Thought for the Week Parshas Mishpotim On a Mission, Rabbi Yaakov Winner -5784

the first how are you I hope everyone is hope everyone is healthy strong and happy physically and spiritually as usual for the past couple of months our hearts and minds are with our brothers and sisters and we're adding ster so and in general meant to give for two days should come now we'll say a prayer as usual we said this today in daving is part of he raises the poor from the Dust lifts the destitute from the trash he as long as there's one year go and we're all Inus we're all dull we're all dull we're poor compared to itself if even one brother or sister is a hostage or even one brother or sister suffering in general then we're all poor whatever happens to one year affects the entire nation and we're asking the to bring M now no you should feel any pain whatsoever on any level the war should be over immediately similar to the saying we [Music] say and then we say look at our situation and conditions where we're poor we're lacking and we need help now this week's is as everyone knows the Pasha which talks about civil laws social laws and in a way you could ask a simple question the Paradox last week we had the greatest Revelation it's called revelation so it's spiritual mystical Etc Celestial call it what you want and then the next p and we start talking about these mundane things two people get into an argument they get physical and [Music] violent we have a law about a Jew who couldn't pay back his theft he had to be sold or loan or or his debts etc etc so we have all these laws in this speak par about damages properties seemingly very mundane now the truth is this Paradox is already pointed out in the itself that here is that moment where Hashem himself the greatest moment of Revelation M as we spoke last week how the alter says that in chapter 36 how the Revelation at Sinai was a preview of The Ultimate of existence of the time mhia will come and what does hasem reveal to us do not murder do not sin do not commit adultery so over there also it's brought out in all the commentators and commented all the what's going on over here we have the between and man between man and man and they seem so paradoxical extreme from the highest of the high to the lowest of the low so there's many explanations to it that's not what I'm going to get into now that I'm just pointing out that that contrast was already discussed in a certain sense in a certain sense last week's pass over here too as everyone knows the first rash the word connects the previous to the K why does it start with that shows a connection between says just like the previous para spoke about the revelation of sin you should know also this Pas which talks about regular life simple mundane day-to-day life that also comes me so in that itself there's two aspects usually and I think I've spoken about this before the discussion is that there's manmade laws and there's God made laws that's the usual discussion on the rash we have to know that the Jewish way of life is based on Hashem in that itself there's one point that we have to realize that it's nishma first we have to follow instructions it's based on fulfilling his will so sometimes even if you don't understand that 100% even in the social laws there might be something that might seem to be something that doesn't 100% become acceptable in in human sensibilities or human logic nevertheless and there's much more to discuss on this point but today I want to emphasize a different aspect to that and that is following another general question somebody could think to them I mean he lives a life most people's time on a daily schedule is filled with mundane things you get up you true you DAV maybe you learn a bit in the morning but then you go to work you're on the subway you falling asleep you're tired you're dealing with customers you're dealing with with with the Gentiles you're not in a sh you're not daving you're not learning you're not involved in spiritual activities so sometimes you could have a yid who laments this sort of life that his daily life the majority of his time is filled with something which he doesn't see see how it's so important how he's being connected to Etc and this with this week's par we'll see from a later on in the par when we say that you're a man with a mission it elevates everything in your life because you have a centrality and that centrality is that you're serving Hashem and that everything is when I'm going and in all your ways it's called when you're doing your simple things of the permissible in other words we're not calling it The Holy we're calling it eating sleeping simple things that on the outside seems to be very materialistic nevertheless you could come to know Hashem in that also and this is the point in a way you have to realize that is not only when you're in the sh learning daving and when you're doing something something spiritual but guess what what comes right after simple laws Jewish living Judaism lived when we talk about about the social laws and the Civil laws which seems to be like laws of every society every healthy Society has to have a justice system we're saying no our justice system is something in which once we fulfill that justice system we are connecting with Hashem and this gives a whole different joy to life that's totally incomparable and now we'll connect it to a later on a PK what I want to speak today and one of the reasons I'm speaking about it is because