Shovavim: The 6 Weeks That Can Change Your Soul - Rabbi Moshe Borger

Uh we're now in the period of chauvin. Shaveim is the six weeks spanning from Shamos until Mishbatim. Those six Torah portions. And it's a very very powerful time. In fact, it's brought in the writings of the Arizal of the Shaloh Kadosh and the Mid Mearim, which is actually written by the uh of Yseph Cairo is actually a collection of his learning, his discussions together with an angel, believe it or not. Uh and he uh he asks all kinds of interesting questions and one of the topics that he discusses over there is shove him, the power of these six weeks. An interesting thing about chauvinim is that the word chauv as any Israeli parent knows means naughty cheeky. It means a child that is being insolent who's weward who's gone away from the path of his parents. So this time this period is a time where we're actually supposed to be working on ourselves. And what are we working on? Well, we're working on exactly what the Jewish people were working on when they were in Egypt. In Egypt, we were enslaved. We were enslaved in a land of immorality. We're enslaved in a land of witchcraft. We were we had no time in our homes when it was actually light. They used to take us out as slaves to the to the to the to the to build the pyramids even before it was daytime. And then they used to take us back home only when it was already night. So we never saw light in our homes. So we're lacking we're lacking light. We're lacking clarity. We're lacking holiness at this time says the it's a time when we really need to be purifying ourselves. It's a time of making an account especially when it comes to holiness whether it's family purity whether it's holiness in our thoughts whether it's guarding our eyes and anything else any other area that's to do with kadusha with holiness is actually really the foundation of all of the service of Hashem is really actually being holy called the holy nation And what does holy mean? So for explains that holy actually means means separation. On the other hand, it also means cleaving closeness. And therefore the idea of holiness is detaching ourselves from anything impure and connecting ourselves to the ultimate purity to ultimate holiness to connecting ourselves to Hashem. Rabugasi shares over here what we need to do. How do we let go? How do we let go of our sins? How do we change ourselves? Especially in a world where there's so much impurity, immorality all around us. It's just accepted. It's just a given that people are just not going to be faithful in their relationships. It's just a given that young people will be experimenting in all kinds of different activities and not appropriate for them. They're usually supposed to be saved for marriage. What do we do? How do we change ourselves? What's the what's the answer? The answer is that we need to get clarity. We need to get knowledge in this period that we're reading about. We were slaves and the one thing that we were lacking over there in Egypt was dat. We didn't have clarity. We don't have clarity. And your mind is not thinking about the right things. is not focused on the right things then naturally it gets distracted and it gets pulled away and it gets pulled down gets pulled down into improper thoughts. So what do we do? How do we change that? Well, one thing is that we need to work on our because when you don't have clarity and you don't have knowledge, it means that we're in some way we're detached. We're detached from Hashem. So we have to recoot ourselves. We have to recalibrate and get ourselves back to getting connected to Hashem. It was during this time during this period that we were building up our faith, our amuna and Hashem. And that's what we need to be doing also at this time. It's an interesting thing that they say actually in Egypt says many times regarding the plagues says Hashem says the Egyptian should know that I am Hashem. Is this trying to tell us that the Egyptians were supposed to be repenting? Was the purpose of all the plagues for them? The answer is it was really on the one hand it was actually it was an atonement was a was a a kapora a punishment for them for what they did to us measure for measure but on the other hand it's really for us he's coming to teach us an amazing idea that when we have clarity of godliness in our lives when we have clarity of who we're supposed to be married to clarity of how we're supposed to live our lives, what's supposed to be on our minds. It's something which can spread all the way through. It can go all the way down to everybody even to the lowest places. It can have an effect. It can influence you can influence other people by the way that you behave. So there was a story that there was a a man who was walking across dies and he spotted a young yeshiva student was making his way across but he was just he was he was very perplexed because this stu this student was keeping his eyes on the ground. It was during the summer and he was wondering why is he not looking at all the amazing attractions around him and he followed him and he followed him. Eventually he walked into a building. He followed him in there. They walked into a shaw and he he confronted the young man. He said, "I don't understand what's going on. Why why