The Path to Success: Prepare, Elevate, and Succeed - Rabbi Daniel Glatstein

[Music] what is a Stratovarius the Stratovarius is an instrument made by Antonio Strater an Italian born in 1644 who died in 1737 stradavar was a luier a maker of stringed instrument guitar cello violin during his lifetime he crafted more than 1100 instruments and of those 540 violins 50 cellos and 12 violas are still in existence a Stratovarius produces magical tones unequaled by other instruments many luers have attempted to reproduce the sound of the Strat of Aras but none have been able to exceed and over the years historians researchers have analyzed what exactly is responsible for the production of these magical tones and they've come up with various theories some claim it was the wood that stav used others say it was the varnish and still others believe it was the Waters of Crona which was the key ingredient in producing the Strat of Aras one of the most renowned musicians violinist today Joshua Bell who would play Stratovarius in about 15 years ago the Washington Post arranged an intriguing little experiment to test how people react to unexpected outof context art so they commissioned Joshua Bell to play in a Washington DC subway station to bring his Strat of varus with him now ordinarily Joshua Bell earns $1,000 a minute Bell played for 45 minutes during which time more than a thousand people passed by but in the 45 minutes that Bell played in the subway station only 27 out of the 1,075 passerbys threw a donation in his violin case netting a grand total of $32 and this experiment created a unex a tremendous sensation scores of articles are written to try to explain what what happened here can people not recognize Quality Art on their own why would people shell out more than $100 to hear Joshua Bell play and not even stop and listen when he plays for free does cost add value to something or is it all part of our herd mentality but I believe there's a very important facet of human nature at play over here and that is no matter how inspiring how breathtaking how powerful an experience may be it is very difficult for the human mind for the soul for the heart for the emotions to derive any benefit from it to be moved by it to appreciate it without H without preparation the benefits reaped from any meaningful experience in life is usually commensurate with the preparation that was put in to getting ready for that experience otherwise the most majestic meaningful experience in this world could be completely lost even the music of the greatest musician is lost to one who is not prepared to listen to it and if this is true in the physical world it is all the more true in the spiritual world we all know how difficult it is to have kavana Bing and there are many reasons for it but one of the important reasons for it is we sort of allow ourselves to fall into it maybe we'll come slightly late or even if we come on time or early but if it's just a function of punctuality and personality and we don't mentally prepare ourselves to get ready for the Experience One kaven for 15 minutes or an entire shakas and derive very little spiritual benefit from it and one of the important reasons is because we are not properly prepared to experience the Mitzvah but if a person would reflect even momentarily what they're about to do what they're about to Embark upon just to mentally prepare on oneself I'm about to D shakas I'm standing before the creator of the world I'm offering the that was enacted by Abraham ainu I am humbling myself elevating my Creator I'm about to thank him for all the benefits of life that would drastically transform our entire service writes in the per says one should not enter a Mitzvah suddenly without one's mind settled with the ability to contemplate what one is doing rather one must prepare oneself for the matter and prepare one's heart patiently to enter the performance of the Mitzvah with contemplation then one will contemplate what they're about to do and before whom he's performing the act now there's an interesting thei makes an astounding comment thei says what is considered the easiest Mitzvah the smallest Mitzvah on the totem of says [Music] the smallest of all mitv is where you encounter young chicks or an egg and you send away the mother and you take the eggs this is considered the most C the smallest of all the Mitzvah why is this Mitzvah considered the easiest of all the Mitzvah the least significant how could we say such a thing nowadays people would pay a lot of money for the opportunity to fulfill the Mitzvah how is it the smallest of all the Mitzvah and this Fus explains that the reason is because there's one ingredient that is never present in the M of and that is there is no it's it's only when you encounter it by chance but there's never preparation and with that preparation the Mitzvah is dramatically lowered and mitigated now let's think for a moment what is the most momentous occasion the most Monumental event in the history of the Jewish people certainly it was the giving of the T it's the most important event in the history of the whole world divine revelation to an entire people and therefore the Y of which commemorates the giving of the T is in a way the mo the grandest opportunity we have the whole year to connect withes and if that is the case and if the more important something is the more preparation it needs then if the let's say we only have a few days to prepare and if the of we have 30 days we start to prepare for p already then for the which is the most momentous occasion of the year a few days will not suffice 30 days will not suffice now it becomes clear why the period of is needed to adequately prepare for the because what we're able to gain from any spiritual experience in life is commensurate with the preparation we put into it let us take advantage of this period of to prepare ourselves to elevate our dedication to learning our focus on learning not to allow ourselves to be distracted to give it the Primacy of our attention to learn with the proper sanctity to to acquire the mid mentioned in per which are the ways to acquire Tyra the more preparation we put in for the greatest day of the year the more we will achieve on the of this period of will help us adequately take advantage of the great day of mat wishing everyone a wonderful week and in our quest to prepare for cab [Music]