Get Out of my Way! | Rabbi Meir Sommer

You ever wonder what happened to Yosef immediately after he became Yosef Hatzaddik? Yosef in Egypt, Eishes Potiphar, Vayimaen! He refused, he ran out. Immediately afterwards, Yosef gets thrown into jail for 12 years. That's his reward for Vayimaen? That's his reward for becoming Yosef Hatzaddik? He should win the lottery now. What happened? And we're all the same way. We all have challenges in life. Everybody. And we have Nisyonos. And when we do pass the test, we all think, Hakadosh Baruch Hu, You owe us one. I know I'm going to make that business deal now. I know I'm going to make the million bucks. Says the Sfas Emes, We got it a little bit wrong. Yes, sometimes, when a person passes the test, Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives them a kiss with a good business deal afterwards or with something else that a person needs, a geshmake reward. Sometimes. But many times, what Hakadosh Baruch Hu does is Hakadosh Baruch Hu says, Wow. What you just did was so amazing. I want more. I want you closer to me. You did one step of Teshuva, I'm going to help you do much more Teshuva and get there all the way. And so the kiss that Hakadosh Baruch Hu gives you is another Nisayon. And that's what happened to Yosef Hatzaddik. Hakadosh Baruch Hu said: Wow, that was amazing. I want more. And He gave him another Nisayon. So I know what you're thinking. It's just too much for me. It's too hard. But you know what? It's not too hard. If we look at the plague of frogs, we know that it's a big Machlokes was it one big frog and the Egyptians came and they were hitting it and hitting it and hitting it and all the frogs were flying all over the place, millions of frogs, or did all those frogs come jumping out of the water? But you know what? It doesn't really make much of a difference, because what was the job of the frog? Says the Torah, They had to be in the ovens. They had to be in the houses. They had to be in the food. They had to be in their beds. They had to be in their stomachs. But the second the frogs started to come, the Egyptians, they were smart people. Why didn't they close the door? Why didn't they close the windows? Close the chimney? Don't let them in. So I saw an unbelievable Medrash. The Medrash Rabbah says, They did lock up, they did close the windows, they did close the chimney, and they did close their doors. But the frogs were very smart. They came to the wall, the stone wall, and the frogs said, We have a Tzivui from Hakadosh Baruch Hu, we have a commandment to be in their beds, in their rooms, in their ovens, in their stomachs. You better get out of the way. And the Medrash says that the wall came crumbling down, and the frogs went in. One of the names of the Yetzer Hara is Stone, and if that's the case, then every single time that our Yetzer Hara tries to get us, we could tell the Yetzer Hara, Get out of the way. Because we have a commandment to watch our eyes and to pass the Nisayon. If the frogs could do it, we could do it, too.