are you looking down the ground?" And he said said because we're told in the Torah, you shall not tarry after your eyes and after your heart. She says, "So yes, of course I have a desire. Of course, I have a will to want to go and look at all the young ladies around me, but I'm not going to do it. I have self-control." And this man was so inspired, they began learning together. And eventually this man went on to become the head of the organization was Wallace and he actually went on and he's inspired tens of thousands of Jews around the world through his work through his teaching and it all happened because of this one young man who was being careful about guarding his eyes. So how how can we do it practically? Sometimes we look at ourselves and we wonder, have we ever changed? Are we really different? The years have passed five years, 10 years. Are we any different? Are we any holier? So one of the best things that we can really do at this time says Rabbasi is actually to take upon ourselves to be humble, not to get angry. Anger comes from discontentment. Anger comes from not getting our way. Anger comes from not feeling that we're as great as we can be. This is the opposite of subjugating ourselves to God, of having faith that everything is really good. and and more and more good. This is one of the greatest greatest things that we can do if we truly want to change. People ask, "What do I need to fix up? What can I change rabbi? How can I be different?" And the answer is, says Raugasi is we need to do chuba. We need to do chuba. But how do we do that? There are people by the way at this time that take upon themselves to fast. I actually have one student was pretty crazy. He fasted day many days. Now obviously was he was he was eating and drinking at night but uh but during the days he was fasting for weeks on end. It's an unbelievable thing. Um not for the faint-hearted but he did it. That's all very good. It's very very amazing. But what is the thing that we can truly fix up on our insides? That is to be humble and to remove the anger from our hearts. And if in these six weeks we can truly focus on this and strengthen ourselves and not respond to other people when they try to upset us. Then we'll come to a true expression. But we'll see that the anger begins to dissipate. When we're able to swallow, swallow our prides, to be to give in, to hold back, and also to do something real. Do something real when there's opportunity to show to express to other people that we truly are humble, to humble ourselves to other people. The main purpose by the way of Yahara is he wants to cause you to sin. But it's not only the sin itself that he desires in doing his good job. He's very good at his job. But much more serious about much more serious than the sin itself is what it does to the person that it turns them away, degrades them and it often gets them onto a slippery slope. It gets us onto a slippery slippery slope and we go down and down. We have to pull ourselves up. But the Yates mainly gains that is that he closes us up because when we sin those deficiencies, those missed opportunities actually they block up our heart and they block up our minds. But when we do chuba, we're able to take that away and then we can change ourselves. Therefore, in order for us to go and fix up our minds, what we need to do is to strengthen the attributes of another humility. Who had the greatest humility? Who was the most humble man on the face of the earth? was Mosherenu. And I ask asked an amazing question. He says that there was a med that says that Paroid discovered that Moshe was from the tribe of Ley and he was so overjoyed when he heard this. Why was he happy that Moshe was a Levite? The reason is because the Levine were excluded from slavery. Sara thoughts if the redeemer is going to come from the tribe, the greatest tribe, it could be at that point he understood that if he's going to grow up in the king's palace, he's going to feel he's greater than everybody else. He's going to feel that he's better than everybody else. In which case, he will never come. He will never try to help the other people. And that's where Porro was right and he was so wrong. Para is right because for most people, for many of us, living a life of luxury means that a person looks down on other people that are poor, they're not not as privileged as they are. But where he was wrong, so wrong is that Mosher Rabenu and actually so many of us. One of the attributes that a Jew has is being shim being being humble being and being given being merciful. Mosher Raenu when he saw his brothers being afflicted even though he was a prince at the time it says he saw their suffering and Rashi tells us what does that mean? It means that he gave over his eyes and his heart to be in pain over them. He was pained over the suffering of his brothers and his sisters. He couldn't bear to see it. Even when he was away in Midian, when he ran away, he was in terrible pain over the terrible affliction that his brothers were going through. That's what we have to do. And that's what we have to be. And if we do that, then we'll be able to use these six weeks well. And who knows what holiness and greatness and redemption will come from that. Please God. coming very soon in our days. Amen.