it's related to me personally this is a m this is based on a discourse that the Reb said 72 years ago my wife's grandfather was a famous and he was a B in the times of the rebab and he was a very very big of the reab of course and of the and very close to the so as with many when the fre the gra passed away as is Usual by most they don't automatically have the full feelings emotionally that they had to the previous re to the next one it takes time so the story they say is that he was by this fa where the Reb said this m and it was such an experience such a deep profoundly impacting experience the way the r said this m which we discuss today that it was at that time he wrote his feelings how the way the Reb said the impacted him and from that time he really became a total fullon also emotionally fully to the rebit and I believe also that this this of the also is a principle of the whole Our Generation and the Reb's approach to life and that is later on in the parha from shishi it says says and Rashi right away says what's going on of it till now we just discussed the laws and all of a sudden it starts with blessings so Rashi says a point that the emphasis over here [Music] is it's GNA be an angel not me myself but then he still gives blessings hem and he still speaks about a mat where he himself is involved not only an angel anyways so amongst those then the says at the end of you will serve and will bless your bread and your Waters I will take away disease and then sh starts and this is the m the discourse that the Reb said 72 years [Music] ago PK says that there will not be a woman in your land that will miscarry or be Barren I will grant you the full count of your days so theic interpretation of this verse means we're talking about emotions because the children go on your emotions Al explains in chapter three of T that the intellect is the mothers the children is the emotions now when the verse says means that the emotion s will never be still born or Barren meaning to say if you want to be a full productive person with healthy emotions the solution to that is through what does it mean it's a certain meditation and this meditation will guarantee that you should be productive what is that meditation the re explains means the person has to meditate that Hashem filled your days with a mission with a specific amount of time to fulfill the mission and that every single second of your life you have a mission when you live with that purpose which means you become deep personalized it's all about the mission and every single second you focus on the mission then of course because you thinking about whether you're in the mood or whether you're not in the mood how do you feel what is a certain service which is more befitting for you what is not beting to you no you're a soldier and you have to fulfill the mission at all times and that's the main focus and a level of selflessness and Transcendence that guarantees that you'll always do what you have to do and the rebba then said that with this we could understand a famous gor there gor that says that before he passed away he said he was sobbing and he said he doesn't know if he's going to G or to the opposite so over here there's a famous question that is asked on this and the reab took it a step further the question which was always asked on this G in was why is he asking this question he doesn't know what where he's going obviously he was a leader for for 40 years he Tau for 40 years and he was aad so why does he have this question any day because obviously when a person says any see it's not because now he's worried about reward or punishment it means whether he was on the right side like they say the right side of history or the wrong side of his whether he's on the right side he's doing the right thing all of his life or not so why would he have such a question how could he have such a question that's one question and this how this explains it and I'll say it right now but then there's another aspect to the question which the rebba answers and takes it a whole another level the Reb's question is more not how could he have such a question but if he's worried about whether he's on the right side or the wrong side why does he have the question now what happen until now why is he asking before passed away if it's important to him to know if he's doing the right thing the wrong thing he should be worried about that question the whole time so first we'll say what the answering this is in general one answer this is that there could be something called something like the subconscious which means that even though a person a sadic could be busy busy busy serving hasem and doing always the right thing he still could have a question himself who knows maybe deep down on some layer of on some level on some subtle form I have some evil which I did not Elevate yet or didn't refine it's called or to give a simple example you know today we have these um ants or bugs that are insects or vegetables and you know when I was a kid um we weren't so sophisticated with this you know people ate strawberries blueberries lettuce you put it into the water you you you washed it and oh it's good today they have these magnifying glasses whatever you call them microscopes that they're able to magnify something 500 times and they see these bugs crawling in broccoli and lettuce and I don't know what and they say certain things you shouldn't e at all people that are very from don't need some people don't