Rabbi Minkowicz Weekly Torah Lesson Parsha VAYEIRA

it's time for Rabbi minkowitz weekly Torah lesson a place where life's most difficult questions are answered here with his spiritual perspective and insight Rabbi minkowitz welcome to this week's Torah lesson this week's Torah portion is partes bya the question of the week is what is the purpose of doing a Mitzvah when you're not in the mood so in this week's Torah portion par V we learn about Abraham who after he made his treaty whatever he so it says that AB went ahead and he planted an Asel Rashi tells us two opinions one opinion was that he planted an orchard that produced produce and then it says that he called in the name of God in other words and Rashi explains what mean he called in the name of God that means he inspired other people to call in the name of the God now why does it say both things in the same verse that he planted an orchard and he SP other people to call the name of God so Rashi explains that because he planted the orchard so he had produce so he used that produce to feed people AB had a guest house he invited people to his house and he fed them and by feeding them he in he caused them to to call out to God and to thank God how did he do that so Rashi says very simple Abraham is the exclusive uh hotel in the desert no other Hotel out there the only one that can provide people with food so they would come to him he would feed them with his uh tremendous abundance and then when they finished he would tell them thank God he's the one that created everything and they said no no no we don't believe in God we'll pay you he says really you want to pay and you give them this huge bill so they said hey Bill's too big he said no problem you can choose you can either pay or you can pray and they naturally chose to to pray and they thank God rather than paying the bill so the rebby asked a simple question these people had no interest in God they had no interest in thanking God or praying so the only reason why they were praying and thanking God was to avoid paying the bill so they really don't care about God they have no interest in God and the whole purpose was not to pay the bill so what did Abraham gain by asking them to pray he didn't accomplish anything and the rebbi explains a fascinating insight and he says like this the truth is that inherent in every single person is a love for God an acknowledgement for God for everything that God created in the world we're all internally connected with God the part of us that says I don't want to pray I want to pay don't bother me with God is not the real self it's the external self it's called a r it's called the shell that covers over who we really are so in other words what was Abraham doing Abraham was doing one thing he was breaking that outer part and reaching into to their inner part and the inner part did want to pray to God and thank God so in other words what is the purpose of praying and thanking God when you're not in the mood the purpose is because that is who you really are the fact that you don't want to that's your external self just to finish off there's a story with the um Reb rashab that once a came for a specific need and presented his need to the rebi and the reie said I'm sorry I can't help you this what you're asking for there's no way I can give you a blessing for it so the felt very very bad and walked out of the's room and broke out into a sobbing tear and cried for a long period of time and when they finished crying he came back to he said rebby you think you can you think maybe you can bless me and Debby says yes I can so they asked the simple question what happened if the Reb what happened all of a sudden the rebie found the blessing before he couldn't now he could and they explained it very simple before when the came to rebi he had no relationship with God so therefore how can he give him a blessing but once he realized oh my gosh he can't get anything so then he developed Naturally by his crying he turned to God and once he turned to God then he was able to give him the blessing that he needed so in other words the rebi by not blessing him not because he didn't want to because it was no blessing because he the external was covering the internal and by allowing him to break off the external disconnect he was able to create that internal connection with God so to answer the question what is the purpose when you're praying and doing a mitah if you're not in the mood is because that's who you really are this week's Torah lesson is dedicated to the memory of Bor B and schomo yose may their souls be elevated by the Torah we're studying in their memory thanks so much for joining us for our weekly Torah lesson for more information about kabad please visit our website a [Music]