many things then there's the relationship i have with myself in this week's parasha es la vache ello is an acronym for circumcising my heart and the heart of my children peeling back the layers that are preventing me from feeling from being inspired from a tender heart so all three of these realms in the relationship between man and god and the relationship between man and man and the relationship between man and himself or herself one has to one has to connect in these ways with hesed and furthermore we said if you have the following three character traits it is evidence that you descend you are the progeny of avraham by sean gomez compassion modesty blush and kindness doing acts of loving kindness showing up being of service to others is even greater than writing a check but um is just money now some people they would rather give their limbs their organs than give their money but it's just money you write the check you venmo you sell you transfer the money but it's begufo you've got to drive you've got to wake up you've got to lift you've got to carry you've got to cook you've got to work you've got to do to do acts of loving kindness to be of service is to give a greater resource namely ourselves stakalanim stock of charities for the poor give us but acts of loving kindness you know the rich person who's in the hospital still needs a visit the rich person who's sitting shiva still needs to be comforted you write a check money is for the living but we do for the living and for thee and for the dead so hasid is from khasid you cannot be accosted you cannot reach this level this level of the formula this step in self-actualization realization if we're not practicing so particularly this time of year when everyone's focused on our relationship with ourselves and our relationship with god don't omit don't leave out the relationship we have with others be of service to others be of service to your community 8 45 living with ammuna 9 o'clock tonight going behind the beam with sheryl sandberg the ceo of facebook to talk about her faith her endurance and resilience after her loss and so much more you can be notified real time every time we go live and learn all you have to do is hit the subscribe button here on youtube subscribe and you'll find that in real time when we are learning together to sponsor a future share brsonline.org sponsor beerusonline.org sponsor have a phenomenal day stay happy stay holy and stay happy holy and healthy