The 13 Principles of Jewish Faith - Principle #6-7: Happy to be a Prophet - Rabbi Akiva Fox

[Music] continuing with our discussion of the sixth of the fundamentals of faith we were discussing prophecy the concepts of navarre the concept of being able to achieve prophecy and this is something as we've spoken before that there are certain requirements certain levels or order there's certain things that a person has to achieve first before he can come to prophesy again this is not for typical people like me and you we obviously from nonprofit organizations we can't achieve that but in those days when people were on the level they were able to achieve it so we discussed how one of the things is that they have to be completely in control over their evil inclination over the eight Sahara they have to be able to silence their own temptations and own desires in order to attach themselves to a Shem and in order to give over clearly what it is that God wants and in a certain sense each prophet had certain physical finite things that may have been in essence a certain barrier to prevent them from being able to connect or to completely understand the vision that they were given in prophecy and of course my share a banal Moses had the ultimate navulla the ultimate clarity and the ultimate connection because he was able to silence in essence his finite existence his physical body was something that was not an impediment he was the humblest of men he had no ego he had no self he was like a clear glass in front of the word emotion but the rambam my mom and you said something which is very fundamental and he says that one of the other requirements in order to achieve prophecy with simca was happiness he explains that this is why we often find that a prophet had musical instruments such as Devon amela such as King David with the Harper the violin or whatever it was this was in order to help them achieve simca happiness because happiness was a prerequisite with a complete requirement in order to achieve prophecy this is also something in essence that we find in the Torah itself yaakov aveeno Yakko our Father a poor father Jacob for 22 years when yo safe his son Joseph was away from him and he assumed that he was dead there were 22 years that he did not see any prophetic visions he did not have broccoli dish and this in part was because he was morning he was sad and saddened by his guns missing being missing so the fact that he wasn't able to have that simple that complete happiness was an impediment to achieving prophecy or connection on that level so let's try to analyze this a little bit because I believe that there's a very powerful message about life in general and about being happy and also and about understanding the essence of prophecy what does it mean to be happy what does it mean simca so there are things in life and make people happy Europe but it doesn't necessarily make them happy you can do something you can laugh you can watch something funny and laugh you have become happier perhaps it's temporary perhaps it'll last a little longer but what does it mean to be really happy so there's a line that is said I heard it from ref bum-rush achieve akhtar without you said people are searching for the city of happiness but they don't realize it's in the state of mind meaning happiness is something that has to be internal not external if you need to get happiness from something external such as god forbid substances or such as something else from outside that will give you that temporary feeling of happiness that is not true happiness so let's try to analyze exactly what it is to be happy what happiness is in the words of the Torah so let's go to the opposite let's play devil's advocate over here the opposite extreme of happiness is pain is depression entire the word sour in in in the Torah means somebody who is paying somebody who is depressed sar literally means sada crash literally means thin very docked very thin for example a knife that is used to chef to slaughter an animal has to be very sorry it has to be very thin because we don't want to cause pain to the animal so therefore SAR the more the knife is Cyrus been the less pain the finer cut it causes and it causes less pain sara is good the opposite of thing is broad so if a person is depressed if a person is sad or saddened his view the way he perceives the world around him is very thin it's very limited sometimes you see there's no way out or maybe there's only one way when a person is happy he brought in his horizons there is so much capabilities there is so much that can be done so far is the opposite of simcoe sin which is depression is the opposite of broad which is happiness this is what Devon I'm alex says into hillen min ha mates are from the depths but also from the words are from the silliness from being from feeling that there is nothing that will help karate call I call out to usm inany and you have answered Yash m America the marathon means you have broadened my perspective you have showed me that the whole world is open to me sometimes when a person is depressed he is so limited in his perception that he either sees no way out there he says the only way that I could see me getting out of this is with this way and it's so hard to achieve that's how a person perceives things when he is down when he's depressed when he is sad but when he is happy he realizes that the whole world has opened to him I can go this way I can go that way that's called a non-eu of answered museum America with breasts with unlimited unlimited options simcoe interestingly can be seen on a person's face in these very two aspects meaning when a person is sad he frowns his face is very limited his face is reduced and very thin when a person is smiles and he's happy weakness so his face broadens his just like his horizons broadened so his face bronze this is something that happens naturally even though we don't realize it that things just are opened up to somebody who's happy happiness in essence is opening your options this is why the gamarra says that some of the time before they would give shear before they would teach their students they would say something called a mill Sibley who so meaning a small joke it wasn't to get their attention now that I got your attention with why the chicken crossed the road ok listen as I give a discourse that wasn't the explanation there was a deeper explanation your mind the channels in your mind let's say are limited or are certain ones are opened when you're focusing on something with happiness you expand your horizons you open up more channels there's more options he wanted to open up their minds with happiness with a joke in order to let them be able to contain more so he opened up the vessels that are required to attain more knowledge and intellect by doing something that would bring them happiness because the essence of happiness is it expands your horizons it opens up your perception the view is so much more beautiful so much greater when there's happiness so in order for a Navi in order for a prophet to achieve prophecy which in essence as we've said is the connecting to the divine intellect to Hashem and to connecting through a much greater power that is not possible in essence from a finite state so the more options and the more the more valves that are open both in the mind and in our situation that allows a prophet to achieve much more in what he's going to contain so therefore says the rambam that one of the requirements for prophecy was that a person be happy and in other words the happiness would give him that broader picture would broaden his horizons would open his mind and his heart than his emotion to allow the divine to come in in a much greater way obviously unfortunately we are not at the level of being profits we are not at the level of having prophecy but one thing that we can learn from this from these words is the power of happiness the power of Simza if a person doesn't feel simple in in essence the shreena the divine presence is removed from him and if a person does feel simply is happy then the Divine Presence returns sometimes when we're at our wits end when we're down and out it's the hardest and the saddest moment of our life there are different things that could help but a person has to remind itself how important it is number one to try to get happy and never of course views outer influences but only inside as we said happiness is not anywhere but the state of mind but it's not only that it's always to remember that with God on your side if the accession Basim coarser mushroom with happiness the happiness is that your options are never limited there's always more than one way and that is the essence of belief in Russian belief in a Shen means that there's nothing that can't be done we see only one way out in our limited perception that's called SAR that's called pain but that's called sin it's a limited view it's very limited perception but always remember a non Eve America of caution can help me can answer my prayers in unlimited ways there's no limitations to the what Hashem can do we think the way we perceive the world one where bad we're down-and-out is there's nothing that could help me a person can be sick a person can be poor and he says there's no way out Hashem harbour solution lahmacun there's many messengers for God's will there's many ways than a shame could save you never limit your perception to the way that you see things always remember that there's a broader picture and that broader picture is the will of God Hashem so simply something that if we don't feel it and if we don't connect to it and we're feeling down and out and we're seeing the world in that thin perspective that doesn't give us any way out stop yourself right there and remember Hashem he could do anything Hashem he is the broadest has all the options in the world and there's nothing that could prevent him from helping me that's ill do a session Basim coaster wash em with happiness because happiness is unlimited help from a sham [Music]