e strawberries some people don't e blueberries I don't know what's going on be ker the point is that when it's a big bug and vegetables that have have big bugs or insects so it's EAS it's easy to see those insects they don't need a special inspection and you can take care of it but if you have something which is Tiny something which is small it's much harder and could you really really know that we got rid of every single one and therefore when it comes to certain vegetables that we can't be 100% certain that we got rid of every single one of them so some people say you shouldn't be eating this at sometimes a person can have something that could be very very deep and therefore was worried that maybe maybe he only dealt with the obvious blemishes and flaws and Imperfections of his character but what happens with some things that were subtle that he didn't realize that he didn't deal with like I said many times I don't want to get into it now famous how come the first was the reason why it was destroyed the three most grave Sins murder idolatry Etc and the whole Gus lasted 70 years but then we had another B mikdash but now the the Gus that we have now is going on for for the 1900 years plus and the answer which is given is because when the G was because of so then it's did you or didn't you and it's obvious when it came when it comes to those grave sin there's no hiding away from it there's no mistaking it did you or didn't you but when it comes to something like baseless hatred everybody looks into the mirror and says am I a nice guy of course so therefore they never open up they never own up to it and therefore they never fix it so that's one answer why said because there could be something subtle like we said before in the subconscious another answer you can give is an answer which is given to to another story in the and over there anwers he also didn't know if he's going to and because he was worried that maybe everything he did was only what fit his profile the reason why he learned was because he was the type of person that was the studious person that had a sort of temperament he was more the studious type so maybe everything he did in serving the aish was because of fit his profile it's F his disposition so therefore he didn't really know do I really serve Hashem do I do something where I have to stretch myself where I have to go out of my nature and the answer was over there that he found out that he was able to go out of his nature over here too you could say that maybe was asking the question okay I did the right thing but that I really go out of myself was I really serving hasem or was it all something that fit my character Etc that's the way explained it until this m that the Reb said which by the way is also and over here the said an unbelievable ver the reason why didn't have this question until now before he's passing on and his bedridden is cuz he didn't have time to think about the question before because he viewed his life that he's on a mission to be carried out he's a a doesn't have time to worry about what's going on in my nees what rank I'm what which rank am I holding there's only one thing in my life and what's that life carry through the mission that's it and to even think about which Madre I'm holding which level I'm holding that's considered that's like somebody who betrays the mission who Rebels against his master he's not going to think about his Madre he's not going to be thinking about this idea whether he has some evil which is in the subconscious because that's not really important for his mission as long as you're a soldier you have a mission to carry out we could say like for example if you're a soldier you shouldn't be thinking whether you're a Corporal whether you're a lieutenant whether you're a en whether you're a major you're a soldier and a soldier has to do whatever the call of the hour is that's the mission I just want to one thing that by us we make because that's part of the mission so we have to think about our actual part of our actual job is to make a reckoning about but wasn't about his it wasn't about fulfilling the laws it was about some level in his soul but the re wants every single one of us to think in a similar General overall perspective overriding approach and attitude towards our life we're all so if we look at our lives as primarily so that overrides everything else what's going on with you personally what level you're holding that's not not really important what's important is whether you're doing a job you given a post do not desert post and not only that that's what you should be thinking about every single second of your life not only every day not only every minute but every single second when the the cried and was sobbing and he had to stop a couple of times in the middle of the minare and he put his head on his on his right arm and he put his head down on the table and everybody felt and this is this is the rebba the rebba was totally obsessed and permeated with this idea that he is a and there's many many stories that attest to this point and I'll say one story now and this is what he wanted from all of us primarily to be the Principal Catalyst and motivator which galvanizes us to continue on and on to do what we're meant to do this is how he viewed himself and this is what he demanded of the so I'll just say three things that are connected to this number one is a story which answering the question that we started to so a person looks at his life and he says how am I able to feel totally uplifted what transforms my entire life my entire life becomes transformed when I look at myself that I'm a man on a mission I'm on a mission of hasem and that's who I am theas was in prison in the gulag and one day in his in his cell or in his uh cabin he was surrounded by all these Gentiles and they're all very morose and Melancholy and sad and this guy says you know I used to be a doctor a physician I was extraordinary I was famous everybody came to me and I had very wealthy clients patients this other guy says I used to be a lawyer another guy says I was a general you know in Russia by the way it was the elite in particular that were sent to the gulag and punished and suffered Etc and they turned to the men of and they saw that he's jovial and he's always happy and he's always positive and they said so how come how come you're happy he turns down and he says the difference between me and you is very clear you people were defined by your position by your by your circumstances you were a famous lawyer you were a famous doctor you were a famous General and now since the circumstances changed so therefore he can't be happy but me my identity hasn't changed whatsoever I was Aid that was trying my best to serve hasem I'm still a that's trying my best to serve hasem the address changed so Hashem previously put me in one situation in one set of circumstances over there my identity was as a serving AEM in a business world or wherever he was now I'm a serving hasem in the Gul but there's no difference and just like then my happiness is because I'm merited to be someone who's in a relationship with Hashem so to now my relationship to hasem hasn't changed and I'm serving Hashem right now over here in these circumstances so it's a very powerful story that's one story another ver first I'm want to say an answer from the rebba many of you might have heard this answer somebody wrote to the rebba an answer as following I'm going to read you the words I was very glad to hear that he recognizes active duty they wrote the words active duty with Hebrew letters I was very happy to hear that you recognize that you're an active duty so since you're aware that you're in active duty so this warrants that you're in a joyous State regularly singing a victory march wow so the re is saying as soon as you are conscious you have this awareness that you're on active duty so then you're like a soldier who singing and going towards the front or whatever your situation is with a joy March anyways lastly there's a story which to me is one of my favorite stories and I'm sure I said it before but I'm saying it again there was a yid in Paris in the 30s his name was leish Heber and he used to help the rebba when the rebba when they first got married the Reb and theb lived in Paris in the early 30s the re used to give a shear in in AO and this laish Heber used to DAV in thato and he would drive he had a car and he helped the Reb sometimes going from one place to the other in certain things one day he was driving the Reb and the Reb looked very pale and the Reb looked very tired and he thought to himself you know in his mind you know the Reb needs Ackle vacation so he didn't say anything to the rebba the next time he saw the rabbitson he told the rabbitson I think it would be a good idea if the rabit would take a vacation you know that he would this laish he would arrange some weekend away or something with the rebon the reiton could could relax for a couple of days anyway so the reiton told no told her you know if you think it's a good idea you speak to my husband you speak to the Reb this was before the Reb wasb but she told him if you think it's a good idea you speak to him anyways so on another occasion when he was driving the re around and he brought up the subject you know I noticed that you look sometimes exhausted worn out worn down and uh maybe it' be a good idea if you could just go away for a couple of days and he saids anyways the Reb got very very serious and he looked me in the eyes and the Reb said if I don't have the time for this for it I am and the says and theor says we have a principle that fulfills so here we see a story from the 30s before the Reb was rebba that he defines himself and therefore every second of his life is accounted for it's all part of the and the emphasis I want to say today is the answer of active duty and the story of and this is the connection today to we have to remember we're saying our prayer that every should have everybody should have whatever they needs whatever they need not only they bear necess but luxuries because we know [Music] what his GM is physical is spiritual you need lots of money to do lots of mitz you need to live long to do more Good Deeds for the for the world etc etc and the spoke about and we're living in an age where accomplished more and [Music] more but at the same time we have to remember that when when it's all built on this is the thing what ultimately will give you every one of us the greatest joy the real real comes when a person does something that they can be proud of himself the real Sim comes when a person thinks about those things that have eternal value but the made a deal and like we see from the T in this week also when the do what they meant to do then the does what he's meant to do and gives them everything that they need like and we ask of the that even when we don't necessarily do we're meant to do every single M now